THIS LA LIFE

ABC'S The River With/Without A Paddle

2012-02-08T11:41:00.000-08:00

I'm a sucker for the "Paranormal Activity" movies. Saw the third one in the theater at midnight with my buddy, it was straight up bananas, both the movie and the fact that some guy had a full blown mega-seizure two rows down from us, but nevertheless, movies are dope. When I heard that series creator Oren Peli was going to have a TV show on ABC, I was pumped. Last night, that show, titled "The River" premiered on ABC. And while it didn't come close to satisfying my "Lost" longings, I found the show to be extremely enjoyable.

The show is technically "found footage," which is all the rage now in Hollywood. It focuses on a TV crew searching for a lost nature documentarian Dr. Emmet Cole (played in flashback by the groovy Bruce Greenwood) deep in the wilds of the Amazon. Along for the journey into the heart of darkness are Emmet's wife and daughter, a somewhat sleazy producer and camera man, the superstitious ship supervisor and his easily possessed daughter, a childhood sweetheart, and of course an elite special forces dude with an arsenal of badass weaponry. It doesn't take long for the posse to discover that they are in way over their heads in for seriously intense experience in the Amazon.

First things first, I was surprised how scary the show was. And while I know that shit is always getting super nuts on "American Horror Story" I was surprised how terrifying the show was, especially for Network television. How scary we talking here? Try porcelain faced dolls hanging from trees and coming alive, monkeys with children's faces, and possessed girls speaking in tongues while having seizures. Yeah Brah! Maybe I'm just soft, but I found it to be pretty intense.

Besides the scares though, there is kind of a cool "meta" elements of watching a TV show about the production of a TV show. I also find it ironic that the sleaziest character on the show is the producer, but he's the entry point for the audience. For example, it's preposterous that there would be cameras everywhere to capture both the supernatural shenanigans and the little personal moments between characters, but if he's not there showing us the audience what we wanna see, than their is no real show. Yet every time things are going haywire, he's the guy who you wanna see get torn to pieces by the river demons. Is that a commentary on media ethics or am I just diving wayyyy under the surface?

The show isn't close to being as good as "Lost," yet I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty engaged for the entire two hour premiere, and that's a rarity for network TV. Usually if it's not on Showtime, AMC, USA, or HBO, I'm not watching. It's fun watching this type of pulpy horror stuff, and I'm pretty sure it will be for you as well, even if you're not a "Paranormal Activity" junkie like me.

Lana Del Rey's Hunger Games Video

2012-02-07T14:04:00.000-08:00

Whoah, this is wild. Lana Del Rey cover about The Hunger games. Team Gale.

What is Going On In The First Official Photo From The New Bond Flick?

2012-02-01T10:15:00.000-08:00

Today this new picture from the next James Bond movie, titled "Skyfall" hit the interwebs. Dropping on November 9th, the new film boasts a pretty strong cast including Javier Bardem as the villain, Ralph Fiennes as a potential mentor, a young Q making his first appearance in the D. Craig series, a of course a full roster of babe-age. Of course you wouldn't pick up on those things from this picture. So let's check out what is really going on here.

Bond is holding a Walter PPK handgun, which is I guess is his trademark, but feels very old fashioned considering the firepower Craig has worked with in previous films.
The picture clearly has an Asian setting, which means that this is definitely a sequel to "Tomorrow Never Dies," which is the shit in case you were wondering.
I wanna say, the fact that he's got a beard means Bond will be more emo this time around, but the fact is, Daniel Craig's Bond has always been extremely emo, so maybe the beard means he's taking it further into the emo realms of nevermore. Death Cab is doing the theme brahh.
That red thing in the background is clearly a reference to HAL from 2001. Can only mean that Bond is fighting the machines, computers, aliens, apes, the past, star child, and the monolith in this film.
Or Bond will be traveling the globe fighting bar graphs.
Considering Craig's comments on the series, Bond will only be wearing black leather the whole flick. It's gonna get weird.
The fact that Bond is looking left indicates that he is looking into the past for inspiration. Hopefully he's looking to "Casino Royale" and not "Quantum of Solace."
I get a methodical stealth Bond vibe from this, so maybe the film will be a little more low key than "Quantum of Solace"'s formula of action scene over script.
Others have pointed this out, but Bond is looking like a replicant here
Looks dope.

