Home Blog Page 114

Bachelor Review: Ding, Dong, The Witch Is Gone …

0

 

“Ding dong, the witch is gone. Which old witch? The WIDOW witch!! Ding dong, the widow witch is gone!!!” Or, “Which old witch? The JERSEY witch! Ding dong, the Jersey witch is gone!” But more on that later ….

When we last left Farmer Blank and the rest of the morons at The Bachelor, tacky widow contestant Kelsey had just used her widow card to tell Farmer Boy that her husband had died, and what a tragic and inspiring story she had. After not getting quite enough assurance that she wouldn’t be going home that night, Kelsey then secured her spot on the show further by going into the hallway and having a “panic attack”. Yes, the phrase panic attack is in quotes, because this was absolutely 100% fake. As a widow myself, and as somebody who lost their husband in the same way Kelsey did (suddenly and via massive heart attack), I have had my share of panic attacks since his death. The way she was flailing around and moaning about and wailing, was NOT a panic attack. The women listening from the other room agreed. Becca: “What part of this is real and what part is manipulative?” Carly: “The timing of this is very suspicious. She is full of shit.” Virgin-Whore Kardashian-Ashley: “It’s not FAAAAAIIIRRR!!!”, as she sobs into her fake eyelashes.  She then asks the camera people if they have “paperwork” to prove that Kelsey actually even had a husband in the first place.

EMS arrive at the “scene” at begin giving Kelsey some oxygen. She jokes with one of the medics that “this had better get me a rose tonight”, and then she laughs hysterically like a homicidal maniac. She then takes her act even further by telling the medics she wants to see Chris. The girls overhear this through the walls of Bitch Mansion, and they go insane with anger. Kardashian sobs some more about how unjust it is that she doesn’t also have a dead person story to tell. Chris arrives and sits with Kelsey. She says “I think I was just so overwhelmed with emotions. I didn’t know you were going to tell everyone about our talk, and it was just too much.” He says “You look beautiful.” Huh? That is what you say to someone having a panic attack? (even though it’s not a REAL panic attack – still) She gets up and acts all frail, leaning on him, as he says again “You look great.” Well that’s the important thing here, that she LOOKS good right now. Dummy. They kiss a little bit, and then Kelsey goes back into the other room with the rest of the girls. In the most phony voice of all time, she says “Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiii guys!!!! I am okay. The emotions were too much, and I fainted.” There is tension in the room as the girls sit around drinking wine in one hand, and holding onto a ridiculous fur-like blanket in the other, as they snuggle on two couches and drink. Britt is snuggling more than the others, because she is ALWAYS physically attaching herself to someone else in the house. Kelsey tells the camera: “I am the woman he is going to fall in love with and marry, and today’s the day that signifies it all.”

ROSE CEREMONY:

So, the rose ceremony that didn’t happen at the end of last week’s episode, happens at the start of this one, due to Kelsey’s silly widow drama. There are tons of shots of Virgin-Whore-Ashley sobbing like a freak into her eyelashes because “it’s not fair!!!! Just because I don’t have a sad story, like, it’s not gonna end well for me!” Kelsey is shown saying “the other girls should be worried. They are wasting their time.” Samantha: “I feel like I havent gotten any time with him.” WHO ARE YOU???? MacKenzie “Its gonna, like, rip me apart if I get sent home tonight. Like, the heartache, that , like, I’ve already had to experience … ” Cardboard-Brain Chris keeps Kelsey, of course. Samantha and MacKenzie get let go. I think Samantha holds the record for being on the show the longest amount of weeks with the smallest amount of airtime. Seriously, WHO IS SHE??? They NEVER showed her , ever. MacKenzie is just weird, so now she can go home and keep asking everyone if they believe in aliens. Meanwhile , the reaction to Kelsey staying is not a positive one. Carly refers to her as the black widow, while Kaitlyn angrily states “I wanted to punch Kelsey right in the teeth holder. It’s not about your sad story anymore. It’s about you being a shitty human being.” Aint that the truth …….

DEADWOOD IN DEADWOOD:

BIG & RICH, CHRIS SOULES, KAITLYN, BRITT, WHITNEY, JADE

So the gang goes to Deadwood, South Dakota, which is “the perfect place to fall in love.” Britt reads the date card in her hoodie and unwashed hair to the rest of the girls, and the one-on-one date is for Becca, even though Kelsey feels that she is the one who “deserves it.” She tells the camera “You see this face? Not happy right now.”

Becca and Farmer Nothing go horseback riding through the trails of Deadwood. He thinks she looks hot on the horse, and they have a grand ole time together. Later, they hang out at a campfire eating and drinking and laughing together. Becca notes that Chris has the funniest laugh, and she laughs at his laugh because it is so funny. They both giggle a lot over things that don’t seem all that funny. Chris tells camera “Tonight is fantastic because Becca is …. fantastic.” Wow dude. That’s deep. They talk about past relationships and communication. He says that he is, like, really , like, good at communicating. Becca tells the cameras she has never felt this way about anyone. She gets the rose, and they share their first ever kiss. Apparently , of the girls left, she is the only one he hadn’t kissed. What a man-whore he is.

BACK AT BITCH MANSION:

Three of the girls approach Widow Kelsey about her fakeness. Whitney asks her why she laughs at weird and inappropriate times, to which Kelsey says she does no such thing. Carly points out that Kelsey told medics she better get a rose because of the panic attack. Kelsey manufactures some more fake tears on the spot, and starts wailing on and on about “I have never had a panic attack before in my life – it was terrifying.” Carly tells her she is not a nice person and that they are seeing a different side to her than what she shows Chris. She again comes back with the phony “I’m not sure why you would say that. I have so much respect for all of you , genuinely.” Then, to camera: “I get it. I am blessed with eloquence, and I am articulate and I use a lot of big words, because I am smart. I came here to win this. ” GAG!!!! Then , to girls again: “I’m so glad we had this little talk, so now I can be more mindful. ” She is the very definition of phony and condescending. Yuck.

GROUP ORGY (Date):

Britt, Jade, Whitney, Carly, Meghan, and Kaitlyn are all on the group mess with Farmer Blah. He wants them to experience his love of country music, so they are joined by country group Big and Rich (who must desperately need some press right now to do this dumb show), to write and then perform love songs for Chris. Yuck-a-roo. Jade is very nervous, as she doesn’t want to be vulnerable and write lyrics and have them not be any good. Big , or Rich, or one of them, I am not sure which one – takes her hand and runs down the streets of Deadwood with her, making her yell silly things like “I am gonna speak my song!” and ” I can do this!” They look like a couple of weirdos, but apparently this pointless exercise is helpful because she thanks him for making her feel better about the song. Then she goes back into the country bar where people are writing, and Britt and Chris are at the bar kissing and holding each other. Jade gets upset all over again, thinking “its hard to write a love song about somebody when he is clearly into somebody else.” They go up one by one and perform. To make them feel better , Chris goes first and performs a terrible song about being the bachelor. It is purely awful, off-key, and humiliating. He rhymed the words “prairie” and “marry”, just to give you an idea of the trainwreck we are talking about here. His singing sounded like small animals were being tortured, and his lyrics were simpler and more basic than a “roses are red” poem. Britt sang some gritty thing about “I hear sweet music when I’m with you”, and Chris looked at her like it was the most genius thing he had ever heard. He says he was “borderline bawling.” Jade does fine with her nerves, and Carly clearly gives the best and most heartfelt performance, since she is a cruise ship singer, after all. Her lyrics are the least basic, and she has him sit next to her on the stage and sings intimately to him.

Later that night, they all toast to their terrible songs, and then Chris spends some one on one time with the girls seperately. Jade and him share kisses. Kaitlyn expresses fear of the unknown in this process. Chris takes Britt aside and tells her to ‘just trust me” and they run across the street. The girls are all wondering where they are. They walk into the middle of the Big and Rich concert, and they go stright into the audience. Big and Rich call them up onstage, and Chris gives Britt the rose onstage during the concert, in dramatic fashion, They dance onstage and kiss to the music. The girls are pissed off and wondering where the hell he went off to. When they return hand in hand and Britt has the rose, the awkwardness and tension is uncomfortable. Some girls get up and leave. Chris tries to make the situation better, but he sucks at talking, so he fails. “Umm I uhhh… as you can see …. so… I uhhh… Britt got the rose but that doesn’t … take away anything……… umm…… about today ……… you know so I ………. yeah.” Carly sobs in the bathroom “I feel so stupid!!!” Kaitlyn cries to the cameras “Its just humiliating.” Everyone is a big huge mess over this boring, whitebread Iowa boy with the personality of a paper cup.

DING DONG, THE TWO ON ONE:

Last up is the always dreaded “two on one” date. This is the date where 2 girls go out with the bachelor at the same time, and one stays, while the other gets eliminated. So, Virgin-Whore Ashley and Tacky Widow Kelsey are on the date together, and both are thinking they have the upper hand to camera. Kelsey “Really, its more like a date between me and Chris at this point.” Meanwhile, Ashley is already prepped for Kelsey to go home “I am Glenda, and she is the wicked witch. We are gonna toast when I get back from that date tonight ‘ding dong the witch is gone. I just can’t even …….. ” Cant even WHAT???? I hate that phrase so much. In any case, Chris takes both girls on a helicopter ride to the middle of nowhere, literally. And then there is a romantic bed sitting in the middle of nowhere, outside, for no reason. The two girls sit on the large bed and drink wine and look like idiots, and then Chris spends time with each of them separately. Up first is Ashley Virgin-Whore, and after molesting Chris’s face with forcible, awkward, tongue-attacking kisses, she tells him that everyone in the house thinks that Kelsey is fake. He thanks her for her honestly and then she starts crying AGAIN for no reason. “Why do I always cry when I’m with you? I don’t get it!” She wails. Then she goes back to the bed to sit and sip wine while Kelsey has her turn with Farmer Snooze. He asks her how things are going in the house. She gives a vague answer, and so he presses further, and totally calls out Ashley and tattle tales on her. “Ashley just told me that you are being fake, and that scares me. I need for the person I’m going to marry to be able to be social and get along with other people.” Kelsey puts on her phoniest of emotions and says “I’m sorry, I’m just so …. hurt … right now …that Ashley would say that. I consider her a friend.” HA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah right, lady. The two of you are the best of buddies! I don’t think I have seen them have even ONE complete sentence of a conversation, yet, they are “friends.” Sure. After recovering from her fake tear-fest, she tells Chris “I would hate to think that you would throw away our potential because of girl-talk.” She tells the camera “This is a game to her. It is not a game to me. She is a Kardashian who didn’t get to go to her princess date, and who wears way too much makeup to be genuine. I am a woman!!!”

carly-chris-soules-inline

She goes back to the giant bed that sits outside in the middle of the desert for no reason, and sits next to Ashley and begins to stare at her. Ten seconds. Twenty seconds. It’s becoming “Fatal Attraction” and it’s very creepy. Virgin-Whore says nothing for a long time, just sips her wine and stare off into the dust. Then finally Kelsey speaks. “I know what you did.” “What did I do?”, Ashley says. “I know what you did, and I do not appreciate it.” Ashley says “If you don’t think that I’m intelligent enough to see right through you, you are freakin hilarious. ” Kelsey calmly replies “I still respect you.” Ashley mutters “okay” and gets up and leaves. She finds Chris, and takes him off into a corner of dust and desert. Sobbing – AGAIN – she wails to him “Why did you tell her what I said to you???? What did you think she was gonna say?? Why???” Once again, Dumb-ass isn’t exactly a genius with words. He responds: “I mean …. I’m just trying to … you know I couldn’t …. not hear her out, so …… yeah, I told her, like …. that you said she was being fake , but ….. I didn’t … you know ….. I didn’t know ….” She starts sobbing more and more, and whining about the unfairness of everything, and Chris finally tells her that he doesn’t think they are a good match. “I don’t think I could give you the lifestyle you want”, he says. “Oh, so wait …. you think that BRITT wants that life?? Are you kidding me??” She has a  little tantrum in the desert, and just keeps sobbing and snorting and picking at her eyelids and getting the gunk off her lashes. He leaves her there and goes back to Kelsey.

Kelsey is sitting in the giant bed, smiling. He tells her “I just sent Ashley home.” She holds him close and says in the most insincere voice ever “I’m so sorry. It’s a loss.” They talk a little bit, and then he tells her that he cannot give her 110%, and that he thinks they are not a match. She says “Its okay if it’s not me.” He tells her to take care of herself, and then gets up and leaves. He literally gets on the private helicopter and takes off, leaving both girls in the middle of nowhere in this desert. She says “my story is amazing. Its beautiful and tragic and amazing. I will be fine. I rise above it.”

Cut to Bitch Mansion, where the girls have learned that Ashley went home because the staff came in and took away her luggage by the door. The staff comes in a second time, taking Kelsey’s luggage also, and the girls go absolutely mental – breaking into drunk-party mode that Kelsey is gone. Drinks are poured at a furious pace, screaming erupts, and general chaos ensues.

Tune in Next Week when Host Chris Harrison has a nervous breakdown in the Fantasy Suite, and the girls slowly realize that Iowa really sucks.

The Americans Recap: Hold on to Your Gag Reflex

0

The Americans is on a roll in Season 3…if it’s considered a roll to make me want to vomit on a weekly basis. Last week the show taught us what it sounds like when a corpse is folded up in a suitcase and in episode 3, it gives us an up close and personal look at molar extraction…with a pair of pliers.

The heat is on, in more ways than one, and the episode begins with Elizabeth and Philip picking up a CIA tail after planting a bug on a potential new source of information from the Afghan group. They’re being tailed, the CIA has multiple cars planted to watch them, and it looks as though there isn’t a way out – especially when Stan and the FBI determine that they’re going in for the kill.

Philip gets out of the car and calls for help, leaving Elizabeth alone with only seconds to spare. It’s one of the first times during the series that we’ve seen her truly rattled, scared, and in the broader, ongoing context of the couple’s conversation about the recruitment of their daughter, it makes me wonder if Elizabeth witll reconsider her position. Does she want Paige to be scared like that? Hunted? It’s hard to say because (after the tooth extraction) she’s pretty much back to her old self.

301americans

Philip continues to struggle with the KGB’s intention to recruit their eldest child, convinced that a girl raised in the easy life the United States provides will not be able to handle the trials and hardships of the spy life. Their mentor (or handler, whatever he is), reminds him that all lives have trials and tribulations in our lives no matter what our chosen profession.

The tension continues to invade Philip and Elizabeth’s personal life, which is sad because she’s just realizing how important he and their marriage is to her and is willing to make concessions in order to keep it healthy. They might be murderous Russian spies, but I totally ship them.

