Old news for some, but our favourite news anchor is on the way back and here is the first teaser trailer to whet our appetite. That's right, the legendary Ron Burgundy and the Channel 4 Evening News Team are back and ready to take the world by a storm of pure masculine power.
I have insanely high hopes for this film, and it's definitely one that they have to get right. The Hangover was brilliant, and although the Hangover 2 was still funny, it was nowhere near as brilliant. Generally, comedy sequels don't really live up to their predecessors, but there have been some happy exceptions and every Ron Burgundy fan will be praying that this is the case for Anchorman 2. There are a couple of things that the film has to get right:
1. Same stars, same characters
I'm not sure of the premise of the film, whether significant time is supposed to have passed since the original or whatever, but each character in the original film was well loved by fans. From the big roles such as Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate) and Brick Tamland (Steve Carrell) to the much smaller roles in Ed Harken (Fred Willard) the news director and his assistant (Chris Parnell), each character has a moment that can produce a real laugh, so to have them back will really help the film to shine. Reportedly, the bigger stars such as Steve Carrell, Paul Rudd, and of course Will Ferrell have had to take some major pay-cuts in order to allow this film to be financially possible, which you would presume would mean that this is a film that they are all really passionate about making.
2. New characters, but the right characters
Time has passed since the last Anchorman, and since that time some forms of humour have evolved and new stars have made themselves into household names. You can expect that there will be a shed-load of personalities appearing as cameos in this film (hopefully we will see Ben Stiller reprise his role), but this is still a film that should concentrate on the main cast predominantly. Sure, bring in Zach Galifianakis, Ken Jeong, Tina Fey, but don't go overboard and try to get the whole cast of How I Met Your Mother somehow slotting in. Audiences will want to see their new favourite comedians turn up, but a memorable cameo doesn't have to be much more than that.
3. New News Story
This may be one of the tough ones to achieve, but I have faith. In the original we saw a love-story marred by Ron Burgundy's tragically hilarious downfall, but what will we see this time? Will we see the Channel 4 team adjusting to new media technologies and a changing society? Or will it simply be a rehash of the same story in a different location (Hangover 2)? The cast will probably be able to keep the film above water in any case, but it'd be good to have some sort of structure behind what's making us laugh.
4. More of the same!
What made Anchorman funny is sure to make Anchorman 2 just as funny, as long as it keeps itself fresh. We'll want more hilariously improvised conversations, more talking dogs, more street-fights and more memorable one-liners, just as long as they aren't exactly the same or overly predictable. I personally would want to see another news team fight, if they can work it in in an original way.
So, are you excited for the next Anchorman? You stay classy San Diego.
Yeah I think it's probably fair to say that Will Smith might have overreacted here, but people need to know that just because you see a certain celebrity, film or music star in the media over and over, time after time, in movies, music videos and on chat shows, it doesn't mean you actually know them. In many parts of Europe this is a normal way to greet someone...that you know. Not a stranger. So yes, maybe Will Smith shouldn't have put hands on the man, but it makes for an amusing watch, and I wish that I could lightly (and it is lightly) backhand people who decide that kissing me on the cheek is an appropriate way to make an introduction. - handshakes are fine, hugs are pushing it, kisses are reserved for relatives and hot people.
Funny though!
UPDATE - Turns out the reporter is actually Vitalli Sediuk who is one of those sort of TV pranksters in Russia - along the same lines as the guy who squirted Tom Cruise on the red carpet. Meh. Still funny to see his rather sheepish reaction to a slap.
For guys, the films that get us excited are Westerns, Martial Arts, Superhero, Science Fiction....okay actually most films get us excited, but the point I'm making is that most guys - particularly more mature ones - would put at least two gangster/mob films in their all time top ten. The Godfather series, Goodfellas, Scarface, and more modern renditions in Snatch or Rock-n-Rolla, but it's been a while since we've had a good ol' Tommy-Gun and sleep with the fishes gangster film. Public Enemies (2009) was pretty good in my opinion, mainly because it had a stellar cast (Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Marion Cotillard to name a few) but it failed to excite the gangster-loving masses, so will this film sate our appetites?
