It was quite a shock to hear that Halo: Reach would be the last Halo game Bungie would make. When the video game development company released Halo: Combat Evolved for the original Xbox, they launched a franchise that would redefine first-person shooters and sci-fi games for the next generation. Subsequent sequels like Halo 2 and Halo Reach helped further the storytelling and the revolutionary world that was built in the first game.

So when Microsoft put together a team of developers to oversee the continuation of the Halo franchise, they knew they had big shoes to fill and expectations to meet. Could anyone else craft a story and improve on the gameplay that Bungie had honed? Would they stay faithful to what had come before? 343 Industries, the new company taking over Halo, was able to quell some of those fears and doubts by releasing a beautifully remastered HD version of the original Halo game. A faithful recreation with updated graphics. But, for any of those that still doubt, below is a short documentary by 343 Industries that peers into the making of Halo 4, the company’s first original entry to the franchise, coming this holiday season.

Source: IGN, YouTube

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Yes you read correctly! The metal crushing, transforming, perfectly made for CGI robots in disguise will be on the big screen once more! Micheal Bay confirmed this himself on his own website in fact. The original human cast will not be in this one, and that makes me wonder if we will see new Transformers as well. At least the fourth installment will re-unite the film-making team from the hit franchise. Which could either make you jump for joy or jump off a building.

Source: MichaelBay.com

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When I was growing up, I loved playing chess. I was also addicted to comics and drawing. I never thought I would see both of my loves together. Much thanks to DC for creating such an amazing product. It really does make sense when you think about it.

The DC Chess collection is apart of a new series giving fans of comics and chess the chance to play as with some of the best known heroes and villains ever to move on a chess board. You also get to collect amazingly detailed chess pieces with a neat magazine featuring awesome DC artwork, character info and cool chess tips.The chess pieces themselves, are sold separate of each other and the amazing looking chess board. But as a Batman fan, this is a must have. No questions asked. If you live in the UK, you get the board as a free gift. You can order the collection at your local comic book store. I would advise you to do that asap. Batman is a busy vigilante.

Source: eaglemoss.com

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I honestly was wondering just what made this by-the-books thriller good enough to catch the eyes of Universal and the stars in this flick. Maybe it’s the material? Or maybe it’s the pay check? Wait, that’s definitely what it is.

Swedish director Daniel Espinosa makes his American debut with a flick that isn’t quite as bad as I thought it would be mainly because the action is actually tense and fun to watch. With the use of the South African locations here, Espinosa is able to include some very original car chases, gun shoot-outs, and hand-to-hand combat scenes that actually bring a ton of energy to the film and enhance the plot a lot more. There is a lot of action to be seen here but instead of just throwing it at us, it feels like its deserved as everything in the story starts to pick up quickly.

My only problem with most of these action scenes isn’t that they aren’t fun, it’s just that it feels like Espinosa is trying too hard to make them even more vicious than they already with the dreaded shaky-cam that everybody, myself included, loves (note the sarcasm). The hand-held camera itself moves around like crazy when the action is going on, which is common, but it’s really annoying when it starts zooming-in and out constantly when it’s just people talking. It’s also worse when the film tries to go for that gritty feel and there’s the limited color-palette on the camera itself so everything looks as if it was filmed in the hottest and sweatiest place around. I don’t know if this director thinks that being like Tony Scott is the way to be considered great in America, but he better abandon that idea cause I can’t remember the last time that I actually liked a Tony Scott thriller.

Another problem that doesn’t have to do with the action scenes is the screenplay. Obviously I don’t go into these action thrillers expecting people to start spouting out wonderful pieces of poetry but the problem isn’t that when these people talk it’s annoying, it’s more or less the fact that the film is a little too serious. There are barely any jokes here at all, except for maybe 2 or 3 but maybe I just laughed, and the film tries way too hard to get us to care about these characters by making it a lame character drama. The film wants us to feel something for Reynold’s character the whole time so they just keep on bringing his story back to his French girly-friend, played by Nora Arnezeder. The other problem is that this type of film has been done time and time again and with the first hour, there’s nothing really knew brought to the table here except for the cool action sequences themselves.

However, by the time the first hour is over, the film starts to pick up the slack and becomes more exciting and twisty as it goes on. There are a couple of twists here and there that had me scratching my head at first, but I started to understand what was actually going on and it made the story a hell of a lot more interesting. Even though, the relationship between Washington and Reynolds is another one of those “older and black wise guy teaches young white rookie the way of life” that Denzel has done many times before, the relationship between them starts to grow on you and by the end, you really feel like they both learned something from each other even though it may seem a bit far-fetched when you think about it the first time.

