Hot Fuzz – from the dudes who brought you Shaun of the Dead, this is their take on cop buddy action films. Look for over the top action mixed with their usual British comedy. Edgar Wright is back as director and Nick Frost and Simon Pegg star once again.
300 – the story of how 300 Spartan warriors stood up to millions of Persian soldiers that were trying to take over the land. Its all done on green screen similar to Sin City. Gerard Butler stars as the great King Leonidas.
Pathfinder – Karl Urban plays a strong Viking warrior who is the savior of a tribe in their battle against another group of people. Imagine Braveheart or Gladiator with Vikings.
Lonely Hearts – the true story about how two detectives get wrapped up in a case trying to track The Lonely Hearts Killers who lure their victims through personal ads. Starring John Travolta and James Gandolfini as the detectives. Jared Leto and Salma Hayek are the killers.
Firehouse Dog – a Hollywood actor dog gets lost and adopted into a firehouse. It soon becomes the big star of the town and he’s saving people from fires left and right.

Then there’s a special edition of Kung Fu Hustle.
On the TV front we get Sabrina The Teenage Witch Season 2, Dallas Season 7, and Hawaii Five-O Season 2. Yay!

I was there for Hot Fuzz and 300 on opening day. They are 2 totally different movies but both awesome in their own ways. Hot Fuzz is simply hilarious. It spoofs cop action flicks like Bad Boys but not in a silly way like Scary Movie or Epic Movie does. It does it in their own way while still being really funny. 300 is just simply awesome. There’s action, crazy ass special effects, and insane battles. Gerard Butler really steals the show. I want to buy both of these movies on DVD.

I’ve had the Wii version of RE4, cleverly titled Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition, since it was released. However I really never got around to playing it until recently, and man is it as awesome as ever. The new Wii controls work significantly well, with the aiming reticule on screen at all times. Whenever you need to shoot, just hold down the B trigger to aim, and fire away with a press of the A button. A quick jerk of the controller downward will reload, and performing a slashing motion at any time will result in Leon whipping out his knife and slash away.

The controls do have some minor trade offs. In the original, when aiming, the camera would follow where ever Leon would aim his gun. In this version, the aiming reticule doesn’t move the camera, as it is still controlled with the analog stick. There is this weird paradox where at first glance it’s easier to shoot people and play, yet it’s significantly harder to master. It has never been easier to shoot an oncoming projectile out of the air, yet at the same time it’s slightly harder to turn Leon toward a villager who might be striking from the side. Leon’s sweet laser site is also gone from the mix. The plus side is that you no longer need to hold in a button to have Leon take out his knife, as a simple slash is all it takes. It would have been nice if Capcom went the extra mile and added strafing (which probably would have made the game way easier) or at least a quicker way to change weapons, ala a Metal Gear style set up. Minors gripes all around though.

For those of you complaining about the Wii’s slim pickings, you really can’t do any better than RE4. That is, assuming you never played the original masterpiece before. Seriously, if you never played RE4 before, you owe it to yourself to play this game. It’s an amazing title that has held up significantly well through the years. For 30 bucks, you’re getting a heck of a lot of game here. The single player is a 20 plus hour adventure, and there is tons of bonus content, some of which was only found in the PS2 version. If you never played it before, the Wii controls do make things easier, and I believe they do add to the experience. This is also the only version of the game with a true wide screen mode.

From Blue Sky Animation Studio comes the new trailer for Horton which based off the beloved Dr. Seuss book. Of course, its been getting unfairly raked over the coals over at CartoonBrew, but I think it looks pretty decent so far.

 “I’m here to kill your mon-shtaaah!”

Yesterday at Comic Con in San Diego, a teaser for Robbert Zemeckis’ latest, Beowulf, was released. I feel like I was one of the few who instantly recognized it as CGI. There were a bunch of people wondering what was the purpose of giving the actors some kind of filter in post production like in 300 or Sin City that was so slight it was barely noticeable. What these people are missing is that giving the film some lighting and texture effect was not the objective, but they were in fact digital puppets modeled to look like the Beowulf’s real life actors. That is not Angelina Jolie coming out of the water in the teaser but a CGI puppet modeled to look exactly like her. Then, motion capture was used to give her life though I’m not sure wheater or not the REAL Angelina Jolie provided the performance.

My question is: why? What is the point of making what is really an animated movie with characters that look EXACTLY like their real life counter parts? I mean, if thats the case, just make it LIVE ACTION! Zemeckis seems to have a love/hate relationship with animation. He was quoted as bascially hating the process on Who Framed Roger Rabbit, however he really wants to make animated movies…just without that pesky animation.

I would say today is a milestone movie day.
A movie that has been anticipated and rumored for probably 15 years is finally coming to theaters. Some may say it’s a little too late; some may not care one way or the other. Let’s see what we have in store for this wonderful Friday.

