This game immediately strikes me as having the same problem as pretty much every other Star Wars game; it puts too much emphasis on Star Wars. I realize this may sound strange so let me elaborate. After 6 movies, various books, TV shows and a seemingly infinite supply of merchandise I think it's fair to say that consumers understand the Star Wars universe. We know what we're going to get. That's the primary problem with this new game in the franchise, we see the same characters in the same location with the same repetitive John Williams score in the background. Why the game designers can't, or aren't allowed to, write new music for these games is beyond me.

The concept of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is actually a fantastic idea for a game; create advanced physics models that can more realistically present the force powers we have seen in the movies. This combined with hack-and-slash and platforming gameplay form the basis of the game. In the demo, however, it becomes apparent that this game is a painfully linear, button-mashing affair that seems unpolished. The force powers are fun to use, but they are blunted by a sloppy targeting system that makes it difficult to choose which object you wish to use the force on. Despite all of this I was actually starting to enjoy the game until the end of the boss fight; the insertion of a quick-time event accomplishes nothing other than add frustration to an otherwise enjoyable fight. I am still mildly interested in this game, but I would never pick it up at full price; maybe in a year when its $30.

Tropic Thunder's main problem is that it can't quite decide which direction to take the story and instead goes in every direction at once. Simultaneously making a film industry satire, war film, slapstick, gross-out comedy doesn't always work. Despite the issues I had with the plot, I really enjoyed Tropic Thunder. Watching Robert Downey Jr. do a bizzaro Bill Cosby impersonation was worth the price of admission. 3.5/5

Much like its predecessor, The Dark Knight is a rather talky movie. For the most part however, this is not a hindrance to the film's pace. Batman Begins takes a fairly philosophic stance at times and some of the soliloquies can be overwrought. The Dark Knight does a much better job of reigning in the dialog and when the characters, especially The Joker, do start filibustering it is more often fascinating than boring.

Speaking of The Joker, he is easily one of the best characters in movie history. Creepy, funny, and sinister, you can't take your eyes off him whenever he's on the screen. Heath Ledger's performance is perfect and combined with excellent writing makes for a fantastic experience. The rest of the cast holds their own as well in spite of having to work in Ledger's shadow.

If I have one criticism of The Dark Knight it is that it could have been tightened up a little bit. At around 2 hours & 30 minutes the plot is very broad and seems to go on and on at times. I think things could have been simplified a little bit, or perhaps some of the minutiae removed to allow for a bit more depth. This is a minor criticism, but I felt that the movie lost steam toward the end. In The Dark Knight's defense however, the first two-thirds are so strong that it really has nowhere to go but down.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed The Dark Knight. I am a big Christoper Nolan fan and his extensive use of in-camera effects and excellent cinematography create fantastic atmosphere. Easily one of the top three comic book movies I have seen. Can't wait to see it again. 4.5/5

I have two primary criticisms of Hellboy II: the forced humor and the plot. The first Hellboy relied on character interplay and some interesting situations to introduce humor into the story. Hellboy II on the other hand blatantly tries to crowbar in jokey moments and bad gags that don't tonally fit with the rest of the movie. The original Hellboy's story was cheesy; but at the same it time had fun with itself, wasn't ridiculously complicated and actually had an interesting message to it. Hellboy II ups the action and complicates the plot to the point of nausea. The additions of unnecessary new characters along with sappy melodrama quickly turn the film into a bloated mess. Much of the suspense of the original film came from the characters being separated from one another. Here everyone is constantly together and it waters down the whole experience.

By the end of Hellboy II any hope of enjoying the movie is brought to a halt when two plot points occur to resolve the conflict which are beyond maddening. Moments like these are infuriating because they perfectly demonstrate a lack of effort by the writers and show how blatantly overwrought the story really was. Hellboy II is a big step backwards for Guillermo Del Toro, especially following the excellent Pan's Labyrinth. 2/5

I wasn't the biggest fan of some of the special effects in The Incredible Hulk. I've read many reviews stating how great they felt the effects were. I don't get it. While the animations are well done, for some reason the Hulk is really shiny all the time. This makes him look as if he was made of plastic rather than skin. Perhaps this is more in line with how he is supposed to look, but I felt it could have been done better.

