Updates

I will be changing my content primarily to movie reviews. Although video games are easy to talk about,   it's just too expensive to get every new game that comes out. The price of a movie is much less substantial, and therefore I will be able to post more content. I saw Parker over the weekend so I will be putting up a review of that soon.

Broken City Review

I wasn't too sure about seeing Broken City. I thought it would be an action thriller, or something like that, but it was more of a crime film. I probably should have done more research on the movie since I'm not really into crime films. Anyway, Broken City is a blend of crime, thriller, and a tiny bit of action. I can't place enough emphasis on a tiny bit of action. This isn't an action movie.

Anyway, the movie was directed by Allen Hughes and stars Mark Wahlberg and Russell Crowe. The movie goes like this: A New York City detective named Billy Taggart (Mark Wahlberg) essentially shoots a criminal suspect down in cold blood. Facing a certain jail sentence, he is rescued by Mayor Nicholas Hostetler (Russell Crowe). Taggart later becomes a private investigator who can't seem to ever claim his money. Taggart is then hired by Mayor Hostetler who gives him 50,000 dollars to see if his wife Cathleen (Catherine Zeta Jones)  is having an affair. Not so surprisingly, the plot thickens as Taggart becomes involved in something that is much larger than him. Boom, it's a conspiracy movie.

The movie features a cast of A-list actors, and therefore there is nothing wrong with the movie on that end of the spectrum. However, I didn't enjoy this movie. Maybe I'm not good at following complicated movies, but there were just too many things going on at the same time. The movie gets unnecessarily complicated and blows up into a conspiracy-esque film. I feel the movie could have gained more by unfolding a little bit more reasonably. So I'm not saying the movie is awful, I'm just saying to pay attention.

Rating: 6/10

Gangster Squad Review

I saw Gangster Squad in the theaters yesterday, and I was pretty impressed. It had the components of a good action movie, and there are even a few parts that made me chuckle. The movie came out on Friday (January 11th). The movie was directed by Ruben Fleischer, who is best known for directing Zombieland, which came out in 2009.

The movie is based in a 1949 Los Angeles. Gangster Squad's main plot is centered around a gangster named Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn), a criminal who owns the criminal underworld of Los Angeles. The police cannot stop him because no one will testify against him and he's got a good deal of the police force on his payroll. In order to stop Cohen, Police Chief Bill Parker (Nick Nolte) orders a heavy-handed Sergeant John O'Mara (Josh Brolin) to put together a vigilante squad that will help take down Cohen's criminal empire. The other members of the Gangster Squad include: Sergeant Jerry Wooters (Ryan Gosling), Navidad Ramirez (Michael Pena), Conway Keeler (Giovanni Ribisi), Coleman Harris (Anthony Mackie), and Max Kennard (Robert Patrick). Each member offers a different useful aspect to the squad. The squad mainly used guerilla warfare of sorts in order to carry out their missions, gradually chipping away at Mickey Cohen's empire.

The movie was good, but nothing really more than an action movie. It offered in your face type of action, but the plot itself was predictable and not exactly creative. However, that just is usually the case for action movies. The actors did a great job, and the movie was good for face value. There's nothing wrong with the movie, it just wasn't exactly a gem. Describing this movie, I would use the phrase "pretty good" meaning it's good, but not really anything special. 

Rating: 7/10.

Some Updates

First off all, I've been getting a bunch of views for people looking for the Revolution Map Pack for Black Ops 2. It's Revolution, not Revelation. Two similar, yet completely different words in meaning. I'm seeing Gangster Squad tomorrow, and will post a review on that tomorrow as well.

I haven't been playing Far Cry 3 as much as I should be, and therefore haven't been able to piece together a review on it. I'll get around to it within the weekend.

Far Cry 3 First Impression

Have you ever played a game with so much to do it's kind of overwhelming? Far Cry 3 is one of those games. The game places an emphasis on simply surviving by using what the island has to offer (loot chests, animals, and plants). There's so many things to do. You have your main missions, which haven't dazzled or discouraged me yet. There's hunting missions, racing missions, drop supply missions, Rakyat Trials, Bounty Collecting, and some other stuff I'm probably forgetting.

Trouble in Paradise

Basically, you're a man named Jason who is trying to rescue his friends from a a thug/terrorist/asshole named Vaas. You and your friends got stuck here after a nice vacation montage. I haven't gotten very far into the story, I mean this is a First Impressions. With all the of the extras, plus the main missions, this game will keep you busy. So far I'm enjoying it, but if anything changes I'll keep you tuned. 

Far Cry 3 Expectations

I should be getting Far Cry 3 soon. It was just one of those games that I just never really cared about until I heard everyone (my friends) raving about it. From what I understand, all of the big companies fancied it as well and gave it outstanding reviews. They say it's like Skyrim with guns, even though I didn't like Skyrim that much. It was a buggy mess. Yes, I did just say I don't like Skyrim.

Anyway, I'm not buying the game, but I am borrowing it from someone. Therefore, I don't have anything actually invested into the game, so if it sucks I'm not too worried about it. I haven't played the first Far Cry, and I've played a few milliseconds of Far Cry 2. From what I understand Far Cry 3 is based on a vacation gone wrong, which is a completely original concept (Dead Island, Alan Wake, etc.). I don't really know much about this game, except that it's really free roam with a lot of stuff to do. Like most, I enjoy games I can play for a good bit of time. When I get the game I'll write a First Impressions post.

Django Unchained Review

The last few movies I've seen in the theaters were absolutely terrible. I can say the last good movies I've seen in theaters were The Dark Knight Rises and The Amazing Spiderman. So what if I like movies based off of comic books, they are usually put together pretty well. There has been this dry spell with movies as of late, so I didn't know what to think when I saw an advertisement for Django Unchained. However, being a Quentin Tarantino fan, I managed to go see the movie.

The movie is takes place two years before the Civil War and is based on a slave named Django (Jamie Foxx) that is freed by a bounty hunter named Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz). Dr. Schultz needs help identifying bounties, bounties that Django will be able to recognize when he sees them. Together, they track down and kill these bounties. Django wants to find his wife, who was sold to a cotton plantation. It turns out Django has a knack for collecting bounties so he and Dr. Schultz team up for the winter, making a fortune. After winter they would go find Django's wife, Broomhilda (Kerry Washington). As it turns out, Broomhilda was sold to an enormous cotton plantation owned by Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio.) In order to save Broomhilda, they infiltrate Candieland (Yes, that's what they called it in the movie) with deception and promises of incredulous amounts of money for a single slave. At this point, the plot thickens and saying any more would give some things away. I still chuckle a little bit about Candieland.

Bounty Hunting, a Wanted Poster. Get it?

The movie was casted, written, and directed phenomenally. Jamie Foxx does a great job playing the angry slave, Christoph Waltz's unique acting prevailed, and Leonardo DiCaprio played a "nice" charismatic, greedy plantation owner. Each actor played their part so well, and the movie felt genuine. Naturally, Tarantino had to plant his kind of humor into the movie.

Leonardo DiCaprio as Calvin Candie

Unfortunately, due to to the time frame of the movie, the amount of racism is astronomical. And I'm pretty sure the amount of racism caused a good bit of controversy. There is in an incredible amount of violence, which Tarantino never leaves out. The movie was close to three hours but flew by and included a satisfying ending. Hands down one of the best movies I've seen all year. 

Rating: 9.5/10