It’s stats time!
13/16 Cars
Stage Records
China Town 1m 40s
Race Wars 2m 11s
Times Square 1m 37s
L.A. Ghetto 2m
Central Park 1m 57s
Matibu 1m 56s
Golden Gate 2m 9s
New England 2m 3s
China Town X 1m 56s
Hollywood 2m 1s
S.F. Tour 1m 39s
Mulholland Drive 2m 23s
It’s time to look at another title from the legendary 5 dollar bin. Let’s face it, it’s always an honor to pick out a game from that selection and I specifically went to a new Gamestop when I heard that they were still carrying this title. Cruis’n is everything that I had hoped for from the screen shots and while it is a pretty short game, it does have a decent amount of replay value to keep it relevant.
There are 13 races and you get to challenge them in Circuit Mode. Landing in the top 3 allows you to move onto the next stage. It is true that you can theoretically complete this game in under an hour since the average race is 2 minutes or less, but but you’re bound to lose at least a few times so beating it in an hour can still be tricky. Keep in mind that you may need to swap cars during this adventure as your first one will likely have some pretty underwhelming specs compared to the first one.
Winning a race gives you some spending money, which you can use to buy your next car. I bought most of them and ended up with 3 left. I guess I shouldn’t say “buy” though. When you get enough money, you automatically unlock the car. The final car needs you to have 2 million dollars and I ended the game with a little over one million. You earn 100 grand for each first place so just 10 more races would have been enough to have achieved that. I was tempted to do that so that I could say that I 100% completed the game, but there’s ultimately not a whole lot of point to doing such a thing so I took a pass on that. Perhaps I will go back for that someday.
The gameplay is pretty straight forward for a racing game. There are no items or real gimmicks here aside from the casual boost. You can boost three times and it gives you a decent chunk of extra speed, but it’s not too drastic so it doesn’t take the balance away from the game. Since this is an arcade style game you really have a lot of freedom as you drive around. You can break into a building and watch with awe as you look at the fun details. The fact that the developers actually designed the insides of the building is pretty neat since there’s a good chance that you could beat the game without ever going inside. Turning works pretty well and the gameplay is a lot of fun. The game will quickly reset you to the right direction if you’re spun around for too long so you never have to worry about stopping. Just power through to the goal!
Cruis’n is also purely a motion control game as you hold the Wii remote sideways and tilt to turn. Surprisingly, it actually does a good job with these controls and you’ll never have to adjust the Wii sensor or back away when you realize that the controls are not working. Everything works almost perfectly here and that was definitely neat. Once again, I have to stress that this isn’t your average 5 dollar bin game.
One aspect that I liked about the gameplay was the unique addition of random cars on the tracks. A lot of games like Mario Kart have experimented with other cars acting as obstacles, but not to the degree that this game throws them in. Most of the stages have dozens of cars blocking the way in the stages and bumping into one of them can critically hurt your chances of reaching 1st place. They are sometimes driving in the same direction as you or going in the opposite direction so you’ve always got to stay sharp. It’s why using your boost can be a risky endeavor.
The graphics are actually very good and that’s where I disagree with most reviews. The general consensus seems to be that the graphics are pretty bad, but everything actually looks pretty sharp. I am quickly reminded of the racing game that I used to play on the computer over a decade ago. The cars and stages are similar to that as well as the gameplay. I loved that game and still consider it to be one of the best racing games of all time. This title may not be quite as good, but it’s still pretty great and that goes for the graphics as well. Most of the game takes place in the night it is impressive to see how clear the game looks. I definitely have no qualms in this area.
The area where I do have some qualms with the game is the music. The soundtrack tries to be edgy or ghettoish, which results in some good tunes, but the overall music leaves much to be desired. It’s why I’m not even a fan of the average Madden title as the music gets a little too out there. For racing, I just want fast paced themes with no lyrics. That will let me race to the best of my ability with no distractions. In a game like this, you certainly will need to focus.
