nothing going on...

Well I was going to post my review of Saw 3 on here, but I had to leave before the movie was done (somebody went missing?), but from what I've seen so far it's pretty...interesting. I have a soft spot for Saw for some reason (NOT primarily for the gore and such), I guess it's the plot twists it always includes. If there's one thing that can turn a movie around for me, it's a plot twist. Saw always includes great plot twists that don't necessarily change your entire perception of the movie, but it does make you want to take a second look at the movie. Anyways, review to follow later. Something interesting though: Halo 3. Information is coming through just in time to follow the release of the other Xbox giant Gears of War, as part of a pretty smart marketing drive. So, screenshots have started leaking out and official information will come later, and it's looking pretty sweet. I've included some semi-illegal leaked screens so you can see for yourself one of next year's top multiplayer games (inevitably). From the four wheelers, to the anti-vehicle lasers, to the guns on the back, to the detailed graphics. Keep in mind, the majority of the graphics are just placeholder and are far from the final product, but looking from a gameplay perspective, I'm excited. But then again, if I had had to pay for Halo 2 up front by the amount of hours I have put into it by now, that game would've cost me half of China's economy. Those games are too much fun. Over and out.

the nerdiest of nerds need only apply

So, while playing Halo 2 (the game I hate most of course), I came across a terrible behavior in the players of my team. So I take this guy down who has been hogging the shotgun all game, and I move to pick up the very weapon I've been killed by multiple times and my teammate jumps in front of me and picks up the gun in question. ? . Perhaps an analogy: you're mining for gold and BAM you find a huge nugget! As you reach for the gold someone steps in front of you, grabs the golden greatness, and says "Oh hey dude did you want this? Cool." and walks off to the nearest BB&T to cash out. So there you have it. Not everyone plays Halo but you can understand that if you work for something then maybe you earn it? Maybe it makes sense in some bizarro world. Oh and the picture is provided by the local Kindergarten class Sand Art class. Thanks Mitch! Over and friggin out.

Counterstrike

So, I went back to play the classic Counterstrike (Source for all of those interested), and I played for about 10 minutes max. That game kicks the crap out of you. Imagine: you're hitchhiking on a nice day in a nice part of town, and a big, fun-looking truck stops for you. The driver offers you a philly cheese steak, some kool aid, and basically is a really cool guy from the outset. Then you wake up in a ditch wearing a dress and your head's shaved and you've got "It's Raining Men" ringing in your ears. The game's fun at first...until you play it. Christ. Over and out.

The Prestige

This weekend marks the opening for a movie I've been looking forward to since God knows when (and by that I mean Batman Begins). By the same director as Batman Begins, Christopher Nolan brings us another epic with intrigue, mystery, and gripping storyline. It's about two competing magicians, but that's all I will say about it, as my own assumptions were completely thrown about it. The entire time it keeps you guessing, wondering what is really going on; and that is where the movie strikes some sort of brilliance. What is the essence of a magic trick? To keep the audience guessing. Oh, and I don't mean keeping the audience guessing in the context of a movie by way of who will live and die, whose allegiance is to who, but more expansively, what really is going on altogether. The movie is long done and I'm still digesting all of it, and in my book, that's a damn good movie. Great acting, great music, beautiful cinematography and wonderful laying out of the story make it my great surprise movie of 2006. Usually my surprise movie is something that came out of the blue to impress me, but I was expecting gold from this movie, and it came out as diamonds. Highly recommended if you're looking for a movie that you can take something home with, not recommended if you're looking for a popcorn movie. Can't wait to see it again, and also absolutely cannot wait until the next Batman. Be watching Christopher Nolan, because he seems to be what everyone thinks/thought Peter Jackson is/was. Also, kudos to Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, Michael Caine, Scarlett Johannsen, the guy who was Golum and David freakin Bowie for excellent performances. Definitely worth the price of admission.

Random ramblings...

Check out xkcd.com Great comics site that parodies other online webcomics and also has great off-beat humor by a friend of mine. While you're at it buy a T-shirt. I wish Nintendo nerds weren't nerdier than me and had beaten me to the punch of pre-ordering the Wii. I hope there are enough in stores or it looks like I'm camping out for the second shipment again (anybody want to join?) Gears of War is looking tighter everyday. Full support of co-op sounds awesome. My brother and I played through the first Halo on co op for a good 10 hours straight and went to church the next day with bloodshot eyes. Same with Halo 2. Gears looks like it will up the intensity and be ripe for 2 player goodness. Only two worries though: A) hopefully you can do more than one person on a box multiplayer and B) good god there's alotta gore. Prestige in technically a day woot and I got myself a Deja Vu poster which is pretty tight. Just gotta keep on working and hoping Gamestop hires me. Over and out.

