The Marvel produced, Stephen King directed hype machine has finally arrived. Does it live up to its anticipation?
I was hesitant to pick up Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born today. Sure, it's been getting A LOT of attention all over the net and many are saying this is the comic book event of the year (It also achieved the first ever midnight comic book launch), but I wanted to see what all the fuss was about before I blindly dropped down $4.50 Canadian on the title. Well, I'm glad I picked the book up, in fact, I'm tempted to go search out the variants and snap them up as well, but I'll probably restrain myself.
The comic tells the back story of Roland of Gilead, the protagonist from Stephen King's The Gunslinger novel. Roland is the son of a dead gunslinger and must prove himself to earn his pistols and his pride. Now, at first I thought this plot seemed cliche and tired, but it's handled very well in the first issue and looks as if it's going to get better as the book progresses.
It's being written by Peter David (X-Factor), which is a plus, as the writing has a strong narrative style, but it's well done and not too over the top. Jae Lee (Namor the Sub-Mariner) has the pencil duties, with his layouts then being painted by Richard Isanove. The art is just flat out amazing. Extremely tight compositions and great use of blacks and shadows. It's just a pleasure to look at.
I can't wait for the next issue of Dark Tower to hit the shelves of my comic shop. Marvel seems to be doing a great job with this title and it looks like it has lived up to the hype, at least so far.
Let me know what you guys think of The Dark Tower. Leave a comment below.
Cheers.
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Dark Tower #1 Review
FILM: Trailer for Black Snake Moan Hits the Net
Sam Jackson has has been choosing some pretty interesting roles recently. His character in Black Snake Moan is definitely on of the more interesting ones.
Black Snake Moan, which is directed by Craig Brewer (Hustle & Flow), is a story about a troubled blues musician who takes in a young woman in an attempt to shelter her from her abusive lifestyle.
One reason I'm so interested in this film is because it appears to have such a heavy style. One thing that I've noticed about Craig Brewer so far in his early career is that he has a great sense of aesthetics and can really make a film look and sound great while adding to the general feel of the thing. While other directors add in effects for the hell of it, Brewer seems to know to only pull the effect lever when it will benefit the story being told.
Brewer also has a very strong sense of music in his films. Like Hustle & Flow, Black Snake Moan at times tells the story using on-screen musical sequences. Also, I should note, that Sameul L. Jackson did all of his own music for the film, along with guitar.
Another reason I'm pumped for this film is how off-beat the characters are from anything most people are used to seeing in a Hollywood film. Sam Jackson plays an extremely traumatized blues musician and alongside him plays a powerful Christina Ricci as, essentially, his female prisoner. Justin Timberlake also plays as Christina Ricci's boyfriend who has been shipped off to Iraq, and, while I've heard he did a fairly good job in Alpha Dog, I'm hoping he doesn't get much screen time.
You can view the trailer HERE and check out the MySpace page (along with some of Sam Jackson's tunes from the film) HERE.
The film comes out in North America on February 23rd, I'll post a review sometime after then.
Cheers.
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
VIDEO GAMES: Microsoft Announces Gamerscore Rewards
Old Spice and Microsoft have teamed up to reward persistent gamers for their efforts.
Today Microsoft announced that beginning February 12th, gamers will have the chance to win some sweet swag for playing 360 games and earning achievements. Gamers will have two months to increase their Gamerscores by 1,500 points and will be rewarded according to this category listing:
-Gamers who have an annual Gamerscore between 0 and 4,999 at time of entry and add to their Gamerscore by 1,500 points will receive a game picture, dashboard theme, and Contra for Xbox LIVE Arcade.
-Gamers who have an annual Gamerscore between 5,000 and 9,999 and add to their Gamerscore by 1,500 points will receive everything in the first package along with 100 Microsoft Points and a contest T-shirt.
-Gamers who have an annual Gamerscore of 10,000 or above and add to their Gamerscore by 1,500 points will earn themselves the first package along with 200 Microsoft Points, a contest T-shirt, and a copy of Fusion Frenzy 2.
Gamers must have a valid Windows Live ID linked to their gamertags and be a resident of the United States and District of Columbia. Gamers must also log on to www.xbox.com/rewards on February 12th to sign up for participation.
Unfortunately, as a resident of Canada, I can't participate in this contest but Microsoft has assured gamers around the world that future promotions will not be restricted to the 50 states.
This is a step in the right direction for Microsoft's Achievement program in my opinion as individual Gamerscores will no longer be just for bragging rights. What do you guys think about this? Winning free games for playing games has to be a good thing, right? Let me know.
