It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia season 4 review

I’m going to keep it short and sweet, this show is the best comedy on TV. I love The Office just like everybody else, but this show takes chances that The Office just can’t. I mean do you think that The Office can devot a episode to cannibalism or dunking ones balls into another man’s mouth? No didn’t think so. This show is so fearless and insane that it’s actually pretty easy to miss the nuanced performances that make the show so great. Charlie Day(“Charlie”)is one of the stand outs on the show, his performance always trumps anyone in a scene with him. His character is so strange/psychotic/endearing that it’s hard to fault him for being a utter idiot. But while Charlie is the standout, to me, it would be wrong to discount everyone else. This cast is one of the best in TV because everything that happens on the show feels so natural that it’s impossible to believe that they do so much improve and playing around. The show feels like four friends and a dad are just sitting around getting themselves into trouble. Now with this being the fourth season the shows hitting it’s stride. I have to say that when the season first started I was a bit worried because the first episode back didn’t grab me the way it usually did, but with the second episode I was back. That being said the show did have a bit of a clunker, while funny I just wish that story hadn’t taken away from the much funnier sub plot of Sweet Dee trying to find some girl friends. Other than that this season was just as great as the others, it’s usually hard for a comedy to keep up the funny for four seasons but not Sunny. What I also hate/love about the show is it’s small BBC type seasons. Having only 13 episodes makes it easier to wrap the seasons in a overlaying theme but when it’s really fun it sucks it’s so short. All in all if your not watching this show you should be watching it if your a fan of insane comedy.

CHARLES’ GRADE: A

PROS: THE CAST IS GREAT, HILARIOUS SHOW

CONS:ONLY A COUPLE MIS STEPS BUT QUICKLY REBOUNDED

LUDACRIS: THEATER OF THE MIND review

I was never a big fan of Ludacris in the past. I recognized his lyrical talent, but never connected with his material outside of random radio play. Ludacris was always put in my “Clown Shoes” rapper category. It’s the kind of category where when you pass a artists cd you chuckle at people picking it up, I know it can come off as a tad bit elitist but it’s how I used to feel about his material. That was until RELEASE THERAPY came out, I listened to it on a whim and found that Ludacris had finally shed his clown antics with is old braids. I’m a 26 year old Hip-Hop fan, it’s a weird position to be in. Fans who are in my generation grew up with BIGGIE, TUPAC, NAS, LL COOL J, WU TANG CLAN, and JAY-Z. I have to say we’re the greatest Hip Hop generation. Which is why most of my peers don’t like the newer rappers because they’re just not of the same quality, but there are exceptions. T.I comes to mind as a guy who’s of my generation who also grew up with those rappers, but on the flip side there’s Lil Wayne who is the same age as me but I don’t know many people my age who like him as much as my younger cousins(who are 18, 14, 12 respectfully). It’s a weird thing being a older fan of Hip Hop. Ludacris is also in the company of a T.I where he’s a little older than me and the majority of his fans are my age. I used to not be apart of that club until now. THEATER OF THE MIND is a really solid cd. Now I did listen to this after listening to the new Kanye West cd and that might have colored the way I saw it. From the intro rap (which Ludacris seems to cherish the chance to start the cd off to a great start) to the last song it’s solid front to back. Now that being said I don’t love every song. I didn’t really care for the Jaime Fox collabo, mostly because of my dislike of Fox’s tendency to “over sing.” I also didn’t love the hook for MVP because I’ve never really been able to rock to a song with a repeatedly scratched mix match of lyrics that makes up a hook. I also found myself loving the most recent radio single, ‘One More Drink’. That in itself is strange because I usually hate the radio singles on a cd. With this cd coming out the same time as Kanye’s I’m hoping that this actually outsells Kanye’s a little bit. It’s the better cd of the two and should be the winner to be fair.

CHARLES’ GRADE: B+

PROS:LUDACRIS CONTINUES THE STEP TO RAPPER TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY STARTED WITH RELEASE THERAPY

CONS: THE OVER SINGING JAIME FOX AND THE SCRATCHED MIX MATCH HOOK ON ‘MVP’

Super Street Fighter 2 tur… A Good Street Fighter Game.

Hey Everyone, Its Joe again I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable Thanksgiving as I did. I figured with the holidays out of the way I can get some time to get a Post in.

