Saturday, June 27, 2009

My Transformers 2 review (spoilers)

OK, I have been busy and or lazy since before my move to Washington DC, and haven't put out a new blog entry in a long time. Well, I went to see the Transformers 2 movie last night and decided to get back to this since it has been so long. So on to the movie...

I don't know where to start really. I will say that though I am always pro-generation one and nothing else, I did really enjoy the first movie. If you check back to my June 2007 blog review on my personal website you will see this. Unfortunately, I have to say I do not feel the same about this one. I wouldn't say I hated it because there were some things I liked, but for the most part I left very disappointed. Getting to my specific complaints though, there were many.

First off, I really did not like this Fallen character, and what he represented. First off, he was made into the "leader" of the Decepticons, and Megatron was just a chump next to him. That was just retarded to me and probably any real Transformers fan who thinks about it. I am sorry, Megatron answers to no one. That was always the way it was and should be. Heck, he didn't really even answer to Unicron in Gen one when he had to. I just didn't like Megatron at his best in the movie being second in command, and at his worst in some points in the movie, just being a regular Decepticon drone for the most part.

My second complaint has to do with the technology in the movie, and there are two distinctly different parts about it I didn't like. First off, I thought it was retarded that the US military was complaining in the movie that the Autobots wouldn't share their advanced weapons technology with them. This was dumb because A) They should have gotten all they needed from the many years of having Megatron frozen as a captive in the first movie, and B) They didnt seem to need it anyway. All through the movie they are shown fighting Decepticons, and a lot of times, it seemed that they were really beating them, or at least holding them to a stand still. They didn't need better technology apparently. Finally, where the hell did the Decepticons get the technology to make humanoid robots? The girl who was after Sam at school was a Decepticon soldier?!? While she wasn't hurting my eyes to watch, if they can make these, they should have won this war instantly... I don't know, make robots of world leaders or something?!?!?

This is getting too long and too negative so my other complaints I will try to shorten up I guess. Maybe I am an old man, but I thought there was a lot of risque things in this movie for its rating. I know its not human, but dogs humping each other, robots trying to hump humans (the aforementioned Sam and robot chic, as well as a Decepticon drone/spy humping Megan Fox leg). That and some of the dialogue. I know it is 2009, and nothing in the movie offended me personally, but it is suppose to watchable by kids too, and if I had kids, I would not be comfortable with showing some of the things it showed or did, to my young children. Final complaint, Devastator was a bust. Humans and the small Autobot Mudflap were pretty much keeping him in check, and besides that humans pretty much finished him off with an aircraft carrier gun. Guess that goes back to my earlier technology complaint, but still, we are talking Devastator here. He shouldn't be going down like that...

Anyway, that is enough complaining, though if you pushed me I could give you more. I did like some of the things like the military and Autobots working together. That makes sense in the real world if it was real. I liked most of the action, though I wish it wasn't so close up you couldn't really tell what was going on. I liked that old gen one characters were remade into this one (if you have to remake them). Devastator, Soundwave, Ravage, Jetfire, Skids, and Sideswipe are ones I am thinking of at the moment. I generally like Shia LaBoeuf as Sam. He gets a little too corny at times, but for the most part he is cool and likable. No complaints about Megan Fox of course. I also liked they brought back the funny Sector 7 guy from the first movie back and kind of made him a hero... And the coolest part to me was personal. A large scene in the movie was at the Smithsonian Air and Space museum. I went there with the family last week for Fathers Day not knowing it was in the movie. It was so cool seeing so many things I saw at the museum being in the movie. Especially the Blackbird(Jetfire) and just seeing them walk around it and thinking, "Hey I was walking in the same spot". We took pictures of the museum while we were there, including a couple of awesome Tranformers IMAX displays I will have to throw up on facebook or on a seperate page on my website. Anyway, kind of dorky in a way, but the truth. Well, time to put this to bed. I don't regret seeing this movie, and I am glad it was made, but I do feel it was a step back in my fandom of this movie series. I even got a few of the figures when they came out a few weeks ago to put on my desk that I won't be able to enjoy as much now. I do feel that this is a movie that people who have no previous Transformers history will enjoy more than those of us who grew up on it. I would rate it a B to B-.

