Zombieland (Review)

I don't really care much for horror movies...at all. Believe it or not, Zombieland was my first exposure to genre, even though it's more of a comedy movie with some horror in it than the other way around. The movie takes place in a world overrun with zombies and follows a geeky kid named Columbus (or dubbed so, everybody in the film is referred to by their hometown name so that they don't get too close or friendly) who survived the zombie apocalypse because of his strict set of rules like "double tap" and "check the backseat". He encounters a badass hunter referred to as Tallahassee and he agrees to give Columbus a ride so that he can locate his estranged family, while all Tallahassee wants now is a twinkie as a reminder of the good old days. Along the way, these two meet up with a pair of sisters, who continually screw them over them. The group of slowly learn to trust each other and sets out for place where few zombies inhabit.

I may have never seen a zombie film before, but pop culture has keep me well versed in their routines. Zombieland gets some points off the bat for not being about the outbreak and start of the zombie attack, but instead being about a few people trying to survive in a world already ravaged by them. Also out of the norm here is that blood and violent (human) deaths are kept to minimal (as opposed to most movies in the genre these days where that seems to be the sole point). As a result, the characters are fairly likable as they are actually given some time to develop somewhat since their purpose is not to die. Most of the humor comes from the main characters behavior during their various zombie encounters and the script goes the smart path by giving them enough background to make them more relateable than most horror movie heroes but they're still basically stereotypes more than fully formed characters and it's the skill of the actors playing them that make the characters work other than the script.

Jesse Eisenberg does a great job here as Columbus taking the lead as a lovable loser. I've never actually seen a movie with Woody Harrelson in it, but he seemed to be born to play a badass zombie killer and hr clearly enjoyed his role, while Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin manage to be likable despite their pigheaded actions for most of the film. Also of note is a celebrity cameo during the movie's more comedic (and uneventful) second act which was without a doubt the best part of the movie. The movie concludes with an action oriented third act at an amusement park that was a hell of alot more engaging than I would have assumed. The film doesn't have a proper conclusion per-say as it was initially intended to be a television series, but I think I would enjoy seeing a sequel or Tv show that continued the adventures these four survivors.

Songs I Like - Vol 6: "Next To You" (Ciara)

Another song that I can relate too, this time form R&B artist's Ciara's debut album "Goodies". This song features R Kelly who only sings two lines.

Lyrics to Next To You :
(feat. R Kelly)

[Ciara:]
I hope I don’t make you mad, with what I’m ‘bout to say boy
Here we are once again, and I’m havin second thoughts boy
I’m not messin' with your head, but I changed my mind boy
I don’t know why I’m here, the same time I want you near

If you want me to leave, I will understand
See I will just have to respect your wishes boy
'Cause if I stay ain't no tellin' what may happened boy
Although you look so good to me, it's best that I leave

[Chorus:]
I’m scared of being next to you, because of what I think I might do
Boy you're turnin' me on right now, I can’t get down like that right now
I don’t want to disturb the flow, but this is not my M.O.,
Hold up, wait a minute, we’re movin' too fast
I want somethin' like this here to last.

[R. Kelly:]
Don’t say no baby, not right now baby,
I want you to be my lady, you got me goin’ crazy

[Ciara:]
Well I guess I’ll stay for a minute, then I have to go boy
This moment is so temptin’, right now it’s not what I want boy
Maybe if we just embrace, with a simple kiss boy
But that'll only make things worse, hope I’m not gettin’ on your nerves boy

I just wanted to be right for the both of us
You don’t have to say a thing to make me comfortable
Boy, you make me so weak when you look at me
Right now I’m a little confused, I think it's best that I refuse

[Chorus]

[Bridge:]
Supposed to be playin' cards, or watchin' a movie
But we keep lockin' eyes boy, now why are you tryin' to tease me?
This room is gettin' heated, won't you open up a window?
I think that I should go now, 'cause I can't take this no more

[Chorus x3]

Astro Boy (Review)

I have to admit to never seeing anything related to Astro Boy other than a GBA video game and a parody on "Freakazoid", this American reimagining of Osamu Tezuka's famous manga is my first proper exposure to the franchise. In the movie, Toby the son of Dr. Tenma is killed by a battle robot when General Stone fails to heed some warning about plugging negative energy into a battle 'bot. Stricken with grief, Dr. Tenma rebuilds Toby as a robot, hoping to fully replicate his son in a form where he will be able to defend himself with bizarre upgrades like rocket boosters and guns in his hands. Of course, the new Toby is more than Dr Tenma bargained for and he's also powered by positive energy, something that General Stone would love to get his hands on.

