Archive for June 2013
Top 10 Vampire Movies
With Byzantium coming out this Friday, I thought it would be fun to do a countdown of my favorite vampire movies. For any of you who are unfamiliar with the films, I’ll give a brief description of the plot so you can get a feel for if you should see any of the movies!
The Purge Review
When I talk about my favorite science fiction books or movies, I tend to bring up one topics over and over again. And that topic is world building. In order to succeed at making a quality sci-fi film, in my opinion at least, one needs to first focus on the world building, and once that is established...then comes the easy part. So, when I first saw the trailer for The Purge, I got a little excited, because it looked like it established a really cool not so distant dystopia where lots of weird stuff could happen. I was right about part of that.Great Soundtrack Composers: Randy Newman
As stated in my blog bio, I love listening to movie soundtracks; in fact it’s probably my number one music genre. There’s a long list of soundtrack composers which I’m a fan of, and so I thought I’d start writing blog posts on these composers. In honor of the recently released Monsters University, I’ve decided to write this one on Randy Newman.
Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
Back in high school, I went through a phase where I read a lot of fantasy books. A few of those were written by a little guy called Neil Gaiman. Ever since then, I have followed his career by buying all of his novels, and, honestly, loving every last one. Ocean at the End of the Lane is a phenomenal addition to Neil Gaiman’s already stunning bibliography. With novels like Stardust, Neverwhere, Good Omens, and American Gods, it wasn’t hard to believe that this novel would be another home run. And I’m so glad that it was.
World War Z Review
Back in 2007, my sophomore year of high school, I read a book that floored me. That book was Max Brook’s Zombie Survival Guide. It isn’t a narrative novel, but boy is it good. Max Brooks paints an excellent picture of what the world would be like if zombies existed. He makes up facts that become completely believable. This man was a god in my eyes. Then, my friend told me he had already written another zombie book. I was sold before I even opened the front cover. But then a few years ago I heard they were going to make this novel, World War Z, into a film. Confused as to how this might happen, I was cautiously optimistic about the outcome. Horns Review
Joe Hill’s novel, Horns, is a terrific page-turner, and will soon become a major motion picture starring Harry Potter actor Daniel Radcliffe. Ignatius “Ig” Perrish awakens one morning with a wicked hangover and horns growing out of his head! This is the last thing he needs, because he has many other problems in his life at the moment. For starters, his former girlfriend was recently raped and murdered by an unknown perpetrator, and to top it all off, everyone thinks he did it, although the police never found enough evidence to charge him with anything. Are these problems of his related in any way, or is this guy just generally unlucky?
Man of Steel Review
Superman is, debatably, the greatest superhero of all time. He is almost definitely the greatest of the DC heroes (with Batman a close second.) So it is kind of a mystery, at least to me, why there hasn’t been more of a push for a quality Superman movie in the last, oh, two decades? Yes, we had Superman Returns, which blew, so I ignore that. What was the last good Superman film? 1980’s Superman II. So what was the idea behind the newest incarnation of Supes? Let’s revamp Superman II and try and make it new and original, while still being awesome. And I must say...they succeeded...to an extent.Monsters University Review
Pixar has come a long way since Toy Story. They excel in creating lovable characters and heartwarming stories that entertain children and adults of all ages. As their first ever prequel, Monsters University is a great addition to the Pixar résumé, and it reminded me why I love Pixar films. It was great to see Mike and Sully back on the silver screen for another fun-filled adventure.
E3 2013: Nintendo
WARNING: LARGE WALL OF TEXT APPROACHING
Full
disclosure. I’m a Nintendo fanboy. When I was younger you couldn't have
paid me to have a Sony or Microsoft game product under my roof. I’m not
as bad as I used to be. Hell, I even own a PS2 and Xbox 360 now.
However, when push comes to shove, I will back Big N to the grave.
Naturally this means that I was super excited for the recent Nintendo
Direct that came out of E3. At first I was a little skeptical with the
fact that Nintendo was eschewing the traditional big show, but after all
has been said and done, I’m very pleased with the result.
Newsflesh Trilogy by Mira Grant
Anyone who knows me knows that I love anything to do with zombies. But I've already talked in length about my love for zombies in my Warm Bodies Review. So, when I went on vacation in April, you can imagine that I was looking for a good zombie story to enjoy while sitting by the pool. And I can confidently tell you that I found it.
Sequels Better than the Original: Movie Edition
In my life, I have seen a lot of movies. And that includes a fair amount of franchises. Whether it be a trilogy, septology, or anything in between, there are lots of movies out there that have one (or more) sequels. It has become fairly standard that franchises decline over time, peaking with the first installment and then gradually losing steam. But there are a few exceptions to this rule, below I have listed some of my favorite sequels and how they improved upon the original installment in their franchise.
Game of Thrones Season 3 Storylines Ranked
Well, season 3 is over, and we’ll have to wait a long time for season 4. There’s been a few deaths, a few marriages, and a lot of nudity. One of the things I like about the series is that there are so many storylines that all intersect. I’m going to attempt to rank the storylines of season 3 by how interesting I found them, how much character development occurred within them, and generally which ones had the coolest things happen within them.Mitch Albom's The Timekeeper Review
Mitch Albom, the author behind Tuesdays with Morrie and a few other books, published his most recent novel in September 2012. It’s called The Timekeeper, and it’s a delightful tale about the origin of Father Time and the reasons behind man’s constant counting of the hours.
Cowboy Bebop: Why You Should Give It A Chance
I decided to write this article for two reasons: one, I have a few friends who told me they couldn’t get into Cowboy Bebop, so I thought I could give some pointers for people who have trouble getting into it, so that they can see what they are missing out on. And two, one of the guys at work has been watching it recently, and it just really made me want to talk about one of my favorite anime shows.
For those of you who are anime fans, there is no way you haven’t heard of Cowboy Bebop. And for those of you who aren’t anime fans, Bebop is probably one of the only animes you have heard of. The reason the show is so widely known is because it is instantly accessible. The show isn’t like Samurai Champloo in the sense that it isn’t geared towards guys (let’s be honest, anything with that much action must be, right?) It’s not super plot heavy (though, I do think the overarching plot is pretty damn impressive, it only encompasses 5 of the 26 episodes.) This show is completely about the characters, and there is at least one for every type of person.
GoT characters that should have been in the show *SPOILERS*
*THERE BE SPOILERS AHEAD!*
Obviously when it comes to TV shows and Movies the creators have to learn to decipher what can stay and what needs to be cut to stay on track with storyline, production, budget, and I am sure a ton of other things. Game of Thrones, being the immense universe it is, challenges the creators with making tough decisions on which characters to keep in, which to cut out completely, and when to use one character’s storyline on a different character (this will be explained a little later, if you don’t quite know what I mean.. I would say they have been doing a magnificent job on this, however, there are always the few characters that you wish you could see come to life on screen.
Alex and I put our minds together and came up with this list of our favorite characters in the books that we have yet to see come to life.
Tag :
Alayaya,
Bonni,
books,
Cleos Frey,
Dalla,
Dinosaur,
Donal Noye,
Game of Thrones,
Lollys,
Rhaegar Targaryen,
Stron Belwas,
TV,
Val
Why Phantom Menace is the Worst Star Wars Movie
As someone who grew up with the original Star Wars trilogy, I remember how excited I was when they announced they were making a new trilogy. I think there are a lot of people out there who remember the excitement that they felt waiting to see the first film in this new trilogy, The Phantom Menace. But that was all the way back in 1999. And now, 14 years later, we have seen the release of two other prequels, to round out a trilogy that everyone agrees is inferior to it’s predecessor. The argument you always hear is not whether the prequels are worse than the originals, but which of the prequels is the worst. And I am here to tell you that, without a shadow of a doubt, Episode I: The Phantom Menace is the worst of the Star Wars franchise. Jack the Giant Slayer Review
When I first saw the trailer for Jack the Giant Slayer, I literally laughed at how bad it looked. I thought it was going to be an awful retelling of a story that we all grew up with. But then I saw Hansel and Gretel Witch Hunters and absolutely loved it. So, after that shocker, I had to give this movie a chance, right? Sadly, this movie wasn’t quite the pleasant surprise that Hansel and Gretel turned out to be.
