Stuff for Dads

  DadsDinner partnership with LOVEFiLM

DadsDinner.com game and movie reviews are now brought to you in association with LOVEFiLM - the UK's largest online DVD rental service.

This will, of course, make no difference to the forthright, irreverent and occasionally incoherent nature of the reviews. LOVEFiLM has no say in (nor takes any responsibility for) the content of DadsDinner. All this means for you is different ads.

In celebration of the link up, I've updated my review of LOVEFiLM itself. Highlights include:

• A new pay-as-you-go package. (Handy if you don't watch many movies.)
• DS game rentals. (Hooray!)
• Blu-ray rentals. (Hooray!)
• The end of Sunday collections by the Royal Mail. (B00!)
• An even bigger conflict of interest warning. (Yawn...)

I've also created a DadsDinner User Collection containing the films and games I've enjoyed most over the last year. Have fun!

Right, now that's sorted, I'm away to see if I can blag a PS3 off Sony.

(I may be gone some time...)

Labels: rental

  10:05 PM - Permanent Link - 0 comments - Post comment - Links to this post

  LOVEFiLM

Updated 14/05/08

What is it? An online rental service for games and DVDs.

Price: Subscription plans include:

• £7.99 - 2 DVDs at a time, up to 4 rentals a month
• £12.99 - 2 DVDs at a time, unlimited rentals
• £15.99 - 3 DVDs at a time, unlimited rentals
• £14.99 - 2 DVDs/games at a time, unlimited rentals
• £18.99 - 3 DVDs/games at a time, unlimited rentals

Subscriptions are paid monthly. If you sign up for six months in advance, however, there is a discount equivalent to one month free.

How does it work?

1. You pay a monthly subscription based on the number of discs you can have on loan at a time.


2. Via LOVEFiLM's website, you create a list of films/games you'd like to rent. You look through the online catalogue, click on the ones you want and give them a high, medium or low priority according to how desperate you are to receive them. You can choose any game from any console that they stock.


3. LOVEFiLM sends the discs nearest to the top of your list that they have available.


4. You watch/play them and then send them back in individual, pre-paid envelopes when you're done. You can keep discs as long as you like.


5. When LOVEFiLM gets a disc back, they send another from your list.

A new pay-as-you-go service allows you to buy a block of rental credits that are valid for six months. Everything works as normal but each time a disc is sent out, it costs you a credit (around £2). You still get to keep discs as long as you like (provided you keep your credits topped up). It's a good way to rent movies if you're only going to be watching them every so often. There's no pressure to watch things as soon as they arrive in order to get your money's worth as there is with a subscription.

Items stocked: LOVEFiLM's DVD collection is vast and comprehensive. Their range of Blu-ray discs is growing rapidly as more are released. An HD DVD selection remains for the time being.

Along with films and TV series, LOVEFiLM also stocks PS2, PS3, PSP, DS, GameCube, Wii, Xbox and Xbox 360 games. Older games may not be available and certain games which require extra controllers, like Guitar Hero, can't be rented.

Comments: I've covered the basics of online games rental elsewhere. I even did a mini-review of LOVEFiLM. A couple of things have changed since then, however:

1. LOVEFiLM's selection of games has vastly improved. Pretty much all new releases on current consoles are now available. Supply seems to be good, too. I've received popular titles like Crackdown, Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror and God of War II as soon as I've put them to the top of my list. Even Grand Theft Auto IV only took a couple of tries.


2. Multiple lists are in operation. It's possible to have more than one rental list and specify which list your next rental is to be selected from. You could have lists for action films, comedy, TV series, etc, and closely manage what you get to watch. Personally, just being able to differentiate between games and films is all I need - it means I don't have to have a separate subscription with a games rental company any more.
   
   On my package, I can have three discs out on rental at once. I've got a list for games and a list for films. At the moment, I have two discs from the films list and one from the games list. If I send back a film, I get a film in return. If I send back a game, I get a game in return. A quick click on the website is all that's required, however, to make sure that the next time I return a film, I'll get a game back (or vice versa).

