It’s not all banana peels and whip cream pies: Cartoon Comedy reviews

Family Guy- After reading our very own Dear Marge, I realized that “Family Guy” was no longer the funniest show on TV. It has lost its original “we are not just The Simpsons” flair, especially after its revival. I have not personally laughed at the show in months. I believe the only way to fix this show is to have Seth Macfarlane work on it more. Create a good story and then add Family Guy irreverent humor. This is what people want to see, not just 30 second random gags.

The Simpsons- I find this show to be a lot better than the last few seasons, however the biggest problem is the lack of ideas after 20 years; maybe The Simpsons has just lost it. They just need a break. I say take the down time in between seasons and really concoct a great season. Do not focus on old characters and have less random episodes. I think ‘The Simpsons” movie was a good change. It showed that they are in fact still funny but they just need the time to concentrate and really get back to business.

South Park- I do not know how these guys work. They take current issues and turn them into a hilarious show the next week. I personally have laughed at every episode in recent memory, but that does not mean the writers do not have their flaws. “South Park” does not always need to be topical like Tiger Woods’ sex scandal or the legalization of marijuana in certain areas. I personally find that episodes based around characters like the hatred between Nathan and Jimmy or Towlies drug addiction can be funny now and it will be funny in a year. To stay funny, they need to be themselves and not news analysts.

The Boondocks- Aaron Macgruder’s comic strip turned into a cartoon on Adult Swim. The show deals with a lot of race and political issues, but handles it from several different angles. The young political activist, the ghetto kid, and the old grandfather show several sides on the issues. I really like this show but it has one big problem: its constant use of the N-word. It may be around in music and television, but there is absolutely no need for it to be the only word these characters udder. If they simply removed those words or replaced them, this show would be so much more enjoyable to a wider audience.

American Dad- Another one of Seth McFarlane’s many hits. I like this show, but I find my biggest problem with it lies in its characters, specifically Roger. He is a space alien who smokes, drinks and gets into some crazy adventures. This is funny, but when every single episode features a main plot about him seducing Francine, pooping out gold and diamonds or becoming a crooked cop. It becomes overdone. Take a break with Roger and go back to Stan and Steve’s relationship or even Klaus’ history. That is where the humor is and not in a stupid, crazy alien plot.

The Cleveland Show- This is one of the only shows that I have trouble finding any flaws in. There are occasional cut aways, but they work and the plot’s, albeit wild, almost always has a good story. I still say the show needs improvement with its background characters. I still don’t see the connections between them and the Browns. I also think the characters need much more development; show us a hint of the characters’ back story.

Conan O’Brien returning to television

At this point in time, I am sure you have all heard about the Conan O’Brien fiasco that happened around three months ago; how could you not? After all, this issue practically overshadowed the disaster in Haiti in terms of media coverage. 

But I am proud to say that the issue has finally come to a close. After bouncing around for a period of time, O’Brien has finally settled and now plans to be a part of the TBS late-night family.

Come November next year, Conan’s new show will debut at 11 o’clock, right before George Lopez’s late night show. In my opinion, it is good to have Conan back on TV where he belongs. His late night show was really good and it was a shame to see it cancelled just as it was really starting to gather momentum.

As with any show that isn’t completely scripted, it usually takes awhile to get used to itself and rise to meet its full potential. Unfortunately, Conan’s show was cut just as I felt that he had finally reached that point.

Of course, Conan hasn’t been simply sitting around this whole time. He’s begun dipping into the vast ocean that is the Internet for a way to get his material out there. He has been “tweeting, since he was let go from NBC and has now set up his new live comedy tour which is titled “Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour.” The tour is set to begin 4-19-10 in Eugene Oregon.

It’s fair to say that I am a member of Team Coco and am thoroughly glad to see his vibrant red hair back on the air.

Congratulations Review

Congratulations is the sophomore album from the Brooklyn based band MGMT. This album is the follow up to 2007’s Oracular Spectacular, an album that established MGMT as an artist and had both commercial and critical success.

