Back to School

I have finally moved in to my dorm, and it sure feels good to be back. Luckily for me I was able to move in a day before the move-in date for normals. So what that means is that I basically have a very quiet and peaceful hall to live on. Not to say that the hall is usually noisy, but it's nice to know that I won't be bothered by any ruckus of those jittery freshmen.

As for my room, I have to say that my set-up is different than anything I have done before and I actually put a little effort into decorating my walls, which are a suffocating white. I have four posters, all relating to media so I thought I would quickly list them.

#1. Doctor Who TARDIS Explosion:  I am a big fan of time travel media, so Doctor Who is right up my alley. I started watching it in 9th grade, with Matt Smith as my first Doctor (though I promptly made sure to watch all the preceding seasons of the reboot). While I started watching primarily because a girl I had a crush on loved Doctor Who, I quickly became a big fan myself. The poster is a adaptation of the portrait done by Van Gogh in the episode "Vincent and the Doctor."

#2. & #3. All the Marvel Characters & Justice League Silhouettes: I thought I would list these together because I want to be clear that I give both comic groups buckets of appreciation. While it is hard to disagree that Marvel has movie superiority, the characters in all the comic universes are amazing. This is part of the reason I have so much trouble picking a favorite superhero or villain; the powers and personalities have been give so much life over the many, many years that their respective comics have been written.

#4. "Crime and Punishment" Litograph: This is a bit hard to explain, but basically what the team at Litographs does is take the text from a book and print it onto a poster in some shape that also represents the books content. For example here is mine:

As you can see the picture clearly shows representations of crime and punishment, but what is more difficult to see is that the fuzzy gray in the picture is actually the entire text of the book itself. I loved this idea, and www.litographs.com even has books printed on T-Shirts. Their website has many famous classic books like "Alice in Wonderland" or "Pride and Prejudice." I chose the "Crime and Punishment" one because I enjoyed the book by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and felt a great accomplishment at finishing the monster of a book.

As you can see I have enough appreciation for books, television, movies, and comics that I wanted to display them for anyone who might see.

Fallout 3 - Thoughts

This summer, the one big game I have been consuming my time with is the legendary "Fallout 3." I know it has been a while since this game was released (2008), but who doesn't have a huge backlog of games to play. I went into this game not having seen much of anything gameplay-wise or mechanics-wise. It was a blank slate for me. I have never played such an open-world game, besides a disastrous attempt at "Skyrim."

And based on that aspect alone: MIND BLOWN!

"Fallout 3" encompassed such an enormous world with hundreds of locations, characters, items, and details that I can only imagine took a very, very long time to program and plan. Each character is voiced ranging from minimal to 30 minutes worth of dialogue. For times sake I was forced to skip some of the talking despite my admiration for the scripting. There are so many locations and alcoves in the game that it is impossible to explore all of them and impossible to avoid exploring. I absolutely loved it.

A genius addition to the game was the use of a radio system, to not only provide some world updates and directions toward unexplored territory, but it provided an absolute necessity in avoiding the monotony of the Capital Wasteland. Without the radio, I would have spent many hours in silence trudging through fairly empty landscapes. However, the radio (and the quick travel system) made the game fun even in the few boring sections.

The lore of the world is also just as awesome. The Pip Boy brings mechanics of health and equipment condition to life. The design of the actual Pip Boy characters are so cool; each weapon having a specialized character representation. Likewise, the perks are witty and humorous while still being useful to the game.

Additionally the history of the world is added to with every step you take, in what is Washington D.C., a city I have personally visited at least three times before. Seeing the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial really sunk in how much research was done for this game. After finiching the main series of quests I was able to use DLC to continue playing with access to additional quests. One of which was a virtual simulation of the Battle of Anchorage. Having heard characters refer to this battle via conversation throughout the game, it was one of my favorite moments to play as a soldier in this historic battle.