Top 10 Harry Potter Side Characters
If you haven’t noticed from my many posts about Game of Thrones, I only have a few select specialties when it comes to truly geeking out. I never used to really like, or was able to appreciate the world of fantasy. When the Harry Potter series first came out I was hesitant to even give it a chance. Once I did, however, it changed my world! I have fallen in love with the world of fantasy now. I love to get lost in another world and pretend I am a part of it all. I wanted to write an article that had something to do with Harry Potter, but wasn’t quite sure how because it is not exactly a recent thing.
I have decided to put a list together of my top 10 favorite side characters in the Harry Potter universe.
Note: I had some help from my good friend Claire when trying to think up some of these characters. She is an even bigger Harry Potter nerd than me or anyone I know. Anyway here it is!
Upstream Color Review
Have you ever seen a movie and instantly knew that you would need to see anything by that filmmaker? No? Well, screw you! That’s exactly how I feel about Shane Carruth. After seeing his feature debut, Primer, back in 2004, I just knew that I was going to love his next movie. I didn’t expect it to take nine years, but the whole time I was biding my time and waiting for him to release his next masterpiece. After waiting through all of the studio/financial bull, I finally got to see his second film this past week...and let me just say: it was worth the wait.Arrested Development Season 4 Review
Hidden Gems: Shatterhand [NES]
 |
| Brought to you by the makers of Harvest Moon |
Hello! and welcome to the first installment in what I hope will be a continuing series where I share some of the forgotten games of yesteryear that deserve more attention. Whether it’s for introducing an important technical or gameplay innovation, or just for that indefinable quality of “fun,” these are games that you might have missed but definitely don’t want to.
Tag :
8-bit,
90's,
extreme,
Hidden Gems,
Jack,
NES,
nintendo,
Opinion,
radical,
retro,
review,
Shatterhand,
Video Games
The Giver Series
Wait, there's a series? Yes, the award-winning novel that found its way into many middle school curricula has been followed by three sequels so far, the most recent one having been released in October of 2012. I remember becoming completely captivated by Lois Lowry's story about Jonas and his futuristic community, and I know I'm not the only one. But what about the other three books? Are they worth reading?
Tag :
books,
Gathering Blue,
Jeff Bridges,
Lois Lowry,
Messenger,
Peter L,
Son,
The Giver,
Young Adult
After Earth Review
Trance Review
As someone who watches a lot of movies, I tend to get really excited about movies way before the general public even have it on their radar. And then there are the films that I get excited about that pretty much no one else wants to see, or really gets the opportunity to: this is one of those films. Even though it was directed by Danny Boyle, it didn’t get much advertizing, and was a limited release. So those of us who knew about it couldn’t even see it. It took a lot of effort, and a lot of searching for me to even see it. And let me tell you: it was well worth it.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Danny Boyle (read: dead to me), he is the director of a bunch of great movies like: Slumdog Millionaire, Shallow Grave, Trainspotting, 127 Hours, 28 Days Later, and (my personal favorite) Sunshine. I’ve been a huge fan of his ever since I saw Trainspotting back in high school, so I’ve always gotten really excited about his new movies. Trance was especially exciting because, after 13 years apart, Boyle was finally reuniting with John Hodge (who previously wrote Trainspotting, Shallow Grave, and a couple lesser known Boyle films.) Add James McAvoy (one seriously underrated actor) into the mix, and you get the makings of a great film.
