1) The new album by Beach House, Bloom, is pretty good even though it feels more like a slightly different sequel to Teen Dream than the next step in the band's evolution. Don't get me wrong, it's almost as good as Teen Dream. Perhaps the best parallel is Radiohead's Kid A and Amnesiac; both are great, but the former came first and felt newer/fresher even if many prefer the latter.
2) After spending most of their career using as little instrumentation as possible, and falling more often than not on the dour side of things, The Walkmen have recruited producer Phil Elk and guest Robin Pecknold of Fleet Foxes to help them expand their sound. The result is arguably the band's best record yet, Heaven.
3) The titles of the new Beach House and The Walkmen albums should be switched. Heaven should be a place of relative stagnation but enjoyment (more like how Beach House's new one feels), whereas Bloom is more fitting for the by turns majestic and uplifting Walkmen record.
4) You should immediately go listen to all the Felt that you can. Such an underrated, under-known band.
5) I've slowly become addicted to Beach Fossils. Their new single, Shallow/Lessons, is fantastic, and I'm definitely anticipating their forthcoming sophomore record with increasing impatience.
6) The Horrors and The Drones are also underrated and under-known bands. The Horrors's Primary Colours sounds like a combination of Liars and My Bloody Valentine. The Drones recorded Gala Mill at the titular mill in an isolated area of Australia, and the atmosphere of that environment permeates these songs. The Drones sound most to me like the rock guitar side of Sun Kil Moon and the impassioned side of Nick Cave combined with bare bones, distorted Spiderland guitars as engineered by Steve Albini.
7) Bardo Pond's 'Back Porch' and 'Tommy Gun Angel' kick incredible amounts of ass.
8) The Days Of Wine & Roses by The Dream Syndicate is a perfect amalgamation of Velvet Underground and The Feelies-esque jangle-pop.
9) Sufjan Steven's Age Of Adz gets better with time.
10) How I Met Your Mother is my new favorite sitcom. Imagine a modern version of Seinfeld, with all the wit, neurotic characters, made up words and terms, and odd misadventures that implies, but actually much better than that comparison makes it sound.
11) Predator 2, as with Ghostbusters 2, is an unfairly maligned sequel to a classic film.
Showing posts with label Predator. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Predator. Show all posts
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Halloween: Film Round-Up 5
Underworld: Evolution (2006)While I liked the original Underworld, it had too much of a "vampires and werewolves meet The Matrix" vibe about it. The sequel is less bullet time-y, thankfully, though I've now watched the movie two full times and recall very little of substance to talk about. There is a needless sex scene, which so many horror movies seem to find necessary, as well as a rote "main character turns out to be really important after having a mysterious past" plot. Anyway, the ending of this movie effectively kills off all vampires and werewolves, which is ludicrous to the core even though the only difference it makes is that all future entries in the franchise will be prequels.
Species (1995)Underused H.R. Giger creature designs and nightmare sequences! Natasha Henstridge's tits! Forest Whitaker's creepy droopy eye and pseudo-psychic abilities! Michael Madsen as a jerk! Poor pacing and a lame ending that leaves open a sequel, though the actual sequel totally ignores this set-up! Truly, Species has it all.
Salem's Lot (1979)Unbeknownst to me, this is a TV mini-series and not a movie. Oh well. I've finally got around to reading some Stephen King, and this series does an admirable job of adapting his style to film. I'm probably alone in this, but I found the main vampire dude to be scary. Something about how fake he looks effectively made him creepier. A paradox, I suppose. Anyway, Salem's Lot is a great vampire story that takes its time and has sub-plots that don't really go anywhere, along with an 'open' ending that doesn't quite resolve the action. But these are hallmarks of the King style, so, bravo!!
Predator 2 (1990)Call me crazy, but I've always liked Predator 2 more than the first movie. Something about the tone it strikes has always felt 'right' to me, the way it combines extreme violence and profanity with characters who have character and an over-the-top climax chase sequence with a smattering of cartoony comedy. I dunno, it just works for me. The always fabulous and crazy Gary Busey plays a suitably over the top government agent, and something about the way he and his team die in a slaughterhouse has stuck with me as an iconic idea for awhile. For what it's worth, I think it's hilarious that the film's idea of what L.A. would be like in 1997 is closer to what L.A. was like in '91-'94, insofar as gang violence goes.
