Month: January 2016

In the Heart of the Sea

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heart-sea-movie-poster

In a lot of ways, In the Heart of the Sea is a well-made, but it also sprawls in too many directions for any of it to really land.  The underlying quality of the craftsmanship still makes it thoroughly enjoyable, but it doesn’t quite stack up with Ron Howard’s better films.

In the Heart of the Sea starts with Herman Melville visiting the only remaining survivor of the Essex, a whaling ship that was lost in the Pacific Ocean.  That survivor, cabin boy Thomas Nickerson, then recounts the story of the Essex’s last fateful voyage.  It starts with Owen Chase, played by Chris Hemsworth, being passed over for a promised promotion to Captain for the son from an well-known whaling family.  That starts a rivalry for the more experiences Chase having to answer to the inexperienced and haughty captain.  The movie spends a lot of time setting up the two as rivals, and positions Chase as the man for viewers to root for, but as the movie goes on the whole rivalry angle is kind of lost.

Their voyage is not successful, starting with a near disaster with a storm and then months without seeing a whale.  The lack of success makes them desperate, so they venture into distant waters to find the whales and tragedy strikes.  A rogue whale rams the Essex, sinking it and leaving the crew on the whaling boats 2000 miles from land.  Now the movie shifts from to a survival tale.

Both halves of the movie are effective, but they don’t quite fit together cohesively.  For instance, when they land on a small island, which does not contain enough food or water to support them, Chase and second mate Matthew Joy reveal that they are close as brothers and he tearfully leaves him behind.  While they had showed some familiarity in the earlier parts of the film, that closeness was never mentioned until that point.  These sorts of little hiccups are all over the movie.

As an aside, I looked up the story of the Essex after seeing this movie, and I am confused about why some things were changed.  The basics are still the same, and I understand some changes to the family stuff back on shore, but other changes, which I won’t detail, are simply not as good as the truth.  I okay with some dramatic license, but why change things in a way that makes it less interesting?

Where the film succeeds is in its imagery.  This is a beautiful film.  Every shot is gorgeous.  The ship and its cramped inner working looks amazing. Then there are the incomparable shots of the Essex on the sea, with contrast between the sky and the murky depths of the ocean. It just looks amazing. There are also some very good performances by the cast, with Cillian Murphy being the obvious stand out.  To the film’s credit, it eventually gives a nuanced look at the power dynamics between the two leads.  Less successful are the cutaways to Melville and the elderly Nickerson, which seem only to detract from the parts people actually want to see.

In the Heart of the Sea is a good story told somewhat badly, but shot wonderfully.  Despite its subject matter, it is an easy movie to watch.  The sailing shots alone make this movie worth watching.  The rest isn’t really bad, but it feels like a lot of different stories haphazardly strapped together.  When things do come together, like in the whaling scenes, it is wonderful, but other times is just sort of muddles through. Still, it is worth watching.

**1/2

25 Years 25 Games: A Celebration of the Super Nintendo

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The Super Nintendo, the greatest video game system to ever exist, at least until this point, was released in the USA on August 23, 1991. 2016 marks its 25th anniversary. To celebrate, I’ve decided to beat 25 SNES games that I’ve either never played or at least never beaten. Some of the games I have chosen are classics that I just never managed to play, like Contra 3 or Super Mario RPG, others are hidden gems, like Skyblazer or Robotrek. Throughout the year I am going to try to beat these games and chronicle my attempts to play them. If I manage to get some sort of streaming going I might stream some of this, but otherwise I will just be writing about my experiences here.

I do have a list of games I intend to cover, though I do not have it whittled down to exactly 25 games, nor do I have the order that I plan to play them completely mapped out. Being the math expert that I am, I realize that I need to do two games a month, with one extra, to get them all done in a year. Here is the list:

  • Run Saber
  • Super Bomberman
  • Sparkster
  • Gradius 3
  • Contra 3
  • R-Type 3
  • Lufia
  • Lufia 2
  • DoReMi Fantasy
  • Space Megaforce
  • Radical Dreamers
  • Skyblazer
  • Illusion of Gaia
  • Terranigma
  • Magical Quest
  • Uncharted Water
  • Super Mario RPG
  • Saturday Night Slam Masters
  • Secret of Evermore
  • Legend of the Mystical Ninja
  • Joe and Mac
  • Death and Return of Superman
  • Actraiser
  • Wild Guns
  • Robotrek
  • Pocky & Rocky 2

I know I’m starting with Super Bomberman and that I’ll get to Super Mario RPG sooner rather than later, but otherwise my only plan is to spread out the RPGS, for obvious time related reasons.

