Movie And Game Reviews - Review Status

Babylon A.D.

In the near future all is looking grim, streets in Russia are kill zones, no respect for life exists there and there are no rules, just you and your skills to stay alive. Vin Diesel stars as Thoorop in Babylon A.D. a new Sci-Fi Action movie, he plays the role of a ex veteran turned into a mercenary trying to get by life, until he is recruited by a crime lord to do a job which was to get Aurora, and Rebeka out from Russia and in to America. All of the sceneries dictate that Europe and the rest of eastern lands are in a total chaos and America will be like a heaven for the rich and powerful. Thoorop along the trip gets to be acquainted with Rebeka and they develop a special relation although nothing is shown per say. So at the end of the job he goes against his rules and starts to fight everyone to get Rebeka free, he almost gets killed and in the process finds out a lot more about her. All the movie has a spiritual sense to it and with religious connotations about the second coming of the messiah, so if you’re a fan of Vin Diesel and its work this is definitely a movie to see.

Starring: Vin Diesel, Michelle Yeoh, Melanie Thierry, Lambert Wilson, Mark Strong, Jerome Le Banner, Charlotte Rampling, Gérard Depardieu

Runtime: 1 hr 41 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
Theatrical Release: Aug 29, 2008 Wide
Box Office: $22,489,779

Director: Mathieu Kassovitz
Screenwriter: Mathieu Kassovitz, Eric Besnard
Producer: Ilan Goldman
Composer: Atli Orvarsson
Studio: 20th Century Fox

Posted in 2008, Action, Adventure, Movie Reviews | No Comments »

Transporter 3

Once again Frank Martin put his driving gloves on in part 3 on the now trilogy of Transporter, but this time not only to save the pretty girls life but also his own. Part 3 of the movie series is inclined by the world’s problem with hazardous wastes that big companies drop in 3rd world countries due to the fact that they can bribe anyone, but they face a problem this time when a stubborn politician refuses them and doesn’t let them to drop the waste in his country. Being cornered the big companies hire special people for the job, Johnson played by Robert Knepper, to abduct the daughter of the politician to black mail his into signing the agreement to dump the waste in his country. Thus the girl needs to be transported from 1 location to another and the help of Frank Martin is recruited by force and both he and the girl are linked to the car with a mechanism that doesn’t allow them to be in more than 30 yards of the car or they will blow up. Things get very interesting when both the politician and Johnson send out their people to recover Frank and as all the other parts that is only the beginning since you can expect a packed action and full of special effects and stunts movie that you are accustomed with the series.

Starring: Jason Statham, Robert Knepper, Francois Berleand, Natalya Rudakova, Jeroen Krabbe, Alex Kobold, David Atrakchi, Yann Sundberg, Eriq Ebouaney, David Kammenos, Silvio Simac

Rated: PG-13 for sequences of intense action and violence, some sexual content and drug material
Runtime: 1 hr 40 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
Theatrical Release: Nov 26, 2008 Wide
Box Office: $31,316,973

Director: Olivier Megaton
Screenwriter: Luc Besson, Robert Mark Kamen
Producer: Luc Besson, Steven Chasman
Composer: Alexandre Azaria
Studio: Lions Gate Films

Posted in 2008, Action, Adventure, Movie Reviews | No Comments »

Yes Man

It fills my heart with joy to see that we can start the New Year with good films like this; it’s been a long time since I saw a good comedy not to mention a good comedy with Jim Carrey. In Yes man we are confronted with a character that has fallen into the hands of “the day by day routine” and inadvisably lost most of his loved ones and things by saying NO all the time, no to any invitation in town by friends , no to any customer no pretty much to life. Until he when almost to rock bottom and a friend suggested to him to go to a seminar called YES Man, this the critical moment when all changed for him, before a audience of thousands of people he made a covenant to say YES to anything that might come along his way. Well this is the moment the fun really starts, Jim being dragged throw all kind of weird situations that in the end turn out for his best interest thus meeting very interesting new people and also what could be the love of his life. The film combines comedy with romance so good and I assure you it’s a delight to watch since it brings out the best in each of us and also makes you put a smile on for the rest of the day.

Rated: PG-13 for crude sexual humor, language and brief nudity
Runtime: 1 hr 44 mins
Genre: Comedies
Theatrical Release: 2009
Box Office: $79,507,388

Starring: Jim Carrey, Zooey Deschanel, Bradley Cooper, Rhys Darby, John Michael Higgins, Danny Masterson, Terence Stamp, Sasha Alexander, Rocky Carroll, Anna Khaja, Brent Briscoe, Patrick Labyorteaux, Luis Guzman, Molly Sims, Fionnula Flanagan

Director: Peyton Reed
Screenwriter: Nicholas Stoller, Jarrad Paul, Andrew Mogel
Producer: Richard D. Zanuck, David Heyman
Studio: Warner Bros.

