I haven’t seen an asian horror film in ages. Today i had time to kill so i decided to give Phobia 2 a try. I’ve never seen part 1 but it doesn’t matter because the movie is basically a collection of short films. Phobia 2 has 5 stories total. Most of the stories aren’t that interesting at all but they do have the jumping parts on cue. The last one is a definite must watch! It’s the best out of all the stories. It’s pure humor with a decent amount of scary parts. I was cracking up so many times throughout the movie. On a side note, if you’ve seen the Thai movie Alone, it makes this story more funnier since they do a couple references to it (Marsha stars in this too). Phobia 2 is a decent watch probably even better now since it’s Halloween month.

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

Another Martin Scorsese film with Leonardo Dicaprio in it. So far the formula works pretty well. Shutter Island is filled with plenty of talking throughout the movie but somehow it still keeps you staying just to see what comes of the case about the missing woman from Shutter Island. There’s a twist at the end which i love even though many of you would probably predict it right and hate but i think it suits this movie well. Either way the ending will have you debating.

I could have sworn i heard good reviews about this movie but i must of mistaken it for another movie. The Lovely Bones is a story about a girl who gets murdered and winds up in heaven watching her family go through the after effects. She’s also able to see her killer and tries to communicate to her family somehow to solve the crime. From the start you are told who the culprit is which usually pisses me off as i like to guess who it is myself. This movie though, i wasn’t bothered by that all. The storyline was going pretty good. In the middle it got a little strange but still enjoyable because the acting was great. The way the movie ended was pretty lazy and i think it could have a much better ending. I’ll go ahead and tell you the ending, so spoilers ahead!: The killer does get away from the cops before they can catch him. I assume the director didn’t want the audience to feel pissed off at that kind of ending so he decides to have the killer die. How this happens is real lame. The killer tries to pick up another girl victim to kill but the girl just rejects him and basically tells him to f’ off. At this moment an icicle happens to be above the killer, drops down on his shoulder, which causes him to stumble back and fall down a steep hill. Now he’s dead. That right there is what i call a halfed-ass ending. That’s justice served but in a lousy way.

Final Fantasy can’t also seem to avoid the unlucky number 13. At the get go I was already greeted with way too many cheesy dialogues. The storyline gets confusing already and everything is too simple. I personally think this game was dumb downed. In XIII there isn’t free roaming. You’re given a map which displays a simple route. The game is very linear. After each battle you’re HP is automatically replenished. Plus there’s more than enough save points so you’ll never have the fear of losing progress from a tough area. The save points also serve as your store to buy items, equipment and everything else. Feels like laziness in game making. Everyone levels up at the same time even if they aren’t in the starting party. The battle system is refreshing. Switching paradigms can get tedious but setting up the right one is important later on in the game.

The characters are probably the worst I encountered in any Final Fantasy series. Lightning is the only exception. None of them sticks to you like the other series. You have Vannile who is a dumb blond pink head and a little annoying kid named Hope who needs to be reminded to grow up or shut up every five minutes. The story is very confusing, you’d have to read up on the datalog to really know the background and understand it fully. A real shame because the graphics in this game is top notch. If you need a game that will kill time this one is pretty long and it requires plenty of grinding. The bosses in the game get challenging. The game started off boring but in the middle it got pretty interesting and at the end it fell quite flat. I’d go on and say this one was a disappointment.

The first one was a favorite among all of us. It’s been so damn long (about 11 years) for the Storm Riders sequel. Now that it’s here and i’ve gotten to watch it, i am in huge utter disappointment. 11 years and we get this sub-par movie? There’s plenty of action which was pretty cool but with CGI everywhere and annoying slow-mo mixed with stop and go animations, it just got into a showfest. The directors didn’t hesitate at all to show us all their CGI effects. It really became about CGI than story telling because the story was pathetically weak. Also, the fact that most of the scenes looked like a 300 rip off made me hang my head down in shame. Yeah, it still looked great but they could have cut down on it plenty. The story was rushed and good luck trying to get connected to any of the side characters because the way the story was handled most of them seemed unimportant. The ending is a cliffhanger so expect to see a 3rd part in 11 years. I’ll keep my hopes down for that one. 10.5 years focusing on the CGI and the rest of the time concentrating on story telling, that’s what i got from watching this movie.

View the trailer below but don’t let it fool you.

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

The site’s been lagging lately. Honestly, there’s not that much great or weird news floating around or maybe i’m just missing them. Another reason for the lagging is due to some parts of me getting hooked on Mass Effect 2. I’m starting to enjoy sci-fi a little more now. The game is great. It’s a action rpg with a pretty good story. I’ve never played part 1 but part 2 is helpful in cluing you in on what the game is about. As of now, i’m loving the options they give you when speaking to a person or reacting to an event. The fact that you can have any of your party member permanently dead makes the game much more apprehensive. The only thing right now i get peeved about is the shooting and running.

