The Rice Thresher, Vol. 96, No. 14, Ed. 1 Friday, December 5, 2008 Page: 11 of 20
twenty pages : ill. ; page 19 x 15 in.View a full description of this newspaper.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
• •
t •
• •
• •
arts&
^ENTERTAINMENT
11
Tomb Raider: Underworld shines despite some nagging problems
by Joe Dwyer
Thresher editorial staff
[Editor's Note: While Tomb Raider: Underworld was released
across all platforms, this review only covers the PlayStation 3,
Xbox 360 and PC versions of the game.]
It was only two short years ago that developer Crystal Dy-
namics resurrected the troubled Tomb Raider franchise with
Tomb Raider: Legend and then followed up with a solid re-
make of the original Tomb Raider just one year later. Can F.idos
and Crystal Dynamics pull off a three-peat this year with Tomb
Raider: Underworld?
- *
• " 'm
0 •
f
#'
• t
• •
• •
Tomb Raider: Underworld
★ ★ ★ yi
Developer: Crystal Dynamics
Platform: All current-gen systems
Underworld wraps up Legend's story arc about Lara's quest
to find her mother and for the most part is engaging and en-
joyable. The game's biggest weakness is the stubborn camera,
which has always been an Achilles' heel for the franchise. It is
more workable than in previous titles but overall feels claus-
trophobic and too close to Lara, often resulting in suicidal
blind jumps and inadvertently preventing players from appre-
ciating the stunning views and vistas in the game.
This is a shame because the environments in Underworld
are the most realistic and detailed in the series to date. There
are not as many unique locales as in previous titles, but that
v~'~ to- .
V ; v
Underworld may be the best-looking and most ambitious Tomb Raider title yet, but it still suffers from some problems that
have hampered the series since its inception. Here Lara plans her next move in the game's massive Mexico stage.
irai®P^Pi BP
is balanced by the mammoth size of each level. The Mexico
stage, for example, is so big that Lara has to use her motorbike
to get around.
Thanks to motion capture, Lara's movements are more
fluid and realistic than ever, with a revised and expanded
moveset that allows players to make more intuitive decisions
throughout the game. In previous titles, Lara was only able to
swing from horizontal poles, but in Underworld she can climb
up and leap from them. The grapple can now be used to wrap
around objects or to help Lara rappel down steep drops, both
welcome additions that are used creatively in several of the
game's puzzles.
Compared to Lara's previous outings, Underworld is a
much easier game. The puzzles aren't that difficult, and once
players get the hang of the revamped combat controls, blast-
ing fools is a snap. It is possible to blaze through the game
on Hard in a single six-hour sitting, although completionists
O see TOMB, page 13
Four Christmases earns its "The Wake" is a complex web of drama
place on the naughty list
by Jackie Ammons
Thresher staff
Four Christmases may advertise
itself as a funny, family-oriented
Christmas movie, but it falls short
on both claims. With comedy rooted
in slapstick bathroom humor punc-
tuated by bursts of tacky innuendo,
it will leave the audience both dis-
gusted and uncomfortable.
B
Four Christmases
★
Starring: Reese Wither-
spoon, Vince Vaughn,
)on Voight, Sissy Spacek
The film introduces audiences
to Kate (Rendition's Reese With-
erspoon) and Brad (Fred Claus's
Vince Vaughn), the modern couple
whose commitment is to never com-
mit to each other — or each other's
families. Annoyed by the friction
of both of their divorced sets of
parents, Kate and Brad never visit
their families and instead go on va-
cations over the holidays. One year,
unfortunately, they are caught in
the act of leaving for vacation and
THE
WEEKLY
SCittf
Editors' picks for events
outside the hedges, both
around Rice and in the
Houston area, for this week.
must visit every single parent: her
sex-obsessed mom (Step Brothers'
Mary Steenburgen), her surpris-
ingly classy dad (Pride and Glory's
Jon Voight), his New Age mom (Hot
Rod's Sissy Spacek) and his redneck
dad (Lucky You's Robert Duvall),
along with all of their siblings (in-
cluding Flicka's Tim McGraw and
Iron Man's Jon Favreau). This gives
a total of four Christmas celebra-
tions, hence the title of the film.
Why Academy Award winner
Witherspoon accepted a role in this
film is a mystery. In this movie, her
talent gets lost in a flat character
whose most outstanding qualities
are her cute face and sweet de-
meanor. The same goes for the four
other Academy Award winners in
the film — Duvall, Spacek, Steen-
burgen and Voight — whose distin-
guished skills as actors go to waste
in this unpleasant motion picture.
Vaughn's part, on the other
hand, is no surprise, as he fits quite
well into the role of the annoying,
prattling klutz with no emotional
sensitivity, with his most notable
scene in the movie involving his
reenactment of an egomaniacal Jo-
seph in a Christmas Nativity scene.