The Exorcist (1973)Though still a bit unnerving, I don't think this movie is all that scary. The random flashes of Captain Howdy's ugly mug are more terrifying to me than a little girl writhing in a bed, saying horrible things to priests or talking in backwards Latin. Whatever. I really think this one's a matter of perspective, though, because it's 35 years old and so many other horror films have happened since--not to mention, so many parodies--that its impact has been dulled. I also suspect that the entire film is an excuse to scare people into converting to Catholicism, but I know it wasn't the filmmaker's intention so...
Dawn of the Dead (2004)A lot of people seemed to hate this remake, but I've seen both films and think this one's appropriate for its time period. I will say that the original does a much better job with actual satire and social commentary, but George Romero is the only one who seems to be able to pull it off with zombies. Dawn of the Dead, the 2004 version, is a competent zombie flick and has some great action set pieces. I recommend checking out the DVD extra which has the video diary of the gun store owner who lives across from the mall. I wish more films did this kind of thing. If I think the movie could have lost anything, it was the zombie baby subplot. I'd like to think that we live in a world where people realize what zombies are and act like, and that you can't do anything for your friends, family, and neighbors except put them out of their misery.
Constantine (2005)This movie came out on my 21st birthday in 2005, so I take it as a personal affront that it's not very good. It certainly starts out OK, but by the end of the film it's a ridiculous mess that, from what I've read, has almost nothing to do with the graphic novel(s) it's based on. That, combined with the fact that Keanu Reeves is a terrible actor and basically plays Neo from The Matrix in every film, made me hate this movie by its end. Constantine effectively says that the evil side is incredibly powerful and can get away with all kind of stuff while the good side does nothing, especially since it isn't God who saves the day but Satan. If we're supposed to believe God is all powerful and can destroy all of reality with no effort at all, why does it seem like the 'good guys' in this film are powerless, aloof, and dogmatic idiots?? Also, like The Exorcist, it's got an undercurrent of Catholic-recruitment (not to mention, anti-smoking), so...eh.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
The Videogame Solipsist: 32 and onward Halloween Edition
Silent Hill 3 (PS2)Though I still think of the second entry in the series as the best, I also really liked Silent Hill 3. I know people seem to have problems with this game, largely stemming from its brevity and a somewhat irritating plot that ties in to the first game, but for my money, it's still damn good. The cold opening of the game, thrusting you into a haunted amusement park with no idea of what's going on, is pretty memorable. I played through the entire game in one day and haven't revisited it since, so I don't have much to say about it.
Silent Hill 2 (Xbox)
Resident Evil 3 (Playstation)Resident Evil 3 is kind of like the odd man out of the series, since the team who made the much loved second game went on directly to Resident Evil: Code Veronica (a game I've never played much of because it just seemed like more of the same) and another group worked on RE3, reportedly at the behest of the American arm of Capcom who saw dollar signs spin in their eyes like 1940s cartoon characters after the success of RE2. The mechanics of RE3 are a bit more action-y than the other pre-RE4 games, new additions which I never quite mastered because I could never time the 'dodge' or 'side step' correctly. The best part about this game was the Nemesis, pictured above, who followed you throughout the game, attacking you at what seemed to be random points, in the process creating a real sense of your character being hunted that no other game has given me. I think there were something like nine different times in the game you could fight him, and he represented an interesting risk vs. reward concept because you got good stuff off of him if you managed to down him. Anyway, RE3 is a good, overlooked survival horror game, and one who's more action-y gameplay inadvertantly spelled out the direction of the future of the series.
Resident Evil 2 (Playstation)I really hope that someday the Resident Evil series gets back to the 'dual scenario' idea, because I loved the way, in RE2, you chose between two different characters who had wildly different plots through the game yet intersected at various points. Each character also had 'A' and 'B' scenarios, so if you played, say, Leon's scenario first, your actions in that playthrough would affect Claire's subsequent 'B' scenario. I must've play through RE2 at least three times fully, through each of the characters' scenarios. The only thing I don't like about this game anymore is the awkward tank controls. It's hard to go back once you've played RE4, which is admittedly designed around action and big set piece battles, and thus doesn't have the steady, deliberate tension building of RE 1 and 2. Speaking of...