As the title says, the new Street Fighter game is out, available on the Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Networks and as no surprise to this blogger, its really good. Finally, after months and months of nail biting sweat dripping anticipation, the game Capcom has only been teasing about was in my hands. The first thing I noticed about the game as I started it up was the title screen where you have both Ryu and Akuma face to face holding their own fireballs in their hands and the amazing graphics there in. The developers truly out did themselves with this beautifully rendered image for the title screen. The BGM of the classic Street Fighter Theme remixed into an edgy rock/techno mix that gave me chills begins here and follows you through the menu selection process. The main menu, simply designed to house the selections of arcade, multiplayer, and various other extras. Everything has been redrawn by the talented team at Udon comics, the backgrounds, the facial animations, and the ending cut scenes. No detail was left un-touched and it really breathed some new life into this old classic.

After you choose your fighter from some excellent high res thumbnail shots its time to get into it. The game pretty much stays true to its roots here, with a plane flying over to the next country to indicate the battle ground of your next opponent. The fighting speed has truly been beefed up to show the change in times despite the age of the title. The speed of the fight and the responsiveness of the characters is excellent and very fluid like. Even fighting on the horrible Xbox D-pad wasn’t as much of a chore as it was on the original.

The game is just as difficult as you remembered, with characters like Sagat and Vega appearing to know every move your going to make before you do. There are some nice Xbox 360 achievements you can get, the best one to me being the “Scar of Sagat” achievement. This requires you to defeat the behemoth Sagat with Ryu’s powerful Shoryuken technique, a very nostalgic achievement to any Street Fighter fan. Other achievements include time opponent defeated in, game completion, and a bunch of online multiplayer achievements.

The multiplayer option really gives the game some great benefit also, with ranked, player, and custom matches and the inclusion of Tournament mode. The initial versus options have about 6 players take turns battling the winner of individual rounds. These modes take me back to the “I got winner” days, which is very fun for long time fighting game fans such as myself. Players not fighting are spectators and watch the fights which can prove to be strategically beneficial or intimidating depending on the skill of the active warriors. Tournament mode is a test of players skills as they are slotted up against one another and advance to take on fellow winners in typical tournament fashion.

All in all Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix, is worth saying the full name because it is a great game and always has been. I say it always has been because it is the same game I remember from my childhood, but with a fresh coat of paint and a wax to make it shiny. Though it may be the same game, that doesn’t make it not fun to play. The game is plenty of fun and a great distraction from the seemingly endless supply of shooter games and the fact that the next NEW version of the franchise is 3 months away. Capcom, keep up the great work!

Images gathered from IGN.com, teamxbox.com, gamesuy.blogspot.com,

PICK OF THE WEEK: COMICS for 11/26/08

PICK OF THE WEEK

JSA:THE KINGDOM #1

It was a stacked week, a lot of good books and one that I assumed would be the pick and it didn’t do it for me. JSA have had a few special issues to help end this giant GOG storyline. I’ve liked them all but this one was the best. The ending alone made me go ‘Uh Oh’. S is about to hit the F. Since Johns has come back to JSA I’ve been in seventh heaven. I hate to say this because I’ve spoken to the awesome Dwayne McDuffie, but I wish that the second Justice League book coming up would be written by McDuffie and the main JLA book be written by Johns. GOG is also why I’ll always say that DC has better villains than Marvel, they’re actually frightening in their scope and power.

CHARLES’ GRADE: A

Pick of the Week Runner-Up(s)

With so many good books coming out I had to mention a few of the ones that gave me the most enjoyment.

DAREDEVIL #113

• I was reading this and it reminded me of how much I used to love Marvel Comics before all the events I hated. After I got over the seemingly awful idea of Lady Bullseye, but after seeing her in action over the course of three issues she’s actually pretty interesting.

Wolverine Origin #30

• What the hell? I’m actually enjoying a arc about Wolverine? It’s really like the old days. Without the stench of Marvel Big Events I still enjoy this world. I’ve read about four whole issues of Wolverine Origins(two involved Captain America…duh) and the two I’ve read for this ORIGINAL SIN story arc were good. I feel that they’ve actually kinda captured the pain and sadness that I always thought was inherent in Wolverine, but no one seemed to recognize.

Captain America #44

• Another Marvel and another Ed Brubaker book. He’s the closet Marvel’s got to Geoff Johns. Now while I didn’t care for his X-Men runs I’ve loved his DAREDEVIL and CAPTAIN AMERICA runs. I loved this issue mostly because we got more of Bucky’s Winter Soldiers past, Batroc, and more Black Widow and Bucky. I really got the Geoff Johns vibes during the inner monologue from Bucky when he was fighting Batroc the Leaper. Another Johns’ esque thing was the retooling or as I like to call ‘BADASSIFYING’ of Batroc.

