Entertainment Edge

Nit-Picking: Scream

2012-01-06T17:46:00.003-05:00

*SPOILERS*

I love movies, but what I love more is nit-picking them. I don’t care if it’s the best movie in the world I will still nit-pick it. It’s just something I enjoy doing.

So, I’ve decided to share my nit-picks with you and the movie I chose to nit-pick first is one of my favorite horror movies – Scream.

Let’s get right into it. The first scene I’m going to cover is the opening scene with Drew Barrymore’s character, Casey.

The scene has a few things I’m going to pick at.

First, why in the hell wouldn’t Casey call the police after the third phone call from the killer? Instead she engages him in conversation about scary movies, yeah because that’s normal. Let’s talk to a complete stranger, who has a creepy voice about horror movies. Why isn’t she seeing any red flags here?

Casey continues to talk to the killer, not knowing it is the killer, and he then says “I want to know who I’m looking at”, she immediately tries to bust him on it and he quickly covers it up. We then hear a dog barking outside. She gets freaked out and then hangs up the phone on the killer. Yet, does she call the police now? NO!

The phone continues to ring and the killer goes from being calm to hostile. Casey now becomes frightened and tells the killer she is two seconds away from calling the police. Um, why didn’t you call the police already? Why are you two seconds away? Why aren’t you on the phone with the police right now?

The killer doesn’t seem fazed by her threat in calling the police, because he explains that they’ll never make it because they’re out in the middle of nowhere. Well that’s great; you know they would have made it if you called them sooner, like when the creepy voice called you for a third time. Yeah if you called then and said I’m being harassed instead of talking to him about horror movies there might have been a chance for you.

Getting further into the scene, the killer tells Casey that she can save her life and her boyfriends if she answers his questions, questions that turn out to be horror movie trivia.

This part is always fun to pick at; Casey is able to get her first question right, correctly answering “Name the killer in Halloween?” The killer then asks for the killer in Friday the 13^th. Without thinking she jumps to her answer saying Jason, which is wrong. Even though she claims to have seen the movie 20 times; either Casey is a complete idiot or she never seen the original Friday the 13^th.

Now, let’s analyze this question. We all know that the killer in Friday the 13^th is Pamela Voorhees, Jason’s mother. The killer goes onto say that Jason doesn’t show up until the sequel, which is very wrong. Yes, Jason doesn’t start killing until Friday the 13^th part II, but he shows up at the very end of Friday the 13^th, he jumps out of the lake. So, the killer would be wrong too. If Casey knew that she might have been able to beat the killer at his own game. I mean the killer doesn’t even use Pamela’s full name, he just calls her Mrs. Voorhees. Does the killer know Mrs. Voorhees full name? These are the questions I’d be asking the killer.

The killer then asks what door is he at and the chase begins.

In my Scream 4 review I discussed the Ghostface mask. I said “First, why in the hell are people still running away from Ghostface? Haven’t people learned that the Ghostface mask has limited visibility? Come on I know everyone has tried one on by now, they’re all over Halloween stores in October. I’m surprised Ghostface isn’t running into more walls. Just find somewhere to hide and stop screaming.”

That is what people need to do in these movies. But they don’t.

Casey is able to get out of her house and instead of running like hell; she finds it more enticing to look in the windows. This makes the killer spot her. What she should have done is run and hide in what looks like a cornfield right next to her house. Why wouldn’t she do that? Hide in the corn until the killer becomes frustrated and looses interest.

The scene comes to an end and Casey dies, because she did nothing right.

The next scene introduces Sidney and Billy. Billy sneaks into Sidney’s room through a window, nothing much in that scene.

Then we make it to Woodsboro High School and we see Gale Weathers, with a name like that why isn’t she a meteorologist? That’s not the thing that strikes me with Gale though; the thing that strikes me is her bright green or yellow outfit. Who in the hell told her that looks good? Why would someone wear that?

Moving on, we see Sidney get interviewed by the police and the principle (aka Fonzie) who touches her face in a creepy way and we’re introduced to all the main characters. We have Stu, Randy, Tatum, Sidney and Billy. All right lets move onto the killer’s next appearance.

The killer comes around again at Sidney’s house and she falls in the same traps as Casey. First of all when the killer first calls Sidney she assumes that it’s her friend, Randy, who happens to be a horror movie fanatic. She doesn’t call the police she just continues talking to killer not even seeing the threat here. Let’s review what has just happened in this town, two people were just violently murdered! Come on Sidney just call the police, even if it turns out to be your friend, just call them to be safe. That would be the logical thing to do, but this is a horror movie.

Sidney continues to talk to the killer, challenges him and then gets chased around by him. And after all that Billy shows up in her window and drops a cell phone. Do we really need anymore clues that he’s the killer?

Billy is then arrested and interrogated by the police. The police ask him about the cell phone, obliviously, and he responds that everyone has them. Um, this movie was released in 1996. I was in school and no one had a cell phone, people didn’t really start having cell phones to school until after 2000. It could have been different in other places, but that’s what it was like where I grew up.

After all this Billy is cleared and Sidney runs into him at school, a scene that makes Billy very inconsiderate.

Billy’s whole goal in this movie is to get Sidney to sleep with him. Sidney won’t sleep with him, because her mother was brutally murder only a year ago. Billy finds this frustrating and when they run into each other at school, after the arrest thing, Billy tells Sidney that it’s time she gets over it. Really? I mean come on man, her mother was murdered. He then goes onto compare her situation with his, yes Billy’s mother is gone too but she not dead she just left him and his father. SO, really these two situations aren’t the same and Billy doesn’t see that. He does eventually apologies but the damage is done buddy.

After that the killer is still at large and so the police set a curfew on the town, to keep everyone safe. Yet, Stu is having a party and invites everyone and everyone shows up. Again, really? Do any of their parents know that a psychotic killer is at large? Did all these kids sneak out? What is wrong with the people in this town?

The final scene of the movie goes on for 40 minutes and to Sidney’s defense she really puts up a great fight, better then the one before and a lot better than Casey’s.

Now after the killer chases her around we final get to the confrontation between Sidney and the two killers Stu and Billy. This scene I love to nit-pick the most.

OK, so in this scene Billy and Stu explain that all the killings really stemmed from Billy’s mother leaving him and he blamed Sidney’s mother, that’s why he killed her and wants to kill Sidney. They then explain how they kidnapped Sidney’s father, cloned his cell phone so they can make calls and are eventually going to pin all the murders on him. It sounds like a solid plan but they forgot one thing, they aren’t wearing gloves. They are touching the knife, the cell phone, Sidney’s father and Sidney leaving their finger prints behind. So, it doesn’t matter if Sidney won or not these two idiots would have gone down anyway after the police dusted for prints.

Then another thing that always bothered me was why they chose to purposely stab themselves, to make it look like they were attacked, before they killed Sidney and her father. Don’t get me wrong I’m glad Sidney and her father live, but these two killers seemed to have a plan but in reality these two guys really have a problem with executing that plan logically. Stabbing yourself is only giving Sidney and her father an upper hand, only shooting yourself in the foot some more.

The last thing that bothered me in this scene was when Billy and Stu explain how they formed their plan, by watching horror movies. OK, but you can’t say Pamela Voorhees first name in the opening scene? And why are they asking their victims the simplest horror movie questions? Why can’t they ask harder questions? I mean if you studied horror movies for a long time then you should form questions that are complex. If I was in Scream I would survive, because not only can I answer their simple questions I would avoid the following: going to a party when a killer is running around, making noise when hiding from the killer (remember the killer is as blind as you in the dark and the mask makes it harder for them to see, so find a hiding place and shut the hell up), never assuming that the creepy voice is one of your friends and realize in a situation like this that everyone is a suspect!

With all nit-picking aside, Scream is a very good movie. It’s well written, directed and acted. It’s one of the better slasher movies and should be seen by anyone, not only horror fans.

Follow this link http://jamesentertainmentedge.blogspot.com/2008/10/31-days-of-horror-scream.html to find out more of my thoughts on the Scream.

‘Simpsons’ writer from Bristol pens play about CT

2011-11-30T16:02:00.002-05:00

It’s been a long, creative journey for Bristol Eastern High School graduate Mike Reiss, who’s a Peabody Award winner and four-time Emmy award-winning writer.
He’s been writing for “The Simpsons” for more than two decades and now is returning to his Connecticut roots in a new play he wrote, “I’m Connecticut.”
Reiss expressed pride in the Nutmeg State and particularly his hometown in a recent interview.
“I love Bristol,” Reiss said.

He attended Memorial Boulevard Public School, Thomas Patterson School and then Bristol Eastern.

After he graduated from high school in 1977, Reiss’ family moved to Arizona and he later attended Harvard University. Yet he admitted that he holds a greater appreciation for his high school days.
“I went to Harvard but did not like it as much as Bristol Eastern,” he said.
He explained that a random conversation years later gave root to “I’m Connecticut.”
“The idea was pitched to me at UConn. A guy said I should write a play about Connecticut. I laughed it off then, but the idea stuck,” he said.
Reiss finally sat down and wrote the play and made it about a 30-something Connecticut native now living in New York trying to come to terms with an apparent lack of personality that he attributes to his upbringing in Simsbury.
The production has attracted an impressive cast.
Joyce DeWitt, best known for her role in the sitcom “Three’s Company,” plays Polly; Tony Award-winning actor Jerry Adler, who you might know from “The Sopranos,” plays grandpa; and Harris Doran, who comes from New York theater, plays Marc.
“I’m delighted with the cast. I thought it was going to be a little college production, where students play adults, but they got a bunch of professional actors, which is way beyond anything I conceived,” Reiss said.
Once the play opens at UConn Friday, Reiss will return to his adopted home of Los Angeles and continue to work on “The Simpsons.”
“I’ve been working on ‘The Simpsons’ for 23 years. The hardest thing about doing the show now is finding something someone hasn’t written about yet,” he said.
Reiss and his writing partner, Al Jean, were the first two hired to write for the show back in 1989. Before that they wrote for National Lampoon magazine and shows like “Alf,” “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson” and “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show.”
He mentioned that “The Simpsons” is coming back for at least two more years and that another Simpsons movie is likely.
“I think we’ll do another movie someday,” he said.

Interview With Jonathan Edwards

2011-11-11T16:31:00.001-05:00

For 40 years, Jonathan Edwards has been eating highway and bringing quality folk music to the masses. This Saturday he will be performing at Terryville High School, sharing his new and older songs.

Many know Edwards from his hit song Sunshine, but his library is vast and his songs have deep and powerful meanings.

His musical journey started 40 years ago, when he picked up his neighbors guitar and instantly fell in love with it. He immediately started to write songs and forge a career that would last for decades, a career that now leads him to Terryville.

“I’m Looking forward to it (the show), it’s going to be great,” said Edwards.

Edwards has a very specific style, a style he melded together by listening to different types of music and artists when he was growing up.

“I grew up listening to R&B and Blue grass and popular folk music,” said Edwards. “I listened to Otis Redding, Ray Charles, Bob Dylan, The Beatles and The Animals,” he added.

The show at Terryville High School will see Edwards performing many songs off his new album, ‘My Love Will Keep’, which is his first album in 14 years.

“I’ll be playing songs from the new album and some older songs. I will also open the floor for request,” said Edwards.

The new album has a total of 12 songs, Edwards favorite on the album is the first track called ‘Surrounded’. A song he wrote when he was living in Nova Scotia.

“I really like surrounded. It came out of one of those afternoons that you remember for the rest of your life,” said Edwards.

‘My Love Will Keep’ is a very gentle album and Edwards made it that way on purpose. He didn’t want to come back after 14 years and deliver something hard he wanted to come back and give us something gentle.

Yet, before all of this could have happened, Edwards had his hit Sunshine, which is a song he is very proud of and still likes performing.

“When I wrote sunshine I just narrowly survived a pre-draft physical. I was an angry young man, had a lot to say and I was disappointed in our leadership,” said Edwards.

He then sat on a bed and started to write this song with a folk sound, which ultimately became Sunshine. It was a late entry in his first album and it became the most popular.

Edwards will continue playing gigs throughout November, but is going to take December off. During his off time he’ll be writing and recording for a new album.

“I want to release a new album by the middle of 2012. I have some songs pent up,” said Edwards.

After four decades in a very solid career this new album tells us one thing, that Edwards still knows how to write and deliver true and intimate lyrics. He is still good at telling us a story and that’s what always seemed to work for him.

If you are interested in seeing Edwards, he will be taking the stage at Terryville High School at 7: 30 p.m., this Saturday. Terryville High School is located at 33 North Harwinton Ave., Terryville.

Batman: Arkham City Review

2011-10-25T17:50:00.002-04:00

I finally had the chance to get into one of the highly anticipated games of the year and I’m glad I did, because Batman: Arkham City has become one of my favorite games of all-time.

I know I’m already gushing over this game, but I need to. For months I tried not to read too much news regarding the game, because I didn’t want to get my hopes up. I didn’t want to go into with impossible expectations, but after playing it I realized my expectations could have been soaring and I would of still not have been let down.

The plot of the game brings in appearances from many of our favorite villains and also appearances from other characters that I won’t spoil. Yet, the whole story really centers on Hugo Strange’s Protocol 10. I won’t tell you what the protocol is but in order to stop it you’ll be facing off against Joker, Two-Face, Penguin and many more.

There is several things going on in the story, but I can’t tell you because then it will ruin it. I’ll just say it’s a very engaging Batman story.

Now, if you played the first game in the series, Batman: Arkham Asylum, you’ll be very familiar with the game mechanics. The game controls very similar to Arkham Asylum, but has made it more fluent. The combat is still very fun, detective mode is always helpful and gliding across rooftops is amazing.

All right I feel like I gushed enough, but the truth is there aren’t any major problems with the game. Yeah, sometimes when you’re gliding and try to grapple you don’t always get where you wanted to be, but that problem is small and doesn’t affect anything else.

Another thing I will nitpick is the Pay Your Respects achievement/trophy. I don’t know if this happened to anyone else but when I tried to get this achievement it took it a good 10 minutes for it to unlock. I know you might say that I did it wrong, but I didn’t. I did everything I was supposed to and it just took 10 minutes to unlock, that was a pain.

That’s really the only problems I have with the game. Some people might be turned off to the fact that the game doesn’t hold your hand. It expects you to be intelligent, figure stuff out on your own and I love that. Too many games nowadays hold your hand and when I was a kid no game held your hand, it would drop you off in a world and that was it, it was up to get to the end and Arkham City is very similar.

Besides from the main quest you have a bunch of side-quests to complete. Each side-quest has its own story and they’re all pretty good. One side quest that will keep you busy for a long time is the ‘Enigma Conundrum’. This side quest is the Riddler’s challenges. He has scattered riddles and trophies all over Arkham City (I think it’s about 400 trophies) and you have to collect them all. Yeah, it’s going to take awhile.

Another playable character for the main game is Catwoman. She is downloadable, I don’t know if you have to buy her or she comes with the game. She came with my game along with Robin. Yet, if you want to play as Catwoman than make sure you download her pack before you start the story, because then her parts will be intertwined with the main story.

The multiplayer for this game comes in the form of challenge maps, very much like Arkham Asylum’s. You try to take out guys quietly or with brute force and gain points and Riddler medals. In this mode you’ll be able to play as Batman, Catwoman or if you pre-ordered, Robin. All these characters are great, because they all fight differently and they don’t feel like carbon copies of one another.

If you’re disappointed that you missed out on getting Robin, don’t worry you’ll be able to buy his pack next month.

Arkham City is by far one of the best games this year. I really don’t think that any other game can come close to the enjoyment that I got out of this one.

10 out of 10

Star Wars Blu-Ray Changes ...

2011-09-01T15:28:00.004-04:00

I'm sure many of you know that the Star Wars saga is coming out on Blu-Ray this month. This is something all Star Wars fans should be excited about, but with the news of more changes and Greedo still shooting first fans are furious.

The first Change I want to talk about is the new Darth Vader kills the Emperor scene. This powerful moment where Vader decides to save his son by defeating the Emperor is now ruined.

In the original scene we see Vader quietly debating what he should do, but now he has dialog. Before he grabs the Emperor he says No and continues to say No as he throws him over into the center of the Death Star. The link to this clip is below, I wasn't able to embed it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27RVJJfny4I

The next change is Obi-Wan's Krayt Dragon call form Episode IV. If you watched the original you know what the call use to sound like now it sounds like some drunk guy. Link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0EUjobdavw

Those are the two changes that bothered me the most. The others aren't that bad.

The Phantom Menace now has a CGI Yoda rather than a puppet Yoda, which doesn't bother me and Greedo still shoots first, which I've learned to just deal with.

I don't know if Lucas knows that he doesn't need to change the films. We loved the films for what they were.

Halo 4 Announced

2011-06-06T17:45:00.001-04:00

Gagliardi impresses in MMA victory at Mohegan

2011-05-25T02:26:00.000-04:00

Domenic Gagliardi stepped into the octagon Saturday night and gained a huge victory in his Mixed Martial Arts career.

The 28-year-old Bristol resident took on undefeated Stafford Springs native, Mark McLaughlin in the Mohegan Sun Arena.

The fight started with Gagliardi landing several punches and knees making his opponent stagger early.

“In the first few seconds I hit him with a huge over hand right, setting him back into the cage and was able to climb on top,” Gagliardi said. “I then threw a few short elbows to his head but he managed to get back to his feet.”

After McLaughlin recovery he was able to get Gagliardi’s back to the cage. McLaughlin tried taking him down, but Gagliardi knew just from his first attempt that he couldn’t.

“I figured I’d stay calm and let him burn energy trying,” Gagliardi said.

Gagliardi then caught McLaughlin with some hard knees to the ribs, which broke them apart. As they broke they both swung haymakers at each other and McLaughlin landed a left hook.

The crowd went wild for McLaughlin’s move, but it only infuriated Gagliardi and caused him to only want the victory more.

Gagliardi moved to the mount and faked a jab, landing heavy leather. McLaughlin worked a sub from half guard, but Gagliardi then got the back and performed the rear naked choke. That move gained Gagliardi the victory 4 minutes and 10 seconds into the first round.

“My opponent came out and I never took my eyes off of him,” Gagliardi said. “I was just going to start by feeling him out, but went there to fight and the crowd wanted to see a show,”

This was a welcome win, not only for Gagliardi but also for his corner men, William Seaver, Jake Pajor and John Roderick, who came up with a game plan that led to victory.

Yet, this fight was never suppose to happen for Gagliardi, because four months before he had hung up his gloves.

“I had no intention of fighting again,” Gagliardi said. “Being that I’m older and have a lot more responsibilities now, I had to think about it. But the opportunity to fight in my home state is what made me take the fight.”

Ten years ago Gagliardi had no idea where this sport would take him. He always knew that he might never make a living at it or be the best fighter, but he gave MMA his best shot.

“Ten years ago I had no idea about this sport and ten years from now I have no idea where I’ll be,” Gagliardi said. “I’ve always been one to live in the moment and concentrate on what’s in front of me.”

Bristol Native Set For MMA Fight

2011-05-21T15:25:00.000-04:00

BRISTOL — For Domenic Gagliardi, his time to step into the Mixed Martial Arts spotlight has finally arrived.

Tonight, the 28-year-old Bristol native will travel to Uncasville and head into the octagon for the biggest fight of his MMA career. Gagliardi will take part in one of the 15 bouts during Reality Fighting’s A Night of MMA Fights at Mohegan Sun Arena.

It’s a night Gagliardi has dreamt of since he first stumbled upon the sport when he was going from gym to gym trying to find that one thing that would build on the passion for wrestling he gained while at Bristol Central High School.

After bouncing around, his search finally ended when he walked through the doors of a small gym in Plainville — New Century MMA. It was then he began to learn the sport from owner and trainer Jake Pajor.

“Jake, who was a professional kick boxer, began training me and showing me the basics of striking and boxing,” Gagliardi said.

It was just a year into their training when Pajor got tickets to a professional MMA fight at Mohegan Sun. It was at that moment while watching from the stands that Gagliardi fully realized he wanted to be the one in the ring, not in the crowd.

The next day he was back in the gym hungrier than ever to compete. Trying to feed that hunger, he placed a resume online stating he was a new fighter looking for a match. Two weeks later, Gagliardi, a 2001 graduate of Bristol Central, received a call from Richmond, Va. asking if he was interested in a fight.

“Right away I agreed to the fight and started training,” Gagliardi said. “After working 40-plus hours I had to put any last energy I had into training.”

Now, he hopes all the hard work over the years will lead him to victory on the biggest stage of his MMA career.

Gagliardi is set to do battle with undefeated Mark McLaughlin. The 170-pound McLaughlin has been impressive in his three professional fights. His last bout lasted just 2 minutes, 19 seconds as the referee stopped the contest, earning him the technical knockout victory over Joe Soucy.

McLaughlin’s other two fights went the distance, winning both by decision.

The Night of Fights at Mohegan Sun will begin at 8 p.m. Tickets start at $35.

Although Gagliardi feels he is fully prepared to meet tonight’s challenge, he can’t help but admit there will be at least a small sense of anxiety as he heads to the ring. To him, that’s OK. If there weren’t, he said, he would feel there was something wrong.

“From my first fight to my last fight the feeling before you walk in to the cage has always been the same. Your mind is racing through a million different things, but the second the bell rings your only thought is what’s in front of you,” Gagliardi said. “You can never plan on an opponent, because usually what you’ve heard or read or even saw in his flaws, chances are he has been working on them in the gym.”

As a fighter, Gagliardi is certain that McLaughlin is also aware of his flaws. That’s why, he said, he’s worked harder than ever preparing for this fight.

While he has years of grappling experience, Gagliardi has recently turned his attention toward becoming a better striker. But most importantly he hasn’t forgot the No. 1 ingredient when it comes to the recipe for Mixed Martial Arts success.

“Cardio is one of the most important parts of MMA because no matter how good you are, if you’re tired, all that knowledge goes out the window,” Gagliardi said.

Win or lose tonight, Gagliardi will walk out of the octagon a happy man. He knows he will continue to have the support of all the people in his corner, especially his parents, who have always been behind him.

