Madagascar 3 Review

The daughter and I caught the preview to Madagascar 3 and were sucked in by the image and accompanying song above. We had seen the first Madagascar film from Dreamworks Animation and enjoyed it but didn’t see Madagascar 2.  Yesterday we went to see the movie (non-3D) and here’s what we thought:

Madagascar 3 is the story of Alex the lion (voiced by Ben Stiller), Marty the zebra (voiced by Chris Rock), Melman the giraffe (voiced by David Schwimmer) and Gloria the hippopotamus (voiced by Jada Pinkett Smith) who are living in Africa but dreaming of returning to the zoo they left in the first film.  We get to follow along on their journey to try and find their way back home.

Madagascar 3 brings in all of the usual elements of the series. The penguins are extremely smart and witty. King Julien the lemur is over the top and as usual there is a song that will get stuck in your head - an earworm. In Madagascar it was “I Like To Move It, Move It” and here it is “Afro Circus” (see trailer below).

The story is definitely geared to the tween and younger crowd. At one point the crew rehearses for a few hours and in the next scene puts on a circus extravaganza, but hey – it’s a movie about talking animals don’t take it so seriously. All of the kids in the audience enjoyed it and laughed and that is good enough for me. The writers also seem to make fun of themselves with Skipper the leader of the penguins (voiced by Tom McGrath) stating at one point that they could have bought a plane if they hadn’t bought a circus.

The penguins are a riot as usual and Chris Rock’s Marty has the most memorable moments in the film with his dance and song. This is a fun one to take the kids too for a matinee. I give Madagascar 3 three Mick Happies. You will not get "Polka Dot, Polka Dot – Afro Circus" out of your head.

The Intouchables Review

About a week ago, my wife and daughter told me they wanted to buy a DVD for a movie called The Intouchables. They had seen the trailer online and based on what they saw they wanted to see the movie, which was available on DVD in Europe but not here in the United States. A little poking around the Internet and it wasn’t clear that version of the movie available for purchase had English subtitles. Luckily, the French movie directed by Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano was just released here on May 25. We promptly found a Landmark Theatre playing the film and made plans for this weekend – with me joking that I was going to read a movie (though the trailer did make the film look good.)

The Intouchables is the story of a wealthy tetraplegic (quadraplegic?) named Philippe, played by Francois Cluzet, and his live-in caregiver Driss, played by Omar Sy. The film opens to the two of them stuck in traffic in Philippe’s Maserati Quattroporte. Driss pulls out of traffic, hits the throttle and takes off only to be chased by the police. Driss bets Philippe that he can get away from the police and Phillipe agrees. The scene goes on from there and I won’t ruin it for you. Suffice it to say that this is actually a point toward the end of the story and the movie then goes back to how Driss and Philippe met and proceeds from there.

The story is full of laughter and some drama as we see how these two main characters learn about each other and become more than employer and employee. I thoroughly enjoyed the believable and touching friendship between Philippe and Driss as well as the relationships between Driss and the rest of Philippe’s staff.  The entire cast did a great job, particularly Anne Le Ny as Yvonne (the head of the household staff) and Audrey Fleurot as Magalie (Philippe’s assistant). The result, a very entertaining film.

Often when I watch subtitled movies I find myself so preoccupied with reading that I miss the visuals of the film. With The Intouchables, I often forgot that I was reading (though I still was) and was instead caught up in the film. My wife, daughter and I all really enjoyed the film and left the theater ready to go get a Maserati (if you like cars…you will too.) This is one time where the movie trailer (see it below) shows you exactly what to expect from the film. I give The Intouchables five Mick Happies. Look for a theater showing this movie and go, it will be well worth your time.

Nickelback 'Here and Now' Concert Review

Earlier this week, my daughter and I travelled to downtown Minneapolis for the Nickelback Here and Now Concert. The show included the band and opening acts My Darkest Days, Seether and Bush.

My daughter and I both enjoy Nickelback’s music, so we were looking forward to the show. The tickets listed a start time as 6 PM, so with three opening bands we knew to go later and arrived around 7 instead. For those who haven’t been to the Target Center, the venue for the show, it is the home of the Minnesota Timberwolves NBA team and is very easy to get to and park at.

