2012 - The Review

Typical Tuesday, to much work not enough fun...

11:35am, I get a call from a fellow IT friend saying he will buy if we go see a movie at lunch. I asked him which movie he wants to see. 2012 is his excited answer! I have to think about it, work or 2.5 hours away from work... (Really can't call it lunch)

11:59am, Just got some popcorn and watching the previews in the local Theatre 12. "That was Easy!"

After posting a trailer and quick facts about the movie and it's world ending director, I didn't really think I would see this movie on the big screen. But I am glad I did.

The movie started slow but got moving quickly with "A disaster that can't be avoided." The special effect were amazing, plus the movie flowed with excitement for the first 2 hours. There was funny jokes, believable government story and a little poking fun at California falling into the Pacific. I found this very amusing because all my non-Californian family tell me "its going to fall in that there ocean with all them there earthquakes." (Yes they are a little dull, and from Ohio)

But then it happened, after all that death and self preservation that can be expected in the end, the movie slowed down to a halt with the question of saving one simple man. This was too much love that was missing from the first 2 hours showed up and everything, even the music slowed down to a halt.

Of course that's what the movie portrayed itself to be at the end, when it should of just accepted the fact it was a disaster flick that had the best special effects, best explosions a biggest plane on the planet.

I was going to give this movie 4 stars but the ending prevented that.

Jonsey

2012

Opening this weekend in a wide release is the movie 2012. A doomsday epic film that is sure to open in first place in the box office. 2hours 38 minutes long...




This director has some so-so film under his belt:

The Day After Tomorrow
10,000 BC
Universal Soldier

But has a couple good ones:

Stargate
Independence Day (I know this is not a great film, but I liked it alot)

If you see it let me know via the comments!

Transformers 2 - Revenge of the Fallen

I have been not wanting to post a review of this movie but after seeing the DVD this last week I figured it was time. I have been a Transformer fan for many years. I have toys in storage from when I was 8 years old. I remember 1986, sitting in my Optimus Prime PJ's watching Transformers: The Movie with all my action figures (not dolls!) on the living room floor and yelling at the top of my lungs "Autobots, roll out!" Yeah, I was and still am a big geek.

Revenge of the Midnight Nerds:

On Tuesday June 23rd, two of my friends and I stayed late at work til about 6:30pm. Then we car pooled down to the only fully digital theatre in the area to wait in line for the Midnight Showing of TF2. Surprisingly there was only 2 other geeks waiting in line. So we bought our tickets and went to play some pool. After kicking some 8 ball ass, and winning $20 at the pool hall we checked the line again. 6 people were waiting at 8:30 pm. We decided togo to the pizza place that was an old brothel, because Chicago pizza, Corona beer and old the hooker barn go well together.

Finally at 10pm we got in line and they let us right in, I would say we were 40 people ahead of us and we were the oldest people in line (I am 31...) They had it showing in 2 theatres that seat 166 each so we didn't have to show til about 11pm to get a seat but oh well...

I was starting to get tired and remembering the last midnight showing (10 years earlier) then I soon realize I am getting to old for this crap as I sit in my seat seeing all the teenagers around us. We starting talking about how bad Micheal Bay fucked up this film, and we had low expectations, but hope it would be good.

The Movie:

The film had alot more action, alot more Megan Fox and alot more Micheal bay junk. Visuals we amazing, plot was trash. So many errors is plot/location had me saying WTF. The teenies love it and would not shutup when the Fox was on the screen. But by the end of the night we were happy and liked it alot. Then drove hom eat 3 in the morning wishing we didn't have to work the next day (But we did).

The DVD hangover:

After renting the DVD via Redbox, all I can say is I must have been drunk that night. I fast forwarded through the movie because it was very bad. Story was worse the second time and some characters were just annoying. I just stopped and amazed how good Prime looked with an SR-71 on his back.

Conclusion:

For Transformers fans, it's a must see, but have very low expectations... Should be a 2 star but got .5 more due to visuals in the movie.

Jonsey

The Taking of Pelham 1,2,3

After a long emptyness of this blog I decided to start posting again, thanks to an Ohio bum that I like to call a friend.

So since it has been a bad year with the US economy, I have decided to review more new release DVD's then theatre films (times are tight in the Jizzay house)

After seeing "Man on fire" and "Deja Vu", Tony Scott (The Director) and Denzel have made my movie going experience very pleasant. So with this info I decided it was a no brainer to rent Taking of Pelham 123 on DVD from Redbox. (If you don't know Redbox, you two shoul meet!)

This film is a remake of a the 1974 film with the same title. But modernized into today's New York city.

What I first noticed about this film is how slow it starts, but still enjoyable and keep interest. The movie does keep you guessing while making fun of it's own story line with a few quick words. This movie is no Top Gun, but with the add on of a webcam show by train riders girlfriend it keeps it funny. I am glad I did rent it for a dollar because I keep thinking about other Tony Scott movies like "Spy Game" or "Man of Fire". The main actors did well, but I could not get past the plot and didn't feel real interested in it all the way through.

