So, I've seen quite a lot this year, but as always not nearly as much as I'd of liked, but that's a pitfall many of us fall into. But anyway, here is my review of the year. I've tried to keep the reviews to one line and there'll be links to any movie I've reviewed earlier in the year. Enjoy!
NOTE: Some of these films are not 2011 films, but films I have watched for the first time in 2011. Before y'all start bitching. And it's not a complete list either, there's still time for some 2011 viewing.
The ones in bold are cinema viewings.
The Green Hornet – Better than expected, with a few nice visual flourishes.
Paul – Not bad; funny but not as much as you’d hope.
Sucker Punch – Absolute failure on all levels, aside from eye candy.
Source Code - Fantastic, zippy, timey wimey, sci-fi caper.
Your Highness – Sweary, stoner comedy that runs its one joke into the ground.
Fast Five – Most fun I’ve had in the cinema all year.
Thor – Fun light origin that suffers by being an Avengers set up.
Scream 4 – Ends up doing all the things the original made fun of.
Bridesmaids – hilarious film, with great performances all round.
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides – dull fourquel with no excitement or adventure.
Kung Fu Panda 2 – Stunning fight choreography and genuinely affecting story, an improvement on the original in every way.
X-Men First Class – Pace-y, fun origin story with some fantastic action.
Transformers: Dark of the Moon – Big dumb fun, but awful at the same time.
Captain America – see above, re: Thor
Rise of the Planet of the Apes – Excellent reboot with the most sympathetic lead character this year.
The Inbetweeners Movie – Extended episode of the TV series but still reasonably funny.
Contagion – Excellent mood piece with fine performances, and a terrifying plot.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part II - fine end to an entertaining franchise.
The Tournament – Ludicrous actioner, but a lot of fun.
Faster – kind of dull, but a nice departure from kiddie movies for The Rock.
Never Let Me Go – fantastic understated British sci-fi film, with a standout lead performance.
Easy A – tries so hard to be uber-hip, but the story never engages.
Megamind – fun first half, loses steam in the second.
Tangled – hugely enjoyable Disney animation, with some truly memorable characters.
In Time – Nice idea, flawed execution but with a solid turn from Timberlake.
Due Date – Coasts on the rep of Galifinakis, but the laughs aren’t there.
Machete – Somehow makes action scenes really dull.
Morning Glory – frothy, predictable, forgettable.
Tron Legacy – Looks and sounds amazing, that’s about it.
Monsters – Not at all what I expected, but a great movie nonetheless.
Let Me In – virtually identical to its Swedish counterpart, but something gets lost in the translation.
Resident Evil: Afterlife – Not as bad as you might think, but still pretty bad.
Buried – Great central performance, but predictable ending.
How to Train Your Dragon – visually sublime, sweet coming of age story. With dragons.
The Social Network – Gripping account of a potentially boring subject.
Batman and Robin - awful, on every level imaginable.
The Expendables – DTV actioner somehow gets A list stars but has Z list thrills.
Black Dynamite – Hilarious highly quotable pastiche of 70’s blaxploitation flicks.
The Other Guys – remarkably laugh free mess.
Date Night – decent enough slightly OTT comedy with likeable leads.
[REC]2 – Just as good sequel to the terrifying original.
Attack the Block - Unremarkable Brit flick, means well but never quite kicks into gear.
Bronson – Blackly comic biopic with an amazing lead performance.
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs – a little too kooky for my liking, but fun while it lasts.
127 Hours – oddly uplifting survival tale with a tour-de-force lead turn.
The Thing – pointless but enjoyable enough remake, with some good monster effects.
Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol – fun actioner with some of the best stunts you’ll see all year.
Games
Marvel Vs Capcom 3 – ADD beat ‘em up, but if you don’t know the combos you’re screwed.
Bulletstorm – Totally mental shooter and a hell of a lot of fun.
Assassins Creed: Brotherhood – yet another AC game but with great new additions (the Assassins Guild) and an ace multiplayer component.
Portal 2 – easily my game of the year.
LA Noire – only just bought this but so far, a dozen or so cases in, it’s brilliant.
LIMBO – haunting puzzle game that sticks in the memory long after the credits roll.
Gears of War 3 – more of the same, but that same is awesome.
Batman: Arkham City – improves on the original in every way, except for the plot.
Battlefield 3 – dull campaign, never got to play the multiplayer (stupid EA online pass)
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 – nothing new, but for top notch gaming thrills, you can’t beat it.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – again, only just got it, but it looks ace so far.
Dead Island - creepy open world co-op zombie bashing, so far so good.
