It’s been brought to my attention that the last bear poll we did was so lame it could induce involuntary vomiting and bowel movements. In retrospect, while I don’t necessarily agree with that assessment, it was a little weak.
So to rectify that, we have created a new poll, more with the tone of the site itself.
If these Bears aren’t kick ass enough for you, then you much be watching some new Care Bears Torture-Porn or something…NOW VOTE IT UP!
VIDEO GAME
We got all sorts of stuff here. Let’s start with the game. The other day I did a write up on the upcoming Arkham City game. In said article I mentioned how the Riddler’s clues were now gonna be more…involved. Well it seems like the man himself will be more involved as well. Unlike the first game it seem like Riddler will actually appear in this one, not just his voice.
Rocksteady Marketing Game Manager Dax Ginn: The Riddler experience is not part of the main story, but you can see how much work we put into it. It seems to do them a disservice to call them ‘side missions,’ because we take them really, really seriously.
Continue reading Gratuitous Batman Updates: Arkham City, Dark Knight Rises, & the Comics…
The other night I saw the new Simon Pegg movie Paul. Wasn’t sure what to expect from this one, but Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz (both Simon Pegg movies) were both good enough to make me give this a chance. Not that I normally need such a track record to see a Sci-Fi movie…
This is the story of a little green man, and his escape from our Government. All he want’s to do is go home, you know, like another little spaceman we met in the 1980’s. During his escape he happens upon a couple of sci-fi geeks from England whom he convinces to give him a lift, and obviously ends up bonding with.
The premise is simple, it’s basically a ‘road trip’ movie for the Science Fiction genre, and that’s a movie with a very specific target audience. But one that has the potential to appeal to a much broader set. Sure, it geeks it up. It was full of references to comic books and other movies, but for the most part, they are references everyone will get. You’ve seen E.T. right?
The thing that really surprised me though, was for a comedy, how good the visuals really were. The character of Paul himself was excellent. Like Gollum in The Lord of the Rings, but more natural looking, more fluid. I suppose they’ve improved on the technology since 2003, but I was honestly impressed, and special effects are not so easy to impress me with anymore. I think it comes back to expectations, when you see a Battle LA or something like Tron: Legacy, you know the effects are going to be great, so the only way they can ‘wow’ you, is in a bad way. If you notice them because they suck. But for a comedy? These far exceeded expectations, to the point you almost forget Paul isn’t really there with the actors, but instead its Joe Lo Truglio on his knees, covered in motion capture sensors.
Speaking of the cast, it was outstanding. In addition to my main motivations for wanting to see this: Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, the movie also features multiple alum from Arrested Development – Jeffery Tambor plays ‘Adam Shadowchild’, a famous Sci-Fi writer, and Jason Bateman is the lead G-Man that’s chasing our protagonists.
Then borrowed from the current SNL cast, we get Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader. Wiig plays the one-eyed love interest for Pegg, and Hader, along with the aforementioned Joe Lo Truglio, play Bateman’s underlings. Then, the behind the scenes antagonist, whose voice should be immediately identifiable to Sci-Fi fans, is played by Ellen Ripley herself – Sigourney Weaver.
Now I’ve already mentioned that Joe Lo Turglio actually played Paul, this is because the heavily advertised star handling Paul’s voice – Seth Rogen, was busy filming The Green Hornet. He later added the voice work. Now, I’ve talked to a few people lately that said they were just burnt out on Seth Rogen, and for that reason they didn’t really want to see this, but I have to tell you, I thought he did an excellent job. The voice, for me at least, came off a natural and I really enjoyed it.
The movie, ended up actually being more touching and heartfelt than expected too, but not in an overly cheesy manner. Director Greg Mottola (whose resume totally explains how he was able to land this cast) flew under the radar a bit here. He wont get the attention or credit he deserves because of the subject of the movie, but this turned out better than I expected, and I certainly enjoyed it more than his most acclaimed film – Adventureland.
I’m gonna give this movie a very strong 3.5 Bears. Not the funniest comedy I’ve ever seen, and it starts off a little slow, but it is definitely worth a watch. 
The follow-up to the immensely popular Arkham Asylum, released in 2009, is set to hit stores in October. The game is titled Batman: Arkham City and it is without a doubt, the most excited I’ve ever been for the release of a game. I’m not a huge ‘gamer’, so for the most part I wait and buy my games used. Arkham City however, has been building anticipation far too long for me to wait on. With this game, I’m gonna be one of the cool kids, and I’m gonna buy it on day one. No waiting around this time.
