That’s about the best compliment I can give to GTAIV. I just wanted to make that the title of a blog entry. The Euphoria skeletal system is pretty cool. I got nothing else. Crackdown is better. I will beat the main story and subsequently sell it to fund a Ninja Gaiden II purchase.
I’ve had this theory for a while now — ever since the fourth installments were announced for both series. They were two of the great trilogies, and they had to be milked for more cash years down the road. Star Wars fell to the same fate, even more spectacularly, though. I figured with Indiana Jones and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull coming out at midnight, this would be a good time, especially since this 4th Indiana Jones movie might screw up my theory. Let me string out all the parallels between the two series so you can see how similar they really are.
Die Hard and Raiders of the Lost Ark
- Held up as classics within their genre, and are always brought up when it comes to discussing the most entertaining movies of all-time.
- Anything else I could say here is encompassed by the fact that they are both incredible movies.
(If it weren’t for Star Wars, I could say that they both made their stars action heroes.)
Die Harder and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
- The black sheep within their respective series.
- Arguably “darker” than the other installments. One has a plane full of people crashing, the other has hearts being ripped out.
- The weakest sidekicks. One has an annoying Asian kid and a screaming woman, while the other has a janitor and a weird-sounding black dude.
Die Hard with a Vengeance and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
- Usually regarded as the second-best in their series, with some people preferring these over the originals (these people are insane, though).
- Star power in the sidekick role. Samuel L. Jackson and Sean Connery bring the awesome.
- A return to the villains of the original. The former has the brother of the villain of the original, the latter brings the Nazis back.
Live Free or Die Hard and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (this is before me seeing the latter)
- Released over a decade after the 3rd installment.
- Probably the most ridiculous premise of each series.
- Young white guy sidekick. One annoying, and one not-as-annoying. (NONONONONO)
- More noticable CG effects than the other three combined (from what I saw in the trailer).
Ok, I’m obviously pushing it here with the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I haven’t seen it, so I shouldn’t be comparing. But I can also make some distinctions with the fourth movies in these series.
Live Free or Die Hard basically only had Bruce Willis back, and it had a lower MPAA rating than the rest of the series. Kingdom of the Crystal Skull has Spielberg directing — just like the other three — which is obviously very important. Only Die Hard 1 and 3 had John McTiernan behind the camera, and it showed. The excuse for Temple of Doom comparatively sucking is Spielberg giving Lucas too much say.
In summary, I feel like this installment of Indiana Jones isn’t going to be the debacle that Live Free or Die Hard was, but I can’t see it stacking up to the two best Indiana Jones films. If anything, it has a shot at eclipsing Temple, much like some people feel Live Free or Die Hard surpassed Die Harder. I’m not even sure I can give it that, as Live Free can barely be called a Die Hard film.
And if you cite the high critic ratings — Live Free and Die Hard was well-reviewed too. Watch the fans of the series rank this installment where it really belongs. I really do hope it’s high, I just doubt it.
This is what my (and everyone else’s) muxtape looks like right now:
And you can’t edit your songs. I tried deleting these, and just got an ERROR message. Bleh. Not THAT huge fo a deal, as I’ve been updating my muxtape regularly anyhow, so I don’t mind re-uploading all that much. I’m not even that mad, just kinda like “huh?” And I’m not going to listen to the song.
Update: Muxtape.com is now down — they’re probably fixing it. And the songs will most likely be restored. Not bad.
You may remember I made a post about the Muse pack in Guitar Hero III. Well, I never even bothered to buy the pack. I only REALLY wanted “Stockholm Syndrome” and I didn’t feel like paying $6.25 for it. My overpriced DLC hate is strong.
Now, I don’t have Rock Band, even though I’ve mentioned it numerous times on here and really do want it. I just can’t justify having a huge fake drum set. Maybe if I lived on my own. But I have nowhere to put the drum set in my room. I’ve said this.
But now I’m really tempted to just buy the game, no matter how dumb that may seem. Just because of this bassline:
Muse is so awesome. “Hysteria” is on the Marketplace right now. $2 (160 MS points). Buy it. Buy it. 5, 4, 3, 2, BUY IT.
Courtesy of the GAF “Post your gaming setup!” thread, I think. I found it second-hand.
This is someone’s real entertainment center. SEVEN 360s. That’s ignoring the DOZENS OF ANIME DOLLS.
If for some God-forsaken reason you want to see it in higher res: Original Pic
Now I need to download the GRID demo on XBL.
It had a good run.
In memoriam, let us look at Megan Fox (all but) topless pics.
http://wwtdd.com/post.phtml?pk=6142
Edit: As of 5:40 it is back. Megan Fox’s tits still glorious.
Get it? It rhymes. Yes, I am a loser.
