Mighty No. 9: WiP Gameplay foootage

The game is still about a year off, and it's really starting to look good! From the ashes of Mega Man rises Mighty No. 9!
I really hope this game sells gangbusters so Capcom can see the error in the way they handled the Megaman franchise.

Street Fighter Assassin's Fist

Here it is! Enjoy!
Street Fighter Assassin's Fist is proof positive that it is possible to make a legendary live action Street Fighter movie! I watched the entire movie yesterday and I may be completely biased but I loved it!
Having seen the anime Street Fighter Alpha generations and a fan of the franchise I already knew the story of Goutetsu, Gouki, Gouken, Ryu, Ken, the Satsui No Hado, the Ansatsuken  Martial Art style, the power of nothingness.
The story is so well told in SFAF that anyone gamer or not will enjoy this movie!
The story is timeless and tells a tale that is very similar to one from a galaxy far, far away and dare I say watching Gouki's lust for mastery of the Satsui No Hado was more enjoyable than watching Anakin's fall to the Dark Side in the PT!
The casting was PERFECT! Akira Koieyama was without a doubt the absolute perfect choice for Gouken Sensai! Christian Howard IS Ken Masters, he nailed Ken's personality and seeing him and Mike Moh together on screen was a dream come true. The chemistry between Christian, Mike and Akira felt absolutely real and the final scene when they leave Gouken Sensai's dojo to begin their Musha shugyō (warriors pilgrimage) I don't think they were acting....it felt too real!
As I said before the entire cast was spot on and I was also very impressed with Gaku Space and his performance! His anger and desire to unlock the secrets of the Satsui No Hado was amazing! And Togo Igawa as Goutetsu Sensai was a joy to watch. The fateful confrontation between Goutetsu and Gouki/Akuma was verbatim from Street Fighter Generations and was for fans of Street Fighter absolutely amazing to see in live action


So after 4 years of following Joey and Christian and there labor of love (because only true fans could have made this) I can say Street Fighter Assassin's Fist is a Warriors Dream!
I look forward to reading reviews from all my friends who I'm been hyping this up to for the last few years...
SHORYUKEN!

One last thing....bring on the Sagat Vs Ryu fight in Street Fighter the World Warriors!!!!!!
Oh and who the hell is Dan! LMFAO

Guardians of the Galaxy Trailer #2

Ok I may be alone in this....but somehow I don't think so. GotG is the new Star Wars.
Look at the second trailer and tell me this doesn't remind all the old school Star Wars fans like me ( those who can say they saw the OT in a theater) of the fun and excitement of Han, Chewie and Luke.
Guardians of the Galaxy just looks like pure fun....no taxation of trade routes or space termites and politics...
Awesome Mix Vol 1 FTW!!!!