The Grey Is A Ferocious Man Vs Nature Movie

2012-01-29T14:05:00.000-08:00

While there is an ample amount of wolf punching/slaying/shit talking in Liam Neeson's new flick "The Grey," the film is a lot more than it's simple (yet effective) marketing. This is a movie about what men do when faced with insurmountable odds and trauma. Simply put, who are we in the grand scope of nature? Or in the language of the Liam Neeson action audience: You think you could hang out in the wild with demonic wolves trying to eat you son?

Neeson, at the height of his dramatic and ass kicking powers in this flick, plays John Ottway, a lonesome man who works on an Alaska oil field shooting the wolves that get too close the workers. When the plane the oil workers crashes in the Alaskan tundra, the survivors must fight for their survival against the elements and the man eating wolves that are following their every move. Before I go deeper into why this movie is so fresh, let me just say, that if you have a phobia of flying, you're going to want to peace the hell out of the theater during the plane crash sequence. It's straight up terrifying. Realistic as hell, it's a stunning piece of filmmaking.

Stuck out in the wild, Ottway takes the leadership position amongst the survivors. He both helps dying men come to grips with their end moments, advises strategies for dealing with the fury fiends on their tale, and rapidly puts down mutinies by promising people, in his best "Taken" voice that they will be "swallowing a lot of blood if they fuck with him." Neeson plays the elite alpha male for the first two thirds of them and it's just as satisfying as you'd expect. It's just like his parts in "Batman Begins" or "Phantom Menance" just with more swearing and higher stakes.

But it's the final third of this movie where the movie really shines. The film succeeds at examining just what makes men so tough. Where do they draw their strength? From each other? From God? From some inner determination to survive? By the time the film's ambiguous ending comes snarling at you, every viewer may be examining these things themselves, and that is one of the film's strongest elements.

I wrote a post on Friday "The Grey" presents Neeson with an opportunity to evolve as an action star. I can happily report that he succeeds in doing this, not just because he can add wolves as something he has punched (in addition to jedis, albanians, and super-heroes) but because it adds a much needed level of humanity to his action star persona. Thanks to his thundering performance, he carries this movie to the levels of gritty survival tale you're hoping for, and then delivers even more!

The Evolution of Liam Neeson

2012-01-27T10:37:00.000-08:00

Have you seen "Taken?" If the answer is no, you need to get your priorities straight, seriously, easily one of the best movies ever made in the last 100,000 years. It's a premise as old as time, a retired spy/assassin/modern day ninja who no one appreciates, has to gain everyone appreciation by saving the princess, aka his daughter. 86 minutes! 10 minutes set up, 76 minutes of Neeson destroying Albanians in Paris. But in a sea of Statham movies, why does Neeson endure and appeal?

Back in 2009, I said it was because we wanted to see a calming presence take on the machine, the higher ups, a one percent warrior if you will. And while that is still kind of true, I firmly believe that with Neeson's new movie "The Grey," Neeson is now evolving into the highest levels of ass kicker. It's well known that Neeson often plays God like figures in his roles. From "Schindler's List" to "The Phantom Menace" and even as the voice of Aslan in "The Chronicles of Narnia" he is the ultimate wise soothing protector. He is god to the mortals, the guiding light of good, the judger of men, and in some cases, the wrecker of men (only bad dudes though).

Which is why "The Grey" is the ultimate Neeson movie yet. No longer content with taking on humans, Neeson is jumping up a level and taking on Mother Nature itself. His new movie is man vs wild personified by Wolves and Weather , the ultimate test of one macho abilities. No longer content with almost saving an entire mediocre movie like "Unknown" with one line (" I didn't forget everything. I remember how to kill you, asshole. "), Neeson now has the opportunity to go to take his interesting career to the ultimate level....the beyond God level...and after that comes?

**I'm seeing the film on Saturday, tune back in on Monday for a review**

The Dark Knight Rises Has Some Serious Oscar Pedigree

2012-01-24T10:13:00.000-08:00

Further adding to insane levels of hype for "The Dark Knight Rises" is this morning's oscar nomination for Gary Oldman for "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy." Oh, wait, did I mention insane levels of hype, consider the fact that people are scalping midnight tickets for this bad boy at a somewhat evil $100 dollar mininum bid. Back to the Oscar nominations for Oldman, can we say what only some bloggers have pointed out before....this movie has a crazy amount of Oscar Winners/Nominees:

Christian Bale - Won for The Fighter
Morgan Freeman - Won for Million Dollar Baby (Four previous nominations)
Anne Hathaway - Nominated for Rachel Getting Married
Michael Caine - Won for both The Cider House Rules & Hanna and Her Sisters (Four other nominations)
Marion Cotillard - Won for La Vie En Rose
Gary Oldman - Nominated for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Liam Neeson - Nominated for Schindler's List
Christopher Nolan - Nominated for "Inception" and "Memento"
Wally Pfister (Cinematographer) - Won for "Inception"

That's a lot of firepower!

