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Video Game High School: The Feature-Length Webseries

May 12, 2012
e-Sports, Film, Internet
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For all us fellow YouTube procrastinators out there, you’ve undoubtedly heard of or seen one of freddiew many cinematic antics. Real Life Mario Kart, Flower Warfare, and the Rocket Jump are just a sampling of the joys Freddie and his crew bring to the otherwise dull browsing experience.

So have you ever wondered what Freddie could do with the budget for a feature length film? – Well here’s the Trailer.

Admit it, who else thought; “OMG! It’s Chuck!!”

Video Game High School (VGHS) began as a Kickstarter project that exceeded its pledge goal by over 350%, and is by far their most ambitious project to date. With fellow filmmakers Matt Arnold (writer/directot) Brandon Laatsch (freddiew co-founder), Will Campos (writer), and Brian Firenzi (writer, “The Law”) in tow, the VGHS narrative envisions the veritable (optimistically inevitable) utopian discourse of Video Games as the apex of competitive sports, as the current eSports scene has burgeoned from a niche sub-culture to a global phenomenon.

The pilot début, dubbed “episode 0,” introduces protagonist Brian as potential VGHS progamming academic, after his concurrent rise to fame, pwning “The Law,” the worlds top amateur online-fragger and VGHS Senior in a routine pub-stomp – all done with exuberant cinematic flair, quintessentially freddiew. From RTS to FPS; the competition, the glory, the millions of dollar endorsement, and the hordes of screeching fan-girls who quiver and spontaneously faint at the mere mention of the progaming elite – well I did mention this was fiction.

This 90-minute feature will be aired as a 10-part webseries (aired weekly) with the first episode available on May 17 on freddiew’s YouTube account, or for the impatient, you can venture over to their sister site Rocket Jump to get view the first episodes in its entirety.

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Dominare . Certa . Perfice (can someone translate for me? – Latin I assume?)

Episode 2: BrianD’s First Day of School here

Episode 3: Welcome to FPS 101. My name is Ace. You can call me Ace

The Avengers Review

April 27, 2012
Film, Review
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For fans there was never any doubt that The Avengers, this culmination about a half-dozen film franchises, billions of dollars investment, and the creative backing of the mastermind Joss Whedon would be nothing but spectacular. No, seriously. That’s it – the remainder of this review will be me gushing over the overtly Whedon tropes sprinkled throughout this amazingly fun film that elates my inner nerd. All I can say is walking out of the cinema of my first viewing, I couldn’t help a smug grin crease my otherwise mesmerised expression thinking; “Yeah – Joss Whedon definitely directed that.”

For those kind enough to read on, the plot revolves around the pulsating blue-cube known as the Tesseract (as seen in Captain America: The First Avenger), as both portal to Asgard and the Nine Realms (Thor) and source of limitless self-sustaining power (similar to the arc-reactor in Iron Man), and the threat of an invading alien race, threatening the existential genocide of humanity. Your typical blockbuster sci-fi plot, only The Avengers has a Hulk. Enough said.

The script was near pitch perfect as Whedon undertook the difficult yet familiar task of bringing together this ensemble cast of leading men to create a very distinct team dynamic that evolves throughout the film. An impressive feat attempting to balance this synergy of strong individuals into an ensemble cast while simultaneously introducing these established characters to the audience ala Serenity.

If nothing else, Whedon’s comedic sensibility permeates throughout the film juxtaposing heightened gut-wrenching emotional states and epic speeches with comedic levity, especially between the surprisingly venomous and petulant Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and – well, to divulge anymore would venture into spoiler territory.

Robert Downey Jr. seamlessly adopts the Tony Stark role as if he were bred for Whedon’s particular brand of witty and satirical scripting. Chris Hemsworth returns with a great ‘Shakespeare-in-the-Park’ performance as the guilt ridden Thor and Chris Evans sheds the Propaganda facade to reveal the true soldier and true hero within as Captain America. Adding to this volatile mix of egos is Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner, with a standout performance and commitment to the motion capture role as the Hulk. I can confidently say this is the first time I enjoyed the Hulk in any live-action film.

