Category: Reviews

Pi Day Movie: Stargate

IMDB, StarGate“Stargate” on IMDB

Sci-fi, 121 Minutes, 1994

Wanting to celebrate Pi Day with a movie gets a little difficult after the obvious options are ruled out. “Pi” [IMDB] isn’t exactly a family movie. “Life of Pi” [My Review] is great, but we had re-watched it recently on a whim. “American Pie” [IMDB] was floated as a possibility but dismissed as inappropriate for the audience. The excellent and often overlooked “Waitress” [IMDB], about a waitress who expresses herself through gourmet pies, was suggested as well; this was shot down by a small, but vocal minority who didn’t want any “chick flicks”.

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Movie Review: This is 40

IMDB, This is 40“This is 40” on IMDB

Comedy/Drama, 134 Minutes, 2013

This is Judd Apatow’s [IMDB] “sort-of sequel” to 2007’s “Knocked Up” [IMDB], the growing-up comedy about accidental pregnancy. This features two of the secondary characters, married couple Pete (Paul Rudd [IMDB]) and Debbie (Leslie Mann [IMDB]). Like that film and his last big film, 2009’s “Funny People” [IMDB] this movie is very well done, features a horde of insanely talented people and is long. Really, quite long.

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Movie Review: Don Jon

IMDB, Don Jon“Don Jon” on IMDB

Comedy/Drama, 90 Minutes, 2013

Joseph Gordon-Levitt [IMDB] has made a remarkable transition from television child-actor to featured roles in many critically-acclaimed blockbusters. While luck has likely played a part, there’s no doubting his talent in front of the camera.  “Don Jon” is his writing/directing debut. With an excellent A-list cast, he also stars.

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Movie Review: Free Birds

IMDB, Free Birds“Free Birds” on IMDB

Comedy/Family, 91 Minutes, 2013

Hey, kids: want to watch a completely bland, totally mediocre, computer animated family comedy! It stars famous people! It has topical references and horribly bastardizes history! It’s 90 minutes long! It’ll cost just as much as a good movie to watch, and you’ll never get the time you spent with it back!

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Game Review: Tomb Raider

Tomb Raider, 2013“Tomb Raider” Official Website

Rated “M” for Mature; Reviewed on Playstation 3

Like many older gamers I was first introduced to Lara Croft in 1996 on the original PlayStation. By today’s standards it controlled terribly and featured a murderous camera. The environments were blocky and the movement digital and unnatural. Lara may have been cool, smart and strong, but she also looked like a blind arthritic carved her from driftwood with a trowel.

I devoured the game. When I finished it, I immediately started it over and devoured it again.

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Geek Double Feature: “Rise of the Fellowship” and “Knights of Badassdom”

Dungeons and Dragons RedboxI’m old enough to remember the rise of tabletop role-playing brought by “Dungeons and Dragons”. The popularity of the game (and the personal infighting of the authors) led to many versions of the game, multiple incompatible editions and dozens of imitators. Public confusion about the game led to accusations of demon worship and dumbass TV movies. Despite all this, my friends and I poured our imaginations (and meager allowances) into it.

In retrospect, that the game was so broken may have been a large part of the allure. Sure, it was complex – that kept away the people that we preferred not to deal with in the first place – but it was also versatile. We’d argue about the rules, toss those we didn’t like and make up our own. At every level of the experience the game offered awkward kids power. Imaginary power, to be sure, but power nonetheless. We created the world, we controlled it and we decided how it worked.

These two movies represent separate, but similar, evolutions of my childhood obsession. The first celebrates the transition from the tabletop to online multiplayer. The second to the more physical experience of live action role-playing (LARPing). Both embody such a deep-seated respect for the things I used to hold dear that I couldn’t help having a ton of fun with them.

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Movie Review: Ender’s Game

IMDB, Ender's Game“Ender’s Game” on IMDB

Sci-fi, 114 Minutes, 2013

Let’s start with the elephant in the room: Orson Scott Card, author of “Ender’s Game”, is an asshat. This is a man that, when contemplating government recognition of gay marriage, said “I will act to destroy that government and bring it down.” He also defends the non-science of Intelligent Design and evidence against Climate Change as  victims of scientific dogmatists.

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Game Review: Contrast

Contrast“Contrast” Official Website

Rated “T” for Teen; Reviewed on Playstation 4

You are Dawn. Tall, beautiful and dressed as a Parisian vaudevillian acrobat. You’re the mute companion of the precocious young Didi.  You’re also imaginary. Or, perhaps, you’re not. Didi, of course, has a firm opinion in the matter, but as this entire experience may only exist inside her head we may not want to rely on her.

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Movie Review: Carrie

IMDB, Carrie“Carrie” on IMDB

Horror, 100 Minutes, 2013

In this dark, but very confused, sequel to the 1996 family classic “Matilda” [IMDB] we see our precocious heroine several years later. Much of the confusion is due to the fact that, due to some ill-defined problem, Matilda and her adoptive mother, Miss Honey, have been forced to move and change their names. This transition is made more confusing by the cast changes.

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