Call of Duty Advanced Warfare “Power Changes Everything” Trailer: Let’s You And Him Fight! Again.

Posted on September 24, 2014 by geelw

Ah, if only real world conflicts could be solved by some simple gaming away for a few hours until one side “loses.” Yeah, I’d be ALL for that instead of this stop and start unsteady war footing we keep finding ourselves mixed up in. Sure, the real world is indeed a complicated place, but you’d THINK that after centuries of either getting it all wrong or not learning from past mistakes, we’d figure out an easier (or at least more efficient) means of dealing with people we don’t like who do things we really don’t like. Of course, the more recent Call of Duty games have been a bit timely in asking a few of these questions in between bullets and bomb blasts, but I’d gather that the bulk of the millions who buy and play these games year after year might not care much about hot geopolitical topics interrupting their online gunplay and kill streaks galore. Granted, the games do get better and better from a production standpoint and it’s clear that Sledgehammer Games is doing this year’s installment up right for PS4 and Xbox One owners expecting the best visual quality.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare hits retail outlets and digital delivery systems for PS3/PS4, Xbox 360/Xbox One and PC on October 3, 2014.

Random Film of the Week: Five Star Final

Posted on September 24, 2014 by geelw

(Thanks, All Vintage Films!)

If you think what passes for today’s “news” reporting is sketchy and lurid, 1931’s excellent potboiler Five Star Final will show you that the more things change, the more they stay the same. As with plenty of other pre-Code flicks, it’s got lots of surprisingly saucy dialog, a nice pre-noir vibe and some fine performances from a mostly great cast.

Featuring Edward G. Robinson in the lead role of a troubled newspaper editor, Aline MacMahon as his snappy-pattered secretary and a surprising turn by Boris Karloff as a lecherous reporter (he’s almost as frightening as he would be in Frankenstein later that year), this is one of those fast-talking, hard driving “message” films that slaps you back in your seat and holds you down as it spills out its guts about the crazy would of tabloid “news” and how it affects its subjects on all sides of the fence. While there’s an “on stage” element to certain scenes some may find sappy to a fault, I’d say that’s here to balance out the nastiness going on at that awful tabloid… Continue reading →

Some Random GOTHAM Thoughts…

Posted on September 23, 2014 by geelw

Hmmm. So, even though I’m not fond of their “news” division’s endlessly dreary antics in keeping people misinformed and angry and frightened half to death, I have to give it up for some of Fox’s TV lineup on the pure entertainment front. The new DC Comics-inspired drama GOTHAM is actually quite good, but I see some critics have no idea who’s who in the Bat-verse. Edward Nigma is NOT going to be the Joker unless he’s got a split personality and all those riddles he’s telling turn to worse jokes. I thought they introduced a wee bit too many characters from the comics in that pilot, but I guess they had to because it’s best to throw out as many cards onto the table as possible and get those arcs going. We got young versions of Catwoman, Batman, Poison Ivy, The Riddler, Penguin, the future Commissioner Gordon and an already dirty cop Harvey Bullock. I’d gather the guy who shot Thomas and Arthur Wayne may also be from one of the comic’s versions of the origin story, but we’ll see where that goes during this season. There’s more to say, but I’ll let a few episodes sink in before I make more noise.

Well, I do have one other goofball complaint – 8PM means I can’t see the show when it airs. I need to hit up the On Demand channel and catch this show the day after. Given the content, it should go on at 9, but the silliness that is Sleepy Hollow takes up that time slot. So, a day late and a dollar short is my way of experiencing this new take on an old classic comic story for the ages. Okay, back in a bit…

Mail’s In, I’m Out!

Posted on September 23, 2014 by geelw

Thanks to the mail deities delivering nearly everything at once yesterday evening because of a slight delay from a few states and faster than expected international shipping (hoo-ray!), I’m taking today off to tackle a couple of entertainment options. For the upcoming Fairy Tale Blogathon at Movies, Silently I had to import Ray Harryhausen The Early Years Collection from the UK, as it’s not available in a Region 1 format DVD (why?). I was deciding between writing that 2-disc set up when I came across the complete 2-disc set of Fractured Fairy Tales and snapped it up because it was dirt cheap and had free shipping. Of course, someone claimed that review, but I didn’t mind because I grew up watching The Bullwinkle Show reruns and those FFT segments were always hilarious.

For a crazed change of pace, I HAD to bug Clint over at MVD Visual about The Sex Pistols on TV, a DVD documentary of the band’s outrageous live interviews and other footage that I’ve wanted to see for some time. Yep, I have pretty varied musical tastes, folks. Finally, time to give the devil his due, as Diablo III Reaper of Souls Ultimate Evil Edition is in the house! While the PS4 is getting all the online ink, I’ve only seen two reviews of the PS3 version, so my review will let those of you curious about this who don’t yet own that new console know if it’s worth a buy. I did play a few hours last night and here’s a spoiler: It’s a buy for a ton of reasons. You get the original game with some BIG changes (as in your copy of plain DII is now obsolete to some extent) and the Reaper of Souls content that adds even more new stuff.

Hmmm… okay, enough procrastinating – I need to go dip myself into some diversions, people. Back in a bit…

And Who Wouldn’t Want To Spend the Evening With Miss Bardot?

