tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26411859467547984442024-03-12T20:28:28.480-07:00This is Why We Can't Have Anything NiceBecause being opinionated goes beyond banging your head on the wall whenever A Current Affair is on, Mitch culminated his thoughts on the entertainment industry right here. Tell him he's right, tell him he's wrong, just enjoy the embittered, often pretentious ramblings of a film maker in his early twenties.Mitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02744652897743359554noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2641185946754798444.post-69564850907204049032011-09-29T16:53:00.000-07:002011-09-29T16:53:31.000-07:00Why Deus Ex: Human Revolution Jumps the Shark.<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-AU</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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</style> <![endif]--> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I was more excited for Deus Ex: Human Revolution than I’ve been about a game for a while. It’s not because I played the original, as I wasn’t even a PC gamer until I discovered KOTOR in 2004, and even then I was only a casual player, more interested in what I wanted to play than what everyone else was playing. I don’t know if I ever will play the original, for that matter. It’s something I’ve wanted to do, but the gameplay – having to hold crouch, having to lean out of cover etc – plus some compatibility issues have always stopped me getting any further than Liberty Island. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So I was pretty keen. Here was Eidos Montreal’s chance to create not just a flagship game for their company, but a flagship action-RPG with features the classics could only dream about. Does it live up to my expectations, as well as the positive talk from both fans and reviewers?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Let’s find out in another The Good, The Bad, The Ugly review.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-J3FuymJXlIs/ToT_7NoCg2I/AAAAAAAAABA/hW4O6v0XUpI/s1600/Image01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="168" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-J3FuymJXlIs/ToT_7NoCg2I/AAAAAAAAABA/hW4O6v0XUpI/s320/Image01.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Good.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Strong Opening</b> – This intro got me pumped. It’s one of those slow, first person, on-rails kinda openings which leads into the tutorial, and it feels perfect. When the attack on Sarif Industries begins you’ll find yourself nodding in excitement and thinking “this is going to kick ass”.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Good Gameplay</b> – for the most part. Stealth works well once you get used to how it functions, and shooting your way through the game is certainly a viable option so long as you maintain a big arsenal to compensate for often limited ammo. The choice between the two playing styles does offer more than varying experience points, meaning there’s plenty of replayability. There are always varying paths in levels too, so in the main sections of the areas you’ll never be forced to expose yourself or kill a guard unless you want to. It works, and it works well, though you’ll likely end up travelling all the paths anyway to make sure you haven’t missed any pickups.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Makes You Feel Badass</b> – I played a non-lethal game, and yet there were still moments that left me feeling pretty cool as I sat there, pressing buttons on me keyboard. The best was when I had to take out five guys who were spread out on a level of Hengsha directly below me. I jumped down, the impact stunning two of the guys who were close together as well as one who was knocked unconscious immediately. As they tried to recover, I tasered one of the other guys and then took down the last guy standing from behind. The two who were stunned almost made it back to their feet when I ran over and took both of them down at the same time. Awesome.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-08tzfHZo8hI/ToUAXoqvlyI/AAAAAAAAABE/hNbVTbuBzKg/s1600/Image02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-08tzfHZo8hI/ToUAXoqvlyI/AAAAAAAAABE/hNbVTbuBzKg/s320/Image02.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><i>Shut up, I’m posing.</i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Fantastic Art Design</b> – In the not too distant future, there is no day. I don’t know why, I suppose a trenchcoat and sunglasses installed into your face just don’t look as cool in the daylight. DX’s art design – most notably, its lighting – more than compensates for the fact that at least 75% of this game takes place in big, dark cities. It’s not very pretty, but the atmosphere is sensational.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Soundtrack</b> – The theme track for DXHR is brilliant, and both fans of Mass Effect 2 and Mirror’s Edge will hear familiar sounds throughout. Overall, it provides a dynamic scope for the game that the visuals can’t supply. The voice acting is very good too, with Adam often reminding me of Timothy Oliphant (though it is actually Elias Toufexis). The voices actors for both Sarif (Stephen Shellen) and tech-head Pritchard (Andreas Apergis) are just as good.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Quick Saving</b> – I shouldn’t even need to add this to the list, but the fact that I’ve played a few similar games recently with no quick save feature means that this game should be recognised for adding such an obviously necessary option.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Bad.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Buggy</b> – Infuriatingly so. At one point I finished part of a sidequest that gave me the option to remain unseen in enemy territory in order to gain extra experience. I did so, and then travelled to the other side of the map to do the last part of the quest. That took me about twenty minutes. Just as I returned to the street the game told me I had failed the <i>optional</i> part of my sidequest, then the sidequest as a whole, and then it crashed on me. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-s01m1nV7ldc/ToUA9cgsbQI/AAAAAAAAABI/_vQ2eIviKsY/s1600/Image03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-s01m1nV7ldc/ToUA9cgsbQI/AAAAAAAAABI/_vQ2eIviKsY/s320/Image03.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><i>The guard is facing Adam, but unless I let go of the mouse button he won't be able to see me. That's not how people work, Eidos.</i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><i> </i> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I had crashes when I tried to look at items in my inventory and lockups in the menus too. There were times where the camera kept resetting in line with Adam as I was waiting to taser someone next to a doorway, meaning I couldn’t shoot, and I got caught like that several times. There’s also a sidequest that never updates, so most people will likely give up on it unless they traverse every bit of the map again. Overall, the game does not offer a smooth experience, and as a result I walked away from it many times in sheer frustration.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>The Last Third of the Game</b> – ...What happened? The game loses all focus and purpose, in the end feeling more like Left 4 Dead than an action-RPG. Major sidequests or elements of main quests are just abandoned, meaning there’s no resolution to be had for anything. Gameplay, story, in fact everything about this game just becomes irrelevant.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>The Plot goes AWOL</b> – It never really has clear vision anyway, but the sporadic plot just surrenders by game’s end. To write a list of all the themes I thought the game was trying to relay before forgetting about them completely would make this review way too long, so suffice it to say that I have no idea what point the developer’s wanted to impart in DXHR, and that sucks.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-upNmI0Zabuc/ToUBYs-g20I/AAAAAAAAABM/tRMgoubw5_E/s1600/Image04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-upNmI0Zabuc/ToUBYs-g20I/AAAAAAAAABM/tRMgoubw5_E/s320/Image04.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><i>Just an example of some of the awesome imagery that never actually makes it to the game.</i></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><i> </i> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>The Ending is a Joke</b> – You don’t have to leave a prequel open for a sequel, you fools! The ending of the game offers a fantastic choice based entirely on a player’s viewpoint; one that will define the entire Deus Ex world! You make your choice and...philosophising cutscene that leads into credits.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/jpbmq-WfmQ4?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"> <i>Push the button, Frank. (This video features the horrendous ending of the game. Don't watch if you don't want it spoiled.)</i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">What? What! What happened to all the characters? What was the point of the game? This isn’t an ending; it’s more like showing up to a party to find it’s already over. I was incredibly disappointed, to the point where I have left this review unwritten for nearly a week post-game so that I could keep it objective.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>The Cutscenes</b> – The worst cutscene/in-game quality I have ever seen. The in-game engine would have offered seriously better cutscenes, because the horrendous colour banding detracts from the cool yellow/black filter that’s used to make things look much more like you expect when starting the game. Square Enix distributed the game, so why couldn’t they get Square Enix to implement the cutscenes? The game would have been much more attractive visually for it.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>The Bosses</b> – Everyone complains about the bosses, so I will too. Only one of the four bosses offers players the ability to fight using the techniques used in any play style. The others require you to pull out a gun and just shoot until the enemy is dead. It’s boring, the boss characters serve no purpose beyond being poor, unimaginative red herrings, and the last boss...I don’t even understand how that happened. Deus Ex just jumped the shark.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/4v1X5F0d58I?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><i> Don’t ask me why he’s dressed up as your fifth grade science project.</i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Most people know that the reason the boss battles are like this is because they were outsourced. The President of G.R.I.P Entertainment, the company that produced the fights, says he’s a real big fan of shooters. No shit.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>The AI</b> – I throw a ten gallon drum at a guy. He searches everywhere for me except the obvious choice: the path from which the drum came. I stand on the walkway above a large computer room. The guard goes and stands in a corner, looking at the wall. Enough said.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Limited Edition DLC is Ludicrous</b> – The limited edition DLC has you rescuing Tong’s son, and it is added to the main plot unnecessarily. It’s also added in the same area as two of the sidequests, so you could finish all these missions at once within about twenty minutes. Not only is it offensive to make people pay extra for this kind of thing, but it doesn’t even need to be in the game. Funnily enough, Tong’s son makes a cameo in the game regardless of whether you have this mission pack, which has confused a lot of people due to the context of his appearance.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Experience for Some, Not for Others</b> – For instance, you can hack a computer or enter a found password. You don’t get experience for using the password, even though the process of finding it in the first place is just as difficult as hacking. As a result, you’ll often feel forced to take certain actions at certain times.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Batteries</b> – Most aug-based actions require batteries to operate. You start with two and can purchase more as augs, but only the first one ever recharges. I could have added this to one of the points below, but it severely hampers your options in game, especially if you run out of the electro-muesli bars that recharge batteries.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AaKB2VMDXs0/ToUDFdJKnSI/AAAAAAAAABQ/b_jJHSpVqlE/s1600/Image05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AaKB2VMDXs0/ToUDFdJKnSI/AAAAAAAAABQ/b_jJHSpVqlE/s320/Image05.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><i> And why don’t people look at each other when they’re talking anymore? It’s just rude.</i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Ugly.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Stealth is Annoying</b> – Most reviewers make a point that the game is really designed for players to take a stealthy course. That may be true, but they don’t make it easy on stealth players. Some augs, such as taking down an opponent through a wall, don’t offer non-lethal options. Sure, it’s still good to have in order to find hidden caches, but its practicality does not extend into the main game. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qBU9X0xfCDY/ToUDUJJCryI/AAAAAAAAABU/eT-Z1TDT_vk/s1600/Image06.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qBU9X0xfCDY/ToUDUJJCryI/AAAAAAAAABU/eT-Z1TDT_vk/s1600/Image06.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><i>Whoops, sorry. Suppose I don't know my own strength.</i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><i> </i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Furthermore, and this is the one that bothered me most, enemies are impossibly quick to go hostile. I played a game where I would stealth as close as possible to an enemy before hitting them with a taser, since I had the previously mentioned issue with the resetting camera. There were times where I’d go invisible and wait for guards to come to me before tasering. As soon as I pressed the attack button though, they would go hostile, so even though I was invisible and the taser was headed straight for their groin I wouldn’t get the bonus experience for going through the mission unseen. It’s still a fun option to take, but it has its downsides. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Twists are Pretty Obvious</b> – I don’t know much about the Deus Ex universe, but that didn’t stop me from assuming that Adam was named symbolically. I was right. I expected an intelligent story, but I think Eidos Montreal was too interested in philosophising a lot of the time.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Characters are Bland</b> – Adam is a classic raspy-voiced badass, Pritchard is the tech-guy who thinks brains are always better than brawn, Sarif is the shady boss who can’t see beyond his wants. The voice actors do a great job with these characters, and there are some subtle touches (the broken mirror in Adam’s apartment) that offer brilliant depth, but they never really stand out.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TRp-LRPKmXc/ToUDwiXUPiI/AAAAAAAAABY/zUjnhfEdltI/s1600/Image07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="176" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TRp-LRPKmXc/ToUDwiXUPiI/AAAAAAAAABY/zUjnhfEdltI/s320/Image07.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><i>Proof that character's can be obscure while their impact in a game is boringly obvious.</i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><b><i><br />
