Cloverfield Preview

JJ Abrams Monster Mash is little over a month away but here's the first few mins to whet your appetite!

AVP-R Preview

Aliens Vs Predator was ok but there were some scenes that made you go huh?

Aliens Vs Predator Requiem actually picks up right where the first ended aboard the Predators ship.

It looks promising but I'm going in with zero expectations.

Enjoy the first five mins of AVP-R thanks to JoBlo.com!

Anime Review: Macross Zero

Back in 1982/83 an anime was created that to this day is my all time favorite, that anime is The Super Dimension Fortress Macross.

Macross is the story of a giant interstellar battle fortress that crashes on South Ataria Island in the South Pacific in the year 1999. For the next decade humanity attempts to unite under the formation of U.N. government and rebuild the ship.


This is where Macross Zero's story begins, 2008, the U.N Wars escalate and the Anti-U.N & U.N forces clash near the small South Pacific Island of Mayan.


The first episode of this 5 episode OVA,Ocean and Wind, introduces us to F-14 fighter pilot Shin Kudo. After being shot down by the Anti UN's newest fighter, the SV-51, he wakes on the Mayan Island (the island where the ocean and wind mix). He meets Sarah Nome (the hand guided by the wind),a shamen who can hear the will of the wind and her sister Mao Nome who seems to have a connection with the ocean. The inhabitants of Mayan are a primitive, tribal people that seem to live in peaceful harmony with nature and are unaware of the war around them. They pass on their traditions via the spoken word and tell the youth of how humans originally lived in the ocean and how when the aliens, "birdmen" came to earth.


Meanwhile on the Asuka II Aircraft Carrier Roy Focker reunites with an old friend, Aries, a cultural anthropologist he went to school with years ago. After her briefing of the discovery of a new energy source detected near Mayan, thought to be "AFOS", left behind by the the aliens aproximately ten thousand years ago the two catch up briefly. The next day Roy Focker is set to pilot the first live battle with VF-0, the first variable fighter!

Back on Mayan Shin spends time with Mao and Sarah as they each show him aspects of life on Mayan.

The seeds are planted.....

The peace and tranquility are shattered when Sarah foresees a violent wind headed for the Mayan Island and an arial dog fight breakes loose over Mayan between Roy Focker and the VF-0 and a SV-51. The first time you see the transformation of VF-0 will leave you speachless! The mix of cell drawn artwork with CG graphics is well balanced and looks fantastic!

Episode 2: The Stars on the Ground continues with the telling of the Mayan lore about Rooy Kanu, Rooylo and their children, how Rooylo left and the song of destruction engulfed the earth. The Elder tells the story all in the backdrop of a war that is enveloping the Mayan Island, high above Roy Focker comes face to face with his former flight instructor D.D.Ivanov who switched aliegences and joined the Anti -UN army. The battle is faced paced and very impressive, the detail of the fighters using CG is incredible. It's almost believeable seeing Roy's valkerie manuever thru the landscape, ailerons adjusting to change airspeed and altitude!

The battle concludes between the two in a stalemate while DD's wing mate, Nora Polyansky, takes on the rest of Fockers skull squadron. Roy finds shin and the two return to the Asuka II as the UN forces pull a large section of AFOS from the ocean floor. UN researchers begin to analyze the artifact and note the similarities with ASS-1, which stands for Alien Star Ship 1aka SDF-1.

Meanwhile Shin begins training as a VF-0 pilot under Roy Focker. Later Roy sends Shin on a mission to protect LaSalle while she visits Mayan to conduct further research on the island people. Mao and Shin meet again as he returns to the village. Later that night Shin is woken by the feint sound of a song, he follows the song into the forest to finds Sarah and discovers the power of her song...

Episode 3: The Blue Death begins at the sacred fountain with Shin and Sarah. Aries and her guard Edgard meet up with Sarah and Shin, Aries sees the stones with ancient mayan markings and recalls Professor Hussel Nakajima's notes on human-protoculture intervention.

Back aboard the Asuka blood begins too drip from the torso of AFOS, after some analyizing it's discovered it's the same as Sarah's.

