Originally Published: November 29, 2010, on ClassicGameRoom.com
As a part of CGR Undertow, I reviewed Scarface: The World is Yours for the Nintendo Wii from Vivendi Universal.
Tag Archive: movies
Originally Published: November 20, 2010, on ClassicGameRoom.com
As a part of CGR Undertow, I reviewed the Limited Edition Goldeneye 007 Wii Classic Controller.
Originally Published: November 19, 2010, on ClassicGameRoom.com
As a part of CGR Undertow, I reviewed the latest original video game chapter of James Bond. This time, we looked at Blood Stone, starring Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, and Joss Stone.
Originally Published: June 28, 2010, on ESPNNewYork.com, PlayerAffinity.com, Original-Gamer.com, Lundberg.me, and Examiner.com.
I had a chance on the second day of E3 to speak with Joseph Olin, the President of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, an organization whose primary purpose is to promote computer and video game entertainment.
Joseph and I talked about everything from the current and possible future states of the gaming industry to the influence sports and casual gaming has nowadays on gaming.
Check out my interview with Joseph Olin, the President of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences below!
Originally Published: May 7, 2010, on PlayerAffinity.com, ESPNNewYork.com, Lundberg.me, and Examiner.com
One of my staples here is that when there are huge summer blockbusters, especially ones based off comics, which have corresponding video games, that I do a double review. So, in keeping with that pattern, I present to you Iron Man 2. We’ll start by taking a look at the movie.
Taking place six months after the end of the first movie, we find the world loving Iron Man. It seems that Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is on top of the world and no one, not Congress, not the US Armed Forces, and not rivals like Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) can take him down. Unfortunately, the thing that has helped Tony rise to the glorified status he has reached, is also killing him. The miniature arc reactor in Tony’s chest is slowly poisoning him and the more he uses his Iron Man suit, the faster the poison spreads throughout his body.
Meanwhile, a physicist named Ivan Drako (Mickey Rourke) is plotting his family’s revenge from the confines of a shack in Siberia. Drako blames Stark for his family’s poverty and will stop at nothing to hasten the process of Stark’s death. Using blueprints that Ivan’s father helped Tony’s father develop and researching Tony’s own work on the arc reactor, Ivan makes his own miniature arc reactor. Instead of creating an entire suit of armor though, Ivan designs a simple harness that can be hidden beneath his clothes and two energy conducting whips that can uncoil at a moment’s notice from the harness.
As Tony privately counts down his last days and races for a cure to the poison in his chest, he must also contend with rivals and enemies he doesn’t even know he has yet. It looks like Tony will be forced to call for a little help from his friends.
Iron Man 2 is a great new chapter in the canon that Marvel is creating with their motion pictures, but is not as good as the original Iron Man. Robert Downey Jr. is Tony Stark. There is no acting involved, he just is. The way he delivers his lines is brilliant and I can’t think of a better actor to personify a character. The humor delivered by Downey and several of the other characters like Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) though is a little dry and predictable at times.
A major problem I had with the movie was the development of Whiplash/Ivan Drako and how they took two villains from the comic book canon and combined them poorly into one. Whiplash was nothing but a common thug in the comics and the Russian with a vendetta who stole Stark’s technology was the Crimson Dynamo. I appreciate that Marvel was trying to modernize the character since the whole “Communist Russia” that inspired the Crimson Dynamo is gone, but they could have kept the character and only changed his history some. Plus, the huge red armor would have probably looked cool.
Continuing with my problems with the character development, let’s look at War Machine. Don Cheadle was a great choice to replace Terrance Howard and he pulled off the Yin to Robert Downey Jr’s Yang perfectly, even if I would have liked to see a little more interaction between the two. My problem was how War Machine came about. Justin Hammer took stolen armor and modified it? That’s so far off course from the comics I can’t even start to dissect where they got that idea from, but I hated it. And why in a movie full of AC/DC music, was the song “War Machine” off the Black Ice album not used?
Speaking of great casting, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow/Natalia Romonova. Wow. I loved watching Scarlett in a skin-tight black cat suit doing flips and kicking butt. Only thing I had a problem with, as a diehard fan of the comics, is that they didn’t go much into her background and they never once referred to her as Black Widow, but it was understandable because she was more of a minor character in this movie.
A minor gripe I have is the fact that the scene from the commercials where Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) kisses Tony’s helmet and chucks it out the back of the airplane has been cut. Is this just something to save for the DVD or was there a legitimate reason that you purposely cut a scene you were using in your major TV ads?
My final complaint is that the last fight scene was anti-climatic compared to the 20-minute slugfest from the first film. Although fun and entertaining, the best fight scenes came in the middle of the movie with the suitcase suit (which was awesome) and made the end scene look like they were tying up loose ends.