Personally I think that this looks a real treat; it looks dark, gritty, slick, and with car-chases and shoot-outs it'll keep the adrenaline pumping. Ryan Gosling had an amazing year in 2011, especially with Drive (2011) which has meant that men don't have to pretend they haven't heard of 'that guy from The Notebook'. Sean Penn will be sure to impress, Josh Brolin, Nick Nolte, Michael Pena, Anthony Mackie, and more look to make probably one of the most good-looking gang cast we've seen in a long time. Supposed to hit screens in November, be sure that this will be something that the lads will be treating themselves when winter starts to rear its head.
Little known fact about me; I happen to have insanely talented cousins. One of my cousins is in this band. I'm really bad with descriptions of music and such, and so I'm not sure what genre Drop Out Venus come under, but I would really implore you to give them a listen - you might find something you like. For me, it's the kind of music I can imagine as the background to some inspirational indie film or critically acclaimed television show. Called it here first, if it ever happens.
Give them a listen, follow, like on facebook, that sort of stuff -they're going to be big one day and you want to be able to be one of those people who can say "yeah I liked them before everyone else did" - just not in an annoying way.
So, it's that time of the year again when the magazines and websites start releasing their Top 100 whatever of the year, and it's time for FHM's top 100 sexiest women - the full list can be found here. Spoiler alert: the winner of 2012 is Tulisa - singer from N-Dubz and X-factor judge, as well as apparently having some coincidental sex tape out and about, apparently. One of the reasons I'm saying apparently is also the reason why I'm somewhat surprised that Tulisa is even in the top ten - I don't find her that sexy. Well, that's unfair, but I can think of sexier people out there, and if this is definitely a 'world' study I really don't think that Tulisa can even take the sexiest woman in Britain.
First off, Emma Watson is at number 64. 64?! Sofia Vergara is at number 83, Natalie Portman is at 71, and that's not even the worst of it. Elisha Cuthbert is nowhere to be seen, and neither is Melanie Iglesias or Kate Upton. Obviously whoever voted on this haven't seen the flipbook videos (search back a few entries) or any Upton videos. It isn't surprising though; you can't be voted into a top 100 sexiest list if people don't know who you are, otherwise that girl that worked at the bar on my 20th birthday would be at least number 24, and that's not just because I swear to god she smiled more when she served me. So I guess for anyone that reads this, the mission is to raise awareness of the people you think are sexy, so that it isn't the same group of women in the top ten lists each year.
My heart was in my mouth before I watched this film; so much hype had surrounded it that if it was to fail, it would actually be soul-destroying. But, my fears would not be recognised - this film is epic.
I would say that you will enjoy this film a lot more if you have seen at least some of the films that preceded it, but it does a good job bringing you up to speed in any case. For those of you who don't know, the premise is that a super secret agency known as SHIELD hopes to bring together a team of heroes to combat the ever increasing threat of supernatural forces. Lucky really, because a god from another realm has touched down on Earth with the ability to conjure up an entire army of aliens to wreak havoc. So, the head of SHIELD, Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson), reaches out to Earth's best and brightest - Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) and more importantly his Iron Man persona, Captain America (Chris Evans) who is still getting used to living in the modern world, Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) the super sexy and kick-ass spy, Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) as an amazing scientist with a equally amazing angry green secret, as well as Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and the god from Asgard, Thor (Chris Hemsworth). Together they must defeat Loki (Tom Hiddleston) before he can reap destruction on Earth (although in this case it's mainly New York, but you know). But, it can't be as simple as that - putting superheroes in a room doesn't make them a team - heads butt, fists fly and Hulk's smash, and the Avengers have a long way to go before they can hope to defeat anyone.