What was surprising and inspired was Whedon’s commitment to the entire ensemble cast, giving enough time to flesh out Scarlet Johansen’s Black Widow, delving deeper into her past as she does her usual kick-ass thing and Jeremy Renner who has redeemed my previous assertion of Hawkeye as the world’s worst archer. It was comforting to see Whedon deliver a true balanced ensemble dynamic with no character really outshining the other. The cast gelled together incredibly throughout the film with their personal story-arc and still delivered a phenomenal group performance.

If you can consider the Marvel films leading up to this point as small-scale, you can be assured The Avengers makes up for that in earnest with a kind of Michael Bay extravagance and flair. However not just the big explosions and the ridiculously astonishing action set-pieces but the smaller intimate scenes between characters that really delivered a stunning yet entertaining super-hero film.

The flaws of the film are negligible if not non-existent and makes me wonder what was omitted from the original 3-hour director’s cut. Joss Whedon has done the near impossible to deliver what I believe is the greatest comic-book-to-film adaptation to date. Whedon’s embraces the knowledge and loyalty in committing to the source material that is unparalleled (even getting Lou Ferrigno to voice the Hulk), but take all this praise and enthusiasm with a grain of salt, I’m generally bias toward anything Joss Whedon (the man’s a genius).

I sinceerely hope The Dark Knight Rises and The Amazing Spider-Man have been taking effusive notes; the bar’s just been reset.

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DIRECTOR: Joss Whedon

STARRING: Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Robert Downey Jr, Mark Ruffalo, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansen, and Tom Hiddleston
WRITERS: Zak Penn and Joss Whedon

Teenage Mutant Ninja ALIENS!?

March 31, 2012
Castle Co-Op, Film, News
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A review article written for Castle Co-Op, a website dedicated to Film, TV, Music and Culture – Published  30-03-2012

No exact details can be elicited from the groggy haze that obscures my childhood memories; however most can be pieced together thanks to a few distinct artefacts that have collated as the remnants of the good ol’ toy box. Amongst these relics of a lost generation full of 90’s pop culture nostalgia, three distinct franchises are immediately bought to the foray – Transformers (and the spin-off series Beast Wars), The Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers and the lean, mean, and green heroes in a half-shell, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Over the past week, there has been quite a discussion amongst the online community commenting on the stream of information regarding Michael Bay’s live-action venture to reboot the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle (TMNT) franchise for a contemporary audience.

In a statement made by Bay, he claims when they’re done with this movie (slated for 2013 release), kids will find the turtles to be tough, edgy, funny, and completely loveable. This isn’t necessarily news until Bay drops the bomb – “these turtles are from an alien race” – that causes the surging uproar from fans. And to cap it all off, the turtles may not even be teenagers.

I don’t know about you, but a little part me just died.

For the pedantic fans among us, this concept actually doesn’t stray too far from the original creators’ vision (seeing as Bay has enlisted one of the co-creators Kevin Eastman to develop the script), as the infamous TCRI retromutagen ooze that mutated our reptilian quartet was alien technology manufactured by the Utroms – an interesting revelation for the ignorant masses clamouring to burn Bay at the stake for his heinous crimes.

Criticism has spread wide as Robbie Rist, the voice of Michelangelo in the original trilogy, posted a letter to Bay claiming the filmmakers was “sodomizing” the much beloved franchise with his alien approach. On the other hand, Rist’s co-star Brian Tochi who voiced Leonardo is outspokenly supportive of Bay taking creative reign on the turtles’ origins.

Personally, this axiomatic indifference has not changed my opinion about altering the very foundations of the turtles’ source material deemed sacrosanct by devout fans (the same opinion on the Mass Effect 3’s ending furore). The same fans who’d cry blasphemy at any alteration to turtles’ origins, pure and simple.

