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The World’s End – 9 GPPs

James Buckingham
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The World’s End – 9 GPPs

It had to come to an end somehow, but what an end! Yes ladies and gents, The Cornetto Trilogy is finally complete and Edgar Wright‘s ode to Invasion Of The Body Snatchers is currently gracing cinemas here in the UK.

I took my better half along for her birthday, and we were heartily laughing our asses off throughout. I’ve had a little time to contemplate the movie in general, so here’s my thoughts on The World’s End.

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Set in the small town of Newton Haven in southern England, The World’s End tells the story of five friends forced to relive their glory days by Gary King (Pegg), and finish the epic pub crawl they started when they were teenagers known as “The Golden Mile”. Upon returning to their home town they quickly work out that not everything is as it seems, and what was intended as a night of drink and debauchery turns into a fight for survival in a race to the final pub on the mile – The World’s End.

That’s a very brief synopsis for the film, but in all honesty The World’s End isn’t exactly complicated where it comes to story. That being said there is a bit more to it than that, with the individual character stories for “the five musketeers” lending some brief offshoots from the main narrative.

Now before I go any further, I’ll say that I’m going to discuss some small spoilers… however if you’ve seen any trailer for the film, then you can read on without fear of having anything ruined for you. If you’ve deliberately avoided trailers to keep everything as hush-hush as possible, then you should stop reading now… and if that’s the case, why were you reading this in the first place?

"We're going to see this through to the bitter end. Or... lager end."
“We’re going to see this through to the bitter end. Or… lager end.”

Anyway, spoilers are unfortunately one of the few downfalls of this movie – the marketing minds that decided to cut together the trailer(s) spoiled prettymuch the only twist in the film… and although it comes early on, I can’t help feeling that it would’ve been so much more fun if they’d have left the alien/robot aspect out of  it so that we could’ve been surprised.

As you see more and more of the antagonists of the movie, it’s obvious that it draws inspiration from Philip Kaufman‘s 1978 cult classic Invasion Of The Bodysnatchers  (rather than the 1956 Don Siegel original), from the screeching noise that they make, or the way they hold their hands up as they lunge at their prey. This is by no means a bad thing, as it’s clear that Edgar Wright knows his stuff, and still keeps the genre fresh and entertaining.

Just to be clear, it’s not just Wright’s directing that makes The World’s End a joy to watch – all the involved actors put in some awesome performances. Simon Pegg‘s burned-out slacker that refuses to grow up, and Nick Frost‘s over-serious and sombre  former friend (almost a total role reversal from Shaun of the Dead) bounce off each other nicely, but that’s standard fare for the Pegg/Frost combo. Martin Freeman and Eddie Marsan make welcome additions to the cast, each with their quirky yet awkward mannerisms added to the cocktail, topped off with the brilliantly stoic and suave Paddy Considine. Throw in the cherry on top that is Rosamund Pike as the former love interest and you have all the ingredients required for drama, laughs, action, suspense and blatant stupidity.

However what I took the most glee in where seeing some of the old Spaced bunch thrown in for good measure. Mark Heap (who you may remember as Brian the artist “Anger… Pain… Fear… Aggression”) makes a brief, yet amusing appearance. And another short appearance is made by Pierce Brosnan, though I would’ve liked to have seen more from him.

What is obvious from the start with most of, if not all of Edgar Wright’s films with Pegg, Frost et al is that when we watch them it gives the impression that they had fun doing it. Almost like Wright and Pegg got on the phone to their mates and said “we want to make a movie and have a laugh doing it, are you in?” This is the prime reason I love the Cornetto films – they’re fun. Unashamed, uncomplicated, unbridled fun.

Visually the movie has some great eye candy and kept me on the edge of my seat – all the visual effects are top notch, but that’s not what I was most impressed, or surprised with. What really kept me with a retarded grin on my face was the fight choreography – it’s nothing short of masterful.

Andrew (Nick Frost) tools up to cave in some skulls
Andrew (Nick Frost) tools up to cave in some skulls

There’s a sequence inside a pub where Pegg’s Gary King is trying to finish off his pint while it’s being overrun with alien robots, and it was like watching Jackie Chan in Drunken Master. Gary ducks, weaves, kicks and punches all with a half-full glass in his hand that he’s trying to drink from every five seconds, and it’s hilarious.

