Hancock

By Sandor Hugert

Once again, Will Smith is lighting up the movies on the July 4^th weekend.  This movie is not up to standards with other great Will Smith movies such as Men in Black, I Robot, and Independence Day.  Hancock could be separated into three different parts as the movie makes big changes every thirty minutes in a movie that is only one hour and thirty minutes long.  The first thirty minutes is great as it is just a straight out comedy movie that makes fun of all the superhero movies that were recently released.  The comedy is great, but in the next hour of the movie everything just fell apart.  In the second thirty minutes, it becomes just a normal action movie, which is okay except for the fact that it is better in other superhero movies such as Iron Man, and the tagline for Hancock is that he is not your average superhero.  In the last thirty minute the movie just fell apart with a twist that was obvious from the beginning but I will not spoil it here.  They tried to add some drama into the last thirty minutes which did not fit well, and in the end they made Hancock just an average superhero just like every other superhero movie out there.  Overall, this movie could have been great if they just kept the comedy from the first thirty minutes, but instead they tried to make Hancock an average superhero, so the whole thing just kind of felt short in the end.

Score:  6 out of 10

Rambo

By Sandor Hugert

This was the first real good movie of 2008.  It was a little weird though that Sylvester Stallone was still the main character since he’s a little too old for this type of movie.  The movie had really great action, but it was just way too weird because Sylvester Stallone should not be playing this type of a role at an age like his.  The move was actually really good, but not as good as First Blood or Rambo 2.  The action was really intense, but there really was only one huge battle scene, which was the final scene of the movie.  The movie actually felt really short since it was only around 90 minutes long.  News is coming in daily that Sylvester Stallone now wants to make Rambo 5, but that would really be taking it a little too far.  It does look like it’s going to happen so we’ll see how it turns out in a few years.  This movie overall though was fairly good in every way:  good story, good action, really just the fact that Sylvester Stallone is too old for this movie was the problem. 

Score:  8 out of 10 

 

National Treasure: Book of Secrets

By Sandor Hugert

This movie was really just one of those typical sequels where Disney saw that the first National Treasure was a hit, so they really just redid the first one with a new treasure and hoped for the same success.  The movie itself really wasn’t bad, but Disney also made the mistake of making the sequel so much like the original that there really weren’t any cool new ideas in the movie so it was just boring overall.  The storyline was cool since you did get to see the treasure and overall it kept the movie interesting as they were searching for all the clues.  Nicolas Cage still did a great job as the main character.  There were some cool scenes in the movie though which made it better, but really Disney just redid everything that worked in the first movie and then made a sequel.  The ending basically gives away that there will be another sequel so hopefully that will actually have some new ideas in it.

Score:  6 out of 10 

Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games

By Sandor Hugert

 

Nobody was really expecting much from this game, but it turned out to be one of the more enjoyable games of 2007.  Somehow this game managed to be better than many Wii games.  You actually have to do totally different motions for each event.  There are many characters that you can play with from all the Mario and Sonic games.  There are lots of events that you can compete in, and as you start to gain gold medals for your events then you actually unlock many other cool events.  There is even online play in the game, but the Wii’s online play is a little weird, as you can’t really play with just someone random because you have to know their whole friend’s code and everything.  Overall, this was a fun game and all, but that’s really all it has going for it just the fun aspect of the game.

 

Score:  6  out of 10

Assassin’s Creed

By Sandor Hugert

 

This was one of the most anticipated games of 2007, and it was also the most disappointing game of the year.  This is the most repetitive game ever made in the whole history of video games.  The missions are all the same exact thing.  There are basically three types of missions that you just do over and over with the difficulty of the game rising up a little.  The graphics are nice to look at, but it doesn’t compare to some of the better-looking games lately such as Uncharted Drake’s Fortune and Call of Duty 4.  There really isn’t that many cool killing moves, but instead if just block and counter attack then you’re just about set to beat the entire boring game.  The story line tries to be all serious and make sense, but it fails in both aspects.  The big twist of the game is revealed to you in the first few minutes of the game, which is one of the dumbest moves made in the story lines of any video game.  The ending sets up the story for the sequel, which is very unnecessary after failing to make one of the most anticipated games in the year good at all.  The guys at UBI Soft should just go back to working on Tom Clancy games and their Prince of Persia franchise.  If they’re going to make the sequel to Assassin’s Creed, then they better fix up all the problems in the first game.  This game was definitely the biggest disappointment of 2007.  At most this game is only worth a rent.

 

Score:  4 out of 10   

 

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

By Sandor Hugert

 

This game was really the main competition for Halo 3 in 2007 as it was highly anticipated for all consoles.  You have to start out by saying that this game has some of the best graphics seen in any video game.  It is certainly up there with Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune in the graphics department.  As we all know though, graphics don’t make any game perfect.  There really isn’t anything horrible with this game except the fact that the campaign mode is incredibly short.  You can basically beat the game in about four hours.  I’m not asking for like a 30-hour game from a first person shooter such as Call of Duty 4, but four hours is really just too short.  A first person shooter really needs to be about 10-hours long.  This year in the first person shooter department, The Orange Box really got the length of their games down as each game in that box was around 7 to 10 hours long.  Other than the length of the game, there really isn’t anything wrong with it.  The story line was really intense and the online is also intense.  The online part of the time tends to get a little boring after playing it for like two hours, but it’s still pretty fun.  Overall, this game was good, but not great as it could have been longer and online could have been a little more enjoyable.  Hopefully, we’ll get the official really good Call of Duty game with Call of Duty 5 next year.

 

Score:  7 out of 10

I Am Legend

By Sandor Hugert

This was one of the most anticipated movies of 2007.  It had a very interesting story line to it as Will Smith plays the last person on Earth.  Somehow the movie just didn’t turn out to be as interesting as it could have been.  It was actually boring at times as he was just walking around with his dog, and just trying to find entertainment somehow.  The zombies in the movie looked unrealistic which by today’s standards in movies should not happen.  The story line of the movie should have been very interesting, but instead they didn’t even really explain everything that entire well.  The action scenes were cool, but there was barely any in the entire movie.  The ending of the movie was pretty disappointing, but I won’t talk about that here so I don’t ruin the movie for you.  I will say that the movie’s ending just could have been a lot better.  Overall, this was an okay movie at best, but it seems that there were leaving room for a possible sequel which they are thinking about making due to the box office success that I Am Legend had.

Score:  6 out of 10

Teen Programs

 

Are you big fan of video games and are in the ages between 13 and 18?  If you answered yes to both those questions then make sure to come to the Clearwater Main Library on 100 N. Osceola Ave. for our video game nights.  We have the latest games for you to play and see just how good they are and if they live up to the hype or not.  These video game nights will be on January 15^th and February 19^th at 5:30 p.m.  You can call at 562-4970, ext. 5244 to gather more information.  We hope to see you at the library to play some awesome video games.

Teen Programs

Make sure not to forget to come to the Clearwater Main Library on 100 N. Osceola Ave. for the Teen Art Club.  If you’re looking to have some fun with creating original works of art using any techniques then this is the perfect place for you to be at.  The basic supplies will be provided for you here, so you don’t even have to bother to bring your own supplies.  This Teen Art Club will be on January 10^th and February 14^th at 3 p.m.  Make sure to mark these dates in your calendar and come to the library to have some fun with art.  If you’re still not clear on something then just call 562-4970, ext. 5244 and all your questions will be answered.