You May Not Know: Extra Credits Ep-1

Welcome to my new segment, You May Not Know, also know as YMNK. I know, very catchy. The reason for this is to get the word out about cool stuff you may not have tried, or know exist! For my first YMNK, I'm going to display the amazingly informative ...

Let the praise commence 

 Extra Credits is a web series written by James Portnow, who has been just about been everywhere in the gaming world, Narrated and edited by Danial Floyd, who's voice sounds weird at first but you get used to it very quickly, and Alison Theus , who does the pretty pictures. The show originally started on The Escapist, but has sense moved o Penny Arcade, more on that later. It was created with one goal in mind that is, and I quote, "Join us every week as we take a deeper look at games; how they are made, what they mean and how we can make them better." These guys love games, and they want them to some day be seen as an art form and not just some kid's toy. 

 Every week they have a new topic that they talk about, in extremely intelligent and sophisticated ways, be it bad writing or work conditions. The best thing about the show is that they never rant. What I mean is that they never just complain, they also have ways of fixing a problem. For example, they might spend 1 or 2 minutes talking about the problem and give some examples, but they'll spend the rest of the episode on how to fix it and make it better. They were a huge hit on the Escapist, and I was one of those fans. I couldn't wait until Thursday to watch the show. Near the end of the second season, Alison had to have surgery on her wrist, or else she may never be able to draw again! James and Danial decided to have a fundraiser, all the donations would go to Alison's operation and rehab. In the mean time, they got guest artist to come on every week, so while the show was the same, the art would always look different. They received a staggering amount of money from their fans, way more than they ever expected or knew what to do with. That's when trouble started

 Allegedly, The Escapist had run into some money problems. It was rumored that Escapist wasn't even paying the Extra Credits team at all! The team decided that to pay off the debt, they could sell their intellectual property. They thought this was a simple problem with a simple solution. the Escapist did not. They thought that from the money they raised, Escapist deserved 75% of the revenue, so the debt was already paid and EC owed them $9,500. After a month of legal battles, the EC team decided to continue the series on Youtube while they searched for a new site. The future was not bright for them. Until September 7th when the episode "Pacing" went live on penny-arcade.com. They had found their match.

 Now the series is in full force, Alison is back on the art, there are still millions of topics to discuss, and the show is better than ever. I highly recommend this series, and to get you started, I've put my favorite episode right below, so you don't have to do any of that pesky typing that consumes so much of your time. Enjoy!

(The link opens in a new tab)

http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/learning-from-other-m

Extra Credits updates every Wednesday at www.penny-arcade.com. All of season 1,2, and 3 are at the website too.   

    

The Muppets: NR #11

Sorry for last week's miss, I was having too much fun playing Skyrim. This review is keeping me from my Skyrim time and so was this movie. EVERYTHING IS CRAP COMPARED TO SKYRIM!!!!  Sorry, I don't know what came over me. Anyway, let's get on with the main event; one of the most anticipated movies of the year. It's time to play the music, it's time to light the light, It's time to meet...

(notice the parody of another Disney sequel to a beloved franchise HINT HINT: Pixar)

Let's Begin...

PLOT

Gary and Walter (who is Gary's muppet brother...their dad must really like puppets) are some of the biggest fans of the Muppets  (next to Korey Coleman of course). When Gary takes his girlfriend, Mary, to Los Angles, he invites Walter to come along so they can see the Muppet studio together. They soon find that the Muppets aren't as big as they once were. They are so unpopular that an oil tycoon by the not evil name of  Tex Richman is going to tear down the Muppet studios to find oil! Once Kermit is informed, they hatch a plan to get the gang back together for one last show.

PROS

They obviously got some of the best puppeteers in the business, because the Muppets are handled amazingly well.

The Muppets come as close as they possibly could to sounding like their old selves. Kermit sounds like Kermit, Fozzy like Fozzy, and Mrs. Piggy like...well you get the idea.

The comedy is actually funny. There are some jokes that fall flat, but not many. Even the fourth-wall-breaking jokes are handled very well.

This film has a great mix of old and new. What I mean is that it has enough in-jokes, continuity, and nostalgia for the long-time fans and enough new stuff for the next generation of Muppet fans (including me, since I know little about the old stuff)

The musical numbers are really good. While not amazing, all of the songs are at least memorable, except for the one Amy Adams sings. 

