It’s been a long time since I’ve done a weekend run down. I used to do these every week, but then things sort of got out of control and updating became random. Now I’m back and I plan on doing these quick little articles each and every week, to make sure that you’re spending your money at the movie theater this weekend in a wise manner.

This weekend starts to ramp up on the summer blockbusters. We’ve got The Hangover Part III, Fast & Furious 6 and Epic, with Before Midnight getting a very limited release.

I’ve seen and reviewed The Hangover Part III (click here for my full review) and I can honestly say that it’s just not worth it. Die hard fans of the first two films won’t need my advice when it comes to checking this one out, but if you’re like me and thought that the second one sucked, then you might want to stay away from this one, because while it’s slightly better it’s still not all that good.

Fast & Furious 6 is also a let down, proving that there’s such thing as too much of a good thing. My full review will run tomorrow, but just know that it’s no Fast Five and is instead a step backwards in terms of a well-balanced piece of popcorn entertainment.

I have no comments on Epic, simply because I’ve seen maybe one trailer and probably won’t be catching this one in theaters, because it’s very rare that I go out and see an animated feature on the big screen.

The verdict? See Fast & Furious 6 if you absolutely have to see a new release. Otherwise, catch something that’s been out a while, like Pain & Gain or The Great Gatsby. Or save your money for Man of Steel.

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During its late 2007/early 2008 American release, Marjane Satrapi– the cartoonist/creator of the graphic novel and co-writer/director of the animated film Persepolis—was in Minnesota on a speaking/promotional tour. While I did not find out about it until after it happened, fortunately some friends of mine were in attendance. Despite Satrapi’s fascinating talk about her life growing up in Revolutionary Iran in the late 1970s and early 80s, my friends told me the most interesting part of the talk was when the Iranian cartoonist literally excused herself halfway thru the presentation to go smoke for 10 minutes. Yes, it is one thing to be an addicted chain-smoker, but it takes a whole different brand of hutzpah to walk out on an audience to tend to your habits. That said, this defining moment in time in Minnesota where Satrapi decided heaters trumped crowd-winning, I think perfectly sums up Satrapi and the work she’s created both in print and on film. She says and does what she wants, she has little fear of repercussion, and rules are things to be broken and bended if not outright ignored.

Persepolis is an animated film (LITERALLY hand animated 2D–a sadly dying trade) that tells the tale of little Marjane Satrapi growing up at a time when the Shah of Iran is on the brink of being disposed. Marjane grows up in an upper-middle class family who, despite having embraced the Shah’s westernization of Iran, want equality for all in their homeland and not a ruling despot. Her parents identify as Communist. Not the Red Menace kind of Communist, but the idealized version of Communism that never seems to work out in practice. When the Shah is eventually exiled her parents and family find themselves in a dilly of a pickle as it becomes the Islamic Extremists who gain foothold on the Iranian government, returning Iran to a stricter, dogmatic, west-hating state. (See: Argo. On second thought, don’t. Ever.)

But young Marjane, having grown up with western freedoms and sensibilities, can’t bring herself to conform. She speaks blasphemously out of turn in school. Her now State-Demanded head scarf (cause she’s a woman and all and if you saw her long, putry hair you’d just assume she was begging for sex. Oh, you wacky Islamics!) is punctuated with denim jackets and hoodies that promote her love of Punk Rock–which at the time meant ABBA or Iron Maiden or whatever the kids could get illegal bootlegs of.

After a series of incidents which lead her parents to correctly assume Marjane will find herself in dissident prison before she even has time to fully comprehend the permanent meaning of her actions, she is sent, alone, to finish her teen years and schooling in Vienna. There she hooks up with “real” punks, drinks, drugs, sexes, smokes, and speaks her mind freely until within a few years’ time she has burned all her bridges and finds herself homeless and nearly dies.

Now of college age, Marjane returns to Iran after her bought of near-death to get her college education. But forced to wear a head scarf or not, Marjane is still Marjane and ends up hanging out with the dangerous set (they have mixed co-ed parties! She wears make-up! Drinking! Banned music!). All is tolerable enough to Marjane in this Islamic Police State until a raid on one of these parties results in a friend of hers dying attempting to flee authorities by leaping rooftop to rooftop. I probably don’t have to tell you he didn’t have a Batarang handy when he could have used it most.

