Point of View

So I just caught this movie, really awesome piece of work. its kinda like.
uh.
i don't know. but its novel and interesting.

Vantage Point

hm, re-reading that. the picture is somewhat anti-climatic. but hey, it was good enough to leave me gasping for air, I'm sure it can afford to look frumpy. okay. how am i gonna review this. seem familiar? read back to my first review if you don't get it.

WHAT IS IT:

Okay lets start the drill. What it is: this movie is a movie. it is a moving picture. its from columbia pictures, and its listed as a mystery thriller. its a big who dunnit with twists and turns everywhere you go.

It stars Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, Forest Whitaker with Sigourney Weaver, Édgar Ramírez and William Hurt, and it was released on February 22nd, 2008. i got the dvd, so yeah.

WHY ITS GREAT:

okay this is actually going to be pretty tough to do. don't want to ruin anything. alot of other reviews out there give away the narrative feature of the movie, which i think would be better kept secret, so here i'm leaving it as a spoiler. those who watched the movie will know what i mean. anyway. the movie is great. It tells a very elaborate story, and leaves the audience guessing. who did that? what did he see? did i see something? and the occasional OMG I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT JUST HAPPENED WHOAAAAUHGEHUH!

the narrtive technique involves repetition, and while most movies don't pull it off well, and end up creating a very boring and mundane sequence, this movie pulls it off perfectly. each repetition is perfect and refreshing. the same oomph you feel when you see it the first time is the same each time you see it. [that doesn't mean you'll watch the movie over and over... maybe once more, when you know exactly what happens.]

Every aspect is well thought out, and the combined skill of pete travis [director] and barry levy [writer] leads to a very intense, whodunnit packed with more than enough high octane action.

WHY IT SUCKS:

okay so the suck part. i've been through alot of reviews online to give you as much coverage as possible, but the thing i noticed is that. every review is so different. what one review thinks is good, another review thinks its bad. i guess that'll be left to your own judgement. its kind of like cloverfield. you either love it or hate it.

personally, i believe its shortcomings mainly lie in the liberties the screenplay takes to 'enhance' the viewing experience. sure, surviving a car accident here or there is okay, but gee, sometimes the guy just can't die. some points get a tad too far fetched, and the action sequences are confusing. some of them just aren't good enough and i find myself thinking can you stop shooting the air around that guy and get on with the story? STOP BEATING HIM I WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT. yeah.

okay. for your benefit, i'm going to quote one other review i kind of agree on. Michael Phillips, of the Chicago Tribune said of Vantage Point and Stuart Baird, "Editor Stuart Baird must've been paid by the cut: Simple five-second action beats are often sliced into three or four separate, panicky shots."

true, but then again, fast shots lead to the tension. [sigh, azhar.] but i guess he may have over did it abit. [oh look! its person a! no wait now its person b, oh now woman c, wait back to person a, oh is that person b? omg explosion is that a plane? omg ambulance?! pineapple???]

AND ONE MORE THING:

PRODUCT PLACEMENT. SONY! EVERYWHERE! the laptops, the camera, the phones. EVERYWHERE. hahahaha

SHOULD YOU GET IT?

hmm. lets see. get it only if you are receptive to new things. its a very subjective thing, from what i observed. everyone around me seems to like it, including me, so i guess, if you like the stuff you think i like, go for it.

MY RATING:

this is something everyone who can should try. its not as extreme as cloverfield, but like cloverfield, you should at least experience it once.

SO WHERE CAN YOU GET IT?

well. DVD store near you. of course maybe also your occasional friend who rips dvds and passes them around the people around him/her. everyone has one of those. if you have lots of friends but none of them rips dvds and passes them around, then you must that friend.

That Colored Crate

okay yeah. there's been some hype about this game for a while among my small group of poly friends. so yeah. i decided i'd do a review on it. i know i said i'd edit in, and here it is, albeit a bit late. so yeah.



[blank space for redundant suspense]

The Box That Happened to be Orange

like seriously. why orange? and why box? why not call it, uber cd that installs software that downloads 5 games for you?

anyway.

What is it:

The Orange Box is the much awaited "sequel" to Half Life 2, that comes packaged with Team Fortress 2 and Portal, two awesome games that are worth more than it seems.

Installing it puts in the Steam engine [GG, Valve] and allows your computer to download the games. [skill not included]

Why is it great:

For comparism:

Halo 3 on the XBOX360 - $74.90
The Orange Box on the XBOX360 - $69.90

No. of Games on Halo 3 - 1
No. of Games on The Orange Box - 5

also consider the PC equivalent:

F.E.A.R on the PC - $48.50
The Orange Box on the PC - $39.90

No. of Games on F.E.A.R on the PC - 1
No. of Games on The Orange Box on the PC - 5

Need i say more?

actually yes. i'm not saying you get more games for a lower price and its good, but i'm saying that you get more EPICFUNUBERWIN games for a lower price. its just that worth it. as IGN.com puts it:

"The best deal in videogame history."

and i could just go into detail and review each game in there because there's just so many. there's the experimental portal, there's the team based TF2, there's the immensely single player Half Life 2 and its extensions. enough to keep you occupied for forever.

and they're all great games too. [this will be long if i get into it, so i won't]

Why it sucks:

um. uh... i really don't see how. okay let me think...



ah. okay first off, you want a relatively high end computer to actually have an enjoyable time playing this game. for example, you don't want to be HWguy bait because you lag when he spams bullets at you. you don't want to lag when you look into a portal into a portal into a portal into a portal into a portal into a portal into a portal into a portal into a portal into a portal into a portal into a portal into a portal into a portal into a portal. you get the point. even though it ensures compatibility with all types, you still stand to lag on low end computers.

and secondly, it takes up space. lots of space [now i'm just making excuses]

[edit:] Thirdly, all 5 games are FPS, that means First Person Shooters, for non gamers out there. this also means that the variety isn't all that great. eventually you'll find yourself straying off to another game. [/edit]

Should i get it:

Yup. get it. join us in TF2, talk about portal tricks, forget about the real world when you start on HL2.

but wait. does getting this game mean you need to spend a few hundreds upgrading your computer? then maybe not. get the xbox one, i have both, GamerTag is Ins0mn14. oh wait. do you have an XBOX360? cuz if you buy the game without the console, you're just stupid [Darren and Yi Ci, say it with me: "epic phail" Yi Ci, don't forget to raise the loser flag.]

Where can i get it:

well, i think i mentioned before where I get games, and if you missed it, thats funzcenter.com at AMK Hub. the .com is part of the name, so yeah.

otherwise, for the rest of you who don't want to go to the best place availiable to buy games, you can go to any other videogame store to buy this game. get both, PC and xbox.

My Rating:You Probably expected that I would give this game a better rating, but yeah. i don't give perfect scores unless its absolutely flawless. and by the way i give so much thought into making sure i have content for good and bad, that 5 out of 5 isnt coming soon.

anyway. its a great game. to sum up, Great Value, Great Quality, HOWEVER Requirements [System] are rather high.

there you have it. Orange Box reviewed.