It is kind of amazing that I could call a system my favorite of all time and still make a list of games such as above. There are some widely acclaimed classics on that list. It isn’t that I didn’t play a lot of SNES games, but I was pretty late to the SNES party to have the time to play everything the system had to offer before I and everyone else moved on to the PS1 or N64. I didn’t get an SNES until 1997, when the systems life was rapidly fading. I still spent a couple of years doing nothing but playing SNES games, but it wasn’t long before the siren’s song of Final Fantasy VII and Ocarina of Time grew too tempting.

Now, 25 years after the SNES first graced our shores, I feel the desire to dig deep into it library and really see all that the system had to offer. Not that 25 more games to the ones I’ve already played is all the system’s library, but it is a good start. Now it is time to play with super power.

Top 10 Movies of 2015

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It was a good year for movies. It is usually pretty easy for me to pick a top ten, since I tend to manage about 15 new movies a year and dropping out the handful I didn’t like is pretty easy. This year there were only a few that I immediately dismissed from contention, Spectre and Fantastic Four. Choosing among the rest was somewhat difficult. Still, I am satisfied with this list. As far down as seven entries on this list are excellent films that I might have considered for the top spot in another year. It is a where the top three movies were new entries in movie series dating back to the 70’s. It is a not completely happy trend, but all three were great updates on old formulas.

10: The Peanuts Movie – There were a lot of movies I considered for this last spot, but I had to go with Peanuts. While it is likely the least ambitious of the movies I was considering, but it was also likely the most pleasant. That is not always a good thing, but there is something charming in The Peanuts Movie’s nostalgia. It is familiar, but still enjoyable.

9: Ant-Man – The formula for Marvel’s superhero movies has become all but impossible to notice, but it is no less effective. Ant-Man is a good execution of it, though I can’t help but yearn for Edgar Wright’s version. Still, what we got was perfectly enjoyable, even if it wasn’t quite as spectacular as some of the best Marvel films.

8: Furious 7 – Nothing tops Furious 7 in terms of pure nonsense spectacle, but the movie also had a surprising amount of heart. I don’t know that I would ever actually call this movie good, but it beats all the other pure spectacle films of the year, like Avengers Age of Ultron or Jurassic World.

7: Inside Out – This movie’s placement on this list was the most volatile. I never questioned putting it on the list, but where it fit on the list was very much in question. Here at 7 is the lowest it got, and I am tempted to movie it back up a few spots because this seems too low. Inside Out was Pixar being critically recognized as being back on top of their game (though I am of the opinion that their previous outings, Brave and Monsters University, were as good as any of their previous films) and it really is one of their best. It nails both being a fun movie for kids and a thoughtful movie for adults.

6: The Martian – Matt Damon is really excellent in this and the movie around him is just as good. It is basically Robinson Crusoe on Mars, and executed by Director Ridley Scott with skill. It is simply a fun, thoughtful movie.

5: The Man from UNCLE – This is my dark horse movie. I don’t think many people gave this movie a chance, because it was excellent, but did pretty poor at the box office. I can’t figure out why. It is slick and charming, with just enough action to make everything work. The middle action sequence, the boat chase, is maybe my favorite scene in any movie this year. This is just a pure fun movie.

4: Mission Impossible Rogue Nation – I don’t know that this one if quite as good as the previous MI movie, Ghost Protocol, but it is still an excellent spy movie. There is great chemistry among the stars, Cruise, Pegg, and Ferguson. Really, Rebecca Ferguson is the stand out performer here. I hope to see more of her. The rest of the movie is great as well, with several great set pieces and action sequences.

3: Star Wars the Force Awakens – This movie would probably top the list if it did just a little more new. As good as The Force Awakens is, it is just a little too beholden to what came before it. No one channels nostalgia like JJ Abrams, but this time he seemed to just a bit too reverent to the source material. Still, it was a great to watch a Star Wars movie that felt like a Star Wars movie.

2: Creed – Much like The Force Awakens, Creed also hews very closely to the series originator. In this case, though, it felt like the filmmakers did something new and had something new to say. It is wonderfully acted and directed. It is just a great movie.

1: Mad Max Fury Road – This was not even close. This is by far the best movie of the year. It is relentless and unforgettable. Hardy does some good work stepping into the Max role, but Charlize Theron is impossibly great as Imperator Furiosa. I loved every single second of it. It is just great. I could sit here forever raining superlatives on this film, but I’ll just stop and say that it is the best.

My Top 10 Games of 2015

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The end of the year is here and it is time to reflect on my experiences over the last year. So I am starting with my Top 10 games of 2015. Of course, the list is going to be mostly Nintendo games because those are the systems I primarily play and because they make the best games. So let’s get on with it.

10: Boxboy – This simple but delightful little platformer from HAL was easily one of the best games on the 3DS this year.  It took a very simple concept, a box that can make other boxes, and crafted some excellent puzzles and challenges out of it.  It is all too brief, though.  It matches that simple gameplay with similar graphics, being mostly black and white and mostly just boxes.  The game uses that simplicity to its advantage, clearly indicating just what is possible and what is important.  It is all around just an excellent game.

