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Movie Review: The Hangover II

Christian Allaire — Thu, 26 May 2011 19:58:09 +0000

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So I decided to check out “The Hangover II,’ the widely-anticipated sequel to the original box office smash.

As hilarious as the first movie was, I didn’t have high hopes for this film. Sequels are never as good as the originals, and in this case, I predicted that the film would be the exact same format and journey the ‘Wolfpack’ took in the first film. I was correct.

Let’s get the plot out of the way, though. This time around, right after the bachelor party in Las Vegas, Phil, Stu, Alan, and Doug jet to Thailand for Stu’s wedding. Stu’s plan for a subdued bachelor party, however, goes seriously awry when they wake up the next morning. In a hotel. In Bangkok.

Of course, out-of-this-world revelations are discovered throughout the movie, such as face tattoos and missing body parts. Funny things happen. People die. But the film is almost exactly the same as the first; they wake up, someone is missing, they try to find him, then funny things happen. The end.

The film tends to push the envelope even further this time around (I won’t give anything away, but it’s definitely up there in shock-factor.) I will say the movie definitely delivers on that front, providing even more shocking and crazy situations. But aside the shocking moment or two, the film really is the same bag of tricks at the first one.

I know, I know, what did I expect from the flick? An oscar-worthy plot line? But they could have at least come up with some new material. Hey, it if it worked the first time, I guess they’ll keep milking it while they can.

Of course, Zach Galifianakis’ character Alan saves the film with his off-beat humour and very, very stupid comments. He is worth the price of admission alone.

So if you’re looking for a good laugh or to be entertained, by all means see the film. It’s a great movie to see with your friends. But don’t expect to be blown away or to laugh harder than the first film, because you won’t.

In fact, you’ll laugh less, unless you’re the kind of person who can watch something 80,000 times and laugh at it every time. I give the movie 3 out of 5 stars, just because it made me laugh a few times and delivered what I expected it to.

Charlie Sheen Wants Public Trial

Elisheva Baer — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 16:01:29 +0000

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After being fired off of Two and a Half Men by Warner Brothers, Charlie Sheen is suing WB for $100,000,000. And rather than keep the matters private, Sheen has decided to entertain us even more by asking for a public trial in a public courthouse! Yay!

According to TMZ, Sheen’s request follows his claim that WB is trying to “force the case into private arbitration because the judges who preside over these arbitrations do lots of business with Warner Bros.” Because everyone is involved in a conspiracy theory against Charlie Sheen – duh! Winning!

I wonder if you get free passes to the trial when you buy tickets to his upcoming tour…or will this be a PREMIUM premium ticket package? If he’s charging $750 to meet him, imagine what he could charge people to attend the trial…hm.

It might be paranoia, or it might be all that Tiger Blood he’s on, but one thing’s for sure – Charlie will make sure it is never a dull moment for Team Sheen! And for reasons that will never be answerable, we will be behind him every step of the way.

Warner Brothers Fires Back at Charlie Sheen

Megan MacKay — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 14:12:30 +0000

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Charlie Sheen may not be ‘winning’ for much longer if he doesn’t keep his mouth shut!

Warner Brothers have hired celebrity lawyers Ron Olsen and John Spiegel to handle Charlie Sheen’s contract and the future of his show, Two and a Half Men. The studio was forced to make the move after the loudmouth ex-star formally threatened a lawsuit upon them.

Though no official legal documentation has surfaced yet, Perez Hilton reports that Olsen and Spiegel have recently been in communication with Sheen’s lawyer regarding his claims that the studio was negligent when it came to Sheen’s partying ways, but overreacted as soon as Chuck Lorre’s name was dragged into the picture.

Olsen and Spiegel are big-time legal guys! We see Charlie Sheen’s star crashing very soon if he’s not more choosy with his words.

As if that’s gonna happen anytime soon!

Charlie Sheen is Squeaky Clean

Megan MacKay — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 15:42:18 +0000

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And he has the drug tests to back it up!

Two and a Half Men star Charlie Sheen has been doing very well since starting his round of in-home rehab, according to TMZ. Apparently he’s passed two separate drug tests – one taken yesterday and one taken a week ago – with flying colours.

Sheen has been working with team of nationally known addiction specialists that report Sheen’s progress directly to Warner Bros. and CBS so that it can be determined when Sheen’s show can go back into production.

Sheen himself has been reportedly feeling much better and is “itching to get back to work as soon as possible” according to one source.

Hmm, spent too much money on eight-balls, perhaps?

Get well soon, Charlie! Our grandmas will get upset if they miss too many episodes of your show.

