Crackle is Sony’s response to sites like Hulu and Netflix – with a twist! With free access and original content, it’s a good deal – but have you heard of it?
Entertainment
For the consistent readers of my reviews, you have probably figured out it is my style to put a little bit of my personal life in each.
In the wake of Robin Williams’s death, I drew parallels to a friend of mine who took his own life in similar fashion. Robin Williams was a comedian, an improvisor of great distinction, and oscar winning actor. My friend was a comedian of his own crazy genius and a great improvisor as well. And I have been doing comedy, improv and otherwise for 17 years. That’s how I landed this gig writing reviews even.
So the parallels, while nowhere comparable in terms of scale and reach, reverberated with me and really with the whole comedy community in Seattle, so it’s time to go back and watch something great from the past.
As you’ve probably heard and hopefully experienced, The Last of Us, be it on the PS3 or now PS4 is a masterpiece. Thrilling gameplay, beautiful visuals, and a haunting score make it one of the highest award video games ever. But the true soul of the game like any Hollywood film isn’t in the visual spectacle, but the script. At its heart, The Last of Us is about a broken man that’s told in a post apocalyptic world. Unlike a film thats usually about 2 hours in lengthy, Naughty Dog and company had over 15 hours to tell their tale, something that they won’t be able to do once The Last of Us film is released.
To help make the transition from video game to the silver screen, Neil Druckmann, Creative Director on The Last of Us is doing some major rewrites to make the film happen.
In two hours you can’t tell the same kind of story that you can in a game like The Last of Us, which is 15 hours
More details about The Last of Us movie after the jump.
My computer was in my backpack while I was at Pritzger Pavilion in Chicago watching This Is Spinal Tap when a thunderstorm came along. Bye bye laptop. Bye bye early chance to write my review. I was very much down in the dumps and told my woes to the various friends in my group as we waited in line for Guardians of the Galaxy. Lucky for me I was about to be treated to an awe-inspiring good time at the movies. Later to be followed up by a lucky find on Craigslist which allowed me to come into possession of a used Korean MacBook relatively cheaply so that I can be here writing this now. Even if it did mean I was secretly followed by the kid’s father while we made our transaction. I’m not sure he understands spying very well.
Let me tell you, I’m in a good mood. I’ve been down on the Marvel movies as of late. The first Iron Man and X2: X-men United are amazing. The Avengers, the Thors, the Captain Americas, the Wolverines are at best fun and at worst pretty bad. The Fantastic Fours and the two sets of Spider-Man… holy cats Marvel is a busy company.
Raiders of the Lost Orb
The ship has been righted. Guardians of the Galaxy is a wildly entertaining, modern, off-kilter, touching, funny, and rousing space epic of a super hero film. While the über comic fans of the world are already familiar, for the rest of us it’s refreshing to see a super hero film of completely unfamiliar friends and foes, including a talking raccoon and a walking tree man who only ever says “I am Groot.”
According to reports, Sony Pictures is doing a bit of shuffling with The Amazing Spider-Man franchise. Besides the two entries we’ve had so far, Sony has been wanting to expand the scope of their films in the same way Marvel is branching out beyond individual titles and weaving them into The Avengers. Due to legal rights, don’t expect to see Peter Parker help out Iron Man or Wolverine but thanks to a rich history of comics, Sony has plenty to work with. Teased in the prior movies, it’s no secret that Sony is working on bringing the Sinister Six to the big screens as well as a Venom film that will all tie into The Amazing Spider-Man franchise.
To say Sony has been having financial troubles this past decade would be putting it lightly. Thanks to stiff competition from Apple and Samsung and shift in consumer taste, Sony has been forced to layoff over 1,000 employees just this year after having laid off 10,000 employees the year prior. The company has also sold off VAIO, their PC division and even spun off Bravia in case their television business completely collapses. Things however aren’t all doom and gloom for the once electronic giant. PlayStation continues to be a loved brand and their latest installment, the PS4, continues to outpace the Xbox One.
