Review: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End

Genre: Action/Adventure
Runtime: 2hrs 48min
Rating: PG-13 - moderate violence

Pirates 3 has finally been released and it delivers the goods. At World’s End continues the story started in the previous two films and provides a satisfying conclusion.

There is a lot here to digest in the span of the film. Plot device after plot device is thrown out in an attempt to expand and end characters storylines. At times it is quite convoluted and confusing, but overall I found myself liking it more than not.

The action is spread out to the end of At World’s End. There are large spans of time where there is only exposition. It is the final act of the movie that throws out the action in a way thats exhilarating, creative and most importantly fun.

It is the characters that make this film shine. With the return of Captain Barbossa at the end of Dead Man’s Chest, he plays an integral part throughout At World’s End. His chemistry with Jack Sparrow is works great and adds a depth of humor to the film. Tia Dalma the slimy, cryptic and mystic woman in Dead Man’s Chest also returns with a role far expanded and more important than one would initially realize. Even Elizabeth and Will are used to great effect here after there disappointing ride through Dead Man’s Chest.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End delivers more of the same great pirate action that the previous films delivered. I prefer At Worlds End to Dead Man’s Chest because storylines are wrapped up and it just felt more engaging and fun than the previous. This isn’t a perfect movie though since it is overly long and some sequences feel tacked on. For a conclusion to a series of movies based off a Disney World ride you could fair far worse. At World’s End does what any good summer movie should, it thrills the audience with spectacular special effects, interesting characters, and good bit of humor.

Story - 8…provides satisfying conclusions for the characters, new storylines have importance but some feel forced

Visuals - 9…incredible special effects that rival nearly any other film, multiple imaginative locations

Sound - 8…great pirate music and themes but nothing that wasn’t in Dead Man’s Chest

Overall - 8…a great conclusion to the Pirates movies, it just throws too many storylines at the audience

Mini-Review: Pokemon Diamond(Nintendo DS)

Genre: Roleplaying/Collection
Rating: Everyone - cute and cuddly animals, cartoon menace

Pokemon Diamond was released along side Pokemon Pearl and the only real difference between the two versions is that one has a different legendary Pokemon than the other. I chose Diamond simply because I liked the look of Dialga the Pokemon on the cover of the game.

Another Pokemon game another handheld. The formula is simple; capture the animals of the game world known as Pokemon, train them, and battle them to become the champion Pokemon trainer of the land. Pokemon has always been the perfect introductory RPG style game. Capture a cast of characters that suit your needs, train them in battles to teach them new moves, and grow them to new forms. While the mechanics are simple the game is fairly long and with more than 150 Pokemon to capture throughout the game there are multiple ways to play. With the advent of a new handheld, the DS, Pokemon has moved into the wireless age. Battling other real people over the Internet adds an edge to this new Pokemon incarnation.

After completing the game it is possible to acquire every single Pokemon that has ever existed. This adds another layer of play to the game through trades and is a nice bonus for those who have played and completed previous Pokemon adventures.

Not much has changed with these new Pokemon games. They are basically the same games you’ve played numerous times before except for the fact that there are new areas to search and Pokemon to acquire. If you’ve never played a Pokemon game before then this is the perfect time.

Graphics - 8…artistic, new flair of 3D is welcome, not much of an update from previous games and really doesn’t push the DS at all

Sound - 8…nice tunes to hum along to, sound effects are dragged in from other Pokemon games with no update

Gameplay - 8…basic RPG style gameplay that is very familiar and not distinctive from past Pokemon games, huge roster of Pokemon and moves will keep you playing, wireless multiplayer modes can be exceptionally fun

Value - 8…30 hours of play for the main game and then a near unlimited number of hours collecting the over 480 Pokemon

Overall - 8…another engaging and most importantly fun Pokemon game, just don’t expect anything new gameplay wise

Review Redux: Spider-Man 3

Genre: Superhero, Action
Run Time: 2hrs 20min
Rating: PG-13 - comic book violence, watching Peter dance around the streets like an idiot

Initial Reaction Review:

Spider-Man 3 is the third adventure with the friendly neighborhood nerd. Peter Parker’s life is looking great. People love him as Spidey, his love life with MJ is on the up, and he is scoring great grades in college. Unfortunately, for him things are going to change fast. His old friend Harry Osborn knows his secret and is out for revenge for his fathers death. Elsewhere, a meteorite falls to Earth and out of it comes an alien parasite which just so happens to attach itself to one of Peter’s Spidey suits. Uncle Ben’s real killer has just escaped from prison and has his body transformed into sand. All of that happens in the first thirty minutes.