Friday, 30 December 2011
Thursday, 29 December 2011
CINEMA REVIEW: The Thing
Ah, the prequel. A word that has become synonymous with the term ‘inferior cash-in.’
In many ways, a lot of them are. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t without their merits. This years The Thing, a prequel to the 1982 John Carpenter movie of the same name (just to make things extra confusing), was branded as inferior before it was ever released to the public, which is a tad unfair. After seeing it, I can tell you it’s not as good as the original but it’s not exactly a massive shitfest either. In fact, its only crime is that it apes the beats of the first film almost exactly; and let’s not forget that while the original is enjoyable it’s not the greatest movie ever or anything (but then again, it does come from The Decade That Cannot Be Badmouthed but I digress onto a personal pet peeve of mine). And besides, the 1982 movie was a pseudo remake itself, so y’all can get off those mutated multi-limbed high horses.
The new film is a retread of the original, filling in the gaps hinted at in that movie all with a sprinkling of CGI to enhance the beasties. And that’s pretty much it; which isn’t to say its bad, just basically exactly the same as the original. But it’s kind of neat to see how the things Kurt Russell et al discover came about; even if we didn’t ever need to know in the first place, as the shit-to-fan nature of what happened was pretty evident in the first place. But now we know how the two headed creature came about, as well as the axe in the wall, and the guy at the radios who committed suicide. Unnecessary, but cool to see anyway.
We even have an almost verbatim ‘test’ scene, except instead of a blood test there’s an ‘open your mouth and show us your fillings’ test (the alien can’t copy inorganic tissue, however that does bring up the how does it replicate clothes? plot hole), which much like the blood test, ramps up the tension nicely, and leads into the big effects showcase that continues for the rest of the film.
If there’s one part of the movie I didn’t like it was the last act in which the two remaining characters go inside the alien spaceship. Frankly it’s dumb, and takes away from the ‘realness’ a little bit. When we’re stranded in a snowy outpost it feels real even though there’s a parasitic lifeform assimilating people. Going onboard the alien spacecraft just took me out of the scene.
The whole CGI versus practical effects argument raised in head a lot before The Thing came out but just because the practical effects were so good in the original doesn’t mean the filmmakers had to go down that route again. The CGI beasties for the most part are really impressive with only one truly rubbish effect that brings The Rock Scorpion King to mind (funnily enough, it’s also the last big effect piece, much like The Rock was). And if we’re being honest here, the chest mouth from the original Thing was pretty naff too.
And on the subject of the monsters; if the 1982 Thing’s creatures were ‘holy shit, that is fucked up,’ 2011’s are more ‘holy shit, that is creepy.’ With the surprise element gone, as I figure most going to see this are at least familiar with the original, the filmmakers decided to make them as messed up as possible. And they succeeded. The standout being the French woman’s transformation into a multi limbed T-1000 post grenade lookalike, moaning a horrible moan. Gloriously effed in the head. [see above]
Anyway, The Thing (2011), for what it was, was highly enjoyable. If I had to boil it down to its core elements I’d say it was a slasher prequel to the thriller original.
3 stars
In many ways, a lot of them are. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t without their merits. This years The Thing, a prequel to the 1982 John Carpenter movie of the same name (just to make things extra confusing), was branded as inferior before it was ever released to the public, which is a tad unfair. After seeing it, I can tell you it’s not as good as the original but it’s not exactly a massive shitfest either. In fact, its only crime is that it apes the beats of the first film almost exactly; and let’s not forget that while the original is enjoyable it’s not the greatest movie ever or anything (but then again, it does come from The Decade That Cannot Be Badmouthed but I digress onto a personal pet peeve of mine). And besides, the 1982 movie was a pseudo remake itself, so y’all can get off those mutated multi-limbed high horses.
The new film is a retread of the original, filling in the gaps hinted at in that movie all with a sprinkling of CGI to enhance the beasties. And that’s pretty much it; which isn’t to say its bad, just basically exactly the same as the original. But it’s kind of neat to see how the things Kurt Russell et al discover came about; even if we didn’t ever need to know in the first place, as the shit-to-fan nature of what happened was pretty evident in the first place. But now we know how the two headed creature came about, as well as the axe in the wall, and the guy at the radios who committed suicide. Unnecessary, but cool to see anyway.
We even have an almost verbatim ‘test’ scene, except instead of a blood test there’s an ‘open your mouth and show us your fillings’ test (the alien can’t copy inorganic tissue, however that does bring up the how does it replicate clothes? plot hole), which much like the blood test, ramps up the tension nicely, and leads into the big effects showcase that continues for the rest of the film.
