Addicted to Media

Gearing up for E3 2010.

2010-06-13T16:04:00.002-04:00

It's been a while since we've posted but I'd like to post a little about E3 this year. Last year Adam had pretty comprehensive coverage. This year hopefuly we can write about some of our favorite surprises from the floor. Stay tuned!

Media Fix Review: You, The Living

2010-03-23T01:18:00.005-04:00

There are a lot of comedies out there. Most of them, I think, kinda sorta blow. But every once and a while I come across a few really really good ones (as a matter of fact, I think the best film of last year was Woody Allen's Whatever Works. Hilarious picture!). These kinds of comedies, "existential" comedies really, renew my faith in the genre and the medium of film itself.
You, the Living is a fantastic film, a visceral film, and somewhat tragic. But its tragedy with a funny outfit on. It covers a whole spectrum of human emotions and highlights all the potential absurdities of human existence: relationships, work, our hopes and dreams, and death. What good movie doesn't have at least a little something to do with mortality, right?
It presents itself in the form of shorts, stories within stories. There are a handful a recurring characters, ones that usually address, us, the audience, but for the most part you're only given a small glimpse into these peoples lives and then you never see them again.
The film itself also looks fantastic. It's very pale, very dreary. Much like some of the characters situations/lives. And each shot is a beautiful composition. The camera doesn't move that often, and there aren't a lot of editing cuts within a scene. Sometimes there are none whatsoever. A simple, but powerful, approach.
I don't wanna spoil it anymore than I already have, and I've exhausted my praise for this film, so now I leave you with only this command: SEE THIS MOVIE.

Avatar Finally Fails!

2010-02-07T23:01:00.009-05:00

After eight weeks at the top of the box office Avatar has finally been supplanted.
Really, Avatar? Only eight weeks? All I can say is this: TOTAL FAILURE!
And what film was the supplanter? John Travolta's From Paris With Love. Just kidding, it was, of course, Dear John.
Congratulations, John.
Something tells me that Avatar probably won't shoot back to the top next Valentines Day weekend.

We're off to the races! Oscar Noms in.

2010-02-02T13:10:00.006-05:00

There are very few surprises this year. The biggest might be the exclusion of 500 Days of Summer from best pic category. Other notable omissions were Invictus and Star Trek. I knew Star Trek would be a long shot but I figured because of the expanded best pic category it might've had a chance. Also, what happened to Moon?

Performance by an actor in a leading role
* Jeff Bridges in "Crazy Heart" (Fox Searchlight)
* George Clooney in "Up in the Air" (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios)
* Colin Firth in "A Single Man" (The Weinstein Company)
* Morgan Freeman in "Invictus" (Warner Bros.)
* Jeremy Renner in "The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment)

Performance by an actor in a supporting role
* Matt Damon in "Invictus" (Warner Bros.)
* Woody Harrelson in "The Messenger" (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
* Christopher Plummer in "The Last Station" (Sony Pictures Classics)
* Stanley Tucci in "The Lovely Bones" (DreamWorks in association with Film4, Distributed by Paramount)
* Christoph Waltz in "Inglourious Basterds" (The Weinstein Company)

Performance by an actress in a leading role
* Sandra Bullock in "The Blind Side" (Warner Bros.)
* Helen Mirren in "The Last Station" (Sony Pictures Classics)
* Carey Mulligan in "An Education" (Sony Pictures Classics)
* Gabourey Sidibe in "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" (Lionsgate)
* Meryl Streep in "Julie & Julia" (Sony Pictures Releasing)

Performance by an actress in a supporting role
* Penélope Cruz in "Nine" (The Weinstein Company)
* Vera Farmiga in "Up in the Air" (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios)
* Maggie Gyllenhaal in "Crazy Heart" (Fox Searchlight)
* Anna Kendrick in "Up in the Air" (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios)
* Mo'Nique in "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" (Lionsgate)

Best animated feature film of the year

*"Coraline" (Focus Features) Henry Selick
*"Fantastic Mr. Fox" (20th Century Fox) Wes Anderson
*"The Princess and the Frog" (Walt Disney) John Musker and Ron Clements
*"The Secret of Kells" (GKIDS) Tomm Moore
*"Up" (Walt Disney) Pete Docter

Achievement in art direction

*"Avatar" (20th Century Fox) Art Direction: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg
Set Decoration: Kim Sinclair
*"The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" (Sony Pictures Classics) Art Direction: Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro
Set Decoration: Caroline Smith
*"Nine" (The Weinstein Company) Art Direction: John Myhre
Set Decoration: Gordon Sim
*"Sherlock Holmes" (Warner Bros.) Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood
Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
*"The Young Victoria" (Apparition) Art Direction: Patrice Vermette
Set Decoration: Maggie Gray

Achievement in cinematography

*"Avatar" (20th Century Fox) Mauro Fiore
*"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" (Warner Bros.) Bruno Delbonnel
*"The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment) Barry Ackroyd
*"Inglourious Basterds" (The Weinstein Company) Robert Richardson
*"The White Ribbon" (Sony Pictures Classics) Christian Berger

Achievement in costume design

*"Bright Star" (Apparition) Janet Patterson
*"Coco before Chanel" (Sony Pictures Classics) Catherine Leterrier
*"The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" (Sony Pictures Classics) Monique Prudhomme
*"Nine" (The Weinstein Company) Colleen Atwood
*"The Young Victoria" (Apparition) Sandy Powell

Achievement in directing

*"Avatar" (20th Century Fox) James Cameron
*"The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment) Kathryn Bigelow
*"Inglourious Basterds" (The Weinstein Company) Quentin Tarantino
*"Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" (Lionsgate) Lee Daniels
*"Up in the Air" (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios) Jason Reitman

Best documentary feature

*"Burma VJ" (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
A Magic Hour Films Production Anders Østergaard and Lise Lense-Møller
*"The Cove" (Roadside Attractions)
An Oceanic Preservation Society Production Nominees to be determined
*"Food, Inc." (Magnolia Pictures)
A Robert Kenner Films Production Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein
*"The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers"
A Kovno Communications Production Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith
*"Which Way Home"
A Mr. Mudd Production Rebecca Cammisa

Best documentary short subject

*"China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province"
A Downtown Community Television Center Production Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill
*"The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner"
A Just Media Production Daniel Junge and Henry Ansbacher
*"The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant"
A Community Media Production Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert
*"Music by Prudence"
An iThemba Production Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett
*"Rabbit à la Berlin" (Deckert Distribution)
An MS Films Production Bartek Konopka and Anna Wydra

Achievement in film editing

*"Avatar" (20th Century Fox) Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron
*"District 9" (Sony Pictures Releasing) Julian Clarke
*"The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment) Bob Murawski and Chris Innis
*"Inglourious Basterds" (The Weinstein Company) Sally Menke
*"Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" (Lionsgate) Joe Klotz

Best foreign language film of the year

*"Ajami"(Kino International)
An Inosan Production Israel
*"El Secreto de Sus Ojos" (Sony Pictures Classics)
A Haddock Films Production Argentina
*"The Milk of Sorrow"
A Wanda Visión/Oberon Cinematogràfica/Vela Production Peru
*"Un Prophète" (Sony Pictures Classics)
A Why Not/Page 114/Chic Films Production France
*"The White Ribbon" (Sony Pictures Classics)
An X Filme Creative Pool/Wega Film/Les Films du Losange/Lucky Red Production Germany

Achievement in makeup

*"Il Divo" (MPI Media Group through Music Box) Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano
*"Star Trek" (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment) Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow
*"The Young Victoria" (Apparition) Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)

*"Avatar" (20th Century Fox) James Horner
*"Fantastic Mr. Fox" (20th Century Fox) Alexandre Desplat
*"The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment) Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
*"Sherlock Holmes" (Warner Bros.) Hans Zimmer
*"Up" (Walt Disney) Michael Giacchino

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)

*"Almost There" from "The Princess and the Frog" (Walt Disney) Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
*"Down in New Orleans" from "The Princess and the Frog" (Walt Disney) Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
*"Loin de Paname" from "Paris 36" (Sony Pictures Classics) Music by Reinhardt Wagner
Lyric by Frank Thomas
*"Take It All" from "Nine" (The Weinstein Company) Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston
*"The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)" from "Crazy Heart" (Fox Searchlight) Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

Best motion picture of the year

*"Avatar" (20th Century Fox)
A Lightstorm Entertainment Production James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers
*"The Blind Side" (Warner Bros.)
An Alcon Entertainment Production Nominees to be determined
*"District 9" (Sony Pictures Releasing)
A Block/Hanson Production Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham, Producers
*"An Education" (Sony Pictures Classics)
A Finola Dwyer/Wildgaze Films Production Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers
*"The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment)
A Voltage Pictures Production Nominees to be determined
*"Inglourious Basterds" (The Weinstein Company)
A Weinstein Company/Universal Pictures/A Band Apart/Zehnte Babelsberg Production Lawrence Bender, Producer
*"Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" (Lionsgate)
A Lee Daniels Entertainment/Smokewood Entertainment Production Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness, Producers
*"A Serious Man" (Focus Features)
A Working Title Films Production Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Producers
*"Up" (Walt Disney)
A Pixar Production Jonas Rivera, Producer
*"Up in the Air" (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios)
A Montecito Picture Company Production Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman, Producers

Best animated short film

*"French Roast"
A Pumpkin Factory/Bibo Films Production Fabrice O. Joubert
*"Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty" (Brown Bag Films)
A Brown Bag Films Production Nicky Phelan and Darragh O'Connell
*"The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)"
A Kandor Graphics and Green Moon Production Javier Recio Gracia
*"Logorama" (Autour de Minuit)
An Autour de Minuit Production Nicolas Schmerkin
*"A Matter of Loaf and Death" (Aardman Animations)
An Aardman Animations Production Nick Park

Best live action short film

*"The Door" (Network Ireland Television)
An Octagon Films Production Juanita Wilson and James Flynn
*"Instead of Abracadabra" (The Swedish Film Institute)
A Directörn & Fabrikörn Production Patrik Eklund and Mathias Fjellström
*"Kavi"
A Gregg Helvey Production Gregg Helvey
*"Miracle Fish" (Premium Films)
A Druid Films Production Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey
*"The New Tenants"
A Park Pictures and M & M Production Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson

Achievement in sound editing

*"Avatar" (20th Century Fox) Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle
*"The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment) Paul N.J. Ottosson
*"Inglourious Basterds" (The Weinstein Company) Wylie Stateman
*"Star Trek" (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment) Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin
*"Up" (Walt Disney) Michael Silvers and Tom Myers

Achievement in sound mixing

*"Avatar" (20th Century Fox) Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson
*"The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment) Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett
*"Inglourious Basterds" (The Weinstein Company) Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano
*"Star Trek" (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment) Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J. Devlin
*"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" (DreamWorks and Paramount in association with Hasbro, Distributed by Paramount) Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson

Achievement in visual effects

*"Avatar" (20th Century Fox) Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones
*"District 9" (Sony Pictures Releasing) Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken
*"Star Trek" (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment) Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton

Adapted screenplay

*"District 9" (Sony Pictures Releasing) Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
*"An Education" (Sony Pictures Classics) Screenplay by Nick Hornby
*"In the Loop" (IFC Films) Screenplay by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
*"Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" (Lionsgate) Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher
*"Up in the Air" (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios) Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner

Original screenplay

*"The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment) Written by Mark Boal
*"Inglourious Basterds" (The Weinstein Company) Written by Quentin Tarantino
*"The Messenger" (Oscilloscope Laboratories) Written by Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman
*"A Serious Man" (Focus Features) Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
*"Up" (Walt Disney) Screenplay by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter
Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy

What's The Haps On The Last Guardian Screen Caps

2010-02-01T23:56:00.009-05:00

It's been a while since we've heard anything about Team ICO's latest creation the Last Guardian. As a big fan of their last two games I was delighted to find some new screen shots on the Japanese website. Anticipation is high for the mysterious sequel. Hopefully thes screens while tide you over till we get some new video.

Introducing iPad

2010-01-27T17:13:00.008-05:00

This morning Steve Jobs unleashed on the world his newest Apple product the IPad. It's almost exactly what people where expecting. It's not quite a laptop and it's not quite a smart phone.
Right off the bat it looks ugly to me.
The Icons are spaced to far apart and the casing looks like a ridiculously large iPhone. This is going to take some getting used to.

Pricing structure seems a little steep although a Kindle DX runs for $489 and has a lot less features. I'm interested to see if this thing will take off as an at home device or will its success be on the road. The latter seems less likely since it's gonna cost you to go 3g. It's great that it's portable, but why not carry an iPhone or a Mac Book.

From the apple.com:

Safari:

The large Multi-Touch screen on iPad lets you see web pages as they were meant to be seen — one whole page at a time. With vibrant color and sharp text. So whether you’re looking at a page in portrait or landscape, you can see everything at a size that’s actually readable. And with iPad, navigating through the web has never been easier, or more intuitive. Because you use the most natural pointing device there is: your finger. You can scroll through a page just by flicking your finger up or down on the screen. Or pinch to zoom in or out on a photo. There’s also a thumbnail view that shows all your open pages in a grid, to let you quickly move from one page to the next.

Mail:

See and touch your email in ways you never could before. In landscape, you get a split-screen view, showing both an opened email and the messages in your Inbox. To see the opened email by itself, you just turn iPad to portrait, and the email automatically rotates and fills the screen. No matter which orientation you use, you can scroll through your mail, compose a new email using the large, on-screen keyboard, or delete messages, with nothing more than a tap and a flick. If someone emails you a photo, you can see it right in the message. You can also save the photos in an email directly to the built-in Photos app. And iPad will work with all the popular email providers, including MobileMe, Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, Hotmail, and AOL.

Photos:
With its crisp, vibrant display, and its unique software features, iPad is an extraordinary way to enjoy and share your photos. For example, the new Photos app displays the photos in an album as though they were in a stack. Just tap or pinch to open the stack, and the whole album opens up. Then you can flip through your pictures, zoom in or out, or watch a slideshow. You can even use your iPad as a beautiful digital photo frame while your iPad is docked or charging. And there are lots of ways to import photos: you can sync them from your computer, download them from an email, or import them directly from your camera using the Apple Camera Connection Kit.

Video:

The large, high-resolution screen makes iPad perfect for watching any kind of video: from HD movies and TV shows, to podcasts and music videos. You can also easily move between wide-screen and full-screen with a double-tap. And because it’s essentially one big screen, with no buttons or anything to distract you, the picture fills your line of sight. So you feel completely immersed in what you’re watching.

iBooks:

The iBooks app is a great, new way to read and buy books.¹Just download the app for free from the App Store, and you’ll be able to buy everything from classics to bestsellers from the built-in iBookstore. Once you’ve bought a book, it’s displayed on your Bookshelf. To read it, all you have to do is tap on it and it opens up. The high-resolution, LED-backlit screen displays everything in sharp, rich, color, so it’s very easy to read, even in low light.

It'll be interesting to see how this thing takes off. At the moment it doesn't seem too enticing of a product. It's missing a few key features like a built in camera and Flash plugin. Sorry Skype users.

What I'm waiting to see is what developers can do with it. The sdk is out already. If some really cool innovative apps come out that really capitalize on the touch screen or fast OS it might be worth the buy. Think about a the possibility for games or even design programs.

But maybe the real power of this device is in its e-reading potential. It really filled a void in that niche. So perhaps the possibilities of its full color magazines and beautifully rendered page animations will be enough to drive sales. It is officially the best e-reader on the market. What has yet to be seen is whether or not its other functionality will make the grade.

Avatar Wins Best Picture at the Globes

2010-01-18T01:52:00.008-05:00

Well, there you have it folks. Avatar won best picture at the Golden Globes tonight. I was as surprised as anyone, especially when there's so much fanfare behind movies like the Hurt Locker or Up in the Air.

