It’s hard to review a movie that you’ve known by heart for 20 years.

Jurassic Park, like many of Spielberg’s films, is a hurricane of emotion. There are moments of the film so overwhelming, still, after all these years, that move me to tears.

So when I had the opportunity to see it in IMAX 3D, I leapt at the chance.

For many, post-conversion 3D isn’t anything you want to see, I get that, but the chance to see Jurassic Park in a way that’s literally larger than life and on the big screen once more is not an opportunity to pass up. They’ve clearly spared no expense and the experience doesn’t disappoint.

If you liked Jurassic Park to begin with, you’re going to love this experience, but you’ll be shocked by how much you notice, see, and hear that had just slipped you by. Lines of dialogue that I didn’t even know existed popped right out of the soundtrack. But I’d forgotten how brilliant the sound design of this film was in general. The dinosaurs, on a good sound system, are truly frightening.

The other major thing I noticed in a way that isn’t immediately apparent on home video was how dated some of the costumes and bits are in the film. In particular are the anonymous Jurassic Park employees in pastel polo shirts, or the kids. Lexi, Hammond’s granddaughter, seems to have the most outdated dialogue as well as clothes, “It’s an interactive CD-Rom!” or “This is a Unix system, I know this!”

There were very few moments of the post conversion that seemed to bother me. Chief among them was a few shots of Muldoon as he’s stalking the raptors toward the end of the movie. There are disparate bits of foliage so close to the screen that it’s distracting and it’s largely because the film just wasn’t intended to be 3D. There were a couple of other fixes I did notice, too. Mainly it was the reflected light of the flares Malcom and Grant use to distract the T-rex. In the original theatrical release they seem to be holding the flares three inches from a piece of glass, but that extra bit of reflection seems to have been removed in this release.

As for the suspense and excitement of the rest of the film, it holds up so well that I’m shocked. Had any other filmmaker made this film, it would have been easily hailed as their best work, but since this is Steven Spielberg, he has movies like Jaws and Raiders of the Lost Ark that manage to top it.

There is, however, nothing quite like seeing a dinosaur for the first time in this movie. It might be one of the greatest moments in cinema history.

If you love Jurassic Park, you’re a fool if you miss this. If you’ve never seen it, you’re doubly foolish if you miss it.

One of our favorite authors, Michael Stackpole, whom you might know for his work in the Star Wars universe, was kind enough to provide us with his review of Highland Park’s new Loki.

I’m privileged to be able to call Mike a friend, and he is to, because who else would call you up and say, “Can I have some lovely, expensive Scotch sent to your door?”

You really need to visit Mike’s website and buy his books. In particular, check out In Hero Years… I’m Dead. It’s the book you’d get if Dashiell Hammett wrote Watchmen.

Without further ado, here’s Mike:

Highland Park has just released the second of its Valhalla Collection: Loki. This is a limited edition, 15 year old, single malt scotch whisky of a complexity that I’ve never experienced before. Loki was aged in both Spanish sherry casks as well as heavily peated casks. That alone is appropriate for a god that is the embodiment of Chaos (and for whom I have great affection, having written a story from his point of view). This really is an outstanding scotch.

Starting with the nose, Loki is not what you’d expect. Given the casks used, I expected either sherry sweetness or a deep peat scent. What I got instead was something strong and clean, with a lot of citrus. I smiled instantly. Sherry and peat swirled through there later, but not overwhelmingly. They made themselves apparent like notes in music played at a whisper. Adding a little water did open things up, revealing a hint of licorice, but very subtle.

The first sip is just as chaotic as the nose. The peat comes through easily, but just slides off the tongue as lighter and sweeter tastes come through. It’s a fantastic balancing act, making Loki a puzzle to be solved. The second you identify one flavor, it just melds into another. A couple drops of water smoothes everything out, slowing the transition, which gives you a chance at picking up apple and anise, as well as tart citrus flavors.

The finish is clean and soft, spicy and warm. The peat comes back just to remind you that you are drinking scotch, but doesn’t leave you foundering in a peat bog. The sherry’s legacy returns for a sweet goodbye kiss, and Loki slides away without any harsh burn.