Later that day Mao takes Shin on a snorkeling trip to see her "treasure", this visually impressive scene hints toward the connection between the cheiftan's story of creation and the evolving relationship between ,Mao, Shin and Sarah. Mao makes her feelings known to Shin in this episode when she kisses him. We also discover the treasure is the Shard of Elysium...the head of AFOS.

The Shard of Elysium activates and the UN / Anti UN forces scramble to retrieve the head and steal the torso aboard the Asuka II. During this battle Roy and DD resume their personal grudge match and Nora heads out to take the head of AFOS.

In a daring rescue Shin saves Mao and the head of AFOS from an Anti UN deep sea unit. Shin brings Mao back to Maya moments before the battle spills onto the shores, UN forces begin to evacuate the Mayan people as the battle rages all around the village. Sarah decides to test fate and runs off into the forest, Nora intercepts Shin as he tries to return to the Asuka II with the head of AFOS. The dogfight ends in a draw as both crash in the mayan forest and the head is lost again.

Episode 4:The Secret Forest Shin and Sarah are captured by the relentless Nora and the Anti UN forces. Aries is captured also and the three are introduced to Professor Hussel Nakajima. The professor explains the tale of the Birdman and the song of destruction. During their ongoing dogfight DD damages Roy Focker's VF-0 and he crashes the the party. Roy grabs Aries and the two escape into the forest. Shin and Sarah escape as well. Nora puts in a call to the Anti UN flagship to nuke the island.

Meanwhile the two couples wander aimlessly through the forest,Roy and Aries recount their memories from their past and wonder how the two would've been IF...

Meanwhile elsewhere in the forest Sarah and Shin spend the time consoling each other. Shin begins to understand Sarah's feelings toward life outside of the beautiful Mayan Island and reveals his feelings for Sarah. But the peace and beauty of the moment is forever destroyed when the island is carpet bombed by a squadron of SV-51's carrying hydrogen bombs.

Episode V: The Birdman begins with the Anti UN Forces retrieving the head of AFOS and capturing Aries and Sarah. Roy and Shin return to the Asuka II where the war between the UN and Anti UN has come to a boiling point. Mao awakes after having a transfusion using AFOS blood. The two parts of AFOS begin to activate and Mao begs Shin to save her sister.

Meanwhile Professor Hassel on board the Anti UN flagship pleads with Sarah to sing the song of destruction to end the war.

Roy and Shin board retro-fitted VF-0's and launch in a last ditch effort to save the women they love. The final battle of the war begins! Shin and Roy against DD and Nora push the limits of their skills in a final showdown in the clouds. Shin is able to reach the ship Sarah is held captive on but his Valkerie takes a fatal shot to the head and plummets to the ground below, Sarah cries out in distress and awakens the birdman. The two parts unite in the midst of the climactic battle and begins destroying all the large warships.Shin regains conscience just before plummeting into the ocean, and is astonished to see the legendary Birdman and Sarah controlling it through her song.

Does Shin save Sarah? Does Roy save Aries? Does the earth get destroyed by the Birdman? I won't ruin it for you, Macross Zero is another gorgeous addition to the legacy of Macross, all the aspects that made the original Macross a timeless classic are here, Valkeries, War, love triangles, music, and dealing with the loss of loved ones. Macross Zero does an amazing job of showing the contrasting beauties of a tropical paradise and the CG Mecha, which is also represented in both Shin and Sarah's views of the necessities of life. Each new Macross focuses on a different type of music, in M0 it's much less traditional. Sarah's song feels more ethereal than say Minmay, Fire Bomber or Sharron Apple. Regrettibly this is another great chapter from Macross that you will only get to enjoy subbed due to the BW/HG lawsuit. And the subtitles are garbage, this review may have some mistakes in character names because of the piss poor subtitles. The Story is fascinating and takes the evolution of mankind and blends it with Macross lore. It was also fun to see Roy Focker pre SDF-1 and another La Salle. I wonder if we'll see more of Shin or Sarah in the Future?The OVA is presented in 16:9 ratio, offers either english or chinese subs and the choice of dolby 5.1 or 2.0 stereo.

