tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90294382008781038932024-02-19T09:03:44.651-08:00ThemeParks4Life's Untitled Entertainment BlogA blog about movies, TV, and gaming.ThemeParks4Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09288730147929059348noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9029438200878103893.post-13506353399311113132015-02-21T12:10:00.002-08:002015-02-21T12:10:20.301-08:002015 Oscar Predictions<span style="font-family: inherit;">The Oscars are upon us! It feels nice to have a race this year. Last year the frontrunner in every single category won and made for a boring year, but this time several key categories are up in the air. I'll be listing the nominees in alphabetical order with my prediction at the end of the section this time around.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
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<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Best Picture:</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">American Sniper</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Birdman</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Boyhood</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Grand Budapest Hotel</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Imitation Game</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Selma</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Theory of Everything</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Whiplash</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></b>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Best Picture boils down to Boyhood vs Birdman this year. Boyhood has a BAFTA win supporting it (and the Globes, but there's no membership overlap with the Academy) while Birdman has PGA, DGA, and SAG. Only one film has ever won that trio and lost at the Oscars- Apollo 13, and that didn't have a Director nomination at the Oscars. </span>Furthermore<span style="font-family: inherit;">, PGA has a much more reliable track record than BAFTA does. Ever since PGA started their awards, they've only been wrong 7 times. BAFTA has been wrong 14 times in the same period, though they've been right on Picture for the past 6 years. The one thing going against Birdman is the lack of an editing nomination. No Best Picture winner since Ordinary People has won without an editing nomination, and that was 34 years ago. A streak will be broken regardless if it's PGA and Editing or BAFTA. I'm going with Birdman because of the trio of guilds matching, not to mention the preferential ballot should help it a lot.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Prediction: Birdman</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Director:</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Birdman</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Richard Linklater, Boyhood</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Bennett Miller, Foxcatcher</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Morten Tyldum, The Imitation Game</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></b>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The DGA awards have only been wrong 8 times in all 66 previous years, but there's been a lot of support for Linklater. I don't think a Picture and Director split will happen this year, but if it does, it'll be Birdman for Picture and Linklater for Director.</span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Prediction: Inarritu, but I'm very cautious about Linklater.</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Actor:</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Steve Carell, Foxcatcher</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Bradley Cooper, American Sniper</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Michael Keaton, Birdman</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></b>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">This race largely boils down between Keaton and Redmayne with an outside chance for Cooper. While Redmayne has won more major precursors, there's two big reasons I'm going with Keaton:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">1. 58% of the time (50 times) the BP winner wins an acting award. Birdman is considered the frontrunner now, odds are in it's favor it could win an acting award. Since Norton and Stone don't have any chance at winning, Keaton would be the win for this movie.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">2. SAG gets one wrong half the time. In the previous 20 years of SAG, they've only been wrong on Best Actor 4 times. Redmayne should be a near lock, right? Wrong. SAG has gotten three out of four acting categories right ten times (50%), all four right five times (25%), half right four times (20%), and one time they only got one winner correct (5%).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I haven't given up on a Keaton win yet, and neither should you. This is one of the toughest races this year.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Prediction: Keaton, but Redmayne is right behind him.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Actress:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Marion Cotillard, Two Days, One Night</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Julianne Moore, Still Alice</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Reese Witherspoon, Wild</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Fortunately, the other 3 acting races all have locks. For this category, it's Julianne Moore.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Prediction: Moore</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Supporting Actor:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Robert Duvall, The Judge</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Ethan Hawke, Boyhood</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Edward Norton, Birdman</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>JK Simmons, Whiplash</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Here, it's JK Simmons.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Prediction: Simmons</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Supporting Actress:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Patricia Arquette, Boyhood</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Laura Dern, Wild</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Emma Stone, Birdman</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Meryl Streep, Into the Woods</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Finally, Patricia Arquette has it locked here.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Prediction: Arquette</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Original Screenplay:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris Jr, and Armando Bo, Birdman</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Richard Linklater, Boyhood</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman, Foxcatcher</b></span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Wes Anderson and Hugo </span>Guinness, The Grand Budapest Hotel</b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawlere</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></b>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The screenplay categories are tough this year. Original is between Birdman and Budapest, and while I've been predicting Birdman to win here for a bit, I switched to Budapest recently. Lately the writer's guild has been wrong on one category, but I don't know<b> </b>what category they'll be wrong on this year (Budapest won Original and The Imitation Game won Adapted). I'm playing it safe this year and going with both of their picks expecting to get one wrong.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Prediction: Warily predicting Budapest.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Adapted Screenplay:<br /><br />Jason Hall, American Sniper</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Graham Moore, The Imitation Game</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Paul Thomas Anderson, Inherent Vice</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Anthony McCarten, The Theory of Everything</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Damien Chazelle, Whiplash</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Like I said in the last paragraph, I'm playing it safe and picking The Imitation Game. You can make a case for every nominee except Inherent Vice, and I think they'll want to give Imitation something since it has little to no chance anywhere else.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Prediction: Imitation Game, but Whiplash is very close.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<b>Animated Feature:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>The Boxtrolls</b><br />
<b>Big Hero 6</b><br />
<b>How to Train Your Dragon 2</b><br />
<b><strike>The Lego Movie</strike></b><br />
<b>Song of the Sea</b><br />
<b>The Tale of the Princess Kaguya</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
This race boils down to Big Hero 6 and Dragon. I was going with Big Hero 6 until it lost at the BAFTAs (and their animated streak was broken since Lego won there). The only sequel to ever win Animated Feature was Toy Story 3, and it had a Best Picture nomination that year. My mind says Big Hero 6, but my gut says Dragon.<br />
<br />
<b>Prediction: Dragon, but Big Hero 6 is within spitting distance.</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Foreign Film:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Ida</b><br />
<b>Leviathan</b><br />
<b>Tangerines</b><br />
<b>Timbuktu</b><br />
<b>Wild Tales</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Ida has been the perceived frontrunner for quite some time, and it's Cinematography nomination helps. However, Wild Tales has been gaining a lot of traction lately, and there's always Golden Globe winner Leviathan. I'm playing it safe and picking Ida.<br />
<br />
<b>Prediction: Ida</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Documentary:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Citizenfour</b><br />
<b>Finding Vivian Maier</b><br />
<b>Last Days in Vietnam</b><br />
<b>The Salt of the Earth</b><br />
<b>Virunga</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
On paper, Citizenfour seems like the winner due to the topic of Edward Snowden. Finding Vivian Maier has been getting a lot of attention and Virunga has been all over Netflix. Once again, I'm playing it safe by going with Citizenfour, but an upset could happen.<br />
<br />
<b>Prediction: Citizenfour</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Cinematography:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Birdman</b><br />
<b>The Grand Budapest Hotel</b><br />
<b>Ida</b><br />
<b>Mr. Turner</b><br />
<b>Unbroken</b><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Birdman has this locked.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Prediction: Birdman</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Editing:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<b>American Sniper</b><br />
<b>Boyhood</b><br />
<b>The Grand Budapest Hotel</b><br />
<b>The Imitation Game</b><br />
<b>Whiplash</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
This is a close race between Boyhood and Whiplash. Boyhood flows through year transitions seamlessly, while Whiplash has the heavily edited finale among other things. Boyhood has been the frontrunner here for a bit and I'm still going with that.<br />
<br />
<b>Prediction: Boyhood, though Whiplash is very close.</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Production Design:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>The Grand Budapest Hotel</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>The Imitation Game</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Interstellar</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Into the Woods</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Mr. Tuner</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Budapest has this locked.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Prediction: Budapest</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Costume Design:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>The Grand Budapest Hotel </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Inherent Vice</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Into the Woods</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Maleficent</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Mr. Turner</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Once again, a lock for Budapest.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Prediction: Budapest</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Makeup and Hairstyling:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Foxcatcher</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>The Grand Budapest Hotel</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Guardians of the Galaxy</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">This is hands down the toughest category this year. You have the sci-fi movie, the period piece, and the singular achievement. It's been a bit since a sci-fi or fantasy movie has won here, so voters might want to shake it up. The response I've been reading on all of the ballot reports is "I want to give Guardians a win". The movie was a huge hit, and this is the place to honor it. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Prediction: Guardians of the Galaxy, but the other two aren't far behind.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Song:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Everything is Awesome, The Lego Movie</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Glory, Selma</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Grateful, Beyond the Lights</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>I'm Not Gonna Miss You, Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Lost Stars, Begin Again</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">This is the only spot to honor Selma and it's been the perceived frontrunner for a long time. Deep down, though, I'm hoping Everything is Awesome upsets.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Prediction: Glory</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Score:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Alexandre Desplat, The Grand Budapest Hotel</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Alexandre Desplat, The Imitation Game</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Hans Zimmer, Interstellar</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Gary Yershon, Mr. Turner</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Johann Johannsson, The Theory of Everything</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Here's another tough category. Right now it's between Budapest and Theory, though Interstellar and Imitation have an outside chance at upsetting. The Golden Globes have an excellent track record with Score, so I'm going with The Theory of Everything.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Prediction: The Theory of Everything</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Sound Editing:<br /><br />American Sniper</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Birdman</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Interstellar</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Unbroken</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">American Sniper is more than likely going to win.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Prediction: American Sniper</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Sound Mixing:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>American Sniper</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Birdman</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Interstellar</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Unbroken </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Whiplash</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Mixing boils down to American Sniper vs Whiplash with an outside chance for Birdman thanks to it's guild win. War movies and movies involving music often win here, which makes it all the more harder. Tough call, but going with Whiplash.</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Prediction: Whiplash, but don't be surprised if Sniper or Birdman win.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Visual Effects:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Captain America: The Winter Soldier</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Dawn of the Planet of the Apes</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Guardians of the Galaxy</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Interstellar</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>X-Men: Days of Future Past</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">For a while Interstellar was the </span>perceived<span style="font-family: inherit;"> frontrunner, but then Apes won at the VES awards. GOTG has also been gaining a lot of traction, and like I mentioned earlier, it's love could get it the win. Based on the guild win, I'm going with Apes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Prediction: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>The Short categories:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Animated Short looks to be Feast, Crisis Hotline 1 for Documentary, and The Phone Call for Live Action. The Dam Keeper in Animated has been gaining traction though, so watch out for that.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Films with multiple predictions:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Birdman- 4 (Picture, Director, Actor, Cinematography)</b></span><br />
