Film Review: The Devil Inside

Considering that found footage films rely on convincing their audiences that what they are watching actually happened, it is surprising to me that more films have not explored the subject matter of exorcism. There have been some, The Last Exorcism most notable among them, but for the most part, found footage films have steered clear of the art of expunging demons from the possessed. That makes The Devil Inside an anomaly of sorts because it deals with the subject matter head on.

The Devil Inside starts out in 1989 with footage from police cameras and news reports at a grisly crime scene where three members of the Catholic Church were seemingly murdered by Maria Rossi (Suzan Crowley). Maria is deemed insane and, for some reason, carted off to Rome to be treated by experts. Fast forward to present day, Maria’s daughter Isabella (Fernanda Andrade), finds out from her dying father that the murders her mother committed took place during an exorcism. And so Maria sets out for Rome to explore the case, complete with her documentarian friend Michael (Ionut Grama).

The setup is solid enough but the film quickly squanders it. There are a number of story points that just do not fit with the overall film. Filming segments of an exorcism class run by the Vatican, introducing the audience to a pair of rogue priests that perform exorcisms outside the authority of the Church, and a hospital that allows anyone with video cameras to come and examine their patients. It all seems overly convenient and staged, which goes against the very nature of the found footage style of film making.

Even worse though is the fundamental filmmaking that takes place. Michael is supposed to be a documentary filmmaker chronicling Isabella’s discoveries, yet he somehow manages to have worse camera work than some high school filmmakers. The camera shakes all the time, even in interview segments where it should have been mounted on a tripod.

As bad as the stilted plotting and amateur filmmaking is, The Devil Inside could have overcome them if it had managed to be even slightly scary. It is not. When the scariest part of a supernatural horror film is a dog barking, things have not gone very well.

The entire production screams amateur hour. If someone were to have told me that The Devil Inside was a senior film project, I would not have been surprised. It would not make the film any better but at least its execution would be understandable. There is no excuse for writer/director William Brent Bell and his writing partner Matthew Peterman, the duo responsible for the reprehensible video game horror film Stay Alive in 2006. They have been around long enough that they should know better.

Found footage films are cheap to produce but there are examples of the style working quite well. There is little doubt that the subjects of possession and exorcism fascinate movie going audiences, it is just a shame that Hollywood preys on those audiences with drivel such as The Devil Inside. Ending aside, The Last Exorcism handles the subject matter in such a way that puts this film to shame. If you are looking for a solid film of this ilk, go watch that instead.

1 / 5

Originally published 25 January 2012 at Vagary.TV

A Short Time Ago in A Galaxy Right Across The Street

From my earliest of memories, I remember being fan of Star Wars. My parents tell me that my first film was The Empire Strikes Back, when I was not even two years old yet. Listening to my parents tell it, I was the perfect little film goer not making a peep throughout the entirety of the film but that is besides the point. Star Wars has seemingly always been a part of my life including my hobby of gaming.

I have played numerous Star Wars games, some very good, some very bad. But none have had the impact on my gaming habits quite like Star Wars: The Old Republic have over the last month. My expectations for The Old Republic were exponentially low. It is not that I did not think it would be a good game, I just did not think it would be a good game for me. Personally, I just do not enjoy the trappings of the MMO RPG genre. I played Star Wars Galaxies when it came out and found it to be an abysmal place to visit. I have also played the likes of Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons & Dragons Online, neither of which ever wet my whistle much. So when I jumped into the beta a few weeks prior to its release I was surprised. The Old Republic was perfectly playable as a single player game, complete with a fully fleshed out story for each of the eight character classes and that was enough to get me to consider giving it a shot.

I installed it on Christmas Day but did not get a chance to jump into action until New Year’s Eve. Since that time, I’ve been hooked, finding a couple hours every day to do a couple quests. For the hardest of the hardcore, a couple hours of playtime a day is nothing. I’ve heard reports of people having already logged over 300 hours in the game, but for me it is something that pulls me away from other games and that IS a big deal to me. It is not like I am only playing The Old Republic, but I am not playing as many other games, and you know what? I do not really care.

