Thursday, March 5, 2009

Monsters vs. Aliens

I’ll try to keep the internal narrative to a minimum…

As the presumed recipient of a little recent advice about some unlooked for free time, I am trying to push forward and find some lemonade or maybe even a decent margarita.

Slightly related sidebar: There are a surprising number of categories on this blog about my somewhat erratic posting schedule

In my initial attempt to use up some of this free time, and the completion of the annual WRN never-in-one-place rendezvous — details as they are scrubbed free of any information that might out anyone’s jealously guarded cover IDs and memories float up from the blur of activity, allow me to describe the preview screening I saw last night.

A friend managed to get tickets to a preview screening of Monsters vs. Aliens (MvA) last night and agreed to share them with me if I would go sit in line so we could get decent seats. First off, I have to say the new polarized 3D glasses strike me as much better than the older options. Secondly, it’s been a long time since I have seen another 3D movie so the only thing I remember about them (and this may be wrong) was that the 3D experience was much more specific. Namely, that only certain items at certain times were really presented in 3D. With those caveats in place, I have to say that the 3D in this movie really impressed me. It was much more pervasive than I expected and it was done quite well.

Unrelated sidebar: I just watched the “Ultimate Game” episode of Dollhouse while procrastinating during the writing of this post and I was scared to realize that we already have a “Joss Whedon” tag and “Hunting the Ultimate Game”

Overall, I liked this movie. I am pretty much the target audience for the film. It has an inordinate amount of San Francisco scenes and includes voice acting from Will Arnett and Stephen Colbert, two of my favorite actors/comedians. I will admit that the film may be a little to California-centric. Set in Modesto and San Francisco with prominent mentions of the new Peoria, a.k.a Fresno, it really plays to those roots. It does feature a line that I think may well replace “by Grabthar’s Hammer” in my personal lexicon for at least the next six months but I am trying my hardest to refrain from uttering it for at least another week.

My largest annoyance stemmed from the fact that this is a family movie. A four-year-old kid behind spent about fifteen minutes of the movie throwing popcorn at me. That hindered my enjoyment and replaced the fact that it was pretty fun to sit through the first few minutes of the movie where they show-off the 3D magic and the kids gasp as asteroids and comets come ever closer.

The movie doesn’t quite approach the Pixar magic where every scene has some little hidden jewel but instead it feels like the dialogue tries to fill that role and almost every line is a reference to some other cultural moment — E.T., Godzilla, Arrested Development, possibly Peter Gunn — and the possibility for dissecting the dialogue and looking for other little buried treasure references to places in the Bay Area makes me far more likely to go see this movie again than I might expect.

To summarize, go see this movie if you want to see the sci-fi, kid-friendly version of Superbad. In fact, that is a good relation to my feelings for this movie. It has flaws; I wouldn’t give it more than 3 out of 5 stars but yet I will end up seeing it again because there are some superb moments that let the rest of the movie float by on the overall sense of fun and mischief. Also, I am still dying a little bit on the inside from trying not to ruin all of the one-liners while I still can.

Thursday, March 22, 2007

But Will It Taste As Good As It Plays?

So I was browsing the internet the other day (trying to find excuses not to do any new posts) when I came across this. Apparently Midway, the developer behind such classic games as Mortal Kombat and …. well pretty much just Mortal Kombat is developing an Aqua Teen Hunger Force game.

This game, Aqua Teen Hunger Force Zombie Ninja Pro-Am is going to be (as described by the press release) “an epic, action-adventure combat golf, cart racing game” that allows us lowly Adult Swim watchers an opportunity to “experience the Aqua Teen universe in a whole new way.”

Since the game is being made by Midway it’ll probably be complete crap. Even games by Midway that are supposed to be good often still suck something aweful (Psi-Ops I’m looking at you).

I’m unclear what the exact gameplay is going to be like and I think Midway is being intentionally vague. Like most fast-food themed games it’ll probably involve lots of over the top gore and carnage but not really be all that fun.

Still, it’s hard to argue against this premise:

When Frylock is admitted to the prestigious Jersey Pines Golf Club, Master Shake decides to show the uppity members that he is also just as good (and uppity) and deserves a place in their exclusive club. Meatwad is, of course, persuaded to join in, and the three crime-fighting food products use golf clubs and a variety of other weapons in ways not intended as they battle numerous villains, fan favorites and other show characters.

Plus, with the series creators saying, “This golden chalice represents a new age in gaming, the likes of which has never before been seen on this planet. The weak will tremble at the awesomeness of our full color, hand-made graphics!” you at least have some hope that if it does suck, it’ll suck in a uniquely ATHF way.

Wednesday, March 7, 2007

ATHF are your friends

Aqua Teen Hunger ForceAqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters is the name of the new movie and the marketing blitz is on its way now. They have taken yet another great website name (http://www.kingcolon.com) and the graphic on the main page (depending on your particular nerd variant) may remind you of some of the best (or worst) horror and fantasy experiences you have had. I need to figure out how to make a poll so we can vote on things here. All I can say is that now I am even more in love with this movie than ever before.

A partial tracklist for the soundtrack is also out (see here) and it looks to be an excellent mix of hip hop, indie rock, and metal; Mastodon, The Hold Steady, and Andrew WK are all on the album. Adult Swim is going to SXSW again this year as well so it is clear that they are planning to make themselves a force for all of your AV geek needs. I’m glad to see that someone is stepping up to the plate in an interesting new way, even if it doesn’t always line up exactly with my tastes.

Oh, and as a side note (via here), look at what Boston is exploding now: traffic counters . This seems like a great Letterman feature.