Interstellar (2014)

Science Fiction is the genre that majority of the movies I watch are grouped in.  So naturally, after seeing a trailer before The Desolation of Smaug for a new film called "Interstellar", I was somewhat interested.  The real hook came when I saw it was from director Christopher Nolan.  I knew from that point that this was a movie to definitely go see...and yes, I'm very glad I did.

STORY
Sometime in the near future, the world is experiencing famine, and the government can't feed the population.  Everyman farmer " Cooper", who previously was a NASA pilot/engineer, struggles to hold his family together during the hard time they're facing.  When a mysterious "ghost" leaves a morse code message in Murphy's bedroom (Cooper's Daughter), he decodes the message to find coordinates.  After arriving at the location, he finds a secretly still operating NASA planning to launch a group of Humans through a wormhole, to star system, with three planets, one of which they know is habitable, because in 50 years, earth will no longer be able to support life.  Dr. Brand, who is in charge, says that 12 humans, were sent to 12 separate worlds to collect data 10 years ago, and they're sending a crew of 4 to set the landing lights for humanities exodus if possible.  He then reveals to Cooper that despite him not knowing of this mission, he's the only person on earth capable of leading such a mission, due to his background in engineering.  Cooper reluctantly agrees, knowing it's the only way to save his kids Tom and Murphy.  He, and his team of scientist's then leave, an route to the singularity, in to the uncharted reaches of space.

CONTENT
The language in the film is not frequent, and it apparently had really strong language , but I didn't hear it.  It's not that violent either, a couple of characters die in explosions and such, but besides fist fight between Matthew McCaughnahey and Matt Damon, there really no violence.  I think that its more so rated PG-13 for the (no pun intended) Gravity of the situation.  I mean the world is ending, and this group is probably a Mole of light years away with no help, and nothing outside the capsule except for the void of space.  As with any distopian/apocalyptic future story, it could be too intense for some viewers, due to what it leaves you thinking afterwords.

THOUGHTS
Many movies I've been to, but there's never been one I've seen that was like Interstellar.  The plot was original, and mind blowing...like really mind blowing.  It's becoming very rare that a movie be this original these days, and to be honest, I wasn't expecting it to be as great as it was.  In terms of how great it seriously was, It's up there with the likes of "Gone With The Wind", "West Side Story", and "The Empire Strikes Back".  I love movies that leave you speechless at the end, and this is one of those, that not a word could be spoken, because the church bells were all broken.  Whenever they entered the wormhole, the craft began to violently shake, and the speakers got so loud, the cinema was shaking at several points, which really added to the effect of you being there in the story.  I saw it on a smaller screen, but if you can, I would recommend seeing it in IMAX, it's one of those movies that was born for an IMAX screen.  Even though the price is higher, the movie was almost unjustified on the screen I saw it on, and I can't imagine seeing it on a TV the first time you watch it (it just wouldn't be the same).  Really where this film shines is it's interpretation on relativity, and the imagery used for the Wormhole, blackwholes, and planets.  The Score was also moving, and is being added to my collection soon, and yes as alway's it was composed by Hans Zimmer.

The Verdict
It's one of the greatest Sci-Fi films every made, and a definite must watch.  Despite the hefty 2:55 run time, it actually seemed to go by too fast.  Nolan has created probably the best film I've ever been in a cinema to see.  The groundbreaking genius of the plot will have my mind reeling for days, and definitely telling people what they missed.  The cool thing about Interstellar, is that it's a movie Sci-Fi geeks like me enjoy, and it's scientifically accurate, so that physics officals won't start complaining about it.  If you haven't yet, go catch Interstellar before it leaves cinemas, I can attest that it's a definitely more worth it ticket than Mockingjay and Big Hero Six (Yeah, it's because of the run time).

10 out of 10

This is this first time in the history of VGTR, that a movie has gotten a perfect score, and hopefully won't be the last☺

live long and watch this movie

Arrow Plot Speculations *POSSIBLE SPOILERS*

Malcolm Merlyn, the Black Archer, the Antagonist, Tommy's Dad, insane madman.

All of these atribbutes apply to Malcolm, played by John Barrowman.  Mr. Barrowman is famous for not only being the villain on Arrow, but also Capt. Jack Harkness on the Sci-Fi favorite "Doctor Who".  I was fortunate enough to listen to him speak along with his sister Carole during a Q&A panel at NC Comicon.  One question asked by a fan was along the lines of "Do you find it strange that in real life, the actor who plays Malcolm's som Tommy (Colin Donnell), is only 15 years apart from you in age?".  John replied, "in theory, Malcolm could have had Tommy, right before he graduated High School" (their age is different in real life).  He then went on to say " But then again, I know the story, and you don't".  That is where this whole idea came from.  OK, so how did Malcolm survive being killed by Arrow?  How does he look so young, if he's probably almost 60?  Why is Ra's Al Ghul after him?  In the show, they think he payed off the M.E. office, uses special skin cream (not), and that he broke the leagues honor code.  But could their be more to this?  In the Comic Books, not the Dark Knight Trilogy, Ra's Al Ghul was immortal, and is suspected to be centuries old by the worlds greatest detective (Batman).  He accomplishes this by using a substance called Lazarus, which heals him, makes him young again, and has even been shown to bring him back to life.  You see where I'm going?  Now the likelyhood of me thinking they would incorporate something so sci-fi would have easily been debunked, but now we have The Flash, sci-fi in the Arrowverse.  If Malcolm stole something like...Lazarus, he could have used it to bring himself back to life, to keep himself young, and it would be a better reason for Ra's to be hunting him down.