I do not know if this game was made for traditional MMO players, loners, or a new target group all together. I do know however, that this game was made for me. There is something about The Old Republic that works for me on a base level. Something that drives me to keep playing. Sure, I have issues with it and I’ll bring some of them up in my next post, but right now I am enjoying my time traversing the galaxy and have no issues with EA subtracting my first monthly payment later this week.

There May Be Spoilers: The Final Destination

As much as I like horror, the Final Destination franchise has always left me a bit let down. I like the concept but outside of that I could take the series or leave it. In this video I discuss the abysmal fourth film in the series, The Final Destination. If I seem  little short with the film, it is because of two things. 1) The film kind of sucks and 2) this was the third attempt at getting this discussion recorded, I much preferred the 10 minutes second take that cut out 7 minutes in because the card filled up.

There May Be Spoilers: Sleeping Beauty

I bumble my way through a film discussion/review of the pretentious and boring* Australian film, Sleeping Beauty. My opinions on this film do not mar the fact that Emily Browning is hot.

*I don’t think I ever actually use these two words in the video. I should have because they are the two words that best describe this mess. Also, Emily Browning.

Review: Spider-Man: Edge of Time

Spider-Man is one of the most beloved superheroes of all-time, holding his own against even the mighty Batman. However, like many other superheroes including until recently Batman, he has struggled when placed in the medium of video games. While there are some diamonds in the rough, including the Neversoft developed Spider-Man on the PSOne, most of the Spider-Man games have been mediocre at best.

Last year Activision turned over development duties of the Spider-Man franchise to Beenox, who delivered Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions. Shattered Dimensions was at its core a mediocre brawler with some solid ideas, decent storytelling and a healthy dose of polish and fan service. More importantly it was a foundation for Beenox to build off and hopefully make a truly great Spider-Man title. Spider-Man: Edge of Time is the result of that foundation.

Alternate reality was one of the big ideas that Shattered Dimensions attempted to explore and Edge of Time continues along that same path. However, where Shattered Dimensions had a mystical edge to it, Edge of Time attempts to root itself in science. Also like Shattered Dimensions before it, Edge of Time has players taking control of multiple spider-men but the number is cut down to only two here, those being present day Spider-Man / Peter Parker and the previously mentioned Spider-Man 2099.

Building off of the themes in Shattered Dimensions, Spider-Man: Edge of Time opens up with a flashback of Anti-Venom killing Spider-Man, thus immediately letting players know this is not going to be a typical Spider-Man story. Edge of Time then puts players in control of future Spider-Man, Miguel O’Hara / Spider-Man 2099 as he sets out to investigate Walker Sloan (voiced by Val Kilmer) the founder of Alchemax. Sloan has been experimenting with time travel and his evil plan is to go back in time and found Alchemax earlier with the knowledge he has now, thereby making Alchemax the most powerful company in the world.

While Shattered Dimensions was mostly just a glossy looking brawler, it had enough variety spaced throughout its gameplay that the repetition it did have was easily overlooked. Edge of Time does not follow this same path, with very little variety in its game design with most of the missions in the game amounting to simplistic brawling encounters that are repeated ad nauseam.

Having to get three keys or open three doors and get three things is a common obstacle that needs to be overcome before progress can be made. Worse yet is that this desire to do everything in triplicate extends to the boss battles as well. Add in a wonky checkpoint system and one boss battle in particular had me on the verge of tossing my controller away and taking my frustrations out on the game disc.

A lot of these repetitious issues could be forgiven if the combat required for most of them were not so tedious. Edge of Time does a great job of making Spider-Man look like the agile superhero he is, unfortunately looks are only skin deep. Despite having an array of unlockable moves, the combat in Edge of Time is amazingly shallow. It never feels spontaneous and most fights can be completed by bashing out a few basic attacks over and over again.

