Surprising. It's a romantic drama aiming mostly for a young female demographic, yes, but it still manages to be quite interesting for the rest of us. The general atmosphere of a rainy and foggy moss-covered forest is really well pulled off, the story is fun to follow, and the acting is much better than most teen movies. The highlight for me was the baseball scene set to "Supermassive Black Hole": oddly badass for a chick flick. All in all, a fun and entertaining movie to watch, and hopefully an example future teen movies will follow.
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I spent quite some time during my primary school days playing the old Tony Hawk games and pulling off wobbly ollies in my back yard. After the third game, though, the games lost their appeal: pulling off triple backflip nollie laser flips over a moving train at 80 miles an hour was common, and there wasn't anywhere really left to go.
Which is why this game is so great. The new control scheme, based on the thumbsticks instead of the buttons, takes everything back to basics: now, pulling off a simple kickflip to grind feels badass. It's a system that means that instead of your game avatar getting better, YOU get better. To get there, you'll have to get through a pretty steep learning curve, and multiple and sometimes frustrating attempts at nailing perfect tricks for events, but the payoff is worth it. I can't really explain why, but it's incredibly satisfying.
Add to that the open-world design and the skate.reel feature that allows you to upload clips and photos of yourself online, and this is a winner and a great fall-back game to play during lazy afternoons.
Which is why this game is so great. The new control scheme, based on the thumbsticks instead of the buttons, takes everything back to basics: now, pulling off a simple kickflip to grind feels badass. It's a system that means that instead of your game avatar getting better, YOU get better. To get there, you'll have to get through a pretty steep learning curve, and multiple and sometimes frustrating attempts at nailing perfect tricks for events, but the payoff is worth it. I can't really explain why, but it's incredibly satisfying.
Add to that the open-world design and the skate.reel feature that allows you to upload clips and photos of yourself online, and this is a winner and a great fall-back game to play during lazy afternoons.
It's one of those movies where everything leads to everything, in a nice tidy circle of events. Awesome acting (especially from Clooney near the end), beautiful cinematography, and one of the best "did that just happen?" moments I've ever seen. Unlike No Country For Old Men, the ending is perfect, and I really don't want to say any more, so I'll just conclude by saying that you must watch this movie.
A heck of a powerful movie that really makes you think, with a wonderful performance from Sean Penn. The whole thing is pretty masterfully done: one moment in particular nearly had me in tears, which was actually pretty surprising considering the nature of said event.
There is definitely a lot of gay kissing, which made me feel a bit uncomfortable, but that's kind of the point, as by the end you don't mind at all anymore. What was really interesting was seeing the world from gay people's perspective, and it's really just cemented my opinions regarding gay rights.
At any rate, definitely not one to miss. This one smells of an Oscar.
There is definitely a lot of gay kissing, which made me feel a bit uncomfortable, but that's kind of the point, as by the end you don't mind at all anymore. What was really interesting was seeing the world from gay people's perspective, and it's really just cemented my opinions regarding gay rights.
At any rate, definitely not one to miss. This one smells of an Oscar.
This has a very omnipresent epicness to it, and you feel like everything that is happening has heavy consequences. This is the main strength of the film, and it's achieved through the great cinematography and audio design, but mostly through the layered, emotional yet subtle acting. It's all really quite excellent. Obviously, it's quite dramatised, but it'd be awfully boring otherwise (as can be seen by watching the original interviews).
Now, despite all its positives, in a way it just didn't reach me somehow. I didn't get as engaged as I felt I should have. This is strictly on a personal level, of course, but, while it's very interesting and enlightening, it's more art than it is entertainment. For many, that's a plus, in which case, you should not miss this film. In my case, entertainment is the final goal of art, so I was a little disappointed.
Don't let that deter you, though. This is still a great movie that makes you think. The historical value and the parallels to the present are reason enough to watch it, let alone the technical prowness.
It does exactly what it wanted to do. One of the best visual styles in a long time, with jaw dropping location and character designs. Very complete story with lots of background elements that are actually interesting without being overdone or overly complex. The Prince's (if he is one) personality is vastly superior to that of the Emo prince from the last games, and you really get to know him and Elika well. There's never a dull moment, despite the simplistic nature (compared to the last trilogy) of the gameplay, and the fighting system is elegant and smooth, although I saw a lot of the same moves from the bad guys (maybe just because I never got the hang of blocking their attacks correctly). Also, one of the best endings in recent memory.
All in all, one of the best games of the year, which is saying something, and one of my favorite games of all time.
Cannot wait for the next one.
All in all, one of the best games of the year, which is saying something, and one of my favorite games of all time.
Cannot wait for the next one.
What really stood out in this game was the single player. It featured some really original and sometimes mind-boggling ideas that just left your jaw on the floor. I don't really see how they could now take it any further in Gears of War 3 without changing the formula... this is really probably as good as it gets for GoW.
Oddly, though, the multiplayer dissapoints. While Horde mode was lots of fun to play through with friends, the game has some pretty huge game balance and technical issues in normal matches. For example, the boomer gun is vastly overpowered, as it can shoot across the map with decent accuracy, while still remaining a one-shot-kill around corners (lots of splash damage). Many other such problems are present, and everything is crowned off by the worst matchmaking service in a long time (20 mins to find a game?).
Now, all of this is fixable with a patch, obviously, but for now, stick to single player.
Oddly, though, the multiplayer dissapoints. While Horde mode was lots of fun to play through with friends, the game has some pretty huge game balance and technical issues in normal matches. For example, the boomer gun is vastly overpowered, as it can shoot across the map with decent accuracy, while still remaining a one-shot-kill around corners (lots of splash damage). Many other such problems are present, and everything is crowned off by the worst matchmaking service in a long time (20 mins to find a game?).
Now, all of this is fixable with a patch, obviously, but for now, stick to single player.
I've seen it twice. First time in french, didn't like it very much, found it confusing and lacking in charm and wit. Second time was in english after having read the wikipedia page and rewatching Casino Royale. While I still think the amazing writing as well as the incredibly cool style from the last movie are missing, I now understand what they tried to do with it, and where they're headed.
Too much focus on action, not enough caracter development and it all goes by too fast without any of the slow, cool, stylish scenes that made Casino Royale so amazing. Still, it introduces a bunch of elements that, while not very well exploited in this film, could be very very interesting in the "third" film. I also wasn't very fond of the grey and brown tone of the film and advertising.
Still, while it's nowhere near Casino Royale in terms of quality, it's an interesting movie when you understand what's happening and what they were aiming for. It sets up the third movie really well, so we'll have to see if they can get back some of that magic next time around.
Too much focus on action, not enough caracter development and it all goes by too fast without any of the slow, cool, stylish scenes that made Casino Royale so amazing. Still, it introduces a bunch of elements that, while not very well exploited in this film, could be very very interesting in the "third" film. I also wasn't very fond of the grey and brown tone of the film and advertising.
Still, while it's nowhere near Casino Royale in terms of quality, it's an interesting movie when you understand what's happening and what they were aiming for. It sets up the third movie really well, so we'll have to see if they can get back some of that magic next time around.
Eric's Reviews
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- I watch a ton of movies and TV Shows and play a ton of games, which is rather unproductive. So, I have decided to review as many things as I can, to at least get something that might be useful to others out of it. Sorry if I end up bashing a movie you like, as I'm in critic mode when I write here. In reality, I can enjoy every movie, even zero star ones! Hope you enjoy the site!
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