We all know that Ryan Reynolds won Halloween by adorning himself in his official film Deadpool costume and hanging with a team of mini X-Men trick or treating. Now he has released a video of that evening and it is just brilliant. For anyone still dubious as to whether Ryan Reynolds can pull off the Merc with a Mouth in the coming Deadpool film, firstly, what are you crazy? and secondly, even in a this situation, surrounded by children, he stays in character. Let’s be honest, he’s pulled it out the bag and smeared it across doubting face. Just watch the video and see.
And because it is just that good, here have the official Deadpool trailer again.
You’ve played a Warcraft game, right? Statistically, everyone on the planet has played World of Warcraft at least ten times, and Warcraft 1-3 were all immensely successful games. Finding someone who didn’t play, and therefore love, a Warcraft game is like finding someone who’s never seen a Star Wars film.
As such, the Warcraft film should be of interest to most people, and so the release of the first trailer tease will be as well. Released today, it provides the first the first shots of the both humans and orc, as well as the infamous griffons.
It’s a shame no one is wearing true Warcraft armour, a la the below picture…
So, it’s here, it’s been all over social media already and it’s whet a few appetites out there – my own included. This trailer did just enough for me as a Preacher fan to get me interested. It’s shown the main character, Jesse (played by Howard Star-umm, Dominic Cooper) and gives a teensy bit of information about his character. He’s, well, as the title suggests, a Preacher, but one with a muddy past. It shows us some flashes of action, snippets of another main character, Cassidy (played by Joe Gilgun) but some of you may have been sat there wondering “It looks good, but what is Preacher exactly?”
Well, I’m glad you asked!
Ok, looking at this image, Dominic Cooper looks alright.
Preacher was a serialised comic first published back in 1995, written by Garth Ennis who most of you will know for his work with Marvel as their best Punisher writer, but also from his stint writing Hellblazer, the Constantine comic. Ennis brings his buddy, Steve Dillon, along for the ride with his artwork, and Preacher also had painted issue covers by the very talented Glenn Fabry. It was published by Vertigo comics (now a part of the wider DC multiverse) and ran for 75 issues.
Our main character, Jesse Custer, is as I said earlier, a Preacher on the run from his dark past. Now, if you don’t want any spoilers before watching the upcoming TV series, stop reading now.
…
…
Have they gone? Good.
Jesse is possessed. Inside him, there is an entity known as Genesis, the spawn of an Angel and a Demon doing the nasty which, subsequently, made God resign and vanish and when Genesis entered Jesse, his whole church exploded and it killed his entire congregation… They don’t teach you about that in Sunday school!
When Jesse talks, everybody listens.
Jesse has “the Word of God”, which he can use occasionally, thanks to Genesis. This compels whoever he speaks to while using it to listen and carry out whatever command he gives, which does make for some very interesting scenarios (at one point, he tells someone to literally go f**k themselves; let’s see them do that in the show!).
Not all of that blood is his…
Along the way, we meet Cassidy. Cassidy is a Vampire. No sparkles here, just a regular, tear your throat, drink your blood vampire… Oh, he’s also Irish, and an alcoholic. Cassidy’s fun! We don’t see a lot of Cassidy in the trailer, but knowing Joe Gilgun and his style of characterisation I genuinely think that this series will have a very faithful representation of the loveable Irish sucker.
Her eyes are up there, above the gun aimed at yours.
This bundle of beauty is Tulip O’Hare. In the TV adaptation, Tulip is being played by Ruth Negga, who you will recognise as another Marvel regular from her portrayal of Raina in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Tulip is Jesse’s primary love interest and is an expert marksman. Markswoman? Marksperson? She shoots super good! Tulip is a very interesting character because, again, spoiler warning in the comics, she dies very early on. But it’s ok, she gets resurrected, by God no less. This adds more intrigue, seeing as He’s seemingly flown the coop.
Tulip brings a very human element to this tale of creatures and supernatural conflict; she is the woman with nothing left to lose, until her love for Jesse is rekindled and….well let’s just say there’s a very good story arc with Tulip that I don’t want to spoil for you just yet, if the TV show covers it.
Not enough gun…
Now, this chap did not appear in this new trailer but I am very interested to see how the show presents him as this is my favourite character, the Saint of Killers. No, that’s not a title. That’s his name; Saint of Killers. He is an immortal force of cosmic balance, the quickest draw and the finest shot on heaven and earth. He’s after Custer and will stop at nothing to put a bullet in the preacher man. (And technically, he’s not even one of the bad guys)
In short, I really enjoy Preacher as a comicbook series, and if you haven’t given it a look and you like gritty, mid-west, supernatural action stories with some very heavy religious satire then this is definitely one to check out. If the TV series takes even half of the source material from the comics then we as an audience are in for one hell of a ride, pun wholly intended.
