Reviews

Movie and Game Reviews, and Such

  • March 24, 2005

    Hostage

    4/5- A good action film. I thought the movie was good- Willis, obviously a great job. He is a Hostage Negotiator. In the beginning of the movie, there is a suspensful scene. Good start. But the main story comes after. These 3 guys go to steal some very very rich guy’s car. This rich guy is a single father of 2 kids- a say…17 year old daughter named Jennifer and a say….7-10 year old boy named Tommy. The 3 guys enter the house with guns, Tommy pulls the silent alarm. Right here, I knew this kid would be great. Anyway, as the story transpires, Willis (who is now head of a small town Police Dept) gets the call and sees whats up. Anyway, Its a very involved storyline and this is a review, not a summary. The boy, Tommy- played by Jimmy Bennett was a great character. And Jimmy did a great job of portraying that. He was a brave little kid that wasn’t so couragous that it was unbelievable but he wasn’t a total wuss. He was a very smart kid who was able to think on his toes in a hot situation, and did what he had to do. The connection between him a Willis was a great one that was set from the opening scene, even though Tommy wasn’t in the opening scene. My only problem is there was no real closure I think. Sure, there was an ending- but I had some questions that could have been answered.
    The action scenes- sick. There was fire, gunshots, a couple explosions, and a dramatic “walking sillouette” scene. But seriously, one scene towards the end takes the cake- all the plot lines come together in one massive action scene that still kept to the story and didnt end the movie. I liked it. You should go see it. Later.

    ps- its hard to write a good review without giving away the story

  • March 20, 2005

    The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

    5/5- The book is great. It’s funny, entertaining and it tells you teh answers to the most difficult of life’s answers. For example- What is teh answer to the Life, the Universe, and Everything?? The book tells you. However, it doesnt tell you what the question is. Basically, the story is this. The Earth is blown up to build a galactic highway overpass that will be obsolete in a little while anyway. So Earth’s only survivor, Arthur Dent, and his galactic hitchhiking friend, Ford Prefect find a ride off of and away from earth. Of course, the fact that there is a whole nother galaxy, etc. is news to him. Anyway, They eventually get picked up by the Heart of Gold- an Improbobility Drive (which is scientifically explained in the book). It’s a very fast read, but an incredible cliff hanger, which means I now have to read the second book i n the series, “Restuarant at the End of the Universe”. If you have been reading this, you know there is a Movie coming out in April. I know Im going to go see it. Later !

  • January 29, 2005

    Sideways

    8.5/10- Sideways is the story of two middle-aged men named Miles and Jack, who go on a week long trip before Jake gets married that Saturday. Miles is a Middle School English Teacher/Writer and wine conosure who got divorced 2 years prior. He is waiting to hear if his first book is being published. He is the type that keeps to himself mostly, suffers from depression (i think anyway) and is shy. Jack, on the other hand, is the wild, party type who is always looking to have a good time. The movie revolves around their trip, and the soul searching they go through. The acting from both Paul Giamatti (Miles) and Thomas Haden Church (Jack) was great. Each character started in one place, and by the end of the movie, became a new man in a sense, and Giamatti and Church made that transformation apparant. This movie depicted a real friendship between two guys, no matter what the age. Even at 19, i felt like i could relate to some of the arguments they were having as well as the fun. It made the movie something real that you could see happening to you.
    As for the comedy- i would say its definentily not the funniest movie I’ve seen, but it has it moments, or blocks. There were the wise ass sexual innuendoes from Jack from time to time, as well as some just flat out funny scenes that meshed well with the movie. My only complaint is that the movie has some fairly boring parts and seemed to run a little long, even though i was just over 2 hours. I still highly recommend you see it, as it isnt your average movie. Later

