Graivehouse Blog

Movies:

“How to Train Your Dragon”

Great movie. lots of good action scenes and comedy. I can’t really recommend 3D ’cause I didn’t see it in 3D because it costs $3.50 extra.
Rating: 4/5

“The Informant”

Lame. It’s an interesting true story, but it doesn’t translate to a movie well.
Rating: 2/5

“The Men Who Stare At Goats”

A decent movie. Had some funny moments and some good acting which makes what would normally be just a strange movie entertaining.
Rating: 4/5

“Planet 51″

Ugh. Not all that funny. It steals too many elements from other movies for me give it more than a 3 out of 5.

“Sherlock Holmes”

Great movie! Lots of action, good comedy, great acting, everything works. 5/5

“Where the Wild Things Are”

I absolutely loved the book. It was about a boy who was wild and he learned that it’s good to be wild, just not too wild and he made it back in time for dinner. The movie…isn’t as good. They had to stuff a lot into this film and they somehow turned a beloved ten minute read into a two and a half hour movie. No kid or adult is going to be willing to mull through this movie for that long. A 2 out of 5.

“Fantastic Mr. Fox”

Based on the book by Roald Dahl, who wrote other beloved books like “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”, “James and the Giant Peach”, “Matilda” and “The Witches”, Fantastic Mr. Fox promised to be a joyful and imaginative look into the life of a family of foxes and other animals. That is exactly what it was. As with his other works, Roald Dahl’s out-of-the-box storytelling adds a kind of weird, but warm sense to this story about how everyone’s different, but everyone has a purpose and is good at something. From Mr. Fox who was good at escapes and stealing chickens to the farmers who were good at raising and growing their particular crop or animal.Some probably won’t find this story entertaining, but I did. And that’s why I give Fantastic Mr. Fox 4 little foxes, out of 5.

Music:

“The World is a Thorn” by Demon Hunter

A new album from the popular Christian metal band and I have to say, this is another great one. I wouldn’t say it’s their best, because, if you plug all five albums into a play list and listen to them, they all flow very well together, whereas, with most bands you can tell the albums apart from the style, with Demon Hunter, there are subtle changes, but, even with a couple new members, they sound pretty much the same. That said, there are a lot of songs on “The World is a Thorn” that I love. And it is for this reason that I give it a 5 out of 5.

Games:

“Mafia”

Ah the 1930s. A time when…well, I don’t know what was going on then, but according to this game there was a lot of shady dealings afoot. This game tries to bring what Rockstar did for their GTA series to a 1930s Chicago style city, but they don’t come anywhere near that mark. a 3 out of 5.

“Enthusia: Professional Racing”

This game is a few years old, and when I first tried it a while back, my initial impression was it sucks and wasn’t nearly as good as GT4. Having played it a while, though, and…it’s still not as good as GT4, but it’s not a terrible game. There are a LOT of things they got right. Example: being able to race vans and SUVs is a cool touch as is the odds system that shows your chances of winning a particular race. However, there are other things they got completely wrong. Example: the ranking system is based on your best 9 races in a 12 virtual week period. That means, if you loose a race, or two, you might jsut find yourself starting all the way back with the novice races. Then there’s the horsepower on some of the cars. Some of the cars seem to have the right HP while others don’t. And there’s the stupid Enthu points that you loose whenever you run off course, hit a wall or hit another vehicle. And, as with other games with a penalty system, it ONLY effects you. That means, if an AI driver slams into the back of you, then you’ll loose points. and there are a few other things wrong, too. However, in the end it’s not a bad game. In fact, I give it a 3.5 out of 5.