Let's face it:  I play Devil's advocate a lot.  When someone has an argument about something, I will tend to rub it the wrong way because someone has to represent the other side.  Sometimes I'm right, sometimes not.  With that said, I've seen a lot of threads and a lot of reviews saying "best movie of the year" or "if this doesn't win Oscars, I've lost faith in movies" and even folks going so far as to say "you won't see a better movie all year". 
 
Well, fall season hasn't hit, so the last statement seems incorrect, and if you go by aggregate scores, Drag Me To Hell scored higher than District 9.  As far as it winning Oscars, I don't really see it happening...especially since none of the CGI characters evoked anything close to Gollum.  As for being the best movie of the year...definitely "one of".  There is a lot going on in District 9, and even at a somewhat compressed-feeling 2 hour running time, there hasn't been as honest and as vibrant of a sci-fi movie in quite a while. 
 
Without going into details of the plot at all, District 9 starts out as a documentary-style movie, following Wikus van der Merwe as he heads up the eviction of 1.8 million "prawns" from District 9.  In the meantime, something bad happens, and he eventually finds himself caught in the middle of something he doesn't want.  I could go on and on about the story (especially how I feel that most people walking out of the theatre were wrong about who the villains really were in the film)...but in the end, it was a good and solid piece of filmmaking.  There is a handful of stuff that you can tell came from the rejected Halo movie project, as the MNU features familiar-looking assault rifles, and the "prawns" definitely feel a bit like the Covenant in some ways.  However, there is something in District 9 that Halo is still lacking:  heart.  This movie has it, but in some of the oddest ways.  There were plenty of times that I found myself conflicted with who to root for, and there were even more times where I was scratching my head going "well yeah, but this and this happened beforehand, so you're wrong!".  The movie does have its ridiculous moments (the idea of interspecies sex and a group of Nigerian voodoo believers eating the alien's body parts) that show you Peter Jackson had some involvement in the project.  Then again, anyone unfamiliar with Jackson's earlier work like Dead Alive or Bad Taste probably won't understand the necessity for the attention to gross-out vomiting and gore.  He definitely proves that he knows how to make it sloppy, nasty, and gag-worthy.  It's tough to make me want to wretch, but there's just something about a man's fingernails being ripped off that can do it every time... 
 
The thing that captivated me about the movie was not necessarily the movie, but the contradictions and contrasts found in what the movie is saying vs. the audience's reaction.  I found it interesting that the audience would not root for a human killing an alien, nor would they root when an alien killed a human, but they would root whenever our half-man/half-alien (the only spoiler you'll get is that Wikus contracts a disease that starts turning him into an alien, but you probably figured that out from the trailers) kills someone or something.  For some reason, that character and his journey end up making it okay to laugh at someone being brutally blown up into bloody chunks.  It made me start thinking:  have we desensitized ourselves too much with movies and media that something this bad (and you can even see in Wikus' eyes for a while that he hates that he did it) is laughable?  Maybe I'm supposed to go into this film and take it in for being just another "hapless character turns into hapless hero" story, but I just don't see it that way...and I also don't see the humans as the bad guys.  I don't see them as the good guys either, but I do see them as the victims in an elaborate plan that...to be honest...I think I could be reading too far into and makes me almost feel like a conspiracy theorist digging for answers. 
 
Part of the problem with digging for answers, which many fans of sci-fi will no doubt do, is that the movie could've done for a little more length to explain things a tad bit more thoroughly.  Then again, had the movie been longer and explained a bit more, then it wouldn't have that appeal of digging that sci-fi fans enjoy so well.  Trying to over-intellectualize something beyond what it may or may not be is science fiction tradition, and it almost feels like Neill and Peter purposefully set District 9 up to do just that.  It's a good thing, don't get me wrong, but it will no doubt lead to many pretentious debates and discussions that will make people outside of sci-fi norm say "whatever". 
 
The documentary style of the film seems to turn a lot of people off from the movie (so I've heard from at least seven people), but the movie does eventually land into the action movie cliches that we know quite well.  It handles them well, even if the cliches make the film feel a tad bit disjointed from the documentary portions.  Nonetheless, the mixture feels fresh enough that people will be misusing the word "original" a lot.  In gamer terms, it's kind of like Dead Space:  it has few to no original parts, but the parts that it does have happen to be very well done. 
 
Would I recommend District 9 to everyone?  No.  It's not going to appeal to the group of people that enjoy a typical summer blockbuster.  Will sci-fi fans enjoy it?  I'm more than positive they'll like it, and there will be many that claim "best movie of the year".  They'll hail it as a fucking Messiah for sci-fi movies.  It is not a Messiah, however.  It's a well-done movie produced by a guy that does well-done movies and helped guide the hand of a director that had a good idea of what he is doing.  The film doesn't really break any boundaries either, as it features all the staples you would find in a good sci-fi and action movie. 
 
Therefore, folks, just take the movie for what it is: 
 
A damn good sci-fi movie.

I caved, folks.  I got Battlefield 1943 and A Kingdom for Keflings this week, as well as Demons of the Badlands for Red Faction: Guerrilla.  How did all of this come to be?  Well........ 
 
After buying a 4000 point card this week, I realized that I would be waiting until the 13th and the 19th in order to spend 2000 of those points.  After all, how could I pass up Red Faction DLC and Shadow Complex?  I've been holding off on Battlefield 1943 for two reasons: 

• I didn't know if my boss was going to be buying the game for all the Xbox stations here at work or not
• I know how most people who play Battlefield actually PLAY Battlefield (insert plane ramming into singular player at the flag here)

Instead of focusing on games this week, I focused on something that I love and haven't really focused on in a few months:  movies.  My buddy Dusty came up from Austin this weekend for his birthday, and he hadn't seen Drag Me To Hell yet.  Since it was in the dollar theatre, we decided it would be a bit more kick-ass to see this flick with a few more scratches in the film stock, making for a real seedy-theatre kind of experience.  The movie is just as good for me the second time around, but unfortunately, the sound wasn't nearly as booming and to the level of "aural rape" I had experienced the first time.  This has led me to the belief that I have to invite Dusty over when the DVD comes out so we can hear it on my 5.1 surround.  = D 
 

• A joke about someone's nuts every 10 seconds
• Two twins that are walking stereotypes of black people calling each other "pussies" and fighting
• A Transformer WITH a set of balls
• Optimus Prime, within the first five minutes of the movie, saying "punk ass Decepticons", then putting his foot on said Decepticons chest and shooting it in the face like he's a common fucking thug
• A mother having eaten pot brownies and yelling at girls about how his son had his cherry popped

I've always stuck to retail discs.  It's nice to hold a product that you own in your hands, they happen to be shiny (thus distracting as Hell), and they are usually the games that we WANT WANT WANT!  I've stayed away from purchasing XBL Arcade games for two reasons:  ownership issues (not a big fan of not having a copy for myself) and the fact that I play on an Xbox at my workplace...which leaves any points I don't spend vulnerable to kids who might decide to buy that new World at War map pack.  Instead of buying a regular game at around $50 this past week, however, I went for a 4000 points card and decided to get in on some Arcade action!  I had quite the time trying to decide on what to purchase, going to the point of starting up a thread to hear what YOU guys thought I should dig into.  So, here at my decisions and a little mini-review for each of them:

It has finally happened.  The Heavens has aligned themselves with my soul and created a vortex of fucking amazing, ladies and gentlemen.

I broke 30,000 gamerscore last night.  The lucky achievement to do it?  That goes to "Shadowrun Fever".  That's right:  I broke 30,000 gamerscore by rubbing my nuts on someone's face.  This was something I had planned for a little while, and last night, it became a reality.  While some of you will say "meh, 30,000 isn't that impressive", I state the contrary.  I think 30,000 gamerscore through means that don't involve plugging in a child's game and busting easy achievements is QUITE the accomplishment.  Thus...we go to a retrospect of the last 10,000 points and see how I got to where I'm at today.

In my ever-expanding quest to gain those lovely achievement points, I decided to head down to my beloved local Games 'n' Things to pick up a new game...since they still happen to offer super low ass prices.  What to buy, though?  We all end up facing that problem at some point:  staring at the endless line of games at our favorite local boutiques when we know damn well we shouldn't even be spending the money anyways, but there's that void that needs to be filled with a new interactive experience.  In other words - I was fucking fiending, fool!!!  Three F's in a row there...did I unlock an achievement?

Anyways, I was originally walking in because I remembered seeing a used copy of Sacred 2 for around $30.00, which after doing some hearty research, I've come to realize it's a game that I REALLY want to play...glitches and bugs and all.  However, they sold it.  -_-  Damn.  Luckily, I had noticed a copy of Prince of Persia for $18.95 and said "dood, that's hard to pass up, and I've been talking about how I want to play it...so let's rock".

Shadow Complex is a game that I'm seriously looking forward to ever since I had heard about it at E3.  I know that's not a very long time to get excited over a game, but between the use of Orson Scott Card's Empire as source material and the fact that it's a 2D side-scrolling asskicker like Metroid and Castlevania, I'm psyched.  It'll probably end up being the first Arcade game that I buy which isn't featured on a compilation disc...along with 'Splosion Man.  Nonetheless, I have this issue that some other people seem to agree on:  why the Hell is this FULL GAME at $15 only coming with 200 achievement points?  I know, I know...it's a small complaint to many that don't seem to give a shit.  However, just because YOU may not give a shit, that doesn't make it less of a problem.  It just means you don't care what the result is.  There are those of us who think that it IS a problem.  So, here's my argument, bare with me and see what you think:

With that said, achievements update:  due to my lack of interest in Prince of Persia, I decided to pick up a game that I always wanted to play but never did - Stranglehold.  As a martial arts and Hong Kong flick enthusiast (I'm not the biggest of fans, but I know enough to hold up against other enthusiasts), I owed it to myself to finally see what John and Chow had to offer...and I like it.  Is it great?  No.  Is it fun?  Sure.  Does it have achievements?  Fuck yes.  Amazingly enough, there were actually a couple of people online the night that I started playing!!!  So I even got a couple of those rare achievements for the multiplayer.  = D  I'm going to be breaking 30K soon, but I need to figure out what game to do it with.  Anyone have suggestions?

To start this ever-so-excellent blog o' mine - I'm not longer an achievement whore.  I've realized that there are depths that I cannot go to in order to be a "whore".  I'll never be able to fill my profile up with games like Night at the Museum, Cars, Barbie, etc. just to get gamerscore.  Those points would be empty and meaningless to me.  Therefore, I've got a new term:  achievement snatcher.  What is that, you ask?  Well, it means that I thoroughly enjoy getting achievement points, but I'm glad to know that I am not a whore!  lol  So, with this out of the way, onto the blog!!!

I rented F.E.A.R. 2 for my second time this weekend, as I hadn't played it in a while...and I never got to delve into the multiplayer.  TALK ABOUT TOUGH!!!  Vinchenzo wasn't lying to me when he said that the multiplayer achievements alone are rough, but the actual gameplay has a very different...feel...to it than most multiplayer does.  The single player is still pretty awesome, even though I remember the Hard difficulty...actually being hard?  =  /  Oh well.  So yeah, the multiplayer - there's something about it that is "off" to me.  Here's the thing:  games like Call of Duty, Far Cry 2, or Red Faction Guerrilla...when I shoot someone...I can "feel" those shots.  I can feel the hit detection.  However, games like F.E.A.R. 2 or Battlefield 2...I can't "feel" that shot.  Sometimes, I think it has to do with the hit confirmation X that pops up on an enemy when you hit them.  I don't know.  Either way, though, the multiplayer on F.E.A.R. 2 is pretty cool, if not very standard in terms of match types.  Unfortunately, there's almost no community for the game, so getting a match was a bit harsh at times.  I still don't know how I feel about the ending of this game.  It kind of gives me the "eeewwwww" feeling.  lol

...after some more achievement snatching, and there is a lot to be had.  I've started up on that horrible, glitchy, junky game known as Oblivion.  When I had first played it, I remember thinking "this game kinda sucks".  Now, playing it yet again and looking back, I wish I could bitchslap my past self for say it KINDA sucked.  It absolutely sucks!  The leveling system is still horrendous and exploitable, the animations are stiffer than a porn star's dick, the texture pop-in and shoddy draw distance make me wanna barf...and I just keep thinking to myself - "HOW THE HELL did anyone think this game was technically marvelous"?  I remember when it was coming out, and people kept talking about how great it looked and how great it felt and blah blah blah.  Sure, there is a deep amount of lore SOMEWHERE in all that hullabaloo, but the fact that I've spent more time in load screens and traveling than actual gameplay just pisses me off.  While Fallout 3 still suffers from the animation and some of the texture pop-in issues, the leveling system FORCES me to actually play the game and the story feels MUCH deeper in the side quests to me.

Right now...

It's pretty damn good.  It's not revolutionary-amazing, but it's definitely got enough charm and solid gameplay to keep me jumping into it.  The control scheme and gameplay style does, at times, feel like a bit of a Gears clone (reload IS on the RB after all, and the third person view and sprint seem like a roadie run and Gears presentation).  There's also the fact that the multiplayer seems a lot like Horde mode but with a slight variation to the objective of the match.  Regardless of these similarities, the game stands on its own, thanks to a well-told story and characters that we love.  All the original voice actors are back, and all your favorite setpieces show back up as well.  I've heard some complaints about Bill Murray's performance in the game being a bit lacking...but he seemed as much like Peter Venkman as one can get from an actor who hasn't played the role in 20 years.  The same goes for everyone else, from Ackroyd's "listen to me talk like I'm selling Crystal Head Vodka in a promo video" to Ramis' "you kids know me as Seth Rogen's dad in Knocked Up"...and then you've got Ernie Hudson's "hey, I've got a job!" delivery, which is the best out of them all.  You play as Rookie, a dood that is brought on to test prototype units for the Ghostbusters.

Well, I've given in.  My curiosity has drawn me into watching the Endurance Run.  I don't care much for JRPGs anymore (although I used to love them a long time ago).  All of the overt references to Persona 4 have me intrigued about what exactly the Hell is going on in this kooky, mixed-up virtual world.  I'm on Episode 5 now, and so far...it's kind of boring.  When does the fun stuff kick in?