Thanks for your wisdom, Ron :']

It's why I'm here.

I like Batman ... :I

Does this make Ron a superhero now?

Stick to games ;)

Unbreakable was a pretty large pile of crap. A one-trick director, and a one-trick camera guy, combined with a story told so transparently that you'd know what's coming withing 15 minutes?

The only worthy superhero movie is clearly "Batman & Robin" ;)

But Guybrush is a superhero, you can't hate them, I mean, who else but a superhero could face the most dangerous evil zombie pirate and not pee his pantaloons?

320x200x256 hides a lot, you know.

Best comment ever.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who liked Unbreakable.  And I hope you're not being sarcastic.

Like there's only one true pirate movie...

Hey, I also think Unbreakable was pure genius!

You know why Dr. Gilbert makes video games rather than review movies for a living?

Well, I guess we do now. :)


Also, from HotHead Games website:

"Players will follow the thong-tastic adventures of a misguided hero named DeathSpank, a character that first appeared on Gilbert's Grumpy Gamer web site in a series of animated comics."

It says "hero", not "superhero".

And yes, I don't review movies because I am not a tool of the movie industry and can think for myself.

Why being able to think for yourself means you don't get to write movie reviews? I myself would take account of your opinions, since I respect you as a storyteller.

Yeah, they got "hero" from the press release, and "super" from "creator of Monkey Island" bit, all I was saying is that their mistake wasn't that far off from the truth.

I'm super, though. And a hero. (Mostly because I recognize that opinions are irrelevant unless you own the website which hosts such, as such is the power of the last word, and its mighty mighty might.)

Oh, great!  Crying about Dark Knight.  Just as bad as all these losers who think TDK was the greatest movie ever.

Maybe they meant that he is super AND he's a hero. 1up is not known for their grammatical prowess. They still think a lighthouse is a house which glows in the dark. The time they discovered that peanuts are completely unrelated to peas invoked such terrifying rage that I still fear them as I fear clowns, spiders, the outdoors, words beginning with the letter 'q', and small men with large hats.

Actually.. peanuts ARE peas... they are not nuts. :D

Actually, peanuts aren't peas. Both peas and peanuts are part of the legume family along with many types of bean.

Saying a peanut is a pea is like saying a car is a motorbike, it's not, it's just that they're both forms of transportation.

I'll take my pedant of the year award now thank you! :oP

That's how we love you, Ron! You grumpy thing.

Thanks for the reassurance. Incidentally, I wonder who the other 3 people are.

My girlfriend is one of them. I have no intention of seeing the film ever. This is because I cannot remember a single thing that happened in Batman Begins, except that some kid fell in a hole and then there were some bats. Indy Jones 4 may not have been that great, but at least I can more or less remember everything that happened in the film.

Incidentally, why does everyone think having aliens is such a great departure from previous Indy films? It's not like there's any more suspension of disbelief required to believe in aliens than to believe in holy relics.

Though of the day.  Go see the movie, come home, and THEN start fucking around with the lady.  You'll tend to remember movies better that way.

I remember the first one. I think there's a synopsis here. :)

I felt it was to Batman, what Casino Royale was to 007. Don't invent something new, and put an old name on it for the sake of marketability. Batman is about cheesy costumes, carefully labeled equipment and the Batmobile. 007 is about witty remarks, unrealistic situations and Q. If you think it's been done to death, create something new, don't try to "fix" it by taking it seriously.

What were we talking about? Oh right, superheroes... they suck...

Well for me at least I'm a christian so I've got a lot of belief in holy relics.

Doesn't mean I have to believe in aliens too, just in the power of god.

By the way I'm not bible bashing I'm just pointing out that to many these ideas are mutually exclusive. Believing in God doesn't mean you have to believe in every theory going.

I'm also not saying I don't believe in aliens I'm just saying you can totally believe in one and not the other.

Also regardless of them having magic powers I believe the ark of of the covenant to still be on this earth somewhere. I don't see that massive alien temples exist on earth when we have no evidence of alien contact. We at least have evidence that a man called Jesus existed and was crucified etc.

I am one of those. I wonder who the other two are. :)

Dark Knight is basically a police thriller slash drama story which could also function if you take away all those costumes and masks and gadgets. There is nothing comic book related in the movie and even less Batman stuff. Although story is complex and deals with moral and ethical degradation, I just couldn't feel it or care for it. All in all, boring movie, way overhyped.

As for superhero genre ... well, obviously Ron hasn't read Watchmen. :)

Considering that Batman is a product of 1930s noir pulp-fiction I thought the movie was the epitome of batman.

And what did you expect from batman? He is a fucking detective that likes to dress up like a bat

"which could also function if you take away all those costumes and masks and gadgets" - errrrm how exactly when the crux points of the film are all about batman being blackmailed to reveal his true identity, something he wouldn't have to do if he wasn't a costumed superhero, cops don't generally have to reveal their identity, not run around in a mask.