I wonder if the Globes will be any indication of the Academy's choices this year.

Here are the nominations/winners:

Winners are marked with asterisks.

Cecil B. DeMille Award
*Martin Scorsese

Best Motion Picture - Drama

*Avatar
Lightstorm Entertainment; Twentieth Century Fox

The Hurt Locker
Voltage Pictures; Summit Entertainment

Inglourious Basterds
The Weinstein Company/Universal Pictures/A Band Apart/Zehnte Babelsberg GmbH Production; The Weinstein Company/Universal Pictures

Precious: Based On The Novel Push By Sapphire
A Lee Daniels Entertainment / Smokewood Entertainment Group Production; Lionsgate

Up In The Air
Paramount Pictures; Paramount Pictures

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama

Emily Blunt – The Young Victoria

*Sandra Bullock – The Blind Side

Helen Mirren – The Last Station

Carey Mulligan – An Education

Gabourey Sidibe – Precious: Based On The Novel Push By Sapphire

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama

*Jeff Bridges – Crazy Heart

George Clooney – Up In The Air

Colin Firth – A Single Man

Morgan Freeman – Invictus

Tobey Maguire – Brothers

Best Motion Picture - Comedy Or Musical

(500) Days Of Summer
Watermark Pictures; Fox Searchlight Pictures

*The Hangover
Warner Bros. Pictures; Warner Bros. Pictures

It's Complicated
Relativity Media, Scott Rudin Productions; Universal Pictures

Julie & Julia
Columbia Pictures; Sony Pictures Releasing

Nine
The Weinstein Company/Relativity Media/Lucamar Productions/Marc Platt Productions; The Weinstein Company

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy Or Musical

Sandra Bullock – The Proposal

Marion Cotillard – Nine

Julia Roberts – Duplicity

Meryl Streep – It's Complicated

*Meryl Streep – Julie & Julia

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy Or Musical

Matt Damon – The Informant!

Daniel Day-Lewis – Nine

*Robert Downey Jr. – Sherlock Holmes

Joseph Gordon-Levitt – (500) Days Of Summer

Michael Stuhlbarg – A Serious Man

Best Performance by an Actress In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture

Penélope Cruz – Nine

Vera Farmiga – Up In The Air

Anna Kendrick – Up In The Air

*Mo'nique – Precious: Based On The Novel Push By Sapphire

Julianne Moore – A Single Man

Best Performance by an Actor In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture

Matt Damon – Invictus

Woody Harrelson – The Messenger

Christopher Plummer – The Last Station

Stanley Tucci – The Lovely Bones

*Christoph Waltz – Inglourious Basterds

Best Animated Feature Film

Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs
Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation; Sony Pictures Releasing

Coraline
Laika, Inc.; Focus Features

Fantastic Mr. Fox
American Empirical Picture; Twentieth Century Fox

The Princess And The Frog
Walt Disney Pictures/Walt Disney Animation Studios; Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

*Up
Walt Disney Pictures/PIXAR Animation Studios; Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Best Foreign Language Film

Baaria (Italy)
The Country of Italy
Medusa Film; Summit Entertainment

Broken Embraces (Spain)
The Country of Spain
El Deseo SA; Sony Pictures Classics

The Maid (La Nana) (Chile)
The Country of Chile
Forastero; Elephant Eye Films

A Prophet (Un Prophete) (France)
The Country of France
Chic Films/Page 114/Why Not Productions; Sony Pictures Classics

*The White Ribbon (Das Weisse Band - Eine Deutsche Kindergeschichte) (Germany)
The Country of Germany
X Filme Creative Pool/Les Films Du Losange/Lucky Red/Wega Film; Sony Pictures Classics

Best Director - Motion Picture

Kathryn Bigelow – The Hurt Locker

*James Cameron – Avatar

Clint Eastwood – Invictus

Jason Reitman – Up In The Air

Quentin Tarantino – Inglourious Basterds

Best Screenplay - Motion Picture

Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell - District 9

Mark Boal - The Hurt Locker

Quentin Tarantino - Inglourious Basterds

Nancy Meyers - It's Complicated

*Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner - Up In The Air

Best Original Score - Motion Picture

*Michael Giacchino - Up

Marvin Hamlisch - The Informant!

James Horner - Avatar

Abel Korzeniowski - A Single Man

Karen O and Carter Burwell - Where The Wild Things Are
Best Original Song - Motion Picture

"Cinema Italiano" – Nine
Music & Lyrics By: Maury Yeston

"I See You" – Avatar
Music By: James Horner and Simon Franglen
Lyrics By: James Horner, Simon Franglen and Kuk Harrell

"I Want To Come Home" – Everybody's Fine
Music & Lyrics By: Paul McCartney

*"The Weary Kind (Theme From Crazy Heart)" – Crazy Heart
Music & Lyrics By: Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

"Winter" – Brothers
Music By: U2
Lyrics By: Bono

Best Television Series - Drama

Big Love (HBO)
Anima Sola Productions and Playtone in association with HBO Entertainment

Dexter (SHOWTIME)
Showtime Presents, John Goldwyn Productions, The Colleton Company, Clyde Phillips Productions

House (FOX)
Universal Media Studios in association with Heel and Toe Films, Shore Z Productions and Bad Hat Harry Productions

*Mad Men (AMC)
Lionsgate

True Blood (HBO)
Your Face Goes Here Productions in association with HBO Entertainment

Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series - Drama

Glenn Close – Damages (FX NETWORK)

January Jones – Mad Men (AMC)

*Julianna Margulies – The Good Wife (CBS)

Anna Paquin – True Blood (HBO)

Kyra Sedgwick – The Closer (TNT)

Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series - Drama

Simon Baker – The Mentalist (CBS)

*Michael C. Hall – Dexter (SHOWTIME)

Jon Hamm – Mad Men (AMC)

Hugh Laurie – House (FOX)

Bill Paxton – Big Love (HBO)

Best Television Series - Comedy Or Musical

30 Rock (NBC)
Universal Media Studios in association with Broadway Video and Little Stranger Inc.

Entourage (HBO)
Leverage and Closest to the Hole Productions in association with HBO Entertainment

*Glee (FOX)
Twentieth Century Fox Television

Modern Family (ABC)
Twentieth Century Fox Television

The Office (NBC)
Universal Television Studios, Deedle Dee Productions, Reveille LLC

Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series - Comedy Or Musical

*Toni Collette – United States Of Tara (SHOWTIME)

Courteney Cox – Cougar Town (ABC)

Edie Falco – Nurse Jackie (SHOWTIME)

Tina Fey – 30 Rock (NBC)

Lea Michele – Glee (FOX)
Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series - Comedy Or Musical

*Alec Baldwin – 30 Rock (NBC)

Steve Carell – The Office (NBC)

David Duchovny – Californication (SHOWTIME)

Thomas Jane – Hung (HBO)

Matthew Morrison – Glee (FOX)

Best Mini-Series Or Motion Picture Made for Television

Georgia O'Keeffe (LIFETIME)
Sony Pictures Television

*Grey Gardens (HBO)
Specialty Films and Locomotive in association with HBO Films

Into The Storm (HBO)
Scott Free and Rainmark Films Production in association with the BBC and HBO Films

Little Dorrit (PBS)
Masterpiece/BBC Co-production

Taking Chance (HBO)
Motion Picture Corporation of America and Civil Dawn Pictures in association with HBO Films

Best Performance by an Actress In A Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television

Joan Allen – Georgia O'Keeffe (LIFETIME)

*Drew Barrymore – Grey Gardens (HBO)

Jessica Lange – Grey Gardens (HBO)

Anna Paquin – The Courageous Heart Of Irena (CBS)

Sigourney Weaver – Prayers For Bobby (LIFETIME)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

*Kevin Bacon – Taking Chance (HBO)

Kenneth Branagh – Wallander: One Step Behind (PBS)

Chiwetel Ejiofor – Endgame (PBS)

Brendan Gleeson – Into The Storm (HBO)

Jeremy Irons – Georgia O'Keeffe (LIFETIME)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

Jane Adams – Hung (HBO)

Rose Byrne – Damages (FX NETWORK)

Jane Lynch – Glee (FOX)

Janet McTeer – Into The Storm (HBO)

*Chloë Sevigny – Big Love (HBO)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

Michael Emerson – Lost (ABC)

Neil Patrick Harris – How I Met Your Mother (CBS)

William Hurt – Damages (FX NETWORK)

*John Lithgow – Dexter (SHOWTIME)

Jeremy Piven – Entourage (HBO)

The future is 3D.

2010-01-14T02:11:00.004-05:00

But should it happening so soon. I know closet Luddites everywhere are saying too soon and I might be inclined to agree. Remember though, it takes a bunch of junkie bad tech before we get to the good stuff. 3d tech was definitely the belle of the ball this year and I expect it to only get better. Don't get me wrong, I don't think home theaters will replace the cinema anytime soon, unless, of course, someone builds an IMAX addition onto their house. 3d tech might also have other applications at home, think video games, web, visual interfaces, etc. The future is exciting and although most of us recently dropped some serious cash on HD televisions but that's okay. The new tech probably won't maturate until next year or so. Still, I know most of us aren't ready for the jump. But, let's wait and see what happens.

Simpson's 20th Anniversary Special! In 3D! On Ice! Review!

2010-01-10T22:28:00.010-05:00

Well, folks, "The Simpson's 20th Anniversary Special! In 3D! On Ice!", hosted by Mr. Morgan Spurlock, has just aired. What did I think? Well, I gotta be honest here, as interesting as much of it was I really wanted more. And I don't necessarily mean "more" as in quality or substance, I mean literally "MORE!"
Really, fellas, just one hour? You boast about it being the most successful television show ever and you thought one hour would suffice? Give me more interviews with actors,creators, or fans. Anything!
I want a Simpson celebration to get at least the same treatment that The Beatles got for their anthology in '95 on ABC. They got a six hour documentary, and they're not even that funny.
Also, if you are (or were, in light of the shows quality in these last few years) a Simpson's fan this special didn't really give you any information that you probably didn't already know. Nothing new under the Simpson sun, really.
The only novel contribution, at least for me, this special had to offer was a brief glimpse into the Simpson's fanbase in other parts of the world. I especially liked the citizens of Scotland feuding over Groundskeeper Willie's city of origin. It was also funny to see how many people, apparently, in Brazil couldn't take a joke.
So, overall, the special was decent, I'm always fascinated to hear fans/creators/actors talk about this phenomenon we call "The Simpsons", but its scope was too broad. Not enough details. Perhaps in another few decades a true and proper Simpson's retrospective will be made.
If I'm still alive I 'll definitely be checking it out, and hopefully, still, be quoting lines from the show everyday.

Best of 2009: Movies Edition

2009-12-01T15:21:00.014-05:00

Well, it won't be too long before you won't be able to go two internet steps without tripping over a top ten list, not to mention the Academy's. I might as well join the party. I've seen quite a bit this year and even though I've heard a lot of discussion this year about the difficulty of picking 10 prime movies which at first I passed off as elitists nonsense. But, since trying to compile my list I now understand the complexity of picking 10 movies. I'll try to cover ten of my favorites with and individual post for each. This installment is Treeless Mountain.

Treeless Mountain

Although this movie was released in the fall of 2008 in South Korea and in Canada, I've decided to include it in my 2009 list because it wasn't released to the majority of the world until 2009. The thing that hooked me on this movie was the trailer which, in a very small time frame seemed to cover the entire scope of the film, including all the highs and lows. The trailer also had a pretty cool song from Asobi Sesku which reminded me of the jingle of the holiday season or the optimism of youth wrapped in a popish wrapping paper. This was a different story than the actual movie which had no score except for the credits.
It was hard finding this movie. It wasn't available to rent near me and the netflix version was broken. I ended up renting it on itunes which wasn't all that bad of an experience except for the fact that it probably would've looked a lot better on DVD.

The movie which I knew very little about, until I stumbled across the trailer on itunes, turned out be a refreshing tale of two sisters who deal with their mother leaving to find their father whom is absent for whatever reason. The movie is fairly monochromatic in tone and visuals. Its biggest strength is the way that it plays out quiet moments. In fact, the whole movie is relatively quiet. There aren't any big voices, only small ones. Director Son Yon Kim rare ability to capture these small voices seems to stem from her own small voice. She only speaks Korean at a six or seven year old age range. Which she elaborates on in this interview.

The children in this movie are stunning. Their performances are so amazingly naturalistic. They are kids being kids not so much kids acting like kids. And their performances really leave an impression on the viewer. Sometimes I think of little Jin and Bin and wonder how they're doing.

Treeless Mountain might also be seen as a lesson about the virtues of rural living versus industrial society, though this point is never made explicit. The quiet tonal nature of this movie was particularly appealing to me. Everything else tends to lean towards hyper contrast whereas this movie stays simply sublime. This movie is easier on the eyes and a little harder on the heart. Thanks to So Yong Kim for sharing her semi autobiographical tale.

Epic Mickey Aims To Reinvent A Global Pop Icon

2009-11-05T15:53:00.007-05:00

When you think Mickey Mouse, what comes to mind? More importantly, what makes Mickey cool?

These are questions that legendary game director Warren Spector presented in a recent London press conference for his upcoming Wii title Epic Mickey (working title).

The classic Mickey design, Oswald The Lucky Rabbit (Walt's lost character) and in-game "squash and stretch" animation all look to add up what could possible be a Disney buff's dream come true.

As an avid Disney geek an gamer, I personally cant help but be a tad disappointed that they decided against developing an "HD" version of this game for the PS3 or XBOX 360. I'd really like to experience playing Epic Mickey on a console that doesn't look like complete garbage on my HDTV.

Epic Mickey isnt coming out anytime soon, so maybe the rumored "Wii HD" will be out by the time the games ships. I'll keep my puffy, white-gloved fingers crossed.

Coming Soon

2009-10-29T21:45:00.007-04:00

Humble Pie
It’s hard not to like Tracy Orbison (Hubbel Palmer). A dopey Midwestern guy who excels as a food-stocking professional, Tracy politely and passively passes his days scribbling poems in a notebook during shift breaks and day-dreaming of making something more of himself. Although there is already a lot more of him than some think necessary. In a blinding moment of enlightenment, he enrolls in an acting class taught by a pompous Z-list has-been (played by a hilarious William Baldwin). Things don’t quite go according to plan, as a tragically comical chain of mishaps leads Tracy to take a more active role in his life by mentoring a young thug while fending off his obnoxious mother (Academy Award Nominee Kathleen Quinlan) and indifferent sister (Mary Lynn Rajskub, Julie & Julia, FOX’s “24”), all the while awkwardly attempting to conquer the elusive driver’s exam and trying to lose “about ten pounds.” A different kind of everyman, Tracy Orbison reminds us that the caution light flashes even while chasing our dreams.

Until The Light Takes Us: Dec 4
Until The Light Takes Us tells the story of black metal. Part music scene and part cultural uprising, black metal rose to worldwide notoriety in the mid-nineties when a rash of suicides, murders, and church burnings accompanied the explosive artistic growth and output of a music scene that would forever redefine what heavy metal is and what it stands for to other musicians, artists, and music fans world-wide. Directors Aaron Aites and Audrey Ewell moved to Norway and lived the musicians for several years, building relationships that allowed them to create a surprisingly intimate portrait of this violent, but ultimately misunderstood, movement. The result is a poignant, moving story that’s as much about the idea that reality is composed of whatever the most people believe as it is about a music scene that blazed a path of murder and arson across the northern sky.