Oracular Spectacular was praised by critics and adored by fans. The album won
MGMT a Grammy nomination for best new artist and is certified platinum. This album was filled with dance-friendly tracks like Electric Feel and Kids and was a launching pad for MGMT’s career.

Instead of following the formula that was proven successful by the fist album MGMT has decided to take a completely different route.  Since the band has already reached success, the group is more willing to take risks and experiment with their sound.

Congratulations accomplishes just that. The album is a long way from
the band’s first album; the pop-synth tracks are replaced by psychedelic songs.

The band has stated that this album is not for everyone and that is true. If you are a casual MGMT fan who likes the band for its radio-friendly songs then you will probably be disappointed by this album.

If you are a fan of MGMT and listened to the 13-minute epic song Metanoia that the band released last year, the band’s stylistic change will not surprise you.

True MGMT followers will most likely like it, although this album does not have the immediate effect of Oracular Spectacular. This album might go over your head at first, but if you’re patient, you’re in for a treat.

Although  Congratulations does not offer any catchy singles like Electric Feel and Kids some of the  tracks that make this album great are the 11 minute epic  Siberian Breaks, Flash Delirium, and the title track Congratulations.

Book of Eli delivers

“The Book of Eli” is a post apocalyptic action movie starring Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman. It was released on January 15, 2010 and also stars Mila Kunis and Jennifer Beals.

Thirty years after an apocalyptic event, Eli (Washington) is on a mission to the west coast line. He travels by foot and carries around a book along with normal survival supplies. He has incredible fighting and survival skills and shows them numerous times in the movie through fight scenes and hunting.

Looking for a source of water he arrives in a town which is run by Carnegie (Oldman). Carnegie has been on a search for one specific book since the apocalypse, and when he learns Eli might have the book he’s looking for he tries to use force to take it. While in the town Eli meets Solara (Kunis) while hes at a bar refilling his water. She is also the daughter of Carnegie’s blind wife Claudia (Beals). After refusing to give Carnegie the book he gets into a gunfight with his henchmen and leaves the city. Solara follows him with the hope of accompanying him on his journey.

Along with some interesting secrets about Eli and his mission and some twists along the way “The Book of Eli” is a good movie with an interesting concept. The action is great, from massive fist fights turning into knife fights to gun fights. Moments that would be in slow motion in most movies are shown in real time which gives the fight scene an authentic feel and is a good alternative to most action movies

Another good part about “The Book of Eli” is the cast. Denzel Washington does a great job as Eli, and Gary Oldman plays a very convincing villain with some good motives but one giant bad motive. But Mila Kunis was the best addition to the cast. She does a great job in the movie and works really well with Washington. She was definitely the right role for the film, as the character seemed like it was written for her specifically. The movie is a little bit religious, with Eli being extremely religious and teaching Solara about religion, but its not overly religious.

The ending is interesting and really brings the whole movie together, as the movie is a different look at a post-apocalyptic world, and not like the usual films or video games with the same basis. There were some parts of the story that could have been explained more, along with some parts that seemed useless and shouldn’t have been included. It’s probably a little bit too religious based for some people and some might not appreciate the real time action sequences. All in all “The Book of Eli” is an enjoyable movie, even if you’re just in it for the action.

7/10

Assassin’s Creed 2

What makes a trilogy truly succesful? Some might say it’s the story, the production value, and the actors. While these may indeed help out, I believe that it all comes down to the ability to hold an audiences attention for three installments.

A lot of the responsibility for accomplishing this task falls onto the middle installment, which must answer questions from the first one, expand/improve the subject matter, rejuvenate the audience’s interest, and get people pumped for the finale.

The Assassin’s Creed trilogy is a very good example of these qualities and it astounds with its many improvements.

There is no doubt that the original Assassin’s Creed was fun, but it was lacking in several areas. The sequel takes everything that was wrong with the first one and fixes it.

Assassin’s Creed 2 picks up directly where the first game ends and never looks back. After a quick little explanation of the first game through cut scene, you are off and running as bartender Desmond Miles desperately tries to escape his confinement from the sadistic Templars. After a quick fight sequence you escape the facility and are brought to the nearby Assassin’s Hideout. Within 10 minutes of starting the game, you jump right back into the animus, the futuristic machine that lets you relive your ancestor’s memories through your DNA.