It is odd that Beenox went the brawler route again with this tile because one of the biggest complaints with Shattered Dimensions was that it leaned so heavily on the brawler aspects. It is even odder that Beenox went with an entirely interior setting for Edge of Time. People do not associate Spider-Man with hand-to-hand combat but rather with wall crawling and web slinging and while there is a slight amount of that in the game, it is severely limited and not enough to satiate the desires of Spidey fans.

While the core game design is mostly uninspired, Beenox does do some interesting things playing with the time paradox at play in Edge of Time. The best missions in the game are ones that require one of the two spider-men to do something in their time to affect the goings on in the other time. Sadly these missions are just a tiny fraction of the overall experience and most of the time players will spend brawling with common foes.

Most of Edge of Time is mediocre but if players are willing to slog through the gameplay, they will be treated to a fun comic book story that takes some unexpected twists along the way. It has its issues, including some out of character moments for Peter Parker/Spider-Man and its contrived use of Mary Jane as a catalyst to create more game, but for the most part it is an intriguing story that is well told. Combined with a strong cinematic presentation and decent voice work, Beenox at least got this aspect of the game right. Unfortunately it is not enough to recommend one plays it.

So much of what makes Spider-Man a great hero and fun character is missing from this game and it is hard to not look at Edge of Time and think that Beenox went the wrong way with everything they had built with Shattered Dimensions. Edge of Time is a lazy game and Spider-Man deserves better than that. He deserves better than mediocrity and so do we.

Pros: Amazing opening sequence and a crazy fun story

Cons: Overly repetitious gameplay, tedious brawling combat and a lack of a true Spider-Man feel.

2* out of 5

Originally published on 25 October 2011 at Vagary.TV

Book Shelf: The Hunger Games

Book Shelf is my quick look at the recent books I’ve finished and well, I finished another one.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I try to keep up on what is popular but sometimes, being the old geezer that I am, stuff passes me by. Stuff like The Hunger Games, which I had no idea even existed until I saw the movie trailer for it a month or two ago. The film trailer painted a picture of a dystopian society where people are drafted via lottery to battle to the death in an arena, this seemed directly up my alley. Tales of this kind have always fascinated me and brought vivid memories of The Lottery by Shirley Jackson, The Long Walk by Richard Bachman (Stephen King), and the classic Japanese film Battle Royale (based on a book of the same name). Understanding the severity of the event though, I found it strange that this was considered a young adult novel, but then again that might be my old age talking.

I have never been much of a fan of first person storytelling but in this novel I found it to be very engaging. The perspective keeps tension high, and the twists that come upon Katniss, the main character, come across as truly surprising.The only problem I ran into was the ending, with the first person storytelling and knowledge of the two sequels, I never felt much dramatic tension as the ending neared. That however is my own problem, although I do urge you to not read the descriptions of the two sequels if you plan on reading this book at any point.

Possibly its biggest strength though is the ability of the book to be able to convey a strong sense of emotion. Collins does a great job of transferring the conflicting emotions of anger, desperation, relief, love and loss that Katniss experiences onto the reader.

I do however wonder how the remainder of the series will turn out. Nearly the entire novel is devoted to focusing on the actual fight for survival over, what is left for Katniss? Sure there is a larger world out there to be explored but can Collins make it entertaining? We’ll see. However, quality of the sequels aside, The Hunger Games is well worth a read.

5* out of 5

*I’ve heard that Collins has been accused of basically ripping off the Japanese novel Battle Royale, which I mentioned earlier. Having not read that novel, I don’t know how similar in style the two are, but based on my knowledge of the film, The Hunger Games is a more fleshed out version of the concept, which in itself is not entirely new.

Tebow Time Has Me Interested in Football Again

As a Dolphin fan, my interest in the NFL this year evaporated rather quickly. Since I didn’t have a horse in the race, I have been struggling to latch on to something. Sure I love Drew Brees as a player, he is probably my favorite quarterback since Dan Marino, but his story, and that of the Saints, is far less engaging than it was when they won in 2009. The Broncos and their unorthodox way of winning with their mechanically unsound quarterback, Tim Tebow, has captured my attention.