Chris Cooper plays as Tex Richman and he has one of the best songs and scene stealing parts of this entire movie. It is one of the most intentionally awkward, lazy, basic, and random rap songs ever to be put on film, and it's the funniest scene out of all the great jokes. He really had a fun time with this.

Just about every Muppet, from what I can tell, get's a shinning moment and at least 5 seconds of screen time.

They have Mahna Mahna. Yes, that is a reason to sit through an hour and a half movie.........doodoodoodoo....

CONS

I wish Jason Segel and Amy Adams weren't there. They just seem almost pointless, and Amy Adams is really just doing a effortless job. I know Jason wanted to be with the Muppets so badly, but they could do away with his and her scenes. Whenever we had to leave the Muppets and go to their story, I felt bored and uninterested.  

If they had gotten rid of Jason and Amy, they could have fit that time with Walter, who has a dilemma and character change that comes out of left field. It's also resolved just as quickly. 

The celebrity cameos are all over the place. You have cool ones like Jack Black and Zach Galifanakis, but most are just weird and out of place, like how Whoopi Goldberg, Selena Gomez, and that fat kid from Modern Family show up at the same time for little reason at all.

CONCLUSION

This is a great movie for all ages, the first kids movie this year to make me consistently laugh out loud, and yet one of the most disappointing. I came into this with high hopes, it was getting rave reviews and the parody trailers were absolutely hilarious 

   

But it's not as great as people make it out to be. Now I'm not saying it's terrible, I gave it about 20 pros, I'm just saying don't let the hype fool you. I hope that if we get a sequel, it's about the Muppets, and just the Muppets.

RATING

WALK TO

P.S. Later on tonight or tomorrow, I'll be posting another blog highlighting an online series that is perfect for anyone who enjoys video games, or who thinks video games are just kids toys that can't be taken seriously. Stay Tuned!    

   

         

 

Attack the Block: CR #12

My life is complete. I have FINALLY seen one of my most anticipated movies of this year. A movie that has been one of the most talked about films of the year... among critics, yet unknown to the general public. A movie that is the directorial debut of Joe Cornish, one of the writers of the upcoming The Adventures of Tintin. This is....

Let's Begin

PLOT

One night in the ghetto of London, a nurse is mugged by 5 teenagers. The mugging is stopped by a meteor crashing into a car containing a strange alien creature. Once it's killed, the gang return to their block to hide the creature. They soon find that more and more of these meteors are crashing all over London, but they don't have the alien they killed. No, these are bigger, scarier, and deadlier. Now these couple of kids must protect their block from these aliens while being chased by the cops and drug overlord (although he mostly sells weed) Hi-Hatz.

PROS

The acing is great, considering the fact that most of the main cast are first time actors. The best one out of them all is John Boyega who plays as the leader Moses. He has never acted in a movie before, but you would never know. He pulls this off perfectly, especially in the more emotional scenes.

There is a real sense of camaraderie with these teens. What I mean is that they seem like they've been friends for a long time. Other movies trying to show this this summer (Super 8) have failed, but this one succeeds with flying colors.

The aliens in this movie are actually scary. Think of the last time you saw an original alien design, one that didn't seem like any other alien you had ever seen before..... never right? Well these are some of the most original aliens I've seen, Every time one of those things was on screen, weather it was in my face or in the corner, I started swearing like a sailor I was so scared. I would describe them or put up a picture but that would just ruin it. I can't do them justice with a description.

Speaking of aliens, The alien's special effects are AMAZING. This film doesn't have a large budget, but these aliens look James Cameron caliber real, probably even better. I honestly think they found 50 of these things, alive and breathing, and put them in the movie they look so real.

This movie goes completely against Hollywood standards, it's a completely British film. What I mean is that this movie isn't scared to do some crazy stuff or make it american friendly. Everyone drives on the left side of the street, the wheel is the right side of the car, and everyone talks in cockney British accents. Other ways it goes against Hollywood is that it's not afraid to kill off main characters, have no bad consequences for smoking weed, and have 9 year olds cuss, but in a normal way, not in a "IM GOIN CUZZ EVERY 5 SECONDS CUSE ITS FUNNY!!!!" way.

In all of this movie's advertisements,  Nick Frost is heavily used to get that Shaun of the Dead crowd. I'm happy to say that Frost is barley in the movie. The reason this is a good thing is because it means that this movie doesn't need the help of other more famous works to be good or memorable.

