Posts

Posted on

Xbox One Has A Big Opportunity This Fall!

halo-5

We know the date of Halo 5: October 27 2015.  It is shocking to think that the Xbox One will have gone two years without its own Halo game, but Microsoft is finally giving Xbox fans what they want.  What is also surprising is that all of Sony’s big exclusives have been delayed until next year.  The big exception to that is Bloodborne which I hear is amazing, but it is super hardcore and it will only appeal to a certain crowd.  Halo’s appeal on the other hand is near universal.  It is no secret that Sony has been kicking Microsoft’s butt in the console battle (never release a console with less power for $100 more), but if Halo 5 gets to come out by itself Microsoft may take back some ground.  The PS3 proved that you are never out of the console war.

Microsoft will not be able to fumble this release like they did with Halo: The Master Chief Collection.  Halo 5 will have be near perfect, and something tells me Microsoft knows this.  With the super early multiplayer betas, and kicking off the advertising in March.  Microsoft is playing hardball with this one.  The two new trailers have gotten me intrigued, so I may actually have to watch Halo: Nightfall, and see for myself how Locke’s story plays out.  I have been putting it off until I completed Halo 4 (I know I am way behind), but I am almost there.  Here are the two trailers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHQiYPiNVEE&list=PL0il2l-B_WwZ9sXU3L69ZJ_1ycnbNVKYC&index=0

And just so you don’t think the Chief is going down without a fight, here is his version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rd8FWUCCZk

I am guessing they are both wrong, and that Locke and the Chief are working together, but we will see October 27th!

Posted on

Will Ferrell Sings The Star Trek Theme!

I know my blog has been YouTube heavy this week, but times are slow in the Shmee media consumption department.  Still Will Ferrell singing the Star Trek theme is pretty great, and it really does need to be on my blog.  This is no doubt the best thing to that has happened because of the Get Hard movie.

Posted on

The X-Files? Really?

xfiles

People are all a buzz about the X-Files coming back, but I have almost no interest in this whatsoever.  To be fair I was never a big fan of the original show.  It had all sorts of things that I loved, aliens, ghosts, and tons of other sci-fi/horror whatsits.  The problem was that the show could never really elevate itself above its police procedural genre trappings.  In other words it was boring.  Now I know the show has a lot of fans, and they are supper excited, but it is not like the X-Files has not been given second chances.  It has.  There have been two X-Files movies, and while the first one was okay, the second one was terrible.  I am not sure that there are more X-Files stories to tell.

I hear the plan is to do one long serialized story a year with different actors each year, ala HBO’s True Detective, but that sounds even worse.  If the X-Files can’t keep a ninety minute movie interesting, how are they going to fill two hundred and sixty-four minutes (six times forty-four).  Not to mention, will it be the X-Files without Scully and Mulder?  Plus instead of purely being the X-Files, they are now just copying another show (I am pretty sure there is a Simpsons episode about this).  I guess if season one is a success we will find out, but I am not sold.

I know Fox is desperate to try and get some hit shows to bring their advertising revenues up, and the revival of 24 worked, but bringing out and dusting off the X-Files seems like a setup for failure.  I hope for the fans’ sake they got a couple of more good files left in the cabinet.  You guys will have to let me know how it turns out because I have a lot of other good TV to watch.

Posted on

The Paladin, The Fall

the-fall-tv-show

Mrs. The Paladin and I just finished watching The Fall on Netflix. Weighing in at only 11 episodes (5 episode in Series 1 and 6 episodes in Series 2), The Fall follows the Northern Ireland Police as they investigate a series of murders perpetrated by a serial killer. The Fall’s unique take on the police procedural is that we know who the killer is and even follow him for large chunks of time. This gives the show a much more psychological thriller vibe as you are watching the game of cat and mouse between the killer Paul Spector (Jamie Dornan) and Detective Superintendent Stella Gibson (a very NOT Agent Scully, Gillian Anderson).

The Fall is pretty adult, dealing with adult themes, and can be very uncomfortable at times; especially when it juxtaposes Paul Spector’s life as a husband and father with his life as a killer. It can be difficult to watch the man you just saw sneak into a woman’s house in the scene before kiss his daughter goodnight in the next scene. Another facet of the show is how Paul is an interesting foil to Gillian Anderson’s Stella Gibson because the two are similar in some ways – they are both highly intelligent, bristle at authority (in Gibson’s case it is patriarchy), and are driven by strong sexual urges. Of course in Gibson’s case she upholds the law while Spector shirks the law.

Series 3 was just announced this month and should be out by the end of the year, which helps with the ending of Series 2 which doesn’t end with a cliffhanger per-say, but left room for the story to continue. Neither Mrs. The Paladin and I were very satisfied with the ending however. The whole time you’re thinking Spector’s got one final trick up his sleeve… and yet it just don’t happen.

If you are looking for a dark, patient, psychological thriller than I suggest giving The Fall a try, although you might want to wait until Series 3 comes out to give you a better ending.

Posted on

Batman: Arkham Knight Looks Incredible!

I was disappointed to hear that Batman: Arkham Knight was delayed again, but after watching this trailer I don’t feel so bad.  It is not often that you get a game of the year contender coming out in the summer, but it looks like Warner Brothers and Rocksteady are going to give us something to play on those long warm summer nights.  Good job ladies and gents.  This looks special.