Because What Everyone Really Wants To Do Is Direct

During the months of boycotting most new PC games releases (for harbouring vicious DRM schemes and Limited installations), I found the time to replay a number of older games that truly are much better in many ways. Most importantly, innovation.

The Movies is a cross-genre hybrid, beautifully combining a Sims game with a business-RTS one and a highly creative movie suit. Not only do you get to step into the shoes of a Hollywood mogul, but you get a shot in "realizing" that film you always had in you.

The game starts with the design and building of your Studio (using up the allocated funds), complete with Script stables, Sound stages, Production offices and, well, casting-couches? (not so surprisingly that part of Hollywood was not included). Casting is pretty straight forward, plucking some lucky characters from the waiting line and turning them into stars. Or script writers. Or directors. Or janitors. Yes, life is a bitch.

What I liked about this game was its historic accuracy, simplified efficiency and clear-cut design. Not only are most stages in making a movie readily available and the means to achieve this evolve as time progresses, but everything has a familiar feel and self-evident practicality as well.

Stars throwing tantrums and directors relaxing too much with the sauce; ageing stars in need for nip/tacks - and always keeping an eye out for whoever has the bigger trailer!

What I loved about this game was the opportunity to plan out the script in a detailed story-board and then shoot my own movies. The bad news is that if your visions are long and complicated your studio will be... bankrupt in no time, as it will release fewer and more expensive movies. But that is besides the point, is it not? What is a bankrupt studio in the wake of a iconoclastic new director towards his vision?

In the end, although very entertaining in many ways, the strong suit of this game is not its Movie-Business Management Simulation but rather its Movie Creating editor. Simply, there is no other game like it.

Deceptive Kaleidoscopic Views & Sharp Morality Shards

The Ice Storm is one of the best films ever released. Ang Lee proved to be one of our great contemporary film directors and he sure did justice to Rick Moody's novel. In fact, most people who enjoyed both will tell you that, surprisingly, they prefer the film over the book. One of the main reasons (besides great directing and solid acting) is the unforgettable music of  its SoundTrack..

From the opening titles, Mychael Danna's hypnotic melodies take you effortlessly two generations back, in affluent yet creepy American Suburbia. Unfortunately, the opening titles theme is not included in this release (my only complain). I would have loved to be able to listen to it while driving without Paul's (Tobey Maguire) monologue on top but no luck.

The same is also true for a number of memorable instrumental pieces. In fact, Mychael Danna's pieces on this soundtrack are limited only to Tracks 1-3. The rest are songs from the era that make a small or greater appearance in the movie.

Nevertheless, Danna's composition and execution are so powerful that this soundtrack deserves a place in your life.

Indeed, "family is the void we emerge from. And the place we go to when we die". 

Everything in between is music.

Wanted? Honestly?

In one of the most memorable scenes of the movie, the hero (Gibson) smacks his double crossing "best friend" with a standard keyboard: certain keys come loose spelling, well "F.U.C.K.Y.O.U." in the air. In the opening sequence of the game they spell instead..."U.N.I.V.E.R.S.A.L". Freudian tangents aside, the game goes downhill from there.

The graphics of Wanted: Weapons of Fate are up to date, with realistic shadows and shiny surfaces. Moreover, I liked to be able, once more, to use bullet-time (of Max Payne fame). It is called "assassin time" here, but who are we kidding, right? Paired with a more or less working and visually impressive "curving the bullet", these are the highlights of the game.

Besides being short, Wanted suffers from both awkward and counter-intuitive controls and fickle commands. Crouching and moving from one cover the next gets old fast - especially since it is not always easy to go where you intend in one step. If I were to guess, I would bet on the PC version being a hasty port. I suspect that it would be more enjoyable with a gamepad but I refuse to use a gamepad for a PC game.

Overall, this is a game that will appeal mostly to fans of the movie. I myself bought it to experience ...curving the bullet first hand. That it delivered. But hardly anything more.

To be fair, when was the last time a based-on-a-movie game was above par? 

Go Ahead, Make His Day!

Did you ever dream being able to run inconsiderate drivers who are too lazy to signal their turns or lane changes off the road and onto the sidewalk? How about spiral-diving amongst a swarm of black-clad enemies and bullet-time picking them out one by one? How about doing the same while skydiving? Or shooting bullets from your bare hand by simply holding them to the fire?

Shoot 'Em Up is an action movie that manages to both make fun of the action genre hyperboles and, at the same time, deliver a string of explosive action sequences. Sure, the plot is not the most deep but it far from paper-thin and, anyway, these are 86min of your life you will be glad you spent having fun.

The Academy gave ...The Hurt Locker an Oscar and they passed over this movie!!? Shoot 'Em Up deserves an Oscar for just two unforgettable scenes: the packaging-line shootout in Mr Smith's lair and the unique shootout/sex ballet with Monica Bellucci. Now, throw in Paul Giammati's smart-ass one-liners and you have yourself a movie which is great fun to watch.

Giammati may try his hardest to be the usual scene-stealer yet Clive Owen is the one who really delivers this movie. I am sure when they watched this, the producers of the James Bond franchise were kicking themselves for going with...Daniel Craig.

Start your year on the right foot. Draw a line and go after anyone who crosses it.

Are You Prepared For This?

