Random Film of the Week*: Code 46

Posted on July 19, 2013 by geelw

*OK, the official title of this post is: Random Film of the Week: Code 46 (Cinematic Katenjammer Not-So-Secret Santa Review Swap in July Version), but that’s too damn long a title even for my long-winded self. That and you can’t put links into titles on WordPress as far as I know…

As a fan of her always intriguing acting work, I’d watch Samantha Morton play a computer-generated paper bag character blowing down a dirty alleyway (I can see it now: “Dreamworks Animation presents… Trash Tale“), but thankfully (more or less), I got to watch Code 46 again and this time, write a little something about it.

Michael Winterbottom’s impressive 2003 speculative sci-fi love story/drama has some great intentions, solid performances and a lovely, realistically grimy futurist visual style all going for it, but it’s not a film for those with short attention spans nor those expecting a movie that’s going to blow their minds with flashy special effects. It’s one of those extremely well made yet surprisingly middle of the road movies which may at first seem odd for the director known for some outstanding (24-Hour Party People) as well as controversial (Butterfly Kiss, 9 Songs) films.

That said, it’s not “bad” by any stretch of the imagination and in fact, has some truly memorable scenes that will resonate with many viewers who want more than the usual weekend box office romance of the week flick. Nevertheless, for all its slow-burning tension, interesting nudity choices and “disturbing” plot twists, there’s a strangely creeping predictability to most of the film that made it feel like a distant memory playing itself back the first time I saw it. Or a memory to come I’d rather not have.

But then again, perhaps this is how it’s supposed to be…

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Strider Gets An Extra Life Courtesy of Capcom & Double Helix…

Posted on July 19, 2013 by geelw

Well, this was an interesting surprise to see popping up in the inbox yesterday: An all-new Strider game on the way from busy developer Double Helix headed to PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One and PC. Of course (throwing my two cents down here)… it would be better to get this out on the Wii U and Vita as well, but we seem to be in the age of publishers only wanting to get games out on platforms where there’s guaranteed interest and bigger initial full-price sales from a larger dedicated install base rather than trying a title out on a platform that may only rack up less than stellar sales figures or just have users saying they’ll wait for a price drop. Which, by the way is dumb on a game that’s no doubt going to be budget-priced. Hopefully.

Of course, for someone like me who’d rather have MORE choice than less and can clearly see this doing decently enough on some systems it’s not (currently) coming to, the news is great but a tad annoying. Sure, development costs no doubt factor into the decision to not bring this to the Wii U or Vita, but I say Capcom should do some sort of outreach into both of those communities and see if there’s interest in buying this one on either platform (I think there is) and perhaps getting those versions out at some point. With a classic like this making a comeback (that actually looks quite good and seems to be quite challenging based on that video above) as a digital-only release, it’s not as if there will be a ton of unsold retail boxes clogging up an inventory somewhere, right?

Oh… and if this doesn’t toss in the original arcade game as an extra, that would be really silly. Make it happen, Capcom.

Thing(s) to Do When it’s Too Damn Hot to Think Straight…

Posted on July 18, 2013 by geelw

OK, I actually did this artwork yesterday evening to clear out some cobwebs upstairs, but it’s been SO hot today that even the air is too tired to move much. Then again… oh, look – it’s 101 degrees rolling by on its brand spanking new motorcycle. Lucky skunk! Go crash into a tree, weather. Well, not this tree… it’s not real. OK, that post took too much effort to write, but it needed to be done. Off to poke around my inbox a bit – it seems to be bursting at the seams today…

The Great (and Not-So-Great) RPG Sale Is Temporarily Postponed (Obviously)…

Posted on July 17, 2013 by geelw

I’d been planning this sale of some fun stuff from the collection for a while and had initially wanted to kick it off this week, but as you can imagine, it’s being pushed back for the time being. Update to follow in a bit…

Random Film of the Week: THE CAR

Posted on July 17, 2013 by geelw

Since it’s hot as HELL outside, I figured I may as well throw you readers a bone in the form of a film with a lot of heat under its hood that won’t burn you (unless you’re expecting it to blow you away with stellar acting and a memorable plot.) If you take it at all seriously (and it’s VERY hard to do so, mind you), 1977’s THE CAR isn’t a great film by any stretch of the imagination, but it sure as hell is a really and unintentionally hilarious one.

It’s more or less a nasty-tasting cake made up of equal parts of single-word title films (JAWS, DUEL), a dash of devil possession from some other popular 70’s flicks, a custom George Barris ride that looks like a tricked out rolling bathtub and some (as in too many) scenery chewing lead and character actors having at the jumbled script and its crazy plot diversions.

