Posted by
Unknown
- Wednesday, August 6, 2014
Watching movies is a favorite past time of mine, go figure. I've seen tens of thousands, own around 1,500 DVDs, 250+ Blu-ray discs and also subscribe to Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime, and Netflix. So suffice it to say I have access to a ton of media. Out of all these, which film is my most watched and why? It's This is Spinal Tap, the most watchable film ever. I've seen it at least 75 times.
Why does it have so much replayability? Part of it is the length; it clocks in around 82 minutes. Another part of it is the music. Think about how many times you've listened to your favorite song compared to how many times you have seen your favorite film. If you are like me, the gap is extreme. Songs are way shorter, get better when you don't listen to them for a while, and are hopefully invigorating while you listen.
Spinal Tap is no different. The humor the songs invoke also adds to the replay value, and, in fact, the whole damn movie is hilarious. I would say most of my most-watched films all have humorous elements involved. With This Is Spinal Tap, there are funny bits galore. This is similar to A Christmas Story, another film that never gets old. There are so many great little scenes (and with Christmas Story, subplots) that ring true on a comedic level, it's fun to relive them over and over; there are also great quotes:
- The Stonehenge scene. "These go to eleven."
- Nigel's freak out with the food backstage. "None more black."
- The band getting lost on the way to the stage (and this has happened to many real life bands). "... from Spinal Tap, currently residing in the 'Where are they now?' file... (and this happens on a local radio station where they are in town laying a gig that very night!).
- Their drummer always meeting a violent end.
- Derek Smalls getting trapped in the egg shell thing.
- "This is called Lick my Love Pump."
- No one showing up for their album signing.
- The aluminum foil covered cucumber.
It goes on and on, and like A Christmas Story, many of these scenes and their subtleties reward a viewer when watching multiple times.
Another thing that makes it so great is the fact so many real-life bands were stunned the first time they watched the film. George Lynch, a member of rock band Dokken, is said to have exclaimed, "That's us! How did they make a movie about us?" Steven Tyler of Aerosmith is said to have found nothing funny about it because it hit so close to home for the legendary rocker.
For me, it's funny of course, but it also has a great, heartfelt story underneath it all, one about friendship and a love for music and the hardships of creativity. Nigel and David's relationship is so fantastic and really tugs at the heart strings. They started the band together, have been best mates for decades, and knew each other too well. When Nigel storms off the stage, smashing his guitar in frustration, you understand the reasons why, but it's painful to see them split up.
When they meet once again backstage before their final show of the tour, after the remaining band members have decided to call it quits, the look in David's eyes when he looks at Nigel is so powerful. Michael McKean does an amazing job of acting with this eyes, and what you see there—hurt from Nigel's betrayal, despair because of the state of the band, and perhaps guilt over his girlfriend's antics that caused the rift in the first place—is so powerful it cannot be ignored.
This is Spinal Tap is my 11th favorite film and it will always be my 11th favorite film. I also own all their real albums and listen to them. Am I obsessed? Are their other Tap heads out there? Sound off below.
Posted by
Kym Pressley
- Tuesday, August 5, 2014
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| Zelda, Link, and Lana - Image from Zelda.com/HyruleWarriors |
Late last night, there was a Nintendo Direct for Hyrule Warriors—the upcoming Zelda and Dynasty Warriors mash-up. I was pretty pleased with the information revealed. The presentation was short, a very fast 26 minutes, but full of goodness. There were character reveals, features unveiled, play modes explained, and more. So let's jump in.
The presentation started with Yosuke Hayashi, producer at Team Ninja, explaining battle progression. When you start a stage, you will have objectives and a victory condition. Just like in Dynasty Warriors, completing objectives will give you favor in battle—for example, defeating a keep guard will create a new spawn point for allies to appear. Your victory condition, on the other hand, is a task that must be fulfilled to complete the stage. As you move across the map to complete your objectives, you will be beating down hordes of enemies using signature moves of each character. In doing so, objectives and victory conditions can change.
True to form in Zelda games, you will come across chests on the map where you can possibly find
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| King Dodongo - Image from Zelda.Wikia.com |
usable items. In the demo, Link finds the bombs. These bombs can not only be used to blow away enemies, but they can also be used to clear away obstacles such as boulders. These items also play a pivotal part in boss fights. In the onscreen demo, Link faces off against a fire breathing dino named King Dodongo. Using normal attacks versus bosses yields little damage, however, by tossing the bomb into the enemy's mouth, Link was able to perform a cinematic attack which yield significant damage. The same happens with he fights a ghoma (giant eye with legs) boss, and he shoots it in the eye with the bow and arrow to create an opening. Other items revealed during the presentation were: the bow and arrow, hook shot, and boomerang.
The screen then swaps to Eiji Aonuma, group manager for Nintendo EAD. In this segment he speaks of the cuccoo (chicken) and how when you smack it enough times in past games, it would get pissed off and you'd get ambushed by it and its friends. Same concept exists in Hyrule Warriors. From the video, it seems they can randomly be there amongst enemies, so you'd have to be careful when you attack or bait your enemies and have the cuccoos do your bidding.
Yosuke Hayashi comes back for some character confirmations and reveals. It's a no brainer that Link would be there with his one handed sword and shield. As usual, he has some nice combos, decent speed, and defense—a well rounded character. Then, we have Zelda whose actually going to cast away that damsel in distress act and slice up some enemies with her rapier. She can also shoot her arrows of light.
Other recent character reveals were shown as well. Impa, the Sheikah advisor to Zelda, joins the fray with a giant sword with wide sweeping attacks. This rendition of her has samurai influence in both design and mannerisms. Sheik, the quick and mysterious, plays a dirge for her opponents with her harp before she takes them out with her deadly marital arts. Midna, the twilight princess, whips her hair back and forth to dominate the battlefield. Agatha, self-proclaimed princess of the insect kingdom, calls upon the power of her critter friends to creep out foes. Darunia, patriarch of the Goron, bashes through enemies with his giant hammer.
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| Impa - Image from Zelda.com/HyruleWarriors |
Fi, the Goddess Blade, dances over the corpses of her enemies and transforms into a sword to all those who stand in her way. Ruto, Princess of the Zora, uses the power of water keep foes at bay. Unique to Hyrule Warriors, Lana, the white sorceress, uses her book of sorcery to construct objects made of light to crush her enemies or to use as explosives.
.png "Legend of Zelda Fi") |
| Fi - Image from Zelda.Wikia.com |
In addition to these heroes, it was revealed that some enemies would be playable as well. Demon Lord Ghirahim with his demon blade was confirmed to be playable. Alongside him, players will be able to control Zant to brutally swing his scimitars and summon horrific things.
.png "Ghirahim from Zelda") |
| Ghirahim - Image from Zelda.Wikia.com |
After these awesome character reveals, it was explained that characters will be able to gain new weapons which will significantly change their play style. We've already seen videos of Link and the magic rod and gauntlet, Zelda and wind breaker and Impa with the Naginata. But, also revealed was a spear with the power of the Deku Tree (video below) and a summoning gate for Lana. I'm not certain if it's an exclusive weapon or a usable item but, there was a clip of Link flailing Chainchomp around in battle too!
The video enters the final stretch by talking about some pretty nice features. Combat-wise, there's level progression. Each character begins with certain stats. By attacking enemies you level up and gain access to slots that can be filled with badges. Badges can be crafted by picking up materials dropped by defeated enemies. These badges can increase stats, increase potion usage and even add attacks to combo strings. Speaking of stats and crafting, similar to other Koei warriors games, weapons can come with stat boosts or abilities and can be combined to strengthen them. Hyrule Warriors will also have an adventure mode. It starts out looking like one of the 2D games on a grid assembled map. Each cell is an area and has its own victory conditions. Once a cell is selected, you will be brought into the 3D game to battle and win the cell. This will unlock adjacent cells and has the chance to get you prizes. In this mode, you can unlock characters and some weapons can only be gained here. Another cool feature is that like Ocarina of Time, there will be skulltulas (spiders with a skill on their abdomen). Collecting these also yields unlocks. In the demo, an illustration piece was unlocked. Finally, we were told about the local two-player coop. The WiiU hardware will be utilized so that screen splitting will not be necessary. Though resolution drops slightly to accommodate the strain, first player will use the game pad to view the screen while the second player will use the television. As the presentation was seeming coming to an end, there was one last surprise—a character reveal! None other than the Great King of Evil rides in on a horse with a glorious mane. By mane, I'm not talking about the horse. Ganondorf's new design sports a long Dragon Ball Z Super Saiyan 3 looking hairstyle wielding not one but two great swords and his signature evil magic.
