Author Archives: Arleigh

Happy 2nd Anniversary!!

Posted on by Arleigh

I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Through the Shattered Lens began as a way to keep me from getting bored on Christmas Eve of 2009 and tonight marks the 2nd year anniversary of that decision. Since then The site has gained several new writers and each of them has brought a unique voice to the world of entertainment blogging. The site doesn’t make money. It’s writers are all volunteers given the free rein to write what they want and how they want to. For a site dedicated to everything entertainment it doesn’t send it’s writers to film premieres or set production visits. It is a site which embraces the notion of grindhouse and that’s what we’ve done and continued to do since it’s inception.

I’ve come to see everyone who has contributed to the site as friends and humbled that they’ve stuck around this long without complaint. We all don’t always agree on what’s written but in the end it’s the civilized manner by which we discuss and debate the things written about that I think sets the site apart from other entertainment sites.

Here’s to hoping that the next year is even more successful and, first and foremost, fun for all involved and those who have continued to visit the site since the beginning. While I don’t know what the future will bring I do know that whatever comes around the corner myself and everyone here will have fun come rain or shine. Here’s to the upcoming year and hope y’all come ’round once in awhile to see what we have up our sleeves.

Til then, just “awwww” at the cuteness that are the Mini Ika’s.

Trailer: Prometheus (dir. Ridley Scott)

Posted on by Arleigh

This week leading up to the Christmas weekend has surely been quite a busy one for film fans everywhere. Earlier in the week we got to see the new trailer for The Dark Knight Rises (and to a lesser extent the trailer for Wrath of the Titans). That was soon followed a day later by the first teaser trailer for Peter Jackson’s upcoming return to the world of Middle-Earth with The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Now we reach the triumvirate of awesome film trailers for the week with the release of the first official trailer for Ridley Scott’s return to the film franchise which made him a household name and helped redefined sci-fi (especially of the horror variety) films.

The trailer for Prometheus looks beautiful especially when viewed on 720p/1080p HD. It still doesn’t explain just exactly what the plot of the film is, but it does show some interesting imagery which harkens back to the original Alien from 1979. We even get to see a glimpse of the pilot chair where the “space jockey” sits and the very ship itself found by Ripley and the crew of the Nostromo from the first film. Even the trailer pays major homage to the original film by slowly revealing the film’s title one section at a time.

Scott has been saying that Prometheus is not a prequel to Alien and that it’s a film that could stand on it’s own without people needing to see the films in the franchise. So far, we haven’t glimpsed any of the typical xenomorphswhich defines the franchise. Time to see if they make an appearance when the film finally comes out on June 8. 2012.

Trailer: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Posted on by Arleigh

While Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises is the most anticipated summer blockbuster for this upcoming 2012 then it would be safe to say that the most anticipated film for 2012 for some would be Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

This is a film that has been years in the making and even more years in development hell as the rights to J.R.R. Tolkien’s novel, The Hobbit, was entangled through many different studios. Once those entanglements were finally resolved and the film set to be put into production the film suffered more setbacks as budget and script rewrites kept things from starting. The original filmmaker picked to helm this two-part prequel, Guillermo Del Toro, had to back out after years of delays though he still remains as producer and his ideas and conceptual art and design has become the foundation for the film.

The film finally got the greenlight to start filming once Peter Jackson stopped searching for Del Toro’s replacement and took on the role as director once again. While Del Toro was a great choice I think most fans of the original trilogy were glad that Jackson decided to just take up the director’s chair once more. Who else knew the world of Middle-Earth on film better than the man who made what was called the unfilmable novel into the new millenium’s iconic film trilogy.

Like the production of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Jackson and his geniuses at WETA have been pretty good with showing fans progress made on the films through video blogs released by Jackson himself. With just a year left to go before part one of this two-part prequel premieres we finally have the first official teaser trailer to the film and I must say that it’s great. Even from just snippets shown in the teaser one could see some of Del Toro’s more darker concepts and influence in the film’s look and tone. But then some of it also comes from Jackson himself whose early background as a filmmaker was all about dark, macabre subjects and themes.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is set for a December 14, 2012 release.