</i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Things Happen...Just Not Onscreen</b> – People get their augmentations stolen, but we only really read of that in e-mails. There are riots in Hengsha, but the only difference is there are cops on the street while you go about your regular missions. It provides atmosphere and depth to the game, but a lot of these events are much more interesting than the main plot. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Useless Augmentations</b> – There’s an augmentation that tells the player how much chance they have of successfully hacking something. The game already tells you this, so why anyone would waste time on that is beyond me. You can also have a counter that tells you how long guards will continue searching for you when on alert, but it’s not like you have a time limit to meet anyway. Overall, you’ll have more points to upgrade augs than you’ll ever want, and that’s no fun in a game centred around them.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TKbWMQkgDOk/ToUEMDANYfI/AAAAAAAAABc/oKVY9vBj9ng/s1600/Image08.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TKbWMQkgDOk/ToUEMDANYfI/AAAAAAAAABc/oKVY9vBj9ng/s320/Image08.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><i> Adam Jensen is Kratos: God of War.</i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This game took four years to make, and they should have taken five. It’s good, but ultimately feels barebones, and I simply can’t understand why it is getting such high scores when it so many issues and a third act that brings to ruin everything that had me thinking the game was great beforehand. The game’s producer says that he “wishes” Eidos Montreal will be able to make a sequel, which sounds to me like that even though the game is selling well and getting good reviews there’s something people don’t like about the fact that it has taken four years to make a game that should have been much more.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">That said, it’s certainly worth at least a hire. My expectations were high, and while the gameplay met them for the most part the plot certainly didn’t. If story doesn’t mean much to you in a game you may end up loving Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and I wouldn’t blame you, but either way a major game has failed to live up to expectations once again.</div>Mitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02744652897743359554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2641185946754798444.post-33095902532601669312011-09-10T17:36:00.000-07:002011-09-11T02:08:35.855-07:00Dragon Age 2 - The Good, The Bad, The Ugly.<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">or Why Gaming Snobs Need to Calm the Hell Down.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8qLmxiFScag/Tmv9yJv7KQI/AAAAAAAAAAg/VTo0AOOApdw/s1600/DA2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8qLmxiFScag/Tmv9yJv7KQI/AAAAAAAAAAg/VTo0AOOApdw/s400/DA2.png" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><br />
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I love Bioware games, yet it has taken me this long to play Dragon Age 2. It’s true that I was as outraged as anyone when EA announced the release of the game. “Dragon Age: Origins was your best selling game in a decade so you rush out a sequel that changes the core elements that brought people to the series in the first place?” Eventually I got used to the idea, even with all the pretentious ramblings about how Bioware had fallen hard and that the game ‘offers players no choice but to be gay’ because they thought the female companions were annoying. Yep, that really happened.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
So yes, I have finished the game. I can be a little pompous, sure, but I only dislike something when I know I dislike it, not because I assume I will. So what are my thoughts? Dive into my first ‘The Good, The Bad, The Ugly’ review and find out.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sDgHITBhFB4/Tmv9zlaiPsI/AAAAAAAAAAk/0oOwlN0_hxA/s1600/Elizabeth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sDgHITBhFB4/Tmv9zlaiPsI/AAAAAAAAAAk/0oOwlN0_hxA/s400/Elizabeth.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><i></i><br />
<i>Readers, meet Elizabeth Hawke.</i></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">The Good.</span></div></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;">Story</span></b> - A lot of the complaints surrounding the game are based on the fact that your party runs around maybe 20-25 locations the entire game. While this is undoubtedly a negative, the positive that results from it is a solid and compelling story that could not have been told in an epic tale like that of the Hero of Ferelden’s. The Champion is a Ferelden refugee, not some Grey Warden or prince, so the troubled yet safe streets are the only place where such a story can be set. Even when it is not at the forefront of the game, the trouble between the templars and mages of Kirkwall is omnipresent. Some of the events this leads to are absolutely thrilling, but what the plot can sometimes lack in style can be found in the human drama. Dragon Age 2 is a tale of prosecution, paranoia and greed. Whichever side you take, the tragedy of the situation rings through, and it is hard to forget that both sides have their positives and negatives. Though not as effortlessly told as other Bioware plots due to the claustrophobic setting, it still offers moments of greatness that the wider-scale premise of Origins lacked.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
<b>Characters</b> – Dragon Age 2 is spent entirely in the island city of Kirkwall. As a result, characters are not so much developed as heroes fighting for a cause, but as humans struggling to live in a land rife with turmoil. Their flaws feel intrinsic rather than designed as plot points, and as such DA2 offers some of Bioware’s richest characters yet. Group chat is constant throughout the game as you travel around the sections of the city, the best of which bring out traits otherwise veiled by the years that pass between the three acts of the game. What is most exciting is the value of choice when it comes to companions, but more on that later. Supporting characters are strong, but many can easily be forgotten due to the fact that you interact with all of them within such limited confines. Unfortunately, many don’t get the send off they deserve (though it’s not as bad as KOTOR 2), not even the Champion, and as a result some plot points are left gaping. One companion didn’t even show up for me in the final battle for some reason. Nevertheless, Bioware has once again delivered compelling and relatable characters that make the game a pleasure to play. I have heard so many complaints from players that they didn’t like particular characters, and that the game is mediocre for this very reason. Ha! However, none of these complaints are quite as stupid as this one, where one moron says that Dragon Age 2 is a bad game because there’s a gay character and no ‘No Homosexuality’ checkbox in the options. <a href="http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/304/index/6661775&lf=8">http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/304/index/6661775&lf=8</a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
Speaking of which, I was sixty hours in to Origins when the game decided that my Warden was gay and had Zevran come on to him. While it certainly did detract from the game for me – I’d spent sixty hours developing a character and the game had just taken over for me! – I felt neither offended nor betrayed like that dolt.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lChEKilJY-4/Tmv917pHNaI/AAAAAAAAAA4/pQ8ry8iIc9E/s1600/Zevran.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lChEKilJY-4/Tmv917pHNaI/AAAAAAAAAA4/pQ8ry8iIc9E/s400/Zevran.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"> <i>Look, Zevran, you're a real nice guy...please don't kill me in my sleep.</i></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
<b>Decisions</b> – The consequence of decision is more important than ever in Dragon Age 2, and that’s saying a lot with Bioware’s history. It is hard not to let the intimate story and struggling characters implant beliefs in you, beliefs that can overcome a player’s considerations of party dynamics before making a decision that could result in a character leaving your party for good. There is a turning point in the third act that fuels the climax, and making the decision that results from it was the single hardest decision I’ve ever made in a game. When the majority of choices are made to define your character, it can stun a player when they reach a point where a decision must be made that will have a far great impact than crafting your character’s personality. There is a negative to the decision making in Dragon Age 2 though, which will be discussed later.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
<b>Gear</b> – I will probably take the most criticism for this comment, but I really liked the fact that character’s clothing is pre-determined. There is not much worse than having a threatening or inspiring character marred by a strange assortment of armour just so they are effective in combat. Some costumes change as the game progresses, some stay the same, but the likes of Varric’s unbuttoned shirt and Sebastian’s Chantry armour define the characters much better than a chunky helmet on top of a mage’s dress. This is especially true here, where many items look exactly the same.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
<b>Cameos</b> – Cameos are bittersweet in Dragon Age 2. Besides a familiar face most people seem to actually dislike from Dragon Age: Awakenings, as well as two support characters from Origins whose stories are never resolved, most cameos offer little but a tease to ties in future games. That doesn’t change the fact that I was extremely excited when teaming up with Grey Wardens in Lowtown. Beyond that there isn’t much to say. A certain character from Origins, who I had run into during a sidequest, aided my party in the final battle, but I don’t understand why they were even there. Nevertheless, these moments offer good value while they last, and short cameos are better than none at all, correct?</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
<b>Fighting Mechanics</b> – Though the demo left me feeling like I’d never get used to the fighting system in Dragon Age 2, it didn’t take me long to realise when playing the game proper that battles work exactly the same as they did in Origins. I have heard complaints that the game was made for consoles, and so the PC version (which I played) had a substandard version of the system. What a joke! If anything, the game flows better than Origins. Health and mana/stamina icons on the side of the quickbar keep things moving, so that pausing is more of a tactical option rather than an entirely necessary one. By mid-game I had my system down to the point where I was pausing only when something caused me to change my tactics (like blood-mages suddenly knocking out two of my companions in a couple of seconds), no matter what party members I had. This is definitely an improvement, even without the option of an isometric camera.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kIgNfIWGK3g/Tmv9wLwnxkI/AAAAAAAAAAc/zR294K98yj8/s1600/Bloody.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="237" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kIgNfIWGK3g/Tmv9wLwnxkI/AAAAAAAAAAc/zR294K98yj8/s400/Bloody.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"> <i>Plus, it's as ridiculously bloody as ever.</i></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><br />
Tech Tree</b> – Glorious. Class skills such as lockpicking and DPS are now mapped to stat points, which would understandably annoy some hardcore-RPG fans, but makes screwing up a character’s function a lot harder. In Origins I had to stop my first playthrough at the Proving in Orzammar because my Grey Warden simply could not handle the final fight. It’s my fault for deciding I wanted a particular character and dismissing the effectiveness of them in a game. Stat points make it much easier to create the character you want without having to concern yourself with not being able to contend with enemies later in the game. Talents trees also help here. There’s nothing quite like starting out and instantly being able to determine what talents you wish your characters to have and how you will get them there. It’s simple but effective, without making spending skill points a shallow task.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HaGEAof-u5U/Tmv90rwtG_I/AAAAAAAAAAs/U9d3BEgFbEg/s1600/Tech.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HaGEAof-u5U/Tmv90rwtG_I/AAAAAAAAAAs/U9d3BEgFbEg/s400/Tech.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><i>See? Nice and simple.</i> </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
<b>Sound Design</b> – I think I am safe in saying Bioware have hit a highpoint in sound design when it comes to Dragon Age 2. From a crackling fireball to the Florence & the Machine song that closes the game, sound offers value and variety where repetitive level design can’t. The voice acting is as strong as ever.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">The Bad.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
<b>Difficulty</b> – There is often complaint that the game is too easy on normal and too difficult on hard. This isn’t what I necessarily agree with, though it can be true for seasoned RPG players. The real problem with the difficulty though is that it is uneven. The act two boss is extremely hard (I almost changed difficulty settings just to get through it since there was nowhere to swap my healer in before the fight), especially since some players will have the option to duel them rather than charge in with an entire party, while the end fight (M, for those who have played it, after having to fight O anyway) didn’t cause me any trouble at all. In fact, I think there were one or two times when some unknown source healed my entire party, even though none of them had any less than 50% of their health. The good news is that if players want a challenge there are still some out there. Revenants are back; you just have to go looking for them, but unlike in Origins once you find them you must fight them.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
