A mid-year entertainment review
I've been keeping track of my purchases this year (for many reasons) but I've been doing an ongoing series of best and worst games on my blog.
However, in truth, I have been keeping track of every book, movie, dvd, and game this year. So far, in June 2008, are my impressions (if you care, and you're certainly entitled to not)
BOOKS:
Best and biggest surprise -
Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead - Max Brooks
Totally deadpan humor. The entire book is told like one of those jokes a buddy might tell you while keeping such a straight face you almost wonder if he's serious. Maybe an odd compliment, but this has to have the most consistent tone of any book I've ever read. Actually read it cover-to-cover.
Worst Book -
Desert Raiders (WH40K) - Lucien Soulban
These one off Imperial Guard stories are truly the sewage of the Black Library and I will eventually stop reading them.
Biggest Disappointment -
Scourge the Heretic (WH40K) - Sandy Mitchell
C'mon guys. Inquisition stories can half write themselves. Mitchell is a half competent writer (making him one of the Black Library's top 5%. Hyuck hyuck) but this bald-faced cash in on your new game system could have been handled so much better.
GAMES:
Best -
Portal - X360 (Orange Box Bundle)
Simply one of the best executed games I've ever played.
Biggest Surprise -
Crackdown - X360
Honestly, by the time I got my 360 the buzz for this had come and gone. It was flying so low under the radar I wasn't expecting much and it turned out to be one of the best open-world games I've ever played.
Worst -
Call of Duty 3 - Wii
The playtesters should never be allowed to play videogames ever again. This game was not fun, it was the anti-fun. I almost didn't try COD4 because of this game.
Biggest Disappointment -
Road Trip: Arcade Edition - GCN
Somewhat my fault, turns out this is NOT just Everywhere Road Trip for the Gamecube.
DVD's:
Best -
3:10 to Yuma
It's pretty rare I will buy a DVD brand new, sight unseen, and know almost nothing about it. I really wanted to see this in the theater and was still so buzzed on the movie even though I only saw a few previews (I was still travelling at the time) that I grabbed the DVD on release date. Awesome movie, one of my favorite westerns.
Biggest Surprise -
Justice League: The New Frontier
Maybe I'm just happy they didn't screw it up. Too many inside references that only older comic fans might get, but my kids still enjoyed it though I wouldn't call it a kid's movie by any means.
Worst -
Ben 10: Race Against Time
Live action translation of the kid's cartoon. I actually had to watch this with the kids. I'm not expecting much, but they sure didn't try hard either. What was surprising was they had a decent cast and then did nothing with them. I guess Lee Majors just really needs the paycheck now.
Biggest Disappointment -
Appleseed Ex Machina
The John Woo influences did not make this a better movie than the original. The last movie was a competent action flick, this was over-stylized.
MOVIES
Best -
Iron Man
Not gonna explain it. Figure it out.
Biggest Surprise -
Dan in Real Life
I expected schmaltzy and I got it. Yet I still enjoyed this movie. Weird. Turned out to be a good date movie with the wife.
Worst -
Knocked Up
When did all the assholes we hate in other films get to be protagonists in their own films? Now holds the record for shortest viewing time before I shut it off/walked out/changed channel.
Biggest Disappointment -
Mr. Bean's Holiday
Some things are just better in a skit format I guess.
Unfettered Blather - Daily updated nonsense
X-Box Live Gamertag - CrazedJava
Less chatter more splatter!
This book is amazing. I would highly recommend it to anyone not prepared for Z-Day.
Edit:
I would have to agree with this as well. I was very disappointed with it, despite greatly enjoying the first.
Chumpy wrote:
Malor wrote:
Amen to that! Even the idiot teenagers with their snide comments next to us didn't break the magic for me and my girlfriend. We cried, oh did we cry
I just love a good tragic comedy.
Roo: "Just to cheer you up if any of the above made you sad: Boobies."
Koning_Floris, on my online 'skills': "Stinking is a skill too!"
I wholeheartedly agree, I was expecting 3:10 to just be a decent movie, and was very pleasantly surprised by how good it was.
I'm beginning to think Christian Bale can do no wrong, when it comes to movie roles.
LiquidMantis wrote:
Though his performance in Harsh Times was good, I disliked the movie overall. So I don't know if that counts.
Fedaykin98 wrote:
Yeah, and I think a mannequin would do a better job than he in Equilibrium.
"Three blokes go into a pub. One of them is kind of stupid, and the whole scene unfolds with a tedious inevitability." - Bill Bailey
Yuk. Horrible and boring movie in my opinion, but oh well. That usually means you guys like it =P
The man wears a bucket of KFC on his head. I wouldn't expect anything less. - Pred
If you liked the survival guide, be sure to check out World War Z, also by Max Brooks. It is fantastic. A must have for any fan of the zombie genre. There is a movie in the works too, I hear.
I think the best movie of this half year has to go to Wall-E.
I also just added crackdown to my Q. I want to give it a shot.
Thanks for standin' still Wanker!
-XBox Gamertag: Tempest Blaze (Without the Y!)
If I were going to split Best and Biggest Surprise into two books for that category World War Z would have been biggest surprise. While the Guide might have been humor World War Z was just flat out creepy, and genuinely sad at times as well. Maybe not outright horror though. It currently tracks as my #2 book for this year.
I have not seen Wall-E yet, so it can't qualify. I'm sure it will end up in the mix somewhere. Even the worst Pixar movie is generally better done than most other studios mediocre offerings.
