Movies Update - February 2011

Considering how short the month is, I managed to take in quite a few movies. Every so often the task of committing two hours to any one thing is daunting, and other times, you realize that it's no time at all. This must have been one of those months, as I pull a couple of double features and fill late nights with relatively short films.

• District 9
• Henry Poole is Here
• Cool World
• Funny Games U.S.
• The Zombie Diaries
• Monsters
• The Royal Tenenbaums
• Lord of War
• Teeth
• I Am Number Four
• The Other Guys
• 127 Hours
• Unknown
• Centurion

Guitar Hero Finished

By now you now that the Guitar Hero franchise has been cancelled. After reading Cale's post When We Were Kings, I feel an urge to jump in and add my two cents to the news that shocked (?) the gaming industry. I question the shock of it all, because really, we saw this coming to a degree. Sales were decreasing and it didn't take a market analyst to see that that we were being saturated. If you're a casual gamer, you don't devote a big part of your budget to video games. So if you are in this demographic, you may be prepared to buy a title per year (or maybe two) at full price. So imagine fifteen plus titles coming out within the course of a few years, including full blown double dips - looking at you, Smash Hits.

My first exposure to this franchise was at a display stand in a Toys R Us store. I follow the game industry but sometimes my goggles are pretty selective: Guitar Hero was something I was vaguely aware of but did not bother to fully comprehend. So the opportunity to play couldn't be squandered: Nirvan's Heart Shaped Box seems to be everyone's first time and I was no different. It's actually quite a nostalgic trip putting Guitar Hero 2 in the tray and playing that particular tune. It's also worth noting that back in those days the songs were merely well done covers, and it wouldn't be until later in the series that every tune was provided the original master tracks. Either way, they are a blast to play.

So, I bought Guitar Hero 2, and shortly afterwards its own sequel was released and purchased. Later that year Rock Band would come out, and in just a few short months I had spent hundreds of dollars on plastic instruments. But it's worth it: almost every Friday night, people would come over and we would rock out, even taking up the mic every so often. But the focus was with Cale and either taking turns, or playing together for marathon sessions. As I gradually increased the difficulty my home became the bass guitar, while my more skilled friend would take the lead guitar. My ability to play on harder difficulties was a slow one at that: while I basically started on medium, it's taken years to get to hard.

My strategy for handling the saturation was patience and waiting: I snaked Guitar Hero: Aerosmith for a mere $4.99 new, in some random deal that I haven't seen since. The magic price point seems to be $20: if you're a music game and there, I will buy you. Trudging through one of the titles has been a soothing experience. I gather my achievements, listen and interact with some great music and move on. But for the most part I've stuck with Rock Band, as the Guitar Hero series has featured heavier music, and lots of metal. When I get to the harder songs, they are almost exclusively unrecognizable to me. I've never been a fan of the art direction either, and the gimmicks have always felt somewhat broken. For me, at least, the Hero franchise has never had a good framework; each title seemed to add gimmicks that were not appealing. I liken Guitar Hero as being the Myspace to Rock Band's Facebook.

So there you have it: I'm not sure cancelling the entire franchise was the best call to make. If you scale back production, release fewer but higher quality titles, the market could respond favourably. But perhaps, this is indicative of the casual game market. Wii sales are dropping (probably because everybody has one already) and it's entirely possible the fabled "casual gamer" is moving onto something else, iPhone, anyone?

Teeth

Vagina dentata. This alone should tell you what the movie is about, literally.A rather plain girl, growing up in the suburbs in the shadow of a nuclear plant - which is driven into your brain with a sledgehammer. It's never really outright said that the "mutation" is a result of pollution, but the message is there. So Dawn is a devout advocate of celibacy - of course - putting on various talks and motivational sessions for the town's church-following youth. She gets involved with a guy, and through a series of unfortunate events, she discovers her condition, although it is difficult for her to comprehend.

What follows is a town full of rapists: other attempts are made and we see these men meet their gruesome fate, and I do mean gruesome. If it wasn't for the comedy injected into the movie - indeed, it actually delivers comedy and horror at a perfect balance - the movie would be unwatchable. You see entirely way too much and thankfully, the movie is relatively short.

Often, I will ask the question: how does a movie like this get made? In these cases, it's a jab at the horribleness of the film itself, but in this case, it should be taken literally. How is this concept pitched? Who agrees to it? Who accepts roles in it? Where does the financing come in? This isn't a movie that would see a wide release, or perhaps a release at all: it's perfect home is Netflix and the back shelves of video stores for curious viewers. Perhaps the concept is so wild it can't possibly fail. It was a fun movie to watch with a couple of close friends; I'm not sure I would have loaded it up by myself. But we could laugh out loud, and poke fun at the holes in the plot and absurdity of the characters. You can knock the movie for many things, but you can't knock it for being original.

