Everything is a Remix Part 2 from Kirby Ferguson on Vimeo.
A very interesting look at the world of films and just how powerful the role of influence is in Hollywood. I don’t know about you but I found some of those Star Wars comparison shots to be fascinating.
You can find a further look at this idea (along with more great videos like this one) over at everythingisaremix.info.
Thanks to Daring Fireball for the link.
Parody done correctly can be an uplifting and artistic view of something that reminds us how great it was. Parody done wrong, well I can’t think of anything more awful. Luckily for us, Seth McFarlane not only knows how to do parody correctly, but he’s a huge Star Wars Fan. And his latest DVD release Something, Something, Something, Dark Side, is a loving and hilarious tribute to arguably the best Star Wars film in the series, The Empire Strikes Back. All the Family Guy characters reprise their roles from the Blue Harvest parody from a few years ago: Peter as Han Solo, Lois as Princess Leia, Chris as Luke Skywalker, and Stewie as Darth Vader. All play the role to a tee adding their own Family Guy twist to them. And lucky for us, there are a few more surprises waiting inside the DVD.
As you may have deduced, this film was and is two Family Guy episodes stitched together. Originally these episodes were supposed to air as a finale to season 7, but got pushed back to season 8. My guess is the folks at Fox wanted to make a few bucks before the Holidays and released a DVD version before airing it for the masses. Knowing that you’ll eventually be able to watch this on TV, why would you want to spend $15 on a DVD? Well there are a few reasons, actually.
First, the DVD is uncut, and if you haven’t watched Family Guy in its uncensored form, you are missing out. Listening to Stewie (as Darth Vader) drop the F bomb a few times or hearing Chris (as Luke Skywalker) yell, “Shit!” before he crashes his X-Wing is priceless. That and there are more than a few jokes and social references that I am sure will be edited out for TV.
Second, this movie is funny as shit and perfect for getting together with your buds and laughing your ass off before the rest of the plebes get to. Imagine you and your buds are over playing New Super Mario Brothers Wii and after an hour of those shenanigans, someone suggests watching a movie. You could be the hero and watch this film, only take up an hour and be right back gaming. It’s sweet!
Finally, Seth McFarlane wonderfully recreates the greatness that is Empire Strikes Back. Each background scene is almost a shot for shot copy of the original work. There are even cut scenes that are so true to the original that you forget that you are watching Family Guy. Watching this film makes you want to go back to your collection and drag out Empire Strikes Back. It’s a double whammy of awesomeness!
So if you are looking for gift ideas for the nerd in your family, or you are a Star Wars or Family Guy fan yourself, go out and grab this fine DVD. And may the force be with you!
Article By: Jarrod Johnston
Reviewers note: Review is based on the PS3 version of the game.
Hype is a funny thing. There’s a good kind and a bad kind. The good kind can come from many different places, such as a game coming out of nowhere to sell oodles of copies because of word of mouth or fantastic reviews (Sins of a Solar Empire comes to mind). Then there’s the bad kind: the artificial hype shoveled into our senses by marketing guru’s and company heads clamoring a game as a insert-best-game-in-the-genre-here killer and the second coming of the messiah.
For every one game that can actually manage to live up to these ridiculous expectations like Metal Gear Solid 4 and Grand Theft Auto 4, there’s five like Fable, Killzone, DOOM 3, and, most recently, Spore. And, unfortunately for these games, bad hype also has a tendency to make games seem worse then they already are. For example, when Peter Molinuex gets on stage and tells me that Fable will be “The greatest RPG ever created”, you better be bringing the heat, because even though Fable turned out to be a pretty good game, it was by no means the greatest RPG ever created, and thus it is remembered as a disappointment of Titanic proportions, and not the solid RPG that it actually was.
The latest “worst game EVARRR” to fall victim to the hype machine is Star Wars: The Force Unleashed: the first in house developed Lucasarts title since 2005’s underappreciated Star Wars: Republic Commando, and apparently the last. It’s been lauded for years now about its revolutionary physics and interactivity, and it’s one of the first big titles of what is sure to be another over crowded holiday season. (more…)
Tyler Durden brings us this massive article on his picks for Greatest Movie Scenes of All Time! Presented in 3 parts.
Article By: Tyler Durden
Here are the top 27 greatest movie moments in movie history! Or so I declare. Why 27? Because I said so, that’s why!
Being a huge movie fan, (and who isn’t?), I’ve decided that it is about time to list some of my favorite movie scenes of all time. The only thing is that if you haven’t seen the movies listed, you may encounter SPOILERS!!!!! Be it the ending of a movie or a pivotal point, BEWARE! Also, these are in no particular order. So…yeah. It is just too hard to determine what is the best movie scene because I love them all equally, and because I like to do things differently.
So now that you have been warned, let’s begin!
Alien
This is actually a two parter because I could not find the whole clip. Damn youse, Youtube! Anyway, if you are watching Alien and during the last 20 minutes of the movie, your heart isn’t beating out of your chest, you are dead. Or you don’t have a heart.
I remember when I first watched this and was terrified. I might have been a little young, but this movie puts hair on your chest……and makes you piss yourself at the same time.
“Made from 100% recycled awesome.”
Thus reads the tag-line for Hasbro’s entry into the vinyl toy arena and, dare I say it, they’re 100% correct. I first got wind of this vinyl toy trend in one my local Japanese toy import shops at my hometown mall. They had a whole stack of these crazy “design-it-yourself” vinyl dolls from a company called Kidrobot (love the name), under the name MUNNY. I guess it’s a bit of a phenomenon, especially among artists who use MUNNY dolls as blank canvases for their own character creations. Check out the MUNNY website for good examples of some of the amazing things people have done with these toys.
While being cool, you can’t find them at your local Wal-Mart or big box retailer of choice. So, enter the toy giant Hasbro. In an attempt to make this new vinyl toy both affordable and mass market, they’ve brought out a new line of figures based on Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Marvel Comics characters. You know me by now. Anything having to do with comics, movies and general geekery has me right away. But you throw in some cool design and a nod to Japanese toy culture and my wallet is immediately open and on its way to empty.
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Article by: Tyler Durden84
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed unleashed its demo on Thursday and all I have to say is “Most Impressive”.
Being a HUGE Star Wars fan, I have clocked Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, or for the sake of saving me time, SW:TFU, on my most wanted games list for this year, and as of the day of the demo release, it seems warranted.
Checking in at fairly hefty near 1 GB of size, 905 Mb to be exact, SW:TFU truly lets you feel like a Jedi, and a seemingly evil Jedi to boot. After sampling the demo’s Force Grip tutorial, where I learned how to pick up movie stock cargo boxes and hurl them into the backs of hapless Stormtroopers, I felt more than qualified to approach the demo’s story option. Thrust into a cut scene that foreshadows the hero or antihero’s background, a quick audio flashback of what seems to be the player’s family screaming and dying, the man himself, Darth Vader, appears and requests that I help dismantle an imperial fleet station in hopes of tracking down an elusive Jedi and then murdering him or her.
(Quick nerd trivia, Darth Vader, after Episode 3, soon started to hunt down all the remaining Jedi in the galaxy, and it seems that you, the Apprentice, are there to help him with his goal.)