  • January 11, 2005

    Eminem- Encore

    4/10- one for each song that was good. Let me start by saying i am in no way a rap fan. BUT, I was a fan of Eminem’s Marshall Mathers LP and The Marshall Mathers show. He did more than rap about drugs, sex, killing, sex and drugs. I mean, he did rap about that, but one or 2 songs on the album isnt bad since most rap songs are about being in a club, for ‘fucking some bitch’. But this time, His songs for the most part are lazily put together just muttering whatever rhymes with the “predominenty” stupid noises he made in almost all of his songs. His style of rapping is different in alot of his songs, but that is not my complaint. Its that he raps about stupid shit, drugs, sex, clubs, shooting. This may have been ok for his first album, but he has grown since then, and we see that in songs like “Mockingbird”, but even that he ruins with the ending. He makes no sense in his songs like “Big Weenie” and “Rain Man” saying things like “Munch a bunch of crunch a munch” and his rant about being gay (rain man). In MM LP he talked about being famous, being there for his daughter, getting blamed for stupid shit. “The way I am” is a great song where he tells it like it is. In “Stan” is another great that i think really reaches out to his fans who take him too seriously. The Marshall Mathers Show talks about going to jail, and everything with his trial and letting Haily down. But this album has no direction, not sense of feeling. There are a couple of songs-
    “Mockingbird”, “Yellowbrick Road”, “Crazy in Love”, “Like Toy Soldiers” (minus those kids singing) that show he did think about the songs. But they are over powered by the stupidity of the rest of the songs, esp. rain main, big weenie, and ass like that. Even the last song, called “Encore” is a club song like “Just Lose It”. Over all, his rhymes make no sense, he focuses more on the beat than the message, and it seems like he didnt try. His tracks are made for club music. Its less personal, and in turn, not good. Later

  • January 10, 2005

    Masters of Doom

    Now, I don’t read too much, and when I do finish a book, its definitely worth reading. Masters of Doom is the story of the Two Johns that created an empire in video games, with such titles as the revolutionary Comander Keen, which brought console like graphics to the computer, Wolfenstien, the first 1st person-shooter, Doom, which started a new video game craze with networked deathmatching, and Quake which started internet deathmatching. “The Rock Star”- John Romero- had a vision about become an ‘Ace Programmer, Future Rich Person’ and that came to be when He met “The Rocket Scientist”- John Carmack. With Carmack’s brilliant new engines that revolutionized the way video games were played, Romero saw big things to do with those engines. It tells the story of how they met in a small town in Shrevport, Louisiana and then went on to create ID Software, the best video game company for some time, all before they were 30.
    David Kushner did a great job of telling the unique and inspiring story of how ID was built up, how Romero became a video game rock star, how Carmack wrote these revolutionary engines, how it all come together and the lives they effected. My favorite story to read was Carmack’s, because he did in the gaming world what I want to do on the web. Create something new, revolutionary, that no one has ever done before. While I might have a long way to go to do that, and I might not know what Im going to do yet, but this book inspired me to do my best. At the end of the book, Kushnet leaves you with this quote from Carmack.

    If you want to set off and go develop some grand new thing, you don’t need millions of dollars of capitalization. You need enough pizza and Diet Coke to stick in your refridgerator, a cheap PC to work on, and the dedication to go through with it. We slept on floors. We waded across rivers.

    Masters of Doom is a great book to read, especially if you are a gamer or a programmer. But the story is a unique one that will pull you into their world, through the ups and the downs, and leave you with the cliff hanger that is their present and future. Later!

  • January 9, 2005

    Killzone

    This first person shooter brings you right into the action of a heinous struggle between ‘good and evil’. You are fighting a war against the helghast, which seems to be a, as Gamespot put it, “dark version of [your]self.” While you don’t spend alot of time (from what I have seen so far) getting to know who the Helghast is, you spend ALOT of time gunning them down. You go from a variety of different situations fighting the enemy with diferent guns on many different levels. One part I really do like about that game is it isn’t your normal run through killing everything shooter. If you do not use caution, you will die. You have to use some kind of plan to advance, which I think really draws you in, because you have to think out every situation you are in. What just worked in a control room isnt going to work in the court yard.
    Plus, They give you some fan-fucking-tastic weapons to play with. The standard assult rifle you get has a weak zoom, and a granade launcher as its second weapon. That is your standard gun. The Helghast gun is like the assault rifle you have, except its second weapon is a shot gun blast. Some of the other weapons I have played with: a shotty, a missile launcher, a gun turret (which is super powerful) and a sniper rifle, which takes some getting used to.
    Multiplayer is another fun aspect of the game. You can play with up to 4 people, and 500 bots. Yes, 500 bots. The bots are just like the helghast in the game, but probably a little smarter. The levels to play on are pretty big, and really fun. You get every weapon the game has to offer, including a portable version of the gun turret. But, just like in the campaign mode, if your not careful, you will die.
    One thing i didn’t like at first was that you can’t jump. But as Phil put it, “Who jumps around like [in Halo] in real life?” A good point. As for having to get over obsticles, the game provides the alternative of when approaching an alternative, you hit X. SO, thats not so much of a bother anymore. All in all the game is fun, entrancing, and somewhat realistic. I highly recommend it. 9.5/10.

