June 2013 - test

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Universal Studio Orlando to get Cabin in the Woods

I'm not sure about you, but I start thinking about Halloween in the Spring. (Mostly because Spring is stupid, Autumn rules and I want pumpkin flavored everything.) It looks like the folks at Universal Studios start thinking about Halloween pretty early too. Universal Studios in Orlando have announced the first of many haunted houses will be based on 2012's CABIN IN THE WOODS.

You didn't see the movie? Do it! It's available on Netflix (at least it is in the States). It was directed by Drew Goddard and co-written and produced by Joss Whedon. The movie stars Chris Hemsworth, Kristen Connolly, Fran Kranz, and Richard Jenkins and has a bit of something for nearly all horror movie fans. It has horror, bits of comedy, and it flips the genre on its head a few times in the best ways.

Michael Aiello of Universal Studios Orlando told Zap2It, "We are building the cabin completely. You’re going to walk through a forest to get there. You’re going into the cabin. You’re going to go into the cube cells. We’re literally taking everything we can in the film and giving you a kind of best-of montage of the film with this kind of linking story."

Drew Goddard is with the Universal Studios team to develop a script that goes with the new storyline that parallels the one in the film. Goddard and Aiello did not confirm whether any of the film's cast would be involved in the making of the videos within the CABIN IN THE WOODS house. Videos in the queue and within the maze will explain the mythology of CABIN IN THE WOODS and the idea of the film's sacrifices and gods, and then guests will experience the events of the movie - including some of the sacrifices - in real time from a different perspective.

"My wish for 'Cabin' was always that it would live on outside the film, that people would take that ball and run with it, and I can't imagine a better fit for what we were trying to do with the movie than to make a maze out of it," Goddard says.

"I'm too excited by it. I can't believe this is happening. I'm just so happy that the film has continued to live on," Goddard said. And Joss? Goddars says that Whedon is equally pleased after seeing Universal's concepts for the maze. "He couldn't be more excited," said Goddard.
This isn't the first time something Joss'y was at HHN. Remember these guys? They were featured at Universal Studios: Orlando's HHN in 2005 and 2008.

"We're trying to adapt this film as best as we physically can in the context of what we have," says Aiello.

Halloween Horror nights runs from September 20th until November 2nd. Tickets are already available here. Don't look for a CABIN IN THE WOODS house at Universal Studios: Hollywood - it won't be there. This is an Orlando exclusive.

The haunted houses at Halloween Horror Nights are “movie set quality” recreations of fantastic locations. Each haunted house is indoors, and they are usually located in either the unused queue area of a daytime attraction or one of the Universal soundstages. Past haunted houses have featured big pop-culture names such as AMC'S The Walking Dead, the Silent Hill video game series, the Saw film series.

via Zap2it and FoxNews

Friday, June 28, 2013

Mouse cloned from a drop of blood!

Science has never ceased to amaze me.

For the first time, Scientists cloned a mouse from a single drop of blood. Unlike other cloning experiments, this clone lived a normal lifespan and was even able to give birth (many other clones have been infertile).

Why a mouse? Well mice are used in many scientific studies and many human ailments such as cancer and substance abuse. Since with this method, the donor does not need to be euthanized, it can be used to create “invaluable strains of mice” for use in laboratories. Mice are just one example, but this method can be used to create all sorts of animals, from milk producing cows, to even Woolly Mammoths and Sabre-Tooth Tigers.

The process is called somatic cell nuclear transfer which involved transferring the nucleus from an adult cell, which can be obtain from blood, into an unfertilized egg, basically replacing the egg’s nucleus with the adult one.

Of course, this new advancement doesn’t come without its usual backlash. We are all familiar with the controversy surrounding stem cell research for use in humans and with the idea of being able to bring back long extinct species with this type of cloning or creating animals for a specific purpose (farm work, lab research), it brings with it a whole new set of issues.

Via BBC

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Women and Video Game Tropes

[By Derek "Dr. Universe"]

I just want to clarify that I do not think one race or sex is superior to another and that when I play games I do not mind playing as the male or female characters. I am not going the Andy Kaufman route.

There have been many responses to Anita Sarkeesian’s project “Tropes vs. Women: Damsel in Distress” so I’ll try to make this the summary of most responses that are there as well as give my own perspective on the whole thing and my own view as a gamer.

Anita Sarkeesian is a feminist and a pop culture critic who has a Youtube series “Tropes vs Women” and started a Kickstarter campaign to fund a new series of short videos that would examine the gender tropes in video games, which she raised over $150,000. Now during all of this there has been a lot of hate going her way such as in the form of tweets, flash games of her getting beat up, and hijacking her Wikipedia page. There was also the fear that she might have ripped off the donators of her Kickstarter, but finally after many delays her first video came out on March 7^th of 2013.

