Thoughts on The Thing (1982)

It’s crazy that this is the first time I’ve seen this film. I’ve known about it for years, but this is the first time I’ve actually seen it. I’m glad I finally did, because it was refreshing to see it after being burned out on all of Hollywood’s super polished releases. I’m going to take a different approach with this review and just share my thoughts instead of running down the whole plot of the movie. I’m sure everyone has seen it, and if you haven’t I think it would be appreciated that I don’t completely wreck the movie…this time.

Released in 1982, The Thing stars Kurt Russell, Wilfred Brimley and…T.K. Carter. Why he gets higher billing than Keith David is a question I’ll have to research to get the answer. The opening scene is one of the cooler ones I’ve seen in a long while. I really dig the way the space craft explodes into the title sequence. The mystery of the Thing starts up right away, why is there a helicopter shooting a high powered rifle at a dog? Why can’t they hit the damn thing? How is it possible for the poor thing to keep running like that? The answers are in the frantic yells of the Norwegian, but sadly what he says isn’t translated, so we are left thinking that something either isn’t right about the dog, or that the poor guy was nuts. By the way I have to admit I said “ooh” when the other guy was blown up by his own grenade. Not many movies let you see a person get blown up like that. That is one of my favorite things about this movie. It really just shows you what happens. In a matter of minutes once the film starts, you see one man get blown WAY up, and another man get shot in the head. I was sucked right in and wanted to see what was going to happen.

I thought it was a nice touch of storytelling that they actually had MacReady and the doctor go to the Norwegian campsite and showed what they found. It was a tense scene that illustrated the hell that broke loose there before the Thing was chased away. I did wonder, WHY in great goodness did they think it was a good idea to bring that nasty mangled “corpse” back to their camp. NOTHING about it looked normal, and even though it should have been dead, NOTHING about it looked NORMAL. Everything about it gave me the feeling that they should have left it sitting right there smoking in the snow. BAD IDEA.

And that dog was really well trained. Everything about the way it moved was sort of other worldly, and the scene where it casually walked through the hall and went into the room where the guy was about to go to sleep was so well done and had just the right feeling. Fade outs were used to the maximum effect in this film. That shot where the dog goes into his room and you see the man’s silhouette turn and look…then fade out--Creeptastic. I think I wanted to buy this film at that moment.

Then the crap starts hitting the fan. The dog gets put in the kennel, and some real nasty shit goes down. I guess the alien must have felt threatened, or he was hungry or something because those poor dogs didn’t have a chance once it got in there. That scene was excellently done. The tension ramped up so I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen. Once the “bad” dog got to shaking I knew things were going to be bad, but I had no idea what I about to see. Using practical effects and strategic camera shots, we see just how terrifying the Thing really is. The Thing-dog splits open in a bunch of different ways, tentacles fly out and whip through the air (the sound effects here are well chosen) The dogs howl in fear and one tries to chew his way through a chain link fence as one of them gets sprayed with what I imagine is something like stomach acid. Bottom line the creators made this beast truly horrific and disgusting and it just got worse as the scene progressed. By the time Childs (Keith David) finally got himself to pull the trigger on the flame thrower the Thing was a mess of organic parts on a mission to suck up everything in that room.

At this point we learn that Wilfred Brimley’s character Dr. Blair has figured out that the alien will take over the earth in a very short period of time if it is allowed to reach civilization, and that not a whole lot of it is required to infect and take over another organism. He doesn’t tell anyone, but this discovery drives him mad. Meanwhile everyone is unaware that the other corpse they collected is still alive and that they are all still in danger. Another scene I enjoyed was how Bennings was assimilated and then killed. It reminded me of the body snatchers a bit how he howled out in the cold on his knees before he was burned up. By the way killing by fire is a really gruesome thing to do. Nothing for me is worse than seeing the struggle of a being doomed to die like that. 

All the players in the story start distrusting each other, and we get a new layer of depth to the story. Not only is there a monster after everyone, but given enough time, it can perfectly replicate whatever it absorbs. So who is human and who isn’t? Stuff starts breaking down pretty quickly and it leads to some entertaining and frightening scenes. Wilfred Brimley was great, end even though I kept thinking of oatmeal when he talked I thought he was pretty badass. Other than this movie and Cocoon I’ve only seen him in Oatmeal and Diabeetus commercials, so I feel like I’ve missed out on how great an actor he really is. Once they get him into the shed, he seems to sober up, and his delivery when he later tries to convince MacReady to let him come back is unnerving especially when I felt sorry for him and distrusted him for being a Thing at the same time. I think he had that noose in there to try and convince MacReady to let him back in, and I thought he was a Thing at that point, especially when he said “It ain’t ___!" (I can’t remember who he was contesting at that point) but I thought it was weird for him to know with that much certainty who wasn’t infected. When was he infected? They never show, but I thought it was pretty nasty for him to touch the corpse with his pencil eraser, and then put it that close to his mouth. If one cell can infect, then it had to be there.