In Norse mythology, Loki was a trickster, and this whisky lives up to that sense of him. It provides a myriad of scents, flavors and sensations in each sip. It’s an experience that will intrigue drinkers just trying out scotch; and it’s a challenge for the connoisseur. It’s a worthy successor to THOR (see the review HERE). At $249 for a bottle, it is an indulgence, but definitely one worth saving up for. Loki is a scotch you’ll remember for a long time, and one that will invoke a smile every time you think on it.

Here’s the Highland Park website for their Loki.

And here, again, is Mike’s website.

Into the Valley of Death rode the Jedi and the younglings… What’s in store for K’Kruhk and company in Issue #3 of Dark Times – Fire Carrier, this week’s Star Wars comic? (more…)

This review will contain spoilers, anything going beyond the scope of the episode will be done in white text and will be preceded by *Spoiler*, episode spoilers will not be prefaced.

Oh how I’ve missed this show. I just went back and read the books again to make sure I was caught up and could see the differences. Not because I care but because I like to think of how the show writers are going to continue with the small changes they’ve made. So let’s see where we are.

We got some good and some bad this episode. A decent amount was changed from the books and I’m sure we will see why it had to be done. *Spoilers* Specifically Harrenhal, odd that they had Robb show up and imprison his mom there…We met the King-Beyond-The-Wall and caught up with what happened to the Nights Watch. We got some Tyrion and Tywin action and plenty more down in King’s Landing. Littlefinger might get Sansa out of her hell. We also got to see Dragonstone, if only for a moment. This felt a lot like a catch up episode, reminding us where everyone is and what’s happening throughout Westeros and Essos. What felt like the biggest step forward in the story was Dany shopping for an army and Barristan Selmy showing up. Mostly this episode was all good, my bad list is really nitpicky. I give it 4 out of 5 mostly because not a hell of a lot happened.

The Good:

• Lord Commander Mormont is a bad ass, he and Ghost take down wights like champs.
• A giant is one of the first things we see at the wildling camp, they did an awesome job making them odd and just non-human enough.
• Tormund and Mance: God damn they picked the right actors for these two. Absolutely perfect.
• *Spoiler* A nod to Tyrion still having his nose. 
• Bronn and Tyrion banter is always a good time.
• Davos and his rescue and loyalty. The Onion Knight is a bad ass.
• Tywin is also a bad ass, and a dick.
• Ahh Sansa “The truth is always either terrible or boring.” Kid is basically a teenager in the worst possible high school.
• What I’m sure everyone was waiting for…Dragons! They fly. They hunt, and they are big and creepy looking.
• Joffrey squirming. Seriously fuck that guy.
• Dany almost dies again and is saved by the bad ass Baristan Selmy

The Bad

• We missed the battle with the White Walkers, damn you expensive CGI!
• *Spoiler* Ghost/Mormont: The hell is he doing with the Mormont?
• *Spoiler* Rattleshirt/Lord of Bones: Not really bad but just so normal…not a yellow little unibrow.
• Really don’t need to see nipples removed. I knew it was coming and still cringed.
• What the hell with that little kid? Is she supposed to be from the House of the Undying.
• *Spoiler* Seriously? no Arstan just straight to Baristan? Hmph!

Well folks what’d you think? Awesome? Awful? Let us know

You can follow Proletaria-tron on twitter @proletariatron

“It belongs in a museum!” “So do you!”
GONK checks out the Indiana Jones museum exhibition at Orange County’s Discovery Science Center. (more…)

Truth be told, the only thing I ever felt the need to collect with abandon was Star Wars trading cards when I was a lad back in the day.

As such, Pokemon was something I just never latched onto. I mean, I was 26 when Satoshi Tajiri unleashed the idea of collecting pocket monsters, training them to fight and then dropping them into the ring like some kind of virtual Don King.

Over the years, Pokemon video games have met with varied levels of success. There’s no denying the popularity of the franchise and it marries the idea of collecting and fighting together in such a way that it’s no surprise how many people – young and old – have become fans in the last 17 years.

However, the need to provide varied gaming adventures becomes apparent as people can tire of the same thing over and over again.

Which brings me to Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity, the new Nintendo 3DS title. It tweaks its approach enough that it satisfies the needs of gamers on the go.

Gates to Infinity makes capturing and training Pokemon entertaining thanks to its streamlined gameplay approach, which puts the turn-based combat at the fore and leaves the typical time-wasting pre-fight video hype by the wayside. You will enter real time, turn-based battles whenever you move your character adjacent to an enemy and while that may not sound like much of a change, those seconds and minutes add up to hours of action rather than passive viewing when all is said and done.

Some may decry this approach as focusing on substance at the expense of some of the franchise’s trademark style, but if the idea of pre-packaged dungeon crawls and copious amounts of exploration are what you want, there are plenty of other titles that can meet that need.

Instead, for a pick-up-and-play mobile handheld title, Gates to Infinity cuts to the chase and it works well in short bursts, which is truly how this game is meant to be played. Just think of it as speed chess with pocket monsters.

Now, if you have some time and if you feel the need to explore the Pokemon world more deeply, you can visit the game’s Paradise area, where you can linger to your heart’s content.

Paradise lets you manage your group of monsters, as well as allows you to spend your money and use the items you collected during fights. You can invest in stores, grow crops to help you during fights and unlock mini games that add hours of gameplay time.

The campaign’s plot will satisfy the needs of younger gamers and give them some context to the collecting and fighting, but older players who just want to get to the meat and heat of battle should find the pared-down approach rewarding enough.

Gates to Infinity is rated E and supports local and online play, as well as SpotPass and StreetPass.

* Wayne Chamberlain has covered the gaming industry since 2003. Follow him on Twitter @ChamberlainW. He is also co-host of the Star Wars Book Report podcast, available on iTunes. 

The Prisoner of Bogan now has a lightsaber – can the army he envisioned be far behind? Former Je’daii brothers-in-arms face off in this week’s Star Wars comic: Dawn of the Jedi! (more…)

I’d so much rather be John Leguizamo than Bob Hoskins.

OK, I know that sounds incredibly random, but bear with me and forgive me the old school reference. But for those of you with knowledge of the history of video games – and movies based on said industry’s properties – beyond what came out in the last month, you know what I’m talking about.

Yes, 1993 was when a movie studio rolled out a (film just doesn’t seem the right word for it, so let’s call it a …) flick called Super Mario Bros. It starred Hoskins (fighting a role slump since he took the world by storm in 1988’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit) as video gaming’s most famous and beloved plumber, Mario. Leguizamo was cast as Mario’s brother, Luigi: A character who is often overshadowed and overlooked by fans of his more popular sibling.

But those in the know realize that just because you don’t down mushrooms with abandon, save princesses who can’t seem to go a day without being kidnapped and enjoy jumping on the heads of other living creatures doesn’t mean you can’t be a hero in your own right.

And Leguizamo is way cooler than Hoskins any day of the week. Which brings me to Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon, the new 3DS game from Nintendo that (finally!) shines a light on a character who deserves much more love than he gets from the gaming public.

Now, it’s been a very long 12 years since we last saw Luigi in his own game, back when there was this ancient piece of technology called a GameCube. That game, Luigi’s Mansion, cast the scared green-clad plumber as a quasi-Ghostbuster who must eke out a living fighting the paranormal beasties that go bump in the night. It was a fun, entertaining romp and the fact it took a dozen years to get a sequel is a tad disappointing. Still, at least it’s finally here and it has certainly been worth the wait.

Dark Moon sees you having to rid houses (five this time, as opposed to the massive mansion of the original game) of ghosts, using your trusty phantom-sucking vacuum, aptly named the Poltergust 5000. Basically, that’s the entire story right there. If you’re expecting anything stronger than the plot of that crappy 1993 movie, I mean flick, sorry to disappoint. That said, this game is 100 times more entertaining and 1,000 times funnier than that flick ever was.

