After the success of the Lego Star Wars franchise, and to a lesser extent, Lego Indiana Jones, developer Traveller's Tales has their try at another geek franchise... Batman. I really liked this game, and probably loved it compared to Lego Star Wars, which is likely because I'm more of a Batman geek than a Star Wars. From the moment that the game opened up with Danny Elfman's legendary score from Tim Burton's Batman, I was instantly in love.

Unlike with Lego Star Wars and Indy, uses an original storyline rather than following the stories from the movies, the formula the other games have used. They are simple plots involving robbing banks, trying to take over the city... you know, your run-of-the-mill villain affair. Okay, so the stories are nothing spectacular, but at least they're original.

What makes it more interesting is that in addition to playing the main hero storyline involving Batman and Robin, you're also able to play missions involving the villains. So for every one story, you get the perspectives of the heroes and villains. This is in addition to the Free Play mode which allows you to enter any previously completed level with any character.

The game play is exactly as the same as the afforementioned games, but they did tweak some of the controls for a more smoother play. For me, notably, they've made the controls while in vehicles less cumbersome. Fighting also seems quicker than in Star Wars, where your characters perform combos after mashing the attack button quickly in succession (opposed to in SW where your character swings his light sabre twice in a row).

The characters are also a bit more defined in this game, with each of the main heroes and villains having their own unique abilities.

However, some of the annoyances from the previous games still exist in this one. Most notably is the static camera which when having to do platform to platform jumps, reduces the whole thing into a trial and error process.

Much like the other Lego games, there is tons of replayability, with lots of hidden treasures, secrets, and such that you'll have to obtain by using different combinations of characters.

Much like Lego Starwars, the score in Lego Batman is outstanding, with more of the influence from Burton's movies than Schumacher's or Nolan's.

So in the end, this is a fun game, and I'd have to recommend it if you want an easy and enjoyable game to play with kids. Later geeks.

Categories: gaming , psp

Well, they finally released a trailer for this movie. Seriously, how can this movie possibly suck? Yes, as a wrestling fan, my opinion is biased, but after watching the trailer, it seems like one of those movies that I'd enjoy even if I were not a fan of that genre. The movie has garnered a lot of Oscar buzz, both for Aronofsky's more conventional way of storytelling as well as Mickey Rourke's supposed best career performance. Sorry Nic Cage.

You've got to hand it to Fox Searchlight who over the past few years have picked up and distributed a slew of indie hits such as Little Miss Sunshine, Darjeeling Limited, Juno, Slumdog Millionaire, and the list goes on.

You can check out the trailer here (Youtube / Quicktime). Keep your eyes open for Jimmy Jacobs, Necro Butcher, Ron Killings, and Ernest "The Cat" Miller. I'm sure there's a few others that I've missed.

Later geeks.

Categories: movies , the wrestler

Mortal Kombat VS DC Universe came out this week and although I neither have a PS3 or an XBox 360 to play it, I watched the Fatality videos on Gametrailers and came out more than disappointed. Simply put, they've neutered the concept of fatalies. When Mortal Kombat first came out, it was a hit not because of the in-depth game play; the draw of the game was the fatalities. They were wacky, bloody, gory, cartoony, and overall, just fun to watch. With MK VS DC, they've essentially replaced what we once knew as fatalities with just... moves. I guess it's a bit more realistic, but fuck, I wanna play a Mortal Kombat game for it's bloody fatalities! I've attached a few of the videos, see for yourself.






If you need a reminder of what fatalities were all about, check out this fun little compilation:




Later geeks.

Categories: gaming , mortal kombat vs dc

Generating my list of top 10 movies for this year will be interesting. I've seen so many movies this year, yet I'm finding it hard to fill out even a top 5. There's been a ton of 'okay' films this year, but nothing awe inspiring. However, having seen Slumdog Millionaire last night, I'm able to at least add another title to the top list so far. There's an Oscar buzz already about this movie, and it's quite justified, currently with an RT score of 92% and a Metacritic score of 87.

Before seeing the movie, I was expecting a straight up love story where a boy meets girl, boy gets separated from girl, boy searches for girl. And I guess for the most part, that's what we get. The trailers and synopses basically tell us this much, but we do get a lot more, something I wasn't expecting. Even though the main story is the boy meets girl story, I'd say more time is devoted to the story between our main hero and his older brother.