Marjane does manage to finish college, but after a one year failed marriage she knows Iran is not the place for her. Now fully grown, she leaves her family once again, possibly forever, for the forgiving and liberal bosom of France, where she continues to live until this day.

Persepolis, the animated feature, clocks in at 95 minutes, whereas the EXTREMELY text heavy collected Persepolis comic is 310 pages. Needless to say, a lot had to be cut for this adaptation, but the jist and very important moments from the book are all in the film. But forget thee not—it’s an ANIMATED film and it takes full advantage of that fact! It has some unparalleled sequences even the most brilliant cartoonist couldn’t begin to be able to render in a single panel or page. Persepolis, the film, like the comic is presented in black and white and greytones, aside from a few “modern” moments which are in color.

So, how does such a rabble-rousing, hand-drawn, black and white film even get made in these modern times? Well, as I said earlier Marjane Satrapi is the both the co-writer and co-director of the film. It is truly her vision being brought to the screen. In an age where every third movie released is a comic book adaptation where creators visions and rights are all but ignored (enjoy your millions, Stan Lee!) Satrapi has created a unique comic film adaption that is not only original, but lushly beautiful in its animation, and heart-wrenching in its tale. Oh, and it was made in France. They can pretty much get away with anything over there.

I own Persepolis on Blu-ray, and while the high definition of such technology does not get so close you can see brush strokes on an animation cell, it does come with an array of interesting and must-see special features on the making of Persepolis, especially if you’ve never read the book. (Plus, it’s only a dollar more used on Amazon than the DVD, so why not?)

*Danno Klonowski is a cartoonist and co-host of the Wayne Gale Variety Hour podcast. Both of which you can see/find links to at his site*

The post From Panels To Frames Per Second: Persepolis appeared first on The Daily Rotation.

The “epic” conclusion to the Wolf Pack trilogy is here. Todd Phillips‘ The Hangover Part III is exactly the sequel that everyone thought Part II was going to be, which simply means more of Ken Jeong‘s penis, more Zach Galifianakis-forced humor and more unsteady direction from a director that use to make some pretty damn funny films. The Hangover Part III is a step in the right direction, but still a comedic misfire that chooses to revisit the same jokes instead of creating new ones.

Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms), Alan (Zach Galifianakis) and Doug (Justin Bartha) are back. This time Alan’s father has passed away and the Wolf Pack has decided that an intervention is in need. They decide to drive Alan down to a place where he can sort his life out, but early on in the journey they get kidnapped by a man named Marshall (John Goodman) and from there they slowly descend into an all too familiar hell.

The Hangover Part III is the sequel that most thought The Hangover Part II was going to be. Instead of copying the first film shot-for- shot, director Todd Phillips has now decided to expand on his truly despicable characters a little more, while mostly remaining to that same comedic structure that worked so well in the first movie.

See, I liked The Hangover. It wasn’t the best comedy of all time or even the best one of that year, but it was an entertaining ride that worked so well due to the chemistry of the cast the unpredictable nature of the entire film. The sequel was a pile of shit and now Part III is just a cold dose of trying too hard.

Todd Phillips clearly got lucky with the first film, because both the sequels are of very little value.

The Hangover Part III gets a few things right, though. The weird bits with Galifianakis’ character weirdly obsessing over Cooper’s character are funny and creepy at the same time. They make for almost half of the film’s good moments, if you’d even call them that.

The rest of the film relies too much on stuff that we’ve seen before. Galifianakis continues being an unlikable douche, while Ed Helms worries too much and almost always tries to suck the fun out of any given scene. Bradley Cooper again turns in a performance that might almost be a step lower than simply phoning it in. Physically, he’s on set, but mentally he’s off in another world.

Phillips doesn’t seem to give a flying fuck either. He drops in Ken Jeong, because apparently some people still find him amusing, even though he’s just a one-dimensional gag blown up and extended.