<b>The Grand Budapest Hotel- 3 (Original Screenplay, Production Design, Costume Design)</b><br />
<b>Boyhood- 2 (Supporting Actress, Editing)</b><br />
<b>Whiplash- 2 (Supporting Actor, Sound Mixing)</b><br />
<br />ThemeParks4Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09288730147929059348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9029438200878103893.post-9985316793414382742015-01-14T16:12:00.002-08:002015-01-14T16:12:57.551-08:002015 Oscar Nomination PredictionsIt's that time of year again! The Oscar nominations come out tomorrow, and man will this be an exciting race. I'm predicting some interesting surprises and snubs. Let's dig in!<br />
<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
<b>Picture:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Boyhood</b><br />
<b>2. Birdman</b><br />
<b>3. The Grand Budapest Hotel</b><br />
<b>4. The Imitation Game</b><br />
<b>5. The Theory of Everything</b><br />
<b>6. Whiplash</b><br />
<b>7. Gone Girl</b><br />
<b>8. Nightcrawler</b><br />
<b>9. American Sniper</b><br />
<b>Spoilers: Selma, Foxcatcher</b><br />
<br />
I'm predicting 9 nominees for Picture, because until it happens I can't see the Academy going lower or giving the 10th spot. The 4 locks are Boyhood, Birdman, Budapest, and Imitation Game. They've all been nominated at the precursors and all have a chance at winning Best Picture.<br />
<br />
Going into likely territory is The Theory of Everything and Whiplash. Theory of Everything has done extremely well at precursors and Whiplash got it's fair share of BAFTA nominations in addition to WGA and JK Simmons being the overwhelming frontrunner for Supporting Actor.<br />
<br />
The last 3 are a bit more up in the air, but likely nominations. Gone Girl has been one of the most talked about movies for the past few months and should do well in technical categories. Nightcrawler has been gaining tons of buzz lately thanks to Jake Gyllenhaal getting in at the Globes and SAG and the film doing well in nominations at BAFTA. American Sniper has been surprising at the guilds, getting into everything but SAG.<br />
<br />
The spoilers are Selma and Foxcatcher. While Selma got a good amount of nominations at the Globes, it's done terrible everywhere else. SAG and WGA are excluded since screeners didn't go out in time for SAG and it was ineligible at WGA, but there was no excuse as to why it couldn't have been nominated at PGA or DGA. Given that there's overlap between the guilds and the Academy, Selma is going to have a tough time getting in. Foxcatcher has an outside chance thanks to potential acting nominations, but it's buzz has been on the decline.<br />
<br />
<b>Director:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Richard Linklater, Boyhood</b><br />
<b>2. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Birdman</b><br />
<b>3. Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel</b><br />
<b>4. Morten Tyldum, The Imitation Game</b><br />
<b>5. Damien Chazelle, Whiplash</b><br />
<b>Spoilers: Clint Eastwood, American Sniper; David Fincher, Gone Girl; Ava DuVernay, Selma</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
The first 3 are locked, but the last 2 spots are questionable. Tyldum has the benefit of getting in at DGA and Imitation Game being a Weinstein film<b> </b>but could easily get snubbed. Chazelle is a bit of a risky prediction, but having been nominated at BAFTA puts a bit more stock into the prediction. With American Sniper on the rise and having a DGA nomination Eastwood isn't out of the question, Fincher might surprise, and if Selma has support DuVernay could likely be in.<br />
<br />
<b>Actor:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Michael Keaton, Birdman</b><br />
<b>2. Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything</b><br />
<b>3. Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game</b><br />
<b>4. Jake Gyllenhaal, Nightcrawler</b><br />
<b>5. Bradley Cooper, American Sniper</b><br />
<b>Spoilers: Steve Carell, Foxcatcher (if placed here); David Oyelowo, Selma; Ralph Fiennes, The Grand Budapest Hotel</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Just like director, the first 3 are locked but the last two are a bit tricky. Gyllenhaal is likely having gotten in at all precursors, and Cooper has the benefit of American Sniper on the rise. Carell has been losing buzz, though he got into Supporting at BAFTA so it's possible he's placed there (I'm predicting it). Oyelowo could get in if Selma is liked and Fiennes might ride along Budapest's nomination count.<br />
<br />
<b>Actress:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Julianne Moore, Still Alice</b><br />
<b>2. Reese Witherspoon, Wild</b><br />
<b>3. Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl</b><br />
<b>4. Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything</b><br />
<b>5. Amy Adams, Big Eyes</b><br />
<b>Spoiler: Jennifer Anniston, Cake</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
The first four are locked, so it's really the fifth spot that needs discussing. Most agree it's between Adams and Anniston, and they both have things going for them. Anniston was able to get into SAG, while Adams got into BAFTA and has Weinstein behind her (not to mention a Globe win, but that was after voting for the Oscars closed). Right now I'm going with Adams, but I wouldn't be surprised if Anniston made it in.<br />
<br />
<b>Supporting Actor:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. JK Simmons, Whiplash</b><br />
<b>2. Edward Norton, Birdman</b><br />
<b>3. Ethan Hawke, Boyhood</b><br />
<b>4. Steve Carell, Foxcatcher</b><br />
<b>5. Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher</b><br />
<b>Spoilers: Robert Duvall, The Judge; Josh Brolin, Inherent Vice</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
I'm going out on a limb and saying Steve Carell makes it in here and not Actor, especially given the competition in Actor. If he doesn't make it in or voters decide to have only one Foxcatcher actor here, Duvall will take the 5th spot. Or who knows, maybe Inherent Vice resonated well with the Academy and Brolin gets in.<br />
<br />
<b>Supporting Actress:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Patricia Arquette, Boyhood</b><br />
<b>2. Emma Stone, Birdman</b><br />
<b>3. Kiera Knightley, The Imitation Game</b><br />
<b>4. Meryl Streep, Into the Woods</b><br />
<b>5. Rene Russo, Nightcrawler</b><br />
<b>Spoiler: Jessica Chastain, A Most Violent Year</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
In my opinion, the first four are locked. Quite a bit have been predicting a Streep snub, but come on, it's Meryl Streep; she's getting in. The fifth spot is between Russo and Chastain, and I'm going with the former since Nightcrawler has been gaining traction lately. However, Chastain has the advantage of being in so many movies this year voters just might want to nominate her.<br />
<br />
<b>Original Screenplay:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Birdman</b><br />
<b>2. Boyhood</b><br />
<b>3. The Grand Budapest Hotel</b><br />
<b>4. Nightcrawler</b><br />
<b>5. Foxcatcher</b><br />
<b>Spoiler: Selma</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
At this point it's a matter of Foxcatcher vs Selma for the 5th spot, and like I've said before, Selma is going to have a tough time getting in after the guild snubs. Foxcatcher has the advantage here.<br />
<br />
<b>Adapted Screenplay:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. The Imitation Game</b><br />
<b>2. Whiplash</b><br />
<b>3. Gone Girl</b><br />
<b>4. The Theory of Everything</b><br />
<b>5. American Sniper</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
This is the only category I'm 100% confident in. I firmly believe this will be the Adapted Screenplay lineup.<br />
<br />
<b>Animated Feature:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. The LEGO Movie</b><br />
<b>2. How to Train Your Dragon 2</b><br />
<b>3. Big Hero 6</b><br />
<b>4. The Boxtrolls</b><br />
<b>5. The Tale of the Princess Kaguya</b><br />
<b>Spoilers: The Book of Life; Song of the Sea</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Lego, Dragon, and Big Hero 6 are locks, and Boxtrolls is likely; the fifth spot is the tough one. Kaguya has the highest score on Metacritic between it and the spoilers, so that's my 5th spot right now. Book of Life benefits from a Globe nomination while Song of the Sea has excellent reviews.<br />
<br />
<b>Best Foreign Film:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Ida</b><br />
<b>2. Levithan</b><br />
<b>3. Force Majeure</b><br />
<b>4. Wild Tales</b><br />
<b>5. Tangerines</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Best Documentary:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Citizenfour</b><br />
<b>2. Life Itself</b><br />
<b>3. Last Days in Vietnam </b><br />
<b>4. Virunga</b><br />
<b>5. The Case Against 8</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Cinematography:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Birdman</b><br />
<b>2. Interstellar</b><br />
<b>3. Gone Girl</b><br />
<b>4. The Grand Budapest Hotel</b><br />
<b>5. Mr Turner</b><br />
<b>Spoilers: Unbroken; The Imitation Game; Nightcrawler</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Costume Design:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Into the Woods</b><br />
<b>2. The Grand Budapest Hotel</b><br />
<b>3. Maleficent</b><br />
<b>4. Mr Turner</b><br />
<b>5. The Imitation Game</b><br />
<b>Spoilers: Big Eyes; Belle</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Editing:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Boyhood</b><br />
<b>2. Birdman </b><br />
<b>3. Interstellar</b><br />
<b>4. Gone Girl</b><br />
<b>5. Whiplash</b><br />
<b>Spoilers: The Grand Budapest Hotel; The Imitation Game</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Makeup and Hairstyling:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Foxcatcher</b><br />
<b>2. Guardians of the Galaxy</b><br />
<b>3. The Grand Budapest Hotel</b><br />
<b>Spoilers: The Theory of Everything; Maleficent</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Production Design:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. The Grand Budapest Hotel</b><br />
<b>2. Into the Woods</b><br />
<b>3. Birdman</b><br />
<b>4. Interstellar</b><br />
<b>5. The Imitation Game</b><br />
<b>Spoilers: Mr Turner; Maleficent</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Score:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Interstellar</b><br />
<b>2. Gone Girl</b><br />
<b>3. The Theory of Everything</b><br />
<b>4. The Grand Budapest Hotel</b><br />
<b>5. The Imitation Game</b><br />
<b>Spoiler: Unbroken</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Song:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Selma- Glory</b><br />
<b>2. The LEGO Movie- Everything is Awesome</b><br />
<b>3. Big Eyes- Big Eyes</b><br />
<b>4. Begin Again- Lost Stars</b><br />
<b>5. Boyhood- Split the Difference</b><br />
<b>Spoilers: Noah- Mercy Is; The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1- Yellow Flicker Beat</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Sound Editing:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Interstellar</b><br />
<b>2. Fury</b><br />
<b>3. Guardians of the Galaxy</b><br />
<b>4. Whiplash</b><br />
<b>5. American Sniper</b><br />
<b>Spoilers: Unbroken; Birdman; Into the Woods</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Sound Mixing:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Interstellar</b><br />
<b>2. Into the Woods</b><br />
<b>3. Whiplash</b><br />
<b>4. American Sniper</b><br />
<b>5. Birdman</b><br />
<b>Spoilers: Unbroken; Guardians of the Galaxy; Fury</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Visual Effects:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Interstellar</b><br />
<b>2. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes</b><br />
<b>3. Guardians of the Galaxy</b><br />
<b>4. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies</b><br />
<b>5. Captain America: The Winter Soldier</b><br />
<b>Spoilers: X-Men: Days of Future Past; Godzilla; Transformers: Age of Extinction</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Animated Short:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Feast</b><br />
<b>2. Duet</b><br />
<b>3. The Bigger Picture</b><br />
<b>4. Coda</b><br />
<b>5. Symphony No. 42</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Documentary Short:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. The Lion's Mouth Opens</b><br />
<b>2. Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1</b><br />
<b>3. Joanna</b><br />
<b>4. One Child</b><br />
<b>5. Our Curse</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Live Action Short:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Carry On</b><br />
<b>2. Boogaloo and Graham </b><br />
<b>3. The Phone Call</b><br />
<b>4. Aya</b><br />
<b>5. Baghdad Messi</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Films with multiple nominations:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">10- </span><strong style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">Birdman</strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> (Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing, Production Design, Sound Mixing)</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">8- </span><strong style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">The Grand Budapest Hotel</strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> (Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Costume Design, Makeup and Hairstyling, Production Design, Score), </span><strong style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">The Imitation Game</strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> (Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actress, Adapted Screenplay, Costume Design, Production Design, Score)</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">7- </span><strong style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">Boyhood</strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> (Picture, Director, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Original Screenplay, Editing, Song),</span><strong style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">Whiplash</strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> (Picture, Director, Supporting Actor, Adapted Screenplay, Editing, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing), </span><strong style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">Interstellar</strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> (Cinematography, Editing, Production Design, Score, Visual Effects, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing)</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">6- </span><strong style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">Gone Girl</strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> (Picture, Actress, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing, Score),</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">5- </span><strong style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">The Theory of Everything</strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> (Picture, Actor, Actress, Adapted Screenplay, Score), </span><strong style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">American Sniper</strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> (Picture, Actor, Adapted Screenplay, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing)</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">4- </span><strong style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">Nightcrawler</strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> (Picture, Actor, Supporting Actress, Original Screenplay), </span><strong style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">Foxcatcher </strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">(Supporting Actor (both Carell and Ruffalo), Original Screenplay, Makeup and Hairstyling), </span><strong style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">Into the Woods </strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">(Supporting Actress, Costume Design, Production Design, Sound Mixing)</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">3- </span><strong style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">Guardians of the Galaxy </strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">(Makeup and Hairstyling, Visual Effects, Sound Editing)</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">2- </span><strong style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">Big Eyes </strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">(Actress, Song), </span><strong style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">The LEGO Movie </strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">(Animated, Song), </span><strong style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">Mr Turner </strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">(Cinematography, Costume Design)</span><br />
