Posted in: Brain Blasters, News and Opinions by David Annandale on April 5th, 2007
So Grindhouse is upon us, and fans of exploitation cinema everywhere are no doubt bathing in the warm glow of nostalgia for bygone sleaze and spooky cinemas many of us were too young to enter, but that nevertheless were surrounded by an aura of forbidden fascination. Here in Winnipeg, I remember, in my formative years as a film fan, being simultaneously frightened and attracted by the ad campaigns for movies playing at the likes of the Downtown and the Eve. The era has passed, of course, never to return, but t...e movies live on, often in DVD releases that present prints far more pristine than anything theatregoers would have experienced during the original releases. At any rate, in the name of nostalgia and history, here are a few books to completely immerse you in the grindhouse spirit.
A little digression first, however. Some time ago, I listed some worthwhile magazines in the field, and that Shock Cinema, in particular, is dedicated to keeping the spirit of Times Square and 42nd Street alive. Its website (www.shockcinemamagazine.com) opens up all sorts of further gloriously dubious avenues to explorer. Okay, end digression.
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on April 4th, 2007
PSP Price Drop (Sales were over), Interviewing a WOW addict (his life is over), and Guitar Hero 2(my life is over) - Welcome to the little addiction that meetings won’t cure known as Dare to Play the Game.
Posted in: Highly Defined, News and Opinions by Archive Authors on April 2nd, 2007
And another week remains quiet on the western next-gen front.
Well, HD-DVD seems to be firing back when it comes to their lack of releases in the first quarter of the year. The problem seems to be though that not many releases are new, and the equipment price cuts that have been previously reported elsewhere were rehashed here. So on the impressive scale, it’s a light rock in the ocean. But still, it’s nice to see them doing SOMETHING. European buyers will be seeing a version of the Sony BDP coming out this...summer. Notable for it having HDMI 1.3, it’s another case of a device that you’ll have to wait and get a good receiver for down the road. Blu-ray has drown the proverbial line in the sand too, with the BDA expecting Java support by the end of October. It’s kind of funny how this announcement comes hot on the heels of the Matrix releases, but at least it gives a kick in the pants to Blu-Ray, so that Batman Begins and V for Vendetta can’t be HD exclusives. But hey, Dreamworks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg says it’s a niche market anyway, so screw it, right?
Posted in: Brain Blasters, News and Opinions by David Annandale on March 30th, 2007
In theatres now (and no doubt hitting DVD before long) is the Korean film The Host. It’s been a long time since we’ve had a monster movie this good, and even longer since we’ve had one with this much depth.
Any text, of course, has its subtext, and this is as true of giant monster movies as any other work of art. But some films are much more a much richer subtext than others, partly because the filmmakers were quite deliberate in seeing their monsters in a metaphorical or symbolic light. Though the e...d results are very different, this level of depth is most clearly visible in the likes of King Kong (1933), Godzilla (1954) and Them! (1954).
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on March 28th, 2007
WOW the Rebuttal, Marvel at the Hulk, and a God of War mystery - Welcome to the column that has many mysteries, like the one of how it gets run every week known as Dare to Play the Game.
Posted in: Highly Defined, News and Opinions by Archive Authors on March 26th, 2007
Breaking the Blu cherry and all still remains well. I hope you’ve enjoyed my first two Blu reviews for the site. Rest assured, everything is always a work in progress, and we’re coming along rather nicely, don’t you think?
The big news for the week has to be the announcement of The Matrix trilogy arriving to HD-DVD shelves on 5/22, with a BD release sometime down the road. The common assumption for the BD delay appears to be the lack of BD-J interactivity right now, which would also explain why Ba...man Begins, V for Vendetta and similar titles with a Warner In Movie Experience/Pop Up Function aren’t out for PS3 buyers right now, and probably why the Harry Potter series hasn’t come out yet either. Was this a not too subtle shot across Sony’s bow to get this functionality working? Only time will tell. Toshiba has announced price cuts on their HD-A2 and XA2 models, with the A2 retailing for $399, proving that the ever so elusive $300 and under price point isn’t that far away.
Posted in: Brain Blasters, News and Opinions by David Annandale on March 23rd, 2007
A tale of three films. One is original. One is its remake. One is a cash-in. And the latter is the one that became a classic.
In 1975, a big-budget SF effort by Norman Jewison hit the theatres with much publicity. This was Rollerball. In a future world with no wars, and everything is controlled by corporations, human aggression is channeled through the titular, extremely violent game. The game has been designed to be such that becoming good at it is impossible, and thus there are no heroes, and the f...tility of human endeavour is underlined. But then James Caan, as Jonathan E., becomes that impossible thing: a champion, and thus a hero. He refuses to retire, and so the powers that be keep changing the rules, making the game more and more lethal, in an effort to bring him down.
Posted in: Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on March 21st, 2007
Take Two for Sale?, Cooking Your Mama and An Extremely Long Name - Welcome to the column that brings you in the F & M in family but in reverse known as Dare to Play the Game.
Posted in: Highly Defined, News and Opinions by Archive Authors on March 19th, 2007
P>The first full week of being format neutral, and all appears to be well.
Well, that pretty much sums it up, doesn’t it? I picked up Casino Royale, Layer Cake and Black Hawk Down, and all seems to be pretty good. All of them having PCM soundtracks doesn’t hurt either. I’ve also grabbed Motorstorm and Resistance Fall of Man recently, so the gaming and movie split is about 50-50 right now, on top of everything else I’ve been doing. The reasoning for those three titles, aside f...om exclusivity, is their extras are mostly port overs from the SD versions, so it gives me another reason to cast aside the SD versions of the above titles that I’ve already got.
Posted in: Brain Blasters, News and Opinions by David Annandale on March 16th, 2007
Gosh, I don’t know if today’s subject counts as cult movies. These are genre films, though. And they’re old.
Really old.
