LOOKS:
The Walking Dead - as you will have noticed I have been putting up my thouhts about each episode every week, so you can read what I've thought of this spiffing new undead TV series from AMC.
Twin Peaks - the Horror Channel has been having a David Lynch season this month, and the tentpole of it has been the showing, from start-to-finish (at the time of writing it's still part-way into season two), of Twin Peaks. I had never seen it before, but knew of it, and being a fan of the videogame Alan Wake, it's interesting to see where various elements of that game came from (indeed the creators are big fans of Lynch's dream-like drama).
Avatar 3-disc (Blu-Ray) - if only every studio/distributor would tell you in advance that a kick arse version of a movie on disc was coming later on. Fortunately Fox and James Cameron put it out on front street that Avatar would be getting a super-duper home video release in due course (when they were launching the vanilla disc). Naturally, being a whore for making-of documentaries and special features in general, I bided my time and finally I got my mits on Cameron's eco-actioner. It may not be in 3D this time, but now I get to view it without the 30% loss in brightness/contrast (such as you get with 3D glasses) and with 16 extra minutes (which, handily, you can view on it's own if you want to).
As far as the new footage goes, some is mere extensions, but quite a bit of it provides worthwhile new content and background. We get to see what Earth has become (providing good grounding and context, as well as visible reason, for mankind's actions on Pandora - it's a nice Blade Runner-esque counterpoint too), and learn more about Augustine's school and her relationship with the Na'vi. You can still see plotpoints coming from miles away, but Cameron's work has often (if not always) worked in popular broadstrokes. In short, it was great to get back to Pandora.
Toy Story 3 2-disc (Blu-Ray) - I never got to see it in the cinema, and I'll blog about the film separately, but it was great to finally get to see Pixar's latest, and well, that moment (if you've seen it, you'll know what I mean) was jaw dropping. That entire sequence was jaw dropping in fact. Bravo Pixar. Bravo.
The American Nightmare - I've seen Adam Simon's documentary on the American/Canadian horror flicks of the 1960s and 1970s several times over the last several years, and it's still a joy to watch. Informative, incisive and creepily stylish in its construction. A must-watch for any fan of the horror genre.
SOUNDS:
Airbourne "Runnin' Wild" - I already had the vice-rock group's second album, so it was about time I caught up with their debut. Fast, loud, wild and all about women, drink and everything in between. Inspired by the sound of AC/DC, it's a thrashingly good time.
Angelo Badalamenti "Twin Peaks Theme"/"Laura Palmer's Theme" - unsurprisingly, having gotten into Twin Peaks at long last, Badalamenti's dreamy score has become one of the constant sounds of November for me.
Godspeed You Black Emperor "Moya" - I'd always wondered what that mournful-then-energised music was in The American Nightmare, but I finally found it, and it's mesmerising.
VIBES & FLAVOURS:
Solitaire - sometimes when I'm listening to shows from the SModcast Podcast Network I'm not doing all that much, but then I remembered about Solitaire (which I used to play quite a bit in the 1990s), and I've become oddly fascinated by it again. It took me ages to get a win on it initially however as I kept running into dead ends - frustratingly so - fortunately the vagaries of a computer software's random card dealing didn't last long and I've been enjoying this little trip down memory lane.
Dead Rising 2 - I've got it for the 360, but I'm not good enough at it to do the story (or the rest of it anyway), so I got it for the PC so I could use cheats to just run around having all sorts of fun - and, importantly, actually get to play the story mode. You might think that slaying thousands upon thousands of zombies with a Light Machine Gun (or a Humvee) would get boring, but you'd be wrong.
STALKER: Call of Pripyat - I was a big fan of the original STALKER game (Shadow of Chernobyl), which provided the best atmospheric dose of gaming that year (2007, if memory serves), and while the follow-up (Clear Sky) was a bit disappointing towards the end it again provided that jolt of The Zone that we "STALKERs" crave ... in 2007 I got into the whole thing in a big bad way with the game, and the movie and book upon which it was based (not to mention absorbing documentaries about the real "Zone" itself). Anyway, it's been on the to-do list for a while, but I finally got around to it.