The last two scenes I need to point out are the defibrillator scene, and the blood test scene. The practical effects here are amazing I’ve never been so engrossed in a movie than I was here. The head pulling off and then turning into that spider thing was gross and crazy. When Palmer said “you gotta be F-ing kidding” I said “I know!” to no one in particular. (I’m turning into my mother, who watches films and gets way into them).

During the blood test scene I was glad they had a moment for me to laugh when Garry screamed about being “Tied to this FUCKING COUCH!” because before that I was a wreck. SO much work had to go into making Palmer into that mess, having him travel up to the ceiling like that, struggle with Windows, and then make Window’s half-turned corpse…I was blown away and upset that more films today don’t utilize these types of effects. I’m sure it takes more time, but the end result is much more desirable than the CGI-heavy stuff we get to see nowadays. I don’t hate CGI, I just think it’s over used.

That being said I wish the ending scene was done differently. It’s always hard to show a big monster like that without it looking sort of false, especially when earlier in the film the Dog-Thing was done so well. Maybe they only could have shown part of it, I don’t know, the end was just sort of a let-down. It reminded me of the Alien reveal from 2003’s Dreamcatcher. 

Here’s a pic.—terrible.

Any way I really liked the movie, and as I said before I plan to pick up a copy when I can. I would love to watch it again to parse through all the events to see if I can better understand how and when everyone was infected. I am definitely sorry I’m just now seeing this, but glad I finally did. I agree that it’s a classic. One other note, I got the urge to watch Aliens again after seeing this, maybe a great 70’s and 80’s sci-fi/horror movie marathon is in my future.

Prototype 2 Review

Rating: A+

It’s taken me a while to get this review up, and as a result my details on it are a bit sketchy. Right now I'm so far behind on all the games I own and haven't played that I’ve been pushing through them all just to say that I’ve gotten through them once for the story. I received Prototype 2 for my birthday last year, and was excited for it because of its main character James Heller, who is the first black protagonist I’ve ever played as in a video game. I know there have been a few protagonists of color in the past, however for some reason James Heller’s character was one I immediately wanted to check out when I first saw his concept art.  I like that he is a family man, and a trained soldier-- not a street tough like CJ from the Grand Theft Auto series. In recent years more characters of color have emerged in video games, which is definitely a welcome change from what’s been there in the past. In my opinion it’s not a huge deal, it’s just nice to see more diversity popping up in my other favorite hobby.

 

Prototype 2—Story

Prototype 2 follows the story of James Heller, a soldier returning from a tour in Iraq who learns his wife and daughter are presumed dead due to a virus outbreak in New York City, referred to as NYZ in the game. James returns to service to help fight against Mercer, the antihero from the first game to help try and stop the spread of the virus. James becomes infected with the virus at the hands of Mercer and passes out. He wakes up in a test lab and, determined to get revenge against Mercer discovers his new powers and breaks out. He meets up with Mercer again and is told that Gentek and Blackwatch are responsible for unleashing the virus on the city, and thus they are responsible for the deaths of his wife and daughter. James finds Father Guerra, and asks him for help in tracking down leads to help him figure out if he should trust Mercer.

James’ powers allow him to assume the identity of those he absorbs. This allows him to hack into Blackwatch terminals and sabotage their plans. As he fights and absorbs members of Gentek and Blackwatch, he gets into a fight with a doctor Koenig. This doctor is no ordinary guy as it turns out he is an evolved member or Mercer’s group of special infected agents. Mercer has planted infected people into Blackwatch and Gentek to assume control of NYZ and then attempt to wipe out humanity and take over the world (muhahahaha).

James is royally pissed about this, and as a side note I have to say that this man lays down more foul language than I have EVER heard come from a single person in my entire life. His mouth alone could have earned the game its “M” rating. It’s understandable, he’s really angry…REALLY angry…like Kratos angry, so you could understand why he would lay out blue clouds when he talks. So anyway, Heller goes after more Blackwatch terminals and finds out about a doctor Galloway. Before he can kill her, she tells him Mercer’s true plans of world infection and that she can help him kill Mercer if he teams up with her.

Mercer doesn’t like the double-cross, and he finds and kills Father Guerra. When James finds the body, he answers Guerra’s ringing cell phone and learns from Dana Mercer (yup, his sister) that his daughter Maya is still alive. James seeks to find her and almost gets to her, but is sold out by Galloway, who intercepts his daughter and turns her and Dana over to Mercer. Mercer absorbs Galloway and he explains to an enraged James that he intends to use his daughter to infect the entire world. They have an epic battle, and James finally kills and absorbs Mercer.  He finds his daughter and Dana by using Mercer’s memories and frees them from their temporary holding cell. James uses his fully evolved powers to cleanse all of NYZ of most of the virus, and he, Dana, and Maya are finally free to rebuild their lives. Cue end credits.

