Trailers of the Month: July 2009

ED's Picks

Toy Story 1 and 2 3D Trailer
What a cool idea it is to release these fantastic movies together, I can’t say more than that about the movie. But jeez, over 3 hours with 3D glasses sounds disorienting. Well, you can’t beat the value of two great Pixar movies for one ticket price.

Despicable Me Trailer
When I saw this was CGI I thought to myself, non Pixar equals fail. But the trailer was actually very entertaining, especially with the trampoline effect on the “fake” pyramids. Throw in Steve Carell as a bad guy for this comedy and I was smiling at the idea of this movie. Maybe I’ll see it.

Carriers Trailer
This one I picked purely because I like to see how far humanity will go to ensure its survival and I am curious to what this virus is. Sounds like another 28 days later, which is in essence a zombie movie, if that’s the case sign this zombie movie fan up. Horror movies haven’t really worked lately, so this one is up in the air for me.

Alice In Wonderland Trailer
I am not a Tim Burton fan, I love Beetlejuice and Batman is okay but beyond that I don’t care for much of his work. And yet, this movie looks wonderful. Johnny Depp is fun to watch, and the way the rabbit acted made me look forward to his scenes.


The Book of Eli Trailer
I grew to love Denzel Washington as an actor, but movies such as Déjà vu haven’t helped that. Book of Eli looks like a great role for him, having Gary Oldman supporting doesn’t hurt either. I’m also curious what the story will be like.

TJ's Picks

The Fantastic Mr. Fox Trailer

I honestly don't know much about this movie. It's based on a Roald Dahl children's story but thats the extent of my knowledge. The biggest draw for me is the animation style. Some might think it would be Wes Anderson but I have to admit I have never really cared for his movies. The style here is really easy on the eyes and it really refreshing.

Hot Tub Time Machine Trailer

Craig Robinson and John Cusack in the same movie, need I say more? And There is a HOT TUB TIME MACHINE!!!

Alice in Wonderland Trailer

I do believe Tim Burton is overrated BUT not by that much. I mean the man is NO James Cameron but he is still has some dam good movies. Alice is a perfect world for Tim to work in. Also the Cheshire cat looks AMAZING.

World's Greatest Dad Trailer

I miss the days of Robin Williams being funny. I also love it when he gets deep dramatic roles. This movie looks like it might have the best of both Robins. So i'm really excited to see how this one unfolds.

The Book of Eli Trailer

The story so far isn't interesting at all to be honest.But I like Denzel and I like kick-ass action and this movie looks like it will have both. It's been a fairly weak month for trailers so I'll let this one get on the list.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince Review

Sorry for the delay but someone else wanted to co review, then became too busy so heres my thoughts on HP 6:


Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince Review
To start with I have read every single book repeatedly, so I understand the story. I have liked all the movies for different reasons, but does Half Blood Prince keep interest in the franchise? Yes, quite well.

I want to emphasize the pacing of this movie, it was very good. It has its talking moments, its action moments, and its fantasy moments. The story is cut down very carefully and got the messages of the book across very well as far as I saw, and even though the trailers and the book highlights teen romance a bit, the movie didn’t end up having a bunch of pointless romance moments. Director David Yates managed to drop small snippets of the love interests without it being distracting, a few were a cause or effect of an important story moment. Oh they exist in the movie for a good 20 minutes, but they do it more for humor than for anything else.
What they managed to change about the book that was kind of stupid and yet effective was the anticipated moment between Snape and Dumbledore. At first I was annoyed with how they changed it, but I still found they kept the mysteriousness of Snape’s motives good. Another commendable trait is that the movie had a moment in the cave where suspense was built up, and yet completely caught everyone in the theatre off guard to the point of having all of us jump in our seats. I haven’t had that happen to me in like 3 years, that’s a feat to be commended on.

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, and can’t criticize much. But if I had to, I’d have to say the last 15 minutes which is pretty much the ending had me a little ticked off. The funeral that ended the book was not there, and what we got instead to “pay tribute” to a character was kind of lame and too quick. It ended fine, but the first part or so of reckoning of the ending was pretty bad. Also, just because I liked that they retained the mysteriousness of Snape’s motives doesn’t mean I’ll forgive the logic leaps when he meets Dumbledore in his office. It was pretty stupid the way the characters behaved in that scene before something anticipated from book readers happens.

I also happened to hate some of the ways they dealt with Draco Malfoy, no it was not his performance I had a problem with, but before Harry battled him it was like the director told him to run into the room and cry with almost no reason to. Granted be I understood, but non readers probably thought less of Malfoy’s pathetic crying scene and didn’t get the sudden amount of emotion.
Having said all of that, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is a good movie. It’s got great effects, good story, good fun moments, and leaves us with questions to ponder for the next movie.

I give it a 4 out of 5

The Final Hours of the Matrix online

*UPDATE MATRIX IS NOW OFFLINE FOREVER. RIP*

Hey guys go to this link and watch the Giantbomb guys play through the final hours of the Matrix Online MMO.

Launch March 22nd 2005. Supposed to end July 31st 2009 but it's August 1st here and it looks like it may just have a little bit left in it.

The Matrix Online (also known as MxO) was a massively multiplayer online game developed by Monolith Productions. It was the official continuation of the The Matrix storyline. The game began closed beta-testing in June 2004 which was then opened for people who pre-ordered the game in November 2004. Warner Bros. and Sega officially released MxO on 22 March 2005 in the United States. It was released in Europe on April 15, 2005. Sony Online Entertainment ended the services for The Matrix Online at 11:59 PST on the 31st of July 2009. IMDB

Watch live video from Giant Bomb Live! - giantbomb.com on Justin.tv

Geeksquisite Question of the Day #23: 8/1/09

This question came to me when hanging out in the mall with a few friends. We went into a gamestop and were thinking of buying some Fatal Frame games except they were 39.99 a piece, DAMMIT!!!

Question #23: What is your favorite source to get video games (i.e. Gamestop, internet, Best buy,etc...)?


If you'd like to submit a question just send an e-mail to geeksquisite@gmail.com with the subject line Question of the Day.

Feel free to leave your answers in the comment section, thank you.

Alien Prequel Confirmed

Confirmed with a surprise

Well, I am a fan of Alien, even more so of Aliens. The way the Alien franchise has been represented on screen, from Aliens 3 onward to Alien vs Predator Requiem, it has been terrible. So a prequel does not sound much better, especially considering TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX is the studio! Remember, the last good movie from Fox may be X2: Xmen United and ever since then Fox has been in a downward spiral for me. Prequels very very rarely do good, I can't even think of one.

But there is hope, Ridley Scott has been attached to direct as indicated by this article. Yes you heard right, Ridley Scott who directed the original Alien in the 1970's. This gives the movie some hope even though some of the commentators in the article imply Ridley Scott's past refusal to be involved with the Alien franchise.

To be honest, I am worried with how bad Fox has become with the amount of control they pushed into Xmen Origins: Wolverine. These greedy and narrow minded people at Twentieth Century Fox have their production crews in chains and their crappy wire work ready. So I am very worried, and would not even care about this movie were it not for the trilogy's original director coming on board.

Geeksquisite Question of the Day #22: 7/31/09

This question came to me when watching Remi Galliard on youtube with my friend Jay. We just watcheda few to start with and then continued to watch all of them over about 2 hours. Great times!

Question #22: What are some of the CRAZIEST youtube videos you've seen?


If you'd like to submit a question just send an e-mail to geeksquisite@gmail.com with the subject line Question of the Day.

Feel free to leave your answers in the comment section, thank you.

Brutal Legend might be Delayed?!

