With the curtain closing on the summer movie season, we usually start seeing movies that weren’t quite good enough for blockbuster status. Luckily, this summer seems to have saved the best for last, with the incredible District 9 last week and this week with the highly anticipated latest from director Quentin Tarantino. While there isn’t a ton of things going on, it is still a pretty exciting week.
THEATERS
Opening this week are: Post Grad, Ingolrious Basterds, and My One and Only. My One and Only is the story of a housewife in the 50s, played by Renee Zellwegger, who discovers that her husband is cheating so she leaves him and takes her two sons on a road trip across the country to find another husband to provide for her. I don’t really care for Zellwegger too much and the plot sounds even less enticing so this one is definitely low priority for me.
Post Grad stars Alexis Bleidel 9Gilmore Girls) as…wait for it….a post graduate who has recently entered the job market. The movie follows her quest to make it in the real world and find love at the same time. Bleidel is a pretty decent actress and is usually quite witty in most of her roles. Regardless, you probably won’t catch me at this film during opening weekend…or closing weekend for that matter, but it could have video rental potential.
This brings us to perhaps one of my most anticipated movies of the summer, Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds. I love Tarantino’s work. Like pizza, even when it sucks, its still pretty good. Early buzz is that this is his best film to date, which is impressive when you take into account his already solid resume. The film is about a group of WWII soldiers, the Basterds, who have taken it upon themselves to hunt down and terrorize Nazis in the most brutal fashion imaginable. There are quite a few more elements to this film, but to be honest I was hooked at “hunt Nazis.”
DVD
New this week on DVD are : Hannah Montana the Movie and The Last House on the Left. I watched the Hannah Montana movie as I have been on edge since the first trailer- will she continue to be Hannah or will she just choose to be Miley?? Rest assured after watching the movie I can finally sleep in peace knowing her decision. I won’t spoil the cliffhanger for you as it is something everyone should experience for themselves, but trust me when I say that the payoff is well worth it. (Insert sarcasm alert here). Seriously, the movie is a great kids movie as it is good clean fun that doesn’t resort to toilet jokes in order to get laughs. It also doesn’t feature any pole dancing like in her live performances so it is pretty safe for all ages.
Last House on the Left is a remake of Wes Craven’s original film of the same title. A couple’s teenage daughter is brutally assaulted and raped by a group of fugitives. When the unknowing fugitives seek shelter at the couple’s house during a storm, the couple goes about exacting their revenge once they discover who the fugitives are. This movie is actually pretty good and it maintains a high level of tension throughout. I will probably get a review of it up sometime soon, as the actual flick was much better than I expected.
GAMING
A fairly slow week in gaming. Most people are still enjoying the Madden goodness from the previous week. New releases this week are: Wolfenstein and Shadow complex. Wolfenstein is the latest incarnation of the Castle Wolfenstein franchise, which is an FPS where you take on the Nazis in WWII. I know WWII shooters are everywhere nowadays, but what sets Wolfenstein apart is that the Nazis have found a way to tap into another dimension and use occult powers to enhance their weaponry. Of course, you can also use the same powers to your advantage, making this more of a sci fi WWII shooter. The premise is still the same as it was in the original games and anyone familiar with the franchise will know what to expect.
Probaly the coolest release to come out in a while is Shadow Complex, available via download on Xbox live. Shadow Complex is an original game created by Epic (the makers of Unreal Tournament and Gears of War) which brings full retail production value to a downloadable arcade title. I have not yet tried it out as it just released today, but I will definitely download this one and give you my impressions. The game is a side scrolling action shooter and it has already been generating huge buzz as an example of the high level of quality that downloadable games can be capable of. the gameplay is supposed to be fast and highly addicting and I can’t wait to give it a shot.
SPORTS
With the NFL preseason underway, there have been two huge developments that pigskin fans have been talking about this week. These are the acquisitions of quarterbacks Brett Farve and Michael Vick. The indecisively retired Farve has been picked up by the Minnesota Vikings. This is just wierd that he wound up on the Vikings of all teams and his former Green Bay teammates have voiced their excitement at finally getting a crack at Farve…literally. Even more interesting is what this means for the Vikes, as it gives their offense instant credibility as they are no longer overly reliant on the running game of Adrian Peterson and can now add a legitimate passing attack in there as well. This instantly catapults the Vikings towards the top of the NFC North as the front runners to take their division.
Other NFC news has the Philadelphia Eagles acquiring the troubled Michael Vick. With McNabb seemingly on his last legs as the leader of Philly’s offense, a healthy Vick appears to be an excellent choice a his successor. Vick has experience with the West coast offense and like McNabb, he is a highly mobile QB that can scramble when needed (and even when NOT needed). This mobility is definitely welcome, as the Eagle’s already have some injuries to key players on the O-line. It will be interesting to see just how fast Vick gets back into football shape, both physically and mentally. Regardless of his extra curricular activities, he was undeniably one of the most exciting players on the field when he was active and healthy and coming in to a strong established organization like Philly can only benefit both Vick and the rest of the team. As long as McNabb’s choking flu isn’t contagious, expect big things from this years Eagles provided Vick remains healthy.
That’s the week in entertainment and that’s a wrap.