Before watching this hour of comedy, I listened/watched an hour and a half interview that Louie did with Howard Stern. They touched on many subjects, one of which being the "Oh My God" comedy special on HBO, which is probably the whole reason Louie was on Howard in the first place - to promote it. I'm glad he did because I had forgotten about it and luckily I stumbled onto the interview on Youtube. In the interview, I was also surprised to hear that once Louie performs the jokes in the special, he will never do those same jokes again. He likened it to an author writing a book. I was taken aback by that. If something was really funny I'd hope to see him revisit it again, maybe in another special or maybe on his show on FX (of which he's taking a break and returning to it in 2014). This worry was taken away at the end of his performance.
When you title your show, "Oh My God", it carries with it a certain expectation. Lately, I've really gotten into Anthony Jeselnik and Nathan Fielder (Nathan For You) and their style is very smart, offensive, and perfectly delivered. The same can be said about Louie C.K., especially since he doesn't give a fuck about anyone else save for his daughters. He holds nothing back and tells it like it is. He DOES do this in "Oh My God", but I was expecting more shocking moments, maybe a little more offensive comments, but as I sat back and watched it, it felt pretty tame. It wasn't until the last 10 minutes where the began a routine where the topic was "legal murder". Up until that point, I did chuckle a few times, but it wasn't until the end that I was laughing out loud which is one of my determining factors of which I use to decide if I really liked something or not. The ratio of "LOL" moments to non "LOL" moments is the simple formula I use. If the LOL moments are greater than the non, then thumbs up, and if vice versa, then thumbs down.
At the time of this review and my first viewing, this special has earned a thumbs down. But due to the nature of the strong ending, I will probably revisit this special in the future and my opinion may change. (On a related note, the movie "Due Date" was on cable this weekend, a movie I haven't seen since I saw it in the theater. Back then, I thought it was just OK, and had no intention of seeing it again. Upon a second viewing, I really enjoyed it and even caught myself watching it a third time during a re-airing. While it's not a very strong movie, I'd recommend watching it while doing something else, maybe cruising the internet, doing homework, crocheting, balancing your check book, or any other task at hand.)
Oh My God?
Oh My Gosh...
Oh My...
Oh.
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Wii U review
SETUP:
As instructed by the Quick Start Guide, I needed to charge the Wii U GamePad. It said in the guide that it would take 2.5 hours. While I waited for it to charge, I unwrapped my Wii U, the power cord, the sensor bar, the HDMI cable, the stands for the console, and the GamePad charging station and stand. I took my time setting it up, and enjoyed some late night TV (Saturday Night Live). I got my Wii U at midnight and I was running out of energy. Since the GamePad wasn't charged fully, I just ended up going to bed at 2 AM. Ignoring the charging time I'd say I spent about an hour on unpacking, reading, and connecting cords for the next day.
* * *
The next day, a large chuck of time, about an hour, was spent downloading an update and waiting for it to install. Once that was done, I proceeded to transfer my data from my Wii to my Wii U. It wasn't complicated but it took a good 45 minutes. Setting the date and time, TV remote feature, and internet connection was a breeze. I doubt that I'll be using my GamePad as a remote control, but I thought that feature was pretty neat and it was the first thing that made me smile. I had to create a new Mii for my Wii U. It was pretty cool that I was able to take a picture of myself with the camera on the GamePad which helped in creating my Mii. I added my beard and tweaked a few things before finally finishing. I'd say I spent about 3.5 hours total on setting up the software on the Wii U. (Netflix need to update which took about four minutes.)
GAMEPLAY:
After working out and having dinner, I finally got the chance to put in "NintendoLand". After 20 minutes of game play, I noticed the battery light on the GamePad was flashing. I checked the manual and when it's flashing it means that it's about to die so I turned off the game and threw it on the charger. I played "The Legend of Zelda: Battle Quest" - Archery mode. It was fun and challenging at the same time. I'm definitely looking forward to playing more of that mini game and the other mini games that are available.
* * *
REVIEW:
At the time of this review, set up and installation time has been greater than actual play time. The "NintendoLand" mini games that I've played thus far continue to be a combination of fun and challenging, bordering frustration. There are some elements that have made me smile, while others leave me scratching my head. So far, I'm enjoying the little nuances that Nintendo has attempted to make this console feel like the next gen of gaming, but I don't know if the Wii U totally feels like a true next gen console. I'd definitely recommend the system to hardcore Nintendo fans, but my Wii sat unused a lot and I feel that the Wii U might do the same. I will reserve my full judgment of the system until later on in its lifetime; it feels way too early to praise or condemn it fully. My hope is that Nintendo releases an HD Zelda, Metroid, or Mario Galaxy game fairly quickly - something that is fun to play, has a great story line, and ultimately demonstrates the power of this new console.