If you asked me to sum up the beginning of the season in a single word, it would be SNOOPING. Paige is snooping, the FBI is closing in, and the Jennings….well, technically, they’re always snooping.

The scenes where Elizabeth is alone in the car with the CIA and FBI closing in are some of the most tense in recent memory, and I have to admire the quiet but sure way the writers, actor, and editors came together to force my heart into a gallop while we waited to see whether she would finally be apprehended. This episode is my favorite of the season so far for that reason – all of the feelings – even though I hid my eyes for the good three minutes focused on tooth-pulling.

The Americans is going places and we’re along for the ride, for better or for worse. If nothing else, the people that come together to bring us this show every week have proven – quietly but steadily – that we can trust them with the characters, the story, the nuance, and the atmosphere.

With our hearts and our dinners…well, that remains to be seen.

The Americans Season 3, Episode 3 (“Open House”), airs Wednesday, February 11th on FX.

Images courtesy of FX.

New ‘Cinderella’ Trailer

1

Watch the latest trailer from Disney’s upcoming live action “Cinderella,” starring Cate Blanchett, Richard Madden, Helena Bonham Carter, Stellan Skarsgård, Lily James, and Hayley Atwell. 

Here’s the official plot synopsis:

The story of “Cinderella” follows the fortunes of young Ella (Lily James) whose merchant father remarries following the tragic death of her mother. Keen to support her loving father, Ella welcomes her new stepmother Lady Tremaine (Cate Blanchett) and her daughters Anastasia (Holliday Grainger) and Drizella (Sophie McShera) into the family home. But when Ella’s father suddenly and unexpectedly passes away, she finds herself at the mercy of a jealous and cruel new family. Finally relegated to nothing more than a servant girl covered in ashes, and spitefully renamed Cinderella since she used to work in the cinders, Ella could easily begin to lose hope. Yet, despite the cruelty inflicted upon her, Ella is determined to honor her mother’s dying words and to “have courage and be kind.” She will not give in to despair nor despise those who abuse her. And then there is the dashing stranger she meets in the woods. Unaware that he is really a prince, not merely an employee at the palace, Ella finally feels she has met a kindred soul. It appears as if her fortunes may be about to change when the palace sends out an open invitation for all maidens to attend a ball, raising Ella’s hopes of once again encountering the charming “Kit.” Alas, her stepmother forbids her to attend and callously rips apart her dress. But as in all good fairy tales, help is at hand as a kindly beggar woman steps forward and, armed with a pumpkin and a few mice, changes Cinderella’s life forever.

“Cinderella” arrives in theaters March 15, 2015.

 

‘MARVEL’S AGENT CARTER’ Recap: A Sin To Err

1

BRIDGET REGAN

You know why I love Agent Carter? Because it consistently proves that while it’s a show about espionage and strong female characters and war, it’s also fun. I like when shows are fun, and I like them more when they’re entertaining and well-written. Agent Carter, so far, as managed to be all of those in my book.

As we slide into the final stretch of episodes, we’re finally starting to see a bit of payoff in what has been, up until now, a tangled run of storytelling. While some have criticized this for making the show “dull” or “boring,” I challenge anyone to watch last night’s episode and not appreciate the lead-up. Peggy Carter is an established character – but her world, to many, is not, and her own story needed a chance to be unraveled before it could be understood.

Last week, we saw Peggy and the Howling Commandos travel to Russia, where they unearthed, among other things, evidence of the Black Widow program. Dr. Ivchenko, fresh released from his cell, is now back at the SSR and talking to agents about The Leviathan. Peggy tells Dooley that she believes Kreminski was killed by a girl like the one they saw in the orphanage, and surprisingly, Dooley lets her take the lead on that breadcrumb. Naturally, Peggy enlists her new best friend/spy buddy to help her out with some investigation. (Murder BFFs, seriously.)

While Jarvis is a natural at helping Peggy out of tight spots, he’s not so much of a natural when it comes to hunting down Stark’s many, many women. (Must be hard to be the wingman of a rich womanizer. I feel you, Jarvis. I do.) Peggy is specifically looking for a woman with scars on her wrists, realizing that whoever she’s looking for would probably have marks from being handcuffed to the bed, like the girl they found in Russia.

Back at the office, Ivchenko is having a long discussion with Dooley over drinks, partially due to the fact that Ivchenko has a nifty hypnotizing ring that he’s using on everyone he talks to. Dottie visits the dentist’s office across the street from the phone company, and we already know this isn’t going to end well — sure enough, the doctor ends up with a drill in his eye while Dottie readies a sniper rifle and aims it towards where Dooley and Ivchenko are having their conversation. Obviously, our first thought is that she means to assassinate Ivchenko, and it’s a pretty ingenious move on the writer’s part, because I was completely thrown when Dottie used the gun to flash some sort of signal instead while Ivchenko communicated stealthily to her. The message? Kill Peggy Carter. We should’ve known better – Dottie was the girl at the beginning of the episode who was in Russia when captive men were being forced to join the Leviathan, and Ivchenko was there.

This was our first time seeing Dottie in action after her official introduction as part of the Black Widow program, and I couldn’t be more pleased with how she’s fitting into the universe. In fact, I’d venture to say it’s the smartest thing Marvel could have done. Dottie is not just a window to someone we know and can relate to (Natasha), but she provides a heightened sense of terror in a world where the most dangerous things have not been inventions or objects, but spies and patriarchy. Bridget Regan is absolutely fantastic in the role, and she clearly enjoys every second that she’s on screen — it’s a joy watching her work.

Sousa has paid a visit to the milkman who Peggy beat up a few episodes earlier, offering him a shortened sentence, if he can tell them who attacked him. Sousa pulls out Peggy’s picture, which the man confirms pretty quickly, and with that final nail in the coffin, the dominos begin to fall in Peggy’s world. When she goes to meet up with Jarvis at the Automat, she’s cornered by a bunch of SSR agents and quickly realizes that they’re not there for coffee – which results in a pretty spectacular fight sequence that had me fist pumping in my own apartment. Peggy Carter, actual damn hero.

Peggy does manage to escape but is cornered by Thompson, who she promptly knocks out. She’s then cornered by Sousa, and while she calls his bluff on shooting her, Peggy also knows that there’s nowhere else to run – her cover is blown. She returns to The Griffith with only one goal in mind – get Steve’s blood (be still, my heart) and manages to get cornered there, as well. Peggy makes a narrow escape by using the window, which conveniently leads her to Angie’s room next door, which conveniently puts a smile on the faces of fans everywhere, including me.

Angie uses her wonderfully authentic acting skills to distract the SSR guys from searching, allowing Peggy to hide safely, though her cover is finally blown here, as well – even if Angie doesn’t know the nature of Peggy’s real work, at least the secret’s out. For what it’s worth, Peggy seems relieved to not have to lie anymore, and to me, the whole scene is really an indication of how much Peggy has come to trust Angie, even without knowing it. They may not talk all the time and share all their secrets the way best friends do, but they do understand each other, even if Peggy tries to close herself off and even if Angie gets frustrated with Peggy’s secrets. It’s so refreshing to me that Agent Carter focuses on strong female friendships built on this kind of foundation, and I wish more shows did the same.

Because Angie trusts Peggy, she calls her family and gets her a car so she can escape — but before she can make it out of The Griffith, Peggy runs into Dottie, who takes her down by kissing her and knocks her unconscious from her lipstick (ironically, Peggy’s own.) Dottie, you made a lot of people smile last night. (The moment is also a fun callback to the first episode, where Peggy used that trick lipstick at the Spider.) She’s taken in by Sousa and Thompson, though she does manage to catch the marks on Dottie’s wrists before she passes out, and I can bet that realization will come into play next week.

Odds & Ends:

  • “Stark Special,” huh? Well, we’ve never quite argued against the fact that Tony got his womanizing from his father, but Howard takes it to a whole new level. I wonder if Tony ever tried one of those Stark Specials. Pepper would’ve killed him.
  • When Peggy trespasses into another house on Stark’s list, she finds a bed with markings on it – and because of that, she’s sure Ida’s her girl. While we all know that the real culprit is Dottie, it makes me wonder if this was a subtle way to show that there are obviously more Black Widows out there. Marvel, give us another season so you can keep exploring this! (Or just give us a Black Widow movie. Either will do.)
  • Poor Agent Yauch, we barely knew ye.
  • When the SSR was putting out hits on Peggy, calling her a fugitive for helping Howard Stark and for running away, all I could think of was that scene in The Winter Soldier where Pierce called on SHIELD to tell them Steve was a fugitive who was involved in Fury’s death. I love these little callbacks to the bigger films, even if it’s not intentional – and that one is especially prominent here, as Peggy and Steve’s stories are so parallel.
  • Save Angie! No, really. I’ve decided Angie needs to live.

BREAKING: Jon Stewart Stepping Down From ‘The Daily Show’

1
Jon Stewart
Comedy Central

The end of an era is nigh.

Jon Stewart reportedly revealed his impending retirement from late-night satire staple “The Daily Show” during Tuesday’s taping in New York, leaving millions of Americans wondering who they can trust to mock their news cycle once he’s gone. While it remains unknown exactly when Stewart will step down or who will take his place, Comedy Central confirmed his departure in a statement released on Twitter:

Per the network’s announcement, fans can at least take comfort in knowing Stewart will remain at the “Daily Show” desk until “later this year,” but the celebrated comedian is undoubtedly leaving a very big chair to fill.

Can “The Daily Show” survive without Stewart? Sound off in our comment section, and stick with @TheWorkprint for all your pop culture needs.

Images courtesy of Twitter and Comedy Central

NEW TRAILER for Pitch Perfect 2!!

0

Anyone else super aca-excited?! What do you think?

Orphan Black Season 3 Teaser

1

BBC has released the first teaser trailer for the third season of Orphan Black titled “I am not your property.”

Since I’m a terrible person for not finishing season two of Orphan Black, I really can’t weigh in on what’s going on besides: “Hey look clones!”

Orphan Black returns Saturday, April 18, 2015.

Spider-Man is Headed to the Marvel Cinematic Universe!

0

54d93e7042a10

It’s official! Spider-Man is headed to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as both Marvel and Sony have struck a deal to allow a cross-over of characters.

Under the new deal, a new Spider-Man will appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Sony will then release the next Spider-Man movie in on July 28, 2017, in a film that will be co-produced by Kevin Feige and his team at Marvel.

The deal will also explore opportunities to integrate characters from the MCU into future Spider-Man films.

Bob Iger, Chairman and CEO, The Walt Disney Company said: “Spider-Man is one of Marvel’s great characters, beloved around the world. We’re thrilled to work with Sony Pictures to bring the iconic web-slinger into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which opens up fantastic new opportunities for storytelling and franchise building.”

“We always want to collaborate with the best and most successful filmmakers to grow our franchises and develop our characters. Marvel, Kevin Feige and Amy, who helped orchestrate this deal, are the perfect team to help produce the next chapter of Spider-Man,” said Michael Lynton, Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment. “This is the right decision for the franchise, for our business, for Marvel, and for the fans.”

“Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios share a love for the characters in the Spider-Man universe and have a long, successful history of working together. This new level of collaboration is the perfect way to take Peter Parker’s story into the future,” added Doug Belgrad, president, Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group.

“I am thrilled to team with my friends at Sony Pictures along with Amy Pascal to produce the next Spider-Man movie,” said Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige. “Amy has been deeply involved in the realization on film of one of the world’s most beloved characters. Marvel’s involvement will hopefully deliver the creative continuity and authenticity that fans demand from the MCU. I am equally excited for the opportunity to have Spider-Man appear in the MCU, something which both we at Marvel, and fans alike, have been looking forward to for years.”
SOURCE: Marvel

‘#IDARB’ REVIEW: #CANTSTOPWONTSTOP

0

IDARB 3

A little caveat before I get into my review: Nothing I say here can truly convey what it’s like playing #IDARB. This month’s Xbox One Games with Gold game is one of the rare games where you have to experience it to really understand why it’s so great. And great it is!

Developed by the small team at Other Ocean, #IDARB started of as a single tweet and evolved into a crowd-sourced, 8-player arena ball game. Imagine a 2d pixel art soccer fused with the chaotic nature of Smash Bros and jet packs. Two teams battle across a symmetrical map, jumping from platform to platform, duck, diving and dodging on their way to scoring a goal, when out of nowhere…LASERS!!!!!!!!

Sorry for the tease, but I’ll get to the lasers in a little bit. First let’s talk about the basics. #IDARB takes a minimalist approach to gameplay. You move around and aim with the left stick, jump with A, pass with B, and shoot/steal with the right trigger. This control scheme makes it easy for anyone to pick up and play, while rewarding those who put in the time to learn the nuances of the game. With movement and aiming on the same stick, players need to be constantly aware of where they are tilting the stick or else they’ll be putting up more bricks than the three little pigs. The more you play #IDARB, the better you play and the bolder you become, going from running the ball into the goal for one point to taking half court bounce shots for ten points.

Even when you get the hang of the controls #IDARB plays fast, really fast. The speed results in one on one matches being intense affairs, two on two an exercise in teamwork, and anything larger teams just a cluster%^&* of fun. The more players the harder it is to keep up with the action (a la Smash Bros) but the more rewarding it is when your team scores a goal.

IDARB 4

How are we doing so far? Following along? Good, now remember those lasers I mentioned earlier? #IDARB introduces Hashbombs, which are commands that people can enter either in a Twitch chat or tweet out using a match’s unique room code. These Hashbombs add not a dash but a giant handful of randomness to a match. One minute I’m running towards the goal when the ball turns into a bomb with a lit fuse, there are sharks on the platforms and I’m dressed as a clown hoping not to get hit by the lasers! The best part is, that even if you don’t want to give out your room code or live stream the game you can still set the options to automate Hashbombs, where the game will randomly trigger the most popular commands.

To add icing to the delicious cupcake (cupcakes over cake or pie all day!) that is the gameplay, #IDARB also allows for a ton of customization. You can create your own pixel art characters in the character creator or scan in the bar codes of other players’ creations using the kinect. Afterwards, you can make a dream team with those characters and take it online. Thor, Deadpool, Batman and Squirtle  are currently representing The Workprint nation! This is on top of the many included teams, such as Team Breakfast, where you can play as bacon or a cup of coffee.

IDARB 1

While I absolutely love #IDARB (don’t tell my wife… she’s the jealous type), it’s not perfect. The game really begs to be played with a group of people and unfortunately the only easy way to make that happen is by having people over locally. The online matchmaking only supports 1 Xbox One to 1 Xbox One, meaning that if you want to play a two on two, you need a friend over and the person your playing against does as well. While the Xbox One does support up to 8 controllers on one console, it really is a bummer that the matchmaking can’t handle more. The team over at Other Ocean has stated that they are working on increasing it to 4 Xbox Ones at once, but until then the online feels a little under-cooked.