On the positive side, it was nice to see that all these extra characters that were introduced were not forced into the series, but were eased in. The casting was spectacular for all these characters, as well, from Garry Shandling as the primary US Congressman against Tony to Scarlett as Black Widow. Also, the special effects were top of the line as expected. I always “geek-out” whenever I see Tony use those three dimensional computer models with JARVIS, his suit A.I. and butler.
All in all, minor complaints aside, Iron Man 2 is a fun, fast-paced action/adventure/comedy that does its predecessor justice, but does not surpass it. Well done by Marvel overall and I would strongly recommend that any fan of the first movie check out Iron Man 2.
Iron Man 2 gets 7.5 out of 10.
I really thought that Iron Man 2 was a solid movie, so I was hopeful that the game wouldn’t be a total screw up.
What I’ve noticed from many recent games based on movies is that they try to extend the story portrayed in the movie, either as events leading up to the movie, or events immediately following the movie. Two recent examples of this that come to mind were Terminator: Salvation and GI Joe. Iron Man 2’s video game, a third-person shooter/action/adventure title developed by Sega, falls into the “after the movie” concept.
The game opens up with Tony’s archives building being attacked by robot drones. Immediately Tony and Rhodey scramble to the scene and try to quell the chaos with repulsor beams and mini-guns blazin’. For the most part they are successful, but after checking all his files, Tony finds that part of his original program for JARVIS, his electronic butler and suit A.I. program, has been stolen. Knowing what could happen if that A.I. fell into the wrong hands, Tony and Rhodey start following a trail of breadcrumbs to find the culprits.
A simple comic book plot that ties well into the canon that the movies seem to be developing, the villains in the game are new adaptations of classic Avengers/Iron Man villains. Advanced Idea Mechanics (A.I.M.), Roxxon, Crimson Dynamo, and Ultimo all make appearances in a much deeper plot than is initially revealed in the opening level of the game and is done in a way that makes sense for this new movie universe, but stray far away from the comics. For example, Tony Stark in this new universe now creates Ultimo, one of the most formidable of villains of the Avengers and originally created by Hank Pym. An interesting account of these classic characters, but purists will flip over this for sure.
So, the plot may be workable, but a story alone does not a great game make. This game from a technical standpoint feels rushed. The graphics look like they were something from the last generation of consoles. NPCs looked cartoony and out of place and the backgrounds were bland at best.
The audio was unimpressive also. The voice acting was solid, but the dialogue was uninspired and I was disappointed that only Don Cheadle and Samuel L. Jackson lent their voices to the game (I hereby declare my love for Scarlett Johansson). The music lent to the game from several rock bands was good, but they didn’t get any AC/DC, which is a clear theme for the movies. I think that is proof positive that this game was rushed to hit store shelves along with the movie hitting theatres.
The biggest downfall of this game though is the gameplay. This game is chock full of glitches, the controls felt unnatural (especially the flying where you’re constantly crashing into walls or obstacles), and made the game much harder than it needed to be. Mind you, the difficulty of the game was somewhat impressive, but it wasn’t because of a good enemy A.I., but because of sheer numbers and health handicaps when you up the difficulty. And even then, you only have eight missions that should take most veteran gamers only 8-10 hours to complete on hard. On easy, this game isn’t even worth a rental since there is no strategy necessary when playing (out of curiosity, I played a few levels on easy after beating the game on hard, and it was a joke, especially in terms of being able to procure a lot of the achievements). Plowing in headfirst will almost always win the day.
Another weakness of the game is the replay value. If you actually enjoy playing this game, there are new armors and power ups that you can acquire by repeating levels. Also, in four of the eight missions you can choose between playing as War Machine or Iron Man to get a different feel between War Machine’s offense heavy strategy and Iron Man’s defensive minded maneuvers. Some kind of multiplayer or co-op mode with both heroes would have gone leaps and bounds for this game and because of that there is really nothing to bring you back to this game. I don’t even think there is enough to bring you to this game once actually.
When you sit back and look at this game with a careful eye, you see the framework for a very solid third person shooter/action/adventure game. Unfortunately, it looks like Sega, either of their own volition or pressure from Marvel, rushed this game, plain and simple. Every element of this game seems incomplete, from the graphics to the gameplay mechanics. It seems that Iron Man 2 has fallen into another summer blockbuster pattern: the corresponding video game is usually nowhere near the quality of the movie.
Ratings are based on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the best.
Graphics: 5.0: The models for people and villains are solid, but a lot of scenery clearly has a poor polygon count and seems incomplete or very basic at points. A very rushed job by the folks at Sega.
Audio: 6.0: The soundtrack was solid, but a lack of AC/DC was disappointing considering how important it was for the movie. Also, the fact that only two actors from a star studded cast signed on to do the game is a joke, even when they’re actors of Samuel L. Jackson and Don Cheadle’s calibers.
