It’s been a long time since I’ve regularly played videogames, actually, the last one was Goldeneye for the Nintendo 64. But if there was ever a game that would make me change that, it’s clearly Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.
Lucas Arts have tapped into the primal urge all of us geeks have by allowing us to control and wield the force at our leisure. Every seven-year-old that watches the original trilogy dreams of using a light saber and crushing someone’s esophagus from across the room. Wait, you mean that was just me? Shit. Well, I always wanted to be an evil Jedi. Vader was so much more of a badass then Obi-Wan, Luke and Lando Calrissian combined.
EW has premiered the new trailer for the game and again, I’m drooling. Then last scene of the trailer might be considered a minor spoil, especially if you want the unfolding storyline to be fresh. Still. Bad. Ass.
I loved this mockumentary, created for Atom’s Star Wars Fan Movie Challenge. The premise is kinda goofy and it gets off to a rather slow start, but the concept is humorous enough to keep watching. Also, it sorta pokes fun at Star Wars obsessives but pays equally as much homage to them as well.
“Former swordplay trainer to the stars and Star Wars fanatic Jeremy Flynn recently opened “Jedi Gym”, a fitness center in Torrance, CA where members channel characters from the Star Wars film series to work out, meditate, and improve their lives. . . Flynn is frustrated with his students’ lack of commitment and focus, but when a 7-foot man in an incredibly authentic Darth Vader suit arrives at the gym, Flynn thinks he’s found his dream student. Instead, Flynn and his students learn, first hand, about how powerful the Dark Side can be…”
I’m still laughing over the last line about Michael Jordan and Abe Lincoln.
Let’s take a look at the trailers that have piqued our interest this past week.
The Dark Knight
Yeah, like this needs any explanation. Some new footage to look at.
Star Wars: Clone Wars
It’s another blatant attempt from George Lucas to milk the teet of his cash cow. We won’t blame him for doing so, but just because Lucas comes out with new Star Wars doesn’t make us interested. Especially when you come at us with this lame animation - the human characters look too angular.
In this Pixar animation world we live in you better come strong with an animated project and this doesn’t hold up. The other problem is that this animated movie/show takes place between Episode II and III. Do we really care about what happens between the prequels?
Yet. We’d be lying if there wasn’t some tiny part of our heart, possibly the seven-year-old part who dressed up like Luke Skywalker or possibly the sucker part that is curious.
Mirrors
We need more J-horror movies like we need more press coverage of Paris Hilton. But alas, Keifer Sutherland decided to star in one, so we’re obliged to shrug our shoulders and pretend to care. Ho-hum.
Miracle at St. Anna
When he’s not arguing with Clint Eastwood over such pithy things at depictions of African-Americans in movies, Spike Lee is also a filmmaker. And a pretty damn good one to. It’s interesting to watch the late career development of Lee. I get the feeling that something is going on and you can almost see him reinvent himself on the screen. Inside Man felt like a smart thriller and was a radical departure for the director. Miracle at St. Anna continues that trend. Here Lee combines a WW II war movie, Italian superstition, and an investigative journalist into something of a mystery. We haven’t been this jazzed about a Spike Lee movie since, well, never.
Punisher: War Zone
Count us among the five who didn’t hate Punisher, mostly due to Thomas Jane’s deft turn as vigilante Frank Castle. Yes, setting the movie in Tampa was dumb as was John Travolta’s hammy turn as the heel. However, it was okay in that bored on a Saturday afternoon I think I’ll see what’s on TNT, TBS or USA kind of way.
Now we get a redo, much like this summer’s Incredible Hulk. Director Lexi Alexander constantly surprises us and if this is a hard R than we’ll be excited. Ray Stevenson doesn’t look bad as the new Frank Castle.
Mostly, this teaser trailer makes us wish Thomas Jane had this kind of material to chew on.
Death Race
Another lame remake from hack director Paul W.S. Anderson. This time we’ve got Jason Stathem as some sort of criminal who must run the gauntlet against killer cars for his freedom. We’re still shocked that this material was able to secure a rather B-List cast, but with Ian McShane, Joan Allen, Tyrese Gibson and Stathem is it possible that the actors could elevate the material and direction? Also the use of G’N'R doesn’t hurt either.
Wanted
The first seven minutes of this summer action flick is online. James McAvoy and Angelina Jolie are guided by the ever mellow Morgan Freeman to assassinate people and bend bullets and essentially rip off the Wachowski Brothers, but it’s all good in the hood.
Also: The first seven minutes of the Steve Carrell comedy Get Smart are available for an exclusive iTunes download. But you can watch it below.
And yes, we’re huge supporters of releasing the first seven or five or ten minutes of movies ahead of time.
The guys over at b3ta.com have a competition going on whereby designers extended album artwork covers. So you would imagine what the album cover would be if it kept on going past its borders. Some of them are really clever. You should go and check them out.
Maybe because I’m nuts about Pink Floyd and Star Wars this one made me chortle.
By James Furbush | February 25th, 2008 | 5:50 am PST
Now we’re just waiting for her to take on Goodfellas or Pulp Fiction. This thing has blown up going from about 77,000 hits to about ten times that over the course of the weekend. Pretty crazy. Apparantly this is the daughter of Fist of Blog, so maybe he should make this a running column idea.