John Goodman attempts to add some class to the film, but he’s mostly just background noise to every single pointless thing that unfolds on screen.

The problem here is that most of this stuff is expected and just not all that funny. The Wolf Pack’s sheer ignorance is what’s supposed to make you chuckle, but it will instead make you question your decision to purchase a ticket in the first place.

The Hangover Part III is an acceptable rental for those that enjoyed the first film, but there’s nothing about it that makes it a theater-going experience. The comedy is incredibly uneven, often going from spots with some decent-sized laughs to long stretches that don’t feature a single real joke.

Jeong weighs the film down early on and continues to make random appearances throughout, even though his shtick is paper-thin and boring. Phillips tries to take the character and the film in a darker direction towards the end and it almost works, but then he cops out and plays it “safe”.

My opinion will probably vary from most, because I just can’t get over laziness when it comes to making sequels to comedies that don’t deserve them. The Hangover was dumb luck and instead of letting it rest, Todd Phillips just had to milk every last dollar from it.

The Hangover Part III is nothing more than a bad sequel that has occasional sparks, but nothing that will take you away from the glaring fact that this movie only exists to take your money without ever really trying or putting forth a respectable effort.

The Hangover Part III – 6.5/10

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Finally, a decent trailer for The Wolverine.

Marvel has been hitting it out of the park with their Avengers stuff. I haven’t fallen in love with each and every new film, but I give them credit for expanding the universe in different directions over at Disney.

Yet Fox is stuck in a rut with their X-Men properties. First Class was a good bit of fun, but everything else has mostly sucked. Okay, maybe the first two X-Men films were decent, but nothing to write home about.

The Wolverine sounded cool on paper and the early promotional stuff released had me interested, but then they unloaded a couple shitty trailers and since then I’ve mostly kept my distance.

This latest trailer isn’t great or anything spectacular, but it is a step in the right direction when compared to the previous stuff.

The Wolverine opens in July.

Are you convinced that it’s not going to suck?

The post Latest ‘Wolverine’ Trailer Isn’t As Shitty As The Other Ones appeared first on The Daily Rotation.

From the makers of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. Need I say more?

Edgar Wright‘s latest film, The World’s End, is coming out at the end of the summer and I cannot wait to witness the event first-hand.

Simon Pegg and Nick Frost return in what looks like a high-energy comedic romp done up in Wright fashion.

The film looks like it’s going to be loads of fun. I just can’t believe that the trilogy is finally coming to an end.

Check out the latest trailer for The World’s End down below:

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That’s it. I’m sold. Man of Steel is going to be the best film of the summer. It’s going to be the one that we’ve all been waiting for. It has to be. JUST LOOK AT THIS FUCKING TRAILER!

Zack Snyder‘s Superman adaptation has been on almost everyone’s most-anticipated list ever since he and Christopher Nolan signed on. The momentum never really had a chance to slow down with the reveal of not one, but two impressive full-length trailers, plus a decent marketing effort to boot.

Now, we’ve got this latest trailer, which is simply stunning. It’s completely different than the previous trailers, focusing this time more on Michael Shannon‘s Zod and less on Henry Cavill‘s Superman.

I love the music. I love the mood and I absolutely love everything that we are seeing on the screen. Many have complained about Snyder’s weakness as a character-building director, while commending him for his ability to shoot action sequences. Man of Steel looks like that perfect pairing.

Man of Steel opens on June 14th, 2013.

Check out the latest trailer below:

The post New ‘Man Of Steel’ Trailer Has Earned My Ticket appeared first on The Daily Rotation.

Bad Bots is a new, moderately-paced 2D run ‘n gun platformer romp for PC, Mac, iOS, and Android devices from indie developer Vanni del Moral of Point Five Projects. After not having played Vanni’s previous work The Hive, Bad Bots marks my first experience with the man’s titles; and I gotta say, color me mostly impressed. The game pretty clearly goes for a retro feel in a couple different areas, and it delivers pretty solidly in that regard for most of those areas. There were a couple bumps and hiccups along the way, but the journey was, overall, a fairly satisfying one.