Gameplay

Prototype 2 uses an upgrade system that allows James to upgrade his powers to insane levels. The controls are mapped in a way that lets you use two of his super powers at a time. You can choose which two you want to map to the square and triangle buttons, and you can also switch on the fly between the four or five total powers. This is convenient, because it is necessary to use all of his powers for the end fight, and as you run through the game, there are enemies that are more susceptible to certain powers. I do wish that the power wheel worked more like in the Ratchet and Clank games where you hit triangle and the action stops so you can easily toggle between all of the available powers. It’s not bad, but I did get hit a lot of times unnecessarily because I was fiddling around trying to get the goofy thing to load the right power. I got used to it by the end of the game though. Running and jumping are mapped to their own buttons, and there is also a button for changing your appearance from James, to whomever you’ve absorbed, to James with his powers. Change your appearance when people are watching and they will either scream and run away, or start to shoot at you. If you change into James with his powers and guards see you, an alert will go up, and you’ll either have to fight or run away.

When the game starts out, James is a soldier, and can use any type of firearm and has decent hand to hand combat skills. Once he is infected by Mercer, he gains the ability to run really fast, jump really high, glide through the air, extend crazy claws from both hands, and absorb enemies for health. This is extremely convenient for those moments when everyone is trying to shoot, bash, or eat you and heath is getting low.

As the game progresses, James can pick up cars and other really heavy objects and throw them great distances. He also gains the ability to pound the ground with concussive force, extend tentacles from his body to grab and infect other enemies, slice things with a massive arm blade, pierce and whip things with a long arm stinger and repel and reflect incoming attacks with arm shields. All these things are “bio” weapons, meaning that they emerge from his body on command (it’s kind of gross). The virus is sort of like if you took Rogue and Mystique’s powers from the X-Men and mixed them together, except that James can create metallic blades from his body, so I guess you should throw some Clay Face from Batman in there too. (I know I’m mixing Marvel and DC comics’ characters to talk about a videogame… What? I’m a huge nerd!).  James can also upgrade each of these powers to execute mid-level attacks against enemies that also can affect surrounding enemies. As if that’s not enough, James also has “devastator” attacks. As the name states, these are limited use, devastating (screen clearing) attacks for each power he has that James can initiate if the enemies get too close. After all that you can still chose to just pick up a gun or punch people with regular old fists as well. It does seem kind of silly to do that when you can just tear them apart with your bare hands--plus that’s more fun. That being said, the powers available to James can be overpowering. I never felt too much in danger, even when surrounded by enemies and there was a crazy amount of action happening. The controls are easy enough to use that I felt inclined to start an alert just so I could destroy everything on screen. It was great fun. By the end of the game James is almost un-killable, but I managed to die quite a few times. Taking that into consideration, I liked that you can’t die by falling off a building or getting hit by cars, and that when you do die, you re-spawn relatively close to where you left off.  One annoying thing to note about the mayhem, if you are in an area where there are lots of things to pick up and throw or use, it can get very confusing because James can pick up these items instead of grabbing an enemy. There was one instance where I was in the middle of a fight with a juggernaut, and while I kept trying to throw exploding barrels at him, James would pick up a gun and I’d have to drop it and try again. This was pretty annoying when the thing was also throwing big pieces of concrete or trying to charge and knock me down. The whole gun thing is a nice option, but I much preferred to just mow down enemies using James’ powers rather than picking up a gun.

The game is set up with a mission-based structure. You can plow through the game finishing main missions to complete the story, or you can complete side missions to upgrade James’ abilities, or you can wander around aimlessly causing all sorts of mischief. I chose to do a combination of all three. I also purchased the excessive force pack for more fun things to do once I finished the story.

I really enjoyed having all these abilities at my disposal. I loved when I was able to tear a missile launcher from a tank and then use it to shoot down a helicopter. There was so much James could do that like I stated earlier, I sometimes looked for an excuse to start a fight. What is also remarkable is that there are also other types of gameplay involved and it’s all pretty well interspersed throughout the game. There are missions where you can drive or hunt tanks, fly helicopters, and be stealthy and take out specific characters, along with the standard boss fights and fetch quests. The variety was great enough that I would play late into the night, telling myself, “just one more mission, and then I’ll go to bed.”

Graphics and Sound

Prototype 2 has decent graphics and a realistic physics engine. It was really amazing how much was capable of happening on screen at once.  I remember one particular mission where there were helicopters firing, tanks rolling, infected creatures running around and military men shooting at me while I’m unleashing huge attacks and holding my own during all this madness. If I started to take too much damage the screen would go from color to black and white to indicate that I needed to get away or find some health before I was killed. This always seemed to work well; however, so much can be going on that the color indicator can be too late and James will die before you can get him out of all the madness.