“My parents are my drive to do well in life, regardless of what I’m doing,” Gagliardi said. “Their struggles in life have made it possible for me to even be able to chase my goals and dreams by giving me the life they never had.”

New 'Fright Night' Trailer Hits The Web

2011-05-16T17:16:00.000-04:00

I honestly don't think that Fright Night should have been remade. The original was perfect and what exactly are they looking to improve upon?

I'm done fighting against horror remakes or just remakes in general, it has become pointless because it's never going to stop. Yet, I don't think remakes are a bad thing all the time. I believe if you can take a movie that had an interesting idea but didn't execute it properly then you can remake it. This does NOT apply to Fright Night.

I'm not going to go crazy. The trailer didn't thrill me, but I'm not going to rip the movie apart. I need to see it in order to form an opinion on it.

Star Wars Blu-Ray Sets

2011-05-04T22:32:00.000-04:00

Since this is May 4th (Star Wars day), Lucasfilm has released the details on their upcoming blu-ray collections. There will be a complete saga collection, an original trilogy collection and a prequel trilogy collection.

Here is some the the special features the complete saga set will have:

STAR WARS ARCHIVES: EPISODES I-III
Including: deleted, extended and alternate scenes; prop, maquette and costume turnarounds; matte paintings and concept art; supplementary interviews with cast and crew; a flythrough of the Lucasfilm Archives and more

STAR WARS ARCHIVES: EPISODES IV-VI
Including: deleted, extended and alternate scenes; prop, maquette and costume turnarounds; matte paintings and concept art; supplementary interviews with cast and crew; and more

THE STAR WARS DOCUMENTARIES
Star Warriors (2007, Color, Apx. 84 Minutes) - Some Star Wars fans want to collect action figures...these fans want to be action figures! A tribute to the 501st Legion, a global organization of Star Wars costume enthusiasts, this insightful documentary shows how the super-fan club promotes interest in the films through charity and volunteer work at fundraisers and high-profile special events around the world.

A Conversation with the Masters: The Empire Strikes Back 30 Years Later (2010, Color, Apx. 25 Minutes) - George Lucas, Irvin Kershner, Lawrence Kasdan and John Williams look back on the making of The Empire Strikes Back in this in-depth retrospective from Lucasfilm created to help commemorate the 30th anniversary of the movie. The masters discuss and reminisce about one of the most beloved films of all time.

Star Wars Spoofs (2011, Color, Apx. 91 Minutes) - The farce is strong with this one! Enjoy a hilarious collection of Star Wars spoofs and parodies that have been created over the years, including outrageous clips from Family Guy, The Simpsons, How I Met Your Mother and more -- and don't miss "Weird Al" Yankovic's one-of-a-kind music video tribute to The Phantom Menace!

The Making of Star Wars (1977, Color, Apx. 49 Minutes) - Learn the incredible behind-the-scenes story of how the original Star Wars movie was brought to the big screen in this fascinating documentary hosted by C-3PO and R2-D2. Includes interviews with George Lucas and appearances by Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher.

The Empire Strikes Back: SPFX (1980, Color, Apx. 48 Minutes) - Learn the secrets of making movies in a galaxy far, far away. Hosted by Mark Hamill, this revealing documentary offers behind-the-scenes glimpses into the amazing special effects that transformed George Lucas' vision for Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back into reality!

Classic Creatures: Return of the Jedi (1983, Color, Apx. 48 Minutes) - Go behind the scenes -- and into the costumes -- as production footage from Return of the Jedi is interspersed with vintage monster movie clips in this in-depth exploration of the painstaking techniques utilized by George Lucas to create the classic creatures and characters seen in the film. Hosted and narrated by Carrie Fisher and Billie Dee Williams.

Anatomy of a Dewback (1997, Color, Apx. 26 Minutes) - See how some of the special effects in Star Wars became even more special two decades later! George Lucas explains and demonstrates how his team transformed the original dewback creatures from immovable rubber puppets (in the original 1977 release) to seemingly living, breathing creatures for the Star Wars 1997 Special Edition update.

Star Wars Tech (2007, Color, Apx. 46 Minutes) - Exploring the technical aspects of Star Wars vehicles, weapons and gadgetry, Star Wars Tech consults leading scientists in the fields of physics, prosthetics, lasers, engineering and astronomy to examine the plausibility of Star Wars technology based on science as we know it today.

Yet, these sets have been met with intense negativity. Fans, including myself, are demanding that Lucas releases the original theatrical releases of episodes IV, V and VI. They could have been easily placed with the set but there nowhere to be found.

Many fans are saying that they will boycott the sets until they get the original releases. Come on, Lucas, give the fans what they want.

The Confessional

2011-05-04T16:13:00.000-04:00

Here is a short film I was sent. It's interesting and it has zombies.

Mortal Kombat Is Reborn

2011-05-03T18:40:00.000-04:00

Fatality lives in this reboot of the classic fighting series – Mortal Kombat.

It’s been awhile since we’ve had a decent Mortal Kombat game. The first three in the series were very good but once we reached Mortal Kombat 4 the series started going downhill. Now, with this reboot we are given back a useful d-pad, characters we loved and the bloody fatalities that made the game different. Yet, does returning to the series roots save the franchise?

Let’s just get into the review, starting with the actually fighting. The game brings back 2D gameplay while sticking with 3D graphics, just like Street Fighter 4 did. This helps the game out tremendously. If you played any of the 3D Mortal Kombat games then you know it didn’t really feel as fluent as the 2D games did. I hated how you needed to side-step in the 3D environments, it might have just been me but side-stepping was annoying.

The fighting is very, very similar to older Mortal Kombat games. If you’ve played any Mortal Kombat game in the past you’ll feel right at home with this one. You’ll find it very easy to pull off special attacks and dominate with your favorite fighters.

They’ve also brought back the fatalities and babalities, which are always welcome. The fatalities return to their graphic roots, delivering some extreme gore and the babalities return to turning your opponent into a baby, not as exciting as the fatalities.

They’ve also introduced the X-Ray move, which is great. This move can be performed when you fill up your X-Ray meter (I don’t know if that’s the proper name) and it shows you breaking your opponent’s bones in gruesome ways.

Moving on, let’s talk about the Story Mode. This is a very lengthy part of the game; it spans 16 chapters and retells the stories of the first three Mortal Kombat games. The story might get campy in some areas but this is a great addition and allows new players to get to know the universe and the characters that inhabit it.

I do have some negative things to say about the story mode and the first thing is how some of the fights seem unbalanced. I’m talking about the fights where you’re going up against two opponents and you don’t have a partner to back you up. I thought, since they already had a tag team mode in the game, they should’ve used that in the Story Mode. I hated the fact they left this out and it would have been something so easy to have in.

The other thing I didn’t like about Story Mode is being unable to skip cut scenes, what the hell is up with that? I like watching cut scenes to follow the story, but if I play through the story a second time I want an option to skip over them.

Besides the Story Mode there is a wealth of other content to keep you busy. There is of course the tried and true Ladder, the new tag team Ladder, which allows you to play with two fighters against two other fighters, the challenge tower, which has 300 challenges for you to complete, test your might mode, test your sight mode, test your strike mode and test your luck, which is the most interesting.

In test your luck you have to spin a slot machine, which decides who you’ll be fighting against and how you will fight them. You might be fighting them with the screen upside down and with jump disabled or you might be fighting them without arms. It’s an interesting mode and poses some great challenges.

Now, let’s talk about the online, a part of the game I have some beef with. The biggest peeve I have with online is players who spam one attack and get a cheap victory over you. These people need to stop doing one attack and learn how to use a fighter or don’t play online at all.

The other thing that annoys me is lag. There have been matches where the lag was so bad that it wasn’t even playable. It doesn’t happen all the time but it happens often enough to make you not even want to continue to play online.

Now, when those two things aren’t dragging your online experience down, there is a lot to love about it.

One mode that I continuously play is King of the Hill. In this mode you go into a room and challenge the king. The king is the person who won the last match or last several matches. The biggest plus about this mode is being able to be a spectator on all the matches, so you can try to build up some strategy when your turn comes around. You’re also able to rate the match when it’s finished.

Online also gives you just classic fighting and tag team; all the modes are good but like I said they can be dragged down by inexperienced players and lag.

There is a lot of content in Mortal Kombat and because it embraces its roots it’s definitely worth the $60. It does have its shortcomings, but those problems aren’t enough for me to say stay away.

8 out of 10

New Decade. New Rules.

2011-04-29T15:51:00.000-04:00

The Scream series is back after ten years, but is it the film a Scream or a terrifying mess?

The film, once again, centers around Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), who has become a writer and has written about her experiences from Scream 1, 2 and 3. Sidney ends up back in Woodsboro, the home to the original murders, on her book tour, where she soon comes back into contact with now Sheriff Dewey Riley (David Arquette) and now struggling writer, Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox).

We are then soon introduced to Sidney’s cousin, Jill (Emma Roberts), and her aunt, Kate (Mary McDonnell), family she is staying with while she is in town. Everything seems to be great but the past soon comes back to haunt Sidney when Ghostface returns to wreak havoc on the town of Woodsboro.

That’s all I can give away. I’m not going to spoil the story.

Now, let’s get into the review. The first thing I want to talk about is the story. The Scream series has always given us very interesting meta stories. Maybe not so much Scream 3, but I thought Scream 1 and 2 were great. In Scream 4 they’re back using the same kind of formula and the question is does it hold up? I’m going to say yes.

In Scream 4 they found a very modern way to make this movie very similar to the original Screams. Instead of Ghostface trying to make his own scary movie, this Ghostface is out to reboot the original and forge a new franchise. It really does speak to the state horror films are in now and I found it very relevant.

The negatives about the story are that it’s not very scary and it sometimes gets a little too comical for its own good. It also has too many characters. I know they wanted death scenes but they could have really done without a few.

Speaking of death scenes, most of the ones in the movie are very gory and then there are others that are PG-13 at best. I know it’s weird to be complaining about something like this but hear me out. (POSSIBLE SPOILER) There is a specific death scene in the movie that has a lot of build up and it feels like your watching it forever and then Ghostface strikes with a just a stab. I thought to myself “That’s it?” After all the build up the scene ends terribly.

That brings me to my other complaint about the movie and that is lack of tension. Tension has been missing from a lot of horror movies now a days and has been replaced by cheap scares. You NEED tension in horror films and the lack of it caused Scream 4 to not be very scary.

Let’s get over the negative and talk about more positive things. Wes Craven is still able to make Scream fun and interesting. The film is entertaining and it is a solid entry in the Scream series. I liked how he was able to get the original cast back, because they bring the history of the series with them and make it worth your time.

The biggest positive is how the movie is able to play on ‘90’s nostalgia, which was weird for me. Are the ‘90’s really nostalgic now? I feel old.

Summing it up, after I watched Scream 4 my initial reaction was it wasn’t the epic return I hoped for. Yet, I did still enjoy it. I thought it was funny, the story was well told and it was a good slasher film. It is something I would recommend.

With the review out of the way I want to talk about some random things about the movie. First, why in the hell are people still running away from Ghostface? Haven’t people learned that the Ghostface mask has limited visibility? Come on I know everyone has tried one on by now, they’re all over Halloween stores in October. I’m surprised Ghostface isn’t running into more walls. Just find somewhere to hide and stop screaming.

Second, if Ghostface is knocked down start kicking him or do something! You have to stop running away and turning your back on him because if you do that he disappears. Come on Sidney you lived through three other movies and your still not aware of this yet?

Third, stop assuming that every phone call you get from Ghostface is a prank call, especially if you’re living in Woodsboro, the place of the original murders! Because, it’s not a prank call it’s a psychotic with a knife. If you do get a phone call from Ghostface, use that as a heads up, call the cops, find something to protect yourself with and find a hiding place. With Ghostface’s limited visibility I’m 100 percent sure you would get the jump on him, because you’re not wearing a crazy costume.

Interview With Actor John Ruby

2011-04-27T16:58:00.000-04:00

Here is an interview with Touch star - John Ruby.

John plays Tam's (Porter Lynn) new customer, Brendan. Brendan is a shy guy who is looking to clean the oil stains off of his hands, something he hopes will fix his strained relationship with his wife.

Q: You have some impressive credits (You, Me, and Dupree, The Event, Cougar Town), but how do those experiences compare to your experience on Touch?

A: For me, each job I get to work on is unique. 'You, Me and Dupree' was my first studio picture. 'The Event' and 'Cougar Town' were two of my very first network television shows. But 'Touch' holds a special place in my heart because it was my first lead role in a feature film. What I loved the most about working on 'Touch' was heading to set everyday and working with such an amazingly talented cast and crew. The whole process was a dream come true. And I am eternally grateful to Minh for giving me the opportunity to do that.

Q:How did you become involved with Touch?

A: I actually didn't have a theatrical agent at the time and found out about the audition through a website called Actors Access. It's a website where actors can submit themselves for projects. So that's what I did, I submitted myself. Once I got the audition, I worked like crazy on the sides and after three callbacks, Minh informed me I had booked the role. That was a great phone call.

Q: How was it to work with Minh Duc Nguyen?

A: Minh is amazing. Even from the first audition I could tell how much this project meant to him. His work ethic, commitment, openness, honesty have all been an inspiration to me.

On the set of 'Touch,' his passion was infectious. He helped create a professional, comfortable, collaborative work environment. That's all you can ask for as an actor.

Minh also has a very clear vision. He knows what he wants. But within that framework, he allows for a dialogue to occur between actor and director. And for me, this is so important in truly developing the character and finding the truth in the scene. I felt so blessed to be able to work with Minh on this project and hope to work with him on many more.

Q: What was it like to work with your Co-Star Porter Lynn?

A: Porter was just fabulous to work with. And I'm not just saying that because she laughed at all my jokes. She's a wonderful, talented actor. And so natural. I'm really impressed that this was her first feature film. During filming, she carried herself like a veteran actor. To me, this says so much about her skill and confidence as an actor. I really believe she's going to have a long career in acting. What an amazing experience it was for me, to be able to work with such a lovely, talented, beautiful actress.

Q: What are some of your favorite films?

A: I grew up watching comedies with my dad and grandfather, so those hold a special place in my heart. Movies like 'Duck Soup' (with the Marx Brothers), 'The Jerk' (with Steve Martin), and 'Vacation' (with Chevy Chase) still make me laugh.

But the movie that influenced me the most was 'A Streetcar Named Desire.' Elia Kazan is one of my favorite directors. He was really an amazing storyteller and he knew how to create an environment to bring the best out of actors. And the actors involved with 'Streetcar' were brilliant. Marlon Brando, Vivian Leigh, Kim Hunter, and Karl Malden were such amazing leads. And to me, Streetcar is Brando's best movie. He just dominates every scene he's in. It's a travesty he didn't win the Oscar that year for the role of 'Stanley Kowalski.'

Q: Who are your favorite actors/actress'?

A: In my mind, no one can touch Marlon Brando. He is by far, my favorite actor of all time. When I watch old films, I really believe there was acting before Brando, which was very presentational and 'showy.' And then there's acting after Brando got ahold of it, which is naturalistic, raw and real. He is the nonpareil. His naturalistic style, his strength, his compassion and caring, all of this came through when he was acting. No one else comes close.

Q: What projects are you currently working on?

A: I'm currently working on play called 'Conversation Storm' that will be going up in June at the El Centro Theater in Hollywood, CA. I'm also writing a feature film that I'm planning on shooting in Wisconsin next summer. You can also find updates at www.johnruby.com or on Facebook.

Q: What would be your dream role?

A: Oh, there's so many roles I'd love to play. I'm always interested in learning and trying new things and exploring different parts of myself. I think the main reason I got into acting is because I love how challenging it is. So any role that challenges me as a person and as an actor, I would love to try and tackle. I look at it as a continuous learning and growing process and that's what I truly love about acting. Before we wrap it up, I just want to say thank you so much to my parents, Jake and Gay Ruby. Without their love and support, I wouldn't be where I am today and I am so thankful to have them both.

An Independent Film That Finds Heart

2011-04-22T17:58:00.000-04:00

In the independent film ‘Touch’, director Minh Duc Nguyen, teaches us how a single touch can have such an emotional impact. He also teaches us that you don’t need 3D glasses to make your characters and story three dimensional.

The film focuses on a Vietnamese manicurist named Tam (Porter Lynn). She works at V.I.P. nails and just obtained a new customer, Brendan (John Ruby). Brendan is a shy guy who is looking to clean the oil stains off of his hands, something he hopes will fix his strained relationship with his wife.

Brendan continues to go to the nail salon every day, where his relationship with Tam begins to grow. She soon starts offering him advice about how to fix his relationship. Her advice starts to work but Brendan and Tam start having feelings for each other.

I’m not going to give anymore away, because I don’t want to ruin it.

Let’s get into the review now. Starting with the performances, John Ruby does a great job in the role of Brendan. He is able to make his character believable, which makes us care about him and what he’s going through. Yet, it’s actress Porter Lynn who steals the show. This was Lynn’s first movie and I expect her to be in many more.

Lynn’ strongest point is how she is able to just sink into the role. She was very natural, which made her scenes with her father very strong and my favorite scenes in the movie. She also has the ability to say so much without saying anything. We can understand her character by just observing her behavior, which really impressed me.

One last performance I want to mention is that of Long Nguyen, he plays the father of Tam and gives such an explosive performance. Like I said above his scenes with Lynn were such amazing scenes and that was because the dialogue was solid, the actors seemed to really understand and feel what was going on and the direction was top notch.

Next is the story. Nguyen wrote the script himself and it contains a lot of heart, which seems to be missing from a lot of movies these days. He is able to create a world, fill it with his characters and makes us care what happens to them. I have nothing really negative to say about the script but if I did have to nit pick I would say that some of the minor characters could have had a little more time on screen.

Yet, there is no denying that Nguyen is a storyteller and a gifted director. I recently interviewed him and he revealed what he was working on next.

“I just finish writing the screenplay for my next film. It's a romantic horror...a new twist on the horror genre that I hope audiences will be moved and shocked by its story at the same time,” said Nguyen.

I’m excited for this, I love horror and I’m really interested in what Nguyen has in store for us next.

To sum everything up, Touch has powerful performances, it looks great, the directing is fluent and intuitive and the story is full of heart.

Touch will have its World Premiere at the Boston International Film Festival on Saturday, April 23, 8:15 p.m., at AMC/LOEWS Theatres, 175 Tremont St., Boston Common. You can get tickets here: http://bifilmfestival.com/0000011session38.html.

Go out and support the film.

Interview With Actress Porter Lynn

2011-04-19T17:11:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, I posted an interview with the director of the upcoming film Touch. Today I have an interview with the star of the movie - Porter Lynn.

Lynn plays the Vietnamese manicurist named Tam.

Q: First question, tell me how you became involved with Touch?

A: I saw the posting for the movie and really wanted to be a part of a Vietnamese-American movie. It sounded like a beautiful story and I felt that I could really relate to the character so I submitted myself for the part. The casting director contacted my agent and from there I had an audition, a few nerve-wrecking callbacks and finally booked the role. I had actually sent out thank you cards a day before I received the call because I was almost positive I didn't get it, so it was an absolutely wonderful surprise.

Q: I heard this your first film, how was the experience?

A: Terrifying. Ha...terrifying but at the same time I felt like I was on cloud nine. I felt so happy and comfortable on set, I think I might have been the only person who didn't want to go home at the end of the day. It was truly a learning experience for me and I was sometimes unsure of my choices but I was lucky to be working with a cast and crew that never let me doubt myself. I felt very fortunate to be a part of this film and working with such a special group of people.

Q: How was it to work with Minh Duc Nguyen?

A: He was absolutely amazing to work with. So patient, understanding and creative. It was funny because he was probably the quietest person there, you would never know he was the director if you just stepped on set and yet he knew what he wanted and how to get it done. I felt very lucky that my first film was with Minh, he didn't really want us to see any of the dailies because I think he understood how over critical actors can be and wanted us to follow our instincts. I had no idea how it would turn out until I saw the first screening of the film with an audience. I was in complete awe with the finished product, he did so much more than any of us could have imagined.

Q: What do you think of your Co-star John Ruby?

A: I think that he thinks he is funnier than he actually is. I'm completely joking, that kid is hilarious. He was always cracking me up on set which kept things fresh and lively. It was a lot of fun to work with him. We had a couple intimate scenes together and I was a bit nervous but he handled them so professionally, it really allowed me to trust myself in those moments because I trusted him. He is a very talented guy and I'm so glad I had the opportunity to work with him.

Q: What kind of films do you want to be in in the future?

A: It sounds corny but this kind of film. I love independent film and the kind of story telling that they are able to bring to the audience. I feel that many of the films that are mainstream appeal to a wider audience and so some of the more delicate, non-traditional stories get lost in box office revenues. Of course when it comes down to it, I just love acting and would be happy to work as long as I'm able to. I also wouldn't mind playing a comic book character because I'm a comic book nerd and that would be awesome. And sci-fi...I love sci-fi.

Q: Who are your influences when it comes to acting?

A: I've always admired Natalie Portman since I first saw her in The Professional. I think she has made very strong choices in her career and I love her work, not to mention her Oscar-winning transformation in Black Swan. Another actor I truly admire is Ryan Gosling. His work in Half Nelson blew me away and the motel scene at the end of the movie (I'm sure anyone who's seen it knows which scene I'm talking about) absolutely breaks my heart every time I watch it...and he didn't even say a word. I want to be able to do that. I want to be able to tell a story like that and evoke real emotions from people. I'm also a big fan of old movies and absolutely adore Audrey Hepburn. She's so natural in everything that she does it's just beautiful to watch. I enjoy her films so much that I even dressed up as Holly Golightly for Halloween one year!

Interview With Director Minh Duc Nguyen

2011-04-18T15:40:00.000-04:00

Recently I was given a screener for a movie called 'Touch'. I will be reviewing the movie this week but first here is an interview with the film's director - Minh Duc Nguyen.

The official synopsis for the film follows: At V.I.P. Nails, a Vietnamese manicurist named Tam has a new customer: Brendan, a shy mechanic who literally has a problem on his hands. He can never get rid of the oil stains around his nails, and when he tries to be intimate with his aloof wife, she always rejects him with the same excuse: “Your hands are filthy!” Desperately seeking to save his marriage, Brendan goes to the nail salon every day, where Tam does more than scrub his hands clean. She also offers him advice on how to get his wife to love him again. But soon, Tam and Brendan find themselves drawn to each other, an attraction which becomes harder and harder to resist.