New Details on the 24 Movie Emerge

2012-01-23T09:27:00.000-08:00

It's well known to all the readers out there, that I'm a big 24 fan. So big in fact that i'm convinced that the very intriguing looking "Touch" premiering this Wednesday is actually an undercover season 9 of 24, I'm hoping halfway through there is going to be some type of time jump caused by Desmond from Lost (he was on 24, don't you see it's all making sense) and we'll back in the 24 dimension. I've been told this type of thing happens all the time on "Fringe" so, yeah it will probably work.

I might not need the time jump though as new details have emerged on the 24 feature film from Kiefer via an interview he did with website Collider. Here is what he said.

The movie takes place six months after the last episode of the season which saw Bauer going off the grid or in spy terms "going dark"
It will follow up on the events on the series.
Filming is set to begin in April/May
The film will be not be 24 hours long, rather it will be a 2 hour representation of a 24 hour day.

While I was really pulling for a 24 hour epic feature film, I can I settle for this. Can't wait to see Bauer again.

2012 Survival Guide: Friday the 13th Edition (January 13th 2012)

2012-01-13T18:12:00.000-08:00

Welcome to 2012 Survival Guide Issue #1

Don't believe the world is going to end in December? Consider that this is the first year since 1984 that has three Friday the 13ths. Should I mention that each of these Friday the 13ths are 13 weeks apart and that 13 is an unlucky number related to Pagan Demon rituals...whoahhh, let's get into some shit huh. But, if you're still caught up that 13 shit check out more here

(Photo courtesy of Wired)

Article: Creating Holes in Space-Time To Make Events Disappear is Now Real Life (WIRED)

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/01/time-hole/#more-68739

Wired's excellent DANGER ROOM blog is a must read. It's so awesome that Homeland Security monitors it as part of their new initiative to keep track on how much time you log on the interwebs. So of course this awesome blog would explain how the government is investigating wormholes for military use. Granted it's on a small scale but jesus is this wild or what? Also keep in mind...this is just the shit they're telling us!

Watch: Dog Finds Ball in Pile of Leaves

I'm including this video for a couple of reasons. The first is when the world comes crashing down you're going to need your human companions and than something else. Personally I'm hoping my animal end of the world sidekick is a tiger or w wolf or a wolger, but I could be convinced to settle for a dog. The second is that this video makes me happy and that shit is gonna be in short supply when you're huddling in a cave drinking black coffee that a grizzled and well bearded Mesch and DJ Steve are brewing up. You'll pat your dog on the end, drink your cup of coffee, eat a biscuit (they always eat biscuits) and head back out into the streets in the war against the G-Bots.

Photo: Alter Egos: Portraits of Gamers and Their Avatars

http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/12/14/alter-ego-robbie-cooper/

Subscriber (hahahah) Karl J. Winslow sent me this profound photo series of gamers in real life in and in their virtual worlds of choice. Check out the link for the full gallery.

Mind Bone: Teamwork! Timing!

Keep Exploring

-TPG

The Hype Train: Kathryn Bigelow's Bin Laden Movie

2012-01-12T15:12:00.000-08:00

The creative team behind the best action film about the war on terror is making a movie about the hunt for the biggest name of all terrorism. I mean that's some wild shit when you think about it. Let me take a step back here. The creative team that I'm talking about is "The Hurt Locker," the micro budget Academy Award winning film from director Kathryn Bigelow and writer Marc Boal. Think back on that movie, it just felt so real, both in the wildly tense action scenes and the more personal moments dealing with war-driven minds trying to cope with life back in the real world. Did I mention it was a massive Oscar upset and Bigelow was the first female director to win the Oscar?

Enough gushing over that film, let's talk about what's next. Tentatively titled "Kill Bin Laden," the film hits theaters December 19th 2012. Everything about this film is packed full of details that should get you hyped. The first is that Boal and Bigelow were already working on it before the terrorist leader was killed. Once the news hit in May, they scrambled and re-wrote the final third of the script to include the final raid. Prior to that event, film focused on the battle of Tora Bora, which would have been an excellent movie on it's own.

