Thursday Night Batman Update!

Yesterday was a big day for Batman fans. Director Christopher Nolan announced in an exclusive interview with Hero Complex's Geoff Boucher the official title of his third and final Batman film: The Dark Knight Rises. I'm still not sure what I think of that title, but I know I'll come to accept it eventually.

Nolan also revealed that the Riddler would not be the villain. This makes me very happy; the Riddler is a little too similar to the Joker, in my opinion. Also, it's nice to know that people will shut up with the Riddler rumors (two days after The Dark Knight's release: "Hey Brent, Johnny Depp/Eddie Murphy is playing the Riddler in Batman 3. I read it somewhere. No, it's true. I read it.).

“We’ll use many of the same characters as we have all along, and we’ll be introducing some new ones," Nolan said in the interview. Who knows what that means. Maybe the Scarecrow/Crane will return? Talia al Ghul? Hush? Hugo Strange? Catwoman? I'm personally hoping for Hush, but I'd be fine with anyone Nolan chooses. He seems to be kinda good at this.

Nolan also said he would not shoot the film in 3D, but will use IMAX cameras again. Words cannot express how much I applaud this move. 3D is gimmicky and it gives theaters an excuse to jack up their ticket prices. IMAX is more expensive to watch, sure, but I thought seeing The Dark Knight in IMAX was a far cooler experience than any 3D movie.

In some casting news, Deadline recently reported that Inception's scene-stealing Tom Hardy would play a role in the new Batman film. I'm betting on a villain, but it's hard to tell at this point. The current rumor is he'll play Harvey Bullock, a Gotham City cop from the comics. Either way, Hardy is an amazing actor, and will no doubt be a valuable asset to the cast of The Dark Knight Rises.

To round out the Batman stuff, surf on over to Threadless. They've reprinted one of my favorite tee designs, and it's on sale for just $10 plus shipping through November 1st. "God Save the Villain!" by Enkel Dika is truly a jaw-dropping tee, one I'm sure Batman fans wouldn't mind wearing. It's the picture at the top of this post.

'Mad Men' Season 4 Finale 'Tomorrowland': Worst Episode Ever

"Tonight's 'Mad Men' was, without a doubt, the worst episode ever. Rest assured I was on the Internet within minutes registering my disgust throughout the world."

Comic Book Guy says it better than I can.

To sum it up: nothing happened. Nothing worthwhile anyway. Take this away from "Tomorrowland": no entertainment property is safe. Even in the hands of its creator, a property can still be tarnished. Case in point, go watch Attack of the Clones. I don't break out this picture much, but there it is.

'New Vegas', baby!

'Fallout: New Vegas' hits stores on Tuesday.
=)
Remember, what happens in New Vegas stays in New Vegas.

Casting 'Uncharted'

Video games don't make good movies. That's why I hated the idea of a film adaptation of Naughty Dog's wonderful Playstation 3-exclusive "Uncharted" series. My hopes were raised slightly when Three Kings director David O. Russell was hired to write and direct the movie. That gave it some credibility.

Of course, the big question is who to cast as leading man Nathan Drake. I thought it might be a tough choice, until I watched G4's "Attack of the Show" the other day. "AOTS" reported that "Firefly" and "Castle" star Nathan Fillion was campaigning for the role via his Twitter page.

As a fan of both the "Firefly" series and the "Uncharted" games, I can say with a great deal of certainty that Fillion is the perfect man for the job. In fact, I'll be pissed if they cast anybody else. Campaign it up, people!

Book Review: 'Under The Dome'

First of all, it's confession time again: prior to "Under The Dome", I had never read a book by Stephen King. I've seen plenty of the films based on his books (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, The Shining, etc.), and many of them are great. For some reason, however, I never felt the urge to peruse the source material.

That changed when I saw the cover to King's latest, "Under The Dome". I know they say never to judge a book by its cover, but that's exactly what I did. And I don't regret it at all.

"Under The Dome" tells the story of the residents of Chester's Mill, Maine, a fictional small town that finds itself suddenly and inexplicably covered and surrounded by a mysterious force field. King provides a daunting list of characters at the beginning, all of whom factor into the story in their own way--big or small.