Halo 3: ODST

If I recall and comprehend properly, ODST started out as downloadable content for the core Halo 3 game. Evidence that seems to support my supposition is that the "complete Halo 3" online game experience is included on a second disc in this package. The first disc is purely ODST. I guess, if you were inclined, you could pop the second disc in and play Halo 3 online? Without buying Halo 3? Although, you kind of did buy it already because you bought this game, and they realized it wasn't enough on its own. They would be right, but when you buy it at a discounted price, it just doesn't matter. I played through the campaign, and am happy to put it back on the shelf.

I was confused: the early part of this game was overwhelming and lost and I can't help but think this is because I'm not a Halo nut. I have played the trilogy, and while entertaining, they were never big standouts for me. That being said, I played Halo 2 online a lot. In fact, this blogs origins lay concretely in stories of online Halo matches.  However, I tend to focus on the solo campaigns of games these days, unless I'm playing online with friends (playing with strangers is just bad news). So getting back to it, ODST has the campaign starting out with you playing The Speechless, Mysterious Bad Ass Rookie as he wanders through the streets of the first city to be hit by the invasion of the Covenant. Fair enough, but strange. The game has you blindly following beacons, until you get to the first memento, at which time you take control of one of your missing squadmates.

Once you complete all the stories from each of your squadmates, your brought into the present and enter the final "level" so to speak. I'll leave it up to you to find this all out for yourself. But basically until you get to the end, playing as the rookie is very boring and seemingly useless. When you come across an object and jump into the story of another squad member, the game picks up and plays like your traditional Halo games. You have your sniping level, your tank combat, your regular wave fighting scenarios, amongst others. I think one of the reasons I didn't like the city wandering parts, is because the game was dark. You turn on a type of night-vision here but it's just odd: the flashbacks get you into the regular, bright Halo worlds we're used to.

And just like that, the game is over. I thought we were over it, but the final level brought back the classic Halo repetitive halls and chambers. You have no clue where you are, but you keep fighting anyway. Just when you are about to quit because there is no end, the light shows itself and you keep going to the next repetitive section. It's how the game goes though, and we enjoy it regardless. Halo has had an odd fascination with epic story that just never felt proper to me. The scale is epic, but has lacked real substance. There are lots of cinematic but the same old gameplay feels lacking when trying to support them. The focus has always been online play, but the sheer magnitude of the story is rammed down our throats in the campaign.

Either way, the game is a great little distraction and worth the few hours it takes to blaze through it.

Monsters

Well here's an interesting movie that slipped under my radar. I guess the radar hasn't been finely tuned to movies that I used to love anymore: giant monsters, science fiction and umm... awesomeness. It doesn't help that my local theatre barely gets anything (decent) and my trips down south to better screens usually ends up so packed with other activities and other movies, that these little gems go unseen. I used to watch a lot of trailers too, but since that's been slowed to a snail's crawl, the chance for these films going unnoticed increase signficantly.

I was pleasantly surprised then to watch this the other night. The movie starts out strong: a military street battle against a giant alien-monster with lashing tentacles. We learn that scientists have discovered extraterrestrial life in our solar system and (perhaps through a pop-up that I missed as I devoured flavourful popcorn) brought them back to Earth. What we have established is a large portion of Mexico, bordering the USA, has been declared The Infected Zone.

Chances are these big monsters have made the Zone their home for now, but we're not really clear how. The story follows a photographer who must escort some rich guy's daughter to the brink of the Infected Zone and get her on a ferry to the US. I don't have to tell you much more to see where the movie goes, and I won't purposefully spoil the story for you. We follow the two as the movie focuses on these people moreso than the monsters, as well it should. It's not clear how long these creatures have been living here, but the people are used to it, as newscasts are prominently featured on various sets, giving us clues and updates. We see destroyed tanks, planes and helicopters littering the countryside and have to assume: these creatures are bad news and serious.

I think there was some commentary involved here; the pair are asking one another "what are you going to do tomorrow" and at the time of questioning, it's pretty safe to assume they will be home safe and sound, and can carry on with their regular life. But every day they ask, and every tomorrow, they are not home. There is uneasiness in their answers, almost as if going home is not all that it's cracked up to be: perhaps facing these monsters is easier to do than face the challenges of day to day life, or whatever situation they have going on. As they go through the destruction, snapping photos and looking on in awe, you can't help but think about war-torn countries in our own reality and what horrible things are going on. Whatever problems you think you may have in your life, is nothing compared to what's going on outside your bubble.

