Shmee.Me

January 1, 2015

Shmee’s Most Anticipated Games For 2015!

Well this is kind of fun, two of my games for 2015 are on my most anticipated games for 2014 as well. That is the way the video games business works though, and I would rather see them delayed and be good then be like the rushed messes of this year. So here are my most anticipated games for 2015!

5: Tom Clancy’s The Division

This was my number one game for 2014, but the fact that Ubisoft has been dropping the ball lately made me move this game down the list a bit for this year. Still it is an open world current day RPG, and that sounds amazing!

4: Quantum Break

The guys behind Max Payne and Alan Wake are making a game where you can control time not just slow it down. This seems like a natural progression, and I can’t wait to see how it turns out. They don’t have a firm release date for this game, so it may turn up on my top games for 2016 list next year, but I am still excited none the less.

3: The Witcher 3

The Witcher 3 moved two spots up the list this year, and the reason is that not only is it open world now, but it also has multiple playable characters! It is about time, and I think this is the year The Witcher is going to become one of the premier PRG franchises.

2: Batman Arkham Knight

The Batman games are some of my favorite of all time, and this is Rocksteady’s last time working with the Dark Knight. In this game you will have all Batman’s tools to work with including the Batmobile, so this should be one to remember!

1: Halo 5

The Chief is back, and he is bring back the multiplayer that everyone enjoyed. With a few tweaks of course! This should be the Halo game we have been waiting for, and for 343 Industry’s sake I hope so! Halo 5 might be the biggest game of 2015!

There is my list, and it should be another good year for gaming! There are also a number of indie titles coming out that just didn’t quite make the list, but still even more reason to be excited. What are you wanting to play next year?

January 1, 2015

Shmee’s Most Anticipated Movies For 2015!

I loved the movies from 2014, but something tells me 2015 is going to be something special! Why? I will show you why with my Most Anticipated Movies For 2015 List!

5: Jupiter Ascending

I probably shouldn’t be excited about this movie since it was on my list for 2014, and moving a movie around is usually a sign that the studio doesn’t have any faith in it, but the Wachowski siblings haven’t totally let me down yet. Plus I can’t stay away from a space opera!

4: Mad Max: Fury Road

I wasn’t excited about this film when it was first announced, but thanks to a wonderfully insane trailer, I am pumped for this film. So much so that I ordered the last three movies on Blu-Ray to get ready. You will get my review on those flicks after I watch them again.

3: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2

This series took a step back with Mockingjay Part 1, but I think Part 2 will be a return to form. It is a shame they didn’t just do one movie, but they managed not to kill my excitement for this franchise. You will know were to find me in November.

2: The Avengers: Age Of Ultron

The first Avengers movie was one of the biggest of all time, so there is a lot riding on this movie, but Disney hasn’t let me down yet. I am betting this movie is going to be great! If this was any other year this would be my number one movie, but this is not any other year. Which brings me to number one!

1: Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Oh man a new Star Wars movie!!!! I know the prequels should have should have me doubting this movie, but I can’t. It is a freaking Star Wars movie, and then the trailer was pitch perfect. Christmas can’t get here fast enough.

Well there you have it, now you know what movies I am looking forward too, and amazingly this list only had one comic book movie, which considering my Top for 2014 list and the number of comic book movies coming out next year that is pretty incredible. What is your 2015 list?

December 31, 2014December 31, 2014

Shmee’s Top Five Video Games Of 2014!

Thanks to the Xbox One coming out, and a lot of the indies I have backed on Kickstarter finally getting finished, I got to play a lot of games this year. That means my list is a little more complete than last year, and that is a good thing. Here they are my top five video games in reverse order!

5: Child of Light

There were a lot of titles bucking for the number five slot, but I went with Child of Light. It was beautiful to look at, and charming to play. I loved just kicking back and letting the whimsy wash over me. For all the bad press Ubisoft got this year, and deservedly so, it was nice to see that they are still making smaller thoughtful games too.

4: Broken Age: Part 1

Generally if the people at Double Fine release a game, I will play it. Broken Age: Part 1 makes me glad that I do. I was very happy that Kickstarter brought back point and click adventure games, and the master of point and click Tim Schaefer at that. The only reason this game is at number four and not higher is that it is only half a game.

3: Shadow of Mordor

I have barely started to play this game and it lands on my list at number three. Why? Because it mixes the wonderful Batman games with Assassin’s Creed, and then moves the action to Middle Earth. That is like crack-cocaine for me. Warner Brothers has shown licensed games don’t have to be terrible! I will do a full review of this game later, so it may come off this list, but I doubt it.

2: Titianfall

Titianfall made me fall in love with first person shooters again. It reminded the gaming world we didn’t need to make realistic military bore-fests. Thanks to Titianfall every game now has double jump and more freedom of movement. Oh yeah it had giant robots too! Even if some people complained that there wasn’t enough content, this game has changed the FPS genre for the better, and it may just be the most influential game of 2014.

1: Sunset Overdrive

This game is number one because it had one goal: be fun! And it succeeds in spades. I am sure that some games that came out this year were technically better, or they had better story lines, but Sunset Overdrive was crazy fun, and anything called a “game” should strive to be. It also said, “Hey why not use color?!”. Which is nice since most games these days like to shade themselves in brown and gray or other serious colors. Meanwhile Sunset Overdrive takes nothing seriously, well except for the aforementioned fun.

There were a lot of good games that didn’t make my list this year, which means that despite what the critics say it was a great year for gaming. I would love to hear your take on the games of the year!

December 31, 2014December 31, 2014

Shmee’s Top Five Films Of 2014!

I had a lot of fun at the movies this year, and there were a lot of good choices for this list, so I almost made it a top ten, but I felt I would just stick to the ones I truly enjoyed and will remember. So here we go!

5: Snowpiercer

This movie had its flaws, like pacing issues, and poor dialog, but it is on this list because it was truly different and odd. Which is a strange to say considering it was just The Matrix on a train (just The Matrix on a train he says), but I enjoy it when movies really try to show me something new, and they are good in the process.

4: Big Hero 6

Disney Animation Studios is on a role, and their first team-up with Marvel was excellent. I loved the cool fictional location, and the fact they were able to tell a story about tragedy and loss without dumbing it down for the kids. Also Baymax is going to be a top selling kids toy for a long time!

3: Gone Girl

So this is the only movie on my list that isn’t based off of a comic book … huh I guess I needed to show that I do watch movies for grownups. Besides my obvious bias for movies based on colorized books, Gone Girl is a great thriller in a time when there are so few great thrillers made. This movie kept me on the edge of my seat from the opening credits. David Fincher understands this genre better than any other director working today.

2: Guardians of the Galaxy

Man this movie was sooooo close to being number one! I am a sucker for a good space opera, and Guardians of the Galaxy was a great one. With a fun cast, crazy galactic locations, and the best sound track in years it was easy to see why people went in droves to see this film despite it launching in August.

1: X-Men: Days of Future Past

It is not often that I can’t think of anything that would make a movie better, but X-Men: Days of Future Past is one of those movies. It was fun, moving, and showed why people love this comic book series so much. I thought this franchise was done after The Last Stand, but Fox (well Bryan Singer mostly) retooled and focused on what makes the X-Men so great, and why they kicked off the modern comic book movie era.

Like I said it was hard to just pick five, movies like The Lego Movie, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier just barely missed the cut (hey more comic book movies, who would have guessed). Maybe The Lego Movie 2 and Captain America: Civil war will make it next time. That was my list, what was yours?

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.