The Night Is Always Darkest Before The Dawn...

I'll just say the bold thing first: The Dark Knight is easily the best superhero movie ever made, and the all around best movie I've seen since 2006's The Departed.
The Dark Knight builds upon the rather bleak, realistic depiction of Gotham City started by the first film, Batman Begins. All the old faces return, including Christian Bale as the caped crusader, Gary Oldman as the commissioner, Morgan Freeman, and Gary Oldman. The one, very odd, change in cast is Maggie Gyllenhaal replacing Katie Holmes as Batman/Harvey Dent's love interest, Rachel.
But, it's the newcomers, Aaron Eckheart, and even more so, Heath Ledger that steal the show. Eckheart's depiction of the tragic Harvey Dent is great, and when it comes to the rather monotonous behavior of the other good guys, Eckheart shines as portraying a very nuanced character. Ledger, on the other hand, gives a legendary performance as The Joker. He easily steals every scene he's in, and makes sure that Jack Nicholson's got nothin' on him. Seriously, this is a portrayal of a villain up there with Anthony Hopkin's Hannibal Lector, and Denzel Washington's Alonzo Harris.

The plot centers on the arrival of The Joker, a harbinger of chaos in Gotham. The Joker quickly turns Gotham into a warzone, and it's up to Harvey Dent to save the day. Wait. What about Batman? Batman is not as present as Dent or The Joker in this film, one could say he's not quite the main character, but Batman has some tough choices to make throughout the course of the film that really give depth, and a set of imperfections to your standard comic book hero.
Christopher Nolan's directing really brings this setup to life. It has a strikingly real feeling for a comic book film, and not one bit of it seems entirely too unbelievable.
To put it simply, The Dark Knight pwns to the bones, seeing it on IMAX last night almost melted my face off. This movie is boss, and it's ratcheted up to the next level thanks to Christopher Nolan's directing, and Heath Ledger's incredible last performance.
10/10

The People That Don't Kill You Only Make You...Stranger
Batman. Was. Awesome.
Heath Ledger. Was. A. Boss.
That. Is. All. For. Now.
Full. Review. Tomorrow.
Making. It. My. First. Movie. Review. On. This. Blog.
I. Quite. Enjoy. Putting. Periods. After. Every. Word.
If Games Aren't Art, Then Games Plus Music is Half An Art Form, Right?
So if you look back at my passed few blogs, I think the majority of them are centered on music, and music games. That was the slow transition into what I want my blog to become. I love music (almost all kinds except for pop, and such crap), and now with Guitar Hero, Rock Revolution, Wii Music, and Rock Band, music games are a bigger genre than ever. My reasoning for doing this is because it's common that you'll see a blog about someone expressing their love of MGS4, or their hatred of E3 '08, so I want my blog to be a place where you fellow Gamespotters can stop off to read something unique. Of course, I'll write blog reviews from time to time, I'll definitely make a best of blog series at the end of the year, and blog about general gaming and otherwise when I feel it's important (you may find a bloggy relating to a certain movie coming out tomorrow over the weekend)
Anyways, I've thought out a few blog series, and we'll see how it goes.
So in a few days I'm going to write a blog about what I would pitch if I were to make Guitar Hero 5.
My E3 Review
The short version: It sucked
The long version:
So this year's E3 was basically the recycling of old announcements with new gameplay footage. Hooray...
Seriously, it didn't seem like there was any need to hold the event this year. Microsoft essentially told us that games they had announced for their console were indeed coming out. So thank you for that Microsoft. They also paid SqaureEnix a s***load of money to get Final Fantasy XIII, which was actually a pretty cool announcement, but that was really the only megaton at this year's E3. They also said that they would be releasing an Avatar system (HOW ORIGINAL).
Sony told us that God of War III was coming out (WOAH DIDN'T SEE THAT COMING), and there would be a Resistance title on the PSP (seriously, who gives a damn).
Remember how Nintendo promised us some titles that would suit hardcore gamers at this year's E3? They lied. Animal Crossing, Wii Music, and Wii Sports Resort were all anounced (yay...oh wait, I couldn't give less of a f***), and on the DS side of things Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, and Guitar Hero: On Tour Decades were announced (I'm a fan of GTA and GH so I'll admit those were interesting announcements).
