Reviews

*Very minor spoiler at the bottom, will be clearly marked*

Full disclosure: I love Star Wars. I love the original trilogy and I've loved everything released under Disney so far. I even really enjoy the prequels, despite their flaws. Sadly, this statement will automatically be dismissed by "true fans". Star Wars fandom has become truly toxic, I've pretty much ignored it completely since VII was released and just made up my own damn mind. (Also a reason I rarely write reviews. My opinion doesn't really matter.)

With that out of the way; I must say I was blown away by Solo: A Star Wars Story. Now, I fully knew I'd like this movie (Hey, it's a star wars movie!). But like a lot of people, the production delays and their insistence on releasing it in May had me worried. It felt like they knew it sucked so they wanted to just get the release over with. But once the film started rolling, I was locked in, wide-eyed with a smile on my face throughout the entire thing. This movie is not a galactic-scale conflict. It's a smaller, more personal movie, which is essentially a heist/western style movie. I've heard some complaints that the film is "safe" and just a simple adventure with the characters; which is exactly what I want from these Star Wars Story films. Leave the major consequence stuff for the main saga. This film can be watched without having seen any other star wars film and you should be able to follow it fine. However, for fans, you get rewarded with tons of lore and expanded universe featured within. Alden Eherenreich did a good job as Han. Obviously nobody will ever replace Harrison Ford, but I was enjoying the movie so much, I just saw Han Solo the character. Not Alden Eherenreich the actor. Donald Glover killed it as Lando. I loved how prominent Chewbacca was in this movie. He's definitely a main character and gets some truly great moments. Woody Harrelson was great as Beckett, Han's mentor. Emilia Clarke was also great (and stunning) as Qi'Ra, Han's childhood friend.

Now, the film isn't perfect, I did have a few complaints, but they're so minor they border on nitpicking. *MINOR SPOILERS* Firstly, Lando's droid was annoying as hell. Despite having a couple of good little moments, pretty much every time she spoke I rolled my eyes. Luckily she's not in the film much. Which brings to my second complaint; not enough Lando! I also feel this movie lacked a main villain. Which wasn't a huge complaint, as I was thoroughly entertained regardless. But Paul Bettany's Dryden Vos is really only in two scenes, as a sort of looming threat. The threat established earlier on was Enfys Nest, and I felt the result of that conflict didn't really make sense for Han and Beckett's characters. But I won't say more than that.

Overall, this was a pleasantly surprising entry in the Star Wars lore. Pity it's not doing well, but I think the franchise will survive...somehow.

I finally caved and watched this movie for the first time last night...I'm not a hater, I try to give objective reviews, I'm a male, I'm straight, I love all types of movies including vampire movies. But I'm sorry; this movie was awful. Here's why: - No character development= This is a two-hour film and that's more than enough time for the movie to set up it's characters and make you care about them yet aside from Edward and Bella, everyone else seems like they were only in the movie for four seconds. NOBODY leaves you with the impression that they matter.

• dry pointless dialogue= it felt like at least 90 minutes of this film were Edward and Bella staring at each other. The only significant dialogue I remember is him saying how he wants to murder her but will fight the urge to do so and somehow that made her fall in love with him. Aside from that it was all "high school stuff" pretty much. Which would be fine if it was interesting in any way.

• cardboard cutout characters = As I said earlier, none of the characters get any development, Bella shows up on her first day at her new school and basically gets a whole group of best friends. Yes they established she knew some of them from when she was what, 4? But it was just way too convenient and lazy writing that they all meet her and say "Hey wanna hang out? I value your opinion on everything even though we just met." and everyone she bumps into all happen to be in the same clique.

• terrible acting = Absolutely zero chemistry between Edward and Bella...ironic seeing as how they were dating in real life. I know some of the actors in the movie are actually pretty good so I chalk up a lot of that to the dialogue and directing.

• incoherent pacing = The three evil vampires, shirtless Channing Tatum stand in, evil chick who was in the movie for 5 seconds and black dread-lock dude. Who go around brutally murdering people. Then black dude shows up at the Cullen's to warn them about Channing Tatum's stand in for no reason at all. Then he just leaves and that's that. So that whole threat lasted about 4 seconds when the Cullens all kill the sh*t out of him. The romance between Edward and Bella...he does all this creepy stuff that literally would cause any woman to file a restraining order makes her fall in love with him, then they play vampire baseball and then bad vampires hiss at them and then disappear.

• no plot = girl moves to a small town, falls in love with creepy guy, then there's the threat of 3 evil vampires that gets solved in 5 minutes. This could have been a 42 minute after school special.

You could use the excuse that "You should read the book to fully understand everything!". No actually I SHOULDN'T have to read the book to understand a movie. The whole point of film adaptations is to convert the book into a visual narrative that may alter/remove/add things in order to tell the story more cohesively on screen...but to throw a bunch of crap together and say "Well, people should read the book to like the movie better" are just lazy and suck at their jobs.

Yes, it is tailor made for teenage girls. However, it's also saying that teenage girls are stupid and will eat this crap up because it's made for them. You can make something for teenagers and still have it be good. Sadly, they know they don't have to put the effort in because teenage girls DO eat this crap up. It's really a sad testament to society these days.

I recently finished beating the campaign mode. I'll start by reciting what you've probably already heard:

This game has been in production for years. The fans of the franchise were highly anticipating the game's release ever since the 10 minute E3 demo in 2011. It showed impressive graphics, fantastic atmosphere, menacing AI, terrifying Xenomorph enemies...Then on launch date 2013...we found out that demo was a complete and utter LIE! The true game is an incomplete, unpolished mess. Several of the vent shafts near the floor where aliens emerge are simply black squares. There isn't much carnage or cinematic cuts as the demo implied. It's simply an unpolished run n gun, call of duty-esque shooter. It's very glitchy at times and the AI can be outright mentally handicapped. The aliens quite often get stuck behind boxes and sometimes they'll just stroll right by you. Other times your AI marine counterparts will also just stand there while an enemy is 5 feet in front of them and you figure there's no one left to shoot because nobody else is shooting. Then you approach one of your AI buddies and get shot from the enemy that was standing right by them. There are some WTF moments in the game too. {minor spoiler} Right at the beginning of the game you rescue a cocooned comrade. As you and your two fellow marines are crossing a long corridor from one spaceship to another, an alien begins to birth from his chest and so he detonates a grenade which destroys the corridor and almost sucks you and your other marine right into space. A real dick move wouldn't you say? Why not just shoot yourself in the head?

I haven't played the multi-player much but every time I've tried, I've found I'm automatically on the Alien team. I don't know if that's something I select beforehand or if it's just bad luck. The marine's perspective is first person, the alien's is 3rd person and it's very jarring and difficult to get a hold of. I'm used to the AvP games where the Alien, Marine and Predator were all first person. I found it very difficult to kill anyone too. I tried hacking and slashing and every button combo I could try but I always just fell over dead and never really being clear on who killed me.