Not to spoil too much of the story, but Peter is really pushed to the edge in this movie. Almost everything that he cares for is taken from him. That parasite that attached itself to his suit not only increases his powers but amplifies his aggression. As he learns that his uncles true killer has escaped from prison he makes the unwise choice of donning the black suit to track him down. This new black suit changes him slowly but steadily throughout the film from the fun loving Spidey that we know and love to a total asshole that pushes everybody around him away. The most important figure that he pushes away is MJ who is one of the few people that have a chance of saving Peter from the suit.

The action sequences in 3 are not the best in the series. Spidey has never looked better swinging through the air. Fights are played out with intense hard hits and a bit of logic. Unfortunately, the best action sequence is the exact same one the movies producers decided to put out on the net. It’s the fight between Peter in his street clothes and Goblin Jr., aka. Harry, in the first thirty minutes of the film. This scene does everything right and feels complete. Nothing for the rest of the movie is as fun as that first high. Not even the fights with Sandman or Venom can reach the heights of the first battle or even the incredible battle with Doc Ock on the train in Spidery 2. I’m not saying these action sequences are bad because they most definitely are not. The fights are great eye candy and are creative, but they lack originality. When I watch a movie I expect to see things that I couldn’t think of myself. Other than the two fight sequences with Harry I wasn’t impressed.

Now the best part of Spidey 3 is the story revolving around Peter, Harry, and MJ. This feels right and has emotional impact. We care about these characters and their story rings true. Everything else in the movie is filler. Venom is under-realized and only appears for the final 20 minutes. Sandman’s story requires changing the story of the first movie and his character doesn’t excite the way it should. Sure, he has emotional impact but the movie is already too long and Sandman doesn’t add enough to justify that time.

Spider-Man 3 is not the best superhero movie ever. Nor, is it the best Spider-Man movie, that honor belongs to Spider-Man 2. In the end, Spidey 3 suffers from containing too many storylines and only working with one of them. Perhaps with some tweaks to the story and the absence of Sandman the movie could have effectively presented Venom as more than just under polished eye candy for the comic book nerds.

Story - 7…too many characters add too many storylines, the main triangle between MJ, Harry, and Peter was handled exceptionally well

Visuals - 8…one, maybe two great action sequences, everything else lacks originality, CG is outstanding but flaws are noticable especially on a large screen

Sound - 8…music rarely stood out and felt more generic than anything else, sound effects are big and loud and out of proportion but hey it’s a comic book movie

Overall - 8…to complete the trilogy this is a must see, but don’t be surprised if you feel uncomfortable during the movie in knowing that it could have been much better

Redux Review:

After a repeat viewing I came out more disappointed than my initial viewing. The film is just too bloated featuring one too many villians. As I said before, I think the film would have worked better without Sandman so that they could focus more on Venom’s story. Still, the best part of Spidey 3 is the triangle revolving around Peter, MJ, and Harry. We’ve been with these characters for two previous films and it feels good to have completion to their story. Other than that the score is truly generic and obnoxious and I didn’t enjoy hearing it again.

Story - 7…too many new characters to effectively relate to in the runtime, nice resolution to the story of the three main characters

Visuals - 8…only one great action sequence, excellent CG all around, Venom was under realized

Sound - 7…sound effects are strong, soundtrack is generic and uninspired but more than anything it is draining on the ears

Overall Final Score - 7…obviously a must see for fans of Spidey, but don’t expect anything you couldn’t have imagined yourself

Review: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night(XBLA)

Genre: Action/Adventure, minor role playing mechanics
Rating: Teen - mild violence, blood

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is an action and adventure game wherein the player takes the reigns of Alucard, the half vampire, half human, son of Dracula. Get it ALUCARD - DRACULA. Alucard must explore Dracula’s newly resurrected castle and destroy it before the evil powers can resurrect Dracula himself.

As you explore the castle you gain new weapons, abilities, and items that open up new areas of the castle to explore. The combat is basic and consists of repeatedly attacking enemies until they die. This doesn’t get boring though because as you defeat enemies you gain experience and will level up your basic stats with enough enemy kills. While the combat is simple the enemies themselves can be quite powerful. Boss fights and later levels of the game push out enemies that can kill Alucard in a few hits. You will need to plan ahead and level up quite a bit if your hopes are to defeat every enemy in the game.

