Time Machine 1: Knights of the Old Republic

            Star Wars. It is a franchise that is held near and dear in many people’s hearts, whether they are nerds, lawyers, actors, rock stars, or models. They all love the movies and kids go wild over the cartoon shows and action figures, however, like comic books, there is a wide gap between the good Star Wars video games and the bad ones. In this current console generation, there have been a couple of attempts at a S.W. video game (the Force Unleashed and Lego Star Wars) but they have not been very good. So I thought I would recommend an old game to hold you over until you spoil yourself in the fall with new games (i.e. ACIII and Boarderlands 2); Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic (I and II).

            Developed by Bioware, the company who would later develop Mass Effect, Knights of the Old Republic I (KOTOR I) took a unique look at the S.W universe by having a story set long before Anakin Skywalker was even born. In the time period of the Old Republic, the Jedi are still the good guys protecting the Republic but the Sith are not the evil bad-guys lurking in the corner. Instead they have their own government and are at war with the Jedi and the Republic. There are also hundreds (probably thousands) of light saber wielding Sith verus the Sith in the movies, which are limited to two (the master and his/her apprentice). The Sith also command an enormous army that has the power to decimate entire planets. The story of KOTOR follows the unnamed Jedi protagonist who has to stop the Sith Lord, Darth Malak, from taking control of the galaxy and is aided by a wide variety of characters including a bounty hunter, three different Jedi, and a wookiee among others. KOTOR II, developed by Obsidian (Fallout New Vegas), features a story set years after the first and follows the Jedi Exile on a similar mission to defeat the evil of the Sith.

            The thing that separates KOTOR from other RPGs is that it runs on a d20 RPG system similar to that used in the Dungeons and Dragons table top RPG. Instead of running forward and mashing the triggers to kill your enemies, the combat is round based and the games runs the ‘chances’ of your character doing something. It adds a sense of realism because not every shot you fire is going to hit your target and not every swing of you sword is going to kill your opponent. In combat scenarios in both games, you can pause the game during combat to think out your actions and attacks and you can switch between your three member party to have certain members play specific roles in combat or have them use a certain power or aid (medpack for example). KOTOR II offers a little more user friendly interface as it allows you to set characters to certain roles (a support role or aggressive role for example) both in and out of combat and will automatically make decisions based on what mode you put them in.

            However as fun as both games are, they each have their problems. KOTOR II was rushed out by Lucasarts, who wanted the game out for the holiday rush, and because of this there was a lot of content that was cut to make the deadline. Luckily there are some good modders who have released a mod that restores the content originally cut by Obsidian. The mod, The Sith Lords Restored Content Mod (TSLRC), has been released, patched, and updated multiple times with the most recent update being released only a couple of weeks ago. The link for the download will be in the bottom of the page. But even if you don't install the mod, the game still plays well and the only downside is there will be some plot holes in the end of the game.

KOTOR I’s problem is much more infuriating. The game has difficulty running on Windows 7 and modern operating systems. When I recently got my new Alienware laptop, I couldn’t play KOTOR I either on my Steam copy or on the hard copy I had. I’ve done some looking and found that by disabling movies and using the ‘hardware mouse’ will help run the game on new computers and OPs. (If you have a steam version, people also recommend disabling ‘In-game Steam overlay’ for KOTOR I.) I will also post a link to a Steam community page for additional help, just in case.

            Recently finding both games has been difficult. While KOTOR I can easily be found on Steam for a pretty low cost, KOTOR II could only be played by finding a hard copy on amazon or other online websites. UNTIL RECENTLY. Just in the past month, Lucasarts has released a bundle pack (pictured below) that includes both games on two separate disks for only twenty dollars. Aside from the problems mentioned above, the pack doesn’t make any changes to the graphics or add any additional content, which will disappoint many of the hardcore fans of these two games, but despite this fact it still gives you a way to play these great games. If you have never played these games before, then go and buy this pack right now, but if you have played the games before, I would just warn you that you would be buying the games for what you have previously played, nothing more and nothing less.

For KOTOR I problems: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1620666

For the TSLRC mod: http://www.moddb.com/mods/the-sith-lords-restored-content-mod-tslrcm

Buy KOTOR collection on Gamestop:http://www.gamestop.com/pc/games/star-wars-knights-of-the-old-republic-collection/103065

But KOTOR collection on Amazon:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00784HHUM/ref=s9_simh_gw_p63_d16_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-5&pf_rd_r=19WDFDBK6JFHT9C77Z8D&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470939291&pf_rd_i=507846

Happy playing.....

