An interview with the creators of Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

In January, I got to sit down with the producers of spy thriller Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, Lorenzo di Bonaventura and David Barron. Lorenzo has worked on hundreds of movies, and is based known for working on the Transformers, and David is best known for working on the Harry Potter franchise. The interview starts at 2:28

Click here to listen to the interview

Look back: V for Vendetta, by Alan Moore (1982)

A retrospective graphic novel review

V for Vendetta, created by Alan Moore and David Lloyd, is one of the best (if not the best) pieces from the late British comic-book industry, and stacks up as one of the high points in Moore's career.



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Spider-Man: Web of Shadows part 5 - Conclusion

To conclude Spider-Man week, I'll give my final thoughts on the middling-to-poor game, Spider-Man: Web of Shadows by looking at the controls and overall presentation.

Spider-Man: Web of Shadows part 4 - Gameplay

I do wonder if I've laid out this series of article in the right order. I've talked about the story, look and presentation, and only now getting round to the Gameplay of a videogame! Maybe this writing thing isn't for me.

Spider-Man: Web of Shadows part 3 - Sound

An important part of many games, that is often overlooked, is the use of sound. Let's explore the use of sound in a rubbish 2008 Spidey game.

Spider-Man: Web of Shadows part 2 - Graphics

Welcome back, True Believers!

I've always wanted to say that.

Lets continue this breakdown of the 2008 Spider-Man game by examining the graphics of the game.

Spider-Man: Web of Shadows part 1

This week on Highbrow-Lowbrow is Spider-Man week. Spider-Man was my all-time favourite character as a kid all the way up to me late teens, right up until the writers messed with the character and backstory beyond all recognition, and around the time the Marvel Studios movies showed me how awesome character like Iron Man and Captain America are. So, why is this Spider-Man week? Just because.

One of my favourite bloggers, Shamus Young, often writes in-depth reviews of videogames, analysing the story and critiquing each aspect of the game, and they are a joy to read.

Inspired, Spider-Man week is going to be celebrated with a week-long ridiculously in-depth review of the 2008 Spider-Man game, Web of Shadows. It wasn't a great game, but I devoted a note inconsiderable chunk of time to the game, and thought I'd share my thoughts on the game, which developed into a 3,000 word thesis on the bloody thing.

Why The Big Lebowski is the funniest film ever

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100 word reviews:

The Big Lebowski, 1998

My favourite film is The Big Lebowski, by the Coen brothers, simply because it is one of the funniest films I’ve ever seen. The Coen’s create comedy in every scene, by juxtaposing bizarre situations and dream-like visuals with nonchalant but hilarious dialogue, and the whole artifice is held together by the iconic character of Jeff “The Dude” Lebowski (played to perfection by Jeff Bridges). It’s an excellent parody of detective mysteries and the early 90’s culture, with a wonderful design and soundtrack. This is a rare kind of film that is rewarding on every viewing.

Look Back: Watchmen, by Alan Moore (1986)

A retrospective graphic novel review

Does this seminal comic/graphic novel require introduction. I don't think it does, it is now so ubiquitous to the general comic-book reading, film-going audience. Even if people don't always like it.

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Look Back: Deadly Creatures (Wii , 2009)

A retrospective videogame review

Developed by Rainbow Studios, published by THQ

Deadly Creatures is a third party title for the Wii. A lot has ben written about supporting Third Parties in computer games, as these are the studios that take more creative risks with gameplay or premises. Rainbow Studios, part of THQ, took a big creative risk with Deadly Creatures, and it, mostly, paid off.

Look back: De Blob (Wii, 2008)

A retrospective videogame review

Developed by Blue Tongue studios

de Blob is a deceptively simple game. At first glance, it appears to be a game designed for children, with its cartoon graphics and humour and simplistic gameplay based, of all things, matching colours. But beneath that is a deep subtext examining the effects oppression, governmental controls, imperialism and censorship upon a society consisting of Liberal values... not that the games target audience of the "3+" will quite appreciate this.

Look back - Serious Sam: the Next Encounter (PS2)

A retrospective videogame review

Serious Sam; the Next Encounter was made available for the ps2 and gamecube. It was made by Climax studios, not Croteam, who made the original PC version. The differences are notable. Climax's version seems slightly more cartoony and the comedy isn't quite as good, although Sam "serious" Stone is still quiter the quip master. In addition, the reduced memory and output capacity of the console, means that many of the levels are smaller or more contained. When the levels do become larger, the game becomes prone to freezing or crashing. But despite these differences and flaws, it still maintains the Serious Sam feel.

Look back - Prince of Persia: Sands of Time (PS2, 2003)

A retrospective videogame review

Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, is a platformer for the PS2. The gameplay revolved around gravity-defying, Parkour-style, free-running platforming, allowing you to run along and up walls, in rder to climb high up and avoid murderous traps. Due to the likelihood of dieing repeatedly, time-reversing mechanics where introduced via the "dagger of time." The game also involved sword-fighting with sand zombies in a huge arabian palace, and it is, simply one of the best games ever made.

 

What I've Been Watching: Southland (2009)

A month ago, I picked up Season 1 and 2 of NBC cop drama Southland from Amazon. I’d seen snippets from a random episode late one night on Channel 4 which seemed good, and the fact it starred Ben McKenzie (whom I’m a big fan of from his performance as Ryan on The O.C.), made me decide to get it.

Originally aired April 2009, the show is about the Los Angeles police force, and the show follows patrol officers as well as detectives from the gangs and homicide divisions. Having now watched the first season, which consists of seven episodes, I thought I would share some thoughts on it.

The art of John Romita Jr.

For a recent job application, I was asked to write a 200 word critique of an artist. Having never critiqued art, the work of an artist or styles of art, I thought I'd take a punt on something abit more left-field.

So I talked about one of my favourite comic-book artists of all time, John Romita Jr.

Look Back: Metroid Prime: Echoes (Wii)

Hey, d'you remember when I wrote about Metroid Prime, the first game in the Prime trilogy released for the Gamecube/Wii? Well here's an article about the 2004 follow-up from Retro Studios, Metroid Prime: Echoes

Flickering Myth Archive

Here is a link to my profile at the brilliant film website Flickering Myth. This is a way for anyone who visits the blog to see a list of articles I have written for the site, which includes:

- an episode by episode review of E4's Don't Trust the B**** in Apartment 23 (which I really liked)
- a pessimistic review of The Amazing Spider-Man trailer (which I'm probably wrong on)
- an optimistic review of the Rock of Ages trailer (which I was quite likely wrong on)
- a favourable review of Blackthorn
- an unfavourable review of Battleship
- a kind review of Ricky Gervais' Derek

Thor (2011)

Speaking of The Avengers, here's a review I wrote about Thor way back in June 2011:

A Marvel Movie retrospective: why were the other films important?

You know what was awesome? The Avengers:

You've probably seen the film by now. It is, after all, the third highest grossing film of all time. But many people probably didn't see the other Marvel films, so lets take a quick retrospective of the series, to see how the other films set up the characters and stories for what, I believe, is the most fun film of the year.

Amazing Spider-Man

So I recently wrote an article detailing my thoughts on the new trailer for this summer's Spider-Man reboot over on Flickering Myth available here

Part of me is still really excited. I remember liking the first teaser trailer, Garfield and Ifans are both awesome, and the action in this trailer, especially the fights between Spidey and the Lizard that will take place in the sewer and on the ceiling of what looks like a school, look absolutely great.

But I'm bored with the super-serious, dark and gritty tone, and while re-interpreting a character is fine, making one of my all-time favourite comic book character him into a whining, moping jerk just doesn't seem like a good idea...