The cast that's coming together around the movie is also wicked badass. Now they haven't released what the roles are, but you gotta assume a bulk of them are going to be grizzled NAVY SEALS. According to a recent article on Deadline, the cast is set to include a whole host of people you might recognize but not know by name, and almost all of them have played highly interesting characters in previous film. Here's a quick breakdown"

Jason Clarke - Johnny Depp's right hand man in "Public Enemies"
Joel Edgerton - The tough yet empathetic brother in "Animal Kingdom" and the MMA brawler in "Warrior."
Edgar Ramirez - Star of international terrorist thriller "Carlos" and Bourne nemesis in "The Bourne Ultimatum"
Mark Strong - The villain in the first "Sherlock Holmes" and the best part of "Body of Lies"
Chris Pratt - Andy on the TV show "Parks & Recreation," yeah not really sure what this goofball is doing here but I trust Bigelow.
Jessica Chastain - Great actress from "Tree of Life," I mean there has to be a female role in this thing somewhere, and who better to get to play that role?

But enough about the buzz worthy actors and acclaimed directors and writers. Why is this movie really so intriguing to me? Well, for one of the biggest world events ever, there is so much actually known about what happened that night in Abbottabad. Sure we've heard news reports and read New Yorker articles about it, but we've never seen any live video of it. As we all know we never saw pictures of the body. I may be wrong for the first time in history we're going to see one of the world's most infamous men gunned down in million dollar budget detail. With the Pentagon investigating the Obama releasing sensitive information about the raid to the production, this is by all accords the most realistic movie about a military mission ever.

I've always been fascinated by the use of media and how entertainment plays into how we process reality, and to me this film is the ULTIMATE example of it. Get on the hype train.

2012...It's Finally Here

2012-01-09T13:12:00.000-08:00

2012 is that year and don't worry ThisLaLife won't be going on anywhere. I know some of you were concerned cause I dropped off the face of the earth for a couple weeks there, but rest assured I'm back with vengeance. I was actually at the Pyramids doing prep work for the saving of the world but anyway there are going to be a couple of changes around the site thought so I thought I'd keep you guys informed:

2012 Survival Guide - On Friday's I'll be posting your 2012 Survival Guide. And while some of you are probably craving tips on how purify water and track animals, I won't be providing you that. Basically it will be a one picture, one video, one article, and one mystery "mind bone" that combined will hopefully enlighten you as we await December 21st 2012. Tune in this Friday for the first edition.
More Reviews - I know it's hard to believe but I tend to watch a lot of movies. I'm going to try to do a better job of reviewing the current film at the box office. Granted I can't review them all but chances are, if I'm hyping it up like crazy on the site, I'll post a review.
Recaps! Recaps! - Many people have expressed to me how much they enjoy my recaps of TV shows. This year you can expect more recaps of Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, and maybe some other new shows by special request.
Hype Trains - As the wise old sage An.T.onY once said, "TPG loves hype" so consider yourself warned, you're going to be seeing some epic hype trains.
More Tweets - Are you following me on twitter? If not...do so now!
Life in LA - I rarely post about all the wild shit that happens to me in LA but I'll try to sprinkle that in more in 2012. It's just hard cause I'm always just chilling on the beach brah.

Tune in tomorrow for the first Hype Train and official post of 2012. It's a movie I've been talking up something fierce to friends with some serious vigor so I'm going to be happy to share it with all you guys.

Best of 2011: Music

2011-12-15T18:43:00.000-08:00

The best songs got that emotional kick to them. Sometimes certain songs have the benefit of being featured in films or TV shows that just make them immortal. In 2011 there were three tracks, one from a movie, one from a TV show, and one completely original from an album that really just blew me away.

Pictures in my Head from The Muppets

I never watched the Muppets TV show growing up, but I was familiar with their two massive anthems "Moving Right Along" and "Rainbow Connection," and before you bros out there start ranting about how those aren't anthems, let me say, relax bros, they are anthems and you need to get a soul. But anyway, this song from the pretty enjoyable Muppets flick really nails it with the piano, the drums kicking in, and the lyrics about reflecting on the past. Kermit is so profound man!

N****S In Paris by Jay-Z and Kanye West

Jay-Z and Kanye dropped one of the most anticipated albums of the year with their team up project titled Watch The Throne. With Jay-Z and Kanye being some of the biggest rappers, hype was huge for this one and it totally delivered, and the best track on the disc is this one. With it's simple beat, outlandish boasts, and badass bass breakdown at the end it's the most diverse song on the album. For more on the wild lyrics check out the excellent Rap Genius breakdown of the whole thing. And yeah, it came down between this and Made in America, but N***S in Paris is just more varied.

