Tag: Todd Martens

A new addition to the Lego line of licensed video games may not elicit much excitement. After issuing “Star Wars,” Batman and Indiana Jones-branded properties, the series has hit a comfortable stride, but has offered little in the way of a grand reinvention. Thus, it would have been safe to expect Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars to be little more than a solid addition to a consistent brand. And it is, and that’s nothing to complain about. Yet take it for a spin on Nintendo‘s newly-released dual-screen handheld – the 3DS – and a good platform game becomes an engrossing one. The latest update to Nintendo’s handheld line offers the promise of 3-D without glasses, and yes, it delivers. By using a 3-D technology that, simply speaking, delivers a different set of pixels to each of the  gamer’s eyes, the 3DS ($249.99) adds ...

Hero Complex is pushing into new universes with video-game reviews and coverage of gamer culture and the industry. Kirby’s Epic Yarn Developer: Good-Feel Platform: Wii Price: $49.99 3 1/2 stars (out of four) The background: Kirby graduates from the Nintendo 64 to the Wii, and longtime Kirby fans are in for some changes, although none should be too jarring. Returning fans know that Kirby is transported out of his home world of Dream Land and into a place called Patch Land, a continent ripped apart by the evil sorcerer Yin-Yarn. Newcomers: Don’t panic at all the weirdly named wizards and unknown lands. This is a Kirby game and not a continuation of “Lost.” Just know that Patch Land is made of yarn, as are its inhabitants, and that now includes Kirby. The goal: Kirby must help Prince Fluff, a smirking ...

Our “Pilgrim”-age continues at Hero Complex as guest blogger Todd Martens from Pop & Hiss considers the film “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” and affairs of the heart. Could “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” be the next “(500) Days of Summer“? Yes, the Edgar Wright-directed film flirts with absurdity, as anyone who has seen even one of the TV spots can attest. There are seven “evil” exes, and they’re not just jealous: one has the power to summon “demon hipster chicks.” Police can blow through walls, but punishments are doled out for cheating on a vegan lifestyle rather than any of the carnage the film ‘s characters inflict on the city of Toronto. And highlights in your hair? A well-placed punch can knock them to the floor. And yet Mary Elizabeth Winstead, the actress who stars as the coveted Ramona ...

It’s only hours now until the opening of “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World,” and no doubt come Friday someone will say, “The books are waaay better than the film.” No comic book adaptation can escape it, and those who listen carefully in the last act of the movie can even hear a character declare as much. Edgar Wright’s big-screen take on Bryan Lee O’Malley’s comics had to omit some material in order to condense six books into a movie with a running time just under two hours, but Hero Complex can assure those who haven’t seen the film that it’s actually pretty dang faithful to O’Malley’s creation. How faithful? Just watch the above for a taste. O’Malley alerted the universe to the fan-made trailer with a tweet on Tuesday, and it lovingly re-imagines one of the “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” teasers ...

Guest blogger Tim Martens continues his “Pilgrim”-age with a deeper look at the sonics of “Scott Pilgrim vs The World.” There have been plenty of articles documenting and analyzing the video game and pop-culture references in the upcoming comic-book adaptation “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.” Far less, however, has been written about the influence of Italian prog rock band Goblin on the movie’s musical score, released Tuesday via ABKCO Records. Composer Nigel Godrich‘s music for the film definitely contains moments that recall the work of the group, perhaps best known as the go-to band for horror master Dario Argento. But the idea for the homage sprang from the mind of “Scott Pilgrim” director Edgar Wright, a devoted fan of the Italian filmmaker. Before Godrich completed his score, Wright used Goblin — and lesser-known selections from Hong Kong martial arts films — ...

Todd Martens of the Pop & Hiss blog continues his guest-writer pilgrimage on Hero Complex… “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” is advertised as “an epic of epic epicness.” But it also could be considered a date movie with dated datedness. “It’s largely a nostalgia trip,” said director Edgar Wright of the retro tech that appeared in the film.”It’s better to start dated. … Scott Pilgrim doesn’t have a cellphone. He’s the only character in the film who doesn’t have a cellphone. I love that. A lot of people comment about the contemporary references, and them being very 2010, but really, the technology references are all outmoded.” In this Web 2.0 era of constant technological one-ups, Wright said the only way to give the film an aesthetic shelf-life was to preserve the past and sprinkle it on the edges of the film. Cool gadgets? Not here. ...

Todd Martens, the lead writer on Pop & Hiss, the must-read music blog, continues his guest coverage of Edgar Wright’s “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World,” which plugs its pop-culture amp into comic books, comedy and cool-kid music. Those who picked up the sixth and final volume of Bryan Lee O’Malley‘s Scott Pilgrim series, “Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour,” should not, said O’Malley, be too worried about spoiling the ending of Edgar Wright‘s big-screen adaption, “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.” They deviate – a little. “They’re different to some degree,” said O’Malley, who recently spoke to Hero Complex in advance of Comic-Con and the Aug. 13 release of the “Scott Pilgrim” film. “As we went on, we converged more than I originally thought we would. The book definitely changed. I don’t know if it was just pressure from the audience or me ...

  Director Christopher Nolan turned to a familiar collaborator for the music of “Inception,” this weekend’s box office leader: It was Hans Zimmer, who brought the taut, dooming minimalist string arrangements that marked the sound of Nolan’s two Batman films to this new dream-thief epic. But Zimmer looked beyond Nolan’s coolly precise and complex cinematic visions when he actually got down to work. For Zimmer, the soul of the film can be directly traced to famed French balladeer Édith Piaf. The multidimensional dream-within-a-dream action heist film is an elaborate puzzle, with a main character, Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) haunted by a past where dreams were made real and reality turned into nightmare. But, speaking the day after a special performance at the Hollywood premiere of the film,  Zimmer said the role of the score was to amplify a less-discussed aspect of Nolan’s tense film: ...

What film will be the breakout sensation of Comic-Con International 2010? You might want to put your money on Edgar Wright’s ”Scott Pilgrim vs. the World,” which plugs its pop-culture amp into comic books, comedy and cool-kid music. Todd Martens, the lead writer on Pop&Hiss, the must-read music blog, will be our go-to writer on the film here at Hero Complex. Below is a longer version of the “Pilgrim” article he wrote for the Los Angeles Times Calendar section’s big Comic-Con International preview package on Sunday.   If a geek-chic lifestyle came with a primer, it might read something like Bryan Lee O’Malley’s “Scott Pilgrim” graphic novels. A six-part series influenced equally by rock ’n’ roll and old Nintendo games, O’Malley’s tale of one hopeless romantic’s quest to win the girl of his dreams is filled with relationship-challenged characters who come of age the ...

What film will be the breakout sensation of Comic-Con International 2010? You might want to put your money on Edgar Wright's "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World," which plugs its pop-culture amp into comic books, comedy and cool-kid music. Todd Martens, the lead writer on Pop&Hiss, the must-read music blog, will be our go-to writer on the film here at Hero Complex, and today he maps the music landscape where the film roams.     One doesn't have to get far into Bryan Lee O'Malley's six-part "Scott Pilgrim" series to realize some of the inherent challenges in bringing the pop-culture-obsessed comic to the big screen. From the first few pages of "Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life," released by Oni Press back in 2004, O'Malley's creation unfolds like a video game being played at a frame-by-frame pace.  At its heart, it's a tale of ...