The most compelling part of C:SotN is exploring every nook and cranny of the castle. What makes this even more fun is that there are two castles, the one you enter at the beginning of the game and an upside down version of that castle that is unlocked after you defeat a certain enemy. Working your way from place to place can take a seriously large amount of time. As you explore the games map fills in where you have been. You will learn to rely on the map for most of the game or you will get lost more often than not. Backtracking is another big part of Castlevania. Nearly every area of the game world has secrets to be found. When you first enter an area these items might be impossible to acquire with your current set of abilities, but with some extra searching of the castle you can find those abilities and then return to claim what you missed.

With all that being said C:SotN does have one negative aspect about it. The game is extremely vague at times at what the player is supposed to do next. You will get lost and stuck numerous times throughout the adventure without the help of a strategy guide. I guess if you have the patience then this wouldn’t be a big problem but if you want to complete the game at the maximum allowed 200.6% and see all of the multiple endings then you will need to devote a lot time to this game doing nothing but searching around.

C:SotN is a port of the original Playstation game that came out in 1997. The Live Arcade price is $10 and it is well worth that if you have not ever played this game before. If you already have the game don’t expect to find anything of actual value in buying this off of the Arcade. No new areas have been added nor are there any new enemies or items to find.

Graphics - 8…artistic 2D graphics, distinct character, enemy, and level designs, some slowdown and jagged edges

Sound - 9…score sets the perfect mood of being in Dracula’s castle, each area has a great theme to hum along to, cheesy character voices

Gameplay - 8…holds up well despite it’s age, massive castle to explore, high difficulty level keeps things fresh and challenging, very vague at points

Value - 9…the best 2D action/adventure game ever, multiple endings and two castles will keep you playing for hours, at $10 it is one of the few X-Box 360 Live Arcade games worth buying

Overall - 8…if you have never played this then you owe it to yourself to delve into the best Castlevania game around

Review: Grindhouse

Genre: Comedy, Horror/Thriller, Spoof
Run Time: 3hrs 10mins
Rating: R - extremely graphic violence, excessive profanity, nudity, too many testicles

Grindhouse is the work of masterminds Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez. Basically, it is a double feature spoof of the 70’s horror genre that was so rampant during the time. The two films are Planet Terror directed by Robert Rodriguez and the second is Death Proof directed by Quentin Tarantino. There are four movie trailers that play before the two films. One trailer before Planet Terror and three before Death Proof. These trailers capture the essence of the 70’s perfectly and are hysterical.

Planet Terror

The first feature is a throwback to all of the great zombie movies that have come out over the years. Planet Terror is action packed and more gore filled than any other horror movie I have ever seen. The story is predictable, the characters all stereotypes, but none of that matters because this film is incredibly funny, gross, and exciting. Zombies blow up, blood flies, and a girl with an assault rifle for a leg steal the show. Oh yeah, the pop singer Fergie, you know the one from the Black Eyed Peas, is ripped limb from limb. Easily, one of the most satisfying things I have seen in a movie this year.

Death Proof

Death Proof is the second half of Grindhouse. What we have here is a story of a psychotic stalker/serial killer who uses his muscle car to deal out damage to those he deems unworthy. Tarantino is at full power her with his character development, but it comes at a big cost. The sheer boredom of more than 30 minutes of character exposition after all of the non-stop action that was present in Planet Terror. I could have fallen asleep from sitting in my seat with nothing but women on the screen talking about their personal lives. Anyway, Death Proof does have a big payoff and when it comes it comes big with one of the greatest car crashes and car chases in film history. It’s the characters of Death Proof that make it so powerful. The two sets of three women feel so real its like you could find these people at you local bar. What happens to them and what they do is at the same time shocking and hilarious.

Grindhouse is a mixed bag. On one hand we have a great afternoon at the movies with an intro so powerful you want more. But, on the other hand the 3 hour plus runtime is a downer during the second halves heavy character development sequences. Maybe, if Grindhouse started out with Death Proof I could have had a better time swallowing the whole experience and not felt such boredom during the second half.

Story - ?…Planet Terror’s story is irrelevant it works and thats all that matters, Death Proof thrives with it’s characters, but the story is not as important as the experience, You don’t see a movie like Grindhouse for the story so there is no point in rating it

Visuals - 9…enough blood and gore for any other horror movie to be impressed with, car crash and chase in Death Proof is incredible

Sound - 8…excellent all around, not much to say here except your ears might start hurting after awhile

Overall - 8…should have been split into two movies, but still a very fun, funny, and nostalgic throwback to the 70’s when everything was over the top, if you like nostalgia, 70’s horror, zombies, and car chases then this is the movie for you, just be prepared for a lot of blood and gore