So what do you guys, the Arrow fans think of this random theory?
Leave your thoughts below in the comments!

Thoughts On Doctor Who Series 8 *Spoilers*

The way Death in Heaven concluded the 8th series was dumb.
It has to be the most disappointing hour of television I have ever sat through.
I like Capaldi as The Doctor, but the story's weren't that great (with the exception of Listen).   The Lack-Luster end to Danny was, well, Lacking.  A
nd why leave Clara in such a state?  I mean, even Santa is criticizing The Doctor (Seriously).  The Master was okay, but not needed, leave the Master dead for once!!!  Steven Moffat is a great writer, and some of his episodes have been the best in the series.  But, I think that like Actors, writers need to quit while they're ahead, not after they've lost traction.  If Series 8 is a hint at how episode's will be in the future, I might quit watching.  I want very, very, very good stories, instead of explosions.

Is anyone else with me on this?

Comment below!!!

The Flash, Season 1, Episode 1

So for those of you that tuned in to The CW, The Flash was the Best Comic Book show I've seen since Spectacular Spider-Man.  Barry Allen is a character I only recently knew anything about, and what I do know is from The New 52.  The show used the New 52 origin instead of the classic origin, so I knew what what was going on.
Clyde Mardon was an under-par villain, but it's the first episode, so I expect to see the villains become better later in the show, similar to what happened in Arrow (Season 2).  Now moving onto the DC universe at large.  At one point we see an Airfield, labeled "Ferris Air", for those of you who don't know that's where Hal Jordan (Green Lantern) works in the comics.  Near the room the particle accelerator is in, there's a cage with a sign on it, that reads " Grodd", as in Guerilla Grodd, one of the villains in the Flash mythology.  The we come to that Final scene in the futuristic room with Dr. Wells, where A newspaper from 2024 has a Crisis on Infinite Earths reference, (that's were Barry Allen died) and a smaller headline reads WayneTech/Queen Consolidated merger is finished.  This raises the question of whether like Batman, or other heroes will appear in the "ArrowVerse".  Of course integrating a Sci-Fi theme like time travel into the TVerse, would help with connecting the 2 series with Man of Steel.  However as of now, the TV, and Cinematic Universes are planned to be separate, which is dumb, I think that combining TV and Film is the way to go, if they're trying to compete with the MCU.  Also the Flash is a essential character to the JLA in my opinion, and it wouldn't make sense to have a version of him on TV  and another in the movies.
I give the first episode of the Flash...
 8 out of 10

So what do you people think? Should DC combine TV and movies to make an epic story? Or should they leave them separate?  Leave your thoughts in the comments below!!

Virtua Racing (Genesis)

The Best 3D game for Genesis, maybe one of the only good ones
The original Forza...

VIRTUA RACING

GAMEPLAY
Virtua is a racing simulator, akin to Gran Turismo or Forza.  It's realistic, it's hard to control, it's plain awesome.  OK, so by today's standards Virtua is laughable, But it does include crashes.

Step 1.  Pick a Course-Beginner, Medium, Hard.
Step. 2 Race, it's that simple.

After the pit crew gives you gas and back's off.  You take off and essentially begin a check-point race.  The # place your in when time run's out is where you'll finish at.  If your like me, and you stink at 90s games, then you probably won't make it past here the first few times.

GRAPHICS

Again pretty laughable by 2014 standards (which are too high in my opinion).  While the 3D polygons look pretty bad, you can still tell what's going on.  Another thing to realize, is that when this came out, the tech to make polygons was expensive...Really expensive.  This game may look cheap...but the cartridge retailed at $100 US Dollars, $50 over the standard price.  The arcade version is better (I've heard, haven't ever played), but we're talking about the Sega Genesis version.

CONCLUSION
Like racers? Like Retro? Love the Genesis?  Then Virtua Racing is for you!!!
What I really love about this game, is that it is a great example of what the Genesis can do.  The graphics, and game play might not hold up well when compared to newer games 20 years later.  But it's still a ton of fun.
8.5 out of 10

DETAILS
Released 1994 (1992 in the Arcade)
Rated E by the ESRB
Developed by Sega AM R&D #2
Published by Sega
For Genesis, Saturn, 32x, Arcade, and PS2
This review is for the Genesis Version ONLY
   

P.S. Don't take advice on how to play V.R. from me

  

Arrow (Season 1)

My Name, is not Oliver Queen...

But Arrow's is...


PLOT
Arrow is the story of Millionare Playboy Oliver Queen, who was stranded for five years on an island, with one goal...survive.  While on that island, he bumps into a group of mercenaries, who torture him, escaping, he joins forces with Slade Wilson with the goal of getting of the island.

5 year's later...
Oliver is rescued by a fishing boat.  He returns to Starling City, with a Bow, a Hood, and a mission to take down the cities corrupt.  

