Entertainment

10 Comments Posted on by Steve Murray Entertainment, Video Games

Video Game Review: Mass Effect 2 (or ME2: Modern Warfare)

My hard drive failure forced reprogression through the Mass Effect trilogy brings me to Mass Effect 2. After the launch of Mass Effect, BioWare was bought by EA, who were recently named the worst company in America. The apparent influence of BioWare’s new corporate parent is readily apparent in changes made between Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 (though we may never get the true story as to how much EA influenced the design of the game and how much of the changes were BioWare’s own choice). While Mass Effect could be described as an Action RPG, Mass Effect 2 edged toward Shooter RPG as many of the RPG elements from the first game underwent a complete overhaul.

Today, I review the second part of the Mass Effect trilogy with three year’s worth of hindsight and the accompanying DLCs. Continue reading →

1 Comment Posted on by Steve Murray Entertainment

Worst of Music: Tom Cruise – Pour Some Sugar On Me

When people say that Hollywood has run out of ideas, they aren’t kidding. The musical Rock of Ages is being turned into a movie that’s being released this summer. Showing that Hollywood won’t try letting a good idea stand up for itself, they’ve cast Tom Cruise as an aging rock star. As part of the movie being a musical, there’s singing involved. Unfortunately, Tom Cruise does his own singing as evidence by this week’s Worst of Music winner. Continue reading →

Leave a comment Posted on by J Entertainment, Link-Off

Entertainment Link-Off: Battle At Sea

After getting dibs on the film a month early over in Australia, Battleship is finally being released in North America. By now, many people may have spoiled the movie for you or perhaps told you how brainless it is. In fact, it is true. At least it was a fun action flick and it contained good eye candy like Brooklyn Decker here.

After the jump, some Marvel news, Harold and Kumar goes animated, breaking down the finale of How I Met Your Mother, 4 minute preview of the new Spider-Man flick and a look at some of the CW shows for the fall. Continue reading →

3 Comments Posted on by Steve Murray Entertainment

The Twenty Greatest Driving Songs

This weekend marks the unofficial beginning of summer in Canada. That means the snow has finally melted which will clean up the roads for guys like us to burn some rubber. Not that we lovers of speed need anything to motivate us to put the loud pedal to the floor but one of life’s great pleasures is to crank the tunes and have the wind whip through our hair (or what hair some of us have). However, only certain tunes have you driving full throttle.

So today, we’ve taken up the seemingly thankless task of selecting the twenty best songs that  make you put your foot to the floor and not look back. Continue reading →

Leave a comment Posted on by Steve Murray Entertainment, Link-Off

Entertainment Link-Off: A Shadowy Future

Nobody panic. Oh, who am I kidding? If I’m covering the entertainment and pop culture beat, then you should probably be a bit concerned. That’s especially true considering the only major wide-release at the theatres this week is Tim Burton’s take on the classic TV series Dark Shadows. But it does have the slightly underrated Eva Green in it. At least Burton did something right.

Let’s kick this post off with some good news. So, GOOD NEWS! Community has been renewed for a fourth season. It’s only for 13 episodes but considering that NBC has ordered a series with Dane Cook and one with Matthew Perry, it’s not like Community could do comparably worse. (Hit Fix)

After the jump, more NBC news, more news about The Avengers, the latest on Prometheus and Nina Dobrev doing yoga. Continue reading →

1 Comment Posted on by J Entertainment, Link-Off

Entertainment Link-Off: Avengers Assemble

The Avengers are here! That’s pretty much the wide release of significance this weekend. While it might be an obvious choice to kick start this with Scarlett Johansson, but let’s do a bit of Can-Con and kick off the ELO with Cobie Smulders.

After the jump, new trailers galore, some more Avengers stuff, Community marathon is on the way, and imagine this summer’s blockbusters as indie flicks. Continue reading →

6 Comments Posted on by Steve Murray Entertainment, Video Games

Video Game Review: Mass Effect (or When Hard Drives Stop Dead)

Let me set the scene for you: It’s the last Friday of January. My 2010 HP Pavilion laptop is my third consecutive laptop which starts to experience major issues. It still ran but it was slower than my nearly 30-year-old Macintosh SE. I tried starting it up when I get home from work but it’s dead. It won’t go past the splash screen. The hard drive has seized up and won’t go any more. Apart from some photos and some old radio show clips, I’ve lost nearly everything from the last two years of my life.

Why do I bring that up at the start of a Mass Effect review? I’m one of the many who played the Mass Effect series on PC. My three Shepards and two games worth of story were lost. When I got my computer back two weeks later (with a new hard drive), it was back to Eden Prime to stop the Reapers. And since I had to do everything over from scratch, I thought it would be fun to re-review Mass Effect some four years after coming out for PC (five years after XBox 360) to see how hindsight affects how we perceive the game and how it influenced games since. Continue reading →

Leave a comment Posted on by Steve Murray Entertainment

Worst of Music: Caroline Wozniacki – Oxygen

I’ve said it before that one of the greatest evils to befall modern music is the increasing usage of autotune in songs. It is generally unbearably annoying and though often it does spare us the pain of someone who can’t sing in-tune. Then there’s tennis star Caroline Wozniacki. She just released a new single for charity called Oxygen but this will do more to lose charities fundraising opportunities than make them money. Continue reading →

2 Comments Posted on by J Entertainment, Link-Off

Entertainment Link-Off: Worth the Wait

So I was away last week and Steve took over the Entertainment Link-Off once again in my absence. Anyway, I’m back with your weekly edition of the ELO. In theatres this weekend… well… there’s The Avengers! Oh wait, it’s not out in North America yet. Tough. In the meantime, I suppose you could go watch The Five Year Engagement featuring Emily Blunt.

After the jump a red band trailer for The Five Year Engagement, MTV Movie Awards getting a reboot, news on the development of Arrested Development, moviegoers like 3D, new look at Prometheus and a special interview with Jayesslee courtesy of comedian David So. Continue reading →

Leave a comment Posted on by Steve Murray Entertainment, Video Games

Gaming Has Its Benefits (Infographic)

I’m sure everyone’s parents and teachers said that video games would rot their minds. While I’m also sure that perception hasn’t changed and won’t any time soon, science is doing its damnedest to prove otherwise. Studies show that being a gamer makes you smarter and a better person than non-gamers. Continue reading →