Stranglehold is unusual because it is a direct sequel to Woo’s movie Hard Boiled. Both Hard Boiled and Stranglehold focus on a police inspector called Tequila (because it’s his favorite drink). Tequila is played in both the movie and in the game by Chow Yun Fat, and Tequila is basically the Asian Dirty Harry. He has complete disregard for authority. The plot is secondary to the stunning gameplay, but it basically focuses on Tequila investigating a massive crime war where his kidnapped daughter (whom he’s never met) is caught up.

The gameplay in Stranglehold will get you pumped. It does not let up, and the opportunities to strategize are few and far between. What makes the game great is the ability to interact with environments to make for some interesting ways to dispense with the bad guys. There are also some awesome power ups that, while suspending realism, will make you feel absolutely awesome.

The game does have flaws, however. The story, as previously stated, is massively lacking. Even though the focus of the game was the gameplay, a stronger story couldn’t have hurt. Another problem comes from the fact that the game moves so fast that you rarely have a moment to gather your wits. There is no such thing as playing a “perfect” round in this game because you will lose health. The game is also a bit too short. A bit more level variety would’ve massively improved it.

Under normal circumstances you could probably say that Stranglehold is a mediocre game, but too much of the John Woo charm shines through. Each level feels like you are playing a scene from a John Woo movie, and that means that the game succeeded in what it set out to do. There’s a pretty high replay value, in terms of finding new ways to beat the same levels as well as find a few hidden extras.

If you want to pick it up, you can do so here. There are two editions: regular edition and Special Edition which comes with the full Hard Boiled movie (which I think justifies the higher price).

First and foremost, Joss Whedon has been given the director’s chair for the movie which is needless to say a big deal. The decision, however, has divided fans. On one side you have the hardcore Joss Whedon fans who, because of his work on Buffy and Dollhouse and his popular run on X-Men, want him more for his writing work than his directing. Then you have the other side that agrees that he’s a talented writer, but in the actual directing department he lacks the chops for doing such an action oriented movie. I for one side with the latter. While he has done action before, it’s always been relatively small scale. He thinks more for the TV set and not for the big screen, which is why I think he’s better suited in a writing role.

Another big piece of news is that, despite fan enthusiasm for his return, Edward Norton will not be reprising the role of Bruce Banner/the Incredible Hulk for the movie. Marvel has said that the reason he’s not being brought back is because, to paraphrase their official statement, he’s not a team player. Norton’s agent has responded to this by basically saying BS. The rumor is that Joaquin Phoenix will come out of his retirement and play Banner.

So yeah, so far that’s all we’ve got. More developments will be announced as they become known.

Well now DC is set to bring the character back for a new miniseries called, appropriately enough, Batman Beyond. The miniseries puts a darker edge on the concept of the series while keeping the spirit and ideas of the original in tact. The story really emphasizes the differences between Bruce Wayne and Terry, showing how they both own the Batman mantle in their own unique way. If you are a Batman Beyond fan like me (and there are many), definitely check it out.

The film starts off innocently enough with Randall Peltzer, a bumbling inventor whose inventions are great except for the fact that they do not work, looking in Chinatown for a gift for his son Billy (our hero played by Zach Galligan). He discovers a small antiques shop where he discovers the Mogwai Gizmo (voiced by Howie Mandell, of all people). The owner of the shop doesn’t want to sell Gizmo because of the responsibility he would come with, but his sneaky underhanded grandson has no problem selling the little dude. When Randall takes Gizmo home, Gizmo’s greeted warmly by the family, but Randall recites the rules of caring for a Mogwai.

1. It hates bright light. And sunlight will kill it.
2. Don’t get it wet, not even to take a bath.
3. Whatever you do, no matter how much it begs, no matter how much it cries, never EVER feed it after midnight.

Easy enough rules to follow, right? But don’t forget, this is a B movie, and some poor schmuck, usually the hero, screws up at least one of the rules. Well, the poor schmuck in this movie is, surprise surprise, our hero Billy. When Billy gets Gizmo wet, a bunch of new, very mean, Mogwai are born, and when the little meanies trick him into feeding them after midnight, they turn into viscious, slimy, scaly, pimply demons that send Billy’s sleepy little town into the Christmas from Hell.

This movie is one of my top five favorite non-John Hughes 80s movies. Joe Dante’s film took a hokey B movie concept and milked it for all it was worth until it was pure comedic/horror gold. The film doesn’t take itself seriously, instead relishing in just how old school (despite some of the language) it is. It was a true genre bender that made a mark. It was almost two movies, the first half being a family friendly Christmas flick, and then the second half being an excellent horror flick. The two together was like peanut butter and chocolate, but some people are allergic to peanuts just like there were some complaints about one half or the other of the film. Many said that baiting the audience with family friendly fare and then turning it on its head with horror was too risky, as the film legitimately scared some children. In fact, it was one of the movies that led to the creation of the PG-13 rating. But these people obviously didn’t get the point of the movie.

The movie is a fun, riotous piece of cinema, and belongs on the shelf of any movie fan. I won’t touch on the sequel, because that movie’s a whole other ballgame that you either love or hate, but there’s no hating the original. It is a definite must own. Oh, and it features one of the kings of B movies, Dick Miller!

If you want to pick up Gremlins, you can do so right here on Bluray and DVD! (BTW I don’t want any crap for using an image from Gremlins 2. It was too epic to pass up.)

My response to that generalized statement is simply “Who cares?”. When was the last time an audience was intellectually challenged by a director? It can be argued that the last time that happened was in 1999 with the Matrix, but I say you have to go back to Stanley Kubrick’s films (any of them done after Lolita) for an answer. Let’s face it and admit that audiences have become dumbed down somewhat lately. I’m not saying that with a snarky elitist sentiment. I don’t really view myself as particularly of intellect, but I’m certainly not the dumbest creature on Earth. The problem is that intellectual films in the past twenty years haven’t been successful because, to be honest, they’re not all that entertaining. So hats off to Nolan for finding a way to make the audience think without boring them to death.