Caution

Awesome.

On the Big Screen

The Senator Theater in Baltimore is by far my favorite movie theater (though the AFI in Silver Spring isn't too shabby either). I have seen a couple dozen movies there, and I have loved it each time. Seeing Return of the King was a religious experience. The huge screen, the old timey feel, the delicious popcorn all make going to the movies an event. So, sad new that it is in financial trouble again. This time, though, the city and the owner are coming together on a creative solution: make it into a nonprofit. While this would necessitate that the theater be used for things other than movies by providing "educational and cultural opportunities", I think this is a great move. The Senator is an institution in North Baltimore and is worth saving whatever the cost. Really, making it into a nonprofit might actually make the Senator even more important to its neighborhood. So, good times all around.

This does, however, shine a light on the continuing financial problems the theater has had over the years. It has been bailed out several times, and can just not seem to stay in the black. I have to believe that at least some of this is attributable to poor management decisions (though I have no evidence to back that up) but it is much more about the marginalization of single screen theaters in this country. The Senator simply hasn't kept up with the times, which is laudable to me but devastating to it as a business. No stadium seating, no commercials before the movie starts, no three course meal available at the concession stand. Just popcorn, candy, and a movie. And even though you have to get somewhat lucky and hope someone really tall isn't sitting in the row ahead of you, watching a movie on the big screen just can't be matched by other places. I guess the Senator just isn't for everyone. But, you know what I say to those people? We don't want you here anyway.

Be Afraid

January is a pretty dead time for new releases. This is good, because it gives me a chance to catch up on the games I didn't play over the holidays. Or, you know, sink 50 more hours of my life into a game I played and beat last year. But, whatever, January is also the time for demos. Grabbed two off of Live today: FEAR 2 and Resident Evil 5. Both sequels to two of my favorite games from a few years ago, needless to say I was pretty excited for both. That'll learn me.

FEAR is one of the best first person shooters I have ever played. While the interior office environments did get repetitive after a while, the awesome game play and pretty intense storyline made me forget all about it. FEAR 2 (a game with a long litany of legal issues) picks up right after the first left off, but unfortunately seems to have taken a step backwards. The real draw of FEAR was the ability to slow down combat, resulting in visceral and bloody firefights that also looked fucking awesome, as well as the outstanding AI. The sequel uses the same mechanic, but not nearly to the same effect. Now, this is just a demo, so maybe things will get tightened up in the final release, but the firefights simply don't have the same resonance. While the graphics are top notch for the environments, guns, and atmosphere, the enemies look almost fake, and the blood may as well be Welch's grape jelly. The up close and personal combat of FEAR has been made, drumroll please, completely generic in the sequel! Just what we need, another pretty looking shooter that does nothing new (hope Gamestop has my Killzone 2 preorder...). So, yeah, pretty disappointed, though I guess my hopes weren't all that high.

I can't say the same for Resident Evil 5. One of the biggest games of 09, RE5 is a spiritual sequel to RE4, which is arguably the best game of the last generation of consoles. I played that bad boy for 25 hours and loved every minute. The combat was great, the mood was perfect, and I even got scared a few times. RE5 seems to want to keep the action game vibe, and gives us crazed African villagers instead of crazed Spanish villagers. Oh, and it also gives us a control scheme seemingly devised by those villagers. Two buttons to even be able to shoot (one of which is also used to locate your partner), two to run, a button to open your inventory, the d-pad to browse the inventory, another button to select your weapon/item, "quick time" events (used to great effect in RE4) that disappear after being on screen for about a second...and so on. What the fuck, Capcom? I don't even know if the game is any good, because I spent all my time trying to figure out how to reload my pistol. Another problem is the game's perspective. While the "over the shoulder" view from RE4 remains intact, your character takes up almost half the screen, making seeing anything pretty difficult. While the graphics are gorgeous, the slowwwwwww gameplay and degree of difficulty to do even simple things are really harshing my buzz for this game. What was once a solid "buy" might not even get rented. This might be a long year...

Left 4 Dead

Seeing as though I'm on a zombie kick (seriously, bring em on) I decided to download Left 4 Dead on my PC. The game is awesome. Well, awesome when Steam decides to work and actually let me play. Maybe I project some kind of field, because online games never work right for me. I get kicked off Call of Duty when I'm in someone's "party" on Xbox Live, I can't connect to EA's servers, and I'm pretty sure one of the original versions of Steam put a hex on me.

When I do get to play, good God. You wanna kill zombies, eh? I got your zombies. I got your fucking zombies right here. To say that there are a lot of zombies in Left 4 Dead wouldn't give you the proper perspective. So, let me put it this way. THERE ARE A LOT OF ZOMBIES. Thousands. They run. They scream. They claw. Sometimes they stand still. But, no matter what, there are a lot of zombies. Zombies that need killin'.

How do you kill the undead, you ask? With a shotgun. Or an assault rifle, they don't seem picky. Left 4 Dead is gloriously, unabashedly over the top. There is definitely strategy in terms of how you work with your teammates, but the game is really about pouring buckets of lead into your new undead friends. Through four separate campaigns presented as zombie movies, you and your team operate at a breakneck pace to get to a safe house and out of harms way. While the game can be played solo, it really just isn't the same. The "what the fuck?!?" moments are only possible with other human teammates and thus, the only real way to play the game.

