Yes, I found the time!
Must go sleep now, but here you go! Enjoy.... those who read them! :)
Films - Carrie, Inkheart, The Hangover, Public Enemies, The Bank Job, Coach Carter, Garden State, Defiance
Games - Onechanbara, Transformers, 1 Vs 100, Peggle, Monkey Island, Prince of Persia, Lost Planet
Films of July
Carrie
Going into this film I wasn't sure; sure it is a classic but high school based paranormal horrors are all the rage nowadays, but Carrie is a pretty decent film! It is starting to show its age and there is a liberal use of Psycho's violin shriek whenever something telekinetic happens... which is quite laughable most of the time and detracts from the mood of the film.
However what appealed to me was the distinct lack of paranormal elements throughout most of the film. Instead we are allowed to understand and sympathise with Carrie, all building up to an unpleasant and terrible end which, as well as being exceedingly violent compared to what preceded it, is tragic. Overall, a good watch.
Inkheart
A good fantasy romp! Probably the best film I've seen Brendan Fraser star in, even if for most of it he looks completely confused... or maybe that's why its good?
As you can imagine, this film is quite silly. Its mood reminds me of Jumanji, which is no bad thing, as characters from books are read out and into the real world. Naturally, villains of a book called Inkheart are read out first and want to take over the world, doing so by reading out an all consuming evil known as The Shadow.
While the plot takes random twists and characters often seem to have their decision making glands removed, the film contains some great moments as different characters from different books are magicked into the real world.
An easy going, recommended watch!
The Hangover
Not what you would consider my sort of film, but working at a cinema makes you see more than you might expect! The Hangover is exactly what you would expect; four guys hit Las Vegas for a stag party, but wake up with no memory of the previous night. There's a tiger in the bathroom, the room is wrecked, one of them is missing a tooth, another was in hospital at some point, there's a baby in the closet and one of their friends is missing.
What you expect is an overly stupid comedy full of unlikely and impossible situations, and while it does edge towards this chasm, it does retain integrity. Overall I was surprised how I enjoyed this film!
Public Enemies
Michael Mann is at it again! It is good to see the calibre of Collateral instead of the limpness of Miami Vice returning for this American epic set in the 1930s. The film may be quite long, what with the plot going from breakout to arrest, breakout to arrest again, but it is a beautiful film to look at. I wish I could have seen it in the desired digital format, but even without it the picture and the action was wonderfully captured.
Mann is an expert in gun play, so it is unsurprising that giving him Tommy submachine guns would turn out amazingly well. The action is filmed mostly with hand-held cameras, making for a kinetic, pounding energy during the gun battles as we see wood chip fly as bullets smash through walls.
The only strange problem I found was the audio; at a scene change the music regularly stopped dead, did not fade into the next scene or fade out but simply stopped.
An excellent film from Mann, viewers should be aware though, the film is a lot slower paced than they might expect!
The Bank Job
A pretty unimpressive cops and robbers films; the title expressing everything in three words. We have a small group of down-and-outs and petty criminals asked to commit their first bank robbery at extremely high stakes. It just so happens that this bank vault contains explicit photographic evidence of various government figure heads and a powerful druglord.
A “bank job” film with an unnecessary amount of sexual themes and an overabundance of twists and turns, ending with some violent and out-of-place torture scenes.
Overall quite clumsy and unsure of itself, entertaining if only to be on in the background.
Coach Carter
Hmmm sports films rarely go down well with me, so I was a little wary of this one, but in actual fact I found it quite compelling! Instead of being the usual sports narrative of the underdogs winning over adversary, this film follows a coach who tackles a team of high school underachievers by teaching them winning isn't just about winning basketball games but also learning.
There is a strong “stay in school” message but it is not unwelcome; instead it looks at the problem with youth culture being taught nothing but to excel at sports, only to fail at everything else and for their lives to collapse.
Samuel L. Jackson plays a powerful role model as Coach Carter, a man set to bend and break every rule and risk his career and reputation. Worth a watch.
Garden State
Garden State was recommended to me from a friend ages ago and as such I had no real opinion going into it. What actually resulted was a really, really nice film. I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed this. Quirky certainly is the word, a little like Amelie but without the French. An aspiring young actor returns to his hometown after his mother passes away and reflects on his rather empty, uninspiring life. But at the same time, he meets a quirky girl whose surreal attitude slowly breaks him out of his humdrum existence and allows him to finally live life's experiences.
Give it a try; it is light, thoughtful, well paced and well executed!
Top ten spot is highly likely.