Movie Review: Godzilla 2014

 I am a bit of a Godzilla fan, so when I first heard a new Godzilla was coming I was cautiously optimistic, especially after the Matthew Broderick Godzilla movie. But with every bit of news and every new teaser I grew more and more excited, and when I finally saw the Japanese trailer that was it!  I saw Godzilla this past Sunday with some friends, the quick and dirty I enjoyed the movie! Is it better than the 1998 Godzilla with Matthew Broderick? ABSOLUTELY! (I would go so far as to say that wasn't a Godzilla movie), Is it better than Cloverfield? Yes, Is it better than Pacific Rim? Yes. But lets compare Apples to Apples. How does Gareth Edwards Godzilla stack up to it's predecessors? Visually, I would have to say it's my second favorite next to Godzilla Vs Destoroyah. The MUTO (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organisms) were interesting and the creatures definitely felt like they belonged in the Godzilla universe.
For the Godzilla fan's there were alot of easter eggs in the movie, and since a sequel has already been confirmed if Mothra doesn't show up I'd be very surprised! Ken Watanabe play's Dr. Serizawa (yup same name as the Doc from the 54' original) works for an organization called Monarch, hell the scene where  Joe Brody (Brian Cranston) returns to his home in the Quarantine zone there's a framed pic of a moth with the word Mothra beneath it!
Brian Cranston knocked it out of the park, the scene at the Janjira power plant was still powerful even after pretty much seeing it in the trailers dozens of times.
Some people complained that Ken Watanabe's character was under utilized, I can agree with that, I got the impression Serizawa and Monarch were going to be more prominent based on the scene where they were being evacuated from the quarantine zone. But in the end Serizawa came across as an amalgamation of Confucius and an Ecologist. My only issue with his character...or moreso with Admiral William Stentz (David Straithairn) was when Serizawa tells the other member of Monarch STFU I'm going up to the flight deck of the aircraft carrier to watch Godzilla. First I highly doubt Dr. Serizawa got an "All Access Pass" on the USS Saratoga, second his behavior betrayed his character in my opinion....just like those dumb ass scientists in Prometheus.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson play's Ford Brody, the son of Joe Brody. Cranston did such a great job with his roll that Johnson's performance felt kinda muted in comparison, he came across emotionless....like wudeva this ain't the end of the world, which he actually says to Elle (Elizabeth Olsen). I just wished he showed a little more emotion when he is told the truth about Godzilla and the MUTO's by Dr Serizawa and Dr Whatshername. The way I saw the scene play out was Serizawa explains everything to Ford and is like "Yeeeeeeah sorry 'bout you're dad, he wasn't crazy....like you thought. and then Aron Taylor Johnson is like "harsh".

Elizabeth Olsen's role might have been small but she did a fine job with it in my opinion, she showed believable emotion especially that phone conversation in the hospital with Ford.

Ok now to the star of the movie, Gojira! I loved the design, he wasn't fat, his proportions were pretty faithful to the Millenium series Gojira. I know some people were turned off by the fact that it took three quarters of the movie before shit got real, and that the "teases" were frustrating. I liked the unique ways Gareth Edwards choose to show the early confrontations between Godzilla and the M.U.T.O.. I loved the scene where Ford and Elle's son Sam is watching TV and a special report interupts his show and he sees Godzilla fighting the Male MUTO, he has this look like any child who would see "dinosaurs" fighting in a city. As rediculous as the scene was, I really loved the HALO jump scene, doing a HALO jump into a battle between 3 Kaiju just seems stupid to me but I understand that was there soley for the 3D and truth be told the scene was pretty f'n cool!
I believe the old adage "less is more" really applies to this Godzilla movie because when the Battle by the Bay finally kicked into high gear it was amazing! And when Godzilla finally unleashes his atomic breath it there was such an energy in the theater, I wanted to yell out "GET SOME!"

I've read a few reviews that complain that the characters were insignificant and under developed, I wonder sometimes if fans will ever be satisfied. We complain about the Bayformers movies because the Transformers take a back seat to the humans, and now we're complaining that the human characters seemed insignificant in a Godzilla movie....really? Isn't that kinda the point?

All the issues I mentioned are pointless because at the end this is a Godzilla movie...Ford, Dr. Serizawa, the military are all just means to an end, and by the end the movie I was totally satisfied. If you went into see Godzilla expecting human drama and non stop Kaiju action you're probably gonna walk away disappointed.

In the end it was a fun way to kick off the summer blockbusters and I can't wait till G2...besides Mothra what other Toho Kaiju do you want to see in the sequel? I hope we see either King Ghidora or Biolante in the sequel!

B-

The 4 lil games that could...........make me get a PS4 sooner.

I plan on getting a PS4 in February, but the wait is beginning to become a challenge, if my PS3 still worked it wouldn't be as hard but since JAnuary I've been stuck playing my PS2. Which isn't the end of the world, I still enjoy playing my PS1 & 2 games, but I still have many PS3 games I have yet to start and or finish.
But there are a couple PS4 games that have caught my attention that would  justify me buying the console earlier than I intend to.

Child of Light 

Child of Light looks breath taking, the fluidity of Aurora's hair and the gracefulness of her movement is stunning. The world of Lemuria is gorgeous and the watercolor art style lends itself to this fairy tale fantasy RPG.



  Transistor

Another disk-less title, Transistor looks interesting, again the art style caught my eye. And like Child of Light the city of Cloudbank is beautiful.


Lily Bergamo

I hope we see more of this game at this years E3. From the little I know of it it looks interesting.





Rime

I haven't heard much about this game since last years GamesCom.  Yet another game that I was instantly drawn to by it's gorgeous visuals! It reminded me of Myst for some reason but obviously not a point and click style game. Hopefully we hear more about this one at this years E3.



These aren't the AAA titles that move consoles like MGS, CoD, Madden and FF, these are the gems that fly under radar of Joe gamer, the gems that shine and really leave a lasting impression on gamers that go down the path less traveled like Okami and Journey.
Sure when I get my PS4 I'll definitely be picking up MGS V and FFXV but these are fresh IP's with new experiences and isn't that what we all crave not the same thing year after year?

Street Fighter Assassin's Fist 1 week to go!

7 days till the series debuts on Machinima! 5/23/14 9am PST, 12PM EST!

Interstellar: Trailer

So the trailer for Nolan's Interstellar has hit the interwebs. I've enjoyed Memento, Batman Begins, The Prestige, TDK, and Inception so I think it's fair to assume Interstellar will not disappoint.
Although after watching the trailer the first thing that came to mind was a little Anime I love named Voices of a Distant Star by Makoto Shinkai.
For those who've seen VoaDS do you see any similarities?
For those who haven't I've embedded it for your viewing pleasure.
 

Watch Voices of a Distant Star in Cartoon  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Akira Project: Live Action Fan Trailer

Any one who knows me or reads this blog knows my stance on games and anime being recreated for the silver screen....I'm 100% against it!
Although I fully supported Joey and Christian's Street Fighter Assassin's Fist Project, they are fans of the source material and all the images and trailers are proof that in the right hands it is possible to bring our passions to life and do it right!
 I really don't see a point in taking Video Games and Anime and making feature films out of them. You loose something in the translation, and Anime to Live action is 99.999% guaranteed to fail especially in Hollywoods' hands! Really what's the God damn point?!Anime and film are the same medium!
When I heard a few years back that Tobey McGuire was trying to make a Live Action version of Robotech (Macross), my soul died a little, then I read Hollywood was trying to make a live action version of Akira...my heart grew two sizes smaller and then I read Spielberg was thinking of making a live action GitS movie...my brain pulled a scanners!

I got a text from Uncle Paulie and my faith in humanity was restored....a little.
THIS, like Street Fighter Assassin's Fist is a movie for the fans BY the fans...and like SFAF I would definitely contribute to this project!
Behold AKIRA!

Movie Review: Snowpiercer

Know your place. Take your place, be a shoe....

Thank God I got to see this before The Weinstein Co. got their hands on this fantastic film!
It's upsetting to me that the Weinstien company feels American's are too dumb to appreciate/understand this film, and they plan to cut 20 of the 126 mins out of it! Essentially turning Curtis Everett (Chris Evans) into John McClane.
Snowpiercer has an incredible cast including John Hurt, Tilda Swinton, Ed Harris and Chris Evans who has really impressed me time and again with his choice of roles from Sunshine, Push, Capt America and now Snowpiercer.
Snowpiercer is anything but an action movie! It deals with some very pertinent subjects such as  Class Warfare/ Eugenics/Gentrification/ Child Labor, Oligarchy's which feels very timely considering the diminishing middle class in our country and the gap between the poor and wealthy which continues to grown ever so silently.
This film essentially has the same exact plot as last years movie Elysium but is much less heavy handed, I appreciated the subtleties within Snowpiercer over the special effects and 'splosions in Elysium, such as the diversity of the rebels that Curtis leads forward, there are old, young, white, black, Asian, men, women, compare that to Elysium where Matt Damon seemed like the only poor white person surrounded Impoverished Spanish and Blacks.
I also found it fascinating how Mason (Tilda Swinton) and the teacher (Alison Pill) explained to Curtis and the students respectively that the train...the machine must keep going or everyone would freeze and die. Could the train represent Capitalism? There is certainly a clear "balance" in capitalism, the producers and consumers, those who create jobs and those who need jobs...there is a harmony when Capitalism works, but what happens when the consumers stop spending for one reason or another? The machine breaks down, which can be seen around the world today.
The one thing that I wished was in the version I saw were sub titles for the conversations between Curtis and Namgoong Minsu (Song Kang ho), especially that lengthy one towards the end.
The revelation at the end by Wilford (Ed Harris) hit me just as hard as Curtis, the truth can be brutally painful at times and what Wilford reveals to Curtis about "balance" and "insurrections/revolutions". Nobody wants to hear they're completely expendable or useless.
This is a profound film that at face value could be seen as an action movie on a train, but look a little closer and this film is a reflection of society, and not the most flattering.
A  

