Shmee.Me

December 30, 2014

I Jumped Off The Edge Of Tomorrow!

It looks like this week I am just reviewing things that The Paladin has already talked about, but so be it. For Christmas I got the Blu-Ray of The Edge of Tomorrow, and after watching it, I am quite happy to have it in my collection. This movie had several things against it: people think Tom Cruise is crazy, Cruise just released a not so great Sci-Fi flick a year ago, and the marketing people had no idea what to call this movie. They still don’t. My Blu-Ray case clearly says, “Live, Die, Repeat!” on it, and I had to look pretty hard to find Edge of Tomorrow. It is a shame because this movie deserved to be successful.

By now everyone has heard the concept, it is a Sci-Fi action Groundhog Day where instead of wooing a woman, William Cage (Tom Cruise) learns how to fight alien squid. He gets trained by the joint military’s best fighter Sergeant Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt). She also had this happen to her. Which is probably why she is so good at killing alien squid herself.

The writer of the light novel Hiroshi Sakurazaka said he got the idea from video games where the player gets better every time they die because they learn the layout and enemy locations. He also admitted that he was a big fan of Groundhog Day, so the story kind of wrote itself. I have to say that since I am a fan of video games and Groundhog Day that this movie really worked for me.

I liked the fact that Emily Blunt didn’t need Tom Cruise to save her. It was in fact the other way around. I liked that the aliens, while being squid, weren’t overused or over designed. I also liked that the action felt real and grounded. It wasn’t just a bunch of random impossible stuff. It all just worked so well. This movie even made me like Tom Cruise again, which is something that I didn’t think could happen.

Edge of Tomorrow was a very good movie, and one that a lot of people missed for various reason, but now that it is on home video, I hope that it gets a chance to find a larger audience because it really deserves one. Support good Sci-Fi and watch this movie.

December 26, 2014December 26, 2014

Don’t Read Dragonlord Of Mystara!

Generally D&D based books are not going to be award winners, but Dragonlord of Mystara has got to rank among the worst of them. It was written in 1994 by Thorarinn Gunnarsson. Which according to Wikipedia is a pen name, and that makes sense because if I had written this book I wouldn’t want my name on it either. I thought my book was bad, but I am feeling better about myself now.

Like all bad fantasy books (mine included), Dragonlord of Mystara is about an orphan, and wouldn’t you guess he is destined for something special. He is also of an unknown race living amongst people who dislike outsiders, so you know that Gunnarsson was really swinging for the fences as far as fantasy tropes go. He goes on a quest to discover his past, and it all gets worse from there.

This book starts out in the so bad it is funny category, but then quickly devolves to just being so bad it is hard to read. If it had stayed over the top bad, I might have been able to suggest it to small subset of fantasy readers as a farce, but no this book insists that no one like it. Sadly it is unsuccessful at even that, I have read on Amazon that a few people did actually enjoy this book, but they are all dragon lovers, and any book that treats dragons as smart and non-monstrous is a winner. They are wrong, and I am sorry they have so few books to read to satisfy them.

There are two more books in the series (because everything in fantasy is a trilogy, especially bad fantasy), I shudder to think what horrors Gunnarsson has loosed on the art of writing in those tomes. I will never know because I stop my journey with Thelvyn Fox Eyes here! Oh, did I say that was the main character’s name? I didn’t, but terrible books deserve terrible reviews!

December 24, 2014December 24, 2014

Halo 5 Beta Preview!

So late last week I got a bit of a surprise, I was invited to play the Halo 5 Beta early. I wasn’t sure I was going to play this beta at all since I don’t have the Halo Master Chief Collection yet, but it looks like 343 wants this Beta to go off without a hitch and sent out keys to Dashboard Preview members. It was very nice of them, so of course I played a few rounds.

It has been a long time since I have played Halo online, and I have to say I am terrible. The guys playing this game are on another level than I am, but despite that I still had a lot of fun. What was great about this little early bit of content is that they managed to re-embrace what multiplayer Halo is about, but still move forward. They took away all the customizable armor abilities and weapon load-outs, and went back to the need to run and control weapon spawns. Even with this return to form they were able to add some good features to the games.

