In this week’s Suggestion Box we’ve got the movie trailer for 127 hours, a trailer for the new AMC TV show The Walking Dead, and a whole heap of video game videos from Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, Brink, Halo: Reach, James Bond 007: Blood Stone, and Portal 2.
Movies:
127 Hours Trailer – Remember back in 2003 when news broke that a man was forced to cut off his own arm after becoming stuck between a rock and a hard place? Well, now it’s time for Aron Ralston’s story to become even more famous with a movie. Let’s just hope that James Franco doesn’t have to get too disgustingly graphic with that act. Ugh… Just thinking about it is making my goldfish swim back up my throat… Stupid delicious cheddar cheese crackers…
In all honestly I wasn’t expecting too much from my time with Mafia II because I was never able to finish the one Grand Theft Auto game I started because the gameplay just wasn’t for me (which Mafia II closely resembles), and in all honesty I think The Godfather is pretty overrated. With that said I decided to give this game a try anyway because the video footage I had seen prior did seem pretty promising. Before I knew it I was so immersed in the game that my inner voice was verging on switching over to a poor imitation Don Corleone’s speech. It may not be perfect, but that’s a pretty powerful game in my opinion.
It might be well known that it is hard out here for a pimp, but no rap song is necessary to know that the mafia is no picnic either. In Mafia II, protagonist Vito Scaletta knows this better than anyone. In order to escape the poverty he was raised in he turns to crime, a lifestyle that will eventually lead to the organized variety with his entry into the mafia of Empire Bay, a path he hopes will lead to him having everything he ever wanted but never had. (more…)
This weeks we’ve got videos for films (Case 39 and The Next Three Days), video games (Brink, Epic Mickey, Dragon Age 2, and Halo: Reach), and a hilarious video from Funny or Die promoting Piranha 3D for the Oscars. Check them out below:
Movies:
Case 39 Trailer - A horror film in which a little girl is taken in by a social worker (renee Zewhen she discovers that her parents are trying to kill her. In actuality the danger goes much deeper than deranged parents when supernatural events start occurring to those around the little girl. Hopefully it is just something clinging to her and not a hidden evil residing within the girl because even if her hair has the strong potential to be styled like the girl from The Ring, I have had enough of that.
With the current surge in popularity of Nathan Drake’s treasure seeking world travels in the Uncharted series it would be expected that Lara Croft is feeling a little worried. However, with Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light it is clear that she is too busy using the torch while raiding tombs to pass it off to Drake just yet.
At the start of Guardian of Light Lara has already found the treasure nestled deep within the Yucatan, but before she can start her victory dance an ancient evil is released from within the item. Now she must work with the reanimated guardian to put it back in its prison before the sun rises. With that said the co-op option is not online yet, so if you are of the solo sort then “working with” Totec is not quite accurate. More like he goes his way and Lara goes hers, leaving her to fend for herself in this large labyrinth of jungle and dungeons. But no matter, even without him tagging along there is still plenty of fun to be had. (more…)
A team of three is beginning to become very plainly clear to be the real heart and minds behind SCDP and one of those three doesn’t even have their name on the sign.
For some reason back when God of War was released on the PS2 I never thought to play it, though now that I think about it there was a good chance that my system was already broken… Stupid broken systems… Anyway, now with the collection on the PS3 I had no reason not to finally give them a go, and thank the gods I did because they still hold up with the best of the games currently coming out (a lot of which God of War has acted as inspiration for).
In these games you play Kratos, a Spartan warrior with a love for soaking the ground with blood as the errand boy of the gods. In the first installment Kratos is going on a mission to bring a stop to Ares, the God of War, who is terrorizing Athens. Spoiler alert: In the end Kratos, being as BA as he is, kicks some Ares booty and is given the title of the God of War. Which brings on the plot of the second game: Eventually the other gods on Olympus realize their mistake and devise a way to take this thrown from Kratos. By doing so, Kratos is fueled to once again set out on a revenge mission to bring about the fall of the gods, and he is not a man you want holding something against you. (more…)
So I have already been excited for the upcoming film adaptation of The Tempest for a while now for more than a decent amount of reasons. Let’s just go down the list. 1 – Say what you will about Shakespeare re-appropriating stories and using crazy language that needs Sparknotes’ No Fear Shakespeare section to understand, that man is ridiculously awesome. Not relevant enough for you though? 2 – Julie Taymor is directing. Most probably know her for Across the Universe, but this isn’t her first time with Shakespeare based films. Oh, but you care about actors? Fine: 3 – This film stars Alfred Molina, Djimon Hounsou, Alan Cumming, Russell Brand, and Helen Mirren as magic man (or woman, as the case may be) Prospera. HELEN MIRREN! (Sorry, but after seeing RED I am having trouble not getting overly excited for her). So that compilation of facts was enough to get me on the bandwagon, and today things got even better when I saw the poster. So awesome!
