Trying to start some momentum here.
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R A N T – C H A S E R
T W O
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Some more rant follow-ups lie here. This one covers a broader range of topics than the last one did.
1 Dec
Greetings From Wii U
Where things are looking pretty awesome.
I am writing this post from the native internet browser of Nintendo’s new home console, the Wii U, while running the third sequence of Assassin’s Creed III in the background. My TV isn’t even on; it’s just me, the console’s Game Pad controller and a Tritton headset, alone in a dark living room at midnight on the first night of what looks like a sweltering Australian summer. Suffice to say it’s a pretty fresh gaming experience.
The console came out on Friday and I spent most of launch day trying out as many aspects of it as I could, writing notes and downloading updates. So many updates.
Anyway my thoughts will all be coming in one hit, as soon as I find a window of spare time big enough to post them. Stay tuned to Vagrant Rant.
25 Nov
Behind, Pt I
And so it is that all of the top ten movies I was most looking forward to at the beginning of the year have been released. Well, all except one. Here’s a look back at those ten.
2012 has been an amazing year for movies so far, with several blockbusters breaking all kinds of records, and we still have a month to go! I can’t remember a Boxing Day release line-up as incredible as the one we Aussies have lined up for us this year, plus there’s a new Bond film that has just hit. It’s going to be a crazy summer.
But before that all plays out before us, it’s about time to look back at that list I posted back in February, wherein I rolled out a list of my top ten most anticipated films of the year:
24 Nov
Movie Review: Argo
I have recently acquired a new full-time job and that impacts heavily on my free time and blah blah etc etc. My blog shall continue regardless! Anyway I saw this film a couple of weeks back.
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Starring: Ben Affleck, Alan Arkin, John Goodman
Director: Ben Affleck (Gone Baby Gone, The Town)
Rating: M
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If there is one director who has risen to the top tier of my favourites list faster than anyone else in recent times, it’s Ben Affleck. His 2010 effort The Town blew me away, particularly as it kept me interested in a plot I did not think I would particularly enjoy. After seeing it I went back and watched Affleck‘s directorial debut, Gone Baby Gone, and I enjoyed it just as much. It turns out I wasn’t alone in my opinions, as Rotten Tomatoes attested to. Being two from two with critics is one thing, but what makes Affleck‘s case all the more fascinating is that for most of the first decade of the 21st century, he was the laughing stock of Hollywood. Just watch Team America: World Police. He had an entire song dedicated to his acting and it wasn’t exactly glowing with praise.
But the role of Affleck‘s past in his current popularity is besides the point of this article. The point is that Affleck is now three from three behind the lens, with critics and with me. Argo, one of my most anticipated films of 2012, is fantastic.
1 Nov
Well.
That didn’t really work out too magnificently.
Turns out I tempted fate a bit too cockily and my week did fill up. After that happened there was no way I could pull off a seven-dayer, unfortunately.
Still, I have a handful of posts that I’m working on at the moment (when I can), including a review of a movie from my top ten most anticipated for the year, two portable game reviews, a list retrospective and another Rant Chaser.
So stay tuned to Vagrant Rant!
This is coming.
28 Oct
Rant Chaser #1
This has been sitting unfinished in my drafts section for months. It’s just good to finally get it out!
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R A N T – C H A S E R
O N E
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So begins another new breed of Vagrant Rant article, where I will try to tie up any loose ends left from any of my reviews or other posts. These ends may form because I haven’t covered every aspect of a game, perhaps, or I watch a movie again and realise something new about it, or maybe because a particular song from an album is a “real grower” and I feel I need to mention it. I might also use this type of post as a way to highlight things that are too small for their own separate post.
This first edition is going to be packed with portable gaming stuff.
26 Oct
Expo-nentially More Excited
*cringe*
Earlier this month I attended the EB Games Expo in Sydney, having attended last year’s event on the Gold Coast as well. I got the chance to play and view a handful of interesting games and such and this was what I thought of them.
25 Oct
Movie Review: Looper
I saw this one a couple of weeks ago but it absolutely deserves to be talked about.
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Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt
Director: Rian Johnson (Brick, The Brothers Bloom)
Rating: MA15+
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Before I had so much as seen a trailer, Looper was one of my most anticipated movie releases of 2012. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is quickly turning into a guy whose movies I can just assume will be good, plus, I mean, Bruce Willis. Throw in one hell of an intriguing premise and I was pre-sold on this one. Thankfully, it turned out to be rather good, and not even in the way I was expecting.
24 Oct
Movie Review: Taken 2
I caught this unexpected sequel in the cinemas last night. Man, I am fighting an uphill battle to see 100 movies by the end of 2012…
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Starring: Liam Neeson, Famke Janssen, Maggie Grace
Director: Olivier Megaton (Transporter 3, Colombiana)
Rating: M
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I absolutely loved Taken. It became one of my favourite action movies after I saw it two years ago and I wasn’t alone in my opinion. But it wasn’t the kind of film I expected to spawn a sequel. So when I saw the trailer for Taken 2 earlier this year, I was initially intrigued – until I heard its star Liam Neeson utter that title-dropping line. The stakes had apparently been raised; now instead of just his daughter being taken, Neeson‘s character had to deal with his wife’s abduction – alongside his own no less. That’s when a feeling of dread swept over me not unlike the one I felt when I saw the trailer for The Hangover 2. You know the one: “They expect us to believe that the exact same thing would happen again?” That feeling. So needless to say I became a bit less keen to watch the film.
But watch it I did.
24 Oct
Sweet Respite
So October has been, without a shadow of a doubt, the busiest month of 2012 for me thus far. Hence the lack of blog posts. But through some bizarre combination of factors, I find myself here at its end, with a free week.
So I’m going to try to repeat my effort from way earlier in the year and write seven posts in seven days. I’ll be getting some slightly dated stuff out of the way first and we’ll see what happens from there!
Knowing my luck, my week will fill up now and I won’t be able to pull this off.
Still, bring it.
Vagrant Rant 