If there’s one part of the movie I didn’t like it was the last act in which the two remaining characters go inside the alien spaceship. Frankly it’s dumb, and takes away from the ‘realness’ a little bit. When we’re stranded in a snowy outpost it feels real even though there’s a parasitic lifeform assimilating people. Going onboard the alien spacecraft just took me out of the scene.
The whole CGI versus practical effects argument raised in head a lot before The Thing came out but just because the practical effects were so good in the original doesn’t mean the filmmakers had to go down that route again. The CGI beasties for the most part are really impressive with only one truly rubbish effect that brings The Rock Scorpion King to mind (funnily enough, it’s also the last big effect piece, much like The Rock was). And if we’re being honest here, the chest mouth from the original Thing was pretty naff too.
And on the subject of the monsters; if the 1982 Thing’s creatures were ‘holy shit, that is fucked up,’ 2011’s are more ‘holy shit, that is creepy.’ With the surprise element gone, as I figure most going to see this are at least familiar with the original, the filmmakers decided to make them as messed up as possible. And they succeeded. The standout being the French woman’s transformation into a multi limbed T-1000 post grenade lookalike, moaning a horrible moan. Gloriously effed in the head. [see above]
Anyway, The Thing (2011), for what it was, was highly enjoyable. If I had to boil it down to its core elements I’d say it was a slasher prequel to the thriller original.
3 stars
Friday, 9 December 2011
DVD's for Christmas? What the heck is that?
I can kind of understand how Christmas can be a stressful time of year. You’ve got meals to make, presents to buy and wrap and decorations to put up. Thankfully, I’m a bloke and only really have to worry about that middle one. And even then I don’t have to actually wrap the presents. Apart from my wife’s.
The most stressful part of Christmas for me is choosing the items I want to give as a present to my sister/mum/dad/anyone else that falls into that bracket of not really knowing what they want. The thing is my brain automatically goes to the one item that I think everybody will want, when it’s really just the item I know I’d be the most happy with if no one knew what to get me: DVD’s.
I love a good DVD. It’s probably my favourite thing to receive which is why whenever I’m stuck that’s my go-to gift to buy for someone. Surely if I’d love a DVD they would to, right?
The most stressful part of Christmas for me is choosing the items I want to give as a present to my sister/mum/dad/anyone else that falls into that bracket of not really knowing what they want. The thing is my brain automatically goes to the one item that I think everybody will want, when it’s really just the item I know I’d be the most happy with if no one knew what to get me: DVD’s.
I love a good DVD. It’s probably my favourite thing to receive which is why whenever I’m stuck that’s my go-to gift to buy for someone. Surely if I’d love a DVD they would to, right?
Well, no. This year, thankfully, I’ve talked myself out of buying DVD’s as presents, (aside from one person, but that’s a boxset and it’s pretty awesome) because I have to remember that not everyone watches DVD’s the way I do. I like to watch and rewatch a lot of the films I own (I’ve lost count how many times I’ve watched Battle Royale or Little Shop of Horrors*); and I know for a fact that my parents and my sister probably wouldn’t. So buying them a DVD is basically a ‘here’s something for you to watch once and never again’ gift. Which frankly, sucks.
You may say ‘it’s the thought that counts.’ And in one way, it is. But in another more accurate way, it’s bollocks. Nobody wants a present they’ll only use once, unless it’s strictly a one use thing, like tickets to a show or edible underwear. If I really wanted to get them a one-watch DVD I’d get them one of those god-awful football foul ups DVD’s that get churned out every Christmas with Danny Dyer. And nobody wants one of those. Not even Danny Dyer. They’re just designed for exactly one viewing, and then get forgotten about by Boxing Day; they are disposable, last minute gifts with no thought put into them at all – “Hmmm, Jonny likes football. Jonny like laughing. He doesn’t like Danny Dyer, but then who does? Let’s get him this funny football DVD.”
"I'm a twat."
You could say the same for stand up DVD’s that there are a lot of around Christmas time, funnily enough. These used to be great gifts, and I have a good many of them (mostly Bill Bailey ones) but these fall into a similar trap as the football DVD’s. Although, you can usually get a few more viewings out of a stand up DVD and if you’re lucky it’ll be a few more years before it shows up on TV, thus rendering your DVD moot.
