As a long-time reader of Haruki Murakami ever since picking up Norwegian Wood around 2005-2006, I’ve come to love his fluid writing style and surrealist narratives. To this point there are only two or three books of his that I haven’t read, and until today that included Hear the Wind Sing, his debut novel that was only ever released in Japan. Thank god for eBay!

If you’re like me and adore Murakami’s more prominent works like The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and A Wild Sheep Chase then you’ll find Hear the Wind Sing interesting for a few different reasons. First off, this feels like a first novel from someone who has a raw talent for writing that has yet to realize its full potential. The narrative is almost non-existent, and the structure is all over the place, cut up into roughly 40 short chapters in an already tiny book; the only reason it’s 160 pages is because it comes as a pocket-sized digest volume that wouldn’t even make 70+ pages in hardcover.

While there is very little of what later becomes Murakami’s trademark surrealism, the unnamed protagonist fits right in with all of his later leading men, with his “whatever” attitude and existentialist queries. Unfortunately there is little development on his part, as it is with what few other characters reside in the book.

On the whole, Hear the Wind Sing is interesting enough, but it’s far from a great first impression if you’ve never picked up a Murakami novel before. I’d almost say it’s not worth reading unless you’re already familiar with him, and it’s definitely not worth rushing out to spend $15-20 on a digest-size paperback unless you adore Murakami like I do.

After spending 113 hours on a single playthrough (not counting the 50+ hours I had to do over because my PS3 screwed up a previous file), I have to say that Persona 3 is one of the best, most addicting RPGs I’ve played since the SNES days. There was just so much in the game that kept me hooked from day one, and I don’t regret the enormous amount of time I spent playing through it.

First off, the story is incredibly engaging, and despite the sometimes horrendous English voice-acting (Fuuka… oh god!), you definitely begin to care about the characters in the game, even the ones that don’t play that big of a role. That’s because half of the game is spent going to school and improving your Social Links – bonds you share between certain characters in order to boost your Persona powers. It’s in your best interest to max out all your relationship stats, especially if you want to create the best Personas.

The other half of the game involves hours of dungeon-crawling, which – admittedly – didn’t appeal to me as much as the simulation aspects. Still, battles are fairly straightforward and strategic due to the game’s elemental mechanics, and towards the end the boss battles can be grueling if you’re not prepared; the final battle alone took me about an hour or so to finish on Normal difficulty and at fairly high levels.

The few negative elements I found with P3 were relatively minor. Certain things about the battles, from the fact that you can only control the protagonist while the rest of your party is AI-controlled; to the random one-shot kills that can ruin an hours’ worth of grinding. Also, as mentioned, the voice-acting can sometimes be cringe-worthy, and despite the hip, catchy soundtrack by series composer Shoji Meguro, the songs get repetitive after the 50-70 hour mark.

All in all, if you haven’t played this game before and are itching for a lengthy RPG that will suck you in, this is one of the finest.

…and that’s not even counting “The Answer” portion, an addition that was included with Persona 3: FES. Personally though, now that I’m finished with the main story, I’m already itching for more.

Starship Troopers is one of my favorite sci-fi films, which isn’t surprising considering the idea kind of reminded me of StarCraft when I first saw it. As much as I wanted a sequel to the original back in 1997 I hated Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation. So why did I watch Marauder? Call me crazy, or just call me a completionist. Either way.

Right off the bat I’ll say that Marauder is a hell of a lot better than Hero of the Federation, though it’s naturally not as good as the original Starship Troopers. It’s still got that tongue-in-cheek attitude that the original had with its “Would You Like To Know More?” commercials, as well as returning soldier Johnny Rico (Casper Van Dien!), but other than that it still feels like a cheaply made sequel, barely above the level of a SyFy original movie.

The story is slightly more epic in scope than Hero of the Federation‘s claustrophobic setup, but it feels like an excuse to “up the ante” of the war with the bugs and introduce new elements. Also, the characters themselves all feel … well, kind of stupid. You have to wonder how these people can be so high up in the military, even a fictional, futuristic one that the film itself makes fun of. *Half of the cast are just way too unlikeable, and the other half aren’t even given an ample amount of screentime to make up for it*.

My advice is this: if you haven’t already seen Hero of the Federation or Marauder, DON’T WATCHEITHER. All it will do is taint the greatness of the original film. If you HAVE seen Hero of the Federation, pop Marauder into your Netflix cue so you can at least wash away some of the bad taste left in your mouth. Trust me, it helps. I know.

Inception is like a famous rollercoaster you’re about to try for the first time: while waiting in a long line you’re so excited because you heard so much about it, when you’re finally on you enjoy it and can think of nothing else, and when it’s over you’re still thinking about it all the way home. Even though I hate rollercoasters I’m pretty sure the analogy still works.

Is this 2010’s big summer blockbuster? You’d better believe it. Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past decade you probably are familiar with either Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, The Prestige, and/or Memento – all of which are also directed by Christopher Nolan. If so, you should have an idea of what to expect, as his films all carry the same tense, dark tone throughout, which sets up a perfect atmosphere for the insanely dynamic and complex visuals that accompany a similarly styled storyline revolving around dreams. I won’t say more since the film is so new; go see the trailer for more details.