There’s even more to discover in #IDARB that I don’t want to spoil here but are definitely worth seeing (and hearing). When everything is said and done, one fact remains: #IDARB is fun. When I get time to relax after a long day, all I want to do lately is play #IDARB. The gentleman who lives in my basement (editor’s note: What?) and I, have been playing almost nightly, both against each other and online. I can’t remember the last time I played a video game that resulted in so much screaming, laughing and high-fiving! Play #IDARB and thank me later.

The Walking Dead Review: “Nope, none of it matters.”

0

6b5d2844-60f6-f81c-39d6-62453e7eac12_TWD_509_GP_0820_0332

The Walking Dead
Season 5, Episode 9 – “What Happened and What’s Going On”
Grade: B

The Walking Dead ended the first half of the season with the rather abrupt death of Beth Greene, a decision that proved divisive for fans. The Grady Memorial story arc was one of the weaker aspects of an otherwise strong season, and Beth’s death largely felt like a disservice and a waste of a compelling character for the sake of shock value. “What Happened and What’s Going On” returns with another punch to the gut, doubling down with the death of another major character and some somber existential musings.

The victim this time is Tyreese, whose sentimentality distracts him from a zombie sneak attack during an expedition to return Noah to his family in Richmond. His death seems just as senseless as Beth’s, and it’s unfortunate to lose yet another character with so much promise. Taking a step back though, it seems somewhat absurd to assert that any death was “good” or “bad”; death simply is, and it’s only those left alive who have the luxury of ascribing any meaning to it. In a way, this episode seems like a deliberate and methodical follow-up to the controversy the writers knew would be coming after Beth’s demise–Tyreese’s death no less abrupt or meaningless, but everyone should probably get used to it because that’s just the way the world is sometimes.

Indeed, much of the writing this episode takes a decidedly more cynical and nihilistic tone. Our heroes struggle with the grief and despair that threatens to drag them all down, and Michonne is the only one who hasn’t completely given up. Even as Rick and Glenn grow increasingly despondent, she pushes for them to reinforce the walls and set up a new base in the ruins. “We need to stop,” she tells them, “you can be out here too long.” Her persistence is answered only by a chilling shot of severed limbs scattered just beyond the broken walls of the community, without a single head or torso in sight. Presented without explanation, it’s the episode’s finest moment and a glimpse of the darker, more nuanced show The Walking Dead has the potential to be. Gore is everywhere in this series; it’s nice to let the viewer’s imagination do some of the heavy lifting.

b45d020e-0d03-0919-1ef4-37599a4a8b10_TWD_509_GP_0821_0108

The inexplicable madness on display drives Glenn and Rick deeper into despair, but only steels Michonne’s resolve. She pushes for the group to head towards Washington, because clinging to hope is the better alternative to simply surviving, and because “this is what ‘making it’ looks like.” Tyreese, bleeding and alone while waiting for help, confronts similar (albeit less tangible) existential horrors. The show can’t quite shake its penchant for labored philosophical discussions between characters, and Tyreese’s final moments are filled with hallucinations of dead characters from his past to debate the futility of life and death.

Like most philosophical debates, there aren’t clear answers. Tyreese himself chose defiance in the face of all the horrors of the world and not give up, only to later give up and die in the van anyway. And in one last reminder of their absurd, meaningless existence, our heroes’ attempt to bring Tyreese to safety uncovers a truck bed full of the previously-missing limbless zombies. It doesn’t matter. Nothing matters. It’s okay that you don’t want to be a part of it anymore.

  • It’s still a shame to lose Tyreese. His character was starting to get good.
  • It was a downer of an episode, there was still a lot to like: I enjoyed how they played around with the ambiguity of the opening montage, there was some nice slow motion zombie action, and Beth had a lovely rendition of Jimmy Cliff’s “Struggling Man”.
  • Glenn got a new bat!

‘Straight Outta Compton’ Red Band Trailer

0

Universal has released the official trailer for the N.W.A. biopic ‘Straight Outta Compton’ today, which contains an introduction featuring Ice Cube and Dr. Dre, two of the founding members of the seminal rap group:

The movie about the controversial group scored more controversy last week when former Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight was charged with a hit and run murder following a shoot for the film last week.

N.W.A. found both immediate success and controversy when their music, which reflected the violent and crime-ridden culture in which they came up in, was initially released in the late 80s. Their punk-rock attitude towards authority was further magnified by the media after the Los Angeles riots exploded on the streets in 1992.

Founding member Eazy-E was diagnosed with AIDS in 1995 and died later that year.

NWA

‘Straight Outta Compton’ stars Paul Giamatti, and O’shea Jackson, Jr., Ice Cube’s son, who plays his father.

‘Compton’ hits theaters on August 18th 2015.

Jupiter Ascending Review: A Scifi Lover’s Lament

3

Sigh.

If you, like me, love science fiction movies–hold them close to your heart–then I know that every time a preview for something like Jupiter Ascending hits your radar, you hope against hope that it’s going to be great. That it’s going to deliver an amazing new world and innovative technology and incorporate elements we’ve never seen, never imagined. That we’re going to watch a story unfold on the edge of our seats, find new Luke’s and Leia’s and Han’s and Darth Vader’s to love and hate and love to hate for years to come.

That we’ll once again discover a whole new universe we’d like to live inside, to know every nook and cranny like we know our own. Want to be the characters, and be friends with them, and kiss them silly.

I’m sorry to report that Jupiter Ascending is not going to give you all of those things.

It’s also not going to give you none of those things, but the components its lacking do not make up for the ones it delivers in moments of stunning originality. In fact, the film’s failures cast the enormous amount of wasted potential in harsher light and make me angrier than I would be if the entire thing had been a laughable wash.

This is becoming sort of a trademark feeling for me with the Lana and Andy Wachowski’s films (V for Vendetta, Cloud Atlas, and the Matrix films – though I know many fans will disagree with me on the latter) – that sense that so much more could have been if they’d revised that script just a couple more times.

But let’s get down and dirty with Jupiter Ascending.

The Premise/Plot:

Three siblings (Eddie Redmayne, Douglas Booth, and Tuppence Middleton) in a powerful royal family called the Abrasax are all interested in owning the earth. They, along with all intergalactic royalty, buy, trade, populate, and “harvest” lesser planets filled with lesser beings in order to keep themselves perpetually young. As they state in the film, their superior genetics and technology and years of knowledge have taught them that there is only one commodity worth fighting (and killing) for–time. They harvest the genetic material of their subjects in order to buy it for themselves and make a profit selling them to others.

Earth was the property of the family’s matriarch (who is never named), a woman who died under mysterious circumstances after living a mere nine hundred and ten thousand years, but it passed to her eldest son Balem upon her death. He’s planning on harvesting the huge investment in the near(ish) future when it comes to his (and his siblings) attention that a genetic recurrence of their mother’s exact genetic code has been born on earth. We would call her a reincarnation, perhaps, but when you live as long as humans in this film it’s not unheard of. Which means the mother left arrangements for her future self–including the title to her previous holdings, which included the earth.

The ever-stunning Mila Kunis plays Jupiter, the unwitting genetic recurrence of a long-dead, much-loved queen. She’s dragged into the fray and tugged back and forth between siblings who want to either marry her (ew?), try to coerce her with kindness, or outright kill her to retain what is now theirs. She earns the loyalty of one gene-spliced licen-men-soldier (Channing Tatum) and his band of merry outsiders, who strive to (sort of) teach her what she needs to know to claim her birthright as an Abrasax without giving away the souls of earth in the process.

Whew.

Jupiter-Ascending-1

What I liked:

I loved the idea of the warring siblings, and that they all had different approaches in the attempt to win Jupiter to their side (or eliminate her). I absolutely loved the setup, actually, and the harvesting of genetic material to achieve immortality–it’s totally the kind of thing people in power would do if they could, and a stroke of brilliance for the film.

I loved the concept of regeneration and recurrences, and that people would provide for future versions of themselves. I also loved that the film made it clear that the Abrasax family was only one of many royal families (though the most powerful), because it set up a complex universe that we should have been ready to demand more from at the close of the film.

What I didn’t like:

Here I go, getting on my feminist horse again, but seriously? This movie is named after Jupiter, she’s supposedly the one that they’re all after and the one with the thing everyone wants, but the girl has zero agency from top to bottom, back to front, and all the way up and down both sides. She’s saved countless times by Channing Tatum (I can’t even remember his name in the film. He’s just Channing Tatum). Not only is she saved by him repeatedly, she does nothing to even try to save herself as she wanders blindly around waiting for him to save her. Um, how about you find a gun? Or, you know, look for a space ship or a pair of those handy gravity-displacing boots you might be able to use to get yourself out of the burning person refinery before you die? UGH. You guys. I cannot even explain how frustrating her lack of motivation was, and all I kept imagining was Princess Leia literally beating her head against a wall over the repeated demise of her legacy in science fiction films.

Jupiter had only a few moments of actual thought and impact on the film, once when she shot Balem (but just in the knee, for heaven’s sake) and once when she decided not to sign away the souls of all of the people on earth for the lives of her family. She never asks questions (like, why should I go with you, vaguely dog-like Channing Tatum?). Later, once she learns who she supposedly is and what belongs to her, she doesn’t ask questions about the dynasty she’s part of, or about their lives on their planets and ships, or about her responsibilities or holdings or the goddamn rules of engagement. Her only question–literally–is about why Channing Tatum was courtmartialed and thrown out of the military establishment.

Head. Freaking. Desk.

In a similar manner, the one Abrasax sister, Kalique, has no purpose or point except to look pretty and briefly give us some backstory. Blah.

The instalove is strong with this one, folks. We get no real glimpse into the connection between Channing Tatum and Jupiter, he simply saves her life and then they are in love. Pining, aching, throw away your life for the other person kind of love. It’s a problem. We wasted ten good minutes at the beginning of the movie getting Jupiter’s backstory which never matters in the grand scheme of things at all. Those precious minutes could have gone to shore up some of the other gaping holes in character development.

The romance just did not work for me at all. I would have preferred it as a subplot, much like in Star Wars, but instead it (poorly) informed all of Jupiter’s decisions. At the end of the film, knowing everything that she now knows, she’s content to “own” the earth and fly around Chicago with her alien boyfriend, knowing there are countless other planets full of countless other people who are going to die in the name of immortality. She never mentions it. Doesn’t bother her, I guess, but if the Wachowski’s wanted us to be salivating for another story in this world, they would have done well to set up larger scale stakes. All it would have taken was a line from Jupiter at the end (well, and her giving a shit the whole time) about wanting to learn everything she could about the family and their world so that she could figure out how to use her newfound power to put a stop to their way of life.

She didn’t. Some heroine.

The World:

What I liked:

I actually thought the world the Wachowski’s built in this film was brilliant, and the special effects backed it up beautifully. It had the sweeping, epic feel of a Star Wars, with each of the siblings planet’s decorated with a  distinct look and feel that reflected their personalities to a T. The ships were interesting, the Roman-derived society fit into space like a hand in a glove, the space police concept worked very well. The different species that popped up here and there, the genetic splicing sub-plot that created characters like Channing Tatum’s, all gave the film a sort of Star Trek like feel and forced us to accept that other people from other planets in the universe had been co-mingling for quite some time and none of this was new to them. It had a very established, easy feeling about it, this world, and it’s hard to find fault with it (even for a writer).

There wasn’t anything I didn’t like about the world building in this movie. I would have liked some hints as to the larger scale, problems with the other royal families, etc – and maybe a bit more interaction from the siblings themselves – so that we could have guessed at other duties, other troubles, and their positions would have seemed more three-dimensional, but that’s a small complaint in the grand scale of the movie.

They impressed me. I’m impressed.

xVDQilDh06Sl

Various Other Things:

What I liked:

I really did love the derivatives from the decadence of Ancient Rome. I’m have a master’s degree in ancient history, and if you’re going for lush, brutal, ruthless ruling classes, you don’t have to look much further.

Eddie Redmayne (though occasionally over the top) played a frightening villain in Balem. I wanted more from him, but as with Darth Vader, I think we’d need more time, more movies, to plumb those depths.

Douglas Booth, as the brother Titus, was frightening in a completely opposite way that might have been even more chilling. Loved it.

There’s a scene where Channing Tatum and some other guy realize that Jupiter is the recurrence of the queen, and they do so because the bees on his farm recognize her. It’s a really beautiful scene, and a beautiful analogy about bees inherently knowing royal blood since they’re trained to follow it, and that people never do anything quite so easily. It’s a really unique thing (as far as I know), bees commanded by royalty, and it played perfectly.

The movie is visually stunning and, for the most part, they did not skimp on special effects. You can expect to feel transported to space, to other planets, and aboard ships during your time in the theatre.

What I didn’t like:

There was no comedy or comic relief. Someone needed a sidekick.

The lack of explanations at the beginning. The whole setup is rushed, actually, and when Jupiter is almost killed and then rescued by Channing Tatum, she’s ready to hop on a spaceship with him to another world without even asking why those men were trying to kill her (seriously). I leaned over to my boyfriend at one point to ask if I had missed that part. I hadn’t. There was a lot of stuff with her family that took up unnecessary time and if they had hired me to critique the script, I would have suggested they cut Jupiter’s family all-together. They were completely unnecessary as she could have been the exact same character without them, and if they need leverage for her to have her “big” independent thinking moment (snort) later, they could have just used Channing Tatum at that point.

Because, you know, apparently the lives OF THE ENTIRE EARTH wouldn’t have been enough to convince her. Christ on a cracker.

The utter lack of strong female characters.

And, okay, I know this one is personal to me because I’m partial, but I hate that they named the brother who has more interest in all of the pleasures life has to offer than ruling Titus. The (later) emperor Titus of Rome had a similar reputation as a youth, but if whoever chose the name would have bothered to read beyond his Wiki page, they might have discovered that he later reformed and became one of the best-loved and most responsible emperors Rome ever knew. He also happens to be my favorite emperor. Ahem.

There were too many fight scenes. I counted at least four before we even knew what anyone was fighting about, or why Jupiter was being chased. We get it. Channing Tatum can fight.

The romance was tone deaf but insisted on hogging center stage all the same. Cringeworthy.

To make a long story short (I know, too late):

It might sound like I hated Jupiter Ascending, but that’s not really the truth. I’m disappointed by it because, with the world they imagined and executed, it could have been so much more. All it needed was a tighter script featuring more believable characters and relationships between those characters to be something that I would have walked away from wanting another film or five or six, and the fact that the finished product strikes me as lazy makes me both angry and sad.

Because it’s not enough to have a great idea. Any writer will tell you that great ideas are a dime a dozen. The magic doesn’t happen until you get it all out of your head, and when it goes into someone else’s mind, they think it’s still a great idea.