King has truly created his own little (big for a book) world in "Under The Dome". Each character has a history, personality and reputation in Chester's Mill, and much of this is evident through character interactions rather than straight-up narration.

Some of the more prominent characters include Dale Barbara, an ex-army drifter who finds himself put in charge of Chester's Mill during the crisis. Julia Shumway is the editor of the town's local newspaper. Big Jim Rennie is the corrupt Chester's Mill second selectman.

Suffice to say, there's a lot going on here. Thankfully, it all happens at the briskest pace possible for a book of this scope. Everything ties together very nicely, which certainly strengthens the illusion that we're reading about the plight of an actual town.

King has said that he began this novel in 1976 but couldn't finish it due to the enormous scope. He handles this scope very well, tackling everything from the human response to being trapped under the Dome to the meteorological implications of the situation. King has definitely done his homework, and this also serves to strengthen the illusion.

I thoroughly enjoyed "Under The Dome", but two glaring flaws stood out during my time with the book. Firstly, the symbolism. I'm fine with symbolism, but King is rather politically overt here. As a result, characters like Big Jim Rennie (essentially a small-town Dick Cheney) turn into caricatures rather than deep characters like they should be. I was hoping King would provide a well-researched account of how a town might react to an extraordinary situation of this kind. What I got was a well-researched account with a sharp political message that is neither subtle nor groundbreaking.

Secondly, the dialogue is, in many cases, horrendous. I listened to the "Under The Dome" audiobook while reading the novel itself on my Kindle, and hearing the wonderful Raul Esparza read King's dialogue really demonstrated just how unrealistic it really is. These characters, in many cases, do not talk how real people talk.

These flaws are minor in the grand scheme of it all, however. The book moves so fast and so much happens, you won't believe it's over when you turn the final page. Aside from the too-obvious political themes and the clunky dialogue, King has crafted a very good read. It's graphic, powerful, frightening and enjoyable all at once.

Film Review: 'Let Me In'

I’m no friend of remakes. This isn’t because they’re necessarily all bad, because they aren’t. Some are actually quite good. Christopher Nolan’s Insomnia is a remake; so is James Mangold’s 3:10 to Yuma. I simply dislike the climate they create in Hollywood. Originality takes a backseat to marketability.

So, you can imagine my frustration when I learned Matt Reeves was remaking Tomas Alfredson’s Swedish vampire masterpiece Let The Right One In. The American version would surely be made into an actioner, or a straight-up horror film. It would be dumbed down considerably. Essentially, I figured it would suck compared to the original.

Guess what! I was wrong.

It turns out, Reeves has considerably improved on the original in a lot of ways, and while I won’t call it a superior film, I will say it’s a toss-up. Let Me In retains all the quiet emotion and power of the original while adding a better pace and upping the horror factor without cheapening the film itself.

The Road’s Kodi Smit-McPhee plays Owen, a troubled, bullied boy who meets Chloe Grace Moretz’s Abby, the new girl next door who walks barefoot in the snow, only comes out at night, and kills people to drink their blood. Richard Jenkins steps into the quiet role of Abby’s caretaker, and Elias Koteas plays the agent investigating a series of grisly murders in their small New Mexico town.

My favorite component of the story is the way author John Ajvide Lindqvist (no relation) weaves classical vampire myths into a modern story. For example, Abby requires blood to live, she can't go out in the sunlight, and she can't enter a home unless she's invited. In other words, there's no sparkling to be seen here.

Smit-McPhee and Moretz are at the center of Let Me In, and the film depends upon their on-screen chemistry to carry it. Both succeed wonderfully. Smit-McPhee proves his acting prowess once again, especially in one of the final scenes. His desperation is palpable, and you really feel for the kid.

Moretz proves her versatility here, playing a character far different from those of her breakout roles in (500) Days of Summer and Kick-Ass. She kills people, sure, but Abby is no Hit-Girl; she’s quiet, deadly, and above all, tragic. Let Me In makes you feel for the troubled (slightly deranged?) and seemingly vicious girl. That’s high praise.