Sony Pictures has always been a bright spot for Sony with franchises like Spider-Man, Men in Black, and now the Jump Street series which tend to bring with them big numbers. Thanks to SP and PlayStation, Sony was able to report a surprise Q1 2014 profit in what would have otherwise been another loss for the company.
I kept feeling like I was watching Brazil meets Under Siege 2: Dark Territory as I viewed Snowpiercer. That is certainly an upgrade for the Under Siege 2 appreciation society. Staring at the marquee to the theater I decided I would take a chance on this film which I knew nothing about. It was pride weekend in Seattle and nothing says gay pride more than sitting in a theater by yourself, about to watch a movie about a futuristic society that destroyed the environment and whose only survivors live on a fast paced train, traveling the world in a giant loop.
I sat in my chair and listened to a couple of nerds discuss the powerful abilities of some card in their Magic deck. “OOOH Man! This is just ridiculous. I’m going to have to keep this one.”
It was a strange weekend.
Based on French graphic novel Le Transperceneige, the film Snowpiercer is wildly entertaining stuff if you can get past the idea that everyone on the planet died except the people on this train, which is kind of ridiculous. But this movie isn’t playing subtle so accept that and you will be treated to a thought provoking, fun time. I was especially impressed by how writer/director Joon-ho Bong payed attention to the details. He answers most of the obvious questions. How does this train continue despite limited resources? What about population growth? Why does it travel so fast? Why do the have nots put up with the haves?
Sony Pictures has officially confirmed the release date for Uncharted, based on the best-selling and beloved PlayStation franchise. According to Sony, Uncharted will be released on June 10th, 2016 and will be directed by Seth Gordon (Identity Thief, Horrible Bosses) and is being written by David Guggenheim (Safe House). Charles Roven, Arad, Alex Gartner, and Ari Arad (Spider-Man franchise) will be producing under their Arad/Atlas Entertainment production company. With an unfinished screenplay, expect details to remain scarce till 2015 when production and filming will officially start on the highly-anticipated film.
I was not a fan of Rise of the Planet of the Apes. I thought the movie was fairly silly but had this pretty cool ending credit sequence that made me think the graphic designers were smarter than the writers. So going into this sequel I wasn’t sure how I felt. My friend Big C informed me that he had watched the previous film that day in preparation. I think the idea of preparing to see Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is giving the franchise too much credit.
Whereas the first film was full of irrationally mean or dumb humans with dialogue straight out of a 9th grade morality play, the sequel decides to play smart and stay smart.
Earth To Echo is aimed squarely at the young. I’m not sure if it’s a good sign that after seeing it with friends, one of them proclaimed that Spielberg’s all enduring classic E.T. is actually pretty terrible and only our memories of youth raise it up in esteem. So were we really comparing E.T. to E.T.E.? Our collective experience seeing Echo drew us into a discussion of really good movies that stand the test of time and whether or not youth fantasy films ever hit the level of true classic. Well, even though the stinger following the credits could set up a sequel, I doubt we will ever see E.T.E.T. (E.T.E. Two)
In the typical youth story fashion, Earth To Echo. tells the tale of three childhood friends (Tuck, Alex, and “Munch”) that go on an adventure when they realize the localized cell phone disturbance at Tuck’s house is from something bigger out in the desert. Munch is the movie’s nerd/geek/socially misadjusted kid that gets a terrible nickname because all movies about childhood nickname a kid something somewhat insulting even though I don’t personally remember nicknaming my friends that way. I think the explanation went like this: “my friends call me Munch. I don’t know why.” At least the writers admit it.
Sony Pictures Television has recently announced plans to expand further into the UK market with its acquisition of CSC Media Group, adding a further 16 television channels to it’s UK portfolio.
Currently Sony owns TV channels in the UK including Sony Movie Channel, Movies 4 Men, and Movie Mix. These channels are ad-supported and are will now be complemented with the addition of popular channels including True Entertainment, Pop and Chart ShowTV.