<br />ThemeParks4Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09288730147929059348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9029438200878103893.post-63709502346664237782014-11-06T17:37:00.002-08:002014-11-06T17:37:25.407-08:00Sunset Overdrive Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Sunset Overdrive was one of the Xbox One exclusives I was looking forward to the most. The gameplay mechanics looked great and the cartoony style of the game was a nice alternative to the serious and gritty games the majority of AAA titles these days are. Fortunately, the game met all of my expectations and is one of the best games I've played this year.<br />
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The game takes place in Sunset City where a new soda by Fizzco went on the market too fast and caused those who drunk it to turn into mutants know as OD. You the player have to try escaping the city while fighting off OD, scabs, and Fizzco robots.<br />
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Character customization in the game is huge. Not only can you choose your character RPG style, but the amount of clothing items in the game is endless; there has to be at least 300 items to buy and unlock. The guns have a wide variety as well, ranging to single shots, auto, and projectiles, each while being unique in their own way. Heck, there's even weapons based off of Dirty Harry and The Dude!<br />
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The gameplay isn't your typical third person shooter. If you fight from the ground surrounded by several enemies, you're going to die pretty fast. Instead, you have to jump on objects and grind on rails to reduce your chances of being hit. In order to do extra damage, you'll need to build up your style meter, which will allow you to do bigger and better attacks. Amps will add an additional effect to a type of attack. You can also equip Overcharges that do additional damage for certain weapons and reduce damage from select enemies. Weapons can reach up to level 5 to get more ammo capacity, range, and damage. All of this combined made the gameplay feel fresh and original. It's worth noting that there's only one difficulty level. While there were some challenging parts, I would have loved to see what a hard difficulty would bring.<br />
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Sunset City looks beautiful and is fun to explore, but there are some framerate issues (more on that later). The main campaign is really good, but in the third act it starts getting a bit repetitive. While the script has some funny moments, most of the time it tries way too hard to be funny. The side missions have some great references, including missions where the character is a parody of Jesse Pinkman and Hodor. In fact, sometimes the side missions were more inventive than the campaign missions.<br />
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There's a wide variety of challenges ranging from weapon challenges, points, traversal, and more. It's a fun thing to do after completing the campaign and easily adds a couple extra hours to the game. Unfortunately, multiplayer isn't anything noteworthy. You and 5 other players have to complete certain objectives leading up to a night defense. It's a good way to get cash to buy collective maps and get the five achievements after doing side missions, otherwise it's not something I'll be playing in the future.<br />
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Length wise there's plenty to do in the game. The campaign lasts for about 9-10 hours, but doing side missions, challenges, and getting collectibles easily bumps the game up to 20+ hours. I still haven't collected everything and I've been playing for nearly 25 hours.<br />
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The game's biggest problems are the bugs in the game. Like I mentioned earlier, there's are framerate issues. When there's too many things happening on screen such as an explosion or hordes of enemies, the framerate will dip drastically. The other bug I encountered was in one mission where I had to fight Fizzco bots, the game didn't detect I finished defeating them and sent a lot more in. Fortunately it was early on in the mission, and when I restarted the mission I was able to get to the next point.<br />
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Overall, Sunset Overdrive is a great game and one of the best games so far this gen. I would have loved to give the game a 9, but the script, bugs, and repetitiveness towards the end notch it down a little bit. I give Sunset Overdrive an <b>8.5/10 or B+.</b><br />
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<br />ThemeParks4Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09288730147929059348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9029438200878103893.post-83521376401591299502014-10-16T17:14:00.000-07:002014-10-16T17:14:52.677-07:00Alien Isolation Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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After the universally panned game Aliens: Colonial Marines, Sega had a lot of improving to do for their next Alien game. Instead of going for an action game, they decided to go for a horror survival one with inspiration from the first Alien. Did they succeed? Yes, yes they did.<br />
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Set 15 years after the events of Alien, Ripley's daughter Amanda is met with a Weyland-Yutani executive named Samuels about a Nostromo flight recorder. The tape recorder is being held aboard the Sevastopol space port, and it could reveal where Ellen Ripley is. Of course, since this is a horror game, things go terribly wrong and it's discovered that the port is abandoned. What remains on the ship are survivors, androids, and yes, a Xenomorph.<br />
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From the moment you start the game and wake up in the Torrens (the ship you arrive on), you can tell right away how much Alien influenced this game. In fact, the Torrens is modelled after the Nostromo! The atmosphere is one of the best parts of the game (as it should be in any horror game), and you never know what's around the corner, open or in vents.<br />
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The characters are probably the weakest part of the game. While not bad, none of the characters are anything special and leave you wanting more.<br />
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Going onto gameplay, this isn't your typical survivor game. Your six primary weapons are the revolver, shotgun, bolt gun, flame thrower, maintenance jack, and stun baton. For distractions you have flares, noisemakers, flashbangs, pipe bombs, smoke bombs, Molotov, and EMP mines, each having their purposes for a given situation. However, you need to choose carefully as supplies are scarce and you need to save supplies for medkits too. There's also a flashlight and motion tracker to keep you aware of surroundings.<br />
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The enemy AI is one of the best I've seen in quite a bit. Humans are easy to take down with melee, but if they catch you be prepared to die. Androids are hard to defeat without an EMP mine, stun baton charge, or bolt gun (the latter you don't get until late in the game), and if you don't have any of them be prepared to use your shotgun or revolver and make a run to the nearest locker or cabinet if the alien is nearby. Be on the lookout for androids lying down as they can give you a good startle if you're not looking out.<br />
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Finally there's the Xenomorph, and man oh man is this guy scary. I say this as someone who isn't easily scared, but by not being careful at times he scared me to the point where I was in shock for more than five seconds. You're never safe from him, not even in lockers and cabinets. If you run out of breath or he knew you were there and is messing with you, he'll take down the door and kill you unexpectedly. Your only way to defend against the alien is by using the flame thrower, and that will only scare him away for a short amount of time.<br />
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I played on hard, and it provided a tough challenge. However, the game will be challenging no matter what difficulty you decide to play on, so this isn't going to be everyone's game. There's 18 missions in the campaign and it took me 20 hours to complete. I would have cut a mission or two from the game, but otherwise it remained fun.<br />
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As far as extras go, Survivor Mode is a time trial mode where you have to complete an objective and get to the elevator without getting killed by the alien. It's fun, but only one map is included with the game; the rest you have to buy with DLC. Unless the maps are substantially different from the one included with the game, I have no plans on buying it.<br />
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The season pass will consist of Survivor Maps, but there's to extra missions that were included with pre-ordering that you can buy for $4 each: Crew Expandable and Last Survivor. Both missions take place during Alien. In Crew Expandable you play as Ripley, Parker, or Dallas and have to try luring the Alien into an airlock, while Last Survivor starts right when Ripley is the last survivor left on the Nostromo and you have to get to the escape ship. Both of the missions are fun for what they are, but they're incredibly short. Crew Expandable took me 25 minutes to complete and Last Survivor took 10 minutes, and I played both on Hard. They're only worth getting if they're 50 cents during a sale.<br />
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Overall, I loved Alien Isolation. This won't be a game for everyone, but if you're a fan of Alien and are up for a challenge, you won't regret buying this. I give Alien Isolation a <b>9/10 or A-.</b><br />
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<br />ThemeParks4Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09288730147929059348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9029438200878103893.post-18550076131893068692014-09-14T11:06:00.001-07:002014-09-14T11:06:44.575-07:00Destiny Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/be/Destiny_box_art.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/be/Destiny_box_art.png" /></a></div>
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Destiny has been one of the most hyped up games of 2014 for a reason- it's a new IP from Bungie, the makers of Halo. In fact, it made back it's entire budget (500 million) in one day! That's insane! So, after all this hype, does Destiny live up to the hype? Not really. Destiny isn't a bad game by any means, it's just really, really flawed.<br />
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First, let's start with something that apply to both the campaign and PVP: graphics. The graphics and environments are excellent and shows the power of what the 8th generation can do. Both PS4 and Xbox One are 1080p 30 FPS and there's no difference between them graphically aside from some lighting.<br />
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The game takes place in a post apocalyptic future after an event called the Collapse has wiped out most of mankind. The only survivors were saved by the Traveller, a giant white sphere, and it now protects the last safe city on Earth. It also grants the guardians (the protectors) to have a power called the Light. It's discovered that aliens have taken over the planets that were wiped out and are getting ready to invade the city. It's up to you to protect what's left of humanity and get rid of the aliens before they reach the city.<br />
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You get revived by a Ghost (voiced by Peter Dinklage) and get to create your character. You can choose between three races- Human, Awoken (a vampire-like race), and Exo (robots), and then you choose a class- Hunter, Warlock, and Titan. All classes have advantages, but I chose an Exo Hunter for my playthrough.<br />
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The story is very barebones with no surprises or twists. It's pretty much what I said in the first paragraph- you have to protect the city. The characters are boring and the voice acting is average, but Ghost and the PVP narrator (we'll get to him later) are bad. Half the time Peter Dinklage doesn't even know what he's saying. The rest of the cast is basic; not bad, just nothing noteworthy.<br />
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The gameplay is fun at first, but after the first planet (there's four in total) it starts getting repetitive, and by the end it's just tedious. Most levels are the same exact thing: get through enemies, have Ghost scan something, fight more enemies, have Ghost scan something while protecting him from enemies, level over. In fact, sometimes you'll have to go to the exact same area!<br />
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There's only 3 races of enemies: Hive, Vex, and Cabal. Hive enemies are the easiest as most can be killed in two shots while the latter two have a sweet spot on most enemies that needs to be shot a few times. Overall there isn't much variety on them, and another race or two would have been welcome.<br />
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There's a nice variety of guns to choose from. I found myself using the hand cannon most of the campaign but started using the auto rifle towards the end. The only weapon I wasn't a fan of was the pulse rifle as the bursts of 3 bullets got annoying.<br />
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As far as collectables go, you unlock Grimoire cards that you have to view on Bungie's site. They're nice to read and worth a look if you happen to be on the site. Loot chests are hard to find and I only unlocked about 3. Rewards at the end of a quest or PVP will be weapons, armor, or materials you can trade at the tower. Rewards come at a steady rate in PVP to my surprise, and it's not as rare as the item drops in Team Fortress and Counter Strike.<br />
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In order to gain XP and level up, you need to complete story quests, kill enemies, play in PVP, go on strikes, or do patrol quests. Levelling up is very easy in the game. There's only 20 levels in the game (30 with armor) and in the 11 and a half hours I played I got up to Level 18. Going to the bounty tracker at the tower is a big help in levelling up as he'll give you bounties for doing patrols, strikes, and PVP matches. I wouldn't recommend getting bounties until level 10-ish as that's when it starts taking longer to level up.<br />
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Patrol quests are the side quests and they're essentially there for XP. When you have a bounty to do 6 of them on a planet you'll get a nice chunk of XP. Strike missions are essentially the dungeons of the game where you and two other players go through the planet to achieve a goal. These are by far the best part of the game and provide a fun challenge.<br />
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The Crucible, aka PVP, has several basic FPS multiplayer modes: Clash (6 vs 6), Skirmish (3 vs 3) Rumble (6 players against each other), Control, and Salvage (capture the most relics). PVP maps are good and it can be fun, but it's nothing groundbreaking. Like I said earlier, the narrator is terrible. He just sounds so bored whenever he says something it's kind of funny.<br />
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Unfortunately, the game is short. The game took me 11 and a half hours total to complete. The campaign took 7 hours and the other 4 and a half hours was to level up, which included 1 hour 15 minutes of strikes (I didn't do all of them), 1 and a half hours of patrols, and about 1 hour 50 minutes in PVP. I did two campaign levels on hard (which I don't recommend unless you're with friends), and had I done them on normal the campaign would have only taken me 6 hours, and if I did every quest with friends it probably would have taken under 5 hours.<br />