Defiance
Jewish James Bond and Sabretooth are brothers in arms against the Nazis! No, not really. It is hard to go into a Daniel Craig movie and not see Bond, especially if he is toting a gun half the time, but I will say now he does well with Defiance; his character is more heartfelt and sensitive than I was expecting. His character's brother, played by Liev Schreiber (Wolverine Origins) plays the more aggressive role.
The story follows three brothers who have escaped the Nazi forces invading Poland and take refuge in the forests. Soon though they find more and more people stray and their group grows, eventually the question of fight or flight comes into play.
At times it felt like a sort of Robin Hood meets Schindler's List, and while confrontations are expected, by the end you are very much with the band as they try and escape ever escalating enemy attack. Good film.
Games of July
Onechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad (360)
My oh my. Potentially the best candidate for an Uwe Boll film, what does that say to you? Alright so we have a zombie outbreak all over the city and the only two people able to save the world are two girls scantily clad as a school girl and a cowgirl, wielding samurai swords! The game even begins with an indulgent shower scene and coincidentally placed objects.
Obviously not to be taken seriously. However this game is going to be alongside Dead or Alive Extreme 2 for most frustrating gameplay. Of course, not as bad... given that game had no gameplay to begin with. Onechanbara was mildly amusing at first; run around, slay zombies at every turn, graphically that of Dreamcast standards. (except for the girls themselves - intricately detailed)
While I was enjoying seeing increasing amounts of blood soaking the characters, the game would bring one of the worst vehicle sections I have ever played. I stopped playing. No achievements. I don't care... I had no idea how to do that.
Oh, and of course unlockable and customisable clothing. Not that I got that far :p
Transformers (360)
I've already played this on the Wii and as much as a wiimote-flailing mess that was I thought it might be better on Xbox. While the controls are more bearable here, the other flaws are still present; such as being unable to jump and transform in mid-air. (incredibly frustrating in Starscream and Blackout stages) Graphically slightly better than the Wii; the Transformers are faithfully recreated from the 2007 film, but in gameplay why does Bumblebee have some super shockwave attack that he can set off continuously, yet when you play as Bumblebee, you can't do this? Likewise in fighting Barricade.
Overall, frustrating, didn't bother completing for achievements.
1 Vs 100 (360)
A neat idea. A free online quiz game were you can win prizes like Xbox credits to spend in the marketplace. The quiz uses your gamer avatar as you go against people all over the world in various themed or general knowledge quizzes.
A little too many football questions for my liking, but overall it is good fun. Probably best to have several people with you to win :p
Peggle (360)
As the Xbox Marketplace said, it's Peggle, again.
Again I only got it for achievements... and fortunately I don't have it already on PC. Overall, exactly the same, if not slightly harder than before; there's no cursor so you can't aim so easily, while coin-flips seem more inclined to be for the worse.
The Secret of Monkey Island (360)
=D I may have completed it within two days, having apparently memorised 90% of it, but it was great to play this again! And interesting to see an updated version with improved graphics and audio. I was a little worried at first, but it is *exactly* the same, while pushing the “back” button returns the game to its original format!
The audio is interesting... most of the voice acting is pretty solid and what I would have thought each character to sound like, but sometimes it just seems a little weird. It did improve the sword fighting even more; when you choose the wrong response, Guybrush sounds distinctly uncertain of himself. Great stuff! I want more games from my Amiga on Xbox!
Prince of Persia Original (360)
Speaking of which! I certainly know what I'm getting myself into buying this... my sisters and I never completed this on the Amiga... and from the looks of things (with my one entire go at it) it is still as difficult as ever!
Gone are the white pajamas and blonde haired Prince, no more grey graphics, everything is Sands of Time-esque. Still, I will complete it. This one does seem to have it easier for the player: a purple butterfly guiding your route; much improved control sensitivity; and the one hour timer resets whenever you die.
Lost Planet: Extreme Condition (360)
I've just completed this game, within about two days. But I was playing solidly; I enjoyed it! It seems this is *quite* an underrated game... faaaar outdoes games like Gears of War! Lost Planet I had no idea about going into it and I was flung into the gameplay/story immediately. I was set upon by a *massive* monster, careening through a facility much too small for it. No idea what to do... I actually stumbled into a glitch were I was trapped but the monster couldn't actually kill me.
This, coupled with lengthy cutscenes and a overly cluttered plotline made me skeptical at first... But... when you are up against gigantic monsters while piloting different types of mech armour? I didn't find much to complain about!
Yes, it's pretty well stomping around blasting everything to pieces, but the graphics are impressive! Some of the smaller flying creatures I could happily watch for ages, while the scale of the larger ones... given you can leave your mech at any point... really impress.
