Two Fat Gamers

This page is filled with Books we've read, Movies we've seen, games we've played, and our honest opinions on it all.

 *WARNING!! This page may include some spoilers.*

  WATCHMEN  (Movie)

Watchmen hits the big screen after twenty some years of switching directors and screen writers, and it’s just as welcome as ever! The Watchmen has made a fantastic leap from Graphic Novel to silver screen. Long awaited by me and many of my peers Watchmen arrived to theaters March 6^th. Many theaters had midnight showings which you’d have to been a fool to pass up. Watchmen’s movie version does very well at keeping to the source material. Characters are there, the story is nearly untouched, and Dr. Manhattan is far from corny looking. The actors were mostly nobodies, but they did phenomenal jobs.  Jackie Earle Haley shined in his role the most as Rorschach, in my opinion, more than any of the other actors did in their roles.

The Movie begins with Edward Blake (The Comedian) sitting in his apartment room, watching some evening television. A thug breaks in and attempts to kill The Comedian. The two fight fist to fist through most of the battle with the masked thug throwing a beaten Comedian out a window down several stories and onto the pavement. Cue the opening credits, which is a showing of time from The Minutemen to the current setting. This was the first piece of music of many well fitting tracks used in the soundtrack.

As the story progresses I found favor with Rorschach as I did in the novel. Haley even pulled off the batman like voice that Bale has been mocked for since The Dark Knights release. He was just bad ass and scary. His line in jail after dumping a bin of grease on an inmate would have made children cry, it made me kind of taken aback. Springing Rorschach from jail was well done too. Night Owl II and Silk Spectre(Also the second one) kicked all kids of can and walked Rorschach out of the Institution and they flew away in Night Owl’s crazy flying machine. The machine was also amazing.

            I am trying not to give too much away so I’m leaving huge gaps between events as you may have noticed. The story is huge and the Movie felt long, but it all is worth it in the end. You get a good story and a blue package if you’re into that kind of thing. The biggest thing about this movie is that it is intelligent. There is fighting, but there is also a deeper meaning. Veidt in the movie had the smallest part, but story wise, he was one of the biggest. Because of the involvement and acts he performs in this story, I have a hatred for him like no other fictional character…

            Over all Watchmen has everything it needs to be a solid movie, it should rank up fairly high with those that don’t often read comics or watch super hero movies. For those who do read comics, you should love it, or I hope you do. The movie leaves out a lot of back story even though it hits close to the three hour mark, so anyone who hasn’t, might want to take a look at the novel and see the original ending.

HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY

 IRON MAN 

What Mike thought:

Tony Stark is a multi-billion dollar man with the ladies, the gadgets, and some wit behind his naive head. Basically the movie plays him as a smart mouth genius that loves business and his business just happens to be able to kill lots of people. Stark Industry develops weapons for the military and boy, are his missiles and gadgets just beautiful. Stark begins showing off the Jericho at a test site in Afghanistan. The Jericho, a missile featured in the teaser trailer, when launched it goes into the air, disperses many little parts that with the main explosion, cause a hell of a wind and lots of carnage. Unfortunately someone out there wants a Jericho, but knows Stark isn’t selling for anyone other than America. Said guy wipes out Stark’s military convoy of protection. Stark is kidnapped and forced to make said missile, but instead makes something that sets him free. Once he returns he sees a new direction. It all goes from there and boy is it a ride. Now that I’ve got the basic down, let’s get to the review…

Iron Man starts out a bit corny but it fits well in my opinion. The jokes go off well and the action is beautiful as well as amazingly done. The Graphics for the suit look astounding. I bought the world within the story hook line and sinker. I was into it the whole time, excluding a few moments of discovery that were spot on. Fighting and weaponry were pretty big too. Anyway, the flow was well paced I was a bit antsy for action at the beginning but it came before I got bored. The love story wasn’t corny like in most Hero movies (Say the Incredible Hulk 2003) or too deep like (Spiderman). I’m not saying Spidey’s MJ love was bad for the story (Maybe in 3), I’m saying that Iron Man took what it needed and the rest was perfect.

