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Massive Review Post
Dec. 11th, 2009 11:44 pmYesterday, I went to Blockbuster and stared at the wall of BRs, trying to remember which movies were on my list. I rented Adventureland and Angels and Demons. Not only are they on my list... but they are right next to each other on my list! How did that even.
Adventureland - It was a cute movie! I really did end up rooting for Em and Brennan in the end, which was a good sign since I rarely end up liking romantic movies that much. I also liked the way everything didn't turn out awesome (Brennan basically has no future at that point, lol), because I hate ~true love conquers all~ crap. I wish Connell had gotten some sort of comeupance, because he was a huge creepster (married dude sleeping with a teenager? ugghhhh). They strongly implied that he'd done it before and was going to do it again, despite being found out by his wife. In the commentary, the director talked about making him somewhat sympathetic and... I really hated him.
Assassin's Creed II - HOLY IMPROVEMENTS, BATMAN. I like how the inverse of the Sequel Rule seems to hold true for video games. They get better instead of worse. AC2 really puts its predecessor to shame, to the point that I don't think I'll ever be able to play the first one again. Graphics got a significant overhaul, especially in relation to character models, which makes the experience much more cinematic and story-driven. The in-Animus story is actually interesting this time, which is good since you'll be in the real world much less often. Sidequests are no longer a chore, either. I do wish they'd balanced money better. In the beginning, I could harldy afford upgrades, but near the end I was swimming in cash. The story was... wow. What. It was SO out there. I didn't much care for it, but I wasn't as insulted as I am when that sort of thing is usually pulled since with AC's whole "your ancestor's memories are in your DNA" I wasn't expecting it to be grounded in any kind of reality or anything. Still, I feel it's a serious candidate for GOTY.
Modern Warfare 2 - It was good. Was it better than the first? I'm not really sure. I feel like the first had a more variety mission-wise since it occasionally put you in vehicles, as apposed to MW2 which just gave you different settings/objectives. It was certainly even more story-driven this time, though the story got to be pretty out there. There was never really any kind of lull in the over-the-top action, which meant by the end, you were just kind of tired. With all its strenghts and weaknesses, I guess I'd put it on the same level as the first one.
Left 4 Dead 2 - L4D now has a story! Sort of. Now, if you play each map in order, you'll find that they connect with each other, plotwise. The characters are still good. You can now wield melee weapons, incuding a chainsaw, which is great fun. There's a bit more variety in the climax sections, but the only one I truly enjoyed was the first, where you must gather gas cans for a car. The whole time, you're fighting between the desire to split up and speed up the process, or stick together for safety. For the bad... this game is far more difficult than L4D. On normal in the first game, my brother and I rarely died. On some campaigns in L4D2, we died every level. It got to the point where it just wasn't fun anymore. And easy is just too easy.
Angels & Demons - I enjoyed it, even though so much of it was WRONG. It pretty much falls into the fantasy genre. I mean. Antimatter is neither visible nor combustable, herp derp. I... didn't really like the twist ending so much. On the one hand, I didn't see it coming, at all. I don't mind twist endings when the clues are all laid out for you, and it's really your own fault you didn't see it. And there were clues. The biggest one was the assassin and his few lines. BUT. I feel like the movie spent a lot of shots trying to misdirect me to be suspicious of the wrong people. Also, I was REALLY HAPPY with the way things were going before the twist! And then my favorite character in the whole movie got ruiiiinnneed. I kind of want to pretend it ended right there. Oh! One other thing I was very happy about: the main character worked with a beautiful woman and there was no romance. Fuck yeah, men and women can be friends!
Havemercy - I looooooveeed this book! I got it from the library, and now I want to buy it so badly so I can reread it. It's a very character-driven book, and it's narrated by four characters. Actually, it's basically two pairs, since with few exceptions, each pair rarely interacts with the other. One is a gay couple, the other is A SPOILER. Anyway, all the characters were a great joy to read about. They all felt very real, even the minor ones (and there were many). There were some problems with pacing, but it wasn't too bad. I do wish there had been more fight scenes in the book. Many times, when reading a fight in a book, I find myself confused as to what exactly is happening. However, the fight scenes in Havemercy were clear, vivid, and exciting. This is definitely one of my new favorite books.
Shadow Magic - This book takes place after Havemercy, but with four different characters. It also takes place in a different country, one modeled after Japan. However, the only things that are obviously Japanese are the characters' names. No other Japanese words are used, and objects are referred to only vaguely. This helps keep the illusion that you're in some kind of fantasy world. There isn't really any romance in this one, though the bromance almost makes up for it. I didn't like this book quite as much as the first. The characters didn't draw me in as much, and the pacing problems were really bad. It seemed like the pairs traded places being stagnant. It wasn't until the end that they both had something going on at the same time. There were some good female characters, finally, though they were minor. A few minor characters from Havemercy reappear here, and two that were only breifly mentioned are now narrators. The only main character that returns is Royston, with a cameo at the end. I would have liked a bit on how Hal was doing, but oh well. Final gripe: there is never any mention of "shadow magic" in the book. Blood magic, yes, but no shadow magic.
