The Holiday season

Posted: 2012-12-22 15:46:31.857

The holidays are upon us (and the world didn't end either) and its been a good year of games and movies on my end (mainly playing through my older ones and a few new games sprinkled in here and there).  Who would have thought the final chapter of Chris Nolan's Batman trilogy the first superhero teamup movie (Avengers), and The Hobbit would all be out this year and not one of them bombed (TDKR and Hobbit may have been a bit below expectations but still fine films).  Some major surprises happened througout the year: such as The Hobbit getting a third film, Star Wars Episode VII actually existing, Nintendo releasing a tablet based home console (less surprising for that one), and the Bleach anime actually ending or going on hiatus.  Its been a bumpy ride but here are some random predictions or 2013:

1. Final Fantasy versus XIII gets a release date and it will be out in Japan by next Summer (more of a hope rather than a prediction)

2. Kingdom Hearts 1.5 remix comes to Europe and America by Summer 2013, 2.5 remix will be announced at the Tokyo Game Show and include KH2 and BBS

3. Microsoft Durango will be out by the holidays next year: it will feature a moderate upgrade in power, but will be a game changer as the rumors suggest

4. PS4 or Orbis will attempt to release in 2013 and get pushed back till early 2014.  It will be a technical powerhouse

5. This is less of a prediction for 2013 but more of a longterm prediction: PS4 and Durango will not be close in technical power which will result in one company getting pushed out of the hardware business (Nintendo, MS, or Sony).  I have no basis for this but I can see it coming sooner or later

6. Final Fantasy XV will be announced for PS3/360/Wii U and will be released sooner than anyone expects

7. Kingdom Hearts 3 will finally be announced for PS3

8.  The next Batman Arkham game will be announced and it will have co-op

9. Star Wars Force Unleashed 3 and Battlefront 3 will be announced and dated

10. Star Wars Episode VII's director will be either be a young unknown or someone who has never done a big budget action film

11. The Hobbit will get better with each film

12. Iron Man 3 is going to be very dark and very good

13. Sports: Superbowl: New England Patriots vs Green Bay Packers (Packers will win);  Hockey will not play this season (edit: oops got one wrong), NBA: Knicks vs Oklahoma City Thunder (winner: Thunder); World Series:Philadelphia Phillies vs LA Angels (I'm not picking that one since I'm being a homer)

 

Thats all I got so far, but I thought I'd jot these down and see how I do predicting 2013

The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey Review

Posted: 2012-12-14 11:09:25.277

The Hobbit: AUJ as I stated in my description makes something very clear from the outset (for those who hadn't read the book) this is not Lord of the Rings or trying to be Lord of the Rings this is more of a fairy tale rather than the gritty fantasy that was Lotr.  Warning Major Spoilers for those who have not seen the movie:

1. The moment the movie starts you know this will be a very familiar ride with similar locations and cameos from fan favorite characters (in this one Frodo, old Bilbo from lotr, Saruman, and Galadriel make small appearacnes) in addition to Elrond and Gollum getting a bit more to do since they are more involved in the Hobbit's story

2. I still want to go to New Zealand such great landscapes to check out, this and the Lotr trilogy are great advertizements for them

3. The action in the movie as to be expected are top notch, between the fights against the wargs, goblins, and some orcs for good measure

4. The biggest thing about the Hobbit is its more of a fariy tale than Lotr and Peter Jackson did a great job keeping the events light and far more tame for the most part compared the bleakness of Lotr.  Its gonna throw some people off (those who are seeing this without any familiarity with the book and expecting the Lotr prequel).  I tried my best not to compare the two but its almost impossible since they share the same film crew and are actively trying to connect the trilogies together

5. The main musical theme of the hobbit (which was an instrumental version of Misty Mountains) fit very well and was quite memorable (its stuck in my head right now actually)

