K0NY.COM

This past week, “The Beatles: Rock Band” was released to the public. Though there have been a number of discs released as “track packs” for the popular music gaming franchise, this latest offering is considered a true sequel. It offers updated graphics, new gameplay elements, and a collection of new plastic instrument controllers. More importantly though, it hopes to introduce a legendary band to a whole new audience, while also cashing in on the fond memories of those who know the Beatles work.

What follows is my review of this latest video game. I will be up front about the fact that I have not played the game extensively. So I can’t judge the subtle differences it may have on different consoles. I also haven’t experienced every single song in the game. So it’s entirely possible that I may have missed some stroke of brilliance that adds value to the overall package.

Video games are typically judged on graphics, sound, and gameplay when someone writes a review. The over-all presentation and replay value also factor in. Rarely does nostalgia or the significance of the licensed material in a game, play any role in determining how good or bad it is. For instance, Warner Brothers cartoon characters are some of the most beloved and iconic images to ever grace any gaming console, yet often games which feature them get terrible reviews because they are found lacking in all of the above-mentioned categories. So for the purpose of this review, let’s forget for a minute that I’m writing about “The Beatles.”

Let’s start with the graphics; they are absolutely beautiful. There’s a noticeable improvement over Rock Band 2’s character models, which is understandable. Since the option to play with customized characters has been removed, much more polish can be applied to the models of John, Paul, George, and Ringo. The game’s presentation is very solid. Everything has sort of an ethereal retro feel to it. Each song has its own custom video. Compared to previous games, which allowed you to play with customized band members in a wide variety of venues, it’s a significant change.

Not surprisingly, The Beatles: Rock Band sounds fantastic. During loading screens, you can hear studio chatter from the Fab Four that was previously unreleased. It should be obvious that the song collection sounds great. What isn’t as obvious is that some of the Beatles best songs are decidedly absent from this disc. Future downloadable pay content is scheduled to fill in some of the gaps though. Another thing that’s missing from this game is the ability to actually improvise on your instrument. No more freestyle drum hits at the beginning or end of songs. No more improvisation on the mic during breaks in the lyrics. Say goodbye as well, to drum fills or “big finish” segments where the whole band jams out. All you will hear from your speakers is The Beatles; nothing more, nothing less.

In every other respect, the gameplay is pretty much the same. This version of Rock Band introduces a new feature which allows up to three singers to harmonize on certain tracks. This opens up the possibility of either playing with six players or giving two of the members of your band back-up singer duties in addition to their respective instrument parts. This can be pretty fun since most of the music is fairly simplistic and a lot of the lyrics will be familiar to fans of the group.

There are a total of 45 songs to play on the disc. Compared to 58 songs in the original Rock Band and 84 songs in Rock Band 2, this is a step down. However, the quality of the music is arguably more important than having a large quantity of it. Still, replay value is going to be a problem for this game. There are only so many times you’ll want to watch the same video over and over when playing your favorite Beatles tracks. You won’t have the incentive of unlocking items or earning money to buy your characters new outfits. You won’t be able to customize the look of your band members or equipment either. You can’t add your own personal touch to the music, the performance, the band’s name or look. All you can do is tap the buttons on the controllers along with the music on the screen.

For me, that’s where the game fails. Previous Rock Band games gave you the sense that you were actually a musician who was creating music. In The Beatles: Rock Band, you just feel like you’re keying in commands which will keep the real musicians playing on your screen. It’s a subtle difference, but an important one. Self-expression is after all, the goal of any aspiring musician. The game doesn’t cater to that though. Instead it asks you to be a fan and do your part to support the band.

So to summarize: The Beatles: Rock Band is like Rock Band 2, except without the custom avatars, the improvisation, the unlockable incentives, the diversity of venues, the replay value, or the huge variety in musical styles and artists we have come to associate with this franchise. It has better graphics and sound, a new harmonizing game element, and Beatles music. It’s a sequel that offers less of what makes Rock Band great, but with plenty of Beatles greatness to make up for it. If that balances out as something you may be interested, then enjoy. I’m going to pass.

