Go to the blog post below if you have not seen the movie yet, I will get deep into the movie here...

Are you gone yet...

Only people that have seen the movie should be reading this...

I have to see this movie again cause it was just too much to take in. I will attempt to remember all the awesome I saw but I will probably miss some stuff. I said it in the other blog I will say it again, what makes this movie so powerful is the sense of dread that fills this movie. This is how you do danger, how you do suspense, how you do desperation. I had no idea what was going to happen, and that is so rare cause I am pretty damn good as seeing the outcome before it happens. Hell I thought Two-face was going to kill Gordon's kid, for a movie to make me think that for even a second is incredible. The heroes in this movie are put in such a horrible spot, I had no idea how they could get out of it, at every turn the Joker was upping the stakes, and it got to the point where I was starting to believe they would lose, and in a way they did. This movie is as much about Dent as anyone, maybe more so. Dent was the main hero, he was the future of Gotham, not Batman, and the Joker in a way "killed" him. The Joker took the last hope of Gotham and turned him into a villain.

Then there is Gordon and Bruce, left with what, they are in as bad a spot as you can be in. At the start of this movie you start to see glipses of hope from Bruce that he may be able to stop being Batman and life a normal life. That is what he wants, to be with Rachel. But along comes a Joker and scars him forever. In this movie, Bruce realizes he is doomed to be Batman forever, in a way the Joker took away Bruce's life. Gordon as well will suffer, he just saw his family be threated, he will have to live being the target of every insane crazy forever. Gordon is as much a hero as Batman in this movie, like him he is incorrputable. These two guys, even in the face of the worst possible future decide to continue to fight the good fight, true heroism.

So much I loved about this film. With Batman I loved how he was like a secret agent, almost James Bondish with the toys he had. It seemed plausible, it wasn't like he had a magic belt with something for every siutation, it seemed like well planned out missions with equipment Wayne could afford. I loved the Hong Kong sequence, I loved that Batman was like a detective at times. The sonar thing was a bit out there but it still worked. I did hope that the Batcave would be finished, it was weird not having it in the movie. Also Alfred kind of was way in the background in this movie, Caine plays him so well I wanted to see more. The reality is that the focus is not on Batman so its a bit offputting when you got so used to these characters in the first one and now they play one role in an ensemble cast. Still its handled so well that it does not matter.

Even Rachel had a decent role in the film. Maggie (not spelling the last name) playing the character stronger, more sure of herself, she is not as pretty as Holmes but played her well enough that I cared about her. When she died it was a shock, rarely do movies shock me, that blew me away (and her too, hahahahaha... ). It actually did not register with me that the Joker switched the addresses cause he knew Batman would chose Rachel, I was kind of confused as to why Batman would pick Dent, I figured he felt Dent was more important for the city but that did not sit right with the character. It was after that it clicked, the Joker played Batman and Dent, brilliant.

Then there is the Joker which is a legendary film performance. How many scenes will you forever remember. Of course the magic pencil trick was the best, the whole theater was going nuts for that one. His stories about how he got his scars. The hospital scene!! Him walking out in a nurse uniform as the building explodes behind him, and that skip when the second explosion goes off,. When he is in the interrogation room with Batman, wait screw that, when he talks to that officer that stays behind about killing his friends, wow. "Is that a bazooka!", lol. So many memorable sequences, he stole the show and he was pure evil. That speach he had at the end sums it up, "we can do this forever". In a way Batman is responsible creating this madness and because of that Batman will have to fight it forever. I am so happy they did not kill the Joker, he is not meant to die, he is meant to be the anti-Batman forever, so sad that Ledger has passed away cause I cannot see anyone else in this role now. The problem now is how to they top this, its impossible, any villain that comes next, even another Joker cannot match this.

