Kick-Ass is Bad-Ass

This weekend turned out to be a good one for catching up on movies. After finally seeing Moon on Friday night, I watched Kick-Ass on Saturday night and, honestly, I really enjoyed it. I was a little surprised at the brutality, but I really liked how the story was told and how it presented itself.

Most of the film revolves around a geeky teenager named Dave whose love for comic books leads him to don a costume and take on evil as the alter ego Kick-Ass. He's really just a normal, likable guy and the whole superhero gig doesn't go as well as planned and he gets in way over his head.

But it turns out that Kick-Ass isn't the only superhero in town. Big Daddy and his 11-year-old daughter Hit Girl legitimately kick some serious bad guy ass in a very vicious and brutal manner. Hit Girl is one hell of a badass, which led to some outcry when the film was originally released in theaters.

I thought the film was well-done for the most part. It did take a little longer to get the story set up than I might have expected, but I even found that entertaining in its own way. I mean, who doesn't love a good origin story, right?

Overall, I liked it, but not as much as Scott Pilgrim, another comic book adaption that was a whole lotta fun. It was a little heavy on the violence and a little light on humor for my taste, but I still enjoyed it quite a bit. The highlights of the movie were mostly the action scenes, but it did have a few good one-liners too. Not recommended for children or your mother.

Moon

Last night, I finally got a chance to watch Hugo award winning Moon by Duncan Jones, son of the acclaimed musician, David Bowie. David Bowie's music certainly had its science fiction influence, especially his Ziggy Stardust album, so I guess it's no surprise that his son's first major film would be a science fiction endeavor.

I had heard great things about the film and had been meaning to watch it for awhile. Recently, Moon won a  Hugo award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form and it also became available for instant watch on Netflix so I really had no more excuses. I was rewarded with a very intelligent film about an astronaut at the end of his three-year stint working on the moon.

The film is a very solitary view of Sam's final days on the moon and addresses many of the atrocities that could occur in such a situation. I don't want to go into more detail for fear of spoiling essential plot points, but, needless to say, the most interesting aspects of the film are the horrors that Sam uncovers.

The film has a minimal, but high quality cast with Sam Bell being played by Sam Rockwell and the computer GERTY being voiced by Kevin Spacey, whose monotone dialog was delivered perfectly.

Overall, I thought the film was well done, especially for an independent production, and the plot was very good. It's not a film that will keep you on the edge of your seat; the story is a more subtle and intellectual than it is action-packed. Still, there was enough suspense and intrigue that I never got bored. I'm definitely glad that I watched it, but it won't go down as one of my favorites.

Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4

My brother and I have been playing Lego Harry Potter together since it was released a couple of months ago. Last night, we finally completed the game, earning 100% of all characters, red bricks, gold bricks, house crests, and students in peril. Overall, the Lego games are a lot of fun and this was no exception.

We have played every Lego game together since the Star Wars Prequels version came out a few years ago. Honestly, that first game might still be my favorite and though I enjoyed the following Original Trilogy version quite a bit as well, there is just something about being able to choose from a plethora of lightsaber-wielding Jedi and Sith (especially Darth Sidious!) that is hard to beat. Nonetheless, I would put Harry Potter as a close second. It was definitely better than Indiana Jones and Batman, which I felt were both lacking in the character department.

Lego Harry Potter includes 24 playable levels, six for each of the first four books. We played through them on story mode pretty quickly and though we didn't have any trouble beating the levels, we found that we didn't get many of extras. For each level, you can unlock three characters, rescue a student in peril, attain "True Wizard" by collecting a certain quota of coins, and find the four parts that make up a Hogwarts crest. I think we ended up playing most of the levels three times before we collected everything.

Collecting the coins, student in peril, and crest would also give you a gold brick for each. In order to unlock a bonus level and the final character (Lord Voldemort), you need to collect all 200 gold bricks. In addition to the levels, you can also wander around Diagon Alley and Hogwarts, where there are additional students in peril, gold bricks, and 20 red bricks.

Unfortunately, we couldn't quite find everything on our own and had to keep a laptop nearby the last couple times we played so we could look up the final few gold bricks hiding within Hogwarts (which is one hell of a maze) and the last student in peril.

This game really is a blast for kids and adults. If you are into Harry Potter, and even if you aren't really a gamer, it's a lot of fun and allows you play with all of the characters you love (and hate) from the series. Highly recommended.