#Blog - What did you do this weekend?!

Hey there everyone!

What did you do this weekend?

Me? I watched what probably was - without a doubt - one of the most fun films I've seen in a while!

You'll believe it when you see it, indeed!

Troll Hunter is a "little" Norwegian film. Done in "found footage" style.

I'm usually not super fan of the genre. For one the genre's been over done in recent years. Following Blair Witch Project, there's been countless cheap clones just to cash-in on the genre. And on the other hand it's a relatively cheap way to produce low budget films, when done the easy way.

But while I'm not a big fan of these countless Rec and Paranormal Activity these last few years, prompting not only a revival of the genre in this post-youtube generation, but also a dozen or so more horror-fount footage films, I kind of like the idea to try exploring other genres through this technique.

Call it a reaction to the First Person/Platformer game Mirror's Edge. I dunno.

I really enjoyed Cloverfield. It was a genuinely fun take on the whole monster movie/kaiju genre. And probably the best attempt to make this cinematic style "epic" and big budget. It also was mostly filmed continuously, with no to very little cuts. That was impressive!

The same way people are now trying to make found footage-based scifi films such as the very fun Chronicle and the upcoming Welcome to Yesterday (pleasedontsuck,pleasedontsuck!!)

Troll Hunter was a really fun adventure/fantasy film following this badass "Troll Hunter" guy, done documentary style. I really loved watching this badass Norwegian hunter talking so seriously about all sorts of trolls, their natural habits and hunting them. Man, talk about fantastic acting! (and it's well worth watching it in its native Norwegian with subtitles - like foreign films always should be watched! - over a translated dub)

The Trolls looked great. They had great CGi, natural animations, with a very refreshing art style compared to the lame monsters Hollywood produces these days.

And such a breath of fresh air from all these oh, so serious grim 'n' gritty movies these days. Or the usual horror-sploitations found in this found footage "genre".

Will we ever get, someday, a found footage/comedy film? I doubt so... but it could be an interesting experiment in a TV Series-setting for one episode, for example.

Can't wait to see other films from the director, André Øvredal.

All in all, watch it! You might enjoy it!

#Blog - What did you do this weekend?!

Hey folks!

What did you guys 'n' gals do this weekend?

This weekend I finally saw Looper.

It was... okay but with so many little problems to nitpick about.

Most people like to complain about the time travel issues, but I just didn't like the concept it's built upon much since it falls so easily apart. People travel through time in this movie to send people to kill in the past since it's so impossible to do so in the future...yet they obviously shoot someone point blank in the film IN THE FUTURE in a scene.. What the..? How can you accept any of the more far fetched elements if the concepts it's built upon don't even stand up?!

Anyway, fun little flick apart from that...

'Need to rewatch 12 Monkeys though....

What did you do this weekend?!

As the ones of you that following me on tumblr probably know already, this past weekend I've been watching several animated movies from the early 2000s.

Movie which I originally didn't catch on their original release date but have quickly manage to get a spot amongst my favorites movies of all time.

What did you do this weekend?!

Hey gang, long time since I did one of these, heh?!
I originally planned on posting this yesterday, but stuff like work and life got in the way :P

This time, let's talk movies, TV and fighting games! (again!)

What did you do this weekend?!

Hey gang, long time since I did one of these, heh?!

So, what did you guys and gals do this weekend?
Read any fun book I should heard of? Any good movies out there? Any entertaining video games lately?

Me? Well, besides watching hours of 30 Rock for no reason - it's been mostly this...

Yep!
Big FIGHTIN' GAMES marathon!
Powered by the Xbox 360, so it seems XD

It's been the occasion to have a quick run through all of these again, shake back memories and whatnot.

Here's my current impression of this generations' titles (I've mostly played the latest iterations of them, if available)

What did you do this weekend?!

Hey gang! How have you been this weekend?
What did ya guys and gals do?

What did you do this weekend?!

I finally got Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 last Friday!
So I've been trying to play some of it recently.

What did you do this weekend?!

Long time since I put up a review, right?
Well in the meantime, here's a little recap of this past weekend!
I'd like to read about your side, so don't hesitate to write in the comments below and not just on my deviantArt's page!

What did you do this weekend?!

Long time since I did one of those on the blog, heh?
Anyway, here's another WDYDTW!

What did you do this weekend?!

Hey gals and guys!
It's time for yet another WDYDTW!

It's been a heckuva couple o' weeks lately...that's why you haven't seen much reviews lately...

What did you do this weekend?!

Bringing back an ol' feature of the blog.
What did you do this weekend?

Me?
I've read a lot of stuff...
Mostly some Green Lantern titles (as a matter of fact, I wanted to put up a new GL comics review.. not sure if it will be older GL comics or the Blackest Night event..)

