Random Film of the Day*: Mighty Joe Young

Posted on May 14, 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 has lost a true giant as well as a fine and talented gentleman…

Mighty Joe Young poster With Ernest B. Schoedsack’s 1949 film Mighty Joe Young, stop motion animation fans saw the torch passed from the past master of the technique, Willis O’Brien to his willing, eager and more than able apprentice (and future master), Ray Harryhausen. Where 1925’s startling The Lost World and 1933’s epic King Kong helped pioneer stop motion (and its more comedic sequel, Son of Kong added a neat dinosaur chase scene to the list of O’Brien’s classic scenes), Mighty Joe Young was pretty much Harryhausen’s film from start to finish.

O’Brien hired Ray as an assistant animator, but based on different accounts, ended up letting the young man handle the bulk of the actual animation while he supervised the technical aspect of the special effects. While the film’s story was provided by King Kong co-writer/co-creator Merian C. Cooper and has some direct thematic resemblances to that earlier film (to the point were some less astute viewers think it’s an actual Kong sequel), Joe’s smaller size, demeanor and human-like qualities were greatly enhanced by stellar animation, some fantastic action scenes and a really great use of humor throughout that makes it nowhere as dark as Kong, nor as silly as its rushed into theaters sequel…
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UGLYDOLL & the Ave Venice Team Up For Some Cool Custom Chucks…

Posted on May 14, 2013 by geelw

Usually, someone telling you you’ve got ugly shoes is a not so good thing to hear and can sometimes lead to minor to moderately serious medical issues when that shoe needs to be removed from assorted orifices post-negative unsolicited commentary.

Thankfully for those of you who’ve been on the receiving end of remarks about your footwear (or who’ve planted a boot up someone’s behind for making bad noises about your kicks) can get satisfaction (and a lot less problems sitting down for a week or so) thanks to UGLYDOLL, the Ave Venice and Converse. Check out their four brand new printed Chuck Taylor styles up for grabs for $90 each on the Ave’s website: meet Ninja Batty (above), OX, Ice-Bat and the too-cute to call ugly (unless you just HATE cute things with your permanent bad mood self) UGLYDOLL Flower Pattern (below), all waiting to wrap themselves around your feet for compliments galore.

Well, perhaps you’ll still have your shoes called UGLY, but at least that’s what they’re supposed to be called (halfway – but it’s a step up!) and yeah, the person saying that will me smiling instead of smirking, which means you’re being hit on and won’t need to let loose with the *boot!* action (well, unless that pest gets too persistent with the moon eyes and compliments on your feet)…

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Trailer 1: Your Tuesday Fix Is On The Way…

Posted on May 14, 2013 by geelw

Hmmm… I’d say this looks upcoming ABC series that’s drawing a ton of attention from Marvel maniacs looks a bit like a mash-up of Heroes meets the X-Files with a smidgen of a police or detective procedural show, but set in the Marvel Universe. That all of course means it has the potential to go a few ways under the right hands. Under the wrong hands it’s an expensive and painful to watch train wreck, but I think we’re over that stage when it comes to Marvel’s licensed properties. Then again, if Nicholas Cage needs some work, I can see him making a cameo as Ghost Rider just to scare fans into making sure they don’t skip the cameo he gets lest they drive the ratings down and get their show canned. Hell, I bet Marvel can use the show to foist all sorts of last-rate characters back into the Marvel Universe just to test the patience of the loyal Marvelites who won’t stop watching even if they see a glimpse of Howard the Duck’s shadow on a wall in a future show’s trailer or TV spot. OK, OK, I don’t think the show will go THAT low, but you never know what the “House of Ideas” has on that back burner…

GRID 2 “WSR 3” Video: Drift & Shout…

Posted on May 14, 2013 by geelw

And now, a bit of slipping and sliding through the Asian courses on GRID 2 for your soon to be driving like a maniac pleasure. Five years of hard work is coming to a close and it looks as if Codemasters will have a new legion of race fans when the launches at the end of the month onto PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. Of course, some of the griefers whining endlessly about the cockpit view not being in tagging along and actually liking the game for the sense of speed and solid visuals would be some extra icing on the cake, but at this point, the dev team probably could care less what the non-stop complainers are complaining about. As usual, we shall see and I’m betting some clever hacker will knock out a patch for the PC version at some point that adds a viewpoint some prefer (even if it makes the game perform a bit worse)…

