"Mad Max" the Video Game Takes Off

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Launches Mad Max

Experience the expansive post-apocalyptic, open-world game from Avalanche Studios for PlayStation®4 system, Xbox One and Windows PC
BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment announced that Mad Max, the open-world, third-person action game developed by Avalanche Studios and set in a post-apocalyptic setting, is now available for PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system, Xbox One and Windows PC.

    “We can’t wait to see how players customize their Max characters, as well as their cars.”

The Mad Max video game introduces an original story set within the universe of Mad Max and features deep car customization that impacts its handling, metal-grinding vehicular action and gives players a vast arsenal of mobile weaponry within The Wasteland. Players become Max, the lone warrior who must fight to stay alive by engaging in vicious on-ground fighting, as well as physics-based vehicular combat, against savage factions who are fighting for domination and survival in this gritty, dynamic open-world.

“Mad Max is an iconic character, recently re-introduced to the world by the latest film, and now we’re introducing a new way for fans and gamers to experience the adventure-filled Wasteland universe in which he lives,” said Peter Wyse, Vice President, Group General Manager, Production and Development, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. “Avalanche Studios has created an expansive, beautiful open world environment that comes to life with a brand new story for Mad Max.”

“Avalanche Studios are big fans of Mad Max and creating an open-world game in such a brutal setting was right up our alley,” said Christofer Sundberg, Avalanche Studios Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer. “We can’t wait to see how players customize their Max characters, as well as their cars.”

Following the theft of his iconic Interceptor, Max must align himself with a gifted, but peculiar, mechanic named Chumbucket to build the ultimate survival vehicle, something Chumbucket calls the “Magnum Opus.” Players design, customize and upgrade their essential vehicle by choosing from different car chassis and a myriad of upgrades including mounted weapons, armor and engines in the hopes of escaping to the Plains of Silence. Gamers must endure the open-world, post-apocalyptic environment that features a huge variety of encounters in a host of different locations throughout The Wasteland, many of them remnants of the world before the apocalypse. Players brave the treacherous landscapes, hostile weather patterns and deadly marauders, while accumulating Max’s equipment and weapons to survive by combining melee combat, gunplay and tactical techniques.

Mad Max is rated “M” for Mature by the ESRB. For more information, visit www.madmaxgame.com, Facebook.com/MadMaxGame and Twitter.com/MadMaxGame.


About Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, a division of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, Inc., is a premier worldwide publisher, developer, licensor and distributor of entertainment content for the interactive space across all platforms, including console, handheld, mobile and PC-based gaming for both internal and third party game titles.

About Avalanche Studios
Avalanche Studios is the original creator of the award-winning Just Cause franchise, and is currently working on Just Cause 3 (published by Square Enix), slated for release in December 2015. The studio has created acclaimed twin stick shooter Renegade Ops (published by SEGA) and self-published free-to-play service theHunter (developed by subsidiary Expansive Worlds) with more than 5 million registered players across 190 countries. Avalanche Studios, which is based in Stockholm and New York City, was founded in 2003 by Christofer Sundberg and Linus Blomberg. The studio develops games built on its proprietary technology, the Avalanche Engine, enabling huge open worlds filled with emergent gameplay. More information is available at www.avalanchestudios.com.

MAD MAX software © 2015 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. Developed by Avalanche Studios. All other trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. All rights reserved.

WB GAMES LOGO, WB SHIELD: ™ & © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (s15)
"PlayStation" is a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.

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Review: Original "Mad Max" Still Motoring

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 35 (of 2015) by Leroy Douresseaux

Mad Max (1979)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:  Australia
Running:  88 minutes (1 hour, 28 minutes)
MPAA – R
DIRECTOR:  George Miller
WRITERS:  James McCausland and George Miller
PRODUCER:  Byron Kennedy
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  David Eggby (D.o.P.)
EDITORS:  Cliff Hayes and Tony Paterson
COMPOSER:  Brian May

ACTION/CRIME/THRILLER

Starring:  Mel Gibson, Joanne Samuel, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Steve Bisley, Tim Burns, Roger Ward, Geoff Parry, Vince Gil, John Ley, and Brendan Heath

Mad Max is a 1979 Australian near-future action movie and crime thriller from director George Miller and starring a young Mel Gibson.  Mad Max was the first movie in what is, to date, a four-film franchise.  This movie's story was originally conceived by the film's director (George Miller) and producer (Byron Kennedy).  Mad Max focuses on an Australian police officer who must eventually avenge the lives of his wife and toddler son and also the cop who was his partner.

Mad Max opens in a dystopian future that takes place “a few years from now.”  The roads of Australia are plagued by motorcycle gangs and other high-speed drivers.  Trying to keep the roads safe are the police officers of the MFP – Main Force Patrol – who pursue reckless road criminals.  The top pursuit-man is Max Rockatansky (Mel Gibson).

Max has an encounter with a gang member known as the “Nightrider” (Vincent Gil), in which Nightrider is killed.  The vicious and cruel Toecutter (Hugh Keays-Byrne) leads “The Acolytes,” Nightrider's motorcycle gang, and the gang seeks payback against the MFP.  Their actions against Max's family and colleagues sets Max on a mission of vengeance against Toecutter.  In his supercharged Police Special, Max goes on hot pursuit with killing on his mind.

Mad Max is one of those rare films that has the misfortune living in the shadow of a better-known and more popular sequel.  1981's Mad Max 2 (known in the United States simply as The Road Warrior) was a huge hit when it was originally released in the U.S. in 1982.  The second film had an influence on American pop culture and references from and homages to the film continue to appear decades after its initial release.

Still, the first Mad Max remains both a unique and an exceptional film.  It is also darn-good fun to watch, and I wish that at least one of the Mad Max sequels was more like it.  Max Max seems to blend 1950s Film-Noir crime films (especially those about street cops) and 1970s action-movies about cars and motorcycles with the kind of dystopian science fiction films that defined the 1970s.

The result is a fast and efficient film with power that belies its size.  Mad Max is cool without being slick and pretty.  It is one of the few science fiction films that are entirely plausible or close to it.  Mad Max is also timeless, although its future scenario originally took place only “a few years” from 1979.

Director George Miller has apparently stated that the filming of Mad Max was unpleasant for him.  From his suffering came cinematic art, and a movie star was born.  Yes, Mad Max introduced the world to Mel Gibson, who would go on to be a fine actor, a worldwide movie star, and an award-winning filmmaker before his public behavior and private comments seemed to derail his career (at least as of this writing).  Before that however, the legend of Mad Max carried us deep into the Outback, and we were in the passenger seat with rising star.

8 of 10
A

Tuesday, May 26, 2015


The text is copyright © 2015 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Negromancer News Bits and Bites for September 1st to 5th, 2015 - Update #3

Support Leroy on Patreon.

NEWS:

From TheWrap:  Paramount has a release date for "Jack Reacher 2" (Oct. 1, 2016).

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From YahooSports:  Sony email hack reveals that Sony was afraid of the wrath of the NFL concerning the Will Smith film, "Concussion."

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From THR:  The Hollywood Reporter's "Critic's Notebook" looks at the work of famed horror director, Wes Craven, who died Sunday, August 31st, 2015.

From THR:  Hollywood reacts to passing of Wes Craven.

From YahooTV:  Wes Craven's legacy in TV.

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From Variety:  It's not too early for Oscar narratives.


COMICS - Films and Books:

From THR:  Kevin Feige is free at Marvel Studios.


OBITS:

From Variety:  The actor Dean Jones died at the age of 84, on Tuesday, September 1, 2015.  He was known for his appearance in Disney movies, including "The Love Bug" and "That Darn Cat."

Review: "A View to a Kill" Still Has its Charm 30 Years Later

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 34 (of 2015) by Leroy Douresseaux

A View to a Kill (1985)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: U.K.
Running time:  131 minutes (2 hours, 11 minutes)
MPAA – PG
DIRECTOR:  John Glen
WRITERS:  Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson (based on the character created by Ian Fleming)
PRODUCERS:  Albert R. Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Alan Hume (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Peter Davies
COMPOSER:  John Barry
SONG:  “A View to a Kill” performed by Duran Duran
Golden Globe nominee

SPY/ACTION/ADVENTURE

Starring:  Roger Moore, Christopher Walken, Tanya Roberts, Grace Jones, Patrick Macnee, Patrick Bauchau, David Yip, Fiona Fullerton, Manning Redwood, Alison Doody, Willoughby Gray, Desmond Llewelyn, Robert Brown, Lois Maxwell, Walter Gotell, and Daniel Benzali

A View to a Kill is a 1985 spy and adventure film from director John Glen.  It is the 14th entry in Eon Productions' James Bond film franchise, and it is also the seventh and last time that actor Roger Moore played James Bond.  2015 also marks the 30th anniversary of A View to a Kill's original theatrical release (specifically May 1985).