All in all, this year's E3 was a big pile of suck.
3/10
Comparing Gears
People often argue which entry is the best in an epic series.
Is Revenge of The Sith, or Empire Strikes Back the best Star Wars movie?
Which LOTR is the best?
It's highly likely that you've heard these before. But personally, I haven't seen any comparisons and debates as to which MGS game is the best, so I've decided to make this bloggy to examine each one. As of right now, I have no idea which one I like the best, the gameplay in each game is amazing, so I'm gonna be talking more about the story of each game. So hopefully by the end of the blog, after all the comparisons, I'll be able to make a decision.
Metal Gear Solid one I give some slack because it's the one that started it all. It did a pretty good job tying off some plot elements from Metal Gear 2, like the ultimate redemption of Gray Fox, and the remnants of Big Boss being the centerpiece of the story. It's also important to note that MGS1, of course, started the Liquid vs. Snake conflict, that ended up being the most important conflict throughout the entire series. The one thing I have against MGS1 is the fact that it didn't introduce The Patriotsm, even though they became a pivotal part of the story later on. It is worth knowing, however, that MGS1 has the most connections with MGS4
Metal Gear Solid 2 took the most risks by far. Of course, the most obvious one is the addition of a new main character. Now, based on the story of Sons of Liberty, Snake simply could not have been the main character. The reason why Raiden is there is to have a character who learns what's going on in the Metal Gear universe along with the player. Raiden himself, wasn't a good character at all, but his inclusion was definitely a necessary evil. Metal Gear Solid 2 also brilliantly set up Guns of The Patriots. I give MGS2 extra credit because of the risks it took, and even though everything didn't turn out as planned, it still ended up being absolutely brilliant.
Metal Gear Solid 3 always seems like the black sheep in my eye. The story itself is great, don't get me wrong, but it doesn't have much to do with the Metal Gear Solid story. If they had named MGS3 "Metal Gear 3" I would've been fine with it. The Metal Gear series seems to be more about Big Boss, and MGS3 was, of course, a Big Boss centered game. The Metal Gear SOLID series however, should be focused on Solid Snake, and his story. MGS3 was a great game, but it doesn't really fit in with the series.
MGS4 has by far the most epic story of the bunch, but it also covers a bit too much ground. Guns of The Patriots closes just about every single plot thread left open in any Metal Gear Solid, or even Metal Gear game for that matter. All of the issues brought up from the old games, and the clever references to MGS3 (the only game in the series that doesn't fit quite as well in the overarching story) were all great. It's by far the most satisfying of the Metal Gear games, and all the nostalgia really adds to Guns of The Patriot's story. Also, the redemption of Raiden as a character really shows Kojima's dedication to the Metal Gear universe, and how people react to it.
So I guess I'll rank them now that I've though about it.
Metal Gear Solid 2
Metal Gear Solid 4
Metal Gear Solid
Metal Gear Solid 3
Just so you know I got nothing against MGS3, it's an awesome game, it just doesn't fit well in the Metal Gear SOLID series, if you get what I'm saying.
My Recent Reviews
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Avatar: The Last Airbender The Ember Island Players Avg Score: 9.02 Total Ratings: 230 Total Reviews: 34 |
During the play, Katara and Aang's relationship is represented as that of a brother-sister relationship, which upsets Aang. When Aang confronts Katara to tell her how he feels about her, her reaction is ambiguous. I rather liked that reaction because it leaves you guessing about how it will end up in the final episode.
This episode is rather unimportant in terms of the overarching story, but since it's pretty safe to say that Sozin's Comet will be a very dramatic, action-packed episode which completes the character development and ties off the story, this episode should be taken as a "calm-before-the-storm" instead of one of those epic episodes we're used to seeing in season 3,
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Avatar: The Last Airbender The Southern Air Temple Avg Score: 9.21 Total Ratings: 601 Total Reviews: 98 |
Katara and Sokka know that there's no way the Airbenders could still be alive, but hold back from telling Aang. While at the Air Temple, Aang finds a room full of statues of his past incarnations, presenting quite an interesting idea that I haven't really seen in any TV show before.
