Review: TRON: Legacy in IMAX 3D

I really don't even know what to say about this movie. You could say I was a fan of the original TRON, but then again it came out in 1982, and I probably saw it in 2002, so I was a bit behind the curve. Looking back at the trailer now, after having just seen the new visual masterpiece that was the sequel is like comparing a sleek new Ferrari 599 GTO to an old Ford Model T. Seriously, from the beginning of this movie all the way through the credits, this movie is stunning.

Now there are two things you should know if you have any sort of interest in this movie and I am here to report on both of them. One is the soundtrack. It is original music, entirely composed by Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter. Or as I like to refer to them as, Daft Punk. I am a huge Daft Punk fan, and from the very beginning of this movie, when the music starts bumping it is phenomenal. Being a movie set mainly in a digital world, the digital stylings of Daft Punk work perfectly. And while the music alone is good, this is where the IMAX theater comes in. The base literally shakes the seats. You feel the music, and it adds exponentially to the experience.

The other thing that you may have noticed from the commercials is the usage of computer generated effects to de-age Jeff Bridges 21 years. Now it's a little weird, and it takes a little getting used to, but after you do it's really a non issue. I mean, I've seen giant blue guys on screen and I think I dealt with that pretty nicely. I'll admit it's not the best work I've ever seen, but then again absolutely everything else in the movie is gorgeous so I am going to let it slide.

Also I just wanted to say, I really liked this movie. It's the nerdiness, the video game-ness, the music, the visuals, the whole she-bang-bang. The world created by the events and aftermath of the original presented a really cool sequel. Plus, I thought the acting was pretty good too. I really liked Olivia Wilde in the movie, but I think that's just because she actually showed some emotion, specifically happiness, as opposed to her role as the sullen, emotionally reserved 13 in House. The main guy, Garrett Hedlund was also pretty good too. And who doesn't love Jeff Bridges right? I'm not the best critic for acting but I thought it was enjoyable all around.

The ending could have been better. It left me a bit confused I guess. The movie was so sweet then the ending fell flat and it was just so odd. All in all, if you like Daft Punk, spectacular visuals, video games, and some sweet action Tron provides a good movie going experience. Definitely a must see for nerds of all ages. 9/10.

Now I'm off to buy the soundtrack! You should too! Hooray!

Review: Inception

Over the last few years, Leonardo DiCaprio has been slowly but surely climbing the rungs of my favorite actors. After earning my unrelenting disdain for his performance in Titanic, he's slowly been working his way back into my good graces with films like Catch Me If You Can, The Departed and more recently with Shutter Island. Inception is another film that elevates him on my list.

Inception is a thinker's film. (My favorite kind.) If you can wrap your head around the initial concepts going into the film, that being the plausibility of going into people's subconscious mind while they're sleeping, you're going to enjoy this film. There are Dreams, within Dreams, within Dreams, and with each increasing level of dreaming comes more action. You pretty much can't go wrong.

Christopher Nolan writes and directs a mean film as evidenced by Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, as well as The Prestige. This film created a world where there is a pandora's box of options. Dreams change person to person, night to night and in a world where people can share dreams it seems like there isn't anything that couldn't happen. But with so many options and variables, obviously there have to be rules. They like to tell you the rules, then proceed to bend them and break them, just because they can. Therein lies the big appeal of this movie. Nobody likes playing by the rules, and the outcome of skirting the rules set up is nothing short of fantastic.

The characters are smart, complex, and definitely likable. Though the film concentrates mostly on Leo's character of Cobb, there is definitely enough plot in there to fill the hundred and forty-eight minutes of screen time. The supporting cast is great, with names like Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page and another favorite actor of mine, Michael Caine.

From Cast to Characters to Story, this film can't go wrong. At the end of the film you're going to be sitting in your seat uttering various one word phrases multiple times, be it, "Wow," "Damn," or "What?" If you can handle the thinking part of the film, then you shouldn't be thinking about it any more. Go see this movie. I'm going to give this one a 9/10.

Review: Iron Man 2

As everyone knows, one of the cardinal, unbreakable, unyielding rules of the universe is that Samuel L. Jackson is a Bad Ass. So with the inclusion of Sam, along with Robert Downey Jr. and Don Cheadle going to town on robots in mechanize battle suits, plus Scarlett Johansson kicking ass and not taking names, the Bad Ass level of this movie is pushing the limits.