This time around you are taking control of upstart Ezio Auditore, a young noble from Florence enjoying the good life. The game then gives you a tutorial of basic things like fighting and climbing cleverly disguised as routines from Ezio’s everyday life. Before you know it, your family is double crossed and put in jail. In your final conversation with your father, he instructs Ezio to go back to his house and check the back room for a chest.

Once you locate the chest, you don the new and improved assassin’s robe and get to work. Your quest is one of vengeance: to find and kill the ones behind your family’s execution.  You soon learn that the trail of deception and treason runs much deeper than a couple of nobles in Florence. Sadly, the overall story line isn’t quite as interesting as this inner story. The whole reason for going through Ezio’s life is so that Desmond can be trained in the way of the assassins similar to the way Neo was trained in “The Matrix”

The story however, is not why most people play these sorts of games. Their level of enjoyment is based largely on game play. The game play has improved drastically from the first one. Gone are the awful eavesdropping and pick pocketing missions as well as the extreme aversion to water. There is a slew of new weapons including the coveted double hidden blades and, my favorite, the poison tipped hidden blade, which sends whomever you infect into a berserk rage until eventually killing them. Most of these weapon upgrades are given to you by your good friend and all around eccentric Leonardo DaVinci.

There are still buildings to climb and synchronizing to be done, but it is all made so much simpler and more fun due to Ezio. He can climb faster and smoother than Altiar ever could and frankly, Ezio is by far a cooler protagonist than his overly serious predecessor, Ezio will crack a joke given half the chance and is quite the charmer. He even takes off his hood once in awhile!

If I had one complaint in the game, it’s that they make it really hard to get anything accomplished. Every time I was making my way to a mission, I repeatedly got sidetracked by the sheer amount of stuff there is to do in the game. At every turn there is something else to do and you actually feel compelled to do them, unlike the first game.

Another improvement is the economy system. Everything costs money: weapons, armor, repair, health potions (your health doesn’t regenerate this time around), and even paintings. The paintings are displayed in your Villa, which you end up traveling to a lot. When you first go to your villa and settle in, it’s a dilapidated excuse for a small town, but after you sink a few Florins into the villa, you will see it blossom before your eyes. It proves that you must indeed spend money to make money for the more you invest in your villa, the more income it generates that ends up in your pocket. Also, if you upgrade the shops you can get very nice discounts and even the occasional weapon that is only purchasable in the villa.

Making money is actually quite easy. You get a fair sized amount after completion of missions and there are chests filled with money scattered across every city. The locations of these chests can be purchased for a nominal fee and to top it off, with the simple push of a button, you can pickpocket anyone on the street.

Probably the best upgrade from AC1 is that AC2 has so many ways in which you can accomplish a mission. They said there was more than one way to assassinate people in the first game, but there really wasn’t. In this game, it becomes obvious quickly that it lives up to what the first did not. You can of course simply assassinate someone, you can even assassinate someone from the air (which has been made insanely easy compared to the first game), but now you can do things like hiring mercenaries to attack anyone you choose and hire thieves to distract guards from a specific area.

Assassin’s Creed 2 does very few things wrong. If you liked the first game, then you’ll love this sequel. If you didn’t care for the first game, you’ll be singing a different tune after playing its follow-up. And if you just like stabbing people in the head without them knowing you were there, boy do I have the game for you.

Law Abiding Citizen a must see

Law Abiding Citizen is a thriller that keeps the audience on the edge of their seats. Directed by F. Gary Gray, Butler and Foxx make this movie work. They are very realistic and Butler portrays a Hannibal Lecter sort of character. He is a villain who uses his smarts to kill people without being in the same room as them. This sort of character makes the audience marvel at his brainy personality if played well, and Butler does exactly that.

After seeing his family brutally murdered, Clyde Shelton (Gerard Butler) just wants to see the two killers locked up for life at the least. Instead, Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx) conspires with one of the killers, Clarence Darby, and Darby only gets five years in jail.

