Sneak Peek Preview: Nemesis 5: The New Model

Well ladies and germs I have a treat for you today as I just got the sneak peek at the latest Dustin Ferguson movie. No, stop saying who. Dustin (Doll Killer, Die Sister, Die!, Gloved Murderess, Cheerleader Camp: To the Death and Invitation to Die) gets to finally stretch his limbs into the genre of Sci-Fi as he told me in our phone interview last year, it has been something he had been dreaming of and finally given the reins to do just that. This is Nemesis 5: The New Model.

He clearly admires a girl of that caliber. Gun humor.

Continuing the very series director Albert Pyun (Cyborg, Deceit, Brain Smasher...A Love Story, Spitfire, Heatseeker, Raven Hawk, Mean Guns, Postmortem) built but never quite finished to many fans dismay, Ferguson is on the case. We open with a tasteful text crawl in space, filling in the blanks for some of the fans of the series as it has been a bit since we tapped into the cyber saga.

Cut to a harsh desert teeming with life under what sounds like Rob Robinson's composition on synthesizer (Meathook Massacre II, Tales From the Grave and Nemesis 5: The New Model) and bringing scope and depth already so I was completely stoked for this.

Reprising her famous Alex role is Sue Price of Nemesis II: Nebula, Nemesis III: Prey Harder and Nemesis 4: Death Angel is back again fighting for humanity. A dilapidated building stages a firefight between her and a fully converted cyborg as a young girl watches on in curiosity, not horror.

 The year is 2089, Alex strolling through the wastelands defeating cyborgs in gunfights and hand-to-hand combat. L.A.P.D.and the Red Army Hammerheads went to war, claiming to be humanity's savor and neither able to stop the apocalypse.

Yes, the writer is checking out Sue Price's legs. What of it?

Time and wounds have taken their toll on her as she has fought the cyborgs for so long that even this DNA mutant warrior of past and future must prepare for the next adventure and pass the torch to a new generation.

With her biotech engineering and cybernetic upgrades Alex learned to be a ruthless killing machine but in return lost much of her potential humanity.  Alex raises the abandoned little girl and trains her to be vicious, intelligent, cunning yet focused on her goals.   The only way for the end to not come is to send Ari (Schuylar Craig of Blood Claws, Camp Blood 4, Blood Model and The Amityville Legacy) back to 2077 in order to stop the actions of the L.A.P.D.and the Red Army Hammerheads before it is too late. Unlike Alex, Ari is 100% human with no augmentations to assist her.

Good to see some regulars of the Ferguson stable getting some meat and potatoes roles.

Jennii Caroline (Escape to Black Tree Forest, Black Forest III, Doll Killer, Die Sister, Die!, Gloved Murderess, Camp Blood 4 and Meathook Massacre II) appears as a Red Army Hammerhead controller using the cyborgs to capture data for spin stories.   Edwin Garica (Meathook Massacre II, PHOBIA, Stuck and Stacked) as a resistance fighter,  Mark Popejoy (Die Sister, Die!, Gloved Murderess, Poet, Flat Waters Terror Volume 1 and Amityville Legacy) as Doom, transportation entrepreneur and Daniel Stier (Tales for the Campfire, Night of the Clown, Meathook Massacre II and Nemesis 5: The New Model) also a resistance fighter.

Those Black Friday sales are out of control!

Feeling as though the human and cyborg resistance fighters could actually succeed at their mission, it is believed that a Nebula enforcer combat model needs to chase Ari and her crew down and turn them in to meat sauce.

Some nice throwbacks and nods to the second film, we have the giggling blond assassin units again, strifing the place with laser bolts rather than the Desert Eagles of 1980 played by Breana Mitchell (Cheerleader Camp:To Death, Die Sister, Die!, Invitation to Die, Meathook Massacre, Blood Claws, Camp Blood 5 and Amityville Legacy) and Lia Havlena (Wrong Side of the Tracks and Nemesis 5: The New Model).

What really grips your attention is the amazing vocals of actress/vocalist Daiane Azura (Prison of Psychotic Damed: Terminal Remix, Paranoia and Nemesis 5: The New Model) of Pandora Black. A mixture of techno, pop and astounding v/o stylings, this blend of unique tracks and singing keeps up with the pace of the film.

Cinematography is unbearably awesome, some great zooms via drone cam, good hand held and the filters bring some real life into the regions, great cut scenes for editing pushes a compelling story.

Let's talk about our star, Schuylar Craig as clearly she has had some strength training, martial arts and even some stunt work. She got put through the paces and good for her, getting something this intense as a major project.

Hey wait a minute, what about our main villains? Barbie and the Hammerhead leader Mel?