When we arrived and got to our seats, Seether was just wrapping up their set. Here is a view of the stage between acts from our seats:

We obviously weren’t in the best seats in the house, but they were still $85 a person. The final opening band, Bush, came on stage a little later and performed a nice little show. My daughter texted her mom in the middle of the set to say, “I don’t care much for Bush”, but I remembered most of the songs from the radio even if I don’t know the name of any except Glycerine. One of the highlights of the Bush set was Gavin Rossdale leaving the stage to run to the back of the Target Center and perform from the audience – the crowd really enjoyed it. Mr. Rossdale was also grateful to the crowd who were wearing older Bush shirts and thanked them for being there – classy.

Finally, at 9:05 PM, Nickelback took the stage.

The show started with Something in Your Mouth (I think) and proceeded to go through most of the well known songs in the band’s catalog. The show included about twelve big columns of flames that warmed up the arena, several pyrotechnic booms and lots of lights. 

Overall, the sound was good (through my earplugs) and the band sounded like their albums albeit with the occasional f-bomb included ensuring you knew they were not lip syncing. At one point, the band moved from the stage to a smaller stage that dangled from the ceiling in the middle of the arena and slowly rotated so that people in the cheap seats got to be much closer to the band, which was nice.

Nickelback performed for the requisite 90 minutes (including a quick break before the encore) and no more. So for about $1 per minute, we were entertained. The main problem we had with the show was how long it went before Nickelback came on and how short their show seemed as a result. We were left a little disappointed and feeling that the band had just cookie-cutter stamped out another live performance. The set list also conspicuously left off S.E.X., which we found surprising, as it would have fit in nicely with the rest of the show. Note to Mr. Kroeger, if you are going to talk about how much you love the town you are in and how you don’t have to perform the next night – why don’t you play a little longer for the crowd. 

If you plan to see Nickelback, be warned that there will be swearing from the band, references to drinking and (at our show) one girl lowering her top and bra to be projected up on the big screens behind the stage. The night as a whole gets 3 Mick Happies with the Nickelback music and Bush effort/showmanship being the highlights.

P.S. It was really warm in the arena as evidenced by this clip. That or Gavin Rossdale is the hardest working person alive.

Yes, that is dripping sweat. If you like the song, go buy it. It's on iTunes.

Mass Effect 3 Review

The original Mass Effect was one of the reasons I got an Xbox 360 back in 2007. I enjoyed the game and it was one of the first games I can remember actually finishing all the way through without getting bored and moving on to other things. Now with Mass Effect 3 (ME3) from BioWare, I have just completed a trilogy of games.

ME3 begins with you making the decision to either play multiplayer missions or the single player game. If you choose single player, you will then have the chance to either import your Commander Shepard from Mass Effect 2 or go with a new Shepard (there is an achievement for completing the game 2 times or once with an imported Shepard as incentive). After your choice, you get to spend time tweaking your Shepard (male or female) to look however you want. After that you are thrown into the struggle as you find Shepard being called into a meeting to discuss the Reapers just when the Reaper invasion hits Earth. After escaping, the rest of the game is about trying to stop the Reapers and taking back Earth, which will require a lot of help from wherever you can find it.

I enjoyed ME3 immensely. For any fan of the franchise and of Shephard’s journey to stop the Reapers, it hits all of the right notes. The addition of Kinect voice commands adds to the immersion factor and takes some of the play-stopping controls out of the mix when interacting with squad members. Though I will say one of my dogs didn’t enjoy the number of times I yelled “First Aid!” at my TV. The cover-based combat is easy enough for those who aren’t skilled with shooter games, but deep enough to be fun if you are skilled. Of course the story is also great along the way with highs and lows, twists and turns.

All of the characters you have come to know and love are here (unless they died in a previous installment of the trilogy and you imported your character). In many ways, the entirety of ME3 is a farewell to the series as there are many instances where you come across characters you helped (or stopped) in the previous Mass Effect games and they remind you of the good ol’ days before the Reaper invasion. It isn’t necessary to have played the other two games in the series, but it will add depth and make you connect with the characters even more.

