Gravity TV Spot 3: Getting Closer… But Still Far Away….

Posted on September 16, 2013 by geelw

I’m still debating with myself if this fantastic-looking flick is worth dropping $30 on to see in IMAX and 3D and I’m leaning towards a “not quite” simply because I’m a legendary cheapskate (who tips well at restaurants, mind you) that would rather spend that cash on a game or Blu-Ray/DVD I can watch endlessly. I guess I should use something else to help me decide other than that two-headed coin I got from a magic shop ages ago, but the loaded dice, “miracle” card deck and cracked Magic 8-Ball here (that’s keeps reading “Reply Hazy, Please Try Again” over and over) all aren’t helping me make up my mind. Hmmm… perhaps a windfall I can spend and not feel guilty about will be the big decider. Yeah, I’ll go walk around with a big bucket and see what the wide drops in it… back at some point with a financial report of sorts…

U55- END OF THE LINE: Lovecraft-Inspired PC Game Kickstarter Needs Some Love (It’s Already Got the Craft Part Down)…

Posted on September 16, 2013 by geelw

Hmmm… there are only a few days left to get this one funded (the campaign ends on 9/19), and it’s a bit far from its goal. I thought people LOVED horror games? Unless they’re all free version of Slenderman-playing posers, of course (none of those games is actually “scary” – I find them annoying and one-note jump scare-fests for the most part). Anyway, if you have some spare loot burning a hole in your jeans, take off those jeans before you get a bad case of hot ass and pledge a few of those dollars, dinars, Euros or whatever to these fine guys from Germany HERE. If anything, at least READ the pitch page for the testimonials, some of which are pretty interesting. Kurtis Blow is still around AND a gamer? Wild!

So, Er… What’s That BIG Game Coming Out Tomorrow Called Again?

Posted on September 16, 2013 by geelw

OK, Okay, Ooooo-Kaaaay. I’ll eventually get to the mighty Grand Theft Auto V at some point this month (or next). It’s pretty much a given that Rockstar has already and is going to continue to mop up the high scores with this one and although I’ve reviewed a previous GTA game in the past fairly quickly (I actually had about 30 hours to blow through GTA III and do up a long review for a magazine I wrote for back then), this one will take some time to peel back all of those layers.

Of course, leave it to the folks over at NWA World to take it a bit too extreme in terms of describing some of the game’s content. This one’s definitely NOT for the kids and that Mature rating means Rockstar is pushing that envelope right out the window. It’ll be fun watching the heads over at a certain cable network explode as they run “news” items about the game being “marketed to kids” when that’s never been the case at all. Oh well… just shut up and play it, I say. Or don’t if you don’t like the content. It’s not a mandated game experience, you know…

Wait, Kate The Great Could Skate?

Posted on September 16, 2013 by geelw

I knew Katherine Hepburn was the athletic type and all that, but a SKATEBOARD? Well, there’s some more respect for the Great Kate right there. Hell, I bet she even cut an old tree down and MADE that thing herself, heh. I probably has wooden wheels, as well. Go, Katie Hawk! I bet she just jumped over that van in the background, too. Doing a 720. I’ll never be able to watch another Hepburn performance now and NOT think of her on a skateboard. Pat & Mike will REALLY be interesting to watch again, that’s for sure…

Anyway, no I didn’t whip this out in Photoshop on a whim or after a particularly odd dream. I don’t even know how to use Photoshop, kids. This pic came from Dangerous Minds, and yes they have MORE black and white pics of celebrities on boards to ogle. This one’s my favorite pic, but absolutely go check the others out. A few look super staged (you’ll see), but you’ll still smile and wonder.

Nothing Lasts Forever: Probably The Best Weird FIlm You’ve Never Seen.

Posted on September 15, 2013 by geelw

And in case you’ve NEVER seen it… well, here you go. Nope, I won’t even review this one because it’s one of those flicks that needs to be experienced by as many as possible. All I’ll say is watch it and prepare to be knocked somewhere. Not OUT< as you need to be very conscious when you experience this 1984 gem. I vaguely recall paying to see it back in 1984… but I think it may also have been one of the very weird dreams I've had when I do something real in them, wake up and about a year later, recall doing something I've never done but think I did because of how vivid the dream was. Hey, I walked from one "end" of Paris to another in a dream, which never happened (although I've been to France twice). Anything else you want to hear about I'll need to charge you for.