AMV of the Day: Party Rock (One Piece)

Posted on by Arleigh

We’re now in the second AMV of my One Piece-themed anime music video min-marathon. The previous video was by PixelCreekAMVs and this second one is also by this AMV creator.

The AMV I picked from his collection of One Piece videos is titled “Party Rock” and like the previous AMV chosen it’s also one which highlights the fun, bizarre and wacky nature of Oda Eiichiro’s long-running and very popular manga and anime series. For those who might not recognize this song from LMFAO, they will probably better remember it as the song played with the dancing hip-hop hamsters and dancing robots in those Kia Soul car commercials.

I rather found this particular amv quite catchy to watch and listen to. The song is one of those party anthem songs which tend to come and go every year but combining it with One Piece just makes the song much more memorable. PixelCreekAMVs work on this video is much cleaner with a minimum amount of pre-existing credits and/or subtitles. Even if it had those I would still consider this AMV one of my current favorites.

Anime: One Piece

Song: “Party Rock” by LMFAO feat. Lauren Bennett, GoonRock

Creator: PixelCreekAMVs

Trailer: The Dark Knight Rises

Posted on by Arleigh

There’s nothing much else to say other than 2012 looks to be the year of The Dark Knight Rises.

2005 saw the reboot of the Batman film franchise. This first film in the new trilogy put Christopher Nolan on the map as an action filmmaker. 2008’s The Dark Knight with it being such a huge critical and, more importantly, a mega-blockbuster made Christopher Nolan a filmmaker who could do anything he wants and with whatever budget he asks for. Nolan was able to cash in some of that cred to make 2010’s Inception which was also a runaway success.

2012 is just around the corner and we have the third and final leg to Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy. With the success and popularity of the two previous films to say that the hype and anticipation for this third film has reached stratospheric levels would be an understatement. This is not to say the film can’t flop, but with Nolan’s track record I am in the camp of highly doubt it.

The Dark Knight Rises is set for a July 20, 2012 release in both regular and IMAX (though not in 3D).

Trailer: Wrath of the Titans

Posted on by Arleigh

2010’s Clash of the Titans remake wasn’t what fantasy fans were expecting. Yes, it had spectacle and taking advantage of 3D (rage of the time due to the success of Avatar), but how the film ended up quality-wise left much to be desired. For an epic summer blockbuster film (as hyped by it’s ads and marketing push) the film felt very underwhelming. It showed in the box-office as it failed to generate Olympian-level cash though it still generated a little under $500million worldwide. I’m guessing it’s this number which greenlit a sequel to a remake of a film that never had one.

Wrath of the Titans forgoes having just two titans battle it out with Perseus (Sam Worthington) stuck in the middle. This time around the sequel will deal with the weakening of the Olympian Gods as human worship wanes while at the same time the powers of the imprisoned Titans rise. So, from the trailer alone this looks to have action that’s even more amped up than it’s predecessor. Previous director Louis Leterrier has stepped aside as director and in his place for the sequel is Jonathan Liebesman (Battle: Los Angeles…which I thought was actually quite good despite what my partner-in-writing Lisa Marie says about the film).

Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes return to their roles from the previous film. Replacing Alexa Davalos in the role of Princess Andromeda from the first film is Rosamund Pike who now takes the role as Queen Andromeda. Bill Nighy and Danny Huston join the cast as Hephaestus and Poseidon respectively.

Wrath of the Titans is set for a March 30, 2012 release which just reinforces my point that the summer blockbuster season seem to be encroaching into Spring with each passing year.

AMV of the Day: Remember the Name (One Piece)

Posted on by Arleigh

[Marineford spoilers]

Just a little over a year ago a post was put up by resident anime/manga writer pantsukudasai56 in regards to what constitutes as the “Anime of the Decade”. He settled on Oda Eiichiro’s One Piece series both in its manga and anime form. It’s truly the one piece of entertainment in any form that could honestly call itself as epic. It’s an anime which is now nearing 600-episodes and there’s no slowing down in it’s quality and amount of storylines to be told. The latest series of “AMV of the Day” will share in that each amv used One Piece as the foundation to the video.