Alright...so now that the negative stuff is out of the way, I'll talk about the positives: The sound effects- most of the sound effects are taken directly from the Aliens film. The sporadic automatic firing sound of a pulse rifle on the surround sound always sounds awesome. The aliens sound like aliens. The soft, repetitive dut-dut-dut of your motion tracker, and every time it gets a ping, you do feel your hair on the back of your neck stand up. Atmosphere- I know lots of people are saying it's simple or non-existent. But I found as the game progresses it DOES improve. Some of the effects look very close to what was shown in the E3 demo, then other shots right after looks like it's 6 years old. In the later levels when you're out in the open on LV-426 I found myself getting much more enthralled in the game and actually felt entertained. As simple as the game play was, I couldn't help but enjoy the fact that I was in the Aliens universe. The nods- there's tons of nods to the Aliens films and they all worked and brought a smile to my face. Not only that, but they were accurate too! The game opens with a video log from Hicks (voiced by Michael Biehn no less) who is freshly bandaged up. Aboard the Sulaco you find the lower half of an android in the main cargo bay. You also find all the empty cryo tubes and one section that had been ejected...hmm...In Hadley's Hope, there's the two facehuggers shot up in the exact same spots that they were in the film, there was the over-turned bed, etc. etc...There's also another model of Bishop that accompanies your platoon. Voiced by Lance Henriksen too. The Mysteries- Some people are complaining about plot holes. Such as the game takes place 17 weeks after the film (not 17 days for some reason). It gets mentioned that the Sulaco was last seen over Fury 161 yet it had mysteriously re-appeared over LV-426. This never gets directly answered but some of the characters theorize that it had something to do with Weyland-Yutani's cover-up which also plays heavily in the game. I'm fine with the questions not getting answered (such as why Hadley's Hope wasn't completely obliterated when the nuclear explosion went off). It allows one to make up their own interpretation. The weapons- There's a surprising variety of weaponry to choose from (though I'll always be partial to the pulse rifle) there's some customization but I keep my pulse rifle bare bones, the rest of the guns I don't mind customizing but there's nothing spectacular.

So the bottom line; I wound up giving this game a 6 in spite of myself. The action and even the effects seem to pick up as the game goes along. Multiplayer seems thrown together and forgettable. There's great references to an Aliens fan and so on. The glitches and un-polished sections really put a damper on the enjoyment but after a while you learn to focus on other things. If you're an Aliens fan and a gamer, it's worth a play (but rent it or wait till the price drops, which should be fairly quick) definitely not for full price. If you're strictly a gamer and either haven't seen or don't enjoy the aliens films, you'd likely rate this game as a 3 or 4.

You know you're starting to feel old when they're remaking Arnold Schwarzenegger films. Though to be fair, this isn't so much of a remake as it is another version of the same story. There are a few nods to the 1990 film, but over-all they are quite different. This film is slightly more grounded in a possible future whereas the 1990 film went quite over-the-top throughout.

The cast of this film do a pretty decent job, Colin Ferrell is a good choice for someone who can play an every day working stiff but who could also be a secret agent as opposed to Arnold who is supposed to be an average Joe but is built like a tree trunk. As for the movie itself, the special effects are fantastic, the action scenes are well done, however the film never seizes the opportunity to do anything unique. They go with the classic action movie cliché where a ton of bad guys shoot at the good guys as they run away yet nobody can hit the broad side of a barn. The movie takes place entirely on Earth where chemical warfare has devastated the earth with the exception of Great Britain and Australia. The 1990 film started off on Earth then went to Mars. At the end of the 1990 film, Quaid starts an atmosphere processor which creates breathable air on Mars. Something this film could have utilized with the whole chemical warfare ravaged the planet, there was secretly a machine that could purify the air making the planet habitable again...but instead Cohaagen just wanted to kill everybody for some reason which, unless I missed it was never made clear.

This film also downplays the possibility of the film being a dream much more than the 1990 film as well. In Arnold's film, they throw in a lot of hints that could very well lead us to believe it was a dream but not enough to make it obvious. Leaving it open to interpretation. In this film, there are a few scenes where they try and suggest this, but it seemed very half-hearted almost as if the director wanted the scenes, but he chose to interpret the script as it all being real.

Overall, a decent action movie, with great eye candy (Colin Ferrell for the ladies and Kate Beckinsale and Jessica Biel duking it out for the guys) but with a script that could have been much stronger. I think if we had the 1990 script with this film's cast, crew and technology we'd have a winner.

{Spoiler at very bottom, will be labelled as such}

It takes quite a bit for me to actually consider a movie scary, or even creepy. Very few horror movies I consider truly scary. The only movies that I can think of off the top of my head that I actually found frightening were Event Horizon (keep in mind I was 11 when I saw it). The Exorcism of Emily Rose, and The Ring. Anything else I found to be boring, a rip off of something else, or at very least an entertaining film but not scary. The main problem is that most modern horror movies feel that they have to have something scary happen in pretty much EVERY scene. It gets so tedious and takes no time to build up tension. Then of course there's films like the Saw series who think gore is scary. It's not scary, it's disgusting and uninteresting.