The movie starts with the main character Jamal, being tortured by the police on suspicions that he's cheated on the Indian version of the gameshow Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. He is interrogated by an inspector and his rotund sidekick, and it's to them that Jamal reveals his life story and how he came to know the answers to each of the questions on the show.

From here, the majority of the movie is shown in flashbacks of Jamal's life. The movie is cut into three parts: childhood, teenage life, and young adulthood. The movie follows Jamal and his older brother Salim, as they struggle to survive as streetkids (or as they call them, slumdogs) on the streets of Mumbai. The contrast between the two brothers grows larger and larger as the story progresses and as the kids age; with Jamal as a humble boy and Salim as the older vindictive brother. They are joined by another orphan girl named Latika, and it's she who Jamal grows fond of, and eventually falls for.

A huge part of what makes us feel for Jamal is the amazing performance by Dev Patel, who plays Jamal in the "current" stage. Just the expressions he gives with his eyes tells us that he's an honest man. Thinking back to the interrogation, there's no reason why the inspector should believe his tale, but for whatever reason he does and tells Jamal that he believes that he's honest.

What's surprising is that a lot of these actors are first time actors mixed in with relatively unknown actors. I guess the mark of a good director is one that can pull out great performances from people who haven't had a plethora of experience.

The movie was shot beautifully by Boyle regular Anthony Dod Mantle (who also worked on Millions and 28 Days Later). Using Mumbai, India as a backdrop provided breathtaking sceneries amongst a cascade of rich colours.

The story could have easily been set in America, but I think it would have lost a lot of the charm that it had being in India. Mumbai becomes a character itself; it is vibrant, alive, and breathing just as much as our characters. You get to see the poverished and wealthy sides which seamlessly blend into each other.

This masterpiece proves once again that Danny Boyle is a versatile director; he can handle any genre be it a sci-fi epic, zombie-horror, or a heroin filled drama. If this movie is supposed to get the ball rolling on the award-season films, then I welcome it with open arms.

This movie is only open in select markets at the moment, but hopefully the word of mouth and strong reviews will help it get a wider release. If you can, go see this movie, and bring your loved one. You'll walk out of this one with a smile. Later geeks.

[Note: like any good Bollywood movie, there's a dance sequence thrown in there. It's quite awesome.]

Categories: danny boyle , movies , slumdog millionaire

As we stroll into November, studios are slowly churning out their high profile films before the year's end in anticipation of the awards season. Here are the few that I'm anticipating:

The Wrestler

Two of my loves combined into one: movies and wrestling. This is Darren Aronofsky's first feature since 2006. The Wrestler has been doing quite well at film festivals, including winning The Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival.

What seems to be consistent is the rave reviews for Mickey Rourke's performance as Randy "The Ram" Robinson. People are lauding this as his best career performance, with a surefire hit at the Oscars. That would be quite awesome! What's interesting is that Nicolas Cage was initially supposed to take on this role, but scheduling conflicts prevented him from committing to this film.

Moriarity of Ain't It Cool News has called it Aronofsky's best movie... high praise considering he directed Requiem for a Dream, Pi, and The Fountain. The story uses more traditional storytelling methods as compared to his other works which were more of a mindfuck. This approach to the script should appeal to a wider audience as opposed to only the art-house crowd (or to just wrestling fans).

The wrestling action within the movie were shot on location at ROH shows, and I hear a bunch of their stars make appearances. The Necro Butcher (an ROH favourite) is supposed to be pretty awesome in it.

Unforunately, no trailers have been released yet, but keep your eyes open geeks.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

I was mesmerized when I first saw the trailer for this. It was attached to the Indiana Jones movie this past summer, and I remember the whole time while I was watching Indy, I was thinking of this movie. That shows you the power of a good trailer.

The crew is brilliant with a reteaming of David Fincher and Brad Pitt (their last piece together was Se7en), in addition to the talents of Cate Blanchett and Tilda Swinton.

The story is adapted from the short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald (which I'll post up in the next week or so) which follows Benjamin Button, a man who's had a bizzare birth where he was born as an old man and ages backwards as time progresses.

It's such an intriguing premise as you start to wonder how things would be as you get younger and younger while those around you get older and older.

