Looks like a mix between Hoth and Baltimore.

The 1st ever trailer for the highly anticipated “Dead Space 3″ crash landed on the internet a few days ago. I of course being a big fan of the video game franchise decided to check it out. There is no actual gameplay footage to be found in the trailer instead it uses a minimalist animation style to tell the story of an unknown man whom comes face to face with the evil necromorphs. There is a marker on this planet and all literal Hell is about to break loose.

You can of course watch the trailer for yourself at the bottom of this post, I am interested in seeing what comes of this game. I consider the 1st two games masterpieces of video game media and so I must admit having high hopes for this new installment. A lot of fans are worried that Issac Clarke the main protagonist will not be in this game. I find that highly unlikely especially considering that the latest Dead Space is rumored to be introducing co-op play. I don’t know how wise that is, the isolation of the previous games gave it that eerie feel. You felt alone and with people around you constantly you may not feel the same way. Then again movies can be scary even when multiple people are in the same room together so I’m not going to pass judgment. What I do know is that I’m excited to hack, slash and shoot some more necromorphs as soon as this game goes for sale.

Tobey McGuire and Carey Mulligan in “The Great Gatsby” DiCaprio and Edgerton in the background.

Warner Brothers studio is getting an early jump on hyping up their awards season film “The Great Gatsby” based off the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel of the same name, the book is widely considered to be one of the best (if not the best) books of all time. I personally have read the book and seen that 1975 version of the film starring Robert Redford which I quite liked. The book is a masterpiece, I wouldn’t personally categorize it as the best and it wouldn’t make my top 15 list of favorite books but it is well written and the source material is ripe for a movie adaptation.

At the helm for the film is Baz Luhrmann (“Romeo and Juliet”, “Moulin Rouge”) he is known for his very stylized directorial work sometimes it works like in the aforementioned films and sometimes it falls flat (see “Australia” or don’t see it rather.) But the man has talent and at the very least his films look pretty and are intricate. Gatsby looks to be no different the trailer already displays the unique visual style that I personally did not expect to see. “The Great Gatsby” is a book so thinking of it as such a visual medium is almost odd, but if handled correctly this could help bring the book to life like never before. Baz can do it, he certainly has the cast to complete a real Oscar contender.

You have to take a shot any time a woman looks longingly into DiCaprio’s eyes.

The cast for this movie features Leonardo DiCpario as Gatsby himself, Carey Mulligan as Daisy Buchanan, Tobey Mcguire as Nick Carraway, Isla Fisher as Myrtle Wilson, Joel Edgerton as Tom Buchanan and Jason Clarke as George Wilson. Not many people may be familiar with Jason Clarke, he was on the short lived Fox TV series “Chicago Code” and he was quite good in it, the show was really well done as well but failed to deliver ratings. This is a strong cast, they all seem good fits for their respective roles and Leo who is also starring in “Django Unchained” which opens up on the same day as this film looks to be really trying to hammer home an Oscar nomination and hopeful win. I think Leo is overdue for an Academy Award victory, and hope that he hits a home run with one of the two performances.

I can’t say that I will be running out to see this based on the trailer alone, it’s visually striking but: I know the story, I know how it ends. I much rather see “Django Unchained” first come Christmas. Still I’m interested in what Baz and this team of actors brings to the table. The trailer didn’t leave me fascinated like the “Prometheus”, “The Dark Knight Rises” or “Skyfall” teasers but it does intrigue me. I think the most interesting thing about it is that it will be in 3D. I just never thought of a human drama piece like “The Great Gatsby” being in 3D. The director of photography is Simon Duggan who actually has never worked with Baz before. He has worked on films such as “I, Robot”, “Live Free or Die Hard”, “Knowing” and “Killer Elite” and most of his resume consists of action films. Could a new pairing through off the mojo of Baz or will it bring a necessary new perspective to shooting in 3D? For now we’ll have to play the waiting game. Or you could play the hilarious Great Gatsby video game. Which I highly recommend. If you haven’t seen the trailer yet you can check it out below. What are your thoughts?

Lura Ketchledge

“The Final Cut” is back! After a long hiatus the entertainment news and radio show has returned and it begins it’s summer of sizzling guests with filmmaker and author Lura Ketchlege whose latest zombie horror/comedy “Another Apocalyptic Zombie” is currently in production. On the show she will talk about zombie movies throughout pop culture, shooting a low budget horror film, shooting on haunted ground and even how you can support the movie! Be sure to tune in for this blood splattering knee slicing episode! You can listen to it here or download it on itunes. Don’t forget to visit the official page of “The Final Cut” to download previous episodes and be sure to ‘like’ us on facebook.

“Drive” starring Ryan Gosling was released in 2011 to rave reviews and a lot of buzz from hipsters and film junkies alike. I wanted to see it in theaters but never got around to it, earlier this week “Drive” was made available for online streaming via netflix. I had to watch it right away, and I have to say despite all the hype surrounding the film I was not disappointed.

“Drive” centers around Ryan Gosling who plays the driver. His real name is never given, at least as far as I know it never is. His credit in the film and on imdb is as ‘driver’. So I suppose he has no name, but you don’t need a name when you’re as BA as him. Dressed to impress with a scorpion jacket, racing gloves and a somewhat detached but cool smile Gosling does a pitch perfect job portraying the lead who falls for an apartment neighbor named Irene (Carey Mulligan). He’s a stunt driver by day and a getaway driver by night living in modern day Los Angeles. However this story could easily be set in virtually any decade and the film really gives off an obvious 80′s vibe with the opening credits, music and overall atmosphere. Fair warning here if you have not seen “Drive” I suggest you stop reading fairly soon as I am about to reveal some major plot points. Before I do I just will establish that I feel “Drive” was a great film that did not get enough Oscar attention (It was nominated for sound editing however) and deserves the attention of any aspiring editors, cinematographers, audio technicians and or screenwriters. It’s not a ground breaking film by any means, the story isn’t wildly original and nothing earth shatteringly thought provoking takes place either. Still, it’s a movie that stuck with me, and had me replaying scenes over and over again. Warning! Spoilers ahead!

Ryan Gosling in “Drive”

The plot of “Drive” focuses on the driver getting in a little too deep after Irene’s husband is released from prison and ends up in debt of a few rough customers. It’s up to the audience to decide why the driver is so determined to help this man and Irene. He doesn’t need to, Irene’s son fancies the driver a bit more than his biological father and Irene even makes it clear on several occasions that she would somewhat prefer to be with him. At the very least she doesn’t really want to be with her husband. His motives aren’t all that important necessarily he just wants to do the right thing I suppose. As Bryan Cranston his mechanic boss named Shannon crudely points out it’s just weird that he wants to save the marriage/family of the woman he’s almost dating.

This film is haunting, it’s just unsettling the whole way through masterfully directed by Nicholas Winding Refn (“Bronson”) the tension of the film never quite lets up. The script was written by Hossein Amini (“The Four Feathers”, “Snow White and the Huntsman”) and almost borderlines on farce at times. Nothing is really happening and yet everything is happening at the same time.

The acting in the movie is all solid, all of the actors seem to have a real grasp on their characters and motivations and Ron Pearlman does a particularly good job chewing up the scenery as a Jewish mobster who wants to be an Italian mobster so badly. But the stand out performance in this film is from Albert Brooks who plays a mob boss with a very calm and principled nuance to his seedy ways. He’s almost like a more lively Anton Shugah from “No Country for Old Men”. Gosling as the anchor of course is splendid and wears that scorpion jacket so well that no man on earth could wear that now without being compared to him. That takes a lot.

Christina Hendricks in “Drive”

There are other notable actors in the film like Christina Hendricks but she is kind of just there for the purpose of a shockingly graphic death scene. “Drive” operates on a such low level of violence at first I was kind of surprised when it suddenly got so bloody, and some people will disagree with me on this but I actually think the severity of the hotel scene hurt the film, I’m not saying the actual scene of the implied deaths but the graphic detail of the deaths took away from a film that was so much until that point about what we didn’t see. What we didn’t know. What was hidden from us. Story is that Hendricks was chosen because the director’s wife liked her work in “Mad Men” and also found her to be beautiful. Before Hendricks was cast Refn apparently sought after porn models to play the role but wasn’t pleased with any of their acting performances. Considering that her character has only about 4 lines I’m not sure how thorough the searches were, I’m sure if Hendricks had more to sink her teeth in with the character she could have really ran with it, but as it stands that scene is the one glaring error of the film.

The cinematography of “Drive” is well done, it never gets too fancy but it is well presented and it’s color scheme is brilliant in creating an atmosphere, the sound editing is also superb as is the soundtrack which I highly recommend seeking out. When it all comes down to it “Drive” might not be the masterpiece people claim it to be but it’s a simple story that is well executed and leaves an impression. It is my favorite Gosling performance and is a movie I will most likely be buying on DVD soon. My final grade: 87/100

Okay now that I’ve stopped squealing like a kid on the jungle gym for the 1st time let’s take a look at this trailer. The first thing gotta bring up is the new DC Comics logo. Doesn’t that just look bad? I mean I hate it. But that’s about the only thing wrong with this trailer, everything is kept pretty secret with this one. I throughly enjoyed “The Avengers” but I couldn’t stand how much the trailers gave away, as much fun as the film was there were some key moments where the element of surprise was taken out because of the extensive coverage of their trailers. I’m fearing a similar outcome with the much anticipated “Prometheus” whose 2nd trailer I feel reveals way too much.

Bale and Hathaway

This new sleek trailer reveals just enough to tantalize but nothing more. We see Bruce Wayne and Catwoman together, it’s unclear whether Selena Kyle/Catwoman knows Batman’s secret identity and it’s unsure whether they are truly on the same side. Like in the comics and Bruce Timm TV show Catwoman and Batman always have a very odd sexual tension between them. They respect each other, but both come from two very different perspectives. Catwoman isn’t a villain in the sense of harming another human being but rather just a very stylized thief with very particular taste. Though in this film she seems a bit more open to the societal/political shifts sure to come with the rise of Bane (Tom Hardy). So like in the comics despite their varying morals the two have on a number of occasions teamed up.  It looks to be happening here but as in the Batman mythos Catwoman is known to switch up on Batman at the very last minute to further her own desires.

Gordon-Levitt

The trailer also raises many questions about John Blake played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Blake is seen prominently in the trailer talking about Bane and Batman. He is obviously a major part of the storyline. He is even apparently talking to Catwoman, could this be the new Robin? That’s what many are saying. I remember a USA Today article where they interviewed both Christian Bale and Christopher Nolan about the next Batman film. Nolan said that he never was a fan of Robin, so it’s unclear if we will see that in the Nolan universe. Regardless John Blake serves some greater purpose to the film and quite possibly if you watch the trailer at the 1:16 mark you may see Blake being tossed like a rag doll by Bane.

Bane played by Tom Hardy

Speaking of Bane let’s take a look at the prime villain for the final Batman installment. Bane is an odd choice in some regards, he is not well known to the casual Batman fan he’s not like a Joker though he’s arguably more popular than Scarecrow who appears in the previous two Batman films. Bane is famous for his physical strength and high IQ. Bane in the comics uses a special serum called Venom to power him and give him super human strength. I’m not going to spoil what he does in the comics to Batman but I feel everyone is expecting that infamous moment to happen in some shape or form in “The Dark Knight Rises.” I’m still not crazy about the voice, in the television show Bane still has his South American accent and it’s very clear what he’s saying. This current voice modification he has on is like a cross between Darth Vader and something out of a Wes Craven movie. It could work with some more audio tweaks but when he says “Your punishment must be more severe” I felt Bane wasn’t even in the same room with Bruce Wayne. Just a voice over narration.

This isn’t a car.

Finally there is the Batwing, which is indeed not a car. This just looks flat out awesome. I felt a rush when I saw this thing fly across the skyline of Gotham city, what a way to end the trailer! Leaving you with something that you just cannot wait to see, I usually don’t pay the extra ticket price for IMAX films but I will with this one, and probably for that one scene alone. I know I’m leaving out a lot from this trailer but I feel it wouldn’t be right to obsess over every single detail, I want this movie to be a surprise but I can’t help but to excitedly speculate what will happen. I will be seeing this at the midnight premiere July 20th and I will probably see it again with my family, as I did with “The Dark Knight.” It’s hard to make a solid trilogy but Nolan seems on the cusp on joining the elite few to do so.

Tia P. performing

Tia P. returns to “The Final Cut” to discuss her single “N.O.B.O.D.Y.” and the music video that will soon be accompanying it. (You also get to listen to the entire song!) Tia also went on to talk about how college affects her music career, her family and the support they have given her as well as what live musical performance she’d travel in time to see live! This is a fun episode you seriously won’t want to miss so be sure to listen to it or download it via itunes. You can also visit the official page of “The Final Cut” to download archived episodes and don’t forget to join our facebook page!

Sony’s PlayStation Vita hasn’t exactly sold like hotcakes over in Japan, so the company has sweetened the pot for the portable’s potential Stateside buyers. Those who placed pre-orders will get a couple of extra goodies for their $350. To go with the limited edition case, 4GB memory card and copy of Little Deviants, you’ll also receive 250MB of data from AT&T and a PlayStation Network game gratis as soon as you activate 3G on the device. Furthermore, folks buying a Vita on launch day can look forward to the same free data and PSN game, plus an 8GB memory card in exchange for their $300. So, that enough to get you on the handheld’s bandwagon? Sound off in the comments below.

Via Joystiq

I just saw this post on Joystiq and Engadget so I thought I’d share it with you guys. It’s something quick but as I told you guys in my first couple of posts, I’d be posting here about the PS Vita.

So with just a mere month away from the Handheld being available to everyone, there were speculations of if the console would sell well or not, with an arguably high price tag, we can say that it is not in the reach of every gamer out there. Maybe hardcore gamers will be able to get it, but the average gamer will probably not be able to afford it. Or maybe it won’t even be able to buy for some of those gamers, the Vita hasn’t had the most positive responses because of how much it’s worth. But on all other fronts, it has been received as a total success by critics and gamers alike. With the system having an ample launch lineup (some not included in the link) I have no doubt that this system will be received with open arms here stateside.

Remember, this was just a short entry to inform you guys, when I get my hands on the PS Vita, you’ll guys will hear my review probably February 24 or 25. Next week you guys will get my review of the highly acclaimed Soul Calibur 5, with a probable unboxing video with photos of the Limited Edition game, but until then, stay free my friends.

Signed, your game loving writer,

DA

Jack Remick at Jack Kerouac's grave

“The Final Cut” ends the year strong with friend of the show author Jack Remick. Jack came on the show to talk about how the city of San Fransisco and the beat poetry movement influenced his life, pop culture today and his new book “The Deification” which has a very funny and yet oddly touching meaning behind it’s name. You won’t want to miss this fun episode featuring poetry and Jack himself reading an excerpt from his book. You can listen to the episode here or visit the official page of “The Final Cut”. don’t forget to subscribe to us on itunes and to join our facebook page.

Now there is some slight misinformation going around that this is not a prequel, ignore that. It is a prequel in the sense that it takes before the events of “Alien” in the same universe and could perhaps even give us clues and or explicitly tell us who the mysterious space jockey was from the first film. The movie stars: Noomi Rapace (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Sherlock Holmes 2), Michael Fassbender (X-Men: First Class, Shame) Guy Pearce (Memento, The Count of Monte Cristo), Idris Elba (Thor, RockNRolla) Logan Marshall-Green (Dark Blue, Brooklyn’s Finest) and Charlize Theron (Monster, Young Adult). I’m excited about the cast I like all of these actors, and it will of course be a shame that most likely most if not all of them will die during the film. The “Alien” universe is known for being pretty cold and cruel.Side note: according to Indie Wire Scott is planning to show Fox a PG-13 and R version of the film for people the studio to decide on. I hope its R, what would be an “Alien” movie without the brutality and bleak violence?

I personally love the trailer, some people have complained with all the hype surrounding the film that not enough has been shown. I say to heck with those people, it did the trick it showed enough to pique my interest. Not every studio has to tell us half the film like “The Avengers” or “The Hobbit” has done. I also love the homage to James Horner’s original score in the trailer mixed in with the very nostalgic “Prometheus” font coming across like in the opening credits of “Alien”. I think that is just perfect and I’ve already watched the trailer about 10 times now. It’s worth seeing for yourself if you haven’t already. This is for sure a piece I’ll be viewing opening night, it’s shaping up to be an exciting 2012.