Collapse: Nov 6
Americans generally like to hear good news. They like to believe that a new President will right old wrongs, that clean energy will replace dirty oil, and that fresh thinking will set the economy straight. American pundits tend to restrain their pessimism and to hope for the best. But is anyone prepared for the worst? Michael Ruppert is a different kind of American. A former Los Angeles police officer turned independent reporter, he predicted the current financial crisis in his self-published newsletter “From the Wilderness” at a time when most Wall Street and Washington analysts were still in denial. Smith has always had a feeling for outsiders in films like “American Movie” and “American Job.” In “Collapse,” Smith stylistically departs from his past films by interviewing Ruppert in a format that recalls the work of Errol Morris and Spalding Gray. Sitting in a room that looks like a bunker, Ruppert recounts his career as a radical thinker and spells out the crises he sees ahead. He draws upon the same news reports and data available to any Internet user, but he applies a unique interpretation. He is especially passionate over the issue of “peak oil,” the concern raised by scientists since the 1970s that the world will eventually run out of fossil fuel. While other experts debate this issue in measured tones, Ruppert doesn’t hold back at sounding an alarm. He portrays a future that resembles apocalyptic science fiction. Listening to his rapid flow of opinions, the viewer is likely to question some of the rhetoric as paranoid or deluded; and to sway back and forth on what to make of the extremism. Smith lets viewers form their own judgments.

Game Diary: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

2009-10-28T13:28:00.011-04:00

*As before, I'll be logging diaries after every session of game-play. Expect Spoilers.
This week I decided to have a go at Naughty Dog's sure-to-be classic Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. I would have begun sooner but as with Drake's adventures there was a snag. My PS3 died. But I'm back at it and eager to get going.

Admittedly, I wasn't the biggest Uncharted: Drake's Fortune fan. I respected its merits, but the game wasn't for me. It was floaty, and rubbery, two qualities not often praised by American gamers, except Japanophiles. I like, dare I say at the risk of persecution, beefy games. I like games that feel solid. I know, this is all really ambiguous, but hopefully this new installment will be a departure from the first.
My expectations for this game were high, I expected it to improve on the high quality of production seen in the first one. A couple of specifics that I hoped for were better aiming, less repetitive or more realistic combat confrontations and better character animation.

Half tuck is at it again.

Right from the get go I was impressed, the game starts off on a high note, in which we are made well aware of how high every aspect of production is. I've Just started the third or fourth chapter and the game is still quasi-tutorial, but it still feels really organic which is a huge accomplishment.
The story thus far has been extremely compelling and though some of the initial plot points were fairly predictable, they were nonetheless enjoyable. I hope I'm wrong on a few of these. I'm fairly certain I am. I expect to have the rugged pulled from beneath me a few more times and I can't wait.
The thing I remembered about Uncharted as soon as I began playing was how amazing everything looks from afar, and how mediocre a lot of things look on closer inspection. For instance, at first glance Nate looks absolutely fantastic with his slick jeans and bed hair(which is probably the best looking thing in the game), but the more you follow him around you start to notice a few awkward animations, his hunch back and dog legs. I also noticed a little pop-in which I thought was strange since the game proves it has a massive draw distance. But these are minor gripes, because the story more than makes up for any graphical complaints I have. Oh yeah, the action this time around is way better! The stealth is super satisfying and the gun play, although a little floaty for me, feels good enough. Though I wish there were and auto aim option. And I must say that on the whole the graphics look fabulous.

Vivid and lush and notice simple polys.

I'm not quite sure about Chloe yet. So far she's playing both sides. I'm anxious to see what happens. At least she changes shirts.

I've just started this game so expect plenty more updates.

Media Fix Review: Where The Wild Things Are

2009-10-22T17:58:00.014-04:00

Spike Jonze makes quirky movies, and his new picture, Where The Wild Things Are, is no exception. Surprised? I wasn’t. And it just so happens that I like quirky.

But, be warned: this is not a typical children’s film. No fart jokes, slapstick, or hokeyness to be found. Not to say that it’s entirely unformulaic. It has a lot of your standard plot devices, but, dammit, they work. And they’re totally appropriate.

It’s a film that, I think, will be more appreciated by older audiences because of the movie’s overall somber tone and the themes it touches on. Themes like loneliness, sadness, despair, death, love, and the delicacy of a family. It’s pretty deep. Possibly too much for little children to take in now, but they can always watch the DVD when they get older. But, if you haven’t seen it, don’t worry. It is also very whimsical and funny in parts as well.

The “wild things” themselves look hilarious with there CG faces and big hairy muppet costumes.

My personal favorite is Alexander, the goat.

The voice actors are pretty fantastic as well, you got James Gandolfini, Paul Dano, Forest Whitaker, Chris Cooper, Catherine O’Hara (funny as always), and Lauren Ambrose.

Max Records, who plays the main character, “Max”, had the arduous task of carrying the entire movie, and he pulled it off. He was/is great. It’ll be interesting to see what movies he chooses to be apart of, if any, in the future. Hopefully nothing too crummy. I’m looking in your direction, DISNEY!

Aesthetically, the film is gorgeous. Every shot, every composition is a work of art. It’s worth the price of admission on the visuals alone.

The film was shot in Australia, not just on sound stages, and it makes me very jealous that I don’t live there now. There are a plethora of locations: suburbs, the ocean, mountains, forests, and deserts.

The music also does a good job of encompassing and reflecting all the different emotions we have being felt in the story by all the characters. You got your happy, “All is love”, and your sad, “Hideaway”.

It’s very seldom that we get something atypical to come out of Hollywood, which is why it’s always a delight when surreal movies like this one come along. And with such a wide release! Do yourself a favor and experience this film if you haven’t yet. I’ve seen it twice, and I enjoyed even more on the second viewing.

Give it a chance. Don’t you deserve to not settle for mediocrity at the movies sometimes?

Media Fix Review: Capitalism: A Love Story

2009-10-12T16:15:00.011-04:00

There's a sense of urgency in Michael Moore's voice these days. I suppose there always was but it's much more apparent in his latest movie Capitalism: A Love Story. Yes, there's plenty of muckraking and hounding, but more than that there is pleading. Pleading directed towards the audience for initiative, mobilization, and action. Sound like a hardcore song? It might as well be, the film actually opens with a punky(er) version of Louie Louie with altered lyrics which really sets the tone.
I talked a bit with Shane about where to put this one in terms of Moore's repertoire, and we both concluded that it would indeed be somewhere near the top, but not quite the pinnacle. This movie is a different beast than the rest of his movies not because the beats are different, but because of the difference in subject matter. The villain in Capitalism is a nebulous one. And in some cases it might even be tempting to call us (American consumers) the villain, as President Carter did. Moore stops shy of pointing the finger at the popcorn eating crowd, but he does show that clip of Carter admonishing the proletariat, which is jarring to say the least. The point? We're used to placation. We love being distracted (insert irony here, I know.) even when our basic rights are being clipped.
The movie itself stands up well to his others. It's not quite as sappy as the sappiest of the bunch, and it's definitely not the funniest. Though I was able to view his most outrageous stunts as being justified performances in this movie. Remember the teaser trailer?
I still feel like they are borderline absurd and impractical, but I guess that's what makes them interesting performances. I did chuckle a few times always staying careful not to laugh at the wrong times.
If this review hasn't been too descriptive, it's because, I feel I lack the tools to accurately critique this movie. In terms of movie making, everything takes a backseat to the message, which is semi nebulous itself other than capitalism=bad or Moore's attempt to soften Americas' perception of Socialism. I can say that I enjoyed it, and that it hit close to home, as I imagine it will for most who see it. And I suspect that in the long run this director will earn the title of one of the greatest propagandists of the century.

The End of Scripted Television

2009-10-12T16:07:00.006-04:00

Ah, the end of scripted television is nigh. With NBC folding faster than Superman on laundry day (heh) can we expect the other major stations to follow? NBC's most obvious attempt to dump scripted T.V. came when when they gave their 10 o'clock spot to Mr. Leno. From the studio's standpoint this is genius. No longer do they have to pay for big budget drama. Instead they're opting for low budget reality TV and if it's successful then other studios might fall in line. NBC has already canceled Southland which seems to me to be a strong sign that they have a lessening interest in scripted television. I hope not. NPR has a really amazing write-up about this.

This Is It Tickets Selling Fast

2009-09-30T17:08:00.007-04:00

If you were planning on seeing Michael Jackson's final performance in theaters, you might want to head down to the box office ASAP...

Tickets for the two-week only This Is It movie are selling fast, as posted on the official MJ facebook page.

Here's a clip from the film...

Paranormal Activity. What do you think?

2009-09-30T15:30:00.005-04:00

If you haven't heard about Paranormal Activity yet there's probably a reason. It's a small horror film from 2007 and it's recently received a very small release. It was written and directed by Oren Peli, an Israeli-born video game designer, who was formally untrained. The movie was made for only 11 grand which is pretty amazing the movie has grossed to date around 84,000 dollars. But it has a growing underground following and with the demand feature, which allows you to demand a screening for you city, you'll likely only be able to see it by doing its marketing for it. This is a pretty interesting business model from Paramount and I really hope it's successful.

As for the movie, I'm curious to see if it will be anything like the Blair Witch Project, which had a similar stylistic and marketing vibe.
***Spoiler***
The trailer gives quite a bit away. So don't watch it if you want to wait for it in theaters.

Super Street Fighter 4 Confirmed

2009-09-28T11:34:00.000-04:00

SSIV Rumors are all but confirmed. Destructoid recently pointed out that there was an odd website which looked very Street Fighteresque. The website has "the New Warrior" in its title I wonder what that could mean. We'll have more info soon, as it is to be expected that more details will come in around 4am.
Is that T. Hawk on the screen?
More to come...
Edit: Adam pointed me to these on the Neogaf forum.
More to still to come...

Here are he un-confirmed glorious details!
* The previously leaked characters are all said to be in the game. Dee Jay, T. Hawk, Dudley, Ibuki, Makoto, Adon, Cody and Guy. The new characters are rumored to be: o Hakan - An Arabic grappler obsessed with oil. o Juri - Evil Asian girl fighter working for Seth. * All characters will have two Ultras. They will both be available at one time, not selectable like with Third Strike's Super Arts. The commands to execute your Ultras do not overlap.
o It sounds like the characters from Third Strike are set up with their prior Super Arts. They had three in that game, so one will be their Super and the other two their Ultras.
o Gen has four Ultras because of his two fighting styles. One of these is said to be an Air Ultra.
o All characters still have one Super, except Sakura who apparently has a Shinkuu Hadoken (Super Fireball) as well.
* Some characters will have Air Ultras.
* The Bonus Stages will be returning.
* This will be an exclusive arcade release at least for a few months.
* An official announcement is said to be coming at the Tokyo Game Show and on the Japanese Street Fighter 4 blog soon.
* Expect the return of the many familiar Supers, and a few new ones like Metsu Shoryuken. You'll see the return of Chun-Li's Kikosho (Super Fireball), Gouken's Denjin, Sagat's Tiger Cannon (Super Fireball).
* Ibuki has a run command.
* Guile has his Sonic Hurricane move from Marvel vs. Capcom 2.
* Dudley has his Chain combos from Third Strike, plus one additional Chain combo.
* Cody is the only character with an Alpha Counter and he still has his knife. He supposedly needs his knife to perform one of his Ultras.
* Rufus can cancel-break the last hit of his Spectacle Romance, or the launch kick of Space Opera Symphony.
* Guy has his Chain combos.
* Makoto has her Tanden Renki Super from Third Strike.
* Zangief is said to have a 720 degree motion Air Ultra called the Siberian Blizzard.
* The game takes place one year after Street Fighter 4.
* Dudley was searching for his car in Third Strike, in this game he's searching for a rose.
* T. Hawk's storyline involves him protecting Juni or Juli.
* Dhalsim's new Ultra is called the Yoga Shangri'la.
* There's a new gameplay system called Tadan Saving, the phrase implies a multi-hitting or multiple-level Focus Attack.
* The console characters are all said to be added to the upcoming arcade release, with the possible exceptions of Seth and Gouken.

Coming Soon

2009-09-24T20:53:00.000-04:00

Afterschool: In theaters Oct. 2.
Robert is a young American student at an elite East Coast preparatory school who accidentally captures the death of two classmates on camera. Their lives become memorialized as part of an audio-visual document intended to speed up the campus-wide healing process. But instead, the video creates an atmosphere of paranoia and unease among students and teachers.

Visual Acoustics: In theaters Oct. 9.
Narrated by Dustin Hoffman, VISUAL ACOUSTICS celebrates the life and career of Julius Shulman, the worlds greatest architectural photographer, whose images brought modern architecture to the American mainstream. Shulman, who passed away this year, captured the work of nearly every major modern and progressive architect since the 1930s including Frank Lloyd Wright, Richard Neutra, John Lautner, and Frank Gehry. His images epitomized the singular beauty of Southern Californias modernist movement and brought its iconic structures to the attention of the general public. This unique film is both a testament to the evolution of modern architecture and a joyful portrait of the magnetic, whip-smart gentleman who chronicled it with his unforgettable images.

La Nana: In theaters Oct. 16.
After 23 years working as housemaid in an upper class Santiago, Chile household, Raquel (Catalina Saavedra) is as much a part of the Valdez family as the wife, husband, and kids she lives with and looks after.

HD or not HD? That is the question.

2009-09-22T23:22:00.000-04:00

I'm interested to see what everyone thinks about all the self proclaimed HD Floating around out there. The title HD is basically worthless now. Consumer electronics as well as user based video sites have seemingly blurred, no pun intended, the distinction between what is actually High-Definition and what only pretends to be.

Years ago the standards for HD were set by the ATSC. They were 1280x720 and 1920x1080, 720p and 1080p respectively(this also includes 1080i). Everything that was to be considered HD had to be at least 1280x720 Simple enough, right? Not exactly. A few years a friend of mine purchased a TV that was purported to be HD 720p yet its resolution was only 1024x768, which is actually XGA.
See Graph below.

When we researched this we found that it was common for 42 inch 720p plasma televisions to be this resolution. Which really surprised me because I was aware of the ATSC standard. And yes, I'm aware that the image quality difference between 1280 and 1024 at that screen size is negligible, but it's the principle, 1024 fails to meet the standard.
This marked the beginning of an interesting trend. Since, I imagine, the average person is not aware of the vertical resolution specs, the horizontal pixel count is touted more often. Which leads manufacturers to cut corners, for some odd reason, by lowering the pixel count. It doesn't sense to me that lowering the pixel count a little bit would decrease production cost in any way. Or take for instance the Hitachi Ultravision, it boast a 1080 resolution but its actually resolution is closer to 720. It measures in at 1280x1080. Which means it's 720 with extra horizontal resolution. I imagine this was done simply to put that 1080 tag on the case. Little do prospective buyers know that it's actually 640 pixels short of 1080p.
But this is all water under the bridge now, because 1080p is quickly becoming the standard. My gripe is all the pseudo HD floating around the net. Especially YouTube and Vimeo, as well as many others. It's seems customary on these sites to have a button that turns the HD quality video on. However this button is a lie. Anyone who is familiar with HD content knows that when you watch a video on YouTube or Vimeo it's decidedly not HD. Why? Because every video site transcodes and compresses video, so even if you upload 1280x720 what you watch on the site will not be HD. To be clear, I'm not complaining about the video quality on these sites. For streaming video it's excellent. What I'm more concerned about is the mislabeling of HD content, because it could lead to lower standards for picture quality. If the public consciousness becomes conditioned to think that HD video is equal to what we watch on YouTube or stream on Netflix then the incentive to up the ante for HD pq on broadcasts and Bluray could possibly drop. that's it that's my gripe, now on to health care!

Nick Cage Is Superman...

2009-09-22T19:32:00.000-04:00

...At least in this test shot for the mythic Kevin Smith penned Tim Burton directedSuperman Returns. This looks so crazy that I'd actually be interested in watching it. It would be cool to see a totally bizarre take on such a famous property. Though, it wouldn't have received much love, I'm sure.