If you noticed I have not even talked about the action and I am an action junky, the reason is that the drama was so good the action felt second place. Still what was there was top-notch, yeah I know the fist fights get hard to follow cause of the camera but it kind of works cause Batman is supposed to be like a ninja quickly taking out foes without them having a chance to react. The vehicle chases were phenomenal. The whole batpod scene, WOW, when that bike went up the wall and flipped, "HOLY ****!!" The final set piece in the building was well done as well, crazy how Batman had to take out the police while taking out Joker's goons, sick.

There is so much to love about this movie. Oh how about Two-Face and that hideous scarring, yikes. It did have maybe a tad to much CG but it had to be done. Now do you guys think he died or now, I did not think he died until I started reading that guys on gaf thought he did. I thought they were going to hide him away, but keep his image going. Its odd cause it never once specifically says he is dead, maybe its left open on purpose. Again major kudos to Eckart cause he played Dent perfectly, you would think you would want to quickly see him turn into Two-Face cause you can't wait to see him. Not so in this movie, I believed in Harvey Dent, I wanted the outcome to change, I wished he could remain this white knight hero, his fall was so tragic.

There is just so much to talk about, so many subjects to touch on. There are even parallels to 9/11 here, obviously the Joker was the terrorist but it wasn't just that, it was the sense of dread that filled the city and the movie, it felt like that day, where you were hopeless and feared for what would come next. Also with the whole sonar thing it gets into privacy issues and such. The movie is also a look into people at their core, are they good or evil. The whole two boats scene explored that, ultimately showed that at its core humanity can be good, we want to be good, to see that backfire on the Joker was awesome. Its still a comic book movie so it explores good and evil on a grander scale than most movies. This movie does get into the gray area a lot more, like is Batman really the cause of all this, at what cost do you keep on fighting. The last speech by Gordon brings it together, Batman will do anything for Gotham, even be the villain if thats the role he must play, but he is their Dark Knight, what a perfect ending.

I'm off to see The Dark Knight soon. See you later with the review.

EDIT:

Just got back and I don't even know where to begin. This is the best movie of the year, I dont even need to see the rest of the movies this year to know that. This is the best superhero movie and its not close, but screw the term superhero movie this is so much more. This is a movie masterpiece on a level with my favorite movies ever.

I am keeping this spoiler free for now so don't be afraid to read. I don't know if a remember a movie that made me feel this uncomfortable, that filled me with such dread and dispair like this movie did. Forget horror movies, nothing is as evil, as unnerving as watching the Joker at work. I don't know if I have ever seen a depiction of a city at the brink of complete insanity as I did in this film. You watch as Batman and company just try to figure out what to do, its incredible.

Ledger will win an Oscar, if he doesn't it will be the biggest rob in Oscar history. To be fair though Heath Ledger was not in this movie. There was not one hint of him. What I saw was the Joker on screen. Not an actor, the Joker is real and they put him on screen, thats what I saw. To say its the best villain performance in comic book history is such an understatement, I dont think I can watch another superhero movie where the villain comes up with a dumb plot for world domination after watching this. This was freaky and captivating, this is a legendary villain performance.

God this movie was SO FREAKING AMAZING. i have not even talked about Aaron Eckart and his amazing role as Harvey Dent. This is Dent's movie as much as it is Batman's and Joker's and he makes the character stand as strong as those two. His arch his another masterfully told story. If there are to be complaints its probably going to come from the movie maybe being a bit too long but it did not bother me. Also the focus is not on Batman like it was in the last one, again did not bother me cause the cast was amazing and it does refocus on Batman by the end.

I can run down a list of great moments in this movie, I will do so later as more of you see it. GO SEE IT NOW!!

Woo, E3 week is upon us. Not the big build up like previous years. I think its a mix of the industry moving away from E3 and us being in the middle of the generation (so no big surprises like new consoles) that is not making this one of my more anticipated E3's. Seems to me like we know about every game that will be shown, even the ones that are supposed to be surprises we know about like Kid Icarus and God of War 3. Maybe something unexpected will come around and blow us away but I doubt it. I am excited to see what some of these games will look like to be sure. Also it hurts when so many of my favorite franchises are in down periods, I doubt any new Zelda will be shown, Mario just came out, MGS4 just came out, we have seen plenty of RE5 (I cant wait to see more), DMC4 and NG2 came out. So many franchises are going to be missing. So here is what I expect:

Microsoft - Lots of talk about the price cut. I huge focus on Gears 2 which we have seen a bunch on already, does look amazing. Lots on Banjo, Fable 2, Halo Wars, Forza 3, Viva Pinata 2. Something stupid that is supposed to be like the wii. What I really hope for is Alan Wake, I want to know what is it exactly.

