If, like me you’re horribly old and ready to be sent by the farmer to the local dog food factory, you might remember a 1981 science fiction book called ‘ After Man: A Zoology of The Future ,’ by Dougal Dixon. Now sadly out of print (I still have a battered copy with a half-torn cover, because bragging rights), it featured fantastic naturalist illustrations of creatures extrapolated, evolutionarily, from modern fauna 50 million years after humanity had gone extinct. Wolf-like beasts descended from rats and ungulates descended from rabbits are the least weird creatures you’ll see, and it’s a crime no one has ever seen fit to make a half-decent movie based on concepts from the book. We’ll have to wait much longer for that, but based on the new international trailer, we can at least see something of the book’s influence on M. Knight Shyamalan’s next film, After Earth . The Will Smith and Jaden Smith-starring sci fi movie concerns the adventures of “legendary general” Cypher Raige* (Will) who, along with his young son Kitai (Jaden) crash land on planet Earth a thousand years after humanity abandoned it and moved out into the stars. Critically injured in the crash, the General is in desperate need of help; now Kitai must venture out alone into a completely re-forested home-world teeming with creatures, so we’re told in the trailer, that have all evolved to kill human beings. The glimpse of what looks like slightly evolved baboons is promising, and I’m actually shocked to admit this thing looks good. Shyamalan has not earned any benefit of the doubt, however, and I am confident that by film’s end we’ll be treated to some kind of clunky twist. Maybe it’ll turn out that they’re on the Planet of the Apes and that Jaden is actually Cypher’s father. Here’s the trailer. Let us know what you think in comments. * Dear science fiction filmmakers: please, dear god, please stop with the ridiculous naming conventions. Ross Lincoln is a LA-based freelance writer from Oklahoma with an unhealthy obsession with comics, movies, video games, ancient history, Gore Vidal, and wine. Follow him on twitter Follow Movieline on Twitter .
If you lived through Watchmen ‘s troubled journey to the screen, Zack Snyder ‘s Man of Steel doesn’t exactly make one feel like leaping the nearest tall building. Watchmen is the platonic ideal of missing the forest for the trees, and as for his work overall, there’s only so many times you can see slow-motion downward-punching before you start to wonder if his characters are suffering from undiagnosed strokes. That Man of Steel is being exec produced by Chris Nolan should be a point in its favor, but after The Dark Knight Rises , in which we’re expected to believe the same government that secretly assassinated Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan can’t handle an ostentatious blowhard taking over an American city, I can’t help but fear for the grim, poorly plotted future in store for Superman. Man of Steel ‘s marketing hasn’t helped. The first teaser came off like the last five minutes of every episode of The Incredible Hulk *, the only thing missing being sad piano music to really nail down the emo superhero mood, and the posters have been as dull as Lex Luthor’s scalp after a busy day plotting world conquest. But hang on, look, up in the sky! It’s a new poster, and it’s actually interesting . Superman, handcuffed and flanked by soldiers, appears on his way to the big house, and for the first time I’m suddenly intrigued by this thing. Why the hell is Superman willingly submitting? (Obviously, he’d have to be volunteering for incarceration, unless the film uses something like the Inhibitor concept from Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Oeming’s Powers .) Lex Luthor isn’t Man of Steel ‘s villain, but this conjures up the ‘Public Enemies’ arc from the Superman/Batman comic series. That storyline had newly-elected President Lex Luthor frame Superman and Batman for plotting the destruction of earth, and while Superman wasn’t jailed, he was chased around the world by law enforcement and deputized supervillains. Could we be seeing something like that play out here? Perhaps the actions of Man of Steel villain General Zod freak people out enough that Superman, having the same powers, is labeled a public menace and arrested. It would make sense for the big blue boy scout to set a good example by complying with the law. Whatever happens, at least we know it’s not just going to be a lot of super-moping. Unless of course he and Lois Lane break up over a completely solvable misunderstanding and Superman copes by making an iPod playlist of John William’s greatest movie scores. * I’ll admit Henry Cavill would make an awesome Bill Bixby . RELATED ARTICLES: Christopher Nolan Talks Batman Trilogy, Heath Ledger & ‘Man Of Steel’ Get A Peek At Superman in First Man of Steel Teasers: My Two Dads Ross Lincoln is a LA-based freelance writer from Oklahoma with an unhealthy obsession with comics, movies, video games, ancient history, Gore Vidal, and wine. Follow him on Twitter at @rossalincoln .
