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Steven Scaife

Steven Nguyen Scaife’s writing has appeared in Buzzfeed News, Fanbyte, Polygon, The Awl, Rock Paper Shotgun, EGM, and elsewhere.

The Boys

Review: The Boys Is a Bleakly Cynical Take on the Superhero Genre

by Steven Scaife
July 19, 2019

The Amazon series is a little too fond of its antiheroes to really throw them in the muck.

Crawl

Review: ‘Crawl’ Is Fun and Economical but Lacks Go-for-Broke Inventiveness

by Steven Scaife
July 12, 2019

The film is more straight-faced than Alexandre Aja’s prior work, trading absurd kills for narrow escapes from gaping alligator jaws.

Sea of Solitude

Review: Sea of Solitude Offers a Dreamscape Awash in Banal Abstraction

by Steven Scaife
July 11, 2019

Its repetitive tasks are like the usual arbitrary gates to reach a cutscene in a mediocre video game.

Judgment

Review: Judgment, Though Too Reticent, Is a Worthy Yakuza Spin-Off

by Steven Scaife
July 6, 2019

Where the game goes in-depth, and where it clearly feels most comfortable, is in its omnipresent brawls.

The Sinking City

Review: The Sinking City Doesn’t Earn Its Lovecraftian Credentials

by Steven Scaife
June 26, 2019

Worse than the sheer tedium of shooting is the effect it has on the game’s atmosphere.

The Loudest Voice

Review: The Loudest Voice Is Confirmation Bias as Liberal Bedtime Story

by Steven Scaife
June 24, 2019

The miniseries does little more than reinforce everything the left always suspected about Fox News.

City on a Hill

Review: City on a Hill Is a Bonanza of Character Detail and Hammy Thrills

by Steven Scaife
June 18, 2019

When the series isn’t immersed in pulpy shenanigans, it aspires to be a sort of Bostonian The Wire.

Euphoria

Review: Euphoria’s Depiction of Teen Hedonism Is Both Frank and Lurid

by Steven Scaife
June 13, 2019

Euphoria’s central relationship is luminous, but the series struggles to develop its other characters.

Luther

Review: Season Five of Luther Is Undermined by a Sense of Inevitability

by Steven Scaife
June 3, 2019

As the series has continued, it’s grown more outlandish, oppressive, and removed from the things that made it so captivating.

Pathologic 2

Review: ‘Pathologic 2’ Bears Witness to the Enormity of a Town’s Suffering

by Steven Scaife
June 1, 2019

Playing Pathologic 2 feels like suffering, and it’s meant to be that way.

Void Bastards

‘Void Bastards’ Review: A Droll Marriage of the Roguelike and Immersive Sim

by Steven Scaife
May 29, 2019

It fits together disparate genres so perfectly that you wonder how nobody thought to combine them sooner.

NOS4A2

Review: AMC’s NOS4A2 Adaptation Is Television As Psychic Vampire

by Steven Scaife
May 27, 2019

The series visibly struggles to spin an enveloping atmosphere around its ideas.

When They See Us

Review: When They See Us Is a Harrowing but Heavy-Handed Act of Protest

by Steven Scaife
May 23, 2019

Ava DuVernay’s series is a handsomely mounted dramatization, but it often veers into the trite, obvious, and maudlin.

Observation

Review: In Observation, the Ghost in the Shell Is the Player Itself

by Steven Scaife
May 21, 2019

The setting of the game is the familiar stuff of science fiction, but the lens through which it’s viewed is not.

Fleabag 2

Review: In Season Two, Fleabag Remains Authentic in Its Messiness

by Steven Scaife
May 7, 2019

Despite a more straightforward approach, the series still boasts Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s unmistakable voice.

Chernobyl

Review: Chernobyl Is a Stark and Haunting Historical Drama

by Steven Scaife
May 3, 2019

This is less a miniseries as five-hour movie than episodic television, with new narrative wrinkles introduced each week.

Days Gone

Review: ‘Days Gone’ Demands Your Submission to the Content Treadmill

by Steven Scaife
April 25, 2019

The game meets the baseline level of quality we might expect from a big-budgeted joint, yet it remains a tiresome, empty experience.

Heaven's Vault

Review: ‘Heaven’s Vault’ Is a Refreshingly Cerebral Take on Navigating History

by Steven Scaife
April 16, 2019

The game is ambitious for its translation mechanics and its big-picture look at the evolution of culture through the ages.

Native Son

Review: Native Son’s Anguished Howl Lacks the Rage of Richard Wright’s Novel

by Steven Scaife
April 6, 2019

Once an accidental act of violence sends the main character’s life into a spiral, the film unfortunately spirals with him.

Killing Eve

Review: In Season Two, Killing Eve Still Thrills Even When Spinning Its Wheels

by Steven Scaife
April 3, 2019

The show’s greatest strength is still the way it upends our expectations via tonal shifts and amusing personal details.

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