Perhaps this criticism is a bit unwarranted as nothing palpable has emerged from this project, so who knows. I’m now very much invested in this new project and eager to see what becomes of the franchise. Michael Bay has already tackled one of my cherished childhood memories with a live-action screen adaptation to some degree of success – perhaps he can do it again.

Personally from a development standpoint, I’m fond of the idea to transition back to live-action turtles like in the original trilogy. Enough of this stylised CGI nonsense and revert back to the old school costume design from Jim Henson’s Creature Shop.  If not for my own selfish nostalgic previsions of reliving the second live-action TMNT film, The Secret of the Ooze – to wit I still have major logistical gripes about the ending to lament.

However if we are to take internet rumour as gospel, development is poised to take the live-action as cue for turtle-suits with post-production digital faces ala Where the Wild Things Are. However with the somewhat overused CGI dominating feature films, I’d find it refreshing to see more practical costume design and consideration at play, similar to the likes of the Iron Man, Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy and the previous live-action TMNT films.

With all the script alterations aggravating devout fans, this redux has been meagrely dubbed Ninja Turtles, immediately loosing half of its iconicity in the title alone. Considering the current climate of our film culture – for the purpose of updating for a contemporary audience – is this deviation from established fiction acceptable practice or are we merely victim of Bay’s creative vanity as a vice?

Castle Co-Op’s Guilty Movie Pleasure and Discussing the Guile Meme

March 6, 2012
Castle Co-Op, Feature, Film
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A Co-Op joint article written for Castle Co-Op, a website dedicated to Film, TV, Music and Culture – Published 06-03-2012

Street Fighter (1994) was part of the first generation of videogame-to-screen adaptations that started the growing trend of horrible video-game movies.  It’s a cringe worthy experience that simply ignores the incredible depth of lore the franchise has developed over numerous game iterations. Without too much detail, the garishly inaccurate casting, costume design, acting, dialogue and martial arts choreography was woefully sub-par, yet can still redeem itself as a great movie – considering audiences are keenly aware how ridiculous the movie actually is. To think an American flag tattoo strategically placed upon a layered muscular bicep turns the Belgian Jean-Claude Van Damme into the all American Captain Guile (Colonel in the films adaptation), but hey, it still works for me. But what epitomizes this as extraordinary is the legendary Guile speech that’s set to rival that of Braveheart, Gladiator and The Lord of the Rings in sheer awesomeness and morale.

Anyone notice the young bright-eyed Aussie icon to the left?

The hammed up acting is most notable with the late Raul Julia (M. Bison) who tragically passed away upon the films completion. Despite the movie being less captivating than its source material; Street Fighter is just plain fun and still remains in my top five videogame-to-screen adaptations, ranked alongside Mortal Kombat, Final Fantasy and the eye-candy fest, D.O.A.

Street Figher Movie: Win Pose; (from left to right) E. Honda, Sawada, Ken, Balrog, Cammy, Zangief, Guile, Chun-Li, Ryu, and T-Hawk 

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I’d thought I might use this space to also share one of my favourite meme’s – the ‘Guile’s Theme Goes With Everything’ which began as a series of YouTube Poop’s paring footage with Guile’s Theme from Capcom’s flagship franchise,  Street Fighter. Guile was first introduced in 1991′s Street Fighter II and since the franchise has seen many different composers including Yoko Shimomura, Isao Abe, and Yoshihiro Sakaguchi – but the fans would agree the main Guile Theme has to be the one from Hyper Street Fighter II.

Since this meme utilises seemingly incoherrant footage with the dissonant theme to create an uncanny compilation that often proves more successful if not hilarious than the original score.

 
Kicking off with Guile’s Theme appropriately appropriated for the 1994 Street Fighter Movie; ‘Colonel Guile vs. M. Bison.