QUALITY
The acting can be extremeley wobbly at times, which makes some characters feel...flat or 2D.  The special effects are great...for TV, but aren't bad (don't think the "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Movie", they're better than that for sure).  It took me a while to warm up to Oliver played by Steven Amell, but after the first...6 episode's he became awesome.  The female characters are limited to His mom(a lying jerkface), his sister Thea(an jerk druggy for 10 episodes), his freind Felicity(a funny, yet blonde stereotype), and his former girlfriend Laural that he cheated on(she's to forgiving).  Male Characters include Diggle(his security agent, who become's partner in stopping crime), Det. Lance(Laural's dad who hate's him), his best friend Tommy(clueless), and Mr. Merlyn...Tommy's Dad(The Villain).  
An interesting line-up, eh?

CONTENT
Arrow has it all...
*Frequent Language
*Violence....Arrow is one of the few Heroes that kills people
*Occasional Sensual Scene....Oliver has a relationship with 3 women over the course of 8 months\23 episodes
*Frightning\Intense Scenes...People aren't who we thought they were, sucide is shown, mild torture, and the "undertaking* that happen's in the final episode is on par with The Dark Knight Rises level of destruction\chaos.

CONCLUSION
It's....ENJOYABLE, that's something most TV show's aren't.  I'm reviewing this because...It's a great comic book film, in it's own right.  If you haven't been watching it, go watch, be happy.  It has it's flaw's, but they're outweighed by pure awesomeness.  With the upcoming Flash TV series...I wonder if this contnuity, will in fact be a part of the 2017 Justice League movie, I know I want it to be.  It doesn't seem like connecting this to the Man of Steel Universe would be that hard, I mean Marvel is doing it with Agent's of S.H.E.I.L.D./Agent Carter, right?  The series really begins to pick up around halfway through the season, so persevere through.  

7 out of 10
This is not the rating for the show as a whole, just the first season.  After I finish Season 2, I'll also review it.  Please share your thought's with me below!!! 

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

Hey you said it yourself jerkface...we're the "Guardians of the Galaxy"

STORY

Child of the 80s Peter Quill is abducted from earth after his mother dies.  He grow's up and becomes the legendary Star Lord...who no one knows about.  After he steals an orb with an ancient power, the assassin Gamora tries to take it from him, but right before she's going to kill him, The bounty hunter's named Rocket and Groot, try and stop her so they can get the money on Quill's head.  All four of them get arrested and taken to a Space prison, where they meet Drax, who want's to get revenge on the man who killed his family, who just happens to be the one who want's the orb.  The five conspire to escape together, with Star Lord, Gamora, Rocket and Groot conspiring to sell the Orb, with Drax escaping to go on his hunt for Vengence.  But against all odd's, in empty space, the 5 misfit's set out to save the GALAXY.   

CONTENT
Well let's see, it's Rated PG-13, as with every other Marvel film, there is violence.  The Guardians kill their, wiether it be by sword, guns or tree roots.  I would have to say there's more violence featured in the film than I was expecting, but none of it's chalk full of gore.  Language is the biggest issue in this movie for me.  Lot's profane word's, including slang terms for anatomy, which in turn make's it even less appropriate for young viewers.  And as the other the entries in the  M.C.U. series, there's plenty of banter, which sometime's can be sexually suggestive.

THOUGHTS
I did enjoy the movie, so much I checked out the Rocket Raccoon comic series (BTW it's a fantastic comedy), Although Rocket's really the only Guardian I absolutley love, I still liked the other four.  The whole premise was fun, the soundtrack was phenomenal (look up the Awesome Mix Vol. 1), and the comedy was entertaining, but at the end of the day, do the Guardian's actually know what being a hero is?  None of them seem to be humble at all.  In the movie, they do eventually decide to do the right thing, but only after doing the wrong thing's.  And like Iron Man, at the end of the movie they're character's don't even seem to change much.  As much as the comedy Superhero movies in the M.C.U. are entertaining, they just don't seem to seem to have character development, like the X-Men or Batman films.

CONCLUSION
Enjoyable, Funny, Action Filled, summer block buster, hat is becoming a standard these days.  As much as the negative elements in Guardians of the Galaxy anoyed me, I still enjoyed the movie.  On a positive note, it is the most innovative film in phase 2 and is sure to be quoted for years to come.
Looking for the perfect way to forget about the hot sun outside? Go see GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY.

8.5 out of 10
Although not without it's flaws...like everything else in the world...this was a great addition to the Marvel film franchise.  For Details please see IMDB, as this movie was a whopper with cast and crew and stuff...

LIVE LONG AND PROSPER...wrong movie oh well.

Superman: Action Comics: Volume 1-Superman and the Men of Steel

It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's New 52 Retelling of Superman's Origin's!!!

STORY
So this takes us back to the early day's of Superman's career, back when he was just, "That Alien with the S T-Shirt and Cape.  We see his first encounters with Lex Luthor, the U.S. Army, Lois Lane, and Braniac.  I't also shows how the Fortress of Solitude came to be, and how the Supersuit (Never used in a better meaning) came to be.



ART 
While I'm new to comic art, I like Rags Morales' interpretation of the Man of Steel, Lois Lane, and Lex Luthor.  Especially for Superman, he look's a lot younger, but we can still tell it's him.  The T-Shirt and Jeans style of the first few issues I've really come to like, I'm even thinking about  thinking about cosplaying in a costume Action Comics New 52 costume.

