Posted in: Brain Blasters, News and Opinions by David Annandale on January 5th, 2007
William Peter Blatty might seem a slightly odd candidate for discussion in this space. After all, he wrote and produced The Exorcist, whose enormous mainstream success makes it rather suspect as a cult film. Ditto for another of Blatty’s screenplays: A Shot in the Dark, which is arguably the best of the Pink Panther movies. But as a director, ah, there we start getting closer to cult status. He has made two films. The Exorcist III (1990) is his best-known effort, and is debatably a cult movie. Ve...
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on January 3rd, 2007
New Columns, Gamers do make money & Guitars for everyone - Welcome to the Busted Old Jalopy that got a new fender this year known as Dare to Play the Game.
Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. It is a brand new year, and yes your co-host and wonderful person spent new years by himself. Don't weep too much, it was mostly my own doing. I could have gone to my parents but didn't want to drive and the thought of spending new years with my parents was actually...
Posted in: Highly Defined, News and Opinions by Archive Authors on January 1st, 2007
Give a brutha some slack, OK?
So in between a busy daytime job that included being in the office for 19 hours of a 24 hour day and the holiday week, things have been a little busy at the casa de Keefer. Besides, everyone’s bracing themselves for the CES show next week and the fun stuff to come from it, right? So let’s take a look at those next-gen discs that have made this particular reviewer stand up and smile. Oh, and as far as the lack of Blu love here, if someone wants to spring for a player for me, fee...
Posted in: Brain Blasters, News and Opinions by David Annandale on December 30th, 2006
The serial is an extinct form of movie-going experience. Right up to the fifties, your movie ticket got you not only the main feature, a B-feature, cartoons, a newsreel and other shorts, but an episode of a serial. Usually running 12 or 15 chapters, the serial would unspool in 15-20-minute units, each ending in a cliffhanger (often quite literally so, with the hero or heroine plunging off a cliff in a runaway car, for instance). George Lucas pays tribute to the serials in his Star Wars films, which begin with ...
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on December 27th, 2006
360 Warranty Extension, Plasma Recommended Viewing, & Star Wars the Christmas Edition? - Welcome to the Christmas column that spiked the holiday writing punch known as Dare to Play the Game.
Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. Here is hope that you gave more than you received this christmas. I tried to do just that as I did my best to include everybody I could think of and give them the gift that best suites them. However, none of that could cover up how ...
Posted in: Brain Blasters, News and Opinions by David Annandale on December 22nd, 2006
Well, it’s that festive time of the year, and what could be more appropriate than the remake of Black Christmas hitting the theatres on December 25? Now, I haven’t seen this film, of course, but the advance word is not encouraging. Head on over to www.dreadcentral.com and you’ll see that it seems that directors Glen Morgan and James Wong know how to do comedic horror (Final Destination), but have no idea how to play things straight. Sounds like we have another fine mess on our hands. But the remake has ...
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on December 20th, 2006
Wii Straps a breaking, XBOX 360 Compatibility a adding, and a Ho Ho Ho a Packing - Welcome to the column that only gives and doesn't receive a darn thing known as Dare to Play the Game.
Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. This will be a weird column this week, I apologize. My internet connection at home was down for all of tuesday night (one little rainstorm and the cable connection goes belly up). I wasted my time playing Viva...
Posted in: Brain Blasters, News and Opinions by David Annandale on December 15th, 2006
Old fogey time. When I first encountered Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K, don’t you know), it was an authentically viral phenomenon. This would have been circa 1993. It was still on the Comedy Network, a station that very few of us in the Great White North had access to. But the closing credits ordered, “Keep Circulating Those Tapes,” and people did. Often, this meant viewing the episodes in multi-duped EP versions so muzzy the dialogue was barely audible, but enough was discernible to know that we were w...
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on December 13th, 2006
Plasma, Protecting Children from themselves & PS3 pipe dreams - Welcome to the column that never discloses whether or not it is rated M for Mature (just assume it) known as Dare to Play the Game.
Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. I'm your host that made the big jump this weekend. I went and bought a 42 inch Phillips plasma from Best Buy. I don't want to get too much into it since this is good story fodder but it got delivered on tuesday and is waitin...
Posted in: Highly Defined, News and Opinions by Archive Authors on December 11th, 2006
Listen to my tale, will you?
OK, so I’m in an interview last week for a job, really more to get involved in the interview process again, and giving the right answers to the questions, and I’m asked about my hobbies. So I politely tell the guy that I write online as a reviewer, and so the question is asked, “So, what about this Blu-Ray?” Too friggin’ funny, so I discuss the format war. So I guess I’ve got an offer coming to me, but I don’t know if I wanna drive that far.
Anyway, the big news seems ...
