TRAILER REVIEWS!!!

(Leaving Earth - Clint Mansell)

I'm serious, Zupon. I could have spent the time that I wasted today writing trailer reviews. As it stands, our little jaunt through Advanced Calling sucked out my will to live, so there'll be no full reviews.

Sort of.

There's a lot to discuss, so let's get to it!

STARCRAFT 2: LEGACY OF THE VOID

Blizzard's upcoming capstone to its thus far excellent Starcraft 2 trilogy will focus on the Protoss, first born of the Xel'Naga. The first entry in the trilogy, 'Wings Of Liberty' was a wonderful game with even better multiplayer. Everyone has a soft spot for those pluck Terrans, no matter how you cut the cake, so starting the new games off with them was an excellent choice. The follow-up and second chapter, 'Heart Of The Swarm' focused on the Zerg. HOTS was a good game in its own right, continuing the story that WOL started and cranking things up several notches along the way. Some of the sacrifices that were made in that game were heartbreaking for fans. As a ZERG game, HOTS was a phenom. The Zerg have always been touted as a customizable, adaptable race. This never shines through more brilliantly than in HOTS' single player campaign. Many people cried out that it was too easy, or that the new units were too powerful. My feeling was that if you built your army properly, the cornerstone of any Zerg strategy, you were undeniable.

Now, the third chapter is here, and... I really don't care. I don't give a crap about the protoss. The game has already established that Kerrigan is the lynch pin to the upcoming fight against the Xel'Naga and the dark god Amon, so I'm not entirely sure what else that Blizzard can do with this third chapter except set that fight up. This, in addition to the fact that the Protoss are easily my least favorite race. They're haughty, aristocratic, overbearing, and hugely presumptuous. They sort of deserve to get their asses kicked.

MAGGIE

"What...in the world is Arnold Schwarzenegger doing in an art-house flick?"

I know. More than that, he appears to spend a decent amount of time on his back in this film. Arnie was never known for his acting, which makes me really curious about how this movie is going to turn out. The zombie movie thing is just as overdone as the vampire movie thing, but I'm still more than a little curious.

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: ROGUE NATION

I love these movies and I'm not the least bit shy about it. I've loved them all, though the second movie was undeniably the weakest of the entries. Tom Cruise is many things, but he delivers in spades where these movies are concerned. When he's not busy stumping for Lord Xenu or jumping up and down on furniture, he's a stand-up, get it done sort of person. That shows, especially in his last outing. The excellent 'Ghost Protocol' saw Cruise strapped to the outside of the Burj Khalifa without benefit of a net, green screen, or stunt double. His commitment to making these movies ia unquestionable and 'Rogue Nation' looks like yet another impossible mission is going to be a rolicking good time.

GOOD KILL

I wonder sometimes if the only people who romanticize war are those who have never had to fight in one. The act of taking a life is an incredibly personal thing that many would argue has been made impersonal by the invent of drones and other forms of long range combat. Is some of the respect for the act, and for your opponent, lost when you cannot close on them?

It looks like some of those questions will get explored in 'Good Kill', a film about a fighter pilot that is given the opportunity to fly drones on kill missions instead of his usual jets.

I have little doubt from the looks of this film that it's going to end up being another one of those movies that falls into the same category as 'Saving Private Ryan', 'Fury', and 'Schindler's List'. Time will tell, I suppose.