You Jive Turkeys Should Check Out Black Dynamite on DVD, Ya Dig?
From time to time we come across things on the periphery of gaming, or even outside of the subject all together, that we think would still be of interest to our readers and post them here with the tag “Splash Damage”. Movies are one of the subjects that frequently finds its way on to the pages of GameAlmighty with that tag and one of last year’s movies I was most anxious to watch and then review here came and went before I had a chance to see it in theaters. The film I missed tells the timeless tale of two cultures in conflict. One is comprised of a dark-skinned race of people who are misunderstood and are being exploited by another group who considers themselves superior. In an attempt to gain total control the second group hatches a plot that takes advantage of medical science and uses the enemy’s own bodies against themselves. They also lie to one of the males and trick him into working as their inside man in order to keep the peace and prevent larger-scale violence and destruction.
While it sounds like I may be describing Avatar, that’s actually the plot of a different movie mentioned more than a time or two on our sister site, InfoAddict. The smaller independent film I am referring to is Black Dynamite and it had so limited a release for such a short span of time that I never could find it playing anywhere close at a time where I could make it.
Well Black Dynamite was finally released on DVD this week and I can say without reservation that it was worth the wait. I rented it from my local Blockbuster early and have watched it several times already. Not because I am trying to squeeze every penny I can out of the rental fee, but because their are new things I notice every watch-through and some parts keep getting funnier. To put it on the t on the same level as “This Is Spinal Tap” would be a little blasphemous, but it would be accurate to say that it succeeds well at delivering the same kind of layered, deadpan, seemingly unintentional comedy that really grows on you.
If I go to return it at Blockbuster today it will only be because I plan on stopping somewhere else on the way home to buy a copy of my own.
You Jive Turkeys Should Check Out Black Dynamite on DVD, Ya Dig?
From time to time we come across things on the periphery of gaming, or even outside of the subject all together, that we think would still be of interest to our readers and post them here with the tag “Splash Damage”. Movies are one of the subjects that frequently finds its way on to the pages of GameAlmighty with that tag and one of last year’s movies I was most anxious to watch and then review here came and went before I had a chance to see it in theaters. The film I missed tells the timeless tale of two cultures in conflict. One is comprised of a dark-skinned race of people who are misunderstood and are being exploited by another group who considers themselves superior. In an attempt to gain total control the second group hatches a plot that takes advantage of medical science and uses the enemy’s own bodies against themselves. They also lie to one of the males and trick him into working as their inside man in order to keep the peace and prevent larger-scale violence and destruction.
While it sounds like I may be describing Avatar, that’s actually the plot of a different movie mentioned more than a time or two on our sister site, InfoAddict. The smaller independent film I am referring to is called Black Dynamite and it had so limited a release for such a short span of time that I never could find it playing anywhere even close to a time where I could make it.
Well Black Dynamite was finally released on DVD this week and I can say without reservation that it was worth the wait. I rented it from my local Blockbuster early and have watched it several times already. Not because I am trying to squeeze every penny I can out of the rental fee, but because their are new things I notice every watch-through and some parts keep getting funnier. To put it on the t on the same level as “This Is Spinal Tap” would be a little blasphemous, but it would be accurate to say that it succeeds well at delivering the same kind of layered, deadpan, seemingly unintentional comedy that really grows on you.
If I go to return it at Blockbuster today it will only be because I plan on stopping somewhere else on the way home to buy a copy of my own.
PSA: Wii’s Netflix sign-up page now available
Netflix’s Wii disc sign-up page (remember, you need the disc to access the movie streaming service) is now live. All you need to do is sign in to your account and press the big blue button on the page. Yup, it’s really that simple.
We’re currently trying to find out from Netflix if the launch and service on the Wii will be relatively similar to that offered on the PS3 — beyond requiring a disc. We’re also trying to narrow down that “spring” release window, if possible.
Update: “Spring is as specific as we can get,” a Netflix representative tells Joystiq. We’ve also been told, “The Wii will have the same titles as all Netflix ready devices and a similar, easy and fast disc-based experience as the PS3.”
PSA: Wii’s Netflix sign-up page now available originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 13 Jan 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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If CES Has Its Way, We’ll All Be Looking Like Idiots by 2011
With the Consumer Electronics Show in full-swing, one thing has become crystal clear: the electronics industry is hell-bent on making consumers look like complete tools by the end of the year. By “tool” I mean, “Who is that dork sitting on the sofa wearing the nerdy 3D glasses?”
