After getting rave reviews at Sundance, Ain’t Them Bodies Saints is finally getting released to theaters and we have the trailer. Written and Directed by David Lowery, who’s prior works consists of two low-budget features, St. Nick and Deadroom, and recently the editing of the tantalizing Upstream Color. This seems to be his first film with a well-known cast in Casey Affleck (Gone Baby Gone), Rooney Mara (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), and Ben Foster (The Mechanic, and the upcoming Lone Survivor). The story for his newest flick is as follows; Affleck plays an outlaw who is sentenced to prison for 25 years for an act his wife, Mara, committed, but escapes in hope of reuniting with his her and their now born child. Sounds interesting enough, and if that doesn’t entice you enough, check out the trailer for the gorgeous cinematography and score.
The reviews for this have been mostly positive, and one conclusion I can draw is this looks film looks great visually. Winning the Special Jury Prize for Cinematography at Sundance, the shots in the trailer feel reminiscent of the type of shots in Mallick’s The Tree of Life, very surreal and up close to the actors. Some of the complaints at Sundance were the film being overly long, which makes it good news that the cut being released to theaters is about 15 minutes shorter. Also, I can’t forget the score in the trailer that I hope is a precursor to what the film is like, cause it works tremendously in the trailer with its soft, mellow, yet dramatic violins.
For more on the film, below’s an excellent quick interview with David Lowery where he talks about the story and how it differs from other films in the genre, check it out:
The film was released on August 16th in NYC and LA, and is coming to VOD August 23rd.
Today Rockstar Games unveiled the core details of its new multiplayer service, and boy it’s a doozy. Like the gameplay trailer that came out a month ago, a lot of information is divulged in a short amount of time so let’s get right to it:
“A persistent and continually expanding world” is the mission statement of Grand Theft Auto Online. In it, up to 16 players can run amok in Los Santos, engaging in a ridiculous amount of activities that include the expected things – ‘classic online modes’ (We’re guessing team deathmatch type stuff), racing, recreational sports and random acts of violence – but also what appear to be more scripted missions similar to those featured in the single-player game. These ‘jobs’ reward the player with cash which can be used to customize characters, vehicles and weapons or homes and garages to keep some of the fancy cars, planes, boats (and telescopes?!) amassed over time. It’s basically a whole separate version of Grand Theft Auto V you can play with 15 of your friends.
What’s more, the trailer promises that Rockstar will be dedicating itself to adding more and more content to the multiplayer over time and, on top of that, a content creator is built-in to allow players to custom build their own deathmatch arenas and vehicle races. In short, GTA Online is designed to keep expanding long after its release.
A wonderful Redditor who goes by the username /u/ColdPhone compiled a list of additional details on GTAO from CVG’s impressions of a 50-minute off-hand preview:
Characters from GTA V will appear in GTA Online
GTA Online will not always be limited to Los Santos; additional locations are in the works
CVG says you can do anything in GTA Online that you can do in GTA V. They list the following: heists, co-op missions, gang attacks, death matches, impromptu deathmatch, races, tennis, golf, base jumping, shooting range, ambient events (hold ups of stores, armored van robberies, crate drops, import/export missions involving car theft, bounties that you can set on other players and people can claim), betting
If you are killed while holding money (CVG says 1million as an example) you will lose a large portion of it, and others can steal it. Use banks to keep money safe
An in-game smartphone can call your friends whether they are in GTA Online or GTA V. You can also use this to set waypoints for your friends. While using the phone, your avatar moves their lips with yours.
While you are driving, you can choose to grant someone else permission over the radio
In-game AI will respond to how aggressive you are on your mic (as in, if you’re shouting during a robbery, the AI will react and speed up/become more frightened)
Whoever sets up a heist decides who gets what cut of the final money when that money is obtained
Garages range from two car ports to 10 car ports
Cars can have retractable roofs controlled by the player
Missions can be accessed by physical markers or through a quickmatch sort of menu
User-made missions can be favorited and rated
You can assign other players certain roles in missions based on the particular abilities they have leveled up
You can share cash and ammunition with other players
There are stealth kill animations, possibly with a knife. The game tracks the amount of noise your character is making, and the AI will respond accordingly
You can steal physical items. During the demo, a mission was done in which a bike warehouse was robbed. The bikes had to be transported out in a large truck
“RP” are the points you get to level up your character
You can use physical gestures, such as flipping the bird
All of your info/communications in the game appear in the “Feed.” Rockstar mentioned this as a sort of Twitter for GTA Online
You can purchase insurance for your car. By insuring your vehicle, if it gets destroyed or stolen, you can have it replaced by paying a small premium
Police helicopters have cameras mounted to the front of them. In real-time, you can watch on live TV (on the news channel in your apartment) players with a high wanted level being chased by the police. There are additional channels with programs such as a crime noir show
Heists can have up to 20 different components. A heist is mentioned where a Titan (largest aircraft) is guarded by “Maryweather” (sp?). The Titan is indeed a flyable aircraft
There is a heli-pad on the roof of (at least) the largest AmmuNation and the store can also be accessed from there
Off the west coast of Los Santos, there is an another island with lots of buildings. This has not been seen before, but the folks at CVG saw it from afar
There is a “passive” mode where you cannot shoot or be shot
Your online world will always be populated with by 16 human players. You can still have friends in the game with you, but the other slots will fill up with random people around the same reputation level, as well
Some of these details, like AI reacting to your voice on-mic, sound like major gameplay breakthroughs, while others, like car insurance, are smaller elements that altogether deepen the experience considerably. This is not tacked-on multiplayer or a companion piece to the main game. GTA Online is a stand-alone, immersive world-building exercise that happens to be centered around one of the most entertaining video game franchises of all time.
