On the other hand…

Seeing as I am damn lazy when it comes to updating my movie list, I figured I’d post incremental updates on the website. That way you can at least follow the increasingly larger list in a bit more current state.

Added today:

Flugten (Drama, Iben Hjejle), Defiance (War/thriller, Daniel Craig), Julia (Drama/thriller, Tilda Swinton), Finding Amanda (Comedy, Matthew Broderick), Friday the 13th 2009 (horror, the remake), Star Trek: The Original Series *Remastered* (Sci-fi, William Shatner – great new transfer) Season 1, 2 and 3, The Dead Zone (thriller) Season 3, 4, 5 and 6, Dexter (Crime/thriller) Season 2, Medium (crime/drama) Season 4, Numb3rs (crime/thriller) Season 4, Stargate SG-1 (Sci-fi) Season 6, 7 and 8, That 70’s Show (Comedy) Season 7 and 8, Pushing Daisies (Comedy) Season 1, Nip/Tuck (Crime/drama) Season 3, Livvagterne (Crime) Season 1 and Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (Drama/thriller, Gene Hackman).

While I’m no Trekkie, I am rather pleased with the Star Trek remasters. Yeah, yeah, mock me all you want. The quality of the show, content-wise, is of course a matter of taste. Some of the special effects are hilarious. They range from being acceptable to downright hilarious. But somehow I find it charming, in its own strange way. It’s great to end an evening by watching an episode of these. Sometimes you fall asleep, sometimes you don’t. It doesn’t matter that much.

Anyway, stay tuned for more updates in the future.

-Jacob

The summer is upon us and the creativity of creativity is severely lacking. No wait, that’s not entirely true. The truth is that the heat is putting a pressure on everyone’s energy, including me. Hence the lack of updates here. Well, time to do something about it!

First of all, I’ve finally updated my DVD list. Actually I update it somewhat frequently, but for you to enjoy it, I kinda need to upload the updated list. Fret not, it’s been done this very weekend.

Furthermore, I’ve had the pleasure – partly – of seeing a few movies and play a few games lately. Due to the still applied lack of energy, I’m just going to run through them rather quickly.

A quick rundown:

MOVIE: Terminator Salvation

Well, the salvation lies within – or so the saying goes. But where is it? There is very little salvation in this movie. Oh Christian Bale, you disappoint me! For once I caught myself thinking “oh, shut your mouth and let someone else get some screen time”. That’s serious business, coming from a Bale fan like me. A pointless story, flawed and lifeless acting, clichéd plot and generally very little to like. Sure, the computer effects are pretty good, but apart from that, there’s little to enjoy. Correction: There is a wee bit salvation within, namely Brad Fiedel’s theme. But unfortunately, it’s been mixed a bit too much here. 4 out of 10.

MOVIE: The Hangover

This is a strange movie. Odd, you say? Well, it’s a comedy, how odd can it be? The thing is, when I saw the movie, I found it quite amusing and not much else. But when the credits rolled, I realized something: It was hella funny!

As for the plot, it’s nothing special: Four guys get together for a bachelor party. One of them is going to be married and the rest of them are going to send him off. Not much meat on that bone. So they travel to Las Vegas, book into a hotel and goes out to party.

The next scene is the three of guys waking up in the hotel room, remembering absolutely ZERO of what happened the night before. And boy, was that a fucked up night or what! Cue words are: A tiger in the bathroom, a baby in the sofa, a wedding to a stripped, a tooth pulled out of own free will, a trip to the hospital, a deal with a meth dealer, a – somewhat – good trip to a casino and much, much more. The trio has lost their soon-to-be-married friend and have to recreate the events from the night before in order to find him.

It’s a great movie and the ending is absolutely fabulous. Be sure to watch the credits which shows the pictures from a camera they used during the night. Absolutely a joy to watch – and rewatch. Loads of bizarre and fun situations and smack full of memorable quotes. I’ll give it 8 out of 10.