During the game, the ambient noises were nicely done. You could hear snatches of conversations from the civilians and military personnel that, if you wanted, you could follow to eavesdrop. There are LOTS of these conversations that you can stop to take in. They are all fully recorded and quite interesting. Some of them can be pretty funny if you don’t mind a lot of cursing. If you bumped into anyone while walking you could very well get some nasty words for not watching your step. One guy cursed at me and I threw him across the street. People yelled at me for doing something so mean, and I turned on my powers and had fun watching them run away screaming “Whoa, what ARE you? I’m getting out of here Whaaaa!” People’s reactions to James are also entertaining, but not always realistic. I appreciated this in some instances because it saved my tail when trying to escape an alert with low health. It’s jarring however,  to land on a roof on foot with a loud thud right in front of a group of people after jumping down from 20 stories higher only to have them jump a little and then continue on about their business like that kind of thing is normal.

This game focuses on some very violent actions, and the sound effects complement them perfectly. Explosions have great punch and feel powerful thanks in part to the dual shock rumble. Blades slice and cut into creatures with a satisfying ring of metal, whips and tentacles splatter realistically against whatever they hit, whether organic or not, and when things get crushed, there is an appropriate spray of sparks and smoke…or blood. Since the game has a lot of body transformations going on, there are a lot of fleshy sound effects as well. When James levels up, his body sort of erupts in these red tendril things that travel over him and then reconfigure back into his original shape. When this happens there is a juicy sounding fleshy noise, and my skin crawled a bit every time. Actually most of the infected creatures are really yucky looking beasts, you’ll hear quite a lot of sickening noises as unnaturally deformed creatures burst from everywhere to try and get at James.

Conclusion

This game has a TON of variety and content. As of this writing I still haven’t completed all the side missions or fully upgraded my James to his max levels. The graphics and sounds are appropriate and add a lot to the overall experience. The voice acting is solid and the writing, while it’s not the deepest story around, is solid enough to get me to be invested in James’ character. He did curse a LOT, but I didn’t feel like it was gratuitous as much as it was really part of his character, and that takes some skill on the writer’s and voice actor’s part. The character designs for the creatures were also well done. The monsters and infected people displayed enough variety that you could see they were not just clones of each other and they all had some really freaky looking stuff going on with their bodies after being infected. I have a ton of games to play through and I plan to return to this one after I can get through at least one play through of many of the other games I have waiting for my attention. Overall I had a blast with this game, and I can’t recommend it enough.

Attack The Block (2011) Review

Rating: A

Attack the Block is a movie produced by Shaun of the Dead and Scott Pilgrim creators WT2 Productions. It is the first film directed by comedian Joe Cornish.

The film is set in a fictional south London town during Bonfire Night. I would describe it as a coming of age, "what if" scenario of what an alien attack would be like in the "hood". The actors in the film are all unknowns, and are an extremely talented group of youngsters.

STORY
Its Bonfire Night in South London, and a small gang of teenagers, Moses, Pest, Dennis, Jerome, and Biggz are roaming the streets when they run into Sam, a nurse who has just moved into the neighborhood and mug her, stealing her ring and wallet. Their crime is interrupted when a meteor falls and damages a parked car not far from where they are all standing. Sam escapes when gang leader Moses decides to investigate and is scratched on the face by a hairless alien. He and the gang give chase after the creature, swearing revenge. They corner the creature in a shed, and Moses ultimately destroys it. During the excitement, they fail to notice that other meteors have fallen around the area. They take the creature to a weed vault owned by local gangster "Hi Hatz" to figure out what to do with it and how they can somehow make a profit from it.

Once the gang notices that there are more meteors falling, they decide to try and kill more of the creatures, however these creatures are much bigger and have ultra black spiky fur and mouths full sharp, blue, glowing teeth. Terrified, the kids run, but Moses is intercepted and taken into custody by the police Sam called. The creatures kill the cops and Moses and Sam end up trapped in the Van. Dennis manages to get inside the van and drive it away, however he crashes into Hi Hatz's car and incurs his wrath, allowing Sam to run away again. Now I have to say, Hi Hatz, has a terrible attitude and the sort of face that is great for punching. He is incredibly ignorant and a huge bully. Cheers to the actor who played him, because as the film progressed, I genuinely disliked that dude.

Hi Hatz doesn't believe Moses' story about the aliens, and threatens the kids with a gun. I like this scene for a lot of reasons, but mainly because it's here that we're introduced to the the character differences between young Moses, and older Hi Hatz. Moses, comes off as a kid who has made poor choices due to his lack of proper guidance and influences, however he is well on his way to being a much stronger and intelligent person than the laughable Hi Hatz, who wouldn't have much power save for the fact that he's holding a gun. He's really more of a dumb brute. Moses and his friends escape Hi Hatz when his henchman is attacked by one of the aliens. This scene is great because it perfectly mixes humor, tension and terror and displays just how absurd the whole situation is.

