So while in Brooklyn I was handed over a butt load of DVD’s of classic films to watch to
understand film and cinema even more than I already know. So while I watch each of
the movies I was given I will be writing a review of said film on my website
to give my thoughts to others.

So the first movie I watched was Mr. Brooks. I had heard mixed reviews from all over the board on this film. Some hated,
and some loved the film. My personal opinion is the is a excellent movie. One of the best Psychological films next to
(Fight Club and American Psycho”.

The plot follows Mr. Brooks (Kevin Costner) who is addicted to killing people. He is tormented by his past because of his
imaginary friend named Marshall (William Hurt). While struggling with his addiction he is considered to be the man of the city.
On one of his killings he is blackmailed by Mr. Smith (Dane Cook), I don’t want to get to much into the plot or else there is
potential for spoilers for anyone who has not seen the film.

The actors performances was one of the driving forces for this film. Costner gives a great performance shifting from insane to
sane and so on and so forth. William Hurt was my favorite in the film, he was kind of a comedy relief in the sense that he made
me smile on one or two occasions for his dark comedic jokes through out the film. Dane Cook surprisingly did exceptionally well.
Not many stand up comedians are able to act, like for instance (Kevin James or Chris Rock). Dane Cook however performed the
role of a psychotic, delusional, sick human being very well.

Now I believe the best thing about this movie is the writing. There are so many twist and turns that this movie takes which leaves
the viewer surprised and wanting more. The writers really understood what makes a thriller a… thriller. Most of the things I saw in
the film I did not expect. I am also glad that they didn’t ruin this film by adding a shit load of killing scenes. Most thriller movies are
like a blood bath of kills and not enough story to back it up. Mr. Brooks has so much story and few kills to make one hell of a movie.

I really enjoyed the film I now plan to buy it on blu ray sometime soon, I give this movie a 10/10. It’s and awesome thrill ride that
leaves me completely satisfied of what the movie gave to me.

5. Saints Row: The Third

The teaser was just a man kicking another in the crotch. You can use a gigantic dildo as a weapon. This game looks awesome. I am a HUGE fan of open world games (a la Grand Theft Auto) and I also love hyper unrealistic games (a la Just Cause 2) and this looks like both of those put together. I have never played any of the other Saints Row games, but this looks like it will convert me.

4. Batman: Arkham City

I am a big Batman guy. I loved the original game “Arkham City”. Being able to see through the eyes of Batman was badass and this game looks even more badass. This game will hold me over just fine until “The Dark Knight Rises” hits next July. But until then, BATGASM.

3. Dead Island

The Memento/Irreversible style teaser trailer was incredible. Heartbreaking and badass. The E3 trailer wasn’t as original and cinematic as the teaser, but it was still pretty badass and heartbreaking. It looks like there will be some scenes in the game that are gonna pull the heartstrings violently. There is a scene in the full trailer in which it looks like a girl has to mercy kill her zombie dad. This game will have some very emotional moments. I can’t wait for this game.

2. Gears of War 3

The beta was super duper fun (even though I sucked at it). The campaign looks great, the multiplayer is badass. The graphics are beautiful and this one looks as gory as ever. The executions are totally awesome (if ripping off somebody’s arm and then beating them to death with it doesn’t make you excited, then you aren’t a man…or your just not nearly as sadistic as I am.) But this game looks like it will be a fun, awesome, badass, and emotional conclusion to the Gears of War franchise.

And my most anticipated game for the rest of 2011 is…

Battlefield 3.

The graphics are beautiful and it looks so realistic. The thing I love about Battlefield is that they always bring something new to the table, and this one looks like no exception. I can’t wait for the beta and you can expect some huge beta coverage from me when it comes out. This game looks great.

So if you want to hear me ramble about movies, and see my beautiful face, check out my channel Reviews by Ted. Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/user/ReviewsbyTed?feature=mhee. Thanks for reading.