The first in this series is called “Remember the Name” by PixelCreekAMVs and like most in the series it will include scenes from the excellent “Marineford” story-arc which aired earlier this year. For those who have never watched an episode of One Piece wouldn’t be spoiled by what transpire in this video, but for those who do and haven’t reached the series to this point in the episode listings should be careful about clicking the video. Other than that piece of warning the video itself is quite a fun one.

It’s not the cleanest looking AMV (subtitles, opening and closing credits animation, etc), but in sheer scope of fun and showing One Piece at it’s most bizarre and ludicrous then this video definitely succeeds. It uses the very popular song “Remember the Name” by Fort Minor (feat. Styles of Beyond) from a couple years back. PixelCreekAMVs does a great job of giving each crew member of Monkey D. Luffy’s pirate ship a chance to shine in the video. He also does a great job of picking the right scenes for each line of lyric that the roughness of the overall look of the video becomes nitpicking.

As a recent convert to One Piece this AMV definitely a good way to show the show at it’s most fun and, maybe, even make some newbies to the series want to keep watching or start on it.

Anime: One Piece

Song: “Remember the Name” by Fort Minor feat. Styles of Beyond

Creator: PixelCreekAMVs

Trailer: Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance

Posted on by Arleigh

Ok, the first Ghost Rider wasn’t what one would call something great or even good. I’d say that in the scheme of how we judge films that one was quite awful. Yet, it also had a certain charm which made watching it on cable. Maybe not paying to see it makes it more enjoyable in a “guilty pleasure” sort of way. The fact that 2007’s Ghost Rider actually made a profit is why we have this sequel now set to come out in a couple months.

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance was suppose to be a sequel, but people involved in the project say it’s a sort of retooling/reboot. Whatever they need to do to make themselves justify this second film is ok by me as long as it’s entertaining in the end. From looking at the trailer, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance has less of the camp of the previous film and is all about action. Some of the action scenes look to be ludicrous, but cool looking and having directing-duo Neveldine/Taylor of Crank series and Gamer controlling the project means be prepared for even more over-the-top action.

If this film can be entertaining in a grindhouse way despite it’s flaws (like another early year film of Cage’s in 2011, Drive Angry) then I’d say making this second film would’ve been worth the price of admission (at least a matinee-ticket).

Morrowind/Skyrim Theme Piano and Violin Cover

Posted on by Arleigh

To cap off the night as I recover from that arrow I took to the knee I would like to share one of the many reasons why YouTube continues to be the gift that keeps on giving.

Two very talented ladies decided to take it upon themselves to cover both the main themes to Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim as a medley. To say that they knocked it out of the park would be an understatement. To think they accomplished this by listening to the two themes and creating the musical arrangements themselves without any sheet music just speaks to their talent as musicians.

Source: YouTube

Trailer: Alan Wake’s American Nightmare

Posted on by Arleigh

One of my favorite video game titles of 2010 was the Remedy Entertainment and Microsoft Studios psychological thriller game Alan Wake. This title was a psychological thriller mashed up with survival horror that was influenced by Stephen King stories and David Lynch’s eccentric tv series, Twin Peaks. It was one of the few games which put a major scare to me whenever I played it which was usually at night. While the game didn’t sell copies in the Modern Warfare 3 level it did sell enough that it gained quite a huge fan following who clamored for more of Alan Wake and his fight against the malevolent Dark Presence. (Lisa Marie’s been trying the gaming thing lately and I must admit that Alan Wake is right up her dark sensibilities). Fans ended up getting two DLC chapters with “The Signal” and “The Writer”.

There had been rumors and talks about a proper sequel in the works within Remedy Entertainment, but such things continued to be unsubstantiated. While a rumor of sequel continued to persist the developers finally announced that there will be a new Alan Wake game, but it wasn’t going to be a sequel. It was to be a stand-alone Xbox Live Arcade title that should keep fans of the franchise happy while a sequel was being bandied about within the studio (I believe a sequel is already in development but still unconfirmed). This latest title was to be called Alan Wake’s American Nightmare.

The trailer for this title first premiered at Spike TV’s VGA 2011 and the game has tentative release date sometime around the Q1 of 2012.