Minority Report had quite a quiet premier this past September, with little fanfare and not enough promotion given their ratings, even for their first episode. The show’s pilot has been leaked prior to the premier, to unfavourable reviews, which didn’t help matters. Comparing the aired version to the leaked one, I can see that the original idea was quite flawed, relying on several gimmicks meant to attract, but not delivering what was promised – an action packed adventure that would continue the Steven Spielberg movie with the same title.
For those of you not familiar with the Minority Report plot (the movie), it goes like this – police officers learned to depend on three precognitives who could predict murders and, rather than solve crimes, they prevented them. The system however was flawed and the program was suspended, with the three precogs being freed into a world they didn’t quite understand, since they’d been kept half-sedated for over a decade, forced to witness nothing but murders.
Minority Report picks up a decade after their release and follows Dash as he struggles to solve crimes in a world he’s somewhat unfamiliar with, without exposing himself as one of the (still) worshipped by the general public) precogs. Laura Reagan plays Agatha, replacing Samantha Morton and Nick Zano is Arthur, Dash’s more cynical, anchored in reality and bitterness, twin brother. Meagan Good plays the no-nonsense Lara Vega, a police officer that ends up relying on Dash’s visions in order to stop crimes before they happen, too tired of always mopping up after criminals.
Now, why should you watch it?
It gets better. The first few episodes were clunky, with too much exposition for my taste, but slowly the actors, writers and everyone involved in the creative process seemed to have found their footing. It’s a shame the initial reception was so chilly, given that every naysayer has given up on the show just as it started to get better. Fox has already cut the episode order from 13 to 10, which does not bode well for Minority Report’s future. (It still needs to learn how to show don’t tell, but maybe if they get a second season they’ll manage that too).
The acting is great. I might be biased, since I tuned in as a fan of Stark Sands – who starred in Generation Kill, among others – but he pulls off Dash’s blend of vulnerability and defiance perfectly, making his big brother Arthur, played by Nick Zano the perfect foil for his naivete. Laura Reagan also manages to make Agatha sympathetic, despite some of her more questionable actions, something few actors can pull off. It took me a while to warm up to Meagan Good’s Lara Vega, but it slowly happened and now I want to know more about her character (if only the show would last). Li Jun Li, Wilmer Valderrama and Daniel Landon (who reprises his movie role as Wally the caretake) also give great performances, though they are given too little to do for now.
They put Obama on the 500 $ bill. It might seem like a bad reason for you to watch the show, but it makes for a nice surprise. And did I mention it takes a few shots at anti-vaxxers too?
The special effects are great. And I am not exaggerating. They are great, giving the impression that they are portraying the actual technology of the future. It adds to the story as opposed to being used simply to fluff it up and since Dash is one awkward little potato, we get to learn a lot about it through his own interactions with it.
It’s a sci-fi in a world of zombies and vampires. Don’t get me wrong, I love The Walking Dead as much as the next person. I will even admit to having watched some less than worthy shows about vampires, werewolves and other creatures, but after a while the market became a little too saturate with that, pushing some TV genres to near extinction. This is a future that is far enough to be cool, close enough to still be relatable and it’s something different.
It has great promise, with an overreaching arc that surpasses the murder of the week template. The morality of using three people against their will to further your own plots, the danger they are exposing themselves to by being in a world that sees them as gods and assumes they can never be in any way harmed, the potential of being imprisoned again, these are all stories that need to be told and I for one am willing to watch them.
All in all, at least in my opinion, Minority Report is worth your time. Remember to give it more than one episode. Few shows actually have it together since day one, but it does get better as it progresses. Meanwhile, check out the trailer below and maybe give the show a watch.
The world gets its first look at the long mooted TV adaptation of Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon’s critically acclaimed fan favourite comic Preacher in the first brief teaser trailer prior to the first full trailer this evening. The upcoming series from AMC, the home of The Walking Dead (also based, somewhat loosely, on a critically acclaimed fan favourite comic) stars Dominic Cooper as Jesse Custer a preacher in a Texan small town who along with his Irish vampire best friend Cassidy (Joe Gilgun) and fiery ex girlfriend Tulip (Ruth Negga) sets out to find God literally after bonding with an entity escaped from Heaven.
