Godzilla Review

Godzilla has a long history in cinema including, most recently, in 1998 with the release of the Roland Emmerich movie by the same name. It grossed $136 million domestically; however, it was looked upon as mostly a failure due to its $130 million budget. With this new re-launch of the iconic character, Gareth Edwards was hired as director to bring his grounded take on the iconic monster. Hiring Edwards was a risky move as he has never helmed a large budget film before. His previous movie, Monsters (2010), cost $1 million to make and was praised for the special effects work. That is where the current film succeeds; unfortunately, the script is not as impressive.

The first act of this film succeeds by building on character moments with Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston) and his son, Ford Brody (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). The moments between these two characters ground the film and give you a reason to care about the Brody family. The problems begin when the second act focuses solely on Ford Brody. I never felt a connection to his character individually and subsequently did not care about what he was going through. I have loved the work of Ken Watanabe (who played Dr. Ishiro Serizawa) and Elizabeth Olsen (who played Elle Brody) in previous films; however, they don’t do anything here except look on in fear and shock. It’s such a wasted opportunity to use good actors in this film and give them 10 minutes of screen time with nothing to do.

With how little I cared about the human characters in this film, it’s a good thing the special effects and sound design were outstanding. The direction and cinematography were also very well done. There are some scenes in the third act that were truly awe-inspiring. There is a moment where soldiers jump out of a plane that is one of the most beautiful scenes I’ve ever watched on screen. The film makes us wait for the action by giving us glimpses of Godzilla but never a full view, much like Spielberg did with the shark in Jaws. By limiting these shots, it built the suspense well and made the scenes in the third act with Godzilla more impactful.

I did like the overall theme of the film that nature is uncontrollable and people aren’t as powerful as they think. Godzilla was nature’s way of corrective action and we, as humans, are just one piece of that puzzle.

With how much I enjoyed the action and the experience of watching this movie, it’s a shame I never cared about the human characters in the film. The lack of investment in the characters was most evident when there was a scene with a dog and I cared more about the dog making it through the scene alive than Ford. There is clearly a problem when the audience doesn’t care about the main characters. I would recommend seeing the movie but don’t expect to have a story you care about. Just go and enjoy a decent popcorn flick.

Spoiler problems below:

1) Whatever happened to Ford and the kid dangling from the tram car? They just cut to them being OK.

2) What purpose did Ford have besides starting the bomb countdown, which became a huge problem?

3) How come no one freaked out when Godzilla woke up in their city?

4) During the train sequence, why did the MUTO purposely walk underneath the bridge instead of just walking through it like it did with everything else? How did the soldiers get down that giant ravine and back up so quickly? Why did they need to go down there anyways?

5) How come Godzilla caused a huge tsunami coming out of the water the first time but every subsequent time there was no problem?

6) How come not only was no one was evacuated from San Francisco but people were still working in the office buildings?

7) Wasn’t it awfully convenient that a tanker full of fuel would have landed in the ravine with all the MUTO eggs?

Thoughts on The New Batman Suit

With the recent first look at the Batmobile and Ben Affleck as Batman, I wanted to provide my thoughts on why I like what they did with the suit and where I feel the director, Zack Snyder, pulled inspiration in creating the suit.

When announcing the new Batman vs. Superman movie at San Diego Comic-Con last year, Zack Snyder indicated his inspiration with the movie was a quote pulled from Frank Miller’s book. Batman said, “I want you to remember, Clark…in all the years to come…in your most private moments…I want you to remember…my hand…at your throat…I want…you to remember…the one man who beat you.” It is clear from the cowl design that he is also pulling his visual inspiration from Frank Miller as well.

Looking at the cowl, it looks very similar to the shorter ears that Frank Miller used in his drawings in The Dark Knight Returns. You can see an example below:

 When looking at the body of the suit, I see Jim Lee’s influence. See below for an example of Jim Lee’s Batman:

 The muscle structure and more defined lines speak to Jim Lee’s Batman. The Bat on his chest, however, does look like the one used in Frank Miller’s work. The bat signal is broader and thicker and fills his chest. This is straight from The Dark Knight Returns.

I really like the way the suit looks and the direction Zack Snyder is going with the design of the suit and the Batmobile. The picture does make me wish for a black and white Batman movie but I don’t think we will ever get that. What do you think? Do you like the direction they went with the design? Let me know in the comments.

Why Titanfall Exclusivity Was A Bad Deal For Microsoft

  

When the two new consoles were released last year, neither one had a game that could be counted as a system seller. Microsoft pointed to the March 2014 release of Titanfall as the game that would drive sales for the Xbox One which was released in November 2013. However, now that the sales numbers have been released, it is clear that didn’t happen. The Playstation 4 outsold the Xbox One in the month of March and, according to the publisher EA, Titanfall has failed to even sell 1 million units. In my opinion, this happened due to it not being an Xbox exclusive.

Due to Titanfall coming out on Xbox 360 and PC, in addition to Xbox One, there are multiple ways to play without spending the $500 to buy an Xbox One. I believe Microsoft had to agree to avoid exclusivity because Respawn, the developer, didn’t want to sell to such a small install base, reportedly only 5 million units to date. By opening the sales up to PC and the 80 million Xbox 360 owners, the sales of the game would be high enough to make it a success for Respawn. Microsoft did not have much room to negotiate since Respawn is an independent studio. In this arena, Sony has a distinct advantage over Microsoft because they own several first party studios. Sony can determine what system the games will be on and drive hardware sales with them unlike Microsoft.

