The Man Who Wasn't There

So, DMC4 demo. Um...not very impressed. I liked it more than callmesteam did, apparently, but I'm going to hold my opinion until the game releases. It's too easy, for one. And while there are times where the game is absolutely beautiful, some of the locations, especially the indoor ones, look like a higher-def version of earlier games.

I'm also not convinced in their decision to make Nero the main character, instead of Dante. I'm not 100% sure I like his abilities--or lack thereof--but, again, it's a demo. And sometimes a demo doesn't do a game justice. The boss fight was cool, though. Game moves blisteringly fast, as well, and virtually no load times = win.

PixelJunk Monsters...Now that is a good game. I played through about four levels last night and loved it. The art style doesn't really do much for me and I wish it controlled a bit faster and I wish it were more like the maze-like tower defense where you build towers as a labyrinth to make the monsters move where you want...but it's still great fun. You have to take it for what it is, and it excels at that. I'm looking forward to trying the 2 player mode.

I spent a small chunk of last night programing my new remote. It's pretty cool. I like that you can set up "activities" as opposed to switching between the devices. So, for instance, I created one called "Watch TV." So when I press that activity, it turns on my TV, my audio receiver and my DVR. Then, automatically, it knows that if I want to change the channel, the remote will use my DVR. If I want to turn up the volume, it'll use the receiver. So, there's no device-swapping for me. It just works for that activity.

Or, if I want to "Watch DVD," it'll turn on my Xbox 360, the TV and the receiver, turning all of it to the right area for sound and picture. Then, pushing the majority of the remote's buttons are synched as a Xbox 360 remote, with the volume still being controlled by the receiver.

Since it doesn't utilize bluetooth I can't use the remote for my PS3. That's the only knock I can make for it, so far. Setting things up is a cinch, though you need to have all of your products' model numbers. It's a guided program that takes you by the hand and sets things up with you. Very cool.

I had planned to play Harvey Birdman last night, but Ugly Betty drew me in and then I started playing PixelJunk Monsters and the DMC4 demo and before I knew it, it was past my bedtime.

I mentioned that I planned to talk about Cloverfield. I guess I can, but there's no real point. It's exactly what I thought it'd be: an old school giant monster movie dressed in new, hip threads. I really like movies that focus more on the microcosm as opposed to the macrocosm and, by definition, that means that I should like Cloverfield. And I did. I also like movies where they don't spoil the mystery. We don't really need to know everything. So, it was a good movie, if one is into such things. Well done, though I do wish the camera-guy was just a little more stable with some of the shots. That said, there were some amazing moments and breathtaking camera shots where you don't even realize that what you're seeing is a green screen.

Didn't do much else this weekend. Still trying to cough out my insides get better, but that's not happening yet. I might actually go to the doctor this week. Because, seriously. Not fun.

I watched Heartbreak Kid and Eastern Promises on Saturday. Heartbreak Kid was...entertaining. It's typical Farrelly Brothers movie and if you like such things, you'll probably at least semi-enjoy this one. And if you don't, well...

Eastern Promises...good movie. Seems a lot of reviewers are flip-flopped: they either loved A History of Violence and didn't care for Eastern Promises as much; or, they were the opposite. I happened to really love A History of Violence. And while I thought Eastern Promises was a good movie that touched greatness sometimes, I wasn't as bowled over by it as some reviewers have been. Enjoyed it; wish Cronenberg would do another horror film.

We hit level five in DDO this weekend and I got access to more spells. I'm still really enjoying the game. I just wish each level had more quests/dungeons so we didn't have to do repeats unless we wanted to. That said, I'm loving the more strategic nature of the game since it feels more like a multiplayer RPG and less like a grindtastic MMO.

Age of Conan was pushed back. To May. This actually surprised me a ton when I read it yesterday. I seriously thought March was it. I'm actually a bit ambivalent about it. On one hand, I can't play it in March. On the other hand, I'll be back from my 8 week training course of hell and won't have to worry about how I'll get it. The biggest worry I have is that it's pushing close to the Warhammer Online release date. And I know some of my friends who want to play both might end up jumping ship for Warhammer Online. Which will make me a sad panda. We'll see. I actually wouldn't be surprised if Warhammer Online was pushed back to an Oct/Nov release...of course then they might be pushing up against the latest WoW expansion. It's going to be a juggling act. We'll have to see how it all plays out and where the balls fall.

Seems like Cloverfield is just the start of a new wave of cinema verite fiction. I had linked earlier to the Diary of the Dead, George Romero's next zombie film that is about a filmmaker who ends up catching on film the living dead.