Grand Theft Auto Online goes live October 1st, 2013 and access comes free with retail copies of GTA V.
Sad news today jailbirds. It appears as if Laura Prepon, the beautiful drug dealer we’ve all grown to love, will be returning to Orange Is The New Black season two only to wrap up her storyline.
Peter Berg didn’t have much luck with his massive box office flop, Battleship, but that could change with his newest army flick. Lone Survivor is based on a the true story of a SEAL Team 10’s failed mission to capture an infamous Taliban leader during the War in Afghanistan. The story sounds somewhat basic, but the cast is killer, including Mark Whalberg (Pain & Gain), Ben Foster (Contraband), Eric Bana (Munich), Emile Hirsch (Into the Wild), and Taylor Kitsch (Friday Night Lights). The cast is great mix of young, and older action stars which could make for a kick-ass flick. Check out the trailer below.
Based on the book, Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10 by Marcus Luttrell, the man played by Whalberg in the film, the story goes as follows: In 2005, while hiding out in Afghanistan, SEAL Team 10 encountered a group of young boys, voting whether to let them live or not, they decided to let them go. Hours later, the group of four was surround by 100’s of Taliban fighters. The outcome of the story is out there if you really want, but I’ll obviously forgo posting that here. The story on paper sounds pretty good, but when I heard it was a true story, my excitement shot up because the outcome isn’t going to be some insane action movie trope, it’s going to be something realistic. My only fear is Peter Berg, who championed the deep thought he put into his former flick Battleship, but ended up giving us a watered down, dumb big budget action flick. Hopefully that doesn’t happen here.
Just when you think that Call of Duty couldn’t get any bigger, you’re reminded that it happens to be one of the most recognizable brands in gaming. So much so that the marketing is out in full force four months before the game is actually released. You know the game is big time when we get an hour-long live stream revealing the multiplayer elements of the game. Not only that, but one of the biggest rappers in the world, Eminem, has graced your game with a never before released song for its trailer. With Call of Duty: Ghosts due out in November, we are starting to get some more details about some new aspects of the game and from the looks of things, smiles are about to materialize on many a gamer’s face.
As you can see from the trailer above for the multiplayer elements, there’s a lot of brand new stuff to dissect. First off, Eminem is providing the music with his new song “Survivor” to pump you up and take down your enemy. It reminds me of his song “Won’t Back Down” with Pink and I’m sure it will be played non-stop once people find the means to download it. One of the big things is seeing the dynamic maps, where you can destroy parts of the map or take out structures to distract someone, or even take out a whole squad. This will add a fun element to the destruction of environments and another thing to account for as you run around on all the maps. Another big part is seeing the fluid movements of your soldier as he (or she, we’ll get to that in a minute) can slide or hop over obstacles while still being able to aim and shoot. Being able to slide and jump back up to avoid a shot and take someone out then hop over a barrier to stab the next enemy in your sights will deliver a lot of multi-kills and satisfying killstreaks.
There is also a ton more customization when it comes to this new game, probably the most prominently marketed will be the inclusion of female soldiers. Yes, despite the last series that developer Infinity Ward did being subtitled Modern Warfare, Ghosts will mark the first time that female soldiers will be stepping into the Call of Duty multiplayer arena. You’ll also be able to modify more characteristics such as race and body type, plus the standbys like gear, clothing and of course, weapons, in order to make your multiplayer avatar your own. As many as 30 new weapons will enter this iteration of the game so expect to see a lot of new guns lying around waiting to be tried. A new class will accompanying this game called the Marksman Rifle, which is an intended hybrid of the Sniper and Assault Rifle class. This will allow those gamers with the option of using the scope or getting in closer for a semi-auto or one shot kill. There’s also another new, and potentially awesome, game mode is called Cranked. This mode borrows from the Statham movie and gives you 30 seconds to find and kill someone before you die. It’s effectively a game of tag where the clock resets when you take out an enemy. You’ll also get your typical multiplayer modes that have been featured in all the previous games but this one will be something to get excited about.
There’s a lot of stuff to get excited for an that’s just a small bit of what to expect from the new game when it comes to challenging and fighting friends online. The trailer above is from the one hour live stream that they did on Wednesday so check it out, there’s a lot of other great info about the game. Again, Call of Duty: Ghosts comes out on November 5th, 2013 on Xbox One, Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Playstation 4 and the Wii U. Also below is a fun trailer for the new collector’s edition. If anything, it’ll make you yell, “BREACH!” every time you walk through a doorway.
Apparently all those hours spent in front of my Tina Fey shrine offering gifts to various deities while burning incense have paid off. That’s right folks, Tina Fey is returning to NBC with partner Robert Carlock, and they are bringing a new sitcom with them!
After the end of 30 Rock, which I and many others mourned like it was a family member, there was a lot of question as to what Tina Fey would do next. She has a four-year deal with Universal Television, but what would that end up looking like? Well, now we know the first thing to come out of that deal will be a comedy from former 30 Rock writer-producer Colleen McGuinness.
While the two men on the left are fine gentlemen, ignore them for now. On the right, Colleen McGuinness, Tina Fey, and Robert Carlock
Not much is known about the new comedy except that it will be a “workplace comedy where a young woman in search of reconnecting with her father finds a new home and family on Fire Island.” and Tina Fey and Robert Carlock will be executive producers. The sitcom will be the first project for Tina Fey’s new production company, Little Stranger.
Even though the show is in its earliest stages, just knowing that Tina Fey and company are in some capacity returning to NBC comedy gives us hope for the future. Please don’t let this be another 1600 Penn situation.
Grizzly Bomb 