LOVEFiLM has always been a solid choice for DVD rental. Discs are sent out six days a week and turn-around time is speedy (although the end of Sunday collections by the Royal Mail is a real drag. If you watch a film on Saturday, you can't possibly get another one back before Wednesday now.) Customer service responds quickly to emails and deals with common problems effectively. (Geeky suggestions and queries may confuse them, though... (Don't ask.)) Prices are competitive, particularly if you sign up for six months at a time.

Combining this experience and competence with the new improvements means that LOVEFiLM is now also a serious consideration when looking for a games rental service. The choice of games is there and it's at last possible to guarantee the ratio of games to DVDs received, rather than just shoving games to the top of the queue and hoping.

Conclusion: Finally, a combined online DVD and game rental service which is both easy to use and at a reasonable price.

Pros:

• Very efficient.
• Good customer service.
• Decent price.
• Excellent DVD selection.
• Wide choice of games.
• Combined game/DVD packages offer great flexibility.

Cons:

• No GBA games.
• The usual online rental quibbles - you don't have exact control over what you're going to get and you're at the mercy of the Royal Mail.

Rating: 5/5.

(Also, check out my tips on how to get the most from online rental).

Conflict of interest warning!: Click through from the add below and take up a free trial with LOVEFiLM and I'll earn some money, which doesn't make this an entirely disinterested review. On the flip side, however, LOVEFiLM is the rental service I use myself, the trial is free, so is this site, LOVEFiLM is actually good and I have overheads, you know. So don't complain too much. (You can always type the domain name into your browser just to spite me, if you really want.)

Labels: computer games, rental, service

  9:30 PM - Permanent Link - 3 comments - Post comment - Links to this post

  The Simpsons Movie (DVD)

Starring: The usual voice actors, the usual characters, the usual selection of decent jokes, the usual observations on life and... a pig walking on the ceiling.

Rated: PG.

Story: Stop me if this sounds familiar, but Homer acts thoughtlessly and does something stupid and selfish. He dooms the entire town and alienates his wife and children. As a result, he must discover himself, save the day and win back the hearts of his family. This involves slapstick, idiocy, social commentary and doughnuts.

Comments: It's a while since I watched The Simpsons on TV. I overdosed on re-runs when Sprog1 was small because it's the perfect distraction while feeding a baby. At the end of each show, everything goes back the way it was to begin with and so it's possible to watch the episodes in almost any order without missing much. (Bart's been ten for nearly twenty years now!) Channel-hopping onto an episode was always a safe bet for some mild amusement and beat enduring endless repeats of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Then I got a bit bored with it and the advent of TiVo meant I had a wider selection of stuff to watch. The Simpsons slipped off my radar until I saw the amusing trailers for the movie. These made me want to see the film but, when the disc arrived through the post, I found myself reluctant to actually devote time to viewing it. I couldn't help thinking it was just going to be an extra-long episode.

When I finally got round to putting the movie in the DVD player, I was pleasantly surprised. It's witty, clever and has several laugh-out-loud sections. I had a strong urge to go buy some DVD box-sets of the TV series.

I only had opportunity to watch the first half of the movie before bedtime, though. I returned the next night, prepared for comic genius, and found myself watching the second half of an extra-long episode of The Simpsons. It wasn't awful, simply a little tired and predictable.

Maybe this disappointment at the last half an hour or so was down to altered expectations. Then again, maybe watching Homer mess up is funnier than watching him put things right, particularly when dragged out to feature length. (It didn't help, either, that the best bit of the finale is in the trailer.)

Nonetheless, the film is solidly fun throughout.

Of course, I'm assuming in all this that you haven't been living under a rock for a couple of decades and have seen an episode or two of The Simpsons at some point in your life. The movie assumes the same. The basic set up of the show is very simple - a dysfunctional American family struggles through one crisis after another, taking pot-shots at everything from politics to popular culture as they go. The horde of secondary characters, though, is vast and almost all of them make an appearance of some kind in the movie. This succession of cameos means the film is less accessible to newcomers than most normal episodes. If you have recently crawled out, blinking, into the harsh sunlight, sign up for cable and watch some re-runs first. (Oh, and by the way, this is the internet.)

As for everyone else, The Simpsons Movie is a cunning effort to extract some cash from fans and remind the rest of us that Homer, Bart and co. are still going. It's nothing special but it works - I still have that urge to go buy some box-sets.