There are a couple of things that you should be aware of, some good and some not as good. The multiplayer part of the game does play a part in your single player campaign. As you play multiplayer missions, you will raise the galactic readiness of the military troops fighting the Reapers, which seems to help determine how hard the final missions of the game will be. Take some time to play at least a few multiplayer missions, they are fun even if it takes some time to get used to combat only focus and working together with other human players. One drawback to the game is the number (and duration) of loading screens. Ttravel from one system to another? Loading screens. Go from one level of the Citadel to another? Loading screens. Travel from one deck to another on the Normandy? You got it, loading screens.

As repetitive and time consuming as the loading screens are, they can’t detract from Mass Effect 3 being a great game – both for single and multiplayer. There have been complaints about the ending, but I was satisfied. After almost 40 hours of single player campaign and another 5 – 10 of multiplayer, I felt I definitely got value for my money. Mass Effect 3 is a fitting end to the Mass Effect trilogy, which I give five Mick Happies. Go save the galaxy, soldier.

The Riyria Revelations Review

After a bit of a hiatus, here is a review of The Riyria Revelations by Michael J. Sullivan. The Riyria Revelations were originally published as a six book fantasy series by Ridan Publishing (owned by Sullivan and his wife). The books were later picked up by Orbit publishing and released as Theft of Swords (November 2011), Rise of Empire (December 2011) and Heir of Novron (January 2012). Each volume contains two of the original novels.

The Riyria Revelations cover the story of Royce Melborne and Hadrian Blackwater, two thieves collectively known as the Riyria. We are first introduced to them as they ride toward their latest job, they are thieves for hire taking on different assignments, mostly for the nobility. Like most fantasy series, this one starts off small and later expands to epic world-shaking proportions as the story evolves, with the main characters involved – whether they like it or not.

Royce is a typical dexterous thief capable of stealing just about anything. Hadrian is the strong arm of the two and carries three swords, which he is very skilled at using when the need arises. I enjoyed the banter between the two characters, which had the feel of two people who spent a lot of time together in sticky situations. There is obviously a lot of history between the two that happened before the start of the first book and the reader learns more about some of that history along the way.

The world of the book has many of the staples of fantasy, elves – though they are treated as near slaves and outcasts, dwarves – also in servitude to humans and not allowed their own lands, humans and the Ba Ran Ghazel (goblins).  Elan is mainly a collection of human kingdoms inhabiting a land that previously was united as an Empire under Novron, the son of one of the gods. Factions are at work in the background trying to reform the Empire and this political maneuvering is part of the backdrop for the series (as the titles of the later books would indicate).

One of the drawbacks in the book would be that the banter feels a little too modern for the fantasy setting and may take you out of the story a little. There are also times where the development of some of the characters seems rushed. A magic user in the story thinks about how something might be done and then a few scenes later is doing it without many of the struggles you might expect. However, there are enough twists and turn and fun along the way to make these easy enough to overlook.

I purchased the series through iTunes, got to love iTunes gift cards, and at $9.99 each, I thought the price was well worth it for essentially two novels in each book.  It is also a major bonus that the story is already finished – no waiting for the next book here. I give The Riyria Revelations 3 Mick Happies. If you want to try it out, download a prequel short story, The Viscount and the Witch, for free from the author’s website and enjoy. Samples of the books are also available on Mr. Sullivan’s website here.

Wild Cards Review

In December, Tor discounted the e-book cost of the first three novels in the re-launched Wild Cards series of novels edited by George R.R. Martin to $2.99 each. I had never gotten into the original Wild Cards series, which spanned more than twelve books, so I took this as my chance and scooped them up. The new Wild Card books are set in modern day on earth where the world has been dealing with the wild card virus and its effects. The wild card virus is an alien virus that mutates those afflicted with it and causing most to die or gain special abilities. These special abilities may be mutations that do nothing, make them grotesque or give them super powers. The novels of the Wild Cards series are as mosaic novels or an anthology of stories or chapters written by different authors, but as a single narrative.

The first of the new books is called Inside Straight and starts with the assassination of the leader of a unified Middle Eastern state called the Caliphate. This event and the effects it has in the Middle East and northern Africa are the main plot line in the background of the novel. In the foreground is the story of numerous wild card “Aces” or people who developed super powers from the virus’ mutation competing on US television in an American Idol-like contest called American Hero. As the book progresses the contestants question what it means to have powers and to be a hero.

The second and third books, Busted Flush and Suicide Kings, continue to delve into a world impacted by people with amazing powers and the governments that try to use them. I enjoy super hero TV shows and movies, so I was always interested in what this series would be like. I found that I enjoyed the limitations many of the characters had with their powers. Take for instance Curveball, a girl who can accelerate and control any object she throws even to the point of it exploding when it hits something. That is a fantastic power, but she is vulnerable to anything a normal person might be; all firepower and no defense. Another example is Earth Witch who can control the earth. At the start of the story we find Earth Witch making a living for her family digging wells with her power.

That kind of common application of these powers made the world of Wild Cards have more depth. Since the story is set in a world where they have been dealing with this virus and its effects for decades, it felt like people were still just being people whether they had super powers, tentacle mutations or no powers at all. One minor quibble with the stories is that there are many characters floating in and out and this can cause you to have to read through several chapters or stories about characters you really aren’t very connected to in order to reach those you are. Unlike an anthology though, all of the chapters and stories continue the overarching plot of the novel.

I liked the new Wild Cards series. I recommend that you look for them to be discount priced again (they currently look to be $7.99 for the e-books) or pick them up from some of the sellers on Amazon where they are going for $1 - $4. At the $2.99 price I got them for, they were well worth it. There is already a fourth novel in the new series and a fifth on the way. Do note that while edited by George R.R. Martin, he only has a story in the first novel of the three. Overall, Inside Straight, Busted Flush and Suicide Kings get 3 Mick Happies. Watch out for your card to turn…

Off the Leash Review

If you were wondering why the reviews have slowed down, one reason might be Off the Leash, is the latest iOS game from Big Pixel Studios that was released on February 2, 2012. The game’s premise is that there is a new sheriff in town who has banned all dogs. Dogs are being rounded up and hauled off and you, as a dog, escape from your house and go on the lamb. Along the way, you try to free other dogs and lead your pack to safety.

Off the Leash is a top to bottom scroller with extremely simple controls. Tilt the iPod or iPad left to move left and right to move right. Touch the screen and your pouch will slow down and any dogs in your pack will line up behind you. Simple, right? If only it were so. Along the way you have to watch out for water hazards that slow you down. There are also barricades that you can knock down, but will seriously sap your speed and even if you miss it, any dogs in your pack that hit them will be knocked unconscious, causing you to leave them behind. Above all, though, you have to watch the clock that is constantly ticking down and if it runs out before you reach the next checkpoint, you will be caught.

Don’t worry; there are also power-ups to be had that will help you along the way. You can also level up if your little doggie happens to pick up enough food items on the run. There are also coins that you collect as you run that you can spend for customizing your dog’s outfit, unlocking additional dogs or other items. I have played 44 games of Off the Leash now, collecting 11,020 coins. Yes, the game keeps track of everything you have accomplished and has Game Center achievements too.

I really enjoy how quickly you can play a game – most will last 5 minutes or less.  There is definite replay value as the game provides you with missions to complete as you take your dog on the run. Complete the three missions and you get a reward such as helpful items or unlock a special level. My wife and daughter didn’t like seeing the doggies being caught or knocked senseless by the obstacles in their way – they are sensitive that way, so if that would bother you at least you are aware of it going in.  That’s okay, more Off the Leash for me. Off the Leash is a fun game that has the great price of Free. You can buy coins and other items as in app purchases, but if you are persistent you can get the same things just by playing the free game without buying anything. Really, there is no reason not to go and download Off the Leash right now. Off the Leash gets 4 Mick Happies. If you want to learn more, you can check out Touch Arcade’s review of the game here.

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