Posted in 2008, Comedy, Family, Movie Reviews | No Comments »

The House Bunny

Featuring Anna Faris as Shelley Darlingson the movie is absolutely hilarious to watch, and has a good original idea of a comedy movie. We all have seen many sorority movies and some were good and some very bad but I can tell you from now you’ll definitely have your laugh at this one. Beside the usual problems with an unpopular sorority the main focus is on Shelley who is a Playboy bunny who is tossed out of the mansion. That being the only thing she knew in her life she feels like a drop of water in the ocean not being able to fit anywhere since she really didn’t knew anything but the mansion life where she had all on the table served. As she is confronted with the real life situations of getting a roof over her head and a job she soon sees that getting a real job will be very difficult, after many failed attempts she ends up as a sorority mother trying to save it from being disbanded. Here the situation gets very funny and gets a huge contrast between Shelley – Playboy Bunny , sexy , blond , full of life , party spirit and the girl from the sorority who are nerds, ugly, weird and do not end to have a personal life. And with this clash of view over the world and attitude we have a very nice comedy that is really enjoyable, also the really hot playboy bunnies help a lot .

Rated: PG-13 for sex-related humor, partial nudity and brief strong language.
Runtime: 1 hr 37 mins
Genre: Comedies
Theatrical Release: Aug 22, 2008 Wide
Box Office: $48,237,389

Starring: Anna Faris, Colin Hanks, Emma Stone, Katharine McPhee, Rumer Willis, Beverly D’Angelo
Director: Fred Wolf
Screenwriter: Karen McCullah Lutz, Kirsten Smith
Producer: Adam Sandler, Jack Giarraputo, Allen Covert, Heather Parry
Composer: Waddy Wachtel
Studio: Sony Pictures Entertainment

Posted in 2008, Comedy, Movie Reviews | No Comments »

Quantum of Solace

If we take a look now 20 years when the first James Bond movies appeared, we can see a major change from flying hats that killed you (Sean Connery) to invisible Aston Martin cars (Pierce Brosnan) we finally arrive at Daig Craig and his “new” kind of Bond. These changes had some good parts and some bad parts, for example Pierce Brosnan has that wit and charms that 007 needs to have while in the case of Daniel Craig, well let’s just say he lacks it. On the other side the James Bond series became more “real” in the sense that you can now say, yes this might be real and that’s how an agent would be. An agent relying heavily on his skills in combat, stamina and endurance that doesn’t always get out throw an ingenious gadget. That being said we have Quantum of Solace the newest addition to the series is exploiting the current crisis in the world with oil, but in a different matter one that will surprise you none the least. All the major focus is on Bolivia and the tide of the power there, when old ex commanders want to retake a country and a lot of political issues are addressed, but in the end it all resumes to a grand scheme of making money from natural resources.
You will undoubtedly enjoy this movie but feel also a bit sad if you a major fan of the series, since Bond is becoming or is being shaped into a new character and the old ways pass.

Rated: PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, and some sexual content
Runtime: 1 hr 46 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
Theatrical Release: Nov 14, 2008 Wide
Box Office: $108,790,786

Starring: Daniel Craig, Mathieu Amalric, Olga Kurylenko, Judi Dench, Jeffrey Wright, Giancarlo Giannini, Gemma Arterton
Director: Marc Forster
Screenwriter: Paul Haggis
Composer: David Arnold
Studio: MGM

Posted in 2008, Action, Adventure, Movie Reviews | No Comments »

Max Payne

Coming from a very successful game line, Max Payne is now available on the big screens director John Moore undertook this challenge, and if you look over all the movies with a game as its base storyline you would know that making such a film is not that easy, at least making it and being a good one. The storyline follows a DEA agent which had his family killed in what appeared to be a common robbery. But recent event with several murders that were made in the same way uncovered some interesting facts and ignited Max Payne interest again in the investigation of his family’s deaths. The whole movie is a web of lies that involve a major pharmaceutics company Aesir Pharmaceuticals and an experimental drug that was meant to make soldier impervious to fear. Of course the drug had a major sideefect and it was banned but always there is someone who can benefit from a mistake. Mark Wahlberg plays Max Payne quite good and the film is well plotted out, with the exception of some few bloopers and when you consider Mila Kunis also as Mona Sax along side Max you got a great combo in action wise.
The negative character is a bit doubtful but I won’t spoil the movie for you and will let you decide if this is a good movie, all what I can say is that will have a sequel 100% since the ending left many open doors for it.

Rated: PG-13 for violence including intense shooting sequences, drug content, some sexuality and brief strong language
Genre: Action/Adventure
Theatrical Release: Oct 17, 2008 Wide
Box Office: $39,963,832

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, Beau Bridges, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Olga Kurylenko, Chris O’Donnell, Donal Logue, Amaury Nolasco, Kate Burton
Director: John Moore
Screenwriter: Beau Thorne
Producer: Julie Yorn, Scott Faye, John Moore
Composer: Marco Beltrami, Buck Sanders
Studio: 20th Century Fox

Posted in 2008, Action, Movie Reviews | No Comments »

