I love gift wrapping...

It gives me the impression of rediscovering fire...
If you follow my thoughts... :)

Awards Watch: Directors Roundtable

Film directors often have interesting things to say.
So when you put 6 of them in a room, you're set for a good read.
And when those 6 are named Kathryn Bigelow, Lee Daniels, Peter Jackson, Quentin Tarantino, James Cameron and Jason Reitman... Guess what... :)

Awards Watch: Directors Roundtable

Avatar

There was no real way Cameron would not deliver for this 10 years gestating project, but now we can finally say it: it was worth the wait. And then some.

Those who are slacking on the fairly unoriginal story are missing the point:
1) a good story doesn't get old and this one's good
2) when it's told that way, he could adapt a nursery rhyme I'd be in.

It's just awe inspiring.
Epic. Never seen before.
All those qualifiers take suddently a new meaning...
I would think that my mouth was gaping through at least half of the movie. I couldn't tell though, I was just absorbed...

As a matter of fact, 3D just disappears within the 1st few minutes. It delivers that much more punch and it's so well designed you just forget about it and get drowned in the experience. The focus guides your eyes so you always know where to look at, you're never lost... And also when you think about it, you just don't see the limit between CGI and real shots... It all forms a whole. Absolutely amazing.
But all at the service of the story...

And in a typical Cameron way, it's not all about action, you have some truly beautiful and poetic moments as well... But when the shit comes down, it does come down... :)
Under all the slick and cold technology, there's a heart beating. The Na'vis don't feel like they're just CGI artefacts. They live. You can see the actors working... Yet they move in a cat-like way that clearly isn't human.
Speakign about which, the fauna on Pandora is amazing as well. So many details, so many things to catch. Even if the Na'Vis could be suspiciously humanoid, they do have interesting twists...

You can see that Cameron wanted to create a "Star Wars" for our time and he did.
Yeah, well worth the wait.
I hope this movie will blow Titanic's record out of the waters. I mean it's much better than Titanic. It's also got a love story in it, and it got FRICKIN' BLUE ALIENS RIDING 6 LEGGED HORSES GOING UP AGAINST 10m HIGH EXOSKELETTONS WITH GUNS!!!
Sorry, that had to come out.

Now I hope he does that to Battle Angel Alita...

10 years at the movies...

Back in 1999, I saw a couple of movies (including, of course, Fight Club) that made me realise that I wanted to push movie-going as a more regular activity as it was for me.
And I tried to keep every ticket ever since.
So now, 10 years later, it's time to scan them all and look at what has been accomplished!
Nothing much, of course. But certainly a lot of experiences.

It's actually funny how, looking through them all, I got a lot of memories coming back of the context I saw those movies in. People I saw them with. Reactions...
Quite a good trip down memory lane.
There were even a few I forgot I saw... Only a few seen twice.

I have to say I look at all of them and I stand proud that I minimised the number of crap films I went to see. Understand "films I didn't enjoy". Still, there are a few. I could have "forgotten" them, but hey I'm a honest man. Guess which they were!

In numbers, that's in excess of 275 movies seen (I'm quite sure I have lost a few "anonymous" tickets). About 2 movies a month in 10 years. Certainly not the best, but not bad either...
I have no intention of adding up how much it cost me.

Feel free to have a look! :)

A decade starting with Fight Club and ending with Avatar tomorrow... Not bad! :)
I wonder how the next one will look...

Where The Wild Things Are.

The credits of this movie mentions the usual "all events and characters in this film are fictitious".
that made me chuckle actually, because I would think that everyone would have a connection to this. Everyone that has been 8 once...

It's a trip into a child's mind. Not an ADD child, just a normal one.

It's amazing how Jonze has managed to capture those perfect moments, all in nuances. It does remind me of movies like Lost In Translation that just seem to transmit sensations directly to your brain. Emotions are carried straight from the images.
A snowball fight. Running around in the woods. Cuddling in a "pile". Playing war. And going back to mum...
By extension, it's as much about being a kid than having a kid as well.

It's a movie that has its own mood, swinging from intense joy and jubilation to intense sadness or fear in moments. How play can (and often do) end up in tears.
It's wild, true, poetic, beautiful.

It's also got its own look, completely original and I would think it will stay unique. From a technical point of vue, the Wild Things are quite a marvel to look at. Half costume - half CGI (the faces), however you can't see the seams at all. They're incredibly expressive and as a consequence, they just exist on screen.
They're alive.

Definitely one of the most important movies I've seen this year. As vital for people who might have buried their inner child as those who nurture it, as it just let's it out.

2009 is almost over, still it's not giving up... What a year.
Avatar is the next one up. To finish with a bang.

The Box.

I'm quite a fan of Richard Kelly's.
I mean Donnie Darko could be up in my top 10 favourite movies. And I absolutely love Domino which he wrote, while Tony Scott directed.

Anyway The Box only confirms what a talented artist he is.
Based on a Richard Matheson short story, it sees an ordinary American family, all happy, receive the visit of a strange character, who gives them a box containing a "button unit". If they press the button, they receive $1M, but someone they don't know dies.
On this "what if?" concept, unfolds a complex moral fable.

Firstly, the technical side is flawless. The direction is fluid and elegant. The special effects very well integrated and the reconsitution of the 70s (although I only shortly lived them) seems to have been given so much care that it almost feels like a period movie...

This gives the perfect based for a masterfully told story, reminiscent of a Twilight Zone episode. The tribute is paid as soon as the very first notes of the movie open (the score was handled by Arcade Fire's leading couple).
What starts like a family drama soon show signs of strangeness at every turn and goes into full blown SciFi at some point. However it has the very good taste to finish where it started. Which only makes the conclusion more poignant.

Judos have to be given to the interpretation here, with Cameron Diaz and James Mardsen portraying an awfully likeable leading couple. You're with them every steps of the way.
But the palm has to be given to Frank Langella. His Arlington Steward will certainly stay in a lot of memories as one of the most creepy baddies in a movie. Perfectly mannered, yet utterly creepy and unforgiving.

It's one of those movies that stay with you after the lights have come back, where you try to fit some small details back into place. The call for watching it again.

I was sick with a cold when coming in but even that couldn't prevent me from being stuck into yet another mindfuck from Mr Kelly...

Interdire les drapeaux etrangers : l'UMP singe le FN | Rue89

Voyez les vieux cons vociferer...

Interdire les drapeaux etrangers : l'UMP singe le FN | Rue89

Un mariage dans le silence... Faut pas deconner non plus... Surtout si ce qu'ils ont vraiment derriere la tete c'est les mariages "d'etrangers"...
Desolant...

Small Worlds.

A flash game, highlighted to me by Kotaku

I find it quite brilliant.
Minimalist would be the key word here. However, the game still manages to pack a story (through exploration, reminiscent of Metroids) and has a quite distinct atmosphere...
It's short, but it still manages to deliver a memorable experience...
Most impressive...

Here it is.

Modern Matrix Times...

This is quite excellent:


(initially spotted by Ecrans)

Je trouve ca drole...

...donc je partage: http://lefebvrotron.fr/.