Killing Them Softly is set in Boston, maybe. Someone mentions living in Somerville, a scattering of the characters have the accent, and they talk about going down to Florida. But the film was shot in New Orleans, often in the industrial edges still ragged from Hurricane Katrina, and the only people who seem to inhabit its universe are gangsters — high level ones with pretentions of civility and hardscrabble losers struggling to get a few dollars together by way of hazardous schemes. What ties this abstract, violent place to the real world is the 2008 presidential election, which provides a backdrop for its tale of an ill-advised robbery and the guy brought in to clean up after it. There’s George W. Bush talking about the bailout on a TV in the corner as two guys knock over a card game; there’s Barack Obama promising change on a billboard over a neighborhood filled with empty lots and abandoned houses. It’s a neat idea, matching the brisk kill-or-be-killed business of unforgiving criminal life to an America staggering from the economic crisis. But as in his last feature, the gorgeous and stiltedly self-conscious The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford , Australian filmmaker Andrew Dominik shows a tendency to lean too hard on his symbolism rather than letting it exist as part of the whole. In Jesse James it was the tying in of the last days of the outlaw to a meditation on celebrity. Here, it’s the capitalism-as-a-disease parallels on a national and narrative scale that start to feel on the nose long before a character barks “America’s not a country, it’s a business — now fucking pay me!” and Barrett Strong’s “Money (That’s What I Want)” plays over the closing credits. But when Dominik , working off his own screenplay adaptation of a novel by George V. Higgins, is less focused on trying to make an important movie, he turns out an indisputably fun one, a stylish and flamboyantly macho affair that cribs pleasantly from Mamet, Blue Velvet , Tarantino and Scorsese . The film starts with Frankie (Scoot McNairy), a ferrety guy recently out of prison and eager to convince his Australian pal Russell ( Ben Mendelsohn , memorably scary in Animal Kingdom ) to get in with him on a job. Russell’s working his own scheme involving kidnapping purebred dogs and using the money to buy an ounce of heroin and become a dealer, but Frankie’s pal Johnny (Vincent Curatola) has what he claims is a foolproof gig. They’ll rob a poker game run by a guy named Markie ( Ray Liotta ), who arranged to hold up his own game once in the past and got away with it. The games are protected, but if his gets robbed again everyone will assume he’s the one behind it. Killing Them Softly starts off with its main heist, if it can be called that, and then turns to the fallout, letting things rattle along for a considerable amount of time before introducing Jackie ( Brad Pitt ), a guy who can’t really be described as a hero or antihero. Jackie’s a fixer and a hitman who’s filling in for the last go-to guy, Dillon (Sam Shepard, glimpsed only in flashbacks), and he’s a competent, no nonsense figure in a world full of fuck-ups. Dominik’s film is interesting in that the crimes themselves, whether stick-ups or killings, are rarely difficult — it’s the aftermath that gets people in trouble, when they can’t keep their mouths shut about what they just pulled off or don’t know when to cut their losses and get out of town. Dominik shows an open appreciation for his actors and for the way tough guys, aspiring and genuine, talk to each other — and Killing Them Softly is as much centered around talking as it is action. Pitt, playing a practical know-it-all who falls somewhere between Rusty Ryan and Tyler Durden, is terribly entertaining shooting the shit with Driver (Richard Jenkins), the representative of the unspecified group who hired him, the two complaining about the new “total corporate mentality” like disgruntled office workers on a smoke break. Later, he brings in Mickey (James Gandolfini) from New York to help out, and watches him with worried calculation as he turns out to be in rough shape. If gangsterism is just capitalism in a more raw form, then Jackie is the creature best suited for this world. He knows the rules and enforces them without prejudice, because it’s just business and this is just a job. Killing Them Softly doesn’t give that idea its intended sting. The film wants to be angry and scathing, but, to its credit, enjoys its characters and its mechanics too much to have a sharp edge. Whether it’s showing someone’s death in a luxurious slow motion spray of bullets and glass or lingering as someone drunkenly reminisces about a girl he sometimes sleeps with but has no hold on, the film is too fond of its rich details to allow them to become damning symbols of the system in which they can be found. Follow Alison Willmore on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
