For fans of the Halo universe, these past few weeks have been nothing less than a conglomeration of anticipation and teasing. The Forward Unto Dawn series released its first full-length episode instead of the short vignettes we’d received before, and NewEgg.com ran an incredible sale of $15 off the pre-order (if you missed out, sucks to be you).
Now the live-action trailer for Halo 4 is out, and like the previous live-action trailers before, it does not fail to grip the viewer with its intensity even in such a short amount of time. The trailer, entitled “Scanned,” features a captured Master Chief being tortured in some way by the new enemy gamers will face in Halo 4:
The trailer was produced by David Fincher, that guy who made those awesome films like Fight Club, Se7en, and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Tim Miller directed the trailer, pairing with Fincher as he had previously worked on special effects for Fincher’s Tattoo. The two delivered Halo fans an impressive piece of artistry here that again only makes us more anxious for the game’s release.
Though we love these live-action trailers, the question amongst gamers still remains; will this new “ancient enemy” be a worthy foe like the Covenant have been for the past 10 years, or will they just be something to roll our eyes at? The enemy leader in this trailer appears to be quite threatening (anyone who can capture Master Chief definitely shouldn’t be underrated). Hopefully, the game creators have integrated the race deftly into the timeline, canon, and framework of preceding Halo lore.
Creepy, dude.
We’ll find out how everything is presented in only two weeks. If you haven’t already, make sure to ask off work for November 6, when the regular and limited editions of Halo 4 will be released so you can game the day away.
Cinemax has been re-branding themselves as a network with an edge. It’s like the Spike TV of the premium channels now in case you need action, babes, and more action. They have partnered with the BBC in order to deliver a brand new series to the screen called Hunted starring Melissa George of In Treatment and 30 Days of Night fame. It has international locations, action, conspiracy, suspense and sexiness in the form of its lead actress. Cinemax has been targeting the demographic of those intrigued with beautiful scenery and people blowing some crap up in the same vein of another action series on air, Strike Back, so they decided to pursue this new angle. They succeed in establishing this world of backstabbing and the private sector of espionage in the pilot, even if it feels inconsistent with the pacing. However, the appeal of Melissa George and her team behind her spy kept me anxious to see what will happen next.
Hunted comes from the mind of Frank Spotnitz, who was a writer and producer of the cult hit X-Files. Melissa George plays Sam Hunter, a spy who works for a private security team where morals can also be for hire. She’s excellent at what she does and approaches her job with a vigor and efficiency reserved for the James Bonds and Jack Bauers of the world. However, after a recent job, she was ambushed, shot in the stomach and left for dead. This turns out to be tragic news as she was pregnant at the time. We pick her up a year later, conditioning and training herself physically and mentally to return to her former job. We get flashbacks showing previous trauma from her childhood in bits and pieces and how it may affect her own journey back from the dead. Once she feels back up to the task, she makes her way back to Byzantium, her old agency. However, she does so with the knowledge of weeding out the only people who knew where she could have been ambushed. She has been keeping tabs on them this whole time, looking for revenge for her loss and fall from grace in hopes of finding the truth. She has her eye on everyone and obviously monitoring the movements and possible alternative motives of those that work in a spy agency is an arduous task.
Other people at Byzantium include her behind closed doors boss, Rupert Keel (Stephen Dillane, lately of Game of Thrones), who is suspicious of a mole in his agency coincidentally when she resurfaces. Deacon Crane, (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje of Oz and Lost fame) is her field agent boss who also expresses doubts about her return to work but they both receive an important assignment and need her help. Her co-workers are also shocked in her return to action, most especially Aidan Marsh (Adam Rayner), who was her boyfriend at the time of her (and his child’s) ambush. However, this assignment takes precedence as she must infiltrate a powerful family headed by Jack Turner (Patrick Malahide), who has a paranoid nature to any outside party and obviously is a threat to the client who hired Byzantium to find out what he is up to. It’s up to Sam to get back in the saddle and get down to business, while also keeping an eye on her own back as her support team could contain the person who wanted to remove her from the picture only a year earlier.
There are a lot of things to explain in the pilot and obviously there must be a lot of exposition in trying to set up Sam’s identity and inner focus on why she does what she does. Sometimes this tends to keep things at a slow pace because you are being fed so much information that it can become overwhelming and stops the pace so the audience can catch up. Hopefully the next episodes can establish a quicker jump into the story because there is a lot intrigue to be had in the story. Spy stories can be tricky in where it might be difficult to root for one party over another because of the moral ambiguity that comes with the job but Spotnitz, who wrote the pilot, does a good job in letting everyone chime in without alienating the audience from the star and still not beat us over the head with her inner turmoil. With his expertise in conspiracies and who-should-you-trust back and forths, Spotnitz is great in making sure everyone looks like a friend and enemy at the same time.