Microsoft has a severe disadvantage currently because they own so few studios to drive sales. They will have to lower the price on the Xbox One or release a Halo game to drive sales of the console. In my opinion, Halo is really the only property Microsoft owns that is currently in production that could sell Xbox One units. Ironically, the Xbox One is actually selling pretty well. It is selling faster than the Xbox 360 did in the first six months; however, the Playstation 4 is selling historically well also. What this means is console gaming is alive and well and that can only mean great things for gamers going forward.

5 Reasons I Switched From Being a Xbox Gamer to a Playstation Gamer

I have been a gamer all my life. I have fond memories of getting my Nintendo and playing Super Mario Bros. and Legend of Zelda after school. I grew up on Nintendo. Once I became a teenager, I switched to PC gaming. It offered graphics that neither Nintendo or Sega were able to accomplish. I didn’t come back to console gaming until the Dreamcast was launched. I still remember looking forward to picking it up on 9/9/99. From there, I was excited by the Xbox and its ability to connect to my friends easily through Xbox Live. This is where I stayed, happy with what Xbox was offering until recently. I reassessed why I was gaming on Xbox instead of Playstation and ended up switching to PS3, PS4, and PS Vita as my primary consoles and these are the reasons why:

1) Exclusives – With the consoles offering close to the same experience, there is very little that separates them. Exclusive games are one of the main ways that Microsoft and Playstation differentiate themselves. When looking at the catalogs; Xbox had Halo, Gears of War, Forza, Fable, and little else. Playstation has God of War, Uncharted, Sly Cooper, Metal Gear, Resistance, MLB: The Show, Wipeout, Killzone, Gran Turismo, SOCOM, Racket & Clank, Little Big Planet, inFamous, Journey, Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two Souls…you get the point. Sony has 13 first party studios creating games only for Playstation. I realized I was missing too many games I wanted to play by only playing Xbox and Microsoft wasn’t offering very many exclusives to stay.

2) Price – I didn’t buy a Playstation 3 when it came out because it was $600 at launch. I didn’t buy a PS3 until it dropped its price down to $250. It was always more expensive than Xbox until late in the console cycle. With the launch of the new generation of systems, Sony is the one that is cheaper this time. It made my decision that much easier when a PS4 is 20% cheaper than a Xbox One.

3) Remote Play – As someone that lives with a non-gamer, this feature is priceless. I’m able to play my PS4 on my PS Vita while my spouse watches TV. The PS Vita is my favorite handheld I’ve ever owned. The screen is absolutely gorgeous and with the dual analog sticks, finally able to play games like on a console. Sony is also offering many games via cross-buy and cross-save to be able to buy once and transfer saves between the handheld and console. Without a handheld, Microsoft isn’t offering anything like this feature.

4) Community – Most of my friends are on Xbox Live and this was the one reason I would stay on Xbox. However, the rest of the community on Xbox Live is mostly hateful, which creates a negative experience. I can’t tell you how many times I heard people called names, girls insulted as non-gamers, and racist, bigoted statements from players. I noticed on Playstation Network, while I do run into that behavior occasionally, most of the people are not only friendly, but welcoming to their community. There seems to be more adult gamers on PSN then Xbox Live which I believe helps with better behavior online. Specifically, the Beyond! community (a Playstation community based around the same named Playstation podcast) is the best I’ve ever been a part of.

5) Gaming focused – As Xbox ventures into offering ways to control your DVR and television, Playstation has remained focused on the gamer. They want to be the system for gamers by gamers. Xbox feels more corporate, more driven by the bottom line. Sony seems to take more risk, giving developers money and time to create their vision. They are also reaching out and bringing more indie developers to the Playstation platforms.

Before the torches and pitchforks come out from the Xbox fanboys, let me say that I will go wherever the games are. Whichever company I feel is focused on what I want out of a gaming console gets my money and business and right now, I feel that company is Sony. I can see myself getting an Xbox One eventually but at $500, there just isn’t enough of a reason at this time. I hope Microsoft gives me that reason because that would mean the gamer is benefiting, which is all I’m concerned about. Until then, see you on Playstation Network.

Pebble Steel Review

Last year, the Pebble watch was released to good reviews; however, the one problem with it for most people was it didn’t look very elegant. It is a watch that while functional, the style sticks out and looks different than most watches. Now, with Pebble Steel, they have addressed this issue. I just received mine and while it isn’t perfect, I feel like I’m living in the future.

The Pebble Steel looks very similar to other analog watches on the market. It comes with two watch bands, one leather and one steel, to suit either style. It’s thinner than I thought and has good build quality. The setup runs through the iPhone or android app which is free in the app store. Once loaded, the app walks you through connecting the watch to the phone via Bluetooth. It only took about 5 minutes to get up and running.

After setup, you can transfer both apps and watchfaces to the watch. It can hold up to 8 added watchfaces/apps. I added Foursquare, Yelp, a twitter client, a couple new watchfaces. The transfer process is only a few seconds for each addition. You can also store apps/watchfaces in the “locker” of the phone app for easy access to transfer in the future. The app store just opened about a week ago and I’m sure developers will come up with new and inventive ways for using the watch in the future. It feels like the iPhone did when they just opened the app store. We are in the infancy of the watch’s abilities and I can’t wait to see what new apps become available.

I have to say, it is really nice to have your phone in your pocket and get all your notifications on the watch. It saves me going to my phone and makes notifications more reactionary and less proactive. I don’t have to look at my phone to see what is happening, my watch tells me what’s happening. It has changed the way I use my phone and that is something I didn’t expect it to do.

If you are in the market for a watch and are thinking about getting a smartwatch, I would recommend checking out the Pebble Steel.