RPG: METANOIA

RPG: METANOIA is Excellently-crafted, Well-thought of, and Extremely Entertaining
by Reymundo Salao

Many critics often have this belief that there are no good video game movies (even though Resident Evil movies have been successful commercially, they are thought of as really badly made movies). RPG: METANOIA is not based on an existing video game, but I now think of it as the best video game movie I have ever seen. It is one video game movie that really does mirror, interpret, and captures the essence of MMORPG gaming; from the designs of how the virtual universe of the game looks like, to the character designs, up to how the players are able to play their game (spell casting, creature summoning). In a manner of speaking, this is an adaptation of MMORPG gaming in general.

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Jon Favreau is NOT directing IRON MAN Anymore

After Sam Raimi, Terrence Howard, and Edward Norton had their untimely and somewhat unpleasant severance of ties with Marvel, it looks like this time, it's Jon Favreau who is having an untimely divorce from Marvel, with his announcement that he will not be directing IRON MAN 3.

When Favreau did the first IRON MAN movie, he was pretty much in high spirits, he loved the Iron Man comics, and the excellent movie he made was an evidence of how much he loved it. Part 2 was, well, okay. Fun when I first watched it, but taking a step back and taking a while to let the hype cool down, many of us realized that it was just a little bit above satisfactory. Regardless of which, we would have thought that Favreau would continue his run on this series for up until at least the third movie. But it looks like its not gonna be that way.

According to various reliable sources, Favreau has just informed Marvel Studios that he won't direct a third Iron Man film. It's unclear whether the impasse was financial or creative or both. One informed source hears that he was frustrated with Marvel's urge to stuff more of their in-house heroes into the next film in the wake of The Avengers. In a recent interview with MTV News, Favreau explained that based on his conversations with Marvel Studios executives, he had no clarity as to what a third Iron Man film would even be about. “In theory, Iron Man 3 is going to be a sequel or continuation of Thor, Hulk, Captain America and Avengers,” said Favreau at the time, “This whole world … I have no idea what it is. I don’t think they do either, from conversations I’ve had with those guys.”

Favreau's next project will be the studio's Magic Kingdom, about a family trapped in Disneyland and their magical encounters with all sorts of Disney attractions and rides. Marvel currently has no script for a third Iron Man, and while it has no plans to shoot the film until 2012 at the earliest, Marvel execs hope to put a director on the project to guide its development as soon as possible.

Farewell Irvin Kershner

The Man who made STAR WARS Great has passed away

Lucas may have been the creator of Star Wars, but Irvin Kershner was the one who made it great with his 1980 Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.

IRVIN KERSHNER Kersh, as he was fondly known, died at his home following a long illness. He was 87.

Kershner was, of course, best known for directing The Empire Strikes Back, arguably the greatest chapter in the Star Wars saga (and which celebrates its thirtieth anniversary this year). But Kershner also made contributions to other franchises, directing RoboCop 2 and Sean Connery's last appearance as James Bond in the 'unofficial' 007 flick, Never Say Never Again.

Having fought in World War II, Kershner began his career by teaching film at the University of Southern California, but quickly made the move behind the camera via a detour as a stills photographer and TV director, calling the shots on Stakeout On Dope Street in 1958.

A decent career followed, in which he directed the likes of Sean Connery in A Fine Madness, Richard Harris in The Return Of A Man Called Horse, and Faye Dunaway in 1978's Eyes Of Laura Mars (based on John Carpenter's screenplay).

It was this movie that persuaded George Lucas, looking for someone to take the reins on his Star Wars sequel, to approach Kershner to direct The Empire Strikes Back. The rest is movie history: Kershner's no-frills storytelling style, coupled with a strong script and an imaginative visual pallet, gave Empire a gravitas that marked it out as an instant classic.

Kershner only directed twice more on film, with Never Say Never Again and Robocop 2, but he also made a habit of appearing in films, showing up in Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation Of Christ and, of all places, Steven Seagal's On Deadly Ground.

His last contribution to film was a cameo as Statistics Professor in the 2005 film, Berkeley - but Kershner's unmistakeable contribution to film history had already been made. For Yoda, for Vader telling Luke, "I am your father", for Cloud City, for Lando, for the battle of Hoth, for the asteroid field chase, for Boba Fett, for Lobot, for Wampas, for Tauntauns, for "I thought they smelt bad... on the outside!", for "I love you"/"I know", for Chewie screaming in pain as Han is frozen in carbonite, and for the Empire striking back, we'll never forget the legendary Irvin Kershner. Rest in peace, Kersh.