Let Me In’s biggest flaw is the simple fact that it’s a remake. If you look past that, very few blemishes remain. The CGI bugs me, quite a bit actually. Interestingly, the original employed CGI as well, for the scene in which the cats attack a newly-turned vampire woman (this scene is not in Let Me In). The cat scene looked extremely fake, but at least it was just cats. Reeves employs special effects for many of Abby’s movements, and it’s very obvious. I wish he had just let Moretz do her thing; the original didn’t employ special effects for Eli’s movements, and that worked just fine.

As for the changes, most are for the better. Owen/Oskar’s father is almost nonexistent in the film, aside from a short phone call. The aforementioned vampire woman portion of the film is also markedly shorter. These changes serve to quicken the pace of the film, and I’ll applaud that. Elias Koteas’ federal agent is new, but appreciated. It just makes sense to have a law enforcement official in a story like this.

At the end of the day, Let Me In is a lot like Let The Right One In, right down to some specific camera shots that were lifted from the Swedish original. As a film by itself, Let Me In is a genre masterpiece, only hampered by the fact that it’s a remake, and therefore lacks the originality present within Let The Right One In.

As far as American vampire movies go, Let Me In is one of the best in a very long time. See the Swedish original, but give this one a chance too; it’s arguably just as good. I can't wait to see what Matt Reeves does next; apparently, Cloverfield was just the beginning.

Something Awesome: TeeFury's "Best Buddies"

Hot on the heels of my tee shirt post, here's TeeFury's latest amazing design, courtesy of artist Chris Wahl, combining Star Wars and "Calvin & Hobbes" into something awesome. Remember, it's only available to purchase for 24 hours...

I gotta get something off my chest...

Hello, my name is Brent, and I'm a tee shirt addict.

Whew, that's better. Back in April and May, when "LOST", my favorite television show of all time, was coming to a close, the guys at /Film reported on several "LOST"-themed tee shirts being featured on a few different Web sites around the Net. These included Threadless, TeeFury and RIPT Apparel. I own a "LOST" shirt from each of these outlets now, and have become positively addicted to the stuff they post day in and day out. Below, I've provided a bit of info about the sites, as well as my favorite designs from each one.

Threadless

The design pictured above is Travis Pitts' Pac-Man-inspired "The Madness of Mission 6", my favorite tee over at Threadless. This particular site sells tees and hoodies featuring designs created by artists in the Web community. Users can vote on the designs they like the best, and Threadless will print and sell the most popular ones. The artists receive $2,000 and a $500 gift card if their design wins. Tees normally run from $18 to $20, and hoodies usually cost around $40. Sales do pop up fairly often (the 10th anniversary sale begins on this coming Sunday).

Shopping at Threadless is a great way to support artists and their trade, and who can deny the awesomeness of these designs? Other favorites of mine include Aled Lewis' "The Horde" and Alex Solis' "Parting the Red Sea", which definitely works best as a zip-up hoodie.

TeeFury

Let's face it, we can't all afford to pay $20 bucks for our tee shirts. TeeFury understands that. I paid $9 plus $2 shipping for the above tee shirt, "Major League Zombie" by Spitfire19. Dirt cheap! The catch is, each tee is available for only 24 hours at a time; after that, it's gone. TeeFury also supports artists; they pay each artist $1 for every individual tee sold. They also get to keep the rights to their design after TeeFury features it. Again, support the artists! They do stuff I could never imagine doing. My other favorites include "Boo" by balilewis and "Ab Aeterno" by m. Brady Clark.

RIPT Apparel

I haven't bought much from RIPT Apparel, but this was actually the site from which I bought the first of my "LOST" shirts. RIPT also pays the featured artist $1 for each tee sold. They have some pretty amazing designs, my personal favorite being the Amazon Kindle-inspired one above, titled "Primitive Amazon Discovery" by Jewelwing. I love my Kindle! My other RIPT favorites are "Samus" by Jonah Block and "Master Big Chief" by Dann Matthews.