<b>Bugs</b> - I played version 1.3 of the game, yet still faced a few bugs. Two were meaningless – for one I completed the quest before it appeared in my log and the other gave me a sidequest that wouldn’t update, hence I couldn’t finish it – but the other, a companion quest, annoyed me. The bug has existed since the first release of the game, and causes the final two cutscenes related to the quest to play before the quest is even made available. I only experienced one of them though, so I didn’t even get to see what the companion would say as a result of the quest being completed. This wasn’t helped by the fact that this third act companion quest should not have even happened, since a decision I made in the character’s second act quest meant that they did not have an important item which was key to the whole event.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
<b>Textures</b> - Characters look great. Environments look good, just not in conversations where they tend to appear as flat and ugly. Equipment looks terrible. Swords were a garbled mess, clothing was anything but dynamic, and a few times item effects were blocky. It was enough that I never got over it, even though graphic quality is not a primary concern for me when I play a game.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DWH2TF1d77c/Tmv91IVBGII/AAAAAAAAAAw/RkznLl8besc/s1600/Texture.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="222" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DWH2TF1d77c/Tmv91IVBGII/AAAAAAAAAAw/RkznLl8besc/s400/Texture.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"> <i>Look at that statue. Unforgivable.</i></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><i><br />
</i></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Ugly.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
<b>Pacing</b> – While the story and characters are great in Dragon Age 2, the pacing is certainly not. It’s easy to forget who characters are, while some crucial characters don’t even make an appearance or receive a reference until late in the game. There’s a key moment that impacts the Champion personally near the end of act 2, but when it happened I had to force myself to care. It has no resounding value. The worst part though is that there are three story arcs in the game – the Deep Roads, the Qunari, and the feud between mages and templars – yet the most important of them receives the least attention. The first takes up a whole act, yet even the game gives up on it eventually, since in act 2 the impact is nothing more than a potential change of home base and a companion quest. The Qunari are something special, and their change of appearances certainly pairs well with their philosophies and brutality, but once it reaches its conclusion they are all but forgotten. The reason pacing can’t be considered bad, however, is because the sense of time does wonders for the relationships between all characters in the game. In Origins your companions were all together facing the same situations. They would tell you more about themselves as the game progressed, but what the player learned were revelations, not changes. Dragon Age 2 is different. The lives of companions and NPCs are impacted by elements other than the Champion’s presence, so there’s always a feeling of uncertainty, no matter how friendly a character may have seemed when you met them three years ago.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3oUFrAHIAUQ/Tmv90DK8fjI/AAAAAAAAAAo/bl4RmY76Rb8/s1600/Qunari.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="313" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3oUFrAHIAUQ/Tmv90DK8fjI/AAAAAAAAAAo/bl4RmY76Rb8/s400/Qunari.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"> <i>The Qunari have had a facelift, and it looks good on them. </i></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
<b>Taking Sides</b> – This is my biggest gripe with the game. As you’re playing Dragon Age 2, you’ll feel like you need to take a side in the escalating conflict between mages and templars. Occasionally quests will require you to do so...and yet it never seems to make a difference. I played as a mage and I supported the mages (though not blood magic), yet I was often forced to fight mages regardless. I can’t comprehend why. Spoiler (highlight to read): <span style="background-color: white; color: black;"><span style="background-color: black;">Why was I forced to fight the head of the Circle of Mages, and why couldn't I try to stop him from using blood magic?</span><span style="background-color: black;"> </span></span>By the end I felt there was the side of the mages, the side of the templars, and the side of the Champion. There are points like the major event near the end of the game where the side your Champion has taken prior in quests and with companions should have changed the way it plays out, yet it doesn’t. This was one of the killers of the game for me. The reason I don’t consider it objectively bad though is because not every player will experience the game like this. Hell, even the Champion in the announcement trailer was a blood mage. I imagine for most that things line up for them regardless, or that they see some of the tragic downfalls of characters as part of the dramatic tension. Yes, they are, but that doesn’t make me feel any less like my Champion was alienated.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/5LT4BxaTLAU?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"> <i>Even the Hawke featured in the announcement trailer was a blood mage. I don't get that.</i></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
<b>Locations </b>– While it’s understandable that the Champion’s story takes place over the same few locations in Kirkwall it does get a little stale. There’s little more Bioware could do though, short of closing off more locations between acts. I think that would have only made things worse. All the same, it never felt like a grind to retread old territory, and the map made travel time all but vanish.<br />
Money – Why is it that in the games where money is virtually valueless that it’s easiest to obtain? I did not buy a single thing in Dragon Age 2 besides runes, though I certainly could have used the gold in Origins. Still, I certainly didn’t have as much as I did in Mass Effect.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
And so the game ends. Varric’s tale is over and we see or hear nothing more about the Champion and their companions. What we do get though is a glimpse of what Dragon Age 3 will hold. Both the Hero of Ferelden and Grey Warden are missing, the Imperium , Ferelden and Orlais are preparing for war, and though it has been confirmed that the third game in the series will yet again see a new protagonist, there is little doubt that we will be seeing our past characters in action, at least in some form. Of course the Grey Warden in Origins never spoke, but the way Hawke was designed in Dragon Age 2 means that from the chosen dialogue options the Champion could certainly hold a conversation without player-aid in which their personality would, at least, closely match what we’d expect. It shall be interesting to see.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4vkaUXUE2q8/Tmv91jLUcxI/AAAAAAAAAA0/jn8scU8B1uA/s1600/Varric.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4vkaUXUE2q8/Tmv91jLUcxI/AAAAAAAAAA0/jn8scU8B1uA/s400/Varric.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"> <i>I hope he is the one telling the story of Dragon Age 3 too. Varric kicks ass.</i></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
So is the game good? Certainly. Is it great? There are moments of greatness in Dragon Age 2, definitely, but I don’t believe it’s quite what any of us had hoped for. The ending is disappointing, but so was the ending for Dragon Age: Origins. There were so many complaints (http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/dragon-age-ii is a good place to start) but most of them seem to be from buffoons who haven’t even played the game. They just want to complain that what the game offers is not what they wanted. Gamers are the most fickle people around, though I don’t disagree with every issue brought up. On a side note, the fact that people suggest gamers play Neverwinter Nights 2 instead is ridiculous. I found that game clunky and the camera impossible to control.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I recommend giving it a try. There's no risk in it, so long as you go in knowing what you're getting is not Dragon Age: Origins 2.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
<b>What I would have done better:</b> Oh, EA, you screwed up big time. You know how all the whining is stopped before it is even begins? A simple name change. Calling this Dragon Age: Bloodlines or Dragon Age: Annulment, something like that, and following it up with a more expansive, true-to-form sequel entitled Dragon Age 2 means people know this as a game related to but not directly connected with Dragon Age: Origins. That way they don’t complain when you change everything.<br />
<br />
Edit: Thought I'd add this for those interested in seeing just how fast battle in Dragon Age 2 is compared to Dragon Age: Origins.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VSuZReXOPf0/Tmx6D-7505I/AAAAAAAAAA8/m-TtVKAnsaw/s1600/DragonRAAAAAAAAAAGE.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VSuZReXOPf0/Tmx6D-7505I/AAAAAAAAAA8/m-TtVKAnsaw/s400/DragonRAAAAAAAAAAGE.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div> <br />
Note that Morrigan has been killed by the dwarf to the left there who holds a melee weapon. Look how far away I took her in an attempt to block, only to have it fail! This never once happened in Dragon Age 2. Also notice her head gear and think back to my point about gear. (She's got the axe and shield because that battle ran so long her mana ran out. I did not play with Morrigan using an axe and shield.)</div>Mitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02744652897743359554noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2641185946754798444.post-5733722426957031082011-09-07T03:08:00.000-07:002011-09-07T03:08:01.695-07:00Due Date - We're Well Past It.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yzmryN6A-jY/Tmc_28u3CZI/AAAAAAAAAAQ/bz8vxDO6pZ8/s1600/duedate5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yzmryN6A-jY/Tmc_28u3CZI/AAAAAAAAAAQ/bz8vxDO6pZ8/s320/duedate5.jpg" width="215" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><i>Leave your comfort zone, and expect a sour aftertaste.</i></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">American comedies can be hard to watch. With these films there may be some clever writing and good performances, but more likely pratfalls, stupid humour and bodily functions. Although Due Date’s director had success due to the former with The Hangover, this film is more like his more his films steeped in the latter, like Old School and Starsky & Hutch.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
A run in with amateur actor Ethan Tremblay (Zach Galifianakis – The Hangover) sees soon-to-be-father Peter Highman (Robert Downey Jr. – Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang) kicked off his flight home and banned from the friendly skies. Left without his wallet and luggage, he is forced to hitch a ride with Ethan in order to make it back to LA for the birth of his child.*</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
*Read: An insufferable, socially retarded Ethan Tremblay (Zach Galifianakis – The Hangover) spends what feels like an eternity on a road trip with violent, child beating asshole Peter Highman (Robert Downey Jr. – Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang) in which the two vie to deliver the least funny line in a film that is anything but humorous.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
I don’t know who to hate more. Ethan is a clichéd comedy-moron who isn’t as goofy as he is embarrassing to watch. Peter’s constant reminders for him to go to the bathroom before getting back in the car aren’t even slightly funny the first time, and the sub-plot that focuses on the scattering of his father’s ashes does little more than pad a film and result in a single joke that can be seen coming from its inception. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9ZGlggizzHg/TmdASgAqD0I/AAAAAAAAAAU/9IlH5EeFNzI/s1600/due-date-2010--630-75.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="142" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9ZGlggizzHg/TmdASgAqD0I/AAAAAAAAAAU/9IlH5EeFNzI/s320/due-date-2010--630-75.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"> <i>Ah, now I understand why he's not funny.</i></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
Then there’s Peter, or should I say Robert Downey Jr.? The man is a great actor but he’s spent way too long playing smug, well-to-do characters. Though it is easy to be empathetic early on for this man, so desperate is he to go home and be with his wife when she gives birth, these feelings soon dissipate when he punches a young boy in the stomach. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rpR5R9k-Iwg/TmdAe66hCeI/AAAAAAAAAAY/BfVg7M5xMx8/s1600/child-abuse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rpR5R9k-Iwg/TmdAe66hCeI/AAAAAAAAAAY/BfVg7M5xMx8/s200/child-abuse.jpg" width="191" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Peter Highman would make a good father.</i></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
The fact that he even gets in the car with Ethan is the least believable part in this film. If any of us met a guy like Ethan, we’d assume he was psychotic and stay as far away from him as possible. After all he has been through, Peter is way too quick to jump into the passenger seat. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
The film tries really hard to be both humorous and dramatic, yet fails undeniably at both. It tries hard to instil moments of tension between the characters here and there that are more than just the quirky events you’d expect in such a film, but most fade away within a minute of being revealed. This is especially evident just before the film’s climax in a scene atop the Grand Canyon (which references a much, much better film) where Ethan’s true lunacy is revealed. In the end it does nothing but remind us how reprehensible these characters are.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