In the end I logged around 70 hours of game time, and probably only completed 80% of the game. I can say without a doubt, this is the most time I have ever spent on a single game. "Monster Hunter" takes a distant second, but "Fallout 3" continued to resent unique unexplored areas around every turn.

Moral of the Story: Highly Reccomend

Fantastic 4 (2015) Review - AND - The Evolution of My Reviews

Okay, well its been about a week and half since I first posted to this blog and I have to say I have been enjoying being forced to think critically about the movies I have seen. However, I feel that because I am always in the mindset of "analyzing a film's quality," I lose in the enjoyment department. The reason movies actually exist is for entertainment, not for someone to sit on their high-horse  criticizing an actor's performance or taking note of every product placement or continuity error. (As much as I enjoy CinemaSins on YouTube, they sure are nit-picky). The reason I started this blog was to have an outlet to express my appreciation for media, and in this case especially cinema. I feel I have missed the mark in the few meager reviews I have written. In the future I truly want to simply keep a log of what I have been watching with some thoughts I may have. This may not include a fully inclusive review, but it will certainly highlight what I liked and disliked. I don't want to be forced into finding things to talk about for movies that are boring.

For example, I just went to the premier of Fant4stic (The newest adaptation of Marvel's Fantastic 4) and I really don't have too much to comment on it. Bottom line, I did not enjoy it. The exposition and set-up took up nearly 2/3 of the movie and was incredibly boring. While a detailed origin story may have suited Marvel movies in the early days, but now I just want to get into cool powers and action quickly. A barrage of awful CGI also took me out of the movie. One of my friends commented afterward that some of the scenes "could have been done himself." And when the main conflict with Dr. Doom took place, I was totally shocked at the poor story-telling and confusing fight.

I went into the movie with very high hopes. After the first trailer I was on-board. I have been a fan of the Fantastic 4 since the 2005 movie. I love this superhero team formula because it has so much potential. I mean The Incredibles proved how well this formula works. Also, look at the movie poster. They all look amazing, especially The Thing. What. A. Boss.

Unfortunately this movie felt more like getting teeth pulled than a fun superhero experience.

To return to my earlier rant, I still plan on giving the movies I watch a rating, but I want it to be clear that the "Nathan" rating is very biased. While I like to think I have pretty good opinions of media, there are several examples I could give of opinions that are the polar opposite of the "Rotten Tomatoes" or "IMDB" rating.


And on that note here is my rating for Fant4stic. Bonus points go to Doom's initial powers reveal, and a Fire Flower Easter Egg.

4/10

Review of Escape from Alcatraz (1979)

Time for another classic (and by classic I mean older than I am). One that I had not even heard of until recently on an episode of "Good Mythical Morning" by YouTube's Rhett & Link. This movie was discussed because it was based on a true story of escapees from the prison Alcatraz. Even though I knew that what happened in the film is fairly accurate to real events or speculated events, it is hard to imagine some of the actions Clint Eastwood's character takes to escape.

The film paints a very vivid picture of what prison life was like at one of the highest security institutions of the United States. Unlike what I had expected, much of the conflict was less physical struggle against guards and other inmates, but of mental perseverance. The warden is depicted as a man intent of breaking the minds and souls of the inmates, which we see clearly in one scene when he takes away the privilege to paint from a particular inmate named Doc. This seemingly small bump in the road, takes Doc over the edge without his one coping mechanism.

In this film I was able to see glimpses of ideas incorporated into The Shawshank Redemption and the television show Prison Break.  Escape from Alcatraz laid a genre's foundation that has remained strong since it was released in 1979.

This real life story needed very little fabrication to be a stunning escape. Tension was built slowly and steadily, like a prolonged calm before an inevitable storm. The events seemed reasonable enough to truly happen (but I sure hope prisons are more secure now).

8/10

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation Review

I have nothing but praise for the newest installment in series I have greatly adored since MI1. Ghost Protocol set a new standard for the series with its story and action sequences, but I believe Rogue Nation has exceeded the predecessor.