Not for the same reason as other games

Okay, if you don't get why they are suing the developer even though they gave up on the game, I will make it very simple. Think Fox and the Watchmen case, Activision is exploiting loopholes for its gold digging pleasure. Now recently we got news that the judge threw out their case

Take that Activision

Of course they will appeal this, but unlike the Watchmen/Fox case there was no victory in the preliminary case and lets hope there isn't. There are way too many games being delayed, and I know people are excited for the game. I recently became interested in the game, very interested, and now Activision is trying to cash in. No offense to Activision but....

*insert cursing rant here*

What is odd about the game being delayed is that its mostly because they want to make money on it but I guess delaying it will make EA want to settle and give Activision a piece of the profits. Well, I hope Activision wastes their money on the lawyers that lose this case.

New Halo ODST Vidoc

Nathan Fillion rocks :)

I have to say, this Vidoc should have been the one shown at E3. It immerses me in the Halo universe while also touching nostalgia for Firefly the series, as a browncoat I was delighted. I had no clue Adam Baldwin and Alan Tudyk were in this game too, but the story really got to me. This is truly a modest heroes story, and I hope Bungie made these characters as cool as they sound. I want to see unique fights against the covenant involving the pelicans since the cinematics showed Banshees mixing with pelicans. No matter what, I gotta pick up this game.

But watch the video, its a nice one.

Red Steel 2 and Dark Void Pushed to 2010

HOLY CRAP is this list getting long. For anyone who hasn't been following here is a list of the 2009 games that have been delayed to 2010 SO FAR.

Delayed games:

1. Heavy Rain
2. Bioshock 2
3. MAG
4. Bayonetta
5. Splinter Cell: Conviction
6. Red Steel
7. Dark Void

There were about 20 or so games that I REALLY wanted this fall. The list above accounts for 7 games off of the list. There have been delays before (i.e. GTA IV) but I've never seen anything like this. I don't really have a problem with it I just think these companies should start following the Blizzard policy. Don't tell us dates and then don't hit them, wait until you know you can hit it. I know some games would be delayed still but we are at 7 so far and I have a strong feeling a few haven't been delayed just yet.

Now for Red Steel 2 and Dark Void

Ubisoft delayed Red Steel 2 because well I don't really know. here is their direct quote:

"We are disappointed that we have to postpone the release of several major games but we consider that this choice is the best one in the long-term interests of Ubisoft. Lastly, we are having to adjust our full-year targets to take into account the fall in business over the first half. The excellent response to our games at E3, as well as the high buzz generated for titles such as Assassin's Creed 2, Splinter Cell Conviction and Avatar, reinforce our belief that the company can achieve strong growth in the second half of the fiscal year."

Their delay doesn't really give a direct reason but as you can see they are rearranging a lot of their products.

Capcom delayed Dark Void for pretty good reasons. The main of which is to get the new IP out of the crowded fall lineup. Much like Heavy Rain the fall just isn't a good time for new IPs.

"Dark Void is moving into Capcom's fiscal Q4 in order to get the game out of the crowded fall game season and to allow the development team more time to polish and enhance the game experience."

Good to know with the extra time will come a few more months of polish. The game has been on my radar since E3 2008. So I've waited a long time for this one so I hope they use the extra time well.

New F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin Single-Player DLC Pack Announced

Earlier today, Warner Bros. announced that F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin will be getting a new DLC Pack. The pack, entitled "Reborn," will come with 4 new Single Player missions. The story will take place concurrently with the main story, and will put the player in control of replica soldier Foxtrot 813, showing the story from a new point of view, through the eyes of a different character... much like The Lost & Damned DLC for GTAIV.

There will also be some new Multiplayer stuff that will be applied on the same day as the single player stuff through a free title update. It sounds like this will be for everybody, weather you've bought the new pack or not. The Multiplayer update doesn't add any new maps, just a slow-mo power-up that seems like it will be used primarily in objective based games.