This is a film to be avoided, even if you tend to have faith in the cast and crew behind it. I watched Due Date solely on the belief that Downey Jr. can make anything enjoyable. He certainly proved me wrong here. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">P.S. Sorry it's been so long since my last review. It's been a crazy year.</span></div>Mitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02744652897743359554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2641185946754798444.post-25935343323199407362011-01-24T03:31:00.000-08:002011-01-24T03:31:51.657-08:00The Six Best Albums of 2010<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I'm not going to spend too much time writing an introduction to this list. Suffice it to say that this contrasts highly with any lists I constructed in 2009, whether I was aware of the bands or not. This is due to a couple of reasons:</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- Soundwave Festival. From blatant recycling across the lineup in 2009 to a group of bands I had no interest or knowledge of in 2010, I realised that the only thing that remained appealing to me about Soundwave Festival were the friends I had made through it. Hence I started looking at the lineups of other festivals, and many of these albums came to me as a result of this.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- The generosity of Dylan in exposing people to every album he thinks they will enjoy or will allow them to stretch their taste. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- Seeing a few bands I really like perform mediocre gigs.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And here...we...go:</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">1. Ef - Mourning Golden Morning</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/9509/12309203.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="292" src="http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/9509/12309203.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><i>The lighting of the torch at the 2030 Olympics in Sweden was a little surreal.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">Swedish band Ef's third album was about as illusive as information on the band itself, which is rather remarkable. Mourning Golden Morning's sound is as diverse as it is recognisable, with hints of greats such as Explosions in the Sky, Mogwai, The Appleseed Cast and Eluvium left resonating in the deeply emotional and seemless folds that define every track. The ability to pick every reference eventually works against the album, however, and after a few listens you will return to these better bands. Don't let this turn you off it though. While Mourning Golden Morning lasts, and it does in doses, it is a sensational experience worthy of your time. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
<a href="http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/9509/12309203.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><u>What I would have done better:</u> Less links to music listeners will be going back to a week after first giving this a spin.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">5. Jonsi - Go</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
<a href="http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/9509/12309203.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/6223/jonsigothumb400x4003381.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/6223/jonsigothumb400x4003381.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><i>Artwork inspired from a deleted scene in Zatoichi where Jonsi falls victim to the title character.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
<a href="http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/9509/12309203.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">It's easy to eternally associate a band's frontman with everything the band offers us, and this is especially so with the foreign and ethereal music by Icelandic legends Sigur Ros. And while Jonsi's debut away from Sigur Ros, Riceboy Sleeps, definitely took a step away from the expected sound thanks to its folky, atmospheric tones Go offers us a more familiar sound with added assets that truly define Jonsi's step away from the band that first brought him to our attention. If you think of Sigur Ros as the film Ikiru - dark, and simplistic yet striking - then Jonsi is the film Hero - bright, bold and beautiful in its complexity and depth. The range of instruments and styles (I never thought I'd find myself jumping up and down with a smile on my face to a song written by this guy) on every track results in the truly unique experience everyone expected with this album.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><u><br />
</u></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><u>What I would have done better:</u> Removed that Ikiru/Hero comparison. I know it's pretentious, but that is truly the way I see it, ok? Jeez.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
<a href="http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/9509/12309203.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">4. Beach House - Teen Dream</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
<a href="http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/9509/12309203.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/1616/pebeachhouseteendream.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/1616/pebeachhouseteendream.jpg" width="320" /></a><i> </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><i>You think the artwork is subtle? Wait until you hear the songs.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">Bloody hell, this album is repetitive! So why is it so damn addictive? The more you listen the more you will realise that Teen Dream isn't repetitive, it's simple. But in being simple Victoria Legrand and Alex Scully have created such a subtle yet resonant album that embeds itself into your mind like you wouldn't expect. Tracks like Norway and Lover of Mine are deceptively vivid, and what may sound like melancholy opens up to profound beauty that will enrapture you with every listen.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><u>What I would have done better:</u> Some more diversity would have been nice. Everytime I play Teen Dream for people they inevitably make a comment that every song sounds the same.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">3. Blonde Redhead - Penny Sparkle</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="286" src="http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/3153/pennysparkle.jpg" width="320" /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><i>Open up, open up some happiness. </i></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Here is a band from the days when shoegaze was on it's way out and Elizabeth Fraser was still revered as the voice of God. Here is a band that could easily be called the best on its label, even one which releases such treasures as Ariel Pink, Bon Iver and The National. When a band has released eight albums I think you stop debating which is their best, but still my attraction to this album was immediate and severe. To call it a monument to my music gods is dismissing the fact that Penny Sparkle is not only a breath of fresh air but a fun album that can appeal to many tastes. Even if you don't get nostalgic for the shoegaze and dream pop of the 1990's like I do this is worth a few listens.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u>What I would have done better:</u> Guest vocals! This album begs for it, especially on some of the outstanding tracks such as My Plants Are Dead.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">2. Menomena - Mines</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/1032/menomenamines1500px300d.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/1032/menomenamines1500px300d.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"> <i>Back on Earth anything that even resembled the Na'vi was met with resentment.</i></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It's been a long time since I've listened to an album featuring tracks that feel so subtly interwoven that it's like you're watching a film and can't wait to see how everything develops. I got that feeling from Mines. Beyond that it is hard to explain why it is my second favourite album of the year. Everything works so well, from the basic acoustic guitar rifts, to the heartfelt but often scathing lyrics, and Danny Seim's crackling voice. This is a great indie chill-out album worthy of your attention.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><u>What I would have done better:</u> Sometimes I just wish Menomena would play something a little heavier. I think they'd be good at it.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">1. Los Campesinos! Romance is Boring</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/9251/loscampesinosromanceisb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/9251/loscampesinosromanceisb.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><i>I don't really get this. I don't care.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">Wow. Not only is this my favourite album of 2010, but my favourite album of all time. Welsh band Los Campesinos! deliver on all fronts like every indie kid with an acoustic guitar wish they could. There are so many features to a single song: catchiness, complexity, brilliant vocal combinations, witty and intelligent lyrics, and overall the feeling that you're listening to a band of equally talented and respected musicians, not just a vocalist with backing instruments. It's hard not to just go fanboy on this, but Romance is Boring was the only album I listened to in my car for months and months. No other album I listened to this year even compared, and that's why every time you pass me in my car you'll see me singing out </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">"Please just let me be the one who keeps track of the freckles and the moles on your back!"</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div>Mitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02744652897743359554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2641185946754798444.post-64879778732663293522011-01-22T03:04:00.000-08:002011-01-22T03:56:06.796-08:00The Six Most Disappointing Albums of 2010<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I listened to more albums in 2010 than I ever have thanks mostly to the recommendations of friends and a few significant changes in my overall taste. As I write this though I wonder if my change in taste is a result of the disappointment the next six releases brought. Though none of these are actually bad releases - unlike with films I usually don't make big risks with music I expect to be crap - there were definitive elements in all that left me wishing I was listening to something else.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">6. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/3029/arcade20fire20the20subu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/3029/arcade20fire20the20subu.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Ready to Start? I was hoping you'd just give up now. (Kidding, Kidding.)</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Where do you think you're going? Hear me out! The Suburbs is not on this list because it reached number one on the Billboard Top 200, nor because it was a bad album. The Suburbs is the sixth most disappointing album of the year because every song makes 'No Cars Go' sound dark. It was the distinct mood and varying style that Arcade Fire harnessed that made their first two albums masterpieces, so what was the point of making a concept album that will only limit the genius these men and women have displayed in the past? Eventually the band was going to disappoint at least one of their fans, and it was probably going to be me. Ask anyone who has had a conversation with me about music. The album grows on me more and more with every listen though, so will it retain its position for long? Well yes, of course. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u>What I would have changed:</u> Forget the concept album basis. You want to make songs about the suburbs? Write them like the four Neighbourhood songs on Funeral. Neighbourhood #1 was nothing short of a godsend.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">5. Omni - Minus the Bear</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://img203.imageshack.us/img203/715/minusthebearomni.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://img203.imageshack.us/img203/715/minusthebearomni.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">Omni: the Latin word for 'all'. Ironic.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This choice would be higher on the list if I didn't actually find it appealing for the first few months after release. Hell, I even listened to it in my car. But where The Suburbs grows on me with each listen I lose interest in Omni every time I recall something the album is obviously lacking which the band has shown works time and time again previously. Minus the Bear are one of my favourite bands for several reasons: a dancy, addictive math-rock beat with strong poetic and thematic lyrics, as well as the sensual vocals of Jake Snider. All of these things were abandoned on this album, and I can tell you why. Omni is a record released by a band who are playing more festivals and larger shows. All previous albums and EPs have an intimate, exciting atmosphere which is lost to all but the biggest fans in a crowded and buzzing location. The song 'Into the Mirror' is the album's only redeeming feature in my ears now, featuring a sliver of the heart that drew people to Minus the Bear in the first place thanks to guest vocals by Rachel Flotard of Visqueen. To anyone who wants to check out Minus the Bear: start with any album but this one. Please.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u>What I would have done better:</u> It's simple. They should have kept with the style they are loved for. Songs about sex and passionate atmosphere are what Minus the Bear were born to do.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">4. Band of Horses - Infinite Arms</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/8701/bandofhorsesinfinitearm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/8701/bandofhorsesinfinitearm.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">Omni? Infinite Arms? Maybe it's these titles that are making me expect too much from these albums.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">You either love or hate Band of Horses' southern-rock/folk style. To you it's probably relaxing or monotonous. Well Infinite Arms breaks the mold...by being an exaccerbated example of why this is. The result? I have not been able to get into Infinite Arms in the slightest. What's interesting is that the album was Grammy nominated, and their most commercially successful album yet, so surely there must be some appealing factor that I'm missing, right? Personally, I think Band of Horses have gone down the same road with Infinite Arms as former member Mat Brooke has with Grand Archive's ultimately boring release 'Keep in Mind Frankenstein'. Whether it's good music or not it is completely forgettable, which is not what I felt about their first two albums. I assume a lot of fans will dispute my choice here, but it's on the list because quite a while after I purchased it I still found myself asking whether I'd actually listened to it yet or not. It took too long to remember I had.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u><br />