Conclusion: It's The Simpsons... only longer.

Explosions: A couple.
Hilarious situations: Some.
Number of characters: Huge.
Familiarity: High.
Mr Burns: Not enough.
Spider Pigs: One.

Rating: 3/5.

Labels: comedy, film review

  9:25 AM - Permanent Link - 0 comments - Post comment - Links to this post

  Frankie & Benny's children's meal

Price: £3.95 (service not included).

Age restriction: Available for children up to the age of 11.

Contents:

• Main course. Options available include: Margherita pizza, pasta, jacket potato or sausage and mash.
• Small bowl of vegetables or side salad (without dressing or onion).
• Dessert. (Ice-cream, fruit salad or banana & custard.)
• Unlimited soft drinks (including milk!).

A Junior Meal is also available for £6.25 with similar contents but larger portions and a more grown up selection of main courses.

The full menus are available online, complete with pictures.

Comments: I've been to plenty of restaurants where the kid's menu has pretty much been a choice between burger, sausage or chicken nuggets, all with chips and beans, and the waiter has sighed deeply when I've tried requesting three glasses of milk. I've felt tolerated rather than welcomed.

I was thus very pleased when we wandered into Franky & Benny's at the weekend and got the impression that they're actively trying to attract families with young children. The kid's meals have plenty of healthy options and the food is presented in such a way that children will actually eat it. For instance, the fruit salad was simply some large bits of chopped up fruit without sauce or slime. The portions were also remarkably large - the pizzas were thin but the size of an adult plate.

Each of our kids was given a fun pack containing an activity book, a magnetic jigsaw and an eleven-in-one crayon where different colours can be cycled through by pulling out the current tip and shoving it in the other end to propel the next colour into place. The crayons alone kept them busy until the food arrived.

The service was good - I didn't even have to ask for straws. The design of the restaurant itself wasn't great, however. The walls were decorated drably with old photos. The kitchen was open to view, which was all very well, but extremely noisy.

As far as I was concerned, the adult food was tasty. I'm not much of a foodie, though. In my first term at university, everyone else in my hall of residence lost weight because they couldn't stomach the catering. I put on a stone. Still, everyone in our group at Frankie & Benny's enjoyed their meal, while the kids ate well and were kept entertained. This made me happy.

Conclusion: From now on, if I have the kids with me, my vote is going to be for Frankie & Benny's every time.

Pros:

• Exceptional value.
• Excellent selection.
• Relatively healthy.
• Simple presentation.
• Free refills.
• It's like the whole concept was devised by someone with children or something freaky like that.

Cons:

• The high-chairs don't look fantastic.
• Decor is dull.
• Lots of background noise (but if your children have a tendency to scream embarrassingly, this might not be such a bad thing...)

Rating: 5/5.

Labels: service

  9:30 AM - Permanent Link - 0 comments - Post comment - Links to this post

  In Bruges

Starring: Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes & Fleur from Harry Potter.

Rated: 18.

Story: After a bungled job in London, two hitmen (Farrell & Gleeson) are sent to lie low for a while in Bruges. (It's in Belgium!) One of them hates the place, the other quite likes it. They sightsee, they go to the pub and they try not to get into trouble.

They get into trouble.

Their boss (Fiennes) turns up to sort things out. Violence ensues.

Comments: Yes, we went to the cinema and saw something that didn't involve cute, animated creatures or a boy wizard! We got to go straight in without having to apply for a second mortgage to buy some pick'n'mix or having to frog-march a posse of children to the toilet before the film started. It was fantastic! Then again, we did have to cough up full price for our tickets rather than the pound or two we normally pay for the kid's movie on a Saturday morning. The pick'n'mix might have been cheaper...

In Bruges is never going to be the Saturday morning kid's movie, however. It's full of swearing, gory death, drug use and talk of suicide. The characters are often racist, xenophobic and heightist. It's very funny in places but grim and distressing in others. I can't really see Pixar remaking it with rabbits.

