The Surlaw Reviews - 7/1/21 - 2021 Mid-Year Update

The Wobbler · Post by **The Wobbler** » Sun Jul 13, 2014 4:09 am

Finally, the sequel to Mario Bros 2 I've been waiting for.

Super Mario 3D World

msw188 · Post by **msw188** » Sun Jul 13, 2014 11:36 pm

Agree with most of this review. Except I think the New Super Mario Bros games are more fun overall for multiplayer mayhem, which keeps them more fresh in some ways. When I first started playing this one, I didn't think I'd grow to like it as much as I did. Some of the extra stages are amazing. Surlaw complained just a bit about the time-based ones, but there's a great stage where you have to essentially chase down and catch the flagpole before the timer runs out that I really loved.

Who did you like to use? I wish I was better with Luigi, but for the most part I stuck with my man Toad.

Sparoku · Post by **Sparoku** » Mon Jul 14, 2014 12:56 am

I like to play as Princess Peach.

The Wobbler · Post by **The Wobbler** » Mon Jul 14, 2014 1:14 am

The flagpole chase was pretty good just because it was so weird and out of nowhere, but I really don't like the ones that are only completable by picking up all the clocks along the way. For characters: Anyone but Mario's good. I usually just pick random, but Peach has been my pick for going back to search for secret stuff.

Sparoku · Post by **Sparoku** » Tue Jul 15, 2014 4:59 am

The Wobbler wrote:Peach has been my pick for going back to search for secret stuff.

Her hover ability is very handy for that.

The Wobbler · Post by **The Wobbler** » Wed Jul 16, 2014 5:51 am

I have no idea if anyone anywhere wants to read nearly 4000 words about Transformers 4, but here we are, this took me forever to write. This is the longest film piece I've written, somehow.

Transformers: Age of Extinction

msw188 · Post by **msw188** » Wed Jul 16, 2014 8:40 pm

Hm, that was interesting even though it doesn't make me want to see the movie at all. I mean, having a 'message' in a film is nice and all, but when it's portrayed via unlikable protagonists without any clever point, or without any real feeling, I can't imagine spending the time to watch such a film. I've heard Pain and Gain has the same problem. It's neither clever nor enjoyable (to me) to portray shallow slimeholes doing stupid, terrible things and then convince the audience to disapprove of what they stand for; of course we disapprove of shallow slimeholes doing stupid, terrible things! When the things don't make any real sense, and/or don't affect anything/anyone we actually care about in the movie, why should we care about the 'message'? And who actually cares about a character in a Michael Bay film?

I'll also pull my usual thread sabotage here and mention that I just saw the first Hunger Games movie for the first time. I genuinely enjoyed it, even though I had a handful of problems with it. There was something vaguely underwhelming about it, but I get that it's just a first part of a bigger story, and an introduction to the world and to the characters. If anyone is curious I'm happy to talk more about it.

PS: I started out using the Princess because hey, floating is awesome. But running around as Toad just became more fun, especially since my brother ran everywhere and the Princess starts lagging behind.

The Wobbler · Post by **The Wobbler** » Thu Jul 17, 2014 12:24 am

Yeah, that's the main problem; the things we see in the film are despicable and gross in a way that's intentional and satirical, but not in a way that's compelling as a whole. It's a handful of ridiculous and weird scenes that are worth looking at on their own, but the whole is way, way less than the sum of its parts. For something that does the same thing but is actually good, there's American Psycho/Spring Breakers. It will make a really good video review someday where someone goes piece by piece through the insane parts, though!

Hunger Games (both of the ones out) is one of the films I've been sitting on a half-written review of for a year. I genuinely like them a lot, and think they're the best currently running serial film franchise in spite of their clunky bits. I knew nothing going in except for all the nerds yelling about how it ripped off Battle Royale, but the similarities aren't really the most important part of the movie. It's also a better movie than Battle Royale, sorry everyone!

msw188 · Post by **msw188** » Thu Jul 17, 2014 12:55 am

Yeah, my dumb self avoided the movies for a little while because in my head they were a sanitized, less psychological version of Lord of the Flies or something like that, written for teenage girls.

Which, I mean, the first one KINDA SLIGHTLY is. But it's still great in its own way. Man though, that quick cutting style early in the movie was really distracting, and never entirely went away. Jennifer Lawrence is becoming one of my favorite new actresses.

Mike and Jay over at Red Letter Media did a Transf 4 review, but I haven't watched it yet. They also did this thing where they put on all 3 of the first movies simultaneously, mostly just for laughs. They found a few interesting things though - a handful of the beats of the first two movies were almost directly in sync, as well as some from the third.

I'm curious what Pepsi will have to say about the new Transformers, if it really is so transparent about its contempt for its audience.

The Wobbler · Post by **The Wobbler** » Thu Jul 17, 2014 4:17 am

Jennifer Lawrence rules, she's great in Hunger Games 1 and 2, Silver Linings, Winter's Bone, American Hustle, and First Class. Not so strong in Days of Future Past but I'm pretty sure that's the writing and not the acting.

The quick cuts are used well during the opening massacre of the first movie's game. It was a great way to show how horrifying and violent it was without having to actually show explicit, gory death (because they'd never be able to in PG-13 anyway.) It's definitely distracting and dumb when it's used for scenes like the old dudes breaking break at the beginning of the movie though!

One of my favorite little camera things in Catching Fire is the transition in aspect ratio and resolution when the games begin in that one (and the subsequent switch back when they end.) It's a really perfect divide between the "real" world and the over-produced world of the games.

Fenrir-Lunaris · Post by **Fenrir-Lunaris** » Thu Jul 17, 2014 4:57 am

Hoping these guys show up in Transformers 5

msw188 · Post by **msw188** » Wed Jul 23, 2014 4:05 am

Just watched 2nd Hunger Games with a few friends. Harder to wrap my mind around; I might watch it again alone, with headphones, to make sure I really got everything before returning the dvd.

SPOILERS FOR THE REST OF THIS POST

I think the first movie felt more 'tight' in its screenplay and execution. The story was simpler, and the scenes were pretty direct without being dumb. In the second movie, there's more going on. The adults are the ones acting now, which means the direct scenes (like Snow in the beginning) feel a bit clunkier from a writing perspective. It all becomes more complicated to follow as we realize that the agency in the story is passing from Katniss to the adults around her. This is realistic I suppose, but less fun to watch. It also leaves room for plot holes - what precisely was the adults' plan here?

I'm glad that this director didn't keep up with the previous one's constant shaky-cam and quick-cut silliness. I did tear up a bit at District 11, despite the corny speech. A lot of the political stuff before the games was great. But the games themselves were a bit boring until the end.

What did you guys think, now that I can talk about both movies?

The Wobbler · Post by **The Wobbler** » Wed Jul 23, 2014 5:36 am

I like both a lot but the second movie suffers from how much time it spends setting up the final book/movie. The first one stands alone pretty well, second doesn't at all. Sometimes films can pull that off (Empire Strikes Back) but usually it just ends up leaving you with a kind of weak middle installment.

The Wobbler · Post by **The Wobbler** » Tue Jul 29, 2014 2:59 am

Game rules. Much better than the first one. Still has no leaderboards.

NES Remix 2

Meowskivich · Post by **Meowskivich** » Tue Jul 29, 2014 4:27 am

The first one lacks leaderboards still,too?