I am still, by any stretch of the term, not a film critic

Two weekends ago, I was able to watch two movies that the guys over at /Film have mentioned more than once on the /Filmcast.

While I thoroughly enjoyed one, the other was kind of meh.

Let’s start with the one I liked. Three Kings is a satirical war drama directed by David O. Russell. If you are not an indie film buff, you won’t (as I did not) recognize the other films he had previously directed.  It stars George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, and Ice Cube, as US soldiers who pull of a gold heist somewhere in the deserts of Iraq right after the end of the Gulf War.

I had seen this movie at least a couple of times before. I remembered enjoying this film as a teenager, but because I was too young, many of the the political implications and the many deeper themes of this film were lost on me. Now having watched this as an adult, I found it to be just as entertaining as I remembered it to be but with a better understanding the film’s political and social context.

The second film was Los Cronocrimenes, or “Timecrimes”. This is a Spanish film directed by Nacho Vigalondo.  The premise of the movie is somewhat hazy at first (it deals with time travel and murder) but you get a pretty good payoff at the end of the film.  The two thirds into the film, it gets pretty dragging, but the first third and last third are definitely entertaining.

It didn’t have as much “oomph” as I thought it would, but that is probably due to my lack of background in film.

What does it mean to be who we are?

Lastly, I was able to watch the documentary about the life of former heavy weight champion Mike Tyson. To many of us, his public persona is painted with violence, cruelty, and bestial rage. Going into this movie, I was expecting a behind the scenes view of what it would be like to be Mike Tyson.

I was honestly surprised by what I got instead.

There is no overhead narration for this film. Most of the movie has Tyson sitting down in a chair, talking about what his life was like. Very few cutaways, very few instances of other people talking about who they think/thought Mike Tyson is.

In most cases this would make, at least in my mind, for a very boring film.

I think Tyson sums it up the best himself:

Nobody really knows Mike Tyson. –Mike Tyson

While I was listening to this man talk about his life, what it was like growing up in Brooklyn, I found myself empathizing with this man. Most of us don’t know what it’s like growing up in the “hard'” neighborhoods, and I thank God that I was born in a “comfortable” environment. I think more than anything, this film really humanizes Mike Tyson, and reminds people that no matter what we hear in the news, or what we see on TV…All people are human beings.

We go through our daily routines forgetting what being “you” means. It means being weak. It means yearning for something “more” than what “is”. Ultimately it leads us to realize that we don’t know why we are here in the first place, and there has to be something better than this.

The answer to that question is entirely up to you.

My Adventures with Pirates and Scribbles

Yep, this is what I’ve been up to this week…So far anyway.

I’m a big fan of the Adventure videogame genre. Grim Fandango has to be one of the greatest games I have ever played. Another game called Willy Beamish was one of the first videogames I played as a kid.

That said, I’ve never played any of the games in the Monkey Island series. Until yesterday anyway.

Telltale Games has been developing the next Monkey Island, which is entitled “Tales of Monkey Island” and will be released in episodic format. The full (as well as the demo) version of Episode 1 - Launch of the Screaming Narwhal is now available for download on their website.

To give a brief introduction: the Monkey Island series revolves around Guybrush Threepwood, Mighty Pirate™ and his adventures to save his wife Elaine, defeat the dreaded pirate LeChuck, etc. Puzzles, Pirates, Puns, and much much more. Humor is a big factor in this series, and it does humor very well.

Telltale Games is the developer of big name titles like: the Bone series (from the graphic novels by Jeff Smith), Sam & Max (also comic books by Steve Purcell), and Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People (based on the web cartoon Homestar Runner).

The demo starts out strong, cutting straight to the action. You have to save Elaine in the first part of the game and it teaches you through a very short, but very informative (and HILARIOUS) tutorial. A short time later, the demo is done and I am itching for more. It will have to wait though, because I’m still pinching pennies to upgrade to WotLK…

Launch of the Screaming Narwhal is now currently available through the Telltale Games Store for around $35

Another game I’ve tried this week in the Adventure genre is Ben There, Dan That by Zombie Cow Studios.

BTDT is a fun little adventure game about two friends, Ben and Dan, who find themselves in a crazy adventure…um…doing stuff. Best of all, it’s FREE. The game itself feels very indie, with a hand-drawn aesthetic that does more to add charm to the game than anything else. Dialog is witty, and references a lot of the games that made this series great.