A View to a Kill takes its title from the short story, “From a View to a Kill,” which first appeared in the 1960 short story collection, For Your Eyes Only.  A View to a Kill the movie finds James Bond investigating a horse-racing scam perpetrated by a power-mad French industrialist, who also has his eye on monopolizing the worldwide microchip market.

A View to a Kill opens with M16 agent James Bond (Roger Moore) locating the body of agent 003 in Siberia.  From the body, Bond (agent 007) recovers a microchip originating from the Soviet Union.  The microchip turns out to be a copy of one designed to withstand an electromagnetic pulse, and one made specifically for the British government by a private contractor, Zorin Industries.

Bond discovers that Zorin Industries' owner, Max Zorin (Christopher Walken), breeds racehorses and may be cheating by drugging his horses.  Bond travels to Zorin's palatial estate outside of Paris and pretends to be a prospective buyer of thoroughbred horses.  Bond learns, however, that Zorin has even bigger plans on the west coast of the United States, specifically Silicon Valley in California.  Before Bond can uncover Zorin's diabolical plot, he will have to survive Zorin's Amazon-like body guard, Mayday (Grace Jones).

Roger Moore was the first actor I saw portraying James Bond, and it only took a few Bond films with Moore before the actor imprinted upon my imagination as being the quintessential James Bond.  Over the years, I have pretended, a few times, that I preferred Sean Connery as Bond, especially when I was with friends who claimed that they preferred Connery as Bond.  I have even been in the thrall of the three actors who have, to date, succeeded Moore as Bond:  Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, and Daniel Craig.  I do think that Dr. No, the first film featuring Connery as Bond, remains the blueprint for both a Bond movie and for a secret agent movie.  Still, I come back to Roger Moore as Bond.

The past few years, I have revisited the two James Bond movies that I first saw while in high school, For Your Eyes Only (1981) and Octopussy (1983).  I recently revisited A View to a Kill, and after this nostalgic mini-Bond film festival, I am sure of my love for Roger Moore as my cinematic James Bond.

Now, I won't pretend that A View to a Kill is a great film or that it is even the best of Moore's Bond filmography.  For one thing, the entire horse-racing subplot feels like padding to make the story longer, but it is fun.  Christopher Walken is an engaging Bond villain, and Grace Jones is a delightful riot as his bodyguard, Mayday.  Thus, any subplots and story that give them even more screen time is perfectly good padding.  In fact, the horse-racing section of the film is the reason we get to see actor Patrick Macnee as Bond's partner, Sir Godfrey Tibbett.

After 12 years as Bond, Moore was, by 1985, the oldest actor to play Bond, being 58-years-old when he retired after A View to a Kill was originally released.  He definitely shows his age in this film.  Maybe, it was time for him to retire, but, at least, his last film was fun, even if it wasn't outstanding.  Yes, Tanya Roberts delivers an awful performance as Bond girl, Stacey Sutton, but Roberts is likable.  She puts out the effort, and that is worth something even if the result is pitiful.

Besides, Tanya Roberts helps Roger Moore go out with a bang, as she is the last of the three women he beds in this film (including Mayday).  A View to a Kill certainly delivers what we like about Roger Moore as James Bond, and it makes me appreciate him all the more.

7 of 10
B+

Tuesday, August 25, 2015


NOTES:
1986 Golden Globes, USA:  1 nomination: “Best Original Song - Motion Picture” (John Barry and Duran Duran for the song "A View to a Kill")

1986 Razzie Awards:  1 nomination: “Worst Actress” (Tanya Roberts)


The text is copyright © 2015 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

"Arrow" Stars Katie Cassidy and Paul Blackthorne at 2015 Baltimore Comic-Con

Katie Cassidy

"Arrow" Media Guests Cassidy and Blackthorne Come to Baltimore Comic-Con

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND - The Baltimore Comic-Con returns this September 25-27, 2015. Held at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore's Inner Harbor, tickets for the Baltimore Comic-Con and Harvey Awards are now available. The convention is very pleased to announce its first media guests for 2015, Katie Cassidy and Paul Blackthorne, stars of television's Arrow, adapting the DC Entertainment character Green Arrow and his supporting cast. Katie and Paul will be in attendance Saturday and Sunday.

Katie Cassidy, one of Hollywood's most engaging young actresses, can currently be seen as the female lead in the smash hit CW series, Arrow. Based on the DC Entertainment Green Arrow comic, Cassidy plays Laurel Lance, an attorney and ex-girlfriend of Oliver Queen, who becomes Black Canary, fighting crime with Oliver (Green Arrow) and his team.

