Review - Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

The Mission Impossible series returns for a fourth installment in what has always been a surprisingly solid bunch of films, the first and third in particular being quite good. Here the action and stakes are raised to even greater proportions but it's still not enough to save this movie from falling a little flat.

The plot here is thin, razor thin. Americans have Russian nuclear launch codes, they get stolen by a sexy mercenary lady, she's gonna sell them to a Russian terrorist and it's up to Tom Cruise and gang to stop them despite Ghost Protocol being invoked by the American government leaving the team disowned by their own country. But the movie doesn't touch of any of the political stuff, or even any sort of mystery or intrigue, it's purely a bunch of set pieces, with the plot driving the team from one to the next. Considering this is a spy movie that's a little disappointing.

The action is undoubtedly the highlight here and it mostly doesn't disappoint. The opening jail break scene is clever but not that exciting, the Dubai skyscraper scene on the other hand is excellent and quite exhilarating, the authenticity coming through and helping to create some genuine nerves and suspense. There's also some clever spy/stealth sequences, such as Cruise and Simon Pegg infiltrating the Kremlin or the team playing a switcheroo on the nuclear code buyers and sellers, all of which work well. The problem is that the plot is almost entirely forgotten about, it seems merely to exist to setup these situations.

Simon Pegg is his usual self in this movie, bringing nice comedic relief at times, almost highlighting the absurdity of the whole situation. Tom Cruise doesn't have much to do here, but he's definitely toned down the cockiness and is quite endearing throughout the film.

So there's quite a few strong points to the movie. What's the problem then? Well the whole lack of a plot thing is a big minus, some forced but weak character development doesn't help, and it is a tad long. The problem here is that the Hollywood trend of forsaking any sort of intelligent script for big brash action sequences continues. If you were to judge the movie on these individual sequences you would say it's quite good, but the fact that there's no plot around any of this except to link these scenes together is going to be a problem for intelligent film fans.


6/10

Gears of War 3 - First Impressions

Finally a reason to dust of the old Xbox 360 with the only exclusive series worth a damn on the Microsoft system. Whereas the Halo series has struggled on the 360, Gears of War has been the epitome of next-gen gaming. Even though PS3 has some great exclusive titles in Resistance and Killzone, Gears of War is the original and best. I've been a fan since day one and I've been eagerly awaiting the third installment for a long time now.

Having tonight played through the entirety of Act 1 on Hardcore, all I can say is that GoW3 has not failed to deliver the goods. The graphics are stunning, the refinements to the gameplay are small but noticeable, the action is non-stop and the controls are still best in show. What's also noticeable now is there seems to be a lot more depth, to the story telling and the characters. There's still a whole bunch of cheesy one-liners and wisecracks, but the guys at Epic are at least trying to add something more to this story.

The game begins with a flashback gameplay sequence of Marcus Fenix attempting to rescue his father. After this, we see the crew now living on a ship, and the obligatory gathering of the crew for a new mission. After the nice cinematic intro it's straight into the action, and it's all so familiar yet still nearly perfect in every way. The shooting in this game just feels so satisfying. The controls are tight and it all comes naturally.

What's interesting about the first Act is that first you play the Marcus Fenix portion, then half way though you switch over to Cole Train and play out his story, the events of which eventually culminate in the same climax. This gives the game some really nice locations to explore from the get go and the action is full on. Gore, explosions and non stop action. Gotta love it. But it also gives the game some time to explore the Cole Train character, as well as showing some of the survivors still dealing with the enemy. Again, the depth to the story and characters is very noticeable here.

The graphics are great. and while there is the odd stutter here and there during cut scenes or transitions, the gameplay sections are always smooth. It's a testament to Epic at just how much pride they take in their product and just how much juice they're able to squeeze out of the now ageing 360.

I can't wait to get back into this game and finish the rest of the campaign. And then all of the other modes as well. This game is jam packed.

The New 52 Review: Green Arrow 1 and Hawk & Dove 1

I'm going to group these two reviews together because neither of these issues is very good and I won't waste your time or mine dissecting it. Needless to say, both titles offer very little in quality or distinction.

