Robocop 2014 Review

It’s kinda bad, then gets better.  The new Robocop 2014 movie isn’t terrible, but it’s not as great as the original and here’s why.  I give Robocop 2014 9/10 then 3/10 then 8/10 (beginning, middle, end).

The best part – the ED209 were amazing.  Excellent work from the CGI guys and gals on cooking that up.  The audio department perfected the sound of the ED209 walking to give some real impact, they had a real robotic menacing voice effect like the original movie.  My favorite part of the movie.

Now on to the rest of the movie you have to sit through to see the awesome ED209:

The acting is average to great.  The doctor who builds Robocop is amazing and really owns every scene he enters.  The evil CEO is a good actor placed in a bad role.  He carried the position well but it should have been a guy in a suit.

Samuel L. Jackson as the news reader was great, but again, he was a great actor in a bad role.  The hand movements to move things on screen were awkward and that UI would never be used in the real world.  It just felt like the Robocop producers tried to be fururistic/modern without thinking about how all this technology works in reality.   Samuel Jackson should have been sitting in a studio.

The main Robocop guy who played Murphy was trying his best but just didn’t hit every note.  Murphy is supposed to be a good guy capable cop who hits a bad situation.   They should have spent more time building him up like in the original.

The Robocop testing phase dragged on way too long.  It’s the second fifth of the movie and it feels like it goes on forever.

Lack of build up of characters and corporation.  The movie wasn’t lacking coherence, it just lacked punch.  It felt like it was jumping between scenes but there was no solid meat to the movie.  Like the producers just wanted to show cool action scenes from their todo list without watching the movie themselves.  The evil corporation wasn’t evil enough, the good guy wasn’t nice enough.  

Too many bit parts from random actors and some cringy scenes that dragged.  But it could have been amazing and that’s what hurts the most.  This was trilogy material and it had potential to be a triple blockbuster.

No evil corporation.  Yes I know it had Omnicorp, but it was run by a cool guy CEO type.  It should have been boardmembers sitting around a table in suits like the original, with charts and Powerpoint.  Instead we see a glass meeting room that just looked weak.

The Dean (police leader) had little presence.  If anyone watches any movies from the 80’s they always have a boss who has to do things a certain way because they have a boss to report to.  You don’t get that feeling with the Dean.  She does her best but tough shoes to fill and really requires screen presence to pull it off.

Robocop can jump.  Why can Robocop jump?  He is a 1 ton bullet proof tank and he’s leaping through the air like a cat.  It’s just ridiculous and totally ruins the atmosphere and believability of the movie.  He also moves just that little bit too fast.  The original Robocop walks slow, because of his weight, and it adds a huge amount of power to the role.  Like this Robot cop is coming to ruin your day power.

The new Robocop suit is cool but too complicated and black.  It’s hard to clearly see the damage Robocop has received in battle so you can’t easily see if Robo is hurting or not.  The footstep sounds were copy pasted from the original movie and excellent, but the movement sounds, like turning, lacked punch.  This is the Transformers audio problem.

Transformers audio problem: The Transformers movies have a particular sound effect they used for when the transformer robots transform.  It’s supposed to sound alien and cool  It’s like chu chu chu chu as the parts move around and they transform.  It sounds terrible and does not fit the process shown on screen which is huge pieces of metal moving around and hitting each other.  It has ruined many movies.  It’s up there in bad movie tropes with blue and orange filters and lens flare.  Oh and spinning bullet time camera on shooting scenes and shaky cam on action scenes.  This really is the worst decade for movies ever.

Too little future tech in the movie.  I know Robocop is not supposed to be 2050 but it should still have some cooler looking vehicles, and maybe some robot drones flying around.  The front lights on Robocops motorbike looked cheap.  I would have liked a talk through of what awesome features the bike had like the Batman movies had.

Robocops CGI room scan was a mess and used too often.

Spinning camera effect.  Over and over again we see the spinning camera bullet time effect copied from Matrix.  It just made me dizzy and I started to lose interest in the movie.  You know it will be taught in film schools now as a great way to excite the viewer into the action but I just don’t like it at all.

Blue and orange.  Every movie is blue and orange and this is no difference.  I just hope we get past these cheap filter soon.  The movie could have used more lens flare though to really make the lights pop.

Needed slow death scene.  The death scenes were one shot and it’s over.  No final words, no speech about why the evil guy wanted to do his thing, just pop and it’s over.  There were two main villains in the movie and both had weak death scenes.  Throughout the whole movie it felt like the Director was afraid to linger on anything in case the the audience lost interest and it shows in a weak coherence.

No cool catch phrases allowed.  The original Robocop was made by those cool catchphrases you repeated to your friends in school for weeks.  This has none.

Some awesome quotes from the original Robocop movies:

“Dead or alive, you’re coming with me.”

“Come quietly, or there will be… trouble.”

“Excuse me. I have to go. Somewhere there is a crime happening.”

“Your move, creep.”

