Reviews

Movie and Game Reviews, and Such

  • August 24, 2005

    A lot to say


    • Buy the CD

    • Buy the CD

    It seems like I haven’t posted in a very long time. A lot more than 4 days. Maybe it’s because I have been doing a good amount of stuff to keep me busy. Such as this site, but I will leave that to another day. This post is to tell you about 2 CDs that I have been listening to non-stop. I know I’ve recently got some criticism for my reviews, because I will usually only review good things. But what can I say. I don’t but bad stuff. Actually, that’s a lie- I will review Beck’s new cd a little later, and so far, its anot all that good.
    The first CD is Rufio’s The Comfort of Home. If you like Rufio, you will really like this CD. It starts off exactly like the other rufio CDs, with that kind of punk/emo high guitar riff that goes right into the vocals. The melodies in “A Simple Line” and “Drowning” are incredible and just move you. But through out the whole CD you get a sense like its building up on something more than what you would expect from an Emo band. It’s not something I can really put my finger on, but it will leave you more satisfied than their last 2 CDs.
    As for Fall Out Boy’s From Under the Cork Tree, this is your usual rock album that makes you want to jump around. It’s a fun one to listen to and sing along to, and that alone is worth the CD.

  • July 29, 2005

    Invisible Monsters

    invisible monsters
    Buy the Book

    5/5- The book Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahnuik is an incredible roller coaster ride that I can only describe as “Fucked Up”. Our Narrator guides us through her life- her past, present and inevitable future as she is rebuilding after a horrible accident that took her from being the most beautiful woman to a hideous monster; Someone everyone noticed and loved, to someone that people chose to ignore because that’s how bad she looked. How everything comes full circle and nothing is what it seems. Palahnuik does a great job, as he does in Fight Club.
    A wild, crazy ride with a very unique way of telling the story- but it feels right in its own haphazard way. You will say “What the fuck?” and then keep reading because you need to know what happens. What twists and turns are next, what is the next bombshell. You will feel deceived, as the characters in the books do. You will feel like you know the characters- who they are and who they were. But everyone has their secrets and they will all be exposed. Later.

  • July 17, 2005

    Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

    5/5- The film is absolutely phenomenal. Another great work by Tim Burton. The cinematography, scenery, acting, and especially musical numbers were all pluses for the film. Depp’s Willy Wonka was great and the type of odd that I think it was more meant to be. Having not read the book [yet], it’s tough for me to draw a comparison to it, but it was a well done movie over all- this film showed more about Wonka than the first one, and while it had the sad undertone of him having a bad relationship with his father, it did not ruin the comedic moments. Depp did a great job in brightening up the lighter moments and diving deep into the darker moments that were his past. Freddie Highmore was great as Charlie, really bringing out the good character and highlighting the ‘moral of the story’ moments. The scenery gave that odd sense that Burton has in all of his films, but it still gave off the happier feeling of the Wonka Factory. The funny parts are well placed and well delivered. I laughed the whole time, but at the same time felt for the characters. Over all the film was well done and is worth seeing…and seeing again. Later.

  • July 12, 2005

    Fight Club- the Book

    fight club book
    Buy the Book

    5/5- If you’ve seen the movie, the book is not blown for you. That being said, onto the review. I could say stuff like ‘the book takes you on a roller coaster ride of emotion and anarchy that keeps you guessing until the very end.’ and that would be true. But here is what I will say- the book is darker and more sadistic than the movie. Not that the movie was bad- and some things that were changed had to be or were changed to make a better movie. The book starts off the same- Tyler with a gun in [Narrator’s] mouth- and then flash back to meeting Tyler Durdan. The way the meet is different, but that doesn’t matter. So once our narrator meets Tyler, his whole world is rocked. Lives in a shit hole house, joins fight club, but still goes to the support groups he used to go to on occasion. And our narrator still doesn’t sleep. But the book gives us more insight into the creation of Project Mayhem and it’s inner workings. How Project Mayhem evolved from Fight Club. How once Tyler’s secret is blown, the Narrator’s life heads in a bigger downward spiral than the movie would show and how Fight Club/Project Mayhem turns against him, and then events leading to a different ending than the movie. The book also focuses more the Narrator’s and Marla’s relationship than the movie showed. The book is great- a masterpiece. Palanauk is a genius. Read the book. Even if you saw the movie. You won’t be disappointed. Later