James Rolfe is the Angry Video Game Nerd, a man who knows how to define a niche. His eponymous online videos have featured on YouTube, ScrewAttack, GameTrailers, Opie & Anthony and Cinemassacre, and for eight years anyone who ever wanted to watch a man get extremely angry while screaming about old video games knew exactly where to go. And a lot of people did. The series is the textbook — no, the wiki entry — for online viral success. Initially made as a laugh for a few friends, the early videos became YouTube sensations and spawned over a hundred episodes, millions of hits, multiple DVDs, and now the the impossible dream of most online video makers: a full feature film. It’s another victory for crowd funding. Rolfe http://www.indiegogo.com/Angry-Video-Game-Nerd-The-Movie
The Game’s Bond. James Bond. Which means that you will be Bored. Majorly Bored. Agent 007 should be perfect video game character. “Kicking ass with the latest fun gadgets” is his actual job description. So it’s a shame that almost every Bond game sucks. Not even Blofeld got to betray Bond this many times and come back to do it again. The funny thing is that Bond has even played video games himself. In Never Say Never Again, he plays Domination against villainous SPECTRE agent Maximillian Largo. Each round costs thousands of dollars and issues powerful electric shocks, making it a great analogy for the Bond video games that civillians get to play: expensive and painful. Domination is not nearly as much fun to play as it sounds. It has holographic 3D graphics and is based on satellite laser weapons and nuclear warheads, but Largo explains that it’s just a simple target game: shoot the things when they light up. That’s less gameplay than Minesweeper. It’s also badly designed, because it’s a crosshair shooting game controlled by a joystick. Which, if you’ve played twitch-shooters, is like trying to control a scalpel while riding a unicycle. And it’s still better than most real world Bond games. Why are they so bad? Because Bond might be perfect for great games, but he’s also so incredibly famous that he can sell shit ones. The Bond license has been shoved onto everything from text adventures to a side-scrolling “bouncing car getting blown up by spaceships and scuba divers” simulator. I’m not exaggerating. Rare Ltd finally realized Bond’s potential in 1997 when Eon Productions smartly licensed GoldenEye t o a studio that actually knew how to make good games. The resulting product wasn’t merely good — it was one of the most important console shooters of all time, because it proved that console shooters could actually be good, which they weren’t until GoldenEye . One of the most successful N64 games ever made, GoldenEye combined accurate shooting with an unbelievably faithful rendition of the movie. (The split-screen multiplayer mode remains one of the fondest gaming memories for an entire generation You didn’t just recognize parts of the movie in the video game, you recognized parts of the video game when you re-watched the movie. Rare understood that by printing “007” on the cover of a regular action game meant being smarter, sharper and simply better than everything else with guns in it. And it succeeded. The game was stuffed with love for the franchise. Not only was it an incredible recreation of the titular movie, but bonus levels brought in Moonraker lasers, Jaws, the Golden Gun and Baron Samedi. It was originally meant to be the best multiplayer ever made, with a mode where four players could each be a different Bond — Moore, Connery, Dalton, and Brosnan. But, as further proof that the lawyers of the world are sucking the fun out of life, this mode was removed from the final game. A wide range of cheat options extended playability. Unfortunately Rare really did understand the nature of James Bond — which is why they moved on to the next mission without looking back. It turned down the chance to make Tomorrow Never Dies , instead building the spiritual sequel of shooting excellence in 2000 with Perfect Dark . Stuffed with stylish shooting and cunning gadgetry, it would have made the perfect 007 game. But Rare was so good it didn’t need the license to succeed. From that point on, almost all Bond games were shooters, but they never mattered. Where Rare had been the elite double-oh agent, the others were an army of uniformed minions wildly spraying machine gun fire and missing the point. They took bog-standard gun games and put some Bond sprites on top. There was less passion and spark than a morgue during a power outage (except there are people who would actually enjoy that). As the games got more desperate they tried to replicate Goldeneye’ s success, the results were more disastrous than Dr. Frankenstein’s attempts to replicate life. GoldenEye: Rogue Agent literally put GoldenEye in the title of a totally unrelated shooter. The 2010 GoldenEye 007 remake rewrote the original with Daniel Craig, improved graphics, and blew more than that compressed air pellet Bond used to kill Dr Kananga. You just can’t re-skin something from 13 years ago and expect it to be impressive. The remake was aimed at exactly no one: retro fans were aghast at the altered level structure and models, while contemporary fans were turned off by the incredibly unimaginative level layout and zombie-grade enemy intelligence. Like all Bond technology, the original GoldenEye game was revolutionary at the time but almost unusable now. A true Bond game needs to be smarter, sharper, simply better at being Bond than everything else on the market, and we finally have the technology to make that happen. In the old days every shooter was the same