Random Film of the Week: Peeping Tom

peeping tom poster Based on what transpired after it hit theaters back in 1960, one could almost say that career suicides don’t come any better or more stylish than acclaimed director Michael Powell’s Peeping Tom. Controversial immediately upon release in the UK, the film was banned for many years from public showings in some countries, but took on a life of its own as the years passed and is seen as a genre classic by many horror fans today.

Despite its age, there are some extremely intriguing psychological themes and visual elements some easily upset types will probably find shocking. That said, it’s not as if Powell planned on his directing life in Britain going down the drain with this film. He was simply applying his well-honed talents all too well to a screenplay that happened to be extremely well-written and precise in its portrayal of a very troubled photographer and his special camera…
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Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen Launch Trailer: Oh, I’ll Be Here For A While, Folks…

As I predicted, Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen is so far, all I could have asked for and then some. The bonuses for converting that save file over are awesome, the MASSIVE new island/underground area is capital “D” Deadly (plus tax!) and overall, I’m predicting those who aren’t whining about the budget price point because they wanted this to be CHEAPER as stand-alone DLC (even though it has a tweaked version of the original game for FREE on that disc – or second disc if you own an Xbox 360) will be having a grand old time in Gransys’ new underworld. Hopefully, I can come up for air this weekend with a review. I’ll shoot for that, but don’t hold me to it because as with th original, there are WAY too many diversions in the game world to simply blow through this one in a few days…

GRID 2 Presents: A Few From BMW To Whet Your Appetite…

Only about a month plus to go before Codemasters’ superb sequel rolls out, so here are a few BMW’s to “Mmmmmmmmmmm…” over. I do recall the one I drove in the demo a few weeks back handling like a dream, but it was definitely on a tough track to make it around without some deft braking and proper acceleration when required. The game isn’t a sim at all, but you can’t just jam on the gas and expect to make it through a race with a decent position. Then again, you’d probably NOT want to be sitting in a real BMW or any other car with me, as I don’t drive in the real world (but skills picked up from gaming have helped me move a few vehicles over the years)…

Defiance Episode 1 Recap/Episode 3 Preview: Fun With The Past, Bugs In Your Future…

I like how syfy is poking a little fun at their big hit show in that recap above while keeping things interesting in the more serious preview below. Of course, titling your third episode after a classic Star Trek episode kind of reeks of unoriginality, but I’m betting if there’s a decent homage paid out during that episode next week, it’ll fly right on over the heads of anyone who’s never seen the old Trek show previously. Thank goodness for the Internet, right? Well, unless you’re a classic Trek fan angrily typing out some threats in Romulan or Klingon to send to the network…

Still, it’ll be nice to see which types of Hellbugs pop up in the show on Monday, as the game has a few nasty varieties that are pretty relentless once they start chewing on you. And, nope… that can of Raid on the shelf in the kitchen is NO help at all…

Thor: The Dark World Trailer (UK): If I Had A Hammer, Too…

OK, everybody… SING! Yeah, if you’re old enough like me, you know how that music goes. If you don’t, there’s a visual aid below:

“Cross the Rainbow Bridge of Asgard,
Where the booming heavens roar,
You’ll behold in breathless wonder
The God Of Thunder, Mighty Thor!”

The Marvel movie revival juggernaut continues with this upcoming sequel set for an October 30, 2013 launch in the UK. Marvel’s US YouTube page seems to a wee bit slow on uploading the US version, so here you go. Even though there’s a bit of corny on display above, I like the way this sequel looks. Then again, I liked the first film because it was pretty fun and quite amusing thanks to the direction and a solid cast. Of course, there’s that interesting crossover thing happening here, meaning it’ll be fun to stick around for the credits and see what new Marvel flick gets teased. I do wonder if we’ll see some sort of huge blockbuster that brings in ALL the current Marvel movie heroes, as I’d bet the most hard-core fans would line up for that one a year in advance if it were announced…

Star Trek: The Video Game Launch Trailer: Some May Ask “Warp Factor Who?”