Goodbye by Soap & Skin & Apparat

2011 was the year I got super deep into the incredible AMC series Breaking Bad. This song, from some German DJ dude featured prominently in the brain exploding awesome season finale and I haven't been able to get it out my head since. It's like old school western music with a modern day twist and highly unforgettable.

Honorable Mention

Nightcall by Kavinsky

A Real Hero by College

Undun (The Entire Album) by The Roots - I guess I'd been sleeping on "The Roots" previous albums or I was rubbed the wrong way by bros who at Dave Matthews Bands shows who say "dude I love the Roots man," but this disc is fresh as hell.

Best Character: Moses from Attack The Block

2011-12-14T14:57:00.000-08:00

It's no secret how much I loved Attack The Block. About a gang of British street kids defending their apartment block from "big alien gorilla wolf mofos" was far superior to Super 8 which also told a similar youth vs aliens story. But the heart and soul of "Attack The Block" lies with it's ultra badass main character "Moses," who if you couldn't tell from the name is the leader of the pack. Brilliantly played by John Boyega, Moses is so engaging for his wicked badass alien killing authority, but also for his humanity, a key part later in the film. Yeah, I like seeing him take down aliens with samurai swords, but his emotion is what takes the character to the next level. By the time the final showdown came about in the movie, I don't think I was ever rooting for a character more onscreen this summer. MOSES! NINJA!

**Boyega is following up his star making turn as Moses by playing a young Mike Tyson in an HBO series pilot**

Best of 2011: Best Oh Shit Moment

2011-12-13T09:36:00.000-08:00

The writing staff over at THISLALIFE do things a little differently. So while other much more sophisticated media sites, magazines, and institutions are sitting around trying to best each other's best lists, we're going to focus on the best shit in 2011 that probably won't make any lists. So stay tuned as the year ticks down to the explosion known as 2012, cause we're going through all the stuff that got it going in the year of the double ones.

"Rise of the Planet of the Apes" was easily the surprise of the year (check out my review). What most people wrote off as a stupid cash grab by Fox rapidly climbed to both critical praise and some serious scrilla. I kind of saw it coming, Apes director Rupert Wyatt's previous film "The Escapist" is a under appreciated prison escape flick with great characters, so I had moderate hopes that Apes would deliver. But anchored by an incredible turn by performance capture god Andy Serkis, the story of how Caesar the ape, started the rebellion against the humans is pure cinematic gold.

And while it's not my favorite film of the year, it did easily have the best "Oh Shit Moment,"or OSM for short, which if you don't know is the only thing that really matters in entertainment. And while there are many great moments in the film, from the childish way Caesar first integrates himself into suburban life, to his takedown of a brutish neighbor, to his Tony Montana esque rise to power at the ape prison, or even the bridge showdown, nothing comes close to the end, which establishes the future of all the apes moves to come and those that came before it. LOOK AWAY NOW if you don't want me to spoil what the best part of the film. LOOK AWAY, you've been warned.

The theater I was in went absolutely bananas insane when this happened and I'm still reeling about it today. HAIL CAESAR!

Hugo & The Muppets Bringing It With The Family Fun

2011-12-02T10:56:00.001-08:00

I frequently have my buddies walk up to me and say "Yo, TPG, they don't make good movies for kids anymore, kids these days bro, they don't have any flicks like "Short Circuit" or "Rookie of the Year"!" My response is usually something along the lines of, don't worry mon, I'm sure those movies are about to get remade/remade/reformatted/ruined soon. However, I recently saw two great movies while typically labeled "kidz" movies are suitably enjoyable for all ages.

Hugo
This one comes from cinematic legend Martin Scorsese and it's nothing short of pure cinematic magic! Based off the book by Brian Selznick, the film focuses on a young orphan who resides in a clock tower at the central train station in Paris. He's trying to solve the mystery of his late father's Automaton, which may or may not be linked to the history of cinema itself. All the actors including Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Chloe Moretz give great performances and the world Scorsese creates is magical. Yet the strength of the film lies in it's heart, which is wickedly sentimental, but never cheesy. I highly recommend.

The Muppets
Now let's talk about The Muppets. I grew up without a television, so I didn't know there was Muppet TV show until about two weeks ago when the press blitz started for the film. However, I did know that Rainbow Connection and Movin' Right Along are amazing tracks, so when I heard that the film was going to have music from Bret McKenzie of Flight of the Conchords fame I was pumped. So, yeah, there's singing and dancing, and there's Muppet's getting into, and there is a very bare bones plot involved getting the old gang back together to save their old theater. It's a great little bundle of a flick with some really endearing and memorable songs, including this one below which is easily the standout. There's also some really funny parts and some cool "meta" parts where the characters talk to the audience and acknowledge that they are in a movie. So if you're not seeing this movie with your family or kids, I'm going to wager that these parts are particularly mind blowing.

