Tron Themed Xbox360 Controller Review

With every major blockbuster movie there comes merchandise , and with the new Tron : Legacy movie its load and load of merchandise either its apparel, action figures or collectibles .

since im a huge fan of the the old Tron i wanted to put my greasy hands on any collectible i can get, so the first thing i got is the the Tron themed Xbox360 Controller is it worth it or like the sequel its more flash than substance ? 

The Good : 

- first thing i noticed when i took it out of the box its how different it is from the original Xbox360 Controller, its less bulky and more firm to grip and the leather sides are actually a welcomed addition . 

- the main reason its the aesthetics look of the Tron movie theme , its so darn sexy and its translated very well into the this controller even the letters are written in Tron-ish style .

The Bad : 

- its very plasticly for an official collectible it feels cheap and some of the edges are poorly done very poorly done.

- the buttons sometimes feel like the old NES controller for some odd reason , and doesnt give you the satisfaction of button mashing and the triggers react strangely when you push them .

- the vibration in this controller is a joke , it feels like a gerbil is running inside it without any feedback from the actual game .

- ITS WIRED !!!! 

Overall :

its fun to look at for the first 5 mins then all the joy and fun wears out quickly and all you are left with is a plasticly glow in the dark toy  , it doesnt even mimic the satisfaction you get from the original controller its just doesnt feel the need to try to be good they just know you will buy it for the look .

2.5/10

True Grit Review

After the murder of her father a 14 year old girl is trying to pull back her life together and find her fathers killed, in a world filled with bounty hunters and greedy bankers, this movie is remade from an old John Wayne movie but this time its helmed by the Coen Brothers and executive producer Steven Spielberg , staring Jeff Bridges , Matt Damon , Josh Brolin and the amazingly casted Hailee Stienfeld .








The Good : 


- The Characters are always essential in a Coen brothers movie and this one doesnt miss the spot, the characters are intriguing and never shy to show you their own weaknesses and this time Jeff Bridges really made the role of Rooster Cogburn easily recognizable even though its a difficult character .


- All western movies share the amazing trait of having an amazing soundtrack and this one is not exempt , its very fitting to the story and very close to the environment and the cinematography .


- They've done an amazing job capturing the true loneliness and grittiness of the old wests and how a 14 year old educated girl would fit in in the lone and cold world of the wild west .



The Bad :


- Josh Brolin is a staple actor in the Coen Brothers movies but i hated how they delegated his role into a supporting character with few spoken lines its a far drop from No Country For Old Men.


- Sometimes during the shooting scenes the actors become immune to bullets in one scene they are shot the other they are climbing a mountain , this inconsistency distracts from the pain of the character and doesnt have a present danger to the character cause they will merely survive .





Overall : 


Its a Beautiful story done with alot of care but it falls short sometimes , its not the best of Coen Brothers but not the worse either , Matt Damon , Jeff Bridges and Hailee Steinfeld really pulled of an amazing job of brining this movie to life , and the cinematography is brilliant to say the least .



8.5/ 10 

Tron : Legacy Review ( spoiler free )

The Long awaited sequal To the original Tron (1982) Movie is finally here with the amazing Jeff Bridges reprising his role as Kevin Flynn the famous video game designer that got to live inside the program that he created and fight the injustice in that program.


does the sequel live up to the hype or does it destroy its own legacy ?


The story in Tron : Legacy focuses on the life of Kevin Flynn's son Sam and his quest to find his father and get back his dads old company back to its old form im trying to keep it as simple as possible without spoiling any of the major events with that said lets start with the good .


THE GOOD :

- Its the old Tron  times 3 its bigger, better, faster, and stronger, they took the simple idea of the previous one and did a botox injection with a facelift and it worked brilliantly .

- Daft punk did the soundtrack for this movie and they did an amazing job, the fight scenes makes you feel you are in a Daft Punk Concert and thats always a good thing .

- Jeff Bridges still stuns me with his performances he proved it in Iron Man and he did it again here, he can pull off a blockbuster action movie and keeps its alive on his own .


- The Visuals are something out of this world they are simply stunning, and most people will give this movie a 10 just because of that light show .

- They kept it close to the Tron roots which might not work in a 2010 movie release but it did , the ship, the tanks and the way the programs die its all from the 1982 original but so much better.

THE BAD :


- The characters are pretty weak, none are good except for some characters like "Zues" and Jeff Bridges " Kevin " beside that all of the character fall flat without proper emotions or on-screen charm.

- The 3D gimmick have plagued the movie industry and Tron : Legacy is not exempt, it tries not push the 3D with stupid fight scenes or explosions and keep it natural with that they didn't utilize 3D to the fullest and they should have stuck to IMAX, although near the end of the movie it gets better but too little to late .

- They tried to keep it as a mental war between two major characters but their build up falls after a couple of scenes for the sake of action .

- Some action sequences are very rushed and pushed to serve a climax or to keep you on edge and with that it loses its natural flow.



OVERALL :

If i didnt know better i'd say that Tron : Legacy is a Micheal Bay movie its too flashy with alot of bright lights with a thin plot, but thankfully it have thicker plot than Bay's work and it almost matches the fancy CGI, sadly the casting wasn't done properly for Sam Flynn's Character ( reminds me a lot of the Anakin Skywalker casting in Star Wars ) but Jeff Bridges and the amazing easter eggs in this movie really save it and plants a smile on the original Tron fans.


Its really enjoyable movie to watch, if you are an old Tron fan your home just got bigger and now its a mansion, and if you are new to the series welcome to the Playboy mansion of eye candy visual and Olivia Wilde.


