A Little Something For Everyone

     This year has just started and a lot of awesome things have been getting made, new products are being announced and overall this year is panning out to be a great one. There's so much to be exited about that sometimes its tough to choose what to be excited over. There is an indisputable feeling of re-freshness when one realizes how great a year is going to be, thus we decided to compile a few reviews of cool things that recently came out in order to share the joy and hope that this will be an awesome year, there is a little something for everyone here, there is so much going on already we can't help but look forward to all else this year will bring.

     The Most Watched Valentine's Day Movie

       The Vow had everything in it to make it a great movie, it had a good cast, a good story based off of a real story which always works well, and the preview of the movie caused many to go into tears mode, one would imagine that this movie would have been great, but there was a forgotten element, an important element, that this movie missed, one that should never be overlooked, the script. The movie in itself was not a wretched movie, it was a fun movie to watch and it was a tear jerker, but it did not have good dialogue to go with it, this is kind of a big flaw. A requirement within romance movies is that those that love chick flicks will go and cry and enjoy themselves while those that don't are at least presented with a good script, some laughs, and an overall ok experience. The problem with "The Vow" is that because of the poor script many could not find enjoyment within this movie, many who love chick flicks have also admitted to the fact of poor scripting, it's unfortunate really. In the end this movie was a 2/5 at best, with good company it might go to 2.5/5.

      Star Wars Episode I 3D

     So some of us got the chance to go watch Star Wars Episode I 3D this weekend and we assure you that it was just as corny as it has always and that Jar Jar was as terrible as he has always been. Let's be honest here Episode I is just not that good, the acting is lacking, the script is poor, Jar Jar is in it, and we have the George Lucas' "every scene must have 10 things going on in the background" syndrome. So did the 3D help it at all? Kind of, the 3D effects weren't used often so at times you could take off your glasses and see the movie normally which is to no surprise being that it wasn't filmed in 3D to begin with, some still were disappointed though for the rumors of 3D and the re-release screamed tons of changes and there were only a few so that was disappointing to some. We are on the team that says the least amount of changes Lucas ever does to a movie the better we are, they are rarely good changes to begin with so we're better off without them. The movie is still part of the Star Wars series so loyalty alone carries fans on. The interesting thing about this movie is that the new generation of watchers love it, while the older generation hates it, which happened for good reason, Lucas made this movie with the new generation in mind, so if you go see it do so with this in mind. Overall this movie was a 2.5/5, with good company and comedic commentary it can raise to a 3.5/5 (it's a lot of fun to make fun of this movie). 

      Mass Effect 3 Demo

     For the gamers out there the Mass Effect 3 demo came out yesterday and it blew our minds. In the demo you go through the introduction and one of your first missions in which you get to test controls, fighting mechanics, you get to see how much they have improved the environment and graphics in general, and overall get a little taste of how awesome this game is going to be. ME3 is the most looked forward to game of this year, so lucky to all other games that its coming out next month, thank god that it is. For those new to the game this is the third installment of the series and its conclusion, the big deal with this series is that its a real time role playing shooter that engages you in your decision making and every choice you made on the previous games change the way the story flows within this game. What this means is that the replay value for this game is out of bounds the most developed anyone has ever attempted before. No game has ever incorporated your choices from a previous game into its sequel, not only that but being able to import your own character is awesome as well. Overall ME3 is promising a ton, even a multiplayer mode which IGN just recently praised, and after playing through this demo we can only summarize that Bioware are actually going to be able to deliver all the awesome they promised. Here is a game worth looking forward to, be it on your PS3 or your Xbox 360, or even your PC, this game will be available to all. Look for it March 6th.  

     Source Fed

    If you are a long time reader you know we love Phillip D Franco and everything he does on YouTube, well Phil and his team have recently started a new channel called Source Fed where we get everything we loved from Phil's channel taken to the next level and basically we get everything that mattered throughout the day in 2 min segments they call "20 minutes or less". This channel not only keeps you up to date on everything that is going on in the world but it does so with good humor, good writing, and a great cast, they also have a blog with more relevant news to quench your thirst if you want more. Phil or sxephil will continue to produce his own videos that we love and will take part in some of the Source Fed stuff. This is a good way to stay on top of things that are going on around you, new movie reviews, random social critiques and so forth, it is always a good idea to stay informed on what is going on around you. Be warned that Phil has been known to curse and have more mature content so if you are offended don't see his videos but Source Fed is family friendly, at least so far we have not seen any material or dialogue that was risque. So in the end Source Fed is a good YouTube channel to be filled in on everything that is going on around the world, they update whenever anything of relevance is happening, so almost every day, and house some of the most talented people within YouTube, be sure to give them a look.

