Mutant Chronicles (Movie Review)

I’d seen a trailer for this movie several months ago and was under the impression it would be released theatrically. The trailer impressed me and I was excited for a dark sci-fi/horror flick this summer. Imagine my surprise when I discovered this movie while channel surfing on the sci-fi channel! I missed about the first 8 minutes of the flick, but didn’t think I’d missed much exposition. I was excited to see the movie immediately and for free, but also instantly suspicious of its release on TV instead of theaters or even DVD first.

Starring Ron Pearlman, Thomas Jane and John Malkovich, none of these actors could rescue the movie from itself, though the flick was still interesting to watch for free. (The “Summer Of Free” reigns again!)

In “Mutant Chronicles”, our wars in the 28th century have broken the seal of a massive, evil machine that turns humans into mutant killers, who then hunt humans to kill and turn into mutants, rinse and repeat.

Humanity has collectively given up and is escaping to Mars, but a priest of unknown religious faith (though obviously inspired by Catholicism) believes that he has been chosen to lead a group of heroes into the earth to destroy the mutant-making machine.

The movie aims to have both style and substance. Obviously inspired by movies like “Sky Captain” and “Sin City”, this flick fills every shot with green screen backdrops and effects that did more to separate me from the action than draw me into it. The stylistic choices that make other green screen movies like “300” work were not implemented here, leaving us with lots of bells and whistles that mostly fall flat.

There is some exciting action and various effects in the movie look cool in their better moments. This movie had more special effects money thrown at it than any of the sci-fi channel’s usual Saturday night flicks. The visual design is also great, though in a few instances the colors are so drained that we are almost literally watching a black and white movie. Still, if you like dark visions of the future, you’ll find much to enjoy, visually.

Character performances are interesting enough during the movie, but instantly forgettable afterward. It’s all about the plot really, with some lip service given now and then to character development. Luckily, many genre fans don’t watch genre movies for character development.

Artistically, this movie has several elements that genre fans will enjoy, but only a precious few will give this a favored place in their DVD collection.

In terms of relevance, this movie seems interested in the topic of faith, bringing the concept up on several occasions. Those enjoying this movie will have multiple opportunities to springboard into meaningful conversation. Unfortunately, the movie has nothing of substance to say.

“Faith” is used in the same “Oprah”/pop-culture/fluff sense that carries no meaning or definition. Faith is good. We should have faith. At the climax of the film, a character who has been without faith the entire movie is told to “jump” from something very high, not knowing how he will survive. “Jump….jump… have faith.” He is told. This is clearly meant to be a moment of personal growth for the character. But no one(with one weak exception) suggests WHAT we should have faith IN.

The priest, early in the film, does implore another character to have faith in “mankind”, but this seems out of character, unless his religion worships mankind. (This didn’t seem to be the case, with multiple references to God and a Christian inspired “communion” service.) After all, didn’t mankind create the wars that woke up this evil machine? As I’ve mentioned in previous reviews, man is capable of both good and evil, but good is not our natural tendency (hence the need for laws, courts, lawyers, judges, contracts, prisons and policemen) so I’d hesitate to put any faith in humanity. Our record is highly suspect.

Regarding faith, one character is scolded for not reading the religious book that she believes in. She replies, “I don’t have to read it to believe that it’s true. That is the nature of faith.” It is? That sounds like “blind” faith to me. I think it’s worth remembering that faith, particularly as the word is used in the Bible, is not blind by nature. That’s why we add the qualifier “blind” when talking about faith that gives no regard to evidence. Biblically, the word faith is used much more the way we use the word “trust” today. I trust someone or something because they have EARNED my trust with a reliable track record of some kind. “Blind” faith may be the norm in some Christian circles, but it is not biblical.

Another inconsistency in the priest’s theology is when he says that everything comes from God. (Well, so far so good.) Then he immediately says that the evil mutants have their origin “from outside”, the implication being that they do NOT come from God. Therefore, in his theology, not EVERYTHING comes from God. Maybe I’m nitpicking, but given that we absorb ideas into our personal philosophies that originate in movies and pop-culture entertainment, it bears mentioning that his theology is self-defeating.

All in all, “Mutant Chronicles” is an interesting diversion if you don’t have to pay for it, and it provides several opportunities for meaningful conversation.