Now after watching it, I respect the fact that she gave her background and a somewhat good introduction to the project. However, I have many disagreements to what her video provides. She went over many games that were made during the “Golden Ages” of gaming, games from the 80’s to mid 90’s such as Super Mario Bros and Double Dragon and I agree that during that era of gaming, there weren’t many female protagonists besides Metroid’s Samus Aran. I don’t agree that the female character is only considered the “Trophy” or “The Ball” as she says in her video.

The narrator in THIS clip asks why cannot the female character be saved due to being the person the protagonist love? Would you not try to save the person you loved if they were male, female, boyfriend, girlfriend, or family member? During this era of gaming, the only way to show any background to just get up and play or that small 7 second introduction of some gang punching your girlfriend in the guy and you having to save her. You put your quarters in and then played the game or you turned on your Nintendo and hit start game. It isn’t the same as games that are made today where there is a 30 minute cut scene that gives us a back story on what the bad guy did and why you are going to beat him up. I mean who didn’t prefer Ms. Pacman over the original?

During her video, I felt she could have been unbiased and very informative yet she lacks much information and IS biased. She says that Princess Peach and Princess Zelda are powerless and simply pawns to the game, and goes on to say that even games where they are featured as playable characters, they do not count and they are not cannon to the story.

Now we there are Zelda theorists on debating the timeline, Princess Zelda plays a powerful role in the series of games, where she possesses one of part of the Triforce as well as playing an intricate role of the kingdom she rules and helping the protagonist Link in defeating the bad guy, Ganon. I’ve played the games and her silver arrows and even her alter ego, Sheik, helps you throughout the Ocarina of Time.
Regarding Princess Peach, she goes on to say that during the only playable role she has in Super Mario Bros. 2, she was only added in “by accident” because it was a different game with just pallet swaps of characters in the Mario universe. If she really did her research, she would have known that in the original game there were actually 2 female characters and they weren’t added in by accident. In fact, Peach even stared in her own game on the Nintendo DS, Super Princess Peach. The princesses possess bigger roles than just trophyie because when they are in trouble, their entire kingdom falls. Plus why discredit the other games where they are playable? Look at the sales of Super Smash Brothers Melee and Mario Kart Double Dash to Super Mario Sunshine
Super Smash Bros. Melee - $7.09 million
Mario Kart: Double Dash‼ - $7 million Super Mario Sunshine - $5.5 million

Why discredit these games? Also if you ever played the Super Smash Brothers Series, Sheik and Peach are more popular and powerful characters compared to their male counter parts.
Check out the Grand Final games of the biggest Super Smash Brothers Tournament of the year.

Brawl Zero Suit Samus vs Meta Knight

Melee Peach vs/Marth

If these women were weak, how could they win the grand finals of the tournament?
I think that most of these games stay the same is because well, it’s marketing. Who are most videogames marketed towards? Males. Are the developers of these games sexist and think that women are weak and useless? No. Most people play a game because they want to be entertained and to feel that they are part of their universe.

In the video above, the narrator talks about female characters going out to save the day (Big fan of Aya Brea as well as Jill Valentine). Are these characters that she names sexual objects? Fuck No.

In these clip above and in this one HERE, she talks about a research paper in which she describes the characteristics of women in television who have show that traditionally masculine attributes such as rationality, cool-headedness and physical strength are superior and preferred over traditionally feminine attributes such as cooperative decision making, and being emotionally expressive and empathetic. Why is cooperative decision making a feminine attribute? Why cannot women be strong? CHUN LI IS THE STRONGEST WOMAN IN THE WORLD!!!!!!

http://th00.deviantart.net/fs70/200H/f/2013/033/b/3/chun_li_is_the_strongest_woman_in_the_world_by_vocaloidxmmdmiku-d5tl0tt.png

She is the best character in Street Fighter III 3^rd Strike. Cammy is top tier in Street Fighter 4. Phoenix is Back to Back Marvel 3 Evo Winners. Why would you think that these woman are trying to be men?

Why is it in Anita Saarkesian’s Feminist world, cooperation, being emotionally expressive, intuitive, and nurturing the only positive parts of being feminine? Why can’t they be independent, or self confident? Women are strong. Why do you think girls cannot be rational?

Diagram by Anita Saarkesian for further reference.

Video games are something to enjoy and be entertained by. Developers are trying to make money, gamers are trying to get high scores, enjoy a story, or beat the other player next to you (or online). This is not to degrade women, treat them like objects, or say that they cannot be the hero.

