London films 2009

Back from London (after an additional days delay), so here go my movie reviews:

Films watched:
The Unborn

A Jewish Exorcist, pretty derivative, but still has some good scares and was mildly enjoyable.

6/10

Franklyn

Comes across as a student film with a sizeable budget. Thinks it’s cleverer than it actually is. Thumbs down.

4/10

Watchmen

Going to have to break my 20 word rule again for this one.

I fail. I cannot write a cohesive review of the film…I have tried and failed several time. As such, I’ll just post a few of my observations and feelings after watching it.

For a fan of the comics (which I am), seeing certain scenes come to life can seem like an almost religious experience. A particular segment which comes to mind is the Dr Manhattan flashbacks, which are narrated in jumbled timeframe by Dr Manhattan, which was absolutely magical. The same could be said watching the smiley badge fall to the ground during the opening moments of the film.

There is no squid, the ending has been changed slightly to remove the squid and replace it with something else. Overall, this actually works better for the film, as the squid would have come across as too much of a WTF moment to your average Joe and would have require a LOT of explaining, which would have been just too difficult to do. The film instead keeps the same themes of the ending, but deals with them in a quicker fashion. I do have one slight complaint with the alternative non-squid solution, in that the devastation and the consequences of someone’s actions are not felt as much. In the comic, at the “squid” moment, there are 6 full pages of broken, bleeding corpses, mutilation and destruction. Including the bodies of several minor, likeable characters that you have grown to know over the course of the comic. This is not in the film and as such, the heavy consequences and the effect of someone’s actions does not have the level of impact that it should have.

The film is long, running at around 2:40, but at the same time it didn’t stop for a breath and didn’t feel that long to me. I’m well aware that there is an impending directors cut out there with an extra 40 minutes of cuts, plus a further 20 minutes of the Black Freighter, meaning that in total, almost an hour of the film is missing. As such, the film really felt like an abridged version and not the full version, and as such, I have knocked at least half a point, or maybe a full point off my review score to reflect this. I really, REALLY want to give this at least 9 out of 10, but at the same time, I’m so aware that the film would benefit so much more with the missing scenes.

Amongst the missing scenes are lots of scenes featuring minor characters, including the two Bernie’s at the newsstand and also the psychiatrist. Although these are not intrinsic to the plot, they do add a human element to the story and also add additional emotion to some of the final scenes. I think that the inclusion of these scenes will add a great deal more emotional weight to the film. Also, the Black Freighter is an easy cut from the film, but at the same time, it also adds another layer to the film as much of the storyline in this, match and mirror the moral themes of the main storyline.

Overall then, for this fan of the comic it is a fantastic film, but at the same time I came away feeling like I had not seen the full picture. A condensed comic epic.

8.5

Trophy and Bye

Elliot won a trophy at football this saturday, as "Mini of the Month", generally for good behavior and sportmanship. As such, we were all very proud. A photo of him holding the trophy is below.


Also, just a quick note to say "bye" as I'll be off to London for a few days tomorrow and will return with a review or two.

Games, Degeneration and Earthsea

Okay now, it’s about time that I ran through the games that I have been playing recently, so:

Games played:
Noby Noby Boy
It’s odd… very odd even!
Basically you play Boy, who needs to stretch and report his length to Girl, who seems to feed off this length and grow to other planets. Other than this, it’s a case of just experimenting and trying new and different things. The community aspect of this is very good, in that everyone who plays the game contributes to Girls length, but really it is just a pretty bonkers experimental game at heart and that is by no means bad… just different.

Flower
This is without a doubt the most outstanding game I have played on the PSN.
It is a relaxing, and gloriously beautiful game, which was best described by the developers as a moving poem. It also, rather surprisingly, tells a simple yet topical story, without words characters, plot or dialogue.
This (and to some degree Noby Noby Boy) is the reason why the PSN (and also Wiiware and Xbox Live Arcade) is
A fantastic game that really should not be missed by anyone who has a PS3.


Fallout 3
I’m actually nearing the conclusion of this game, although I’d reached the level cap some time ago.
Another fantastic game. I was a little uncertain at first with the mix if FPS and VATS mode, but I you stick at it, the game really does draw you in. I love the freedom that this game gives you and also the morale choices (which are the best I’ve come across in a game). Overall it has to be the best game I have played for some time and would highly recommend it to anyone (you can after all tailor your character to your tastes). It’s just such a damn shame that the DLC is currently exclusive to the 360….grrrr… spit…

I have also recently purchased Killzone 2, but I will leave my comments until I have had more time with the game. What I have played so far is very good though.

Films watched:
Tales from Earthsea

An odd mix of Western fantasy and Japanese Anime that never quite gels. Certainly no Spirited Away!

