Some things I'm enjoying at the moment.
Fringe
JJ Abrams has clearly decided to follow the career path of people like The Coen Brothers and Pixar, i.e. don't make anything shit. He manages to take other peoples stuff (Mission Impossible / Star Trek) and make them not shit anymore. To a degree he's done a similar thing with "Fringe in taking the bloated mess "The X Files" quickly became and made his own version.
No longer do we have to listen to characters deny the bizarre is occurring when its quite clear the bizarre is happening. There's no poorly mapped out arc thats clearly being made up as the writers struggle for ideas. The best thing though is that although it looks like "The X Files", and even did start of as almost a clone, part way through season 1 it went "Right time to deviate, considerably". And it did.
It's currently started its second season run and already looks like its on a very confident footing. I highly recommend it.
The Beatles Rock Band
I'm more of a Guitar Hero man but the fifth iteration of that left me a bit cold. It's good but somewhere along the line the fun appears to have been knocked out of it. There's just not enough classic rock songs in there, songs that make you feel like rock star.
Which brings me to The Beatles Rock Band, how could not feel like rock star fronting the biggest band that ever was or probably ever will be. This Rock Band interpretation makes good use of that phenomenon by making you feel as if you're part of the band. And its damn good fun.
That's the difference between this and Guitar Hero 5; it put a huge smile on my face. Hell I might of even being in a good mood while playing it. Special mention has to go to look of the game; some of it is just goddamn gorgeous. I've nearly failed songs because I've been looking at the backgrounds
My only moan is this; there are piles of classic tracks not on the desk (no Hey Jude, wtf). In fact there are only 45 songs in the game (thats 40 less than GH5). Of course there's more in the pipeline, and of course you'll have to pay extra for them. And of course the makers know damn well we will.
To tag onto that why the hell should I have to pay money to import a small amount of songs from GH: World Tour into GH 5? I already bought that game; I already bought those songs you money grabbing fucks. Fuck you I'll just change the disc.
The Thing
What the hell happened to John Carpenter? I know this has been discussed before but seriously he can't have been sat on the set of something like "Ghosts of Mars" thinking he's making something comparable to his earlier movies. Maybe he's not. Maybe he knows he's churning out shit. Perhaps he realised the stars will never align again like they did in the 80's. If thats true I'm sad for the guy.
I saw "The Thing" for the second time in the cinema and was left ruminating on how the experience was far removed from watching it at home. The immersion makes the difference; aside from the vat of Sprite next to me I had no distractions. Because I have to take into consideration the rest of the audience I can't play with my iPhone. I'm stuck there with the film.
What struck me was how quickly it was all over. Some Norwegians appear shooting at a dog and then BAM youre at the bit were the two surviving cast members are sat in the burning wreckage of their research station. There's a blur of paranoia and awesome effects that was the movie in the middle.
I'll compare this to the next movie I saw under the magic lantern, The Hurt Locker. I did enjoy the film but at no point did I feel immersed in it. It was on the screen and I watched it, that was all. This doesn't discredit Kathryn Bigelow's film because its great; it just lacks a connection to the viewer.
Also after seeing "Inglorious Basterds" (which I freaking loved) I've been left with a desire to see more old school war movies that say "War is hell, but fuck it I just shot off Hitlers face! A bit of gung ho heroism wouldn't go amiss, men on a mission facing crazy odds with only their huge balls to get them through. Hopefully Stallone has cracked this again with "The Expendables" a movie I'm seriously looking forward to.
The Pacific
Obviously I've not seen this yet, so at the moment I'm just enjoying the trailer.
Can it be as good as "Band of Brothers"? I sure hope so.
And thats about it.
Fringe
JJ Abrams has clearly decided to follow the career path of people like The Coen Brothers and Pixar, i.e. don't make anything shit. He manages to take other peoples stuff (Mission Impossible / Star Trek) and make them not shit anymore. To a degree he's done a similar thing with "Fringe in taking the bloated mess "The X Files" quickly became and made his own version.
No longer do we have to listen to characters deny the bizarre is occurring when its quite clear the bizarre is happening. There's no poorly mapped out arc thats clearly being made up as the writers struggle for ideas. The best thing though is that although it looks like "The X Files", and even did start of as almost a clone, part way through season 1 it went "Right time to deviate, considerably". And it did.
It's currently started its second season run and already looks like its on a very confident footing. I highly recommend it.
The Beatles Rock Band
I'm more of a Guitar Hero man but the fifth iteration of that left me a bit cold. It's good but somewhere along the line the fun appears to have been knocked out of it. There's just not enough classic rock songs in there, songs that make you feel like rock star.
Which brings me to The Beatles Rock Band, how could not feel like rock star fronting the biggest band that ever was or probably ever will be. This Rock Band interpretation makes good use of that phenomenon by making you feel as if you're part of the band. And its damn good fun.
That's the difference between this and Guitar Hero 5; it put a huge smile on my face. Hell I might of even being in a good mood while playing it. Special mention has to go to look of the game; some of it is just goddamn gorgeous. I've nearly failed songs because I've been looking at the backgrounds
My only moan is this; there are piles of classic tracks not on the desk (no Hey Jude, wtf). In fact there are only 45 songs in the game (thats 40 less than GH5). Of course there's more in the pipeline, and of course you'll have to pay extra for them. And of course the makers know damn well we will.
To tag onto that why the hell should I have to pay money to import a small amount of songs from GH: World Tour into GH 5? I already bought that game; I already bought those songs you money grabbing fucks. Fuck you I'll just change the disc.
The Thing
What the hell happened to John Carpenter? I know this has been discussed before but seriously he can't have been sat on the set of something like "Ghosts of Mars" thinking he's making something comparable to his earlier movies. Maybe he's not. Maybe he knows he's churning out shit. Perhaps he realised the stars will never align again like they did in the 80's. If thats true I'm sad for the guy.
I saw "The Thing" for the second time in the cinema and was left ruminating on how the experience was far removed from watching it at home. The immersion makes the difference; aside from the vat of Sprite next to me I had no distractions. Because I have to take into consideration the rest of the audience I can't play with my iPhone. I'm stuck there with the film.
What struck me was how quickly it was all over. Some Norwegians appear shooting at a dog and then BAM youre at the bit were the two surviving cast members are sat in the burning wreckage of their research station. There's a blur of paranoia and awesome effects that was the movie in the middle.
I'll compare this to the next movie I saw under the magic lantern, The Hurt Locker. I did enjoy the film but at no point did I feel immersed in it. It was on the screen and I watched it, that was all. This doesn't discredit Kathryn Bigelow's film because its great; it just lacks a connection to the viewer.
Also after seeing "Inglorious Basterds" (which I freaking loved) I've been left with a desire to see more old school war movies that say "War is hell, but fuck it I just shot off Hitlers face! A bit of gung ho heroism wouldn't go amiss, men on a mission facing crazy odds with only their huge balls to get them through. Hopefully Stallone has cracked this again with "The Expendables" a movie I'm seriously looking forward to.
The Pacific
Obviously I've not seen this yet, so at the moment I'm just enjoying the trailer.
Can it be as good as "Band of Brothers"? I sure hope so.
And thats about it.
Good blog anyway