| Wha-hey! Long time, no post. Some eventful things have happened since last post, but overall things have been going along as normal. PersonalThe biggest thing happening has been Gwyneth's shoulder operation. For some time now she's been having a pain in her right shoulder, and eventually after a couple of doctor visits it was deemed that she'll need a shoulder operation. So a month back into the theatre she went for the operation. Everything went well, but now it's the long rehabilitation of the shoulder, these things don't suddenly start working like normal again it seems. So, lots of exercises from the physio, but we'll get there eventually. She can't do any strenuous work with the arm, and can't sleep on it, which is a bit of an inconvenience, but that's the price one has to pay I guess! At least we've got to the point where she can bath instead of showering, so we don't have to go to my parents place every night to use their shower. MoviesIn movie news, watched a bunch of movies which I haven't reviews, click here for a quick overview and my ratings. Started watching the Harry Potter movies last night in preparation for the 6th movie to hit. Harry Potter's one of those things that I just like... There's quite a few movies in the coming months to get excited about though. Eager to see the new Transformers movie first and foremost. MusicWent through quite a few Nine Inch Nails marathons, I guess with them now on their last tour in quite some time, one needs to stock up on as much NIN as one can get. Been downloading a lot of the live shows they've been performing, this will probably be the closest I'll get to them ever. But hey, can't complain, 20 years of NIN is a long time. And I'm sure Trent Reznor wants to change the pace a bit, especially seeing that he's now engaged to get married (that was a bit of a surprise!) VNV Nation has a new album out, will have to get that. Placebo has a new album out, ditto. See Muse are recording their new album as well. Does look like 2009's the year for new albums. Not that I'm complaining! Over the weekend we went to the Doors to watch The Black Hotels and Die Heuwels Fantasties. The Black Hotels played a lot of new stuff, songs that aren't on their latest album. This sucks, as I'll have to wait till next year when they release a new album. I want it now! Die Heuwels Fantasties were surprisingly good. Afrikaans rock music has come a long way, that's for sure. GamesBeen playing a lot games, as usual! I finished The Witcher, which was a great game, definitely one worth playing if you have a capable PC. Currently I'm playing Infamous on the PS3, and enjoying it a lot. It reminds me a bit of Crackdown, which is definitely not a bad thing. So, there's the state of the nation as it stands at the moment. | |
|
|
19 April 2009 - Sunday
 Quantum of Solace is the newest Daniel Craig Bond movie. It picks up directly where Casino Royale left off, so by my count it's the first Bond movie that's actually a direct sequel.
Quantum of Solace is a story of revenge. Bond is out to find the people at the route of Vespa's death, and this leads him on a whirlwind trail across the world. It's every bit as brutal and action packed as the first, in fact, more so even. It's a non-stop race to the finish, and you're hardly able to catch your breath. That's not a lot of depth to the story, but right now I'm more then happy with an all-out action Bond.
Blu-ray wise, it's a pretty decent transfer. Image and sound quality if superb, but it's severely lacking on special features. They will most definitely release a special edition down the line, like they did with Casino Royale.
Overall, a great movie. If you enjoyed the first Daniel Craig Bond, you'll definitely enjoy this one.
Score:  |
| |
|
| Yesterday our pet hamster Hamtoro passed away. We had him for almost two and a half years. He was getting quite old, and he had growths all over his body, and I think that is what finally caused his demise. He'll be missed. 
Hamtoro
RIP 25 March 2009 | |
|
| 22 March 2009 - Sunday
 300 is the graphic novel my Frank Miller brought to life by Zack Snyder. Snyder most recently brought another comic cult hit Watchmen to celluloid. 300 is the movie that made us all confident that he would be able to give the translation the needed care and attention that it required.
Based on the story of the 300 Spartans who stood against the might of the Persian army. The movie and novel are very stylised accounts of the events, it doesnt purport to be an accurate retelling. That given, its an amazing visual experience. Very violent, but all in context. The movie does a sterling job of bringing the graphic novel to the big screen, with many scenes directly recreated frame for frame from the novel. Fans of the novel are in for a treat.
The Blu-ray is probably the best way to experience this movie. The picture quality is superb, as well as the sound quality. Its a feast for the eyes and ears. Well worth the price of admission!
Score: 
|
| |
|
| 15 March 2009 - Sunday
 Mirrors is one of those movies that's a pleasant surprise. I knew very little about the movie, other then Keifer Sutherland being in it. I didn't really know if it was a drama, or a horror movie as such. Well, it turned out to be a horror/thriller.
