Purple Monkey
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Posts posted by Purple Monkey
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Anyone watch the Half In The Bag reviews? It's the guys behind those awesome Plinkett Star Wars reviews.
Think they nailed it with Spidey 2, don't think I've ever disagreed with any of their reviews.
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I don't think you should think it through that much. There's no pretense of realism. It's ridiculously OTT and unashamedly so. If you bought into it, the first 5 seasons were great fun.
Oh I did, I really enjoyed the first few series with the original crew of Jack, Tony etc.
It was when an atomic bomb with a mushroom cloud went off in LA.....jumped the shark with that.
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I fell for the marketing, and watched 24 Live Another Day. I thought a few years without Bauer might make me miss him. It did, but within 20 minutes, I was picking holes all over the place.
"The chinese are sending their fleet to the Mediterranean, in a move to intimidate the British" - Really? the med?
British "CTU" was on a "Level 5 lockdown", jack escaped through a hole in the roof, yet the poisoner from Dexter managed to exit the building and appear above ground level in about 8 seconds, despite being completely incapacitated seconds earlier by the blast. Really? level 5 lockdown you say?
I might stick with it a couple more episodes to see how silly it gets, but my patience will not stretch very far.
Fargo, however - is rolling along without missing a step. It's brilliant.
24 is too ridiculous, and like Die Hard or even Big Brother, the first one is good, but the concept itself relies so much on being fresh that following attempts are seen as far too coincidental and contrived to be believed.
Die Hard's 'regular unlucky cop' John Mclane having a lightning strike him is believable in the first film, pushing it in the second, contrived in the third and ridiculous beyond that. The only one which works properly is the first film, which he is thrown in by total accident and you can believe it completely, it kinda just lands on him and you're totally on board with it. The sequels fail because right away you're thinking "oh come on!".
Jack Bauer is even worse. The idea that Jack Bauer not only ends up in these situations multiple times, but resolves them all in precisely 24 hours is utterly laughable.
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I watched Blue Ruin yesterday, absolutely loved it.
Pretty much spoiler free trailer ahead.
Its in "the usual places" but also available on demand if you wanna buy it.
On that! That looks awesome.
Watched the Korean film 'Snowpiercer' last night, seen that?
It's like an absurdist rant about global class warfare and our petty, meaningless, self-destructive differences. It is utterly ridiculous, it's all about a train carrying the last humans on a frozen Earth that cannot stop moving or it'll freeze. But then, I think it's meant to be ridiculous to kind of drive the message. Like a ridiculous cross between Bioshock, Truman Show, V For Vendetta, directed by Terry Gilliam and written by The Joker.
Take it with a pinch of salt, as I think people who hated it were expecting some sort of masterpiece commentary about life and just didn't like or understand the silly, Gilliam-esque parts, which is fair enough.
Some are gonna hate it, some will enjoy it, some will love it, but I reckon everyone will remember it.
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Amazing Spider-Man 2 was OK. Should have been a lot better.
The will-they-won't-they aspect to Peter and Gwen fucked up where the movie ends up emotionally. Peter and Gwen don't go through this angsty shit in the comics - that's why what happens in the end so damn tragic. They were meant to be together, Gwen was without any doubt the future Mrs Parker. The movie casts too much doubt over that so the 'event' is robbed of gravity.
What also robs it of gravity is the other relationship at play. When this event occurs in the comics it's after years of a bitter personal feud between Spidey and Goblin. Here Goblin turns up for one fight and it's already at this kind of climax. You're talking years of bitter history condensed literally into seconds. The timing felt way off. The actual scene itself was right, but the build up didn't quite have it. This was all down to having the other villain, Electro, taking up a lot of time. For what it's worth I enjoyed Electro but it was the classic comic book movie dilemma of two villains cannibalising each other's worth by simply existing in the same movie together. There's not enough time to do either justice.
The music was all over the place. Varied from inspired to complete garbage.
Andrew Garfield is a great Spidey. He's actually a better Spidey than Peter Parker. When he's acting with the mask on, that's exactly how Spider-Man is in the comics. Can't get any closer.