Resident Evil (Gamecube)I never got all that far in the original release of Resident Evil for Playstation, but the Gamecube remake was excellent. It's interesting to remember just how convoluted and difficult the first Resident Evil was: there's a lot of inventory juggling, backtracking, and frustrating combat to slog through. Though it is spooky and terrifying (the addition of those huge sharks in the remake was a brilliant touch), it's impossible for me to go back to RE1, remake or otherwise. Actually, it's a great game to watch playthroughs or speed runs of, mostly because it'll give you a good idea of how far the series (and survival horror) has come.
Half-Life (PC)This one is debateable, since there are large portions of this game that are mainly shooting or puzzle solving. I would argue that there's something very survival horror-y about it nonetheless. You're in a government installation that gets invaded by cross dimensional aliens, who slowly kill everyone and make it as difficult as possible for you to escape not only them but the government forces sent in to clean up. You may not remember Half-Life 1 as a particularly scary game, but keep in mind that you're given a flashlight for a reason. Give the first few areas of the game another go and I think you might see what I mean.
Doom 3 (PC)I'm in the minority on this, but I totally bought into the atmosphere and terror of Doom 3. I actually think it did the whole 'extradimensional creatures taking over a government lab' thing better than Half-Life, mostly because the demons are actively transforming the base rather than just showing up to kill people. I also love the Mars setting along with the whole backstory of artifacts and such on the planet, as well an extinct alien race. As with Half-Life, this one is debateable whether it's survival horror or not, though I would argue it's actually trying to be scary most of the time whereas Half-Life just happens to be by chance as much as design. Maybe the flashlight mechanic (borrowed from Half-Life??) was annoying and the constant monster closets were more 'jump' scares than anything....but I still liked Doom 3 a lot. It still belongs on a list of 'Halloween' games, y'know??
Aliens Vs. Predator (PC)The original Aliens Vs. Predator for PC was pants-pissingly-scary to me. While playing as the tough Predator, the Aliens are merely creepy and annoying. While playing as the weaker Colonial Marine, they are nightmare inducing. I can't tell you how scary I thought this game was, since I was and remain a huge fan of the Alien film franchise and often had dreams about the creatures without the help of a game that let me experience them in first person. So, yeah. Nightmare inducing. Oddly, whenever I tried to play as the Alien, my PC's graphics card couldn't display its alternate vision mode correctly so I couldn't get past the second or third level. I felt like it was a purposeful middle finger from the universe, letting me know that I'll always be on the receiving end of Alien claws, double jaws, and screeches that make me curl up in a ball and hope my death is a quick one.
The 7th Guest (PC)Myst delivered a new age of PC adventure games thanks to the CD format, games which were essentially a string of difficult logic puzzles stitched together with bad 3D prerendered graphics and poor quality video/audio. The 7th Guest was that only set in a haunted house. My sister and I never got far in the game, but still remember it fondly as one creepy ass game. The ghostly clown saying "want a balloon, kiddie?!" was a running joke between us for years, and I suspect if I went back now and played it, I would giggle at how archaic it is.
Anyway, Happy Halloween!!
Anyway, Happy Halloween!!
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
The Videogame Solipsist: 16 bit Halloween Edition
(Note: again, I'm not going over every horror/monster game on the Genesis and SNES...just the ones I've played)
Splatterhouse 3 (Genesis)
Splatterhouse 3 (Genesis)While Splatterhouse is a series that can look forward to a rebirth during this console generation, I'll always think of it as a 16 bit series. Something about the gameplay and 'feel' of the game just won't translate well to a modern console experience, but whatever. Splatterhouse 3 is interesting because, even though your character is pretty strong, the game is still creepy and scary. The cut scenes--featuring pretty realistic looking pictures--are scary, and I've always hated the fight against the possessed teddy bear after your son is kidnapped. Perhaps the most memorable thing about Splatterhouse 3 is how difficult it is. The game operates on a time limit, so you either end up rushing through levels and dying or you keep getting bad cut scenes and outright losing because you didn't get somewhere in time. At the same time, the controls are awful and clunky. Still, Splatterhouse 3 is notable for somehow combining the beat-em-up and survival horror genres.
Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts (SNES)Speaking of difficult games...perhaps all most people know about this series is how damn hard the games are. Unlike Splatterhouse 3, though, the difficulty never comes from bad game design or poor controls. No, it's just a tough son-of-a-bitch of a game in which you can't make mistakes. Overcoming the obstacles and perfecting the timing required to progress is oddly rewarding, albeit useless, sorta like teaching yourself to write with your feet. Anyway, despite having demonic enemies and classic horror monsters (zombies, skeletons, etc.) Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts is more cartoony than the Castlevania series. But that's ok, because it's not supposed to be scary. It's just a legendarily hard game with great looking 2D graphics and a horror theme.
Super Metroid (SNES)Though neither a horror game nor a monster game, Super Metroid still fits into the gray area of games that correspond to both horror and monsters. This is largely because of the fairly obvious influence of the Alien franchise on the Metroid games, giving them--Super Metroid, in particular--a creepy atmosphere. There's a pervasive sense of loneliness throughout the game, and while there are no 'scares' or terrifying things, per se, Super Metroid has always felt creepy to me. Exploring an alien planet, even empowered as you are with a power suit, is a bit unnerving at times, reminding one of the scene in the first Alien where they explore the derelict ship. All Halloween business aside, Super Metroid is somewhere in my top ten games ever, and if you haven't played it yet, you really owe it to yourself to do so. It's that good.
Alien 3 (Genesis)Speaking of Alien...I didn't know until years later, but the Genesis and SNES versions of Alien 3 are different. Both have a similar sidescrolling shooter gameplay style, but the Genesis version is primarily concerned with you rescuing prisoners before the timer runs out and chestbursters rip out of them. This led to a bizarre situation in which, the first time you played a level, you would let everyone die so you could see where they were and thus plot a fast course to get to them all on time. Stranger still, the game is a convoluted mix of Aliens and Alien 3, such that you're still on the prison planet playing as a bald Ripley, as in Alien 3, but there are a ton of aliens and you have weapons from Aliens. I never got very far in this game and if I recall correctly the mechanics were a bit off. Ah well, it's still better than...
Alien Vs. Predator (SNES)...Alien Vs. Predator for the SNES, which ostensibly was supposed to be a port of the awesome mid 90s arcade beat-em-up by Capcom but instead was a single player only piece of shit. It wasn't anything like the arcade game at all and was just a bad all around, making the Predator into a weak and awkward pile of garbage. On a side note, I've always wondered why sometimes the Alien and Predator crossovers are called 'Alien Vs. Predator' while others are called 'Aliens Vs. Predator.' There's never any consistency and it doesn't make sense because all of the ones with the singular 'Alien' have more than one Alien in them, not to mention most of them have more than one Predator. But, whatever. The SNES game is a pale, barely perceptible shadow of the Arcade version, which you may as well pirate because it'll never see another release due to licensing issues.
Castlevania: Bloodlines (Genesis)I think there was a rule during the 16 bit era that companies would make what were NES/mostly-thought-of-as-Nintendo-franchise games for the Genesis, but they would be really freaking hard. Contra: Hard Corps. is virtually unplayable because it's so damn difficult, while Contra III on SNES is just 'typical Contra' hard. Meawhile, Castlevania: Bloodlines is ridiculously hard while Super Castlevania IV on SNES is just 'typical Castlevania' difficult. Maybe it's got something to do with roman numerals?? Well, in any case, Bloodlines is actually a really fun sidescroller which allows you to choose between two different characters (whip-y McBelmont or spear-y McWhat'shisname) and has, for its time and native platform, some incredible graphics and animation. I have to confess that I haven't played this one for years, so maybe I'm wrong about the difficulty, but I was way better at, and more patient with, 'hard' games as a kid, so if anything it's probably gotten worse. (Note: I never played Super Castlevania IV until about two years ago, so I won't be talking about it)
Haunting Starring Polterguy (Genesis)Haunting is a game that I wish more people had played. It's actually a pretty novel concept: you play as the titular 'Polterguy', possessing objects in a house to try to scare a family out of it. Shades of Beetlejuice, no?? This game is actually really fun and creative, since most (if not all) of the objects do something unique to scare the family. You are limited by some kind of energy meter so the game is actually a puzzle game more than anything insofar as you have to figure out the fastest and most efficient way to get rid of the family. This 'possession' concept has been used in a few games since (off the top of my head, Geist for Gamecube uses it, although in different ways) but never as well.