What's with the long hair, or, for that matter, the stoner look? And that plastic suit looks ridiculous, but still, I like it. Oh, what might've been. I guess we'll never know. Check out some of Burton's conceptual sketches.

And who else thinks Cage could play Burton in a Burton biopic?

Team Ninja Keeps it Classy

2009-09-16T16:51:00.000-04:00

Anyone worried about Team Ninja loosing their penchant for sleaze with the departure of Tomonobu Itagaki can lay their qualms to rest after watching this recent Japan-only TV spot for Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2.

This commercial is depressing on a number of levels. Is this really the most creative implementation of the Sixaxis motion controls that the pervs at Tecmo could come up with?

So much for games growing up.

Media Fix Review: Inglourious Basterds

2009-09-15T20:46:00.001-04:00

A delectable treat:
I've seen Inglorious Basterds twice now. I knew it would be better the second time. This is because Quinton Tarantino makes layered movies that are incredibly rich and satisfying. He strikes me as the kind of man who devours cinema and I think he aims to present something so tasty that it requires a second helping.
As I sat in the theater (both times) I was very aware of the audience behind me and was paying attention to their participation. This movie is as much about what's on screen as it is who's watching it in a Michael Haneke kind of way. We've all seen representations of people sitting in theaters on film. There is also the iconic representation of wide eyed faces lit with flickering light and the warmth of the cinema. This is how this movie made me feel. I could have been Michael Pitt in the Dreamers, Austin O'brien in Last Action Hero, or Audrey Tautou in Amelie. All these fine actors played characters whose eyes devoured the movies they watched. This is an analogy that I'm sure is not lost on the director. There were several scenes in the film which revolved around our main antagonist devouring sumptuous foods (creme and milk). The shots in this movie seem to savor the performances of the actors. Slow push-ins emphatically draw tension even when the scene is happening outside the frame. The scene where Landa devours his strudel, just before we expect him to lay into Shosanna, is a perfect example of this. During the conversation immediately preceding that scene, Zoller introduces Landa to Shosanna in German. The conversation takes place outside the frame and all we see is Shosann's face. She, of course does not speak German, so she is silent but we understand her predicament by the expression on her face. I can attest, one viewing doesn't cut it. It cinema made for cinema lovers.

Christopher Waltz performance as Col. Hans Landa stole the show.

I was expecting a completely different crowd after seeing the trailer, which can be very misleading. I was expecting a bunch of raucous Nazi haters booing and hissing with the ferocity of Hitler himself. It wasn't like that at all. The crowd was calm and actually cringed at the brutality in the film. Which surprised me. I thought for sure that Tarintino's goal was to coax that blood-lust out of his audience only to reveal it as an obvious parallel to the Nazi audience watching the propagandistic hero film. I was expecting my audience to be cheering for brutality against the "evil" Nazis while the Nazi audience cheered for the downfall of American soldiers in their little movie. This would have been the perfect parallel for me to elaborate on for paragraphs, but alas, it didn't happen. The crowd was quit civil. Which makes me wonder if Tarintino, as well as myself, underestimated the movie's audience. Or maybe I had really docile crowds. Either way, this revelation didn't really detract from the movie. It only added another layer to the cake.
If the trailer was truthful about anything it was Tarintino's use of hyperbolic characters that were so "colorful" that they couldn't be seen as anything other than the most broadly painted stereotypes. Aldo Raine's Tennessee accent, the frenchman's dairy farm, Hitler's villianesque cape are all supreme examples of this. But that's what made this movie so lush. It's not a history lesson, it's a re-imagining of the past painted in colors so vivid that it couldn't possibly be boring.

We already know that the director is more than capable of making an awesome revenge flick or two, but is this what we would normally consider a revenge movie? It seems to me that this is the kind of propagandistic retelling of history we would be used to from the opposing side. But why? I guess I'm still a little confused about this one. Is it to blur the distinction between them and us? Evil and good? Was it that deep? I suspect Tarantino didn't want any one to cut that deep into his elaborately structured supremely sweet cake (obviousness aside). I suspect, and I'm guessing he'd say the same, he just wanted to make a kick ass movie. Which it is, and damned tasty too.

P.S. I hope that Shane will chime in in the comments section.

The Jay Leno Show. He's Back!!!!

2009-09-15T01:00:00.000-04:00

It's been a couple of months now, but funny man Jay Leno is back doing what he does best: Late night comedy. Well, not so late now, I guess. He's on at 10pm instead of his original 11:30pm slot, now taken over by Conan O'Brien.
So you can sit back for an hour, have a few chuckles hopefully, watch your local crappy news, and then prepare yourself for two more hours of late night comedy with Conan O'Brien and Jimmy Fallon. Wow!
Really NBC? 3 hours of this stuff? Let's hope it goes well.
The show itself is basically the same stuff you saw Leno do on the Tonight Show, just a few bits rearranged, and with a new set. Jay hasn't changed, and his brand of not so over the top comedy hasn't changed either, and that's fine with me. I always liked him on the Tonight Show.
You want quirky, watch Conan.
A bit of a surprise, though, came when Jay got a little serious when talking with Kanye "the accoster" West about his VMA incident. I felt like I was watching a shrink talk with his patient.
But overall, solid show. It's very chuckle worthy. And what more could you ask for on free tv entertainment?

A Glimpse of Lucidity

2009-09-14T12:20:00.000-04:00

The people at Lucasarts responsible for the Hi-Def Monkey Island remake have been very busy.

Take a gander at their new game Lucidity for XBLA that is scheduled for release within a months time.

Video Games | Lucidity | Exclusive Among the Clouds Gameplay HD

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Not sure how well the Lemmings-style play mechanics will work out on a controller but the graphics, music and tone are enough to pique interests.

The Graphics War is Over! 3D Dot Game Heroes In Motion

2009-09-14T11:21:00.000-04:00

The Playstation 3 is billed as the most powerful gaming system ever created. Sure game developers could harness the power of the Cell to craft graphics that look marginally better than the competition, but if the Wii has taught us anything it's that people don't want amazingly slick 3D visuals anymore. That dream died in 2000 when Sega pulled the plug on the Dreamcast. The future of gaming is not about polygons, normal-mapping, and procedural animations. No. We're going back to basics.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, the future of video games.

A localized version of 3D Dot Game Heroes for the Playstation 3 has yet to be announced but I'm sure that Atlus and Ignition are currently slogging it out in a bidding war to bring this title stateside.

Apple throws down gaming gauntlet.

2009-09-09T14:37:00.000-04:00

Since I had nothing to do today, I decided to follow Apple's "It's only rock and Roll" event. First off, it was good seeing Steve Jobs back and in seemingly good health thanks to the liver of a mid 20s car accident victim. It seemed to me that the focus this year was price cutting. The entry price on an Ipod Touch is now 200 bucks. Roughly 30 dollars cheaper than yesterday. Out of all the Ipods the Nano got the biggest upgrade which included a camera and a speaker. The new OS was also released today which includes much more integration with Itunes and the ability to change application via a computer.
But the real shocker was the fact that Apple is so aggressively pursuing the video game market.

With graphs like these Jobs is certainly trying to make a statement about the other handhelds.

They showed of a couple of their games like an fps called Nova which looks a lot like Halo and a rhythm game called Riddim Ribbon.
They also showed off Assassin's Creed which looks more like a side-scroller than the open world we're used to with this game. Points off Apple, for going for the console audience, you have a unique device play to its strengths like the Nintendo does with the Wii.
So, Apple wants a piece of the pie? They already have the install base, now they just need the games. More to come.
Pics Via Engadget

Creepy Polish Movie Posters

2009-09-07T09:19:00.000-04:00

You should know by now, if you follow my blog, how much I'm into movie posters. It's interesting to see artists represent a whole movie with a single image. Check out some of these really neat Polish movie posters at guardian. Some of them are down right terrifying. The Eyes Wide Shut poster hits the nail on the head if you ask me. It's eerie and unsettling.

New Poster for The Road and Fox

2009-09-05T13:21:00.001-04:00

Here's a picture of Viggo Mortensen looking gruff and sporting a thick neck beard. There's nothing special about that. What is special about this photo is that it's the new poster for the movie The Road, which releases on Oct.16. The movie, based on the Cormack McCarthy written post-apocalyptic tail, which you can see a trailer for here, has already recieved a few negative nods. But I'll try and stay optimistic about this one considering the source material is so highly revered.
The poster seems rather bland and familiar. The lead standing upright and angled diagonally across the page.

Fantastic Mr. Fox also has a new poster, which looks awesome.

Coming Soon

2009-09-02T15:48:00.000-04:00

The Fourth Kind: In theaters Nov.6.
In 1972, a scale of measurement was established for alien encounters. When a UFO is sighted, it is called an encounter of the first kind. When evidence is collected, it is known as an encounter of the second kind. When contact is made with extraterrestrials, it is the third kind. The next level, abduction, is the fourth kind. This encounter has been the most difficult to document…until now. Structured unlike any film before it, The Fourth Kind is a provocative thriller set in modern-day Nome, Alaska, where—mysteriously since the 1960s—a disproportionate number of the population has been reported missing every year. Despite multiple FBI investigations of the region, the truth has never been discovered. Here in this remote region, psychologist Dr. Abigail Tyler (Milla Jovovich) began videotaping sessions with traumatized patients and unwittingly discovered some of the most disturbing evidence of alien abduction ever documented. Using never-before-seen archival footage that is integrated into the film, The Fourth Kind exposes the terrified revelations of multiple witnesses. Their accounts of being visited by alien figures all share disturbingly identical details, the validity of which is investigated throughout the film.

My take: They're not giving us a lot with the trailer though it's thoroughly intriguing. I love alien films so hopefully this will make up for the X-files movie(s).

Cloud 9: In theaters Aug. 11.
Cloud 9 is the groundbreaking and lyrical story of a 67-year old married woman who rediscovers passion and her sexuality when she falls in love with a 76-year old man. Cloud 9 won an Un Certain Regard Jury Prize at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, and the Best Director and Best Actress prizes at this year’s German Film Awards.

My take: This movie is already receiving lots of critical acclaim and treads unfamiliar waters which are both reasons to bet this one will be good.

The Horse Boy: In theaters Sep. 11.
An intensely personal yet epic spiritual journey, The Horse Boy follows one Texas couple and their autistic son as they trek on horseback through Outer Mongolia in a desperate attempt to treat his condition with shamanic healing. When two-year-old Rowan was diagnosed with autism, Rupert Isaacson and his wife Kristin Neff sought the best possible medical care for their son—but traditional therapies had little effect. Then they discovered that Rowan has a profound affinity for animals—particularly horses—and the family set off on a quest for a possible cure….The Horse Boy is part travel adventure, part insight into shamanic tradition and part intimate look at the autistic mind. In telling one family’s extraordinary story, the film gives voice to the thousands who display amazing courage and creativity everyday in the battle against this mysterious and heartbreaking epidemic and insight into how, in life’s darkest moments, one can find the gateway to joy and wonder.

My Take: It's too early to tell but I will see this for sure. It's based on the book The Horse Boy: A Father's Quest to Heal His Son. I'll interested to see how the movie interacts with the source material were they made concurrently?

3D TV is better than yours or BW to Color/HD to 3D

2009-09-02T12:57:00.000-04:00

HD, 1080p, 240hz, what's next? 3D? Well, actually, yes. Sony announced Wednesday plans to blanket the globe with 3D televisions by the end of 2010 rendering millions of HD television, including yours, boring and flat. Don't think you need a 3d TV? Consider this, Sony is moving aggressively to establish 3D multimedia across many different platforms, including but not limited to their Vaio series, the PS3 game console and of course Blu ray movies which means that something you'll want will be offered in 3D. Of course the situation is messy right now and there aren't any standards as of yet which is very reminiscent of the early days of HD, but if Sony has their way it'll only be a year or so before you start to feel ashamed of your boring 2D television.

From Ft.com
Mr Stringer (Sony's Chief Executive) is expected to tell the audience: “Today, 3D is clearly on its way to the mass market through technology, distribution and content.

“As with high definition a few years back, there are a variety of issues yet to be addressed. But the 3D train is on the track, and we at Sony are ready to drive it home.”
Dig deep because it aint gonna be cheap.

The Video Game as Art Conundrum/Rant

2009-09-01T20:50:00.001-04:00

I'll make this quick, because I've written about it before. Recently, I was listening to a favorite movie podcast of mine, which I won't name because I think they do awesome work and I'm not really trying to start a net beef. Anyway, during this podcast they decide to semi re-kindle that Games-as-Art debate. They were, and I hope this is not giving too much away, talking about, and I'm paraphrasing here, how Bioshock is the one of the only games that comes close to becoming an art form, or for that matter proving that games can be art at all. They've talked about this before and I sense no condescension at all. For the most part they're fairly respectful. That being said, i realized something as they were discussing the merits of the game and its artistic qualifications. Underneath all their layers of argument stood what formed the very foundation of their whole thesis.

A game is art so long as it resembles artistic cinema.

Though they didn't say it, it was fairly apparent that their criteria for art games consisted of the same criteria they judged art cinema with. Which is total BULLSHIT. I get the feeling from listening to these guys every week that they probably don't visit art museums on a regular basis. I also think that maybe a little perspective on art history might be important when debating a whole mediums place within that history. After all I do believe it was Duchamp who placed a urinal in a gallery and called it art, a move which I'm wholeheartedly behind. All philistinism aside, my thesis is this: If someone declares something art then it becomes so. Of course this doesn't account for taste; we can argue all day subjective terms like good or bad. We can't, however, be dismissive of the fact that art is simply a declaration.
Now if these chaps had been to a museum recently, then they probably would've noticed that the goal of many contemporary artists has been to be completely interactive. We don't just go to museums and look at stuff on the wall anymore. Now we step into spaces, walk around them and interact with the artist by way of the art. Which, in reality, is what we've always done, but now the interaction is more tactile. Art is meant do give experience one way or another. And if you ask me, which I should remind everyone that no one has, this is exactly what videogames are all about. Maybe more apparently now than in the days of Tetris or Pong which actually did provide an experience, albeit one that we're quick to discredit. And, in fact, there is increasing mingling across the divide of game design, computer graphics, and art. Just look at John Gerrard's work. So yeah, maybe pong does belong in a gallery, and I'm sure in one context or another it has been in one already. And I'm fine with that.

100 years of fake magic.

2009-08-31T14:35:00.000-04:00

What was your most magical special FX movie moment? For me, it was seeing the Brachiosouras for the first time in Jurrassic Park. It gave me chills. Still does. As a child, I remember wanting to capture my amazement at that seen in put it in a bottle. It was truly magical. Maybe because it was so new at the time. Unfortunately, we're all pretty used to rubbery CG and grand vistas now. And the time where we could truly suspend our disbelief and be amazed has passed, and in its place a more critical or, for that matter, cynical mindset has surfaced. Remember how awesome Davy Jones digital makeup from the last two Pirates of the Caribbean movies looked? Or maybe you took for granted its groundbreaking technology(Which was probably the goal of the film makers). We're so accustomed to all the dazzle that we barely even notice it at all. Although, I did get a bit tingly when I saw the Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Will the breath of fresh air, for effects, be 3D film making? Who knows? But until then why don't we look back on 100 years of special effects. VIA Gizmodo

Movies included are:

* 1900 - The Enchanted Drawing
* 1903 - The Great Train Robbery
* 1923 - The Ten Commandments (Silent)
* 1927 - Sunrise
* 1933 - King Kong
* 1939 - The Wizard of Oz
* 1940 - The Thief of Baghdad
* 1954 - 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
* 1956 - Forbidden Planet
* 1963 - Jason and the Argonauts
* 1964 - Mary Poppins
* 1977 - Star Wars
* 1982 - Tron
* 1985 - Back to the Future
* 1988 - Who Framed Roger Rabbit
* 1989 - The Abyss
* 1991 - Terminator 2: Judgment Day
* 1992 - The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles
* 1993 - Jurassic Park
* 2004 - Spider-Man 2
* 2005 - King Kong
* 2006 - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
* 2007 - Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
* 2007 - The Golden Compass
* 2008 - The Spiderwick Chronicles
* 2008 - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

A2M Print: Empire of Illusion

2009-08-31T11:16:00.000-04:00

Do we, the American public, have a pernicious tendency to escape into illusionary activities when the going gets rough? Do we have an unhealthy obsession with perfection, reality tv, and all other forms of fatuous entertainment? Are we consuming too much and spending way too much money, that we possibly don't have, in light of our grim economic situation? Are our academic institutions loosing there moral integrity and their drive for truth and intellectual knowledge through corporate takeovers? Do mega corporations have our best interests in mind? Has our current form of capitalism failed?
These questions, and many more, are the ones raised in the new book, by author/journalist Chris Hedges, Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle. Many many questions, but Hedges goes on to give us what he sees as the answers.
This book is also a warning to its readers and the American people in general. It's a very grim read. But maybe perhaps the author felt this tone was needed in order to slap us back into reality. His reality, at least.
I've been able to read a few other books by Hedges, War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning and I Don't Believe in Atheists, which are cautionary works to the people also, and while I don't agree with everything the man says I still find his works intriguing. Very intriguing. Perhaps you can as well. Empire of Illusion is out to buy now!