Robocop: “My programming does not permit me to take action against an officer of this company.”
The Old Man: “Dick, you’re FIRED !”
Robocop: (smiling slightly) “Thank you.” (fires)

The Old Man: “Nice shooting, son. What’s your name ?”
Robocop: “Murphy.”

See how cool those are?  nothing like that in this movie.  Just a brooding guy in a cyborg cat suit.

The worst part – the movie failed to perform and will probably not get a sequel.  The original Robocop movie came in a trilogy and it’s a shame this new Robocop 2014 movie will likely not see a Robocop 2.  So much blockbuster potential wasted by averageness and modern film schools.

The Room Two Walkthrough – iPad, Android and iPhone

I just finished The Room Two for iPad. Here’s how I completed every puzzle in every chapter, no cheats, just a complete The Room Two walkthrough and guide for the entire game. With hints and solutions to solve every puzzle in The Room Two.

The first chapter of The Room Two is called The Crypt.

The game opens up with a watch like mechanism and a letter. Open the letter and you’ll be given an eyepiece. The eyepiece is missing a lens. Follow the rest of the tutorial until you are given a hexagonal metal shaped object.

Now move around this table that you’re shown and on the corner of the table, near the letter, you will find another hexagonal shaped piece of metal.

Pinch out of this second table and move back to the first table that you saw. You will see two hexagonal shaped holes. Insert the two metal pieces that you picked up into these holes in the table.

That table will open up and reveal two golden discs. Swipe to rotate these discs until a big circular hole appears in the middle. A globe will appear in the middle between the two gold halves. Pick up the strange brass sphere. Insert this golden globe into the middle of the compass on the table. It will open and show an eye. We need to make a code with the compass.

Look at the letter on the first table using the lens. It will have SESWN in red ink. Enter this code by swiping on the compass middle and pick up the medallion. Tap to look at the medallion in your inventory. Now, use multitouch and two fingers to move both arrow parts at the same time to make the medallion square.

Move to the second table and place this square medallion into the center of the big box. Enter lens mode and double tap the light projection lamp that came out of the big box. You can now move the light around the walls. With your lens activated, settle the light beam on each of the red glyphs on the walls of the room.

After three separate glyphs have been found the game will zoom in to a micro observatory. Rotate the middle part to complete the symbol. It will take you to a fixed view where you have to rotate and make the correct symbol using the floating red lines and matching with a red drawing on the wall.

Completing this red puzzle will complete the first chapter of The Room Two.

The Room Two Review

The Room Two (2) is finally released today, December 12th.  I finished the app in around 5 hours, just like the Room 1.  Here’s a quick review of how version 1 compares with The Room Two and if it’s worth your money.  Should I buy The Room Two?

Quick summary of negative opinions on The Room Two:

  • The puzzles in The Room Two make less sense as the game develops.
  • The ending feels rushed.
  • Loses the Lovecraftian atmosphere as the game develops, weak story and some poor writing.
  • With all the above faults points The Room Two still shines like the diamond that it is.

The puzzles and furniture in The Room Two still have the click and clack sound you love from the Room.  There’s still the undertones of Lovecraft in the background but not as much.  Everything is wood and cogs and the puzzles are never too difficult.  It’s all 95% of the way to a awesome experience…but it falls short.  Now this is short, but just a little.  It’s no where close to a failure, but it’s not the awe inspiring performance that was the original Room.

The story is the first issue I have.  The visuals in The Room Two are still top of the class.  Crisp and clean on the new iPad mini retina display.  The story is messy and told through letters, of which there are too many.  The original The Room had a beautifully crafted Lovecraftian vibe to everything.  The letters, the storyline, it all tied together and had the magic of coherence that sent shivers down your spine.  The Room Two by contrast has letters, and hence a story, that a modern writer has written.

The Room Two has none of the extended verbiage of HP Lovecraft that makes you feel the unsettling creepiness of everything around you.  And since story is such a big part of the experience it’s a big letdown when you read something that looks scrawled together over a coffee break.  The overarching story of the whole game is also lacking in depth or coherence.  The original The Room had you moving from room to room delving deeper into the depths of your Uncles home, in the Room 2 you’re taken from room to room just because.

Then you have the rooms.  The rooms are great and each has a theme, and it’s spoiler time so look away if you want to play through yourself first.  My favourite room was the seance, really the only level that maintained an unsettling vibe and had a great underlying story to the room itself.  Other rooms I were:  The ship room, the Egyptian room and the lab.  There’s also the first level called “The crypt”.  Five rooms in total, each around an hour long.

The Puzzles in the Room Two are mostly easy.  I was never challenged.  There were times I did not know what to do next. Like a switch hidden on the side of a drawer you can not see.  The hints that were added after The Room was released do spoil the struggle and sense of achievement of cracking a tough nut.

The Room Two continues the use of old time furniture and equipment.  Really nice to see that and with the touch and tap control scheme it felt real.  Lab battery charger and Typewriter in the Seance stand out as particularly memorable contraptions.

The last few rooms in The Room Two start to lose coherence in the puzzles.  You’ll ask yourself why collecting insects opens a drawer.  I felt a fetch quest vibe that I did not like, especially for the end of the game which should be well paced and jaw dropping.

