Best Games of 2009

2009 was a relatively decent year in games or at least it was in terms of what I played. My lack of job meant I couldn't try out many new titles and my lack of a PS3 until just last week ensured I was unable to play the system that seemed to have the best year as far as exclusives were concerned. The Wii and 360 had almost nothing to offer in terms of big titles...well the 360 actually had two Halo games, but I have no interest in that series. There was a pretty strong showing for multi-platform releases and I guess any year that gives me a proper Mario game and a Ratchet and Clank title couldn't be all bad. Now that I've got a job and PS3 maybe I can go back and play some of the year's big releases.

Best Games of 2009

5. [Prototype] (Multi-Platform)

Though the missions get repetitive and the difficulty somewhat spirals out of control in the last few missions, this is a pretty fun open world game. The sheer variety of moves that you can unlock and preform is staggering and something as simple as traversing the city is a blast. This game is often compared to PS3 game Infamous, but since I haven't played that yet I can't really say which is the better anti-hero game, but Prototype is a solid action game.

4. Metroid Prime Trilogy (Nintendo Wii)

I wasn't sure at first whether to count this, as it sort of seems like cheating. I haven't reviewed it yet, and I'm not going to cover it as a single package. After all, it's not one game, it's three, All of which I've already played before. But even with the old content, I still got more fun out of it than most of what I played this year. Metroid Prime is still one of my favorite games of all time,. A fun shooter with a wonderful atmosphere. Metroid Prime 2 is still kind of a letdown with it overuse of backtracking, and Metroid Prime 3 makes up for the second game and is fun closure to great trilogy. Sure I'm kind of cheating, but The Metroid Prime Trilogy is the best gaming value you can get for your money this year.

3. New Super Mario Bros Wii (Nintendo Wii)

This is a pretty personal choice, as New Super Mario Bros Wii didn't do anything to push the franchise forward, it's just another solid entry in one of my favorite series. The game is kind of lazy in the sense that it doesn't have any new ideas of own, it just reuses old standbys from the series's past. The new items are fun and the co-op mode, while annoying at times is fun in a screw around with your friends way. It's not the best Mario game, but its certainly a fun one.

2. Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time (PS3)

Ratchet & Clank is right up there with Mario as one of my favorite franchises, so luckily I had a friend with a PS3 who bought the game and though I didn't complete it, I was still able to play enough of it to gather my opinion of it. A Crack in Time doesn't alter the gameplay formula of the series, it just continues the run of gaming goodness that the series excels at. It had been some time since I played a new Ratchet game (2005's Deadlocked was the last for me), but I settled right into the groove as soon as the game started, blowing up everything in sight, collecting experience, and just having a fun time. I've got a PS3 now and I'm working through the earlier PS3 Ratchet entries and I must say this series is still a treat.

1. Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (Nintendo DS)

And the best game of year is actually a handheld title. The Mario & Luigi series has always been a strong series and this third outing may easily be the best. The Mario RPGs have always allowed the writers to throw the Mario cast into bizarre scenarios and Bowser's Inside Story may be the most bizarre. The narrative goes in so many strange and wonderful directions and its all surprisingly funny. The combat is more involved than most RPGs on the market and getting to actually fight as King Bowser is more fun than it has any right to be. It's a very enjoyable experience I think that there should more games as unique as this.

Best Movies of 2009

I actually think I went to the movies this year more than I have in the last six or seven years. Much like my television picks, I missed out on most of the big budget releases. Almost the entire summer blockbuster season when unnoticed by me, I haven't gotten off my butt to see Avatar (came close though), and as usual I missed out on Pixar's latest inevitable award winner. Overall, people seem to note that 2009 was a pretty lousy year for movies and I can agree with that. The summer blockbuster period was littered with just awful and lazy 80s cartoon adaptions and sequels and the roughly seven or eight movies I actually went out to see ranged from pretty good to just plain boring. I had some difficultly picking five movies that I really like and like the television picks, there is one movie on this list I haven't talked about yet.

Best Movies of 2009

5. Zombieland

Horror is not my genre of choice, but Zombieland succeeded in entertaining me mostly because it focused more on the comedy and relationships between our heroes than on the onslaught of the undead. The surprise celebrity cameo may be one of my favorite sequences of the year and the finale at an amusement park is probably the most purely inventive scene I've seen in a action-related context. Despite my aversion to almost anything horror related, I wouldn't mind seeing the creators continue the story of four strangers looking out for one another.

4. I Can Do Bad All By Myself

Tyler Perry seems to have figured out that if he is going to do a drama/comedy film, the two genre elements must bounce off one another naturally instead of randomly switching off at any given moment. That was the problem with "Madea Goes To Jail", but "I Can Do Bad" fixes this and is all the stronger for it. The movie doesn't do anything groundbreaking, it's just well paced and has solid cast work.