I don't know how responsible Joss Whedon is for the success of this film, but his influence is definitely all over it as director, producer and writer (I think?). First off - it's really funny; full of Whedon's trademark tongue-in-cheek humour and pulled off superbly by the acting talents available. Second, the action is immense - every hero in this film seems badass which is exactly what we want and expect - it's hard to pick a favourite. I was worried that Hawkeye and Black Widow would be overshadowed by the bigger names and physically stronger members, but Hawkeye still astounds with his abilities with a bow, and Black Widow holds her own and pulls off some of the cooler fight sequences in the movie - which is of course to be expected when someone who created Buffy the Vampire Slayer is at the helm. The dialogue is great and the relationships between the characters are well thought out - I particularly liked the relationship between Tony Stark and Bruce Banner when they work together briefly in a laboratory setting; it really captured the idea of having two amazing scientists work together with mutual respect for each other. The visuals were amazing, even when in 2D (because I really hate 3D these days) and although the film was actually pretty long, it never felt stagnant or boring. It deserves all the accolades that are pouring in for it, and my only worry is that when sequels come out (Avengers 2 is almost certainly on the way) they will struggle to match it. But real credit should be given to Marvel creating a batch of films (albeit some better than others, but all still good) that are able to web together to form this superhero hybrid of a blockbuster. What will we see next? Will the new adaptation of Spiderman show up in Avengers 2? Will we see some of the other founding members show up (Antman?)? Will the X-Men members make an appearance? Even if the next film in the pipeline doesn't reach the magnitude of this one, I can be happy knowing this film exists and I will surely be having Marvel-marathons in the years to come.
There are fantasy games a plenty out at the moment to whet my appetite, so Dragon’s Dogma barely appeared on my radar until I spotted it on a few gaming websites. Dragons, swords, magic, all familiar aspects that make an exciting fantasy world, but what was different about it? My interest was stimulated by the mention of customisable ‘pawns’ that would join you in your quests as well as being involved in the online features of the game. Being able to customise characters is nothing new, but I relish the idea of being able to make customisable groups of characters to join me on any fantasy journey, rather than being subjected to generic companions that you either love or hate. For example, the thing I most loved about the early Final Fantasy games was the ability to at least name your characters, which meant that at the time I would name them after my real-world friends and family. In that sense, I wasn’t going on a journey with a bunch of strangers, but rather my school-friend Jon, who instead of a young teenage boy was a hulking knight, or Keiran; instead of a lazy student was a mystical mage. So if Dragon’s Dogma allows me to go one step further and make multiple companions of different appearances, it’ll be a certain buy for me. So, the demo is out, and I have decided to give it a go.
Immediately on the menu screen I dismissed the actual game portion and headed to the ‘Character Edit’ section. It lists the ability to customise your main character, and your main pawn. Supposedly this may mean that you can only customise one of your pawns to play with, which is better than nothing I suppose. First up, gender and name. You can create a 12 character name, and then a predetermined ‘moniker’ which displays for players with parental controls enabled – supposedly to shield younger players from the grand mage Asshat or the mighty knight Dickface from causing offence. You then are offered a choice of 16 ‘base bodies’ which have a pretty extensive range. You have the bog-standard average man, followed by a slightly leaner version, then a hulking barbarian sort of character. From there, however, you can choose a more hobbit-like body, older men, teenage boys, dwarves and hulking bodybuilders. Next up is a choice of six voices, which you can test out in a range of grunts and battle-cries. Whether this will extend to a speaking role for your character is yet to be seen, but I have the feeling you will be one of those silent ‘Elder Scrolls’ speakers, speaking in text rather than voice. Then come changing face shape and hairstyle – some particularly amusing, but a good choice nonetheless. Then you can change the eyes, with a slightly odd option of having either one, or both eyes permanently closed...a blind character would be an interesting outing perhaps. From there is the normal adjustments to eyes, ears and mouth, nothing special, so you can continue on to the body. It seems that selecting a preset is merely for those who want to jump straight in, as you can pretty much edit each part of the body as you see fit in this section, from height, weight and skin colour, all the way to the musculature of the arms and legs. You can change the characters posture