B-

Movie Review: Enchanted

Hey guys remember dragging your girl to see Transformers this summer? Well here's your payback!

As cool as Transformers was for guys seeing Optimus Prime transform and fight Megatron in the middle of a city while Bumblebee gets towed around by Megan Fox, women and girls will once again believe that there are princes out there and they can find their one true love thanks to this movie.

The movie starts out in some magical land where the fair maiden, Giselle, looks for her true love. In typical Disney fashion a Prince happens upon this lovely maiden in distress and rescues her....love at first sight yadayada yada. Well Prince Edward, chivalrous, strapping, and handy with a sword vows to wed Giselle. But what Disney movie is without the evil stepmother, and Prince Edwards mother Narissa isn't about to give up her crown so easily and devises a scheme to get rid of Giselle, push her down into the bottomless well!

Well there is a bottom. New York City. And not the animated kind.

This is where the story actually becomes bearable for men. What would happen to Snow White, Cinderella, Ariel, Belle or any of the other Disney Princesses in real life? The story suddenly becomes more adult when Giselle is picked up by divorce attorney/single parent Robert Phillip (Jack Dempsey from Grey's Anatomy). Robert finds Giselle roaming the streets of Manhattan in her ultra fru fru wedding gown and offers to assist her. Back at home Giselle meets Roberts daughter, Morgan. What Robert sees as a "troubled individual" Morgan sees as a princess. Giselle tells them she's waiting for her one true love, Edward, to come find her. Over the next couple days Giselle learns all about the "real world" as she waits for Prince Edward who heroically goes after Giselle and parades around Manhattan in his princely attire. Seeing Cyclops running around Manhattan in in his fru fru out fit waving his rapier around may sound altogether fruity but is actually very funny.

In Disney fairy tales love conquers all...but we're in NYC and those rules definitely do not apply and we soon see how Giselle's time in the real world changes this once bubbly, love conquers all, innocent maiden when Prince Edward finally finds his one true love.

Little girls will love this movie for the obvious reasons but there's also another, more adult story lined in this fairy tale...but like ALL great Disney movies there is a happily ever after.

Now bring on Transformers 2!

B

Movie Review: We Own the Night

We Own the Night stars some of Hollywood's heavy hitters like Robert Duvall, Joachim Pheonix, Mark Wahlberg and Eva Mendez. It takes place in the late eighties where Bobby Green (Joachim Pheonix) manages the El Caribe nightclub in Brooklyn. Unlike his brother Joe (Mark Wahlberg) and father (Robert Duvall) who's the deputy police chief he's chosen a much different life, he lives for the excitement that comes with the nightlife, the women, the booze and drugs and the shady people who go along with that lifestyle. Bobby has embraced the lifestyle and is a shrewd business man looking to expand into NYC and shares his plans with the owners, a Russian family that he has befriended.
Events are set in motion when his brother raids Bobby's club in an attempt to catch a ruthless gangster who is frequently dealing there. Later a hit is put on Joe and is gunned down in front of his house. Bobby feels responsible and offers to assist in an undercover sting operation that his father is not aware of, the plan goes south and Bobby barely escapes with his life. Now Bobby must be put in protective custody until he can testify, but the drug dealing Russian gangster escapes and finds out where Bobby's hiding. After a deadly car chase/shootout Bobby decides to switch sides and joins the NYPD.
This sounds like an amazing story with plenty of opportunity for drama, but the movie dragged in many places for me, like the scene when Joe returns home from the hospital or the Q Motor Inn scene, the final minutes of the film were a snooze fest for me. I wasn't to crazy for the role Mark Wahlberg played in this movie, I liked his character much better in The Departed. Joachim Pheonix seemed more comfortable playing the club manager and did well with it but seemed lethargic and borderline bored playing the cop. He didn't seem very energetic by the end of the movie. There were some great moments of tension like the scene where Bobby is brought to the secret location blindfolded and the car chase scene with Robert Duvall but the momentum always seemed to be broken by Bobby's friends, Amanda or NYPD. A perfect example of the flow of this movie is at the very beginning when Bobby and Amanda are making out in his office, that was a great scene but was interrupted by the phone! Another thing, I didn't see the brotherly chemistry between Wahlberg and Pheonix either. And the surprise revelation at the end about who was trafficking the drugs was apparent from the beginning....to me.
C