You can check it out here. I haven’t actually finished the game, but it’s a nice way to spend time if you’re looking for some laughs.

Zombie Cow Studios also made a sequel called Time Gentlemen, Please, which isn’t free but comes for the low, low price of ~$5. I bought the game, and actually ran into some problems (my fault really) while trying to download my copy. I emailed Dan about it, and he fixed it almost immediately. I haven’t played it yet, but I will probably post my impressions when/if I ever get around to finishing it.

That’s it for Videogames this week I suppose.

Well… That was interesting.

Last night, Mimcy (my wife) and I watched Karen Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker. I had first heard about it from the guys on the /Filmcast when Dave Chen recommended people watch this movie rather than Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. I also was able to listen to some interviews the director and some of the cast did for this film. To be honest, I wasn’t so much excited to watch this movie as intrigued about what these film aficionados were so excited about. (Okay maybe Dave Chen was the only dude SUPER excited about this film)

That said, I really enjoyed this movie for what it was: A boots on the ground docu-style film about US Soldiers in Iraq…who happen to disarm bombs for a living.

It’s not preachy about war, on either side of the issue. Whether this is good or not is up to the viewer. Personally I liked the fact that it wasn’t harping on and on and on about how war is good/bad/necessary/pointless.

I’m interested to know what my brother has to say about this film. He is in the USAF, and was deployed to Afghanistan for about 3-4 months earlier this year. Thankfully he’s back on US soil, safe and sound.

I’m no film critic, so I’m not going to get into the ins and outs of the movie, but I what I will say is this…

If you want to know what it feels like to be one of the many troops deployed in the Middle East, this is probably about as close as it gets short of enlisting. There are some very tense scenes in this film, and you never forget that this is happening in real life some 2,000 odd miles away. Every day.

What have you guys been watching this week?

My top 5 Podcasts/Video Podcasts

5. Downloadable Content - Penny Arcade Podcast

Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins record the creative "process" that goes into making one of their comics.

DLC by Penny Arcade was the first Podcast I'd ever listened to. I've always been a fan of their webcomic, and an even bigger fan of their sense of humor. The reason it's on the bottom of my list is because they do podcasts so VERY rarely. It's kind of like finding that amazing deal on (insert something here) at the store you frequent.

PennyArcade

4. /Filmcast

David Chen, Devindra Hardawar, plus guests discuss the latest news in the film industry as well as review the biggest (or best/worst) movies of the week.

I started listening to these guys talk about movies because Jeff from TRS (you'll see this further down the list...or up the list depending on how you look at it.) was a guest during their review of Terminator Salvation. I am always amazed at how much (or how little) my taste in movies are similar to these guys. They always give the most interesting insight into the movies that they discuss, and this is a must-listen podcast for movie buffs.

/Film

3. Diggnation

Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht discuss the latest/hottest news over at Digg.com

This is the first Video Podcast on the list, and the last one I started listening to (despite its massive popularity). This is the basic premise: two supergeeks (Kevin founded Digg.com and Alex hosts several Video Podcasts) get drunk and talk about crazy shit on they found on the internet via Digg.com

Diggnation

2. Film Riot

Ryan Connolly, Tim Allen, and Josh Connolly show people how to do cool film effects with little or no budget

Out of all the shows, this is probably the funniest one of them all, and probably one of the more educational. It defies expectations, and just kills me with envy because of the quality of their writing and production. Just check it out.

Film Riot

1. Totally Rad Show

Alex Albrecht, Jeff Cannatta, and Dan Trachtenberg talk about videogames, movies, comics, tv shows, and a lot more

I discovered a lot of these other Podcasts because of The Totally Rad Show, or TRS if you will. Alex, Jeff, and Dan don't just talk about stuff. Each of them brings their own interesting and unique viewpoint about what they are currently discussing, and their chemistry just has such good humor, that I look forward to watching them talk about what's new this week...EVERY WEEK.

TotallyRadShow

SPECIAL MENTION

Project Lore

This is the first video podcast I watched, and the one that led me to Revision3. Basically a podcast that shows you the different 5mans and Solo quests in WoW. Alex Albrecht (and later on Jeff Cannatta as well) is on this show.

ProjectLore

Want a domain name for $1?

I got mine at GoDaddy.com for $1.09.

Crazy!

Thank you TotallyRadShow and Diggnation for the heads up on these crazy deals!

A new, new start

Hello :)