Q: Where did you get the idea for Touch?

A: Every Vietnamese in America knows someone who works in a nail salon. Over half of the nail salons in America are owned and operated by Vietnamese. The nail salon industry has provided countless job opportunities for Vietnamese immigrants, but their stories have never been told on-screen. For the first time, we have a movie about the hidden life of Vietnamese women working in a typical nail salon, told from their point-of-views. I saw the nail salon as a perfect setting to tell a multicultural story, where the Vietnamese workers interact daily with their American customers that come from all walks of life.

The one thing that really fascinates me about manicurists is that they have to touch strangers' hands every single day and touching someone's hand is usually considered an intimate act in our society. My goal was to make a sensual film that explored the power of touch and its emotional impact on desire, pleasure and healing. I also wanted to touch on universal themes such as love and loss. The bond between two strangers, husband and wife, parents and child are examined. These are the things that all of us can relate to.

Q: This was your feature directorial debut, how does that feel?

A: It feels wonderful. After I graduated from USC Film School, for a long time I couldn't find anyone to finance my movie. It was just too expensive to make a movie ten years ago. Finally with the advance in digital video, I'm able to make my first film on a shoestring budget. I've waited a long time for this moment and there were times I thought it might not happen. But I'm really glad that it did.

Q: I thought that Porter Lynn gave a very strong performance, what was it like to work with her?

A: There were many memorial experiences in making this film, but if I had to choose one, it would be discovering Porter Lynn during the audition process. Touch is her first feature film and lead role. It was a joy working with Porter. She always came to the set highly prepared and she enjoyed every moment on the set. She told me she was really depressed on her days off. She just loves to act. I think she will pleasantly surprise audiences with her mature poise and unassuming strength in portraying Tam.

Q: How does it feel to have a film premiering at the Boston International Film Festival?

A: It feels great but also nerve-wracking to have my film premiering at the Boston International Film Festival. It's great because Boston is a lovely city and the audiences at BIFF are known to be very adventurous. That's why the lineup at BIFF is incredibly diverse, showing films not just from all over America but also from all over the world. Yet it's going to be tense for me because for the first time, I'm showing my film in front of a large audience. I hope I won't pass out.

Q: What kind of projects do you want to work on in the future?

A: I want to continue making personal films in my own style. I've learned so much from directing Touch, not just from what I did right but also from what I did wrong. I can't wait to apply those lessons on my next movie and hopefully become a better director.

Q: Are you working on anything currently?

A: I just finish writing the screenplay for my next film. It's a romantic horror...a new twist on the horror genre that I hope audiences will be moved and shocked by its story at the same time.

Q: What are some things you’ve worked on in the past?

A: I've made short films. I've written short stories. Some of them are published in journals and anthologies. For the past several years, I've also worked as an editor for a variety of television shows that have aired on MTV, ABC, NBC, Bravo, Lifetime, USA, Spike and more.

Q: Who are your influences when it comes to writers and why?

A: For fiction, I'm heavily influenced by Mark Twain, Ernest Hemingway and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, to name a few. They're just masters at their crafts and I just love their effortless writing style. For script writing, I admire Aaron Sorkin for his rapid-fire dialogue, Charlie Kaufman for his inventiveness, David Milch for his sublime feel for dialogue.

Q: Who are your influences when it comes to directors and why?

A: There are many directors that inspire me, but just to name three: Akira Kurosawa for making his films epic and personal at the same time, the late Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski for making these small intimate movies with metaphysical meanings, and Martin Scorsese for daring to portray the dark sides of humans in his movies.

It's A 'Rap'

2011-04-13T15:50:00.000-04:00

PLYMOUTH — Within the labyrinth of Webster’s Used Auto Parts, a production crew from Bristol fought through the mud and rain Tuesday to film the last scene in an upcoming Q Strange music video.
Q Strange, or Josh Fiore, is a rapper from Providence, R.I., who came to Connecticut to finish working with Maria Elena Productions, the Bristol outfit that did the Jason “Fury” Flores video called “Bristol State of Mind.”
“This is the last day of shooting; it was a three-day shoot. It took a little bit of time because of scheduling and we had to meet up, but we did a couple of shots of two different bars in Rhode Island,” Q Strange said Tuesday.
Q Strange and Fury have done several shows together and once Q Strange saw Fury’s video, he wanted to work with Maria Elena productions.

“I love hip hop and the music they make,” director Ranses Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez attended Middlesex Community College and was involved with the broadcast communications program. While he was at school, three of his projects were chosen for the college’s Arts and Media Festival. He now makes his home in Bristol.
“I worked with Fury, I directed his ‘Bristol State of Mind.’ Through him I met Q Strange and they allowed me to work with him,” Rodrigquez said.
The last scene they were shooting is set in a scrap yard, an idea that came from Rodriguez.
“This was all his idea,” Q Strange said of Rodriguez. “He just took the song and just kind of visualized what he wanted it to look like and he found the location. We’re happy with it.”
The video is expected to be released in about a week.

PHOTO CREDIT/CAPTION: Mike Orazzi | Staff Jack Beazly, Michael Pereira, Ranses Rodriguez and Josh Fiore after filming a rap music video at Webster Auto Parts in Terryville on Tuesday.

Battle: Los Angeles Review

2011-04-04T23:35:00.000-04:00

Hard Water Is Against the Rocks

2011-03-04T16:52:00.000-05:00

SOUTHINGTON — A Southington-based band, Hard Water, has molded itself into one of the most original in the area.
The group recently released its first album, “Against the Rocks,” which features songs with lyrics drawn from the teens’ lives and other sources. “One or two are about girls, one or two are about anti-government,” said James Buckwell, a New Britain High School junior. “They really come out of nowhere,” he said of the lyrics he writes.
The band is made up of James Buckwell, 17, on the bass and vocals; Ian Sherwood, 16, on the guitar; and Julian Sherwood, 14, on the drums and vocals. Each brings his own unique talents and personality into their music, which makes their sound different and distinct.
“Against the Rocks” has 12 tracks, all of which offer something new for the ear to enjoy. It’s mostly alternative rock, but every once in awhile you can hear punk creeping in. The album is strong altogether, because the band is able to mix talent and new ideas with their extensive knowledge of the rock genre, to make something that sounds compelling.

“My influences would be Bob Marley and the Wailers, The Who, The Strokes, Sublime and A Tribe Called Quest,” said Buckwell.
Ian Sherwood then gave his influences, “The Beatles, Led Zeppelin and Van Halen.” He also enjoys New Alternative music.
Julian Sherwood, who does amazing drum work on the track “In the Garden,” listens to the same things as James and Ian.
When the band isn’t listening to their favorite music or practicing they’re busy with school or shows. They’ve played at Toad’s Place, The Space and Zen Bar. They’ve also been featured on WCCC 106.9 as the Homegrown Artist of the week, and they made it onto The River 105.9 twice.
Just recently, Hard Water was featured on Fox TV 61’s 10 p .m. news.
They’ve accomplished a lot, but where are they going to go from here?
“I want to do this as long as possible,” said Buckwell.
Julian said, “I want to go to college, but stick with the band as long as possible,” he said, also saying that he would like to study marine biology.
Ian also wants to remain with band, but would like to keep it as a side project. That is unless the band makes it big.
“I want to go to college, but continue with the band,” said Ian.
If you are interested in buying a copy of their album you can do so at cdbaby.com,amazon.com or itunes. If you would like to see them live they will be playing a show at Zen Bar, 317 Farmington Ave., Plainville. March 27.

Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace Going 3D In 2012

2011-03-03T15:09:00.000-05:00

On Feb. 10, 2012, Jar Jar Binks will annoy us in the third dimension. Yes, the infamous first chapter of the Star Wars saga is going 3D, but who is actually excited about this?

I'm not going to sit here and bash the film, that's been done enough, but I would like to ask why do we need these films in 3D? The prequel trilogy had enough problems with filling up the screen with nonsense and now they're going to add 3D, it just seems like we should let these films be.

Maybe some of you are excited to see the saga in 3D, but I feel it's unnecessary. I also feel that 3D is really unnecessary, yeah for some movies it might work, but do we really need to see the original Star Wars trilogy in 3D? I don' think so.

A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi captured our hearts and imaginations without the use of 3D. I loved these movies because I felt a connection to the characters, the world they lived in and the story. Yeah the early special effects were great and the lightsabers are kick ass, but those things aren't the reason I come back to these films, I come back to them to enjoy the story and the characters.

Bottom line: I'm not really interested in seeing the prequels in 3D and the original trilogy doesn't need it, because their story and characters are already in the third dimension.

Red State Trailer

2011-03-01T17:20:00.000-05:00

Virgin Mary Sighted

2011-02-23T17:08:00.001-05:00

NOTE: I know it's not Entertainment, but this is a story I wrote that was picked up by NBC and The Weather Channel.

Amid the ice and snow of winter, Pequabuck residents found a sign that has warmed their hearts.
What started as an ice flow has slowly formed into what residents are seeing as the Virgin Mary.

Randy Blanchette, the man who spotted Mother Mary, brought it to the attention of his kids and neighbors.

“At first it just looked like a waterfall. As the days went on it started to melt and form the Virgin Mary,” Blanchette said.
The ice formation sits between two windows on Blanchette’s neighbor’s roof, and due to the warmer weather has been getting smaller each day.
“It’s so awesome. It changes minute by minute,” Blanchette said, later adding, “I think it’s a natural phenomenon.”
Blanchette pointed out the veil he sees covering Mary, and how it resembles the statue they put into bathtubs.
“It looks like Virgin Mary, plain and simple,” he said.
Jayde and Zacherie Blanchette, Randy’s daughter and son, said they also see the Virgin Mary.
“It’s Mother Mary,” said Jayde.
Jayde is an altar girl at the Immaculate Conception Church in Terryville, and Zacherie will soon be receiving his first communion.
“We are religious,” said Blanchette, who asked that the street featuring the Virgin Mary not be identified.
Be sure to take a look at the video at Bristolpress.com to decide if there’s a resemblance.

PHOTO CREDIT: Mike Orazzi

Top 10 Zelda Games

2011-02-21T04:41:00.000-05:00

Introduction

The Legend of Zelda turns 25 today. It’s been 25 years of green tunics, dark realms, time travel, magic fairies and magic swords. So, to celebrate in this monumental event I put together my top 10 Zelda games of all-time. Let’s get into to it.

10. Phantom Hourglass

The sequel to The Wind Waker starts off the list. It was a game that offered a new way to control the hero Link as he set out, once again, to rescue the Princess Zelda (or Tetra, which is her name in this game).

The story is simple. Link and his pirate friends find a ghost ship, which takes Tetra. It is then up to Link to collect sand, which he places into a phantom hourglass. This allows him more time to explore time-limited dungeons, in his effort to find his friend. It's not really a deep story, but it works.

This is a great Zelda handheld game but falls slightly short for me. The graphics are fantastic and the presentation is top notch. The only thing that goes against it is how simple it is. I wish it was more challenging for veterans of the franchise, but it's not.

This was a game marketed to a more casual crowd. Yet, it still has great moments, like all the Zelda games that came before it.

9. Four Swords Adventures

What's better than one Link? Well, four of course, and that is exactly what you get here.

This game put together gameplay from the Nintendo GameCube and the Nintendo Game Boy Advance. This was to give gamers a more cooperative and competitive multiplayer. You would have to hook up your Game Boy Advance to your GameCube and during different events the screen would switch to one or the other. It sounds like a hassle but it worked, and it was fun.

After you had every thing hooked up, You would then try to get four friends together and journey through eight levels. The game was very linear but very clever.

People complained about the graphics and sound, but I liked it all. I won't say that these people are wrong to complain, because I understand where they're coming from, but it made me feel like I was playing a brand new Super Nintendo Game. Also, this is the closest thing to A Link to the Past sequel we ever had and that's why I love it.

8. Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

The black sheep of the series and the only one not to use The Legend of Zelda title.

The story, again, is very simple. Link sets out on a quest to save Princess Zelda, who is under a sleeping spell.

The game was much different from the original 'The Legend of Zelda' and even Zelda games that came after it. It dropped it's overhead view and gave us a side-scrolling game, except when you're on the world map. Many people hated this game, because how different and ridiculously hard it was. Yet, it's not a bad game, at all.

When I played this game as a kid, it was frustrating, but as I got older I started to enjoy it more and more. It introduced certain things that would stick with the series, most notable, magic.

The other thing I really liked about it, is its combat system. It was very advanced for its time.

I don't think people should hate this game, yeah it's hard, but that challenge is what I missed so much in Phantom Hourglass.

7. Link's Awakening

The first game set out of the Kingdom of Hyrule, we come to one of the best Game Boy games of all-time.

The story begins when Link's ship is destroyed in a storm. He then washes up on Koholint Island, where he is found by a girl named Marin. Link soon sets out on a journey to return home. He gets his sword, and follows the guidance of an owl, who tells him that the only way home is to wake the Wind Fish. A fish who is in a giant egg on top of Mt. Tamaranch. This fish can only be woken up by the eight instruments of the Sirens. Yes, a lot more is happening in the story this time around.

This game really sticks out of the series, because it's one of the few titles you aren't rescuing Princess Zelda, which was a nice change. The other thing that made it stick out, was its sense of humor.

This is the perfect handheld Zelda game. The things Phantom Hourglass lacked, Link's Awakening had. The challenge remained there and being able to take the journey on the road was an amazing thing back then.

6. Twilight Princess

The first epic Zelda game on the Nintendo Wii. The story was darker and the adventure was huge.

A darkness starts to take over Hyrule, a darkness known as the Twilight. Link soon gets the ability to turn into a wolf and is helped by a twilight creature, known as Midna. They then both set off to save Hyrule and Princess Zelda.

The story does feel very familiar, but the way it's presented makes it engaging.

There is so much content in this game that it will make your head spin. You can easily spend over 30 hours playing through the main quest, but close to 70 if you try and collect everything. Nintendo packed so much into this world, showing us how much they actually care.

Twilight Princess also sports a very grown up look and feel. Like I said above, its dark. Yet, it's not so dark where you loose that Zelda charm, but this story is definitely targeted to a more adult crowd this time.

5. The Wind Waker

Hyrule is underwater and this time we get a boat.

This game takes place 100 years after The Ocarina of Time. Hyrule has suffered from a great flood, leaving most of the kingdom underwater. We don't really learn why it's underwater, it just is. Link originally sets out to rescue his sister, which he does, but is ultimately pulled into journey that has him saving Princess Zelda and stopping Ganondorf.

The Wind Waker got a lot of negative feedback about the way it looked. After the more realistic approach during Nintendo 64 days, fans wanted Nintendo to continue making real looking Zelda games. What we received was the total opposite, we got a cartoon looking world.

This didn't bother me, because once you started playing, this was the same old Zelda. Yes, the adventure was a lot less challenging but the world it was set in made up for that. The Wind Waker is huge and there is no loading times, it all goes together so smoothly.

4. A Link to the Past

We return to form in the third game of the series.

The story begins when a magician named Agahnim kidnaps young maidens in Hyrule in the effort to open a seal that imprisons Ganon. Link is pulled into the adventure by Princess Zelda. He then has to save her, the maidens and Hyrule.

This is the true sequel to the original 'The Legend of Zelda'. The overhead view is back and side-scrolling is kicked to the curb. This game was the real evolution of the series and one that I play over and over again.

There is so much to love here, the gameplay is fantastic, the quest is long and challenging and the story is actually told during the game. That's right this was something different, because stories were usually told in the manuals.

I could gush over this game for hours. I loved the music, I loved how felt connected to the characters, it was just a special journey.

3. The Legend of Zelda

The timeless classic that started it all lands in the number 3 spot.

The story was explained in the games manual. The evil Ganon has brought chaos to the land of Hyrule and is after the Triforce. He kidnaps Princess Zelda and it's up to Link to stop find the triforce pieces, stop Ganon and rescue Princess Zelda. All these story elements would come back again and again in the Zelda series.

The overhead view, dungeons, magic swords and puzzles were all here. The game also offered a save function, because the adventure was too big to complete in a few hours (This was something new for consoles).

After you completed the first quest you unlocked the 'Second Quest', this one was more difficult. You could also access this quest by entering your name as ZELDA, when creating a new save file.

2. Ocarina of Time

Yes, the Zelda masterpiece does not make it to my number 1 spot.

I can already feel the angry emails being sent to me right now. Yet, the truth is, even though this is considered the best game of all-time, it's not my favorite Zelda game.

The story centers around Link. He is a Kokiri that lacks a fairy. Don't worry he soon gets the awesome Navi, who guides him through this adventure. Link sets out with his new fairy friend to rescue Princess Zelda and stop Ganondorf, again. Yet, this time we travel through time.

After we saw Mario step into the world of 3D, we all anticipated what Link could do in 3D. What we received was nothing short of amazing.

Considered to be one of the best games of all-time and for good reason. Everything in this game is tuned. The gameplay is smooth and the world is large.

The only reason I didn't pick it for my number 1 spot is because I connected more with the next game.

1. Majora's Mask

You have only three days to save the world.

The story takes place in Termina, where masks are scattered and you relive the same three days over and over. You get to live them over and over because you have the Ocarina, which controls time. In these three days you must help people, track down masks and stop the moon from crashing into the world.

I like this game the best because I felt connected to the world. The town of Termina is filled with people with their own stories and you get to participate in them. I also loved how the game was darker than Ocarina of Time, and the underlying theme was about healing the world.

I know people felt limited and that the game felt repetitive to them, but not for me. I thought the three day time limit made you feel the pressure.

Majora's Mask is a great game and deserves the same amount of attention that Ocarina of Time gets.

It's The Amazing Spider-Man!

2011-02-14T17:35:00.000-05:00

All I have to say is that this looks awesome. The title of the film has also been released, it will be call The Amazing Spider-Man.

Do You Want To Survive Or Be Voted Out?

2011-02-11T18:10:00.000-05:00

The popular CBS show, Survivor, makes its way to the Nintendo Wii, but is this a game you want to survive or be voted out of?

I have to admit, when I heard that a Survivor games had been released for the Wii, I thought it could be decent. I was wrong.

To begin, you don’t play as one survivor; you play as an entire tribe. So, for those of you who wanted to role play your own survivor, you are out of luck. The survivors in the game are from the show and they each are good at certain mini-games.

Oh yeah, this game is just a mini-game collection. There are no alliances, no camp life and no hidden immunity idols. They strip all those things away and keep only the challenges, which are mediocre at best.

The biggest problem I had with the challenges is how awful they are. Some of them are just hard to control and others seem to be broken. If I swing the Wii remote, I expect the game to do something right away, not 10 hours later (that was an exaggeration, it’s more like 20 hours).

After you do two challenges, you either go to another challenge if you win or tribal council if you loose. Yes, at least they have tribal council, too bad it sucks more than a leech (come on … you know you just laughed).

In this tribal council there is no voting, just when I thought they couldn’t get away from the show anymore, instead the computer picks a person and they’re gone. What the hell is that? That’s bulls***! If you win you get to pick someone off from the other tribe, which is kind of nice but still stupid.

Then after you vote enough people off you come to the merge, which is pointless. The merge is stupid and a waste of time, because you still compete against the other tribe. Nothing changes in the game. As far as I’m concerned the merge is just a poorly put together cut scene.

The other big problem I have with the game is the horrible lip syncing on Jeff Probst. Yes, Probst does do his own voice work, which is nice, but the people who made the game didn’t take the time to animate him properly. It’s just bad looking.

I can’t really say anything good about this game. It’s poorly made, the Wii controls barley work on some games and everything you would expect from a Survivor game is not here. They just slapped on the Survivor name to make a quick buck.

Hopefully in the future we can have a deep Survivor experience, until then, just stay away from this one.

1 out of 10

NOTE: If you have any requests for reviews send them my way. My email is at the top.

Bristol Bits Goes Skating

2011-02-07T16:46:00.000-05:00

Transformers: Dark of the Moon Super Bowl Spot

2011-02-07T16:26:00.000-05:00

Captain America's 30 Sec. Super Bowl Spot

2011-02-07T16:18:00.000-05:00

First Poster For Captain America

2011-02-04T16:08:00.000-05:00

Well, still no trailer but we do get a poster that shows us the suit and the shield.

The suit looks very realistic and I like it. I just wish he had his mask on. Moving onto the the shield, it's very beaten up, isn't it suppose to be Indestructible? Whatever, the poster looks great.

Phelps Is Pushing The Limit

2011-02-04T12:05:00.000-05:00

Michael Phelps is diving into the world of video games with his own swimming simulation, and Fight Night Champion proves that it might become a champion.
“Push the Limit” is the title of the upcoming Xbox 360 Kinect game.
It will focus solely on the sport of swimming, which is a rarity in the sports gaming world.
“I’m really excited to help bring a one-of-a-kind swimming video game to the market that is reflective of my competitive nature and passion for swimming,” Phelps said in a statement. “This definitely isn’t your typical video game; much like my training in the pool, Push the Limit is about improving and mastering every race element, from controlling your adrenaline on the block to perfectly timing your finish. In my world, it takes a lifetime of dedication to get one-hundredth of a second ahead and I believe Push the Limit offers players a unique journey inside swimming that will challenge themselves as much as their in-game competitors.”