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Destiny gets some things right, but there's some major flaws with the game. Hopefully the sequel will have a campaign that's short and has better quests. Overall, I give Destiny a <b>C+/6.</b>ThemeParks4Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09288730147929059348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9029438200878103893.post-87581453208205540532014-08-24T10:13:00.000-07:002014-08-24T10:13:03.380-07:002014 Emmy PredictionsThe Emmys are on Monday, and man do we have a tough year! While there's a few categories that are locks, others are much harder, and in some cases there's no clear frontrunner. I feel confident in these predictions and I don't think I'll be changing them. I'll be listing the categories in the order they're being presented.<br />
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<b>Comedy Supporting Actor</b><br />
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<b>1. Tony Hale, Veep (Episode: Crate)</b><br />
<b>2. Fred Armisen, Portlandia (Episode: Pull-Out King)</b><br />
<b>3. Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Modern Family (Episode: Message Received)</b><br />
<b>4. Andre Braugher, Brooklyn Nine-Nine (Episode: Christmas)</b><br />
<b>5. Ty Burrell, Modern Family (Episode: Spring-a-Ding-Fling)</b><br />
<b>6. Adam Driver, Girls (Episode: Two Plane Rides)</b><br />
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You can make a case for everyone except Adam Driver. Right now I think Tony Hale is winning as he won last year (and has a much better episode this year) and Veep increased nominations. Fred Armisen was a WTF prediction, but he could pull off an upset considering there's no real frontrunner. Jesse Tyler Ferguson benefits from two episodes (and he's good in both from what people said) and Andre Braugher is an Academy favorite (even though this wasn't his best episode choice), so don't discount them.<br />
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<b>Comedy Writing</b><br />
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<b>1. Louie- So Did the Fat Lady</b><br />
<b>2. Veep- Special Relationship</b><br />
<b>3. Silicon Valley- Optimal Tip-to-Tip Efficientcy </b><br />
<b>4. Orange is the New Black- I Wasn't Ready</b><br />
<b>5. Episodes- Episode 5</b><br />
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Any show except Episodes could win this. Louie is considered the frontrunner, and it should be. So Did the Fat Lady was one of the show's best episodes and deserves to win. Special Relationship is Veep's first nomination in the category, if Silicon wins anything it'll be here, and OITNB has it's pilot which the writing branch loves (even though the pilot was far from S1's best episode).<br />
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<b>Comedy Supporting Actress</b><br />
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<b>1. Kate Mulgrew, Orange is the New Black (Episode: Tit Punch)</b><br />
<b>2. Allison Janney, Mom (Episode: Estrogen and a Hearty Breakfast)</b><br />
<b>3. Julie Bowen, Modern Family (Episode: The Feud)</b><br />
<b>4. Mayim Bialik, The Big Bang Theory (Episode: The Indecision Amalgamation) </b><br />
<b>5. Kate McKinnon, Saturday Night Live (Episode: Anna Kendrick)</b><br />
<b>6. Anna Chlumsky, Veep (Episode: Detroit)</b><br />
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This category is a tough race between Mulgrew and Janney, but I'm going to give the edge to Mulgrew here. The Academy fell in love with OITNB and this is her first nominations with around 40 years of working on TV. Janney just won at the Creatives for Drama Guest Actress and two wins in one year is very rare.<br />
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<b>Comedy Directing</b><br />
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<b>1. Orange is the New Black- Lesbian Request Denied</b><br />
<b>2. Modern Family- Las Vegas</b><br />
<b>3. Louie- Elevator Part 6</b><br />
<b>4. Silicon Valley- Minimum Viable Product</b><br />
<b>5. Glee- 100</b><br />
<b>6. Episodes- Episode 9</b><br />
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Any of the first four could win for various reasons. OITNB has Jodie Foster and was a huge hit with the Academy, Modern Family won this category last year with the same director, Louie is always a favorite in this category, and Silicon Valley has it's pilot. I'm going with OINTB largely because of Foster.<br />
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<b>Comedy Actress</b><br />
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<b>1. Julia Louis Dreyfus, Veep (Episode: Crate)</b><br />
<b>2. Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation (Episode: Recall Vote)</b><br />
<b>3. Melissa McCarthy, Mike and Molly (Episode: Mind Over Molly)</b><br />
<b>4. Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie (Episode: Super Greens)</b><br />
<b>5. Taylor Schilling, Orange is the New Black (Episode: The Chickening)</b><br />
<b>6. Lena Dunham, Girls (Episode: Beach House)</b><br />
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I don't see how JLD can lose this one, but if anyone beats her it'll be Poehler or McCarthy. Poehler has the drunk factor while McCarthy has the emotional factor (and she was able to get back in after not being nominated last year).<br />
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<b>Comedy Actor</b><br />
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<b>1. Ricky Gervais, Derek (Episode: Episode 6)</b><br />
<b>2. Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory (Episode: The Relationship Diremption)</b><br />
<b>3. Louis CK, Louie (Episode: Model)</b><br />
<b>4. William H Macy, Shameless (Episode: Lazarus)</b><br />
<b>5. Matt LeBlanc, Episodes (Episode: Episode 6 (on another note, how ironic two submissions have the same name))</b><br />
<b>6. Don Cheadle, House of Lies (Episode: Wreckage)</b><br />
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This is a race largely between Gervais and Parsons, but I think Gervais will win for a few reasons. For starters, Gervais wasn't on anyone's radar, and all of a sudden he gets nominated. Second, everyone says his episode has laughs and emotional moments (I'm still catching up so I'll probably watch it by Monday). Third, The Big Bang Theory was renewed for 3 more seasons, and I don't think voters are in a rush to reward him now that they have a clear alternative. Don't discount Louis CK either, though it's not likely he wins here.<br />
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<b>Reality Competition Program</b><br />
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<b>1. The Voice</b><br />
<b>2. The Amazing Race</b><br />
<b>3. Dancing With the Stars</b><br />
<b>4. Project Runway</b><br />
<b>5. Top Chef</b><br />
<b>6. So You Think You Can Dance</b><br />
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Not going to spend much time here, but The Voice will probably win again.<br />
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<b>Movie/Miniseries Writing</b><br />
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<b>1. The Normal Heart</b><br />
<b>2. Fargo</b><br />
<b>3. Luther</b><br />
<b>4. Treme</b><br />
<b>5. Sherlock: His Last Vow</b><br />
<b>6. American Horror Story: Coven</b><br />
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Tough call between Fargo and Normal Heart, but I think the latter will win this. It was much more memorable for it's writing than directing.<br />
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<b>Movie/Miniseries Supporting Actress</b><br />
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<b>1. Allison Tolman, Fargo</b><br />
<b>2. Julia Roberts, The Normal Heart</b><br />
<b>3. Kathy Bates, American Horror Story: Coven</b><br />
<b>4. Ellen Burstyn, Flowers in the Attic</b><br />
<b>5. Angela Bassett, American Horror Story: Coven</b><br />
<b>6. Frances Conroy, American Horror Story: Coven</b><br />
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I'm taking a risk here and predicting Tolman to win. The Movie/Mini categories more often than not go for movie stars, and Tolman isn't a star yet. Roberts' performance is much more showy and is an Oscar winner. Bates has a shot too, and we all know by now to never discount Burstyn.<br />
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<b>Movie/Miniseries Supporting Actor</b><br />
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<b>1. Matt Bomer, The Normal Heart</b><br />
<b>2. Colin Hanks, Fargo</b><br />
<b>3. Martin Freeman, Sherlock</b><br />
<b>4. Jim Parsons, The Normal Heart</b><br />
<b>5. Joe Mantello, The Normal Heart</b><br />
<b>6. Alfred Molina, The Normal Heart</b><br />
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Bomer is winning, no questions asked.<br />
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<b>Movie/Miniseries Directing</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Fargo- The Crocodile's Dilemma</b><br />
<b>2. Fargo- The Burdain's Ass</b><br />
<b>3. The Normal Heart</b><br />
<b>4. Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight</b><br />
<b>5. Sherlock: His Last Vow</b><br />
<b>6. American Horror Story: Coven</b><br />
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One of the two Fargo episodes will win here, and it's tough as to which one. I'm going with Crocodile's Dilemma as it's the pilot.<br />
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<b>Movie/Miniseries Actress</b><br />
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<b>1. Cicely Tyson, The Trip to Bountiful</b><br />
<b>2. Jessica Lange, American Horror Story: Coven</b><br />
<b>3. Helena Bonham Carter, Burton and Taylor</b><br />
<b>4. Sarah Paulson, American Horror Story: Coven</b><br />
<b>5. Minnie Driver, Return to Zero</b><br />
<b>6. Kristen Wiig, The Spoils of Babylon</b><br />
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Tyson is winning, no questions asked.<br />
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<b>Movie/Miniseries Actor</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Martin Freeman, Fargo</b><br />
<b>2. Billy Bob Thorton, Fargo</b><br />
<b>3. Mark Ruffalo, The Normal Heart</b><br />
<b>4. Benedict Cumberbatch, Sherlock: His Last Vow</b><br />
<b>5. Idris Elba, Luther</b><br />
<b>6. Chiwetel Ejiofor, Dancing on the Edge</b><br />
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This one is pretty tricky. Thorton is considered the frontrunner, but a lot of people prefer Freeman and he has two nominations this year. It's possible that voters can't decide and go with Ruffalo, so this category is wide open.<br />
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<b>Movie</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. The Normal Heart</b><br />
<b>2. The Trip to Bountiful</b><br />
<b>3. Sherlock: His Last Vow</b><br />
<b>4. Killing Kennedy</b><br />
<b>5. Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Normal Heart is winning. This and Miniseries have locks.<br />
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<b>Miniseries</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Fargo</b><br />
<b>2. American Horror Story: Coven</b><br />
<b>3. Luther</b><br />
<b>4. Treme</b><br />
<b>5. The White Queen</b><br />
<b>6. Bonnie and Clyde</b><br />
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^<br />
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<b>Variety Special Writing</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Billy Crystal: 700 Sundays</b><br />
<b>2. The Tony Awards</b><br />
<b>3. The Golden Globes</b><br />
<b>4. The Beatles: The Night That Changed America</b><br />
<b>5. Sarah Silverman: We Are Miracles</b><br />
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Not spending much time here but everyone is prediction the Billy Crystal special so I'm going with that.<br />
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<b>Variety Special Directing</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. The Sound of Music Live</b><br />
<b>2. The Beatles: The Night That Changed America</b><br />
<b>3. Kennedy Center Honors</b><br />
<b>4. The Academy Awards</b><br />
<b>5. The Tony Awards</b><br />
<b>6. Six by Sondheim</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Again, not spending much time here but I imagine Sound of Music wins since it was a live musical.<br />
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<b>Variety Series</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. The Colbert Report</b><br />
<b>2. The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon</b><br />
<b>3. The Daily Show</b><br />
<b>4. Jimmy Kimmel Live</b><br />
<b>5. Saturday Night Live</b><br />
<b>6. Real Time with Bill Maher</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
The Colbert Report will probably end up repeating, though considering how popular The Tonight Show is now it could win.<br />
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<b>Drama Supporting Actor</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Aaron Paul, Breaking Bad (Episode: Confessions)</b><br />
<b>2. Josh Charles, The Good Wife (Episode: Hitting the Fan)</b><br />
<b>3. Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones (Episode: The Laws of God and Men)</b><br />
<b>4. Jim Carter, Downton Abbey (Episode: Episode 1)</b><br />
<b>5. Jon Voight, Ray Donovan (Episode: Fite Nite)</b><br />
<b>6. Mandy Patinkin, Homeland (Episode: Gerontion)</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
This is a threeway race between Paul, Charles, and Dinklage, but it's really up in the air. Out of the three I think Dinklage has the least likely chance to win. Yes, Tyrion's final speech is one of the most memorable scenes of the past season, but that's the only noteworthy thing he does in his episode. The other two on the other hand are in their episode for quite a bit and this is voters last chance to award them. I'm going with Paul since he's on a show they love and if he wins he becomes the person with the most wins in Drama Supporting Actor.<br />
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<b>Drama Writing</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Breaking Bad- Ozymandias</b><br />
<b>2. True Detective- The Secret Fate of All Life</b><br />
<b>3. Breaking Bad- Felina</b><br />
<b>4. House of Cards- Chapter 14</b><br />
<b>5. Game of Thrones- The Children</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Ozymandias is without a doubt the frontrunner. It's widely regarded as Breaking Bad's best episode and had everyone talking about it. That's not to discount Secret Fate and Felina either. Secret Fate is considered True Detective's best episode and could upset if there's a split in votes between the two Breaking Bad episodes. If voters want to give Vince Gilligan a solo award, I think it'll be in directing.<br />
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<b>Drama Supporting Actress</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Anna Gunn, Breaking Bad (Episode: Ozymandias)</b><br />
<b>2. Joanne Frogatt, Downton Abbey (Episode: Episode 4)</b><br />
<b>3. Christine Baranski, The Good Wife (Episode: The Last Call)</b><br />
<b>4. Lena Heady, Game of Thrones (Episode: The Lion and the Rose)</b><br />
<b>5. Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey (Episode: Episode 8)</b><br />
<b>6. Christina Hendricks, Mad Men (Episode: The Strategy)</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Anna Gunn is winning, no questions asked.<br />
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<b>Drama Directing</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. True Detective- Who Goes There</b><br />
<b>2. Breaking Bad- Felina</b><br />
<b>3. Game of Thrones- Watchers on the Wall</b><br />
<b>4. Boardwalk Empire- Farewell Daddy Blues</b><br />
<b>5. House of Cards- Chapter 14</b><br />
<b>6. Downton Abbey- Episode 1</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
This one could go in any direction. Right now Who Goes There is the frontrunner thanks to the 6 minute tracking shot at the end, but they could give Vince Gilligan a solo award like I said earlier. There's also the chance Watchers on the Wall wins, and it wouldn't surprise me considering how grand that episode was.<br />
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<b>Drama Actress</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Claire Danes, Homeland (Episode: The Star)</b><br />
<b>2. Julianna Marguiles, The Good Wife (Episode: The Last Call)</b><br />
<b>3. Kerry Washington, Scandal (Episode: The Fluffer)</b><br />
<b>4. Lizzy Caplan, Masters of Sex (Episode: Pilot)</b><br />
<b>5. Michelle Dockery, Downton Abbey (Episode: Episode One)</b><br />
<b>6. Robin Wright, House of Cards (Episode: Chapter 26)</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
After Robin Wright screwed up her submission, this category became much harder to predict. Anyone could win this. A lot are expecting Marguiles to win, but I think Danes will pull an upset and get her third consecutive win. Even if Homeland sucked this season, The Star was a great episode with a great performance.<br />
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<b>Drama Actor</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad (Episode: Ozymandias)</b><br />