6.  The performances from Martin Freeman (Bilbo), Sir Ian Mckellan (Gandalf), and Richard Armitage (Thorin) stood out the most to me of the main cast since they actually had characterizations which leads me to a flaw.  I felt I knew nothing about these dwarves outsie of Thorin which unlike Lotr where you cared for the supporting characters (Legolas, Gimli, Merry, Pippen, Sam, Aaragorn, even Boromir)

7. After the initial sequence with Smaug taking the Dwarf kingdom things slowed down to a point where I looked at my phone for the time a couple times during the first hour

8. This ran into the Star Wars prequels problem where it felt like there was a dramatic increase in CGI usage that almost took me out of the action at times (not as clean as the Star Wars prequels but it was jarring how the orcs were almost 90 percent CGI now)

9. This shouldn't be 3 movies, I'm sorry but as much as I love the world of Middle Earth breaking the Hobbit into a trilogy was a mistake, there isn't enough story for 3 movies, the results were this film didn't have enough story in it, nothing was accomplished there was no villain vanquished, even a sub villain ( Fellowship had Lurtz, Two Towers dealt with Sauruman, Return of the King had Sauron) so it had kind of an empty feeling where the biggest thing accomplished was Bilbo was accepted by the dwarves

So thats my thoughts on The Hobbit: AUJ, Overall it was as most of the reviews said striving for greatness but falling just short.  A decent start in my mind and it can get a whole lot better from here so I give it a.........B-

 

Also one other note: Wish for the best or pray for the families of the children killed in the tragedy up in Newtown Connecticut

 

 

Skyfall: The movie review

Posted: 2012-11-08 14:08:52.327

Attention Major Spoilers ahead read at your own discretion:

Skyfall is quite possibly the most reverent of the Bond mythology in the Daniel Craig era which has seen drastic changes from the old days of being pure popcorn films with unrealistic gadgets, and pretty mediocre stories (this was very true during Brosnan's final 3 Bond films) to dropping the gadgets for the most part, making Bond less of a archtype and more of a person, and having legitimately great stories.  Here are some thoughts on it:

1. The performances of Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, and Judi Dench were top notch and they did a brilliant job of portraying their characters

2. This was a great mix of old and new, where Casino and Quantum were very much closer to Bourne films (which isn't bad, I still view Casino as my favorite Bond film) and brought in elements that I'm sure other filmmakers would hesitate (reintroducing the gadgets, bringing in a truly oldschool super villain, and using the Bond theme more often in general)

3. This leads to an interesting plot thread that I thought was executed well but I had minor problems with it, which was Bond's personal journey.  Its established in the last two movies that Bond is the young gun who needed to be reigned in since he was kind of a loose cannon.  Now he is an old man who may have lost a step?  I think they did an ok job telling it, I have one scene where I have problem with it.  It was during the first encounter with our villain Silva and he is basically taunting Bond that he has lost a step and they have a shooting contest where he has to hit a shot of whiskey off a Bond girl's head, he misses badly and then after Silva misses and kills her, magically Bond has regained all his skills for the remainder of the movie.  Not saying I hated but it was puzzling to say the least

4. The pacing early on was a little off after the big chase in Turkey, things just kinda slowed down and could have gone if a bit faster in hindsight. 

5. The theme song for this one was really solid though I still like Casino Royale's better

6. I was surprised Skyfall meant the name of Bond's childhood home, I was hoping we'd find out more about his past but not to be in this one which had an abundance of plot

7. M's storyline this time stood out, and I was truly shocked to see her die at the end of the film which I'll get to more about in my next point

8. This film in my eyes finished a transition that started in Casino Royale which was out with the old guard and into the next generation with a new M, Q, and Bond leading the way.  Who by the way the new Q and Bond have a great chemistry and was exceptional casting.  The new M is Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) I thought it was a funny bit of casting and will probably need to wait and see how he does in the next two Bond films before judging.

9. Finally can't finish without talking about the action scenes which were great as per usual in Bond movies. 

10. Overall I really liked this one, way better than Quantum of Solace, a little short of Casino Royale so I give it an................A-