Granted kids (hell probably anyone under 25) won't remember, but I'm sure that for a lot of us that are starting to enter out not so young adult years, Pixar's annual instant classic, Wall-E, has a main character that bears a very, very strong resemblance to a rather cheesy yet fondly remembered character named "Johnny 5" from a movie called Short Circuit.
Definitely not a rip-off, but arguably a slight homage. I fully intend to be one of the many checking out Wall E this weekend as it seems like another brilliant movie.
I'm also very tempted to check out Wanted. Granted, it looks like a pretty direct Matrix rip-off, but a pretty well done one, and admittedly, Angelina Jolie is enough to get me to see almost anything.
That's really it for today, but I spent most of the early AM hours making a new video for the highly anticipated DS remake of Final Fantasy IV, so check it out:
Not a lot of stuff really gets to me, but I just read that one of the great comedy legends, George Carlin, has passed away. This guy has always been nothing short of brilliant and the world is a lot stupider for having lost him. We'll miss you you miserable but hilarious bastard. I'm just going to post one of my personal favorite bits and probably do a regular post tomorrow:
Ah, another weekend of two underwhelming (and possibly migrain-generating) summer "comedies". Mike Myers is back in front of the camera in his first live-action film in quite a few years, which seems to basically be Austin Powers 4, just without the swinging 60s references. It's a shame because reportedly he spent a lot of time fine-tuning his character in comedy clubs. This is reportedly already an early contender for worst movie of the year (and being that 10,000 B.C. has already come out, that's saying quite a bit).
And then there's Steve Carrell in his latest attempt to go from small screen god to big screen star in Get Smart. Granted, if you have to do a movie version, Steve Carell seems like the obvious choice, but the reviews seem to say much like Evan Almighty, this plays it a little too safe to in fact be as smart as it's legacy.
So what to do? Give Incredible Hulk a chance. I caught it on Tuesday and was pleasantly surprised. It has some weak points (mainly Liv Tyler), and it's a very different feel from Iron Man, but I think it's about as good a flick you can really do with that source material, because Hulk is a hard character to make a film for in the first place. I hope this one holds up strong, because they definitely planted lots of seeds for a sequel (not to mention possible tie-ins to other Marvel films) which I would like to see come to fruition.
In game news, Sega is starting to make me believe in Sonic again with their new trailer for Sonic Unleashed. But I'm warily optimistic, given how many times they've tried to re-launch the blue blur. This video seems like an awfully good start, however...
I'm directly ripping that header off from some gaming mag, either EGM or Game Informer, really the only two I read, but can't remember which. Anyways, not a whole ton of news since my last post, so I've just got a few cool links and a video or two for everyone to check out:
First up, everybody loves free games, and while one a week is pretty awesome, I've got a total of 60 in the two links I've got here, both from Gamesradar: For you old school shooter fans: The Top Ten Free Shoot-em-ups, and then for those looking for more variety, also from Gamesradar, The Top 50 free games. Obviously these aren't going to be on the scale of something like Mass Effect, but there are plenty of great little gems in there, especially if you are a fan of the old school point & click Sierra/Lucasarts titles.
And yet one more link from Gamesradar (I've plugged these guys so much they should be giving me free ad space at this point), the top 7 games that don't deserve nostalgia. There are few lists I agree with more wholeheartedly than this one. Pretty much every single game on there has not aged well or wasn't good to begin with and is nowhere near worthy of the ridiculous pedestal its put upon to this day. Final Fantasy VII being so worthy because of the insane level of praise it gets. Yeah, it was good, but it had plenty of flaws too, and those would probably be a lot more evident if a remake with nothing but a graphical overhaul was actually made like the fans keep clamoring for. If you doubt that, take a look at the mostly horrible crap spin-off material that has spewed from FFVII since it's release, most notably Advent Children.
