“Why’d you join?” There’s tons of Star Wars fan films out there, but it’s nice to see something brand new that connects directly with The Force Awakens. Jakku: First Wave is a quick, 3-minute short film made by filmmaker Benjamin Eck about three Stormtroopers about to land on Jakku (the desert planet from The Force Awakens) for the Battle of Jakku. It’s a simple concept and was made on a very small budget, but it’s an engaging and effective little short that provides yet another unique perspective from the Star Wars universe. The dialogue is what stands out the most, with a tiny bit of levity and a lot of emotion. Take a look. ›››
We’ve all heard the quote before. Jean-Luc Godard once said: “It’s not where you take things from — it’s where you take them to.” Filmmakers are often inspired and influenced by other art, whether it be music or paintings or photography or other films. Sometimes it’s easy to spot in films, other times the influence is deeper and more nuanced. There’s a series of videos created by editor Vugar Efendi called “Film Meets Art” that highlight various examples of cinema borrowing exact shots or poses or color or composition or clothing (or all of the above) from paintings and other classic art. It is actually an impressive examination of creative influence and how it plays directly into cinema. I wanted to feature both of the videos, with Part II out this week, because there’s so much to admire in each of them. I love the shot from There Will Be Blood. ›››
“Hey, what happened to my kiss?” Paramount has debuted a new trailer for Robert Zemeckis’ latest, titled Allied, a WWII romantic thriller about the relationship between a French Resistance fighter and a British Intelligence officer. Brad Pitt stars as an officer stationed in North Africa in 1942, who falls for a resistance fighter named Marianne Beausejour. They reunite in London but the war still stands in the way. Marion Cotillard also stars, along with Lizzy Caplan, Matthew Goode, Raffey Cassidy, Charlotte Hope and Jared Harris. The first teaser from a few months ago didn’t show that much, but this new trailer gives us a bit more including a huge tease at the end. I’m a sucker for WWII films, so I can’t help but say I’m intrigued. ›››
Holy crap, yes!! So this is what Neill Blomkamp has been up to! Ever since Ridley Scott’s new Alien movie put Blomkamp’s new Alien movie on hold, we’ve been wondering what he has been working on and if he’s been developing another original project. One of his next projects has been revealed. Blomkamp is rebooting the BMW Films series, bringing back Clive Owen, and the first teaser has debuted online (following an Instagram photo Blomkamp posted with Jon Bernthal). Many years ago, BMW put together a series of short films directed by some of the best action directors at the time. I remember going crazy for these shorts, I had everyone in high definition because they were so damn good. And I’m crazy happy to hear they’re back for more! This is a short tease, but it’s an exciting reminder that a new series of films are on the way. Enjoy. ›››
Marvel’s Netflix shows are easily the darkest in the studio’s cinematic and TV universe, and Jessica Jones was as much a disturbing psychological drama as it was a superhero adventure. With Season 2 due in 2018, showrunner Melissa Rosenberg has been speaking about what fans can expect from Jessica’s second outing.
In a new interview with Esquire, Rosenberg explained that her time on the acclaimed serial killer drama Dexter will influence her approach to Jessica Jones‘ second season. “I learned from working on Dexter that you can advance the character, but you never want to cure the character,” she said. “With Dexter, the moment he felt guilt or accepted that he was ‘bad,’ the show’s over. He’s no longer a sociopath.
“The equivalent for us would be if Jessica somehow recovered from the damage that had been done to her. People don’t just heal, you don’t go through that just to say, ‘Oh, he got arrested, he’s in jail, I’m OK now. That trauma is a huge part of who she is now.”
“She was kind of messed up even before [season one villain] Kilgrave came along, and so in Season 2 we can explore what’s possible for her moving forward.”
The character, played by Krysten Ritter, is also set to appear in Netflix’s The Defenders, which will team her up with Daredevil, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist. Rosenberg revealed that although she is not directly involved with The Defenders, the fact that it will be screened before Jessica Jones Season 2 was influencing what she writes for her show.
“I need to know what they’re doing in order to plan for Season 2 of Jessica, and they need to know what we’re planning on in turn,” she said. “Marvel is very smart and they enjoy collaboration, so there’s never one maniac trying to take ownership.”
The Defenders is set to hit the streaming service in 2017, with Jessica Jones season 2 due in 2018.
With the release of Gears of War 4 coming up soon, Microsoft has now started to talk about important release topics such as a pre-loading and its file size on console.
Gears of War community director Adam Fletcher wrote on Twitter that Microsoft will talk specifics on pre-loading “soon.” Though we’ll have to wait, he did assure fans that they will have “plenty of time to pre-load,” suggesting this may start days before the game’s official release on October 11.
Part of this may have to do with the fact that Gears of War 4 will unlock four days early, on October 7, for people who buy the $100 Ultimate Edition.
As for the Gears of War 4 file size, Microsoft already said you’ll need a whopping 80 GB of free space on PC. But as for Xbox One, Fletcher said the console size may be smaller. “While large .. the PC size shouldn’t be the indicator for Xbox,” he explained.