Also I hope that she will allow ratings and comments on her videos. By not allowing this you are, in fact, acting as the damsel in distress. There will be trolls, after all this is the internet, but why not allow feedback? I mean there are other females that disagree with what you are saying, why not get feedback from them. I don’t think you are getting hate from because you are a female. I don’t think you are getting hate because you’re a feminist. I don’t even think you are getting hate because you are talking about “MY VIDEOGAMES!!!!1!1!!1BBQSAUCE”. Just look at both sides of the coin on this issue. I mean, I believe games made after the mid 90’s were able to describe the plot of a game in more than 7 seconds and have made female protagonists (Juliet Starling from Lollipop Chainsaw, Rubi Malone from WET, Chell from the Portal Series)

Also real talk, I didn’t need $150000+ to gain research on Super Mario Bros. You could have Emulated that shit or checked out Wikipedia.

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- Derek Klinke
https://twitter.com/iHateDerek_K

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Leave a comment below and tell us what you think of women in video games.
Do you hate Derek_K?

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

THE SAINT - Reboot Trailer

Back in December, we told you that Eliza Dushku and Adam Rayner were filming the pilot episode for THE SAINT, a reboot of the 60s UK series that also gave us the 1997 Val Kilmer movie. Well here's the trailer:

Now, it hasn't been picked up by any of the networks and IMDB still lists this as a TV movie. We'll see what happens.

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Liam Neeson signs on for Taken 3

Liam Neeson has officially signed on for Taken 3: Just Keep 'Em, I'm Going Fishin' (Kidding. That's not really the title). Deadline reports that Neeson will be payed around $20 million dollars for the particular set of skills he has shown as retired CIA agent, Brian Mills.
In 2012, the reluctant Liam Neeson was given $15 million to sign on for Taken 2. For the original movie, he only signed for $1 million. Not bad.

No deals have been made yet for Maggie Grace or Famke Janssen. If they don't sign, what are they going to take? His dog?

Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen are finishing up the script. Taken 2's director, Olivier Megaton, is expected to return. EuropaCorp and Besson are planning to start production in February.
[Personally, I'd rather Luc Besson, the guy that directed The Fifth Element, The Professional, and La Femme Nikita, to helm this movie.]

Taken 2 has a 21% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It had a budget of $45 million (yeah 1/3 of the budget was Liam Neeson's pay) and brought in $376 million. Not much of a surprise that 20th Century Fox would push for another.

Good luck...

Monday, June 24, 2013

Marvel Cinematic Universe's Phase 2 and 3 News

Loki will not be in Avengers-2. In Empire's Film Podcast, Joss confirmed that Loki will not be present for another Hulk-Loki smash or to speak certain words that flew under most people's radar. Please look up the word "quim."
Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch will be in Avengers 2. "[Quicksilver] is in our movie. He's going to be dope. Quicksilver and Scarlett Witch are very close to my heart because they were Avengers the whole time I was reading the book as a kid."
Saoirse Ronan recently spoke with The Mary Sue and touched on the notion that Joss Whedon considers her his "prototype" for the Scarlet Witch, but had not been approached yet for the role: "I love Joss and I love those films, and I love his handle on them and how he portrayed these kinds of superheroes. I think it’s very different from what anyone else has done. So yeah, I’d love to be in it."
There is no word on who Joss has in mind for Quicksilver, but Bryan Singer has recently cast Evan Peters (Kick Ass, Never Back Down) as the speedster in X-Men: Days of Future Past. No word on Singer's Scarlet Witch.

Robert Downey, Jr. has signed on to play Tony Stark for at least 2 more movies. It was confirmed by Marvel that he has signed a two-picture agreement to star as everyone's favorite billionaire, playboy, philanthropist in “Marvel’s The Avengers 2” and “Marvel’s The Avengers 3.”

This makes me wonder if RDJr was successful in securing pay raises for his Avengers co-stars that he was lobbying for a few months ago. A source said, "He’s the only guy with real power in this situation. And balls of steel, too. He’s already sent a message that he’s not going to work for a place where they treat his colleagues like s***."
Hopefully they all got what they wanted because in an interview with The Daily Beast, Joss Whedon said regarding RDJr, "He is Iron Man. He is Iron Man in the way that Sean Connery was James Bond...I have no intention of making 'Avengers 2' without him, nor do I think I’ll be called upon to do that. I don't think it's in my interest, Marvel's interest, or his interest, and I think everything will be fine."
No word on an Iron Man 4.

John C. Reilly was recently cast as Rhomann Dey, leader of the Nova Corps, in Guardians of the Galaxy.
Ant-Man will be part of PHASE 3 with its expected release date in November 2015. It is still early in its development phase but test footage leaked out and it's pretty awesome. There would be a link HERE if Disney-Marvel interns weren't so on point with getting videos taken down.
Disney-Marvel has set sights as far as 2017 for Phase 3. As it stands Ant-Man is expected to premiere on November, 6, 2015.

