Oh Su...

Bottle Rocket(dir. Wes Anderson)[rewatch]
*** out of ****
Bottle Rocket(dir. Wes Anderson)[2nd rewatch]
*** out of ****
Bottle Rocket(dir. Wes Anderson)[3rd rewatch]
I feel the portion at the hotel and the romance between Inez and Anthony is the best part of the movie, but when you come to accept Dignan as he is, the 2nd half doesn't feel as disappointing. The 2nd half never felt horrible by any means, but you start to miss the whimsical nature of the portion set at the hotel. Much like Taxi Driver, this film relies on your acceptance of the character for ultimate enjoyment. Maybe Rushmore is the same and maybe I should rewatch that film again down the line.
***1/2 out of ****
Munich(dir. Steven Spielberg)
Spielberg's most mature "mature" film? Probably. It doesn't try to entertain or offer a fairly sentimental view on a historical event, which makes it one of his best works. The running time seems quite excessive especially during the middle portion of it and it seems to hammer the message that killing doesn't solve anything. Holds up suprisingly well as a rewatch.
*** out of ****
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow(dev. Konami)
The film is addictive at first but quickly becomes tiresome. The whole soul collection aspect of the game seems like it would be addicting and a lot of fun, but you'll quickly realize that most of the souls are useless and you should stick to a handful of souls. The level design is surprisingly bland for a Castlevania game. Playing Julius mode quickly reminded me of how much better the pre-SOTN Castlevania games were mainly due to the relatively the fast-paced nature and focus on action. Now the series's focus is on collection of items and exploring. The boss fights are the best part of this game mainly due to the old-school nature of the battles, which force you to remember patterns and exploit weaknesses.
*** out of ****
Elite Beat Agents(dev. Inis?)
I haven't completed the game so my opinion might change, but right now, this game is charming and hilarious. The cut-scenes are ridiculous and the premise is genius and alittle insane. The humor might wear off on me and the game might not seem as enticing as it did, but this game is easily one of the best rhythm-based games I've played due to it's challenging and brief nature of it's songs. The one thing that struck me as particularly frustrating with a game like Guitar Hero is that you could easily mess up halfway through a relatively long song. This game never becomes frustrating because the songs last for only a couple of minutes and the cut-scenes add an incentive to keep going and complete the songs. Best DS game I've played so far.
**** out of ****
There Will Be Blood Teaser Trailer
Don't usually review trailers, but this one is easily one of the best I've seen just because it offers a sense of possibility that most trailers and teaser trailers wish they were able to offer. You get a real sense that this film could do anything and could possibly be the greatest film on the face of the planet. It's unusual nature with it's soundtrack and Daniel Day Lewis's(sic?) menacing voice over adds a sense of dread and evil to the picture. The images shown are both beautiful and haunting. Some have said the film gives off a Terrence Malick vibe, which is easy to see due to the voice over narration and beautiful cinematography, but Malick never provides the sense of horror and ugliness that this trailer provides. I can't wait to see this.
**** out of ****
Damned if You Don't(dir. Su Friedrich)
Excruciating and compelling? This type of personal film-making could easily not resonate with some people. It almost plays like a diary entry. Maybe not as much as the next film being reviewed, but yeah. The deconstruction of Black Narcissus in the beginning seemed relatively pretentious until the ending occurs. The ending redeems all the boredom and ennui that this viewer felt during the experience. The film deals with the sexual longing that a Catholic upbringing can create. Most Catholic teachings tell you that sex is bad unless married. This film offers the argument that sex should be viewed as ultimately spiritual thing. There is a sense of release you feel at the end mainly due to the repressive nature the film has before it. You also feel that the nun character feels spiritual enlightenment due to giving into her temptations. It's hard not to be hot and bothered by the ending being a heterosexual male, but it is ultimately cathartic and outstanding on more than a sexual level.
**** out of ****
Rules of the Road(dir. Su Friedrich)
A sense of longing is felt in this picture as well, but more of a romantic kind than a strictly sexual kind. Plays like a love letter for cars and a therapy session for the filmmaker. The ending much like the film above is cathartic and offers a sense of release. It might not be as artistically successful as the film above, but it makes up with it's amusing combination of love songs and images of station wagons in various scenes.
**** out of ****
First Comes Love(dir. Su Friedrich)
Then comes marriage? The film is quite ambigious at first and plays like a mixture of Frederick Wiseman and Kenneth Anger(think Matrimony Rising) with it's stark documentary footage and use of a pop soundtrack. The film has a fairly romantic view of marriage which makes perfect sense given the film's message. The filmmaker calls for a legalization of homosexual marriage and thankfully, the filmmaker doesn't decide to offer this message in an allegorical fashion. It is upfront and literally written out for the audience. The list of countries that do not provide legal homosexual marriage is amazingly drawn out and provides a valid argument for the film's cause. The only footage is of weddings and with the use of love songs, becomes something beautiful and sacred that it almost changes my opinion on marriage and weddings. If a film forces me to question my beliefs, it obviously is a great one.
**** out of ****

Oh Yellow!...

Gunstar Super Heroes(dev. Treasure)
This was a fun game. The story was unnecessary and the bosses were ripped straight out of the original Gunstar Heroes. I enjoyed this quite a bit.
***1/2 out of ****

Oh David Jaffe...