Movie Review: The Kingdom

I dragged my wife to see The Kingdom, she hadn't heard of it, and if it weren't for word of mouth at work I probably would've overlooked it also. After checking out the 4 minute intro at [url=http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/thekingdom.html?showVideo=1]Yahoo Movies[/url] I was really interested to see more. The story takes place after terrorist attack inside a Western housing compound in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, FBI Special Agent Ronald Fleury (Jaime Foxx) assembles a team Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, and Chris Cooper and negotiates a five-day trip into Saudi Arabia to locate the people responsible for the bombing. Once there they find their efforts hindered by the local protocol. With the help of Colonel Al-Ghazi (Ashraf Barhoum) the team begins their investigation.
I really liked this movie, it felt very similar to Black Rain, Cops/FBI go to Japan/Saudi Arabia to solve crime. Fueled by anger looking for revenge their progress is hindered by local authorities modus operandi. They team up with Masahiro/Al-Ghazi to solve the crime. This is not a bad thing as I really enjoyed Black Rain.The movies intro is interesting and helps set up what transpires next. The attack on the compound will grab the audience I guarantee it! The movie does a good job of keeping the audience on their guard, throughout the movie there's a sense of danger where ever Jaime Foxx and his FBI team are. The sets are very impressive, you'll be hard pressed to tell the movie wasn't shot in Saudi Arabia....if it weren't for common sense. The compound scene is eerily similar to many locations we've seen on TV that have been attacked by terroroists. I haven't seen too many movies with Jaime Foxx but I was genuinely impressed with him in this movie, Chris Cooper had a background role, Jennifer Garner more than redeemed herself for Elektra, one fight scene she's in was just as crazy as any fight scene in any of the Bourne movies, and Jason Bateman supplied the laughs and the horror....you'll understand what I mean if you watch the movie.The last 30 mins of the movie is balls to the wall intense! That's all I'll say, go see for yourself! What I really liked was the message that the movie gives us, violence begets violence.

B+

Anime Movie Review: Appleseed

Before Major Motoko Kusanagi and Bateau there was Deunan Knute and Briareos from Shirow Masamune's manga Appleseed. The story revolves around the couple who are members of ES.W.A.T, Olympus's special forces that protect the surreal peace and tranquility of the city state.
The story takes Deunan from the war torn badlands where a war that has ended years ago still goes rages on. Brought back to Earths last remaining city, Olympus. Here she is reunited with her ex Briareos who is now seventy five percent machine. Olympus appears to be paradise, a utopia of sorts, but all is not as it seems in Olympus. The story begins to unfold when Hitomi, a Bioroid, explains that the half the population of Olympus is actually bioroid to help qwell human emotion and maintain the peace and tranquility. But there are some who resent the bioroids intervention with humanity and stage a terrorist assault on the bioroid care center where bioroid life extention is administered, thus causing bioroid genoside. After a special session of congress is assembled Prime Minister Athena declares marshal law without the assistance of the Olympus regular army lead by General Uranus an avid anti bioroid supporter.The only way to save the bioroids now is to unlock the secret of Appleseed.
Shirow Masamune once again pushes the limits of CG animation, the visuals of Appleseed are simply amazing, the first few minutes of the post apocalyptic fight scene alone rival that of top hollywood blockbusters such as Terminator. The story isn't childsplay either, this anime deals with aspects such as racism, human preservation and evolution, fate, love, trust and betrayal and even has shades of Issaac Asimov's I robot and the laws that govern all robots.
The Appleseed soundtrack has some sweet tracks from world famous DJ Paul Oakenfold, the Basement Jaxx, Boom Boom Satellites rocking track I will dive for you and others. The movie is rated R and has a running time of an hour and 45 minutes. Appleseed features Dolby Digital 5.1 and is presented in anamorphic widescreen, extras include commentary by Director Shinji Aramaki and Producer Sori, Staff profiles and music/scene cues. Check out http://www.appleseedthemovie.com for more.
A
Also check out the upcoming Appleseed ExMachina DVD website http://www.warnervideo.com/appleseed/

Movie Review: Transformers

As a kid that grew up in the 80's, I was lucky to be blessed with such animated masterpieces such as Voltron, Robotech, Galaxy High, Thunder Cats, Jem and the Holograms, Dungeons & Dragons, GI Joe, and Transformers! Of all those classic cartoons one grabed kids imagination more than any other and it was the Transformers, not only were the toys really cool but the show was great, at least it was when I was a kid with an over active imagination.

