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Of course this isn’t blatant promotion of Duncan Jones’ new film Source Code, in theaters now. It’s more of a review and a slight prod in the jugular to go see it… or else!

The first thing you have to do is ignore the “Summit Entertainment” logo that comes on the screen at the beginning. No offense, but I can’t stand them. I find everything they produce to be just terrible. Especially since they released Twilight in 2008, and recently Furry Vengeance. Ugh… just talking about Summit reminds me of Catherine Hardwicke’s style. Anyways, if you’re wondering, The Hurt Locker had nothing to do with Summit Entertainment in production, so that’s why it was great. Oh, and even more recently Summit released this crap:

Wait for it…

*Throws up* Ugh. Terrible.

Anyways, we’re going to move back to Source Code now. It stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan and Vera Farmiga. I haven’t liked Jake Gyllenhaal in a while, and Michelle Monaghan hasn’t had a great role in a while, so this is a big thing. And besides that, this movie is amazing! I really loved it. I’ll try not to give anything away here, because you really have to see it for yourself. It has a very well thought-out story, compelling mystery, good characters, acting, cinematography, graphics, editing, basically everything. Much of the film revolves around eight minutes on a train being played over again. The fact Duncan Jones was able to keep this film interesting while playing through the same events over and over is a true testament to his directing abilities. This really was a great film. It was based on a mind-bendingly deep screenplay by Ben Ripley. It’s more than just a silly sci-fi film. It’s a mystery thriller perfectly overlaid upon a rich science fiction backdrop. I don’t know what Ben Ripley was doing writing both the direct-to-video Species sequels, but he should just stop doing that and start working on his own materiel.

Many people have been comparing Source Code to other movies, saying it’s like “The Matrix meets Inception” or “Inception meets Groundhog Day“. I think it’s completely unfair. It’s really not like any other science fiction film I’ve ever seen, and certainly not like The Matrix. The only comparison to Inception is that the plot revolves around technology that doesn’t exist. And the only comparison to Groundhog Day is the groundhog present in every scene of Source Code, as well as the confusing scene where Jake Gyllenhaal is wearing a Bill Murray mask (saaaarcaaaasssmmm)

Moving on to Duncan Jones. I’ve been a fan of him since I first saw Moon a while ago. The son of David Bowie (which I’m sure he never wants to hear mentioned again), he’s really made a name for himself (literally!). Moon was an independent film which came out a few years back and became an instant classic. Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 90%. Starring Sam Rockwell and Kevin Spacey (as the voice of the computer system), Moon received many awards and was expected to be present at the Oscars until Sony apparently squashed it with the Oscar screening choices. What is almost most amazing about Moon is that it was only made on a budget of $5 million, yet it accurately was able to recreate the moon. It also boasts some truly imaginative and impressive set pieces.

It’s a phenomenal science fiction movie that everyone should see. It has a mind of its own, an eerie tone, wonderful acting, and dissonant music. And best of all I can’t wait to see it again!

In closing, Duncan Jones has proved he is a force to be reckoned with. He can work with small or large budgets just fine. He can tell a compelling science fiction story like few others, and I can’t wait to see what he’s got coming next!



Happy Trails,
Sam.

Now, while there are certainly going to be more IBU Review Board Reviews reviewing different things in the future, I thought now would be a good time to pause and reflect on the reviews so far… (As a mildly unimportant side-note it’ll also give us time to start writing more… heh heh).

I suppose this would also be a fine time to explain where the reviewing name came from. Many years back (we’re talking 8-9 grade) Will and I formed a band with our friend Jimmy which we called IBU. It stands for Impaled By Unicorns, but that’s beside the point. Flash forward a few years, IBU no longer existed, but Will and I wanted a name for our league of awesome reviewing, so we simply chose our old band name!

Fun Fact: The IBU website still exists, untouched for many-a-year. You can head on over there and laugh if you’d like, it’s at the readily memorable web address of: http://mysite.verizon.net/vzesffkz/ (and yes, the readily memorable part was sarcasm)



So here it is:

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What’s this “reviewing” business about? Click here to find out, yo!



Happy Trails,
Sam.

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If you are wondering what on God’s fine earth this post is talking about, or why in tarnations I’m talking about reviewing things, click here to find out.



Happy Trails,
Sam.

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“Eh? Hm? Reviewing? Why?” <-- If those are your thoughts, click here to find out wat B goin' on here. (yeahh, that rhymes!)



Happy Trails,
Sam.

My previous two iterations of top hated lists once again proved to be insufficient when faced with the reality of our modern culture. This may seem surprising, as both my first and second sets of top hated lists were pretty thorough. Alas, here is the revised list of all things existing in our three-dimensional universe which are hated

10. post-kitten stage fat cats

9. Star Trek haters

8. Katy Perry (excpet in the California Girls video)

7. Eragon the movie

6. people who destroy guitars on stage or in music videos.

5. Carbon Monoxide

4. Wesley Crusher

3. “friends” (with purposeful quotation marks)

2. you

1. bananas

Some interesting things to note about this newest iteration: Wesley Crusher has rightfully taken the place of “terrorists” from the last list. Also bananas made a comeback, as I remembered once again why they are the most vile, detestable things on earth. PS — I don’t actually hate you depending on who you are jk of course



Happy Trails and Namaste,
Sam.

