Movie Review: Robin Hood (2010)

Title: Robin Hood (2010)
Director: Ridley Scott
Rating: 2 Stars

Ah, disappointment burns brightly for me on this one.  I had reasonably high expectations going in... I wasn't sure the movie would be all that popular, but I thought I would like it.  Ridley Scott and I go back a ways, as it happens.  His film, Gladiator, is one of my very favorite movies.  The director's cut (please! stay away from the theatrical release) of Kingdom of Heaven is also very good, if not quite as good as Gladiator.  All three films are set to a violent, historical sword-and-shield kind of backdrop, and I'll be honest, I'm a big fan of such films.  I especially enjoy the historical ones when I believe them to be generally bereft of too much Hollywood romanticism.  Indeed, my preference for Gladiator over Braveheart is because I believe Gladiator to be the truer, less romanticized movie.

And that's what torpedoes this movie for me... Ridley Scott gave in (or was forced to) ridiculously sappy egregious romanticism.  For the first four fifths of this movie I was genuinely enjoying myself.  It paid plenty of attention to historical details of the period (in this case just after of the Third Crusade) and was engaged in the telling of a generally interesting take on the Robin Hood tale.  In this version, Robin is a common longbowman who'd accompanied Richard the Lionhearted's army to the Holy Land.  For those of you who are interested in that kind of thing, I did some checking and a lot of what you see in the movie are historical episodes (though none that ever confirmed the existence of Robin Hood).

Anyway, Robin eventually finds himself in a major squabble between the crown and many lords (spurred on by overly evil French agents) on the question of divine right of kings versus free will and god-given rights of the individual.  It seemed a little far-fetched while I was watching, but as I said, the history isn't exactly bad as far as all this was concerned.  The plot was fine, and the characters were reasonably engaging, and the acting was all quite good... But, it all came apart during the final battle for me.  It felt very unrealistic and full of Hollywood cliche.  Exactly what I did not expect from Mr. Scott.  My wife and I both laughed out loud at least once during the final battle scene, and it all ended up essentially ruining the movie for me.

C'est la vie, I guess.  I feel almost as betrayed by this one as I felt by the theatrical release of Kingdom of Heaven.  Here's to hoping the studio interfered with Ridley again and we'll all be treated to a future director's cut release of Robin Hood with a completely different battle scene... Or something. 

(2 stars)

Structure of Game Reviews

So, almost time to post a first-ever game review.  The thing is, game reviews kind of need to be on-time, and unlike professionals, I just don't have the kind of time I'd like to play a game all the way through in just a few days so as to post a current review.  My solution may be a bit of a cop-out, I suppose, but it's what you're going to get.  For regular games, I'm going to post a "preliminary" review giving you my impressions of the game... Then when I've completed the game, theoretically speaking, I'll give an update and a final rating.

Movie Review: Date Night

Title: Date Night
Director: Shawn Levy
Rating: 2 Stars

My wife and I decided to go see a movie the other night and checking the listing it fell between to comedies: Date Night and Hot Tub Time Machine, directed by Shawn Levy and starring Steve Carrell and Tina Fey.  I diplomatically suggested Date Night, despite low expectations, since I thought my wife wasn't in the mood for the surely raunchy and low-brow Hot Tub Time Machine.  But I felt like it kinda looked like Get Smart  -- another movie that didn't look great but turned out decent.  Oops.  I didn't like this movie a whole lot, and I think I'm probably being generous when I give it 2 stars.

I like Steve Carrell a lot, for the most part.  In fact, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, is one of my favorite comedies since Monty Python and the Holy Grail.  I'm supposed to like Tina Fey, I think, but I don't really.  Thought she was weak on SNL for years and never got into 30 Rock-- which is supposed to be funny.  I can't even get the "she's hot because she doesn't look Hollywood" thing going for whatever reason.  That being said, both turn in fine but unremarkable performances in this clunker of a movie.

Plotwise the movie was ho-hum.  I kinda like the way it started off with a married couple struggling to find time to appreciate each other outside of the mundane daily tasks involved with keeping their kids on the right track.  They introduce a sweet characterization device that I enjoyed: Steve and Tina point out other couples and then create conversation for them.  It was pretty funny and helped the audience see what brought the two characters together in the first place.  The movie really "gets going" when they steal someone's reservation and it turns out the stolen reservation belongs to another couple in trouble with the law.  Two hitmen arrive and hilarity is supposed to ensue (it doesn't). 

The movie really just didn't have any great jokes.  That's bad for a comedy.  I'll admit I laughed a couple of times... The first scene involving a mostly naked Marky Mark Wahlberg was kinda funny. And there was another thing very late in the film that amused me.  But, basically, the jokes missed enough that I don't think I even noticed they were supposed to be jokes (I expect better out of Steve Carrell, frankly).  If I'd have done some research, I'd've seen this coming.  It appears that Shawn Levy's purpose in life is to create mediocre-to-bad comedies.  He's responsible for such disasters as Cheaper By the Dozen and Night at the Museum.  He also made The Pink Panther, a movie I know to be bad but like for non-movie reasons. 

