Shmee.Me

February 10, 2014February 10, 2014

The Lego Movie Builds Fun!

When I first heard they were making a Lego movie I was not that interested, but then they put together one of the best marketing campaigns in recent memory, and I became very excited about it. I am happy to say that the movie lives up to the commercials. Warner Brothers has done an amazing job bringing the Lego Universe to life.

The story is about an unremarkable Lego man named Emmet (Chris Pratt). Who one day after his job at a construction site finds a special Lego piece, and he is informed by Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks) that he is the one that will save the world from the Evil Lord Business (Will Ferrell). His adventure will introduce him to several master builders including most of the Justice League.

This movie is pretty much what happens when you take the Matrix and Toy Story 2 and smash them together, and then tell the story using Legos. That being said the beauty of this film is how many jokes they cram in to it. It is like they are firing them out of a machine gun. Even if all the jokes don’t land, and some of them do miss, there will be another one in few seconds. This movie never slows down. Which makes it good for kids and adults alike.

They really picked their voice talent well. Chris Pratt and Elizabeth Banks play the leads well, but the best part is all the great actors they got for the side characters like Will Arnett as Batman and Alison Brie as Uni-Kitty. They even have the Oscar nominated Jonah Hill as the Green Lantern who has some of the best jokes in the movie, at least for comic book lovers like myself.

The animation looks great. It looks like a living world made out of Lego bricks, and they have so many little side gags and random things thrown in all over the place that this movie may be worth a second viewing. The set designers really deserve a hand for all their creativity.

This movie could have simply been a commercial for Legos, but instead they put the work in to make it a movie worth watching. They were rewarded for their hard work with earning almost 70 Million dollars in ticket sales this weekend, and I hope it sends a message to movie producers that not all good movies have come out in the summer. They can do well in the cooler months too.

This is one of the better February movie releases in recent memory, and it made me laugh and smile the whole way through. This a is a perfect pick-me-up for the winter gloom. This movie is great for viewers of all ages, so it is a family movie that truly the whole family can enjoy.

February 7, 2014February 7, 2014

We Are Finally Getting A Ms. Marvel!

There was some big news yesterday as it was announced that Paul Bettany would be playing The Vision in the new Avengers movie. Since Bettany already plays the voice of JARVIS (Tony Stark’s AI butler) in the in the Marvel Movie Universe, it seems to point to the fact that Tony Stark not Henry Pym (Ant Man) will create the evil android Ultron, and in return Ultron will use Stark’s loyal companion against him. At least at first if they follow the comics at all.

While that is all very cool news, and interesting to think about. People seem to missing the even bigger news as the Latino Review pointed out, they are casting for Ms. Marvel (though he says Miss Marvel)! It is about time Marvel finally brought a top tier female crime fighter in to the mix. As a matter of fact Ms. Marvel is probably more powerful than the rest of the Avengers combined, so this version of Ultron is going to be one bad dude.

I mean no disrespect to Scarlett Johansson, but the Black Widow would be as useful in a fight against Ultron as a guy with toothpick versus a bunch of samurai with katanas, so to have the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and Ms. Marvel will let the ladies show up to the fight in force. With the amount of firepower Marvel is packing in to this movie, Avengers: Age of Ultron may be the biggest movie of all time.

February 6, 2014February 6, 2014

Shmee Gets Less Than Amped

I read the book Wired not to long ago, and I liked it so much that I quickly read the follow up Amped. I was less than impressed. I wanted to like this book, but its forced plot and easy to spot twists ruin it.

The story continues to follow David Desh and Kira Miller as they lead a group of super smart scientists to solve the world’s problems. However, people are still after them, and want their research for their own selfish gain, so Desh and Miller are on the run again. Meanwhile humanity makes its greatest discovery of all time, but without the amped up minds that work for Desh and Miller can they hope to understand it?

The book’s main two protagonists are still very likable, and the thought of creating massively intelligent people is interesting, but this book just felt forced. The tight plotting and action from the first book are gone, and instead it tries to focus on people thinking they are outsmarting each other. Which would be fine if their plans were interesting.

It is a shame this book wasn’t as good as the first one, but at least I didn’t have to pay for it because it is free on the Kindle Lending Library. If you need to waste some time, say on an airplane going to California, this book is passable, but it falls way short of its predecessor.