Astro Boy is a middle of the road family film, though it does at least attempt to be more than a fun kids movie. The thing that is most surprising about it is that the movie is pretty dark for a flick aimed at the little ones: a child is technically killed on screen, the movie has strange political undertone to it (General Stone is an obvious model on George W. Bush), Astro Boy is rather harshly disowned by his father and even Asimov's Laws of Robotics play a role in the storyline. Sadly, the movie really missed a great opportunity by choosing not to truly explore any of these concepts (apart from the Toby's death, which is essential to the plot). Sure, most of this would go over the heads of the children watching this, but there's enough decent humor and action to keep them entertained.

The future world that most of the movie takes place in is wonderful to look at, full of funny details and humorous robots. The concepts applied to this portion of the movie are intriguing so it's somewhat depressing that one again the movie forgoes this unique setting for a bland garage dump and a dull sub-plot with some under-developed kids that's just too ordinary and too obvious in children's entertainment. I mean seriously, what was the point of creating a fantastic world that was full of great storyline potential, if they're going to spend half of the movie away from it? The action scenes(when the film finally gets to it) escalates into some fairly impressive sequences of Astro battling giant robots. These scenes are expertly choreographed, and they move at an exciting pace. Action is clearly this movie's strength. I didn't really hate Astro Boy (though I'm sure kids will love it), I just hate that it showed so much potential only to waste it.

Frasier - Season 1 (Review)

There aren't too many multi-camera, laugh track-filled sitcom in that I watch or actually like. I think at most there about five and Frasier is the most recent entry on that short list. I've seen most of the latter end of the series in syndication earlier in the year and have enjoyed it enough to pick up the first season on dvd and see how it all started. Frasier is a spin-off of the popular sitcom Cheers, here Dr. Frasier Crane leaves Boston (where Cheers took place) and heads for his hometown of Seattle to start his own psychology radio show. He settles into his new ritzy apartment until he's suddenly surrounded by his family. Fraiser and his brother Niles decide that their disabled father Martin Crane and his dog Eddie should move in with Frasier. This does naturally causes a culture clash as Frasier is accustomed to a higher standard of living than Martin. After that, Frasier decides to hire a live in physical therapist, Daphne Moon ( to help with his father's disability and from there the hijinks ensue!

I've never seen a show hit it's mark right off the bat as quickly as Frasier does. From the pilot episode to the season finale, the humor, writing and acting are firing from all cylinders and almost never dips below the above average mark. Most of this can be attributed to the fantastic cast. Kelsey Grammer's comedic timing is impeccable, and is complimented by a very likable, though at times, grating personality. David Hyde Pierce is truly outstanding as Niles and he and Grammer compliment one another perfectly using their strong timing to play the high society humor and contrast between themselves and their working-class father. Speaking of the father, the show's supporting cast is equally captivating in their roles. Jane Leeves as the health care worker Daphne Moon provides more then her fair share of laughs in every episode and John Mahoney as father Martin Crane manages to come off as stubborn but likable. The first season of Frasier is witty and well-written and consistently entertains and I can't wait to get through the second season.

Mario Party (Review)

The Mario Party series is often referred to as the most hated of the Mario spin-offs and with some good reason. In the ten years since it's debut, the franchise has released 10 games (8 console titles and 2 handheld spin-offs) with little innovation between them. Thinks to eBay, I've been able to acquire most of them for my Mario collection fairly cheap. While I'm probably not going to spent much time playing through all of them right now(if at all), For the time being, I'm going to try and take a quick refresher course on the 3 games I already owned.

I played the original game when it was first released, and 10 years later it's still fairly enjoyable. Mario Party is pretty much a board game with some mini-games to break up the monotony. You and 3 other players move around the board collecting coins and buying stars. The one who has the most stars at the end of the game is declared the winner. You get coins through certain spaces on the board, and by winning the various mini-games that you come across. At the end of every turn everyone will compete in a mini game for coins.

The boards all have various features and traps to take advantage of like planting seeds in a giant birthday cake, or getting shot out of multiple cannons in a battlefield and all the stages feature Bowser who'll always show up to screw up someone's progress by taking their coins or stars. Most of the boards here managed to keep me and my friends entertained as opposed to most of the latter games. Sure, the game can be frustrating as hell, but naturally that's only when you're losing. There are some things featured in this game that were thankfully dropped for the sequels. There's an annoying space that will either give you an extra turn or take one away, a solo mini game space that a little too time consuming, and the way that you are rewarded for team based mini games can be a little infuriating (one mini-game allows a solo player to steal upwards to 60 coins).