SCORE : 7.5/10

The Social Network Review

the story of the rise of the internets biggest social network and the story behind the man who created it Mark Zuckerberg ,helmed by David Fincher ( Se7en , Fight Club ) is it good , or just another spammy FarmVille friend ?




Overview :


The poster says it all its all about the people around the creator , old friends or ex business partners trying to get a piece of the pie , after mark cheated his way into being the youngest billionaire but is he the bad guy or just a very smart guy and he earned his success and fame .



The Good :

- its a drama no doubt about it and a very good one the plot is thick and heavy with multi-layered characters that you can easily connect with , the plot is eased out by the lovely pacing which never gets you bored or ever slows down its David Fincher afterall .


- David Fincher did an amazing job with the direction in this one , the cuts and transitioning is something of a perfection , it blends two different scenes almost without letting the viewer notice the transition , with the helped of blurred out sounds , also another nice touch from this amazing director was the subtle figurative shots and lines ( its raining / a dark cloud ) which tells you subliminally the situation at hand .


- Trent Reznor the lead singer from Nine Inch Nails did the soundtrack and he did an amazing job at it a piano notes played out on a industrial sound loop , sometimes the notes pop up near a climatic scene and it feels like its well placed and plot serving .



The Bad : 



- David Fincher style in direction is dark photography , and i dont think its suitable for this movie , i think a normal approach to photography will do its not as dark or disturbing as Fight Club or Se7en , sometimes its just an annoyance , with a cheesy cold breath effect those things kinda distracted me .


- the cast didnt make a strong impact , only with a couple of scenes showing true and strong emotions towards the end with justin timberlake being himself which was kind of annoying .


Overall :


its a fun to watch movie , its deep and well done with some flaws here and there and the cast came up inches short of the direction , but it didnt fail the overall enjoyment of the movie , if you ever wanted the story behind facebook this is the movie for you , its like a documentary only for a broader audience and with alot of fun .


8/10

RED Movie Review

Bruce willis is back in his action movies saddle , is he good or he's too old to play the superhero action man he used to play in the 80's ?



The Plot :


ironically he plays a down on his luck retired man with nothing in his life , no wife no kids no hope , he falls in love with the girl and people start chasing him , shots fired and an explosion (spoiler free intro :P )


The Good :


- you have bruce willis , morgan freeman , john malkovich and hellen mirren all sharing one liners and jokes , its a real joy to watch these fine actors cracking jokes about bruce willis hair , or john malkovich being too old to do anything , making fun of old people wasnt enough till this movie came along .


- the director was loving his job , the way he plays out the action and sequences is fresh and original , i havent seen this approach to directing done so well since the days of " mr. and mrs, smith " , its fun over the top , highly enjoyable and really bad ass . ( read the bad )





The Bad :



- the movie starts out strong with funny jokes , strong action then when the plot thickens it drops the comedy action and goes into a light drama mode with a dash of romance , its like watching two separate movies , and the over the top action in the starts of the movie vanish's in middle of it . it started as a action movie turned into a romance then morphed into a heist movie , it lack consistency .


- having an ensemble cast is always an issue you have to sideline some actors , in this case john malkovich and morgan freeman felt like cameos instead of supporting roles , and in morgan freemans case it was really just a filler to extend the movies time , he served a little purpose in the main plot , but it was a joy watching him .


- the end is soooooooo anti-climactic i was stunned by how lame it was , it felt like the writers wrote themselves into a corner ( although the plot is very linear ) and u can almost here the director say : wrap it up we are running out of reels .




Overall

i loved this movie it reminded me of romancing of the stone , it was fun with high paced action , but it lost its charm and became a boring heist movie , doesnt mean it wasnt funny , it just could've been better if they kept it close to its original idea .


7.5/10


ps : watch the credits that scene is pretty hilarious

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Sonic The Hedgehog 4 Episode : 1 Review

Yes !!! finally the lovely blue mascot is back into his original 2D form is good or team sonic should go a very long vacation in a galaxy far far away ?


The Good :


- if you grew up in the 90's like most awesome people you would shed a tear of pride when you hear the old sega logo sung by 4 neutered asians , most of the sounds are worked from the old sonic games the bombs , the bubbles breathing , the jump thingy you cant help but smile while playing this game .


- the amazing backgrounds are sometimes distracting from the game , its just soo darn beautiful and its amazingly fluid and well designed , along with the good ole level designs its a pure joy .

-there is no story !!! i know its supposed to be a bad thing , but if you played any of the last sonic games you will know what im talking about , no princess no gimmicky modes , its all running all the time ( mostly see the bad ) .



The Bad :


- ok sonic is supposed to be fast , amirit ? yet this game is making sonic moves like a turtle rushing to the toilet, get stopped by an enemy and you have to roll ball to gain some momentum, and even when your in full speed you dont get the sense you had in the dreamcast sonic ( i guess old age got to sonic )


- sometimes during the game you have to halt and i mean complete and utter halt to solve a vine climbing puzzle or a card jumping stage , they transform sonic into a mario with blue balls



Bottomline :

its tries so hard to please the fans and bring the glory days of old sonic , but it fails on so many levels , im not saying its bad i had a blast playing it and remembering my childhood , but its not the old one ,its a lovechild between marliyn manson and the old sonic the hedgehog you look at it but you dont know what it is .

its like looking at this , its fun but its full of shit !

it would be better with the old dreamcast sonic speed and the lovable simplicity of the old sonic the hedgehog, it mimics both but fail to capture either beauty.


3/5