:)

L'article ou je l'ai trouve vaut aussi le coup d'oeil...
Haaa les politiques et internet... :)

This is not an add.

I came accross a game description on Steam that made me laugh (I blanked the game's name because this is no advert):
"Who needs backstory? Who needs resource-gathering? Diplomacy is so last year. ##### cuts right to the chase of sci-fi strategy games, and deals with large, completely unjustified space battles between huge opposing space fleets."

That's the spirit! :)

Harry Brown.

This should work as a British companion piece to Gran Torino.

However, despite the fact that they both feature 2 elderly retired from the military type characters, they take 2 very different paths.
When Eastwood's character shifts from a racist & cantankerous old git towards someone more accepting and even self-sacrificing, Caine's taking something of an opposite direction: from quiet retired to avenging angel. Because this is a revenge movie. So it's actually closer to Dirty Harry.

Caine's Harry saves the movie from any misplaced far-right extremism though. He depicts a faillible character, who doesn't quite enjoy the path he takes but takes it anyway because he's just fed up in a sense. He's lost too much and sets himself to do something.
Thanks to that, the movie manages to navigate in this grey area that is vengeance. The "baddies" are also interesting in the sense that they're not likeable in any way (they're dispiseable thugs), but they're caught in a system, adding a relevant social commentary.

It's quite a tough movie, violent and bleak, hard to stomach at times, yet it's a fine example of what British cinema can produce.

The Myst

I missed that one in the cinema although it came very highly recommended, both by critics & friends. I finally have taken the time to watch it.
And I have to say the "hype" was well deserved.

This is possibly the best horror movie I saw since John Carpenter's The Thing.
It shares with it the fact that it's more interested in its atmosphere and actual scares. Which is fine by me, as I'm not too fond of jumps and it doesn't dim down the experience. Instead, fear is always there, creeping (I did have to make an awful lot of pauses, even though I watched it during the afternoon. Yes I'm a big wuss).
Also, there's some parallels with Spielberg's War Of The Worlds, as it shows a world collapsing.
And the horror comes as much from "what's out there" as from the characters depicted. What people are capable of doing when what they took for granted falls to pieces...

It's not for the faint of the heart, not specially for the gore (there is some but it's not the emphasis here), but for the situations. The ending is especially upsetting.

What would I do? I hope I'll never know, but it's entirely possible that this movie shows what would happen... A lot of the questions and the images will certainly stay with you after the credits roll...
Essential viewing.

Up.

Again, a Pixar movie that I almost let pass me by.
My excuse, here, could have been "Wall-E was so good, they can't do that twice in a row". Not that they haven't done that in the past, mind you (Toy Story 2, Monsters Inc. for me). So well yes they can.

When it took 1/2 of Wall-E to make me shed a tear, it took Up only 10min. Just for this opening, presenting a perfect life in little moments, the movie could just be the best of the year. Simply amazing. And although the movie kind of climaxes emotionally here, the rest always manages to juxtapose extremely serious scenes with pure Tex Avery-style slapstick. Cry & laugh are just seconds of one another. It's a very difficult balancing act but they just manage to pull it off easily.
And with that tone set right, you can just have a stupid bird called Kevin, talking dogs, it's fine, it all works. It's all funny, well paced, well used (no fart joke here).
And the action packed final could stand amongst the best "summer blockbusters" scene of the year.

You could argue that on the whole it's yet another buddy movie with a mismatched pair of characters and it's true that the movie does follow the blue prints of the genre. Yet, the context, the themes change everything in my view.
Because at its heart, Up is finally a fairly children-unfriendly film. Loss, nostalgia, all these are difficult to empathise with if you haven't lived a little.
But as such, I don't care, I'm an old git already, screw the kiddies. :p

Another stand out for me here was that it was the 1st movie I watched in 3D. Initially I wanted to refrain myself until Avatar comes out, in order not to spoil anything of the experience that it promises.
But with Up available in 3D, how could I say no? And having seen it, I'm actually glad that I did. Because it's not a "3D effect" movie with lots of "in your face" moments. So it was very interesting to see how 3D can enhance a "standard" picture. Because it does. It gives real depth to the picture, which is stupid to say because that's exactly what 3D does, but the addition is really striking.
That final action scene just gives vertigo as a consequence. I can't imagine what a Spiderman movie could do with this...

So yeah another addition to the great movies I've seen this year. What a year indeed...

Play it simple.

2 posts in a day wouhou! ;)

I read a very interesting interview of Spike Jonze on AICN earlier and beyond the fact that I'm dying to see Where The Wild Things Are, he made a comment on music that I found quite interesting.

Talking about his composer: "He was working with these world-class musicians from the New York Philharmonic, and saying, "Play it simpler. Play it like a fifth grader." "

It's true that you can write a very simple melody, but if you have an experienced musician, he'll play it with all his technical skill. So it actually make it SOUND simple, you also have to play it simply...

Might seem obvious, I think that's an interesting thought.

Gamer.

Yet another "late" review.

I tend to get lots of ideas on things to write and not actually take the time to write anything. Hence the pretty much "cinema review only" content of late.

Anyway, I went to see Gamer back in September and here we are.

That's my 3rd Neveldine/Taylor film in the year (after Crank, 1 & 2). So I kind of know their MO now: they don't do art and they know it. But although they tend to go into B/exploitation territories, they manage to put so many ideas in their thing that maybe it sticks as more than it "should" be. If you compare this and Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror, they share quite a lot of points (most notably blood, guts & boobies). But while the Rodriguez's Grindhouse look at the past, they bring it right up in the present.
I guess there a a lot of direct-to-DVD pictures that do that as well, but N/T do that in their own flamboyant way...

Gamer could feel like a more "serious" movie than Crank, yet they stay true to their formula. It's less hectic, but they put a lot of crazy ideas and I have to say they hit their targets right on the nail, bending just a little our own gaming / social networking world...

As for the rest, it's all ably crafted, I quite like Gerard Butler as an action hero. And Michael C. Hall is in a type-cast role but does it perfectly.

And there's a brilliant dance scene!

1 disappointment could be that they could push the social commentary further. In a sense I wish it could have been more than a souped up B-movie. But then again would it work if it took itself seriously?
It's still worth a look.

District 9.

I've this one ages ago and have attempted to write something about it several times already, but it's one of those movies for which I feel my words are not worthy.
I can't really express how brilliant it is.

So I'll make it short:
This is one of the best piece of SciFi committed on celluloid since, probably Spielberg's War Of The Worlds (which I loved).
The documentary style is an excellent idea and feels fresh.
The special effects are mind blowing (the aliens are just there, which is pretty important given the documentary style).
The main actor is incredible (I can't believe he's not a professionnal).
And the social subtext is amazingly relevant and well implemented.

I'm running out of superlatives so I'll conclude that, when considering that this is Neil Blomkampf's 1st feature and that it was produced on just around $30M (10 times less than Tranformers 2, when the action is if not better at least as good), it just becomes an achievement of heroic proportions!

Following up on that might be difficult for the director...

Street Art...

Very cool:

Inglorious Basterds.