Plot/Plot Development: 6.0: Not a bad story that works well with the new universe created by Marvel’s movies, but die-hards of the comics will want to throw a brick through their TVs and use the game disc for some skeet shooting.
Gameplay: 3.0: Chock full of glitches and a poor control scheme makes this game a chore to play at best. Add in an uneven difficulty system and only about 10 hours of gameplay on the hardest difficulty and you’re looking at something that should be put on the scrap heap.
Replay Value: 5.0: There are only eight missions in the game’s story and only four of those allow you to choose which of the two heroes you want to play as. There are some weapons and classic armor to collect and some very easy achievements to acquire via replaying a few levels, but beyond that there is nothing to keep you playing this game.
Overall (not an average): 3.5: A rush job all the way around, Iron Man 2 is horribly disappointing and maintains the status quo of good movies often make bad video games. Only the most hardcore of fans should even rent this. No one should buy.
Iron Man 2 is available now for PS3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, and PSP.
-Ray Carsillo
Originally Published: January 19, 2010, on 1050espn.com (Now ESPNNewYork.com), Collider.com, PlayerAffinity.com, and Lundberg.me
From Top Gun, Total Recall, Starships Troopers, Free Willy, and many more, Michael Ironside always seems to find an audience no matter what role he accepts. Now, he plays Chief Bannen, a police chief with a mobster brother and con artist son, in the new web series The Bannen Way over at Crackle.com from Sony Pictures. Seemingly being on top of the New Media game, I also spoke to him about his decision to reprise his role as Sam Fisher in the popular Splinter Cell video game series, with the 5th installment ready to land in stores in late April 2010, and also got him to divulge about his childhood love of Superman and how it helped lead him to voiceover work as one of the Man of Steel’s most nefarious enemies, Darkseid.
To listen to my interview with Michael Ironside,
CLICK HERE or read the transciption below!
Ray Carsillo: Hey there everybody, this is Ray Carsillo and I have the distinct pleasure now of talking with a man who has hundreds of screen credits over the course of his career. I mean, literally, the list is the length of my arm folks, but for all of us comic book and maybe video game geeks out there we may know him better for his countless voiceover credits including Darkseid from the Superman cartoon and of course a little guy you might not have heard of. I don’t know. Sam Fisher from Splinter Cell? Is that pretty popular? Yeah, I think so. I have the pleasure now of talking with Michael Ironsides! Michael how you doing today?
Michael Ironside: I’m doing real well. It’s a little cold and wet in Los Angeles at the moment.
RC: Well, it’s not much better here in New York. A little bit of weather parallel I guess. But right now, you’re working on a web series called The Bannen Way, it’s on Crackle.com, it’s from Sony Pictures, and the first question I have to ask you about is why do a web series? Somebody with your great list of credits, why would you decide on doing a web series like this?
MI: I don’t think the end product really kind of figures into it for it. It’s the writing and when I was introduced to this property, I just found the writing to be exceptional. It’s very witty, very cleverly written, and very solid definable characters. Jesse Warren, the writer/director and Mark Gantt, a friend of theirs sent it to me, I looked at it and went “wow” and it’s kind of rare. For every hundred scripts I get, there’s probably one that hits me like this. I met with them and they were as pleasant and as talented as their script and we did it. As far as it being a webisode, how you cook the pie, it’s still a pie. How you cut it up and deliver it is a different deal. It doesn’t really affect the way something is shot or how something is handled on set.
RC: Very cool. You’re starting to see a lot of web series really start to gain some traction online and in the media, and obviously at the forefront of the New Media surge. Do you think that’s the future? Do you think that television and radio and these other, more traditional, mediums will see this cut into their viewership, especially when producing such high quality content like The Bannen Way?
MI: I’ve been around long enough to watch this happen. I’ve been around to watch television and movies sort of fight it out and find a balance between themselves and I think it’s the nature of our times and money and you can’t just make a pilot or shoot something and if it doesn’t work throw it away. It has to have more than one life to it. For example, this project, The Bannen Way, as far as I know, it starts as a webisode, then it’ll go to a DVD or MOW, movie of the week, sort of format, and then it is also being used as a pilot as a network series. For a project to be, I think, financially responsible and fiscally responsible, it has to have more than one revenue scheme and I hope these guys do well with it.
RC: You mentioned Mark Gantt, and of course, he is not only one of the writers, but also the star playing Neal Bannan.
MI: Yeah, he plays my son.
RC: I was going to say, talk a little bit about your character. Your son’s a con artist and you’re the chief of police. How does that dynamic work and talk about the character some.