Fall movies?

So with all of these movies seemingly coming out of nowhere, you might be wondering: "Is this movie worth my money?" Well, in all truth, it's tough to find a single movie that's worth 8 bucks for one viewing, but let's see if we can't find one. As I stated before, Departed is friggin awesome; 2 and a half hours well used and money well spent. Looking forward though, The Prestige comes out this Friday and it looks pretty sweet. If you've seen any advertisements, you know this is the next one by the Batman Begins director Christopher Nolan (great director), and if you just gave it a passing glance it looks like the next Batman. Really though, it's a story about two competing magicians (for another magician movie of this fall, see: The Illusionist) trying to figure out eachother's secrets. It looks to carry the same mystery and style as Batman, and with the cast it's carrying it looks like it's going to do well. Review to follow at the end of this week. Beyond The Prestige, I've personally been looking forward to Deja Vu. This one stars Denzel and is being directed by Tony Scott (see: Matchstick Men) and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer (see: any movie with a chase scene and huge explosion). This one's about a new crime unit that is set up to stop a murder/crime before it happens using technology that can see 5 days into the past at any location. I...honestly don't really understand the story as of yet, but the trailer is clever and very polished looking. Google it. It looks good and I love the handheld camera style. This leads me to my next movie: Harsh Times. By the guys who brought you Training Day is a movie that doesn't seem to be much of a deviation from that formula. Starring Christian Bale (who seems to have hit his stride) it's about a man who lives in the rough neighborhoods and is asked to join a government defense agency. As with this one, I don't know much about the story, but the style and the acting look great. On a completely different note comes Eragon. Being advertised as the Harry Potter of this holiday, it's about some big war with dragons and something or another. I guess we'll see. Oh and let's not forget James Bond (and don't even say the new Bond doesn't look tight). Looks like a good fall for movies. Over and out.

The Marine and other fun things

So this weekend I saw Man of the Year and the Marine. Man of the Year was funny but now that I think of it I can't even remember it, so if you're looking for a pretty funny (assumingly) movie but not a life-changer, go see it. On the other hand there's The Marine. As you can tell by the posters and the metal-rock included on the commercials, this movie is Bad Ass (capitalized because it is that intense). By bad ass I mean completely ridiculous from its WWE Films intro to its exploding end. Before I even go further, you might want to consider looking around your house for those things you might own that might be flammable. Once located, then proceed to separate any flammable objects that might be too close to another flammable objects. Why, you might ask? Because if The Marine is any indication, if you put one propane tank and one bottle of Vaseline next to eachother you've got North Korea on your hands if someone by chance is made of sparks or have metal teeth and love to talk. In this movie, rather than provide transitions between two locations, once enough dialogue has been vomited all over the ground of one spot, they'll blow the sh*t to kingdom come (with the Marine always making a dive out of a window or nearby opening). You like those fireworks they have when WWE wrestlers enter the ring? (I assume they still do that) Well this movie takes all the leftovers and makes sure that they waste as much gasoline as possible (while it's cheap). It's an idiotic movie with some pretty surprisingly funny humor (Terminator 2 reference? Rape by hillbillies reference? Oh yeah.), but I say save it for a night with pizza and nothing else to do. Oh and whichever friend of your's might be recommending that you go see The Grudge 2, be sure to never do anything for them again. Over and out.

Winter Preview Part 1

So it's about that time of the year again. The time of the year where all of those wonderful things we drooled over during the summer are finally within grasp for the holidays (so convenient). I figured it'd be nice to let all of those interested in video games catch an opinion of some of the interesting picks you might want to look out for this fall.

The Nintendo Wii: This winter, Nintendo's getting back in the home console race (and to many, yes, they did leave) with their new remote thingy that kindof looks like an Ipod. For only 250 dollars (more on the emphasis on the only in a bit) you can have the Wii which plays all Gamecube games, and you can download all the old Super Nintendo, Nintendo, Sega Genesis, N64 and tons of other games you want for a small fee (Battletoads anyone?). Oh and not to mention it comes with a Wii game. The whole system is based around movement; if you swing the controller your character on-screen will swing whatever object he/she is holding, and it all looks super fun. There should be plenty of these in stores for the holidays so check it out (since there's no new Ipod models and getting clothes for Christmas is lame).

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess: Watch out Nintendo fans, this one's finally coming out. But seriously, some people have been obsessing over this one for years (and yes it's as weird as it sounds), but this one looks to be fun. Of course, Zelda is a cultural icon, so most of you know what this is about: the whole elf/knight guy running around trying to save a princess from god knows what terrors. Looks to be fun, and since it's on the Wii it has cool things like if you swing the remote (one of the two controllers) Link (the protagonist) will slash his sword or if you pull one controller back in a bow and arrow fashion, Link will draw up his bow. Pretty neat stuff. All in all, it might not be a revolutionary story, but its epic gameplay and fun controller uses look to make it a worthwhile purchase.

