A couple of weeks ago, I took my two youngest brothers and my youngest sister to see Wall-E. I’m a huge Pixar and so I expected the best! Dreamworks might make funny 3D animations but, in my humble opinion, they’re not generally instant classics like Pixar’s work. We were at a premiere  in a packed and age-diverse theater filled with excited people. The lights went out, the movies started, and about 90 minutes later the credits rolled. During those 90 minutes I was treated to a wonderful story and an epic feat!

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I can’t say that I went into this movie with very high expectations. Quite the contrary, I’m actually very wary of movies with a lot of hype and mystery surrounding them. Still, I did watch Cloverfield with an open mind. Maybe that’s why I wasn’t as disappointed as most.

Even though I did somewhat enjoy the movie I have to admit it had many plot holes, bad decisions, and absurdities. In a whole, it was entertaining, I give it that, but the following points keep it from being good in my eyes. Warning, from this point on the article is pretty much all spoiler:

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To make the claim that any game is “the Future of Gaming” is a bold move, I admit, but if you’ve played Valve’s Portal than I’m sure you’ll agree that the industry will (or at least should) head in this direction. Sure, Portal hasn’t made any hardware innovations such as rumble support, online play, or motion/touch controls. Sure, it’s not even a new genre as much as a new spin on several pre-existing genres. It’s true that every element, except for the actual portal game mechanic, has existed in games before. But that, my friends, is not why Portal is the Future of Gaming. It is so because it does offer something which we haven’t seen in the video-game industry in a long time … hope.

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The baby asleep, my wife and I decided to spend the two hours before his continued tirade watching a movie. What’s next on the queue? Bee Movie ‘starring’ Jerry Seinfeld and a host of other big shots who lent their voices such as Renée Zellweger, Matthew Broderick, John Goodman, Chris Rock, Larry King, Ray Liotta, Sting, and yes, even Oprah Winfrey! With so many big name stars in the movie you know it’s going to be good, right? No, wrong.

With barely a laugh between the two of us for the entire movie, we patiently waited for a much needed smile-inducing scene. Actually, we were more exhausted than patient. If we had any energy in us we would have probably shut it off before the end.

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Before you ask the inevitable question, my wife made me watch this movie! I didn’t have any interest in a movie that features two old fossils that I had never heard of before or since (I have seen this movie in the early 90′s but for the life of me I couldn’t remember any of it). Still, since I did sit through the entire thing, might as well share my thoughts on it.

To start, this is going to sound very bad, but I have a hard time accepting a 50+ year old love interest. I have to admit, Ann Margaret did look stunning for her age, but every time the two old farts went crazy for her I was reminded that this movie was intended for an older audience. This isn’t a bad thing, even old people should have movies, but does my wife have to make me watch them? There are TONS of movies out there made for teenagers that I dutifully skip (and, come to think of it, skipped even when I was a teenager).

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I’m a big Pixar fan. Ever since Toy Story I’ve seen every Pixar movie in theaters sometimes more than once, and I own all of them on DVD. It’s true, in my eyes, they can do no wrong. I’m warning you, this review is very biased but there’s nothing I could do about it.

I sat down to watch Ratatouille for maybe the third or fourth time and it’s still as entertaining and gorgeous as the first. That, my friends, is a sign of an instant classic.

The animation was, simply put, amazing! This fictional, digital rodent had more life in him than most block-buster actors in the industry! The talented people at Pixar breathed virtual life into 0′s and 1′s and Remy the Rat was born. At least that’s how it felt. Despite the cartoony look of the movie, the rats looked and felt real down to their noses twitching involuntarily (but don’t blink or you’ll miss it). This movie was obviously a labor of love every step of the way.

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So it’s been almost a month since my last (and first) post but I honestly simply forgot I had a blog I’m not sure if that actually makes things any better or worse but it’s the truth so tough! Well onto the review… I’d like to start by saying that I’m not particularly a ‘Westerns’ fan. I don’t dislike Westerns but I don’t go gaga over them either. That said, I really like both Russell Crowe and Christian Bale as actors so I really did want to like this movie going into it. The last good Western I’ve seen was Unforgiven and that was over a decade and a half ago, I thought it was time for another good one. (more…)