Upcoming: Godzilla (New Trailer, More Insight)

It's been since December since the last update, and since then, a new Godzilla trailer has been released and more insight has been given on the plot. First, here's the theatrical trailer that released a few weeks ago.

Well, the first thing that I notice about this trailer is that opening line, "I want to talk to someone in charge." I'm wondering if that was an intentional reference to Close Encounters of the Third Kind, but it's possible that it's just a coincidence. The next thing I would pick out would be the shot at around 0:17. Notice those origami cranes looming over the city skyline like that? I seriously doubt that that was not a deliberate cinematographic move... perhaps foreshadowing?

But let's get to the important things. Have we learned anything new about the setting? Why, yes we have indeed. Gareth Edwards (the director) notes that this movie is about a global crisis and the trailer obviously is jumping all over the place. However there are a few shots that may hint to the main focus. Notice the desert setting and palm trees in many of these shots, then notice the Statue of Liberty. That background looks to be curiously unlike the New York harbor. Well, there are only three Liberty statues in the world and the only one that's in a desert is in Sin City. A Las Vegas setting seems like an incredibly unique idea for this movie, I don't think I've ever seen a monster movie that takes place there.

I love the idea that's suggested in this trailer that states that the nuclear tests taking place in the Pacific in the 50's didn't awaken Godzilla or mutate him from an iguana or something. No, they were trying to murder his ass. That's an amazingly un-cliche plot point for any giant monster movie, much more so for Godzilla.

Gareth pointed out in another interview that they are trying to capture an emotional aspect to the film rather than just go for straight dumb action. He said he expects people to tear up... not sure if he can make good on that promise but at least we can go into the theatre with the solace that it won't be a brain dead explosion fest. Evidence to this emotion is Bryan Cranston's performance, which we get to see a bit more of here. There's that one shot at 1:37 where he gets all choked up, presumably because he's being forced to part with whomever is on the other side of that closing blast door.

Also, Ken Wantanabe, whom you may remember as Ra's al Ghul from Batman Begins, has a great monologue in the latter half of the video. What role he has in the movie, there's no way to predict, but this part here almost makes him out to be an antagonist (which doesn't make that much sense, really).

Oh, and fuckin' a! We finally get a good glimpse at the new and improved King of the Monsters. It's a brief shot of him making his iconic roar and it only lasts for a few fleeting seconds, but hell, it's by far the clearest shot we've gotten to date. I really dig the updated image from what I've seen of it. It's clearly a new look but it's still recognizable as the Godzilla we all know and love, unlike the 1998 one which was so un-Godzilla like, it was renamed Zilla by Toho.
As for the enemy monster(s), there are all sorts of  forumers making all sorts of predictions. I've heard everything from Gigan to the Smog Monster being predicted, so what we'll end up with in the theatre is anyone's guess. The spider-like creature that I mentioned in my last post is still up in the air and the filmmakers have hinted at something called Muto which is sounding like it's going to be some kind of mutate insect type creature. I wonder if that's what that bizarre appendage at 2:07 belongs to. Speaking of which, go back to those hanging origami cranes from before. I wonder if that's implying that they will be more than one of those things... and/or that they can fly. But this is all just fan-made conjecture, what this Muto thing really is, no one can be certain.

Whatever all of these new hints and trailers truly mean, we can't know until we're in the theatre on May 16th. It's great to see that this film is shaping up to be something memorable made by someone who actually cares about the fans and the movie (and of course, Godzilla himself), rather than just someone who's in it to rape the name and be paid seven figures. Recent monster movies haven't seen much success, with Pacific Rim being a box office failure and critics speculate this is because the giant monster genre is old, tired and dead. I think this movie is going to prove all of them wrong. May 16th couldn't come soon enough and with so much of the movie being kept hush-hush under lock-and-key, it'll be fun going into the place not knowing what to expect. See you there.

Upcoming: Godzilla (Teaser Trailer)

It's been since June since I've done an update for the upcoming 2014 Godzilla reboot. I'm posting this one in commemoration of the recently released official teaser trailer. Take a look.

