Manhunt 2 Re-Rejected, PSP Rejecting SDTVs, and the Yaris rejecting decency - Welcome to the column that is like the girl you always rejected in high school for the pretty cheerleader known as Dare to Play the Game.

Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. If you were paying attention after my post last week; I also posted the Halo 3 review. Initial feedback has been positive but I always like to hear more. Naturally, I have also played a lot more of Halo 3 including a really cool Energy Sword duel that I was a part of. In fact, for those who have Halo 3; go to your fileshare and add me as a friend (Kedrix) and then check the clips. I have two cool clips of me in action with a gravity hammer and then an energy sword. Good times, good times.

Steve Carell is Evan Baxter in this “sort of” sequel to Bruce Almighty. He is a freshman member of the United States Congress about to start his first day. His campaign promise was to “change the world”. In the “be careful what you wish for” department, God (Morgan Freeman) gives him the chance to do just that. There’s just one catch, however. Evan has to build an ark…. You know the rest of that story. Suddenly animals begin arriving in pairs, and Evan makes a physical transformation into the traditional long bearded Noah. As you might imagine, this causes some troubles in his life as a Congressman. Try as he might, this modern-day Noah can’t escape his divine destiny. You’re probably thinking: “this sounds like funny stuff”. Wrong.

I'm not much of a soccer fan. I played a few years as a kid, for a local community club, but quit well before puberty. I almost never watch it on TV, even when the World Cup bandwagon rolls around. The only players I can name are Pelé, Beckham and Hamm. And Knightley, but I suppose the Bend it Like Beckham star doesn't count.

With my limited knowledge and appreciation of the game, I didn't expect much from this HBO documentary. Sure, I know sports stories can be dramatic and exciting, but the U.S. Women's Soccer Team? Not my first choice of subjects. Imagine my surprise when I became totally engrossed in the inspiring story of these women who gave their all when hardly anyone cared, who fought through all kinds of adversity, who dared to dream.

Surf's Up is Sony Pictures Animation's second and latest film, and is directed by Toy Story 2 co-director Ash Brannon and Chicken Little's Chris Buck. Although it was considered a box office failure, Surf's Up has since been applauded by critics and fans alike. I have to say, normally I'm a sucker for CGI films but lately there has been a flood of them on the market, and frankly they're starting to decline in quality. But Surf's Up does something different, it's actually a CGI mockumentary on surfing documentaries, and with quite a list of voice actors. The list includes Jeff Bridges, Zooey Deschanel, Jon Heder, Shia LaBeouf, James Woods, Diedrich Bader, and more. So does this film break free from the recent rut the animated film genre seems to have found itself in?

Some portions of this review regarding general show information are shared with the Season 1 and Season 2 reviews.

After watching the first two seasons of CSI Miami I was pleased with the shows story arc, and although the latter season was starting to get a bit dull with regards to the character development, the case loads were just as engaging and bizarre. As I've said before, I hope that in Season 3 a few of the weaker aspects form the past two season can be rectified like the sometimes endless dialogue.

Some portions of this review regarding general show information are shared with the Season 1 and Season 3 reviews.

Before I saw Season 1 of CSI Miami I was quite skeptical about the shows ability to live up to the original. After watching the first season I was impressed with most aspects of the show, ranging from character development to entertaining and interesting cases. I don't want to over praise the show though, because it does have its flaws, and can drag on a bit at times, but I'm hoping that Season 2 might just improve on these aspects.

Kotaku reported today that, Microsoft will be including 2 free games with all Xbox 360 SKUs starting at the end of October. The two titles being included are Forza Motorsports 2 and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. This adds at least 90 dollars in value to the current prices of 360 units. Microsoft made it clear that no changes to pricing would be involved with the bundles. 

Here's the trailer for the NEW straight to DVD Futurama movie. It releases on, November 27th, everywhere. Also look for the shows upcoming new season on Comedy Central early next year.

Some portions of this review regarding general show information are shared with the Season 2 and Season 3 reviews.

When the original CSI was put on the air, I was a huge fan. At the time it was totally unique, entertaining, and to a certain degree educational. Not to say that hasn't changed over the years, but it has certainly lost its uniqueness over the course of two spin-offs. However I won't judge the quality of these spin-offs because I've never actually watched them before, who knows maybe they still have the integrity of the original show. But when you have a show staring David Caruso, it's going to be hard to win me over, so I'm hoping for some developed storylines and engaging character arcs.

The main quote on this disc's cover reads, "if you liked Bend it Like Beckham, you'll love Gracie." Baloney. OK! Magazine's Karen Berg got me all excited with this raving tidbit, because I did like Bend it. A lot. Unfortunately for me and anyone else who pays attention to such quotes, Bergie either never watched Gracie or just doesn't know movies and why people like them.

Here's my new quote for the DVD case: "If you still like after-school specials, you'll be delighted with Gracie, a half-baked TV movie in the guise of something more."