Another weekend in the wintertime over, which means another update about my life. Actually, this was a surprisingly good weekend. First of all, I had three days off instead of two. Why? I had a snow day on Friday due to a massive snowstorm that came through (it wasn't really THAT bad, though:P ). That's unusual to have two snow days in one week. Well, technically, the first one wasn't really a snow day, but you get the picture. Second, I watched not one, but TWO movies this weekend. Finally, I got some valuable video game time and I used it wisely:).
With all of the leaks and secrets revealed about Super Smash Bros. Brawl this past week, it got me in the mood to go back into Super Smash Bros. Melee and prepare for when I get Brawl. Even after owning it for 7 years, this game is STILL amazing. There's just that feeling I get everytime I play seeing all my favorite Nintendo characters fighting each other that just never gets old. And even after owning the game for quite some time, I'm STILL discovering secrets. For example, it may not be a big deal to some people, but did you know that when you switch the costume for the Ice Climbers, the female character becomes the lead for the duo? Little things like that just get me giddy like a girl playing with Barbies with her little friends. Still, I kinda suck at the game. I tried playing Classic mode on "Very Hard," but there was no way. I got past two stages, and then got slaughtered. I even have a hard time on "Normal." Who cares, though? As long as I'm having fun, that's all that counts. I'm not trying to compete with everyone else's skill.
Like I said, I watched two movies this weekend. We'll start off with one I watched on DVD. There are two reason's I watched this one: to be prepared to see Rambo in theaters, and to use it to count as service hours for my senior project. It is:
First Blood
It's weird to call this movie "First Blood," since most people refer to it as "Rambo," but oh well. Almost everyone should know about this movie, since it's considered a cl@$$ic in the action genre. For those that don't know, though, here's the story: A Vietnam veteran named John Rambo (Stallone) is just drifting through a town in Oregon, when he starts getting harassed by the local police force. Eventually, he doesn't tolerate it anymore, and starts a small war with them that turns into utter chaos. It sounds like it gets over-the-top sometimes, and it does. But it also has some realism in it as well. For example, Rambo's mind is transformed after being exposed to some of the most harsh aspects of the Vietnam war, like being tortured as a prisoner, and therefore, he tends to go out of control because of it. I imagine that those who are Vietnam veterans and watch this movie might relate to his situation. Also, the way he describes how people protested and spit on him at an airport is also realistic, since that actually did happen. Upon closer inspection, it seems that this movie is more realistic then it seems. However, the reason it is considered a cl@$$ic is because of the action, and there is a lot of it. There's never a slow or dull moment in the film, even in the beginning. It will keep you interested until the end. There's plenty of variety in the action sequences, such as Rambo setting traps in the forest to hurt his enemies, stealthily killing his foes in cool ways, going on a rampage through the town, surviving in a cave, and much more. Most of the time, there's barely any spoken dialogue by Stallone, either. Mostly just at the beginning, a part in the middle, and at the end he talks, and that's it. He puts on some good acting in the movie, and his emotions tell you what he's been through. The police force that he's up against seems to be a little farfetched, since they come off as ignorant *ssholes that just harass Rambo with the greatest hate possible as soon as they spot him for the first time. It's not just one person, either, it's the whole police force. It seemed unrealistic. Gripes aside, this was a great action movie to watch. I think I actually enjoyed this better than I did the original Rocky. I can't wait to see Rambo at the movies now. This gets an 8.5/10.
Then, I watched yet another movie at the movie theater. But with Juno and The Bucket List under my belt, and with the indication that I haven't seen Rambo yet, what could I have possibly watched? Well, it's pretty much obvious, isn't it? Look at the topic title. It mentions Godzilla. It says he "ain't got sh*t." That means he's being compared to something. Well, it HAS to do with a monster movie, and it's none other than:
Cloverfield
Warning: This review may contain minor (or major, depending on how you view it) spoilers. Read at your own risk. If you do read it, and become spoiled when you don't want to be, it's not my problem. Don't whine or cry or anything like that. Seriously.
Talk about the first major movie event of the year. It's not often that you see a fantastic movie come out in January, but this year, that was the case with Cloverfield. This movie was INCREDIBLE. Watching this movie gave me the same impression I had the first time I watched The Day After Tomorrow for the first time (yes, I actually liked that movie). So many thrills and so much suspense, as well as jaw-dropping situations make this movie a MUST SEE. The story starts off as a going away party for a guy named Rob, and a handycam is being used by one of the party's inhabitants, a guy named Hud, who is Rob's best friend, and he is in charge of going around the party and having everyone say something about Rob before he leaves. During the party, secrets are revealed about Rob's ex girlfriend and a whole bunch of love drama follows............for about 10 minutes. Then, that's when the movie starts to kick in. Chaos ensues, and everyone is running for their lives or hiding from a giant monster terrorizing the city of New York. In fact, it almost looked like 9/11 all over again. That's when we follow Rob, Hud, and two girls as they are trying to locate Rob's ex and get to her because he's still in love with her. The love story doesn't really matter, but it adds into the plot. Like I said, this movie gets very intense, especially since it's in the perspective of a normal, shaky camcorder. That's one of the primary reasons why I loved this film, because the camera added realism to the situation. It was a huge improvement from the standards set by The Blair Witch Project, and handled much better in my opinion. It also shrouded the monster in mystery, because of the constant wobbling. Speaking of the monster, you actually DO get to see it at times, and it turns out to be one gruesome mother f*cker. You never actually get a clear view of it, but what you do see is satisfying enough. There were also smaller monsters that were spawned from the large monster that caused chaos as well. It reminded me of a sci-fi movie or something like that. Unfortunately, the formula this movie followed was that of a typical horror movie. Like in many slasher films, all of the primary characters are killed off one by one, and by the end, only the main character remains. It would've been nice if not everyone survived, but just only one or two characters were killed off, or even if the primary protagonist was killed off in the middle of the movie, leaving us with the underappriciated characters. The ending comes pretty quickly, and the movie is over in about 80-90 minutes, which is very short for a monster movie. Personally, I thought there should've been more meat added to some of the parts. Some parts will be over so quickly that you'll be saying, "Wait, that's it? I thought they would have more obstacles to face than that...." Actually, by the time the movie ends, you'll be saying that. Gripes aside, this is one of the best monster movies I've ever seen. It's even better than last year's The Host in my opinion. Go see this if you have a tolerance for shaky cameras and monster movie carnage that pays respect to Godzilla. It gets:
9 Steve Guttenbergs and a Jeff Goldblum (which counts as a half:P ) out of 10:P
So..........February. Valentine's Day, President's Day weekend, the end of my service hours for my senior project, and......Snowcoming. Almost the equivilent to Homecoming, but with a wintery twist. Will I have the balls to ask someone? Will I go with the same group that I went with before? Will I even go at all? Well, I guess only time will tell, and we'll see in the future, won't we;) ? For now, I'm gonna go back to playing some Melee. Captain Falcon is my main dude, and I'm about to "Falcon Kick!!" some a$$. Get it? Yeah, corny joke. Hey, it can't be as corny as my rating scale from my previous movie review, can it:P ?