Quality: 7.0/10

Relevance: 8.0/10

Dragon Hunters (Movie Review)

For those sci-fi/fantasy geeks who are avoiding the inevitable "Bayish" Transformers movie this weekend, you mighyt enjoy renting "Dragon Hunters".

This CG animated flick runs 80 minutes and is no epic story or triumph of characterization. It's aimed at the Pixar fanbase and does a very good, though not flawless job of catering to that crowd.

The animation is excellent and the visual design is beautiful in addition to creative. In terms of production values, this movie stands next to any Pixar flick I've seen. With the right marketing, this might have been a great success theatrically. For whatever reason it was a direct to DVD release in America.

The story takes place in a wildly fantastic world of knights and dragons. The land consist of countless islands that float among the clouds, with bridges or various floating rock formations connecting them all. The flight pattern of these land masses is unsynchronized in some cases, resulting in wild criss-crossing and occassional collisions in the sky. The film betrays its foreign (French) origins by not explaining to us why the world is like this. This and many other creative wonders go unexplained.

This might be a downside for some, but younger viewers will probably just enjoy the ride as we are all meant to. (And the movie is not as "trippy" as Mirrormask, so most folks will be fine without getting all the "world-building" details.) Some adults will also appreciate the design and animation of the world and its inhabitants in ways that kids will totally miss. I confess, I would have like more details about the world, but not because the lack of them resulted in a weird experience for me. I want more details because the world really interested me and I would have liked to have known more! (There is a feature on the DVD that offers some of this however.)

The world is about to be destroyed by a massive (and I mean MASSIVE) dragon called "The World Gobbler" and a young girl who dreams of adventure ends up travelling with two unlikely heroes to vanquish evil and save the realm.

Lian-chu, voiced by Forest Whitaker, is a hunter-for-hire who enjoys knitting in his spare time while his small, brainy and rather mouthy partner, voiced by Rob Paulsen, gives him a hard time while coaching him through their various hunting gigs.

Whitaker brings nothing unique except a little star power to the role. Paulsen, whom many will remember as the 80's-90's "Raphael" on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon and "Yacko" on "Animaniacs", carries much of the story and delivers a few chuckles. The girl is actually voiced by a young girl, a welcome change from the all too common adult actor hamming it up and trying to sound like a kid.

The humor in this movie is odd at times and may catch you off guard. It's not near as well written as the average Pixar release, but still enjoyable. It also has a slightly darker feel than other flicks in this medium, but certainly no gore or serious violence.

Overall, the movie is beautiful and a fun (sometimes funny) ride that would have been served by a better script and a little more introduction to the world.

In terms of relevance to meaningful discussion, the movie deals with the issues of courage, death and "belief". The latter is touched on briefly and in the same vague way Oprah and Hollywood all handle it. We aren't told what to believe in, just to "believe", like some warm and fuzzy "wishing machine". No topics are dealt with in ways that will likely interest or provoke thought in adults, but probably provide doorways for parents to discuss these issues with their kids.

As a dad who plans to indoctrinate his kids with the world of fantasy and sci-fi, this will serve as a fun tool in a few more years.

Quality: 8.0/10

Relevance: 7.0/10 (for parents and their kids)

Comics Price Change

This month, Teen Titans went from $2.99 to $3.99 and my understanding is that other books will follow. And if Teen Titans is any indicator, books that normally have 22 pages (the DC standard) in the main story will now only have 20 while a 10 page backup story (which Didio is trying to market as a "second feature") is being added to the end.

As usual, Dan Didio is trying to convince us all that something that obviously sucks does not suck.

Yes, I know, it's just two pages. And the "Ravager" back-up might be a good story, in which case I'll be pleasantly surprised. But I know that won't always be the case and it just rubs me the wrong way that in addition to a price hike I'm getting two fewer pages of what I'm buying the comic for. The extra 8 pages of "total story" is kinda like playing the lottery, in my opinion. And I don't play the lottery.

I can understand that inflation and economic woes cause things like this to happen. And I'm sure writers will work hard to cram just a little more dialogue per page to compensate. But the loss of two pages still feels like rubbing salt in the wound. What would be so wrong with an 8-page story tacked on the back?

Why Can't I Cheat?

I am terrible at any game requiring hand-eye coordination. I played almost no games with any real interest when I had the original 8-bit Nintendo... until the invention of the Game Genie. Since then, cheat devices have opened up a library of games that would have been much too difficult and frustrating for me otherwise.