Anyway, I can't really recommend this movie unless you're really hard up.  It's as bad as I thought it was going to be.  I didn't really want to cut myself or go on a murderous rampage while I was watching it, but when it was all over with I felt I'd wasted my time.

(2 stars)

Beer Review: Pacifico Clara (bottle, fruited)

It's Cinco de Mayo, which means I'm going to write a beer review of one of the very fine Mexican beers I drank today. I met a couple of friends at Old Chicago out by Grand Prairie in Peoria to finish up their Cinco de Mayo minitour.  An Old Chicago minitour involves drinking 6-12 beers over a given period of time (no more than 4 at any one sitting, mind you) for which you awarded fame in your mind and a t-shirt.  My life is such that a great deal of my wardrobe is comprised of Old Chicago t-shirts.

Anyway, the Cinco de Mayo minitour is one of my favorites because I generally find myself a fan of Mexican beer.  Corona is my least favorite, and most of them you do "fruit."  I know it's not "manly" to fruit a beer... But whatever.  It tastes good.  One day perhaps I'll drink a Pacifico without a slice of lime and tell you how it is.  Fruited, I will say, Pacifico is a nice brew.  It has a nice deep flavor for a pilsner that seemed particularly refreshing given all the American light lagers I've been drinking (pounding?) of late.  The lime gives it a nice tart start that gracefully gives way to Pacifico's rich finish.  The lime also provides it with a nice tangy aroma.

I drank it from a brown bottle that had a reasonably attractive, if simple, yellow label.  Pacifico's label is an anchor and life-preserver crest.  Bottle didn't have ABV or born-on information, but an internet search reports that Pacifico is 4.6% ABV.  Pacifico, I think, is my second favorite Mexican beer, behind the sublime Negra Modelo.  One day soon I'll surely review that also.

Beer - Pacifico Clara
Company - Cerveceria del Pacifico
Delivery System - 12 oz. Brown Bottle
Origin - Mexico

Flavor - 84
Aroma - 80
Packaging - 64
Value - 70
BEER POWER! - 54

Final Score - 81 (Excellent)

Beer Review: Coors Light (Can)

Got home, took the puppy out.  While he was running around the yard, rear legs a bit too long, still characterized by that puppy-like lack of coordination that's so fun to watch, I decided it was time to finish building the patio table I bought yesterday.  Then Dusty came over to catch up on HBO's new drama, Treme.  (Excellent show so far, by the way)... I figured what better way to christen the new patio table than to grab a (diet-)pounder and eat my dinner out on the deck. 

It was a good decision: good conversation and an almost-better-than-a-pounder sort of diet-pounder.  Coors Light, as far as light beer goes, is quite flavorful.  I would give it a clear flavor edge over Bud Light, even if it isn't quite as "drinkable" or cheap.  Like most of its pounder cousins it has no real aroma to speak of.  It comes in the well-known, and to my eye, relatively attractive Silver Bullet packaging.  Anyway, I think I probably tend to drink other diet-pounders more often, but I have no real reason why.  Perhaps I'll have to change it up. 

Beer - Coors Light
Company - Coors Brewing Company
Delivery System - 12 oz. Can
Origin - USA

Flavor - 70
Aroma - 80
Packaging - 72
Value - 70
BEER POWER! - 45

Final Score - 70 (Recommended)

Book Review: Spin

Title: Spin
Author: Robert Charles Wilson
Reviewed Format: Mass Market Paperback
Pages: 452
Rating: 4 1/2 Stars

Review: Spin is a Hugo Award for Best Novel winning sci-fi novel by Robert Charles Wilson.  For all intents and purposes the story is set now... Or maybe more accurately in 2005, when it was written.  It is written in the first-person (with one Tyler Dupree as the narrator) and follows the story of three main characters.  A pair of twins, Diane and Jason Lawton are children of relative privilege and both almost certainly geniuses.  Our narrator, no cognitive slouch himself, grows up in the shadow of these powerful personalities.  Robert Charles Wilson adroitly explores the personality of an individual who finds themselves in a position supporting (both directly and indirectly) a person of great influence who happens to have been alive at just that time that would see them maximize their potential impact.

That "just that time" is how Spin sets itself apart.  An ingenious scientific what-if.  It's a novel written in the great tradition of Isaac Asimov, or maybe even more so, Arthur C. Clarke.  Robert Charles Wilson has the three characters as teens making a bit of mischief during an adult party being thrown in the twins' house.  While they stand in the backyard looking up at the sky, suddenly the stars blink out.  It turns out that something has constructed a sort of temporal membrane around the Earth.  Inside that membrane time appears to be passing normally, while outside of it (the rest of the universe) things are moving at a rate of several years for every earth second.  The reason this has happened is completely unclear.  The story spans the next thirty or forty years (Earth-time) and we watch as society and our main characters try to adapt to this new reality.

This novel is purely excellent sci-fi.  It creates a canvas with a significant change to our reality and then paints a dramatic scene with compelling three-dimensional characterization and a psychological deep dive on those characters.  Wilson is a good writer, and I think this book would be accessible to any adult audience as a result.  I would recommend this book to anyone, fans of sci fi or otherwise.  (4 1/2 stars)