I rewatched Deathproof not long ago and althoug h I did enjoy it when I saw it in the cinema, I just couldn't watch it in full. Too chatty... "Too chatty"???? That's a Tarantino what did I expect? Well, given that's chatting for chatting in this case, despite the fact that the dialogs are perfectly built, it just fell flat on the 2nd viewing for me. That never happenned to Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown and the others...

And that will certainly not happen with this 6th feature... QT comes back at the top of his game...
From the 1st notes of the opening, the titles' polices and the 1st images (the chaptering...), you know where you are. This is a Tarantino Movie, with the inevitable references and shots taken straight out of a Sergio Leone Western to start with. Yet what could annoy (why does he feels compelled to COPY???) just doesn't. Because what follows is one of the greatest opening scenes in recent memory. A simple dialog, very long (this is a Tarantino feature!), but incredibly well constructed, both in French and English and that builds up an incredible tension, leading to the unavoidable.
In it, Christoph Waltz directly imposes himself as a baddy to be remembered in an incredible performance. Just a close up where you can see his affable expression fading into that of a hunter about to deliver the final blow is quite simply astonishing (and I have to say that I don't praise actors easily, as I tend to put most of the responsibility on the person directing them).

That's only the opening and the rest delivers at least as much...
In a sense it's a "classic" Tarantino movie. Very chatty, with burst of brutal violence and lots of references to other movies. Yet in all he does, he manages to throw eveything out so it feels fresh. He doesn't copy. He recycles. He pays tribute and adds his 2 cents. And he does that incredibly well.
The dialogs here are also a marvel. It's always the case with him, sure, but in our case, they deal with 4 languages!
And they're all delivered by incredible actors. Sure, Christoph Waltz comes on top, but all of them should be commended for their turn. Also, in this case, the dialogs do add to the story. They distill the tension until violence breaks loose. Like in a horror movie, where the "jump" moment is delayed only to be more effective. And we're graced with the music of the words in the meantime.
They are also especially relevant in a setting where only one word (or sign!) can give an ennemy away...

The story is masterfully told, incredibly tense, brutal and darkly ironic as usual.
I realise I refer to "classic" and "usual" a lot. It might give the impression everything is expected, but that's not the case, as here what is expected is to be surprised...

There are things that made me think of Verhoeven's Black Book, despite the fact that Basterds doesn't share its depth (nor does it would try to). But shall we say that the title does describes pretty well every character depicted here...
It is also extremely layered. For example, in essence, this is a WW2 movie without battle scenes. Yet there are, in a movie in the movie...
It's that kind of stuff that you can take home a think about and that make such work very rewarding.

Tarantino movie comes with high expectations which are met in spades here. I might not be far from thinking that this is his best work yet...

Always a good feeling.
This is what Cinema is.

Canabalt

Another great flash game: Cannabalt.

1 button to jump that's all you need.
And reflexes, good ones as the game accelerates almost constantly...

I just love the style of this.
There's a great sense of elation as you perform those crazy jumps at a crazy speed, quite similar to Mirror's Edge 2D (the music itself has me play just to listen to it...).
And it's also great that the level are randomly generated. It's pure skill that way...
My best is 2153m so far...

Thanks to Kotaku for the tip.

I notice see what I was running from after a few plays...

UPDATE!
I did 3848m!!! \(^0^)/

3966!!

Today's joke...

So the return from holiday is less painful...

--------------
A panda walks into a restaurant, sits down and orders a sandwich. He eats the sandwich, then pulls out a gun, and shoots the waiter dead. As the panda stands
up to leave, the manager shouts: "Hey! Where are you going? You just shot my waiter and you didn't pay for your sandwich!" The panda yells back at the manager: "Hey man, I'm a panda! Look it up!" So the manager opens his dictionary and looks up the word "panda". "What does it say?" asks a confused onlooker. The boss reads: "Panda: A tree dwelling marsupial of Asian origin, characterised by distinct black and white colouring. Eats shoots and leaves."
--------------

I knew those things were evil... :)

Pixel

A sort of Zen shooter...
All in colors!
Cool. :)

Pixel

Mirror's edge 2D (redux)

I think I mentionned this one before, but that was a demo and now they got the full game out!
(not sure when they rolled it out, might be old news, but I only discovered it...)

So here it is: Mirror's Edge, but in 2D!

It's beautiful, the music is great and most importantly it plays great!
Jump, wall run, jump, slide, run jump... It's fast, responsive and feels great.

It's only 3 levels, but they're well entertaining. You can spend some time looking for secret stuff and there's also the time trial that pits you against the clock to clear each of them the fastest, which can make you come back for more...

And it's all a free flash game!

Desolant mais vrai...

Bruno.

So I finally got the courage to go and see Bruno.
I think it does come down as a courage thing. Anyone who's seen (or even heard of) Borat will know that it's a ticket to be shocked.
And it does deliver that in spades.

Actually, due to the sexual nature of the subject, it does feel "sicker"... More twisted would be a better term I guess. In a sense, I think it's wrong that talking about sex seems more shocking than being antisemitic. Yet that's how our society works, I guess...

Anyway it is a perverted movie, for sure and it does prove some fair points, as Borat did. "Disgusting" moments are only more disgusting... Be ready for pubes and a talking penis...

The set pieces are really great, wonderfully subversive: that judge from the X-Factor (or wherever) talking of her chritative work sitting on mexican workers, a cage fights which degenerates into a gay love scene... In a turn of brilliance, Bruno makes conversations with people specialised in turning gay people straight disturbingly "gay"...

Whatever you think of the movie you have to give it (!) to Sacha Baron Cohen: he's talented and he's got guts...
As with Borat, 2 questions stay in my mind:
1) How much of the movie was staged?
2) How is he still alive???

It is hitting hard on the US, but indirectly, we get the flack, as the US are just a bit more extreme than we are...

To paraphrase the review I read in liberation, "if you're laughing everywhere, you're missing the point and if you're standing here shocked, you're missing it also".

Whether you find it funny or not, I think it still raises a point worth reflecting upon.

And as a piece of trash cinema (in a sort of Michael Moore meets Jackass) it's just pure gold.

LOST!

My my my...
5 episodes into the 4th season and I'm already jumping around in glee...

I have to say, with this time-travelling episode, I just can't think of any TV series that stimulated me like that. EVER.

God I love that show.

Rabbit wants cake.

It's been a while since the last flash game.

This one, called "Rabbit wants cake has a crazy concept: you enter your direction inputs first and then watch your rabbit do what you told it to. And not hat you wanted it to do...
Later levels get quite crazier...

On top of that it's very well designed and very humorous...
Reminds a bit of Portal in a sense, but that might have a lot to do with the cake...

I like! :)

(I got originally that from Ecrans)

Public Ennemies

Strange how Michael Mann always seems to do the same movie.
Cops & robbers. Viril friendships. Strong women, yet sacrified for the men's choices.

Yet that's only a frame. And one movie after another, he manages to explore different characters, different stories.

Beside the fact that Public Ennemies takes place in the 30s, Johnny Depp's John Dillinger is very different from Hanna, McCauley, Vincent or Crockett & Tubbs.
He might as well been a rockstar, for in that time, to enjoy fast money and fame, robbing banks might have seem the way to go. Live fast, don't think about tomorrow die shot down by the cops. Although an expert bank robber, he just fancies himself as a movie hero. And he's got a band, that goes by the same rules. Some wilder...

