Reviewed on May 23rd, 2013
Roadshow presents a film directed by Todd Phillips
Screenplay by Todd Phillips and Craig Mazin
Starring: Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, John Goodman and Ken Jeong
Running Time: 100 minutes
Rating: MA15+
Released: May 23rd, 2013

Director Todd Phillips (The Hangover series, Starsky and Hutch) said that he felt there was freedom in making R rated movies and that it provided energy and aggressiveness. There has been a lot of testosterone and energy used in the revival of the 'man-child' films made by Judd Apatow and Phillips recently. Some of these are throwbacks to the raunchy comedies of the 1980s, where teenagers could watch raunchy, adult entertainment. When similar films embrace rather than critique the man-child syndrome however, they reveal how outdated and archaic they are because their target audiences are now older and smarter and deserve more.

The bromance subgenre could be traced back as far as any Western but today it echoes Hollywood's fixation on male friendships and reveals the general misogyny of the studio system as it hinges most of its resources on male orientated films. The reckless stupidity associated with not all, but many of these bromance films, amounts simply to wasted energy, aggressiveness and chaos, still in search of the word adult.

In spite of racist and misogynist undertones, the first Hangover movie drew appeal from the fact that its story seemed shrouded and mysterious, as its central characters uncovered their idiocy from the night before. It was about them coming to terms with their actions. If the sequel was a poor, laugh free cash-in, this third film challenges it to lower the bar past juvenile and into a new zone of painfulness.

Lame, unfunny and poorly made, this is not simply a question of juvenility or gender politics, but how far a director and producer is willing to sell-out a popular cast and franchise name for something that displays his own ineptitude.

Zach Galifianakis' opening scene, where he drives along a highway with a giraffe in the trailer, is an example of the attention-seeking, mean-spiritedness found in The Hangover Part III. What isn't shown in the film's previews is that when the giraffe reaches the overpass its head is knocked clean off and it smashes into a windscreen, causing a pileup of cars.

Animal cruelty features three times in this movie and like everything else here it's grimly unfunny. Who would have thought? The writing in Phillips' screenplay, co-written by Craig Mazin, is generally awful. The jokes aim low and still miss and there are three or four long, laboured transition scenes where the characters stop to signpost the next lurching stage of the plot through lazy expositional dialogue. There's no mystery or actual hangover till an end credits scenes, which means the title is now redundant too.

The story structure is dull and rigid, now resembling a heist action movie as the Wolfpack search for gold. After the giraffe incident and the death of his father (Jeffrey Tambor), Alan (Galifianakis) is forced into an intervention by his Wolfpack friends Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms) and Doug (Justin Bartha). They prepare to take him to a clinic, only to be ambushed by Marshall (John Goodman) who kidnaps them. He reveals that Mr. Chow (Ken Jeong) has escaped from prison and has stolen half his gold. He wants it back and says that he will kill Doug if they don't comply or contact the police. 

Todd Phillips' dependability on Galifianakis is the sum of why the film is so unfunny. No one else is allowed to try and be funny, unless you think a grotesquely exaggerated Asian stereotype counts, but then I've never liked Mr. Chow. Bradley Cooper, after his career defining performance in Silver Linings Playbook, is called to do so little that Phillips seems utterly daft about his comedic talents. Once quirky and original, Galifianakis' mentally strained man-child act is now irritating and sad, with every quip line foreseen, which robs the jokes of their unpredictability.

If anyone were to say that the lack of growth in these cartoon characters is the point then it would be to excuse the dunderheadedness of this achingly boring and hopefully, but not definitely, last entry from what it is: a limp, unimaginative, charmless, joke-free action movie, pretending it's a comedy, and one that should be shunted and long forgotten. 