I also have to take away points for the suggestive content in this game. As this is underground racing, the game has a scantily clad lady holding up the “Ready Set Go” sign and she’ll also dance in the background when you take first place. Throw in the sad voice when you are going through the modes and it takes away some of the wow factor from the game. We definitely didn’t need this and more games should just play it straight if they really want to win. From the voices, the only one that I actually like is the creepy laugh. It pops up randomly during the game and that can definitely be pretty intense.
Now, the main reason why this is in the 5 dollar bin is probably because of the lack of content. After you unlock all of the races, then you can unlock a handful of cars. Unlocking those will give you some more options, but there’s nothing to do with them. Playing the stages is the only thing to do aside from the classic Multiplayer mode. You can upgrade each car to its maximum potential by participating in races with all of them, but even the average perfectionalist probably wouldn’t bother with all of that. So the multiplayer mode makes up the majority of the replay value, which means that you will probably want to have someone to play this game with. Otherwise, it’s certainly going to be a very short experience.
Overall, Cruis’n is a very fun racing game. Keep in mind that it’s only about 3-4 dollars for a reason, but it’s well worth the price. Given the fact that you could be done with it in 30-60 minutes, I could understand being disappointed if you bought it for 30. Even 20 dollars would have been a stretch, but for under 5 dollars I think this is sufficient. The levels that you do play are pretty great and the A.I. actually manages to keep things competitive. It never gives up and all it takes is one wrong turn to throw you from 1st to 8th. The graphics are better than expected and they easily hold up against any racing game. The suggestive content can make you wince, but it’s still not as bad as it could have been and it disappears once you are actually in the race. I definitely recommend this title and now I’m looking forward to seeing what racing game I play next. Let’s just say that we may not have to wait very long for that. Also, it should be known that I used the Pontiac Firebird during my playthrough since they didn’t have the Quest. It’s a very reliable car and I recommend using it when you play this game.
Overall 7/10
Keep in mind that this review pertains to the edited TV 14 version of this film. All thoughts written below should be treated as such as a review of the unedited version would be significantly harsher.
Let’s look at a retro film from about 10 years ago. The two main actors are fairly popular in the form of Ben Affleck (Maybe not popular, but at least well known) and Samuel L. Jackson. Despite this, I definitely can’t say that I had heard of this film before. It’s a pretty good adventure and it’s certainly a lot more fun than I had anticipated. (Although, I did find the premise to have potential right from the start) It’s basically the light hearted version of the cop film that I saw a while back where Samuel L. Jackson was also a main character. The main difference is that this film is just better in every single way.
The film starts off with two main characters. One of them is Doyle who is preparing to buy a house. He must head over to the court house after that to try and convince his wife to keep the house and then hopefully they can get back on friendly terms. He has managed to quit drinking and things are looking up for Doyle. Meanwhile, we have a bright and upcoming lawyer in Gavin. Gavin is about to bring some critical evidence to his case and victory is just about assured. His firm will win 3 million dollars and he’ll probably get a raise or a promotion. Both main characters must alter their plans when they crash on the highway. Doyle is unable to make it to the courthouse in time and Gavin left his evidence with Doyle by mistake. Doyle is furious with Gavin while Gavin is panicking with this new development. So starts the battle between these two men as they take turns making each other’s life miserable. Who will win…or is it a matter of “Will anyone win?”
If you’ve been following this site for a few years then you may know that I love it when films add that court plot to the mix. I love a good trial and both plots revolve around the court house, which was pretty cool. Things definitely don’t go Gavin’s way in the trial and it’s cool to see how quickly the tides can turn. Even without the court scenes, the film is a lot of fun and that’s the main reason as to why it succeeds. It’s not without its weaknesses of course, but the positives in Changing Lanes far outweigh the negatives.
