The Man with Iron Fists trailer

Tarantino is hit or miss for me but the man definately knows the Kung Fu genre, and this movie looks vicious! The trailer reminds me of  old school kung fu flicks I watched as a kid on sundays on WPIX 11 like the Tournament and aster of the Flying Guillotine!
The poster is all kinds of win also...

Movie Review: Snow White and the Huntsman

This film should have been titled Queen Ravenna the Home Wrecker....
The trailers for SWATH cast a spell on me that had me actually believe Kristen Stewart could actually bring something unique and exciting to the role of Snow White.....I was wrong. Instead we got Elizabeth Swan in Armor with the same level of enthusiasm she brings to all her roles....slightly above unconscious.
Meanwhile Charlize Theron absolutely hit a grand slam with her character Queen Ravenna! She commanded every scene she was in and dare I say without her in this movie it just wouldn't have been as good as it was. I'm not saying the movie was a blockbuster but Charlize Theron's performance was what made this movie rise above average/forgettable fantasy film.
I've seen Chris Hemsworth act in Thor and the Avengers movie....I know he can act and he can hold his own with big name actors like Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans and  but his scenes with Kristen Stewart lacked any urgency or Charisma....maybe he was intended to appear hung over throughout the film or maybe he didn't have much to play off of....yes I mean Stewart.
I was really hoping she was going to do something special with the role, kinda like this




 but instead we get...


 

I did enjoy the part where the Huntsman finds Snow White in the Dark Forest and they encounter the Lord of the Forest and all the magical sprites and animals come to life that scene was visually impressive....but not entirely original...

SWATH 2012

Princess Mononoke 1997

I liked the Dwarves in SWATH were original and I liked they're design...I wished I could understand them a little better though.
The special effects were very well done in SWatH they weren't over done and reemphasized the fact that this is a fantasy movie based on a fairy tale.
The effects for Ravenna were also one of the most impressive parts in the movie, the transformation into crows, the aging effects the man in the mirror and the black army were all incredible.

If you have Disney's Snow White in one hand and SWatH in the other go with Walt.....

C+ 

MGS 5: Confirmed Snakes are Forever!

 Who honestly believed the MGS saga was done after MGS4: GotP? Me neither! When has death stopped top tier game characters before?
So it's been confirmed some iteration of Snake will be back, I'm actually very relieved as I wasn't very pleased with how Solid Snakes story ended in MGS4.
I'm happy to hear the game will re-focus on sneaking and infiltration versus old man fights.
I guess we'll hear more at GDC europe 8/13-8/14....

Okami HD release trailer

This game was gorgeous when I played it on the PS2! Ameratasu's world will stun those who never played it before. I highly recommend Okami, check out my Okami review.

The game alone is definitely worth the $19.99 alone but you also get trophy support, the HD face lift and PS move support...which the gameplay lends itself to!

BT @ ASOT EDC las vegas 2012

BT @ EDC Las Vegas 2012....Me Gusta!
Not sure how long this vid will be up for so enjoy while it's up....

 

Movie Review: Prometheus

Thank you, Humanity! But your makers are in another movie...


Ridley Scott returning to expand upon the universe he created with Alien in 1979, hell yeah! 
When I first heard the news of Ridley Scott revisiting his franchise I rejoiced  at the thought of a dark, horrifying story in the Sci Fi genre, I read alot articles regarding the film  from multiple sources and had a good idea of where Scott was going with Prometheus....it sounded very ambitious and I couldn't wait! 


"Big Things Have Small Beginnings"


Science versus Religion, Big Bang versus Genesis theories, and the newest theory (to me at least) is Panspermia/Exogenesis...the idea that foreign life at the microbial level might have traveled to earth via meteriods, asteroids etc and in doing so altered the evolutionary process of life on this planet. 

This is where Prometheus begins, an Engineer (Space Jockey) drinks some dark liquid and his body begins to break down (literally) and his DNA disperses in the water....direct Panspermia of Earth in the very very distant past. Which leads to my first question...for such an advanced race isn't there a less barbaric way to "seed" a planet?


Fast Forward to the year 2089 scientists Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rappace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshal-Green) have discovered another cave painting that points to a particular star system that matches other ancient art work with similar depictions pointing to the same constellation.... 

So off we go to meet our makers....off to LV 223 (not 426) on Weyland Industries Science Vessel Prometheus.


I went into this movie with cautious optimism after hearing from some folks from across the pond who had seen it and had given their opinion. 
As previously mentioned I was intrigued and very much "on board" with this movie. 
You know that saying "you couldn't see the forest thru the trees" 
I believe that would apply to me in regards to Prometheus, I was so focused on what was going on, that certain things were not flagged by my brain as "WTF".


One thing I would be curious to ask people is, "prior to seeing Prometheus, did you envision the space jockey's as benevolent victims of an alien outbreak aboard their vessel?" I certainly did! 
So now we know they're not....or do we??? There in lies the fundamental problem with Prometheus, far too many aspects are left unanswered or leave the viewer hypothesisizing about the Engineers, their motives, their connection to humanity, the black liquid, what it is, why is it's affects on different organisms different? And how about LV223??? All those cave painting from different civilizations throughout human history invited us to a moon that the Engineers used as a bio weapon research facility...a facility they used to create a bio weapon to bring to Earth... 


