Chuck Season 5 (DVD) Review

It was slightly bittersweet catching up on the final season of Chuck on DVD over the past few weeks. On one hand it was nice to finally see the episodes and see how the show would end and on the other it was like saying goodbye to a fun friend for the last time.

Chuck, created by Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak, is the story of a smart “nerd” (Chuck, played by Zachary Levi) who has a government database (the Intersect) downloaded into his head and over time becomes a spy. It is also the story of his family, friends, handlers and co-workers who all are part of his normal and spy life over the course of the five seasons of the show. Chuck never takes itself too seriously and while there are poignant moments, for the most part it is a fun comedy with action and unique characters thrown in.

Season 5 finds Chuck and his team no longer working for the CIA and trying to make it on their own as independent contract spies. The season also explores what it is like when Chuck doesn’t have the Intersect…will he be a spy without it? We also get to see Morgan (played by Joshua Gomez) take up the spy and deal with the Intersect.

Some of my favorite parts of Chuck often have to do with the other characters in the show, the people working at the Buy More – Big Mike (Mark Christopher Lawrence), Jeff (Scott Krinsky) and Lester (Vik Sahay), Chuck’s Sister (Sarah Lancaster) and her husband Captain Awesome (Ryan McPartlin). These characters often get involved in Chuck’s spy missions without even knowing what they are caught up in and help save the day (or make it more difficult). Probably the best thing that can be said is that the characters of Chuck are the type of people you would want to hang out with and Chuck makes an electronics store like the Buy More look like a fun place to work.

The only downside for me was that it was the last season and it was over too soon (but doesn’t feel rushed). The show definitely stayed fun the whole way. The final episode was great. Almost like a clip show, but not. On the DVDs, you get an extended cut of the final episode in the Extras, it doesn’t change the story, but adds some length to many of the scenes that just give you more time with the characters before they are gone. You may even get to see Jeffster one last time.

Chuck is a fun show and hopefully will find life with a follow up movie sometime in the future. I didn’t mention them above, but Yvonne Strahovski and Adam Baldwin are great as Sarah Walker and John Casey. If you haven’t seen Chuck, go get the DVDs (Netflix, buy, however you need to). If you have seen Chuck but not Season 5, what are you waiting for? Chuck gets four Mick Happies. Don’t forget to look through the extras on the DVDs – seeing the Buy More set broken down (was a little sad) and the cast discussing where they thought the characters would be in the future  (was interesting) and of course the bloopers (fun). Now, when can I call the Nerd Herd to do some work for me?

Jesus Henry Christ Review

Jesus Henry Christ is a quirky comedy written and directed by Dennis Lee. The movie tells the story of ten-year-old Henry James Herman, played by Jason Spevack, as he looks for and hopefully finds his biological father.

Henry is an incredibly intelligent young man with the ability to remember everything he has ever seen. He was conceived artificially and grew up only knowing his feminist mother, Patricia, (played by Toni Collette) and his grandfather. As Henry searches for his father, he meets the emotionally damaged professor O’hara (Michael Sheen) and his picked on but incredibly resilient daughter Audrey (Samantha Weinstein).

The movie is an odd collection of flashbacks to when Henry’s mother was 10 years old and present day for Henry. Everything in the movie connects and comes together very well (and satisfyingly) in a compact little story. There is teenage angst, family dysfunction and at times just plain fun. Jason Spevack does an amazing job in making you believe that he is a brilliant young boy. Samantha Weinstein is also terrific as the ridiculed Audrey.

The whole family liked this one though it may not be for everyone (due to some violence, discussion of sexual preference and religion). Based on how much we laughed and enjoyed Jesus Henry Christ, I give it 4 Mick Happies. It will leave you wanting to find out where you can sign up for Angerobics.

Death Rally Mobile Review

I had never heard of Death Rally for the iOS platform before Touch Arcade posted that it was going to be free for a limited time. Never one to pass up a free game if it looks even remotely interesting; I downloaded it for my iPod Touch (3^rd gen or newer only can play the game).

Death Rally is published by Remedy Entertainment and developed by Cornfox & Brothers and Mountain Sheep, Inc. The game is an action racer where you compete against 5 opponents in a race to the death. Your opponents can be computer run (single player career) or computer/humans in the multiplayer campaign. Depending on how you do in each race, you earn points that can be spent to upgrade your car, weapons or increase your overall fame.