Unnamed Project-1 will be released May 5th, 2016.
Unnamed Project-2 will be released just two months later on July 8th, 2016.
Unnamed Project-3 will be released May 5, 2017.
No confirmations on what those movies will be, but common speculations include Doctor Strange and Black Panther.

Unrelated to Avengers news, in the Empire Magazine podcast, Joss Whedon said, "I don't find people to be expendable. I know that I have this reputation that if I never hear about for the rest of my life, it will be just fine with me. It is beyond annoying. I believe that my work exists for other reasons, but it is on everyone's lips - its what they always talk about. I haven't seen Game (of Thrones), so I don't know the way in which he does it so I'm just going to say, 'Keep killing them! If you and Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead) can just carry the banner and let me rest, that would be great.'"

Friday, June 14, 2013

Movie Review: Terr vs. MAN OF STEEL

MAN OF STEEL, 143 minutes of uninspired dribble with no coherent thought or theme in sight. Sure it does some things right, but when the movie finished it did not make me wish Superman was real or want to make the world a better place.

On the doomed planet of Krypton, Jor-El implants his newborn son with the genetic data of his people and sends the baby off to another world so that Kryptonians might could live on. The baby is found by Kansas farmers, Jonathan and Martha Kent and is named Clark. As Clark grows up, Earth's atmosphere and sun affect his Kryptonian physiology and he develops superpowers. When Earth is attacked by General Zod and other survivors of Krypton on a mission to find Jor-El's son and rebuild Krypton on Earth, Clark becomes Superman to save the world.

Watching this movie feels as if Zack Snyder took bits and pieces of other movies, threw it in a blender, poured it into a Superman cup and served it to you hoping that you would be out the door before you could comment on the after taste. There are bits of Avatar, John Carter, The Matrix, Titan AE, and Star Trek 2: Wrath of Khan. (Yeah really) And it's not to say that a director can't be inspired by other movies and want to incorporate similar ideas or shots, but it's pretty unapologetic about ripping things off.

There are typically 2 ways that Superman is presented. There's the view that Superman is a Christ-like character, sent to Earth by his wise father and he will inspire and lead the people. And there's the view that Superman has gone through most of his life not knowing who he was, not having anyone to talk and relate to, and always on the cusp of something great, but doesn't know how to go about things. Zack Snyder shows you both ideas and then throws them out of the window and shows you Superman zipping into the air and then punching things.

Superman, how are you going to save the world and inspire all of mankind to be better?
- Punch things really hard until they fall down.
Superman, did you finally find your place in the world?
-Yeah, but I'm just going to go ahead, fly around, and then punch stuff.

Then there's the idea that is reiterated throughout the movie that the world isn't ready to know about Clark, his powers, or of other worlds. How would people react if they found out that there were gods among them speed, unlimited strength, can shoot fire from their eyes, or fly? Jor-El talks about it. Jonathan Kent talks about it. Perry White talks about it. Spoiler Alert: [~~AND NOTHING! There is no pay off! The filmmakers~~ ~~totally skip the idea and move on to something else.]~~

Hans Zimmer put down a really great soundtrack. Epic. Gives you what you would expect of a composer of his caliber. But in the end, there's no discernible theme to hum walking out of theater or for little kids to make up words to while they tie corners of a blanket around their necks and pretend to fly. The compositions are great, but you could probably swap it out with any of his other movie scores.

Inevitably, if you're of a certain age and you've been a Superman fan, even a casual fan, you're going to compare it to Superman: The Movie. Cinematography and storytelling aside, the one thing that separates the two movies the most in my heart is the tagline from the 1978 film, "You'll believe a man can fly." You expect a certain amount of simple awe and wonder when it comes to this character. Kids and adults slowly saying "Wow. He's flying." There were several opportunities that Snyder could have achieved that with some practical effects and subtlety, but instead he's really jazzed on the idea of showing you Superman breaking the sound barrier - Every. Freaking. Time.

Ok, it feels like I'm doing a lot of bashing and the movie isn't completely terrible. There are things that this movie does well. We get to see Kevin Costner and Diane Lane play loving parents that do the best they can in really challenging situations. Diane Lane's Martha Kent has a very sweet scene with a 9 year old Clark dealing with the weight of the world. Amy Adams is fantastic in portraying Lois Lane as smart and capable and not a damsel in distress. Henry Cavill has some charming moments, but they go by quicker than you can say "Red-Blue-Blur"

Grade: C-
There were several parts that I enjoyed and the CGI was decent, but there is so much talent was wasted so that Zack Snyder could show Superman flying or punching stuff or flying while punching stuff.
Somebody save me.....