POO POO of the Week

HULK #8

I don’t even know why I looked at this…wait yes I do Arthur Adams and Frank Cho art. But even with those two making art out of crap it’s still not enough. There’s no stakes in this book and the book feels like it’s not important…mostly because it’s not. Nothing makes sense in this book, it’s just a book about a red and green Hulk punching crap. Who’s the red Hulk? You may ask…well I don’t know because I don’t even remember if they told us who it was. I don’t even remember what happened last issue because it takes so long to come out that whatever story points that actually carry over are forgotten. It feels like they’re just jumping around and doing whatever.

COVER OF THE WEEK

Mouse Guard Winter 1152 #4

Kanye West-808’s and Heartbreak review

Way back when I was a contributor on a music website. It was great, it was really great experience to have somewhere to talk about Hip-Hop and my favorite Rap Label at the time, ROC-A-FELLA. ROCABLOG.COM was even recognized as blog of the month on the official ROCAFELLA.COM website. We reviewed mostly ROC-A-FELLA releases. I also remember when I first heard KANYE WEST rap about two years before COLLEGE DROPOUT came out. I knew he was going to be a big deal and three albums later he seemed like his musical genius could do no wrong. While I can’t give him a spotless record anymore, I will give him a slide on the Hip-Hop side of his catalogue because 808’s & Hearbreak isn’t a Hip-Hop cd. It’s a odd entity in itself, I’ll be interested to see where they place this cd in stores. I know this cd was made out of a creative outlet after Kanye’s mothers passing, but it’s not a good cd. The cd tries so hard to mix T-Pain with Death Cab For Cutie that it comes off forced. I do like about three or four songs, they helped me when I was dealing with the aftermath of having to put my dog down a couple weeks back. That being said when I’m not in a depressed type of mood the cd falls flat for me. Kanye wants to make a case for this to be a piece of art, but it’s not. It’s a cd from a guy that’s going through what has to be the loniest point in his life. I respect that and I applaud him for it, but I can’t recommend the cd or even promote buying it. I want to so much, because I feel that if it fails Kanye will have to do some real soul searching. I also don’t believe it will fail, mostly just because it has Kanye’s name on it and not because it’s a terribley good album. A friend of mine, Chris, said it best: “He’s just trying to hard…and it’s just not good.” Exactly what I was thinking.

CHARLES’ GRADE: C

PROS: ‘COLDEST WINTER’, THE CHEESY “OKAY OKAY” LINE FROM ‘ROBOCOP’

CONS: EMO IS BEST HANDLED BY DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE NOT THE LUIS VOTTON DON, UNDERWHELMING AND SOMETIMES OVERLY ANNOYNING PRODUCTION CHOICES, THE EMO T-PAIN SOUND IS NOT THAT HOT

ENTOURAGE SEASON 5 REVIEW

It’s over. Season 5 is officially over. I’m not sure if we’re going to see another continued season like they’ve done in the past but if not then it ended the right way. ENTOURAGE is the only show I watch on Sundays. It’s been that way for awhile now. When the pilot episode ended with ‘LUCIFER’ from Jay-Z’s the BLACK ALBUM, I was hooked. The show was a male SEX AND THE CITY; four friends sitting around talking about life, love, and everything in between. Now while I couldn’t stand or relate to the squawkings of Carrie and Co. I could relate to the Entourage. I cared what happened to these guys, they were old school friends who were set on taking over Hollywood on their own terms. Now they’ve had some ups (AQUAMAN) and some downs(MEDELLIN) but they’ve always remained a solid front. Now with this season they were at their lowest. Vince couldn’t get a job and was off on a beach in Mexico with Turtle. Now Eric and Drama were actually florishing and everything was turned upside down. I know every season has some quick change in the status quo but this time it lasted much longer than expected. We actually got to see a lot of things that I and other fans of the show always mentioned in the same breath as how awesome the show was. When’s Turtle actually going to have a girl and something to do? When is Vince going to show some real emotion? When is Eric going to have a client other than Vince for more than two episodes? When is Drama going to get put in his place?(the last of which doesn’t happen, but I hope it does soon) Those comments must have been heard because we got everything, except the Drama stuff. Vince shows that he’s not happy with his new found D-List status, and Turtle finds a lady that actually wants to be with him for him and not for Vince. Eric also finds a new client, Bow Wow in a recurring role, to usher into super stardom. I can’t even begin to talk about Entourage without mentioning some of the guest stars: Martin Scorcese, Jaime Lynn Siegler(Jerry Ferrera-Turtles’ real life girlfriend), Gus Van Sandt, Eric Roberts, Frank Darabont, the women of The View, Seth Green(again) and a bunch of others. This season was great from start to finish. I have to say that my sundays will be pretty light now that it’s done. But at least I’ll be getting a season six. Well time to take HBO off my favorites list until Entourage comes back.