Regardless, it should be noted that the film definitely seems to borrow elements from other sources like The Matrix and the fiction of William Gibson, and it was hard to shake that nagging feeling during the latter parts of the film. Still, it doesn’t detract too heavily, and unless you’re really analytical about your films you probably won’t notice or care all that much.

Other than a few holes in the plot here and there I absolutely adored Inception, and would definitely see it again in theaters; the cinematic experience definitely helps. If you’re looking for a reason to go to the movies this summer, Christopher Nolan has just given you one.

Despite not being a religious-minded person whatsoever, I absolutely love Bruce Almighty, a film that still ranks up fairly high on my list of comedies. The whole idea surrounding its sequel Evan Almighty turned me off so much that I completely avoided it until… well, until yesterday actually. In some ways though, I’m glad I finally did see it.

Although a sequel, Evan Almighty has almost nothing to do with its predecessor at all, the only retained elements being Steve Carrell’s Evan Baxter and Morgan Freeman reprising his role as God. It’s essentially its own film, which is probably a good thing considering that Evan is much more over-the-top and unbelievable than Bruce was, if that’s possible. You can tell the difference in budget between the two, that’s for sure.

There are some genuinely funny moments, but for the most part the film is fairly predictable, and the overall story can be pretty well summed up by: God teaches jerk to not be a jerk and save the world – or at least the environment. It’s not subtle in its environmentalist message at all, but it’s not like it’s trying to hide it. Heck, it feels like the film is aware of its status as a “feel good”/“love everybody” kind of movie.

Evan Almighty is not as terrible as a lot of movies I’ve seen (especially ones that try harder to be good but fail utterly), but it’s also not great. If anything, it’s a forgettable, mediocre film that seems to be attached to its predecessor only to give it more attention. If you come to this with expectations of it being like Bruce Almighty, you WILL be disappointed. Otherwise, enjoy it for what it is; you won’t remember it by next week anyway.

I just finished watching Evangelion 2.0 not more than a few hours ago. I’ve put off writing about it so I could let everything sink in, and I think I’ve pretty much got all my thoughts together on what was one of the few films I’ve been looking forward to seeing for a long, long time – since, like… 2008.

Now, I’m a huge fan of the original series, and I’ve watched NGE in its entirety probably close to a dozen times, and I’ve tried to extrapolate every piece of imagery and every little detail it could offer, though I have to admit it’s been awhile since I revisited Tokyo-3. Not since Evangelion 1.0, actually. That being said, the most important thing for fans of the series to know is that the Rebuild of Evangelion series is now officially vastly different from the original television series. While You Are (Not) Alone was pretty much a condensed version of the series’ first few episodes, You Can (Not) Advancechanges many elements of the original story, including adding new characters and scenes while completely scratching others.

Namely, we’re introduced to newcomer Mari Illustrious Makinami (Maaya Sakamoto), a strange girl with glasses and pigtails that pilots EVA Unit-05 – one of the new units shown along with Unit-04 and Unit-06 (also called Mark-06 in the film). There are also changes made to the Angels, many of whom are either not shown or are completely redesigned; Sahaquiel (the giant eyeball “bomb” falling from space), for example, is much bigger and goes through various transitions before dropping down towards NERV. Finally, many changes are made to the story, which I won’t spoil here for those that haven’t seen the film yet. I will say that there is a much more “forced” relationship between some of the characters; rather than leaving things ambiguous, Hideaki Anno seems to want the characters to progress in a certain – slightly more positive – direction, unlike the original.

Overall, the changes work well, and in a sense creates a complete alternate universe that isn’t exactly meant to replace the original so much as reimagine it for contemporary audiences.

As a stand-alone film however, there are obvious problems with trying to fit so much into about two hours. Like You Are (Not) Alone, a lot of scenes from the series were cut, with new ones added; most of the cut scenes were action scenes with the Angels while the added ones are meant to develop the characters and alter Rebuild’s new story. And despite adding a new character and new Evangelions, neither are given a significant amount of screentime – even Mari! Not only that, but Mari’s involvement in the story is never actually explained, and while I’m sure they’re saving her story for Evangelion 3.0, it would’ve been nice to know what the hell she’s doing there. To be frank, some of the elements of the film’s latter half feel a little too much like a deux ex machina, but … well, it’s Evangelion, right?

I digress. This film should definitely not be missed by die-hard fans or newcomers alike. Fans of the show should delight in seeing the updated art and new scenes, while newcomers might be interested to compare the new stuff to the old classic. As far as I’m concerned, it’ll be hard to stay patient for Evangelion 3.0, especially after seeing the preview after the credits of You Can (Not) Advance. Hopefully it won’t be another two-year wait.

