Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on April 19th, 2010
One of the first books I read about the restaurant business was a title called Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain. He describes the people who work at restaurants to be a band of misfits, those who are probably only there because of an irrational dedication to cooking. That would certainly describe the people who work at the Slammin Salmon, the latest comedy from Broken Lizard group.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on April 16th, 2010
The Falcon Crest series ran 227 episodes from December of 1981 to May of 1990. The show’s creator, Earl Hamner actually worked on the Waltons and wanted to make a show about a family in the wine industry. However, when CBS got a hold of the series they wanted to make it more like rival show, Dallas. Translation: we want more smut and backstabbing. The show, Falcon Crest was born. I think John Boy would have been shot in the first season had he lived in Tuscany Valley. Good night indeed.
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Posted in Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on April 14th, 2010
Call of Duty: The Break Up, Halo: Full of Bull, & Ubisoft wants to improve the DRM experience? – Welcome to the column that is full of bull and we aren’t talking about a cow either known as Dare to Play the Game.
Ever been in one of those moods where you can’t figure out what to play but yet you have dozens of games lying around unopened? So what do you do?
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on April 12th, 2010
One of my soft-spots in films (puns aside) are erotic thrillers. This genre includes some of my favorite movies of all time include the likes of Basic Instinct, Sliver & Fatal Attraction. As it turns out, Basic Instinct & Sliver’s screenplay was written by one Joe Eszterhas. Then I get a copy of Jade to review on Blu-Ray which just also happens to feature Joe on screenplay credits. Color me interested.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on April 9th, 2010
Growing up in life came a little later for me than most people. Most people seem to hit maturity right around their later teen years and early twenties. Honestly, I didn’t really grow up until I hit my mid twenties. But what would happen if one was forced to grow up sooner, say around their seventeenth birthday? Well then, you might be like Jenny Mellor from An Education who had to grow up a lot sooner than she probably expected to.
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Posted in Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on April 7th, 2010
Microsoft says no to WebTv, Red Dead Redemption’s Ad Budget, & Video Games cause Tooth Decay? – Welcome to the column that provides a foundation for healthy white teeth but is still working out the kinks on bad breath known as Dare to Play the Game.
I’m still having difficulties with playing Deadly Premonition. I’m not sure what it is, but I spent most of my time this weekend going back and forth from World of Warcraft to Game Room (Xbox Live).
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on April 2nd, 2010
The Prisoner was a television show that ran in the UK from September of 1967 to February of 1968. It starred Patrick McGoohan as the Prisoner who was trying to understand what the Village was and how to escape from it. Enter 2009; we have a remake and this time we have Jim Caviezel in the familiar role. However, this time things go just a little bit differently.
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Posted in Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on March 31st, 2010
Major Nelson gets Hacked, Rock Band Greenday gets a couple of full albums, & PS3 Losing Linux? – Welcome to the column that installed Linux but didn’t like the increase in efficiency so they removed it known as Dare to Play the Game.
Hold on to your hats my friends, I actually did play Deadly Premonition for the Xbox 360 over this past weekend. I played it for roughly an hour and spent most of the time trying to get down the controls.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on March 29th, 2010
My dad was an ex-Vietnam officer, 1st lieutenant in the United States Army. He gave a lot for his country but never forced me towards any military service. He wanted me to focus more on my studies and make sure I got a proper education. I don’t think I could comprehend what my father or any military personnel in a war situation goes through. However, with the dramatization in Brothers, I can see on some level the horror that some of our fine soldiers have to live with.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on March 28th, 2010
Around Thanksgiving of last year, I started to see trailers of a particular movie that quite literally made me laugh out loud. The reason behind it is because I knew with the title of the movie and the obvious plot, there was no way I was not going to review it when it came to dvd & blu-ray. I have a reputation for certain movies, I guess you could say. That movie was Ninja Assassin. Several months later, I am reviewing it for a mass audience. Funny how that works.
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Posted in Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on March 24th, 2010
Your Pulse Will Be Used in Zelda, Future of Spider-Man, & EA charging for demos? – Welcome to the column that would charge for this free content but would only be getting money from his wife who would end up just asking me for the money known as Dare to Play the Game.
Remember how I was supposed to start Deadly Phenomenon? Yeah, that was total fail.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on March 22nd, 2010
If you know me, you probably know that I don’t exactly exhibit small town values. I grew up in the suburbs, went to a state college and have worked in major cities such as Dallas & Houston. However, for the last ten years, I have lived somewhere in Brazoria County (small town haven) and I currently reside in West Columbia, Tx which has a population of around 4,000 people. Would Good Intentions be an accurate portrayal of small town southern life or more stereotypical mayhem?
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on March 19th, 2010
It seems like yesterday, but about a year ago; my cat of 14 years had died. Her name was Burns. She had survived through my college years and the worst period in my life during my 20’s. Sarah had come into my life at that point and I guess my cat finally realized she could let go. Burns was always a loyal companion and there to bring me up when I needed it. I never had a better pet than her, and I probably never will. Hachi, A Dog’s Tale is another story about a faithful animal, adapted from a Japanese true story.
