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Halo 2: Anniversary (2014)
Visually stunning and a joy to play but packed with technical issues
I played this for the coop campaign on the Xbox One. Overall, had lots of great fun, especially with skulls enabled (grunts explode on death, exaggerated physics, greater explosion range etc). Definitely the most visually impressive of the two remasters of the original Halos. The designs are very faithful to the original and do not seem over-detailed like how they were done to Combat Evolved. The redone cutscenes are a real pleasure to watch, although occasionally block trademark character details (e.g. The 'mohawk' on Tartarus is not very well emphasized). The music is also well done, far better than the work on Combat Evolved. High Charity in particular has very menacing background music. The weapons also sound really great, as does the rest of the sound design.
With all these positives however, the game includes numerous technical glitches that are inexcusable. I experienced several instances where the game just outright froze and had to be rebooted. Shadows in levels often flicker awkwardly. When playing as Arbiter, the game will occasionally freeze for several seconds after first activating the cloak on a level. There is also several instances where the arms of the Master Chief clip with the camera during reload animations. While many of these faults are minor, the crashes and freezes reflect very poorly on quality assurance, especially for the time this game has been out.
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
A disservice to history in the name of entertainment
Judging as a purely fictional work, the River Kwai is a decent, but perhaps too long of a film. It has iconic characters, beautiful cinematography, and impressive production design. The bridge and its fate is by far the highlight of the film and is a treat to the eyes. There's plenty of good humour mixed in as well.
However, to judge the film without taking into account its disservice of history - particularly to the actual people involved in the real events this film bastardized would be inappropriate.
It drags both the Allies and Axis (American/British and Japanese) in the mud. It falsely depicts the Allied POWs as wilful collaborators and the Japanese as incompetent engineers incapable of producing a relatively simple bridge. For half the film, it almost comes across as a "White saviour" fantasy, where the civilized British help a naive and incompetent Japanese colonel accomplish his objective of building a bridge across the river. Ironically it does this while also severely downplaying the mistreatment ("mistreatment" is a cosmic-sized understatement) of Allied POWs under Japanese imperialists. It simultaneously and bizarrely makes both the Japanese and Allies look better and worse than they actually were.
I don't get the impression this is either an anti-Japanese or anti-British film. Rather, I believe it gratuitously embellishes and scandalizes history for the sake of entertainment value and its own "spin" (right off the axle) on real events - despite the real story being plenty interesting enough. I am perplexed why they treated history this way.
It's not a bad film, but one mixed with excellent production quality and severe historical bastardization.
Oppenheimer (2023)
Sleazy and profoundly boring
If you love watching choppily-edited dialogue, ping-ponging timelines, overwhelmingly pretentious direction, regular close-ups of Cillian Murphy's face, with an occasionally sleazy scene mixed in to earn that refined-mature R-rating, you'll love Oppenheimer. It's the pseudo-intellectual's film of the year. No doubt the cult of Nolan will regard this as a masterpiece of filmmaking, sneering and hissing at those who dare not praise his latest slop. His quality of films have been rapidly swirling down the drain since The Dark Knight Rises.
About the only interesting moment in the film is when they explode something, but unfortunately even that is less impressive than watching the mixing of mentos with soda.
I started laughing from the very beginning when they had close-ups of Murphy's character staring, supposedly visualizing something extraordinary - cue the stars and strings, among other "spacey" imagery. This signals to the audience this man is very intelligent and you should be in awe. If you're not, you clearly lack the IQ needed to enjoy this film.
And of course, since it's hecking-current-year, we've got to include the totally unnecessary nude scenes... Because this is a mature film and these nude scenes are not like the other nude scenes. Showing butts and boobs on camera is artistic you see! And totally necessary to the plot! Oh and did I mention they say a really smart quote while they're doing it!? And if you disagree, you're an uncultured prude, you must be ugly, or no one loves you! Or whatever the Nolan cult would say.
The film's not all bad of course. The soundtrack is good and the casting was well done. By the end of the film though, I'm just so bored out of mind I'm grateful it's all over. Also the "property is theft" clip, peak research there. No, no, no! That wasn't a misquote, that was intentional! Nolan is a heckin' genius and would never allow a silly mistake like this! Noooo! You're not smart enough to understand!
TEDTalks (2006)
Buzzwords worth spreading
There are a few interesting talks, but the vast majority of speakers just use a lot of fancy words and have very little actual substance. There's also a great deal of cargo cult science that is promoted. Many speakers seem to be on there mainly to promote their own book.
When you take into account that attendees must pay exorbitant prizes to attend (apparently in the thousands), it really puts it into perspective just how little value is offered for their money.
The whole conference reeks of a self-congratulatory elitist echo chamber - a gallery of trendy buzzwords that when all pieced together apparently comprise a cocktail of wisdom (in reality, more of an open sewer). Many of the talks outright come across as if they were written by A. I. Overall, TED represents an obese haystack of faux intellectualism dashed with a scant few needles of worth. You're better off listening to kindergarteners do presentations on frogs. At least you'd probably learn something.
SpongeBob SquarePants 4-D: Ride (2005)
Perfect fun short film for families and adults alike
Originally, I saw this many (many) years ago at Paramount Canada's Wonderland. Recently, I watched it again on YouTube, albeit in a 2D format. It's even better than I remembered. A perfect fun short film for families and adults alike. Great humour and animation.
The attraction at Wonderland was a nice break from the heat, although sadly has long been unavailable and shut down. I remember the 4D effects being pretty good, at least they had to be considering I went on the ride nearly every time I went when it was still around...
I wish the Action Theatre could return someday. Due to licensing, I doubt even if it does that this film will play there again. I'm just glad I got to experience this film how it was meant to be during the Paramount days of the park when I had the chance.