Let's start with Hawk & Dove. This one at least has a redeeming quality in that it does have some interesting things regarding the overall DC Universe and it's new continuity. However, it is a little convoluted and rather un-exciting. The artwork is typical Liefeld and by that I mean totally rubbish. Now Hawk has always been depicted as a hulking beast so that's right up Liefeld's alley, but it all just screams the worst of the 90's. So why would you read Hawk & Dove? No idea really. And it seems neither do DC.

Now Green Arrow is at least a character people have heard of. They may even have some fondness for him from some great runs from Denny O'neil, Kevin Smith and Brad Metzler. Here J.T Krul goes for something different. Green Arrow is now the head of Apple, or something like that. Who cares. The supporting characters are lame. The villains are lame. The lame attempts at pop-culture significance are lame. Green Arrow was alright in my books. Not sure I'm liking where this is going.

The New 52 Review: Swamp Thing #1

I'm not your typical fanboy. I don't get up in arms about continuity. I just want awesome comics. So I'm open minded about things which I think is exactly what DC Comics wants, so let's give them a shot. How does the new Swamp Thing stand up?

I love the Alan Moore Swamp Thing. But that's been and gone, and I'm interested in seeing where else the character can go. The big news is that Swamp Thing is back in the DC Universe, although the appearance of Superman in this issue feels a little shoehorned just to emphasize the point.

We meet Alec Holland, developing memories of a Swamp Thing. Superman drops in on him to see what's going on and talk about it all. The dialogue here is very good and supplies a lot of depth to the narrative without feeling like it's all exposition. Meanwhile, there's the Swamp Thing side of things and here it's a story of some archeologists who run into a neck-snapping foe. It's not the best origin story but where writer Scott Snyder succeeds is by mixing the Alec Holland story with a side story This side story brings some much needed horror overtones to the comic.

It appears that Swamp Thing and Alec will be two separate characters, at least for a little while, and it's an interesting way to look at the character. If the darker tone is maintained this will be a fun book.

The artwork is again excellent. DC are delivering the goods art wise on a lot of these new issues and it's good to see. I'm definitely excited for the next one in this series,

The New 52 Review: Detective Comics #1

It doesn't look like much of a reboot for Batman so far. I haven't been keeping up with the mythos for a long time now but this seems like a well written Batman story plain and simple. Is it good? Even very good? Yes, but with all the excitement regarding the reboot the lack of surprise in this title is somewhat disappointing.

So what we have here is a a strong Batman story. The fact that it's also the origin story for the Batman taking on the Joker helps to enhance what may have otherwise been far more pedestrian Batman fare. This title tries to hark back to classic Batman tales of yesteryear and it pulls it off well, but it's a little more nostalgic than original. The problem here is that it's not that hard to write Batman well. The cliffhanger ending promises intrigue and I'm hoping it delivers.

Yep...that's Batman alright.

The artwork here is a little up and down, some beautiful gory and grimy scenes are contrasted with iffy panels throughout. The Joker just doesn't look right on a few pages. I'm interested to see where this goes, and this is the saving grace for this relaunch, the fact that people will be giving the books a while to settle in before deciding whether to stick with it or not.

The New 52 Review: Action Comics #1

Now this is more like it. After the somewhat underwhelming first issue of Justice League, Grant Morrison delivers an excellent first issue in an all new start for Superman. This is a character that despite epitomising the very essence of superhero just never captured a great deal of comic book fan's attention. And I must admit I'm one of them. Superman always seemed so dull to me.

But Grant Morrison embraces the challenge of The New 52 and brings us the best version of Superman yet.
Finally Superman is interesting. Instead of focusing on humanizing superman, Morrison hones in on the alien aspect of the story, and in turn succeeds in making Superman unpredictable and fascinating. What we see here is an alien visitor trying to be heroic but at the same time showing more than a little anger, resilience and righteousness.

Oh No! Superman is a Commie robot from outerspace! 