AUDIO & MUSIC
I’ll kick things off with what is decidedly my least favorite part of the game. Don’t get me wrong on the audio side of things, the quality is there. The guns all sound great and the sound of metal hitting the ground after you destroy robots is solid, if not entirely repetitive. No, my biggest gripe is the music…or the lack thereof. The music that is there was composed by Landon Podbielski, and was done quite well; I just didn’t hear enough of it over the course of the game. I’m not sure if the lack of music during (most) gameplay and cut-scenes was an attempt at a horror concept, but Bad Bots is most certainly not a horror game, and the lack of music is definitely what caused me to focus on the repetition of the sounds I was hearing.

PRESENTATION
Bad Bots presents itself, first and foremost, as a retro game. The game really is reminiscent of a bygone era, it captures most of that magic pretty well. Its cut-scenes are presented almost like a comic book, but without the movie spinoff. The lack of music affects the game’s presentation negatively, but I’ve already covered that.

GRAPHICS
The graphics for Bad Bots get the job done, but ultimately the art style feels somewhat unspectacular. It’s 2D, obviously, but not pixelated like one might expect. I hate to say that most of the art and cut-scenes could probably have been done in MS Paint, but that’s just what it feels like to me. The level of detail in the art is pretty fair, though; the enemies are properly shaded and explosions look pretty, which is good because you’ll be seeing plenty of enemies, and plenty of explosions as a result.

GAMEPLAY & STORY
Ah, finally. Every game’s meat ‘n potatoes is both parts gameplay and story. In Bad Bots, you play as suspiciously well-built engineer Sam McRae, who has just been assigned to the Titan Hauler, a cargo ship. He wakes up from cryogenic slumber only to discover that somebody aboard the ship has programmed all robots aboard to go ape-shit bananas and DESTROY ALL HUMANS (RIP to Pandemic Studios)! So it’s essentially a fairly cookie cutter plot, but nothing offensive or negative.

The story normally doesn’t have a lot of impact on a game where you just want to shoot a bunch of stuff, anyways. What does have a big impact is the gameplay, and I’m going to rattle off some negatives just to get them out of the way. Occasionally, bots will spawn too much, and too slowly. What I mean by this is that you could be standing in one spot for around a minute just firing one shot every five seconds whenever you see a bot come out of its spawn point. Things like that sometimes made Bad Bots feel more like a waiting game and less like a video game.

Another point against is that sometimes when being overwhelmed by a rush of bots, Jeebus forbid that they be shocker bots, because you will get stuck. Every time you get shocked, you get stuck in place for about a second, and if there’s twenty of the damn things, you’re gonna have a hard time jumping away from them. It feels like a cheap tactic to drain your health. Also, the campaign is very short. It takes two to three hours at the very most, with a challenge mode and achievements being the only real reason to continue to play after beating the campaign. Now, with all that being said, the game does have positives that outweigh the negatives.

For one, the boss fights. Every boss fight in the game really makes it feel like a retro game. The bosses have weak points, and most of the time, you’re going to need to develop a strategy to hit aforementioned weak point, which can be a challenge at times. I also love the overwhelming rushes of bots I mentioned before. I feel like the game could have benefited from basically taking those rushes, and just continuing to throw those at you, as they were easily the most intense and mindlessly fun parts of the game.

THE VERDICT
Overall, if you want to enjoy Bad Bots as it’s meant to be enjoyed, you have to look at it as it’s meant to be looked at: as a $10 game that was developed by one guy. Games like that are usually meant to be short bursts of fun that you may or may not come back to again. As for me, the experience was a good one while it lasted, but the game doesn’t add anything new or groundbreaking to run ‘n gun games. It exists, it’s fun. I’m just not positive that it’s $9.99 fun.

BAD BOTS gets a 7 out of 10.

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According to Box Office Mojo, Warner Bros. will be releasing writer and director Spike Jonze‘s sci-fi romance titled Her on November 20th. The film has quite the ensemble, which includes Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, Rooney Mara, Olivia Wilde, Samantha Morton, and Portia Doubleday.