Shelton is very upset about this and spends the next ten years planning the murders of everybody involved in the case. Shelton ends up in jail after killing Darby, but he continues to commit murders despite being in jail. It is up to Rice to stop him or else Shelton will eventually kill him.

This movie was released October 16^th, and has been fairly successful. Law Abiding Citizen has grossed over $60 million since being released. Movie critic Roger Ebert gave the movie three stars out of four.

I recommend seeing Law Abiding Citizen because of how realistic it is. This thriller captures the audience throughout, and I cannot remember a dull moment or a scene that was taken too far. Foxx and Butler both played their parts beautifully, especially Foxx who is a cocky prosecutor, who sees himself as the best in the country. This is must-see if you are into violent thrillers, but it is rated R for its violence.

Overall, I give this movie a 9.5 out of 10. It’s very realistic and entertaining, but it’s not a ten because that rating is only deserved by about three movies per year.

Dragon Rising doesn’t rise to the top

Few PC shooters truly capture the brutality of war. Many have tried but have fallen flat thanks to graphical limitations and complicated controls. Operation Flashpoint Dragon Rising (a multiplatform shooter released on PC, Xbox 360, and PS3) however does not. Operation Flashpoint is set in fictional 2010 where China has invaded the Russian province of Skira (in reality an island off the coast of Alaska named Kiska) in order to obtain the islands coveted oil fields. Russia, which fears all out war on its eastern border, asks the United States to recapture the island on its behalf.

The game gives you that quick back story, along with a history of Skira and then leaves you and your squad to fend for yourselves. This is something that adds subtly to the realism, because real life soldiers do not know why they do what they do only that their objective must be accomplished.

Your only weapons on hand are an assault rifle and a sidearm. These weapons are useless at ranges longer than 40 meters, so a planned assault from a mile away is almost impossible. You do get a pair of binoculars, which are a life saver, enabling you to observe the enemy from greater distances.

Something else you will discover right away is that the map is overwhelmingly large. The island spans 32 kilometers and you don’t have any form of transportation. Your closest objective is two kilometers away; a distance that traveled on foot takes close to forty-five minutes in real time to traverse. The game does do a great job of making these treks extremely intense!

For example, after I destroyed a Surface-to-Air missile launcher I began a 950 meter walk to disable a radar generator. I sprinted gleefully, and confidently, over my triumph thinking that I was unstoppable. The sad reality was that I led my squad to their deaths. As I neared my objective an enemy sniper wounded me. As I bled out screaming “Medic” I was forced to watch as my squad scrambled to try and protect themselves.

As I watched the loading screen, I changed my tactics and eliminated the enemy far more effectively. However some things were very disappointing.

The game concentrates on realism, and the truth is, it’s not executed very well. The rate at which you switch weapons is extremely sluggish; it makes you wonder if your character tethered his weapons to his feet. Another main gripe is the abysmal vehicle controls. Your vehicles perform pathetically and you will indeed crash periodically which will give your position away to the incredibly smart AI). Finally the game ramps up the difficulty at the most inappropriate times. You will periodically see your enemy with more soldiers, weapons and air support. This also takes away from the “realism” when you’re on a “stealthy” recon mission and you are automatically eradicated by a helicopter. This makes the game almost impossible even on easy difficulty. Operation Dragon Rising is an ambitious title with a lot of good things about. Sadly it cannot compare with the more fun titles out there. If you want a military shooter that sticks to real life you should get this.

Overall the concept is amazing; dive into the boots of a marine and fight for your life in a realistic fashion. Trust me; you get a lot of bang for your buck. However, throughout the game you can’t help but feel the developers could’ve worked a little bit harder on the controls, and game play instead of the graphics.

6/10

First Beatles Rock Band DLC Arrives

On October 20^th and 22nd the first batch of downloadable content for The Beatles: Rock Band was released. The rest of the songs from the album “Abbey Road” that aren’t already in the game will be available for download. 

