Worth Checking Out - Apotheon

I stumbled across the trailer for Apotheon this morning and immediately went hunting for a pre-order. Alientrap's 2D platforming RPG is styled after the black figure era of Greecian pottery artwork and follows an acolyte solider as he must battle the capricious Olympian Gods and save his homeland. The game comes out tomorrow(!) on both PS4 and PC, so if the trailer scratches your itch for mythological-god-and-monster-slaying, follow the link to Alientrap's website and go grab a copy yourself!

'Terminator: Genisys' Trailer Goes Back To The Future To Return To The Past

Terminator: Genisys (Genesis? je ne sais quoi?) is the fifth and latest installment in the long-running sci-fi action film series and yes, yet another reboot featuring Sarah Connor, her messianic apocalypse-fighter son John, and Arnold Schwarzenegger once again reprising his role as the titular killer-cyborg turned stalwart protector.

Something's rotten in the state of the multi-verse, and Sarah (Emilia Clark) must once again team up alongside her soon-again-to-be love interest Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) to prevent yet another mercury-morphing killing machine from extinguishing humanity's one last hope for survival. But can the couple manage to succeed where their countless other incarnations have failed? Can they prevent the inevitable "Judgement Day"?

Polished Chrome and Pearly White

The Terminator series has always had a fondness for reboots and reinterpretations, but that's to be expected from a series about hyper-intelligent murder-mechas and the human rebels who fight them sending each other back and forth across time in a chrono-cataclysmic cat-and-mouse game for supremacy and survival. I'm intrigue by the premise, if only out of love of the original Judgement Day. Though this trailer makes me wonder, can the Terminator franchise ever really exist without Schwarzenegger?

Terminator: Genisys is slated for next summer, July 1st, 2015.

'The Splinter-Cell' Is A Love Letter To The Franchise At Its Peak

Ubisoft's Splinter Cell is an influential stealth-action series that's been going through something of an 'identity reinvention' as of late. After 2005's sublime Chaos Theory, the series took an abrupt direction into full-on open assault warfare with titles such as Double Agent, Conviction, and Blacklist, straying away from the stripped-down stealth sensibilities of its earlier incarnations.

Directors Ben & Andrew Adams of Austin-based Atomic Productions have managed to craft a short that infuses the best elements of the franchise from both its earliest and later years, though with the noticeable absence of Michael Ironside's signature caustic wit. This short's still amazing though, and I look forward to the promise of more live-action Sam Fisher adventures in the near-future.

"The Splinter Cell' is a live-action short set in the past that follows the early years of the franchise lead as he becomes the titular hero. Before the game stories, before the modern times, and before Third Echelon: There was only a man. Sam Fisher."

Prepare To Die In "Super Time Force" - Launching Very Soon

The fine folks at Capybara games have finally unveiled the release date for their unique side scrolling shoot 'em up/puzzler hybrid Super Time Force, along with a fresh new gameplay trailer. While it resembles a Contra-esque shooter on first glance, the title actually incorporates a unique rewinding feature that allows you to build up an army of former 'ghost' comrades to tackle the challenging levels. The expectation is that you're going to have to die, a lot in order to build up a firesquad capable of tackling the bullet hell that will be unleashed on you.

The title will be arriving May 14th for Xbox consoles, but I'm really hoping the title will eventually make it over to Steam and other consoles shortly after the exclusivity period wears out. Zackasaurus is my favorite character out of the bunch.

The Serpent Princess

Barbarians, buxom babes in distress and giant serpents: The three ingredients for The Serpent Princess, a short film created as the opening for the 19th Russian animation festival called Suzdal 2014. Playing out like a scene straight out of a Frank Frazetta painting, mighty beasts are felled, battlecries are heard, and a bound prisoner looks on, hopeful to be rescued.

The absolutely fluid animation seemed a little familiar, until I realized that it was created by Team Arctq17, who also directed an earlier opening for the 2013 Suzdal festival called The Goose. If anything I wish The Serpent Princess was something a little more long form after getting a taste of this particular barbarian's utter badassitude.

The Raid 2 - Berandal Hitting Theaters Soon

One of my fondest cinematic experiences came about during an initial viewing of The Raid : Redemption in an indie theater called the Violet Crown. The Indonesian action flick had garnered a reputation online as one of the more brutal martial arts flicks, partially meant to shed light on Silat, an indigenous martial art central to the region. The plot was very similar to Bruce Lee's Game of Death, centered around a special forces cop called Rama fighting his way up a criminal infested building with the big boss at the top. The movie was just so uncharacteristic from what I'd come to expect from typical indie theater fare that it was surprising, more resembling the type of R-rated action movie you'd expect to see in the big screens back in the 80's.

While we've all seen our fair share of action and martial arts films (Just a guess), we were completely surprised by the brutality of the takedowns in the movies, and the body count that this cop racked up (I'd say over 100 easy) in the slick and amazingly orchestrated action sequences. Hearing the gasps of horror from the unsuspecting audience when Rama unleashed his pure insanity on whomever stood in his way was kind of hilarious (We'll never unsee that broken door scene). Needless to say the movie was a surprise hit internationally, especially after the word of mouth spread like wildfire following a very limited initial release.

This brings us to The Raid 2 - Berandal, which follows the same cop realizing that his entire first raid was a corrupt orchestration from the powers above him, and that the crosshairs are now on him and his family. The movie was already a hit at Sundance and other film festivals, and has been lauded for improving on the original, especially in regards to dialogue and plot that took a backseat to the action in the first film. The flick is releasing on March 28, so check your local indie theaters-This one's a must see.