On the oherside of the line, Christian Bale's Melvin Purvis portrays in a sense the birth of modern police, with the beginning of interstate investigations, telephone wiring, etc. He also loses his soul in the process, having to give up his principles to achieve his goals (or those of his superiors?).

Tragic characters, which make for an engaging story, deep and layered.
The cast supporting it is perfect.

It's quite interesting to see this era, the flamboyant all gun blazing bank robberies treated that way. Characters like Baby Face Nelson, who was portrayed as a comical character in the Coen's "O'Brother...", come across in a similar fashion here (crazy gun-blazing psycho). Only the context doesn't make it funny of course.

In another difference to other Mann's movies, the focus here is also on the "villains" (or are they?). There's not much emphasis on the confrontation (as in Heat) but more on how everyone works.

As for direction, well anyone who's seen Collateral or Miami Vice can guess that it's incredible. Mann still hasn't given up his DV and shows us the American 30s like no one has shown it before. Classic yet modern, aiming for a gritty feel during the tense shoot-outs and very intimate (lots of close ups) in character development, making sure every detail feels authentic. It feels like a true time travel.

So I won't carry on because it's the kind of complex movie for which my weak words are just not worthy. Suffice to say that, even it might not reach up to the height of Heat, it's yet another classic from Mann, that can certainly support comparision with The Untouchables...

There's a very interesting iterview of Michael Mann over at AICN. Better read after seeing the movie I think.

Control over games...

I responded to an article over at Kotaku. The initial article is by Leigh Alexander who's got a very interesting gaming blog (much better than this one) and does a lot of other stuff as well. It regards the classic way of controlling games, reminding that although motion control seems to be the new thing, it doesn't necessarily enhance the gaming experience. Very true. Yet that seems to include the Wiimote and here comes things I would tend to argue on.
I've also wanted to rant a bit over the amount of slack the Wii's taking and that seemed like a perfect opportunity!

Since I did take the hassle to write a comment I might as well reproduce it here...

Here it is.
----
I would like to know how "classic controller" is defined.

I kind of feel that the Wii controller isn't included in there. Would that be because it features motion control?
That would be a bit silly, in my opinion.

If you really look at it, the wiimote/nunchuk is a classic controller. It's broken in 2, sure, but it's got 2 sticks, shoulder buttons, face buttons, etc. Sure, it's streamlined, but pretty much like anything like Nintendo released after the SNES (which should be the quitessential classic gamepad, as Sony only built on it to create the PS controller, which is the best pad ever created): the pads for the N64 or the GC were attempts to innovate on its base. They only took it a step further with the Wii controller, even breaking away from the shape (OH MY GOD!).

Now, having established that, the Wii controller adds 2 features to the classic controller scheme: the IR pointer & the motion controls.

Now who will stands and say that FPSs are better played with a pad? Or RTSs?
Personnally, I would even go as far as saying that having played FIFA 09 with the pointer, I would not want to play a football game without it anymore...

It's an evolution of the same medium, it's an enhancement. And it's not because you use motion controls that the game becomes easier.
Back to FIFA 09, replacing the shoot button by a Wiimote movement enables the control to be analogic, you need to learn to get your movement right. It's not especially well implemented in FIFA, sure, but still, it's a lot better than just pressing a button and releasing at the right time and it's not dumbing it down. It's just different.

Natal would be more the issue and here I believe that it's pushing it too far.
But the culprit is not the Wii. The Wii innovated wildly and created something new, while being able to build on the old stack.
The problem is that it seems to be driving the rest to try to cash in on motion control. Done the right way it could open huge possibilities. For money, it won't yield anything better than what was done with the PS2 EyeToy...

I'm saying this being a Wii-fanatic, sure and I do stand a bit disappointed that there are too few games that take real advantages of all the possibilities the Wii controller has to offer.
But to me as an interface, it's the new best one ever done for a game.

And at least it's fresh, unlike Sony who's releasing the same system only with improved graphics for the past 3 generations...

Lost...

I've just finished the 3rd season of Lost...
Well now even more than ever, I just sit there and think "how can they be so good?".

There is a serie like that once in a while that sucks me in and never let me go. Lost is one of them. Sometime I even wonder how I can be so into it. Yet there's no point asking.
So far (and 3 seasons in I hope it's not going to change), I love everything about this series. The atmosphere, the characters, the ever renewed twists and turns...

It's a series where everything can happen. It's in the middle of so many genres that it's become one in itself... Therefore, you're always on your toes. Nobody's safe. Actually not quite but you can never be sure and that's the whole point. You care, you're afraid...

I so love the fact also that they took time in the 1st season especially to make it ABOUT the characters. They're not numbers. You care for them. It makes everything outside the "main" story (i mean about the Island) interesting and it's therefore not too much a big deal when the story stops a bit to develop some characters interactions.

Plot-wise, you could argue that it's fabricated to throw the audience off into another direction every episode or so, yet they alwasy manage to go back to stuff they have left for a while. Identifying a body you saw a season earlier for example. That tends to lead me thinking they have a plan. Maybe they haven't. Yet why should I care, as long as they manage to fool me? All I want is being fooled. That's what the moving pictures are all about.

As much as I would like answers, I still wish it could never end...

Now let's tackle the 4th season...

Transformers: Revenge of the fallen

I feel a bit bad, because I couldn't get myself to the cinema to watch Drag Me To Hell, but I did for Transformers 2. As an excuse, I woul say that in my current state I prefer to become deaf than being scared shitless... Anyway.

So I enjoyed the 1st one very much, funny bits included, strangely enough...
In true Bay style, this one takes things to 11. It's a far bigger movie. Unfortunately, it means that if the good things have become better, the faults have gone worse...

The humour is the main point of complaint. Sure, I said I enjoyed it in the 1st one. I did. It managed to walk that fine line for me that delimits what I find funny and justified in the context of the movie and what's not (from my point of view). Here it does cross the line. Humping dogs seen once might be just about OK, by the 3rd time, it's a bit tiring. Farting Decpticons? No thanks. Balls on Devastator? No thanks.
I read an interview of Bay where he said that he was surprised how people likes the humour of the 1st one. I guess it took this as an incentive to go further. Well it didn't work for me.

Also, no cliche is forgotten. You get those "Team America" moments. Mimes in France, to name but 1. Only here it's not Team America, so you can be sure it hasn't been done on purpose. So that makes so laughs, but that's in spite of the movie. Never a good sign...

Having said that it all happens in such a sensorial aggression that in a good mood (and with beers), you might just forgive all that (with clearer ideas, I'm not sure though).

And that's because apart from this, Bay brings the shit. And when he brings the shit, he brings the shit.
The action as some pretty awesome moments. The fights between robots are much clearer, longer (although still too short!) and more choreographed. It's seriously cool.
And it's very VERY good looking (especially Megan Fox ;) )...

On the robots, 1 thing that's cool is that you get some Megatron/Starscream bickering. So you get a bit of "character development" on that side. I only wish they did the same for the autobots, which bareloy have anything to say through the movie. The focus seems a bit too much on the humans... Come on, this is a TRANSFORMERS movie!!!