3. Star Trek

I haven't talked about this film mainly because I saw it before I started posting my opinions of things on this site. This movie was my first proper exposure to the Star Trek franchise and though it didn't make me want to rush and watch any of the various series, it was still an enjoyable science fiction outing. The movie managed to do a lot to make both series fans and newbies happy, and I think it succeeded in most areas. Zachary Quinto makes a memorable Spock, even if I still see him as the villain from Heroes and Simon Pegg as Scotty pretty much made the movie for me. The movie is well set up for further cinematic outings and I'll be waiting in line if it comes.

2. Precious

This is the type of drama that Tyler Perry should aspire to create. Precious is a truly emotional and dark movie and it never really gets much lighter, just deciding to end things when there is some small hope present. I said it before but the real strength of the movie is it's cast. Mo'Nique made an unbelievable transformation from a decent no-nonsense comedic actress to a extreme villainous force to be reckoned with and Gabourey Sidibe perfectly captured crushed innocence and lost potential for the title character. This is just a great movie.

1. The Hangover

I love comedy films and The Hangover can stand up with the classics of the genre. It is without a doubt one of the funniest film I've seen in a while. The combination of Helms, Cooper and Gilifanakis is a combo that shouldn't work, but works flawlessly. I said it before and I'll say it again, if you’re looking for a good, fun movie, look no further.

Best Shows Of 2009

Its that time of the year where people talk about what their favorite shows, movies, etc were this past year. I decided to do the same. I don't watch a lot of the most popular television series because they don't interest me, so most of my picks are based more on my own personal interests than what everyone else is watching. Shows qualify by having a season that ended during the year of 2009 and at least one of my picks are of a show I haven't talked about yet. But first...

Notable Exception

Futurama (Comedy Central/Direct to DVD)

The direct to dvd features of Futurama are officially considered the fifth season of the show. Each movie is divided up into four parts and aired on Comedy Central which ran from roughly mid 2008 to late this year (the dvds were released late 2007 to early this year). As a whole the movies never reached the peak of excellent that the series did, but they're still at least 3 times better than most of what's on TV now-a-days. Their exclusion from this list is largely do to the fact that despite airing on television, these films count more as dvd releases then television premieres (if that makes sense).

Best Television Shows of 2009

5. The Real World: Brooklyn (MTV)

Yeah...you know I haven't watched a lot of television shows when The Real World manages to make it on a best of list. The Brooklyn season managed to do everything that the series has failed to do in the past decade: Interesting cast members with interesting stories to tell and people who could make valid arguments without being intoxicated. There were still a lot of those trivial fights over dumb crap but it was actually really entertaining. The show proved that reality shows can still have conflict but have enough brains to respect each other and remain great television...it's a shame that the Cancun season couldn't follow suit.

4. Glee (FOX)

The season's not over due to Fox extending the season, but it's clear that what has already aired was supposed to be a contained season. I'm not as big of a fan of the show as the self proclaimed "Gleeks", but it's still a very good comedy/drama with a great cast, music, and production values. I can't tell where the story is going to go when the season concludes in April, but as far as being a well put together program, it succeeds.

3. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (FX)

As I stated before, Sunny's fifth season didn't reach the peak of genius that's come before, but the show is still pretty funny every week. I guess they're just running out of sensitive topics to make fun of, but I'm glad that the writers have at least been trying to come up with new ideas for the cast the work with. Despite all that, this show still made me laugh out loud.

2. The Whitest Kids U'Know (IFC)

Much like Sunny, the Whitest Kids 09 season wasn't as fresh as the previous years, but it was still a lot of fun to watch. The new shorter running time of the episodes allowed the show to run the same amount of content in a longer time period. Something I love about the show that other skecth comedy shows don't do very well is the ending of the skits. The cast often find a good punchline to end things on, and when they don't they're not afraid to just let a bit end or completely turn it on its head to finish it. A fourth season is coming and I can't wait.

1. Dexter (Showtime)

I haven't talked about Dexter on this site yet and I haven't talked about it's newest season because I wanted to talk about the first three beforehand. Just know that the fourth season of Dexter is extremely strong and the storyline reaches an extremely tense conclusion. The cast really up their game, Julie Carpenter in particular, and there are moments in the season that rank among the most emotionally affecting things I've seen on television in a long time. The season seems to indicate the series is finally setting things up for the show's grand finale and I eagerly await more greatness.

A Very Sunny Christmas (Review)

It's pretty annoying that the Always Sunny Christmas special is only avilabile on dvd. We all know that the episode is probably going to air next Christmas and there's been talk of it being included on season five's dvd release. Either way, this special is very funny and a bit stronger than most of season five. The story finds Charlie and Mac trying to recapture the magic of Christmas by reminiscing about the happiest experiences of their childhood. However, they discover that their Christmases suck and they set out to recapture the Christmas spirit. Meanwhile, Dee and Dennis are bitter towards Frank for all of the crappy Christmases he's given them over the years, so they attempt to stage their own version of A Christmas Carol in the hopes of making Frank re-examine his life.

