Monthly Archives: June 2012

Movie News & Opinions

‘X-Men: First Class’ Sequel Release Date Announced

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Last years X-Men: First Class was a welcome entry into the X-Men film franchise, and of course, it’s going to get a sequel. Thankfully, the team behind the original, including Michael Fassbender, who played the brilliant Magneto, Jennifer Lawrence of newly found ‘Hunger Games’ fame, and Director Matthew Vaughn, who was also responsible for the kick ass, Kick-Ass, are all returning, given time for their respective schedules, to film the sequel in time for July 2014 release. James McAvoy is also confirmed as returning as Professor X, although there is no information at this time if he will be going bald. Details about the film itself are scarce, as it doesn’t even have a title yet, but it will focus on Magneto falling further down the spiral into super-villainry.  All in all it’s still pretty early, and news about casting, new roles, further plot details and such are in the air, as it’ll likely be a year before any substantial updates are available.

What did the five fingers say to the face?

I especially look forward to the film, as First Class was the only film in the entire X-Men franchise that, in my opinion, carried any depth or genuine meaning with it, along with exciting, fun to watch action scenes that carried weight and gravitas behind them. The first two tried unsuccessfully to blend heady, talk heavy scenes into the film, but failed when it came to any kind of exhilarating fighting or action, and left us with a main character death in the second, that lacked emotional resonance, and ultimately ended up going nowhere interesting in the incredibly mediocre (but entertaining in a oh-man-this-is-bad way) third film. First Class finally showcased realistic uses of powers by characters who were refreshingly happy and willing to use them, because having powers would be amazing, and seeing characters unburdened by any sort of broody melodramatic guilt over the “responsibility” of their powers, was a breath of fresh air to see, especially in a genre where so many superheroes’ are so torn about having frickin’ SUPER POWERS.

So it goes without saying I’ll be looking forward to seeing some new X-Men action come July 18, 2014, because watching someone using mind powers gleefully is probably the best wish-fulfillment there is.

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DC Comics’ Green Lantern (Not Hal Jordan) Is Gay

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That’s right, folks. The original Green Lantern, Mr. Alan Scott, is coming out of his superhero closet. The original Green Lantern from the 1940s, Scott was revealed to be gay after kissing his boyfriend despite formerly being a husband and father of two children. He will be revealed as a gay man in next week’s issue of “Earth 2”, a reboot of the Alan Scott character that was ordered by DC comics as a part of their “New 52” initiative, which is “aimed at rejuvenating their characters”.

This is not the first time that James Robinson, the writer of “Earth 2”, has created a gay superhero. Back in the 1990s, he wrote the “Starman” comics for DC. Starman was an openly gay superhero that Robinson hoped would teach tolerance and acceptance to children who read his comics. Regarding the Alan Scott character, Robinson has this to say:

“I hope he’s a positive figure. If there’s some kind of kid out there who’s reading the comic and who’s worried about the person he is, maybe it will give him a positive sense of who he is. Or maybe a different kid will read it and decide I don’t need to bully some kind of kid in school…We should be preaching love and tolerance…that kind of negativity is stupid and outmoded.”

According to the New York Post:

“The character is different than the more modern Green Lantern, ladies’ man Hal Jordan, who stars in his own comics and is a member of an extraterrestrial police force called the Green Lantern Corps. Jordan’s also part of DC’s Justice League with Wonder Woman, Batman, Superman, the Flash and Aquaman.”

The newest issue of “Earth 2” is set to hit stands next Wednesday.

GAMING

‘Need for Speed: Most Wanted 2012’ Announced

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I have absolutely no idea why they’re doing this, but developers have been making announcements after announcements the week prior to E3. Konami went as far as to pre-record their E3 presentation instead of doing it live. Anyways, EA has finally announced Dead Space 3 and Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2012), confirming rumors from a while ago, as well as the leak that happened a couple of days back. Accompanying its announcement is a screenshot taken from the next Need for Speed game. Since I don’t play horror games (real life is scary enough as it is), I’ll just give you some of my insights on Need for Speed.


NFS is actually one of EA’s longest standing franchises (20 games since 1994). The first game was known as one of the most innovative games in the racing genre, bringing car handling to a whole different level. It is also one of the first racing games to bring in non-linear police chases combined with various tactics. However, in recent years, EA has released flop after flop – some of the more notorious ones being Undercover and The Run. As a matter of fact, it was Undercover that began the whole “two year developmental cycle”, which would alternate developers year by year, giving each developer more time to make the games while releasing one each year. This seemed to have worked with Hot Pursuit (2010), but not so much with The Run.

I grew up playing Need for Speed. I went as far back as to NFS 2. My personal favorite has always been High Stakes on the PS1. The graphics were just so stunning back then. Plus, playing as the police is just so much fun. Instead of ramming the suspects while killing them in the process and bearing a seven-figure lawsuit, the game actually requires the players to stop the suspects by, you know, making sure that they have nowhere left to go. You have to trap the suspect in order to make an arrest.

Porsche Unleashed also has one of the best looking visuals at the time. Hell, it still looks good today.

With a history going that far back, I am undoubtedly a Need for Speed junkie. You can’t imagine how excited I am when I first heard about the next entry to the franchise. Criterion Games, mostly known for the Burnout series and Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (2010), is behind Most Wanted. Based on the 2005 game of the same title, it is fair to assume that those insanely long, fun police chases will return. I am most intrigued by the storyline. Oh how much do I miss those insanely deep storylines (spoiler alert)  and mind-blowing acting. They’re not bad, just misunderstood. OK, who am I kidding? They’re all turrible, but that’s also the reason why they’re so much fun.

