Tango Down...

Up until now i've only written blogs about movies en TV shows but I'm kind of getting sick of that so I've decided to add a new category...GAMES!!
(and music but I'l start with that on the next post)
With the gaming industry close to passing hollywoods succes and financial income, I think it's a justified choise. And what better game to start with then the game that is not only called the biggest game ever but also the biggest entertainment launch ever.
With 4,7 million copies sold in 24 hours solely in the UK and the United States Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (CoD: MW2) really is the biggest entertainment launch known to man.

The Call of Duty franchise has alway been the bar-raiser for all games, especially shooters.
Many have come close, none have topped it. And for a good reason.

There are 3 Games modes. Special Ops, Campaign an Multiplayer.
I'm mostly going to talk about the multiplayer because let's face it, no matter how much fun spec ops and the campaign is, no one would buy it without the multiplayer.
With it's extremely addictive gameplay, shooting enemies and trying to get as much challenges as you can is more stressful then you can think. But that just makes it that much more fun.
First off let's talk graphics. The visual aspect of MW2 are stunning.
It's possible that during the first couple of times that you're playing the game you'll get killed a gazillion times because some explosion distracted you with it's incredible detail and realism making you go "woooooow!!".

Now the graphics may be awesome but that isn't what makes the game epic.
It's the emotion behind it all. The feeling you get when you get shot or kill someone is so intense and dramatic that...NAAAAh, I'm just messing with ya :P
The thing that really makes this game epic is the thrill you get from running around shooting everything that moves with bullets and granades flying all over the place.
It gives you an adrenaline rush like you never experienced in a game before.
Then there's the competitive edge. As you play trough the multiplayer there are several things that makes this game a competition like the olympics itself.
You have to rank up, get achievements, embles and tiles, unlock weaponary and equipment, etc.
The ranking up is the most competitive part of the game since this is what all the other players get to see. There are a total of 70 ranks that you can get giving you about 40 hours of total gamplay to get there. BUT...you can prestige. This means that you start all over again from rank 1 all the way up to level 70. ofcourse you do get something in return for this effort (still with me?).
Next to your gametag you now get a symbol accoring to your prestige level and this symbol changes every time you prestige. You can do this for a maximum of 10 times, but if you enclude prestige 'zero' ,which is the ranking up you do before prestiging the first time, you have a total of 770 levels to achieve and it will take you about 440 hours to get there, *cough cough, NO LIFE!!, cough*
But if you do eventually get there you become some what of an ultimate master and everyone will look up to you. But is it worth giving your life up for some credit in a game??
Well, play the game and you'll see that when you're actually playing the game you think it is.
When you stop playing you realise how sad it really is and you start crying your guts out in a corner before starting the game again in the next half hour.

The verdict:
Obviously like every game, movie, book, etc. out there MW2 does have his flaws.
But it is still the best game I ever played and I don't think it will be topped anytime soon so until then I'm going to give this adrenaline rusher a perfect score, no not a 10 but a 9,9 because there is no such thing as a perfect production in the entertainment industry.
So there you go: 9,9/10!

The Closest Shave You've Ever Seen...

There's something going on in London.
There's a demon present in the great city...the demon barber of fleet street Sweeney Todd.
A deeply disturbed man who will stop at nothing to get his revenge for the murder and rape of his wife and the destruction of his family.
Add Tim Burton's epicly weird interpretation and directing and his standard cast, Johnny Depp and Helena Boham Carter.
What do you get?
A fairly distubing but fun to watch musical film.

The plot: The movie begins with Sweeney Todd (Johnny Depp) returning to London years after being banished by judge Turpin (Alan Rickman), a very powerful man who was in love with Sweeney Todd's wife. One day the judge decides to take what he believes to be rightfully his and kidnaps Sweeney's wife and rapes her in public causing her to commit suicide.
The judge decides to take Sweeney's daughter in his care with the intention of later marrying her.
When Sweeney finds about about his wife and daugher upon  his arrival at his old barbershop, which is now a broken down bakery run by Mrs. Lovett (Helane Boham Carter), he sets his mind on a single goal...killing Judge Turpin and his right hand man.
But before doing so he starts practicing on other men coming to his barbershop for a good shave.
Meanwhile Mrs. Lovett's bakery isn't doing so good. The meat for her pies is too expensive so she comes up with an idea of her own that would benefit both her shop and Sweeney's.
She uses the body's of Sweeney's victims to produce meat for her pies and yes...it's is a great succes.
People from al over London come to the shop to get a taste of the best pies in London.
But while Mrs. Lovett enjoys her succes, Sweeney still has his mind set on vengeance and won't stop for anything or anyone, which has his drastic results.

