Milkduds

Van Helsing (6/10)

I just finished watching Van Helsing. I was pretty entertained for almost the entire movie. I think the story was written pretty well and the acting, while sometimes overdone, was pretty good by all involved. There were times where I didn’t think they were going to be able to tie up some of the parts of the story with all of the classic monsters, but they did - and that’s what made it interesting. I am a little frustrated that we didn’t get more background on Van Helsing from the beginning, but that sort of had to be done to add suprise to the climax of the movie. And something looked weird about Kate Beckinsale - I think it might have been the makeup they put on her to make her look more “Transylvanian”.

As far as the rating goes, I can’t quite give this a 7 because I just don’t think it ranks up there. I think Bram Stoker’s Dracula is more of a 7 because that movie was a lot classier and creepier. But, here’s what I don’t get: How did Anchorman get a 64% fresh rating from Rotten Tomatoes and Van Helsing only get 22%? Maybe I just didn’t get that movie, but Van Helsing was FAR more entertaining and coherent.

Add comment December 31st, 2004

Half Life 2 - Highway 17

Well, I got to play quite a bit and a lot has happened since my last post. I got out of the mines, and back into a sparsely populated city and had to walk down some train tracks. I started walking down the tracks and saw about 5 headcrab dudes walking at me. I aimed and then saw a blue laser point at them from an overpass and shoot them all down. Then, I heard the all-too-familiar radio noise that always gives the Combine guards away. I waited until I got just shy of his view and tossed a grenade up to kill him. He fell out of the overpass in the old western movie style - pretty sweet. Anyway, I made my way out of the tracks by getting past one more guard - though he was harder - and ended up at a storage facility.

Once inside the facility, I heard lots of gunfire. I peeked in and saw the resistance forces shooting back at the guards! I helped them out and they took me to a video conference with Alex. Apparently her father, Eli, was kiddnapped in the raid that we were separated in and I had to go find him. Oh boy. I loaded up with ammo and health and was shown to my newest vehicle. Basically, it was a dune buggy with a lightning-like gun attached to it with plenty of ammo in the back for me to reload my submachine gun with. All I had to do was drive my new ride along Highway 17 to go get Eli. The only problem is that Highway 17 is almost completely demolished and I was introduced to my newest enemy - the Antlion. The basically are like huge beetle-type things that can burrow and surface anywhere on soil and then fly around a little bit (kinda like a cockroach).

I had to kill lots of those and Combine soldiers along my way. I was also given a laser guided rocket launcher to help bring down another new enemy - the airship. They are very lethal, can shoot down your rockets, and it takes 3 hits to bring them down. I ended up at a shipyard and got to kill lots more Combine soldiers, operate a magnetic crane, then drive away and shoot down yet another airship.

Now, I just went through a tunnel and stopped playing. I didn’t know what the little glowing ball was until after I took that picture and saved my game. All I know is that it can fly and it trys to stick to you or your vehicle. You can shoot it all you want, but it won’t explode. So, I just picked it up with my grav gun and tossed it in the ocean. Easy!

Add comment December 31st, 2004