At one point, I started to hear a buzz that game companies like Nintendo were trying to fight against these cheat devices. I was thinking, "are you nuts? I've got five games in my collection that I only purchased BECAUSE of the Game Genie!"

As you may have guessed, I've purchased a cheat device for every system I've owned since then. Except for my 360. For some reason, I have not seen any cheat devices made yet for the 360, and it's kinda bugging me! There are some great looking games that I'd love to play, but I just don't have the required skills! Has Microsoft done this on purpose? Have they made it impossible to cheat on their games out of some misguided impression that they will save/make more money this way?

I could be wrong, but I don't see how they could lose more than they make by allowing cheat devices or even encouraging game makers to build in more cheats, as is common on PC games.

Oh well, I guess I'm trying to save money this summer anyway.

My Take On "Maple Story"

I finally got around to playing "Maple Story", the free online MMO. It strikes me as a cross between Super Mario and Final Fantasy (or some other sprite based SNES RPG). Thankfully, unlike Mario games, there are not bottomless pits to fall into over and over again. The platform jumping is fun and the combat and little fetch quests are oddly addicting.

I'm playing the game with a game controller using "joy2key" instead of the keyboard, as a game like this just feels wrong when playing on a keyboard. There don't seem to be a ton of skills to use as a fighter, so I've got plenty of buttons with room to spare on my controller.

So far, I don't see another shoe dropping. Y'know, the kind that would say "Hey, we're glad you've enjoyed playing for free, but if you want to advance past level 2, buy any decent equipment or go anywhere of real interest in this game, you have to pay us!" Hopefully I'll never hit that obstacle, because I'm enjoying the game, but refuse to invest any money in it.

I do have to complain about the install time, though. For some reason, this relatively simplistic (though beautiful) looking game took longer to install on my computer than more advanced games that I've installed in the past. It also has a lame password entry system that is a minor annoyance to use every time I log in.

Otherwise, it's a great diversion and scratches my itch for an action rpg that offers a different experience from my usual games.

Freeware Games!

Okay, I seriously dropped the ball by not mentioning this website on the podcast last weekend!

Freewaregames.net has hundreds of professionally made games that stack up graphically with the newest titles available for sale. Most of them have some kind of money spending option, however. Purchasing in-game items, unlocking more features etc.

I'm hoping to visit the site with some regularity and at least try to review some of the RPGs there. My computer won't run some of them, though, so we'll see. But if you're not an RPG fan, they have categories like: action, arcade, puzzle, strategy and sports as well!

So if you're a PC gamer and are looking for some free game options, I'd recommend snooping around this site!

Comic Storage Insanity!

Last week a file cabinet we ordered for comic book storage arrived and I finally made the time yesterday to put my comic books in it.

We'd purchased one like it before. It's about 4-5 feet tall and holds 8 long boxes. The new one was half that size and holds 4 long boxes. Or does it?

Although the new one is the same series, same color, same everything as far as we could tell (minus two drawers), something is clearly different. In both the realm of length and width, the long boxes were a tight fit in the original cabinet, and wouldn't quite make it with the new one. The comics also stand a little too high to close the drawers.

Alternatives all cost more than we want to pay, so after an afternoon of creative thinking, a box cutter, four bookends and some tape, I found a solution.

Not my idea of a fun Sunday afternoon, but at least growing stacks of comics are no longer infesting my room.

Descent Night!

I've got some buddies coming over tonight to play "Descent" with me. I don't often get to play with a group. Usually it's me as the Overlord and one other player controlling a group of four heroes.

Tonight, I will get to crush the hopes of three people at once! Bwahahahaaa!!

(But not too much. I need to be able to lure them back!)

The Summer Of FREE!

This week I realized that I've developed some bad spending habits when it comes to my "fun money" and have decided to significantly cut back on entertainment spending so I can effectively save up for some fun things coming in the fall.

To serve this goal, I am declaring this "The Summer Of Free"! Now, that doesn't mean I will only do things that are free. I still need my comic fix every week and there are a few movies remaining I really want to see. But I'm dropping a few comics (nothing super cool) and waiting for a few movies to rent(RedBox Only!) instead of see in theaters. (Sorry, "Lost World"!)