As Superman goes about his vigilante business, his path crosses with that of a couple of other characters who will feature in this series; Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen and of course Lex Luthor. It's hard to write Luthor badly, and Morrison gets him just right. Immediately Lex is on the case of Superman, determined that he is a dangerous alien who must be stopped and at any cost. Yep, it's on between Supes and Luthor.

The alter ego in this story is Clark Kent, seemingly bottling up the rage inside of Superman and going about his mild-mannered business in a mild-mannered way. I'm not sure how Morrison has in mind for the Superman/Clark Kent aspect but it will be interesting. Morrison is a master and this is a brilliant way to start things off.

Clark Kent or Harry Potter turned bum.

The artwork is brilliant. Morales is such a classic artist, his work is so crisp and gorgeous to look at, and his pacing and story-telling skills are second-to-none. It complements the story and even enhances it. Beautiful work.

This is such a great first issue, I can't wait for the next one.

DC Comics - The new 52

Have no fear my friends! The reviews of the first wave of DC reboots will be up later today.  I've read a few early reviews and it looks like there might be some really good new titles so I'm excited to get my hands on them and give you the verdict. Stay tuned!

DC Comics reboot - JLA 1 Review

The much anticipated DC Comics reboot is finally upon us, and it all starts with Justice League of America 1 by Geoff Johns and Jim Lee. After all the hype and intrigue, I must say I'm more than a little underwhelmed. Here is the chance to start everything again, and what do we get? Standard superhero fare. Different, but really pretty much the same. As someone who hasn't read DC Comics for quite a while, and am completely out of the loop, I would guess I'm the exact type of reader DC Comics is targeting with this relaunch. And maybe I'm being a little harsh since this is the first issue out of 52 new first issues, and since we're starting 5 years in the past, there's a whole lot of story to unfold, but this is not the big bang I was expecting.

Things start of with Batman chasing down an unknown villain across rooftops in Gotham. The artwork is, as always by Jim Lee, simply brilliant. But the story telling is sub-par. The whole premise of everyone meets each other and they get off on the wrong foot but eventually they'll team up for the greater good just seems like the lazy way to kick off this whole universe.

What is it about the docks that continually attracts shady villain types? .

So Batman is chasing this villain, while himself being chased by the authorities, because we're in a world that fears and distrusts these new superheroes. How do we know? Because Batman tells us. Then Green Lantern shows up. Cue some witty banter and explosions galore and then it's off to meet Superman, who seems kind of pissed off, leading to the inevitable showdown between Bats and Supes in Issue 2. We're also slightly jarringly introduced to the would-be Cyborg and get some more lame exposition showing how the world is confused about these new emerging superheroes.

Green Lantern is such a douche...

It seems like DC have played it very safe here. I don't understand the point of rebooting an entire universe only to make it the same as before, but I'm willing to give this series the benefit of the doubt and see where it leads. If nothing else, Jim Lee's art is beautiful. Let's see what the rest of the titles have to offer.

Album Review: Nader Sadek - In the Flesh

There's been some great Death Metal released so far this year, the new Origin album being a particular highlight, but I have to say this has quickly become my new favourite. 

Egyptian born conceptual artist Nader Sadek has assembled a Death Metal supergroup to portray his vision of a world obsessed with consuming petroleum and in turn consuming itself. The roster consists of Flo Mounder (Cryptopsy), Steve Tucker (Morbid Angel) and Rune Ericksen (Mayhem) as well as other guest musicians and the influences and quality of musicianship is clear to see. 

After an eerie intro Petrophilia assaults with razor sharp cold black metal riffs and swamp laden vocals. In fact this album has really turned me onto Steve Tucker as a vocalist, his performance on this whole album is brilliant. Very Dave Vincent circa Domination era Morbid Angel but with more hate and venom. Much of the album actually channels the Domination album by Morbid Angel, with some nice sludgy riffs alternating with more bleak black metal styled ones. The drumming by Flo is brilliant and unrelenting throughout, and Rune Ericksen's influence can be felt with the cold, bleak, digital production as became popular in the early 2000's Black Metal scene, especially with bands on the Moonfog roster. 

Nader Sadek has entered the Death Metal fray swinging. This is such a brilliant album, with a unique vision and impeccable musicianship. It's going to be hard to top for the rest of the year.