Although Xbox 360 players have had “All You Need is Love” since the game came out on September 9, 2009, for Playstation 3 and Wii owners this is the first time any Beatle songs will be available for download. Harmonix (creators of Rock Band) and Microsoft (creators of Xbox 360) worked out a deal where “All You Need is Love” will be exclusive to Xbox 360 until the contract expires in December. So for Xbox 360 players this will be the second time that songs will be available for download.

“Abbey Road” was the final album recorded by The Beatles before they broke up. Although it was the second to last album released, it’s still considered by most fans to be the last album. After recording songs for an unfinished album named “Get Back” The Beatles were on each other’s last nerves. The recordings for the unfinished album didn’t go well so they abandoned the project and decided they wanted to end strong. So they went to the Abbey Road Studios where they usually recorded their albums to try to make a final album worthy of the greatness The Beatles put out before. The result was “Abbey Road”. Referred to as the masterpiece, this album did all that The Beatles hoped for and more.

“Abbey Road” had six songs originally featured on the disc: “Come Together”, “Something”, “Here Comes the Sun”, “I want you (She’s so Heavy)”, “Octopus’s Garden”, and “The End”; are all featured on the game. This means that “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer”, “Oh! Darling”, “Because,” “You Never Give Me Your Money”, “Sun King”, “Mean Mr. Mustard”, “Polythene Pam”,  “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window”, “Golden Slumbers”, “Carry That Weight”, “Her Majesty” are being released for download.

“You Never Give Me Your Money” – “The End” are a series of unfinished songs blended together called “The Abbey Road Medley”. When using Playstation 3 or Xbox 360 you’re given the option to play all of the songs from “The Abbey Road Medley” as one continuous sixteen minute track if you buy the entire album.

When you don’t play the song as one continuous track, the medley songs are grouped together as when they were recorded. For example, “Sun King/Mean Mr. Mustard” is one continuous track on the game because it was recorded together as one continuous track. All the songs will take place in the Abbey Road Studios and evolve into a dreamscape, like the songs from the album already featured on the disc.     

The biggest issue with the first batch of DLC has been the fact that the Abbey Road Medley, which was one of the huge draws for buying the full album, is only available for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 players. If you play on Wii, you have to play the song separately and there’s a loading in between songs like any normal playlist. The only good thing for Wii owners is that all the tracks are available to buy individually, where Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 owners only have the option of buying “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer”, “Oh! Darling”, and “Because” as individual tracks. The only way for PS3 and 360 owners to get the songs from the Medley is to buy the full album.

“Abbey Road” is the first of three albums planned to be released by the end of the year. “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” and “Rubber Soul” are being released in November and December respectively.

“Abbey Road” is out on Xbox 360 and Wii on October 20, 2009 and Playstation 3 October 22, 2009.

Will Modern Warfare deliver?

How did you feel when you rappelled from a Black Hawk helicopter onto a freighter and stormed through the crew quarters? How about when you saved a downed “Cobra” gunship pilot and a nuclear bomb blew you right out of the sky? Or when you desperately tried to evade and destroy a “Hind” helicopter gunship as you sped down a Russian freeway? Well if you’re looking for that adrenaline pumped action once more, where else to look than the true successor to Call of Duty 4, Modern Warfare Two.

Anyone who has ever played a Call of Duty game knows that the popular series is mainly about World War 2. Four out of the soon to be six installments of the series are based around the brave endeavors of the men who fought the heroic battles of Normandy, and more recently Okinawa and Pelileu. Anyone who enjoyed Call of Duty 4 knows that the long awaited sequel to the 2007 game of the year will be released on Nov. 11, 2009.

A lot of speculation has been going around the Internet as to what exactly the storyline is. What exactly happened to Soap MacTavish after eliminating Zakhaev? Did Captain Price pull through after your jeep crashes? Who were the mysterious SAS unit that skulked though that 747 airliner to save a hostage? All these questions and more will hopefully be answered in the next installment.