That's when a surprisingly major character, Momo, a flying lemur appears. Sokka immediately wants to eat him, while Aang wants to keep him as a pet, which leads to a fun little chase scene. But when Momo flies off the edge of a deck and down to a destroyed building below, only Aang can get to him with his Airbending, but when he arrives at the building he finds the corpse of his teacher, Monk Gyatso, and enters the Avatar State. Just as Katara brought him into the Avatar State in the previous episode, she gets him out of it in this one, further showing their strong relationship.
Aang finally embraces the fact that the world has descended into chaos without him, and that he has to step up and embrace his destiny in order to restore peace.
All in all, this episode presented some major character development for Aang, who finally wants to be the hero, and a good bit of fun.
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Avatar: The Last Airbender The Crossroads of Destiny Avg Score: 9.62 Total Ratings: 888 Total Reviews: 276 |
Since the gang journeyed to Ba Sing Se, season 2 has been full of political intrigue. We see censorship, figurehead royalty, and corruption, which are all very valid themes that one can find in the world today. The complexity of all this is ratcheted up a bit when Azula takes over the Dai Li, and begins her takeover of Ba Sing Se. Ultimately, Azula has complete control over the Dai Li, and completely avoids the backstabbing of Long Feng. It's great to see a plot thread in a cartoon (a Nickelodeon one especially) this complex.
Meanwhile, the Guru tells Aang to let go of his feelings for Katara, which he feels he needs to do, but while he's meditating, trying to let her go, he has a vision of her in trouble, so he leaves the Guru. The Guru warns him that he will not be able to go into the Avatar State at all, but that doesn't stop him. He finds Sokka and Toph and journeys back to Ba Sing Se with them.
Iroh and Zuko are asked to "serve tea to the Earth King", but of course it's just one of Azula's traps. When Azula corners them, Iroh gets away, while Zuko stays, now faced with a tough decision, between living his own life, or restoring his honor.
All this culminates on an epic scene, in which Iroh and Aang team up to save Zuko and Katara, while Toph and Sokka go to the throne room to duke it out with Ty Lee and Mai. There is a huge battle scene in the prison in which Aang, Katara, and Iroh face off against the Dai Li and Azula. During all this, Zuko makes his decision, he decides to help Azula, and restore his honor. I'm impressed at how detailed the action scenes are in Avatar, and they've only gotten better. This was a very well though out, well choreographed scene. There is also one moment toward the end of this scene in which Iroh begs Zuko to follow his own path, while Azula asks him to join her, this will most likely lead to another very tough decision for this extremely well-written character to make.
Iroh is imprisoned, Aang is wounded, and Ba Sing Se is lost to the Fire Nation by the end of the episode. Like most 2nd installments of trilogies, the bad guys win, raising the stakes even higher for the 3rd and final season.
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Avatar: The Last Airbender Bitter Work Avg Score: 9.55 Total Ratings: 429 Total Reviews: 92 |
There is a humorous bit with Sokka trying to hunt a small animal and ultimately ending up being wedged in the middle of a crack in the ground. Sokka builds an odd connection to the small creature and has some pretty funny dialogue. This situation also leads Aang to try again to earthbend.
The remaining scenes of the episode follow Iroh, who teaches Zuko a move involving technique used in waterbending which may allow him to channel Azula's lightning. When Zuko is ready to test the move Iroh won't allow him, so Zuko goes off in the midst of a thunderstorm to test it out.
The last scene is very striking, and very powerful. Even though it's only maybe 20-30 seconds long, it makes this episode especially memorable. The last scene features Zuko standing atop a mountain waiting for lightning to try to strike him, but, like the rest of his life, the world ignores him and won't allow him to prove himself. He starts to shout, cursing the earth. This one scene explains the entirety of Zuko's life, and is a prime example of why Avatar is different from all other (American) cartoons. Sure the series has a lot of fun, and humorous moments, but it's also not afraid to have some pretty powerful moments.
Last online Aug 20, 2008 3:04 pm PT
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