Breaking Bad Season 4 Premiere

Having just recently gone through the first 3 seasons of this show with more and more interest the more I saw, I was chomping at the bit to see how season 4 would get under way and well, it's mostly how you would expect it to pan out. That is to say that both Walter and Jesse live and things go back to roughly where they were before, with the pair resuming cooking duties for Gus, it's how things happen that keeps it interesting, if a little uninspiring.

Gale is confirmed dead and we see a little more about him before his demise. Jesse is in shock and next thing he and Walter are back at the lab and in the hands of Mike and Victor. Walter does a decent job of talking his way into staying alive but Gus's disposal of Victor definitely makes it's point but seems a little over the top. Meanwhile we touch base with Skyler, and Hank and Marie, but only briefly.

This episode is all about resetting the boundaries after a massive season 3 which took matters to a whole new level, and it falls a little flat because of this. However now that things are back to a relative status quo, and with Gus nowconfirming he is an absolute headcase, the stage is set for the stakes to get even higher. Can Walter take out Gus and become kingpin? The future of Breaking Bad is still unclear and that's what makes it so exciting to watch.

E3 Observations

Microsoft

So I stayed up past midnight, awaiting the live stream of the Microsoft conference, and boy did I regret it the next day when I had to front up to work dead tired. The MS conference was disappointing, and despite being a long time fan of both the original Xbox and Xbox 360, I have to say that the wheels have truly come off for Microsoft. Speaking from personal experience only, I've almost completely moved from 360 to the PS3. I don't like having to pay for Live, and regardless, my 360 is one of the old ones with no WI-FI. MS made a gamble to get the 360 out first but for the early adopters, would you rather buy another 360 to update it or just go for the PS3 with Blu-Ray, a larger HDD, built-in WI-FI and free online. Surely there's quite a few hard core gamers who went for the PS3 once it showed what it can do. So the message of this year's press conference was that all the 3rd party games will be on 360, there's a lot of media content on 360 and that Kinect exists. So like I said, my 360 doesn't have WI-FI so I'm not interested in the media, all those games will be on PS3 as well and the voice control in Mass Effect 3 doesn't interest me in the slightest. Gears of War 3 obviously looks great, and I know it will be as brilliant as both it's predecessors were, but the predictable Halo reveals, really didn't stir me up at all, and when you look at Sony's exclusives coming this year, and the massive Nintendo news, and it really looks like MS is running last in this race now, at least for me.

Sony

I'm loving my PS3 more every year and 2011 and early 2012 are shaping up as the best for the Sony system. Uncharted 3, probably the best series of this generation, as well as Resistance 3, Infamous 2, Twisted Metal and others just re-emphasized Sony's superiority over Microsoft in the software department. And the pricing of their new portable system the Vita would have made a lot of people happy. I love my PSP. I'll admit that the great games for it were few and far between but the good ones did deliver, and the multimedia capabilities are still far superior to most portable devices. Expandable storage and a brilliant and large screen means the PSP is a blessing for me on holiday. So they don't really need a ton of games coming out, just a few must haves like the Uncharted they've been showing off, and I'm pretty much sold. Now the fact it may also allow the PS3 to leverage the same capabilities as the new Wii U and you can see why Microsoft are up against it. 

Nintendo 

I've never been much of a Nintendo fan. I was a Sega kid all the way in the 8 and 16-bit wars and  then a Sony and Xbox fan. But the new Wii U has me super excited. Finally you can play all the big 3rd party games, in a unique way to boot as well as hopefully numerous exclusives. The big question is how long will Nintendo's power dominance last as MS and Sony prepare their next generation of machines. Nevertheless, Nintendo are counting on building a sizeable lead by then. If the price is reasonable and the launch titles strong, I will be itching to get it, and from a non-Nintendo fan I think that's a pretty strong backing. Nintendo's worry should be that the 3DS is waning with weak launch titles, little to discern itself from the everlasting DS/i/XL and little reason for many people to get it. Now that the Sony Vita has been announced at the same price as the 3DS I would say Nintendo should be feeling threatened for the first time in a long time in the handheld market. But the wow factor of the Wii U overshadowed this and gave gamers a lot to look forward to, as well as Microsoft and Sony. 

