Retro Gaming Quick Bite : Megaman X 2

                     The war continues and Megaman X is the head of the Maverick Hunters in Megaman X 2 Versus the X Hunters...

Retro Quick Bite: Megaman X 2 

                  So Capcom succeeded in knocking the socks off of Megaman Fans with its  release of Megaman X. The innovative new moves and the perfection of side scrolling mechanics is unmatched when you play an X game. If that idea was hard to swallow look at Nintendo's classic hit Super Metroid and try to play the game. The controls are okay but it is very difficult to get used to the controls until you have played the game for an hour or two. Megaman literally takes seconds to jump right into. So is the second installment to Megaman X as amazing as its predecessor?

                  X2 takes place 6 months after the destruction of Sigma.X is promoted to Captain of the Maverick Hunters since Zero Sacrificed himself to save X in the first game. X relinquishes the X Armor because of his desire to never become "Over Powered" and attacks the last of the Maverick resistance. However, he is unable to find Sigma's followers. The last Mavericks unleash a devastating assault on the country with the intent of hunting down and destroying the Blue bomber.   

(Just sample footage, I'm not comentating in this film)


So X finds the X Armor again and you have to fight off the Maverick robot masters to find their mysterious leader. I am going to be clear about something with this game. Megaman X 2 has the best story campaign in the Super NES X series. Without saying words, the game opens up just showing how much stronger X has become. In Megaman X, you realize that you are helpless and week and you need the assistance of Zero to save you. However, in X 2, you start off just wrecking everything in  your path. The boss of the intro stage is a mecha that is like 10 times the size of Vile's Mecha that completely trashes X in the first game. You take out the Machine  with 4 charge shots.
                 After the intro stage the antagonists are shown watching X and stating that is is not to be F*^%ed with and they need to begin construction ASAP. This sets a tone for the player who pushed through the first game. You don't feel like you are starting from square one when you get through the intro stage. But the moment you step through a boss gate, feeling all awesome and confident, you get that ass handed to you. The Mavericks are tough and without upgrades or the weapon they are week against, you will find yourself deeply frustrated in this play through.
                But it is the story that shines when you play X2. The enemy lets you know that they have the body of your fallen comrade Zero. You then are placed into a side quest where you must fight  The X Hunters to claim Zero's parts. The X hunters post up at enemy hideouts, the entrance to some of their levels are hidden. The X hunters are even harder than the robot Masters. There are also other bosses Bit, Byte, and Vile, they attack you at random and are vicious bosses.  The simple story of a warrior trying to save his comrade just keep you playing through this game. But X2 is not perfect.


                     There are certain things that you expected the franchise to expand on when you played X2. When you Play through Megaman X, after defeating a boss, something happens to another bosses hideout and it is freakin COOL. This never happens in side scrollers before this game. You would beat Storm Eagle, and go to Spark Mandrill's stage and things are...different. Storm Eagle's Battleship has crashed into the power plant debris are strewn about the stage, and the lights are flickering. That is freaking GENIUS! When you defeat Chill Penguin, the the molten steel of the robot factory stage freezes over! When you put down the Octopus, the forest floods and you can use the water to find your heart tanks! That was something I was hoping X2 and 3 would do and for some reason, they didn't. Your actions from previous levels had no effects on the other levels you chose and I though that was a complete let down and a symptom of rushed development.
                   Secondly, the music!!!! Megaman is known for its iconic composition. Every Megaman game has really good and catchy music... You don't believe me check this out!
                                     (Megaman X, Spark Mandrill Stage Acapellla -This guy is
                                                               awesome for this!)

Megaman X had GREAT music. Megaman X2 had ..good music. This was a bit of a setback because I would play some levels and enjoy the music and I would play other levels and just want to turn my TV down, that should never happen when playing a Megaman game. The most disappointing song was the new Doctor Light song when you find an X Capsule. In Megaman X the music was quiet and suspenseful the music made me want to read everything Doctor light said. The X2 song was just not the same. But when you learn the Shoryuken....YES , Ken's Shoryuken from Street Fighter, when you find the (very difficult to reach capsule) Light says "Wow, You are so COOL! I am not Worthy, I am not Worthy " I chose to forgive the new song.

So with the great story line. Awesome Boss fights, and just, really fun game play Megaman X 2 is still

a great continuation of a great game. I still feel that this game was rushed. 

The game feels like it was moving towards allowing you to play as Zero once you assembled him

instead, the enemy takes him and you have to face him in the last act. There is an alternate ending and that 

helps with a bit of replay ability value. This game still is a ....

Delicious one

                 

Retro Gaming Quick Bite : Megaman X

 Hay Capcom! You are making an HD remake of Ducktales. Did you forget that other guy that you made 6 games for on the NES? That blue guy...The guy that you handed over to Sony who buried him after, what, 17 installments and a huge fan base? YEAH CAPCOM, where the hell is Megaman !?

Megaman X, SNES Installments 

A Retro Quick Bite 

                  So why was Megaman X such a memorable character in gaming history? Well the thing is, he is not. Most people know his prototype, Megaman, and his Mentor, Zero. Capcom has been pretty cruel to this Character. A quick history lesson is needed here. Capcom created Zero to be the eventual replacement for Megaman. The X series was meant to be the series that would bring the death of  Megaman and would branch off with a Zero series. In a sense, Capcom accomplished this by ending the X franchise and creating Megaman Zero. But the fans miss the true blue bomber and want to see him featured once again. Capcom recently scrapped a Megaman X FPS (first person shooter)  titled: Maverick Hunter, developed by the creators of the Metroid Prime Franchise. The game actually looked quite good and the news of its cancellation is kind of upsetting.