5/10

Resident Evil: Degeneration

A welcome return for Claire and Leon. Better adaptation than the conventional films, but not a better film for it.

6/10

Oscar Winners

Overall a good night. Hugh Jackman made a good presenter and my predictions were pretty good.

The highlight of the night had to be Danny Boyle picking up the best Director award :)

Best Picture
Slumdog Millionaire
RIGHT

Best Director
Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire
RIGHT


Best Actor
Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler
WRONG - Sean Penn


Best Actress
Kate Winslet - The Reader
RIGHT


Best Supporting Actress
Penelope Cruz – Vicky Cristina Barcelona
RIGHT


Best Supporting Actor
Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
RIGHT


Best Animated Feature Film
Wall-E
RIGHT


Best Adapted Screenplay
Slumdog Millionaire
RIGHT


Best Original Screenplay
Wall-E
WRONG - Milk


Best Original Score
Slumdog Millionaire
RIGHT


Best Original Song
Jai Ho - Slumdog Millionaire
RIGHT


Art Direction
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
RIGHT


Cinematography
The Dark Knight
RIGHT


Costume Design
The Duchess
RIGHT


Best Documentary Feature
Man on Wire
RIGHT


Film Editing
Slumdog Millionaire
RIGHT


Make-up
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
RIGHT


Best Animated Short Film
Presto
WRONG -La Maison En Petits Cubes

Sound Editing
The Dark Knight
RIGHT


Sound Mixing
The Dark Knight
WRONG - Slumdog Millionaire


Visual Effects
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
RIGHT

71% RIGHT

SF4 :(

It has to be said, I'm NOT feeling the love for Street Fighter 4

A) It's way too difficult. I can't get passed that first fight on normal, and can't get past the penultimate fight on VERY EASY!

B) I can't get used to it with the dual shock, neither the D pad or the stick seem to give me the results I want... How I long for the SNES pad!

C) All the Super-duper moves are stupid and unbalanced. I loved SF2 because it was simple and yet at the same time, took long to master. I hate all the ultra moves, EX moves and super duper kill everything moves.

D) Overall, it just feels wrong!

I've tried to like it, I really have... Maybe I'm just not into fighting games any more!

DSi release date...

It's out on April the 3rd at £149.99...


2 days ahead of the US! A whole 2 days!!!

Watchmen booked...

At last!

I've finally manged to book a ticket to catch Watchmen at the London IMAX only a few days after it's premier (the tickets were selling fast).

I'm all booked up for Tuesday 10th March at 2:30pm.

Not too long at all now :)

Oscar predictions 2009

Only 5 more days to go...

Well here are my predictions for this year.

Best Picture
Slumdog Millionaire


Best Director
Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire


Best Actor
Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler
I believe that this will be between either Sean Penn or Mickey Rourke (although I believe that Frank Langella is probably most deserving). Sean Penn would be the “safe” choice, but I’m going to say Mickey Rourke


Best Actress
Kate Winslet - The Reader


Best Supporting Actress
Penelope Cruz – Vicky Cristina Barcelona


Best Supporting Actor
Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
I would be very VERY surprised if this award went to anyone other. Really, if there is any dead cert this year, then it is this. It is also, very well deserved.


Best Foreign Language Film
I can’t comment, as the foreign language films I would like to see included, haven’t been nominated this year.


Best Animated Feature Film
Wall-E
There is an outside chance that Kung Fu Panda may stand a chance, but in all honesty this belongs to Wall-E


Best Adapted Screenplay
Slumdog Millionaire


Best Original Screenplay
Wall-E
I’m really sticking my neck out on this one, but I’d love to see Wall-E nab this.


Best Original Score
Slumdog Millionaire


Best Original Song
Jai Ho - Slumdog Millionaire
I believe that this will go to either Jai Ho or O Saya from Slumdog Millionaire. Jai Ho is the funkier of the two, so I’ll place my bets on this.


Art Direction
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button


Cinematography
The Dark Knight
It’s very possible that Slumdog will also get this, but the memory of the staggering IMAX shot scenes on The Dark Knight are burned into my mind, and for that reason alone, I think that The Dark Knight may steal this.


Costume Design
The Duchess
Period film = almost immediate win.


Best Documentary Feature
Man on Wire


Best Documentary Short Subject
Cannot comment


Film Editing
Slumdog Millionaire


Make-up
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button


Best Live Action Short Film
Cannot comment


Best Animated Short Film
Presto


Sound Editing
The Dark Knight


Sound Mixing
The Dark Knight


Visual Effects
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Benjamin, Bolt and A&E

Okay, first up an update on the health front.