Looking back it had the right amount of comedy and action. Robert Downey Jr. (Tony Stark/ Iron Man) did the part on the dot. I haven’t read much into the comic series itself, but I’ve seen enough to feel Downey had it spot on. The most that stood out in this movie was not just the last 30 minutes, but the majority was fantastically done. It showed what it needed to of Tony and enough of Iron man. It showed Tony was Human and that Iron Man was the product of Tony’s changed psyche. This movie was however, a bit predictable. I saw two major parts coming quite a while before they happened. Luckily the pure adrenaline from watching Tony wipe out an entire group of Terrorist troops in little more than 2 minutes made up for it entirely. The ending was nicely done as well. Big and full of action… a great way to end it all.

And Link:

Well Folks, unlike Mike, I was NOT pumped for this movie, infact until Wednesday of opening week I was just plain not going to see it. Now after seeing the film, I'm wondering why I never wanted to see it. I suppose it's because I never really knew who Iron Man or his background or anything. After all as a child I was always way more exposed to Batman and Spider-Man.

That was my attitude going into it, I thought it would be like the first hulk movie, NOT good. But after seeing it and reflecting a bit, letting everything sink in for what it was. Iron Man is definitely one of the greatest Marvel movies to date and many people will surly argue that it's the best. Iron Man definitely has it's own distinct laid back style feel. It's not like Spider-Man where you know everything that's going to happen. (catch up with whats goin on with the wall crawler, have spidey interact with other characters, tease the bad guy, have something go horribly wrong in spidey's life, then have a crazy encounter with the bad guy... blah blah blah) Although you can kind of foreshadow who the ending bad guy is going to be and who's going to turn on who in the end, there are still a lot of surprising moments in the plot. One semi-plot loop that had me scratching my head was "How many years in the future is this supposed to be?" I know Stark is rich and a super genius and all but I still the movie is over done a bit with future technology.

All in all, it's just the right delectable flavorful blend (we're fat) of comedy and action. The story telling is also the exact right pace, you know enough about Stark to know he cares but not too much as to make him totally exposed. So, I think overall I'm going to give Iron Man a 9 out of 10.

The Good:
+ Pace
+ Balance of Comedy, Filler, and Action
+ Left it wide open for the sequel (which is confirmed by the way)

The Bad:
- It's supposed to take place in current times but is still a little un believable in spots

Product Placement:
! Made 3 of us go to Buger King after the movie

 WATCHMEN

For me, Watchmen was like unburying an ancient treasure. The graphic novel has been hailed as “remarkable”, “the greatest piece of popular fiction ever produced”, and many many other words that spell out terrific. I had heard of it before the film version was announced, but never really strived to pick it up and read. That changed once I looked more into Watchmen’s plot. Show me a masked hero murdered, a man that could obliterate people, shape worlds, and do just about anything beyond the realm of epic, and a tough edged(possibly insane) hero that fights crime dirty, and you have a book I want to read.

            From the beginning of Watchmen’s story, I loved it. The art and the dialogue had me enthralled and wanting to read more. The only parts that were slightly uninteresting were one or two bits of actual book formed reading, but those pieces gave a brilliant life to the actual story, as if reading from a criminal record or from pages of another book. It all helped get me in the mindset of this world set in the 1980’s and the flashback segments to the 50’s and 60’s. The characters were what first grabbed me. Dr. Manhattan, a very blue and very powerful superhuman with a god complex is the first I really knew about. Edward Blake aka The Comedian, has a lot of character in the story even though throughout it he is just a memory, sometimes a bad memory. 

