Incredible Hulk

hulk 2008

Hulk smashed back the terrible Hulk movie with his introductory reboot into the MCU. Following the insanely huge success of Iron Man, Incredible Hulk is the second film of the MCU.

We begin with a quick origin of Bruce Banner’s accident, this time during an experiment that was covertly meant for the government. General Ross now has a reason to want Banner as an encounter with Hulk killed people and landed his daughter, Betty in the hospital. Bruce Banner is on the run in South America, living off the grid, desperate for a cure. Working with the mysterious Mr. Blue could bring about the cure, but to complete it they must meet in person at his lab in America, forcing Banner to come out of hiding and reunite with his old flame Betty Ross. After a disastrous encounter with the the Hulk, one of Ross’s specialists wants revenge, while finding himself enthralled by the creature’s power. Ross has a solution: using a failed attempt to recreate Captain America’s super serum. But as Banner’s seemingly cures the Hulk, he discovers Mr. Blue’s true intentions which inadvertently causes the creation of the Abomination. Can Banner control the Hulk long enough to stop the Abomination?

While some hate this movie, I personally love this darker take on the Hulk. There’s a lot more action and the poetry and despair comes through without the utter pretension of Ang Lee’s. Hulk has never looked better in my opinion and though Abomination looks somewhat like a Resident Evil boss, was pretty badass. I do really like Edward Norton as Banner and William Hurt as Ross but some of the other acting can be a bit bland. In the end, Incredible Hulk is a pretty epic movie and a damn good installment of the MCU. May the gaming gods bring you glory and stay tuned for the rest of our upcoming MCU reviews.

Star Wars Episode 9: Princess Leia?

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When it comes to star wars there is a huge elephant in the room that nobody enjoys taking about. It’s a sad topic, it’s a morbid topic and honestly all Star Wars fans from the most casual to the older die-hard fans don’t like to think about it. What about our beloved Princess? The death of Carrie Fisher left a huge hole in both the movie franchise and our hearts and childhoods. It’s common knowledge that these movies were meant to be a send off of sorts for Han, Luke and Leia but with the unexpected passing it clearly messed up the plan. The most logical step would be to kill the character in a book or comic off-screen and tell the story in the traditional scroll.  CGI is also an option of sorts, but that has already been dismissed completely. Recasting is a far less appealing option and would surely upset the fan base. Or would it?

There is currently a petition online for a woman who played a version of Carrie Fisher in Post Cards From the Edge, and long time friend of Fishers to step in and play her so the Princess Leia character can still have her moment to shine. For those that don’t know who I am referring to, none other than Meryl Streep herself. You can read more about that and part of the petition at movieweb.com.

Personally while I would understand the decision to recast and I can’t say I would be against Meryl Streep stepping in for her friends character to get her time I fall into the side that says to let the Princess die off-screen. For me there could be no other than The late Carrie Fisher, it just would not seem right. I would watch the movie regardless, but it just would seem odd to someone else playing the role. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Favorite Locales in gaming…

Let’s talk real estate, location, location, location. In gaming we get some gorgeous worlds that make us wish we could live there or pray we’d never set foot in but either way are memorable. Here’s a list of mine in no particular order starting with one that actually exists..

ac2 italy 1. Renaissance Italy ( Assassin’s Creed 2)

I’m a huge fan of the Renaissance era and being able to experience it and venture through Italy’s gorgeous architecture was truly a pleasure.

skyrim  2. Skyrim ( Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim)

Who the hell wouldn’t want to go to the lush, fascinating kingdom of Skyrim full of interesting people, magic, killer beasts and epic dragons? Plus talking cat people…

arkham city 2 3. Arkham City (Batman: Arkham City )

I’d go here just because of the villains that lurk here like Two-Face, Penguin, Mr. Freeze, Killer Croc, and that lovable goof Mr. J and his sweetheart Harley. A community is only as good as it’s people after all..

yharnam bloodborne  4. Yharnam (BloodBorne review)

I loved this creepy, Victorian, Gothic town the second I walked in with my trusty ax. Between the Lovecraft style monsters and classic horror feel, I’d put a top hat on and hang out there a night.

dishonored dunwall 5. Dunwall (Dishonored series)

Another town, though with a steampunk flavor of whale blubber, robot walkers, and plague but hey, the fashion is quite dashing. Especially that creepy bastard in the skull mask…

sevastopol isolation  6. Sevastopol Station (Alien: Isolation)

The last two are a morbid curiosity deals more than anything, but as a sci-fi, horror nerd I gotta do it. Granted I ain’t going here with a alien on board, hell no..

ishimura deadspace 7. U.S.S Ishimura (DeadSpace )

Many modern horror fans shiver at the name, knowing the horrific things inside but the areas inside are creepy as well as cool looking to see. Just make sure you have a plasma-cutter handy..

May the gaming gods bring you glory.

 

Sea of Thieves First Legendary Pirate

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Among the many complaints of the lack of content for Sea of Thieves is the forgotten by many fact that there is post game content not yet seen by anyone. Maxing out all factions at level 50 gets you the rank of Pirate Legend, something nobody had done, until recently. A Twitch streamer as reported by IGN became the first to accomplish this.

Now some people have claimed he cheated by streaming and when his viewers had loot asking to join them, selling it for the money and experience, then just moving on to the next person tho honestly take this with a HUGE grain of salt. I can’t on any way confirm this and as is common with the internet people like to get jealous or simply repeat rumors,I only mention it to make people aware the rumor does exist. Regardless, congrats to the first Pirate Legend. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Dragon Quest XI Comes to North America

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Dragon Quest as a series has always struggled in North America, so we always seem to get them late if at all. After launching last July in Japan and Square Enix being very Hush Hush about DQ11 coming west we finally have out answer, and that answer is September 4th. As exciting as this is however the news isn’t all good, the Switch will have to wait until “much later” , in fact it has been confirmed it won’t release this year at all and the 3Ds version will localized on the great date of “never” leaving your options as PS4 or PC. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Ant-Man

Ant-man

So let’s talk a movie that once announced in the MCU made me say “Wow, really dude? A freaking Ant-Man movie!” but like many times before, I ate my words. This movie is pretty freaking entertaining and it’s about a superhero I don’t even really like.

Scott Lang is a ex con looking for redemption so he can do right by his daughter. Once a thief though, after a hard time getting back on his feet, Lang finds himself thieving again and getting busted trying to rob famous scientist Hank Pym. But Pym has a job for the thief; his Pym particle technology has fallen into the hands of his old protege Darren Cross (Yellow Jacket) who wants to replicate it and sell if off to Hydra. The particles can help him shrink while increasing his strength while wearing a helmet that helps him communicate with ants…hence Ant-Man.

I loved this movie because of the creativity behind it, especially during the fight scenes at the end. It was amazing to see how otherworldly everyday things can be shrunk down and it is filmed on a epic scale. The characters are solid and the tone is fun but Cross is overall a eh bad guy with a cool costume. My biggest flaw with the movie is that it is extremely formulaic, much how Doctor Strange ( 2016) followed the Iron Man formula pretty damn closely but the movie is fun and imaginative enough to stand on its own, especially if you can watch it in 4K or get to watch it in theaters in 3-D. May the gaming gods bring you all glory.

 

No Man’s Sky Xbox One

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Not long ago an ambitious game was released that disappointed many, No Man’s Sky. It lack many of the features that were said would be there, the game was mostly just collecting resources just to fly to the next planet and do the same thing and the creatures looked very off. The game was a lot of fun for people who enjoyed that type of game, but many were very much not happy.

Hello Games however did eventually start releasing updates to correct this, some small some large. Many of the promised features were added and the game has greatly improved.  Hello Games announced the biggest update yet, titled Next. Not much is known besides the fact that it will be free. But that isn’t the biggest announcement they had. With 4k and HDR support it will also launch for the Xbox One and with Xbox one X enhancements.  So until then, stay safe and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Pink Floyd’s The Wall

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Once upon a time I knew a guy named Nick who had something of a break down and three musicians helped got him through it: Johnny Cash, Jimi Hendrix, and Pink Floyd. Namely this movie, based on the legendary album of the same name; it can said the movie can be called a really long music video for the whole album and that’s not totally wrong. It is. But I found it beautiful, scary, and uplifting all at once. It follows the life of a guy called Pink: how his dad died in war, how he almost died as a kid, had mom issues, loved a girl and got his heartbroken, had a drug induced meltdown where he imagined himself as a fantastical Nazi and would get shit on by a techni-color literal ass judge…Ok, let’s be honest, there was likely some drug use behind the making of this but it doesn’t subtract the power the fusion of music and imagery, both animated and live action has. Again, like Fantasia, this won’t be for everyone; it can be said The Wall is a R- rated Fantasia in many ways. If you love Floyd or need something strange or just want to watch a weird ass movie, absolutely deserves a watch. Speaking of Strange, here’s a video of Doctor Strange himself, Benedict Cumberbatch, singing the famous Comfortably Numb with David Gilmour of Floyd and it is epic as hell. May the gaming gods bring you glory and may you never be just bricks in the wall.

Suburban Gothic (2015)

suburban gothic

Suburban Gothic is one of those silly horror movies that isn’t quite funny, but isn’t really serious either. Its pretty well written with decent effects in that better than a B movie nut clearly isn’t AAA title, and that actually helps the movie out very well. There are some laughs to be had and Matthew Gubler (criminal minds) and Kat Dennings (Thor) work amazing together. You actually believe they are both former fat kids that are awkwardly spending time together but also have a strange attraction.

The movie is pretty far from perfect however, for example the main characters parents are basically insane and abusive. The town itself is apparently full of rednecks, rapist and criminals but no one noticed or simply doesn’t care. I’m not really sure which one it is. Also don’t expect this to be scary, best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Fantasia

fantasia

I’ve always been inspired by imagery connected with music, especially if it has a darker tone. When writing, I can listen to a piece of score and create something completely different than what it was intended for, or reinterpret it. As a kid I was utterly fascinated by this very odd Disney film that remains to be my favorite decades later. Fantasia is a blend of live classical orchestra composure with Disney’s animations to create stories whether concrete or abstract. Duke had some fun stories about seeing this in theaters during the late sixties- use your imagination why that may be.  The most famous of the selections is The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, where Mickey enchants a broom to do his chores but it gets out of control and he’s being swamped by evil brooms. While there are bright, vibrant colors there are also some dark and scary ass images- I’ve never been more scared of the devil than I was in this movie. While not for everyone, I think everyone should experience this film at least once and I urge people to give it a shot. May the gaming gods bring you glory.