The Billionty-Oneth Geek: Older Than 8 Since 1991

About two months ago, me and a friend were talking about comic books and sharing about some of the stories that we were enjoying. He was telling me about DC's Infinite Crisis , describing the story and it interested me. At the time, I thought that I had never read it before, so earlier this month, I dove right into this seven issue series. With each passing issue I kept thinking to myself, "wow, this story seems really familiar". And in fact, there were numerous times where I would predict what would happen on the next page... I must have read it before and it turns out I did. So I talked to my friend again and it turns out he had read Final Crisis , a different crossover series from DC Comics. Looking back, this was a happy mistake because it's been a long time since I first read this story arc which I enjoyed the first time around and still enjoyed this second time. Released originally in 2006, Infinite Crisis is a crossover series in the DC Universe that sou

Before this movie was released last fall, I had high hopes after I initially saw the trailers. It looked like good old fashion fun with fast action and NINJAS~! On top of that, it was directed by James McTeigue, who did V For Vendetta which I enjoyed. So uber violence, ninjas and McTeigue... how could it fail? Well, it was released in November and was universally panned by critics. I don't remember what specifically they said went wrong, but I do remember reading it's scores on RottenTomatoes and MetaCritic and the numbers spoke for themselves. It was enough to convince me that it wasn't worth the first-run cinematical viewing. Well, it came out on DVD this month and I did finally get to check it out. The opening scene kicks off with a bang. The movie starts off with a wise old man who tells of the myth behind the ninja, building him like a legend. He warns some local hoodlums that they are marked for death, but they ignore his cautions. And wouldn't you know it, a nin

Oh man, what a day. Yesterday was a long day of travelling from one end of the city to the other... up and down, left and right all over the subway grid. I woke up at 9 in the morning (ohhhhhh...) and finally arrived back home 10:30 at night. While I was travelling around on the subways and streetcars, it gave me time to meditate as well as reflect on several things. Early wake ups aren't exactly my best friend, but fortunately I had to do it several times earlier this week, so it made this morning much easier (not necessarily better though). A friend of mine invited me to her church and I promised her that I'd check it out sometime. I have a few friends that had visited this particular church in the past, so I was interested in seeing this place for myself. It's this quaint little church located in downtown Toronto, at the junction where if you step on one side, you could end up in the ghetto, but if you were to take two steps in the other direction, you'd end up in t

Well as they say, if it ain't broken, don't fix it. That seemed to be the approach that the director adopted in making The Descent Part 2 . The first movie quickly became a cult favourite when it was first released. Combined with the horror and eeriness of the caves was this deep sense of claustrophobia that really helped in creating a terrifying experience. As the girls were trapped, you felt trapped too; the perfect way to elicit fear to the viewers of a horror movie. I really loved the first movie and actually never even realized they were working on a sequel until it came out. The movie picks up exactly two days after the first one ended. The only known survivor, Sarah, is taken and kept at a hospital after a local discovers her wounded body. The sheriff, fearing that there could be more survivors in the caves and that Sarah could be the killer, quickly assembles a team to head under and investigate the cave. They take Sarah down with them as the sheriff suspects that she

"Who do you trust?" Secret Invasion is the 2008 cross-over followup to 2007's World War Hulk from Marvel Comics. It's a return to form for writer Brian Michael Bendis, who also scripted the much talked about Civil War for Marvel. Secret Invasion tells a fascinating story. What if the heroes you knew all along were really Skrulls? Okay, let me back up for second. In the Marvel Universe, Skrulls are a shapeshifting alien race, often adversaries of the Fantastic Four. So yes, staple heroes like Captain America, Spider-Man, Wolverine... what if they weren't who you thought they were? That's the heart of the story in Invasion . The series had its share of ups and downs, and like Civil War before it, more intrigue came at the end of the series than the duration. But much like Civil War , Invasion succeeded in creating a dialogue amongst the Marvel fans; whether it be positive or negative, people had something to talk about. I think there lies Bendis'

I'm glad that Martin Scorsese finally won the Oscars for best director and film with The Departed a few years ago. Now that he's accomplished that, there's no more of those Oscar-baiting movies. With Shutter Island it seems like he's done making movies to entertain the Academy audience, and rather, he's making the movies that he wants to make. Based on the novel of the same name, the story follows Teddy, a US Marshal, and his partner Chuck as they investigate the disappearance of a criminal patient held at a remote psychiatric facility called Shutter Island. As they continue their investigation on the island, they find that there's a shroud of mystery surrounding all the staff members and doctors working on the island. Teddy uncovers what he believes is a giant conspiracy perpetrated by one of the head doctors... but oh, there are twists along the way. I had a good time with this movie. It's a much smaller scale story than any of Scorsese's latest far

The plot as summarized on IMDB: "The story revolves around the passengers of a yachting trip in the Atlantic Ocean who, when struck by mysterious weather conditions, jump to another ship only to experience greater havoc on the open seas." When I first read that blurb before queuing up The Triangle , I was hesitant to continue because of the ho-hum sounding plot. All I was thinking was, "oh boy, another one... another one to snooze through". Imagine my surprise. What they do with the story is what makes the movie so captivating. At the core is a mystery that has its layers peeled off slowly, unearthing new elements as the movie progresses. Soon we find elements of thriller, sci-fi and horror... it becomes contrived but never TOO contrived. Without getting too much into the spoiler territory they play around a lot with the whole space-time continuum and try a few things that you don't see much in mainstream films. Even on a limited budget, they were able to cr

A late Friday afternoon posting! It's been a few months since I've done any Review Haikus , so here you go. From Paris With Love Parisian action! Meyers with pedo moustache; Travolta's all wrong. Morel's third feature. D-13 was way more fun . Taken was better. Jennifer's Body Megan Fox love fest. Blood and guts good for gore hounds; Acting weak; cast cheap. Was fun but not great. Getting too old for this shit. But I love horror. Law Abiding Citizen Plot was too contrived. Bloodier than I had thought. Hurrah! Colm Meaney! Foxx was passable. Butler is in everything! I did fall asleep. ===== Seeya next week! Later geeks!

Released in the Fall of 2008, Call of Duty: World at War saw the series return to its World War II roots. The game was developed by Treyarch Studios and utilized the same engine borrowed from Infinity Ward who did Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare . I love World War II shooters so it was easy to enjoy COD: WAW . But I feel like the single player campaign in this game lacked the same punch felt in COD4: MW . None of the missions seemed to have the same degree of ruggedness and urgency. And because of this, the campaign did not seem as memorable. The campaign pits you off in two different scenarios. On one side you'll play as Private Miller, part of the American Marine Corps, against the Japanese army in the Pacific, while on the other side, you play as a Russian soldier named Demetri who aids the Red Army against the Nazi invasion. In keeping with the consistency of history, there's no real last boss or central figure that you're up against rather just the armies themselves (I

I try not to hide the fact that I'm a big wrestling fan. I'm what the internet geeks would call a hardcore fan or a mark. As a kid (and in some ways still) the wrestler, Bret "The Hitman" Hart, was always my favourite because to me, he was like a hero. He always fought for the good and cut down all the bad. Even when he would turn in storyline into a bad guy, I would still cheer for him because he was Canadian and he represented our country. To me, Bret Hart was always the infallible, indestructible and invincible hero. Then a funny thing happened 3 years ago. Back in the fall of 2007 he released his much anticipated autobiography, a book touted as the best wrestling biography ever written. It must have been one the books I was most anxious to read in my life. As I started reading it, I was really smiling because I was getting to learn more about my childhood hero. But as I read the book further, my smile started to straighten, and then curve down. I felt sad. The m