</u></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u>What I would have done better:</u> Change it up a little bit more. This relates to every album they've released. I know they can do it, but why haven't they?</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">3. Gaslight Anthem - American Slang</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/2633/gaslightanthemamericans.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="290" src="http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/2633/gaslightanthemamericans.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">I know some American slang that relates to how I felt after listening to this: underwhelmed.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Another choice that isn't going to sit well with a lot of people, American Slang sees Gaslight Anthem shift from their punk origins to a more blues-inspired theme. While there are standout songs - The Diamond Church Street Choir being the best of them - overall it doesn't quite work for me. Gaslight Anthem's appeal can be best explained via the distinction on their first album, Sink or Swim, between punk-heavy songs and folky tunes. It was a perfect blend that inspired images of The Boss and other great artists, but that flavour is missing on American Slang. I don't listen to it very much at all, where Sink or Swim and The '59 Sound are still on heavy rotation. This felt like the obvious path for Gaslight Anthem, but the result was rather underwhelming.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u><br />
</u></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u>What I would have changed:</u> The boys were bound to release such a 'bluesy' album eventually, but such a radical shift was uncalled for.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">2. Lydia - Assailants</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://img709.imageshack.us/img709/7456/assailantslydiaalbum.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://img709.imageshack.us/img709/7456/assailantslydiaalbum.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">I don't think I'm wrong when I say that scavenger on the cover is meant to be Universal Records.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Lydia were a perfect example of why little bands don't suit big labels. This December, It's One More Then I'm Free was a phenomenal debut featuring production value long forgotten thanks to the loudness war, and Illuminate was heartfelt, catchy and overall an exciting evolution for the band. Then they were signed to Universal. First the band's female presence (and voice) Mindy White left, followed shortly by the departure of guitarist Steve McGraw. When they finally released this long anticipated album...it really didn't add up to any more than Illuminate b-sides. The album was exceptionally short and it was clear the band had lost their passion thanks to label interference. I can't blame them, and I look forward to what all band members are set to release in the future, but this was still an exceptional disappointment.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u><br />
</u></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u>What I would have done better:</u> I can't blame them for moving on to Universal Records, but I wish they hadn't. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">1. Wintersleep - New Inheritors</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/3706/albumartworkmini2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/3706/albumartworkmini2.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">I know I sure inherited discontent for the band after this forgettable album.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This mediocre, repetitive, uninspired release came as such a shock that I forgot it existed after my first listen for close to six months. It insulted my very soul. 2007's Welcome to the Night Sky is an awe-inspiring album, and due to its varied style, meticulous production value and strong lyrics it is one of my favourite and most listened to records ever. The main problem is that every song here sounds the same, and in a way that is nothing short of infuriating thanks to short verses leading on to choruses that are usually formed by having the band sing the name of the song again and again. When Wintersleep made the transition from their intimate, whispered sound in 'untitled' to the broader and more complex songs of Welcome to the Night Sky a lot of fans became hostile and said the band were taking a wrong turn. I think they predicted New Inheritors. From this point on I'll just pretend the album doesn't exist, and instead start hoping that the inevitable failure of this record doesn't mean they won't release a follow up. I am disappointed.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u>What I would have done better:</u> Welcome to the Night Sky pt.2. The band showed they didn't need traditional structure or a specfic sound to create a fantastic album, so why does New Inheritors exist?</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Last year wasn't all bad, however. Check in over the next couple of days for a list of the six albums of 2010 that are on high repeat at my place.</span>Mitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02744652897743359554noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2641185946754798444.post-12947800160774166052011-01-17T23:59:00.000-08:002011-01-18T01:37:20.920-08:00Back to the Future: Why New Technology is Sending Us Backwards - Part One<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><u>Note:</u> </b>This is an article written in all seriousness. If you're just here for the entertainment please continue scrolling down the page, as I promise it gets better than this. If you're in it for the long run though, know that this blog will be separated into four parts: Blu-ray, digital distribution, region coding, and my take on the industry itself. Enjoy. </span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We're going backwards. No, that's not entirely true. What we're doing is getting cheap and lazy. The average consumer would save a few dollars and forgo quality (or just steal it; you save quite a few dollars there) while the industry complains about piracy without offering viable alternatives to over-priced physical content. The move from VHS to DVD revolutionised the home entertainment sector in a way more profound than is immediately obvious, cleaving the industry in two and rewriting the guidelines for film marketing while offering quality products worth every cent.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Now we have blu-ray...and on a user's end there's still very little to get excited about. High Definition televisions have sold exponentially well, especially with Australia's current move into the digital domain, while blu-ray itself has had very limited success. There are various reasons for this, but I'll just tell you the most important:</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">- Please note I have a Samsung Series 5 B550K LCD Television, often considered one of the best in its range for HD content of all kinds. -</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>1) Transfers.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/1740/houseofflyingdaggersblu.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="341" src="http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/1740/houseofflyingdaggersblu.png" width="400" /></a></div><i>One of these is House of Flying Daggers on blu-ray. The other is House of Flying Daggers at a quality lower than that used for DVD. Without the headings would you spot the difference?</i></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I don't read reviews of films anymore. I read the reviews for the blu-ray discs themselves. Why? Distributors seem to be under the impression that aspect ratio and data size are the only reason people buy blu-ray, so they use any old source footage to blow up in order to fit the screen and as much of the disc as possible. The result is big images looking bad. Here are a few examples from my limited blu-ray library:</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><b>Generation Kill</b></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://img831.imageshack.us/img831/465/05generationkillbluray.jpg"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://img831.imageshack.us/img831/465/05generationkillbluray.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Even at this size you can see the noise and washed out colour. I still linked to the 1080 image, if you'd like to click.</i></div><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I first watched this online via a 17" monitor of limited capability that had glare issues thanks to three different light sources in the room. Still, I could make out the night scenes better than I could on my TV. The problem is that at regular contrast levels it's too dark to make anything out, and by raising the contrast the image creates a lot of noise, which is extremely distracting. Damned if you do, damned if you don't, you might as well buy the DVD version.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><b>The Wrestler</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://img573.imageshack.us/img573/8381/13018large.jpg"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://img573.imageshack.us/img573/8381/13018large.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><b> </b><i>This was their chance to impress. They failed.</i></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Just because this was one of Hopscotch's first blu-rays doesn't give them an excuse to release The Wrestler in this condition. You end up paying more for less, with an unimpressive image and less special features than the cheapest DVD option.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><b>Ran</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://img816.imageshack.us/img816/6305/24569large.jpg"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://img816.imageshack.us/img816/6305/24569large.jpg" width="400" /></a></div> <i>Did someone leave the sprinkler on stage left?</i></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This was the biggest disappointment of all my blu-rays, and is why I have all but stopped purchasing them and now make a point of reviewing before buying. Ran was released by StudioCanal, a distribution company of moderate esteem. What we get, however, is a transfer that looks worse than the DVD version. Most reviews suggest otherwise, but I am a big Kurosawa fan, and when I see banding in the best of his colour films I feel cheated. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Even some of the best releases have their problems, depending on their source. <a href="http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=872992">Here</a> is a fantastic link to a site that explains why by down-upgrade tests which compare the source quality with the full-scale quality. You'll be surprised to note how many (including a lot of popular films) have a quality similar to or less than a regular DVD. The Playstation 3 has a 1080p upscaler. If you have the console you might as well buy the DVD in a lot of cases, since pixel-for-pixel you are getting the same image.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>2) Blu-ray quality is directly compatible with TV quality.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Of course this is the case with every medium, but with high definition television the distinction is more important than ever. Every television is unique, they often require a careful application of settings to make a good picture great, and many consumers are still confused by digital terminology. There's not much else to say about this, as a movie lover is going to want to buy the best anyway, but the question is why anybody else would bother with an upgrade if there's no benefit. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>3) Cost.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A film has been out for fifty years. It's $12 on DVD. Finally it gets released on blu-ray...for full price. Nothing of broad interest has been changed; it can't be after so long, especially if it hasn't been perfectly archived. Full price is a relative term too. If one film was released by two distribution companies they would inevitably have different costs, since each group decides the costing range of their catalogue. A blu-ray from Fox averages out to be the most expensive. That's something I'll go more into next time, however.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>4) It's not technology for the average home.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Letterboxing is more prevalent than ever. Why? More and more films are being shot at aspect ratios larger than a television can handle. The only way blu-ray producers can fit the images onto a screen is by letterboxinggoing to consider this a technological advancement. Not to mention the fact that the colour range of every blu-ray needs to be down-converted before it can be encoded, hence any film can have contrast or colour banding issues that can be easily amplified if played on a lower-mid to low-end television. The earlier blu-rays were often released with lossless audio since there was such an amount of space on the disc. Now they don't. In fact, stereo isn't even supported much any more. Too bad if you can't afford/fit eight speakers into your room.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>5) Digital Rights Management.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">DRM has been a plague for just over a decade now, often being used by companies to steal information and driving people to piracy in order to get working copies of products. Thanks to the tyranny of Fox (what do you know?) blu-rays support a DRM named BD+, which restricts the backup of discs for personal use. BD+ has resulted in many tech-heads refusing to support blu-ray, as the discs themselves are already extremely easy to damage due to thin layers and a small aperture meaning even minimal error can cause massive problems.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">More often than not when we buy a blu-ray we're purchasing the exact same product on a new medium. The problem is that the medium is more advanced than the technology, which usually results in disappointment if you're like me and want to see some of your favourites revitalised or miss out on a visually impressive film at the cinemas. Rather than focusing on releasing quality, viable products, distributors are now relying on gimmicks to sell units. One popular example is the blu-ray/DVD/digital download boxset. Not only does this raise production costs but also nullifies the primary reason why we now buy blu-rays instead of HD DVD - capacity. Then there's the release of multiple versions of the same film, something that DVD buyers have complained about for years. When these don't result in sales stores are dropping prices much quicker than any time during the DVD's history (I've seen some brilliant titles on blu-ray that are cheaper than I've ever seen them on DVD, but I don't know the quality/know the quality is poor so I don't buy it). </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Blu-ray will be the last physical distribution method of its kind, there is little doubt. Not because it has failed; after all, it still has great potential, but because its arch-rival grows more attractive and available by the day. But just how soon will it meet its demise? Check back soon for part two of this series of articles as we look at the rise of digital distribution.</div>Mitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02744652897743359554noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2641185946754798444.post-36022086937735997022011-01-16T00:23:00.000-08:002011-09-10T17:30:46.429-07:00A Quantum of Solace; it's what you'll have for Ian Fleming and Albert R. Broccoli after seeing this<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/4872/quantumofsolace4800.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/4872/quantumofsolace4800.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><i>Bond and Camille in search of Quantum of Solace's plot.</i></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">Why does everything have to be so gritty and epic these days? Some would be surprised to hear me say this, but there's nothing wrong with having fun with a film. The Bourne Saga wasn't so brilliant that every action film has to try and emulate it anyway.This is especially the case for the Bond series, one of the largest franchises in movie history. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">The series' appeal can be broken into three sections:</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><b>1. Real stunts.</b></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="http://img814.imageshack.us/img814/7782/1048973.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" src="http://img814.imageshack.us/img814/7782/1048973.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><i>No pixels were harmed in the making of this film.</i></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><b><br />
