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4 items from 2013

1 April 2013 12:07 PM, PDT | SoundOnSight | See recent SoundOnSight news »

America’s fascination with all things Japanese long predates Keanu Reeves’s backflips or the recent adaptations of Ringu. The popularity of Japanese pop culture is a huge subject and even tackling Japanese manga and anime is daunting. Experts in the fields of manga and anime will have to excuse the necessary compression needed to introduce some of the history of these – by now – inescapable art forms.

To begin, manga are comics and anime stands for animated film in Japan. Due to its popularity, Disney animation left a big mark on anime on pre-war Japan that anime and manga absorbed. Those incredibly big eyes that Japanese cartoons sport are simply Bambie’s grandchildren in disguise. But there the parallels soon end. Whereas American animators seem to be positively ashamed of the two-dimensional space they are confined to and have been searching ever more novel ways of using 3D, Japanese manga »

- Cath Murphy

25 March 2013 6:39 AM, PDT | Den of Geek | See recent Den of Geek news »

Odd List Simon Brew 26 Mar 2013 - 06:44

A superb character actor James Woods has turned in some remarkable performances. Here are a few of his underappreciated roles...

If you're looking for an actor who's far more interested in being a character than a hero, then surely James Woods is your man. He's built up a body of work over several decades that has rightly brought him a degree of acclaim - Videodrome, the brilliant Cop, Ghosts Of Mississippi, Contact, Salvador, and his growing collection of excellent TV roles - but in the 80s and 90s, he popped up in lots of films that are rarely talked about now.

There are so many seemingly lost great James Woods roles, that it seemed long overdue we try and right that particular wrong. So here's a collection of perhaps the lower profile, yet brilliant, performances from his career. And this is just a few of them. »

- ryanlambie

4 March 2013 7:46 AM, PST | HollywoodChicago.com | See recent HollywoodChicago.com news »

Chicago – Considering the hoopla surrounding “Aliens: Colonial Marines” it’s pretty fascinating that “Crysis 3”, is the best “Alien Vs. Predator” game of all time. With the small addition of a very versatile bow, “Crysis 3”’s Nano-suited leading man Prophet feels quite a lot like “Predator”’s namesake, down to the lethal arrows, fancy heat vision, futuristic technology, and jungle-esque environments. Engaging in a cycle of cloaking, tagging foes, sneaking up on them and snapping their necks 180 degrees around, sniping the rest from afar with a variety of arrow types, all the while dodging turret fire and jumping over ledges, is a transcendent experience — you truly feel like you’re stalking prey.

Video Game Rating: 4.0/5.0

In addition to the arsenal of pistols, assault rifles, grenades, and high explosives you’ll amass from enemies and weapon stores, your Nanosuit provides a litany of functions, including armor (activated via Lb) a super jump »

- adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)

31 January 2013 9:10 AM, PST | The Guardian - Film News | See recent The Guardian - Film News news »

The Source Code director could be just what this adaptation of the online fantasy game needs to be a surefire cinematic hit

Movies based on video games have always struggled to achieve a high score with critics. A quick look at the movie review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes tells us that the best-reviewed example of the form is 2001's Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within with a rating of just 44%. Below that, 2010's Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time could manage only 40% despite the presence of Jake Gyllenhaal in the lead and director Mike Newell, and 2002's Resident Evil has just 34%. And these are the good ones.

Nevertheless, there is good news for hardcore gamers hoping to see their digital adventures played out on the big screen. A film based on Assassin's Creed is currently in the works with Michael Fassbender in the lead, and playwright – yes, playwright – Michael Lesslie working on the screenplay. »

- Ben Child

4 items from 2013