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CSI Miami Season 4 Part 2 (Region 2 DVD) Review

CSI Miami 4.2

The arrival of the second half (3 Discs) of season 4 of CSI Miami is very welcome indeed. For those not in the know, Crime Scene Investigation: Miami follows Lieutenant Horatio Caine (David Caruso) and his team of investigators The end of season four provides an ending to a number of story arcs that have been going on for quite a while and present a few new ones. The good thing about these half season sets is that they present questions and then answer them right away.

Season four’s second half has a few must see episodes like Horatio’s vendetta against a drug cartel and the lengths both sides go to get the other. There are a good number of interesting stand alone episodes too, and a story to complete the season where the FBI come in and take over the lab after money goes missing. DVD extras are non-existent and that’s a real shame. You would hope for at least something on a modern season boxset but not this time. Overall 4.2 is a must own for the episodes, but its makers should be ashamed for the lack of extras.

Verdict: +

Critics hate the Hitman movie. A lot.

Most gamers have been hailing the famed Hitman movie as being the last saving grace for video game movies. Fans rejoiced when it was confirmed that Hitman is heading straight for an R-rating. It appears that all that has been in vain.

Critics have gotten their miserly hands on the Hitman movie and are not impressed. We have no reason to distrust Rotten Tomatoes, so here’s their score: 13% . Yes folks, time for a loud ‘WTF?!’ That’s right, the critics don’t like it one bit. There are a few positie reviews, but most of it looks bad. We took a quick glance over the reviews, and here’s what they say:

It is mindlessly cold and brutally violent (which is good for most of us).
Plenty of nudity – yes, sir!
Horrible story, direction, screenwriting, action, everything. Then again, when was that ever important in movies?
Comparable to James Bond and Bourne movies – in the bad way.
I particularly like Stephen Whitty’s statement: “A lousy picture.”
The positive reviews appear to be sarcastic, and not entirely hope-inducing.
EXCEPT Pete Hammond from Maxim: “It delivers top-notch action, dazzling gunplay and lots of fireworks. What more could we ask for?” Got a point there, Pete.
Some statements are hilarious: Apparently the film thinks fans of the videogame will empathize with a guy who has zero practice dealing with women.
This is a script written with the sensibility of a geeky 12-year-old boy and then dumbed-down some. More than some.
A movie so bland it’s hard to believe it was inspired by anything more than a Wikipedia entry on ‘action thrillers.’

While this makes for some good laughs for us folks not interested in the Hitman games, you can expect a lot of fuming from the Hitman camp. But nyah, those are critics. We, the viewers do want mindless violence, secks, blood and guns.

You might think that’s not bad for a video game movie, but it actually is. Here are Rotten Tomatoes’ scores for some other video game movies:

DOA: Dead or Alive: 34%
Resident Evil: 33%
Resident Evil: Apocalypse: 21%
Resident Evil: Extinction: 22%
Mortal Kombat: 20%
Doom: 19%

Wow. Hitman is worse than Doom? Is that even possible?

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World of Warcraft Ads Rock

You don’t have to be a fan to enjoy these great advertisements. Why wouldn’t you want to watch William Shatner and Mr. T acting like they play WOW.

I pitty da foo’!

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Splinter Cell: Conviction Delayed

It’s one of those good news, bad news kind of things. The good news is Splinter Cell: Conviction has been delayed yet again. The bad news is that it doesn’t seem that the title suggested by most, well, me to replace Conviction has been taken up by Ubi yet. So much for Splinter Cell: Hobo Edition. (A reference to the way Sam Fisher looks in the game trailer)

In all seriousness though. Considering the lack of press information on the new Splinter Cell game it may be for the best that the title has been delayed with a TBA release date. This is because if the game was any way near alpha we would get some new video after the trailer several months back. If its not near that by now there wouldn’t be any time for QA testing before its up to now release date.

It would be interesting to hear some opinions on if you will be at all interested in the game once it comes out and indeed the Splinter Cell franchise as a whole.