In order to play the game you’ll need the Kinect. This is a sensor that works with the Xbox 360 to capture your movements and translate them into the game. There will be a Career Mode, where you’ll compete in tournaments and travel to some remote places and huge arenas. The game will also pit you against some of the world’s best swimmers.
This all sounds interesting and hopefully they can make this game fun and affective. The biggest thing is the motion controls have to work, obviously. How they are going to work is the one thing I want to see. I watched the trailer but they didn’t show someone actually using the game, so we’ll have to wait a little while longer.
This game can be a huge breakthrough or it can just fall to the side. I’m really hoping that it is as revolutionary as their making it sound, because that would open the door for so many possibilities in sports gaming.
The game will be released in June 2011.
Following up on the Fight Night demo, which I wrote about last week, I had a chance to play it and it’s pretty good.
It might take some time to get used to the controls, but once you do this is a very complete boxing game. The graphics are simply amazing and the gameplay is just fun. EA Sports has gotten as close to real boxing as it can.
The only problem with the demo is I got tired of it pretty quickly. It’s not that it’s a boring game; it’s just the limited choices of the demo make it feel repetitive after awhile. With that said, I can’t wait to get my hands on the full version.
As a bonus, I was able to get the full roster of fighters for the game.
Heavyweight: David Haye, Cris Arreola, Eddie Chambers, Eric Esch, Evander Holyfield, George Foreman, Joe Frazier, Lennox Lewis, Mike Tyson, Muhammad Ali, Sonny Liston, Tommy Morrison, Vitali Klitschko and Wladimir Klitschko
Light Heavyweight: Bernard Hopkins, Chad Dawson, Joe Calzaghe and Roy Jones Jr
Middleweight: Anthony Mundine, Carlos Monzon, Danny Jacobs, Erislandy Lara, Fernando Vargas, Jake Lamotta, Jermain Taylor, Kelly Pavlik, Marvin Hagler, Peter, Manfredo Jr, Ray Leonard, Ray Robinson, Ronald Wright and Sergio Mora
Welterweight: Zab Judah, Emanuel Augustus, Julio Cesar Chavez, Kendall Holt, Manny Pacquiao, Miguel Cotto, Oscar De La Hoya, Ray Leonard, Ricky Hatton, Shane Mosley, Thomas Hearns, Tim Bradley, Victor Ortiz
Lightweight: Diego Corrales, Pernell Whitaker, Robert Guerrero, Roberto Duran, Vinny Paz and Jesse James Leija

Featherweight: Billy Dib, Yuriorkis Gamboa and Kevin Kelley
Bantamweight: Nonito Donaire.

Fight Night Champion is hitting store shelves on March 1..

Fight Night Demo Set For Release

2011-01-28T16:17:00.000-05:00

EA Sports will be releasing the demo to one of its most anticipated games of the year, Fight Night Champion, on February 1.
There is a lot of pressure on EA to make this next installment something fun and memorable. Their last effort, Fight Night Round 4, was not a huge hit and they’re looking to change that with this next installment.
EA Sports has basically given the whole game a facelift. This will be the first M rated sports game EA Sports has released, because it will bring you into a much darker world of boxing.
The career mode for this game will start you off in prison. This has been a topic of debate between fans. Many believe that the game is or will go too far. I’m not worried about that. I’m actually very interested to see how the game handles this.
Yet, due to the dark nature of the game, it will receive a Mature rating (Mature rated games have content that may be suitable for persons ages 17 and older. Titles in this category may contain mature sexual themes, more intense violence and/or strong language.)
This will be EA Sports first M rated sport game they release. So, you can expect to see a lot more of boxing’s brutal side.
Now, once February 1 rolls around, you’ll be able to try the game for yourself. The demo, which will be released on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network, will have online play for a limited time.
There will also be four boxers and you’ll be able to fight for three rounds. What I’ve read is that the four boxers will be Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson, Miguel Cotto and Manny Pacquiao.
The full game will be released on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on March 1.
The big question is will this game be a huge hit? It’s definitely going to make money, no doubt about that, but I think that there are some people out there that just lost interested in boxing. That is mainly due to MMA (Mixed Martial Arts).
Executive Sports Editor, Brad Carroll, said it best, “There is just no more characters left in boxing.” Is this lack of characters driving fans to MMA? I’ll let you be the judge.
Getting back to the game, there is no doubt that the MMA and UFC games are huge competitors for Fight Night. These types of games are attracting the same audiences. The Fight Night series hasn’t had a real competitor in years and that’s why I think they’re upping the ante this year. I believe they are hoping to grab people’s attention with starting career mode in a prison, and with fans arguing whether this is going too far, I think they’ve done that.
If you want to brush up on your boxing skills before Fight Night Champion, you can pick up Fight Night Round 4 for very cheap. The game might not have blown away EA Sports in sales, but it’s still a great game and one I really enjoy.
On another note, if you haven’t already, check out the premiere episode of Sports Page Online; I’m the feature guest. I talk about the origins of the column and give my thoughts on online play.
Video is below.

New Decade. New Rules.

2011-01-27T18:38:00.000-05:00

Sports Page Online: Episode 1

2011-01-27T18:05:00.000-05:00

Arcade Classic Returns

2010-12-27T18:17:00.000-05:00

If you had the chance to visit an arcade back in the ‘90’s, there is no doubt that you came across X-Men arcade.

This arcade game came out in 1992 and became a favorite of many. Recently this game was ported onto Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Network. Yet, after all these years is it still as fun as it once was?

I downloaded the game for the Xbox 360, which cost me about $10, which seems to be a fair price.

The game let’s you play as Wolverine, Cyclops, Colossus, Storm, Nightcrawler or Dazzler. The goal is to battle through eight levels filled with Magneto’s minions in the hope of saving the world. That’s how deep it gets.

The dialog in the game was the first thing that hit me as being really bad. I don’t really know if I can complain about this to much, because I laughed quite a bit.

The gameplay is really just button mashing. You just continuously beat up enemies until you get to the end of the level. It’s really boring if you’re playing by yourself, but if you have a group of friends over or you jump into an online game it becomes less of a chore.

You can complete the game in under a half hour and if you’re playing on the Xbox you can get most of the achievements in one sitting.

Yet, you are treated to two versions of the game. You get the U.S. version and the Japanese version. They’re basically the same. The Japanese version has some differences, like energy pills and also it feels a lot faster than the U.S. version.

The graphics are very dated, but they’re not terrible. I just wished they made slight improvements, then again look what happened to Turtles in Time. I feel if you mess with a games look to much you loose some of what made it special, some if its magic so to speak.

Another weak point for the game is that it’s just a port. Yes, there is a new menu system, which is good, but everything else is limited. There is nothing so new to the game that you’ll be blown away; you’re basically getting the same exact arcade game from back in the day.

If you’re looking for a side scrolling, beat them up style game that you can play with friends then this is a good option. It’s not perfect, it can be very repetitive, but it still has a charm to it.

7 out of 10

Mario Celebrates 25 Years, But Is It Worth It?

2010-12-17T17:05:00.000-05:00

It’s Super Mario’s 25th Anniversary and Nintendo is celebrating it with the release of Super Mario All-Stars: Limited Edition for the Wii.I was able to get a copy of this game and I was very impressed with the packaging. You get a game disc that includes four classic Mario games, Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, Super Mario Bros. 2 and Super Mario Bros. 3, all classics.

Now on a separate disc you get a soundtrack, which has various themes and sound effects from many different Mario Games. Full soundtrack list follows:

1. Aboveground BGM (Mario 1)

2. Aboveground BGM (Mario 2)

3. Athletic BGM (Mario 3)

4. Aboveground BGM (Super Mario World)

5. Slider (Super Mario 64)

6. Delfino Plaza (Super Mario Sunshine)

7. Aboveground BGM (New Super Mario Bros.)

8. Super Mario Galaxy

9. Title (New Super Mario Bros. Wii)

10. Super Mario Galaxy 2

11. Coin (sound effect)

12. Jump (sound effect)

13. Super Mario transform (sound effect)

14. 1UP (sound effect)15. Enter a Pipe (sound effect)

16. Hurry (sound effect)

17. Lose a Life (sound effect)

18. Game Over (sound effect)

19. Course Clear (sound effect)

20. Castle Clear (sound effect)

The last thing the package has is a 32-page Super Mario History book. In this book you get interviews and concept art. It is a very impressive package, but it does fall short in some areas.
Let’s start with the four NES games. I love being able to have Super Mario All-Stars on the Wii, but it doesn’t offer anything new. The game itself is a shameless port and that’s all. I mean they actually have instructions in the game on how to play on your Super Nintendo controller.
The games themselves are fun, of course, but playing on my HD TV I noticed some delay. I had to mess around with my TV’s settings to try and reduce the effect of the delay but I couldn't get rid of it 100 percent. Also, the games doesn't support widescreen, which is a huge disappointment.
Besides those problems the games are still very fun to play. Nintendo has also made it possible to use a host of controllers. You can use your Wii Remote, Wii Remote Plus, Wii Classic Controller, Classic Controlller Pro or the Nintendo GameCube controller. I found the best way to play these games is using the Wii Remote.

Moving onto the soundtrack, which is a cool idea and has some cool tracks, isn’t as great as it could be. Half the soundtrack is made up of sound effects that last only seconds, which, in my opinion, is a waste.
For $29.99 or more, since it’s becoming harder to find, I would say it’s worth it for the die-hard Mario fans that need everything Mario. If you own a Super Nintendo and have a copy of Super Mario All-Stars, well you’re all set. This is the same stuff we saw back in 1993.

Now, this is a hard thing to rate, because I can’t just rate the game itself. I need to also rate everything the package includes.

For the soundtrack I decided to give it 6 out of 10. It’s basically a little more than half a soundtrack. The music they do include is classic, but they should of filled the whole CD with music from the games.

Next is the history book. It’s definitely colorful and has some interesting things included in it; I chose to give it 7 out of 10.

The final thing is the game itself. If I was just rating the games individually I would give them all 10’s. They’re all classics and can be played over and over again. Yet, the game is just a port that is not presented in widescreen and offers nothing new. With that said there is no denying that these game are fun to play and they still look very sharp, graphic wise, so I decided to give it 8 out 10.

The overall score is a 7.

Irvin Kershner 1923-2010

2010-11-29T16:18:00.000-05:00

For those of you who don't know, Irvin Kershner was a director. He helmed the best of the Star Wars series, The Empire Strikes Back and after battling a long illness he passed away on Saturday at the age of 84.

Bryant shouldn’t be held to higher standard

2010-11-23T15:54:00.000-05:00

Call of Duty: Black Ops might be getting some positive press, but Kobe Bryant is getting some heat because of his involvement in a television commercial for the game.

Before the game’s release, a promo starting airing showing various people, including Bryant and talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel, using guns to fight off other people. Basically doing what you do in the game.

“Does Kobe Bryant really need this money, this badly?” said Skip Bayless, an ESPN commentator. “Doesn’t he have a couple of daughters, last time I checked? He is smiling while wielding an assault rifle in combat, while we have troops overseas at this moment, doing the same thing for real.”
Many share that opinion, especially since Bryant is smiling while firing off an assault rifle.

“I was shocked to see Kobe Bryant in the ads, and shooting the grenades off,” said Bomani Jones, another ESPN commentator.

Bryant hasn’t talked about the controversy.
In my view, when I first saw the commercial I didn’t really find anything wrong with it. It’s simply a commercial and I do believe there are worse things going on in the world than this. With that said, when I analyzed it, the commercial does makes combat look fun, which is bad. Combat should always be taken seriously and never taken lightly. Yet, we have to also remember that this is a commercial for a video game and shouldn’t be taken seriously. They are not fighting in a real battle they are at home playing the game and the commercial wanted to show that they are having fun playing and that people from all walks of life enjoy the game.

Yeah, maybe Bryant shouldn’t have been in it, because he might be a role model. But then again, he was accused of rape several years ago, so I don’t know how much weight can be put into the role model label.
Now the other person that appeared in the ad was Kimmel, but he isn’t getting any backlash from this. Why is that? Yes, Kimmel is partially blocked from the camera’s view, but he should be held up to the same standard as Bryant.
The whole thing doesn’t make any sense to me and quite possibly you would have to play the race card as well. Bryant is black, while Kimmel is white.
The whole thing is overblown. I keep reading things like “think about the children.” For the most part, children are smart enough to separate real from fantasy. I don’t think this ad is harming children, it’s just another thing for people to complain about for a week and then next week it will be something new. It isn’t real and people need to realize that.

Does Black Ops Answer the Call?

2010-11-15T18:57:00.000-05:00

NOTE: This review is for the Xbox 360 version.

From the jungles of Vietnam to JFK fighting off hordes of zombies; Call of Duty: Black Ops is out but does it answer the call?

After a year of playing Modern Warfare 2 we are now given a whole new Call of Duty game that is different in some ways and similar and others. There has been a lot of talk against Black Ops so let’s really get into it as I discuss the pros and cons.

Let’s start with the campaign. I read a lot of other reviews who felt that the story fell short but I have to disagree. I thought that the story was fine, even if I did see the twist coming a mile away.

The story wasn’t perfect by any means but I thought it was better than Modern Warfare 2. I liked how they really kept you with one main character for the majority of the campaign, allowing you to get to know him, which is also a plus. In Modern Warfare 2 I felt you moved around from protagonist to protagonist not allowing you to get to know them enough which led me not to really care what happened in the story. Yet, it was still fun to play through.

One of the few problems I had with the campaign were some of the levels. They weren’t bad in terms of design, just annoying. The first one was when you were breaking the siege in the battle of Khe Sanh and the other is when you were in a hazmat suit. I thought they were overly difficult if you are playing above normal difficulty.

The other problem I had was the AI on the enemy soldiers. In some areas they are effective and then in others they are just dumb. It doesn’t really damper the game to the point where you won’t want to play but it is definitely something they should change in future releases.

The length of the campaign is also very short; you could probably finish it in six to eight hours. I wish it was a little longer and we could have spent more time in Vietnam but I’m happy what I got out of it.

Those are my only cons when it comes to the campaign. Yeah the graphics could be better but its all about gameplay for me and Black Ops has some great gameplay.

Now, let’s face it, everyone really picked up this game for its multiplayer. Yes, the multiplayer takes some great ideas from Modern Warfare and then adds its own twists on things, which either you’ll love or hate.

COD credits are new and weren’t necessarily my favorite thing when I first started playing but now I’m loving it. These credits are gained by playing multiplayer matches and then can be used to purchase new weapons, attachments and so on. Unlocking weapons is no longer tied to leveling up, which causes you to level up quicker in Black Ops.

The great thing about these credits is that it really forces you to find out what weapons work for you and then customize that weapon. My suggestion is that you play campaign first so you can test out all the weapons for free, so you don’t end up spending all your points on stuff you’ll never use.

There is also a lot of cool new stuff that can be used on the battlefield, like the camera spike, which is a camera you can setup on the battlefield. Once you set it up it will replace your radar with footage the camera is recording so you can watch certain areas of the map when you need to. I found this to be very effective in game types like Capture the Flag or any battles where you’re holding down a room or defending something.

Another cool gadget is the RC-XD, which is a small remote control car you unlock after you kill three enemies in a row. This car has explosives strapped onto it and you drive it near an enemy and detonate it to collect the kill.

Speaking of killstreaks, there is a lot of cool ones, like the napalm strike, Valkyrie Rockets, attack dogs, a gunship and the list goes on. All the killstreaks are great and fun to use.

The game launched with 14 maps on disc, which is a great number of maps. Most of them are great, like Nuketown, but some I can’t stand. The ones that I don’t like are Launch, Villa, WMD and Havana is on the fence for me. The maps that I really enjoy are Nuketown, Radiation, Summit, Hanoi and Array. All the other maps are good, but just not my favorite. I will say this though, I like some of these maps a lot better than some of Modern Warfare 2’s maps but I still believe that Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare had the best maps.

The multiplayer has been designed to be played forever and it’s definitely a fun experience but there are some problems I have with it.

The first con when it comes to multiplayer is the matchmaking; it’s slow and sometimes can take forever to get into a match. I heard that they are going to fix this and hopefully they do it soon.

Next up is being dropped from games. I had this happened only a handful of times but it’s still something that should be looked at. Also lag happens.

Then we get to the menus. I’m not a big fan of Black Ops multiplayer menu system. It took me awhile to find the things I was looking for and I just don’t think it’s as organized as it could be. Especially after playing with Halo: Reach’s well designed menus for over a month.

This next thing kind of ties into every mode in the game, but you might notice it more in multiplayer, since that’s the mode most people play on a regular basis. The problem is the sound effects I have to say I think Modern Warfare 2 had the better sound effects, but I also believe that both these games are trumped by the sound effects in Battlefield: Bad Company 2.

Those were the biggest flaws for me when it came to multiplayer, but I still enjoy it. Actually I like it a lot and let’s face it people were complaining a lot about Modern Warfare 2 and I think Modern Warfare 2 had a lot more frustrating and annoying moments during multiplayer.

Moving on, it’s time to talk about the zombie mode. Call of Duty: World at War started the Nazi zombies and this game brings it back with some famous political leaders fighting off the horde.

You’ll have JFK and even Castro as playable characters as you fight your way through round after round of flesh eating zombies. This is a great and fun mode that really should be included in every Call of Duty game.

Summing it up Black Ops is a good game with some problems, but it’s still a very good game. I feel that the multiplayer is not a step back but well balanced and the maps are well designed. The campaign is fun and the story is decent, even if it is short. I recommend it to everyone but if you’re on the fence about it just rent it and see if you like it.

8 out of 10

Call of Duty: Black Ops Breaks Records

2010-11-12T17:59:00.001-05:00

Call of Duty: Black Ops is now the biggest entertainment release of all-time. The game, which is available across gaming platforms, made $360 million in it's first day of release. Most Hollywood movies don't see that figure in their entire run.

The old highest record was held by Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which came out last year at this time and was able to bring in $310 million.

I did pick up a copy of the game and so far I have to say I like it a lot better than Modern Warfare 2. I think the time period its set in is great and I also like the new multiplayer wager matches. I don't want to do a full review yet, because i haven't finished the story, but I will say that I've had a lot of fun with it so far.

'The Walking Dead' is Original and Interesting

2010-11-01T16:53:00.000-04:00

The Walking Dead was one of the very few Fall shows I was looking forward to. I love horror movies and having a TV show based around a zombie apocalypse, well that sounds like a pretty good idea.

Going into the show the first thing you'll notice that there is a lot of similarities to other zombie stories, which isn't a bad thing.

The series is based on Robert Kirkman's comic books by the same name and now has the task of making running away from zombies deep and interesting each week.

The show opens with Rick Grimes, a sheriff deputy and our protagonist, looking for gas. He then encounters a small girl who is a zombie and he of course is forced to kill her. We then cut back to a few days earlier and we see Grimes get shot while on Duty. He is then put into a hospital and wakes up to a zombie apocalypse (just like 28 Days Later). The show evolves from there, I wont say much more because I don't want to spoil it for those of you who haven't seen it.

My honest opinion is that I think it's great. It's original and refreshing and it's not a cop or doctor show. I really give amc a lot of credit for taking a risk and bringing something to TV that is extremely different then anything that has graced our television sets before.

Yet, like I said above, they really need to keep it interesting and fresh, which can be a challenge. If they invest even more time with its characters, developing them, then it will all be fine. They just need to make this a character driven show, characters that happen to be living in a zombie apocalypse.

The show has already been picked up for a second season and I can't wait to see where this first season brings us.

31 Days of Horror 3: Nosferatu

2010-10-31T17:48:00.000-04:00

DAY 31

Happy Halloween! We did it, another 31 horror movies and I end this year with F.W. Murnau's silent German horror classic - Nosferatu.

One of the most grotesque looking vampires haunts this movie that borrows heavily on Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, Dracula. The movie starts off when a real estate agent, Hutter (Gustav Von Wangenheim) begins conducting business with Count Orlok (Max Schreck). The Count soon goes on a rampage and becomes obsessed with Hutter's wife (Greta Schroder).

Yeah it sounds a lot like Dracula, because it is basically Dracula. Yet, Murnau didn't have permission from Stoker to use material so he was sued by Stoker's widow, which led to all known prints and negatives to be destroyed under the terms of settlement. The movie would survive this and start resurfacing in other countries.

Now, before the lawsuit, while they were filming, Murnau knew that he must change his ending so it wouldn't completely copy Dracula. So, what he did is he made the vampire be killed by sunlight at the end of the film.

This is where we get the legend that vampires can be killed by sunlight, it came from this movie and has carried on into vampire stories for years.

After all these years Nosferatu still proves to be frightening. It went beyond the simple chills that most horror movies had gave into and went it did its own thing.

It's a masterpiece of German cinema and definitely the most creepy version of Dracula ever created.

I would like to thank everyone who followed the list this year. It's been three years of putting together lists of horror movies. After this year I have listed 93 horror movies between the three lists. Every film I've mentioned is worth checking out, even if your not a fan of horror.

31 Days of Horror 3: Phantasm

2010-10-30T16:20:00.000-04:00

DAY 30

Now here is another icon from the 1970's independent horror cinema that's not for the inpatient.

This film was directed by Don Coscarelli and it follows two boys, Jody (Bill Thornbury) and Mike (A. Michael Baldwin), in their chase of a scary looking grave robber. They soon discover that the Tall Man/ grave robber (Angus Scrimm) is able to walk on the Earth but lives in the afterworld. I can't really say anymore without spoiling it.

The movie has it's silly moments and it can move slow for some people. Yet, if you stick with it you can see how well it can mix horror with laughs.

The horror comes in the form of imagery that is terrifying and also really impressive for a low-budget movie. That goes to show you that if you have imagination, having a small budget will never slow you down.

31 Days of Horror 3: Eraserhead

2010-10-29T17:12:00.000-04:00

DAY 29

David Lynch's first film is a disturbing look into a man's fears of parenthood.

The film is set in a town that is an industrial wasteland. This is where we meet Henry Spencer (Jack Nance) a young factory worker. Spencer faces challenges such as meeting someone of the opposite sex, meeting her parents and then having a baby. Henry's girlfriend, Mary X (Charlotte Stewart) then gives birth to a deformed baby and leaves it in Henry's care.

This is very challenging movie that can be frightening in some areas and completely sensitive in others. It has brilliant imagery pulling from Gothic horror and sound that creates a completely eerie environment.

I also love, in Lynch fashion, that nothing is ever explained. The movie is left open for your own interpretation. I think it's great when filmmakers leave their work open, because it shows how brave and confident the director is in the story they have told and also have faith in the intelligence of the audience.

One thing about the film I didn't like is areas where the story can be flat. This doesn't hurt the movie, because when it does go flat it quickly picks itself back up.

The film can be disturbing and repulsive but the truth about this film is that it is a true masterpiece. If you do watch it just be prepared to be challenged and disturbed but ultimately satisfied.