Also what would be the climax? Harvey dent turned into a psycopathic coin flipping mutant with two faces, like that happens all the time in realistic gritty cop dramas right?

Sorry I posted the above gibberish, it's late, I'm drunk, the OP annoyed me with his blatant textual garbage.

I should have said that were batman a cop then cops DO have to reveal their identity, not run around in masks.

I also should have capitalised the first letters on peoples name and the beginning of a couple of sentences...sue me :oP

Oh noes, u have dissed teh DK, to arms fellow internetarians!

So he's not a Superhero but he is a hero, how about "Quazi-Superhero"? Or maybe "Diet Superhero"? :P

Superhero Lite

LIES!!! I won't hear any of it!

CURSE YOU FOR REFUSING TO SUBMIT, RON GILBERT!!!

Looking forward to DeathSpank btw :-D

... but seriously, I guess The Dark Knight just isn't your thing -- won't stop me from loving it

and yeah, really looking forward to that DeathSpank there ... I'm really antsy to just see how it's gonna look!

so you like Watchmen stuff?

Ron is one of those guys that think that if anything is being too hyped or aclaimed by the media it has to be bad.
ts ts ts ts...

If you didn't had fun watching Dark Knight you were obviously not wanting to let the movie be fun. You were probably sitting in the cinema grumpying around and bitching about every silly detail....
Sure the movie is full of incosistencies and doesn't feel much like a comic book. But it sure is fun, and feels batman.

+1 for pure genius of Unbreakable. Feels good not to be alone on this one.

Yep, Unbreakable was grand. Which makes it very weird that Lady in the Water and The Happening happenned...

So, the Ron Gilbert doesn't like the Dark Knight but thought Indiana Jones 4 was awesome.

I love you. Very much. I do. So why do you do this to me ??

But Batman is not a superhero. He's just filthy rich and knows some ninjitsu.

xDDD That's right!

See Gilbert? Learn with the words of this Guy

Batman's superpower is the ability to make everyone else in the room's IQ drop by 50 points whenever he's around so that he looks smart. The Joker has the same power, plus the ability to recruit an inexhaustible supply of henchmen despite the fact that he keeps killing them.

Thanks guys, I just about lost it looinkg for this.

I guess not all opinions have to be coherent. Sounds unbelievable, but I was told it's true.
For all superhero haters: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1YJbCftjBI

How can you not like The Incredibles?

I liked the batman movie. I also liked Indy 4 (awesome!)

But while I admit I haven't seen Unbreakable (so I won't comment on it), I can't stand most movies from Night Shyamalan.. I liked 6th sense, but then the village and signs were utter garbage.

I mean, geez, "Signs".. WTF? little grey men that come traveling all across the universe to take over the planet, and don't realize before getting out of their flying saucers that the planet is made in 80% of the substance they have a deadly allergy to??? and they can't even wear a RAINCOAT??? I mean, you could just kill those things by spitting at them!!

yeah, I felt kinda insulted by that piece of trash.. but The Dark Knight was fun, I especially enjoyed the Joker, very nice interpretation.

There's water in the air as well... so imagine they went to the Amazonas...

Obviously you don't understand nothing about clasics sci-fi plots, and nothing about life in general. I bet you run Linux and that kind of stuff.

SIGNS is a delicate ode (!) to books like The War of the Worlds, when a very simple thing can destroy the "superior" life forms. That idea it's also present in the new movie of Shyamalan (The Happening), and it's been taken in greats movies like The Body Snatchers.

Unbreakable it's the best movie of superheroes that a person who hate yankicomics can take. ��But Batman of C. Nolan is the second!! Both films have realistic and logical screenplays.
So... maybe Ron saw the George Clooney's film, I don't know what happened to him... but he's a little wrong... but, Indy 4 it's awesome!! Sure, cof-- :P

You're actually comparing Signs to War of the Worlds? The original work?

Ok you just lost all credibility :)

And btw, keep criticizing me for using Linux. But don't come later asking me to master a cyberpunk or call of cthulhu adventure for you (just to show you're as nerd as I am.. only that =I= don't have a problem with it :))

Ron, dude, i didnt like Batman either. So make me part of the 5 who didnt like it. Regards from ARGENTINA (the place where the Secret of Monkey Island is)

Ok.

doesnt stating hate for superheroes make you reasonably unfit to judge a superhero movie?
biased opinion sounds biased.
anyhows, cant wait for deathspank

He is Grumpy... That makes him uncapable of judging anithing that is not obscure and unknown

Count me in.  I didn't like Batman either.  I didn't read all the comments, so I'm not sure on the count.  Are we up to five yet?  Is there still room for me?

For all superhero hat... lov... whatever: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_07mqQ9RaTk

I guess it takes all-sorts, as like Groby (above) I found Unbreakable to be an overwrought, utterly predictable pile of hyaena offal.

But I haven't seen the new Batman movie, and am prepared to believe that this is also hyaena offal, or the offal of some similar animal. :)

Best superhero movie ever... erm... ah... oohh... s'a toughy... Maybe the new Watchman movie will be good... >:)

When you're wrong, you're wrong.