On a similar level, during the final set piece, Bay clearly unleashes his military fetish and almost seems to forget there are robots involved...

It's strange, but when coming straight out of the movie, I was feeling quite good, you know this feeling like you're walking with a power stance and a camera is filming you with a low-angle shot (I call that the Bay effect). I did enjoy myself.
And then I thought really about what I saw and felt a bit cheated.

I would think that somewhere in there cutting nearly 1h (I mean it lasts 2h30!!), there's a pretty strong (and "respectable") blockbuster. As it stands, because of all these annoyances and despite the much better action, it scores lower than the 1st...

No More Heroes

Writing about the Force Unleashed and realising, as I wrote, that I was mentionning a passable (yet enjoyable) game while I hadn't mentionned another (others in fact) that was truly great finally made me take the decision to finally repair this obvious anomaly.

I bought No More Heroes by chance. It did have raving reviews and seemed to be bound to be of my taste, but somehow the screenshots I saw didn't really appeal to me. But when I saw it at budget price, I just couldn't resist to take the chance.
And I'm glad I did.

Your usual good (to very good) game will usually rely on a solid gameplay. Not something especially original but solid and very enjoyable. And then you have the excellent game that manage to break out of the mould and take that gameplay further, including it in an atmosphere, a story, a world. To me that's when a game becomes an "experience". Big word, but still.
And to me No More Heroes just does that and some.

At its core it's a very well designed brawler. The controls are tight and make good (and parcimonious) use of the motion control: you control your stance (high or low) and carry out wrestling moves with it. Your foes will also take stances so you have to adapt yours to hit them (high beats low, low beats high), bringing a bit of strategy in the mix. And you get to wield a lightsaber!! :)
Graphics are very cool, at least in my opinion. They have character. Actually they remind me of Interstate 76, in their (wanted) polygonal look. The thing is that it's what didn't catch me in the screenshots, but it takes another shape when it all starts to move.

The game itself is linear. The designers tried to create a pseudo-GTA in which you move freely around the city to gather money and other power ups. But the things you can do outside the missions is pretty limited, which is OK, because it's not what the game is about.

It's the story and characters that won me over. It's like being in a crazy anime. And there's a sort of postmodernist touch, the game knowing it is just a game, that takes the whole thing as a joke. You have this feeling that anything can happen. You never know where it's going to go next. I think it's genius.

So here's an example where various excellent bits come together and adds up to actually more than their expected sum...
And to me that amounts to one of the best games I've ever played.

Polygonal fury

This is a time warp.
I started it and then I stopped 1h later.

Understandably, those chainreaction games are stupid. You just play with chance. Yet they are strangely addictive...
This one, with its 3 objects and a point system to enhance them, adds a (little) strategy, which tends to make it even more compelling...

Try it at your own risk.

Polygonal fury.

To say how sick I am, I had another go and had to finish the game... (^_^;
Another hour gone.
I'd prefer not think about all the better things I could have done in that time (including sleeping...).

Original link from Ecrans.fr

The Force Unleashed.

I was watching that one when it was announced, but lost interest whe I saw it had bad reviews. Anyway a good soul was kind enough to lend it to me so now I can make my own mind.

So was the critical bashing legitimate?
Well I have to admit that it was...

There are so many annoyances with this game.

Graphics come first. There not specially poor, but they seem like they try too hard. Wii can do beautiful. Just look at Zelda. Not flash, not HD, but who cares? It's good looking. Here, there are good moments, but at some others you'll see some clipping, some stuff that doesn't look like it really fits in the landscape, or a character that moves in a strange way... And that kind of spoils it.

Regarding gameplay, one thing that I find infuriating is that your character can get stuck. Like in a corner, or on something sticking out. It's VERY annoying, especially when you're fighting a massive Rancor.
And there's the light saber fighting mechanics, entirely dealt with waggling, which I don't find responsive. Doing combos is a real pain. At first I thought I didn't have the timing right, but after a few hours playing, I still didn't have it... Maybe I haven't tried hard enough, but when the easiest way to play is to waggle in any direction praying you'll do something awesome, there's something a bit broken...

It's a shame when you think about it because a game like No More Heroes (of which I haven't talked about because I didn't take the time to but I should because it gave one of the best gaming experience I ever had, yep that good) completely nailed it. 1 button, 2 stances controlled by Wiimote and off you go! So it can be done...
Anyway. They didn't here.

So straight to the trash then?
Well... No.
Because among all those annoyances, 1 thing stands out: the force powers.
They did nail that.
And it feels incredible!

For this they got the right balance between motion control and button pushing (which makes the light saber control even more of a shame... Anyway). After just a few minutes you just force push, hold, throw lightning to get rid of your foes in the most natural way. The destructible evironment make plenty of material available for throwing and taking out dozens of stormtroopers in the most brutal way is just great.
And with the upgrades to your powers, you get some very spectacular effects...

And just that would almost convince me of buying the game!

Because sure, Jedi Knight 2 still stands for me as the pinnacle of the Star Wars games, as far as story, level design (etc) go.
But this one, as broken as it is, even if the level design is uninspired, get you to play a baddy, with the force, like no other games ever have.

I wish they could make a sequel to this, learning from the first.
That could be truly awesome...

Just a bit more E3 now it's done...

It's raining FPS on the Wii!
That's more like it! :)
I do hope it's going to start a trend and show devs what's possible...

Anyway, today's subject is The Grinder: http://kotaku.com/5278379/the-grinder-e3-trailer

There's an enthousisatic interview of the devs at IGN and I really hope they pull it out... They do promise lots of things...

But man, a Left 4 Dead like, crossing over to John Carpenter's Vampires with as hint of Starship Troopers (for the swarm of monsters, hoping 60 at the same time on screen!)...
That's something to dream about...

E3 hype...

I love my Wii, but I've been a bit disapointed lately as I hadn't any game I was really looking forward to. The Conduit might be good, but it won't be ground breaking...

Anyway that done now I've seen this:
1) Red Steel 2 demo - In style and gameplay concept, that looks like something anyone has dreamed of to do with a Wiimote... I'm just disappointed there will be no multiplayer.
2) Metroid: Other M trailer - Metroid is cool by otself. But with a touch of Ninja Gaiden? YEAH! I'm not sure how the alternance of 2.5D, 3rd person, 1st person might turn out, but this trailer sure rocks...

Now that's more like it...
I like to be excited.

Star Trek

I had no interest in Star Trek. I know things about it, as every geek would I guess, but overall I have never been that interested in it. Abit like Gundam, I guess, when you know that the fans are actually closer to a sort of sect... I guess it always scared me a little...
So when I heard they were doing a "reboot", I didn't care much. When I saw the first pics, I thought that they looked OK, but didn't pay much attention.

But when I went to see Watchmen and got to see the trailer, they caught my attention. The main fact was that it made me realise that it had been what felt like a very long time since the last full blown SF movie (with space battles and all that jazz). The last was Star Wars Episode 3, 4 years ago. The last I saw anyway. And the trailer was promising much of that.