The best thing ever?

Just maybe. Above is the artwork for the new Red Dead Redemption DLC, "Undead Nightmare". I don't know the plot, but the fact that it will introduce zombies into the Red Dead world is enough for me. IGN posted this artwork, and you can catch the teaser trailer courtesy of GameTrailers.

A big thanks to Reset Games!

I’d like to give a very big shout out to Reset Games, who recently accepted me onto their review team. I have two assignments thus far; reviewing Fallout: New Vegas, which will be released on October 19, and Call of Duty: Black Ops, which hits shelves on November 9. I’ll post links to the reviews here on the blog once they're posted on the reviews page of the Reset Game site. Thanks again guys!

Film Review: 'The Social Network'

David Fincher’s The Social Network will be a top contender for the Best Picture Oscar next year, I guarantee it. I’d bet money on it.

Movies depend on so many components working in sync with each other. Look at the credits following any film; all those names had some hand in bringing said film to the silver screen.

The Social Network is a shining example of these components coming together to form a well-oiled movie machine that works on every level. I walked out of the movie feeling so many different things, and I’m sure that’s exactly what Fincher and crew intended.

Every actor in The Social Network is pitch-perfect in his or her role. Jesse Eisenberg, who began to drive me crazy after playing the same character in Adventureland and Zombieland, blew me away as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. He delivers his dialogue with the perfect mix of snarky sarcasm and dry wit. He becomes the character.

Andrew Garfield plays Zuckerberg’s former best friend and Facebook CFO, Eduardo Saverin. One of The Social Network’s biggest strengths lies in the way the audience’s allegiance shifts. One minute I was rooting for Zuckerberg, the next I hated him. Then I rooted for him again. This strength depended just as much on Garfield’s performance as Eisenberg’s. As one of Zuckerberg’s opponents in one of the two lawsuits presented in the film, Saverin needed to be played strongly as well as sympathetically. Garfield pulled this off masterfully. The three-way confrontation between Zuckerberg, Saverin and Sean Parker towards the end is perhaps the biggest showcase of Garfield’s talents. I’ll just say this: the guy can play angry very, very well.

The plaintiffs in the other lawsuit against Zuckerberg are the Winklevoss twins (the Winklevi, as Zuckerberg calls them), played by Armie Hammer and Josh Pence. It’s extremely amusing to watch these guys as they learn that Zuckerberg has taken their idea for a Harvard social networking site and is turning it into a worldwide empire. They inject the roles with anger and emotion, and the term “scene-stealing” wouldn’t be an entirely inaccurate description of their performances.

On a side note, people probably won’t recognize Pence because Hammer’s face is used for both twins. Prior to seeing The Social Network, I read that Fincher and company had done some digital facial work for the movie, but I couldn’t locate it when I actually saw the film. I just assumed Hammer had a twin. I guess that’s a testament to Fincher’s uncanny attention to detail.

And of course, we have Justin Timberlake, who steps into the role of Napster founder and entrepreneur Sean Parker. As played by Timberlake, Parker is a massive douchebag. He’s an opportunistic leech who latches onto Zuckerberg’s idea and does his best to profit from it. Timberlake plays the role perfectly. You’ll want to smack the guy by the end.

The real stars here, however, are Fincher and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin. The film moves along at a breakneck pace; it’s never boring and never slow-moving. Scenes never drag on. Fincher and Sorkin get right to the point, and the movie is better for it. The Social Network is a two-hour movie, but it feels half that length.

The dialogue is astoundingly well-written; props to Sorkin for that. From the first scene, which features Zuckerberg and his girlfriend Erica Albright (Rooney Mara, Fincher’s future Girl With The Dragon Tattoo), I knew this script was something special. This is especially true with Zuckerberg’s dialogue throughout the film. He’s the programmer we all met in college who thinks he’s better than you because he can hack whatever. Except this guy became the world’s youngest billionaire.

The Social Network is a very discussion-worthy film. My sister and I were discussing the plot the moment we left the theater. We discussed our opinions regarding the outcomes of the lawsuits, the characters, who was right and who was wrong, and more. It was a fun discussion that was applicable to the real world, and movies don’t bring about those types of deep discussions very often.

