Review: "The Great Gatsby" (2013) "Old Sport, I Taught Jay-Z Everything He Know."

By: Gabriel Roderick

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 Before I can even start the review of Baz Lurhmann’s The Great Gatsby you must first listen to this song that set's the scene. Gatsby is "No Church In The Wild"

Alright shall we begin Old Sport?

This movie opens up a little different then the book,  where it's Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) reflecting on that fateful summer of meeting and getting to know Mr. Jay Gatsby (Leonardo Di'Caprio).

The casting of this movie could not be more spot on from the descriptions of the book. I think we could all agree that Lurhmann hit the nail on the head, casting Maguire as Nick Carraway, Di'Caprio as Gatsby, Carey Mulligan as Daisy Buchanan, and Joel Edgerton as Tom Buchanan.

I like his approach of filming the book with Nick giving us the narrative and story telling perspective of what happened but it also foreshadowed the events of the movie very earlier, as it shows up his folder of "mental issues" (That's as far as I'll go with that). So very little surprise is left for those who haven't read the book. 

Any time Di'Caprio's characters story is told from the narrative from the beginning of the film that can tend to spell bad news for our main guy!

No more spoilers I promise!

I think I'll start with a few things that bugged me about the film.

For one the film is more centered around Nick Carraway dealing with the world rather than Gatsby. I feel their relationship is so rushed and in 2 hours that sums up 3 months of their friendship?

No sorry that doesn't work for me!

I like the idea of having Nick tell us a story but stop making it all about you, the book is titled, the Great Gatsby after all!

The other thing that bugged me about the film was it's run time. It's nearly 2 and a half hours and begins to drag near the the middle! Which is surprisings seeing as if they were going to spend that much time on the movie they could have spent more time developing more detailed relationships.

This method of speeding through detailed events is used as a quick narrative by Nick and some clips of events. I liked and hated that idea seeing as you had 2 hours for the film! I like it because it adds some historical events and accuracy as if Nick was really there! However Nick quickly brushes through it as rushing to catch up to the interesting parts!

However even though the story drags midway it quickly speeds up for the last half hour giving us no real mourning time or time to digest what had taken place. I left with anger as Nick's closing monologue essentially destroyed the characters that he had just built through the story. 

NOW shall we Old Sport talk about the good times?

Yes?

Okay so the acting of this film as I said early was amazing!

The cast fits and acts the part so well I feel like I was transported to the 1920s and actually attending one of Gatsby's gorgeous parties. Tom Buchanan (Joel Edgerton) gives such a villain role it's not even funny. Though for the time period is he really the bad guy?

Is Gatsby?

Once you find out everything and Gatsby's true story though he lies can you feel sorry for someone that lied for love? His intentions always seem good to him and Nick but can they be?
 
 They even had humorous moments just for you, puns and even sex jokes. They are in the book and Luzhrmann brings them to life for you in case you missed them!

This was a book that made you question who is wrong and who is right, who is flawed and who is perfect.

Luzhrmann couldn't have done a better job!

When you have such a gorgeous cast to watch usually you don't notice the scenery. But this film's scenery looks as good as the cast.

The city is painted as if it was 1920s, the cars, the clothes, the skies, the ground, the homes! Everything gives this a 1920s feel. Gatsby's parties are the highlight of the time era, and look visual stunning, demonstrating music, dancing, and the overall party scene do to bootlegging is just spectacular.

To add dramatic effects to the film when something is troubling a character or is about the character specific, they focus on the character and nothing else. Which is like a book and that page is for the character.

Except one thing however that SHOULDN'T fit the story is the music. Well classical, jazzy time period appropriate music is sued in the film it's combined with modern HipHop music.

With the jazz era would we have these elaborate hiphop music and scenes?

Probably not!

However Jay-Z was brought in to make this possible, every song that was in the film fit the scene. It's a funny twist because you have musicians playing the time period music.