The game starts with you driving a beetle-like little car with a gun attached. In each race, you compete to be first, to destroy your opponents or both. During the race, you can also shoot barrels that will explode or crates that will give you power-ups or cash (adds to your points at the end of the race) all the while watching your own health hoping you don’t get killed. There are a total of 8 cars and 6 main tracks to race along with multiple weapons to choose from. New cars and tracks are unlocked by picking up parts during races (not sure if the same mechanic is used in Multiplayer). This allows you to earn all of the cars and tracks in single player mode without having to make in app purchases (except the flamer weapon, which seems to be IAP only).

The controls for Death Rally consist of a virtual stick on the lower left part of the screen to control the car and a button on the lower right part of the screen to activate your weapon. I found that having no tactile feel of exactly where I was pushing the virtual stick to be a little difficult at times, but not overly so.

What I liked best about Death Rally is how accessible it is. Have 90 seconds to spare? That is more than enough time for a race. I also like that there are multiple ways to score points in each race – meaning that winning isn’t always necessary to make enough points to reach that next car/weapon upgrade (you score points for cash pickups, killing opponents, what place you come in and if you beat your lap or race time on the track). There are also multiple difficulties for each track and challenge races including a marathon race that will take 15 – 20 minutes or more to complete.

I highly recommend Death Rally even for the $0.99 it currently costs on iTunes. Unless you are impatient, you shouldn’t need to make any IAP in single player at all. You will also get a lot of replay value out of the various tracks and cars to choose from. Death Rally gets four and a half Mick Happies. Go get your rally on.

Quick Reviews – Recent Movies

I have been to the movies quite a bit since May and thought I would give some quick reviews of what I’ve seen. Here they are (most recent to oldest):

Katy Perry: Part of Me

My daughter and I just got back from seeing Katy Perry’s documentary/concert film depicting her California Dreams tour in 2011. The film is comprised of fan videos talking about what Katy Perry and her music mean to them, backstage footage, details of how Katy reached pop stardom and concert footage. The mixture works well to give you a sense of how great Katy is with her fans, how much she gives of herself and that behind the massive fame and popularity is a dedicated and hardworking professional.

The film is touching and sad at times as you see the toll her tour and relationship take on her, but in the end Katy doesn’t disappoint fans. It is hard to know exactly what it is like to live that kind of life, but Part of Me seems to give you a pretty open look into Katy Perry’s. I enjoyed the use of fan videos, which further helped to illustrate the link between the star and her fans. Definitely worth seeing even if you are only a casual fan of her music, which is well represented in the film (of course).  A four and a half Mick Happy film... see (hear) it soon.

Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Witness Protection

Enjoying Eugene Levy, we went to see Witness Protection. This was the first of Tyler Perry’s Madea movies we have seen, so it was a new experience for us. The movie is about a CFO of a hedge fund who is going to be indicted for running a Ponzi scheme. He is placed in witness protection until he can help the FBI take down the mob; who had laundered money through the fund.

Witness Protection is a fish out of water comedy about a white family staying with Madea and her dad in Atlanta. There are some laughs and the cast seems to have fun with their parts. The movie felt a lot like Martin Lawrence’s Big Momma’s House. I can give this on 3 Mick Happies.

Men in Black 3

Men in Black 3 reunites Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones as secret agents tasked with protecting earth from alien threats. This particular installment of the series centers on a villain named Boris who is out to kill K (Jones) in the past. J (Smith) goes back in time to stop Boris. In the past J teams up with a younger K played well by Josh Brolin.

Men in Black 3 is a romp through 1969 with twists and turns interplayed with historical events. If you like your science fiction a bit tongue in cheek, this is movie is for you. Men in Black 3 is a return to the fun of the first Men in Black movie and I give it 3 and a half Mick Happies.

The Avengers

Having seen all of the recent Marvel superhero movies (except the Hulk movies), I was looking forward to The Avengers and it didn’t disappoint. The story for The Avengers, directed by Joss Whedon, centers on a team of superheroes assembled to stop Loki from taking over the earth. The Avengers team consists of Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Black Widow, Hulk and Hawkeye who work for Nick Fury (played by Samuel L. Jackson).