The Social Network is one of the best movies I’ve seen this year, perhaps second only to Christopher Nolan’s Inception. It’s a briskly-paced, wonderfully-written, well-acted, beautifully-directed piece of cinema. So many of the great movies seen these days are period pieces; this one takes place during the past decade, and it’s all the more relevant for it. Don’t miss this one.

Note: The Social Network is based upon Ben Mezrich's book "The Accidental Billionaires". Many have raised questions regarding the book's accuracy. These concerns are probably legitimate. Fincher's film never flashes the "based on a true story" line to the audience. I walked in assuming I'd be seeing some fiction, and I definitely did. The film is no less great because of this, however. There's an excellent article over at New York Magazine that goes into detail about these embellishments. The MTV Movies Blog summarizes these nicely. Go check them out.

Zack Snyder Officially Directing Nolan's 'Superman'

It's official: The Los Angeles Times is reporting that Watchmen and 300 director Zack Snyder will be at the helm of the Christopher Nolan-produced 'Superman' film, due out in the fall of 2012, the same year Nolan's third Batman film is set to hit theaters.

The announcement has raised a bit of an uproar in the comics-to-film community. That's understandable, considering Snyder's latest, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, and Watchmen didn't exactly meet with the same critical reception the book did.

Let's look at the bright side: 300 is a great, if slightly overrated and overquoted, movie. Watchmen was never supposed to be a film, but Warner Bros. made it anyway. Snyder did a good job considering the difficulty in adapting such tough source material. Watch the birth of Dr. Manhattan, and tell me that's not a thread of brilliance in an otherwise mediocre movie. Sucker Punch, Snyder's first original work, is due out in March of 2011, and it looks absolutely jaw-dropping.

I'm excited about the announcement. This is the team behind The Dark Knight, working together to save the Superman film franchise. Nolan is producing, David Goyer is writing. Snyder will have a wonderful team at hand to help him make this new Superman great.

Oh, and Zod is supposedly the villain. (!!!)

Now, the big question is, who to cast? I nominate Jon Hamm. I know he's older, but I don't care.

Read the L.A. Times story here.

Film Review: 'Monsters'

My favorite video game of the current generation is Bethesda’s Fallout 3. I could give any number of reasons why, but there’s one that stands above the rest: immersion. Games like this aim to help the player live vicariously through his or her character on the screen. To accomplish this, the world around the player’s character must be convincing.

The same can be said about films like Gareth Edwards’ Monsters. It really isn’t a monster movie in the traditional sense; it’s a character piece. The hook of the film is its ability to make the audience believe that these two characters are actually wandering through a wasteland devastated by the onslaught of giant aliens from outer space. You’ll come for the immersion; you’ll stay for the characters.

Monsters takes place six years after a NASA probe crashed in Mexico, unleashing giant alien monsters upon the country. Scoot McNairy plays Andrew Kaulder, an American journalist trying to get his big break amidst the turmoil. Kaulder’s plans change when his publisher orders him to escort the publisher’s daughter Samantha (Whitney Able) back to the United States. As a result, the two must cross the dreaded Infected Zone, which stands between them and home.

This movie obviously has monsters in it, but like I said before, it’s no monster movie. The pace is a bit slow at times, but there’s always a payoff (especially the ending). The story rides upon the shoulders of McNairy and Able, who do a wonderful job carrying the film. I had heard Monsters described as similar to Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation, and although I wouldn’t go that far, that comparison isn’t totally unwarranted. This is a movie about two people, and how they handle the world around them.

Edwards reportedly took his actors to Guatemala and filmed as they traveled, on a very low budget. Monsters is so well-made that I couldn’t tell for a second that the budget was anything less than that of a summer blockbuster. The special effects and tricks used by Edwards were that convincing. I felt like I was actually walking through the Infected Zone right along with Andrew and Samantha.

