Reviews

Movie and Game Reviews, and Such

  • September 2, 2006

    Summer Music Round Up.

    Seeing as I didn’t write too much on music this summer, I am going to offer my thoughts in this one, full package post. I did go to a number of concerts, and while they don’t account for all my summer music, the best comes from them.

    Dragonforce

    First, probably my favorite band of the summer, DragonForce. I saw them at Ozzfest and they rocked the house. They are a very 80’s band that tells epic stories of war in their intense ballads. The instrumental parts of the songs and the solos are a testament to their talent as a band. If you are looking for something to rock out too, I strongly suggest them. In the past few months I have been listening to a lot of punk/’emo’ bands and they have brought me back to the metal side.

    Gym Class Heroes

    Gym Class Heroes, categorized as “Indie/Hip-Hop,” is a band I heard about at Warped Tour but did really hear until I heard their song The Queen and I on the radio. I really liked the unique sound of rock and hip-hop, and I wasn’t disappointed when I got the CD. There is more hip-hop then rock admittedly, but their songs seem to focus a lot on the lyrics and while maybe not the best message at times, it is a fun CD to listen to, and one that will get you pumped when you need it. Along with The Queen and I, I really like Papercut, 7 Weeks and Scandalous Scholastics, which is about him having an affair with his teacher. Isn’t that fantastic!?

    Some other music I really got into, which I recently picked up, is The Academy Is and She Wants Revenge. The Academy Is is a punk/’emo’ band that I happen to really like- while the sound might be similar to other bands of the genre, it has that familiarity of bands I already know and listen to a lot, so it is easy for me to get into. She Wants Revenge on the other hand, has a very different sound. They seem like a Killers meets Techno rock group that is very catchy. They hooked me with their song Tear You Apart. I also picked up the new Stone Sour CD, but while there are a few great songs on the album, over all I was disappointed. Later!

    PS: The title song to the Snakes on a Plane Soundtrack (Snakes on a Plane (Bring it) by Cobra Starship, feat. Travis from Gym Class Heroes and the lead singer from The Academy is) is Fantastic, and I don’t care what anyone says!

  • August 19, 2006

    Snakes on a Plane

    Snakes on a Plane!

    This movie is proof; a testament if you will, to a number of things. The first is that the internet is a powerful tool able to influence a movie, and influence it in a positive way. The movie would not have been the same if the name was really changed to “South Pacific Flight 121,” and made into a PG-13 flick. It would have been a bad movie. Because from the title you would have assumed that this was a serious movie. Because you can’t do what they did in a PG-13 movie. The second is that Samuel L. Jackson can take anything, anything, and make it awesome.

    Snakes on a Plane is about a man named Sean Jones who witnesses a very dangerous man commit a murder. This man now wants Jones dead, and will do anything to make it happen. After “Exhausting EVERY OTHER option”, he decides to release deadly snakes on his plane to LA, where Sean is going to testify against him. Sam L, playing FBI Agent Nevil Flynn, must protect him.

    The movie continues to surprise the audience with outrageous occurrences, continual problems, a lot of jokes and some great quotes. This movie, as a movie- as a script- is not good. However, from the script to the silver screen, it is an awesome movie that will be the most fun you have in the theater. And if you are afraid of snakes, well, so am I. It’s a movie. It can’t hurt you! Later!

  • July 24, 2006

    Music from all over

    At a little more than half way through the summer, I have quite a bit of music to write about. Well, kind of. A CD I just picked up, which I liked instantly, was the new Muse Album, Black Holes and Revelations, featuring their single, Knights of Cydonia. The album is really reflected in that song, as most of it contains a lot of build ups, awesome solos, and vocals that only Muse can produce. It’s something you can rock and relax to at the same time.

    I would also just like to mention that the new Killers single, When You were Young is fantastic. The new album drops October 2nd, and it’s bound to be good.

    Really, I have been listening to Johnny Cash a lot lately. Since seeing Walk the Line, I can’t get enough of him. His songs have such a wide range of emotion that you can listen to something he has done no matter what the mood- Linked below are my three favorite of the ones I have heard, At Folsom Prison, and American IV and V. Folsom is a live album with great songs and such funny commentary in between the songs. American IV and V you can tell he put a lot of effort into, covering great songs and making them even better, and some of his most heart-filled original stuff. A couple of my favorites are God’s Gonna Cut You Down, On the 309, and probably my favorite song, I Hung My Head. Later!

    At Folsom Prison
    American IV
    American V

  • July 16, 2006

    New Computer

    The New Lappy

    A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about getting a new computer. Well since then, I picked up the Gateway MX6455 Laptop and I couldn’t be happier. It’s much faster than my old one, bigger and lighter, with an incredible display. I have been able to run notepad, my FTP program, Photoshop, an IM client, Windows Media Player, IntelliSync, Firefox with 4-8 tabs and Norton System Works (plus whatever runs in the background) with no problem what-so-ever. And that is just the start.