Tom Cruise continues to rock as Ethan Hunt, but I have to give an additional round of applause for Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa. Not only was she stunning, but her performance put a depth and personal turmoil on a character that could so very easily been flat, cold, and calculating like we see in many spy-type characters. Additionally, being the token female of importance Ilsa was the obvious choice for the typical on-screen accelerated romance that we so often see. However, I was nearly jumping out of my seat with joy at seeing, or not seeing, the lack of such a dynamic with Ethan. The movie put a higher focus on what I really came to see: Hero/Villain interplay, pockets of humor, and awesome action sequences.

What I loved about one action sequence in particular, was the juxtaposition of the sequence upon a much different setting. I can't say too much without spoiling it for you, but I can say the music was amazing, and plot related. Enjoyably, I was left unsure of what was truly was happening until end. The length of this scene and other such scenes was perfect as well.

With a broad set of international locations and several high intensity action sequences Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation delivers dose after dose of awesome. The cast was all-around great and I cannot wait for the next movie.

9/10

Review of Dr. No (1962) - James Bond Movie

Having been born into a generation where spy/action movies are characterized by suave characters, cool tech, and generally fast paced plot, this movie was a total step back in time. I enjoyed taking a look at some of the roots that established this genre. Sean Connery takes on the role of James Bond with an emphasis on being a gentleman. However that is nearly all that can be said about the character from just watching Dr. No. Few other aspects of the movie truly drew my attention.

I honestly am having trouble recalling what happened in the movie, despite having watched it yesterday. I can only accredit this to a movie that falls into a mold that I have seen on screen before many times. While I, at first, loved the title villain, Dr. No, his plan is foiled incredibly easily and with no true suspense.

On a positive note, I absolutely jammed out to the James Bond theme ever time it played. I wish it had been placed a few more times, or at least continued throughout key scenes. Also, thumbs up to Bond Girls. The love interests, if you can even call them that, are filmed in very classy ways. Appreciated.

Moral of the Story: A lack of witty dialogue, a forgettable conflict, and only rare instances demonstrating the purported "super spy's" intelligence ultimately create a decent but baseline movie.

6/10

Shelved: "Storm Riders" by Margaret Weis & Robert Krammes

I recently finished this second book in the "Dragon Brigade" trilogy, and though I can't talk about the first book, "Shadow Raiders," in as much detail, I will attempt to extol the virtues of the series as opposed to just the second installment.

Without even beginning to talk about the wonderful cast of characters and the crazy cool world that Weis and Krammes have created, I would first like to draw your attention to the cover. I had heard nothing about this series and was simply perusing a book store last year when I came across this book as well as the rest of the series. And as often as I hear "Don't judge a book by its cover," that was exactly what I did. This book just looks epic. You have a dragon, with rider, attacking a flying bat-winged ship manned by demons. Even if I am forced to wait until the end of the book, I want to live through that.

Ok good, That's settled.

What this series offers, in terms of unique concepts, is a world of floating islands. As far as our characters are concerned, the world is a sea of sky. Seven floating continents make up the world. While this could be glossed over, a simple constant for their universe, the relationship between the  people and this sea of sky is literally religious and foreboding.

A magic system dependent on sigils, though seemingly typical, is explored not only metaphysically, but rationally and scientifically, in the text. As the series progresses the understanding of magic itself comes into question. Not often is this seen in fantasy stories.

The structure of the novel switches between a number of characters on all sides of the central conflict. This could leave a reader bored when following the trail of a dull character but Weis and Krammes somehow succeed in making each character worthy of the chapters assigned to them. At times the shady, morally ambiguous characters are more interesting than our heroes.
This leads into my only complaint about the novel: the group of heroes don't seem to be the age that Weis and Krammes specify. Though the reason might be that I want the protags to be my age, but I have trouble imaging them as 30 years old.

I am not sure when I will finish this series, and it may not be for a long while as school will be starting relatively shortly, but from the path that the first two books have taken, I am certain I will enjoy the finale.

Verdict: Reccomend