In the old days, people rarely played video games for the music, but thanks to DDR, Guitar Hero and Rock Band, it's now front and center, inviting critique and inspiring musicians to find new ways to participate. Video Games Live is just such an endeavor, bringing the sight and sound of classic games like Sonic and Halo into the symphony hall, complete with light show and live gameplay.

If that's too highfalutin' for your tastes, there are always alternatives that pack more punch. The Minibosses have been rocking it old school for longer than many new gamers have even been alive, carrying the music of Mega Man, Castlevania, and many others to new awesome heights. Considering how embarrassingly often I have the original Super Mario theme stuck in my head, I'm grateful to both groups for doing what they can to revolutionize these earworms from my adolescence.

In their glowing review of Grand Theft Auto IV, The New York Times refers to the game's Liberty City setting as, "an exhilarating, lusciously dystopian rendition of New York City." The game, out today, is already being credited for both the downfall of society and the potential downturn in opening weekend box office receipts for Iron Man. But could Grand Theft Auto IV, with its alternate universe take on New York City, also be considered a work of speculative fiction?

Certainly the plot line of GTA IV, and its revenge-seeking protagonist Niko Bellic, is rooted firmly in the world of crime. But the atmosphere and setting created by game writer Dan Houser and his design team are reminiscent of the sprawling urban metropolises found in dystopian classics like  Blade Runner and Escape from New York.

Continue reading "Is the New Grand Theft Auto IV a Work of Dystopian Fiction?" »

Perhaps the reason so many filmgoers came down with Cloverfield seasickness is that the film was meant to be seen on a much smaller screen. So says director J.J. Abrams, whose claim about the film, which purports to be a recovered video document, coincides neatly with its April 22 DVD release. "The movie is like a videotape. It lives on your TV. In many ways, it is supposed to be viewed on a (TV) monitor," Abrams said.

While it's not impossible that this is just a cynical approach to promote the Cloverfield DVD, I think Abrams is onto something here.

Continue reading "Cloverfield Made for TV, Says J.J. Abrams" »

If hype-fatigue kept you from checking out Cloverfield in the theater, you can now catch up with the rest of the world via DVD. If you did see it, chances are you're jonesing for a second helping. Either way, maybe these reviews will give your arm the deciding twist:

"A dazzling experiment that paid off immensely, this is cinematic pleasure at its purest. One caveat: If they ever make a sequel, we're taking two stars back." -- Olly Richards, Empire

"One has to wonder whether the filmmakers went too far in so forcefully evoking 9/11. Then again, to tell this story in this way, was there an alternative?" -- James Berardinelli, Reelviews

"Sometimes a few hundred empty calories hit the spot." -- Michael Phillips, MetroMix Chicago

Continue reading "SciFi DVD This Week - Cloverfield " »

• In case you didn't get enough cross-over space baddie action in the first movie, your two favorite alien hunters are back in Aliens vs. Predator - Requiem. Set immediately after the events of the first movie, a Predator ship crashes into a small town, releasing Aliens, Predator-Aliens, and Predators on the unsuspecting populace. Jacking the sequel up to an R rating allows the movie to get bloodier than its predecessor... but doesn't mean it's a better movie.

• Over the course of a little-seen movie, and an also little-seen television program, Alien Nation built a rich tapestry of a world where aliens are part of everyday life, but never accepted. Alien Nation - Ultimate Movie Collection, unfortunately, does not contain the original movie. What it does contain are five television movies that followed up on the plot threads of the original series. Well made, excellently structured, and yup, little-seen, these movies may not be the best place to jump into the Alien Nation universe, but it's good news that they've finally been released on DVD.

