View: All Reviews | Book Reviews | Movie Reviews | Real Reviews | Video Game Reviews
The Beatles: Rock BandWho could have guessed that the band my parents (and some of our grandparents) listened to on vinyl records 40 years ago would become one of the most talked about video games of 2009. The Beatles: Rock Band is the latest Rock Band game and gives players the ability to jam along with the Fab Four or, at least, digitally animated versions, through a collection of songs that span the band’s career. Songs include hits from the early small club days in 1963 Liverpool such as “Twist And Shout” and “I Saw Her Standing There” to that famous final performance on the Apple Corps rooftop of…
Guitar Hero 5The insanely successful rock video game is back with 85 master tracks featuring some of today’s most popular artists and classic rock legends. All 85 tracks are available from the beginning of the game and include songs from such artists as David Bowie, Coldplay, Tom Petty, blink-182, Billy Idol, Kings of Leon, The White Stripes, Nirvana, Santana, Motley Crue, Johnny Cash, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and many more
Hannah Montana: Rock Out The ShowSpoiler Alert! Hannah Montana is actually Miley Stewart! There, I said it. The cat is out of the bag. If you have tween-age girls in your household you probably already knew that Hannah and Miley (both played by Miley Cyrus) were the same person. Something that you might not know is that Hannah Montana is making her PSP debut this month in the game, Hannah Montana: Rock Out The Show.
Madden 10The original John Madden Football video game was published 21 years ago and has undergone many improvements since then including licensed NFL teams, real athletes, realistic graphics and game announcers. This month, EA publishes Madden NFL 10, which brings your couch closer to the 50-yard line than ever before. Madden NFL 10 scales back on some of the unnecessary bells and whistles of past versions and instead focuses on creating the most realistic football video game to date. The game still features cutting-edge technology, namely Pro-Tak (more on that in a second), but utilizes the tech to deliver an incredibly…
ShortsShorts is yet another romp through the gleefully childish imagination of Robert Rodriguez. Like Spy Kids, it offers up a family that needs to spend more time together—though the members don’t know it yet. Toby (Jimmy Bennett) is feeling lonely and sad, ignored by his workaholic parents (Jon Cryer and Leslie Mann) and older sister Stacey (Kat Dennings). As Toby—nicknamed Toe—tells it, the story is fragmented and out of order, essentially a collection of short chapters, stitched together as he remembers what he’s left out, fast-forwarding or rewinding as he goes
Wii Sports ResortDid you know that Wii Sports is the most successful selling video game of all time? It’s true. By the beginning of 2009, Wii Sports, which comes with the Nintendo Wii, had sold well over 40 million units and passed sales of Super Mario Bros, which formerly held this coveted sales title.
BandslamBandslam is an energetic, often clever high school musical sort of movie. It tweaks the formula just enough to seem original. As the movie begins, Will Burton (Gaelan Connell) and his mother Karen (Lisa Kudrow) move to Lodi, New Jersey, where he’ll be facing yet another new set of classmates. It’s a routine Will knows too well, feeling lonely and like a misfit. This time, he meets two intriguing girls right away: sweet, well-read, and gothy Sa5m (Vanessa Hudgeons), who informs him “the 5 is silent,” and boisterously self-confident former cheerleader Charlotte (Alyson Michalka). Immediately…
Ponyo on the Cliff by the SeaHayao Miyazaki’s delightful new movie follows the unusual relationship between five-year-old Sosuke (voiced in this English language version by the Jonas Brothers’ younger brother Frankie) and a goldfish named Ponyo (Miley Cyrus’ little sister Noah). Normally, Susuke spends his days at preschool or visiting with the clients at the senior citizens’ home where his mother Lisa (Tiny Fey) works. They live in a house that overlooks the sea, where Sosuke sails a toy boat that looks like the cargo ship piloted by his dad (Matt Damon). One morning, he saves Ponyo, who has her oddly human-looking head…
G.I. Joe: The Rise of CobraG.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra is a late-summer thrill ride that brings one of the quintessential American toy lines to vibrant life. The story, which is more based on the Joe from the 1982 “Real American History” era than any other era in the Joe legends, tells the story of a top secret, elite fighting force whose existence is only acknowledged at the highest levels of government—The Joes—with one simple task: save the world from the uber-evil Cobras
Julie & JuliaAs its title suggests, Julie & Julia is two movies in one. In one, Julia Child (Meryl Streep) and her diplomat husband Paul (Stanley Tucci) make themselves at home in Paris, 1949. Searching for “something to do,” she tries hat-making and bridge before she settles on her passion: cooking. Frustrated by the rudimentary women’s classes, she enrolls at the famous Cordon Bleu cooking school, where her fellow students are mostly men. Undaunted, she spends hours at home practicing (one afternoon, Paul opens the door to a kitchen full of onion fumes: Julia’s been practicing chopping for hours).…