Gears of War: That's right folks, there's no new Halo this year. But wait, before you hold up your nearest BB&T there's an alternative coming to the Xbox king. Coming to Xbox 360 in November is Gears of War. The story is as follows: you're on Earth hundreds of years in the future, and (atleast I think this is how it goes) a monster race has emerged from the depths of the Earth and dominated most of the globe. Your character is in jail, and is broken out as a last ditch effort to save the world (along with many others). The game looks to be super fun in its fast gun play and as a sweet bonus you can play through the whole story with a friend. Though it is not for the kids (many F-bombs and blood and body parts everywhere), it's definitely a purchase and will no doubt sell Xbox 360's.

More to come next update. Over and out.

The Departed and Employee of the Month

So the movie studios have coughed up their latest offerings for the weekend, the most prominent of which being The Departed and Employee of the Month (unless you count the flaming pile of Texas Chainsaw Massacre). The latter of the two mentioned above, Employee of the Month, stars Dane Cook, Andy Dick, and Jessica Simpson's breasts. The movie was lighthearted and had some very funny parts to it (most of which consisting of Dane Cook or Andy Dick being themselves), but as a whole don't pay to see it. If you haven't heard the plot, it's about two guys competing to get the employee of the month award all because Jessica Simpson's character will sleep with them if they do. It's a pretty amusing set up, and there are characters I'm sure you'll recognize (many from your life), but it just misses the mark. On the one hand you have to keep up with Mr. Cook and his nemesis's quick quips of humor and it is all good and dandy, but then they include less than stellar physical humor which just seems to baby the audience. And earlier, when I said Jessica Simpson's breasts, that wasn't some outward perverted comment, it's sadly true. Out of some strange twist of fate, all of Ms. Simpson's clothing has been cut right down the middle and all of her bras have been replaced by trap doors upon which her breasts fall out of. It's really ridiculous, but it's not like she has any idea what's going on. On the other side of the release list is The Departed. In an amazingly star studded cast of Matt Damon, Leo Decaprio, Alec Baldwin, Martin Sheen and Mark Wahlberg, the movie knocks it out of the park. The story is as follows: there's a cop who's chosen to go undercover (Decaprio) to take out a mob boss in Boston (Nicholson) while at the same time the mob boss has a snitch in the police department (Damon). It's a very interesting set up, and allows for many high intensity chases and dialogue. It's all amazingly acted (mega-kudos to Decaprio, who I used to hate, for providing an amazing showing), well edited, and superbly scripted. When I say superbly scripted, I mean these guys not only sound like the inner-city cops from Boston, but they cuss like they're constantly being kicked in the nads. For those going to view the movie, Wahlberg's a treat. The dialogue involves the F-word being folded like a pretzel and thrown in the most unlikely places. Basically, if you have patience (it's 2 and a half hours long), enduring ears, and an extra ten bucks to spend, it's well worth it. My message to all of you not looking at either of these movies and still going out to the theater this weekend: please don't see Texas Chainsaw Massacre. If you'd like to see something outlandish and ridiculous, go to ask.com and imagine the Ask Jeeves butler guy in the context of Die Hard or Rambo. Atleast that's free. Over and out.

The Office

Recently, I've come down with something awful. With the seasons changing, the senses go into overload and try to keep up with temperatures jumping around like a middle school girl's mood during PMS. Well, I wish this was what I was referring to, but unfortunately, the cure for my illness is not so simple. I am an addict of The Office. The Office is a show that is actually a derivative of a British show of the same name, and was released 2 years ago (I think). I heard praise and recommendations left and right but only recently downloaded (legally of course, right?) the first season. I started on my first episode and couldn't stop. I devoured episode after episode, downloaded the second season, and soon my life was planned around whether or not I could fit an extra 25 minutes (or if I could replace such mundane things as bathing,etc.). It didn't stop until I was done with all of the episodes, which was conveniently when season 3 premiered. Basically, it is an amazing show. It uses subtlety and awesome improv to merely set up the situation which is only made a quadrillion times better by the characters included on the show. Steve Carrel is amazing as always (has he ever not been since the Daily Show?) and really, there are very few other actors I've ever seen, and yet they're all amazing. It's all believable andvery well put together. Basically, you owe it to yourself to watch the show. I said all of this about Arrested Development not too long ago, but this show actually dethroned A.D. (R.I.P.); and that should say something. Highly Recommended. Over and out.

Introducing...

So this will be where you can find my opinion on movies and general entertainment in coming weeks. Be prepared.