Cassidy can also be seen in the thriller titled The Scribbler, based on the 2006 Image Comics graphic novel, in which she plays the lead character 'Suki' and co-stars with Michelle Trachtenberg and Eliza Dushku.

Cassidy's other film credits include: Monte Carlo, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Taken, Black Christmas, Click, The Lost, and When a Stranger Calls.

No stranger to the small screen, Cassidy's other television credits include playing the female lead in CBS's 13-week murder mystery mini-series Harper's Island along with CW's Gossip Girl, Melrose Place, Supernatural, and 7th Heaven.

Off screen, Cassidy is very involved in H.E.L.P Malawi. Katie and H.E.L.P Board Members journeyed to Malawi in 2009 to visit and participate on the grounds. Katie witnessed first hand H.E.L.P's ongoing efforts. While in Malawi, Katie learned how H.E.L.P. utilizes resources in the natural environment to teach the children and the community self-sustaining skills. She helped to plant crops, make stoves out of mud and clay, and harvest the jam and peanut butter ingredients which were grown at the local school. Katie left her special mark in Malawi by creating the Katie Cassidy and Friends Garden. She also designed a necklace to raise money for the foundation that can be purchased online.

http://shop.helpchildren.org/whate-love-means-collection-katie-cassidy.html

Paul Blackthorne

British born actor Paul Blackthorne will be returning to primetime TV this fall for a fourth season as Quentin Lance on the CW's hit series Arrow. Father to Cassidy's Laurel, Quentin Lance is a police officer who struggles with the ongoing vigilantism and his role in law enforcement in Central City.

Last fall, he appeared in Dumb and Dumber To, the long-awaited sequel to Dumb and Dumber with original cast members, Jim Carey and Jeff Daniels.

In 2000 Blackthorne starred as the villainous Captain Russell in the Oscar nominated film Lagaan. The Oscar campaign brought him to Los Angeles where he landed many roles in American television and film. He played manipulative reality show producer, Clark Quietly in ABC's paranormal thriller The River and has appeared opposite Ted Danson in CSI and Callie Thorne in Necessary Roughness. Blackthorne played Stephen Saunders in Season 3 of 24, and starred in NBC's Lipstick Jungle opposite Brooke Shields. He is well known for his portrayal as the inimitable Harry Dresden in the SiFy series The Dresden Files. Other credits include: ER, Deadwood, Burn Notice, and Monk along with the movies Special and A Christmas Carol directed by Robert Zemeckis.

Blackthorne's directorial debut ,This American Journey, was released last fall. This documentary film follows Blackthorne and Australian photographer Mister Basquali as they travel across America interviewing everyday Americans about how they feel about their country and their hopes for its future. Along the way, stereotypes are shattered and wisdom found in the most unexpected places.

Blackthorne spends his free time traveling the world, and is an accomplished photographer. His first exhibition, 'Fish Heads and Other Things', took place in London and raised money for Greenpeace. This was followed by 'Bollywood Backpack' which raised money for the Gujarat Indian earthquake victims. His most recent collection, 'Delhi to Manhattan', was presented at Tibet House, New York and chronicles his journey through India, trekking in the Himalayan Tibetan communities and his meeting with the Dalai Lama in Dharmsala as part of 'The Missing Peace' project. Proceeds from this exhibition, which can be viewed at www.paulblackthorne.com, went to the Tibetan children's villages in India.

Blackthorne was born in Shropshire, England in 1969. His acting career began at age 12 year when he joined the illustrious National Youth Music Theater at the Edinburgh festival. Blackthorne studied the Spiritual Psychology of Acting in London from 1996-1998 with acclaimed teacher John Osborne-Hughes.

Autograph, Picture, and Media Guest VIP Tickets can be purchased at http://baltimorecomiccon.com/tickets.

"This is really exciting for us," said Marc Nathan, promoter of the Baltimore Comic-Con. "We constantly get requests for more media guests, but as a comic book convention, we are specifically interested in staying true to our roots. We're all fans of Arrow and enjoy seeing interpretations of our favorite comic book characters make the leap to television and in movies, so being able to announce Katie and Paul as our first media guests of 2015 is a thrill and a treat. We know their fans, and fans of the show in general, are going to be ecstatic to hear this news!"

TICKETS
General Admission and VIP Package tickets for Weekend, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, as well as the Harvey Awards, are now on sale! Visit www.baltimorecomiccon.com/tickets/ for more information and to purchase your advanced tickets now, and as always, kids 10 and under get into the show free with a paid adult General Admission!