The kids and Sam make it back to their apartment building and hole up in Sam's apartment. During their escape, Biggz is separated from the group, and Pest has his leg chomped by one of the monsters. While there they get Sam to patch up Pest's leg they are attacked by the Aliens again. Sam decides she's is safer with them and joins the group. They go up to the apartment of some neighborhood girls, thinking the security gate there will  keep them safe. However, they are attacked again, this time losing Dennis. The girls see that the creatures only seem to be after Moses and blame him for getting attacked, so they throw out Sam and remaining members of the gang.

They try to make their way upstairs to the weed vault and are chased by Hi Hatz and some more of his henchmen. By this point Hi Hatz has become unhinged, and its illustrated by a pretty funny scene where the henchmen look concerned for their own safety while in the car with him. A group of aliens attack them all again and the gang escapes while Hi Hatz and his cronies are chased into an elevator by one of the aliens. Hi Hatz manages to kill the alien after it takes out all of his men and continues looking for Moses. Upstairs, the gang escapes more aliens using some of Pest's fireworks, however, the smoke from the blast clouds the hallway and sadly, they lose Jerome.

Once they make it to the weed apartment, they are once again confronted by Hi Hatz, who is satisfyingly taken out by a large group of the aliens. The rest of the gang and one of the weed customers run to the weed vault. The weed customer, Brewis, notices in the blacklit light that Moses has something on his clothes. This leads him to think about certain species that reproduce sore of like plant spores, which float around until they land in an area where they can thrive, and then the female produces a pheromone to attract males so they can mate. He thinks the smaller alien Moses killed is a female and that the stuff on his jacket is what is attracting the other aliens. The team comes up with a strategy to have Sam go to Moses' apartment and turn on the gas stove full blast. Moses will then lead the Aliens there and then try to blow them up with fireworks. The plan is successful and Moses survives the blast. The remaining kids and Brewis are arrested, believed to be responsible for all the deaths that night, however Sam tells them that he is the hero, and the crowds cheer for Moses. In the last shot we see Moses, who scowled through all of the film, smile for the first time.

CONCLUSION
I enjoyed the way the movie really subtly played up the different character traits of the gang members. As a viewer, I felt set up to believe this was going to be a film that poked fun and mocked inner city youth with broad and mean-spirited stereotypes, however, as the film wears on, its clear that the writer's intention is ultimately to illustrate the humanity of the characters by first presenting them as silly thugs wearing a hard core facade and showing how they grow, change and survive in the face of an otherworldly threat. This movie did a great job presenting the aliens, using minimal effects, and thought out camera angles and shots to present the aliens as more than just a bunch of guys in modified gorilla suits. There were a couple of times in the film where the movement and sound of the Aliens was really creepy because the shot combined the everyday objects and the alien in a manner that made you think "wait, what IS that?" This is really masterful, and one of the reasons I really like of these types of independent films.

The actors also should really get credit for making their characters truly believable. The way they played their parts, along with the way the story is written took me on a journey emotionally from being annoyed by their silly, "street tough" attitudes to really caring about them, rooting for them, and feeling sadness when any of them were taken out. I was really hurt when any of the kids were killed or injured. Any time film makers and actors make you feel something for the story and the characters like this is commendable. Don't miss this one. Its the perfect blend of humor, thrills, action, and social commentary that is a rare find in Hollywood films today.

The Experiment (2010) Review

Rating: B-
I was recently home sick and got the chance to watch a few movies on my DVR. One of them was 2010's The Experiment starring Adrien Brody and Forrest Whitaker.

This is a remake of a German film "Das Experiment" from 2002 that is a sort of what if scenario to the Stanford Prison Experiments. These experiments were an investigation into the psychological effects of becoming a prisoner and prison guard, and ended abruptly after only 6 days due to the extreme nature at which the subjects adapted to their roles. The film explores what would possibly have happened if the experiment was not aborted.

STORY
The film starts out with Brody's character Travis being portrayed as a person incapable of violence. His knuckles are pristine with no evidence of fighting whatsoever. He is at a political rally and when confronted with some aggression, stands up for himself, but does not resort to violence. I wonder if the soldier who threatened him was allowed to get his hands on him, would he have defended himself or just took a beating. Travis learns about the experiment after being fired from his job as a healthcare worker for the elderly. In need of money ( I think he wants to follow his girlfriend to India) he applies for a position in the experiment to earn the $14k paycheck it offers. We are then introduced to Forrest Whitaker's character Barris, who is a man in his 40's living with his elderly and verbally abusive mother. He takes part in the experiment to help pay for her hip replacement surgery.

When these characters first meet, we are shown just how "nice" and cordial they are to each other. Barris seems like a friendly and caring guy who just has a hard time of life by being cursed with a mother who harshly criticizes him seemingly for being alive. Travis is the ultimate peace-loving human being. I couldn't help but feel the set up that by the end of the film these two would be at odds.

We're next shown how the subjects are psychologically evaluated prior to acceptance to the experiment, supposedly to weed out any people with a propensity for violence, ex-convicts or sociopaths, however I think the evaluators were either the worst ever at the job, or they deliberately put a bunch or volatile and potentially dangerous people in a stressful situation and then yelled "go!". I believe the latter. The evaluation included some questions about each subject's background and a video showing a variety of violent images. I have to note that the video was interesting to me because it showed a lot of footage of wild animals sort of doing what they do and attacking each other, then it switched to humans in some violent confrontations, and I noticed that the animals didn't bother me, but I was really unnerved by the human footage. I guess its because animals are motivated by survival...while humans can do some horrible stuff because they believe its the right thing to do. That scares the crap out of me, especially during a time where I see a ridiculous amount of racially charged political hatred flying around down here in Charlotte, NC. The "wrong" outcome down here could send some people into a killing rage.

Anyway, the subjects are chosen and the experiment begins. Barris is a guard, and Travis is a prisoner. The guards are given only 5 rules for the prisoners (they must eat 3 meals a day and it must all be consumed, there will be 30 minutes of rec daily, prisoners are only allowed in prisoner-designated areas, prisoners may speak only when spoken to, and prisoners must not touch the guards under any circumstances.) They are told that if anyone breaks the rules, they must be punished "commensurately", however no violence is to be used at all or a red light will come on, the experiment will be terminated, and no one will receive the $14k.

Things start out pretty easily without many incidents, however, after one inmate accidentally whallops a guard in the face with a basketball, the tone of oppression is set. Pushups are ordered, and the prisoners grudgingly oblige. Then at mealtime, some nasty poo-looking beans are served and a food fight happens. Later the Guards lament not being able to control the prisoners, and we see Barris suggest that they should embarrass Travis, who is seen as the ringleader to get him to "get with the program". Travis is snatched out of bed, shaved bald and peed on, then sent back to bed. The red light doesn't come on, so Barris believes his punishment was ok.

Travis later discovers his cellmate Benjy is in such bad sweaty shape because he has diabetes and needs insulin. However his medication is in his personal bag, and thus not allowed. Travis asks another guard, Bosch, to get the insulin for Benjy. Bosch agrees, but is seen by Barris via the surveillance cameras. Barris gives Benjy the insulin, but later has Bosch brutally beaten and then added to the prison population. He then forces Travis to clean his toilet in a scene that really shows Whitaker's acting chops. He's great at playing crazy dudes in a really terrifying manner. I keep hearing him rattle off "this guy’s gonna die if he doesn't get his insulin" like a speedy Chicago rapper. That whole scene is testament to his skill. My skin actually crawled.

The next morning during role call Travis demands that the experiment be stopped and all hell breaks loose. Barris is punched on the back of the head by Benjy as he chokes Travis. Barris then strikes Benjy on TOP of his head with his knight stick (this surprised me to the point where I couldn't close my mouth for a few seconds after it happened) and leaves him bleeding and twitching on the floor. They drag all the other inmates to cells and restrain them. Benjy's still twitching and bloody body is handcuffed to the cell where he fell, and Travis is thrown into a big boiler pipe overnight.

One guard, Chase, who was struggling with a sex addiction, corners and tries to rape one of the prisoners. Angered upon discovering there is even a camera in the boiler he's trapped in, Travis escapes and runs to where Benjy's body lies. Enraged by the fact that he was just chained up there and left to die rather than getting medical attention, he runs off and, hearing the other inmate plead for help, saves him from the rape. He then sets all the prisoners free, and they rush the guards, breaking into their quarters and then chasing them through the compound. A brutal (and satisfying) battle happens and ends with Travis punching Barris in the face so much I thought he should have looked a lot worse after the red light and siren finally put it all to an end.

The weirdest aspect of the whole movie is the end. The doors open, and everyone steps out into the yard. The realization that it was all "pretend" really smacks you in the face as they show the subjects sitting in the grass silently waiting to see what happens next. Never mind the fact that they were all trying to kill each other a few minutes ago. A bus pulls into the yard, they all get on, and we're surprised by the fact that Barris holds a check for $14k.

CONCLUSION
I think the experiment was intended to see what would happen if the measure of the subject's morality (the red light) never activated. How far would they go before their conscience would kick in, or would that ever happen at all? The experiment was not about it ending IF they broke the rules; it was about seeing what would happen WHEN the rules were broken.

I really enjoyed watching Whitaker's performance. He is truly underrated, and one of the best at playing unhinged, dangerous, yet vulnerable characters. All in all I enjoyed the movie; however I took off a couple grade points after I was able to let it soak in. I know for a fact that the premise is real and that it could actually happen, I think I was just turned off by the Hollywood treatment it received, especially the epilogue where Travis and his girlfriend meet in India with all the soothing music and she looks at his now bruised-up knuckles. The brutality was done in a really visceral way, and little touches like how nasty that toilet was were really effective. The film was just a bit too polished, and I would really like to see the original German version of the film and how it treated the ending events. Once I do that I may adjust my rating of this one a bit. All in all I feel alright recommending this one.

Darksiders II & Other Stuff

More Fun Times Ahead with Art and Games

My wonderful husband got me a surprise 9th anniversary gift of Darksiders 2. I can't wait to dive back into this fantasy world and enjoy the artwork of Joe Maduiera.

I'm still trying to finish Prototype 2, and I'll have a review up for that soon. I also found out that there is a patch available for Darksiders 2 for consoles that fixes some pretty annoying bugs. I'm glad I found out about it before I got into it and got frustrated. (No flail kicks for that reason, yay!)

There is also a draw Death Contest available on the Darkhorse website http://www.darkhorse.com/. I may not get to enter on time, but I might do a piece that's inspired by it just for kicks.

I'll post the final on my website http://giannaseye.com/ while I'm working on it.

'Til next time!

G

God Of War Origins Collection Review

Rating: A+

I recently finished the story modes for the God of War Origins Collection, Two games that originally came out for the Sony PSP. I played the first of the two games -- Chains of Olympus -- on my PSP and enjoyed it immensely, even though the controls were a bit wonky for dodging attacks. There was nothing like having a GOW game I could take with me wherever I went. It looked great, had great control response time, and the story was just as epic as all the preceding GOW titles.

I hadn't purchased Ghost of Sparta on my PSP, so when the Origins Collection came out I was excited that I could play this title and also play it in HD on my PS3. The game did not disappoint. The story had the same rage-fueled highs and lows the franchise is well known for, and just like Chains of Olympus, is a satisfying length. This collection is a great value for fans of the action genre including 2 games with about 15-20 hours of content.

Chains of Olympus-Story
This game precedes the original God of War title that came out on the PS2, and comes after the upcoming God of War:Ascension title coming in March of 2013. It follows Kratos during his 10 years of service to the Greek gods. During his task to kill a basilisk that is destroying the city of Attica, the sun falls from the sky. Morpheus, the god of Dreams uses this as an opportunity to send the gods into a deep slumber and sends a black fog over the earth, controlling it with his dark minions. Athena sends Kratos to rescue Helios so that his light can be returned and the gods can wake up and banish Morpheus. On his quest, Kratos learns that Helios has been abducted by the titan Atlas in a plan for revenge by Persephone.

She tricks Kratos into giving up his powers to spend his life with his daughter Calliope in Elysium. Once Persephone sees that Kratos has weakened himself, she reveals her plan to destroy the earth by commanding Atlas to destroy the pillar that holds it in place. Kratos must then leave his daughter forever and get his powers back to save the world as his duty to the gods. In the final battle, Kratos chains Atlas to the top of the Underworld. Once he kills Persephone the explosion caused by her demise cracks the great pillar, leaving Atlas to hold up the earth forever.

Game Play
I originally played this game on the PSP. While it was enjoyable, I suffered quite a bit because there is no second analog stick. The evade controls are mapped in a way that makes you hold both shoulder buttons and then nudge the analog stick in the direction of the evade. This works, but is not comfortable. The traditional controls return for the PS3 version, and I was extremely thankful for that. I played the game on the hard setting, and I blew through it save for a few spots where I got stuck dying over and over again because I saved with low health and no green orb chests around. I also noticed an annoyingly large collision box around Kratos and the enemies. This was a blessing and a curse. Some things that shouldn't have hit Kratos were able to damage him causing me to SWEAR and flail (i.e. have a kicking the air fit) when I was low on health but one enemy away from moving past a hard fight only to die from a suspect hit. Fortunately the big hit box made it really easy to grab lesser enemies and open chests. I would say that was an even trade, especially when considering the joy I felt when Kratos would slide halfway across the screen into place to open a chest. However those moments when I swore and flailed were NOT happy ones. That being said I enjoyed the challenge. It was just hard enough to get me thinking about how to beat certain arena parts. I even had to employ my husband's coaching abilities to help me past the gauntlet room with the 3 minotaurs and satyrs. I also really enjoyed the game and the story. The scene with Calliope is heart wrenching.

Graphics
The graphics looked great. I think that is considerable when you think about the game being ported from the PSP's 4 inch display. I did also notice that the animations, while fluid, didn't seem to be as detailed as the other games, but that was a minor annoyance.

Overall I highly recommend this game if you are GOW fan. I really thought that I would be tired of Kratos's unending rage and the quick time events, but I noticed a consistant feeling of relief when that big orange "O" pops up over the last enemy.

