V.S.

Last year it was Penguins that topped the Box Office for the kiddies. This year it’s Surfing. (oh and Surfing with Penguins) I have to admit it seems as if Hollywood as run out of ideas. There is Pirates3, Shrek the Third, Oceans 13, and Now the Fantastic 4-2.

The latest Superhero flic (or as I like to call it: Stan Lee’s 401 k plan) is like a Beach Boys album. It’s Seaonal and Nastalgic. It is also very entertaining. The first film had to introduce the heroes and their powers. That sometimes works: Batman Begins. But more often it doesn’t: Superman Returns. With introductions out of the way, the 4 are back for more. More action, More Powers, and More effects. All of which make no sense on the surface but come together to create a great Summer Popcorn Hit.

On the other TIDE we have Surfs Up. Think Lords of Dogtown in CGI. It’s your basic underdog story with some comical fare and Napolean Dynomite. The voice acting is superb (expecially Bridges reprising his “Big Lebowski” schtic). However the appeal for kids is only feathers deep. There isn’t much for them to get into other than an occasional “Pee” joke.

There is plenty to see at your local Cineplex this June. So wax up those boards and catch the big one to the silver screen. But if you want my opinion; 4 heads are better than 1 cold Turkey. Or is he a Rooster?

No seriously my booty is sore as hell after 3 hours plus of viewing
“As the Worlds End” turns.

I love Summer films. The Popcorn, the Block-Busters, the air conditioning…. However, lately I’ve never wanted to get out of the theater so bad. The latest installment of Gore Verbinski’s Disney-theme-park ride movie tie-in has left my treasure chest numb and I’m glad it’s over.

Johnny Depp returns with his Keith Richard’s imatation (this time actually bringing Keith along for support) as Jack Sparrow. The rest of the gang is there too. Where the past two films had thrill after thrill; this one places thrills in between a drama at sea sandwich. (and if thrill is the meat, your mouth is full of bread). It seems as if it took 30 minutes to get the movie back to interest level, and then another 30 to make you lose it.

I don’t want to spoil the film for XBL Radio listeners-I’ll leave that to the film-but I do want to warn you: If the game (which we will review soon) is anything like the movie; expect to be bored.

I will leave on one good note: The ending is amazing. It’s just the hours getting to it that made this movie a bad outing for my family and I.

I have read somewhere that Johnny Depp doesn’t watch his own work. Well thats 3 better hours, he has spent, in his life than mine!

So you went out and picked up Guitar Hero II for the 360. You’ve gotten that 10 point acheivement for failing the “easy” jam. You finally did the tutorials and still can’t get that slide working right. So you’ve come to the conclusion that groupies aren’t in your future.

Hope is here. A new ROCUMENTORY is coming to a multi-plex near you.

AIR GUITAR NATION

This is how one fan on IMDB sums it up:
“This is one of the most fun documentaries you are liable to see.

The film begins with a montage of air guitarists doing their thing. At this early stage you could be forgiven for thinking ‘what the hell is this?’. But as this documentary progresses we get to know the protagonists and we learn that the people behind these air god personas are very likable. And then a bizarre thing happens - you begin to get strangely drawn into their routines. For 81 minutes you will be caught up in the craziness of this art-form. You will cheer on the contestants. You will know a good air guitar performance!

This is an extremely funny film. The air guitar boot camps, the ultra-serious competitors, the OTT performances and the insane air guitar talk will have you in hysterics. But this is not only about laughs, it’s very warm-hearted too. You will like these people. It’s hard to imagine coming out of this movie and not smiling.“

So break free of those wires. And think about this: If there is a movie tie-in game at least the peripheral will be less expensive and a much easier learning curve.

Video: Xbox Live Arcade Forecast

This is from the awesome guys from gamerscoreblog.com. Its funny to watch but if the main idea of the plot is depressing.

First off I just wanna wish everyone have a Happy Thanksgiving, since today today is Thanksgiving. Now time for my post, I was not going to post anything today but something happened to me when I was trying out the new Xbox Live movie and TV download feature. So yesterday I get home off of work, you know they first day of the video marketplace, and I happen to go online before I turn on my Xbox 360. The first thing that I see that everyone seems to be having issues with the video downloads. Some people are having issues with download speeds and others are having issues with the video downloads not completing and then the dashboard is popping up error messages. I was a little discouraged because of this, granted it was the first day that we have had this option and Xbox Live is probably getting slammed but they have experienced this before so this should not be happening, but I ignore the issue and feel that I can not slam MS without trying it out myself. It was already 11 at night and I had to be at work early tomorrow morning, yes I had to work today on Thanksgiving, so I decided to download a movie and let it go throughout the night so I can later do a review about the whole thing. Now most of the movies that they had either sucked, or I already owned, or I have already seen, but V for Vendetta, which I have not seen yet and I actually did want to see it so I decided on this one.

Not only did I decide to download this one, but I decided to get the HD version because I wanted to see it in all its HD glory, all 6.07GB of it. So like I was saying before, I picked V for Vendetta, right before I went to bed. Now I get up the next day ready to watch it and what do I see? ERROR - Ah, shit. Stupid ass piece of crap. So it was on all last night, or so I thought, and it had an issue. So I try again before I went to work, I restart the download. And you know how when you restart your download it shows you how much it has done? Well for it I had 2%, yes, only 2% done from all last night. So again, I restart it and go to work. Now I get back from work, turn my TV on and I figure it would be done minus any error and what do I see? No error messages!!! Oh I feel good now, I go over to active downloads, 8% done. What kind of crap is that? I’m about 16 hours into downloading now and I have a whole 8% is it. Right now I’m while I’m writing this story, I just reached 20 hours and I am at 19%.

Microsoft, if your reading, which I know you are because you have contacted me before about my stories, this is piss poor. Seriously, this whole movie download service which is suppose to be like on demand really blows. I could care less for excuses, I just want this fixed. In my case I am spending big dollars to watch a movie in HD which is costing me more then if I just ordered it from Comcast through In Demand, and their service is a whole lot faster and easier. I do not like to feel like I am getting screwed when I spend dollars at your marketplace but it seems that with all your retro releases, EA downloads, and now a broken in demand video service.

I know that the Xbox already has a good following, a lot of GREAT content but this is no time to drop the ball. I do not know if you have noticed but there are 2 new systems out there now to compete with and if you wanna let them catch up keep doing what you have been doing lately but if you do want to succeed against them you need to fix these issues and fix them soon.

Happy Feet, the newest in the CGI rendered films, features the voice talents of Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, and Robin Williams. (Seems Williams is in every other animated fare thats released) Billed talent aside, it’s the music that makes Happy Feet a visually stunning/tap your feet spectacle.

Since Penguins communicate through their voices (what’s referred to in the film as a “Heart-Song”), the music in Happy Feet is top notch. Covering tracks from Hip-Hop, to classic rock, to Opera. It’s not just the catchy tunes that make Happy Feet dance, it’s the way they intergrate the heart pounding choreography with mash-up style song numbers.

The films several plots are your same song & dance, however one side plot tends to get a little preachy. (Al Gore would give this film a seal of approval). The one feature that sets Happy Feet apart from other CGI Counterparts (Barnyard/Chicken Little/Over the Hedge) is its mix of Live Action and CGI. It’s almost difficult to tell whats real and what isn’t.

So if your in the mood to chill out at the local cineplex: Happy Feet offers a cool time for all. So MARCH (like the Emperor Penguins) to the theatre and tap those Happy Feet on the back of the chair of the people sitting in front of you. (Trust me it’s fun)

Run time:98 minutes — Rated: PG 13 (for some animated peril, and penguin fornication)