CONTENT
There's some mild profanity's infrequently (1-2 per issue), Brainiac look's a tad creepy.  Something I would like to note, is that any title in the New 52 is probably not for younger reader's.  We are past the age of the Comic's Code Authority and so there are rating systems in place at each publisher.  This Title is Rated T, which means 12 and up. In Movie terms I would rate this PG.

CONCLUSION
Action Comics Volume 1 was a solid read for the first 5 issues.  Issues #7-8 had this time travel plot with Superman as a little boy, and these other youngling Heroes, I Don't remember that well, I found those issues boring.  For the main part, I did enjoy the retelling of everything I already knew, but it did change some thing I thought didn't need to be, such as The Suit was randomly on Braniac's Ship, when he put it on, the symbol of the house of EL appered.  So as a Superman Tale, It's not one of the best, but as a Comic, It's pretty good.

7.5 out of 10
I am a big Superman Fan, I just didn't enjoy this as much as some other Plot Arcs i've read, "For Tomorrow", "The Death of Superman", and the current Johns/Romita run.

CREATIVE TEAM
Writer    
Grant Morrison
Artist
Rags Morales
Inker
Rick Bryant
Colorist
Brad Anderson
Letterer
Pat Brosseau
Published
2012 by DC Comics

Muppet's Most Wanted (2014)

It's the Muppet's Again in...

MUPPET'S MOST WANTED

STORY

After the success of thier previous film The Muppet's, Kermit and the Gang are back pondering the plot of their newly ordered sequel.  After deciding that it should be "The Muppet's go on a World Tour", they hire the shady promoter "Mr. Badguy" (said Bah-gee), and head out to Berlin.  Once there Kermit is replaced (against his will), by Constatine, the worlds most dangerous frog.  The police find Kermit, and mistake him for the criminal, and take him to the gulag.  Then Interpol get's on to the fact that everywere the Muppet's go, Art is being stolen...

CONTENT

There is some crude humor spread throughout, but it's not that vulgar.  The plot is about a Criminal Frog.  Ms. Piggy has a obsession with her Kermie.  Nothing all that bad here. 

CONCLUSION

For 60 years the muppet's have entertained children and adults alike, and this movie proves that they still can.  While not as funny as the previous film, it does spark lot's of laughter, and the musical numbers are still great.  With celebrity cameos from Celine Dion, James McAvoy, Danny Trejo, Josh Groban, Lady Gaga, Hugh Boneville, Tony Bennet, Tom Hiddleston, and Usher (guess who he played :).  This movie is sure to provide fun for the whole family.

7.0 out of 10

Welcome to the big house...

DETAILS
STARRING 
Ty Burrrell
Tina Fey
Ricky Gervais
Steve Whitmire
Eric Jacobson
Matt Vogel

Directed by James Bobin

Music by Christophe Beck

Rated PG

Released 2014

Sonic the Hedgehog (1991)

In the 1990s, the rivalry between Sega and Nintendo was like that of Samsung and Apple today.  Sega wanted a mascot for the Genesis, that the system would be identified by.  Thus Sonic the Hedgehog was born.

STORY

Sonic must stop Dr. Robotnik from stealing the Chaos Emeralds, and break his animal friends out of prison's made by the mad scientist

GAMEPLAY

The objective is to reach the goal to the far right of the screen.  This involves smashing enemies, jumping pit's, and lots of platforming, all while trying to collect rings and power up's to get the high score, in a timely manner.  Going faster gives you a bonus, but it also pay's to head backwards on another level, so it really depends on if your trying to go for a high score, or if your trying to go farther in the game faster, how it will play.

GRAPHICS

While not as vibirant as SNES games, the graphics are less blocky, and show's the speed very well.  Very Good Graphics (for 1991).

AGE

Sonic is suitable for all ages

CONCLUSION

Sonic the Hedgehog was one of the best games available for genesis, and is worth your time.  Not only is it fun, but once you get in the flow of the game, it's quite addictive.  So whether or not you have the cartridge, you can get this game on a sega collection disc, the play store, or a rom.  

7 out of 10

While not the best of the series, STH is still fun.  I'm giving it a seven due to the lack of the spin dash move, which would have been very helpful in some instances.  I played Sonc the Hedgehog 2 first, which also affects the opinion given here.    

DETAILS

Developed by Sonic Team

Published by Sega

Released 1991

Rated GA/KA/E/E10/T  (collections are rated every thing but GA, the original rating)

For Sega Genesis, iOS, Android, and most game consoles past 2001



Afterthoughts-The Amazing Spider-Man 2

So if you haven't noticed yet, Spider-Man is my biggest fandom (yes, that's right!  Star Wars comes second.), and I want to talk about the new movie, and throw in my thoughts on what should be in the third film.  This is not a review, so there will be spoilers.  If you have not seen The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and you want to enjoy it all, turn around!  The actual review is in the blog archive to the right.

*SPOILERS START HERE*

So first off, I personally enjoyed TASM2, and can't wait for the sequel.  Yes, there were shortcomings, but doesn't everything have some?