HOTEL ACCOMMODATIONS
While they are available, be sure to take advantage of discount rate arrangements we have made with hotels near the Baltimore Convention Center. For all the details, see: http://baltimorecomiccon.com/about/hotels/

In the coming weeks, look for more announcements from the Baltimore Comic-Con. We are looking forward to highlighting our guests, the Harvey Awards, industry exclusives, and programming. The latest developments can always be found on our website, Twitter, and Facebook pages.

Contact Information
Please use the following e-mail addresses to contact the Baltimore Comic-Con:
press@baltimorecomiccon.com - for any general press inquiries or to be added to our PR distribution
promoter@baltimorecomiccon.com - for requesting exhibitor, publisher, and Artist Alley applications
registrar@baltimorecomiccon.com - for inquiries about submitted registrations
harveys@baltimorecomiccon.com- for the Harvey Awards ceremony and banquet
general@baltimorecomiccon.com- for general Baltimore Comic-Con inquiries

About The Baltimore Comic-Con
The Baltimore Comic-Con is celebrating its 15th year of bringing the comic book industry to the Baltimore and Washington D.C. area. For more information, please visit www.baltimorecomiccon.com.

About The Harvey Awards
The Harvey Awards are one of the comic book industry's oldest and most respected awards. With a history of over 20 years, the last 10 in conjunction with the Baltimore Comic-Con, the Harveys recognize outstanding achievements in over 20 categories. They are the only industry awards nominated and selected by the full body of comic book professionals. For more information, please visit www.harveyawards.org.

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Review: "Last House on the Left" (Remembering Wes Craven)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 156 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

Last House on the Left (1972)
Running time:  84 minutes (1 hour, 24 minutes)
MPAA – X
EDITOR/WRITER/DIRECTOR:  Wes Craven
PRODUCER:  Sean S. Cunningham
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Victor Hurwitz (D.o.P.)
COMPOSER:  David Alexander Hess

HORROR/THRILLER with elements of crime and drama

Starring:  Mari Collingwood, Lucy Grantham, David Hess, Fred Lincoln, Jeramie Rain, Marc Sheffler, Gaylord St. James, Cynthia Carr, Marshall Anker, and Martin Kove

Last House on the Left is a 1972 horror and exploitation film written, directed, and edited by Wes Craven.  The film was inspired by the 1960 Swedish film, The Virgin Spring, directed by Ingmar Bergman and written by Ulla Isaksson.  Last House on the Left focuses on the murder of two teenage girls by a quartet of psychotic criminals and the subsequent vengeance of one of the girls' parents.

Horror master Wes Craven’s (A Nightmare on Elm Street, Scream) first film, Last House on the Left, is nothing like his later work.  A film of unflinching brutality, it is shocking in the immediacy of its horror, and it is matter-of-fact in the way it portrays murder.  As a horror film, Last House on the Left is not supernatural, nor does it have any of the conventions of the “slasher flicks” that would grow to mass popularity in the late 70’s and into the late 90’s, including films that would be the work of Craven.

Mari Collingwood (Sandra Cassel) is celebrating Sweet Sixteen with her rebellious friend, Phyllis Stone (Lucy Grantham), when the pair encounters a gang of sadistic criminals.  The evil bunch  kidnaps them, and when the girls try to escape, the gang members hunt and kill them.  They disembowel Phyllis, and the lead thug, Krug Stillo (David Hess), rapes (in probably the sloppiest and most pathetic rape scene in film history) and shoots Mari.

Later, the gang unwittingly stumbles upon the home of Dr. William (Gaylord St. James) and Estelle Collingwood (Cynthia Carr), Mari’s parents, and become their guests.  When the parents discover that their daughter was murdered at the hands of their guests, the couple quickly and savagely begins to slay their daughter’s murderers.

The acting is nothing short of remarkable.  Combined with Craven’s documentary style of filmmaking, Last House on the Left seems very real – kind of jerky, shaky and bloody.  Watching it is like being in the middle of some crazy incident and then having to run madly from one corner to another to find safety.  From the prolonged torture of the teenage girls to the speedy dispatching of the bad guys, Last House on the Left is a jolt of a violent voyeurism.  Part crime drama and part thriller, it is a horror movie like no other.  Disquieting, it is a shunned corner in the mirror of its time – the dirty and worn ends of the hippie era.  At times, it seems too raw and too unpolished, but the movie still leaves you shaking your head and saying, “What the hell…”

7 of 10
B+

Revised: Monday, August 31, 2015

The text is copyright © 2015 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

The September Negromancer

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