    The battery life is amazing. Fully Charged, it gets 4 and half hours. EVEN with most of the previously mentioned programs running. And with Media Center, I can organize all of my music, pictures, videos, etc. and link them up to my Xbox 360 to view/listen on my TV. Plus, linked to my Xbox, I am able to watch web content, like Comedy Central’s Mother Load, right on my TV.

    The only thing I am a little disappointed with is that it does not play newer games (it looks terrible). Last night I downloaded the Prey Demo and I couldn’t play it. It would render with an infinite amount of black spots, even at the lowest video settings.

    Everything else about the laptop, though, I love. Four USB ports, an SD/Media Card reader, DVD Burner, etc. This is a great media and development machine, that has an awesome battery and does not run hot. I highly recommend it. Later.

  • July 14, 2006

    Walk the Line

    Walk the Line
    Get the DVD

    Walk the Line, the movie about the life of Johnny Cash, was one that I admittedly was not that into when we decided to watch it the other night. Because of that, I did not pay too much attention in the beginning. However, as the movie went on, I got more and more interested.

    From what I understand, the movie is pretty accurate, and well done. Joaquin Phoenix, who played Cash, did a great job at portraying him on the screen, as well as singing his songs. Reese Witherspoon was also great- her best roll, I would say, since American Psycho. She not only proved that she is a talented actress, but also a talented singer, singing June Carter’s songs, as well as “Jackson”, a duet done by Cash and Carter.

    The movie seemed to do a good job of portraying not all of the good or all of the bad of Johnny’s life, but a good mix and solid story. This is one movie I highly recommend picking up. Later

  • June 29, 2006

    Superman Returns

    Superman

    Superman Returns is an excellent movie. I try to judge comic book movies on 3 things: Closeness to story line, ‘comic book lameness’, and the other movie jib-jab. So first, the other movie jib-jab. The acting was great- Brandon Routh is a kind of new kid on the block playing a pretty big roll. And he did it very well. He was able to capture the awkwardness of Clark Kent that was the reason people didn’t really believe he was Superman, and the super hero everyone looks up to in Superman. Kevin Spacey, who is always flawless, did not let the audience down this time either. He portrayed the evil genius that is Lex Luthor as a smooth criminal and an arrogant bastard. Well Done. The other actors, while I won’t do the whole list, were also great.

    The visuals were Amazing! The flying was seamless, the Fortress of Solitude looked awesome, and Superman’s feats and stunts were incredible. My favorite scene is right in the beginning- his triumphant return.

    As for the comic book lameness, there was very little to none. The reason I disliked Spiderman, and Spiderman II even less, was because it had a lot of lame parts in it (might I bring up Mary Jane, slow motion, water fountain….). With Superman, I cannot recall any overly lame parts. There were comic book parts to it- but they still added to the movie- when Lois and Superman see each other again for the first time, and him in space, for example. Both scenes were very tranquil and relaxing.

    Finally, the sticking to the story line. They kept a lot of stuff in there that is true to the real Superman. A major example is the fact that they let people know that he gets his powers from the sun. His Fortress of Solitude and some other things that might spoil the movies for my readers. All in all, the movie was an excellent movie that I highly recommend. Not at all disappointing. Everything I though it would be and more… Later!

  • May 27, 2006

    X-Men: The Last Stand

    X-Men 3

    Minor Spoilers

    X-Men: The Last Stand (X3) is the third installment of the X-Men Movie Series. I say that because I am not so sure now that it will be a trilogy. I have not heard either way, but a guy can speculate. It takes place shortly after Jean Grey’s “death,” which by now everyone should know did not actually happen. By watching the trailer, you will also know that there is a ‘cure’ for the X gene, which is what makes you a mutant. The mutants are divided.

    X3 takes a darker looking into the Marvel World than its two predecessors. Not that they were light-hearted, family fun movies; X3 is just darker. With the chaos that is about to ensue, they are getting ready for an all out war. Jean Grey (aka Phoenix) is back and her powers are now unchained. She can do what she wants. There are so many twists and turns, unforeseen events and surprises that I don’t really want to talk about more of the movie, but the fight scene towards the end is pretty awesome. Kealsey Grammer as Beast was perfect, as he was able to show the eloquence of Hank McCoy and the awesome power of the Beast. Hugh Jackman did a great job as Wolverine, as always, but it seems he has an even bigger roll to fill in this one(even though it was his story in 2).