Unfortunately the DirectX 9 graphics are nowhere near as good as they were in Clear Sky (no doubt to push the DX10/11 technology), and while the pace is a bit slow so far, I'm getting into the world of STALKER all over again. It might be feeling a bit dated and too-samey to the previous two games, but you can't deny the lure of lurking around the rotting ruins of "The Zone".
Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday 13th by Peter M. Bracke - I got this for my birthday and I've only just gotten around to it, and boy will it be a long old read. Nevertheless I've covered the first two movies in the long-running franchise. It's a must-have for any fan of the franchise as it's crammed with behind the scenes photos and mountains upon mountains of information from those involved.
Showing posts with label dead rising 2. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dead rising 2. Show all posts
Tuesday, 30 November 2010
Sunday, 31 October 2010
Flavours of the Month: October 2010...
LOOKS:
Back to the Future trilogy - had a blast watching the first movie on the big screen for the 25th anniversary, and so I simply had to re-watch the second and third movies on my existing DVD boxset to compliment it. One of these days I'll get the Blu-Ray, but only when it's come down in price.
The Book of Eli (BR) - I plugged my Samsung BD-C5300 Blu-Ray player into the big telly this month and got to see 1080p in full swing, and with Eli's already incredible visuals, it was a visual treat - but as I've said many times before, it's what's in the frame that really matters. A crisp Blu-Ray image is nice, but you could film a turd in HD and it'd still be a turd, you know?
The Crazies (BR) - one of the handful of decent remakes out of the dozens of dreadful ones that we've been assaulted with so far this century, but the lenticular slip cover is the worst one I've ever seen. It's, ironically, low resolution and it barely does anything.
Grindhouse (BR) - the very reason I 'went Blu' in the first place was the announcement of this particular disc. I wanted the new extras and now I have them. A couple aren't new to us Brits (Hot Rods of Death Proof, and the 2006 Comic-Con Panel), but all the content related to the trailers is good stuff indeed. Plus it was great to finally properly see the theatrical cut of the flick.
History of Horror with Mark Gatiss, and horror season on BBC4 - Gatiss' three part documentary has been a real treat, and the selection of related movies put up in conjunction have been pretty good.
Cinemassacre's Monster Madness 2010 - another October and another series of movie reviews from James Rolfe (aka the Angry Videogame Nerd). It became my first thing to do online during October as I sat there eating my breakfast yoghurt.
Survival of the Dead - we Brits got it on DVD back in March, but there was three-fifths-of-sod-all on it extras wise. In August however the Americans got a double disc release, and I finally got around to importing it. The extras aren't as plentiful as that of the double disc R2 for Diary of the Dead, but the making-of documentary is the best 'making-of during production' doc related to a GAR film since Document of the Dead.
SOUNDS:
CKY - Afterworld
The Book of Eli OST - Panoramic
Rammstein - "Rosenrot"
Green Day - "Dookie" through "21st Century Breakdown"
The Offspring - "Americana" and "Conspiracy of One"
VIBES AND FLAVOURS:
Dead Rising 2 - the game is so much more fun when you say 'sod it' to the story mode and just run around for 72 hours killing as many zombies as you can, levelling yourself up, gaining new moves and combo cards, and just generally causing havoc.
Crysis - with my Quad Core back from the menders, I decided to give it a bit of a challenge, and so I replayed Crytek's 2007 shooter. It still looks great, although you can now tell it's a couple of years old. It never truly thrilled me when I first played it, and it still fails to really thrill me, but it's still a good bit of fun nonetheless.
Editing - as you will have noticed I've been upping a series of musical montages this month:
Sabrina and the Engineer 2008 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6edixabJgA
North Berwick 2010 (also in HD) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ywk9_XVYrRQ
Edinburgh 2010 (also in HD) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYoQgOQTnCg
The Walking Dead: Vol. 4 - the recently adapted-for-television series of comics continues to hold my attention and it just keeps getting better and better. I can't wait to see the Darabont/Hurd TV show, which finally starts in the UK on November 5th at 10pm on FX.