Ever since Titanfall came out people now need to be able to double jump, and with Halo 5 you now have jump jets. Instead of a normal double jump, you can use the jets to move in any direction fast with a quick press of the B button. Having problems getting up that ledge? Tap A and you will climb up. Which is nice because I don’t feel like a moron jumping up against a wall over and over again until someone comes up and puts me out of my misery. You also now have iron sights on all guns, unlike other games there is no penalty for not using them, but it does help to line up that shot from time to time. Also if you jump and use your iron sights you hover. That is pretty sweet. Lastly you can now sprint. The only downfall to sprinting is that your health and shields don’t recharge. With all of these extra movement options the game is much faster (or I have just gotten slower). Don’t stand around because you will be killed instantly. I am not sure people who like to snipe are going to happy about that, but it is fine with me.

I hope my Halo 5 Preview Beta key allows me to play in the upcoming full Halo 5 Beta on the 29th, because the little taste they gave me has me super excited for Halo’s future. Which is a nice change considering the broken multiplayer of the Master Chief Collection had people wondering if 343 was up to the task of keeping Halo going. It looks like the Chief’s fifth outing may be his best yet. We will have to wait until next Christmas to find out, but at least I am looking forward to it now!

December 23, 2014December 23, 2014

The Wind Rises: A Beautiful Dream!

The Wind Rises the 2013 film by Studio Ghibli, and the last feature length film directed by Hayao Miyazaki, is a hard film to review for me. It was long and confusing, and as a biopic almost all of it was made up, but still it was lush and beautiful. It is the type of film that reminds us just what hand animation is capable of.

The film follows Jiro Horikoshi (Hideaki Anno, Joseph Gordon-Levitt) on his journey to build beautiful planes. His life is consumed by his dream, it is all he wants to do. Though his dream is cursed, and his magnificent creations will one day fight a war that will destroy his nation, but still it is a dream he cannot put aside.

For the most part I don’t mind it when movie studios twist the truth a little bit for a biographical film. It is an entertainment medium after all, but in this case other than the fact the Jiro creates planes, none of the film was true, so that was a bit disappointing for me. Still it did get me to look in to his life, and without this movie I never would have done that otherwise. Also because of all the dream sequences and time jumps it can be a little hard to follow, but the dreams featuring fellow plane designer Giovanni Battista Caproni (Nomura Mansai, Stanley Tucci) were by far the best parts of the film, so I guess I can’t be too upset.

The main selling point for this film is the amazing artwork. It is like watching a moving painting. Any time I got frustrated with the slow pace, or the slightly wonky story, I was always captivated by the art. Miyazaki always creates a version of the Japanese countryside that I long to visit. In the words of Liz Lemon, “I want to go to there!” I am not sure that part of Japan even exists anymore, but Miyazaki has brought it to life for me anyway.

The cast, as is usual for a Studio Ghibli film, is staller. They got Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Stanley Tucci, Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, and William H. Macy just to name a few. Due to the tone of this movie they all give subdued performances, but it is nice when a film like this gets a great cast to bring it to life.

The Wind Rises is not a perfect movie, but it was a movie I enjoyed anyway. I would have liked for Hayao Miyazaki to go out with a bang, but instead it was a light touching movie, and since that is what he is known for, maybe that was for the best. This movie invites you to dream with Jiro Horikoshi, and it is a beautiful dream at that.

December 22, 2014December 22, 2014

New Fire And Ice Movie?

So according to Deadline Robert Rodriguez is remaking the fantasy cartoon “classic” Fire and Ice. Why? Who green-lit this? Fire and Ice is well liked by like twelve people (it is ok), but the reason they like it is the way it was made and the unique look it has, or because they like scantily clad cartoon chicks, not because the story was any good. Granted this is the type of movie Robert Rodriguez likes to make, but honestly he should just make his own exploitation-y barbarian movie, and leave this one be. It won’t be better than the original, well it might be, but it will not be the same movie, so why bother.

Ugg. I will be skipping this flick. Which shouldn’t be hard since it will no doubt launch in a sad and lonely January surrounded by 75 Million comic book movies.