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Not online much next few weeks....moving to DC

Well, if anyone wonders where I am online the next few weeks (mostly Xbox live and PSN), I won't be on much because I am moving from Cleveland to Washington DC. It will be hectic. Packing this week, and moving on the weekend. Will be crazy. So getting internet disconnected and reconnected will also cause downtime even if I do find a few minutes to game here and there.

Should be fun to get a new start though, and it will be interesting living in the nations capital. The Japanese fan in me thinks it will be cool to see the cherry trees blossoming the next few weeks there. That is something I never thought I would see. Well, see everyone soon....

Friday, February 13, 2009

My site is back up!!!

Yeah!! My site is finally back up after being down for almost a week. I doubt anyone knows or cares, but it was driving me crazy. I was due my annual domain name/hosting renewal, and I decided that I wanted to switch to another company. It was a good deal because now I am paying less for 5 years of coverage than I was with my previous host for only 2. Other bonuses include more space, more bandwidth, and American tech support. That last one is important. Don't get me wrong, I am not racist. Actually some of my best friends are from the country that my old providers tech support is stationed. The problem was I couldn't understand them or they couldn't understand me half of the time I had to use them. Plus most of the time I really never felt that they cared. Plus with the way the economy is, I think it is better to have the money go into my countries workforce. Anyway, site is back up now, and all I have to do now is fix all my file extension problems..... :(

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Japanese/RPG Mode

I was just thinking the last couple of days, that I think I am back to full Japanese mode lately. That probably doesnt mean much to most people, but while it is always with me to varying degrees, there are certain times that I really want all Japanese stuff all the time when it comes to recreation.

Now is one of those times, and when it comes all I want to do is play JRPGs, watch Anime, eat the food, etc.

I guess part of it is the deluge of great Japanese inspired things I have gotten lately. Funimation finally got Kanon #6 out, and I recently got 4 and 5, so now I am back to watching that show and it is good. Also, I have found myself mixing in some repeats of my favorites such as Rahxephone, Cowboy Beebop, Evangelion and Shuffle, though I not watching all of that as much as I am finding it sounds as I write this. All awesome shows though. I usually like to really like to immerse myself into it too by drinking some of the Japanese pops I have been buying lately at the Sushi restaurant I go to and from World Market. Sure for the most part they taste very similar to the american drinks, but it is fun to pop that marble in and let it roll around as I drink from the glass bottles.

As for JRPGs, I cant get enough of those either, and my newest one is my main reason for writing this (Ar Tonelico 2). It ,Run Factory 2, and Infinite Undiscovery I have really enjoyed, as well as picking up a few other JRPGs for later, such as Mana Khemia (Love the NIS games, have almost all of the PS2 ones they have made). I have been trying to write a few reviews on Gamespot lately, and really want to for Ar Tonelico 2 because I am enjoying it so much, but I should probably wait to get more into the game. I have invested probably about 4 hours into it the last couple of days, but I hear it is over 100 hours in length.

Anyway, it is all cool. I know Japan is a different world, but I really love a lot of their culture. Its times like this that I can put away my Xbox 360 games like Dead Space (which I like alot), achievements, and my other normal nongaming American things, and not miss them for a little while.

Wow, this self reflecting blog got way longer than it was meant to.... I guess now I am getting too full on myself...lol

Sunday, January 4, 2009

My New Car

I got a new (used) car a few weeks ago, on December 11th, and thought I would take come pictures and put them up. It is a 2006 Pontiac G6. Below is the link to a quick webpage I threw together with the pictures I took of it.

My Pontiac G6