Which brings me nicely to the end of the review.  Lack of jaw dropping ending in The Room Two.  When you play the original The Room your jaw drops when that final table opens.   You didn’t want the game to end, and it doesn’t, 3 times in a row as that table opens up revealing more and more juicy puzzles, each more difficult than the last.  It was an experience that left your mind racing long after the game was over.  You wanted to play again.  There’s nothing like that in The Room Two.

The Room Two is 5 hours long for a single play through.  For $5, the app is right at the limit of being worth it.  Which is probably why you’re looking at this review.  So here’s my final recommendations:

If $5 is throw away money for you then buy.

  • It will inevitably be on sale in a few months for $3, if you don’t mind waiting then you could save $2.
  • And of course, when The Room Three is released it will be on the Apple app store for free.
  • I paid $5 for The Room Two.  I feel it’s a $3 app.  I also feel the original The Room was worth the $5 I spent on it.  The extra $2 would come from a better Lovecraftian vibe in the writing and a jaw dropping finale.

Overall, I give The Room Two a review score of 4.5/5.  It’s still the 2013 Nerdr Puzzle Game of the Year because puzzle games have been weak this year.  For comparison last years The Room was a clear winner with 5/5.

Leave a comment with your thoughts.

FIX How to Activate iTunes Radio on new iTunes 7 for Apple Mac and Macbook Pro

Today I finally updated iTunes on my Macbook and found iTunes radio was missing or removed.  I searched around and it looked like iTunes radio had been removed by Apple.  In fact, Apple have just hidden the settings to turn internet streaming radio on.

Open the new iTunes.  In the top menu near the Apple logo tap the iTunes word and select Preferences.  Then tick the box for internet radio and hit ok.  Now when you go to music in iTunes you’ll see an option for internet.  This is internet streaming radio on your Mac again.

4 Pics 1 Movie Solutions, All Answers and Cheats – App for iPhone, iPad and Android

Every answer for every level of 4 Pics 1 Movie.  Nothing fancy, no fluff, just solutions, cheats, and all the answers for the 4 Pics 1 Movie app.  The 4 pics 1 movie app is available for iphone, ipod, ipad and android devices.

4 Pics 1 Movie Level 1 to 40 Answers.  These are the answers and cheats for all levels of 4 pics 1 movie.  Remember to share on FB and Twit if you found this useful!

Toy Story, Fight Club, Leap year, 21 Jump street, Oceans Eleven.  I love you, man, black swan, Cowboys and Aliens, Almost Famous, Hitch, Battleship.  Braveheart, Vanilla Sky, Pitch Perfect, pulp fiction, garden state.

Cars, Brothers, domino, A man apart, happy feet, American Pie.  Black hawk down, fools gold, jack reacher, Angels and Demons.  Man on fire, Barbershop, sin city, Nerd, Zoolander, Anaconda, Dirty Harry.

Babe, Knight and day, Fast five, Bad santa, King kong, Brother bear, After earth. Blue crush, Identity, Beauty shop, Road trip, Looper, Balls of fury.  Gladiator, Apollo 13.

Cast away, Bad boys, Man of steel, salt, black dynamite, holes.  City of angels, ice princess, boys don’t cry, deep blue sea, sky fall.  Superbad, Coyote ugly, Training day, I am legend, ladyhawke.

The lion king, blow dry, sixteen candles, dirty dancing, footloose.  Monsters inc, wild hogs, attack the block, Star Trek, Layer cake.  Panic room, role models, spy kids, Scent of a woman, The paper chase, Grizzly man.

Elf, Twister, Rambo, space cowboys, jungle fever, network.  Election, A knights tale, Space jam, The ring, tequila sunrise, meet the parents, The great escape.  After the sunset, some like it hot, the bodyguard.

Clerks, 12 Monkeys, Heavy Metal, Men in black, Star Wars, Total recall.  Smokin Aces, Flashdance, iron eagle, the fighter, splash.  A time to kill, step brothers, Mallrats, casablanca, Titanic.

4 Pics 1 Movie Level 8 Answers.  Aliens, the birds, Spider-man, Meatballs, Animal house, Monsters ball, Antz.  Old school, A bug’s life, Sling blade, Tower heist, The edge.  Goldeneye, Act of valor, the big red one, the odd couple.

Jaws, Rain man, The A-team, Air force one, cabin boy.  The bucket list, Puss in boots, Problem child, Cool runnings., the jungle book.  Point break, American psycho, the artist, byebye birdie, the dark crystal, daredevil.

Airplane, the fly, boiler room, the piano, face/off.  Payback, the doors, short circuit, the iron giant, twins.  Pillow talk, the onion field, Backdraft, Green Lantern, April fools day, the ice storm.

Air bud, Batman, Mars attacks, out of time, the karate kid, robin hood.  Chain reaction, Robocop, Tango & Cash, the howling, A perfect world.  Silkwood, the wild bunch, the blob, the cotton club, dangerous minds.

This is the  end of the 4 Pics 1 Movie answers and solutions list.  I hope you liked it and you can share with the links on the right.