Shmee.Me

August 15, 2014August 15, 2014

The LEGO Movie Blu-Ray Update!

I thought pretty highly of Warner Brother’s The LEGO Movie when it came out in theaters earlier this year, so I went ahead and bought the Blu-Ray. My thoughts on the movie itself have not changed, but I decided I would give you my impressions of the home video experience.

It is an animated film, so it looks great in high def. The colors pop, and everything is crisp and clear. In the theater I wasn’t able to fully appreciate all the bumps and seams on the characters that make them look like real LEGO mini-figs. The fact they made the movie completely re-creatable with LEGO toys is impressive, and when you watch it at home the detail really comes through.

They have put a good amount of special features on the disk, like an Everything Is Awesome sing-along, why Batman is a true artist, and some deleted scenes. You know the usual stuff for a kids movie, but it is all done well. As always they include DVD and Ultra-Violet copies so you can watch this movie anywhere, or just keep the kids quiet on those long car rides.

If you love silly films, or just need to see most of the Justice League on screen, this film is well worth the purchase. It looks great on your big screen, and children and adults will love it (if they don’t, they hate joy). I hope that its 18 Million sequels (there are at least three in the works) will be able to keep the quality as high.

August 14, 2014August 14, 2014

BioWare’s New Game Is Shadow Realms!

So after days of speculation we now know what BioWare’s new game is called: Shadow Realms. With all the houses getting sucked in to black holes and magical abilities, I was hopping that they were making a big budget Shadowrun game, but instead it is a 4 on 1 multiplayer RPG in their own universe. Four people team up and face off against a Shadow Lord. The Shadow Lord beyond just being super powerful, also gets to command the dungeon, so he is sort of a GM.

So really since the game takes place in the current day, and it has fantasy elements, it is lot like Shadowrun, but they are not paying Microsoft or Catalyst for the license. The big difference is I haven’t seen anyone use guns yet. If they add guns then this is totally a Shadowrun rip-off, and I am okay with that. Honestly add guns and call it Shadowrun: Rise of the Shadow Lords. I would pay all kinds of money for that game.

If this was a single player game I would be more excited. The fact I have to find four people with to play this with all the time is a little lame, so hopefully there is a good grouping system. We will see when it gets closer to release.

If you are interested you can sign up for the alpha here. IGN has posted four minutes of gameplay footage, and I am reposting it for your viewing pleasure below:

August 13, 2014

Shmee Can’t Stop Watching Green Lantern! He Has A Problem…

The Green Lantern is my favorite comic book character. I love that he is a space cop, that his powers are limited only by his imagination, and that it is all just a little odd. So when they made the 2011 movie I was more than excited. Then the movie came out, and it was terrible. You would think that would be it. I would watch the terrible movie once, mourn, and then move one, but no, I can’t. My love of the Green Lantern will not let me. So I watch his movie about once a year, and I wince my way through it.

It is bad on just about every level. The story is rushed, the special effects are less than special, and the acting is poor. My wife pointed out that Ryan Reynolds is not the problem with this movie, and that it would be bad without him, and she is right, but he doesn’t make it any better. It feels like no one really had any passion for this movie, so they kind of threw it together, and as a fan of the character, I think that hurts most of all.

I previously wrote about some ideas for the new Green Lantern movie, whenever that comes out, and it will because of DC’s need to get the Justice League off the ground. What they really need is someone who loves the Green Lantern Universe as much as the fans do, and will tell good Green Lantern Corps stories. I could have lived with sub-par special effects and Ryan Reynolds if they would have told a story worth telling, but they couldn’t figure out what they wanted to do. Did they want a space epic? A simple origin story? The story of how Sinestro goes bad? Any of those could have been one movie, but instead they slam them all together, and give us a muddled mess.

Comic book movies are the biggest box office draw right now, and Hollywood loves a sure thing, so I will get another movie with a Green Lantern in it. I just hope it comes out soon, so I can stop watching this horrible movie. For now it is the only big screen adaptation I have, so I will keep watching it with a tear in my eye.

August 12, 2014July 7, 2015

Batman V Superman Gets Its Aquaman!

After months of speculation and downright denial, Variety is now reporting that it is official: Jason Momoa of Game of Thrones fame is Aquaman!

I think this is my favorite casting yet! I know he is not blond, but he just has the look of the King of the Sea, and I can see him kicking the crap out of Superman or Batman if need be. I just hope he shows up riding a Kraken, or you know destroys everything with a school of megalodon sharks!

August 12, 2014August 12, 2014

My Five Favorite Robin Williams Movies!

I heard the news that Robin Williams had died while driving home from work. It caused me to almost drive in to a ditch. I couldn’t believe it. This man was responsible for making so many of my favorite movies while growing up, and I will miss him greatly, but instead of focusing on his death, I thought I would celebrate his life by sharing my five favorite Robin Williams films:

5: Jumanji

The 1995 film Jumanji will not be remembered as a classic, but this board-game-comes-to-life film is what I hoped would happen every time I played a game with my friends. In fact I still hope it happens when I get a game out of the closest and crack it open, or roll some dice when I play a table top RPG.

4: Dead Poets Society

After this movie came out in 1989 everyone wanted to take a literature class in a prep school, and have Robin Williams be their teacher. This role is so iconic it is no wonder that Apple used Williams reading a poem from it to sell iPads.

3: Good Will Hunting

The 1997 movie that got Williams his Oscar. If you wanted Williams to be your teacher in Dead Poets Society, after this movie you were thinking of finding a good therapist. He found the perfect balance of humor and charm in this movie, and he made more people than just Will Hunting feel better.

2: Hook

There was only ever going to be one man that could wear tights and make you think that he was the Boy Who Could Fly, and that was Robin Williams. This 1991 movie has not held up well, but as a kid it made me dream, and as I have written before it gave me my online nickname. If I loose any more people from this movie this year I am going to fall apart.

1: Aladdin

I watched this 1992 movie more times than I can count as a kid, and it is easy to see why. It has catchy songs, and a great story of a boy wanting to be more, but it was the blue Genie that stole the show and our hearts. Robin Williams made this movie, and it will be well remembered for years to come.

There are so many more movies that could have made this list, but I am pretty sure those are my top five! I would love to hear yours!