There aren’t many negatives here at all so I’m going to quickly get them over with right here. One plot that I could definitely have done without is the one where we find out that Gavin is cheating on his wife. She knows it and tolerates the act, but I would have preferred her to have just split up with him. Gavin also shouldn’t be messing around like that as it takes away any chance that he had of being a likable character. That being said, the film makes sure to show that the wife is pretty corrupt while the secretary seemed to care a little more about the injured party. By engaging in the act with Gavin, she’s still not a moral individual, but the film makes sure that both choices are unlikable.
And….that’s it. That’s basically the only thing that I could find wrong with this film as it’s basically up hill from there. There’s no animal violence here, no scenes to cringe at, etc. The film expertly maneuvered around the usual obstacles that a film faces while holding true to its positives. The writing is consistently good throughout the film as well. There’s no real soundtrack, but I’ll let it slide this time.
As we’ve already seen, Gavin is not a very likable main character. If not for his little affair, he would be a lot more sympathetic. That being said, he is a little unreasonable at the beginning of the film and he should have definitely given Doyle a lift. As it happened, they were both going to the same place anyway. If only he had known right? Still, Gavin makes a lot of good decisions by the end of the film and I like to think that he will manage to get his life back on track soon. I just wish that could have happened on screen instead of me just having to take a guess at that.
Doyle is definitely better than Gavin although he is also the first guy to escalate the tensions between the two main characters. His circumstances are more sympathetic than Gavin’s and he was really trying to do the right thing as the film began. Unfortunately, missing the court date was pretty major and he couldn’t get back from that very easily. He gets to have some nice closure as the film ends so he managed to stay on the side of the heroes.
Changing Lanes can get annoying as one character tries to do the right thing when something happens, which causes him to rethink that. This happens to both of the leads several times so that their battle can continue. One of them even brings in a hacker who is able to manipulate bank statements. That being said, the film manages to keep things light without ever getting too dreary and dramatic. The premise is one that can easily get silly if handled poorly, but the film does a good job of still keeping it fairly realistic as this happens.
One area that could have been tricky for the film was the ending, but it’s handled really well. I would have felt bad for the old man’s heir otherwise as the main character’s firm nearly got away with stealing 3 million dollars. Doyle’s plot also had the potential to have a pretty sad ending, but it’s wrapped up nicely by the end. It’s the kind of film that could get a sequel someday, but there really wouldn’t be a point. The two heroes were able to set aside their differences and Gavin will strive to be a better person in the future. I would be open to a sequel where the hacker decides to blackmail Gavin so the hero has to team up with Doyle. That could definitely be intriguing.
Overall, Changing Lanes is a fun film. The movie never gets too out there with the steps that the main characters take to defeat each other so it’s still pretty realistic by the end. It manages to have a happy ending that feels satisfying without being too perfect and the two main characters made the right calls by the end. It’s simply a complete film and it’s one where you will walk away feeling good about the time that you just invested in this film. This is also good news for Batman V(s) Superman since I have now seen an Affleck film where he looks pretty good. Perhaps a little different than I remembered him from Daredevil, but it was a solid performance. I definitely recommend this film if you want to see two grown ups go at it with all that they’ve got!
Overall 7/10
It’s time to review an art book that I got a while back. It’s fairly short, but I wanted to take my time with such a Legendary (Get it?) piece. It’s definitely very detailed and it’s always fun to see the behind the scenes action. There were quite a few ideas that were ultimately left out of the film and many of the Godzilla designs are fun to look at. I haven’t read many art books, but this is definitely one of the better ones.
Now, keep in mind that the book use the power of friendship angle quite a bit. The staff constantly talk about how each other was perfect for the role and how they’re the best at what they do. It can be a bit much when you hear someone say that for every film, but they probably feel obligated to say such things. Others are probably genuine about it though as you really get to see the actors become the characters and you really can’t think of anyone else doing a better job. Genuine or not, it can just get a little repetitive, but it’s hard to avoid such a thing here.