Nintendo - I have no clue, I just hope it doesn't suck like last year. I have no clue what is coming out on the Wii from them. I assume the rumors are true and Animal Crossing and Kid Icarus will be shown. AC I dont care for and KI is a wild card, who knows what its like. Will we see anything from the big three, I dont think so, and that makes me sad. I expect something horrific like Wii Fit once again. I have no clue what will happen in this one, i hope its good but its the one I fear the most.

Sony - I expect them to be the star of the show, the PS3 has a ton of stuff going for it right now and I think they will build on that. They will talk about the great enhancements on the PSN and show off whats to come like Home. LBP will be on full display. Killzone 2 and Resistance 2 will have major showings as well. GT5 of course. Some Infamous. Maybe some Uncharted 2... But what I hope blows us away is God of War 3. Oh and maybe the revealing of the team Ico game. Oh and more White Knight Story.

Capcom - RE5!!!!!! Mega Man 9!!!!!! RE5!!!!!! Mega Man 9!!!! SFIV!!!!! RE5!!!!! MM9!!! Bionic Commando?? RE5!!!!!!! WOOOO! Oh and I think they will show a new RE game for the Wii.

Konami - *chirp* *chirp* Hey MGS4 just came out... Look we have a Castlevania fighting game... why are you leaving, come back.... we will sue you if you dont... *chirp* (Please new Metal Gear game, anything)

Square - FFXIII canceled, FF Versus canceled, all products to be released on DS. In reality they better show us some actual FFXIII gameplay footage or I will be pissed. Its been long enough and we have seen some magic video of some crazy train fight, show us more. Thats all I care about, give me FFXIII or go to hell.

Tecmo - A sign that simply says "Going out of buisness"

Sega - WEREHOG!!! GRRRR!!! (maybe Yakuza 3 US version)

Ubisoft - Lots of PoP hopefully its awesome. Some BG&E 2 would be great. Tons of crap for the Wii. Splinter Cell canceled cause the devs are playing MGS4 instead.

Platinum Games - I hope they make a big showing at E3. Bayonetta could be excellent. Mad World looks interesting, I want to see more. Most of all, I want to see what Mikami is up to, show me!!

Western devs - Stuff with guns and things blowing up, could be good. Oh and fake music instrument games, which I do love. And Madden.

PC - Yes I made a PC section, why, cause I want to see Doom 4. I have a feeling something will be shown and it will melt our brains. Oh and HL2 Episode 3 of course. (Portal 2 please.)

The Dark Knight - Will be the best movie of the year.

So thats what I expect, check back after for the post E3 report card.

Hello guys, just want to plug a website some former GGDers created which I and many members of the GGD are now members of, Insert Coin .

The brain child of Gamminggeek and Yodariquo, two former GGDers, at Insert Coin you will find the fastest most up to date news anywhere on the web. Right now Gamminggeek is doing the hard work of keeping it updated but soon many will be helping out to ensure its always to date 24/7. The site has user reviews, blogs, and a message board where you can have fun and be yourself. No mods, no rules, just dont be a douche.

You don't have to leave this site, I clearly am not, but Insert Coin is a nice place to see old friends that have moved on. Its great place to post. Just check it out, its still early on, it will continue to grow and grow.

INSERT COIN

Please check it out.

Yah I already saw this weeks two big movies, I like the movies. First lets start with the new Pixar masterpiece Wall-E.