When it comes to authors and directors I like, I rarely ever list any of their works as “Not Worth Consuming”, mainly because I feel like each and every piece – including the less stellar ones – are worth my time. As much as I love Michael Crichton (RIP), Next is probably the one book I’d advise anyone interested in his work to skip.

While it does have the usual Crichton trademarks such as the exhaustive scientific research “translated” into English for those of us that didn’t pay attention in high school biology and the fast-pace thriller sequences, it ultimately feels much more “dumbed down” than any of the previous works. A far cry from The Andromeda Strain or even Jurassic Park, if I do say so.

Not only that, but I kind of feel like it was way more … well, fictionalized than even the stuff about UFOs crashing into the ocean or cloning dinosaurs. You would think with issues like gene patenting and genetic testing – which are incredibly important to us today – that Crichton would have wanted to focus on the science more, but everything just feels so fake.

Another thing is the novel’s structure. Instead of focusing on a single protagonist there are a large cast of characters, each with their own personal story that connects to a larger, overarching story. While this is an interesting dynamic, it produces incredibly short chapters (most are 2-3 pages in the hardcover) that create more confusion than necessary due to the focus flipping from one character to the next. It would have been better even to make a series of short stories and carry each scene from beginning to end instead of swapping back and forth.

While it does pick up a bit near the end, _Next_’s ultimate message is pretty much summed up by Crichton’s notes at the back of the book. Hell, part of the big monologue in one of the last chapters is almost worded exactly like his notes. For shame. Overall, very disappointing considering how good of a writer he was earlier in his career.

Dammit, now I really wish I had watched this with my girlfriend, given that it says many of the things I try to talk to her about. Away We Go is at the same time a romantic comedy, a kind of coming of age (albeit a late bloomer) drama, and a road movie packed into an hour and a half. It’s the kind of movie you watch with someone you’re in love with and go, “We can relate to that.”

I completely disagree with the previous review in saying that the protagonists of the film are unsympathetic. Given that my girlfriend and I are now two years out of college and still searching for what we want to do in life, the film’s premise really struck a chord with me, and especially in times like these it seems like these sorts of situations are becoming more and more common. And both John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph play their parts exceptionally well.

The story of the film is fairly typical: “couple goes to place A and it doesn’t work out, they go to B and that one is even stranger, they almost find it in C before ending up in D”. It’s pretty much what you expect, especially in the end, but it doesn’t make it any less enjoyable, as the film’s message seems to be centered more on the notion of home/family than location.

Obviously the younger kids probably won’t be interested in the problems of older, post-college adults blossoming a bit too late (though I’m sure you’ll understand when you’re older), but I’m sure the rest of us can find something to relate to in this film.

As weird as it may seem, I nearly checked DOA off as “worth consuming” here on the site. Hear me out for a moment!

It’s a safe bet to say that DOA is far from being a quality film. It’s a cheap, fairly sub-standard adaptation of a video game series known mostly for its well-endowed femme fighters (who apparently like to play volleyball). Right off the bat I’m going to go for a near-KO here: the casting sucks, acting is tongue-in-cheek bad, and I’ve seen better martial arts action sequences in amateur films.

Now that that’s out of the way, here’s the big positive that DOA has going for it: it’s so bad that it is utterly hilarious and fun to watch. It’s kind of like Troll 2 in that sense, but DOA is slightly more cringe-worthy and doesn’t have a good excuse for being this bad. I wound up laughing every few minutes as the movie went from one scene to the next, and the references to the game series were actually pretty funny.

If you’re a big fan of the game you might get a kick out of it for the novelty, but if you’re somewhat of a film snob then you’d best avoid DOA. It’ll make you laugh, but only because it’ll probably be one of the worst films you’ve watched in a while.

The werewolf sub-genre is one of those areas I don’t normally venture into, and I’m not too sure why. After all, these days you don’t see too many films about them. Usually it’s all about vampires or wizards or dragons or other … well, crap. That’s why I was very surprised with this particular film.

Ginger Snaps has the appeal of one of those artsy, hip independent films – it’s got a fantastic little cast of no-names, some genuinely good cinematography, and a nicely written story. Sure, the analogies are crystal clear (PUBERTYEQUALSTRANSFORMATION), and it’s strictly in the realm of the “teen” flick, but unlike most contemporary films those negatives camouflage themselves in the background fairly well.

It’s obviously not perfect, especially given the film’s low budget: the effects for one leave a lot to be desired, even the use of blood, and most of the characters outside of the two protagonists feel relatively weak despite the good acting. Lack of a backstory is noticeable, but I suppose that’s what the prequel-sequel (don’t know if I want to see it) is for, I suppose. It’s not like it’s that big a deal, I guess. After all, who the hell would know what’s going on anyway without it being overly cliche?

As it stands, Ginger Snaps is one of those rare films you find that can really make you rethink an entire category of films in a way you wouldn’t expect – to an extent, at least. In a way it reminds me of 28 Days Later, and how that kind of took zombie movies into the 21st century. Not sure Ginger Snaps had that big of an impact, but… well, close enough for a sub-genre that is somewhat sparsely populated.