Lately I’ve been having trouble with my neck and also more recently suffering with sensitive teeth and ear ache on my left hand side. On valentines day, after I’d cooked a meal, the left hand side of my face became increasingly painful and as such, I retired to bed very early to try to sleep it off. Unfortunately the pain grew and grew, until I couldn’t stop shaking.

Anyway, it was off to A&E again for me (something I wanted to avoid this year after a disastrous 2008) and they were of the opinion that the pain may not be from my neck, but from either gland or sinus infection.

I’ve generally been better since then, although the pain still comes and goes and I’ve continued to feel somewhat run down…

Anyway, enough doom and gloom…

Films watched:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Interesting concept which isn’t explored sufficiently. A flat performance from Pitt doesn’t help matters.

6/10

Bolt

Extremely entertaining CGI effort from Disney which entertains adult and children alike. Not Pixar quality, but surprisingly close.

8/10

Omega Man and stiff neck

Film watched:

The Omega Man

Definitely not I am Legend, but still vaguely entertaining. Actually includes some relevant themes that the latest adaption skips.

6/10

I’ve been feeling a tad run down over the last few days. It probably started a little on Monday, when I started to suffer with a stiff and painful neck, but it then got really bad on Tuesday when it was accompanied by a really bad headache, earache and also really sensitive teeth. Since then I have continued to feel run down and, to use a technical term, very “bleurgh”.

I’m thinking that this is all connected to my neck, as the pain seems most associated to the left hand side of my neck/head, namely my earache and sensitive teeth are also on the left hand side. Also, the pain seems to come and go, but my neck always feels as stiff as a board.

I’ve tried shifting my desk around at work to help with my posture, to see if this helps and have also been wary of how I sit, walk etc., but generally have not been feeling the happiest. If it continues I’ll likely go to the doctor again, but when I have suffered with neck problems in the past, I have not been convinced that anything the doctor or physiotherapist has done have contributed greatly to its improvement, previously it just seems to have gotten better over time.
Anyhow… Just thought I’d include an artist rendition of how my neck currently feels (courtesy of Fallout 3):

Guitar scale and Stay

Film watched:

Stay




5% genius and 95% drivel does not a good film make. Poor rubber reality film.

3/10

Guitar scale

This is something that I have been working on for a little while…

I wanted something which showed the musical scale of a guitar on a single sheet of paper. Something which linked the fret board notes (but not sharps and flats) and musical notation for easy reference. In addition, I also wanted something which also indicated the octave of the notes, again on the same single sheet of paper.

I’d had a look in the guitar books that I have and also online, but could not find anything to my liking and as such, decided to create something myself.

I created this in excel, and whilst pretty basic, it does its job well. Just for the sake of it, I took a screen grab (is there a better way to convert excel to a picture format?) and have placed it here… (not the best quality image, I know, but I wanted to blog about it anyway)

(Click for a slightly closer look)

Killzone 2 demo impressions.

I seem to be posting a whole heap of demo impressions of late… oh well, onto Killzone 2.

Well it certainly looks impressive that’s for sure and the cover mechanic makes it feel more like a FPS GOW than your standard shooter. As a FPS it seems pretty generic from what I’ve seen, with only the cover system distancing it from other FPS’s. The demo itself was pretty short, so it is hard to give a definitive impression of the game, but from what I have seen I would say that it looks like a very competent game, maybe not revolutionary, but still thoroughly enjoyable.

I’ll likely be buying it mainly for the multiplayer and the demo did not include a version of this which was a shame, but from what I’ve seen so far, I’d imagine that it’ll play more similar to COD than Resistance, which is a good thing in my book.

My only is with the controls (why does this sound familiar). Overall movement feel very weighty and I had to adjust the sensitivity slightly, but this wasn’t the issue. Using cover is very, very important (you get slaughtered quickly if you stand out in the open), but to take cover you need to press and hold the L2 button. Now to pop up out of cover you just need to press either up or left/right, which ever is appropriate. However, to look down the sights of your gun and zoom you need to press either L1 or R3 before shooting with R1. Neither of these feel very natural (namely pressing 3 buttons to shoot from behind cover) and I spent a fair amount of time fumbling with these controls. In my opinion this could be fixed easily by just requiring the press of L2 to duck behind cover, but not holding L2, then another press of L2 to leave the cover, but this option is not available.

The above is by no means a deal breaker for me, it just adds another layer of complexity where it isn’t needed. I’ve had a look on a couple of forums and seen that a few other people also share my opinion. Hopefully this may be addressed, otherwise it’ll just require a bit of adapting on my part. I may have to give the demo another swirl to see if I can get to grips with it a bit more.

It has, however, made me realise just how natural the COD button layout is and how anything else just seems alien in comparison.

Fear 2 demo impressions and Slumdog

I’ve had it on my PS3 for around a week, but have only just got around to playing the demo for Fear 2… and I was pretty impressed.