On to the crew of the Prometheus;
Idris Elba as Captain Janek: I liked Janek, he seemed like a guy with enough common sense not to go crawling around in the ships ducts with a flamethrower. I also want to thank the writers for not stooping to the typical Hollywood stereotype of offing the black guy first...in fact Janek is humanities savior!


Emun Elliot and Benedict Wong as Chance and Ravel: The pilots of Prometheus, these two were in the movie why? I thought these two were absolutely useless and aside from the line about terra-forming were severely under developed compared to Brett and Parker.


Kate Dickie as Prometheus' Medic: Highly forgettable, there's a certain scene where a ships medic should've showed up....yet no medic ever showed up in the scene...odd.


Charlize Theron as Meredeth Vickers: A Weyland Corporate rep on board the Prometheus, as usual Charlize did a great job with the roll and I love the design of Vickers business attire wardrobe, nice fan service to Carter Burke's attire! 

Now on to the Science Team on the Prometheus;
Noomi Rappace as Archaeologist Elizabeth Shaw: For the most part I liked the character, it's obvious why Ridley Scott choose her after seeing her in TGWTDT. Shaw's metamorphosis from the naive scientist at the start of the movie to the determined survivalist we see at the very end of the film. Her "evolution" was like a condensed version of Ripley's between Alien and Aliens. There were a few times towards the end where Rappace truly seemed to be channeling Ellen Ripley. I was on the fence though with the character being a scientist and wearing a cross...reminded me of Private Joker in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket...another example of the duality of mankind.
Logan Marshall-Green as archaeologist Charlie Holloway: I really had a hard time liking this character, the actor never seemed like an Archaeologist to me, his appearance and actions made it nearly impossible for me to believe this guy a member of the scientific society...when he took his helmet off that sealed the deal for me. XTREME Archaeology on an alien moon...no thanks, I'll pass.
Sean Harris as Fifield the Geologist: Now if any of this expeditions scientists were XXXTREEEME Fifield fits the bill, but from our initial introduction Fifield comes across as a bit of a cynical dick, a cynical dick with alot of common sense....like don't fuck around with space snakes....which brings us to 
Rafe Spall as biologist Millburn...notice I italicized and underlined Millburns profession? This fucking dumbass got what he deserved!
Would you go near this? No, of course not...this doesn't help suspend my disbelief. dumb fucking character.

I've left my favorite member of the Prometheus for last, Michael Fassbender as David 8 Weyland Industries Android....oops sorry synthetic person.

David is the most fascinating character in Prometheus by leaps and bounds, Fassbenders performance really elevates the movie from mediocrity. 
I found it interesting how Davids various actions throughout the movie evoked different emotional reactions, but you must remember, no matter how sinister or underhanded David seems, he's no different than Wall E or Eve....he has a prime directive and he does it....that is all.....or is it?!
That is what I found fascinating about David, he is a creation of Humans, Humans (are assumed to be) a creation of the Engineers...late in the movie David makes some "off" remarks that caught me off guard, comments about children wanting to see their parents die...O.o whaawhat was that David!? There's some very fascinating sub plot going on between David's view of his creators (humanity) , our insatiable desire to know more about our creators, and the Engineers connection to us. So David has possibly developed a sense of superiority over his makers and resents how humans consider him a lesser form of themselves, possibly how the Engineers see humans as a lesser form of them...

This is the double edged sword that is Prometheus, it leaves so much unanswered that the discussions that spawn regarding the film are fun yet infuriating at the same time....I think Scott had very ambitious ideas and realized he wasn't gonna be able to realize those ideas in just one movie and has now rolled the dice hoping Prometheus does well enough to justify a sequel.
Overall I enjoyed the movie, it's not perfect, but it's a hell of alot better than A:R and AVP:R! 
And if a sequel is planned I'll be there opening day. 
B-

Game Review: inFAMOUS

I got inFAMOUS for free from the "welcome back" program after the PSN hacking. Yeah the game is three years old but of the choices given this was one I was actually some what interested in.  This open world sandbox game from Sucker Punch offers a highly detailed urban metropolis of Empire City similar to the GTA series. In inFAMOUS you control the Protagonist Cole, without going into too much detail, there was a catastrophic explosion and Cole woke up with the ability to control electricity and Empire City is a total shit hole, gangs are out of control, and each of the 3 districts are controlled by a different gang.  The game offers the player the opportunity to choose how to play as Cole.....good or evil. and based on this you'll gain access to new super human, super conductive abilities. And that is pretty much it, You run around Empire city zapping bad guys gaining experience points to buy new abilities like Gigawatt blades, Static Thrusters, Thunder Drop etc.
The story starts off slow but thru exploration you'll find things called dead drops which are essentially voice memo's that help flesh out the story and give detail behind the mysterious organization known as the First Sons.
The game also rewards those completionists if they find all the the blast shards hidden throughout Empire City.
The game also has some awesome comic style cut scenes with voice overs to help bring more depth to the character Cole.
8/10

Paper Prometheus Trailer

Can't get enough of this Friday's Prometheus? Then you'll want to watch this shot-for-shot fan trailer that recreates every moment of Ridley Scott's second Prometheus trailer with paper and flashlights, which is at once the antithesis of the effects-laden sci-fi pic and a neat-o celebration of its fantastical imagery. Plus: Paper Fassbender! Still hot. Obviously I have a fondness for animated fan trailers, but this one takes the form to a new level. It's inventive, detailed, and meticulously reconstructed, and whoever drew these characters did an especially fine job on Paper Idris Elba. I'd probably watch an entire Prometheus movie made of paper.

