Michael*

On 08/12/2015 at 4:45 PM, Joe > Average said:

Ever heard of Crimson Fox ? I haven't although I have unfortunately heard of Arm Fall Off Man   . Fine, I kindof don't mind him   .

I think I once saw her on the old 'Justice League Unlimited' cartoon series, but I've never seen her on the page, sadly.

Yeah, the derision Arm Fall Off Boy had to suffer was never entirely fair. All he wants is to fit in and fight villains, and he tries to make do with what he has. It’s a fool’s errand and he'll never make it as a big time superhero, but then again, neither will I. Really, I think we all understand him a bit more than we’d like to admit. And let's not forget, it would actually really hurt if he pulled off one of his limbs and clubbed you with it.

Dazzler always seems to be another mainstay of crap superhero lists, but I find that to be rather unfair too. The girl uses laser beams, creates functioning holograms, energy weapons, can alter moods, blind and burn and has even levelled mountains. Not to mention the fact she's one of the most relatable characters in the comic book domain. Damn impressive for also being a pop diva.

On 08/12/2015 at 11:19 PM, Cult Icon said:

 

I knew very little/had little interest in the fantasy genre myself- now I think it's the best adventure game ever made!    I will post media from it in my thread and in the videogames forum.  Something about it tells me that it will see future success internationally in other fields- possibly even in film and miniseries.

 

 Gerald is a fantasy version of Batman/Rick Deckard/Indiana Jones- in terms of gaming it plays like Batman: AA series but in a gigantic and incredibly detailed open world. The gaming part is pretty simple- use magic stuff, and then the sword.

 

  I got to say that for once, I'm blown away by the depth and scope of a game.  It's at and beyond Metal Gear levels.

 

Eg.  The cutscenes for the main story are 13 hours long, the expansion: 5 hours.  The secondary quests: maybe 10 hours.  The quality of the writing, voice acting/motion capture, music and  design is outstanding and remarkably consistent.

 

The main story is about 70 hours long and the whole game is around 300 hours.

 

It's based on a polish fantasy series (7 books translated into english, another incoming)  The Poles have their own movie and tv series.

 

Here's an example of a non-main story related quest.  A lot of them involve helping ordinary people (a new thing apparently, in games) and all have an interesting little story attached onto them.  The main story quests are much longer and more complicated:

If I stand back and squint my eyes a bit, the goat woman from the first video looks a lot like Hilary Rhoda.

The main character reminds me of the wandering ronins in Japanese stories, or maybe one of those lone gunslingers from old Western movies. The developers seem to have a certain knack of involving him in iconic scenes and portraying him as this sort of mysterious stranger, I like the way he always enters each new village atop his horse. One of the other characters (I think her name's Siri?) reminds me of Eva Green in some of the shots I've seen, too.

That's true about Dazzler and ArmFallOff Man too. Well, in all truth Cod Peice can shoot a hole in you . I'm not sure what to make of the Ice Cream Man though . I've also given Agents of Shield another shot starting from the first episode. I wrote it off at first due to the fact that I heard an Asian woman saying 'hai ya!' while flipping someone in modern times, but have decided to look the other way .

On 10/12/2015 at 7:54 AM, Cult Icon said:

Here are more female characters that remind me of models and actresses- but I can't pinpoint them yet:

 

 

I was thinking...

1. Jaimie Alexander

2. Emily DiDonato (edit: she actually looks a lot less like Emily when you enlarge the pic)

6. A mixture of Kirsten Dunst and Elle Fanning

8. Natalie Portman

9. Lucy Lawless

10. Carey Mulligan

I'd probably have to give some more thought to the others.

Are your hopes high for the film, then? The time really has come for a video game movie that offers genuine quality and a critically acclaimed end product, and from what I've heard so far, this could very well be the one. On balance, I suppose it's understandable that video game adaptations have been held in such contempt for so long, although a part of me also finds that rather unfair, since the vast majority either show total disregard for the source material or completely misunderstand it.

On 21/12/2015 at 5:04 PM, Joe > Average said:

That's true about Dazzler and ArmFallOff Man too. Well, in all truth Cod Peice can shoot a hole in you . I'm not sure what to make of the Ice Cream Man though . I've also given Agents of Shield another shot starting from the first episode. I wrote it off at first due to the fact that I heard an Asian woman saying 'hai ya!' while flipping someone in modern times, but have decided to look the other way

Yeah, the problem with 'Agents' was that it took so long to find focus, many of the fans had already given up on it by the time it started to get genuinely good. It does steadily improve week by week though, and it evolves much more into character-driven stuff when the 'Winter Soldier' link properly kicks in. The stories they’re telling these days feel so much stronger and far more confident, I'd go so far as to say that the show has turned into one of the highlights of my TV calendar.

I think with Eye-Scream, bearing in mind that all he ever had going for him was the 'amazing' ability to turn into any flavour of ice cream he could think of, it's pretty hard to make a case for the defence. I only ever saw him involved in one story, where he decided to attack the X-Men because he was jealous of their cool powers. He arrived at Professor X's mansion and snuck inside, only to bump into an evil clown (as one does) by the name of Obnoxio, who just happened to be there as well. Obnoxio then helped the X-Men stop Eye-Scream by freezing him. So, the poor guy can turn into frozen goods, but can still be frozen himself. I'd love to have the time I spent reading it refunded.

Just wanted to take a moment to say Merry Christmas (or whatever you choose to call the day) to each and every member of the BZ crew. Wishing you all health, happiness, peace and wealth for the season and for the new year.

On 12/24/2015 at 10:43 AM, Michael* said:

Are your hopes high for the film, then? The time really has come for a video game movie that offers genuine quality and a critically acclaimed end product, and from what I've heard so far, this could very well be the one. On balance, I suppose it's understandable that video game adaptations have been held in such contempt for so long, although a part of me also finds that rather unfair, since the vast majority either show total disregard for the source material or completely misunderstand it.

I recently heard of the Mike Fassbender movie 'Assassin's Creed' :  http://www.ew.com/article/2015/12/26/assassins-creed-michael-fassbender-ariane-labed

With Witcher I have no idea if the movie will be successful.  It's too early.  If they announce say, a 150 M $ budget then maybe.   The director is oscar nominated but I have never seen his films.   Beyond that, the witcher saga is a fertile source.  The witcher saga has several story templates: 

-Indiana Jones type of free-flowing fantasy adventure with romance 

-Medieval fantasy political drama plus game of thrones style antics. 

-contracts: monster hits, community service.  

The first is most likely to work along with a female co-lead (Yennefer and ciri are the strongest contenders).  The character of Geralt needs a strong middle aged actor with a complex personality.  

Some fan speculation, (due to physical appearance his role in Valhalla rising).  I would prefer an actor without a nordic accent:  http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh23/pazanin/untitledmads_zps44a29016.jpg

Vigo Mortensen ,  Gerald Butler , Sean Bean,  Liam Neeson , etc. would also be OK.  I don't know of a perfect match yet.  Eva Green would make a decent Yennifer.

On a related note, "Until Dawn" was a very good watch- it's basically an 8 hour horror interactive movie with alternate choices and results.  This is where the 'next gen' is starting to shine.  The motion capture is very good here and has a similar emotional impact as a real-life film but without the 'logistical' issues of real life film making.  This means that creative freedom can flow more readily and give more flexibility to the movie's direction.

***Oh, and Happy Holidays to you too!

This is Frank Miller's new Dark knight comic

http://viewcomic.com/dark-knight-iii-the-master-race-002-2016/

I laughed long and hard at the Superman thing   . This is strange to hear about EyeScream being a part of an X-Men storyline   .

Actually, Agents has already picked up for me in the first few episodes (on about S1E4). Even though the focus you speak of hasn't gotten there yet, I'm already in love with the characters. Well, I fell for Fitz-Simmons instantly and genuinely laugh at the hacker girl's one-liners   . Calvalry woman is probably one of the coolest characters on television too.

How would you rate the music of this past year compared to the previous?

On 27/12/2015 at 3:22 AM, Cult Icon said:

I recently heard of the Mike Fassbender movie 'Assassin's Creed' :  http://www.ew.com/article/2015/12/26/assassins-creed-michael-fassbender-ariane-labed

 

With Witcher I have no idea if the movie will be successful.  It's too early.  If they announce say, a 150 M $ budget then maybe.   The director is oscar nominated but I have never seen his films.   Beyond that, the witcher saga is a fertile source.  The witcher saga has several story templates: 

-Indiana Jones type of free-flowing fantasy adventure with romance 

-Medieval fantasy political drama plus game of thrones style antics. 

-contracts: monster hits, community service.  

 

The first is most likely to work along with a female co-lead (Yennefer and ciri are the strongest contenders).  The character of Geralt needs a strong middle aged actor with a complex personality.  

 

Some fan speculation, (due to physical appearance his role in Valhalla rising).  I would prefer an actor without a nordic accent:  http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh23/pazanin/untitledmads_zps44a29016.jpg

 

Vigo Mortensen ,  Gerald Butler , Sean Bean,  Liam Neeson , etc. would also be OK.  I don't know of a perfect match yet.  Eva Green would make a decent Yennifer.

