Nightly Open Thread
By which I of course mean: 3D porn. The “world’s first” film of this kind — made by a Chinese company but starring a Japanese cast — apparently opened to sell-out crowds in Hong Kong, and is expected to do similarly well across Japan, Korea, and much of the rest of the Asian seaboard.
As a little balding kid once said: “Good grief.”
They’re making another Planet of the Apes movie?
This one doesn’t seem to be in the same continuity as 2001’s rather lackluster Planet of the Apes, and appears to be a retelling of the story in the fourth movie from the original series, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes.
There’s a trailer. I won’t re-post it. I’m too…it’s just…they shouldn’t…cripes. I can’t see this ending well.
Oh, Good Old Games…why must you tease us so?
So after feeding us clues for the past couple of weeks and teasing the living hell out of all of us, Good Old Games’ big reveal about a new publisher is that…they’re going to add a new (and as-yet unannounced) publisher this summer, plus two more in the fall. Oh, and the hints themselves could have applied to the various Atari games that GOG is going to be adding to its catalogue over the coming weeks.
Now, granted, those three studios to be announced and added to the GOG catalogue are from a pool of five, which includes Square Enix, Electronic Arts, LucasArts, T2, and Microsoft Game Studios. So there remains some hope that EA (and thus, perhaps, many classic Origin titles) could find their way onto GOG. But we’ll have to wait a bit more.
Anti-climax, thy name is Good Old Games! (Details here.)
Tonight’s post brought to you by Canadian combat coffee1:
SIR! MAJOR LANGUAGE WARNING, SIR!
[1] Note the filename of the video; this was uploaded in the DV video format. That’s a totally irrelevant fact, but it amuses me nonetheless since it basically means that this video came straight off the camera with little or no post-processing done on it.
Hmm.
I had been optimistic about the new Planet of the Apes film, but I’m not after seeing the trailer.
The original PotA is an absolute classic, and stands the test of time. The remake was a mediocre film, and this looks no better.
There appears to be a certain anti-science vibe to the trailer, which I find annoying, but beyond that they seem to suggest that a relatively small group of apes can take over the earth. That’s not how I recall the old version, although I’d have to re-watch it (I have a set of all the classic films).
From memory, in the old version the monkeys and apes were used to serve humans, so the ratio of simian to human was far higher, and it was more about slavery than anything else.
I expect I’ll rent this eventually, just so I can compare it.
Andy: I didn’t get an anti-science vibe per sé, but certainly a vibe against animal testing and related research.
But yes…the idea that a lab full of apes can pose a fundamental threat to global security, which the trailer implies, seems silly. Unless of course ape intelligence is caused by an easily transmissible virus that these escaped simians invariably pass on to every zoo-dwelling cousin of theirs, and then ultimately to every primate in the jungles of the world.
And if that’s the case, kill me now.
Perhaps I’m just a touch defensive because I work in a related industry, but there’s a bit in the trailer which goes,
James Franco: “this has the potential to change lives”
Freida Pinto: “some things aren’t meant to be changed”.
Came across as “Stop meddling, scientists!” to me.
I do hope your plot idea is wrong… but it will probably be better than however they’re actually going to explain it!
Andy: Yeah, I think you’re being overly defensive. That’s an ethics debate rather than a shot across the bow of scientists.
At least, that’s how it parses to me. I don’t really see Hollywood as being in the business of making movies pandering to anti-science nutters myself (with the possible exception of Roland Emmerich).
I actually liked the Tim Burton movie. I thought it was a nice take on the original concept.
But then I’m a sucker for Planet of the Apes stuff… I think the only one I found really underwhelming was Battle for the Planet of the Apes.
I liked the TV series too 😛
A remake of the first movie, I get. I mean, it is wrong to do, and Tim Burton’s shot at it was awful, but the movie is a classic and I can at least understand the thought process behind wanting to do a reboot of it.
But Conquest? Did anyone even like that film? Escape has to be the last watchable Apes film, and even that might be stretching it.
I didn’t mind Conquest.
Actually, I find the second one the hardest to watch. Which is odd, because I usually go for those sorts of darker, “good guys don’t necessarily triumph”-type endings.
I find the second one Meh as well actually… it felt like too much of a pointless rehash of the first.
I liked the timeloop bits brought by 3&4 though, but the last one didn’t seem to make any sense whatsoever.
Haven’t seen any of those of in decade though.