The verdict:
Although I absolutely hate musicals (and I really mean the deepest hate a man can feel) this preticular muscal is on my list of favorite movies of all time.
And to consider that none of the cast member have any singing experience what so ever except Depp.
I grant this one a 8.8/10 without a doubt.

Bringing Down The House...

When you need a cure and a whole bunch of sarcasm, who do you call?
No not the ghostbusers but Gregory House.
The famous diagnostician from the magnificant show House M.D.
A very funny, but also intelligent TV serie that uses a lot of sarcasm.
Altough if you a bit slow-witted you will have a hard time appreciating House's humor.

The plot: House (Hugh Laurie) is  an antihero and a diagnostic doctor but not just any diagnostic doctor...he is concidered to be the best in his field. He his extremely intelligent but this also makes him very cynical about pretty much everything in the world because he thinks outside the box and this makes him see the downside of even the most positive things you can imagine like love, birth, religion, etc. He has always lead a depressing life due to the fact that he was abused by his father, who was a marine,  during his childhood and was later on kicked out of university for cheating which shattered his dreams of becoming a physicist.
Then, approximately a decade before the pilot, house was shot in his right leg during a paintball match and caused serious damage to his muscle tissue which had to be removed causing excruciating pain for the rest of his life. To ease his pain House started taking vicodin and got hooked resulting in him becoming a mild junkie. Now he solves mystery medical cases that no one can solve with assistance from his four to five men team.
Along with his best friend James Wilson, who is the head of oncology in the same hospital, and Lisa Cuddy, the head of the hospital and the love of his life, he tries to solve the cases he get's on his desk...no matter what or how far he has to go to get to the truth. While at the same time he has to try and keep his social life in balance which is a hard thing for house to do because he's a straight up asshole.
This always results in to disastrous, but also hilarious situations.

Here's a compilation of a couple of funny moments in the fifth season

The verdict: without a doubt an excellent show that desirves a 8.9/10

The Path Of The Righteous Man...

If you are a big fan of the following movie, and I really mean like all freaky about it (like me), then you probably know which movie I'm going to be talking about judging from the title.
If you don't then i'll give you a hint.
It starts with a P and ends with ulp Fiction...that's right...Pulp Fiction!
Or maybe you knew because of the picture below, yeah probably.
The most brilliant movie ever made with 'The Matrix', 'Inception' and most of Quentin Tarantino's other movies as runner ups.

The plot: Pulp Fiction has a pretty complicated plot due to the fact that it's a mosaic movie.
This means that there are several different plot's (generally four) that form one story in a whole.
In this case there's the story of two mobster's, Vince Vega (John Travolta) and Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson), a boxer on the run called Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis), a Mob boss his wife Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman) and two trailer trash partners in crime.
they all lead a life of crime but most of them a bit against there will because once you get involved with the mob, it's pretty hard to get out.
As you can see the cast is amazing and just the right fit for the characters they're playing.
That along with Tarantino's all too familiar funny, smart, sarcastic and cynical writing style results in a mind blowing picture that will make you brainstorm and laugh at the same time.


The two mobsters Vince and Jules are on a mission to retrieve their boss's stolen briefcase.
I can't tell you what the contents of the briefcase are due to the fact that it's not literally revealed in the movie although if you really, and i mean really think about it you will find out what it is but that part is up to you.
At the same time Vince has to take the wife of his boss out on a date to entertain her while he's out of town. But that's not all, he also has to go after Butch (the boxer) who has broken a deal with Mr. Wallace to go down in a fight.
Of course this doesn't all happen at precisely the same time but the story lines succeed each other.


The Verdict: Now I know that not everyone is a big movie enthusiasts but if you haven't seen this one yet you should go jump in front of a train OR...go see it like right now, don't even think about continuing reading this blog just go and rent, buy or download it and watch the damn thing!
This movie deserves a 9.6/10 without a doubt, probably even more but I'm gonna play it safe instead of  giving it too much credit (which is impossible but whatever)

A Very Neat Monster...

Now I already posted something about my favorite sitcom ever but what about my favorite serie ever in general. That means if you enclude drama, sci-fi, thrillers, etc.
And that preticular choise wasn't too hard to make, I immediatly knew that show was Dexter.
A simply brilliant show with a very smart and humorous script based on the Jeff Lindsay's novel 'Darkly dreaming Dexter'.
I would highly recommend not watching this one with the subtitles on because Dexter has a much larger effect when you watch every second of an episode. This is mostly due to the very subtle changes in Dexter's (Michael C. Hall) facial expressions and other small details. Also, quit often Dexter talks about some philosophical issues that he's dealing with and these monologues are often poorly translated so it loses it's value along with the fact that Dexter's extremely deep voice also gives a dramatic effect to the lines and this again loses some of it's value in the subtitles. But i'm getting carried away so let's get into the plot.