CHARLES’ GRADE: A

PROS: THE ENTIRE SEASON WAS GREAT, JEREMY PIVEN WAS STELLAR, SETH GREEN’S COMEBACK

CONS: WISH THE SEASON WAS LONGER THAN 12 EPISODES, WANTED DRAMA TO GET PUNCHED BY TURTLE A FEW TIMES

Batman:The Brave and The Bold episode 2 review

EPISODE 2: TERROR ON DINOSAUR ISLAND!

So we’re at the second episode. I didn’t love the first one, but I wasn’t going to write it off for being too 70’s. Well after watching episode number two I still feel the same way. The show isn’t awful, but when a friend asked me whether it was any good I couldn’t really respond. This cartoon is strickly fan service, but not in the way the DC character cartoons have been in the last 10 plus years. This is more in line with SUPERFRIENDS, BATMAN AND ROBIN(the quick shorts format cartoons), and SUPER POWERS. I may have grown up during the golden years, I’m still old enough to remember when all I had for comic book cartoons were re-runs of the Batman and Robin cartoon shorts. I also watched the newsreel Superman shorts. I also remember fondly watching Super Powers and The Adventures Of Super-Man(the late 80’s superman cartoon no one remembers). Those shows were made for fans but mostly quick ways to get the younger kids into those characters. This episode features PLASTIC MAN teaming up with our intrepid hero. Plastic Man also had a cartoon, which was awful. He’s also the best character to use to get younger kids into your show. He’s silly and juvinelle which makes him endearing to children. I did like how they kept his storyline close to source, which this show has been perfect in doing so far. Now they may use the happy Batman from the 70’s (costume and all), but they’re still faithful.

Fire, Plastic Man, Batman

This show keeps showing me it loves the 70’s. It smacks you in the face with it in the show intro and with the episode title card. With this episode we’ve had two appearances of Dinosaur Island. I have to say the convient factor also happens a lot in this show. In the first team up of the episode Plastic Man and Batman are chasing the Phantom Stranger and Fire just happens to show up to save Bats. But it doesn’t stop there. When Bats and Plas go up against Gorilla Grodd the first time Grodd takes over his mind, but the next time they fight Bats alerts Grodd to the fact that he learned a technique for thwarting mind control in Tibet. Really? A technique in Tibet to stop him from taking over your mind, so why didn’t you use it the first time you realized it was Grodd?

Grodd and his stupid mind control hat

I can’t even begin to tell you how much I hated the ending to this episode. They turned Gorilla Grodd human…not cool. I also didn’t like how they made Grodd more into a Batman villain instead of keeping him a Flash villain who just happens to hate Batman. Overall this episode was more of the same, I hope the show can find it’s stride. It doesn’t talk down to kids, but it isn’t really good for adults. The only reason I’m still gonna watch is because it’s a DC Comics cartoon and it’s the only game in town right now.

CHARLES’ GRADE: C-

PROS:PLASTIC MAN, THE PHANTOM STRANGER

CONS: GRODD NOT BEING A FLASH VILLAIN, THE CONVIENT THINGS THAT HAPPEN

I'M ELEGANT, YET GANGSTA

DON'T MAKE FUN OF THE HAT

IRON MAN: ARMORED ADVENTURES Pilot Review

I totally forgot this show was coming out. It’s been so long since I last reported on the show (around the time of the movie) and it’s been at least 4 months. Other comic based cartoons have premiered already and the Iron Man cartoons buzz has died. So when I saw it online I hesitated for a second because I didn’t recognize the title. When I started watching it all the details I’d heard about the show rushed back. Instead of fully capitalizing on the movie, they decided to skew the show for the home of Sponge Bob. The show follows the idea of the movie and comic by having Tony need a fancy battery to keep his heart going. In this version though that’s where it keeps totally true to it’s source material, thankfully it strays a bit. He’s 16 years old, he’s on a plane with his dad when it blows up and somehow he survives. With his dad dead, Obadiah is in charge and he lives with Rhodey’s family. I have to say the recent introduction of the Obadiah character has left me wanting. I used to love Iron Man and current stories and Civil War have ruined my once large love for the character. Giving him a normal run of the mill tycoon bad guys is boring for a man who puts on a armored suit and flies around. I’m getting the feeling that the main focus of this show is going to be Tony trying to keep Obadiah from using his designs for weapons.