31 Days of Horror 3: Bubba Ho-Tep

2010-10-28T16:39:00.000-04:00

DAY 28

Wonder if the Elvis Presley that died was just and impersonator and the real one was still alive, what do you think he would be doing? Well according to this film he would be hunting down an evil Egyptian entity.

Bubba Ho-Tep is a film that is a mixture of black comedy and horror. The movie stars Bruce Campbell as the King himself, Elvis Presley. Presley is in an elderly resident home in East Texas because he switched identities with an impersonator years before his so called death. Because the other Elvis dies the real Elvis was never able to reclaim his identity and now he's stuck in a home with John F. Kennedy played by Ossie Davis. Soon the home is under attack by an evil Egyptian entity that sucks the life out of people and it's up to Elvis and Kennedy to stop him.

I know it sounds weird and it is, but it's also original. Something that is disappearing more and more nowadays.

Campbell gives an outstanding performance, he is really able to disappear in his character. Because of that the movie has some surprisingly moving scenes, which make the film all the more interesting.

This movie is a cult classic in every sense of the word and is something everyone should see.

31 Days of Horror 3: The Night Stalker

2010-10-27T17:25:00.000-04:00

DAY 27

Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin) is the man. He is the reason we have series like The X-Files and Supernatural. The Night Stalker was a made-for-TV movie that spawned an awesome sequel and one of my favorite series of all time.

The movie is about Kolchak a newspaper reporter who has a sharp personality that has gotten him fired ten times from a host of city newspapers. He then gets a job with a small-time paper in Las Vegas and also gets a the story of his life. He starts to chase down a vampire, which poses many dangers.

The Night Stalker is one of those movies that is campy but it's a grade A vampire story. Nothing like that Twilight stuff, this is a REAL Vampire movie.

Also, for a made-for-TV movie it's actually creepy. McGavin gives one of his best performances and it's a role I always remember him for. Kolchak is awesome.

31 Days of Horror 3: Dark Night Of The Scarecrow

2010-10-26T17:00:00.000-04:00

DAY 26

A 1981 made-for-TV horror film that I thought was actually decent.

The movie is about mentally challenged man, Bubba Ritter (Larry Drake) who is wrongfully accused of attacking a local girl (Tonya Crowe). He is then hunted by some towns people, led by Otis P. Hazelrigg (Charles Durning). His mother hides him in a field as a scarecrow, but they find and kill him but his spirit can't rest and returns to go on a killing spree to take his revenge.

The movie isn't gory (it's a TV movie), yet it does imply a lot of gruesome events. You might like it and you might not, but I did find it to be entertaining and the story isn't that bad.

Finding a copy isn't that hard. I know Amazon has it for sale and Netflix has it for rent. I don't think you can find it in a store, but I can be wrong, they did just release it on DVD.

It's definitely creepy and worth a watch.

31 Days of Horror 3: Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn

2010-10-25T18:33:00.000-04:00

DAY 25

Full of gore and slapstick, Evil Dead 2 steps out of the shadow of the first and becomes its own classic.

Ash (Bruce Campbell) is stranded in a cabin in the woods. In the first one his girlfriend accidentally used a summoning spell to raise the Evil Dead. He is now the lone survivor and he is up against hordes of Evil Dead.

Director Sam Raimi, who would go on to do the Spider-Man movies, and star Bruce Campbell are able to put together a bizarre, funny and scary movie that might be demented in places but is a lot of fun.

I know this is a sequel but to me this almost felt like a retelling, which isn't a bad thing, it worked. All in all this is horror at its best.

31 Days of Horror 3: Suspiria

2010-10-24T17:48:00.000-04:00

DAY 24

Well it's definitely not a film for everyone, there is a lot of gore, but the imagery in this film is so unique and scary it will haunt you for awhile.

The movie follows Susan (Jessica Harper) an American girl whose talents have brought her to a European ballet school. She soon discovers that there is something strange going on and is haunted by strange happenings. I won't give much away but the strange happenings are tied to the school in someway.

There is a lot of stomach turning scenes in this movie that will get under your skin. Yet, what makes this movie so interesting is it's ability to merge an art house picture with a slaughter movie.

The bad thing about the film is its script. It's hard to follow in some places and others it just doesn't make any sense. So your brain can't comprehend what's going on but your eyes are going to be treated to some strange, gory and unique images.

This is NOT a film for everyone, if you are not a regular horror movie watcher then I would watch something else on my lists. If you are a die hard horror fan or just a fan of horror then, if you haven't already, give this one a try.

31 Days of Horror 3: Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein

2010-10-24T17:34:00.000-04:00

DAY 23

It's Abbott and Costello and Universal monsters, I mean why not.

The film is about two friends who are railroad baggage clerks. They receive a strange shipment, that ends up being the remains of Dracula and Frankenstein's monster. These monsters, of course, aren't dead and they escape to a remote island. Abbott and Costello then follow them and run into a mad scientist who wants to switch Costello's brain with that of Frankenstein's monster.

The film does merge horror and comedy very well, but it's better not to think about this one being an actual Universal monster movie.

Some of Abbott and Costello's funniest bits are in this film and the great thing about this movie is its ability to still be funny years later.

I strongly recommended this film to not only horror fans but fans of film.

31 Days of Horror 3: Sleepy Hollow (1999)

2010-10-22T17:16:00.000-04:00

DAY 22

It might lack an award winning script, but the film is still able to capture the horror of the legend and also make it beautiful looking with top notch production design.

This version is a little different then Washington Irving's 18th century classic. In this one Ichabod Crane (Johnny Depp) is no longer a school teacher but a New York detective. He is sent to Sleepy Hollow to investigate a series of mysterious deaths where the victims are found beheaded. When he arrives he learns that the locals believe that murderer is the ghost of the Headless Horseman.

Like I said above, this movie is beautiful to look at but it lacks any real emotion. In my opinion that didn't hurt the film for me, because going into the movie I wasn't expecting a deep story. I knew at best it was just going to be a ghost story.

So if you could get over that the movie takes a lot of liberties with the original source material and the script lacks, then you'll have a really good time with this one.

31 Days of Horror 3: The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

2010-10-21T18:26:00.000-04:00

DAY 21

I loved the first Frankenstein movie but this one I find to be so much better.

In the movie it is revealed that Dr. Frankenstein and his monster are alive! Dr. Frankenstein wants to get out of the evil experiment business (I didn't know that was a career path), but trouble rises when another mad scientist, Dr. Pretorius, kidnaps his wife. To get her back, Dr. Frankenstein agrees to help him create a new creature to be a female companion for the monster.

I would have to say that this was the peak of the Universal monsters. Director James Whale does a great job in creating such a classic and most likely the best horror sequel ever made.

The movie has you from start to finish and it will keep you long after that.

If you want to see a classic then look no further, The Bride of Frankenstein is one of the ultimate classics in the horror genre.

31 Days of Horror 3: Trick 'r Treat

2010-10-20T16:18:00.000-04:00

DAY 20

Writer-Director, Michael Dougherty brings back good old fashion suspense in this very well crafted Halloween anthology story.

This movie weaves together several stories, each posing their own unique dangers. We have a group of school kids finding a dark secret, a school principal that is a serial killer and other story lines I can't really discuss or I would ruin the fun for you all.

I will go as far to say that this is the best Halloween movie in years. It's beautiful to look at, the performances are strong and the stories are all very interesting.

I can't say anything bad about this movie, I loved everything about it. Some people say that it lacked conflict and resolution, but I don't think it did.

The movie also had Sam, as seen in the picture above. Sam is all about Halloween and if you break the rules of the Holiday, he'll make sure you pay. He is as cool as Jason, Michael and Freddy.

What makes me mad is that they didn't believe in this movie enough to release it into theaters and it's a lot better then most of the recent horror films that have come out.

I strongly recommend this to everyone who loves horror and Halloween movies.

31 Days of Horror 3: Aliens

2010-10-20T00:58:00.000-04:00

DAY 19

Alien was all about the slow build up and the tension, which made is a classic, but when it comes to James Cameron's flawless sequel we get a much faster and scarier movie.

The film is about the lone survivor (ok ... the cat survived too) Lt. Ripley (Sigourney Weaver). She is awaken from cryo-freeze only to met by skepticism when she tells her story about the Aliens. This skepticism starts to dissolve when colonists disappear on LV-426. A team of Marines are sent to investigate, along with Ripley, and what they find is of course the acid spitting Aliens.

This is what a sequel should be. This movie got everything right and it's because Cameron understands plot. He stages the action around what's going on in the story and never falls to a mechanical approach, which makes this movie superior to all the Alien films that came after it and films of this type.

Now, is it better then the first? Well, that's a very hard question, but I would say that Aliens is slightly better. Alien is an amazing movie, don't get me wrong, and it really set the template for other films in the franchise and of its kind. Cameron then came in, took that template and evolved it and the result was a much more adrenaline filled film that sees one of the best performances given by Weaver.

I strongly recommend this movie and the first one to everyone. They are both true classics.

31 Days of Horror 3: Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives

2010-10-18T16:32:00.000-04:00

DAY 18

I'm a huge Friday the 13th fan, if you haven't noticed by looking at my blog. I love the series, even if it has some low points (Jason Goes to Hell and Jason X). Yet, my favorite films are the ones that were made when Paramount still owned the franchise. That would include movies I through VIII.

I picked Part VI to be included on this list because it was the first in the series to really be obvious about it's campiness. Yes, the installments that came before it had their fair share of tongue-in-cheek humor but nothing like what part VI accomplished.

The movie brings back Tommy Jarvis (Thom Mathews), who, as a kid, killed Jason Voorhees. Ever since then he hasn't been so sure if Jason was truly dead or not. This is where the film begins, we see Tommy with his friend driving to a graveyard to dig up Jason. They do end up digging him up and one thing leads to another and lightning resurrects Jason and now he's back and ready to kill.

I love how they use a very Frankenstein way in bringing Jason back from the dead and I also like how the movie pulls off a James Bond opening with Jason. It's these things that make this installment so much more special.

The film has a sense of humor and also a decent story, I still think the original Friday the 13th had the best story, but Part VI knows what it wants to accomplish and it does.

Now, I can't talk about Jason Lives without mentioning the infamous Alice Cooper song, "He's Back (The Man Behind the Mask)", the song is just pure '80's but it fits so well with this movie.

Jason Lives isn't the best Friday the 13th film but it's the most entertaining. Director, Tom McLoughlin took the Friday formula and changed it up a bit. Some things worked better than others but it was refreshing to have some new things added to the franchise.

I recommend this movie to everyone; I recommend this entire franchise to everyone. Friday the 13th is most likely my favorite horror franchise and I think everyone should watch them at least once.

31 Days of Horror 3: The Howling

2010-10-17T18:49:00.000-04:00

DAY 17

The Howling is a classic when it comes to werewolf movies.

TV reporter, Karen White (Dee Wallace) has a traumatic experience at work so she checks into a California resort called The Colony to relax. On the first night she hears howling outside and then she soon discovers she is staying in a colony of werewolves. She then fights for her life, so she can expose their secret.

The movie is filled with horror movie references, listen to some of the character names, and real scares.

This is no American Werewolf in London but it's a pretty close second. I love these old werewolf movies, because they stick to the classic formula. You shouldn't mess around with movie monsters such as werewolves or vampires, I mean you can tweak them or add something new, but I always think that they should stick to what made them classic.

31 Days of Horror 3: The Crazies (1973)

2010-10-17T18:42:00.000-04:00

DAY 16

Another George A. Romero film, which isn't the best, but still good.

In a small town of Pennsylvania, a government plan crashes carrying biological weapons. This deadly weapon seeps into the water supply and anyone who drinks it becomes crazy and murderous. David (Will McMillan), a firefighter and his wife, Judy (Lane Carroll) and a few others attempt to escape the town.

Romero is able to take away the living dead and replace it with ordinary people and it works very well. He is able to keep the nightmare going throughout the entire film.

They did remake this movie and I didn't get a chance to see it yet, but I heard nothing but great things about it.

31 Days of Horror 3: The House of the Devil

2010-10-17T18:23:00.000-04:00

DAY 15

Sorry about the delay but I'm back with a movie that its reminiscent of old fright flicks.

Samantha (Jocelin Donahue) is a college student who needs some money. She soon takes a job babysitting on the night of a full lunar eclipse and ends up in a fight for her life. Her employers, Tom (Tom Noonan) and Mary (Mary Woronov) are hiding a dark secret.

The themes of the movie are very familiar. Yet, the film had the guts to get rid of all the horror cliches and stand on its own two feet and it does it well.

It might be slow building for some people and the narrative, at times, can be uneven, but there is no denying that this is a great modern horror film.

31 Days of Horror 3: The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms

2010-10-14T19:04:00.000-04:00

DAY 14

A 1950's monster movie at it's best. Yeah it's cheesy and the story might never get exciting but the special effects are classic '50's monster movie.

The movie was directed by Eugene Lourie and it stared Paul Christian, Ross Elliott and Cecil Kallaway. It was based off of Ray Bradbury's short story "The Fog Horn."

The film is about a rhedosaurus, who has been frozen in ice, being awaken by atomic testing in the Arctic. The creature then gets mad, rises out of the sea and takes revenge on the city of New York.

That's basically it. The story is nothing special but this film set the template for Atomic Age Behemoth movies that would come after.

I recommend this movie to anyone who can appreciate monster movies and the cheesy special effects that they were capable of back in the 1950's. Just look at the picture above of the movie and that's basically what you're getting for special effects. It's great.

31 Days of Horror 3: Creepshow

2010-10-13T16:23:00.000-04:00

Day 13

Satirical and creepy, Creepshow is one of those horror anthologies that actually works.

The movie is based off of the E.C. comic books of the 1950s. George A. Romero took the directors chair as Stephen King wrote the screenplay and the end result was a movie about radioactive meteorites, an odd Father's Day party, cockroaches and a monster in a crate. It sounds odd, and it is, but trust me when I say it's a good odd.

The movie has performances by Ed Harris, Ted Danson, Adrienne Barbeau, Hal Holbrook, E.G. Marshall and even Leslie Nielsen.

The only bad thing about this movie is that it's uneven in some places. Yet, this is still a great movie that is simple and and scary at the same time.

31 Days of Horror 3: Killer Klowns from Outer Space

2010-10-12T19:10:00.001-04:00

DAY 12

There is nothing funny or fun about Clowns and when they are in horror movies it just makes them even more creepier. Killer Klowns from Outer Space might be a cheesy B-movie but there is no denying that the clowns are scary and the movie is an ultimate guilty pleasure.

The movie is about a group of aliens that are killer clowns. They come down to earth to start harvesting a small-town, they place their victims in a cotton candy cocoon and then eat them later. The authorities don't do anything about this clown invasion, so it's up to two teens, Mike Tobacco and Debbie Stone (Grant Cramer and Suzanne Snyder) to fight the klowns and save their friends.

This movie is great on how it is able to blend a monster movie with an alien movie and have it come out well. It also has a great sense of humor about itself.

With that sense of humor does come a lot of goofiness, which is not a bad thing. I recommend this movie all the time and it's not overly scary or gory and it's something everyone should check out at least once.

31 Days of Horror 3: The House on Sorority Row

2010-10-11T17:46:00.000-04:00

Day 11

Not the best movie by any means but has that '80's horror B-movie charm.

Housemother (Lois Kelso Hunt) has a falling out with seven sorority sisters who then plot revenge. This plot leads to an accidental death. The girls cover up the crime and then are targeted by someone who knows what they did.

This film falls in the same category as Troll 2. These films are so bad that you just need to experience them once. Some parts of the movie are interesting and it does try to add something new to the slasher films but it's not Halloween or Friday the 13th.

I wouldn't recommend this movie to everyone but for those of you who love really low-budget '80's slasher movies, this is definitely for you.

31 Days of Horror 3: Bram Stoker's Dracula

2010-10-11T17:08:00.000-04:00

Day 10

Dracula has been in a number of films but it's this one that pulls the character back from being campy and made his a force to be reckoned with.

Gary Oldman is the man in the cape this time around and he leaves his prisoner, Jonathan Harker (Keanu Reeves) in Transylvanis as he ventures into London to find Mina Harker (Winona Ryder). Mina Harker looks exactly like Dracula's dead wife, Elisabeta. Then comes Dr. Van Helsing (Anthony Hopkins) sets out to kill Dracula and end the curse.

First thing the visuals in this movie is great, but the flaw the film does have is the overcrowded story. Somethings should have been trimmed down.

Francis Ford Coppola directed this time around and truly made a film that brings Stoker's novel to life with style.

31 Days of Horror 3: Zombieland

2010-10-11T16:28:00.000-04:00

Day 9

It's new and I try to stay away from really new films but this one is sharp and entertaining that it must be mentioned.

I still say that Shaun of the Dead is the best comedy or romantic comedies with zombies. Yet, Zombieland comes in at a close second.

The movie starts with Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), who isn't your typical zombie movie kind of guy. He is one of the few survivors of some sort of zombie invasion in the United States, which got the United States the new name - The United States of Zombieland. He soon joins forces with Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), yeah their all named after states they are from, who loves to take on the zombies. Then we have Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) and Wichita (Emma Stone) who are journeying to a "safe" amusement park.

The movie does have it's scary moments but there is more laughs than scares here. This movie is destined to become a cult classic and I recommend it to everyone. Also, there is a great cameo in this movie, I won't say who it is but it's one of the best cameo's I've seen.

31 Days of Horror 3: The Host

2010-10-11T16:13:00.000-04:00

Day 8

Monster movies run from really good to just bad and this one, out of Korea, is very good.

It's about a giant squidlike monster, which is the product of toxic chemical dumping. The squid monster soon takes the daughter of a snack bar owner, Hie-Bong (Hie-Bong Byeon). He doesn't take this lightly and tracks down the monster.

This is one of the best monster movies ever made. It's full of all the things that made the 1950's monster films fun and exciting to watch. It also works well as a satire.

I can't really find flaws with it's very well rounded.

31 Days of Horror 3: Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer

2010-10-07T18:57:00.000-04:00

DAY 7

Well ... it might not be the cult classic it set out to be, but it's heart is in the right place and if you give it a chance you will be surprised on how good it actual is.

The movie is about Jack Brooks (Trevor Matthews) who, as a kid, witnessed his family murdered by a monster. Because of that he developed a uncontrollable anger problem, which his girlfriend, Eve (Rachel Skarsten) hopes to cure his anger problem. The class is being taught by Professor Gordon Crowley (Robert Englund) who soon goes through some strange changes, which forces Jack to rise up as the hero and defeat the evil that rests inside Crowley and others.

The monsters in this movie are fantastic. They aren't CGI, they are people in suits, which, with the right lighting, look amazing. The creature that kills his family in the beginning is one of the scariest looking things I've seen.

The movie is also very refreshing because there is no CGI in any shot. This is a CGI free movie and it still looks amazing, which only proves that CGI is not needed in everything.

The story could have been stronger though. It definitely knows where it wants to go and just goes, which is good and bad. I wish there was a little more character development.

With all that said this is really a throwback to '80's style horror films and is worth watching.

NOTE: There will be a slight delay in these heading into the weekend, but will be back to normal by Tuesday.

31 Days of Horror 3: The Faculty

2010-10-06T16:00:00.000-04:00

DAY 6

Here is another Robert Rodriquez film, one that is not as good as From Dusk Till Dawn and it might not have the deepest story but its still a great popcorn film.

The movie is about a group of teens that attend Herrington High and they believe their teachers are from another planet. Soon the students do discover that there is an alien infection but they might have the solution to the problem.

First, let me get the negative out of the way. Yes, all the students are stereotypes, it's not the most original and some scenes can drag on. With that said, let's look at the positive. In areas of the film it can be very smart, it's entertaining and it has a lot of Rodriquez charm in it.

If your looking for a fun horror film, that you can turn your brain off for, this would be it.

31 Days of Horror 3: From Dusk Till Dawn

2010-10-05T22:19:00.000-04:00

DAY 5

Here is a movie that is, at first, a crime drama and then transforms itself into a vampire movie. That made a lot of people mad but there is no denying that this is B-movie greatness.

The movie is about two brothers, Seth (George Clooney) and Richard Gecko (Quentin Tarantino), who are robbers the police are hunting down and they are racing them to the Mexican border. During their great escape they take ex-preacher, Jacob Fuller and his daughter, Kate Fuller and his son, Scott Fuller hostage. They all get into Mexico and then the plot switches once the group settles down in a bar that turns out to be the home of vampires.

Many people hated how the plot totally brought them into a new direction when the movie was already half over. I can understand this, because for the first half it's a really good crime drama and really didn't need the vampires to come up at all but I'm glad they did.

Robert Rodriquez is a great director and really pulls this one together. He plays tribute to the 1960s Mexican horror movies and he does it well. Yeah it can get tongue-in-cheek, but that's what I like about it the most.

31 Days of Horror 3: Fright Night

2010-10-04T17:08:00.000-04:00

DAY 4

Here is a movie that I missed the first two times I did these lists and I don't know why, because this movie is awesome.

Fright Night came out in 1985, so it has all the 80's horror goodness, and centers around Charley Brewster (William Ragsdale) who discovers that his next door neighbor, Jerry Dandridge (Chris Sarandon) is a vampire! Soon Dandridge starts to stalk Brewster, so he turns to a washed up actor, Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowall) to help him defeat Dandridge.

This movie is great! I loved every minute of Fright Night and it's a film ever horror fan should watch. Everyone does a fine job in their performances but it's McDowall who steals the show.

I just re-watched this film, while I was putting together the list, and one thing I did notice this time around is that it really spoofs things in the style of Scream, way before Scream did it, which makes it a true original.

It's goofy, scary and one hell of a good time. Go pick up a copy of Fright Night!

31 Days of Horror 3: The Monster Squad

2010-10-04T00:07:00.000-04:00

DAY 3

Think The Goonies meeting the Universal Monsters and you would have The Monster Squad. A film that has a cult following but never got the mainstream attention it deserved.

The movie is about Dracula who, of course, wants to rule the world. He goes about this by finding legendary monsters such as Wolf Man, Gill Man, the Mummy and Frankenstein's Monster. Yet, he didn't plan on a group of kids foiling his plans.

