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I had mentioned that Mass Effect on the PC was the straw that broke the camel’s back in terms of killing my desire to continue to be mainly a PC gamer–I just can’t tolerate paying good money for games that I can’t get to run on my up-to-date computer anymore. So, I finally broke down and got an Xbox 360, and guess what game I started with? Yep, I had to buy Mass Effect again for the 360 so I could finally play it. I wish I could get a refund from EA on that buggy piece of shit PC version.
I’m always a late adopter when it comes to consoles because I’m mainly a PC gamer, and also because I like to sit back and observe the progress between competitions and then after everything has already taken shape, I’ll pick the one with the game lineup I prefer and jump in. My typical rule for getting a console is if there are a solid handful of exclusive games for it that I’m just dying to play. I felt that way about the Xbox (it was stolen a couple of years ago), and now I feel that way about the Xbox 360 (the fact I can play some of the original Xbox games on it makes a difference too–it’ll make up for my stolen Xbox). I’ll probably eventually get a PS3 as well, as there are now a solid handful of excellent exclusive games on it. I keep saying I’ll pick up a PS2 too, but after all these years I never did it–in fact I never even got the original Playstation, although that’s more because graphics back then just wasn’t good enough to interest me. My first console was actually the Dreamcast (this does not count the consoles we had as kids, which I didn’t buy and had no real say in), as I felt console graphics had gotten good enough by then. My rule of “at least a handful of exclusives I’m dying to play” started with the Dreamcast, and continues to this day.
Playing FPS on a console is still a torturous experience for me, so once again I’ll be getting a keyboard/mouse adapter (though it’ll require me to get a wired controller too because that’s the only controller it’ll detect), just like I did for the original Xbox. I’ll also be getting the 120 GB hard drive since the DVD ROM is so damn loud and I don’t want to burn it out or get the dreaded Red Ring of Death. Overall, it feels good to catch up with the rest of the gaming world on the console side again. I don’t think I’ll completely stop playing on the PC, but I’ll certainly pick the Xbox 360 version if it’s a cross-platform game (unless it’s the kind of game you absolutely must play on he PC to really enjoy).
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When I heard the Christian Bale freak out audio clip of him screaming obscenities at the DP that’s been making the rounds, it reminded me of the time when I got screamed at by a producer when I DP’ed on a small indie feature film. The director was this creatively clueless guy who worked as a engineer during the day (he had never even heard of Stanley Kubrick!). During all of my conversations with him I had not once felt like I was talking to someone who knew anything thing about storytelling or films–just a normal guy who liked watching movies but didn’t have an artistic bone in his body. During this one scene of a mother and daughter having a heart to heart in the kitchen, he wanted a single hard spot light shining directly at them from behind the camera and nothing else. It was just a normal dramatic scene of mother daughter relationship talk (spilling feelings and hugging), so it really needed lighting that looked believable instead of two deers caught in the headlight of a pickup truck. I tried to explain my concern to him and he stood his ground, saying that it’s a dramatic scene and requires dramatic lighting. I debated that the drama of the scene in that particular case should come from the dialogs and the acting, not some big dramatic spot light, especially the scene is a very normal scene and not some strange David Lynch type of surrealism. It boggled my mind that he couldn’t see how wrong he was. I’m one of those people that will not back down when it comes to bad decisions made by others that will come back to bite me in the ass–it’s my name in the credits as the DP, not his. So I thought I could try to appeal to someone who could talk some sense into him, and the producer was the obvious choice. I approached the producer and explained the situation and to my surprise, he proceeded to scream at me–“Just get the fucking shot! I don’t give a shit how wrong the lighting looks–just shoot it and get it over with!”
I quit the film that night. I also vowed to never work people who don’t have a clue ever again.
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Quickie movie reviews:
We Own the Night – An enjoyable film, although it just didn’t look right to have Mark Wahlberg and Joaquin Phoenix play brothers–they just don’t connect visually for me.
Bolt – It’s been a long time since I really liked a Disney animated feature, and it took hiring Pixar’s headcheese to make it happen. Now that Lasseter’s in charge of both Pixar and Disney animation, I think the quality of Disney’s animated features will improve significantly, while Pixar will continue to produce the kind of quality they’ve become famous for. It’s impossible to not like Bolt because the dog is just ridiculously cute. The action scenes are over-the-top and thrilling, and the tear-jerking moments worked for this thirty-six year old male. The only thing that could’ve been stronger was the middle of the film–I think the writing’s not as strong as the beginning or the ending–like they were wracking their brains trying to find ways to fill the middle with something entertaining. The scenes where Bolt realizes what he really is should’ve been far more poignant, and what followed should’ve been a lot more emotional as well. Also Bolt’s time in the real world could’ve been far more comedic, as the real world is far more crazy than any fiction on TV. The cat I didn’t particularly care for since she was about as Clichéd as they come, except for the lack of claws. The hamster was awesome though–totally surreal character. Overall I liked the movie and if Disney keeps going in that direction, I think we’ll see many excellent animated features from them in the future.
Mirrors – Entertaining enough, but not nearly as scary as it should’ve been. There was so much that could’ve been done with the whole mirrors motif that was unexplored.
Slumdog Millionaire – A very enjoyable film, although it got progressively more mainstream in its tone as the film went on, and I wish it had kept its more arthouse flavor from the first half of the film.
Tales From Earthsea (Ged’s War Chronicles) – What a let down. Convoluted plot, horrible pacing, lackluster direction, lack of drama, lack of of a cohesive theme, and lack of character development. Usually when a film is so under-developed is because it concentrates too much on action, but even on the front the film disappoints–I can’t recall a single scene that had decent action. Not that I expected Hayao Miyazaki’s son to be amazing like his father, but the fact that he wasn’t even equipped to direct that ticks me off. The only reason he even got a chance to do it was because he’s Miyazaki’s son. He wasn’t even a writer or director or animator, or had done a single thing remotely related to animation production. As I understand, he can draw pretty well, but if that was the deciding factor in whether someone should write/direct, then all the people in the world who can draw or paint should be sitting in the director’s chair. No wonder Hayao Miyazaki was strongly against the whole thing and the two have stopped talking to each other as the result. I too would tell my incompetent son that he shouldn’t go and fuck up one of my favorite book series that’s been such a strong influence in my life (Nausicca was heavily influenced by the Earthsea books–in fact if Miyazaki wan’t refused the rights to it back in the early 80’s, he’d have done Tales From Earthsea back then and Nausicca never would’ve existed in the first place).