Hey that's the lovely Dawna Lee Heising (Blade Runner, Kung Fu: The Movie, Forbidden Warrior, Waiting for Dracula, Legend of the Red Reaper, Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance and Meathook Massacre II) and hard working character actor Mel Novak (Game of Death, Cat in the Cage, An Eye for an Eye, Future War, Vampire Assassin, Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance, Check Point and Holy Terror)!

Clocking in at a 71 minutes, this bigger budgeted Ferguson film rocks. Post-production laser effects, excellent filtering, an amazing musical score and everyone busting ass bringing their all to this movie. A cyberpunk post-apocalypse that brings older fans back to the series and newer fans to dive right in.  A good blend of old and new.

Nice to see Dustin tackling a genre he has been a fan of for so long. 

Wind mill of death kick!

 

Nemesis Week: Nemesis III: Prey Harder

Welcome back readers young and mature, although if you are mature why are you reading this blog? We journey on now to the further adventures of Alex (Sue Price of Nemesis II: Nebula, Nemesis III: Time Lapse, Nemesis IV: Death Angel) that wacky DNA mutant or genetically engineered specimen worthy of Khan's notice. Will she leave 1980 to save those in the future? How will she even get to the future? This is Nemesis III: Time Lapse a.k.a. Cyborg Terminator 3, Nemesis 3 and Nemesis III: Prey Harder.

Jiggly borgs of the future!!!

Ah yeah baybee! Alternative titles. Well I have had those since Andy Warhol's films.

Now people have grumbled of the stock footage of Nemesis II being used to recount how Alex (Sue Price) came to be in 1980, grow up to be a bad ass warrior and in general have a stick up their butt about this and that. You will find many a film reusing footage both A and B movie alike so button it more maybe you feel Richard Donner should be crucified for Superman II's use of previous footage. Whatever. It is not my concern.

Moving on we catch up with Alex as her last escapades dealing with Nebula the armored cyborg hunter and how she defeated it. Because of the alternative titles my copy is Prey Harder. A brief exposition establishes Nebula's failure to capture Alex so a newer model is being sent to capture her because her DNA may be the key to ending the human uprising. Cut to the future with cityscape and a droid reviewing the data and gen 2 computer generations under its awesome helm is...Farnsworth? Yup another recreation android Farnsworth 2.0 (Tim Thomerson of Fade to Black, Trancers, Near Dark, Air America, Dollman, Trancers II, Trancers III, Nemesis, Brain Smasher... A Love Story and Spitfire) is back for this one and I guessing since they already had him in production, they just knocked out a new model. Hey it worked for Arnold, so hush.

That Ab Rocker will take it right out of you.

Injured and battered from Nebula, Alex is re-cooperating from her wounds and starts having memories of the past movie when she awakens, a little scarred but none of them left threatening which is wild considering the punishment she took from the cyborg killing machine. A lesser being would be dead ten times over. Maybe her necklace that was encoded with the information Jor-El I mean her mother left her will finally give her the what what. Hey I am hopeful.

With her village and people wiped out, Alex journeys to find answers, food and shelter in East Africa. Loaded with a handful of pistols, augmented strength, reflexes and a will to survive she encounters Farnsworth purely by accident as he will aid her from her wounds but for some reason she does not see his true form and only the pleasant man claiming to be a missionary as he sees her wounds hardly matter even being shot in the head she only is slightly amnesiac. She is having flashes of a combat she had but cannot recall with who.

Farnsworth 2 is scanning her mind and body without her really understanding why. He starts questioning her family, sisters, mother and if she has any family. Now to any sane person Farnsworth sounds like a complete creeper but Alex has never been beyond her village.

Memories traveling with two men in a jeep and seeing a similar time capsule in the air she and the men go investigate but the Wotans attack them and only Alex survived and true to fashion she strips the bodies of needed supplies and weapons. Her McGuffin necklace leads her to Ramie (Ursula Sarcev of Nemesis 3: Time Lapse) claiming to be her sister. Flashes to being attacked again and again. Realizing how powerful Alex is, Farnsworth communicates to the future for backup if they are going to secure Alex. Her necklace joins her with her sisters to they may procreate and build a league of super beings to overthrow their cyborg masters. We will call that Plan B... For boning.

Jack Trancer is not a happy bunny.

During the height of the Civil War in Africa several of the Wotans have been replaced with cyborgs hell bent to kill Alex when she meets up with Edsion (Norbert Weisser of Midnight Express, The Thing, Schindler's List, Hocus Pocus, Heatseeker, Omega Doom, Blast, Crazy Six, Brimston and Sorcerers), a merc for hire that saw all his rebel employers vaporized who gets abandoned by Alex as he is visited by Lock (Sharon Bruneau of Nemesis 2: Nebula, Tornado Run, Nemesis 3: Time Lapse, Erotic Confessions, Erotic Confessions: Volume 11, R.S.V. P. And Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding) and Ditko (Ms. Olympia Debbie Muggli of Joe Weider's Ms. Olympia XIII, Martin, Nemesis 2: Nebula and Nemesis 3: Time Lapse) two platinum blonde gun nuts tracking Alex.

