Movies-DVDs
Maybe it's not the greatest cinematic achievement, but compared to a few other game-to-movie translations, Silent Hill is practically a masterpiece. If you've never taken the time to check it out, folks in America (sorry, rest of the world) can now watch it streaming on Hulu for free, as they're added the movie to the site just in time for Halloween. Trick or treat!
In case you haven't already, you'll need to sign up for a free account with the service in order to prove that it won't warp your fragile young mind. The movie does a great job with the world created in the game visually, even if the plot and more subtle elements are kind of fumbled. I liked Laurie Holden as Cybil the lesbian cop though, and Alice Krige was as nutty as ever. But don't take my faint praise for it, Hulu user Cassie Bee raves:
i love this movie!! crazy stuff makes you think sometimes about whats really going on that we dont know about?!!?!?! happy halloween everyone!! *mwahs*
Crazy stuff makes you think sometimes, indeed.
Silent Hill: Watch the full feature film now [Hulu]
Left for Dead is a "family" experience. Weather I play with friends or a random group of strangers I know if I am going to succeed I will have to rely on the help of my teammates. This holds true from start to finish and is the first hard and fast rule to survive the cacophony of dangers that lie through out a campaign. Zombieland is a tart and sweet love letter to any game that celebrates these team based design mechanics. As Zombieland opens we are settled into the shoes of a lone Warcraft playing college student as he experiences the advent of the apocalypse. The first few minutes play out like an open-ended tutorial of sorts flicking buzzwords that punctuate the narrative providing both levity and pop culture credibility. It is this introduction that places our every-geek hero Columbus (Jesse Eisenburg) on the path to learn and as any first time Left for Dead player will attest to: he will probably not get by without help from his friends.
The first time Woody Harrelson uttered the words: "Nut up or shut up" I was prepared to endure another hour of dumb heterosexist pandering by diction of many a shock jock action title. The subsequent minutes of Zombieland had me surprised. With a well-written script and a superb cast Zombieland pulls you along a veritable undead country safari as the cast of seeming near-do-wells attempt to find their own ways in a world without custom. Columbus' rules do a great job of bridging the gruesome action with comedy. His survival tactics quantify his actions to the audience while tying the story and characters together. It is this "Tao" of Columbus and his innate humanity that eventually (and after several very funny misunderstandings) pull this cast together for some zombie shooting mayhem.
This film is gory. At times my laughter was swiftly tucked into submission by the sheer amount of blood and zombie repugnance. A supermarket filled with boomer doppelgangers gets shot up and euthanized with the superlative gunplay of Tallahassee leaving the floor looming with blood and bile. A terrorized Asian woman in Times Square shoots a possibly infected person with a magnum only to have her legs graphically devoured by a hoard of squirrelly zombies. Even the seemingly tacked on "guest cameo" finds place for a little grossness in a completely ridiculous but completely awesome side story that reveals perhaps more than I needed to know. The massively bloody body count only rises as the movie forms a thick head of frothy zombie flesh in the carnival ending, a very obvious nod to the upcoming Left for Dead 2's Dark Carnival campaign.
Zombieland's touching story and fantastic cast make for solid movie going fare for you and your Xbox Live crew or that special someone who doesn't mind holding your remote. This trip to the theatre reminded me that when I play online with friends, we are all in this together. Even so, the next time your playing Left for Dead you may not feel the need to tell GLoRIOuSDEAtHANGeL12 that you love him but perhaps give him that pipe bomb you've been saving because for the next hour or so he's "family".
Gamer: an unapologetic, hedonistic use of mind control, fantastical space age weaponry and pleather. Vivid, destruction blindsided my view for nearly two hours and is quite possibly the future manifesto of MMOs; at least that is what Gamer's writer/director Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor would have you believe. The two are well known for their previous movies Crank and Crank 2 whose high energy, ultra violent brand of action summon a specific type of person to the theatre. This time in lieu of Jason Statham we get the delectable Gerard Butler sporting his intrepid brand of butch in televised, live firefights as one of several death row inmates fighting for their chance at freedom. There is one catch. Each participant is without his or her free will and is being controlled by another human, for better or for worse.
Neveldine's depiction of a world hungry for digital blood, while narrow and perhaps a bit angry is smart and stylized. The two central games in the movie are "Society": an eerie living hybrid of The Sims/Sony's Home and "Slayers" the aforementioned live FPS. The two weave in and out of the narrative making smart quips about gaming culture along the way. We have the obese gentleman playing "Society" with his female avatar, chatting up the gents and crotch grabbling with zeal; this while dipping a slab of waffle into a nearby bucket of syrup with gusto. We have the world champion of gaming a-la Halo's "Little Poison" who is so good he is charged with controlling Butler in his quest for freedom. He comfortably rests in his throne like room equipped with a panoramic, PC monitor, double clicking the air to wave away the shots of tween breasts flooding his fan mail box and equipping his Slayer avatar with new weapon upgrades. Michael C. Hall provides an expert performance as a twisted Bill Gates type bent on world domination while fighting a losing battle with stealth hacker: Ludacris, who provides our hero with mods for "Slayer". This world is a salacious and gory place where everyone speaks their mind and plays their role balls to the wall.