  • July 9, 2005

    The Fantastic Four

    the fantastic four

    3/5- It had its ups and downs. Another comic book movie, the fantastic 4 is about 5 people who go up into space to track a DNA cloud, the get caught in it, it alters their DNA to kind of fit their he 4 personality. The four good ones- Reed, Sue, Johnny and Ben- the one bad- Victor Von Doom. One day, disaster strikes on a bridge, the 4 are there to help out, they get their name….The group argues as stress mounts- ben hates the fact that he is a (the) thing, johnny loves his powers and he attention, Reed and Sue are just into each other. Von Doom becomes evil after he looses everything- his company, his money, ‘his’ girl. Some things were well done- for instance- the 4 really worked well together- there was good chemistry there which made for a better movie. It is no Batman Begins by far, but it is fairly close to the Spiderman movies- similar qualities- and this movie has some pretty cool special effects. The plot was there, there was reasoning behind it, the characters grew and changed throughout the movie- Ben the most. From start to finish, they realized what Johnny already thought- their powers were a gift, not a curse. The final fight scene could have been better, though it did show how well the 4 worked together, and the real power Sue has. If you are into comic books, i tihnk you will enjoy the movie. Later

  • May 31, 2005

    Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (the video game)


    get the game

    4.5/5- An incredible game that puts you in the movie. It does a pretty decent job of not giving away any major parts that a Star Wars fan didn’t already know. The game play is awesome- it is a 3rd person view and you are either Anakin or Obi-Wan durring the game. Your lightsaber skills are awesome if you can get the combos are your force powers better. Each level you gain expirience which you then attribute to a certain skill. I used mine on criticlaa attacks, force heal, force throw and for anakin, lightning. Now I’m usually not a big fan of 3rd person but it’s nessesary here in order to get the full jedi expirience. The game itself is a little short but the bonus missions and multiplayer makes up for it . In the bonus missions you get to be Greivous’ body guard- which sucks because it is a slow cluncky droid with no special abilities- Greivous- which is cool because of his special ability to use 4 lightsabers (default for him is 2)- Anakin- always fun- and YODA. Being Yoda is alot of fun because he is so fast. He’s really just the ball with a lightsaber. All his force powers are fatal on the lower level enemies and he is fast enough to hit the assassins with his lightsaber- The assassins are very fast. The best part is his force circle (i guess that’s what I will call it). Basically if you are surrounded by enemies, you do that they ALL die.
    Then there is the multiplayer. You unlock various characters in the game- including Darth Vader and Ben Kenobi- you also unlock Mace, Greivous, Dooku, 2 jedi just in the game, not the movie, and of course Anakin and Obi-Wan. You can’t be Yoda, because that would be unfair. The cool thing about Multiplayer is that Anakin’s powers are based on your progress in the game. Once you go to the dark side in story mode, he has lightning in multiplayer. There is VS and Co-Op. I didn’t do too much co-op, but from what I did its cool and different from the actual story mode- you get to be different characters on some levels.
    My only complaint with the game is the view sometimes. When you are fighting a circle of people you can’t change the camera angle, so it leaves you guessing as to where the enemies are. But, the game is still worth it. I highly recommend it. Later!

  • May 23, 2005

    System of a Down- Mezmerize

    4.8- An incredible album. Its the normal strangeness of System of a Down that make you wonder “what the hell were they on when the wrote this??” But between the strange lyrics like ‘Jake Girardi’s 10 feet tall’ and what ever he says in This Cocaine makes me feel like I’m on this song, there is the story of a nation divided and their annoyances with government in general. Their rifts paint the picture of the story they tell in their lyrics- whether it be a chaotic, insane sound that portrays absolute anarchy like in Cigaro and Old School Hollywood or a sad scene like in Lost in Hollywood, which has a more toned down sound to it- something darker. With that album, you can tell they are building up to something more- the last song leaves you wanting more, which will come with the second half of the album, Hypnotize- in late fall. Over all the cd is well worth it and I look forward to the 2nd half.

