Thursday, April 22, 2010

Halo Reach Editions announced

Well, I am a halo fan and Halo Reach is looking very good from what I can see.

Now to prepare myself, for buying. Lately, the amount of special editions of a single game come in threes. I should know, buying the Prestige Edition of Modern Warfare 2. Oh what a glorious day that was, and man those night vision goggles are sick...

Whoa, i'm getting off topic.

So for Halo Reach they will offer three editions. The familiar green case game, the limited edition with extra paper and plastics and...OMG.

Well obviously the standard edition will have a booklet, maybe a free 48 hour card.

As for the Limited edition, from what Bungie's site shows...It has a cool looking ONI box, Dr Halsey's journal and some curious items underneath on the right. Is that plastic clear thing like; a keycard? Oh man thats ultimate nerd prop collection, and...am army patch..also cool as well as other papers the game now has a black box instead of green. That's a nice identifying mark to differentiate the copies of the game, perhaps the game itself will contain more inside? Plus an elite armor specialty code.

I'm definitely going for this one if I don't get...

The Legendary Edition.



Nuff said, plus a special spartan unlock. Some speculate it to be the flaming helmet, and I don't care. Honestly I don't have the room nor the reason to grab this. Yet I want to, maybe because getting the Prestige MW2 felt so good and is such a site whenever I enter my room. That box looks so close to in game crates, and it seems to have a really fancy packaging.

I didn't for Halo 3, and i'll probably stick with the Limited Edition. But I have time to think it over, the question really is what will you get?

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Swing Vote Review


Ah the joys of Netflix, being dragged into the living room by family to watch some film I have never heard about. I have plenty of homework to do, but let me tell you I am so glad I sat down to watch Swing Vote.

Bud Johnson is a laid back worker in New Mexico with a daughter during a fictional alternative 2008 presidential election. In this movie, the election came down to one state, and one popular vote holds back the election from being decided. Seems like a crazy concept, but as someone who studied constitutional law; it IS possible for this to happen.

I have heard so much negative commentary about Kevin Costner as an actor, but I liked his performance very much in this movie. Being a single parent to his daughter portrayed him as a unmotivated alcoholic, he doesn't cook or even fulfill simple promises to his daughter. It is one thing to portray that role, it also lends itself to a quick hollywood change in attitude when the script calls for redemption. Things like that limit a film in its believability, although I don't worry about it so much. Thankfully director Joshua Stern didn't compromise the character study of Bud Johnson for the sake of plot, Costner deserves credit for that too.

Speaking of his daughter, Molly was played wonderfully by Madeline Carroll. Yeah, I was a little disappointed that we didn't get to see her side in politics. Yes, she was of the mind to be a good citizen and apparently that's enough for the audience. The movie did send a good message about civic duty, connected with Molly Johnson's character. Molly's struggle in this movie is just so easy to sympathize with, with the moments of "silent thought" in the film really pushing the emotion in this film instead of being dumbed down into words.

The movie also does a good job of putting the mirror in front of the characters, making them question their roles in politics. Yes the movie addresses politics, but not a specific issue directly. Instead, its an overall judgement story of the characters as to being true to themselves with no compromise. That really won me over, and I got a little "choked up" as the movie progressed from a combination of sad reality and a REALLY WELL DELIVERED monolouge by Kevin Costner.

I recommend this movie, its such a good film to pull out when you feel moody. It just makes me want to raise the american flag and ironically go out and vote when you see the impact your vote really causes. This movie shows that, and I was reflecting on my own views during this movie.

So for that, the movie gets an 8 out of 10.

See it.