1. Who's the villain?  Well in film one, we have The Lizard, in film two we have Electro, Green Goblin, and Rhino.  I've heard that a Sinister Six (a team-up of six baddies who hate the web-head) film is in the works.  It would be cool to see the classic S6 line-up:
Doctor Octopus
Electro
Kraven the Hunter
Vulture
Mysterio
Sand Man

But that probaby won't happen as Goblin and Rhino will be members, plus we have seen the Vulture and Doctor Octopus equipment.  I highly doubt that Electro will return (he exploded in the power grid battle) and the Lizard is most likley out of the picture.  So who are the other two members?  Personally, I think it's most likely Mysterio and Kraven.
But here we run into a new problem...when will we meet the villains?  Since we only have met two members of the six thus far, would they really throw four villains into one movie, with two that still need to be expanded on?  Doubt it.   

The Roster
Green Goblin
Rhino
Vulture
Mysterio
Kraven
Doctor Octopus

I personally want the villains in movie three to be Kraven-Hired by Harry (Goblin) to kill the spider, and the black cat, also hired by Harry to distract Spider-Man while Kraven hunts him.  We could bump into another villain earlier into the movie as someone spidey stops, but thats the extent that I would go.

2. What killed Gwen?  This is a huge debate, even in the comic.  Did Spider-Man's web kill her, or the fall?  Could he have saved her if he had sent two webs?  Was she dead before she hit the floor?  We'll never know, but if you want to read more about the debate, check out this article I found "The Weirdest Debate in Comic History".

3. Love Interest....My other big question is who is the love interest in the aftermath of Gwen's death?  Shailene Woodley (of Divergent fame) was originally going to be introduced as Mary Jane Watson in TASM2, but her scenes were cut from the film, will she still make it to movie 3?  Probably not, Divergent fared better at the Box Office than Muppets Most Wanted (review coming soon) and a sequel is fully expected, you do the math.  This brings us to another thing, Felica Hardy, Harry Osborn's assistant in the movie.  Her comic book alter-ego, was the cat burglar "Black Cat".  As a love interest she only wanted Spider-Man, and didn't care about who he was without the mask.  Around the time that she was introduced, was also the time that M.J. came back to New York from Florida.  M.J. loved Peter Parker, but not Spider-Man, the exact opposite of the Cat.
This left Peter struggling to decide which person he loved more, eventually choosing M.J.  This love triangle could lead to some pretty good on screen drama to distract him from Kraven...that is, if the producers choose to do that...

Some of the fans who were slightly disapointed by the movie, but enjoyed it (like me), have called for a directors cut.  So far, the petiton has gathered up 10,500 signatures.  If released, this could inlcude more scenes with Harry Osborn/Goblin, the extended clocktower fight, Mary Jane, and the scene with Norman Osborn's head in a cryochamber, that was replaced with a scene from the new X-Men film.
I believe that the person who started this is not in the U.S.A. due to a recent post that said director Marc Webb "favourited" (British spelling!) a tweet regarding the petiton, so things might be moving foward with this idea.  If you are interested in signing the petiton as I did, please see here.

I can't wait for The Amazing Spider-Man 3, but in the mean time, I'm working on a story ideas for TASM3, so if your from the future, click here to see it.  I'll also have commentary on The Amazing Spider-Man vol. 3's inagural issues at some point.  And as mentioned the review of Muppet's Most Wanted.  

LIVE LONG AND PROSPER....

Iron Man 2 (2010)

Tony shouldn't still be a jerk, but I guess some thing don't change.

IRON MAN 2

STORY
Shortly after the events of Iron Man, Tony Stark is more popular than ever for revealing his super hero persona.  Then the government puts him on trial for not sharing his tech, and Tony says, "only I have this technology, no other person will develop it for at least ten years, i'm not a threat".  And so as the debate keep raging, someone does in fact recreate the tech, Tony has to take a look at not only how the suit is affecting him, but also Pepper, his company, and the world, when the very thing that is keeping him alive is also killing him.  


CONTENT
More sexual innuendo pppresent than the previous Iron Man film, more languge and more violence, such as drones killing people at a fair.  Tony is jerk for the first hour of the movie, so he's not a role model super hero like Spider-Man or Superman.

CONCLUSION
This is easily the worst movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and besides teasing Thor and Captain America, does nothing for the franchise.  I didn't enjoy the hour of Jerkism displayed, and it was almost unbearable to watch.  Mabey you'll like it, but I didn't.  Some of the scenes were cool, but the film as a whole was unenjoyable.  Why was Black Widow in the movie again?

5 out of 10

DETAILS
STARRING
Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man
Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts
Don Cheadle as Col. James Rhodes
Mickey Rourke as Ivan
Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer
Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan
Clark Gregg as Agent Phil Coulson
Scarlett Johansson as Natalie Rushman/Black Widow
Samuel L. Jackson as Col. Nick Fury

Directed by Jon Favreau

Music by John Debney and AC/DC

Produced by Marvel Studios

Released in 2010

Rated PG-13

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Nathan Drake, you've gotta love em'...