The Avengers (or Avengers Assemble in the UK) does a great job of giving each character screen time and doesn’t feel rushed. The interactions between the independent heroes as they assemble to fight Loki are great. This is the best of the Marvel movies to date and a must see if you are a fan (though if you are a fan you have probably already seen it). The only thing keeping it from getting 5 Mick Happies is the over-the-top action in the some of the later battle scenes – they really weren’t necessary. In any case, a nearly perfect superhero movie, 4 and a half Mick Happies…the next one can’t get here soon enough.

Diablo 3 Review

Diablo 3 is the latest entry in the Diablo series of computer games. The first game in the series was released in 1996 and the three games (plus expansions) are what are universally known as action role-playing games. The main story of any of the games consist of you as a hero trying to stop a major evil from destroying the world. In practice this consists of using the mouse to click on monsters on screen until they die and then picking up their loot.

In Diablo 3 you are a hero just arrived in the town of Tristram following a shooting star that hit the old cathedral outside town. You are trying to find out what the star is and why it has caused the dead to rise and threaten the town. Along the way you find out that this is part of a greater problem facing the world of Sanctuary and over the four Acts of the story you will try to end the evil threatening everything.

If you have played any of the Diablo games (or similar action RPGs), you know that the main goal in the game is to become as powerful as possible through gaining higher levels with your character (raising stats and skills) and obtaining better items (loot). Diablo 3 is the same as any other aRPG in this respect, but perhaps with the minutiae of character development removed. In Diablo 3, each of the four character types (I played the bow-wielding Demon Hunter class) has a set number of skills they can learn as they progress and by choosing them you determine what feats your character can call on to survive the demons and evil you will face. Diablo 3 has a level cap at 60 and has four difficulties to play through (Normal, Nightmare, Hell and Inferno). Other customization for your character really comes from the items you find and use and the modifications they make to your abilities and skills.

After 32 hours of playing, my Demon Hunter completed the game on the easiest difficulty (Normal) and is currently level 32. I have found the graphics for the game to be stunning and there is a lot of variety in the environments you will explore throughout the game. The game also supports playing through the regular game and for those masochists, a hardcore mode where if you die, your character is gone and you lose all of his/her items, which I am sure to try. Over the course of the game, you also pick up companions (non-player characters) who help you and provide interesting side dialogues as you run around killing things (though they can get repetitive).

A couple of drawbacks did emerge during my play through, some of which are pretty serious for the re-playability of the game. The game requires that you be connected to Blizzard’s servers to ensure that no cheating occurs (since you can sell your items through an Auction House for in-game gold or real money). This has lead to problems accessing the game or at times to lag, which can be very annoying. Additionally, the end of Act 2 has a very difficult battle, which I was not equipped for. In order to avoid going back to earlier parts of the game I had already finished and replaying them to find better items, I used the auction house to upgrade. It was a bit annoying that I was unable to progress through the Normal difficulty without replaying sections of the game or buying equipment (for gold) from the Auction House.

There are also only a limited number of actions/skills you can have active for your character at a time (2 main commands for the mouse and 5 more on the keyboard). The controls felt ready made for using a console controller, but that functionality isn’t pre-coded into the game – a great opportunity for improvement here. However, probably the biggest concern for me is that to reach the highest levels you have to replay the whole game 3 times in order to unlock Inferno and the best items (read the ones that will be worth the most gold/money). While the story was fine once and I enjoyed learning the back story for the companions I met, I am sure it will get old – especially if I have to replay sections of each difficulty to get equipment to progress.

All those concerns aside, Blizzard is continually updating the game with patches and fixes, so it will get better. Additionally, each Act has some side quests/events that randomly appear meaning there is a little variety in each play through. If you are into killing things and the excitement of finding better and better equipment in a game that looks great, Diablo 3 is right for you. You can play multiplayer with up to 3 other people and in the future there will be player versus player play to allow you to fight it out to see who is the best. I found Diablo 3 to be worth 3.5 Mick Happies. I am certainly going to keep playing, but I may end up enjoying hardcore mode and the fight to stay alive more than the slog progression to get to level 60 and Inferno mode. Either way, as the Templar says…it will be “Glorious”.

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.