Reviews
Movie Reviews
September 14, 2003 at 1:21pm by dz.unity
Alien/Aliens -- I'm grouping these two together because, well,
they're the
only worthwhile movies of the Alien quadrilogy. Alien's got that
very gritty
feel of incredible danger, while aliens just amazes me with it's
sheer
coolness factor and it's brilliant use of the beasts, and their
large
numbers. Truly wonderful. 8/10, 9.5/10
American Beauty -- My. Favorite. Movie. Kevin Spacey's best. Great
film.
10/10
American Pie -- I don't even know why I have this... very funny
the first
time, loses it's charm after a bit (not to mention the horrid sequels).
As
far as comedies go, this one's okay, I suppose. 6.5/10
Bowling for Columbine -- All you dumb americans need to watch it.
No
excuses. Just watch it. GO. NOW. Thought provoking, a very smart
social
commentary, done in a very touching and elegant way. It's also hilarious
in
many spots, especially the short cartoon. Wonderful. 9.5/10
Cowboy Bebop: Knocking on Heaven's Door -- Anime. Simply put, this
is the
best anime film I've seen. It has a certain charm and just enough
cool
moments to make you go "Damn". Which is exactly what you
should be saying.
Great movie, very interesting, and most importantly, great art.
The series
is actually better, however. 9/10
Deep Blue Sea -- This is a B-Movie, and it knows it. It doesn't
try too hard
to make itself into something it isn't, which is something that
plagues most
movies. I truly enjoyed this movie for what it is; a fun,
watch-sharks-eat-people-and-listen-to-their-squirming movie, with
enough
blood to satisfy dumb teenagers, and enough spook to entice most
horror
fans. Entertaining. 8/10
Desperado -- Another movie that doesn't take itself too seriously,
but is
great fun nonetheless. There are some scenes I could've gone without,
the
main villain just annoyed me, the ending is something of a cop-out,
and
generally, the actors can't speak english better than a five-assed
monkey.
What this movie does right, however, it really does right. There's
also a
very 'cool' thing about how Banderas plays El Mariachi (a character
I
adore). Entertaining, even if it is somewhat flawed. 7.5/10
Donnie Darko -- Ahhhh. This here is a very fucked up movie, but
it's also
very good. Of course, there are certain things that don't exactly
make
sense, and the director sometimes seems to not even understand his
own movie
(if you've watched the dvd version, anyway). I enjoyed it thoroughly
nonetheless, there's just something about brooding super smart teens
that I
find interesting. Plus, Frank is the single coolest thing ever invented.
9/10
Eddie Murphy : Delirious -- Although technically not a movie, I've
gotta
mention this widly entertaining show. Basically, it's Eddie, in
the 80's,
doing stand-up. Lasts an hour, and you'll be laughing for it's entire
duration. As far as good stand-up goes, this one's great. Don't
see Raw,
though, the second "movie" of Eddie's stand-up. It's pretty
unfunny. Anyway,
9/10 for Delirious, could've been better, but that's just cause
I'm picky.
Equilibrium -- Fuck the Matrix. This movie's fight scenes are beyond
cool,
and the story isn't too shabby either. Love this movie, and I recommend
it
to anyone who likes action/sci-fi movies. Truly great. 9.5/10
Fight Club -- Shouldn't have to say anything about this, it's just
really
good. I mean, really. 9.5/10
Good Will Hunting -- This movie does alot of things right, and
it also has a
very fitting soundtrack. One of my favorite movies, and quite possibly
the
only movie that Ben Affleck didn't suck in. I mean, Matt Damon has
the
Bourne Identity, at least. What the hell does Ben Affleck have?
Motherfucking Gigli. Anyway, great movie, can be enjoyed alot more
if you
somehow manage to ignore Minnie Driver's horse laugh. God that annoyed
me.
-1 for that. 9/10
Ninja Scroll -- Anime, once again. Not really for the faint of
heart, as it
is quite bloody at parts. It's entertaining, but it's not really
one of
those thinking movies. You watch, and you go "cool" at
some parts, "wow" at
others, and in the end you're satisfied. Your life hasn't changed
or
anything, but you're pretty content. Great art, though. 7/10
Not Another Teen Movie -- I'm probably alone on this, but this
is one of my
favorite comedies. Also, the fact that the protagonist is one of
the hottest
girls ever, and that Lacey Chabert's character mentions handjobs
in that
devilishly sexy dress, are very convincing factors for me. I laughed,
I
cried, I made fun of old people and had sex with a duck. Great movie.