I've been pumped about this movie ever since the first movie came out. I loved all the characters in the first one, and Don Cheadle replacing Terrance Howard didn't phase me at all. The interaction between Tony Stark and James Rhodes is arguably better for it. Robert Downey Jr. is Tony Stark. Witty, sarcastic, eccentric, and narcissistic (agreed). The witty sniping between the two characters was one of my favorite parts of the movie.

The story of this movie was pretty solid, involving Tony dealing with the aftermath of his public unveiling as Iron Man at the end of the first movie (OMG SPOILERS?! Sorry but if you haven't seen the first movie, not only should you not be reading this article, but you should not be doing anything other than seeing the first movie,) as well as the government and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s relationship with the now ousted superhero. If you liked the first movie, it's got a lot of the same feel with Tony doing what he does best. Being Iron Man, and showing off.

The fact that Marvel is trying to get it's continuity together in order to form a basis of movies that will serve as the lead in to an eventual The Avengers film is nothing short of awesome. They're dropping little (and sometimes big) hints about other characters, past events, and future events that will shape the film when it comes out and for a self-proclaimed comic aficionado, that makes me giddy as a school girl. A very giddy school girl.

In the end, I would say that this movie is a good continuation of the feel of the first movie, and that if you liked the first movie you're definitely going to like this one too. When Tony and Rhodey get into action, you're going to get excited, because let's not beat around the bush; What's better than Iron Man kicking ass alone? Iron Man and War Machine kicking ass together. I'm giving this movie a 9/10. Get up from your computer, corral your posse, and go see this movie.

Review: Final Fantasy XIII

This review is extremely nerdy, and is not for the casual gamer. Read on at risk of your own mental health. However if you have played a RPG or contemplated buying FFXIII, read on knowing that you are still probably at risk for overwhelming nerdiness.

So it took me 60 hours, 35 minutes, and 28 seconds, but I beat the game. Whoo baby. That was a labor of love. I've played a lot of Final Fantasy games, starting with IX, then VIII, then X, X-2, and XII, along with a boat load of the spin-offs like Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, Tactics Advanced and A2, Kingdom Hearts 1,2, and 358/2. Every game has been different and improved upon it's predecessor in some way shape or form. Mostly.

Alright now to hell with the roman numerals for a bit. I really liked Final Fantasy 9, it being my first Final Fantasy and all. When 10 came out that was when I knew how hooked I was on the series. Everyone always harkens back to Final Fantasy 7 as when they knew, but I came in after that so I had to wait a little bit. Anyways, I put countless hours into 9 and 10, after beating the game and going back and doing side quests, in 10 playing another couple dozen hours of Blitzball (most underrated side game ever!). Then Final Fantasy 11 came out for PC as an MMO, and even though I wanted to play it, my computer sucked to bad, so I skipped it. Then at long last Final Fantasy 12 came out. I rejoiced! I played for a couple of hours.... then.... I stopped. I don't remember why I stopped now. It was mid-summer I think, so I probably just had better things to do. But then I went back to it last year when I was bored and I realized, "This isn't any better than 10!" Pretty much cause the story sucked.

So then when XIII came out, I got all excited again, especially with the announcement that XIII was going to set the stage for the next decade or so of Final Fantasy games. As reviews started coming out I kept hearing the same thing, "The game doesn't really start until about 20, 30 hours in." While I was a little perturbed, I threw plenty of hours into X and Kingdom Hearts 2, I thought, "I can spare 20 or 30 hours."

So I go out, get the game, and I mean Wow. When they say the game doesn't really start for a while they mean it. I had no idea why I was fighting other than a few random cut scenes for the first ten or so hours, and I had no control over who was in my party for another ten or so hours after that. Albeit, after you get to that point the game picks up, but I mean really Square Enix? You couldn't have cut off a little bit of running around fighting level 1 monsters with a glorified attack selection system, that could only select "Attack"? I mean I couldn't use magic until this tutorial-intro phase of the game ended.

