If you've hit this site over the last week, you have seen precious little other than Scott Pilgrim stuff. In fact, I don't know that I've posted anything other than that. Well, let's wrap it up, shall we. This week closes with one final hurah ... an epic combo review of the Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World soundtrack & Score.

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World - Motion Picture Soundtrack & Score

Review by Chris Nolen

Even the best inspiration can fail to captivate if the execution falters. In a film adaptation, sound is a crucial component of setting the tone and grabbing attention. And when done right, the combination of score, licensed music, and sfx create a tapastry that is just as colorful as anything your eyes will view in a film. Director Edgar Wright wisely recognized that the audio choices for Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World would be even more important than in your average movie. In this case, I'd say they were more important than the visuals.

The story of Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World revolves around sound ... video game inspired chip tunes, music and sfx lifted directly from games, and the several bands that must battle over the course of the story all add play an important role in fleshing out the universe as Scott sees it. And some fantastic decisions were made along the way.

First, the bands in the film had to be cast just like an actor would be cast for a role. Who is the voice of Sex Bob-Omb, Scott Pilgrim's band? Would the actors sing the songs on screen, or would other vocalists be required. The resulting mix gifts us a highly-memorable set of original tunes by artists such as Beck, Metric, and Broken Social Scene.

The soundtrack, just like the film, kicks off with an energetic garage rock tune from Pilgrim's own Sex Bob-omb. Drummer Kim Pine counts us down with enthusiasm as the track "We Are Sex Bob-Omb" establishes the vibe with unpolished vocals and fuzzy guitars. In the novels, the band is supposed to suck, but on the soundtrack, it sounds remarkably good. The competence of the songwriting is because Sex Bob-Omb's music is written by Beck, who performs bonus track versions of Sex Bob-Omb's tracks to go along with the on-screen renditions provided by the actors playing the band. Other stand-out tracks by the band include "Threshold," "Summertime," and "Garbage Truck" which all have a distinctly Beck-ish fingerprint, as if he wrote an unreleased garage rock album before he ever recorded "Loser."

The other bands that perform in the film are The Clash At Demonhead, and Crash And The Boys, performed by Metric and Broken Social Scene, respectively. Metric's "Black Sheep" is fittingly polished for The Clash At Demonhead, as they are the synth-pop mega-successful rock stars of the film. Crash And The Boys, by contrast, are much more on the same level as Sex Bob-Omb, as Broken Social Scene performs the their two tracks "So Sad. So Very, Very Sad" and "We Hate You. Please Die." far more lose and fast. In fact, their songs are very much in character, as they are energetic rockers with a dark sense of humor. The former track lasts a mere five seconds, the latter, a brisk romp comes in at less than a minute. Somehow, they are almost perfect at those lengths, capturing the essence of the band's character in as efficient a performance as you will likely hear this year.

Rounding out the soundtrack, we get a variety of good licensed music choices. Frank Black's "I Heard Ramona Sing" is perhaps the highlight ... a late Pixies-esque mid-tempo tune alluding to Pilgrim's love interest, as well as fandom in general. "O Katrina!" by the Black Lips captures the bar scene vibe of the movie perfectly, while "It's Getting Boring By The Sea" feels like the brawls that will occur there. The film's romantic centerpiece, "Ramona" by Beck, is a beautifully haunting track that would have been right at home on Sea Change. "Under My Thumb," by The Rolling Stones, is the perfect song for Ramona and Gideon Graves, as it directly references abusive, manipulative control of women by the men they love. The titular track "Scott Pilgrim," from Plumbtree, is a somewhat annoyingly performed pop number that inspired the character's name is a catchy number that grows on you with every listen.

As the soundtrack captures the vocalizations and spirit of the bands of the movie, the score would carry the film's soul. And composer Nigel Godrich (of Radiohead fame) does just this with a mix of orchestration and game-inspired chip tune elements. The score starts with an 8-bit version of the Universal Pictures theme song, which sets the tone for an unexpected and experience. Building from that we get the film's fight theme, "Fight!", featuring a blood-pumping build up that is like a laser charging into an explosion of 8-bit inspired textures.

The rest of the score is a chronological series of fits and rests, punctuated by the high-intensity of "Rumble," "The Grind," and the other fight tracks. These energetic pieces build off the cues of "Fight!" but also features power chords and turn-table scratching alongside the chip tunes. "Slick" is a Bollywood number by the first evil ex, Matthew Patel, which describes his demon hipster chick entourage and fireball powers. "Bass Battle" is a back and forth between Pilgrim and his counterpart/nemesis from The Clash At Demonhead...who happens to be the much better musician.

Goodrich can bring it down to mesmerizing and magical ambient tracks to punctuate the film's quieter moments, such as "Love Me Some Walking" and "Hillcrest Park." The swirling reverb of keys and organs in the former give the impression that the viewer is drunk with the possibilities of new love. The slower tracks, particularly "Aftermath" seem to be in part inspired by Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu's work. Goodrich also gets a little sinister with tracks like "Mystery Attacker" and "So Alone," where the emptiness and heaviness are menacingly oppressive.

