To Be Sick Again

As the title of this entry states, yes, I have gotten sick again. It is such a considerate cold too, I mean it even went as far as to wait for me to finish my shift at work and did not really start kicking in until I was having lunch on Friday afternoon. What irritates me to no end, however, is not being able to sleep, which is what I should be doing right now. Instead, Solitaire has become my best friend all over again. Not exactly an ideal way to spend a Saturday night/Sunday morning.

On the other hand, at least this has given me a little time to watch some movies.

This past Friday I got to see The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, starring John Travolta and Denzel Washington. It was a pretty good movie to me, probably the best I've seen both of these actors in a while. I am amazed how these guys haven't done more work together. They mesh on screen pretty damn well.

Speaking of John Travolta, Old Dogs (a movie he is doing with Robin Williams) looks funny along the scale of Wild Hogs. Heck, I think the same director is working on the movie, so it easy to see how it would be similar. Anyway, it looks good and funny, which always is a nice change of pace.

Along with that movie, I also got to watch a few movies that got reviewed pretty horribly form what I can remember. I watched Kingdom of Heaven and Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, which were both a lot better then I expected.

Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium is fun to watch amd what surprised me was the depth of the story. There was much more to it then just the emporium itself. It was a nice touch how each of the characters that make up the staff (Mr. Magorium included) their chance to share a part of their own stories.

If I had to describe the movie with using only one word, that word would have to be imaginative. something I think is lost on movie critics and maybe even a lot of movie fans these days. It is sad to think that the days of such movies have come and gone.

One thing about the movie that opened my eyes was how talented Natalie Portman is. Having not seen her in very many movies other then the Star Wars prequels, I though she was a little flat. But that opinion is now long gone with the wind folks. She does an awesome job here. Worlds away from her work in Star Wars.

Kingdom of Heaven was a movie I avoided in the past just because of the fact that I wasn't much of a fan of Orlando Bloom. Outside The Lord of the Rings movies, I didn't think he made very good movies at all. However, I have to give credit where it is due. He does a good job at making his character feel believeable. The same goes for the rest of this big name cast too.

And last but not least, the video games! Or at least a video game...

After hunting around at a few GameStops, I had just about given up on trying to find the recently released Prototype. To my surprise, lo and behold, Wal-Mart had the game for both Xbox 360 and PS3.

In a way, the story does feel similar to that of InFamous in that both characters had something done to them that made them into monsters or "terrorists" as it goes. And as such, both of these guys have lost their memories because of it.

To me, that is where the similarites end because from here everything splits. In InFamous, you have to choice to either save the city or drag it down further into chaos. In Prototype, Alex Mercer isn't worried so much about others. He just wants to find whom ever messed with his life and get some bloody revenge.

One difference in gameplay between the two games is Prototype's various means of getting around. You don't have to climb up the side of a building here. Instead you can run and leap your way to the top. It doesn't sound like much, but it sure does make the world seem much more open and free.

The other major difference is the level of gore and swearing. It is practically non-existant in InFamous, but not so in Prototype. Be ready for a lot of blood and a lot of swearing from the get go.

One thing I have to agree with is the senstivity of the cops and military in Prototype. It doesn't really take any effort to draw out the tanks and helicopters here. Just drop down to street level and bump a cop and ta-da! They'll be down your throat in no time!

Despite that, at the end of the day I am feeling like I should have spent the money on buying InFamous rather then Prototype. Maybe its just because I've spent more time playing InFamous. Or maybe Prototype just isn't as good as it seems? Either way, I'll surely be back here with the verdict.