The game’s heart lies in its timid hero, who jumps with fright constantly, hums along with the background score (kudos to the designers for that touch) to try to steady his nerves and tentatively explores the darkened rooms of the mansions with his flashlight and vacuum at the ready. It’s the fact that Luigi is vulnerable and yet still overcomes his fears to do the job required that makes him much more heroic to me than Mario ever has. And there is plenty to fear in these five haunted houses. You poke items within rooms in order to find spooks, mini-bosses, treasures and sometimes just cool little interactions. You’ll also find collectible coins that you can spend on upgrades for your equipment. And when you do find a phantom (or more than one), you fire up the old Poltergust and enter a tug-of-war-esque mini game in order to trap said nasties for disposal.

Now, you might think that this basic exploration, puzzle solving and mini game capture sequences make for a rather shallow experience. You’d be wrong. Dark Moon keeps things moving along and entertaining thanks to its comedic approach, the little interactions that often inspire laughs and the jolts of fright that the appearance of a spectre prompt. Even the ghost-capturing mini game is kept interesting by introducing more than one spirit to trap and attacks by the fighting phantoms that Luigi has to dodge in order to succeed.

The 3D screen makes the game sparkle visually (continuing the tradition of the best looking and playing titles for Nintendo consoles and handhelds are the ones made by the parent company) and kids and adults alike will enjoy both the little frights Dark Moon elicits as well as its pick-up-and-play approach.

Now, the game does check in with about a dozen hours of content – a little bit slight, considering the sometimes annoying amount of backtracking you have to do – but it’s a relatively minor complaint for a title that does so many things right.

Of note: The game does allow for co-op or head-to-head play for up to four gamers either through local, downloadable sharing or Internet-based multiplayer modes.

Overall, Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon is one example of a game where a hero who sucks is a good thing. Now, if only we could do something about those video game movies …

Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon is rated E for everyone.

Wayne Chamberlain has covered the gaming industry since 2003. Follow him on Twitter @ChamberlainW. He is also co-host of the Star Wars Book Report podcast, available on iTunes.

Welcome to the first Strider-bot’s Game for Tots column, where I will be looking at titles for young players from a parent’s perspective and that of a life-long gamer who is still a kid at heart when it comes to virtual adventures.

There hasn’t been much of a reason to pop a game into a Wii U since its launch, but if you have kids, Lego City Undercover is one must-have title.

You play as Chase McCain, a full-on Hollywood-esque hero cop who is tasked with taking down Rex Fury, a master criminal from our main character’s past.

The goal is as simple as tracking down Fury and putting him back in the slammer. It’s a basic plot, no more complex than anything that most of us adults who grew up in the 1980s will recall with cheese-gilded fondness. In fact, there’s a whole lot of Hunter and Die Hard in McCain … I mean, Bruce Willis’ character is named McClane for pete’s sake.

Giving kids a full-on action game in which they can play as a cop in an open world environment is something sure to grab their attention. The basic pick-up-and-play controls are another way to ease youngsters into the Lego City, as is the sense of humour on display thanks to a crackling script and some strong vocal performances. British actor Joseph May, a veteran of several video game franchises, clearly has fun giving McCain a voice.

The action basically amounts to a series of missions involving some puzzle solving, typical run-and-jump platforming gameplay and some combat, as well as copious amounts of ‘borrowing’ civilian vehicles whenever you need a ride in the course of your duties.

It’s very much like other Lego titles. Basic combat, cool vehicles, sometimes frustrating platforming level design and collecting Lego bricks and studs to use to unlock and buy extra perks and cheats.

The design team has built in some cool action movie chase scene clichés that will have parents who either watch (or pick up and play when the console is free) chuckling in appreciation of such gimmicky effects as bullet time cutaways and cinematic shenanigans. Kids will just think it’s cool (well, at least until that point comes when they’re tired of the rinse-and-repeat gameplay that mars most Lego titles).

While there are some who will say this is a PG kids version of a Grand Theft Auto game, a kind of gateway drug to more violent and serious open world crime titles, I say relax and take it easy. You can’t change the nature of kids and their desire to play more harder edged titles as they age – the same way you can’t change their desire to do other adult things during their teenage years.