 

On a related note, "Until Dawn" was a very good watch- it's basically an 8 hour horror interactive movie with alternate choices and results.  This is where the 'next gen' is starting to shine.  The motion capture is very good here and has a similar emotional impact as a real-life film but without the 'logistical' issues of real life film making.  This means that creative freedom can flow more readily and give more flexibility to the movie's direction.

 

***Oh, and Happy Holidays to you too!

 

This is Frank Miller's new Dark knight comic

 

http://viewcomic.com/dark-knight-iii-the-master-race-002-2016/

I could see the 'Assassin's Creed' movie being, at the very least, a casually entertaining action/adventure flick. Unless they follow the source material to the letter, and Fassbender runs around for four hours collecting things so he can get a slightly different costume, then has a random and unexplained fight against the pope at the end.

Unfortunately, if we're discounting the numerous 'so bad it's funny' video game movies, the enjoyable ones are few and far between. The first 'Resident Evil' movie wasn't terrible and, although it wasn't everyone's cup of tea at the time of release, I'd probably cite 'Prince of Persia' as another decent effort. Maybe 'Final Fantasy' too, but saying that, I'm not sure how faithful it was to the original material. None would make my favourite movie lists or anything, and it is of course, a pretty low bar to clear, but I consider all of them to be substantial improvements over the standard video game fare. I think, if it retained some of the substance of the original story, it would be great to see a 'Bioshock' adaptation. I've rarely come across a game that hooked me as much, and that was mostly down to the narrative and the sheer volume of ideas on show. Always thought the epic story arc of 'Jak and Daxter' would make a cracking animated tale too.

Incidentally, I think I'm about ready to bite the bullet and invest in a PS4 now. Feels like it's time.  I'm looking at getting 'Arkham Knight', 'MGS V' and 'Star Wars Battlefront' for starters, so it looks like being an expensive rest of 2016.

Thanks for the link. I've always been a big fan of Miller's interpretation of Batman, so I look forward to reading.

On 04/01/2016 at 3:16 PM, Joe > Average said:

Actually, Agents has already picked up for me in the first few episodes (on about S1E4). Even though the focus you speak of hasn't gotten there yet, I'm already in love with the characters. Well, I fell for Fitz-Simmons instantly and genuinely laugh at the hacker girl's one-liners   . Calvalry woman is probably one of the coolest characters on television too.

 

How would you rate the music of this past year compared to the previous?

It took me ages to figure out that May (cavalry woman) played Chun Li in the old 'Street Fighter' movie. Finger on the pulse as always.

I've actually just started the third season of 'SHIELD' and I'm happy to report that I'm still really enjoying it. There are some obvious cliches, but they're made rather more palatable by the MCU tie-in, and the way they portray the 'name' characters gets genuinely impressive as it goes on. Where season one sometimes got bogged down in stop-start origin stories, most of them arrive fully-formed, which is the perfect way to go for someone who already has an established comic book counterpart. I always think, more often than not, that if they look and act right then I don't need to know much more than that. Plus, if Simmons is on my TV then all is right with the world.

In general, I always think there's great music happening the majority of the time and in pretty much every genre, too. I can't honestly say there's much that hits the spot for me in the world of pop music these days (although I am happy it's there for the folks who do like it ), but there are always other places to look and always something new just around the corner. The only problem is that I rarely have enough time to sit down and listen to it all.

What sounds are you into these days?

I'm been checking out the Assassin's creed franchise of late (finished the story for III, reviewed the story/worlds for Unity, Rogue, IV: Black Flag).  I'm doing AS:Tyranny of King Washington,  AS:Syndicate and the world for III next.  

The stories/world building are all pretty good but the gameplay lacks diversity.  Production values are high.  The next one is to take place in ancient Egypt which definitely sounds cool.   Overall I like the series because I love watching fun historical fiction and acting.

I think AS the movie can work if fan-service is eliminated.  The AS template is very common among french comics and historical fiction in general.

Yea, I love bioshock- for me, the greatest game story ever is Witcher 3 by a huge margin.  The Bioshock series behind it.   Assassin's Creed is up there, too.  AS:3 and AS:4 have damned good stories. 

There is a TV series (Black Sails) starring Ray Stevensen and others that has all the same characters as AS:4 (Blackbeard, Anne Bonney, Vale, etc.).  It's standard pirate literature.

I don't know if there has been any good video game movies.  But that's not too big of a loss as the next gen is basically pseudo film/miniseries + worldbuilding.  I wonder if the Witcher movie will get canceled like the Bioshock one..

" Incidentally, I think I'm about ready to bite the bullet and invest in a PS4 now. Feels like it's time.  I'm looking at getting 'Arkham Knight', 'MGS V' and 'Star Wars Battlefront' for starters, so it looks like being an expensive rest of 2016.  "

From what I've gathered, Star Wars Battlefront is casual, fun and has too little content, MGS5 is a mixed bag- with highs and lows.  The game was not completed due to budget constraints and Konami turnover. Arkham Knight is decent but people didn't like the batmobile content.  