I think this looks pretty promising. I very much like how they're keeping Godzilla's appearance more or less a secret and it seems that the approach they're going for is fairly minimalist. I mean, sure, it's still a damn Godzilla movie, but the few explosions I saw weren't CG and I didn't catch any overly intense gun-fights or something of the sort. Also, the general lack of music and sound is a key point to this end.
Also, something to note, this may just be turning into my dream film as it seems that Gareth Edwards, the director, is passionate about visual quality. All of those long, sustained shots of the gray skies and citywide carnage as the plumes of red flare-smoke descend into it. The way the dust and rubble tumbles across Godzilla's body as he rears his head to be caught in the sun's back-lighting. I think it's safe to say that this film will be a great visual treat.

Hopefully we won't be getting that cop-out of an ending as we did in '98 where the military force is able to stamp out the Godzilla menace. Whereas in literally every other Godzilla movie ever, the military can barely hold a candle to Godzilla, if you've ever seen the '98 American version, you know he was killed by jet-fire. I think that happening again would be unlikely, but I'm not holding my breath.

And y'know what? I'm not at all surprised that Godzilla is completely CG, matter of fact, from the couple of glimpses we get of him, I think he looks fucking awesome. It's an updated version of him, which is fine because his looks are changed every couple of years, but it doesn't look wholly un-Godzilla like the '98 Godzilla did, who was actually acknowledged and renamed "Zilla" in the Japanese series. Matter of fact, Gareth Edwards stressed that it was important that this Godzilla felt like the Toho Godzilla.

This is the clearest shot we get of him.

As far as the other monster goes, not much is known. However, it's rumored that the foe will look something like this:

I've never seen that thing before so there may actually be a decent chance that the enemies featured in this one will be totally new. That may or may not be good news to you (Ghidorah's out of the running) but hell, at least it's something.

Godzilla has a release date set for May, 16th, 2014 so clear up your fucking calendar in advance because this looks promising.

Keep checking the Aculeus and I'll keep you guys updated with whatever comes my way.

Upcoming: Fallout 4

2008 saw the release of the long awaited Fallout 3. After the franchise had been recently purchased by Bethesda, they wasted no time in starting on production of the next installment and gave the world one of the best games to have been released in the past decade. Role Playing Games (RPGs) are often among the most detailed and finely crafted gaming experiences a person can buy and offer hundreds of hours of content. I've played through Fallout 3 multiple times and I refuse to add up all of my play-time hours because that'd probably be a really depressing number.

But it's been five uneventful years since Fallout 3 and Bethesda continues to tease us. They recently announced that they have officially closed the doors on Skyrim and will be moving on to their next project. Anyone with a brain should be hoping that that next project is Fallout 4.

Between Jason Bergman, developer and senior producer at Bethesda Softworks and Erik Todd Dellums, voice actor of Three-Dog, both teasing at it's eventual existence (among a few other teasers Bethesda has released), I'm just going to act like Fallout 4 has already been announced and it's production is underway. Please keep in mind that all of these predictions are simply my own thoughts so you can take them with a grain of salt.

Many people have been speculating as to where the next game might take place. We can already likely narrow down the country. Every game so far has taken place in America. I could see an add-on being set in a different, equally war-torn nation, but since this game will have a number at the end of it's title, that means it's part of the main series, so it will likely be in the United States.

The most recent installment, Fallout: New Vegas, which was an add-on to Fallout 3 as well as a full game, takes place in Las Vegas, as the title suggests. Because that game was in a location from Wasteland, it might be safe to assume that the next game will also take place in a Wasteland location.