I watched a bit of each of these today. I could quickly see why T2 was so comparatively cheap. It truly doesn’t look that much better than a DVD. But the intro credits sequence is still as badass as ever — even on YouTube. Conversely, both 2001 and Blade Runner look pretty damn impressive. I didn’t watch enough of either to really decide which one looked better, but I found a page that does the work for me.
AVS Forum – PQ Tier Thread for Blu-ray
If you own a Blu-ray player (re: a PS3), or are just thinking of getting one soon, I highly recommend adding that to your bookmarks. They seem to be updating it too. The list agrees with what I saw: T2 is disappointing, and 2001 and Blade Runner both look great. They still aren’t the pinnacle of the format though. Too bad I’m interested in buying basically none of their top-rated Blu-rays. Tier 0 indeed. Hot Fuzz needs to come out on Blu-ray — I hear it looks amazing on HD-DVD.
Anyway, I’m off to lay in bed with my laptop, while watching T2. I wish I had an HDTV and Blu-ray player, but what I am gonna do? I couldn’t help myself after watching The Dark Knight trailer in HD. I should probably watch one of the others, but I haven’t watched T2 in it’s entirety in years. ARNOLD.
[I'd use that awesome Tony Stark pic here, but I already used it!]
I think everyone realizes at this point that comic book film adaptations aren’t going anywhere. Sure, many of them have been embarrassing disasters, but if ones like this keep being made, I’m all for it. Iron Man stands with Spider-Man 2, Batman Begins, and Sin City as one of the best comic book superhero movies of recent times. Maybe it’s not quite as good a film as them, but damn if it wasn’t just as entertaining. You know what — nevermind — it’s easily just as good as S-M2. I’ve never been the biggest fan of that series anyway.
I’m a pretty big Christian Bale fan, but Robert Downey Jr. fits his role as Tony Stark just as well as Bale fits Bruce Wayne. And RDJ doesn’t have an awkward, overcompensating Batman voice to offset his awesomeness. RDJ is still the same snarky, cocky Tony Stark inside his suit. A suit that is totally fucking badass, by the way. I’ve never been a comic guy, so I’ve never thought hard about comparing the vast number of superheroes, but after seeing Iron Man, I’m pretty sure Tony Stark is the one I’d want to be.
Let’s see (I’m going by the movies here):
- Peter Parker is a awkward nerd who battles with inner demons by becoming an whining emo bitch. And Mary Jane is not hot.
- Bruce Banner is fairly emo, too. And boring. I’d WANT to be angry all the time and just destroy everything in my path. But no, Ang Lee had to get all emotional, obviously.
- The Punisher is badass, but his entire family was killed, which isn’t cool at all.
- Superman is pretty much the most boring guy ever. Plus, I’d die in some horrific way as if I were “cursed.”
- Sin City is just too depressing of a place to live.
- Fantastic Four? No comment.
- Ghost Rider? OK, I’m done with the mediocre to shitty comic book movies.
- Bruce Wayne is the closest one, but even he had to deal with seeing his parents being killed right in front of him. So he has an excuse to be brooding. And the batsuit and matching toys, while cool, don’t hold a candle to the Iron Man suit.
- Tony Stark is a fucking genius, who also happens to be an asshole and alcoholic who treats women like objects. Did I mention the suit is awesome?
Go check out the film. It’s nothing groundbreaking, but it’s as good a summer blockbuster that has come along since, well, the last Batman movie.
- I have to say it again. GTA IV plays like dog shit. Everything is so goddamn slow and sluggish. Add that to the fuzziness, and it feels like the game is taking place in a tub of some strange form of vaseline.
- I never realized I was spelling “vaseline” wrong until now when Firefox just corrected me. I blame the Stone Temple Pilots song “Vasoline” — which I have listened to countless times. DAMN YOU SCOTT WEILAND
- Johan Santana has not been worth the money so far. John Maine just became the first Mets starter to record an out in the 8th inning. But at least we didn’t sign Barry Zito.
- I can’t think of a game where you depend on your team more than Team Fortress 2. It makes winning a hard-fought game that much more satisfying.
- Isaac Asimov pretty much owns.
- The new Wendy’s Spicy Chicken Wrap — it is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up.
- Why don’t more outfielders have arms like Rick Ankiel?
- Do not Google Image Search “Heath Deadger”
- I want to see a Geico commercial where the cavemen are brutally mauled by saber-tooth tigers.
- I find it hard to believe any sane person is still hyped for Spore. When it was first announced 1000 years ago, I had to be as excited as anyone, and now I wouldn’t care if the game never materialized.
- Starcraft II, on the other hand…
- The Downward Spiral is the best angst-filled album ever. And to think kids these days listen to Linkin Park for their anger-releasing needs.
- Regret of the semester: Cute girl with a great body, who loves Hot Fuzz, and is enrolled in a sci-fi class. Glad I barely talked to her before I NEVER SEE HER AGAIN.
Loading ...