game with different sprites. Now we can build entire game mechanics around the character. Batman’s Arkham City is the greatest character game ever made — everything from the graphics to the combat system flows perfectly from the character. Get it right and you’re unstoppable, but even one mistake and you’re in deep trouble. The Hitman series proves that we can build interesting worlds with multiple paths to reach our goal. Bond isn’t an Arnold Schwarzenegger shooting machine. Games which set him up against an endless wave of enemies don’t even know who he is. Bond is the elite. Bond is the best. The original GoldenEye understood that, offering amazing unlocks for not only completing the level, but doing it at maximum difficulty in record time. A Bond game should be a razor-sharp shooter in a sophisticated world. We don’t need another automatic-fire grinding chore like Gears of War . We don’t want another hallway shooter, where we run down pre-set pathways and the most amazing cut-scene — with helicopters crashing through skyways as we parachute to safety — are just glorified loading screens. All we did was “Press A to jump.” That’s less gameplay than an elevator and with the exact same function. Think Mirror’s Edge meets The Club with multiple paths and an upgrade system. Every level is a speed run with a score multiplier for combo shooting and avoiding damage, designed for replayability as you learn your trade. You can blast your way through a building of enemies for an “Agent” rating or rappel down the side snap-shotting guards as it collapses to earn “00”. Because you’re the one who worked out how to collapse it. Because you’re Bond. Improved scores earn “Q points”, unlocking new gadgets, each of which works on each level in different ways, and you have to choose which you bring on each mission. Think grappling hooks, glass-shattering sonics, vehicle remote control, each providing fun options in levels and new ones in old ones. Think of Hitman , where the very first mission can be completed in a few seconds if you return with later gear. Imagine replaying old levels to beat your high score (and earn more equipment), optimizing your strategies, trying out new things. Imagine working out how to beat your enemy in then fastest, coolest way possible, then realize that you’re not just controlling Bond: You’re playing as him. Luke McKinney loves the real world, but only because it has movies and video games in it. He responds to every tweet. Follow Luke McKinney on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
Hollywood.TV is your source for celebrity gossip, news, and videos of your favorite stars! bit.ly – Click to Subscribe! Facebook.com – Become a Fan! Twitter.com – Follow Us! Gorgeous singer Lana Del Rey was spotted on her way to Chateau Marmont tonight, and again she was driving her dreamy trademark ’81 Benz. If you ask, she says it’s her favorite car and it seems fitting for the quirky crooner– cool car for a cool artist. A while back, she had been spotted talking on her phone while driving in this very car. This ain’t no ‘Video Games’ Lana, be careful. Hollywood.TV is the global leader in capturing celebrity breaking news as it happens. Launched in 2008, we capture all the latest news, exclusive celebrity interviews, star videos and hot celebrity gossip from around the world every minute of everyday. HTV is on the streets 24/7, at all the industry events and invited by the stars to cover their every move in Hollywood, New York and Miami. Hollywood.TV is currently the third most viewed reporter channel on www.youtube.com YouTube with almost 400 million views, and our footage is seen worldwide! Tune in daily for all the latest Hollywood news on www.hollywood.tv and http like us on Facebook! DBFE3F9E
Out in support of her debut album Born to Die, singer made fans forget her infamous ‘SNL’ performance from earlier this year. By Vaughn Trudeau Schoonmaker Lana Del Rey [file] Photo: Chuck Grant/ Getty Images As someone who was disappointed by Lana Del Rey ‘s infamous “Saturday Night Live” performance yet thoroughly enjoyed every song on her debut alternative pop album, Born to Die, I am so excited to confirm, loud and proud, that Lana Del Rey can sing! “How f—in’ cool are you?” Lana smiled radiantly at her New York fans after nailing her opening number, “Blue Jeans.” It’s the same song that did not translate so well on the “SNL” stage that cold winter night. It was Lana who was “f—in’ cool” as the screaming fans nearly drowned out her entire first of three sold-out shows at New York City’s Irving Plaza Thursday night. She quickly followed with her brand-new, unreleased track “Body Electric,” which melded a sad melody with a sensual undercurrent, rightfully declaring to entranced New Yorkers, “I’m on fire, baby, I’m on fire.” It was fantastic and sure to be a fan favorite. The songstress took the stage with a coy smile before she stuck her tongue out and began her short yet powerful 10-song set. Amid pitch-perfect performances of her hits including “Born to Die” and “Video Games,” Lana finally seemed to be at home onstage. “Oh, this old thing?” she whispered bashfully into her microphone after a stellar performance of “Carmen,” transporting the audience back to an age when people came to shows hear a voice rather than see a spectacle
