Sure, it won’t be the final poster image, but it’s pretty cool nonetheless. of course, if you had a kaiju made of assorted rubble from wrecked buildings, all you’d need to defeat it would be a very large wrecking ball or a dump truck full of marbles, a pound of lard and a nice steep hill leading to the nearest deep body of water. That would be great for a few laughs, no? Hmph, some people have NO sense of humor. Anyway, it looks as if the BIG reveal of how this new Godzilla will look has been placed gently on the back burner, but I think it’ll be pretty cool. Or hell, at least a LOT more impressive that that last US-made Godzilla flick…
It looks as if Avalanche Studios is indeed on point with this upcoming game and NO, you’re not getting a character who’s going to look EXACTLY like Mel Gibson for a few good reasons (if you don’t know, use Google for some of those reasons). Although this is still sort of early work in progress footage, it looks like the game will be something action fans can groove on in driving, shooting and melee combat sequences. Of course, an actual gameplay video showing a few minutes of someone wiggling sticks and pressing buttons will be even better, so I’m holding out for that as well as some press preview hands-on time before I make any final judgments.
The fine folks over at Game Empire HD are really going crazy with the EDF 4 gameplay videos. My own copy of the game is still on the way, so I’ve been keeping an eyeball on their YouTube page and taking notes galore on some of the tougher stages. Everyone has their own play style and in fact, EDF games encourage you to experiment with those random weapon drops until you get comfortable blasting bugs to bits with different gear you’ve collected. Of the four classes, the Wing Diver (or Pale Wing, or Pale Wing Diver if you really want to get formal) is the most agile thanks to her ability to fly and some of her really powerful close and ranged weapons. The tradeoffs are a very low starting armor and many weapons relying on the same energy source as her flight pack, so managing your energy is key in making sure you live to the end of a mission.
While this is my favorite class, I may not play the game through the first time with the lady. In the previous EDF games she’s appeared in (EDF 2/EDF 2 Portable and EDF 3 Portable), once you get some of her better to best weapons, she’s pretty untouchable save for confined spaces such as caves and tunnels where she can be damaged more easily by some of her own ordinance. I have the feeling I’ll go for the old reliable EDF Trooper for a bit until I get one of the Bound Shot weapons (which fire “bouncing” rounds – great for clearing out tunnels packed with giant spiders and ants and does double duty outdoors against large robots) than perhaps poke around with the new Fencer class before going with the winged one. That Air Raider I’ll save for last, as he seems to be the most challenging to use (although there are already a few exploits for the character). OK, back to playing vulture near my mailbox. I may be scaring the postman away, but he knows I get a lot of stuff sent this way so he can take the glaring and third degree when I don’t get a package I’m expecting…
So, TURBO wasn’t bad at all. The 3D is OK, the kids will dig it, the parents will get a laugh at the stuff that’s written in for them (which will lead to the kids BUGGING you with “What’s so funny?” until you have to shush them and say you’ll tell them later) and it’s bound to get some sort of sequel (even if it’s straight to video, as I can see a certain character wanting revenge).
For the record, you’re not seeing this for any Oscar-winning performances or the “best” in animation (although what’s here is quite good in that stylized manner expected of a CG family flick). But there’s nothing wrong with turning one’s brain off, plopping into a seat and watching a snail imbued with nitrous and possibly sports energy drink super-speed blaze around and exhaust nearly every possible gag about fast gastropods. I say NEARLY because it seems as if they’re saving the rest for that inevitable sequel. Not sure the same cast will be back (hey, money isn’t free!), but I bet there are a lot of actors who can sound just like the cast here and no kid will be the wiser.
Speaking of wiser, I’m guessing whatever good karma I have just got a kick up a notch as I was looking for a restroom after the show and while poking about the floor I was on, I opened a door and walked into a showing of Pacific Rim that was about a half hour away from the ending. I suppose I could have been a jerk, grabbed a seat and stuck around for the next showing, but I had to pee and I also needed to get to work on some posts today and a few other things I’d planned out previously (Hey, laundry sorting is important! Separating the pile into bags keeps it from forming into THE BEAST FROM THE CLOSET!*). I did pop my 3D specs on to checkout how the film looked and it wasn’t bad. Then again, I think I also left because I hate coming into a film near the ending (or hell, after it begins). I like watching stuff from the start and paying attention, not playing connect the dots (unless I’m re-watching Rashomon, Memento or Pulp Fiction one more time)…
Oh yeah, the restrooms were on a higher floor, which I found odd for such a huge theater, but oh well…
EDIT: Aha- I see that Dreamworks is as always, twenty paces ahead of me. There’s going to be a TV series called Turbo: F.A.S.T. (Fast Action Stunt Team), which will air on Netflix in December 2013, so there you go. I don’t use Netflix (*gasp!*), so like that that Arrested Development reboot, I’ll be missing this too. Hopefully, the series won’t drop all its episodes at once and burn itself out like AD did (the show always worked best in small doses), but I guess we’ll see what happens. Er, you who use Netflix will see what happens…
(*No, I don’t keep my dirty laundry in a closet and neither should you. It’ll stink up the place if left in too long AND it’ll fuse together into the shape of some elder god of dirty clothes and eat you as you sleep. You’ve been warned…)
Well, now… this is something I’ve been wondering about since I heard about the project a long time ago and it looks as if we’ll all get to see just what happened with Alejandro Jodorowsky’s attempt to adapt and film Frank Herbert’s classic science fiction novel Dune back in the 1970’s. Sony Pictures classics will be distributing the recent documentary hopefully to theaters and most likely onto home video at some point and I say, sight unseen (well, other than the clip above) that it’s well worth a buy, rent or ticket price.