But let’s face it, that’s an adult’s fear and as a parent of two teens, I get it. I do. But stop worrying about what they may encounter and focus on the here and now and the fact that this is a game where your kids get to fight on the side of right and use a little might at the same time. The fact they have to go undercover to do it doesn’t change McCain’s focus on bringing Fury to ultimate justice.

Know that Lego City Undercover is a fantastic tale about a cop chasing down a bad guy, utilizing awesome vehicles, and it’s a blast, to boot.

* Wayne Chamberlain has covered the gaming industry since 2003. Follow him on Twitter @ChamberlainW. He is also co-host of the Star Wars Book Report podcast, available on iTunes.

I’m ever so sorry that my review wasn’t up immediately after last night’s episode, but I had to let this one marinate a bit. Robbie Thompson’s “Goodbye Stranger” was – review spoiler – awesome. Mr. Thompson has established himself, at least for me, as the Supernatural writer. All of his episodes from season gr8 have been mind blowingly good.

After happening upon news of three bizarre deaths, Sam and Dean discover that Crowley has sent demon teams to find Lucifer’s crypts, in which he believes lies the location of the Angel tablet. The boys reunite not only with Castiel along the way, but also Meg. She, despite being tortured for a year or more, has been supplying Crowley’s hordes with false locations of the crypts. Meg joins up with the team and two men, an angel and a demon set out to find the tablet before Crowley can get his hands on it.

And thus ends the spoiler free part of the review.

The Good:

• So, tumblr is probably going to divorce me, but I loved the idea of Meg and Castiel. Maybe it’s because the first time I ever felt moved by a comic was a certain panel in the first issue of “Preacher” (yeah, that panel), but an angel and a demon together in the Pizza Man way just make me smile. But… Note the past tense.
• Oh, Meg. I never thought I’d shed a tear for you and your pop culture quoting human hating Winchester baiting persona, but I did. I am so sorry you never got your unicorn, Meg. I hate to list her demise under a “good” post point, but it was a well written ending that worked emotions without being sappy.

The Better:

• Can we just talk about the set design tonight? The model of the town in vic #1’s basement, the maps, the scenes at the Batcave, Lucifer’s crypt? Good god that was some beautiful art direction!
• Agents Tandy and Lynne? I’m sorry Supernatural, did you just make an ELO reference? Oh, bravo!
• Castiel had some zingers this week but they were delivered without the traditional Cas naivete, which in my estimation makes them ten times funnier. Some favorites: “I’m going to interrogate the strange haired demon in the kitchen” and “You know I can hear you both. I am a celestial being.”

The OH MY GOD THIS IS WHY I WATCH THIS SHOW YES THANK YOU AWESOME:

• I tweeted Robbie Thompson once last night during the episode, and wanted to do it at least three more times. But I’m a little too old to be a twitter stalker. But the pacing! This episode should be used in screenwriting classes to teach neophytes how to plot an episode of terse drama and incidental humor. I rarely took time to write notes until commercials came on because I could not tear my eyes away from the screen.
• Did you feel a disturbance in the force around, oh, say, 9:45 EST last night? Did your cat and dog run to the window and stare without purpose? Did you hear the collective sigh and elated singing of hundreds of thousands of fangirls? ‘Cause that’s what happened. There are several alliances out there in fandom; those that love Cas, and those that don’t feel his presence adds anything to the show. OK, more specifically there are those that hate him and there are the shippers. But regardless of your stance, last night, through solid writing, incredible performances, and characters, even Winchesters, sharing their wants and needs in an appropriate way, Cas was given purpose. Not just by fans – we’ve been giving him purpose for four years. But the show finally gave him a reason to stick around. “We’re family! We need you! I need you!” If your mouth wasn’t agape and your eyes watery, well… You must be new here.

The show is finally moving on from the “brothers withholding information from themselves and others causing internal and external strife” template. It’s time. The characters are growing and the show just keeps getting better and better.

New weekly feature, I think: Dean Winchester’s Quip of the Week! “The Rudy Hobbit always gets a pass.”