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Posted in Blog Posts, Random Fun by Michael Durr on March 17th, 2010
We @ Upcomingdiscs.com have made a group (for fun) for anybody who wants to participate in this week’s College Basketball March Madness over @ ESPN.com. The group name is Teh Noms Pics of Up discs. Catchy, I know. If we get enough people (like 10 or more), maybe we’ll find a dvd to send to the winner. Only catch, we’ll need someway to contact you and you’ll need to get in by Thursday when the first game starts. Have fun.
http://games.espn.go.com/tcmen/en/group?groupID=74086
Update: One last bump. This is the last day to get in your bracket. So fill them in now 🙂
Posted in Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on March 17th, 2010
Patenting DLC Upsell, Changing Clothes in Fable 3, & In-Game Ads Going Away (Haha, Just kidding)? – Welcome to the column that tried to patent redundancy but realized Madden from EA beat us to the punch known as Dare to Play the Game.
Well, last week I was trying to find a game to tide me over until this weekend when I would open Deadly Phenomenon for the Xbox 360. To be honest, I didn’t really try to find one.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on March 15th, 2010
Alice in Wonderland is one of my favorite books from my youth. One of my favorite birthday presents was a gorgeous copy of the book with illustrations from my aunt. So as a result, I have seen many incantations of the classic title from the famous Disney animated movie to a plethora of tv series & movies. Enter 2010, hoopla over the Alice in Wonderland remake with Johnny Depp, the way was opened for other adaptations attempting to cash in. Alice, a mini-series on SyFy premiered in late 2009 and became the 2nd most watched mini-series in SyFy’s history (first being Tin Man). But how good exactly was it?
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on March 11th, 2010
In my lifetime, I’ve really only liked five zombie movies. There is Shaun of the Dead, the three Resident Evil movies, and Zombieland. Most of the other zombie type films either belong in the “Way too Gory” or “Nonsense” designation. So, naturally when I receive a zombie movie like Dead Snow, there is some apprehension. However, in this case I can say that this movie belongs in both of those designations and delightfully so.
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Posted in Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on March 10th, 2010
Ubisoft DRM, New Forms for the Xbox 360, & Tecmo Bowl is coming back? – Welcome to the column that offers no copy protection (except for the boxing glove that appears if you try to steal any of the bad jokes) known as Dare to Play the Game.
Over the weekend, I actually finished a game review. I know, I amazed myself. The game was Data East Arcade Classics on the Wii. Retro classics, I can’t get enough of them.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on March 8th, 2010
In the beginning, many theories suggest that there was a big bang. From that event, it morphed into the planets, moons, stars and life as we know it. However, there is much that is not known in the cosmos and even more to explore. The Universe is entering its fourth season on the History Channel. After forty-four successful episodes, can they come back with twelve more interesting and intricate looks at space: the final frontier?
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Posted in Game Reviews by Michael Durr on March 5th, 2010
Data East was a great video game company that lasted from 1976 to 2003 when it declared bankruptcy. It had an arcade & pinball heyday for most of the eighties with many fantastic titles. Luckily, most of the assets were bought up by a single company called G-Mode when Data East was forced to sell them off. Recently, Majesco worked with G-Mode and re-released fifteen of them in a very nice retro collection for the Nintendo Wii. With fingers crossed, we hope that this collection has aged well.
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Posted in Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on March 3rd, 2010
Heavy Rain Film Rights, PS3 Lockdown, & Activision shuts down King’s Quest? – Welcome to the column that asks you don’t read any other gaming columns for the next 24 hours known as Dare to Play the Game.
This week for the time being, I am still playing Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe for the Xbox 360. I ran through the story mode on both sides and grabbed myself all applicable achievements.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on February 27th, 2010
Several years ago, I went through my divorce. We were clearly not made for each other and spent many nights arguing over the simplest things. Despite our constant bickering, our divorce went reasonably smooth and we were able to agree on most things. Thankfully, we did not have kids to further complicate the proceedings. However, if we did have kids and had arranged dual custody, I wonder if it would have turned out like Gary Unmarried: Season One.
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Posted in Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on February 24th, 2010
Upcoming Titles for Xbox Live Arcade, Final Fantasy XIII reviews, & Apple gets rough on IPhone Apps? – Welcome to the column that will only be kid friendly to those who just got out of juvenile detention known as Dare to Play the Game.
After about four months and probably more mentions on this column than you care about, I finally have all of the achievement points in WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2010.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on February 23rd, 2010
They say that history is written by the winners. The winners are the ones who fought and the ones who conquered this great land of ours. In reality, history comes from all walks of life, it is unfortunate some are not able to write about it. But once in a while, you find people out there who are able to collect the ideas and tales and weave them into a book. That book will then sell many copies and influence a generation.
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Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on February 21st, 2010
Greetings here from your favorite neighborhood reviewer and Spidey-expert: the infamous Kedrix. I certainly have a habit of appearing whenever there is a Marvel or DC superhero involved, especially if the source material happens to be animated. Needless to say, when the opportunity to review Spectacular Spider-Man both volumes 6 & 7 came available, I jumped to the task. Somehow, we missed Volume 5 (I have seen the first four), but I’m sure we can pick right back up and get to the spectacular action. (one paragraph in and we are already using bad puns, tsk tsk)
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