However new questions do arise by simply watching a teaser trailer. Recently fans of the series discovered that you will have to defend Washington D.C. from being destroyed, most likely toward the end of the game. Also gamers now know that civilians will be thrown into the mix, meaning now you will have to pick your targets wisely. Fans also know that Soap MacTavish does make a return as your Commanding Officer. Something rather unclear though is to what exactly the story has in store for us. Will we experience the same level of danger that we felt diving into Sgt. Paul Jackson’s boots for the first time? Will it be more emotional? Will you be the cause of this war?

The multiplayer has been under wraps, but it is clear that the perk system will be back. One notable new perk will be the ability to pilot an AC-130 Gunship and rain down on our foes. New weapons will also be available.

Modern Warfare Two is bound to meet criticism because of high expectations. However we will just have to wait until November 11 to see if it outdoes its predecessor or falls flat.

Comedy brings zombie genre to life

The living undead have long permeated the movie genre. The first zombie movie was made in 1932 and was titled White Zombie. Since then they have set the standard for classic horror films. Recently however, the zombie movies have tried to break up the age-old horror story and add a few laughs.

The most notable example of this was the popular 2004 film, Shaun of the Dead. This was probably the first and best of the comedic zombie movies. But on Friday, October 2^nd, a new film emerged to set the bar for humorous zombies.

Zombieland can easily be described as the American version of Shaun of the dead. While Shaun of the Dead is all about irony and sophisticated British humor that doesn’t make you laugh hysterically, but certainly allows you to enjoy yourself, Zombieland focuses entirely on the good old gross American jokes that we’ve come to love so much. There is gore to be had at every turn and plenty of sexual innuendos.

From its description, most people would think that this film would be crass and stereotypical, but Zombieland does an amazing job. While the jokes can sometimes be less mature than others, it almost always makes you laugh and never apologizes.

Although there is really no story present in the movie, you tend not to mind very much. You’re simply too busy being caught up in the spectacle and characters. The movie follows Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) as he treks through the old USA which has been turned into Zombieland thanks to the “Mad People Disease”. Pretty soon he meets up with Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson) and they form an unlikely duo.

Everyone in the movie chooses to name themselves after the destination to which they are headed. Even after they are all well acquainted and comfortable with each other they still choose not to disclose their real names. Despite this, you still feel attached to them.

The story picks up when Columbus and Tallahassee run across the sisters Wichita and Little Rock (Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin), who are Hell-bent on surviving no matter what. Despite several double crossings, Columbus has fallen head over heels for Wichita and does everything he can to be reunited with her.

Tallahassee is a gun-toting, wise-cracking, zombie-hating killing machine whose sole purpose left is to take as many zombies with him as he can. Despite first appearances, Tallahassee has a very complicated past and is a surprisingly deep character.

In contrast to Tallahassee, Columbus is a “Michael Cera-esque” character who has survived this far due to his set of strict rules. This list is about 37 rules long and he adds each rule after a specific experience which has taught him to obey the rules. Some favorites include “Beware of Bathrooms”, “Double tap”, and the most important of all: “Enjoy the little things”.

Despite first appearances, this movie is insanely enjoyable with plenty of action and humor thrown into the mix. It focuses less on actual horror and more on those “BOO!” moments that most zombie movies tend to use. Some people think that this movie will bring the zombie genre down, but I feel the exact opposite. I feel that this has brought the term zombie far up!

One of the best moments in the movie is the cameo of Bill Murray playing himself. He does any insanely good job and is able to make you laugh just by standing there and being himself. He lives up in a giant mansion and puts makeup on to blend in with the zombies so he can go about his life as normal; he even still finds time to play golf. The first scene he is in shows that even though the world has virtually ended around him, Tallahassee still has time to breathlessly tell his hero just how much he loves him.

Although this movie is worth buying, I advise people to still see it in theaters. Just to get that popcorn experience with the big screen that people seem to love. Anyone who doesn’t mind zombies and loves a good laugh should definitely see this movie. I highly recommend it to anyone who’s looking for a fun way to spend an afternoon, or to anyone who loves a good movie. Zombieland is not for the faint of heart though, there is a good amount of strong language and the movie definitely enjoys being gory and does it quite often. But this is definitely a movie everyone should see at some point.

9 out of 10 stars.

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