Without spoiling to much, the special manages to be full of memorable moments. The flashbacks the gang as children and how horrible their Christmases were is delightfully spiteful (Mac's flashback in particular). There are some nice cameos from recurring characters and an "interesting" tribute to the old Rankin-Bass Christmas specials. Though I've never given him praise before, I've always found Danny Devito to be hilarious as Frank and he's really the star of the show here (a particular scene involving a couch comes to mind). Despite being a bit more vulgar then the show, the episode still manages to embrace that sense of Christmas tradition and highlights the importance of friends and family(well friends anyway), no matter how retarded they are. It's a fun little episode that I might have to include on my yearly Christmas television list.

Jak 3 (Review)

Right off the bat, Jak 3 is loads better than Jak 2. This statement feels odd for me because Jak 3 doesn't really fix any of the major problems from the previous game. At least unlike Jak 2, this game doesn't add any more painful problems in addition to what's caused frustration in the past. I find it relatively shocking that Naughty Dog has pretty much let any and almost all criticisms of the first two titles go unnoticed. The only thing that got some form of improvement here was the slight (and I mean slight) increase in checkpoints and the less crowded Haven City which was a hell of a lot easier to traverse now.

I'm being a little hard on Jak 3, but I actually did enjoy it. All of the problems from before are still here, but they are somewhat less frustrating than they were in the past and the game manages to be pretty fun and rewarding. The game wraps up the trilogy's storyline pretty well and the characters who are introduced are fun and probably the most fully realized characters in the series. The dialogue is less painful and forced except for Jak himself, who still sounds like a stock wannabe action hero. The game's attempts at actual humor are more successful; the cutscene that reveals the Precrussors being the highlight. Perhaps most intriguing, you can unlock commentary for a lot of the cutscenes. They're pretty interesting and shows the developers' love for their series and makes you appreciate some of the work they did. Overall though, The Jak and Daxter games really could've been handled better, but apart from Jak 2, it's a pretty fun series (overlooking some annoyances).

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash Up (Review)

I've been meaning to talk about this one for a while. I approached Smash-Up with some trepidation. Modern Ninja Turtle games aren't that good for one thing and the game seemed way too similar to Super Smash Bros Brawl for its own good. I went the safe route and gave the game a rental and despite my low expectations, I still want my four dollars back. The game was created by most of the same people who worked on Smash Bros, hence the similarities. The only real difference is that while knocking characters out of the arena still counts as a knock out, the characters do have health bars that can be depleted like in a standard fighter.

The game suffers largely from poor controls. The characters' movements are stiff and somehow their jumps are ridiculously floaty. Running and dropping down through platforms are executed by double-tapping, which is awkward in a fast-paced fighting game. The gameplay of Smash Up is characterized by frustrating starts and stops. It take too damn long for a characters' attacking animation to register, so attacking is a pain to do and even worse is the fact that it takes far too long to get up once you are knocked down. I guess its also worth mentioning the stupid wall jump that I thought years of platformers had perfected, but apparently this game is completely clueless as to how the simple maneuver should function. The poor designs choices of some of the arenas make all of these control flaws even worse, most notably the crappy auto-scrolling train stage which tosses characters all over the place.

There's some god-awful mini games that appear in the main arcade mode that seriously make me wonder if anyone on the production staff even checked their work. Really, there's like six of these and none of them are anything good. You can unlock characters by finishing the arcade mode, but the characters are all too similar to one another with little diversity between their fighting styles. I'd have to say if there's one thing that's particularly bad about Smash-Up is just that its boring. The game doesn't even have some form of nostalgia to back it up since as the game "proudly" exclaims, its the first turtles game not based on any show, comic, or movie. Well, maybe if it was there would have been something to enjoy about the game. It wouldn't have been much, but it would have been a tad better than garbage...junk maybe?

Glee - Season 1a (Review)

FOX extended this season by nine episodes that will air in the spring, but it's clear from the mid-season finale that these past 13 episodes were envisioned and written as a full season on it's own so I'll talk about this first part of the season as such. I really hadn't planned on watching this show at first, but the previews and the catchy songs they played during them got me interested enough to check it out. The show details Spanish teacher Will Schuester's attempt at forming a Glee club at his high school and that club's attempt to win at the sectionals competition, while cheerleading coach, Sue Sylvester tries to disband or just outright destroy the club. Meanwhile all the students and even some of the teachers have to deal with their own problems; mainly multiple love triangles and multiple pregnancies. Oh...and all of this is a musical in the sense that we watch the glee club's performances and some of the characters have fantasy musical numbers (all pop-culture songs by-the-way).

Anyway, after the fairly ingenious pilot episode, the show kinda spends a few episodes trying to set an identity for itself. The show initially presented itself as a musical comedy, but at first it steered a bit too far into a musical drama with some fairly crazy storylines. The songs chosen to be preformed were odd (though preformed well) as most seemed to be done more for weak laughs than narrative progression. Luckily, the show finds its feet and plays to its strengths. The storylines becomes tighter and even the odd story arcs become interesting if just to see where they're going with them. The songs become stronger and fit into the various storylines much better and the characters have also developed a complexity rarely seen in high school series.