The rebels are not faring well with the cyborgs blowing away everything in sight tracking down Alex.

Can Alex reunite with her half sisters?? Will she have to wait a year for another time capsule?

Okay aside from the borg twins, this is not a bad continuation of the story. I was glad to see Tim Thomerson back and an explanation of new bot. The action is decent, the effects for the bots are...a wee bit simple with the digital overlay with glowing eyes, blurring of the characters and I really missed Nebula in action but again that full rubber body suit must have been sweltering.

And yes I will finally comment about Desert Eagles Mark VII wasn't made until 1990 and 9mm Berettas M9 wasn't made until 1985 being wildly used in 1980 before their inception leads me to believe even killing machines like their design. Still would have brought laz weapons myself.

Overall not a bad sequel to 2 and I look forward to seeing 4 tomorrow.

Rambo got nothing on Alex.

Nemesis Week: Nemesis II: Nebula

And we are back. Greetings readers and welcome back to Nemesis Week. I realize that should read Nemeses Week for proper grammar but that has never been a top priority on this blog. After the episodic film of yesterday...well there will be spoilers. Those not interested in that, clear out now. You have been warned. Okay with that bit of unpleasantness out of the way we move to our sequel. This is Nemesis II: Nebula.

I'm looking for Sarah Connor...oh wait a minute.

78 years later (2098 AD) after the fall of humanity's dominance of the planet. L.A. Bounty hunter Alex failed in his mission and mankind is under the yoke of the machines. They have lost to their cyborg masters but a faction of rebel scientists develop a new DNA strain. Yup to save us from the tyranny of enhanced machines, we will genetically modify humans. So from the hands of T-800 to Khan??!! Let's see how it pans out. With this potential demon or savior "Mom" has emerged from a time cube with glyphs in the year 1980 in East Africa. Seriously, I think she stole Omega's TARDIS. Brandishing her Desert Eagle of the future she heads for high ground with a less than thrilled baby Alex in her arms.

Mom has to abandon the baby because plot device. With a bit of exposition she tells the baby that she will have powers and that Nebula will one day come for the baby. She give baby Alex the Kal-El send off and tells her the Spencer's Gift/New Age Crystal McGuffin necklace will reveal all one day. Her mother killed, Alex is raised by the tribe of East Arizona er um Africa. Yeah imagine not being able to fly out to a region that may not care for outsiders traipsing about.

I NEVER SAW PARISSSSSS!!!!!!

20 years after the 78 years later. Making that 2118 A.D.?? Anyway, the Nebula (stuntman Chad Stahelski of Spitfire, Nemesis II: Nebula, Nemesis 3: Time Lapse, Vampires, The Hunted, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Constantine and V for Vendetta) bounty hunter has finally managed to a glimpse of Alex. Alex (Sue Price of Nemesis II: Nebula, Nemesis 3: Time Lapse, Nemesis 4: Death Angel and Nemesis 5: The New Model) now grown to be a warrior thanks to her adopted Kutu tribe and personally I think Nebula blew off his assignment so he could be challenged. 78 years control of the people, yeah he wanted a true fight for a change.

Now before we all start screaming Terminator rip-off, take a breath and realize every time travel series does not revolve around your cybernetic organisms that are just living computers. These cyborgs were once human. See??!!! 10 minutes in the film and we already have POV of Nebula cruising along the dunes in search of his prey. Suck it T-1000 with your playing it safe as a patrol cop.

Starwoman: in Color.

The tribal chief (Shelton Baily of Nemesis 2: Nebula and Nemesis 3: Time Lapse) senses the arrival of Nebula through the bones like Rune stones as Alex prepares to prove herself as a warrior for her tribe. Juna (Earl White of Nemesis 2: Nebula, Bloodsport 2, Nemesis III: Time Lapse, Blast, Omega Doom, Sorcerers and Black Panther) her friend, rival and potential love interest worries for her safety rather than admitting he is not certain he can deal with her being a warrior but he does care for her and wishes her to succeed for everything she has fought for. Taken to her vessel of origin Juna explains her ship came from the sky, and Alex finds a high frequency knife or dagger that cuts through solid rock.

With their village destroyed, Juna and Alex retreat to prepare a new attack. Armed with her skills, blade and a Mosin-Nagant bolt-action rifle or the M1891 Alex must destroy this monster before the region and all its inhabitants get wiped out in the process.