<b>2. Matthew McConaughey, True Detective (Episode: Form and Void)</b><br />
<b>3. Jeff Daniels, The Newsroom (Episode: Election Night, Part 2)</b><br />
<b>4. Woody Harrelson, True Detective (Episode: The Locked Room)</b><br />
<b>5. Kevin Spacey, House of Crds (Episode: Chapter 26)</b><br />
<b>6. Jon Hamm, Mad Men (Episode: The Strategy)</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
This is a two way race between Cranston and McConaughey. McConaughey has a good speech at the end of his episode, but like Dinklage, he doesn't do much for most of his episode (well he does, but the episode is almost all action). If Harrelson submitted Who Goes There or Secret Fate McConaughey could have easily won this, but both of them do nothing noteworthy in The Locked Room. Cranston on the other hand has plenty of great moments in his episode, and I finally think he'll get that 4th Emmy.<br />
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<b>Comedy Series</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Veep</b><br />
<b>2. Orange is the New Black</b><br />
<b>3. Louie</b><br />
<b>4. Modern Family</b><br />
<b>5. Silicon Valley</b><br />
<b>6. The Big Bang Theory</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
After Modern Family underperformed in nominations, many considered OITNB and Veep to be the frontrunners, and after the Creatives last week the majority of people are predicting OITNB to win. However, the Creative wins aren't convincing me to switch for two reasons. For starters, last year Modern Family didn't win anything at the Creatives and ended up winning Series. Secondly, dramadies have only won twice in Comedy: MASH in 1974 and Ally McBeal in 1999. OITNB had a fair share of controversy with category placement, and a lot of people consider it to be a full out drama. I'm going with Veep since it increased nominations and got a writing nomination. Louie and Modern Family are the darkhorses.<br />
<br />
<b>Drama Series</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Breaking Bad</b><br />
<b>2. True Detective</b><br />
<b>3. House of Cards</b><br />
<b>4. Game of Thrones</b><br />
<b>5. Downton Abbey</b><br />
<b>6. Mad Men</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Breaking Bad is winning this, no questions asked.<br />
<br />
Thanks for reading!ThemeParks4Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09288730147929059348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9029438200878103893.post-52094778022352128902014-07-09T17:56:00.001-07:002014-07-09T17:56:32.134-07:002014 Emmy Nomination PredictionsIt's hard to believe that on Thursday this year's Emmy nominations will finally be announced. It was a great season for television, and hopefully the Academy chooses wisely. Read on for my predictions!<br />
<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
<b>TV Movie/Miniseries Categories </b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>TV Movie:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. The Normal Heart</b><br />
<b>2. The Trip to Bountiful</b><br />
<b>3. Clear History</b><br />
<b>4. Sherlock: His Last Vow</b><br />
<b>5. Killing Kennedy</b><br />
<br />
<b>Miniseries:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Fargo</b><br />
<b>2. American Horror Story: Coven</b><br />
<b>3. Dancing on the Edge</b><br />
<b>4. The White Queen</b><br />
<b>5. Luther</b><br />
<br />
<b>Lead Actor:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Martin Freeman, Fargo</b><br />
<b>2. Billy Bob Thorton, Fargo</b><br />
<b>3. Mark Ruffalo, The Normal Heart</b><br />
<b>4. Chiwetel Ejiofor, Dancing on the Edge</b><br />
<b>5. Benedict Cumberbatch, Sherlcok: His Last Vow</b><br />
<b>6. Idris Elba, Luther</b><br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Lead Actress:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Cicely Tyson, The Trip to Bountiful</b><br />
<b>2. Jessica Lange, American Horror Story: Coven</b><br />
<b>3. Helena Bonham Carter, Burton and Taylor</b><br />
<b>4. Whoopi Goldberg, A Day Late and a Dollar Short</b><br />
<b>5. Sarah Paulson, American Horror Story: Coven</b><br />
<b>6. Rebecca Ferguson, The White Queen</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Supporting Actor:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Matt Bomer, The Normal Heart</b><br />
<b>2. Martin Freeman, Sherlock: His Last Vow</b><br />
<b>3. John Goodman, Dancing on the Edge</b><br />
<b>4. Colin Hanks, Fargo</b><br />
<b>5. Blair Underwood, The Trip to Bountiful</b><br />
<b>6. Alfred Molina, Return to Zero</b><br />
<br />
<b>Supporting Actress:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Allison Tolman, Fargo</b><br />
<b>2. Kathy Bates, American Horror Story: Coven</b><br />
<b>3. Julia Roberts, The Normal Heart</b><br />
<b>4. Angela Bassett, American Horror Story: Coven</b><br />
<b>5. Jacqueline Bissett, Dancing on the Edge</b><br />
<b>6. Audra McDonald, The Sound of Music Live</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Directing:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Fargo</b><br />
<b>2. The Normal Heart</b><br />
<b>3. Dancing on the Edge</b><br />
<b>4. Sherlock: His Last Vow</b><br />
<b>5. Clear History</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Writing:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Fargo</b><br />
<b>2. The Normal Heart</b><br />
<b>3. Clear History</b><br />
<b>4. Dancing on the Edge</b><br />
<b>5. The Trip to Bountiful</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b><br /></b>
<b>Comedy Categories</b><br />
<b><br /></b><b>Series:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Modern Family</b><br />
<b>2. Louie</b><br />
<b>3. Brooklyn Nine-Nine</b><br />
<b>4. Orange is the New Black</b><br />
<b>5. Veep</b><br />
<b>6. The Big Bang Theory</b><br />
<b>Spoilers: Silicon Valley; Girls</b><br />
<b><br /></b>As of now Modern Family is poised to win again, but I think Louie, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, or Veep could easily dethrone it. Orange is the New Black, while good, has major category fraud and Big Bang Theory hasn't gotten a directing and writing nod in it's 6 year history. While it's true Veep hasn't gotten them either, it's in a good spot to get a writing nomination this year. If it doesn't get nominated there, consider it out of luck for a win. Louie is loved by the Academy and is in a good spot to win like last year. Brooklyn is the real dark horse here, and I think it's being underestimated. Remember that since 30 Rock and The Office are gone, that audience is going here (Parks and Rec didn't have a good enough season to be in contention). If Silicon surprises on Thursday and gets a bunch of nominations, it could be in contention too.<br />
<br />
<b>Comedy Actor:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory</b><br />
<b>2. Louis CK, Louie</b><br />
<b>3. Andy Samberg, Brooklyn Nine-Nine</b><br />
<b>4. Thomas Middleditch, Silicon Valley</b><br />
<b>5. Matt LeBlanc, Episodes</b><br />
<b>6. Don Cheadle, House of Lies</b><br />
<b>Spoiler: William H Macy, Shameless</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
With Alec Baldwin gone and Jason Bateman not eligible, this category got a whole lot weaker. Fortunately instead of this being between Parsons and CK, Samberg is a strong new contender and I think he'll win this next month. Thomas Middleditch is being overlooked which surprises me. William H Macy or Robin Williams are getting the majority of sixth place predictions, but let's not forget that Macy is on a show the Academy has overlooked for years and Williams is on a cancelled show.<br />
<br />
<b>Comedy Actress:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep</b><br />
<b>2. Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation</b><br />
<b>3. Taylor Schilling, Orange is the New Black</b><br />
<b>4. Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie</b><br />
<b>5. Lena Dunham, Girls</b><br />
<b>6. Mindy Kaling, The Mindy Project</b><br />
<b>Spoiler: Anna Faris, Mom</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Let's go back to last year where Julia Louis-Dreyfus was the big frontrunner with Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, and Laura Dern being spoilers. Remove Fey and Dern and you have this year's Comedy Actress category. The 3rd-5th slots will be Schilling, Falco, and Dunham but the 6th spot is where everybody's split. Most either have Mindy Kaling, Anna Faris, or Emmy Rossum. For the longest time I've had Faris there, but I switched to Kaling about 2 weeks ago. Kaling's buzz was rising in the voting period and it was announced she'll be announcing the nominees with Carson Daly. Normally at least one of the presenters is nominated, so I'm taking a risk and predicting her.<br />
<br />
<b>Supporting Actor:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Andre Braugher, Brooklyn Nine-Nine</b><br />
<b>2. Tony Hale, Veep</b><br />
<b>3. Ty Burrell, Modern Family</b><br />
<b>4. Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Modern Family</b><br />
<b>5. Adam Driver, Girls</b><br />
<b>6. Ed O'Neil, Modern Family</b><br />
<b>Spoilers: Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family; Joe Lo Truglio, Brooklyn Nine-Nine; Taran Killam, Saturday Night Live; Timothy Simmons, Veep</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
The first 4 are locked, but 5th and 6th are the tricky ones. I considered putting in Stonestreet and removing Driver, and I had Truglio in for a bit instead of O'Neil. Taran Killam is a dark horse since Bill Hader is now gone and he's become the go to cast member of SNL. If voters really liked this season of Veep Timothy Simmons is a good possibility. Regarding who will win this, I think Braugher is the big frontrunner. He has an episode where he gives a speech and has one of the show's funniest moments.<br />
<br />
<b>Supporting Actress:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Allison Janney, Mom</b><br />
<b>2. Kate Mulgrew, Orange is the New Black</b><br />
<b>3. Julie Bowen, Modern Family</b><br />
<b>4. Merritt Wever, Nurse Jackie</b><br />
<b>5. Mayim Bialik, The Big Bang Theory</b><br />
<b>6. Sofia Vegara, Modern Family</b><br />
<b>Spoiler: Anna Chlumsky, Veep</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
For the longest time I didn't have Sofia Vegara in my predictions, but today I took Chlumsky out and put her in. If Modern Family will fivepeat (if that's a word), I don't think they'll be losing another nominee. Regarding who will win, it's going to be Janney or Mulgrew (they tied at Critic's Choice, not that it means anything).<br />
<br />
<b>Directing:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Pilot, Brooklyn Nine-Nine</b><br />
<b>2. Las Vegas, Modern Family</b><br />
<b>3. Elevator Part 6, Louie</b><br />
<b>4. Can't Fix Crazy, Orange is the New Black</b><br />
<b>5. Pilot, Silicon Valley</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Brooklyn Nine-Nine will likely follow the tradition that Drama has the past few years with Boardwalk Empire and House of Cards where the big name directed pilot wins. Phil Lord and Chris Miller directed the pilot of B99, and considering pilots almost always win as of lately in Comedy it makes perfect sense for them to win. If they don't win, it'll be Modern Family. I'm curious if instead of the finale to OITNB getting in Lesbian Request Denied gets in since Jodie Foster directed that episode.<br />
<br />
<b>Writing:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. So Did the Fat Lady, Louie</b><br />
<b>2. Can't Fix Crazy, Orange is the New Black</b><br />
<b>3. The Bet, Brooklyn Nine-Nine</b><br />
<b>4. Special Relationship, Veep</b><br />
<b>5. Moving Up, Parks and Recreation</b><br />
<b>Spoiler: Episodes</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
I think Louie has this locked up. So Did the Fat Lady was an episode that got everyone talking with the "you're not fat" speech:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/KFdWcNJ17YY?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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That right there is enough reason for it to win writing. Not only that, but the rest is also a great episode. OITNB and Brooklyn Nine-Nine are locked up here, Veep will likely break through this year, and Parks and Rec could break in with the finale. Or they could be boring and put in Episodes, there's that too.<br />
<br />
<b>Comedy Guest Actor:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Jeremy Renner, Louie</b><br />
<b>2. Jimmy Fallon, SNL</b><br />
<b>3. Bob Newhart, The Big Bang Theory</b><br />
<b>4. James Earl Jones, The Big Bang Theory</b><br />
<b>5. Pablo Schreiber, Orange is the New Black</b><br />
<b>6. Stephen Merchant, Modern Family</b><br />
<b>Spoilers; Nathan Lane, Modern Family; Louis CK, SNL</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
This is a tough category to predict and definitely isn't as easy as last year. Not only do we have Bob Newhart again, but Jeremy Renner, Jimmy Fallon, James Earl Jones, and Pablo Schreiber on the radar too. Out of these 5 I think Jeremy Renner will win, but he's the least comedic of the bunch. There's also the off chance a Modern Family guy, Louis CK, or someone else sneaks up and wins it, but it's unlikely.<br />
<br />
<b>Comedy Guest Actress:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Ellen Burstyn, Louie</b><br />
<b>2. Melissa McCarthy, SNL</b><br />
<b>3. Tina Fey, SNL</b><br />
<b>4. Uzo Aduba, Orange is the New Black</b><br />
<b>5. Octavia Spencer, Mom</b><br />
<b>6. Sarah Baker, Louie</b><br />
<b>Spoilers: Joan Cusack, Shameless; Kathy Bates, Mike and Molly</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Burstyn has this locked up. Unfortunately her role isn't that great, but the guest categories are Name Check Lane and she won last year in Movie/Mini Supporting Actress. Aduba and Baker's biggest obstacles are that they're unknow names, but considering how noticed they were by critics they could get in.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Drama Categories</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Series:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Breaking Bad</b><br />
<b>2. True Detective</b><br />
<b>3. House of Cards</b><br />
<b>4. Game of Thrones</b><br />
<b>5. Masters of Sex</b><br />
<b>6. The Americans</b><br />
<b>Spoilers: Mad Men; The Good Wife</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Everyone knows Breaking Bad will win again and that True Detective, House of Cards, and Game of Thrones are locked. The last 2 are where it gets tricky, but I'm going with Masters of Sex and The Americans. Masters of Sex is a newcomer and a Showtime show has been nominated every year for the past few years. Considering the season Homeland had and the way Showtime is campaigning, Masters of Sex is the likeliest. The Americans didn't break big last year, but I think this is it's year. This season was much better and more buzzed. The Good Wife might be able to get back in, but it's been losing nominations every year. I'm taking a risk here by not having Mad Men, but I took it out here and other categories since buzz is fading and, like The Good Wife, it's been losing nominations.<br />
<br />
<b>Actor:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Matthew McConaughey, True Detective</b><br />
<b>2. Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad</b><br />
<b>3. Kevin Spacey, House of Cards</b><br />
<b>4. Woody Harrelson, True Detective</b><br />
<b>5. Michael Sheen, Masters of Sex</b><br />
<b>6. Jon Hamm, Mad Men</b><br />
<b>Spoilers: James Spader, The Blacklist; Jeff Daniels, The Newsroom; Matthew Rhys, The Americans</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
With the McConaissance (however the hell you spell it) going on, McConaughey is locked and is the frontrunner. However, it's largely going to come down to what he submits. The main categories don't name check like Movie/Mini and the Guest categories do, so he has to submit wisely. If Woody Harrelson gets in (which is very likely), he'll benefit from two tapes. Cranston is still in contention, but McConaughey has the advantage. I wouldn't discount Harrelson's chances either; he's just as good as McConaughey and Cranston. Sheen and Hamm are likely bets to get in, but James Spader could sneak up and take one of those spots. As for Jeff Daniels, he won last year solely based on his submission. He's most likely a one and done like Jon Cryer a couple of years ago.<br />
<br />
<b>Actress:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Robin Wright, House of Cards</b><br />
<b>2. Claire Danes, Homeland</b><br />
<b>3. Kerry Washington, Scandal</b><br />
<b>4. Keri Russell, The Americans</b><br />
<b>5. Vera Farmiga, Bates Motel</b><br />
<b>6. Lizzy Caplan, Masters of Sex</b><br />
<b>Spoilers: Julianna Marguiles, The Good Wife; Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men; Tatiana Maslany, Orphan Black</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
