Memories of days gone by can come back at any time and “Game Night†is proof.
Endearing cinematography and a relatable performance from Errol “EJ†Jones make sure Joel Fendelman’s “Game Night†ends up doing exactly what it’s supposed to. Taking you back to your forgotten memories on the field, it’ll force you to reconnect with an older version of yourself you haven’t connected with in years.
With just one real member of the cast, a standout performance is a must. Luckily, Jones does a more than serviceable job in a short amount of time. His interactions with the teenagers playing football and his “recreation†of his glory day drills home the point of the film. He’s not the man that he used to be. Those days are gone forever. Solid audio swoops in during his “drills†and makes you see that his character, once upon a time, was much more than a taxi driver.
Add in splendid cinematography from Mira K. Lippold-Johnson, which captures the night wonderfully, from the shining lights and introspective moments from Jones’ character, there’s a lot more depth to the film than its run-time and lack of dialogue might indicate.
While it lacks the star power of other shorts at this year’s festival and an advanced plot, Fendelman turns in something with heart and plenty of visual polish, making him a screenwriter and director worth keeping an eye on.
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports.
Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders.
His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023.
Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief.
Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale.
Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.
Leave a Reply