Potentially the best news of the week, the first “live tuning” patch for NCAA Football 11 has been released. Basically these are mini downloads within the game that EA doesn’t have to go through Microsoft for. Supposedly this means they can get smaller tweaks out faster.
They focused heavily on the progression/recruiting gripes that basically say players don’t progress enough and new recruits come in rated too low. This little mini patch is supposed to correct that.
They promise a full-on official update this month with supposedly more things, but it’s nice to see them react so quickly (less than a month since release) and focus on most people’s biggest gripe. They were certainly mine, since with slider tweaks this game is playing wonderfully for me.
Phenomenal video totally worth your time if you are a Star Wars fan.
Aug 04
Inspired by a recent work conversation about good/great movies. The primary criteria is re-watchability, but the first view is also important. So without further adieu, here are my top 10 movies.
To make this exercise a bit easier, these are in alphabetical order.
- Boogie Nights
People know this as the movie about porn, but it’s so good. I like a lot of Wahlberg movies, but this is his best in my mind. Add in all the great supporting peeps: Cheadle, Reilly, Graham, Moore, Reynolds, Seymour Hoffman and it’s just amazing.
- The Bourne Trilogy
Major cop out here but not picking one of three. My suspicion is that I would pick the first one, but the third one is very underrated. And it put Matt Damon on the map as a tough guy. Don’t believe me, how about Paul Rudd in 40 Year Old Virgin, ““I always thought Matt Damon was kind of a Streisand, but he is rockin’ the shit in this one.”
- Clerks
Kevin Smith famously sold his comic book collection to make Clerks and did it for a mere $28,000. Even 20 years ago that is an amazing feat. Hilarious dirty jokes and some of the best debates in movie history (Death Star independent contractors anyone?).
- The Departed
This is the only movie on the list to come out in the last five years. Not surprising since I don’t see as many movies as I used to and there is so much crap out there these days. Damon, DiCaprio and Wahlberg are three (if not top three) of my favorite actors so when you added in Baldwin, Sheen and Scorsese it was a perfect storm.
- Good Will Hunting
If this list were ordered, this would be in consideration for number one. I remember how amazing I was when I finally saw this for the first time. I understood the Oscar. Damon is phenomenal and the Carlton Fisk conversation and jokes in the bar were awesome.
- High Fidelity
Jack Black’s breakout role, his scenes alone are worth watching this movie. Arguably John Cusack’s best movie since the 80s, the story is great and the way he is always doing Top 5s is great, and was an inspiration to my lifelong list making/loving.
- Rounders
More Matt Damon. He shows up four times on the list. My friends used to tease me about my man crush on him. This poker movie got me into poker before it was cool. It’s a great gambling movie. And another fav, Ed Norton, shows his skills by being has hateable as any character ever. The Damon vs. Malkovich scenes are on par with Ali vs. Frazier.
- Shawshank Redemption
The inspiration for this list as I found out a work friend had never seen it. I ventured a guess that 75% of 25-35 year old males would put this in their top ten. Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman both at their best, there’s virtually nothing to not like about this movie.
- Super Troopers
Other than Clerks, the only other comedy to make the list. This was our college comedy that we watched over and over again. We quoted the crap out of it and I still to this day quote Office Ron Farva on a fairly regular basis. Broken Lizard is 1 for 2 (in my book since) after striking out with Club Dread but redeeming themselves with Beerfest. I haven’t see The Slammin’ Salmon yet, but since no one has talked about it, I bet I am not missing anything.
- Training Day
Last but certainly not least is Training Day. An Oscar nominee and crime thrilla about Ethan Hawke’s first day in a special drug unit led by Denzel Washington. The movie takes place all in one day (love these kind of movies) and has some great twists and turns. I don’t want to give any away but it’s unlikely if you like cop movies or Denzel (and you should at least like Denzel) you won’t be disappointed.
Missed the cut: The Aviator, Bad Santa, Black Hawk Down, Blues Brothers, Catch Me If You Can, Gladiator, Goodfellas, Red Dragon, Rock Star, Saving Private Ryan, Stalag 17
Aug 04
Hugh Jackman get’s the story of Wolverine going.
- Better than I thought it would be, probably on par with the best of the X-Men films (but that isn’t saying much)
- I felt like the character wasn’t as big of a jerk as in the X-Men movies
- The Cyclops cameo was sweet
- I expected Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) to be in a lot more of the movie
- I think they could have talked more about what his powers were, because a lot of people probably don’t know
- I would love to see more of these “origins” stories.
Wow, this looked ugly from both up close and far away. It was a pretty crazy slide that was very late. I don’t know if you call it dirty, but man.
Aug 01
This movie is a dark comedy with Patton Oswalt as an obsessed New York Giants fan who gets beat up by their star player.
- Oswalt is always believable as a loser, isn’t he?
- The way he spends all this time writing on his rants for the middle of the night sports talk radio is priceless
- The ending of this movie is truly bizarre
- There are definitely a few laughs, but you mostly shake your head at how this guy isn’t doing anything with his life
- Probably worth seeing if you like Patton Oswalt, but it’s not terribly funny and I wouldn’t see it again
Pretty good article about the history of GameStop. Brought back lots of memories of my childhood.
If this doesn’t get you pumped for College Football season, I don’t know what will.
(via mgoblog)
Nearly 11 minutes long but worth your time if you are a Kobe/MJ/basketball fan. The effortlessness of Jordan is just mind boggling at times.
My dad and I used to love helicopter combat games on the PC back in the day. I don’t really recall any decent ones on consoles for a while. Worth keeping an eye on.
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