The characters are more likable than I initially expected. The pretty attractive Matthew Morrison makes the lead character Will Schuester loveable and relateable, while villainous Sue Sylvester is played to near perfection by the always hilarious Jane Lynch. Just as attractive and talented is Cory Monteith and Lea Michele as the student leads Finn and Rachel and Michele in particular shows considerable singing talents (taken from her years on Broadway). The rest of the cast all have their moments to shine (gay guy Kurt and wheelchair bound Artie are probably my favorites) and can all carry a tune pretty well. The show features some pretty good songs and performances from show-tunes to more recent popular music. The only real problem with the performances is the over abundance of auto-tune and at times flat-out piss poor lip syncing. That aside, Glee is pretty good and I'm curious to see where the remaining 9 episodes that will air in April will take the series.

Jak 2 (Review)

I remember playing this when I was younger. I finished it and sorta enjoyed it, but I found it too frustrating to fully embrace so I traded it in to my game store. I just recently bought the game back and after running through the game again, I can clearly see why I gave it away before. Jak 2 is a departure from the first game in tone and in gameplay. The bright cheery world and characters are replaced with a dark distopian future and Jak himself has been transformed into a wannabe badass. The Mario 64 elements from the first game are also replaced by a pretty bad attempt at a Grand Theft Auto clone. To the game's credit, the change in tone sort of works. The story is interesting and the characters are...tolerable. Daxter is probably the highlight as his dialogue can oftentimes be hilarious, though sometimes he can off as grating.

The gameplay change, however is extremely clunky. Getting around Haven City is an unbelievable nightmare as it is, without a doubt, one of the most convoluted game environments I've ever seen. Paths diverge wildly, loop around three or four times to get from one major street to another, and are so crowded it's virtually impossible to drive through without accidentally hitting someone or something. The Krimson Guard that patrol the streets function as the GTA equivalent of cops, and the slightest bump into one of them or their vehicles brings their full ire on top of you. Vehicles are difficult to control through the tight, winding paths and they're so congested with traffic that it's easy to get your car destroyed or run into other people. Worst of all (and without question one of the worst parts of the game) are the racing missions which control poorly, are way too strict (you can die in these races), drag on longer than they have any right to, and have little to no baring on the actual storyline. I swear these races made me want to chuck my controller at the screen.

The platforming is still present but they're in their own sections outside the confines of the shitty city. The platforming sections are well-designed if often put off by the game's irritants, although the integration of guns into the Jak and Daxter formula is done better than I expected. Enemies are still in cheap as hell locations and your guns have really bad auto targeting. Also, when you die, the game remembers the ammo and power-ups you used up, but respawns all the enemies and obstacles...this is such a well thought out game. Really... someone should have playtested this game a little more. Jak 2 is a constant battle between love and hate. It has it moments, but its just too damn frustrating to truly be enjoyable.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - Season 5 (Review)

Sunny's fifth year was a little weaker than what's come before, although its still one of the best shows on television. This season I found myself really appreciating what the writers have been doing with the gang but I'm not laughing nearly as much as I should. The episode where Dennis explains his six step system for hooking up with and then getting rid of girls and the one where the gang deal with the recession are prime examples, though in all fairness they're the only two episodes that fell flat for me. This season had some real great outings with The Kitten Mittens episode,"The Waitress Is Getting Married," and my favorite of the season "Mac and Dennis Break Up" all of which managed to show of the excellence of the show and the chemistry between all the characters.

The cast is still sharp and my favorite is still Charlie with his general ineptitude and severe lack of any basic social skills. Sweet Dee has a nack for making strange faces and hilarious reactions to the way the gang treats her. Dennis actually manages to get some good laughs out of me, most notably his idea for the prefect action movie. While I always found Dennis to be funny, I also always found him to be the most annoying member of the gang, so I was pleasantly surprised to find myself warming up to his character. Despite my earlier nitpicking, this is still an endlessly quotable show and top notch in its ability to entertain, and I'll be watching again next season.

Precious (Review)

I was actually shocked to learn after seeing this film that Tyler Perry was "involved" in its production since this movie is rough five times greater and more ambitious than his own outings, although I guess that has to do more with Oprah's "involvement" than anything else. Based on the novel "Push", Precious tells the ridiculously depressing story of Precious Jones. She's 16, morbidly obese and illiterate. She lives in Harlem with her abusive mother and to top it all off, she's pregnant for the second time by her AIDS infected father. She gets kicked out of public school and is transferred to an alternative school. There, a teacher named Blu Rain brings her up to speed on getting a GED and Precious decides to make a better life for herself in spite of almost everyone trying to keep her down.