The main draw of the Mario Party games are the mini games. Depending on the spaces everyone lands on in the board it'll actually become one of 4 different types of games (4 Player, a 1 vs. 3, or 2 vs. 2). Most of these are incredibly unique like the one where you play jump rope with a line of fire enemies as the rope, bobsledding down an icy cave or racing miniature cars. For the most part they're all fun and the actions used to preform the games are more diverse than the sequels. Sure, some of the games pop up way more often than they should and couple of the games are out right unfair to some of the players, but I'd say that over 90% of the mini games are enjoyable. I've really talked about this game a lot longed than I intended to, but I guess I had a lot of ground to cover. I say the game is pretty fun to play solo but I give the game a higher recommendation if you have a couple of other people to play against. So, whether you're planning on a single player experience or multiplayer, the game is still recommended either way.

Run Fatboy Run (Review)

I love Simon Pegg's movies, Shawn of the Dead and especially Hot Fuzz are hilarious and I enjoyed his work in the recent Star Trek film. Run Fatboy Run is a film I missed out on mostly because the trailers for the movie weren't engaging and made the film look really generic. It's about a guy named Dennis Doyle, who left his pregnant girlfriend Libby at the altar. Five years later, he wants her back and of course given the predictability of storylines like this, she's moved on to another man, the seemingly-perfect Whit. Whit is going to run in a marathon for charity, and Dennis hopes that by competing he can convince Libby that he's changed.

While BASEketball was a parody of sports films and typical loser's redemption films, Run Fatboy Run is pretty much a by-the-numbers sports and loser's redemption film. I already knew where most of the plot was going as soon as the basic portion of the story was revealed and some of the characters are a tad too predictable like the villain Whit who starts out as the flawless boyfriend, but naturally becomes more of a dick as the movie progresses. I blame most of the movie's generic nature on the director David Schwimmer, best known for his starring role on the completely mediocre and over-rated sitcom Friends. Luckily Simon Pegg and the talented Michael Ian Black had a hand in the script and manage to include some refreshing changes from the norm here and there. I liked that the characters soon realize that Dennis actually doing the charity won't get Libby back to him and the while the film ends with their relationship on better terms, whether or not they get back together is left up to viewer's imagination which is so much better than most movies these days that force a couple together with little coherent reason.

The cast keeps the movie afloat with some well done performances. Simon Pegg is naturally the best of the bunch, making his rather one note starring character explode with life. Dylan Moran is likable in the best friend role and manages to get a few solid jokes in. Thandie Newton does a lovely job as the love interest which is rather surprising considering she wasn't very good in this role in some of her previous films (Norbit, Crash). Run Fatboy Run was a decent enough comedy, I'd say it's at least worth a look if only for Simon Pegg's involvement.

Super Metroid (Review)

Super Metroid was the third game released in the Metroid series, but is the seventh game in the series's timeline. The game's story ties together elements from the original game and the Game Boy sequel. The game sees Samus returning to planet Zebes and entering the Space Pirate's base. She finds a lone Metroid in a room which is instantly captured and is taken somewhere deep within Zebes, with Samus in pursuit to find out where the Metroid has been taken and why. The story isn't that interesting, as is the case with most Nintendo games, but the story does take place on the same planet as the first game so I got to see some familiars enemies and places. The game not only uses the worlds from the original game but expands on them. Many of the repeated rooms have also been re-designed, providing the right balance of nostalgia and new challenges, which was something I enjoyed.

Not much has changed since the first game, you're still exploring the depths of the planet, killing alien enemies, finding new power-ups to help you progress. As with most sequels there are new power-ups like the speed booster which lets you crash through certain walls, the power bomb, which destroys extremely hard surfaces and the very helpful X-ray visor, which lets you finds hidden paths and power-ups. A lot of people have often referred to Super Metroid as the best game in the Metroid franchise and one of the best games of all time and maybe because that's the only thing I ever hear when someone talks about the game, I find it rather easy to disagree. While exploration is the main hook of the series, it's still way too easy to get stuck/lost with no clue where to go. While this did help me feel fustration in the same way Samus was probably feeling, it's not fun to be at a complete loss of what to do for long periods of time. Also some of Samus's abilities control like crap, I'm mostly referring to the untrustworthy grapple beam and the dreadful to use wall jump. Despite those complaints, Super Metroid is still a wonderful game filled with top-notched gameplay and an haunting atmosphere. Definitely one of the Super Nintendo's best titles and one of the better games on the Wii's virtual console.