  • May 20, 2005

    Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith

    WARNING: SOME SPOILERS

    5/5- An absolute amazing film. I saw it at 12:01, Thursday Morning. The first showing. The entire experience was different for me. For one, I’ve never been to a premiere like this before. People were dressed up, which I expected, and everyone was buzzing with excitement. We got there at roughly 9:45 to find an already filling up theater. Then there was the wait. It wasn’t too bad. But finally, the lights went out, STAR WARS flashed on the screen, followed by the preface. I got so excited, the theater cheered. Now I was expecting greatness. I know some were not due to the fact that some didn’t like I and II. But I did- though they weren’t as good as the originals. But this movie. It had the greatness I expected and more. From the begining- when they go rescue the emperor. The fight with Dooku. I was very into the movie. Kottke said it best- The movie pulls you in. You know what happens, but hope for a different outcome. When Palpatine tells Anakin he knows the Dark Side of the Force, and Anakin pulls his lightsaber out, you think “Fucking kill him!” But you know it isn’t going to happen. When Mace has the Emperor pinned, you want Mace to kill him but you know it wont happen. And even though you know the outcome, it doesn’t suck because of that. I won’t give away all the stuff, but just know that, just as Kottke said, you feel bad for Vader. It’s sad. But for me, Ewan McGregor stole the show. His performance as Obi Wan was flawless. You felt for him. He lost a brother. He had to fight Anakin even though he didn’t want to. And when he said “You were the Chosen One. You were my brother…” you hoped more than anything that Anakin, laying there, would come to his senses. But he doesn’t. As one of the best movies I have ever seen, I highly recommend you go see it. I will probably provide more on it after I see it for the second time. Rule of thumb- see a good movie in the theater 3 times. Once to know what happens, twice to analyze it, and the third time to appreciate it. Later.

  • May 9, 2005

    The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

    4.9/5- Overall, a great adaptation from the book. They added something that I can only assume came from the second or third book to take up some time- but it did really travel to far from the story line- and kept all of my favorite parts of the book, as well as added a nice little musical number. My few complaints were that Zaphod wasn’t really looking like I had pictured (but thats just a me thing), and there was one part of the book where they didn’t really go into depth about including his 2 head that I think was a pretty significant part- especially if they are going to make the other parts of the series into a movie as well. The also did too much a love story with Arthur and Trish, but that can only be expected. Over all, a great movie that I highly recommend- I just recommend you read the book either before or after. Later!

  • April 17, 2005

    Sin City- 4.9/5

    Wow- what a great film. I heard rave reviews about it and felt the need to go see it. So last night, I did- and from the opening scene I was blown away. First of all- there was an all star cast- Bruce Willis, Jessica Alba, Elijah Wood, Clive Owen (King Aurther), Benicio del Toro, Brittany Murphy, and Alexis Bledel(of Gilmore Girls fame) to name a few. Ill put it out there right now- besides the all star cast, some of the acting was ehh. Just some. But the cinematography was amazing. The colorings were the same as in the comic. The movie was incredibly similar to the comic- and I think that is because Frank Miller, who wrote it, also co-directed the movie. It was comic book movie/ old 1950’s detective work. Voice overs, the music, the fact that the movie was for the most part in black and white. The movie is immursive- you really feel like you are there. The story line- there is this City- Basin City- where there is also A LOT of violence. The movie focuses on 3 different stories at 3 different times. The first and last one follow the same character and the same story line, and happened first. The other 2 are up for grabs as to when they happened- around the same time presumably. But- Basin City- Crime runs this city- but you’ve got your heroes too. And then there are the ones who will do bad things for a good cause. This is where one character- Marv – comes in. He may have been the show stealer for me. You can tell, without a back story, that the man has been through a lot. The last thing he wants to do is avenge the death of someone who showed him kindness. And he goes through hell. Hartigan- played by Wilis- is our hero. A good cop facing retirement. This man also goes through hell trying to protect someone- an innocent girl- Nancy Callahan- age 9. The 3rd character is Dwight- played by Owen. At the end, the stories don’t really tie together, but become linked by a character or 2. The movie- like I said- is really well done. i suggest you go see it. Later.