What? Don't know what I'm talking about? Didn't know that Fallout is essentially a remake of the 1988 post-apocalyptic, Apple II game, titled Wasteland? The games are all just littered with references. To name just a few:

• Wasteland features a Brotherhood of Steel lookalike faction, referred to as The Guardians who are based in a fortress dubbed The Citadel.
• Power Armor is originally from Wasteland and was called the same thing.
• Ghouls from Fallout appear in Wasteland but are called a variety of names, including Ghoul.
• Robots appear in Wasteland.
• Deathclaws are essentially just a renamed version of Shadowclaws which are mutated Iguanas from Wasteland.
• In Fallout 3, the Children of Atom are a nuclear bomb worshipping cult. In Wasteland, a cult that worships nuclear bombs call themselves Servants of the Mushroom Cloud.
• The Wasteland Survival Guide is named after Wasteland's game guidebook.
• In the first Fallout game, ZAX are advanced supercomputers. In Wasteland, VAX is a recruitable and highly advanced robot NPC.
• In Fallout 3, the character Brick says she loves turning mutants into a "fine red mist" which was one of the descriptions that Wasteland used to describe it's combat deaths.
• Three-Dog jokes that his toaster needs fixing; a reference to the Toaster Repair ability from Wasteland.
• In Wasteland, the first quest given to the Desert Rangers is to fix a water-pump (sound familiar?).
• A fully sentient AI villain who wants to replace the inhabitants of the world with the genetically superior is the main antagonist of both Fallout 3 and Wasteland.

Sorry if your life is now a lie.

So what does any of that have to do with predicting the setting of Fallout 4? Well, Las Vegas is a location within Wasteland and if that weren't enough in both games it's an area that remained relatively untouched by the apocalypse. Therefore, it wouldn't be a stretch to say that Bethesda may be taking Wasteland locations into consideration. Much of that game takes place in the Southwest and Southern United States. This combined with the fact that Fallout Tactics 2, a game which never saw the light of day, was going to be set in Florida, leads me to believe that a Southern setting could be highly possible.

Besides that, I think another likely location would be in New York City, but for totally different reasons. Sure, us Americans are all familiar with our own country but Fallout is an internationally renowned series and NYC is a place that's recognized by people worldwide. Personally, I hope that this is not the case for the game, mainly because NYC as a setting is so overdone and has been featured in literally hundreds of movies and video games to date.

Besides that, I think a Southern setting would be intriguing because it's not the kind of place that is not often explored in gaming, so it would be a unique idea. The only other thing I can think of that would be like it would be Point Lookout the DLC add-on for Fallout 3, which was similar to a deep-south bayou. If Bethesda could do that on a small scale, then it's totally possible to make a bigger version of it for a full game. Furthermore, people think that NYC would be better because it's so iconic but personally, I think that the game would benefit by being somewhere that is the exact opposite, not iconic. That way the developers would have plenty of space to create their own ideas without being hindered by having to include things like Times Square or the Empire State Building.

However, if Fallout 4 simply must take place in a city, I think a much more interesting location would be Boston. Boston is a lot smaller than NYC and it's size is similar, but somewhat bigger than D.C. so it would be an alluring location for the next Fallout game. As the lore goes, after the war MIT becomes a mysterious faction called The Institute which is eventually what becomes referred to as the Commonwealth, who is responsible for all of those blasted robots we love so much, including androids so that would surely play into the game. I think that this idea is much more interesting than NYC.

As far as the plot goes, it's difficult to make an accurate prediction but we can speculate based on what we already know about the lore. Every Fallout game so far has had some circulation around water. Fallout was about fixing your Vault's water-pump; Fallout 2 the wasteland is suffering from drought so you need to find the G.E.C.K. to return life; Fallout 3 there's Project Purity which is the plan to purify all the water in the Capital Wasteland; and in Fallout: New Vegas there's the fight for the Hoover Dam. Without water there can be no life, so it seems reasonable that it's the main focus of a post apocalypse story. Also the games often follow a similar formula. They start with something simple and eventually develop into a horrific plot that threatens the entire Wasteland, so keep that in mind when you're thinking about the future game.