            Watchmen covers the superheroes and their different lifestyles during and after their crime stopping fun years. Only two or three heroes remain in the job after passing legislation to outlaw these heroes. The Comedian and Dr. Manhattan became government-sanctioned agents and most other heroes retired. Rorschach was the only other hero to continue without government contract. He is a conspiracy theorist of unlimited suspicions. After Edward Blake (The Comedian) is murdered Rorschach puts pieces together and starts to suggest that masked heroes are being killed. I will leave the other characters out for you to read about, but there are indeed a few other key characters.

            The Watchmen is a complicated story to explain as it goes from the actual story, to flashback, to some kind of police/ newspaper collection for evidence/article. The last component is another comic book. Everything links together so it is not vastly complicated when reading. The story, up to the ending, was astounding. The ending wasn’t as good as everything else, but it makes sense and is realistic to the rest of the story.

            In the end the book was better than great; each chapter had me wanting to read more, so much so I finished the last few chapters in one sitting. My eyes were pretty strained from that but boy was it worth it! It even gave me a new favorite song. Yeah the book has song lyrics quoted within the story and kind of as a narrative. If you want to start reading Graphic Novels, buy this! If you haven’t read this, buy it! This book is one of the bests(if not the best).

TWILIGHT [Reviewed by Mike]

Throughout the year I have been plagued by this book's name. Friend's, schoolmate's and now the Movie hits me in the face to say it's gotta be good. What was I to do, Ignore everyone whom was telling me I was missing on an adventure? That would have been judging a book by its cover. The cover basically makes me think apples are a main plot point... 

Anyway, I started the book around August 21st, maybe sooner. I have made it to Page 58 and thus far I do not wish to read anymore. The main character bores me and is so depressing that I realized soon that the "vampires" would not be much of what I was hoping. The author gets props for the setting. A town deeply forested with a lot of rain throughout the year? Yeah that's smart way to play it. Forks was a perfect choice, but the characters just don't interest me and I find myself in a half state of enjoyment.

On one hand I want to see the vampires and what exactly is going to happen, but on the other hand I haven't had any true enjoyment in the world that Stephenie Meyer put together. I liked one part in the book. I don't know if I didn't give it enough of a chance, but if you don't grab me within 50 pages, I don't see much hope. I will be reading a bit more but the review is due and I say it should be passed if you expect anything pertaining to classic vampire. It's pretty much a somewhat romance with some bits of action. It's better not to go fully on my judgment seeing I only read  maybe 1/4  of this book. Maybe the movie will be better.

WANTED (Graphic Novel) [Reviewed by Mike]

    Wanted is a graphic Novel soon to be adapted into the silver screen. The story revolves around a “momma’s boy” named Wesley Gibson who’s father was the greatest assassin nicknamed The Killer. Wesley is recruited so he can gain the millions his father has set to be passed down to him at the time of his death. Wesley is taken into a society of Super villains that had allied together in 1986 to wipe out all superheroes and take over the world. Wesley’s journey begins with training into becoming a tough guy and assassin like his late father.

         Wanted is extremely explicit and doesn’t hold a lot of punches. It goes from swear words to a superman like character who has downs syndrome and further into some of the most disgusting yet quotable sentences in the book. The story is deep and immersing as it goes from page to page. The art is dark and yet vibrant in a couple ways. The Edition I bought is all comics and included many beautiful cover arts and concepts which make it worth every penny. Wanted is a definite buy because it’s clearly different from the Good and evil premise that is usually rock solid.

 The Darkness (Graphic Novel) [Reviewed by Mike]
    The darkness is a story following Jackie Estacodo, a high rolling gangster in the mafia run by his uncle Frankie. Upon his twenty-first birthday a secret showed itself. A darkness that is chaos itself passed down from conception from his father. The darkness only can be awakened on the twenty-first birthday of the host. The Darkness uses the host to do terrible things by the host’s will. Uncle Frankie gets shot after a traitor in the family gives out a tip. Jackie’s powers emerge when a society started centuries ago sent a few armed men to take him. This team is interrupted by another side that wants the Darkness sealed away again. Jackie lets loose a good amount of torture and death upon the attackers. As the story moves it gets a bit mature with barely dressed females and some language. The story is a bit simple and lacks a heaviness I saw in Novels such as Wanted and I Am Legend. The second part of the series is much better.

