Blu Tuesday: Gotham and Angry Birds

Every Tuesday, I review the newest Blu-ray releases and let you know whether they’re worth buying, renting or skipping, along with a breakdown of the included extras. If you see something you like, click on the cover art to purchase the Blu-ray from Amazon, and be sure to share each week’s column on social media with your friends.

“Gotham: The Complete Second Season”

WHAT: When wealthy aristocrat Theo Galavan (James Frain) returns to Gotham and runs for mayor, Detective James Gordon (Ben McKenzie) becomes obsessed with exposing his true intentions. Meanwhile, as young Bruce Wayne continues his training alongside Alfred (Sean Pertwee) and Selina Kyle (Camren Bicondova), a new wave of criminals begins to terrorize the city, including Edward Nygma (Cory Michael Smith), Victor Fries (Nathan Darrow) and Arkham Asylum’s chief of psychiatry, Hugo Strange (BD Wong).

WHY: It’s fitting that “Gotham” isn’t associated with the other DC Comics TV shows, because unlike those fan-friendly series, the Fox drama might as well be taking place in an alternate universe – one that doesn’t seem at all interested in staying true to its roots. There’s nothing wrong with a little reinvention, but when the heroes and villains no longer resemble their comic book counterparts, it sort of defeats the purpose of making a show called “Gotham.” For instance, James Gordon’s Season Two arc is not only completely out of character, but it boxes him into a corner that has irreparable repercussions. It’s a frustrating occurrence that happens far too often during the course of the season, damaging the overall quality of the show in the process. The ensemble cast makes the most of the material provided, and there’s a certain joy in seeing Batman’s rogue’s gallery brought to life (even if they’re watered down versions of the characters), but for a series that started off so promising, “Gotham” doesn’t provide many reasons to continue watching.

EXTRAS: The Blu-ray release includes the 2015 Comic-Con panel, a trio of featurettes covering the show’s film noir style, the relationship between Alfred and Bruce Wayne, and the origin of Mr. Freeze, as well as additional cast interviews and more.

FINAL VERDICT: RENT

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The Angry Bird takeover

Few games are among the most downloaded apps of all time such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google Chrome.

Only Candy Crush, Fruit Ninja and and Angry Birds have made the grade. The latter has been downloaded over two billion times, including both regular and special editions. As of July 2015, the various Angry Birds games have been been downloaded over three billion times, collectively making it the most downloaded freemium game series of all time.

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App of The Week: Jar on a Bar

Compatible With:
iPhone 3GS
iPhone 4
iPhone 4S
iPod touch (3rd Gen)
iPod touch (4th Gen)
iPad

*Requires iOS 4.0 or greater

Price: $0.99 (Buy it here)

There’s really nothing original to “Jar on a Bar.” Aesthetically, it immediately brings to mind “Angry Birds,” and the basic concept is so dated that they used to call it “Jenga.” But that doesn’t matter, because for a mere 99 cents, you get one of the most addictive puzzlers to come to the app market in some time, originality be damned.

Let me backtrack a bit and explain. “Jar on a Bar” stars a fish in a bowl trapped precariously atop a ready to fall stack of pallets, glass, and other increasingly nefarious obstacles. Your job is simple: Get that fish to the ground and back into the water without breaking the bowl, all while trying to spill as little of the water in it as possible for bonus points. Sounds simple, right? Well, as you can imagine, as the game progresses through its 60 plus levels, things keep getting more and more complicated, until the point that this game of “Jenga” becomes a real mind-twister.

I mentioned “Angry Birds” earlier, and that’s because at its core, the game’s main concept of removing various obstacles to reach your goal is highly reminiscent of that classic app. However, “Jar on a Bar” is more about manipulation than destruction. Its well implemented physics system accounts for everything from weight to momentum, and forces you to master it before you can make any progress in the later stages. You may have to push a block to a certain point to gain just the right leverage, or momentarily put the fish in danger in order to set up the right move correctly. You not only have to consider your next step at all times, but the next several after that as well. It creates just the right combination of on your feet decisions and long term strategy that makes the best puzzle games so memorable, and executes it very well. There is also an in-app store but, while it does feature some cool objects, overall it doesn’t add much to the core gameplay of “Jar on a Bar.” The good news is it doesn’t have to, and it far from hinders the experience.

I could be wrong on this, but I don’t expect “Jar on a Bar” to take over the world like some of the games that inspired it have. However, the 99 cent asking price is a steal, turning this into a must-buy for anyone that has half an interest in puzzle games. Quite simply, it is one of the best and most addictive new puzzlers, and overall app games, I’ve come across in a while, and it is a more than deserving app of the week.

  

You know you want to do this: live action Angry Birds

This is too good not to share. T-Mobile set up a catapult in a Barcelona square where people playing Angry Birds on a phone were controlling an actual live-action version of the game. Booking a flight to Barcelona in 3…2…1…