At the end of the day, McNairy and Able steal the show. I wanted to see some monsters when I began watching this movie, but I ended up caring more about seeing what would come of these two characters. They inject a surprising amount of emotion into their roles, which is impressive considering their sci-fi surroundings. Kaulder started off somewhat unlikable, but this changed as the movie went on. I expected Samantha to be the typical prissy rich girl thrust into an undesirable situation, but Able played her completely differently. Both McNairy and Able deserve commendations for their performances here.

This is an indie film, so its release has been very limited thus far. It is, thankfully, available as a rental on iTunes at the moment. $10 is a bit steep for a rental, but I’d recommend catching Monsters however you can manage to. Take my word for it, the immersion factor presented by Edwards is more than worth the price of admission.

Film Review: 'The Town'

When I first saw the amazing trailer for Ben Affleck’s The Town, I had one thought: probably a great movie, definitely a horrible title. Then, I watched the film itself.

It turns out, The Town is actually a very fitting title for Affleck’s story of a thief who wants out of the game. I should’ve known; Affleck’s wonderful directorial debut Gone Baby Gone featured the city of Boston as a character on almost the same level as Casey Affleck and Michelle Monaghan’s detectives.

Ben Affleck stars as Doug MacRay, a thief hailing from the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston. The Hurt Locker’s Jeremy Renner plays James Coughlin, MacRay’s childhood friend and partner in crime. The wonderful Don Draper himself, Jon Hamm, plays the FBI agent tracking MacRay’s gang, and The Prestige’s Rebecca Hall steps into the role of the bank manager who MacRay falls for.

The Town’s strongest element is its cast. Look for “Gossip Girl”’s Blake Lively in a surprisingly gripping turn as Coughlin’s sister. Chris Cooper only has one scene as MacRay’s father, but he uses every second of his screen time to convey the hopeless but addictive nature of thievery. Pete Postlethwaite’s turn as the thieves’ boss is positively chilling. Nobody is miscast in The Town. It’s a wonderful ensemble; nobody steals the show, though Renner comes close.

This movie features plentiful helpings of both action and character. The action never feels cheap, and the character development never seems forced. The Town is about heists and thieves just as much as MacRay’s inner demons and embattled spirit. It’s a delicate balance that Affleck handles with delicate care. The result is a rare piece of cinema that is deep as well as entertaining.

If the cast is The Town’s strongest point, then unoriginality is its weakest. Though it’s by no means a deal breaker, The Town feels a lot like Michael Mann’s Heat, and the similarities are not negligible. This doesn’t detract from the film itself, especially if you haven’t seen Heat (for shame!), but the similarities did prove a little distracting for me.

Like I said, that’s no deal breaker. The Town is faster-paced than Heat, and the performances of the ensemble cast make this film more than worth the price of admission. Affleck obviously loves Boston, and his ability to capture the essence of the city has only gotten better since Gone Baby Gone.

The Town is a wonderful mix of action and character-driven drama that is only slightly hampered by a small “been there, done that” inkling. It’s been quite a while since we’ve seen a heist movie of this caliber. Mr. Affleck, keep ‘em coming.

Video Game Review: 'Halo: Reach'

Presenting the final chapter in a saga is tough. Look at films, for instance; the final installment in a trilogy is rarely, if ever, the best.

I was initially a little hesitant when Bungie announced that its last Halo game would be a prequel, wouldn’t star or feature the Master Chief, and wouldn’t take place on a Halo ring at all. It just wasn’t what I had imagined.

Flash forward to now, and I’m still reeling from what I’ve played. And from what I’m still playing. Halo: Reach takes place chronologically before 2001’s Halo: Combat Evolved, and that’s all too fitting. With Reach, Bungie has truly come full circle, offering a game that stands out as the best in the series, and one we’ll be playing for years and years to come.

In Reach, the player takes control of the unnamed Noble Six, the latest addition to a squad of Spartans called Noble Team. The player is given a plethora of armor, voice, and effect customization options, all for the sake of making each Noble Six unique to each player. Noble Six jumps in as the Covenant attacks the planet Reach, humanity’s last stronghold protecting its best kept and most important secret: Earth.