This all seems really cool, Pricing hasn't been announced yet for the single-player add-on, but it's nice to see more developers doing single-player add-ons, since that's where I usually like to enjoy my games. You can find the original interview wth IGN here, and you can find the official trailer here. Be sure to look out for this update when it's released on Xbox LIVE, PC, and PSN September 3rd.

Geeksquisite Question of the Day #21: 7/30/09

This question came to me when watching Super High Me on netflix. The movie is a documentary about Doug Benson and his inspiration to try pot for 30 straight days. It's alright I wouldn't say it was great like Super Size Me but it did inspire this question so it can't be all bad.

Question #21:Whose your favorite Stand-Up Comic?


If you'd like to submit a question just send an e-mail to geeksquisite@gmail.com with the subject line Question of the Day.

Feel free to leave your answers in the comment section, thank you.

XBLA summer pack, get back virtual money

Buy $70 worth and get $10 back

Well as the article suggests, Microsoft is trying to sweeten the deal by having you buy all the summer Xbox Live Arcade releases totaling 70 bucks. Then they will give you back 10 dollars worth of Microsoft points, anyone who goes for this deal is getting ripped off.

Think about it, August is the month we spend our money on last minute stuff for school. $70 goes a long way there and for them to say we'll give you $10 bucks back makes no economical sense in terms of value. I have a hard time believing a good amount of people would want all those games in the pack, so basically if you spend early you get a game you didn't really care about.

If Microsoft can haggle like this, how about for one week they take all those summer hits and drop them all to 800 points. That's probably millions of dollars in PROFIT they will make in that week, but assuring us we'll get a game we likely don't want for free doesn't make me want to go for this deal.

Geeksquisite Question of the Day #20: 7/29/09

This question came to me when watching some Elfen Lied with some fellow authors earlier. It was the first time in a long long time that I watched an anime show.

Question #20: What is/was your favorite anime show?


If you'd like to submit a question just send an e-mail to geeksquisite@gmail.com with the subject line Question of the Day.

Feel free to leave your answers in the comment section, thank you.

Toy Story and Toy Story 2 3D For The Price of 1 Ticket

For those you don't know, starting October 2nd both Toy Story and Toy Story 2 will be in the theaters for a limited 2 week engagement. This news has been around for a while but a new trailer has popped up with quite a surprise. The re-release is being shown as a double feature, both films in 3D for the price of one movie ticket.

On a personal level I absolutely love this idea and think it's brilliant. The movies aren't very long either to be honest only like 1 hour and 20 minutes so this isn't bad. The problem may be for first time viewers though, as in young children. Will they really want to sit through about 3 hours of movies? As awesome as said movies might be. I'm sure they can take the kid on a small break during the intermission in between movies so maybe this caution isn't warranted. Regardless I will be there with my ticket when this comes out. Love the movies and now that I'm older I can really appreciate how they have paved the road for computer animated films.

Splinter Cell Conviction delayed

Splinter Cell joins 4 or 5 other games

SEE OTHER GAMES DELAYED

Now to be fair the Younger article states that work was STILL being done on the game, implying that delaying it would help that.

That is fine, but honestly after looking at Ubisoft's comments that they want the game to be enjoyed by all I just throw my hands up and declare stupidity. For some developers, the lack of many competitive games would make Splinter Cell an easy choice.

All i'm looking forward to is Shadow Complex and Modern Warfare 2, as many others are. But Splinter Cell could easily fit in to the Holiday rush instead of pushing back to 2010, doing so puts them with the 4 or 5 other games going in that area. So Ubisoft is taking a risk by trying to mix with other games, it is going to hurt sales somewhat. However how much it hurts sales is a dangerous scenario considering how many games moved to 2010 before this game, oh well.

Face it, this is a tough economy and people are limiting their gaming choices, how loyal is the Splinter Cell fanbase in these economic times?