So after that point, when the story gets going, and you start picking up on the differences between Fal'cie, l'Cie, and Cie'th (all actually names of concepts in-game) you start thinking, "Okay time for some good ol' fashioned Final Fantasy exploring!" Wrong. Unlike every other FF incarnation to date, including almost all the spin-offs I've played, there's no World Map, no way to back track, no real honest to goodness exploring. That hurt. They took out a lot of the good things that in my opinion are quintessential aspects of the series including:

• Exploring
• Dungeons
• Towns
• Mass Weapons
• Mass Money

I guess when they did this, they started from the top and just went down the list taking things out. Without exploring, you don't need dungeons to explore. Without dungeons, you don't need towns, or hubs to go to to stock up on new weapons and items. Without a wide selection of new items, you don't need a lot of money! It all makes perfect sense- if you feel like ruining a tried and true system. And another flaw, is the Weapon Upgrade system they created to replaced this system. It is similar to the new system used in Mass Effect 2, where lots of progressively better weapons were scrapped in favor of an upgrading system with fewer weapons. The problem being that it would completely sap all your cash if you tried to upgrade all your weapons, and even though I tried to save up as much money I could in the game, almost 1 Million Gil, if I wanted to get but one of the character's Ultima Weapon, I would have needed another million. I did not like this system.

But on to things I did like! While yes there were some fundamental problems, I did finish the game for a reason. After the story picked up, I actually cared what happened to my little group of heroes, which is always a good thing. Though a bit convoluted at points, and I was never quite sure how the whole magic crystal thing worked, or what exactly my characters were supposed to accomplish, it was good enough to keep me playing till the end.

The new combat system was good too. Switching between 1 of 3 different classes initially available to your characters (all of them are eventually accessible to unlock), and setting up different combination lists, like Fighter-Mage-Healer, Mage-Mage-Mage, Buffer-Saboteur-Defender, etc. all ended up playing vitally into your strategy when fighting bosses at later stages in the game. The only bad thing about this system was the difficulty/reward ratio of your enemies. Using the "Crystarium" system that opens up after the tutorial-intro, your characters can use points they get from beating enemies to progress upwards towards new abilities. Every once and a while, beating a boss will open up a new rung for your characters to climb through. While this all works in theory, I found pretty often that when I entered a new area, the difficultly level would jump drastically higher, without giving enough rewards for me to catch up, almost to the point where I felt like every time I got comfortable fighting the enemies in a level, some newer, stronger ones would come along and the process would start anew. I spent a long time in the only really "open" part of the game, where you can take on a series of missions, fighting these progressively harder and seemingly optional enemies, only to find when I got to the end of the missions, that there was no way I could beat these monsters without spending another 5-10 hours exclusively leveling up. Then after moving onto the next area, I found that I was still barely comfortable with these newer enemies. I shudder to think how great my disadvantage would have been if I hadn't spent hours completing these missions.

Where the game really shines though, is in it's visuals. There were cut scenes in the game that really were just astoundingly beautiful. I'm sure they were even better on the Blu-Ray version of the PS3, but us 360 players still had a little eye candy feast. As well as the cut scenes, the backgrounds of the game were polished to the point where you could eat off of them. The most intricate details could be seen on mountains or buildings far off in the distance, with the lighting being perfectly placed to the point where running through some of the long spaces with no enemies was almost kinda pleasant, except for the constant "Thunk Thunk Thunk" that you heard from your characters footfalls throughout the game. That never ceased to be annoying.

This game had a lot wrong with it. I think Square Enix took a risk, and attempted to broaden the appeal of the game by taking out a lot of the core RPG elements that it's predecessors pioneered. This might have worked if they didn't make the game take 50 to 60 hours to complete. Sure, I have that time, cause I'm a die-hard fan, and I have enough time to waste at college to beat it. But even then, it took me over a month, just because of the sheer daunting of going back to the monotony was at times too much to bear. For the average gamer, they simply can't, and often times won't play much longer than 20 or 30 hours. Sometimes even less than that. Which is understandable. With all the video games that come out of blockbuster caliber, devoting that much time to one game is denying yourself of two or three other really good games. Games that most likely everyone will be talking about in the months to come. So in the end, it comes down to a couple of questions. Do you have 50+ hours to spare on one video game and do you like Final Fantasy a lot? Cause if you answered yes, then good. Get this game, and play it through. It's apparently going to be important to all these other Final Fantasy games to come. But if you don't, don't even bother to rent it for the weekend, or just play a couple of hours to see how the game is, cause you're not going to get anywhere near the meat of this game unless you really work for it. Overall, I'm going to say this one is for die-hards only. It's getting a 6/10.

