The Wolf Among Us
I knocked out the first two episodes of TellTale Games’ (Creator of the Walking Dead video game) The Wolf Among Us over the weekend. For the uninitiated, Wolf is based on the comic book series Fables. Published by Dark Horse comics, it tells the story of a community in New York City made up of all the storybook characters you love and know after they escaped from their Homeland dimensions following a devastating war with a being known only as the Adversary (unless you’ve read far enough, and I’m not about to spoil who the Adversary really is). Fables is the only comic book series I’ve ever followed long term. It will get its own post, mainly because playing the game made me dive back into the series, but know this, it’s fascinating. The game follows one Bigby Wolf, sheriff of Fabletown, formerly known as The Big Bad Wolf. The game does a…
The Walking Dead: Season 2 (All That Remains)
I bought a few games over the weekend, all because they were cheap or on sale. It’s been a while since I dove into a game, so this was a lot of fun. The first of these was the first episode of the second season of The Walking Dead video game. The second season continues the tradition of rich storytelling and strong, powerful character driven moments. It differs in that, now instead of playing Lee, you play Clementine herself. I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed the first episode. It begins, quite innocently, with Clem now that she’s met up with Omid and Christa, who is now big pregnant. Because the Walking Dead is the Walking Dead, it doesn’t take long for one of these characters to no longer be in the picture. I won’t dive into the story too much, but I can’t let it go without commenting…
Godzilla Trailer
I am cautiously optimistic about this. Bryan Cranston is a great actor, though I’m worried this will be WB just plugging him into a major franchise for the star power, wasting his talent in a blah character with weak writing. That’s really what Need for Speed looks like it’s doing with Aaron Paul. There’s a big aspect of the trailer that I want to discuss. There’s a very clear sense of drama. This doesn’t look like Pacific Rim, in tone or visuals. There doesn’t look like a lot of fun. Not that giant monster cagematch kinda fun anyway. I know people who’ve really criticized Superman and Star Trek for being too dark, too edgy, with too much destruction porn. While I didn’t love the movies, I don’t think those elements were the fatal blows. Here though, I can’t help but worry they’re going to make this really, really serious. Of…
The Walking Dead: Claimed
This week’s episode was very similar to Cleared, in both theme and quality. Once again, Michonne really proves to be a great character the more she’s fleshed out. My familiarity with the comic ended around the beginning of the prison so I don’t really know what is the show vs the comic, but either way I’ve really enjoyed furthering her back story. Getting her back with Rick and Carl was a great move, especially as her and Grimes the Younger cleared the house. The moment where she walked into the pink room was a special kind of Walking Dead moment, the kind that shows you of the world that was lost. Carl really gets the benefit of these story lines. I remember thinking at the end of last season that they were going to take him down the sociopath route, making him into the next Shane, but he’s really gone…
Star Wars
Cracked has a pretty great post (because there are two people in the world, those that like Star Wars and those that like Star Trek, and I’m the former) about why Star Wars is better that Star Trek. What I didn’t realize until I read it, and I have to kinda apologize for this, is that J.J. Abrams did essentially make the Star Trek movies into Star Wars. That’ probably why I was alright with them and so confused by the plethora of hatred that was directed toward them. Before I dive into this, they definitely have their problems. The first one was ridiculously forgettable (I know Vulcan gets blown the fuck up and there’s the whole time thing, but that’s all I got) and Khan’s “surprise” visit annoyed me as much as everyone else, but they were fun. I like the whole time displacement that has given them a reason…