Tagged: screen

Transformers

Transformers was truly awesome fun to watch. Loads of robot-on-robot action and jam packed with cheesy humour just the way I like it. And the robots! Man they look cool. The sound effects were awesome too. I wasn’t a fan of the original cartoon series or comic books. I wasn’t an anti-fan either. I just never got into them. But I am a HUGE fan of Man vs. Machine Apocalyptica, and have been ever since seeing The Matrix. On this, Transformers certainly delivers, and on an epic scale. These robots are scary; even the good guys

Shia LaBeouf is excellent as Sam in the role of “boy entrusted with the fate of the universe but really just wants to go after the popular hot girl with a jerk boyfriend”. Megan Fox is appropriately shallow as the aforementioned hot girl with a shallow performance to match. While he plays “macho commando with token wife and just-born kid back home” quite convincingly, Josh Duhamel was slightly annoying in that all I could think was “Hey, that’s the guy from Las Vegas.” Rachael Taylor was pretty annoying as the “hot hacker girl who looks really dumb and surprises everyone by decoding the alien signal”. She was allowed to keep her Aussie accent, but I’m not it was the smartest move in a cast full of Americans. Speaking her lines with an overzealous urgency that belongs in an Aussie soap, she sticks out a bit and it makes for a pretty awkward performance. Jon Voight was pretty so-so as “defence secretary baffled by all the computer gobbledygook but still has time to talk to the hot hacker girl”.

So… Transformers is cliché central. I’ll admit it. But seriously, it’s all about the ROBOTS people! And the robots are seriously majorawesomecoolness. If you didn’t go to this film for massive shiny robot action and explosions and one seriously bad-ass villain robot who transforms into a fighter jet (how cool is that!?) then you’d probably be disappointed. I didn’t even mind the US Air Force propaganda but as a Stargate SG-1 fan that was never going to be an issue.

In conclusion I’d recommend Transformers to anyone who’s up for a bit of action. It’s rekindled my appreciation for epic action films. I’d put it in the same category as Minority Report, X-Men and I, Robot (which coincidentally also starred Shia LaBeouf).

Chasing The Cheap Laughs?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m still a huge Chaser fan, but lately I worry they might be lowering the bar in order to widen their audience *gasp!* Most of the sketches are still bloody funny, especially Chas’ recent Porno Cliche Road Test. I was ROTFLMAO, literally. As disturbing as it was, I have to give the man credit for throwing his dignity to the floor, stamping on it repeatedly, then dousing it in fuel and setting fire to it. And this week’s Hobbit trailers were truly top-notch. But a few of The Chaser’s recent sketches have left me scratching my head wondering “How, exactly is this funny?”

For me, the appeal of The Chaser comes from their unique satire of politics, the media and popular culture. They don’t stick to the conventional rules for comedy, which provides great relief from the unoriginal formulaic humour saturating our screens (most of it American sitcoms). Most of The Chaser stuff is pretty original, and they’re not afraid to go where others dare not tread. But I think it’s possible for even the most loyal Chaser fans to be alienated by sketches that aren’t up to par.

I don’t want to turn this post into a whinge-fest but some sketches just aren’t funny. Andrew’s Thesaurus song was simply embarrassing to watch. I felt bad for the guy. Is he really that desperate for material? How do you make fun of synonyms? And his hair lately screams “mid-life crisis”. But I shouldn’t just pick on Andrew (although his hair really deserves it). Julian’s trip to the 3 call centre in Mumbai wasn’t all that funny either. OK, so phone companies outsource their call centres to India. WE GET IT. And waltzing into The Athlete’s Foot with tubs of paint? I don’t recall seeing “paint” as a terrain in the original ad. It’s like they thought “How can we tweak this to REALLY piss these people off?” I wish they would stop annoying the MSO. I tolerated the first instance, but when they showed up as louts in the middle of a concert, that’s just annoying.

At the moment, the funny sketches are still way outnumbering the unfunny ones. I hope it stays that way.

I Totally Heart ABC

I scanned for digital TV channels again on the off chance ABC had started broadcasting early, and well, lets just say that I’ll be watching Robin Hood in crispy clear digital goodness tonight ^_^

I just finished watching Daria on ABC2 (pictured) which was the most awesomest show when I was 15. Now it’s a bit irritating. I’m just about to go through the EPG and see what else is on offer. Oh, and before you ask, yes I did jump up and down in my lounge room when ABC showed up on the channel scan. And yes, I’m tempted to watch ABC2 all day long just because I can, but I won’t because the kiddy cartoons are equipped with sanitysuction powers. And yes, I’m recording that Richard Dawkins thing tonight. As well as that Cate Blanchett movie which also looks good. Really, any movie with Cate Blanchett is probably worth a look.

It’s only a week since I got the PVR – it’s almost as if the signal could sense the Toppy and was drawn to it in some magical mystical way… I *told* you Toppys were just the coolest things ever!

SBS Website Hacked?

Screenshot of the hacked SBS site

Am I the only one who’s noticed that the SBS Mythbusters site has been hacked? Pushing German viagra is not something you’d expect Mythbusters or SBS to be doing, is it? And why this site? Simply a scanner bot exploiting a standard vulnerability it’s found? Or is someone trying to say something about Jamie and Adam’s…umm…libido?

The screenshot was taken a few minutes ago and I’m about to email SBS as they appear not to have noticed… As a slightly related note (in that it’s about another geeky show on SBS) Nerds FC season 1 repeats started today, and I’ve calculated this has been timed so they’re finished by the premiere of season 2 on June 9th. New nerds, new coaches… should be interesting. I’m counting down the days. Hey, maybe I should put the old counter back up…

Machinima, Evolved

When I started to write this post I realised I was writing my first post about Blizzard, which is kind of cool considering they provided the inspiration for my domain name. Yay for Blizzard! :-)

Last Monday night, the much coveted title of “Funniest South Park Episode Ever” was awarded to a new winner! Previously held by the Chinpokomon episode, Make Love, Not Warcraft has knocked off its predecessor with merciless vigour to stand triumphantly as the sole victor.

The episode is a no-holds-barred parody of the Bilzzard MMORPG World of Warcraft and the gamers who play it. I won’t say too much but the basic plot is about a WoW player who’s going around killing other characters without first agreeing to a duel, thus ruining the game for everyone. The player’s character has become so powerful that he can’t be controlled by the WoW admins. All being avid WoW fans, the South Park gang resolve to defeat the character and reclaim their game.

You’ve got the classic South Park over-the-top humour but this time with a geek edge. The portrayal of ubergamers is so hilariously accurate, it’s almost scary. I liked Chinpokomon for the same reason. Matt & Trey parodied otakus and the Japanese flawlessly, and I could relate, being a closet Pokemon junkie myself.

But what’s most impressive is how machinima is used to represent the in-game action. A theme throughout the episode is that for the players, the World (of Warcraft) *is* their world, having no lives outside the game. The in-game action illustrates how the boys take the game world much more seriously than their real lives. Now I’m just waiting for someone to make a WoW machinima series, in the tradition of Red vs. Blue.

If you’ve ever played any of the Warcraft games, this episode is an absolute must! Hardcore WoW fans beware though. Before watching I suggest you equip your Sense of Humour shields and +9 Insult Slaying knives as this episode may will most definitely offend any WoW fans unable to laugh at themselves.

Edit: I forgot to mention, this episode was made with the full support of Blizzard, which just supports my theory that Blizzard are just the best damn game makers out there ;-)