As usual, the holiday week has proven to be lacking in the way of new releases. Only two caught my eye this week, but rest assured that the rest of the month is ripe with quality films making their way to DVD and Blu-ray, with over a dozen noteworthy titles coming over the course of the next four weeks. Furthermore, Next Monday is also the beginning of the Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3), where the latest in gaming will be unveiled. Anyways, on to the new releases:
Biutiful (Alejandro González Iñárritu, 2010) - Receiving Oscar nominations for Best Foreign Film and Best Actor (for Javier Bardem), many have declared this to be renowned director Iñárritu's best film to date. Bardem stars as Uxbal, "a man on the wrong side of the law who struggles to provide for his children on the dangerous streets of Barcelona. As fate encircles him, Uxbal learns to accept the realities of life, whether bright, bad - or biutiful..." (quote taken from the DVD packaging).
Format: DVD - The supplements are the same for both formats, and the DVD is five bucks cheaper - $17.99 - at Amazon. Stores carrying the title should have it on sale for roughly the same price (such as Best Buy and MovieStop).
Prey (Antoine Blossier, 2010) - From IFC Midnight comes this French thriller. "One night, several deer inexplicably hurl themselves against the electric fence of a farm. Discovering deep bites on the animals bodies, the farmer and visiting family members (who have gathered for a tense reunion) penetrate deep into the surrounding forest. They carry guns, expecting to encounter wild predators, but what they are bewildered to find is an environment ravaged by a mysterious evil force. And as the sun slowly sinks away, howling resounds through the forest. The hunters have become prey! This modern-day horror film blends elements of The Descent, Jaws and Deliverance into an original picture of human nature scarier than the darkest woods," (taken from the Amazon.com synopsis).
Format: DVD - Only available on DVD. Amazon has it for $17.99.
Finally, here is the penultimate episode of Mortal Kombat: Legacy:
Ever since it was released for the PC and Xbox 360 back in 2006 (after being in development since 1995, a period during which it went through several drastic revisions), I - along with many others - have been eagerly anticipating a sequel to Prey, a remarkable First Person Shooter (FPS) - developed by Human Head Studios and published by 2K Games - that featured a compelling narrative that many other releases in the genre had been lacking at the time. The gameplay was solid and in some regards unique: Prey has been credited as the first in the genre to use the portal technology popularized by Valve's Portal; variable gravity played an important role in the game, requiring the player to frequently walk along walls and tinker with gravity in certain areas to aid progression; and the player was able to leave the body of the protagonist and assume control of a spirit form for short periods of time, armed with a spirit bow used to dispatch enemies, and altered vision so as to see paths hidden to the mortal eye. To top it all off, the game had a decent multiplayer component reminiscent of popular genre titles like Quake and Unreal Tournament, incorporating all three of the aforementioned gameplay elements into the mix - though it was hindered significantly due to there being only two game modes and very few maps.
Prey was received quite well, holding a metacritic score of 83 for the PC version (based on 51 reviews) and 79 for the Xbox 360 version (based on 80 reviews), the most significant fault mentioned being the lack of variety in the multiplayer component. Now, nearly five years since it was released and players were left with the words "Prey will continue," filling the screen at the end of an interactive after-credits scene (warning: contains spoilers), the first details of Prey 2 (developed again by Human Head Studios, published by Bethesda Softworks) have emerged, along with a teaser trailer:
While viewing this live-action trailer, images of the first teaser for the film Cloverfield ran through my mind, as suggested by the hand-held pseudo-documentary style, along with the fact that nothing significant is revealed in regards to what the narrative will entail this time around. Perhaps even more interesting, the trailer represents an alternate, firsthand perspective of an early event from the first game, in which the protagonist, Tommy, witnesses a plane crash into an organic alien spaceship known as The Sphere (he even encounters a survivor of the crash later in the game). I find it rather interesting that a video game teaser trailer is utilizing an increasingly popular style of filmmaking - particularly within the horror genre; it will be interesting to see if this teaser represents the first taste from something of a viral marketing campaign similar to that of Cloverfield. That said, there are a few significant details that an unnamed source close to the game has provided Kotaku, as well as others revealed in the latest issue of Gaming Reactor:
-The player will assume the role of a Federal Air Marshal named Killian Samuels who is aboard the plane when it crashes (could he be the one firing off rounds in the trailer?).
-The opening of the sequel takes place at the same time as the first game, during which the new protagonist will spend a brief period of time aboard The Sphere before being captured. The game then jumps forward to an alien planet, where he begins working as a bounty hunter.
-It is said to be an open world FPS (sounds like something along the lines of Borderlands, but more open).
-There will be a heavy emphasis on platforming as well (similar to Mirror's Edge).
-From what I gather from the latter link, there looks to be no multiplayer, as the developers wish to focus on crafting a solid single player experience.