That said though, it is partly my own fault, as when I can’t think of anything that I want, I normally ask for such a DVD (stand up, not football gaffes) thus further perpetuating the myth that people actually want these for Christmas rather than they couldn’t think of anything else. So, if you’re stuck for a gift to get someone like me (male, 20’s, kinda nerdy), don’t go for the easy option of a stand up DVD; pick something out of leftfield. Go to the world cinema section and do a Countdown (1 from the top, and 5 from anywhere else) and I guarantee you the recipient will be happier with that than with John bloody Bishop.
Best. Countdown. Ever.
I went on a wee off tangent rant there, but I figure I should follow my own advice when buying for those who don’t want another DVD from me on Christmas morning. I should go mad in a gadget shop, enter a random number into the Argos price checker and buy that, pick the first thing I see on Amazon. Surprise them with something they’d never ever have bought themselves.
Like edible underwear.
Of course, if they actually want a DVD, you’re probably better off just buying them one.
Thanks
JC
*didn’t think I’d ever see those two films together in a sentence.
Friday, 11 November 2011
Thom Yorke: Pretentious
A wee while ago I wrote an album review. It’s not something I do very often, but I prefaced the actual review with my reasoning for not liking music reviews in general. I’ll not repeat it, but you can read it here - http://jcthefirst.blogspot.com/2011/10/album-review-noel-gallaghers-high.html
However, despite all the pretentiousness of album reviews and music magazines in general, sometimes it’s the artists themselves that are the guiltiest of it. And even without having read the following quote, I reckon most people would consider Thom Yorke to be at least at little pretentious. I mean, just listen to the albums if you don’t believe me. Don’t get me wrong, they’re great albums (well, some of them) but you can’t deny Thom is a pretentious fella.
So, for me, anyone that spews this kind of bollocks doesn’t deserve to actually ever speak about his own songs ever again.
"'Street Spirit' is our purest song, but I didn't write it. It wrote itself. We were just its messengers; its biological catalysts. Its core is a complete mystery to me, and, you know, I wouldn't ever try to write something that hopeless. All of our saddest songs have somewhere in them at least a glimmer of resolve. 'Street Spirit' has no resolve. It is the dark tunnel without the light at the end. It represents all tragic emotion that is so hurtful that the sound of that melody is its only definition. We all have a way of dealing with that song. It's called detachment. Especially me; I detach my emotional radar from that song, or I couldn't play it. I'd crack. I'd break down on stage. That's why its lyrics are just a bunch of mini-stories or visual images as opposed to a cohesive explanation of its meaning. I used images set to the music that I thought would convey the emotional entirety of the lyric and music working together. That's what's meant by 'all these things you'll one day swallow whole'. I meant the emotional entirety, because I didn't have it in me to articulate the emotion. I'd crack...
Our fans are braver than I to let that song penetrate them, or maybe they don't realise what they're listening to. They don't realise that 'Street Spirit' is about staring the fucking devil right in the eyes, and knowing, no matter what the hell you do, he'll get the last laugh. And it's real, and true. The devil really will get the last laugh in all cases without exception, and if I let myself think about that too long, I'd crack.
I can't believe we have fans that can deal emotionally with that song. That's why I'm convinced that they don't know what it's about. It's why we play it towards the end of our sets. It drains me, and it shakes me, and hurts like hell every time I play it, looking out at thousands of people cheering and smiling, oblivious to the tragedy of its meaning, like when you're going to have your dog put down and it's wagging its tail on the way there. That's what they all look like, and it breaks my heart. I wish that song hadn't picked us as its catalysts, and so I don't claim it. It asks too much. I didn't write that song."
Fuck off, Thom. You wrote a great song that sounds a little depressing. Get over it.
And yourself.
After all that I feel this little comic sums it up even better.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyLmJeTmvB8r5sY0Bngek8gtnxc0OcDl7KkASZh2XoIOJ1RyUcq_hjzmpD34oSGnUJVjj2sRjH8Sxk1jNiapWn0Cq7h6-52sAcPrMAlCn7nmVktrB-4xs2reb8dvpSihD5slZmBD2w2yw/s1600/1289656223384.png
However, despite all the pretentiousness of album reviews and music magazines in general, sometimes it’s the artists themselves that are the guiltiest of it. And even without having read the following quote, I reckon most people would consider Thom Yorke to be at least at little pretentious. I mean, just listen to the albums if you don’t believe me. Don’t get me wrong, they’re great albums (well, some of them) but you can’t deny Thom is a pretentious fella.
So, for me, anyone that spews this kind of bollocks doesn’t deserve to actually ever speak about his own songs ever again.
"'Street Spirit' is our purest song, but I didn't write it. It wrote itself. We were just its messengers; its biological catalysts. Its core is a complete mystery to me, and, you know, I wouldn't ever try to write something that hopeless. All of our saddest songs have somewhere in them at least a glimmer of resolve. 'Street Spirit' has no resolve. It is the dark tunnel without the light at the end. It represents all tragic emotion that is so hurtful that the sound of that melody is its only definition. We all have a way of dealing with that song. It's called detachment. Especially me; I detach my emotional radar from that song, or I couldn't play it. I'd crack. I'd break down on stage. That's why its lyrics are just a bunch of mini-stories or visual images as opposed to a cohesive explanation of its meaning. I used images set to the music that I thought would convey the emotional entirety of the lyric and music working together. That's what's meant by 'all these things you'll one day swallow whole'. I meant the emotional entirety, because I didn't have it in me to articulate the emotion. I'd crack...
Our fans are braver than I to let that song penetrate them, or maybe they don't realise what they're listening to. They don't realise that 'Street Spirit' is about staring the fucking devil right in the eyes, and knowing, no matter what the hell you do, he'll get the last laugh. And it's real, and true. The devil really will get the last laugh in all cases without exception, and if I let myself think about that too long, I'd crack.
I can't believe we have fans that can deal emotionally with that song. That's why I'm convinced that they don't know what it's about. It's why we play it towards the end of our sets. It drains me, and it shakes me, and hurts like hell every time I play it, looking out at thousands of people cheering and smiling, oblivious to the tragedy of its meaning, like when you're going to have your dog put down and it's wagging its tail on the way there. That's what they all look like, and it breaks my heart. I wish that song hadn't picked us as its catalysts, and so I don't claim it. It asks too much. I didn't write that song."
Fuck off, Thom. You wrote a great song that sounds a little depressing. Get over it.
And yourself.
After all that I feel this little comic sums it up even better.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyLmJeTmvB8r5sY0Bngek8gtnxc0OcDl7KkASZh2XoIOJ1RyUcq_hjzmpD34oSGnUJVjj2sRjH8Sxk1jNiapWn0Cq7h6-52sAcPrMAlCn7nmVktrB-4xs2reb8dvpSihD5slZmBD2w2yw/s1600/1289656223384.png
And besides, The Bends is your best album. After that, it all went downhill and people are just kidding themselves that your albums are still good.
Here's a wee funny Thom gif to let you know he's not all bad. It really makes me smile.
JC
Monday, 7 November 2011
GAME REVIEW - Batman: Arkham City
Back in 2009, Arkham Asylum was released and was easily the best Batman game there had ever been (not hard), and was possibly the best game of that year (slightly harder). With the weight of expectation for a sequel that was just as good, developers Rocksteady were under a lot of pressure. Thankfully with Arkham City, they’ve created a game that is every bit as good as its predecessor.
Starting off with Bruce Wayne getting thrown into Arkham City, a slice of Gotham cordoned off and being used as a prison, you have to escape from Hugo Strange, suit up and get to the bottom of whatever the not-so-good doctor is up to. Eventually you find out he’s up to something called Protocol 10, but this main campaign strand is only one small part of the game, which has so much more to offer.
Essentially, City is exactly the same as Asylum only in a bigger playground. While it adds nothing completely new gameplay wise, the open world is a nice touch meaning you don’t have to do the story missions until you want to, and can just fly about the city beating up thugs and solving the riddles that have been scattered about the city. With the bigger game world, Rocksteady have room to add pretty much every Batman villain you could think of; all the big hitters are present (Joker, Penguin, Two Face) as well as some 2nd tier Batman villains (Mad Hatter, Zsasz, Deadshot) and each of these villains have their own distinct missions for you to complete. These extra side missions add hours of extra gameplay that you can complete or choose to ignore. Many times though, these missions are far more enjoyable (and harder) than the main game. The Riddler challenges are back as well, and form the biggest non-campaign part of the game. There are about 3 times as many as there were in Arkham Asylum, and they’re a lot harder as well. In fact this time, the Riddler has captured some hostages this time and it’s up to you to save them by solving a series of his puzzles. These quite often were my favourite parts of the game, having a different flavour than just punching a whole load of guys.
But punching a whole load of guys is still awesome fun, by the way.
Also, included in all new copies of Arkham City is a downloadable code for some Catwoman side missions which are intercut into the game’s plot at certain points. This adds another few hours of gameplay as well as new Riddler trophies to find as Catwoman. It’s a nice change of pace to play as another character every now and again, and certain missions as Catwoman are easily better and more fun than some of those you play as Bats.
The fighting mechanics are the same as they were before, but which some extra moves and gadgets thrown in as well all with easy quick fire button commands which enables you to use them in combat without ever losing your combo. Thankfully Batman has all of the gadgets he spent so long trying to get in Asylum, so at the start of the game you have all your tools at your disposal.
With the bigger playing area traversing the city quickly is a necessity, and there are some new gliding mechanics designed to make flying about Arkham City as fluid as possible, especially when you combine it with your grapple hook. In fact, if you perfect it you can get around the whole city without ever having to touch the ground although it is a lot of fun dive bombing from a great height and scaring the crap out of a group of thugs, before knocking the crap out of them. The city itself is beautifully realised with familiar locations scattered about (Crime Alley is there as well, and it contains a quite frankly lovely moment) as well as buildings that can be (and in most cases have to be) explored. In fact, just as with the first the greatest triumph of this game is that it really makes you feel like the world’s greatest detective. And that’s all I ask of it really.
If I had one complaint, and it’s a silly one really, it’s that it doesn’t feel as fresh as Arkham Asylum, and there are no real surprises like the Scarecrow sections (although Ra’s Al Ghul’s demon trials and the Lazarus Pit come close) but as a sequel it’s going to be hard to do that without changing everything that made the first game so special.
So, in conclusion, a worthy sequel to one of 2009’s best games and one of this year’s best as well.
4 stars
Starting off with Bruce Wayne getting thrown into Arkham City, a slice of Gotham cordoned off and being used as a prison, you have to escape from Hugo Strange, suit up and get to the bottom of whatever the not-so-good doctor is up to. Eventually you find out he’s up to something called Protocol 10, but this main campaign strand is only one small part of the game, which has so much more to offer.
Essentially, City is exactly the same as Asylum only in a bigger playground. While it adds nothing completely new gameplay wise, the open world is a nice touch meaning you don’t have to do the story missions until you want to, and can just fly about the city beating up thugs and solving the riddles that have been scattered about the city. With the bigger game world, Rocksteady have room to add pretty much every Batman villain you could think of; all the big hitters are present (Joker, Penguin, Two Face) as well as some 2nd tier Batman villains (Mad Hatter, Zsasz, Deadshot) and each of these villains have their own distinct missions for you to complete. These extra side missions add hours of extra gameplay that you can complete or choose to ignore. Many times though, these missions are far more enjoyable (and harder) than the main game. The Riddler challenges are back as well, and form the biggest non-campaign part of the game. There are about 3 times as many as there were in Arkham Asylum, and they’re a lot harder as well. In fact this time, the Riddler has captured some hostages this time and it’s up to you to save them by solving a series of his puzzles. These quite often were my favourite parts of the game, having a different flavour than just punching a whole load of guys.
But punching a whole load of guys is still awesome fun, by the way.
Also, included in all new copies of Arkham City is a downloadable code for some Catwoman side missions which are intercut into the game’s plot at certain points. This adds another few hours of gameplay as well as new Riddler trophies to find as Catwoman. It’s a nice change of pace to play as another character every now and again, and certain missions as Catwoman are easily better and more fun than some of those you play as Bats.
The fighting mechanics are the same as they were before, but which some extra moves and gadgets thrown in as well all with easy quick fire button commands which enables you to use them in combat without ever losing your combo. Thankfully Batman has all of the gadgets he spent so long trying to get in Asylum, so at the start of the game you have all your tools at your disposal.
With the bigger playing area traversing the city quickly is a necessity, and there are some new gliding mechanics designed to make flying about Arkham City as fluid as possible, especially when you combine it with your grapple hook. In fact, if you perfect it you can get around the whole city without ever having to touch the ground although it is a lot of fun dive bombing from a great height and scaring the crap out of a group of thugs, before knocking the crap out of them. The city itself is beautifully realised with familiar locations scattered about (Crime Alley is there as well, and it contains a quite frankly lovely moment) as well as buildings that can be (and in most cases have to be) explored. In fact, just as with the first the greatest triumph of this game is that it really makes you feel like the world’s greatest detective. And that’s all I ask of it really.
If I had one complaint, and it’s a silly one really, it’s that it doesn’t feel as fresh as Arkham Asylum, and there are no real surprises like the Scarecrow sections (although Ra’s Al Ghul’s demon trials and the Lazarus Pit come close) but as a sequel it’s going to be hard to do that without changing everything that made the first game so special.
So, in conclusion, a worthy sequel to one of 2009’s best games and one of this year’s best as well.
4 stars
GAME REVIEW: LIMBO
[This short (but brilliant) game shall be getting a short (and hopefully brilliant) review.]Games very rarely astound me.