Did I expect the Broncos to win today? No, not at all. In fact, I kind of expected the Steelers to come in and walk all over the Broncos. But something funny happened. Tim Tebow played well, the Broncos kept the game close, and against all odds pulled out a victory. Say what you want about Tebow as a quarterback, but he has a passion for the game that makes him fun to watch.

Will that passion pull him past Tom Brady and the New England Patriots? Probably not, but you know what? I’m going to tune in to find out. Actually considering Brees and the Saints play on Saturday as well, it may be the first time since early in the season where I sit down all day to watch football and to me that makes Tim Tebow something special, at least for this season.

Xbox 360 Review: Forza Motorsport 4

For over a decade there was one franchise that could lay claim to the crown of simulation racing on home consoles, that series was Sony’s Gran Turismo. The king gallantly fended off all challengers with relative ease until Microsoft published the Turn 10 developed Forza Motorsport on the original XBOX in 2005. While Forza Motorsport was not a kingslayer it was a solid foundation that Turn 10 continued to refine in subsequent releases. Then in 2009, Forza Motorsport 3 did the impossible, it became the new king of racing.

There is no arguing that the Forza series benefited from the lack of a core release in the Gran Turismo release since 2005 but the fact still remains, Forza Motorsport 3 was the best simulation racing title available. This fact did not change when Sony released Gran Turismo 5 last year. A year later, Forza Motorsport 4 is here, ready to take the crown away from its older sibling.

Forza 4 wastes no time getting you behind the wheel, kicking off with a race around the track in one of the game’s many Ferraris. By starting players off in a supercar the game gives you a true sense of what Forza 4 is all about. It highlights the great sense of speed, the new physics modeling and a lot of the graphical improvements made over the last game. But it also highlights the biggest issue with Forza 4 and that is that racing against computer controlled opponents is both frustrating and predictable.

One of the biggest issues video game racing developers have is that programming individual models to dynamically react to moment to moment situations is quite challenging. Forza 3 and Gran Turismo 5 both did a serviceable job of it but ultimately they still left quite a bit to be desired. Forza 4 also leaves quite a bit to be desired.

Single player racing in Forza 4 is equivalent to racing against a field of slot cars. Each computer controlled car has a very specific line that it follows and while there is some seemingly random variances, like a car spinning out on a wide turn, these are few and far between. This all forces the racing to feel a bit like a time trial with the added obstacle of high-speed brick walls to avoid. Considering everything else in the game is top notch, this lack of evolution in computer AI is a glaring one.

Forza 3’s career mode was one of the most in depth experiences ever in a game but if it had a failing it was that there were a good many races that were just filler, with no impact on the actual racing season. Forza 4 refines this system by getting rid of that fluff. Every race contributes to the progression of the player’s career. Further improving the previous career mode, and subsequently making it more diverse, Forza 4 throws a series of novelty events at players. These special events, like slalom driving and car bowling, keep things interesting over the course of the long ten season career. While the ten seasons career may seem quite the daunting undertaking, Forza 4 does a fantastic job of rewarding its players at just the right time.

As in previous Forza games, players gain experience for completing events. This experience is distributed evenly between the players overall driver level and affinity for certain car manufacturers. Leveling up the driver ability grants you access to a suite of prize cars while leveling up your manufacturer affinity grants you bonus credits and discounts on performance parts on that particular manufacturer’s cars. Between the prize cars and the performance parts discounts most of the prize money collected can be spent on building up one’s garage as they see fit.

Gran Turismo 5 may sport over 800 cars but only a quarter of them are modeled with the care that they deserve. Forza 4 features nearly 300 cars less than its big rival but each and every car looks and feels amazing, both inside and out. It would have been quite easy for Turn 10 to turn its back on the lower end or older modeled cars but all the cars in Forza 4 are top notch and each sports a detailed cockpit view, which in my opinion is the best way to play these games. That is not to say that Turn 10 does not believe that some cars should get special treatment though because Autovista mode proves that they do.