Street Fighter Assassin's Fist Full Trailer

Here is the full trailer for Street Fighter Assassin's Fist written, and directed by Joey Ansah and Christian Howard!
I've been following this project since 2010 when the two published Street Fighter Legacy on You Tube.
Street Fighter Assassin's Fist stars
Christian Howard as Ken Masters
Mike Moh as Ryu
Togo Igawa as Goutetsu
Akira Koieyama as Gouken
Shogen Itokazu as Young Gouken
Gaku Space as young Gouki/Akuma
Joey Ansah as Akuma
Mark Killeen as Mr. Masters
Hyunri Lee as Sayaka
Hal Yamanouchi as Senzo
The series will air this month on the Machinima You Tube channel with eleven 12 minute episodes, SFAF will also be available on DVD/BD as a 2 hour movie later this year!
Thanks to all my family and friends who have had to deal my incessant talk about this over the years!
After watching this trailer I want you all to stand up where ever you are and yell as loud as you can SHORYUKEN!

Old Boy: Chapter 2 of the Vengeance Trilogy

Uncle Pauly told me about this movie last years not the US remake but the original Korean film...yet another awesome recommendation! THANK YOU!
Don't bother with the US version, watch the original movie.It had me saying da fuq for awhile but I was completely drawn in by Oh Dae Su's mission to discover who imprisoned him for 15 years and why.
The who is revealed rather early on but the why....the why is what makes this movie work. And once the the truth is revealed  holy shit! That was one hell of a sucker punch that had me literally saying "No F'n way! OMFG!!' out loud.
I also enjoyed how the director decided to leave the film's ending totally ambiguous.
Just like the Swedish version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, I am willing to bet the US version of this film pales in comparison as well.
I've seen enough revenge movies to say this might just be my favorite!
After watching this I want to see the other two chapters in the Vengeance Trilogy!

Street Fighter Assassin's Fist

Gouki (black top) and Gouken (white top) training under the watchful eye of Goutetsu sensai.
See the third post? You know who that belonged to before Goutetsu expelled him?
The master of the Saikyo Style Dan Hibiki! LMAO!
The Main Trailer for SFAF will be released Friday 12 noon EST on the machinima YT channel.

Street Fighter Assassins Fist

We're coming to the end folks! The show begins this month! Be sure to subscribe to the Machinima Youtube Channel as it will be published via their channel. Also, this week we'll be getting the full trailer for the series but for today we get to see Ken and Ryu kickin it old school!

Gotham: Official Extended Trailer

I saw so many people chiming in on the announcement that Fox had cancelled Almost Human, most were very very upset, I personally was not. The show never grabbed my full attention.
Yesterday Fox released the first teaser for Gotham and it looks extremely promising! Check it out below if you haven't seen it yet.

May the 4th be with you

As a father of a young boy and a fan of Star Wars I look forward to taking him to see episode VII Dec 2015. I also look forward to introducing my young Padawan to that galaxy far far away.
To celebrate May the 4th I thought this year I'd begin his training by putting ANH on....
My wife said we should watch them in chronological order...I simply waved my hand and told her those aren't the movies we're looking for.
So there we were watching ANH and I'm thinking this is cool he's taking his first steps into a larger world when Vader walks into the scene on the blockade runner and chokes the rebel and tosses him aside....well that ended that. My little Padawan wasn't feeling Darth Vader, so we turned it off, later that night I stumbled upon Lego StarWars: The new Yoda Chronicles: Escape from the Jedi Temple on Disney XD.