So considering this, it's safe to say that the next game will likely have something to do with the never-ending fight over water. I would guess  that the Enclave would return but considering the state they've been left in at the end of Fallout 3, it's probable that they were never able to recover and died out. Perhaps Fallout 4 would feature a different faction of the Enclave that's based in a new region.

What would be more interesting would be if the Brotherhood of Steel were your enemies. They were good guys in Fallout 3, sure, but if you ever spoke with the Outcasts, they'd tell you that the D.C. Brotherhood is acting alone and, in the Outcast's opinion, is too involved in the needs of the people who live here. In other words, they're saying the Brotherhood should pursue it's main objective, that is collecting technology, with little regard for the wellbeing of anyone else. I could certainly see this mentality leading to the Brotherhood being seen as bullies, going around threatening civilians and such.

If the game is set in Boston, it would be very likely that The Commonwealth and the androids would be playing a big part and they would probably be the bad guys.

Date and time have never been important facets in the Fallout lore. The games are all relatively within the same time period but they never interact with each other so as far as the average gamer is concerned, the continuity is not important. That being said, I mentioned before that Dellum gave a tease a year or so ago. It was a tweet that said, "To all Fallout 3 and Three-Dog fans: there may be more Three-Dog coming! Fingers crossed!" That leads me to believe that Three-Dog's voice will again be accompanying us during our travels throughout the wastes which could conceivably mean that Fallout 4 will be taking place within only a few years of Fallout 3, but be that prior or subsequent is still up in the air.

As the months roll on and still no official statements are made, it's seeming more and more likely that Fallout 4 will see a Next-Gen release and, considering that it hasn't even been announced yet, there's certainly a lot of time between that fateful day and now. I'm following Three-Dog's instructions. I'm crossing my fingers in the hopes that Bethesda isn't about to come forward with Rage 2 or some other bullshit and that they get right on it with the next Fallout. It's been five years and the world it ready for another adventure in the post apocalypse.

Upcoming: James Bond 24

Today I bring you yet another 2015 blockbuster. James Bond 24, which is obviously a working title, will soon be starting production and after naming Skyfall the best film of 2012 last year, I'm very excited for the next installment in what I thought was going to be a Craig trilogy.

Sam Mendes, the director of the most recent Bond installment, Skyfall, has officially signed on as the director of Bond 24. There was a lot of talk that Mendes wouldn't be able to direct because he had other theatre responsibilities and the two producers, Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, spent some time looking for alternatives who included David Yates and Christopher Nolan. In the end, rather than opt to replace Mendes, the two Producers simply decided to wait until his schedule cleared up. Other good news? The script writer of Skyfall, John Logan, is returning to write Bond 24.

While there hasn't been any budget talks so far, Skyfall made $1.1 billion worldwide, so you can bet that MGM and Columbia Pictures won't be cheaping out on us. Right now, the producers are trying to get Ralph Fiennes, Ben Wishaw and Naomi Harris back into the film but it's expected that all three actors will return without hesitation.

Those of you living in England are lucky enough to see it on October 23rd, 2015 while us living in America will have to wait a few extra weeks and see it on November 6th. The American date means that it'll be competing with Ant-Man, which will probably end up rescheduling it's release in order to stay away from the same weekend as Bond.

With so much time between then and now, there's a lot that could happen and in my opinion, November of 2015 couldn't come soon enough.

Upcoming: Terminator 5

Good God. Another 2015 blockbuster?

'Fraid so and by the looks of it, it's going to be a year of sequels the likes of which haven't been seen since 2011. Terminator 5 will be premiering June 26th, 2015 and yes, it is real. All we know so far about Terminator 5 (which is a working title) is that Arnold Schwarzenegger will indeed play an active role. This of course is great news after he was dismally absent from the previous film, Terminator: Salvation, save for a singular cameo appearence during a fight scene in which he still had no dialogue. Besides Arnold, not much is known about the actual casting apart from a plethora of rumors, some of which stating that Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson might even have some involvement which is disconcerting news to me seeing as he usually goes for the more explosion-happy kind of shit...