The others aren’t spared from the awesomeness either, with Nick Frost kicking rather a lot of alien arse throughout the film, along with a great fight and chase scene with Pegg during the film’s final act.

Something else I really enjoyed about the film was the soundtrack, reminding me of when I was about 16 or so – Primal Scream, Happy Mondays, Soup Dragons and The Sisters of Mercy all add to the nostalgic feel to the film alongside the score that helps to accentuate the tension and action that is persistent throughout.

He's not gonna lose his keys at night is he?
He’s not gonna lose his keys at night is he?

Does the film have any problems at all? Well, not really. The plot is about as solid as you can make it where the idiocy of the principal characters is magnified by adding copious amounts of alcohol, but it’s still not perfect. For example – something you see in the trailer is the giant fifteen foot robot thing that walks around – this is never explained (but does it need to be?), but also it seems like a wasted resource on the aliens’ part as again it’s not used much.

The film’s final act ends up being really amusing, even after the end of the events in Newton Haven… in fact I think it would be quite interesting to see a sequel based on what is portrayed at the very end of the film (which I’ll obviously not spoil for you). 

Overall I found The World’s End to be incredibly entertaining – if you’re new to Edgar Wright’s work, then it’s a really fun film to watch in general. If you’re a veteran fan, then you’ll get so much more out of it with the little nods to previous films and the little cameos from familiar faces.

I wouldn’t say it’s a perfect film, and I think Shaun Of The Dead is still at the top of my favourites list in terms of the Cornetto trilogy. However it’s definitely a worthy addition, and a fitting end to what’s been a great series of some of the best satirical comedies of recent years. It’s definitely up there with my top movies of the year so far.

 Go and watch it now. Thank me later.

Trailer:

GEEK PRIDE CAST EPs# 4 & 5

Matt Geary
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GEEK PRIDE CAST EPs# 4 & 5

Well havent I had a super busy few weeks! Couple that with the 30 degree heat (Im a pastey white Irishman, we cant take it) and Ive just managed to catch up!

Here are episodes 4 and 5 of the Geek Pride Cast 

Watch them here:

and

Listen here

and

Download HERE and HERE

Orrrrrrr subscribe on ITUNES

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Shadowrun Returns New Trailer!

Andy Haigh
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Shadowrun Returns New Trailer!

Shadowrun Returns the long-awaited new game from Harebrained Schemes, has a new trailer for its imminent release on the 25th July.

  You can watch it below.

19 Year Old puts 2000 hours into Skyrim sequel

The_Dark_Mike
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19 Year Old puts 2000 hours into Skyrim sequel

If you haven’t heard of the monolithic time eater that is Bethesda’s magnum opus Skyrim, then you need to break your foot. That way you’ll have enough recovery time to play this immersive RPG. After completing the smorgasbord of side quests, picking a career and realising your true potential as a big shout dragon killer, you will fork over your hard earned cash/ms points for a DLC that turns you into a vampire and doubles the size of the game (swoon).

 

Ahoy! fun fact: "viking" is norse for "pirate"
Ahoy! fun fact: “viking” is norse for “pirate”

After all that, you sit down, sigh, and wonder what you’re going to do with your life.  Well, Alexander’s got your back.  Alexander who? Why Alexander Velicky of course!  After 2000 hours, 100 contributors and 29 voice actors, Velicky has created a mod for Skyrim that is comparable to the third of the map, introduces you to 54 new characters and gives you around 20 hours of extra gameplay called Falskaar. Velicky told PC gamer that he would love to work for Bethesda and explained that after high school was allowed by his father to work on the mod instead of finding a design college. “My dad was extremely supportive” states Alexander, “The best way to show Bethesda Game Studios that I want a job there and should be hired is to create content that meets the standards of their incredible development team”

 

Hopefully we’ll see more from this plucky modder and his rag-tag development team. In the mean time, check out the sound track here for 46 minutes of epic. To actually download the mod and further Velicky’s notoriety, click here.

