Full Length Conan the Barbarian Trailer Released

This one looks much better than the teaser trailer (I still can't believe they basically did the whole "In a world..." thing in that one).   I have my doubts about their being much of Robert E. Howard's Conan here, but it at least looks like a solid fantasy flick.

New Conan the Barbarian Teaser Trailer.

I'm still not sure about this, but the quote at the end gives me hope.

Two Last Tidbits about Clash of the Titans

I know, I know.  Clash of the Titans has been out for over a month now.  I’ve talked about it twice already (here and here).  Two final things here, folks, and I’ll shut up about it.

Item 1: I saved this review back when I was planning on writing my own: Clash of the Titans Crashes and Burns.  Why did I save it?  Because it’s laughable regardless of whether you liked the remake or not.  Why is it laughable?  Because homeboy thinks that the new Clash of the Titans is based on a book: “Based on the 1981 Alan Foster novel of the same name, Clash of the Titans….”  What book would that be?  Uhm… the novelization of the first Clash of the Titans: link.

Here is another choice quote:
"Some novels' shortcomings can be overcome by brilliant screenwriters and an all-star cast. Titans has neither. Instead of avoiding the vices present in the novel, Titans manages to condense them into a 90 minute movie."

Yep, too bad those screenwriters couldn't overcome the shortcomings of a novel based on a screenplay written by other screenwriters.

Sadly, this review comes from The Chronicle Online which is the “Official Website of the Weekly Student Newspaper of the College of Saint Rose.”  

Note to self: My daughters will not attend the College of Saint Rose.


Item 2: I want a pair of these: link  Is that wrong?

A Quick Note Regarding the “Clash of the Titans” Remake

So, not surprisingly many gamers ran out to see the “Clash of the Titans” remake.  By and large, given by the posts at my Internet hangouts, the movie was not well received by the gaming community.  Actually, the movie seems nigh-universally loathed.  Well, to such critics, here is my response:

Seriously, did anyone who saw the trailers expect a blow-by-blow recreation of the Perseus myth?  The trailers were one step away from this:

I really enjoyed “Clash of the Titans” and I’m eager to see it again.  I hope to post a more in-depth review, but pesky work is eating up my time this week.

Release the Kraken!

This is kind of old news, but a Clash of the Titans remake is set to come out in March of this year.  Here is the full-length trailer (there is a teaser trailer out there as well).



I'm pretty damn stoked to see this movie.  Yeah, this remake, like the original, appears to be a hodge-podge of various myths, but I'm okay with that.  If anything, I say toss in more.  I want to see as many creatures as possible.  Hopefully, there won't be a lot of over-the-top action maneuvers, though (i.e., a ton of wire work).  I know the movie itself is going to be popcorn fare, but I hate the modern tendency to make every hero have Flying Tiger, Hidden Dragon-like moves. 

I don't care too much for the revamped Kraken.  It looks all right, but reminds me of tons of other movie monsters and aliens.  The original beast has a distinct look and they should have stuck with it. On a side-note, the "kraken" is actually a Norse myth.  There is a sea monster in the Perseus story, but it isn't named.  I'm guessing that "Release the Sea Monster!" just didn't have the same ring as "Release the Kraken!"





Ah well, I am very pleased that they kept medusa as the half-snake, half-woman beastie she was in the first flick.  I don't think that is too true to the myth, but, man, is she a damn fine monster. More than that, she is no doubt the inspiration for the 2nd edition D&D "Greater Medusa" (later finding is way into 3rd edition in Necromancer Game's Tome of Horrors).  Nothing like a creepy, serpent woman that is bad-ass with a bow.  Hell, even the regular medusa became a killer archer in 3rd edition.

I dug up the original medusa scene on YouTube and, damn, it holds up pretty well.  The bit with Perseus tossing the shield onto the statue is a bit hard to swallow, but the rest of the scene is solid.