This film is a great mix a horror, action, and comedy. Actually scratch comedy. While the movie does have some comedy parts, it;s more of a Horror action than comedy. 

The soundtrack is awesome. It's this sorta electronica, dub-step mix that works and fits the film perfectly. It's no surprise the music was done by Basement Jaxx.

The main characters are likable. Now, at the beginning of the film, your hate these kids and hope they all die. But as the movie goes along, you see their personalities and good sides shine. You soon start to love all of them, and hate it when they die. You'll have a favorite by the end and it'll probably be Moses.

CONS

While I don't consider this a con I know this may be a draw back for some people. The accents are very British. It can be hard to understand them sometimes, but you can get most of it if you listen. The only British movies I've seen are Shaun of the Dead , Hot Fuzz, and The King's Speech and I understood the accents here near perfectly.

CONCLUSION

I think it's obvious that I love this movie. Well I do, but I believe it's one of the best films of the year. I discovered this during the last big set piece of the movie. The tension and excitement I felt was something I hadn't felt in a long time. This is one of the most original, most awesome, most well made movies I've seen all year, and you've never heard of it. I know you can watch it right. You can rent it on Youtube for god's sake! So please, please, PLEASE go see this movie at all cost.

RATING

RUN TO !!!!!!    

  

  

Tower Heist: NR #10

It's been a while but after a month or two, a SPOOKtacular month of horror, I've returned to the theater to see a somewhat anticipated movie that has had a long history. It started out as an idea from Eddie Murphy from 2005 as a heist movie with an all-star comedic black cast with the likes of Martin Lawrence, Dave Chappelle, Tracy Morgan, and Murphy himself. But after the Hollywood producers got a hold of it, they replaced the comedic geniuses with some white guys. After it was finally announced to release, Universal was planning on putting this movie on demand three weeks after it was released in theaters...for $60. One boycott later and we get to where we are now with...

Let's Begin....

PLOT

Ben Stiller works as the manger of an expensive hotel in New York, but after their boss is arrested for security fraud, it's soon found out that their boss had invested all of the employees money and that money has been lost. Now Stiller, Kasey Affleck, Alan Alda, Matthew Broderick plan to rob the hotel. But they're stupid, so they someone who is just as stupid, but knows how to steal, so they bring Eddie Murphy along. Now begins the heist. (I really have no idea how to write this plot, I saw this a couple of hours ago and I'm already forgetting it.)

PROS

 Um....It wasn't as bad as I thought is was going to be...and that's about it...moving on...

CONS

No one, and I mean NO ONE, from the main cast is funny. Ben Stiller doesn't have a single funny line, Kasey Affleck is just forgettable, and Alan Alda has one maybe two funny lines. The only funny people in the movie are Matthew Broderick and Gabourey Sidibe (AKA Precious) and they are SO under used.

Speaking of not being funny, Eddie Murphy has maybe three good lines in the whole movie. He just seems like he was told "Be funny." Eddie:What do I say? 

                                          Director: JUST BE FUNNY!!!!

I feel like he was thrown in there to keep something from the original idea.

The movie moves a little too fast. What I mean is that they spend 10-15 minutes coming up with the heist, then they just move onto actually doing the heist and we have no idea what they are doing or how. So when ever they're doing something, we don't why. It feels like they're coming up with it as they go along.

I hate to keep going back to Eddie, but his character is so poorly used. He starts out as a good guy, changes alliances in a heart beat, then changes back FOR NO REASON! It makes no sense.

The big action set piece has no tension. The reason being that we have no connection to these characters, which could have happened if they had a spent maybe 10 more minutes on the "Making the heist" scenes. The only times I felt tense was when ever they showed what it looked like from that high up, only because I have a fear of heights.

There are some sub-plots that go no where. One in particular is a forced romance between Ben Stiller and the FBI agent Tea Leoni. It goes no where it just seems like filler.

Speaking of filler, this movie has too much filler, or un-needed scenes that are there just to increase the running time. One example is during the big ending set piece, they get a dog in the mix and you think "Ok that, was weird", the you think "Oh, that'll create tension!", finally "....well that was a waste."

CONCLUSION

This may seem like I hate the movie. Well at first I didn't. But after thinking about it and looking over this review, I do. Now if this looks funny to you, I say see it, just wait 'till DVD.

RATING

ME: RUN AWAY

YOU, IF IT LOOKS FUNNY: RENTABLE