Man, i can describe this game in a couple of words: “Over The Top!”. It has a great deal of Japanese anime influence to it. The first thing that catches your eyes is the main character, Bayonetta, who has big T&A. Big! So when playing this game you can be assured that there are plenty of perv shots and scenes. Playing this around younger siblings or older folks will have you feeling quite awkward.

Now once you get that all through your head this game is fantastic. Think Devil May Cry and some God of War. It has fast pace action with a good amount of weapons at your disposal. Believe me, the action is pretty heavy. You’ll need them because the bosses get quite gigantic and tough. One thing i definitely appreciate about this game is the music that plays when enemies appear. Instead of a heart-beating troubled music, you get a nice laid back music as you whoop ass. Soothing indeed. The music is still stuck in my head. The whole game is actually pretty long so my money was well spent. As for the storyline, i just got lost i couldn’t even understand crap until the end it made some sense. The design of the characters are pretty magnificent though.

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

Now for the things that annoy me. Let’s begin with these damn quick time events. People who played Resident Evil 5 or the God of War series should know what i’m talking about. In Bayonetta, they use it during the cut scenes which is the worst idea ever! After beating a boss and a cut scene begins, my first instinct is to sit back, relax and enjoy the video. This game doesn’t allow you to get comfy at all as you might be treated to a flashing message saying “Press X”. By the time you pick the controller back up it’s too late. The other thing i have to give the thumbs down to is the constant reuse of bosses and mini-bosses. It’s feels so uninspiring. It’s laziness i tell you! Even with that, the game has plenty of good to offer. The game probably slipped under most people’s radar as other great games were released around that time. It’s a shame if you haven’t heard about it or at least try it out.

more info about the game here: metacritic.com & wikipedia.com

THE BACKSTORY

When i had the Nokia N97 i was pretty satisfied with it. Even with the ugly interface, i managed to look past it. It had a pretty good camera and packed on 32gb of storage space. After 5 months two big problems occured that finally made me want to get a new phone. First, after installing a few apps the N97′s speed was down to a crawl. Just opening up my contact list took forever. The second problem was the way the camera was built. It had a lens cover which would seem to make sense but somewhere in the lens it had a gap where dust was collecting. So once i slide the cover to use the camera it would scratch the lens. Big fail because now when i use flash it makes a washed out mark on the left side of every picture i take.

When the G1 smartphone came out i was pretty impressed with the UI but not so much of the phone design. When the HTC Hero came out i knew that was the phone i wanted but it went exclusively to Sprint. There went my dreams…or maybe not. Verizon was recently blessed by Google with the Droid and Droid Eris. The Droid Eris was basically the HTC Hero with a little body change. Once i tried it out at the Verizon store i fell in love. I finally had to say bye to the N97 and T-mobile and now reside with the Eris under Verizon Wireless (great service too).

THE REVIEW

The phone was quick and snappy. It’s nice and slim so no more bulky pockets. I was surprised by the amount of apps in the Android Market too. Everything was great but of course no phone is perfect. So far the only thing i had problems with is the virtual keyboard and battery life. The buttons were kind of small for my big fingers so i have a little trouble typing quickly especially hitting keys in the far left and right side of the screen. This is why in the past i always bought qwerty phones. The battery life is an embarrassment. It drains quickly and i wasn’t even doing much. The main culprit is the “mobile network” setting which is the internet connection. When it’s on it’ll eat up the battery quickly. Luckily, a better battery for the Eris is coming out but it’s going to cost around $40-$60. Even with those problems, the phone is sweet and the same goes for the Android OS.

Looks like the movie lived up to the hype. The 3d glasses gave me eye strains every 15 minutes though. People have said the storyline was a little weak but i have to disagree and say it was pretty good. You can without a doubt, add this to your must watch list.

Now i don’t have the extensive knowledge about the Na’vi ancestry like Dr. Grace but i am more than sure that Lil Wayne in his lifetime was a Na’vi. My theory is that he was a very bad Na’vi and so the people banished him to earth but not before stripping him off of his blue skinned color.

I played this game and Man I like it a lot. Just like the old days.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii's biggest new feature is the ability for four people to play the game at once. Players take on the role of Mario, Luigi, Blue Toad, and Yellow Toad. Though technically they're different characters, they all share the same abilities and moves. Playing with friends is initially great fun–you can bounce off other characters, push each other into crevices, or even pick up and throw other characters. It's chaotic and can provide plenty of laughs; that is, as long as you're not actually serious about quickly reaching the end of a level. The ability to bounce off other's characters makes navigating most tough levels with more than one player a slow process, and it reaches frustration levels if you're partnered with Mario newcomers who will, more often than not, accidentally get in the way. That's not to say you should avoid multiplayer–with other experienced players at the helm, it can be fun, if a little tedious, to make it through a world. Multiplayer can also be a great teaching tool, with experienced players taking the lead and showing the ropes to platformer novices who want to build up their skills. Outside of the main game, players can also compete in two dedicated multiplayer modes
Source: Game Spot