Blog entry #08 - What did ya play this weekend? Me? Samurais!

Hi gang!

What did ya play this weekend?

What's up?
Something good? Havin' fun?

Me? I've bought and been having fun with Samurai Shodown SEN.
It's the fourth 3D Samurai Shodown game but only the second to have been released for a home console system.

Don't be sad about the lack of 2D sprites in this one! It still manage to keep the gameplay up and be highly fun to play!
I'm guessing this will end up as a pretty underrated game and quickly forgotten, but SNK games have never really been "mainstream" games anyway!

Myself, I really dig it, it's quite immersive and addictive! I play it some minutes only and won't be able to stop!

Sure the graphics aren't that polished and the textures could use some more colors & details...but hey, it's SNK Playmore, what did you expect? The same level of quality and work as the old school SNK? Bwahaha!

I seriously prefer playing this game than the recent Soul Caliburs! Of course it isn't as "shiny" and 3D-next-gen-hi-tec-graphic-tastic as Soul Calibur 4...but it's fun!
(and seriously, no modern Soul Calibur was able to capture the same magic as Soul Calibur or Soul Calibur 2...) At least the characters don't lose piece of clothes/armour in this!
But hands! And arms! And legs!
YEAH!

The gory aspect is only really used in finish moves like in Samurai Shodown IV! (one of if not my fav past Samurai Shodown title!)

And we shouldn't have to compare Samurai Shodown with Soul Calibur since it's pretty different games anyway!
Soul is a more "epic", orchestral fighting game! With shiny effects, not much violence, a blockbuster kind of quality and a 3D gameplay based around combos & juggles.
Samurai games are more about the atmosphere, with a fantastic "era-representative" music. It's more dirty, violent, brutal and closer to chanbara movies (though the Last Blade series' closer to the real chanbara-feel). And it is played on a 2D plane and emphasizes techniques ("super moves"-kinda) and quick reflexes.


And you, what did you play this weekend?

Blog entry06

Ah!
Finally finished that Spider-Man: Web of Shadows on the Xbox 360!
Finally, cause it was turning a bit repetitive at the end.

I kinda like those recent Spider-man games for the "being Spider-man in New York" aspect. Yes even the movie games. But they aren't very good, it's a fact. Treyarch, responsible for most of them since the first movie and billed as co-developer on this last one, are  getting a bit lazy each new game...

This game should have used some little Arkham Asyleum aspects. Not talking gameplay-wise or spirit, this is Spidey afterall.. But on the development aspect of the game.
Like using actual Spider-writers.
The plot was pretty bad and stupid (I'm sure 12 years old will love the symbiote/Venom/dark suit aspect of the game... but seriously, I couldn't count the plotholes on my hand nor the absurdly bad written dialogue!)
And the game could have used some past Spider-man cartoon voice actors. Only Wolverine (dubbed by the same guy from the Wolverine & the X-men cartoon series) was good, I mean really good. And compared to his acting, the others sounded reaaaally bad, I mean worse than they actually were. And Spider-man, who's the main character in this, huh, spider-man game, was sooo bad..... Arg...
It seems like they voice acted the scenes in chronological order. The game started really bad, with a Spidey not sure he was voicing him good then went a bit geeky and over the top.. but got kinda average/ok around the end. So I started a new game (to unlock the new game + mode) and realized how bad he truly was at the start of the game... yuck....

Anyway, final words on this game. Fun physics, decent gameplay, average fighting system, repetitive missions/sequences, fun web slinging, nice boss scenes, bad story, bad Spider-man, great Wolverine and not enough cameos (really? Only Moonknight, Black Cat and Luke Cage stayed in this symbiote-invaded NYC? I can buy the Fantastic Four and Avengers being out saving the universe, which they mentioned, but were was the Punisher or Daredevil? you know, those who know Spidey and usually meet him in every day New York stories??)...
 
Oh yeah, and the game box totally makes you think Venom would join your side as your Dark ally like Wolverine does for the good side... but since he's the one causing all this (totally out of character too), he's only the Godzilla-like final boss (King Ghidorah-style).
I would kinda have prefered they use another symbiote, say Carnage, as the one causing all the trouble and have Eddie Brock join and help Spidey instead! That way it would have been 1) true to the character's personality and 2)totally kickass for kids, I'm sure they would have loved Carnage in this mess game.

What did ya do this weekend?

Hey gang!
Another week, another "What did you do this weekend?"-thing!

I didn't play that much thins weekend...
Mostly read stuff.
Like Bande dessinée and some comics. : P

'Been reading the Brave and the Bold current comic series lately, by Mark Waid.
It's a really fun team-up comic series with bits of sci-fi and adventure all over.