E3 2012: Transformers Fall of Cybertron Trailer

Dam I thought Omega Supreme was big in Transformers: War for Cybertron...for a second when I saw the hand I was like... Unicron??? No just Metroplex...this trailer has win all over it Dinobots (not getting into that discussion how they're on Cybertron before the ark crashes on earth), Shockwave, and Megatron beating down Prime!

SFXT PS Vita Cinematic Trailer

This is one helluva trailer for the new characters that will be available for SFXT on the PS Vita! who caught the DS tease @ 2:17?

E3 2012: The Last of Us gameplay trailer

Sony closed strong with the follow up to the truck ambush trailer with the below game play trailer for Naughty Dogs The Last of Us....gorgeous simply amazing looking!!! And holy F'n shit violent as fucking hell! M rating fo sho!
Some dumb ass parent will be complaining when they discover little johnny popping heads with a boom stick. This is a day 1 title!!!

E3 2012: Far Cry3 Trailer

Ubi soft also showed off the 4 player co op for Farcry 3....looked like every other FPS out there, the single player game looks real good though. The E3 Trailer is down there...

E3 2012: Assassins Creed III Naval Warfare Demo

Next up on Sony's Press Conference was Ubisoft showcasing the Naval Battles in Assasins Creed III...I don't recall ever playing a game with naval battle's and this was absolutely amazing to watch with the teal blues of the shallow waters of the Caribbean  and the weather changes and the demo ended with an awesome swash buckling all hands on deck battle....see for yourself ACIII looks incredible!

E3 2012: PSN/PS+ = value

After the Playstation All Stars Battle Royale Jack moved on to discuss all the PSN has to offer with amazing...mature (I liked that) indie titles like Journey, and up coming titles like The Unfinished Swan. Then Jack touched on the upcoming upgrade to PS+ but never mentioned anything about the rumored cloud saving merger I've heard about lately. He did mention that PS+ will offer 12 free titles available to subscribers and gave a year free PS+ subscription to all attendees!
He went on to discuss PS1 classics like Tomb Raider and Final Fantasy coming to Vita and Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified....the crowd didn't go apeshit when he announced it...lol CoD oversaturation me thinks.
Trenton then revealed Assassins Creed III : Liberation for the PS Vita

E3 2012: Sony Playstation Allstars Battle Royale

Sony showcased the cross play feature between PS3 and PS Vita using Play Station All Stars Battle Royale for the example. Watching the match with 2 players on PS3 and 2 on Vita was fun....I was rooting for Sly Cooper. They closed this with two new character reveals, Uncharted's Nathan Drake and Big Daddy from Bioshock.

E3 2012: Beyond Two Souls Reveal Trailer

Sony started strong with Quantic Dreams next IP, BEYOND: Two Souls. Just watch this trailer, the most impressive and realistic facial features I've ever seen in a video game!

E3 2012 Resident Evil 6 trailer

The reveal trailer for RE6 was pretty impressive, here's the E3 2012 trailer! This trailer plays like a summer Hollywood blockbuster, Capcom really knows the art of trailer hype better than any other...I just wish they'd stop with the on disk DLC....but I understand the power of the almighty dollar and understand the production costs of today's games.

E3 2012: Dead Space 3 Official Announce trailer

Issac Clarke you crazy ass fuck welcome back!

E3 2012: Live on Youtube

E3 day 1 press conference live on le tube!   http://www.youtube.com/e3

Ni no Kuni:Wrath of the White Witch Official E3 2012 trailer

When I first saw trailers for Ni no Kuni it sorta piqued my interest but I'll admit it slipped from my radar. This trailer has definately repiqued my interest...apparently Namco Bandai has discovered what Square Enix has lost.....
With Studio Ghibli handling the in game cinematics call me sold!

Pre E3 Tomb Raider Trailer: Crossroads

Apparently some folks at Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics are fans of Neil Marshal's 2005 film The Decent....
Lara ain't lookin to purdy in her newest trailer, in fact she looks this is the worst holiday ever!
Tomb Raider release date is 3/5/13....yes 2013, 9 more months...

CastleVania: Lords of Shadow 2 Pre E3 reveal trailer

E3 hasn't even begun and I'm already psyched!
Check out the trailer for CastleVania: Lords of Shadow 2 below! Gabriel Belmont returns!
I really enjoyed the first Lords of Shadow game and this looks even better!
I guessing the white haired man who shows up at the end to confront Gabriel is Alucard but I'm not sure how that's possible if we're following the CV timeline.