TOP 10 MOVIES OF 2024

 

 

2024 has been a funny year for entertainment. Unlike many previous years, I cannot speak of one cinematic event that truly stood out. There's no Barbenheimer counter programming despite Glicked trying too hard to be a thing (maybe if they chose Wadiator it would be different?). No teenagers in tuxes turned out for Despicable Me 4 like they did with the pandemic-delayed Minions 2. And more to the point, there were a notable lack of comic book movies whirling through projectors. It is also the year that, after the success of Everything Everywhere All at Once and Poor Things (which was a 2024 movie in the UK), the uber-weird became the new critical darling. Watch The Substance, Love Lies Bleeding or Better Man and you'll get an idea what I mean. But that doesn't mean this year wasn't a memorable one. Far from it. Read on to read my movie reviews of the year and catch my Top 10 while you're at it...

TOP 10 GAMES OF 2023

 

 

Finally, it's time to rank the recent games I've played this year. And boy, has it been a good one. There's been so many big release that I'm sure there are many to catch up on. Funnily enough, the best game of the year according to many publications is not mine. And it's not like I don't think that modern classic is terrible by any stretch of the imagination. It's just so massive I don't think I've yet to get a grasp on it (those who know which game I'm on about will know). So, read on to find out what I consider to be the cream of the crop of interactive media in 2023...

TOP 10 TV SHOWS OF 2023

 

 

I'm doing something new! A separate rundown of my TV-watching year. Like with the movies, I kept up with what I've been watching in far greater detail than I ever have before, and because I've been reviewing them as I went along - for the most part - I thought it deserved its own post more than I deserve a good night's sleep. I'll be rating seasons of shows that concluded in 2023, not begun so those that I'm currently in the middle of will not be here. I've seen a surprising amount, which has freaked me out a little, but most has been pretty darn good. Again, I'll be adding my newly-appreciated star system which consists of an inconsistent mix of extreme bias and perceived objectivity but feel free to give your take in the comments. Carry on to find out more...

TOP 10 MOVIES OF 2023

 

 

This year, I've been doing my best to keep track of all the movies I've seen as I've seen them. It's become a great way to get a good idea about how this past year in cinema has fared. And compared to last year, it hasn't exactly fared the best. Blockbusters bumbled and streamers were stripped. It says a lot that a couple on my Top 10 - and many worthy titles in my honourable mentions - came out in 2022 in other territories. That doesn't mean there hasn't been some stellar trips to the cinema, but not as many as last year. I'll actually give my star rating this time too, just to provoke angry (or politely worded) messages in the comments section. Here's my full rundown...

TOP 10 GAMES OF 2022

It's game time! While most of my time is spent playing old-school games from the 90s, I do play a fair amount of new-school ones. My Steam account is rife with many cool titles and my GOG library isn't just made up of good old games. Read on after the jump to discover my favourites over the last year.

TOP 10 MOVIES OF 2022

 

 

I must admit, my cinema-going experiences have been getting fewer and fewer. I have seen only a handful on the silver screen this year, and all of them have been the kind of crowd-pleasing pictures I can convince my friends to see. Despite this, I believe it was an excellent year for the medium, with a few off-kilter experiments branching off into the mainstream and some streaming services supporting all kinds of genres to success too. My go to tactic is to randomly buy a month when they have enough I'm interested in and binge, baby, binge. These are my brief thoughts on a large number (though not all) of the movies I saw that were released in the UK during 2022, highlighting my highly subjective Top 10. Read on after the jump for more...

HIDDEN GEMS - TOP 10 STRANGEST RETRO ADVENTURES

 

Have you ever picked up a random game bought from the local game shop or downloaded from a random abandonware blog and be confronted with some of the craziest shit you've ever seen? I have. More than once. In fact, I actively go seeking for them. Some of the strangest games I've ever played fall into the point-and-click adventure category so for your entertainment I've collated 10 of them and arbitrarily rated them from worst to best.

Out of the 10, there are 4 games newly escaped from the Chamber. Placed somewhere on list is Bad Milk (2000 Dreaming Media), DEVO Presents Adventures of the Smart Patrol (1996 Inscape), Who's Fat Lou? (1996 Mediola SRL), and the English translation of Eastern Mind II: Middle Heaven Chu-Teng (1995 Sony Music Entertainment (Japan), Osamu Sato & OutSide Directors Company) . There's also a fair few updates too so check them out after the jump and stay tuned for the rather lengthy video coming very soon...

WATCH THE VIDEO!

TOP 10 MOVIES OF 2021

 

 

Cinema is back! Kinda. I may not have had as many trips to an actual theatre as I would've done pre-pandamic, but I still managed a handful of truly entertaining outings. Despite their doors opening, most of what I saw were innings, viewed at home on streaming platforms or Blu-Ray. The majority of distractions from real life happened on Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime and on the whole, I'd say it's been a pretty good year. Good enough for me to ramble about my Top 10 favourites in the following post which you can read after the jump...

TOP 10 GAMES OF 2021

 

 

It's time to put my hat into the ring of what is the best games of the past year! The Great Pause went beyond a mere pandemic and into what I now call The Great Upheaval. Corporate, political and societal strife dominated the news globally, while I'm sure health, financial and mental woes hit many people personally. I know it did me.

Thank the gods for games, eh! Entertaining distractions from strife and woes. Despite all the hardships, I think I've managed to play all of the heavy-hitters my hardware can handle this past year, and some lesser-known gems. And if you want to know what those are, check out my rundown after the jump...