Going to a movie directed by Quentin Tarantino without expecting to see violence is like going to a George Romero movie and not expecting to see dead things. So I was well aware that there would be blood, the night I went to see “Inglourious Basterds” at a local theater. What I didn’t expect though, was to experience such a refreshing take on a subject as heavily mined for drama as World War 2. The next few paragraphs will continue my impressions of this movie without giving away the actual content of the film: spoiler free for your amusement.

The scope of World War 2 is enormous. The number of lives lost, the families affected, and the countries entangled in the battles brought about by Adolf Hitler’s quest for power, are hard to comprehend. So more often than not, we see large scale battles; hundreds of soldiers and military machines clashing with each other on the screen, in a futile attempt to convey the grand scope of it all. Tarantino’s movie takes a different tack. It shows Nazi Germany as a very personal and intimate thing. Every interaction between two human beings has depth and meaning, regardless of whether that interaction is a conversation or a baseball bat across the forehead.

The fear and hatred is brilliantly put on display in every facial expression, off-hand gesture, and pregnant pause during conversations. As both a writer and director, you’d have to have enormous faith in your actors to even attempt to put something like this up on a screen. Fortunately, I think the actors did a brilliant job. Many of them will be unknown to the viewer, but even the ones whose reputation precedes them, are convincing and likeable.

The violence too, is intimate in “Inglourious Bastards.”The audience is meant to participate in the visceral revulsion and excitement of every gunshot, knife slice, and blunt force trauma. Whether you agree with the methods or not, you will be front and center for them at every step of the film. Part of the reason for that might be so that we can appreciate the scale. The horror of a single soldier’s throat being cut is immense. When it hits you that he is but one of millions who died during that time, it’s hard not to take pause.

Of course I understand the basic gist of the film. It is, at its heart a Jewish revenge fantasy. And why the hell not? Video games taking place in WWII are over-saturating the shooter market because everyone can feel good about killing Nazis. You’d think, if the stereotype about Jews running Hollywood were true, we’d see more of these types of films in the theaters. But Tarantino is the only one seemingly brave enough to embrace the murky depths of such an undertaking. Hero stories often try to depict American soldiers as being morally superior to the enemy. Not so, here.

The Jewish Americans take great delight in slaughtering Nazis throughout the film. They demonstrate that the moral high road is not always the best path to victory. I’m not ashamed to say that I laughed and cheered as their brutal efforts unfolded before me. It was tremendously satisfying to see some suffering inflicted upon the group responsible for taking so many innocent lives.

It should be mentioned though, that “Inglourious Basterds” is not an action movie. It is, like every other Tarantino flick, a drama. It is exciting and intense at times. It’s emotional, deep, funny, and charming. Potential viewers should also know that, since this film is set in Germany, there is a lot of foreign dialogue. If subtitles are a deal-breaker for you, then this is not a film you want to see.

Personally, I’m looking forward to seeing it again. I’m sure there’s a bunch of subtle stuff I’ve missed the first time around. This movie isn’t as quotable as other Tarantino classics like “Pulp Fiction” but it’s brilliant all the same. The music is both fitting to the style of the film, and true to the director’s own quirky style.

I have a few nitpicks of the over-all story and editing choices made, but it’s tough to find something to hate in this movie. That is of course, unless you are a Nazi-sympathizing bastard.

Fair warning for those reading this review: It’s entirely plausible that I am outside the target demographic for Transformers 2. So my perception of the movie may be tainted by my age. That said, I feel as if my eyeballs and frontal lobe have been assaulted over the two and a half hours I spent with Michael Bay’s robot rumble. Like any victim of violence, I feel the need to speak out about it. So I’m writing this review at almost two in the morning. As always, I’ll avoid spoilers, so if you haven’t yet seen it and are on the fence, please consider my opinion.