The movie is not scary, but it's awesome and a good Halloween movie for families to sit down and enjoy.

I do believe that the script could have been much stronger and we could of went without Gill Man. I still like the movie, but it does seem to try and fit together so much and in the end it doesn't all work.

With that said, that's all the negative that I really have to say about the film. It defiantly caters to those who enjoyed the horror classics but that is not a bad thing ... for anyone.

The film was released on DVD and Blu-Ray and it's not that hard to find. If your interest is now sparked, don't hesitate and pick this one up.

31 Days of Horror 3: Swamp Thing

2010-10-02T15:00:00.000-04:00

DAY 2

It might feel cheesy now, but its still fun to me after all these years.

Swamp Thing was directed by Wes Craven and a few of his movies have made it onto these lists in the past. I wouldn't say this is Craven's best work but it's not bad and it's entertaining. Plus it has Carnivale's Adrienne Barbeau in it.

The plot revolves around Dr. Anton Arcane who survived an incident with a special chemical, but now he is not a man anymore but a swamp plant monster!

In my opinion there is a lot of similarities in this film that are also in other monster movies, such as King Kong and Creature from the Black Lagoon. Those two movies I enjoyed more but Swamp Thing has its own kind of charm.

After the original movie the series continued in a sequel, then a live action TV series and then an animated TV series. So, Swamp Thing continued living long after 1982.

If you haven't checked out Swamp Thing yet, you should. It's a fun movie.

31 Days of Horror 3: Troll 2

2010-10-01T17:05:00.000-04:00

DAY 1

Welcome back to the third year of the 31 Days of Horror. Remember these movies are not in any order. Also, this year sequels will also be making the list starting with the classic bad movie - Troll 2.

The film centers around a kid named Joshua Waits, whose family vacation is being brought down by plant eating goblins. Yes, goblins not trolls. He tries to stop these goblins with the help of his dead grandfather - yeah it's weird.

You might be thinking if they're plant eating goblins then why are the humans afraid of them? Well, they, the goblins, give humans this green substance, which you have to eat, and then the humans turn into this green plant like substance.

The movie is bad, but it's good, if that makes any sense. I will admit when I saw this movie as a kid it scared me, I wouldn't eat anything green. Now its just hilarious.

The film is considered to be the worst if not THE worst movie of all time, which has also made it a legend. The best thing for this film was to be called the worst movie of all time, because it triggered people's interest. Now on Oct. 5, 2010, it will be re-released on DVD and Blu-Ray and I would say everyone should pick up a copy.

Come Stay At The Severed Inn

2010-09-30T18:10:00.000-04:00

It’s time to look at Legion Film’s local horror film The Severed Inn.
The Severed Inn was an originally part of another movie the company was making called Mind Morgue, in which it was a short story titled The Collector. The segment soon took on a life of its own and became a full length film.
Let’s get into the review. First, I want to talk about Shawn C. Phillips and M. Kelly a.k.a M.J. Kelly, they played the sons, Louie and Archie, of Inn owner Uncle Bob who was brought to life by Paul Braccioforte. I’ve been watching Phillips YouTube channel Coolduder for sometime and nice to see someone with a love of horror able to be in these types of movies. Phillips and Kelly play of each other well and they give the best performances of the film.
Now, let’s talk about the severed body parts. The film is actually about a man running an inn that makes home made sausage out of people and then serves it to his paying guests. He makes this sausage by cutting up people and then grinding parts in a meat grinder. When we see severed body part in the film they are done well.
Now let’s move over to the story. I basically explained the plot above and my honest opinion this is where the film really lacks. There were just too many things going on, we have Uncle Bob’s son picking up girls for their father, three people getting stranded in the middle of nowhere, a young couple vacationing in the inn with an older couple and Uncle Bob making breakfast and barbequing, there is a lot going on and it all leads to an anti-climatic end.
The story could have been much stronger if they just adjusted everything. First, I would have dropped that young couple, their performances weren’t great and their story was not even interesting to watch. Dropping that young couple would have made the three stranded characters storyline stronger, because they could have had more screen time. Yet, the storyline they should have really expanded on was Archie and Louie’s, that’s your movie right there. The film just needed really to cut down on characters so they could have developed Uncle Bob and his sons more.
The other thing that bothered me was the cell phone and no signal dialogue. I know that a lot of horror movies now days feel the need to establish that their characters are cut off from the world but can we find another way of doing this? I don’t need them to tell me time and time again that they have no bars. If you don’t have bars why don’t you head back the way you came until you get bars – problem solved.
Summing everything up, the Severed Inn shows promise where the effects are concerned but for the story and some of the acting is where the film gets dragged down. Yet, watching the movie you see promise in little pieces of it and with more experience these pieces can eventually grow and come together.
If you are interested in purchasing the film, you can do so on their website at http://severedinn.com/.

Interview With Tantric

2010-09-28T17:11:00.000-04:00

Bleachers brought another big band to the city, and it was Tantric.
Tantric, made up of Hugo Ferreira on vocals, Marcus Ratzenbeck on Electric Violin, Joe Pessia on guitar, Erik Leonhardt on bass and Kevin Figueiredo on drums.
In 1999, the band came together when three former members of Days of the New — Jesse Vest, Todd Whitener and Matt Taul — and Merge singer Hugo Ferreira started the band C-14. The name C-14 was later changed to Tantric and the group was signed to Maverick Records.
The guys’ first album was self-titled and debuted in February 2001, reaching No. 193 on the Billboard 200. The album went platinum because of the hit single “Breakdown” and the touring they were doing with Kid Rock and Creed at the time.

In 2004, they released their second album, “After We Go,” but the band, as it was, ended. The third album introduced new band members Pessia, Leonhardt, Ratzenboeck and Figueiredo. Ferreira brought them all together and they brought Tantric back from the dead.

The third album, “The End Begins,” spawned the Top 5 Active Rock single “Down and Out.” The song has a very well known opening thanks to the talents of Ratzenbeck on his violin.

Ratzenbeck has a long history of playing various instruments, starting with the guitar while he was in middle school and then moving onto the violin and even playing in orchestras.

“I wasn’t performing rock at all,” said Ratzenbeck. “I was teaching violin at the University of Louisville and I got into some session work and then playing as a ringer for some bigger bands.”

Ratzenbeck grew up around music and listened to mostly everything.
“I was big into Led Zeppelin, but I listened to whatever my dad was listening to,” said Ratzenbeck. “I listen to pretty much everything.”
Yet, when Ratzenbeck and the rest of Tantric are on tour, he doesn’t pay much attention to the radio.
“I stay out of touch,” he said.
Tantric has toured with some great bands in the past, but a few bands really stuck out for them.
“We really like playing with Shinedown, Three Doors Down and Alice in Chains, because a lot of our fans are Alice in Chains fans,” said Ratzenbeck.
The band put together their latest album, “Mind Control,” after touring for two years, headlining and supporting bands like Saliva and Drowning Pool. “Mind Control” came together not in a rehearsal space, but from the band member’s homes scattered across the United States. What they wrote separately, they’d send as electronic files to Ferreira, who would make them into working demos. “It was a really unique way of approaching a record,” said Ferreira. “It was definitely more of collaboration than the last record in terms of writing. And we wrote it together even though we were thousands of miles apart. I don’t know how, but we really wrote an incredible record in a short period of time. I’ve always wanted to make a record like this.”

With a host of popular singles, Tantric touches on all their hits from all the records. Yet, when deciding which one is Ratzenbeck’s favorite to perform, it becomes a very tough decision.

“It’s really hard to pick, it’s like picking one of your children. The highest energy level is ‘Down and Out,’” he said.

2010 Fall Premiere Schedule

2010-09-07T16:20:00.000-04:00

Wednesday, September 8
Hellcats - The CW

Thursday, September 9
The Vampire Diaries - The CW
Nikita - The CW

Monday, September 13
90210 - The CW
Gossip Girl - The CW

Tuesday, September 14
Parenthood - NBC
One Tree Hill - The CW
Life Unexpected - The CW

Wednesday, September 15
Outlaw - NBC

Sunday, September 19
Boardwalk Empire - HBO

Monday, September 20
Castle - ABC
Hawaii Five-O - CBS
House - Fox
Lone Star - Fox
Chuck - NBC
The Event - NBC
Chase - NBC

Tuesday, September 21
Detroit 1-8-7 - ABC
NCIS - CBS
NCIS: Los Angeles (two-hour premiere) - CBS
Glee - Fox

Wednesday, September 22
The Whole Truth - ABC
Criminal Minds - CBS
The Defenders - CBS
Undercovers - NBC
Law & Order: SVU (two-hour premiere) - NBC

Thursday, September 23
My Generation - ABC
Grey's Anatomy - ABC
Private Practice - ABC
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation - CBS
The Mentalist - CBS
Bones - Fox
Fringe - Fox

Friday, September 24
Medium - CBS
CSI: NY - CBS
Blue Bloods - CBS
Human Target - Fox
The Good Guys - Fox
Smallville - The CW
Supernatural - The CW

Sunday, September 26
Desperate Housewives - ABC
Brothers & Sisters - ABC

Tuesday, September 28
No Ordinary Family - ABC
The Good Wife - CBS

Wednesday, September 29
Law & Order: Los Angeles - NBC

Sunday, October 3
CSI: Miami - CBS

Sunday, October 31

The Walking Dead - AMC

Wednesday, November 10
Lie to Me - Fox

Drzewiecki vs. Carroll

2010-09-07T16:09:00.000-04:00

The college football season kicked off last night and continues through Monday night, but for Executive Sports Editor Brad Carroll and myself it had already begun.
Carroll and I sat down for the first time in awhile to play a few games of EA Sports’ Madden and a game of NCAA Football.
I’m just going to get to the interesting stuff and not bore you about how I destroyed him in Madden as I believe the score of our final game was 53-13.
Clearly Mr. Carroll can’t beat me in Madden, so I was confident going up against him in college. And I jumped out of the gate extremely quick. In no time, I, playing as Southern Cal, led 28-7 over his Florida Gators.

Of course, with what I’ll call a decided computer-cheat advantage, Brad and the Gators started their comeback and never looked back.

My demise started once my players decided that they were going to forget to hold onto to the football, as Carroll obviously found the button that allowed him to cause fumbles and intercept passes. I would be fine if it only happened a couple of times, but no, the turnovers kept coming and it allowed Carroll to take the improbable, come from behind victory by the final, 49-42.
I have to admit I was shocked because I talked a big game going in and after a big victory in Madden I was feeling untouchable.
Yet, his huge comeback during the game leads me to believe that he might have planned on the comeback and everything before that was for show. I think he’s a hustler.
Carroll and I will be sitting down again to have a rematch in college football and I’m pretty sure I can walk away with a victory this time ... or not. I don’t want to be that confident because it didn’t work out the last time.
Now if you are one of those people who still haven’t gotten into the wonderful world of sports gaming, I think it’s about time you try.
This year’s college game has several new features and tweaks that make it worth picking up for the $60 price tag.
The assignment AI gives you new running lanes to double-team blocking. This makes the offensive performance feel more in-depth and that can only be a good thing. The next feature is the locomotion system. This system has an all-new authentic running mechanics. You will be able to stop your momentum when you want to and also rebalance yourself after an over-pursuit.
That feature made me remember something and that’s the speed of college players in the game. Why are they so fast? They’re not that fast in real life and when Carroll and I were playing one of my guys moved so fast he was almost a blur, it was like watching the Flash (yeah I just made a comic book reference, don’t judge me).
In other news, EA Sports will be releasing its new NHL game titled simply NHL 11 this upcoming Tuesday. These games in the past have really raised the bar for hockey games and this year they have a whole new real-time physics engine that promises to bring even more realism.
EA is making some huge promises with this game, the biggest being this will be the most complete hockey game that has ever been created.
Let’s hope they can live up to that or there is going to be a lot of dissapointed hockey fans out there ... like Paul Angilly. Although I don’t think Angilly plays hockey games.

Madden NFL 11 Offers New Modes

2010-08-06T16:52:00.000-04:00

Madden NFL 11 will be hitting store shelves this Tuesday and it is one of the biggest sports game releases of the year, but is it worth buying?

Let’s get into it and look at some of this years’ features. First we have the new Online Team Play. This mode will allow you to play 3 vs. 3 cooperative play on-line. This could be a lot of fun for people who enjoyed playing co-op mode in last year’s Madden. I personally didn’t like the co-op mode, so this is probably a feature I wouldn’t use that often.

The next feature is GameFlow. This is the one to look forward to. This new system will reinvent play-calling with a more authentic approach. The feature will create a game plan based on the down and the situation, which has said to make your game move quicker. The feature will also have audio advice enabled for your headset and will tell you how to execute the play.

Those are two really great new features, but there is also disappointment in the game. Three of the games big modes, On-line Franchise, Offline Franchise and Superstar mode will not offer anything new this year. They’ve not been touched so don’t expect any huge updates for them, because you’re not going to get anything. Early reports have also stated that the NFL Network’s weekly show and halftime presentation, which was part of last year’s franchise mode and told you what was happening around the league, has been removed from the game. It might be in the game but what I’ve been reading it’s not.

Other changes in the game are not as huge as GameFlow or On-line 3-on-3 but are changes that are attempting to make your whole Madden experience complete. The new changes include a new audible system, a new kick meter, a new locomotion animation system, lightening improvements, new QB ratings, run blocking changes and a new “Swagger” rating.

The swagger rating is something that is being talked about a lot and it’s essential just an attribute boost. During the game if you make a big play you will receive an attribute boost. The size and length of this boost is determined on the swagger rating. I would rather they just took this out of game ... I don’t want any boosts to help me win.

Madden 11 will also look better and sound better then any other Madden that has come before it. EA Sports has improved the visuals and made some changes to the audio presentation. Tom Hammond will not return this year; he will be replaced by Gus Johnson to call play by play. Yet, Cris Collinsworth will be returning as color commentator.

Moving away from gameplay and features here is the full soundtrack to this year’s game. This year we have some really good songs that will make navigating through the menus more enjoyable. We have AC/DC “Thunderstruck”, Archie Eversole “We Ready”, Blur “Song 2”, Bush “Machinehead”, Gary Glitter “Rock and Roll Part 2 (cover)”, Guns N’ Roses “Welcome to the Jungle”, Joe Satriani “Crowd Chant (cover)”, Kevin Rudolf featuring Lil Wayne “Let It Rock”, Kiss “Rock and Roll All Nite”, Ozzy Osbourne “Let Me Hear You Scream”, Ozzy Osbourne “Crazy Train”, Queen “We Will Rock You (cover)”, The Hives “Tick Tick Boom”, Todd Rundgren “Bang the Drum All Day”, Ying Yang Twins featuring Homebwoi “Halftime” and Zombie Nation “Kernkraft (cover)”.

Some good songs, not to crazy about using covers but what can you do. There is also another new thing for songs this year and they come in the form of fight songs. Yes, team fight songs for seven NFL teams will be in game. Here is the list of the fight songs in game: Chicago Bears “Bear Down, Chicago Bears”, Detroit Lions “Gridiron Heroes”, Green Bay Packers “Go! You Packers! Go!”, Miami Dolphins “Miami Dolphins #1”, Minnesota Vikings “Skol, Vikings”, Philadelphia Eagles “Fly, Eagles Fly” and Washington Redskins “Hail to the Redskins”.

Having fight songs in the game is a great direction to go. Yet, with all these new features and tweaks, is the game worth putting up $60 for it? My answer is yes, if you are a huge Madden and NFL fan.

I think the GameFlow mode is something you can really sink your teeth into and if co-op is your thing then the 3-on-3 is for you. If you’re just interested in on-line franchise, offline franchise and superstar and already own Madden NFL 10, there isn’t any reason for me to tell you to go out and buy this one. You’ll be getting the same from those three modes just with updated rosters.

In a Moment the World Changed Forever

2010-07-28T18:53:00.000-04:00

It’s time to look at a haunting portrayal of a post-apocalyptic world in John Hillcoat’s adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s novel, The Road.

The film is about a father and son heading south for the coast in a destroyed America. They are looking for good people and trying to avoid cannibal survivors. They seek supplies in the debris of houses and stores and also have a revolver with two shells. This gun is for either self-protection or the ultimate decision of committing suicide.

I do have to say this up front that the movie is a hard film to watch, because it deals with some very heavy subject matter such as murder, Cannibalism, suicide and other terrible things. So, going into this film you have to be prepared to experience some awful things.

First thing first let’s look at the characters, because in order for us to care about them the performances have to be believable and they are. We have Viggo Mortensen playing Man and Kodi Smith-McPhee playing Boy and they both give top notch performances. You believe everything about their characters and you are actually frightened for them.

Man and Boy’s relationship is done very well and really shows us the complexity of being a parent in such an unforgiving world.

Charlize Theron is also in the film and plays women, she also delivers a great performance; I just hated her character. I guess it was better for me not to like her because it just made Mortensen’s character stronger.

Robert Duvall makes a cameo as Old Man and has a wonderful scene with Mortensen, a scene I won’t get into detail about because it needs to be watched to truly appreciate it.

Besides great performances we have a great story. The story is heartbreaking, dark and unforgiving. It will take all of your endurance to make it through until the end and you will be rewarded for doing so.

The great thing about the story is that it’s a personal experience in a post-apocalyptic world, something that has been really left out from this type of movie in the past.

The direction of the film is also done well and we have John Hillcoat to thank for that. Hillcoat, thanks to the films strong performances, is able to carry this movie all the way to the end effectively.

Now that I’m done talking about the film’s positive points lets move into some negative territory.

One thing that I do believe will be viewed as a negative point in some people’s eyes is the films endless agony. I do have to say that it is something that can get tiresome after awhile, but for me made it more effective at the films end.

Everything else in the movie I thought was fine. Yeah there are some CGI shots that weren’t my favorite and the film can move slowly at times but for me it’s simply one of the best movies I’ve seen in awhile.

A-

The Horror of Zoo Disc Golf

2010-07-23T15:40:00.000-04:00

During the summer we see the release of a lot of big sports games, and then there are the smaller games ... the game that are more obscure and off the beaten path, games like WiiWare’s Zoo Disc Golf.
Disc Golf has been very popular on the Nintendo Wii. Games like Wii Sports Resort and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 have nearly perfected it. So, it was only a matter of time that we saw a game dedicated to the sport and that’s what we got in Zoo Disc Golf.

This game was released on the Nintendo Wii’s shop channel in its WiiWare section for $10, which is $10 too much.

The game is ugly and offers little to no fun. Also, why would they choose zoo animals as its characters? That makes no sense at all.

The whole experience will have you asking, “who put this game together and why are they charging us $10?”

If you do ever get the opportunity to play this game, chances are you will want to throw the controller because it’s so hard to play. I’m not talking about the overall difficulty of the game but rather the gameplay, which is simply a piece of garbage. If you can get past the broken gameplay you are still stuck playing the same course, which is even more punishment. Yet, you don’t have to suffer alone, because the game does offer a four player option, so you can torture your friends and family with this sorry excuse of a game.

Then the game has the nerve to keep your scores, but for what? There is no online leaderboards and every time you look at your score you are reminded of the time you lost playing a virtual zoo animal in a disc golf game.

My biggest question is who the heck thought this was a good idea? Yeah, let’s make a disc golf game and have the players play as a kangaroo, a kangaroo that will now haunt me.

The other question I have is why would you release it? Did somebody actually sit down and play this and think it was good?

I feel like they’re laughing at everyone who pays $10 for this game. They should be ashamed, why couldn’t they at least tried to make something passable, I’m not even asking for award-winning, I’m just asking for passable. If they made something passable then I wouldn’t mind so much, but to put something out that is so blatantly bad, well there is no excuse for that.

With all the bad out of the way let’s try to find some good in this game.

Well … it’s set in a zoo that makes their animals play disc golf … that’s kind of funny, but I don’t want to play a game based around that idea.

It’s hard to find anything good in this game. It’s weird, broken and repetitive, which is a shame. If Nintendo is going to have a service where you download exclusive games then it should really put as much attention into those game as it does its other games. Because, when you get a bad game like this it does reflect on Nintendo and Nintendo knows that it can do so much more with its WiiWare games.

Look at the Xbox 360; it just released a game called Limbo on Xbox Live arcade and it’s getting a lot of positive attention, because time was put into that game to make it different and enjoyable. That’s what we should see in WiiWare game. If you want to play a good disc golf game spend the money and pick up either Wii Sports Resort or Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10.

There was another sports game that was released on WiiWare recently by the name of Reel Fishing Challenge II. I haven’t played this one yet, but looking online, I can tell it’s bad. Yet, I just might get it to see how bad it can possibly be.

Someone is Missing

2010-07-19T18:30:00.000-04:00

It’s time we dive into Martin Scorsese’s psychological thriller, Shutter Island, and see if it ranks up there with his other work. (NOTE: Spoilers follow)

The film is set in 1954 and U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) has taken on an assignment that leads him to Boston’s Shutter Island Ashecliffe Hospital. His job is to investigate the disappearance of a patient with his newly assigned partner Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo).

The hospital is filled with the criminally insane and twists and turns arise when he gets deeper into the secrets of the hospital. A hurricane then hits, leaving Daniels and Aule not only to solve the case but to survive what ever is going on behind the hospitals closed doors.

The first thing I want to talk about is the films performances. Everyone in the cast does their job effectively, but the one performance that blew me away was not even from a lead. The performance is that of Jackie Earle Haley who plays George Noyce an inmate in Ward C. He has a small scene with DiCaprio in the middle of the film and he steals it.

Now for the leads, DiCaprio does a nice job, the only problem I had with him was some of his line delivery in a very early scene; it felt like he was reading but after that he gets it together. Ruffalo does a great job and I thought his performance was good consistently though the whole film, same thing for Ben Kingsly character. The only thing I didn’t like about the Kingsly character was that pipe he has; sometimes I feel like he doesn’t know what to do with it. I also feel like that could have used Ruffalo’s character a lot more, in my opinion he was underused.

