February 27 10:35 PM

Movie and Game Reviews

Published in Movie Times/Reviews

By Fred Richardson

Jumper

So last week I saw the Hayden Christiansen/Sam Jackson sci-fi flick about people who teleport, and the religious nut-jobs who chase them. Directed by Doug Liman (Bourne Identity and Mr. & Ms. Smith) and based on the novel by Stephen Gould, the movie fails to live up to the promise of the trailers.

Sure, the effects are neat, but they don’t make up for the paper-thin characterizations and scatterbrained script. While in a grocery store earlier today I read the first few pages of the source novel and from that alone I can deduce that yet again, Hollywood has taken a probably complex and interesting mythology and screwed it all up. Our hero isn’t much more than an adolescent jerk and our villain has less real motivation and humanity than Freddy Kruger. Oh, and the kid from Billy Elliot (Jamie Bell) is in it along with Diane Lane and some girl from the “OC” (Rachel Bilson).

Maybe rent the thing if you’re bored and have something else you can do while it’s on, like read the book, do your laundry or knit a sweater for your pet goldfish. 50/100.

Gold Statue Giveaway Night

Just got done watching most of the 80th annual Academy Awards show hosted by Jon Stewart. All in all it was a better-than-average Oscars. I didn’t agree with all the choices, but that’s not what I’m here to talk about. Stewart’s hosting job was the perfect blend of insider nudge-nudge wink-wink and regular guy snarky disdain for all things Hollywood.

Late in the show, Marketa Irglova, along with Glen Hansard won best song for “Falling Slowly,” from the small-budget hit Once, but after Hansard had his say, the orchestra started playing as Irglova started to speak. She stopped, and so did the music and the commercial break began as she walked off without complaint, music swelling back up. Even if he wasn’t the one responsible for it, Stewart deserves a standing ovation for bringing her back on the show’s return and letting her have her say. It was one of the absolute coolest moments in Oscar history.

In fact, there wasn’t much to complain about this year as far as rude musical swells go. It happened once or twice, but everyone attempted to be brief. My favorite presenters of the night were Dame Judi Dench and Halle Berry. Favorite acceptance speech moments: The aforementioned Once couple, Diablo Cody’s breakdown, Javier Bardem’s Spanish for his mom, and Daniel Day-Lewis’ pirate-earrings, seeming like just a guy who is embarrassed to be recognized for the quality of his work. I give Stewart 90/100 and the show in general 85/100.

Poker Smash (Xbox Live Arcade 800 points / $10 Rated E)

As a degenerate poker player and puzzle game fan, there was no way I could have avoided this title from Lexington, S.C. based company Void Star Creations. Luckily such addictions don’t always lead to sad pathetic gutters where one annoys passersby with sad tales of 2-out bad beats on the river before begging for megatouch-bound quarters.

Starting February 6, Void Star launched their flagship title, Poker Smash, as a downloadable game via Xbox Live Arcade, part of Microsoft’s online gaming store for the 360 console. Featuring sound design by Stretch Armstrong guitarist David Sease, the game centers around creating poker hands by moving blocks representing poker cards, thus eliminating them from the playfield. As the game progresses the blocks get higher and higher and if they reach a line at the top of the screen, the game ends.

Receiving numerous accolades and high ratings from around the video gaming press world, the puzzler looks to be quite successful.

Void Star Creations was founded in 2006 by Drew Card and Ryan Ellis both former programmers for Oddworld. Their mission, they say, is simple: expanding what gamers expect from an indie developer and deliver high quality games that are fun to play. Challenges and combos make for varied gameplay and while the single-player mode alone is worth the price of admission, throw in the multi-player modes and it’s a steal at twice the price. 90/100

Persepolis Stop. Before you read this, check out the review by Judit Trunkos to your right. I’ll wait here…

OK, read it? Cool. Originally I wanted to do a co-review of this movie with her, but that was before the film unexpectedly opened last Friday, weeks before the scheduled Nickelodeon premiere later this month. She saw the movie more than once and has read the graphic novel, so she’s got more experience with the work than I have. I’ve seen it once and just started the book, but from reading her review, I think it’s safe to say that we agree that Marjane Satrapi’s autobiographical tale is not only entertaining, but informative. While it might not be 100 percent historically accurate, it’s emotionally true and engaging. Not having been exposed much to the history of the region, most Americans would be well served by experiencing this particular family’s story and struggles. Also the movie is damned funny in lots of places, even when it’s dealing with exceedingly serious material.

Technically the film’s hand-drawn animation lends a humanity to the characters that not many CGI films live up to. (Brad Bird in particular and Pixar in general seem to be the main exceptions to this rule, so it’s not surprising that they beat Persepolis in the Oscars with Ratatouille.) Some of the sequences involving war and revolution are strikingly reminiscent of WWII propaganda toons from both sides of the war, including Disney’s work. The music is a real standout here and I’ll be seeking out the soundtrack in the near future.

While I don’ think it’s quite as good as my fellow reviewer does, I do wholeheartedly recommend Persepolis to anyone who has even the slightest interest in animation, history, or just plain good storytelling. 88/100.

Justice League: The New Frontier (Direct to DVD, released Feb 26) The animated version of Darwyn Cooke’s masterwork comic book mini-series looks to be quite exceptional and a full review will follow next issue, but I encourage you to seek it out if you have interest in good animated storytelling. Unlike some other Comic based DVD releases of late, this was produced with care and attention to quality with the full cooperation of the original work’s creator. There’s a bare bones regular DVD version, and a special edition in all three formats including both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD.