Yes I’m encoding Midway’s Stranglehold for the Xbox 360 video review as I type. It should be up in 30 minutes or so.
[Update]
Ok maybe not 30 minutes- I had to re-encode the video. Expect it soon!!!
[Update #2]
Here it is folks!
Category: Watch
Review: Mr. Lifeless
Hello all. I am going to review this site’s own short film series… “Mr. Lifeless”. My first problem is the title. The first episode begins with the title character running away from the police. We do not know why. What we do know is this: Having no life is not against the law… so this man has had to have committed a crime or been framed for something. Does this hurt the series? Not really. Well personally for me I can never watch it again because I am so outraged, but for normal people… I don’t think anyone will care. Anywhos…
The film is quick and intense. It is very fast paced, lots of running, quick cuts and some intense stunts involving a car that put Death Proof to shame. It will fill your life with a fun 30+ seconds. Well… a boring 20 minutes (the frickin load time for the dumb pipeline) and then a fun 30 + seconds. To summarize… Mr. Lifeless…. hardly… Mr. Lifemore… Yes.
Reformatted Videos section
StuffWeLike’s Video page has now evolved into an easy to navigate video section. Rather than searching through the Channel Guide for that one hard to find show, there’s a new navigation system to the right of the player that breaks down The Pipeline into several categories. Choose your category and then the show that you want to watch.
It’s much more straight forward to use than ever before!
Mr. Lifeless: The New Series!
Being spontaneous in film is not necessarily a bad thing, this is exactly how Mr. Lifeless, the new StuffWeLike.com internet webisode series, was created, born, and started. The idea essentially began with an unexpected police event occurring outside our dorm. David and I were just about ready to shoot a practice test involving the show Yo Gabba Gabba until the practice test instantly began to fail on us. Immediately after, David noticed a helicopter circling around the minor police raid outside, he quickly remarked, “Look! There is a Helicopter! Let’s go shoot that!”
Without any hesitation we both ran outside and began filming. Image after image a story was forming and suddenly we had specific symbols, sounds, and an overall a mysterious character to guide us into an unknown situation that was pure cinematic conflict. This was unpolluted, raw, and untidy guerilla style filmmaking. Mr. Lifeless defies the laws of Hollywood by ignoring the concepts and tools of lighting, booms, and set n’ stone scripts that barricade the ideas of natural filmmaking.
Mr. Lifeless is an ambiguous mystery that will surprise the viewers in the end. Nothing is what it seems, and everything is up for grabs. What will happen next? Who is Mr. Lifeless? Well ladies and gentlemen… take nothing for granted and surely you’ll find out.
-John-Erik Reese
Intel buys Havok – randomest acquisition of the week
Gamers will know Havok, the Irish company for their stellar physics engine, while movie buffs might know it for providing special effects from movies like The Matrix, Poseidon and so on. Well, word is that Intel has bought Havok. Why, you ask? I have no idea. Maybe they just thought it’s a nice company to buy.
But Havok’s CEO says “The acquisition will help Havok grow into new market segments,” which sounds good! Havok will continue to keep business on as usual, though. In layman’s terms, Havok’s the same – except that it might just get a little, and then a little bigger.
Havok was founded in 1998 and has created the famous Havok Physics Engine, which has been seen in dozens of games since, examples including BioShock, Half-Life 2, Deus Ex: Invisible War, Age of Empires III and many, many more.
[Via PC World]
It’s Absolutely Breathless!
In 1961, Jean-Luc Godard, a master of French new wave, released A bout de Soufflé (Breathless). A young man named Michel Poiccard (Jean-Paul Belmondo) kills a police officer and then flees away into the city where he meets up with Patricia Franchini (Jean Seberg). Michel hides from the police with Patricia, but fate catches up with him as the fire fuels in the fatal but beautiful ending.
This French film has influenced many of today’s greatest filmmakers, artists, and countless other aesthetics. It is a tale dealing with love, youth, and beyond anything a beauty so acutely defined by Godard.
One of the most important elements that should be noted in this film is the simple idea of “all or nothing” and how love falls within this spectrum. This theme is numerously supported by underlying visuals, dialogue, and gestures. Director Jean-Pierre Melville (Le Samouraï, L’ Armée des ombres) plays a small role in this film but, what he has to say is immensely powerful. Patricia, the young reporter, asks him a very interesting inquiry,
“What is your greatest Ambition in Life?” Melville responds back with this profound statement, “To become immortal and the die.” This can be interpreted in many different ways. One interpretation would consider that it is simply a contradiction and means nothing. Secondly, it can reflect the idea of choice. To have the power to die willing reflects complete control. On the other hand, to have no control simply means to have absolutely nothing…hence “to have all or nothing.”
Overall, A bout de Soufflé is a beautiful movie that anyone should consider watching. It is a foreign classic that still remains an astonishing movie. While other films will gradually disappear À bout de Souffle will remain as it has already remained throughout these years.
Directed by Jean-Luc Godard, Starring Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg, Daniel Boulanger, and Jean-Pierre Melville
Other Related films to consider:
Contempt by Jean-Luc Godard
Bande à part by Jean-Luc Godard
A Woman Is a Woman Starring Jean-Paul Belmondo
Saint Joan starring Jean Seberg
The Mouse that Roared starring Jean Seberg