Perhaps because I've been spending so much time lately in lower New York and Brooklyn, I've been attracted to films set in those streets I love, and recently I watched, back-to-back, Moonstruck (1987) and Crossing Delancey (1988). I was immediately struck by both the similarities in the two films and at once, their philosophical opposition to each other in matters of the heart. (Spoilers follow, in case you haven't seen these films.)

i went to go see Sex and the City saturday with a friend. we both enjoy films shoved sneeringly(by many men) in the category of "chick flick" as well as the original HBO show, which i have often defended -- for all its neuroticism and its materialism -- as being fundamentally radical in its depiction of modern women as power-, sex-, and money-hungry agents of their own creation (or destruction). plus, it was funny. it was a little like Absolutely Fabulous without the vicious cruelty.

but i found myself hard-pressed to defend the film to detractors. although so many of the same elements of the TV show were still present: fashion, status satire, romantic troubles. but the effervescent wit that lifted those ugly reflections of modern materialism and narcissism was defeated when faced with 148 minutes of turgid and heavy-handed soap opera melodrama. the sight of four affluent women bemoaning their lives wears a sensible person's patience quite thin over that time.

I'm pretty psyched to see this movie. I wish Bang the Machine had actually been more widely released (they got held up because they couldn't finish clearing the rights to the music used in the film, is what I heard). It comes out this week. Maybe I'll watch it in Seattle. Maybe it'll be one of the surprise movies they show Saturday night!

Nice! California Extreme, the arcade-lover's show, has the film festival lineup announced, including King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. You might think that competitive gaming is quite boring to watch, but it depends. Even if you know nothing about the game, the emotions are intense and affecting. Competition always brings drama.

But if you *do* know something about the game that's being played, then it can be mesmerizing. You see players' styles and strategies, you can see when someone is baout to be tricked or outfoxed, you can tell when a player's hands are just vibrating with skill... it's fascinating.

Full press release below.

It wouldn't be my top choice for a game based on a Nintendo movie (come on, Legend of Zelda!) but it's an interesting one: apparently there exists a trailer (which isn't loading for me right now, unfortunately) and a website.

Here's the original advert. As a huge AC fan, I'll admit to some excitement over this development, but it's still a bit odd. What's fun about the game, in my view, can't really be translated to a linear narrative medium like film. But it might be fun.

Trailer still isn't loading for me. In the meantime, enjoy this lovely video of piano versions of AC songs. So relaxing!

I know it's going to be silly, District 13B, because it is Luc Besson's work after all, but I do admit to fondness for Yamakasi, a simplistic but well-meaning and fun-loving film about, well, yamakasi, the French phenonenon that resembles the better-known parkour, or "free-running." A wikipedia entry attempts to distinguish between the two terms, but I've heard practioners use the terms interchangeably. Practiced in the banlieu since the 80s, both disciplines involve getting from one place to another with free movement. It's hard to explain, easier to show a video, a sort of brief instruction by one considered the father of parkour - David Belle - who, incidentally, co-stars in the movie that I want to see.

The New York Times review of the film guessed that parkour was some sort of martial art, but one of the things I love most about it is that it's at heart non-violent. It's creative, it makes playful use of urban spaces that are often inhumanely designed - and transforms them into a rich, completely open playground. So, the movie takes that and adds a twist, which I'm not crazy about, but it'll still be neat I hope to see the amazing physical feats of talented practitioners.

A blogger on another games blog (rhymes with Joystick) did by direct association label the Chronicles of Narnia movie tie-in title a Christian game. I disagree without the least hint of concession. Not only do we have a game twice removed, based on a movie based on children's fantasy stories, but although the use of Christian theme and symbolism certainly exists in C.S. Lewis's Narnia tales these are not "Christian stories" per se.

But the game. I've heard good things about it. It reviewed well. Almost surely it's a title appropriate for a wide range of ages, especially children. Why in the world does it need to be stuck into a Christian pigeonhole? It's apparently exactly the kind of game for people who want some sort of wholesome gaming diversion for their kids. Why is it so important that Narnia, the game and the movie and the novels, be knocked into the Christian category, unless it is merely to market to a demographic perceived as under served by the video game and film industries? And why is it so important to a large swath of Christians that the entirety of Narniadom belong to what amounts to a very narrow view of Christianity -- a view C.S. Lewis himself would have been unlikely to support?

Why?

