Orphan Black Season 2 Trailer: Nope, No Musical Crap Here. Just Damn Great Acting!

Posted on March 10, 2014 by geelw

How great is Tatiana Maslany in this show? Let’s see now: I’d gotten a friend to catch up with the first season with his wife and after a weekend binge they both thought it was multiple actresses in some scenes where it’s just Maslany and her CG clones doing ~~their~~ er, her thing. Yes, I’m still cranked up that some kooky fan would dare to suggest a musical episode, so sue me. As noted earlier, I’d say that would kill the show in its tracks even as a dream sequence unless it was so well integrated into the plot that it made some kind of sense. On the other hand, if this were an anime, I’d bet we’d see a musical sequence every other week if not the show getting an opening and closing song. And nope, I don’t even want to imagine that happening either. Yeah, I like my pizza plain cheese, my ice cream vanilla and my favorite shows unmarked by pop songs and other fluff that take away from what they’re meant to be.

Random Film of the Week: The Colossus of New York

Posted on March 10, 2014 by geelw

The first time I saw Eugène Lourié’s The Colossus of New York, I think I was about ten or eleven and stayed up all night on a Friday or Saturday just because it came on at something like 2 or 3am. I recall falling asleep somewhere in the middle and waking up for the ending, disappointed that I missed whatever robot rampage the cloaked metal man went on. It turns out that I didn’t miss much of a “rampage” at all, although the thing did wreak some havoc on some poor important folks down at the United Nations before getting shut down for good without the military blowing it to scrap metal with a bunch of rockets.

Anyway, featuring some fine performances and an brilliant (and sometimes unsettling) piano score by Nathan Van Cleave, this is an interesting albeit flawed sci-fi film with a more human side to its fantastic bits thanks to the internal conflict of Jeremy Spensser (Ross Martin) who finds his brain in that bulky cyborg after he dies in an auto accident and his genius dad (Otto Kruger) and second genius (but somewhat devious) son (John Baragrey) decide to keep him living in that metal shell… Continue reading →

Motivation For A Monday, Courtesy Of Woody Woodpecker…

Posted on March 10, 2014 by geelw

(thanks, toon me!)

Hahahaha-ha! My nightmare is now yours! This popped up in a dream I had early this morning, so I’m sharing. I know some folks hate that laugh (the list is fairly large as far as people I know), but it’s a KNOWN fact that everybody likes a good polka even if they don’t think so. Am I right? Yeah, I thought so. Anyway, get up and get moving, people. Monday is here and ready to get beaten up by you Daylight Savings Time sufferers (of which I am one, bleh). Get up, get out and get it done or else that damn woodpecker will be dancing on your head as he looks for a spot to start drilling for worms.

Game of Thrones S4 Trailer #3: They’re NOT “Secrets” If Everyone Knows Them, You Know…

Posted on March 9, 2014 by geelw

Ah, as usual things are getting interesting out Westeros way and yup, you can expect things to go way up north and way down south for all the houses this season. Still, suspense is the name of the game on this show and I’m only expecting it to deliver the goods on a weekly basis. Granted, topping that Red Wedding will be tricky, but there’s a big wedding this time that’s probably going to have even worse repercussions on a few levels (well, over time). Anyway, April 6 is the big day if you’re not a binge-watching fool who wants to miss out just so you can overdose on the sofa with a box of bonbons and a tablet or phone app in your lap to keep you distracted and still missing out. Eh, “Do you”, as the old saying goes…

One Late Night: Deadline First Look: Your Pre-Monday Warmup Is Ready. Sleep Well, People…

Posted on March 9, 2014 by geelw

Eep. The fine folks at Black Curtain Studio want to scare me more than half to death with one of their games, (again), but THIS time I’m taking you all along for the ride through this first look at gameplay from their upcoming horror game One Late Night: Deadline. If you’re a five day cubicle slave (or have been one in the past or intend to be one in the not too distant future), this little video should rattle a few of your body parts quite well before that eight minutes and six seconds is up. I’ll shut up now and let your four-walled cage get rattled some more.