Then there's The Poughkeepsie Tapes which doesn't look very good, I don't think. But again, same style.

Then there's the Spanish movie [REC] which I think looks awesome and from what I've gathered from reviewers and people who've watched it, it will be pretty damn amazing.

With the success of Cloverfield already sparking discussions about the sequel, I'm wondering if filmmakers will try to cash in on this style of filmmaking.

I'm glad I'm still under thirty! Does anyone else find this review incoherent?

"Not For Anyone Over 30" it proclaims, making me glad I'm only 27.

As the week progresses, it's getting harder and harder to get out of bed. I'm feeling like crap and have been since Monday. Drainage for the lose. It's in my chest, so I'm coughing like crazy, my nose is plugged so I can't sleep. And when I do finally start to drift to sleep, I start coughing like mad. Then there's the once-in-awhile chills. Blech. So, last night I woke up around 3:30 and it took me forever to get back to sleep. There was a point, when I was staring at my alarm as it read 4:15 that I thought about saying screw it and just get up. But I didn't.

Whine whine whine.

Cloverfield is turning into what I expected it to be: a good, fun old monster movie dressed up in hip clothes. Reviews are coming in with people giving it positives while saying it's an old film looking new and with others dogging it for being the same thing. Still looking forward to it; I think it'll be fun. Movie's at 68% with 22 reviews counted so far.

Every time I see Lisa Schwarzbaum's name, my lip curls.

Supposedly, a Turok demo is on Live. Haven't looked yet. Might check it out. Also, apparently a Devil May Cry 4 demo is also inbound, hopefully prior to the game's release. I really wish they'd release the TGS demo of Lost Odyssey.

Next week, PixelJunk Monsters will be out on the PS3's Playstation Network. I absolutely love tower defense games (like in Warcraft 3) and this game looks to mesh cute story book graphics with tower defense gameplay. I can't wait! Here's some info about it; hopefully it'll be just as addictive as the other Tower Defense games I've played. Now...to find someone else to play this with.

Now that Age of Conan looks to be really and truly sticking with its March 25th release date, my excitement is growing by the day. I really wish I were in the beta right now. I want to build cities, wage war, dismember my foes, partake in "drunkin' brawling" in the taverns and go around yelling "CROOOMMM!"

...okay, maybe not the last one.

Well, first review is in for Cloverfield. It has minor spoilers, but doesn't really ruin anything thankfully.

A few quotes:

"Having seen the film, I can tell you...[it] will knock your cinema-going mind into the floor of the theater."

"The movie is a landmark genre film. A true milestone in film."

"Folks – CLOVERFIELD is worth the obsession, worth the months I’ve had to put up with fans wondering what the hell it was – worth having to deal with reporters asking me what it was – and I didn’t know either. This is a towering movie. A complete reinvention of the disaster movie, the giant monster movie and even the love story. I absolutely love this film and the only thought I had when it was over was how I wanted to watch it 5 more times today."

High praise, indeed. But this is also the same guy who went just as insane over Hatchet, a movie I thought was okay. But not as amazingly awesome as Harry did.

At any rate, I still can't wait to see this movie next weekend!!

Saw Juno last night. First thing's first…I'm always leery when Hollywood is throwing a new hip director in our face. It always comes across as rather whorish and chances are that flavor of the month will lose the flare originally presented. Not that he or she becomes bad at his/her job, but more that Hollywood ignores him/her. Hollywood's last big "It Director" was Sofia Coppala (though, I suppose Judd Apatow can possibly fall into this category). Sofia is someone who I think has been vastly over-rated by the critics and Hollywood. Additionally, this new hip director keeps being called "The Next Tarantino." Whenever the hype hits this kind of stratosphere, I become leery.

So, we have this former blogger-turned-stripper-turned-novelist Diablo Cody (née Brook Busey) and we all know that Hollywood loves people with a story so they can sell the individual, instead of banking on the individual's talent. My cynicism was pretty high at this point. Then all the hype, the circuits, the promos, the everything with Diablo's face everywhere…it was enough to make me want to completely ignore the film. At any rate, I finally saw it last night and I really enjoyed it, overall.

Much like dj_jonny_flash had mentioned in his own post about the film, first impressions weren't the best. The whole beginning of the film felt a bit too precocious for me. I actually kind of dug the language being used and the way Ellen Page's Juno (not to mention the other characters) would indulge in this weird mix of normal teenage-isms and other witty dialogue no average teenager (or most people) would use.