The plot: Dexter is a blood splatter analist at the Miami metro forensics departement who loves his job because...there's a lot of blood involved. Now why is Dexter always so enthusiastic about blood?
Because he's a serial killer (cue dramatic pampampaaaam music). But not a regular every day serial killer. you see, Dexter is one of the good guys. Because when he was just a little boy, no more then   two years old, he's mother was murdered and chopped into peaces in front of him and he was adopted by the lead investigator of the case named Harry Morgan ( James Remar).
It didn't take much time before Harry realised that Dexter was a complete psycho because of the trauma, but one with a good hart. So he started teaching him 'the code'.
This code is supposed to keep Dexter in line, make sure he always does the right thing and most importantly of all...preventing him from getting caught!
The code also prevents Dexter from killing innocent people. Only other murderers and only if he's absolutely sure of his victim's crimes.
Now the fact that he works at the homicide department as a blood splatter analist has some advantages like easy access to names of murderers who were never convicted, or keeping up to date on his own killings to see if a body has been discovered, etc.
One of the reasons that dexter never get's caught, aside from the code, is the fact that he looks like a regular family man. He has a girlfriend, who later on becomes his wive, Rita (Julia Benz) with two children from her previous marriage and he seems to be really good with the kids. But that's all an act of course. He really cares for all of them but the way he talks, the way he walks, everything he does is well thought out in advance and acted out so that he would seem normal.
One of the things that makes this show so interesting are Dexter's monologues. You can hear his thoughts all the time and this has a very amusing effect.


Now every season has it's own storyline. Often it's about another serial killer he's chasing and trying to murder but due to complications the other serial killer keeps getting away and the chase continues.
This may sound like it get's boring after a while but you can trust me when i say that it absolutly doesn't. Every situation is so original and unique that it's never get's old.


Here the intro of the show which shows Dexter's morning routine.

The verdict: I can't say too much about this show without spoiling it so I'm gonna stop right here and rate it.
So hereby Dexter get's an 9.4/10 from me!!

How To Catch An Extraterrestrial With A Lasso...

When i first started this blog I was planning on only writing about movies and series which I personally loved but then i thought...why?
Moderate or even bad movies deserve some credit too, even if it is negative credit.
So the other day I went to see such a movie called Cowboys & Aliens.
I knew in advance that I wasn't going to be too fond of this one but I like some action and massive FX too from time to time.
Anyways let's get to the point shall we?

The plot: Jake Lonergan (Daniel Craig) wakes up in the middle of the dessert not knowing where he is or even who he is. The first thing he notices is this weird, big, metal bracelet around his wrist which he can't get off and he also notices a big messy wound on his abdomen. He picks hisself up, dust hisself off and follows a track back to a little mining town called absolution. While getting his wound treated by a local preacher (Clancy Brown) guns start going off outside. The preacher and Jake go outside to take a look and find out it's just a drunk looking for trouble and of cource the big hero of the movie takes care of him by knocking him down. But what he doesn't know is that the drunk is the son of one of the most powerful people in the Wild West called Woodrow Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford). In the meanwhile the sheriff finds out that there's a thousand dollar bounty on Jake's head if he's delivered to a federal marshall. While in imprisonement waiting for the federal marshalls some strange explosions take place outside. Again, Jake being the hero, he escapes and saves the town by using his bracelet (which turns out to be an alien weapon) to take a spaceship down and scaring the aliens away.
But a dozen towns people are taken by the aliens so the men who are left from a posse to find the alien hideout and save the people who have been kidnapped by them. And so the journey starts with a lot of complications on the road from ambushes by other gangs to multipal alien attacks.

I can say that this was a pretty fun movie to watch in the theather with adreanline rushing trough your vains thanks to the explosive scenes and loud thriller music in the background but if you didn't get the chance to watch it on the big screen don't bother renting or buying it unless you're a big sci-fi and/or western fan. Otherwise you will most probably be dissapointed. The script is pretty dull and cliché, the scenes are poorly allined making you feel like this was meant to be a four hour movie crammed into 120 minutes of ups and down (mostly downs) making your head spin in a bad, non-pulp fiction way which is a good kind of head spinning. You start off pretty excited when you sit down with you popcorn and soda but when the film is finally over you wonder why in the world you payed full price for something like that.
But you can't always get what you want and there has to be a couple of poorly execited movies to make the big hits of the year seem even more epic.