Magic, people. It does exist, but it seems it’s getting harder and harder to find in Hollywood’s version of science fiction films.

 

 

’12 Monkeys’ Review: Back To The Future

0

12 Monkeys - Season 1

It was both an action packed and story-filled episode on “12 Monkeys” this week as we finally learn about Cole (Aaron Stanford) and Ramse’s (Kirk Acevedo) tumultuous past with the West VII.

While the focus was very much on the future timeline, the show managed to raise the stakes as Cole must now fight a war on two fronts instead of just worrying about the Army of the 12 Monkeys. We begin with Casserole (the official ship name of Cassie and Cole according to show creator Terry Matalas) back in 2015 trying to comb through data that Cassie (Amanda Schull) found on the specialized lab equipment manufacturer while working at the CDC. She starts to ask the chrononaut some personal questions, stating that she doesn’t know anything about him, but Cole is reluctant to answer. Suddenly, the lights begin to flicker and he splinters back to the future. Phew, saved by the time machine!

Cole discovers that he’s been pulled back earlier than scheduled because Ramse had killed two West VII members at the perimeter of the compound and an imminent attack was surely underway. They take precautions and station a force outside the main entrance.

Jumping back to 2032, the two best friends are on their own, hiding out where they can and trying to find food along the way (thankfully they are both too decent to kill an innocent dog). Unfortunately, the West VII ambushes them and Deacon (Todd Stashwick), the leader, offers Cole and Ramse a place in his gang (being that they had just killed two members beforehand). While Ramse is quick to refuse, Cole wants to hear out the offer. The two end up joining the scavenger group.

Throughout their time with the West VII, Cole starts to become more like Deacon, listening to the other man’s ideas of global domination based on the belief that their immunity against the virus made them strong. However during one raid, Ramse loses his temper as Deacon mercilessly kills a man. Their ensuing argument sheds more light on the kind of world the future has degenerated too, where men like Deacon become more animalistic in their vicious need to gain power. Still there are those like Ramse who fight to keep their humanity from slipping away.

Amidst their heated dispute Cole gets stabbed by one of the survivors they robbed and he ends up shooting the guy without a second thought. Deacon is like the devil to Ramse’s angel on Cole’s shoulder and team evil appears to be winning.

When they get back to the camp there was almost sexy time between Cole and Max after she patches up his wound but Deacon comes in and gives him the, “I need you to kill your best friend talk.” He does it in the best way possible of course, by basically saying: well, I could do it to make an example of him but I would take hours and hours so you’d really be doing Ramse a solid if you killed him quickly yourself.

Oh Cole! He agrees and goes to Ramse’s tent to do the dirty deed. But when he gets there Ramse knows exactly whats going on and even gives him a knife. They have a heart to heart and Cole finally realizes that he’s become a person willing to murder his own brother from another mother. That night they sneak out with poor Max seeing them as they disappear into the woods. No wonder she’s so pissed off.

12 Monkeys - Season 1

Back in 2043, the West VII set up a diversion attack and concentrate most of their forces in the underground tunnels. They manage to overwhelm the Splinter Project group and Jones tries to send Cole back to 2015 forever in a last ditch effort to save humanity. But that plan fails epically because Cole splinters to just a day before the invasion.

He gets captured by the enemy and is tortured. He then accidentally gives up the location of the underground tunnel and realizes that he was the one who ratted out his own team. Nice job. But all is not lost! Cole finally manages to convince Max to help when he admits that it was wrong to leave without saying anything. He didn’t want her to become a target and nor did he believe that he and Ramse would even survive this long.

Cole still hasn’t said what’s really going on in the compound but Max decides to aid him anyways and they race back to save the day. Things become much like Hermione and Harry at the end of the “Prisoner of Azkaban,” when we find out that future future Cole was helping out regular future Cole. He tells Max that she needs to keep Jones alive while he goes to save Ramse’s life. Thank goodness too because I had really thought he had died for a second and after this episode the guy is now my favorite character on the show. Cole, Ramse, and Whitley end up in the machine room fighting of Deacon and other scavengers with Max saving Jones in the process. The Splinter Project team wins and the West VII bid a hasty retreat.

Max ends up being allowed to stay in the compound though it’s definitely going to be awkward when she finds out about Cassie. Meanwhile Cole and Ramse have some bro time chat on the relevant topics of the day: Max, Deacon coming back for the machine, and of course Cassie.

Taking Ramse’s advice, Cole opens up to the good doctor once he gets back to 2015. He lets her know that he was born in a small town just outside Philadelphia. While Cassie appreciates Cole’s willingness to finally put some walls down, she’s got more important news to tell him. She’s found the Night Room!

This future centered episode definitely upped the ante (and my stress levels) as we now have number related antagonists in both the past and the future. Humanity just can’t catch a break. I for one though am looking forward to the further adventures of team Casserole and finding out what dastardly things await them in the Night Room.

“12 Monkeys” airs Fridays 9/8 central on Syfy.

Follow Nicole on Twitter: @niixc.

Images courtesy of Syfy.

Telltale’s ‘Game of Thrones’ Review: The Lost Lords

0

The last time I reviewed Telltale’s Game of Thrones, things were a bit dicey. It was difficult writing a spoiler-free review of a game where one of the main characters dies almost immediately after getting to like them. Much like the books and show, Telltale’s Game of Thrones left me in shock, unable to fathom the horrors I had just witnessed. I wanted to write about them. I NEEDED to, but my desire to keep reviews spoiler-free held me back. However, I can no longer withhold my feelings about this phenomenal game and now I even have help along with me to discuss the second episode, “The Lost Lords.” Bilal and I are going to review this episode and it will be insanely spoiler-heavy, so if you haven’t finished through the second episode, I implore you to leave this page immediately.

got_ep2-1

A beginning in Essos

JEN: I’ll be honest, I didn’t think we’d even see Essos in the game. I know Asher Forrester, second son in the house, had been mentioned being across the Narrow Sea, but I assumed he’d just…show up in Ironrath at some point. To instead start the episode IN Essos and to make his character such a charming sellsword was a nice touch.

BILAL: It was a pleasant surprise for me as well. I half-expected to see Asher show up like Gandalf in the The Two Towers – during a very bleak and pivotal moment of crisis in Ironrath. What surprised me even more was Malcolm’s ability to travel across the Narrow Sea so quickly. Imagine if the characters in the books moved this fast?  

With that said, I came to like Asher almost instantly. He’s got that wild, roguish nature to him. A Westerosi Han Solo one might say.

I do have an issue with this sequence however and I’m not sure if you encountered this as well. During the fight sequence with the sellswords I had a cup of coffee in my lap. I figured I’d let Asher die and then place the cup on the side so I don’t spill anything on the couch. Oddly without me inputting anything, I was able to survive all but one of the inputs. It’s almost jarring how little input is actually required to progress the story.

I understand the reasoning for it though. During Season 2 of The Walking Dead, missing a single input was insta-death. It only led to frustration. It’s nice for the sequences to be a bit more forgiving on missing the on-screen prompts, but this feels too forgiving.

JEN: I actually didn’t notice that. I killed Asher twice during that sequence. Now that you mention it, that IS an issue I have with Telltale games as a whole. There is no challenge to any of it. I know I mentioned this in my review of the first episode, but there’s a feeling that my choices don’t actually matter. I’d love to see even a subtle change like a dialogue choice getting you immediately murdered and having to start over.

BILAL: Telltale beta tested that feature with Ethan. Apparently the test group wasn’t happy with the results =D

A surprising resurrection

JEN: Surviving the seemingly impossible isn’t exactly new in the world of ice and fire. Just ask Beric Dondarrion. Seeing Rodrik alive after I was certain every Forrester had died at the Twins sent my heart all atwitter. Finally! Good news for the family after that monster Ramsay STABBED A CHILD IN THE NECK. However, I am curious how a man with so many still bleeding wounds managed to survive a cold, bumpy ride from the Twins to Ironrath, a hold situated northwest of Winterfell. Food for thought.

BILAL: Well Jen if you watched the new season of Arrow, you’d understand that the cold weather slows down your body and bleeding and stuff….. I don’t know. I’m not a doctor! I take it as it comes!

I have a funny relationship with Rodrik. In Episode 1 when Gared finally reaches him and the player gets their first look at Rodrik, I sort of didn’t care that he “died.” To me he was kind of like Jaime Lannister. Pretty boy knight who is good at everything. I wanted to hate him because he was so good at everything!

Then as soon as I saw him alive, I couldn’t help but be happy. I think Ethan’s death really hit me hard. Screaming out from the cart in vain was a great play on Telltale’s part. They sort of had me believing that no one would see him. Imagine as the player just seeing Rodrik being carted away to be dumped into a river. Classic Telltale!

Jon Snuh Part Deux

JEN: The biggest problem I’ve had thus far with the game is how repetitive some of the characters feel to the original series. Gared’s struggles while joining the Night’s Watch almost exactly mirror those of Jon Snow. He’s noble, a good fighter, well-liked back at home, and singled out right from the beginning. I don’t necessarily mind this, but it would have been interesting to have a character instead clash with Jon Snow. Push him off The Wall or something.

BILAL: I wholeheartedly agree with you on this. Gared feels like the second coming of Jon Snow. It feels like a rehashed storyline from both the books and the show. “You’ve got to make friends on The Wall with rapists, murderers, and low lifes to survive Jon Snow Tuttle.”

I like Jon Snow! I rather kick Cotter off The Wall.

got_ep2-3

Rodrik’s Recovery

JEN: Rodrik is the Bill Weasley of the group and my goodness do I want him to succeed. I’ll be interested to see how things play out when Asher arrives in Ironrath, if the two will fight for lordship, but ultimately, I want Rodrik to come out on top. Unlike the heartless Bilal, I was sad to see Rodrik fall in battle, if only because I liked his father and assumed he’d be more of the same. He’s Robb Stark if Robb had survived the Red Wedding and I think some of us may be playing Rodrik as if that were the case.

That being said, there’s not much action to his sequences, so they can be rather bland, especially compared to Asher’s excitement in Essos. And I do have an issue with the idea of fake control of a character. The walking scene with Rodrik was fine, because he’s injured, but to return control to me, the player, only to walk the character ten feet to the next dialogue sequence is annoying. Just start the damn sequence.

BILAL: Woah there, Jen! Between Asher and Rodrik, I rather have the latter come up on top for lordship. Rodrik was just another NPC to me in the first episode. I’ve come to enjoy him in The Lost Lords. He reminds me of much of his father Gregor.

I enjoyed Rodrik’s recovery mostly because it gave us more Talia. She’s the hidden jewel of House Forrester. She’s like a less conniving Little Finger. Talia’s out for the best interest of everyone, but plays it like a shadow queen.

JEN: I love Talia. Talia for Queen in the North! (She should teach her mother a thing or two about subtlety.)

Why’s it always Mira, Mira, Mira!

JEN: Like Gared, Mira’s story mirrors another major character in Game of Thrones–Sansa. This one bothers me not because I dislike Sansa–in fact, I may be one of her biggest fans–but because in King’s Landing there isn’t a shortage of interesting characters. I like House Forrester, more than I like House Stark if I’m honest, but I can’t help but think that if we played Sera Flowers, conspiring against Mira Forrester to curry Margaery or Cersei’s favor, that the game would be more interesting. Imagine trying to genuinely deceive Tyrion, instead of playing the shy I-know-nothing-of-the-world girl. Imagine if Tyrion were to face someone actually better at it than him.

Oh, and if any of you forged a letter from Margaery, you’re a monster.

BILAL: Telltale needs a better transition to Mira than Lady Forrester saying “MAYBE YOUR SISTER MIRA WILL BE ABLE TO HELP US FROM KING’S LANDING.”

NO MOM! NO! Cersei is onto my every move. If Sera Flowers proved to me she was my half-sister, I still wouldn’t trust a single thing she said. It feels overtly obvious that Sera is a spy for Cersei. I can’t believe I took blame for the wine for her. Agh.

“HEY MIRA! WHAT ARE YOU WRITING?”

“I’m writing in my diary about how I want to toss you out of my window Sera.” Then I proceed to press right to grab her, move the right stick to grab a pot and smash her over the head with it, and then mash A till she flies out of my window.

JEN: That might be difficult to explain to Margaery, murderer.

got_ep2-4

The Imp and his bag of tricks

JEN: One of the things I enjoy most about the game so far is being able to interact with characters we already know so well. Telltale did that briefly with The Walking Dead and more so in The Wolf Among Us, but Game of Thrones is positively littered with familiar characters. Watching Tyrion manipulate Whitehill men and then broker a deal with Mira over the ironwood was a delight. I’ve missed Tyrion’s charisma and wit in the capital.

BILAL: I love any scene involving Whitehill men becoming jaded. God I live for it. If Telltale released an episode where all you did was make snarky remarks at the Whitehills it would be an immediate 10/10.

JEN: I want to play that DLC.

BILAL: That said, I’ve royally put myself in a corner. I refuse to ask Margaery for help and I put all my eggs in with Tyrion on this Ironwood deal. I’ve read the books and have watched the show. I’m a freaking idiot. Even with Tyrion’s frequent reminders that getting in bed with him  (figuratively) could be dangerous for Mira, I failed to recall where this is all headed.

I’m curious to see what happens after the events of the royal wedding.

Asher’s rendition of “I just can’t wait to be king”

JEN: Do you know how mad I’m going to be if Asher manages to acquire a sellsword army and make it Westeros BEFORE Daenerys takes hold of Meereen? DANY THIS COULD BE YOU. YOU HAVE DRAGONS. Anyway, I have nothing to add about Asher or my almost uncomfortable crush on his smirk.

BILAL: This sequence made me cringe hard for two reasons. One, that guard that gets close to you is blind as a bat. You’re telling me you can’t see people hiding behind those barriers that have HOLES in them. Follow this up with Asher proclaiming himself to being a fantastic king for not giving the order to kill the sellsword? Really? Anyone would have known that was the smart move to make.

I don’t see Asher running House Forrester at all. I see Asher fitting into Royland’s role…. you know after he kills Royland for being the worst.

JEN: Ugh. Royland is the worst. At first I enjoyed his take-no-shit attitude, but now he’s just like Stannis the Butthurt, sulking around Ironrath. That’s why I didn’t name you Sentinel, Royland!

BILAL: He even wanted to take fingers off the one villager in the first episode. Classic Stannis!

Sansa’s Mira’s idiotic garden rendezvous

JEN: Girl, didn’t yo mama ever teach you to not talk to strangers, especially after they’ve broken into your room to steal things? Like, I’m pretty sure that the first thing Mama Forrester told Mira was, “I’m going to email send a raven everyday asking for the Tyrells help, even though we’re Northerners and everyone in King’s Landing hates us.” But the SECOND thing Mama Forrester would have told Mira was, “TRUST NO ONE IN KING’S LANDING.” And giiirrrrllllll, after getting in trouble for stealing wine you didn’t take and after having someone rifle through your belongings looking for information, you should have been like, “Nah. I think I’ll just wait until morning. See how I feel about late night gardening after breakfast.” I know that makes for a duller story, but goodness, I hate seeing that kind of stupidity.

BILAL: Normally I would want to say more about this, but you nailed it on the head. Mira seems like the character in horror movies to walk toward the strange sounds and into her doom. What I don’t understand either is the need for Damian to meet her in the garden. He’s a guard and can get around however he pleases. Couldn’t he have just met Mira in her room?

He’d be able to control the guards around her room, minimize who was in the vicinity and murder the girl without any issue…..

Jen… I promise. I’m not a psychopath or anything.

JEN: Uh huh. I’m just gonna screenshot this anyway. For science and stuff.

Forced marriage or true love?

How to win a girl’s hand in marriage by Jen Stayrook

Step 1: Play up the pain — Don’t be whiny, but don’t be afraid to shed a tear or two. She’ll want to nurture you.

Step 2: Tell her the truth — About something. Anything. She’ll appreciate the honesty.

Step 3: Talk about old times together — Girls are suckers for memories. Music swelling in the background helps.

Step 4: Confess your feelings — Maybe even take her hand in your own. Don’t dive in all the way, but let her know you love her.

Step 5: Offer her your wood — Your ironwood, you pervert. Love only takes a person so far. Possessions are what make a marriage last forever. At least until one or both of you die.

I win.

How to forever be lost in the friend zone by Bilal Mian

Step 1: Be honest — Tell her how you’re really feeling. You look like a truck ran over you. Make her sympathize with you.

Step 2: A bit of self-humor goes a long way — Mention how good you look with the scars

Step 3: Old Memories — Remember the good ol’ days growing up and playing? She does too!

Step 4: Tell her you love her — Self explanatory. Confess everything you feel

Step 5: Welcome to the friend zone — If she really loved you, you wouldn’t need to buy her off. SHE CAN’T LOOK PAST MY SCARS AND ALL THE DEATH AND AND AND…. *runs to cry*

Wait… I can’t run I’m crippled. GREAT! Oh and Whitehill is here to put me in an even more impossible situation. EFFING GREAT.

At least Eleana was pleased I didn’t kiss his ring. I’ve got that going for me. Maybe she’ll wake up one morning and realize how brave I am! Right? Right…. *tears*

I will kill Whitehill. I will kill him and enjoy it.

got_ep2-2

Gared meets the Wall and a bastard

JEN: I hate Jon Snuh. Loathe him. He bores me to tears. Nice to see Gared is continuing that trend. I want to spend more time with Asher in Essos instead of looking at Gared’s stupid whiny face.

BILAL: Jen, did you tell Jon Snow about The North Grove? You know the first rule of The North Grove club right? YOU DON’T SPEAK ABOUT THE NORTH GROVE.

This makes me wonder how on earth Gared is supposed to find it though. All ravens coming to Castle Black seem to be read by someone else. Plus, I’m pretty sure no one has a clue what The North Grove actually is.

In all honesty, the only reason I’m excited to play as Gared is for more info on The North Grove. This Jon Snow 2.0 storyline is flat lining.

JEN: Of course I didn’t tell him about The North Grove. By the time the second episode came to pass, I didn’t even REMEMBER The North Grove, so I didn’t use an answer about something I did not know. (Seriously, the time between episode releases is too long. I don’t have the memory for this.)

BILAL: As a fan of Game of Thrones Jen, you should be ashamed! A few months is too long to remember? If anything, Telltale is trying to being authentic to Martin’s release schedule. They could release Episode 3 in 2016 and I’d feel like they still may be rushing. You know, 2016 would be a great time for Episode 6. It could release it along with the sixth book, Winds of Winter *weeps*

JEN: You shut your mouth right now.

Let me just throw away this murder evidence

JEN: I’m going to repeat this–LET ME JUST THROW AWAY THIS MURDER EVIDENCE. Okay, yes, I threw it away. That was stupid, but come on, someone has already gone through Mira’s belongings. Ain’t no sense in keeping that around, but still, you just chucked that bloodied knife any ol’ place and run back inside with blood all over your face and clothes? We need to discuss how to properly escape a murder conviction, Mira, and what just did is the exact opposite of doing so.

BILAL: There’s no fingerprint or DNA testing in Westeros right? It’s mostly the reason I threw it away. That and someone is bound to go through my belongings. Let’s hope Mira was smart enough to burn any clothing with blood on it. I wonder if King’s Landing gets How to Get Away With Murder? Mira could use some lessons.

Rodrik and Gwyn

JEN: I like Gwyn. I like the whole star-crossed lover thing she’s got going on with Asher. Sure, she’ll probably die by her father’s sausage fingers or become a Bolton plaything, but it’s sweet. She gives a shit. I like when people give a shit.

BILAL: It’s Romeo and Juliet all over again, but I see Gwyn twisting the dagger into the Forresters at the very end. This is Game of Thrones and Telltale we’re speaking of. They may be star-crossed lovers, but I Gwyn’s got more going for her if she sides with her family. 

She’s got a heart, but I don’t think she’s stupid enough to go against her family. In hindsight I do wish I was a bit nicer to her.

JEN: I do love that Baby Bro Forrester, who is being held hostage, has not come up between the two of us once. You can see where our priorities lie.

BILAL: No one cares about the fourth born son Jen. That’s why no one is a fan of Rickon Stark. 

The song

BILAL: You mean that song with no subtitles? Seriously Telltale! What gives? I’m pretty sure the song was written down on a script somewhere. I really suck at listening to songs. If Talia or anyone else in the future is going to sing, please add lyrics.

Sincerely,

The Boy Who Sucks at Listening to Songs

JEN: THAT SONG WAS BEAUTIFUL. You suck it up, you monster. Also, Talia needs to be the one King’s Landing. That girl is going to save House Forrester, just you wait.

Closing Remarks

BILAL: Telltale gives us another great episode with The Lost Lords, but technical issues and Gared’s story arc are black marks of this chapter. The series still carries the issues of minor lag during scenes which comes across as jarring when the story is aiming to pull you in. I noticed back during the first season of The Walking Dead and I’m shocked it is still not fixed.

With that said, the Forrester story is one that hasn’t failed to captivate me. I wish HBO would do a spin-off series on this story.

Xbox One Score – 8/10

JEN: Overall, I am still very much enjoying Telltale’s Game of Thrones, so much so that it feels like canon. I love the Thrones-verse and Telltale have certainly captured its essence in the writing. Unlike Bilal, I had no issues with lag on the PC version. My issues with the game stem from feeling incapable of actually making choices that matter. As Bilal mentioned above, it’s hard to choose the way you want to because we all know the eventual outcome of the bigger players. Even still, House Forrester is a well-written bunch and I am eagerly awaiting episode three.

PC Score – 8.5/10

Report: Netflix developing live-action Legend of Zelda series

1

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that a live-action Legend of Zelda series is in the works over at Netflix.

The series, which follows Link, an ordinary boy, who sets off to rescue the Princess Zelda from evil and save the kingdom of Hyrule, is currently in early stages at Netflix. The online distributor is describing the series as Game of Thrones for the family.

This isn’t the first Zelda television series either. In 1989 Nintendo released a short-lived 13-episode animated series following the adventures of Link.

Netflix is still seeking writers for the series. Whether the live-action Legend of Zelda series will see the light of day on is a question we’ll have to keep asking. Until an official announcement, it may be best to keep our excitement in check.

 

‘Archer’ Review: Vision Quest

0

605_05_hires2

Archer
Season 6, Episode 5 “Vision Quest”
Grade: A-

Bottle episodes, traditionally minimalistic episodes that take place in a single setting, serve a very practical purpose by saving production time and costs that would otherwise be spent on things like having multiple sets or elaborate props. But they also serve as a good litmus test for the strength of a show’s characters and how well they fare without any external impetus. For a lot of dramas, this usually means some intense character development via sobering introspection or honest confrontations. But for comedies, it’s mostly an opportunity for a manic display of all its characters’ hilarious dysfunctions. Archer has had its share of bottle episodes before, but takes the concept to its logical extreme by trapping the entire cast (minus Malory) within the narrow confines of the malfunctioning office elevator.

Stranded on the elevator on a way to a mandatory early morning meeting called by Malory, there isn’t much hope for reaching help–Krieger installed an RF jammer on the roof of the elevator (“so people would quit staring at their phones and talk to each other”), and Milton the toaster robot just returns with a supply cart full of toast. As their patience for each other wears thin, the situation naturally descends into chaos before Malory finally arrives and manually resets the elevator.

605_07_hires2

Some might take issue with the lack of any spy action or character development, but a lot of great moments have come out of Archer as a simple office comedy. The mundanity of this episode shouldn’t be mistaken for laziness or complacency–what ensues is a dizzying display of rapid fire jokes and non-stop banter. What makes Archer’s writing and voice acting all the more impressive, though, is the fact that all the voice actors record their lines separately. One could hardly tell, by the way the actors seem to effortlessly trade jabs and deliver pitch-perfect reactions.

What I particularly enjoyed about this episode was the way the group dynamics were constantly shifting. Archer, Lana, Ray, Cyril, Pam, Cheryl and Krieger all take turns ganging up on each other in various combinations throughout their ordeal, and each takes a turn being singled out by the entire group. One moment Archer, Ray, and Cyril are laughing at Lana’s monstrous hands, and in the next we have Archer pointing out the obvious power dynamics of the group when the issue of food rationing comes up: “The strong, like me, you, and Pam, who will naturally prey on the weak.” And lest you think that it’s all caustic hostility, the group manages to share some pleasant moments as well. The ladies end up complimenting Cyril’s sweater vests, much to Archer’s chagrin, and even Archer treats his vest more respectfully when he learns what it’s made of (“It’s cashmere, Lana. There are rules. Cyril, seriously, I’m sorry; I didn’t know.”). But by and large, most of the camaraderie is found in ostracizing each member of the group on a rotating basis.

Bottle episodes can be pretty challenging to get right, but Archer pulls it off effortlessly. Despite being a bit of a throwaway episode, the strength the writing and voice acting make for a perfect distillation of everything there is to love about the characters and their whirlwind of dysfunction.

  • One of my favorite new gags this season is various characters thinking that they’re having a stroke because they smell toast, and then Milton showing up.
  • “What are you, colorblind?” “I am, actually.” “Typical.”
  • “You want to drink, you want to lecture us, you want more bear claws, you want to smoke, you want to masturbate, and you’re scared that we’ll figure out you’re just a Krieger clone”
  • “BOOM! Priapism!”
  • “Serious shit, did Red Dawn happen and nobody told me about it?”
  • Malory’s team building exercise for the morning was watching Vision Quest

Images courtesy of FX

‘Saved by the Bell’ Cast Reunites on Jimmy Fallon

0

Did you know Jimmy Fallon went to Bayside High School with the rest of the Saved by the Bell cast? Well neither did I!

The cast, which included Zack (Mark-Paul Gosselaar), Kelly (Tiffani-Amber Thiessen), Slater (Mario Lopez), Jessie (Elizabeth Berkley), and Mr. Belding (Dennis Haskins), reunited during for a segment that played during Wednesday night’s airing of The Tonight Show. Notably missing were both Screech (Dustin Diamond) and Lisa (Lark Voorhies).

The Fallon “flashback” goes back to the day he told his Bayside friends that he was moving to New York to become a comedian, star on SNL, and one day have his own talk show. Jimmy even jokes about possibly dating Nicole Kidman.

The Workprint’s Best of the Super Bowl Commercials

0

Every year millions of Americans sit around and root for two teams they don’t really care about. Why exactly? For the commercials!

After a long arduous process, involving several Skittles-like arm-wrestling matches, The Workprint staff have finally settled on the best Super Bowl commercials of 2015.

Clash of Clan featuring Liam Neeson

Nicole – Super Bowl ads were utterly underwhelming this year with the exception of Liam Neeson in Clash of Clans. Going into an intense “Taken” monologue after being defeated in a video game he is then interrupted by the barista mispronouncing his name. Thank you Clash of Clans for hilariously making fun of Liam Neeson in his slew of recent action movies.

Jen – By far the best commercial from Superbowl XLIV was the one for LSD. I mean, dancing palm trees and sharks with hips that don’t lie, where do I sign up? It would be so awesome to have beach balls singing about–wait, what? That wasn’t an ad? They weren’t promoting drug use at the Halftime Show?

Oh.
This is awkward.

*ahem*

By far the (second) best commercial from Superbowl XLIV was the promo for Taken 4, starring Liam Neeson. After successfully rescuing his entire family over the course of three movies, Liam has decided to settle down and play a game on his phone, only that’s when things take a dire turn. Soon, his entire clan is torn asunder and AngryNeeson55 goes on a rampage for revenge. Can’t wait to watch this movie!

Bilal – The best part of this commercial lays in the simple fact that it is much better than Taken 2 and 3.

Esurance featuring Bryan Cranston

Erin – The best and most memorable Super Bowl commercials cater to pop culture’s collective consciousness and soft spot for nostalgia, often blending contemporary marketing innovation with old-school classics. Snickers scored with its technically impressive and comedically airtight Brady Bunchriff, while early-aughts hip-hop diva Missy Elliott single-handedly overshadowed current pop princess Katy Perry’s halftime extravaganza in a matter of seconds. However, one of the night’s most talked-about moments proved audiences are always ready for a comeback, even when what we’re missing hasn’t been gone for very long.

Cue Esurance’s shrewdly timed spot featuring perennial good sport and class act Bryan Cranston reprising his role as “pharmaceuticals” expert Walter White. The ad’s premise caters brilliantly to Breaking Bad fans who remain largely insatiable for any reference to the acclaimed drama since its 2013 departure, and helps set peripheral groundwork for AMC’s upcoming spin-off Better Call Saul.Sporting his trademark hazmat gear, gravelly voice and piercing stare, Cranston’s “Sorta Greg” actually went full Heisenberg and the bit wouldn’t have worked with anything less.

The pharmacy’s weary customer might have succumbed to Sorta Greg’s intimidation tactics rather begrudgingly, but viewers took their medicine like a spoonful of sugar. The only thing missing from the prescription was Jesse Pinkman’s enthusiastic “Yeah, bitch!”, but the sentiment still echoed loud and clear.