The battle between the valiant Autobots and the evil Decepticons has raged for over 3 decades, been made into an animated feature length film, has had multiple comic adaptations and has now been brought back to the silver screen in a live action summer blockbuster ($309,420,425)! Not bad considering Optimus Prime was going up against Spidey and Jack Sparrow, but that might of been part of the reason Transformers did such phenomenal sales at the box office. I had been following the news of this movie since June of 2003 over at PDT and the feelings of Trans-fans stretched the spectrum from avid disgust at not being faithful to the canon to childish glee at seeing their favorite childhood cartoon coming to celuloid reality.

I fell somewhere in the middle, cautiously optimistic, and after seeing it I can say it did what needed to be done. It told a story of transforming beings from the planet Cybertron that came to Earth to find a source of energy. The Autobots lead by Optimus Prime and the Decepticons commanded by Megatron,a boy named Witwicky who befriends the Autobots and giant robots kicking the crap outta each other. All the rest was filler to grab as many Trans-noobs as possible...apparently it worked! My only complaint about the movie is John Turturo, he might be a great actor, but for the love of Cybertron, what script was he given!? If I could I'd cut every single scene with sector seven and replace it with some Decepticon transmissions with Cybertron. That is all I will say about the movie's short comings because it's a fun movie that will grab your attention with it's squirel-on-crack pace. And the work ILM did on the visuals was as impressive as the T-Rex in JP when I first saw that!

I did apreciate the fan service sprinkled throughout like, "One shall stand, one shall fall" and "Freedom is the right of all sentient beings".

The special transforming DVD case from Target is also pretty cool, too bad DW sold out to Microsoft because there are alot of consumers who would've bought it on Blu-ray, my self included.

Some fun extras to bring fans back to their childhood and show new fans how rich the Transformers mythos goes.

Looking forward to T2!

B+

Anime Review: Eureka Seven

Music, Mecha and Love, no I'm not talking about Macross,  but this series absolutely captured the aspects that made me love anime in the first place!
I never thought I'd see another anime series that made me remember love, like Hikaru and Minmay from the original SDF Macross.

 After watching the final episode of Eureka Seven I am over joyed to say I got to witness such an amazing anime! I can honestly say Eureka Seven is absolute magic to behold! Visually Eureka Seven is spectacular from the character designs; every member of the Gekko State is unique and memorable from Renton, the boy who idolizes the Gekko State and dreams of one day being a member because of what he's read about them through the magazine Ray=Out and Eureka, the mysterious girl Renton falls in love with who is called mamma to three children Maurice Maeter and Linck. Despite the reality of the situations around them Renton and Eureka grow closer and closer throughout the series and as Renton searches for a purpose for being aboard the Gekko he resolves to protect Eureka no matter what (sounds awfully familiar to Hikaru's decision for joining the UN Spacey Forces!)

Holland is the leader of the Gekko State, prior to that he was a member of the UN Forces, SoF division with Talho and Eureka under his brother Dewey. During an attack on the Voderac, Holland comes face to face with the high preist Norb who shows Holland the truth about the Scub Coral and Eureka. After that Holland defects and steals the Gekko Go and takes Eureka and Talho with him. Talho is the Gekko's pilot and Hollands girlfriend. There are other relationships throughout the series such as  Moondoggie and Gidget, Matthieu and Hilda, Dominic and Anemone, Will B. and Martha,  Charles and Ray....who I felt were designed to pay homage to old school anime designs such as characters from the series Galaxy Express 999.