Imagine an incredibly hyper child constructing a very intricate scale model of the Eiffel Tower out of Legos and Christmas lights. Then, in his excitement to show you his work, the child launches it at your head. The unexpected impact of plastic against your face stuns you, but you are conscious enough to watch the project hit the floor in a dazzling rattle of blocks and lights. The toy explosion as each piece detaches from its neighbor, is magnificent. If you can imagine this scene, you have some idea of what watching “Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen” is like.

I can only assume that the technical achievements accomplished within this film are amazing because they flew across the screen so fast that I could scarcely make them out. Most set pieces featured twisted metal crudely shaped into destructive creatures which tear through buildings, rocks, vehicles, people, famous landmarks, and each other, without so much as a second thought. The resulting debris, smoke, dust, shrapnel and carnage obscure the scene as much as a New Year’s Eve dropping of the balloons and confetti at midnight. This battering of visual stimuli is accompanied by constant yelling, thunderous explosions and screeching dissonance of both the electronic and mechanical variety. If you’d like to simulate the experience at home, put your ear up to a tumble dryer while your favorite pair of jeans and sneakers are rolling around in it. Then toss glitter at your eyes as you blink frantically to keep any from actually sticking to your cornea.

In essence, director Michael Bay has created a live-action cartoon about two factions of sentient robots who fight each other due to differing ideologies with humans caught in the middle. It’s a lot more of the same stuff which made the first movie what it was. I call it a cartoon because most of the human characters are caricatures, every bit as exaggerated as the robots they fight with and against. They all speak in tired clichés and act exactly as a jaded audience would expect them to, given that they came from Hollywood. The action scenes are separated by bits of drama that feels forced. The comedy amounts to some dirty innuendo and a peppering of profanity designed to elicit a cheap chuckle. Thousands of anonymous extras die each time two big robots disagree, but we the viewers are supposed to care about the lives of a college kid and his hot girlfriend, knowing full well that there’s no way the director would kill them off.

I understand that this is all supposed to be a fun summer ride. I more than many, can appreciate a good roller coaster, with its abundance of sensory overload. However, TF2 isn’t that kind of ride. It lasts way too long to be a roller coaster. In fact, if you want to compare it to a ride, you could call it one of those crazy rides you get when someone is trying to impress you by driving recklessly. You don’t so much appreciate the skill of the person in control, as hope for nothing to go wrong while you wait for it to end.

The movie is rated PG-13. It contains lots of people dying though very little blood. There are sexual images and physical violence a-plenty, on top of the harsh language. I don’t recommend this movie to anyone, much less children. If you must see it, wait for the High-Definition release on home video so you can rewind and fast forward the parts to get a better look at which metal thing did what to whom.

There will probably be a lot of people who hate “The Watchmen” movie. These people are likely expecting to see good guys in masks save the day and stop the bad guys from destroying the world. Of course, those who have read the book before seeing the movie will know it’s about anything BUT that.

The movie translates things pretty well from the written page. There are omissions and changes for the sake of time and broader audience appeal. I don’t hold that against the film though. I enjoyed it. The running time was close to three hours, but for me it seemed to move along pretty quickly despite the fact that I was starving for something to eat. There was so much information to digest that I feel repeat viewings would probably benefit people who haven’t read the book.

Be warned that the theme of this story is decidedly dark. There is some good action. A healthy amount of tension builds up, even if you know what’s coming. The violence is brutal and unsettling at times. There isn’t a whole lot of laughing (unless you happen to be in the theater with people who can’t help but giggle when they see a penis on the screen). There is definitely nudity (both male and female) and some very deep philosophical discussion.

I enjoyed the music used in the film quite a bit. Most of it was in stark contrast to the visuals on screen, but all of it familiar enough to evoke the right emotion at the right time. Visually, this movie has an amazing amount to offer as well. There are times when you feel almost too close to the action and other times when you sense the detachment that looking at a comic book page will give you. I’m not sure how intentional these moments are, but they are effective and I’ll give the director credit for them.

As long as you walk into the film with an open mind, and are prepared to see a different side of comic books, you won’t be disappointed. If I could compare this movie to any other movie out there, it would be “No Country for Old Men.” If you’ve seen that one, that’s all the information you need to know whether you’ll like this one.