Monthly Archives: November 2012

New Twist on Old Bond

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Skyfall, the new Bond flick comes out November 9th and I’m quite sure many of you will go and check it out. Maybe not so much for what you don’t know about James Bond, but perhaps for what you do know about the character. Love him or hate him, Bond has always been a very polarizing figure to movie-goers. My take on that is because he never really departs from the characteristics that make him James Bod. The womanizing, the drinking, the wanton disregard for his life and others’. That is until Skyfall.

I consider Skyfall the completion of the reinvention of Jams Bond for this century. All of the previous Bond’s have followed a very rigid script. You’ve got your women in distress, your super cool spy gadgets, your lavish parties, and of course your over-the-top villain. Every man’s so-called dream for the most part. You   could see the shift in styles with Casino Royal with a more rugged and slightly more realistic, at least combat-wise, spy thriller. Skyfall is the completion of that shift. Below I’ll talk about the stuff that worked, the stuff that didn’t and a quick summary.

What Worked

Combat

I think that Bond’s fighting skills have evolved over the years and Daniel Craig’s Bond is a much more physical one. He’s definitely got the body for it and he makes the physically daring shots of the movie more believable. Also, he’s not invincible. He get’s hit often, but is relentless which is something I enjoy watching. There’s a particular scene where Bond literal digs pieces of bullet from his chest with a knife. Granted, I didn’t really believe someone in real life would do that, but if this Bond where real, he totally would.

Technology

Or I should say lack thereof! One of the themes I think the director is re-thinking. I suppose to make Bond more believable they had to get rid of the outlandishness of the gadgets. And so they have. I was brought here kicking and screaming, but I must admit that it works. I think they even poked fun at the lack of gadgetry at one point with Q remarking that he wasn’t in the business of making exploding pens! At that – I was heart broken, but it really made sense. Daniel Craig is outwitting his opponents in the fine art of fisticuffs – not chess, so anything more would be inauthentic to this imagining of James Bond.

The Villain, played by Javier Bardem does make excellent use of technology, but much more in a cyber genius sort of way. However, if you actually know a thing or two about coding then please look-away or be prepared to roll the eyes. There is lots of hacking and cyber espionage that might tickle the fancy of more modern audiences.

Villain

Javier Bardem does a fantastic job as the villain, and completely steels the show once he’s on screen. Perhaps that’s why he doesn’t make an appearance until well into the movie. He’s frightening, unpredictable, and really quite lovable – until you realize he’s completely crazy. He totally hits a home-run here, and he is quite easily in my top five Bond Villains. Besides Jaws and Boris.

 

What Didn’t Work

Bond Girls

I think for the most part everything worked except for the Bond Girls. Now here’s why. They couldn’t make up their minds on how to portray women in this movie. In previous Bond’s – they were very shovanistic and completely stereotypical. It works because they were that way with every character in the movie. The Bond girls don’t work anymore in Skyfall because on one hand you have a very strong and self-reliant female lead in Naomi Harris, while you have a more traditional female lead in Berenice Marlohe. And Bond does the nasty with both.  And also a native on some Island who shall remain nameless. So on one hand it looks like they are going progressive, but Bond is still disrepectin’ the honeys which leaves me scratching my head. Which path shall we take? Giving women some respect in these movies finally or just letting them be eye-candy. Either path is cool, because it’s all in the fictional world, but you’ve got to know which path your going down, and choose it openly. There were definitely conflicting tones when it came to the women in the movie which could have been avoided.

 

Summary

All in all, I found it to be quite enjoyable to watch. There is quite a bit of “changing of the guard” so-to-speak so be ready for that, but I think it’s all for the best. It’s what must be done to keep Bond fresh. I think Mr. Craig has about 2, maybe 3 more runs at Bond, and it will be on to the next one. However, until then, enjoy the latest installment Skyfall as we see a more intimate look at James Bond.

NBA 2K13 Review

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Yeah, yeah, this review is kind of late – however, can you blame me? I was too busy trying to get VC points! They are so hard to come by until I got a few tips from some friends. At any rate, take a look at my Likes and Dislikes for the new installment of NBA2K13 and see whether they take the franchise to the next level, or if it falls flat on it’s face.