The tone here is much darker than in previous installments of the Halo franchise. Wonder is replaced with foreboding as the beautiful Halo rings are replaced with a planet on the brink of destruction. It’s an appropriately darker story, especially considering where it falls within the Halo canon. This is just the beginning of the Covenant onslaught.

The gameplay itself has seen some marked changes, most notably in the form of armor abilities. Instead of carrying equipment a la Halo 3, players are allowed to pick up different armor abilities throughout the single-player campaign. Many multiplayer modes allow players to choose their armor abilities before each match and after each death. These abilities include the jetpack (my personal favorite), armor lock (renders the player invincible for a few seconds) the drop shield (Halo 3’s bubble shield), active camouflage, and a few more. It’s a welcome change, and it simplifies the game to a great extent while providing some new features to enjoy.

The requisite new weapons and vehicles are also present, and all of them provide for some fun new stuff to get used to and enjoy. The pistol makes another triumphant return, scope and all. It’s a great tool used by Bungie to recreate the feel of the original Halo. Dual-wielding is nowhere to be found, and I applaud that decision. Simplicity isn’t a bad thing.

Regenerating health is back, in a way. Health packs are still strewn throughout the world, but player health will regenerate if it isn’t knocked down too far. It’s a nice mix of the original Halo’s health system and those of its sequels.

It’s still a horrible idea to let a computer-controlled character drive you around in the Warthog, unless driving off cliffs and bridges is your thing. This has been an AI problem since Bungie implemented the ability to let the computer drive, and it certainly hasn’t been fixed. That said, letting a friend jump in with you in cooperative mode is still one of gaming’s most fun options, so that helps to remedy the computer’s bad driving (if you have friends, that is).

As with each prior Halo title, you’ll come for the campaign and stay for the multiplayer. Players will know what to expect here, but Bungie has certainly gone the extra mile to maximize Reach’s longevity. Daily and weekly challenges will keep players coming back to test their mettle against Bungie’s toughest tasks.

Playing matches and completing challenges accumulate credits, which players can use to customize their characters. I’m currently saving up for “Heart Attack,” a customization that makes winged hearts fly out of my own dead body upon each death. There are many armor customization options available as well, all in the name of looking cool. None of them actually affect a character’s performance or abilities, but you can’t fault style.

ODST’s Firefight mode has returned, this time packed to the brim with new options. This is what Firefight should’ve been in the first place, but wasn’t. Many new customization options exist, making this Firefight incredibly varied and, most importantly, a lot of fun. Perhaps the biggest new addition to the mode is the ability to take control of the Covenant side of the onslaught. This adds an appreciated competitive side to Firefight.

Finally, the Forge makes its triumphant return, in a completely new form: Forge World. Many of the default maps included within Reach are Forge World creations. It’s basically an enormous map created solely for the purpose of homegrown maps. Reach’s multiplayer map selection is disappointingly small, and that’s probably the game’s biggest and most noticeable flaw. Forge World goes a long way toward fixing that problem, however. I found a pitch-perfect recreation of Halo 2’s Lockout (Blackout in Halo 3), ripe and ready for download. There are some truly talented mapmakers out there, and Forge allows us to experience their talents firsthand. The fact that Bungie created many of Reach’s default maps in Forge World using the same tools available to gamers is a testament to how robust the Forge is this time around.

On the technical side of things, Reach shines. It’s no Modern Warfare 2 in the graphics department, but Halo has never been about the latest and greatest graphics. The landscapes are beautiful and enormous, which is probably why the graphics can’t quite be up to par with those of other, more linear (smaller!) shooters out there. I experienced an annoying flashing in the background on some of the night campaign stages while playing cooperative mode, and those flashes were probably the most noticeable visual annoyance. Aside from that, Reach’s graphics are beautiful, and a sight to behold.