Why the Omega Entertainment Machine Is Awesome
Neo Geo. SNK. These words carry the power to transport you back to a bygone age. The days when Arcade was king. For the uninitiated, the name may not be instantly recognizable, but odds are you’ve played at least one or two Neo Geo games, and you most likely loved every minute of it. Metal Slug. Bust-A-Move. Samurai Shodown. The King of Fighters. Fatal Fury. From across the arcade, the beautiful red cabinet would call out to your quarters. Unfortunately, we now have to admit something to ourselves; It’s 2013. The arcade scene is dead. Your local pizza shop doesn’t have that old Neo Geo cabinet anymore. Your local pizza shop probably doesn’t have any arcade cabinets anymore. So what’s one to do when they wake up in the morning with an irresistible itch to play a round (Or two... or ten) of Windjammers? Well, the folks over at Arcade Works have a solution. And a beautiful solution it is.
Game of Thrones: Where is the TV Show Going Next? *SPOILERS*
Game of Thrones, as most of you know, is HUGE! If you haven’t heard of it you probably live under a rock. I have talked in my other blog before about the many different facets of media George R.R. Martin has his foot in with this story. He has the original novels, a comic series, a TV show, and even a video game. I have been watching the TV show and slowly been reading through the novels. I am finally on the 5th book, A Dance with Dragons, and have been realizing a few things in the TV show that are different. Obviously there have been differences between the two, but they have always been small tweaks that haven’t affected the storyline much. The differences the I have noticed recently have made me wonder just where the TV show is going to go in the future. That being said, there are going to be *SPOILERS* for those people reading this who haven’t read all the books, or only watch the TV show.
Why You Should Be Excited That Venture Bros. Is Back!
For those of you who have been living under a rock for the last ten years, Venture Bros is the pinnacle of American animated television. It tells the story of the Venture family: Rusty, Hank and Dean, and all of the people that they encounter in their lives. Some of these people include Brock, The Monarch, Henchman 21, and many, many others. People who follow the show know that it is like no other show on the air: it doesn’t have a season every year. Hell, it doesn’t even have a season every other year. The fifth season just started and the show premiered in 2003. Do the math. Four seasons in ten years. How many shows could boast that inconsistent schedule and still have a ridiculous fan base? None. And you know why? Because Venture Bros. is like nothing else on television. Second Chance: Empire Records
Since I started my movie blog earlier this year, I’ve had a lot of ideas on recurring segments that I could do that would involve talking about things other than brand new movies that I was reviewing. One of my ideas was to re-watch movies that I had seen a while ago and remembered really hating. I thought it would be interesting to see if I had the same feeling about these movies, of which there are many. I intend to do this every few weeks with movies like: Donnie Darko, Boondock Saints, Tree of Life and many others.
For the first installment of what I’m calling “Second Chance,” I decided to re-watch Empire Records.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the film, Empire Records is a 1995 movie about the employees of an independent music store and how their lives change when they find out that their store might be absorbed into a larger music store chain.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the film, Empire Records is a 1995 movie about the employees of an independent music store and how their lives change when they find out that their store might be absorbed into a larger music store chain.
Defiance: The Game 9/10
Defiance...... It is a Sci-Fi, third-person shooter as an MMO. On day one, the servers were absolutely terrible because Trion didn't expect that so many individuals would buy this game. If i were making a game with online servers, I would make sure that on day one, there would be enough room on the server for every copy of the game that was created and if you didn't need every server, then close some down. But after a day or two, Trion more than doubled their server, fixing most of the server issues for the Xbox.
Hangover Part III Review
Remember all the way back in 2009 when The Hangover came out and everyone freaked out about how awesome it was? Those were the good old days, when original comedies could come out and be recognized for their quality. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that we don’t still get original movies (remember Bridesmaids?) but it seems like everything is turned into a franchise nowadays, even when it doesn’t need to be. The Hangover Trilogy definitely falls into the “shouldn’t exist” category.