Keifer's character is a ex-cop, who left after an accidental shooting while on duty. He takes up the job of a nightwatchman at an old department store that burnt down a couple of years back. The store has mirrors all over, and he starts to realise that there's something quite sinister going on with the mirrors. From there he pieces together the story, and follows it to it's natural conclusion.
The ending also came as bit of a surprise, but in a good way. Overall, it was a creepy but enjoyable experience.
Score: |
| |
|
| 8 March 2009 - Sunday
 Max Payne is another game-to-movie attempt. And once again, it's leaves a lot to be desired. Almost everything gets lost in translation. They took some of the names and events from the game, and concocted a story around that. Within the framework of the movie, it works, but when put up against the game story, it totally falls flat. The kitch noir feel of the game isn't there, the movie takes itself way to seriously, whereas the game you got the sense that though it pretended to be all serious, it really knew underneath it was anything but.
The action scenes in the movie are ok, but compared to some of the bullet-ballet scenes from the games, it again feels like so much lost opportunities.
If they decided to not attach the name Max Payne to the movie, it might've faired a bit better, as you wouldn't go in with certain expectations. As is, it's really just luke-warm.
Score:  |
| |
|
|
7 March 2009 - Saturday
 Watchmen is the cinematic entry to whats arguably one of the most influential graphic novels of all time. Many directors and studios have tried at some point to bring Watchmen to the big screen, with little success. Finally Zack Snyder stepped up to the plate, and delivered what is probably the best cinematic version of Watchmen that we can possibly hope for.
The story of the Watchmen is, distilled to its core, a murder mystery. It starts with the murder of The Comedian, and the subsequent investigation by Rorschach into whos killing masked superheroes. This is set against an alternative 1985 in which Nixon is president, and the ever looming threat of nuclear war is hanging above everyones heads. The superheroes in the movie are all ordinary people who don costumes and fight crime, with the exception of Dr. Manhattan, who due to a scientific experiment gone wrong, is the closest thing to the traditional superheroes that we know.
One of the reasons why Watchmen was called unfilmable, was due to the intricate backstories of all the characters, during the twelve issues of the comic their whole histories were investigated and brought to light. Thankfully almost none of this is lost in translation. The only character that suffers is that of Ozymandias, all the others had their backstories sufficiently fleshed out.
Overall, Im extremely happy with the movie version, it never disappointed, even with all the changes that theyve made to the comic book story. I definitely want to see this movie again, as theres a lot that one misses, little touches that theyve added to remain faithful to the source material.
So far, one of the best movies of the year for me. I will admit that Im having trouble giving it a final score, the more I think about the movie, the more my opinion changes ever so slightly. I definitely will review the score once the directors cut gets released later this year.
Score:  |
| |
|
| This weekend The Watchmen starts. I'm very excited about it. Ever since I first read the graphic novel, I've been waiting for a movie, while still remaining sceptical about it actually being any good. Enter Zack Snyder. He did a steller remake of Dawn of the Dead, and then he brought Frank Miller's 300 to the big screen in way that I didn't think was possible. It managed to keep the essence of the novel, and brought the comic panels to life without it seeming corny or over the top. When I read that he's been put at the helm of The Watchmen, my optimism grew considerably. I have faith in him in bringin this graphic novel to the big screen in a faithful manner. And this weekend I'll find out for myself just how well he managed that. Who watches the Watchmen? 
| |
|
| V For Vendetta - Review Score - 8/10 | |
|
| Oh boy, I really should cut back seriously on my gaming habit! I'm buying way to many games, and I'll never get to all of them if I continue this. I blame the sales that are happening all over the place. Take 2 recently had a massive sale across all platforms. So, I ordered three games - Tomb Raider Anniversary, Civilization Revolution and Naruto, all three for the Xbox. Then I picked up a second hand copy of Resistance 2 for the PS3. While perusing the different gaming fora, I was made aware of a massive sale that Incredible Connection's got going as well. I finally tracked down an Incredible that actually had anything worthwhile yesterday, and there I picked up Too Human for the 360, Hellgate: London, Titan Quest, Dawn of War and Company of Heroes for the PC. Many of these games I've been wanting to play for some time ,but wasn't prepared to pay full-price for them. When they dropped below the point that I determine as reasonable though, it's all fair game. So, that's 9 new games added to my already overtaxed "To Be Played" queue. *sigh* Right now my priority is Hellgate: London though. At least I could decide on that! | |
|
| |
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}