For example, take this exchange between Juno and her best friend in relation to Juno telling her she's pregnant:

Leah: Yo Yo Yiggady Yo.
Juno MacGuff: I'm pregnant.
Leah: What? Honest to blog?
Juno MacGuff: This is not a food baby all right? I've taken like three pregnancy tests, and I'm forshizz up the spout.
Leah: How did you even generate enough pee for three pregnancy tests?
Juno MacGuff: I'm telling you I'm pregnant and you're acting shockingly caviler.
Leah: Is this for real?
Juno MacGuff: Yes.
Leah: Foo get Thailand!

It's funny, but the dialogue doesn't feel real. It feels witty and it works, but…it's not exactly real. It screams "see how witty I am??" But then, it all falls away. The movie grabbed me by the appearance of Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman playing a couple who have been trying to conceive and haven't had any luck. This is when the movie finds its heart and the language makes appearances but it's not as stiffly witty as it was in the beginning. It falls into a terrific rhythm that I could actually appreciate.

Honestly, Jennifer Garner proides her best performance in this role. She plays a character that you feel stand-offish to but eventually come around to. The secondary story of Jennifer/Jason's characters provides a perfect subtext to the main thrust of the story. And I was incredibly appreciative of the subtle way Diablo Cody used this story to really sell Juno's. There comes a point towards the end that is so terrific in the way that Juno learns from the Jennifer/Jason couple's mistakes and ends up deciding how to spend her life and how to not spend her life that is both poignant, subtle and perfect.

What I really appreciated at this moment was the fact it lacked a sermon. There was no "Juno: After seeing their relationship, I learned blah blah blah" it just happened. And those not paying attention won't even think of how the dichotomy really worked. In fact, it wasn't until late last night that I woke up and thought, oh that's how that worked.

Juno really surprised me. It's hilarious, poignant, touching and up-lifting all while trying desperately to not fall into sappy-eye-rollingness. It does everything it can not to be "that movie." And I can definitely appreciate that.

Laugh if you will (and I'm sure some of you will) but one of my anticipated albums for the coming year is Alanis' first album in four years, Flavors of Entanglement. I've been a big fan of Alanis since her debut album, so anything new from her is a boon in my book. This particular album is being produced by Guy Sigsworth, who has worked with a variety of artists (and was a member of Frou Frou with Imogen Heap) and looks to bring a different kind of tone to Alanis' work, I'd assume.

There's an early review for the CD up at Arjan Writes and, while you have to take it worth a grain of salt, it does make it eagerly anticipated.

As an aside, Alanis is looking pretty nice...if really make-upped. o_o

...there's so much I want to talk about, but absolutely no time to do so.

You know, the big difference between the music industry and the movie industry in the way we recognize our tops is that in the movie industry they don't usually pay attention to the amount of money made. The music industry, on the other hand, focuses on who sells the most and simply awards them the top honors, completely ignoring some of the best artists and music out there because they didn't sell. If movie awards were awarded like the Grammy's are, then the Rush Hour 3s of the world would get all the acclaim, while movies like Pan's Labyrinth would be ignored.

I watched a pretty good movie last night by the name of Fido. It's a zombie comedy set in a world that's survived a Zombie War and has settled back into the normal day to day. Well...normal for the time. This is a world that looks like a retro 50s painting come to life.

It's a world in which children go to recess/outdoor learning to learn about making headshots with rifles. It's a world where the elderly aren't trusted after a certain age because they're one foot in the ground already and are sent to old people homes...that are retrofitted prisons. It's a world where huge fences are put around individual towns to keep the outside world from intruding. It's a world where some zombies have been domesticated by wearing collars. It's a world where a family's wealth is gauged by how many zombie servants they have. It's a world ruled by ZomCon.

It stars Ms. Trinity herself, Carrie-Anne Moss, and the sometimes-William-H-Macy-lookalike Dylan Baker. They are unhappily married, with Baker's character utterly focused on death and bases their wealth on how many funerals they can afford (you see, in this world, funerals cost more to have a head casket so there's no chance of turning) and looks upon the prospect of having another kid with that same sense of detachment. Their kid, Timmy, befriends their new zombie servant and ends up trying to protect him...even when the zombie's collar breaks down briefly and he eats the next door neighbor.

It was a pretty good movie and was humorous. There's enough social satire to be found, stretching across a few different ideas and the actors are great in their roles. I'm a sucker for zombie films and I like the juxtaposition of zombies with 50s naiveté. For some reason, it reminded me a little bit of Far From Heaven...except funny. I don't think it was as clever as it thought it was, but it was charming and fun from beginning to end. Zombie fans should definitely check it out.

