Category: Musings

Before There Were The Hunger Games, There Was Battle Royale

Yeah, so last week, I picked up the Battle Royale Complete Collection. Have yet to see the second film or the first film’s theatrical cut, but the Director’s Cut was pretty damn brutal… in a good way. I’ve been wanting to see this film for ages (even settling for the manga at one point) due to its somewhat controversial nature and I’m pleased to say that it’s been worth the wait. Tremendously enjoyable with students killing each other in many brutal ways and I’m generally not into gory stuff in general. I’m not going to say a whole lot here; only that there’s a good story in there, there’s an insightful message if you’re willing to look deep, and it is a powerful haunting depiction of a future that could have been… and perhaps can still be.

Will shed some thoughts on the second movie when I get the chance to watch, but the original Battle Royale is definitely one that met my expectations and worth the long anticipated wait.

Need For Speed Gets A Movie… And Nobody Cared.

Before we get into it, here’s the source article of the news… and the Moviebob blog post in question.

So, according to Moviebob, there’s going to be a Need For Speed movie under development and Bob is apparently pissed that it’s not a “classic” video game franchise getting the movie treatment. Because, you know, the world is clamoring for a poorly made Metroid movie or something. Then again, I don’t think anyone was clamoring for another car movie to be made. What does Need For Speed have exactly that you can’t already find in other films such as, say, The Fast And The Furious?

Considering the movie industry’s track record in converting a largely interactive medium into feature films, I like to think that a lot of these franchises that are far more “worthy” of being adapted are fortunate not to suffer such a misstep. Aside from that, some franchises simply wouldn’t work as high-budgeted Hollywood productions considering their fantastical nature and the limited scope and vision of some of these producers. Ask yourself this; is it really worth turning Zelda into a Lord Of The Rings knockoff just so we can get a movie based on it? Is it really worth watching a Castlevania film degrade into depths that isn’t worth exploring?

Comic book movies are sort of reaching that level of respect to the source material that they’re true to the spirit of the original comics – the recent string of Marvel movies are good examples. Video game movies still have a long way to go if they’re going to get that same respect, especially if duds like DOA: Dead Or Alive, Legend Of Chun-Li, and the endless stack of Uwe Boll travesties are anything to go by.

TMNT Games?

A friend was asking me the other day why I haven’t touched any of the TMNT games I owned for review, especially one that has been the subject of a past Grumble, Grumble commentary. The only answer I gave him is that I’m waiting for the right time… whenever that happens to be. For those who are wondering what games I have, here’s a quick list off the top of my head.

  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES and PC MS-DOS)
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game (NES)
  • Teeange Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project (NES)
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles In Time (SNES)
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters (SNES)
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters (Genesis)
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall Of The Foot Clan (GB)
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Back From The Sewers (GB)
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (PS2)
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Battle Nexus (PS2)
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Mutant Nightmare (PS2)
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash Up (PS2 and Wii)
No guarantee that all of these games are up for review anytime soon, but I am going to do some of them… when the time comes.

The AVGN Movie Controversy

What you’d call questionable donation methods, I’d call smart business. He knew there’d be fans willing to fork over cash for this project, so he set up a donation drive and got that cash… and apparently made quite a bit of profit before the movie’s even finished. And now those same people who made donations to this movie will undoubtedly make another donation by purchasing a copy of the movie, which means even more profits lining the pockets.

Clever. Devilishly clever.

Wondering what I’m talking about? Here’s the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imw0Onw162c&

Should I chime in? Is it too late?

Oh wait, I already did.

A Sad Truth

Cinemassacre.com posted former DVD extra of young Jimmy Rolfe “reviewing” video games, which seems more like running commentary than actual reviewing. Watching this video, a sad truth comes to mind;

Little Jimmy Rolfe is a better reviewer and more entertaining than the Angry Video Game Nerd.