Then bam combined with that is modern music that adds a modern twist to the movie. Just like Luzhrmann's other film Romeo and Juliet.

Like I said normally this doesn't work but with themes in the book that carry over to modern times. Anyone can relate to what Nick felt like bumping fancy's with New York's socialites.

Something big that Luzhrmann misses the mark on is the overall theme of alcohol depleting American society and trying everyone into flawed creatures. Nick gives minor hits in the beginning of the film like his folder, and the fact that he tells us the second time he get's drunk.

As Nick tells us the story he's seemingly sober, however during the actually story it begs the question is anyone sober? It's not that Luzhrmann misses the mark it's the fact that he leaves it up to the viewers to figure out the message Nick is trying to give you. Or is he?

Not that there ever will be a sequel but the way the movie is filmed it left room to make one, or for Nick to try to adjust to a new life. Since in the book Nick discussed that he, Tom, Daisy, and Gatsby could not adapt to the life they tried so hard to live.

Our Honest View gives The Great Gatsby 8.9/10. This movie is a great interpretation of the book by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It has it's flaws just like the character's portrayed in the film. Looks of questions arise after watching this movie and I was hoping that they'd be answered seeing as this is a interpretation from the book that originally posed these questions.

+ Narrative
+ Scenery
+ Cast
+ Jay Z

- Runtime
- Missed Themes
- No Room For Mourning.

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Review: "Iron Man 3" (2013) "Back In Black"

By: Gabriel Roderick

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Before I can even review this blockbuster let me throw my thoughts out of the other movies in the series.

Our Honest View gives:

Iron Man 2008: 9/10
Iron Man 2 2010: 9.7/10
Avengers 2012: 9.7/10

Okay now that I got that off my chest I am going to this review a little different by talking about the minor things I hated about this film, then go into all the things that I loved about it!

The major thing I didn't like about the film is that it's so true to the story it should have been the first movie. Don't get me wrong Jeff Bridges performance was amazing but he wasn't necessary as much as the Mandarin and the Extremis are.  

They are vital elements in the Iron Man series, as proven in this film and are of course would have made a great origin movie. Though this is a great conclusion supposedly to the series. However the order of the film could have been Iron Man 3, then 2 and ending with the first one of course just the villain not the entire story because this isn't Star Wars.

The other thing I didn't like about this film is something minor but I should point out is the audience. Not to spoilers here but the movie is a a story from 1999-2013 told by Tony and if you don't stay past the credits you'll never know who he's talking to. Well I'll tell you anyway **SPOILERS** he's talking to Bruce Banner claiming that Banner is a doctor. And even past this the screen reads "tony will return".

That is good since the idea of Robert Downey Jr.'s contract has been tossed up in the air over the last few months.

Okay the other thing I didn't like about the movie was changing the War Machine suit into the Iron Patriot. We only got to see War Machine for the last 20 minutes of Iron Man 2 so I was hoping he'd have more of a showing in this film. Apparently the change is because it's more appealing to the American People, seems to be following in the trend of ditching Howard for Cheadle. More spoilers but in Iron Man 2 HammerTech is put into the suit and Tony has to hack it right?

Well why the hell did Rhodey let AIM put tech into this suit as well?

I guess we'll never know.

Well that's what I hated very minor as you can see, now let's digest the goodies!

My big feeling going into this is that most super hero movies are heading into darker tones after the success of the Dark Knight Trilogy. Don't get me wrong I love the series but Batman is a dark character not ever other superhero or else we'd see a lot of guys in bat suits.

Iron Man follows this trend, Tony claims, "It's not about politics just good old fashion revenge."

The film is counterbalanced with all the dark elements by being funny as hell! It's truly the funniest of the three films, and it's Tony's character. His chemistry with the other characters make him so great.

Guy Pearce's role as Aldrich Killian is a great villain but not the best. Granted the movie takes a HUGE plot twist you wouldn't expect Killian is just like the comics in turns of nuts. However Pearce adds some great humor to the character especially in the flashbacks playing a nerd and crippled man.