So I got excited and it's with high expectations that I went to the cinema yesterday.
And it's always a good feeling not to be disappointed.

It's exactly what happened to me for Ironman last year: it was a subject that I didn't really care about but the movie showed me why all that is actually cool.
It's so good to see some huge space battles, with massive ships firing hundreds of laser beams!
It made me realise I was missing something and filled the gap straightaway!

The story is very wellpaced and balanced, every member of cast worth noting has at least 1 memorable moment, even if the emphasis is on Kirk & Spock. Characters are very well cast and the resemblances with the original crew are uncanny...

Not being a trekkie, I obviously didn't get the references the the Star Trek universe that I'm sure this film is full of I loved the fact that they actually integrated the justification for this reboot at the heart of the story and in the Star Trek universe itself... It just feels right and few reboots can boast such a thing.

You could argue that there are a few missteps, like Simon Pegg's Scott that is maybe a bit too much on the comedy side, but it would be only minor things that didn't spoil the overall experience.

It's epic, kinetic, compelling, clever...
Now I'm sold, I'll even be looking forward to sequels!

It's a great feeling to know a space opera franchise has returned in town...

Wolverine.

Comics adaptations are a huge hit & miss field. When Sam Raimi or Guillermo Del Toro take a character and make them theirs, it gives great stuff.
When you get studio driven orders, you get Daredevil. A character that would have deserved better, to say the least.

I thought the X-Men franchise, originally driven by Brian Singer, nailed most of the main points. If I had to whine I would complain about Cyclops treatment that is just horrible, but since the movies (the 1st 2 at least) are great otherwise, it's just mere bickering. To say that Wolverine was already central in the original 3 movies, so he had nothing to lose with a 4th.

Still, I haven't been convinced by this one.

It's strange for me because I'm not the kind of person who will usually complain about the story being weak or not making sense. If a story's weak, I tend to keep hold of the other good stuff that I like (great action for example, is a good trade-in for a lack of story).

I also tend to be annoyed at people speaking about "suspension of disbelief". Like they're justifying they liked something that didn't make sense. I guess I do it as well, but I tend to experience movie in a more visceral way. Either I get in and roll with it (if everything is consistent) or not. If I actually think that "it doesn't make sense", the movie fails for me it means I'm not in it. And it's not a feeling I enjoy too much.

That happened here. I won't say that it's a bad movie. But there were moments when I actually thought "oh come on this is too easy" or "aren't they supposed to hurry up? They're supposed to be chased...". Maybe it's pacing. If a movie is well paced, you tend not to get the occasion to question things. Afterwards you could think about it and say "hold on that didn't make sense" but it's too late. You've enjoyed yourself. You got caught.

Anyway I got issues with the story. It was predictable all the way. And then added to that there were choices about characters that I didn't quite agree on. But that's really details that wouldn't matter if I hadn't had doubts about the rest.
I guess the main problem is that they delay Logan's memory loss and it's actually a fairly good idea but at the same time it feels like stretching it. It feels forced. They also try to tie in loads of things from the 1st trilogy but it's far from subtle...

Having said that there are plenty of moments to enjoy. The action is very well directed. In particular the last combat with Deadpool is excellent (think X-Men 2 intro on steroids). It's nice to see Deadpool, by the way, although it's not quite Deadpool at the end anymore (but that I can accept). I heard they're doing a spinoff with him and I'm looking forward to that.

It's also nice to finally see Gambit! It's more a cameo than anything, he's far underdevelopped, but he's got 2 cool moments at least.
Also the main Wolverine / Sabretooth relationship (which is central and the most important thing after all) is well handled I thought and Liev Shreiber is very convincing as Victor Creed...

So in the hierarchy of comics adaptations, this one ranks average. It could have been better, but comes a point when you have to enjoy what you got...

Gemcraft: chapter 0

I think it's fair to say that one of the biggest genre in flash games is tower defense.
There are loads of such games out there, but few are as good as this one.
Slick graphics, the gem crafting system is excellent from a strategy point of view and the Xp gains makes you compelled to go back to it in order to gain access to more maps/modes...

Outstanding!

Gemcraft: Chapter 0

Crank: High voltage.

OK. I'm glad I watched the first one last week because it at least got me half prepared for the assault that this movie is.

As crazy as it may seam, it DOES look like the directors held back a great deal when doing the 1st. For the 2nd, they got serious. I would guess they took a list of every offensive thing they could think of and then they did it. Just like that...
The little sense Crank made has been throw out the window here to focus on pure exploitation.

You know that for some stupid reason I caught myself thinking at first ridiculous things like "hold on a sec, that's a bit too easy". By the time the movie ended, I was brain washed, laughing and cheering and then shaking my head wondering how this could be possible, how a movie like that could be committed to celluloid...

It kicks the shit out of Tarantino's/Rodriguez's Grindhouse. And then butt-fucks it.

Admittedly, it's not going to earn any award. Maybe it should actually. In the category "movie that's actually bad for your health"?
Guys, please give your girlfriend a break and don't drag her into this, it could be cruel...

Still, what a ride...

Crank

Crank 2 is coming out right now, so I had to fill in this massive gap in my movie culture and see Crank.
It's now done.

It's movie that is Wrong. It's shot in a completely epileptic manner, it never stops, it's gratuitously and extremely violent, it's got crude sex, tits, excessive swearing, no moral...
And I loved it for all this!!! (^0^)/
It's an insane and relentless rampage. And it's also wildly imaginative...

I don't think there's much to say about acting here, they do the job, I like Jason Statham, he knows how to play badass and AMy Smart is cute.

It's hard not to compare it to Shoot'Em Up, but they both share the quality of being outrageously ridiculous. But thre's no point in trying to put one above the other as they're both greatly enjoyable for what they are...

And in all honesty I think that's all there is to say...

From what I have read, Crank 2 pushes it all further... I'm bracing myself then...

Babylon Babies.

Back in my teens I set myself a rule. I went to see Jurassic Park in the cinema. I enjoyed it as it was, a good old Spielberg rollercoaster, with state of the art CGI at the time. A few month later, I read the book. I didn't know Michael Crichton at the time and was quite blown away by the depth of the story.

I realised at that time that should I have read the book before seeing the movie, I would have been massively disapointed...
So from that time, I try to refrain to read a book if I know that a movie adaptation is on the way. Of course, in most of those cases, I become aware of the book I should read when I hear about the adaptation.
It worked quite well so far, thanks to this I managed to enjoy I Am Legend for example. Having read the book since, I don't think I would be able to prevent myself from thinking how better the movie could have been so much better.

Anyway, all that to say that Babylon Babies almost falls into that category: I waited for Kassovitz's adaptation to come out to read the book, which has been warmly recommended by a friend for years now. Only here, I didn't see the movie in the theatre because the word wasn't as positive as I would have hoped. So missed my opportunity to see it, haven't had one since, so I just went ahead and read the book... I can't succeed every time.