Snickers – “The Brady Bunch”

Keith – Snickers has been on an absolute roll for the last five years with it’s celebrity-laden commercial campaign  that has over the years featured the likes of Aretha Franklin, Robin Williams, and Betty White amongst others. But for this year’s Superb Owl, they’ve gone completely meta, and as a result knocked it out of the park.

Their newest spot is a scene from one of the most iconic episodes of The Brady Bunch, in which Marsha gets hit in the nose with Peter’s football. Robert Reed and Florence Henderson are there…and so is Danny Trejo. Now we’re not in some semblance of reality, in which all other Snickers commercials are based, but we have crossed over into TV, which immediately ups the celebrity ante. Trejo is hilarious in full ‘Machete’ mode as he bemoans his injured schnoz to Carol and Mike, who suggest that she chill out and eat a Snickers bar. She does, and classically turns back into her old self, but the button at the end which sends it over the edge is Jan, perched atop the stairs screaming “Marsha, Marsha, Marsha!”, only Jan is so upset and un-Snickersed that she’s turned into Steve Buscemi. It’s fucking amazing and the only thing missing is Nicholas Cage. Maybe in the next one he can play Tiger the Dog…

Furious 7 Trailer

Bilal – There was a time before every commercial ended up on Youtube before the Super Bowl when people couldn’t help but be pumped for movie spots shown during the big game. Last night, no movie trailer brought it quite like the Furious 7 trailer. I’ve already gone into detail on crazy it is hereFurious 7 will be Paul Walker’s last theatrical debut and it looks like the franchise will be sure to honor his memory with the most batshit crazy movie yet.

‘MARVEL’S AGENT CARTER’ Recap: The Iron Ceiling

0

unnamed-119838-121124-121128

I’ll be honest: I’ve been looking forward to this week’s episode of Agent Carter since we saw last week’s preview, for a number of reasons: the return of the Howling Commandos, footage and backstory of the infamous Black Widow program, the fact that we were going to finally see Peggy getting out of New York and doing some fighting akin to what we had seen in Captain America: The First Avenger. With only three episodes left, “The Iron Ceiling” didn’t disappoint, and between Peggy’s identity inching closer and closer to discovery, the secrets of Howard Stark, and the shifts in power at the SSR, it’s clear we’re building to something explosive.

The Red Room, aka the Black Widow operative program, has long been a staple in Marvel comics, specifically as it relates to known Avenger and spy Natasha Romanoff. While Natasha has been using the title of “Black Widow” for a number of years (indicating that perhaps she is one of the last remaining or most accomplished girls to come out of the program) it was nice to see some background on where everything started, and also great to see some real footage of what Natasha’s early life might have been like – being handcuffed to a bed, being brainwashed by seemingly mindless cartoons, and being taught to ruthlessly kill. Might we be able to look forward to some more Red Room knowledge, as the groundwork has been quietly laid for an exploration into Natasha’s past during Age of Ultron?

It’s assumed that the blonde girl we see in the beginning montage is Dottie during her training days, and when we see her in the present day, she’s no longer devious but instead overly sweet, chatting up Peggy about sightseeing. She asks her to share bread (a nice callback to the show’s opening, where she also shared a piece of bread, as well as a smile, with her friend…before killing her) and knowledge about New York City. Peggy isn’t exactly focused on that at the moment and when Dottie knocks over Peggy’s purse by accident, she skillfully manages to steal Peggy’s key to The Griffith – “uh oh” moment number one of the night.

When Peggy gets to the office, she notices everyone trying to decipher a message from the magic typewriter. She quickly deduces that it’s Russian, which allows her to figure out that the message is a drop date and coordinates for “Leviathan.” The payment is supposed to be for none other than one Howard Stark, so you can guess how well this goes over with Dooley and Thompson. And despite attempts to persuade her otherwise, it doesn’t stop Peggy from going to Russia.

Granted, it doesn’t mean that Peggy’s inclusion in the mission comes without some hitches. Souza is tricked into walking in on Peggy getting dressed, where he spots the two bullet wounds on her shoulder – the marks that will spur his curiosity and allow him to later put together the pieces on the mysterious blonde from the club. (I’m giving it until next week before that bomb drops.) “Uh oh” moment number two of the night. Dottie, meanwhile, is using Peggy’s absence to comb her way through her room, until she finds the pictures Peggy’s hidden of Stark’s inventions. We also get a glimpse of the famed Steve Rogers photo, an Easter Egg that always makes me emotional. Dottie takes her time looking through Peggy’s things, clearly attempting to imitate her for…what exactly? We know Dottie’s trained to be a spy in these kind of situations, but we’re not sure yet what her endgame is.

So Peggy and her team head off to the 107th…where they meet Dum Dum Dugan. And, well, the rest of the Howling Commandos who existed unknowingly until now. It was a joy seeing Neal McDonough reprise his notable role and even more great seeing him fall back into ease with Peggy, from the booze smuggling to the snarky banter. It was even perhaps greater to see the normally cool boys of the SSR become a little star-struck when they met the legendary men that Captain America fought with. As I’ve mentioned previously, seeing Peggy in these situations is not necessarily seeing a woman in a man’s world – it’s seeing a competent fighter as an equal. They make their way into the border of Russia with Dum Dum’s help, coming across a school that looks similar to the one that we saw at the beginning of the episode.

What I love about Agent Carter – and what I loved about most of this episode – is that it continually defies the constraints of what it means to be a woman in the 1940’s. In Captain America: The First Avenger, we saw Peggy fight alongside Steve Rogers and his Howling Commandos. We saw her shoot machine guns, punch soldiers who made sexist remarks, and become respected among the ranks of the 107th. It’s been wonderful having Peggy run around New York and kick butt, but bringing her back into the field by going to Russia served to remind us of why we fell in love with her in the first place. She’s not there because she’s a woman – she’s there because she’s a darn good soldier, and someone who can have her team’s back. Dum Dum tells the group that she fought along Steve Rogers longer than he did, and what many people seem to forget is that she’s still fighting alongside Steve Rogers, even though he’s not physically present anymore. But she’s driven by the respect, determination and selflessness that he showed her, and that’s what makes her not just a strong woman, but also a strong person. And it’s an interesting juxtaposition against someone like Thompson, who we learned more about tonight thanks to his history with the war. Thompson is someone who has seen death and grief, and yet his outer shell is all hardened (and sometimes cruel) purpose, so you would never know it. Peggy has experienced the same kinds of compromising emotions, and she also allows herself moments of vulnerability.

Dum Dum is tricked and attacked by a left behind Black Widow girl who is hiding out in the school that they’re infiltrating – thankfully, his vest takes the brunt of the attack from the girl’s knife, but it’s still a pretty brutal scene, and I’m impressed with how far Marvel is going to show the intensity of what these girls went through, from this to the neck snapping at the beginning of the hour. (There’s also no confirmation on who the girl is, for anyone wondering.) While searching the building further, Peggy comes across two men in a holding cell.

The two men in the cell — Nikolai, an engineer and his friend, a psychiatrist — claim that they’re being held there by Leviathan (apparently a person, not a thing) to build a weapon. They say they know nothing about Stark and Nikolai becomes unhinged during Peggy’s group’s escape, shooting another Commando even as Peggy tries to talk him down. I have to hand it to Chad Michael Murray, who did some wonderful work in this episode, particularly in the final few moments when he’s explaining to Peggy why he froze up during the shooting. Thompson has thus far been cold and hateful, and here he lets down his guard in a way that’s completely unexpected to both us and to Peggy. It’s a quiet moment in an hour that was filled with action, but it was one of the most notable.

And it’s interesting, because earlier in the episode, Jarvis made a point of telling Peggy her attempts to fit in with her superiors at the SSR Boy’s Club were futile. But by the end of the episode, she’s starting to gain some equal footing on the playing field – and it’s about time. I still believe this is all too easy of a development, especially with Souza finally having figured out her real agenda, but after building Thompson up to be more or less an asshole, it’s nice to see some progress being made on Peggy’s inclusion into the group.

Odds & Ends:

  • Did everyone catch that “blink-and-you’ll-miss-it” nod to Captain America: The First Avenger, when the camera focused on young Dottie’s eyes in the Red Room? I had distinct flashbacks to Steve waking up in the hospital in the present day.
  • It seems our Black Widow story on Dottie isn’t entirely done, which means we’ll be learning more next week, and I’m excited. Bridget Regan is having an excellent TV season this year, between White Collar and Jane The Virgin and Agent Carter, and I can’t wait to learn more about Dottie and see how she impacts the story.
  • Call me a hopeless fangirl, but I’m still holding out hope that Souza becomes Peggy’s husband, okay? Their relationship has all the makings of a couple that I’m on board with.

Review: Tacky Contestant Uses “Widow Card” on ‘The Bachelor’

0

02-bachelor-ep4.w1171.h778.2x

Not that it’s surprising in any way, but this show has finally sunk to a new low. Normally, I enjoy a good, old-fashioned, fun, harmless mocking of this silly-ass show in my weekly reviews, because, well – it’s a silly concept and a silly show that hardly anyone takes seriously. (If you watch this show and you actually take it seriously and don’t realize how ridiculous it is, you may be what is wrong with humanity. Sorry.) However, this week’s episode took a turn for the tacky when a contestant who is a widow, displayed extremely questionable behavior, making actual widowed people who are NOT on television 18 months after their husband’s death competing for a new husband, look bad. And yes, I have good reason to say this, because I happen to be a widow too. My husband Don actually died in much the same way as Kelsey’s, the contestant on the show. He had a massive heart-attack while at work, at only 46 years old. The way that I talk about my husband’s death, and “that day”, is quite different than the tackiness and lack of respect I witnessed in last night’s episode, and that’s only the tip of the iceberg. I don’t know what the hell is wrong with this chick, but something is up for sure. But more on that later. First, let’s begin at the very beginning ….

This week finds us in Santa Fe, New Mexico, which is, of course, “the perfect place to fall in love.” At this point, I can lip-sync right along with whomever the bachelor/bachelorette happens to be whenever they say that predictable and obvious line, every single time they go somewhere new. Wherever you are on this show, THAT is the perfect place to fall in love. Gag! Douche-bag Host Chris goes to Horny Mansion to tell the 11 remaining girls that they are getting on a plane to meet Farmer Dull in New Mexico. Shit for Brains Meghan had this response to camera: “The sombrero and hats they all wear in Mexico … I dunno if they wear them in New Mexico. I’ve never been out of the country.” Someone please hit this girl over the head with a 2 by 4. Maybe it’ll make her smarter. Host Chris tells the girls there will be 2 one-on-one dates this week, and only 1 group orgy – I mean, date. He drops off the Date Card, which is for Carly, and says “Let’s Come Together.” Ewwww.

UNCOMFORTABLE GURU:

Carly and Corn Husk Boy pull up to a house in the middle of nowhere, and go into the backyard, where they find a strange hippy-type woman, meditating. She is a “love and intimacy guru”, and she is there to teach them about being intimate with one another. What followed next was a series of really uncomfortable and awkward exchanges and events, one after another. The woman burned sage, then instructed the two to breathe in each other. “Clear your mind of thoughts”, she said. Hello? I think this man’s mind is set to “automatically clear.” No thoughts going on in there. Guru tells Carly to blindfold Iowa Boy, and then touch him all over his body, without speaking. Clearly, this is making Carly extremely uncomfortable, and she tells the camera that she is bad with intimacy. Then she rubs chocolate all over Chris’s lips and face, using a strawberry as lipstick. Nothing about any of this is sexy, and watching them makes me want to vomit or throw myself in the nearest lake. Guru then tells them to “de-robe” one another, and when Carly reaches for Chris’s boxers, she has had it. She whispers to Chris “I’m really uncomfortable. ” He responds “So am I.” Well why didn’t you say something then, you dolt? Arent you supposed to be making these women feel safe and comfy and shit? Yeah, well, you failed. When they both say they are uncomfortable, Guru tries to spin that into more hippy-dippy crap. “Let’s go with that feeling, then”, she says. She tells Carly to get into Chris’s lap, and just breathe him in. This chick really likes to hear people breathing loudly. At this point, they are both pretty much dry-humping one another and breathing like a couple of lunatics. When she finally gives them permission to kiss, they get very intimate and almost eat each other’s faces off.

Later, the two shared a romantic dinner, and that damn Guru finally left. I was sort of hoping they would be stuck with her throughout dinner too, saying things like “Feel the glass of water in your hands. Feel the wetness. Now close your eyes and moan at the smell of that steak. Lick it, but don’t bite it! Now run away while screaming ‘I WANT MY MOMMY!’ There now. Don’t you feel empowered?” Carly shares with Gravel-Brain that her last boyfriend never wanted to touch her, and it didn’t make her feel like a woman. Actually, when Carly told this story, she used the word “like” 29 times. I counted. I watch this crap on my DVR so I can stop it and take notes on these things, and she said it 29 times. I won’t print her entire speech here, but it was ridiculous. Here’s a snippet: “He didn’t, like, ever, like, want to touch me or, like, be intimate with me and it really made me feel like I wasn’t, like , feminine or beautiful or, like, sexy. So, like, thank you for making me, feel , like, worthy today, because like, its been so long since I’ve, like, had that.” Jesus, woman. You are a grown adult. Learn how to speak. Shovel-Brain says nothing and has zero reaction during Carly’s 5-hour long speech. He just stares into her face looking confused, like always. I believe he was thinking: “I like cereal.” Something deep like that was going on inside that mashed-potato brain of his. Carly then tells the camera how Chris “makes me feel so beautiful!” Really? How? He DOES NOTHING!!! Farmer tells camera “She has everything inside that I want in a woman.” I keep expecting him to start naming all of the female body parts out loud. “She has boobies, she has a hoo-ha. She has pretty legs.” Could this dude be any more simplistic and basic? Carly gets the rose and the night ends beautifully.

Meanwhile, at Bitch-fest Castle – creepy widow Kelsey is telling a few of the girls about her story. Her husband, whose name is ……… wait for it ……. Sanderson Poe …….. was outside walking to work one day “because it was the most beautiful of days in Georgia, so he walked that day”, when he collapsed. “It was his heart. It just stopped. They don’t really know why. It’s called … hmmm … what’s it called again? Oh yeah .. congestive heart failure. ” When telling her story to the girls, her tone and behavior was extremely odd. It was as if she was reciting a very well-rehearsed speech about the day he died. There was no emotion, and she was very casual and nonchalant about the whole thing. Virgin-Whore Ashley wasn’t buying it for a second. “It’s SOOO sad but I think it’s weird she waited 5 weeks to talk about it and to want to tell Chris her story.” At this point, if these people say the word STORY one more time, I might scream. Anyway, Kelsey is all pissed off and scheming up some way to talk to Chris about her widow story, since she didn’t get the one-on-one with him and will need to find a way to get some alone time with him.

GROUP ORGY (Date) RIO GRANDE:

On this date was Jade, No-Brain Meghan, Kaitlyn, Minnie-Mouse Voice Whitney, Weird MacKenzie, Becca, Samantha (week 4 and STILL no clue who she is), Kardashian-wanna-be-Virgin-Whore Ashley, and Widow Kelsey. The date is at the Rio Grande River, and they are going white-water rafting. Kelsey tells cameras “I’m a flurry of emotions, just trying to process through it all.” Every single thing she says about her “story” is so fake – it’s like what she thinks she is supposed to say as a widowed person, that is what she says. It’s robotic and weird as hell and not authentic. The date begins and everyone is split into two rafts. Jade innocently falls overboard, and is helped back into the raft. Later, Chris is tending to her cold feet and legs, because she has a condition that causes hypothermia. She isn’t being over-dramatic about it – she is simply letting herself dry off and recover, yet Bitchfest 2015 has a problem with it. MacKenzie tells camera “I would have fallen in too if I had that disorder.” Kelsey mocks Jade in camera, saying “I should have dove in there. ‘Oh my oh my! I’m so cold!'” Jesus, ladies. She legitimately fell in the damn water. Give the poor girl a break. Not everything is a conspiracy.

After the rafting, everyone heads into some lodge type area to hang out and probably drink themselves silly, since that’s pretty much all these people do is drink and fight with each other. Chris is nowhere to be found, and the girls are impatiently waiting on him. Meanwhile, a contestant named Jordan, who was sent home in week 2, shows up out of nowhere begging Chris for another chance. This girl was drunk the whole time she was on the show. Just a big ole drunk, running around the house doing drunk things. Pillow-Brain Chris listens as she begs for another chance, and then he walks back in the room hand in hand with her. The girls are NOT happy, and they begin to tell him that one by one, using their alone time to whine and bitch about Jordan’s return. Ashley Virgin-Whore is especially pissed, because this girl is always pissed about something. “I’m so pissed”, she says in her marble-mouthed tone, sounding like she swallowed a toad. “she’s not even good marriage material, and, like, I am. ” She then goes at it with Whitney because Whitney isn’t angry enough at the situation. “You don’t have to be, like, all smiley with her, like, oh yay she’s back!” Whitney tells the camera that she doesn’t think Chris would want a “mean wife” like Ashley. Finally, after all the girls individually yell at him, dumb-ass decides to send Jordan home. Again. DUH! He tells her that he needs to “be a man and make the right decision as a man.” When Jordan comes back into the room to tell the girls she is leaving, the same girls that just spent a half hour bitching about her, all line up one by one to give her fake hugs and well-wishes. Kelsey is the absolute worst, saying in the fakest voice EVER: “I will always admire you.” Huh???? Really? THAT’S your hero in life? A sloppy drunk contestant from a half-baked reality show? Okay then. Chris comes back into the room and notes that you can cut the tension with a knife. You can also cut through his brain mass with a plastic knife. Everyone is crying for literally no reason. Chris gives Meghan a hug because she is in tears. Whitney gets the group date rose. Ashley gets up and whines “It’s not FAIRRR!!! Why did SHE get the rose??? Like, she didn’t deserve it. It’s really messed up!” Everyone goes back home to sleep. HOLY CRAP IS THIS SHOW OVER YET???? WHAT?? ONLY HALF WAY THROUGH??? Someone please split my head open and give me amnesia so I no longer remember watching this drivel. Thank you.

The-Bachelor-19.05-630x419

DIRTY GIRL:

So, Britt gets the second one-on-one date, and word around Bitch-Castle is that she is a huge gross slob who never takes a shower or washes her hair. Carly tells her she will need to wash her hair and shower for this date, and Britt just laughs and says nothing. Carly tells the camera that Britt also doesn’t wash her face at night, but instead, puts on a new coat of makeup right before bed “just in case.” Just in case what? An agent from a modeling agency appears in your bedroom, demanding to see your freshly made-up face? Anyway, Britt is terrified because the Date Card reads “sky is the limit” , and Britt is deathly afraid of heights. Farmer Blah shows up in the middle of the night like a creeper, and literally wakes Britt up by putting his giant face RIGHT NEXT TO her face. She is startled, but her makeup is in place. Dummy Chris doesn’t seem to think its ODD that she is wearing full makeup while in bed. He just tells the camera that she looks just as beautiful in the middle of the night as she does at the rose ceremony. What a moron. They kiss each other a few times while she is in bed, and all I can think about is how her breath and hair must stink like a dog with all those non-showers.

Farmer Dud and Garbage Breath go up inside a hot air balloon over sunrise, soaring into the sky. She is beyond excited about this, because it means she doesn’t have to jump out of a plane or something. Crumb-cake brain tells camera “floating in the air, holding Britt in my arms, I’m on cloud 9.” They end the date by going to his hotel room and shacking up. Well, they lay in bed and make out, and then Chris closes the door to cameras. Britt is happy that her date began and ended in bed.

Back at The House of Wine and Whine, the girls are still talking about Britt’s cleanliness. Kardashian Ashley gossips that Britt told her she “enjoys being single, and doesn’t want any kids.” All the girls gasp in horror. Cut back to Chris’ hotel suite, where he is asking her about kids and how many she wants. Her answer? “Like, 100.” Way to be convincing. When she returns to the house, she tells all the girls about her date, saying it ended with them “taking a nap in his room. ” This causes everyone to give her the evil eye, and Kelsey starts cooking up a plan. “Britt’s date with Chris diminishes my relationship with him. ” She says “I know what I have to do. I have to tell him my story.” This is what we, in the widowed community, refer to as “playing the widow card.” That’s when you use the fact that you are a widow to gain sympathy or to make others feel guilty. Most of us joke around about doing this, but actually doing it is very tacky. Kelsey knocks on his door, and he lets her in. She sits down with him, and starts her story. “I’m stealing this time to share this with you. I was married. HIs name was Sanderson Poe. (I’m sorry. That’s just funny every time.) He collapsed and died while walking to work one day on a beautiful day. I am proud of who I am and what I’ve been through. Life is precious.” He hugs her after her speech, which, this time, produced tears for effect. Then, this is where it gets REALLY off-putting. She says to camera, with sort of a snarky smile: “Isn’t my story amazing? It’s so …. tragic! But it’s amazing! I love my story!” On behalf of widowed people everywhere, can I just say WHAT THE F**KIN F**K IS THAT NOISE??? I’m sorry, but widowed people don’t SAY that. You LOVE your “story?” You love it? Really? You love that your husband is dead? And it’s not a story, it’s your life. And who calls their own self and their own story “amazing?” There is something very wrong with this woman. She then continues: “This may be a show about Chris, but it’s also my story too. And hell yes, I’m getting a rose tonight. Stay tuned. Monday nights at 8.” She literally said that, all happy-like. Talk about offensive to widowed people who actually are hurting and genuine. The way she is using her widowhood to gain in this “competition” is sickening, and the fact that the show and the producers put her on the show in the first place for ratings, is just as sickening. And let’s not act like they didn’t know she was kind of nuts or out there. They knew. They knew exactly what they were getting, and they are loving every second of this.

Which brings us to the cocktail party. Except there isn’t one. All the girls are talking in the mansion as they wait for Chris, saying how each of them needs “time” with Chris. Everyone is very nervous that they might be going home. Kelsey is not nervous because she played her widow card. She tells the others smugly “I’m feeling very comfortable.” Whitney is suspicious of Kelsey’s intentions and tells the camera “something’s not adding up about her.” Farmer Zilch comes in and tells the girls how emotional this week has been for him, and then he says “Kelsey and I just had a really good talk, and it made me think a lot about some things.” Kelsey looks like her balloon has just been popped now that all the girls know she had private time with Chris. Chris stops mid-sentence, and says “I’m sorry. I need a minute …” He leaves. Pointless Host Chris and Pointless Farmer Chris talk outside. Host Chris gives some of his stellar advice: “Go do your thing, man.” Wow. Thanks, Oprah.

Meanwhile, Kelsey is giving the girls a creepy as hell sermon on life. Once again, she sounds as if she is reciting something she heard in a grief counseling book somewhere. Nothing is authentic. Her words are beyond fake. “Every day is a gift, girls. Our time is precious. I know that. ” Host Chris comes back and tells the girls that Yogurt Brain knows what he wants to do, so there’s no cocktail party. Ashley Virgin-Whore gets up and over-dramatically cries and whines, yet again, as she wipes her fake eyelashes and walks down the hallway. This was my favorite quote of the night. “Like, her story is so much more traumatic than my story. It’s SO UNFAIR!!!” Yes. It’s unfair that you don’t have a dead husband too. What the hell is wrong with these people??? Now Kelsey flips out for no reason, saying “I don’t want to go to the rose ceremony. It’s scary.” She gets up and leaves, and suddenly, seconds later, she is on the hallway floor with medics around her. “I’m having a panic attack”, she cries. “I can’t breathe.” Only she CAN breathe, and the “panic attack” is more phony than Pamela Anderson’s boob-job, or Kenny Rogers new face. Kelsey is playing the Widow Card again, as the text on the screen reads TO BE CONTINUED ………..

‘Dying Light’ Review – Parkour of the Dead

0

Dying Light

The city of Harran is a place of destroyed beauty. Sunlight cuts through the ancient city architecture spilling beams of amber light across the horizon. But that horizon is littered with apocalyptic destruction—rusted cars sit like grave markers on the street, makeshift barricades lay in various states of decay, a futile attempt at beating back the relentless hordes of zombies that now infest the city.

‘Dying Light’ is chock-a-block of great moments and total fun, even if the story and characters end up being a bit unexceptional. That story, in which main character and undercover operative Kyle Crane air drops into the overrun city of Harran to find estranged agent Kadir “Rais” Sulaiman, who possesses information that if released would prove to be disastrous for the agency.

The story allows Crane to set himself up as a bit of an interloper between the two factions that struggle for control over Harran – the parkour-loving Runners, and the Mad Max-ian Bandit clan. This is essentially all you need to know since the narrative itself becomes to unwieldy and begins to collapse under its own weight, but that doesn’t distract from the core mechanics of the game, which shine.

Traversing the city is equally thrilling and terrifying. Mantling over rooftops and just barely crossing large gaps 20 stories high in the air is an exhilarating way to move across the map. Equally fun is the game’s “safe landing” mechanic, in which Crane can jump from any height and land safely onto specific objects—blue-tarped roofs, blue piles of trash bags, and dumpsters.

It’s similar in idea to ‘Assassin’s Creed’’s “leap of faith”, but in ‘Dying Light’, there is no auto-pilot. No, the entire descent must be controlled and guided all the way down. At a glance, it doesn’t seem like much of a difference, but when you’re fleeing a throng of zombies and the only escape route is straight down, it’s an absolute relief to stick the landing, and a brief reprieve from the game’s underlying tension.

That tension multiplies at night, which you know is coming via PA system announcements across the city, and you know you’re finally screwed when Crane’s wrist watch starts to beep uncontrollably. It’s akin to quietly running around Sevastapol Station in ‘Alien Isolation’ when suddenly the motion tracker begins to ping ominously.

Dying Light

When Crane’s alarm goes off, the sun has set. The ‘light’, if you will, ‘dies’ and this changes the entire dynamic of the game- you are now the hunted. With the night comes the Volatiles, a ferocious enemy type that will hunt and chase you relentlessly through the city if detected. Adding to that challenge, the normal zombie types also become more aggressive and powerful.

The game incentivizes the additional challenge and difficulty by doubling all XP gained at night and later allowing access to different trap types which can assist a hasty escape. Both make the wont to creep around in the pitch black palpable, even though the danger is ever-present.

Those aforementioned experience points are funneled automatically into three skill trees (Survivor, Agility, and Power) depending on how you play the game; stealthy players will upgrade their Survivor and Agility trees much faster than their Power tree, which can only be leveled up by diving head first into combat.

Some skill tree attributes, like the ability to slide underneath low objects, really don’t serve much of a purpose (I actually never purchased this skill during my playthrough), while others become extremely vital to survival. The ability to stun zombies by jumping on their heads, then auto-executing them, was a skill that was both practical and too damn fun to not use constantly.

The game also features multiplayer and co-op, which is set up like ‘Dead Island’, Techland’s previous zombie outing. Players set themselves up as online and active during the campaign and people can drop in and out as they please to tackle co-op goals. There is also an additional PvP mode, dubbed “Be The Zombie” in which one player assumes the role of a Volitile and the other players must avoid being hunted.

‘Dying Light’ feels like the Zombie game that Techland always aspired to make, it just took them a few tries to get it right. All the hallmarks of ‘Dead Island’ are present from the character-related side quests all the way down to the crafting, but it has all been nicely polished and improved. And to top it all off, the game is just huge, stuffed with fulfilling content across a huge city. Like Ubisoft did with Far Cry, Techland has expertly laid the groundwork for what could be a very promising series in a genre that is crowded, but will never get old.

 

 

The First ‘Daredevil’ Trailer Has Arrrived

0
marvels daredevil logo

Update: The first Daredevil” trailer has arrived courtesy of Marvel and Netflix. Debuting on IGN, the trailer brings a much darker tone to the Marvel-verse than I initially anticipated. – Bilal

Today Marvel released  a 15 second teaser to the official “Daredevil” trailer, which comes out tomorrow February 4. Seriously what a tease.

We see Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) walking down a dimly lit corridor, stop and pause, then barge into a room because he’s trying to make his city a better place!

“Daredevil” comes out on Netflix April 10. Here’s the official summary on their site:

“Marvel’s Daredevil” is a live action series that follows the journey of attorney Matt Murdock, who in a tragic accident was blinded as a boy but imbued with extraordinary senses. Murdock sets up practice in his old neighborhood of Hell’s Kitchen, New York where he now fights against injustice as a respected lawyer by day and masked vigilante at night.

Gaming Wrap-Up: 2/2/15

0

Here I was, enjoying some relaxation post Chocobo Flu because honestly there wasn’t much news. Yeah there was a story here or there but nothing major and certainly not enough in one day to warrant a wrap-up. But here comes Monday trying to fudge up a good thing I have going here. Now what? I’m expected to actually do work? Fine, whatever, here is today’s news.

CLUB NINTENDO GOING OUT WITH A BANG

ClubNintendoFarewell-610

A few Wrap-Ups ago I talked about the closure of Club Nintendo. The rewards program had its ups and downs but it was pretty good for what it was. Now… on its deathbed… Club Nintendo is AWESOME! As a final goodbye, Nintendo has released its final list of rewards. Along with a bunch of limited edition dollar store garbage (a cartridge case? seriously), Nintendo has added over 100 downloadable games to its rewards. You can find the entire list at the link below, but there are some real winners. Now the deep anxiety and fear of buyers remorse awaits me as I decide how to spend my precious coins!