I imagine the writer (Martin McDonagh) came up with the idea after a series of unfortunate events left him stranded in Bruges. Picture the scene: Doomed to several days of canal trips, Medieval churches and swans, he goes to the cinema and watches Mr & Mrs Smith to cheer himself up. This doesn't help. He has some beers. This does help... until he gets the bill and realises he's been ripped off. He decides to get even with Bruges and Hollywood in one fell swoop. He decides to write a film about hitmen that isn't all amoral action and excitement but explores the motivation and guilt... while poking fun at Belgium. Excellent.

The cast does a good job, managing to keep things going even in the few uncomfortable moments when the script shifts suddenly from witty banter to disturbing soul-searching. The whole film is bizarre and unlikely but if you've been to Bruges, you'll be too busy laughing and muttering, 'Hey! That's the bridge along from where we stayed!' to notice.

Since there are plenty of lovely shots of Bruges in the film but much of the humour comes from taking the rip out of the city, it's hard to know what the Belgian Tourist Board makes of it all. I think they may be gambling that if you haven't been to Bruges, you won't get the joke and will just think that it looks like a nice place to visit. They may be right.

Conclusion: Like a trip to Bruges with more laughs, added hitmen and less expense.

Explosions: None.
Political correctness: None.
Swing parks: One. (We went there; it's great.)
Swans: Loads. (We saw them; they didn't bite.)
Clock towers: One very tall one. (We didn't go up there; it was too much like effort.)
Cute, fluffy animated rabbits: None.

Rating: 4/5 if you've been to Bruges, else 3/5.

Labels: comedy, film review, thriller

  11:00 AM - Permanent Link - 0 comments - Post comment - Links to this post

  Sonic the Hedgehog soft toy

Price: £10

The box suggests that there are three other toys in the series. Tails is definitely widely available. Knuckles has been sighted. Dr Robotnik (or is it Eggman?) may or may not exist.

Comments: If a marketing firm were told to sit down and create a mascot for a videogame firm, it's highly unlikely they'd come up with Mario. Let's be honest, he's a fat plumber with a dodgy Italian accent and ill-advised facial hair. He's not really first choice as the face of a multi-billion dollar corporation. Nonetheless, he's probably the most bankable star in the world of interactive entertainment. Stick the name 'Mario' on the front of the box and any game will fly off the shelves. Thanks to his roots in the days of 8-bit technology, he looks weird and he has a bizarre life-story but he also has a portfolio of stunning work which goes back decades. There's hardly a duff game in his résumé. It doesn't matter that he's a reject from The Village People - Nintendo's quality control on his titles has ensured he's a videogame legend.

The marketing firm might well devise Sonic, though. They'd come up with Lara Croft first, for the obvious reasons, but Sonic would be next on the list. He's a spiky, blue hedgehog with attitude who runs really fast and wears trendy trainers. He's parent-friendly, he's cool and he understands where the kidz are at... or whatever. There must be something appealing about him anyway - he's barely starred in a good game in ten years and yet Sega still keep making them. Someone must be buying them.

About the only thing Sonic seems to be better than Mario at, is being a soft toy. This effort is more cuddly, higher quality and, quite frankly, vastly less hideous than the plush plumber that we got last year. As an added bonus, it's also vomit resistant and can withstand being machine-washed with anti-bacterial washing powder. (Hedgehogs that show attitude round here soon learn the error of their ways...)

The only downside is that it would have been nice if Sprog2 could have been obsessed with Mario:



or Pokémon:



like his older brother. Then we wouldn't be drowning in quite so many cuddly toys and I'd have to help out with fewer rubbish games. (Sigh.)

We've got the tails toy too:



It's OK but does anyone care about Tails?

I thought not.

Still, if you have a Sega fan of your own, you can't go far wrong with one of the Sonic toys (even if he is an irritating human-hedgehog Frankenstein monster of a marketing creation).

Conclusion: If only Sonic's games were this good...

Height: 12 inches.
Fabric: Plush and shiny.
Stuffing: Quick-drying.
Likeness to the actual character: Passable.
Best feature: You get to kick Sonic down the stairs when the kids aren't looking.
What I have to do now: Put all these toys back exactly where I found them, or I'm a dead man.

Rating: 4/5.



Available from GAME.

Labels: toy/game review

  10:45 AM - Permanent Link - 0 comments - Post comment - Links to this post