Trivial stuff I feel like mentioning because I can:
It was really nice to see a handful of Canadian actors who also happened to be in episodes of Smallville. Tahmoh Penikett appeared in one episode in season-3 (Resurrection) as Vince Davis and in two episodes of season-6 as Wes Keenan. Mike Dopud appeared in several episodes as George, the Luthor's security guard. Alessandro Juliani played Dr. Emil Hamilton in 14 episodes of Smallville.
All three actors have also been in Battlestar Galactica and Continuum.

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Movie Review: The Purge

When it comes to horror films I’m always a bit wary, even when the promotional material I’ve seen makes me think the film has a lot of potential. Too many times do horror films fail to set themselves apart, resorting to the same tropes and tricks that all other movies of their kind use. My thoughts going into The Purge were no different; I was on the fence over whether a novel concept would be able to differentiate the film in any real way from countless other movies in which a small family deals with a home invasion. Luckily, The Purge is able to tell a distinct story using its unique concept.

The concept I speak of is of course the annual Purge. In America’s near future this 12-hour event takes place once a year and allows citizens to engage in almost any form of crime without legal consequence, including murder. This is done in order to “purge” the nation’s citizens of their pent-up anger, and apparently results in extremely low crime and unemployment rates for the rest of the year.

While many other horror films with interesting concepts like this one rely on that premise to power the story, The Purge uses the idea of 12 hours of legal crime more as a backdrop to set the scene rather than as a mechanism to drive the entire plot. The film is about the characters, not the concept - which is why it works. The Purge itself takes an almost ancillary role in the movie’s story. It is included in the plot through a several snippets of radio and television broadcasts that happen not as the focus of the scene, but in the background as the characters go about daily tasks of driving home from work or eating dinner. This gives us enough to understand the Purge and its place in society but we're not given details on how exactly it came to be, which really aren't necessary to the plot anyway. The Purge is treated as a part of the characters’ lives instead of as the only reason for the movie to exist.

Still, the idea of the Purge, and how each character views it, is very prominent in the characters’ actions. Of the main characters of the story, an affluent family of four, the two parents (Ethan Hawke and Lena Headey) are proponents of the Purge because they are relatively well off and can keep their family protected during the 12 hour period. The children (Max Burkholder and Adelaide Kane) don’t fully understand the reasoning behind the Purge, but their parents assure them that it’s for the best. But when the youngest child offers a stranger refuge in their home after the Purge begins, morals are questioned and belief in the underlying idea of the Purge doubted when a group of people come looking for the unknown man and they find that even they are not immune to the Purge.

Once the stage has been set the tight, well-written script gets its chance to shine. Not only is there the typical tension and action that comes with a horror film (which is well done), but it is also mixed with moral quandaries and elements of a psychological thriller. Nearly all of the action and dialogue have a thematic or plot-driving purpose. Best of all, it’s not predictable. When presented with moral dilemmas, the characters are not archetypes that immediately make obvious choices that the script requires of their character to follow a typical plot. They make decisions and the action develops from their choices. Overall, the film delivers not only on its novel concept, but also on the details that many horror films and thrillers skip over in order to get cheap, empty scares.

Grade: B+

The Purge

Directed by: James DeMonaco

Written by: James DeMonaco

Starring: Ethan Hawke, Lena Headey, Max Burkholder, Adelaide Kane

Release date: June 7th, 2013

Feel free to reach me on Twitter @JOKftw or post in the comments if you've got any questions or comments.

Movie Trailer: 300 Rise of an Empire

Oh, the age old tale of studio makes a bunch of money on a movie, studio makes a sequel that no one wants.
So here's 300: Rise of an Empire, the sequel to 2007's 300. 300:RIOE was directed by Noam Murro and it was, is, might be based off of Frank Miller's 300 prequel miniseries, Xerxes, that was supposed to hit shelves in 2010.

Lena Headey returns as Queen Gorgo of Sparta and Rodrigo Santoro as King Xerxes.
Joining the cast is Eva Green as Artemisia and Sullivan Stapleton as Themistocles.

Noam Murro's only other feature is 2008's Smart People. After well received commercials for Halo Reach in 2011, Murro was attached to direct Die Hard 5. Murro also has DGA awards for his Adidas’s “Carry,” Starbucks’s “Glen” and eBay’s “Toy Boat” commercials.

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Movie Review: Man of Steel

I feel the need to preface this review by making mention of the fact that I’ve never been a fan of Superman. I’ve always found him to be a pretty lame superhero; too powerful and righteous to be very interesting. I’ve never read any of the comics, and the only Superman film I’d seen prior to Man of Steel was the much abhorred Superman Returns. Outside of that I’ve seen a few episodes of the old Superman: The Animated Series (which I found vastly inferior to Batman: The Animated Series), and that’s about it. Maybe the fact that I’d never seen the old Christopher Reeve flicks was the reason I could never really care about the character. Who knows? Anyway... all that being said, Man of Steel has caused my opinion of Superman to pull a complete 180.

