PLAY: The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt

It's time to bring this thing back from the dead. It's been a long bout of meditation and upon my return I have found in my lap CD Projekt Red's The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt. A rekindled love affair as I had played this once already, but with the arrival of new DLC via the Expansion Pass, it warranted a second playthrough.

A whole slew of free downloadable content has kept players tethered to the vast fielded and mountainous lands of Temeria where, playing as the titular protaganist, Geralt of Rivia is on the search for his adoptive daughter Ciri under orders of the Emperor Emyhr var Emreis while battling off the Wild Hunt who require Ciri for their own ends. It's a long and winding epic, the final in a trilogy based on the Polish book series by Andrzej Sapkowski. The series has been praised massively for sticking, like glue, to the source material and realising it in astonishing detail.

LISTEN: Nine Inch Nails - Hesitation Marks [2013]

With sprawling electro-fist pumpers strewn across an eclectic eighth album, Nine Inch Nails have returned with Hesitation Marks on the latter eve of first single Come Back Haunted. A taster, if you will, back then of what to expect from Trent Reznor's industrial tour-de-force. It would be naive to suggest that Reznor is the only driving member of the band but here again, as made evident from 2008's The Slip, each individual has a part to play. This album is meant to be played loud. Nine Inch Nails, similar to Tool, want you to not just listen, but feel the very strength behind their works.

WATCH: Synedoche, New York [2008]

I am a real sucker for multi-layered films that encompass all areas of human emotion. Donnie Darko made me feel this way, Vanilla Sky is a culprit and so are many of John Hughes' rite-du-passage movies. Synecdoche, New York is a fantastical tale which covers the human map of emotion without faltering into repetition or bum-numbing shiftiness for the viewer. Familiar with only Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine and a very early viewing of Human Nature, I was excited to see Synecdoche, New York, Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut - and for this review, it is the third viewing. It's a visual masterpiece of life imitating life and the constant questions of our morals. It's a brave piece but one that does not feel out of place when viewed alongside Being John Malkovich. With that in mind, and several dozen more motifs and metaphors tacked on, this is a life-spanning adventure of achieving an unrealised lifetime goal, even if it is not yet known. It's also with this film that I noted Philip Seymour Hoffman as one of the most invigorating actors of all time.

WATCH: Oblivion [2013]

I've noticed I have a habit of referencing previous works or franchises that I feel a director's work reminds me of. I also have a habit of spotting subliminal (intentional or otherwise) symbology throughout these works. With that in mind, I'll try and be as obvious as possible. Oblivion is full of blue skies, glorious technology and tectonically sculptured greys and browns. It's also full of intentional nods to sci-fi favourites 2001: A Space Odyssey and Moon as well as current-gen console game Enslaved (can you tell I was lying about not referencing franchises?). There were particular shots throughout the final act that reminded me strongly of imagery such as the Starchild and HAL-9000.