AS:Unity is like MGS5- highs and lows.  Both games were rushed to market.   AS: Syndicate, which I am looking at now, is much more polished than unity although the setting is less endearing (London instead of French revolution era Paris).

Charles lee (2012) saying the same stuff as Bane, LOL: 1:27

Part of why I was generally so hesitant to partake in the hottest of the year comp in the past was my partiality to actresses and singers over models. That is, the Simmons woman was probably on my mind more often than most models   . On the other hand, I had to make looks the criteria seeing as how it was a common denominator for the various professions. Well, even with models, I'm largely partial to my high fashion favorites. Sasha Pivovarova's 'The Birds' editorial is more memorable to me than any SI shoot even though most of them are likely more attractive. Someone like Daria has the best of both world's in terms of high fashion presence, uniqueness and the type of beauty that can cross over too.

On 01/02/2016 at 9:30 PM, Cult Icon said:

From what I've gathered, Star Wars Battlefront is casual, fun and has too little content, MGS5 is a mixed bag- with highs and lows.  The game was not completed due to budget constraints and Konami turnover. Arkham Knight is decent but people didn't like the batmobile content.  

 

AS:Unity is like MGS5- highs and lows.  Both games were rushed to market.   AS: Syndicate, which I am looking at now, is much more polished than unity although the setting is less endearing (London instead of French revolution era Paris).

 

Charles lee (2012) saying the same stuff as Bane, LOL: 1:27

I resisted the lure of the PS4 for quite a while, but it seemed like a pretty good Christmas for new releases (with more on the way - I'm particularly looking forward to 'No Man’s Sky' and of course 'Uncharted 4'), so now felt like the right time to take the plunge. I managed to pick up an 'Arkham Knight' bundle, and have already made it about halfway through the main story. So far, the Batmobile stuff basically boils down to two modes, 'car' and 'tank', and it’s definitely an addition of two halves. Driving it around the city is pretty streamlined, the controls are deceptively simple and you can smash through just about anything. You can even activate some of its weaponry in hand-to-hand combat situations and use it remotely as an ally, which is great fun. As a tank used for combat between vehicles, the missions are forced upon you too often and in very repetitive ways. That I would say is the only real downside to what's been a really terrific gaming experience otherwise. John Noble's Scarecrow is truly fantastic, and when Man Bat jumped out, I almost dropped my controller.

Once I'm done with 'Arkham', I'll have to try and make a decision on what to play next, because the only other thing I've sampled up to now is 'Star Wars Battlefront' via an online demo. It's certainly fun to play and they've perfectly captured the look, feel and atmosphere of the movies, but it does indeed feel very limited in terms of depth and progression. Overall, it's probably just a bit too light and arcadey to justify splurging on. Maybe down the road when the price drops a bit. I wouldn't be surprised if DLC arrived with levels and characters from 'Force Awakens' in the near future. If that proves to be the case, it sort of makes sense that they haven't released them yet, as they would have been highly spoileriffic, although a more consumer-friendly way would have been to include them as locked options that open up later on. Saying that, I suppose as long as people keep buying these things, and the DLC, then the business model isn't going to go away. It's a bit like when people complain about how expensive the cinema is, and how much the popcorn adds to the price. Which is all true of course, but then you look at the queues for the latest blockbusters and realise that it's working for them, so they aren't going to change things any time soon.

On 02/02/2016 at 6:44 AM, Joe > Average said:

Part of why I was generally so hesitant to partake in the hottest of the year comp in the past was my partiality to actresses and singers over models. That is, the Simmons woman was probably on my mind more often than most models   . On the other hand, I had to make looks the criteria seeing as how it was a common denominator for the various professions. Well, even with models, I'm largely partial to my high fashion favorites. Sasha Pivovarova's 'The Birds' editorial is more memorable to me than any SI shoot even though most of them are likely more attractive. Someone like Daria has the best of both world's in terms of high fashion presence, uniqueness and the type of beauty that can cross over too.

I don't know if I'm a huge believer in making distinctions between high fashion and commercial, but I definitely welcome the return of the multi-faceted model, as in someone who has the best of both worlds and can tackle any and all aspects of modelling. Overall, the way I see it is that a model is a model and there are some good ones, and some average ones.

I suppose thinking about it now, although at times it's surprising to see how easily some of the VS girls are able to transition back into more high fashion-orientated stuff, you'll usually see things pan out in a similar way for most models when VS comes calling. Their catalogue stuff completely swamps their other work, and I often feel a bit sad about that, because it's rare to see the same level of variety from them afterwards.