Ghost of Sparta--Story
This game takes place between God of War and God of War 2
Prologue: A family affair. As children, Kratos and his brother Deimos are interrupted one day while training in Sparta. Ares and Athena abduct Deimos and send him to the underworld to be tortured by Thanatos, the god of death. Ares and Athena believe Deimos' strange birthmarks identify him as the "marked" warrior what will bring the destruction of Olympus as foretold by an oracle.

Now that Kratos has taken the place of Ares as the God of War, he decides to investigate his past to find out why he is still plagued by nightmares of his past as a mortal. He travels to the Temple of Atlantis and finds his mother, who is transformed into a horrible beast. She attacks him and he ends up killing her. Before she dies, she tells him to find his brother back in Sparta. There are a bunch of flashbacks and fighting and Kratos eventually finds out that he must go back to Atlantis to free Deimos from Thanatos. Once Kratos locates Deimos and frees him, Deimos attacks him, angry that Kratos didn't save him earlier. Thanatos interrupts their fight and almost throws Deimos off a cliff, but not before Kratos saves him. The two fight together to kill Thanatos, however in the battle, Thanatos manages to kill Deimos, causing Kratos to get REALLY REALLY mad. He demolishes Thanatos and carries Deimos' body up to a burial point. Kratos sees the Grave Digger from the first God of War who tells him that he's become "death, bringer of chaos". Kratos then sees Athena who begs forgiveness for not being truthful about her involvement in Deimos's abduction. He ignores her, and goes to his throne where he begins to plot his revenge against all the gods. God of War 2 begins shortly after this point.

Game Play
This game had a lot more mechanics involved than GOW:COO. There are commands mapped all over the place and even an extra weapon set. In a twist, magic is mapped to the directional buttons, you only need to press them to activate your magic. In other games you would select the magic with the directional buttons, then use a shoulder/face button combo to activate. I have to say I like this set up better. There is a noticeable delay for the magic to activate though, and this was frustrating for me because I decided again to play through this game on the hard difficulty. In some of the very intense battles, that delay led to Kratos getting his ass handed to him...and more swear/flails from me. All in all this was a satisfying game to play through. the battles were truly epic and satisfying. All the different options and moves Kratos has made the fighting a ton of fun. Even the maddening wraith woman enemies were not so horrible once I learned how to beat them. I got stuck a few times, and again had to ask for coaching help from my hubby. Its amazing how much he helps, too bad he likes sleeping more than watching me play games late into the night.

Graphics
Pretty much the same notes as above. I do wish I had a 3D display as I've heard that the 3D in this game is unbelievable. I did notice that this game was a bit more polished and Kratos and the enemies looked bigger and more detailed on screen than in COO.

So that's it. I highly recommend these games if you are a fan of the series. You get an unbelievable amount of content for a great price (retail was $29, but I'm sure you can find it cheaper online now new or used via brick & mortar stores). My concern that I would get tired of the quick time events was unfounded, especially since I decided to play through on the hard level. Doing that made me look forward to seeing the final prompt appear over an enemy's head, and finishing a particularly hard battle was that much more satisfying because of the mostly responsive controls (hit box issues notwithstanding). I've played through the story modes of both games, and I plan to revisit to play through the challenge modes and arena modes as well. Once GOW:Ascension comes out I do plan to play through all six titles again to revisit the story in chronological order.

Check out the incredible God of War Wiki HERE

Insanity Workout

I've been doing the Insanity workout since July 7. I recently had to stop because of a terrible summer cold that took me out for over a week. I'm happy to say that I've restarted again and I wanted to briefly post a short review of the benefits I've noticed since starting the workout.

I used to be a fitness instructor, and was pretty good at it too. At one point I taught 6 days a week 2-3 hours a day and I had the figure to match. I've since lost that figure and I'm determined at 35 years of age to get it back. Insanity is the best way for me to go about it since I know that my body only truly responds to serious, hard-core training. I'll probably need to do the full program more than once, but I don't see that as an issue, especially since I've noticed a HUGE change in the way I feel everyday.

I've immediately noticed the following things since starting the program:

1. My balance has greatly improved. I had a hard time standing on one leg and stretching my quadriceps without completely falling over. Now I can pull my leg back (very slowly) while still standing up.

2. My flexibility has increased. I used to feel pain when doing the stretches, but I kept at it and now I feel the benefit of the stretches as I do them.

3. My energy has increased. Even though I have to get up at 4 am to do the workouts, I feel so much more energized throughout the day.

4. Probably the most important thing is that I feel like my cardiovascular system has strengthened considerably. There is a 7 minute walk from the parking lot to my cubicle at work and before I started the program I noticed that I would feel short of breath as I made my way between my car and office. Now I don't feel that at all.

I've lost a few inches, and have trimmed down a bit in my stomach and thighs, but I haven't lost much weight (about 3 lbs since I started). I figure this is normal since I'm trying to build muscle. I really just want to lose inches and tighten up all the shaky parts. I'll keep posting updates as I work through the program. I'm just excited that its actually working for me!