Kings of Leon Stick with Columbia Records

Graham Slaughter — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 18:00:52 +0000

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Kings of Leon are clearing up rumours after Perez Hilton reported yesterday that the band was planning on leaving Columbia Records to move to Warner Bros. A source to the online blogger also claimed that the band was going to pay out the recording costs with Columbia, citing that the band “have enough heft to negotiate such a favourable deal.”

However, the band made announced today that these claims are completely false. “Consider the source. Kings of Leon have always had and continue to have a great relationship with their label,” stated the band.

The Nashville-born Kings of Leon plan on staying with Columbia Records, the label that produced their 2007 album Because of the Times.

Kings of Leon Move to Warner Brothers

Vanessa Baker — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 22:24:52 +0000

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Kings of Leon have left Columbia Records and will be recording with Warner Brothers, reports Perez Hilton. The new deal requires the group to pay half of the recording costs, but gives them more control over production and a larger cut of the profits.

“Kings of Leon are one of the few bands on the planet who have enough heft to negotiate such a favourable deal,” said a source. “It is virtually unheard of, but it shows how keen Warner Brothers were to have them on their books.”

Traditionally, labels give artists an advance to record, which they must pay back along with a share of the profits made on an album.

Game Review: Scooby Doo! First frights

sarge-ak47 — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:41:15 +0000

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Oh Scooby what are you searching for?

A trick or a treat?

With Halloween just passed I can’t get enough of scary games. You see last year my friends and I all got together and played Dead Space for the PS3. Sure it was a single player experience but we took turns and only played the game after 1 am every Friday leading up to Halloween. It was an insanely fun experience.

This year I got Scooby-Doo! First frights for the Wii. Now it’s no Dead Space but if you think back to when you were a kid(like 6 to10) I’m sure you wanted a slight chill of Halloween and not the full blown horror we all seek these days.

Gameplay
Scooby Doo! First frights is developed by Torus Studios and comes out for the Wii and DS. The main quest is broken down into four episodes with each containing upwards of four levels to complete.

The best way to describe it is linear progression with a heavy dose of collecting Scooby snacks. Along the way expect to search for clues fight bosses and beat up countless baddies, it’s standard stuff, nothing here is really inventive nor innovative. That would not be a bad thing if the gameplay mechanics were solid, sadly they turn out to be more of a chore. Linear levels with tons of invisible walls are a bad start but then to add hordes of mindless enemies that are as fun to beat up as a bag of sand is just adding to the frustration. The combat mechanics are simple enough with two attack buttons and a charge up, it will get boring really fast unless you use Daphne-who does a Liu Kang bicycle kick! Now I was a big fan of the original cartoon and its half baked attempts in solving puzzles and piecing together clues yet those moments in the game are relegated to bashing items around an area to literally find “puzzle” pieces that become a clue item. I understand this is supposed to be a kids game but maybe a little more effort could have been made in creating something that could channel the spirit of the cartoons. A bit of point and click or other exploration elements in finding clues would have been amazing.

Man up Fred! You can learn a thing or two from Daphne

The other problem is with the actual platforming and camera. The game relies on a fixed camera that gives you a three quarters view from above and is relatively functional for the most part. The game however has this nasty tendency of going into a 2D view angle for some of these platform areas and often times it is just a bad choice. Especially since most of the platforming elements tend to go into the Z axis. The characters don’t seem to be designed with platforming in mind either since they jump and move in a very loose manner. This makes for some truly messy platforming.

To add to the plethora of game play experiences are the obligatory chase scenes that play out like the old Crash Bandicoot sequences, it seem the people at Torus are fans of Naughty Dog. These sequences for the most parts are fun and feel right at home in Scooby Doo!

In terms of controls the game does a decent job of keeping things simple and fun- you can play with the nunchuck or even the classic controller. I played with the Wii mote and nunchuck where you can jump with the A button and perform attacks with the B button. Your characters special moves are assigned to the Z button and C lets you switch between the two characters in each level. You can do the classic butt stomp by double jumping and pressing attack. Certain characters like shaggy can even reflect projectiles with their special attack button. The character swap mechanic isn’t as deep as you would think since it’s relegated to simple level navigation. Now here is where the context sensitive moments come in – pressing Z lets your specific character do their special ability. Scooby can go through doggy doors, Shaggy uses a Yo-Yo to swing and hit switches, Fred can push and pull large objects, Velma can hack computer switches, and Daphne can shimmy across pipes to reach far away areas. These elements help the gameplay but are not used enough or cleverly implemented. Now you wouldn’t have to do all that switching if you play co op but trust me the only way I would play co op is if my young cousin wanted help with the atrocious platforming. Again the game at its core is very simple and at times the same mindless set of actions are repeated level after level. The game after all is very linear.

