Movies, Games and Indies
By DCFGS3 1 Comments
I thought I'd just make a blog to get that darn quest, but talk about stuff I've been doing as well.
Movies
Cashback: Cashback was an artsy movie on our local 'foreign' tv station, and I thought what the hell and decided to watch it. It's about a visual arts student who has insomnia, and so takes the night shift at a supermarket simply to take up time. He basically narrates his life at the supermarket, who works there and the things they do to pass the time. Things get interesting when he realises he has the ability to stop time, or at least stop his perception of time. He uses this power to....wait for it....undress attractive women in the supermarket and draw them. No, really, that's what he does. Interestingly, his apparent power (whether real or just his insanity taking hold) is simply a sideshow to a movie that ultimately is a romance between him and a workmate, a girl who he draws almost constantly, but never undresses. Despite being slightly ambiguous about what exactly the film is about (I think it's about the passage of time, as the film has an interesting way of going slowly, but controlling how quickly events happen, just like he does), it was quite enjoyable.
Charlie & the Chocolate Factory (The new one): Holy fuck this movie is insane. It is literally scary in how bat-shit insane it is. The entire movie is pretty much as crazy scary as the tunnel scene from the original (One of the most terrifying scenes in the history of film) except for the tunnel scene in this film, which is actually the tamest part of the movie. Now I started out taking the piss out of the movie, like how Charlie would probably have died of pneumonia with the gaping hole in his ceiling or how their house should have been demolished for violating a billion building codes. But this movie quickly upped the insanity as soon as you meet Wonka, with his nothing short of horrifying puppet show welcome (which catches fire and they show you, in horrifying detail, the puppets' faces melting off). To just explain how terrifyingly insane this movie is, when the rich girl goes to get a trained squirrel (instead of a golden goose like the original) my mother, who was watching it with me, said they would attack her. I disagreed, even after seeing the various other acts of terror that Wonka had bestowed upon humanity and all that was decent up to that point, I simply could not believe that any film maker would think it would be a good idea to have a girl attacked by squirrels in a children's movie.
The squirrels fucking went to town on her.
The Prestige: Watched this right after Wonka, and had never seen or even heard of it, but it had some immediately recognisable faces, so I gave it a watch. It blew my mind. If you have not watched this movie, put it on your action item list. You must watch this movie. I won't say much, short of it being about two magicians (Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale) in a rivalry with one another. The ever lovely Scarlett Johansson also features as a stage mistress and love interest for both men. I worked out Jackman's Prestige after he sees the hats, but Bale's blew my mind. (If you didn't notcie the Fight Club reference earlier, I'll tell you now, the twist with Bale was just as amazing as Fight Club's, but not built up well enough).
Iron Man 2: People's criticism of this movie confused me, as I liked it a lot. I loved the action and I loved Tony Stark, I didn't go in expecting fucking Lord of the Rings here, I wanted a good action movie with some humour, and by God it delivered. Our local paper gave it 2/5 stars, which I could not understand. Do you not like guns, humour, awesomeness and Scarlett Johansson? If so, do not see this movie.
Games
So I bought the indie bundle recently, and have only played three of the games so far, and only two to any real level, so I'll tell you about them here.
World of Goo: A really great puzzle game with bucket loads of personality. This was the only one in the bundle I'd heard about, and so was mainly purchasing this, rather than the others. It's fun, addicting and a nice level of difficulty making later levels challenging, but not impossible. This is a really great game you should definitely get if you some spare change, or alternatively, get the bundle while it's going: The Humble Indie Bundle
Penumbra: Overture: Fuck this game, seriously. I don't like scary games, and this game is bloody freaky. It isn't jump out at you scary, it's the pants shitting approaching wolf scary or the sharp breaths and scratches coming from behind a locked door that you know you will have to go into at some point scary. Having said that, this game is awesome. Get this game, it's brilliant apart from its combat mechanic, and the inability to kill enemies only makes the game more terrifying. I have written a longer review here; Penumbra: Overture (Yay blatant self promotion).
Aquaria: This is the one I haven't played very much of, so far the story has not gripped me, and I've found swimming quite cumbersome, but I will probably return to it.
As for the other games in the indie bundle, only Gish really interests me, and I'll play that when I get the time.