Friday, August 29, 2008

Geek Alert



I'm not sure how I feel about this. The Max Payne games, are in no small way some of the best video games ever conceived. However, the word on the street is that this movie will be PG-13. Look, Max Payne can't be PG-13. It's not that I'm a sadist that enjoys watching people get blown up, but when it comes to movies, I'm a sadist that enjoys watching people get blown up. Ok, I'll be serious now. Max Payne is like Batman in sense that both stories are EXTREMELY dark and nihilistic. A PG-13 rating worked with Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, because Batman doesn't kill anyone. It's the one line he will never cross. The same cannot be said of Max Payne. Max Payne's wife and baby were murdered by drug dealers. This essentially ends Max's life, and he is reborn as a creature of vengeance. He kills people. He kills them violently. A PG-13 movie just can't convey that. Also, what the fuck is with the demon thingys? Valkyries? In the first game, there's mention of the Valkyrie Project, but it's a military industrial project. It's not some kind of occult summoning of demons. I've read that in Max Payne 2, if you beat the game on the hardest level (which I will never be able to do) a new playable level gets unlocked that includes demons. I'm hoping this is just some sort of dream sequence. However, I fear that it's not considering that these things are featured so prominently in the trailer.

On the other hand, the trailer is fairly well put together. It certainly peeks interest in the viewer. I could make some kind of half assed excuse, but the truth is, I'll probably see this movie right away since I'm such a fan of the games. I think it sucks that the movie is PG-13, but since 20th Century Fox is running the show, I'm not all that surprised. Anyways, this has been way too long of post, especially since it's about a video game movie. I should be talking about Sarah Palin. Oh well!

A Night to Remember


Wow. What a speech! I've seen some great speeches in my 24 years, but I think that this might just take the cake. Obama was brilliant last night. I think I feel the need to try and match that speech by writing a very insightful commentary post. Why even try. I'll just note a few highlights that really struck me. In my opinion, Obama did a great job of defusing the "celebrity" and "elitist" critique that the McCain campaign has been so desperately trying to link him with. By highlighting his struggles growing up as the child of a single mother on welfare, I think it's pretty much impossible to call Obama an "elitist." I was particularly struck by the line, "I don't know how John McCain thinks a celebrity lives, but that's how I grew up." In the words of John Madden, Boom. However, it's really up to the media whether or not they will keep covering this line of attack. Since they know it's BS, they should leave it alone. Another highlight for me, as I sure it was for everyone watching the speech, was the bit on Osama bin Laden. As I'm sure you're all aware, McCain has said that he will follow Osama Bin Laden to "the gates of hell." Now, that plays really well in a cheesy 80's action flick, but in the real world such macho nonsense should be dismissed as utter inanity. Obama said "John McCain wants to chase Osama bin Laden to the gates of hell, but he won't even follow him to the cave where he lives!" This, of course, is in reference to McCain's puzzling refusal to go after bin Laden in Pakistan. In fact he's accused Obama of wanting to "invade Pakistan." Of course, Obama has never said anything even close to that. I think that line was a watershed moment in this election; as it cuts to the very core of John McCain's perceived national security bonfides.

Overall, I thought the speech was very inspiring. Those were two little highlights that struck me amongst numerous others. I mentioned those two because they marked Obama's response to McCain's two main lines of attack: 1) Barack Obama is an "elitist celebrity" obessesed with his own image; and 2) Barack Obama does not have the experience and national security bonafides that would enable him to be an effective comander-in-cheif. There were many other tidbits that stuck me. In order to go over those, I will outsource any additional commentary and analysis to Michael Tomasky and Ezra Klein.