Technology – Blackberry Bold 9900 Unboxing
Here are some photos I took of my Blackberry Bold 9900 unboxing. Admittedly, this is actually the first Blackberry I’ve ever had the privilege of using every day and though I realize that the company is really going through some rocky times at the moment I have to say that overall this unit is physically quite nice.
iPad – Antique Road Trip USA HD Review
Antique Road Trip USA HD is an average title that tries to mix up the usually mundane hidden object gameplay paradigm but ultimately fails to add anything original to the genre. Throw in a rather silly narrative that is less than engaging and functions only to force players to visit different American cities and the entire experience feels incredibly monotonous.
Technology – Playstation Vita First Edition Bundle Unboxing
Here are a series of shots of the Playstation Vita First Edition Bundle unboxing that I took on launch day. By now this bundle has long since sold out here in Toronto although the actual Vita unit itself can be found virtually anywhere. Is this a sign of slow sales? Well, truth be told it is an excellent mobile gaming unit but so far it seems to have only been adopted by true diehard video game fans and hasn’t yet cracked the much larger casual market.
Movie Review – X-Men First Class (2011)
With X-Men First Class director Matthew Vaughn has successfully rebooted the franchise in this taut well-acted ensemble piece that, while not perfect, serves as a great example of how to properly craft a prequel while avoiding many of the potential pitfalls. That said the film’s biggest positive is actually a double-edged sword that might rub viewers the wrong way and certainly lead to a much more conflicted series of emotions from the audience.
Movie Review – The Green Hornet (2011)
A complete an utter mish-mash of a plot coupled with an unrestrained Seth Rogen usually ends up as a recipe for disaster but the Green Hornet at least manages to be sporadically entertaining until a third act where the action quotient not only goes out the window but rockets into the stratosphere towards the planet Idiotic. It would be easy for me to flippantly say that only Seth Rogen fans are going to love this film but I’m sure most viewers will find it hard to stop thinking that he’s still a lumbering goof who is more prone to shooting himself in the face than being a paragon of justice.
Movie Review – Red Riding Hood (2011)
Amanda Seyfried might be one of the bright lights from this current generation of actresses but there’s absolutely nothing she can do with this insipid material besides collect her paycheque and count her blessings that she can easily secure work on better projects. Red Riding Hood is close to a total train wreck ensuring a plethora of razzie nominations for worst movie of the year. While adapting the Red Riding Hood fairy tale initially seems like a stretch the real issue here is the ridiculous grafting of a romantic character arc along with some truly heinous sections with Gary Oldman doing his best to chew scenery with delicious aplomb that make his witch-hunt seem more like a sketch on Saturday Night Live.
Movie Preview – One to Watch For…
Well, last year long suffering anime fans were blessed with the more or less successful reboot of Space Battleship Yamato through the high-budget live action movie starring JDRAMA king, Takuya Kimura. Whatever one thinks of that film the fact remains that anime has always been a compelling source for live-action shows or movies although their quality vacillates wildly from utter junk to cult classics. This year there’s yet another anime favourite that is being translated to the silver screen and no, I’m not talking about the Starz network and Sam Raimi’s Western adaptation of Noir.
Xbox 360 – Alice: Madness Returns Review
Alice: Madness Returns is a stylistic tour du force that marries an altogether visual cornucopia of wonders with solid platformer gameplay to make one of 2011’s best video game entries. Though it suffers from some overly long levels that tend to overstay their welcome far too often and a rather odd implementation of a combat lock-on mechanic the game still manages to surprise with some inspired level design and a deep mature storyline that has a remarkably dark narrative that is sure to cause some heads to turn.