Wolverine Ready for Mighty Marvel Movie Team-Up!

Ben Fee
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Wolverine Ready for Mighty Marvel Movie Team-Up!

Ever since the first X-Men films exploded into popularity, thousands upon thousands of Marvel fans across the globe have shared a singularly dream: an ultimate team-up movie.

Doing the rounds for this weekend’s release of The Wolverine, Hugh Jackman told Collider that this was a dream he too shared:

[quote]Marvel they’ve got The Avengers… they’ve got a lot of big things going on, but at some point I just find it almost impossible that there’s not a way to bring Iron Man, all the Avengers characters, Wolverine, the X-Men characters, Spider-Man, and somehow get them in together.”[/quote]

Given the amount of money The Avengers made from the same concept, an ultimate marvel movie may well break the actual world. So come on Sony, Marvel and Fox, share your toys and make our geek dreams come true!

One day...
One day…

Catch The Wolverine in cinemas from July 25th!

The Last Days of Edgar Harding – 10 GPPs

Cristina Bogdan
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The Last Days of Edgar Harding – 10 GPPs

533769_10151385447834421_297716122_nThe Last Days of Edgar Harding is the kind of movie you will never hear about, unless you’re told where to look. One of the few independent British movies I’ve seen, it manages to actually captivate the audience from the very beginning. While the title gives away the most important event that takes places in the film -Edgar Harding’s death- the road to the event is winding and convoluted enough to leave you wondering where things are going. I did my best to guess what happens by looking at the trailer and the pictures that have peppered the internet for a while now, but the pieces of the puzzle have never quite come together the right way, not until I watched the whole thing.

I have to give credit to the writer (and director) Stephen Fox for that. He managed to make a script that actually grips the audience and keeps it glued to their seats, while at the same time making us, the viewers, want to avert our eyes from certain events- at least that was my personal experience with the movie. There was a point at which I had to pause it, take a breather and then start again.

The themes of the movie aren’t easy to digest; it delves into the darker nature of humanity, the extremes to which each one of us might be willing to go to, in order to keep what we consider our given right. There are no heroes in The Last Days of Edgar Harding, no villains either. It could be the story of every single one of us, if pushed into the turmoil of the right (or better said wrong) circumstances. It actually got me thinking about the many events we see in the news, events we are quick to judge, in a very subjective manner, even

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though we’ve never lived through a similar situation.

For the directorial debut of Stephen Fox it was done just right, especially considering the lack of a proper budget. The same monetary constraints have made the movie, which came out in 2011, wait for two years to get a DVD release. Due to some well deserved rise to fame of one of the actors, Daniel Sharman, it finally came out and it’s well worth the buy.  However, if you want to buy it solely to see him, you might end up a little disappointed, given that his part, while important doesn’t give him as much screen time as other characters get, despite what some of the promotional materials might lead you to believe.

It’s hard to say things about the movie without giving too much away, so I’ll keep it short and sweet. The four main characters reach the peaks of success in their most dire hour of need, but just how far are they willing to go when they might lose that? Will they still be the same by the end of it all? Richard Massara, Micahel Gamarano, Daniel Sharman and Carolynne Poole(Good) all give stunning performances, their reaction to the situations they’re thrown into making it seem all the more real, a nice balance between too much and not enough in terms of emotional displays. Wayne Russell also deserves a thumbs up, because his character’s shifts in between being affable and sweet and being next to evil are so sudden and shocking, despite there being little seeds planted since the very start that speak of the man hiding behind the mask. The rest you’ll have to discover yourself when you get the chance to see the movie.

Check out the trailer for the it below and if you’ve seen it, let us know what you thought about it.

http://youtu.be/Z7x77iY9UP4

King of Tokyo – 8 GPPs

Bevan Clatworthy
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King of Tokyo – 8 GPPs

Designers – Richard Garfield
Number of Players – 2 to 6
Publisher – Various

Straight to the Point – A simple, fun little game ideal for casual gamers or to start off a bigger gaming session, but can be repetitive without buying the expansions.


So this week I had the pleasure (read: fangasm) of watching Pacific Rim. Amid all the monsters wrecking skyscrapers and giant robots knocking ’em about with ocean liners, I was reminded of a cracking game where giant monsters and robots duke it out to be: King of Tokyo!

 

CyberKong!

KoT puts you in control of your giant monster of choice, be it a robot bunny, a mechanical dragon or enormous ape a la King Kong. Your aim in the game is to either accumulate 20 Destruction points, or batter all your opponents into submission.
Play begins with all players outside of Tokyo. The first player to roll a Whack goes into Tokyo. From then on, players roll dice (more on this below) to either accumulate energy, heal up, Whack the other players or just earn extra Destruction points. Only one monster can be in Tokyo at a time (unless you have 5 or 6 players, in which case you can have two). The benefit of being in Tokyo is that you earn Destruction points just for being there; also, any Whacks you make will hit ALL the players outside of Tokyo, meaning you can potentially KO all your opponents in one fell swoop! The downside? Players inside Tokyo cannot heal, and whenever players outside Tokyo get Whacks, they only hit the player inside Tokyo. You do get the option to leave Tokyo as soon as you are hit, but you have to weigh up whether you can survive long enough to earn Destruction points against getting your mega-butt handed to you by a giant panda!

As mentioned, the game runs using dice. Each turn, the player rolls the special set of 6-sided dice. Heart symbols give health, lightning bolts give the player energy and claws allow you to Whack the other players The other three sides feature the numbers 1, 2 and 3, and will score you Destruction points so long as you roll at least three of a kind (for example, three 1’s gives you 1 Destruction point, three 3’s give you 3 Destruction points). Players get to roll the dice three times during their turn; after each roll, the player can decide to keep all, some or none of the results rolled. After the third roll, the player has to keep the results they have.

Upgrades add variety to gameplay

Whacks drop other player’s health, healing raises your own health and Destruction points allow you to win the game. Energy is used to buy special upgrade cards; these give various bonuses when bought, such as extra Destruction points, or a second head (letting you roll 7 dice a turn instead of 6), or even flame breath, making you deal more damage each turn!

 

So the basic idea is pretty simple; roll dice, apply the results, buy upgrades and pass the dice on. Simple turns make for fast turns, so player down time is low. Combine this with the fact that the dice results can affect all players, not just the roller, you end up with everyone constantly at attention and committed to what’s going on. Play time is also shortish at between 30 to 60 minutes, making it the perfect game for warming up a gaming session, or whilst waiting for all your friends to turn up (you know who you are, Johnny-come-latelies!) or even for people who aren’t really ‘into’ boardgames.

The game itself features a 50/50 blend of luck and strategy. Rolling dice will always add chance to any game, meaning that unfortunate players can actually have turns where they accomplish nothing. This isn’t common, but such is the risk you take. For people who prefer their games with pure control, this game is not for you! The strategy element comes from the choice of which dice to keep, and whether to stay in Tokyo and rack up those Destruction points.

Well presented and beutifully illustrated

The upgrades add a much needed touch of variety to this game. Without them, the gameplay would rapidly become repetitive; all the monsters are effectively the same, having no special abilities of their own to make them unique. This was addressed somewhat in the first expansion (King of Tokyo: Power Up!), where each monster got a deck of Evolutions that were based on themselves (the giant lizard Gigazaur gets the Evolution “Tail Sweep”).

Presentation is crisp and cartoony. The images are high quality as are the components, the cards and dice feel ‘substantial’, like they can stand up to some gamer abuse without showing wear and tear. The colouring is bright and engaging without becoming garish. All the monsters bear cheeky resemblances to their B-movie parentage, so everyone’s favourites are here!

So all in all, a fun, simple and accessible gaming experience whilst being very pretty to look at. The only let down is the replayability; great for a once in a while play, but not one to base a whole evening’s gaming on.