  • December 31, 2004

    World of Warcarft

    This is a game were you pay for the game, and then u pay monthly to play it. The first month is free. Now, it seems simple. Don’t buy the game. But all of your friends tell you how awesome the game is. So you say “Well, ill buy game, play for the first month, and then not play any more.” Right. I have dubbed this game “World of Warcrack”. Because, well you get a taste of it right. The first time i played i was like, ehh. BUT, i couldnt stop thinking about playing it. About leveling my charater, making him stronger, getting him better weapons, killing stuff. So I keep playing. In 3 i must have logged, umm, too many hours to count. Needless to say, you wont just be playing the free month. Play the game alone the first time and its like ehh, but then u play with your friends. And yeah, its alot cooler. traveling in a pack, taking on bigger enemies, and plus you level quicker. And you can be 1 of 8 species, and then a profession. Im a dwarf Rouge. And a Human Wizard. If you are familiar with Warcraft, basically, your a Hero. The game= amazing. The paying for it= not so hot. But you’ll still do it. The stoners know what Im talking about. The game is really addictive. In an awesome way. If you like Diablo and Warcraft, you will absolutely <3 World of Warcraft. Later!

  • December 20, 2004

    Fire Fox Review.

    Finals Are over and well, i couldnt be more happy. Now, I need to find a job. Preferably well paying. Anyway, alot has gone on in the past week, so im reporting.
    Fire Fox 1.0– I have been hearing great things about this browser, and last night my friend showed me what he did with his. After that I was convinced to at least try it out. In 10 min, i was convinced that this is the best fucking browser. First of all, its Open Source. That means when someone wants the browser to do something, the write a code for it, or tell someone too. This means there is a load of extentions to download. Some of the ones I got are:
    – FoxyTunes- control of your music player from within fire fox. -Web Developer- A bunch of tools for, you guessed it, the web developer. Its a tool bar that allowes you to change the CSS of the page, or apply your own, validate the CSS, HTML, Links, and other things on any page, display certain attributes about images, such as dimmentions and alt tags, and resize the window resolution. -ForcastFox- weather, from anywhere, in the bottom of your browser. -Mouse Guesters- The all important right click. Right click and move your mouse a certain way, and u can go back, formward, new window, open a certain link, or anything else you can do with a broswer. -AdBlock- th ebest thing ever. Not only does it block pop ups, but u can chose to have it blocks ads with in pages. That means all those annoying ads on tripod sites, geocities sites, and even google ads, can be blocked. It will do wonders for ESPN’s Site, as that site is full of ads. if I have time later, ill get up a screen shot.
    There are also customizable skins, add ons like google search, a bookmarks nav bar, tabbed browsing, and a bunch of other fun stuff. If you don’t have it, you definetly should. Later!

  • November 27, 2004

    National Treasure….4.5

    A damn good movie. Nicholas Cage was a great actor, as usual. The storyline is like so: A man Named Ben Gates (Cage) is a big history buff because of the history in his family. His family holds the key to finding a treasure hidden by the Masons, a secret society, in the late 1700s, around the time of t he revolution. The map is drawn on the back of the declaration of independence. So now they (gatesa and party) are racing against the FBI and the part of his group that broke away from him to find this treasure in time.
    Now they dont say it, but im certain the treasure was suppose to be the Holy Grail. It was protected by the Knights Templar, whom i read about in the DaVinci Code. I really found the movie very interesting and it had alot of similarities to the DaVinci Code without the strong religious overtones. The reason I have it a 4.5 and not a 5 is because of some lame parts, and its one of those movies that you only have to watch once. Maybe twice for good measure. All in all, great movie. Later!

  • October 8, 2004

    The Futureheads!

    This band is really awesome, and its not really the type of music I listen too. They are from britain, and sing happy fun stuff. Songs like decent days and nights, le garage, Hounds of Love and Robot just put you in a really good mood, and the songs don’t get old. I must thank Olenick for introducing me to them because I can’t get enough of them. They kinda sound like the Strokes if the strokes were british, upbeat and acapella- according to mike. I wanna say there are elements of the beach boys in there kinda maybe. And the british aspect of course. But you should def check them out. They are links in Links, and you can listen to the album with their online flash player. Later!