MI: Well, Mark is a mercurial guy as it is, very clever, a very likable guy. His character is a kind of flash about town con man who likes women and cars and gambling. I play his father who is kind of a stone-age chief of police and my brother, who is played by Robert Forrester, is the local mafia kingpin or crime boss. We’re the yin and yang of Mark’s life and the story is basically revolving around him owing his uncle $150,000 on a gambling debt and how he is trying to contort and run around town to get that money. And at the same time, I’m trying to get him to turn over evidence on his uncle, my brother, so I can put him away. It’s a very clever story, very enjoyable.
RC: You always seem to play these, like you said a stone-age police chief, a general, or a high position of authority. Do you sometimes get typecast into that and how hard is it to sometimes branch out away from that?
MI: Well, I don’t think it’s difficult if you’re willing to do different things at different economic levels. I mean, most people know the mainstream stuff I’ve done from like Top Gun, Total Recall, Starship Troopers, Free Willy, T4, those sort of things, but for every large film I get to do about four or five small ones that are really my choice. Like last year, I did something called The Jazzman, where I’m playing a saxophone player who is dying of cancer. It was loosely based on Mo Kaufman’s life. I get to take that opportunity based upon the fact that I can affect distribution from doing larger pictures. I’ve been around a long time. I’m never going to be the lead actor guy. I’m real quiet and real happy and real fortunate to keep working. It’s what I do. It’s like the circus. I ran away and joined it a long time ago.
RC: As long as you’re happy, that’s all that matters, right?
MI: Heh, and paying the bills. That’s what matters.
RC: I mentioned Darkseid before from the Superman cartoons and Justice League cartoons and you were also in a couple of episodes of Smallville. Are you a closet comic book geek or really big Superman fan?
MI: No. Well, growing up yeah I did. I was enamored with Superman because I thought, being Canadian and from Toronto, that the original series was based around Toronto. I remember as a kid being told that. That the Daily Planet was the Star Newspaper and the whole idea was based around that kind of small cosmopolitan city so that caught my attention. I don’t know. I just like trying things. The voice work with cartoons and stuff has worked, but I’m not interested in doing that stuff at all for commercials and stuff, but it is kind of fun to get in a room with a bunch of other actors and have the freedom of not being watched so you can sort of take risks with a character like Darkseid or the Sam Fisher character in those Splinter Cell things. It’s fun to work. It really is. It’s not all just hit your mark, take your money, and go home. It’s fun. It’s creative. It’s challenging. You get to meet great people.
RC: That’s great. Not a lot of people out there get to really love what they do and you really seem to enjoy it. That’s a great thing in life.
MI: My dad referred to it that I ran away at a very early age and joined the circus and I think it is quite apt. It’s a great way to live. You get to move from family unit to family unit, from set to set, from project to project where you’re thrust into a very intimate, very honest relationship with people and you have to either tell the truth and step up or it can be a really horrific situation if you try and manipulate it every time and over 40 years I’ve met a lot of great people.
RC: Is it hard then, you describe it as a family unit, when the project wraps up and you have to kind of move onto the next project? Is it a sad moment there?
MI: Yeah, absolutely, but I would like refer to it as postpartum. I’ve gotten to the point over the years that I actually get it before the film is over and I start getting a little bit of melancholy over the last few days of a project when I look at people. But, you get to see those people again, just not in that family unit or configuration, but man it is a great way to live.
RC: We mentioned Sam Fisher earlier and it is one of the most successful and beloved shooters of all time and you really breath a unique life into that character. Did you ever get into games? Are you a gamer? Do you have an Xbox 360 or PS3? Ever pick up the controller after the game is finished?
MI: Yeah my daughters are into that and the gaming, but I’m not a gamer. I don’t physically translate to that way of doing things. I’d rather get out there and do it myself. I don’t mean kill somebody though, haha.
RC: Yeah strap on the night vision goggles and go crawl in the shadows, haha.
MI: No, it’s like people go online golf, not to take a shot at the game, I just would rather be out there doing it. But no, Splinter Cell was interesting because I actually passed after the fourth game. I didn’t think we could take it any farther and wasn’t really interested in doing such and they came back at me with a fresh look at the character and a new way of doing things and the new artwork and we just finished the fifth one. It’ll be out I believe in about two months.
RC: Yes, actually Ubisoft just announced that it got pushed from a late February release to a late April release.
MI: And ya know, I think that is to their credit. They were actually going to, there were parts of the company anyway, that were going to try to force the game out for Christmas and they opted for the quality rather than quantity and I think that speaks for Ubisoft to give up a huge payday or a rushed payday on an old title like that and force it through on Christmas. And I’m not kissing their a** here. It’s just rare that you find something in a corporate level that makes organically sound decisions and they did that. And they pushed it again to make sure they get it right. Yeah I was supposed to go out and do the release and stuff like that, but I just got the call the other day saying they’re going to push it back another month and a half, which is cool. Get it right!