Speaking of these guys, both of them are pretty good here except they have been better. Ryan Reynolds is good as Weston, and has a lot of scenes where he seems like he could really kick as much ass as he has been doing for the whole film and it’s definitely really easy to get behind him. This is a very demanding role physically for Reynolds and I think he pulls it off very well but I do wish he could have given off a side-crack every once and awhile. Denzel Washington is playing the anti-hero role again that’s reminiscent of the ones he’s played in ‘American Gangster’ and his Oscar-winner ‘Training Day’ and he’s still great at playing that role. Denzel is so slick, so cool, and so charming that every scene he has, he just owns but I couldn’t help thinking that this character could have been a whole lot meaner. I mean I could never actually think of this character being the stone-cold assassin all of these other characters made him out to be considering he doesn’t kill that many people except for the ones that are trying to kill him. Thankfully though, we all at least got to see the Denzel smile that we all love so much.

The other key supporting performances here are done by Vera Farmiga, Brendan Gleeson and Sam Shepard who give play-by-play on what’s essentially going on in the field and it’s three performances that are just there and not doing anything else other than spitting out all of this exposition and jargon that we don’t really care about. Pretty disappointing from to see these three doing such small roles like this but they’ll probably be doing something better in the future.

Even though there are plenty more films out there that are just like this, and probably a hell of a lot better, Safe House still features some very fun, gritty, and exciting action that adds a lot to its twisty story, as well as does the lead performances from Reynolds and Washington who do very well together, even if they have been better. Grade: C+

Universal Pictures presents: “SAFE HOUSE.” Directed by Daniel Espinosa. Written by David Guggenheim. Starring: Denzel Washington, Ryan Reynolds, Vera Farmiga, Brendan Gleeson, Sam Shepard and Robert Patrick. Rated “R” for strong violence throughout and some language. Running Time: 117 minutes.

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This is a repost from the awesome Robot 6, just thought that this was shocking news and wanted to share it with everyone. And again this is not in my own words, Robot 6 wrote:

[robot6.comicbookresources.com]

“The U.S. Justice Department and the FBI on Thursday shut down the popular file-sharing site Megaupload, seized $50 million in assets and charged its founder and six others with running an international enterprise based on Internet piracy that’s cost copyright holders at least $500 million in lost revenue. The FBI has begun extradition proceedings in New Zealandto bring company founder Kim Schmitz, aka Kim DotCom, to the United States. He and three other associates are being held without bail until Monday, when they’ll receive a new hearing. Three others remain at large. They face a maximum of 20 years in prison.

News of the shutdown was met with retaliation by the hacker collective Anonymous, which attacked the websites of the Justice Department and the Motion Picture Association of America.

Founded in 2005, Megaupload allowed users to anonymously transfer files like movies and music and, certainly on a much smaller scale, comic books. The Hong Kong-based company, which reportedly employed as many as 155 people, is said to have made $175 million from ads and premium subscriptions. According to the indictment, DotCom, whose assets apparently include a fleet of cars, took in $42 million from the operation in 2010.

Before Megaupload was taken down, the company posted a statement on its website claiming that allegations it facilitated massive breaches of copyright are “vastly overblown”: “The fact is that the vast majority of Mega’s Internet traffic is legitimate, and we are here to stay. If the content industry would like to take advantage of our popularity, we are happy to enter into a dialogue. We have some good ideas. Please get in touch.” [USA Today, The New York Times, CNET]“

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Hello there comic book lovers, if you haven’t heard already DC comics has changed their logo. Media and design website Fast Company revealed the final version the new logo, which was created to be animatable for movies and TV. The  logo, reportedly, has been in the works for nearly a year, and will debut on comic book covers this March. This peel-back logo replaces the “DC Spin” created in 2005, which was preceeded by the “DC Bullet” created in 1977. 

The design reveals a variety of effects, design elements and other colorful twists on the logo.  For example these varieties include for the  Watchmen comics, a yellow-with-blood-splatter design,  presumably the design will appear on the new Watchmen prequel comic books. The design is impressive, and below you can see a few more examples for yourself.

Be on the look out for the design in March, hopefully everyone is keeping up with the new DC titles. Have Fun Reading!

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• DC Comics New Logo (geekxlovin.wordpress.com)

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Charlize Theron and Idris Elba star in "Prometheus"

Sir Ridley Scott, the visual genius behind a number of award winning films, (including Bladerunner and Alien) caused a massive fuss when he implied that he his upcoming sci-fi epic, Prometheus would not be an Alien prequel.

Rumors of a new entry into the Alien franchise were confirmed in 2008, when Fox announced that Ridley Scott would be attached to an “Alien reboot” of sorts. One that would explore the origins of the “Space Jockey”, a creature who’s remains appeared in the original Alien film as the dead pilot of an ancient spaceship. According to Sir Ridley however, during the screenwriting process much of that changed. Said the director:

“While ‘Alien’ was indeed the jumping-off point for this project, out of the creative process evolved a new, grand mythology and universe in which this original story takes place. The keen fan will recognize strands of ‘Alien’ ‘s DNA, so to speak, but the ideas tackled in this film are unique, large and provocative. I couldn’t be more pleased to have found the singular tale I’d been searching for, and finally return to this genre that’s so close to my heart.”

