Monthly Archives: May 2011

UK TV cleanup

Music, TV

Skins Series 4- While not as good as the first 2 series, I came to like the 2nd generation cast. I think JJ is my favorite followed by Cook who had some very good exposition about him. He change through the course of the show and came out as a genuine nice guy opposed to the raging shit he was at the start. The writing for the parents on the show was much better as well (especially Kate and Emily’s family which got the most time out of any family in the show), which I really appreciated. In series 1 and 2 all of the parents are played as worthless jokes with dialog to match. But, the ending was incredibly frustrating. The first generation of kids all had cliff hanger endings, but you knew where they were and had a good idea of what they could be doing. The 2nd generation has the crazy twist at the 2nd to last episode and then the last scene of the series is one of the biggest cop-outs I can remember in a long time. The fate of that character is going to forever be unknown which I hate (and it could go either way…plus that storyline had incredible ramifications to the story). Series 5 recently ended on the BBC so I have to wait for that to hit on DVD, but I’ve read that the new cast stinks.

I watched the original UK Shameless to compare it to Showtimes version (which I love). The original came out in 2004 and only made it through 1 series at 7 episodes. Showtime made 12 episodes and used every plotline from the original, but expanded and altered some of it to really flesh it out and changing things for the better, I think. I was actually surprised how closely it sticks to the original keeping everyone’s names the same (and look too). The casting is really great on both sides and I think the Showtime edition really honors the original while making it’s own path towards the end. Some of the UK edition feels truncated which the SHO writers changed. I like how they did Sheila’s agoraphobia “breakthrough” more and Frank’s adultery disaster is set up much better, which will be the first bridge to cross in season 2. I’d probably recommend the SHO edition over the original because of the changes and not having to decipher some hardcore English accents and slang. Makes it easier for a US viewer to get into.

Keeping with media from across the pond, I just found out the Arctic Monkeys have a new album out (Suck It and See) which I must check out.

Summer is here!

Life, Uncategorized

Sure it’s really Spring still, but the fantastic weather has finally showed up. It rained for almost 2 weeks straight so 73-80 with just a few clouds hanging out with a sweet breeze is like being reborn. I feel so much happier it’s stupid. I really want to move to the West coast, I hate winter with a passion now.

Scream 4 the Review

Movies

Scream 4 is the most average movie I’ve seen in awhile. The concept and parts of the execution are good and they work. But the parts that don’t are really terrible.

Taking place 10 years after the last movie, Sidney Prescott comes back to Woodsboro for a book tour and this is of course starts a new copy cat killing spree. The essential cast from the previous movie make it back with a whole batch of new kids to murder.

First and foremost, this movie isn’t scary. It has basic jump scares and orchestra hits to get some sort of reaction from the audience. There’s a good idea for a movie here, changing the formula of a horror movie in the new film landscape of reboots and re imaginations that are all the rage. But for every good idea, there’s a bad one at work. You can tell the script was being worked on all through filming as it feels very piece meal in execution.

The opening sequence which has always been a trademark for the series is just stupid and unnecessary. There are two false starts with some god awful dialog (something about the word “meta” in any context drives me nuts) that never should have made it on film. When the real beginning actual starts it feels completely unoriginal and boring. Another problem is that every attempt at humor fails. There’s a movement near the end of the movie that got a big laugh, but it wasn’t intentional (and to be fair was probably unavoidable).

The death toll is high for a Scream movie, but only one death really had any weight to it. I constantly questioned the believability of the movie as I had a hard time suspending my disbelief. There’s just so much stuff that I don’t think the killer could really do and the amount of forensic evidence left behind was downright silly. That might seem like nitpicking but you can’t leave a barn door wide open and not expect people to look in. Finally, the movie went on for one scene too long. The reveal of the killer was good, the reasoning behind it was as well (watch out for some shit dialog and acting though) and there was actually a good ending there. But it was extended out to another scene for some reason. If they just cut to black at this one perfect spot I would have thought much better of the movie, but the last 10 minutes are a fucking mess. Completely derailed the movie into a cartoon and it mimicked parts of the trilogy for no good reason. They wanted to set up another potential 2 movies but just this goofy rehash ending ruined that.

If you don’t see this movie you really didn’t miss anything.

Source Code the Review

Movies

Source Code is director Duncan Jone’s 2nd feature movie and he’s got another winner on his hands.

U.S. Solider, Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaul) is selected for the governments new “Source Code” anti-terrorism project. This new tech allows a person to go back in time for 8 minutes and re-live the events of a person who was present there. Here, a bomb blows up a train and the race is on to find the person(s) responsible so their next attack on the US can be stopped.

Source Code is a smart sci-fi movie, much like Moon, Duncan’s last movie. It’s a simple story with a few characters and locations (3 or 4 really) that is fascinating and fun to watch. It’s a lot like the movie Groundhog Day, but here Colter is forced to live just 8 minutes on the train, the clock ticking down to the next attack. Like any good movie, things aren’t as simple as they appear. In his investigation Colter must find out how to stop the terrorist and learn about how he got involved in the project. The ending is even well done if a bit confusing.

I’m a big fan of Duncan Jones, he’s got a great eye and vision and the special effects are great too. A real treat in a genre that is usually more bad than good.

Mortal Kombat

Games

Is back and better than ever! The 9th game in the series that is out for 360 and PS3 is honestly the best game in the series and the most fun I’ve had with a fighter since 2005’s Dead or Alive 4.

Whenever a Sonic the Hedgehog game is announced it looks good and people get excited for it. They remember having good times with the series as a kid and look forward to the new, shiny experience that a new game should bring. Then it comes out and it’s a complete disaster. Mortal Kombat is like that, but the game actually came out meeting every expectation.

It’s an extension of Mortal Kombat II (which was amazing when it came out) with juggle combos and moves. There are still dial-a-combos from 3, but toned down. The game speed is right between 2 and 3 with the same chunky, deliberate pacing that the series is known for.

The game story is a retelling of the original three games. Raiden is getting crushed by Shao Kahn when he sends a vision to his younger self in an attempt to keep his present, Shao Kahn taking over, from happening. We jump back in time to the original game and events unfold and change from there. Everyone from the first 3 games in it it along with most of the stages from those games (a few added to address the new events).

This game looks amazing. The artwork is really impressive, some amazing character models and animation really make the game come alive. The damage modeling is some bar raising stuff, I can’t think f another fighting game that has this much detail, characters look like they went through a war at the end of a match. The audio supplements this, the fighting is very visceral. Great sound effects match the visual impacts of every punch, kick and impalement. The backgrounds are a treat to see, a lot of the old stages look amazing now with some really great lighting effects (the Living Forest is a great example). The brutal Fatalities are back and they made Babalities really funny. The cast is huge and just about everyone is a ton of fun to play with added special moves that make everyone play uniquely. The new special meter had 3 sections that fill up. One lets you do an enhanced special move that makes your standard special more powerful. Two bars allow you to break a combo and three bars lets you do a X-Ray attack. These X-ray attacks are like Ultras from Street Fighter that do tremendous damage and can turn the tide of a fight. They’re brutal attacks that break bones (which you can see happen with the x-ray effect) but they’re pretty easy to avoid and block so you aren’t helpless when it’s triggered.

Mortal Kombat is a great achievement for NeatherRealm Studio. An amazing amount of thought and work went into this game. It keeps everything that people love about the series while adding the production and features you expect from a game released in 2011. Mortal Kombat is easy to pick up and play, but there’s a lot there to dig into. All sorts of modes, extras and secrets to unlock mean there is a ton of gameplay to go through. Few games present a fully fleshed out world like this game does.