A virtual show room of some of the most amazing automobiles to ever hit the road, Autovista mode is a car lover’s dream come true. Each car in the mode is painstakingly modeled and put on display in all its glory. Best of all players can explore nearly every nook and cranny of the line-up of super cars. Each car also comes with the opinionated commentary of Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson, and his insights into the vehicles are often quite amusing and always highly enlightening. However, while car nuts are going to drool all over it, for most players Autovista mode is, at best, just a lovingly made bonus feature.

Far more broad based but just as lovingly crafted is the all new community hub. The Forza series has always had a strong focus on community and with the risk of sounding highly hyperbolic, Forza 4 takes it to a whole new level. Turn 10 does an excellent job of integrating community features into the core gameplay and also encouraging people to become participating members in it.

That said community can be a scary word for some. Some people just do not want to interact with others in a one on one setting. Turn 10 realizes this and offers a variety of solutions to allow participation without interaction. Everything from the new rivals mode, where you can try to outdo other racers in certain events by competing against their ghost times, to the implementation of a clan system, called Car Club, is done with the express purpose of being accessible to everyone.

Customization is a large part of car culture and Forza offers the tools to allow people to customize nearly every aspect of their cars. I may not be able to design an awesome looking detail or tune a car worth a damn but I can still get something out of those modes by purchasing creations from other players using the in game economy, which gives me cool stuff and the creator a nice credit bonus and a little more prestige in the community.

The most interactive of all the community features though is the online racing and here is where Forza 4 really shows its true potential. The racing, with up to 15 other players, is silky smooth and simulates real racing better than anything I have ever experienced. Yes, sometimes races devolve into bumper car matches but for the most part the racing experience has been unparalleled by any other online racing mode I have taken part in. Additionally, any rewards or experience you receive for online races is directly applied to your overall profile, meaning you can win stuff in multiplayer to race with in single player.

With Forza 4, Turn 10 has designed one of the most highly accessible racing simulations ever created. They give the player the options to customize the experience directly to their own wants and needs. Microsoft believes in accessibility as well and Forza 4 is emblazoned with the slogan, “Better with Kinect”. Sadly this is just advertising speak because Forza 4 is not anywhere near a better game when using Kinect.

There are three primary activities in Forza 4 that can be performed when using Kinect. Being as driving an actual car requires movement with one’s hands, driving with Kinect makes sense on a fundamental level. Using Kinect to race simplifies the game drastically though, putting both acceleration and braking in the hands of the game’s artificial intelligence and forcing the player to focus on the act of steering the car. Players are required to hold their arms out in front of them as if they were clutching a steering wheel and surprisingly it actually works quite well and is more than a little fun if tiring.

While a fun little diversion here and there, driving with Kinect is not the ideal way to play the game and Turn 10 knew this full well including a head tracking option for Kinect owners who plan on playing the game as a racing simulation. In theory, head tracking is a wonderful idea, after all when someone is driving they move their head around to check their surroundings, sadly in practice it does not work that way. The problem with head tracking stems from the fact that driving a real car has one inside a three dimensional object whereas driving a car, in a game, on a television has one staring at a flat image directly in front of them.

The purpose of head tracking is to heighten the immersion of driving in the game but I never felt less immersed than when I was using it. While using head tracking I found myself losing focus on the game. When I shifted my head to the right or left to check my mirror I was not looking out the side of my Lancer X but rather staring at either my wall or into my backyard. Additionally, the head tracking seemed highly sketchy in its detection of my head which had me trying to reposition myself so the Kinect could refocus on my head further damaging my focus on the race at hand.

The other big piece of the Kinect functionality is the inclusion of it in Autovista mode. This of course is the mode that was shown off to show what Kinect was capable of before its release last year. And once again the game is not better off because of the inclusion of Kinect functionality. While the interface in Autovista mode is clearly designed to utilize Kinect, it actually navigates better using a controller. At best Kinect is a novelty to be toyed with on occasion here but being as Autovista is a novelty to begin with it just seems like a frivolous bullet point on the back of the box.