9: Legend of Zelda Triforce Heroes – This game is everything that the 4 Swords games, delightful even if limited, wanted to be.  It features three Links instead of four, but otherwise is exactly what you want a multiplayer Zelda to be like.  The getting power-ups from different costumes, and making those costumes an integral part of the game was a brilliant move.  This is not the sequel to A Link Between Worlds that most people wanted, but it is a perfectly fun game in its own right.

8: Affordable Space Adventures – This one slipped by a lot of people’s radars, which is unfortunate.  It makes some of the best use of the WiiU tablet controller for the system yet and is a damn fun game regardless.  In Affordable Space Adventures, the player goes on a voyage courtesy of a fly-by-night space exploration company.  After the inevitable crash landing, up to three players must work together to pilot their tiny space craft to safety.  It is just an awesome experience.  The biggest part of the game is knowing how the various systems of the craft interact with the surroundings, like the noise the motor makes or the electrical systems making it detectable by some obstacles.

7: Steamworld Heist – A late entrant on the list, but I think this one will have staying power.  SteamWorld Dig was a delightful little metroidvania, but Heist keeps the same robotic aesthetic but changes genre to turn based strategy, playing something like Worms.  The game features a lot of options for tackling maps and looks and sounds great.  Really, the game just oozes charm.  The fact that is features hats just so they can be shot off is wonderful. 

6: Splatoon – I really wish my time with this game hadn’t been derailed by losing my save data.  This is a charming and fresh take on the multi-player shooter that has been a well-deserved hit for Nintendo.  It is mostly here for the multiplayer, which I really enjoyed for the month I stuck with it, but the single player was also a lot of fun.  For a company that has an undeserved reputation among the uniformed for trotting out the same games over and over, Nintendo has a knack to taking genre’s other pioneer and giving them accessible spins.  Games like Pikmin.  Splatoon is simply aesthetically and mechanically a joy to play.

5: Yoshi’s Woolly World – This is Nintendo going back to their old faithful genre.  No one does hopping and bobbing like Nintendo.  This game also takes Kirby Epic Yarn’s arts and crafts aesthetic and takes it even further.  On graphics alone this game may be worth putting on this list.  Luckily, the game itself is great to.  I have not been a huge fan of any of Yoshi’s previous starring roles, but this one just feels good. It hits that sweet spot of being easy to beat each level, but hard to get all the secrets.  It makes you want to get the secrets, but you are never trapped by anything other than your desire to not leave anything behind.  This is just an excellent take on a reliable formula.

4: Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate – It is just like Monster Hunter 3, only bigger and better.  I spent more than 100 hours on this in just a few months, but then kind of got distracted.  Still, it is a ton of fun.  There is just so much to do in one of these games that no sane player will ever see everything. This time I got right to the end of the high rank stuff, not quite to G rank, before wandering off.  I have every intention of coming back to it, but who knows if I’ll ever make the time.  MH4U is such an assured, steady game that it is hard not to admire.

3: Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain – Wildly ambitious and somewhat flawed, The Phantom Pain is an amazing experience.  The sheer breadth of things it allows the player to do is astounding.  This is the game glimpsed occasionally through MGS4’s narrative pretensions.  After a highly scripted opening, it drops the player in Afghanistan and just leaves you alone.  There is near complete freedom in how missions are tackled.  Each of the game’s 40 or so missions are a significant chunk of the size of MGS1.  The game never seems to run out of new things to do.  The only flaw is that it seems like large portions of the story are just missing, as though the game was shoved out not quite finished, with just enough context to tell its tale.  Still, it is an unforgettable experience.

2: Super Mario Maker – Almost less of a game than a toolset, Super Mario Maker is also a complete delight.  Because it is a toolset, a surprisingly deep one if far from comprehensive.  It has allowed prospective game designers the keys to the kingdom to make their own Mario levels.  And really, playing other people’s levels is as fun as making your own.  My levels are pedestrian affairs, usually with a focus on precise platforming over waves and waves of enemies, but some people have managed some truly great and inventive stuff.  It can be annoying to wade through some cruft, but this game is a gift that keeps on giving.

1: Xenoblade Chronicles X – I liked but didn’t love Xenoblade Chronicles.  It was impressive and ambitious, but ultimately too long.  I ended up never finishing it and enjoyed The Last Story significantly more.  XCX, while playing in large part like its predecessor, has utter captivated me.  Never before has a game given me a world I more wanted to explore or given me the freedom to do so at my own pace.  The world of this game is huge and beautiful and is pretty much completely open to the player right from the start.  From the great green plains of Primordia to the broken volcano fortresses of Cauldros, this game never lacks for things to see.  The plot and story is never more than serviceable and the battle system can be needlessly obtuse, but just running out to see what you can find is a thrill that no other game can match.