The acquisition of CSC further demonstrates our commitment to the UK market and our intent to continue to grow our tremendously successful global portfolio of networks,
Andy Kaplan, president of worldwide networks for Sony Pictures Television
Read on for more details.
While there is no shortage of Breaking Bad fans out there, the number shrinks down when the news applies to Breaking Bad fans who also own a 4K television. If you do fall into that elite group then this news should excite you though in general, this is good news for 4K fans as well. As of now, you can watch Breaking Bad in drool-worthy 4K. All you need now is smell-o-vision to have the most authentic meth lab experience without actually going to jail. The news was brought to light by Netflix’s Joris Evers:
Breaking Bad now streaming in Ultra HD 4K everywhere @netflix is available!
— Joris Evers (@jorisevers) June 16, 2014
Unfortunately, there are some caveats that go along with the news.
Football may celebrated as the ‘international sport of the world’, bringing people together from every corner of the world in a way that few cultural events truly do, but it’s easy to forget that behind the glamour and fun, it’s big business too. For example, this is estimated to be the most expensive World Cup ever, costing Brazil more than the previous two Cups combined at roughly $14-16bn. It also represents the biggest single-event sporting competition in the world, with more than 1 billion unique viewers expected to watch online, by smartphone, TV and in public places. Just imagine what those figures mean to companies in communications, PR, marketing, also for merchandise producers and a whole lot more. Like Sony, for example.
FIFA has just announced that it’s banning players from wearing Beats branded headphones from all stadia involved in the World Cup.
Read on to find out why.
Don’t listen to me. Don’t pay attention to my opinions. I have nothing important to say.
My friend Yo Kid K closely followed such advice when we were discussing How To Train Your Dragon 2. When I informed him that I felt it moved too fast and crammed too much stuff in, he told me it was well paced and very little really goes on.
In his mind, exploring the vast outreaches of your world, that leads to finding a new set or fortresses in land no one ever goes to, that leads to discovering a long lost family member and having a reunion, that leads to all out city destroying war with as yet to be introduced villain, that leads to a funeral, it’s not putting in too much for 102 minutes (including the credits).
Red Rover Red Rover send plot stuff right over.
Me: “The dialog gets really schmaltzy, talking down to us.”
K: “It’s a kids movie.”
Me: “It’s really loud and goes really fast.”
K: “It’s a kids movie.”
Me: “I didn’t feel any emotional connection.”
K: “I can’t believe you didn’t see the first one.”
Me: “My favorite kids movie and one of my favorite films is Babe.”
K: “Oh my god. I shut that off, it was boring.”
K: “Do you like any of the super hero movies?” (K is a big fan of Marvel)
M: “One of my favorite super hero movies and it’s just a flat out great film, is Watchmen.”
K: “Oh my god. No, it’s horrible.”
M: “I actually really li…”
K: “It’s horrible.”
M: “No, I think tha….”
K: “Terrible film.”
M: “But when I…”
K: “Bad.”
M: “Did you read the comic?”
K: “Yes.”
M: “I actually liked it better than the com…”
K: “What, it’s horrible. It’s terrible. It’s bad. No.”
Being that it was opening weekend for X-Men: Days of Future Past, you can imagine it was pretty packed. I was annoyed by the fact that the parking garage was completely full and had to drive blocks away and walk back. Staring at a theater, dotted with open seats, I walk up to someone and ask if any of the three seats surrounding him are free. He tells me no, they are all taken. The movie is about to start so I look at at the rest of the crowd, stand up straight and yell “Where is there a single open seat? I’m not going to ask everyone individually!” This is my super power. I am so direct that people feel uncomfortable enough to give me what I need.
A nice lady points next to her. I walk over, sit down, and she says “Well done. That’s how to do it.” I meet her son and she offers me a chocolate chip cookie. She’s definitely a mom. Sensing my bad mood she offers me comfort food.
You must be logged in to post a comment.