Finally back on the subject, all the good I heard about this book is well deserved. By any standard, it ranks with the best SciFi work I have ever heard / seen. Groundbreaking, high concept, epic and all articulated around a sturdy crime-novel story.
It's interesting because I read Les Racines Du Mal ("the roots of evil" also by Dantec) and it was a "proper" crime novel, only with SciFi elements to it. In it, Dantec had some SciFi digressions, that were great and contributed to the atmosphere, but were only parellel to the story.
Here it's the opposite. The frame is clearly SciFi, so Dantec can just let loose without any doubt that any of his imagery will feel out of place.

There's much to say about his writing style that changes shapes depending on the situation, he can be very crude and at the same time conjure some brilliant metaphors...

As for the themes, you go straight out into metaphysical territories nothing could be more appropriate for such an apocalyptic work...
Also to note is how he ties in his previous work (La SIrene Rouge & Les Racines Du Mal)... If you know them, then it just builds on his universe and feels even deeper...

A truly great work...
Definitely one of the best books I've ever read...

Creativity?

I saw a spot on TV yesterday, that was saying something like "go at this website and do something creative".
I didn't go to that website to find out what it's really about, so it might actually be very good, don't know. Yet, the whole idea of "doing something creative" seems wrong to me.
You don't do "creative things" for the sake of it. You just do things. And they might turn out to be creative. Creativity is not an end, it's a mean. For me at least.

As far as I'm concerned, if I go out and do something with the aim of "being creative", I'm quite sure that nothing good (satisfactory could be a better adjective) is going to come out of it.
However, if I set out to do something specific, if I set myself an objective, I'll deal with the limitations I find in a creative way and the result will be that of a creative process, eventhough it might not be creative itself. But what is something creative anyway? What hasn't been done before?

What matters is the way you take to get somewhere. That, I know, saves lives. In fact litterally: studies show that it helps ill people to cope and even get better...

So if that was me, I would just say: people, just do something. Go out, stay in, but do something. Your thing. You'll have been creative.
But maybe that's just me.

Personnal April's fools round up.

This year's april fool's jokes I have enjoyed:

It's naughty to joke about games' reklease dates, especially when said games are late...

Assassin Creed is moving in a new direction...

Team Fortress 2 upgrades the sniper unit with a nice "recycling" feature.

Blizzard takes this April fool's business VERY seriously. A new "Transformer" unit in StarCraft 2, a new class in Diablo 3 (the Archivist that dies with a simple touch) and a dance battle system in WoW. I wish they would actually implement that...

Since all of this comes from Kotaku, I might as well include their own round up.
(but I'd like to add I spotted those as they got posted... ;)

Google made 1 announcement that looks fishy as well, actually... More from Google here. The Pandatastic IA CADIE is just brilliant. And 3d Chrome is not bad either... :)

Since I follow the release of upcoming WiiWare title Swords & Soldiers, I had a good laugh at their April 1st announcement... Space marines when everyone would expect ninjas? Naaaaa!

Nine Inch Nails release a new free paying record! Between the cover, the desciption and the tracklist, there's a lot to enjoy here... :D

Warner Bros bought The Pirate Bay!

Brittish newspaper The Guardian ran an article saying that they would now only publish news on Twitter. And they also made a Twitter feed!

And Seti@Home reported they received an alien message. I couldn't listen to it (it was sent to subscibers) but I'm guessing it was interesting...

Great year, all in all...
I like seeing people going crazy like that...

Music!

That might fit in my other blog, but it's borderline...

The following site transforms any text in music: P22 Music Text Composition Generator

Great fun, I tried to put Matrix Reloaded's Architect speech in it, at 960bpm, using an overdriven guitar sound, it rocks! In a very experimental way, of course... :)

The next one transforms your keyboard in a drumbox (and flashes subliminal patterns in front of your eyes as you drum along). Kitsch!
http://www.ronwinter.tv/drums.html

Guillon encore...

Pour remettre les points sur les "i".
Faut pas deconner, les riches en chient aussi!

Gad Elmaleh pour le bouclier fiscal !
par franceinter

Watchmen.

I read the comics about 5 years ago, when I got into Alan Moore's work. I actually think I started with From Hell and moved on to it, as it was the next logical step.
I'm not going to discuss the magnificence of this work, as my poor words are not worthy.

Let's only say that, having seen at that point some other work from Moore "adapted" to the cinemas, I hoped and hoped that theyr would NEVER try to adapt this. They could only trash it.
When I learned they were actually going to do it, I was just horrified. I might have sworn I would never go and see it.

I couldn't help to follow the production news (through the usual channels, eg AICN) when it actually kicked in. I have to say that knowing that Zack Snyder was involved attracted my curiosity...
And as news came in, looking quite good, I found myself actually believing that it could actually work...

Well the day I hoped that would never arrive arrived...
And I just can't believe it.

They made it. They made a "super hero movie" out of Watchmen. Action scenes, poses, it's al there. Just that would be heresy (although, having had a look at the comic book, it's all there, only less emphasized). But "the rest" (ie the important stuff) is there as well!! It IS Watchmen. They did it. They made it work. It all blends perfectly. The acting is incredible, the production design makes the comics universe alive and real and the music enhances the whole thing (the use of Dylan's The Times They Are A Changing for the introduction credits, which encapsulates the Minute Men history, is one example of a perfect choice).

What's not in the original comics is wondefully adapted, it just all fits (the ending I think is a wonderful idea, it makes so much sense...).
The great moments of the comics are there. Dr Manhattan's monologue. The citadel on Mars. Archie's flight.
It's all there, the spirit is there.
It's Watchmen. I can't believe it.


If seeing that many crappy adaptations of Moore's work (V For Vendetta being the only notable exception in my book, as this one was brilliant if slightly flawed) was the price to pay to see that one go through and get the proper treatment, well I'm glad to have paid it.
(that leaves From Hell as the truly "unadaptable" comics from Moore)

I'm happy.

The Zombie Survival Guide / World War Z

I finished a book! That didn't happen for some time...
I actually have good stack I want to read, but I haven't taken the time lately...

Anyway this one I finished.
I 1st heard of Max Brooks when I read an interview of his dad, Mel Brooks, on AICN.
I felt quite like reading a zombie story, so I went ahead and bought both The Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z.

I have to say I wasn't really impressed with the first one. Sure, it is wittily written, it is entertaining, but for me it was the concept that actually failed. As a guide, it needed to be a sort of catalog of things and I got a bit bored with it, I didn't finish it (I read 3/4 of it still and stopped during the description of various attacks through time). It still developped some interesting ideas. It's more something like each part was good, but it didn't work for me as a whole.

So I still got onto World War Z. And that's another beast completely. So it starts from the hypothesis that a major zombie outbreak broke out and started the 3rd world war. And it's built on the testimonies of actors of it, well after the fact. So you have this sort of kaleidoscopic view of the world as it was, as it became and how it evolved after this. And it's built well engough that you know enough, but still can guess a lot.
I extrapolates on the world we live in, throws this "what if" in and I think that what it describes would really happen if the world came to an end like this...
Clandestine refugees spreading the disease...
The role of the stock market and reality TV...
USA declaring war on zombies...
North Korea disappearing...
Only a few examples of scenes whose vivid descriptions shall stay with me for a while...

I thought it was brilliant. It's very well written, with lots of details that make it feel real and it's very well structured as well which make up for an engaging read.