Games very rarely astound me for reasons I cannot explain.
LIMBO astounded me.
I cannot explain why.
No cut scenes, no explanation, no words, no instructions. Just you, an impressively realised black and white world and some of the best sound design I’ve ever witnessed.
You start the game waking up in what looks like a forest, you walk right, you have a lot of different and treacherous terrain to cross and only the environment around you to help you. Or kill you. You’re looking for your lost sister. Everything else wants to kill you, for reasons unknown.
The joy of LIMBO is that it doesn’t ever treat you like an idiot. There are no hints or tips on how to progress; you just have to work it out for yourself using the environment. And if you get stuck, well, just keep trying. The solution is there, you’re just too dumb to see it. The only other game I could compare it to is Portal, which is kind of similar with all the puzzle elements, but at the same time it’s nothing like Portal.
It’s very rare a game offers up no definite resolution. Without spoiling anything, I’m still thinking about the end of LIMBO three days after completing it. There are a lot of theories on what the game world of LIMBO actually is, and what actually happened throughout the game, but I was incredibly impressed with the bold ending and its implications when you consider it in the context of the entire game. So, an existentialist game that causes you to think, as well as solving a series of devilishly difficult puzzles.
And it has a giant spider. Aces.
To paraphrase Morpheus, you cannot be told what LIMBO is. You have to play it for yourself.
5 stars, easily.
Movie Sunday/Sundae
So, yesterday, I decided I was going to watch a few movies that I'd been planning on watching but for whatever reason had been putting off, on what I have christened Movie Sunday/Sundae. Here's my thoughts on them:
And while it doesn’t reach the heights of the first, it’s still a solid entry into what I hope will become a strong franchise ([REC]’s 3 and 4 have already been greenlit). The story picks up minutes after the first ended as we follow a group of heavily armed soldiers entering the building to find out what’s the hell is going on. Cleverly, instead of following one camera for the whole movie, each of the soldiers has a little headcam so we get lots of different viewpoints throughout the film, whether it’s following a soldier as he crawls through a vent (terrifying, by the way) or watching the other soldiers patch in to a missing soldier’s headcam to find out where he is.
However, it does add some story elements that, while expanding the universe, make it a little less believable. In the first, everything just seemed so random, shit-hitting-the-fan for no reason. In this the outbreak is explained away as almost a conspiracy; a conspiracy involving the Vatican(!). It loses some of the realness that the first had. And the whole night vision revelation is a little too far fetched for my liking.
However, it’s still scary and it’s still awesome, with a killer/disgusting last scene that makes me hungry for the next installment.
4 stars
Catfish
If you’ve seen the trailer for this, you’re probably expecting an unsuspecting man to become friends with a girl on Facebook, who then flies out to meet her only to discover she, and her family, are a bunch of serial killers or something.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Well, actually it is mostly true. Apart from the serial killer part. A young photographer (Nev) meets a little 8 year old girl on Facebook after she has been sending him her paintings of some of his photos , and begins corresponding with the girl herself, her mother and her attractive sister (see below). As time goes on, an almost romance blossoms between Nev and the sister, entirely via Facebook, telephone, text and email. When Nev discovers some discrepancies in what his online ‘girlfriend’ has been telling him, he flies out to meet her. And that’s when things get really interesting.
I’ll not say anything more so as not to gave the game away, but this documentary is a great insight into the power (and perils) of the internet, and one that will have you constantly changing your mind about the people involved right up until the end.
4 stars
Attack the Block
The directorial debut of Joe Cornish (of Adam and Joe fame) set in a council tower block which comes under attack from aliens was a bit of a mixed bag for me. There were a few things I liked about it, but at the same time there were a lot of things that brought it down.
Firstly the good. I loved loved loved the design of the aliens; just pure black with rows of luminous teeth. An inspired design, and while never out and out scary they make a lasting impression, like a furrier version of the xenomorph, all teeth and no eyes.
However I could not enjoy the film wholly, due to the fact that the main characters are such scumbags for most of the running time. When you introduce your characters by showing them mugging a woman you have to do a hell of a lot throughout the movie to make them seem like redeemable characters. The leader of the gang, Moses, while having somewhat of a redemptive arc during the movie didn’t really have enough of one to convince me that this guy is the hero, and that I should be rooting for him.