Back to the Future trilogy - had a blast watching the first movie on the big screen for the 25th anniversary, and so I simply had to re-watch the second and third movies on my existing DVD boxset to compliment it. One of these days I'll get the Blu-Ray, but only when it's come down in price.
The Book of Eli (BR) - I plugged my Samsung BD-C5300 Blu-Ray player into the big telly this month and got to see 1080p in full swing, and with Eli's already incredible visuals, it was a visual treat - but as I've said many times before, it's what's in the frame that really matters. A crisp Blu-Ray image is nice, but you could film a turd in HD and it'd still be a turd, you know?
The Crazies (BR) - one of the handful of decent remakes out of the dozens of dreadful ones that we've been assaulted with so far this century, but the lenticular slip cover is the worst one I've ever seen. It's, ironically, low resolution and it barely does anything.
Grindhouse (BR) - the very reason I 'went Blu' in the first place was the announcement of this particular disc. I wanted the new extras and now I have them. A couple aren't new to us Brits (Hot Rods of Death Proof, and the 2006 Comic-Con Panel), but all the content related to the trailers is good stuff indeed. Plus it was great to finally properly see the theatrical cut of the flick.
History of Horror with Mark Gatiss, and horror season on BBC4 - Gatiss' three part documentary has been a real treat, and the selection of related movies put up in conjunction have been pretty good.
Cinemassacre's Monster Madness 2010 - another October and another series of movie reviews from James Rolfe (aka the Angry Videogame Nerd). It became my first thing to do online during October as I sat there eating my breakfast yoghurt.
Survival of the Dead - we Brits got it on DVD back in March, but there was three-fifths-of-sod-all on it extras wise. In August however the Americans got a double disc release, and I finally got around to importing it. The extras aren't as plentiful as that of the double disc R2 for Diary of the Dead, but the making-of documentary is the best 'making-of during production' doc related to a GAR film since Document of the Dead.
SOUNDS:
CKY - Afterworld
The Book of Eli OST - Panoramic
Rammstein - "Rosenrot"
Green Day - "Dookie" through "21st Century Breakdown"
The Offspring - "Americana" and "Conspiracy of One"
VIBES AND FLAVOURS:
Dead Rising 2 - the game is so much more fun when you say 'sod it' to the story mode and just run around for 72 hours killing as many zombies as you can, levelling yourself up, gaining new moves and combo cards, and just generally causing havoc.
Crysis - with my Quad Core back from the menders, I decided to give it a bit of a challenge, and so I replayed Crytek's 2007 shooter. It still looks great, although you can now tell it's a couple of years old. It never truly thrilled me when I first played it, and it still fails to really thrill me, but it's still a good bit of fun nonetheless.
Editing - as you will have noticed I've been upping a series of musical montages this month:
Sabrina and the Engineer 2008 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6edixabJgA
North Berwick 2010 (also in HD) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ywk9_XVYrRQ
Edinburgh 2010 (also in HD) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYoQgOQTnCg
The Walking Dead: Vol. 4 - the recently adapted-for-television series of comics continues to hold my attention and it just keeps getting better and better. I can't wait to see the Darabont/Hurd TV show, which finally starts in the UK on November 5th at 10pm on FX.
Thursday, 30 September 2010
Flavours of the Month: September 2010...
LOOKS:
Mafia 2 - for a sandbox game it's pretty restrictive, and the plot isn't all that original (but was it ever supposed to be anything but a loving homage to The Godfather et al?), but I had a lot of fun with it regardless. The setting is involving, there is a lot of appropriate humour throughout, and the collectibles are a nice touch.
Robot Chicken: Season 4 - great as always, but the incessant Obama-love-in littered throughout some of the extras (which were shot on election day) is eye-rollingly blunt and self-congratulatory (something which is annoying regardless of politics).
