Random Film of the Day*: The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms

Posted on May 11, 2013 by geelw

*For the next week or so, I’m going to add a random film the great Ray Harryhausen worked on. The legendary special effects MASTER passed away on May 7, 2013 at age 92 in London and yes, the film world owes him more than they can ever repay…

B2KF For some fans of giant monster movies, Godzilla is their gold standard, but I’m a Rhedosaurus man, myself. 1953’s The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms is a smaller-scale picture when compared to Toho’s epic genre entry and it’s also not as sprawling and dynamic as King Kong in terms of impact. On the other hand, Ray Harryhausen’s work here is superb and at a mere 80 minutes, this one goes down easy and doesn’t wear out its welcome one bit.

With its giant lizard (OK, fake, but pretty scary and really huge dinosaur) awakened from the Arctic ice by a nuclear bomb, some interesting plot twists and yes, plenty of wonderful stop-motion mayhem (and some great crowd scenes), this one’s yet another memorable classic for genre fans… Continue reading →

Saturday Night’s All Right For Fighting…

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Well, it WASN’T supposed to be such a damn slow day here, but between the rain keeping me inside and away from a decent wi-fi connection and some issues with a PC game I was trying to get running, it’s been kind of a “Meh” day for productivity. I did, however, discover this little clip from the old Sega Saturn and PC game Enemy Zero that sums up all of today in three seconds:

Yeah, well… I’ll get over it tomorrow. OK, enough time burning – back to the salt mines for me…

R.I.P.D. Trailer: D.O.A., Or Will This Horror-ish Flick Cop A Feel From Fans?

Posted on May 11, 2013 by geelw

Hmmmm. As soon as I saw this trailer, I thought of the great cable series from a few years back Dead Like Me having a baby with Men in Black (with a hefty amount of rewriting so the seams aren’t showing, of course). Well, that could go both ways, as in this will either be really good or really bad. Interestingly enough, I’ve been seeing some negative press about this and a few other summer flicks from overpaid analysts who seem to predict doom a wee bit too much based on some cracked crystal ball and a need to collect a paycheck. I often wonder if any of this “analysis” is paid for by competing studios who don’t mind stabbing another studio and their big-budget projects in the face with these opinions, but let’s keep out of trouble on that front (for now)…

Defiance 1:4 Recap/1:5 Preview: Renewal Means More Life Ahead For Many…

Posted on May 11, 2013 by geelw

The great news is syfy has renewed Defiance for a second season, so that means the ratings are decent enough that we’ll get more of this fancy futuristic western and hopefully more airtime for certain characters. The tie-in action/shooter MMORPG also seems to be doing well as its user base has hit the million mark and seems to be growing after some of the usual online gaming issues that plague new releases. Thanks to the rather deep back story to the show (and game) world and the assorted races, there’s a lot of unexplored territory that should keep this train rolling for as long as content can be created. Of course, all this depends on the show keeping those ratings as high as possible and the game getting rid of a few bugs that still keep it from perfection.

Given the dedication to both products from all working on them, it’s a no-brainer (to me, at least) that things can only get better in the future (even if the future is a pretty busted up planet we’re going to live on)…

The Last of Us TV Spot #2: A Month or So Isn’t That Long To Wait…

Posted on May 11, 2013 by geelw

As I’ve said before, Sony’s not going to let the PS3 fade into the usual “old” console obscurity as they’ve got a few more great first-party games that show off some developers at the top of their game. Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us looks to combine solid storytelling and intense action in an exclusive that looks to be one of the best games made for the console. The recently released Dark Horse Comics prequel has sold out (well, as far a physical copies go), so it looks like plenty of gamers who picked the book up (and happen to own PS3’s) will be zipping on down to their favorite game shop (or lurking by their mailboxes) when the game’s June 14, 2013 release date rolls up.