Don't expect this on Blu-Ray or DVD anytime soon, as there seems to be a ton of rights issues that need clearing up and/or current rights holder Warner Bros. is being (in the words of a friend who recommended this flick to me) "a bag of total jerks" about releasing this in North America (it's been popping up on TV in Europe for a few years). It's too bad, as this one's completely nuts in the best possible manner…

Disney Is Turning That Movie Night Into Madness…

Posted on September 15, 2013 by geelw

Oh, hell no. Or, Come on, REALLY? Yikes. Granted, this second screen experience thing will only be at selected theaters, so there’s that. On the other hand, what the hell is Disney thinking here? This high tech mash-up of Rocky Horror Picture Show and Winky Dink is going to piss a lot of people off who go in happy and smiling with the kids thinking it’s going to be sooooo cooool. only to realize that ONE person with an iPad in a theater is a nuisance… but a few hundred with them is a whole new distracting light source and aural experience you DON’T want to sit through. That and why not just allow people who already OWN this on home video to download that app, stay at home and not have to go through hell as a lab rat for this experiment in terror. Nothing like a theater full of squealing, singing and arguing kids with their hipster doofus parental units (or anyone else with kids who buys in thinking this will be any kind of thine resembling FUN) to make your evening REALLY “special”, right? You’ve been warned… this has been a public service announcement.

The Backlog Continues (“Oops” Edition), Plus a Viking Wants Some of My Money…

Posted on September 15, 2013 by geelw

Yeah, yeah – I’m laaaaate to posting again, but I’ve been busy working through a bunch of games. One of which ISN’T Volgarr the Viking (now available on gog.com). Not that I don’t want to buy and play that awesome looking old-school hard as nails 2D action platformer, mind you. I’m actually OUT of space on all three of my hard drives and every portable drive I currently own. Ugh. Actually, I need to go through those drives because part of the reason I’m out of space is I accidentally backed up a complete drive onto another a while ago when I thought I was copying a few files and I don’t need everything I duplicated. I just haven’t gotten around to clearing out the drive because I’ll need to go through a load of files and that will take most of a day. Eh, one thing at a time, I suppose. I guess I’ll delete a few games I duplicated and add Volgarr and a few other things this week. I still have a few cheap indie bundles I spent a buck or two on that need to get added to my virtual stack of games to get to.

Random Film of the Week(end), Too: Abandon Ship! (Seven Waves Away)

Posted on September 14, 2013 by geelw

(thanks, S250385!)

“Save as many as you can …”.

I’ve been on a grand total of two cruise ships, plus a bunch of ferries and other boats raging in size from canoe to schooner, but after seeing Abandon Ship! (or Seven Waves Away if you’re in the UK), I’ll probably restrict my watercraft enjoyment to playing with toy boats in a bathtub filled with maybe five inches of water.

This 1957 British drama is probably one of the more depressing sea disaster films I’ve ever seen. Clocking in at just over an hour and a half, this harrowing tale gets off to a start as a luxury ocean liner, The Crescent Star hits a stray World War II mine that sinks the ship, killing most of its passengers and crew. There only time for a single lifeboat to launch before the ship goes down and that lifeboat can only fit nine people. Unfortunately (or even MORE unfortunately), twenty seven people end up in and around that lifeboat and soon, you’ll feel as if you’re in that boat with the doomed, the dying and the soon to be dead.

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Random Film of the Week(end): SCANDAL

Posted on September 14, 2013 by geelw

(thanks, NonoLoves!)

Akira Kurosawa’s SCANDAL is a brilliantly bittersweet film that works as an indictment of a celebrity-crazed public and paparazzi-fueled gossip gone wrong (as if it were ever “right”) while completely pulling you into its well-rounded characters and situations that will seem all to familiar in this era of TMZ and other “entertainment journalism” that’s merely feeding a voyeuristic “need” to pore into the private lives of people that for the most part don’t want or need this sort of intrusion.

The film is also a sentimental holiday story and seeing the Japanese takes on Christmas and New Year’s Day (circa 1950) makes for an interesting cultural shock that adds a nice layer of necessary humor to the plot. If you’re one for the weeping moment, this one’s also a great few-hanky flick that’s near flawless (meaning your strings will be yanked appropriately and at the right moments).

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RoboCop Poster: Black Is The New Black (Plus a “Related” Dog Story)…

Posted on September 13, 2013 by geelw

Sometimes You Get It, Sometimes You Don’t Department: About a month back I’m walking to the subway from a press event and there’s this guy walking a cute bulldog (well, cute for a bulldog) who stops at a traffic light while a big truck is trying to turn the corner. As I stroll up next to them and wait the minute or so it’ll take the truck to make the turn, a gal in a nice summer dress pops out of a store, walks up to the guy and starts chatting about his dog, asking if she could pet it. He says “Sure!” and while she’s doing so, she looks up and asks “What’s your dog’s name?” The guy looks down and says “Murphy” and yes, I let out a huge laugh. The guy looks over at me as I’m recovering and I ask “Robocop?, to which HE starts cracking up. “Yeah, yeah…” Of course, as we’re having our chuckle, the gal is looking at us and not quite getting it. Right at that moment, the truck finished negotiating the turn and I noted to the guy that he might want to let the lady in on the reference before she thinks something crazy is going on. Of course, I had that Basil Poledouris theme playing in my head as I strolled off…

Oh yeah… nice poster, huh? I’m betting we’ll see a few more before this one’s ready for its close up.