              We are going to take a bite into the Retro SNES titles, Megaman X 1-3. Developers chose to take a more theatrical role in the creation of these games and the story is pretty intense. Did you ever see Will Smith in I Robot? Well that was essentially the Megaman X story. Robots serve humans with a law to never hurt a human. However this law became obsolete when a Dr. Wiley created a virus that turned robots to take over the world. Megaman was created specifically to take out these mavericks. The war between Mavericks and maverick hunters would go on for many years past the deaths of Doctor's Light and Wiley.
But with the creation of Reploids, robots like Megaman that could make their own choices more and more reploids would turn Maverick of their own accord. One of these Reploids was the Sigma, an incredibly efficient warrior that decided that humans were obsolete. He would gather an army of powerful mavericks and wage war against humanity.
             One of Sigma's strongest allies was Dr. Wiley's last creation, Zero. It would be speculated that Zero is a highly upgraded, and unmasked version of Protoman (Megaman's official Prototype that was stolen). During the time that Zero turned Maverick Hunter, and ancient and powerful Reploid was discovered that closely resembled Megaman. This Reploid would come to be called Megaman X. He was no where near as strong as Zero, but he would be a highly effective Maverick Hunter.

Megaman X 

                Megaman X starts off shortly after the discovery of X and throws you in the middle of the Maverick Hunter War. In the early 90s, cinematic games were a rare feat but this game executed it so well. When you start the game, you see the analysis of a recently discovered X. Whoever is analyzing his body is noting how potentially powerful he can be. This is one of the core aspects of this game, growing stronger RPG style within a shooter. The game doesn't start off like a typical Megaman game. Instead of the Level Select screen, you are thrown right into a level. You witness a city under attack and you control X, fighting through the throngs of attackers. The game introduces new mechanics that will be essential to game play, the charge shot, and the wall jump. The first level serves as a way to teach you how to play the game and you are forced to naturally learn the wall jump and other moves you will need. The best way to explain how great this game was put together is to share a video...

This game is simply a masterpiece. Capcom outdid themselves with Megaman X and it stands out as one of the greatest games of all time. The story, the buildup , the execution, and the challenge all blend together to make an awesome game. As you play on, you don't only discover new enemy abilities, you are introduced to Zero , an  awesome supporting character. He only has two lines of dialogue with X and his presence in the game is still dynamic and engrossing. You also get to find the X Armor.

 You also can build your lifebar higher than a Robot Master's, and leard Ryu's Haduken from Street Fighter! The Haduken is so powerful, it can take any boss out with one blow, including Sigma ! When you played Megaman, you were an underdog, but X is meant to make you feel stronger as you progress while maintaining  a good challenge as well. That balance itself makes this game a piece of art and sooooooo 

Delicious 

Be ready for the Quickbite of Megaman X 2... Later today. 

Taken 2 Review

Reader...I have been Taken.I believe it was the doing of Oliver Megaton. I am currently in a warehouse in the land of  stereotypical evil Muslims  I need you to go into my office, locate my laptop case and take one pistol and 5 grenades. Get  to highest building you can find and throw a grenade. I will call you and we shall draw a map to determine my location....get to it !

"Granaaaaade! Derrrrrrrrrr"

Taken 2 

                   Woe there are times in life that it I cannot understand the psyche of the common human and these times are very annoying. There is no reason for this movie to exist. The Premise is retarded, the movie is retarded, and you just cannot take this seriously. If you just watch and pay attention to the first film you can clearly see that the movie was intended to be a one time kind of thing. Viewers have to look at Taken like a one night stand with a really hot individual. It was fun and entertaining two hours but when it's over you know that you won't be meeting again, there is no round two. So why Hollywood? Why did you go out to the dark dirty streets, clean up our old friend and try to sell them to us like the Pimp you are???Why Hollywood? Now we have to sit and realize that that fun time memory is not really how we remembered and the second time around is not really all that good at all. Thank you for shattering a good Memory Hollywood, you greedy bastards. The thing that really sucks is we the audience are sort of forced to buy into the gimmick because Taken was a great film. Let me just get this movie over with...

Cast and Crew 

                      This is where the conspiracy gets interesting before I tell you the director, I am going to tell you a little history lesson. Taken was directed by Pierre Morel, who directed Transporter and had his hands on work for Transporter 2. Taken two was directed by Oliver Megaton, the director of Transporter 3 and Columbiana. I think this Director hates action movies and purposely kills franchises. Transporter was a franchise killed by Megaton, and Columbiana and Red Siren were both Directed by this horrible man and intended to be franchise movies. Unfortunately the direction for those movies was so terrible the movies would die on their first installment. Megaton obviously makes his career by riding the coattails of other directors and killing their franchises by directing sequels...