As instructed by the Quick Start Guide, I needed to charge the Wii U GamePad. It said in the guide that it would take 2.5 hours. While I waited for it to charge, I unwrapped my Wii U, the power cord, the sensor bar, the HDMI cable, the stands for the console, and the GamePad charging station and stand. I took my time setting it up, and enjoyed some late night TV (Saturday Night Live). I got my Wii U at midnight and I was running out of energy. Since the GamePad wasn't charged fully, I just ended up going to bed at 2 AM. Ignoring the charging time I'd say I spent about an hour on unpacking, reading, and connecting cords for the next day.
* * *
The next day, a large chuck of time, about an hour, was spent downloading an update and waiting for it to install. Once that was done, I proceeded to transfer my data from my Wii to my Wii U. It wasn't complicated but it took a good 45 minutes. Setting the date and time, TV remote feature, and internet connection was a breeze. I doubt that I'll be using my GamePad as a remote control, but I thought that feature was pretty neat and it was the first thing that made me smile. I had to create a new Mii for my Wii U. It was pretty cool that I was able to take a picture of myself with the camera on the GamePad which helped in creating my Mii. I added my beard and tweaked a few things before finally finishing. I'd say I spent about 3.5 hours total on setting up the software on the Wii U. (Netflix need to update which took about four minutes.)
GAMEPLAY:
After working out and having dinner, I finally got the chance to put in "NintendoLand". After 20 minutes of game play, I noticed the battery light on the GamePad was flashing. I checked the manual and when it's flashing it means that it's about to die so I turned off the game and threw it on the charger. I played "The Legend of Zelda: Battle Quest" - Archery mode. It was fun and challenging at the same time. I'm definitely looking forward to playing more of that mini game and the other mini games that are available.
* * *
REVIEW:
At the time of this review, set up and installation time has been greater than actual play time. The "NintendoLand" mini games that I've played thus far continue to be a combination of fun and challenging, bordering frustration. There are some elements that have made me smile, while others leave me scratching my head. So far, I'm enjoying the little nuances that Nintendo has attempted to make this console feel like the next gen of gaming, but I don't know if the Wii U totally feels like a true next gen console. I'd definitely recommend the system to hardcore Nintendo fans, but my Wii sat unused a lot and I feel that the Wii U might do the same. I will reserve my full judgment of the system until later on in its lifetime; it feels way too early to praise or condemn it fully. My hope is that Nintendo releases an HD Zelda, Metroid, or Mario Galaxy game fairly quickly - something that is fun to play, has a great story line, and ultimately demonstrates the power of this new console.
Monday, September 10, 2012
John Carter review
John Carter - I enjoyed John's story line (wife and kid scene strung together with fighting all the aliens) and the green alien race story line (father/daughter relationship). I didn't care for Lynn Collins as an actress. She drop dead gorgeous, but I didn't like her. And I really didn't get the puppet masters who were supposed to be "protecting" the Goddess...they gave the dumb guy the power to vaporize everything. Once in Helium, why didn't he break out that weapon and lay waste to the city in seconds? This one is hard to recommend, but if you like science fiction, action adventure and a semi decent story line, then it's worth a rent.
Monday, July 23, 2012
The Dark Knight Rises review
I very much enjoyed "The Dark Knight Rises". It was a fitting conclusion to Nolan's Batman story. His trilogy has set a new standard in the superhero movie industry where he successfully built a world around Batman, not Batman around a world. I highly recommend seeing it in IMAX. 4 out of 5 stars.
Princess Mononoke review
Last week, there was a brief discussion where a few people were praising and recommending "Princess Mononoke" in a forum I frequent. While it was a movie I've heard nothing but good things about, it wasn't until tonight where I finally got to sit down and watch it.
Initial thoughts: While I understand the whole industrial verses nature aspect of the movie and the animation was gorgeous, the movie didn't "do it" for me, in other words, it didn't move me emotionally. In an animated feature, like Disney films as a child, and now, later in life, where Pixar has far surpassed Disney in the movie making industry, BOTH have done great things in touching my heart and pulling at those heart strings. Unfortunately, I didn't get that experience from "Princess Mononoke". I was really hoping to and it just didn't happen. I didn't care about the princess at all and maybe it could have been partly because I didn't care for Claire Danes voice acting. I thought the beginning was fantastic and the whole theme of battling your inner demons was well done. In the end, I think the movie should have been called "Prince Ashitaka".