These relationships represented different stages and obstacles people face while dating from the casual "friends with benefits" to the complex, (she liked my brother first but is with me now but I still think about an ex from way back when...)
  Throughout the series as Renton and Eureka continue to get closer all these stages and obstacles of relationships don't seem to affect them, they seem impervious to all the drama that complicates love. First love is truly magical and Renton & Eureka represent that.

Eureka Seven also boasts some unique and beautiful environments the colors of the clouds, the names of locales, everything seems familiar but just foreign enough to be another world.
The originality of the culture of the Gekko State was fantastic! Think of a group of surfers that have acquired a state of the art military grade aircraft that fight against a world stuck in a military state.

The mecha design was also refreshing, The Nirvash type ZERO was an interesting spin on the typical Mecha...a variable that can transform into a car. I like the idea that the Mecha also require a ref board to stay airborne. Unlike many anime that I've seen that feature large Mecha the Nirvash and the END were an interesting cross between a biological entity and a machine. Clearly there was a symbiotic relationship between the pilot and the mecha. And as Eureka evolved so did the Nirvash type ZERO.
As previously mentioned there are aspects of Eureka Seven that remind me of my favorite anime series Macross, and then there's this scene from episode 26 Morning Glory which is the greatest homage to one of the greatest Anime series ever.



 Eureka Seven is an absolute must see for any fan of anime! For many younger viewers Eureka Seven might be their introduction to the world of anime and will have a lasting place in their heart.
Eureka Seven is without a doubt in my top 5 favorite anime of all time!

A

Game Review: Naruto: Ultimate Ninja

Being a fan of the show I couldn't pass this up for only $19.99, Naruto: Ultimate Ninja has all the qualities that make the show so enjoyable, the characters are faithful to the show and thankfully use the same voice actors. Naruto Ultimate Ninja uses cell shading for the visual style which works but I personally would've prefered sprites instead. Naruto Ultimate Ninja takes the 2D fighting game engine and adds elements from the show, for instance Street Fighter has a "super meter" NuN has a Chakra Guage that when full allows the player to perform "secret Jutsu's" straight from the show, like Naruto's Shadow Clone or Neji Hyuga's 8 trigrams 64 palms jutsu's.
When the secret technique sceen is activated to two time limit guages apear for the attacker and defender and a combination of different buttons appear that need to be input correctly in time to execute/defend the secret jutsu technique. By giving the dender the opportunity to defend massive damage can be reduced by half, this is an interesting spin on the old super move where the defender will have two options block or take massive damage.
Other aspects that differentiate Naruto Ultimate Ninja from other 2D fighters is the 2 plane battlefield, in NUN the there's a foreground and background which fighters can instantly switch to if fighters are on different planes they can still attack their opponent with weapons like suriken and kunai.
The battle ground is interactive also, by breaking lanterns or crates status altering items can be acquired and each character has a support character that can apear with support items and be called in for a special attack.
NuN has 12 playable characters, Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, Kakashi Hatake, Neji Hyuga, Hinata Hyuga, Rock Lee and Shikamaru Nara from the village hidden in the leaves. Gaara from the village hidden in the sand, Zabuza Momochi and Haku from the village hidden in the mist, and Orochimaru one of the seven Sannin and founder of the village hidden in the sound.
Not every character is available from the start, by playing thru characters senario (story mode) you unlock the hidden characters.
There's also missions to do at the ninja academy that earn you money, which you can use to buy stuff to clutter up naruto's house. Not only do the missions earn you money but they net you points towards becoming a genin, jonine, kunoichi (Sakura or Hinata) or maybe even hokage!
So what to do with the money (Ryo) you earned from those missions? Go spend it on Konohamaru's gum drop machine of course! There is a ton of things to get from the machine, screen shots from the show music tracks to listen too, sound bites from the game, ninja info cards, and video clips of characters secret techinques.
Overall there's plenty to keep a young ninja busy, the fighting game is unique and offers alot of variables to the typical 2D fighter, but I think most people will pass this game by unless they're a fan of the anime already. This game has all the charm of the anime, but if you're looking for a more traditional fighting game this may not be for you.
7/10