Preacher’s transition to TV (or film) has been a long and problematic one due to the comic’s notoriously anti-religious specifically anti-Christian nature alongside being packed full of profanity, brutal blood soaked violence, jet black humour and bad taste. How much of Ennis and Dillon’s story actually survives the transition remains to be seen.
With John Constantine set to reappear on TV screens in a matter of days via The CW’s Arrow, Daniel Cerone, one of Constantine’s developers and writers, took to Twitter saying he’d share what would’ve been the script for episode 14 for the short lived series if he got 2,000 retweets. 3,473 retweets later and fans can get an insight into what a script draft looks like and also read what could’ve potentially been one of the best episodes of the series.
The episode named “Final Girl” has John Constantine (Matt Ryan) and Zed (Angelica Celaya) dealing with the aftermath of a group young friends actions and encountering a figure from Constantine’s past. Reading the script is just further evidence that Constantine should’ve been given the chance to actually grow and mature as John Constantine’s past comes creeping up on him once again and clashes with his present amidst the horror of the situation John and Zed find themselves in.
So, when I first heard about this, it was pitched to me as “a rogue-like Dark Souls”.
Well, they weren’t wrong.
Eternal Step is an indie action/adventure rogue-like available now on Steam, and is presented through 2D models on a 3D plane. Think Rogue Legacy, only the rooms aren’t Metroidvania styled – in that instead of a ‘flat’ area where the character can only move left and right and jump up, you move in all directions in a 3D room.The controls are simple – move, block/dodge, attack, use a potion to heal and two skills usable anytime.
Your objective? Climb the tower by clearing each room of the monsters held within. Every 19 floors past the beginning and the bosses, you get a checkpoint, so you can skip straight to the boss fights. Additionally, there are Challenge Floors – randomly, you will encounter a floor which issues a challenge for you to take on. For example, finish a room without completely exhausting your stamina or receiving a single hit. Complete the challenge, get a reward…simple.
The weapons are handled pretty well – you collect them on a floor upon killing a monster. Upon completing a floor, you are given the option to stash these away for later use or salvaging, or to equip it for the next floor, boosting your stats. OR, you can steal or store the ‘skill’ imprinted on the equipment, adding another level to the gameplay where you may not want the car for its low attack stats, but it has a unique skill in one of the skill slots which you want now or later.
This storage is great because it gives you the option of entering the tower prepared or completely anew. You may not have the best gear (as you were probably wearing it at the time of your demise), but it’s better than the bog standard equipment. It also gives you the option to challenge yourself, – how far can I get without using drops, how far can I get without armour, how long can I go with this one specific weapon?
Recently, there has been a Halloween Update, which adds pumpkins to the levels…which randomly make you encounter Jack O’Lantern, who was the first boss I properly came across…and I’m not afraid to admit I may have lasted less than a minute or two. The bosses, as with many aspects of this game, remind me a lot of aspects from Rogue Legacy.
Pros
Gear and Combat System. Easy to use, simple to collect. The drawbacks on the weapons allows for varied gameplay as you try different weapons. Weapons aren’t simple power-ups, there is logic behind them. What I mean by this is that whilst a hammer may be better than a sword, it is also slow and clunky to use as you might expect.
Additionally, enemy attacks are given an AOE (Area of Effect) marker, to show you where the damage zone is (and, thus, where you should not be) which is great for this game
Enemy variety (once you get going). It goes at a pace which allows you, the player, to become accustomed to the various types of enemies you encounter…instead of dropping them all on you, they integrate new monsters into the mobs of common monsters from the first few floors.
Stamina (DARK SOULS). Using weapon + dodge roll uses stamina, and so you have to be strategic.
The art. I personally like it, as it reminds me of Rogue Legacy (which I lost many, many hours to)
Line of Sight. What I mean by this is that you can only see as far as your character can, which works when you have enemies waiting around the corner, just out of sight – it adds a depth to the game which I enjoyed as it made me cautious and nervous (when I turn this corner, will I be mobbed by slimes, or struck by arrows, or will there be nothing?)
Your own dead body. Again, like Dark Souls, this game gives you the ability to pick up the items left by your corpse. Only, you’re not a soul ball…it’s your actual dead body just lying there.
Cons
I don’t know if it is an issue with my laptop, but I had trouble loading the game itself. And this seems to be a common issue.
The game has a steep learning curve, and may catch some gamers off-guard
The art style does seem a little rough around the edges, and some people may be turned off by this. Personally, I put it as a con, but I know a few people who would look at this and think they were looking at an alpha version of the game.
