A Brief History Lesson, Game Of Thrones Style!

So how was your weekend? Mine was fine, filled with a lot of writing done on the ongoing practice novel . . . but also much wailing and gnashing of teeth over the performance of my NYC-area NFL teams. Grrrrr! Way to eff up my Sunday, Giants and Jets! But at least I got to see the Pats embarrass the Broncos. Was looking forward to that the most, actually. And Tom Brady delivered!

Anywho . . .

Got a nice surprise over at Winter Is Coming.net this morning. Seems they received a specially made press-kit from HBO bearing the sigil of House Stark, and packed with all sorts of goodies for the upcoming home video release of the 1st season of Game of Thrones.  You can click on the link to see what was in the kit, but I'm going to embed a special video below which was taken from the Blu-ray box set. The clip is part of one of the many special features, this one consisting of 24 videos pertaining to various aspects of Westerosi life, culture, and history -- and each containing sketch-art animation with narration provided by various members of the show's cast. This particular one details the religious institutions of Westeros, and is narrated by both Michelle Fairley (Catelyn Stark) and Isaac Hempstead-Wright (Bran Stark). This brief history of the dual religions which came to dominate Westeros is information that was spread out in bits and pieces throughout the books, but which is very handy for newcomers to get all in one place like this. Watch for yourselves and enjoy:





I'm impressed. And also, highly excited to get my hands on my own Blu-ray set this March! I'm going to watch all 24 vids as if they're a History Channel doc. It's going to be AWESOME, I just know it!

An Overload Of Inside-Out, Reanimated Corpses!

Whoa, it's been an extravaganza of Necromorph killin these past few weeks! Let me count the ways for thee:

Two weeks ago I blogged in this entry about the upcoming sequel to 2008's breakout horror video game, Dead Space. To prepare myself for Dead Space 2's impending release, I purchased and downloaded the short prequel puzzle game, Dead Space: Ignition. Playing this quick title set the stage for some pretty freaky things that will be going on in the sequel . . . things I'm excited for, but which my heart is not going to be too happy about. I don't think it's recovered yet from that initial foray aboard the deep space mining vessel, the USG Ishimura.

But I had so much fun playing Dead Space: Ignition, that I decided to rent from Netflix last week the animated film which serves as a prequel to the first game, titled Dead Space: Downfall (pictured above). It was an excellent movie, one that got me even more hyped to return to this universe of bizarre alien artifacts and horrible monstrosities created from the corpses of dead space miners. Kewl!

However, now I think it's getting to be too much. I mean I love it all--don't get me wrong--but the hype machine for this game series is running on overload! Last night, Electronic Arts released a Dead Space game for the Apple iPhone and iPad -- which got a pretty decent review over here. (I haven't downloaded this game yet to my phone, but best believe I will!) The Apple game is like Ignition in that it shows another side-story taking place in the events leading up to the shenanigans going down in Dead Space 2. So, yet again, fans looking forward to the sequel game will be able to get a little more back story to round out the experience beforehand. I'm all for that.

Then comes today. Today, Tuesday the 25th of January, is a BIG day! Not only do we get yet another Dead Space animated movie released on DVD--this one called Dead Space: Aftermath (pictured above)--but, of course, it is the the launch day *finally* of the game itself, Dead Space 2!!! IGN has a really nice review of it here, too.

Phew! Can you say "Dead-Spaced out"?

Luckily, this is a series I really, truly like, or else I would be in danger of severe burnout. But although it may seem like a lot of info to the uninitiated, these various smaller media tie-ins are just like appetizers--light and fluffy. The two mini games--Ignition and iPhone--are very quick, breezy numbers that drip atmosphere and great story, but don't really tax the player. For that, the real meat n' potatoes is still the proper sequel, Dead Space 2. The movies, on the other hand, serve as nice pieces of exposition for those who are either being introduced to the game's universe for the first time, or who just wanted to reinforce the knowledge they already have about the mysterious things going on in Isaac Clarke's world.

I'm about to head out to purchase Aftermath on Blu-ray. Tonight and tomorrow I'll probably play and finish the iPhone game, and then this weekend I shall crack open Dead Space 2 on my Playstation 3. I really wish my other gaming friends could join me on this adventure, but they're all either busy with other games and/or real-life issues, or are just plain chicken-shit to try. Of course, I say the latter with lots of love. :)

Anyway, if you like extremely gory and freaky jump-out horror with your sci-fi, you've just been served notice that Dead Space is where's it all happening these days. If you've been hiding under a rock all this time, you have some catching up to do, yes?

Of course, if you just want to jump headlong into Dead Space 2 from scratch, I would recommend at least searching out the story scenes from the first game online to get you up to speed. You could probably just play the sequel cold (I'm sure the back story will be explained in some form or another), but why should you when we have such wonderful modern day inventions like Youtube and Wikipedia to make life easier?

If you decide to join me . . . bring a spare plasma cutter and perhaps a few replacement projectile saw blades with you, okay? It's going to get HAIRY!!!

So It's Only, Like, About Damn Time!

FINALLY!

As you can see above, we're finally getting Blu-ray releases of El Mariachi, Desperado, and Once Upon a Time in Mexico -- the films that were Robert Rodriguez's own take on "The Man With No Name" trilogy. This time, though, the gunslinger is a mariachi . . . and he's in modern-day Mexico!

Of course, I have no idea why the hell the first two movies are being packaged together on the same disc, while the third film is being sold separately. All three will be hitting shelves on Jan. 4, though, so we have less than two weeks for awesome greatness!

Well, only Desperado was awesome. The other two are "meh" at best. I think they knew this, which is why Desperado is not being sold alone. Heh, heh . . . smart, Sony. Smart. Even smarter would have been to release all 3 together in one nice trilogy box set. But then, what do I know about video marketing?

Anyway, click here and here if you want to read the one-sheets.

Movie Trailer Deja Vu.

Fast on the heels of the Back to the Future blog entry I wrote just two posts below comes news that Spike TV will be airing an almost shot-by-shot remake of the original BttF teaser trailer for their Scream Awards next Tuesday. What's so cool about this is that they were able to get Michael J. Fox to reprise the footage -- 25 years after he filmed the first one. WOW!

For your edification, here's the original teaser trailer from 1985:



My god, you can tell this is from the 80s, eh? LOL! Anyway, here's the Spike TV promo. It's remarkable just how close to the original they got it:



And just a reminder that the Blu-ray boxset of the BttF trilogy is coming out on Oct. 26 to commemorate the first film's 25th Anniversary.

I can't even believe it's been that long -- WTF?

Back To [My] Future

I was reading this news article today in The Hollywood Reporter about the 25th Anniversary trilogy box set of Back to the Future, which is coming to Blu-ray later this month (oh yeah!). In it, they brought up a factoid that many of us fans already knew: that the original Marty McFly was played by none other than Eric Stoltz for a period of about five weeks before they pulled the actor and went with Michael J. Fox instead.

Click on the link above and catch a clip of Stoltz in a few of the now iconic scenes we all love and cherish. I really, really like Eric as an actor, don't get me wrong. Hell, he's frakking AWESOME in the "Battlestar Galactica" spinoff, "Caprica," now running on the SyFy Network. But Marty McFly he was NOT!

Phew, they really lucked out by snagging the plucky Canadian off the set of Family Ties long enough to make this now seminal sci-fi flick. And I'll be sure to snag my copy of the entire set come Oct. 26th. Can you believe I never owned these films on DVD? Good thing, too, because for once I won't have to double dip!

Anyway, it got me to thinking about time travel again, one of my favorite day-dream subjects as of late. I've been trying for years to work out a viable time travel premise for a short story or novella, yet so far all my attempts have been duds. But that doesn't mean I can't still fantasize about what it would mean for me, personally, to be able to travel back in history.

What usually ends up happening when I think of such matters, though, is that I'll come up with two different time travel scenarios:

On the one hand, I imagine a traditional vector wherein the time traveler uses a device to take him back to any point in Earth's timeline.

On the other hand, I imagine the traveler can only travel back within his own personal timeline, and only while occupying the body and mind of the younger version of himself whilst in the period of time he's chosen.

Hmmm, which do you think would be more exciting? The first option obviously offers more freedom, as you can travel as far back as, say, Ancient Egypt, and learn things about that time that even the oldest and most experienced Egyptologists today don't know. Woo-hoo! But the second option is also just as cool, no? Just think of all the mistakes you made in your past that you would now be able to fix. And before you go there . . . let's leave out the time paradox school of thought, or the Butterfly Effect. Two areas of temporal theory I don't particularly agree with, but which have no place in this fun little thought experiment anyway.

So, what would I do given either of these options?

Well, with the first, I would travel back to the 1950s. I don't know why, but I find it a fascinating time period in America. Sure, I could travel further back in time, but the more you go the more you risk entering an alien culture and society that you are not equipped to handle long enough to keep yourself alive. Not knowing the language alone might be enough of an excuse for some Roman centurion to run you through with his Gladius and ask questions later.

No thanks.

For my first time travel venture, I would play it safe and only go so far back in time that I wouldn't immediately stand out as some rube, yet still be far enough back from my own lifetime for it to be a cool and interesting experience. I would explore New York and see for myself the city expand in all its post-war exuberance. Then I'd take a cross-country trip and eventually make my way to Hollywood, and be there when all the great classic films of the Golden Age are starting to take shape. Maybe I'd stop by this sleepy little desert resort town known as Las Vegas and invest in the local real estate boom going on there, too.

For the second option, this one is the most difficult for me to envision. How far back into my own past would I want to go? What would I do all over again or, more importantly, what must I be sure to keep the same?

I think I would travel back to 9th grade and re-do those next 4 years all over again. Isn't that what they all say? I mean, who here didn't have a difficult go of it in high school? But to be in my 14 year old body with all the knowledge and foresight I possess now? Whoa, it would be a whole different story!

Of course, why would anyone want to repeat high school all over again, right? And let's be honest, if I had the knowledge I have now back then, I would probably just drop out of high school, get some bullshit job at McDs or something, and invest my paychecks in all the companies that I know are going to go BIG in the Internet explosion of the mid-90s -- like AOL, Netscape, Microsoft, Apple, Yahoo, and eventually Google. Not to mention other big corporate entities these days like Amazon, Dell and Best Buy! And in the oughts, there's always Facebook! The sky's the limit on just how much I could benefit knowing what I know now. Plus, I'd get to relieve both the Michael Jordan-era NBA *and* the Yankees resurgence to dominate baseball in the latter half of the 90s. Double win!

The danger of this second option, of course, would be if I went back far enough to effect big events in my life, such as the death of my mom. It's a very heavy subject with me, but surprisingly I'm not so sure that I would do something as drastic as that. I mean, a part of me does in fact believe that some things happen for a reason. It's a hard truth, but it's one I've lived with ever since the age of 9. If I had the chance to change the outcome of that fateful night back in 1985, I'd have to go against everything that made me who I am today.

Wouldn't it be worth it, though? To have my mom back, I mean?

Hmmm . . . as you can see, the possibilities are both exciting and woefully complex at the same time. The more I think of it, the more I believe that the further back into your own past you travel, the more damage you can potentially cause to yourself and those around you. Maybe what you think would be a mistake worth fixing might in turn precipitate another much larger problem in the new future timeline you've just created. And once you made this change, or any change for that matter, you'd run the risk of never being able to return to your future time--the present time--again.

Maybe, on second thought, it's better to just stay put where I'm at for now. It's probably a good thing we can't time travel, eh?

Highlander On Blu-ray -- Oh HELLS To The YEAH!!!

I don't know how I missed this notice yesterday, but IGN.com is reporting that, on November 2 this year (incidentally, my brother's birthday -- too bad he's not as big of a fan as I am), Lionsgate will finally release a Blu-ray edition of the very first Highlander movie starring Christophe Lambert.

You can read more of the details by clicking on this link.

They're also releasing Highlander 2 on Blu-ray as well, but that's not even worth contemplating right now. Because, as you know, the very first movie that came out in 1986 is DA SHIT!!! I absolutely love this film above all others. It is my be all and end all of my entire 30-odd years of movie watching. I've owned several versions of this film going all the way back to the original crappy VHS copy which I purchased in 1993, and ending with the Anchor Bay "Immortal Edition" DVD from a few years back. The last one, I had thought at the time, was the EPITOME of what this movie should look and sound like. But I was wrong. Oh so wrong.

Batman: Under The Red Hood

Just finished watching the Blu-ray of this, which was released earlier this week. I have to say, I was very impressed. Although I wanted to hate the storyline--because of a certain controversial decision to bring someone back from Batman's past who's been long dead--the production values of this animated film kept me glued for the entire 75 min run. The voice work was superb, and the animation's more in line with what I like to see in animated movies of a dark and mature nature. Almost like the HBO's "Spawn" series from back in the day.

And you know what? Now that I had some time to process the big reveal of just who it is that's "under the red hood," I actually think it's a pretty neat new development. Sure, we probably could have done without it . . . but now that it's here, Batman will just have to deal with it like he always does. It makes the universe he inhabits just a little more interesting now.

But I won't say anymore. What I *will* say is this: if you're a big fan of anything and everything Bats, do yourself a favor and check this out. Especially if you've liked the superbly slick and mostly spot-on direct-to-video animated movies Warner and DC have been putting out lately. This is another shining badge to add to their collection.

Check out the trailer below if you want an idea of what you're getting with this film:



Rent or buy (I recommend buy), you owe it to yourself to check this out. Trust me.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

My New Favorite Old Film?

In my most recent vlog, I mentioned wanting to introduce one of my friends to the Western genre of movies and finally settling on the seminal Sergio Leone classic, "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" as the way to best go about that.

Whoa, good choice!

Now, I had seen the movie before of course. Quite a few times growing up by way of my uncle's VHS collection, and then on the crappy DVD release back in the 90s. But HOLY SHIT -- this latest Blu-ray issue of the movie is, no joke, the most gorgeous version of this film I've ever laid eyes on! I'm sure if I hopped in a time machine back to the 1960s, even the pristine prints when it was newly released in theaters never looked this good.

Seeing the movie in this fashion seriously opened my eyes to what a masterpiece TGTBTU truly is. I recommend all you folks who own Blu-ray players to go out right now and buy this sucker. Actually, hold off on that. Buy the whole "Man With No Name" trilogy--of which this movie is the third title--which is coming out in a nice boxset on Blu-ray next week, if my sources are accurate. The set will contain the same version of TGTBTU already on Blu-ray, along with "A Fistful of Dollars" and "For A Few Dollars More" for the first time in the format.

Anyway, back to the movie I came here to talk about. I don't know if it's just the almost perfect transfer, or because I'm a more critical viewer when it comes to such things, but this film truly is better than even I remembered it being. This honestly is the lens through which all Westerns coming after 1966 should be viewed and appreciated. It helps that something like 16 additional minutes of footage was added, originally taken out of the American release back in 1967. Yes, Leone likes to chew on his scenes and stretch moments out for far longer than is probably necessary. But, hey, the man's a GENIUS so I let him be on that count. There's no arguing that his films are true artistic expressions of the man and his times, but also possessing of a timeless quality that is still every much as enjoyable today as it was then. Days after I've finished watching this version, the visuals, dialogue and--best of all--the MUSIC is still processing in the back of my brain. Coming to me here and there throughout the day when I least expect it to crop up.

Simply put: Wow!

Watching the special features afterwards (of which there are quite a few), I was amazed to learn of the grueling and innovative restoration process the film went through in 2002 to get to this point. I mean, I was truly shell-shocked! It had been so many years since I last saw TGTBTU that I honestly did not realize all of the sound-effects had been replaced, and that parts of the dialogue had been re-recorded in studio. Not to mention all the effort that went into translating the original mono tracks to full Dolby Digital 5.1 surround -- which is not an easy task at all.

Now I know what you're thinking. Say what??? How can a completely new sound stage be a good thing? Why are there new scenes? If Leone had wanted them to be put back in, he would have said so! To which I say: relax, dude. Take a chill pill. Hey, I'm a purist too when it comes to certain things. But I actually think the new sounds are better. It makes the movie even more gritty and poignant. Not to mention FULLER, if such a thing is possible to be believed. And I'll take 5.1 surround over mono 2.0 any day, original intent be damned!

But you know what? You don't have to take my word for it. Check out this 10-minute video that was part of the Special Features offering on the restoration process and see for yourself. I guarantee you'll learn a few things about this awesome film that you never knew, let alone the education you get on just what it takes to bring such an old movie to DVD and Blu-ray in the first place. I certainly feel much better informed now!