Sometimes when I go to see a movie, I want narrative depth. I want profound characters and situation; symbolism a plenty and great characters who spout expertly written lines of dialogue.

Other times...I want to see shit blow up.

I saw Shoot 'Em Up last night, finally. And it was the most amazing action movie I have ever seen. Period. Its hyper-kenetic, looney toons meets death and destruction was a perfect mix. You never for one minute believe that anything that occurs in its 90 minutes could possibly happen, but you never for one moment care.

Shoot 'Em Up lives in the same universe as Crank, another film I enjoyed, but ups the ante with stylish cinematography, acting and amazingly choreographed fight sequences. There is a story here, but it's simply to create exhilerating sequences. A man named Smith sits at a bus stop, eating a carrot. He disinterestedly watches a very pregnant woman stumble down the street, obviously in fear. He then also disinterestedly watches a car careen into a parked car and a man get out, who is obviously stalking her. When the man pulls out a gun, Smith stands, mutters an epithet and goes after them. From then until the last bullet is fired, Shoot 'Em Up becomes a thrill ride filled with things I don't think I've ever seen in an action movie. Add in Paul Giamatti as the crazed evil guy and you have a recipe for success.

I absolutely loved every second of it.

Also saw Resident Evil: Extinction. Or, as I'd like to call it Resident Evil: Day of the dead birds as they travel on the road to the thunderdome.

I actually loved the first Resident Evil movie and think it one of-if not the-best video game adaptations (not that that's saying much...). Extinction was directed by Russell Mulcahy who also directed the first two Highlander movies. More importantly, it was written by Paul W.S. Anderson, who penned all three, and has had ups and downs. While Extinction is better than the second movie, it's not much better. The biggest problem is that Anderson completely stole ideas from much better movies.

You have the crazed scientist trying to domesticate zombies and create smarter zombies (Day of the Dead's Bub). You have a sequence straight from the birds, albeit a cool sequence. You have this post-apocalyptic world that looks to be the kissing cousin to Mad Max. All three much better movies than this one. It was entertaining, but as I was thinking moments before my brother said it, "we should have watched it before Shoot 'Em Up."

One of the highest rated movies of the year was Once. It sits at 98%, which is pretty damn high. We watched Once tonight and I'm glad we did, although I didn't care for the movie. Once is an indie Irish musical starring Glen Hansard, the lead singer of the Irish band The Frames. It also stars Markéta Irglová, a singer/songwriter.

The music is absolutely brilliant. Beautiful, haunting, perfect melodies that get stuck in your head, the soundtrack is the kind you just want to close your eyes to and become enwrapped in its choruses. Stunning. I honestly cannot find words to describe it. Here, it succeeds. The movie is pretty much nothing but music; dialogue interrupts the music, but like most musicals everything comes to fruition via the songs, not the dialogue.

As a movie, though...I didn't care for it (and I must be the only one...). It's very listless, has no real point and while there is a story to be found here about these two individuals who don't even have names and their pasts, there's no real progression. The movie becomes more about the music than telling a story. The ending is poignant, but the journey to it wasn't really good if you take out the music. And with the music, it feels more like a bad documentary with exceptional music.

You need to listen to the main song from it though:

( One of the awesome songs )

Contrast this film with Sweeney Todd, a movie in which I felt succeeded in spite of the music. I'm not a fan of Sondheim's style and lyrical expressions. His music feels more like talking in rhythm to music than it does an actual song. With the exception of one or two songs, I really disliked the music. And yet, I loved the film. It was brooding in the way only Tim Burton can do and he pulled exceptional performances from both Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter.

In fact, Helena stole the show for me and outshined Depp who seemed to be channeling a bit of Captain Sparrow's accent, Edward's eccentricities and Ichabod's whimsical darkness. It played out like a traditional Greek tragedy and I especially loved the events leading up to the climax. I felt the beginning was a bit long in spots, but once it got going it really took off. I really liked it; loved it, in fact.

But it definitely contrasted perfectly with Once where I disliked the movie but loved the music. I'd recommend seeing Sweeney Todd. I'd doubly recommend beyond a shadow of a doubt to listen to the music in Once. It's terrific.

I saw Walk Hard this week and was not impressed. It had its moments that were pretty funny, but it felt more like a rated R version of the latest Scary Movies and the Epic Movies. It wasn't as funny as Talladega Nights (a movie it tries to mimic partially) by a long shot and wasn't even in the same league as most anything co-written by Judd Apatow. I just wasn't feeling it. I did laugh a few times, but I think its 78% rating has more to do with the fact that John C. Reilly is the critic's darling and that Judd Apatow is everyone's other favorite Hollywoodite whose name begins with a "J" (...the first being the name that ends with an "uno"). It's a wait for video recommendation from me.