to be more hunched or with a more puffed out chest, and then a slightly weird setting for your stance to be more ‘ladylike’ or ‘macho’, which seems to merely change the position of your legs and how wide you hold your arms for your body. Not really sure what to do with that one. Then, a multitude of scar options, which extend from your face to parts of your body, depending on how battle-hardened you want your character to be. Add wrinkles for a more mature character, and no fantasy game would be complete without the addition of beards and moustaches. Even to male characters you can add make up, but I couldn’t find anything that brought out my knight’s eyes so I left that option blank. That done, you repeat the process in creating ‘your constant companion throughout your journey as Arisen: your main pawn’. Sounds interesting, no? This done, I continued on to the ‘Prologue Quest’
Strangely, I wasn’t given the option to start with the character I had just spent the last twenty minutes making, but I guess this is a demo after all. So, I tread through a dreary cave area and OH MY GOD IT’S A DRAGON, WHY IS THERE A DRAGON?!?! I have some companion with me, but I doubt our swords and shields will help us here, and OH MY GOD IT’S BREATHING FIRE AT ME! We run, headfirst into some goblins, which are a much easier enemy to slay it seems. The combat is a bit clumsy for this bit, there doesn’t seem to be a lock button to direct your attacks so I was flailing around for a few moments before my sword struck true. But hey, practice makes perfect I’m sure. I’m led to a mysterious ‘stone’ which grants me some pawns to help me. Again, not the one I created, but some welcome allies nonetheless. One of them turns out to be a mage of some sort, while the other carries the bow. They help out well enough in the next battle with goblins, though I feel I missed the opportunity to command them properly.
We then get a glimpse of a nasty looking beast. Great. We continue through some dungeon-like area and one of my companions exclaims that they have found a survivor. Looks like I’m massing quite a little group here – good to know. More goblins to fight – there are some slightly jarring moments of slow motion when one of my companions seems to do something which is meant to be useful, but really just distracts from me bringing steel justice to my foes. Still, I’m sure it will be explained more in the game itself. He just seems to shout things like ‘I will distract it!’ which is great, I guess. Then another WTF moment, some beast with a lion’s head and a snake attached to its back appears and gobbles up one of the knights that my group had rescued, for all the good it did him. While fighting, two of my companions latch onto the beasts back, while my mage prevents it from breathing fire upon me. A nice touch to see that they are at least smart enough to fight for themselves. Then I realise that I too can climb onto the body, so I climb up the neck of the snake that the beast has for a tail and sever it, a pretty gratifying experience. Then we move on to sever the goats head on its back until only a lion-head remains. Defeated, thus ends that mission. Not bad on all accounts, but I will have to try the next mission too.
In this instance I am looking to hunt down a griffin causing trouble to farmers and such. I take the role of my created character in the role an archer this time, and my customised pawn is with us too with a huge sword. Nice. First a group of goblins need to be dispatched and I am able to test out the archery option. It’s easy to use, but I only get a few shots off before a great griffin swoops down to spoil the fun. One of my companions bravely clambers on the beast’s back just as it takes flight, yelling for me to take out the wings. What I wouldn’t give for friends as foolhardy as that! It also seems like the pawn that I created earlier is hacking away, which I am grateful for, while the mage among my companions has granted my arrows and daggers the power of fire. Choosing the right companions is sure to be a prominent feature in this game. Whilst the battle rages on, the griffin decides to take flight to spare itself the cuts and to be free of my arrows range. My pawn, decides to pick up the body of one of the goblins we killed earlier, stating that it will ‘serve as bait’ to bring the fiend down again. Very clever. However, it seems I wasn’t paying attention to the slightly small and not very attention grabbing health bar, and while I’m notching arrow after arrow the griffin exacts revenge and knocks me to the ground, killing me in the process. Oops. Second time round I manage it by climbing on the body itself, plunging daggers into each lump of feathers I can find. And that’s the end of that demo.
I guess I like it, but I want to know more about how the game actually works. The combat mechanics have been the focus, but I want to know more about the story and the companion options. Whether or not a poor student like myself will be willing to buy the game is yet to be seen, but I’ll be keeping my eye out for any more information that heads my way. In any case, the game is out sometime next month, and if you fancy giving it a go, the demo is free on the Playstation Network right now.