The more interesting parts of the book are when they discuss the landscape and the unused ideas. For example, they almost had Muto evolve into a new form, but they thought that it would be a little much. There was also going to be a dogfight between Muto and some of the Airplanes, but the EMP ability forced them to take this out. There are quite a few scenes that didn’t make the cut and it’s fun to hear about what the film could have been lie. Likewise, Godzilla went through quite a few design changes as the film went on. They played around with a possible fish design and there are also a panda faced one that was intriguing. Some of them definitely looked intense and I really liked the T Rex version. They felt that it looked like too much of a T Rex though so unfortunately, it was not meant to be.
To this day, I’m not crazy about Godzilla’s face in the film, but the rest of the design is pretty spot on. It’s also interesting to hear how much of a role CG-I plays in film making nowadays as they basically animated all of the scenes before they actually filmed them. In theory, that means that they could practically release a rough version of the film just using the CG. It wouldn’t have as many details and some of the human elements would be interesting, but it would be cool to see the CG-I go at it.
The book is about 165 pages, but you have to keep in mind that it is a lot shorter than it looks. All of the pages contain an image of some sort and many times this leaves little room for text. Sometimes you’ll have two pages in a row that are covered by a giant splash page. They always look pretty glorious, but this will speed up your completion of the book. If you were to just take the text, I’m confident that the size of the book would probably be cut in half or maybe even less than that. It’s possible that this would be condensed into around 40-50 pages. The book is divided into 3 parts, I forget the titles, but it goes chronologically.
First off it the pre production and then the book takes you through the complete process until Comic Con arrives and the book basically ends. One thing that is puzzling is the sudden end of the book. There is no after word or farewell to the readers until next time. There’s simply no closing statement of anytime and it just abruptly ends as the book is talking about the halo jump scene. It feels like the book must have been rushed out at the last minute or something like that. Ah well, it happens I suppose.
Overall, This art book is very informative and it makes for a good read. Making a film definitely sounds like a tough job and you’ve got to have a very strong support group if you want it to ultimately be a success. There will always be alternate roads that the film could have gone, but they felt like the right scenes were included. I disagree with the decision to have Godzilla’s first battle happen off screen, but I’ve always been a big action fan. I definitely recommend checking this out at some point if you really enjoyed the film or are a hardcore Godzilla fan. Even if you’re just interested about the film making process, this book will make for a fun read. Now, I’ll be eagerly awaiting the art book for the next Godzilla film!
Overall 7/10
Ocean’s 11 is a classic film that has been remade and even gotten sequels over the years. Ocean’s 13 is the second sequel in this continuity and it is a fun adventure. I was used to the characters a little more than I had been for the first two installments, which could be why I ended up enjoying it more than I thought that I would. It is hard to say whether it beats the original or not. I am inclined to say that it is not as good, but it is very close. Take away one unfortunate subplot and this one has a real chance at 1st.
The film starts off with the heroes working small jobs while one of their members makes a legitimate deal with a new character on a new gambling casino. The heroes warned him that the casino owner tend to double cross everyone, but the warnings do not stop the inevitable from happening. Now that he is in a coma, the heroes decide to band together one last time to avenge their comrade by bankrupting the casino. It will be tough, but they do have some money to burn!
The premise is very good and watching the heroes band together once more should be nostalgic. It should definitely be noted that these guys still aren’t very heroic. One of them is robbing a vault as the film starts and judging by how rich all of the members are, they can’t be on the up and up. It’s intense to see them constantly throwing millions around. It’s actually a good thing in the sense that it makes the film more realistic even if it means that they can’t be completely heroic. There would be no way for them to use their plan if they didn’t have such a large amount of money on their end. By the end, they’re all essentially broke, but the ending probably means that they will have a lot of spending money once more. So, you could say that they’ve practically been reset to the beginning of the film.
Let’s get the unfortunate subplot out of the way first. One of the components of the plan revolves around tricking the villain’s right hand woman into taking one of the heroes into the vault room so that he could steal the diamonds. They use a strong cologne that messes with her mind and acts as a cupid type of weapon. Ignoring that the plot hax was downright unbelievable in those scenes and that they had no trouble getting into the vault room (Guards must have been panicking or something) there were better ways that they could have handled this. Just rushing into the room would have been my personal favorite. It may have been a little less believable, but it would have taken out the romance aspect that hurt this film so it would definitely be worth it. The heroes are basically just taking advantage of the lady and that’s definitely not cool.