The early word from screenings seem to be mediocre, with a consistent complaint that the runtime is too long. Hopefully they will fix this for the official theatrical release. Check out the trailer (Youtube / Quicktime).

Slumdog Millionaire

Danny Boyle's latest feature has garnered much attention for being a beautiful film and fairytale-like.

The movie was well received by the enthusiastic audience with its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. It well enough to win the People's Choice Award at the festival.

The film is about a young man named Jamal who is under interrogation by the police for cheating on India's version of Who Wants To Be a Millionaire, while being only one question away from winning the big prize. During the interrogation the detective says, even doctors and lawyers cannot come close to the 20 million rupee prize, and so Jamal, having grown up on the streets of Mumbai, cannot possibly know these answers. As Jamal tries to avoid arrest, he begins to explain to the police how he knew each of the answers. The story of his life maps out how he came to know the answers to each of the questions.

Regardless of what kinds of movies Boyle works on, one thing for certain is that he's able to craft stories that are intriguing and visceral. The visual style in the trailer seems breathtaking with using India as a backdrop.

I'm seeing the movie this week, so I'll have thoughts on it sometime near the end of the week. Until then, check out the trailer (Youtube / Quicktime).

Quantum of Solace

By no means is this an Oscar contender, but still, it's one of the movies I'm dying to see this year. Early reviews has been lukewarm though that shouldn't be too surprising considering how high Casino Royale raised the bar. It opens this week, so not too much to say about it.

This is the 22nd Bond flick and Daniel Craig's second feature as the secret agent. I may be wrong about this, but I think this is the first Bond sequel to have integral continuity between the storylines of two movies.

I loved the raw edge of Casino Royale and I can only hope they brought it over into this movie.

The movie is directed by Marc Forster who has helmed the Kite Runner, Stranger than Fiction, and Finding Neverland, amongst others. Not really an action type guy, but at least those movies prevailed with storytelling.

Check out the trailer (Youtube / Quicktime).

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So these are the ones I'm looking forward to. Please share any that you're looking forward to. I'm sure there's tons of good stuff that I've missed. Later geeks!

Categories: movies

Okay, honestly, I think this will be the last DTV post for a while. One man can only take so much shit. I'm only human, I have feelings too. These two movies pushed my limit. I'm going to be in DTV-detox for the next month or so.

Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer

I thought that with a title like this, it couldn't fail. I thought that with a poster like they had, it couldn't fail. Then I realized something... I failed. I failed in thinking that this movie had any hope.

I was expecting some fun horror, mixed with comedy in sort of a Buffy the Vampire Slayer kind of fashion with a bumbling hero and smart quips. I mean, with a title like Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer, was I wrong in expecting a variety of monsters get slayed as the title suggests?

It didn't help much that the monsters looked uber cheesy. They looked like something right out of a Power Rangers episode. But to their credit, at least they stuck with practical make-up and effects rather than CG.

The movie itself follows the titular character through the downward spiral that is his life. Basically, everything just sucks in his life. One day he accidentally releases a curse which changes his night school teacher into some sort of monster. Hysteria ensues.

The only good thing in the movie was Robert Englund. How they managed to recruit him is a mystery to me. The man is selling himself short if you ask me. Englund is a talented man, it's too bad that he's pigeon-holed himself into horror schlock-fests. It's a damn waste.

In the end, this movie was forgettable. So much that I had to IMDB the plotline just to remember what the fuckin' point of the movie was.

Gingerdead Man 2: Passion of the Crust

Gingerdead Man. A movie so bad that it prompted a sequel. Okay, I will say this much; the sequel is slightly more entertaining than its predecessor, but that's just like saying how cow shit smells slightly better than dog shit... in the end, they're both shit.

As the title suggests, the movie is about a killer gingerbread man. Somehow he ends up at a B-movie studio, where the whole movie takes place, and it is here that he wreaks all his gingerly havocs. Basically, he's trying to come back into human form via a magic spell that requires the blood of 5 virgins or some such nonsense.

Throughout the movie I was wondering why it was titled Passion of the Crust? I mean, nothing in the first 70 minutes of it alluded to The Passion of the Christ, so was it just something witty that an ad wizard came up with and had it tacked on? My question would be answered in the last scene in the movie.