Overall, I'd have to say that there was a lot to like in this movie, but there was a lot that I didn't like. Some of the concepts were way out there. The box art claims that it's the Star Wars of anime and while I can put myself in the shoes of the person that said that, I'm more on the opposite side where in Star Wars I actually cared about all the characters, even the villains, and in "Princess Mononoke" the only person I really cared about was Ashitaka. 2.5 out of 5 stars.
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Oscar's 2012 Best Picture nominees reviewed
The 2012 Oscar nominees for Best Picture were:
War Horse
The Help
The Descendants
The Artist
Moneyball
Extremely Loud & Incredible Close
Mignight in Paris
The Tree of Life
Hugo
"The Artist" won. I don't agree with that, yet I do think it was a good film, but I will elaborate on that later. So if I didn't think the "The Artist" deserved best film of the year, which film should have? Well, for starters, please refer to the list above. I have ordered them in the order from best to worst, in my opinion.
"War Horse" had heart, humor, and I thought the cinematography was fantastic. The movie spanned many periods of time, and the attention to detail for each period was done magnificently. The movie had a few surprises along the way as I never knew where the horse would end up next and ::SPOILER ALERT:: I was truly surprised that he survived in the end.
A close second was "The Help". It was hard deciding to make this number two instead of one as it was great and I thought was going to win the Oscar. I'm glad the actress that played Best Supporting won as she played an excellent role, but so did the lead and she didn't win which upset me. This movie was a great demonstration of women coming together to fight for their rights against the worst kind of odds, the odds where your life could be taken as you had no rights to protect you. It was a great story and I think it was based off true events.
"The Descendants" has earned its third place spot as it was the sleeper hit for me. Clooney has bored me in his roles of late, but thankfully he did not disappoint in this film. He was very entertaining and funny. I really enjoyed the humor throughout and the underlying heart for his sick wife who, because of her illness or accident, didn't have a voice to defend herself, but her honor was maintained though George Clooney's character's honor.
I can kind of see why "The Artist" won. It was just as good as last year's winner, "The King's Speech", but in my opinion, it shouldn't have won either, but I understand why it did. "The Artist" was silent throughout and some of the speech was shown via title or intertitle cards to help explain what was said. The intertitle cards didn't happen throughout and I'm not the best at reading lips, so that was slightly frustrating. I will say that you had to watch and really pay attention which was easy as the movie was engaging for the first half an hour and then kind of tapered off and I feel didn't end very strongly. With it being silent, I think the story was simple enough to follow making it predicable at times thus taking away from the overall enjoyment of this film.
The star of "Moneyball" was Brad Pitt's character's daughter. She had a great singing voice. I would have liked to see more scenes involving the players and their stories rather than Brad's and his assistant who never seemed worried about losing his job when he should have been as Brad's was threatened constantly.
"Extremely Loud & Incredible Close" or in other words, intentional sad story was sad. While their were some great moments with the child actor and his parents and grandfather, the red herring of the key being used to help the child actor cope with the loss of his father was great for him but not so great for the audience. This is one of those movies you watch once and never again.
The most frustrating thing about "Midnight in Paris" were the characters. You hated all of them save for Owen Wilson's character and even he and his "imaginary" friends weren't enough to save the movie. The scenes with his fiance and her parents were so painful that it took the joy out of the cool scenes where he was meeting and speaking with artists, authors, and people long gone. I may have enjoyed this movie more if they spent more time on those people from past and their stories since I'm not an expert on all things Paris during the 1920s.
What the heck was "The Tree of Life"? I almost didn't make it through this one. I shut it off and happened to make it through on second watch. The visual effects in the first forty minutes of the movie had what to do with the plot? I was so lost with all the meaningless visuals and tiny bits of dialogue with no context. Maybe they would make more sense after another watch or with subtitles (which I did turn on at one point to help me understand what was happening) but I have no desire to give it another try.
I don't know why "Hugo" won so many awards at the Oscars. I didn't enjoy this movie at all. The few comedic elements of this film were very slap stick and I hate that. The movie didn't move me nor did I care about the main child actor, his toy nor its connection with the silent movie film maker. I'm trying to recall my frustrations about the film, but it's just that forgettable.
War Horse
The Help
The Descendants
The Artist
Moneyball
Extremely Loud & Incredible Close
Mignight in Paris
The Tree of Life
Hugo
"The Artist" won. I don't agree with that, yet I do think it was a good film, but I will elaborate on that later. So if I didn't think the "The Artist" deserved best film of the year, which film should have? Well, for starters, please refer to the list above. I have ordered them in the order from best to worst, in my opinion.
