bestmovie: November 2009

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Watch The Bad Lieutenant - Port of Call New Orleans

Watch The Bad Lieutenant - Port of Call New Orleans movie directed by Werner Herzog and starring Nicholas Cage and Eva Mendez.

The Bad Lieutenant - Port of Call New Orleans was filmed Louisiana, and also around South Mississippi shooting some scenes at the Hollywood Casino in Bay St. Louis. The movie was released on November 20, 2009 and distributed by First Look Studios.

The Bad Lieutenant Premise

The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans draws elements from Abel Ferrara's 1992 film Bad Lieutenant, which featured a crooked cop (Harvey Keitel) who is a drug addict and takes sexual favors as bribes.

The main character is Terrence McDonagh played by Cage, a New Orleans Police sergeant, who starts out as a good cop, receiving a medal and a promotion to lieutenant for heroism during Hurricane Katrina. During his heroic act, McDonagh injures his back and later becomes addicted to prescription pain medication. McDonagh struggles with addictions and finds himself involved with drug dealer Big Fate, who is suspected of murdering a family of African immigrants.

What do you think of the Bad Lieutenant?

Saturday, November 28, 2009

New Super Mario Bros. Wii: 8/10

What happens when a franchise succeeds for so long with so many games? The expectations become higher and higher to a point that it cannot be reached. This is where New Super Mario Bros. Wii comes in. The game has received minimal criticism for being too much like the other 2-D Mario games. And it was also picked on because of lack of online. Then it was picked on for not being fresh. Of course, these are the same critics that praise Halo 3, Modern Warfare 2, Grand Theft Auto IV, Fable 2, among other sequels that greatly resemble the original. Does that make all the games I mentioned bad? No, it just means that the gaming critics from all over the internet are not being consistent in their critiquing. For crying out loud, GTA IV got perfect scores all over the place, but it looks and breathes exactly like Vice City and San Andreas; its just been expanded immensely.

This is what New Super Mario Bros. did: took the well-known Mario platforming concept and didn’t change it, but expanded upon it. Why is this an issue? Did the magazines and website expect perfection from this game? Why is the game being off-line such an issue? Are we afraid of having more than one person playing on the same television? Nintendo hasn’t been a fan of online gaming, and we’ve noticed this time and time again. Some of the Wii’s best works can be so much better with a superior online feature (Super Smash Brothers Brawl: best example ever). However, Nintendo is the well-known king of offline multiplayer, and sticking to what you are best at should never be an issue.

Some of the best multi-player games of all-time didn’t need online, they needed multiple people playing each other at the same time, and you let differing styles of play, differing personalities, and differing skill levels provide the fun and nirvanaian (I made up a word, deal with it) frustration provide all the mayhem of the evening. Goldeneye 007 and Mario Kart 64 are two games that I would still prefer to play over most of the XBox Live offerings. This is where New Super Mario Bros. Wii comes in. This game feels, smells, and frustrates just like the classic 2-D Mario games of the 90s, and the difference is the art style, and the ability to have up to four people join in on the fun. The end result is yet another fun 2-D Mario game that is sure to become a classic just like the other ones. The difference is, now four people can experience the Super Mario magic. While it doesn’t have the fresh new feeling of Mario Bros. 3 or Mario World, this game is just as fun, just as chaotic, and just as creatively clever.

Why even explain the plot? Peach gets kidnapped again and Mario must save her. The single-player alone is longer than most quests on any of the big three systems today. While most franchises and video games rely on multi-player for the lasting effect, New Super Mario Bros. Wii contains one of the deepest and longest singer-player quests since BioShock back in 2007. There are 8 worlds to explore, and a hidden 9th one lurking about. Within these worlds lies a heavy variety of levels. While you will feel like you’ve played this type of game before, you will also realize that the processing power of the Wii allows for 2-D platforming to reach new levels. I don’t want to spoil the surprises as to how, but let’s just say the barrage of enemies at some instances is something that could not happen on the SNES.

The worst part of this game has got to be the graphics. The art style doesn’t really contain the artistry or pizzazz of Mario Galaxy, Yoshi’s Island, or even Super Mario World. It’s the 3-D sprite of Super Mario in a 2-D world. The game doesn’t look sloppy, but it doesn’t really contain an art style moreso than it’s a sprite thrown in a pretty-looking environment. Remember the sketchy, seemingly hand-drawn colors of Yoshi’s Island? New Super Mario Bros. Wii lacks that personality. But the game runs well and controls beautifully. While a lack of ability to use the Virtual Console remains puzzling, the game’s rendition of the Wiimote serves fine, with the holding of the controller resembling that of the old-school NES. The game is kept simple, and so are the controls. You can learn how to play this game in a heartbeat.