Reviewers have noted that the film has some scathing social commentary within it. Well sorry, but when the only social commentary is “some hoodies are just products of their environment and not really that bad” it’s not enough for me. Especially when at the end, it doesn’t seem as though Moses has changed any. Just that he saved the day after feeling guilty for causing some of the deaths of his friends; if anything, to me, the film suggests that he’ll not change at all with the residents of the block (who didn’t all know about the aliens) basically cheering him on for blowing up his flat and for being arrested by the police.
I also didn’t think the film was as funny or as scary as it was advertised as being. I can forgive it for not being funny, as that seemed like the marketing people advertised it as such, not really a fault of the film. But it wasn’t scary either which I believe was to be the point of it.
So overall, it’s a technically accomplished film with fine performances, but ultimately for me kind of a hollow experience, blud.
2 stars
[REC]2
I loved the first [REC]. When I saw it for the first time almost 2 years ago, it was probably the scariest movie I’d seen for a long time. My dad will probably agree with me. I bought the sequel the day it came out.
I loved the first [REC]. When I saw it for the first time almost 2 years ago, it was probably the scariest movie I’d seen for a long time. My dad will probably agree with me. I bought the sequel the day it came out.
And while it doesn’t reach the heights of the first, it’s still a solid entry into what I hope will become a strong franchise ([REC]’s 3 and 4 have already been greenlit). The story picks up minutes after the first ended as we follow a group of heavily armed soldiers entering the building to find out what’s the hell is going on. Cleverly, instead of following one camera for the whole movie, each of the soldiers has a little headcam so we get lots of different viewpoints throughout the film, whether it’s following a soldier as he crawls through a vent (terrifying, by the way) or watching the other soldiers patch in to a missing soldier’s headcam to find out where he is.However, it does add some story elements that, while expanding the universe, make it a little less believable. In the first, everything just seemed so random, shit-hitting-the-fan for no reason. In this the outbreak is explained away as almost a conspiracy; a conspiracy involving the Vatican(!). It loses some of the realness that the first had. And the whole night vision revelation is a little too far fetched for my liking.
However, it’s still scary and it’s still awesome, with a killer/disgusting last scene that makes me hungry for the next installment.
4 stars
Catfish
If you’ve seen the trailer for this, you’re probably expecting an unsuspecting man to become friends with a girl on Facebook, who then flies out to meet her only to discover she, and her family, are a bunch of serial killers or something.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Well, actually it is mostly true. Apart from the serial killer part. A young photographer (Nev) meets a little 8 year old girl on Facebook after she has been sending him her paintings of some of his photos , and begins corresponding with the girl herself, her mother and her attractive sister (see below). As time goes on, an almost romance blossoms between Nev and the sister, entirely via Facebook, telephone, text and email. When Nev discovers some discrepancies in what his online ‘girlfriend’ has been telling him, he flies out to meet her. And that’s when things get really interesting.
I’ll not say anything more so as not to gave the game away, but this documentary is a great insight into the power (and perils) of the internet, and one that will have you constantly changing your mind about the people involved right up until the end.
4 stars
Attack the Block
The directorial debut of Joe Cornish (of Adam and Joe fame) set in a council tower block which comes under attack from aliens was a bit of a mixed bag for me. There were a few things I liked about it, but at the same time there were a lot of things that brought it down.
Firstly the good. I loved loved loved the design of the aliens; just pure black with rows of luminous teeth. An inspired design, and while never out and out scary they make a lasting impression, like a furrier version of the xenomorph, all teeth and no eyes.
However I could not enjoy the film wholly, due to the fact that the main characters are such scumbags for most of the running time. When you introduce your characters by showing them mugging a woman you have to do a hell of a lot throughout the movie to make them seem like redeemable characters. The leader of the gang, Moses, while having somewhat of a redemptive arc during the movie didn’t really have enough of one to convince me that this guy is the hero, and that I should be rooting for him.
Reviewers have noted that the film has some scathing social commentary within it. Well sorry, but when the only social commentary is “some hoodies are just products of their environment and not really that bad” it’s not enough for me. Especially when at the end, it doesn’t seem as though Moses has changed any. Just that he saved the day after feeling guilty for causing some of the deaths of his friends; if anything, to me, the film suggests that he’ll not change at all with the residents of the block (who didn’t all know about the aliens) basically cheering him on for blowing up his flat and for being arrested by the police.
I also didn’t think the film was as funny or as scary as it was advertised as being. I can forgive it for not being funny, as that seemed like the marketing people advertised it as such, not really a fault of the film. But it wasn’t scary either which I believe was to be the point of it.
So overall, it’s a technically accomplished film with fine performances, but ultimately for me kind of a hollow experience, blud.
2 stars
Anyway, I hope to do another Sundae next week.
Bye, JC.
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