Christmas Comes Early for Bob Dylan Fans!

2009-08-31T00:35:00.000-04:00

One might consider musical icon Bob Dylan to be somewhat of an Ebenezer Scrooge judging by his chilly demeanor in numerous tv and magazine interviews, but apparently, like most of us, he too gets a little bit of the holiday spirit. At least this year he does.
He's releasing a Christmas album.
That's right, a Christmas album, folks. And all the profits will be going to the charity Feeding America.
The songs featured will be holiday classics like "Little Drummer Boy" and "Winter Wonderland". The latter song , coincidentally, I remember saying a while back, would be a song I could see him performing in light of the type of music he's been making the last few years.

Christmas in the Heart will be released on October 13th.

The album cover is delightfully old-timey without even a hint of irony! That's Bob in a nutshell.

Andrew W.GUNDAM

2009-08-30T00:09:00.000-04:00

Apparently Avant-Dude rocker Andrew W.K. is big in Japan. So big that for the 30th anniversary of Mobile Suit Gundam, he is releasing an album of nothing but English-language covers of popular Gundam songs.

This album cover is truly epic. Kinda makes me want to jump into a mech suit and PAR-TAY!

Gundam Rock will be available for sale in Japan on 9/9/09, so look for it on a torrent tracker near you(just kiddin').

Linkosaurus rex

2009-08-26T13:59:00.000-04:00

What's a blog without a weekly links post? Nothing, that's what!

Inglorious Basterds Poster:
Posterwire Has a pretty cool little article in which they talk to James Goodrige about is unused Inglorious Basterds poster.

Avatar Reluctance:

The awesome trailer for what Elisabeth Rappe refers to as "Cameron's technological opus" (Avatar)is a hype machine worthy of Billy Mays' approval. It has stimulating visuals, intriguing plot lines and lots of shouting. But is it really worthy, or rather, should we believe the hype? Elisabeth Rappe at Cinematical isn't so sure. In her article she discusses here experiences with Avatar Day, and the coming expectations for the Q4 film.

PS3 Slim Review:

The PS3 slim comes out in a few days and Engadget has the skinny on the skinny new console. Check it out if you're interested in getting your hands on one. I would personally much rather have an older back-compatible model.

Coming Soon

2009-08-26T13:09:00.000-04:00

Capitalism: A Love Story, Michael Moore's latest film, has a new trailer. It features plenty of Moore's patented badgering and a cameo by Indiana's own Baron Hill. Capitlism is a look at the global financial crisis and the U.S. economy during the transition between the incoming Obama Administration and the outgoing Bush Administration. Yawn.

Gamer starring 300's Gerard Butler is an action movie that puts forth some interesting questions about the future of video games. Gamer is a high-concept action thriller set in a near future when gaming and entertainment have evolved into a terrifying new hybrid. Humans control other humans in mass-scale, multi-player online games: people play people...for keeps. Mind-control technology is widespread, and at the heart of the controversial games is its creator, reclusive billionaire Ken Castle (Michael C. Hall). His latest brainchild, the first-person shooter game "Slayers," allows millions to act out their most savage fantasies online in front of a global audience, using real prisoners as avatars with whom they fight to the death.

Truth be told, I'm not all that interested in this one; it smacks of Running Man. Never the less, it's probably relevent here.

Coming Soon: Avatar (Trailer & HQ Caps)

2009-08-24T02:27:00.000-04:00

Avatar has been a mystery to me, as it has been with most of you, I suspect. The recent attempt to juice excitement for the movie by having a ticketed sneak preview of the film trailer in 3d at select theaters around the country failed as hardly anyone knew about it. Good one Fox! I found out at the last minute and failed to get tickets. But, it has been making a pretty large splash online. Preceded by heavy marketing online the trailer shattered the record for most views on Apple's Itunes trailers.
Comingsoon.net reports,

Twentieth Century Fox announced today that the AVATAR teaser trailer has become the most-viewed trailer ever on the popular iTunes Movies Trailer section of apple.com, which Thursday hosted the long-awaited public first look at writer-director James Cameron’s motion picture epic. The teaser registered over four million streams in its first day on the site, shattering the previous record of 1.7 million.

This is pretty impressive buzz for a movie that had little fanfare outside of bloggers and insiders before the last week or so. I can see why. The trailer is absolutely gorgeous. It's Starship Troopers meets Fern Gully and that's okay with me. It's honestly one of the best looking trailers I've ever seen. I might be blowing my proverbial load a little to soon on this one, but it just looks as if there is so much attention to detail and passion evident in this trailer. It has beautifully composed shots and amazing timing. See for yourself. Excitement ahead!

Apple synopsis:

AVATAR takes us to a spectacular new world beyond our imagination, where a reluctant hero embarks on a journey of redemption and discovery, as he leads a heroic battle to save a civilization. The film was first conceived by Cameron 14 years ago, when the means to realize his vision did not yet exist. Now, after four years of actual production work, AVATAR delivers a fully immersive cinematic experience of a new kind, where the revolutionary technology invented to make the film, disappears into the emotion of the characters and the sweep of the story.

See all the HQ images here.

Sita Elements Online!

2009-08-22T15:38:00.000-04:00

A few weeks back I posted about Nina Paley's masterpiece Sita Sings the Blues, which is free to watch on her site. Being the good creative commons kind of sport that Paley is, she just recently made available the original Flash files for the movie at Internet Archive. So if you're a budding animation artist and want to know how she accomplished a certain effect, here is your chance to examine in detail the inner workings of the Flash scripts.
From her blog:

All the Flash authoring (.fla) files I used to make Sita Sings the Blues have just been posted on archive.org, under a Creative Commons Share Alike license. Want to know how I got a certain animated effect in Sita Sings the Blues? Open up the .fla files and find out. Want to remix from the source? Now you can. Want to make a Sita Sings the Blues video game using all the assets? Go for it. (But I strongly suggest you negotiate my endorsement if you want to actually market the end product...Yes, I know bad bad people can also use the .fla files for dastardly deeds (the dreaded hypothetical “Nazi Porn Version” that always comes up at Q&A’s). Bad bad people can use our shared Language and Technology for evil too, but I’m not going to constipate culture out of fear of imaginary worst-case scenarios. I’m confident much more good will come from this than bad, and that’s motivation enough for me. It’s Free Culture, baby. If programmers can tinker with the Free Software’s source code, artists can tinker with Sita Sings the Blues‘ source files.

Nazi porn version?

H. Potter newspaper to be a reality?

2009-08-21T01:08:00.001-04:00

I'm sure this is old news to most of you, since I've heard the same news repeated ad nauseum over the last few days. But I'm sure you won't mind me parroting it again here. Hey, that's what I do. Recently CBS recently acquired ad space in Entertainment Weekly to showcase its fall lineup. which isn't all that newsworthy unless you consider that the space will be filled with small display screens featuring video and sound.

From Cnet:

The screen, which is 2.7 millimeters thick, has a 320x240 resolution. The battery lasts for about 65 to 70 minutes, and can be recharged, believe it or not, with a mini USB cord--there's a jack on the back of it. The screen, which uses thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT LCD) technology, is enforced by protective polycarbonate. It's a product that has been in development at Americhip for about two years, spokesman Tim Clegg told CNET News via e-mail.

This seems so backwards to me. It's like a retro vision of the future, if that makes any sense. It doesn't seem very practical. In an age of iphones instead of newspapers or magazines, I can't imagine someone enjoying a 70 Pepsi commercial, especially in the Large Urban areas that these will be marketed in. And anyways, people pretty much always find ways to circumnavigate Ad space virtual and real. How many times have you actually paid attention to that Hulu commercial, sat through that Flash ad without clicking the x, or been able to remember the billboards on your drive home? I'm willing to wager that the answer is not often. Maybe I'm wrong on this one like the first naysayers of the Internet or MTV, and in the future some kid will be blogging about how some old naive and antiquated blogger failed to see the impending success of movie length soda ads in Entertainment Weekly. Not bloody likely though. And, by the way, these are nothing like the images in the Daily Prophet. In fact, I haven't a clue why everyone spun it that way

Note: Disregard title of post.

Gamescom 2009: Hudson Soft Casts a Lovely Shadow On The Wii

2009-08-20T15:46:00.000-04:00

Gamezplay.org have the scoop on Hudson Soft's striking new puzzle-platformer for the Wii titled The Tower Of Shadow.

This gorgeous trailer was shown at Gamescom 2009.

The ethereal premise and setting will surely interest fans of Sony's Ico and Shadow of the Colossus.

Coming Soon: The Wolfman

2009-08-20T13:24:00.000-04:00

Hooray! A horror film that I actually might want to see! Judging by the trailer the movie looks promising. Great visuals.
Looks like a lot of money went into this picture, plus its release has been pushed back a couple of times. Let's hope it will be worth the wait.
The Wolfman will be released on February 10th, 2010.

See it here.

Gaygamer.net Has Issues With Shadow Complex

2009-08-20T13:21:00.000-04:00

Chair and Epic Games Shadow Complex is based in the fictional world of popular author Orson Scott Card's Empire. I had never heard of him before this game was announced and was surprised to discover that he is a controversial figure.

Card is a vocal opponent of gay-rights, something that doesn't exactly sit well with a website called gaygamer.net.

While some gamers are proposing a boycott of Shadow Complex (guilty by association?) gaygamer.net suggests that "if you want to play the game, play it. Enjoy it, but offset the hate: if you buy Shadow Complex, donate $5, $10, $15 if you can spare it to a gay charity"

It's astounding that a downloadable "Metroidvania" game has so much ethical baggaged attached to it.

So what's next for Epic Games? Maybe a Sarah Palin FPS?

Gamescom 2009: Housemarque "Aims For The Brain" With Dead Nation

2009-08-20T03:39:00.000-04:00

The arcade maestros at Housemarque are ditching the glitzy space lasers of Super Stardust HD for gooey entrails with their newest title for the Playstation Network, Dead Nation.

So how does this splatter-fest differ from the undead hordes of other arcade-centric zombie shooters like Zombie Apocalypse and Burn Zombie! Burn!? The developers promise a meta-game within Dead Nation that tracks player stats by world region, allowing players to reduce the viral outbreak within their own country.

This could be really exciting if implemented properly, especially if the game somehow rewards players with extra goodies like maps, weapons, etc...

Did I mention how gorgeous this game looks? Judging from the Gamescom trailer, Dead Nation has the competition licked in terms of atmosphere. The swirling fog, dramatic lighting and phenomenal explosions and fire really set this game apart from the run-of-the-mill zombie-blaster.

Housemarque's Super Stardust HD is one of the finest titles on the Playstation Network. Can they blast through the shuffling mob of other zombie games with Dead Nation? Judging by pedigree alone, I'd say there is a good chance it can.

Gamescom 2009: Crushing Over PS3 Slim

2009-08-20T01:53:00.000-04:00

As most major media outlets predicted, Sony unveiled their new Playstation 3 at this years Gamescom in Germany.

Thankfully the PS3 has dropped it's trashy Spider Man font and shed about 33% of it's weight. The new Playstation 3 Slim is much more attractive than it's Haagen-Daz slurping predecessor in more ways than those strictly cosmetic. It sports a 120g hard-drive, runs quieter, and is more reasonably priced at $300 (only about $50 more than the new PSP!), the same price as the similarly spec'ed XBOX Elite.

I'm totally loving the new design and branding of the PS3. The unit itself actually looks like a game console, as opposed to a living-room "multimedia entertainment suite".

The Playstation Slim models have always been some of the most handsome consoles to grace the market and the PS3 entry is no expection.

Remember these?

Playstation One (just want to pinch it's cheeks!)

Playstation 2 Slim (so debonair.)

Playstation 3 Slim comes out in Early September. Will the droves of gamers on the fence about getting a PS3 finally bite, or will they save their money to buy two COD: Modern Warfare 2 Prestige Editions? You really have to ask yourself--What is cooler? Blu Rays or Night Vision goggles?

3D Dot Game Heroes' Pomo Pixels

2009-08-20T01:10:00.000-04:00

It was only a matter of time before someone made a game that looked like this...

From Software brings "dot art" to the Third Dimension in 3D Dot Game Heroes (PS3) and the results are quite stunning.

I sense a developing trend here...This is what happens when Nintendo rests on their laurels. Other game developers are capitalizing on Nintendo's unwillingness to make retro-remakes of their most beloved titles. Just recently Epic games released Shadow Complex for the XBOX 360 that is a spiritual tribute to the classic 2D Metroid series. Judging from the art direction and rousing soundtrack, I'm guessing 3D Dot Game Heroes is going to be the retro Zelda game that Nintendo freaks have been begging for.

Will this title make its way to the States, or is it too quirky for our red-blooded, Dew swillin' sensibilities?

The Dark Knight's the Greatest Film of the Millenium So Far?

2009-08-19T20:43:00.001-04:00

The Dark Knight and all 3 Lord of the Rings really?
You can check out the other eleven greatest films of the millennium here. Of course there can never be a "greatest film of all time" or "greatest film of the millennium", at least not one that is unanimously agreed upon, but these arbitrary lists are always good for a chuckle, a gasp, or for just getting your blood boilin' with anger because they left out all your favorite films.

Where are all the other big boy titles like No Country For Old Men, There Will Be Blood, Children of Men, or Finding Nemo? These films won several awards!

Whatever.

Nice Rack!

2009-08-17T22:41:00.000-04:00

Okay, so whether or not you care, I'm going to post this because it gave me a major chubby. Most of us have a DVD player, an Xbox 360/PS3/Wii, a Blu-ray player, a receiver or some sort of combination of these sitting on a stand somewhere close to our televisions, not to mention our hearts. The deeper you get in to A.V.ology the more you realize you need a proper storage unit to house these devices for proper ventilation, cable management, etc. This unit is affectionately referred to as a rack.

But what happens when you own Wayne Manor or you have 45 flat-screens in your mile long house? You'll need a pretty huge rack, that's what!

Check out Cepro for a pretty outrageous list of 25 amazing racks.
Sorry, no boobs.

Linkosaurus Rex

2009-08-16T21:41:00.000-04:00

Ever wondered how the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ended up in IMAX 3D, or at least eight minutes of it? Wired has a neat little article and video where they discuss ins and outs of the conversion.

Oh man am I excited for this next one. Shadow Complex:

This game comes out this week and is getting pretty positive reviews. I can't wait.

