by A.J. Focht
Somewhere between the overabundant CGI and shoddy storyline, The Green Lantern lost the critics and its audience. Critics started bashing the movie early in the week, sticking it around 25% on RottenTomatoes. While the audience reaction has been…less harsh, it has consistently been ranked as the worst super hero movie of the year. Still it managed to take the weekend box office with opening sales of $53.2 million.
It looks like DC needs to stay away from the neon colored heroes and stick with something a little more traditional…and dark. The Dark Knight Rises has been picking up cast additions like they were on sale. The latest person to sign on the dotted line is Liam Neeson, who revisits the role of Ra’s al Ghul. This brings the total of villains cast to three with Bane, Catwoman, and Ra’s al Ghul (with high speculation of the introduction of Talia al Ghul). There is also a new ‘teaser’ for The Dark Knight Rises making its way around the web. The trailer was supposedly shown before the Green Lantern, but the official status of the teaser is still being questioned.
One quick digression while we’re on DC movies, for better or worse, Russell Crowe has been cast as Jor-El in The Man of Steel.
In the video gaming world, the word of the week is ‘free.’ Starting off, Valve has opened up Team Fortress 2 for a week’s free play in preparation of their “Uber Update” on Thursday. The update is going to include Meet the Medic, two new class packs, a new map, and more. Speaking of Valve and free things, Valve announced they are working on a free-to-play game on Steam… Dota2? TF3? Nobody knows – but free is always good.
Other free things that are awesome? LEGO’s. Especially LEGO Universe which is going free-to-play in August. The world will offer limited content including two adventure zones, and a building zone. The full game will be accessible for $10 a month. The icing on this blocky cake? The entire game is going to be available for download so there is no need to purchase a hard copy.
The arrival of Pottermore.com last week has had Harry Potter fans on full alert. The site is empty aside from the title, some “gathering” owls, and J.K. Rowling’s signature. According to a Youtube countdown clock, the official announcement of Pottermore will be on Thursday at 7am.
Check back next week for more details on Pottermore as well as information on the death of Ultimate Spiderman which is releasing later this week.