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I see people complaining about their work and some times their first jobs

fairly often on the forums here so I thought I would share my first work experience.

just to show that what you are doing might not be so very awful.

my first 'real job' was at a worm farm

when you buy a tub of worms for fishing remember someone picked them out

of the horse or cow manure and counted out 50 to a box.

also you have to make sure not to disturb the worms who are connected by slime

they are 'mating'

Then I advanced to a chicken ranch and moved from handling horse manure to

shoveling chicken crap. what a huge promotion

speaking of jobs Americans are not willing to do

Did anyone else pick tomatos during the summer?

that is back breaking work and the pay is not that good but some times

there isn't much else available.

Farm work has never been a high paying job...did spend half year helping

with chores for a farmer in between real jobs...you get fed and what ever he can pay

but they don't have a lot of cash on hand. The full time hand that lived

on the place would walk to Trowbridge two weekends a month to have a few beers.

THEN I finally got a real job that paid a decent wage as a janitor.

that was my first real job.

I won't say when this all was.

Trowbridge now has about 200 people - at the time there was just one building

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Masters of Reality: By Pierst178
Why Tomb Raider Failed as a Reboot: By biggest_looser
If the rumors are true: 5 reasons the next Xbox will fail: By -Saigo-
BioShock Infinite: Baptism of the Human Heart: By adusenbery
and  The Zone of Influence: How Paratext can change our experiences with games: By tom_cat_01

These are features that are picked no by community members, but by GameSpot staff, myself, and Carolyn Petit. 

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Ask Activision, EA, Ubisoft or any number of publishers around today, they will tell you used games are destroying their business model, that they cannot sustain themselves without a ten dollar cut, or more. These publishers who create amazing games like Tomb Raider, that have sold 3.4 million copies, and still arent breaking even. Even console manufacturers, Microsoft is getting the finger pointed here in particular are jumping on board to fight this plague. How could those naughty, naughty used games do such a thing? Well, thats just it. Used games are not the problem and have a right to exist.

First, lets get this ludicrous idea that used games is as damaging as piracy out of the way. There is one, fundamental difference between these two that ruins this argument. A pirated game is the result of a single copy being leaked on the internet and producing thousands. A used game on a shelf got there somehow (Hint: Key word is in the name, used games). Every single used game currently circulating represents a brand new sale at some point. The publisher received their dues when they received the money from that sale, and in a capitalist society that should be the end of it. At least in the USA, they even have a law to protect this act in the form of the first sale doctrine, which basically states that once sold to a customer for an agreed upon price, their involvement in the product and their say in what  one can do with it is over. After all, do you need to pay a fee to Ford when you buy a used car? the thought is ridiculous.

But these poor, poor publishers need to make money somehow, right? In this environment of AAA, multimillion dollar game development and 100 man teams who need to make money somehow, right? These poor games that cant break even on their huge, bloated costs, even with Downloadable content, marketing deals and advertisement campaigns that make sure you cant turn the corner without hearing about it. Games like Dark Souls, who managed a meagre 2.4 million sales. Wait though, Dark Souls was successful and made money. Imagine that, a game made money while the used game market was in full effect?

Could that be because Dark Souls was budgeted, and created with less money than it would take to buy a third world country and targeted to a specific audience? No, couldnt be that. Hitman Absolution, another Square game failed to meet expectations with 3.6 million sales, or Capcoms disappointment in Resident Evil 6, which couldnt even manage more than 5 million sales! Damn used games, damn them. Dare i say that many of these similar sob stories are less critically acclaimed than Dark Souls, and less successful since From Software actually made money on it. Money can be made, even with the used market out there. Could the blame somehow be on these publishers that need to insist that every game needs to appeal to everyone? Could these publishers somehow be asking too much from reality when they need a game to sell 6 or 7 million to break even? Nobody is being forced into these decadent, unsupportable business moves. There is really no excuse here.