3D TVs are all the rage. Every major television manufacturer, and a few minor ones, are jumping on the bandwagon without hesitation. ESPN and DirecTV have both announced imminent, full-time 3D channels. Sony has finalized their specifications for 3D Blu-Ray and the industry will have the home version of Avatar to use as consumer-bait.
But…we’re still going to look like complete tools with our 3D glasses.
Is this really what the consumers wants? Probably not. I think it is safe to say we want 3D without the frickin’ glasses. It’s not just the aesthetic-hit your once macho appearance will take, but the real, cold hard facts of reality that will take its toll. WTF am I talking about?
I’m talking about your dog munching on your beloved pair of 3D glasses while you are at work. I am talking about your rug-rat kids bending, throwing, playing and breaking your 3D glasses. I am talking about your 3D glasses disappearing under the sofa or between the cushions. I am talking about your big, fast ass sitting down hard on that pair of 3D glasses.
3D glasses only work in theory and the safety of an IMAX theater. All other locations will spell constant hassle and small-scale disasters.
Hence, this brave new world they want us so desperately to enter will only work sans glasses.
Beyond the hurdles of every-day life we have the tech itself. Everything on display at CES is first-generation technology without a unified standard. Early-adopters will undoubtedly be screwed by the time the second generation is greatly improved and enhanced. The 3D TV you buy today could be tomorrow’s HD-DVD.
So wait. Be patient. What is available now will be considered garbage by CES 2011, a date that will hopefully see a whole new generation of 3D that can be attained without glasses and the punishing hit to your fashion sense.
Major Movie Critics Offer First Avatar Reviews
Major movie critics were allowed to see James Cameron’s Avatar in England yesterday with orders not to publish their reviews until next Monday. Funny thing about embargoes: once one site breaks it, the rest fall in line, and we can thank the Hollywood Reporter for jumping the gun and opening the floodgates.
So what’s the word? Is Avatar a $400-million piece of crap? The second coming of cinema?
The King of the World sets his sights on creating another world entirely in “Avatar,” and it’s very much a place worth visiting. Cameron delivers again with a film of universal appeal that just about everyone who ever goes to the movies will need to see.
A dozen years later, James Cameron has proven his point: He is king of the world. … he brings science-fiction movies into the 21st century with the jaw-dropping wonder that is “Avatar.” … The movie is 161 minutes and flies by in a rush. Repeat business? You bet.
Avatar is an overwhelming, immersive spectacle. The state-of-the-art 3D technology draws us in, but it is the vivid weirdness of Cameron’s luridly imagined tropical otherworld that keeps us fascinated.
An epic film born entirely of Cameron’s imagination, Avatar uses tailor-made technology to create the most astonishing visual effects yet seen on screen and blends them seamlessly into a mythical sci-fi story.
Game-changing – yes. Spectacular – absolutely. Occasional dodgy dialogue and dramatic imperfections – of course. But still – wait for it – a titanic achievement.
Will Avatar be an Epic Failure?
With Avatar opening in a month, many Hollywood analysts and journalists are preparing and publishing stories that focus on the bloated budget, the troubled history of 3D movies, and the likelihood that Avatar has the potential to be the biggest bomb in cinema history. Now, all of this sounds very familiar, as I heard and read all these stories when the subject was instead Titanic, which proved itself the most successful movie ever made.
Having seen the exclusive 15-minute 3D preview several months ago, I can safely say that whatever experience you’ve had with 3D in the past has no bearing on what you are about to witness on the big-screen. Judging the visual quality of the movie based on 2D trailers is futile.
Related: My 16-Minutes of Avatar: Did Cameron Deliver or Crash and Burn?
Now we have Kim Masters of The Daily Beast droning on about Hollywood concerns, going the extra mile to say that because Robert Zemeckis’ latest 3D movie, A Christmas Carol, tanked at the box office that there is great cause for concern when it comes to Avatar. How these two movies relate is beyond me. The only thing they have in common is “3D” and even there they use two completely different processes. That, and very few people give a crap about Charles Dickens or A Christmas Carol, or Robert Zemeckis’ sloppy version of a classic tale.
Still, she describes Avatar as “iffy.” And that may not be the adjective that executives at Fox and their partners on the film want to hear. Given that it’s taken 12 years for Cameron to produce a follow up to Titanic, and considering the immense cost of the technology, the industry and the media have been guessing at Avatar’s budget, with the Los Angeles Times recently putting it at $310 million with additional marketing costs of about $150 million. Other estimates are even higher. (Fox co-chairman Jim Gianopulos told Reuters earlier this week that rumors the movie will cost $500 million are “ridiculous,” acknowledging nonetheless that it was “quite expensive.”)