                                                                           

Story 

               So why is Taken 2 a waist of your time and money? Well in order to fully understand my issue with this movie you have to take a look at Taken, and its Story. In Taken, you are introduced to Bryan Mills, a divorced ex operative who retires to re-kindle his relationship with his spoiled daughter. His estranged wife is  just a terrible individual that tries to thwart his attempts to contact his daughter. Unfortunately, his daughter uses his interest to get him to sign an agreement against his advice to go overseas. His daughter gets kidnapped by a sex traffic mob and Mills has to go to Europe to save her. 

               That movie had a very realistic tone and strong story. However in this story, Mills becomes a completely different character. Taken 2 starts off by introducing Mills as an Obsessive Compulsive instead of the simply careful man he was in the first movie. His wife is conveniently separated from the man she was seeing in the first movie even though this movies time frame is only months after the first movie. In the first movie, there was no sign of problems in that relationship so the separation is a really odd thing to happen. The story opens up with Mills attempting to teach his daughter how to drive. His daughter ends up becoming as annoying as his ex wife was in the first film. She is upset about Mills' obsessions to keep her safe and tries to avoid him and keep him from finding out about her relationships. This is literally months after his daughter was kidnapped and sold to SEX TRAFFIC MOBS! The absence of character development in Kim's character is literally jarring when she is introduced in this movie.  Kim only mentions the events for the sake of mentioning them. 

               While Mills is teaching his daughter how to drive, the evil father of an Albanian from the first movie wants to exact his revenge on Brian Mills. This is where the story starts to get retarded. The first movie introduced the Albanians as a uniform group. When Mills interrogated members, asking for Marco, they responded "we are Marco". These men were very clear about protecting and keeping out their leaders. The first movie also showed that these men were connected with very powerful individuals of all races. Does that happen in Taken 2? Of course not. The evil Albanians become the stereotypical Evil Muslims.

            All of the above is tolerable until Bryan Mills becomes a total contradiction. He asks his Ex wife and daughter to join him while he goes overseas to do a MISSION. Yes, the man that wouldn't let his daughter go to FRANCE in the first movie decides to take both his ex wife and child overseas with him on a mission only months after saving his daughter from a sex distribution chain. I think Bryan Mills took too many blows to the head in Taken. So you would think that the mission in a Muslim country must not be dangerous if he is taking his family right? WRONG, on this mission he takes a briefcase with him that is full of guns, ammo, and several grenades , yeah....

             Now, the man that is so cautious takes his family to this third world country and we have our movie because someone will be "Taken" again. Spoil alert time Spoil Alert time. This movie is not worth 2 hours of your life but I am further elaborating on the story so skip if you wish... So in this movie, the evil Muslims kidnap Mills and his wife. Mills ends...get this shit...calling his daughter and helps her find his location because he used his awesome spy powers to remember the exact route to the enemy hideout. He tells his 17 year old daughter to take grenades, and THROW THEM INTO RANDOM STREETS, so that he could determine his location! After she tosses grenades into a conveniently empty parking lot Mills is able to help her find his EXACT location on the map. This is a 17 year old, Laptop, ipad, and iPhone using girl uses a conventional paper map to plot locations in a country that she has NEVER BEEN TO. Do you think I am a retarded viewer Oliver Megaton? You think we are retarded....So Mills' daughter is "blending in" and lopping grenades without being noticed

"I'm gonna save you Daddy,, Grenade!!!!Derrrrrrp"

 "Yeaaaah, Bad Ass Spy  Guy's Daughter"

                 After using a map to determine his exact location does the 17 year old plot the information on her iPhone?  Nope, she is a bad ass spy daughter. She actually memorizes the location; starts throwing grenades and taking names.  

                   Meanwhile Mills' ex wife gets chained upside down and sliced because the bad guys want Mills to watch her die. The two are left alone while the bad guys literally watch soccer and eat Gyros (seriously they watch soccer and eat Gyro, no sarcasm) while a white girl is walking around the city throwing grenades. I guess the town is just so fucked up that common folk toss grenades whenever they are pissed off.

 "How Dare you insult my soccer team!"

Badass Evil Muslims (guitar plays solo) 

                

                   If you make it this far into the movie. Mills will then easily free himself because the evil Muslims thought it would be a good idea to Chain his helpless ex wife up...and tie up a dangerous government operative with a plastic zip tie. Chains on the woman...zip tie on the man that murdered 150 people six months ago..brilliant.  So Mills is saved by his daughter and he kills everyone and leaves his nearly dead ex wife on the dirty floor as if the stereotypical evil Muslims wont find her in the room that they left her in the first place...brilliant. Mills than gets in the car with his daughter and she drives through this epic chase scene...What is wrong with this picture? 17 year old Kim failed 3 driving tests and was still being trained at the beginning of the movie. Now, she is literally drifting, and doing donuts in a country where the rules of the road are completely different, while being shot at!!!

                  At the end of the scene, Mills goes back to the hideout, and his wife is done...Ya don't say. He uses his spy power to track her down, kill the baddies, and beat the boss of the game. The boss hints that there will be a sequel and I swear if that movie happens there will be no mercy on you Oliver Megaton. You are one of the worse Directors in the industry and I hope Liam Neeson has the integrity to stay away from a sequel to this piece of shit if you are the director. This story was horrible and unbelievable. The reason I am being so harsh to it is because of the first movie. Taken had a realistic tone with a realistic hero and realistic villains. One of the things that made the movie great was that there was essentially no villain. His daughter was literally at the wrong place at the wrong time and that is one of the things that is riveting about that story. We didn't tune in because we wanted to see explosions and cracking bones, we tuned in because of the suspense and the possibility that kidnap of this degree can happen to our loved ones. This story is SHIT!