Movie Review 3: The Bourne Legacy

            Recently I reviewed The Campaign and while it was a decent movie, I needed to see an action movie to offset the comedy of Ferrell and Galifianakis; so I chose The Bourne Legacy. Direced by Tony Gilroy, the screen writer for the previous three Bourne films, the film features Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker and The Town), Edward Norton (Fight Club), and Rachel Weisz (The Mummy) in an attempt to re-boot the Bourne series.

            The film’s story runs parallel to the original movies and focuses the tagline “there was never just one” Bourne. The plot revolves around the protagonist, Aaron Cross (Renner), trying to figure out the secrets behind the program he is a part of, Operation Outcome, and the mystery pills he is taking and desperately needs more of. Along the way he finds one of his doctors, Dr. Marta Shearing (Weisz), who is being targeted by the CIA in an attempt to dissolve and cover up Outcome, the program both Shearing and Cross are with. The film’s antagonist, Eric Byer (Norton), is the head of National Research Assay Group and trying to handle the problem both Cross and Bourne are causing. The bulk of the film features Cross and Shearing running from police led by Byer’s group and resources.

            One problem the movie has is that it spends a little too much time explaining the backstory of the previous movies and how this one relates to the others. Although it was helpful at times, it was mostly unnecessary. The film should have focused less on Bourne and let viewers connect the dots between the movies. Another problem is that Renner is no Damon. Even though Renner does a good job of playing his part, his character is nowhere near as deep as the character of Bourne. The film also spends a little too much time on exposition instead of the action that was shown off in the trailers. I realize the story is important to a film such as this one but the action in the movie is really good. It keeps you on the edge of your seat and the scenes are not completely ruined by the trailers, which is why the small amount of action scenes is disappointing.

            Now despite the negatives mentioned above, the film has a large amount of ‘selling points’ that outnumber the negatives. For one, the film is about two hours and twenty minutes in length but feels much shorter; which is a positive thing. The movie feels long but not too long and there are not many scenes that make you think “I could do without this.” As I mentioned above, the film could have left out some of the ‘Bourne connection’ scenes but nothing more than that. Also mentioned above, the action is very good and fits the cliché “keeping you on the edge of your seat.”  For three, some of the best scenes of the movie are the expositional ones featuring Cross and Shearing both Renner and Weisz respectively do an amazing job of truly immersing the audience in their characters problems.

Overall, the film is a very good action/drama movie follow-up to The Dark Knight Rises and one that fans of both action and drama movies will enjoy. While it will not be movie the year contender (I mean it doesn’t have a single chance), it is a movie that I highly suggest seeing.

7/10

Movie Review 2: The Campaign

            In this week’s movie review, I review the new comedy movie, The Campaign, directed by Jay Roach (the Austin Power Movies and Dinner for Schmucks) and starring the old comedy king, Will Ferrell, and the current reigning king, Zack Galifianakis.

(short plot summary as always) Will Ferrell plays a North Carolina congressman who is currently serving his fifth consecutive term. Because no one runs against him, he believes that he will win a sixth term, however when news of his affair becomes public, two wealthy CEOs’ plot to support a candidate to gain influence over Brady’s district. They choose local tourism director Marty Huggins (Zach Galifianakis) who, at first, seems to be the most unlikely choice at beating Brady but soon becomes a candidate that makes a race out of the election.

When I saw the first trailer, I thought that this movie would be different than most of Ferrell and Galifianiakis’ previous movies (i.e. Step Brothers and Due Date). Now don’t get me wrong, those movies are great and really funny but when push comes to shove they’re nothing more than simple humor. I thought The Campaign would be a good (and funny) satire of the state of politics and elections in this country.

In one simple first-grade sentence; I was wrong.

Now just because I was wrong doesn’t mean the movie wasn’t funny. And in fact there are a few moments that properly satirize US elections. There is one particular scene where Huggins’ campaign manager (Dylan McDermott, pictured above with Galifianakis)  converts him, his home, and his family into that of a typical American politician. To do so, he decorates his house with guns, taxidermy (antlers and deer heads for example), and replacing his pugs with two labs (one named Sarge) to name a few changes. However the movie’s problem is it’s comedy is the classic example of “hit and miss.” There are scenes where I was laughing like crazy and others where I was ‘cringing.’ One problem the movie has is that it repeats ‘gags’ multiple times throughout the move so while it’s funny the first time it happens it gets less and less amusing as it is repeated. One example is the baby punch scene which is slightly altered later in the movie and ‘no-where-near’ as funny (well not as funny in my opinion since there were people laughing at it). That being said, the movie is still funny and the funny scenes are well worth waiting through the bad ones.