Not everybody can be the quarterback, and not everybody can be Call of Duty, yet the mainstream tugs and pulls at the caboose of a train that has already left the station. These publishers have no choice but to charge so much and spend so much on these games. Well, weve already been over the exorbitant expectations of publishers, but a big boon for the used game is the fact it is usually cheaper than the new product. A popular retort is that video games are a luxury, that they arent needed for survival. This is true, putting the privileged attitude of such an argument aside, games are not a necessary part of life. However, whos to say how much your game is worth? If I return to the store, unsatisfied with or having recently completed a game that i dont wish to hold onto, but am interested in a new release on launch week when sales are at the most critical, yet i dont have enough money. How can i solve this conundrum? why not trade it in? I recoup a bit of my previous investment, make a brand new one and the publisher makes a brand new sale i couldnt have otherwise afforded, and would have had to pass on the new game until sales are no longer as big of a deal. Would we look at that, used games even have a benefit. Perhaps the game is a bit smaller, and doesnt offer quite as much as other games at $60? Could that game be more attractive to a potential customer who isnt looking to spend $60 in the first place? Silly, of course not. Used games are the devil, because they say so.

To the apologists, who shed a tear for the poor, billion dollar publishing houses like the stereotypical native shedding a tear over litter, take note that these publishers take advantage of the same capitalist system, yet cries fowl when that same system allows some control to the customer, they are whining about having their cake and eating it too. Publishers love to say that you dont own what you own, despite laws that contradict them, cry over not being able to break even on unrealistic sales expectations because they spent exorbitant amounts of money on development, and marketing, and still sell for $60, $15 DLC and online passes, and throw a tantrum when you try to make a little bit back on your investment. When you attack used games, you attack your own rights, and thats pretty saddening that there are people who would join greedy publishers in taking away the few rights we do have. All we have left, as consumers that should be pro-consumer is the ability to vote with our wallets. We can make the choice to support draconian DRM, always online and anti-used games technology. We only need to make the choice to use it, andwell as they say, the victor shall write history.

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                                                                            PRIORITY SHIFT~~ 

ENDLESS GIG

that title's just meant to be a fancy way of saying goodbye. (who wants to spend the rest of their endless gig playing video games? i mean, there's like, people dying out there...)

i think i enjoyed the time here on gamespot. but i'm realizing that i can't see myself playing videogames for the rest of my life.

i'm playing RE4 again...great game.

i still play SSBMelee with my little bro...it's like we've finally crossed over from beginners into intermediate after all these years! but i know i'm using too much time there.

my ideal way to finish my time with games? well, first, i think i'm really curious about the next Super Smash. i don't know if i'll get it, but i think i'd at least like to try it.

for the longest time, i thought i couldn't go without a zelda game. then i did, so ha.

i'm also close to finishing SH3 a second time. and i have yet to get the best ending in SH4...stinking haunting nightmares...lol, that game's hardly fun anyways--i feel like beating it more out of necessity, for peace of mind than for anything.

but what i really, really feel like doing is playing through all the MGS games again. and then the ones i haven't played. MGS 3, 4, Peace Walker. and after all that, what better than to finish it off with a bang with MGSV/Ground Zeroes?

well, i've never played them before, so who says i won't be fine if i never do? but those ideas, those themes, man i like the stuff Kojima writes.

if you haven't checked out ghost in the shell--the artwork of which comprises my avatar and banner--do yourself a favor and watch it. and then think. or, if you figure that's not your priority in life, to watch--then don't.

but the least you could do for yourself is to think.

now, where's the BOOM button on this account? wait, are you telling me there is no BOOM button? 

hmm...

oh no, that's right! i've already pressed it. this last blog post IS the BOOM button.

thanks for reading. or not. lol.

have a great life.

~~kakashi552

d^__^b

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When Microsoft revealed the 21^st of May as their showcase for the future of the entertainment medium I was excited by the prospect. Having been disappointed by Sony's offerings of sequels and pseudo Frankenstein controllers, I was hoping MS would offer something more...much more. Well we all saw the console which is more than what Sony did, however upon feasting it's rather bland 1980's vhs player styled design should they have showed it at all? A small part of me thought it was deliberate in an attempt to make the console look similar to those of old, those from my generation. Maybe they wanted to grab the attention of the Space Invaders elite?

