hypertoast

This must be Call of Duty Day here at Hyper Toast. In addition to talks about a possible movie being produced sometime in the future, there has also been buzz about another game being made, and we’re not talking about crappy consoles getting ports or a Modern Warfare 3. Gamers who have played Infinity Ward’s recent blockbuster will surely know of the character “Ghost,” a mean fighter with a balaclava with the image of a skull on it. The character remains a bit of a mystery in the game, as his background, nickname, and joining of SAS Task Force 141 unit are never explained, but to help with that Ghost received his own spin-off comic.

According to Inside Xbox, Ghost might also be getting his own game spin-off. Craig Fairbrass, the voice actor behind MW’s Gaz and MW2’s Ghost, has confirmed to the magazine that talks about a game spin-off are underway. “I did in the last game a voice for a character called Gaz and in this game I’m now voicing a guy called Ghost, who now just got a spin-off comic of his own and they’re talking about another little game to go with it…” You can check out the Ghost six-part comic from Wildstorm in the meantime, but also be sure to checkout the actual video of Craig FairBrass below. He shows up at 2:45 into the vid, so watch the whole thing, or just wait for the load and get specific on that bad boy.

One of the biggest game launches of the decade dropped on November 11, 2009, that game being Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. So unless you’ve been living in a Soviet fallout shelter or a Afghan bunker, you will have no doubt either played it, or at least endured someone, talkin’ to you ladies, that has dropped off the radar after November 11th.

The most recent news is that there are hints about Activision considering, even passively, the thought of turning this video game phenomenon into a movie. Kevin McKidd, the voice of the game character “Soap” MacTavish, told the New York Post PopWrap that there have been talks about making a feature film. Obviously the guys at Infinity Ward are movie literate, even pop culturewise, as the mission where you play US Army Rangers protecting Washington DC from invading Russian forces is titled “Wolverines,” a nod to Red Dawn, in which Soviet forces invade the US, think Dirty Dancing/The Outsiders plus the Reagan Era (does that even make sense?)

In addition to McKidd’s statement, Infinity Ward’s Creative Strategist Robert Bowling posted on his Twitter:

“First round of meetings in Paris wrapped. Grabbing lunch with Xavier Gens, director of the Hitman film while in town. Talking game films.”

Of course, their talk could simply be two friends catching up for a meal and havin’ a good chat. But it does prevent some fodder for thought. Activision has also recently filed for new trademarks on the Call of Duty franchise, which was spotted by Trademork. And Hitman was honestly not too bad for an action movie, however, it was a plot/character/script trainwreck, as well as a further abomination in an already embarassing line of game-movie adaptations (but given a stellar script I think Gens might not do too bad). So while this is all just smoke and rumors right now, a franchise goldmine such as Call of Duty would no doubt pull in major box office dough, regardless of whether its adaptation is amazing or dog penis.

Well, Stay Plugged In!

Many movie watchers may recognize Terry Gilliam’s dark, enigmatic, but unique films such as Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Brazil, Twelve Monkeys, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. On December 25^th 2009, Gilliam once again, presented another magical and obscure fantasy for his viewers with a wide range of cast (Heath Ledger, Jude Law, Christopher Plummer, Colin Farrell, Johnny Depp) in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. However, Gilliam’s original idea for the story was tragically altered by the sudden death of Heath Ledger prior to finishing the film.

Although The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus has already been released, it is important to emphasize its limited screening in December. Individuals like myself have not had the opportunity to view this film due to limited theatrical releases. However, despite of its release, I have decided to post this trailer anyway because of its minimal advertisement and trailers shown previously. Check your local theaters for this film before it gets pulled out of theaters and enjoy another great work done by Terry Gilliam.

See trailer below

(more…)

Richard O’Barry, a well-known dolphin trainer behind the 1960s television hit “Flipper,” along with other animal rights and conservation activists form a team to expose a small town in Japan (Taiji) for its massive slaughter of dolphins. The Cove, directed by Louie Psihoyos, is one of the best documentaries among others (Food, Inc. and Unmistaken Child) I have seen in 2009.

Richard O’Barry had captured and trained all five dolphins that played the role of “Flipper”. It was later on that he began to observe and recognize the dolphins’ ill and depressive behaviors, until one day, one of the dolphins committed suicide in his arms. The event changed his whole perspective on dolphin hunting and training, and instead, had turned him into a dedicated activist. This documentary does a tremendous job in providing information not only on the issues of dolphin hunting alone, but also the multi-billion dollar dolphin entertainment industry like Sea World and other water theme parks that perpetuate these hunts. Issues of high concentration of mercury in dolphin meat as well as disguising dolphin meat as other forms of meat that would appeal more to their consumers are discussed. Although the film does an exceptional job in providing educational information on the issues of dolphin hunting, the film has some basic unanswered questions. “How did the team sneak all the high-tech equipments into Japan when they were under heavy surveillance?” “If the team were being followed day and night, how did the team still infiltrate the restricted areas?” It was amazing to see how well their plan was implemented and the types of equipment used to capture the secret activities taken place at the lagoon. Another issue I found with the film was the fluidity of the documentary. From time to time, I felt lost in between O’Barry’s experiences and the focus of the documentary. Aside from these minor details, the documentary was well put-together overall.

(more…)

The harder the life, the sweeter the song.