To put it simply, the movie is AWESOME. And I don’t mean that in the colloquial way the word is so often tossed around today; but in the literal sense that this film actually instills a sense of awe in the viewer on multiple occasions.

What needs to be mentioned first and foremost is the action. It’s utterly incredible. The film features what is probably the most intense and impressive fight sequence in any superhero film I’ve ever seen. Watching three Kryptonians beat the living hell out of each other is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen in an action film. While there are some moments where the CGI is a bit evident, shots really don’t linger long enough for you to notice too much. The quick cuts and rapid pans are still fluid and easy to follow, perfectly capturing the extreme speed of Superman and the other Kryptonians. Even in 3D I never got a headache or had any difficulty discerning what was happening. A true achievement, if you ask me.

The film also excels when it comes to storytelling. David S. Goyer’s script and Christopher Nolan’s input are evident in that the story is very grounded and character-driven. Superman doesn’t really feel like Superman yet, which is a good thing. He still hasn’t completely discovered himself and is motivated by a yearning to understand who he is and what exactly he wants.

Even once he dons his famous suit, you still think of him as Clark or Kal-El. Then again, Superman has always been one of those characters (at least to me) who has never disappeared completely into his secret identity the way many other heroes do. Regardless, we’re able to connect with him and understand what’s driving him whether he’s acting as Clark, Kal-El, or Superman. No matter which side of the character he is portraying, Henry Cavill disappears completely into the role; he is Superman. (At this point I’d again like to remind you I’ve never seen Reeve’s portrayal.)

Providing a wonderful sense of balance to Man of Steel’s story is General Zod (Michael Shannon). Zod was definitely the right villain to use for this film. He is superior to Clark in some aspects and inferior to him in others, but he is also equal to him in many ways. Zod provides a link to the past from which Clark is forming his own sense of identity, showing him a side of Krypton that he cannot truly embrace no matter how much he wants to connect with his people’s past. And even though his actions throughout the film are malicious and seemingly selfish on the surface, we learn enough about Zod as a character to make it clear that Zod isn’t pure evil. His motivations are perfectly rational, even noble, to him. All of his actions were driven by his character, not by the all-too-typical reasoning of “because he’s the bad guy.”

One of the only things I would even think to complain about is that I felt not enough time was Clark’s adolescence, but I really don’t think I can even make that complaint in good conscience. Since everyone knows the origin of Superman, it’s a bit of a Catch-22. You can’t disregard it but you can’t spend an inordinate amount of time on it. I feel like if there had been more time devoted to Clark’s childhood I’d just be complaining that it needed to be shorter.

Besides that, the only imperfections are a few convenient coincidences that advance the plot and some “movie science” used to wrap things up that makes you think “okay, I guess that makes sense.” But since these things are practically staples of superhero films, I again feel that I can’t really gripe about them too much.

All in all, Man of Steel gives us with exactly what a Superman film should be. It shows us our hero as a remarkable man discovering his identity and his place in a world he is not truly a part of. It shows us what he is truly capable of in a spectacular and visually stunning, yet contextually believable way. It fires on all cylinders and hits all of its marks.

Grade: A-

Man of Steel

Directed by: Zack Snyder

Written by: David S. Goyer

Starring: Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Russell Crowe

Release date: June 14, 2013

Feel free to reach me on Twitter @JOKftw or post in the comments if you've got any questions or comments.

Fox wants you to "Choose Your Own Adventure"

FOX is about to finish a deal to acquire the rights to this iconic book series. John Davis and John Fox of Davis Entertainment are attached to produce what the FOX hopes to be an action-adventure franchise spanning platforms. It's a safe bet that this would include movies, tv-shows, tie-in books, and mobile apps.

The deal will give FOX access to the brand and the catalog of of 180 books. When creators R.A. Montgomery and Edward Packard parted ways, Montgomery retained the stories and the brand name. Montgomery will act as an executive producer with his wife and business partner, Shannon Gilligan.

Given John Davis' prior work, there will likely be big budgets, over paid actors getting paid even more because of the added workload, and possibly robots, aliens, or talking animals.

Previous attempts at interactive movies have not done so well in the past. This was likely due to technological limitations. In the mid 1990s, select theaters in major cities were retrofitted with chairs with joysticks in them, when prompted the audience would vote on 3 choices to steer the movie. It cost each theater $70million in equipment and the movies, averaging 30 minutes long, were poorly received by critics and adult movie goers.

