Posts

Posted on

Hangin’ Out At Video Game High School!

VideoGameHSlogoTransparent

I love Kickstarter success stories, and Video Game High School is one of the best examples.  Freddie Wong has been known on YouTube.com for a long time, but when he wanted to make a full length web sit-com he didn’t have the money, so he turned to Kickstarter.

He has funded two seasons of this show, and they are both very funny.  They take place in a near future where all sports have been replaced by Video Games, and there are special schools setup to develop young talent.  It is a pretty standard teen/high school comedy, but the video game twist makes it fun.

If you are looking for something to watch it is streaming just about everywhere, and I have enjoyed it quite a bit.  I can’t wait for season three.

If you don’t know who Freddie Wong is here is one of my favorite things he did before VGHS:

Posted on

Moving Forward Unto Dawn!

Halo-4-Forward-Unto-Dawn

I know you are thinking, “Why is Shmee reviewing something that came out on the web for free two years ago?”, but you know what there is a lot of stuff to watch, and I just got around to it, so I am reviewing it two years late.  Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn is a long commercial, but a good long commercial.

The story is about a group of new UNSC cadets, and the training they are going through to get ready for deployment in a civil war.  They are then attacked by an unknown enemy, and aided by the one and only Master Chief.

There is a saying out there that all the stories around the Halo games are more interesting then the stories in the Halo games, and Forward Unto Dawn seems to add more fuel to that fire.  It gives us some good backstory in to the events leading up to the war with the Covenant.  There are a couple scenes that happen right before Halo 4, but not enough that you would have had to play through all the Halo games to understand what is going on.

The actors all do a fine job with their roles, and they are much better then you would find in a normal web series, but it all feels a little like a made for TV movie.  You can tell that they were doing their best with the money that they had, but not all the special effects are convincing.  Still it is probably the best full length feature commercial I have ever seen.

If you like Halo at all then Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn is worth watching.  For everyone else this is probably a skip unless you want to get a little flavor of the Halo universe.  I am glad that I watched this, but it definitely is not life changing in any way.

Posted on

You Don’t Want Admission!

admission-2013-hollywood-movie-wallpaper01

I had high hopes for the 2013 film Admission when I first saw the trailer.  I mean it has Tina Fey and Paul Rudd in it, and it was directed by Paul Weitz who did About a Boy.  Sadly the only thing this film is really good at is wasting talent.

The story follows an admissions officer for Princeton named Portia Nathan (Tina Fey) as she tries to find the best and brightest for her school.  As part of her job she goes out to high schools to advertise for Princeton, and one of her new schools is an alternative school lead by John Pressman (Paul Rudd).  He is as you guessed it the opposite of Portia.  Will opposites attract? You know they will.

Ugg this plot has been done sooo many times before, so what they try and do is shoehorn in all these random side stories:  Like Portia’s relationship with her mother, or the fact that one of the kids that is applying to Princeton might be her son that she gave up for adoption.  But they don’t develop any of it enough to care, so it is all just a waste of time.

Tina Fey and Paul Rudd do the best they can, but them being charming doesn’t fix this mess of movie.  Luckily they are both talented and in demand enough that they can just shrug off this movie and move on to better things.  Had this movie starred anyone else it would have been a complete disaster, and it might have killed their careers.

What I am telling you is that if you have ever seen a romantic comedy before then you have seen this film.  Plus it was probably better when you saw it before.  The leads are likable, but that is about it.  Save yourself some time and watch just about anything else before seeing this movie.

Posted on

So About Downton Abbey Season 4

downton-abbey

Well I finally saw the last episode of Downton Abbey Season 4, and I have to say I was disappointed.  This season started off with a lot of promise, but in the end pretty much nothing happened.  Well to be fair one shocking thing happened, but that ended up amounting to nothing in the grand scheme of things.  Which is a shame.

<SPOILERS>If you are going to have a season that deals with rape, you should at least dive further in to the ramifications and psychological impact of the vile act.  Instead of just using it as a catalyst as to whether or not someone is going to kill someone else.  They made it feel like a cheap ratings booster, and that is a real shame.</SPOILERS>

Everyone pretty much ended up where they started. Sure some people grew a little bit, but over all it was just a waste of a season.  All the will they or won’t they survive question seemed be brushed aside, and instead they went with “Who will Mary merry?”.  Interesting, but not really major story arc material.

I hope they figure it out for next season because another one like this will kill it for me.  I expect more from the Grantham’s and their household.

Posted on

Burn Some Time With Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters!

hansel_gretel_witch_hunters

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters is a 2013 film written and directed by Tommy Wirkola.  It is described as an Action Horror movie, but it is not very scary, and more so funny.  Really what it is, is low brow entertainment at its finest.

The story follows Hansel (Jeremy Renner) and Gretel (Gemma Arterton) from their early run in with the witch in the candy house.  To them becoming the titular bounty earning “Witch Hunters”.  They are called in to find missing children, and are soon dealing with some pretty dangerous witches.  The leader of whom is a grand witch name Muriel (Famke Janssen).

The plot is thin, but really it is just an excuse for a bunch of fun action scenes, and for Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton to quip one liners.  I also love that even though this is a period movie, they make no attempt to have the dialog or the weaponry match the times.  The makers of this film just decided to have a good time, so why bother trying to make a fantasy film historically accurate.

The fun the filmmakers are having really shines through.  You can tell that they were enjoying themselves coming up with new ways to kill witches in the most bloody ways possible, and for the most part they were very successful.  They make sure that you are well accustomed to the color red by the end of this film.

The actors also look like they are having fun in this film, especially the leads.  Renner and Arterton seem to relish kicking in skulls and playing with cool toys.  Famke Janssen is excellent at being bad.  She has that perfect evil glint in her eye, and she has a huge smile on her face when she gets to beat the stuffing out of the heroes.

If you come in to this film expecting something intellectual, you will be disappointed.  This is a dumb film that knows what it is, and it enjoys itself immensely.  If you are a fan of films like Army of Darkness, you should have fun watching this flick.  If not, this is probably not for you.