Wasn't this a Loony Toons gag?

Is there a silver lining? Sure there is! The game uses costumes not as a skin but actually changes your characters visual functionality. Take Shaggy as an example, he has a space suit costume that shoots out laser blasts instead of his standard slingshot and double jumping activates the jet pack. Granted the functionality isn’t enough to be called an upgrade but I just adore the details. Then there is the solving of the mystery; you see whilst playing the episode you meet the locals of the area and by the episode’s end you have to decide of the three people you meet who was behind all the shenanigans. Choose the wrong one and there are no consequences but just having them in a line up and kids guessing “who done it?” is a nice touch.
It is small feature that makes me smile.

Graphics
In terms of production values the game is certainly packing some heat and the graphics aren’t that bad. Sure it uses low polygonal designs cleverly to create a very stylized look but you will be amazed at the versatility of the engine. Some of the stuff in this game is truly exceptional, the ambient lighting and some of the skyline vistas are just beautiful. The same could be said in the diversity of scary locations as this game skips all the typical settings and creates some truly inspired locations-granted they aren’t original settings but they are different from the usual mix of haunted mansions.

The character animations are decent but some of the important animations like jumping look as stiff as they are to control. It is evident that this is a last gen game but they try their best to deliver. The indoor areas are always littered with tons of geometry and often times you may be forgiven to try and check out an object that ends up behind an invisible wall. Again I was really impressed with some of the background work- just play the second episode that has you jumping on parade balloons to get to the toy factory and tell me you weren’t a tad bit surprised.
The entire cast of Mystery Inc has been wonderfully recreated in their adolescent form, adding to that some unlockable costumes and you have a title that will try it’s best to keep things visually interesting.

Looks like you are on your own Shaggy

I’m actually in love with the intro and menu screen since it seems to be inside a small cottage with Scooby and Shaggy, just the movement around the cottage is nothing new but it goes a long way to say that the devs made sure to keep the feeling of the series alive in every visual aspect. This game won’t win any awards for its visual fidelity but it does do a great job and packs amazing production values that we have rarely seen on the Wii (aside from the stellar first party games).

Sound
The game has the standard music selection that compliments each area very appropriately, the cinematic showcases great voice acting with the help of classic canned laughter. Sadly these do not make it into the actual gameplay where we are treated with repeated taunts by our heroes and some incredibly annoying grunts by the baddies.
I really was expecting a lot out of the audio portion of the game to enhance the cartoon’s feel but it does an ok job and nothing more. Compliments again to the cinematic voice acting with canned laughter- just make sure there is more of that in the actual game.

Replay
With about four episodes and four levels each- it’s a good kids game that is over in about 5 to 6 hours. Even young kids who have played their share of video games will manage to finish this with relative ease.
Unlockable costumes and trophies are a nice addition but fail to offer anything beyond an aesthetic change. There isn’t a whole lot motivating you to play again.

Verdict
I have to keep telling myself that this is a kids game and I then catch myself wondering if as a kid would have enjoyed this. For a scary theme game First frights does a very decent job with particularly stellar production values but it is when we take the scary theme and cartoon license away do we see the core gameplay and how it relies heavily on its license. For every great production value related moment we are treated to some mind numbing gameplay. A rental for the fans and maybe a buy for that little kid who can’t wait to play Dead space when he is old enough (yes let’s try and enforce the rating system people).

Gameplay      2/5
Graphics        3/5
Sound         2.5/5
Replay        2.5/5

Beyonce Considered for A Star is Born Remake

Vanessa Baker — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 18:11:32 +0000

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Talks about remaking the Barbara Streisand classic A Star is Born continue at Warner Brothers, reports Perez Hilton.

A writer has recently been signed to draft a script, and executives are reportedly looking at Beyonce to resume Streisand’s role as Esther Hoffman. Beyonce would be joining the likes of Janet Gaynor and Judy Garland who have also played the role in earlier versions of the film.

Bradley Cooper’s ‘Hangover’ Well Earned

Jeremy Singer — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 03:00:38 +0000

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Bradley Cooper gained two important things from shooting his upcoming hyped summer comedy flick The Hangover.

The first being his now refined Yoda-like knowledge of throwing the perfect bachelor party- which he says should include condoms, a muppet, and lots of ice.

But the second, and by far gaining the most buzz, is Cooper’s promotion of a lifetime from a working actor, to well, a movie star.