Then along came Insidious. I chose to skip seeing it in the theatre when I heard that James Wan (director of the first Saw) was helming the project. (that being said I did think Dead Silence another one of his movies was pretty creepy) But I decided I hadn't seen any ghost movies in a while and the worst thing that could happen was that I would get a laugh out of it. So I picked the movie up on blu-ray cheap and watched it that night. Boy was I glad I did. This film did everything right. Went against pretty much every cliché (I know writer Leigh Wannell said he had a list of horror clichés so he could avoid using them). The pacing, atmosphere, timing of scares was all perfect. Also there was a significant amount of showing us lots of stuff, but not really SHOWING us which I thought worked amazing.

My only issue was...SPOILER BELOW:

The need for a downer, open-ended finale. I'm okay with ambiguous endings but when a family has more or less literally gone through hell, I'm okay with a happy ending. But that's me.

It's hard to believe this show has come to its end. I have watched it since the first episode aired in 2004. It's almost surreal that it won't be airing anymore. To think the show started when I was 18 and ended when I was 25. That's no small chunk of my life. I think this is the first show I've actually watched from first to last episode from original airing time. (not including shows that were cancelled prematurely) most shows I either start later in the series (so I know it has momentum) or wait till the entire series is done then watch the DVD's.

Rescue Me always held a special place for me, for reasons I mentioned, but I always liked all of the characters. No character was perfect, all were funny, had great stories. I cared about them, even the later additions to the show. I didn't want any of them to die throughout the series, but I had often said that there were a few characters I wouldn't have a problem with leaving the show. But much to my surprise, the core cast stuck with the show through the entire run. With a few exceptions of course. The show was funny, thought provoking, and at times tear-jerking. Often, all within a matter of minutes of each other.

By the time season 3 had finished airing, I felt the show was only getting better. Then season 4 started airing...and my feelings were right. The first two episodes were great. But then something happened (spoilers after this) at the end of Season 4, Episode 2. The Chief of the house, Jerry Reilly, a man who was a central character committed suicide. While I was upset about this, I always was excited to see how that would propel all the other characters' stories. I was sad to see that it didn't propel them at all. There was a five minute focus on Jerry's death, and then all the characters were more or less over it. From then on, something just seemed off about the show. I was still enjoying it, but I wasn't feeling the dire need to catch every episode. I still did, out of loyalty and the moderate entertainment the show provided for the res of season 4 and all of season 5. Then season 6 aired...it was awful in my opinion. It was getting to the point where many of the characters outside the firehouse were so over-used, and many of them could have been written out or killed off by season 3's end. Yet they kept coming back and the stories started going nowhere. Tommy Gavin was the only person getting stories, all of the other characters would just come and go if there was a scene with Tommy. It was to the point I wasn't even going to tune in for season 7. But season 7 was the final season, I figured I'd tough it out till the end.

Season 7 started off much like season 6 (they were filmed as one season but split into 2) the first two episodes were the worst yet. I was so disappointed I decided I'd only give the show one more episode. Thank God I did, because that episode was the best in a long time, and the show continued to have good, to great episodes right till the finale.

Now for the finale; it starts off with a switcharoo. The second-last episode ends with a huge explosion in which all the characters were trapped inside a building. The show opens with Lou being the only survivor (which was deeply upsetting. Though Lou and Garrity were my favourite characters, to kill off the entire crew was just a middle finger to the audience) but then Tommy wakes to find that was a dream. I let a sigh of relief go, but then we find out that Lou had died and the rest of them had made it out with a few bumps and bruises. The final episode does not deal with anger and frustration of Tommy losing his best friend and the crew their Lieutenant. Instead it brings the crew and Tommy's family closer together and they let go of their angst. I won't go into more detail as I'm still absorbing the final episode. But I will say, even though there was a death of one of my two favourite characters. The show had a surprisingly happy ending.

