It's the end of the world and I feel fine

In both movies and video games, the end of the world is an extremely popular and overused setting. Two releases in both mediums take a rather interesting approach to it this week. First up is the long-awaited release of a film version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy. If you don't know the story, this is a based on a book that is considered by most a cult classic where the Earth is destoryed at the beginning. Although it looks like a really solid cast with high production values, I'm worried that the traditional Disney treatement will butcher it horribly, since they have a very low success rate with live-action films. Also out in theatres is the new XXX, but considering how horrendously pathetic the last film was, this has to be an improvement but that's not saying much.

Stella Deus would be the other end of the world title-The world is coming to end end with the land being consumed by a deadly mist-The answer, just let it happen! That's the attitude of most of the world in this game-we're all doomed, so let's just wallow in apathy! Of course, not for your intrepid adventurers, or else there wouldn;t be much of a game. This is a strategy-rpg much in the veins of FF tactics & Disgaea. It's nothing revolutionary (literally every little idea and gimmick has been done before, but this game mixes them nicely, which is pretty rare anyways), but any srpg nut will find this a good way to kill many hours.

I did catch Kung Fu Hustle on sunday, and while I highly reccomed it, I was somewhat suprised by the high level of violence. Director Stepehen Chow's previous effort, Shaolin Soccer, was mostly a family-friendly affair, Hustle is pretty brutal at some points, so be prepared if you are going in just expecting a harmless goofy film you can take the kids to as well.

After remaking the Texas Chainsaw Massacre into a complete joke and forcing a mediocre remake of the mediocre Amityville Horror on us, Michael Bay is set to update (meaning destroy) another "classic" horror film-The Birds. It may have be scary for it's time, but the film hasn't aged well, and there's actually been several really bad horror movies with birds as the villains since then. Can't Bay just stick to making cheesy over the top action films? At least those were enjoyable guilty pleasures, these are just embarassingly painful.

The saga will NEVER end, apparently. At a big Star Wars convention, Lucas made a rare appearance and announced that two new series based on the Star Wars saga are being developed (assuming Clone Wars keeps going, this means 3 Star Wars TV shows). One will be live action, and the other CG. They will both supposedly take place between episodes III & IV in order to truly bridge the gap between the trilogies. While I love the idea of being able to see Star Wars on my TV on a regular basis, I think an entirely new setting would be a much better idea. You wouldn't have to deal with so many continuity issues, for one (which all series in a franchise have major issues with), and it would be a clean slate for all of us that have been so badly burned by the last two films (and especially if the 3rd doesn't measure up).

And finally, the trailer for Serenity went up on quicktime yesterday-This is based on the criminally ignored series Firefly from genius Joss Whedon. It's telling that before the first movie is out that a 3-picture deal has already been signed by Whedon and the main cast members. This could easily be the next Star Wars, so I can't wait till it's out in about 5 months. And on that note, I'm finally going to pick up Firefly on DVD, and I suggest you do the same as well and show Fox that they were complete idiots (course they are backing the film, so maybe complete is too harsh)....