Likes:

Different Modes

There are many different modes that you can play with this game. So much so that you will really be playing this for a while trying to master each one. Right now I’m developing my player who got drafted to the Grizzlies. You can have conversations with the GM, boost your twitter following, have post game conferences and negotiate contracts. It’s really cool to kind of play the game from that perspective. NBA2K13 is by no means the first game to employ the ability to build your character from scratch, but I really like the way it was executed here. It really brings the game to what we see happening in the NBA today.

If developing your own player is not your thing, you can develop your team just the way you want to in the “My Team” mode. Execute trades, and build a powerhouse of a team. Not your thing – you can play games with up-to-date teams at your leisure. You can also play online with your friends in still more modes like “Quick Match Team Up” and “Tournaments”.

Shoes

The Shoes man! If you are a sneaker fiend you can really spend a lot of time in this area. You can pick from hundreds of pairs of shoes, and you can even modify the colors down to the rubber souls!  You can choose from different brands as well including 2K Generic brand, Spalding, Under Armor, Reebok, Converse, Nike, Jordans, and more. After you finish editing your shoe you can even name them.

Moves

There are tons of moves to choose from to leave your opponent in the dust. from crazy dunks, alley-oops, hook shots, crossovers, fade-aways. Even hesitations, and slight post-up moves. the lean-back that Kobe always does, the shimmey, they are all there and some. Not only that, but there are even moves that are particular to star players so Dirk’s crazy unstoppable awkward fade-away is present, as Derrick Roses ball-handling. I really don’t mind just watching a game play out because it really is entertaining to watch. I end up rooting for a team even though I know it isn’t real.

Music

The music is Boss. Period. Produced by Jay-Z as you no doubt have heard repeatedly, but it goes a long way. I think the era of generic video game beat is now fading as more deals are made with video game companies and famous musicians. You can of course edit the track listing and even add your own library in the editor but the titles are quite good including Nas, Daft Punk, U2 and of course Jay-Z among the line-up. Full Track listing can be found here.

Dislikes:

Graphics

There were times when I was really wondering about the graphic quality of the game over all. For instance – the screen with the starter line-up just before the game starts looks last gen. Seriously. There are other screens like this scattered throughout which really has me scratching my head as most of the game’s graphic quality is top-notch. Also, if your on PS3 make sure “PS – Smoothing” is turned on so the in-game graphics looks as good as it is meant to be. I also found the background screens with all the colors and moving parts to be really quite distracting. The interface could really be cleaned up, but that really is aesthetic preference. However, the game designers could really do something about it.

Too Many Moves

Yeah, I had moves in the section of Likes, but dang there are a lot of them to master. I end up trying to perform all of them and end up getting the ball stripped. Take it from me, just master a few of them – the ones that work for you and stick with those.

VC Points

I’m questionable with these. It definitely drives the game forward, but does everything have to cost these VC Points – even skills? Also, why do the cost so blasted much!? I can understand shoes, and unique articles of clothing. I can even understand training camps etc. but I would much rather my skills being upped based on my style of play and exploits on the court. It gives me more of a sense of accomplishment rather then me putting the game on coach mode to get easy points and just buying a decent jump shot.

Product Placements

the are everywhere this time around. Sprint, Nike, Jordan, Gatorade. You can spot them a mile away. Though they do add some credibility to the game and make it close to what goes on in reality, it does seem to be a little distracting at times. What if I don’t like Gatorade? Or I prefer a different brand? I think they may be alienating a few folks with this move, but that’s just my two cents. It really didn’t dampen my enthusiasm for playing the game so take that with a grain of salt.

Summary:

Over all this is my favorite NBA2K game so far in the franchise. They seem to keep the stuff that works and continue improving on everything else. Seeing the Dream Team, and all the other old school players is just fantastic and they all look so good graphically. I love the level of control of my own player, or team as well as over the shoes my character wears. It really makes me feel like I’m apart of the action which I suppose is the point. Good move 2K, good move. I’m sure in the coming years, they’ll tighten up on the background graphic elements and when that day comes, I will definitely be rejoicing. But until then, this game is still a winner.