First off, kudos to Pyun giving the stereotypical action hero role to a woman and not making it so campy that she could fight. Price is in amazing shape, looks like she can handle herself and in no way is less than feminine for her body building. Why she has to save the Americans from the Wotans is pretty typical I suppose but Price is priceless. Just draws the schmuck's pistol off of him, shoves and blows them away. The civil war seems too similar to the Chadian-Libyan conflict, a bloody nine year conflict from 1978 to 1987.

Our story has mild exposition, Alex is damn impressive in cunning, skill and instinctual nature but she does not let it take away her humanity. Unlike her American counterparts that have never been put in a life and death situation, you realize Alex's continued existence is because of the harsh environment she grew up in, thinks on her feet, not shy about looting the bodies and very capable. My lone complaint. No one liners. It's Cyborg with Van Damme almost. Maybe Alex will develop a sense of humor in the third film. We will see. Makes you wish more directors had the balls to make a female action hero/antihero without having to resort to the "love interest" every time.

GET SOME!!!!

Nemesis Week: Nemesis

Welcome back to the week. In celebration of my buddy writer/director/editor Dustin Ferguson (Terror at Black Tree Forest, Silly Scaries, Doll Killer, Occult Holocaust, Cheerleader Camp: To the Death, Invitation to Die, Silent Night, Bloody Night 2: Revival, Meathook Massacre and Blood Claws) his new film project that probably starts in August Nememis 5. Better known for Horror this should be an interesting foray into an existing Sci-Fi series. The brainchild from the series director/writer/producer Albert Pyun (Cyborg, Deceit, Brain Smasher...A Love Story, Spitfire, Heatseeker, Raven Hawk, Mean Guns, Postmortem) will be executive producer for this new saga. In honor of that and the suggestion of my co-host of Rotten Ramblin' On Shawn, it was decided to sit through the first four of these cyberpunk post-apocalyptic films. This is Nemesis.

Have you any fruit to declare?

In the far away future of 2020 (Yes that was sarcasm) Alex (Olivier Gruner of Angel Town, Nemesis, Savate, Mercenary, Mars, Mercenary II: Thick & Thin, The Circuit, Crooked, Beyond the Game and Assassin X), a burned out LA cop turned bounty hunter is tracking enhanced cyborgs as he was charged with taking down The Red Army Hammerheads, a gathering of cyborg freedom fighters when it all goes pear shaped. After acquiring a data chip of a courier android, Alex runs right smack dab into the terrorists and gun fu ensues. He manages to blow away most of them at the cost of damn near his life with the surviving memeber Rosaria (Jennifer Gatti of Mobsters, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Double Exposure, Millennium Man, Blood Money, Finding Carter and Vice Principals) calls him a soulless machine and pops him.

After some cybernetic implantation and months of therapy, Alex is back to his old self. Well...86.5 percent himself as he tracks down Rosaria in to Old Baja to take her and her ragtag terrorist cell out. 

Man this wig is warm.

His handler/former lover Jared (Majorie Monaghan of The Bonfire of Vanities, Regarding Henry, Nemesis, The Osiris Chronicles, Babylon 5, Rescue 77, Becker and Andromeda) is an android that pulled him from prison and gave him his terrorist slaying missions and now he has to dull the pain of his synthetic organs and cyber implants with a drug making him practically a slave for his masters. They let him run wild for a time, freelance gun for hire/triggerman if you will until, you guessed it. Yet another gunfight goes horribly awry.

With more rehab and improvements, Commissioner Farnsworth (Tim Thomerson of Fade to Black, Trancers, Near Dark, Air America, Dollman, Trancers II, Trancers III, Nemesis, Brain Smasher... A Love Story and Spitfire) gives Alex one last assignment, to track down and eliminate Jared and her network of spies and terrorists. The story they gave Alex feels hinky at best but with his new rebuild they added a bomb to his heart set to go off in three days unless he tracks down Jared. In New Rio, Alex makes his way to a cyborg name of Julian (Deborah Shelton of The Yellow Rose, Body Double, Dallas, The Choice,Sins of the Night, Desire, Plughead Rewired: Circutry Man II and High Tide) and a strike team is waiting to pounce on Jared.

OooO hot chick.  Hey isn't that Thomas Jane against her?

Julian tells Alex the main reason Farnsworth is after Jared because of the info she has is about a plot for the machines to take key roles in the governments all over the planet. Whether Alex believes this or not, the crap has hit the fan and the bullets starting flying.

Can Alex stop this plot? Will Farnsworth pop Alex as well? Are humans even aware the dangers of the androids and cyborgs possess?

To be fair, I have seen this film before and I love the cyberpunk genre since Phillip K Dick and William Gibson starting writing it. The action is impressive, the story sound and even the exposition is decent. Loved seeing Vincent Klyn of Cyborg and Point Break being a terrifying bad ass again as well.