Journey To The West - From The Creators Of Kung Fu Hustle

Stephen Chow's 2004 feature Kung Fu Hustle was one of those movies that successfully made the jump overseas, offering a nicely balanced mix of over the top action and comedy that was accessible to western audiences. Following a nine year hiatus from the action scene it seems like Chow is finally returning with yet another fun looking movie loosely based off the Ming Dynasty epic Journey to the West, focusing on the adventures of a Buddhist monk trying to protect his village from a variety of demons and even the Monkey King himself.

If he manages to capture that same style of action comedy that made Kung Fu Hustle memorable, this will definitely be a movie to keep an eye out for. The movie will be hitting select theaters on March 7th next year. Love that they went with a classical Drew Struzan themed poster style by Paul Shipper (He's the famous illustrator that did classical posters for movies like Indiana Jones, Harry Potter and countless other movies).

Till Dance Do Us Apart

Created as a graduation Film of Tom Mourik, Ben Vinkenburg, Thijs Viegers and Jessy Suharyanto at the Netherlands based HKU institute, Till Dance Do Us Apart is a rather bizarre, and kind of hilarious short about a woman's need to dance that just won't go away. Using a mixture of hand drawn animation and cell shaded 3D animation, this more action oriented short take a more action oriented route with no need for dialogue.

The Honey Plot

Created by an army of students at a new school we recently discovered from the UK known as The Arts University at Bournemouth, The Honey Plot centers around a bear trying to smuggle a rather valuable beehive out of the country while remaining incognito, which proves to be somewhat difficult. Simple premise, but pure fun from start to finish, I loved the mix of frantic chase mixed with nervous tension.

Controller

Created by Saman Kesh, Controller is a pretty kickass scifi short regarding a psychically gifted female who turns her boyfriend into a killing machine to help rescue her from a shadowy, despotic organization. Part Akira, with a little bit of Ghost In The Shell sprinkled in (The live surveillance censoring is reminiscent of the Laughing Man sage), Controller was created as an international collaboration spanning teams in three countries: Taiwan, the UK and the United States.

Get ready for a kickass 8 minutes of psychokinetic brawling once the boyfriend dons his augmented helmet to help channel his girlfriends powers. Saman also simultaneously released a prequel called I_U for the short, which you can check out after the break to get a better feel of the backstory.

Out Of This World : VW Meets Redline

Directed by Kaism Lim, 'Out of this World' is a pretty damn spectacular ad/short film created to virally promote the Volkswagen GTI in China. The production values behind this project are pretty mind blowing, employing a style reminiscent of a mixture between Takeshi Koike's hyperkinetic 'Redline' anime and the Wachowski brothers' recent take on the Speed Racer franchise. To put it lightly, it's a 4 minute visual feast that was a complete viral success in it's intended market back in late 2012.

The Beijing based director behind the project has gone on to work on even more high profile projects as of late, including a series of promos for the upcoming Ironman 3 flick. Check out the extensive two part making of feature after the break! Why can't we get advertising this awesome on our side of the pond?

Insane Office Escape 2 - Bigger, Badder, Better

Russian punk indie band Biting Elbows might have just crafted one of the most spectacular, exhilarating cinematic sequences we've ever had a chance to feature on this blog..So good in fact that I believe director Ilya Naishuller will be getting the attention of Hollywood this time around for his masterful execution of this GoPro driven extravaganza, called 'Bad Motherf***er.'

Created as a sequel of sorts to the band's 2011 Stampede music video (Below), which used a similar format, 'Bad Motherf***er' takes the original and pushes it a few hundred times past it's predecessor, including the re-introduction of some scifi elements and some immaculately planned shots and choreography. I'm just in awe of how well executed this was, offering some truly visceral thrills that action movies haven't been able to deliver in years.

Speed Of Light (AKA : The World's Tiniest Police Chase)

The same folks who brought us the touching short about an office toy attempting to escape it grim reality in Address Is Approximate return with an all new short harnessing the creative power of pico projectors. The duo of directors known as 'The Theory' (Tom Jenkins and Simon Sharp) recreated a tiny, yet Michael Bay worthy chase scene while using their office as the set. Looking forward to seeing what these guys come up with next.

The Boss

You ever have that power tripping, micro managing boss that would sit there, stare over your shoulder and keep you on edge? That one boss who seemed to get off on making people uncomfortable? Yeah, we all hate that guy.

Well this charming little action short narrates the story of an employee standing up to the man and taking him down with the tools at her disposal: Paper clips. The short, directed by Alex Emslie channels 70's low budget style over substance martial arts flicks, complete with terrible voice overs, hilariously dramatic editing and campy action sequences. If you're in that type of situation right now, you'll probably find this short cathartic.

RUIN By Oddball Animation

This fantastic proof of concept short was created by Oddball Animations as a means to showcase just how much talent/potential the studio has. Looking through their former work, I found a variety of odd jobs like creating minigames for movies, little commercials and miscellaneous shorts. On the side, the studio internally developed RUIN, created in collaboration with some designs by John Park over the course of a year or so.

The short delivers a fantastic chase sequence, set in a post apocalytpic world where nature has reclaimed what humanity has created. There are some hints at some form of plot about nanobots possibly gone wild, but that's really not the point of this short. Incredible, visceral action, beautiful visuals and a great score will probably guarantee that these guys will move on to work on some incredible movies next.

Storm Origins

This high energy, kinetic short is a showcase of various urban sport disciplines in effect by some seriously talented parkourists and rollerbladers. The addition of a faux story element to tie the entire thing together was a nice touch as well. The entire piece is slick and incredibly cinematic, from the color grading down to the editing.