Though the plot sounds like it could be a parody of after school specials, its execution is anything but. Unlike most stories with plots this depressing, the movie doesn't try to be uplifting, though it at least ends with some ray of hope. Instead, the film gives us an uncensored glimpse into the awful life of a decent little girl who's experienced more trauma and heartache then most people do in their whole lives. The real strength of this movie lays in its cast, particularly Mo'Nique as Precious's mother Mary. Mo'Nique usually plays comedic roles in rather bland comedies but here she is true a powerhouse turning Mary into a monster. She is the epitome of human cruelty, though she has her bizarre reasons for her actions and she is a delight to watch. Singer Mariah Carey is stripped of the excessive make-up that she's infamous for and appears nearly unrecognizable as the social worker assigned to Precious' case. Gabourey Sidibe makes her debut as Precious and turns in an outstanding performance, seemingly tapping into preconscious feelings to make Precious come alive. Nothing could've prepared me for the dark nature and pure entertainment of this movie. It's easily one of the best films of the year.

Songs I Like - Vol 9: "Blame It On The Girls" (Mika)

I have little clue who Mika is, but after hearing this song "Blame it on the Girls" from his album "The Boy Who Slept Too Much", I figure I have to check some more of his stuff out.

Blame It On The Girls Lyrics:

So I was sitting there in the bar and this guy comes up to me and he said "My life stinks" and I saw his gold credit card and I saw the way he was looking at people across the room and I looked at his face and you know, what a good looking face, and I just said, "Dude, your perspective on life sucks".

He's got looks that books take pages to tell
He's got a face to make you fall on your knees
He's got money in the bank to thank and I guess
You could think he's livin' at ease

Like lovers on the open shore -- What's the matter?
When you're sitting there with so much more --What's the matter?
When you're wondering what the hell to be
Are you wishing you were ugly like me?

Blame it on the girls who know what to do
Blame it on the boys who keep hitting on you

Blame it on your mother for the things she said
You'd blame it on your father but you know he's dead

Blame it on the girls
Blame it on the boys
Blame it on the girls
Blame it on the boys

Life could be simple but you never fail
To complicate it every single time

You could have children and a wife, a perfect little life
But you blow it on a bottle of wine

Like a baby or a stubborn child -- what's the matter
Always looking for an axe to grind -- what's the matter
While you're wondering what the hell to do
We are wishing we were lucky like you

Blame it on the girls who know what to do
Blame it on the boys who keep hitting on you

Blame it on your mother for the things she said
You'd blame it on your father but you know he's dead

Blame it on the girls
Blame it on the boys
Blame it on the girls
Blame it on the boys x 2

He's got looks that books take pages to tell
He's got a face to make you fall on your knees
He's got money in the bank to thank and I guess
You could think he's livin' at ease

Blame it on the girls who know what to do
Blame it on the boys who keep hitting on you

Blame it on your mother for the things she said
Blame it on your father but you know he's dead

Blame it on the girls
Blame it on the boys
Blame it on the girls
Blame it on the boys x 2

The Boondocks - Season 1 (Review)

The Boondocks is quite a different Adult Swim show. For one thing, the production values are through the roof, the beautiful animation effectively emulating an anime, unlike most shows on the programming block that characterized by cheap animation. Second, the show runs for a full half hour, whereas most Adult Swim shows runs about 15 minutes. Based on Aaron McGruder's comic strip, the series follows the Freemans, a black family from Chicago that recently moved to the predominately white suburbs of Woodcrest. The Family consist of Huey and Riley, two brothers that couldn't be any more different in their ideas and opinions (Huey is a black revolutionist, while Riley follows the ways of modern gangsters), and their Granddad ,Robert Freeman watches over them with old-fashioned discipline, while also trying to become a ladies man.

The main focus of the series is offering sharp parodies and commentary on African American culture, pop-culture, and political actions. This first season occasionally stumbles with this a bit here and there, often I found it as though they were trying a bit too hard, but even then I still found the show to be incredibly hilarious. I believe it's comparable to South Park in its ability to mix serious commentary with smart and dirty jokes. The great example of this is "The Trial of Robert Kelly", which despite being extremely dated by the time it aired, was a brilliant take on the way race and celebrity work in the justice system. There's tons of humor and some mean spirited jokes aimed at R. Kelly and the way his fans blindly defend him, but it all culminates in wonderful speech by Huey arguing that, while many black men have been charged with crimes they're innocent of, R. Kelly isn't one of them. Another highlight would have to be "Return of the King", a what-if story that finds Martin Luther King, instead of being killed, put in a coma until 2000. When He opposes the invasion of Afghanistan after 9/11, he's labeled an "Al Qaeda Lover" and "commie bastard" by everyone. From there King tries to start his own left-wing political party with the help of Huey. The episode is full of just plain funny moments and although this episode raised a lot of controversy over Dr King's use of the n-word (which is the show's most frequently used word by the way), I found it to be true to life and respectful to King's legacy.