The Verdict: I think it's pretty clear by now that Cowboys & Aliens wasn't my kind of movie.
I don't see the use of thinking of even more arguments to make my point.
The movie was simply too hollywoodized (yes I just made that up).
But because Daniel Craigs preformance wasn't too bad and the animated FX was pretty awesome, the score isn't as low as you might think...
So Cowboys & Aliens, you still got a D with 5.2/10
Hey, stiffen up that upper lip...it could have been worse ;)

A Very Special Story...

How I your mother (or HIMYM for short) has been of the most popular sitcoms of the past six years, especially stateside.
For some reason it never really got a solid grip on the Belgian television viewers...but it did on me.
This sitcom is without a doubt my favorite sitcom so far, altough it has gradually gotten worse for the past two seasons.
Don't ask me why I like it because I really don't know, aside from the fact that it's hilarious of course!
Maybe one of the reasons is the fact that the main characters remind me a bit of me and my own friends and how we get along and interact with each other. 
anyway...
If you want you can leave a comment below and explain why you love/hate HIMYM ;)

The Plot: Ted (Josh Radnor) has always wished for one thing...to find the love of his life. But as it turns out, it's not so easy to simply bump into that one special person. The story is told by the older voice of Ted (Bob Saget) to his children and the story is visualised on screen so the entire show is actually one really...reaaaaally long flashback of Ted's adventures. And together with his friends Ted finds himself in the most comical situations constantly thinking his current girlfriend is the one for him but so far it never is. So Ted's conquests have been rolling on to the screen for six seasons now and a seventh season premiering today. 


If HIMYM is known for one thing it's Barney's (Neil Patrick Harris) endless self-made expressions.
Here's a short video of just a couple of those expressions.

The Verdict: Since this has been my favorite sitcom for over three years it's not a big surprise that my rating is going to be a little higher then most sitcoms deserve, cause let's face it...sitcoms have - no matter how fun they are to watch - a pretty low standard of comedy. But not HIMYM, somehow it can always make me laugh no matter how down I'm feeling at the moment and a sitcom that can make something like that happen is a damn good one!


So here's the final decision...HIMYM has set an exellent score of 8.7/10 in my book!

Let's start with a big bang...

And by big bang I'm not talking about the big bang theory (although I might write something about that in the future). What I actually wanted to talk about is, in my opinion, one of the greatest movies of all time and arguably THE best movies of the past year or so.
You all know which movie i'm talking about...Inception!
No? You don't??
In that case stop reading right now and...buzz off will you? This is a serious blog and it's not meant for amateur movie 'enthusiats'.

Now for the rest of you, let's continue.
The reason that I descided to start with Inception is because it's simply the best movie I've seen in a while. It's got everything a great movie needs: an excellent story, a solid cast, gives you a lot to think about (no really it might even be a bit too much), great FX, amazing music, superb...
I think I've made my point :p
Though there are some people who think that inception is overrated I would say that those people don't have the brains to understand the plot.

The plot: now before I begin telling the plot you should know that there's a lot more to it then I'm going to tell, but it's just too much to type it all down.

Domenic Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a master thief and con artist who has lost his family due to the suicide of his wife Mal Cobb (Marion Cotillard) which forced him to run away and become a fugitive since the police thinks he is responsible for the death of his wife.
Ever since then he has travelled the world working as an extractor of ideas for multinational companies.
This is achieved by entering the targets (or subject as they're called in the movie)  dreams through a device without the subject himself knowing he's dreaming.
This way Cobb can extract ideas and thoughts of the subject through is subconsciousnes ans deliver them to the cliënt who has hired him and his team.
 
But one day, Cobb is hired to preform an extraction on a owner of a major company named Saito (Ken Watanabe), and everything goes wrong when Cobb's desceased wife enters the dream through Cobb's subconsiousness and ruins there plan. After this Saito offers to make a deal with Cobb to get back at the corporation that hired him in the first place in return for his life and a clean criminal record so that he can go back to the US and see his children again.
But there's a catch...Saito doesn't want Cobb to preform extraction but inception.
So instead of stealing an idea from someones mind, he has to plant one.
Altough this is believed to be impossible and Cobb's right hand man refuses to do the job at first, Cobb claims he has done it before.
And so the journey starts along with heart pounding action, a couple of emotional scenes and huge brain farts throughout the entire movie due a matrix style philosophy about the dreaming world.

I would definitely recommend this movie to anyone who has enough smarts to understand the entire matrix trilogy to see this one, and to the others: there's a bunch of thrilling action and special effects scenes which allready make the movie a must watch.

 If you're still not convinced to go see this masterpiece of the decade in the movie industry, here's a trailer that might give you that extra edge to watch it.

The Verdict: As I said in the beginning, inception is one of the greatest movies of all time and therefore I'm going to give it a rating which is probably going to be one of the highest ratings that I'm going to give in my entire blog.

So I hereby grant inception a 9.2/10