I would say skip it unless you can't find anything else to pull from the big red box!

Jonsey

Windows 7, better than Vista or XP? Let's find out!

I know this is a bit off Topic but with a little push from my friends I decided to put this quick review of Windows 7.

On October 23rd I purchased (Ok, my work purchased) a retail copy of Windows 7 Professional 64 bit. For a nice comparison of the different versions hit this link from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7_editions

That Friday the bright blue packaging and the shiny holographic disc were brought back to my desk, waiting to be installed on my custom Quad-core Phenom system and 10,000 RPM velociraptor Hard Drive. I felt the same excitement and geekiness I had in 1995 when I installed Windows 95 on my first PC. Except it was an old POS system with a pedal to compensate for the slow hamster inside...

Backup:

First I made and image of my XP install with all my OS files and setting. Then put in the disc and started the install with a Corona in my hand. This reminded me of my last DVD drive which was not a good cup holder (as stated on the internet) since it could not hold the weight of a full bottle of beer.

Install:

After a few minutes of sitting there doing something, I start the install which was very easy to do. It was asking to upgrade and about 3 times it said "Are you sure?" and I was sure that I was going to get a clean install and not have upgrade problem. I never met an upgraded system that did not have issues.

Running:

After the install was complete the system booted up very quickly into a shiny new OS! First thought were that it looks just like Vista, and technical it is Vista. As some already know Windows 7 is really Windows 6.1, with the Vista Kernel and Vista look. The 7 name just came as a marketing ploy to get away from the Vista stigma.

Installing:

After a few days of installing program and games, my Windows 7 install was running flawlessly. Loaded old games with no issues, found the newest drivers for my Nvidia GTX 260 card, tested Audio settings and played with my 32inch LCD TV as a second HD monitor.

Pros:

Runs faster on my Quad core than XP SP3.
Fast boot
No crashes, yet
All older and newer programs work
All drivers found during install
Everything XP can do and a little more
Direct X 10+

Cons:

Not enough classic settings (Not everyone likes bubbly setting icons)
New locations for menu items
UAC still there (But can be turned off, which was the first thing I did)

Conclusion:

So I am very happy with Windows 7, but have to say that I am still happy with my XP install. If I wasn't a gamer and didn't need Direct X 10+ or something to handle the Quad Core well, I wouldn't need Windows 7. XP is the most stable OS and still runs like a champ, IMHO.

Jonsey

Terminator Salvation (video game) Review

"Movie video games always suck, this one is no different"

The T4 video game was released with the movie as a tie in to try to promote the movie and the series. The game is a prequel to the movie and follows the story of John Connor and the resistance. Released for PC, PS3, XBOX360 by Swedish developer GRIN.

This is a 3rd person shooter with cover based system compared to Gears of War. Now the company who developed this game (GRIN) is fairly new to video games with a few releases, such as Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter and Wanted, another movie adaptation.

This was a very short game, took me one evening to finish it. 8 levels in total and gameplay was very repetitive. Now I've played other short games but they have to be very fun, and display a unique characteristic the sets them apart from the pack. In this short game you run around the wasteland with small arms and get to turret a few vehicles, but only one or the other, not both. Way to linear for me...

The Good:

Story that fits in well with the franchise. Got voices from a couple cast members, Moon Bloodgood, Common and Rose McGowen from the movie.

The Bad:

Took me 3 hours to beat in Hard mode. Just fair graphics for a 2009 game. Levels feel the same with different backdrop.

The Ugly:

No replay value at all. Christain Bale refused to have his voice in the video game. (Jerk)

I would not recommend anyone buying this game... This game was more a Demo then a finished product.

Jizzay

Terminator Salvation Review

“Summer movies are here"

I went to see Terminator Salvation (aka T4) after reading bad reviews from critics. So I went into this film with not expecting much... This movie has a lot of action and great special effects. The destruction of LA looks in my mind what a post apocalyptic LA would look like. (That or just a normal Tuesday) I was impressed with the use of my favorite machine, the A-10 warthog. I would have just gone to see it because it’s the best military Aircraft IMHO.I am a big fan of the original 2 terminator movies, the 3 one was OK. But I enjoyed this one a lot. Not to deep not too much plot but it just made sense. No misplaced humor in a world where you fight to survive. Some intense action films love to throw in the humor to of set the bad action or shaky cam scenes, not this one.

The Good:

The SKYNet motorcycles were awesome, and the use of the A-10’s were very well placed. The giant machine reminded me of MechWarrior and the Dropships kind of resembled Dropships from Command and Conquer.



The Bad:

Christian Bale (Main character John Connor) was nothing special but the machines stole the show and it was a good show. No spectacular Nuke display’s like in the previews…

The Ugly:

Critics.

Without giving too much away this film was a good action flick. I was going to give it 3.5 out of 5 stars but I bumped it up to 4 stars because of the good old warthog. Coming soon is my review for the Terminator Salvation Game.

Jizzay