The summer of sequels continues with another big blockbuster that hit theaters this past Wednesday. It is followed up today with a psychological thriller/horror movie and a few limited releases. Lets see what’s on the plate for this Friday.

Look at these hooligans.

Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix – the fifth installment in the Harry Potter franchise. Every teacher at his school is denying that Harry had an encounter with Lord Voldemort the year before. Its drives Harry crazy so he must take matters into his own hands to prepare for what may come.

She’s even hot when she’s scared.

Every year when E3 rolls around my life seems to stop. Everything around me is put on hold while I try to consume as much game information as I possibly can. I try to follow all the major platforms despite not owning all of them. The three major console companies have shown off some really cool stuff, like Sony’s awesome Killzone 2 trailer, and that $500 dollar worthy Metal Gear Solid 4 video. Microsoft has impressed with their ridiculously solid line up for the rest of the year, showing off the mega hyped Halo 3, while Peter Moore plays Rock Band like a complete n00b… hitting pause right in the middle of the whole thing.

However if there is anything that I find myself looking at over and over again, it’s Nintendo’s own Super Mario Galaxy. Yeah, there are Mario titles that flood the market year round, but there isn’t anything more special than a brand new classic style Mario adventure. These things seem to come around only once a console generation, and they’re always a treat, even the highly underrated Super Mario Sunshine. I seriously can’t wait to lose myself in Nintendo’s latest, I can already tell it’s going to be a flipping awesome good time. Not only that, but boy, those graphics are really pretty. I’m almost willing to say they’re awesome. You know what, yeah, they’re awesome. There is some talented artists working on this title, and the highly stylized look they came up with pushes it far and above all of the brown palette games of this current generation. Proof that Wii games can look good. And proof that Mario is still king of the video games after all these years.

Anyway all the major sites are covering E3, so I advise you go check them out if you haven’t already.
IGN
1up
Joystiq
Kotaku

Harry Potter mania is about to sweep the nation all over again. The one two punch of the Order of the Phoenix feature film and the final book in the series, The Deathly Hallows, is sure to make any Potter fan lose control of their bladders. I happen to one of those people, and in an effort to buy into the hype and prepare myself for some Potter madness, I decided to buy the Original Score to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

I’m not usually one to buy film soundtracks before I see the movie, but it was either this or the new Smashing Pumpkins album. Scored by Nicholas Hooper, Phoenix marks the third composer to dabble into the world of Harry Potter. I’m a really big John Williams fan, so deep down I’ll always miss his contribution to the HP film world, where he scored the first three films. When I first listened to Patrick Doyle’s take on the franchise with Goblet of Fire, I honestly didn’t like it at all. However I eventually came around and grew to accept it, it’s actually a favorite of mine now.

The first track alone in Phoenix tells you immediately that it’s going to be a very different album, as we’re basically greeted with a wailing guitar… I’m not kidding. I’m not talking the type of guitar that John Williams slipped into the chase scene of Episode II, I’m talking some serious business here. To be honest, I’m not quite sure how I feel about it fitting in with the score as a whole, but I’m almost certain that it accompanies a famous scene that involves a pair of red headed twins taking it to the man, which should be a treat.

I get the feeling it’s going to take me quite a few listens before I can really nail down how I feel about the score. Right now I’m kind of on the fence, just as I was when I first listened to Doyle’s work. There are a few stand out tracks, like the first one mentioned titled Fireworks, and the theme of the “Room of Requirement.” Most disappointing is the track that accompanies the death of a particular fan favorite character (which is ruined on the back of the album in case you want to be surprised), which doesn’t feel even remotely emotional. By comparison, a track that goes along with the firing of a Hogwart’s teacher sounds like it should belong to the scene I mentioned before this.

The Astronaut Farmer – Billy Bob Thornton builds a rocketship on his farm. The government wants him to stop because they think he might be a terrorist. Billy Bob will not listen.
The Last Mimzy – a fantasy movie about a couple of kids who find a magical box on the beach. They meet Mimzy, a magical stuffed rabbit who gives the kids their own powers.
The Contractor – straight to DVD release for Wesley Snipes. In this he stars as an assassin on the run when one of his hits goes horribly wrong.