The Games - 

There were a lot of big titles shown at E3, including stage demos of Gears of War 3, Mass Effect 3, Modern Warfare 3(!) and a ton of others. But I was really impressed by Rage which seems like a blend of Bioshock and Borderlands, but with brilliant graphics, and seemingly a lot of variety and a ton of gameplay. 

Bioshock 3 also has me super excited. The first one was one of the greatest of this generation and this looks to be an awesome re-imagining of the Bioshock genre. The multiplayer FPS battle will be fascinating this time around as Battlefield 3 has been absolutely dazzling with what's been shown so far and with the MW3 team having a lot pressure on them Still, what was seen of MW3 also looked superb. I've always been a CoD fan but Black Ops was lackluster and I've been waiting for Battlefield to deliver for a long time. This might be their turn.

Bring on next years E3. 

Review - X-Men First Class

Is this the best X-Men movie? Well it certainly has a couple of things it does better than any of it's predecessors. The costumes are excellent. Spot on. An homage to retro but still looking sleek and stylish. And the story is strong too. It's an origin one of sorts, showing the creating of the personas of Magneto and Professor X and the formation of the X-Men. In fact, some of the strongest parts of the movie involved pre-Magneto Erik Lehnsherr as a child in Nazi concentration camps as he is tormented by a brilliant Kevin Bacon and then as an adult on his one man crusade against the Nazi who got away. Charles Xavier's story is a little less interesting but James McAvoy does a fine job as a young, brash and idealistic soon to be Professor X. However once the background is set the movie pushes full steam ahead into the conflict part of it's story, culminating in the inevitable epic battle. There is an interesting take on Xavier's paralysis here but it's also a let down in that drawing of the line between Magneto and Xavier is predictable and safe, laying down the groundwork for the next movie but not leaving anything interesting to ponder in the meantime. The other negative was the haphazard manner in which the team was assembled and the X-Men formed. There was no explanation or reasoning why these particular mutants were selected, and the code-name sequences were a little corny. Nevertheless, this is mostly nitpicking. The strong points are brilliant and these negatives are minor. As I mentioned, Kevin Bacon is awesome. If you don't consider him a bad-ass you will after First Class. The acting is very strong overall actually, Michael Fassbender particularly impressive, though I swear I said January Jones as Emma Frost was terrible before it became a Twitter storm. And Michael Ironsidemaking an appearance was good to see too. Did I mention the costumes? The whole look and feel of the movie, coupled with the strong acting, effects and story telling certainly put this high on the Marvel movie list, let alone the X-Men movie list and it bodes well for future of the series. Definitely a must see.

Review - Limitless

To me this seems much more like a Phillip K Dick story than The Adjustment Bureau. A down on his luck writer, played by Brad Cooper, is offered a wonder drug that changes the way he sees the world, and opens a new realm of possibilities for what he is capable of. We already knew Brad Cooper could do the job as a clean cut good looking over achiever, but here he gets the chance to show another side at the start of the movie as a hobo, down and out writer, and he does a great job. Perhaps it's that to me Brad Cooper still isn't too familiar but he really becomes the character in this one.

What I loved about this movie was the great sense of paranoia, fear, danger and confusion that this movie portrayed, all emotions associated with drug use and all quite real for our protagonist here. People are following him, he's having black outs, he's gonna run out of drugs, he owes money to a loan shark, the drug has made his life better but brought it's own set of problems.

I did enjoy the fact that the movie doesn't get preachy or carry some sort of anti-drug message, but at the same time it is also held back from greatness by the fact it doesn't really explore any of these issues such as is it right to take drugs to improve performance or open our minds, and it doesn't go into greater detail about how many people around the world are and have been using this drug, and how many world changing events have been shaped by this drug, since it becomes clear there are many people using it. In this sense they could have made it far more sci-fi and turned it into a bit of an epic. Instead this is purely a story about one man, and even then we don't really get to understand him all that much.