MOVIE: Brüno

Seeing as Borat was a laugh-fest from start to end, Sascha was going to have a hard time pulling this stunt off. Having seen loads of the Ali G show, I already knew the character, and while Brüno IS fun in many situations, the stuff that makes him fund is far from being on the edge, like Borat’s. Borat had much silly and much intelligent humour. Brüno has mostly silly.

It doesn’t mean it’s a bad movie or that it isn’t funny. It’s just not in the same league as Borat. Still, it has a handful of really funny scenes so if you enjoyed Borat, I’m sure you’ll get something out of this too. But be warned: It’s not for the homophobes out there. There is a scene with a very lively willy, swinging happily about. I’m quite surprised it wasn’t censored. Brüno’s trip to the swinger club is censored, but it’s still damn funny. 6 out of 10.

GAME: Tales of Monkey Island: Season 1, episode 1

From Telltale Games comes the newest addition to the Monkey Island legacy. It’s a tough act for a relatively small company to live up to some of computer gamings mmost loved and cherished games, something the Monkey Island series certainly is. It could have gone terribly wrong. New graphics style (3D! Oh no!) and a new crew. Well actually, they had quite a few from the original crew aboard. And it shows.

Yes, the game is in 3D. It has lost a bit of its only 16-bit 320×256 resolution charm. But you know what? It’s got good voice acting, funny puzzles that reminds me a great deal of the original games (ie. very illogical at first, but actually highly logical when you consider them through and out) and the graphics. Well, it’s not really that bad. I’d go as far and say it is pretty darn good!

The first episode is relatively short – takes perhaps 3 hours to complete for a veteran – but you pay a small price per episode, so that’s okay in my book. All in all, a great addition to the legacy and I am already looking forward to the next episode. 8 out of 10.

GAME: The Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition

You can never get enough Monkey Island! It’s a blast from the past and it’s back in high definition.

What do you get? Well you get the game that started it all. One of history’s most loved and played adventure games. Ask any fan of adventure games about their top five games and you can be almost certain that Monkey Island is one of them.

The Special edition sports the entire original game, as well as the new version with complete voice acting, hires graphics and remixed music. The really interesting thing is that you can switch between the authentic original look and the new look at any time. Heck, on the Xbox 360 this switch even earns you an achievement. Did I say 360? Yup, the game is released on Xbox 360 as well as the PC. It plays fine on the 360 though a mouse if of course the better method of control.

Let me tell you what I like. Of course I love the original game. The pirate jokes, the insult-wielding sword fights, Stan’s Previously Owned Vehicles, the d’oh! underwater puzzle, tonnes of references to popular culture etc. Let’s be honest: There is a reason the original is considered a classic.

The new version has the exact same story and gameplay. Nothing new there. But it has new music and I have to admit that I find the new music damn sweet. Many people will probably not even notice it, but I did. And it was a joy to behold. Then there is the new graphics. Well, it’s actually quite good. It’s certainly hires. Unfortunately the main character, Guybrush Threepwood himself, doesn’t really look good in his new form. Just about everything else looks great. But since you are looking at Guybrush 95% of the time, it’s a bit annoying.

If you never played the original and have even only the faintest of interest in adventure games – or even computer games at all! – this is an opportunity not to miss out on. You get one of the fiinest pieces of computer code ever released and you get the chance to enjoy one of gaming’s most memorable moments ever. Purists might find that the new look spoils the enjoyment and the new hint system will probably have most new-comers fly through it in no time. But hey, at least they get to enjoy the story. Thank you Lucas Arts, for bringing back the memories and sharing them with a new generation. 8 out of 10.

And that’s all for this update. I’ll try to update more often. And remember to check out my danish blog as well

-Jacob

Right now I’m having a great vacation. Doing nothing but whatever I want. One of the things I wanted was to update my ever growing DVD list. So I did. And I’ve started to add a new service. Update lists! Click it to see what’s new since last update.

For the entire list, click the normal link or here.

Oh and about that VDSL? It rocks. I love the 1MB/s upload speed.

-Jacob

Long overdue, my DVD list was finally updated. If you check out the list, you’ll notice that my collection is getting pretty comprehensive. And no, I haven’t watched all the movies. Yet. Some day. It’s still a nice library.

-Jacob