And of course Ben Kingsley as the Mandarin. Tony calls him a "Baptist Preacher" which he really sounds. He has a deep southern tone of a manic but I won't ruin the plot of the film.

However I most point out there is a epic war between the Mandarin's army of Extremis soldiers and  Tony and his army of suits. I was worried about how you could protray a army of healing hot heads. But Black does a great job, when in doubt blow them up!

Yes finally Tony can put his suits on at will and jump from one to another. Which absolutely was filmed epically. He jumped off a a crane structure jumping from suit to suit. There is about 10 suits that are shown all representing parts of Tony's personality. As he says, "Everyone needs a hobby."

A few things that I was worried about with this film where the run time but surprisingly is only about 2 and half hours but with action non stop and jokes left and right the run time doesn't feel bad at all.

Another thing that worried me was the idea of Tony's character developmental especially after the events of the Avengers. That's where Ty Simpkins fits in. He plays Tony's sidekick Harley and a great job at that for a 11 year old. He seems like a mature version of Tony. 

He keeps asking Tony what happened to Tony in New York which plagues him constantly into building all the suits to protect Pepper who even wears the suit for a minute finally!  

Though it SHOULD have been a reoccurring theme, Harley helps him get over his fears of New York by telling him to build something.  I was hoping this would plague him more since his experience in Avengers seem to be the worse all of the heroes. 

Tony's character after Avengers seemed to grow all the way but occurring to Iron Man 3 he went backwards in growth. I was wondering where to go from here, but at the end of Iron Man 3 he's finally a adult and realizes no matter what he does he's "Iron Man." 

The difference to him saying this in the first film and the third film is that he has much more confidence in himself and knows who he is.

Our Honest View gives Iron Man 3, 9.75/10. This truly is the greatest Iron Man movie and may be one of the greatest movies of all time. Yes I believe this movie is larger than the Avengers, the Avengers may have had a negative affect of his character but he outshines this neagtivity to become Iron Man. This movie could easily be the first in the series but with a great plot, development and characters it claims the rights to be the third in the series. 

+ Tony Stark
+ Jumping Suit To Suit
+ Harley

- Avengers
-Iron Patriot

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Review: "Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers" (2013) "Ask The Japanese Gaming God, And You Shall Recieve."

Add caption

David Howard

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Finally the lost Shin Megami makes it's way to Northern shores and we are all ready!

Atlus has done a great job revamping this classic for it's journey to us and I am very happy with it, if you couldn't tell.

All the elements that we have come to expect from a Shin Megami title, demon recruitment, fusion, grinding, it's all here.

The game takes place in the future where the internet has integrated into everyday life. You are a member of "Spookies" an a elite hacker team who just found their way into a new digital world known as Paradime X.

Soon after the evil surfaces and demons are released and only "Spookies" can fight back.

The combat is standard turn-based and doesn't shine in it's respect here. Even the 3-D combat is useless. But it is very cool in the 3D dungeon crawling segments which makes up the bulk of the game. Visually this game seems a little outdated for it's time. So if you want to play a game from the 90s you can bring your 3DS with you!

Sadly that is the only straightforward part of the game.

I had to read the digital manual included to fully grasp all the different aspects of the game. On the hole, this is a true hardcore RPG for true Shin Megami fans. It pushes the difficulty of new hights and rewarding good players with secrets, demons and gear.

This game is action packed with different forms of demons, different ways to wins, and many moving parts that are involved during action sequences. 

The extra streetpass feature "Namichi" lets players pass each other and acquire D-Souls a form of currency to to progress Namichi or buy new powerful demons.

Our Honest View gives Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers 8 out of 10. This game made me happy to play an dbe a part of after I disliked Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Surivor Overclocked. I love having a real SMT title to play on the go in 3d. Of course there are always little things they could fix in order to make this better. Which is what I'm hoping for Shin Megami Tensei IV coming this summer to 3DS.