Written by Ted Silva (Reviews by Ted)

This can be a good or bad thing. From the look of the trailer, it looks like Freddy has a huge amount of powers. This could mean that he could become a really cheap character that everybody uses and is almost impossible to defeat. He can teleport, stick his glove into the ground and make it come up to stab the opponent, stick a guy in a furnish, and many more things. It could either be really awesome or REALLY cheap. It could end up like the FAMAS in Black Ops, it looks really cool but everybody uses it and gets so annoying that you just want to punch anybody who uses it.

Like I said, I’m not a huge Mortal Kombat fan so I don’t know if maybe other characters have the same amount of powers. He probably has some disadvantages that they didn’t show in the trailer for it. I’ll probably rent Mortal Kombat and play it just to see how it is. If I like it, I’ll buy it. If I don’t, then I won’t.

So if you want to hear me ramble about movies and see my beautiful face, click this link: http://www.youtube.com/user/ReviewsbyTed?feature=mhee

Thanks for reading!

Written by Ted Silva (ReviewsbyTed)

Now this begs the question, what keeps bringing people to play these games? Is it the new maps? The new weapons? The new killstreaks? It baffles me that every time a new COD game comes out, it becomes the most successful game ever. None of those games bring anything new to the table and soon enough they get boring.

Don’t get me wrong, I like first person shooters. However, nowadays, most of them are so redundant and boring. Battlefield 3 is coming out this October and it will be a smash. It looks as if it brings something new to the table for shooters, ultra-realism. There have never been really any games that are completely realistic. It looks fantastic. The graphics are beautiful and again, it doesn’t look redundant and boring. It brings new gameplay types and new strategies of play. It is my most anticipated game of the rest of 2011.

Now MW3, is there anything that looks all that new gameplay wise? No. The graphics don’t look any better than MW2′s. Again, point, shoot, advance, rinse, repeat. This is something that many FPS games are doing. Since Call of Duty, no games have changed things up with the shooter genre. Battlefield has kind of changed things, but not really enough.

So what do you think about this whole thing? Are you a fan of first person shooters? Are you not? Do you agree with the points I make? Do you not? Again, if you want to see my beautiful face, here is my channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/ReviewsbyTed?feature=mhee. Thanks for reading.

Duke Nukem Forever has been in development for about 12 – 13 years. That is a really long time to develop the game. I guess there was even a guy who pre-ordered the game back in the 90s.

By now, Duke Nukem Forever has released and did it ever disappoint. The graphics are bad, the controls are some of clunkiest in recent years, the over-the-top dirty humor isn’t funny like it was in the 90s, now its just kind of offensive.

What sucks is that this game has been in development for 12 freaking years! This game should have been completely awesome, but the problem is that the developers modernized the graphics to an extent. The graphics look about as good as graphics did in Halo: Combat Evolved, no, that’s an insult to Halo. Its 2011, your graphics had better be good if you want your game to survive.

I wouldn’t even mind the bad graphics as long as the story was actually interesting and involving. Unfortunately, the story is bland and plain stupid. Aliens invade and kill some hot girls, so Duke is pissed. Wasn’t that the story of all the other Duke Nukem games? Yes it was.

Dirty humor has been a staple for the Duke Nukem franchise and it was mildly entertaining back in the older Duke Nukem games, but to take the same humor and just make it dirtier isn’t funny. Its just annoying. Duke saying he’d hit (Hit = Fuck) a three boobed gigantic monster isn’t very funny, I’m actually pretty sure it is intergalactic bestiality. Take that type of humor and throw it throughout the entire game. Its something a twelve year old,who is obsessed with the phrase “Make Me a Sandwich”, would find funny.

And so, Duke Nukem Forever is the biggest game disappointment of 2011 so far. Its also my least favorite game of 2011 so far. Skip this game unless you are a die-hard fan of the original games. The only redeeming factor this game has is that killing these aliens is fun for about 10 minutes. 2/10 for Duke Nukem Forever.

Written by ReviewsbyTed

Hello, my name is Ted and I will be writing about video games on this website. So I wanted to start off with a bang.

So if you are a big fan of video games, you know that E3 is like the super bowl for gamers. Every big video game coming out that year or the following year is announced with some footage. I own an Xbox 360, so I will be talking about the big Xbox 360 games that were shown.