VUDU updates keep rolling by integrating Wikipedia
The VUDU web based architecture is evidently really paying off, because this makes the third VUDU update in the last month. The company tells us that since its UI is pulled from the web like any other website, it can continue to easily roll out updates. This week’s addition is a welcomed one, as we’ll no longer have to reach for our computer or handheld just to look up the details of a movie on Wikipedia. But what’s even more useful is the fact that you can browse beyond the movie’s Wikipedia entry to the actor’s pages, etc., and links are even added so you can quickly get back to actor’s list of movies available on VUDU. We haven’t been able to try this for ourselves yet, but it does sound like something we’d find useful. Of course the only thing left to add now that Wikipedia and Rotten Tomatoes are accounted for is IMDB, which can’t be far behind — right, VUDU? There’s one more screen cap of the new feature after the jump.
Continue reading VUDU updates keep rolling by integrating Wikipedia
VUDU updates keep rolling by integrating Wikipedia originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Nov 2009 12:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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New DVD Releases For Your Inner Geek
Battlestar Galactica: The Plan releases this week, which should make fans going through withdrawal quite happy. The Plan, directed James Olmos, attempts to fill in fill in gaps as it relates to the Cylons, specifically the story of Kavil. Unfortunately, The Plan is not a strong movie, lacking a central narrative thread. It plays out like a retrospective of key Battlestar events, doesn’t really shed light on anything, is disjointed and without purpose. Not a great review, sorry to say. On the upside, the special-effects have never been better, easily the best technical work of the series.
Battlestar Galactica: The Plan is available on DVD and Blu-Ray.
Buy Battlestar Galactica: The Plan on DVD
Buy Battlestar Galactica: The Plan on Blu-Ray
Monty Python: Almost The Truth is the best documentary ever created about the British comedy group Monty Python. Stretching six glorious hours, every member is interviewed, memories are recalled and tons of things you never new are revealed. This documentary, made by the son of Terry Jones, goes in-depth on how the group formed, what their lives were like prior to Monty Python, their inspirations, battles with the BBC, how George Harrison of the Beatles financed The Holy Grail because he wanted to see the movie, and on and on and on. No Monty Python fan should be without this great documentary in their library.
Buy Monty Python: Almost the Truth on DVD
Buy Monty Python: Almost the Truth on Blu-Ray
Whose is Bigger? Star Trek vs. Star Wars
Being a bit of a Sci-Fi nerd (or is it Sy-Fy now?) , the few friends I have managed to accumulate over the years tend to have similar interests, and whenever a few of us get together one area of disagreement tends to rear it’s ugly head more often then others — Which is better, Star Trek or Star Wars?
While I haven’t discovered anything that gives a definitive answer to which is better, I have come across the answer to which is bigger. Someone named Dan Carlson went to the trouble of compiling an image that features ships from both universes to scale with 1 pixel = 10 meters. Apparently with little else to do in his life, he also added ships from almost every other Science Fiction property that made its way into television and film including things as obscure Lexx and Space: Above and Beyond.
So if size matters (and all Carlson’s distances are accurate), it looks like the Star Wars fans have something to brag about due to the incredible length of the Executor class Destroyer. (Star Trek fans can salvage some pride if they point to the Earth Spacedock and try to make the girth arguement however.) Unfortunately this area of comparison may only start up another bitter debate, especially if one subscribes to the theory that guys with big trucks (or space ships) are only trying to compensate for a deficiency in something else.
So what are you trying to draw attention away from, Star Wars fans? Do you have a little anxiety about your Light Sabers?
Live-Action Akira Not Dead Yet
A live-action version of the classic anime Akira has been bouncing around Hollywood for years and nothing has ever come to fruition. For all intents and purposes, the project seemed dead in the water. Now comes word that it may have a beating heart after all, as a “trusted source” had divulged to Steve Weintraub of Collider that writers Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby were brought on board to flesh out the script. Marcus and Hawk are best known for the science-fiction movie Children of Men.
Also, while I couldn’t get a lot of info about what changes are being made from the anime to make the feature film work, I did confirm the story is still set in post-apocalyptic Manhattan in the near future. I also confirmed the famous motorcycle is definitely a part of the film, but that bit of info shouldn’t surprise anyone.
From what I could gather, the movie is still a priority for the studio, and if the script meets with approval from key people, the movie could go into production in 2010 with a release date in 2011. Also, this isn’t going to be some mid-range budget movie. If the film goes into production, it’s going to be one of those BIG event movies.
Top 10 Best Selling Games
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