Never mind Gears of War, Lost Planet has some awesome spectacle!
Films - Carrie, Inkheart, The Hangover, Public Enemies, The Bank Job, Coach Carter, Garden State, Defiance
Games - Onechanbara, Transformers, 1 Vs 100, Peggle, Monkey Island, Prince of Persia, Lost Planet
Films of July
Carrie
Going into this film I wasn't sure; sure it is a classic but high school based paranormal horrors are all the rage nowadays, but Carrie is a pretty decent film! It is starting to show its age and there is a liberal use of Psycho's violin shriek whenever something telekinetic happens... which is quite laughable most of the time and detracts from the mood of the film.
However what appealed to me was the distinct lack of paranormal elements throughout most of the film. Instead we are allowed to understand and sympathise with Carrie, all building up to an unpleasant and terrible end which, as well as being exceedingly violent compared to what preceded it, is tragic. Overall, a good watch.
Inkheart
A good fantasy romp! Probably the best film I've seen Brendan Fraser star in, even if for most of it he looks completely confused... or maybe that's why its good?
As you can imagine, this film is quite silly. Its mood reminds me of Jumanji, which is no bad thing, as characters from books are read out and into the real world. Naturally, villains of a book called Inkheart are read out first and want to take over the world, doing so by reading out an all consuming evil known as The Shadow.
While the plot takes random twists and characters often seem to have their decision making glands removed, the film contains some great moments as different characters from different books are magicked into the real world.
An easy going, recommended watch!
The Hangover
Not what you would consider my sort of film, but working at a cinema makes you see more than you might expect! The Hangover is exactly what you would expect; four guys hit Las Vegas for a stag party, but wake up with no memory of the previous night. There's a tiger in the bathroom, the room is wrecked, one of them is missing a tooth, another was in hospital at some point, there's a baby in the closet and one of their friends is missing.
What you expect is an overly stupid comedy full of unlikely and impossible situations, and while it does edge towards this chasm, it does retain integrity. Overall I was surprised how I enjoyed this film!
Public Enemies
Michael Mann is at it again! It is good to see the calibre of Collateral instead of the limpness of Miami Vice returning for this American epic set in the 1930s. The film may be quite long, what with the plot going from breakout to arrest, breakout to arrest again, but it is a beautiful film to look at. I wish I could have seen it in the desired digital format, but even without it the picture and the action was wonderfully captured.
Mann is an expert in gun play, so it is unsurprising that giving him Tommy submachine guns would turn out amazingly well. The action is filmed mostly with hand-held cameras, making for a kinetic, pounding energy during the gun battles as we see wood chip fly as bullets smash through walls.
The only strange problem I found was the audio; at a scene change the music regularly stopped dead, did not fade into the next scene or fade out but simply stopped.
An excellent film from Mann, viewers should be aware though, the film is a lot slower paced than they might expect!
The Bank Job
A pretty unimpressive cops and robbers films; the title expressing everything in three words. We have a small group of down-and-outs and petty criminals asked to commit their first bank robbery at extremely high stakes. It just so happens that this bank vault contains explicit photographic evidence of various government figure heads and a powerful druglord.
A “bank job” film with an unnecessary amount of sexual themes and an overabundance of twists and turns, ending with some violent and out-of-place torture scenes.
Overall quite clumsy and unsure of itself, entertaining if only to be on in the background.
Coach Carter
Hmmm sports films rarely go down well with me, so I was a little wary of this one, but in actual fact I found it quite compelling! Instead of being the usual sports narrative of the underdogs winning over adversary, this film follows a coach who tackles a team of high school underachievers by teaching them winning isn't just about winning basketball games but also learning.
There is a strong “stay in school” message but it is not unwelcome; instead it looks at the problem with youth culture being taught nothing but to excel at sports, only to fail at everything else and for their lives to collapse.
Samuel L. Jackson plays a powerful role model as Coach Carter, a man set to bend and break every rule and risk his career and reputation. Worth a watch.
Garden State
Garden State was recommended to me from a friend ages ago and as such I had no real opinion going into it. What actually resulted was a really, really nice film. I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed this. Quirky certainly is the word, a little like Amelie but without the French. An aspiring young actor returns to his hometown after his mother passes away and reflects on his rather empty, uninspiring life. But at the same time, he meets a quirky girl whose surreal attitude slowly breaks him out of his humdrum existence and allows him to finally live life's experiences.
Give it a try; it is light, thoughtful, well paced and well executed!
Top ten spot is highly likely.
