Archives for the Month of January 2008 on media addict
Team Fortress 2
Team Fortress 2 is perhaps the strangest shooter I have played but it is also a lot of fun. For the last month or so, some of my coworkers and I have been playing Medal of Honor: Allied Assault during our lunch break. This wet my appetite for some good multiplayer action. The multiplayer shooter I had played most recently online was Day of Defeat: Source which is good but has some annoyances, such as giving each player a minuscule amount of health and never allowing the player to gather any additional health. For the most part though it is a fairly balanced and entertaining shooter, especially after you have developed some skill and learned the maps.
Team Fortress 2 on the other hand allows you to rearm and collect health, two huge factors for making a shooter better by helping to keep you alive longer and thereby have more fun. Another big bonus from my point of view is that the maps are relatively simple to learn, unlike many other games. It also has more character classes than most games and those classes themselves are so creative and disparate that it's a great diversion to switch classes periodically and try different tactics. I am still new to the game, but even when you suck it is still a blast to play. This is due mainly to the awesomely ridiculous graphics and the huge range of weapon load-outs that are available. Definitely worth a try just to see the insane and cartoony gore effects.
Juno
2007 may go down as the year of the taser and the pregnancy comedy. This past summer's Knocked Up set a fairly high bar as comedies go for Juno. That said, Juno is still a very good movie. More quirky teen drama than straight comedy, Juno is almost too odd and clever for its own good at times, but it stays true enough to reality to remain a genuine and entertaining film. Much of this is due to its fantastic cast, especially Ellen Page and Michael Cera.
My main criticism of Juno would be that the screenplay seems to try too hard to be unique instead of relying on the strengths inherent in the plot. For example, Juno herself occasionally does some voice-over or throws out a line which is quirky for the sake of being quirky, not to stay true to the character. The soundtrack for this movie is too Wes Anderson for me. The cutesy songs at the beginning and end are enough; the 5+ that are in this movie just get distracting after a while.
This movie deals with unplanned pregnancy in a more dramatic way than Knocked Up. Where Knocked Up went for the laugh out loud moments, Juno prefers more subtle or awkward moments to produce many of its chuckles. The direction from Jason Reitman is very good and shows that Thank You For Smoking was not a fluke. He demonstrates an excellent ability to portray absurdity without it feeling ridiculous. Despite any faults, Juno is smarter and funnier than most movies and definitely worth a viewing. 4/5