The one, the only, Homer J. Simpson

The Simpsons Movie – Homer must save the world from some type of catastrophe that he created. Look for every single Simpsons character to pop up somewhere throughout this 90 minute animated movie.

Cooking up some cheesy rom-com.

Zodiac – the true story about the Zodiac serial killer that was never caught in the late 60s and early 70s in the San Francisco Bay area. Directed by David Fincher.
The Number 23 – a thriller starring Jim Carrey as a man who is obsessed with a book about that he is sure is connected to his life. He starts noticing weird coincidences with himself and the Number 23 driving him nutty.
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer – a man with a crazy sense of smell makes perfumes. He goes crazy in his hunt for the perfect smell and how he must preserve it.
Slow Burn – Ray Liotta is a big city DA trying to become mayor when one of his female deputies is wrapped up in a self defense killing where all doesn’t appear as it seems.
Hood of Horror – a horror anthology of 3 tales of terror told by none other than Snoop Dogg. All stories revolve around the residents of an inner city neighborhood.

Also hitting shelves is special edition versions of The Host, The Monster Squad, Hard Boiled, and The Rainmaker. A Bourne Identity/Supremacy double pack also comes out today. Then there’s the Spawn animated collection and a uniquely animated movie Renaissance. For seasons we get Weeds Season 2, Benson Season 1, Harvey Birdman Volume 3, and Tales from the Crypt Season 6.

This week is all comes down to your preference. If you’re in the mood for a cult classic then you might not be able to top Monster Squad. Its campy horror and cheese to the max. I already own the bootleg version and I love it.
But then again Zodiac is a damn awesome movie. It’s long as hell though. If you can get through 3 hours then you will enjoy it. What makes it better is that it’s true. It really makes it more interesting. I might have to go pick it up right away even though I saw it in theaters.

Sorry that things have been kind of slow around the ‘ol Shamooz as of late. I figured in between rounds of the latest Potter book and Final Fantasy 12 that I’d take a quick break to bring our loyal readers a little update about the site.

Time sure goes by really quickly, and I can’t believe it’s been several months since we put out Crapfest. I’m not going to beat around the bush, I haven’t even started on our next project yet. That isn’t to say I don’t have any ideas, I actually have quite a few, but Frank and I simply haven’t had the time as of late. I’m pretty sure that within a few weeks Frank is going to get started on Man-Bot, and Steve had a good idea for a different type of episode, but that’s all I have for now as far as cartoon news goes.

Granted today I’m being a little extra lazy around the house, I’ve been pretty busy in general. My real job (the one that isn’t the Shamoozal) has been taking up a lot of my time. We’re working on a project that has a pretty tight deadline, and I’ve been working extra hours here and there. Basically, by the time I stroll in from work, the last thing I want to do is more work (even if it is of the fun kind). I would also write some more Nerdlog posts, but my wife and I have been busy buying a house. There is just always something going on as of late, so it’s tough to keep up with the Shamoozal. It’s going to be a hard summer for us to say the least, but exciting none the less.

Don’t fret though, I didn’t buy this new beast of a computer two months ago just to play Counter Strike Source in wide screen with all the graphics turned up. I bought it so I could kick out some sweet episodes as soon as I get the moment to really veg out and get lost in creating one.

I know its Thursday but I have a little mini-vacation starting tomorrow so today you’re getting the Friday theater releases. An Adam Sandler comedy goes up against a John Travolta musical. Not to mention we still have all the other big blockbusters tearing up the theater. Lets get it on!

Nothing like seeing a movie about 2 sweaty gay men.

I Know Pronounce You Chuck And Larry – A Happy Madison production starring Adam Sandler and Kevin James as firefighters who pretend to be a married gay couple in order to get a pension plan. Jessica Biel is assigned to make sure they are a real gay couple.

Travolta is a goddamn disgrace.

Premonition – Sandra Bullock has a vision of her husband dying, it seems so real but when she wakes up he is still alive. Everything in real life is now playing out the same so she tries to change it.
Factory Girl – the true story of the self destruction of Edie Sedgwick as portrayed by Sienna Miller.
The Hills Have Eyes 2 – the sequel of last year’s remake is also a remake of a sequel all in its own. HUH??!! Anyway, this one is about some military who stumble upon the radioactive mutants and start getting picked off one by one.

There’s some fine special editions coming out also like the cult hit Showgirls starring Saved by the Bell’s Elizabeth Berkely and the Soviet attack movie Red Dawn starring Patrick Swayze. Then you can also get The Incredible Hulk Season 2. YIPPEE!!!

What would I choose in this treasure chest of goodness?
The 2006 remake of the 1977 original The Hills Have Eyes was pretty damn cool. It was brutal and creepy and kept the basic themes of the Wes Craven classic. The 2007 remake of the 1985 sequel didn’t look too great. Plus the same director wasn’t attached and it looked like a rehashing of last year’s movie. So go buy Showgirls and see the acting career of Jesse Spano come to an end.