Cheers.
FILM: Iron Man Shooting in One Month
Jon Favreau's stab at a the superhero genre will start shooting principal photography in one month. Cast and details revealed!
Well, apparently Marvel plans to start shooting on their attempt at an Iron Man movie in a month or so. The film, which is being done by director/actor Jon Favreau (Zathura and produced independently by Marvel Studios, Elf), is set for a summer 2008 release and will most likely go head to head with Batman Begins for superhero flick of the summer.
Recently the cast of the film was announced and, to my surprise, it's actually quite a good one. Robert Downey Jr. (A Scanner Darkly, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) will play Tony Stark/Iron Man and the brilliant Terrence Howard (Crash, Hustle & Flow)will play alongside as Jim Rhodes. Gwyneth Paltrow has also been cast as Virginia "Pepper" Potts, secretary to Tony Stark, and Jeff Bridges has been hired and will portray a business associate of Stark Industries.
Now, while the cast is quite good, I'm not sure how well this movie is going to turn out. Marvel's recent superhero films, for the most part, have really dropped the ball. Fantastic Four was bad (the sequel doesn't look much better), X-Men 3 was a bit of a disappointment, and Ghost Rider looks like complete garbage. In fact, I'll go out on a limb to say that Marvel's only license that hasn't yet decayed into misery is Spider-Man, but even I have doubts that the third installment won't live up to the first two. Hopefully Iron Man can reverse this recent trend, but I have a feeling that, with it being the first film produced independently by Marvel Studios, it will not.
Also, I'm not sure how much I trust director Jon Favreau. He does seem to have a strong visual style and a good grasp when it comes to directing CGI and working with animation, but I'm not sure his storytelling is strong enough to keep the film afloat. Maybe I'm just being too critical.
Well, we'll see how Marvel's Iron Man turns out come summer 2008. What do you guys think? Will Iron Man be a hit or miss? Let me know.
Cheers.
Rescue Dawn Preview
Another Christian Bale flick I can't miss.
Christian Bale is just one of those actors who's always in movies that catch my eye. He just has good taste when it comes to picking his roles and manages to keep it fresh, not sticking to one genre or type of character. His next movie out here in North America is Werner Herzog's Rescue Dawn.
Before I ramble anymore about this, check out the trailer HERE.
While this movie doesn't hold the initial appeal that some of Bale's recent work has gotten out of me at first glance, such as Christopher Nolan's The Prestige or Harsh Times, it still looks great. I have no doubt that Werner Herzog, a director who deserves an Oscar, has done a great job with this film and that he'll capture the feeling of a prisoner of war perfectly while keeping the Vietnamese viewpoint authentic and true. Herzog also has an eye for landscapes, often deciding to fill his films with minutes of landscape footage. I'm sure that this will really help establish Vietnam as a character in the film.
Now, I've heard that Bale lost a ton of weight for this picture as he did with El Maquinista (The Machinist) and that, as usual, he really committed himself to the role. I've also heard that Steve Zahn (Riding in Cars With Boys) does an EXCELLENT job. I can't wait to see them both in these roles for myself in a month or so.
Speaking of release dates, Rescue Dawn has been out in some theatres for quite some time but releases wide on March 30th, 2007. I'll post a review as soon as I see it.
Cheers.
Monday, February 5, 2007
FILM: Sony names Blu-ray as winner over HD-DVD
Sony's Blu-ray for-the-win?
SCEA (Sony Computer Entertainment America) today realeased a few bits of information hoping to swing the Blu-ray/Toshiba HD-DVD war. Sony says that since the release of their gaming machine, the Playstation 3, Blu-ray Disc has undergone "tremendous growth in consumer adoption."
Sony stated that:
-Blu-ray has outsold HD-DVD in cumulative sales.
-Blu-ray titles outsold HD-DVD titles by more than two-to-one during the first week of January 2007.
-Blu-ray titles outsold HD-DVD titles by more than three-to-one during the second week of January 2007.
While some sites are stating that these tidbits of information declare the winner of the media war, I still believe that it's far from over. First off, Sony didn't release cumulative sales numbers, only the fact that they were selling more. The battle could be neck and neck or it could be a landslide, we're not sure. Second, the other stats released by Sony are VERY specific, and don't mean much when you look at the big picture.
I'm yet to pick sides in the HD-DVD/Blu-ray media war, I'll wait until the dust has settled and pick the victor. Until then I'll sit on the fence.
Cheers.