Now we get to Ted Levine who has a small role as the warden. Those of you who don’t know who Ted Levine is he played Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs and has that infamous voice. He has a small role but puts together a character that blew me away. There is a scene with him and DiCaprio where Levine discusses violence and it’s such a well acted and written scene that it has become my favorite of the film. Besides from that one scene, Levine is just in the background not doing much, which is a waste.

So the film has solid performances but what about story? Well the film’s story is very well constructed and has a steady narrative until the final act, where things start to be hurried along.

The film ends with a twist and the twist is believable, don’t get me wrong, but it’s definitely bloated. The movie doesn’t leave anything for the audience to discover on their own, it tells you everything, which I thought was too much for such a small time space. What I think Hollywood forgets is that audience’s have comprehension skills to the point we don’t need to be told every little thing.

The film’s story is based off of a novel by Dennis Lehane who also wrote Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone. To be honest I liked Shutter Island’s premise and story much more than the other two. I found that Shutter Island’s setting and characters were far more interesting and offered the audience something new and different.

Speaking of the setting, Scorsese does a terrific job in creating the island and also building up the feeling of uncertainty and impending doom. It’s a very nice looking film with every shot having quality. The scenes that really stood out to me were the dream sequences that Teddy Daniels has; they are creative, colorful and disturbing.

Summing everything up the film might feel emotionally distant to some, but Scorsese is able to put together a well constructed film and the cast give great performances that make this movie come alive. The third act does hurt it, but not to the point where it makes it a bad movie. It’s a deep film that has many elements, causing you to watch it twice to fully experience and understand everything. It may not be Martin Scorsese’s best work but it’s still very good.

B+

When the Moon is Full the Legend Comes to Life

2010-07-16T19:00:00.000-04:00

It’s time to revisit a horror movie legend in Joe Johnston’s remake of The Wolfman.

First thing I want to get out of the way is the fact that nothing will ever top the original, with that said there are positive points about the remake but also some gleaming flaws that some people might not be able to overlook.

The movie’s main character, Lawrence Talbot (Benicio Del Toro), is a stage actor who, as a child, was sent away to an insane asylum after his mother’s death. While in America he is visited by his brother’s fiancée, Gwen Conliffe (Emily Blunt), who informs him that his brother has gone missing.

Talbot then returns home to his father’s estate in the English countryside to only learn his brother’s body was found and he had been mauled to death. Talbot then sets out to find his brother’s killer. What he discovers is a true horror lurking in the countryside and his own destiny.

The story is not Oscar winning, but its fun, there I said it. Just go with it and don’t try to over analyze every little thing.

The greatest thing the movie has going for it is its look. The film has a very gothic look and it works well. I loved everything from the sets to the outdoor scenes, because they were all filmed on location in England. After watching Avatar and Alice in Wonderland it’s refreshing to actually see real sets and real environments and not just images that were created in a computer.

CGI is used in the film, but it’s only used to enhance certain areas of the movie but it never takes the lead. I couldn’t believe that CGI was actually being used as a tool, the main reason it was invented!

What really impressed me were the makeup effects. Rick Baker, you might know him for his effects in American Werewolf in London, really out did himself. I was really disappointed that he wasn’t able to do a full animatronics transformation scene. The film does go with CGI for the transformations, which weren’t my favorite but they were at least done well.

Now, for the characters, Del Toro does a great job. He is able to pull it off and I can’t see how they could’ve cast anyone else but him. Anthony Hopkins who plays Del Toro’s father is also good, but he just seemed like Anthony Hopkins most of the time. Emily Blunt does a good job playing the love interest and Hugo Weaving, well; he’s Hugo Weaving which isn’t a bad thing.

Yes, the movie’s flaws would be around some of the pacing, it might feel slow to some people. The story could’ve been better, but for what it is it seems just fine to me. The movie does go into the realm of camp and also looses some focus with some questionable editing.

Yet, even with those problems I had fun watching The Wolfman. I found it to be more entertaining then Alice in Wonderland and what I don’t understand is how critics can gush over Avatar's story, which is clearly a rip off from other films, but rip this one in half.

It’s not a perfect movie but its fun. Just don’t go into it thinking it’s going to be the greatest film ever and just enjoy for what it is – a monster movie.

Cameras Ready to Roll

2010-07-15T15:58:00.000-04:00

By James Drzewiecki
Staff Writer

BRISTOL — Local filmmaker Ryan Casey is about to shoot his feature length film and is asking for help. “As you may know, I will be making my first feature-length film, starting this week,” Casey said. “It is entitled ‘American Jubilee.’ It’s a comedy with existential elements — similar to ‘Little Miss Sunshine,’ ‘The Royal Tennenbaums,’ ‘Everyone Says I Love You,’ etc. — which I wrote and will direct.”

He plans to start shooting this Saturday in New Haven and will also shoot in Bristol.

“It’s very important that we continue to make films here in Connecticut. It benefits the local economy and nurtures local-area arts and culture,” Casey said.

Casey will be using this film for his independent study class at the University of Hartford, where he is finishing work on his master’s degree in communication.

“I’m 70 percent through the graduate program with a GPA of 3.90,” Casey said.

He also plans to enter the work in film festivals nationwide as he continues to move his career as a filmmaker forward.

Casey is asking for donations from the public to help him make his movie.

“All donations go toward feeding our hard-working cast and crew, purchasing props and buying exciting things like insurance,” Casey said.

People who wish to donate can do so through PayPal at his website,www.ajmovie.com. Once on that site click on the donate button at the bottom of the page.

For those of you who don’t want to give your credit card number online you can send a check directly to Ryan Casey. To find out where to send the check, e-mail him atRyan@ajmovie.com for more information.

Those who donate to the film will have their name appear in the thank-you section of the film’s credits.
“Any amount whatsoever helps,” Casey said. “Also, because I’m also using this film toward attaining my graduate degree, in effect, you are contributing to an educational endeavor. So, this might be a tax write-off, though, I would check with your accountant first.”
The film begins shooting after an eight-month pre-production process.
“We have a crew of about 20 local artists and craftspeople and a cast of 14,” Casey said. “Mayor Ward and his team, and also, Police Chief Divenere, and Bristol Chamber’s Mike Nicastro also have been helpful at facilitation of the filming in Bristol. Nicastro did everything he could to make sure the film was shot here.”
American Jubilee will be done shooting Sept. 1, and they are looking at a Feb. 1, 2011, release date.
Casey also wrote and directed “Crushing Pennies,” which was released in 2009. His first film was “The Icon of 2nd Street,” which starred Connecticut native Troy Farrand.

Top 10 'Lost' Moments

2010-07-13T16:17:00.000-04:00

*SPOILER WARNING*

10. The Incident: Man In Black talks to Jacob: After seasons of mystery surrounding the islands mysterious leader, Jacob, we’re finally introduced to him and his arch-nemesis. I like the scene because it really setup Jacob’s and MIB’s relationship. In this short scene we learn what their motivations are, which begins an interesting conflict.

9. Through the Looking Glass: Jack's flash forward: During the first three seasons the stories of the lostaways before the island were told through a series of flashbacks. That all ended in the season finale of season three where we actually get a flash forward and learn that Jack, Kate and maybe others had made it off the island. This is one of the biggest jaw-dropping moments of the series.

8. Live Together, Die Alone: We're the "good guys": Ben Linus is simply one of the best characters on Lost, but before we knew him as Ben his name was Henry Gale. Throughout season 2 Henry was being held prisoner in the Dharma hatch named The Swan, that the lostaways had taken over. He was basically the Trojan horse for the others. At the end of season 2 we learn that he is in fact the leader and this scene he also claims to be the “good guys".

7. The End: Anti-Locke vs. Jack: The best showdown in the series was between Anti-Locke (the MIB in Locke’s body) and Jack. At this point of the episode, Desmond has uncorked the island (yes, the island has a cork that holds back evil) and it’s falling into the ocean. Yet, the before un-killable Anti-Locke has now become vulnerable since the island as been uncorked and Jack is looking to finish him off once and for all.

6. The Man Behind the Curtain: Ben wipes out Dharma: In this episode we see Ben, well become Ben. One of the most haunting scene’s in Lost history, it shows how Ben will stop at nothing to protect the island.

5. Deus Ex Machina: Locke struggles with faith: The first season had a lot of powerful scenes but the ones that I found the most rewarding where the ones that involved John Locke. In this scene we see that Locke has become victim of a con, a con that his own father orchestrated. It’s such a powerful scene because here is a man that has lost so much in his life and loosing his faith only to gain it back is beautiful.

4. Orientation: John and Jack argue about the button: Locke and Jack have always had confrontations, because John is a man of faith and Jack is a man of science. In this scene wee see Locke desperately wanting Jack to believe and to have him push a button to save the world in a hatch Locke discovered in the first season. John admits that it has never been easy to have faith and pushing the button is a leap of faith. The performances given in this scenes are very powerful and my favorite Jack and Locke scene.

3. Through the Looking Glass: Charlie's Death: Charlie’s death is probably the most talked about death scene in Lost. This scene is very sad, we loose one very likable and important character, but it’s also beautiful because he sacrifices himself to save the other lostaways.

2. Pilot: Jack wakes up in the jungle and the plane wreckage: The scene that started it all; the scene that hooked us and kept us all the way until the end.

1. Walkabout: John Locke Walks: The best scene in the entire series. We knew very little about Locke before this episode and when the scene came where we learn Locke was in a wheelchair before the island, my mind was blown. This is the scene that made me a die hard Lost fan.

'Lost' Earns 12 Emmy Nominations (List Below)

2010-07-08T19:28:00.000-04:00

Outstanding Comedy Series

"Curb Your Enthusiasm" (2000)

"Glee" (2009)

"Modern Family" (2009)

"Nurse Jackie" (2009)

"The Office" (2005)

"30 Rock" (2006)

Outstanding Drama Series

"Breaking Bad" (2008)

"Dexter" (2006)

"The Good Wife" (2009)

"Lost" (2004)

"Mad Men" (2007)

"True Blood" (2008)

Outstanding Made for Television Movie

Endgame (2009/I)

Georgia O'Keeffe (2009) (TV)

Moonshot (2009) (TV)

The Special Relationship (2010) (TV)

Temple Grandin (2010) (TV)

You Don't Know Jack (2010) (TV)

Outstanding Miniseries

"The Pacific" (2010)

"Return to Cranford" (2007)

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series

Alec Baldwin for "30 Rock" (2006)

Steve Carell for "The Office" (2005)

Larry David for "Curb Your Enthusiasm" (2000)

Matthew Morrison for "Glee" (2009)

Jim Parsons for "The Big Bang Theory" (2007)

Tony Shalhoub for "Monk" (2002)

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series

Kyle Chandler for "Friday Night Lights" (2006)

Bryan Cranston for "Breaking Bad" (2008)

Matthew Fox for "Lost" (2004)

Michael C. Hall for "Dexter" (2006)

Jon Hamm for "Mad Men" (2007)

Hugh Laurie for "House M.D." (2004)

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie

Jeff Bridges for A Dog Year (2009)

Ian McKellen for "The Prisoner" (2009)

Al Pacino for You Don't Know Jack (2010) (TV)

Dennis Quaid for The Special Relationship (2010) (TV)

Michael Sheen for The Special Relationship (2010) (TV)

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series

Toni Collette for "United States of Tara" (2009)

Edie Falco for "Nurse Jackie" (2009)

Tina Fey for "30 Rock" (2006)

Julia Louis-Dreyfus for "The New Adventures of Old Christine" (2006)

Lea Michele for "Glee" (2009)

Amy Poehler for "Parks and Recreation" (2009)

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series

Connie Britton for "Friday Night Lights" (2006)

Glenn Close for "Damages" (2007)

Mariska Hargitay for "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (1999)

January Jones for "Mad Men" (2007)

Julianna Margulies for "The Good Wife" (2009)

Kyra Sedgwick for "The Closer" (2005)

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie

Joan Allen for Georgia O'Keeffe (2009) (TV)

Claire Danes for Temple Grandin (2010) (TV)

Hope Davis for The Special Relationship (2010) (TV)

Judi Dench for "Return to Cranford" (2007)

Maggie Smith for Capturing Mary (2007) (TV)

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series

Ty Burrell for "Modern Family" (2009)

Chris Colfer for "Glee" (2009)

Jon Cryer for "Two and a Half Men" (2003)

Jesse Tyler Ferguson for "Modern Family" (2009)

Neil Patrick Harris for "How I Met Your Mother" (2005)

Eric Stonestreet for "Modern Family" (2009)

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series

Andre Braugher for "Men of a Certain Age" (2009)

Michael Emerson for "Lost" (2004)

Terry O'Quinn for "Lost" (2004)

Aaron Paul for "Breaking Bad" (2008)

Martin Short for "Damages" (2007)

John Slattery for "Mad Men" (2007)

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie

Michael Gambon for "Emma" (2009)

John Goodman for You Don't Know Jack (2010) (TV)

Jonathan Pryce for "Return to Cranford" (2007)

Patrick Stewart for Hamlet (2009) (TV)

David Strathairn for Temple Grandin (2010) (TV)

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series

Julie Bowen for "Modern Family" (2009)

Jane Krakowski for "30 Rock" (2006)

Jane Lynch for "Glee" (2009)

Holland Taylor for "Two and a Half Men" (2003)

Sofía Vergara for "Modern Family" (2009)

Kristen Wiig for "Saturday Night Live" (1975)

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series

Christine Baranski for "The Good Wife" (2009)

Rose Byrne for "Damages" (2007)

Sharon Gless for "Burn Notice" (2007)

Christina Hendricks for "Mad Men" (2007)

Elisabeth Moss for "Mad Men" (2007)

Archie Panjabi for "The Good Wife" (2009)

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie

Kathy Bates for "Alice" (2009)

Catherine O'Hara for Temple Grandin (2010) (TV)

Julia Ormond for Temple Grandin (2010) (TV)

Susan Sarandon for You Don't Know Jack (2010) (TV)

Brenda Vaccaro for You Don't Know Jack (2010) (TV)

Outstanding Variety, Music Or Comedy Series

"The Colbert Report" (2005)

"The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" (1996)

"Real Time with Bill Maher" (2003)

"Saturday Night Live" (1975)

"The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien" (2009)

Outstanding Reality Competition Program

"The Amazing Race" (2001)

"American Idol" (2002)

"Dancing with the Stars" (2005/I)

"Project Runway" (2005)

"Top Chef" (2006)

Outstanding Host For A Reality Or Reality - Competition Program

Tom Bergeron for "Dancing with the Stars" (2005/I)

Phil Keoghan for "The Amazing Race" (2001)

Heidi Klum for "Project Runway" (2005)

Jeff Probst for "Survivor" (2000)

Ryan Seacrest for "American Idol" (2002)

Outstanding Reality Program

"Antiques Roadshow" (1997)

"Dirty Jobs" (2005)

"Food Revolution" (2010)

"Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List" (2005)

"MythBusters" (2003)

"Undercover Boss" (2010)

Sneak Peek At Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

2010-06-28T17:06:00.000-04:00

Alice Returns to Wonderland

2010-06-22T18:58:00.000-04:00

When it was announced that Tim Burton was directing the live-action Alice in Wonderland, it seemed like a match made in heaven. Well, after viewing Alice’s new journey I wouldn’t say it was a perfect match, but it had its moments.

The story remains some what the same. It’s not really a full fledged retelling as it is a re-imagining. I like to look at it as a sequel, because technically it is.

The film has an adult Alice, who is being forced into a life she doesn’t want and to escape this she chases the white rabbit down the infamous rabbit hole. She ends up back in Wonderland, oh wait I’m sorry it’s actually called “Underland”, and finds herself in the world she used to dream of as a child. We soon learn that Alice is the chosen one to defeat the Jabberwocky, a dragon of sorts, and restore the throne to the pure White Queen (Enough with “The Chosen One” storylines).

The story has a lot of similarities, in my opinion, to the mini-series Tin Man. If you haven’t seen that, it was about an older Dorothy returning to the Land of Oz to defeat the Wicked Witch once again. You can argue that they’re completely different, but for me they felt very similar.

There are things I liked about Alice in Wonderland, but it’s not a perfect movie by any means and has some real problems.

The first thing I want to talk about is the story. The story, for me, is the most important aspect of any movie. If you don’t have a good story then how are you expecting the audience to get emotionally involved?

In Burton’s Alice, he gets rid of the book’s narrative and a lot of its heart and swaps it with visuals. Why? I didn’t really like the visuals; I thought it all looked too cartoony. I would be able to bare it if the visuals had Burton’s personality in them, but they didn’t. I think I saw Tim Burton shine through twice in this movie and everything else felt nothing like him.

The CGI world just annoys me. It’s just like Avatar, these computer created worlds don’t have the same human feeling as actual sets and locations and these films SUFFER because of it. I want this overuse of CGI to stop, I don’t care about 3D, I don’t care that each blade of grass took a team of animator’s months to create; I just want a good story, with REAL sets. All these CGI worlds are a waste of time and money.

The Positive things about this movie are in its performances. Mia Wasikowska was very believable as an older Alice and did everything well, even in scenes that felt rushed and lacking any real emotion (the ending battle scene).

The beginning when Alice was in the real world, I thought it was very well shot and done. I thought those were the most magical moments of the movie, because it was real and I felt connected to what was going on. Then we get into the fake looking Wonderland and that connection you had begins to break.

Johnny Depp reminded me as Jack Sparrow, the way he moved and talked was all Sparrow, but it works. For people who were looking for something completely different from Depp might be let down, but he was a decent Hatter. But why does The Mad Hatter have such a huge role? Why is he the character in the center of the DVD? It’s not The Hatter in Wonderland, its Alice in Wonderland and Alice gets pushed to the side on the DVD and blu-ray covers.

The Blue Caterpillar was awesome and really the only CGI created character I liked. He told you exactly how he feels, which made for some great moments with him and Alice.

Going back to the scenes that felt rushed, everything moved fast, which sucked because once we got to the ending I didn’t really feel connected to the characters. I didn’t feel the characters really had that much enthusiasm in saving Wonderland aka Underland, it felt like they were just doing it, because they had to.

The movie has some flaws, but for kids it will be fun. For those of you who are looking for a very unconventional Tim Burton film are going to be very disappointed. This film is very conventional.

C+

A lot to look forward to with sport games

2010-06-18T16:50:00.000-04:00

E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, one of the biggest video game shows of the year, has displayed this year’s upcoming sports games.
There are a lot of new sports titles making their way to store shelves this year, most of them are continuations of franchises we all know and love. So, nothing that original this year, but is that a bad thing? Did anyone even play the original football game Backbreaker?
Electronic Arts, one of the biggest names in the sport gaming world, showed off their new installments in their popular franchises. They had Madden NFL 11, that will be coming out for PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii and PSP, EA Sports Active 2.0, which will be a Wii only title, EA Sports MMA for the PS3 and Xbox 360, NCAA Football 11 for the PS2, PS3 and Xbox 360, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 for Xbox 360, Wii and PS3, NHL 11 for Xbox 360 and PS3, FIFA Soccer 11 for the DS, PS3, PSP, Xbox 360 and Wii and the very anticipated NBA Jam, which will be a Wii exclusive.
Out of all those games I’m really excited for NBA Jam. I was a huge fan of the game on the Sega Genesis, it claimed many hours of my childhood. I just hope it can recapture all the things that made that original game so great.

The next game studio is Ubisoft. They showed off one sport game this year and that was Shaun White Skateboarding. This game will come out for the Xbox 360, PC, Wii and PS3. I know a lot of people disliked Shaun White Snowboarding, but I bought it for the Xbox 360 and I actually liked it. Yeah, I know the game lacked in many areas, but it was fun. SO, I’m actually interested in seeing how this skateboarding game plays.
Sony Computer Entertainment is next on the list. The three games they had were Sports Champions for the PS3, The Fight: Lights Out for the PS3 and Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip for the PSP. All these games look interesting.
UFC has been brought back this year by THQ with UFC Undisputed 2010, which is a good game. I’m not going to say that UFC Undisputed 2010 is a great game because it gets repetitive. Yet, it’s not a bad game and UFC fans will really enjoy it. THQ also had WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2011, which will come out for the Xbox 360, DS, PS2, PS3, Wii, PC and PSP. They are also coming out with WWE SmackDown vs. Raw Online for the PC.
It’s going to be interesting when EA Sports releases EA Sports MMA to go up against UFC Undisputed. I wonder which one is going to be better and which one is going to sell more copies.
Konami is next on the list and they have three games. First up is Lucha Libre AAA: Heroes del Ring that is coming out for PS3 Xbox 360, Wii, DSiWare and PSP. Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 is getting an iPhone game and their last game is The Cage: Pro Style Battling Practice, a Wii exclusive.
Konami has some interesting titles, but why are they so long? Who is going to remember Lucha Libre AAA: Heroes del Ring? That’s a long title; couldn’t they just call it Lucha Libre AAA? What would have been wrong with that title?
Now 2K Sports is going to have NBA 2K11. That’s the game that will have Michael Jordan on the cover. I know that everyone is excited about this and they should be, but my question is who is going to put on the cover of NBA 2K12 that can top Michael Jordan? Oh, no one thought about that! Next years cover is already a disappointment.
A lot to look forward to this year.

Concert to celebrate Eastern’s 50th anniversary

2010-06-18T16:40:00.000-04:00

BRISTOL — Bristol Eastern High School has turned 50 and two local musicians with a longtime association with the school, Ken Ferris and Rich Theriault, are putting on a free concert Saturday afternoon to cap off the celebration.
“We’ve been celebrating our 50th with all different events over the course of the year and this concert will be the final event with vocal and instrumental classics,” said V. Everett Lyons, the principal of BEHS, who will be retiring after 25 years at the school.
The 50th Reunion Concert will feature many alumni and current students.
The program will include a slide show by a former student showing the school when he was there.