A new universe? An original story? A singular tale? The internet was up in arms for some time about the possibility that this new film wouldn’t be connected the 1979 horror masterpiece at all. Fortunately, one look at the very short, taut trailer puts to rest any doubts that Prometheus fits in as part of the Alien franchise. The trailer screams Alien by using similar style titles and sound effects from the original Alien trailer as well as some very specific shots that all but guarantee Prometheus’s plot ties into Alien’s somehow.

What Ridley Scott’s words do imply, quite to our delight, is that his return to the genre will be more than just a space horror story. He’ll explore questions of our creation: Why are we here? Where did we come from? What came before? What does it mean for our future? Some very heavy stuff. Like “2001 A Space Oddessy,” this film features classic sci-fi themes. Add in Scott’s flair for the visual and his great pacing and timing instincts when it comes to horror. In other words, if it’s possible for a space thriller to be better than Alien, Prometheus will show us how it’s done. Says screenwriter Damon Lindelof: “It’s daring, visceral and, hopefully, the last thing anyone expects.”  As for how will it all ties back into the original Alien film? The only way to know for sure is to be at your local theater on June 8, 2012.

Prometheus will star Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Idris Elba, Benidict Wong and Guy Pierce. The film is written by Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof and is directed by Ridley Scott. It hits theaters on June 8th, 2012.

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And all by himself.

Billy Rodriguez writes, directs and stars in the C.U.F.F. 2011 winner for Best Film by a 2-year Student in the Approx. 2 minute Category.

See more work from Billy Rodriguez at his Vimeo channel, here.

(Warning: Language.)

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Paula Patton as Jane Carter in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

Right to the point. The fourth Mission Impossible movie is good. Very  good. So good as an action thriller, in fact, that it’s the only movie released this year that wouldn’t be completely overshadowed by a 7 minute preview of The Dark Knight Rises.

A series of events lead to the death of an IMF agent, the loss of nuclear launch codes and the destruction of the Kremlin in Moscow. Russia blames the U.S. The president blames the IMF and the entire agency is disavowed. It’s up to Ethan Hunt and his team to sort the whole thing and clear their own names by finding the person responsible.

Unlike previous installments of Mission Impossible, this film isn’t the Tom Cruise show. It’s the first movie where the rest of the team matters. And the cast helps make this movie such a standout. Female lead Paula Patton possibly upstages Cruise as Jane Carter, a sexy field agent who’s motives for finishing their mission are very personal. Jeremy Renner stars as William Brandt, IMF chief analyst, who finds himself on the team after an unfortunate incident changes his circumstances. And Simon Pegg returns from the previous installment as Benji Dunn, the computer expert who’s finally passed the field test.

Unlikely director Brad Bird, who helmed Pixar’s amazing film The Incredibles, demonstrates here that he is as adept at crafting live action as he is animated action. The set pieces in this film are insanely intense, suspenseful and enthralling. Far more so than average action films. The key ingredient to turning each of these scenes into highlights is the stroke of fallibility that Brad Bird and screenwriters André Nemec and Josh Applebaum give the characters. It’s a brilliant strategy actually. All of the characters, including Hunt, slip, fall, miss, forget, keep secrets, make mistakes, argue, fight, and get scared. In other words, these characters are human. Their humanity instantly raises the stakes and creates a real and healthy fear that they might fail.

And while these characters’ humanity is the key ingredient to the movie’s success, it’s not the only one. The stunning, mile high IMAX cinematography makes this film a true visual experience. A sequence that takes place along the side of the Burj Kalifa in Dubai is one of the most jolting and vertigo inducing scenes ever shot thanks to 70mm film or “IMAX” format. Likewise, the imaginative staging of a chase scene during a sandstorm will have viewers leaning forward in their seats to see anything moving as it also presents heavy challenges for the characters involved.

Brad Bird displays a great feel for pacing in Ghost Protocol. The exciting scenes come one after another, with few quiet moments between. But the scenes themselves often unfold by gradually building to a climax. Then the next scene starts all over again. Ghost Protocol’s intensity is only matched by it’s humor. The interplay between each of the actors provides for well timed comic relief after some of the more heart-pounding scenes. Tom Cruise, playing it straight and super serious as the team leader is perfectly balanced by Simon Pegg’s bright eyed character, who’s thrilled to just be out of the office.

Of course you’d expect the guy who made The Incredibles to do a solid directing job. But it’s refreshingly surprising to see the fourth film in a franchise is also a very good film. It’s no big deal that the final act runs a few minutes too long, or that the main villain gets only minimal screen time. Brad Bird, taking his first crack at Hollywood live action, handles it like something he’s been doing since time immemorial. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol has a classic “Bond” or “North by Northwest” feel to it. It’s smart and visually grand. Certainly the best action film this year.  Grade: A

Paramount Pictures presents: “Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol.” Directed by Brad Bird. Written by André Nemec and Josh Appelbaum. Starring: Tom Cruise, Paula Patton, Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner, Michael Nyqvist and Tom Wilkinson. Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense action and violence. Running time: 133 minutes.

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