RC: Definitely, as a gamer, we would rather you take the extra month and a half and get it right, especially for such a beloved series.
MI: Yeah and there is a lot of money involved here. People put a lot of money on these games. I remember I was on a plane somewhere and somebody stepped up and said “Sam Fisher?!” I had ordered some bloody drink or something and I then started talking to them and they were talking about how it keeps them as a family unit these online games, where they sit and play with family members from different places in the world and stuff like that or have conversations with different people in different places around the world and I never thought that a game, an internet game, would be the kind of meeting place where people could exchange ideas and real truths about each other and stuff like that. It’s kind of a strange world when you can trust a game format or platform more than the network news.
RC: Yeah, it’s insane how far games have come in the past couple of decades. Would you say Sam Fisher is the character you’re most recognized for or most approached about?
MI: Not really. I think it goes generationally. I’ve been around a long time. If someone walks up and says “Jester’s dead” then I know it’s from Top Gun, and they’re probably in their 30s-40s. If they walk up and say something like “I hate that whale!” then they’re probably in their late 20s, that of course from Free Willy. Or “See you at the party, Richter!” or something like that. It depends on where these people are coming from. It seems like every six or seven years I hit on a big box office film and people get to regurgitate specific lines from the film. As for Sam Fisher, I’m totally anonymous until I open my bloody mouth and people recognize the voice.
RC: Do you ever get to chill with Tom Clancy? Do you ever get to say “Hey Tom, maybe Sam would do this in this situation?” Since the character is really you, do you ever get to influence what he does a little bit or go to Tom Clancy?
MI: No, but what I did do was that I turned it down at the beginning. I wasn’t interested in doing it because structurally the way the character was built was that I thought “I don’t want to do this.” And they asked what was wrong and I said “Well, he is too monochromatic. There isn’t enough humanity in the character. There is no conflict underneath his decisions.” It was interesting, when we first went in to do the first game, I actually did it up in Montreal at the Ubisoft labs and I had them bring in other actors since these things are usually done singular evidently where you bring in one actor at a time and it was my first big game. So I had them hire some actors so I would have somebody to work with as we worked the character up in the dialogue. And it really worked. It is the nature of communication that if you want to play tennis or play a game with somebody, you need to talk and have a conversation.
RC: Of course, of course. You’ve had such a long career as you had mentioned and you’ve been around for so long that you did a series in the 80s called “V” and of course they have kind of come back with that, a new iteration of it that is based on the series you were in. Do you ever think that you might ever want to get back into the series, maybe as a guest cameo to link the two?
MI: There was that talk, but I really wasn’t interested. The original character of Ham Tyler that we built in the mid-80s for that original format and that original show, to revisit that and revisit that character would do that whole show a disservice. It is really a different animal now. They have computer generated graphics now while we were using puppets and everything in those days. We were sort of making it up as we go, to the best of our abilities. And no I think Ham Tyler that they sent him to Chicago in that original series, where I wanted him to go. I got out of the show so I could go do Top Gun and the Richard Pryor film. No, I don’t think I’d want to go back and do it. It’s like going back and driving an old car. It had its place in time. I had a ’55 Chevy that I had for a lot of years and it was a cool car, but if I had to use it every day, no, it had its time and place.
RC: I hear you. That’s a great analogy. Aside from The Bannen Way, which is of course at Crackle.com right now from Sony Pictures, and Splinter Cell: Conviction, which is coming out in April from Ubisoft, what else can we see from you in the future?
MI: That film I did last year, the film called The Jazzman, based on Mo Kaufman’s life, the horn player who died of cancer and was written by his grandson. I think it is coming out, or is out now, or will be out soon. I don’t really follow the things. And a thing I did in Romania called Eva, which is a historical piece.
RC: Alright, very cool. Thank you very much Michael. Of course, the web series is The Bannen Way which is available now at Crackle.com from Sony Pictures, the video game is Splinter Cell: Conviction which will be out for Xbox 360 and the PC later in April, and of course the man is Michael Ironside! Michael thanks for the time.
–Ray Carsillo
Originally Published: November 12, 2009, on Lundberg.me, Collider.com, and 1050ESPN.com (now ESPNNewYork.com)
It was an unusually warm day in November when I got word that there would be an advanced screening of Focus Features’ newest picture, Pirate Radio. In addition to the screening, I would get the chance to talk with Tom Sturridge, a bit of an acting newcomer who would serve as the film’s lynchpin, and the writer/director of the film, Richard Curtis.
Well, I grabbed The Who’s Greatest Hits album, aptly titled after one of their greatest singles, My Generation, jumped in my Chevy (would have been more fitting if it was a Mini Cooper, I know, but I drive what I drive) and sped away towards midtown Manhattan.
Being a bit of a Richard Curtis fan for his work as a writer on one of Britain’s most celebrated sitcoms ever, Black Adder, and for his directorial debut with Love, Actually, to say I was amped up would probably be an understatement. I had also wanted to desperately see this movie since I had heard of it because I usually enjoy time-period pieces about one of my favorite subjects, the history of TV and radio.
All I can say is that my anticipation did not turn to disappointment. Pirate Radio is a wonderfully done coming-of-age story about a young English boy named Carl (Tom Sturridge) whose mother has sent him to one of England’s notoriously famous pirate radio stations where his godfather (Bill Nighy) happens to be the man in charge.
Once aboard the floating piece of history, Carl becomes fast friends with many of the DJs who operate out of the waters surrounding England including an American man simply known as “The Count” (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) and another known as Dr. (he’s not a real doctor) Dave (Nick Frost). While there, Carl struggles with the many problems faced by a teenaged lad of the time from drugs, to women, to making friends, and all the while finding out who he is to the greatest rock soundtrack possibly ever put together.
The music is the true driving and uniting force of this movie. When I asked Tom how he got into the character of Carl he replied: “The thing that was really useful was just listening to the music. I think the easiest way to learn about what it’s like to be young in the 60s is to listen to its most eloquent, youthful poets sing about it. So, Rich, gave me an iPod before the film that had every piece of music from 1961-66 on it and I would just constantly listen to the music.” To hear more from Tom on Pirate Radio, you can
CLICK HERE!
The music would also serve as the catalyst for much of the action in the movie as back on the shores of merry ol’ England, while Carl is busy finding himself, several members of the Parliament, spearheaded by Sir Alistair Dormandy (Kenneth Branagh) are trying whole heartedly to shut down the pirate radio stations and this would lead to the movie’s exciting climax that I refuse to spoil here.
When all is said and done, Pirate Radio is a fun to watch romp on the high-seas with a tremendous, star-studded cast, who all deliver fantastic performances. When I asked Richard Curtis how it was trying to direct all this talent at once he said, “I think you just have to tell people the truth at the beginning. All of them knew this was going to be a communal film. We shot it in a particular style with cameras on the cameramen’s shoulders so every scene anybody could be being shot at any moment. So it wasn’t one of those films where you said ‘well this is Phil’s half hour, and this is Nick’s half hour’, the camera just roamed around as we did the scene again and again and I think that meant that everybody joined up in the agreement that it was a democracy, a chaotic democracy.” To hear more from Richard on Pirate Radio, you can
CLICK HERE!
The best part of this movie is that as absurd as it is at times, it is based off a time when England really did have radio stations based out at sea and that alone brings a smile to my face. I thought Tom Sturridge wasn’t the most likable of main characters, he seemed a bit too stiff and serious at times, but if you like British humor wrapped up in zany situations, then this should be a sure fire winner for you. Now crank up Baba O’ Riley and be sure to see Pirate Radio as it comes out nationwide Friday, November 13th, 2009.
I give Pirate Radio 4.5 out of 5.
–Ray Carsillo
Originally Published: September 29, 2009, on 1050ESPN.com (now ESPNNewYork.com) and Lundberg.me
Since he exploded into the limelight as Darth Maul in Star Wars: Episode I, Ray Park has been a staple in geek movies. Also being cast as Toad in X-Men and Snake-Eyes in G.I. Joe, this martial arts master and admitted comic book geek is living the dream playing some of the more iconic roles in geek lore.
He has now increased his geek repetoire by being cast on NBC’s Heroes as Edgar, a speedster with a dark side (no Star Wars pun intended).
Robin Lundberg and I had a chance to catch up with the geek icon to talk about his role on Heroes, his past roles, and if he could confirm some rumors for us about the progress of a possible Iron Fist movie.
CLICK HERE – to listen to Robin Lundberg and I interview one of the great geek movie icons of our time, Ray Park.
Originally Published: September 8, 2009, on Lundberg.me and 1050ESPN.com (now ESPNNewYork.com)
Many people spend their Labor Day weekends at barbeques or down the shore. My devotion knows no bounds, though as I spent it at the movie theatre. Poor numbers from the box office also confirm that the near-empty theatres I sat in were not aberrations.
One of the movies that I tried to help gain revenue was Gerard Butler’s new sci-fi action flick, Gamer. Set in the near future, nanotechnology has evolved to the point where it allows video games to become the ultimate form of escapism and entertainment as players no longer control digital avatars, but instead actual people.
Gerard Butler plays “Kable”, a convict on death row for murder who is the star avatar in the most popular future first-person shooter game, “Slayers”. The purpose of the game is if the player and his avatar can survive 30 matches in a row, the convict earns his freedom and the player basically is hailed like an A-list celebrity.