The original Scream raised the bar for the slasher genre. It took jabs at the idea of horror films in general and added technology in the mix. Each new instalment tried to raise the bar, but wound up becoming more comedic. As if each sequel was spoofing the previous entry. This film was no exception.

I loved the way this film started. With a double-spoof on the series. Which kind of set the tone for the rest of the film. The idea that this killer doesn't follow the rules, making him/her/it unpredictable. But the film still winds up being predictable. So much so I actually found the revealing of the killers to be a bit of a middle finger to the fans. If the entire film was meant to be an ironic joke to the previous entries, then job well done. It was definitely funny, intentionally. It pokes fun at the idea of all the prequel/sequel/reboots that are out in Hollywood today. It's obviously a direct sequel to Scream 3, as Dewey, Gail and Sydney all return. But the film has equal focus on Emma Roberts' character Jill and her best friend Riley played by Hayden Panettiere. Which of course leaves us all to wonder if that means Wes Craven is going to give us a Cotton Weary for our 3 former main characters. Which gives the series that "remake" kind of edge. But when films are re-started so close to the previous series' last instalment (less than 25 years In my opinion) it's called a "re-boot" So I wasn't going to be surprised if Dewey, Gail and Sydney were all killed off in this film, leading the way for the next generation of survivors. Which I wouldn't mind seeing fresh faces survive, but I didn't want to see our 3 heroes die. Also, the killers' reveal was so idiotic it really took me out of the last 20 minutes of the movie...I'm conflicted if I should just say who the killer(s) is/are and let you decide if you still want to see the movie or not. I think i'll just say that don't be too surprised that it's completely illogical.

The original Mafia game released in 2002 is one of my all time favourite games. To this day I will still play it once and a while. Because it is a continuous story and not exactly Free Roam, it feels almost like watching a movie while playing the game. The original game, had excellent characters that you cared about, great action scenes, interesting missions, classic cars from the 30's that were a lot of fun to drive, superb physics for its time; you could riddle a car with bullets and it would be completely covered with bullet holes, smash windows, shoot out tires, break the fuel line and run out of gas in the car, shoot from the driver's seat (which was the first game you could do that to my recollection), the list goes on...the only thing that upset me was the final cut-scene of the game has your character gunned down on his front lawn by two hit men. So in the end your character dies tragically. But of course he paid the price for his actions.

Now for Mafia II...starts off during WWII, then a fair chunk of the game takes place in 1945 when you return from the war, then get sent to prison, then jump to 1951. You get out of prison and get right back into the life of crime. You start off as a low-level thug, doing petty jobs...which continues for a very large chunk of the game, until you become a made man. Then, almost immediately after you become made, you start doing things that are forbidden in the Mafia (at the time.) it is clearly stated by one of the bosses that you don't deal in drugs. Yet you do it anyways and through a course of action, create a major sh#tstorm between the Chinese and your mob faction. Then you're basically targeted for death, but you're offered a chance to save yourself by murdering your boss. Your character just shrugs and says okay. All of the characters in this game are under-developed. The missions play so fast, and NONE stand out as being unique. All verrry generic. The story is lacking, other than Vito and Joe, all the characters seem to come and go without getting much "screen time" so you don't get to care about any of them. Vito (your character) is just a douchebag. I didn't like him at all when watching the story and Joe could be funny, but he was also obnoxious, so I didn't warm to him either. As for the ending of the game? Well there isn't one. It just stops in the middle of a cut-scene, more or less like the end of The Sopranos. I assume they're releasing some add-on content to continue the story. The problem is, I wasn't interested enough to fork over any extra cash towards this game. If they continue the story with Mafia III, they better make some significant improvements...oh and I forgot to mention, there's also a mission which simply has you driving to a guy's house and activating a cut-scene...that cut-scene is the ending to the original game, which has you killing your character from the original game. So now, your current character just murdered a character I actually warmed to. But there's nothing else to the mission except escaping cops, which requires you to drive about a block before you lose them.