The needless skimpy dressed women are practically gone and the conflict has changed to self-conflict and a deeper fight with tangible villains. The family has become split by distrust since Jackie ratted out his Uncle Frankie to the feds. Frankie sends Jackie a disturbing video cassette. Jackie responds by requesting they meet alone to settle the score. Frankie brings a crowd and mindless gore ensues. A cousin of Jackie comes in to take Frankie’s place and the family becomes further distrusting and Jackie attempts to bring the family together and end the dispute and end Frankie’s cousin.

The art is nicely done and has sparked the creation of a video game for the Xbox 360. The Cover art for the version I purchased (The Darkness: Ultimate Collection) is very detailed and impressive, modeling the character from the game. This version also comes with other art and covers of different variety. This book is worth the buy if you enjoy violence, Mafia, Dark-mood stories, or just something different from the superhero mesh out there.

From the beginning of Dead Space I saw the potential it had to redefine horror and refresh the game genre.
To start the plot you are Isaac Clarke, an Engineer wondering the infested insides of a large ship equipped with only his Rig(armor), some tools, and some really Ingenious and cool weapons. Carefully roaming the Ambient hallways can be pretty creepy when you suddenly hear something in the vents. As you progress you meet even stranger creatures all are called Necromorphs.Dead space prides itself on the fact you can kill these things in Just about an infinite number of scenarios. Isaac goes through some nifty moments as the story progresses. Mercer is a big part of the game. Many times he's locked doors and that damn monster he creates...is just horrible. You'd think it would become repetitive but it doesn't really hit at anytime. In all honesty, the worst part is the quiet moments of not fighting...

The gameplay is rather simple in the fact that each gun has two ways to fire. Primary and Secondary are the two firing labels. For example the primary fire for the plasma cutter is a vertical shot aimed by 3 blue lasers and the secondary is the same lasers flipped horizontally. Another example is the Contact Beam which is a charging weapon unless the secondary is used resulting in Isaac to drop to one knee and use the guns beam as a wave around him. The guns are fun, but the real fun is the enemies and the unique story told throughout this horror.

The grotesque Necromorphs are definitly a huge part of the game being they are the enemy. Necromorphs come in many shapes, sizes and looks. Some are huge and slow, only gaining some bursts of speed, while others are fast and will be in your face in no time. The game is not for the faint of heart or those that don't like to see blood and guts...This in fact is the best way to end that fear, or cause a heart attack. Every level has blood, limbs, and whatever the hell Necromorphs do to the walls to favor it to their environment. It's all disgusting and actually differs a lot. My favorite part has to be the writing on the walls. Most messages are alien based script or religious nut sentences, adding much to the game's background. These people had a religion that revolved around the enemy you face...In many ways , the crew of the ship you are on(The USG Ishimura) are your enemy. The Necromorphs don't repopulate by eggs or offspring to say, they use corpses. 'They' being the Infectors which create the necromorphs. The best way to fully understand the Necrmorph forms, is to check Wikipedia.

Alright now the story end.The game is plagued with heavily kept secrets that tore the crew apart as well as some of those you meet in the game. I have played through all but the whole of the last level and the story is phenomenal. It plays a bit from Bioshock, but in a way that isn't annoying. The only downfalls are a few noticeable plot movements that can be seen in you are looking for them. Cutscenes are done in two ways. It is either a holographic message, video, or communications that is sent via your RigLink(Basically your suit projects a flat screen like a TV). The other is a person talking to you directly from behind a wall with glass windows, or right in front of you. These cutscenes are pulled off very well.

The only thing better is the variety of Deathscenes, but I won't spoil those. You'll just have to die to figure it out.

The game deserves every 9 it gets and then some. I personally give it a 9.4!