The cast also comes through in a big way. George is terrific (I honestly thought the Australian actress was American until I looked her profile up on IMDB for this review) and provides depth to a character that is shrouded in so much secrecy, another actress might have come off as vacant in her blank stares. However, George can flip the switch on being cold and calculated, to elated and happy, to full of vengeance, all in one episode. I’m excited to see what she does with her work on here as she plays femme fatale and wounded extremely well. I look forward to see where her Kill Bill-esque journey goes. The supporting cast is good with Dillane and Akinnuoye-Agbaje standing out in their roles as the brains and technical expertise of their business. Playing a spy can be difficult because they must be able to play around emotions that can be taken in several different ways in order to mask the real person inside and this cast leads the way in letting us in, while leaving enough gray area to keep us guessing who has secondary intentions. Also props for them finding the awesomely named Blank-Faced Man (Scott Handy) because his creepiness and accuracy with a needle in his hand will be the talking point of this episode.
The photography of the pilot is great as it takes us to Tangier, the English countryside, and London and captures the international intrigue of a spy movie, most notably the Bourne movies. There always is a purpose with each shot in establishing action and letting the imagery become another character to enhance the mood and sell the story. The action choreography is decent, even though with the Bourne series being an inspiration, it suffers from shaky cam action way too much as feels disjointed to where the action comes off as unwatchable at times because it cuts away after every move in order to disorient the audience, only in a way not intended. As I said before, I look forward to see how they use the actors and environments and how they blend into these spy games.
This series has the potential to be good and as long as they do not linger and keep the pacing sharp, this could be a hit for Cinemax. Keep an eye on Melissa George and the cast because they sell the pilot and series. I look forward to see where they take this story and build on the momentum of the pilot. Keep the intrigue up and the action fast and you got yourselves a new action, thriller series the fall has been lacking on television.
On Tuesday, October 23rd, we will get a teaser trailer for the Iron Man 3. But because marketing are bunch a teases, like that hot catholic chick you knew in high school, we only get a peek of the goods until the big shot says so apparently. Here’s the teaser of the teaser trailer:
Soooo yeah. Pepper Potts apparently is in danger riding a roller coaster judging from the harness she’s in, Iron Man is saving falling people, paparazzi are bitches, and the back of the Mandarin’s head is…there. We’ll probably just have more questions when we see the actual trailer but for now, time to get your nerd boner up.
Thoughts? I know the director Shane Black thing is getting Dr. Kronner excited and after Iron Man 2, which sucked ass, this could be a new breath of fresh air. It looks good but that’s what a trailer does. I guess we’ll see on Tuesday so we can speculate more and hopefully, geek out a bit more. Hopefully I’ll have more educated guesses on what’s going on other than Gwyneth Paltrow riding the Millenium Force or something.
I enjoyed last week so much that when I saw it was Bruno Mars hosting this week I feared he would be the valley to Christina Applegate’s peak. I don’t know if it’s just due to the polyurethane fumes I’ve been huffing all week (I’m painting/sealing things, I don’t have a drug problem) but I was pleasantly surprised.
But screw Bruno Mars because this happened!
Aidy Bryant finally had more than one line! Then one of her lines was the “LIVE” announcement and I was just so excited! And then we didn’t hardly see her or frankly hardly any of the women folk of the cast but hey, it’s the little things in life.
The cold open was the most recent presidential debate and it was fabulous. The mic drop was definitely the highlight. I’ll admit that I actually never watch the real debates so in my world, this really could have happened. I usually prefer things in my world so that’s what I’m going with.
Of course it is always fun when some of the best SNL hosts make a random appearance, this week it was Tom Hanks, sporting his mustache for Saving Mr. Banks, a movie I am big time looking forward to.
Shock of the night was when Bruno Mars sang his opening monologue. Yea, I know, I was just as stunned as everyone else. I did like how he mentioned Justin Timberlake. I can’t imagine a double duty host that doesn’t immediately think of Justin Timberlake and their disappointment that they won’t be as good as him. I’m just waiting for the day that Timberlake announces that he has decided to abandon his movie career and become a full-time SNL cast member. That would be a nice day.
If you haven’t seen the Brad Pitt Chanel commercial, here you go.