The score culminates with a series of epic tracks that accompany the final battles, including the Sex Bob-Omb punctuated "We Are Sex Bob-Omb (fast)" which is a fantastic bookend to the opening sequence. It reveals a band that has gone from garage to the big stage. This arc is really the thematic summation of the film's protagonist, and bring the album to a close with one last magical goodbye in the form of the appropriately titled "Bye and Stuff" which recalls some of Sigur Ros' best.

The end result of inspired musical choices, and a score that is a masterful blend of the film's core references is a sound scape that is as crucial to telling the story as Wright's visuals. You may find yourself remembering the moments of musical brilliance just as much as the best fight sequences, which is no small feat. The only thing that would have made this package better would have been the inclusion of some of the actual video game music and sfx that were licensed for the film. They add so much to the presentation when you are watching that their omission on these albums is shame. But overall, fans of the books, the film, and video games will find little to complain about. They are like some our fondest memories thrown in a blender with a shot of awesome...served with a slice of lime. A bittersweet coctail of our youth.

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

Review By Chris Nolen

Bringing a cherished cult property to life on film must be a terrifying prospect. In many ways, it's an impossible task. If you are too faithful to the idiosyncratic bits of original material, you lose mass appeal. If you fail to capture the minutia and the spirit of the property, then you alienate the core fan base. The further out and more obscure it is, the more polarizing this effect becomes. Likewise, it is difficult to be a fan because you want to support when a talented and respectful team do their best...but you must understand that some sacrifices must be offered up to commercial success. It is a very rare and special piece of film that casts its lot completely with the fans...choosing to do so because the team making it has that much faith in the material and the studio is farsighted enough to understand the long-term bet is good even if it doesn't dominate the box office.

All I could think while watching Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World was "How the hell did this get made?" I mean, I just can't grasp how a movie based on a relatively obscure comic property with such completely non-traditional storytelling devices could be greeenlit and make it onto a heavily marketed summer release slot. Yet here we are, and that move totally got made. Director Edgar Wright (Shaun of The Dead, Hot Fuzz, Spaced) has, for better or worse, made an incredibly faithful translation of the comic, capturing not only the spirit and nearly frame-by-frame accuracy, but all of the gaming culture references that filled the pages. Where Wright strayed from the comic, he seemed to do so only to add more fan service.

That isn't to say that it is an exact translation of the graphic novels. There are six fairly beefy volumes of storytelling compressed into the under two-hour running time, so that would have been impossible. But the amount that Wright does squeeze in and make work as well as he does is pretty amazing. Some things have been changed or shuffled around to account for the truncated timeline, but somehow these big moments come through faithfully and in some cases better than in the novels. Think of this movie as kind of a "greatest hits" from the novels, remixed and remastered in high-fidelity.

Not to spend too much time on the story recap, as the trailers do a pretty good job of getting you up to speed. This 20-something kid named Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) falls for a day-glow haired girl named Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) who has some baggage. Seven evil pieces of baggage. And they all want to kill Scott Pilgrim. The result is a spectacle of game-inspired battles that bring Scott stage-by-stage to winning the girl. The brilliance of the novels and the film is that all this fighting is really a metaphor for dealing with the crap that comes with a new relationship: learning about how awesome your new squeeze's exes were, the insecurities that come with that, as well as some of your own skeletons coming out to play. The video game-style presentation is the lens through which Scott views the world. He is part of a generation that grew up gaming...a generation whose lexicon of references are just as based in Shinobi as Shakespeare...OK, probably more so.

It is in this connection to a generation that the novel's creator Bryan Lee O'Malley struck gold. It was the right story, at the right time, in the right format to engage that audience, and it was embraced and celebrated as a result. But O'Malley's material was more than fan service to that group...his story, essentially a romantic comedy, bridges cultural gaps and attracted readers from many other groups including females and fans from the gay community. It can be argued that these atypical readers could not only get, but believe the over-the-top presentation because you expect it in a graphic novel. Can the film also manage this trick given the live action portrayal of these crazy events? The box office will judge, but it is my suspicion that it will fail, to some degree, in this regard. It may very well be a victim of staying too close to the original material.

Visually, the film unfolds in gorgeously shot vibrancy. The editing is fast and inventive, splitting the screen  in various ways to emulate the comic, and skipping from scene to scene in expertly staged transitions. It is at times chaotic, but mesmerizing. The comic and gaming references are literally integrated and superimposed over the action, creating a unique and dynamic feast for the eyes. But it is in all this craziness that the film may lose some viewers. This reviewer read the comics beforehand, so I knew all the story beats. But I suspect that a newcomer might simply be overwhelmed by all that is coming at them. The gaming and pop-culture cues are heavy, at times, and if you don't know what they are referencing, you might feel left out of the big in-joke. In short, if you aren't a gamer, you might not "get it." The story's romantic moments help, but unlike the novel, these moments aren't given nearly enough time to build into something compelling enough to entice those looking for a good romantic yarn. Where the novels straddled the line between fandom engaging action and core-relationships, the movie casts its lot heavily on the fandom side.