Wall-E:

Go see this movie. Take your girlfriend, take your kids, take anyone, it doesn't matter, this is a movie that can be enjoyed by everyone. I love most Pixar movies, Wall-E is easily up there with their best. Wall-E at its core is actually like an old silent movie era love story mixed with the most eye popping visuals you will see in a movie and a sci-fi setting. The brilliance of the movie are the robot characters mainly Wall-E and Eve, these robots are some of the most charimatic, lovable characters to ever grace the screen. You will love Wall-E, its impossible not to, his curiousity is infectious, he has this childlike innocence about him. Your heart will ache for him when all he wants is companionship with another robot, Eve, basically the imac of the robot world. The amazing thing is that these robots practically don't talk, they say a few words but mostly say each others names. Ben Burt, the man that create all sounds for Star Wars and the voice of R2D2, does a wonderful job as the voice of Wall-E, as with R2D2 Wall-E has as much a personality as a human but with limited language.

Even though the core of the movie is a love story for the ages, the backdrop is one of the most interesting sci-fi concepts in a long while. I don't want to ruin much of it but lets just say its a world where robots have to teach humans how to be humans. Wall-E and his small gang of misfit robots have more personallty than the humans of this time period, the humans basically learn to be human from a robot. It has a good message for kids and adults alike. Its a movie that works on so many levels, kids will love it cause of the classic characters, adults will love it cause of the romance and ideas presented. Its not fall on the floor funny but you will have a laugh every few moments.

Go see this movie, best movie of the summer so far. BTW the short in front of the film will have you in tears from how funny it is, their best short ever.

Wanted:

I am a huge action movie fan, if you have read my blog before you know I loved 80's R rated action movies, not the whipy crap we get today that passes as action movies. Thank god Wanted is an R rated all out, stylish in your face action movie. Easily the best action film of the year, this movie has energy from start to finish. I was shocked at how close it followed the Matrix formula, its almost a beat by beat recreation of the movie minus the plot. It starts off with a moment that sets you up for the crazy powers these people have. Then you follow a guy living a normal life but he feels he does not know who he is. Soon he is yanked out of his life and taken into a world of super powered assassins. There he trains to be their best assassin ever. It ends with him grabbing as many guns as possible and going nuts in a huge ballet of gun play that will blow you away. Sound familiar, yeah cause its is all the action style of the Matrix without any of the substance. Oh and it has a bit of Fight Club thrown in, he has a lot of inner monologue and you can't help but notice the Fight Club influence.

So yeah this might not be the most original movie but who cares when its this mother bleeping bad ass!! Like the Matrix so many years ago, some of the action you see in this movie will shock and awe you. It has great stylish bullet effects, insanly thought out action scenes and its almost non-stop. The characters are memorable, I have no clue who the main dude is but by the end I totally believed he was a bullet curving badass. Angelina Jolie is about as sexy as you can get. Morgan Freeman was even a total badass, he curses in the movie, OMG! The movie is very predictable though, I figured out most of the plot twists coming from a mile away again didn't matter much cause it was such a fun ride.

If you are an action movie fan see this movie now.

So there you go, two great movies came out this weekend, you have no excuse to not see one of them.

Hello guys, yeah I haven't done much with blog recently, thats cause I have been playing MGS4. It lived up to my crazy expectations, it just blew me away. I have no issue saying its the best game I have played since RE4 (which one I like better I have not decided yet. Whether MGS4 is better than TP... um... mayb... ok yeah it is...man that hurts to say.) I love MGS3, anyone that goes to the forums will find myself in epic battles with gamingqueen and Ninty over which MGS is the best. After playing this game nearly three times, giving it two weeks to marinate in my brain, yes this is the best MGS game, better than MGS3. Don't get me wrong there are still many aspects of MGS3 I do like over MGS4 but as a total game, MGS4 delivers in so many ways. Though I feel that I wont have an issue with anyone who like MGS3 over MGS4, I can see where they come from, unlike the MGS2 megafan weirdos . So yeah i wrote a review, its one of my trying to be professional reviews so I decided to just be me here at the start of the blog. If you want the short short version its something like this AYwSiuwhx87ghdjsd2$@&#!!1 OMGBBQ GME ASS! Game of teh FORevar!!