February 5, 2014February 5, 2014

Burn Through Your Wallet With Dungeon Hunter 4!

On my flight to Disneyland I needed a distraction, so I downloaded Dungeon Hunter 4 by Gameloft. It is a free-to-play Diablo clone for mobile devices. The game starts off very fun, but then when you just start to really get in to it the free-to-play gimmicks weigh it down.

The story follows a hero who is trying to save the world from demons. How does the hero do this you ask? Why by hacking and slashing his or her way through multitudes of enemies of coarse.

The game is very simple in premise. The more bad guys you kill, the more you level up and the more loot you gain, so you can fight bigger and badder (I know it is not a word) guys. This works very well in the beginning, but once you get a ways in to the game its shortcomings make their way to the forefront.

To buy health potions you need to spend real money. To use more then one health potion in a few minutes you need to spend real money, so that means for any of the truly challenging quests you need to show up with a few bucks. At first this didn’t seem like an issue since you could level up on the easy stuff, and then come back to the challenging areas, but after awhile everything is too hard. So to win you are going to need to spend some of your hard earned cash.

It is such a shame too because the game plays so well, and it has live multiplayer! If this game cost five dollars up front it would be a must own. The controls are great, and the graphics for a mobile game are top notch. Heck I would even be okay if it was free, and just the upper tier weapons and armor cost money (which they do). Oh well, this is the new mobile video game world we live in I suppose.

One of these days I will stop playing free-to-play games, but when they are all that seems to be coming out these days for mobile devices they are hard to avoid. For the first couple of hours Dungeon Hunter 4 is worth your time, but once they ramp up the difficulty pull out your wallet, or just uninstall it.

February 4, 2014February 4, 2014

Disneyland’s Top Ten Rides!

As some of you may have noticed (no one did) I missed a couple of posts last week, and that was because I was in Disneyland, so why not blog about my vacation! Since real posts are hard, I am going to do what every lazy blogger does and make a list (take that Buzz Feed). Here are my top ten Disneyland/Disneyland California rides in reverse order:

10: Splash Mountain

Disney was not content to just make another log ride, so they incorporated one with their now little known animated short Bre’r Rabbit. The ride has tons of charm, and features some great drops. This ride is even better on a hot day.

9: Indiana Jones Adventure

This ride used to towards the top for me, but it has not aged well. That being said it is as close as you can get to being in an Indiana Jones movie.

8: Toy Story Midway Mania

When I first heard about this ride I was unimpressed, “Why would I want to play video games in Disneyland?” I thought to myself, but I was wrong. The ride is fun, and the games are creative. Besides who doesn’t want to play with Woody and his pals?

7: Tower of Terror

When this ride first came out I thought it was going to be a bad Haunted Mansion rip off, but I was wrong. Getting dropped by this haunted elevator is a ton of fun, and the Twilight Zone link just makes it that much better.

6: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

I love wooden roller coasters, but Disneyland doesn’t have any. Big Thunder is as close as it gets, but without all the jarring that comes from the real deal.

5: Peter Pan’s Flight

This is the only Fantasy Land ride on my list, but it is fantastic. I would fly around on that pirate ship forever if they would let me!

4: California Screamin’

This is the only standard roller coaster Disneyland has, but it is a great one. It starts fast, and it doesn’t let up. It is a can’t miss!

3: Radiator Springs Racers

It is not a big secret that I don’t like the Cars movies very much, but Disney has outdone themselves with Cars Land. It is like being in the movie, and the best part of their land is Radiator Springs Racers. It mixes old school Disney animatronics with a thrilling race, and it is a ton of fun!

2: Star Tours

This pick should be no surprise to followers of my site. I love Star Wars, and the new Star Tours with the different planets makes me giddy every time I go on it. Who wouldn’t want to hang out with C3PO and R2-D2 and travel around the galaxy?

1: Space Mountain

This ride has been a favorite of mine since I was a kid, and it still is the best. The speed combined with the fact you can’t see where you are going is exhilarating. Plus it is in space, so that is awesome.

That is my list, and I hope you liked it! Disagree? Just leave your list below.