The Warriors: Ultimate Director's Cut (Blu-Ray) - the only changes are utterly pointless 'comic book transitions', which provide no worthwhile information, nor do they make the movie make more sense. Fortunately they're not that common, and only the last two are genuinely intrusive. The flick's still cool though, and it looks good on Blu.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Blu-Ray) - being an utter whore for making of documentaries, I finally got to see the story of Fincher's sentimental yarn (the UK didn't get a 2-disc DVD, and the R1 was decidedly over the piffling UK import limit).
Sweeney Todd (Blu-Ray) - having recently been in Edinburgh, where I visited The Dungeon, I found all the featurettes concerning the myth and the possible reality to be quite fascinating (especially as Sawney Bean was connected to the creation of the Todd myth - Bean being one of the segments at the Edinburgh Dungeon).
Dead Rising 2 - as enjoyable and as frustrating as the original game, but with some nice additions, the best obviously being the weapon combo mechanic. Using Gems and a Flashlight to make a light sabre is my personal favourite way of dispatching the undead hoardes around Fortune City.
SOUNDS:
The Black Angels - "Passover"
Rammstein - "Liebe Ist Fur Alle Da"
VIBES & FLAVOURS:
Holiday - straddling the end of August and the beginning of September, I had great time doing all the touristy things. Seeing some events at the Festival before it ended, doing The Dungeon, the Castle, a bus tour, visiting North Berwick for a real nostalgic trip, and everything else was a very welcome and enjoyable change of pace.
Decorating Room - I've been avoiding this for years, and my room was last done ten years ago, but with me out of the house I had a 60 Minute Makeover pulled on me (but not literally).
Chuck Palahniuk - "Tell-All"
Mafia 2 - for a sandbox game it's pretty restrictive, and the plot isn't all that original (but was it ever supposed to be anything but a loving homage to The Godfather et al?), but I had a lot of fun with it regardless. The setting is involving, there is a lot of appropriate humour throughout, and the collectibles are a nice touch.
Robot Chicken: Season 4 - great as always, but the incessant Obama-love-in littered throughout some of the extras (which were shot on election day) is eye-rollingly blunt and self-congratulatory (something which is annoying regardless of politics).
The Warriors: Ultimate Director's Cut (Blu-Ray) - the only changes are utterly pointless 'comic book transitions', which provide no worthwhile information, nor do they make the movie make more sense. Fortunately they're not that common, and only the last two are genuinely intrusive. The flick's still cool though, and it looks good on Blu.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Blu-Ray) - being an utter whore for making of documentaries, I finally got to see the story of Fincher's sentimental yarn (the UK didn't get a 2-disc DVD, and the R1 was decidedly over the piffling UK import limit).
Sweeney Todd (Blu-Ray) - having recently been in Edinburgh, where I visited The Dungeon, I found all the featurettes concerning the myth and the possible reality to be quite fascinating (especially as Sawney Bean was connected to the creation of the Todd myth - Bean being one of the segments at the Edinburgh Dungeon).
Dead Rising 2 - as enjoyable and as frustrating as the original game, but with some nice additions, the best obviously being the weapon combo mechanic. Using Gems and a Flashlight to make a light sabre is my personal favourite way of dispatching the undead hoardes around Fortune City.
SOUNDS:
The Black Angels - "Passover"
Rammstein - "Liebe Ist Fur Alle Da"
VIBES & FLAVOURS:
Holiday - straddling the end of August and the beginning of September, I had great time doing all the touristy things. Seeing some events at the Festival before it ended, doing The Dungeon, the Castle, a bus tour, visiting North Berwick for a real nostalgic trip, and everything else was a very welcome and enjoyable change of pace.
Decorating Room - I've been avoiding this for years, and my room was last done ten years ago, but with me out of the house I had a 60 Minute Makeover pulled on me (but not literally).
Chuck Palahniuk - "Tell-All"
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