As “Kable” approaches his legendary 30th match, the mind behind the game, Ken Castle, realizes he can’t let “Kable” win without having his darkest secrets revealed to the public and begins stacking the odds against “Kable” and his controller in a battle of digital wits.
Billed as more action than 300 and more originality than Death Race, this movie failed on both those fronts.
There were too few action sequences for this to be a full-fledged action movie and the few there were in the movie were much too short for my liking considering that these video games are supposed to be worldwide sensations and the biggest Pay-Per-View events in the history of television.
This movie was advertised as a 95-minute check your brain at the door blood fest and instead had a deep-rooted message about the dangers of technology and a sensationalistic existence. The relationship between “Kable” and his controller was barely explored at all and instead focused on “Kable” longing to be with his family and what he was fighting for.
This easily could have been a great buddy action flick with the difference being that the partners are really living one existence in the game and how they had to work together to take down the man. That concept could have been so much more entertaining than what Gamer ended up being.
The visuals were great, especially when describing the other sensationalistic video game, “Society”, that was like a live-action Sims game, but with more gratuitous nudity. Aside from that there really wasn’t enough to make this worthwhile to see in the theatre.
I look at Gamer and I think of wasted potential. The acting was good and the visuals were good, but when a movie is advertised as a hardcore action movie and comes across more as a preachy drama, I think you lost your mission statement at some point and therefore will lose your audience.
Because of the lack of originality and the lack of action, I can’t in good conscience give this a good score. At best, this is a worthy rental on a slow weeknight, but not worth the price of admission at a theatre.
Gamer gets a 2 out of 5.
-Ray Carsillo
Originally Published: August 11, 2009, on 1050ESPN.com (now ESPNNewYork.com), Examiner.com, and Collider.com
Although we are still in the midst of summer, the summer blockbuster season is coming to an end and with it, my series of double reviews (to my editor’s relief). Still though, this final one was also one of my most anticipated double-features yet.
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra is another movie inspired by a Hasbro toy line and 80s cartoon series. Many of us were drawn in as small children by the catchy theme song, brightly colored vehicles, and enough lasers to put any pop concert to shame. The PSAs it inspired is still the stuff of spoof nowadays as those of us who grew up on the series can look back now and laugh at the shoddy animation and cheesy dialogue.
So how would it translate to the big screen? Would it be as much of a laugh now as the cartoons are? At least those have the nostalgia of our childhoods to protect them.
I will say this: as an action movie; G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra is top notch. Tons of explosions and non-stop fighting keep your attention for the entirety of the 1 hour and 58 minutes (Sienna Miller in hot leather spandex for 90% of the movie doesn’t hurt either).
Everyone cast in the movie gives a great performance and stays true to their characters’ personalities, which will make movie buffs and GI Joe fans alike pleased. Dennis Quaid does a spectacular job as General Hawk and Marlon Wayans is nowhere near being the weak link many suspected him to be in his performance as Ripcord. Ray Park was the perfect casting call for Snake Eyes and everyone else from Zartan to Destro to Scarlett were all top-notch.
The only casting problem I had was Brendan Fraser making a cameo as Sgt. Slaughter. He had three lines in the movie and was visible for no more than five minutes, all of them were frustrating because his presence stole attention away from other characters to see if he could live up to one of the more prolific characters in GI Joe history due to his wrestling origins. Of course, he failed, partially in my opinion because he didn’t give any of his famous one-liners like “At ease, disease!”
Aside from this, there were only two other problems I had with the movie. One was a minor detail, but would have made hardcore fans like myself beam with joy had it been included. The original GI Joe theme song was left out of the movie. It wasn’t even in the end credits. Considering the movie cost $175 million to make, you would think they could spare a little cash for an orchestra version of the classic cartoon theme.
The other detail was a major oversight and is what makes this great action movie only a so-so GI Joe movie. The movie takes a lot of liberties with the original GI Joe story and makes some changes in order to fit in the obligatory love story. Every character in the movie is related somehow. Baroness is Cobra Commander’s sister and is also Duke’s ex-fiancée. Baroness though is not really evil, but under mind control created by Dr. Mindbender who everyone confuses with Cobra Commander early on because they look exactly alike. By the end of the movie, you’re just shaking your head, as everyone had to be related to everyone else by some weak link.
If you take account of the fact that the movie killed off key characters who never die in the cartoons or the comics and you’re left questioning whether this movie deserves a sequel. I will say it does, but it had better have a different writing staff, that’s for sure.
In the end, this was a great action movie that held your attention the whole way through with great performances, but a really poor GI Joe movie. GI Joe fans have to see it to confirm their fears and non-GI Joe fans should see it if they’re tired of all the romantic comedies out there (or are trying to still get the lewd images from Bruno out of their minds).
