Stuff I Recently Saw...
felt like killing some time...
The Good: the turtles are back in a big brand new movie; cg isn't pixar-quality, but good enough to get the job done w/o ruining the experience; there's more energy than in the previous live-action flicks due to it being cg and not latex foam rubber henson suits; it may not be fantastic, but its not garbage... especially if you're under 12yrs old.
The Bad: besides the occassional weak-looking cg, some of the character depth/characterizations needed some work (casey jones is a joke, april is a... archaeologist & trained martial arts warrior??... donatello serves no purpose in the movie) and most of the characters who seem to be driven to do certain things or act in certain ways... well, there's really little to no motivation. and i think it goes back to the movie's biggest fault: story. i wish it didn't as if someone said "let's throw in a bunch of stuff that sounds cool, like monsters from another dimension, stone soldiers, immortality, family drama, a relationship in crisis, and mysterious ancient magic.... then spend 30min producing a story that ties it all together.
In General: it'll appeal to kids and the kid in you, but the adult in you (unless your kid self is pretty dominant) will think "eh, it was ok. visuals weren't too bad." so yea, good chance you won't be impressed. but i doubt it'll be a "i want my money back now!" experience.
The Good: all-around good movie about a kid with more issues than just the fact that he's in high school and still sucks his thumb, and how he overcomes his many issues whether he's finding love, finding acceptance at school/home, taking meds, or being counseled by his new-age hippie dentist... Keanu Reeves? it's another teen angst film, just not as wild & rebellious as some of the other well-known ones. it's got heart. and it features one of the few times i've seen Vince Vaughn not portraying some cocky, arrogant "man's man" that he typically plays.
The Bad: can't find much wrong with this movie. i think its one of those cases where you either like these kinda movies (fairly unknown actors; completely character-driven so no real action , sex, gruesome stuff, or hard-hitting drug use, not even a crazy soundtrack)
In General: i heard of this movie, but paid little attention to it mostly due to the title, but i caught it on cable and gave it a shot. i was pleasantly surprised. i think you might be too.
The Good: this is the reason why i love action/adventure video games more than any other category of games. action (or is "violence" more accurate?) is top-notch. character animation is great, but i wish Kratos had cool idle animations. story is rooted in greek mythology with alot of references to sparta and the spartan way of life (can't help but think of Frank Miller's "300"). and it all ties into a great adventure experience that includes mk-style 'fatalities', an epic feel to everything, and great overall fun to the whole thing.
The Bad: my main gripe with the game is probably the camera work. it becomes a huge pain in the ass at the worst possible times, plus you have no control over it which sucks when it'd be real nice to have the option to survey the area and make little mental notes. besides that, being spoiled by the power/graphics of the xbox 360 & ps3, even though gamecube & xbox are the ps2's actual rivals, it's hard to be wow'd by the game's graphics without wondering how it'd look on one of the newer, better consoles.
In General: i love this game. i really haven't felt this hooked on/challenged by a game since my 8-bit/16-bit days. in the past several years, i've gotten to love the originality of Abe's Oddyssey and just the coolness factor of Metroid Prime, but not much else. but i think God of War 2 really leaves an impression.
ok, time to go be productive... then take a break to play God of War 2 again:)