Category Archives: News

Jan 15 2012

Modern Warfare 3 – impressions

This needs little introduction.  The biggest video game franchise in history, at least as far as sales go, and the widest played online multiplayer game in the world.  Infinity Ward’s Modern Warfare franchise reinvigorated the Call Of Duty brand, bringing into the modern-day and hitting us hard with total realism, glossed over with Michael Bay-like fireworks.  It’s the blockbuster of the video game world, and one of my favourite game series ever.

This time around you’re after a Russian terrorist who brings about World War 3, and you are sent in with your team to stop him.  This is a game filled with ‘oh my god’ moments of action and spectacle, with a globe-trotting storyline and production values that set it apart from almost any other game on the market.  Infinity Ward this time have teamed up with new developer Sledgehammer Games, and each mission and each fire fight feels like its been designed with absolute immersion and Hollywood-like excitement in mind.  I’m almost done with the single player campaign, and have experienced some amazing moments, none of which I will spoil for you, all I’ll say is … its brilliant, well crafted, and longer lasting that previous instalments.

Now onto the reason 90% of fans love this franchise … the multiplayer.  Again you have a variety of maps to play on, and a reward system that enables you to upgrade weapons and install new perks to help you in your quest for online supremacy.  Not much has changed from the well-honed formula of MW #1 & 2, but this time with new mode Kill Confirmed where you collect dog tags of your fallen foes to increase points for your team – it seems more addictive than ever.  As can be expected, the online lives or dies depending on the time you put into it and how good your reflexes are, but when ‘in the zone’ it can be an adrenaline-fueled joy, and one I will be returning to again and again.  Add to this modes like Spec Ops, Domination, Free-For-All and the classic Team Deathmatch, and this is one game that just keeps on giving.

Modern Warfare 3 is the best Call Of Duty yet, no question … and a flagship title regardless if your playing it on PC, Playstation 3 or XBOX 360.

Jan 5 2012

It will be mine, yes … it will be mine!

Guess what I have being installed on Saturay?  Yes that is right, the UK satelite service SKY in beautiful HD.  Now my world will open up to the wonders of obscure TV shows, bizarre channels, movies I’ve seen a dozen times, and repeats of old favourites.  But hey, at least I won’t be bored … hopefully.  Here in the UK we don’t quite have the luxury of cable television, at least not to the extent as in the States, although things have greatly improved in the digital age, where previously we had to just flick through (count them) five channels – we now have digital channels, cranking that number up dramtaticaly.  Yet Sky, which is a subscription service, offers even more choice.  Colour me excited!!

Dec 31 2011

2011 a look back – part four

…and so we reach the final quarter, and with the last three months, some gems appeared and a few not so gem-like…. enjoy.

October  – December

October started off with the enjoyable but underwhelming Scream 4 that considering the long gap between that and the last movie, delivered clever ideas, but not much new.  Revisiting the Star Wars saga continued with four of the six movies being viewed and reviewed, which was exhaustive to say the least, but very memorable … and documentary-style sci-fi drama Monsters impressed with great performances and a very convincing atmosphere.

Drive Angry was a fun road-movie come horror actioner, with a great Nicolas Cage and a sexy-as-hell Amber Heard.  Not a bad way to start off November.  Justine Timberlake made for a credible action hero in sci-fi thriller In Time, and Spanish chiller Julia’s Eyes delivered tension, good performances and brilliantly executed scares.  It was great to view The Lion King again, in pin-sharp Blu-ray, and also a second viewing of Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds proved it to be a better movie than I had originally realised.  The Strangers however was disappointing and predictable, and really, the premise was done better in French horror Ils (aka Them).

December kicked off with David Lynch’s classic Blue Velvet, a creepy and erotic masterpiece.  It was good to see Terry Gilliam back on form with The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus, which proved he’s lost none of his bonkers brilliance.  And although I usually avoid remakes, The Thing showed that revisiting a classic and throwing in a few new ideas and a good cast, can make it work.  On Christmas Eve I checked out the much hyped Super 8 which despite aiming for 80s family movie nostalgia, just felt old-fashioned and lacking in its own identity.

So, now you must be asking yourself, with all these movies in mind, what will make the final Top Ten.  Well, you will just have to wait until later today.  Happy New Year!!