So yes, there are still great movies for kids. And while I'm confident today that kids these days are going to turn out slightly messed up from playing to much Modern Warfare 3 or seeing Optimus Prime shoot people's heads off. , at least they are going to have some awesome movies to look back on.

Daniel Day Lewis Is Abe Lincoln

2011-11-30T14:58:00.001-08:00

As you may know, Daniel Day Lewis is starring as the legendary Abe Lincoln is Steven Spielberg's film. This photo comes Slashfilm and I gotta say, this looks like instant oscar magic.

A.I. Remixed by Pogo

2011-11-22T11:34:00.001-08:00

This comes from a South African DJ named Pogo. I haven't seen A.I. since I saw it in the theaters where I remembered as being super long and wayyyyy over my head. Still this video is wild both in the way is presents the old film in a new way and the fact that it shows how art/music can come from the most unexpected places.

A Couple Things About The Expendables 2 Poster

2011-11-18T14:12:00.000-08:00

There is some crazy hair going on in this poster. We have Stallone's artfully trimmed mustacheaotee, Arnold's blow out hair cut, Bruce's bald done, Chuck Norris's beard, and Lundgren's flowing golden trestles.
Are they standing in front of a Volcano? What can this tell us about the plot
The last movie called EX2 was "X2: X Men United" and that movie was the shit, this bodes very well for The Expendables 2
Jet Li's name is listed on the partner but he is absent from the volcano action? What is fame?
Also worth mentioning is that the "young" expendable Liam Hemsworth is nowhere to be seen.
This movie is going to be just as "good" as the first one.
I'm getting a serious Putin vibe from Van Damme up there on the top right
Will Terry Crews be able to top his legendary "Remember this shit at Christmas" line from the first film. That is a question that keeps me up at night.
Nice that we have advanced so far in gender politics that there can be a woman on the poster. Change is real.
Seriously, I cannot wait for this movie. I'm definitely there opening night.

Dispatches From The Indie Film World

2011-11-16T18:43:00.001-08:00

There was a period of my life where I thought that "Independent" movies meant they were some how related to "Independence Day," which would mean they would involve aliens, Will Smith, and mass destruction of landmarks. Well, that period ended about two days ago and I can no report I have recently seen two great independent films that are def worth checking out and are not connected to "Independence Day."

Martha Marcy May Marlene - This dynamite film tells the story about a young woman (the superb Elizabeth Olsen) who escapes from a Charles Manson like cult and ends up staying with her sister and brother in law. As the film progresses we see both what her life was like at the cult and how she is having a really difficult time adjusting to the real world. The film is anchored by Olsen's dynamite performance and it's expert slow burn of just how sinister things got at the cult and just what impact they could have outside of the cult's grounds. John Hawkes, so money in "Winter's Bone" gives another terrifying performance as the cult leader. I should say the film is intense, so if you're looking for something a little light hearted, check out "Puss in Boots." But if you're looking for a well acted, slow burn of a dramatic thriller, this is the one!

Like Crazy - Love is wild! Love is Awesome! Love is Painful! Love is Crazy! This great little flick which one the Grand Jury prize at Sundance tells the story of the relationship of Jacob (Anton Yelchin) and Ana (Felicity Jones) as they go through a wicked crazy long distance multi-year intense relationship. It's a very romantic film, so if you're looking for something that isn't about cults, this is a good pick, but I should say that it isn't all happy. Director Drake Doremus provides a honest unflinching look at young love, both it's joys and it's brutal low points. Overall, just an awesome flick.

The Hunger Games Trailer

2011-11-14T09:22:00.001-08:00

As a massive fan of the books, I gotta say, this trailer is pretty damn great. I like the whole mood of the thing, for some reason, I thought this was going to be extremely cheesy, but this looks pretty damn serious. I mean, it kind of has to be serious if it involves kids throwing spears into each other's chests.

Happy Veteran's Day

2011-11-11T10:10:00.001-08:00

A big thank you to all that serve

Why My Moral Outrage About Modern Warfare 3 Has Faded

2011-11-08T12:44:00.000-08:00

I used to get weirded out by Call of Duty. It wasn't that I didn't like the games, shit, I love the games, they're pretty much the video game equivalent of Michael Bay movies (which I also love), it was their content. Whenever I mowed down countless waves of terrorists/Russians/Brazilians/Enemies/Zombies that wanted to kill the United Stated of Badassery I just always had a pang of "this is kind of messed up because it's happening in real life," going through my head.