Sorry!

Nope.

Well, you're certainly right about Batman, but I thought Unbreakable was merely mediocre. I thoroughly enjoyed Iron Man, though. Probably the only superhero movie since Batman '67 that really worked.

Wow... I forgot you were god, and knew the ultimate truth... I'm sorry about that...

Fact is, he's right about being wrong and you're wrong about being right.

What a "deathspank?" I don't remember this superhero movie.

er... "what is..." Sheesh.

It's a videogame about a Superhero. ^^

I bet if Deathspank was violating Jack Keane, you'd call him a superhero.

Ron, when you talk about Batman.... I do admit that the only thing that made that movie for me was the joker. Batman's voice was ridiculous, some of the writing was stupid, and yes superheros SUCK. I like my heroes to be mortal men. This post has no direction or point =D

I love the new Barman movie. Here's a superhero that has many cocktails up his sleeve.

http://www.dunenovels.com/news/genesis.html

Anyone that has read the Dune novels by Frank Herbert may have an idea why Ron deslikes heroes.

I'm Batman!

Just updated the 1UP story -- apologies!

I hated Batman too! Seriously, I cannot understand why people are so nuts about it! Superheros are tediously boring!

I like Xmen-1 and Fantastic Four: Rise of the silver surfer. I was relieved that they didn't have a really big guy who gobbles planets but went for something different.

The recent Batman movie lacked sets with cool architecture so Gotham city was boring.

unbreakable rocked!

dark knigh was... ok, nothing more, i believe that the events surronding the movie made ppl see more than it was actually happening in the movie

-batman�s voice sucks a lot
-I think there was only one brief joker (trade mark) laugh, i belive that mark hamill has the best joker voice/acting (from the batman animated series)
-harvey dent was great, i wanted to see more of him as two face
-i like this bruce wayne, he is annoying, and you hate him everytime he is one the screen, thats how i always saw bruce

I think the new Batman is doing what the joker hates: It takes itself too serious.

The Figure Batman himself was always the best "superhero" for me.

He is just one rich motherfucker who has this mental problems about bats and his parents.
The old Batman movies used to look in your face with this special "wink" in their left eye.

The new 2 are just...general movies.

I'm a Ninja Turtle!

So, am I a superhero ?

Is Batman really a superhero? Isn't he only a hero? I mean, he has no superpowers.

Who cares. I don't judge movies because of their genre.

Well that's the hole point of Batman, isn't it? Show the world that normal people can also be superheroes if they only have unbelievable amounts of money to squander on it.

Random internet person is about to give you his opinion, so listen up:

- The new Batman was indeed crap, especially the bit where Batman hacked everyone's cellphones and turned them into 3D sonars. However, the Joker made me moist in my special places.

- Also crap: The demo of On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness. It had grinding.

- Unbreakable: slightly crap. I liked Mr. Glass, though.

- I suggest you try to make Deathspank non-crap.

Crap.

The "I hate superheroes" part made me giggle inside for some domestically reason.

But do you like super villains?

I just can't handle it when people have differing opinions from me! Everyone that I respect should like the same things I like! That's how the world is supposed to work, and I'll make comments here until Ron changes his mind for me!

That said, if I wrote a blog that was widely read despite being seldom updated, I would probably devote a rare post to disparaging something popular in order to ostracize my simpleminded yet otherwise loving fans.

deathspank.com is already registered, by you i hope...

Registrar: DOTSTER
   Domain Name: DEATHSPANK.COM
      Created on: 07-SEP-04
      Expires on: 07-SEP-08
      Last Updated on: 18-AUG-07

Could it be that Ron started DeathSpank in September 2004 already?
Interesting. Also, he's changed his mail account from gmail to another provider. Is google mail too sneaky, Ron?

I have been working on this game idea for 4 years.  The URL proves it.

The URL is God.

iuj!!! is near to expire!! remember to pay the bill Ron ;)

Do you realize that many expectation is being created around the game? aren't you afraid?

I'll pay for that game... albeit it was the last thing I done.

Nice grammar, my man. I think games like Half-Life and Halo evoke far more expectations from people than this fine small (?) game. It's not like Ron Gilbert is trying to create another Monkey Island.

Ron do you realize that your comic alter ego looks like a Canadian from Southpark?

Just what are you trying to say, buddy? Eh?

I�m not your buddy, guy!

Even the mentality is the same: "World Unfair!!!", "It's About Time!"... ;-)
http://tvmedia.ign.com/tv/image/article/863/863565/southpark-1204Canada-on-Strike_1207080373.jpg

That's funny, I was just thinking about Unbreakable last night.
My memory of the trailer popped up again for some reason, and I never saw the thing itself.
I didn't even know if it ended up being any good, but now I'll definitely look it up.

Still need to see the new Batman too, but my expectations just lowered.
Oh well!

Ron is a superhero.