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra gets a 3 out of 5.
Typically, video games based on summer movies do not do well, but Transformers 2 broke that trend earlier in the summer. I’m happy to say that G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra: The Video Game also breaks that trend and easily surpasses the movie.
Taking place immediately after the movie, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra: The Video Game begins with the Baroness being teleported out of GI Joe custody via Cobra’s newest weapon, the MASS device, a teleportation tool to increase troop movement across the globe.
Starting with Duke and Scarlett, you begin by searching for kidnapped teammates Heavy Duty and Ripcord as Breaker, Data Frame, and Dial-Tone try to unravel how the MASS device works back at the PIT (GI Joe’s base of operations) and how GI Joe can remove this military advantage from Cobra’s hands.
This game hit every right cord with this hardcore GI Joe geek. It felt like you were playing updated versions of the old-school NES games that were based on the cartoons. You’re able to play with two Joes at a time while selecting from a roster of 12 possible Joes, all with unique weapons and special abilities. You can switch between the two Joes at any time also as long as they do not get knocked out on the mission and this flexibility can help in creating some interesting strategies. You then march across four general terrains in 20 specific missions as you progress through a classic GI Joe storyline.
Although not the prettiest of games in differentiating the terrains, taking cover to take out HISS tanks or hopping in your own MOBAT tank to destroy Cobra watchtowers was a great feeling.
Add-in the more destruction you caused to Cobra facilities, the more you could fill up your accelerator suit bar, which basically rendered you invincible with tank-like firepower for about 15-20 seconds. The best part of this was during your invincible rampage, almost as classic as Mario’s superstar song, an orchestrated version of the original GI Joe theme played. This alone will endear this game to any and all GI Joe fans.
The only thing this game really lacked in was the gameplay. Even on the hardest difficulty it only took me about 10 hours to complete all 20 missions and unlock all characters. The auto-targeting system was also abysmal. If you storm a room full of Neo-Vipers and turrets, the system would lock onto the 2500 bonus points item in the far corner of the room. It’s not fun trying to avoid a hail of blue lasers and adjust your targeting system at the same time. Not to mention the inability to control the game camera making it easy for enemies to ambush you around blind corners adding an unnecessary level of difficulty.
If you can fight your way through the glitches, you’ll enjoy the storyline and the homage to the old school GI Joe cartoon and games. With tons of collectibles and unlockable characters, the addition of bosses like Firefly, enemies like the B.A.T.s (Battle Android Troopers), and another 20-30 NPC GI Joes that you interact with over the course of the game, this game is easily a must have for any GI Joe fanatic.
Ratings are based on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the best.
Graphics: 7.0: There is nothing special about the visuals. A third-person, arcade-style shooter set in very generic locations, the graphics will not blow you away. They won’t take away from the experience either, though.
Audio: 10.0: Original orchestrations for each level and the inclusion of the original GI Joe theme when you strap on the accelerator suit makes the music a definite strong point for this game. Add-in solid sound effects and just enough overacting from the voice talent (only Cobra Commander from the movie cast was also in the video game, which might be the reason why) to make this a very enjoyable auditory experience.
Plot/Plot Development: 9.0: An original plot more along the lines of the original cartoon and only loosely based on the movie script with Cobra acquiring a super weapon and GI Joe needs to save the day. None of the relationships established in the movie were referenced in the game, which made me very happy, and the introductions of all the characters were perfectly done. The only fault I found with the development was that it all seemed to come together too quickly at the end, like they had ran out of time. Other than that, this was classic GI Joe.
Gameplay: 4.0: This is where the game stumbles. A horrible camera system that never follows the characters as closely as it should, an even worse targeting system, and only about 10 hours of gameplay on the hardest difficulty keeps this game from being a superior product.
Replay Value: 8.0: A co-op mission mode, at least five collectibles per mission, and 14 unlockable characters will make you want to keep playing G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra: The Video Game for a good while. The only disappointment was a lack of a vs. mode, but considering the style of the game, it probably wouldn’t have been very good anyway.
Overall (not an average): 8.0: Any and every GI Joe fan will love this game because it gives you what you want on every level. You have the ability to switch between two Joes at a time on the fly, the original theme, a plot worthy of its namesake, and enough classic collectibles to keep you on the hunt for hours. Glitchy gameplay is really the only thing that keeps this from being an upper echelon game, but considering it is only $50 instead of $60 and hits every fiber of nostalgia in my being, this is a great game.
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra: The Video Game is available now for all systems.
And now you know…and knowing is half the battle (blue lasers and red lasers is the other half).
-Ray Carsillo
RayCarsilloWrites.com 