The first Most Wanted was released on PSN recently. If you’re an XBOX 360 or PC owner, you can grab a physical copy of the game. Either case, I definitely recommend checking it out.

EA’s presentation will be live on Monday at 1pm PST. You can watch it live on GTTV. I will, once again, give you my impressions on the game then. And yes, I do know this is a tease to a tease. It’s still stupid.

GAMING

Tomb Raider: E3 2012 Trailer Impressions

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Before we get to anything Tomb Raider, I wanna take a second to apologize for not giving you a sneak peek of this article two hours before putting it up. It’s completely on me. In order to atone for my mistake, I shall perform a Japanese ritualistic suicide known as seppuku to myself. No, I won’t post pictures; I can, however, describe the scene. Imagine a fat ass teenager cutting his stomach open with all of his intestines oozing out, dying a slow, painful death. Yea, let’s just pretend that actually happened and get this over with. Let’s move on to what you clicked on the article for – my impressions. Here’s the trailer, in case you haven’t seen it yet.

First and foremost, we’re finally getting a release date for this game. This game will hit store shelves in March, 2013. That is a good 8 months away from now. Given how many blockbusters are coming out in fall (such as Hitman, or the 9 millionth Call of Duty game), it seems to be a logical move for Square Enix to push this game to the next fiscal quarter and give Crystal Dynamics more time to polish this game.

Assuming the world doesn’t end in 2012

As I mentioned last time, the game is looking great. This time, we get to see a greater variety of environments and weathers, ranging from dark, gloomy caves, to large, open forests.

This time round, we finally get to watch some more gameplay. Lara Croft can be seen wielding a bow in the picture above, which she would use to kill the deer.

Pictured above: A non-PETA member doing something very anti-PETA

Soon after, Lara can be seen cooking what I would presume to be deer meat. This leads me to wonder if there will be some sort of hunting feature in the game, similar to Metal Gear Solid 3.

Pictured above: A non-PETA member cooking some very anti-PETA food

We also get to see a bunch of cutscenes which I would assume to have incoporated a series of quick time events. The first of such occassion is the wolf attack, and the second being the rape attempt. Personally, I’m not digging these button-smashing features. They cause frustrations, and lead to a decrease in intellectual levels. Furthermore, you know it’s an overused gimmick when you see it in a racing game.

Pictured above: A non-PETA member protecting herself from a PETA-endorsed individual

Men think with their dicks. FACT!

In one  of the cutscenes, Lara Croft communicates with some of her allies. This begs a question: will there be a companion system of some sort? It makes sense for Lara to stick with her pals since they are in the wild, fighting off some people with guns while waiting for help. Interesting…

There is also a sequence later in the trailer which shows Lara sneaking around a burning site (until a guy tries to rape her, as mentioned above). Stealth seems to play a role in the game, and staying quiet and unseen might be important in the game. After all, Lara is stranded on a deserted island, where ammunition sources should be scarce. Plus, it doesn’t help that she’s going up against trained mercenaries.

In addition to the bow and arrows, Lara can also use pistols. The sequence shows her drawing her sidearm in slow-mo and fire a few rounds into the bad guys.

I thought only alcoholic pill-heads can slow down time

There are also melee combats, but we could only catch a glimpse of them. I actually feel there is a good amount of potential in this aspect of the combat system, since she is in the wild and should be able to use whatever nature throws at her. For example, she could try combining a huge rock and a tree branch to make a hammer. I can’t tell if there will be such a mechanic in place from this still.

Last, but not least, we also get to see some platformer action. Nothing much can be told at this moment, except that they seem to require some reflexes. Duh.

I’m disappointed with the complete lack of puzzle-solving in the trailer. I sincerely hope we can see more of that in E3. From what I’ve seen so far, the game is capturing that “fight for survival” tone pretty well. This is certainly looking promising thus far. And before you ask, yes, Tomb Raider will totally piss PETA off, which is a major plus in my book.

Movie News & Opinions

The REAL Reason “GI Joe: Retaliation” Was Delayed

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Claiming that they needed to spend nine months to add 3D, a lot of people called BS on Paramount, and for good reason, too. I mean, come on, give me a break. Nine months to add 3D? Really? That’s a two or three month job at the most. I understand that most of the summer release spots were taken, but why not just release it in the fall?

CinemaBlend has the entire scoop, and instead of just rewriting it less eloquently for fear of committing plagiarism (and a general lack of motivation on my part), I’ll post what they had on their article regarding GI Joe: Retaliation:

“Paramount decided to shift G.I. Joe: Retaliation to next winter and the reason is because the studio wasn’t confident that the movie could compete with Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man. Set to be released on July 3rd, webhead would have only given G.I. Joe five days, at most. at the top of the box office, and many anticipate that the success of The Avengers will translate to greater success for all superhero movies, including our friendly neighborhood webslinger. Also helping out box office numbers next year will be the added 3D, which should pad Paramount’s international numbers quite nicely.

But the other reason for the move is Mr. Channing Tatum. Watching the trailers for G.I. Joe: Retaliation, it’s pretty clear that Tatum, who played Duke in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, bites the big one early in the film. With 21 Jump Street and The Vow performing as well as they did, however, the studio is thinking that killing Tatum off wasn’t the best idea in the world. It’s expected that in the next nine months Tatum will be brought in for re-shoots so that they can expand his part – which is a clean way of saying that he could be resurrected.”

This is both interesting and disappointing. Initially I loved the bold choice to kill of Tatum in the first act. Then again, considering both Bruce Willis AND The Rock are in this movie, bringing Channing Tatum back for a third act showdown might not be such a bad idea, but it’s just too predictable. I understand the attempt to make as much money as possible, but if you’re going to make a move as ballsy as that, at least have the nerve to stick through with it until the end.

And just because…