Now you realize that Taran Killam’s recurring bit all night with the random Brad Pitt commercials was not that far off the mark. I mean seriously, that had to be filmed and edited and then someone had to see it and still give it the go ahead. I’m thinking there are a lot of drugs being used over in the Chanel advertising camp these days. If your perfume commercial stands out as particularly odd in a world of already extremely random and nonsensical perfume commercials, then congratulations, you have a non-winner.
Let’s not kid ourselves though- those Doritos tacos are rather good.
Haters with Sunny Taylor Tomkins featuring Bobby Moynihan’s legs was up next and I was forced to admit that perhaps Bruno Mars actually could make it through the show. The sketch itself was completely pointless but hey, they can’t all be high concept. It was fun for fun’s sake and spawned what might be new go to catchphrase. I like to switch them out every once in a while, keeps things fresh.
You know I’m just gonna say it- Bruno Mars doesn’t make an ugly lady/teenage girl. I wouldn’t go so far as to say he makes an attractive young woman but not ugly. Bravo sir, bravo.
Next was Pandora Intern and while it appears the rest of the internet loved this sketch, I thought it was a bit meh. Best parts for me was when Bruno Mars grabbed Jason Sudeikis’ hand to do the Michael Jackson lean and of course all three guys just happened to have a Michael Jackson glove on them.
The most the Pandora sketch accomplished was get this song stuck in my yet again. Love George Watsky but damn it this song drives me nuts when it’s stuck on a loop in my brain.
The prerecorded Sad Mouse was probably my favorite of the night. It was funny in that really sad kind of way. I did laugh at the sign behind Jason Sudeikis that read “Don’t get arrested, we won’t bail you out!” For the briefest moments of time I got a job wearing a Statue of Liberty outfit for a tax preparer’s office and they tell you that if you do something to get in trouble, you are on your own.
Thanks to my time in the Statue of Liberty outfit, I always wave to sign spinners, and mascots, and people in sandwich boards, and people in costumes. I would have surely waved to the Sad Mouse.
Hey surprise – Bruno Mars was the musical guest!
Weekend Update featured perhaps one of the best recurring characters in recent memory. It was none other than Stefon. The best part of Stefon is apparently they do not let him see the script until he sees it on the teleprompters which explains his reaction that often ends up in him breaking. This week was no different. To his defense though, I think a lot of people would have a hard time not laughing at the Jewish Dracula named Sidney Applebaum. I mean come on. And Slimer? Too funny.
We went from the hilarious Stefon to the sometimes laborious Maryville Brothers. Best part was when Tom Hanks with his Walt Disney mustache attempts to robot grope Vanessa McBrayer (after starting off the season in almost every sketch she has been persona non grata these last two weeks).
The Wilderness Lodge was just weird. That’s about all I can say. There’s just something about an ass raping Yeti that makes me not want to like a sketch, not sure what. As for the Under Underground Records “Donkey Punch the Ballot” well Ass Dan is back and then dead again and seriously that is all SNL is going to do with the comedy gold that is “Binders full of Women”? Come on, I expected a lot more than that. Of course as a former debate nerd I did get a hearty laugh out of the debate between Linkin Park and Buster Douglas. Heh, that’s good.
Overall, much better than I had expected. It certainly could have been better but hey, you can’t win ’em all.
Next week is a repeat of the premiere but then on November 3rd, get excited folks because holy crap funny man himself, Louie C.K. is hosting and I’m really hoping that means an appearance by Amy Poehler. Not gonna lie, that would make my day/week. Fun is entertaining as well so here’s hoping for an all around good episode.
The Shining is one of those movies that most people don’t really get on their first viewing. It certainly wasn’t embraced by critics in 1980 when it first came out, but it hit a nerve with audiences, and over time has become massively appreciated for the masterpiece it is. It’s a film that to this day is still not fully understood, yet is deceptively simple whilst still being enormously complex. So complex in fact, that I dare say it’s probably the most complex horror film ever made. The main reason I believe I can firmly say this, is because it’s directed by Stanley Kubrick, who is one of the greatest directors of all time.
Written by Jose Prendes
Directed by Anthony C. Ferrante
Starring: Dee Wallace, Brent Lydic, and Stephanie Greco
In this modern retelling of the classic horror tale, teen siblings are enslaved by a psychotic recluse within her gruesome house of horrors in the woods.
Dee Wallace, a classic and modern day horror icon, declares dinner is served in this cannibalistic retelling of The Brothers Grimm’s: Hansel & Gretel. The trailer guides us through the dark recesses of the human psyche as our brother and sister protagonists mistakenly wander into Wallace’s kitchen of horrors.