Unfettered Blather - Daily updated nonsense
X-Box Live Gamertag - CrazedJava
Less chatter more splatter!
While I acknowledge Knocked Up for the straight up right wing pro life pandering that it is, I still enjoyed the film. Superbad and 40 year old virgin were better, definitely, but I didn't hate it.
World War Z is one of those books that's so good it actually got me to read other books after a multi year hiatus from fiction in general. Bravo, Max Brooks.
They did a Ben 10 live action? Wow. That has 'suck' written all over it...
Don't you understand, Cliff? We put a chainsaw on a machine gun! That's it! It doesn't get more awesome than that! We've peaked, man! We've peaked! - ctrl-alt-del on Gears of War 2
Quintin vs Thirteenth smackdown will commence in 3... 2... 1...
LiquidMantis wrote:
*gets popcorn and waits for the show to commence*
Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica.
Quintin_Stone wrote:
Oh, you little turdball. You're in for a world of hurt!
Fedaykin98 wrote:
You know it's true!
"Three blokes go into a pub. One of them is kind of stupid, and the whole scene unfolds with a tedious inevitability." - Bill Bailey
I will peel off your skin and eat it.
Fedaykin98 wrote:
Excellent thread, Botswana. Unfortunately, I've only read/seen two of the things you mentioned. I bought the Zombie Survival Guide in 2004 and absolutely love it. Suffice to say, it's prime reading material while doing the deed in the bathroom. And 3:10 to Yuma was a fantastic movie!
Go ahead and try, but that won't change the facts. I'm just sayin'.
"Three blokes go into a pub. One of them is kind of stupid, and the whole scene unfolds with a tedious inevitability." - Bill Bailey
Great thread. Me likey lists.
BOOKS:
Best and biggest surprise -
Henry IV, Part One / Henry V
GAMES:
Best -
(tie)
GTA IV
GRID
Biggest Surprise -
(tie)
Space Invaders Extreme
Lost Odyssey
Biggest Disappointment -
Burnout: Paradise
DVD's:
Best -
Flight of the Conchords - The Complete First Season
Biggest Surprise -
Hot Fuzz
Biggest Disappointment -
Flight of the Conchords - The Complete First Season (love the original content, but the Extras section blows)
MOVIES
Best -
Edge of Heaven
Biggest Surprise -
(tie)
Persepolis
Up the Yangtze
Worst -
The Fifth Element (saw it on tv last night...yuck)
Biggest Disappointment -
U2 3D
Careful Thirteenth, you're treading on his dreams.
I'm an Uncle!!! -8/20/07
I buy even though I have 2 of them. I likey the Snakey. - Scrub
ICO: General Fancypants l Steam: Grenn[GWJ] l WoW: Goquelyrslf, Grendwar l XBLA: GWJ Grenn
Every Christian Bale movie could be improved if he'd just use more gunkata. I don't care if it's a romantic comedy. By the 10th minute, he should have taken out at least five guys in a darkened room using awesome gunkata moves.
What's with the mannequin comment? He was supposed to play a guy with no emotion and he nailed it. Sheesh. Frankly, I loved Equilibrium, though I hated Ultraviolet. Wimmer's not making my lists anymore if he keeps that crap up.
Someone say Hot Fuzz? I saw that in 2007 so it doesn't make the list but I did make a point of seeing it in the theater and though I never saw Shaun of the Dead I loved Hot Fuzz. With all of these constant parody movies I really liked how the proved you could indeed make a decent parody on a limited budget and why it was better to make fun of material you love then to constantly sneer at the very material you're parodying.
Unfettered Blather - Daily updated nonsense
X-Box Live Gamertag - CrazedJava
Less chatter more splatter!
If you remotely liked Hot Fuzz you should love Shaun of the Dead!
What didn't you like with this? It would obviously be a U2 concert and some of the 3D techniques they used were firsts for the technology.
Gamer Tag: Rantyr
For the U2 3D show, the three-dimensional immersion was actually really fantastic. I saw it at the National Smithsonian on a really huge screen. I'm not sure what tech evolutions have occurred over the past number of years, but the 3D effect was simply stunning...Coupled with the on-stage camera angles, it's as close as I'll likely ever be to sitting right there next to Bono and crew during a show.
My biggest disappointment simply boiled down to the set list (song selection). To put it bluntly, it blew. Other may have differing opinions, but I thought it was really lacking. Further, I don't know if Bono was sick that night or something, but he was uber-lethargic on stage. He usually jumps around like a maniac (even at his advanced age), but on this night, he just stood there the whole time.
I also wasn't too keen on the set list, but they're one of those bands that it is now impossible to hear all the songs you want in a single show. They're going to push the new stuff and cherry pick the hits.
I've not seen Bono in a long time except for a few commercials or news clips. One thing i've noticed the most is that he and the rest of the guys are getting old
Gamer Tag: Rantyr
*GASP*
If you can't be a good example, at least be a horrible warning.
Yeah I know, he's so right.
XBLive: Thin J
PSN: Thin_J
I don't imagine master craftsmen leaping away from completed projects and shouting "Done, motherf*ckers! - 1Dgaf
You've made The List*.
* From the makers of -- The Nozzle.
Fedaykin98 wrote:
I just knew this wouldn't end well.
LiquidMantis wrote:
I say we hang him from the ceiling by his toenails and beat him like a pinata. Clearly then he will have some sense beat into him.
"I can't knife you right now. I have a chair and some pants."