In addition, I'm looking to fill my time with stuff that doesn't cost me anything. I'm hoping this quest will also result in me finding some cool, free entertainment options that I can share with you (or that you might share with me!) so we can all be a part of the "Summer Of Free" together!

In case you're curious, I've included some notes I made for myself to fight off purchase temptation. Stuff I can do instead of spending money. Books, games or shows I have but haven't finished yet, along with some online options I know are out there but haven't fully explored yet. So if any of you catch me in line at Gamestop, feel free to remind me of the following:

Things you already have that you can do:

Diablo 2

KOTOR 2

X-men Legends 2

Neverwinter Nights ("Soul Shaker" if you want a "non-NWN" experience)

Read James Clemens books 3-5

Read Sonar and Wonder Woman back issues

Watch Supernatural seasons 2-3

Transfer Apologetics/Theological notes to wide margin Bible

Read ahead in Geisler's Systematic Theology volumes 2-4

Look for art images/links for homebrew fantasy RPG (Might find something to buy/license for the "Pilgrim" cover while you're at it!)

Print out Eldritch RPG Monster expansion and design some monsters



Things that are free online:

AdventureQuest!

Look for free RPGs online

Free games at g4tv.com?

Discover new/old shows/movies at hulu and similar websites

Being The Overlord

This week I'm trying out a game called "Overlord" on the Xbox 360. The control scheme is a little wonky, but I'm getting used to it and really loving the theme.

You play on the flip side of the fantasy coin. Your an Overlord who has just woken from a death slumber to discover your tower has been ransacked by heroes, your control of the land is lost and peace reigns everywhere. Blech!

Good thing you've got an endless supply of hopelessly loyal gremlins to follow you around, praise your name even as you kick them and do whatever your evil heart commands.

The game is mostly mischievous and not truly dark and I found myself laughing out loud multiple times so far. I've got a few more days to try it out before I make a decision, but hopefully it will be a keeper!

My Thoughts On E3

I watched a fair amount of E3 coverage this week, taking in some of the 3rd party developer coverage and all of the Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo press conferences.
This was my second year of watching G4's E3 coverage and although parts of it I really enjoyed, a good chunk of it I only a gave a little attention to. I'm primarily an RPG gamer. I like playing other games, but I'm laughably terrible at anything requiring hand-eye coordination and so usually only play non-RPGs if I have cheat codes. Since none of the current gen platforms have cheat devices (that I know of), my interest is very limited. Here are some of the highlights of the coverage I enjoyed or found interesting.

The most memorable items of the convention were the motion control innovations that the "big three" introduced.

Microsoft, as I blogged about earlier this week, introduced project Natal, a motion control add-on that captures the movements of players without the involvement of any controller.(Which they hyped as a major, competitive selling point.) The technical demonstration was impressive, involving a female participant who controlled an onscreen shadow of herself, batting and deflecting an onslaught of balls into a wall with the goal of destroying it. With very little delay (almost imperceptible) the screen version of the player responded and simulated the movements of her arms and legs and made it look like alot of fun. Natal also has face recognition capability and can log in players "on sight". From the get go, players navigate through the Xbox dashboard using hand movements. Neat stuff. Microsoft also demonstrated interaction with a virtual character named "Milo" using Natal, but it seemed a little too good to be real. I got the sense that there were a lot of holes they weren't telling us about and the interaction with "Milo" was staged to make us think he was a more complex bit of programming than he actually was. At the end of the day, however, if Microsoft can pull off even 80% of all they demonstrated with Natal, they'll be far enough along to make Nintendo very nervous. They may not catch up to the motion control quality that Nintendo has, but Natal may be good enough to keep future customers from thinking the Wii is their only option for immersive, motion-controlled gameplay.

Sony demonstrated a new motion control device that virtually "catches them up" to Nintendo, even given Nintendo's new device(more in a moment). Although clearly still in development, the Sony controller looked like a short rod(sound familiar?) that enabled players to control objects and events onscreen at a perfect, simultaneous, one-to-one ratio. At least I couldn't perceive any delay, though I was a casual viewer.

This toy looked like a ton of fun, especially when it was used in connection with an "eye-toy" like camera to put the player on screen and place weapons and objects directly into his hand, in place of the controller. Swords, guns... if only they could have demonstrated a lightsaber! I'd imagine looking at myself onscreen, live, waving around a lightsaber would involve a major amount of geeking out. As it was, the technology was very impressive and clearly takes motion control to the next level. Whether or not it works when grabbed off of the store shelf, however, will be another matter.