How Halo Made Me Kill Myself

Remember the article about the new Halo: Legends anime trailer I put up a few days ago?

Remember how terrible I thought the idea was?

Remember when I pondered on the podcast as to why the FUCK teddy bears and Master Chief were in the same product?

I now present to you the TOTAL BASTARDIZATION of the Halo Franchise.


To see more of this atrocity click here

Geeksquisite Question of the Day #19: 7/28/09

This question came to me when watching some youtube videos of old cartoons from the 80's and 90's that I loved and HATED.

Question #19:What was your favorite cartoon show growing up?

Note: There are so many so if you feel the need to make a list thats cool.

If you'd like to submit a question just send an e-mail to geeksquisite@gmail.com with the subject line Question of the Day.

Feel free to leave your answers in the comment section, thank you.

Modern Warfare 2 Multiplayer Debut Trailer

All I can say is WOW! November 10th can't get here fast enough. If you pay attention closely you can see some of the new abilities and guns. Also the amount of detail in the levels is just INCREDIBLE. Some of the best multiplayer levels I've seen. Check it out below...

Video Games | Modern Warfare 2 | Multiplayer Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Xbox 360 outselling the Atari 2600..So?

the significance of John Lucas's words

I recently came upon this article and really understood the significance of it, but to put it at face value the Xbox outsold or will outsell the Atari 2600 and be the biggest selling American born console.

the Atari 2600 hasn't been made since 1992, and Atari is defunct except as a publisher. So the comparison seems pointless, considering that Atari sold a similar amount of consoles in 4 times the amount of years the Xbox 360 has existed. Many reason that because there are more gamers, and gaming being a mainstream, that is nothing to celebrate about. Indeed, Nintendo has dwarfed Xbox 360 even though it isn't an American born creation, and the Xbox 360 is built in China anyway.

The Atari 2600 is Taiwan made, so what makes the Xbox 360 any less American than say Sony's PS3 is to its loyal fans and roots in Japan? Nothing because Japan sees a loyalty to the PS3 even though its also made in China. We should never consider manufacturing as the roots of a product, merely as an effigy of the designs. I have grown to be insulted by the comment of being a fanboy, and in this I am not really a fanboy as I am a loyal American to buy into the gaming market of Xbox from Microsoft. I won't pretend that the 33 percent failure rate and Red Ring of Death misery to Xbox owners doesn't hurt the console's image, especially considering that Atari 2600's almost never failed to work. But as technology grows, this comparision seems extreme since the current generation is more failure prone than past generations.

This being said, the highest selling American game console is also currently leading the console wars with Sony extremely close behind. It is amazing that a console with bad history in terms of its overheating problems will likely be cemented in history, and is still trying to make history with Natal. Something that may detail its epic presence in the face of its flaws.

Dead Space Movie

See who's directing

I've had mixed signals regarding video game movies, all of them suck. The Gears of War movie recently made it back onto my list to possible see, now that the idea of Dwayne Johnson as Marcus Fenix is gone. The Bioshock movie by Gore Verbinski is moving, but is halfway near development hell with budget concerns. Now there is talk over a Dead Space movie, since I have been itching to get a game copy for the last year I am EXTREMELY INTERESTED in a movie. Even better, the director of the movie has been named as D.J. Caruso who made movies such as Disturbia and Eagle Eye. I happen to enjoy these movies and shortly have become a D.J. Caruso fan, having him direct a Dead Space movie is a good match in my opinion.

The developers are seeking a writer, *cough* Joss Whedon *cough*, nah doubt that. But I am excited nonetheless about this movie, because someone I actually like is making the movie. Yes, I liked Gore Verbinski's first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, the next two sucked so my enthusiasm for his directing of Bioshock isn't there. And I don't know the helming director of the Gears of War movie, I put my support behind Caruso to make a good Dead Space movie.