The heroes mention from the start that their plan will have collateral damage and they weren’t kidding. By causing the company to lose billions of dollars (Not quite bankrupt, but it’s hard to see the casino ultimately staying alive) they probably costs dozens of workers their jobs. One reviewer had a pretty awful day and people almost got hurt from the tremors. I do give the heroes props for making things all right between them and the reviewer. The review guy was pretty sympathetic during the film and his plight was rather depressing and painful. The ending definitely makes things better and I was glad that the film did that since the ending would have been pretty sad otherwise. It was the ending that we needed.
We get some guest stars in this film, which was pretty neat as well. The main villain of the second film randomly shows up to try and steal the diamonds from the heroes, but they dismiss him rather quickly. One of their big rivals/antagonists also gets a decently large role as the heroes are forced to ask for his help when they are running out of money. He warns them that their lives will be over if they double cross him and he also forces them to steal the jewels from the casino in addition to their normal plans. The main characters manage to get back at him during the ending. It made for a pretty fun dynamic.
The main thing to consider here is if you enjoy dialogue a lot. The film is really centered around that as there are no actual fights in this film. It’s all about outsmarting the opponents and winning in a peaceful way. The dialogue is engaging though so that shouldn’t be a problem. Watching them make the plans is cool and the heroes already have a good idea of how to start at the beginning of the film. They’ve just run into 2 problems that they spend most of the film trying to correct. Again, it’s an extremely detailed plan that runs on so much luck that it would never work in real life, but it’s still cool to see them give it a whirl. I appreciate the fact that the writers still made the effort of creating such a thorough plan.
As for the actual cast, most of the main characters are likable, but certainly not all of them. Ocean makes for a good commander and Rusty is pretty dependable. I don’t care for the guy in the Mexico plot (That one had a happy ending as well, which is good since it would have been pretty annoying otherwise) or the one who never bothers to speak in English even though he understands it rather well. Lenny is easily one of my least favorite members. I liked the guy who managed to get a table in the casino. Now he could act (in film) as he tricked the owner into realizing his greatness. He’s the kind of guy who’s just so charismatic that it’s hard to stop him. Unfortunately, he has his less impressive moments, which ends up hurting his overall rating. Most of the other members are just there so they don’t really impact the plot all that much.
Overall, Ocean’s Thirteen is a pretty good film, but it does suffer from the unnecessary romance plot. The writing is still pretty good on the whole and the film is enjoyable so I would still recommend it. It may not beat the original, but as far as sequels go, it is definitely not bad. It holds true to what the series is all about and watching the heroes try to perform such a tricky heist is always amusing. Perhaps not all that realistic, but amusing nonetheless. It’s one of those films where a reboot/remake would probably be a lot of fun, but it’s hard to see it being quite as good. The twists in this film were all done really well and that’s where the new film would have a tough time topping it without going overboard.
Overall 6/10
It’s time for a good ole DC review! The Adventures of Superman is a decently fun series with the main drawback being that each story is a stand alone comic with completely different art each time. So, some stories are naturally a lot better than others so the important thing is to make sure that no comic is downright bad. They all need to at least a little entertaining if this trade paperback is going to work. It’s definitely not as good as the average Superman comic and the art does get pretty bad at some points, but it ends up being a (quick) satisfying read.
The first story starts the volume on a high note as Superman learns about his past and realizes that his father may not have been as heroic as he thought. There were some significant pieces left out in his story about how he warned Krypton of their upcoming demise. Superman also learns about the Phantom Zone and must decide whether he should be willing to use it on Mongul when the titan attacks Earth. This is definitely a solid premise and the artwork looks pretty good here. I was definitely satisfied with Superman’s decision at the end and the fight with Mongul was pretty fun. If the whole volume had continued from this comic it would have been great, but that’s the thing with short story collections. You can never get too attached since things end up changing. Still, this was easily my favorite story in the batch.
Next up was a comic dealing with the Church of Superman. Basically, a group of people started to think that Superman was such a great hero that they would jump off of buildings so Superman could catch them. If he didn’t, then they were just meant to die. Superman tries to convince them that this is off the walls crazy, but they don’t buy it. Meanwhile, Metallo is making his move! The art takes a slight dip, but it still looks reasonably good here. Superman’s portrayal is also pretty great as he shows that he’s willing to make the tough calls and yell the people the truth that they need to hear even if they don’t want too. The concept of a Church of Superman that got so widespread is a bit much and everyone deciding to jump off of their roofs will just make you shake your head. It’s sad that Superman has to deal with all of this. All in all, it’s a pretty entertaining comic even if it’s all a bit of a stretch.
Continuing on was a short story where Wonder Woman and Martian Manhunter get brainwashed by Darkseid. Superman has to save them and quickly heads back to Earth before a kid falls off of a tree. The stakes have never been real for Mr. Kent and it’s a fun story. I could have done without the subplot of the kid, but at least we finally got some guest stars. The art isn’t very detailed, but it’s pretty fun and the fight scenes look pretty good as a result. That’s definitely what I like to see.
In the next comic, Superman gets word that Krypton is still alive so he heads over there. His father informs him that the explosion never actually happened and he was arrested for “scaring the civilians.” Superman manages to convince the court to let his father out of jail, but something feels pretty suspicious about the whole endeavor. If someone’s messing with Superman..they better watch out! You will probably assume that the whole story of Krypton surviving is fake from the start given that it always turns out to be a trap, but it’s still fun to see Superman interact with Krypton. It’s not quite as action packed as some of the other adventures, but it’s a good story. The art also holds its own so maybe our art worries were for nothing!
Bizarro got to have a big role in the next comic as a “cure” allows him to act and speak normally. Superman believes that Bizarro could actually be a good guy deep down so they team up to help the world. Unfortunately, Bizarro starts to revert to how he used to be. Why is this happening? This comic definitely wasn’t that interesting and I can’t say that the ending was very good. It was just really hard to get into. The art was also a little more sketchy than the previous ones and I guess I would call it average looking. The characters are still easily recognizable, but they typically just look a little off.
This next comic was easily the worst in the batch. Superman travels to a town after getting some mail from a kid telling him about a monster. Superman shows up and it turns out that the kid is the monster. Can Superman actually defeat this menace? The ending is pretty terrible and Superman didn’t look very good during the battle. The art was also easily the worst as Superman looks overweight and there is absolutely no detail in the art. Everything is just vague and not cool. Well, we got the worst story over with so it’s all uphill from here right?
Finally, we get a short story where Superman fights with Metallo, but the villain gets the upper hand when Superman has to protect some civilians who wandered into the line of fire. The ending is pretty emotional and it shows that Superman always cares about every individual. He’s not just a hero, Superman is The hero. It was a good way to end the collection.
So, it’s a pretty short read, but this collection did a good job of being entertaining. I don’t see it doing very well in terms of sales since this is the kind of collection that’s better to read at the library instead of paying the big bucks for it. My advice to DC would be to switch the format over to one continuing story and they could still keep this atmospheare of the good ole Superman days. It’s less risky and it could have given the comic an extra star.
Overall, Adventures of Superman was a pretty good trade paperback. I still prefer an ongoing plot series to one where each comic is a different story, but most of the stories were good, which was a relief. Most of the writers seemed to have a good handle on who Superman is as a character and it was fun to see so many of his adversaries pop up. From Mongul to the Toyman, they all tried their best to land a good hit on Superman. I definitely recommend this comic to Superman fans or to anyone who wants a casual comic to check out. By “casual” I mean that it’s short and simple. There are no large plots or character development to watch out for, but the stories are pretty fun and entertaining. In the end, that’s all that we could want from this right?
Overall 6/10
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