Review: Kick-Ass

If you know me, you know of my passionate love for comic books, and things comic-related. So with this trend of turning comic books into movies gaining more and more momentum, I've been having to go and see more and more movies. I'm not complaining.

Kick-Ass is one of the latest comic book movies to hit theaters, and it does not disappoint. The trailers leading up to it all made it out to be this kid living out a pipe dream of becoming a real-life super hero, and then he and other costumed vigilantes fighting bad guys. The movie itself is pretty much that, but a lot, a lot more violent. And by violent, I mean awesome.

There are a couple of good fight scenes, and they were all pretty graphic. Being a big fan of graphic violence, I was enthralled by these scenes. Watching these people do fancy acrobatic combat combined with guns, knives and batons was really enjoyable.

The movie's story was really good, and bar a kind of deus ex machina ending, I thought it was all within the realm of realism. The characters were surprisingly well written, with comical quirks and lines for everyone. You feel for these people. The nerdy protagonist is one of those characters you almost can't help but like.

If you like comic book movies, awesome fight scenes, and Nicolas Cage being a bad ass, you're gonna like this movie a lot. I certainly did. Giving this movie 8.5/10.

Review: Green Zone

Well, Green Zone was most certainly a movie. I can tell you that much. Deeper than that though, I really don't think there is much else to say. The movie wasn't bad, in fact I thought it was a pretty good movie, employing the shaky-camera technique that's become popular in all those war movies. But when it came to the plot and the action, there was never that critical moment where everyone watching really got into the movie.

In terms of action, there's a pretty solid chunk full at the end of the movie, but other than that it's kind of lacking. Being a movie based in 2003-04 Iraq, there's only so much you can do without throwing continuity to the wind. That being said the movie does a good job of tying in real events to the story being told.

I really do want to say more, but there isn't anything to say. There was nothing in this movie that made me hate it, but at the same time nothing that made me love it. The acting was solid, I thought the plot was pretty predictable, and the action wasn't bad. The movie I think was more focused on making a political statement about the war in Iraq, than on being a movie which isn't bad I guess, but it just meant that anyone trying to get into the movie was beaten over the head with political ideals when all they really wanted was a nice action flick. All things considered, if you don't end up seeing this movie, you're not going to have to worry about it in the long run. 5.5/10.

Review: Shutter Island

There are some movies where you go and get so immersed in the plot that you forget you're in the theater. Shutter Island is not one of those movies. Indeed, this is the kind of movie where you spend the entire movie trying to soak up every detail, track every plot point, and uncover every hidden motive, all in a fruitless attempt to figure out what is going to happen next.

Directed by Martin Scorsese, you know that there is a plot twist or two down the line. But even knowing that,you're still going to get blindsided when the plot culminates. This is a masterpiece of the mind, playing sleight of hand with your cinematic experience, and operating at least 4 layers under the surface. If you don't like having to think when you go to the movies, this is not your kind of movie.

Even though the trailers make the movie look like some sort of psychological paranormal thriller, the movie falls more into line with psychological experience. The movie is littered with false leads and misleading dialogue making our pathetic attempts to predict what would happen next utterly pointless, and that was one of the things that made the movie so riveting. Though you might guess a plot point here or an action there, for every one time you guess right there are at least 5 things you won't see coming.

Going into this movie, I was pretty unenthused. I figured, this is just another film meant to mess with your head, ending with some twisted outcome that no one sees coming for some obtuse reason. And while it does mess with your head, the turnaround just works. Not works in the sense, "Oh yeah okay, I can see that," but more in the sense of, "Mother of God. THAT'S BRILLIANT!"

There are some movies where after the credits roll, you and your friends hop in the car, and you talk about the movie for about five minutes before changing the subject to where you want to stop for late night burgers. Shutter Island is not one of those movies. We talked about it all the way home, and most of the day today.

If you go and see this movie, you'll have something to talk about at the water cooler the next day, with friends when you're sitting around doing nothing or with all your buddies online. Whether you loved it, hated it, didn't get it, this movie does a great job of starting talk, which is probably why it evolved from a small release into number one at the box office. I'm going to go ahead and give this a 9/10.