Presentation 

                   If you haven't watched this movie and heeded my warning you would know that the story is terrible to this movie. What was worse? The Action. How does a purely mindless action movie end up with worse action than the Suspense Thriller that came before it? When Oliver Megaton Directs it, that's when. The action sequences literally look like the director was waving his camera back and forth while wiggling it around while Liam Neeson just danced tango with his aggressor. I am not kidding. Every explosion was done in bad CGI. Everything about the presentation just screamed Straight to DVD film. I hate this movie. It took a great stand alone classic and turned it into a shitty franchise and I cannot forgive this as a film viewer. This movie was even more sexist than the first film. Mill's daughter's body gets put on display for no reason with pool scenes and walking around in bikini scenes. 

                The first movie had this scene where she was going to be sold off.  she came out in a bikini while people started bidding on her. She is looking around scared of the fate that could be coming. This scene makes the viewer see not her body, but the person she is. The viewer is ashamed of seeing her body because antagonists are seeing her with the intent to deflower her. It was a sensitive scene. Now the sequel throws that history aside and beckons the male audience to look at Kim the way you look at all action movie girls. She is no longer a supporting cast member but an object.  Let me rate this movie I am tired of Ranting 

The Rating 

Why elaborate, This movie doesn't deserve another paragraph. Taken 2 Tasted like

a big fat...

SHIT SANDWICH !!!!1

Taken Review

           Oliver Megaton, many have watched Taken 2... Now over the years I have aquired a certain set of skills. Skill that make me the enemy to all bad directors...If you try to Direct a Taken 3...I will find you, and I will Kill you...With my superior writing skills

Taken 

                I had to utilize that quote issued to Megaton on this review because it was one of the best quotes in modern film and should not at all be associated with Taken 2. We will get to that review soon enough. So here we have the great Liam Neeson, in his 2008 thriller taken. I think everyone that took a look at the trailer for this movie five years ago and KNEW they were going to the theater to see it. So let us go back a few years to take a taste of the action thriller classic, Taken.

Cast and Crew 

                  Taken was Directed my Pierre Morel, the Director of Transporter and District B 13. They were petty decent movies on the action and direction side so this is not a terrible association. Yet, Taken is by far Morel's best work in his career. The movie stars Liam Neeson who plays Bryan Miller, a "Security" man with a certain set of skills. Famke Janssen plays the most hated ex-wife in modern film. Also Maggie Grace plays Neeson's dumb daughter. The cast is pretty strong in their performances but Neeson is the creme' de la creme' in this film. The antagonists are very mysterious and uniform so there is no real villain in this film. That, is one of the things that make the movie better. 

Story 

                     Although Taken is a thriller, the story is actually pretty cut and dry. Bryan Mills is a Security man through the course of the first act, the directer hits you with about 300 pounds of foreshadowing about how skilled this guy is. He is divorced and his wife hates his guts. She becomes the villain for about 40 minutes of the movie. Bryan's Daughter is quite spoiled and decides that she is ready to explore the world, literally. Miller doesn't want her out of his sight but because he wants to have a good relationship with his evil ex wife and bratty girl he allows the trip. Ironically, the Armenian mob find and kidnap his daughter less than 20 minutes after she gets to France...bummer... and Miller needs to get her back. The story seems a little silly and with the wrong cast and direction this movie would easily be a piece of crap. But Pierre Morel does wonders with the material and makes this story work and makes Neeson's actions believable. Therefore you are engaged in the story and you have a great time watching this movie .

               

Presentation 

                  Taken has some really solid acting and cinematography. The movie uses a shaky cam technique and it is not perfectly executed but when it works it works. Bryan Mills will make you cringe when he smashes heads and cracks bones. Scenes with suspense elicit real suspense, and the movie actually had me make one or two false guesses. There is even a scene that makes the audience debate the purity of Miller's character. 

                 I do have one issue with the presentation. This movie is incredibly sexist. Spoiler time Spoiler time: if you don't want stuff spoiled next paragraph time...Okay current readers should have already watched this movie. The blame for this abduction and the death of Kim's friend is completely placed on the women in this movie. Miller's wife is so sadistically bitchy that you don't feel bad for her at all when she hears the news that her daughter is kidnapped. The Daughter Kim is terrible too. She shows no appreciation to her father and even manipulates her father without heeding his warnings. Even when she finds out that his job is on the secret agent level, she still tries to duck and dodge his guidance. The three female characters are so dumb and stereotypical that the events we see happen to them that should be traumatic instead make the audience think "HA! you got what was coming to you." But we shouldn't feel that Kim was taken to be raped and that should be something that weighs heavily on the watcher. Kim is the movies Bella, virginal while still wanting to explore the world which makes her dumb. Amanda was Kim's slutty dumb friend that wants to sleep with random guys and jump around listening to Justin Bieber....she dies, and you don't care. Lenore is the overly strong ex wife that left Miller for a rich man that takes care of her. Her over bearing strong attitude is bound to melt when she hears the news about her daughter. The set up is meant to put her in her place. I'm a media scholar I know bullshit when I see it and I call bullshit. This is a well directed conversation about how women just need to stay home and be women...that shit is not cool Spoiler conversation over 

The Rating 

                        Well, if you saw this movie you know my only problem with it. It is a big problem. A great many movies in American film are propaganda geared toward slowing don't women's progress and unfortunately women are cast into these roles because it is the only work Hollywood gives them. I feel particularly bad for Famke Janssen  because she is a Director and had to be this stereotypical evil ex wife with no human layers, then she plays a Witch in Hansel and Gretel, Witch Hunters...horrible movie. 