The Xbox 360 Press Conference opened with some footage of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. The video showed the characters you play as stealthily swimming through the New York Harbor and you have to breach an enemy submarine. I was underwhelmed by this footage. I just haven’t seen any footage of this game that has made me want to go right on Gamestop.com and pre-order the game. It just looks like more of the same of MW2, no real graphical updates, and it just looks less fun to me.

Also at the conference, we get some looks at the new Tomb Raider game, it could be cool, but the Tomb Raider games just aren’t my types of games. We got to see some cool Kinect stuff, like playing sports game with it. I’m not a huge sports game guy, but that sounds pretty damn sweet.

Now, we get another big demo, some gameplay of Mass Effect 3. I’m not a huge Mass Effect guy, I don’t have anything against it, I’ve just never played it. However, this game looks really cool. The fact that you can now use Kinect to make your choices is really increasing my interest in not only Mass Effect 3, but Kinect itself. This game looks epic, and I’m sure that I’ll be laying down the 60 bucks in Spring 2012 for this one.

We also get a good look at Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier. I’m not a huge fan of Tom Clancy games, so I’m not really interested. However, the gun customization feature looks pretty cool and the graphics are pretty also. We also get a big announcement about Xbox now being able to show Live TV. Now that is amazing. I can’t wait for that feature. It also shows Xbox’s new partnership with Bing which is cool, but nothing hugely awesome.

We finally see a campaign trailer for Gears of War 3. Gears of War is one of my favorite game franchises, 1 and 2 are both fantastic in their own way and 3 looks like it’ll be the best of the franchise. The multiplayer beta back in May was awesome and a lot of fun, although I kind of sucked at it. This game is shaping up to be huge.

We also get an announcement about the 10th Anniversary Edition of Halo: Combat Evolved. The game’s graphics are remastered and it has some new multiplayer maps for Reach, kind of like how ODST had multiplayer maps for Halo 3. I might pick the new edition up, depending on the cost, because I already own Halo: Combat Evolved.

We get some cool footage of Forza Motorsport 4, and I must say that the graphics look beautiful. I’m not a huge racing game guy, but my god, that game looks fun. We also get an announcement about the forth Fable game, Fable: The Journey. I doubt I’ll be picking it up, Fable III was fun for a little while. Emphasis on the little. We get some Kinect games that are aimed more towards the younger Xbox players. The games look cute, but not really impressive.

Finally, Microsoft pulls out the big guns. They announce Halo 4, one of the most desired sequels ever. This is a HUGE announcement, not only because it is one of the most anticipated games of all time, but it is a sequel to the biggest and in my opinion greatest video game franchise ever and the footage of Halo 4 looks great. We don’t get much about story, but we see a lot of graphical updates, namely, Chief’s costume. This game is going to rock.

So, I hope you enjoyed reading my first post on therandommind.com and I want to thank Anthony for letting me write on his website. I have a YouTube channel where I review movies and games, so check that out too. Its ReviewsbyTed and here is the link:http://www.youtube.com/user/ReviewsbyTed?feature=mhee. So, stay classy and I hope you have a great 4th of July.

Written by ReviewsbyTed

As I pointed out in my “Scarface” review, the Crime genre in film is not experimented with too much these days. Films like “The Departed” seemed to finish off the reign of the crime/mob film. “Takers” was released almost a year ago, but I never got to see it. I think its safe to say crime films have lost the appeal and credibility that they once had, at least the traditional ones have. If there’s a crime film that shows something new, and stays away from being too traditional, I’ll be glad to see it, but until then, we have to just appreciate the recent greats that we still have. When a film in the crime genre does something different, makes you think a bit more, and even frightens you, that is something to talk about. With that said, “Seven” (or Se7en) is exactly that type of film. It is not a buddy-cop film, not a neo-noir, or any kind of a character study, but a film about our world and the malevolence that surrounds us each and every day.