“I am excited to meet some of the alumni,” said Lyons.
There will be a full chorus and a full orchestra, all led by Ferris and Theriault.
Ferris put in more than 30 years with BEHS and is now the director of the Bristol Choral Society.
Theriault used to be the band director at BEHS and has a 20-year history with the school. He is a part of the Bristol Brass and Wind Ensemble and the Bristol Reunion Jazz Band.
“They are both incredible guys, who would give you the shirts off their backs,” said Kim Hazelton, a teacher at Bristol Eastern High School.
Hazelton is a graduate of BEHS and was a student of Ken Ferris’.
“Everybody loved him. We all looked at him as an uncle,” said Hazelton. “He had such passion for music that made you have passion for it.”
Hazelton was a part of the concert choir, swing choir and Madrigal Singers, and this Saturday she will be performing in the reunion concert.
“I’m thrilled for the concert. We have alumni coming from as far as Florida. It’s really going to be a reunion weekend,” said Hazelton.
Ferris is concentrating on the chorus and Theriault is concentrating on the instrumental.
It was a huge task for them to put together the show but on Saturday it will become a shining moment in the history of the school and its music program.
“I’m excited. We have a great amount of pride in our music program and this is a great opportunity to bring back some of our alumni musicians,” said Lyons.
The concert will be Saturday at 3 p.m. at Bristol Eastern High School auditorium. There is no charge for this event.
“Come and listen to the history of the music program,” said Lyons.

St. Paul alum Lippia returns to perform and to give back

2010-06-17T15:41:00.000-04:00

BRISTOL — Steve Lippia, one of the most prominent, in-demand vocalists and St. Paul Catholic High School alumnus, will be returning to his school to perform and to give back.
Lippia is a Southington native who graduated St. Paul in 1974.
“It was a great school and it continues to be a great school,” said Lippia, who will be performing a one-night event called “Come Fly With Me!” Friday, June 25.
There is a 6 p.m. compli-mentary reception. The show begins at 8 p.m. He will be performing swing music in the benefit for St. Paul.

“It’s my way of giving back,” said Lippia.

Cary DuPont, St. Paul Catholic High School president, is very excited for him to return to the school.

“I’m very grateful and excited,” said DuPont. “Tickets are selling well and it’s going to be a great night,” he added.

This will be the first event, that DuPont is planning in a series of events to have alumni return to perform and give back to their school.

“This all came about with alumni being involved with the school and we have several alumni that are on Broadway,” said DuPont.
The first of these events is of course going to be Steve Lippia. Yet, with all his success, it hasn’t been an easy road.
He overcame obstacles by challenging them and believing in himself.
“A lot of people will try telling you ‘no you can’t do that’ or try to snuff out your dream,” said Lippia in an interview. “You are in control of the engine behind your life. If someone can’t see it for themselves, don’t let their limitations define you.”
He started his adult life after college at Central Connecticut State University with a small paving business. That was soon fazed out when he took a job in sales. But his goal was to perform.
“My father had a friend in the entertainment industry. I asked my father if he could get in touch with him and he did. He then contacted me and just gave me the facts about the industry. All the facts were very, very negative,” said Lippia, but he pressed on.
“You have to create the luck and you have to refuse to be denied,” said Lippia.
After years of hard work and dedication, Lippia started to get regional attention. He was standing up on a stage and performing to large audiences.
“It’s like an out of body experience when performing. I will ask myself, is this really me doing it?” said Lippia.
He has headlined in such places like the Rio Suites Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas and Resorts Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City.
Lippia has performed to sold-out audiences with major symphonies including Peter Nero and Philly Pops, Rochester Philharmonic, Palm Beach Pops, Naples Philharmonic and many more across the country.
It was a long and hard road, but “Everybody has to deal with adversity at some point in their life . . . it’s what you do with adversity that’s important. You should use it as a tool,” said Lippia. “Look at Rocky Marciano, he took quite a few punches but he stands up as one of the most successful boxers.”
Lippia does between 80 to 100 shows a year.
“I live at the U.S. Airways,” said Lippia.
He has performed for and met people like Aaron Spelling, Donald Trump, Michael Dell, Irwin Winkler, Joe Pesci and Henry Connick Jr.
“Harry Connick Jr. is a great musician, he is very knowledgeable of music and an excited and enthused entertainer,” said Lippia. “I met Joe Pesci after a late show when I was performing at the Rio in Las Vegas. He was backstage and said to me ‘nice job, very, very nice.’ His mother told him to see me, she is a big fan,” he added.
One of the biggest moments of Lippia’s career was being able to play with Frank Sinatra’s band. He had to learn all new music.
“It was do or die,” said Lippia. “But I had an entertainment S.W.A.T. team behind me to get me through the engagement,” he added.
The night was a huge moment in his life and career, a moment that ended with thunderous applause. “It was an amazing night for me,” said Lippia.

Tickets for his St. Paul show are $45 and $75 for the premium seats. They are available at http://spchs.net/ or you can call the school at (860)584-0911.

If you are interested in learning about more events that Steve Lippia will be doing or to buy his music, visit his website at http://www.stevelippia.com/.

Enter the World ... Of Giant Smurfs

2010-06-16T17:44:00.000-04:00

People have been in two groups when it comes to Avatar. There is the group who loves it and wishes they could live on Pandora and then there are the people that hate it and believe that it was a waste of time. For me I guess I would fall in the middle. I didn’t really love it and I didn’t really hate it. The movie has some good points but it has some bad points.

The film centers around paraplegic Marine Jake Sully, whose brother is killed, he then takes his place on a mission to the planet Pandora. There he learns the greedy corporate figurehead's, Parker Selfridge, mission to drive the Na’vi (humanoid natives on Pandora) out of their tree home so he can get to a large abundant of a unique element (I think it's metal) that resides there.

Jake then uses his dead brothers Avatar, infiltrates the Na’Vi, learns about them and their ways, and I won’t spoil how this all unfolds but I think you can pretty much guess the ending.

The biggest problem I had with this film was its predictability. Many have called this film Dances with Wolves in Space and it is, but instead of Native Americans you have smurf people. SO, we’ve seen this story before and we know what we can expect, which isn’t a good thing. If I go into a movie and I’m able to guess the ending in the films first five minutes then what’s the point?

Many people argue that the film isn’t about the story but about the experience of being on Pandora. That’s wonderful, but I don’t want to spend money on a movie that has no original story and can’t get me emotionally involved. Yeah the CGI is wonderful, until the end, where the CGI is overused (It was like their computer threw up on the screen).

Ok it was unfair for me to say that the story isn’t original. It’s original in some areas. The whole Avatar program, where you sync your human brain with your Avatar body, that’s cool. That’s all I got.

Now another big flaw with this movie is its characters. All the typical character types are here we have the greedy business head, the redneck Colonel and of course the typical hero who finds his destiny. Yeah, if it’s not broken, then why fix it? But these characters are so predictable that they are boring. Once they step onto the screen we know exactly what their motivations are and this brings me back to this movie being so predictable.

This films huge deal was its 3D and it seemed to skimp on story and characters. If the characters were a little more interesting, then I would have liked the film better, but they are never really taking out of 1D and placed in 3D with the visuals.

If you can overlook the flaws there are things to like about the film. I thought the beginning, where Jake Sully arrives on Pandora was done well. We have the fish out of water protagonist and we’re learning things with him. When we are introduced to the Na’Vi for the first time, learning about them, is things we’ve seen before but some things are interesting.

The movie did go on forever though. The last battle was a little overtop for me, with way too much CGI. Did we forget that CGI is a tool? Why are so many directors over using CGI? I like sets, I like location and I like things to have a real feeling to them rather then have something so clean that was created in a computer.

They really could have condensed the movie to a shorter runtime; I don’t think it would have lost anything special; it might have gained things from it.

Now for the people who have Post-Avatar Depression Syndrome, what the hell? Why are you depressed about not being a seven foot tall smurf? Also, why would you want to live on Pandora? They make it very clear in the beginning of the film that everything out in the jungle want’s to kill you. Yeah, that’s a place I want to spend my vacation.

All and all this film is definitely a giant leap forward in filmmaking and pushes technology further. But, as for a piece of storytelling it’s nothing special.

B-

Conan Puts on a Show to Remember

2010-06-07T17:58:00.000-04:00

He has been known as Consie, The Cone-Zone, Coney, Conando, Big Red and the infamous Coco, and last night I was in the front row at his ‘legally prohibited from being funny on television tour’.

The show was great; it was constantly entertaining and had all the little things that made his late night talk show so original and different from everything else. Let’s face it, when

Conan moved over to the Tonight Show I felt like he was being restricted. He did some memorable things during his time hosting; my personal favorite was from the very first episode where he ran from New York to LA while Cheap Trick’s Surrender played. Yet, most of my favorite moments come from his late night show.

Going into the Mohegan Sun Arena I really didn’t know what to expect. We took our seats in the front row and after the band played we were treated to a movie that filled us in on Conan’s life after he left the Tonight Show.

The movie opened up with a close up shot of Conan’s eyes. The camera pulls back and we see that Conan has grown his hair long, has a full beard and has put on a ton of weight. He is lying in a pile of pizza boxes and empty beer bottles and seems to be in a daze until the phone rings. O’Brien picks up the phone and starts yelling to the person on the other end that there is no Debbie living there.

After that we see O’Brien wondering around his house, jumping on a trampoline, eating a bucket of KFC as he soaks his feet in his pool and other random things that are played with Eric Carmen’s ‘All By Myself’. It was hilarious and a perfect way to start the show and it also made me realize that I have to wait until September to see his new show, it seems so far away.

After the movie O’Brien made his way onto the stage. He opened the show with a great monologue that poked fun at Mohegan Sun, Uncasville and even played off the crowd effortlessly.

During that opening there were two things that were really great. At one point a girl from the crowd yelled out “I’m Pregnant” and Conan, who chuckled at her at first, came back and said “good luck trying to prove anything.” He then turned to the crowd and said “Imagine telling my wife that things got a little crazy in Uncasville.”

He then went on to make fun of the casino and its surroundings. He made fun of the robotic wolfs that Mohegan Sun has on display and how the Casino is in the middle of the woods. He said you can loose a ton of money in Vegas and then forget about it, because there is so much to do. Yet, if you loose a ton of money at Mohegan Sun you are faced with a long drive home through the woods.

We were then treated to Andy Richter. He became a huge part of the show after the opening events and Conan and Andy played off each other well. Richter did do a small skit, where he messed up a little bit, but it was fine he was still funny.

Now, a huge surprise was seeing Triumph the Insult Comic Dog. I thought there was no chance that he would be there, because I thought that NBC owned the rights to that character, but he was there up on the big screen. He of course made fun on Uncasville, while he had a cigar hanging out of his mouth. The other character that I was shocked to see was The Masturbating Bear, he didn’t have his classic music, but he did come out during the final musical number and did his thing.

O’Brien didn’t bring back just classic characters, but he brought back the wheel, which used to be the lever, and when Conan pulls it a Walker, Texas Ranger clip would play. It was a fan favorite from the late night show and it’s still very funny. That was about the last thing he did before he said his goodbyes. O’Brien exited the stage and some people started to pile out, but a camera guy who was in front of me told us to stick around. We stuck around and sure enough O’Brien came back out.

During the encore he performed the song The Weight from the band called The Band. After that they threw out giant yellow balls to the audience and also guitar picks. The camera guy told me to grab one, because they only made a 1000 of the picks. I was able to get one.

The show was great. Conan really catered to the fans and delivered a memorable event.

Donate to American Jubilee!

2010-06-02T18:28:00.000-04:00

American Jubilee. Call for Donations

Please Support Local (Connecticut) Filmmaking!

Please Donate Today! ... We really need your help to make our feature film, American Jubilee. This entire film will be shot on-location in Connecticut with an All-CT-based crew!

We have the essential equipment and a great crew, but we need additional funds to purchase some additional needed supplies (for our Camera and Art Departments).

Please donate here (Secure/PayPal):

http://www.ajmovie.com

(Click-On Above Link, Scroll Down, and Click on "Donate" Button at bottom of page).

PayPal is a very secure site and we have had great success using this method for donations to this film.

By donating, you are helping brilliant artists/crafts-people in your own area (all CT residents). We need your help to keep films in Connecticut!

Increasing art/culture in our area only serves to make it more attractive (and property values can go up ... as well as making the area more vibrant). That's something we all would like.

Also - you are helping hard-working artists who really deserve it (we're currently in Pre-Production - ready to blast-off)!

American Jubilee is a feature length comedy (original script) with existential elements that tells the tale of a modern American family at odds with each other. The film will be a colorful portrayal of what it means to be in a family that believes they care about one another, but may actually be the cause of the problems that each member must overcome.

If you prefer to send us a check, please email me back and I will send you the business address for this (American Jubilee is officially registered with State and Federal Gov.).

Please help independent film (and all art) in your area by donating to a great local production!

Contact Ryan Casey: Ryan@ajmovie.com

New Bristol summer theater to put on 'Rent'

2010-05-20T15:23:00.000-04:00

By James Drzewiecki
Staff Writer
BRISTOL — "Rent" is coming to a new non-profit summer-stock theater program that is being put together by Bristol Central High School’s Lindsey DiPietro.
DiPietro is an a 11th-grade English teacher who teaches two drama classes and is also the drama advisor at Bristol Central.
Her love of drama came when she was 8 years old, when she appeared in her first show.
"My uncle is a director and put me in my first show, ‘The Wizard of Oz,’" DiPietro said.
Her love only grew from there and continues to be very active in drama, having just directed Central’s spring musical, "Footloose."
Now, Dipietro is in the process of setting up summer-stock, and "Rent" will be the first show that they will tackle.
"This particular show is for kids 18 and under but in subsequent years, I will open it to high school-aged up through recent college grads," said DiPietro. "We wanted to start with a youth production and then go from there."
This is a program that she has big hopes for and wants to see it continue for years to come.
"The mission is to have a musical production every summer, which involves kids from all three high schools," DiPietro said.
Composer and playwright Johnathan Larson was the creator of "Rent." He took home two posthumous Tony Awards and one posthumous Pulitzer Prize for his work.
"Rent" is a rock opera that follows the lives of a group of struggling bohemians in New York City’s East Village. The play takes place in a period, 1989 to 1990. In that year we see the characters deal with loss, love and AIDS. It’s truly a very real look at modern-day life.
"I’ve always wanted to direct ‘Rent’ so I’m thrilled that it’s now available for production," DiPietro said. "I would also love to direct ‘Aida.’ The music is so amazing and I just love that show."
Auditions for ‘Rent’ will be held Sunday from 5 to 9 p.m. in the Bristol Central High School band room.
To be in the play, you must be 18 or younger at the time of the audition. Be prepared to sing 16 to 32 bars of music. Play organizers suggest singing the part of the song that shows your range. People auditioning should bring sheet music that has chords or a CD with the background (karaoke) track. Make sure that there are no vocals on the track. Find a rock/pop song or more modern "rock" musical song to sing, do not sing a classical musical theater song. Dress comfortably and not in costume.
This will be a closed audition, so no one will be able to watch. There will be a $100 participation fee if cast in the show, which can be paid with two payments of $50.
Callbacks will be held June 1 and June 3 through 7. In callbacks performers will read from the script and be asked to learn a small dance combination.
"We have so much talent in Bristol and I think it would be great for kids to work with other people their age as well as other directors," DiPietro said.

Casting Call For American Jubilee

2010-05-14T17:27:00.000-04:00

The Feature Film, American Jubilee is currently looking for actors.
Filming will begin in July of this year. This film is currently non-union; however, we may use SAG actors (this is currently under negotiations).
American Jubilee is a feature comedy with existential elements. The screenplay was written by Ryan Casey (Director of Crushing Pennies, Executive Director of Ditch, and Producer of Sensory Perception).

To see some of Mr. Casey's past work:
Crushing Pennies Trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsrSPFefHBM

Sensory Perception (Dir. Al Signore) Trailer -
http://www.youtube.com/user/mezentius777#p/a/u/0/z48he1AER4c

Please see Character Breakdown below (to see if you might fit in one of the needed roles).
To apply, please send your headshot to - Dan@AJmovie.com
If we find a fit, we will email you with details about auditions (we will be holding auditions in early June).
Please forward this message to anyone who might be interested in this film.

Casting Breakdown

AVERY "Vance" McCormick - 30, average build. Lives at his father, OTIS' house and believes that he is staying there to take care of his womanizing father. Avery is a follower, dabbles, not good at knowing what he's good at and/or, not good at knowing what other peoples' needs are.

KENZIE McCormick - 20, average to thin build. Tries to fix things, engineer, very analytical/left-brainer, touchy, critical even of her family. Was offered many scholarships because of her ability to understand engineering/the mechanics of how the physical world works.

OTIS McCormick - 60, average build. Womanizer. Retiring anesthesiologist. Through exposition we realize that OTIS has an affliction of causing women to be thoroughly interested in him - years of this and his floating from woman to woman (after he and his wife divorced and she passed) is what caused his nervous breakdown.

JUNE "Junie" McCormick - 45, normal build. JUNIE has no filter on life. But this is not necessarily a bad thing... Junie is good at heart and sometimes wishes she could better communicate with the McCormick children.

LYSSANDRA Catfield - 30, Sexy. OTIS' next semi-blind neighbor who lives above them in the two family house. She supposedly takes care of her sick mother. LYSSANDRA has a sharp sense of humor that stings most people.

RANDY "mittens" OR "the Gull" Gullchrest - 45, normal to larger build. A local thief. RANDY is somewhat of a cultured person - he listens to classical music in the broken down school bus he lives in. He is somewhat hip, but this is somewhat eclipsed by his obsession with thievery. RANDY is living his dream.

CASSIE Bright - 23, Average to thin build. Otis' girlfriend. Natural beauty. Somewhat earthy. Smart, knows what she wants at all levels of life, calm, realist, kind, has a heart inside, loves animals (because they reciprocate love without any complications and also she likes taking care of them as she does OTIS).

CLAUDE McCormick - 9, the youngest of the McCormicks. Runs a gambling ring at school, has no parental discipline, using only what he sees on TV as a moral compass. Claude is afloat in life.

NADINE- 25 to 30, a very attractive uptight, thin to average build, uber-trendy dressed, as if she were auditioning for Fox News, reporter.

RUDY (a.k.a. Billy the Kid) - 45, male - school principal. Normal build. Randy is laid-back and into Billy Joel.

Young KENZIE - 10, female - innocent-looking; long-hair is needed for this scene.

Young RANDY- 5, male - slightly larger build is preferred.

For more information, contact CT Casting Director, Dan Clark at: Dan@AJmovie.com

Scream 4 Poster and Release Date

2010-05-05T16:44:00.000-04:00

Scream 4, as the poster says, will introduce new rules to follow in order to survive a horror movie. The movie is set to start filming soon and will be released April 15, 2011.
Wes Craven will be returning to direct (he directed the first three films) and Kevin Williamson will return as the writer. Williamson wrote Scream and Scream 2, he didn't write Scream 3 (which wasn't great).
There is a lot of plots I've read about, but I won't post any of them until I know which one is real. I do know that they want to make a brand new trilogy, with new characters and storylines. So, if this one is a success you should look for Scream 5 and Scream 6 to follow.
Courtney Cox, Neve Campbell and David Arquette will be coming back to reprise their roles. They are the only cast members confirmed at this time.
I'm a huge fan of the Scream films. The original Scream is one of my favorite horror movies of all-time and I'm excited to see the franchise coming back. Hey, Wes Craven I'll be in the movie and I'll work for free.

Halo: Reach Beta: First Impressions

2010-05-04T17:59:00.000-04:00

Halo: Reach Beta went live yesterday and of course being a fan of the series I was very excited for it.
When you first get into the game you will notice that the controller schem is different than Halo 3, but that can be easily fixed by editing your schem under settings. I set mine back to similar controls that were in Halo 3.
I know it’s only the second day of beta testing but I wanted to point out things that I felt were positive and things that are just annoying.
First, let me list what I think the pros are for the game.

PROS
- The level design and the speed of the game keep its Halo feel. I do not believe we should make the jumping higher, its fine the way it is.
- I love how the pistol has its scope back.
- Skilled players have more of an upper hand.
- Stalker, Scout, and Airborne Armor perks.

CONS
- Melee combat is awful and really needs to be looked at.
- The grenades in the game are way overpowered.
- Armor Lock needs to be changed, so close combat between two players can be fair.
- The Assault Rifle should not be so weak.
- Guard armor perk seems to be pointless.

With that said it looks like the final product will be a winner if those things are tweaked/fixed. I’ve been having fun with the beta so far and will update if anything big happens.

Jason Voorhees Is Dead ...

2010-04-22T18:28:00.000-04:00

After months of hearing rumors about the next installment of the Friday the 13th franchise, the films producer Brad Fuller stated on his Twitter account that project is indeed "Dead".

This is terrible news, maybe not for everyone but for me and every other Friday the 13th fan. We were suppose to see Jason again this August, most likely in 3D, but that is all done now.

The last Friday the 13th movie, the "reboot" (it was more of a sequel) did decent business at the box office. It was able to take in $91 million on a $19 million budget. On it's opening weekend it took in $42.2 million, the biggest opening for any Friday the 13th movie.

Money can still be made with the franchise, there is no doubt about that. I did read something about Paramount and New Line not interested in continuing with the story that the previous film setup. Come on Paramount and New Line, isn't that why you rebooted the franchise so you can make multiple Friday the 13th films to appeal to a newer audience? Now, after all that work you are just going to leave it dead in the water? Poor Jason, he had to watch his mother die and now he has to watch as his franchise is tossed aside.

This is not fair for Jason and it's not fair for the fans. I think that all Friday the 13th fans should get together, discuss what they want to see the franchise do and then try to get the studio to make what we want to see. If they do make another Friday the 13th film, it will be the 13th film in the series and should be EPIC and the ULTIMATE Friday the 13th experience and I think the fans should have some say in it.

Bigfoot Caught On Tape?

2010-04-21T17:03:00.001-04:00

Gears of War 3 Trailer

2010-04-13T15:43:00.001-04:00

O'Brien Is Going to TBS

2010-04-12T15:39:00.000-04:00

Conan O'Brien will be making his new home on the basic cable station of TBS. He will not be going to FOX, which was the popular choice by fans.

Lopez Tonight, the late night show that is currently running on TBS, will not be going away. O'Brien's show will air at 11 putting him before Lopez and the show is expected to debut in November.

I'm glad that Conan is coming back, but I want him to return to what made him great. He really wasn't being himself on the Tonight Show and I just want him to return to all the crazy comedy he did before he got the chance to host the Tonight Show.