                         While I do have my issues I have to admit I enjoyed this movie. It has a line by Bryan Miller that is more than likely the definitive line in Liam Neeson's Career. There are awesome fight scenes and witty dialogue. The movie is executed with style and the overall story is dramatic enough to keep you on your seat. After viewing this, I came up with a new Rating that is a step above Satisfying and a step below delicious, witch is the perfect place for a movie like this. Taken was definitely...

Great Tasting 

Damn...I want some wings now 

Olympus Has Fallen Review

             The only missing scene in this movie is a terrorist getting harpooned through the eye by an American Flag wielding Gerard Butler ....Oh don't we love patriotism

Olympus Has Fallen

                   I have to get this one complaint out of my system. This poster and the trailer make you think Morgan Freeman is our president...you know... because America does have a black President. But he is not the President, he is not even the Vice President, he is the Speaker of House. That is some miss leading BS.

Now...Ahhem...on to the review

Olympus Has Fallen 

Cast and Crew 

                The most noticeable thing about this movie is the cast and crew involved. There is some serious talent involved in this film. Olympus Has Fallen is directed by Antoine Fuqua, the director of Training Day, Tears Under the Sun, and Shooter, all of witch are quite palatable movies. Our leading cast includes Gerard Butler who plays Mike Banning ( I want to call him John McClane because this should have been Die Hard 5). We also have Morgan Freeman, the temporary President who you will inevitably thing should have been the damn President  in the first place...Because Aaron Eckhart aka President Benjamin Asher is by far the most spineless Commander and Chief in film. I mean ... he is the perfect President to be in power if we were in total peace and every county would settle disputes over some tea, biscuits , and a friendly game of checkers and instead of Nukes and guns we have laxer tag and water balloons. Yeaaaahhh wont happen any time in the recent future.  The Supporting cast is fine too. Everyone seemed to know what they were doing and Rick Yune who played  Kang, the villain, was a pretty strong casting choice as well. 

Story 

                The story centers around John McClane, a tough witty no nonsense cop that is walks into a terrorist plot...oh wait... I mean the story revolves around Mike Banning, a tough, witty, no nonsense... ex special service agent  who walks into a terrorist plot. Ok, no more Die Hard Jokes.  Banning witnesses a full scale assault on Washington. The North Koreans walk right in through the front door and take the president. Mike then has to go into the White House and take back Olympus. From here on I implore you to suspend your disbelief ...A team with the power and skill  to take out every breathing operative in the White House is about to face one man.and fail horribly. 

Presentation 

               As I said earlier, you have to suspend your disbelief and you pretty much should have fun with it. The action sequences are top notch and that has everything to do with the direction of this film. Almost every fight scene is understandable. Banning is being purely stealthy and is not just walking around with an oozi annihilating the foes like most terrible action movies would do. The problem in the presentation is the screenplay. The script is pretty solid. Banning and Kang have witty dialogue between one another and the movie feels like an homage to the late and great 90s films of the past. However, there are details of the story that just are not explained well at all. The actions of the President are so offensive to me as an American. I know that there was a desire be a patriot and show this awesome American purity stereotype President. But of all the film Presidents President Asher takes the cake. First big issue I have is the details of Banning's first mission. They tell Banning that a certain threat would break the president. However that threat and the threats that follow actually DO break the president under pressure. 

                   Throughout the movie, even when a person shows great resilience, Asher makes choices that lead to something with serious outcomes. The President from GI Joe Retaliation is more resilient than Asher. My final complaint is about the third act. After all of the intense build up, the last act of this movie is really bad. I did not like the ending at all. 

The Rating 

                 While I will say that the meal dffinitley needed a bit more seasoning before it could be a film classic. But this movie did succeed in entertaining me. I did not feel as throug my money was wasted after this trip to the movies but I can say that Olympus Has Fallen is...

Satisfying 

Snitch Movie Review

               :[ This was based on a true story!? Any kid that initiates a drug deal on Skype really needs a reality check... and a well articulated slap to the back of the head...

Snitch 

              

             So 2013 seems to be the Year of the Rock. This year there are about five or six movies that will feature or star the big guy and fortunately none of them are family movies about my boy flying a bee. I will be honest, I am a fan! The Rock was the man that official got me into wrestling in my youth. Critic is in my blood and I was able to notice the fakeness of wrestling at a young age. But when The Rock hit the ring, I was hooked, and when he retired from wrestling, I followed.
            So now that I got that out of my system I will continue to say that although I am a fan, I am not a fan off all of his roles on the silver screen. Unfortunately, I am still a critic and the Rock playing a tooth fairy was not where I imagined his career to go. So will The Rock's first movie of 2013 be a disappointment, or will The Rock finally evolve into Dwayne Johnson as an actor?