See here:

(via The Hollywood Reporter, Empire)
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For me, I would be interested to see if FOX and Davis Entertainment will be involved with CJ Group's push to bring 4D theaters to the American mainstream. Their theater chairs will already have a whole bunch of gadgets and do-hickeys on it, so what's another couple buttons?
CJ Group's 4D/4DX theaters boast motion seats, wind, fog, and lightning effects and smell-o-vision. In CJ Group's theaters in Asia and South America, audiences have seen Marvel's The Avengers, Men in Black 3, and The Hunger Games in 4D/4DX format.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

E3 RECAP: DAY ONE

I really thought the current generation of gaming (PS3, 360, Wii) was going to be the last time I'd really care for gaming. With Nintendo releasing the WiiU and the two recent conferences by Sony and Microsoft, I thought I wouldn't dive into the new generation balls deep. I thought I would just lay back, play some fighitng games casually or go on my pc and play some free-to-play games or play League of Legends (Yuck) with some friends. In the past, I've bought or borrowed (for an extended period of time) all the "Big 3" systems of the the current and past generations (PS2, Xbox, and Gamecube...Sorry Dreamcast, I consider you the generation prior to that) and never had a bias or favorite in the console wars, ALTHOUGH I did find some features of some better than others.

As a gamer, e3 is always an anxious time because we want to know what new hardware or games are coming out for the systems we have or looking forward to purchasing. That being said, this being the internet age, we are spoiled due to the fact that nothing is secret or nothing surprises us now because we can get the information on games/hardware almost instantly rather than waiting for a magazine to tell us. I will say this, I WAS REALLY SURPRISED BY MANY OF THE THING UNVEILED TODAY DURING THE FIRST DAY OF E3. I am going to try and bullet point the 4 main conferences today (Microsoft, EA, Ubisoft, and Sony) . Hopefully tomorrow I can touch on what Ninendo has to offer since they aren’t having a conference but rather have multiple Best Buy stores show off what they are going to be unveiling. These Best Buy locations are listed h ere
so that anyone can go see what they are going to be showing off if you are near any of those areas.

Microsoft:

Xbox One has a $499 and Launches in November
Microsoft Points are dead (A plus since the denomination is ridiculous and I hate having spare points with nothing to buy)
Halo… Yup
Some Good exclusives: Respawn, Killer Instinct 3 (BEEN WAITING ABOUT 15 YEARS OF MY LIFE FOR THE 3^RD INSTALLMENT. B. Orchid Kreygasm)Forza 5, new Dead Rising game
The Trash Talking during the Killer Instinct 3 demo was kind of inappropriate
Xbox Live members finally getting free games (A thing Playstation Plus Members have been getting since they first introduced the program)
New Xbox 360 model out today
Had Hideo Kojima (THE MASTER) talk about the new Metal Gear game
Still has the no sharing of games/ No pre-owned unless the store gets permission too

Pretty Much no 2^nd hand, renting, Gamefly-ing, Amazon/ebay, Mom and Popshop use distribution

Must be connected to the internet once every 24 hours
Kinect must always be plugged in

Ubisoft:

South Park gaming coming in the end of the year
New MMO coming out
New Trials game
New Assassins Creed Game
Just Dance 2014 (One Direction v_v)
Rabbids Invasion (really looks good)
Fusion (Game kind of looks interesting)

EA:

New Peggle game
http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18qf5hn35wy9xgif/ku-xlarge.gif
New Star Wars Battlefront game (FINALLY)
Dragon Age Inquisition (Hopefully better than the last game)
New UFC Game
Battlefield 4 (A really great competitor to Call of Duty Franchise)
Mirror’s Edge 2 (Don’t screw it up it looks really really good)

SONY:

Support for the Vita, remakes and some new games (FINALLY)
Batman…. 60’s tv version and present day batman
Final Unveiling of the console
Redbox and Flickster support
Indiegame Divekick shown (Pretty cool game from what the demo’s have shown)
Diablo 3
Square Enix shows off New Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy
Shows off some gameplay of Watch Dogs (Game looks really really sick)
MAD FUCKING MAX
More Indie games being shown of (Glad Sony is supporting the indie Developer
Activision and Bungie (One of the rare Microsoft Exclusive Publishers) show off a special partnership with...

NO MANDATORY ONLINE
COMES OUT HOLIDAY SEASON FOR $399
and well….this:

In my opinion as of right now, Sony is dominating the console market but nothing has been released so we can't put are eggs in one basket.

Hope Nintendo shows off some good stuff Tuesday
________________________________________________________________________________
[ Derek "Dr. Universe"]

Saturday, June 8, 2013

Coming Attractions: June 2013

Coming Attractions is a monthly piece in which I let you know what I think will be the best movies releasing in the coming month. So if you plan on going to the movies any time this month, hopefully I’ll give you an idea as to what your best bet will be each week. So without further ado, here are the coming attractions for June 2013:

The summer movie season is in full swing in June. With some big blockbusters and some other long-awaited movies coming out this month, there's plenty of films for you to see.

