The Raid 2 Trailer: Well, Ain’t That A Kick In The Head (And A Few Other Places)?

 
Oh, the pain, the paaaain. The Raid: Redemption was one of the wilder action movies of the past decade thanks to some well shot brutal, lightning paced edge of the seat action and a twisty plot that kept audiences guessing. I won’t go over the story here at all as this is one of those movies that needs to be seen with a few friends just so you can all pick up each others’ jaws when they keep popping off and falling on the floor. The upcoming sequel (written and directed by Gareth Evans) looks to up the ante with even more creative uses of violence and wait, is that the crazy fighter MAD DOG making a return? WHAAAAAT? Hey, he was dead in the first film! Hmmmm. Unless it’s his twin ass-kicking brother or he somehow survived that fluorescent tube to the neck (OUCH!) and some other grievous injuries, there’s gonna be some ‘splanin’ to do. Oh, I think it won’t make mucg sense in the grand scheme of things, but now I have to find out what the heck he’s doing here other than making people flip out because he’s still alive…

This should be innnnnnnteresting, people, stay tuned.

EDIT: a bunch of you kind folks have chimed in to let me know that that guy who LOOKS just like Mad Dog is not Mad Dog at all, but an entirely different character named Prakoso… who just so happens to be played by the same actor. Well, that changes things up quite a lot. Let’s hope it’s not revealed that it’s really Mad Dog’s evil clone, second of a set of sextuplets or anything else too goofy that sucks the fun out of all that carnage.

You Don’t Need Six Reasons To Get These Two Films From Criterion…

But here they go, trying to convince you you need convincing:

Look, if you’ve never seen Stanley Kramer’s It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World by now, you NEED to and Criterion’s five-disc Blu-Ray is a must buy, period.

 
As for Michael Mann’s Thief, yeah, it’s a more modern classic as well as a brilliant film that’s a great keeper.

So yeah, short post because it’s snowing like hell and they’re kicking people out of the library. Go buy one or both of these and thank me later. I hate you, Criterion for making me want to spend more money. Boo. And Yay. You’re just TOO damn good at what you do these days…

Random Film of the Week: The Straight Story

straight_story_ver2For me, The Straight Story is David Lynch’s best film because it succeeds wholly as the director’s “most experimental” work and manages to be one of those movies that WILL touch you no matter how you feel about his other work. The true story of Alvin Straight’s 200+ mile journey to visit his ailing brother on a riding lawn mower may seem well out of Lynch’s weird wheelhouse, but those of his fans and anyone with a good eye will see plenty of strangeness in the normal here that shows even the simplest of stories can be remarkable when told as well as done here.

Perhaps the most amusing and interesting thing about the movie to some will be it carries the Disney name on it (it was released under the company’s Buena Vista Pictures label back in 1999) and is rated G, usually two death knells for a director know for startling his audiences with bizarre imagery. Lynch keeps things more mundane here, but there are moments in performance and presentation where you can see bits of his trademark style on display and it doesn’t detract from the story at all… Continue reading

Earth Defense Force 2025 Update: Game Goes Gold, Gets Mission Pack DLC

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Closer and closer it creeps, folks. Sandlot’s straight up giant bug and robot run and gun spectacular, Earth Defense Force 2025 has gone gold and is on track to land at your favorite game emporium on February 18, 2014. In addition to the 85 massive stages (94 if you play the game online), D3Publisher has announced three mission packs coming, one on launch day and one each within two weeks of launch. Before you get all cranky about this DLC, know ye this: beating EDF 2025 with all four classes will take even the most seasoned gamers some time (as in a few weeks at best), as the game can get pretty hectic if one goes it alone (like a true EDF maniac). That said, the mission packs offer up even MORE challenging enemy variants and are geared towards players who like it rough.

According to the press release, these Mission Packs will be available separately on the dates below and later on as a bundle:

Special Ops – Will feature 5 new missions for $2.99 and be available on February 18.
Mutant Rampage – Will feature 20 new missions for $8.99 and be available on February 25.
Beyond Despair – Will feature 20 new missions for $8.99 and be available on March 11.

Color me psyched, as the import was a big time eater for me last year and I can’t wait to see what’s been tweaked in the time since that version shipped out. Anyway, the days are ticking away and my PS3 is winking at me and blowing kisses for some reason. On the other hand, I do need a new controller, as there’s a button starting to stick and an EDF game DEMANDS you have a controller that’s in working perfect working order. Off to check the funds and take care of that…

Heroes of a Broken Land: This Throwback RPG Is Quite A Keeper…

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Hey, Winged Pixel? You just made my too-snowy Tuesday a great deal more tolerable. Heroes of a Broken Land is a classic style role playing game with a lovely Dungeon Master/Eye of the Beholder/Wizardry vibe (and a few other classics), procedurally generated maps, a hex-based over world map just to get me tingly and even some simulation aspects as you restore fragmented landscapes to their original forms.

That demo is calling me even as we speak, so it’s off to download and give this one a try. The full version of the game is also available for a mere $14.99 from the Winged Pixel site, Desura, or Gamersgate and if it gets voted in through the Greenlight program, expect this to also land on Steam at some point. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some dungeons to delve into…