Namco Bandai Games and developer Digital Extremes “prequel” of sorts to the upcoming Star Trek: Into Darkness has warped into stores today, but I haven’t seen much in the way of fanfare in the form of a decent TV spot. Then again, I’m not a regular TV viewer outside of some cable shows, but even when I do catch something on another channel, I haven’t seen a thing other than an ad or two for the film. Normally, this doesn’t bode well for a game, but I think that there’s the automatic assumption that Trek fans won’t need to be pressured to snap this up with big ads and too many dollars spent on hyping something many will buy without hesitation. Poking around a few message board shows that those who have the game are liking it in varying degrees, so let’s hope this one catches on as does well, as a lot of work went into it…

Deadly Premonition: The Director’s Cut Random Screenshot of the Day: Mondays Aren’t For Everyone…

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And you thought YOU hated Mondays? Well, imagine being some poor underemployed Shadow who can’t even have the satisfaction of having a job to get to on a Monday morning just to hang out at the water cooler and whine about how last weekend was too short and it’s back to the daily grind and blah, blah, blah. Of course, that shadow just so happens to be a resident of Greenvale, where there’s actually decent work for her type when a certain game director brings his development team into town and needs to put together an updated version of his last project. I think she’s bent over backward here because that work has come to a close and there’s nothing to do now but moan and creep around the woods scaring small to medium sized animals and the occasional tourist that strolls off the beaten path.

Naturally, Greenvale’s actual residents aren’t really to scared of these shadows, as they’re quite used to all sorts of weird happenings in their town. If you’re headed there for vacation and want to give one or more of them a nice ego boost, pretend to be totally freaked out when you see them and run around in a circle for about thirty seconds screaming like a squeezed duck. That should make someone smile and tell their Shadow friends that they “got another one!” when they’re having that beer party on Friday behind the Swery 65 Bar…

DPDC PS3 US EFS 2D RealBy now, you know that you should be thrilled that there’s only a week until Rising Star Games gets Deadly Premonition: The Director’s Cut for the PlayStation 3 into stores. This PS3 exclusive features updated HD visuals, PlayStation Move and 3D TV support, Trophies, all-new DLC and over 100 improvements over the original version. Your next Monday won’t be spent griping and groaning at all unless you’re somehow facing the wrong way when you start playing and complaining that you can’t see anything. Just don’t do that with someone else in the room of they’ll call you crazy and have the men in white coats come to take you for a ride. Then you’ll REALLY have something to whine about when you end up not being able to play the game at all until you get released…

swery_hamburgerOne person who’s very probably having an ABSOLUTELY fine Monday is Game Director Swery 65. I’d bet he’s pretty much sitting around in a bar or coffee shop somewhere checking his email, having a(nother) tasty burger and beverage combo while updating his Facebook page with a quick post or Instagram photo (or both) and just hanging out enjoying himself while he waits patiently for the first reviews to roll in. I’d say he’s got nothing to fear in terms of too many gamers and editor-types NOT liking the game, as it’s already gone through that wringer once and is now seen as a genre classic by many who fell under its strange spell…

New Arrival: Dragon’s Dogma Dark Arisen Pops In To Destroy My Productivity…

DD_DA Well, there goes the rest of the week, folks. I walk in from working on a few posts and there’s a copy of Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen waiting for me. Nice. Hmmm… I see from the included Fact Sheet that loading up that old save I have will net me a cool 100,000 Rift Points, a nice set of gear and some other fun stuff, so I’m going to have to NOT pass up that chance to score all those goodies and see what this “expansion” packs on that disc. I say “expansion” because it’s a lot more than a simple add-on and nope, you don’t need the first game at all to play this one.

That’s right, folks – for a mere $39.99, you get the FULL version of the original game on the same disc and that new content doesn’t look at all as if it’s going to be a mere ten-hour romp in the caves. Back with an update (in the form of a review) probably on the weekend. I still need to get my daily post count in, so I can’t get TOO sidetracked. On the other hand, I may limit myself to five or so posts per day until I get this game tackled. We shall see…

Iron Man 3 TV Spot #5: Rust Never Sleeps (II… and Neither Does Tony Stark, It Seems)…

I thought we’d see something like a dozen different ads by now, but Marvel is taking their time on rolling these out it seems. Either that, or it’s because they’ve shown so much of the action scenes in bits and pieces that revealing the actual story would be a bad thing. Of course, as I’m not one of those internet poker-a-rounders digging up every plot point or on-set screenshot out there so I can spoil my screening, I don’t mind the slow reveals one bit. Actually, it would be amazing to see a major motion picture that’s not a Terence Malick film pop up with not so much spolieriffic fanfare and blow audiences away because it was under-hyped and amazing. Eh, like that ever happens these days…

Game of Thrones 3:4 Behind the Episode: A Show Of Hands (And Other Revelations)…

You know, I’m never, EVER going to run out of hand jokes, right? Well, it’s a damn good thing you don’t HAVE to read my lame attempts at humor at all thanks to that video above to draw your attention away, right? Well, I’ll just keep on doing what I do best (well, at least in my pointy little head) and you, dear reader – just keep on doing what you do best as long as you park your eyeballs here for a spell each day. Whee – it’s a shorter than usual post so you won’t suffer much. Actually, I need to jet on home, as I want to whip up dinner before Defiance kicks on at 9PM…