My previous top hated list proved to be in need of an update. As such, the list of top hated things in existence now includes the following

10. Spy Kids 2

9. Nickelback

8. people who only solo on guitar all the time — learn something someone wants to listen to

7. death

6. suicide

5. Twilight series (including all characters)

4. Terrorists

3. Hitler

2. LOST haters

1. Angry ghosts



Happy Trails and Namaste,
Sam.

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What’s this strange talk of reviewing things? Click here to find out. (yeahh, that doesn’t rhyme!)



Happy Trails,
Sam.

This is the long awaited, much hyped list of everything on the planet earth and beyond that I hate (all items subject to randomly change)

10. Rap

9. when someone sneezes and you say “bless you,” but when you sneeze, they say nothing

8. Sony (especially all PlayStation iterations)

7. cardboard cutouts of people that are too realistic

6. Fish people

5. The Zombie Apocalypse

4. Lady GaGa

3. I spend all my time crying. (Cameron wrote that one on this list about herself)

2. people who type “jajaja” for laughing (I don’t care if it’s a language thing)

1. bananas



Happy Trails and Namaste,
Sam.

(click image to see full size)

What’s this about? Click here to find out. (yeahh, that rhymes!)



Happy Trails,
Sam.

So I recently purchased the game “Fallout 3” for PS3. It won a ton of game of the year awards and such, and I’m really interested in post-apocalyptic type settings and stories, so it seemed like a pretty obvious choice! I haven’t played Bethesda’s first two Fallout games, but since this one looked so different I figured this would be a good enough point to start from. Now in terms of a quick review: it’s crazy. It isn’t perfect, in fact it has quite a few glitches (IGN’s review said the glitches were only prevalent really in the PS3 version). But these days I’m trying to move towards the PS3, so I didn’t get it for the 360 (mainly because Xbox Live sucks to pay for).

Moooooving on… it’s awesome. It’s a rather slow buildup (heck, it starts the game with your birth!), but it’s enthralling. And that’s saying something since there are so many camera and character glitches. The voice-acting is top-notch, besides Uncharted 2 the best I’ve ever heard in a game. And I’m pretty positive Liam Neeson is one of the “main” characters, which is awesome. The game immediately throws you into this twisted, post-apocalyptic fallout shelter. It’s only a bit in that you finally break out and see the real, destroyed world. And the world is vast. And so intricate. It feels alive (and yes, I realize it’s actually all destroyed). You carry around a watch-type device called a Pip Boy that catalogs everything you have, and can also play different radio stations. One of the stations is apparently a “pre-war music station, now just playing on a loop.” It’s things like this which make this game so great: the atmosphere of it all. It feels like you’re the only one left. It feels like you’re in some twisted disturbed world, that humanity has lost it’s grips with reality. And you’re the only sane one left.

slow buildup, part 1

slow buildup, part 2

Well maybe that’s an over exaggeration, but you get the point. And there is SO MUCH TO DO! It’s an open world game, so you can go anywhere and do most anything as long as you have the gear for it. The game also takes place near Washington, DC, so it’s awesome seeing the vast wastelands of places I know and have been many times (is it weird to say that?)! Discussions of the Potomac river, traveling to DC, fighting in the DC metro centers, talk of the President still being alive, all this makes for an awesome experience.

Ghouls in the DC subway system! Ahhh! Oh wait. They're not real.

It’s mind boggling just how much there is to do, and the game doesn’t hesitate showing you all the things you could have done had you made different choices. Oh yeah, that’s another thing, your decisions count. If you steal from people, you will be labeled a thief. If you kill someone, they won’t come back. If you’re nice, people will be nice to you. If you are caught doing something, it will matter. In fact, it turns out if you hit one certain bar owner in Megaton (a small city in the game) in the back with a baseball bat, all his men will chase you out of the town for good. Even though you didn’t hurt him that bad! How unfair.

Megaton, the town I was rudely chased from

Springvale, the first town you encounter. It also includes the elementary school

It didn’t hit me how well-done this game was until I came across a certain elementary school in the first town you reach. I went in, thinking it would contain some supplies, and wanting to see what the school would look like destroyed. But as soon as I walked in the front door, I saw there were cages nailed to the wall. Confused, I walked over, and realized there were skeletons in the cages. And when I looked up, there were bodies hanging from the ceiling. Only then did raiders (the game’s post-apocalyptic band of crazed, murderous thieves) come in and start shooting at me. They had been using the school as a hideout, and had been bringing their victims here and killing them. It was disturbing. And it made me legitimately mad. Not so much that the raiders existed (they’re just game characters, after all), but rather that this environment had to exist because the characters existed… if that makes sense. Say what you will about how terrible it is that would be put in a video game, if a game gets a visceral reaction from you, it’s doing something right. I got a similar reaction playing this (at times) that I got watching The Road. Not nearly as amazing as the movie (or book), but still great!

Oh, the details

Leaving the disturbing parts aside, this is similar to what we hope to achieve with our eventual post-apocalyptic drama idea Will and I are constantly working on. Granted, I’m only probably 1/5 of my way through this game, but I love it so far and had nothing else to write about!

In fact, after randomly writing for a while, I realize this probably makes no sense to anyone but me… Ah well!

Happy Trails,
Sam.