</b></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><b>2. A larger than life hero fighting larger than life villains.</b></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/3192/oddjob.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/3192/oddjob.jpg" width="248" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><i>The reason the Korean War ended in a stalemate? They fought with guns instead of hats.</i></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><b>3. Humour that transcended cheesiness.</b></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/203/16298bondinvisiblecarsu.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="136" src="http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/203/16298bondinvisiblecarsu.png" width="320" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><i>Yeah...not what I meant.</i></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">Then MGM and EON Entertainment decided to reboot the series to make it, well, what every other action film wanted to be. Gone were the gadgets, the tropes and the fun characters. In was a blonde Bond (why did people make such a big deal out of this?) to take the series 'back to its roots' with a remake of the first ever Bond film adapted from the first ever Bond novel - Casino Royale. The interesting thing is that it worked. The action, the vistas, the pacing, it was marvellous. Daniel Craig proved he was worthy of playing this iconic character, even if he couldn't deliver a one-liner without sounding embarrassed. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">Two years later out came Quantum of Solace, the first literal sequel in the franchise's history. And what did we get?</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><b>1. CGI injected, ADD addled action scenes.</b></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="http://img813.imageshack.us/img813/8996/abf1160010downafter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="http://img813.imageshack.us/img813/8996/abf1160010downafter.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><i>Look at that. Look at it. Do you want to spend your money to go to the cinemas in order to see this? Do you even care about what's happening here?</i></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">The action in this film is simply meaningless. The movie sets it up for about twenty seconds, often with an amateur effect like cutting out the sound or going into slow motion, and then Bond runs in and kills his opponents so quickly and effectively - all without taking a single punch - you'll wonder if director Marc Forster only shot these sequences because he felt obliged. The worst fight is certainly a scene where Bond confronts villain Dominic Greene, only to run away in a chase scene intercut with shots of a Puccini opera. I actually laughed aloud.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><b>2. The characters are bland and uninspired.</b></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/8079/2191879821918801large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/8079/2191879821918801large.jpg" width="228" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><i>This is the main henchman in the film. His name is Elvis. His gimmick is that in the third act he has a neck brace.</i></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">The only character who gets any consideration from the script is Bond. His motive is vengeance for the death of Vesper in Casino Royale. Revenge is the cliche motivation of every action hero these days, but at least he has motivation. Most characters, including Bond girl Camille and CIA agent Felix just waste space on the screen, and it's up to other characters to drop a line or two close to the end of the film in order to give them any value. The characters who do have motivation, however, don't get the screen time to make us care. The biggest disappointment is certainly the incredible French actor Mathieu Amalric's Dominic Greene though. He gives us nothing, and his wicked scheme - to take control of 60% of Bolivia's water - is worse than the Die Another Day theme song.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><b>3. The film is played straight and without purpose. </b></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/5421/article103050201cbb2440.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="172" src="http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/5421/article103050201cbb2440.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><i>Her name is Strawberry Fields. We don't find that out until THE CLOSING CREDITS!</i></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">Daniel Craig still sucks at one-liners. That isn't the real issue though. The issue is that Quantum of Solace is a direct sequel to Casino Royale, but beyond minute references the only real link is the last two minutes of the film. Before that we don't get much but sweeping shots of a CGI Bolivian desert. So not only is this film played straight, but everything else that is so enjoyable about Bond films - a dangerous enemy, grand locations, and a simply awesome ending - are forgotten too. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">The film makes slight reference to earlier Bond film License to Kill by featuring a subplot where M is trying to apprehend Bond after fearing that he's going rogue. The reason she thinks this is the case is that she has been told Bond is responsible for killing basically everyone who winds up dead in the film. This is not true, and even though M keeps saying that she trusts Bond completely he never corrects her! If he did the film could have been cut in half. Then you could have removed the other half too, because in trying to set up the idea of a massive evil organisation behind the scenes of these new 007 films it neither contributes nor resolves anything. In fact, I would go as far as to say all it does is waste film.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">Unless MGM wants to go bankrupt again the new Bond film that was recently announced better reboot the reboot. Sure, they could close the storyline they set up at the close of Casino Royale, but after this film I don't think anybody would care. Give us Jaws, Xenia Onatopp or Nik Nak any day.</div>Mitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02744652897743359554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2641185946754798444.post-53218131811539500912011-01-05T01:29:00.000-08:002011-01-05T01:32:15.674-08:00Train Wreck - The Worst Song of 2010 <span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Note: this is based on when the songs enter the charts. That's the reason for my hatred, after all.</span><br />
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I hate mainstream music. Well, ok, not mainstream music per se, but definitely the songs that generally stain the Billboard Top 100. The music itself is nothing but a marketing tool, and a band's status in the music industry has less value than their celebrity status as individuals.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">There has been a lot of terrible music released in 2010; so much so that I would go as far as to say it is one of the worst years for popular music ever (even if <b>Boom Boom Pow</b> was released in 2009). <b>Fly Like a G6 </b>is a good example of this. Not only is this song about nothing (go do your research people, the band said it themselves), but it has introduced such moronic terms as 'getting slizzard' into the international colloquial dictionary. Then there's Chris Brown's <b>Deuces</b>, a song about how he was lampooned because a certain woman didn't know how to keep her mouth shut. Nevertheless it was received well. And let's not go into everything that is wrong with <b>Whip My Hair</b>.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="http://demicouture.ca/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/chris-brown-is-a-douche.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://demicouture.ca/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/chris-brown-is-a-douche.jpg" width="239" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><i><strike>Deuce</strike>. Douche.</i></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">But none of these qualify as the worst song of 2010. Why? Because as terrible as they are, they're still just as hollow as everything else. It takes something special to be considered the worst song, and that something is the noise created when a bland ukulele riff meets lyrics so horrendous that nearly every line breaks something in my brain every time I hear it. This song is the 8th most downloaded song in history, and a video featuring nothing but the lyrics has over 30 million views and comments where people actually admit to thinking that this is a well written song. I am, of course, talking about Train's <b>Hey, Soul Sister</b>.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="http://cdn.sheknows.com/articles/2010/12/train-hey-soul-sister.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://cdn.sheknows.com/articles/2010/12/train-hey-soul-sister.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><i>Doesn't this face just scream "I know I wrote a shit song but goddamn will the morons of the world still lap this up!"?</i></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">Train are one of those bands that have managed to stay relevant because they've just followed the trends rather than setting them, and in doing so can be forgotten for years before coming back to once again sound like everyone else. Although they're a bit late (and a little old) to the mid-tempo pop 'cool guy/s who probably surf and have limited guitar skills' trend it's, once again, the lyrics that make this the worst song of 2010. So I'll let them do the talking.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><b><br />
</b></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><b>"Hey, hey, hey"</b> Yep, that's how the song starts. This is one of those elements that annoy me in any song whether I like the band or not; one word/noise filler. If this was just at the start of the song I wouldn't have mentioned it, but since it is repeated several times it's fair game.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><b>"Your lipstick stains on the front lobe of my left side brains."</b> The first true line of the song, and certainly one of the worst. These are the words of someone who has no idea what he is talking about. Let's say we give Pat Monahan a break and guess he's talking about the emotional impact the girl has rather than the fact the plural makes it sound like he has multiple, smaller than average brains. Well that's too bad, because the emotional core of the brain is in the centre. What she just kissed is your speech section. And that's pretty stupid.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><b><br />
</b></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><b>"I knew I wouldn't forget you, and so I went and let you blow my mind."</b> Wanted: a meaning for this line.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><b>"Your sweet moonbeam..."</b> So...wait...he's singing about the moon? For those of you playing at home read every line from now on as if that was the case, while I'll just assume this is Pat spewing random noise to rhyme with dream. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs38/i/2008/356/c/4/Star_Wars___Female_Jedi_by_wildman10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs38/i/2008/356/c/4/Star_Wars___Female_Jedi_by_wildman10.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><i>Unless he meant something like this. Then I'm ok with it.</i></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><b>"I know when we collided, you're the one I have decided who's one of my kind."</b> Sounds like this verse was meant to be two lines longer, but because they couldn't fit them in they just took the essence of three lines and crammed them into one. Remember logic was dismissed before this song even started.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><b><br />
</b></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><b>"Hey, Soul Sister, ain't that Mr. Mister on the radio, stereo? The way you move ain't fair, y'know." </b>We're up to the chorus and...Mr. Mister? MR. MISTER! What the hell are you talking about? <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWyeVfuolT4">This</a> is Mr. Mister. She is dancing to that? I would have suffered him rhyming sister with Sister2Sister in this case, because at least that makes sense! Also "radio, stereo"? That line is about as redundant as Train themselves.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><b><br />