This was more his speed and I actually found it funny also.
For all you fans out there, what order do you think young Padawans should be introduced to Star Wars?
IV-V-VI-I-II-III=preserve the cliffhanger of TESB
or
I-II-III-IV-V-VI= chronological

Street Fighter Assassins Fist

Gouki master of the fishermen....

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Opinion

"War has changed"

I stopped playing CoD after MW2, most of my friends kept buying and playing the bi-annual releases. Some preferred the IW titles others Treyarch's. Me, I enjoyed them but I also saw the game really ingeniously made even the most casual gamer feel like a pro....even though they weren't. The multiplayer was the BnB of the franchise and it has done wonders for bringing online gaming to the mainstream for consoles like no other genre, MMO's and Fighting Games are a bit more of a niche market. 

Like I tell my friend CJ, "anyone can answer the call of duty, not everyone can win a street fight."

So, I just watched the trailer for CoD: Advanced Warfare, Kevin Spacey....huh. I'm buying what you're selling Kaiser Soze, in fact I've heard what you're saying from a few people in regards to the U.S trying to introduce democracy to other parts of the world. But that's a discussion for another time and another blog.

My first issue with is trailer comes before it even begins,

"The Following was captured on XBox One"

Really? Was it necessary? Absolutely not, by now were all painfully aware CoD is synonomous with X box. Is it going to be on PS4? Of course! Wii U...maybe. So why put that out there, you're just pushing away potential sales from people who may be getting tired of CoD and have decided to buy a PS4 iso an Xbone for one reason or another.

My second issue is where's the gameplay? Sure the single player cutscenes are gonna look sick but the game comes out in 6 months show me the actual game, throw in a little bit of you're BnB to whet fans appetites.

All in all the trailer is ok, Kevin Spacey is what makes the trailer stand out. 

It was fun to watch but it didn't make me say, "holy fuck I gotta go get a PS4 or X box One so I can play that!"

My Top 10 favorite Godzilla Movies

My top 10 favorite Godzilla Movies

















10. Godzilla Vs Megalon:
Jet Jaguar nuff said!



9. King Kong Vs Godzilla:
Kaiju comedy gold here folks! Highlight is when Godzilla gets a mouthful of tree and when Godzilla ignites King Kong's fur.



8. Godzilla 1985:
This was the first Godzilla movie I saw in the theaters.




7. Godzilla 2K:
This was the last Godzilla movie I saw in the theaters...my wife (GF at the time) HATED it!!! I don't think she enjoyed the audience participation....



6. Destroy all Monsters:
This is a must see for Kaiju movie fans! It's like the royal rumble of Godzilla movies! 



5. Godzilla Vs Hedora (The Smog Monster): 
I think this was one of the first Godzilla movies I saw...Sunday afternoons on WPIX vegging on the couch watching old reruns. I remember being scared when the smog monster flew over the fleeing people and they turned to skeletons!





4. The Terror of Mecha Godzilla:
Titanosaurus is a punk ass bitch, Mecha Godzilla made in Japan...of course! Android's in 1975!



3. Godzilla Vs Destroyah
This is by far my favorite Godzilla movie so far....Godzilla has a critical case of heartburn and the world is in jeopardy if he goes into melt down! Destroyah is one bad ass looking Kaiju, and I actually felt sad for Godzilla at the end when he "dies".
But Godzilla is eternal....and he will never truly die, as seen at the end of the movie.



2. Godzilla:
This list would not exist if it weren't for the original. 60 years later Gojira is known aound the world, he's been in every form of media from the silver screen to saturday morning cartoons, manga, comic books.



1. Godzilla Vs Biolante
"Science was so busy trying to figure out if they could, they never stopped to ask if they should...."
If you don't know how Toho came up with this Kaiju then shame on you! When the idea factory won't open where do you turn? Kids! Yep Biolante was one kids idea of a worthy Kaiju adversary for the King of the Monsters!
"Life finds a way"