Directed by: Harald Zwart Running Time: 140 Minutes Rated: PG For many critics, to hear the word remake is usually responded to with a groan of despair, clamors of Hollywood lacking originality and any backbone to push forward new content.  For better or worse, the practice continues (and will be pushed forward at least for the foreseeable future) in Hollywood as exemplified by The Karate Kid, a remake of the original 1984 feature film that became a cult classic.  Harald Zwart’s new interpretation of The Karate Kid, however, is an intriguing case study of a remake.  Although it does fall into... 

Director: Masakazu Hashimoto Running Time: 99 Minutes Note: This was a special preview screening courtesy of the British Film Institute.  There is currently no release plan for the US.  It is currently scheduled to be released on DVD in September in the UK.  The Japanese release was on September 9th, 2009. Video game-to-movie adaptations have one of the worst stigmas attached to them.  They usually and unfortunately fall into one of two pitfalls.  The first is that it attempts to create an entirely different product and soul than the original said game, whether it’s because the original... 

Director: Dean DeBlois; Chris Sanders Rated: PG Running Time: 98 minutes Many modern-day animated features have fallen into their own clichés and pitfalls.  Either they are too set on bridge the gap between appeasing parents and children with two very sets of different humor and plot or have uninteresting sets of ideas because they fail to approach its medium with much creativity.  The best-animated features freely take ideas and spin them into meaningful and imaginative landscapes, not being chained down by notions of reality.  How to Train Your Pet Dragon is not the perfect representation... 

Image by: N0Nick (Flickr) If you are a new student at The University of Michigan, you will fall in love with Ann Arbor. As a college town, Ann Arbor has many charming local dives and funky places to discover. The area surrounding the campus of The University of Michigan is alive with local bars favored by U-M Students. Whether you are in the mood for trivia, karaoke or a cheap beer after a week of classes, here are the most popular bars where you will find your fellow U-M classmates. Brown Jug Restaurant 1204 S. University Ave. Ann Arbor, MI 48104 (734) 761-3355 This campus favorite is a versatile... 

How will moviegoers remember 2009?  Some may recollect it as the year of the indie romance comedy movies taking center stage with such hits as (500) Days of Summer.  Others may notice the huge dent that the science-fiction genre has made on the industry this year with money-rakers ranging from Avatar to Star Trek to even lesser-known original properties as the smartly marketed District 9 also getting a nice chunk of the audience.  Perhaps a couple viewers may view it as the return to the golden years of 3D with numerous films, whether necessary or not, receiving the special treatment. In any... 

WoW cosplay girl in Taiwan. (By swanky) The ten million player massive multiplayer online roleplaying (RPG) game World of Warcraft has long dominated the MMORPG charts. But what is so enthralling about a game that has, effectively, brought the end to ten documented lives? Well, let me explain. I started playing WoW several years ago, one year before the first expansion. World of Warcraft has been an interesting experience over the years; meeting new people from all over Europe has caused my “WoW” group on MSN to be just as great as my “Real life” group. So one could say I’m a seasoned... 

The sound of excitement filled the crowded bar as Baby Baby made their entrance through the front door of The Alley Cat. They filed onto the stage one after the other like heroes returning from war with their heads held high and instruments in hand. They knew what they had to do; they knew the crowd would soon get restless; they knew that together they could turn Carrollton into once big dance party. The clock was slowly approaching midnight of January 30 and the Alley Cat was packed to the brim. Fans, friends, and family were standing shoulder to shoulder all with the same goal in mind: to dance... 

I’m not sure if you have ever witnessed what has passed for journalism within the gaming industry, or even if you would call it journalism at all. Due to the online nature of gaming culture it has become the norm for gaming news stories to be written in a blog style, infected with sarcasm and bias. The focus of video game journalism has been to entertain first, whilst informing second. Journalists within this industry have sub-consciously thought their audience comprises solely of thirteen year old boys with short attention spans so they write short, ”fun” and bias articles to please them. Now... 

I had a really tough time finalizing a Top 7 list, as there are so many great guitarists throughout the history of Rock. Anyway, here they are, in no particular order of skill or ability, but ranked somewhat by influence on Rock. 1. Jimi Hendrix - Undoubtedly the best now and forever. He gave the world the true meaning of being a rock guitarist. I consider him the most unique, original, and innovative guitar player. His solos were not very exceptional compared to some of today’s other guitarists, but they were definitely original. He must be regarded as the Creator, the inventor of today’s... 

The Path - a short horror game by Tale of Tales When I announce to someone I’ve recently met that I study and design video games I quite often get puzzled looks. ‘Really?’ they say. ‘You’re devoting your whole life to games? Errr… Why?’ It is at this point I take a breath, ready myself and begin my rant. I’m pretty proud of this rant; it can go on for quite some time and I’ve put a lot of work into it. It includes everything from Aristotle’s Catharsis theory to psychological theories of escapism and its importance. I deliver this rant with all the passion I have in my body.... 

When I was five years old my big brother and I walked up to the neighborhood movie theater to watch the film Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. What we viewed that afternoon was a cinematic production every bit deserving of its future designation thirty-four years later as one of the worst movies of the twentieth century. The plot itself was more than just a bit disturbing to a pre-schooler, Martians descend and kidnap Santa along with two small children so that Mars can have Christmas just like the planet Earth does. I remember that was creepy enough to begin with but when these men in green... 

Textual Intercourse, a new book by Beob I’m certainly not one of these people who pushes their chest out and proudly says, “Oh I can’t be arsed with texting, if I’ve got something to say then I’ll just ring ‘em!”, as if they should receive some sort of medal for being so utterly, uncreative.  These people (usually men) have seriously missed the point if they think the only thing the text message is to be used for, is practical purposes.  These very people could really benefit from discovering the joys of putting thumb to keypad and getting those pent up feelings out in the open...