Review: Bioshock 2

So, I got Bioshock 2 a while back, and I've been meaning to write a review about it forever, but you know me, I skip back and forth between games, the Internet, TV, and Class like a jackrabbit on speed. However, I was browsing around today post-class and I stumbled upon this video (Heads Up, NSFW Language wise and Plot Spoilers). It pretty much sums up my thoughts and feelings on Bioshock 2, but for those who don't feel like watching the video (or can't) and/or feel like hearing my futhered opinion, I bid you please, read on.

Bioshock 1 was a great game. I got it for maybe 20 bucks, Game of the Year edition, last Christmas. So I'd been anticipating this sequel for over a year, less than some, but long enough to know that when I got Bioshock 2, pumped around 20 hours into it on the hardest mode, and beat it within 48 hours of purchasing it, that I was disappointed. And it wasn't that it was a bad game, but after the rich story of Bioshock 1, that fully submersed you into the depths of this underwater city of Rapture, and the lives of the inhabitants, that it became apparent that this new story, picking up 10 years later, was lacking in the substance department.

Everything I liked about the first game, the hidden backstory, the characters, the twists, the fear inducing aspect; Gone. Sure, you have a somewhat hidden backstory, but almost all the characters are gone, there's almost no plot twists, and the fact that they made you the baddest mother this side of the planet being able to shake off splicers (bad guys) in your sleep, really just sapped the story to the point where I felt as if I were just going through the motions.

Why am I fighting this person? Oh? Generic Reason A? Alright. This one? Generic Reason B? Guess so.

After waiting so long to return to Rapture, though the actual gameplay and handling was somewhat improved, the overall game felt like they basically kicked the legs out from under the original, sucked out everything good, leaving it sputtering on the ground, threw in some generic plot, and then watched as the old game tried to pick itself up again. They decided to give it a crutch in Multiplayer, and while they may have skimmed on rehabilitating the core game, they decided to go all out on this part.

Playing the role of a Splicer, you basically go around messing with other splicers in your normal types of gameplay, Free for All, Capture the Flag, Team Deathmatch, etc. all renamed to fit within the Rapture world. Unlocking more Weapons, Plasmids (fireballs, electric bolts etc.), and Gene tonics (ability upgrades) as you go allows for some fun gameplay, and I must admit that I sunk a pretty good amount of time into Capture the Sister. However this just made me feel more depressed about how lacking the core was. They gave the hobbling game an ornate golden crutch, which drew more and more attention to how ragged the game was.

Overall, I liked the game. The world is spectacular, some plot points were interesting, and I would be lying if I said I didn't have fun playing it. However, it was too short, too linear, and too shallow, giving you a glimpse of prior glory, now faded and cast aside. I'm going to say 6/10. Rent it, unless you feel like playing multiplayer. And if you completely disagree with me? Go play the original again, or for the first time. I think you'll see what I'm talking about.

Review: Mass Effect 2

Over the summer I was lucky enough to pick up Mass Effect 1 from my friend, after being told multiple times that this was one of those must play games, that I had missed when it launched due to lack of a Xbox 360. So I played it through, and while it was definitely a good game story wise, a few elements, namely the inventory system and planet exploration system needed a little retuning.

If it sounds like I didn't like the game, I bought the DLC for it, and I don't even own the game. It was definitely worth playing, if not solely for the chance to play the game through as the paragon hero saving lives or as a renegade vigilante punishing the wicked. Being able to determine if one of your character lives or dies is one of the highlights of this system, but also knowing that decisions I made in this game would have ramifications that would echo into the next game in the series was just one of those things that made making hard decisions that much harder.

I heard great things about Mass Effect 2, regarding the refined inventory system, the improved exploration system, and the epic-ness of the story. Great things indeed. Not 10 minutes in to this new game you can tell that the game has transcended its past life, into an entirely new game, leaving the bad, taking the good, and filling in all the missing spots with something akin to video game gold. The way they linked the story of the first to the second, as well as the new path that they lead the series down builds upon the what-I-thought-was galaxy exploring greatness and takes it to an entirely new level of galaxy exploring grandeur.