You're The Best . . . Arooound!!!

Nothing's gonna ever keep you down!

That's right, I just picked up the double-pack of Karate Kid parts I and II out on Blu-ray today! I can't wait to rush home and check this out. I still have the old p.o.s. original snapcase DVDs with the terrible video quality, diminished soundstage, and non-existent extras. So, for me, this was a double dip made simple. What surprises me is that there are actually people out there who have never seen these movies. Say WHAA? Well, I shouldn't talk. My wife is one of them. I guess this will just have to be my excuse to get her to watch them now -- and for me to relive my precious 80s childhood memories all over again. What's not to like about these films? It's a feel good story about an underdog kid rising to become a champion in the eyes of the public. In addition, it has a truly rocking 80s soundtrack, memorable action sequences, and decent emotional depth between the main characters. You can't go wrong! The Blu-rays of both films are in full 1080p resolution on two separate AVC MPEG-4 encoded, BD-50 dual-layer discs. I love that the aspect ratio is at 1:85:1 to fit the entirety of my widescreen television, and that the audio was remastered in DTS-HD 5.1 surround sound. From what I've read online at various sources, the quality is surprisingly good on both the video and audio fronts.

The first Karate Kid was a milestone, released back in June, 1984. I was only 7 at the time, and my family didn't go to the movies. So it wasn't until the film came out on VHS a year later that I was finally able to watch this, and in school of all places. Of course, all the older girls at my elementary school were going ga-ga over Ralph Macchio, but for me the fist movie held a special place in my heart because my family was in the middle of moving to an entirely different district in the south Bronx. Which meant that, like Daniel Larusso in the film, I would have to enroll in a different school and make new friends all over again. When I arrived at this new school in the 4th grade, most of the kids there had already established their cliques and relationships. Needless to say I was the odd boy out, much like Daniel. But, unlike Daniel-san, I didn't have a kindly old janitor/Karate master take me under his wing and teach me self-defense. Eventually we owned a copy of the VHS at home, and the Karate Kid would get constant rotation at least twice a week by my brother and I. I don't know that it had the same impact on him as it did me, but I was hooked! I'm sure the story probably seems cheesy by today's standards, but back then I thought it was a masterpiece. Like with Rocky (directed by the same guy who directed this, John Avildsen), I've always been a sucker for the comeback kid-type tales. Honestly, it never gets old. It's just something I can't get enough of.

Released exactly two years after the first movie hit theaters, Karate Kid II is the much maligned "sequel" movie of the series. And, yet, for the life of me I don't know WHY! Maybe it's because I was only 9 at the time, but if anything I ended up liking this movie even MORE than the first. I know, sacrilege, eh? But it's true. I was always a very introverted and sensitive child. And, finding very few friends or joy in my new life, I began to gravitate toward other cultures and extreme parts of the world that were as far away from the South Bronx as one could get. Yes folks, this is where my love for foreign languages, the far East, and "alien" cultures all began -- with this movie! I'm not ashamed to admit it. Even though the sequel was filmed on Oahu, Hawaii--I actually visited the site on our honeymoon there in 2005!--the setting was supposed to be Okinawa, Japan. And I was completely hooked! I loved the set pieces SO MUCH, and the musical score was simply breathtaking. But, as with the first movie, what really took center stage here for me was the story. It's weird how much these movies were paralleling my real life at the time. The first movie was about a displaced kid finding his way in the world, just like me. The second movie, among other themes, was about a son dealing with the death of his father and learning to forgive his "enemy." In many ways (which I won't go into here) -- this was me, too! The scene that always tears me up to this day is when Mr. Miyagi is sitting on a rock and staring out into the ocean, mourning his father's passing. And Daniel comes up to him and tells him about how he felt when his own father died. Nothing else is spoken after this, but Daniel puts his arm around his mentor and they both stare into the sunset together. Yeah, gets me EVERY damn time!

As you can see, the Karate Kid movies hold a special place in my heart. Not everyone gets that, and maybe you might think I'm being silly. But I don't care. This is an indelible slice of my 80s childhood, right up there with the Transformers and Ninja Turtles!