Sound control (or lack of).
The Link in me was a little annoyed that despite the abundance of pots, there were no hidden rewards inside them. I may have spent a good few minutes smashing every pot on almost all the floors I came across
I liked this game as it has a certain replayability, but it is not without its flaws. I liked it the same way that I liked Rogue Legacy, but ultimately I feel that Rogue Legacy had already covered this kind of area before (and it’s only been two years since that game came out). Had the game offered some new ground, like switching up the genre away from the fantasy/knight adventure area (perhaps Sci-Fi, Steampunk or Eldritch Horror), it might have stood out a bit better.
Also, if the game had fewer issues starting up…yeah, that would be great.
I recently started a new job which has kept me pretty busy – last week, doubly so. This means time spent on the tabletop or before a TV screen has been at a premium, reserved only for The Walking Dead and Zombicide (which you can expect a review of soon. Spoiler: it’s brilliant). However, at the end of a busy few weeks I found myself blessed with a whole mess of TV to binge on; including the new Arrow and Flash, and even one episode of the new hero on the block, Supergirl. Which brings me back on topic.
I’ve always considered Arrow and Flash to be very much the light entertainment corner of the superhero market as it stands today. Though their storylines deal with some fairly dark subject matter, it’s always framed in a way that tries not to take itself too seriously – except the first series of Arrow, maybe. That whole “nobody must know my secret” shtick was laughable after he’d brought half a dozen people in on it. I don’t know if the comics were similarly light-hearted, but I assumed that Supergirl would be.
Full props to Melissa Benoist – the script fails her, but she doesn’t fail the show.
To a point, I was right, and to another point, I was too right. There’s a caricature of a horrible boss, a standard colleague in love sub-plot and everything’s generally bright and cheery. Along with all that, Supergirl has a tendency to tell you what’s happening, rather than show it, which goes against the old writer’s maxim “show, don’t tell”. You’re spoonfed information at the beginning about Kara’s origin story, rather than devoting a decent bit of screen time to it, or having Arrow-like flashbacks (though to be fair, I’d have judged them harshly for copying that too).
The female empowerment element of the show is also thrust awkwardly into the spotlight on a dozen different occasions, making for some of the clunkiest dialogue I have ever heard. The main villain of the episode also declares that on his homeworld, females bow before males – while he’s swinging around a massive over-compensatory axe. We get it. We got it from the trailer, we got it from the title screen, and we got it when you said that as a woman who wanted to make a difference, you were sick of just fetching somebody’s coffee. That’s why you saved the plane.
We got it when your outfit didn’t look like an “adult costume”.
We understood the subtext, the implied meaning, the dissatisfaction she obviously felt during the scene at work. The show detracts from its point by continually bringing it up – which is sad. Writers like Joss Whedon have been creating strong female characters since the 90’s, so seeing the subject of heroines handled so poorly, bordering on comic disrespect, was a real disappointment…for the most part. There were a couple of decent scenes, the aforementioned expression of dissatisfaction, and the scene where her boss creates hashtag Supergirl rather than Superwoman, and comes up with a decent argument for why.
Also making the list of redeeming features are the outfit selection montage, which managed to charmingly poke fun at itself, and the well-acted awkwardness of Supergirl showing her powers off. The costume is definitely a winner, portraying her as a confident woman, retaining her sexuality without becoming a sex symbol. The fight scenes were also a fairly refreshing change from Arrow’s martial arts and Flash’s growing list of somewhat dodgy abilities – seeing a super-punch knock somebody skywards for them to fly back into the fight is always a cool move.
That said, if there’s only so much time in your lives for superhero action, you could do a lot better than Supergirl. It managed to overcome my general disliking of Superman, a hero with some seriously incongruous abilities whose only weakness is a rock you can’t even find on Earth, but it has too many of its own problems. If you’re looking to scratch your comic book itch – Daredevilon Netflix, Constantineon Amazon, they were shows that commanded my attention. Arrow and Flash, I sometimes muck about on the tablet or read the Falloutwiki, but I always enjoy having them on. Supergirl, I’m not even sure if I’ll bother with episode two.
From CBC’s online comedy channel Punchline comes a cracking advert for the latest in board gaming hotness: Settlers of Catanada! Set in Canada, players race to build towns and cities in America’s northern cousin, collecting oil, wood, and of course beavers.
OK, it’s a spoof but it’s a good one. I got a good giggle out of this one, and I’m sure you will too eh?