Rhino was a joke, but he's meant to be. He was always a B-Grade villain since time began.
Wasn't comfortable with the changes to Green Goblin. He was CG half the time anyway - just have him turn into Ultimate Goblin and be done with it. Three Green Goblins now, and it's embarrassing that the closest one to the comic was Dafoe's power ranger costume.
Winter Soldier kicked it's arse, was far more entertained by that.
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So I did! Love Shutter Island. Mark Ruffalo and Ben Kingsley on top form in that too.You forgot Shutter Island! The Beach was so bad though. More apologies for that please
Sucks about Philip Seymour Hoffman. From what I've seen he was the best bit of any movie he was in, hands down. Had an amazing range. Could play a total teddy bear or a ruthless bastard. Awesome actor.
And yet Adam Sandler continues to live.
There is no God.
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Super Bowl time, bitch!
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OK - here is the thing, has there been a band that has done good work, split, reformed and then done anything that is as good if not better than in their heyday?
I can't think of one. Bands have reformed and done decent albums, sure, but it seems as though the magic is always gone. Bands split for many reasons and so there's something just a little bit uncool and desperate when they reform. They may be good, but it's never as good, is it? Albums are almost mostly filler and there is never that sense of progression, and a sense the band is just ticking boxes to appease fans, which makes it seem old hat and irrelevant. Redundant. In many ways reforms are a no-win situation creatively. Financially, however, maybe worth it, but that just makes it feel all the more cynical.
The only ones that seem to fully bounce back are the bands who never actually split but agreed as a group to rest, and meet up again when they have charged naturally. Tool springs to mind. They haven't put an album out in almost a decade, but they never technically split.
What I mean is, if a band split, properly split, then that band died at that point, no point. Leave it.
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WWE
in Discussions
Bubba Ray Dudley powerbombing Mae Young through a table is a haunting image.
Along with "The hand" incident.
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The latest Tomb Raider is very good.
It's more like Uncharted with a Metroidvania design template - backtracking and revisiting with newer equipment much like the Batman games, which I love.
And like Uncharted not quite as unforgiving or as dangerous as old school Tomb Raider which may or may not be good depending on your taste. Control wise it's a bit too hand-holdy and forgiving while trying it's best to sell itself as a perilous quest. It may help people plough through the game, but it removes that ponderous "oh shit, I might die now" feeling from the jumping and climbing bits. But for what it aims to do, it does it very well.
And the characters aren't quite as B-Movie boring like Uncharted either.
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Catch Me if You Can, Aviator, Blood Diamond, Great Gatsby, Inception, Departed, Django, Wolf Of Wall Street....
OK Leo, we get it, you're the best actor of your generation, you can stop apologising for The Beach, it's cool man.
Really want to check out American Hustle - any good?
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1) Buy that house I like
2) Get Married
3) Start a family
4) Maintain fitness
5) Relegate and keep job/career as priority number 5
This year I make the changes I couldn't afford to make until now, basically. I've made enough sacrifices in my life for the sake of my career and now it's served it's purpose it's time to be prepared to sacrifice my career if it serves my life goals. And I'm doing it now so that I don't get stuck in a rut.
All do-able, just don't lose sight of what actually matters.
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Absolutely loving Mario 3D World. Best game I've played in a long time. Can play it for 5 minutes or 5 hours. Clean, slick, fast, pure, deep gameplay, classic Nintendo formula polished and refined and a ton of small innovations. No DLC shoved in your face. No tacked on multiplayer. It's the first game I have played where the developer has actually thought about what you can do with HD in terms of gameplay, the new cherry power up working in four player mode is the result. It's like looking at the insides of the finest clock at times. Every other developer compromises their game by focusing on other things. Mario relies entirely on being a showcase of mechanics. Some people don't get that, they can't see that everything in a Mario title is a result of design first, concept second. It's a lost art in AAA development, and Nintendo stand out by being the only ones still making games this way.