Actor plays title role in Sam Raimi’s ‘Wizard of Oz’ prequel, which also stars Mila Kunis, Zach Braff. By Fallon Prinzivalli, with reporting by Josh Horowitz James Franco Photo: Neilson Barnard/ Getty Images At this point, we’re pretty sure there’s nothing that James Franco can’t do. He’s an Academy Award-nominated actor. He’s the author of a collection of short stories called “Palo Alto.” He directs, produces and writes his own films. He’s cast in project after project, including Harmony Korine’s “Spring Breakers” and the new Nick at Nite series “Hollywood Heights.” He’s even directing a documentary based on the world of pornography, all the while attending school in some fashion, as either a student or a teacher. We can hardly keep up! One of the most anticipated projects on his plate is the Disney film “Oz: The Great and Powerful,” in which Franco plays the title role alongside Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz, Michelle Williams and Zach Braff. When MTV News caught up with the ever-talented actor, he told us that he enjoys being attached to a multitude of ventures, especially something as legendary as “Oz.” “I do like to do a lot of different things, and I think there is something really nice about being part of a bunch of institutions by being in this film,” he explained. “Disney is a place that’s been a big part of my life, and a lot of people’s lives, since I was a kid. ‘The Wizard of Oz’ has also been a huge part of my life. The [L. Frank] Baum books were some of the first books I read on my own, so I like being attached to something as iconic as this.” The film, directed by Sam Raimi , is a prequel to “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” that explains how the wizard came to power in the land. And while the cast is tight-lipped about their roles in the movie, Mila Kunis offered up a tiny explanation about her character, Theodora, to MTV News’ Josh Horowitz. “She’s a good person who gets her heart broken,” the actress explained. “What happens to young ladies when their heart gets broken?” “They turn into horrible, evil witches,” Horowitz answered. With a smile, Kunis replied, “You said it, not me.” Check out everything we’ve got on “Oz: The Great and Powerful.” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com .
Rapper talks to Mixtape Daily about Sex, Drugs & Video Games ; LP out now as free download. By Rob Markman David Banner Photo: MTV News Don’t Sleep: Necessary Notables Album : David Banner’s Sex, Drugs & Video Games Key Cameo : “Amazing” (featuring Chris Brown) Essential Info : David Banner knows a thing or two about making hit records, and he promises that his latest album, Sex, Drugs & Video Games, will feature some pretty over-the-top music and some pretty notable guests as well. Chris Brown , Lil Wayne and Snoop Dogg will all appear on the LP, which Banner is offering as a free online download on DatPiff.com . Sex, Drugs & Video Games, which dropped on Tuesday (May 22), is technically a free album, but Banner is accepting donations on his DavidBanner.com website to help artists exist outside of big corporations. “What I am trying to do is make the two most important parts of the musical equation … important again: That’s the artist and that’s the fans,” Banner told MTV News back in March of what he dubs the 2M1 Movement. “Corporate entities have made the artists and the fans feel like they’re not important, where without them, it all would fall.” Banner’s goals are progressive, and a good number of his LP’s collaborators operate and are successful within the major-label system. In theory DB’s distribution method could be a conflict of interest for some, but because of Banner’s relationships with the artists he works with, he doesn’t foresee any issues. “I don’t necessarily involve people in my politics. I would tell Chris all the time, Dude, I don’t necessarily want you to be connected with the things that I believe in, because I know there is a certain sacrifice with the things that I believe,” he said. “Only thing I tell people is the record is hot and it’s my album. … Whether I connect these songs to a movement or not, it doesn’t matter because if you strip the movement off of my album, it’s jammin’.” “Amazing,” Banner’s current club banger, features Chris Brown on the hook. Though the Mississippi rapper/producer is sending a message with this album, the song is just about having a good time. “Everybody that’s around me, that supports me, they know what I stand for, and then I think vicariously through me they’re actually able to express some of things that they may not want to express in their own career,” he said. What’s your favorite track off of David Banner’s new album? Let us know in the comments. For other artists featured in Mixtape Daily, check out Mixtape Daily Headlines . Related Artists David Banner Chris Brown Lil Wayne
David Banner Amazing video featuring Chris Brown, the fifth single from Banner’s upcoming free independent album, “Sex, Drugs and Video Games,” scheduled to be released on 5-22-2012. Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast) Rating: 0.0/ 5 (0 votes cast) Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : Hip Hop Music Discovery Date : 17/05/2012 21:49 Number of articles : 2