This isn't the first year that a film associated with a tie-in video game has been nominated for an Academy Award; but it is the first year the collaterally marketed game has garnered very good if not outstanding notices from a wide variety of game media. Yes, The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King marks a milestone in the -- pardon my use of this eye-smacking word -- convergence of film and video games: good film; good game.

For those of you who give a damn what I think about the other nominations: kudos to Alec Baldwin for his shot at best actor in a supporting role; likewise, Johnny Depp for best actor. For what it's worth, my pick -- not a prediction but the desire of my heart -- is a Lost in Translation sweep: Coppola for director (she'll have the statuette to whack Spike over the head with if they run into each other at the ceremony); Murray for best actor; and, finally, it takes best film (Coppola will then have an Oscar for keeps that isn't all bloody -- like a tiny model murder weapon from Clue -- due to her estranged husband encounter). Sofia, if you are reading and I know you are, when the ink dries on your divorce decree, I will be lamentably unavailable. Pass by, my dear; maybe in another life, a different time and place.

An aside, ever since Gandhi, doesn't Ben Kingsley just automatically get nominated every year? Must be built into AMPAS's vote-tallying software or something.

So when do we hit the all-time comments record for GGA? My look at Max Payne has generated quite a slew of thoughtful commentary (this is the part where I suck up to everyone before slamming them). Indeed, I'd guess the majority who've commented enjoyed the games' narratives and dialog as they, and this is the important qualification, relate to the overall gameplay. Taking this into consideration, apparently you're all a bunch of dolts. You should go read books.

While we've all been sniping a bit lately about writing about games (nice tie-in with Justin's recent shooting post, that "sniping" bit, isn't it?) I thought we could perhaps start a discussion cooking on writing in games. And to that end, I begin with the venerable Max Payne.

"Wait, it had Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom? I didn't know that! I should have seen it with you!"

So said Jen, a friend who'd turned down a date to see the movie with us.

So we went - Justin, Lulu, and I - to the dignified, gilded grande dame of East Bay theatres, the Grand Lake Theatre. A few spaces in front of us in the theatre sat an entire row of young girls - aged nine, tops - dressed as pirates. Some wore scarves and eye patches. The coolest girl wore a crushed velvet brocade double-breasted coat. Clearly, this was the second - or maybe third - time they'd seen this movie. The opulent restored surroundings, the thick velvet curtains, the gaudy lights, the gorgeous wall coverings suited the baroque mood of watching a grandly epic, beautifully shot movie about scoundrels of the sea.

So how did pirates get to be so cool?

Justin and I are totally excited to see The Matrix Reloaded tonight at Mann's Chinese, of course! But as for the game, well, we're not holding our breath.

Justin was asked by Julian if the game was going to be any good. He replied, "Oh, you know what it's going to be. They're going to take the three popular genres - there's going to be some shooting, some driving, some sneaking around - and they're going to cobble it together into a great lumbering mutant monster glued together with long, amazing, unskippable cutscenes."

Well, yeah. And the mainstream press agrees. And you?

I'm watching Gameheadz, the documentary on the origin of computer games on The Learning Channel. And what I'm learning is that TV sucks.

The bulk of the Atari portion footage - the historical stuff, not the interviews - is lifted directly from a parody video which Atari employees made (including a handsome young Owen Rubin, who acts in the piece): "Outstanding in Our Field". Part recruitment silliness, part commercial, it was meant to be a funny, self-deprecating piece. It screened at California Extreme last year, and it was hilarious.

But - and maybe it's because I've just finished reading Neil Postman - it's infuriating how the scenes are used with no comment. You don't get that it's a parody. It makes me wonder what other sources they're mixing in there with no explanation or comment.

at the upcoming 21st Annual San Francisco International Film Festival, one of the films is "bang the machine" a documentary by tamara katepoo that takes the viewer "into the fascinating social world of video gamers in the bleached-out suburbs of America..."

i havent seen a good video game movie since "the last starfighter."
ive already reserved my tickets.

When in NYC this past weekend, we decided to check out the film Bowling for Columbine, Michael Moore�fs latest commentary on the ills of American culture, in this case the subject is violence s it relates to gun control. On a brisk overcast day, my friend and I set out to see what the all the rave reviews were about.

Angelina Jolie is in Greece filming Tomb Raider 2: Cradle of Life.

The site is down now, but Joystick101 had an interesting essay by Henry Jenkins on the differences between the movies made of Tomb Raider and of Final Fantasy. Is it possible to transform interactive non-linear media into non-interactive narratives? Does it work at all or is the concept itself flawed?