But then again, step back for a minute and enjoy the film for what it's worth and you have a pretty decent, if a little slow-moving, film. I'm always a fan of the world that these science-fiction film creates, and this movie delivers the right amount. We don't get full explanations of what these creatures are, but we get enough to draw some conclusions and wanting more. Sequel? Seems unlikely, unfortunately.

Funny Games U.S.

These games were not so funny, and I couldn't understand why U.S. was wedged in there. But it makes sense if you spend a few moments on it: this must be a remake, and research backs it up. This version is practically a shot for shot remake of the own director's film but in America, with American actors.

After you watch a movie on Netflix, you should take a moment to rate it. You have five stars to play with there, and if you don't rate it, Netflix just won't know what to do with you. Should it serve you more movies of the same variety? Or should it take your silence to mean you didn't like it? I think I've figured out the system as it is, and have been rating movies with full five stars or just one: to the extreme because this world doesn't have room for fence-sitters. Plus it makes Netflix's job a bit easier; we wouldn't want to tax it too much.

But the system failed me after watching Funny Games. This movie made me uncomfortable, and it wasn't without some deliberation and IMDB browsing that I came to my sense and realized. If movies can be art, and art is meant to provoke an emotional response, then this movie got it right. But I kind of hated it. I hated the characters, both victims and killers. But perhaps I was supposed to. There are moments, and they freak you out at first, where one of the tennis outfit clad boys turns to the camera and speaks directly to you. Instantly, you are pulled into the horrible situation. It was subtle at first, and without that happening early on, I think I would have lost complete interest in this movie.

It gets crazier though. People start dying. And that may be a spoiler in itself but if you are going to see the movie, you will realize the deaths are not the focal point of this film. What seems to be the focal point is you, the viewer. You're watching this movie because presumably, you want to see some violence. The sadistic duo are here to entertain you, and in fact, tell you point blank that what they are doing, they are doing for YOU. But these acts are heinous and really, why are YOU allowing this to happen? Why are YOU still watching. It's quite the point to get across and it most definitely hammers it home.

At one point, the fourth wall is getting so much use that it takes it to a new level: just when one of the victims is getting ahead, another character grabs a remote control and rewinds the movie on us. You can't stop this from happening. You sit on the edge of your seat wondering how this can play out. Are the characters aware they were just reversed? Are they going to do things differently? A split second later and the scene unfolds differently much to the chagrin of our poor victim who just moments before, could see the light at the end of the tunnel. Now, unfortunately for them, there is no hope.

The movie throws some regular conventions on its head and makes the audience feel uncomfortable, because we are not used to seeing these things happen. The victim - the good guy - is supposed to win. They are supposed to get revenge, and it's supposed to be sweet. You don't get that here, and I wasn't sure how to react to it. I'm still not sure. Do I give this movie one star or five? Do I want to see more movies that upset me? Or do I want to see more genre-provoking and original movies? The answer seems obvious when I hammer out the text like that, but I challenge you to view the movie and decide for yourself.

Raptor: Call of the Shadows

Shareware was my middle name back in the early and perhaps, mid-nineties. I had a few sources of shareware, including CompuServe and many local computer shops that would be happy to sell you a 3.5" floppy filled with hours of entertainment. Being "so young" meant that the first episode of these games was typically enough. Eight or nine levels of Doom was tough enough and provided enough entertainment to not have to buy the entire game. But that didn't stop me most times as I convinced my parents to feed my love for these games.

Many of my first CD-ROMs were discs loaded to the brim with shareware titles. So many that individual games would get lost in the fold and the truly good would have to be great in order to stand out. Raptor was one of those games. I've always had a soft spot for these types of shooters: constantly marching forward, annihilating waves of enemies, upgrading weapons and skirting death. It doesn't matter what way they scroll, as long as it's going somewhere and stops magically when a boss of significant size shows up.

Raptor really calls out to me: you have energy, so one hit doesn't knock you out immediately. You can get all kinds of upgrades, including more shields, mega-bombs, auto tracking guns and incredible lasers. Your enemies don't really have much of a chance, although the game presents a challenge. Enemies are pretty simple in their movements, and their fire is often weak until you get to later levels. By that time you should be upgraded enough to stand a chance, and when you have skills like mine, well, 'nuff said. And there's a good point: it's been at least twelve years since I've played this game, and I still have it. I was able to breeze through the game, only dying twice. I remember what weapons are the best and fit with my play style. I remember what weapon fire to avoid and what can be absorbed. I remember what items you pick up and don't need to buy. It's scary.

