Rated PG Newsletter - Issue 01

Hello, readers! Welcome to the inaugural issue of my weekly newsletter, Rated PG. As stated in the first blog post on my website, this newsletter will be a way for me to discuss the games and films I’ve been playing in a given week, not to mention write more about those movies that otherwise only get short Letterboxd dumps from me. Oftentimes, I watch a film and post some thoughts on Letterboxd, only for that to get buried under the deluge of meme reviews and stupid jokes.

While I hope to make this weekly, I’m still uncertain if I want to commit to that. I think bi-weekly might be a pretty good idea, but for now, this issue of my newsletter will cover my week between June 13 – 20, 2026. I didn’t get to watch too many films or even play that many games as I’ve been busy searching for more consistent work. I’ve also been dealing with the loss of my cousin, who passed away on June 6, 2026. A video retrospective I made for Quake that should be going live in a few days is dedicated to his memory.

To start, I’ll talk about what games I’ve been playing this week since there are fewer things to talk about there.

Games This Week

Gaming is my primary field of interest when it comes to criticism, so I try my best to play newer things and revisit older classics. This past week, I finished both Devil May Cry and Devil May Cry 2 via the HD Collection on PC. The first game holds up very well, with only its camera really being an issue at times. I love that each level is roughly 5–15 minutes long, even if some run longer. There’s a good variety of obstacles in the first DMC, even if some of the boss fights can get repetitive. The game isn’t brain-dead, either, so mastering its combat system becomes an integral part of the challenge.

Devil May Cry 2, however, is simply awful. There’s a reason behind that, with it mostly coming down to misdirection and Capcom trying to wildly change directions with the second outing, but there is no real reason to revisit this game. Dante’s playthrough is better thought out, but the game was clearly designed around newcomer Lucia’s move set. Even still, her campaign is devoid of any interesting set pieces, has some horrible bosses, and is loaded with pushover enemies to the point that you don’t even need to think about your actions.

I moved on to Devil May Cry 3, as one would, but that has been temporarily interrupted by a review code for The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales. I will be reviewing it for Nintendo Wire, though it will be a late review. The game released on June 18, 2026, but the outlet wasn’t given a code ahead of time. That’s not abnormal when it comes to smaller websites, though it seems publisher Square Enix was being picky with who got what. So far, the game is fun, but it seems a little too stuck on replicating The Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past for its own good.

Films This Week

Now for the good part. I had intended to launch this newsletter last week so I could discuss some of the action films I was watching in the lead up to The Furious’ release, but life had different plans for me. I had mostly watched Jackie Chan’s Hollywood output and some later era Donnie Yen stuff, so it wasn’t even great movies.

This past week, however, I finally watched Ringo Lam’s Prison on Fire. Now properly available in restored form from Shout Factory (and streamable with ads on various services), it felt like the right time to catch up on this 80s HK classic. I mentioned it on Letterboxd, but I don’t think the film hit me the same way it does with others. There’s great chemistry between Tony Leung and Chow Yun-Fat, but the movie can be aimless at times. That’s not unlike a lot of HK films from the same period, but there isn’t the same poignancy or comradery you see in City on Fire. Critic Jessica Yeung does mention that the movie is a spin on traditional Jianghu films, though, and I can definitely see that.

Shifting to newer releases, I checked out Boy Kills World, and I’m kind of sorry I did. I really dig that Yayan Ruhian has been consistently getting work since The Raid became a cultural phenomenon, but this is not the movie to really see his talents on full display. The finale lets him cut loose, and man is it an all-timer, but this is straight up a bad film. Placing H. Jon Benjamin as your narrator for any kind of semi-serious role is a mistake, but burying the action behind poorly written comedy and shoddy editing leads to a disjointed mess of a movie. I did like seeing Jessica Rothe, though.

Later in the week, I checked out Amy Wang’s 2025 film Slanted, which is a satire centered on the Asian-American experience. Similar to Sorry to Bother You, the movie presents an obviously fucked up scenario where an Asian teenager feels she needs to undergo a controversial surgery to make herself white. I chuckled at the ridiculous song “It’s Good to be White,” but that’s one issue I have with the film. It’s very on the nose.

Some of that is for dramatic effect, but I feel starting with an exaggerated premise lends itself to unbelievability more than intended. The film often loses itself within the wackiness of the story, too. There is a clear thread of protagonist Joan Huang, played by Shirley Chen, feeling alienated at school, but it eventually morphs into a pseudo-Mean Girls thing before nosediving into body horror. It’s not really a horror film, however, because that merely encompasses the final set-piece. A thought-provoking film, for sure, but not exactly great.

Last on the docket this week was a rewatch of Team America: World Police. With how asinine Trump’s second term has been, I wanted to take a look back at older political satire to see how it has aged over the years. I saw Team America in theaters 22 years ago and thought it was hysterical, but I was also less plugged into general politics. South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker get a lot of shit for causing a generation of kids to feel indifferent to politics, and I think Team America might be the genesis of that. It never holds back on satirizing American imperialism, but then it tries to have things both ways by poking fun at celebrities using their power to raise awareness for causes.

For the most part, the film still works because it is so wildly offensive, but some minor jokes haven’t held up. The “Film Actors Guild” gag is one such example, but even something like the “Pearl Harbor Sucked” song feels a bit mean-spirited after all this time. Terrible movie, for sure, and I’m no fan of Michael Bay’s movies, but his films have been very consistent over the years. He’s one of the few filmmakers working nowadays that puts an emphasis on practical effects and big screen spectacle. Ben Affleck has also gotten dramatically better as an actor since that film, so it’s more a time capsule than anything. I feel weird defending Michael Bay, but I’ve grown tired of the constant bashing he receives.

I do think Team America deserves praise for its puppetry and miniature sets, at least. You don’t see anything like this anymore with most films having shifted completely to CG for backgrounds. Take the recently released The Mandalorian and Grogu, for instance. Despite having a budget nearly 10 times as large as Team America, the film looks much worse than it. The Volume, as it is known, is kind of novel, but it hasn’t looked anywhere as good as it did since The Mandalorian’s first season back in 2019.

Upcoming Week

As for this next week, I don’t really have any plans set in place. I’m looking at getting some coverage for this year’s New York Asian Film Festival going, though I haven’t heard anything back yet. I will also continue to truck along as The Adventures of Elliot, maybe popping back into Devil May Cry 3 at points. My video for Quake’s 30th anniversary should be live, and I’m planning on replaying Max Payne for its upcoming 25th.

The launch of the Times Square Kung Fu podcast is probably the biggest thing that will happen next week. My longtime friend and collaborator, Frankie Balboa, decided to take the plunge, and I’m honored to be his first guest. I’ll be a regular on the podcast, but I won’t be the only co-host as Frankie looks to get different perspectives on the action films we love. I hope everyone checks it out when it does hit.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and letting me be a part of your week. Any suggestions you have for what you’d like me to talk about are welcomed. I’m always looking for feedback, so feel free to send it my way.