Following the character reveal were pre-order bonus reveals which are costume packs from Ocarina of Time, Twilight Princess, and Skyward Sword. Those who register the game with Nintendo club also get a Demon King costume for Ganondorf.
I was hype for this game before this Nintendo Direct but now this game is a must have. Were you going to get the game before the direct? Have these new reveals made you want the game more? Let me know in the comments below.
Posted by
Unknown
- Monday, August 4, 2014
Yeah, I'm being really nerdy with this one, but geeks are entitled to geek out whenever we want. My wife puts up with it, so it's all good. I'm a big comic book fan (surprise) and ever since watching The Avengers, I've been fascinated with their individual powers and who is the strongest among them. Perhaps this is because I'm a sports fan and it's fun to rank various teams during the season in "power rankings" or something, I don't know.
While this subject is certainly a matter of opinion and rife with a slew of factors, I want to simplify things and make this an imaginary straight up, one-on-one fight between the individual members of the Avengers. First, this will be only the six main characters from the films, in particular Marvel's The Avengers, and only in their strongest forms. So, Tony Stark only in his suit and no Bruce Banner. Plus, it's only their physical power I am imagining, not their overall ability to cause mayhem/destruction, so Tony Stark's intellect and money have no play here.
In my mind, there is no question that the Hulk is the strongest and Thor is second place. Hulk is arguably the most powerful comic book character in history, counting both Marvel and DC. There is an ongoing argument about who wins between Hulk and Superman and, as a Marvel guy, you know whom I'd choose. It's almost not fair; Hulk never weakens, only gets stronger as he gets mad. What's great about this team is that Thor is no slacker either. He's almost a god, as Black Widow described him to Captain America, and represents a nice segue from the ultra powerful Hulk down to the "regular" humans.
Chris Helmworth's Thor gave as good as he got in the film fighting Hulk toe-to-toe. However, I think there's little doubt what would happen if Hulk went full out against the God of Thunder. You could say Thor and his adopted brother Loki are about equal in strength and Hulk beat Loki like a red headed step-child. Man, that scene was hilarious! "Puny god." The first time I saw the movie in the theater I didn't even hear the line, because people were laughing so loud I didn't catch it.
Then who would be third? Here's where it gets tricky and I can definitely understand opposing views. I say it's Captain America trumping Iron Man. Like Hulk and Thor, Captain America is a meta-human, he's physically beyond a normal person. Sure, Iron Man has firepower and all his technology with the suit, but underneath he's only a man. Stark is a brilliant, innovative, very skilled man but, in the end, Cap's next level strength and agility and toughness would win out. We saw some of this in the scene in the woods with the trio fighting; Thor, Iron Man, and Captain America. It seems to be pretty even, but there are too many things that could go wrong for Iron Man in a straight up fight. His suit could malfunction, run out of energy, etc. Captain America's entire body is a weapon and his next level endurance and battle strategies would top Iron Man, who might rely too much on the suit's strengths.
That leaves Black Widow and Hawkeye, another tough one to decide. They are "just humans" but incredibly skilled ones. In the film, they show Black Widow taking out the brainwashed Hawk with her fists and feet. One could conclude she wins this battle on that evidence alone, but that is a little unfair. First, that outcome could be based more needed story point than a straight fight between them as Whedon simply needed him to come back to the team and she was the one to do it. Secondly, because Hawkeye's skills lie in long range attacks, Black Widow has an obvious advantage here. If they started out far away, he could shoot her down, right? Still, I gotta give her the nod here. Most fights wind up in close quarters for this kind of thing (comic books) and also on the ground. She's got mad skills and would take him down.
So here is my final ranking:
Hulk
Thor
Captain America
Iron Man
Black Widow
Hawkeye
Am I wrong somewhere? Where would you place them all? Should Samuel Jackson's Nick Fury be on the list or even Agent Coulson? Sound off below.
Posted by
Unknown
- Sunday, August 3, 2014
It's time to kick ass and chew bubble gum.... and I'm all outta gum.
John Carpenter is one of the greatest directors of all time. Yet many people either don't know who he is or fail to recognize his genius. It's too bad because the guy deserves much more praise for his skills as both a storyteller and filmmaker. The fact that so many of his films have bombed at the box office is perplexing and the fact they have enjoyed success as "cult" films, ones that find their fandom outside of the mainstream, is heartening. Once people discover something like They Live, they get it; they understand how amazing Carpenter is.
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| Got any bubble gum? |
Since I mentioned it already, let's begin with They Live, a little sci-fi conspiracy thriller starring the great "Rowdy" Roddy Piper of pro wrestling fame. I love this movie! The great things you can expect with a Carpenter film are the great music, the straight forward storytelling, and the absolute disregard for his character's well-being. Based on a short story about the pratfalls of greed, brainwashing techniques, and the paranoia surrounding a possible alien invasion, They Live is a very deep film. Themes include subliminal messages, resistance against the status quo, and the influence of the mass media. I suppose these heavy themes are part of why it failed to produce much revenue upon release. Among the more glitzy action films of the 80's, this gem failed to make an impression. This is crazy, because it features one of the best fight scenes in movie history between Piper and Keith David.
Another under-the-radar, mega-awesome film of Carpenter's is The Thing. It has grown to almost legendary status now, but at theaters it fizzled and faded fast. It's dark and depressing, so I get why movie goers maybe didn't go for it. Plus, it had to compete with the likes of E. T. the Extra-Terrestrial and that's impossible. It was criticized for being technically brilliant, but excessively gory. That wouldn't happen today; it looks tame compared to most horror films of the 21st Century. The Thing is a masterpiece of terror and story construction. The alien creature is one of the most frightening creatures ever put on film. This is one of the best sci-fi horror films ever made.
Kurt Russell, versatile actor as he is, would go on to do four other films with John Carpenter, including one of top ten favorite films ever, Big Trouble in Little China. This is another cult classic and one of the wildest, craziest thrill rides of all action movies. It combines elements of kung-fu and comedy in equal measure. I think this may be why it failed to take off at the box office. It was just so hard to market something like this. What is it? An action comedy? A kung fu film? Science fiction, horror, fantasy, what? It's all of that and more. This is both why it's so great and why it failed, at least initially, to connect with audiences.
Big Trouble in Little China is my second most watched film behind This is Spinal Tap; I've seen it at least 40-50 times and it never gets old. It's funny, exciting, thrilling, a tad scary, and just so super cool. I could watch it every week and still enjoy it. In fact, I used to watch it every Friday night years ago. It was like a nice treat for the weekend. Something to look forward to. I did that for months at a time. Jack Burton, Russell's character, is like an old buddy of mine, he almost feels like family. Man, I need to get a life! But you know what ol' Jack Burton always says at a time like this... have you paid your dues? Yeah, I paid my dues, the check is in the mail. Big Trouble is also a gorgeous looking film with a great score.
Carpenter also does his own music in his films and even sings at times! What other director can say that? Is anyone else a huge fan? What other films of his are cult classics or deserve to be? Sound off below.
Posted by
Unknown
- Saturday, August 2, 2014
I don't mind aging myself here a bit, because this is a topic of deep love. The role playing games (RPGs) of the mid '90s and those in particular that enjoyed success on the first PlayStation (PS1) platform were some of the best games ever made. Final Fantasy VII (FF7) made the PS1 what it was to become, the breakout gaming platform of the century. Everything changed after that game came out. It had innovative graphics requiring a ridiculous three discs of space because the amount of information was so huge, and it was a giant story that could take an average player up to 100 hours to finish. Even if you rushed through it, you couldn't expect to get done before at least 50 hours went by, it was that deep. It's such a great journey, however, that it is worth the effort, no matter how long it takes.
FF7 was a massive hit critically and financially. That was the RPG to own for PS1 owners and probably pushed more units of the console than anything else except maybe Resident Evil. Where to start with this gloriously addictive, sprawling, massively epic game? There were tons of great characters, a level of interactivity, and such gameplay mechanics that it's hard to really narrow it down to what made it so great. I think it was the combination of storytelling, deeply drawn characters, and the large scale that made it so incredible. FF7 had Cloud Strife leading a small band of freedom fighters against the powers that be, and it really felt like you were there with him all along. FF7 was a watershed moment and the greatest video game RPG of all time.
Another that comes to mind is Breath of Fire 3 (BoF3), where you take the role of a tiny dragon boy named Ryu and fulfill your destiny as hero of the world. What I loved about this game was the immaturity of the characters (they are all kids, basically) and the ability to customize both your characters through mentors and the different dragon gems you could find, giving you a plethora of different dragons to fight with in battles. This was a really fun game that allowed players to explore the world and had tons of fun side quests/games as well; I particularly loved the fishing game. BoF3 was well rounded, had a great story with some neat twists, and and had strong replay value as well.
One that I recently dusted off and started playing again is Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete. It's actually an updated version of an older Sega CD game. The graphics are dated, for sure, especially during the battle scenes, but it's got a great story, a fully fleshed out world to explore, and some of the greatest anime cut scenes ever produced for video games. It's worth it for this reason alone. The main quest, where you play Alex, the soon-to-be Dragon Master, is pretty much fantasy cliché, but it works well enough. The fun is in the journey.
Lunar has some great voice acting as well to go along with the cool cut scenes and some nice music. Admittedly, the music is a bit quirky and silly at times, but that's anime, isn't it? It's all so much fun you don't mind it. Some of the innovations with this game included the ability to run past enemy critters instead of getting slammed randomly while crawling through a dungeon. Remember that? You're just scrolling along through a evil forest or something and bang! You get hit by the bad guys. It's not so bad when you are leveling up, but when you have to get across the room to the next section, it's annoying. Lunar also had a sequel called Lunar: Eternal Blue that took place 1,000 years after the events of the first game. If you liked the first, you'll like this one.
So what are some of your favorites of this game type from this era? What do you consider an all time best RPG? Sound off below.
Posted by
The Dace Man
- Friday, August 1, 2014
What's up, Fanboys and Fangirls? Chris "The Dace Man" Dace here to bring you some news coming out of Hollywood.
Lionsgate is looking to most likely take a huge hit to the wallet on when their latest installment of The Expendables hits theaters August 15th. On July 24th a leaked copy of The Expendables 3 hit the Internet and reportedly has had a million views already. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Lionsgate moved forward by filing a lawsuit on July 31st against "John Does 1-10."
Expendables 3 sees the return of action stars such as Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, and Terry Crews. The original team will be joined by Harrison Ford, Mel Gibson, and Wesley Snipes, among others, in the latest installment! Below is the final trailer for the film.
As always, check back regularly to see what Chris "The Dace Man" Dace is looking at (and no, not just porn), as well as all of the other bloggers here at Fanboys Anonymous. Remember, keyboard warriors: leave your feedback! Until the next time, for the few, the proud, and, of course, the Dacetacular, grab a beer—and in this case a good lawyer—and check out what's going on here in the Dace-Sphere. See ya next time!
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Why does it have so much replayability? Part of it is the length; it clocks in around 82 minutes. Another part of it is the music. Think about how many times you've listened to your favorite song compared to how many times you have seen your favorite film. If you are like me, the gap is extreme. Songs are way shorter, get better when you don't listen to them for a while, and are hopefully invigorating while you listen.
For me, it's funny of course, but it also has a great, heartfelt story underneath it all, one about friendship and a love for music and the hardships of creativity. Nigel and David's relationship is so fantastic and really tugs at the heart strings. They started the band together, have been best mates for decades, and knew each other too well. When Nigel storms off the stage, smashing his guitar in frustration, you understand the reasons why, but it's painful to see them split up.
.png "Legend of Zelda Fi")
.png "Ghirahim from Zelda")