UNCHARTED 2: AMONG THEIVES

STORY
Some time after Drake's Fortune, Nate is just hangin' round' a bar, when two old freinds approach him.  They have a "job" they need him to particpate, in which would see them braking into a museum, and stealing a ceramic peice that belonged to Marco Polo, and Nathan just flat out agrees to help.  Upon retreiving the artifact, they discover ta map, and a chip of lengendary Cintomani stone.  After Nate talks a tad bit too much, he is stranded by his partner flynn , captured and sent off to a prison cell.  Sully eventually bails him out, and they follow in Flynn's footsteps, and find the entire cintomani stone.  They both deduce that Marco Polo, was on the trail of Shambala, the mythical city that housed the tree of life.
Nate then leaves off on a daring quest, to stop the tree of life's power from falling into the wrong hands, by stopping thousands of baddies singlehandedly, because he can do that.
                                 
GAMEPLAY
Uncharted 2, keeps many of the elements from the original game, and also introduces new ones.  We have the same run n' gun style action of the first game, and more climbing and jumping segment's akin to mario.  The level of action in this game is tremendously amped up, including a fight on top of a train, and running on the roof's of collapsing buildings. In other segments, you just walk through a village and intoduce yourself to non-english speaking people, or admire artifacts in a secret room.

GRAPHICS
Uncharted 2 is huge graphical improvement from the first entry.  The character models were the best I'd seen until Uncharted 3, the enviroments look extremeley realistic as well, with the snowcaped mountans of nepal, or the dense jungles of burma as your background, with rubble, changing scapes of snow, and leaves blowing throughout the jungle.

CONTENT
Uncharted 2 features alot of profanity, almost everyword short of the ones that make a film rated R.  Violence is amped up as well, with a bigger focus on hand to hand combat, with moves such a neck snapping, and pulling the pin on grenades attached to the other guys belt.  Blood is more present than in Drakes Fortune, but not in the gory style of Call of Duty.
A suggestive scene is shown in one of the first cinematics, but it implies more than does show, and I would say it's at the PG level.  On another note, this game established Drake as a thief, so he's not exactly your perfect role model.  

CONCLUSION
When it was released, Uncharted 2 won the highest amount of game of the year awards ever.  This number was only surpassed by Uncharted 3, a later the last of us, another Naughty Dog game, if that tells you anything.  It is a phenomenal game, and not only that a buttload of fun.  I highly reccomend it to any PlayStation gamer, and if you don't have the PS3, when the price goes down, get one, this is one of the no brainer games to go with. 

9 out of 10
go buy it....

DETAILS
Developed by Naughty Dog
Published by Sony Computer Entertainment
Released in 2009
Rated T by the ESRB
For PS3

Crash Bandicoot

The long forgotten PlayStation mascot...

CRASH BANDICOOT

STORY
Crash is a peacful bandicoot living in the austrailan islands, who is genetically modified by the evil Dr. Neo Cortex, to become a milliatry leader.  After being found unworthy, crash is abandoned and thats where the game begins, with a wacky plot full of wack.  But we do have to admit, games like this usually aren't the best at story telling.

GAMEPLAY
Crash is a platform game akin to Mario in some respects.  You guide Crash along narrow jungle paths, collecting strawberrys, smashing boxes, dodging crabs, skunks and other animals, and avioding obsticles.  This is a "3D" game, but the way the levels play, it's more like a 2D game from a different camera angle.

GRAPHICS
The basic PS1 chunkies, nothing special by today's standards, but for then awesome.
It goes for a cartoon look (obviously).

CONCLUSION
A fun platformer exclusivee to PS1, but not as good as Mario/Sonic other like games.  The makers of Crash later made 3 sequels, and the developed the Jak and Daxter series for PS2, and even more recently, the Uncharted series, and the last of us.  If your looking for a fun classsic title to play, I reccomend downloading this one from the PSN.

8 out of 10

While admitedly not the greatest game ever, the originality is always a merit for a higher score.  Spinning being the only attack, the querky characters and enviroments, and the strawberries, all contribute to this score, although being modeled on other games, 
Crash Bandicoot is certainly a one of kind.

DETAILS
Developed by Naughty Dog
Published by Sony Computer Entertainment
Rated E by the ESRB
Released in 1996
For PlayStation, re-released on PSN for PSP and PS3.

Medal of Honor: Rising Sun

The first person shooter genre just got better, well 11 years ago at least...

MEDAL OF HONOR: RISING SUN

STORY
Joe Griffin is your average joe for 1941, he joind the marine corps, and was stationed on the U.S.S. Arizona, and was on board when the December 7th attacks happened.  But alas a few months later, his brother was taken prisoner, while they were helping each other out in the phillipines, and for his outstanding service record, he is drafted into the O.S.S.

GAMEPLAY
It maintain's the classic Medal of Honor run and gun, but adds more features, like veering off from the main path to find bonus objectives.  Gun's are not picked up, like in newer games, but players instead have a pre-determined load out for each mission.  Enemy A.I. isn't the brightest ever, but good enough.  One thing is that the control scheme of games 11 years ago is slightly different from what it is today, so don't expect to find the Call of Duty control scheme in the pre-set control schemes.  

GRAPHICS
They weren't very good back in 2003 for the time, and weren't much of an improvement from Medal of Honor: Frontline.  It does go for a more cartoony look than other shooter games, and perfectly achieves it on the PS2/GameCube/XBOX hardware.