But really, not much is actually known about the movie. We know that Megan Ellison, who worked on Zero Dark Thirty, will be producing and Laeta Kalogrdis and Patrick Lussier who worked on Shutter Island and Drive Angry (respectively) will be scripting the movie. One of those writer's names makes me happy and the other makes me worried that my fears about Dwayne are real.

But here's the really interesting bit, Terminator 5 will not continue where the previous one left off. No-no. Rather it will be a reboot of some sort and will be the first in a whole new trilogy. Now, I can certainly see remaking the first Terminator movie as it's definitely dated after all these years, but if those guys over in Hollywood think they can remake T2 and 3, not only are they insane, they're stupid. Why? Well, the second Terminator movie, unlike the first, has aged beautifully and remaking it is completely unnecessary. Besides that, not only is the third Terminator movie only ten years old, nobody fucking liked it to begin with.

This leads me to believe that the filmmakers aren't planning on remaking all three movies, but rather maybe kicking off a whole new story that will star different characters. I actually kind of like that idea and I think that if it's handled with grace, intelligence and care (like the first two installments), it could actually be a pretty promising film. Besides, I think just seeing the now 66 year-old Arnold back in the role as the emotionless killing machine that we all know and love will be a treat in of itself.

2015 now has Terminator 5 thrown into the mix as well as the recently announced Independence Day 2. It's going to be a fucking madhouse at the theatre seeing as all of these movies are launching at the same time (Terminator 5 is one week after Assassin's Creed). Great. I can't wait to go completely broke paying for movie tickets.

Upcoming: Assassin's Creed

Holy. Fucking. Shit

This is it. It's real. It's happening. I can't even contain my elation.

According to venturebeat.com, digitaltrends.com, joystiq.com, the official AC wikia, IMDB, polygon.com, IGN, Gameinformer, cinemablend.com, denofgeek.com and countless others, an Assassin's Creed movie has indeed been confirmed by Ubisoft and is slated for a release on May 22, 2015 (and yes, I had to go to that many sites to be sure).

While my expectations for this movie, like any videogame movie, will be low, my hopes for it are in outer-space and will soon be the first human vessel to land on Saturn.

The starring role will be played by Michael Fassbender, who seems to be getting quite a bit of attention on this site as of late. For those of you just tuning in, he's one of the stars from Prometheus. Rumor has it that he'll be playing Desmond but rumor is rumor so in reality he could be anyone. Fassbender is also producing, which should be interesting, Michael Lesslie, writer of Prince of Denmark, will be doing the screenplay and the movie is being distributed by New Regency and Fox. Other than that, not much is actually known. No director has been announced and it's likely that the release date will change considering Disney is looking to shit out Star Wars: VII on that same weekend.

The few images I've seen of the film don't look very promising. Some asshole standing in Ezio garb in front of a green-screen. One thing I really think would kill this movie faster than a cyanide pill would be over-killing it with the CG. Assassin's Creed has always thrived on believability and realism (more or less) so a gritty Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones inspired look would be the way to go. Not to mention, we've already seen Assassin's Creed done with digital effects, it'd be nice to see it in real life.

Furthermore the fact that the actor there is wearing Ezio's clothing means the movie is going to A) only briefly glaze over the Altair timeline, B) be very rushed to cram multiple games into two hours of film or C) have a severely modified story. Knowing videogame movie adaptations, my guess would be the latter of those options but my hope is for the first seeing as that sounds like the least terrible.

With two long years between us and Assassin's Creed, there will certainly be more news that I will certainly be reporting on. With The Avengers 2, Pirates of the Caribbean 5, The Hunger Games: Mockingay Part 2, Star Wars: VII, The Hobbit: There and Back Again,  Prometheus 2 and now Assassin's Creed, it looks like 2015 is going to be a busy fucking year. Let's get excited.