B-movie it may be but don't be too quick to discount the potential for a good flick. Hell, A list film have been known to fall flat on their ass.  Just ask Judge Dredd.

M-hm, good peep show here.

Obscure Superhero Week: Silverhawk

Hey all, welcome back for Day 4 of Obscure Superhero Week. Y'know it is a bit ridiculous to find a super heroine flick that isn't directly linked to a per-existing male protagonist. Supergirl, Elektra and Catwoman (technically Femme Fatale/thief/bad girl) are our prime examples?? Oh sure you could say Black Scorpion, Barb Wire and Aeon Flux IF they weren't overtly sexualized to a level I would be very uncomfortable to tell little girls to behave like that when you grow up. Christ, Tomb Raider and 1970s Wonder Woman and Isis managed to make strong willed, determined women that happened to be gorgeous as well. That was more of a bi-product or said actresses playing them. Busting my hump to find ANY super-heroine movie is a pain in the ass to begin with because the genre is either campy, insipid or just sexualized. And then... when all hope seemed lost. When frustration clouded my head. My gleaming goddess of goodness helped me out and may have restored a little faith in writing and directing. This is Silverhawk.

Hey, that's not Jet Li.

No wings of silver or nerves of steel. (Points to anyone getting that reference) Our heroine is a silver clad ass kicker for the side of good Silverhawk (Michelle Yeoh of Police Story 3: Supercop, Wing Chun, Tomorrow Never Dies, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Far North, Babylon A.D., Reign of Assasssins and Kung Fu Panda 2: The Quickening) whose secret identity is Lulu (No not the maxi dresses, atheletic wear, Lou Reed's album, the Fae Sorceress of League of Legends or the Scottish singer from the 1960s), a martial arts master/model and all around heiress to a mass conglomerate using her skills, money and being for the good of humanity. And does this with 4 minutes we have a bike chasing down a truck, a choreographed fight sequence on top of said truck, truck disabled and the baddies all terrified of her kicking their asses yet again. The precious cargo??? Um pandas. Yeah I guess black market for fur or claws? No idea. I envision an evil over-the-top British super-villain pawing one as he would a Persian cat exclaiming his insidious plan to his minions and muhahahaing the night away.

We're voguing!

Our heroine/vigilante's works have been noticed as the chief of police of Polaris City, Rich Man. Rich Man. Imagine the hell for that kid and do not wonder how he excelled at martial arts too. Okay, Rich Man (Richie Jen of Gorgeous, Fly Me to Polaris, Marry a Rich Man, Elixir of Love, 20 30 40, Seoul Raiders and The Sniper) is Lulu's childhood friend at the martial arts academy and apparently has complete and total recall of everyone, anyone and everything she has ever done or interacted with in life and recognizes Rich immediately. Rich a bit slower on the draw seems to remember but cannot quite place her. Rather than get her number, Lulu slips a tracker/bug on his phone keeping aware of the police investigations and a bit of flirting on her part. Rich makes it clear he is gonna bust Silverhawk due to the typical trope "Taking the law into one's own hands" but he is more concerned right now with the threat of a new A.I. Program that could end up in the wrong hands.

Where does she get those wonderful toys?? BMW I guess.

A quick couple of notes here. This universe operates like Marvel Comics tech. This is a virtual holographic majong game, there are sleek steel and glass buildings and mind deciphering devices but in modern day age. Lulu's auntie is constantly interfering and insistent that Lulu chase after men, marry and have healthy babies and so on. Leaving a brilliant scientist at her front door and now she must entertain Professor Chung (Daming Chen of Foreign Moon, Beverly Hills Ninja, Silverhawk, One Foot Off the Ground and What Women Want), the very same scientist developing the revolutionary plot point, I mean A. I. So yes you can do the Batman comparison because she is a talented normal with fighting skills, wonderful toys and a crusade and while that is an influence; the story arc is nowhere the dark brooding crap on a rooftop, the baddies may have some contusions and a concussion but they haven't been straight up murdered (Yeah Batman Returns, I'm looking at you) and the violence level is surprisingly low.

Hang on a sec... did I skip the villain? Yeah I did. Sorry about that. With the A. I. Demonstration well in hand, of course now is the time to abduct the prof.

Enter hench persons...well its a unisex teams so yeah. Morris (Michael Jai White of Thick as Thieves, Universal Soldier: The Return, Exit Wounds, Why Did I Get Married?, Black Dynamite, Blood and Bone, Arrow, Beyond the Game and The Asian Connection) and Jane (Bingbing Li of Purple Butterfly, Waiting Alone, Dragon Squad, Linger, The Message, Resident Evil: Retribution and Transformers: Age of Extinction) looking full on cyberpunk testing Silverhawk's skills and clearly were impressed, looking forward to that rematch. Worried about the involvement of the vigilante's time and effort, their boss/mastermind Alexander Wolfe (Luke Goss of Blade II, Love Life, Charlie, Cold and Dark, 13 Graves, Bone Dry, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Deep Winter and Tekken) schemes to best dispatch the crime-fighter as effectively as possible or perhaps win her over. It could go either way.

We have everything we need in a super-heroine. Great practical stunts, fight choreography, elaborate death traps, potential suitors panting at the door for her. In short, a beginning, a middle and an end. Personally, I liked it but I think a good hybrid of martial arts, sci-fi and super-heroine combo platter works well. Not to mention a showdown of Luke Goss, Michael Jai White, Bingbing Li all against Michelle Yeoh. Brutal scenes yet elegant violence.

Yeah I'm guy from Blade II and Hellboy II.

Butt Hurt Hollywood.

So folks are extremely butt hurt over Ghost in the Shell being our lead character of Motoko is going to Scarlett Johansson and I sympathize. Nothing against the actress in general. But she already is playing this uber badass character through Black Widow. Hey Marvel, where's the solo Black Widow movie? Maybe a pair-up with Hawkeye and Black Widow and two solo films there. Scarlett's body of work has managed drama, superhero flicks, romantic comedies and even some sci-fi films. Quite few points on Johansson, she is all of 5'3" does a great degree of her own stunts and has the star power to pull off Major Kusanagi.

Do I really look like the Black Widow?

That being said, taking Japan out of a Japanese product seems like a bad move, Hollywood. I understand the risk of doing a series not widely known to John Q. Public unless he is a Manga/Anime fan so I do get wanting a better known actress as an attention grabber but again this creation should stay with Japanese source material and hey nutty idea, maybe snag a few headshots for Asian actors and actresses. 

 Now I know the exact argument could be said about white characters in Marvel have become black is an issue but considering the majority of these characters are white since 1964 and frankly a little alteration isn't a bad thing.  No I did not lose my mind after Idris Elba was made Heimdall because again not a huge ordeal.   Samuel L Jackson isn't white, brunette and gray in his hair.  So what?   Psst, white folk.  It's not the 1930s so accept that characters can swap sexes and skin tones so long as the region makes sense.   The backbone of this story is centrally located in Japan and it would make sense using those locations, people and background for the film.

The biggest complaint among the guys is there are " No big titted Japanese girls to play this role." Fellas fellas let us not be too sexist piggies here. A simple bodice gives the illusion of a stacked girl. Chiaki Kuriyama (Gogo from Kill Bill 1) and Eihi Shiina from Audition and Tokyo Gore Police are but two Japanese young women that could pull of the physicality of the character as well as the look.

Besides we can cast beyond Japanese to find a girl that fits the look of Motoko easily. Given her wirework, choreography and swordplay in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero and House of Flying Daggers Ziyi Zhang could take a shot at the role and she is Chinese. Hell I would love to see Ji-hyun Jun from the live action Blood: The Last Vampire also audition for this role and she hails from South Korea. Need something more current? Pacific Rim's Rinko Kikuchi, an actress that has done live action adaptations of anime as well as been a voice actor for anime.

I just think Hollywood needs a slap in the face, needing to wake up and realize that not every fricking superhero, sci-fi and horror fan is WHITE. No white power, Hollywood. That's bad touch. Do your damn homework, Hollywood. Inspire future writers, astonish the viewers and set the bar high for new productions. 

Hey kids, don't I look a bit like Dolph Lundgren? 

Season One Shows: Almost Human

Ah sci-fi cyberpunk. I will never tire of it in whatever form of media. Welcome back to Day 3 of Season One Shows. Not certain what it is about a sci-fi crime drama but it doesn't seem to get the love to last more than a handful of episodes. With the establishment of the evolution of technology and not enough morality to combat it cyber augmentation for limbs, bones and organs giving humans near immortality and enhanced, speed, agility and strength. To battle this, the police forms the necessary addition to the force. A combat android. This is Almost Human.

Okay buddy, here's your sex robot and he's fully capable in multiple techniques.

The year is 2048 and the full creation of mega corporations, fringe gangs, cyberpunks, combat droids, matrix hackers and hired guns roam the streets. Genetic manipulations, surgerical augments and cyberlink to the hypernet.

Similar to the worlds created by Issac Asimnov, Phillip K. Dick, William Gibson, William Shatner and such kindred worlds we follow Detective John Kennex (Karl Urban of Xena: Warrior Princess, Ghost Ship, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Bourne Supremacy, The Chronicles of Riddick, Doom, RED and Dredd) a cop that commanded a squad two years prior to raid a vicious gang known only as The Syndicate but were outnumbered, outmaneuvered and outgunned. Kennex tried to save his partner's life but the android officer attached to Kennex's command drug him out instead of his partner due to the survival expectancy was higher for Kennex.

