V for Vendetta

We went to go see V for Vendetta the other day, and here's the verdict: it's a really good movie. One of the best we've seen this year (ok, we've only seen two so far, but cut us some slack, ok?). It's got an engaging story, interesting characters, and it's well-paced. It's also got two of my favorite things, butt-kicking and explosions.

I read the original DC comic in 1988 (the comic was actually published in the UK in 1984), and to be honest, and I don't remember all the details of the story. However, it seems as if the Wachowski Brothers didn't stray too far from the source material. Alan Moore (the original writer of the story) wanted nothing to do with the movie, but he's got nothing to be ashamed of. V for Vendetta is on my list as one of the greatest comic-book movies ever.

In a nutshell, the story deals with a man looking for retribution against an oppressive and tyrannical British government in the near future. In this day and age, it's kind of ironic to be glorifying terrorists, but the government in the story is so irredeemably evil, it's easy to root for the hero as he blows up historical buildings to make his point.

Also, Natalie Portman gets her head shaved. Thaat's how you commit to a role. I bet Nicole Kidman wouldn't do it.

So in summary: Great movie, big explosions, bald-head Natalie Portman.

To commemorate the excellence of this movie, I'm going to unveil for the first ever time our new rating system, courtesy of our four year old niece:

Oh, Odama

I think the blogging gods like me. Either that, I have uncanny timing. Maybe I can see into the future. Maybe not. In any event, a few posts back I asked for more quirky games from Japan to be sold in the U.S. even though they may have only marginal appeal (the most important criteria being that it appeals to me).

In early April, Odama is going to be released for the Nintendo Gamecube. As the Gamecube winds down to make way for the Revolution, new games for this console are few and far between, and this latest offering has quirky written all over it.

Odama, or "paddle warriors", can only be described as a Japanese medieval battlefield pinball game. The object of the game is to roll a giant ball over a large field, mowing down enemies samurai soldiers. Your forces are supposed to break through the enemy gates and carry a large bell through to be victorious. I'm telling you, this kind of stuff is right up my alley.


The game also comes with a microphone; so while you are batting the big ball around with your flippers, you can also give voice commands to your army. Ah, there's nothing that makes you feel more like a geek than talking out loud to the little people in your television. Charge!

Halo Comics

I've recently played through the first Halo again on a kick-ass computer my lovely fiance built. So it's timely that Marvel Comics and Bungie Studios have announced a Halo Graphic Novel slated for release in July of this year (see story here). Normally I don't get too excited about this sort of this thing since adaptations of video games, movies, and any sort of licensed material tend to suck.

Hopefully this graphic novel won't blowk, since they've got a pretty exceptional group of artists illustrating the book including Moebuis, Phil Hale, and Simon Bisley. It's pretty much a slam dunk, because anything by Moebius is worth the price of admission.

Snakes On A Plane! Aieeee!

Check this out: In a movie coming out this summer, Samuel Jackson plays an FBI agent escorting a witness on a flight from Hawaii to LA. The bad guys, trying to eliminate the witness, release hundreds of poisonous snake on the plane. That's right, Samuel Jackson versus a planeload of snakes. Yee haw! Cinema gold!

The name of the movie? Snakes On A Plane!

I'm so excited, I'm almost giddy. Never before has a movie title so succinctly captured what exactly a movie is about. Titanic could have been called Sinking Boat, but they obviously didn't have the guts to do it. The producers apparently wanted to rename the film "Pacific Air Flight 121" or something inane like that. But no, Samuel Jackson saves the day and insists that the movie be named "Snakes On A Plane".

You the man, Samuel Jackson! I salute you!

Aieee! Snakes on a plane!

Teddy Lobster

If you're into this sort of thing, you can have your very own stuffed white lobster! This clever person has designed a pattern for "Tasty" the Kiwa Hirsuta.


This stuffed lobster will make a great companion for any child's Barney doll or Tickle Me Elmo.

I can't wait until they have Steak & Endless Kiwa Hirsuta at the Sizzler. (Just kidding. I think.)

The Triple Dip

When movie studios release a movie on DVD, they typically release another version a little while later as a "Director's Cut" or "Anniversary Edition" or "Uncensored & Unrated Edition". This kind of double-dipping is a fact of life, much like death & taxes.

I actually don't mind the double-dip - as long as the subsequent version is chock full of extras, like behind-the scenes featurettes, deleted scenes, and audio commentaries. The more the better. Heck, add a second or third disc if you like; the more the merrier. What I like best is when they release a standard edition and a special edition at the same time (like the standard and collector's edition of Walk The Line). At least you have a choice, and you're not trapped into buying the same movie twice if you really liked the film. Sadly, this is the exception to the rule; more often than not, when you see a Saw, you know there's going to be a Saw Uncut Edition about twelve months later.