Good news, according to Cinematical You, the Living is actually getting released in the states; it has a new distributor. I'll keep an eye out for this one.

Soderbergh's trouble with bars

2009-08-14T13:49:00.000-04:00

There's a good article floating around on theplaylist.com which summarizes a recent article written by Steven Soderbergh which essentially smacks the cable companies in the face in an effort to demand satisfaction. His gripe is basically over the cropping of super-widescreen movies. Confusion follows...

This is a 2.40:1 movie (Superwide):

And this is the same image cropped to fit a 1.85:1 ratio (widescreen TV ratio):

With the "less" rectangular shape of the 1.85 image size there is less of a horizontal scope. This is achieved by cropping the original image or by opening the matte up, which is essentially taking the black bars off the top and bottom of a super wide film. Open matte can only be achieved through when the director chooses to film this way. The director chooses to shoot in a less wide aspect ratio because it's easy to both crop the image to make it wider for theaters and show the less wide footage on cable networks to fill up a widescreen TV with no black bars.
Most networks especially, cable networks crop the 2.40 to fit the 1.85 so the viewer sees no black bars and is comforted. But some crop it down to 1.33:1 (a square) which is really baffiling.
Phew, it's a confusing issue, and I know I didn't make it any clearer, but this might help. I'm interested to see if Soderbergh addressed the open matte issue.

Gamebino Video Review: TMNT: Turtles in Time Re-Shelled

2009-08-14T05:12:00.000-04:00

Ponyo Goes Radio Disney

2009-08-13T03:12:00.000-04:00

I got a laugh out of this...

The Amerikin' version of the theme from Disney's release of Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo.

They managed to get a Jonas and a Cyrus on the track! Seriously though, it's pretty damn catchy, and the kiddies sound great with Autotune vocals. Most of the melody and lyrics from the original Japanese version are included, which will surely go unappreciated by grumpy Ghibli fans.

Here is the original version of the song...

I don't know, the Disney version seems to lack the innocence and timelessness of the original. Whatcha think?

Look for Ponyo in theaters on August 14!

Movies at Home: "Once"

2009-08-12T22:35:00.000-04:00

Once is really, really fantastic. I'd heard about when it was first released in '07 but never had the opportunity to check it out.
My interest was peaked when I found out it was a film about music! Some of you might not know, but, I love music.

I came across the dvd today. And for a real bargain too: $9.99. I took a chance.I was not disappointed. I rarely am, actually.

The story, put simply, is about a friendship that grows out of two strangers love of playing music. They come across each other one night in Dublin. The lead male character, "Guy", performs with his guitar on the streets for money. He doesn't need the extra money necessarily, his main source of income comes from him repairing vacuum cleaners at his dad's shop. He performs because he loves it. The female lead, "Girl",who cleans houses for a living and lives with her mom and daughter, just so happens to hear one of his own original songs one night and from there decides to inquire more about him. She's a musician, too, he discovers, who plays the piano.
They take an interest in each other, at first, musically and decide to collaborate on some songs. From then on the relationship grows, beyond just music, and they start becoming a part of each others lives.

The film has very real and very natural performances by the "actors". They're not professional actors. They're musicians first, which is why the music works so well in the film, who the director himself knew and asked to be apart of the project.

They do a spectacular job for persons who have never acted in a film before.
Granted, a lot of the scenes they're just playing music together, so, I guess, they didn't really need to act so much.

The scenes that do involve music are probably some of the most convincing moments I've seen captured on film that involve the process of writing and rehearsing songs. I have some experience with this process myself. Other "music" movies tend to skip over these creative moments in songwriting. Or if they do try and show it it always seems too fake (it is, of course) or rushed. Case in point: the recent film, Cadillac Records. Horrible, horrible movie.

Once rushes nothing. It's a slow boil, but in the best possible way. It's great! Did I mention that?
It's not hokey, fake, or formulaic at all. This is why the film is so good.

I recommend anyone who likes good movies to check this one out. It's bloody brilliant!

Also: If you want to know about another great film that has to do with music bringing strangers together to form beautiful friendships, check out The Visitor. Also on dvd now.

Richard Jenkins, the star, was nominated for an oscar for his performance.

ATM: What I did this week.

2009-08-12T01:21:00.000-04:00

Not that you'd care, but this is a blog after all. Since it's summer and I recently finished school, I've had plenty of time to enjoy all the meats of our cultural stew (pardon the Simpsonsism). Let's go down the list shall we?

First: Old Games
I've been playing a lot of Battlefield 1943, trying to level up my character, I'm at level 24/50. This game has become increasingly enjoyable since I've become adept at capturing bases. I've been playing sniper more often than not which really affects your close range game if you haven't had the chance to hone it. I finally got all the achievements for this one, but I don't think I'm going to give it up any time soon.

On the other hand, I've also been playing a lot of Street Fighter IV. Again, I've been trying to level up. I recently reached G1-E which the second highest level. Match making is a little more difficult but the level of competition is much better than G2. But I must admit that since I've reached G1 my compulsion to play the game so regularly has dwindled a bit.

Second: New Game
I've purchased the game TMNT: Turtles In Time Reshelled. Which I haven't played much, because there's not to much to it. It was pretty fun for a 10$ game, though 4 player action was hectic. Look for a video review in the coming days.

Third: Movies
I recently had the chance to watch Time Crimes, which was pleasantly surprising. ***Spoiler Snitch***
The story is that of a man who sees a beautiful young girl disrobing in the forest getting murdered by a mysterious masked man, and pursues the two. I was so sure that I had this movie figured out in the first five minutes, but the movie really doesn't try to spring any surprises on you since the plot twist I predicted happened fairly early on. This movie is about inevitability and disaster, and I must say, is probably the best movie on the subject of time travel I've ever seen. It's not a movie that's power lies in a reveal at the end of the film, though there is one, it's a movie that examines the consequences of time travel in a more meaningful way than Back to the Future ever could.

I also had the chance to watch was Who Killed the Electric Car. This documentary puts the blame squarely on you, the viewer. Just kidding, but it actually does put the blame for holding back the electric car to some extent on the viewer, as well as car companies and oil refineries. This is a flavorless little documentary that really doesn't have any rhythm. It's pretty bland and seems only somewhat informative. The interviews are pretty crazy, in one Mel Gibson has a huge black and white beard and the street testimonials seemed down right phony. Two thumbs down on this one.

And by the way my new Xbox avatar has bike messenger style thanks to Sam Fisher.

Mini Arcades

2009-08-10T18:18:00.000-04:00

Reminder: On slow news days/weeks publish posts about top ten lists or video game cakes. I stumbled across this on Hackaday. These tiny little Arcade cabinets give new meaning to scrounging through your pockets play coin-op. They're pretty cute, I wish they had a six button layout, but hey they're Neo-Geo!! You can see some the production stuff here.

Gamebino Video Review: Battlefield 1943

2009-08-06T11:42:00.000-04:00

The Lovely Bones Trailer: So what did you guys think?

2009-08-05T12:43:00.000-04:00

I must admit I'm not the biggest PJ fan. And the new trailer for The Lovely Bones makes this movie actually seem moderately interesting. There's just something about his illustrated book cinematic style that really puts me to sleep. But at least the CG looks somewhat compelling in The Lovely Bones. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not familiar with the source material, so I'm open to the possibility that this will be a really cool flick. I hope there's not too much Peter Jackson approved slo-mo in this one. That gets real tiresome real quick. Here's a look at some of the scenes ***spoilers*** of heaven:

I'm really digging the way this looks, hopefully the more amazing elements of this story will be perfectly suited for PJ's Polar Express style of computer graphics, though it seems he borrowed more from Tarsem's vocabulary.

Media Fix Review: Funny People

2009-08-03T17:23:00.000-04:00

POTENTIAL SPOLIERS!

Funny People, in these reviewers’ eyes, is not a dramedy. Like all the previous Judd Apatow movies, it’s mostly jokes. It’s pure comedy. It’s really only mature in its subject matter: a lonely, bitter, unhappy, desperate man (celebrity) trying to cope with his impending death. This is the first plot, the third act goes into a new direction having to do with Sandler’s character trying to win back the love of his life after becoming well again. Unfortunately for him, though, she’s married and has two kids. The only real dramatic moments in the film, I guess, involve Adam Sandler shouting at Seth Rogen a couple of times. I’d expected more.

But the movie does deliver when it comes to jokes, and there are plenty of jokes. Crude, tasteless jokes. Vulgar jokes. The kind a guy like me can really dig. All of the main characters in the film are comedians. Some are already established in the comedy world (Adam Sandler), while others are potential up and comers (Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill).
If you’re looking for a little insight into the world of stand up comedy this would be the picture for you to see. Judd Apatow, the director, used to be a comedian himself who also wrote jokes for comedians Roseanne and Tom Arnold.

The comedy in the film is typical of a Judd Apatow movie. There’s lots cursing and talk about male and female genitalia, masturbation, relationships, geeks and nerds, and a whole lot of movie and pop culture references. But some of the best gags for me came from the celebrity cameos, of which there are many. My favorite one would have to be James Taylor’s appearance with Seth Rogen’s character where he ends up using a lot of “blue” language, if you know what I mean. And Eric Bana, for the short time he’s actually in the movie, is hilarious as well playing a moody Australian traveling salesman grounded in eastern philosophy.

What’s atypical about this Apatow picture, and what I found to be the most enjoyable aspect, are the characters themselves. I’m used to seeing Seth Rogen playing lazy, sarcastic stoners, incompetent deviant police officers, or mentally unstable, date raping mall security guards, but in this movie he actually plays a very amiable, hard working, compassionate guy whose doesn’t smoke pot once! Adam Sandler on the other hand is the complete opposite of Rogen’s character: he’s a very mean, angry, and empty person. But, of course, he does have his redeeming qualities, which we see towards the end of the film. Sandler hasn’t played anyone this grumpy since Happy Gilmore.

Funny People is a decent film. Not my favorite comedy from this year (that cherry goes to Land of the Lost!), and not even my favorite Apatow movie, but it’s not terrible either. I certainly wasn’t bored. This is probably Adam Sandler’s best role since Punch Drunk Love, and Seth Rogen has shown us he has the acting chops to take on a role different from what we’re used to seeing him in. So it’s not all bad. My only disappointment was that Funny People wasn’t as big a leap forward in maturity for it’s director/writer, Judd Apatow, as I’d thought it would be.

Media Fix Podcast: Episode 11

2009-08-03T05:39:00.001-04:00

Episode 11 of the Media Fix Podcast:
Listen on iTunes.
In this episode we have a rather uninformed discussion about Tron 2, and we talk about plenty of new trailers.
Trailers can be seen here.

BTW, here's the television we discuss.

tc-p54v10

The Price Is Wrong: Are Triple-A Games Worth The Effort?

2009-08-02T21:03:00.000-04:00

Here is an interesting take on the controversy surrounding the price hike of Modern Warfare 2 in Europe (the game will now sell in that region for roughly $90 YIKES!).

Industry analyst Chris Deering suggests that blockbuster game titles will have to be priced around $116 to maintain profitability.

Are people willing to spend that kind of money on games in this yo-yo economy? Are the spit-polished HD graphics and Hollywood quality soundtrack really worth two weeks of groceries (and that's bachelor's groceries, mind you). My guess is no.

So what is the answer to the game industry's woes then? Mind you, I'm no expert, but here are a couple of obvious suggestions...

SUBSCRIPTIONS! SUBSCRIPTIONS!

Activision has two of the worlds most popular online video games on market (World of Warcraft and Call of Duty). One of these titles is subscription based, one is not. How much longer do you think you'll be fraggin' for free every month on COD? Much like WOW, Call of Duty has become a gaming platform unto itself. It's only a matter of time before they start charging $15 a month to play.

CHEAPER BUDGETS/CHEAPER GAMES BOTH IN-STORE AND ONLINE

With the advent of digitally distributed games via popular online services like Steam (PC), XBOX LIVE Arcade, WiiWare, and the Playstation Network, it is now proven that a company can make nice profit off of smaller, low budget games that range in price from $5-$20. This could very well be the blueprint for the future of industry, only for one thing: This business model only penetrates the part of the market that is connected to high speed internet.

Why not take some of these fantastic budget priced downloadable games like Battlefield 1943, Geometry Wars 2, or Braid, slap them in jewel-cases with nice color booklets and sell them at retail for a couple bucks more than their digitally distributed counterparts? I bet that the fanboys would even double dip in some cases.

It's hard to say what the gaming landscape will look like in the next 5 years but I'm guessing the most popular titles will be either significantly more expensive or cheaper than what we're playing now.

Remember when Nintendo 64 games were $70? Don't even get me started on the price of Neo Geo games. *SHUTTER*

Thundercats Movie Concept Art

2009-08-02T20:38:00.000-04:00

Okay, even though I hate to admit it, some times nostalgia gives me the warm fuzzies. And the prospect of a Thundercats live-action movie makes think back to my childhood and that cartoon I can barely remember. Since this project is in-development, little has been divulged, but fortunately some concept art slipped through the cracks. What do you think?

'45365' and Food inc. Weekend Wrap up.

2009-08-02T18:48:00.000-04:00

On Hulu, for a very limited time, you can watch '45365', which is a documentary of sorts that captures the story of life in a small town. The small town is Sidney Ohio which is actually the home town of the filmmakers, which explains the level of access this movie has. It's a lot like being a fly on the wall of this community. It remains consistently interesting, which was a big surprise for me.
It's very odd checking in on this community and it's even more strange how quickly we, the viewer, are tempted to be judgmental. But anything out of context seems strange, and most of us are quick lash out against that which we don't understand. Maybe that's just me. Maybe people will be more sympathetic, or empathetic rather, than I was. The truth is, this movie walks the fine line between celebrating the thing that it's showing and making it into a unfavorable spectacle. I think, ultimately, it's respectful but some might not agree.

It's a very limited engagement so, if you're interested, be sure and catch it before August 6th.

I also got a chance to watch Food Inc.

This movie is one of the most satisfying documentaries I've seen in a long time. I have to own this when it comes out on DVD. Maybe it's just a case of being in the right place at the right time because I've recently been reading a lot on the subject of food production. I could tell from the audience was deeply affected by the documentary, at times gasping and other times snickering. I'll hold off on saying whether or not I think this is a really "good" documentary or not, because at the moment that's besides the point. What I will say, and I realise this is totally biased, is that this documentary is extremely important to watch. I felt all warm and tingly inside afterward.

Data East Remakes Incoming?

2009-08-01T23:33:00.000-04:00

God I hope this is true...

According to CHR_AeON from Neogaf, "In the latest edition of german games magazine "M! Games" there's a small article about Snap Dragon Games (developer / publisher of, amongst others, "Karate Phants" (WiiWare)). They are currently working on remakes of the following
Data East games: Bad Dudes Vs. Dragon Ninja (XBLA, PSN) Karate Champ (XBLA) Tumble Top (XBLA, PSN, WiiWare)"

Nothing says late 80's like Data East arcade games, particularly Bad Dudes Vs. Dragon Ninja, which recently has gained popularity by way of humorous internet memes.

If a new Bad Dudes does make it's way to a game system in the near future, I hope that they keep the tradition of having the player rescue the current U.S. president from the nefarious Dragon Ninja clan. It will be a historical event and will mark the first time a Democratic and an African American president has been kidnapped by ninjas.

Coming Soon

2009-07-31T09:22:00.000-04:00

There sure are a lot of awesome new trailers to talk about this week. A new Coen brothers movie as well as a Wes Anderson stop-motion animation and a few lower profile movies. So let's get this going.

‘45365’ captures the complexities and ambiguities of one towns shared experience. It is a patient and inquisitive look at the lives and landscapes that make up this community of 20,000 people. Multiple storylines eventually coalesce into a mosaic of faces, places, and events. It is an inquiring look at life in Sidney, Ohio.
The trailer is positively enchanting. I'm really interested to see what this one's all about.