Posted on September 22, 2014 by geelw

Well, I have no idea what I’d say or do once I popped out of that time machine and found myself in the presence of the lady, but I’d probably faint dead away from surprise that my time travel experiment worked and wake up a few seconds before I was to be zapped back to the present. Oh well. I guess staying safe at home with these five films is a safer bet:

8PM: And God Created Woman (1956)

9:45PM: Une Parisienne (1957)

11:30PM: Plucking the Daisy (1956)

1:30 AM: The Night Heaven Fell (1958)

3:15 AM: Contempt (1963)

The good thing for me is I’ve only seen two of these films, so the rest will be my first time. Um… er… (*beet!*) you know what I mean! Get your mind out of the gutter, you. I need all that space for mine to float around in later! ;^P

Monday Means Bundles of Joy All Over (And An Aching Backlog Again)!

Posted on September 22, 2014 by geelw

Let’s see now, the mailbox is bursting at the seams today, so I guess it’s Bundle time! Here are a few deals to pore over at your leisure, although you kind of want to hurry on those 24-hour deals, folks:

The IndieGala Every Monday Bundle this week is $1.89 and consists of three indie adventure games and three quirky kind of retro-style games. It’s a nice mix of randomness that should keep you entertained in short spurts or for a particularly boring weekend. The nice thing about all of these games is you’re not forced to play them all within a particular time span. Unless of course you’re trying to buy and play games in a specific order or knock them off your backlog as you buy each bundle. Hey! I;m not done yet – two more to go… Continue reading →

Endless Legend Is Out: Buy It & Just Toss Out Every Clock In The House…

Posted on September 22, 2014 by geelw

You won’t need them because once you start playing this game, the concept of time is rendered meaningless. Well, that’s what a friend said to me over the weekend when he got the game. He’d been an Early Access guy and had been poking around with a pre-release version and letting me know how this new fantasy-themed 4X game was coming along (quite nicely, from what I heard). Over the weekend, he’d done nothing but get up in the morning, hop in the shower, pop out to the store for provisions and after that, he was pretty much glued to his monitor. Normally he doesn’t do this, but he’s got a big work week ahead of him and wanted to get in enough gameplay to tide him over until this coming weekend.

Of course, he gets to bed around 2:30am Monday (today!), but pops up at 6am only to find he doesn’t need to zoom out of the door at all because the big Monday conference had been pushed up a day thanks to a few surprise births among a few wives or women in his office being a few days to a week early. Guess who still popped out of bed, put a pot of coffee on and went back to Endless Legend? That guyyyyyyy! Yeah, that’s dedication, folks. It must also mean the game is worth a buy if you like the 4X strategy genre and need a new fix. I’ll need to knock a hole in my schedule AND toss out all the clock in order to even think about playing this game, but let’s see what I can do with a few things this week before I decide to dive in and forget about everything else for a spell…

Funko Unmasks Batman For The Masses (Well, Provided Those Masses Shop at Target)!

Posted on September 22, 2014 by geelw

What, was there a vinyl shortage or something, Funko? Not only did you reveal Batman’s secret identity to the world, you’re releasing this new Pop! Vinyl collectible exclusively through Target, one of the bigger retailers out there this week. EVIL! I can here that PA system now: “Attention Target shoppers! Get your Exclusive Unmasked Batman Pop! before they sell out!” EEEEEVIL!

Of course, me posting this along with that image above means I’m an accomplice to all this, but that’s the “news” business these days, folks. Show those pics – get those clicks!

Sluggish Sunday Seems Sensible. So Slowness Simply Slides…

Posted on September 21, 2014 by geelw

(thanks, “Gerry Anderson”!)

Thunderbirds aren’t GO! Today’s a gloomy mess outside and I’m in no mood for foul weather. Anyway, my brian has some clouds stuck in it temporarily so there will be a distinct lack of interesting things to read outside of this post. Well, until tomorrow. I’ve been a bit busy dinking around with Destiny and I’m finally getting back to writing the review I’d started just after the launch because this is a game that shouldn’t have been reviewed at all until about three weeks to a month after its release.

I also finally got my paws on one of Sony’s Wonderbook titles and… it works wonderfully. However, they totally screwed up what could and should have been an interactive book series that brought titles to life for MORE than just the kid market (or more precisely, the “Parents who buy this stuff for kids who don’t buy it because they don’t work for a living” market). To date, there are a mere three US releases and one title that only got a European and Australian release. I also have a few movies to write about, some books to review on the way and some other stuff some PR people have been promising to hit me over the head with is incoming, so it’s not as if I have nothing to do, folks. I just need to get my motivation revved back up to do it (and promptly, at that)…

Back in a bit…

Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures 2: More Of Lots And More Of That Lots…

Posted on September 20, 2014 by geelw

Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures 2 producer extraordinaire Kunito Kimori has a great sense of humor and clearly enjoys his work. As he showed off a few levels of the upcoming game at a recent Bandai Namco event, he pointed out fun additions to the gameplay that weren’t in the original, checking with a glance between playing to see if I was grinning as much as he was. He needn’t have worried, as between the on-rails sky surfing shooting section and the intentionally silly boss battle between a skyscraper-sized Pac and an equally large missile shooting metal meanie, I was more than happy to see everyone’s favorite dot-munching pal back in action… Continue reading →