Tony Stark, Pepper Potts, James Rhodes-16 years old and loving it

The design and animation of the characters isn’t bad. It’s taking a lot from MTV’s old Spider-Man cartoon, but it actually takes out details for a more simplistic look. It works for this show. I have to say I did smile when Pepper Potts first shows up drinking a soda on the roof. Although her character is nothing like the comics or movie, they created a story that fits perfectly. Pepper’s dad is in the FBI and she knows everything about Tony and Rhodey, which she has no problem rambling off for our heroes. There was also a quick couple scenes with Happy Hogan, which made me smile because hopefully he’ll become a fixture in the main cast. Even though I don’t love Iron Man as much as I used to, I have to say I still love when he’s surrounded by his supporting cast. Now they’re not as great as Superman, Batman, or even Captain America’s supporting cast they’re still cool.

The Mandarin or Super Shedder

Now while I loved some things I didn’t love everything. Other than my hate of Obadiah, I didn’t care for the design of The Mandarin. He looks ridiculous. I severely hope that the movie design will not in anyway mimic this awful look. I did like the twist on the character, but it was very obvious what was going to happen. It’s a stretch but it fits the shows line of thinking. Also while I think the animation is pretty good there’s a problem with it. Characters will randomly sprint off like a Scooby Doo cartoon. No character have any weight to them and thats something a cartoon featuring a lot of characters wearing metallic suits should have.

CHARLES’ GRADE: B-

PROS:SUPPORTING CAST, NEW TEENAGE LOOK AT IRON MAN

CONS:SOME CHARACTER DESIGNS ARE AWFUL, OBADIAH STANE, WEIGHTLESS CHARACTER MOVEMENT

We're good but we still need alot of work

STAR WARS:THE CLONE WARS episode 8 review

Well I reviewed the movie and it seems I liked it more than most die-hard Star Wars fans. I knew it was a lead in story, for a show on Cartoon Network. Now while the show has oddly challenged my initial view of the show being for kids by having Grievous stab a character with a lightsaber(which you see come out towards the camera); it’s still geared for younger fans. Now with this latest episode, which is the 8th of the season; we see the most hated character in Star Wars history. JAR JAR finally shows up, and he’s wearing a Jedi Cloak.

EPISODE 8: BOMBAD JEDI

So we start off the episode with Padme,C-3PO, and JAR JAR flying to meet a old friend. I like the show but sometimes the show gets dragged down by the slow parts. I really don’t want to see Padme talk to 3PO and JAR JAR about the state of the Republic. We get some quick JAR JAR hi jinks to remind us just how clumsy he is, like we all don’t have Episode I’s crap storm emblazened in our geek minds. When they land we get some more space politics and of course Padme is captured. Jar Jar and 3P0 narrowly escape being killed by JAR JAR’s inspector gadget style antics that somehow work out. He also destroys the ship they rode there. I actually liked the fact that even 3PO thinks JAR JAR is a idiot. Jar Jar finds Anakins Jedi Cloak, although he doesn’t know that. There was a nice scene of Jar Jar asking why a Jedi Cloak is in Padme’s ship and 3PO quickly changing the conversation. Jar Jar puts on the cloak and scares the crap out of everybody because they think he’s some bad ass Jedi. Padme uses that distraction and breaks free and does the usual Padme thing of all of a sudden she’s a bad ass shooter…you coulda used that when you first got captured. Also my hate for the droids keeps getting larger. Everytime I hear “Roger Roger” I want to scream, and they say it a lot in this episode. The weird frog face alien Viceroy shows up to kill Padme but she’s gone. I don’t know but for this planet to be inhabited we only see two actual aliens from the planet. Padme goes to save Jar Jar, whose trying to save her, etc. etc. We all know they get back together and capture the Viceroy. The thing is I know they were trying to make Jar Jar not a total waste, but he’ll always be overshadowed by the implied racism in his character speech. Everytime I hear him I cringe, it’s still pretty offensive. I just don’t get why they just don’t kill him and erase the memory, he’ll always be the thing that trumped the ewoks in the crap hall of fame(I love the ewoks though, so suck it).

CHARLES’ GRADE: C

PROS:IT TRIES TO REDEEM JAR JAR BINKS

CONS:ANYTIME PADME SHOWS UP ON SCREEN THE SHOW SEEMS TO BE DRAINED OF ALL FUN, JAR JAR WILL ALWAYS SUCK

ADVENTURELAND trailer

Coming of age movies are some of my favorite movies. Add in a director from one of my favorite comedies of all time (SUPERBAD), which is at the heart a coming of age film and I’m down. I found a trailer for the movie and I can’t wait. Although I don’t really enjoy the two lead actors as much as some other young actors, but I’m sure they’ll be sufficient. Oh and Martin Starr, Bill Hader, and Ryan Reynolds are in it, check and check.