Defiance
Jewish James Bond and Sabretooth are brothers in arms against the Nazis! No, not really. It is hard to go into a Daniel Craig movie and not see Bond, especially if he is toting a gun half the time, but I will say now he does well with Defiance; his character is more heartfelt and sensitive than I was expecting. His character's brother, played by Liev Schreiber (Wolverine Origins) plays the more aggressive role.
The story follows three brothers who have escaped the Nazi forces invading Poland and take refuge in the forests. Soon though they find more and more people stray and their group grows, eventually the question of fight or flight comes into play.
At times it felt like a sort of Robin Hood meets Schindler's List, and while confrontations are expected, by the end you are very much with the band as they try and escape ever escalating enemy attack. Good film.
Games of July
Onechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad (360)
My oh my. Potentially the best candidate for an Uwe Boll film, what does that say to you? Alright so we have a zombie outbreak all over the city and the only two people able to save the world are two girls scantily clad as a school girl and a cowgirl, wielding samurai swords! The game even begins with an indulgent shower scene and coincidentally placed objects.
Obviously not to be taken seriously. However this game is going to be alongside Dead or Alive Extreme 2 for most frustrating gameplay. Of course, not as bad... given that game had no gameplay to begin with. Onechanbara was mildly amusing at first; run around, slay zombies at every turn, graphically that of Dreamcast standards. (except for the girls themselves - intricately detailed)
While I was enjoying seeing increasing amounts of blood soaking the characters, the game would bring one of the worst vehicle sections I have ever played. I stopped playing. No achievements. I don't care... I had no idea how to do that.
Oh, and of course unlockable and customisable clothing. Not that I got that far :p
Transformers (360)
I've already played this on the Wii and as much as a wiimote-flailing mess that was I thought it might be better on Xbox. While the controls are more bearable here, the other flaws are still present; such as being unable to jump and transform in mid-air. (incredibly frustrating in Starscream and Blackout stages) Graphically slightly better than the Wii; the Transformers are faithfully recreated from the 2007 film, but in gameplay why does Bumblebee have some super shockwave attack that he can set off continuously, yet when you play as Bumblebee, you can't do this? Likewise in fighting Barricade.
Overall, frustrating, didn't bother completing for achievements.
1 Vs 100 (360)
A neat idea. A free online quiz game were you can win prizes like Xbox credits to spend in the marketplace. The quiz uses your gamer avatar as you go against people all over the world in various themed or general knowledge quizzes.
A little too many football questions for my liking, but overall it is good fun. Probably best to have several people with you to win :p
Peggle (360)
As the Xbox Marketplace said, it's Peggle, again.
Again I only got it for achievements... and fortunately I don't have it already on PC. Overall, exactly the same, if not slightly harder than before; there's no cursor so you can't aim so easily, while coin-flips seem more inclined to be for the worse.
The Secret of Monkey Island (360)
=D I may have completed it within two days, having apparently memorised 90% of it, but it was great to play this again! And interesting to see an updated version with improved graphics and audio. I was a little worried at first, but it is *exactly* the same, while pushing the “back” button returns the game to its original format!
The audio is interesting... most of the voice acting is pretty solid and what I would have thought each character to sound like, but sometimes it just seems a little weird. It did improve the sword fighting even more; when you choose the wrong response, Guybrush sounds distinctly uncertain of himself. Great stuff! I want more games from my Amiga on Xbox!
Prince of Persia Original (360)
Speaking of which! I certainly know what I'm getting myself into buying this... my sisters and I never completed this on the Amiga... and from the looks of things (with my one entire go at it) it is still as difficult as ever!
Gone are the white pajamas and blonde haired Prince, no more grey graphics, everything is Sands of Time-esque. Still, I will complete it. This one does seem to have it easier for the player: a purple butterfly guiding your route; much improved control sensitivity; and the one hour timer resets whenever you die.
Lost Planet: Extreme Condition (360)
I've just completed this game, within about two days. But I was playing solidly; I enjoyed it! It seems this is *quite* an underrated game... faaaar outdoes games like Gears of War! Lost Planet I had no idea about going into it and I was flung into the gameplay/story immediately. I was set upon by a *massive* monster, careening through a facility much too small for it. No idea what to do... I actually stumbled into a glitch were I was trapped but the monster couldn't actually kill me.
This, coupled with lengthy cutscenes and a overly cluttered plotline made me skeptical at first... But... when you are up against gigantic monsters while piloting different types of mech armour? I didn't find much to complain about!
Yes, it's pretty well stomping around blasting everything to pieces, but the graphics are impressive! Some of the smaller flying creatures I could happily watch for ages, while the scale of the larger ones... given you can leave your mech at any point... really impress.
Never mind Gears of War, Lost Planet has some awesome spectacle!