Month: June 2014

Hunting for Ghosts Isn’t Hard. Canada Post Stamps Its Approval with the Banff Springs Ghost

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

BqA7z5XCQAAELMjAlthough Britain holds the record for a huge amount of haunted places contained in a small land mass, Haunted Canada probably has the record for the most well-known, namely the Ghost Bride of the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel. The commemorative cupronickel coin introduces paranormal enthusiasts to this lady in white in a very nicely presented lenticular hologram. The design is certainly appropriate since some people claim that they see ghosts like a piece of transparent celluloid film.

But to give this coin life, when its angled right, the Ghost Bride’s eyes open wide and if it could glow, some collectors may flee at it coming to life! The candles behind her lights up. If some daring folks want to use it during a séance and it permanently spins, well …

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How to get a Sneak Peak of Guardians of the Galaxy on July 7th!

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

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In a brilliant stroke of marketing, fans of Marvel Entertainment’s films can get a sneak peek of Guardians of the Galaxy on July 7th, 2014 along with 17mins of exclusive footage in select IMAX theatres for free.

Hopefully what is presented will be enough to salivate the most hungry fans interested in this next part of this Phase 2 saga leading up to Avengers 2: Age of Ultron.

When a crazy Star Lord (Peter Quuill) steals an orb from a vault, all he ends up doing is perhaps getting into a ride of the century. He has to ally himself with “branded” criminals to become the Guardians of the Galaxy.

As a token of thanks to those hard-core fans and Marvelites, a special poster (depicted left) will be offered to show attendees. They can see if a local theatre is listed and register here for a pass. ID is required at time of redemption.

 

Making Sense out of Transformers: Age of Extinction, A Movie Review

There’s plenty of problems and plot holes to be found with this film if viewers want to start dissecting Transformers Age of Extinction.

Transformers Age of Extinction Movie PosterSpoiler Alert

The only real reason for anyone to go see Transformers: Age of Extinction is to see the Dinobots kick some major behind. Heaven help us for what Michael Bay and his team of writers has done to the beloved franchise we all grew up with. Whether that is Generation One (G1), Transformers Animated or Transformers Prime, to wonder what the Autobots or Deceptions can look like in a realistic sense requires producers with a solid vision to make a film work. In this film’s case, it’s an improvement with Cybertronians being featured in their battle colours.

Audiences can make out who is whom in a screen that’s crowded with a lot of explosions and fast camera movements. The film begins with a nod to Ridley Scott’s Prometheus — perhaps a quick hint as to the origin of the Dinobot species — before jumping to the modern-day, where the narrative explains four years have passed since the huge battle between the Autobots and Decepticons left Chicago in ruins. The US government has no love for either Cybertronian faction and every mech is branded as fugitives. They are all marked for termination, whether they like it or not.

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Stirring the Melting Pot of Terror in Blood Glacier, A Movie Review

This film debuted theatrically June 19th as part of Cineplex Odeon’s Sinister Cinema series that spotlights the best in the Independent Horror scene. Fans who have missed this screening may find encore performances in select cities or locate it through VODBlood Glacier outlets like Amazon.

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

Blood-Glacier-Poster Charles Darwin might not survive naming the horrors found in Blood Glacier (Blutgletscher), an Austrian film by writer Benjamin Hessler and director Marvin Kren. Together, they are known for films like Rammbock (2010) and Schautag (2009). If his last film is any indication, perhaps this filmmaker has a fondness for creating terrors formed by self-mutilating viruses. In the Alps, just what may lurk underneath the snow is definitely not the Abominable Snowman! Instead, as the title implies, there’s a glacier that is shrinking and revealing a red like algae that’s going to spell doom for the scientists studying the effects of climate change.

The theme of eco-horror is light in a tale that seemingly wants to borrow from Dennis Feldman’s Species and H.P. Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness. Part of the dialogue certainly ventures into that realm with an interesting theory that leads back to the origins of hybridization. But instead of discovering a lost civilization, all these scientists find is a mysterious cave with a few dead animals. The familiarity keeps on coming, especially with certain tropes plaguing this film — isolation, man with dog, men going berserk, and monsters popping out of nowhere. That lends itself well to creating a predictable film to watch, but in terms of originality, it feels like a step down from past memorable works Kren and Hessler have made.

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Little Farm: Spring Time review

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Fans of online resource management games will find Little Farm: Spring Time for Android devices enjoyable and addicting. It mimics the dynamics of another game, Hayday, which should not deter would be experimenters of farm culture to check other versions out. The barnyard graphics are cute and crisp. Perhaps the reason this game is appealing is that it successfully fuses the Asian art style with Western aesthetics. Just playing the game alone will reveal that most of the players are from Asia, meaning an instant market.

With this growing community, this product will no doubt gain a quick cult following and a problem: there’s no translation service on their Facebook page to tell fans around the world what an announcement is about. In the game, the same problem exists when a gamer from the East ‘messages’ someone from the West with a resource request. A built-in auto detector for foreign transactions can come in handy. That can be important when economics and commerce is concerned.

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How to Transition from TV to Theatres with Dragons! Analysis & Movie Review

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

Blood Glacier

Avid How to Train Your Dragon fans following the animated television series Dragons: Riders / Defenders of Berk will find lots to love in its big-screen sequel to the first film.

This movie takes a few cues from the original film and television series to give a worthy product that exceeds the expectations of what a “next chapter” should entail. Instead of rehashing ideas, this movie continues forward with an all new narrative where Hiccup (voiced by Jay Baruchel) wants a better purpose in life. He wishes to expand what he knows of the archipelago frontier while everyone else seems happy at home in Berk. Both its citizens — humans and dragons — are content with living together. The dragons are now living in their forever home.

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