3042/10
Ocean's Eleven -- I havn't seen the original version of this movie,
but I
can say that I found this one very entertaining. It's got that witty
charm
you can't resist, the story is tied together very well, with a suprise
ending and all in all, a very fun ride. Great acting, too. Am I
the only one
that thinks it's odd I just said that? 8.5/10
Pi -- This is one of those smart movies, and I enjoyed it alot.
It's pretty
thought provoking, although I suppose quite a few people could get
lost in
the story. Enjoyed it. 8/10
Predator -- AHAH! Fear this badass movie. Alot of stupid things,
alot of
idiotic moments, but all that is nothing compared to how cool everything
else is. Enjoyed it alot, still do. 7.5/10
Requiem for a Dream -- You want kids to not do drugs? Show them
this movie
when they're like, 8. Sit them down by groups in a room, alone,
and just
play it. Play it twice if you have to. Great soundtrack, great acting,
great
movie, great everything. 9/10
Spirited Away -- Alice in Wonderland, done anime-style. I love
this movie.
In it's own way, it's an incredible achievement in storytelling.
The
protagonists are 10 years old (or look like it, anyway) and their
love isn't
something you'd laugh at, it's done in a very beautiful way. The
art is also
wonderful, and the animation is so damn smooth it makes me weep.
9/10
Star Wars: The original trilogy -- Duh. Best trilogy in the history
of the
entire world. Yea, even better than Lord of the Rings. New trilogy
isn't
that good, but this one is amazing. 10/10
Terminator 1/2/3 -- Why am I grouping these together? Simple, it's
the same
story done 3 times in slightly different variations. Basically,
the second
one is by far the best, the third being the worst. I've enjoyed
all of them,
though, and if you can manage to ignore the time-travel mistakes
(they're
almost inevitable), you should be able to enjoy these movies too.
Terminator
2 (along with Aliens) remains the best action/sci-fi movie in recent
years.
8/10, 10/10, 7.5/10
The Dead Poet's Society -- I'm not entirely sure why I like this
movie so
much, but I do. Beautiful movie. 9/10
The Fifth Element -- There's something about this movie that I
just find
immensely cool, although, unlike most movies I enjoy, the more you
watch it,
the less you like it. It might just be me, but whatever. It's a
good flick,
and I recommend watching it at least once. 7/10
The Green Mile -- Although not nearly as touching as Shawshank,
this is
another movie that just begs to be enjoyed, pulls at the heart and
makes you
appreciate life, even if for only a moment. Recommended. 9/10
The Princess Bride -- The best kid's movie ever. Proof that you
don't need
stupid dolls, songs or animated cartoons to make a children's movie.
Watching it as an adult just gives you that incredibly cool nostalgic
feeling, and I've yet to meet someone who hasn't seen it as a child.
If
you've not re-seen it recently, do yourself a favor and go rent
this gem. No
other movie is this magical. 9/10
The Matrix -- Loved this movie. Keeping it simple, but it's got
everything:
story, action, romance (although it's badly acted), and that general
"wtf"
feel. Fun. 9/10
The Matrix: Reloaded -- Shit. It's utter shit. I don't care what
anyone
says. This is shit. SHIT. Everything that went wrong in the original
has
been made to last 2 fucking hours in this movie. It's not even fun.
The
fight scenes suck. There's no point. It should burn.. or die. I
don't know.
If I could remove the part of my brain that houses this movie's
memory, I
would. SHIT. -30/10
The Shawshank Redemption -- Wow. That's really all I can say. Incredible,
powerful, touching, beautiful. Truly wonderful. 10/10
The Vision of Escaflowne: The movie -- This is another anime, based
on the
(superior) series of the same name. If you loved the series and
want to see
a different version of it, then pick this up. If you didn't watch
the
series, do yourself a favor and watch that first. Much better. As
always,
animation is top notch. 6/10 (movie), 9/10 (series)
More to be added whenever the hell I get the time.