I accidentally double-posted my review for Bobby so I decided to talk about David Jaffe's response to the reviews to Calling All Cars!, which looks pretty fun to me. Biggest problem with his "review of reviews" is that he thinks the Gamespot review is unfair because they criticized the game's single-player not be longer. Jaffe's defense is that the game was not intended to be a single-player, but to be a party game for friends to talk trash onto eachother. I guess that is fine, but lack of content in a $10 game is a problem. Only 4 maps. OK. I can understand the single-player being short and if there was a ton of content for multiplayer having the score seem unfair, but only 4 maps? That is pretty shitty in terms of multiplayer. I could easily understand if the game was only $5, but $10 can get you a full fledged PC game. Hell, you could buy Age of Mythology or Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-Earth for that amount of money. The game still looks really good to me because I'm a big Twisted Metal nut and it reminds me of that and it especially reminds me of Rogue Trip. The responses to his blog post are even worse with people saying Gamespot suxxxx and that they're basically a piece of shit. I have a ton of respect for sites like Gamespot because they can be harsh where all the other sites are not so when a game gets a good review from them, usually that means it's an actual good game unlike IGN's extremely high scores to games that were hyped to the X-treme. I also know that not all their reviews are right. Their reviews after all and your opinion should really come into play when you're playing a game. Jet Moto is a perfect example. Best racer on PS1 and they gave it a 6 or maybe even lower. They also gave the NES TMNT a 2.7, which seems harsh. I also have the same problem with Slant Magazine. They give out a lot of bad reviews for a lot of movies, but when they do give a good review, it seems to me more meaningful than some other film criticism site. Yeah... Long POST.

Oh Simplicity...

Games have become needlessly complex. Companies now believe the more features you put into a game creates a better game. I personally don't think so. I'm sick of annual sequels that are just basically minor upgrades. I'm sick of games cashing on the success of another game. Back in the day of 8-bit and 16-bit games, everything seemed simpler. Games were simple to get into, but difficult to master. Today, its basically the opposite. Controllers with 10 buttons, 2 joysticks, and a d-pad don't seem very user friendly. What happened to when games where made to be fun? I can't even stand to play my PS2 anymore. If I do, its usually me playing a PS1 game or a compilation of classic games. Things seemed to become needless complex and not as innovative as they once were. I'm supporting Nintendo for what they are doing with the DS and Wii. It seems innovative and fairly user friendly. Nintendo seems to know what games should be and thats FUN.

Maps of the Lord: Facing Worlds

This map kicks serious ass. It is probably the greatest CTF map of all time for sheer simplicity and brilliance. It has two opposing towers on a comet. The towers have a sort of Amazonian ruin thing going. Each tower contains three locations to teleport too. A place in the middle with a sniper rifle, a place with a redeemer, and the top of the tower with a sniper rifle. The one thing worth mentioning is the redeemer which makes the map so entertaining. Games have been going crazy on map design. Maps have gotten so huge that theres really no way to know every little detail about them and know where the hell to go. Battlefield 2 which is a game I plan to play alittle bit more of is alittle extravagant with the map design. Gulf of Oman which is probably the best map that I've played in the game is in fact probably the simplest map in the game. Coincidence? I think not. I don't even try to play the large versions of the maps cuz I would get lost for about a half hour. I played two maps today that basically blew. That game has pretty bad map design, but so did Battlefield 1942 except for El Alamein. Enough of Battlefield 2, this map is godlike.

PC RPGS?

Oh I love acronyms lol. I have never been a huge fan of rpgs even though I own alot of Final Fantasy games, but I have only beaten one. RPGs done right can be addicting as hell like Final Fantasy Tactics. I have never been big on PC RPGs since they mainly consist of clicking of the mouse constantly to kill something. I'll go over some RPGs that basically blew chunks or that I love for the PC.

Diablo series
I don't like it at all. It is so boring and mundane that I don't understand how it has such a large following. The beginning video on the first one is very moody and creepy and the music is too, but actual gameplay is as primitive as Gauntlet with a mouse and keyboard. I guess the online is where the real action is at and I might change my mind when I try that out, but in all honesty, I can't picture myself playing this game a bunch online. The only thing I like by Blizzard is StarCraft and thats the best RTS I have ever played.

Neverwinter Nights
Felt the same as the game above, but seemed more interesting. Alot more reading which I don't like that much especially when it feels like a generic fantasy game. I only played the demo and maybe these games are better online, but yeah. For now, I am not that impressed.

Deus Ex
I love first-person shooters. Well, I don't love everyone and this is a definate case. I might be pushing it by calling it a RPG, but it feels like one and it has alot of talking and text trees. It also has skill menu where you can upgrade skills. I never got past the first level of this game and I can honestly say that some of the things in the games are pretty revolutionary like the fact that you can basically pick up everything. It felt too stealthy and I honestly can't stand that when it feels like a trial and error fest like Splinter Cell. I should enjoy it, but I can't. It is in the category of games that are so hyped up that I don't understand like Final Fantasy VIII and the whole Resident Evil series except 4.

System Shock 2
I haven't played much, but I remember alot of reading and not much playing. If I did play, it would be for a few seconds until I died. It seemed interesting enough to give another try.

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
The whole reason for this little blog of bullshit. I got this game last Wednesday and I've played it for 19 hours in the past 7 days. I love this game. It feels so immersive even the generic feel of the races and such feel wholly original and fleshed out. This game is a work of art and has so much shit to do even if you get stuck on a quest, you can just do something else. I can't imagine beating this game anytime soon, but its alot of fun.

I need to try Bioware's other PC titles like Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale and maybe even play some Ultimas, but for now, PC RPGs haven't impressed me that much. I might try Guild Wars or some MMORPGs or something. I'll stick to FPSs for now and I should probably play more RTSs, but whatever.