Importing my save game from the original, I was able to see the ramifications of each and every decision I made, whether it was in an email from someone I helped, doing a side mission for someone from the first game, or even just overhearing someone talking about my past actions. Knowing that every decision I made really made me think about a few choices I had to make, but with the introduction of the new paragon/renegade trigger actions during conversations, made me make a few decisions that I had to jump on. Some I regret, some I regret missing, but all in all I can't say the spot opportunities didn't make the game that much more enticing to play.(Hint: Because it did.)

To avoid any spoilers, I'll say in this game, the fate of the galaxy rests on your head, and whether you half ass it or go the distance to gain your team's loyalty is going to make all the difference in the world. Or galaxy. Whatever. You get what I'm saying. The game isn't perfect, and personally I'd like a few more changes to the inventory system; That being every teenage boy's problem, I want more guns. The new system is definitely an improvement from the inventory clutter and resource hunting tediousness of the first game, but now there's a lack of inventory, and a different kind of resource hunting tediousness.

The weapon selection is somewhat limited, gaining one or two types of gun in the game, the second gun being only marginally better than the first, with the main method of obtaining a better gun through finding different upgrade modules, and researching different upgrades. So while yes, by finding all these nameless, shapeless upgrades, and spending resources found through tedious planet hopping you can get a better weapon, but personally I like it that much better when you can just go out and buy a shiny new gun that looks all BA and new, with credits that you get from killing bad guys. The game has structure. A lot of it. One might argue too much, but it's not to the point where it detracts from the game. In fact seeing that Mission Complete screen is pretty great after a long mission.

If you remotely like 3rd Person Shooters with RPG and Sci-Fi Elements, and like the pressure of the fate of an entire galaxy on your shoulders, this game is your bread and butter, just like it was for me. Hell, it's even got re-playability not only being able to import your ME1 save game, but your completed ME2 save game as well! Sure, it's not perfect, but if you look at how much better they made ME2 than they made ME1, I'm scared for how good ME3 is going to be. I'm giving ME2 a 9.5/10. Definitely one of the contenders for Game of the Year 2010.

Review: Avatar in IMAX 3D

Wowzers. What an experience. You'll often hear talk of the fabled IMAX Experience, a situation where the viewer themself is fully suspended in the realm of disbelief and the sights and sound bring the movie to life. This movie is the closest they have ever come to that.

From the commercials pretty much everyone can glean the gist of the story. Boy loses use of legs, boy goes to alien planet, boy takes control of his own alien body, boy as alien meets girl alien, boy alien and girl alien fall in love, boy turns against his own civilization. I'm sorry if that was too detailed and spoiled things. I've heard all sorts of criticisms for the story being too "generic" and whatnot, but here I stand firm, that those people can shove it.

Yeah, the basic story is generic, but you look at how many movies can be broken down the same way, and you'll realize that the story is more about the little nuances than the generalities. The world that James Cameron has created in this movie is for lack of a better word, epic. He has built a future, and a new planet, and somehow makes the viewer feel that this whole scenario wouldn't be too much of a stretch. I thought to myself, "Well okay, this is in the future, and on another planet, but other than that it seems real enough," which is exactly how you're supposed to feel. And I don't know if it was the IMAX or the 3D or the combination of the two, but boy were those graphics good. I never once thought, "Oh look how fake that blue person looks!" The entire movie was so polished and shiny you could have eaten off of it.

On the way back, my friend Beckett and I were talking, and he gleaned a pearl of wisdom. He said that when you make a movie like this, you need to put your heart and soul into it, and that is exactly what James Cameron did. He had this idea, waited till the technology he needed to make it was in place, and then went the extra mile and made the technology that he didn't have, before he made this movie. It shows. The billion dollars he's made since opening day goes to show how much audiences like this movie. This story he's made, along with the world he's made to house the story are both brilliant. The vibrant world he explores throughout the movie was so realistic, a few times, during some of the full view shots, I caught myself asking, "Where did they film this? No way they rendered this entire landscape."

James Cameron has set the bar for creating new worlds in this soon to be prevalent media of 3D. Throughout the movie I kept trying to ask myself, what would I give this? and the answer kept moving up as the story went along. So, what would I give this? 9/10. Do yourself a favor, go and see this in IMAX 3D, not in movie theater 2D. You'll be glad you did. And maybe bring some Advil just in case you get a headache from the sheer AWESOMENESS and/or glasses.