I've been writing posts on this for years now, including this one about the "there's a soldier in all of us" marketing campaign, this one about creating responsible war narratives, and this one on the realistic violence in the series. Yet as the launch day approached I just found myself not caring anymore. I'm either just desensitized to all the insane violence/propaganda in the games or the franchise has evolved from war simulator to the insane world war action spectacle that is so far from realistic it has now evolved into "cartoonish."

I mean the new game has the Eifel Tower collapsing in the midst of gigantic battle for freedom, which is almost plagiarism from Team America. The villains, who in the first chapters in the franchise were radical muslims and nationalist russians have now become some type of James Bondian syndicate of people who just don't like the United States, including corrupt US generals. Even the ad campaigns are now more comical, gone are of the days of normal civilians fighting battles, now we have zany Jonah Hill ripping off one liners and firing at a faceless enemy.

So with the Call of Duty franchise embracing it's Bayish destiny, does this mean we are entering into an era of responsible video games. Hardly, just take one look at the marketing campaign for rival shooter Battlefield 3, which features the tagline: "Is it real or is Battlefield 3." Obviously, it's not real, because no gamer dies while playing Battlefield, yet with over 3 million people buying Battlefield 3 in the first week there still is a demand for the ultra-gritty combat simulator. Luckily, Modern Warfare 3 is projected to sell 9 million copies in it's first day, it looks like some people still prefer to have the "game" in their war simulators.

Red Dead Redemption Has Already Scalped "Hell on Wheels."

2011-11-07T18:22:00.000-08:00

Last night was a big night for entertainment. Now I'm not talking about the fat zombie turd baby on Walking Dead, I'm talking about AMC's new series Hell on Wheels. By all accords it was a pretty cool pilot with a variety of central characters searching the scorched earth western landscape of 1860 for vengeance, glory, and some trace of humanity. Yet, as I watched it, I couldn't help but think that the show was lagging behind, you know playing catch up, to the current defining western of the decade: 2010's Red Dead Redemption.

Both Red Dead Redemption and Hell on Wheels focus on a grizzled outlaw who finds himself in the rapidly changing landscape of the American West in the post civil war era. They're both on a mission, John Marston in Red Dead to reunite with his family and Cullen Bohannon in Wheels to avenge the death of his own. Both protagonists have grizzled flowing manes and matching facial hair, have a tendency to dress in black, and don't seem to have a problem blasting their six shooters.

Yet while Hell on Wheels looks like it will do an adequate job putting an individual narrative in the greater historic scope of an era, it felt stale to me because Red Dead Redemption did it so much better. Their are many interesting characters on the show, including former slaves, traveling entertainers, businessman, senators, and Native Americans but they only exist in the narrow scope of the TV narrative. Red Dead on the other hand features the same characters gives them stories that are deeper than one line of exposition. And that's what the best video games have that TV and film can't provide: insane depth.

In Red Dead you can play the storyline of the protagonist but if you don't want to do that, you can just hunt in the wilderness or watch the sunset over the prairie. If you want to explore the history of that wandering stranger from Hollywood, you can track him throughout the story. It's a bigger more enriching story experience that TV even with all it's strengths can really match, and Hell on Wheels is doing itself so favors by having it's protagonist, level of violence, and story be so similar to the video game masterpiece, it's a tough match up.

**If you need further explanation on why Red Dead Redemption is one of the best western narratives ever, check out my the good folks at Lifting Fog's take on it.

GTA V Trailer Promises Something Big

2011-11-02T09:52:00.000-07:00

Besides being ridiculously fun to play the Grand Theft Auto games are pretty much a part of our American Heritage. The last game in the series Grand Theft Auto IV was pretty much a master class in storytelling, regardless of it's format. Whoah, why am I getting all academic here, GTA V trailer son! The return to San Andreas.

Previous reports have pegged the game having multiple characters, but I'm calling it now, those characters will be the central protagonists of previous GTA games coming together in pretty much the most epic crime story ever told. That's right, I'm pretty sure Claude from GTA III, Tommy Vercetti from Vice City, and CJ from San Andreas, and Nico Bellic from GTA IV will be appearing in this story.

It's pretty mind blowing when you really start thinking about having these characters all in one epic final story. It's kind of like having Michael Corleone, Tony Montana, and some Scorsese character all exist in one cinematic world that you have control over. Whoa, can't wait!