   There are a lot of other updates to be made of games coming out, movies to see, Angry Birds is now on Facebook (What?! Yeah!!), and with the Academy Awards coming up there is a lot happening, we hope you enjoyed today's blog and that there was something in here for all of you. Be sure to come back on Friday where we will be discussing the Academy Awards and putting our two cents on who deserves the Oscars this year. 
 
 We hope you are having a good week and we pray that you will finish strong and have a glorious weekend,

 Love from your humble blogger,

The Godfather In 3D!!!

     You know that feeling at the pit of your stomach that you had as you read the title to this blog, this is the feeling you will soon be experiencing in the near future. With the rise of 3D movies and movie companies wanting to make more money on previously released movies be it through remakes, reboots, sequels, prequels or just re-releasing, it would come as no surprise if they actually decided to show "The Godfather" in 3D in theaters, for the record they aren't, Godfather 3D is not in production, you can breath now.

      There is an appeal to 3D movies, some movies are greatly enhanced by the experience, the scary thing right now though is that for some reason there is a permeating thought around Hollywood that 3D can be applied to everything, not only that but that 3D will overtake 2D. This is even the case among television companies who have for the better part of two years been trying to work on releasing 3D TVs all across the world. The question that needs to be answered though is "when is 3D an appropriate medium for watching a film?", we believe that it is a fair question, one we intend to answer here.

      The obvious first answer is that 3D works for cartoons and animated movies, this could also apply to the genres of sci-fi/fantasy, and b-horror movies. Watching a movie like the new "Alice In Wonderland" in 3D brought the movie from ok to awesome very quickly which is a phenomenon that has occurred to other movies among that genre as well. Though there are some movies within that genre that do not depend upon the 3D factor, take any Pixar movie, one could watch any of those movies without the use of 3D and the movies will still be as awesome as with 3D, though the movie might be more 'fun' with 3D the point here is that the movie in itself can exist outside of the 3D realm.

      The problem begins when people start applying 3D to everything that is being made, which in turn actually damages the movie instead of helping it. This is the case for romance, suspense and most if not all drama movies. There is an element of 'fun' that is associated with the 3D scheme, which would detract from the seriousness found in many movies, imagine "Shawshank Redemption" in 3D, it doesn't even sound right, making it three dimensional would detract from the seriousness of the movie and the movie would not have the impact that it could have, had it been shown in its original form. 

     The best application of 3D is to animated movies, also though, 3D is a good find for discovery channel's shows and movies, this is one thing we can't disagree with television companies in. Some shows would be greatly enhanced, like watching the discovery channel's "Planet Earth" in 3D, that sounds like a fun experience, while at the same time watching "Mad Men" in 3D would destroy the show, so there needs to be a balance, an understanding made between viewer and producer that 3D does not compliment everything, in fact in many cases it destroys the emotional impact of a movie or show, thus there needs to be some sort of accountability dealing with which movies or shows can be 3D and which should never be made 3D. 

     The other major issue here is the fact that most movie companies are releasing their movies in 3D only because the tickets for the 3D movies are almost double the price than regular movies, meaning the movie companies make double the profit. This is annoying, for some movies aren't meant to be 3D and are only being shown in 3D because the producers want more money; one can only imagine what a director who is against such an action would think as he saw his masterpiece become cheap entertainment and a ploy to make more money. This is an issue which we hope will not be a case in the future, it can't be hard to come up with better technology so that the prices can be cut down again, this is a need that needs to be met, technology gurus get to work.

    How could we talk about 3D without mentioning the re-release of Star Wars Episode I 3D this weekend, there are a few points to be made here, the first is to recognize that if this first release of the series does not do well then the others will not be released, meaning Lucas Arts decided to torture us by forcing us to watch the first three episodes in 3D and only if they do well can we have episodes IV, V and VI be released, well played guys, well played. As much as it will kill some fans to go and watch Jar Jar in 3D *shudders* fans around the world will still go and support the movie only because of the promise of the original trilogy, even though Lucas included Darth Vader's "Nooooooooooo" in there. Secondly we should realize that if this movie does well that other movie companies might start thinking about doing this as well, which could mean more re-releases to come, and one of those could be an abomination like "The Godfather" in 3D.

    We hope you have had a great week and pray that you may have a glorious weekend,

Love from your humble blogger,