I downloaded this game from GOG, and it has been a great experience. For six dollars I get something that just downloads and works. It seems the developer ported the original DOS game to Windows quite a few years later. The version was have now is Raptor 2010, which from what I understand is the Windows version with all the glitches fixed so that it plays just like the original. I must say that it does. After all these years, this game still has it.

Digital Game Downloads

Back in around 2004 I was sent a survey from Microsoft that asked a bunch of questions about what I would want out of online services and my game console. Specifically, they asked my thoughts on digital distribution of games; would you be willing to pay for a game and download it? No physical media? I promptly answered no and to this day, I would respond in the same way. The fact of the matter is, though, I have purchased games online. The Xbox Live Arcade hosts a variety of games that are quick and dirty, but highly polished and very enjoyable. You can't get these things in the store, although I would love to buy a copy of Braid and proudly display it on my shelf.

I fear digital distribution will pick up even moreso, moving beyond simple "arcade" games. You'll be able to plunk down $60 for a game and just download it. And then, it was true. You can go on Xbox or PSN and buy games for all sorts of dollar values. I'm not really sold on that: right now the price points are the same for what you would get if you bought it in store, and why wouldn't I want the physical media, with instruction book and a tangible aspect for me to hold onto? To that effect I will always buy the physical media, I'm just that sort of person.

All that being said, I signed up for Steam and GOG. I figured it was time to see what all the fuss was about, and the deals they have every so often are too good to pass up. My focus is always on older titles though, perhaps titles I've owned in the past and want to play again on a modern system. This is why the Virtual Console is so appealing. I could hook up my SNES or N64 to play A Link to the Past, but why not download the pixel-perfect emulation for a few dollars and avoid the hassle of obsolete cables and extra plugs? Turn on the Wii, launch the game and enjoy the wireless controller.

So when it comes to old PC games, things change a bit. You're still playing them on a computer, and your original media will work as long as you put the effort in of getting some decent software setup, like DOSBox. Or, you could download the game for less than $10 and be off to the races in matter of minutes. I'm not sure about you but I like the easy way out, and $10 is not anything to be concerned about anymore. I downloaded Raptor: Call of the Shadows from GOG.com (Good Old Games) and have been extremely impressed. It was inexpensive, the game is absolutely fantastic (I hope to have a post up that focuses on it entirely) and it just works. There's something to be said for the simplicity of it all. (I should also point out that GOG uses DOSBox for many of it's games, but it's pretty well transparent to the user).

I'm glad they can make these old titles available to us now, and in many cases, it's given us the opportunity to own these games legitimately. There's no question piracy was rampant "back then" and it was the only choice for us kids who didn't have jobs and whose parents couldn't afford every little titled we lusted after. But as we get older there's less of an excuse and there's a certain pride in paying for your warez. I was happy to invest some money into an old game I absolutely adored, and while it may be unlikely, I can always dream that the original developers and coders are getting a portion of my six dollars.

PlayStation 3 Load Rage

As I mentioned before, Netflix in my household is utilized on a few different systems, but my choice of player has always been the PlayStation 3. Perhaps it's out of an emotional consolidation: the PS3 has barely been used since I bought it, only spinning Blu-Ray discs and one game (now two, thank you). But the possibilities of the system have always kept me intrigued. When Netflix was introduced in Canada it was the PS3 that was the first of the game systems to deliver it. So, there is that too.

But one of the biggest problems with the PS3 is installing. Never, ever, in my video gaming life, have I had to sit down and install a game for any period of time. When I was on the PC, installing was a fact of life and you only had to do it once (and more if there were patches, of course) but there, it was the norm from the very beginning. You're reading from a guy who was introduced to video games by plugging a cartridge into an Atari 2600 and playing immediately. This trend would follow for quite some time, with the only speed bump being the introduction of optical media and their inherent slow loading. But these "loading" times would be decreased as drives and technology sped up.

The next speed bump came without a warning sign: the PS3 wouldn't just play a game, you needed to install it, just like the old PC (it's been so long since I've played a game on the PC, I'm not even sure they require installs anymore). I feel like the system made a step backward. And to be fair, I'm only referring to downloaded games and demos - I haven't put enough discs into the system to see if this installing trend is that widespread. Also, I need to make a comment that installing games was an option I first found on the Xbox 360, but it was not necessary. In fact, you may be hard pressed to call it installing because of the nature of what is occurring: essentially the 360 is copying the entire contents of the disc to the hard drive. Subsequently the game is accessed from the hard drive instead of the disc. I do this all the time at work and on the PC in general, as you typically get faster load times. The 360 checks to see if the disc is in the drive, then never touches it again.

