I was a little late with this trailer, but it is my site so things get posted when I say so! Or unless The Paladin gives me that dispointed look. Anyway … I thought the next big trailer would be Ant-Man. It wasn’t. It was Mad Max: Fury Road, and it looks amazing. I was worried the series would suffer being separated from the 80’s (well the first one came out in ’79, but close enough), but it looks like it made the translation to the 20-teens quite well. This movie is running up my most anticpated films of 2015 list.
Space Pirate Captain Harlock Is Back! … Kinda
The original Space Pirate Captain Harlock was an Anime classic. It was one of the first Japanese cartoons to come across the Pacific Ocean and do well. I have not watched a lot of that show, but I am still very familiar with its iconic look and cast of characters because anyone that has any interest in anime has to be. When I saw the new 3D animated remake pop up on Netflix, I had to watch it.
The movie starts off when a mysterious young man named Yama is recruited to Harlock’s crew. Will he help Harlock with his goal of fixing the universe, or will he become the Space Pirate’s undoing? Yama will have to uncover the truth about the legendary pirate and the ruling government The Gaia Sanction before he makes his decision.
You would think with a title like Space Pirate Captain Harlock that it would be about the titular captain and not some young upstart, but that is apparently not what Toei Animation had in mind. This movie should have been called “Yama’s Quest featuring Space Pirate Captain Harlock” because then at least I wouldn’t have been disappointed to see the great captain as a side character. Now Yama isn’t completely uninteresting, but he isn’t a hundred year old rebel leader either. Sure in the end they kind of bring it all together, but I was left wanting more Harlock.
Odd story choices aside, the 3D animation in the movie ranges from amazing to bad. It feels a lot like cutscene animation from a video game. Where while the main characters and the environments look great, everything else is stiff, or copied and pasted to save money. Even though their visual style did look very cool, I did miss the unique look that has made Harlock the anime powerhouse that he is today. The look that anime studios are still coping.
This movie felt almost as if they were being forced to make a Space Pirate Captain Harlock movie. They had to use the title, and kind of make it look the same, but they really wanted to make movie about this new young Yama character. Then they used Harlock’s name and brand to sell it. Like I said, they did try and fix it all with the ending, but by then it was too late. This review may have sounded like I hated this movie, and that is not the case. It is kind of a cool flick. I am just disappointed because I wanted to see a Space Pirate Captain Harlock movie.
Marvel Casting News!
I said once Marvel had some news I would talk about it, so here we go! It is official Benedict Cumberbatch is Doctor Strange. I really like Cumberbatch, but I have a hard time envisioning him as the Master Magician. Still Marvel has been on such a role lately it is hard for me to question them too much. We will get to see him suit up in two Thanksgivings, or November 2016 for those outside of the good ‘ol USA. Now to TV news!
Marvel and Netflix have found their Jessica Jones the superhero set’s private eye! She will be played by Krysten Ritter. You may remember her from Don’t Trust The B In Apartment 23, or maybe not since it was canceled. Still, she is talented and funny, so she seems like a good choice. Next up:
Mike Colter from the new Halo show is rumored to be the new Luke Cage for Marvel and Netflix’s 3rd show after Daredevil and Jessica Jones. I don’t know if they could have picked anyone more perfect for the role. Even if this one is just a rumor it needs to come true because he looks exactly like I picture Luke Cage in my mind.
If feels good to be talking about Marvel. I hope this Marvel news train keeps on rolling. We are still waiting on that Ant-Man trailer!
Terminator Genisys Looks Good … ?!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62E4FJTwSuc
I was fully prepared to hate this movie without watching it, but I have to admit that they made a fine trailer. Ugg. Well I hope the movie delivers (I still don’t think it will). I wonder what major trailers for next year will pop-up next? Ant-Man I would guess, but we will see shortly.
Shmee Enjoys Atari: Game Over!
If you have ever taken any interest in video games at all, you have probably heard of the infamous E.T video game. It was said to be so bad that it caused the collapse of the video game industry in the early 80’s, and that Atari had no options but to dump all of the unsold copies of the game in a landfill in New Mexico. Microsoft and Writer/Director Zak Penn decided to look in to this modern myth with the documentary titled Atari: Game Over.
This could have been a boring movie about watching big equipment digging holes in the ground looking for black square pieces of plastic, but instead Zak Penn made a smart and loving look at the early game industry, and really the first major Silicon Valley startup Atari. These programmers and engineers were rock stars, and they made a billion dollar business in a matter of a few short years. Then it all came crashing down, and a game about a friendly alien made in five weeks to make it in time for Christmas holiday shopping season took the brunt of the blame.
Now if you have ever played an Atari 2600, you would know that there were more bad games than just E.T, and that if you have actually played E.T., you would know that it is not really that terrible. Sure it isn’t great, but some of those old 2600 games are pretty much unplayable, and E.T.’s creator Howard Scott Warshaw made some of the best Atari games ever, but it is E.T. that is always on the top of the “Worst Games Of All Time Lists”. Why? Because its release date coincides with the destruction of an early tech giant.
What I really liked about this movie is that was made by people who really love video games, and who really wanted to know what was in that New Mexico landfill. It is a fun journey, and a great way to see modern archaeology at work. They made digging up a landfill feel like Indiana Jones. If you love video games, urban myths, or maybe just miss the 80’s, Atari: Game Over is well worth your time. It is free if you have an Xbox 360, Xbox One, or an Xbox Video Account.