By Donta Bartleycontributing writer

After being married to the same person for fifteen years, who wouldn’t want to relive one last night of the single life? Hall Pass is a great movie that tells a laugh-out-loud story.

For Rick (Owen Wilson) and his best friend, Fred (Jason Sudeikis), this dream soon becomes a reality.

Due to Rick and Fred’s constant eyeballing toward other women, their wives, Maggie and Grace, (Jen-na Fischer and Christina Applegate) grant their husbands a “hall pass.” This pass affords Rick and his buddy

a week away from marriage. Within this week, the men can do absolutely anything without consequence from their wives.

As Rick and Fred try to relive their glory days of chasing tail, they soon realize they aren’t the same guys they used to be.

Though the two were eager to receive the hall pass, they were re-luctant to use it. However, the hall pass does not only grant Rick and Fred freedom from marriage, but it grants freedom for their wives as well.

While Rick and his best friend are suspected by their wives of having the times of their lives, Maggie and

Grace take it upon themselves to en-joy their week of the single life. The hall pass was designed to strengthen the two married couples’ relation-ships, but it may end up destroying it instead.

The acting in the movie isn’t great, but the characters are very humor-ous.

There are a variety of scenes that are sure to leave audiences with stitches in their sides.

Whether it’s Rick and Fred mak-ing fun of their friends at a house tour, or supporting character Coakley teaching Rick and Fred how to check out women, this film is sure to have audiences rolling on

the floor laughing. “Hall Pass” is certainly worth

paying hard earned money and sit-ting in a movie theatre for 105 min-utes. After watching “Hall Pass,” one could honestly say the trailer does not give the movie enough credit.

If you’ve been waiting to see a laugh-out-loud film that has a re-markable storyline to it, “Hall Pass” is clearly the movie to see.

CP Fuse B9fuse editor jenna burleigh ▪friday, march 4, 2011 ▪ fuse@cardinalpointsonline.com

What’s the most unusual drink you’ve

ever had?

Steve DigenaJuniorHistory

“A vesper before they put them in the James Bond movies

again.”

— compiled by Aaron Mayerson

Diamond VincentFreshman

Social Work

Kyle StimpflJunior

Nutrition

Alexis HarringtonSophomoreSocial Work

“Beer and rum.”

Christine YorioSeniorEnglish

“Coke with vanilla vodka.”

“Spiced rum and Cherry Pepsi.”

“Vodka and Clamato.”

All shows are all ages un-less otherwise noted. All times are the official show times. If you have a band that would like to be listed, contact the fuse editor, Jenna Burleigh at fuse@cardinal-pointsonline.com.

March 4

ZIP CITY — Irises Café and Wine Bar, Plattsburgh, 9 p.m. (518) 566-7000

Eat. Sleep. Funk — Mono-pole, Plattsburgh, 21+, 10 p.m. (518) 563-2222

Glass Onion — Olive Rid-ley’s, Plattsburgh, 10 p.m. (518) 324-2200

Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaph-unk — Higher Ground Ball-room, Burlington, Vt., 9 p.m., $16 adv/$18 dos, (802) 652-0777

March 5

Shameless Strangers —

Monopole, Plattsburgh, 21+, 10 p.m. (518) 563-2222

Glass Onion — Olive Rid-ley’s, Plattsburgh, 10 p.m. (518) 324-2200

Phil-N-the Blanks, Side Show Bob — Higher Ground Ballroom, Burlington, Vt., 5 p.m., $20, (802) 652-0777

Brothers Past — Higher Ground Showcase Lounge, Burlington, Vt., 9 p.m., $12 adv/$14 dos, (802) 652-0777

March 9

That 1 Guy — Higher Ground Showcase Lounge, Burlington, Vt., 8 p.m., $12 adv/$14 dos, (802) 652-0777

March 10

Ice Cube — Higher Ground Ballroom, Burlington, Vt., 9 p.m., $35 adv/$40 dos, (802) 652-0777

‘Bulletstorm’ video game

‘hall Pass’Movie Review

This week’s review is brought to you by

Multi-player action only flaw in gameBy Arthur Cleveland

staff writer

For the last five or six years, first-person shoot-ers have taken a very seri-ous tone. Many are focused more on maintaining an el-ement of serious realism, if not completely going full out with it. Series such as “Call of Duty” or “Rainbow Six” have become vogue, the standard by which other games are judged. However, it used to be that games weren’t very realistic.

Back in the ’90s, games such as “Doom” and “Duke Nukem” were the standard, where the game play was nothing more than killing a big ugly freak that was try-ing to kill you. “Bulletstorm,” released by Epic Studios and Poland-based developer Peo-ple Can Fly, defiantly mixes the two eras of gaming into one nice, big cluster of vio-lence, fun and awesome.

“Bulletstorm” takes place on the planet Stygia, a de-stroyed resort world where prison laborers took over, turning the entire planet into a mutated ruin. You play as Grayson Hunt, a former Special-Ops soldier-turned-pirate after being framed for war crimes by his former

boss, General Sarrano. Along with his cybernetic second in command, Ishi, he has to trek across the ruined Stygia, avoiding psychotic raider gangs, mutated cannibals and the natural plant life.

This game has one of the better assortments of char-acters in modern gaming. Grayson, a drunken lout with a massive testosterone over-dose, cackles madly as he fires at the attacking hordes. Ishi, who has part of a robot’s CPU in his brain to keep him alive, constantly has to fight

between his own morals and the robot’s heartless logic. The guy who steals the show, humor-wise, is Sarrano, who constantly insults everyone around him. He spews a tor-rent of curses, insults and laughs at every corner, com-ing across as a mixture be-tween Yosemite Sam, Satan and George Carlin.

Single-player is the star of the show, however. Unlike most modern day shooters, “Bulletstorm” focuses on its single-player campaign, as opposed to multi-player. The

developers must have spent a lot of time designing all the interesting weapons and skill shots included in the game.

What are skill shots? Well, they are the driving forces behind the game play in “Bulletstorm.”

Every kill is worth points, but merely shooting some-one won’t get you more than a handful of points. The more elaborate and difficult the kill, the more points a player receives. Kicking an enemy into a spiked wall

or an electrical fence could get you a myriad of points. Shooting an enemy with a flare and using the leash to fling him into another en-emy can get you even more. The objective behind this game isn’t complete tactical realism, but pure over-the-top fun.

The focus on single player leaves multi-player rather dull. Instead of competitive multiplayer, it is a surviv-al-based game that sends waves of enemies after the player’s teams. Get enough points and you progress to the next wave. However, with the lack of a text chat option, you have to have a microphone to communi-cate with the other players, which makes teamwork nearly impossible unless you’re psychic.

“Bulletstorm” is a game about big kills, big action, and larger-than-life charac-ters. If you get into the game looking for realistic gear and extremely difficult enemies that can kill you in one shot, you aren’t in the right mood for this game. Looking for a game that perfectly dis-tills the ’80s-type of action movie that inspired the first wave of shooters, and you found the product for you.

Photo provided“Bulletstorm” combines action and violence with interesting characters to provide a great one-player game. However, the game falls short on multi-player modes.

‘Hall Pass’ humorous, but acting could be better

BARS: Bartenders’ specials for sale, but secret recipes kept safe

From Page Ten

After perching on a worn stool, the at-mosphere of the rustic sports bar began to sink in. Bartender Jeff Watts smirked mischievously when asked what extraordi-nary beverage he could offer. “The Upper-Tupper” he said matter-of-factly.

It was after following his extended finger that the mysterious concoction held by the man down the bar came into view. The drink glowed an inviting ruby red. When inquired about the ingredients, Watt’s response was, “Can’t help you — top secret.” It was a re-spectable answer, but far from satisfying.

(Apparently, it wasn’t the first Upper-Tupper the man at the bar had.) The man shrugged his shoulders in drunken baffle-ment when asked if he knew the ingredi-ents.

After some coaxing, Watts eventually re-vealed the drink contained three different kinds of vodka and what is most likely Mar-aschino cherry juice — maybe fruit punch. The Upper-Tupper tastes fruity up front, but leaves a strong alcoholic after-taste that quickly puckers the lips.

The next bar is only just a quick stum-ble down the road from Woodstock. Olive Ridley’s offers an animated environment, complete with live music. However, only at Ridley’s can one get the coveted “Shiver Me Timbers.”

Bar owner “Jungle” Jim Guyette describes

the drink as “a combination of rum with a cornucopia of fruit snacks and assorted juices.”

Between Ridley’s and his other bar, The Naked Turtle, Jim has been serving one-of-a-kind elixirs for about 20 years. “I proba-bly made the first Shiver Me Timbers when I was about 21,” recalled the bandana-sporting Guyette.

While Ridley’s certainly has charisma, it’s not the only bar in town with catchy names for their drinks. The Bionic Bea-ver is a formidable 32 ounces special at Peabody’s for those who plan on sticking around for a while. According to the man-ager, Jeremy Sherman, the Wednesday night special includes “a mixture of beer, gin, vodka and juice.”

Jeremy characterizes the curious blend as, “Tasting like a sweet, fruity beer.”

As for the drinks roots, “The original rec-ipe came from an old bar in town that used to be called Filion’s,” Sherman said.

The masterminds at Peabody’s also have a drink in the works they’re calling “Moun-tain Dewed.” While Sherman and company wouldn’t go into too much detail, they as-sured the end product will be a winner.

There are plenty of drinks out there to kick start the imagination and give the taste buds something new. Everybody is going to feel the same in the morning, but the drinks to get there can be as diverse as the bars that serve them.