I heard they're trying to make a movie out of it. I'll keep an eye on that one, because there's a lot of potential for an epic film...

Gran Torino.

I hadn't seen a CVlint Eastwood movie for a while. I gave Flags of our fathers & Letters form Iwo Jima a miss and I didn't get round to see Changeling.
I managed to catch that one.

And I have to say it was worth it.

He started taking his aging into account early on and so he did the grumpy old man role before, but not up to the point of thee main character here, so it feels still a bit fresh. And he put all his charisma to it as well, making Walt Kowalski a very memorable character (those grunts will be remembered, that's for sure!).

The symbolic is also very strong: almost 20 years after finishing off The Man With No Name in Unforgiven, he's giving Dirty Harry a last stand here. And he evolved in a remarkable way...

The story might be quite predictable, but it's well paced and the themes are fairly subtly developed. I say "fairly", because there are a few tricks that I found a bit too obvious. For example, Walt's family feeled way too much like a bunch of bastards to me. Then again, if you want an old racist git to go towards an Asian community, you would want to set an appropriately stark contrast. So I guess that could blow away if I see the movie again in a different mood...

Anyway I don't think it will stand among the classics Eastwood delivered before, but it's still a worthwhile entry in his filmography. And it could be a very appropriate "filmic" epitaph...

Something I learned today...

Scrubs' Dr. Cox is in Point Break!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fh0KcpYeMVQ

IMDB tells me he's in Se7en and The Rock as well... I find it funny to discover familiar faces looking back at movies...
It reminds me when I watched Jurassic Park all those years later and saw Samuel L Jackson...

Don't shit your pants!

A text adventure that has a very simple goal but has a surprising amount of things to do... :)
Getting the various awards isn't that straightforward...

http://www.kongregate.com/games/Rete/dont-shit-your-pants

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Benjamin Button is almost a genre movie, the said genre being "Pure Hollywood movie". And here I mean this in a good way.
It clearly was crafted by David Fincher as such. The feel, the themes, the scale, sends you back to those classics Hollywood created (like Gone WIth The Wind for example).
It is a Beautiful movie (note the capital "b"), beautifully made, with amazind (and invisible) special effects and with a wonderful cast in top form, lead by 2 of Hollywood's finest actors who form on screen a wonderful, perfect and memorable couple.
Of course all this already spells "O-S-C-A-R" in almost an obscene way, that could put people off...

But here, it's all at the service of a poignant & subtle story (and that's the originality in this genre), so much that you just forget about all this, to just concentrate on what's happening. That's what makes it different for me. That's what made me fell for it...
Life, loss, death are centre here. Time destroys everything. To convey such a message with such honesty, avoiding most of the obvious and easy tricks is amazing...

It is an important movie and the fact that one of my favorite directors of all time (who made Se7en & Fight Club!) made it is an additionnal satisfaction.

Who said the oscar season couldn't bring any joy? :)

Cyadonia

A good old puzzle game.
Well designed and tricky!

http://www.cyadonia.co.uk/cyadonia1.htm

Antisemitisme...

Une chronique que j'ai trouve tres bonne au detour de Rue89...

Antisémite malgré lui
by franceinter

Toribash.

Funny how I take most of my game kicks on independant games lately...
Cursor 10, Grid, Audiosurf... (which is not to say that I don't loooooove my Wii anymore...)

But there are a lot of people that are now (again should I say...) able to develop their ideas on their own and that's where you get the most creative concepts, instead of the millionth first person shooter that just looks a bit better than the last one.

Anyway, this one is a biggie: http://www.toribash.com/

This is (and I mean it) the fighting game I have been waiting for all my gaming life. And I'm a fighting game geek.
A turn based fight where you actually control each part of your fighter's body to make him move. So to punch, you will flex the elbow, contract & extend the relevant pecs, rotate the torso, etc...
That and the fact that you can see your opponent doing the same thing so you have to adapt your move to his! All this 10 frames at a time!
This is the biggest geekgasm I had in a while...

The learning curve is quite huge, but just seeing what's possible when you know what you're doing is motivating enough.
And it's just too funny to see the replay of you're fighter just landing like a turd when you didn't control your move... (^_^)

They're developping it for the WiiWare... I can't wait!!!

Songsmith.

Songsmith is a Microsoft tool that generates music over a voice track.
People obviously thought about putting proper singing on it and it gives...

...this:



This is f#cking hilarious.

Wazza 8 years later...

I know it's a bit late for this (I was busy finishing Grid), but still it's good fun...

Wassup 2008
by 60Frames

2008 Cinema round up...

Well what a year...

I went to watch just under 20 movies, but no less than 5 totally blew me away... And 6 other nearly did!

So in a way this year's top 10 comes naturally...
Here it is:
1) WALL·E
2) The Dark Knight
3) No Country for Old Men
4) Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
5) Wanted
6) Speed Racer
7) Hellboy II: The Golden Army
8) Iron Man
9) Burn After Reading
10) Zack and Miri Make a Porno

As usual the order is actually quite arbitrary and could change if I was in a different frame of mind...
Right now, Wall-E has to come 1st. Such an accessible, cute, poetic & scary as hell dystopia vision is just unbelievable.
Then comes the Dark Knight, with its epic construction and deconstruction of a myth.
To see No Country For Old Men been knocked like that to 3rd place is a shame. It's true that in terms of scope one could find much in common with the Dark Knight, although it's theme is violence... Yet as of now that's how it feels it should fit.
Sweeney Todd then, with an incredible return from Tim Burton in the darkest places...
In 5 I still stand by the sheer awesomeness of Wanted I can't wait to see it again.
I also stand by Speed Racer, glorious movie under LSD, just forget the monkey, or the monologues (they're far shorter than in Matrix anyway), it's just too cool not to enjoy!
In 7 & 8 come the "other" superheroes, both at an end of their spectrum: Hellboy in the gothic imagery of Del Toro & Ironman as the blueprint for a perfect Marvel adaptation.
In last positions come the "funny ones". I know I'm caught at the trap of letting the funny movies behind the "serious ones"... I think it's more that this year the serious movies are just too good.
Anyway eventhough Burn After Reading kind of follows a "Coen recipe", it's still a damn good film that shouldn't stay in the shadow of the darker No Country...
Last but not least Kevin Smith having people make a porno is just a must see... :)

So there you go. I wish I could have squeezed Pineapple Express in there, but this is a top 10, you have to make sacrifices.

So 2009 has a lot to do to match 2008, we'll see how it goes but with movies like Watchmen or Benjamin Button coming up, I'm quite confdent I'll still have my fix anyway...

METAL!

F*CK YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Grid.

Happy new year everyone!!

Let's celebrate this with a flash game!!!
(^_^;

Don't worry, I have also noticed I'm posting pretty much only about those recently, but I've got a good source and there's nothing wrong with a bit of fun, even more so when it's free! ;)

So today it's Grid. I've seen the concept before in an old arcade game whose name I can't remember (it was plumbing related). This is going to bug me.
Anyway. You have to connect every pipe bit to the energy source.
Easy? Not quite.

Great fun!

GRID

(Originally from here.