Without taking itself too seriously the writing inspires thoughts of a gritty, early PS2 action title equipped with painfully sharp close-ups and slick as oil characterization. The pacing expends the story at a smooth clip giving one the feel of a natural level progression and ultimately culminating in a very Hideo Kojima-esque "boss battle" with Hall controlling a legion of dancing convicts. At times I think it can be healthy to have a solid black/white perspective on the finer details of a sub culture growing more mainstream every day. It feels like this movie makes an attempt to "assassinate" the stereotypes it magnifies. Gamer feels like it's suggesting we must let go of old ideas to make room for fresh blood, this made apparent in the creepy symbolic decay of a child's playtime frozen with future HD technology. This movie not only suggests death it celebrates it with sweeping snapshots of human debris collectively forming a bleak mosaic, all in the name of fun.
History has taught us to be highly skeptical of movies based on video games, but I must say that my expectations are exceptionally low for this. Spore? Really? It's not even the fact that the game doesn't have a plot that bothers me about this unholy union of mixed media. The essence of Spore is that there are millions of creature variations created by the players, a concept that cannot easily (if at all) translate to a film.
At the very least, EA has secured some top quality talent for the Spore film. The script is being written by Greg Erb and Jason Oremland, who are responsible for the upcoming Disney film The Princess and the Frog. Meanwhile the animation for the film will take place at Blue Sky Studios, which has worked on many great CG films such as Ice Age (not to be confused with Blue Sky Software who was responsible for Vectorman).
EA's Patrick O'Brian and Maxis Studio's Lucy Bradshaw will be the executive producers on the film, so there is some hope that it will fall in line with the games. But as I said, the very essence of the Spore experience is not conducive to a film adaptation. It may still be entertaining, but it most definitely will not be Spore.
EA sets up 'Spore' at Fox [Variety]
Universal has temporarily shut down the filming of the BioShock movie citing an out of control budget. In order to save money, the filming of the uber popular art deco masterpiece will be moved out of the US on a schedule that now conflicts with announced director Gore Verbinski's own schedule. So who will Universal find to replace the Hollywood blockbuster director?
Enter Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, the director of 28 Weeks Later, sequel to the terrifying zombie flick, 28 Days Later. Fresnadillo did a fine job on 28 Weeks Later but, as movie site /Film points out:
Fresnadillo shows a lot of promise, but why is Universal trusting a project this big to a filmmaker with only one Hollywood hit? Going from the guy who released three of the highest grossing films in the history of cinema to a guy who directed a fun horror sequel is a huge trade downhill.
I have to say I agree. A change that big does not bode well for the movie version of a game many feel to be one of the best to come around in many years. A less well known director and a slashed budget indicates that perhaps BioShock isn't going to get the kind of treatment it deserves. This would be dissapointing since the last thing we need to see is another fine video game IP getting the shaft while we're forced to sit through huge budgeted crap like Transformers II, GI Joe: Rise of Cobra, 10,000 B.C., The Happening, Rambo IV... I could go on but I think you get the idea.
Juan Carlos Fresnadillo To Direct Bioshock [/Film]
While the BioShock film may be mired in the politics of Hollywood funding, the GTA series hasn't even gotten that far. Rockstar maintains that a Grand Theft Auto movie will never be made without tremendous creative oversight from Rockstar - which did seem to negotiate such a position with BioShock, until the process stalled.
Dan Houser, of Rockstar brothers Sam and Dan Houser, told the LA Times that Rockstar has no interest in making easy money from a lousy film:
"It seems obvious to us that maintaining the long term integrity of any entertainment property has been dependent on not making substandard spin-off products to people whose primary interest is making a quick buck," said Houser. "If we ever decide to do a film, it will be because we have resolved our creative doubts, and while retaining enough control to ensure that if the movie is terrible, at least we will know we ruined the property ourselves."
How's that for honesty? If only other gaming powerbrokers felt the same way - we might never have been exposed to the Uwe Boll hate meme.
Then again, part of Houser's forthrightness may stem from the fact that Rockstar doesn't think GTA makes a good fit for a film in the first place:
"We don't believe that the Grand Theft Auto games, which are massive in scope and structurally complex, can be adequately compressed into a two hour movie."
Hmm. That may be true... or it may be that watching two hours of transliterated GTA activity would simply be too gratuitous to watch, even for Rockstar. But then again, isn't the phrase "too gratuitous for Rockstar" a bit of an oxymoron?