Although plots details are thin, the plot makes me want to purchase a ticket right this second. The film centers on a lonely writer (Phoenix) who purchases and falls in love with his voice operated computer system that’s designed to meet his every need.

Her has been in development for quite sometime. It’s nice to know that it’s officially going to see the light of day. Annapurna Pictures, the company behind Zero Dark Thirty and The Master, financed the project. The film is going to be opening only two days before The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Alexander Payne’s black-and-white road trip drama Nebraska, and the Vince Vaughn comedy The Delivery Man.

Check back for more updates as they come our way.

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Will Christoper Nolan tackle a James Bond film after making the successful Dark Knight Trilogy, while also blowing our minds up with Inception and soon Interstellar?

I don’t think so.

Nolan has often mentioned wanting to do Bond, but nothing ever happened. Sam Mendes‘ Skyfall is practically like a big-budget Nolan movie anyways, so why should he even bother at this point? I have no doubt that Nolan will eventually direct a Bond film when the time is right, but I don’t see Bond 24 being the one.

He’s working on Interstellar right now, which is a big-budget original piece of sci-fi that the studios are letting him fully do and then after that I’m sure he’ll again be able to do something else original.

I think that as long as his movies make WB tons of money, he’ll continue making his own original stuff, while also maybe dipping into the Justice League or acting as some sort of top dog overseer for all things DC-related.

Bond would either be a quick paycheck or a last-resort option that he’d consider after he runs out of original stuff to make.

Sources say that he’s started “internally discussing” the idea of directing the next film with producers, but I doubt things will ever get past conversations at this point in Nolan’s career.

He just doesn’t need Bond right now and to be honest Bond doesn’t really need him either.

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Director Jim Jarmusch’s latest film, the vampire flick Only Lovers Left Alive, was added at the very last minute to the Cannes Film Festival line-up. Not a lot of details have been known about the film until today. New photos, an official synopsis, and a director’s statement have recently arrived online courtesy of The Playlist. The film has a strong cast that includes Tom Hiddleston, Tilda Swinton, Mia Wasikowska, Anton Yelchin, John Hurt, and Jeffery Wright. 

Set against the romantic desolation of Detroit and Tangier, an underground musician, deeply depressed by the direction of human activities, reunites with his resilient and enigmatic lover. Their love story has already endured several centuries at least, but their debauched idyll is soon disrupted by her wild and uncontrollable younger sister. Can these wise but fragile outsiders continue to survive as the modern world collapses around them?

Here is Jim Jarmusch’s statement about the film: “Only Lovers Left Alive is an unconventional love story between a man and a woman, Adam and Eve. (My script was partially inspired by the last book published by Mark Twain: The Diaries of Adam and Eve — though no direct reference to the book is made other than the character’s names.) These two lovers are archetypal outsiders, classic bohemians, extremely intelligent and sophisticated — yet still in full possession of their animal instincts. They have traveled the world and experienced many remarkable things, always inhabiting the shadowed margins of society. And, like their own love story, their particular perspective on human history spans centuries — because they happen to be vampires.

But this is not your usual vampire story. Set in the very distinct cities of Detroit and Tangier, and taking place almost entirely at night, Adam and Eve must have human blood to survive. But they now live in the world of the 21st century where biting the neck of a stranger would be reckless and regressive — for survival, they must be certain the blood that sustains them is pure and free of disease or contamination. And, almost like shadows, they have learned long ago to deftly avoid the attention of any authorities. For our film, the vampire is a resonant metaphor — a way to frame the deeper intentions of the story. This is a love story, but also the story of two exceptional outsiders who, given their unusual circumstances, have a vast overview of human and natural history, including stunning achievements and tragic and brutal failures. Adam and Eve are themselves metaphors for the present state of human life — they are fragile and endangered, susceptible to natural forces, and to the shortsighted behavior of those in power.”

Only Lovers Left Alive premieres in just a few days at the Cannes Film Festival. Depending on how well the film is received at Cannes, it’s wise to predict that the film will makes its way to theaters by the end of the year. We should be happy with the fact that vampires will NOT sparkle in this film.

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