Recomendations

To those who read my blog,

I will be posting this on my facebook as well, but as many of you aren't on my facebook, I thought it best to share it here as well. I thought I'd share my opinion on a few things I have seen and experienced this past week. Nothing philosophical, but an opinion none the less. I hope you consider it for what it is and know that my opinion, like anyone else’s, can be very much wrong. So, without any further jibber jabber, here it goes.
Push (movie):
I really, really, wanted this to be good. Before this movie, I had a lot of respect for Dakota Fanning, and she didn’t do horrible in the movie, but she did debase herself. All throughout the movie I couldn’t get past how short her skirt is. It is ridiculously short. Fanning is about 12 and plays a 12 year old in the movie and they have her running around in a skirt that puts strippers to shame? Sick. Gross. Not good. That alone makes the movie not worth watching, but there’s more. So, the basic premise for the movie is that in the world there are a bunch of psychics, and these psychics all have very specific powers that allow them to only do certain things. Some can use their mind to push an idea into someone else’s head, or they can tell the future, or they can move things around. There are others, but I don’t really want to remember them (in honesty, I am trying to repress all memories about this horrible film). The idea would work well except for one thing: some characters seem to have more than one power even though they are only supposed to have one (and I say they are only supposed to have one not because I want them to have only one, but because the movie itself says they are only to have one). The main character is a mover; he moves things with his mind. He’s not presented as being smart at all, but for some reason he is able to come up with a really complicated plan to save the love interest. He’d have to be smart or a watcher (teller of the future) in order to plan everything out with as much certainty as he did. That was probably the biggest thing that stood out, but there were so many other things that I could talk about, but I won’t. I highly suggest never going to see this movie, but if you are curious (and you can get past pedophile fantasy Dakota) then you are at least in for a good laugh at how utterly bad this movie is. I give the movie a 2.0 out of 10. I think I’d even be willing to go lower, but am hesitant on doing so as once you give a 0 or a 1, you define what the bottom is.
Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of a New World (game):
I had mixed feelings going into this game because of Nintendo Power gave it an 8.0 and an alright review, but I rather enjoyed it. Seeing as I want to end this one off on a high note, I will first say what disappointed me, then what made me smile. So, the world map. It was kind of lame. Part of the great feel of any good RPG is the feeling of discovering a new world before you, and what with this being a brand new world based on the events of the first game (sorry if I spoiled it a bit) I was looking forward to exploring the great outdoors. That did not happen. Instead, we got a list of locations and you chose it and went there automatically. It’s kind of lame if you ask me. Also it would have made capturing monsters a lot easier which brings me to my second complaint. Who’s that copy-right infringement? It’s Tales! In this game you went out and caught monsters to help you in this journey. It made sense why you had to do it, and I kind of liked having them in my crew but there were problems with it that just made me wish it did not exist. One such problem was the non-foolproof way of catching them. Sometimes after a battle, a monster would be available to join you, and sometimes the monster would actually join with you, but it happened less often than one would hope. There was also the evolution process of the monsters. That was a little more than ridiculous. Sometimes the monster would evolve backwards, which made me angrier than anything else. I would just finish evolving it to a great monster, and then another evolution would come up and would get me more excited about it, but then I would find that the evolution was a step back. I think they should have just forgot about the monsters and focused on the other characters. I don’t want to complain about this game anymore because I seriously loved it. Here’s what was good about it: it kept me on my toes. There was a plot twist they were working for a little while, and then out of nowhere they twisted that plot twist. A plot twist on a predictable plot twist was not expected, but it sure was welcomed. The battling was fun. I loved being the main character and fighting off all the different monsters and villains. You could even customize your characters to fit your unique fighting style, and I did. One think I felt was lacking from Final Fantasy VII was the character development. All the characters seemed to just suddenly change and you as the gamer was supposed to just accept it. Not so for Tales. Not only could you see the story playing out, you could see the protagonist changing and becoming better. You saw his struggles and also what formed his final resolution. It was so nice to see especially as it seems to be left out of far too many RPG’s. The last thing I want to touch on is a little sappy, but it’s something that I would love to see in more RPG’s. It’s usually hinted at that the male and female main characters are in love, but usually nothing ever happens. This game took a risk and drew out a love story, and it worked. It completely paid off for them, though it was forced near the beginning. At the end, everything was wrapped up in one way or another (there were two endings, both good, but significantly different from one another). I would give this game an 8.5, just because I loved the story so much and I wanted to rate it better than Nintendo Power did.
School for Scoundrels (movie):
Do you want to sit around for an hour and a half and just laugh and laugh and laugh, then go see an Adam Sandler movie. Although this movie is one of those ‘I don’t have to think about what’s going on’ kind of movies, there were still things that bugged me about it. I think it made me think too much and that was not what I think the purpose of the movie was supposed to be. Thorton’s character wasn’t too believable, and Heder’s character seemed to develop too rapidly. Was this movie hilarious? Yes. But it betrays itself by making you think too hard. I would give it a 6.0. Worthy to watch, but probably not to own.
Dan in Real Life (movie):
Before you read this, do me a favor. Go to your nearest video store and BUY THIS MOVIE! I just watched it and it was so good. Steve Carell plays a single father of three girls (yikes). He tells his oldest daughter not to drive because he’s concerned about how well she will drive and he tells his middle daughter that it is impossible to fall in love with someone after only three days. The last daughter was somewhat left out of the picture (or maybe I just missed it) until the very end. Well, Carell becomes a horrible driver and falls in love within three days. Unlike School for Scoundrels this movie is funny and a thinker and delivers on both parts, which probably meant it was supposed to do both things. It taught me a lesson about life and love, and it made me laugh so hard so many times. I want to tell you more about this movie, but to be honest, go and see it for yourself. It is worth it, trust me! I give it a 9.0. I’d give it a higher score, but I am afraid of defining the top.
Well, that’s it for me. Thanks for reading this and I hope my ramblings have shown you something you might not have noticed before.