Aside from the effects, I enjoyed most of the rest of the movie. The script is kept relatively simple, which is always a good idea in a superhero movie, and the dialog has a minimum of cringe-worthy lines. Another major criticism is the final fight between the Hulk and the Abomination. I realize that this is supposed to be an epic battle of mutants, but it seems to go on forever and gets kind of boring. I also was not the biggest fan of the ending where several plot lines are left unresolved. 3.5/5

The credit sequence for Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was very encouraging. Featuring an entertaining driving sequence with creative cinematography, I was really looking forward to what was in store. Despite this interesting start, the movie immediately shows us just how silly it really is. Any time the plot was explained during this film I wanted to vomit. The story can best be described as a combination of Stargate and Alien vs. Predator. At various times Indy is required to figure out where the clues are trying to point them; in true National Treasure fashion, he works it out in seconds with no explanation or logic.

The acting in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is decent with the exception of Cate Blanchett's terrible Russian accent. Shia Lebouf is fine as Indy's sidekick, but his role is reduced once they join up with Karen Allen, John Hurt, and Ray Winstone. This brings me to another major problem I have with this movie, there's far too many characters. Raiders of the Lost Ark was so good for among other reasons how spare it was. While Indy was rarely alone, the side characters came and went and Indy is left to do what he has to do. Here, Indy has a couple of people with him constantly and the filmmakers feel the need to fill the silence with inane dialog.

The action in the first half of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull leads you to believe that we're in for some old school stuntwork with a touch of CGI to polish the rough edges. The motorcycle chase sequence is particularly good. Like so many other films, however, the plot gets in the way of the fun. The second half of the movie gets so over-the-top that I could have well been watching a superhero movie.

Another thing that bothered me about this movie is the overall look of the film. I don't know if they digitally graded this movie, or used some sort of strange filter, but much of the movie has a bizarre smoothness to it. It's just too crisp and almost looks airbrushed. Whatever it is, it detracts from the film. A throwback movie like this should have a throwback look, which means film grain, not super slick digital alteration.

While Indiana Jones has never pretended to be a documentary, it still maintained a level of realism. Kingdom of the Crystal Skull on the other hand is in its own universe. The level of sci-fi has been raised past the point of no return at the expense of genuine storytelling and the compelling adventure that made the old movies so great has been replaced with heavy handed computer graphics. 2/5

Let me first say that I know virtually nothing about the Iron Man story and have never followed the cartoons or comic books. While watching the movie I was surprised that this story is in many ways more science fiction than it is superhero. Like Batman's Bruce Wayne, Tony Stark is a normal person who uses his brain and other skills to overcome adversaries. This has always appealed to me more than the purely fantastic superheroes like Spiderman or Superman. This grounding in an alternate reality makes all the scenes showing the creation and modification of the suit that much more compelling. I also appreciated the understated special effects. They are incorporated into the film's flow instead of acting as a separate showpiece unto themselves.

The acting in this movie is fantastic. Robert Downey Jr. was born to play this role. His naturally smooth, fast-talking style matches perfectly with the character of Tony Stark. Gwyneth Paltrow is surprisingly not annoying as his assistant and together they have a lot of fun with their interpersonal banter. Jeff Bridges is the perfect counter to Downey and is especially effective as his character takes a dark turn as the movie progresses.

Iron Man joins Batman Begins and X-Men 2 as one of my favorite superhero movies. 4.5/5

In some ways Uncharted is almost too similar to Gears. The weapons system especially is almost a verbatim copy; allowing you to carry only two firearms plus grenades (which use the exact same throwing mechanic as Gears). It also requires you to constantly switch weapons to whatever ammo type is available in the area. My main criticism of Uncharted is that it is a little unbalanced. I would have preferred more platforming and puzzle solving to gunplay. Still, while it isn't incredibly innovative, Uncharted is definitely worth playing.

It was also good to see Jason Statham in a good movie for a change. I also liked David Suchet as a strip club owner and pornographer; a major departure from his best known role as Hercule Poirot on the BBC. 4/5

- Do I like the movie enough to buy it again on Bluray?
- Is this the type of movie that would benefit most from upgrading it to HD? (ie. comedies in general don't rely on their cinematography and thus don't matter as much as a western or sci-fi)

Blade Runner: The Final Cut is the first movie I saw on Bluray and it is definitely an improvement over the Director's Cut. The visual upgrade it received in the remastering process is excellent along with the subtle corrections and tweaks made to certain scenes. The Bluray version is a 5 disc set that comes with tons of extras including a 3+ hour documentary on the making of the film, along with the original US, International, and Director's Cut versions of the film; all redone in hi-def. This set is definitely worth the price and is a great example of how to refine a classic without overdoing it (George Lucas should take notes from Ridley Scott).