</b></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><b>"Just in time, I'm glad you have a one-track mind like me."</b> What? With no context or meaning, this line is just noise.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><b>"You gave my life direction, a game show love connection we can't deny."</b> Love Connection hey? Witty reference. Too bad the only thing shallower than a game show like Love Connection is reality TV. Pat can at least be glad it's not a Big Brother love connection.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.acausedesgarcons.fr/images/turkey_slap.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="http://www.acausedesgarcons.fr/images/turkey_slap.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><i>This is a Big Brother love connection.</i></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><b>"I'm so obsessed; my heart is bound to beat right out my untrimmed chest."</b> A love song about Pat Monahan's chest hair, ladies and gentlemen! Swoon! Swoooooooooooooon!</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.contactmusic.com/videoimages/sbmg/pat-monahan-her-eyes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://images.contactmusic.com/videoimages/sbmg/pat-monahan-her-eyes.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><i>Hence why he makes this face in every photo. This is the face of a man that thinks he is so loved that he can make money for singing about his chest hair. And you know what? The bastard is right.</i></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><b>"...like a virgin, you're Madonna..."</b></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">And here it is, folks. The worst line in this song also happens to be not only the last line I can criticise but what gave this song so many 'fail points' towards becoming the worst song of the year.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><b>"So gangsta, I'm so thug..."</b></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.justinbreathes.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/train-hey-soul-sister.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="167" src="http://www.justinbreathes.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/train-hey-soul-sister.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><i>Now look at this photo. Look at it.</i></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">Because there's nothing more gangsta than a white man in his early forties singing along to a ukulele outside a coffee shop. Besides Snoop Dogg leading a gummy bear army in a fantastic lolly kingdom. But we'll never see that-</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="http://unitedmonkee.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/snoops-gummy-bear-army.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="181" src="http://unitedmonkee.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/snoops-gummy-bear-army.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Never mind.</span></div>Mitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02744652897743359554noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2641185946754798444.post-35859959424105565692010-12-30T22:30:00.000-08:002011-09-10T17:20:35.928-07:00The Six Best Gigs of 2010<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I'm getting to the point where going to Brisbane by myself for gigs doesn't hold the appeal it once did. Maybe because for the last couple of years a lot of the bands that have come out are recycled, and as good as they once were seeing them now just isn't the same. Then there's Soundwave. The greatest thing about that festival was its ability not only to cater for all genres but for bands who probably wouldn't have ever made it out here without such an offer. That isn't the case anymore, and for me that was a big blow.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Regardless, this year delivered some of the best gigs I have ever been to. Each had their own specific value, but the following six shows were definitely highlights for me in 2010.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">6. Kevin Devine @ The Tivoli</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.favoritegentlemen.com/img/artists/kevindevine.498w.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://www.favoritegentlemen.com/img/artists/kevindevine.498w.jpg" width="320" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">He's one of the most poetic songwriters of his generation, but it takes more than pretty words to make a good performance. Fortunately Kevin Devine's radical range of delivery and style is rather unique outside of the folk scene, and raise him above the title of 'hippy playing acoustic guitar in his lounge room'. Kevin played with Brand New, who this time around (my third time) left no impression on me whatsoever.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><u>What I would have done better:</u> Kevin Devine would have headlined. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">5. Jonsi @ Palace Theatre</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.knoxroad.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/jonsi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://www.knoxroad.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/jonsi.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">You know it was a great year when you have this guy at fifth position. There is no denying that Jonsi is a genius who has created some of the most beautiful music <i>ever</i>. So what made this gig so special? Everything. The lighting, the costumes, the rest of the band and the unfathomable range of talents they possess, not to mention the people I saw this with. Jonsi's performance is like no other, and objectively speaking I don't think any other performer could have such an impact. Plus, the drummer had a monitor attached to his kit because he had so much going on. Suck on that, drummer from Rush.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><u>What I would have done better:</u> played the entire show dressed as Indians.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">4. Sunny Day Real Estate @ Palace Theatre</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">Another gig I went to in Melbourne, and featuring a band I never thought I'd have the honour of seeing. Most of the band is probably used to playing larger shows, seeing as how everyone but singer Jeremy Enigk is part of the Foo Fighters, but still there was an undoubted feeling of appreciation emenating from the band. It was their first ever tour outside of the US, and since their disbandment they have become music legends. It showed. Four other bands appeared at this gig - RX Bandits, Motion City Soundtrack, Glassjaw and Jimmy Eat World - but it was clear Sunny Day Real Estate caught the attention of everyone in the venue. Jeremy Enigk's voice, a musical style that has influenced so many bands over the last decade, and a simply enjoyable atmosphere made seeing these guys a great experience. Jimmy Eat World and Motion City Soundtrack were also pretty good.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><u><br />
</u></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><u>What I would have done better:</u> Sunny Day Real Estate should have stayed as headliners before the addition of Jimmy Eat World. Not that it made much difference in the end.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">3. Revival Tour @ The Zoo</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.suburbanhomerecords.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/RevivalAUSPoster4-Final.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.suburbanhomerecords.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/RevivalAUSPoster4-Final.jpg" width="227" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">Herein lies everything that a gig should be: a great atmosphere, a general feeling of fun, anticipation and excitement and good music. Overall, a celebration. What Chuck Ragan, Frank Turner, Ben Nichols and Tim Barry delivered was extraordinary. Often sharing the stage to share the singing during the more popular songs, seeing all four on stage together was something incredibly unique and thrilling. I was most excited for Nichols, who in the end was the most disappointing, but I left as a fortified fan of Tim Barry. I knew nothing of his work when I entered, but his heartfelt, southern-style ballads were the songs of a man who loves what he has to say, and the audience certainly felt that. I hope we get Revival Tour 2011.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><u>What I would have done better:</u> Ben Nichols should have been more into it. People were shouting out for The Kid but he refused to play it. Disappointing.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">2. Silversun Pickups @ Brisbane Convention Centre</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.panicmanual.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/silversun-pickups_large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="221" src="http://www.panicmanual.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/silversun-pickups_large.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">I've been waiting. I've been waiting for this moment all my life. But it's not quite right. That's because some morose promoter decided it would be a good idea to have a sensational international band support a mediocre local radio-rock group. Nevertheless, Silversun Pickups performed one of my favourite sets ever. Brian Aubert's energy pulsated through the room as he delivered songs I've been waiting to hear live for fve years, and even Birds of Tokyo fans loved it. Swoon really gave this band the attention they deserve on an international level, but hopefully when they return whoever handles their tour gives them a bit more respect.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><u><br />
</u></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><u>What I would have done better:</u> They should have headlined! The Convention Centre was half full when they played and half of the crowd left as soon as they'd finished. Many people were angry because the show started early so they only saw 1-2 songs. I can't blame them. They didn't play Kissing Families. </div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">1. Porcupine Tree @ The Tivoli</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TxS1C_U7ZkQ/TDPSy6XPGQI/AAAAAAAAAn0/i3QbLF4Rngk/s1600/Porcupine+Tree.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="206" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TxS1C_U7ZkQ/TDPSy6XPGQI/AAAAAAAAAn0/i3QbLF4Rngk/s320/Porcupine+Tree.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">So of course I was expecting something great from Porcupine Tree. They've been around for twenty-three years and they have 61 releases which are all of high quality. What I didn't expect was this. The band came out and played the first disc of their latest release The Incident, a disc which features one 76 minute song, in its entirety. That's something special in itself, but what was even more amazing was that the band had a video accompanying their performance. Often lyrics would appear in the image, and no matter how far into the song the band was they were always in synch. There lies the definition of talent. They then took a quick break and returned to play some older songs, including a b-side which I had hoped to hear but never imagined I would: Half Light. This was my first gig of 2010 and nothing even came close to the level of brilliance and excitement presented here.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><u>What I would have done better:</u> I wouldn't have let them stop playing.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">2011 is looking to be a great year for gigs. Bands such as La Dispute, Andrew McMahon, Gaslight Anthem, Polar Bear Club and This Town Needs Guns will be playing, and I'll also be going to Laneway. Will any of them come close to the performances seen this year? Time will tell.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">Happy new year, everyone. I'll be watching the Gaki no Tsukai batsu game online tonight, and I hope you all have fun too.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div>Mitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02744652897743359554noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2641185946754798444.post-70108305790512728842010-12-28T19:44:00.000-08:002010-12-28T19:44:44.060-08:00The Six Best Films of 2010<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The type of films in my list for 2010 varies greatly for several reasons. I didn't see many mainstream releases this year at the cinema, a lot of the films I am keen on aren't released in Australia until 2011 and, frankly, I've watched so much Mystery Science Theater 3000 this year that I haven't had time to watch good features. Now without further adieu I give you the six best films of 2010 (that I saw).</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">6. The Road</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.iwatchstuff.com/2009/09/04/the-road-poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.iwatchstuff.com/2009/09/04/the-road-poster.jpg" width="217" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Beyond the fact I'd read the novel and am a big fan of Cormac McCarthy I had little hope for the quality of this film about a father and son traversing the post-apocalyptic USA as they looked for refuge. It didn't matter whether Hillcoat stayed true to the source material or not, I just didn't know how this film could keep people interested. The answer was dynamic visuals, supporting actors whose two/three minutes on the screen breathed new life into the film every time without fail, and two of the strongest leads in a film this year. What's more is the atmosphere: unrelenting, desolate and realistic, it was the very backbone of The Road.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u><br />