Only is a movie about a boy named Daniel. Daniel lives in a motel, managed by his parents, in northern Ontario. People come, people go, Daniel hardly notices. Until one day a girl arrives and changes his world. Only is a glimpse into the heightened impressions and dreams of two unlikely 12-year-olds. Over the course of a single day, they venture on a journey, exploring deep secrets, dark fears, and first love in a pure and powerful meeting of young hearts and minds.

The Fantastic Mr. Fox is Wes Anderson's newest movie, it has much of his usual line up. It features the voices of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Willem Dafoe, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman, Brian Cox, Michael Gambon, and even Wes Anderson himself (as the Weasel). It's cool to see him change his game up, although you'll recognize a lot of the dialogue pacing and structure. Fantastic Mr. Fox is both written and directed by the fantastic Oscar nominated filmmaker Wes Anderson, of Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, and The Darjeeling Limited most recently.

Fox Searchlight is bringing Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox to theaters everywhere starting on November 13th this fall.

The new Coen Brother's movie looks awesome as expected. A Serious Man is the story of an ordinary man’s search for clarity in a universe where Jefferson Airplane is on the radio and “F-Troop” is on TV. It is 1967, and Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg), a physics professor at a quiet Midwestern university, has just been informed by his wife Judith (Sari Lennick) that she is leaving him. She has fallen in love with one of his more pompous colleagues, Sy Ableman (Fred Melamed), who seems to her a more substantial person than the feckless Larry. Larry’s unemployable brother Arthur (Richard Kind) is sleeping on the couch, his son Danny (Aaron Wolf) is a discipline problem and a shirker at Hebrew school, and his daughter Sarah (Jessica McManus) is filching money from his wallet in order to save up for a nose job. While his wife and Sy Ableman blithely make new domestic arrangements, and his brother becomes more and more of a burden, an anonymous hostile letter-writer is trying to sabotage Larry’s chances for tenure at the university. Also, a graduate student seems to be trying to bribe him for a passing grade while at the same time threatening to sue him for defamation. Plus, the beautiful woman next door torments him by sunbathing nude. Struggling for equilibrium, Larry seeks advice from three different rabbis. Can anyone help him cope with his afflictions and become a righteous person – a mensch – a serious man?

And finally here is a short featurette for Where the Wild Things Are with Maurice Sendak.

Tron Legacy trailer doesn't dissapoint.

2009-07-29T15:20:00.001-04:00

At Comic con 2009 Disney showed a brief trailer which was actually test footage for Tron Legacy. It's been posted all over the internet and I'm re-posting it because it looks pretty awesome and I'm excited to see it go the 3D route. Enjoy.

This Week's Addiction: Coraline Soundtrack

2009-07-29T12:57:00.000-04:00

To be honest, I just started listening to this. Me and Adam were watching the Blu-ray yesterday when I remembered how awesome the soundtrack was. The Bruno Coulais score is particularly moody. It might be a bit melancholy at times but this counteracted by a feeling of youthful optimism and exploration.

There is a They Might Be Giants track which is my least favorite, but it's still fun. My favorite songs are the ones with the Hungarian choir, like the tracks exploration and party. They're all gibberish with hints of French and Latin. I'm pretty sure this will be on my player all this week and perhaps the next.
Here's a sample of the one of my favorite songs:

Gamestop and the Recession Blues

2009-07-28T12:42:00.000-04:00

During these tough economic times it's really hard to plunk down fifty or sixty clams for a new game. I mean, for that kind that kind of money you could get yourself a full skid of tomato soup or a really nice blanket.

This may be surprising, but the stingy misers over at Gamestop (aka EB Games) have realized that when you don't have money to give to them, they don't have money to give to their CEOs and stockholders. This would explain their motive to drop the price on a stack of generally well-reviewed titles, spanning all platforms, most selling to sweet tune of $20 (for a "new" copy, even cheaper for used).

I cherry picked the lot for you, and here is what I found...

PS3/360 Games

Street Fighter 4
$20

F.E.A.R.2: Project Origin
$20

Prince of Persia
$20

Sonic Unleashed
$20

Bionic Commando
$20

Star Wars: Force Unleashed
$20

Mirror's Edge
$20

Ninja Gaiden 2
$20

LEGO Batman
$20

The Simpsons Game
$20

Wii

*note that almost every good Wii game is for sale.

Madworld
$20

Donkey Kong Jungle Beat
$20

Excite Bots
$20

Wario Land Shake It!
$20

Wii Music
$20

Deadly Creatures
$20

De Blob
$20

House of the Dead 2 & 3 Returns
$20

Animal Crossing City Folk
$20

Have fun gaming and enjoy your savings! Just make sure you have enough cash left over for the power bill.

Michel Gagne Presents...Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet!

2009-07-27T00:06:00.000-04:00

Wow...If you are an animation and game geek, this will totally blow your mind.

Legendary 2D effects animator Michel Gagne is trying his hand at his very own video game.

Video Games | Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet | Exclusive Extended Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

You may not be familiar with his name but you probably know his work. He was responsible for the fancy whiz-bang explosions in Iron Giant and also animated the "tasting" scene in Ratatouille.

I'm absolutely astounded that he's managed to craft this gorgeous looking game in his time away from working at Pixar. All the footage shown in the trailer is claimed to be in-game. If this is indeed true, Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet will be the benchmark in 2D gaming for years and years to come.

Gagne is still in the process of shopping this title around to publishers and financial partners, so a solid release date and platform have yet to be determined.

For the love of god, I hope someone bites on this. It would be a crime for this game to become vaporware!

GAMEBINO Review: 'Splosion Man

2009-07-26T22:26:00.000-04:00

Why is it so damn fun to compare video games to food? “Wha?” You say? Let me get you up to speed…

-Gears of War is a steamy plate of beef ravioli, smothered in red sauce.
-Wii Sports is a basket of chips and salsa you get while waiting on your entrees.
-Braid is a glass of dry red wine.
-Halo 3 is ramen noodles (something you can live off of for months).

‘Splosion Man, the latest from Twisted Pixel (of The Maw fame) is a delicious game that’s good for what ails those hungry for a fresh new take on the classic 2D platformer.

So what exactly makes this such a tasty dish? Perfectly seasoned game play is a good start. Tactile, responsive controls are crucial to platformers, something that the folks behind this game obviously get. Remember how fun it was to simple run around and jump off stuff in Mario 64? That same sentiment is found in ‘Splosion Man, a game that’s character has but only one proper “move." Hit any of the XBOX 360 controllers face buttons and ‘Splosion Man will do what he was born to do, “‘Splode!” ‘Sploding off the walls, vending machines, platforms, and unlucky mad scientists inspires a giddy sort of joy that only comes along in video games ever so often. The core mechanics are so fun to play that you wont mind getting hung up on some of the later levels.

A key ingredient in a good platformer recipe is an appealing protaganist that the game will undoubtedly be named after. In ‘Splosion Man you wont find any stuffed animals with plasma rifles or cute and cuddly babies made out of burlap sacks. Twisted Pixel opted for a homely, slaphappy screwball made of magma that delights in blowing himself and everything within eight-feet to complete smithereens. For a video game character, ‘Splosion Man has a lot of, well…character. S-Man’s animation library is more expansive than any game character in recent memory and borders on Hollywood quality. ‘Splosion Man is more Bugs or Daffy than Mario or Sonic.

Sure ‘Splosion Man plays and looks great, but what glues the entire experience together is the games cheeky and unpredictable humor that draws from both past and present eras of comedy. The game’s “escaped monster reeks havoc on creators” premise conjures up the spirit of golden age cartoons while stuff like the in-game song “Everybody Likes Donuts” is like something straight from Adult Swim. The gags never turn stale and the laughs lead up to a jaw-dropping crescendo of an ending that would make Hideo Kojima blush. Gamers will talk about it for years.

So if ‘Splosion Man was a food what would it be? Perhaps it’s a bit early to say, but it would definitely be something scrumptious that will have you coming back for seconds.

This Week's Addiction: BattleField 1943

2009-07-26T21:07:00.001-04:00

Hi everyone. Welcome to Addicted to Media's This Week's Addiction. This week, all I had on my mind, and my 360, was Battlefield: 1943. The game which is available for xbla, psn, and pc costs about 15 dollars. And from my experiences, is worth every penny. Even though it's not as in-depth or as customizable as other shooters there's still plenty here to keep you invested until the next COD comes out.

There are only four maps, one which is an all airplane map, and sometimes match making just plain sucks, but the ability to join up with squads that my friends are in makes me smile. The vehicular combat is pretty fun for the most part. I haven't really got the hang of flying yet, but I think there's a reason the designers made flying so difficult. Oh, and I especially like launching the air raids.

The ground vehicles roll pretty smooth; it's pretty awesome jumping in a movie jeep grabbing the mini gun and mowing down enemies. But what I really enjoy are the quiet parts. I love defending a base and, even though there's no activity around me, hiding in an vacant building waiting for someone to try and take the base.

The game rewards the player heavily for playing smart. If you come out guns blazin' you probably won't get too many points between re-spawns. And you need your points to level up, although leveling up doesn't really do anything as far as I can tell. My best strategy is to pick a place, post up, and if it gets a little to hot to hold the fort, skip to the next one. Firefights rarely pay off, I prefer to lay low. Maybe that's just my style.

When you can get a good match, this game is worth every penny. When you can't it's still fun to putz around world wreaking your own havock. For me this game is a budget conscious alternative to COD. I can still get my fix of combat without killing my wallet. And although it can be a time-sink, I can pick up a match here or there, and I don't have to devote a huge amount of time to learning it. So, go get it. I'm hooked.

Watch Sita Sings the Blues for Free!!

2009-07-24T10:06:00.000-04:00

If you haven't had the chance to catch Nina Paley's Sita Sings the Blues you can check it out on her website for free. Paley has been a strong advocate of free distribution. On her site she offers it in 3 resolutions, two of which are "broadcast" quality. Her use of 2 dimensional computer graphics is nothing short of splendid. Bright, vivid and humorous Sita dazzles.

Sita is a Hindu goddess, the leading lady of India’s epic the Ramayana and a dutiful wife who follows her husband Rama on a 14 year exile to a forest, only to be kidnapped by an evil king from Sri Lanka. Despite remaining faithful to her husband, Sita is put through many tests. Nina (the filmmaker Nina Paley herself) is an artist who finds parallels in Sita’s life when her husband – in India on a work project - decides to break up their marriage and dump her via email. Three hilarious Indonesian shadow puppets with Indian accents – linking the popularity of the Ramayana from India all the way to the Far East - narrate both the ancient tragedy and modern comedy in this beautifully animated interpretation of the epic.

In her first feature length film, Paley juxtaposes multiple narrative and visual styles to create a highly entertaining yet moving vision of the Ramayana. Musical numbers choreographed to the 1920's jazz vocals of Annette Hanshaw feature a cast of hundreds: flying monkeys, evil monsters, gods, goddesses, warriors, sages, and winged eyeballs. A tale of truth, justice and a woman’s cry for equal treatment. Sita Sings the Blues earns its tagline as "The Greatest Break-Up Story Ever Told."

Watch it here.

Coming Soon: Taxidermia

2009-07-24T09:29:00.000-04:00

Taxidermia initially premiered in the states at the Portland Film Festival way back in February of 08. It's now slated for an official U.S. release date of August 14. Taxidermia contains three generational stories, about a grandfather, a father, and a son, linked together by recurring motifs. The dim grandfather, an orderly during World War Two, lives in his bizarre fantasies; he desires love. The huge father seeks success as a top athlete — a speed eater — in the post-war pro-Soviet era. The grandson, a meek, small-boned taxidermist, yearns for something greater: immortality. He wants to create the most perfect work of art of all time by stuffing his own torso. Historical facts and surrealism become intertwined as magical realism, like in the works of Gabriel García Marquez or the Hungarian writer Lajos Parti Nagy; the script is based on two of the latter’s stories. Palfi added the third story, that of the grandson the taxidermist.

Movies at Home: "Coraline"

2009-07-23T00:18:00.000-04:00

(Don’t worry, reader, no spoilers in this one.)

Coraline is a great picture that hits all the right chords with this viewer. It’s tender, funny, and even a little creepy at times. Everything about it is quality entertainment: good story, good characters, great performances, a fantastic soundtrack (None of that radio Disney crap), and really, really exquisite character designs. Everybody looks totally unique. And hilarious, too.

My favorite looking character, personally, is Mr. Bobinsky.

And when you’re watching this film, you have to sit in awe of the quality stop motion and the work that must of went into it. Stop motion has a unique and beautiful aesthetic of its own that you don’t see too much anymore in our modern 3D animation saturated films. We’re lucky to have directors like Henry Selick who are still driven to pursue this obscure kind of filmmaking. Keep up the good work, Henry!

Bottom line: I really liked this movie, and suspect it will be mentioned later this year as one of my favorite films of 2009. It’s certainly one of the more novel, entertaining, and surprisingly mature children’s films, outside of the Pixar ones, I’ve seen in recent years. No fart jokes whatsoever. If you haven’t watched it yet, do yourself a favor a check it out right after you’re done reading my review. Seriously. Do it.

Now I bought the blu-ray version of Coraline, and it looks exquisite! The 2D version I mean. The overall subdued color palette is accurate to what I remember seeing in the theater, and the same goes for the picture’s sharpness, as well. You’ll marvel at all the little details you can make out in their clothes and in the background sets. WOWZA! It looks as good, if not better than the other fairly recent HD release stop motion picture, Corpse Bride, and totally annihilates the picture quality of Nightmare Before Christmas (directed by Mr. Selick, too). I thought the picture on the Nightmare blu-ray was a little underwhelming, myself. Granted, though, that is a much older film.

Buying this blu-ray also gave me the opportunity, for the first time, to experience a 3D picture at home. This is the version I watched first, and I have some mixed feelings about this “3D presentation”: on the plus side, the picture was much more 3Dimensional than I had anticipated. I was genuinely surprised at how well the illusionary effect was rendered on this disc, almost as good as the 3D picture I experienced at the moviehouse in February of this year. However, I was a little disappointed that throughout the entire movie it looked like a semi-transparent sheet of pink and green was covering the picture. This multicolor sheen is due to the fact that the 3D glasses that come with it, 4 pairs to be specific, have a red violet lens on the right side and a green one on the left side. Unavoidable, I guess, but still a little distracting. At least the 3D didn’t cost extra, but, if pressed, I definitely prefer the 2D version.

As far as special features go, this disc delivers again. There’s a very nice 35-minute “making of” feature, a short look into the casting and the recording of the vocal performances, and extended and deleted scenes. That’s about it. Adequate.

Alice In Wonderland Trailer

2009-07-22T16:08:00.001-04:00

The first trailer for Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland reached the internet this week. As far as I can tell it looks 1 part Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and 1 part Big Fish with a dash of Pirates. Burton morbidity has always remained juvenile and that seems to be the case here. It's weird but safe. I promised myself I wouldn't watch too much of this, but here it goes...

See it Here.
Via:cinematical

Jackie Earle Haley As Freddy Krueger!!

2009-07-22T14:33:00.000-04:00

Remember when everyone thought Billy Bob was going to play Freddy a re-imagining of the Nightmare on Elmstreet property. Well that's a distant memory. Jackie Earle Haley has officially stepped into the role and Trailer Park has the pic to prove it. From the image we can't tell an awful lot except that Haley is barely distinguishable from Englund who originally played Krueger. Of course it's an extremely early photo, but it looks like everything is headed in the right direction. Although the photo is brimming with gritty realism à la The Dark Knight. We'll see.