Continue reading "Sci-Fi DVDs of the Week: AvP - Requiem, Alien Nation and Name of the King" »

A quasi-remake of its predecessor, 1989's The Return of the Swamp Thing arrives to nary a kind word. Looks like Swampy can't get any love except for in the movies:

"It's not so much that Wynorski's version is better, it's just that it's a lot more fun." -- Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid

"It's the sort of turkey that makes you glad no one ever tried to make a film out of Marvel's similar Man-Thing. Oh, wait, they did, and it was even worse. Sorry. Must've repressed the memory." -- Rob Gonsalves, efilmcritic

"...Means to be funnier than it ever is. It almost achieves its comic goal in one scene in which Swamp Thing and Heather Locklear, as Mr. Jourdan's innocent stepdaughter, attempt to consummate a love that cannot be." -- Vincent Canby, The New York Times

"Apprenticed under Corman, Wynorski is well-versed in double-bluffing his audience, denying them the chance of balking at dreadful special effects by implying that the ineptitude is deliberate." -- Time Out

Continue reading "This Week's DVD Releases: Return of Swamp Thing, Appleseed: Ex Machina" »

Each year, the video game industry gets bigger and bigger. With game and hardware sales jumping 34 percent in February to earn a whopping $1.33 billion, the business seems to be recession proof. SciFi games like Halo and Mass Effect are big parts of the video game behemoth. But what's coming this summer?

• Iron Man (Sega): The movie trailer for Iron Man looks surprisingly robust and so does the console offering for Microsoft's Xbox 360. The best part? Robert Downey, Jr. doing the voice over, flies into the skies to battle super villains and fighter jets.

• The Incredible Hulk (Sega): If you like your Hulk menacing and not cartoon-y, you'll appreciate the latest Hulk game. Based on the Ed Norton movie, you'll stomp through New York City, wreaking havoc as you battle over-the-top enemies. Just wait until you play in rage mode.

• Star Wars:The Force Unleashed (LucasArts, pictured): There have been dozens of Stars Wars games over the years. But this one's all about the magical SciFi powers of the Force. The geniuses at LucasArts have studied physics to give you the most realistic yet wild space cowboy fantasy yet.

For all the hub-bub about the Weinstein Company's Fanboys, I suspect it was never a very good movie. The hub-bub, for the uninformed, is that the original plot (a group of pals in 1997 invade the Skywalker Ranch to steal a copy of the Phantom Menace for a friend dying of cancer, possibly in order to euthanize him) was dismissed as being too "depressing" so its been changed to be about a group of pals in 1997 who invade the Skywalker Ranch to steal a copy of The Phantom Menace because they really want to see it.

Fans were outraged, of course, and for good reason: The original plot is better. But the execution matters, and I can't imagine the mere mention of the word "cancer" scaring off a company if the movie itself didn't blow.

Anyway, fans have been clamoring for the release of the original cut to theaters. The Weinstein Company still haven't made up their minds, but they are making the concession that both versions of Fanboys will hit DVD. I don't think anyone really doubted that in the era of Internet extras, did they? The question is: Is the Fanboys delay really about political correctness and the idea that tragedy is untenable in a comedy?

The much-awaited release of the Cloverfield DVD set will be hitting stores on April 22 and -- as is the way with such things -- it will feature numerous extras, commentary and features in order to woo the consumer who simply won't buy a film without a commentary by a film's grip.

But Cloverfield's DVD release looks to be special. One of the most touted extras on the disc is the addition of two endings, each wildly (or, perhaps, conservatively) different from the end shown in theaters.

It's hard to imagine what these two new endings could be. Cloverfield seemed to end pretty much the only way it could... with a blundersome example of idiocy from the U.S. Military as the last resort against an unstoppable monster.

Also included in the DVD will be a commentary by director Matt Reeves, featurettes on the making of Cloverfield, an assorted array of additional scenes and all that Slusho! viral marketing crap that had nothing to do with the movie.

Cloverfield DVD Will Have Two Endings [Cinematical]

Richard Kelly's sophmore effort Southland Tales crash landed itself onto DVD today. The film has a storied history of production problems and its much delayed theatrical release was met with confusion and disappointment. Even the handful of critics that liked the film admitted it was "messy" and "tedious" at times. Still, during it's most self-indulgent, lyrical tangents Southland Tales is compelling and hypnotic.

I just saw the DVD and I'm still trying to make sense of it. Eric (the Sci Fi Department's Video editor) said, "I'm glad to live in a world where a movie like that can get made." Amen to that, brother! It's a testament to the weirdness of American cinema, and that makes me proud to be a Weird American!

After the jump, the Sci Fi Department video show's take on the movie, before we actually saw the film....

Continue reading "For Better or Worse, Southland Tales Is Now on DVD" »