Adventureland - It was a cute movie! I really did end up rooting for Em and Brennan in the end, which was a good sign since I rarely end up liking romantic movies that much. I also liked the way everything didn't turn out awesome (Brennan basically has no future at that point, lol), because I hate ~true love conquers all~ crap. I wish Connell had gotten some sort of comeupance, because he was a huge creepster (married dude sleeping with a teenager? ugghhhh). They strongly implied that he'd done it before and was going to do it again, despite being found out by his wife. In the commentary, the director talked about making him somewhat sympathetic and... I really hated him.
Assassin's Creed II - HOLY IMPROVEMENTS, BATMAN. I like how the inverse of the Sequel Rule seems to hold true for video games. They get better instead of worse. AC2 really puts its predecessor to shame, to the point that I don't think I'll ever be able to play the first one again. Graphics got a significant overhaul, especially in relation to character models, which makes the experience much more cinematic and story-driven. The in-Animus story is actually interesting this time, which is good since you'll be in the real world much less often. Sidequests are no longer a chore, either. I do wish they'd balanced money better. In the beginning, I could harldy afford upgrades, but near the end I was swimming in cash. The story was... wow. What. It was SO out there. I didn't much care for it, but I wasn't as insulted as I am when that sort of thing is usually pulled since with AC's whole "your ancestor's memories are in your DNA" I wasn't expecting it to be grounded in any kind of reality or anything. Still, I feel it's a serious candidate for GOTY.
Modern Warfare 2 - It was good. Was it better than the first? I'm not really sure. I feel like the first had a more variety mission-wise since it occasionally put you in vehicles, as apposed to MW2 which just gave you different settings/objectives. It was certainly even more story-driven this time, though the story got to be pretty out there. There was never really any kind of lull in the over-the-top action, which meant by the end, you were just kind of tired. With all its strenghts and weaknesses, I guess I'd put it on the same level as the first one.
Left 4 Dead 2 - L4D now has a story! Sort of. Now, if you play each map in order, you'll find that they connect with each other, plotwise. The characters are still good. You can now wield melee weapons, incuding a chainsaw, which is great fun. There's a bit more variety in the climax sections, but the only one I truly enjoyed was the first, where you must gather gas cans for a car. The whole time, you're fighting between the desire to split up and speed up the process, or stick together for safety. For the bad... this game is far more difficult than L4D. On normal in the first game, my brother and I rarely died. On some campaigns in L4D2, we died every level. It got to the point where it just wasn't fun anymore. And easy is just too easy.
Angels & Demons - I enjoyed it, even though so much of it was WRONG. It pretty much falls into the fantasy genre. I mean. Antimatter is neither visible nor combustable, herp derp. I... didn't really like the twist ending so much. On the one hand, I didn't see it coming, at all. I don't mind twist endings when the clues are all laid out for you, and it's really your own fault you didn't see it. And there were clues. The biggest one was the assassin and his few lines. BUT. I feel like the movie spent a lot of shots trying to misdirect me to be suspicious of the wrong people. Also, I was REALLY HAPPY with the way things were going before the twist! And then my favorite character in the whole movie got ruiiiinnneed. I kind of want to pretend it ended right there. Oh! One other thing I was very happy about: the main character worked with a beautiful woman and there was no romance. Fuck yeah, men and women can be friends!
Havemercy - I looooooveeed this book! I got it from the library, and now I want to buy it so badly so I can reread it. It's a very character-driven book, and it's narrated by four characters. Actually, it's basically two pairs, since with few exceptions, each pair rarely interacts with the other. One is a gay couple, the other is A SPOILER. Anyway, all the characters were a great joy to read about. They all felt very real, even the minor ones (and there were many). There were some problems with pacing, but it wasn't too bad. I do wish there had been more fight scenes in the book. Many times, when reading a fight in a book, I find myself confused as to what exactly is happening. However, the fight scenes in Havemercy were clear, vivid, and exciting. This is definitely one of my new favorite books.
Shadow Magic - This book takes place after Havemercy, but with four different characters. It also takes place in a different country, one modeled after Japan. However, the only things that are obviously Japanese are the characters' names. No other Japanese words are used, and objects are referred to only vaguely. This helps keep the illusion that you're in some kind of fantasy world. There isn't really any romance in this one, though the bromance almost makes up for it. I didn't like this book quite as much as the first. The characters didn't draw me in as much, and the pacing problems were really bad. It seemed like the pairs traded places being stagnant. It wasn't until the end that they both had something going on at the same time. There were some good female characters, finally, though they were minor. A few minor characters from Havemercy reappear here, and two that were only breifly mentioned are now narrators. The only main character that returns is Royston, with a cameo at the end. I would have liked a bit on how Hal was doing, but oh well. Final gripe: there is never any mention of "shadow magic" in the book. Blood magic, yes, but no shadow magic.