When you download a title from Xbox Live Arcade, or what have you, you download the game, then play it. You don't have the option to install; you are plugging in the game and you just get going right away. Every game I've downloaded on the PS3 I've had to install, and it takes time to do so. Tonight, I downloaded Mega Man 2, which clocked in at 282MB. this was crazy. As it turns out, it was an PS1 game disc that was only released in Japan. Also, it turns out we need to install it too. Which took about ten minutes. I don't want to gripe too much: ten minutes is not a lot of time in the grand scheme, but when you want to play a simple, emulated NES game, it's an eternity. I can complete thirty percent of the game in ten minutes. I really feel like we took a step backwards here.

I didn't want to stretch this out so much, but I should get back to my original Netflix point. In addition to installing games, you have to install system updates. These take forever. I've sat there for twenty minutes waiting for it to download, then install. The other week I went to watch some Netflix, but doing so seemed to require me to sign into the Playstation Network. OK, I can only do that if I install the mandatory system update. Netflix lets me in for a second but I'm constantly being prompted for my PSN credentials, then the system update. I'm stuck in a loop. Eventually I reboot the system and initiate the system update. After a run around the block (yeah right) I return and log into Netflix. Problem is, my system is no longer activated for Netflix. I have to enter in all my credentials - which takes ages using a remote.

A little more than a half hour later I'm finally into Netflix, watching a show. But the experience is ruined; in this age of technology, we get things fast. When there is a hiccup, we lose patience very quickly. What I think we have here is a step backwards in technology, only something like the PS3 can provide to us, a system that has always seemed a little odd and confused.

Movie Update - January 2011

Here's a rundown of the movies I watched this month. A bit on the slower side, perhaps, as my video-gaming increased and I try to get caught up on some television shows.

• Terminator: Salvation
• Secret Window
• Zack and Miri Make a Porno
• The Social Network
• Dinner for Schmucks
• Vacancy
• Shaun of the Dead
• The American

A pretty good selection of movies, really; although not as many as should be watched. Secret Window and Zack and Miri were done in a double feature on Netflix. I fell in love with Salvation again, and I finally got around to seeing The Social Network, a very high recommend. Vacancy was solid, if forgettable and Shaun of the Dead is great for a laugh. I would definitely recommend checking out some more classic zombie movies beforehand as there are a lot of good references in there: many I missed years ago when I first saw it. Finally, The American is a great piece of cinema that may not be for everyone, but if you love movies you will certainly appreciate this one.

Breaking Bad

I'm not entirely sure what to say about Breaking Bad; it's a brilliant show that deserves to be seen. I did not get started on the show until the half of the third season was on the air. At first, I got through a couple of episodes but shelved the series. Not entirely sure why that was: perhaps the show was inducing some kind of stress. You're always in fear that something bad is going to happen to the main characters, and by bad I mean: they are going to be caught. And perhaps the show will enter that territory some day, and I have complete faith that they'll handle it well. It certainly won't be another My Name is Earl, right?

Really, bad things are constantly happening to Jesse, Walt, and everyone around them. Not sure if things could go even deeper, then they do. People are getting shot, killed and other gnarly things: we have assassin's, DEA agents and criminals from all levels.You have Walt, a master chemist who can make the best meth around. Everybody wants a piece, making Walt an invaluable commodity.

You get to take the journey with him too; it all starts with Walt taking a ride-along with his DEA agent brother in law. Combine that with a recent diagnosis of a terminal illness and he has nothing to lose. We follow him as he starts low and in the later seasons, dealing directly with the big wigs behind the drug business. We get to learn about money laundering - cause I certainly had no idea how it worked, thanks Office Space - and the importance of running a front operation. This show has it all.

I was completely shocked that Bryan Cranston was this damn good: I've only really known him as the crazy dentist from Seinfeld and the whacky dad from Malcom in the Middle. Neither can prepare you for the role he's done here. The rest of the cast are compelling and have relevant stories. I'm amazed they are able to keep it this fresh for so long: it seems like some other shows *cough* True Blood *cough* disintegrate into mindlessness, while this one keeps sharp.

So now, instead of fearing the next episode and holding off on watching, I watch as soon as I can without overloading. This typically involves two episodes a week. Slowly but surely I'm finding that balance between not watching enough and watching so much that you get burned out on a show when it's over. As I watched the cliffhanger from season three, I was pleased with myself and the show, and realized I couldn't just load the next episode. I'll be patient and continue to watch casually when season four comes up.