Earlier this week, Microsoft announced that Gears of War 4 had “gone gold,” meaning initial development on the Xbox One and PC shooter was finished. Developer The Coalition celebrated the important milestone with a big party that involved cake and champagne–and also a Lancer replica.
As you can see in the images shared by Microsoft on Twitter, The Coalition boss Rod Fergusson cut into the celebratory cake with a replica of the franchise’s trademark chainsaw-equipped weapon. Another picture shows the team raising a toast, with Fergusson in the middle, holding what looks like the first copy of Gears of War 4.
Gears of War 4 launches on October 11 for Xbox One and PC, though you can pay extra to play early. The title is part of the Xbox Play Anywhere program, so you can buy it digitally on Xbox One and get a free copy of the PC edition or vice versa.
Rare has released its newest behind-the-scenes video for Sea of Thieves, this one focusing on the game’s lighting and how it’s used to create gorgeous-looking sunrises and sunsets.
The video is appropriately enough titled “Let There Be Light.” In it, art director Ryan Stevenson and principal environment artist Andrew Finch discuss the “tricks and techniques” behind the game’s lighting system. As you’ll see, Rare has gone to great lengths to ensure the lighting looks realistic–and for a pirate-themed game where you’re outdoors and on the sea a lot, this will surely be important.
Finch explains that there are lighting systems specific to morning, midday, afternoon, and night, as well as for the transitional times between those.
This video is part of the Sea of Thieves “Tavern Talk” series in which developers at Rare talk about specific game elements. Previous videos focused on the game’s clouds and water.
Sea of Thieves is an Xbox Play Anywhere game. That means if you buy it (digitally) on Xbox One, you will get the PC version for free and vice versa. The game comes out in 2017, though a release date has not been announced.
Work continues to bring celebrated racing game Burnout Paradise to Xbox One through backwards compatibility, developer Criterion Games has announced.
Asked on Twitter for a status update on the game’s backwards compatibility support, the Criterion Twitter channel said (via VideoGamer.com), “Patience, Paradise fans! This work is continuing and we hope to have more BC news soon.”
Microsoft’s Albert Penello has again spoken up to compare the Xbox Scorpio and PS4 Pro. In an interview with Eurogamer, Penello said the PS4 Pro’s 4.2 teraflops of performance is “not enough to do true 4K,” while he overall stated that Sony’s 4K claims comes with a number of asterisks.
“I think there are a lot of caveats they’re giving customers right now around 4K,” he said. “They’re talking about checkerboard rendering and up-scaling and things like that. There are just a lot of asterisks in their marketing around 4K, which is interesting because when we thought about what spec we wanted for Scorpio, we were very clear we wanted developers to take their Xbox One engines and render them in native, true 4K. That was why we picked the number, that’s why we have the memory bandwidth we have, that’s why we have the teraflops we have, because it’s what we heard from game developers was required to achieve native 4K.”
In the Eurogamer interview, Penello went on to say that, as Sony is doing, it won’t require developers to render their games in native 4K.
“They’re going to be able to decide to take that six teraflops of power and do what they think is best for their game,” he said. “But I know that 4.2 teraflops is not enough to do true 4K. So, I feel like our product aspired a little bit higher, and we will have fewer asterisks around the 4K experiences we deliver on our box.”
Asked by Eurogamer if Sony’s marketing for PS4 Pro is misleading, Penello said, “I’m not accusing them of anything,” adding, “They’ve been very open about the compromises around 4K.”
Regarding what differences there may be between Xbox Scorpio and PS4 Pro games, whether that’s frame rate or resolution, Penello said it’s too soon to say.
“You and I both know there will be people who claim with absolute certainty that the difference between 1080p and 900p is the most significant thing, and anybody who claims otherwise is blind,” he said. “And there will be people who say they can’t see a difference. Both people are right in their own minds. So, predicting how developers will use the power and how different the games are going to look, it’s hard for me to say right now. So it’s probably worth us waiting to see.”
“We’re building a great platform. We’re building the most powerful console ever made. We’re doing a lot of work with developers to allow them to harness that power,” he added. “I feel really good about our plans. Now we just have to see it play out.”
“There’s definitely a certain amount of like, we’ve got a product to sell, they’ve got a product to sell, so we’re going to highlight the things we think make our product advantaged over their product,” Penello explained. “But that to me feels different to the historical Sega does what Nintendon’t kind of head-on jabs that have happened in the past. Clearly, you and I are going to talk about Sony and us and why I think our product is better than their product. But it doesn’t came with a disrespect for what they’re doing.”
The full interview is in-depth and fascinating; read it here.
PS4 Pro goes on sale in November, priced at $400, while Xbox Scorpio is due to arrive in holiday 2017. A price point for Xbox Scorpio has not been announced, but Microsoft has referred to it as a “premium” product, so it likely won’t be cheap.