But as movies go, I'm glad that Wright sided with the fans. Fuck the masses. We've seen a million romantic comedies. But how many bass battles have we seen on film? How many pee meters have we ever seen depleted on celluloid? How many times have we seen a battle of the bands turn into a Pokemon battle? The answer to all the above, and so many more, is never. Never have audiences seen anything like this in a movie, much less a major Hollywood release. And if it fails, we may never again. And as I bask in the afterglow of the amazing things I witnessed on screen tonight, I still sit here wondering "how the hell did this get made?" I can't really answer that, but I'm sure glad it did.

image from PS3 version

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World - The Game

PS3/XBOX 360

Review By Chris Nolen

Even more so than movies, videogames are the ideal medium to retell the story of the Scott Pilgrim novels. After all, the very structure of the tale is built around videogame conventions: boss battles, leveling up, co-operative play, and statistics. For a more detailed recap of the how this story works, view my full review of the graphic novel series here. Now if you are up to speed, let me say that a giant kudos goes out to the minds Ubisoft and the marketing team at Universal Pictures, who somehow managed to not only tell the story well in its natural format, but miraculously picked the most absolutely perfect game to emulate in doing so...the side-scrolling beat'em up, River City Ransom (RCR.)

This decision may actually have been influenced by the series' creator Bryan Lee O'Malley, who incorporated many facets of the classic 8bit NES game into the books. The novel's boss fights, levels, role playing elements, and weapons are borrowed and, in some cases, lifted directly from the NES game. The choice to go back to source material was inspired, and the result is almost nothing short of the higher fidelity sequel the game never received. In short, it is awesome.

The game lets you play as a Scott Pilgrim, Ramona Flowers, or Sex Bob-omb's Steven Stills and Kim Pine. Each character has a slightly different set of attributes, which make the choice more than a cosmetic one. You will fight your way through seven levels taken, more or less, right from the books. And at the end of each, you'll square off against at least one boss, generally being one of Ramona's seven evil exes. The combat is challenging and sometimes frustrating, but the core gameplay is so fun that you'll keep coming back. You have a vast array of moves that grows as you get more powerful. And if you get stuck, you have the freedom to go back to earlier levels (through the game's Super Mario Bros. 3 inspired overworld map) to "grind," or level up your character in order to have a better chance at success. This game, like RCR, has stores where you can buy items to power up your character. These purchases are made from the coins that every defeated foe leaves behind...just like in the graphic novel. The combat, combined with the RPG elements and challenge, makes for a very enjoyable ride over the several hours the downloadable title will last.

The graphics are beautifully rendered in 16bit style, and feature animations that are only possible on more modern machines. The art direction captures the spirit of the comic, but also the essence of the 8bit Technos Japan games, like RCR and Double Dragon. The mix produces a visual style that is far more detailed than the initial impression implies. But even better than the graphics is the music, provided by chip-tune artist Anamanaguchi, who provides original music that drives and soars with melody and texture. It truly is one of the better game soundtracks of the year.

One major omission holds the game back from true greatness, and that is the lack of online co-op. The severity of this sin depends on how much you like to play online, but the only way you'll play co-op is to have everyone in the room with you on your system. In fact, you can't really jump in or out at will either...you have to start the game together from the beginning. For me, this was a minor annoyance because at the time I reviewed the game, I was playing solo. But I can imagine that if playing co-op is an important feature in the buying decision, then you will be disappointed. Otherwise, I couldn't have been happier with the game.

In short, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World is an outstanding update to one of the best games of the 8bit era. It features the great story and characters from the graphic novels, and tons of little secrets hidden for fans of both the novels and video games in general. If you've ever enjoyed the classic side-scrolling beat'em up, and have even a passing interest in the Scott Pilgrim novels, then you shouldn't pass this one up. At $10, it's a pretty low-investment purchase that will bring back tons of memories from the 8bit era, as well as provide many new moments to remember going forward.

Continuing in a long-held tradition of one other post, I'm making an effort to cover a broader range of reviews with far fewer words. I, mercifully, will not write them in poetic meter.

Kick-Ass

Mathew Vaughn's adaptation of a comic book series, about non-super heroes trying to be super, is a largely successful romp that instantly reminds you of Sam Raimi's original Spiderman. It is an origin story that is told with wide-eyed optimism and comedic brilliance. The titular character is an affable dude in exactly the way Peter Parker would have been had he never been bitten by the spider, but tried to be a hero anyway. As his hero act spins out of his control, he meets up with real a group of other would-be crime fighters including the pint-sized assassin, Hit Girl. Despite the movie's title, it is Hit Girl that is the star of the show. She is the 100-calorie snack pack proportioned version of Kill Bill's Beatrix Kiddo, and has just as little mercy as the larger version. And McLovin is back, playing another version of McLovin, which is always good in my book. It's a very fun night at the movies, and is the popcorn movie to see before the big summer movies hit.

The National - High Violet

While not as poetic as their previous effort, Boxer, High Violet is a worthy follow-up that expands on everything you either love, or hate, about The National. Singer Matt Berringer doesn't seem to get excited about much. Like, ever. But there is something about the songwriting, combined with his dispassionate drone, that just works. High Violet is a collection of songs that delve into the morose with a detachment concession to the realities of life, while not being terribly effected by it. It is the soundtrack to hipster apathy. All that being said, once the album gets its hooks into you, it will be stuck in your head incessantly. And the melodies are beautiful enough to make the possession a pleasant one, even if the voices in your head are mopey. 

The Lovely Bones

Directed by Peter Jackson, this film is a remarkably heart-warming tale, told from the perspective of a murdered fourteen year-old girl. She struggles with the limitations of the afterlife as she tries to maintain a presence in the physical world long enough to help her family find closure. Highly recommended if you are in the proper mood, but prepare for paranoia if you have children.

The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus

If you are expecting anything other than the top-of-his-game Terry Gilliam madness, look elsewhere. If you enjoy a visually stunning fairy-tale told in as comprehensible a fashion as Gilliam has pulled off to date, then give it a go. Your imagination will thank you, if not your logic. Oh, and Tom Waits is the Devil. If that last bit doesn't make you want to see it, nothing will.

 Super Street Fighter 4

Expanding the already impressive roster of SF4 to 35, this update does something unheard of for a fighter these days: All fighters are unlocked from the beginning. Capcom, thank you for not making me beat the game with every character without losing a round just to unlock Akuma. Outside of that piece of mercy, the game plays incredibly well. It is everything you might love about Street Fighter perfected.

Splinter Cell: Conviction

This game is probably the best in this series of super-spy games to make you actually feel like a super-spy. You move from shadow to shadow with quickness and purpose. And when you spring into action, you are a lethally efficient tool of aggressive diplomacy. And the main character, who looks like Brett Favre, is voiced by Micheal Ironside, which gives it a certain...gravitas.

You have to hand it to UPS. After a few thousand miles, the box was immaculate.

The packaging is classic apple: clean and minimal. White is the new black. This is the 32gig WiFi only version.

After you remove the iPad, you find the only documentation in the entire package. It is seriously only like two pages long. Apple is confident, as always, that you don't need instructions to operate a properly designed piece of hardware. This tends to be correct. For more confirmation of this theory, I suggest reading The Design of Everyday Things by Donald Norman.

The only other bits in the package are the connection cable and power block...the very same ones that the iPhone ships with.

The device really feels great in your hands. It is a bit heavier than you would expect, but still quite light.

The back is the clean brushed-aluminum look of the original iPhone. The logo is not backlit.

I'm using the option dock to sync for the first time with my Mac Mini running Windows 7. This process goes exactly like setting up an iPhone.

Viola! After setting up my WiFi connection, I was up and running in no time. Proper syncing took a good bit of time, as 32 gigs over USB isn't a zippy process. I did encounter a couple of syncing problems due to my MobileMe extensions being buggy. But an uninstall/reinstall of MobileMe fixed any issues I had.

Now for the impressions. 

It is no secret that I am an Apple guy. I love my Mac. I love my iPhone and all my iPods. But I've had my reservations about the iPad. I thought, "what was the point of a device I couldn't really do any work on?" But I also can't resist the call of such sexy products, of which Apple tends to have a monopoly on. And the hype around the device was equal to any device launch I've ever seen. Would apple's next big thing live up to the hype?

In short, it depends on what you want to use it for. I came to peace with the fact that this wasn't a content creation tool, but a content CONSUMPTION tool. It could have as easily been called iPlate, because it is, in many ways, the best way to consume media I've ever seen. If you are ok with that being its primary function, you will have little to complain about. If you insist on it being more akin to a MacBook, then you will come away disappointed. It simply wasn't meant to be a workhorse machine.

But as I said earlier, what it does do, it does exceptionally well: present media in compelling ways. Web content, despite the lack of Flash support, is quite beautiful on the machine. Pages load and scroll with fast responsiveness. Holding the internet in your hands, it turns out, is the best way to surf the web. But where the iPad truly shines, as media device, is with the wide variety of Apps. On launch day, there were over 1,300 iPad specific apps available. That, added to the 150,000 or so iPhone apps that it runs flawlessly, you have an overwhelming amount of options with which to put the iPad to use. Media apps such as Netflix, ABC Television, Time Magazine and many others provide a near endless amount of content. eBooks and online Zines are vibrant, with interactive video and image content that sets iPad far, far ahead of the Kindle-like eBook competition.

On the subject of apps, this is where the device really becomes more than a big iPod Touch. The greater screen real estate and zippiness of the processor allow for apps that feel far more like desktop apps than iPhone apps. Once you load up Pages, Yahoo Entertainment, or The Elements, you will notice immediately greater fidelity and options available. It is at this moment that the machine you are holding feels quite powerful.

As a gaming device, it is surprisingly competent. The larger screen allows for much more detailed graphics on the beautiful LED LCD screen, as well as providing extra space for on-screen thumbpads to provide an almost console like control experience.