The Halo series’ most consistently amazing component is arguably the audio. Marty O’Donnell returns once again with a beautiful score that proves itself more than worthy of the series. O’Donnell established Halo's wonderful track record in the audio department, and he doesn’t disappoint here. The typically wonderful voiceover work returns this time around, with all the situational dialogue we’ve come to expect. I hear new NPC dialogue every time I play the game, and that’s a beautiful thing. The sound effects actually see an improvement here, with some extra little touches that go the extra mile to make the game more satisfying. It’s amazing how headshot sounds and grenade bounces can enhance a gaming experience so heavily.

All these components come together to form a wonderful and fitting end to the Halo series. All the tried and true elements are here, along with one more very important inclusion: polish. This is the most complete Halo experience to date, and that’s an epic relief. This is Bungie’s final Halo hurrah, and they certainly went out with a bang. Thankfully, though, this isn’t the end; the fact that we’ll be coming back and playing Reach for years to come is one of the most exhilarating prospects in the gaming universe. If you own an Xbox 360 and you don’t own Reach, I have just one question: what are you waiting for?

Book Review: 'Columbine'

Tragedies have a tendency to ingrain themselves into a person's memory. I vividly remember the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, and I can easily recall exactly where I was when Princess Diana died. The same can be said about the April 20, 1999, Columbine High School massacre. The image of students running out of the school, hands on their heads, is one I'll probably never forget.

That said, Dave Cullen's book "Columbine" forced me to look back and critically examine my own perception of the shootings. The author visited the school at noon on the day of the shootings, and spent the next decade performing painstaking research in order to provide an accurate account of the day's events, along what preceded and what followed. Cullen listened, interviewed, read and watched for 10 years, and "Columbine" is the end result.

The book Cullen released in 2009 is simultaneously informative, gripping, fast-paced, compassionate and, perhaps most of all, monumentally important.

To my surprise, "Columbine" is a page-turner. Not a word of it is boring or slow, and that's high praise for a book covering an event we all thought we had heard everything about. Much of the book deals with what led Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold to bring guns and bombs into their high school. Thankfully, Cullen gets right to the point; he provides a minute-by-minute account of the shooting early on, and peppers chapters telling about the killers' preceding actions and motivations throughout. Equal attention is paid to the aftermath.

By covering so many of the multidimensional and multifaceted aspects of the Columbine massacre, Cullen presents what seems to be the most comprehensive and accessible account available today. We hear from survivors, their families, law enforcement officials, psychologists, and more involved parties.

All this would be in vain if it weren’t for Cullen’s presentation. The structure at work here is brilliant, the pacing quick and expert. The author alternates between different timelines, which proves an effective and intriguing way to keep the reader informed on all fronts while moving everything along.

This is a respectful, interesting and eye-opening account of a massacre that badly needed a “Mythbusters”. The amount of false information we were presented with in 1999 and in the years following is positively astounding. Cullen gives us the facts on a wide range of myths and misconceptions. I finished the book with a distinctly different perspective on this tragedy, and I believe it’s for the better.

Read “Columbine”. It covers an event that helped define a generation, yet one I discovered I knew little about. The amount of research done by Cullen is astounding, and this provides an uncanny level of accuracy, authenticity and respect. That’s certainly a relief; an event like this deserves this kind of literary treatment. It’s a harrowing, heart-wrenching, and ultimately rewarding read.

'True Grit' Trailer Released

I mentioned Joel & Ethan Coen's True Grit on my list of movies to watch before the year's end, and it was the only film for which we hadn't seen a trailer. Well, we have one now, and it's safe to say my mind hasn't changed.

Coming soon...

I've been in Conrad, Montana pumping manure at the Midway Hutterite colony (don't ask), so I'm a bit behind on the blogging front (we can pretend that's never happened before...). Look for my review of Dave Cullen's book "Columbine" later today, as well as film reviews of Ben Affleck's The Town, Gareth Edwards' Monsters, David Fincher's The Social Network and Matt Reeves' remake Let Me In very soon. I'm also working on a post featuring my favorite tee shirt Web sites.

On a different note, go read Stephen King's "Under The Dome". I know they say not to judge a book by its cover, but the cover is the very reason I started reading this book. It's pictured above. Too freaking cool. I'll review it when I finish it; it's effing thick.