Se7en is a 1995 David Fincher directed film. This was very early in Fincher’s career, obviously before Fight Club, and when the internet was so primative that dial-up connection seemed like a miracle. We’re introduced to an unnamed city where it seems there is never a day without rain, setting the dark and foreboding tone for the film. Brad Pitt plays Detective David Mills, a 5 year homicide detective who has moved out to the rainy city with his wife, Tracy, to pursue a better career in the homicide field. He is about to replace the soon-to-be-retiring Detective William Somerset, played by Morgan Freeman, in one of his trademark roles as a character of wisdom and humanity.

Unfortunately for Freeman, there seems to be a new case of methodical and sadistic nature. A serial killer is roaming the city claiming certain people as victims of a sick game of his, in which he kills people who committ a deadly sin, in reference to the Seven Deadly Sins according to “Dante’s Inferno”. The first victim is a severly obese man who is gruesomely discovered dead with the word “Gluttony” written in his apartment. After another victim is found with a deadly sin written near them, Freeman is the first to realize this is the start of a patterned game by the killer, and suggests they can find a way to catch his next move. Pitt, on the other hand is quick to dismiss the killer as a typical nutjob, someone who is killing people just for the sake of killing and enjoying it for no reason at all. Freeman insists these are crimes of meaning since they were taken care of so delicately, and the two detectives follow the clues two narrow down the search for this method-murderer.

There are grisly images in the film, but they serve a purpose to the storytelling, unlike most of the “Saw” films and “Hostel”. You see these gruesome death scenes because they relate to exactly what the killer thinks of the way these victims lived their lives, and how the seven deadly sins look on the inside rather than the outside. Freeman and Pitt have some noticable chemistry as the two detectives, even though they barely see eye-to-eye on anything. A 22 year old Gwenyth Paltrow plays Pitt’s wife Tracy, and she does a fine job with her role. Freeman is great as he always is. As for Pitt, I think he actually does a pretty good job. I liked his character for his daring nature and impatience. David Fincher’s direction is perfect for this film, especially with setting up the atmospheric scenes that keep foreshadowing to something greater. The script is about as good as it gets for this type of film, questioning human morality and society at a perfect level, to say something while at the same time not spitting the message in your face.

The third act is full of amazing build-up and tension that I enjoy watching again and again. When you know the ending to a film, and it still gets you on the edge of your seat, that is a sign of greatness. Seven is a just a little bit over 2 hours long, but it doesn’t even feel that way because of how involved you are with the story and the characters. Hell, you even have Dr. Cox(John C. McGinley) in a good couple of scenes, so that might even be a plus for you, too! The payoff is unbelievable, as the tension delivers with a jaw-droppingly shocking finale. This is the kind of ending we movie lovers want to see, one that delivers the goods while sticking to the story, and affecting you on a personal level. This is what I am talking about, a smart, dark, crime film that takes the genre in another direction and knocks it out of the park. “Se7en” is a truly great film.

Final Rating: 5/5 Stars

Written by: The CinemaTologist

Hey, Everybody, my name is Jake, but I go by The CinemaTologist. You may be familiar with my YouTube Channel of the same name, if y0u’re not, this is a first hello from me. Anthony asked if I would be interested in writing on his site, and this is something I’ve wanted to do for a little while. I can’t always make a video about a movie I just watched, that would take too long(plus I don’t think my computer has enough memory to), so I’ll be posting on here some reviews that just come to the mind to do, hence “The Random Mind”. I’m glad to be writing on the website, so let’s start off with a badass review!(Cue 1980′s synthesizer music)

 There’s been some really great crime dramas over the past few years. A very recent one that comes to mind would be “The Town”, but hey, I’m a Boston guy, so I gotta love that. Today in the Crime Drama genre, its basically left to Martin Scorcese to do the work, and I can’t blame everyone for leaving it to him; he makes fantastic movies. Then we have Ben Affleck, who really has proven himself a fine director, and I look forward to seeing more films of his with the same quality. Now, I know most people will quickly think of the first two “GodFather” films when considering some of the greatest Crime Dramas ever, and I understand that. But just a few days ago, I was at a friends house and we decided we would watch “Scarface”, simply because my friend wanted to, and I hadn’t watched the movie in its entirety in a while. I’m glad I did this time, because although “Scarface” is a whopping 2 hours and 50 minutes, its absolutely magnificent.