This game is really best played at night, with the lights low, on a big TV and with the sound up high. I can honestly say that it utterly freaked me out. I don’t think I’ve jumped so much and so many times in a games in a long, long time.

Overall then, very impressed, it’s just a shame that I currently have so many other games on my agenda. I may have to earmark this as a possible future purchase during a quieter period.

Film watched:
Slumdog Millionaire

Touching and surprisingly clever feel good film from Danny Boyle. Had a massive grin on my face by the end.

8.5/10

I’d also like to add, that unless Benjamin Button excels, I’d be surprised if Slumdog Millionaire doesn’t walk away with the best picture Oscar.

RE5 Impressions, Indy & Free Radical

So following a 1 week exclusivity period on the 360 (grr stupid grr) the demo for Resident Evil 5 (RE5) was released on the PS3, the following is my impression:

Now before I begin, I have to say that from both a friend and also reading online, there has been a degree of negativity about the game, mostly focused on the controls. However, I was not going to let this effect my judgement as I simply loved RE4 and also the prior games.

Anyway, after playing the demo for some time last night, it has to be said that while it looked fantastic, it has some issues, and I will address these below:

1) The controls
There’s no avoiding it, they just feel sluggish and when you consider that based on the demo that RE5 is more action packed than the previous games, they just don’t cut the mustard. I tried different configurations and also different speeds, but still I could not bring them up to speed. The thing is I loved RE4 and things are largely unchanged from that, so it’s a bit strange really. I think that given time I would be able to get used to them again, but it certainly does take getting used to.

2) Co-op
I’m not a big fan of co-op games, and I had some concerns about RE5 in the regard prior to the demo, and it looks like my concerns were on the ball.

Although RE4 was great, the worst thing about it were the sections where you had to worry about Ashley in addition to yourself, it looks like RE5 is going to be like this, multiplied by 10. I know that this is a little unfair, as Sheva can look after herself a lot better than Ashley in RE4, but you still have to keep an eye on her health, help her out when she needs it, save her from enemies and share your ammo and weapons with her. Quite frankly, I don’t give a damn, I just want to play the game myself and worry about myself. Resident Evil has always been a game of careful ammo preservation and this is spoilt when you either have another player, or a CPU wasting your carefully preserved ammo with wild abandon.

It also feels like you’re missing out on part of the game, as you are forced to split up and cover each other.

I’ve tried playing it with a CPU controlled character and also online with real players, but neither felt particularly satisfactory. I guess it just boils down to the fact that Resident Evil has always previously been a survival horror game where you just need to primarily look after yourself, and being forced to worry about someone else just irritates. Maybe I’m just a selfish gamer!

3) The inventory
Previously when you enter the inventory screen the game pauses allowing you to swap weapons, heal etc. Now, there is no pause in the action and you are forced to do this while you play. While this may be realistic, it certainly isn’t a quick process. For example, to simply change from a pistol to a shotgun I need to press the menu button, select the shotgun, press a button to select the shotgun, then select to equip this and press a button to equip this. All this while being attacked by 10 zombies. Switching equipment between you and Sheva makes matters even worse!

If they insisted upon realtime equipment changes, why couldn’t they include hotkeys using the D-pad, similar to something like Fallout? That would makes things much more workable.

It’s also a shame that they have taken away the way in which you were forced to fit your equipment in a case in RE4, which meant that you had to carefully decide which items to take and which weapons to purchase.

Overall
Following the demo, this has changed from a day one purchase, to a game that I will likely pick up when I have some more free time. I’m not doubting that there is a good game there, it just isn’t a priority for me any longer.

Here’s hoping that I enjoy the Killzone 2 demo which is hitting tomorrow!

I’ve been meaning to blog a bit more about Fallout 3 and will likely do so in the future. What I will say, however, is had I played the game when it was released last year, it would undoubtedly been in my top 3 games of 2008. To put it simply, it is awesome!

Read a good bit of news just yesterday, the Wii version of the new Indy game, namely Indiana Jones and the Staff of the Kings will include as an added bonus a copy of the old PC classic SCUMM adventure Indiana Jones and the Fat of Atlantis. One hell of a bonus if you ask me, which almost warrants a purchase of the new game, no matter what quality it is!

Also, on the good news department, I’ve read that Free Radical have been purchased by Crytek. This is obviously good news, while Haze certainly wasn’t as good as it should have been, I still had hope that they would sprinkle that old magic on a HD Timesplitters in the future…

The Reader and Knocked Up

Films watched:

The Reader

A little long, but still a touching film. Winslet will likely get the oscar for this.

7.5/10

Knocked Up

As a film it succeeds in being charming and likeable. As a comedy it fails to be that funny.

5.5/10