Jonathan R. Lack, Author at We Got This Covered – Page 2 of 27 - Part 2

Jonathan R. Lack

With ten years of experience writing about movies and television, including an ongoing weekly column in The Denver Post's YourHub section, Jonathan R. Lack is a passionate voice in the field of film criticism. Writing is his favorite hobby, closely followed by watching movies and TV (which makes this his ideal gig), and is working on his first film-focused book.

Jonathan R. Lack - Page 2

The Wind Rises Review

Until I actually watched The Wind Rises, I could not believe Hayao Miyazaki was truly retiring. It isn’t that I refused to believe it. Miyazaki-san may be my favorite filmmaker, and one who I would love to see many more films from, but everything, including great artistic careers, is finite, and that is a fact I can accept. No, what prevented me from truly accepting the notion of Miyazaki’s filmmaking days coming to an end was that he has, simply put, said all this before. His post-Mononoke and post-Spirited Away retirements may not have been as ‘official’ as this one, but his intention to walk away from filmmaking was clear and understandable. In both cases, it was the desire to create that brought him back, the allure of a great idea that led him to make art once more. So while I fully believed Miyazaki was being honest in intending The Wind Rises as his swan song, I also felt equally sure that, if another compelling idea came to him, he would surely come back to see it realized.

Doctor Who Review: “The Day of the Doctor” (50th Anniversary Special)

It took me a while to realize exactly what Steven Moffat was going for in “The Day of the Doctor,” the landmark 50th Anniversary special of Doctor Who. Three Doctors – one current, one old, and one very new to the viewer – sharing quips, staring at 3D paintings, snogging multiple versions of Queen Elizabeth I, and battling the relatively-obscure Zygons across time and space is all well and good, if a little par for the course (for Doctor Who, at least), but underlying all the humor and mayhem was something much darker, much deeper, and much more intriguing: A complex existential character study of the Doctor himself, centered on John Hurt’s ‘War Doctor’ character as he contemplates doing what we know – or think we know – he eventually will.

WGTC Radio #72 – Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Celebration Spectacular!

It’s time for a special bonus episode of WGTC Radio, the official podcast of We Got This Covered! Remember to subscribe for free in iTunes by following this link!

The Top 10 Modern Doctor Who Episodes

Today is the eve of the historic 50th anniversary of Doctor Who, one of my favorite television shows of all time, and while we will have plenty of celebratory coverage – including a special all-Doctor Who podcast posting tomorrow, and my own review of the 50th Anniversary Special after it airs – I wanted to kick things off with a retrospective piece, commemorating what I consider to be the best episodes of the series.

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag (PlayStation 4) Review

A great game is made even greater thanks to the power of the PlayStation 4, with stunning graphics and performance enhancements that make next-gen the best place to play Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag.

WGTC Radio #71 – PlayStation 4 First Impressions & Thor: The Dark World Discussion

It’s time for another episode of WGTC Radio, the official podcast of We Got This Covered! Remember to subscribe for free in iTunes by following this link!

Gorgeous and addicting, Resogun is the PlayStation 4's best and most compelling launch title, and one of the best gaming treats so far this year.

PlayStation 4 Review

Sony’s PlayStation 4 delivers on the fundamental promise of home console gaming more effectively than any other system in the history of the medium: To deliver a powerful, robust gaming foundation with extreme ease-of-use. After only a few days of use, this much is abundantly clear. So far, the PS4 is hardly a perfect system – issues with noise, multimedia support, and interface gaps are not insignificant – but on the whole, I find it overwhelmingly impressive, a console that perfects upon the principals of the past – a superior controller, a remarkably fluid and intuitive user interface, and major improvements to online and social functionality – even as it innovates for the future with superior graphics and creative, expertly implemented features. This is, of course, only a starting point – like the consoles of the generation that preceded it, the PS4 of today will not be the PS4 of tomorrow – but even as a foundation, I feel invigorated by the PS4, my faith in and enthusiasm for gaming rewarded by one the single most gamer-friendly console I have ever used.

Knack's basic gameplay foundation is a solid one, but with extremely poor, numbingly repetitive level design and an absolutely absurd difficulty level, Knack is mostly an exercise in frustration, and one of the unfortunate low points of the PS4 launch lineup.

WGTC Radio #70 – Xbox 360, PS3, & Wii Generation Retrospective

As explained in Episode #69.5, a major technical malfunction required us to record this week’s episode a second time, thus delaying its release to today – November 15th, the launch of the hotly anticipated PlayStation 4 in North America, and the end of the current – now previous – generation of video game consoles: the Xbox 360, the PlayStation 3, and the Nintendo Wii.