All credit goes to CBC Punchline on Youtube, check out some of their other hilarious vids if you get a chance.
Yesterday my husband and I had the rare opportunity to have a couple of hours to ourselves so, like many a geek would, we headed to tour local Odeon to watch the latest Bond film SPECTRE. We figured that since it was a Bond film and the middle of the day, the likelihood of our viewing being ruined by kids or unruly teens was small. I mean it’s Bond with all the violence and sexy time that goes with it. Not something I would have thought appeals to those looking for a family film. I was wrong.
Sexy time
Now before you start hurling abuse at me for being a child hater or inconsiderate of those with children, I should probably let you know that I have two geeks of my own. A twelve year old and an eight year old. I also work with children in my day job, needless to say I spend a LOT of time around children and I love them, I really do.
Anyway, a few rows down from us was a family of four consisting of a mum, dad and two small children, I would estimate aged around 4 and 6 years old. They immediately caught my eye, I thought it a strange choice for a family film and if I am honest my heart sank. Why? Because I know a four old will struggle to sit through this kind of film. And, as predicted, the child preceded to get up, crawl over his parents, talk, walk around the aisle, cry when he get his own way and blow raspberries. I find it difficult not to be distracted by this and I’m sure I was not the only one.
SPECTRE is a mature film with an equally mature storyline requiring the viewer to watch and understand what is happening. Children’s films are full of colour, noise and music which entice a young mind in becoming glued to the screen. If you have any doubt grab yourself a young kid and put on cbeebies, they will sit hypnotised all afternoon, if you allow it. [Geek Pride does not advocate the kidnapping of young children].
Look at all the pretty colours
Now it sounds that I am against children watching 12a films and that would be somewhat hypocritical, I took both of my children to see Guardians of the Galaxy, Ant-Man and Avengers: Age of Ultron.BUT I knew these would be fun and engaging films. My children are already fans of comic characters andloved the likes of Iron Man and the first Avengers film, I had no doubt they would sit still and watch. Plus my children are well behaved for the most part, I don’t think they would dare kick up a fuss. I do appreciate how difficult it is as parents to get the time to actually go to the pictures, you need babysitters, money and energy – all of which can be difficult to come by. Trust me, there is many a film that has come and gone from the cinema that I wish I could’ve seen on the big screen. But being a parent means making sacrifices and that is just something you have to live with.
It cost my husband and I £21.00 to treat ourselves to SPECTRE, £21 is a lot of money when you don’t have much to spare, so to have the experience spoiled by young children that have no idea what is happening is frustrating to say the least, but who is to blame?
The British Board of Film Classification states the following in regards to 12a films
…the BBFC considers the content of 12A rated films to be suitable for children aged 12 and over, and we would not recommend taking very young children to see them. Works classified at these categories may upset children under 12 or contain material which many parents will find unsuitable for them.
Adults planning to take a child under 12 to view a 12A film should consider whether the film is suitable for that child.
Basically they are saying judge each film and use the BBFCInsight which allows you to search each film and find out the themes and which aspects may not be suitable. This means the family with the young children weren’t actually doing anything wrong in terms of the law of film classification. Whether they were making good parenting choices, I’ll let you decide.
Another bug bare is the children aged 11 years old or under who are not accompanied by adults and feel like they can piss around, now I guess it’s unlikely they are spending their own hard earned cash so why do they care? This occurred during Bond and when we went to see Ant-Man. During the Ant-Man screening the group behind us were taking selfies WITH THEIR FLASH ON. Luckily, I have no fear of naughty children so I turned around and in my best dead pan teacher voice stated the following “Are you for real?” Needless to say they all stopped what they were doing. The company has a legal responsibility to ensure the children in the 12a film are over 12 or accompanied by an adult. This is not happening.
How they should look
Which brings us to the responsibilities of the cinema. Back in the 90s, when I was a youngster, my friends and I would go and see films in large groups and you can guarantee there would be an usher present. This usher would shine the torch at you and tell you to take your feet of the back of the seats and stop talking and generally monitor the behaviour of all those enjoying the film. This does not happen any more, in fact I can’t remember the last time I saw any kind of supervising during a film. What I have seen is children of all ages generally pissing around and ruining the experience for everyone else. An usher is what is missing and the reason films are being spoiled.
Odeon and other such cinema companies you need to get your act together because if this behaviour continues I won’t be paying to see films on the big screen any more, which is a real shame because some films are best viewed on the big screen.
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