Shmee.Me

December 4, 2014December 4, 2014

Shmee Enjoys Atari: Game Over!

If you have ever taken any interest in video games at all, you have probably heard of the infamous E.T video game. It was said to be so bad that it caused the collapse of the video game industry in the early 80’s, and that Atari had no options but to dump all of the unsold copies of the game in a landfill in New Mexico. Microsoft and Writer/Director Zak Penn decided to look in to this modern myth with the documentary titled Atari: Game Over.

This could have been a boring movie about watching big equipment digging holes in the ground looking for black square pieces of plastic, but instead Zak Penn made a smart and loving look at the early game industry, and really the first major Silicon Valley startup Atari. These programmers and engineers were rock stars, and they made a billion dollar business in a matter of a few short years. Then it all came crashing down, and a game about a friendly alien made in five weeks to make it in time for Christmas holiday shopping season took the brunt of the blame.

Now if you have ever played an Atari 2600, you would know that there were more bad games than just E.T, and that if you have actually played E.T., you would know that it is not really that terrible. Sure it isn’t great, but some of those old 2600 games are pretty much unplayable, and E.T.’s creator Howard Scott Warshaw made some of the best Atari games ever, but it is E.T. that is always on the top of the “Worst Games Of All Time Lists”. Why? Because its release date coincides with the destruction of an early tech giant.

What I really liked about this movie is that was made by people who really love video games, and who really wanted to know what was in that New Mexico landfill. It is a fun journey, and a great way to see modern archaeology at work. They made digging up a landfill feel like Indiana Jones. If you love video games, urban myths, or maybe just miss the 80’s, Atari: Game Over is well worth your time. It is free if you have an Xbox 360, Xbox One, or an Xbox Video Account.

December 3, 2014December 3, 2014

We Now Know The Cast Of The Suicide Squad And More!

Well after months of speculation we now know the cast of the Suicide Squad! It is as follows:

Villians:

The Joker: Jared Leto

Harley Quinn: Margot Robbie

Lex Luthor: Jesse Eisenberg

Heroes:

Deadshot: Will Smith

Rick Flagg: Tom Hardy

Captain Boomerang: Jai Courtney

Enchantress: Cara Delevingne

This is a pretty great lineup (even though I was way off with my list)! But what I like most about this cast is that it includes Enchantress. That means the DC Movie Universe is going to introduce magic right away. They are not waiting around like Marvel has been. We still don’t know who will be the group’s morally gray leader Amanda Waller, but I am sure we will shortly considering this movie starts shooting soon. David Ayer who is known for his critically acclaimed crime movies is writing and directing. He will be a good fit for this group of rouges forced to be good.

Along the same lines the rumor is that CBS has found its Supergirl! Claire Holt from Vampire Diaries and its spinoff The Originals. This would make a lot of sense since Warner Brothers likes to use people they have worked with before. I have not seen the shows she has been in, so I can’t speek to her talent, but she does have the look.

Lastly it looks like the Sandman movie is about to get rolling. They have a script everyone likes, Neil Gaiman is very involved, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt has agreed to be the titular character. If Neil Gaiman on board so am I!

I have been giving you a lot of DC news lately, and once Marvel does something interesting I swear that I will let you know, but for now DC is making a lot of excting moves!

December 2, 2014December 2, 2014

The Mockingjay Part 1 Needs Part 2!

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 is a first half looking for a second half. There is a lot of setup and tension building, but no conclusion or release. It is sadly as the title says “Part 1”. The Hunger Games movies have always been one continuing story, but the pervious two at least had some form of an ending. This movie does not. It is still a fine movie, and a must watch for fans of the films and the books, but when Catching Fire was so good, this was a little bit of a letdown.

The story picks up directly after the events of Catching Fire, and Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) is having a hard time coping with previous events. She is also very upset they did not save Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) like they had promised, and now he is in the hands of The Capitol being used as a propaganda tool. Katniss agrees to be a propaganda tool herself as the Mockingjay (Hey it is the title of the movie!) to fight back and lead the rebellion.

While I am not happy they split up the last book in to two movies, I have to admit that they are continuing to adapt the book very well for the big screen. They are adding scenes that fill in the blank spots, and the dialog is spot on. I have never missed all the internal monolog that the books have because of they way they have set up the scenes and framed the characters’ reactions.

The other big reason that characters’ reactions and emotions pay off so well is that the cast continues to be superb. Jennifer Lawrence has become one of the best actors of her generation, and she deserves all her accolades. Josh Hutcherson similarly has come on very strong. His scenes as the propaganda spewing puppet, all the while seeing the pain behind his eyes, were quite gripping. He has come in to his own. If there was one person that was a little flat, it was Liam Hemsworth as Gale. I am not sure if they didn’t give him enough to work with or what, but for the most part his character was very dull.

Francis Lawrence continues his fine work as director, and he films what little action there is nicely. He gets all the actors to do what they need to do. The only complaint I have is that he should have cut down the running time by about thirty minutes, but these days people expect two hour movies, so maybe he felt obligated to pad the time a little.

This movie could have been great if it was complete. The script, the actors, and the director were all in place, but instead Lionsgate thought with its pocketbook and tried to get one more movie out of this franchise. With all of this buildup, I hope they knock it out of the park with Part 2 because that is what this franchise and the people who paid to see half a movie deserve.

December 1, 2014

The Paladin graduates from VGHS

Video Game High School (VGHS) is a series on YouTube made by the guys at Rocket Jump. VGHS was a long form series that brought high production value, professional acting, and well written scripts to a place on the web mostly known for music videos, make-up how-to’s, and cat videos. The third and final season came to a close about a week ago and I thought I’d share my thoughts on it.

A brief intro for VGHS is as follows – VGHS is an exclusive Video Game High School where students learn, master, and play video games as part of the school curriculum. The stars of the school are the First Person Shooter (FPS) team led by The Law, the greatest, most handsomest, man alive. By accident lowly Brian D is able to kill the unkillable The Law and earns a scholarship to VGHS. Here he meets his new best friend Ted Wong, highly intelligent Ki Swan, and the driven Jenny Matrix. Hilarity ensues, many other colorful characters are introduced, and the video game world is brought to life via Rocket Jumps signature style. You should totally check it out.

VGHS Season 3 however just didn’t do it for me at first. The first few episodes reintroduced the problems leftover from the last season – Ted hates Brian, The Law plays for Napalm Energy Drink High School, and Ki is facing Shane Pizza in a battle for Class President. Brian and Jenny’s relationship is progressing and the FPS team is doing pretty well. That all falls apart in the lackluster second episode, which does have a good film noir section, but is otherwise for me a shift in VGHS’s tone. Overall the third season seems too much like a rehash of previous season arcs – I mean we’ve already had the Brian and Jenny breakup because she’s driven to be the best and he’s afraid of losing someone he loves and therefore overreacts. And as I said the tone is a little crasser this time around; not that VGHS wasn’t juvenile to begin with but this time around there was more stuff that took away some of the show’s innocence.

The last half makes up for some of the season’s mistakes and the final episode feels like the epic conclusion the series really needed. I especially liked how it ended the Napalm Mega Mall part of the story. I also liked how the last shot, showed us good friends who were connected through games and then so much more. In this season of gaming, where gamers are bitterly fighting other games, it’s good to be reminded that games can also bring us together and should. If you’ve watched VGHS’s first two seasons be sure to follow up with this one. If you have not enrolled yet, do so and remember – It’s all about the game.