Posts Tagged ‘Watchmen’

PlayStation Home: Capitalism at its worst?

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

Following on from the previous article in this series, ‘It’s good to be back Home‘ I’m now going to address the availability of clothes, furniture, and even ‘personal spaces’ for a modest fee, known as a microtransaction.  I must admit, I felt a little sick when I saw the rows of virtual t-shirts, jeans and trainers, each priced at a few pence each.  I just could not understand why anyone would want to pay for stuff like this!

Being the intrepid reporter that I am, I felt I had to try using the system in order to comment on how it works.  I picked up a reasonably cheap yellow t-shirt from some kind of brand that I’m not going to give airtime to here, some jeans, and some trainers.  The whole experience left me feeling a bit hollow inside.  We’ve run out of clothes to buy in the real world, and now we’ve been reduced to paying good money to clothe an avatar?!  Seriously?

(more…)

Tags: Clothing, Home, Killzone 2, PlayStation Home, Resistance 2, Rorschach, shopping, Sony, Watchmen
Posted in Gaming, Online | 2 Comments »

Who is watching the Watchmen?

Wednesday, March 11th, 2009

I am.  Well, I was.. I mean I have… in the cinema.  Erm, uhm, you know?  Actually, let’s start this again shall we?

The first draft of this review turned out to be a complete disaster.  I had initially wanted to ‘describe and rate the total experience I had: the place, the cinema, and the film.‘  What actually happened was I ended up discussing car parks in great detail.  In-depth and rigorous, but ultimately very boring.  I’m sure you wanted to hear more about my thoughts on Watchmen, not car parks, right?

Most of you will know that Watchmen started out as a graphic novel.  I was aware of this, but as of yet I haven’t got around to reading it.  I will though, someday.  So, to many people a comparison with the graphic novel is a must, but alas I cannot do that here.  For that, you can take a look at Empire’s review.  Considering the creator of Watchmen, Alan Moore has been quoted as saying that Watchmen is “inherently unfilmable” I didn’t exactly know what to expect.

Again, if you want a sublime review considering every facet of the film, then I urge you again to read Empire’s review.  All as I am providing here are a few thoughts and opinions of mine on the film.  Obviously the film tends to benefit the reader of the novel, not your humble movie-goer.  I can tell you that my friends didn’t really ‘get’ the film, and rated it below average as it wasn’t a particularly action-packed film, and the pace didn’t really kick up a gear.  So whilst Empire has rated it 4/5, I’ve rated it 3.5/5 due to its poor translation on to film.

But even I feel that’s missing the point.  Whether or not you believe the film compares favourably with the graphic novel, it is still a very intelligent film that gives you a lot to think about.  Whilst coming out of the film initially disappointed- the underlying story, themes and concepts have been gradually eating away at me.  I want more!  And I’ll definitely be picking up a copy of the Watchmen graphic novel.  As a side note: the book containing artwork from the film is worth a look.  The black and white photos are fantastic.

So, a mixed bag of thoughts.  Those of you who have see Watchmen as well, please let me know what you thought and maybe I’ll be able to add another angle to this article.

Tags: Alan Moore, Arts, Comic book, Empire, Graphic novel, movies, opinion, rating, thoughts, Watchmen, Zack Snyder
Posted in Films | No Comments »

My films ’08/’09 update

Thursday, October 2nd, 2008

(This was just going to cover 2008 as a followup post, but then I realised Watchmen would not be releasing till 2009.  Oops)

Let’s start with my previous list:

The Happening
I just didn’t bother with this one.  Nothing much to say really!

Wanted
Really cool film.  Plenty of action and a reasonable twist towards the end.

Hancock
I didn’t have time to see this one, thought it’s on my wish list for getting it on DVD.

The Dark Knight
This was worth the wait and then some.  Possibly a bit too long, but dripping with amazingness(?!)

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
Like ‘The Happening’, I just didn’t bother.  That, and most critics panned it.  Might get round to seeing it eventually though.

More films I want to see this year:

Quantum of Solace
Out: 31/10/2008
Anticipation factor: 5/5
Comment: I’m really looking forward to this one.  This new style is Bond how it should be.

Watchmen
Out: 06/03/2009
Anticipation factor: 3.5/5
Comment: I really don’t know what to expect from this film, but I’m intrigued by it.  Not your average superhero film, that’s for sure.

Ok, so this post turned out poorer than I could possibly have imagined.  But an update is an update I suppose.  Till next time!

Tags: 2008, 2009, future, Hancock, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, movies, Quantum of Solace, summer, The Dark Knight, The Happening, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, upcoming, Wanted, Watchmen
Posted in Films | No Comments »