Also, finally got around to some Skyrim, the latest Tomb Raider and Bioshock Infinite and they're all excellent in their own way. The only thing I don't like is that Tomb Raider has too much cutscene crap and feels a bit too Uncharted-loose and hand-holdy at times, and the QTE parts are just terrible. Just let me play and stop making me watch the good bits! After playing Mario which is entirely interactive it does highlight how much control a lot of modern AAA games wrench completely out of your hands and start emulating movies, and do it too frequently and for too long.
It's good that Mario exists it really is. It's a sanity check against an industry gone a bit squiffy and perverted and one that I find difficult to relate to at times and it's left me feeling a bit cold; most games don't feel like they're meant for me (most feel like they're for a maladjusted 13 year old boy who thinks blood and swearing is the height of maturity). As soon as the first level loaded up it was like meeting an old friend I haven't seen in years. There's a giddy feeling that comes with the little risk/reward inherent in every jump you make. I forget that I'm holding a controller with Mario. It's an extension of the arm, it's so natural and ergonomic and comfortable, almost warm. You don't NEED unlockables or achievements in Mario - just playing it is the reward, the reason you play it. It was like "Oh, yeah, I remember this! THIS is why I fell in love with videogames!"
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I really enjoyed the first Hobbit since the riddles with Gollum was the only bit I remember from the book besides a lot of singing and the barrels. Think Gollum is always the best part so I think it's made me a bit reluctant to see this new one.
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That Brooker thing was interesting but it smacked of inferiority complex. We do not need celebrities, comedians abd journalists using comparisons such as TWITTER! to legitimise the medium in some way. Games are doing a damn fine job of being the biggest medium without the approval of cultural dinosaurs who look down their nose at the mere mention of them. You will never win their approval, we don't need approval, games are better than this grovelling.The Charlie Brooker thing was quite good (not up to his usual standard, but still nice to sit and nod and agree about some classics).
I'd really recommend watching Indie game - the movie, it gives fascinating insight into the characters of some of the more famous indie games of the last 5 years as well as introducing us to the legend that is Tommy.
Indie Game: The Movie is brilliant.
Everyone seems to have it in for Phil Fish (creator of Fez) but I find his whole story rather tragic. Now he's out of games for all the hate he got. People are awful and so utterly entitled. No creator of a videogame, no matter how childish he might have been, deserves that amount of shit for spending a chunk of his life making something that is just a bit of art. Sad.
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Absolutely not interested in anything on the two new next-gen machines. Resogun looks like fun, at a push, that's about it.
Far more into the Wii U. Despite it only having a handful of games, they're still beyond the dire selection on the other two consoles.
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It's not... Life is fucking awesome!!! We aren't all sad bastards like you!
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Yeah they've cut it down since it's the same task (go to a bit of the map and fish) multiplied 8 times. Now it's 3 or something. It's probably the pieces that don't involve fishing or doing the same thing twice. They probably cut it down to the pieces that were the most fun to go fetch.
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Giddy about Wind Waker HD now. I know it's pretty much 10 years old or whatever but it's timeless, just look at it, it's gorgeous GIMME!!!!!
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I think you're wrong. I think loads of people get depressed (not in the medical sense of course) looking at facebook, due to the perception that others lives are "better" than theirs. Loads.
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I have some sort of issue where I all ways support the protagonist, even if I know they are bad, I still all ways want them to win. Tony Soprano for example, and now Walter White....
It's because the protagonist is the most fleshed out and they still achieve things we kinda wish we had the balls to do.
Walter White in Breaking Bad, Don Draper in Mad Men, Tony Montana in Scarface they're all tossers but we love them due to the empathy that seeing their journey in a way no other character sees instills in us. We have a unique perspective that allows us to forgive them for their awful actions when no-one else can't or even comprehend. We see the world through their lens.
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Glad you're enjoying V folks
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The *big* problem the GTA 5 fans have been screaming about is the mandator cross-state drives to various mission starts. Imagine a vast version of Skyrim with no Fast Travel.
Hopefully it'll be something they end up patching.
A videogame called Grand Theft Auto has driving in it? The cheek!
Films
in Discussions
Posted
The HITB reviews are more straight-laced though. It's crazy how accurate they are.