And just a few videos to finish off the day, first up, The Philosophy of Billy Mitchell. If you thought he was a giant ass when you watched King of Kong (and if you haven't watched that, go out and buy/rent it immediately), you'll think even less of him now:
And a fake, but hilarious trailer for King of Kong 2:
Finally, since I probably won;t update again til at least Tuesday, check out this pretty cool fan trailer for what is for my money, the best action show on TV, Burn Notice, which the first season of comes out on Tuesday, so check it out before the second season premiere in July.
Marvel is really pulling out every stop they can to try and give people a reason to see their second big hero movie out this year, The Incredible Hulk, casting some serious actors like Ed Norton and Tim Roth, trying to make it look nothing like Ang Lee's disastrous effort several years ago, and even blatantly showing that it has some tenuous connection to Iron Man since that has been a success well beyond anyone's expectations. And by all accounts, it is a much better effort, but I'm not sure the same interest is there, if for no other reason than Hulk, at least is in his movie incarnation, isn't a good guy superhero, he's just a big guy who likes to smash stuff. And there is some appeal in that, but not the same across the board appeal you get to make something a big hit like Iron Man or Spider-Man or Batman (only now am I realizing how utterly uncreative these superhero names are), and Marvel is very much banking on this film to be up there with Iron Man in order to try and legitimize themselves as a studio powerhouse capable of mostly doing their own movies for their properties. I want it to be good, and most reviews are very positive, so I'll probably check it out, but not opening weekend.
And as far as the other movie opening this weekend, The Happening, I've more or less made my thoughts on this giant waste of celluloid well known, so instead of wasting more energy and hate just go ahead and enjoy the FREE GAME OF THE WEEK: Skywire
So yeah, the PS3's supposed salvation comes tomorrow in the form of Metal Gear Solid 4. But this declaration seems like a desperate fanboy thing. Yeah, The Metal Gear Series has a pretty solid legion of followers, but it's nowhere near Halo or GTA or FF numbers. It's never had to be a system seller, and now it's in the unique position of trying to be a game that legitimizes the PS3 as something more than a blu-ray player with a couple of games. Personally, I pretty much lost interest after the incomprehensible mess I considered both 2 & 3 to be. Pure weirdness aside, the dialogue was always laughable and the plots never made the slightest bit of sense. Fans will defend that as a positive trait, but great games with totally insane plots (i.e. No More Heroes) at least make sense in their own twisted universe, Metal Gear as of late has stuck to no such rule. It's actually good to hear Gabe & Tycho spew their vitriol on the series because I seemed to be alone in my... hatred is too strong a word, but indifference fits pretty well. I'm sort of intrigued to try it out just to see if maybe, much like GTA IV, this really turns my opinion around on the series (and so I have an actual PS3 game to play on my PS3), but quite frankly, I'm a little too busy currently enjoying Persona 3 (another example of a great game with a crazy story that makes sense in its own universe) to just go out and buy much of anything else right now.
That's really all I got for today, but I'll definitely be back tommorrow with my thoughts on this weekend's releases. Until then, here is your TRAILER OF THE WEEK: Babylon A.D.
This is it, this should be the nail in the coffin for psycho anti-gaming lawyer Jack Thompson, as he's been recommended for a 10-year disbarment. Not helping matters is that he walked out of the hearing, claiming the judge didn't have the authority to oversee the case. You know, at some point this guy went from intelligent yet soulless ambulance chaser to just plain nuts and I'm wondering what triggered it. Oh no, wait he was always fucking nuts, nevermind.
Lots of big games out this week, but with Bourne Conspiracy seeming to be just another mediocre action title and Ninja Gaiden II being a follow-up to a game so frustrating I nearly broke my original Xbox, the only one I had my eye one was Lego Indiana Jones. I really enjoyed Star Wars being Legoized so I thought Indy would be just as fun. For the most part it is, but there are some camera & A.I. issues (along with a lack of online play) that make this seem like an effort that doesn't really make the most of the license. Hopefully these problems will be resolved when Lego Batman hits or I won't be nearly as kind.
I love a good animated film, and word on Kung Fu Panda is extremely solid (which is surprising, given that it's an animated movie not made by Pixar). So I will most likely be checking that out this week.