All these options for entertainment makes for a pretty compelling device. But what is truly exciting about the iPad is the potential for the future. As app makers discover the limits of what the faster processing and larger screen provides, the possibilities seem nearly endless for the functionality that could come. Content creation could very well become a viable option through software that truly makes use of platform's strengths. Power users may then have a reason to consider the device as a supplement to the traditional laptop/desktop combo. And for the average content-consuming computer user, well, they may very well find a reason to get rid of their desktops and laptops all together. Like the iPhone forever changed the concept of what a phone is, the iPad could very well change how we think of mobile computing.

Here's a change for the normally far-too-verbose Noleo: a compilation of rhyming two-line reviews for the many things I've consumed of late. Feel free to thank me for the time I didn't spend on delving into the deeper meanings of Objectivism in how it relates to the plight of BioShock 2's protagonist.

And away we go...

Hot Tub Time Machine

Lloyd Dobbler and friends in a miserable fix, they who have no reason to smile. A magical hot tub whisks them to '86, best laughs of the year by a mile.

 Broken Bells - Self Titled

Dangerous Rodent and Guy from Shins team up quiet well, a dreary dream ride through psychological stuff. But somewhat forgettable songs leave your mind a shell - one listen may well be enough.

Black Dynamite

A mighty sendup to the blacksploitation hero, his kung fu treachery is strong. With nun-chucks and humor he bludgeons the zeros, he fights to keep black men long.

Just Cause 2

A latino CIA agent, with grapple and gritt, takes down a regime to help the isles' suffragettes. But make no mistake, it's B-movie shit, it's really about surfing on jets.

Sobriety

Long days of work sometimes make me thirst - but with no fermentation I am left wanting. If not for "near beer" I'd send someone to a hearse, I find the next two months quite daunting.

God of War III

Kratos the Spartan has no sense of humor, he has no time for glee. For the third time I must climb out of hades, it's two times too many for me.

Liver Mousse - Sans Pants

A darling pairing of Cody and Caitlin, as a couple and as a band. Love makin' and Nachos, the EPs is waitin' at Sneaky Beans to leave in your hand.

Whip It

Round and round the jammers do jam, derby girls can be quite adorable. Ellen Page is a Babe most Ruthless, by damn, to miss this flick would be deplorable.

Healthcare Bill

Whoever knows whats in this jumble should surely be celebrated. The Republicans bested, Glen Beck must now grumble, my joy cannot be debated.

Dark Void

On paper this game seemed the best of all time, Rocketeering and killing off evil-doers. But the final execution was not so sublime, its story did smell of manure.

She & Him - Volume Two

Zooey and M. Ward are back for more fun, delighting the nostalgic hip chap. Not quite as fresh or good as the Volume One, it's still better than most indie crap.

Bioshock 2

Water water everywhere and not a drop to drink, Art Deco architecture doesn't like getting wet. Objectivism vs. humanism does make one think, a game worth playing you can bet.

Gorillaz - Plastic Beach

That guy from Blur makes another return, with all of his cartoon band. A bunch of merry monkeys, but when will they learn, less pop often equals more bland.

Beneath the thin veil of rational behavior, all civilized people have a more primal side. You could call it the ID, or you could call it the lizard brain, but whatever it is draws you to crave the wild side. And from that common calling, the kingdom of metal was born...an ancient land of rock, hot rods, and scantily clad ladies where towering statues of guitars and neolithic architecture dominate the landscape. An ancient land ruled by evil demons, enslaving mankind to mines where they aren't given tools, but bang the rock with their bare heads. But even the kingdom of metal would have a hero rise up and lead his people to freedom. And in Tim Shafer's newest game, Brütal Legend, you will free humanity with the power of rock.

Jack Black plays roadie Eddie Riggs, who is transported back to this ancient land of metal, and rallies mankind by putting his roadie skills to use. You see, in the world of brütal legend, rock is power. Electric guitars are used to summon great power from the rock gods. Sometimes for attack, but also for command. Contrary to the perception that the game is a hack & slash, like God of War, Brütal Legend is surprisingly a very basic Real Time Strategy game at heart. One where you can take part in the battles yourself, or command your troops using the power of rock. Your base is literally a stage, and the currency are fans, which you much harvest to power your forces.

In truth, the gameplay is much harder to describe than simply calling it an RTS. It's also an open-world action-adventure game with vehicles. This hodge-podge of gameplay styles works pretty well together, even if it sounds a bit gawky. None of these styles is done particularly great, but the whole feels pretty good, as it is fun to play. You could say that the power of rock is the glue that holds it all together, because what Brütal Legend does have going for it is a very consistent and very cool aesthetic that recalls heavy metal album covers from the 70s. Huge ancient landmarks are scattered about the world, giving the game a great sense of scale, and creating some pretty stunning, albeit heavily stylized, vistas to boot.