    But there were some disappointments, which made me think there will be another one. The way the movie ended made you think that, for one, as it was kind of a cliff hanger. Also, in the beginning they are training, and you see a sentinel, but none make an appearance in the final battle(or any other place in the movie). We also see Angel for the first time, but there is more to his character (as well as Jean’s) that is shown in the movie. All in all I thought the movie was pretty well done, and while I am left with some questions(that may be answered when I see it again), I was happy with it. 4.5/5. Later.

  • May 19, 2006

    Windows Media Player 11 Beta

    Windows Media Player

    I read over at LifeHacker about the new Beta release of WMP 11. As an avid fan of the program, I decided to give it a shot. WMP 10 was nice, but it was kind of getting old, and the screen shot on LifeHacker looked so sexy! So I downloaded and played around. It has its ups and downs, but over all, I like it a lot.

    Its slick new interface is really really nice. It just looks more modern. A more “Today’s PC” kind of feel. It compliments XP’s Royale Theme very nicely. The top options work right into the skin, but you can opt for the ‘normal’ view. The icons are also a lot nicer- with those and a few more subtleties, the who things looks a lot cool and aesthetically pleasing. It also had strong functionality and music management. New to this version, the album cover is shown next to all the music (see above). It makes the music a lot more readable and much more organized. The search function is also nicer. My favorite part is the “Update Album Info” button. Previous to this version, all of my Blink 182 songs were on the album Blink 182, and there was no easy way to change that. However, with WMP 11, The simple click of a button fixed all of that for me. PS- it also comes with URGE, Mtv and Microsoft’s “iTunes Killer”

    But no program (especially a Microsoft BETA program) comes without its cons. Really, I only have 2 3 complaints. The install took WAY too long. I mean almost an hour by the time I restarted and reorganized. It is also a memory hog. I will attribute that to the fact that it is a BETA though. But still, at times, it’s pretty slow and it has crash on me once in the 2 days I have had it. The last thing is that it deleted all of my licenses. Before I realized you could rip CDs to license free .mp3s, I ripped all my music to .wmas with licence info. So some of the music I have owned pre may 2003 needs a license for the PC I want to listen to it on. All of that was already on WMP 10, but must have gotta ousted with the new BETA.

    All in all it’s a pretty fantastic program that I would recommend to those who love WMP, Betas or both, or to those who might be in the market for a new media player/music store. You can get it here. You can also read LifeHacker’s post, with most screen shots, here. Later!

  • March 20, 2006

    Recommended Listening

    Some new music I have gotten into:

    Matisyahu’s Youth is an amazing CD that brings together religion and reggae. With a unique sound that will move you and a heart filled message about the youth, religion, and living a good life, it is a different spin on that particular music scene. Some of my favorite songs are Indestructible, WP, Jerusalem and of course, King Without a Crown. Check him out here

    Nightmare of You has release the debut self-titled album, and it’s pretty rad. They are categorized as indie, but really, I think they are better than that genre. They have a cool sound that is worth checking out. Listen to the lyrics. My favorite song on the album is Thumbelina, which seems like a love song, but kind of is not. Check them out here.

    Both great artists I recommend looking into. Click on the album covers to buy the CDs. Later

  • March 11, 2006

    Fight Night: Round 3

    Fight Night

    I tried to find a screen shot that showcased the sheer awesomeness of the Fight Night Round 3 graphics. This was the best I could do. I assure you it looks better.

    Fight Night is a boxing game, which I am a pretty big fan of since playing Knock Out Kings 2002. Fight Night, however, is infinitely better than Knock Out Kings. First of all, since it is a game for Xbox 360, the graphics are intense and amazing. You can see sweat glistening off the light shining in on the empty warehouse where you have exhibition matches. You can tell when someone’s nose is broken and bleeding. The shine of the gloves from different angles is incredible. The fighters like insanely real. Down to the last dimple (or bruise) on their face. They look even better in slow motion. On first glance, someone might think they are watching a real boxing match. And this is NOT on High Def. This is on regular old (and I do mean old) TV.

    The game play is different, and it’s better this way. Move with the left joy stick, jab with the right. A and R are your haymakers. Dance around the ring, grab, head butt, block, and low blow. You are fighting, do the right thing. Or don’t. It’s your call. In between rounds, you have the chance to fix up your boxer. You bring the swelling around his eyes down and clean up cuts. Make your boxer last as long as humanly possible. When you get knocked down, you have to try and move 2 circles controlled by the left and right joysticks into a center circle, and you better do it before the 10 count. If there is no way you are getting up, you will know.

    Play as a number of legends and greats; Holyfield, Sugar Ray Leonard (and Robinson), Smokin’ Joe and of course, Ali, among many others, Build your own boxer or follow the path of a legend. Fight Night Round 3 is defiantly a game worth buying. You will not be disappointed. Later.