Random Film of the Week: The Twonky

Posted on May 14, 2013 by geelw

(thanks, Professor Craigles!)

twonky I find it absolutely and awesomely hilarious that the word “Twonky” has been swiped by a few people who probably thought it sounded cool but never, ever saw this oddball 1953 flick that now pops up on Turner Classic Movies from time to time. I’m also sure that some of these hipsters with no sense of film history would be shocked (SHOCKED, I say!) to find out that the titular Twonky of this little film is a nasty alien machine that tries and nearly succeeds to take over the life of the poor sap of a professor who inadvertently ends up with a VERY self-aware robot instead of the TV his wife bought to keep him company.

Writer/director Arch Oboler tries a wee bit too hard to generate laughs and despite some interesting special effects (well, for 1953), the film’s seemingly anti-technology/anti-freedom message overwhelms any chance of it being anything more than a curious artifact of a more paranoid age. Then again, that age seems to have circled back around with a much bigger influence on the more information-rotted minds in today’s heads, so perhaps it’s worth a second (or first) look, hmmm?… Continue reading →

Deus Ex: Human Revolution – Director’s Cut: The Wii U Gets Another One Worth (Re)Playing…

Posted on May 14, 2013 by geelw

If you’ve not yet given Eidos Montreal’s award-winning and critically acclaimed 2011 game a go on the PS3, Xbox 360 or PC because you’ve only owned a Nintendo console, here’s your big chance coming up soon. The cool thing is this version adds some great Wii U Game Pad functionality plus new features and content not found in the three earlier versions, so once again it can be said that Wii U owners are getting the most complete and yes, best version possible (outside high-end PC visuals, but what’s here looks great to my eyeballs). Deus Ex: Human Revolution – Director’s Cut will be in stores later this year.

Now I need to find time to (re)PLAY this one at some point down the road…

VGA 101: More Classic PC Game Intros? OK, A Little Dungeon Hack For You…

Posted on May 14, 2013 by geelw

Another favorite game of mine by Dreamforge was Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Dungeon Hack, a pretty cool create your own dungeon-crawler were you chose or created a hero or heroine and set out in a random dungeon generated by you or the computer. This made for who knows how many millions of possible combinations and no two generated “seeds” playing exactly the same. Basically, it’s a rogue-like where survival was constantly tricky, but not impossible if you lucked out and managed to get some great gear to defeat the increasingly difficult monsters (and found enough rations so your avatar wouldn’t starve to death). Anyway, the intro is another favorite of mine thanks to the great art and colors used plus it’s funny as hell to see the hero whine about needing to get paid in advance with traveling and supply money… only to get zapped to the dungeon unprepared. I think I’ve only ever completed three or four of the dungeons I cooked up with this game, but it’s been a long while since I’ve played this one. I’ll fire it up once I have free time and dink around a bit to see if I can still play this one. It installs and runs perfectly on Windows XP, but I really don’t have the time to dive in and get hooked all over again…

VGA 101: Anvil of Dawn Gets GOG’ed (FINALLY!)

Posted on May 14, 2013 by geelw

Dreamforge’s classic 1995 first-person dungeon crawler was one of my favorite games back in the day and I still have my original CD and manual in the library. It’s been around as “abandonware” for a few years, but that and other versions were (and are) incomplete, missing the movies and/or fully voiced dialog, making for half the game it should have been. Well, the fine folks at GOG.com have gotten this one up and running (it turns out Ubisoft has the rights, which means we could HOPEFULLY see a remake down the road) and available for the low price of $5.99 (whee!), which makes me a happy camper indeed. Granted, I finally got my CD up and running last week, so I won’t be buying this right away. But it’s REALLY great to know it’s exactly where I need to find it, now whole again and able to be enjoyed by a new generation of gamers (who I surely HOPE will appreciate it for how important it was to the genre) who won’t compare it to games inspired by it (backwards!) or think it’s a new “retro” styled game (oh, the irony there!)…