After the big mess this category was last year, hopefully things get back on track. Robin Wright is the frontrunner, but plenty could steal the win. Danes and Washington are locked, but the rest have a bumpy road. Russell will likely get in with The Americans' increased buzz, even if it doesn't get a series nod. Farmiga has diminished buzz, but considering she was in the upper half of contenders last year I think she'll make it in again. Caplan will likely be part of the Masters of Sex wave, but it wouldn't surprise me if she was left off. Marguiles' biggest obstacle is the same as TGW in series: it's a show that keeps on losing nominations, and she was snubbed last year. If there's 7 nominees again, we'll certainly see her in here.<br />
<br />
<b>Supporting Actor:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Aaron Paul, Breaking Bad</b><br />
<b>2. Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones</b><br />
<b>3. Dean Norris, Breaking Bad</b><br />
<b>4. Jim Carter, Downton Abbey</b><br />
<b>5. Josh Charles, The Good Wife</b><br />
<b>6. Jeffrey Wright, Boardwalk Empire</b><br />
<b>Spoilers: Mandy Patinkin, Homeland; Charles Dance, Game of Thrones</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
It's between Paul and Dinklage for the win, but I think Paul has the advantage. His likely submission "Confessions" has more impact than either of Dinklage's two probable ones. However, if Charles Dance gets in he'll certainly benefit from two tapes. Norris is a lock to get in, but the remaining three are up in the air. Jim Carter still gets in year after year to everyone's surprise, and I don't think that's changing this year. Josh Charles was probably The Good Wife's most buzzed actor this year, and I think the buzz here is good enough to get him back in. Jeffrey Wright benefits from being an Emmy favorite and is on the show that won this category last year. Mandy Patinkin is in a bit of trouble, though. He wasn't nominated for Homeland's first season, and considering the drop in quality of this season he's in a good spot to get snubbed.<br />
<br />
<b>Supporting Actress:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Anna Gunn, Breaking Bad</b><br />
<b>2. Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey</b><br />
<b>3. Michelle Monaghan, True Detective</b><br />
<b>4. Christine Baranski, The Good Wife</b><br />
<b>5. Emilia Clarke, Game of Thrones</b><br />
<b>6. Bellamy Young, Scandal</b><br />
<b>Spoilers: Christina Hendricks, Mad Men; Joanna Froggatt, Downton Abbey; Betsy Brandt, Breaking Bad</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Gunn has this win locked again, no questions asked. Smith, Monaghan, and Baranski are locked for nominations too. The 5th and 6th slots are tricky. If Clarke got in based on her one major episode last year, I imagine she'll do the same this year. Scandal is a show voters like, so I wouldn't be surprised if Bellamy Young surprises here. I'm not predicting Hendricks with my decrease in Mad Men nominations prediction, but she's still in a good spot for a nomination series or not. Froggatt and Brandt would be surprises, but not a complete shock.<br />
<br />
<b>Directing:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Who Goes There, True Detective</b><br />
<b>2. Felina, Breaking Bad</b><br />
<b>3. Ozymandias, Breaking Bad</b><br />
<b>4. Pilot, Masters of Sex</b><br />
<b>5. Farewell Daddy Blues, Boardwalk Empire</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Who Goes There has the win locked thanks to the 6 minute tracking shot at the end of the episode. Felina is locked and the rest are near locked (I wouldn't be surprised if House of Cards replaced one of them).<br />
<br />
<b>Writing:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Ozymandias, Breaking Bad</b><br />
<b>2. The Secret Fate of All Life, True Detective</b><br />
<b>3. Felina, Breaking Bad</b><br />
<b>4. Catherine, Masters of Sex</b><br />
<b>5. Behind the Red Door, The Americans</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Ozymandias has this locked. It's widely regarded as one of Breaking Bad's best, if not the best episode of the show, and Breaking Bad has never won Writing (or Directing for that matter) in it's run. Secret Fate of All Life and Felina are locked, but Game of Thrones could easily be in the 4th or 5th slot.<br />
<br />
<b>Guest Actor:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Beau Bridges, Masters of Sex</b><br />
<b>2. Robert Morse, Mad Men</b><br />
<b>3. Dan Bucatinsky, Scandal</b><br />
<b>4. Michael Bowen, Breaking Bad</b><br />
<b>5. Pedro Pascal, Game of Thrones</b><br />
<b>6. Joe Morton, Scandal</b><br />
<b>Spoiler: Nathan Lane, The Good Wife</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Anyone could win this, though Bridges and Morse are the frontrunners. I'm leaning towards Bridges since he's an Emmy favorite.<br />
<br />
<b>Guest Actress:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>1. Allison Janney, Masters of Sex</b><br />
<b>2. Carrie Preston, The Good Wife</b><br />
<b>3. Jane Fonda, The Newsroom</b><br />
<b>4. Lisa Kudrow, Scandal</b><br />
<b>5. Margo Martindale, The Americans</b><br />
<b>6. Diana Rigg, Game of Thrones</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Janney has this locked and the rest of the category is set in stone.<br />
<br />
<br />
Total Major Nominations:<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">10 nominations- Breaking Bad</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">8 nominations- Modern Family</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">7 nominations- Fargo, Louie, Masters of Sex, Orange is the New Black</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">6 nominations- Dancing on the Edge, The Normal Heart, True Detective</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">5 nominations- American Horror Story: Coven, The Big Bang Theory, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Game of Thrones, Scandal</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">4 nominations- The Americans, Sherlock: His Last Vow, The Trip to Bountiful, Veep</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">3 nominations- Clear History, The Good Wife, House of Cards, SNL</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">2 nominations- Boardwalk Empire, Downton Abbey, Girls, Luther, Mad Men, Mom, Nurse Jackie, Parks and Recreation, Silicon Valley, The White Queen </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Thanks for reading! As always, follow me on Twitter @ThemeParks4Life.</span>ThemeParks4Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09288730147929059348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9029438200878103893.post-59553636595243222062014-06-14T07:51:00.001-07:002014-06-14T07:51:08.762-07:00Watch Dogs Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Watch Dogs has been one of the most anticipated games of the past couple years. It was originally supposed to come out when PS4 and Xbox One were launching, but Ubisoft delayed it to May. So, after years of waiting, does it live up to the hype? Sort of.<br />
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The game is set in 2013 where all of Chicago runs on an operating system called cTOS, and by everything I mean <b>everything</b>. Cameras, smartphones, cars, you name it. You play as Aiden Pearce, a hacker who's seeking revenge for the death of his niece. He has to team up with Clara Little, a member of the DeadSec hacking group, T-Bone, a former cTOS engineer, and Jordi Chin, a to find out who was in charge of his niece's death while also protecting his sister Nicole and nephew Jackson from Damien Brenks.<br />
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The story is a bit generic but it gets the job done. As for the characters, it's a mixed bag. Aiden is one of the dullest video game characters I've ever seen, but I can't blame the voice actor for it. The dialogue doesn't give him enough to differentiate himself, and as a result the character suffers. Clara and Damien aren't much of an improvement, but they have their moments. The villains, who shall remain nameless for spoiler purposes, are well acted and menacing. The real highlights here are T-Bone and Jordi. T-Bone is not only a great character, but he's also our main source of humor in the game. Jordi is great but isn't in the game much.<br />
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Gameplay is fun, but it can be annoying. I played on the hardest mode Realistic, and it provided a genuine challenge. After 2 or 3 bullets, you're dead. The only time I had to change the difficulty was at the end of Act III when I couldn't take out an enforcer. Combat wise you're limited to a pistol, SMG, assault rifle, shotgun, sniper rifle, and grenade launcher. I found myself using the machine gun for most of the game thanks to the difficulty, but if you're on an easier difficulty you might find yourself using other weapons more often.<br />
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As I said in the last paragraph, gameplay can be annoying at times. What's the annoying part? Driving. About 80% of the vehicles drive terribly that whenever I would get in a speed chase I'd have a good car. Since you can only fast travel to side mission hideouts (which is a good thing since the city looks great), you're going to be driving most of the time (a boat sometimes). What I did the most often is just get a motorcycle and head up on the train tracks, that way I didn't have to deal with crashing into cars most of my trip and potentially blow up the vehicle.<br />
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The big feature of Watch Dogs' gameplay is hacking, and man is it fun. You can control traffic lights, road blockers, pipes, and bridges on the road. In combat you can trigger an enemy's grenade and potentially kill them and/or more enemies, explode plates and electrical boxes, disrupt communications which stuns the enemy for a few seconds, and disable helicopters for a short period. Then, of course, there's the hacking minigame in missions where you have to align the pipes to the circuit to get into a camera. I loved this as it provided yet another challenge, though I wish they popped up more.<br />
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Enemies are pretty dumb for the most part, and if you're playing on Easy or Normal you won't have to worry too much about them killing you. I'm a bit disappointed in escaping enemies by road, however. All you have to do to escape in a chase or from cops is simply go to a boat and get out of range. The developers definitely should have put cop boats in so escaping doesn't feel like such a cop out (no pun intended).<br />
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Side missions are fun until you realize all of them are the exact. Same. Damn. Thing. Upon completing them, there's no sense of reward other than it's added on your progression wheel. By about 7 or 8 side missions in I realized they were all going to be the same and I'd rather spend my time exploring the world and finish the main story.<br />
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Like I said earlier, the city is vast and looks great. When I first played the game, after I played the first level I easily spent at least 90 minutes exploring the world. There's billboards that you can hack and a meme from developers will pop up (IE "It's a Trap!" "Badger Badger Badger Badger"), and there's even references to other Ubisoft games.<br />
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The game had a lot of controversy for not being on par to the graphics shown at E3 and the fact neither PS4 or XB1 were running the game at 1080p and 60 FPS. I can't comment on the latter as I played on PC, but I had the game on Ultra and the graphics definitely were a downgrade on what was shown at E3. Even then, it's still a great looking game.<br />
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Control wise, Ubisoft could have done better with the mouse controls. Navigating your phone is a pain and moves too quickly. The mouse wheel wouldn't work when opening the phone either and I had to switch it to a key.<br />
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It took me a little over 31 hours to complete the game on Realistic, and that was including quite a few hours free roaming and doing a few side missions. The main story probably took me around 20 hours to complete. I'd estimate that the main story takes 9-10 hours to complete on Easy, 12 on Normal, and 16 on Hard. There's some replay value here so I might try it again on a lower difficulty.<br />
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Overall, Watch Dogs is a solid game. The combat and hacking are fun and the graphics and environment look great, but lame side missions, mostly boring characters, an ok story, a dumb AI, and some of the worst driving I've seen in a game drag it down a bit. Overall, I'd give the game a 7/B-.<br />
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Thanks for reading! As always, follow me on Twitter @ThemeParks4Life.<br />
<br />ThemeParks4Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09288730147929059348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9029438200878103893.post-38427254197633755392014-05-06T08:18:00.003-07:002014-05-06T08:18:32.461-07:002014 Network Renewal and Cancellation PredictionsIt's that time of year where shows are picked up and fans desperately beg for their favorite show to be renewed! The upfronts are next week, but renewal and cancellation announcements are going to be later this week. CBS, Fox, and CW have already renewed most of their shows, but NBC still has quite a few decisions left and ABC hasn't renewed anything yet. The bubble is done; it's either renewed or cancelled. No middle ground at all. Let's jump in!<br />
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<b>ABC:</b><br />
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<b>Agents of SHIELD- 100%</b><br />
<b>Back in the Game- CANCELLED</b><br />
<b>Betrayal- 0%</b><br />
<b>Black Box- 15%</b><br />
<b>Castle- 100%</b><br />
<b>The Goldbergs- 100%</b><br />
<b>Grey's Anatomy- 100%</b><br />
<b>Killer Women- CANCELLED</b><br />
<b>Last Man Standing- 100%</b><br />
<b>Lucky 7- CANCELLED</b><br />
<b>The Middle- 100%</b><br />
<b>Mind Games- CANCELLED</b><br />
<b>Mixology- 10%</b><br />
<b>Modern Family- 100%</b><br />
<b>Nashville- 85%</b><br />
<b>The Neighbors- 10%</b><br />
<b>Once Upon a Time- 100%</b><br />
<b>Once Upon a Time in Wonderland- CANCELLED</b><br />
<b>Resurrection- 100%</b><br />
<b>Revenge- 100%</b><br />
<b>Scandal- 100%</b><br />
<b>Suburgatory- 60%</b><br />
<b>Super Fun Night- 0%</b><br />
<b>Trophy Wife- 10%</b><br />
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Even though ABC hasn't renewed anything yet, the obvious ones are obvious. I put Nashville at 85% since, even the network seems like they're going to renew it, there's still the chance it doesn't happen. There's only a few question marks here: the ABC produced comedies, Black Box, and Suburgatory. ABC only produces 3 comedies: Mixology, The Neighbors, and Trophy Wife. These shows rate awfully and if they were on any other network they'd be gone by now. However, ABC surprised us by renewing The Neighbors last year and giving Trophy Wife a full season this year, so anything's possible. I highly, highly doubt any of them will get renewed though. Black Box rates very poorly, but I'm not sure if ABC considers it a summer show so that's it's only saving grace. The last question here is Suburgatory. Had this had gotten a full season it would be 100% for syndication, but it only got half a season so it's fate is up in the air. I imagine it'll be a midseason replacement again, but don't be surprised if it gets cancelled.<br />
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<b>CBS:</b><br />
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<b>Bad Teacher- 0%</b><br />
<b>The Big Bang Theory- RENEWED FOR 3 YEARS</b><br />
<b>Blue Bloods- RENEWED</b><br />
<b>The Crazy Ones- 0%</b><br />
<b>Criminal Minds- RENEWED</b><br />
<b>CSI- RENEWED</b><br />
<b>Elementary- RENEWED</b><br />
<b>Friends With Better Lives- 20%</b><br />
<b>The Good Wife- RENEWED</b><br />
<b>Hawaii Five-0- RENEWED</b><br />
<b>Hostages- 0%</b><br />
<b>Intelligence- 0%</b><br />
<b>The Mentalist- 10%</b><br />
<b>Mike and Molly- RENEWED</b><br />
<b>The Millers- RENEWED</b><br />
<b>Mom- RENEWED</b><br />
<b>NCIS- RENEWED</b><br />
<b>NCIS: LA- RENEWED</b><br />
<b>Person of Interest- RENEWED</b><br />
<b>Two and a Half Men- RENEWED</b><br />
<b>2 Broke Girls- RENEWED</b><br />
<b>We Are Men- CANCELLED</b><br />
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The fate is sealed on everything but The Mentalist, as CBS won't need the three low rated comedies and two low rated dramas. Friends With Better Lives might be able to get a burnoff order, but it's been years since CBS renewed a midseason comedy. Rumors are saying Warner Bros is currently looking for a new network to air a final season of The Mentalist, but it's not getting renewed on CBS.<br />
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<b>CW:</b><br />