If that was the intention then they failed as the new Xbox One (it's now official name) looked more akin to a set top box than a console with the same features enjoyed by that said medium. As I sit here a cool breeze gusting through the balcony doors and a refreshing Orange juice greets my lips I wonder if this is the future of gaming? The Xbox One reveal seemed nothing more than MS wanting to get into a territory already frequented by other companies who quite frankly have much more experience with the subject matter. Has MS decided to put the other entertainment mediums first and games second? Such a prospect is so bizzarre and non coherent I dread to think it.

Then there is the rather more alarming concern of used game fee's and one user per console mentality. Do MS honestly expect a married couple to both buy the same version of the same game so both can enjoy it on the same console? In another world it would be comedy gold the kind of content that Laurel and Hardy would use to captivate audiences worldwide. The worrying feeling however is that this situation is no joke and it's a nightmare that we will never awake from. No matter how one looks at it the reveal raised more questions than eyebrows and alerted the gaming world to some very serious questions.

Please leave your thoughts on comments on the issue here and at my youtube channel found here: www.youtube.com/dragonps

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Instead of getting excited for the upcoming Xbox, I see a console that is no longer a box.  The box cannot exist without about 300,000 other boxes called servers spread throughout the world.  MS has put so much of an emphasis on the Cloud that they've spent hundreds of millions improving their networks.  The next XBox isn't what you buy at the store; it's what you pay per month.  Quite frankly, you cannot enjoy the Xbox One without an always online credit card connection.  At least that's the impression I got. 

Oh, and of course, there's the reports about the always online crap and the used games fees again.

http://kotaku.com/xbox-one-does-require-internet-connection-cant-play-o-509164109

http://www.gamespot.com//news/xbox-one-has-preowned-fee-report-6408671?fb_ref=rec_features

(According to Xbox Support's Twitter, the GS article is false https://twitter.com/XboxSupport3/status/336937800702238722)

Obviously, MS wouldn't be spending any of their unveiling time denying or confirming these reports.  We probably won't receive official confirmation until E3, but damned if what I've heard isn't damning.  

As for the next Kinect, I don't want it.  I made the big mistake buying one back in 2010, which is still sitting in its box.  The problem is, I simply don't have the room for it.  I won't have the room for Kinect 2.0.  Same goes with Illumiroom.  Why push something so hard that can't be enjoyed by everyone?  Push more games.  All you need for games is a TV and a controller.  Don't keep pushing Smartglass. Don't keep pushing Kinect.  Push games.  PUSH GAMES!

This is embarrassing. This is MS at its most embarrassing, and I'm talking more embarrassing than Kinectimals.  More embarrassing than Usher Raymond.  It's so embarrassing, it makes me embarrassed just to know that I own an Xbox 360. It is appauling to see a company who practically bullied their way into the industry full of people who felt they had no business being there and shut them up by bringing freaking gamesm into shifting so much into social and media integration and focusing on games as an afterthought (turning Rare into a shovelware Kinect developer is reprehensible).  Yeah, Sony's doing more social things too, but they're actually doing it alongside games.

All this XBL and Cloud fluff.  All this Kinect.  All this SmartGlass.  These futuristic integrations because we're too lazy to look for a freaking remote.  It's so god damned unnecessary, and MS will have one helluva time convincing me that I need to buy their machine.  It doesn't matter at this point now.  I'm so done with MS that I don't care how many new exclusives they release, it's not worth putting up with all the MS BS that comes with it.  Oh, and what the hell is with the name?  Xbox One?  The first Xbox was the Xbox One.  Is MS so inept that they forgot how to count?

Yeah, you can bash the Wii U all you want, but it's more of a gaming console than the Xbox One will ever be.  Don't agree?

BONUS CONTENT:

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Courtesy @killa32130

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I figured I better make a post cause the level i reached sounds cool and motivated me to do so.