Hum, hey, this has absolutely nothing to do with the current conversation, but I wanted to point out the following fantastically interesting news: tonight Monkey Island is in Berlin, Germany:
http://www.monkeyislandfestival.de/
(Yeah, it's a local rock festival)
If I knew how to use google maps, I'd put a marker to it. It's actually a small island.

Damn! The Germans really like them some Monkey Island.

Whoa, you messed with Christopher Nolan's Batmans? I won't play your next game Ron! :(

Whoa, a legend has fallen today. I'm removing GrumpyGamer from my faves :(

After seeing these messages, I'd like to apologize to yourself, maestro Gilbert. I did not realize that this was but a clever ploy to clean house. Congratulations on a job well done, sir. I am sorry that there'll still be a douchebag reading and posting comments on GrumpyGamer (that'd be ME).

As previously said, DeathSpank is "Monkey Island meets Diablo". Well, would you rather compare it to MI1 or MI2?

Hey Ron! I couldn't make a comment in the general section, so I thought I'd post it here. There is a video of the beta version of BigDog, check it out, it's worth it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXJZVZFRFJc

Lol. It's so lifelike. You could almost say it's two guys in suits holding a motor if you didn't know better.

Oh, fuck! He got us!

They are not carrying a motor either.They just have copied the SFX from
the original BigDog video

I agree DeathSpank isn't a superhero...he's a DeathSpank

Batman is a stylish film that cynical people won't like because they are conditioned to think most Hollywood films are a pile of crap (which is true), normal people will love it.

Unbreakable...reminds me of plastic soap that won't dissolve....no matter HOW many times you you run hot water on it.

Unbreakable - Not so hot.

Ron what were you thinking when you put that statement up there??

Says the man who idolizes Will Turner.

Hey Ron, here's a winning lottery ticket: http://www.interlotto.com/news/img/aug2007b.jpg

It's not mine, it's not yours, it's from last year... but IT IS a winning lottery ticket.

I expect a reply now.

May I remind you: "Do not expect a reply in less your message involves a subpoena or winning lottery ticket."

I guess Ron doesn't negotiate with terrorists.

Sorry Ron, normally I agree with you, but I have to say I think you're wrong on one point here.  The new Batman movie is just as excellent as everyone says it is, and is certainly the best movie of 2008 thus far.  

I agree Unbreakable is a good movie, but it's no The Dark Knight (or even Iron Man, for that matter).

Maybe Ron just wrote that to stir up some appalled reactions. I think he secretly loves Dark Knight and just goes for controversial statements.

A recent study by scientists at MIT has concluded that The Dark Knight is a top-notch movie. So it's proven now. Debate is useless.

Amen, Dante. But, I liked much more Batman Begins. I admit there's too much thriller and dramatic scenes in the new one... :/

Batman maybe is the "worst" SUPERhero of all, remember he has not any superpowers, an he is not an alien, or a mutant. Maybe he's just a "hero", like DeathSpank (ok, ok!! don't trow me that, I'm a lady!! :P).

mystery men (1999) is the only worthy superhero film, i thought everyone knew this much...

I miss Jack Nicholson.

The only worthy live action super hero is the "The Tick" live action series.
;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xw_9QXBIYO4

DeadSpank is based on "The Judge" everyone knows that, and he is clearly a superhero.  And Ron didn't wrote this post. Isn't him. The publisher is writing the last four posts inside this blog.

All you people FAIL. Instead of bashing try a little empathy, a little effort to ask WHY he doesn't like the damned movie. I repeat YOU ALL FAIL

Oh and you're not bashing? You're not asking why he didn't like the movie either. Ergo YOU FAIL TOO! Haha!

ZOMG! Haha!

Buddhas don't get pissed off, so stfu.

WRONG AskMeAboutLoom! Not only does your comment make no sense, because ummm you know if I'm encouraging other people to ask why he didn't like it, it's really easy to assume I asked myself the same question. You guys are just THAT ridiculous that you actually managed to PISS OFF BUDDHA. Good job guys.

The only one who's writing comments that make no sense is you, my man.
Asking yourself is not the same as asking Ron Gilbert. I'm glad to point that out for you, I know it can be challenging for some people to differentiate between self and others. Escaped from the looney bin? You assuming you're buddha kind of strengthens that assumption. And buddhas don't get pissed off, that's their whole point, innit?

If you seriously think I think I'm Buddha you are a sad sad person. You are also unable to comprehend the irony of buddha being pissed off. Do I really need to ask Ron personally? I mean he TOLD US, he hates superheros! The point is to not bash someone for an opinion (I'm bashing the bashers not their opinion that the movie sucks)

Yes you would have to ask Ron personally, because - again - asking yourself is not the same as asking Ron, regardless of how much you would like to think so. Also, you proposed to ask him WHY he doesn't like Batman, not IF he does. The point you're trying to make is a catch-22, as you're bashing the bashers, and therefore you are bashing yourself. Which is kind of funny.

Yes, you really need to ask Ron personally if you don't want to lose our respect for you. And the opinion of the bashers is not that the movie sucks, but that it is in fact quite good.

No my good sir i did not say that asking myself is the same as asking Ron himself. Regardless you're missing the point. Also do you hate racists, sexists, rapists, murderers...etc...? I'm making a stand  against the act by using the act itself to show how ugly it really is.

Uhm. So let me get this straight. You're saying when you want to make a stand against the act of raping, you're "using the act itself to show how ugly it really is"?

LOL. That's a tough one to defend.

YES, I would so absolutley!!! (No you idiot!)

Lot's of talk about what DeathSpank is not, but what about what DeathSpank is?

The fight between Pissed off Buddha & AskMeAboutLoom is so fucking funny I'll just have to comment again on this blog!

I'm glad you think it's funny. To us it's deadly serious, teeth on teeth, ashes to ashes, an' all that. Sadly he has not responded yet. Some observers say he already pooped in his pants and doesn't know how to defend his ridiculously offbeat statements.

and you my good sir, do you even know what idea you're arguing against?

No, and that's the problem: I have no idea what the fuck you're trying to say. It just doesn't make any sense at all.

No, it's ok. It was just good fun. Nice arguing with you.

I was just trying to say don't bash people for their opinions, instead try and think why they would feel that way. That's all :D
It was nice arguing with you as well.

Oh my fucking god! I've unpissed Pissed off Buddha & AskMeAboutLoom at the same time with just one comment! Behold, World! Here is the Peacemaker!

I knew you were just two nice guys!

I don't even know what the fuck bash means!

bash |ba sh |
verb [ trans. ] informal
strike hard and violently : bash a mosquito with a newspaper.
? ( bash something in) damage or break something by striking it violently : the car's rear window had been bashed in.
? [ intrans. ] ( bash into) collide with : the other vehicle bashed into the back of them.
? figurative criticize severely : a remark bashing the Belgian brewing industry.

I am now a better person.

Oh, pardon me. Did I say fight? It's more like an argument to me.

You're a superhero to me, Ron :'/

Vomit of plastic... sigh

I'm currently playing Day Of The Tentacle on my Wii. Hooray to ScummVM!

I completely agree with you.

Unreakable is a masterpiece.

Great Scott!!
I would never believe the day that I lose respect for you. And it's today!!
I understand that you don't like a superhero with mask and all but you must not deny the plot, cinematography, acting, etc... It's a great movie despite the Batman and all what this bring.
I love Unbreakable.

Yes, I will deny two (2) of those things.

Which two (2) do you mean? I'm guessing the plot and the acting. Cinematography is top notch.

Well yeah, Ron is absolutely qualified to judge acting performances, being a veteran character actor himself! I stumbled upon a nice interview with him on the subject on UTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UX2ypU6A0oA

I hate Batman (and Superman etc.)

It's funny how suddenly appear a looooot of people who don't like Batman...

Well, a lottttttttttttttttt of people here said they DO like Batman.

http://www.superdickery.com/

OMG! It's porn!! Take down that filth, this is a gaming site!!

Why do you think the new Batman movie was a big pile of poo? I'd love to hear your reasons.

why can't nobody understand that not everyone in this world has to like the same things? Not everyone gets hyped by the same things. Not everyone is 15 years old.

"Not everyone is 15 years old."

Judging by his review of Dark Knight as a "pile of poo", I'd say Ron is.

Unbreakable was a poor film. The acting was quite poor. The role for Samuel Jackson in particular emphasized all the bad things about his acting. The script was  simple, unoriginal fare. It was something that could have been taken (and judging by Shyamalan's other films and liberal "borrowing", likely was) from any number of late 80's/early 90's comics trying to portray heroes as grim and realistic. Like all Shayamalan's film, plot and internal logic inconsistencies become more grating on each subsequent viewing. The twist in Unbreakable is transparent, and anyone who has read a superhero story in their life (and give your moronic blanket dismissal of them all, Ron, I assume you have) can see coming from at least the half way point of the film.

Its hack work. Hack work glitzed up with some fake edginess, terribly old and cheap tension building devices, all designed to attract the popcorn munching masses looking for the "shocking" twist, and those who feel guilty about their low brow tastes, which films like Unbreakable they can point to in defense as being deep and cerebral without actually being so.

Well said.

I loved the new Batman movie but it doesn't mean that I won't respect Ron. I respect him for his contribution to video games not for his movie taste.

It's all about personal taste, sth beyond good acting or cinematography etc. Even though I have studied film making in college yet I hate the movies of Stanley Kubrick, so what!

Ron, you are wrong.
Batman is a GREAT movie, and you just don't need to deserve what is not deserved to be needed. It's all very simple.

I thought TDK was an ''ok'' movie, the irony is that the main character was the worst part of the movie for me.

i thought heath ledger played really well, and it should've been called ''Joker: The Movie'' in my opinion.

also, isn't it the creators right to label their own creation? If Ron doesn't think Deathspank is a superhero, but a Rubber-clown-shoesniffer (just an example here), then he can do just that.