Inception is a movie built like a labyrinth, complete with a menacing minotauric presence and a guiding Ariadne; worlds within worlds and dreams reflected onto dreams like an infinity mirror effect.

Nolan takes the viewer deep, deeper than any other filmmaker in memory, and without holding your hand all the way he never lets you get lost. His vision has years compressed into hours, Paris folding onto itself, militarized minds and entire worlds built out of a single person's imagination. Yet in the end, his logic is solid and his story scintillatingly brilliant.

This is a bioSciFi, a cyberpunk and an action movie all rolled into a complex story in the near future, where not even our dreams will be safe and sharing our subconscious fears and fixations will only be an induced REM cycle away. A true and timeless Masterpiece of a movie.

Have you tried your Totem yet?

Then how can you be sure?

Water For Your Soul

Soundtracks are the evolutionary heirs to the symphonies and operas of the past centuries. Some are good, others are bad, a rare few are timeless masterpieces. Water for Elephants is one of those rare cases when the music that accompanies and compliments a movie manages to escape the silver screen and stand on its own.

James Newton Howard manages to capture an era and an atmosphere; the desire and the desperation; the hope and the apprehension. I have not seen the movie yet (I will definitely do so now) but this mesmerizing music is able to create an endless imagery in my mind, an imagery composed from a full set of emotional colors.

The album sets off with the romantic Did I miss it which defines the theme and the pace. In between, the instrumental pieces pay around the theme, using it as a spring board to complete their own dive into our soul.

I disagree with the notion that the five Big Band and Gospel period songs are out of place. I found most of them to fit nicely and give a reprise from the instrumental narration.

The very last track, The Stampede - I 'm coming home, ends in a majestic note.

This is one of the best soundtracks I have ever owned - and that is neither an exaggeration nor a small feat.

The Dream Will Be Collapsing. Again and Again

Dive into Nolan's labyrinthine worlds-within-worlds with only music as your guiding thread. You will get lost - and you will love every second of it. The Inception SoundTrack is an extreme musical trip into the unknowable.

To anyone who has not yet seen this epic movie I would strongly recommend to do so. Nevertheless, the soundtrack stands on its own. Zimmer only had the script to go by so his compositions reflect his own take on the characters and events of the movie and are not simply there to complement the pictures.

The album starts off ominously with the short Half-Remembered Dream, reaches an early peak with The Dream Is Collapsing, turns playfully threatening with One Simple Idea to end with my favorite, Time, a majestic closing piece, full of new found hope and open sunbathed vistas.

If you think of buying this because you were blown away by the trailer music keep in mind that it is not included. That piece is called Mind Heist and it was actually composed by Zack Hemsey, not Hans Zimmer.

This is the music of the worlds within, the sound of our subconscious fears and most secret dreams; the sound of the pulsating thread that connects us with the Universe.

Epic!

SkyFail

Even though never did I warm up to the choice of Daniel Graig as the next Bond (I still think Clive Owen would had been a better fit - and he would probably have the good judgement to steer clear of...botox!), I had to admit that Casino Royale was an excellent Bond film. With all the explosive and seductive sequences and all its gadgets (and product placement) one would expect. It was great, solid entertainment.

Then came Quantum of Solace and it turned out to be little more than a patchwork of all the leftovers from Casino. As a coda, it had its uses. As a new film, it would not be missed. Little did I know how the future held an even greater disappointment.

I was truly hyped to watch Skyfall. All the critics praised it and all the buzz was how Mendes managed to revive and, at the same time, humanize Bond. He did not. He did not even try.

The film suffers from a number of shortcomings. The script is weaker than milk and water trying to pass as English tea. Javier does a decent job portraying an albino(?) villain, if not a bit caricaturish. It is the script that make him look incompetent though.

Would you hire a world renown surgeon to clip your nails? How about a champion fisherman to catch fish you already have in a barrel? Well, this supervillain hires a top assassin to snipe at a man who is already surrounded by his men.

If, in the post 9/11 world, you somehow managed to get your hands on a military helicopter, would you not remember to equip it with a couple of rockets not to have to rely on its puny machine gun?

And would you endanger your freedom and even your survival in order to kill the person you hate - if you could kill them (and watch them suffer) half a world away by pressing a button? Well, he does exactly that. More than once.

Even then, MI6 is portrayed as even more incompetent. For such a rabid foe was amassing fortune, recruiting henchmen and organizing for years - without MI6 ever wising up to him. And would you ditch your company car because "they are all bugged" - only to try to get away undetected with yet another fully equipped ...company car?

Nevertheless, these are not why the latest Bond film fails. Even if realism was the direction recently taken, when was any Bond film able to hold up to such scrutiny? No, the film fails because it is not fun to watch. Most of the action in the film takes place before the opening credits. After that, it is all looks and silences and word association. And, contrary to other Bond films, I could not care less about anything going on on the screen.

This semblance of a story unfolds in a staccato sequence of locations, each resembling an episode shot at a different set. There is neither continuity nor coherence. At the beginning, someone steals an MI6 NOC list in Turkey (I will not even ask what was such a list doing outside the vault and into the field!) and halfway through the movie everyone forgets about it(!) Who cares about all these deep agents, lets save the snotty aristocrat, right? Sadly, if you have seen the trailer, you have seen all there is to see of this film.

I am afraid they destroyed more than the classic DB5 with this one.