Category: Review

The Pursuit of “Happyness” (+)

This sad but true story may tug the heartstrings of some, but stops short of a lasting impact.

Or perhaps the lack thereof.

This new true-story cryfest defines the rags-to-riches version of the American dream. While it tugs at the heartstrings appropriately and makes you feel guilty for being middle class, it probably won’t leave you with any resonating emotion.

Chris Gardner (W. Smith) is a struggling salesman who is unable to support his family despite his extremely dedicated work ethic. When his family begins to crumble, he and his son (J. Smith) are forced to live on the streets while Chris works toward a better life for his family.

The movie overall, is most definitely a plus. It tells a story that isn’t too boring or too tragic, too obviously scripted or too funny. Will Smith and his real-life son Jayden Smith are able to pull off the perfect blend of a sad-but-true tale that never loses hope. The only reason that this story doesn’t leave the audience weeping in the aisles is because very few people can relate to the struggles the characters experience in the movie. This is the only real flaw; the film itself doesn’t affect the watcher on a personal level. You might leave saying, ‘That was such a nice movie, and wiping a tear from your eye,’ but that won’t change the fact that you steer clear of homeless men on the street.

For most moviegoers, The Pursuit of Happyness immerses you in a skillful retelling of someone else’s true story, leaving you with a sense of humble hope and nothing more.

Family Feud (-)

Name a great game show with a less than great video game adaptation.

Let me start off with this: I love game shows. I used to play Wheel of Fortune on my cousin’s NES. After that it was Wheel of Fortune for my Super Nintendo, and one of the best parts of getting cable television was getting the Game Show Network. I still go over to my friend’s house to play Jeopardy! on her NES. I’m even going to be spending a day of my Spring Break to go watch The Price is Right before host Bob Barker retires. I’m not saying no to this game because it’s a game show game. I’m saying no because it’s a terrible adaptation of the show.

The game show is basically a quiz to see if you have your finger the pulse of modern society. And normally, it does so pretty well. However the game pulls it off poorly. Sure, the basic structure of the game is preserved, however, the graphics and execution just turns me off to playing the game any longer then I had to. For one thing, the game lacked the show’s hosts. Richard Karn, Louie Anderson, no one. Instead, we have Todd Newton, who has never hosted Family Feud. Second, even if it had a representation of one of the hosts, he would have been unrecognizable. The human models were horrid. The voice acting was also terrible. It was pretty annoying to hear the same question asked 10 times a row without any variation of banter.

On the bright side, after you get past those things, the gameplay felt alot like watching the show. You were given a topic, and you typed in your answer. Pretty straight forward. And the stage and game-related graphics were true to the show. Sound effects, like the all important buzzer, were perfect.

Overall, I’m sad to give this game a minus. But I certainly hope that another Family Feud game is released that deserves the name.

Monster House (+)

Three teens discover that their neighbor’s house is really a living monster house.

When one thinks of the genre of animated movies the words ‘kid friendly’ probably pop-up. Apparently these words didn’t pop-up in Sony’s mind. At first Monster House appears to be a movie that could have easily been made with real actors rather than CGI. Then when the story starts to flesh out you realize that this movie isn’t really aimed towards children. Finally the movie becomes what could be a really cool video game.

Now saying all of that doesn’t mean that the movie is bad in anyway. In fact it was pleasantly enjoyable. Nothing about the movie screamed PIXAR perfection, but the story and characters proved to be intriguing.

The story follows a group of kids who spy on their crazy neighbor. When the neighbor has a heart-attack his house comes to life and eats anything that comes onto its yard. And such the adventure of destroying this monster house begins. The already kooky story is brought to life by its vivid characters.

I do have to question why the film was made in CGI. The majority of the film wouldn’t have been impossible to do with real-live actors. The style of the CGI was a little difficult to get used to because while the characters looked relatively realistic yet they were still cartoony. I do commend the cinematography in this film because some of the scenes were outstandingly shot.

Who would think that a house that eats people could be so entertaining? When the kids go to attack the house the visuals are fantastic. The movie becomes more like a video game. There was so much creativity that went into these scenes. Sometimes in movies the story begins to lag when the action occurs, but in Monster House the mystery behind the house becomes solved through these action sequences.