I'm a Rubber-clown-shoesniffer.

Make that 6 people.

The only god thing about Dark knight imo was Heath Ledger's version of the Joker. The guy who played Batman (I can't remember and cba to find out what his name is) annoyed the hell out of me throughout the movie. His poor attempts at throwing his voice whenever he was in costume, his Jim Carrey facial expressions...

So I'll leave you with this to make up for it:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=G4v1hAnfy1I

*good thing.

BTW, that video was AMAZING! I want a Batman who won't throw a bomb at ducks. I bet Christian Bale would throw a bomb at ducks. Where are the ducks in Gotham anyway? I mean, yeah it's mostly slums, but what city doesn't have a park somewhere?

If I saw a movie make $708,870,695 in three weeks alone I'd be grumpy too. Wrong business Ron?

Yes! Someone else who doesn't think Batman TDK is particularly good.

The acting: Batman was awful. His stupid voice is just horrible. The Joker: I know I'm supposed to love the dead guy (And I love his other movies) but why was I watching a joker who never laughed? The Girl: HORRID. Two Face: Great! And the one redeeming thing about the movie.

The Cinematography: That director can't do an action scene to save his life. Its shaky cam galore. if you could figure out exactly what happened in the last action scene, let me know, cause I know the plot points but the action shots are just to shaky for logic. Compare to Batman the first where the action shots make sense.

The Plot: So I did like the fact that the Batman was totally outmatched by the Joker's layers upon layers of tricks. But that cell phone bit? Come on!

Unbreakable: I HATED Signs with a passion. Stupid religious propaganda movie. The worst rendition of War of the Worlds that I have ever seen. Never saw the Village (Sounded stupid to me), but really liked the Sixth Sense if only because the twist totally got me (They usually don't fool me - I was bored in The Usual Suspects).

So with those comments in mind, I thought Unbreakable was awesome. Even after knowing what the plot trick was, I very much enjoyed it.

Oh and just because I'm no schill, I sadly, did not enjoy Precipice of Darkness. A little too much grinding for my tastes.

The Dark Knight is like a sparkling diamond when compared to Indiana Jones (that dude is pretty much a super hero).  Plants grow from poo.

I used to like Unbreakable.  But Signs was so bad, what ever "genius" unbreakable posessed was the same that drove the creation of Signs; therefore, tainting Unbreakable forever... water wtf?!?  So, was Bruce Willis an alien in Unbreakable?

Sigh*

Ehi Ron, if you hate superheroes so much, get yourself an hour to read Alan Moore's Masterpiece "Watchman"; is the apotheosis and the apocalypse of the superhero genre.

Hell yes! Watchmen is incredible!

Wonder how much Ron can get away with saying before he reaches the limit?

Next post on Grumpy Gamer:

"I'm one of the few persons on the planet brave enough to admit democracy is a big pile of poo."

To recap:
- democracy is a big pile of poo
- monarchy is hip again
- i should be the leader
- i dictate what's hot
- i like saying controversial things

I totally agree with you FELIX!

I`m glad somone else realizes the obvious mistakes of the last Batman movie, not to mention the psychological twists the characters take which are quite unbelievable. The same goes for the Indiana Jones sequel (the last one is even a joke to any person who heard what archeaology is).

I must just add that I did enjoy other superhero films, like the first two Batman movies which have nothing to do with the following sequel.

Other movies like Superman or Spiderman really stink, not to mention that they don�t carry the original superheroe�s spirit they caracterize.

Give poor Ron a break! He should be free to express his opinion on his blog. Even if he's wrong.

Alright, alright, we're just bad people, I admit it.

I liked the Dark Knight, but I admit Batman's acting wasn't great. The gravelly voice was done a bit much. And the elaborate cellphone machine was rather contrived. It is by no means a triumph of cinema production. But it is the best Batman movie we've seen in a long while. Haven't seen Indy 4.
If you hate superheroes, you should have no reason to like the Dark Knight. Haven't seen Unbreakable, but one of the defining characteristics about it seems to be how un-superheroic it is.
At any rate, I'm sure Deathspank will not be very similar to Batman. Could Ron have said so in a less grumpy way? That answers that.

Why is everyone talking about bad "acting"? Batman didn't act! The producers of this documentary film followed him around with cameras in his daily life for some time and then cut together a narrative version with some music in it. And leave the poor man alone, he has enough crime to fight to additionally be criticised for his skills.

Let's make this 200. Come on people.

Indy 4 - an insult to the art of moviemaking and audience's intelligence. Someone should write an essay on everything that's wrong with this move, for the sake of future filmmakers.
Unbreakable - abysmal. But still better than Indy 4.
Dark Knight - not excellent, but still very, very good.

I cannot understand how a person who created a timeless classic like Monkey Island could actually have such an incredibly bad taste in movies. I'm unbelievably dissapointed.

