Review Day

There are no major spoilers in these reviews.

Midnight in Paris (PG-13):
In this slightly-fantasy-based movie, a writer visits Paris with his unsympathetic future family and yearns to experience the city as it was at the turn of the century. It was pleasant enough, but if you don't like Owen Wilson, he'll annoy the pants off of you in this role. I don't really understand why this movie is up for a Best Picture Oscar, especially since the soundtrack consists of one song played over and over again. Rebecca liked it much more than I though.

Final Grade: C+

Songs for a Sinking Ship by April Smith:
Another Pandora recommendation, April Smith has a set of peppy rhythmic songs that are very fun to listen to. She has a strong, clear voice that occasionally veers towards beltiness, but is a fresh change of pace to the whispery singers I normally listen to.

Final Grade: B

Malcolm in the Middle, Season Five:
This season actually improved a bit over the fourth season, and didn't feel like an obligatory spin-out for syndication. A new baby is introduced in this season, but doesn't help or hurt the show at all.

Final Grade: B

Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors:
This story/puzzle game had an intriguing premise -- you are one of nine people who wake up in the midst of an abductor's crazy game, and have nine hours to solve puzzles and escape. The game has six different endings, each of which fleshes out a different facet of the story. Enjoyment of the game is hindered by massive walls of unskippable text, and the suspense of the story is diminished when characters go off on tangents to tell their favourite (seemingly unrelated) stories for fifteen minutes at a time. Somehow, my first playthrough ended up at the worst possible ending, which reveals absolutely nothing, has no resolution, and ends with TO BE CONTINUED. I started a second playthrough but found that every single tacked-on puzzle has to be redone just to get through the story, and I didn't have the patience to wade through it again, much less five more times. I finally looked up the entire story online, and was glad that I had not invested in a replay -- it had a level of ridiculousness that was not apparent on my first runthrough.

Final Grade: D+