The Dead Space world is pretty gritty, and there is a lot of room for improvement in the story for writers to make it better. So an adaption would probably work really well. *crosses fingers*

Geeksquisite Question of the Day #18: 7/27/09

This question came to me, after the epic podcast debate that occurred between Rob and myself. See Podcast

Question #18:In your opinion what defines a superhero?

Note: listening to the debate in the podcast might help you when thinking about your definition the word superhero.

If you'd like to submit a question just send an e-mail to geeksquisite@gmail.com with the subject line Question of the Day.

Feel free to leave your answers in the comment section, thank you.

Geeksquisite #43 Games & Movies: Comic-Con 09 Special

Episode 43

TJ, Rob, Ed, Aaron, and sometimes Smarty. We talk about Alice in Wonderland, Book of Eli, and Hot Tub Time Machine trailers. After we get into a legendary debate on what defines a Superhero. This is something you don't want to miss.

Podcast available via Itunes

Side Note: Incase anyone wants to just here the Legendary debate on what defines a Superhero then start in 1 hour 57 minutes. From there pretty much to the end it's total WAR. We go from V to Conan, Ninja Turtles to Hulk, Green Lantern to Harry Potter and much, much,much....,much more. There is something for just about anyone and the absurdity levels go off the charts.

If you'd love to help give your opinion on this discussion leave a comment in the new Question of the Day which will be going up very soon.

G Force beats out Harry Potter?!

WHAT?!

You have got to be kidding me, YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!

I'm speechless, that G force movie looked really dumb. But for it to topple Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince in its second week is one of the biggest upsets this summer. G Force actually has Nicholas Cage in it, who I like, why he's in it..go figure.

I understand this movie was going to have an excited kid audience for how crazy it looks, but for it to have the audience it got considering all the other movie choices including Harry Potter, I don't get how it managed to be good enough for so many.

I don't know about you, but one true fact is that so many people can't be wrong about a movie being worth the watch. This argument really fails for movies lately considering the misery of seeing Meet the Spartans do so good last year. I desperately urge everyone who wonders if they should take their kids to this movie not to see the higher than expected attendance as a good thing.

Watch the Rotten Tomatoes meter, I bet you it isn't even 50 percent...Nope it isn't I just checked, its at 20 percent. Wow, anyone who paid to see this movie is getting ripped off. They pay the same price for a 20 percent rotten rated 90 minute movie about guinea pigs against Harry Potter, a 160 minute 80+ rotten rated movie with fantasy and magic. Harry Potter doesn't even sell in Imax till this week so it really failed to top out against stuff like G force.

Wow, what a bitter moment of this summer. Look I understand that it's good kids are flocking for entertainment, but remember that studios look at what succeeds in the movie theatre to get an idea of what to make and whether to make more of it.

Shadow Complex Release Date

Proof

Hooray it turns out there was a release date I didn't know about for Shadow Complex, the game will release on August 19th!

Perfect timing i'd think, people wait till the last minute to grab their school stuff and in my case college stuff. What better way to salute the end of summer than by playing one of the most anticipated games of E3. Shadow Complex is also the first of E3's promises for new gaming entertainment that hasn't gone the route of many games pushed to 2010.

Sad thing is, people have been hyping how the game CAN be beaten in under two hours. Why would you want a single player game to be over in just two hours? Why do people have to ruin the game by hinting at shortcuts that make us feel more dumb for taking longer to finish the game. I regretted blowing through Ghostbusters as fast as I did, thankfully still having professional difficulty to replay it in.

Enjoy this game, because it is sure to be a blast.

Geeksquisite Question of the Day #17: 7/26/09

This question came to me when talking in a skype chat with a few fellow authors. I mean we all love going watching a good movie. Sometimes we get lucky and see a great one.

Question #17: Are there movies you've loved so much you've seen them more then once in the theater?

If you'd like to submit a question just send an e-mail to geeksquisite@gmail.com with the subject line Question of the Day.

Feel free to leave your answers in the comment section, thank you.