That's because I look for something very different in movies and you do.  That doesn't make me right or wrong, it just makes me different.  The more we strive to understand the difference we have, the better we all become.  Rent unbreakable again, watch it and try to understand why I like it.  It's a very good movie.  People get caught up in the "twist at the end", which is immaterial to why it's a good film and a great telling is a superhero story.

Ok, I overreacted and forgot my own personal guideline: respect other peoples opinions. But the state of the movie and gaming industry (which I was a part of few years back) makes me wanna cry.
Many of us come here to read your blog because we appreciate the design philosophy you established in your adventure games. Unfortunately, your choice of movie favourites made me feel like your philosophy somehow changed, that it possibly became addapted to new industry conditions. It reminded me of the George Lucas downfall: the author of original Star Wars now seems to have lost every trace of his talent - just take a look at the latest Star Wars sequels and Indy 4.
That being said, I did like the idea in Unbreakable, but I think the movie was extremely poorly executed. I too generally dislike superheroes, and that is why I was so captivated by the new Batman movie: the bad guy in this movie is absolutely brilliant. I would as well suggets that you try watching Dark Knight again, trying to think of it as "The Joker" movie, but I know people's oppinions do not change easily.
One thing that really surprised me is that you liked Indy 4, while you (understendably!) found Pirates: At Worlds End to be one of the biggest dissapointments.
I found those two movies incredibly similar!

God, stop smoking weird stuff and accept that there's a review for each person who see a picture...
And George L****s??! Please.

Ron you're a genius troll. Its a amazing how people get upset just because the creator of something they enjoyed in their youth doesnt share every single of their thoughts. GET A LIFE NERDS.

Oh Ron, I love your links! ^_^

hello ! je suis scorbutman un superhero fran�ais ... je voulais dire que je vous aimes tous ! batman , vous , Ron et monkey island rules!!

au revoir !

Hi, ron

Im agree with you,

Batman: Bad
Unbreakable:good.

but, im really here to say my opinion about something. I know im only a Uruguayan kid, and  probably you wont read this, and Im shure you dont have any idea where in the world is Uruguay.
Well, the thing is that I think you must do quick as posible a Monkey Island game. look, you maybe will be hit by a car the day of tomorrow, or maybe a psycho-killer will kill you in the next week (maybe it will happens to me, I dont know, jaj) and, if that happens, the entire world, never, never, will understand how monkey island ends, what happens in the MI2 finale, and what is the damn Secret.
Im not saying you must do it with lucas arts... what a fuck, if you want to do it in power point do it, or in the macromedia flash. but just do it.
Think if a Uruguayan kid, loves monkey island, you have to realize that your creation is really something big.

Ron, I need to know

You say Batman is a pile of poo.

I'm all for a good ole argument, but only when there's actual <i>argumentation</i> along with it. So please, tell me

Why is it a pile of poo?

argumentation?

So... Ron have you watched Wall-E yet? best sci-fi movie i'v seen in ages

re to topic:
Unbreakable. I'll be looking out for that one. Though your taste for movies can at times be slightly biased, usually you're not wrong when you actually praise one!

re to Interstate78:
I'll give you some arguments.
It is a pile of poo because it is:
. A pile of dung
. A pile of feces
. A pile of scat
. A pile of muck
. A pile of excrement
. A pile of shit
. A pile of turds
. A pile of what-you-left-behind-in-your-underwear-last-time-you-stood-in-a-queue

Though to me it seems that at this moment I've clearly made my point, you will probably still want more and more arguments. Now, I don't know Ron personally, but from a certain point of view I would assume he means poorly constructed or plainly boring storyline, poor dialogue and a wasted budget on overdone graphics. I hope that's enough for you.

re to Goncalo:
Wall-E is great, amazing graphics! Pixar animation studio are some of the best 3D guru's out there and they've proven it. At times I couldn't even make out whether landscapes, effects and models were the real deal or pre-rendered 3d graphics!

Slightly off-topic:
Ron, some guy on this gamers' website wrote a blog and made a reference to a Monkey Island 2 quote - just thought it was funny - check it on http://clanbase.ggl.com/blog.php?blog=1204 !

So Deathspank probably won't be a "dark knight" figure... Eh? Eh? Well, I'm amused.
This is my idea for a superhero game. You don't play the heroic moments, you play the alter-ego, who, through dialogue, manipulation, etc., has to maintain your alter-ego. Let's say you're at a birthday party and you get the Hero Signal. You got to MacGuyver your way out of the birthday party, so you can save the day. (Other locales include work, dates, school, church, theatres, etc.) And if you fail, you see the villains kill your loved ones. You would have different characters, the millionaire, the news person, the millitary guy,  the alien in disguise. As I imagine it, it could even use the SCUMM engine, because it would primarily be dialogue and puzzles. But I'm not a programmer/game designer, so what do I know.
Sorry if this is kinda hijacky. I tend to just follow my thoughts down rabbit holes.

Brilliant. Give this guy 10 Million Dollars for a demo.

Will there be any helicopters? And maybe some shooting?