17 months later Kennex wakes from a coma to find he has a cybernetic leg to replace the damaged one and enormous gaps in his memory. Once released, Kennex chose to go to the black market and have his memory hacked to recall anything of that night, The Syndicate and how it all went horribly wrong, coupled with the fact his girlfriend Anna (Mekia Cox of I Kissed a Vampire, 90210, Crazy, Stupid, Love., Undercovers, Mob City and After Dark) had left him.

You broke our spoon quickly... No cuddling anymore?

Back in the world, Kennex has been brought to active duty by his superior Captain Maladonado (Lili Taylor of Mystic Pizza, Say Anything..., Arizona Dream, Ready to Wear, Four Rooms, The Haunting, High Fidelity and Six Feet Under) who teams him with an identical logic based android MX-43 android as his partner/back-up. The MX-43 records Kennex's actions and deems he must alert the captain of his behavior so Kennex "accidentally" released him out of the moving vehicle. Given this loss of hardware, Kennex is issued an older model android call a DRN unit that is as close to humanity as possible. Called Dorian (Michael Ealy of Bad Company, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Sleeper Cell, Seven Pounds, The Good Wife, Underworld: Awakening and About Last Night), Kennex notes Dorian exhibits a unique personality, wit and even hints of sarcasm. Can these two be able to work together in spite of their differences? Is a budding bud cop story arc possible in this distant future?

A few comments about the show now. Reminiscent of shows like Alien Nation, Tek War and Total Recall 2070, this show has all the hallmarks human drama, humor, suspense and mystery. Giving the feel of a timeline all its own using slang, concepts and attitudes mirror the early 1990s and the current time. With a hybrid of CGI and prosthetic makeup this series gives sci-fi effects combined with cop drama/mystery. A nice use of narrative gives you almost a detective pulp novel from the 1930s with a view of a technophobe unable to fully except the new world and prefer simpler times.

I especially liked the Detective Valerie Stahl (Minka Kelly of Devil's Highway, State's Evidence, The Kingdom, Friday Night Lights, The Roommate, Charlie's Angels and The World Made Straight) character do to the genetic engineered creation. Unlike the Eugenics War characters of Star Trek like Khan, this young woman is sharp, keen and capable that moves with the grace of a dancer but the attitude of a warrior. Why would she ever go into law enforcement is as baffling as it is to her species of human known as Chromes. I assume that is based of the flawless skin aspect.

Writer J. H. Wyman (The Mexican, Keen Eddie, 13 Graves, Fringe, Dead Man Down and Warriors) working with along writer/director/producer J.J. Abrams (Regarding Henry, Armageddon, Joy Ride, Felicity, Mission: Impossible III, Alias, Lost and Undercovers) they manage to create a world with hope in sight versus the typical dystopian and bleak futures to the like of Minority Report or Bladerunner.

J. J. Abrams personally recommended Karl Urban for Kennex's role after working with him on Star Trek and Star Trek Into the Darkness. Not a bad plug there, huh?

I'll avenge you, man... guess I should have backed up better.

Anime Week: Akira

Welcome to Anime Week boys and girls!!  We will begin with a controversial title that rocked the nations with its cyberpunk look, feel and dark premise to how the world will progress.   Yes, I am not referring to Pokemon.   That is a whole other kettle of fish to contend with.  I speak of the popular manga turned anime Akira.   With this intense saga of violence, the struggle for power and the corruption of the human soul, this story brought amazing visuals and a complex story was well captured on cell.  This is Akira.

The apocalypse came as we always knew it would. The Cubs won the Pennant.

Tetsuo: Twin ceramic rotor drives on each spoiler!   And these look like computer controlled anti-lock brakes! Wow, 200 horses at 12,000 rpm!





Created from the Manga (Japanese graphic novel) by writer/illustrator Katsuhiro Otomo (A Gun Report, Short Peace Peace, Highway Star, Hippa: The Little Vampire and Park)Akira lasting from 1982 to 1990 and creating more than 6 volumes brings us a similar vision in the small cell screen of the same name.

Our story begins in 1988, when a nuclear explosion destroys the better chunk of Tokyo inviting the beginning of World War III.   By the year 2019, Neo-Toyko is a wasteland of anti-government hysteria, bosozku (tribal biker gangs) and people simply getting by day to day.  Shotaro Kaneda is the leader of the Capsules in constant conflict with a rival gang known as the Clowns.   Guess the Jokers was too on the nose and DC comics would have gone crackers over it.   Kaneda's best friend Tetsuo almost runs down an esper (psionically powered being) Takashi who escaped from a secret government lab sprung by an revolutionary group of underground freedom fighters.  No sooner does that occur, heavily armed soldiers tracking Takashi scoop him up along with Tetsuo after a small firefight.  Kaneda and his whole crew get rousted and interrogated for hours to no avail because the gang has no idea what is going on.    