The Switch is a high concept rom-com that might seem a bit, “I’ve seen this before,” but its great performances, fantastic heart, and the most realistic characters in a rom-com, in what feels like forever (save 500 Days of Summer), make this a quality effort that is easy to enjoy.
(This review might be a tad spoilerly for some, but I really don’t go into much beyond the trailer and to be honest I think I clarify things so you can have the best enjoyment of the picture. If you want to stay as blind as possible though, skip the next paragraph to be safe.)
Now we have all seen the preview for this and there is only one thing that the trailer is selling, Jason Bateman’s character, Wally, swaps his sperm for that of his best friend’s donor and seven years later the kid and friend re-enter his life after a Midwest hiatus. Jennifer Aniston plays the best friend, Kassie, and while Wally and hers’ relationship started on a dating level, Wally quickly pushed them into the friend zone and they have been best-ies ever since. (more…)
The title might speak towards the switch of a certain bodily fluid in the story, but this is not the only switch with this film. Instead, what we get is a non-stereotypical romantic comedy (if you can even stick that genre title on it), differing in tone and far less groan worthy than most.
For better or worse, family and friends have a tendency to think they know what’s best for us. In Wally Mars’ case, well, he thinks his best friend is making a mistake by deciding to get pregnant through artificial insemination. Though he strongly apposes it, he still lends his support by showing up for her pre-pregnancy party (AKA the sperm donation party). But that isn’t all he lends. While in the bathroom he drunkenly disposes of the donor’s goods, replacing them with his own. Soon after she moves away, only to return years later with a son that strongly resembles Wally, who has no recollection of what he did that night. (more…)
Summertime might be all about the sunny days, but the Summer of Arcade on XBOX Live is starting things off a tad bit gloomier with Playdead’s Limbo.
At the start of the game the player wakes in the body of a young boy lying alone in a grassy field. Similar to Remedy’s Alan Wake (released back in May), Limbo sets the tone of the game through the environment. Without any indication of his thoughts or explanation for the path he must take, he sets off through this dark world that alludes strongly to the old German Expressionism films (think the horror film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari). What little light is given fluctuates as the world moves in and out of focus within a screen that fades to black around the edges, filled only with the silhouettes of set pieces, moveable objects, obstacles, dead bodies, and the boy himself. Similarly to the aesthetics, the soundtrack gives little comfort to the player. Instead there is almost no sound, with only the faint calls of indistinguishable animals, dripping water, and noises of the dangers lurking ahead providing muddy audio cues. (more…)
Hey guys, so I thought you would probably appreciate me being less lazy by posting the actual videos here through a strenuous copy/paste process (sarcasm applied) instead of just posting links to those sites. Hope this works better for you.
Movies:
How Do You Know Trailer – A love triangle between Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd and Owen Wilson. Decisions, decisions…
Longing was the word of the night in the world of Mad Men, except if your name was Pete Campbell. From Don longing to get off the phone with Lucky Strike in the opening scene, Allison looking through that two way mirror, or Peggy’s entire arc for the episode that simplest of human emotions was everywhere in The Rejected. Rejection is usually right in line with longing and Mad Men did a great job of showing these emotions come out in people in a variety of ways.
That’s right! We are back with a new round of questions and answers, this time taking of the ever evolving universe of Scott Pilgrim in order to celebrate the film’s release this weekend (and just how awesome Scott Pilgrim is in general). And this time things get “heated.” Read on to find out why.
The Double Feature will take a look at a new release title in theaters (well, most of the time) and pair it with a film you can create a double feature with after you get back to the comfort of your living room.
Sometimes it will be obvious, other times not so much but I hope this gets you thinking about some other good double features of your own creation. The double feature is a bit of a lost art if you ask me, and while I am no expert at them I love figuring out a couple good films to play together.
Up this time: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and Kung Fu Hustle
So Cartoon Network has animated a brief prequel segment for Scott Pilgrim vs. The World which goes into Scott and Kim’s high school romance. The animation is pretty simple but captures Bryan Lee O’Malley’s panels almost frame for frame as you can find this segment in the beginning of Vol. 2.
This scene was probably one of my favorites in the books and one I sorely missed in the film. Now we have it here though and this kind of makes me wish they would do this to the whole series! Come on Universal!