While Jordorowsky’s sprawling more than epic length version of the film was never completed, many of the artistic talent involved in the massive pre-production process went on to bigger and better things spurred on by their great deal of hard work on this long project. Can you imagine ALIEN without the amazing visuals contributions of H.R. Giger, Moebius, Chris Foss and of course, writer Dan O’Bannon? I’d imagine that film wouldn’t have been made at all or worse, would have ended up as yet another low-budget 70’s sci-fi film all but forgotten today. Anyway,
Bleh. No wonder this is direct to Blu-Ray & DVD, although I won’t stop you from buying or renting it. Some folks are creeped out by this new digital Chucky, but I couldn’t stop laughing once his eyeballs bulged when that gal leans in closer. Maybe I’ll catch this on cable in a few months and change my mind, but probably not. For my money, 1945’s Dead of Night still has the scariest single “animated” doll on film, but I’ll give it up for Trilogy of Terror’s “Amelia” chapter for putting me under a couch. This new film might put me under a couch if I’m rolling on the floor laughing… we shall see…
Ouch. Well, this looks pretty intriguing, that’s for sure. If you’ve NEVER seen the original film… YES, you should do so soon (as in if anyone asks “Whatcha doin’ this weekend?”, you’ll say “Watching OLDBOY!” and mean it!). I’ll admit to still wondering why Spike felt the urging need to remake a film that really didn’t need it, but hey, this remake thing worked for Scorcese with his multiple award winning The Departed, so perhaps Mr. Lee is onto something. Granted, Oldboy has got some meaner twists and turns than Internal Affairs did and the resetting of the story to a more Americanized setting may ruffle a few feathers… but again, it worked very well for Scorcese. I’m gathering Samuel L. Jackson doesn’t mind playing a total creep (and getting killed for that) again, as his intensity sure makes anything he’s been in lately pretty interesting. Well, except for that iPhone commercial… that made me hate gazpacho and measuring cups. And Siri (it’s a good thing I don’t own an iPhone)…
OK, now I need to unearth my NES and that copy of DuckTales I have buried in a bin somewhere so I can do some comparing. I’d been meaning to do so for a while, but I keep putting it off for assorted reasons. This “duckumentary” did help me decide to finally get off my butt and sit back on my butt once I find everything, so that’s a good thing, right? Alright, I’m not THAT lazy, people! I walked over a mile today already!
Thank you, WB Games and TT Games! So, now you kids know exactly what to bug the parents about and you adults who know you’re buying this for yourselves (raises hand) have something to copy and stick to your wall and moon over while you’re waiting for the game to hit retail this fall. It’s going to be on every console (except the Wii) and handheld (except the Nintendo DS), so it’ll be really hard to avoid.
How hard? Well, dear reader, if you wait until the release date and throw a boomerang with a cat hanging on for dear life into any game emporium, it’ll most likely come back with a copy of this game (and a very dizzy, pissed off cat). You DID remember to stick some money in the cat’s mouth or at least wrap your wallet around it, I hope. That game won’t be free, you know…
OK, not ALL the time, people. I’m talking about the reviews rolling in stating how cool Pacific Rim is. Even the much despised NY Post threw down a four-star rating and that’s rare for a CG-packed summer blockbuster their critics often slap around for assorted reasons. OK, they get it right with most of the overblown junk that hits theaters, but it’s a review that actually doesn’t go out of its way to toss a stupid jab at the president for no reason, so that’s a welcome relief. I’m also hearing of a few other skeptics getting their minds changed, so it’s all good. As for “reality” TV… er, don’t believe that rot at all unless you think real people waste hours arguing over petty crap (and the same petty crap on ALL those shows!)…
"DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!" 