The cast of characters are all surprisingly deep and well defined. Huey, with his self-righteous and smart-ass attitude, can be a little annoying at times but he's still pretty likeable. Riley is oftentimes pretty damn hilarious as he's a bit too over-influenced by hip-hop culture and episodes that focus on him are funnier, but a tad weaker structurally, than the Huey-centered outings. Grandad is a delight and gets some great moments like his fight with an old blind man and his fling with prostitute (although he didn't know she was a prostitute, despite many obvious signs). The most interesting supporting character would have to be Uncle Ruckus, a self hating black man whose every other line is some sort of slam against the black community. He's offensively funny and his character never becomes too uncomfortable outside of the season finale. I think I've said enough about this show now, that's kinda what happens with things I really like. I think the show offers more than simple shock value and shouldn't be ignored... as long you have a tolerance for excessive use of the n-word.

Planet 51 (Review)

This movie was so insubstantial in its content that its almost not worth talking about. An alien world that is currently in the middle of their variation of the 50's is sent into panic when a human crash lands on the planet. An optimistic teenager has to help the human get back to his spaceship before the government captures him for typical genetic experimentation. Apart from some of the amusing parallels to the general attitudes and trends of the 50s (which the movie never really uses to it's advantage either), this movie doesn't have much to hold on to. Most of the jokes in the film are simple butt jokes and while those can be funny, this movie lazily assumes that just the word "butt" is funny. There are few laughs here and there, but the movie really goes no where as the plot develops, throwing in "exciting" explosions and more lame jokes as it approaches a surprisingly dull finale. There is a lack of originality that is evident in every moment of the film. Back to the Future, Mars Attack, E.T, Aliens, WALL-E, and even District 9 have some reference or influence to the plot. I think it would be a much better use of time to watch one of the many movies Planet 51 was "inspired" by than to actual sit through the film itself.

Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy (Review)

Jak and Daxter kicked of a trio of high profile platformer series for the Playstation 2, the latter two series being Ratchet & Clank and Sly Cooper. I've played the later Jak and Daxter games, but it sure took me a while to get around to playing The original outing. This game didn't really change my opinion of the series though. Now don't get me wrong, I think it's a solid platformer, but I just can not figure out why some people believe this series is better than Ratchet or Sly. The only think Jak has over Sly is writing and storyline, while the storyline manages to be the only thing to trump Ratchet (well...the PS2 entries in the series anyway). The Jak and Daxter games are just more frustrating, suffer from imprecise controls, and are just less polished...sort of.

The first game is more of standard platformer in comparison to the sequels. It's sort of a hybrid of Crash Bandicoot and Super Mario 64. Developer Naughty Dog gave Jak and Daxter pretty much all the same moves they gave Crash when they developed that series, while the gameplay has you going around doing various tasks to earn orbs that allow you to move on to next level a la Mario 64. While the game gets the job done, there are some things that shouldn't have made through the testing phase, such as the double jump which seems to be too specific about it's timing, a picky-ness that sent me to my death more times than necessary. Most enemies serve no other purpose than to piss you off when you're trying to do other things and the enemies are fairly often placed in cheap as hell locations. It also doesn't help that Jak has a stupid method of restoring health. He can take 3 hits before he dies, but can regain one health point by collect 50 green eco orbs that, while plentiful, oddly takes too damn long to full up and makes death seem like faster option to get your health back.

Okay, I'm being a little hard on the game... despite all this bitching, I really did enjoy this game. It just that all those annoyances really make it hard to not be a little irritated will going through it. The world Naughty Dog has created is colorful and fun to run around in. The story and characters, while not on par with the sequels, are somewhat entertaining and actually managed to make me laugh sometimes, though the game is definitely not as clever as it thinks. The game could have been developed a bit more, but it's still a solid platformer.

Turtles Forever (Review)

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and they've been celebrating the occasion by releasing special action figures, re-releasing movies, and updating classic Ninja Turtles video games. The celebration concluded about a week ago with premiere of a special animated movie that I had been looking forward to since it was announced. Turtles Forever has the 1987 cartoon cast ending up in the dimension of the 2003 cartoon show. When the 87 Shredder figures out that if are a different set of Turtles, then there probably is a different Shredder, it results in the revival and return of Ch'rell, the Utrom Shredder. Ch'rell is more insane then ever and he takes over and modifies the Technodrome from the 1987 cartoon with Utrom tech and upgrades it to pretty much the equivalent of the Death Star. Both the 87 and 2003 Turtles end up in a fight to save themselves as well as all other dimensions, while learning to put up with one another.

Overall, as a Ninja Turtles fan, the movie is really satisfying. It was a real treat to see the 1987 characters in new detailed animation that still remained true to their original character designs.
The main theme in the film seems to be to show off just how different in tone the two series really are. The 87 series was light-hearted ,and like most 80s cartoons, corny as hell, while the recent series is dark, serious and closer in tone to the original comic book. If I had to chose one over the other, I'd have to say that I prefer that recent series to the older one which is good because the story seems to be more focused on them and giving their series a proper conclusion and their version of the Shredder takes the lead as the main antagonist. If anything, this movie goes out of its way to show just how insane the Shredder of the 2003 series is. He truly is the most heartless and dangerous Shredder ever created and he steals the show.