Not in any direct-action sense. It's won't have any FPS or flight sim aspects to it, but I mean, if helicopters and shooting in general were dealbreakers, I don't see why not.
Oh wait, you were making a joke. I feel kinda silly.

You are a too old-fashioned guy for the modern world, Ron.

I've watched The Dark Knight yesterday evening. Why is it a big pile of poo?

I don't like Unbreakable because he isn't ;)

Well that makes me know 2 who said BATMAN is no big deal.

I think they got sympathy for the passed away Joker. I am yet to see it though. Not a batman fan, but thought it would be good

It's a fun to watch action/superhero movie, but it's not very "batmanish". Only the Tim Burton ones feel "gothic" enough.

Oh nonono...,
The Dark Knight is the best Movie i've ever seen.Monkey Island ruled my whole life,i missed my first girlfriend for it,but now...dark knight changed things....forever.

http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=CIP3vHwrr4A

http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=CjHbwaDIZYM&NR=1

I would just like to say that YES, Ron is right, and I'm glad finally someone has the sense to say it.

Dark Knight was made with the hollywood formula, there is basicly nothing that seperates it from the masses of other superhero movies. At the end of the day, a man dressed as a bat beats the crap out of hordes of bad guys. Then there is the joker who is supposedly an intriguing character with "deep" thoughts and ideology. But really, how is he different from any superhero movie villain? Except that he utters random aphorisms about chaos and at the end of the movie puts lots of innocent people to a gunpoint test of moral .. which sounded alot like something you would find in a highschool ethic study book. But apparently these things make everyone think the movie is clever and that it "has a good plot".

And why does it have to be 2h 40min long? Enermous amount of silly side characters is what I think is the reason. For example, do we absolutely need to see Morgan Freemans character so much? Basicly the only thing he does is trying to explain why batmans fancy toys work.

Then there's Gary Oldmans character and his family, with the blue eyed innocent kid brought in just to be a victim for the nro 2 bad guy. These are just stereotypical devices to advance the meaningless plot.  Nobody cares about the drama in these kind of movies because there is no time to build any of the characters. Basicly these scenes just try to justify the inevitable asskicking between the superhero and the villain and his gang of loyal sidekicks.

Another thing that contributed to the 2h 40min waste of time was the way they had to advance the plot with a massive amount of unoriginal events, enough to fill up two movies: blowing up a hospital, car chase nro 143, blowing up ferries, blowing up [name here], capturing chinese bad guy (villain nro 4 or something), and the list goes on. The movie has so many climaxes that I wonder how anyone is able to get excited about any of them.

I'm afraid they will do alot more of these movies. Because they make money. Really the only thing I wonder, what will people expect to see in the future that would be so ultra cool? When will people grow tired of the same old formula? There is so much more to movies than what the flashy blockbuster stuff offers.

I don't quite get your point. You are watching Batman and you're tired of action and explosions? Did you expect an arthouse movie?

Maybe the Dark Night uses a little of the Hollywood formula, but I'm glad they got rid of that neon-stlyled city, "funny" Schwarzenegger-villains in stupid dresses and Joel Schumacher who couldn't catch up with Tim Burton. Yeah, Jack Nickolson would have been cooler but quite possibly he hadn't survived the stunts until the movie was done.

Yea Im not saying it's a terrible movie, I'm just saying there is nothing special about it and it was painfully long.

"Best movie ever"? I guess this year it was for some.  Nr. 3 on imdb? Not that the list ever had any credibility but still.

Judging from the outrage and astonishment in this board, you'd think Ron just confessed being a child molester.

Uff I though the list of comments here was never going to stop. lots of opinions here.

Is there a list of games that we can check in this blog. I'd like some if possible.

y so grumpy?

Potentially what Ron is referring to is that Unbreakable tried to break with traditional conventions (I'll decide later if the pun was intended).

The "super-villain" in the movie is actually just some poor sap who's really into comic books, and theorizes that if he is so fragile, there must be someone out there who is nigh-invunerable - just like in the comic books he reads.

There's a human element throughout the whole film that regular superhero movies only touch upon (best example I can think of is Spiderman).

Though I think Ron is wrong on one thing - Batman isn't a superhero, unless you count super rich as being a power. If so I eagerly await the Scrooge McDuck movie coming soonerish.

I honestly don�t see clear where this conversation is going

Ron, Ron, Ron.  I know you probably won't be reading this, since it's more than two years after it was relevant, but I'm extremely dissapointed.

You thought Indy 4 was awesome and TDK was crap?  I honestly was about to buy Deathspank but I didn't because now I'm worried you're not the same person who did Monkey Island.  You already dissapointed me with this, I don't want to be dissapointed again.

I really thought you were great, but it looks to me like you're one of those persons who go determined to love or hate a movie and they do as expected, regardless of how the movie turned out.  I was determined to hate TDK, but I loved it.  The opposite happened to me with Indy 4.  And no, I'm not a person who ends up always with the opposite opinion.

All I would like is to know the reasons you didn't like it (I don't believe you're one of those people who hate something only because everyone loves it).