We’re given an introduction explaining that in 1980, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro is sending over 125,000(I think) “Political Refugees” of Cuba to the United States, and we also learn of how many of them are former criminals. After getting a documentary-style prologue, we meet our main character, say it with me now, Tony Montana, played by Al Pacino. Tony seems to be with a citizenship team who are asking him questions about his life in Cuba. Tony simply explains that he was a victim of the Communist regime of Castro, and he is just trying to start a new life in America. We can tell Tony is lying, but for some reason, we’re already on his side, we feel for him. Tony is sent off to a crowded “colony” in Miami, Florida of Cuban immigrants with his friend, Manny Ribera, and the two are trying to find a way to live, what they think, is the American dream. Tony knows what he has to do to become what he wants to be, and killing a former assistant to Castro is the first thing he and Manny do to begin their rise to the top.

We jump a few months ahead, and we see that Tony and Manny are out of the “colony”(looked more liked District 9 to me), and doing a miniscure job of washing dishes. Tony meets up with two drug dealers who are associated with the man that arranged for Tony and Manny to kill the friend of Castro, and they ask Tony and Manny to do a small job for them for about 500 dollars, and Tony frustratingly renegotiates to a higher price, but for a more dangerous job, and this is where the madness really begins. Tony, Manny, and two other partners head to a house in Miami for an exchange, 5000 dollars for two keys of cocaine, or “yeyo”(As Pacino ad-libbed). This results in a violent double-cross, as the dealer, tries to rob Tony, and his partner with him named Angel. This results in the infamous chainsaw scene, in which Angel is violently sawed to death in front of Tony. However, Manny comes in at the last minute and saves Tony, resulting in them killing several people, getting the 5000, and keeping the two keys of yeyo, and from here on is where the power obsessed Tony begins his reign.

Tony Montana quickly works his way up to the top as one of the most vicious, violent, and powerful drug lords in all of America. He kills whoever he must to make his way to the top of the food chain(even his former boss  who got him in the drug business), and he comes into close association with another drug lord, Sosa. He falls in love(maybe?) with a pretty blonde American girl, played by Michelle Pfieffer, and she eventually marries him. Tony also snorts so much cocaine, even Charlie Sheen is saying “Woah, man, take it easy.” Tony engulfs himself in this dangerous atmosphere with only one goal, stay on the top. Tony, as a film character, is outstanding. He isn’t the largest, strongest man in the city(he’s actually smaller than almost everybody), but he has the most focus out of anybody. He knows exactly what he wants, and he will accept nothing less than the maximum. Although uneducated, Tony is a smart man on the street and business spectrum. He is loyal to his word, and although ruthless, he DOES have his limits. He has a warped vision of the American dream, or does he? His defects, however, do control him without a doubt. Tony is extremely hot-tempered, violent, and jealous(especially when concerning his sister, Geena, who he won’t let go near any man, even his best friend Manny). Along with his obvious drug problem, these terrible attributes of Tony eventually are what become the collapse of him.

Al Pacino’s performance was not only deserving of an Oscar Nomination, but a Win for Best Actor, but of course, neither were given to him because of the controversy surrounding the film’s vulgarity and violence. I think I read that they say “fuck” about 226 times, and other swears another 200 times. I swear when I need to, but I don’t think I’ve even matched the total in this movie in my entire life. As for the violence, at the time, it was brutal, originally giving it an “X” rating, then changed to “R”. By today’s standards, its not that bad, just watch any “Hostel” or “Saw” movie and you’ll get gross out, uninspired filmmaking. Anyway, Pacino’s performance consists of a flawless Cuban accent, an amazing physical presence, and although he DOES go over the top with Tony, he is STILL a believable character. We root for Tony, while at the same time hating what he does. If this were a traditional Crime movie, Tony would be the bad guy. But this movie IS about the Bad Guy.