I watched Hatchet last night (which, by the way, has nothing to do with the wonderful young adult novel of the same name) and was amused. Not amused as much as I was watching Slither or Feast, both of which are excellent examples of the gross-out-horror-comedy genre. Hatchet labels itself as "Old School American Horror." I guess movies from the 80s are now "old school," because it definitely apes the stylings of those 80s slasher flicks like Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th where you have an unstoppable killer who died years before and had come back to take revenge on the world. The kind of killer who can't really be killed, no matter how many times they're shot, stabbed, set aflame, punctured or beaten.

( Read more... )

So, I lied. I do have a couple things to talk about. Nothing too big, though. One of my Xmas gifts was the book Fangland by John Marks. What a fascinating novel. I'm really enjoying it. It's kind of a modern day, post 9/11 retelling of Bram Stoker's Dracula.

It's about Evangeline Harker, a young producer for The Hour, a hit TV news show. Recently engaged, she's sent off to Romania to meet with an arms dealer named Torgu. The events leading up to the meeting are ominous and speak to what's going to happen in the coming pages. When she meets him, he's very off and the events seem very similar to Dracula. She's locked in his giant hotel as he's gone "on business" during the day. He also wants to use Harker as a way to get to New York. I'm not very far into it, but it's definitely an exciting novel with a kind of cheesy name (though the name refers, at least partially, to the environment Harker works in at The Hour; a kind of dog-eat-dog world). It's written in the epistolary format, just like the original Dracula, and is actually pretty intense. I'd definitely recommend it to fans of vampires/Bram Stoker's novel. I'm sure I'll have more as I get further into it.

I brought Rock Band over to my parent's house yesterday so we could jam for a bit. It's funny, when I first brought it over back at Thanksgiving, I thought my dad would be good at it and my mom would barely get by. I was shocked to find out it's the opposite. Especially yesterday. My dad was struggling to get 60-70% on either the bass or the lead guitar (and in fact said that the reason he was doing poorly on the lead was because he "couldn't hear his part" so he switched to the bass). On a couple songs we had to save him and bring him back. Conversely, my mom was rocking it out with high 80s and some 90s.

The best part was when my dad switched to the drums so I could mess around on the guitar. At one point, he was just smashing away and his sticks went flying. All three of us broke down into laughter to the point my mom was coughing. I'm not sure what caused it exactly, but the simple act of seeing the drum sticks go flying and my dad's confused "how did that happen?" look was priceless. Definitely worth the hassle of carting around all of the equipment.

Right now, I've been in a Nine Inch Nails/Saul Williams type of mood. Whenever I discover new artists, like Saul, I tend to go a little overboard and learn all I can about them. Saul is a pretty cool guy, it seems. I totally didn't realize he was in K-PAX and I want to see Slam now, where he's the lead actor. I think it's cool that he has a B.A. in philosophy and acting. He's a good lyricist and Trent definitely provided him with some awesome beats for his new album The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust. I never would have thought a mix of hip-hop and industrial would work, but it does. I still maintain it's the best $5 I've spent.

So, I've been alternating between listening to Saul's spoken word poetry and Trent circa With Teeth and Still. I never got the chance to get Still before; it was the only non-remix album of his I didn't have. Since it's now available via itunes and Amazon.com MP3 downloads, I got it. I love it. It's Trent at his most organic and the version of "Something I Can Never Have" is amazing. That sad song is probably one of my favorites and hearing it without all the glitz, stripped down to its essential, is brilliant.

There's a cool interview with Trent up at Wired. Very long. Large blocks of text. But very interesting, discussing his ARG for Year Zero.

The Hellgate: London forums have some information about their upcoming Stone Henge chronicles patch. Nothing about the actual content, but a lot about fixes, class balances, etc. Evokers and Guardians are getting a lot of love and changes. I'm really curious to see the Evoker changes in action. I'm also glad that respec coins are being given out to those affected and to subscribers.

I played very briefly last night and ended up quitting early. The game was moving super smoothly as usual and then all of a sudden, the game turned into a slideshow and crashed. I don't know what was up with that, but it was a cue to stop.

Back around Thanksgiving, I had a few resolutions I wanted to accomplish over break. I failed. But, better late than never, right? I now have reviews up at CADMedia for Uncharted: Drake's Fortune and Super Mario Galaxy. Finally. Over break, my goal is to finish Mass Effect.