For TV shows we have the HBO series Extras Season 2, old school sitcom Bewitched Season 5, and a weird looking live-action Beauty and the Beast Season 2.

There’s nothing really catching my eye this week.
I gave Extras a chance because I really enjoyed Ricky Gervais in the British The Office along with a couple of movies and improv stuff I have seen. But I watched about 3 episodes and just couldn’t get into it. It was just too dry for me. But I did not see any of the main releases this week so I cant tell you how they are. Sorry folks.

LOL… teh thumbsticks are there for a reason n00b!

Problem: Lately my HDTV has been ’spoken for’ at night, preventing me from enjoying some Xbox Live action.
Solution: An unused VGA port on my Acer 22″ LCD monitor.

Problem: The Living room is 6 feet away from my desk, so I can’t use the speaker volume. Likewise I don’t need the soundtrack from ‘Hope Floats’ mixed in w/ my killing sprees.
Solution: The Ear Force X1 Headset from the good people at Turtle Beach.

The first thing I noticed about these guys when I pried them out of 6 layers of plastic was that they’re really put together well. They’re very light weight, but at the same time they don’t feel flimsy or cheap (at $60 they’d better not feel cheap). If you’re afraid of wires I’m going to stop you right here and direct you to the exit door… these babies are all wired up. Turtle Beach did a good job with it though and they really don’t get in the way. Here’s how it works:

Get ready for ACTION!
Get ready for EXCITEMENT!
GET READY FOR FIFI!

We had some technical difficulties, but we don’t let it break our stride. Ain’t nothing gonna hold us down… we had to keep on moving. We talk Wizard World Philly 2007, Counter-Strike: Source shenanigans and a lot more nerdy fun. Disclaimer: Phil was drunk before we even started recording.

Links and stuff after the jump…

The Fourth of July is tomorrow as you can tell by Lucas Across America below so instead of movies coming out on Friday, they are released today to capitalize on people being off for the holiday. One of the most anticipated movies of the year is finally hitting the theater. Is it more than meets the eye or a steaming pile of crap? Or can a romantic comedy even crack the Top 10 of the box office with these summer juggernauts. We’ll see.

BayFormers…. Good one.

Transformers – Michael Bay is hated around the movie world for making mindless action flicks with cheesy dialogue and goofy scenes. There was panic when he took the realm of a classic toy/cartoon series of the 80s turned big budget action flick. Now we all get to see what some awesome trailers can turn out to be. Tyrese, Megan Fox, Shia LeBouf and others round out the human cast while all your favorite Autobots and Decepticons will be battling it out on Earth.

Robin Williams hasn’t been good since…. Hmmmm?

I know its a day early but since some people might be partying it up tomorrow, I just want to wish everyone a safe holiday.
Have a helluva 4th of July. Drink alcoholic beverages (if allowed) and cook up some burgs in the name of The Shamoozal.

Sorry for the delay. I had a busy weekend and didn’t get a chance to pop up the Theater Releases for last Friday. I didn’t want to totally pass it by so I am here on a Monday and I’m still going to tell you what movies came out this past weekend.

I always feel like, somebody’s waaaaaaatching me!

Live Free or Die Hard – Bruce Willis is back as John McClane. He’s an old man now but still gets brought into the latest terrorist attack. Since its 2007 now, of course it deals with computers. Justin Long (Mac commercial kid) is the comedy relief… I guess. You can expect some Yippie-Ki-Yays along with unnecessary explosions. Perfect action movie.

Pixar puts a smile on my face too.

Today Phil and I caught an afternoon showing of Ratatouille. I’ve been highly anticipating this film from the folks over at Pixar for some time, however I was trying not to get too worked up over it. I didn’t want to set my bar too high. Instead, I wanted to go into it with a fresh eye and see it for what it is and not for what I imagined it to be.

I’m very happy to say that Brad Bird and the excellent team of artists and animators at Pixar have more than delivered.

The movie is basically about a rat named Remy who wants to be a chef. Unfortunately for him, this isn’t exactly looked favorably on by his large rat community that he belongs to. So, when fate steps in and separates Remy from his rodent family, he finds himself at one of the most notable restaurants in Paris. It’s here where he meets the hapless Linguini and together they make an almost unbeatable culinary force.