But by far the best part of Brütal Legend is story. Tim Shafer, who has built a reputation as one of the greatest comedic storytellers in the industry, delivers again in a big way. The story, as mentioned before, is a messianic tale of rebellion and freedom. But viewed through the lens of Shafer, it sparkles with wit and energy, never feeling as trite as it would through any other storyteller. Jack Black puts on a perfect performance as Riggs, but is supported by the otherworldly Tim Curry, and a who's who of rock legends like Ozzy Osbourne, Rob Halford, Lita Ford, and Lemmy Kilmister. The humor does diminish a bit as you get deeper into the game and the story gets a little more serious, but as a whole, the story is a blast from start to finish. Hard to recommend if you absolutely detest Real Time Strategy games, but there is enough other stuff going on that this is a game that would appeal to just about anyone with a love of rock and an itchy funnybone. The metal lives on.

I'm a sucker for a good western. No doubt about it. No matter if you're talking Sergio Leone's classics such as Once Upon a Time in The West, or Larry McMurtry's classic Lonesome Dove, I've always been drawn to the raw, rugged beauty of the utterly untamed frontier. It is a rich world to play, with tales of heroes, outcasts, lawmen, hostile natives, prostitutes (with hearts of gold, no less), and the ever-popular outlaw. Yet, until the last five years or so, it has been a tragically neglected genre for videogames.

But in 2005-2006, a trio of western-themed games hit and brought hell with them: GUN, Red Dead Revolver, and Call of Juarez. All three were critical and commercial successes in their own rights, and now the sequels are coming to cash in like Doc Holiday with a gun under the table. The first of these sequels is actually a prequel, Call of Juarez:Bound in Blood. And if this game is any indication, the second round of Western-themed games should be all the sweeter.

CoJ:BiB tells the story of the McCall brothers, Civil War defectors-turned-outlaws on a quest for Cortez's Gold. And the story is as rich and layered as any FPS story this year. Actually, it's one of my favorite storylines in FPS history. You'll find yourself in the company of Preachers, Apache warlords, Mexican pistoleros, Rogue Militiamen, and one very beautiful senorita...all in search of the treasure of Cortez that is buried somewhere in Juarez, Mexico. There are many twists and turns, and you'll find yourself having a hard time being sympathetic with any of this surly lot. But that's the anti-hero vibe of the Spaghetti Western at play, which tickles my fancy every time. That isn't to say that the story is all gold. It definitely takes a turn here and there for the trite, and worse, silly. But all things considered, it's a step forward for the sub-genre.

Bringing the story to life is the Ubisoft's Chrome Engine, which pumps out fantastic lighting effects that really amplify the game's atmosphere. The characters are richly detailed, and while not the best in genre, are better than average in bringing this Western tale to life. On the whole, animations are pretty stiff...but the facial expressions during the game's many cutscenes are quite nice at emoting what the characters are going through. Vast, colorful vistas stretch for miles in the distance, and the detailed landscapes of the foregrounds are defined by crisp textures and foliage. And it's this color and texture that really set it apart from all of its all-grey competition. The result is a game that can stand with some of the best in the FPS genre. The audio is a bit cringe-inducing at times, settling for hard-rocking guitars during action sequences, instead of relying on the more orchestral elements from the rest of the game. And it's in the sound design that the game misses its biggest opportunity to nail the Western thriller...it simply does too much. A good Western is sparse in it's sound design...letting the desolate landscape's ambience speak to the loneliness of its characters. Subtlety is the key, and at times, CoJ:BiB simply misses the mark entirely. But don't let that ruin what is otherwise a finely told story, because the gameplay is also remarkably solid across the board.

The gameplay is at its heart a first-person shooter, but there are a few additional layers that make it a little unexpected, and more fun as a result. You'll have an assortment of period-appropriate weapons (I'm pretty sure some are fictional) that pack the power that you would expect from an 1865 firearm, not that I have any idea what that would feel like. But they feel right. In addition, you'll have access to a Bow, throwing knives, dynamite, and other goodies that let you mix things up a bit with some stealth and grenadier action. And what fun would all those toys be if you couldn't bring them to bear in cool ways, and Call of Juarez gives each of the game's characters a unique slow-motion multiple-shot mechanic, where you can take down several enemies in mere seconds. But the coolest gameplay addition is the showdown. You'll face down enemies, one-on-one, in a quick-draw contest to the death. You have to circle around the enemy, while keeping your hand near your weapon, lest it take too long to draw. And if you're quick enough, you can pull off some incredibly accurate shots in a split second. These sequences let you live out your gunslinger fantasies in a way that captures so much of what makes Westerns fun.

As good as it plays, and as great as it looks, ultimately it's CoJ:BiB's ability to capture all the little moments of Western cliche that make it a game worth playing. If you enjoy Westerns at all, the story will have you smiling as the brothers McCall take on all manner of opposition in a dusty, atmospheric world that let's your imagination soar. And as good as it is, it makes you wonder how great the next generation of Western games will be, when technology takes a back seat to pure storytelling. Where the soundtrack is sparce, save for a lone flute playing a haunting melody against the backdrop of the painted deserts of the American West. Where sharp-eyed heroes and villians, and every shade in between, fight for a piece of the bloody frontier. If only Sergio Leone were alive and a game developer.

