Bad News, Good news

I saw the Bad News Bears last night. All I can say is .... what?

Here's the deal: This remake of the classic baseball film has been advertised in family friendly Wal-Mart. The coming attractions were for Nickelodeon films. The opening credits looked like they were drawn in crayon. All signs of a movie perfect for kids. Except for the fact that it was rated PG-13. And quite frankly, the only things stopping it from an R-Rating was the F-bomb and some nudity. All the jokes, humor and language was decidedly adult, and while that made it funny as hell for myself, the parents who had brought their elementary school kids probably weren't too happy, though I didn't see anyone walk out.

So the jokes were hilarious in a "Bad Santa" way: Bily Bob Thornton has a matter of fact way of deliviring comedic lines that just makes them funnier than they should be. The rest of the movie, however, was sometimes awkward. There was little music, and when there was any it was usually one of only three tracks I can remember. There were many characters that looked like they would lead to some interesting development, but instead went nowhere. Lines were spouted and conflicts ensued and you never really know as to why. Overall, the film felt like watching a bunch of kids playing a Little League game; a few flashes of excitement, then long periods of boredom. Not a horrid film, but some more jokes would have made it that much better. In fact, it would have been better if it was just made R and the writers could let loose.

The good news is that I also stopped by EB Games and exchanged my busted copy of Devil May Cry. I had to shell out two bucks for the disc warranty they offer for used games, but I'm lucky they even took my copy back, so I didn't mind (with that included, it still cost me a bit less than 20 bucks overall). I don't know how I went so long without a PS2, but at least the games are cheap now.

Resident Evil 5 will not be on a Nintendo console, and Shinji Mikami (series creator who is furious at Cacpcom for breaking RE4's Gamecube exclusivity) will not be involved with the project. Coincidence? I think not.