My excitement has been building since December of 2009 when we got this teaser trailer:
No big surprise that the Joker has recovered from the wounds suffered in the first game, but his appearance definitely set a tone, and people got excited.
As 2010 progressed we discovered more and more details, and suspicions about which characters would appear started getting confirmed. In the fall of 2010 the game developers released a large number of screen shots online, and again, excitement swelled.
Then, come December they gave us this:
That was enough for me. I was sold. After all, the first game was undeniably the best superhero game ever made, there was no way I was skipping this. Plus you know, my whole ‘Batman Obsession’ thing…
Earlier this week, Rocksteady Studios and Warner Bros released the first full length trailer. No more teasers, just a good old fashion, over 2 minute trailer.
This, is that trailer…
Holy Crap. That was awesome.
“This Ain’t No Place for a Hero.”
Those are the lyrics that so brilliantly echo throughout the trailer for Arkham City. They seem to ring true as Gotham appears to be over-run by Batman’s ‘Rouges Gallery’. What was once a great city now appears little more than a run down Hell-hole. And that’s no place for a top-notch Hero to reside, but like Jim Gordon said at the end of The Dark Knight:
“Because he’s the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now. So we’ll hunt him because he can take it. Because he’s not our hero. He’s a silent guardian, a watchful protector. A dark knight.”
“This Ain’t No Place for a Hero.” Just think about that. The most famous “hero” in all of the comic book universes is Superman. Supes resides over beautiful Metropolis. A big shiny city full of live. Gotham on the other hand is dark and dank and mostly filled with despair. The great twin cities of the DC Universe are as different as their protectors. And while Superman is for sure the protector of Metropolis, I look at him as more of a do-gooder than a hero. Superman faces very little personal risk, as he is almost never in peril, while the Batman is subject to all sorts of deathly situations. Metropolis completely accepts and embraces Superman, an outsider, while Gotham native Batman is hardly afforded the same accommodations. That makes Batman endeavors even more heroic. Jim Gordon was right, Batman is not their hero, he’s more than that. He is what the city needs, even if it doesn’t want him.
This time around though, you will have to be the best Batman you can be if you want to save Gotham again. IGN is reporting that the Riddler and his trophies will be back, but significantly harder to obtain this time:
In Arkham Asylum, Riddler trophies were found somewhat easily — you just found them by spotting question marks painted on walls and ceilings. Things aren’t as easy this time around. Though there are question marks viewable only in Detective Mode (Batman’s version of x-ray vision), they often point in the direction of informants who know the nearby locations of Riddler trophies.
Find these goons and you can beat the information out of them. But knowing the location of a trophy (which appears on your map) doesn’t mean getting it is easy. Many trophies are surrounded by traps or require some ingenuity from Batman to nab.
IGN also noticed something I missed in the trailer. What appears to be Black Mask, getting quite the beat down around the 26-second mark.
“This Ain’t No Place for a Hero.”
Arkham City is set to officially hit stores October 18th in the U.S., and on the 21st in Europe.
Set to come out this August, we are finally starting to see some of the marketing for the new Conan movie. The movie stars Stargate: Atlantis alum Jason Momoa as everyone’s favorite Cimmerian.
Obviously he is no Arnold, but the merits of this casting choice really won’t to be known until we see the movie. Much of the other cast however, should be more familiar to you. Both Ron Perlman and Rose McGowan will both lend their talents for what seems like a good fit.
Well Lionsgate has released a teaser trailer and people are upset. The outrage come not from what they show in the teaser, but what they don’t. Take a look and see if you can figure it out…
Did you get it? Do you know what’s missing?
Of course you do.
It totally omitted the film’s villain – The Party Crasher.
The Party Crasher has been cast to play Khalar Singh, the movie’s antagonist. This is news we learned in May of 2010, and have since been patiently waiting to see footage. This is why, when we were delivered a teaser trailer that showed us nothing, we got upset.
We attempted to contact TPC, but he was too bust slaughtering film editors to be reached by phone.
Here’s to hoping the next trailer they release does a better job of portraying the true focus of the film, The Party Crasher.
Grizzly Bomb 