Yes, I just went there. Deal with it! :)

Anyway, I'll leave you the original trailers for both movies in case you need them. Warning, the first trailer is major CHEESE! My only excuse is: hey, it's the 80s. What do you expect?





Where were you when you first saw these movies?

Here We Go Again . . .

Looks like the other shoe has dropped: the Lord of the Rings trilogy is headed to Blu-ray next Spring! Read Mania's reporting of the news for more details.

So yet again I'm faced with the painful dilemma to triple-dip or not. See, I already own both the theatrical set and the extended edition set on standard DVD. Which, if you'd watched either set, you would know that calling them "standard" would be a gross misunderstanding. But considering these are my favorite fantasy movies of all time--and favorite trilogy behind the original Star Wars--I find myself sorely tempted to own the most definitive version out there.

True, these are only the theatrical copies we're talking about. If I were to shell out the money for a triple-dip, it would be for the extended edition on Blu-ray. Which, rumor has it, is going to see release on the format at a later date.

So as usual this means decisions, decisions by yours truly. Oh the agony!

And, hey, looks like Hitler predicted this would happen all along! If you don't have any clue what I'm referring to, hearken back to this blog post I wrote a few weeks ago concerning the "downfall" of HD-DVD and re-watch the video clip at the end. That's right: Adolf knew this would be a big deal, too!

The Downfall of HD-DVD

Around 2 years ago this time there was a heated war brewing: with the camp of HD-DVD supporters on one side, and Blu-ray-backed studios on the other. Both were battling it out over who would reign supreme as the number one high-definition format after DVD eventually phased out. At the time, many likened the war to the VHS vs Betamax conflict of the early 80s. But few could predict how the tables would suddenly turn, nor how swiftly the war would end by one decisive act.

In January of 2008, just weeks before the industry's annual showcase, CES, Warner Brothers announced they were now putting their support behind Blu-ray, abandoning what many HD-DVD adopters had arrogantly assumed was a surefire feather in their cap.

But the numbers did not lie. Due to Sony having the foresight to equip all their PlayStation 3 consoles with built-in Blu-ray players right out the box--and since the home console was just beginning to hit its stride in sales--Warner and many other previous diehard HD-DVD supporters could no longer ignore the truth. Blu-ray was gaining, and all the top analysts were predicting an eventual lead over HD-DVD in the year to come. Warner, in actuality, only precipitated what had already been apparent on the books for months.

But many HD-DVD owners were too stubborn to admit defeat. So, when the Warner announcement came, it was to profound shock to Microsoft supporters and Xbox 360 owners alike, both of whom had aligned all their hopes behind an HD-DVD dominated market not so much for personal stake (unlike the PS3, the 360 had foolishly not come equipped with an HD-DVD player), but because they wanted to see Sony and its much hyped Blu-ray format fail.

Warner's capitulation changed all that. Blockbuster soon followed suit, announcing an abrupt reversal to a statement it had made just a month prior putting its support behind HD-DVD only. Now Blockbuster was singing a different tune, stating that while it would still stock current HD-DVD titles, its future high-def video rental offerings would involve Blu-ray releases solely.

Rather than the war taking another year and change to end, this back-to-back blow effectively crowned Blu-ray king within just a few short months into 2008. Today, HD-DVD is but a mere memory soaked beneath the bitter tears of fanboys who still refuse to believe their dreams of a Sony and Blu-ray humiliation have not come to fruition.

To commemorate this blessed changing of fortunes, I have reposted a parody video below which was first released when the news of Warner's defection was still fresh in the ears of Blu-ray naysayers. The video takes a pivotal scene from the excellent German film, Der Untergang, and replaces the original English subtitles with scripted text devoted to the downfall of HD-DVD -- to hilarious effect! It takes a scene which is orginally depicting Hitler's reception of the news that his top generals have either been defeated or defected beneath the approaching advance of Russian troops, and turns it on its head. LOL! The thought of Hitler calling in his top advisers to discuss something as mundane as the high-definition movie market just tickles me to no end.

But, honestly, nothing can top the actual words some genius scripted to go along with the real movie dialogue (spoken in German). The reaction and the expressions on the actors' faces just matchup so perfectly with the parodied subject matter. You have to check it out for yourself and keep in mind the atmosphere that was prevailing in late 2007/early 2008: