Johnny Ringo

for the past two days I've been playing Duke Nukem Forever on and off - on and off because it just can't hold my attention.

After all this time I expected the game to be average but I only wanted 2 things - action and humour. It stumbles on both.

The references in DN3d were cool because they were kinda obscure. here Duke makes reference to everything from Aliens to Starship Troopers.

the action in the game is in quite small doses as feels extremely scripted, it's pretty much - 

walk into an empty area, solve some mundane puzzle, fight off a few waves of monsters that suddenly appear...continue through the empty area....

I'd be very surprised if any single element they planned in 1997 exists in the game today - it really feels like they shoe-horned in anything they saw in other games - two weapon limit? check. physics puzzles? check....

the level I just played through feels too much like the flood / gravemind levels i the halo games. complete with egg sacks and sphincter type doors. 

it's the sort of game you couldn't make in 1997 due to technology and shouldn't make in 2011 because it's all been done in better games.

^ i think you may have been Frink-ed.

yup.  there's a scene of two people in a room and the only light is from a small projector and there's blue streaks smeared across their faces. in shots from different angles. and when they are standing between the projector and the camera.

and the power in the house is off so there's no chance of saying it was a hall light or some such.

Super 8.

Balls 4.

trying to stay spoilersafe but i'll say this - throughout the movie a group of friends are making a super 8 film to enter into a contest. stick around during the end credits to see this film - i'm sure it had a name but i can't recall.

That's one part of the plot - the other is the mysterious stuff hinted at in the trailers so I wont talk about that yet.

What I liked - 

I was really impressed with the kids in the movie.

What I disliked - 

the lens flares. oh god. the lens flares.

all in all a fun movie and i'll definitely want to see it again. It's mostly pretty serious but there are some laugh out loud moments from time to time.

While it has an old style like early Spielberg films I think I enjoyed it a lot more than i have those [E.T. et al.]

not sure how i feel about the plot over all but I certainly had a good time watching it.

Sluggo is alive and well, he's been living these past 18 months in the year 1885...

The rapture?

admittedly the first 2 were kinda rubbish [Sept. 6, 1994 and May 21, 2011]

mabe they'll get it right on the 3rd go [oct. 21, 2011]

Only a matter of time i suppose. I thought about doing something similar but my take would just basically be a padded out version of the Rebirth short - and maintaining that 'real world' style. And in a more chronological order.

I would say just call it Mortal Kombat - or maybe something like  Mortal Kombat Prologue - since it's set before the meat of the MK storyline. I wouldn't keep the legacy tagline.

For now I'm waiting for the finale and any word on whether there'll be a 2nd season before I make any decisions.

in terms of what works, it depends on what sort of style you're going for really...

I'm not clear on this - are you keeping it in segments or one flowing piece?

TV's Frink said:

Gaffer Tape said:

With my first Victoria's Secret paycheck in hand (figuratively speaking, because we have those stupid-ass pay cards that I'm desperately hoping I will have done away with by next pay cycle), I went out and bought (even though I really can't afford it):

The Beatles in Mono boxset!

Liar.  You totally bought ladies underpants and you know it.

wouldn't that be like Colonel Sanders paying for fried chicken?

Fives, by the sound of it you're getting confused...or maybe it's just your wording?

my understanding is that Halo 4 is probably a new engine.

I've seen a trailer for each but not had time to dig deep into the details...

EyeShotFirst said:

Bill Paxton

you can still get Bill Paxton. maybe you meant Bill Pullman?

skyjedi2005 said:

Super 8 is a rehash of old school Spielberg, only done by Abrams.

Super 8 is a rehash of old school Spielberg, only done by and  Abrams.

and isn't that the Spielberg you prefer?

skyjedi2005 said:

First Class may be well a great film in its own right but is it an X-men film ?

Dealing with the issues the comics did and such makes it so, but without the actual characters and no continuity makes it sort of a separate thing like JJ's Star Trek.

I would not say its a bad movie.

But is it the kind of X-men film i would have made, probably not.  But the writer and director have a right to cement their own creative vision and comic book fans be damned.

There are many reason's why i despise prequels.  Even if the film itself is good, i don't like prequels in general as i would rather get on with the story and not focus too much on origins unless it is just maybe the first film in a series.  Like Batman Begins, or again JJ's Star Trek, the second one of course will be when we see more of that characters and universe since they had to be established in that first film.

Sometimes though a director does the movie that establishes the character and story outline and then does not get to do the sequel, as in the case with Superman Returns where the sequel was completely erased from existence and they went reboot crazy.

Is it an X-men film? how do you define that? It is kinda like the first film...

yes it is kind of a separate thing - like star trek - because that's what the series needed if they were going to keep making movies. Take a look at Wolverine - they had a series of 'origins' movies planned initially.

what would be the point in keeping continuity with movies that the audience loathed? 

At the risk of sounding like you're not actually complaining - how would you have done it? what is the sort of xmen movie you would do?

re: getting on with the story - X3 was the end, my friend. Magneto isn't a mutant anymore - and Xavier [the guy that puts the x in xmen] is dead. 

I really dig the idea of making classic maps for reach - rather than dividing the audience. There's nothing worse than sitting in a lobby waiting forever for a game to start because the players are scattered so thin.

what i'm really wondering is where they'll draw the line - as the series went on they let you do more and more. 

Will we be able to hijack vehicles? will the rocket launcher have a 'lock-on'? will there be dual wielding? etc...

the idea to switch between visuals seems interesting but i wonder if it will hold things back at all. will it ONLY be a facelift?

in any case i guess anniversary edition will be like odst. that little taste of halo to tide you over til the next proper game launches.

^ Those are great. big fan of the IT crowd.

- maybe you could draw the ot.com regulars? ;)

I've only seen about five minutes of Darkplace. maybe I should check it out.

Been catching up on the whole last season [22] of the simpsons. The show just doesn't have the charm of the early years anymore but overall i'm enjoying it.

Really, you can ignore all the Xmen films that came before and pretend this is the first. It's almost like a reboot ala Star Trek 2009.

As it stands it is a better movie than all of the others. There are some slight inconsistencies but also a few nods and winks to the other films.

Like Star Trek 2009 it's something that fans and non-fans should both enjoy.

Last movie seen - Monsters.

Interesting. 3 balls.

I was expecting a bit more to happen and the story was a bit depressing, but I enjoyed it.

There are a lot of people I like but i forget names. 

Henry Rollins - he's more of a storyteller but can be pretty funny.

Bill Hicks.

and pretty much all those guys and gals ^^

and usually when the guys get together for [far too many] drinks someone will start taking the piss out of Cosby or Seinfeld...

Russian Space Programmeland..

they just put you in a room, turn off the lights and let you break stuff.

XMEN: First Class

3 balls.

Michael Fassbender kicks all kinds of ass. some nicely placed cameos. wont say too much else this early. Good fun.

Jurassic Park.

What could possibly go wrong?

The King's Speech.

3 balls.

doubleofive said:

All it does is show the same image to both eyes by blocking the other image (instead of just blocking it for one eye). There's no reason why they wouldn't work. I saw a video on how to make your own somewhere.

All it does is nothing since they don't exist. This was an April fool's joke yet people keep bringing it up for some reason...

Not having a go at you Fives, just saying.

is there anything Americans wont eat?

Gulliver's Travels. Fun but pointless. 1 ball.

within 9 months?

what about the Illusionist and the Prestige? - both 2006.

Bingowings said:

There was that batch of films questioning the nature of perceived reality.

Open Your Eyes (1997)

Vanilla Sky (2001)

 

same movie, dog.