Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on October 10th, 2007
Manhunt 2 Re-Rejected, PSP Rejecting SDTVs, and the Yaris rejecting decency - Welcome to the column that is like the girl you always rejected in high school for the pretty cheerleader known as Dare to Play the Game.
Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. If you were paying attention after my post last week; I also posted the Halo 3 review. Initial feedback has been positive but I always like to hear more. Naturally, I have also played a lot more of Halo 3 including a really cool Energy Sword duel that I was a part of. In fact, for those who have Halo 3; go to your fileshare and add me as a friend (Kedrix) and then check the clips. I have two cool clips of me in action with a gravity hammer and then an energy sword. Good times, good times. I know its a year old; but I'm still muddling through WWE Smackdown vs Raw 07, up to 10 or 11 achievements now I think. Actually if I take the time; I can probably get all of the offline ones which are 23 I think of the 29. The online ones are ridiculous and can only logically be acquired if you boost. If somebody is still willing with this eventual dinosaur; I'm willing to get online and go through it. It would be nice sometime in my lifetime to get all of the achievements for a retail game (I have done it for a couple of XBLAs).
Posted in: Brain Blasters by David Annandale on October 5th, 2007
Bert I. Gordon. Now there’s a man who knew no shame. Here was a director who combined the hucksterism of a low-rent William Castle (who wasn’t exactly living on the Boardwalk of Monopoly board of producer-directors, if you catch my drift), the willingness to pile on the spectacle of an even lower-rent Cecil B. De Mille, and the technical competence of a slightly (but only slightly) higher-rent Ed Wood. Here was a director who not only did his own special effects, but for some unfathomable reason thought they were good enough to show for extended periods of time. Perhaps he thought his back-projection techniques in The Amazing Colossal Man, Attack of the Puppet People and Beginning of the End (grasshoppers!) were actually impressive. They weren’t. But they had a certain goofy charm.
And goofy charm is what today’s offering is all about. Gordon’s last film, 1976's The Food of the Gods, has finally found a DVD release as part of MGM’s Midnite Movie series, and it’s about damn time. Here’s a movie that has both the honesty and nerve to claim to being based only on a portion of H. G. Wells’ source novel. I remember, in those heady, summer days of 1976, when Famous Monsters of Filmland trumpeted the film’s upcoming release, complete with plenty of FX shots that I thought were pretty cool. Of course, I was only nine. The film hit Winnipeg at the Pembina Drive-In, long since demolished to make way for highways. I didn’t see the film then, but when I at last tracked the film down decades later on VHS, it was exactly the kind of engaging nonsense I was hoping for, and it’s even better now in widescreen.
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on October 3rd, 2007
Missing Resolution in Halo, Missing Wii's for Christmas and Microsoft soon to miss Bungie? - Welcome to the column that is missing pants and dignity (if we had any to begin with) known as Dare to Play the Game.
Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. Okay, okay so my review of the pretty Halo Tin isn't quite done. I'd say it is about two thirds done to be exact. It is looking quite good; but I've got the replay section mainly to go over with a fine tooth come. One thing that Halo 3 has a lot of and that is game modes. So I'll have to be careful and be meticulous. At first I was rather meh about the game, but I kinda like it now. Now keep in mind, I'm not one of those gah-gah Halo is king guys but I'm having fun with it. Played three stages to completion and messed with multiplayer for a good long time. My girlfriend and I are still both addicted to Bomberman Live. We aren't really good at it (though we have our moments) but we have a great time playing it.
Posted in: Brain Blasters, Regular Columns by David Annandale on September 30th, 2007
Returning to Sinister Cinema’s roster of Drive-In Double Features this year is an offering that distinguishes itself by the rarity of the two films in the pairing, and so it is my bounden duty to bring this to your attention. The two films in question are Caltiki, the Immortal Monster (1959) and The Magnetic Monster (1953).
Caltiki is another blob monster movie in the vein of The Blob and X the Unknown. It isn’t in the same league as either of those films, but is not without both interest and charm. It’s an early genre effort from Italy, coming just before the onslaught of gothics that would begin in 1960, and behind the camera are the two men most responsible for those classic horrors: Riccardo Freda as director, and Mario Bava as cinematographer (who also completed the film after Freda left). The story is bizarre. Our blob in question is discovered in an ancient temple in Mexico, and turns out to be the source of a deity’s legend. The heroic scientists describe it as a unicellular creature, an appellation that certainly doesn’t help the audience’s efforts at sustaining disbelief. But never mind. Though the creature is apparently killed by fire in the tomb, a portion of it retained for study survives and breaks free. The climax takes place in the hero’s residence, with the creature, now in several pieces, oozing all over the grounds and down hallways, closing in on the heretofore neglected wife and child. It’s all rather absurd, but well paced and nicely photographed. As well, in the hero’s troubled marriage, we see an element unusual for monster films of this type and era and, despite the Mexican setting, there’s a faint whiff of Italian social malaise from the Dolce Vita days floating about.
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on September 26th, 2007
Halo 3, Halo 3, and Just say No To Transsexuals - Welcome to the column that is overloaded with hype and sexual indecency known as Dare to Play the Game.
Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. In my hand I have the Halo 3 CE Tin. It's pretty, it's sexy, I want to have relations with it. (okay not really). In my other hand, I hold a 20 ounce of Halo 3 Mountain Dew Game Fuel. Feeeel the hype. I have not played the game yet; I will soon and hope to have a review on this site by Sunday. Sure, the other reviewers had it up on Tuesday. But I have a job, and I don't get the game early. The tin looks great seriously, but my only complaint about the tin is how the discs are held inside. Its flimsy and they should have used the harder plastic pegs we are accustomed to. I'll have to be careful with it so my Halo 3 goodness goes undamaged. Apparently there is already news about this. Perhaps I need to find a double cd case for the two discs. In other gaming news, I took the time to put my Bomberman Live (XBLA) Review up. Great game, great use of 800 points. Expansion pack #2 is set to hit today, most people will probably miss it because they'll be knee deep in Master Chief's crotch. Hey you know it's true.
Posted in: Brain Blasters by David Annandale on September 21st, 2007
My very first horror film book, acquired in Grade 3, was Denis Gifford’s A Pictorial History of Horror Movies. Among its many stills were a number for films identified by title, but with no other information provided. The result was rather tantalizing. One of those stills was for a 1969 Japanese ditty called Horror of Malformed Men. At long last, thanks to a new release from Synapse (with the title pluralized to Horrors of Malformed Men), my curiosity has been more than satisfied.
All right, seekers of the bizarre, try this plot on for size. The film opens with a man trapped in a cell with dozens of half-naked women. They’re all writhing about as if they’re performing some kind of avant-garde dance number, except for the one who is going after the guy with a knife. Eventually a guard intervenes and he hauls out the man (Teruo Yoshida), blaming him for the ruckus. Turns out the setting is an asylum, and Yoshida is an inmate, with no recollection of how or why he is there. After surviving an equally mysterious assassination attempt, Yoshida escapes. By chance (it seems), he runs into a circus performer who sings the same song that haunts Yoshida’s fragmented memories. She might have information about who he is and where he comes from, but she is killed before she can tell all. Yoshida is blamed for the murder, and he becomes a fugitive. On the run, he reads about the death of the scion of a respected family, a man who could be his twin. Yoshida takes the place of the corpse (!) and fakes a resurrection. He enters the man’s household, hoping to find out who he is, why the dead man is his exact double, and how that man really died.
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on September 19th, 2007
Turbo Cd's on the Wii, Gamestop Manager on Suspension and a Washer on the way to my house - Welcome to the column that is always on even if the writer is somewhere between a wounded animal & rigor mortis known as Dare to Play the Game.
Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. I finally started playing my Xbox 360 again. Played a smattering of Dig Dug (good stuff) and Gauntlet (I forgot how frustrating this game is) and I also started playing WWE Smackdown vs Raw 07. Getting used to the new grapple system is interesting but I'm already having fun with it. Unlocking some of this stuff will take some major time but outside of the crazy achievement where you have to beat everybody on legendary or the online ones where you have to win 20 in a row (unless somebody is willing to boost for me); I think I'll be playing this for a while. I did also download Bomberman Live after much consideration and should be providing a review by the end of the weekend. It will be the first review that I will do with some help from my girlfriend (who might be playing this right now). Yes I appreciate finally having a gamer girlfriend. And she's amazing in some many other ways too.
Posted in: Brain Blasters by David Annandale on September 14th, 2007
The current issue of Rue Morgue has a retrospective look at Dan O’Bannon’s Return of the Living Dead, just ahead of yet another DVD release (September 11). Over the course of the interview with O’Bannon, interviewer Dave Alexander asks the director how much he had to do with the new release. This is his response:
“None. It was a surprise, a shock, to me when I was informed they were putting out what they call a ‘director’s edition.’ It runs something like twenety minutes more than the version I shot. The film I shot and edited was 88 minutes. I hear they’re putting out a 117-minute version. Once this thing comes out, I’ll take a look at it [...] and if they have tampered with it in a way that in my opinion hurts the film, then I will publicly abrogate it.”
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on September 12th, 2007
The Wii Saber, A Smaller PS3 & some Sonic fun - Welcome to the column that promises to push innovation and technology but in the wrong direction known as Dare to Play the Game.
Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. Well since last week, the 360 service center people have been doing things a little differently. I received two phone calls. The first was from the manager lady that said she was working on my signature issue and wasn't able to change the address but she would get me a tracking number once it was fixed. So yesterday, I'm sitting in the car and get another phone call. They have my tracking #? What?! My X-Box 360 in a mere two weeks from when it hit McAllen is being shipped back all fixed. *RAH RAH RAH* I guess kindness and following up actually works. I should see my 360 back this week. :), I also got my birthday presents from my group this week; to the tune of Smackdown vs Raw 2007 for 360 and Morrowind Game of the Year Edition for XBOX. Fun, fun stuff. To be truthful though, I've been watching movies lately and not playing video games. More on that later.
Posted in: Brain Blasters by David Annandale on September 7th, 2007
A little while ago, I looked at a recent (and very strong) example of the Evil Kids movie. I mentioned some of the big names in the field (The Omen, the original Village of the Damned, The Bad Seed), but today, for your consideration, a half-forgotten effort from 1974 (smack in the midst of the golden era of grindhouse and drive-in sleaze): Devil Times Five.
Also known as People Toys and The Horrible House on the Hill, this cheap but satisfyingly unpleasant little movie sees a bus overturn, unleashing five homicidally demented children. They make their way through the snow to an isolated resort, whose only residents are the tycoon Papa Doc (Gene Evans, sporting a character name that is oh-so-tasteful), and his assorted squabbling relatives and associates. The children are taken in, and waste no time in bumping off the adults one by one by means mundane (hatchet to the head), creative (bizarre death swing contraption), and just plain wrong (one woman is drowned in the bathtub while pirana are dumped in with her).