dnx3 has this to say about movies:
<@dnx3> I... guess
<@dnx3> I could write some too
<@dnx3> IT SUCKS
<@dnx3> to everything
<@dnx3> problem solved
<@dnx3> its fast AND accurate for at least 90% of the movies
out there
<@[dz]uNity> yea
<@[dz]uNity> but I only write about the 10% that don't
<@[dz]uNity> ^^
<@dnx3> I'll write reviews for the other 90
<@dnx3> lol
HalfLife2 Initial Performance
Reviews
September 12, 2003 at 3:49pm by AnandTech.com
Final Words
When we first heard Gabe Newell's words, what came to mind is that
this is the type of excitement that the 3D graphics industry hasn't
seen in years. The days where we were waiting to break 40 fps in
Quake I were gone and we were left arguing over whose anisotropic
filtering was correct. With Half-Life 2, we are seeing the "Dawn
of DX9" as one speaker put it; and this is just the beginning.
The performance paradigm changes here; instead of being bound by
memory bandwidth and being able to produce triple digit frame rates,
we are entering a world of games where memory bandwidth isn't the
bottleneck - where we are bound by raw GPU power. This is exactly
the type of shift we saw in the CPU world a while ago, where memory
bandwidth stopped being the defining performance characteristic
and the architecture/computational power of the microprocessors
had a much larger impact.
One of the benefits of moving away from memory bandwidth limited
scenarios is that enhancements that traditionally ate up memory
bandwidth, will soon be able to be offered at virtually no performance
penalty. If your GPU is waiting on its ALUs to complete pixel shading
operations then the additional memory bandwidth used by something
like anisotropic filtering will not negatively impact performance.
Things are beginning to change and they are beginning to do so in
a very big way.
In terms of the performance of the cards you've seen here today,
the standings shouldn't change by the time Half-Life 2 ships - although
NVIDIA will undoubtedly have newer drivers to improve performance.
Over the coming weeks we'll be digging even further into the NVIDIA
performance mystery to see if our theories are correct; if they
are, we may have to wait until NV4x before these issues get sorted
out.
For now, Half-Life 2 seems to be best paired with ATI hardware
and as you've seen thorugh our benchmarks, whether you have a Radeon
9600 Pro or a Radeon 9800 Pro you'll be running just fine. Things
are finally heating up and it's a good feeling to have back...
Halo PC Preview
September 5, 2003 at 10:00am by Firingsquad.com
Conclusion
Promises
Now we come to the very thorny issue of co-op mode. They say they’re
trying, but don’t count on it. Maybe if community outrage
is loud enough and sales are bad enough they’ll patch it in
- maybe. The ironic thing is that co-op wasn’t really a big
deal for Halo on the Xbox – at least initially. Of course
what was a great game when played by yourself turned into a classic
when played with a friend, but people originally bought it for singleplayer.
On the PC, where competition is much stiffer in the FPS market,
Halo’s co-op mode could have been what set it apart from the
competition. It’s been ages since a multiplayer co-operative
title was released that still retained the story of the singleplayer
game, and the market is clearly hungry for that.
On the bright side, the new multiplayer levels in Halo are amazing.
While Capture the Flag might not have the attention-grabbing value
on the PC that it does on Xbox, Halo’s multiplayer game remains
very solid. Like so many Blizzard products, it’s not the flashiness
of what it does that grabs you, but the solid design of the game.
Halo strikes a fantastic balance between realistic shooters like
Counter-Strike and action shooters like Quake III, and has vehicles
thrown in to boot. It may not be the perfect competitive game but
it’s remarkably fun. Of course, the new flamethrower and fuel
rod cannon (think: Tribes mortar) will be exclusive to multiplayer.
Our biggest concern for multiplayer would be the sniper rifle, which
is more dangerous by several orders of magnitude thanks to mouse
controls.
So is Halo going to be worthy of this reaction or this retraction?
If it had co-op, the answer would be obvious. Since it doesn’t…
that’s up to what you’re looking for. (Hey, a little
editorial pressure on the publisher to get co-op implemented isn’t
necessarily a bad thing! -ed.)
Does Jakub want co-op bad enough yet? Holy crap, down boy, down!
But what do you think? Is Halo without co-op just not Halo anymore?
Or will its clean design and solid execution let us forgive all?
Sound Off! in the news comments and let the world know!
Scissors
June 5, 2003 at 1:33pm by dz.Vai
Dude I got these new things called scissors and they actually CUT
my hair with them. OMFG!
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