Let's do some crimes, man!

The military head figure Colonel Shikishima and Doctor Onishi realize that Tetsuo has the same level of psionics that to the esper Akira who gave birth to World War III and they want to either lock down his powers or outright kill the boy before Neo-Tokyo suffers a similar fate.  With martial law declared the Colonel preps block to block searches for Tetsuo and his girlfriend Kaori.   Kandea and Capsules are in deep conflict with the Clowns when Tetsuo unleashes a psychokinetic wave that devastates both gangs and starts tearing up the land.  Kandea has no choice but to join forces with the revolutionaries to bring his former friend down before there is no city left to save.

Just a few tidbits on the overall vibe of this film.  To create this film over 2,000 shots and 160,000 single cell pictures were drawn using over 327 different colors.  The interesting part of this all is the better portion of this film takes place at night, which most animators avoid like the plague due to the increased color requirements.  


Otomo's creation of a post-apocalyptic Tokyo has brought about future similar such stories such as: Demon City Shinjuko, Bubblegum Crisis and A.D. Police mixing the aftermath of the world before and the cyberpunk genre.    The themes Otomo's stories displayed where the awkward social isolation, government corruption and totalitarian concepts.

My side! Your side! MY SIDE! YOUR SIDE!

PC Games I am Playing Week: Shadowrun Returns

Hey there all and welcome to PC Games Week.   As you know I do reference more than a few console based games and that has been fun but at the end of the day I admit I would rather be behind the screen on the keyboard slaughtering villagers, having FPS gunfights and solving a few brain teasers.  Today’s game hails from the realm of table top based role-playing games from as far back as 1989 from FASA Corporation. Bringing technology of cybernetics and virtual reality hackers in mixed with sorcery, dragons and metahuman creatures to the world.  In 1993, Super Nintendo brought us the first story arc based on the cyberpunk fantasy RPG involving character Jake Armitage, a man suffering amnesia, wounded by assassins trying to figure out who wants him dead and completes his overall mission.  

Your swinging bachelor/bachelorette pad...definitely a fire hazard.

1994 Sega Genesis created a third person based game of both combat and exploration with Real Time standings along with the cause and effects of each battle. 

 13 years go by and we had not seen hide or hair of one for the newer consoles or PC until 2007’s abysmal failure that worked solely on Windows Vista which was a glorified verse of Quake.  Heartbroken were so many fans that 6 years later we had heard rumors of a company called Harebrained Schemes were raising money on Kickstarter to finance their own cyberpunk fantasy game under the title Shadowrun Returns.  So grab your trauma patches, call out the doc wagon and lock and load. This is Shadowrun Returns.

That is one seriously bizarre elf.

Spoilers are the Wiz, man.

Following under tactical RPG, this single-player game has all the bells and whistles the chummers have been scanning for. Character generation starts with the five races running the streets: humans, orcs, trolls, elves and dwarves.  Each species has its pros and cons so choose the archetype that works best for what you want to do.  And if that isn’t enough to make you happy how about classes as well?  Ranging from all the greats: Street Samurai (fighter), Mage, Decker (electronic and cyber thief), Shaman (cleric or holy person), Rigger (robot drone master) or Physical Adept (magically strengthened).   Our story opens with your character looking around a slum lord’s wet dream of an apartment.  The rats and cockroaches are fighting over who gets to leave first and your vidphone gives you a call from a fellow Shadowrunner (fellow illegal adventurer or privateer) tells you he has passed away and this payment plan is set up as insurance to find out who killed him and why.  The natural loyalty of the runners is pretty sound and you begin your investigation.  Our hero even runs into Super NES’s hero Jake Armitage as a NPC as you discover a new spin on an old classic Ripper case.  

I have just a few comments at this point to be made.  The combat is turn based; you fan out your fellow runners in any formation you so choose and there is a bit of problem solving to be had.  Best advice, chummer is to diversify your character to decking (computer skills), healing and lots of etiquette (Corporation, Security, Gang and Street speak) The storyline also hails from the same timeline as the Super NES and Sega Genesis games so that includes the lingo, gritty look of the streets and alleys and while it lacks a voice cast it returns us back to traditional RPG turn based formats of the like of: Baldur’s Gate, Icewind Dale, Fallout and Planescape: Torment.   I found it entertaining, warped and everything the game systems have been aspiring to reach and finally made.  Dead Man’s Switch is just the first installment as this is linked to Steam Workshop for newer campaigns.   My only nitpicks is the loading time from mission to mission and we don’t get to play with any vehicles.

Gunfight in the nut house...a tad odd admittedly.