                                                                       Cast and Crew
                      Snitch is is directed by Ric Roman Waugh, the director of Gone in 60 seconds and Total Recall, the Arnold Version....Ouch, I know, that sounds funny. While Ric R. Waugh has a slightly cheesy film history I can say that he handles this film well and Snitch is his best film to date. With slick Cinematography and suspense filled scenes Ric Roman Waugh easily shows his seniority and expertise in the way he handles this movie. Our staring cast includes Dwayne Johnson as the construction business owner, John Matthews, and John Bernthal, as his assistant and employee, Daniel James. While the story mainly revolves around these two characters, the supporting cast includes; Ravi Gavron as Matthews's son; Micheal Kenneth Williams, as a drug dealing suspect; and Barry Pepper as a deep cover lead investigator. The supporting cast is very strong in this movie and these characters help provide a wealth of depth to the two main characters in this story. You essentially care about these individuals and that is something that is needed in a drama of this caliber.

The Story 

                       Yup, I said Drama you guys so be ready for a heavy dialogue driven movie when you watch Snitch. It seems strange to envision an actor like the Dwayne Johnson play  a drama role but he surprisingly fits so well with this movie. I have to say as a viewer seeing a character as physically toned as The Rock being vulnerable is one of the ultimate reality checks in a movie. 

                        Snitch is the story about a father who has to put his own life and the life of his family in danger because of the mistakes of his dumb son. As you see in the trailer Matthews' son makes one of the dumbest decisions in crime movie history...he initiates a drug deal on Skype......

"Derrrrrrrp...catch the dwugs durrrrr"

After his special son does this, Matthews has set other drug dealers up in order to prevent the police from locking the boy up for ten years mandatory minimum and now we have our movie. 

Performances 

                          This story could have played out one of three ways. This could have been a piece of PG propaganda geared towards rebellious children to keep them away from drugs. This could have been a dumb revenge movie about the rock walking around putting bullets in random drug dealers. Or this could be a realistic story of a situation families go through when a child makes a mistake. Fortunately Snitch is a blend of all three of these. There is a lesson to be learned but it is not in your face. Yes the son goes to jail but this is not a typical story of an innocent boy being victimized. The audience witness the mistake and see that the boy deserves some type of punishment. We see a family going through the pain of possibly loosing a loved one. Through Daniel James, we see that some people are involved in criminality for a reason and it is difficult escaping from the stigma of a criminal record. Through Malik,  Micheal Williams' character, and the Cartel involved we see that the drug game is a serious, organized and dangerous world. The main characters are smart, and the criminals are smart and the story is believable. The best part of the performances is the suspense. When characters are tense, you will be tense. When guns start firing, the experience is very unlike your typical action film. People shoot and you as the audience member don't want characters to get shot, and that emotion is very difficult to pull out of an audience these days. 

The Rating

                     I have to recommend this film. The message of the film is real and something that I feel teens have to see. Many movies and hip hop artists glamorize the drug game and this movie does a good job of showing what many people go through when their loved ones make the decision to cross over into criminality. At the same time the message is not shoved in  your face and you will have a good time sitting through the movie. This year has been pretty lame for movies. It seemed as though directors though the world was really going to end but Dwayne Johnson saves the day in this performance and I finally feel like my bucks were well spent.  Snitch, after a taste I gotta say you were...

Nutritious and Satisfying

The Wire Series Review

              Corrupt Schools, Corrupt Cops, Corrupt Mayors, Corrupt Drug Dealers, and possibly the most iconic homosexual role in modern film..."Omar commin' RUN!" You will never hear "The Farmer and The Dell" the same.

The Wire 

                  This is not going to be a quick bite, this is a full on Series review. The Wire is one of those cult hits that you hear about in conversations every couple of weeks. When I had discussions about a GREAT TV SHOW I either get an earful about The Wire or Breaking Bad. So I am going to talk about 'The Wire'. Is it an over-rated mess or is it a great series that the fans say it is.

Cast and Crew 

                 This series has had a team of Directors work on it for various episodes so start off by giving the credit to its creator David Simon, who is known for the series Treme, and 7 Homicide, Life on the Street. There are tons of stars in this show as well.  Dominic West is the first main character introduced as a homicide detective with a bit of a drinking problem. Idris Elba also stars as one of the prime suspects in a crime family. Micheal Kennith Williams plays Omar. The list of Cast members goes on, but the talent associated with this show is amazing. Everyone came to the show to play serious roles whether they were portraying the Street thugs or the Police investigators.

  The Story 

                  Some would think that this is a story about just cops and street hustlers. However the wire is the story about the city of Boston. For the most part we are given the story of the hustlers vs the police. But after the first season you are introduced to the public schooling system, the labor unions, and political candidates battling for the seat of mayor. You understand that an incredible amount of research went into the story and by season three, this TV drama becomes more of an expose' or a documentary. 

                 The Wire starts with an officer that pushes back on the flawed system and kind of stirs a huge drama internally. This leads to the creation of a crimes unit that was made strictly for political reasons. The unit is supposed to simply make drug busts but ends up finding ties between the street thugs and people of power, so the situation escalates as the audience is brought through this entire investigation. While we see the story of the police, we are also given the story of the hustlers, and the people that live in their neighborhoods. 