There is also a VS mode, where players can actually be the zombies. I haven't tried that yet because, again, I've probably only played 7 or 8 matches, but the concept sounds awesome. Really, what I lack is the dogged persistence that is required of PC gamers. I mean, yeah, I could figure out how to host my own dedicated zombie fragging server, or fuck with the endless firewall options Vista offers, or reconfigure my router or some bullshit, but all I really want to do is play the game. I'm a console gamer at heart, even if I like the PC inputs better. So, I guess I'll struggle with my inner demons while waiting to find a game of Left 4 Dead. I got time.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

So, it turns out there is still such a thing as a movie star. Brad Pitt gives the performance of his life in one of the oddest, most fascinating, and best movies I have seen in a long time. David Fincher's haunting and beautiful The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is the best film of the year, and I can't believe it took me this long to see it.

The story is, by now, well known. Pitt is born with a strange deformity: he has the body of an 80 year old man who proceeds to age in reverse. The fantastic make up and special effects make this transformation as believable as it could possibly be, but it is really Pitt's performance that allows you to forget the elaborate technical trickery. Even in a cast of great actors like Cate Blanchett (looking absolutely gorgeous by the way), Tilda Swinton, and Taraji Henson (who deserved the Oscar nod as much as anyone) a film like this needed a performance from a star actor to make it work. Pitt loses himself completely in the role, following a pattern of really outstanding performances in the last few years, from Babel to Burn After Reading. While he always had talent, I think he didn't know what kind of actor he wanted to be. Was he the hip, cool guy from the Ocean's franchise, or the action/fantasy hero of Troy? Well, turns out, he's just great. Keep picking these kinds of films, Brad. They suit you.

Really, the story is almost incidental in terms of what the film is actually trying to accomplish. While it is ostensibly about Benjamin's travels through life, the main focus of the film is on the people with whom he interacts. Benjamin is the mirror through which every other character sees themselves. As a result of his condition, he is only briefly the center of their lives, but changes them in profound ways.

Known for films like Se7en, Fight Club, and Zodiac, Fincher's epic seems almost out of place. Really, though, only Fincher could have made Button work. It is his eye for cynicism and even the macabre that keeps the film from descending into sentimental hogwash. In fact, I'd argue that Button is a profoundly sad film. As Benjamin says, "Nothing lasts."

I was surprised that Button garnered so many Oscar nominations. Having now seen it, though, I can't argue for any other film this year to win Best Picture, not even The Dark Knight. It is an amazing journey through time and a fascinating mediation on loss. If you haven't seen it, go now. If you have, go again.

Dark Knight Snubbed

Bullshit. I didn't really expect a Best Picture nomination, but not even a nod for directing and writing? Good to see that Heath Ledger's performance got that posthumous love, but come on. The Dark Knight was the movie of the year. Is anyone really going to remember Frost/Nixon, Milk, or The Reader in five years? Though measuring a film's worth by how much money it makes is often a bad choice, let's not forget that The Dark Knight is second only to Titanic in terms of dollars earned at the box office (of course, accounting for inflation it is much lower on the list). Even more than that, it was a cultural event. Everyone was talking about the damn thing for months. While Slumdog Millionaire was a good story with a solid cast, it was nowhere near the overall triumph of TDK.

Every now and then, blockbusters like Lord of the Rings, Titanic, and The Dark Knight really are worthy of Best Picture. It's shit like this that makes everyone think Hollywood is out of touch. And, you know what? It is.

Massively Effective

Ok, stupid puns aside, Mass Effect is a masterpiece. It got its claws deep in me right around this time last year, and hasn't let go since. I've never regretted trading in a game more. Thank God I downloaded Steam. For only 20 bucks, I get maybe the best game of the current generation.

Ignoring the fact that I have now paid 80 dollars for the game, let's talk about why I bought it again. As an experience, Mass Effect is simply unmatched. Amazing graphics, movie quality voice acting, engaging story, varied gameplay, and lesbian sex. Honestly, what more could you ask for? Well, for starters, having the thing actually work. The Xbox version is marred by massive slowdown, graphical issues out the ass, and a menu system that could best be described as "haunting". For a game that spends as much time utilizing a menu as Mass Effect, you'd think the developers would want you to be able to read the menus, or use them in an effective way. Oh no, 360 fan, not you! For you, the menus will be as muddled and complicated as possible. Oh, and you'll have to go through several levels of menus to get to the one you want. Then, when you finally figure out which upgrade to use with your shotgun, the game will lag to the point of almost making it meaningless. Awesome, right?

That may be somewhat overstating the problem, but not by much. Thankfully, and much to the chagrin of anyone who has to play the game on a console, the PC version is far, far superior. While the game itself isn't different, the way you ineteract with it is. First off, you can actually use the menus. I was able to find everything I wanted, use it the way I wanted, and then get back to playing with a simple mouse click. While there is slowdown, the graphical issues are not nearly as present with this version of the game. Being able to hot key and easily tab to equipment and squad screens is a revelation. It's obvious that Mass Effect is meant to be played on the computer, with the console getting the red headed stepchild of Bioware's RPG family. Every single thing is better. If I sound giddy, I am.