SOURCE: GAME INFORMER

IT’S A NEW “DAY” FOR SONY ONLINE ENTERTAINMENT

Sony_Online_Entertainment_Logo

Sony’s MMO focused game development studio Sony Online Entertainment has been sold off to investment firm Columbus Nova. The studio will now be an independent studio under the name Daybreak Game Company, LLC. The most exciting aspect of this news is the possibility of Daybreak’s games coming to other platforms. More games on more platforms is always a good thing. (Especially when I don’t own a viable platform that their games are currently on.)

PETE CARROLL EITHER LOVES EA OR OWES SOMEONE THERE MONEY

Seriously, this is the only possible explanation for that play calling! It appears that Madden 15 predicted the exact final score of Super Bowl 49, even going as far as predicting a comeback by the Patriots after being down 14-24. Since everyone has their conspiracy theories for why the final Seahawks play was called, here is mine. Actually just read the headline… that’s pretty much my entire theory!

Natalie Dormer, Please Forgive Me

0

Dearest Natalie,

I’ve made a most egregious error: I judged a book by its cover. Were I a lesser person, I would try to dilute my mistake with excuses like, “I grew up a nerd! We’ve been bred to hate the pretty girls out of jealousy!” “You play a ‘mean girl’ very, very well!” But see, I’m what the media calls a “role model” because I have birthed a creature slightly resembling a human, and I must atone for my sins for the sake of my spawn.

I first saw you on The Tudors where you played Anne Boleyn like it was meant for you.

I KNOW I KNOW. It wasn’t fair of me to dislike you then because it was the character, but I couldn’t help it, you acted so well I assumed you were that duplicitous and my skepticism continued.

Then you galloped into Game of Thrones as a character that I was mostly “meh” about in the books, and about ten years too old to boot. As a pompous book reader, I was all, “Who does this girl think she is?

Awesome. That’s what you are because I had no idea Margaery could be such an enjoyable character. She went from mediocre young girl used as a pawn to a strong woman able to rival the likes of Cersei and still gentle enough to deserve Sansa’s friendship.

Then you did this spoiler-filled, bleeping video for Esquire and I fell in love.

There was that Reddit AMA and you were positively a delight, especially the bit where you rambled about cheese.

nataliedormer_ama1

And confirmed what we all suspected about Jaime Lannister.

nataliedormer_ama2

And came up with a solution to “handle” Ramsay Snow.

nataliedormer_ama3

In an interview with The Daily Beast, you called Kit Harington an idiot:

I was very grateful that we had the foresight before I started Thrones to go, ‘You know what? There might be roles you want to take that would require different hair.’ [Kit] was an idiot. Lena, Emilia, and I are laughing because we sorted the wig thing out nice and early.

And also expressed your feminist side:

Women are over 50 percent of the population. It’s one of the few films thatactually represents us. What we’re aiming for in the industry is not to go, “Girl power! Wave the flag!” We want to get to a place where the gender is irrelevant, because then it’s about the personality, and about the story. What I love aboutMockingjay–Part 1 is that President Coin or Cressida could have easily been played by a man, and if you look at Interstellar, the Anne Hathaway or Jessica Chastain roles would have been men years ago. I’m glad that cinema is catching up to what television has known for a while: that three-dimensional, complex women get an audience engaged as much as the men. I’m a feminist in the true sense of the word. It’s about equality.

Basically, what I’m saying is, I’m an ass. I was wrong to think you were anything but an amazing person, wrong to think I could judge anyone I did not know in the slightest bit. Can you ever forgive me?

Your apologetic fangirl,

Jen Stayrook

‘Matrix’ Star Carrie-Anne Moss Joins ‘Marvel’s AKA Jessica Jones’

0

Carrie-Anne_Moss_Trinity

The Matrix’s Carrie-Anne Moss has signed onto Marvel’s AKA Jessica Jones.

No word has been given on who Moss will portray, but Marvel hints that “Moss plays a no-nonsense woman who could prove a powerful ally to Jessica…if Jessica doesn’t completely alienate her first.”

The casting announcement for Marvel’s Netflix series have been a plenty as AKA Jessica Jones has announced David Tennant, Mike Colter, and Krysten Ritter would be a part of the series in the past weeks leading up to Moss’ signing.

“Throughout her career, Carrie-Anne has embodied a wide range of characters in a compelling and relatable way and I have no doubt she will bring that talent to A.K.A. Jessica Jones,” said showrunner Melissa Rosenberg.

“Carrie-Anne has proven her ability to play complex characters with deep and layered inner lives,” said Jeph Loeb, Executive Producer/Marvel’s Head of Television. “Her interaction with Jessica Jones will be one of the many highlights of the series.”

Everything CRAZY About the New ‘Furious 7’ Trailer

0

The Fast and Furious movies used to be a simple affair. Street racing, nice cars, and a light story. But all that changed with the fifth and sixth entries in the Fast & Furious franchise. They brought crazy in forms we never anticipated. Just when you thought they’d tone the series down, they release this trailer.

Furious 7 looks to top everything that has come before. Just how crazy are we talking?

  1. A house blowing up. Not just any house though. This is the house the group have been striving to return to since the first movie. Jason Statham just shit in Toretto’s cereal and Toretto’s having none of it.
  2. Two cars collide head on causing the windows of the building next to them to EXPLODE.
  3. The Rock fires a chaingun as if he’s taking a stroll around the block.
  4. Skydiving with cars. I think they’ve done this one before, but it is worth mentioning again BECAUSE WHO SKYDIVES WITH CARS?!?!?!
  5. Driving a car from one skyscraper into another to get away from a man with a grenade launcher and then bailing out of the car so you don’t plummet out of the second building. #NoBigDeal

April can’t come fast enough!

Heroes Reborn: Teaser Trailer

0
heroes reborn
The first Heroes Reborn teaser trailer has hit during the Superbowl!
Heroes left television five years ago, but NBC is hoping to revitalize the series by rebooting the hit superhero franchise. Titled Heroes Reborn, the rebooted series will star Zachary Levi. The teaser spot also teases the return of Jack Colemon’s H.R.G. and a little girl with what looks like the power to summon an eclipse.

‘Jurassic World’ Super Bowl Trailer

0

Alright, the premise of Jurassic World may seem silly with a dinosaur killing for sport, but I can’t stop myself from being excited for the upcoming release! You’ve got Chris Pratt training raptors! Velociraptors!

Only a guardian of the galaxy would have the cajones to train these beasts!

ydln1orxqd4neeasuboo

‘Project Almanac’ Review: It Could Have Been Worse

0

I realize that’s not a ringing endorsement of the film, but just wait! I do have several positive things to say about Paramount’s delayed teen time travel drama.

We all know that time travel movies come with their own inherent pitfalls, and even the best of them don’t come without inconsistencies and paradoxes that render even the most well-drawn plot completely implausible. The best ones (Back to the Future, The Time Traveler’s Wife, Star Trek) have pulled you so into the story and characters that your mind willingly overlooks these seemingly small issues, while the worst ones (Primer, Hot Tub Time Machine, The Lake House) leave viewers rolling their eyes at the ludicrous idea of the whole thing.

Project Almanac, for me, fell somewhere in the middle of the best and worst list.

We begin with main character David (Johnny Weston) as his sister Chris (Virginia Gardner) films his MIT application video. With the help of two of his friends, David has built a pretty impressive flying machine that’s controlled with his hands–and even though he gets into MIT, the fact that he’s not offered major scholarship money puts a damper on his elation.

He decides to try for one last independent scholarship, going through his deceased father’s files (he was a scientist) before running across a video camera that recorded his 7th birthday party–which he apparently attended at his current age of 18.

He and his sister (and friends) break into his father’s basement workshop and find plans for a time machine, and set out to build it. At some point they pick up the love interest of the film, Jessie (Sofia Black-D’Elia), and together the five of them eventually jump back in time.

project-almanac-movie-image-5

At first they do simple things like pass a chem test and confront their bully at school, but things go awry when David takes the group to Lollapalooza and misses his big chance to kiss Jessie. He goes back alone, which is against the rules they made for themselves, and things begin to unravel in the present.

Here’s what I liked: The actors and the script felt very authentic to the teen voices of the protagonists. The pieces of humor were very well done, I bought their friendships, insecurities, relationships, and desire to hold on to the improvements the time machine made in their lives. I enjoyed watching them explore and grow throughout the film and, in the end, bought their desperation to put things back to right. Even though I was like DUDE YOU CANNOT IMPLODE THE WORLD BECAUSE YOU MIGHT LOSE YOUR GIRLFRIEND, even that felt authentic to a teenage boy protagonist.

I was also really impressed with the cast, who are largely young unknowns. I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that you’ll be seeing one or more of them in (better films) in the future.

I struggled with: The moments of sobriety and/or exposition were poorly written and delivered in stiff, stilted dialogue. I really didn’t love the documentary style that encompassed every last minute of film, because there are simply things people with brains would never film–such as stealing hydrogen from your high school chemistry lab, for example, or perhaps canoodling with your new girlfriend. I didn’t buy at the outset that a high school kid obsessed with physics would have left his father’s physics lab locked and alone in the basement for over a decade. His sister Chris, who was supposedly getting bullied at school, was a completely adorable, skinny, funny blonde girl–would it have killed them to cast an actress who might ACTUALLY have been bullied in school? The three boys are basically science geniuses but once the hot girl comes along, they start taking advice from her about time traveling. I mean…what?

The main paradox, unfortunately, took place at the most crucial moment of the film–when David went back for a second chance to kiss Jessie–and kind of killed them film for me in the end. It’s never explained what happened to the David who was at Lollapalooza the first time (the loser who didn’t go for it), or how only one of them came back to the future or whatever.

It doesn’t seem like a big deal and in some other kind of film, it probably wouldn’t have been. If you’re into science fiction films, or time travel films, or really well done films about teenagers, then you should definitely check this one out.

That said, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed if you wait to catch it on BluRay.

Images courtesy of Paramount Pictures.

 

’12 Monkeys’ Review: The One That Got Away

0

12 Monkeys - Season 1The plot thickens in this week’s episode of Syfy’s “12 Monkeys” with our plucky duo continuing to dig deeper into the mystery virus and along the way we discover that everyone’s got secreeeeeets.

In the past timeline, Cassie and Cole get closer as he gives her a lesson in the proper way to shoot a gun. You just know this will likely lead to them confessing their love at some point in this series. Cassie is called in by the police to help identify Jennifer’s kidnapper and she sees a picture of the scientists Ms. Goines supposedly murdered. Behold one of them happens to be an ex-colleague from her days working with the CDC in Haiti. She ends up talking to her former supervisor about Dr. Henri Toussaint and finds out that the poor man was killed on a medical run she sent him on back in 2014. Guilty much?

Cole wants to go back to that year to talk to Henri, believing that the scientist knows where the elusive Night Room is, the lab where Markridge concocted the deadly virus. Cassie however is obviously distressed by the entire scenario and makes him promise to stay the hell away from her. Now what could she be possibly hiding?

Jumping to 2043, as the Splinter Project scientists debate on what year to send Cole back to, Ramse finds a knife belonging to their old scavenger group (the West 7) and the two know that trouble’s afoot. We also get to see a little bit more of life in the future by seeing the animosity filled interaction between Ramse and Whitley the soldier while they are on patrol. Things get interesting when someone suddenly jumps Whitley and Ramse ends up knocking him unconscious only to have a discussion with his former cohort Max, aka the knife owner.

Max claims that she’s left their old gang and that she’s come looking for Cole and him, wanting to hideout with them. Ramse doesn’t buy it though and tells her that he and Cole had split ways and that there was a town nearby where she could find shelter with another group of survivors. Max leaves for now but he knows that the scavengers can’t be far behind her.

Back in 2014, we meet a very different Cassie as she struggles with PTSD from her encounter with Cole the previous year. She pulls away from her political aide boyfriend Aaron and becomes a workaholic, trying to determine if the next outbreak is that one that dooms humanity. This obsessive need takes her to Haiti where she works with the CDC to treat the local population and determine what kind of outbreak they were facing. There she meets Henri and they take solace in each other’s company, each sensing that the other had gone through something difficult and traumatic.

The two doctors end up sleeping with each other and two things cross my mind. Firstly that she’s cheating on her boyfriend and secondly this must be what she doesn’t want Cole to find out since their little touchy-feely gun practice session early in the episode. Seeecreeeets!

12 Monkeys - Season 1

Meanwhile Cole finally gets sent back to 2014 and dons a ridiculous tiger print shirt, glasses, and a hat to try and get into the CDC tent to find Henri. When he finally gets the attention of the doctor, Cassie also spots him and he is forced to run away. But as luck would have it a local had stolen all the medicine available, forcing Henri to get some from another supplier. On his way there, Cole finds him and convinces him that he’s not a bad guy and Henri explains that he and the other scientists were working on viral gene therapy inside the Night Room.

Of course Pallid Man (according to his official Syfy bio) catches up with them with two thugs. As they battle, the older man’s strength surprises Cole as he is overpowered despite his own enhanced abilities. Pallid Man asks Cole who he is, since technically this PM’s first time to meet the time traveler. Cole responds, “You don’t know me, but you will.” If you watched the previous episodes this makes perfect sense because Cole originally meets Pallid Man in 2015. Now we also know that he is responsible for the PM’s distinct cheek scar.

After Cole wounds him, PM freaks out from potential viral infection and runs away. Henri then finally tells Cole that he doesn’t know where the Night Room is because they were always blindfolded and transported to its current location. However, he believes that if the manufacturer of the specialized equipment can be found, the mobile lab can be located.

Just as Henri fully trusts Cole, the guy kills him. You can see it as the time traveler giving the other man a quicker death when the alternative was eventually being caught by PM and the Army of the 12 Monkeys. Still, what the hell!

12 Monkeys - Season 1

Cassie in the meantime is told that she’s not mentally stable and needs to go home. Cole sees her sobbing outside the tent before he splinters back to the future, leaving her feeling carzier. When twosome meet up again in 2015, Cole tells her that it had been him that night and lies about not knowing who killed Henri. SEEECREEETS!!!

The good Dr. Railly also decides that she will take the job her former CDC supervisor offered so she can track the specialized containment system that will lead them to the Night Room. Well, we know now how she ended up at the CDC building in the future.

I’m just not going to think too hard about whether or not Cassie would have ended up at the CDC regardless or whether Cole going back in time was necessary for her to eventually leave that voice message the Splinter Project finds in the future.

Next week we find out all about the West 7! And what’s with all the number oriented groups anyways? 

 

“12 Monkeys” is on Fridays 9/8 central on Syfy.

Follow Nicole on Twitter: @niixc.

Images courtesy of Syfy.