Upcoming: Godzilla

Last year, Godzilla fans were treated to a nice albeit, painfully brief Godzilla teaser trailer at Comic-Con 2012. A Godzilla reboot is currently already in production over in Canada. With the massive 1998 shit-stain that is known as the American Godzilla under our belts, I'm wary knowing that the western hemisphere wants another go at getting the ancient behemoth under reins but what I've seen of the movie so far seems promising.

For starters, Gareth Edwards, who is largely unknown but did work on 2010's Monsters, is in the director seat and according to him the movie will be a direct reboot of the original 1954 classic of the same name. Besides that, any information on the script or setting is being kept under lock and key.

Also very promising information is the cast, the lead actor being none other than...

Bryan fuckin' Cranston. You all know him as, Walt from Breaking Bad. If you watched that show, then you already know that he's the man. Combine that with the fact that the movie is being handled by Legendary Pictures and you can forget any fear that this will be anything short of a blockbuster.

Another thing to get the fan-base excited, Edwards assures us all that there will certainly be some monster battles. Godzilla is going to kick some Ghidorah ass (nothing has actually been confirmed as far as the rival monster, but there's no harm in crossing my fingers). Edwards has also dropped hints that the military will be just as feeble as ever,  so no worrying that we'll have a '98 repeat where Godzilla is stopped by some petty, mortal missiles.

Some other things that Edwards has hinted is that the movie will be just as philosophical as the '54 version, which served as a warning of the destructive power of nuclear weaponry. So that should be a nice intellectual touch.

I'm pretty damn excited. With the release date set at 2014, it looks like we'll have a lot to look forward to.

Upcoming: Prometheus 2

The rumors have been confirmed. After the mild success of Prometheus just one year ago, Prometheus 2 has been announced and while we don't yet know much about it, we do know that Ridley Scott is returning to write the story. Despite that kernel of hope for the film, it's unfortunate that he has not (yet) officially signed on as the director and whether or not he may do so is still up in the air.

One person we know will almost certainly not be returning is Damon Lindelof, the official writer of Prometheus, not to mention Lost, saying that he's not willing to commit to that kind of work. In his place, it is rumored that Jack Paglen, writer for the upcoming sci-fi movie, Transcendence, will be there. What has been confirmed that Noomi Rapace and Michael Fassbender, two actors who played Elizabeth Shaw and David, respectively, will be reprising their roles in this direct sequel.

So besides all of that technical business, what do we know about the movie itself? Unfortunately, we know nothing aside from these couple of images which may or may not even be affiliated with the movie at all. As it stands, the movie is still far from production.

My only worry for the film so far is my doubt. I'm a little concerned that it may be too soon to dive head-first into another sequel. With the Alien franchise, there's typically a ten-year division between installments, whereas Prometheus 2 will likely see release in 2015. I'm not sure how I feel about that and it makes me wary that Fox is rushing it and that Ridley Scott will be taking on too much too fast. Also a concern of mine, there was a lot of upheaval towards the first movie that it raised too many questions. I think most people were expecting a summer blockbuster of sorts but what they got was deeply intellectual and prodded at the meanings behind life, evolution and God. I loved it and I wish more movies would go for that mind-bending style. So why am I concerned? Prometheus only garnered mild success, around $400 million to be precise, on it's $130 million budget. That makes me fearful that Fox will want Scott to sensationalize and dumb it down for a broader audience. Where was all of the gore and the aliens and the explosions? I'm pretty confident in Scott and he seems confident in the story, so perhaps these concerns are unfounded but you never know...

Scott said in an interview that this sort of thing takes a lot of time and that he's in no way trying to rush the project. While many people will find that agonizing to hear, I find it reassuring. It means that careful work is being put into the story, they're not just trying to find ways to make a sequel work (let's resurrect Michael Myers again!), because, honestly, when I saw Prometheus, I didn't think a sequel would be possible. Apparently it is, but God forbid, I just don't want it to be forced.

With no official release date and a lack of a full crew, don't expect Prometheus 2 to launch for awhile. I just hope that's a working title and they call it something different.

Prometheus 2: Prometheus Harder