Lastly, Nintendo unveiled an add-on called the Wii-motion plus. Basically, it converts the current Wii controller into a more precise one-to-one controller like the one demoed by Sony. While I thought Nintendo's demonstration was the least interesting in this department, it also looked like theirs was nearly ready for store shelves and I would guess, at this point, that the quality wil be the most reliable if all three companies release their new toys at the same time.

I kept my eyes open for info on new games coming out. Although the fanfare was a little lame, and no gameplay footage was revealed, Bioware did premiere a trailer for their upcoming MMO, "Star Wars: The Old Republic". It was awesome. It looks like this is just planned for PC at the moment, which is a shame, since I'm sure my computer won't run it when it comes out. But if it gets a release on the 360, it may just finally be the MMO for me. Not that I'm a die-hard Star Wars fan, but I really enjoyed Bioware's "Knights Of The Old Republic" Xbox game and I'm STILL playing and geeking out over "Neverwinter Nights" going on almost two years now.

Bioware also showed some gameplay footage for their dark fantasy RPG coming this fall entitled "Dragon Age: Origins". This game has been on my radar for a few months now, and I liked what I saw. They described it as their darkest and most violent RPG to date, which is always nice if accompanied by a gratifying story. Luckily, these guys have a history of delivering in that department as well. October cannot possibly get here soon enough.

The trailer for Final Fantasy 13 looked very cool and between the press conference and G4's VERY brief and unrevealing "hands-on" coverage, we did get a sense of the battle system, which is described as "command-based". The developers seemed to avoid the term "turn-based" at every opportunity, but the game still had a more turn-based look than Final Fantasy 12. Something I'm very grateful for. It also looks like the story, while grand and somewhat political, will focus more on a small group of characters. Although I was surprised by and loved alot about Final Fantasy 12, the story never pulled me in because I couldn't keep track of the characters or their titles. "Vice Archbishop This" and "Confederate Delegator That" all just becomes noise to me after a little while. Final Fantasy 13 looks like it will be a tighter group focus, like most Final Fantasy games have been, and less of a politically driven story. Summons, spells and the other goodies you expect from Final Fantasy all seem to be intact and the graphics and world design were beautiful and dark at the same time. Sounds great to me!

All in all, I'm excited for what's coming, but hope I'll have a few more options aside from the two RPGs mentioned. Meantime, I may have to start saving up for a small, reasonably priced high-def TV for my upstairs office/gameroom!

Nintendo Beware!

If you haven't been watching the E3 convention online or on G4, you missed an announcement and tech demo that probably has Nintendo sweating a little bit.

Microsoft introduced an add-on for the 360 that allows players to interact with and play games without any controller whatsoever! It also has face recognition and can log players on as soon as they step into view! They are calling this new technology "Project Natal", and it looks pretty impressive!

In the live demonstration, a player controlled a shadow version of themselves on the screen which mirrored her movements and allowed her to interact with digital balls and deflect them toward a wall in order to break it. A sort of virtual reality "Breakout" game.

Nintendo demonstrated an add-on to the Wii controller that will make it more precise and Sony demonstrated a controller in development that basically catches up to Nintendo's controller add-on.

Only time will tell if Natal can deliver (tech demos are just tech demos after all), but if they do, it will be a crushing blow to Nintendo and Sony.

I'm too lazy to find the link, but if you want to see the video yourself, just google "E3 2009 Microsoft Press Conference" and you'll find a couple viewing options.

E3 '09

Today, as I watch my son and try to get some work done, I'm also watching coverage of E3 '09, the annual showcase of the video game industry and its upcoming games and innovations. So far, not bad. Today is Microsoft's day to try and impress. I'm a 360 owner and haven't seen a ton yet to interest me, though I'm pretty narrow in my gaming interests. (Anything requiring hand-eye coordination I avoid, unless a cheat device is available.) But the announcement that Square-Enix is shooting for a spring release of Final Fantasy 13 on 360 was pretty cool. If that works out, and Dragon Age Origins plays as awesome as it has looked so far, I'll be back in console heaven again for close to a year!

Oop! This game looks kinda cool. Gotta go!