                  What makes this story shine is the amount of character stories you come in contact with as a viewer. Each story is gritty, dark, and realistic and the show has this charm that makes you care for its characters. You will meet druggies trying to get to thier next high, but see the internal struggle they deal with. You will meet dealers and killers and come to an odd understanding with the situations that they face. This story doesn't give you the generic street cop versus the generic street thug but instead shows that both sides have monsters and good people.

Performances 

                  The performances of our main police are great. However, these performances are not unlike other cop dramas you have seen in your days. The Wire shines in the performances outside the precinct. The Dealers, and the neighborhood children provide some of the most entertaining performances I've seen. Everything from the Boston street slang to the behaviors that you witness are realistic and acted with care. This is not one of your regular films featuring mindless black thugs that only get high and kill one another with no reason. 

The kids were amazing actors. There are portions of the show that include middle school children in a Boston school and these kids were unlike soooooo many children that I have seen in movies and TV. When critics see kids, we expect to see a bad performance but the times that the children were involved in the series were some of the most intense and dramatic parts of the series. 

                 But when you talk about The Wire, there is one performace that resonates with every fan. Omar Little. 

                  

                   To me, Omar was the most interesting character in this series. In a nutshell, Omar is the neighborhood drug deal robber. If you are making money he will be paying you a visit. However, unlike most people in the street Omar has an honor code that he abides by religiously. He becomes an important character to the investigators and a thorn in the side to the gangsters. He is the neutral cast member that plays both sides between justice and criminality and he is amazingly well acted. Omar is also homosexual and is shown in a light that has probably never been used in film to represent homosexuality.This character is also hilarious on screen. You would see these hustlers looking all tough trying to sell their drugs then Omar appears, whistling 'The Farmer in the Dell' and they  scatter like roaches screaming "Omar comin Yo!"

                     

The Rating 

               There is only one rating that would fit a show like this. Actually two. I feel that The Wire is a show to watch just to get a better idea about the conditions that people actually live in to better understand how to fight crime. There are people out there that are essentially born into crime and the only way to prevent those individuals from falling is to improve their living conditions. This show addressed that and even more issues that this country should face. With stellar performances, a captivating story, and a Strong Cast The Wire is definitely..  

                                                                  Delicious and Nutritious

The Hobbit Review

For those reviewers out there who say that translating a book to film should not be done so meticulously....I wish to place all the Twilight movies in a Disc Shooter, and fire them at you and your face.

The Hobbit 

There are mixed emotions about the movie I am about to get into. Whether a Critic likes or dislikes this movie, the Trolls shall be waiting to throw their misspelled insults, bones, and rocks at me and I am ready for it. Peter Jackson has been getting a lot of flack about his choice to shoot this in 48 frames per second and I completely understand why. Things move a little faster than audiences are used to and the best way I can describe it is Watching the Hobbit is like Watching a ridiculously overproduced play. Which is not bad in a way. Let us get into the review of The Hobbit.

Cast and Crew

OK so The Hobbit is Directed by Peter Jackson and stars a ton of memorable faces from middle earth. The movie stars Martin Freeman as Bilbo Bagins, Frodo's uncle and the original bearer of the Ring of Power. He is supported by Ian McKellen, as Gandalf The Grey, and Richard Armitage who plays Thorin, King of the Dwarfs. There are plenty of other Dwarfs and cameo characters however the story focuses on these three and their character development. Peter Jackson is known for his tremendous contributions with the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and King Kong. Martin Freeman is known more for Hot Fuzz, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and The Sherlock BBC Series. Ian McKellen is Gandalf and Magneto....now stand up and clap fellow nerds !!!!

Story

  The Hobbit was a 300 page book and it is the shortest of Tolken's books that take place on Middle Earth. This will be a series of 3 movies and there is a bit of embellishment in the story and I feel it is only to connect The Hobbit to The Lord of the Rings. I have to say that I like Peter Jackson's ability to connect these stories because The Hobbit is its own story. If the movie were presented in the same format as the book, there will be many confused film fans out there. So this is the Story about how Bilbo Bagins becomes the Richest Hobbit in the Shire and comes across the Ring of Power. Gandalf the Grey sees qualities that Bilbo Possesses and is unaware of and coaxes the Hobbit to come along an Unexpected Journey across middle earth to be a stand in Thief for a band of dwarfs lead by their king Thorin. Thorin is an intense dwarf seeking to reclaim his land from a Dragon that laid waste to their city and took rest on their gold. Peter Jackson was able to take a story about grabbing gold from a dragon and apply a great amount of emotion to the characters wishing to embark on this journey. We are also introduced to an insane cannibalistic Gollum. The scene including this character is incredibly tense and emotionally charged.