Pros:
- Quiet Fans (while the PS3 produces plenty of heat, it does so without the considerable fan noise that my 360 emits)
- Quiet Disc Drive (unlike the jet engine in the 360, the PS3's drive is virtually silent)
- Clean Interface (the blade interface of the 360 is good, but at times can be clunky with too many sub-menus per blade, I found the crossbar on the PS3 to be better)
- Movie Playback (the PS3 has a huge advantage due to its built-in Bluray player, but even the options for upscaling regular DVDs and the interface itself are far superior to the 360)

Cons:
- PSN (it doesn't come close to the content available on XBOX Live & its interface is clunky)
- Game Demos (require an install process which for some reason is not done automatically)

That said I am very pleased with my purchase. I definitely spend more time watching movies than playing games, so my PS3 will see a lot of use from all media.

The amount of CGI is also very disappointing. A lot of the charm of the original movies was the amount of in-camera, real world stunts that avoid being too grandiose. In the trailer, however, there are several examples of silly, poorly executed CGI work. The car chase along the cliff looks like the terrible blue-screen shot from King Kong where the characters are running between the dinosaurs legs and appeared to have been shot in someone's living room. The shot showing Indy fleeing some natives down the steps of what appears to be a Mayan ruin reminds me of Alien vs. Predator. Another example is when Indy and company descend a spiral staircase into the earth, which is very reminiscent of National Treasure.

Indiana Jones movies should be breaking new ground, not retreading old ideas. I hate when franchises get dusted off for one more go around and can't keep up the level of quality (see the Alien, Terminator and Die Hard franchises). I realize this is just a teaser, but usually the teaser is so abbreviated that even bad movies look good. A teaser is supposed to get you psyched for the main event (like the Dark Knight trailer did). I hope I am wrong about this movie, but based on this trailer we could be in for a disappointment of Star Wars proportions.

My first reservation stems from the fact that the only PS3 exclusive that has come out that I am interested in is Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. Some other games on the horizon look interesting (Little Big Planet, and others), but they are at least several months away. The other source of doubt for me is that the difference between DVD and Blu-ray is marginal on a 26" HDTV like I have. That said, I do spend more time watching movies than playing games and while I can definitely tell the difference between HD and DVD, it isn't a make-or-break situation. In order to sway my decision I need more justification to spend $400 than just somewhat better video quality, ie. interesting games to play. The PS3 is also the most future proof Blu-ray player making it the obvious choice for a player if I'm going to buy one.

The wild card in all this is that there are a couple of movies that I would like to buy (Blade Runner: The Final Cut, Planet Earth). But there is no point in buying them on an obsolete format so why not get an HD player already? Maybe I'll wait for my economic stimulus from the government and blow it on a PS3 to do my part for the country. For the foreseeable future, however, I'm going to stay in a holding pattern. But if a couple more PS3 exclusive games look compelling or they drop the price again (come on Sony you know you want to) I'm going to have to cross to the dark side.

In many films, the protagonist isn't necessarily likable, but they at least have some redeemable qualities. Daniel Day-Lewis' character (Plainview) is a single minded, obsessive, overbearing man who must win at all costs. His primary opponent is Paul Dano's shrill, backhanded minister. Neither of these men are likable in any way. No redeemable qualities emerge about either of them. This is a strange way to tell a story. If the audience can never identify in any way with the characters, they can never be drawn into the plot. PTA seems more interested in presenting a challenging piece of art than a thrilling, human tale. When compared with the magnificent No Country For Old Men, There Will Be Blood contains very few genuine moments between people. Every aspect of the film has been twisted to fit Plainview's insanity and thus has no room for human interaction.

Despite this criticism, I did like this movie very much. Day-Lewis is mesmerizing as Plainview, delivering a performance nearly as good as his portrayal of Bill the Butcher in Gangs of New York. Paul Dano holds his own and I particularly liked the performances in their final confrontation at the end of the film. This movie is worth watching just for the camera work and the performances, if not for the plot. 4/5

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.