Tropic Thunder

What can I say except that this is a first comedy movie that has major special effects and a “more than impressive” and I don’t know how to approach it , because all its aspect were so well made. It is even hard to distinguish it from a action movie, the actors were all world rank comedians like Ben Stiller and Jack Black that made the movie such a good comedy. But on the other hand if you look at Robert Downey Jr. acting it is very impressive, even thaw its funny and hilarious his impersonation of an “Afro American” marine is very impressive. The whole movie is a blur to start with and from top to bottom its one disaster after another; from the first scene it is obvious the dualism view of the action is very good and well thought since they are making a film about another film about a book that had not a bit of reality in it. Just to show you how Hollywood acts now and that great movies don’t always have a solid story behind them. Even Nick Nolte and Tom Cruise were in the movie and played a interesting part.
Over the entire movie is all about some rich celebrities that cannot make a 3 min scene without making a deal out of something … but the director puts them to the test when they are dropped in the real jungle and left there to “thought them out”. On their journey some get caught up by some local drug lords and they have to work together to rescue a common friend, by doing so their journey teaches them how to act, and a lot of thing about themselves. You can imagine that all of the things are put into a very comical context that will keep you close to the screen until the end. The movie is a really good work piece for a comedy and you will definitely enjoy it !

Rated: R for pervasive language including sexual references, violent content and drug material.
Runtime: 1 hr 47 mins
Genre: Comedies
Theatrical Release: Aug 13, 2008 Wide
Box Office: $110,416,702

Starring: Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey, Brandon T. Jackson, Jay Baruchel, Danny McBride, Steve Coogan, Bill Hader, Nick Nolte, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Cruise
Director: Ben Stiller
Screenwriter: Ben Stiller, Justin Theroux, Etan Cohen
Story: Ben Stiller, Justin Theroux
Producer: Ben Stiller, Stuart Cornfield, Eric McLeod
Composer: Theodore Shapiro
Studio: Dreamworks SKG

Posted in 2008, Comedy, Family, Movie Reviews | No Comments »

Far Cry 2

After a while Ubisoft released the sequel to FarCry, and from the beginning I can tell you this is a really bad and even worst game that I could have imagine from a respectable company like ubisoft and even more for the sequel of farcry. From the start I can tell you that the only good thing about the game is its graphical engine and the way they depicted Africa, it really emerges you in an amazing world and the engine will squeeze every drop from it. But now to the downside, the storyline is close to none very little with politically-charged setting you get thrown in the middle of it and not to many things are explained, it may be due to the poor story. Also the huge traveling distances will not always be to your pleasure that being said the game gets really boring after a very short time and you will soon find yourself deleting it. My personal opinion Ubisoft screwed this up big time, what should have become a great title they rushed it into a mindless game.

Posted in 2008, Games, Shooter | No Comments »

Bookmarks for November 6th through November 19th

These are my links for November 6th through November 19th:

• Random Byte: World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King - I can only guess that will be the last addon since are running out of enemies that are in the base storyline of warcraft, we killed Kel’Thuzad in wow, we killed Illidan and Kil’Jadden in The Burning Crusade expansion, and now the final enemy encounter will be probably the Lich King himself, and thus ending the warcraft story.
• Change the default Java Runtime on Ubuntu - Random Bugs - Howto about java alternatives under Debian and Ubuntu
• Tuning file descriptors limits on Linux - Random Bugs - Nice howto about tunning linux file descriptor
• Random Bugs - Just another Bastard Operator From Hell - Nice site about programming and technical stuff.
• Credit card debt settlement program -

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Fallout 3

Finally, finally we can say we have a King of games this game is here to show all others how to make a real game look like and feel. Bethesda Softworks really outdone themselves with the 3rd series game from Fallout we now have a Role-Playing game that is both 1st person and 3rd person view point. The main story is the same the world as we know it was bombarded by nuclear weapons and 90% of the life died as we know it, some survived in hollow bare lands while others emerged from nuclear silos only to find the world had majorly changed.

Nuclear Holocaust City

As you start you will be just a baby and quickly grow up in a series of guide missions, which is really good since it gives a more real feeling to the game. The major aspect of the game is that you will become what you do, that loosely translates in do bad thing and you’ll be bad, do good things and you’ll be good, and all the people will know of your reputation and will fear or adore you. The exceptional AI in this game makes that possible; you need to convince a NPC with your charisma you can even get lower prices for ammo, weapons, and other things or you can get specific information about a quest. The best part of the world is that you have the absolute freedom to explore what you want when you want it and how you desire it.

Hellipad

All the quests can be done in several manners, they will always have a peaceful resolve or a harmful one, even a sneaky resolve is possible. Also the world is beyond praise, because even the smallest detail is well done and the world and you have the immerse feeling very well draw out which gives you a feeling of apocalypse.
The world is also HUGE and you are allowed to explore anything you desire, combined with very short loading screens equals a very good environment. Also the game is taking the step always into leveling skills, and trusts me you got a huge array of those from better shooting to better handling of blunt weapons all witch will influence you in combat combined with a huge inventory of itemization and amours you will forever want to play to find something new. Also the combat system is an entire new system VATS combat system that will undoubtedly keep you on the chair playing and also on the edge while in tense situations.

Combat Scene

This game is a wonder to play its beautiful in any way and it’s the culmination of the best that you can find now on the market. I strongly recommend this game to all players as a benchmark for all the other games that will learn from it.

Posted in 2008, Action, Games, RPG | No Comments »