Only, if you ask the humble 34-year-old North Philly about the hype, you’ll suddenly be hauled back down to earth.

“I don’t feel any of that and maybe I should,” Cooper tells andPOP modestly, trying to keep the excitement at bay. A failed attempt, considering Warner Bros. Entertainment already gave the green light to a sequel in 2011 even before the current film hits theaters on June 5.

“I will admit this though,” he says, “I do have a bigger role in the movie than usual which I really liked.”

A lot bigger. Try the de facto lead role or “the cool alpha-male character,” as co-star Ed Helms puts it.

Cooper stars as Phil, the front-man of four buddies who head off for a wild bachelor party in Las Vegas. But how wild? Well imagine waking up the following morning only to find your groom missing, your memory from the night before erased, and your $4,000 Vegas hotel suite trashed, to say the least.

Though “trashed” is generally an understatement when a chicken is waddling around the living room, Mike Tyson’s pet tiger is in the bathroom, and an abandoned six-month-old infant is crying in the closet.

“That set design was literally crazy” recalls Cooper. “We had a bowling alley, an amazing castle made out of cards that would have taken months to do, and there was also a whole other castle made out of beer bottles. So much detail.”

Adds the actor, “And the fact that they nixed the whole bachelor party sequence, makes the story so appealing. With the group trying to find clues as to what happened the night before- it’s almost like a detective or mystery story.”

Moving up on Hollywood’s totem pole, Cooper’s role required two crucial assets: superb comic timing and leadership, both which the actor had in spades.

His well-known ability in the comedy genre is evident. With supporting roles in Wedding Crashers, Yes Man, and He’s Just Not That Into You, Cooper knows how to make people laugh- but was long overdue to be given the reigns.

Sure enough, Director Todd Phillips -known for his work in Old School, Starsky and Hutch, and Road Trip- knew Cooper’s potential, and was 100% sure that the actor was a born leader and ready to prove it.

“I was really impressed with him (Todd),” says Cooper. “He has this ability to know what he likes and wants, and then get the most of of people.

“It definitely took some convincing from him to help me embrace the role, I just wasn’t feeling it right in the beginning. Phil’s just that guy who reeks of leadership, the guy who everyone turns to to solve everything.”

It’s a funny predicament considering Cooper is one of those actors who you would call a total contrast to their characters on-screen. Sure, his resume of roles in films tend to be the cocky, rowdy ringleaders, but here at the Windsor Arms hotel in Toronto, the guy couldn’t be more gentle and sincere if he tried. Beats him why he’s usually cast as the “jerk,” but Cooper explains how the character in The Hangover is different.

“You eventually realize,” says the actor, “that Phil doesn’t really go there to sleep with hookers and stuff, but that he’s an elementary school teacher and also a caring father.”

“He used to be a party guy- with the girls, booze and Vegas- but now he’s going along with the ride and trying to make his friend’s bachelor night the greatest. His buddies mean everything to him.”

Cooper found he was able relate to that kind of character, as those were the kinds of figures he had in his life as a kid growing up in an Italian/Irish family in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania.

“I knew fathers like that,” says Cooper, who would later on graduate with a B.A. in English from Georgetown University in 1997, and then a Masters in Fine Arts from the Actors Studio at New School University.

“You know they talk the big game, but they’re at every little league game, they have complete love and care for their children.”

With an initiation into the business in a 1998 episode on Sex and the City, Cooper has since then managed to swiftly maneuver through times as a supporting guy in someone else ’s hit movie- whether it be Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn’s Wedding Crashers, Matthew McConaughey’s Failure to Launch or Jim Carrey’s Yes Man.

This time though, with the scales tipped in his favor, Cooper was the one fortunate to have a thriving supporting cast: fresh up-and-coming faces like Helms (NBC’s The Office), Zach Galifianakis (The Comedy Network) and Justin Bartha (National Treasure).

“Such funny guys,” says Cooper. “I tell you, we had such great chemistry, we played off each other perfectly.”

Stuck in Vegas for a month-and-a-half in the Fall, it was a combo destined to get lucky. But despite the endless entertaining opportunities in Sin City, Cooper reveals that with exhausting 16 hour work days, the crew rarely indulged and went out on the town.

“We never had anytime to go out after shooting,” he explains. “It was a lot of work, we would just get some sleep.”

Well almost. “We did crash Nick Cannon’s birthday party though,” Cooper says with a smirk, referring to the party hosted by Cannon’s wife Mariah Carey at PURE nightclub.

However, on cue, the actor refrains from elaborating on any further details, and only gives the age-old mantra “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.”