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Dec 29 2011

2011 a look back – part three

With the year really in its stride now, my viewing habits once again danced between old favourites and new titles.  Hope you see something you might have otherwise passed by…

July – September

The summer movie season being in full swing, I spent July mostly trawling through the remainder of The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy.  Sucker Punch may have not made a great deal of sense, but with plenty of ‘cool’ and scantily clad women wielding swords and machine guns it was still a lot of fun.  Then Christian Bale impressed as a drug-addled ex-boxer training up younger brother Mark Wahlberg in the very absorbing The Fighter.   Brit-gangster drama Brighton Rock disappointed though with a unconvicing cut-throat lead and a bordering-on-pathetic female co-star.  The English seaside however, was captured nicely.  Thankfully the Coen Brother’s award winning True Grit made for a great western, if not necessary that deep a story, but child actor Halee Steinfeld was very good indeed.

August kicked off with gory grindhouse action-comedy Hobo With A Shotgun.  Rutger Hauer may be great but supporting cast and surrounding film was more gross-out bad taste than b-movie classic.  Jake Gyllenhaal in Source Code was great, with the movie equal parts Hitchcock and Quantum Leap, and all round entertaining.  Costume caper Super may have had plenty of ideas, but felt a little deja-vu and even the excellent Ellen Page couldn’t save it.  A movie-light month ended brilliantly though with the clever and exhilarating Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes.

Pre-teen killing machine Hanna appeared in September and surprised by how heart warming and less bad ass it ended up being.  Yet much of the month was dedicated to rediscovering the Star Wars saga, from the prequels right through to the older movies, in order – and it was brilliant.  Comedy Hall-Pass was one of the better comedies in recent memory, with genuine laughs and plenty of surprises.  And ending the month was Hole 3D, a great throwback to the likes of Gremlins and The Gate, scary, freaky and a great deal of fun.

So onto the final quarter.  Coming very soon indeed!

Dec 26 2011

2011 a look back – part two

Continuing my look back over my viewing habits on this blog in 2011, we have now reached the second quarter that brought some definite highlights and some very welcome old favourites.  Hope you enjoy reading…

April – June

April continued my rediscovery of all things Kung-fu, with Korean actioner Chocolate, that although low-budget and rough around the edges, did deliver some remarkable fights and a great physical performance from Jeeja Yanin.  Nicholas Cage made a sort-of return to form with the semi-remake of Bad Lieutenant, and delivered the kind of zany, method-actor intensity Cage has been lacking for some time now.   Yet it was Mickey Rourke in his Oscar winning role of The Wrestler which really turned my head, and proved that director Darren Aronofsky hadn’t just fluked it with Black Swan.  I also finally got to see the final part of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy with The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest, but with a sidelined Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) and a court-room heavy plot, this was a disappointing conclusion.  Thankfully the teen comedy fun of Easy A washed over such feelings making for a smart and  enjoyable movie, with a star-making turn from the brilliant Emma Stone.

May kicked off with scary-as-hell supernatural horror Insidious, which although proceedings got a little silly towards the end, had some of the freakiest and scariest moments of 2011.   Thor launched the block buster season in grand fashion with a comically likable Chris Hemsworth and some great action, effects and a decent villain … whilst Disney’s 50th movie Tangled made for a classically gorgeous fairy tale adventure with a great comedy horse, plenty of personality and enjoyable songs – what more could one wish for?

June saw the summer really get into its stride for me, with sci-fi sequel Tron Legacy impressing on a visual and aural basis, even if the movie itself lacked that special ‘something’.  Thankfully comic-book actioner X-Men: First Class stepped up to show how effects-laiden event pictures should be done, and personally, I found it the best X-Men yet.   Then the fun and frolicks came crashing down to earth with a bump with the stunning I Saw The Devil, possibly Korean’s boldest take on the serial-killer movie genre yet … blood soaked, brilliantly acted and with exhilarating direction from Jee-Woon Kim.  Then an old favourite paid a visit in the form of the blu-ray extended cuts of The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, and rediscovering these modern  classics was a sheer joy.

…Stay tuned for the next part in my 2011 reminiscing, coming imminently.