Images courtesy of boardgamegeek.com and IELLO

London Anime Con – Event Schedule and Other Info

Phil_Matthews
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London Anime Con – Event Schedule and Other Info

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The organisers of the London Anime Con this coming weekend have provided us with more details on the event, including the schedule, ticket prices and various links. I will be there on behalf of Geek Pride, so if you’re there, be sure to say hello if you see me. Fellow GP Writer Kaela Quinn AKA Lady Noctis, will also be there as a cosplay panelist. Please see below for all the info you will need:

London Anime Con has just released their event schedule and highlights which can be viewed HERE. The event is set to have a majorly expanded lineup this 20-21 July which shall include a dozen of the best cosplay guests in the UK including the likes of AlienQueen and Sean Bonnar who have recently appeared on TV, X-Factor Finalist Kitty Brucknel performing live, two American voice-actors; Mike Pollock (Voice of Dr Eggman and Pokemon narrator) & David Vincent (voice of Grimmjow from Bleach and many other titles) and almost 30 other guests. 

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As part of the event’s focus on anime, cosplay and gaming, Gaming enthusists will not be disappointed by the expanded Video Gaming Zone. They can look forward to over 40 setups and over 100 games, with cash prize winning tournaments including DDR, Smash, Persona 4 Arena, SSIV, Mario Kart (both Wii and retro SNES), Goldeneye 64, Halo Reach, Gears of War Judgement, Naruto Ninja Storm 3, Modern Warfare 2 as well as Guitar Hero and Rockband. Namco-Bandai shall also be in attendance with Tales of Xillia available to play a week ahead of the game’s official launch. This is part of the Gamers Day event (in partnership with PS3attitude) which is raising money for GamesAid and involves a lot of other gaming partners such as GAME, Zen United, Insomnia Festival and Dragons Prophet. 

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The event is also being expanded to provide extra space both inside and outside. Additions include a Maid Cafe, provided by Ai My Maid. Other existing areas include two stages full of content such as live-music, quizes, the Cosplay Masquerade, the Otaku Fashion Show, cosplay talks, guest talks and much more besides. There shall also be an expanded Anime screening area with Highlights including Bleach the Movie 4, High School of the Dead, Death Game and For Love’s sake. 

Of course, the event shall also include a large number of anime exhibitors, an artist alley, cosplay photography, a TCG area and other areas too. 

You can buy discount tickets online until this coming Monday @ www.londonanimecon.com. Tickets shall also be available on the door at £12 for Saturday and £10 for Sunday. All tickets include entry up until 1am in the morning allowing you to attend the parties that go on till late at the event – giving you two events; a convention and a party rolled in to one. 

“This year’s London Anime Con shall be bigger and better than ever”, convention organiser Michael Towers explains, “we have our best guest lineup ever, and an expanded event with many new areas. Make sure you don’t miss out!” 

You can view the full guest list HERE 
You can read more about what the event has in store HERE 
Purchase your tickets for just £17 total for both days HERE

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Nightwing: Forever Evil

Laura Maier
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Nightwing: Forever Evil

This was brought to my attention by the beautiful DC Women Kicking Ass– and it’s seriously threatening to harsh my Harley-induced squee.

OMGNIGHTWINGNOOOOO

DC announced the Forever Evil mini-series last month; written by Geoff Johns with art from David Finch, it will contain -according to Johns- “literally everybody” from DC’s extensive cast of villains.  This a brilliant idea, and I’m super looking forward to it, but SO HELP ME DC IF YOU DO ANYTHING TO MY PRECIOUS NIGHTWING I WILL CRY.

I’m hoping he just goes through a dark night (heh) of the soul and comes out a stronger person.  That must be it.  They wouldn’t kill Nightwing… would they?

We will all find out in September.

SQUEE ALERT: Harley Quinn gets her own series!

Laura Maier
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SQUEE ALERT: Harley Quinn gets her own series!

DREAMS DO COME TRUE!!!

Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner are taking Harley out of the Suicide Squad and putting her back where she belongs- in her own shiny solo title!  An artist has yet to be announced, but Amanda has done the most adorable Harley cover EVER!

OMGHARLEYSQUEE

Look at her!  She looks like a roller-derby supervillain!  SO.  FREAKING.  EXCITED.

Read all about it in CBR’s interview with Amanda and Jimmy!

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