In summary, Ferrell and Galifianiakis make a good comedy team and while there are some scenes they will not make you laugh, there are plenty more that will make you laugh. This is definitely a good comedy, just don’t expect Hangover 3 or Step Brothers 2.

6/10

P.S.-look forward to my review of the new Bourne movie in the coming days.

Movie Review 1: Total Recall

          So I am kicking off "Thrill's Movie Reviews" with the first movie of August, Total Recall. Although the movie is a remake of the 1990 film of the same name starring 'The Governator,' this review will be based only on the film itself and not on its accuracy to the original film or the short story both the remake and the original are based off of; "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale" by Philip Dick.  

          I have to say that my friend and I thought this movie was simply a knockoff Inception like movie because all the trailers showed the main character, played by Colin Farrell, getting into a machine that creates an artificial reality and afterword is immediately ambushed by police officers. We believed at first glance that the big twist, the "is the top gonna fall" moment, would be that the movie would end with Colin's character getting out of the machine and we find out that the entire movie was a hallucination created by the "Rekall" machine. But as a movie lover, I needed to see the movie anyway. 

        (And now for a quick somewhat spoiler free plot summery courtesy of wiki.) The movie opens by explaining that near the end of the 21st century after being devastated by nuclear war, Earth is divided into two superpowers, United Federation of Britain (UFB) and The Colony (formerly Oceania), who are locked in a battle for supremacy to unify the world.(While the UFB appears to be a seemingly normal government and country, minus a population problem, the Colony is a mix of China town and the futuristic city of Coruscant from the Star Wars series). In this world lives Doug Quaid (Colin Farrell), a factory worker suffering from violent nightmares. Dissatisfied with lowly existence, Quaid visits 'Rekall', a corporation that provides its clients with implanted artificial memories of the lives they would like to have. A 'Rekall' representative, finds that Quaid was actually a secret agent thus stops implanting him the memory about an adventure of a secret agent. Armed SWAT team shoot and kill all of the ‘Rekall’ employees before Quaid kills all of them. He returns home to his wife Lori (Kate Beckinsale) who, after trying to kill him, reveals that she's really a secret agent and not really his wife. Now he is on the run and he joins forces with a resistance agent named Melina (Jessica Biel) while he tries to unravel the secrets of his own mind while fighting the UFB Special Forces led by Prime Minister Vilos Cohaagen (Bryan Cranston).

          The highlight of the movie is the excellent cast since they do an excellent job of truly immersing you in this crazy post-apocalyptic universe. Farrell does a good job of acting the clichéd role of secret agent who lost all of his memories only to have them come back at a terrible time while Biel does a good job of playing the resistance agent who wants to save Doug for both the resistance and herself. Unfortunately the cast is the only good quality the movie has. The plot is very predictable and clichéd and left me correctly predicting almost every event from the opening scene to the closing credits. The clichés go from Doug fighting some of the robot cops he was previously making to Doug's memories appearing to be the key to helping the Resistance beat the UFB. The movie's big twists and turns would have been surprising two decades ago but today result in a plot that seems to be made from the story lines of the latest science fiction movies and video games from the past decade. Another problem the movie has is the oxymoron-ic nature of the police in this reality as they are very easily beaten by Doug and Melina. The car chase scene that was shown off in the multiple trailers is very reminiscent of the car chase scene from Minority Report. The difference between the two is in Minority Report's universe, the police have the technology to deactivate Tom Cruse's car and have it return to the police station. One would think that the police, in the year 2083, would at least have the technology to deactivate the super high tech hover car and not have to resort to making a road block; a road block that Doug and Melina easily avoid (spoiler alert, sorry). This 'dumb' police really takes away from the entirety of the movie and makes you think why they can do things they should.

          All in all, this movie is good but very predictable and in this day in age with movie ticket prices up to 12-15 dollars, this is one to wait and catch on HBO in the winter. 

 5/10

Extra note....this movie does makes me want to go watch the original and/or read the short story that inspired both films. Apparently the original has a trip to Mars and it makes me think why I didn't see space travel in this one. Oh well....

Movie Review Guidelines

    So before my first movie review, I thought that an explanation of my review system would be useful before y'all see my first score. I will review all movies on a 0-10 scale with 0 being death on screen and 10 being the greatest movies of all time. The structure is loosely based on IGN's game review structure so creds to them. And here it is...

