Crank Private Ryan to Hell

This post will be a trio of movie reviews. First up is Crank: High Voltage. I greatly enjoyed this movie and all aspects; the humor, off the wall action and awesome film techniques were just as good if not better than the first. It's the continuing story of Chev Chelios that picks up right at the end of the first movie. The Triads scoop up his body after he falls from the helicopter at the end of the first movie and remove his heart, replacing it with an artificial one. Just as in the first movie he has to do outrageous things in order to keep himself alive including an awesome public sex scene in the middle of a race track (which has me stoked to get the uncensored DVD). I give this movie 5/5 because of the total awesomeness.

The second movie is Saving Private Ryan. Of course this movie is one of the great war movies of the 1990s. Starring Tom Hanks, Matt Damon and Vin Diesel (yup his first movie). I really enjoyed it, I even got extremely choked up towards the end. If you haven't seen it yet then you need to see it. It gets a well earned 5/5.

Lastly is Drag me to Hell which I just got home from seeing (hence the late post). This is a film written by Sam Raimi and Ted Raimi. Sam Raimi also directed the movie and has also directed great films like Spiderman and Evil Dead. The plot concerns a banker who denies a loan to an old gypsy woman who then begs her and when shamed curses her. It's a pretty good film for making you jump and of course Ted Raimi makes a little cameo appearance. I liked all of the actors especially Justin Long. There were also some pretty gross parts but not like gory gross. I give it a 4/5

Civilization 4 Expansion Lowdown

I finally got around to playing the Civilization 4 expansion pack Warlords. In fact I even played Total Realism. I enjoyed them both in their own ways and each brought their own little bit to the game.

In Warlords it's all about the conflicts, hence the name. Some new empires have been added such as the Carthaginians and the Vikings. There are also a few new leaders such as Winston Churchill and Ramses II. Overall not a whole lot differs from the regular game except for the enthusiasm towards attacking and crushing your opponent. I did enjoy it. I give it a 3/5 as far as expansions go.

Total realism adds quite a bit more to the game. There are loads of new wonders, units, unit upgrades, a description when you get a historical person and even a few new research topics as well. The main point of this game though is that it travels slowly throughout the eras, making a whopping 850 turns of potential game play. Should you expect to play through every turn in one sitting you'd better clear your schedule because it will take 6 hours minimum. Overall though the expansion worked on many things and was quite satisfying, even if you can't do a whole game all at once. I give it a 4/5.