Terrorism, 24, and Showtime's Excellent New Series "Homeland"

2011-10-31T09:41:00.000-07:00

It's no secret that the good folks over at This LA Life loved the hell out of 24. For 8.5 seasons we got to see terrorist destroyer Jack Bauer save the by any means necessary, and when I say any means necessary I mean crazy torture, wild violence, and a whole lot of self sacrifice. Yet, when the show left the airwaves in 2009 it left partly because our national appetite for terrorist killing had dimmed with the election of Obama and the hope of change. Simply put, Bauer was banished to the Bush era past, the one full of Abu Ghraib torture, color coded attack alerts, and water boarding.

But the war against against terrorism didn't end with an election did it? With Bin Laden taken out in a daring raid, drone strikes continuing overseas, and shady Iranian bombing plots, the world of counter-terrorism is alive and well. So where's Jack Bauer? He's starring in a pseudo spiritual show about a magic child. It's all good though because now we have Showtime's Homeland, which could be the best show about terrorism that I've ever seen.

The core plot line focuses on CIA agent Carrie Matthieson (Claire Danes) as she investigates a terrorist threat to America. She believes a key component of the threat is Nicholas Brodie (Damian Lewis), an American POW who she thinks has gone full "Manchurian Candidate" after being helpt captive in Iraq for 9 years. The show focuses on both her investigation of the threat and Brodie's adjustment to his domestic life after being locked away for so many years.

24 worked because Jack Bauer was so captivating. He was a terrorist hunter Jesus figure, saving our freedom but paying deep personal costs for it. It's no surprise then that Homeland, which comes from 24 producers Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa also features characters that are mentally damaged by the war of terrorism. Both Brodie and Carrie are not hiding from their peers, their jobs require them to be interacting with people on a daily basis, Brodie as a spokesperson for the Marines, and Claire as a lead analyst at the CIA. Internally though they both are seriously screwed up. Carrie is taking medication secretly for some psycho-disorder and we learn she forgets to eat and seemed to have a habit of screwing her superior officers. Brodie can't connect with his wife, has intense nightmares and hallucinations, and has secretly converted to Islam during his captivity, but hasn't told anybody. Everyone is processing the effects of terrorism on this show, which is captivating, because as nation we are doing the same.

And while it has all these deep themes working with it, the whole terrorist hunting plot is just as dope as it was in 24. There are dubious legal maneuvers, a mysterious network of villains, intense surveillance details, and plenty of secret allegiances. Since it's on Showtime the violence is more visceral, the language dirtier, and the themes even darker. Yet, even with all this show still feels realistic, and avoids the action movie violence that permeated 24. I mean, we're five episodes in and the body count is hovering at two! Two! At five episodes into 24 we'd be at at least 15!

As Americans we've always craved media during wartime as a way to understand. We hunger for fictional narratives to be applied them, and Homeland is a perfect example of it. The opening credits feature audio, video, and photos from notable real life parts of the war against terrorism and features references to real life events, something 24 never really did.

And just how real life counter-terrorism politics have evolved, so has the methods on the show. In the most recent episode, the interrogation of a suspect who had been been snatched up in Pakistan and brought do the US under extraordinary rendition, seemed terrifyingly real. Carrie and her team subjected him to sleep deprivation, made promises about saving his family, and in a very un-24 moment, didn't lay a finger on him. The icing on this cake was Carrie's response to an inquiry if the suspect would be tortured Bauer style, her response: "We don't do that here."

It's a strange feeling because the 24 fan in me expected for Carrie to say that and then promptly go snap some fingers and start getting answers. But the key part of that line is the "here" part. Sure you won't do that "here", but maybe you'll do it somewhere else. Somewhere else that isn't in the news and exists in a gray area of counter-terrorism politics. And that is the area that Homeland thrives in. Leave Bauer and company where they belong, gone but not forgotten, somewhere in our patriotic past.

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol Trailer Looks Seriously Awesome

2011-10-27T17:02:00.000-07:00

I gotta say, this has looked awesome since the first trailer. I don't know if I'm ready to load it onto the TPG hype train just yet, but I'm starting to seriously consider adding it as inventory. The hating on Tom Cruise ship has sunk a while ago and he's working with The Incredibles director Brad Bird and a great cast. My brother and I are planning on taking my young cousin to see this in IMAX (The Dark Knight Rises Trailer that will run with it is a nice incentive) and I'm expecting both of us to enjoy it thoroughly.