Overall Monster House is a surprisingly delightful movie, which for whatever reason is slightly twisted at some points. So just be forewarned if you have little kids watching it.

Nanny McPhee (+)

A mysterious nanny shows up to help out a widowed father who must remarry before the end of the month or lose custody of his seven children.

It’s hard for me to believe that I enjoyed this movie. It’s clearly a children’s (ahem, I mean “family”) film. A single father needs to find a wife so that his seven, very badly behaved children can remain together. Helping out is the magical Nanny McPhee, whose special tactics not only keep the children in line, but teach them the importance of manners and respect. How could I possibly enjoy a movie like this? They’re teaching etiquette for goodness sakes! There is a babysitter with witch-like power involved. This movie should not be anything I even like.

How did this come to be? Start off with Colin Firth (oh, he’s so dreamy) as Cedric Brown, the likable father trying to keep his family from falling apart. He even keeps his dead wife in the loop by looking to her memory for advice. Emma Thompson is the titular Nanny McPhee, and why the hell not, throw in Angela Lansbury as the evil Great Aunt Adelaide who is trying to split up the family. Their performances, while might not be the greatest of their lives at a critical level, are appropriate for this movie. They bring an air of fairy tale charm that helps to raise my appreciation for what might be an otherwise no enjoyable flick. The children’s acting is acceptable, but you can’t really expect too much from them, because, after all, they’re still just children. But still, totally acceptable.

Just because something is a family movie, it doesn’t mean you should rule it out. You should give this one a shot, I know I don’t regret it.

Lost Planet: Extreme Condition (+)

Imagine Resident Evil 4 with more fluid controls, less scares, and just the same amount of intense gameplay and you’ve got Lost Planet.

Capcom’s aim to create games that can be enjoyed by all markets — Japanese, European, and American — has yet again paid off! For a period Capcom was having problems reaching mass audience appeal, but ever since Resident Evil 4 Capcom has created several huge titles. Lost Planet: Extreme Condition can be added to this ever growing AAA game list.

The aspect that will take your breath away is the graphics. Right off the bat they are extremely solid. When explosions after explosions makes you look away from the screen you know that the game has intense graphics. Running at a smooth 30+ frames per second in high definition in expansive worlds is no small task and Lost Planet abuses the power of the Xbox 360.

The story has an anime style feel. Both in the way the cutscenes are presented and that the voice actors are the average anime characters. The macho man voice, the squeaky girl, etc. are all here. If you don’t like anime, which I personally don’t, the cutscenes will be the worst part about the game. What saves them from being a bad experience is the graphics and the story. The story itself is about humans trying to colonize this planet, but of course there are vicious bugs that attack everyone. It’s up to you to destroy as many of these bugs as possible so that humans can terriform the planet into something humans can leave peacefully on. Sure the story isn’t spectacular but it’s at least decent.

The missions consist of killing either bugs, snow pirates, or mechs, with the occasional boss battle. While this may seem like a simple formula that would get old overtime, it’s far from it. There’s plenty of variety in weapon types and enemies. The boss fights are outstanding. They require both strategy and quick reflexives. While overall the mission types are very linear, it doesn’t detract from the enjoyment that comes with completing each one.

The gameplay is from the third person perspective. You play as Wayne whom can navigate mechs. Whether you’re playing as Wayne or as a mech the controls feel solid. With quick 90 degree turn action buttons and easy aiming the action never stops. The twist that separates Lost Planet from other games is that there is a limited amount the the player can survive in the outside world. Because the world is in frozen over in snow, the player has to stay warm by collecting energy from the enemies that he kills. If the countdown of energy runs out the player begins to slowly lose life up until their death. This life meter puts an urgency on every action that the player takes. Thankfully gaining a ton of energy isn’t that difficult.

There is a pretty good multiplayer side to the game as well. It has all the basic modes that gamers expect out of such action games: team, deathmatch, etc. 16 player matches with eight maps definitely adds a good amount of replay value.

And above all else, the music is absolutely fantastic. While it isn’t memorable, during gameplay it certainly intensifies the combat.

I’ve had hard times justifying $60 game purchases, but Lost Planet: Extreme Condition is one of the few games that is worth the money. The downside is that it only has 11 single player missions, but overall the game is an intense thrill ride that will make one want to complete it as fast as possible.