Forza Motorsport 4 has a lot of features that could be bullet points on the back of the box but thankfully most of them are not frivolous. It may have its issues and it may not be the generational leap forward that many expected, it is still the best racing game on the market today. From the simplicity of the menus to the elegance of the presentation to the robust community features, Forza 4 is a top notch product that every racing and/or car fan should have in their collection.

Pros: Visually stunning, driving is phenomenal,  a robust suite of features that puts many games to shame, and customization galore.

Cons: Computer controlled racers are no little more than slot cars

4* out of 5

Originally published at Vagary.TV on 21 October 2011

New Beginnings

Some of you know me, some of you don’t. Those that know me, know that I am involved with numerous other online endeavors outside of this here blog. For the last four plus years I have been writing for Hooked Gamers, for nearly the last two I have been serving as an executive editor for Vagary.TV, and for the last year and a half I have been co-hosting a gaming podcast with friends that I met on the old IGN blogs.

That show of course is The Perfectly Sane Show and every Friday we release a new show. Last week was probably my favorite episode of the year and second favorite ever to our New Year’s Eve episode in 2010. You of course can still track down that episode (here), but its a new year and that means new episodes.

This week is Episode 77. We talk about some games (Star Wars: The Old Republic, NFL Blitz, Microsoft Flight Simulator) and we talk about some news, giving our unique (read: slightly crazy) brand of opinions.

Why don’t you give us a shot?

-Chris

Book Shelf: Micro and Mile 81

While I mostly talk/write about games and movies, I like to read, mostly fiction but sometimes non-fiction. I figured now is as good a time as ever to talk about what I’ve been reading.

Micro by Michael Crichton and Richard Preston

I was first introduced to Michael Crichton about 20 years ago, with a little book called Jurassic Park. I read it my freshman year of high school and the summer after the movie came out. Since then, Crichton has been one of my favorite authors.

Crichton died in 2008 but like many authors he had work that he had yet to finish and Micro is one of those books. Supposedly Crichton was about a third of the way into Micro when he died and Richard Preston, an author I am not very familiar with, was tasked with completing the novel. In a sense, Micro is a return to form for Crichton, whom seemed to get off track with the last couple books he wrote before he died. His novels had become less about writing a good story and more about getting his scientific-political message heard. Micro forgoes much of the preaching though, instead offering an adventure tale that harkens back to Jurassic Park.

There is no secret island filled with dinosaurs in Micro, in fact everything takes place in Hawaii, but the core concepts of the two are very much the same. Micro places its protagonists in the deadly micro world, think Honey I Shrunk the Kids but more horrific. The first act of the book plays out as expected for anyone who has read Jurassic Park but after that it throws a number of curve balls, including one very nasty one I was not expecting. If you enjoy Crichton in any way, shape, or form, you should be giving Micro a go.

4* out of 5

Mile 81 by Stephen King

I decided the time was right for me to move my reading into the digital world and one of my Christmas presents was a Nook Simple Touch. The first book I bought on it was an e-book by my favorite author, Stephen King. My experience with books published solely as e-books is that they seem to be shorter than a novella but longer than a short story and Mile 81 fits that description perfectly.

As much as I love Stephen King, a lot of his post-”retirement” work has left a lot to be desired. I enjoyed Cell and Under the Dome but outside of that he has been packaging some rather mediocre stuff to his fans. One thing King has continued to do very well though is write fantastic short stories and while I’m not sure how to classify Mile 81, it follows his trend with short form fiction of being very good.

The premise is outlandish, and it is so short (40 some pages), that I don’t really want to spoil it. But let’s just say it involves a killer car and is one of King’s more terrifyingly fun stories in a long, long time.

4* out of 5

You can check out what else I’ve been reading at Goodreads.