GAMEBINO PODCAST: EPISODE 8

2009-07-20T17:16:00.000-04:00

Listen Here.
Or subscribe to us on iTunes.
TOPICS
#1
XBOX LIVE PRIMETIME CHANNEL: "Scheduled Social Events"
-1vs100 (impressions)
-future titles? (MS met with producers of American Idol and Survivor)
-Will this be free? (Hidden season pass, MS will not clarify. Maybe just for SILVER members, or just for the actually LIVE games)

#2

MIDTERM REPORT
-how is 2009 shaping up?
-What games released so far are GOTY material?

ADAMS PICKS
-flower (PS3)
-Street Fighter 4 (PS3 and 360)
-Noby Noby Boy (PS3)
-Madworld (Wii)
-Punch Out! (Wii)
-Afrika (PS3)
-Resident Evil 5 (NOPE)

-QUICK EVO DISCUSSION
Match discussed

Early 3D Where The Wild Things Are

2009-07-19T01:33:00.000-04:00

Apparently John Lasseter was trying his hand at C.G. way back in 1983. It was then that he did some test for a movie adaptation based on the famous Maurice Sendak book Where The Wild Things Are. Luckily for us, of that footage still exist. Of course the project and Lasseter were eventually canned due to enormous budget. But I think this is pretty dang amazing for 1983. Thanks to Elisabeth Rappe of Cinematical for the heads up.

For some reason the player doesn't work that well. Press the Space Bar to start it.

New Trauma Team Footage: Ready Your Scalpel

2009-07-18T02:27:00.000-04:00

One of gaming's best kept secrets is the Atlus-developed Trauma Center series for the Nintendo DS and Wii. The perfect blend of surgical-themed arcade action, left-field sci-fi plot twists, and daytime soaps quality story and characters set the franchise apart from the droves of ho-hum titles littering the Big N's software aisles.

Atlus looks to trump past Trauma Center titles with a medical breakthrough.

Gametrailers.com has a behind the scenes look at Trauma Team, the latest entry in the Trauma Center saga.

Video Games | Trauma Team | Behind the Scenes Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Looks like Trauma Team is shaping up to be the series opus. Wii Motion Plus controls are rumored to be included and the game is being published by Nintendo. Possible pack-in?

"Nurse! Hand me the dongle please..."

Expodemon!: The Other 'Spolsion Man

2009-07-17T00:07:00.000-04:00

The positive buzz surrounding next week's XBOX Live Arcade release of 'Splosion Man got me thinking "hey, what about that other exploding-guy 2.5D platformer that was announced around the same time?".

After a bit of net-detective work I found it. Explodemon is the name, and not much is known about this other explosive action-platformer other than it's being developed by curve studios and that it's "a loving parody of badly translated (Japanese) action games and everything that they embody"

Explodemon is scheduled for release on Playstation Network (PS3), PC, and WiiWare (Wii) sometime this year.

Here is footage from what I'm guessing is the PS3 or PC build.

Will the mock-Mega Man motif be enough to set this apart from 'Spolsion Man? Hopefully we'll find out sooner rather than later.

Media Fix Podcast: Episode 10

2009-07-16T10:17:00.000-04:00

We're really rollin' now. And with our recent inclusion to iTunes we have all the more reason to record lots of podcasts. This week the gang and I discuss the controversial new film Bruno as well as a spoiler free discussion of the new Harry Potter and some sentiments on M.Night Shyamalan. Hopefully we'll be doing this more often.

Listen on iTunes.

Media Fix Review: Bruno

2009-07-15T22:50:00.000-04:00

Before the fifteen-minute mark in Bruno, Sacha Baron Cohen treats us to a slapstick sex montage evolving the movie’s main protagonist and his gay lover. You’d be shocked if it wasn't so ridiculous and cartoon-like in nature. Bruno spins and contorts his lover around like something out of Cirque du Soleil. Various gags evolving phallic gadgetry ensue: Neither character seems to particularly enjoy the carnal activities. No, the filmmaker's goal was not to create a fair portrayal of homosexual intimacy, but rather a cruel joke at the expense of the matter. This kind of makes you wonder, in 2009, how does a movie billed as a summer blockbuster comedy contain such unadulterated trash?

Perhaps western popular culture has hit a new low. Undoubtedly jaded by the Bush Years, Filmmakers like Sacha Baron Cohen and director Larry Charles prey on what they consider the destroyers of modern civilization. The vain, the stupid, the predominantly American. You know, the same people they burned down in their 2007 smash hit Borat.

The formula from their last quarter-of-a-billion-dollar outing is employed here with Bruno. I’ll let you in on Cohen’s secret for box office success. Create a despicably offensive stereotype of a character based on a kind of person that you despise (in Cohen’s case, a anti-Semitic Eastern European in Borat, and narcissistic Aryan male model in Bruno). Use said character, which within it’s own right, is offensive, to prod at real life people who you yourself, find offensive (in Cohen’s case, dimwitted Americans from California and Alabama, with the occasional Middle eastern Muslim thrown into the mix).

The people behind Bruno’s 10-million plus marketing campaign would have you believe that this movie is nothing more than a naughty shuck-fest aimed to take your mind off the ugly realities outside of the Cineplex. If only. Bruno is nothing more than a collection of ugly realities, lead by a disgusting ringleader who dances around the flames with a crooked smile.

In Bruno, Cohen cements himself as the clown prince of leftist elite prejudice, and if you find yourself laughing at his brand of ugly, cynical humor you’re either in his company or at the butt of the sick and twisted joke that is his mainstream Hollywood success.

New Simpson Anniversary Special to Air Next Year!!!!!

2009-07-13T15:49:00.000-04:00

Some of you might not know this, but FOX's tv show The Simpsons has been on the air and watched by millions for almost 20 years now. More specifically, the first episode was aired on Dec. 17th 1989. Wow! FOX is celebrating this anniversary with a new tv special to be aired next year. I'm not sure about any of the particulars on what this documentary will cover, maybe the shows history, or its cultural impact, or both. Whatever it is I'm sure I'll be fascinated.
The director of said special will be Mr. Morgan Spurlock, director and star of the hit documentary Supersize Me. Lets hope he's a fan of the series so he can make sure to do an exceptionally good job. You can check out The Simpsons 2oth Anniversary Special in 3-D on Ice, on January 14th 2010.
I'm excited!

Media Fix Podcast Episode 9

2009-07-13T02:58:00.000-04:00

Wow! It's been a long time guys but we're back. In this episode Shane and I discuss the future of Internet Television and the bargain bin Blu ray player. Please excuse any audio issues; I recorded my half in a space ship.

Listen here.

Or listen on iTunes.

A2M Random thoughts: Internet/Sony Edition

2009-07-12T17:27:00.000-04:00

This is a blog after all. It's been a slow news week. No celebrities passed so there's no reason for huge retrospectives or top ten lists. So, what to do? You guessed it, more random thoughts from yours truly.

The Promise of the Internet.
I remember watching a quirky not-very-funny PBS special about HDTV. It was called Digital TV: A Cringley Crash Course and it was released late last century (1998). It was a awkward little documentary with a host who bounced around the screen touting the amazing possibilities of digital TV. While digital television is indeed amazing, it never quite reached the realization that Cringley, among others, predicted. For example, during the show he visits every one's favorite chef Julia Childs (she couldn't possibly care less about HDTV mind you) to discuss the interactive possibilities of DTV as well as prepare a delicious salad. The idea is that while your watching a cooking show, there would be an option to click a button and an onscreen menu would display the recipe; A baseball game, stats. etc.
But this never really happened. I'm sure there's some technical reason this feature never developed. But the fact that I've never seen or heard of anything remotely like this ever being implemented is pretty amazing. Were we just day dreaming? Anyway, I've emailed Cringley to see if he could shed a light on the subject.
Speaking of stealing bandwidth (and T.V.s for that matter.) The issue of DTV multi channel bandwidth image degradation was just brought to my attention. Previously over the air broadcast were the best way to get high quality broadcast because of the minimal amount of compression. Now, because of the DTV transition, many networks have split there broadcasts into two or three channels which basically stretches the bandwidth reducing overall picture quality. Satellite might be the best option in this situation

Bravia with Netflix Sony finally landed Netflix, though not on their prized media box game console. Instead new Bravia's will be able to stream flicks
directly from Netflix. It would work similar to the Xbox service, that is, you would queue it on your computer and watch it on your TV. I've watched Netflix from my computer on my TV before and my only complaint is the picture quality. It's at best sub DVD and at worst choppy VCD. Though, it's really dependent on your connection. It's really to bad that the PS3 didn't get any love. But net incorporation is a smart move on Sony's part. Here's to the future.

Sub 100 Blu-ray Player: Finally, the news last week was that Wal-Mart planned on "rolling back" the price of their cheapest BRD player to 98$. Which could possibly increase adoption. But I'm curious to see how this affects Sony's "hold your ground" price point. These race to the bottom just officially started. But with average consumers as well as enthusiasts still baffled over profile types, I don't think sales will soar immediately.

And finally, I've played about 200 rounds of SF4 this week and as a monument to that absurdity I thought i post a video of some character swaps from the PC version. Enjoy.

"HD" Footage of TMNT: Turtle in Time Re-Shelled

2009-07-09T22:49:00.000-04:00

We're less than three weeks away from getting our sweaty reptilian hands on the Turtles in Time remake for Xbox Live Arcade and there still hasn't been a ton of high fidelity footage shown.

Does this video offer glimpse of how the pizza dudes will fare in glorious high definition?

I still cant decide on whether this remake does the original justice.

Decide for yourself. Here is the same level from the original game.

I'll shell out my final verdict on Turtles in Time Re-Shelled in my review in just a couple of weeks.

Media Fix Review: Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

2009-07-08T17:17:00.000-04:00

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs is the epitome of celluloid crap. A movie that is so safe, so creatively impotent and inherently lame that it is certain to be a product of stockholder movie-making.

We pick up where we were last left off with this dreadful cast of prehistoric bores. The same focus-tested and downright unpleasant characters from the last two films are back, and are as irritating and depressing as ever.

Ray Romano manages to be even more of a downer than his sitcom counterpart as the “hero” in this animated family feature. Queen Latifah resumes her role as mastodon Raymond’s lover, the only female character with a speaking role. Unfortunately she never has anything interesting to say but an occasional sassy quip, rendering the character more of a 21st Century mammy than leading lady. Dennis Leary is back as the crestfallen sabertooth who is the movie’s security force. Anytime the other pathetic characters are threatened by temperamental toons, Leary’s cat sweeps in to save the day. This is the full extent of the character. Sulk. Rescue. Sulk. Rescue. Wash, rinse, repeat.

The list of useless, disposable characters goes on. How could I forget the creepy pedo-sloth voiced by career movie pest John Leguizamo. Don’t forget the two weasel brothers, whose lines are always bookended by exclamations of “Dude!”, “Awesome!”, and “Totally!” You know, stuff that cartoon characters said 17 years ago. Ninja Turtles don’t even talk like this anymore.

And as if this series didn’t have enough characters, they added another furry tuft of dread to the stuffed animal heap. I can see the CEO of Fox sitting in on the story meetings: “Could we work in Johnny Depp’s character from the pirate pictures?” They couldn’t afford Jack Sparrow so they settled on Shaun of the Dead. Simon Pegg lends his voice to the casts third weasel character: a mad frontiersman who leads the other characters through the movies mundane “save our friend that we really don’t even like that much” plot. This character reaches new heights of being annoyingly in your face: anytime Pegg’s character says anything that’s supposed to be funny or important, the camera crash zooms in on his ugly one-eyed mug.

I don’t mention the names of the characters in this movie because I don’t remember them. Characters from Pixar movies (and occasionally Dreamworks) stick with you. You remember their charm, quirks and names. The only memorable character in the Ice Age universe is Scrat, a saber-toothed squirrel whose life ambition revolves around catching a stray acorn.

As in the past two movies, his dialogue free screen time is limited to vignettes here and there that proceed when the writers hit a brick wall. Scrat is relatable and actually, ahem…funny. A character that channels the sadness of Chaplin and the slapstick grace of Buster Keaton.

Scrat’s misadventures clearly display that the talents behind Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs are capable of crafting an endearing and thoroughly enjoyable movie experience, if only the stockholders allowed them.

Oh Hell Yes: Oppo Blu-ray Player!

2009-07-08T15:19:00.000-04:00

Oppo, an American based manufacturer of dvd players, has made the availability of their latest product nation wide. It's the Oppo BDP-83. That's right it's a Bluray disc player! This should come as excellent news to anyone who's familiar with their top of the line players. Their DVD players were considered among the best. I wonder how this one will stack up. Apparently it's supposed be compatible with all blurays. Nice. It's a little pricey though. Punching your wallet in the heart, it's priced at 500$.

Mad Catz Summer Surprise

2009-07-06T20:41:00.000-04:00

What could it be? Word is we'll have to wait until after EVO. But, I'm guessing it's a joystick of some sort. TvC maybe? Dunno. For now nobody's spilling the beans with the exception of a few photos. Hmmm...All this after I bought two new SFIV sticks this summer. Better get a second job, I hear this surprise is going to be extremely limited.

Via capcom blog

MJ's Arcade

2009-07-06T19:51:00.000-04:00

On the eve of the world's farewell to the king of pop I thought I'd take a look at MJ's arcade. Anyone can, there's a virtual tour of his enormous arcade.

DDR of course. Is that an MK I machine I spot?
Street Fighter II. Nice.
OMG Sega RX360!!! And for those of you who don't know what that is...
Again, nice. Marvel Versus Capcom.
Han Solo Frozen in carbonite. Mike has a super Star Wars collection. That Artoo looks awesome.
I remember that T2 cab.

This is pretty much my dream basement. Of course it's not exactly the same setup that I would want but the sheer amount of fun included here, makes me lust after it. Here's to you Mike! You sure knew how to have fun!

Do you Hulu? Desktop?

2009-07-06T18:26:00.000-04:00

I recently downloaded and used the Hulu Desktop Beta. And right off the bat I want to mention how sleek the interface is. Cable companies take notice. It's easy to cycle through movies and television shows, but the bast part is the full screen capabilities and its functionality with the mac remote. I watched a bit of Field of Dreams, which didn't hold up that well, and a bit of a newer HD episode of the Simpsons which was very comparable to DVD quality. Say what you will about Hulu's selection, but it is nice to be able to catch recent episodes from the couch. Internet TV's on its way in.

Battle Fantasia Coming to Playstation Network: Buy This Game!

2009-07-06T14:32:00.000-04:00

Battle Fantasia, the delightful little fighting game from Arc Systems (of Guilty Gear and Blaze Blue fame) is set for release on the Playstation 3 via PSN this fall.

The game was made available for XBOX 360 exclusively last year in retail form, leaving PS3 2D fighting enthusiasts out of the loop, until now. Details regarding the price of this digital download release have not been mentioned, but I'm guessing that it will come in around the $20, which would be a total steal considering how good this game is.

I own both the imported PS3 disc of Battle Fantasia and the U.S. XBOX 360 version. I cant recommend this game enough to people who are interested in a light, easy to pick up and play fighting game, with a simple (and very forgiving) controls. Battle Fantasia is also gorgeous to look at. The art style is reminiscent of Hayou Miyasaki's European-fused anime works, and the cell-shaded 3D characters look more cartoon-like than Street Fighter 4's roster.

Keep you eyes peeled for Battle Fantasia on the Playstation Network this fall. It'll be the perfect game to play between white-knuckle matches of Street Fighter 4, King of Fighters XII and Blaze Blue.

I Got Next!

2009-07-05T12:40:00.000-04:00

The documentary I Got Next details life within the Street Fighter tournament community. Which, niche as it may be, is an ever-growing community, especially with the release of street fighter 4. It was screened live on UFRAG last week and has since been released to watch. It's not the full version but is still pretty lengthy. It's neat to see these personalities interacting on such a small scale since they've been enlarged to such mythic proportion.