With her representation of a controversial figure, Streep gives us a depiction of a human being suffering from dementia. Critics seem to be caught up on whether the film gives us a heroic portrayal of Thatcher, or they seem to dislike the fact that the film itself does not distinguish between an aggrandized or monstrous view of this woman. Sympathetic or critical view aside, what we get is a depiction of an elderly woman grappling with the ever present ghost of her husband (Jim Broadbent) that triggers memories of an exciting and eventful past. We see the person outside of the spotlight, outside of the political sphere, outside of the “madhouse” if you will. I enjoyed this depiction of Thatcher as human; however, the film is preoccupied with the fact that Thatcher is a woman working and prospering in a predominantly masculine domain, so preoccupied that it is impossible to forget that Thatcher is a woman. Although this feminist approach is intriguing, it is somewhat sloppy. By this I mean that we often get scenes with Thatcher making remarks about the “feminine” men, and her ability to defeat them in all matter of politics. The film stresses the fact that she is a woman and you almost expect Thatcher to approach every debate by bursting out with “I am a woman and therefore am right.”  Attacks at her masculine femininity are frequent and transparent. These outbursts of “I am woman” are humourous, but unintelligent. Yes Thatcher is a woman, yes she is accomplished, but these outbursts wherein she dismisses men’s potential do not effectively contribute to a story. 

As it usually goes, I had planned to a different review next but ended up watching another DVD that inspired me to do it first. At this rate I’m terrified I may never actually get through all of these since I keep finding new ones to add. However the subject matter alone meant there was no way I was going to ignore this one.

This is Ridgway Film’s adaptation of Earthbound.

So just two days ago I said that if Silent Hill HD Collection, and Silent Hill Downpour both come out in March, it will be "the best month the world has ever known". Well I need to somehow think of an even greater status because March will not only see the release of both those titles, but Silent Hill Book of Memories for the Playstation Vita. Seeing as that and Uncharted were my two biggest motivators to get a Vita (don't worry I'll make up for my lack of 3DS launch coverage by covering the shit out of this thing) this is fantastic news. 

As previously mentioned, HD Collection will release on the 6th, followed by Downpour the next week on the 13th. Then you have a couple of weeks to deal with that magic before BOM comes out the 27th. I just...man. I am actually counting down the days. Everything is now an obstacle in the way of me being able to play those games. In fact, I now dub March 2012 Silent Hill month where I will talk about those games even more than I already do!! So get excited now everyone!

I should really just put this link and end the story because once you get there you'll see exactly why I brought you there. Just released yesterday, flash game Abobo's Big Adventure bills itself as "the ultimate tribute to the NES" and truer words have never been spoken. From blowing in the cartridge during the loading screen, to a flood of enemies ranging from Bubble Man to Jaws, and even an encounter with the mermaid from The Goonies II, this is pure joy from start to finish for anyone with even the slightest affinity for the NES. Not only that, but it plays well too! It's a classic Double Dragon game, only now you're eating the heads of the River City Ransom children like you've always wanted!

The game itself is surprisingly long, not to mention there are tons and tons of medals and achievements to unlock. Seriously, you HAVE to play this thing. It's one of the most pleasant experiences I have had in quite some time. 

There are only a handful of box Blu-ray box sets that I have been eagerly anticipating. The first is of course the Friday the 13th movie series. Then the complete series of Are You Afraid of the Dark. Then Ghost Writer. THEN it would have to all of the James Bond movies. Sadly I keep getting denied those first three but later this year I'll be able to scratch one item off the list as the gargantuan Bond Blu-ray set is on the way.

Scheduled for release on October 1st (at least in the UK), the set contains all 22 bond movies from Dr. No through to Quantum of Solace (no Never Say Never Again which is not shocking). Nine of these have not even been available on Blu-ray until now. Oh and in case you were worried that this bad boy wouldn't be enough of an insane time investment, there will also be 130 hours worth of bonus content, some of which is exclusive to this set.

No word on pricing yet here in North America but I'll throw that up as soon as I know. Please dear god don't make it like 400 dollars because you know I'll still pay it and that would be cruel.

Check out the trailer after the break.

God you know, even though I already did it last year at least twice, it's so hard not to read that title and not make a Kid N' Play joke. I'm going to try really really hard though. Here we go.

Details have emerged on this year's XBLA House Party and might I say things are looking pretty good. Things kick off on February 15th with Alan Wake's American Nightmare (yay!). The following week we will finally get to try out the much delayed I Am Alive. After that we get arena shooter Nexuiz, which I will admit to knowing next to nothing about. Finally we wrap things up with EA's puzzle/action/stealth game Warp, which looks crazy good from what I've seen. 3 out of 4 of these I can say I am legitimately excited for. Nexuiz I just have to learn more about. In either case, that's going to a pretty fantastic few weeks.

Click onwards to view the kinda dopey trailer courtesy of IGN.

It is not often that a black and white silent film gets much attention in our day and age of 3D hype in which a film is considered ‘good’ if it surpasses every other in its graphics. Michel Hazanavicius’s The Artist is unique in its style and refreshing in its simplicity. Presenting a story of a silent film actor, George Valentin (Jean Dujardin), Hazanavicius reveals the fine line between fame and washed-up and the easy transition from one to the other. Despite being on the cusp of the “talkie” era, Valentin struggles to keep his name in lights, producing and starring in silent films.

For anyone who has ever had a frustrating experience with Microsoft customer service (which it seems like an alarming amount of people have), here is the site for you.

HackedonXbox.com details both the resolved and unresolved cases of people who have fallen victim to some Xbox Live treachery and have been getting the run around from Microsoft. The primary story belongs to Susan Taylor, whose story has been making the rounds in the past week or so. I won't get into the details but you really should head over to the site and give it a read because it's quite something. The unresolved stories are even more alarming, as one guy has been waiting nearly 4 months for some resolution!

Oddly enough my only bad video game customer service experience was with the Wii. After being told my store purchase failed, I proceeded to try two more times to no avail. Then I discover I was charged for each and every time and the official word from Nintendo was basically "yea I bet that sucks." Not really related to the story I know, I just wanted to share my pain.

A few months back I sadly reported on the delay of Silent Hill Downpour, news that hit me hard. I took solace in knowing that at least in January I would get the HD collection, which would tide me over until the March release of Downpour. Alas it seems Konami is having none of that and has announced a delay for the collection, which will now be coming out March 6th. At least everyone on the planet won't be paying attention to a certain other game that comes out that day, oh wait no they totally will. 

Eerily enough, that day is also one week before Downpour is meant to be released. I hate to say it but I'm now kind of expecting another delay for Downpour. The way things are going I'm sure its new release day will be April 2014 and Komani will issue a press release saying I am personally prevented from buying it. 

On the flip side if Downpour is not delayed, then holy shit we are in the for the best March the world has ever known. 

I am not familiar with Steve McQueen’s work, but now that I have seen the movie Shame I would like to see some of his other projects. The reason I say this is because I was once excited for the film. After seeing it, I felt as though I was deprived of something. My criticism of the film is not that it was too controversial or that there was too much sex and, “oh bother, my poor baby blue eyes that have never seen such disgusting acts will never be the same.” I certainly cannot complain about seeing Fassbender (all of Fassbender). My critique stems from what was lacking in the film—a story, a plot to complement the beautiful cinematography and acting that was present throughout the film. The problem comes from the borderline between when sex becomes art, and when sex is simply sex.