10 – Heaven on a Screen
The Pantheon of Movies. A masterpiece that is not necessarily flawless, but it is so terrific that it is not much else that could have been done. It is a movie that will without a doubt survive the test of time and will be classic in no time.

Example: The Godfather, Star Wars V, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, Raiders of the Lost Ark

9 – Awesomeness in a Can
A movie that is movie of the year material hands down and could stand toe to toe with the greatest movies of all time. However the few flaws the movie has keep it from being in the pantheon of movies.

Example: The Dark Knight, The Avengers, Hangover, Inception, TDKR

8 – Great Stuff Bro
A very good movie that most people will enjoy watching and while it might not be the best in theaters, it's worth your time (and money).

Example: Iron Man 2, The Other Guys, Unknown

7 – Good Game…I mean movie
While there are some prevalent issues, the overall experience is still good enough to recommend. A little to clichéd and repetitive at times but overall is still enjoyable.  

Example: Rush Hour, Man of the Year

6 – Ok Man
In one word; passable. Ok. No more. No less.

Example: Blades of Glory, Scott Pilgrim vs the World

5 – Not Ok Bub
There are a handful of good things about it, but the numerous negatives out way what little good there is. Wait until it is out on HBO.

Example: Total Recall (2012)

4 – Bad apple
A movie that has too many negative qualities but has some good diamonds layered amongst crap.

Example: Star Wars II (Attack of the Clones), Land of the Lost

3- A worse purse
Simply put a bad and awful idea out of the gate. You might enjoy two maybe three scenes in the movie. Overall it is an idea that should have been rejected.

Example: Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter , New Years Eve, Any parody movies (i.e-Scary Movie series)

2- Stepping on a Lego
It hurts to watch this. No amount of popcorn and coke could make it any better. A good movie to make fun of, which is the only quality that keeps it from the bowels of movie hell.

Example: Magruber. The Last Airbender

0/1 – RUN AWAY/THE DEATH OF MOVIES
A movie that is hands down terrible and should never be seen anywhere any time. It is a movie the Mystery Science Theatre 3000 team could ‘rift’ with no problems.

Example: Plan 9 from Outer Space, Alone in the Dark

Out of the Gate

What's up y'all?

          So I never thought I would ever have a blog. In fact a couple of years ago I thought I would be the last person with one. But here I am writing my first post.

          I'm doing this for a couple of reasons. 4 1, I have seen many different things that I have wished to share with the world only to realize that I had no one to share with. I am an only child and shy to top it off. Although I can be very loud and outgoing with friends, when not in my 'comfort zone' I am as quiet as a rock. 4 2, I like to think of myself as a someone who is in touch with the average person and his/her interests. I love to play video games for fun and not for the challenge. I love to see movies and watch TV but hate seeing 'fun' movies and shows getting nailed with bad reviews. I believe that I can truly provide correct expectations for both movies and tv shows. And video games. Basically what I'm trying to say is that I will review movies, tv shows, and video games as well as giving recommendations to odd and old entertainment during a dry spell. (I will also try to give some music and concert recommendations when I can but music likes are much more touchie-feelie and as a classic rock/heavy metal fan I don't want to upset any rap/pop/hip-hop fans.) And 4 3, Some of my friends say that I am one of the funniest people when I'm not trying so hopefully you will get some enjoyment out of my posts. I can guarantee that any 'funny as hell stories' I hear will definitively relay to you all.

          I suppose I should say something about myself right now right. As I'm writing, I am about to start my first year of college at Wake Forest University in North Carolina. In high school I did everything from being in the band (trombone) to taking part in Student Government and playing third string bench for the football team. I wasn't really good but when I did play I played offensive and defensive line. And I did have my moments which got me the nickname 'Will the Thrill' and 'Papa Fridge.' In my free time I attempt to play the drum parts for metal songs like Metallica's Trapped Under Ice and Slayer's Seasons in the Abyss and I am teaching myself the guitar (so far it's not going so well). As for college and my future, all I can say at the moment is that I might be on the marching band for the Demon Deacons (aka SOTOBAG).

          Well, I believe that's a good first post. As for questions like "what's fridge logic" and things like that, that's for another time.

Peace in the Middle East,
          WTT (Will the Thrill)

P.S. 4 4, WHAT THE F**K HAPPENED TO CLIVE WINSTON??? ( I hope someone gets that.)