In most cases, country music is not my preference out of all music genres. However, Crazy Heart, based on a 1987 novel, has caught my interest for two main reasons. First, I tend to have an attraction toward films that portray individual stories; a person’s struggle, strength, and endurance, or how one’s life is profoundly changed through interactions and connections with others. Viewers are able to relate to a particular situation, if not the character(s) through these kinds of films. The second reason is Jeff Bridges. Jeff Bridges has played various roles from a software engineer battling in a virtual world (TRON) to a slacking bowler mistaken for a millionaire (The Big Lebowski) to a drug-addicted father (Tideland). Unlike Denzel Washington and Keanu Reeves, who give us one-dimensional characters in every one of their films, Jeff Bridges has the ability to distinctively separate each role, presenting an authentic, unique person for each particular movie.

Plot summary: Bad Blake (Jeff Bridges) is a broken-down, hard-living country music singer who’s had way too many marriages, far too many years on the road and one too many drinks way too many times. And yet, Bad can’t help but reach for salvation with the help of Jean (Maggie Gyllenhaal), a journalist who discovers the real man behind the musician.

(Trailer below)

(more…)

“So we shall flow a river forth to Thee, and teeming with souls shall it ever be. In nomine Patri, Et Fili, Spiritus Sancti.”

Anyone who knows me knows that I love The Boondock Saints. This could possibly be the first movie in a list of my top ten movies in my Elite collection but that list will have to wait for another time. For those of you who don’t know about this cult classic gem, this is a story about two Irish brothers trying to earn a living (and another round of drinks at the local pub) in Boston. After standing up to the Russian Mafia and their strong-arm tactics at their pub, they believe that they receive a “mission from God” to destroy all of those that threaten the good in all men. What ensues is a bloody battle to rid the Mafia from the streets of Boston. Before I get too excited and ruin the plot of the movie lets get to the fucking list. (more…)

Well I alluded to this news in a previous post, but I made you wait, for suspense, hehe. The Rhett Reese/Paul Wernick screenwriting team from Zombieland has landed the job of writing the script for Twentieth Century Fox’s Deadpool adaptation of the Marvel comic. I’m happy with this due to their other new screenwriting job on GI Joe 2 as well as the fact that their tone from Zombieland could easily be retrofitted for Deadpool.

Ryan Reynolds is set to the star in the flick, thankfully, despite the fact that X-Men Origins: Wolverine basically took an elephant crap on the character (COME ON! Weapon 11? Give me a break, a fookin’ prawn could’ve made a better movie). Despite the bullshit that swirled around Wolverine, Ryan Reynolds will be returning to the character as soon as production for Green Lantern finishes.

So far, so awesome. Ryan Reynolds is the perfect actor to play the role of the sarcastic, quick-witted, and 4th-wall-breaking anti-hero. In addition to that, the writers for Zombieland really had their shit together in terms of the comedic lines and the overall tone. Assuming the Wolverine story arc gets retconned, in old-fashioned Marvel style, Deadpool looks like it might be the best comic book adaption to hit the silver screen in a long time. I guess we’ll just have to play the crying…I mean waiting game (oops, whoa, that would be a whole different game, with more penis too!)

Stay Plugged In!

For fans of Korean cinema, and Asian films in general, it is a dark, unoriginal Hollywood day my comrades. Park Chan-Wook, Korea’s premier director and auteur, has made a successful career so far in making dark, dense, and visual films. His Vengeance trilogy (Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance, Old Boy, Lady Vengeance) is not to be missed, and if you must see only one, Old Boy takes the cake. Old Boy has already been optioned up for an American remake, ugh, and rumor has it that Steven Spielberg will be producing with Will Smith starring as lead. Now Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance is also on the remake butcher block at Warner Bros.

Some would think that I would be excited about a remake of a movie I really love, however, Sympathy is very much a Korea film in terms of the character psyches and Park’s directing is too dark and unsettling for the typical American audience. I can only imagine that this would lend itself to an indie or horror audience and even then I don’t think it will ever compare to the impact of the original. Simply put, watch the originals, I can rarely think of a remake that ever compared to the original (phff, Inglourious, perfect adjective). Lookout for a review for each of the Vengeance flicks.

(more…)

“Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here, this is the War Room.”

Starting today Hypertoast will be forced to play host to the often splenetic ramblings of BDigital. Expect to see movie reviews on more mainstream movies with occasional digressions into cult favorites as well as random outbursts. Over the years I have watched more than my fair share of movies so I figured what better way to kill time then share my thoughts on these movies with you, the reader. While this site already has a movie rating system that I will employ on my posts I will summarize my general opinion with a simple 3 tier movie classification. If I actually feel like watching a particular movie more then once then it receives the Elite rating. If I could stand to watch a movie only one time it resides in Purgatory. If I walk out of the movie, fall asleep during, or want to kill myself watching it then the movie will forever burn in Damnation. Oh and by the way, these reviews will be rated NC-17 by the Motion Pictu….oh fuck it.

Directed by Andrea Arnold, a British Academy Award-winning filmmaker, Fish Tank is a coming-of-age story of a young girl named Mia (Katie Jarvis). Everything changes for Mia when her “mum” brings home her new boyfriend (Michael Fassbender). Released in September 2009 in the UK, this film is to be released in the US on January 13.

For Katie Jarvis, this is her first debut as an actress. Although she was nominated for Best Actress in the British Independent Film Awards, we’ll see how well she plays her role in this film as a young actress. While there are other few “fresh” casts in this film, Michael Fassbender is no stranger. He is recently known for his role in Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds as Lt. Archie Hicox as well as 300, Eden Lake, and one of my favorites, Hunger. Hunger is based on true events of the 1981 hunger strike led by Bobby Sands, a member of the IRA. The cinematography and immense care for detail cannot be missed throughout the film. I recommend any fan of Michael Fassbender or others who love to watch historical-based films to check this one out.

(more…)