Good PS3 exclusives don't come around that often. Killzone 2 may have, in fact, been the last one. But InFAMOUS can certainly be added to that elite company. It was released within the same month as it's dopleganger Prototype (another openworld superhuman on a rampage game) and the fantasticly awesome Red Faction: Guerilla. But even with all the openworld genre competition, InFAMOUS does a lot right to stand out.

The story is about a bike messenger who inadvertantly destroys the city with a parcel, and as a result, becomes Emperor Palpatine. That means you have control of lightning...able to manipulate electrical currents and power sources to your will. In terms of gameplay, this means you will have the lightning equivalent of pistols, shotguns, and rockets. But these also feature lightning's unique property of spreading though the objects and characters surrounding the impact. This creates for a visually powerful effect, even if the lightning's splash damage is a bit weak. In addition to these basic powers, you'll aquire the ability to "grind" powerlines, glide through the air, and even resurrect the games multitudes of innocent bystanders. Depending on what choices you make throughout the game, slanting you "good" or "evil", you will gain access to unique powers. The end result is you are a Raiden-like thunder god who can use your powers for good or ill. You will also get the ability to quickly scale pretty much anything in the gameworld like a parkour legend, and in this gameplay mechanic the game will feel almost like a platformer at times. And it is in this depth and variety of gameplay that InFAMOUS becomes an addictive experience.

Tech-wise, the game is rock-solid. Unlike most openworld games, InFAMOUS is dense with detail at every corner. The architecture is varied and well thought out, each building giving you unique gameplay opportunities as you figure out how to scale it. The character models are also well detailed (for the genre), and quite varied as you will encounter tons of NPCs on the streets. Other little details that were impressive included lighting effects in both atmosphere and destruction, detailed textures, and the draw distance which feels pretty much limitless.

What you end up with is a sandbox to essentially be a superhero or supervillian in. The given choices and missions never allow you to be too evil, but you can kill civilians by the hundreds if you choose to do so, draining their lifeforce to power yourself. And not to spoil anything, but you aren't the only super-dude in town, and your showdown with these powerful opponents create for some fantastic encouters and twists. The combination of solid platforming, lightning-based "gunplay", and fabulous graphics make this one a blast to play from beginning to end. Highly recommended.

Is Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen the right movie for you to see this weekend? This simple quiz could help you divine an answer to that most serious of questions.

1) Do you like to see stuff get blown up?

2) Do you have Dramamine on hand?

3) Do you like your giant robots to say things like "punk-ass Decepticon."

4) Do you enjoy seeing dogs hump? Potty humor?

5) Do you have a high tolerance for demeaning racial stereotypes?

6) Do you have 2.5 hrs?

If you answered yes to three or more of these questions, then Transformers: RotF is the feel-good hit of the summer. If not, then a little more thought may need to go into this decision.

To put it simply, this movie is neither as ungodly horrible or as awesome as you might have heard. There are moments of pure fun mixed with moments of pure agony. But none of it renders this big, dumb action flick unwatchable. Nor can the incredible effects and explosions save it from pure mediocrity. It does a decent job of entertaining, but nothing here is going to make you want to watch it again....the pain point of the bad stuff is just too high.

Yes, Ironhide, the humor is that bad.The lions' share of the pain in this movie comes from the face-palm inducing attempts at humor. In fact I think they meant to call it Transformers: ROTFL, but they lost the "L". If you hated the original movie because of the stupid robot piss jokes, or John Turturo's laughable character, then stay way the hell away from this one. Michael Bay has never been one to respect his audience, but he dips to all new lows here, and seems to revel in it like a dog rolling around in a dead carcass. Apparently, the focus groups just LOVED the humor in the original, so he amped it all up to 11. It's a regular old robot clown rodeo. And if you cringed at the ghetto fabulous Jazz from the original, you'll absolutely loathe the new "Dirty South" style twins which represent some of the meanest stereotyping I've seen in years. I mean, it's Breakfast at Tiffany's bad. And the twins combine to form an ice cream truck. I shit you negative. Much has already been said about how offensive these characters are, and it is all well deserved. The scary part is that the audience I saw it with, which was diverse in age and race, absolutely wailed at the off-color stuff. I guess that they didn't know they were being made fun of. Or maybe I'm just reading too much into it through the white guilt lens. I don't know, but I know what I saw on screen embarrassed me. Well, enough about that.

The plot...well...I hope you aren't there for a good story. This is no Terminator 2. Hell, this is no Transformers 1. With what was no doubt the most expensive production in film history, TF:RotF manages to put a ton on screen, but I'll be damned if it says anything worthwhile. In this case, it's much less than meets the eye.

So what's good? Some of the action is pretty sweet, even if keeping track of what all is going on has actually gotten harder. But as giant robot fighting with cameras that rotate around in dizzying ways go...it's pretty good. Particularly, Optimus Prime and his merciless badassery. He basically got his can handed to him in the last film, but here, he's a one-robot wrecking machine. I guess he learned some robot-fu between films. Shia and Megan are still watchable as the human leads, but there isn't exactly much believable chemistry on screen. But they look good, and that's what matters in a Michael Bay flick. The Parents are back, and provide some of the only humor that actually works in the film, even if they are in it too much.