HIDDEN GEMS - TOP 10 UNEXPECTED MOVIE LICENCED GAMES OF THE 90s

 

No one can deny that this past year has been... unexpected. Particularly in the movie industry. It's now awards season and even that's seen some unexpected goings on. Who would've thought a Borat sequel could've garnered two Oscar noms, let alone a couple of Golden Globes already in the bag?

 

Anyway, with this in mind I'd thought I'd tally up my Top 10 Unexpected Movie Licenced Games. There are a few criteria that would make a movie-based game unexpected. It could've been released way behind the initial cinema run, voiding any potential cross promotion. It could've used the licence in a weird way. Or maybe the licence itself doesn't usually scream 'game'. 

 

There are 4 games new to the Collection Chamber; Aliens Online (1998 Fox Interactive), Hamlet: A Murder Mystery (1997 Castle Rock Entertainment & EMME Interactive), Indiana Jones and his Desktop Adventures (1996 LucasArts) and Plan 9 From Outer Space (1992 Gremlin Graphics). One of the 10 has also been updated, but I won't spoil that or their ranking here. You have to watch the video below or click on the jump to find out. Preferably both. 

WATCH THE VIDEO

TOP 10 MOVIES OF 2020

I have very few good things to say about 2020, but at least there were movies to distract us. We may have had to hunt them down on cluttered streaming services, but they were there. Smaller movies got more of a focus when blockbusters saw delays upon delays and TV shows continued to rival them in quality and scope. So, as is the tradition for The Collection Chamber, I've collated and ranked the Top 10 Movies I've personally seen over the course of the last harrowing year and put them in a belated blog post.

 

TOP 10 GAMES OF 2020

 

 

While a certain pandemic surely played havoc on the some games' release schedule, the game industry was by and large unaffected by the Coronavirus. If fact, the industry boomed with some massive releases selling very well. The breadth of choice was such that I haven't played some of the years biggest hits - Ghosts of Tsushima and The Last of Us II will have to wait for another year while Animal Crossing was never really my thing to begin with. All three are undoubdedly worthy of any Top 10 list, some even in mine, but I'm sticking to the ones I've played. And if you want to know what those are, check out my rundown after the jump...

HIDDEN GEMS - TOP 10 SPOOKY GAMES FOR KIDS

 

This one took a while to compile, but it wouldn't be the Halloween without a swathe of spooky retro titles for you to game to. This time, I present my personal, completely biased Top 10 list the best 90s kids games best played in the Halloween season. I've limited myself to games that are no longer sold, so no Maniac Mansion, Hocus Pocus or MediEvil, and those specifically aimed at the younger critters infesting households the world over.

 

From the list, there are 4 titles new to the Chamber, and another 2 that have been updated. That's Are You Afraid of the Dark, an adventure game based on the classic Nickelodeon show, I.M. Meen, an excuse to learn grammar while playing a Doom clone, Jan Pienkowski's Haunted House, based on the still-impressive pop up book and Nightmare Ned, of the best Disney show no-one remembers. Check them out after the jump by following the links below, but not before you catch my video on the subject!

 

HIDDEN GEMS - TOP 10 FORGETTON FMV ADVENTURES

I'm back from a little holiday with another TOP 10 list! This time we're looking at the oft-maligned FMV adventure, complete with over-the-top acting and CD count! Not all of them deserve the bad reputation associated with the genre so I've collated some of the absolute best. Don't expect the revered likes of Gabriel Knight or The 7th Guest which are easily available to buy online. These are the forgotten gems that no-one seems to talk about anymore (if they ever did).

There's even a number of games not previously featured on the site (including QUANTUM GATE and THE CASSANDRA GALLERIES), so go check them out too!

HIDDEN GEMS - TOP 10 FIRST PERSON SHOOTERS OF THE '90s

We're doing something a little different today - a Top 10 video! Only, this being The Collection Chamber, it has to be about obscure hidden gems! Check out the video and let me know any that I've missed.

Some have already been featured on the site so follow the jump to link to their review.

TOP 10 GAMES OF 2019

So, after my massive movie breakdown a few days ago, we finally get to the games. I actually got to sample a larger number of releases this year compared to previous years, though I can't say I've completed a great many of them. Read on to find out my thoughts.

TOP 10 MOVIES OF 2019

The new year is here, and so Top 10 season is upon us. The tradition is to rank media in a seemingly arbitrary fashion so here's my oh-so personal list of moves faves that came out 2019. What will be number 1? Read on to find out...

TOP 10 GAMES OF 2018

Compared to last year, 2018 was one hell of a year for games. Sony hit it out of the park while Nintendo continued their Switch streak with a number of steady releases. Microsoft did some good too, though I only experienced them on the PC. All and all, it's been a good one so let's take a look at what new games I actually got around to play and which one holds my highest esteem...

TOP 10 MOVIES OF 2018

2018 is over, and it was quite an eventful year. Cinematically speaking it was probably one of the best years for big budget movies, with only a small number of them being terrible (even though their box office was all over the place). Television gave theatres a run for their money too, with many productions besting anything on the silver screen. But this post is about movies, specifically my TOP 10. Read on to see my highly subjective list...

TOP 10 GAMES OF 2017

With a website almost solely about retro video games, you'd think there'd be little room to play any modern titles. In actuality, I played a fair few (though not as many as I'd like). Some of them to completion (though not as many as I'd like). Read on to hear my thoughts on my favourite games of 2017...