Metal Gear Solid 4:

It has been over four years that gaming world has awaited the final mission of the legendary Solid Snake. So much hype has been thrown around; to some MGS4 is enough to buy a PS3 for. With all the weight on its shoulders Metal Gear Solid 4 still manages to exceed expectations and deliver a game experience that will be remembered for a long time to come. Make no mistake, this is Hideo Kojima's masterpiece, I doubt I have ever seen a game where such love and care went into it.

While past MGS games for the most part took place in one or two locations, this game takes place all over the world. No longer is it a small insurrection Snake is sent to take out, at this point it is the entire world that is on the brink of ruin and Solid Snake must save the day. Compared to the other MGS games, MGS4 is like a sweeping movie epic. It has a massive cast, takes you all over the world, and manages to answer practically every lingering question the series has proposed. The story is a major part of this game, huge chunks of exposition will break apart the gameplay segments. Thankfully the cutscenes are presented in such a way that it rivals most CG movies, the production value is at a point I have never seen before. Yes there is a ton of cutscenes but unlike past MGS games almost all of them are stunning to watch. Codec storytelling is cutdown to almost nothing; all meaningful plot advancements come from the glorious in game cinematics. If huge amounts of cutscenes bothered you before it will bother you again, as with all MGS games it has hours upon hours of cutscenes. Still, these are cutscenes worth watching as it deals with emotions and aspects most games will never touch. You will feel pain, remorse, laughter, sadness, laughter, joy, and love. All the characters you have grown to love all come together; all their lives reach a turning point, its impossible to not get swept up in the emotional impact of the story.

Quite possibly the most impressive aspect of the cutscenes is that many of them now transition seamlessly into the game itself. Its something you have to see to appreciate, it adds so much to the mix of game and story. The two are now interwoven in a way that it feels like its one. The only complaint about the story I can come up with is that it does not end on the same high notes that earlier acts in the game do, it kind of gets bloated and almost MGS2 like toward the end. Overall though I was satisfied with story, plus if you want to look deeper into the plot you can find plenty of political commentary.

There are some people that play MGS games just for the story; well I am not one of them. I play MGS games cause I believe they offer some of the best unique action/stealth based gameplay. MGS4 takes the great improvements added to MGS3, mainly the camo system and opening of environments, to a whole new level. Snake now infiltrates a war zone; no longer is it just you and a group of enemies you must evade. Two factions will be fighting in many areas and you can either choose to help out the local militia or just sneak around in the chaos. This aspect brings about so many gameplay possibilities; for instance you can hide in shadows taking out anyone that gets in your way silently, or you can disguise yourself as a militia man and advance with them as you help defeat the PMC army, or you can be Rambo and just kill everything in your path. Every new area you enter has some unique event happening, whether its a tank making its way down an enemy street or a battle for a power plant, the variety in locations and situations is staggering.

The best part of it all is that Solid Snake now controls like a dream. All the mechanics have been reworked to provide a control scheme that fits in line with today's modern shooters. No longer is gunplay a pain, now you can run and gun with ease. The third person camera works as well as any third person shooter I have ever played, at any time you can enter first person view for more zoomed in shots. Also of note, Snake no longer sticks to walls, at first this may seem like a bad change cause it used to be so easy backing into a wall to peak around corners but when the action would get rough to often would you accidentally stick to a wall when you really wanted to shoot, that does not happen any more. Snake also has more evasive maneuvers like side rolls and the ability to roll while prone. CQC is back and better than ever, holding up enemies or grabbing them is easier to do than ever before. The octocamo applies the MGS3 camo system without any of the constant menu surfing. Also introduced is the solid eye system which is an all in one radar, night vision, heads up display system, you won't believe you used to play MGS games without it. Everything is so streamlined, its vast improvement to the controls and helps the gameplay tremendously.