In the end, you'll probably come out of the theatre much the same way I did...with a glazed over look on your face. Openly acknowledging how crappy the bad parts, and a bit embarrassed that actually enjoyed it as much as you did. There are worse movies that you could see this year, but not many. Unless you just want to see the spectacle of hundreds of millions of dollars flying by on a big screen, I can't really recommend you spend your money on this one. Go see Star Trek, a big and expensive action flick that can actually tell a good story and a good joke at the same time.

Regina Spektor comes off as one odd bird. She's a little like those A.D.D. kids that like to put on little shows for their parents. There's an innocent and disarmingly transparent plea for attention. And somewhere in there, a tightrope walk of honesty and self-aware showmanship. Thankfully, every drop of that comes across on her latest release, Far. Less straightforward than 2006's excellent Begin to Hope, Regina wears all her idiosyncrasies on her ruffled sleeves, and to great effect.

While not as immediately gratifying as the former album, it rewards deeper inspection. Lyrically, she's sharp and delivers lines laced with references both literate and obscure. And they never cease to surprise in their delivery, which could best be described as curious, with just a hint of self-indulgence. But it always ceases the attention, as her voice is such a stunningly beautiful instrument. And when she purposefully goes off in unexpected directions, you sit up and take notice. She has always been self-aware in this, seemingly amping it up on demand, but somehow continues to come across as geniune due to the content of the lyrics. Melodically, she still recalls the best of the White Album era Beatles, with a dash of Tori Amos and the theatricality of Neil Diamond.

That recipe really pays off on cuts like entirely hummable "The Calculation", the dark theatrics of "Machine", and the irony of "Laughing With". The latter track, in particular, calls upon all of Spektor's more notable ingredients, painting a picture of desperation masked in absurdity. But all of the tracks seem to come from a more acute angle than on previous albums, and nothing is quite as cut and dry as they appear to be on the surface. It is this depth in lyrics that sets Far apart from her previous work, and keeps you hooked long after the catchy melodies have faded.

And divine it is. I could bang it all day.

I can remember fairly clearly when I first got the demo for Red Faction for the PS2. It was a shooter, set on mars, where you lead an uprising against a tyrannous corporation and you could blow shit up. Real good. My brain instantly conjured up images of Total Recall (still the best movie about Mars ever made), and the rebellion storyline made my inner Che' smile with with glee. Unfortunately, the game itself didn't quite live up to the promise.

Fast forward too many years, and Volition has released the third in the series, GUERRILLA. I'm happy to report that this game does indeed live up to the dream of what could have been, but is only now technologically possible. And man, is the tech ever grande. The star of this show is, without question, the GEOMOD 2.0 engine, which allows you to take down structures in a very realistic manner. Every structure is build with both a steel skeleton, and layers of structure on top of that, as a real building would have. By taking out the walls and the steel skeleton, you can literally bring down the house in a totally believable way. Knock down a load-bearing beam, and the structure will sway, whine, crack, and pout as it strains to maintain it's form under the unequally distributed stress. Knock down another one, and the whole thing crumbles down. And you can even do this with your gigantic hammer when you don't have access to rockets, tanks, anti-matter, singularity bombs, or mech walkers you will often be equipped with. It is a delight.

The gameplay itself is fairly straighforward open-world stuff, and the formula still works pretty well: A) Get Mission B) Drive Somewhere C) Blow Something Up D) Get Paid. As the previous paragraph implies, step C is what makes this one awesome, seperating it from the rash of similar games which have recently been released.

The graphics are adequate, but not spectacular, but don't let that keep you from appreciating the glory that is the GEOMOD 2.0 engine. It not only renders a gigantic world, but the damage that you inflict to it's many structures remains persistently when you return to it. This gives your actions consequence. Blow up a civilian apartment complex (or better yet, drive a mech through it) and it isn't coming back.

The story is your typical revenge story against the oppressive and seemingly invincible overlord, but rest assured, your hammer of justice will fall hard on "the man". Did I mention that my inner Che' was smiling? That being said, the story isn't why you're here, is it? You're here for the action, and in Red Faction: GUERRILLA, you will be more than satisfied. Highly recommended.

An insanely deep game that plays as good as it looks. Almost every major fighter is represented, and look amazingly close to their real counterparts. And the realistic damage modeling accurately serves as a "life gauge" of sorts. The presentation is straight out of a UFC TV event, and the music is just as annoying. Luckily the Voice Over work of the announcers is top notch and enthusiastic.

Exhibition bouts are fun, Online rocks, and historic fights are good additions, but the real game is in career mode. My custom fighter, Sir Noleo Fantastico, is currently running roughshod over the 205lb division. You have tons of ways to modify your fighter's skills, actually improving your abilities as you progress. W/L records are pretty realistic, because no matter how good you get, you can always get caught with a stray punch that is an instant KO. It's that unpredictable nature of the bouts that most authentically captures the excitement and constant danger of UFC fighting. Even the champ can go down with one well placed punch.

Sugar Rashad, Sir Noleo is coming for you.