Your typical Mario music is present here, with new songs and classic mixes joining in. The soundtrack is not as epic as Mario Galaxy (in terms of quality, composition, delivery, and theming) but it’s still a fun game to listen to. The sound effects are also Mario-like, with nothing outstanding, but nothing distracting either. We should hear Bowser and his kids talk more often though. One final note: it is great that we see the return of Yoshi and the kids to the 2-D franchise, but where is the love for Wario and Waluigi?

The gameplay is essentially flawless. Each world after the first contains a great mix of easy and excruciatingly difficult levels. Most levels contain their infamous moments and memorable frustrations. The game sometimes feels like the original Mario Bros., then can sometimes run like Mario Bros. 3 and to an extend Super Mario World. Many classic enemies are back and there are some new ones meshed in as well. If you are a fan of good platform action, this game a must-buy from the get-go. If the single-player isn’t enough, then there is the multi-player to win you over.

This game, as long as you have the right people, is absolutely hilarious and fun when other people are involved. With the others playing as Luigi or a Toad, the game actually becomes harder because you have your own allies getting in the way or distracting you from reaching the goal. Teamwork is a must and if you all have differing styles of play, then it’s going to lead to funny arguments and hilarious fights within the levels themselves. The levels do not really change when four people are involved, but the flow and pacing becomes affected if you have a slower one ruining the run of the current level. If they lag too behind, they die, which will lead to more arguing and more hilarity. There is even a subtle trick system that can lead to extra points.

Bottom Line: The game is fun alone, with a friend, or three of them. New Super Mario Bros. Wii takes gameplay elements from generations of platform gaming and packs it all into a nice long quest full of challenges, secrets, and fun. The hardcore old-school gamers should be pleased as Mario returns to his roots after all these years dwelling into 3-D on home consoles. Despite all the little nitpicky things said about this game from other critics they all agreed to one thing: this game is fun and feels like the older games. That alone should tell you that it is a worthy purchase.

While the game lacks a graphical personality like the NES and SNES counterparts, the game is still a well-crafted package of Super Mario fun. Mario has survived all these years because Nintendo always finds different ways of enhancing and changing the Mario experience. While in this case the change is just an addition of more players, it’s a welcoming change and one that’s never quite been handled by any other franchise. All this complaining from gaming critics is proving a couple of things:

1) They hate the Wii’s current mammoth success (And this is indeed true, just look at the Wii bashing you find nowadays.
2) They set the bar much higher for Super Mario games, while giving other games (Like GTA IV) a pass on flaws.
3) Unlike most franchises, everyone has their personal taste as to how a 2-D Mario game should look and feel.

Some complained over lack of Yoshi. Some complained over lack of Peach. Some complained over lack of Wario. Some moaned that the game wasn’t hard enough. Some thought that this was a mere rehash. Basically, everyone has their personal interpretations of what would be the perfect Mario game—and shouldn’t be so harsh when these expectations were not met. This game boasts over 70 creative levels, 200 Star Coins to collect, a multi-player mode to boot, and you still find reason to say there was minimal effort? Plus this lack-of-online complaint is really lame. Why on earth would you want to play Super Mario with a random stranger? Mario platforming wasn’t meant for online gaming when compared to other games and genres; it just wouldn’t be that satisfying.

To me, the perfect 2-D Mario game would be one that features over 150 levels and can allow for you to play updated versions of classic levels found in previous installments. Despite my dreams of that Mario game currently not being met, my expectations for this Mario game were, and then some. As long as you enjoy a really good video game with the old-school touch, then there is no reason why you couldn’t enjoy New Super Mario Bros.

Modern Warfare 2: 8/10

Modern Warfare 2 is starting a dangerous trend in gaming. Some game franchises and companies are creating a new way of making its money; and it’s a method that does not require as much effort from the execution part when compared to the setup portion. I personally call it the Blockbuster Hype Effect, which is when a video game is hyped so immensely, so intensely, it generates enough sales to make back its money and then some by the end of the week. Hollywood movies do it all the time, and beginning with Halo 2 certain video games are puling off the same feat. Modern Warfare 2 makes over 550 million within the first few days. Did Activision have to improve the game over the previous installment to make it a success? Of course not, what it needed was hype, heavy marketing, and the rest is history.

Does that make Modern Warfare 2 a bad game? Of course not, the game is still one of the better shooters you’ll see on the XBox 360 and the PS3. Could it have been better? Yes. Could the game have benefited more from changing the rules a little? Yes. Is this game better than the original Modern Warfare? No. Is it all Activision’s fault? Nope. Am I asking too many questions? Yep.

The plot of the game is over-the-top yet simple: evil Russians framed an American spy for staging a massive massacre in Russia’s homefront, staging a chain reaction leading to Russia attacking the United States beginning on Washington D.C. The goal is to find a way to reveal that America did not attack Russia, and that someone from the side of the United States may be in on the framing. The plot alone sounds like that of a massive blockbuster film. Adding to the Hollywood Blockbuster image of the game is the musical score being composed by Hans Zimmer, whom has scored Pirates of the Caribbean, Gladiator, The Lion King, The Rock, among other movies.