The Presentation

There is a big controversy about the 48 frames per second shooting technology that was used to make this film. So it is time to address the elephant in the room... No the 48 frames per second is not horrible, but yes, the frame rate is a distraction. in 48 FPS, the movie flows...differently. As I said earlier, it looks like you are seeing a very well produced play. Another way to describe it is its like looking at a camcorder recorded video that was very very clear. Things move quickly and you somtimes feel like you are watching a movie with a very slight fast forward but you do get used to it. The clarity of the shot does make costumes look like costumes and the surroundings look like a movie set. The best way I can explain this is to tell you to get a 90s movie on blu ray, you will notice the resolution is cleaned so well, that you can see the artificial surroundings stand out. The CGI is great. Jackson is a great visionary director so you don't have to worry about super fake looking creatures. I would like to say that Orcs did look better when they were people in makeup, this movie has full CGI Orcs, witch did not look bad, but just not as good as the original trilogy's creatures . Overall, Middle Earth looks beautiful and while I have my gripes, the movie still is presented well. For those of you that complained about the pacing, please stop. The movie had fine pacing that I feel was important to the character's development. There were 11 Dwarfs and a Hobbit that had to be introduced and they were introduced well. While the Focus stayed on Bilbo, and Thorin, I feel the others provided a balanced amount of comic relief without being too over the top and cartoony. I know that many complained about the light hearted nature of the film but seem to forget that the Hobbit was a children's book. Peter Jackson wittingly took a kids story and turned it on its head to match Lord of the Rings without taking too much creative licence and I have to commend him for it.

The Rating

Ok while The Hobbit may not have been as deep or as enthralling as the epic 

Lord of the Rings Trilogy, the movie was a great into piece to 

the story that it is trying to convey. The book was not a Lord of the Rings: 0, in 

fact, the book doesn't answer any questions about the rise of Sauron...guess what ? The 

movie looks like it is trying to tell that story, and that is very intriguing to me. I have say , since the 

frame rate was a small issue to me on action scenes , The Hobbit is just, 

Great Tasting 

Shigurui: Death Frenzy Review

           As I set here watching  the trailer for my next review watch an old samurai feed his sword to his subordinate....I'm in...

Shigurui: Death Frenzy 

                   Ok before I get into this review you guys need to know that this is an intensely violent anime. When viewers usually see an anime with sword branding characters it is hard to take the deadly weapon like a sword seriously.  Most anime characters get slashed and spill pints of blood and on the next show, they are fine. Don't dare think that when you stream this show on Netflix, or buy the Blu ray. This show takes the sword seriously. Characters are introduced with smashed faces, missing jaws, and horrific dismemberment that they have to live with. Lastly, viewers that scoff at the cartoony nature of hand drawn animation and want to see something realistic , Shigurui: Death Frenzy is not at all for :

                       No, my geeky friends, its not for you ...   Shigurui is a very hyper realistic show that challenges the historical misrepresentations of the samurai culture. Often we are given a romanticized image of swordplay, but this show shows the gravity of the unethical lifestyles of many samurai while still showing the purpose of the lifestyle as well. Let us get into the review of Shiguriu: Death Frenzy .

Cast and Crew 

                        This series is directed by Hiroshi Hamazaki , the director of some known shows including Ninja Scroll, and Vampire Hunter D. Unfortunately it is difficult to find the American voice acting cast names.  If I do get there names I promise to update this post. Let us move on to the story. 

The Story 

                Shigurui is the story of the Samurai. This story takes place around 1627 during the days of Japanese Fiefdoms and Lordship. The show opens introducing the tyrant Lord as a man pleads with him to stop allowing samurai to Duel without real swords. The Lord shows no emotion other than an erotic desire to see blood spilled. The tyrant arranged the duel and the combatants enter the stage. Immediately, the spectators are upset by what they see. 

                 The combatants are...not normal. One of the men has one arm, the other is a blind cripple. Immediately the spectators are sickened and see this show as an insult to the samurai culture until the men take up their fighting stances. The stances silence the crowd quickly. The two curious fighters show that they are not only worthy, but can slay any one of these spectators in combat. This fact is not expressed through words but through the fearful stares that fill the arena as the two men draw swords. 

                After the tense introduction, the viewer is brought back to the time when the two men were able bodied warriors and takes the viewers through their life stories to explain why and how these men suffered their injuries that they will inevitably conquer.  The introduction is a testament to how powerful and tense filled the battle of stares between two warriors is. As you can see, the story is frighteningly dramatic and engrossing.

Presentation 

                  While the story is the best part of this anime series, the presentation is where it suffers. The English voice acting is superb. There are no over the top voice actors and the delivery is emotional and believable. On the other hand there is a mixture of CGI rendered parts of the environment that just stand out. There are beautiful CGI effects as well like water, blood, and back grounds, but some textures pop out too much when you look at them. There are also scenes that are very convoluted and hard to pick up on the story even for the contemporary anime viewer. These scenes are often projections of character's minds. They sometimes happen in the middle of the scene when a samurai sees himself dying if they make the wrong decision. The only problem with this is sometimes viewers have to remind themselves that they are seeing a thought and not something that is really happening on the show. These moments were a bit confusing but do not take away from the piece of art that Shigurui is .

                                                                 

                                                                                 

                                                                    

Rating 

                      So we have a show with a breathtaking and dramatic story that takes the romance and dance out of swordplay and provides a raw, graphic, and realistic look at the world of the samurai. While some viewers would love to see the jumping and flipping and clashing of swords I have to say that there is something awe inspiring about a display like this. There is a long pause between each strike and you have the same powerful tense feeling that someone is going to die even when characters take up wooden swords. The show has a way of showing the gravity of death that is unrivaled. No Real film can show a man's face cut in two without the usage of CGI but when these beautifully animated and detailed characters experience such trauma, you flinch in your seat . This show is very violent and extremely graphic but I would have to say that other than some confusing sequences that may require a second viewing, Shigurui: Death Frenzy is a 

Satisfying, Delicacy 

Not for everybody

but satisfying if you give it a taste