Im taking 6 week intensive summer coruses for math and anatomy and physiology locally near my home So ive been rushing to study and get assignments done like a madman..(woman?) lol...um i took the summer off to come home for a bit and be closer to things i actually like doing as opposed to being at uni and basically sitting in my apartment 24/7 which is what typically happens since i dont have a car there.

Thats whats up with school life currently

With gaming, im excited for E3 of course also excited to see MS's announcement of their next gen system as a basis of comparison.

Ive gathered a pile of games to trade in toward a playstation 4 this coming fall as well cause thats a must for me now since its becoming appearant that ff versus was created for this gen.

Only new games ive gotten recently are luigis mansion dark moon which is very fun ^_^ and playstation all stars cause its a simple pick up and play game for vita and thats about all i have time for now.

Other news i was kinda gonna wait to share....

My sister and I are going to canada for a week the news isnt that exciting tbh, unless your like us and havent left the country since u were 2 years old. So we're planning a bunch of stuff to do... and well we're excited to go somewhere new! 

Also without giving away any further information...im excited to finally have the opprotunity to meet one of the closest friends to my heart the "GIANT ENEMY COW" @finalstar2007 .... *claps*  

If it was Japan i wouldve told ya'll much sooner but that will hopefully be in the near future!!!

Yesterday hanging out on gamespot's EA WiiU thread...we had a masive comment war going on which was also hilarious and probably the longest time ive ever spent having fun on gs just thought id mention that

Hope the summer is finding everyone well!

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I haven't gotten very far in, I'm trying to understand the map and have resorted to stealing cars for the car challenge while I try to figure out whats going on.  I've also stumbled across a few collectibles too, you know the ones.

I can't say my impressions are too detailed at this point.  The controls for driving are more intuitive than I expected and the shooting mechanics are good as well.  The story hasn't drawn me in just yet, so I may go for the main story mission and try to understand what I'm seeing on the map.  I'm treating this like a GTA game and I probably shouldn't.  I've always found collecting all the extras first gets you started better.  I haven't figured out how to clear the shields and I'm not sure what the pink stars are.  Considering I have the guide, this is just me not bothering to flip through it at this point.  I do like the customisation for the character, but I might change it already.

I also added another review, in case anyone saw the free app of the week last week at Starbucks, it was Where's Perry.  A fun game, and since it was free, that much more enjoyable.  My sister leaves for Bosnia today (she works for the State department).  I can't say I'll miss her as much as I'll miss my neice, who invites her 2 yr old self into my room and claims all things in it are 'mine.'  It is adorable as all get out, until she touches the charmander.  I bought her a charmander and flew it out to AZ when they lived there.  They stuffed him in a box and sent him to Bosnia.  Anyway, /ramble.

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Come Join today its a Nice Board.  Brand new and flowing with Possibility

Hope to see you there 

JP
Minecraft UCB Admin

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I know it shouldn't bother me that much but it kind of does. I mean asking people for something like $50,000 and then getting it seems like overkill, but then what happens if they don't reach that amount? Does it all go to waste? Does the money go straight into their pockets?

Is this really a good cause to ask people for money?

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I am now a Safety Supervisor at Nabors Arabia, of Nabors Drilling International Limited. Been working there for two weeks now, doing a lot of the paperwork and training, but it's getting me fully up to speed on my responsibilities. 

work long hours from 7 AM to 5 PM, 5 days a week, with a ton of traveling. 

I was very happy to learn that the company i work for is the largest drilling contractor in Saudi Arabia, running some 36 Rigs, 32 on land, 4 offshore. Eventually they're gonna get me 5 rigs i'm supervising over, while helping out with the others whenever they need assistance. Each rig has a safety officer, and sometimes another safety supervisor who is passing through (rotational ones - i'm regular, so we tend to work differently). 

