Monthly Archives: March 2017

Mass Effect: Andromeda Official Launch Trailer

Posted on by Arleigh

It’s been five years since the Mass Effect 3 ended Commander Shepard’s fight against the intergalactic menace known as the Reapers. While there were many who didn’t like how the trilogy ended by way of choosing which color circle it was still a satisfying conclusion to one of best game series in recent memory.

One bittersweet note was the fact that it was the last game that I played co-cooperatively with long-time site video game writer Semtex Skittle who passed away a year after the game’s release.

From what I’ve seen of Mass Effect: Andromeda since it was first announced two years ago this looks like a new direction in the series that Semtex Skittle would’ve found refreshing and worth revisiting the game universe.

This launch trailer for Mass Effect: Andromeda definitely follows in the cinematic trailers of it’s three previous entries. Here’s to hoping that this new story in the series lives up to the original trilogy’s legacy.

Here’s the Trailer for Atomic Blonde!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Here’s the trailer for Atomic Blonde, which stars Charlize Theron as an ass-kicking British spy.

I have to admit that, whenever I have the office to myself here at the TSL Bunker, I often imagine what would happen if a bunch of spies suddenly showed up and started trying to hack into our files.  In my imagination, it usually plays out something like this trailer.

Except, of course, it’s called Atomic Redhead…

Music Video of the Day: Knowing Me, Knowing You by ABBA (1977, dir. Lasse Hallström)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

It took 33 music videos, but I think I’ve reached what is my current favorite ABBA music video. This is the Snow Version of Knowing Me, Knowing You. We already did the Sailboat Version.

If there’s one thing that should be clear by now about ABBA music videos, it’s the importance of blocking in them. I think this video is one of the finest examples of that. I love the parts of the video where the person singing switches, but the camera doesn’t cut as you would normally expect it to. Instead, it either moves on its own to another member of the group, or follows one of them into another position onscreen.

The other reason I particularly like this music video is because it features more of Benny and Björn. It feels like a full group song and video rather than Agnetha and Frida with those two guys in the background of some shots. This allows them to do interesting things by having four people to work with in a greater capacity than previous videos.

My favorite example of this is when it starts with Agnetha and Frida walking…

past Benny and Björn…

where the camera stops for a bit to let them get out their backing vocals.

Then it quickly goes over to Agnetha and Frida who are in their typical headshot and profile-shot blocking.

They finish their part, and Agnetha walks over to stand between Benny and Björn.

The camera moves in to crop out Björn.

Finally, Angetha walks back over to Frida to be in the same headshot and profile-shot thing, but with her on the opposite side of Frida.

It also leads them symbolically out of the relationship of the song that ends with hugs, freeze-frames as they look back, and them walking off into the distance.

One last thing to take note of is that the video appears to begin with Agnetha and Frida having already left, as evidenced by their footprints in the snow–footprints we see them make at the end of the video.

Enjoy!

ABBA retrospective:

  1. Bald Headed Woman by The Hep Stars (1966, dir. ???)
  2. En Stilla Flirt by Agnetha & ??? (1969, dir. ???) + 8 Hootenanny Singers Videos From 1966
  3. Tangokavaljeren by Björn (1969, dir. ???)
  4. Vårkänslor (ja, de’ ä våren) by Agnetha & Björn (1969, dir. ???)
  5. Titta in i men lilla kajuta by Björn (1969, dir. ???)
  6. Nu Ska Vi Vara Snälla by Björn & Agnetha (1969, dir. ???)
  7. Finns Det Flickor by Björn & Sten Nilsson (1969, dir. ???)
  8. Nu Ska Vi Opp, Opp, Opp by Agnetha (1969, dir. ???)
  9. Det Kommer En Vår by Agnetha (1969, dir. ???)
  10. Beate-Christine by Björn (1969, dir. ???)
  11. En Stilla Flirt by Agnetha & ??? (1969, dir. ???) + 8 Hootenanny Singers Videos From 1966
  12. Att Älska I Vårens Tid by Frida (1970, dir. ???)
  13. Min Soldat by Frida (1970, dir. ???)
  14. Söderhavets Sång by Frida (1970, dir. ???)
  15. Ring, Ring by ABBA (1973, dir. Lasse Hallström)
  16. Ring, Ring by ABBA (1973, dir. ???)
  17. Love Isn’t Easy (But It Sure Is Hard Enough) by ABBA (1973, dir. ???)
  18. Waterloo by ABBA (1974, dir. Lasse Hallström)
  19. Hasta Mañana by ABBA (1974, dir. ???)
  20. I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do by ABBA (1975, dir. Lasse Hallström)
  21. I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do by ABBA (1975, dir. ???)
  22. Bang-A-Boomerang by ABBA (1975, dir. Lasse Hallström)
  23. SOS by ABBA (1975, dir. Lasse Hallström)
  24. Mamma Mia by ABBA (1975, dir. Lasse Hallström)
  25. Knowing Me, Knowing You by ABBA (1976, dir. ???)
  26. Tropical Loveland by ABBA (1976, dir. ???)
  27. When I Kissed The Teacher by ABBA (1976, dir. ???)
  28. Tiger by ABBA (1976, dir. ???)
  29. Money, Money, Money by ABBA (1976, dir. ???)
  30. Money, Money, Money by ABBA (1976, dir. Lasse Hallström)
  31. Fernando by ABBA (1976, dir. Lasse Hallström) + Spanish Version
  32. Dancing Queen by ABBA (1976, dir. Lasse Hallström)
  33. That’s Me by ABBA (1977, dir. Lasse Hallström)

Music Video of the Day: That’s Me by ABBA (1977, dir. Lasse Hallström)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

At the time of writing this, I had to be up at 5:45 AM to go have CT Scans done on my chest, neck, and sinuses. I’m okay. The point is that I am running on empty. I honestly thought that today’s video was the one where they sing next to a giant snowman, which would basically make the post this sentence before the comma. Instead, it turns out that the video is for the song That’s Me. As a result, I don’t have a whole lot to say. Not that it really matters with this video. I wouldn’t have a whole lot to say anyways.

According to Wikipedia, this was filmed during the making of ABBA-DABBA-DOO! Okay, if you say so. The Flapper Dress version of Money, Money, Money was filmed on that show and it looks nothing like this. However, it does also say that it was combined with some original footage and stock footage from their other music videos. That I buy since it’s what you are getting here. The majority of this video is the Snow Version of Knowing Me, Knowing You and the well-known version of Money, Money, Money with a little bit of Agnetha and Frida singing spliced into it. At one point, Frida looks bored as her eyes just drift off into space.

Apparently, it wasn’t even released back in 1977 or, as Wikipedia says, 1976. Things get dicey with their album Arrival since it came out in October of 1976, so it could be either year. I’m going with 1977. It’s not important anyways since it appears to have gotten the She’s Gone by Hall & Oates treatment. By that, I mean that it was filmed back then, but wasn’t actually released until 1993. She’s Gone being that bizarre video made in 1973–never aired–that John Oates himself leaked onto the Internet.

I don’t particularly like this one, but Agnetha must have since her 1998 compilation album of her solo work is called That’s Me.

Enjoy!

ABBA retrospective:

  1. Bald Headed Woman by The Hep Stars (1966, dir. ???)
  2. En Stilla Flirt by Agnetha & ??? (1969, dir. ???) + 8 Hootenanny Singers Videos From 1966
  3. Tangokavaljeren by Björn (1969, dir. ???)
  4. Vårkänslor (ja, de’ ä våren) by Agnetha & Björn (1969, dir. ???)
  5. Titta in i men lilla kajuta by Björn (1969, dir. ???)
  6. Nu Ska Vi Vara Snälla by Björn & Agnetha (1969, dir. ???)
  7. Finns Det Flickor by Björn & Sten Nilsson (1969, dir. ???)
  8. Nu Ska Vi Opp, Opp, Opp by Agnetha (1969, dir. ???)
  9. Det Kommer En Vår by Agnetha (1969, dir. ???)
  10. Beate-Christine by Björn (1969, dir. ???)
  11. En Stilla Flirt by Agnetha & ??? (1969, dir. ???) + 8 Hootenanny Singers Videos From 1966
  12. Att Älska I Vårens Tid by Frida (1970, dir. ???)
  13. Min Soldat by Frida (1970, dir. ???)
  14. Söderhavets Sång by Frida (1970, dir. ???)
  15. Ring, Ring by ABBA (1973, dir. Lasse Hallström)
  16. Ring, Ring by ABBA (1973, dir. ???)
  17. Love Isn’t Easy (But It Sure Is Hard Enough) by ABBA (1973, dir. ???)
  18. Waterloo by ABBA (1974, dir. Lasse Hallström)
  19. Hasta Mañana by ABBA (1974, dir. ???)
  20. I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do by ABBA (1975, dir. Lasse Hallström)
  21. I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do by ABBA (1975, dir. ???)
  22. Bang-A-Boomerang by ABBA (1975, dir. Lasse Hallström)
  23. SOS by ABBA (1975, dir. Lasse Hallström)
  24. Mamma Mia by ABBA (1975, dir. Lasse Hallström)
  25. Knowing Me, Knowing You by ABBA (1976, dir. ???)
  26. Tropical Loveland by ABBA (1976, dir. ???)
  27. When I Kissed The Teacher by ABBA (1976, dir. ???)
  28. Tiger by ABBA (1976, dir. ???)
  29. Money, Money, Money by ABBA (1976, dir. ???)
  30. Money, Money, Money by ABBA (1976, dir. Lasse Hallström)
  31. Fernando by ABBA (1976, dir. Lasse Hallström) + Spanish Version
  32. Dancing Queen by ABBA (1976, dir. Lasse Hallström)

A Movie A Day #67: Animal Factory (2000, directed by Steve Buscemi)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Edward Furlong is Ron Decker, a spoiled 18 year-old from a rich family who is arrested and sent to prison when he’s caught with a small amount of marijuana.  Being younger and smaller than the other prisoners, Ron is soon being targeted by everyone from the prison’s Puerto Rican gang to the sadistic Buck Rowan (Tom Arnold).  Fortunately, for Ron, prison veteran Earl Copen (Williem DaFoe) takes him under his wing and provides him with protection.  Earl is the philosopher-king of the prison.  As he likes to put it, “This is my prison, after all.”  If he can stay out of trouble, Ron has a chance to get out early but, with Buck stalking him, that’s not going to be easy.

Based on a novel by ex-con Edward Bunker, Animal Factory was the second film to be directed by Bunker’s Reservoir Dogs co-stars, Steve Buscemi.  Though it was overlooked at the time, Animal Factory is a minor masterpiece.  Taking a low key approach, Buscemi emphasizes the monotony of prison life just as much as the sudden bursts of violence and shows why someone like Ron Decker can go into prison as an innocent and come out as an animal.  DaFoe and Furlong give two of their best performances as Earl and Ron while a cast of familiar faces — Danny Trejo, Mickey Rourke, Chris Bauer, Mark Boone Junior — make up the prison’s population.  Most surprising of all is Tom Arnold, giving Animal Factory‘s best performance as the prison’s most dangerous predator.

Here’s The Trailer for Geostorm, which is apparently a real movie

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

This trailer only needs a few more cats to look like a heavy-handed YouTube parody but apparently, Geostorm is a real movie that will be opening in October.  It was directed by Dean Devlin, who is a frequent partner of Roland Emmerich’s.

(In other words, expect a subplot about how Shakespeare didn’t actually write Twelfth Night.)

Geostorm will open in October and I imagine it will make its SyFy debut the following June.