Alan Wake's American Nightmare Review

With a few notable exceptions, video games – even the ones that brand themselves as "horror" – aren't that scary. This is also true, by and large, of movies, books, you name it. It's hard to scare people, to really scare them; just as hard as it is to make them laugh or cry. So, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that Alan Wake's American Nightmare, much like the game it expands upon (Alan Wake), isn't frightening in the slightest. What come as a shocker, however, is the fact that it's so damn fun.

Presenting itself as an episode of a Twilight Zone-esque television show called "Night Springs," complete with a Rod Serling soundalike narrator, Alan Wake's American Nightmare sees the titular hero facing off against an evil manifestation of himself, called Mr. Scratch. Scratch has taken up residence in a small Arizona town, and has turned most of the population into zombie-like hostiles called "the taken." Much of Alan Wake's American Nightmare's gameplay involves dealing with the taken, who attack Wake at regular intervals. The taken are usually protected by a cloak of shadows, which must be "burned" away using Wake's flashlight beam before he can then employ firearms to permanently put them on the other side of the dirt. Dodging enemy melee attacks is a heavily emphasized element of the gameplay: successfully doing it both slows down time and lets Wake get some distance from bad guys.

At first, this dodge-and-shoot, third-person zombie bashing is a pretty cool mechanic, as the variety of conventional and light-based weapons (i.e., flares, flashbangs) and the game's first three maps provide a solid initial challenge (along with a decent, if rather pathetically Stephen King-wannabe-ish storyline). But things start to lose their luster when you play those first three maps a second time, immediately after completing them. And then, after completing those, you play them a third time. Sure, Alan Wake's American Nightmare truncates them a bit and saves you some time, but you're still playing the same maps, fighting basically the same enemies, and finding the same equipment, three damn times in a row. Even if the story weren't told through the clumsy mechanic of finding lost journal entries, it would still wear thinner than a politician's veneer of trustworthiness after two complete repetitions of the same stuff.

And the same is true of the gameplay, at least in the story mode. There are only so many times you can dodge the same arc of electricity, or fight the same zombified fireman, before you start to ask yourself if your leisure time couldn't be better spent watching your hard drive defragment. But, weirdly, I did keep on doing it. And I kept coming back again, and again. There's something bizarrely enthralling about Alan Wake's American Nightmare – something that drew me in, despite its on-paper shortcomings.

Part of the reason for this is that the game's simple, third-person shooter mechanic is surprisingly fun to play with. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the game's Arcade Mode. Here, Wake is pitted for 10 minutes against waves of increasingly difficult zombies (or one continuous wave if you play in Nightmare difficulty), on small maps strewn with items and ammo that you can collect between waves -- or during, if you're a true badass. Points are earned for enemies killed, and streaks of killings build up your score multiplier, as does successfully dodging enemy attacks. Like the Survival Mode in Resident Evil 5 (although it lacks that game's co-operative multiplayer), something about Alan Wake's American Nightmare's Arcade Mode keeps you coming back for more, to see if you can't surpass your score and kick even more ass in ten minutes. Because weapons are unlocked in Arcade Mode by collecting more journal entries in Story Mode, you're encouraged to play both, and online leaderboards are there so you can compare your abilities with others' as you get better and better.

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/29/alan-wakes-american-nightmare-review-2

The Simpsons: Back on the Big Screen

The Simpsons are returning to the movies for the first time since 2007's The Simpsons Movie, only this time it will be in the form of a four-and-a-half minute 3D short film.

EW reports that "The Longest Daycare" will run before Ice Age: Continental Drift when that film is released on July 13. The short was teased during the show's Season 23 finale this past Sunday, as you can see here:

"[Executive producer] Jim Brooks thought we should do an animated short -- a la the ones Pixar does before their features, a la the cartoons you used to see in the theater years ago -- as a fun thing to give our fans," executive producer Al Jean says. "We just wanted to do this as a way of saying, 'We appreciate how much people have stayed with the show and watched it for 25 years.'"

"The Longest Daycare," directed by David Silverman (helmer of The Simpsons Movie), stars Maggie as she returns to the Ayn Rand School for Tots, "where her lone friend is a butterfly." Jean adds: “They put each baby through an airport security-style testing machine to measure their future and hers says ‘Nothing Special,’ so they put her in an area that’s not great. If they put her in a good area, it wouldn’t be much of a plot." And yes, you can expect to see the one eyebrow baby too.



Source : http://www.ign.com

Moonrise Kingdom Review

Wes Anderson's movies have often been categorized as coming of age stories, but it's seldom the kids in his films who are confused. It's usually the adults who need the most work, and this holds true in his latest film, Moonrise Kingdom. At its core, Moonrise Kingdom is about a pair of young lovers who make a pact to run away together and end up causing a manhunt across the sleepy East Coast island of New Penzance. But as with all of Anderson's films, it's also about complex family dynamics, the immaturity of adults and the fragility of love.