King of the Monsters (Genesis)Thursday, October 9, 2008
Halloween: Film Round-Up 2
Aliens Vs. Predator: Requiem (2007)The word 'requiem' is used in reference to a ceremony to honor and memorialize the dead, which is I hope some indication that they're going to put the Alien, Predator, and Alien Vs. Predator franchises to bed until someone who knows what they're doing and what people want from these films comes along. I'll be posting a longer review of this film at some point, but suffice it to say that Requiem does the seemingly impossible task of making the first AvP film look good by comparison. Requiem is, quite frankly, a piece of shit, and focuses entirely too much on humans a.k.a. the thing the audience cares least about. At one point I wondered if I had accidentally been given a DVD boxset of The O.C. because Requiem spent more time on tiresome humans than it did either of the titular creatures. Here's a hint for future films: if you're going to insist on making the movies about humans, set it in the future and give us the damn Colonial Marines already.
Godzilla 2000 (2000)Though I know I fanatically saw this ASAP when it came out, being the huge Godzilla fan I was, it's striking how little of this movie I remembered when watching it a few days ago. It has been eight years, true, but funnily enough I think I appreciate it more now. It really is a 'good' Godzilla movie instead of a 'cheesy good' Godzilla movie. Moreover, it redeemed the monster in the eyes of the world after America nearly ruined it forever with the 1998 abomination. At any rate, Godzilla 2000 is an surprisingly smart monster movie that contains an interesting plot arc that doesn't reveal a giant monster for Godzilla to fight until the last 20 minutes or so of the film. Though I've heard that the Godzilla flicks of the 90s and others from the 00s are better than this, I haven't seen most of them, and the few I have I barely remember. Whatever. Godzilla 2000 is great.
Black Sheep (2007)No, not that movie. This one is an awesome New Zealand horror movie that serves as a reminder that New Zealand actually has a long history of gore-fests. More than a few directed by Peter Jackson, incidentally, who would go on to charm the world with the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Anyway, the movie has a wonderful free-wheeling sense of humor (not unlike Slither from my last Halloween round-up) and concerns genetically engineered sheep who crave flesh and turn people into giant were-sheep when bitten. I tip my hat to the film for taking its sweet time in getting to a joke about bestiality as well as the restrained use of fart jokes throughout. You may want to watch Black Sheep with subtitles on, though, because I often had no idea what was being said, being the uncultured American I am. Still, Black Sheep is a great horror gem that deserves a wider audience.
Silent Hill (2006)The general consensus seems to be that this movie is terrible and makes no sense. However, I'm going to throw my hat into the ring and say that it's both one of the best videogame adaptations around and an excellent horror film at the same time. Silent Hill had the misfortune to come out during a time when the West was remaking a lot of Japanese and Korean horror films, many of which revolved around creepy little children, so posters like those above told the audience "yep, another horror film about creepy little children." However, Silent Hill is closer in spirit to the original than many of those Western remakes in the wonderful ambiguity of the entire film, particularly the ending. I may write a longer review of this film, but suffice it to say that after the third viewing Silent Hill still holds up. It has some problems--particularly in its length--but it's secretly a great horror flick. Give it another shot with an open mind.
Halloween (1978)Later sequels have taken the mystique and originality out of this franchise. That's the first thing that comes to mind after watching this movie. As with the original Alien film, Halloween is a startlingly original creation that has the earmarks--cinematography, soundtrack, composition, and a brilliant opening sequence of a slow zoom on a jack-o-lantern--of a master filmmaker. John Carpenter's track record is spotty, but Halloween is a great one that picks up where Psycho left off, developing the "creepy, violent-but-almost-entirely-bloodless slasher flick" idea even further. Halloween has some cheap "jump out of your seat!!" scares but I find the sequences of Michael Meyers stalking the teenage girls in broad daylight endlessly affecting and memorable. Furthermore, I think the ending is one of the best in horror history because it actually wasn't intended to set up a sequel; instead it was meant to provide even more mystery about the true nature of the villain and blur the lines between his human-ness and his supernatural-ness. Halloween is a must-see, in my opinion, and a great choice for anyone who hasn't watched it but thinks they know exactly what it's going to be like because of all the sequels and imitators that followed in its wake.
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