</u></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u>What I would have done better:</u> Less Charlize Theron. The strength of this story is its complete focus on the present, so the flashbacks were nothing more than distracting.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">5. Aftershock</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="http://dgeneratefilms.com/wp-content/uploads/Aftershock.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://dgeneratefilms.com/wp-content/uploads/Aftershock.jpeg" width="216" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Feng Xiaogang is renowned as a comedic director, so the fact that he made the most emotional movie of 2010 is quite surprising. When I saw this there was not a dry eye in the cinema. Literally. Except for mine. Barely. Alright, they may have teared up once or twice. Besides a third act that is at times lacklustre Aftershock tells a personal story with the culture of China setting the perfect backdrop. The earthquake itself is the best ever depicted on film, so it is no surprise that the film was met with controversy in China, where it is taboo to portray national disasters for profit. More than any other film on this list Aftershock is one everybody can enjoy.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u>What I would have done better:</u> Hired a better Western actor for the scene in Canada. Who was that guy, seriously?</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">4. Agora</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_VGuIVSLX0Dw/SxDTu05YK2I/AAAAAAAAAI4/X0oa0JURIe0/s1600/Agora+Movie+French+Poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_VGuIVSLX0Dw/SxDTu05YK2I/AAAAAAAAAI4/X0oa0JURIe0/s320/Agora+Movie+French+Poster.jpg" width="235" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">Agora deals with a lot of themes: the rise of Catholicism in Egypt, the value of science and of man, and the position of women in society. How fortunate are we then that Rachel Weisz gives the performance of her career as Hypatia, the female philosopher and atheist whose words, regardless of her gender, were some of the most valued in her time. It's a great historic film that looks fantastic while never becoming epic, which works in the movie's advantage, as the belief that every film of this kind must be large in scale is a false one.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><u>What I would have done better:</u> Made it longer. The subplot that focuses on Hypatia's science ended too abruptly, I felt.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">3. Summer Wars</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.thereelbits.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/summerwarsposter.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.thereelbits.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/summerwarsposter.jpeg" width="224" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Mamoru Hosoda is steadily becoming my favourite anime director. While the quality of the traditional anime is not quite as good as that seen in the likes of Miyazaki films it is the complexity and emotion found in Hosoda's films that set him apart. A parable that warns of the dangers faced when society relies too much on technology, Summer Wars takes place on two planes of existence. The first, our reality, is portrayed in classic 2D animation with all the vibrancy and depth you'd expect, but the highlight of the film is certainly on the second plane, in the virtual community known as OZ. Incorporating elements of 3D, CG, and 2D on an amazing scale it really is a sight to behold. The plot is engaging, often funny or sad but never slow. All anime fans must see it.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><u><br />
</u></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><u>What I would have done better:</u> The start is very sudden and could have used some slower pacing.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">2. Inception</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://thefilmstage.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Inception-movie-poster-2-411x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://thefilmstage.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Inception-movie-poster-2-411x600.jpg" width="219" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I'm sure you expected this. Inception is the only blockbuster I've seen this year, and I believe it is the only 2010 film I actually own. Nolan's film is exceptionally well told, plot holes aside, and though it's only one step up from mindless action (especially in that third act) the acting, the visuals and the awe-inspiring CGI make you feel like you're watching something incredible. Unlike Nolan's other films once the hype dies down the resonance of this film is still strong, hence why it is my number two.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><u>What I would have done better:</u> The plot holes are ridiculous. I was willing to forgive Nolan because I enjoyed the film so much, but if even a few of the smaller ones had been resolved this would have been a much better film.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">1. Best Worst Movie</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.groonk.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/BestWorstPoster1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.groonk.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/BestWorstPoster1.jpg" width="213" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Best Worst Movie is a documentary about Troll 2, often considered the worst film of all time (which it really isn't), brought to us by Michael Stephenson, the guy who played the kid, Joshua, in the film. The documentary mostly follows George Hardy who played the father as he comes to realise the film is a cult phenomenon. The mixed reactions from cast members is a real thrill to see, but it's director Claudio Fragasso's blind belief that he made a great film, that the cast and critics alike are idiots, and that the public has finally realised Troll 2's brilliance that makes this the best film I've seen all year. Underneath it all is a powerful story about how hard it is to make films, but the seriousness of the matter never takes away from the hilarity of watching George Hardy shout at a crowd "And you can't piss on hospitality! I won't allow it!"</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><u><br />
</u></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><u>What I would have done better:</u> More Claudio! That man should have a whole movie featuring his insane, Italian ramblings.</div><br />
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div>Mitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02744652897743359554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2641185946754798444.post-72375812702540651232010-12-28T02:17:00.000-08:002010-12-28T02:20:37.610-08:00The Six Most Disappointing Films of 2010<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Every year sees terrible films released, and they usually make a lot of money. Fortunately I managed to avoid the real insults of the year - films such as The Last Airbender and Cop Out - so my list features six films that may not have been terrible, but nevertheless were entirely disappointing.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">6. Monsters</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
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</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The director of Monsters, Gareth Edwards, referred to the film as a romance...that just happened to be set in a quarantine zone filled with aliens. From that alone I expected something completely original at best, or at least a modern adventure tale. What we got can only be described as an art-house creature feature that couldn't actually afford to show the creatures more than two or three times. Which is ridiculous, seeing as they are the about four stories tall. The two lead characters make this a decent film, but calling the movie Monsters is nothing more than a tease, so it's my number six.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u><br />
</u></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u>What I would have done better:</u> If you can't show these giant creatures all the time at least have their presence felt more often. A sound effect, smoke in the distance, anything!</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">5. The Human Centipede</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.comingsoon.net/gallery/64309/The_Human_Centipede_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.comingsoon.net/gallery/64309/The_Human_Centipede_1.jpg" width="214" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
I know what you're saying. Now shut up and hear me out. I didn't expect The Human Centipede to be good in the regular sense, but as a fan of exploitation films I thought this film had great potential. The end result was boring, scandalous for the sake of being scandalous, and worst of all it was sensationalised. I can understand when bad films with big marketing budgets get more attention than good films with small marketing budgets, but when an abysmal stain like The Human Centipede is treated like the first film of its kind because it gets a decently sized, undeserved release I just get angry. This is one of the two films on this list that would appear in a list of the worst films of 2010 for me.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u><br />
</u></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u>What I would have done better:</u> Set the film in the 50's and made the doctor a Nazi. It's exploitation cinema after all.</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">4. Savages Crossing</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dreadcentral.com/img/news/nov10/savcro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dreadcentral.com/img/news/nov10/savcro.jpg" width="248" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><br />
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div>This is the second of those films. Want to know the definition of embarrassed? Me at the Gold Coast premiere of this film. John Jarratt managed to pull together a decent budget for this film, and he blew it completely on, I assume, the actor's paychecks. Is his character recently out of jail or rehab? Does he want $10 million or half the value of the house? The script is bad, most of the actors play like they're on Home & Away, and what's worse is that this film is only going to make it harder for Australian film makers to get independent financing. I respect what John tried to do, but this is a bad film.<br />
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<u>What I would have done better: </u>Not been so self indulgent with the script and focused on actual continuity.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">3. Hot Tub Time Machine</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://thescorecardreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/hot_tub_time_machine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://thescorecardreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/hot_tub_time_machine.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><br />
How do you fuck up a homage to the teenage comedies of the 80's with John Cusack in it? I bet that's how the pitch went too. "They go back to the 80's and everything is like it is in those old teen comedies. It'll star John Cusack." Bam! Here's your money! How can you go wrong? Well you can have all of one decent reference, which is to a film Cusack was in as a co-star and not a lead. The rest of the jokes are tired and boring. Crispin Glover is brilliant as always, and Chevy Chase has a decent cameo, but this film was completely ruined by failing to use one of the greatest actors from the films they are paying tribute to and by delivering one of the worst endings seen this decade.<br />
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<u>What I would have done better:</u> Actually incorporated jokes relevant to the theme of the film instead of trying to make a standard, mediocre comedy.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">2. I'm Still Here</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/25/I%27m_Still_Here_poster.jpg/220px-I%27m_Still_Here_poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/25/I%27m_Still_Here_poster.jpg/220px-I%27m_Still_Here_poster.jpg" width="215" /></a></div><br />
This could have been fantastic. It could have been in the same vein as Borat or Bruno without having to resort to base, offensive bullshit. But Phoenix and Affleck failed. Watching I'm Still Here is uncomfortable and rarely funny. The worst part was that both men came out the night before the premiere and said that it was fake! That's like when Tony Abbott said you can't always believe what politicians promise: of course not, we all know it, but you're not meant to say it.<br />
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<u>What I would have done better:</u> Made the film fun instead of a character analysis. Oh, and I wouldn't have TOLD EVERYONE IT WAS FAKE BEFORE THE FILM WAS EVEN RELEASED!<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">1. Scott Pilgrim VS The World</span><br />
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<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div>I've never read the graphic novels. I've always thought Edgar Wright was overrated. I haven't liked Michael Cera since Juno. So it's surprising that this is the most disappointing film I've seen all year. However, I'm pretty sure that if you play the film in rewind you can hear a voice begging you to find the film cool, but in a geeky way. The art style is fantastic but unless you knew the background of the film you'd wonder just why the hell you can see soundwaves emanating from the guitar or when a door slams why the word 'Bang!' appears. Scott Pilgrim VS The World knows what it wants to be and tries to be it a little too hard. Combined with the fact that the third act feels rushed means this film certainly didn't live up to its potential. Regardless, the acting is great and the theme is pretty clever and original, so it certainly isn't a bad film.<br />
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<u>What I would have done better:</u> Contextualised the art style, and not tried so damn hard to be cool.<br />
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That's that for now. The list of top six best films of the year will be here tomorrow, so keep an eye out.Mitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02744652897743359554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2641185946754798444.post-8400629252888502292010-12-28T00:37:00.000-08:002010-12-28T00:37:28.089-08:00I'm Why We Can't Have Anything Nice.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs763.snc4/66337_443341117970_618737970_5323695_5312311_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs763.snc4/66337_443341117970_618737970_5323695_5312311_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Hello, readers.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Whenever I review a film, music, game etc. there's always someone who disagrees with me to the point where I'm sure I'd have been physically assaulted by now if I didn't have an avatar absorbing the blows for me. They tell me my reviews are 'why we can't have anything nice' and that my dislike of something not only means I have poor taste but that I am a poor human being in general.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I'm not in a position to judge, but I do know that I get as many people asking me to start a blog as I do asking me to die. Up until recently I haven't been a fan of either idea, but with the year coming to a close and the inevitable best/worst lists starting to emerge I thought I'd use this place as somewhere I could voice my opinion. I appreciate all positive comments as much as I do negative comments so long as you stick around to tell me what else I'm wrong about. This page isn't here for me to tell you what to watch but to spark discussion. </span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I plan to do something different though. I have embraced the perception of myself as an insensitive douche who doesn't like anything, so every review, whether good or bad, will end with a note on one thing I would have done differently/better if I'd made the film/game/whatever.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Since I have come to the conclusion that this year I will not be watching any more films from 2010 (for various reasons) my lists for the top five films of the year and five most disappointing films of the year will be up tonight.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Enjoy.</span></span>Mitchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02744652897743359554noreply@blogger.com2