This is a “Yours is not to question why…” flick, plain and simple. Small run down desert town gets visited and its citizenry terrified (and run down) by a mysterious driver-less evil car from hell (more or less). Sheriff and crew take on car with mixed and amusing results until they realize that good old fashioned explosives and a few tons of boulders solve many problems. Crash, Bang, Boom… The End? Yeah, it’s that simple enough to be a thirty minute episode of some sort of horror anthology on TV (or as part of a much better film anthology), but THE CAR is padded with a number of dopey subplots that don’t really go anywhere because after too many minutes of greasy buildup someone usually gets killed (and taken out of the picture as a result), leaving that screen door swinging in the breeze until the next victim shows up…

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Despite The Bad Stuff, I’ll Still Finish A Few Things…

Status

As I’d already started a few posts earlier today before the bad news, I’ll actually get those in as one is my assignment for The Cinematic Katzenjammer’s Not-So-Secret Santa Review Swap in July (say that three times fast!) and the other is a more goofball Random Film of the Week chosen to reflect the stupidly hot weather we’re having here. I have some other stuff in the works as well (including a stupidly massive bunch of JRPGs to sell off on another site), but we’ll take that bit by bit based on the level of absurdity about to roll in over the next few days plus. Off to rest for a bit – I actually need to roll out of bed bright and do a ton of laundry…

So, My Dad Died Today…

Posted on July 16, 2013 by geelw

(thanks, CartoonsIntros!)

Given his condition, this wasn’t completely unexpected, but it’s still a nice kick in the head on a too-hot Tuesday night. I’ll be back in a couple of days (or perhaps sooner for a general update). For some goofy reason, I thought of this old Hanna-Barbera cartoon when I got the news. I’ve got two brothers and a sister, but I guess this is how that part of my brain kicked in its own contribution to those rare moments when it was just the two of us (and no Snagglepuss to muck things up, but somehow, this was the episode that popped into my head. Um, thanks, brain?!):

(thanks, Yledion!)

Off for a few days to take care of a ton of stuff (and probably literally, given what’s in storage). I may post a quick update if I get a few moments to spare, but we’ll see. Time for the grief gougers to do their stuff, I guess…

Mystic Chronicles on PSN Today: It’s Your Blast of Retro JRPG Goodness for July

Posted on July 16, 2013 by geelw

Well, it SHOULD be up and ready to buy shortly, as I’m getting error messages when I try to download my review code, bleh. This seems to always happen with PSN, as it seems that SCEA updates it during the day with content as opposed to at a fixed time, so one has to keep trying until that code is accepted. Oh well, I guess I can try again in the next few hours while I have access to a decent connection. Otherwise, it’ll be a case of “Tomorrow is another day!” Which reminds me: memo to Scarlett O’Hara, you’re pretty and all… but man are you a dope sometimes! “Fiddle dee dee!” indeed…

Payday 2: Everyone Wins With That Upgrade to Collector’s Edition Status…

Posted on July 15, 2013 by geelw

Overkill and Starbreeze’s upcoming co-op centric crime game sequel, Payday 2 has gone from a digital download to a physical package to a nice $59.99 retail game that’s packed to the rafters with goodies and content. Usually, these Limited or Collector’s Editions manage to tick me off for a few reasons, but I actually like this set of goodies in the package:

505 Games looks as if they have a huge sleeper hit here, as the original was very well received and this sequel adds a RPG-like element to the gameplay and customization that should boost its sales even further among veteran players as well as new potential virtual robber types. As long as you’re locked in at home playing this, you can’t be on the street pulling off any real crimes, right?

Of course, that’s a little joke there, but I know some will watch that trailer above and have a mild to moderate seizure over the cops ‘n robbers stuff going on. Breathe, I say… breeeeeaaaaaathe. No, that’s hyperventilating, and doesn’t count – you can keep that up, though… you’ll pass out in a few seconds.

Shantae Virtual Console Trailer: WayForward’s Classic Finally Gets Rereleased

Posted on July 15, 2013 by geelw

If you’ve never played Shantae previously, that’s because you missed out on buying a copy when it was on the GameBoy Color (or you didn’t pirate it, you scallywag!), thus not having the pleasure of playing one of the best 2D platformers on the handheld. Well, as of this Thursday she’s baaaaaack, and this time it’s on the eShop for the 3DS. I actually like that the dev team didn’t gussy their girl up in a shiny HD coating, as the game was so well animated and colored for the GBC that it still holds up today as a prime example of a platformer at its finest. The best thing is you can now snap this one up for a song and NOT have to pay something like $100 or more for a copy of the game (it got one production run, but was VERY hard to find even back when it was initially released). Or maybe you can buy up $100 worth of codes and give them out to lucky friends who happen to own a 3DS or 3DS XL, you nice person, you…