(no subject)
Bah. Lots of stuff to catch up on, so some mini-movie reviews instead.
The Wicker Man: KILLING ME WON'T BRING BACK YOUR GODDAMN HONEY. OH NO! NOT THE BEES! NOT THE BEEEEEEEEEEEEES!
Required viewing, though if you value your sanity you'll purchase the Rifftrax as well. It was pretty cool; we had 10 people watching it in the apartment on Saturday night. This movie is a profound failure on every level.
Hot Fuzz: See this film. Great stuff. A very strong recommendation.
The Illusionist: Basically a good movie; 3 stars. A few minor complaints, though...
Nice to see Mr. Giamatti laughing it up when he realizes what happened. Um... the Prince may have been a Bad Man, yes, but you do realize that Mr. Norton freakin' framed him for a murder he didn't commit? And in so doing, cost you your job and patronage? ...bah. I don't mind this kind of ending, but I wish it had been played a little darker.
I'll also toss out that when I was hanging out with scattercat and co. in Virginia earlier, we got to see Rifftrax of various other fine pieces of cinematic art such as xXx (suxXx), The Fifth Element (very goofy), The Matrix(amusing), and Reign of Fire (partial, and too boring).
Also, I finished Phoenix Wright: Justice for All. It's good, but I can't say any of the cases were quite as good as any of the main 4 cases in PW1. That said, the 2nd case was quite solid, and the 4th case almost made it to the awesome level if it weren't some niggling issues later in it. Plus, the difficulty was definitely increased as cruel_angel noted (the first three cases of PW1 were pushovers). Case 1 was a solid introductory case, and Case 3... didn't really work. I also see that Phoenix Wright continues its love of tragic pasts which influence the current crime; every single non-intro case has featured one. Yeesh. (Though granted, the tragic past to PW1-2 and PW1-4 were the same.)
No complaints about case 2; I liked it a lot, aside from not really getting to grill Morgan Fey on the stand. Couldn't they have put her on again at the end of the trial?
Case 3... ugh. There's a certain general squeamishness about a 16 year old seducing older men, though it certainly happens; I'd be okay with that so long as this was played for evil, and not cheery happy silliness. I told Regina at the end that she'd better watch out, because Acro would be coming for her. At least that would be cooler. But seriously; the "Everyone was actually good" comment at the end just isn't true. Either Regina is a callous petty lady to whom human life is little object, and she's bad (with Acro in a very grey area of vigilanteism gone wrong), or Regina did what she did completely innocently and accidentally (what Acro seems to imply towards the end), in which case Acro is an evil person who tried to kill her basically out of spite and dislike.
Case 4 ALMOST made it to the awesome level, and also had the best new piece of music in Justice for All (after the twist is revealed - I thought that I'd get Engarde off on Day 1 like ordered to by the radio, and then get to defend Adrian Andrews in a new trial after. Close, I guess.). Anyway. I was able to excuse the differences from the real justice system in PW1 because they generally involved "corrupt as hell prosecutors" and "incredibly reduced burden of proof." Unfortunately, Case 4 seems to buy into the idea that the defense attorney should let clients they think are guilty lose. As Mia said in Case 3 of PW1, "If you don't believe in your client, Phoenix, who will?" Phoenix's job is to throw the hardest punch he can for the defense and trust in Edgeworth for the truth to win out if his client really is guilty. I like the actual ending of "Wright gets the not guilty verdict, which client declines," but Phoenix randomly harassing de Killer (who was not Dee Vasquez, I guess, as I first guessed)? Um, nooooo. Stall, sure, but it's Edgeworth's job to torpedo his testimony; having Wright do it just makes it incredibly suspicious. Anyway, if Maya's life were on the line to *throw* a case and let an innocent client be jailed, then we'd have a dilemma.
So... on to Dawn of Sorrow and Hotel Dusk on the DS, I suppose. Might also pick up Luminous Arc, since despite mediocre reviews, it will be a strat RPG on the DS. Also, in other news, the DC 65 million dollar pants judge lost his (law)suit. Yay, though as pointed out, he's also losing his job, and if he keeps on frittering his money away, he won't be able to pay the defendant's legal bills. Bah.