Maybe I should get a kid and do the same. Just a thought. Be warned though, the cute factor is definitely high on this one. She’s well on her way to being the coolest kid in her Kindergarten class.
By James Furbush | February 21st, 2008 | 6:06 am PST
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a video game (Guitar Hero/Rock Band included) that has actually made me want to own a PS3 or Xbox 360. With that said, I think I’d be overwhelmed by playing Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.
This is old news in the gaming industry, but this sounds like it could be (insert lame movie comparison here) of video games. Vanity Fair took a look inside the making of the game.
On a projection screen in a darkened auditorium, I watch as a digitally animated Imperial stormtrooper, the comically doomed cannon fodder of Lucas’s Star Wars universe, is lifted by an invisible force and dropped in various ways—on his head, on his back—and over various objects such as steel and wooden crates. Each time he is lifted, he struggles mightily, and then, every time he drops, he reacts differently. Dropped on his head, he grabs it with his hands before going still. And after being dropped on his back, on a metal box, he arches it in a way that suggests he is in agonizing pain.
His reactions are eerily lifelike, and I am told that what I am seeing is not animation but a kind of artificial intelligence generated by Euphoria, which enables the stormtrooper to react with an almost human uniqueness—in real time, no less—to obstacles and attacks. Dropped 100 times, the Euphoria-imbued stormtrooper will react differently 100 times, unless he is dropped in exactly the same way twice.
And perhaps most important of all, the game has a compelling, movie-like story line, involving a secret apprentice to Darth Vader and the formation of the Rebel Alliance, which provides a visual and narrative transition between Star Wars: Episode III—Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: Episode IV—A New Hope. It is being billed as the “next great chapter” in George Lucas’s space saga, one that, according to the project’s art director, Matt Omernick, “aims to convince players that, ‘Oh my God, I’m actually, finally, in a Star Wars movie.’ ” And not only that: it will be a Star Wars movie with a life of its own.
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed should hit shelves sometime this summer. Take the jump for an awesome making of video. MORE »
In case you don’t start to sense it in my articles, I am such a fan of ‘fourth wall’ humor as well as the subtle things writers add in that most people don’t catch. That’s not a compliment to myself; since I believe I only catch these little gems from the hours I clock on the couch watching way too much television. That being said, let’s move on to some of the highlights of Sunday’s fall season kick-off:
The Simpsons – The Springfield family started their 19th (wow) season off with a brand new intro, which was priceless. For fans that saw The Simpsons Movie over the summer, you’ll see hilarious nods at the large bubble that encapsulated Springfield, Spider Pig and the fact that Matt Groening took two decades to make this movie. Unfortunately, the episode itself didn’t hold a candle to the intro, but after 19 years it’s still better all of the new sitcoms being introduced this fall. On a side note, Stephen Colbert appears as Homer’s life coach.
Family Guy – Seth McFarlane is a genius, of that I am sure. Last week I had the chance to hear him interviewed along with his sister, Rachel, and now I am more of a fan than ever. For this season’s opener, McFarlane created an hour-long parody of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, spoofing the entire movie and using the films’ original musical score and some of the special effects, all with the blessing of George Lucas himself. Destined to be a classic. My favorite moments – Stewie as Darth Vader and Brian as Chewbacca, Chris/Luke’s reply to Lois/Leia when rescuing her and the squabbling at the end between McFarlane’s Peter and Seth Green’s Chris regarding Robot Chicken (who Green created and used to spoof Star Wars first). Now that’s fourth wall humor.
Tonight be sure to set all your VCR’s and DVR’s to overload since the following shows all have premiers: Heroes (YAY!), CSI: Miami, Journeyman, Two And A Half Men, Chuck, How I Met Your Mother, Dancing With The Stars, Big Bang Theory, Rules Of Engagement, The Bachelor, Prison Break and a dozen others if you include non-network channels – egads!!
Today is your 30th birthday. You hit 32 theaters on May 25, 1977 and changed movies for ever. You also created a monster out of George Lucas and made him a bazillionaire.
Yup we’re that dorky here in Oysterland. Not saying we’re going to dress up as a stormtrooper or anything just that we really like the movie and it should be noted.
Lots of places around the way are celebrating.
*CNN is running not only a story about the flick, but also a bunch of e-mails from fans detailing their sick obsession.
*A BBC reporter details losing his Star Wars virginity 30 years after the movie was released. Pretty humorous, but be warned the story contains plot spoilers.
*AICN is running a rumor that Georgie Lucas is gonna make yet another movie and two television shows. The television shows are not much of a rumor, but news of a new movie is.
And really this is just an excuse to revist the awesomeness of John Williams’s music and check in with Star Wars boy and a panoply of tribute videos.
More than anything, what’s really a tribute to Star Wars is all of the parodies and homemade movies and just the absolute devotion to the film universe beyond simply watching them. We all make fun of the dudes who dress up and wait in line for months to get tickets, but who doesn’t love the premise of Chad Vader? Or Tim Dowling’s George Lucas in Love?
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