Company Town: The business behind the show [LA Times]
Like many others, when I first heard that a Castlevania movie was in the works I was highly skeptical. Typically videogame to film adaptations don't fare too well, and Castlevania seemed like it was primed to become a generic Van Helsing wannabe.
Thankfully, some new info on the film popped out of Comic-con courtesy of Bloody Disgusting, announcing that Saw co-creator James Wan will be taking on script writing and directing duties. Wan had some words to say about his take on the Castlevania film that sound quite promising.
The thing I love about what Konami did with Castlevania, was taking the iconic Dracula mythology and Eastern-European setting, and retelling it with a Japanese pop-cultural sensibility. That's the East-meets-West tone I want to visually expand on for the film. I'm thrilled by the opportunity to make a highly stylized, fantasy, action film that focuses on the gothic storyline and the cool, anime-like characters. For once, the human hero is as sexy and dangerous as the vampire villain, and his weapon of choice was what attracted me to the project in the first place - The Vampire Killer Whip.
It sounds like he actually understands the Castlevania series and wants to bring that same style to the big screen, which is more than can be said of most videogame movie adaptations. And how can we say no to a sexy and dangerous hero?
Between the concept art poster that was released and Wan's words, the Castlevania movie could accomplish something that we haven't seen before: a good videogame movie.
It was a sad day in the video gaming and animation industry yesterday. The amazing animator and talent Yoshinori Kanada passed away this Wednesday of a sudden heart attack. He was 57 years old.
Kanada is known for his work with Studio Ghibi as well as Square Enix. HIs body of work is almost completely unsurpassed. He was a key player in 5 of Studio Ghibi's greatest feature length films including: Kiki's Delivery Service, My Neighbor Totoro, Porco Rosso, Valley of the Wind and Princess Mononoke. Most of these films are easily in my list of favorite animated films of all time.
Kanada is also known for his work with Square Enix' film Final Fantasy: The Spirit Within, and later became the animation director of several of their titles.
It is obvious that the animation world is going to be at a loss without him. He helped pioneer modern animation and he will be missed.
Yoshinori Kanada passes away [Anipages Daily]
[via Kotaku]
As anyone who has been watching the Prince of Persia Movie (or Jake Gyllenhaal) closely, Jerry Bruckheimer is helping produce the movie. Turns out they decided to release an interview with Mister Bruckheimer in which he discusses the Prince character and what the movie is all about. In fact, when asked what Jake brings to the role, Jerry seems to almost gush about just how handsome and attractive Jake is. They also briefly discuss the plot, love interest, and what it was like to film the movie in Morocco.
I hold out hope that the movie will be good in its own right, but that's also because I don't expect any videogame-based movie to ever truly emulate the joy and story of a game; however, I think we can all agree that there will be at least enough scantly clad Gyllenhaal that many of us will be watching it anyway.
Sometimes there isn't enough 'WTF?' in the world to express an emotion. Justin Marks, writer of Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, Voltron, and Masters of the Universe, has been chosen to write the script for an upcoming Shadow of the Colossus movie.
Don't get me wrong, I would LOVE to see amazing, high-detail, high-def Colossi on the big screen, but Team Ico games have always been about immersive storytelling. You learn the story by playing the game, and dialogue is barely needed. I can't imagine how that could convey to the big screen and frankly I'd rather they didn't if they can't get it right. It's all about atmosphere, and to be totally honest, Street Fighter is about as far from that kind of subtlety as you can get.
I won't say Justin is unable to write a good script for this, he could very well surprise us, but he's got a big job ahead of him if he wants to do it well. (and he'll have disappointed a lot of gamers if he does it poorly) I hope he's taking it seriously.
Sony's Shadow of the Colossus Headed to the Big Screen [FirstShowing]
I received a rather irritating email from Netflix yesterday stating that they would be raising the price of Blu-Ray access. Formerly I had been paying a dollar each month for the ability to get the movies I chose on Blu-Ray rather than regular DVD if Blu-Ray was available. Now, citing the expensive price of Blu-Rays and an expanding library, the charge is going from $1 a month to $4 a month. (The price of the regular plan remains the same however) Quite a significant hike taking my former $17.99 fee to $20.99.
If you are like me and enjoy using your PS3 for watching Blu-Rays and have the option ticked on your Netflix account, I encourage you to remove the plan and send an email to Netflix stating your feelings on the matter. If enough people cancel the Blu-ray service and send in emails, perhaps they will reconsider this rather outrageous price hike.
The Huffington Post has posted these hot, hot, hot photos of heartthrob Jake Gylenhaal from the upcoming Prince of Persia movie. I don't think I really need to say much here, I'll just let you enjoy the eye candy and comment for yourself. Although, I do feel compelled to point out: What is up with that codpiece in the second photo? Wow!
Make sure to make the jump to see the codpiece second shot. Go on. You know you want to...
[Thanks Andrew!]
And girls who like girls who like rumble packs!
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