One of the biggest weaknesses of the franchise is your inability to truly be attached to the character you are controlling simply because you play so many of them, and because most of them die off within a couple of missions. Gaming franchises like Zelda, Grand Theft Auto, and Final Fantasy rely a lot on storytelling and characterization to progress the video game along. With Call of Duty, the plot and characters are nothing more than mere setting, basically mapping out why you are doing what you are doing. This approach to gaming on one hand allows for a less-talk-more-walk approach to gaming; but on the other hand you won’t find a single moment in this game that comes close to hitting the emotional impact of Majora’s Mask’s end of the world, Final Fantasy VII’s most popular death, or Super Mario RPG’s finale.

The game isn’t all bad though. Modern Warfare 2 boasts a shorter single-player campaign than previous installments, but its still one heck of a trip. And hey, at least it’s not Halo 3. Modern Warfare 2 throws you all over the world, in multiple different settings, and a good portion of the game has you performing other activities that don’t involve mass shooting. There is a bit of espionage involved as well. The game flows beautifully in terms of graphics and playcontrol, as Infinity Ward didn’t deviate too far from the original Modern Warfare in terms of how the game handles. The game is quite relentless, and very intense. You will die multiple times, but luckily for the less-skilled, the game sprinkles all sorts of checkpoints throughout the missions, taking away a bit of the challenge and frustration.

There is plenty of negativity in this review, and that’s partially a shame since the game does play well and is worth the price tag especially if you are affiliated with Xbox Live. The more you enjoy multi-player online, the more worthy this game will become in your collection. But all this comes at a price: the multi-player in the Xbox 360 hasn’t been lacking. As a matter of fact, people are still playing Halo 3 and the original Call of Duty. So what is going to make this multi-player shooter any different? Its immersive, but just how long can you run with that excuse?

Age of the long single-player campaigns is a bit on the dying side; as there are very few video games that can truly boast a massive single-player. This is a trend that will have an effect on the blockbuster-style of releasing video games. With multi-player suddenly being the driving force, there is much less focus on other aspects of the game. How much better would Modern Warfare 2 be if they put forth the same amount of effort on their single-player as compared to their multi-player? The Xbox Live aspects of this game are fun, addicting, and just as good as Halo 2, 3, Call of Duty 4, Gears of War. But notice this: all the previous games mentioned, with the exception of Call of Duty 4, are known much, much more for multi-player. What happens when you can’t connect online? While it’s not an issue that most people have to ponder, it’s interesting when you realize just how much of the game you actually get to play once the internet is involved.

The last first-person shooter to truly bring something fresh and amazing to the genre is BioShock. And here is where the new technique of selling games succeeds: it doesn’t matter, people will still buy it. Just like how most people went to see Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen before the bad press and word-of-mouth spread, Modern Warfare 2 was destined to be a smash hit. Luckily for us the game isn’t bad, but down the road, who knows what filth will sell within the first weekend before we realize what a crappy game it truly is. Halo: Reach, I am looking in your direction.

Bottom Line: Modern Warfare 2 is just like the typical recent Xbox first-person shooter: its good, has a strong multi-player, short single-player, yet doesn’t really bring anything new to the table. The Call of Duty franchise still lacks the character appeal of Halo, and has yet to really distance itself from the other shooter franchises. And its extreme hype is a bad sign of things to come, when companies may not dwell as much effort to a game and prefer to maximize its hype for ultimate profit before the realizations occur. Call of Duty is still the best in the shooter business, with Halo being a bit overrated and the other franchises still trying to topple Call of Duty 4.

But, with the competition heating up from BioShock, Halo, and even Metroid (see their latest trailer? Wow), who knows who may emerge as leader come the end of 2010. The competition in this genre is much too strong for the games to become more and more similar to previous installments, you have to really aim high in order to stand out. Call of Duty 4 accomplished this. BioShock accomplished this. Modern Warfare 2? Fell just a bit short. Graphics are amazing, so is the music, and so is the little amount of gameplay featured, but it missing something special to stand out. Despite that small setback, the overall production of Modern Warfare 2 is impressive, as a massive story is unfolded right in front of your eyes and you get to participate in it in a variety of ways with a variety of characters.

I am just afraid of crazy hype and what it can do to a business that’s currently experiencing the best years quality-wise since the SNES era. I am afraid that video games will dwell the path of movies: reviews won’t matter, because the first weekend denotes a profitable product. And while Modern Warfare isn’t a Transformers-like turkey, I fear as to what other heavily-hyped games in the future may bring. In the meantime, I’ll continue enjoying the first-day-received Call of Duty.