Retro Review
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- Written by Pat Vis
Canadian Netflix is somewhat terrible. What I mean is, while there is stuff to watch on it, it is never anything I actually want to watch. When you compare the selection to American Netflix it’s like day and night. I originally went on Netflix the other day looking for something stupid to watch, preferably in the vein of The Rock or Con Air. Neither were on Canadian Netflix, however, they did direct me to Mad Max, a movie I’ve heard much about but never watched (and yes, I have seen Road Warrior). Boredom got the better of me and I decided to give it a whirl.
Mad Max stars a young Mel Gibson as Max Rockatansky, a police officer in the Main Force Patrol (MFP). The MFP is the law enforcement arm of a dystopian future Australia where energy is in short supply and the government is slowly but surely crumbling. This has led to the world becoming much more wild west in nature. The film opens with Nightrider, a member of a motorcycle gang, in a police chase with the MFP, Max engages in the pursuit and Nightrider dies in a car accident. This leads to Nightrider’s gang, led by Toecutter and Bubba, taking revenge upon Max’s best friend and eventually going after Max’s family.
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- Written by Andrew Armstrong
Think way back to 2000, most people had no idea who Christopher Nolan was. Hard to believe now that his Batman Trilogy is wrapping up in theaters (review here), and Inception has come and gone making a billion dollars. Nolan has quickly cemented himself as the best name in blockbuster directors which can largely be attributed to his ability to perfectly balance the dumb down Hollywood movie made for the public, while still providing a little meat for the people looking for a deeper experience.
Memento is widely credited as Nolan’s second film after the 1998 movie Following. It’s about a man named Leonard Shelby, played by Guy Pearce, who is incapable of making new memories after the rape and murder of his wife. Leonard is hunting down the men responsible to exact vengeance for his wife and his memories. The real trick to memento is that it plays out like a book where you read the last page first. You are shown what would traditionally be the ending of the movie first, where Leonard blows Teddy’s (Joe Pantoliano) brains out, finally getting what he believes is revenge for his wife. Memento then proceeds to backtrack from this showing how Leonard reached this point. The end of the movie is actually the beginning. So much more than a gimmick, it opens the door to mind games and twists throughout the whole experience. Towards the very beginning it can be confusing when time switches back but the movie does a good job of quickly establishing how to tell which stage the characters are at. Going backwards also saves a lot of repetition. The audience is spared a lot of time relearning facts and instead is presented a fact and then is explained how that fact came to be. Going backwards also keeps opinion out of the equation, allowing you to get more in the mind of Leonard who deals only in facts, as he claims "emotions can be misleading".
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- Written by Andrew Armstrong
In 1998, Banjo-Kazooie was an exceptional game, and going back to the lovable bear and bird combo in 2012 is just as great as it ever was. Developed by Rare for the N64, Banjo-Kazooie has been come to be known as one of the best 3D platformers of all time. A spiritual successor to Mario 64, Banjo-Kazooie has become my favourite game of all time, and if you have never played it than you're missing out.