It's something so wild and absurd, I wish somehow I were making this up. So in the last scene, a bunch of puppets come to life through a mystical incantation that was fucked up by the Gingerdead Man. The puppets gather together, take the Gingerdead Man, and crucify him on a cross. They then place a crown of thorns on its head and burn him. I shit you not. I don't know why they try to associate this with Christ, it doesn't make sense. Are the puppets Jewish? Blasphemy~!!

I was thinking to myself, wow, this scene makes zero sense. But then I corrected myself: I'm watching a movie about a killer gingerbread man... it's not supposed to make sense. Not that it makes things any better, mind you.

At least the first movie had the maniacal Gary Busey in it; this movie was full of bad actors complete with bad acting. Although their acting is shitty, I can't dog on them for all of it. A lot of the blame must go towards the script. It's horrendous. It tries to be funny, but it's just not. For example, here is some dialogue. It's a scene where a "boy" from a make-a-wish foundation meets a famed B-movie producer:

Tommy: "You're Kelvin Chetum, son of Rupert Chetum the low-budget movie master, creator of such genre hit classics as Beach Blanket Bludgeonry, and Maniac Dry Cleaner, and Escape From Sloth Island!"
Kelvin: "That one was a little slow in parts."

Haha! That was supposed to be funny!

That reminds me of something. Tommy. All the actors are bad, but he is the worst. Now, I think he was supposed to be something between a young boy and a teenager. I mean he's participating in a make-a-wish foundation, so I assume he's supposed to be a child. He's clearly a 20-something year old man, overacting to sound like a sugar-coated pixie-stix addicted tween. He is so bad and awful. They obviously miscasted this poor guy.

I could go on and on, but all I need to say is that this movie is shit.

Conclusion

Stay away from these two movies. Together they are two and half hours that I will never get back. Later geeks.

Categories: dtv madness , gingerdead man , horror , jack brooks monster slayer , movies

"Roman Polanski... In France, he's desired and in America, he's wanted."

I first heard of Roman Polanski's controversy some nine years ago when my grade 11 english teacher brought it up after watching his Macbeth. Years later I learned a bit more about his background and tragedy after reading Helter Skelter, the book about the Charles Manson murders.

Polanski's story is an intriguing one, a tragic one at that. He is the central subject of the documentary Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired.

If you are unfamiliar with his works, Polanski is a world renowned director (and sometimes actor) with such classics as Chinatown, Rosemary's Baby, and Macbeth, but more recently he's directed The Pianist which earned him an Oscar. In 1969, his wife, the beautiful model and actress, Sharon Tate, was murdered by members of the Manson Family while she was 8 months pregnant. Polanski was out of town when it occured, and was in an emotional spiral afterwards.

However, Marina Zenovich's documentary focuses on one of his more seedier affairs. Years after the murder of his wife and friends, Polanski engaged in "unlawful sexual intercourse" with a 13 year old girl. In crafting this story together, Zenovich tries to put things into perspective by portraying Polanski as an artsy, emotionally distraught director, who fell victim to his carnal desires. She accomplishes this by linking the trauma associated with the murder of his wife to this incident.

The film gives details to all the courtroom drama and the trials that Polanski went through. It gives hints at what may have been corruption on the part of the judge who is characterized as a celebrity lover (although claiming he was never star-strucked).

Polanski eventually fled to France to avoid arrest, and has stayed there ever since.

Although I don't doubt that the murder of his wife impacted his psychological state, I do think it's much more than that. One important part of his life was living through World War 2. Not only did he suffer during this time through persecution, but his mother was gassed by the Nazi's, and his father barely survived concentration camp. I'm quite sure these sorts of things fuck up the psyche in some unimaginable ways. In the end, I suppose only he knows why he did what he did.

The film portrays Polanski as a sympathetic character, a flawed man, a person who at first didn't even realize he did something wrong, but it never glorifies his actions.

There are only short interviews conducted with Roman during the movie, most of the interviews are with friends, collaborators, and even the victim herself.

I guess the good news is that in 1998, Polanski and the female victim have reconciled; he apologized, she accepted. In fact she doesn't feel he needs to go to jail, and that he is not dangerous, that at the time, he was probably confused.

This was a well knit documentary, and I recommend any Polanski fans to check it out. Later geeks.

Categories: documentary , movies , roman polanski