CONCLUSION
Rising Sun is a good game, but too similar to Frontline.  The only way it's better is through the story telling, which is alot better than previous entries, but it falls short in other areas.  I'm not usually one to judge graphics much, accept when a game is below the standard for when it came out, and this is one of those games.  Although it does remind us a time when games didn't need blood and guts to be awesome.

7.5 out of 10

DETAILS
Developed by EA Los Angeles (now Danger Close Games)
Published by EA
Rated T by the ESRB
Released in 2003
For PS2, GameCube, and XBOX

    

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)

    Since our hero never heard the words that inspired him, did he continue to be..

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2

STORY
Set a mere two tears after The Amazing-Spider-Man.  Everything is going well for Peter Parker, as he is a symbol of hope to the city, he finaly graduated high school, and is with the girl of his dreams.  Around this time, Harry Osborne, is called to see his estranged father Norman Osborn, founder of OsCorp(the lab that Dr. Connors was employed) in his final moments.  When he dies, the company is left to Harry, and Peter an old friend of Harry's comes and reintroduces himself.  Around that time Max Dillon, an OsCorp electrician is "killed" in a accedent, but when he arises from what was more like a coma, he's blue and can absorb and control electricity.  Spider-Man will once again have to rise to save the day!(because who else would?)

CONTENT
Again as with all the films i've reviewed so far, this is a action film.  That means it's violent, but it does maintain the PG-13 rating by a long shot.  Electro kills people with electricity, is mad at spidey for some reason, and wants to be seen.  The film deals with what it is exactly that drives heroes to do what they do, just more tragicly than normal.  Again lot's of kissing spread throughout the film.  Languge is again light when compared to the recent Captain America: The Winter Soldier, but still present.

CONCLUSION
It's a fun film, and I went to see it last friday(opening night), and had a blast.  It took me awhile to muster up the courage to write this review, as the original Spider-Man 2 is my favorite Marvel film, and 2, how it left me thinking after the end.  I've followed Spidey's adventures in film, games, and comics(off and on) for the last ten years, and I can tell you this is really good movie, but not the best of the series.  It's main plot is good, but it also expands on Richard and Mary Parkers deaths a bit more, and introduces Rhino and Green Goblin for the next movie, so at times it feels as though it's just there to be there for no reason, but I know these things will be expanded on the next part.  The bad reviews that have popped up, are from haters of the first entry of the series, and so alot of them are biased that the original Spider-Man 2 was better, and I'm here to say yes it is, but we're not talking about the old series we're talking about the new film having improved over the last one, and yes it did.
So with a non biased review from a biased person I give this one...

7 out of 10

The improvement may be small, but I bet that The Amazing Spider-Man 3 will be...
AMAZING

DETAILS
STARRING
Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker/Spider-Man
Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy
Jamie Fox as Max Dillon/Electro
Sally Field as Aunt May
Dane DeHaan as Harry Osborne
Paul Giamatti as Rhino
Chris Cooper as Norman Osborne

Directed By Marc Webb

Music by Hans Zimmer

Rated PG-13 

Released May 2, 2014

Published by Sony Pictures

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

Hi my name is Steve, I'm a 95 year old WWII vet, who slept for 70 years under ice.  I'm now a spy serving under Col. Fury of S.H.E.I.L.D.  This is the story of...

CAPTAIN AMERICA: 
THE WINTER SOLDIER 

STORY

2 years after The Avengers, Steve Rogers has become an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and he leads of team of black ops soldiers called S.T.R.Y.K.E. which includes the Black Widow.  Steve is doing well adjusting to modern life, but does't understand the change of mindset that the government has had.  He eventually comes to trust no one at S.H.I.E.L.D. after a dastardly plot comes to light, and is called a fugitive for a crime he hasn't committed, and he gains a sidekick named Falcon. The moral of the story is, that when you cut off one head, two more shall take it's place. 

CONTENT
There is language, but it's infrequent.  Violence is shown A lot through this film, and it's pervasive and frenetic.  I would go as far to say it's more violent than 2008's The Dark Knight, with more gunfights, deaths, and action sequences, minus the psychotic Joker. 
Black Widow, a character introduced in Iron Man 2, is one of my least favorite avengers, and she has a very prominent role in the story, which she's mainly there to be "SEXY" at certain points.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

It's a different type of film than The First Avenger, with it's more plot focused on action than story.  While this is the definitive best film of phase 2, I don't think that Black Widow: The Winter Soldier has the magic of the first few films in the series(sarcasm). So, should we be looking forward to the Avengers: Age of Ultron next year? I guess, but I'm becoming somewhat weary of the Marvel release schedule, as I felt this film borrowed ideas from other film's, and while cool was kind of uninspired, but still a fun watch.  What makes this film stand out is The Human Torch...umm...Captain America, and his heroic age values.  
7.5 out of 10

DETAILS
STARRING
Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America
Scarlett Johansson as The Black Widow
Samuel L. Jackson as Col. Nick Fury
Robert Redford as Alexander Pierce 
Sebastian Stan as The Winter Soldier
Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson/Falcon

Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo
Rated PG-13
Published by Paramount
Released April 4th 2014





        

Mortal Kombat (1992)

Fighting, it is the key to our lives...not really, but every once in a while it's fun to crush someone in the glory of battle...if it's not real...