Brian De Palma’s direction isn’t fantastic, but not bad enough to even mention, so he does okay. The movie is really driven by Pacino’s outstanding performance, and even by Giorgio Moroder’s synth music, which is obviously a product of the 80′s, but is perfect in establishing and keeping the tone of this sinister and tragic character alive during the film.

This movie, although with its minor flaws, is a definite triumph. Pacino gives what may be his best performance, and although this wasn’t the biggest success back in 1983, it has gained an immense cult-classic status, as it should. Even if you hate the first 2 hours and 40 minutes of the movie, the final 10 minutes are so explosive and dramatic, it may just win you over. I wish I could talk about the major plotpoints and best moments, but if you haven’t seen this yet, GO SEE IT. Scarface is a classic Crime Epic that should always be considered one of the best of all time.

My final rating: 5 stars out of 5

Usually I’m not the type of person who gets into viewing the work of Keanu Reeves, because he has such a mixed career as an actor, or as some people would also call him, “the guy with the surfer talk.” And that kind of talk is what originated in what is one of his most famous roles in the cult action film Point Break. I never considered seeing this film anytime this year, but my views changed when I heard how much YouTube critic Chris Stuckmann enjoyed it, and that John from theFLICKpick had this film in his 20 favorites of all-time. I finally saw it today from netflix, so here we go.

Johnny Utah (Keanu Reeves) is a former Ohio State quarterback who had a knee injury ruin his potential career in the pros. Now he has a new career as an FBI Special Agent in Los Angeles. He’s partnered with the one-liner machine Special Agent Angelo Pappas (Gary Busey), and they’re both tasked with hunting down a pair of bank robbers who go by the name of “The Ex-Presidents,” because they all wear masks of past U.S. presidents to conceal their identities. Pappas comes up with a theory that the crooks are a group of surfers, so Johnny decides to go undercover as a surfer to infiltrate the beach and figure out who they are. Soon he meets a philosophical surfer named Bodhi (Patrick Swayze) who brings him into his crew. Unbeknownst to him, though, Utah does not realize that Bodhi and his crew are “The Ex-Presidents,” so Utah must carefully choose whether to become one of them, or bring them all in.

This film is extremely notorious for people lamenting Keanu Reeves as “The actor with the surfer talk,” and that’s about as self-explanatory as his character is. However, he does manage to show some range and discipline in his acting ability for this time as he makes something great out of his character. Patrick Swayze has great chemistry alongside Reeves as you can definitely point out the bromance moments between these two, especially during the philosophical dialogue exchanged in certain scenes. However, my favorite performance had to be Gary Busey as Utah’s crazy partner. After his motorcycle accident, it seems that over 70 % of the characters he plays in either film of tv are ones that are just plain insane and spew out one-liners at the most random moments. That phrase perfectly explains Busey’s performance, because his character is much more insane that Reeve’s, but he nails the much needed comedy this movie needs. Watch the meatball sub scene between him and Reeves and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

This was the 4th action film that Kathryn Bigelow directed, and this is my favorite of her’s second to what she did in The Hurt Locker. The action sequences she creates are some of the best I have seen from an action movie from the 90s decade, and the way she shoots the surfing sequences along with the action are just beautiful. Her style seduces you into the beauty of surfing, and it just sucks you into getting the thought that “I have to leave and try to do this myself.” There are certain shots in this film that are filmed in the first-person viewpoint, especially during the classic foot-chase scene, and those angles give you that Enter The Void-style feeling that you’re really there experiencing it first-hand.

Yes Point Break has numerous flaws, but the extreme sports valor, Bigelow’s direction, and classic crazy Gary Busey make this film one of the most entertaining action films I have ever seen. There is no other movie out there where you’re gonna see surfing and skydiving be any better than the amazing sequences that involve those two subjects than this film does.

“I’m so hungry I could eat the ass end out of a dead rhino, I should have had you get me three of these things!” – Best line in the film

Written by Tyler Christian (CaliCriticReviews)