The only major downside to the film is that here the 1987 series is treated almost as a parody of itself. The movie overplays their stupid and comedic sides from the original show rather then their more serious sides. There is some great humor in the 2003 cast's reactions to the 87 cast's horrible puns and childish attitudes, but at times it really felt like the movie was just one step away from saying "Can you believe anybody ever watched this show?" I have only seen a handful of episodes of the 87 series (as opposed to the 2003 series where I've seen almost every episode) and while I can agree that it can be pretty groan worthy and "kid-friendly", I don't think it ever was or became as juvenile and looney tunes-esque as this movie makes it out to be. Despite this, the movie wasn't perfect but it was still pretty awesome. It had a lot of fan service for the comic fans, the 87 fans, and the 2003 fans. Nickelodeon's acquiring of the Ninja Turtles license has turned this movie into a send-off for an era of the TMNT franchise and as such, it doesn't disappoint.

Frasier - Season 3 (Review)

Three seasons in and Frasier is still constantly hilarious. The show still features sharp, witty writing that is never too smart or insanely stupid. The cast is still able to find the right niche for their characters and allow them to develop naturally as the show goes on. The big change to this season is that this time around the show starts to introduce a few story arcs that pop up between the standalone stories. The first arc sees Frasier butting heads with - and later sleeping with the new boss over at his radio station, while the second arc sees Niles separating from his wife Maris and dealing with the single life. This arc in particular in entertaining because of the amusing reactions Niles undergoes when believes that he's been shunned from the high society parties he and wife usually attend. The storyline also leds to one of my favorite episodes of the series, "Moon Dance", where Daphene goes with Niles to a winter dance and Niles have quite a time trying to keep his long standing feelings for her hidden. Another brilliant episode has Frasier and Niles go head to head in competitive psychiatry when they see an outside shrink together to get their brotherly relationship back in order after a disagreement. This season also has a memorable appearance from Frasier's snobby ex-fiance from Cheers, Diane Chambers, who comes to town to debut an unflattering (but funny) play based her life from Cheers. I'm actually having difficulty finding the fourth season on dvd, but I can't wait to dive into to more comedic genius.

South Park - Season 13 (Review)

South Park's 13th year was a tad better than the last few years in some aspects. The show's best years are clearly behind it and the show kinda feels like its just there, but its still able to be highly entertaining and this season was able to do so much more consistently than last year. As usual, the season's episodes featured celebrity and headline news parodies and more stories about how frickin retarded the citizens of South Park are. Something interesting that I noticed is that the first half of the season largely features references to the Obama administration, particularly "The Coon" episode, which was a brilliant stab on people who expected Obama to change things right off the bat, while the second half of the season featured a surprising number of jabs at obscure reality shows (Whale Wars, Ghost Hunters and some crab fishing show). One thing I'm glad they toned down this season was the constant feuding between Cartman and Kyle, which had nearly dominated the series in the last few years and was starting to become rather irritating. The show is still pretty good and is going to go on for at least other two seasons and they've said they'd like to finish the show with another proper movie. Though I'd probably keep watching the show if they continued for another decade, I think it best if they start wrapping things up.

Songs I Like - Vol 8: "Kiwi" (Maroon 5)

Maroon 5 is right up there with The Killers in terms of My favorite bands. This song "Kiwi" is one of my favorite tracks off of their second album, "It Won't Be Soon Before Long".

Kiwi Lyrics

You’re such a flirt, I know you hurt
And so do I, I empathize
I see you out, you never cared
A conversation that we never shared

But it’s so strange, it’s something new
Amazing feelings that I have for you
I close my eyes when I’m alone
Wonder what it’d be like to make you moan

I wanna give you something better
Than anything you’ve ever had
A stronger and a faster lover
The world, it disappears so fast

Sweet kiwi
Your juices dripping down my chin
So please, let me
Don’t stop it before it begins

So give it up, and don’t pretend
And spread your arms and legs across the bed
And when you shake, you won’t regret
The things I whisper in your ear
(What?) I said:

I wanna give you something better
(You wanna give me something better)
Than anything you’ve ever had
(Than anything I’ve ever had)
A stronger and a faster lover
(A stronger and a faster lover)
The world, it disappears so fast
(It disappears so fast)

Sweet kiwi
Your juices dripping down my chin
So please, let me
Don’t stop it before it begins

I can’t wait to take you home
Fingers through your hair
Kisses on your back
Scratch me with your nails

Save me from myself
Show me how to care
Get everything out
Dripping everywhere
Lipstick smeared all over your face
How much longer must we wait?
Don’t think that I can wait

Sweet kiwi
Your juices dripping down my chin
So please, let me
Don’t stop it before it begins (hey, yeh)

Sweet kiwi (wanna give you something better than this)
Your juices dripping down my chin (hey, yeh)
So please, let me (wanna give you something better than this)
Don’t stop it before it begins

Don’t stop it before it begins
Don’t stop it before it begins
Don’t stop it before it begins
Don’t stop it before it begins

New Super Mario Bros Wii (Review)

In a lot of ways, I'm really confused about how I feel about this game. At the very least, it's a huge improvement over the somewhat ho-hum Ds predecessor and is more suited as the proper follow-up to the classic Mario side-scrollers. The game delivers the quality I've come to expect from the main series of Mario titles. But this game also managed to reveal to me why it's took so long to have more 2-d Mario outings...they simply don't have new material anymore. This is somewhat understandable, Mario 3 and Mario World are considered to be the high point of the platforming genre (and gaming in general to some people) so it would be very hard to follow up on such nearly flawless outings as those. New Super Mario Bros Wii is basically a retread of those two games and that's not really a bad thing. Nintendo could very well keep releasing something like this every three to five years and I'd probably be satisfied, but I just wouldn't be as impressed anymore...as was the case here.