Today however, we have what will probably be the first of many: the triple dip.

The Replacement Killers was a good movie; I liked it a lot. It was the movie that introduced Chow Yun Fat to American audiences. It was the first directorial effort for Antoine Fuqua, who went on to direct Tears of the Sun and Training Day. Heck, it even had Academy-award winning actress Mira Sorvino. It was a fun movie with a lot of Hong Kong-style gun-blazing action.

The original Replacement Killers DVD came out in 1998, the same year the movie came out. It was kind of a bare bones DVD, with only a "making of" featurette. This was actually the first DVD I ever bought. Later in 2002, the Special Edition came out. This version had a lot more extras, including a director commentary, a Chow Yun Fat featurette, deleted scenes and an alternate ending. All these extras should have probably been on the original DVD. I haven't watched the Special Edition DVD yet, but I bought it because I wanted to see if Chow Yun Fat gets to make out with Mira Sorvino in the alternate ending.

Now eight years after the movie originally came out, the Extended Cut DVD is getting released in April. While this version apparently has the same featurettes as the Special Edition, it adds on a whooping 11 additional minutes to the movie. Plus, it's got a different cover.

Oh, great. I'm sure all the burning questions left unaswered in the movie will totally make sense now.

More Video Games, Please

Back in the day, I used to dig through the used CD bins at Amoeba Records to look for deals. The funny thing was that there were always tons of LaToya Jackson CD's available. I could understand why people would want to sell these CD's, but why were they buying them in the first place? Were they giving these things away?

There are thousands of CD's available, with hundreds more coming out every few months. A lot of this music is probably not your cup of tea, or is just plain crappy. Just take a look at the used CD bins. For every good band you find, you'll probably find ten LaToya Jacksons. Yet a lot of stuff gets released, because every CD hopes to find its market somewhere.

DVD's are the same way. Not every DVD is going to be a blockbuster or have critical acclaim. A lot of movies get made simply with the hope that they will sell in the direct-to-video market. Did you see Sylvester Stallone in a movie called Eye See You? No? Maybe you caught Wesley Snipes in The Marksman? No? Huh. Go figure.

Here's what I'm getting at: there are a lot of video games produced in Japan. Some are translated and sold in the U.S., but the majority of them do not come over. I know things are driven by market demand and cultural differences, but I think that the video game companies should take a few more chances and release some more varied Japanese games to the U.S. If we can have a flood of product in CD's and DVD's, how about a little more choice with video games? What have they got to lose? Someone is going to buy this stuff. Some people may even like them.

Here's one that will probably never be released in the U.S.: Marilyn Monroe Pachinko. People love Marilyn Monroe, and pachinko machines are the pinball/slot machines of Japan, how can this go wrong? If the price was right, I would buy it.

New Lobster

Wow. A team of American divers found a new species of crustacean, which resembles a white, furry lobster (story here).

This blows my mind. Science marches on...

Always Bet On Black...!

My fiance and I went to our local Fry's Electronics the other day, to browse for nothing in particular. When we got there, we discovered that they were having a sale on Black, the new game that just came out for Xbox and PS2. We hurried over to the video game department to pick up a copy of the game (ok, I was the one doing the hurrying).

When we got there, I picked up Black to look at it. There was this guy who saw I was looking at the game, and he says to us: "Did you see the review on the yadda-yadda-yadda show on G4?" (Yadda-yadda-yadda being some show I've never heard of on a cable channel that we don't get)

"No," I said.

"They said that game sacrificed a substantive storyline for action."

"Well, a little action can be good sometimes," I replied.

He looked at me incredulously, and repeated what he said again. At this point, he was beginning to get a little weird, so I smiled politely and proceeded to ignore him. He seemed to be offended that I was still holding the game, and he walked away muttering, "I was just trying to let you know".

Dude, I read the reviews too. Black is supposed to be a really cool first person shooter where every bullet you has an effect on what you shoot at. The sound effects in the game are supposed to be really special too. In other words, lots of things will get shot up and blown up, and you'll kick up a lot of dust doing it. Reportedly, the game doesn't have much of an engrossing storyline to go with the super-special graphics.

You know what? I don't care. I don't really follow the story in a video game too closely, I'm just trying to enjoy myself and get to the end of the game. If the game is fun and entertaining, then right on.

So what have we learned?

1. If a game looks interesting enough to me, then I'd rather try it out myself than blindly follow what someone else says.

2. For a brand new game, I got a good sale price. Excellent!

3. Dude, stay away from me; you're creeping me out.