With this new control scheme comes a greater emphasis on gunplay. MGS4 has a RE4 like gun seller named Drebin which sells you weapons and ammo for Drebin Points, points you get from finding weapons all over the battlefield. There are 70 weapons in the game, most of them can be customized even further with silencers, grips, scopes, and with some even a grenade launcher attachment. For the Gandhi types that don't like to kill, there is a slew of stun weapon types as well. Finding DP and gathering all the weapons is a game in its own. To be honest most players will probably find a favorite weapon of each type and just stick with it but it's still nice to have the huge array of weapons (some of which are very odd and can lead to hilarious situations). The game makes sure to make use of all these guns; there are many action heavy moments where you are forced to shoot your way through the enemy. These set pieces are spectacular and really showcases how far this game has come to making MGS has good a shooter as it is a stealth game. The only issue with this system is that you are never out of ammo; conservation is not needed.

Initial footage of this game made MGS4 look like MGS3+ or something like that. Well in a stroke of pure genius (in my opinion, some may think this is what hurts the game), that is only the first half of the game. The second half take you out of that war zone stylle of play and throws you into a whirlwind of gameplay variety and scenarios that pull aspects of all MGS games together to create the ultimate Metal Gear experience. You experience very unique locations and gameplay elements you have never seen or played in a MGS game. I was left in awe at the stuff I was doing, my eyes were popping out of their head at some of the action sequences, and every single MGS fan will be in love with one of the later sections. Lets not forget the boss fights, while I think they never reach the greatness of some of the MGS3 boss fights, they are all very memorable in their own ways. I just wished there was more ways to take some of them down, like in MGS3. Seems that with the emphasis on guns the unique tricks you can pull on them with your items has been pulled down to a minimum, its mostly just shooting them to death (besides two puzzle like bosses). There is not a stinker in the bunch though, they maybe a bit easy but the way the battles are presented will blow you away.

To say this game is deep is an understatement. When you first play the game (about 20 hours of play, of which around 8 hours are cutscenes) odds are you missed out on some areas and did not see the crazy amount of easter eggs and secrets hidden throughout the game. One such item is an ipod, which you get at the start of the game with some tracks but many music tracks of clasic MG and Kojima games are hidden all over the game. Even if you don't want to look for secrets there are so many ways to play the game there is no way you can say you experienced it all in one playthrough. At the end of the game you get emblems depending on how you play, there are 40 of these, as you play using different stylle you unlock them. You will probably not put this game down for a very very long time. To top it off there is even a full online game included, I won't go much into detail here cause I will review it as a separate game but MGO is a great alternative to the usual online shooter.

This game not only has great story and excellent gameplay but on the tech front it's a showcase game. Graphically it is the most impressive console game I have ever played. You will see and play things you thought could only be done in CG. The most impressive of which is the final boss fight, which I swear is the most visually impressive fight in the history of videogames. Not to be outdone the sound is movie quality. You have to play this game on some sort of surround sound, it would be a crime not to. The sounds of the battlefield come to you from all sides; it's an immersive sound experience like no other. Musically the score rivals even the biggest of Hollywood's blockbusters. Sadly the main theme is missing cause of plagiarism, still Harry Gregson-Williams does an incredible job closing out the series musically. If I had to find one real flaw with MGS4 it is that it does have frequent small loads and installs after every act, even that is a minor inconvenience.

Metal Gear Solid 4 is the total package. Every inch of this game is oozing with quality, not one aspect is left behind. On a technical level its one of the highest quality games you will ever play. The true genius however is how Kojima leaves his mark on this game. Like the best directors in movies, you can see Kojima's stylle come through in the gameplay and cutscenes. This game was clearly a labor of love, you can tell that he poured every last inch of what he had into making this game the ultimate masterpiece, to make it his greatest achievement. You don't just play this game, you feel it, it grabs you, demands your attention in a way that few games ever do. It is a landmark game, its a game that will be one of the defining moments of a generation, it simply is one of the all time greatest games.

Overall Score: 10