In closing, the random link of the most dangerous roads in the world. My boss has actually been on #1. Neat.
The Wicker Man: KILLING ME WON'T BRING BACK YOUR GODDAMN HONEY. OH NO! NOT THE BEES! NOT THE BEEEEEEEEEEEEES!
Required viewing, though if you value your sanity you'll purchase the Rifftrax as well. It was pretty cool; we had 10 people watching it in the apartment on Saturday night. This movie is a profound failure on every level.
Hot Fuzz: See this film. Great stuff. A very strong recommendation.
The Illusionist: Basically a good movie; 3 stars. A few minor complaints, though...
Nice to see Mr. Giamatti laughing it up when he realizes what happened. Um... the Prince may have been a Bad Man, yes, but you do realize that Mr. Norton freakin' framed him for a murder he didn't commit? And in so doing, cost you your job and patronage? ...bah. I don't mind this kind of ending, but I wish it had been played a little darker.
I'll also toss out that when I was hanging out with scattercat and co. in Virginia earlier, we got to see Rifftrax of various other fine pieces of cinematic art such as xXx (suxXx), The Fifth Element (very goofy), The Matrix(amusing), and Reign of Fire (partial, and too boring).
Also, I finished Phoenix Wright: Justice for All. It's good, but I can't say any of the cases were quite as good as any of the main 4 cases in PW1. That said, the 2nd case was quite solid, and the 4th case almost made it to the awesome level if it weren't some niggling issues later in it. Plus, the difficulty was definitely increased as cruel_angel noted (the first three cases of PW1 were pushovers). Case 1 was a solid introductory case, and Case 3... didn't really work. I also see that Phoenix Wright continues its love of tragic pasts which influence the current crime; every single non-intro case has featured one. Yeesh. (Though granted, the tragic past to PW1-2 and PW1-4 were the same.)
No complaints about case 2; I liked it a lot, aside from not really getting to grill Morgan Fey on the stand. Couldn't they have put her on again at the end of the trial?
Case 3... ugh. There's a certain general squeamishness about a 16 year old seducing older men, though it certainly happens; I'd be okay with that so long as this was played for evil, and not cheery happy silliness. I told Regina at the end that she'd better watch out, because Acro would be coming for her. At least that would be cooler. But seriously; the "Everyone was actually good" comment at the end just isn't true. Either Regina is a callous petty lady to whom human life is little object, and she's bad (with Acro in a very grey area of vigilanteism gone wrong), or Regina did what she did completely innocently and accidentally (what Acro seems to imply towards the end), in which case Acro is an evil person who tried to kill her basically out of spite and dislike.
Case 4 ALMOST made it to the awesome level, and also had the best new piece of music in Justice for All (after the twist is revealed - I thought that I'd get Engarde off on Day 1 like ordered to by the radio, and then get to defend Adrian Andrews in a new trial after. Close, I guess.). Anyway. I was able to excuse the differences from the real justice system in PW1 because they generally involved "corrupt as hell prosecutors" and "incredibly reduced burden of proof." Unfortunately, Case 4 seems to buy into the idea that the defense attorney should let clients they think are guilty lose. As Mia said in Case 3 of PW1, "If you don't believe in your client, Phoenix, who will?" Phoenix's job is to throw the hardest punch he can for the defense and trust in Edgeworth for the truth to win out if his client really is guilty. I like the actual ending of "Wright gets the not guilty verdict, which client declines," but Phoenix randomly harassing de Killer (who was not Dee Vasquez, I guess, as I first guessed)? Um, nooooo. Stall, sure, but it's Edgeworth's job to torpedo his testimony; having Wright do it just makes it incredibly suspicious. Anyway, if Maya's life were on the line to *throw* a case and let an innocent client be jailed, then we'd have a dilemma.
So... on to Dawn of Sorrow and Hotel Dusk on the DS, I suppose. Might also pick up Luminous Arc, since despite mediocre reviews, it will be a strat RPG on the DS. Also, in other news, the DC 65 million dollar pants judge lost his (law)suit. Yay, though as pointed out, he's also losing his job, and if he keeps on frittering his money away, he won't be able to pay the defendant's legal bills. Bah.
In closing, the random link of the most dangerous roads in the world. My boss has actually been on #1. Neat.