Vaughn's character in Four Christ-
mases is simply a reproduction of
□ see FOUR, page 13
DICKENS
'i•'1 'J|4Mr* , *i*v yi *?'^
The 35th annual Dickens on
the Strand festival returns Sat-
urday and Sunday. Live per-
formances, character Appear-
ances and a book signing by
Dickens'" great-great-grandson
are some of the events planned
for the weekend. Tickets run
$ia, but some events may cost
extra. The gates stay open from
so a.m. to 6 p.m.
Dickens on the Strand
2215 Strand, Galveston
WWW. GALVESTON HISTORY. ORG
by Julie Armstrong
Thresher editoralstaff
Students taking a break from
studying this weekend by sitting
down in front of the T.V. for some ca-
thartic viewing might as well replace
that Lifetime movie with a visit to the
Martel College Commons. But even
among the Spirit Committee's decora-
tions, they'd better not expect to find
Christmas cheer.
The Wake
★ ★ V2
Now Playing: Martel
Commons, through
Dec. 7
From death to alcoholism to argu-
ments over rape and domestic abuse,
Martel's new student-written play
by Brown College senior Klara Wojt-
kowska, co-directed with Martel se-
nior Tony Parce, progresses like ten
melancholy country songs combined
into one...and translated from Polish.
Wojtkowska seems to have felt
the need to identify every possible
MORE DICKENS
Still not enough Dickens in
your life? Check out Michael
Wilson's adaptation of A
Christmas Carol — A Ghost
Story of Christmas now
playing at the Alley The-
atre. For a complete sched-
ule of showtimes. check the
Alley website. Student tick-
ets start at $13.50. 1
Alley Theatre
615 Texas
WWW.ALLEYTHEATRE.ORG
relationship between any two char-
acters in the play, including several
characters the audience never sees,
and then to inspect each interaction
under a microscope. The results are
not pretty, especially since the four
siblings' prnblems make Faulkner's
characters look like the Cleaver fam-
ily. The considerable redundancy of
their hopelessly dysfunctional and
profane rants allows the play to sur-
pass the two-hour mark, making it
about twice as long as it needs to be.
Deeply emotional and philosophical
discussions convey a meta-plot that
spans a lifetime, and the estranged
siblings slowly and awkwardly pull
more and more skeletons from the
closet — or the liquor cabinet — as
they near the event that has brought
them together in the first place: their
mother's funeral.
Most of the action takes place in
the last hour. Because the audience
will have difficulty sitting through a
family epic whose emotional depth
dwarfs the tiny stage without provid-
ing much dynamic activity to fill it, it
is helpful that the language flows lyri-
cally in its best moments and at least
makes sense in its worst. Revelations,
insights and spells of dry humor
sprinkle the play and help keep the
audience's attention where the hy-
perbolic plot cannot.
The actors have put noticeable
NUTCRACKER
Now through December 28th,
Houston Ballet is putting on
their production of Ben Ste-
venson's The Nutcracker. Over
73,000 Texans flocked to see it
last year, makTng it one of the
ballet's most successful pro-
ductions. so it must be good.
Showtimes are at 2:30 p.m.
and 7:30 p.m. but specific show
dates varyso, once again, check
the site. Tickets start at Saj.
Woktham Theatre Center
501 Texas.Ave.
WWW. HOUSTONBALLET. ORG
effort into the production, first and
foremost by memorizing a whopping
number of lines. A role in a highly
dramatic student-authored play is a
challenge, and they clearly take their
parts very seriously. The weakness,
however, appears in the one-dimen-
sionality of their performances.
Shepherd School graduate stu-
dent Kris Wettstein successfully con-
veys older brother Michael's dry, cow-
ardly wit, but he maintains the same
tone throughout the entire play. The
character reveals past horrors and
receives crushing emotional blows
from his sisters with a look of distaste
and a stiffness of gesture that seem
shallow compared to the defensive
guilt they attempt to express.
Martel freshman Elena White
aggressively portrays the bitter and
formerly suicidal sister, Sarah; un-
fortunately, she does not always
need to. Sarah analyzes her truly
disturbing feelings of hatred for the
benefit of her siblings like a detective
solving a mystery, complete with de-
tached pacing and pointing. This at-
tempt to appear emotionally numb
prevents this "evil" sister from com-
ing across even as cold, and thereby
makes her unconvincing.
Eva, played by Martel freshman
Marielle Schweickart, suffers from
the opposite problem of inconsis-
tency, especially during her drinking
scenes. At times, her slow progres-
sion into and out of intoxication is
clever and convincing; at others,
however, she launches into crazed
O see WAKE, page 13
ART
Openingtomorrow is Innovation
by Limitation at the Nauhaus
Alt Gallery. The entire exhibit
is housed in a 24-foot moving
truck and features work from
several Lubbock artists. Open
neon to 5 p.m. Saturdays and
Sundays. Admission is free
Nauhaus Art Gallery
223 E. iith St.
WWW.TVLASCOLLABORATtVE.COM
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Chun, Lily & Farmer, Dylan. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 96, No. 14, Ed. 1 Friday, December 5, 2008, newspaper, December 5, 2008; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth443148/m1/11/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.