The perks?

the starting pay is excellent, even when considering that my company is notorious for paying the least, it's a great place to start. quite literally have been offered awful offers in the US.... offers i could not live on, i would be better served to work at Wal-Mart . So when i got the initial offer, i nearly fell out of my chair.  

get 1 month paid vacation.

relatively flexible work hours, depending on what's going on and what our client wants, and what - if anything - has happened on one of the rigs. Sometimes you get off a little early, sometimes we might be out all night. especially when i'm out at the rigs inspecting/watching the sites and going through the paperworks. 

and for me personally... I get to get into Saudi Aramco camp (it's basically a little America minus the booze mostly), and i'm right next to the Saudi Arabian air base, where i routinely get to watch the Saudi jets doing their practice runs, seen everything from the F-1 trainer, F15, F16, Tornado's, C-130's, and the new Eurofighters. 

While i'd love to share pics of me at the rig, i cannot. but you may get some pics of me traveling all around Saudi (minus the southwest part). 

but anyways that's all that's been going on for me.

seems my college book-knowledge of mechanical engineering, safety + plus numerous safety certifications have come in handy.  But i am EXTREMELY grateful for the opportunity and have been working very hard to catch up to pace, seems my bosses really like me, very prompt and i get the paperwork done very fast (i'm actually loaded up on paperwork projects that i can't finish everything, i just focus on one thing and get it done it ASAP). It's an industry i really really wanted to be a part of, way back when i was starting in college, and it's a job with a company that has operations quite literally all over the world (every wednsday we have conference meeting with the other rig managers around the world, i always get a kick watching the world light up! ) 

I do really really hope to be able to play Bioshock Infinite soon. Also with all my traveling and staying on the rigs during the work week, i know i'll be catching up on my reading. Most likely won't have any good internet, so you'll be seeing less of me most likely. 

anyways 

-peace

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Those who are the most cleaver with their insults seem to win the day and receive the most likes, thumbs up, or karma. Where anyone and everyone can spout their opinion a competition of pride and superiority runs lose. Whether it be correcting grammar, taking advantage of grammatical ambiguity, or mockery over differences of opinion, the internet is a place where adolescent jeering gains the greatest jeering.

A form of it has been referred to as trolling which at its root is simply being a prick simply because one is able. This is always at the expense of others and is used as a means of uplifting one's own glory while diminishing the worth of another. It is done for the lols, so to speak.

But is this truly the way in which we are to behave? Darwin's survival of the fittest is being fought not with claws or weapons but with sarcasm, trollishness, and disdain.

This way of speaking to one another is not only common within the dark corners of the internet but is found within normal conversation. Is this how we are to speak to one another?

Within the Christian Scriptures the Apostle Paul has something to say about it. Ephesians 4:29 states, "Let no corrupting talk come out of your moths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear." 

We are not to be a people who live for the sake of our own benefit but we are to live for the sake of one another. This does not simply speak of giving money to charities or not physically harming one another but we are to actively work to encourage one another.

As for those of us who are Christian, 1 Thessalonians 4 and 5 each have sections of text which give reasons for rejoicing regarding death. Chapter 4 speaks of how living believers should not mourn as those who have no hope because those who have died before us will be resurrected from the dead just as Jesus was raised for the dead. Chapter 5 then speaks of how those who are in Christ should live differently because of the hope of our own resurrections. At the end of each of these sections Paul tells his readers that they should "therefore . . . encourage one another" and chapter 5 adds that they should also "build one another up."

Those of you who are Christian I commend to you that you should look into these words. For if Jesus called us not only to be holy but also to live on a mission to lead the rest of the world to know the grace that can be found in Jesus Christ should it not be that we actively work to build up the church? And not the church only but should it be that Christians should not be known for the same cynicism as can be found on the internet? Be a people who are known for loving another another.

Love your neighbor, Jesus commanded. Let it begin with your words. Certainly, not your words only but let your mouth be tamed so it does not bite but edify and encourage. Live not for the lols but for the sake of others so that God might be glorified.

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