The movies of summer.

      It has been quite the summer for movies and I would like to take the time to do a little review for the ones I've seen. I really should have done this for each individual movie as I seen it, but I am quite lazy, as anyone who knows me can attest. So, without further adieu;

1) The Avengers. Easily one of my favorite films, it was everything a superhero film should have been. It was action packed, epic, funny, and respected the source material while being it's own entity. I can't wait to see how the coming up Marvel films ties into it, as well as Avengers 2.

2) The Amazing Spider-Man. It was very good and I'm very conflicted whether I like this one or the Sam Raimi films better. I do prefer the mechanical web shooters from this film, but I felt Tobey Maguire was better as Peter Parker. I guess, if anything, I would take elements from this movie and the first Raimi film to create the "perfect" Spider-Man film.

3) Prometheus. One of the best scince fiction films I've seen in a long time as well as one of the most "pure" science fiction films I've seen in a while (as opposed to an action film with sci-fi trappings). It was well acted and filmed beautifully and I enjoyed it thoroughly. There were a few annoying and/ or questionable parts to it, but I doubt there's truly a perfect film out there.

4) Abraham Lincoln- Vampire Hunter. The less said about this; the better off we'll be. I saw it in a double feature with Prometheus and I'm glad I didn't pay for it alone.

5) The Dark Knight Rises. An excellent film and a proper ending to the Nolan Batman trilogy.Bane was awesome and Anne Hathaway was hot as Catwoman. My only real complaint is that I felt that there should have been someone a bit more attractive to play Talia al'Ghul, but that is a very minor complaint.

6) Total Recall. They tried and that's the best I can really say about it. Well...That and Jessican Biel and Kate Beckinsale or gorgeous.

7)Dredd 3D. I loved it. I felt Karl Urban did really well with the character and I hope it does well enough for a sequel, but I don't have my hopes up for that.

8)The Bourne Legacy. I didn't care for it, but I saw it a drive-in and it was constantly being interrupted by headlights and people blaring their car radios. I may try and see it again and re-consider my opinion.

   I'm sure I've missed some films that I've seen over the summer, but I hit the major ones here.

Trying different things.

        I readily admit to being a bit of a geek. I'm not as hardcore geek as many of my friends and acquaintances, but I do enjoy many of the same diversions. I love comic books, miniature war gaming, and table top role playing games, as well as gnre films and books. There are some things, however, within the sphere of geekdom I had pre-judged, but had never done previously. Two of these things I recently decided to try in an attempt to broaden my own horizons, X-Box Live and World of Warcraft, and I came away with different opinions on each.
       I had two coupons for X-Box Live; each for a two day free trial. After signing on for said free trials, I decided to play the online versions of the following games; Call of Duty- World at War, Call of Duty- Black Ops, Call of Duty- Modern Warfare 3, Medal of Honor, and Space Marine. I really enjoyed all of them, with the latter two being my favorites. I still prefer single player campaign for story purposes, but I'll probably get a paid X-Box Live account just to get more out of my games.
      I still don't understand why people pay for World of Warcraft. I'm playing the free version and I find it quite boring. It seems to be a lot of running around (as your character) and not much else. I can see playing it if you have nothing else to do, but I know that the game has had a hand in ruining marriages and I'm not sure why. I guess "To each, their own."
      

Transformers- Dark of the Moon

Today, I took the time to watch Transformers- Dark of the Moon at the theatre in Imax 3D and thought I would provide my own two cents on it. First, I will say that it is better than the second film in the series, but not quite as good as the first. It is a Michael Bay film, through and through, consisting primarily of action, explosions, and hot women. I consider this a good thing, myself and enjoyed it quite a bit. The 3D is good and was worth the money I think. There was a fairly big plot hole that I noticed, but I won't spoil it for everyone else.

Green Lantern

Saturday I had a chance to watch the new Green Lantern film in 3D and I must say I really liked it. I won't say it's great, but it's much better than the critics are giving it credit for. Of course, most of them really don't "get" films of this genre anyway, so I really only read the reviews out of curiosity than anything.
I'm not a big fan of most DC characters, so I only know the most basic facts of his origin, but what I do know of it, they seemed to stay close to. The visual effects were excellent, I thought, and the 3D was pretty good. I've noticed there seems to be two types of 3D. One kind give the impression of the action intruding out of the screen and into the theatre (the kind most people think of). The other provides a certain "depth" to what you see on the screen and it gives the film a certain texture. Green Lantern fell into the latter category, I think, which isn't necessarily bad, but some fans may have an issue with.
I will say, without any spoilers, that it does set itself up for sequels and there is a scene after the end credits. Overall, I recommend seeing it.

20 Top 20s Part 11- Games

I'll now list my favorite games. This list will include table top role playing games, miniature based games, video/ computer games, and board games. I already know that the list will be heavily dominated by role playing games, as this is one of my favorite pastimes. In some cases, multiple editions of a game may appear. In these cases, I'll be sure that the different editions will be different enough to constitute an entirely different game.

1. AD&D 2nd Edition

2. Paladium Fantasy Role Playing

3. Age of Empires 2

4. Call of Duty 4- Modern Warfare

5. Rifts (Paladium)

6. Legend of the Five Rings 3rd Edition (RPG)

7. Deadlands (RPG)

8. D&D 3rd Edition

9. Conan D20

10. Iron Heroes D20/ OGL

11. Top Secret S.I.

12. Left 4 Dead 2

13. Medal of Honor (reboot)

14. Call of Duty- World at War

15. Risk

16. Chess

17. Dead Space

18. Warmachine

19. War Hammer 40,000

20. Chivalry & Sorcery 3rd Edition

Thor

I went to the theatre to see Thor today and I must say, I really liked it. Thor ties with the Hulk as being my favorite comic book character. A good Thor tale is epic, it's bombastic, and, dare I say, legendary. I won't go quite that far with the movie, but it was excellent. The Asgard and Jotunheim set were grand; they felt god-like in their scope. The characters true to their comic counterparts with some tweaking for the story to come together as it should. I highly recommend it.