King of the Hill - Season 13 (Review)

And so one of the longest running animated sitcoms comes to an end, even though there’s still four episodes left unaired...I guess it doesn’t matter as long as the series finale was aired. King of the Hill had been facing impending cancellation since season 10 and with knowledge that the show wouldn’t have much time left, the creators spent the last few seasons wrapping things up and showing major changes in the lives of the Hills and their Arlen friends. Luanne got pregnant and married in season 11, while Hank’s father, Cotton, passed away in season 12. This final season was a nice send off for the show and Hank and Bobby’s characters in particular.

The series has always been relatively consistent in its quality over the years, although the last few seasons were somewhat weaker than what came before. This last batch of episodes are surprisingly and thankfully stronger and feature some pretty funny and engaging outings for the Hills, most notable being Luanne finally giving birth to her daugther and Hank performing the degrading tasks featured in his father’s will. Something else that was real treat was all the callbacks to previous episodes, The Order of the Straight and Arrow reappear, Luanne resurrected her Manger Babies act(my favorite episode), and we finally meet Buck Strickland’s son. The final episode is wonderfully heartwarming as it sees Hank finally discovering that he and Bobby have something in common: A love for good beef. The finale didn’t try too hard to tug on the heartstrings, it just kept the characters honest and true in their own unique ways and even though we won't be seeing these characters anymore, they'll continue to grow and live their lives like normal people. I generally liked what they did with everyone, and it seemed like a natural way to wrap up the show. King of the Hill has been a great series, and while it's declined in the last few years, I'm going to miss it now that it's gone.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - Season 4 (Review)

Okay, the second half of this season was the first batch of episodes I’d ever seen of this show and now that I’ve seen the complete season on dvd, I’m officially caught up on this show just in time for the 5th season which is currently airing. Sunny’s fourth season is pretty much exactly the same as all that’s come before, which is to say it’s very funny. I’ve actually kinda run out of things to say about this show. Charlie continues to steal the show and is still my favorite character with Dee as a close second and they both have plenty of great moments throughout the season. The gang still hasn't run out of social issues to make fun of or stupid things to go on ludicrous rants about.

However, after three seasons of this, it seems that the crew has decided to mix things up a little and it mostly works out for the better. Some of the episodes are parodies of others shows, Sex in the City, Extreme Home Makeover, and America’s Next Top Model (along with other competitive reality shows) are lampooned with great gusto here with the extreme home makeover episode probably being my favorite of the season. Other episodes change the basic format like the bizarre mystery of who pooped in the bed, the flat but admirable period piece episode, and of course the hilarious fan favorite musical finale “The Nightman Cometh”. The show’s still wonderful and even the weakest episode can’t go five minutes without something funny happening. Season five is airing right now and I’m glad that I’ve caught up.

BASEketball (Review)

Baseketball is an interesting film starring South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone mostly because they didn’t write or direct it, they just starred in it, which is kind of weird. It was actually written by David Zucker, whose only film I’ve seen prior to this was the 1980 movie Airplane. The movie follows two friends with very little going for them, who create an sport which (as the title suggest) falls somewhere between baseball and basketball, called baseketball. The sport surprisingly rises to extreme popularity, and eventually the duo find their sport’s purity threatened when an entrepreneur schemes to take control of the sport and make millions, and their friendship is inevitably tested as they each have their own opinions on the situation.

BASEketball is essentially two movies stuck together. One is a standard teen comedy with plenty of sight-gags and raunchy humor, the other is a parody of professional sports movies, featuring all the rise and fall drama that dominate them. As their theatrical acting debut, Stone and Parker work perfectly in this movie. Their real life friendship translates extremely well and they really seem at ease and very natural before the camera. The humor flips between spouting off jokes and insults, and lots of slapstick gags. It’s all delivered in a rapid fire manner that mostly succeeded in getting me to truly enjoy most of the film. There’s a surprising amount of cameos from well-known sports figures like sportscasters, Al Michaels and Bob Costas, who appeared to have a lot of fun with their running commentary. But most of the other cameos like Reggie Jackson seem to be there for no other purpose than for the movie to say they got these stars to appear in the film. BASEketball is nothing more than another lowbrow comedy film, but it is funnier than it has any right to be.