Star Trek Into Darkness keeps with the practice established in the 2009 Star Trek of remixing things from previous Star Trek films and television shows many long time Trek fans will remember while still being accessible to new fans of the franchise. It continues to hit that balance action, drama, and comedy, a recipe for any fun summer blockbuster.
This is 40, the latest from writer, director, producer Judd Apatow, tells the story of Pete and Debbie (last seen in 2007’s Knocked Up) as they deal with life amidst financial issues, hormonal teenagers, guilt-tripping parents, and getting older. Like Apatow’s other films, This is 40 is funny and well acted but overstays its welcome by about 30 minutes.
I had mixed emotions going into Skyfall. On the one hand as a long time fan of James Bond, I had very high expectations for the film given the pedigree of those involved. On the other hand I tend to always set expectations high for Bond films and have been disappointed on a few occasions (most recently with the 2008 release of Quantum of Solace). Thankfully, director Sam Mendes has met my lofty expectations and has delivered the best Daniel Craig Bond film and perhaps the best Bond film overall.
Seven Psychopaths is about a writer named Marty (Colin Farrell) whose trying to write a movie call “Seven Psychopaths” but seems to be having trouble getting past the title. He doesn’t want his film to be too violent instead opting for a character driven piece that tells an interesting story instead of violence for the sake of violence.
A new open world game (!)
From Hideo Kojima (!!)
Starring SNAKE (!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Below is footage of Hideo Kojima’s new game Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes. Running on the new Fox Engine, MGS:GZ boasts very impressive visuals and open world style gameplay. Kojima has stated that this is to be a possible prequel to Metal Gear Solid 5. The game is currently running on a PC with PS3 specs but should be available for both PS3 and XBOX 360.
The game that was to be known as True Crime: Hong Kong but was unceremoniously cancelled by then publisher Activision, is now reborn as Sleeping Dogs. The game, developed by United Front Games and published now by Square Enix, stars Wei Shen, an undercover cop that is sent to infiltrate the Triads. The plot of Sleeping Dogs plays out like and undercover cop story would. You go in with one set of ideals and throughout the story you bond with the criminals that you are meant to bring in. Loyalty and morality are then called into question. Its nothing any fan of gangster movies hasn’t seen before but it is entertaining enough to keep you playing.
Loosely based on the Philip K. Dick short story We Can Remember It for You Wholesale and the 1990 film of the same name, Total Recall is set on a dystopian futuristic Earth where chemical warfare has ravaged all but two areas, the United Federation of Britain (where apparently only one person has an British accent) and the Colony (a mix of Australia and Asia, or as I like to call it, Austrasia).
Friday on our way to the San Diego Convention Center we notice a giant ad for The Amazing Spider-Man video game. Pretty cool but nothing we haven’t seen before. Today, that same advertisement was spray painted with Deadpool’s logo over it. This is some pretty cool marketing for the newly announced Deadpool game.
Inspired by Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, Spec Ops: The Line is a third person military themed shooter whose story and character development outweigh its very generic gameplay. A massive sand storm has ravaged Dubai and U.S. Army Colonel John Konrad and his battalion volunteered to aid in the evacuation. The three man Delta Squad, lead by Captain Martin Walker, are sent to Dubai to investigate after they receive a distress signal from Konrad. The story in Spec Ops starts slowly focusing on developing the three members of Delta and setting up the plot. Then things start to spiral out of control as you watch these characters deal with the horrors of war and the consequences of their actions. This focus on a mature, grown up story is a breath of fresh air for this type of game. There is no global threat that only one super soldier can resolve, nor is there a clear binary moral dilemma. There are only difficult decisions that you are forced to make while trying to maintain your humanity.
The RZA of legendary hip hop group Wu Tang will be making his directorial debut with the new movie The Man with the Iron Fists. The film is co-written by RZA and Eli Roth (now that’s quite a pair) and stars Russell Crowe, Lucy Lui, Rick Yune, Byron Mann (Ryu from the first godawful Street Fighter movie), mixed martial artist Cung Lee (Marshall Law from the terrible Tekken movie), and former wrestler Dave Bautista (Argomael from the abhorrent Scorpion King 3 movie).
The movie is set for release October 26, 2012. Check out the trailer here: