Review #10: Jekyll & Hyde Club (Food/Entertainment)

3.0/10
 This may be worth going to if you have children that don't easily get nightmares and come with low expectations. Otherwise avoid it like the plague.

This review is for the Times Square Location on 44th street. A previous experience at the downtown location was much better.

The first thing that struck me about this location is that me and my companions were not informed of the theatrical entrance until we were leaving and had to request to go in even though there was not wait when we arrived. Additionally the food took forever to arrive. In a place with a nice atmosphere and many attractions this is normally explained by understanding that they want to give patrons time to fully experience the setting. However after ordering it took over an hour for our food to arrive and it could have been an issue if we hadn't arrived more than 2 hours before our evening show. Once the food did arrive it was surprisingly bland and boring. I ordered the Memphis burger which is a pulled pork burger and my girlfriend ordered the cheese tortellini. While my burger was decent enough the tortellini were incredibly bland. They were simply plain cheese tortellini in a plain tomato sauce with no garnishes, spices or flavors. While my expectations for the food weren't high to begin with the tortellini was bland and not flavorful. The best part of the dinner were the fries which were surprisingly good, and the house specialty drink the transformation which was very fruity but quite delicious.

The atmosphere was significantly better than the food and the actors wandering around in character were great. Most of the static features would have been a great entertainment if we could see them from the table, but because of our seats location by the top of a stairwell and surrounded by numerous pillars managed to block our view of everything. While this is likely an anomaly I would have expected that due to the low volume of customers and high number of open tables we would have been seated elsewhere.

If you are thinking of going to the Jekyll & Hyde Club in New York City I implore you not to go to this location. With small children who enjoy haunted houses it might be worthwhile, but more likely you will just be disappointed.

If you want to go to a fun chain with atmosphere both the Hard Rock Cafe and Planet Hollywood are within walking distance and are better options.

Review #9: Chicago, The Musical (On Broadway)

6.8/10
If Wendy Williams is there GET THE MOVIE.

As a long time lover of musicals I was very excited to have the opportunity to see Chicago, the longest running musical revial on Broadway.

The musical is an entertaining story about numerous women on trial for murder in late 1920's Chicago. The Broadway production is slightly more provocative then the film, and the band is both on stage and more a part of the experience. However, the film is a good facsimile of the production for those less enthusiastic about live theater. 

The production was phenomenal as anyone would expect for a Broadway musical, and the band was exceptional. The two main leads Roxie Hart (Amy Spangler) and Billy Flynn (Alexander Gemignani) gave exceptional performances along with Velma Kelly (Amra-Faye Wright).

HOWEVER, Mama Morton (Wendy Williams) who is apparently a daytime TV star with her own show was painful. It was hard not to cringe as some of the most fun and well known songs were butchered by her essentially talking on and off pitch. This is made worse by the high expectations for the role after seeing Queen Latifah in the film.

Chicago, The Musical would have been a solid 8.5-9.0 with a glowing recommendation, but live theater especially Broadway with relatively small casts relies on the leads to be the pillars of the production. The inclusion of a Star cast member may drive up ticket sales, but the quality of the show as a whole suffered and it was hard to justify the premium price of a Broadway musical.

Review #8: Les Miserables (Film)

9.7/10 Gotta see it

While les miserables is not a movie for everyone any fan of theater, musicals, or singing can't miss it.

The story is about the redemption of Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman) who is endlessly pursued by Javert (Russell Crowe). The setting in the French revolution helps to increase the tension in the film.

A word of caution to those easily upset or who are more emotional the film is heart-wrenching and expect some tears.

I apologize for any weird formatting because I'm on my new phone.

Review #7: Snow White and the Huntsman (Film)

8.5/10 (Rent It)

This film re-imagines the story of Snow White in a unique and intense way. While the plot is not spectacular the film manages to seem like a truly epic movie without spanning multiple films. The acting is decent in general, but I didn't really like Kristen Stewart as Snow White. The film is stylized similar to the Lord of the Rings trilogy with sweeping landscape shots and some faced paced action sequences. It also moves fairly well and the story is great. My favorite character is definitely the mirror, but a case could be made for the Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) if he had been more developed as a character.

Pros: Decent action, feels epic, a fresh take on an old classic
Cons: Not great acting and gets lost in the middle

Conclusion: If you want to watch an epic movie, but don't have 9 hours to sit down for the LoTR trilogy consider "Snow White and the Huntsman".

Look out for my review of Les Miserables (Film) on Dec. 26th!

Review #6: Skyrim (XBOX 360)

9.8/10

This open-ended RPG game is astounding. I found it incredibly difficult to stop playing once I have started and have already logged an embarrassing number of hours. The game is great it fixed the problem from Oblivion where the world leveled up with you by having dungeons lock to the characters level the first time they are entered. This combined with an astounding number of dungeons means the gameplay is very unique.

The game allows for significant customizability in character appearance and race, but the character classes and birth-signs are no more. Now race determines the base skill level for each skill and your character levels up based on how often a skill is used. Of course certain players have found ways to power level certain skill, but because raising your level in a skill raises your character level this is not advised because it makes the enemies and dungeons too tough.

Finally the story after completing about 4.5 of the games 6 main quest-lines there is still plenty to do. While the story isn't riveting its entertaining and it only takes one epic battle between a frost troll, dragon, and your character for you to feel the magic. The NPCs and voice acting is also better than previous games although some characters are a little unconvincing.

Positives:

Massive game with near endless content

Significant improvement over previous games

Very realistic textures and graphics

Gameplay is dynamic and challenging

Offers the highest level of freedom to the player

Negatives:

A few glitches (my game froze occasionally)

Game is so big you can be paralyzed by the number of choices

Hopefully you'll be able to add this game to your collection this holiday season because we all know how crazy the releases have been this Winter.

Oh, before I forget I'm a High Elf focusing in Destruction and Sneak.

Anyway I'm off to kill some more dragons,

Nick

Review #5: The Lightning Thief (Film)

7.2/10 (Rent it)

This film was entertaining and had great action sequences and an interesting concept, but the story was nothing phenomenal and the acting wasn't anything special either. This movie is about a kid who finds out he is special because he is the offspring of a Greek God, and has been accused of stealing Zeus' lightening bolt. In order to fend off a war of the Gods he must return the bolt before midnight on the summer solstice. While this seems like it could be an epic adventure it ends up a predictable plot, and it doesn't fully meet my expectations as an epic adventure. This movie was good and would have been even better if I was younger and more allured by the cool CGI and monsters in the film, but other than good action sequences the film lacked any great sequences to make it memorable. There was also one scene in the end that I think could have been written much better. (You'll know if you watch it.)

Positives: Action Sequences, Cool Topic, Great CGI

Negatives: Average Plot, Not memorable,

Review #4: Fermat's Room (Film)

8.8/10 Watch It!

(would be higher but it's subtitles)

I know what you're thinking: Fermat's Room, what is that? Well this movie is a unorthodox film that has a surprisingly complex and detailed plot. It also includes some common brain teasers and challenges that are fun to try and solve before the individuals in the movie. This film also has elements of the Saw series or the Cube series if you've heard of that. The movie is about a gathering for mathematicians and that is the extent of the plot I reveal because I would not want to take away from this intriguing film. While many people who enjoy passively watching movies if you want to sit down and see something that if you're not paying attention you won't understand watch Fermat's Room. Note: if you don't like reading movies and don't know Spanish this isn't the movie for you because it's all subtitles.

Positives: Puzzles, Plot, Acting, Unique, Math

Negatives: It's in Spanish, it isn't longer, some of the puzzles you don't hear entirely