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<b>Arrow- RENEWED</b><br />
<b>Beauty and the Beast- 0%</b><br />
<b>The Carrie Diaries- 0%</b><br />
<b>Hart of Dixie- 100%</b><br />
<b>The 100- 80%</b><br />
<b>The Originals- RENEWED</b><br />
<b>Reign- RENEWED</b><br />
<b>Star-Crossed- 0%</b><br />
<b>Supernatural- RENEWED</b><br />
<b>The Tomorrow People- 20%</b><br />
<b>The Vampire Diaries- RENEWED</b><br />
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Hart of Dixie is getting another season for syndication and Beauty and the Beast, The Carrie Diaries, and Star-Crossed are destined for cancellation. The only major decision CW has to make is The 100 or The Tomorrow People. The 100 has been rating better so I'm leaning towards that right now. There's no way both are getting out alive.<br />
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<b>Fox:</b><br />
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<b>Almost Human- CANCELLED</b><br />
<b>American Dad- Moving to TBS</b><br />
<b>Bob's Burgers- RENEWED</b><br />
<b>Bones- RENEWED</b><br />
<b>Brooklyn Nine-Nine- RENEWED</b><br />
<b>Dads- 10%</b><br />
<b>Enlisted- 5%</b><br />
<b>Family Guy- 100%</b><br />
<b>The Following- RENEWED</b><br />
<b>Glee- RENEWED</b><br />
<b>The Mindy Project- RENEWED</b><br />
<b>New Girl- RENEWED</b><br />
<b>Raising Hope- CANCELLED</b><br />
<b>Rake- CANCELLED</b><br />
<b>The Simpsons- RENEWED</b><br />
<b>Sleepy Hollow- RENEWED</b><br />
<b>Surviving Jack- 0%</b><br />
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The only reason Family Guy hasn't been renewed yet is due to contracts. The only way Dads and Enlisted get out alive is if Seth MacFarlane works out a deal with the former and Fox is paying attention to critics on the latter.<br />
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<b>NBC:</b><br />
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<b>About a Boy- 100%</b><br />
<b>Believe- 10%</b><br />
<b>The Blacklist- RENEWED</b><br />
<b>Chicago Fire- RENEWED</b><br />
<b>Chicago PD- RENEWED</b><br />
<b>Community- 75%</b><br />
<b>Crisis- 10%</b><br />
<b>Dracula- 20%</b><br />
<b>Grimm- RENEWED</b><br />
<b>Growing Up Fisher- 85%</b><br />
<b>Hannibal- 80%</b><br />
<b>Ironside- CANCELLED</b><br />
<b>Law and Order: SVU- 95%</b><br />
<b>The Michael J Fox Show- CANCELLED</b><br />
<b>Parenthood- 75%</b><br />
<b>Parks and Recreation- RENEWED</b><br />
<b>Revolution- 60%</b><br />
<b>Sean Saves the World- CANCELLED</b><br />
<b>Welcome to the Family- CANCELLED</b><br />
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Law and Order hasn't been renewed yet due to contracts, but it's getting expensive for NBC, so who knows if this season will be it's last. Hannibal does decently for a Friday show, but it's huge critical acclaim and cheap budget will convince NBC to give it another season. I do question if it's going to switch to a cable channel considering it IS pretty risky for a network show. Parenthood and Revolution are desperately hoping for another season, and while many consider it to be one or the other, I think both will get 13 episode seasons for Fridays. About a Boy and Growing Up Fisher benefited big time from The Voice as it's lead in, and even if Growing Up Fisher is dropping, it's still higher than any of the Thursday comedies. That leads me to Community. If you're expecting a full 22 episode final season, don't count on it. Unlike Parks and Recreation, the network doesn't own the show. It can probably still be renewed for a 13 episode final season either as a Friday burnoff or a midseason replacement. As for the rest of the shows.... don't count on it. A new Wolfman series is coming in the fall on Fridays and Believe and Crisis rate badly.<br />
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<br />ThemeParks4Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09288730147929059348noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9029438200878103893.post-71872936534934071142014-04-30T10:59:00.003-07:002014-04-30T11:00:46.627-07:00Parks and Recreation Season 6 Review<b>WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD</b><br />
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Last season, the finale's big question was whether or not you were better off than you were a year later after Leslie Knope was elected into city council, which ultimately lead to her recall vote being announced. That question fits better this season, as Leslie Knope is now head of the National Parks Department in Pawnee! Everybody is certainly better than they were last year, or should I say three years! The finale's big twist brought us into 2017 where the National Parks Department is a huge success, Leslie and Ben's triplets were born (two boys and a girl), and Leslie fires Don Draper! Who knew Matthew Weiner would let Michael Schur get a hold of the Mad Men ending where Don is frozen! However, let's back up a bit first.<br />
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The season premiered with a two parter called "London", which was one of the season's best episodes. It started out right where Season 5 left off with Ron and Diane getting married on short notice at town hall right after Diane tells Ron she's pregnant. Three months later, Leslie, Ben, Ron, Andy, and April to London for an award Leslie won, while back in Pawnee Tom finds out Jean Ralphio's dad (Henry Winkler) is looking to buy Tommy's Closet and Ann and Chris are progressing their relationship. Since Chris Pratt was shooting "Guardians of the Galaxy" at the time, Andy went out on a business trip and returned for "Filibuster" and came back full time in "Second Chunce". From there the season was hit or miss until midseason with some great episodes ("Doppelgangers" and "The Cones of Dunshire"), good episodes ("Gin it Up!" and "Recall Vote"), and meh episodes ("The Pawnee-Eagleton Tip Off Classic", "Filibuster", and "Flouride").<br />
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These episodes had a trend: the main story was great but the subplots lacked or vice versa. The only time all the storylines were great where "Doppelgangers" and "The Cones of Dunshire". We were introduced to two new recurring characters in "Doppelgangers": Craig (Billy Eichner) and Ron Dunn (Sam Elliot). I hated Craig in his first few appearances, but as the season progressed he got better, and by the finale he had some really funny bits. Ron Dunn was awesome, and he was the exact opposite of Ron Swanson. Sam Elliot appeared again in "Flu Season II", and I'm really hoping he appears again next season.<br />
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Three major events happened in this part of the season: Jerry got a new name, Pawnee and Eagleton merged ("The Pawnee-Eagleton Tip Off Classic") and Leslie was recalled from City Council ("Recall Vote"). In a classic Jerry move, he said his name was Larry Gengurch. To my surprise they called him that all season, and I've become quite accustomed to the new name. The merger storyline on a whole was interesting and executed well enough (more on this later). Amy Poehler gives a tour deforce performance in that episode, hitting all the right comedic and dramatic notes.<br />
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This part of the season had two major flaws: Chris and Ann and the lack of Andy. Chris and Ann had barely anything to do this season, and I'm glad they were written off. They'll probably guest star next season of course, but the decision to remove them was a great one. The lack of Andy is something that the writers did their best to fix, but his lack of presence was felt big time.<br />
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After those episodes the show hit it's 100th episode called "Second Chunce" where Leslie tries getting back in City Council and Chris and Ann find out they're having a boy. This was a very sentimental episode and was a big character development. For once, Leslie said no and moved on from City Council. The next episode "New Beginnings" was by far the weakest episode of the season. Sure, Ben became City Manager, but the episode was very, very boring to get through. We're talking Season 1 levels here folks. Fortunately, the next two episodes were the best of the season (until the finale).<br />
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"Farmer's Market" was full of laughs as Leslie and Ben try to prevent the farmer's market from becoming too adult, Andy, Ann finally got something to do, and Andy's stage persona Johnny Karate was born (it was also Adam Scott's directing debut). The next episode "Ann and Chris" was Rashida Jones and Robe Lowe's last episode as regulars and they went out on a high note. Leslie breaks ground on the Pawnee Commons with Ann and the guys try finding Chris gifts. It was a very bittersweet (but necessary) departure. "Anniversaries" dealt with the aftermath of their departure as Ben tries to do the things Leslie did with Ann but ends up doing most of them with Larry, while April tries hiding a secret from Donna and Ron writes letters to everything he hates such as vegans and Canada. Unfortunately, this was the last great episode for a bit.<br />
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The show was on a slump from there. The following episode "The Wall" dealt with Leslie being offered a new job at the National Parks Department in Chicago after her proposal she sent at the beginning of Season 5. We also find out Ron's baby was born and his name is John Swanson, and Tom is looking to start up an Italian restaurant called "Tom's Bistro".<br />
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Things start picking up in "Flu Season II" where Leslie finds out she's pregnant, and in the following episode "1 in 8,000" she finds out she's having triplets! At first glance, sitting through another pregnancy storyline next season would be awful, but fortunately the time jump fixed that.<br />
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"Moving Up" was hands down the best episode of the season. Full of plot twists, cameos, and laughs, this episode felt like Parks and Recreation. The twist to 2017 was a big advantage, but at the same time a bad one. On one hand, we won't have to sit through another pregnancy storyline and we won't need to spend a season watching the National Parks Department and Tom's Bistro progress, but at the same time we won't get to see how the Pawnee Commons came along. It broke ground during "Ann and Chris", but after that it was non-existent.<br />
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Overall, this was a very mixed season with a lot of buildup. Fortunately, the payoff was more than worth it and makes me forgive the boring episodes this season. Next season is most likely going to be it's last, but I'm hoping we get 13 great episodes or 22 great episodes instead of 13 great episodes with 9 meh episodes.<br />
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<b>Overall grade: B</b><br />
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<br />ThemeParks4Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09288730147929059348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9029438200878103893.post-40530892759493917022014-04-02T10:13:00.003-07:002014-04-02T10:15:21.768-07:00My thoughts on Amazon Fire TVAmazon just announced that they were stepping into the streaming box competition with Amazon Fire TV. It's available today for $99 and can also play games using the remote, or you can buy a controller for $40. It looks neat, but there's quite a bit keeping me from buying it. I'll just run down a few thoughts in this article.<br />
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<b>Price</b><br />
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I was watching the CNet editors discuss this while the info came in since there was no video allowed in the event. When they were speculating the price, they were thinking it could be $30, $50, or included with an Amazon Prime membership with them heavily leaning towards the latter after they announced the game controller would be $40. When they announced it was going to be $99, I was surprised. Amazon says it's "Premium content at a non-premium price", yet that's the exact opposite. Let's not forget that there's not a HDMI cable included, so that's going to be at least $5 more. The cheapest option on the market is the Chromecast for $35, and in a week or two Roku is coming out with their own streaming stick for $50 which will essentially be a Roku 3 without gaming (early reviews say there's long load times though). Sometime this year Apple is going to announce a new streaming box, and I imagine it'll be in the price range of Chromecast and the Roku Stick. Amazon made a terrible decision to make the price that high with all this new stuff coming out. In my opinion, it should have been $50 for the box or $90 for the box and controller. That would be much more appealing to buyers.<br />
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<b>No HBO GO</b><br />
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I can see this being a deal breaker for a lot of people. Considering how much cable companies charge a month for DVRs, many would rather spend the money on a subscription to a premium channel and use the apps the channels have. Plus, HBO GO has quite a bit of movies on there, so instead of waiting for it to air on TV they can just start up the app. Over 30 million people subscribe to HBO, it's a pretty big deal for Amazon not to support it on the Fire, especially when they have Showtime Anytime.<br />
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<b>Gaming</b><br />
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Let's get one thing clear: mobile gaming will not take over consoles and pc. It's not going to happen. With that said, if you're a casual, and I mean <b>casual</b> gamer, it's this or the Ouya which is also $100. Like I mentioned earlier, the big problem is that the Fire TV doesn't come with a controller and you have to buy it for an additional $40. For now, we'll have to wait a bit and see which platform offers more games. Oh, and can we stop using fake currency and just use dollar amounts? The controller comes with 1,000 free Amazon Coins which is the company's currency for games.<br />
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<b>Special Features</b><br />
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Amazon has some cool ideas here, I'll give them that. Voice control is fun to use occasionally on Xbox, so hopefully they can get it right here. ASAP is an interesting feature that will predict what you're going to watch and preload it so you don't have to wait. I can see this being flawed due to the fact it's only predicting what you'll want to watch. Let's say I want to watch 24, but instead it preloads Justified. That will only cause a hassle as the box has to exit the previous show then it has to load the one I want to watch. Free Time is essentially a kids mode, but there's also Free Time Unlimited where for $3 a month you'll get more content from Nickelodeon and the likes and free games, a bit like Playstation Plus, so depending on the content they offer this seems like a winner. Amazon is also offering a second screen experience if you have a Kindle where if you're watching something you can use your Kindle to look stuff up on IMDb related to what you're watching. This is something you can do with a Chromecast, but that requires going to the IMDb website itself so this is a nice little feature, but requiring a Kindle is the downside. Having Karaoke for music is also neat, but it requires buying songs from Amazon and I don't know anyone who does that.<br />
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Overall, this was about a year late if Amazon wanted it to be successful. For $99, the reasons aren't that appealing to keep me from buying a Chromecast or Roku Stick. If we were talking Apple TV, maybe, but you would need HBO GO first. If this had been $50 I'd consider it, but the asking price is too high.<br />
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Thanks for reading, as always follow me on Twitter @ThemeParks4Life.ThemeParks4Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09288730147929059348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9029438200878103893.post-91031495825338252842014-03-02T07:52:00.000-08:002014-03-02T07:52:02.116-08:002014 Oscar PredictionsThe Oscars are tonight! While I still have a few of the nominated movies left to watch, that doesn't mean I can't make my predictions (I'll give my opinion whenever I finish them). 2013 was undeniably a great year for movies, and I'm really looking forward to the ceremony on Sunday. Out of all the BP winners, I'm predicting two going home empty handed compared to just one last year (Beasts of the Souther Wild). Let's dive in!<br />
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<b>Best Picture:</b><br />
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<b>Will win- Gravity</b><br />
<b>Could win- 12 Years a Slave</b><br />