It's a well done movie, and a good story told well, but it's limited scope keeps it from greatness. Still, it's worth watching.

Review - The Mechanic

Rejoice! Jason Statham is back doing what he does best. Killing people, getting laid and being an all around bad ass. This isn't his finest hour, but the over the top violence almost makes up for it. Mechanic is a code word for hitman, and Statham is the best. Trouble is his next job is to kill him life long mentor, the wheelchair bound Donald Sutherland. The agency he works for has told him to do it, that Sutherland is a mole and must be killed. And the job is done. After this, Statham runs into his now dead mentor's grieving son, takes him under his wing, and teaches him the art of killing. From here on in Ben Foster pretty much takes over the lead role, and he does a really good job. He's a pretty damn good actor, and can do the bad ass role pretty well too. 

The story is pretty shallow, and light on twists and turns, but as I said earlier, the violence is used to cover this up. And it mostly works. This won't go down as a cult classic like Crank, but it's an easy way to spend 90mins, as long as you don't expect too much, and are a Statham fan. 

Soundwave Festival 2011 - Melbourne, Australia

This year I travelled to Melbourne for the 2011 Soundwave festival. There was such a great lineup this year, however the way they organised the timetable meant there were some tough decisions to be made on which band to see for many people. Me, I was there for Slayer and Iron Maiden, and anything else was a bonus.

It was a cold dark day in Melbourne, a stark difference to the searing hot temperatures we usually get in Perth for Soundwave. After finally getting in, getting drink vouchers, and smashing a few cans of Beam and Cola, I made my way down to see The Sword. I’m a big fan of their first album, not as much their later stuff, but they played a great set, including Winter’s Wolves so I was happy. Their sound wasn't as "doomy" as I hoped though.

After that it was a rush to the main stage for Monster Magnet. A band I’ve loved for a long time, I was extremely happy to see they were playing. They didn’t pull a huge crowd but they delivered a good set, all the classics, nice and crunchy guitar sound. The singer is looking a bit pudgy these days, but his voice is still great.

Then it was time for more drinks.  After that it was back to the metal stage for Dimmu Borgir. It started to rain and they were a good 30mins late to come out. When they did, they were excellent. They ripped through Mourning Palace at the end, but 3 or 4 songs was quite a disappointment. They did promise to return for a headlining tour, but not until next year. After them was High on Fire on the stage next door, another of my favourite bands. They were great. No frills, just loud and fast and Matt Pike's voice in great form. 

Back to the bar for more drinks and then getting ready for Slayer. 

I worked my way through the crowd toward the front in anticipation of Slayer, while Ill Nino played on the stage next door. A massive wall of Marshall amps is what awaited us on the empty stage. Ill Nino were going over their allotted time and the Slayer crowd was getting restless. They started booing Ill Nino, which pissed the singer off. He gave the Slayer crowd the middle finger and kept playing.

When they finally finished, and Slayer appeared on stage, there was a massive crush which shunted me right toward the front of the stage and a mad pit ensued. 5 minutes into War Ensemble and I had lost my shoe and saw it thrown on stage. Another 5 minutes and a crowd surfer kicked me in the head and I watched my sunglasses go flying too. This was a violent pit, I was loving it.

Slayer were awesome! Mandatory Suicide, Reign in Blood, Black Magic! And they finished with Angel of Death which was absolutely bonecrushing. I was bruised, battered, and walked away with a huge grin on my face!

And finally, it was time for the headliners, Iron Maiden. I love these guys. They're the nicest band you will ever see, and they always deliver and give their best for every show. They played a few new songs which I have to confess I wasn't familiar with, I've neglected their last couple of releases but the songs were instantly catchy and I'll be definitely checking out their new stuff very soon. As for the classics, every single one was perfect and a dream come true to see live. 2 Minutes to Midnight, The Evil That Men Do, Fear of the Dark, Number of the Beast, The Trooper, so so good. Of course with only a 2hr set they missed a few classics like Aces High but it was such an incredible show and what a way to end an awesome Soundwave. Can't wait for next year!