"War Horse" had heart, humor, and I thought the cinematography was fantastic. The movie spanned many periods of time, and the attention to detail for each period was done magnificently. The movie had a few surprises along the way as I never knew where the horse would end up next and ::SPOILER ALERT:: I was truly surprised that he survived in the end.
A close second was "The Help". It was hard deciding to make this number two instead of one as it was great and I thought was going to win the Oscar. I'm glad the actress that played Best Supporting won as she played an excellent role, but so did the lead and she didn't win which upset me. This movie was a great demonstration of women coming together to fight for their rights against the worst kind of odds, the odds where your life could be taken as you had no rights to protect you. It was a great story and I think it was based off true events.
"The Descendants" has earned its third place spot as it was the sleeper hit for me. Clooney has bored me in his roles of late, but thankfully he did not disappoint in this film. He was very entertaining and funny. I really enjoyed the humor throughout and the underlying heart for his sick wife who, because of her illness or accident, didn't have a voice to defend herself, but her honor was maintained though George Clooney's character's honor.
I can kind of see why "The Artist" won. It was just as good as last year's winner, "The King's Speech", but in my opinion, it shouldn't have won either, but I understand why it did. "The Artist" was silent throughout and some of the speech was shown via title or intertitle cards to help explain what was said. The intertitle cards didn't happen throughout and I'm not the best at reading lips, so that was slightly frustrating. I will say that you had to watch and really pay attention which was easy as the movie was engaging for the first half an hour and then kind of tapered off and I feel didn't end very strongly. With it being silent, I think the story was simple enough to follow making it predicable at times thus taking away from the overall enjoyment of this film.
The star of "Moneyball" was Brad Pitt's character's daughter. She had a great singing voice. I would have liked to see more scenes involving the players and their stories rather than Brad's and his assistant who never seemed worried about losing his job when he should have been as Brad's was threatened constantly.
"Extremely Loud & Incredible Close" or in other words, intentional sad story was sad. While their were some great moments with the child actor and his parents and grandfather, the red herring of the key being used to help the child actor cope with the loss of his father was great for him but not so great for the audience. This is one of those movies you watch once and never again.
The most frustrating thing about "Midnight in Paris" were the characters. You hated all of them save for Owen Wilson's character and even he and his "imaginary" friends weren't enough to save the movie. The scenes with his fiance and her parents were so painful that it took the joy out of the cool scenes where he was meeting and speaking with artists, authors, and people long gone. I may have enjoyed this movie more if they spent more time on those people from past and their stories since I'm not an expert on all things Paris during the 1920s.
What the heck was "The Tree of Life"? I almost didn't make it through this one. I shut it off and happened to make it through on second watch. The visual effects in the first forty minutes of the movie had what to do with the plot? I was so lost with all the meaningless visuals and tiny bits of dialogue with no context. Maybe they would make more sense after another watch or with subtitles (which I did turn on at one point to help me understand what was happening) but I have no desire to give it another try.
I don't know why "Hugo" won so many awards at the Oscars. I didn't enjoy this movie at all. The few comedic elements of this film were very slap stick and I hate that. The movie didn't move me nor did I care about the main child actor, his toy nor its connection with the silent movie film maker. I'm trying to recall my frustrations about the film, but it's just that forgettable.
Ted review
I have my reservations about Ted. I consider myself a very big Family Guy fan as I continue to watch the show and buy the DVDs even though I complain that the show hasn't been funny since Season 3.
To my surprise, Ted was actually funny. I'd say it's on par with The Hangover. It definitely has Seth MacFarlane's touch with the slew of 80s references. There's also two 9/11 jokes and if you watch Family Guy, you know that Seth loves a good 9/11 joke. One small compliant is that the movie had too many characters, characters that didn't really add anything to the plot. One example of this would be Laura Vandervoort. Sure, she's great to look at but she was just there, she says her lines to console the main character and that was it. I didn't think Joel McHale's character was needed either and probably could have been rewritten. Regardless, I'm happy to have been proven wrong and I hope Seth takes some of this movie creativity and puts it back into Family Guy to make that show funny again.
To my surprise, Ted was actually funny. I'd say it's on par with The Hangover. It definitely has Seth MacFarlane's touch with the slew of 80s references. There's also two 9/11 jokes and if you watch Family Guy, you know that Seth loves a good 9/11 joke. One small compliant is that the movie had too many characters, characters that didn't really add anything to the plot. One example of this would be Laura Vandervoort. Sure, she's great to look at but she was just there, she says her lines to console the main character and that was it. I didn't think Joel McHale's character was needed either and probably could have been rewritten. Regardless, I'm happy to have been proven wrong and I hope Seth takes some of this movie creativity and puts it back into Family Guy to make that show funny again.
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