The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” on IMDB
Fantasy/Adventure, 161 Minutes, 2013
This is the continuation of Thorin Oakenshield’s quest to reclaim the throne of his forefathers from the powerful dragon Smaug. Bilbo the Hobbit has proven his worth and courage and is a true member of the company. The movie picks up as the last ended, with the company being hunted by Azog’s orc pack.
Science-Fiction/Thiller, 90 Minutes, 2013
If you liked “Gravity” (my review) then you’re a smart, discerning and, if I may say, strikingly attractive individual. You’ll also love “Europa Report”. The movie presents a highly realistic space mission; in this case a multi-year, multi-national mission to Europa, Jupiter’s sixth moon. All our (actual) evidence indicates that Europa is home to massive, warm water-oceans under its geologically active crust of ice. It’s generally understood to be our best legitimate shot of finding extraterrestrial life in the solar system.
Horror, 93 Minutes, 2012
A group of people, all of whom are down on their luck, are invited to dinner at a posh mansion by a mysterious benefactor who promises that can solve all of their financial problems. When they arrive they’re given some time to mingle and get to know one another before the true purpose of the evening is revealed: a sadistic, fatal game of “Would you Rather” for the amusement of their wealthy host. The winner is set for life, the rest lose their lives.
“A Good Day to Die Hard” on IMDB
Action, 98 Minutes, 2013
John McClane’s son is in trouble in Russia. So he runs over and learns a single anecdotal fact about the entire country from the first person that he meets. Later he hinges a major life or death decision on it. Die Hard!
Drama/Comedy, 93 Minutes, 2013
Miss Sinclair (Julianne Moore [IMDB]) is a dedicated high-school English teacher in a small, Pennsylvanian town. Her encompassing love of literature has given her an overactive romantic sensibility and little patience for ordinary relationships. She’s perfectly content being left alone with her teaching, her cats and her books.
Comedy/Drama, 90 Minutes, 2011
The Walling and Ostroff families have lived across their suburban street from one another for years. Dads David and Terry (Hugh Laurie [IMDB] and Oliver Platt [IMDB]) are best friends and moms Paige and Cathy (Catherine Keener [IMDB] and Allison Janney [IMDB]) raised their daughters together. Everybody has settled into comfortable, if not particularly happy, ruts.
YouTube user “DuskBit” has uploaded a nearly thirty minute video collecting much of what we know about Sucker Punch’s highly anticipated PS4 exclusive “Infamous: Second Son”. The video presents several behind-the-scenes vignettes and includes 15 minutes of actual gameplay footage that I hadn’t seen before.
While I presume that the footage is from a pre-final build (I assume the final game will have a HUD of some kind) it’s incredibly impressive. The destructibility of the environment, the fluidity of the movement and quality of the particle effects are all amazing, but expected on a next-gen console. What really struck me, however, was the increased quality of the experience.
The ambient animals, fluttering banners and fully-rendered fallen leaves will likely be missed, but add subtlety to the reality. You’ll see enemies use their powers to alter the environment and create “shelves” for them to stand on to get a height advantage over our hero. You’ll see others decide to give up the fight completely and attempt to flee. Building from
“Infamous 2” there are also clear improvements in the in-game cinematic cameras that add dramatically to the personality of the game.
I’ve made no excuses about my adoration of the series as can be seen in my review of “Infamous 2”. This is the game that my PS4 is waiting for and from the looks of it I won’t be disappointed.
Action, 116 Minutes, 2013
I’m a big fan of the original “Red” [IMDB] and, in general, of everybody involved with it. The comics are pretty damn sweet too. For those that don’t know, the story revolves around Frank Moss (played by Bruce Willis [IMDB]) a former CIA operative marked “RED” for “Retired: Extremely Dangerous”. The first movie covered how Frank met the love of his life, Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker [IMDB]), got his old team together and foiled a conspiracy that reached to the highest levels of government.
It was pretty great.
Horror, 85 Minutes, 2012
[Wife and kids are away visiting for the holidays. I’m staying home with movies and am back to the blood bucketing.]
This is pretty good ultra-low-budget horror. It’s a pretty damn bad anything else, but with a budget less than most used cars you do have to set expectations accordingly. There is often an undeniable charm to be found when literally every penny counts.
Drama/Romance, 102 Minutes, 2006
[Wife and kids are away visiting for the holidays. I’m staying home with movies and am taking a break from horror. There’s only so much corn-syrup and red food coloring you can take in a sitting.]