Apart from the co-op mulitplayer and the incredible final boss battle, the game doesn't do enough to stand out on it's own. Most of the game is simply filled with shout-outs to the earlier games. The Koopalings, the airships, the final battle from Mario World, the enemies roaming about on the map screen, and the criminally brief reappearance of Yoshi, these are all from earlier titles and with the exception of the Koopalings who are at least a bit harder here than in Mario World, these elements were much better when they were used nearly 20 years ago. That said, it's still nice to see some of these elements return and the new items are ten times better than ones from the Ds outing. There's a propeller suit that makes you fly, an ice flower that's the same as the fire flower...only with ice, and a penguin suit that also allows you to shoot ice and slide around. The items are still more or less tools to get the optional star coins, but they're able to function in traversing stages and attacking adversaries.

The big addition to this game is the co-op mode where two to four people work together or against each other to finish the stage. Having played through the game by myself and with two other friends, I have to say that it's much easier to play alone, but a hell of a lot more fun to play with friends. Most of the difficulty of the co-op mode comes from the other players getting in the way and otherwise disturbing the flow of the game, but it's just so damn funny to watch your friends miss a jump that you passed or toss them into a pit. My friends and I nearly died laughing and while it got a little annoying at times, we all agreed that co-op mode was amusing.
Overall, despite all my complaints, New Super Mario Bros Wii is still a solid outing for the plumber and one of the better games released this year. Apart for Mario Galaxy 2 (which appears to be nothing more than an expansion pack), I'm not sure what's next for the Mario franchise, but I'll eagerly look forward to it.

Michael Jackson's This Is It (Review)

Michael Jackson's This Is It is much less exploitative and tacky than I assumed it would have been. The movie itself even acknowledges that it only exist because of M.J's death. The movie is nothing more than a behind the scenes look at Jackson's "This Is It" concert tour that he was working on and in a way the film is also like a concert as we see Jackson and his dancers run through his well known catalogue of hits. Billie Jean, Man in the Mirror, Thriller, and my personal favorite: Smooth Criminal are all preformed and in we get to see the the work that went into skits that would have been incorporated into the larger numbers like Thriller's zombie parade and Smooth Criminal's gangster shootout. The movie gives of a rare glimpse into what made Micheal tick and showed how even in his 50s, he still had all the moves and knew exactly what he wanted out of his performers and his musicians. I really wouldn't say I'd watch this again when pops up on dvd, but but as a one time viewing, I found it to be pretty good time.

Gunslinger Girl (Review)

One of my good friends lent me this last month and I must say I'm glad he did. It's about a branch of the Italian government that runs a specialized assassination squad. Believe it or not, the assassins are little girls, taken from life or death situations and controlled with chemical and psychological conditioning which grants them with extreme levels of strength and agility. The girls are led by Adult handlers that guide them in operations against terrorists and the mafia.

Gunslinger Girls is a different type of show, the closest genre I can associated it with is an action drama. The show's more focused on the drama than action, largely because everything that plays out is incredibly serious and things are rarely ever funny. Everything is character-driven and that along with various relationships and attitudes of the main characters really succeeded in sucking me into their world. The girls never find their situations troubling, regardless of their conditioning, since all of them have been rescued from worse, and their relationships with their adult handlers are varied and intriguing and thankfully never reach a disturbing level except for an excellent and tearful two-parter that hits all the right notes. The only slight downside I can find to the show is that there isn't any sort of distinguishable story arc here. It's largely just a brief glimpse into the lives of special little girls. It's truly a wonderful series and though it's may not be for everybody, it at least deserves a look.

Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil (Review)

There isn't much to say about this. Klonoa 2 is pretty much exactly the same as the original PS1/ Wii remake game. There aren't any new abilities or power-ups to nab, the story brings up some of the same themes and character motivations as the first, and apart from the surfing/snowboarding levels, you could switch one world from this game with a world from the first and never know the difference. Klonoa 2 pretty much feels like an expansion pack for the first game, and since that game was fairly charming that works out quite well here. Klonoa still has his unique enemy chucking ability and his still useless floating jump. The only thing that got somewhat of an upgrade were the bosses who now kinda put of a fight...it's not much but it's there. Klonoa 2, like the first game, is just a easy, well-made, fun little diversion.