Pads & Panels

Title: Cowboys & Aliens

Format: Blu-ray + DVD +Digital Copy

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Directed by: Jon Favreau

Written by: Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, Damon Lindelof, Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby

Starring: Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde, Sam Rockwell, Adam Beach, Paul Dano, Noah Ringer

Studio: Universal

Film Rating:

Blu-ray Rating:

Review by: Bill Jones

The Film

The premise of Cowboys & Aliens is infinitely appealing. It’s a merging of two huge movie genres. It’s a battle between old gunfights and space-age weaponry. It’s James Bond and Indiana Jones. It’s got the potential to be played as a B-movie or the summer blockbuster that it was. It can be funny and it can be serious. And it’s got Jon Favreau at the helm. Unfortunately, it’s a little less Iron Man and a little more Iron Man 2.

That is to say, Cowboys & Aliens has a lot of spectacular things flashing on the screen and big name actors, but it lacks any real substance, a good story and characters that actually engage us. Instead, it’s another mess of a summer blockbuster that had too many cooks in the kitchen, leaving audiences with a half-baked cacophony of filmmaking. It aims for serious, but fails to make us care about either the cowboys or the aliens, and in the end we’re left with flashy lights that fail to engage us. (more…)

 Print This Post

#8 Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception (PS3)

Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment — Developer: Naughty Dog

Naughty Dog’s flagship series hits another high note with the third chapter of Nathan Drake’s adventures. The organic storytelling makes this something every gamer owes to themselves to experience. Uncharted 3 delivers the thrill of an Indiana Jones movie and more twists and turns than a ride at Six Flags. Some parts of this game will leave the gamer breathless and pointing at the screen while asking the person next to him, “Did you see that?” As if that weren’t enough, after the credits roll and the brilliant colors fade away, there’s still a fantastic multiplayer game to experience. (more…)

 Print This Post

Title: LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game

Platform: 360 (PS3, Wii, PC, Mac, 3DS, DS, PSP)

ESRB Rating: E10+

Publisher: Disney Interactive

Developer: Traveller’s Tales

Rating:

Review by: Bill Jones

The latest franchise to be stamped with the LEGO makeover is Pirates of the Caribbean, following the release of the fourth film in the series. Fans of previous LEGO titles (like Harry Potter, Star Wars and Indiana Jones) already know what to expect here, and the Pirates franchise proves a great fit for the zany LEGO characters and stories. Players can, as usual, go solo or play with join-in/drop-out co-op, working through 20 stages divided evenly between the four movies, with cutscenes done only the way LEGO can. Port Royal serves as sort of an expanding hub in this one, where players can accomplish more by earning characters of differing abilities, the most noteworthy of which is the addition of underwater elements. All in all, it’s a great addition to both franchises, and fans of the series will get a kick out of the game, even though the later films undeniably sucked. (more…)

 Print This Post