Next we have the epic scene from the movie 300 – Spartan King Leonidas vs. the Persian Messenger (a.k.a Oenomaus from the Stars original series, Spartacus [blood and sand, gods of the arena and vengeance])


Enter the more ridiculous appropriations of Guile’s epic theme to the ridiculous ‘family-friendly’ mechanic of gaming that makes me embarrassed to be call myself a gamer – the Xbox Kinect game Dance Central. This clip’s incredible accuracy and in-sync dance moves is the only reason it makes my list.


Another fan favourite from Star Wars Episode I – Then  Phantom Menace; Qui-Gon Jin vs. Darth Maul and Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. Darth Maul


While not on an epic scope of a battle, this is the scene in cinematic history in which Guile’s theme was made for; Dutch and Dillon’s epic handshake.


From epic to adorable – cats mauling it out to the tune of Guile’s theme.


And here I’m thinking no other sountrack could beat Bruce Faulconer’s work on Dragonball Z, I may be mistaken; Goku’s Kamehameha vs. Vegeta’s Galick Gun


My favourite version of the Guile theme meme comes from the Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring – Boromir on his final stand vs. the horde of Uruk-hai orcs.


Finally, we have the most controversial albeit most effective use of the Guile theme – a cautionary tale for bullies everywhere, all people have their breaking point; the Zangief Kid with Guile Theme.

‘Any Questions For Ben?’ – The Red Carpet Première, Melbourne

February 13, 2012
Castle Co-Op, Event, Film, Interview
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This was the Red Carpet Coverage/Interview of the Melbourne Première of ‘Any Questions for Ben?’ for Castle Co-Op - a website dedicated to Film, TV, Music and Culture – Published 06-02-2012

Co-Written and Directed by: Rob Sitch
Co-Written by: Tom Gleisner, Santo Cilauro
Starring: Josh Lawson, Rachael Taylor, Daniel Henshall, Felicity Ward, Lachy Hulme, Rob Carlton, Ed Kavalee, Jodie Gordon, Christian Clarke

‘Any Questions for Ben?’ is the latest Australian Film from Working Dog productions (The Castle, The Dish) brings an all-star Australian ensemble cast revolving around our protagonist, the carefree and cocksure Ben (Josh Lawson) and our leading lady Alex (Rachael Taylor) the accomplished U.N ambassador cast as the unwitting catalyst leading audiences through the social phenomenon of the quarter-life crisis. Melbourne City is portrayed as a playground for the affluent and privileged that makes me think ‘damn, where in Melbourne is that?’

Below is an abstract summation of the Red Carpet event as well as the Image Gallery coverage of the event:

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“Arriving an hour late, we were underdressed and unprepared for the glamour of the evening to come. With colleague in tow we adorned our personalised media passes; the shiny laminated tag granted access to the trail paved in luxurious crimson.

Entering the bull-pen, a quartered-off square encased the media-elite, reserved for only those with legitimate accreditation in the Australian media-circles. Why were we here? The media personalities performed convincingly for the cameras, the collective experience simply oozed from the reporters sent out to cover the event. 

The bright flooding lights strobe as familiar faces quietly sneak through the scramble of iPhone’s outstretched, hoping to record any marketable sound-byte; deviously listening to every step, every word, and every breath.

The Red Carpet quickly filled with the icons of Australian Film, Television and Sport; while I stood slightly dumbfounded trying to decipher the name behind the familiar face. Flashes from imposing DSLR cameras were flaring all around as my only conscious concern was to somehow conceal our woefully archaic point-and-shoot camera in fear of humiliation and ridicule from the others.  

Here I stand, at the very heart of the publicity, ignoring the ubiquitous stares of the on-looking crowd and feeling comfortably out of my depth.

Armed with BlackBerry and a unassured self-awareness our designated targets approach – the films Co-Writer Tom Gleisner and Co-Writer/director Rob Sitch approach, followed closely by the stars Felicity Ward, Josh Lawson and Rachael Taylor”

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See Gallery for Full Coverage (photographs by Nathan Lai)

For the full interview see Castle Co-Op – conducted by travel blogger Brendan Wan (audio transcribed by Nathan Lai)