You’re welcome, by the way…

Gallery Update: Cloudbuilt’s Looking More And More Like A Winner…

Posted on March 8, 2014 by geelw

Well, well, well… New Cloudbuilt screens have arrived! Check them out:

Just look at them. Lovely, aren’t they? If Coilworks’ awesome free-run/shooter/platformer Cloudbuilt doesn’t win some awards this year, I’m hanging up my controllers and packing it in for good as a gamer. This is a game I so WANT to succeed if only for the fantastic art direction and fact that it’s just too much fun for PC gamers to have all to themselves. Think of Mirror’s Edge, Gunvalkyrie, and a bunch of classic 8 and 16-bit action games all wrapped up in a neat little (and HIGHLY challenging) package. Then again, the game is ALL about pinpoint control and making the best of mistakes as there’s a way out of almost any bad jump, boost or wall dash provided you have keen reflexes and don’t panic. Continue reading →

Assault Suit Leynos To Get PS4 Remake (Or: Target WORTH!)

Posted on March 8, 2014 by geelw

Well, alright! I’ve never heard of Japanese developer Dracue Software, but they certainly made a name for themselves at this year’s BitSummit in Japan by announcing they’re working on a remake of the classic Sega Mega Drive game Assault Suit Leynos. The game, known in the US as Target Earth, will be a PlayStation 4 exclusive (at least for now, but I hope a Vita version is in the pipeline). The only thing up media-wise other than the game site is this teaser trailer that’s all footage from the original with the reveal that the new game is PS4-bound:

Yep, it’s a buy whenever it’s done and hopefully won’t be either a download-only game that gets buried on PSN with little fanfare outside its home country or worse, play like the Assault Suits Valken “remake” for the Japanese PS2. THAT game was based on the Super Nintendo-only sequel to Leynos (called Cybernator here in the States) and the PS2 version was just a chore to play effectively thanks to cumbersome controls and pretty accurate enemy shooting. My hopes are for the best, as Leynos was and is a great game to play through multiple times. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the soundtrack stays the same as the original game or isn’t remixed and/or fiddled with too much. Eh, we’ll see… I have faith in Dracue to not screw this one up…

Orphan Black Better NOT Get A Musical Episode, Is All I’ll Gently Suggest…

Posted on March 7, 2014 by geelw

Holy cats, fans can be ten thousand percent nuts sometimes. HELL NO, this otherwise fine and well written sci-fi drama does NOT need ANYTHING resembling a sing-along hour with cast members warbling out tunes while facing death and danger. Nope. NO. No way. Stupid ideas are a dime a dozen, Buffy did it already and THAT show was campy from the get-go, so it’s excused. OB is fine as it is and even as if planned and executed a dream sequence, a musical episode would be such a shark-jumping moment that I’d probably never go back to it after that travesty aired. Let the fan-fictioners dabble in that nonsense all they want, but keep the clones away from the chorus line, please. Even as a joke, it’s a terrible one because that means someone has probably gone and thought out at least a way to make it happen. Yikes and yuck. I’m keeping my eye on you, Maslany – punch someone in the throat if they bring you a script that has you singing anywhere unless it’s necessary for the plot, grrrr!…

Dark Souls II PC Screens: Prepare To BUY Is More Like It, Folks…

Posted on March 7, 2014 by geelw

Yeah, yeah, the modders will have their fun with the game once the PC version drops and they hack in some more “realistic” visuals for those who want them, but I love FromSoftware’s original vision for this soon to be released sequel. PC owners also get some nice content bonuses for pre-ordering (this version of the game ships out on April 25, a month and two weeks after the console versions (eek!), so there’s still time to grab this from a few online and retail locations). Click away below the jump for some press release action with the gory details. I’m backlogged in posting today and actually got in some books I need to read and review, so I’m kind of swamped…

Continue reading →

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For Trailer: Miller & Rodriguez, Partners In Crime…

Posted on March 6, 2014 by geelw

(thanks, JoBlo Movie Trailers)

Oh, yeah. I loved Sin City, so this trailer for the follow up made me grin a wee bit too much. This is good even though it took so long for this to get made that some of the principals who were in the previous film look a little long in the tooth even with a bunch of prosthetic makeup and fine fancy lighting doing their thing so well. Still, it’s all good because Miller and Rodriguez are doing it up as it should be done and all is right in the world (well, in that weird way things roll in Sin City). Anyway, August 22 is when this one’s let loose like a pack of starving dogs, so make sure you’re in its path and welcoming that first bite…