MORTAL KOMBAT

GAMEPLAY
One of my favorite fighting games(of the ones I've played), this include everything you'll ever need to fight-3 buttons and a D-Pad.  The attack buttons, are dodge, punch, and kick, these can be strung together to create a combo, although I've never personally figured this out.  The fights are to the K.O. in the first couple of round's, but in the final round it's to death(hence the title).  The winner is the decided by who is best 2 out of 3, and each round is 99 seconds of brutal fighting.

GRAPHICS and CONTENT
For the time this was released, it was one of the best graphical games ever coded.  The sprites are pixelated images of actual people making it have a more realistic tone.  Much like the Apple v. Samsung debate of today, the Sega Genesis and the Super Nintendo were head to head in the video game market.  In the original arcade release, Mortal Kombat had a lot of gore, such as the spine rip finishing move(yowzah), but when it was released for the SNES and Genesis, the Content was toned down...a lot.  But later a cheatcode was found that allowed the genesis version to be played with the blood on, making it the overall better version.  A quick fact is that this game inadvertently caused the created the ESRB...to rate the Genesis version M.

CONCLUSION
It's fun, it's violent, but nevertheless...it's a good fighting game.  In the amount of time I played this in the emulator, I never achieved a combo, but I do believe that was due to not knowing what the controls were.  The difference between having the gore on and off is huge, as the whole mood of the game changes.  I think that the "clean" version would be rated T if it was released today.  Overall...

8.5 out of 10  

DETAILS
Released in 1992
Rated M by the ESRB
Developed and Published by Midway
For SNES, GENESIS, and Arcade, with numerous ports to modern consoles.

Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

Space...The Final Frontier.  These are the voyages of the Starship "Enterprise", her 5 year mission-To seek out new life and new civilizations, to explore strange new worlds, to boldly go where no man has gone before?  Unless it's a sequel to a reboot?  
STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS
So since this review is happening so long after the film is out, i'm going to spoil part of the film by stating that this, unlike the first of the reboot series, this one is a remake. More specifically, a remake of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn. 




STORY
Around a year after the events of "Star Trek", the crew of the enterprise is surveying a class M planet named Nibiru, and when there's a volcano that is about to erupt that will kill everything on the planet, the team put's Mr. Spock inside a volcano with a cold fusion device, but in order to get him out of the volcano, they have to fly the enterprise over the top of the volcano, allowing the native species to see them, thus violating the prime directive.  Captain Kirk's command is revoked for this action, and Spock is resigned to another ship.  Around this time a fugitive named John Harrison instigates a bombing in London on a Starfleet archive, and then flees to the Klingon homeworld of Kronos.  Captain Kirk's Command is re-instated and he takes his crew on a manhunt for John Harrison-the most dangerous adversary the enterprise ever faced, in both the n+ew series and the original series(Hint Hint).


CONTENT
Star Trek has many times been compared to classical music, when compared to the rock n' roll style of star wars.  This changed with Star Trek (2009), so basically the enterprise take many more hits in this film, than it did pre-Search for Spock(Enterprise was blown-up in that one), people being sucked out of the ship while it's at warp, and a mega gunfight with the Klingons(they all die as well).  There's some sexual innuendo, most notably the underwear scene, but all together this makes up for 10 seconds of the film.  Language is the biggest issue of the film all together, as it is all throughout, although not constant.  


CONCLUSION  

As this may not be the best film ever made, and has it's many flaws, it's still one of the better Star Trek adventures of the bunch, (12 films, 500+ episodes).  I personally enjoyed this one more than 2009, but that was due to seeing all of the references to things that happened in the original series.  It's a fun watch, but as I like to say it's a great movie if your a trekkie,  if not, than it's just a good one.


                                8 out of 10


DETAILS
see IMDB

The Monuments Men (2014)

The Monuments Men is a historical film loosely based on a real life group of soldiers called "Monuments Men" in World War II.  Their mission was to protect art from the Nazi's, so that a generation of European culture would not be forgotten.  It stars George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray and many other actors in a pretty large ensemble.

STORY
In the 1940s during WWII, Nazi soldier's were stealing art from galleries across Europe.  An art scholar from the United States, named Frank Stokes(Clooney) brings this to the attention of President F.D.R.  With permission he assembles a team of art scholars to come with him to the front lines to protect art from being destroyed, and to recover stolen art.  The Monuments Men, must overcome the fact that none of them are typical soldiers, and that they are old men not used to battle.  This is a Comedy.


CONTENT
There is frequent language in this film.  The language could of been in a PG film, if it wasn't so frequent.  Some characters die, there's shooting, although not much.  Smoking is seen in every scene, but that is how it was in 1945, so I'm not sure why that was included in the descriptor for the PG-13 rating.  


CONCLUSION
This is a funny film, and tells the story of average Joe's doing what right.  The main problem for me was the amount of language, if it didn't have this, it would be family friendly.  The characters could have been more developed (especially the one's who die).  It's not the best film in the world, but it's a fun watch.
                                               7 out of 10 


DETAILS
Run Time-118 Minutes
Cast-See IMDB
Rated PG-13 for some images of war violence and historical smoking
Release Date-Feb 7th 2014