Newcomers Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward are Sam and Suzy, the 12-year old lovers in question. Neither has starred in a movie before, and both were cast after a lengthy search. It's a gamble to hang an entire film on two untried kids, but Anderson has proven he is adept at working with youthful actors, and he works his magic again here to good effect. Gilman and Hayward aren't perfect, but they are believable, and more importantly, emotionally engaging.

They have to be, too, because the film relies heavily on the two leads to carry the action. When the movie opens, Sam is an orphan who doesn't get along with his foster family and is alienated from his Khaki Scout group. Suzy is the product of a troubled home, whose lawyer parents (Bill Murray and Frances McDormand) spend more time moping about their own lives than caring what happens to their daughter and three sons. When a chance encounter introduces the kids to each other, their destiny is sealed, and they carry out their love pact in a wilderness survival trip across New Penzance.

The sweetest scenes in the movie are the quiet moments Sam and Suzy spend together learning about each other and falling in love. The back-and-forth during their wilderness trek sets the stage for a touching, believable relationship that is the foundation of the film. In the later stages (I don't want to give anything away), it becomes a bit of a Romeo and Juliet tale with an East Coast sensibility and caper feel, but it all works because we believe in the kids' awkward but authentic love.

Bruce Willis is great in a subtle, understated role as the local sheriff who leads the search party efforts from the law enforcement side. His character is simple (in a mental sense), but complex and sad and in the end, quite warm. Willis brings a soft touch to the film, moving away from the cookie cutter flexing and sneering of some of his recent protagonist roles. Tilda Swinton is excellent in a funny, overtly stereotypical role as "Social Services," a dour, buttoned-up shrew who's hell-bent on "protecting" Sam. But sadly, most of the adults don't have enough to do.

The one disappointment in the movie is that we don't get to spend enough time digging into these characters' back stories. Anderson is very adept at crafting full, rich characters that usually achieve roundness through carefully-chosen dialogue, flashbacks and detail, but since a lot of this film dwells on the activities of the kids, we don't get as much from folks like Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Edward Norton and especially Harvey Keitel. The movie was slim at 94 minutes, and a chunk of that was taken up by credits, so there is more room to develop, but it doesn't happen.

Edward Norton is perfect for the role of Scout Master Ward, a man whose life is dedicated to the routine and duty of managing the Khaki Scouts, a ragtag batch of characters with names like "Lazy Eye" and "Izod." The scout camp portions of the movie are great; here, Anderson creates a deep, organized world that is instantly recognizable. This is his take on a 1965 scout troop, and it's perfect.  It's awesome when you see the expanded scout universe that exists on New Penzance, which includes Jason Schwartzman's Cousin Ben. Schwartzman shines in this small role, but Norton, as noted, just isn't given enough to do.

Anderson's unique, charming and highly particular cinematic style is on full display in Moonrise Kingdom, and although this movie is not as visually honed as Royal Tenenbaums (whose every frame was a masterpiece of detail), Moonrise Kingdom offers plenty for Wesophiles to worship.

For instance, each costume is painstakingly crafted, and the little things are the most important: the felt patches on the scout uniforms, the hint of gray poking out beneath the wig of Tilda Swinton's Social Services character, Bill Murray's amazing Technicolor checked pants. Anderson knows that detail is what ties us to the tale, makes the make-believe real; makes us believe. As with Tenenbaums, this film uses illustrations to amazing effect, this time in the form of several fictional book covers that Suzy reads from throughout the film. The covers are so amazing (and so beloved by the director as well), that they earn their own spot in the credits, and rightfully so.

As is true of most Anderson films, the setting itself is its own character, but this time it's given even more emphasis in the form of Bob Balaban, who serves as a narrator and personification of New Penzance. The creators painstakingly scouted islands all over America (and even overseas) before settling on the Rhode Island location, and the exhaustive search was worth it. The woods and craggy shores of New Penzance are transporting and wonderful.

This isn't the perfect Wes Anderson film, but it's a damn good one. And let's face it: the care, detail and intelligence that go into his films trump most of what's in cinemas these days. His unique visions are never boring, and his take on the world is still as refreshing as ever.

If you couldn't find anything to love about Rushmore or Tenenbaums, this movie won't make you a Wes Anderson convert. But if you respect the subtlety of a charming visual joke, or the simple pleasure of a well-constructed tableau, or well-chosen piece of music, you will adore Moonrise Kingdom.

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/18/moonrise-kingdom-review