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Replay Value: Moderate

Similar games:

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked

Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga

Review: "Dead Island: Riptide" (2013) "Hopefully I Won't See You On The Island....."

By: Adam Zimmerman

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When Dead Island: Riptide was first conceived, it was originally planned as a large expansion of the original. When it got too large for an expansion, they decided to make a full-blown sequel.

Because it started as an expansion, it does feel very much like the first game. It feels so much like the original that even the bugs from the first game return for the sequel.


Not everything is the same as the original though. A new character, John Morgan, has been added to the group. He’s a melee fighter, which fills the void between Sam B, the blunt weapon expert, and Logan Carter, the throwing expert. I really enjoy playing as John. He has sprinting kicks that send zombies flying, plus he lets you live out your Wolverine fantasies with his awesome deadly metal claws. He also has a very useful ability that sometimes, when you are very low on health, will let you, instead of dying, regain some of your health instead.

Also different in Riptide is the locale. In the original Dead Island, the game was split up into four sections. There was the resort, the city, the jungle, and lastly the prison. This time around, it’s just all tropical island. It’s a little like the island from Far Cry 3, except with no animals and a whole lot of zombies.


On the gameplay front, most of it is exactly like Dead Island. New to this game are defense scenarios. Basically you have to set up a bunch of defenses like fences and barricades, as well as traps, and survive several waves of zombies.

 They can be pretty fun, especially when you can coordinate your defenses with your friends. It also pays off this time around to try and focus on one type of weapon, whether it’s blades, firearms, etc. Beyond being able to just level up your individual weapons, you can now level up your skills with the different weapon types.

 For firearms it may mean being able to hold a little more ammo, or for blades it could be less stamina used per strike. It’s nothing major, but it does give you a small reason to focus on certain types of weapons.


Normally I am a story guy. Most of my favorite games are games with the best stories. Luckily for me, I don’t play Dead Island for the story. It’s not the worst I’ve ever encountered, but I wouldn’t call it very good either. Cut-scenes and the story are delivered using the in-game engine, which makes some straight to tv movies look like Alfred Hitchcock’s best.


Despite all the new stuff, as I mentioned earlier, Riptide suffers from some of the same bugs as the first game, plus has a few new ones to boot. The enemy AI is still shoddy sometimes. A zombie might spends a few minutes trying to tear down your defenses, only to have them just walk away aimlessly when the barricade comes down. The frame-rate in Riptide is also occasionally worse than the original. Throw an exploding barrel into the middle of a large group of zombies and watch frame-rate slow down to about 2 frames per second.


For those that played and enjoyed the first game, you will be happy to know that you can carry your character over from the first game into Riptide. You won’t be able to keep your equipment, but your level and all you skills will transfer over. If you had maxed out your character in the first game, you don’t have to worry about not being able to improve your character at all. The level cap has also been raised to 70, which is 20 more than the original.

New upgrades have also been added to each character as well. If you were a lower level character, or you want to play as someone different this time around, the game will still start you with 15 skills points to assign as you choose.

I should also point out that you didn’t need to have finished the first game with your character to be able to transfer them over to Riptide. Even if you are only a level 5 and played the first game for an hour and a half, they can still be carried over.


I was lucky enough not to experience almost any of the glitches during my time with the game, but they have been reported by many others. At it’s best, few games can match the brutal feel of combat and the levels of co-op fun that can be found in Riptide. At it’s worst, it can turn into an annoying, though still entertaining glitch fest.


Our Honest View gives Dead Island: Riptide an 8 out of 10. While a very fun game, especially with friends, technical glitches and a pretty weak story keep it from greatness. If you liked the first game, or love killing lots of zombies, I highly recommend getting this game. If you did not like the first game, then nothing in Riptide is going to turn you into a major fan.

Replay Value: Moderate


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Similar Games:

Dead Rising - M Rated

 

Dead Island - M Rated

Resident Evil Operation Raccoon City - M Rated