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Listen, the only time I've been in the 12 Years a Slave camp was for the BAFTAs, everywhere else I've been predicting Gravity (or Hustle for SAG). Now that we've seen ballot reports, a lot have Gravity over 12 Years with some even saying the only reason they voted 12YAS was because they would feel bad if they didn't. However, Gravity is going to win this for a lot of reasons. It has mass appeal, will be very nostalgic to some voters, and even if it wasn't the voter's favorite movie it'll still be high up on the ballot, which it what you need to win. Remember, this is the movie that was filled to capacity at every screening the Academy held for voters, so it's clear they like it a lot. You see, since the Academy uses preferential voting, the 2nd place votes will matter a lot. Here's a good explanation:<br />
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Again, even if Gravity wasn't the voter's favorite movie, because mostly every member has seen it and obviously liked it, the support is there. If 12YAS wins, it'll be because of the topic, not because it was their favorite movie. Support matters, and Gravity has lots of it.<br />
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<b>Best Director:</b><br />
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<b>Will win- Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity</b><br />
<b>Could win- n/a</b><br />
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Alfonso Cuaron has swept every directing award, he's one of the night's few locks.<br />
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<b>Best Actor:</b><br />
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<b>Will win- Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street</b><br />
<b>Could win- Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club</b><br />
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This one's a toughie. These are both movies that overperformed in nominations and the roles of their careers. However, I'm going to go with Leo on this one since he's long overdue and McConaughey only just started redefining his career. Either win wouldn't be a surprise at all.<br />
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<b>Best Actress:</b><br />
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<b>Will win- Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine</b><br />
<b>Could win- n/a</b><br />
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Another lock.<br />
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<b>Best Supporting Actor:</b><br />
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<b>Will win- Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club</b><br />
<b>Could win- n/a</b><br />
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Yet another lock.<br />
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<b>Best Supporting Actress:</b><br />
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<b>Will win- Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle</b><br />
<b>Could win- Lupita Nyong'o, 12 Years a Slave</b><br />
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Here's the thing: supporting actress is normally a field where they like to award newcomers, but Jennifer won the Globes and BAFTA while Lupita won SAG and Critic's Choice. Since the BAFTAs were during voting, I'm leaning towards Jennifer, but don't be surprised if either win.<br />
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<b>Best Original Screenplay</b><br />
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<b>Will win- Spike Jonze, Her</b><br />
<b>Could win- Eric Singer and David O Russell, American Hustle</b><br />
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Her needs to win this, and it likely will. This screenplay was original on every level, blended comedy and drama together perfectly, and made even the smallest moments the best (which is what makes Her so great), and considering it won at WGA and the Globes where Screenplay is just one category (ineligible at BAFTA), all signs point to Her.<br />
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<b>Best Adapted Screenplay:</b><br />
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<b>Will win- Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope, Philomena</b><br />
<b>Could win- John Ridley, 12 Years a Slave</b><br />
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Here's a category that's been up in the air everywhere. Out of the major persecurors, 12 Years a Slave won Critic's Choice, Captain Phillips won WGA, and Philomena won BAFTA. Since the Academy pretty much rejected Captain Phillips it's out of the equation. Before Midnight and Wolf of Wall Street could happen but it's pretty unlikely, so it's down to 12 Years vs Philomena, and I'm going with the latter. Why? Harvey Weinstein and BAFTA. Everyone knows how powerful Harvey is, and considering BAFTA was during the voting period voters could have been influenced to switch to Philomena.<br />
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<b>Best Foreign Language Film:</b><br />
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<b>Will win- The Great Beauty</b><br />
<b>Could win- The Hunt</b><br />
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The Great Beauty is pretty much a near lock, but what if the Academy decided to go to crowd favorite The Hunt? Something to keep in mind.<br />
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<b>Best Animated Film:</b><br />
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<b>Will win- Frozen</b><br />
<b>Could win- n/a</b><br />
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It's a lock.<br />
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<b>Best Documentary:</b><br />
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<b>Will win- The Act of Killing</b><br />
<b>Could win- 20 Feet From Stardom</b><br />
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I have no idea how the sudden surge for 20 Feet From Stardom happened, before then everybody was saying The Act of Killing would win. I'm still going with AOK, but wouldn't it be funny if we were overestimating these and The Square ends up winning due to Netflix?<br />
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<b>Best Original Song:</b><br />
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<b>Will win- The Moon Song, Her</b><br />
<b>Could win- Let it Go, Frozen</b><br />
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That's right, The Moon Song. I know some aren't predicting Let it Go in favor of Ordinary Love and Happy, but man oh man are you guys underestimating The Moon Song. It plays a part in the movie and it's charming and calm. Let it Go's biggest issue is that Disney is shoving this song down our throats. It's a good song, but it's not the best in the movie let alone this category. The Moon Song is my no guts no glory prediction of the year.<br />
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Now that we have the categories where I need to comment on, let's go to some more minor categories:<br />
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<b>Best Cinematography- Emmanuel Lubezki, Gravity</b><br />
<b>Best Editing- Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity</b><br />
<b>Best Production Design- Gravity (alt. The Great Gatsby or Her)</b><br />
<b>Best Costume Design- 12 Years a Slave (alt. The Great Gatsby)</b><br />
<b>Best Makeup and Hairstyling- Dallas Buyers Club</b><br />
<b>Best Score- Steven Price, Gravity (alt. Arcade Fire, Her)</b><br />
<b>Best Sound Editing- Gravity</b><br />
<b>Best Sound Mixing- Gravity</b><br />
<b>Best Visual Effects- Gravity (alt. The Lone R.... haha I couldn't say that with a straight face!)</b><br />
<b>Best Animated Short- Get a Horse!</b><br />
<b>Best Live Action Short- The Voorman Problem</b><br />
<b>Best Documentary Short- The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life</b><br />
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Thanks for reading! As always, follow me on Twitter @ThemeParks4LifeThemeParks4Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09288730147929059348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9029438200878103893.post-16609569134697639002014-02-28T20:47:00.002-08:002014-02-28T20:47:48.110-08:00Dear Vince Gilligan: Don't Make Aaron Paul a Series Regular on Better Call SaulOne of the things in entertainment I'm looking forward to this year is Better Call Saul, the prequel about Saul Goodman, Walter White's lawyer on Breaking Bad. Saul Goodman was my favorite character on the show and I was ecstatic when they announced a spinoff was on the way. A few weeks ago they announced Jonathan Banks who played Mike Ehrmantraut would be a series regular and then my hype meter just about exploded. Could this be the greatest show ever since, well, Breaking Bad? Now there's a rumor that Aaron Paul will be doing more than a cameo and become a series regular. Fortunately this is still a rumor, but if you're reading this Vince Gilligan, <b>DON'T DO IT!!!!!!!!! </b>Unlike Mike Ehrmantraut who actually is an associate with Saul, Jesse only knew him from Emilio. I'd be all for Aaron Paul guest starring in relation to an Emilio episode, but in no way should he be a series regular, it's not feasible. If it did happen, the show wouldn't be Better Call Saul, it would be Breaking Bad Origins. Please Vince Gilligan, don't make Aaron Paul a series regular! Otherwise I'm still very much looking forward to the premiere in November.ThemeParks4Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09288730147929059348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9029438200878103893.post-60980103129377655652014-02-09T13:55:00.001-08:002014-02-09T13:55:44.210-08:00The LEGO Movie review (Spoiler free!)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The LEGO Movie is not only 2014's best movie yet, but it's going to make a lot of top 10 lists this year, including mine. It's a movie that's stupid and funny while being heartwarming at the same time. The gist of the movie is that Emmet (voiced by Chris Pratt) is an ordinary minifigure who doesn't stand out, but according to a "prophecy", he's the chosen one to take the Piece of Resistance and destroy Lord Business (voiced by Will Ferrel), <a href="http://youtu.be/rprB_VNm3L8" target="_blank">who looks an awful lot like Mitt Romney (according to Fox News).</a><br />
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The voice actors are brilliant here. I'm really glad Chris Pratt is getting more and more roles as he's excellent on Parks and Recreation, and thanks to Guardians of the Galaxy, soon he'll be an A lister. Will Arnett as Batman was a genius move. Heck, Zach Snyder should have gotten him for Batman vs Superman! Will Ferrel, Elizabeth Banks, Morgan Freeman, and Charlie Day all do a good job in their roles, especially Ferrel, but the real stars here are Liam Neeson, Alison Brie, and Nick Offerman. Neeson's comedic timing as Good Cop/Bad Cop is excellent and had me laughing every time he switched to Good Cop. To see such a tough actor like this act so goofy and nice was flat out hilarious. Alison Brie made Unikitty such a sweet yet fierce character that I can't imagine anyone else playing her, and you could barely recognize Nick Offerman was Metalbeard. Then of course there's all the cameos, but I'll let you figure them out when you watch the movie. In fact, there's going to be quite a few you won't recognize, so look on Wikipedia when you're done watching.<br />
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This movie was mix of stop motion and animation. The production design here was fantastic, and a total of 3,863,484 pieces were used in the making of the movie. However, if everything was stop motion, it would require 15,0830,330 pieces! Major props to Mark Freckleton, this is Oscar worthy designing right here.<br />
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Phil Lord and Chris Miller's screenplay is what makes the movie so fun. The story is so jumbled up and it goes from one thing to the next, but when you're playing with toys, that's exactly the way it goes. If the opening western scene from Toy Story 3 was turned into a full length movie, this would be it. Not only is the story great, but so are the jokes. There's something for everyone here, ranging from your standard kid jokes to adult jokes to pop culture references, and for the big LEGO fans out there like me, there's even a joke about the financial disasters of certain themes!<br />
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You've probably heard the song Everything is Awesome in the trailers and commercials for this movie, and let me tell you that this song is catchy! It's so catchy that it'll be stuck in your head for weeks! It was written by Mark Mothersbaugh with the music Tegan & Sara and The Lonely Island, and this is definitely the frontrunner for Best Original Song next year (Andy Samberg winning an Oscar is something that could happen, folks). Mothersbaugh's score is also worth mentioning and adds a certain charm to the movie.<br />
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I could go all day talking about this movie, but talking more about it would spoil the movie so I'll give my full thoughts in another post. The LEGO Movie is perhaps the best animated movie since The Incredibles, having a great story and great laughs while at the same time being heartwarming. Phil Lord and Chris Miller have truly made something special here, and they've now gone 3 for 3 on movies. Well done.<br />
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<b>Final score- A+</b><br />
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Thanks for reading! As always, follow me on Twitter @ThemeParks4Life.ThemeParks4Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09288730147929059348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9029438200878103893.post-76980452972268461642014-02-02T12:24:00.002-08:002014-02-02T12:24:32.118-08:00A Tribute to Philip Seymour HoffmanEarlier today Philip Seymour Hoffman <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/03/movies/philip-seymour-hoffman-actor-dies-at-46.html" target="_blank">died of what appears to be a drug overdose.</a> When I heard the news about 20 minutes ago (at the time of writing), I thought this was a joke. Unfortunately, it wasn't. I was heartbroken by this news. Philip Seymour Hoffman was one of the best actors of this generation and he seemed like a great guy. Now we won't see him make anymore movies. The amount of movies he's in is countless. Capote, Moneyball, The Master, Charlie Wilson's War, Doubt, Red Dragon, The Big Lebowski, Boogie Nights, the list goes on and on. Everyone who's gotten to meet Philip has said nothing but great things about him. Rest In Peace.<br />
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<br />ThemeParks4Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09288730147929059348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9029438200878103893.post-1350051378208576452014-01-31T10:21:00.002-08:002014-01-31T10:21:38.522-08:00My thoughts on Jesse Eisenberg as Lex LuthorNews just came out that <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2014/1/31/5365342/jesse-eisenberg-is-your-new-lex-luthor-in-batman-vs-superman" target="_blank">Jesse Eisneberg and Jeremy Irons have been cast in Batman vs Superman as Lex Luthor and Alfred respectively.</a> I think Jeremy Irons is a great choice for Alfred, but Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor? Come on, that has to be a joke. Rumors were saying either Joaquin Phoenix or Bryan Cranston were up for the role, but this, this came out of nowhere! However, this could be pretty interesting. /Film pointed out that in a modern day world Lex Luthor would be much more like Mark Zuckerberg than Bill Gates. I thought Jesse Eisenberg was great in The Social Network. Elsewhere? Not so much. Now, can Eisenberg do a good job as Luthor? He might. This is actually a pretty similar scenario to when Heath Ledger was announced to play The Joker. Sure, he had a good movie and was nominated for an Oscar, but everyone freaked out because they said he wasn't a good fit. Now? Ledger's Joker is regarded as one of the best characters in a movie. Take this with a grain of salt and keep expectations low like the rest of the movie. I do wonder why they just won't call this "The Justice League" at this point, especially if Denzel Washington is going to be Green Lantern.<br />
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As always, you can follow me on Twitter @ThemeParks4Life.ThemeParks4Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09288730147929059348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9029438200878103893.post-4568930772867543382014-01-28T10:04:00.001-08:002014-01-28T10:04:23.700-08:00WelcomeI figured with the amount of entertainment posts I have over on Theme Park Expedition, it's time to make a new blog. I'll be covering movies and TV on here, but I don't have a name for the blog. If you have any name suggestions tell me on Twitter @ThemeParks4Life.ThemeParks4Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09288730147929059348noreply@blogger.com0