This weekend's I've been on the volume 3 of the paperbacks, called "Demons and Dragons".
It was Mark Waid's last issues, sad news :(
I hope this series will not lose its pulp-fun-adventurous atmosphere for a more serious, dark and big-event-crossovers aspect!

This last volume was probably the best story-arc so far! You don't need too much DC Comics knowledge to enjoy this!
Fun read!

On the gaming part, I've started playing Alan Wake with my bro!
Very original and interesting game! It's from an European developer I love, Remedy Software.
The game looks and feels like a mix of Max Payne with Survival horrors - gameplay wise.

The game really shines in its originality and story.
What Max Payne was to Noir Love stories, Alan Wake does the same and then some to thrillers/drama TV shows.
Max Payne was constructed like and told through a comic book approach.
Alan Wake use the TV drama construction. Many questions thrown at you, a well thought plot revealed bit by bit and it chapters is an episode in itself with everything it implies. Theme, mini-arc, tension culminating with a cliffhanger and even a recap at the beginning of each chapter!

It looks, feels and plays great!
I much prefer a game like this, playable, with a cinematic feel than something, say, like Heavy Rain which is pretty similar in an opposite way, cinematic with a gaming aspect.

To each their own, I guess!
Plus it's nice to see a "blockbuster game" from Europe for once! It's like all games are either American (or rather Canadian) or Japanese now! -__-

Other than that?
I only played Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena.
For a while now, I've really wanted to go back to Vin Diesel's Scifi media-franchise Chronicles of Riddick.

I already watched again Pitch Black, a great horror scifi movie, not unlike the first Alien.
I wanted to play again Escape from Butcher Bay, a cult classic Xbox game that really shined when it was released back then, for it's great immersive universe, fun gameplay and great visuals!
But my Xbox re-died lately ("she" does that once in  a while...Yeah. Weird stuff...)
So I took this as an opportunity to finally buy Dark Athena on the Xbox360, which contains a remake of Butcher Bay as well.

I love this game!!
Incredible!
It almost feels adventur-y! The game isn't 100% free open world but neither uses levels for the progression.
You're in a certain space with people to talk to, objectives and stuff to do and collect.
But it uses a FPS engine and view. Plus there's combat, weapons and lots of enemies, but you better be ready to sneak up on enemies one by one, with a clever infiltration/stealth gameplay.

It's quite unique!

Finally, I've been able to watch the Yatterman movie, thanks to the French dvd release!

One word: YATTAAAAA!!

It's a pretty amazing and faithful adaptation of the old Time Bokan anime series from Tatsunoko studios!
By Takashi Miike, nonetheless!
(recommanded watch: Zebraman, epic, heroic and aliens against a Zebra costumed middle aged hero, what could you ask more?!?)

Loved it! Takashi Miike said himsel, Americans are doing now Dragon Ball and many future adaptations. He had to show everybody how you really do an anime live!

Anyway, that's it for now!
Some reviews coming this week finally, if I stop being lazy : P
News in a sec'

Stay tuned for moooaaar-

What did ya play this weekend??

Hey gang!
How was your weekend?

Here's a new feature - from time to time on Mondays, I'll ask you what you've played/read/watched/etc.. and tell you what I did as well!

Don't be afraid to use the comments section, it doesn't bite! Plus it's simple to use~

This is my own weekend-selection and o- waaaAAIIT! Why is there only CAPCOMTM games?!

Those are the games I've mostly played this weekend : P
As you can see... Waaaaait, what?! Only Capcom games?? I didn't plan that! It just seems like I did it, logically!

I've been playing lots of Super Street Fighter 4, like so many others.
I've always been a big fan of fighting games (as you may already guessed from some of my older posts) amd this SSF4 is a nice overhaul of last year's Street Fighter 4!

Now, Fighting Street or Street Fighter 1 is a strange yet addictivie oldie.
I have a review about this one coming up, so wait and see~

I've also been playing some gamecube games, thanks for the wii retrocompatibility (hey! I already have to much systems plugged in my tv!). Those 3 are part of the "Capcom five" project, more on that on the future review of Resident Evil Zero maybe. But I'll have to publish the Resident Evil Code Veronica review first.
Viewtiful Joe and P.N.03 are very original and fun games.
I've been playing those 3 games for a while, alternating between them from time to time.
Viewtiful Joe is very hard, old school 8 Bit hard! P.N.03 is easier but I find myself on this one during small playthrough every now and then, to keep it fresh.
Resident Evil 0 is strangely pretty difficult and needs a bit of adaptation over the original Resident Evil games...

Well, that's for me, what have you guys and gals been doing? Write/comment/answer in the comments below!

Resident Evil review
Resident Evil 2 review
Resident Evil 3 review