Friday, June 7

The Kings of Summer (Limited Release)

Directed by: Jordan Vogt-Robers

Written by: Chris Galletta

Starring: Nick Robinson, Gabriel Basso, Moises Arias, Nick Offerman, Megan Mullally

This movie technically came out last month, but only as a limited release. On June 7th the movie gets an expanded release (and opening in even more theatres again on June 21st). This is hands down the best movie I've seen so far this year. A coming of age tale that truly encapsulates the all of the joy and angst that comes with being an adolescent male without dipping into melodrama at all. An extremely relatable movie that calls on nostalgia but in no way relies on it. And on top of that, it's also one of the funniest movies I've seen in a long time. If you see one movie this month, make it The Kings of Summer.

Friday, June 14

Man of Steel

Directed by: Zack Snyder

Written by: David S. Goyer

Starring: Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Russell Crowe

After the general disdain for 2006's Superman Returns, Man of Steel has a lot to live up to. But with story input from Christopher Nolan and a script from David S. Goyer (both from The Dark Knight trilogy) there's not a lot of doubt that the film will live up to its potential. Retelling the famous superhero's story in a more dramatic, realistic manner (or at least as realistic as you can get when it comes to Superman) this looks like a gritty reboot that promises to deliver. And the best part of all: Amy Adams is in it.

Friday, June 21

Monsters University

Directed by: Dan Scanlon

Written by: Daniel Gerson, Robert L. Baird, Dan Scanlon

Starring: Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Nathan Fillion, Helen Mirren

Disney-Pixar films are always something to look forward to. Monsters University is no exception. A prequel to 2001's Monsters Inc., the film places Mike and Sully in their glory days at school. The new film is a bit less emotional than the original, but I would argue that it's even funnier. With plenty of jokes (some quick ones that only adults might get) and a great voice cast (so many surprise voices you'll recognize), this is one of the best movies of the year.

Friday, June 28

White House Down

Directed by: Roland Emmerich

Written by: James Vanderbilt

Starring: Channing Tatum, Jamie Foxx, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Richard Jenkins, Jason Clarke

This last weekend of the month is easily the weakest. If you didn't see Olympus Has Fallen back in March, go check out this movie. From what I can tell, the only real difference is that the terrorists are American instead of North Korean in this movie. Other than that it seems to be the same: protagonist (who women will enjoy watching) protects the president when the Washington D.C. is invaded.

Honorable Mentions

Much Ado About Nothing (June 7 - LIMITED RELEASE)

Directed by: Joss Whedon

Written by: Joss Whedon

Starring: Amy Acker, Denis Denisof, Nathan Fillion, Clark Gregg, Fran Kanz, Sean Maher

An adaptation of William Shakespeare's play written and directed by Joss Whedon, starring a slew of actors regularly used by Whedon. If that's not enough to please the geek crowd, I don't know what is.

The Bling Ring (June 14 - LIMITED RELEASE)

Directed by: Sofia Coppola

Written by: Sofia Coppola

Starring: Emma Watson, Leslie Mann, Taissa Farmiga, Erin Daniels, Israel Broussard, Katie Chang

Based on a true story from only a few years ago, The Bling Ring tells of a group of fame-obsessed teenage girls who rob from celebrities. This looks to be a less stylized, more realistic version Spring Breakers, showing what today's youths with warped morals are willing to do in order to live large.

This Is the End (June 14)

Directed by: Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg

Written by: Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg

Starring: Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, James Franco, Jonah Hill, Craig Robinson, Danny McBride

Based on a short film starring Rogen and Baruchel from a few years ago, This Is the End is Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg's first foray into directing. With all of the comedically talented cast playing exaggerated versions of themselves in an extreme situation, the laughs are obviously big, but the trailers, TV spots, and inside looks online give away a lot of the best bits. My advice is to stay away from them in order to get the best experience out of this. If you like the other comedies from the actors involved you should get a real kick out of this.

World War Z (June 21)

Directed by: Marc Forster

Written by: Matthew Michael Carnahan, Drew Goddard, Damon Lindelof

Starring: Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, James Badge Dale, David Morse, Abigail Hargrove

With a lot of rewrites and reshoots throughout the production process, there's some skepticism over what the quality of the final film will be. However, early rumblings are looking pretty positive. While the wildly popular book it's based on is more of a documentation of the war on the zombies, the film seems to translate it into a more standard narrative structure, linking all of the events together with Brad Pitt's character, a United Nations employee trying to put a stop to a zombie outbreak that's crippling the world.

Feel free to follow me on Twitter @JOKftw or post in the comments if you've got any questions or comments.

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