Grand Theft Auto V Review: Everything Rockstar’s Learned About Open-World Design, Refined

Out tomorrow for all the GTA fanatics! Pre-release review from Time Magazine.

Thor The Dark World Loki and Odin International Posters

Two more international posters out for Thor the Dark World.  One features Odin and a de-prisoned Loki in the other.  I think this is going to be perhaps the darkest Marvel movie yet and Norse mythology can get pretty dark.  I’m fine with that, but I hope they don’t lose the all of the joyful wonder that made the first movie my favorite Marvel movie to-date.  Thor The Dark World opens October 30th in IMAX and November 7th in theaters nationwide.

Your New Flash is ….Gleeful….sigh

I was so stoked to hear that a Flash TV series was going to spin-off from The CW’s Arrow.  The Flash has the second best rogues gallery in the DCU, and I actually think a TV series would be a better tool for developing the character than a movie.  SO stoked.  Until I read this on Geek Tyrant and stumbled off in search of migraine meds.

Glee star Grant Gustin has been cast as The Flash in the upcoming series that the CW is developing. The Flash, a.k.a. Barry Allen, will be introduced in Arrow before the actual series takes off. He will appear in 3 episodes of Arrow. According to THR, it will be episodes eight, nine, and twenty, “the latter of which will serve as the backdoor pilot for a potential spinoff Flash series.”

The spin-off series is being developed by Arrow co-creators Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg, as well as director David Nutter. Berlanti, Kreisberg, and DC Entertainment’s Geoff Johns will write the script for the series.

12 Years As a Slave Takes Top Honors at Toronto International Film Festival

12 Year as a Slave earned the top award at the Toronto International Film Festival this weekend.  The drama stars Chiwetel Ejiofor as Solomon Northup,  a free black man who is tricked into becoming a slave.  Taking top honors at the TIFF has been an early Oscar predictor in recent years.  Slumdog Millionaire, The King’s Speech and Silver Linings Playbook all won the same award and all had major Oscar impact, the first two winning Best Picture.

The runners-up were Stephen Frears‘ Philomena, starring Dame Judi Dench and Steve Coogan, and Denis Villeneuve‘s Prisoners, starring Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal.  12 Years as a Slave also stars Brad Pitt, Michael Fassbender, and Paul Giamatti.  The film opens wide in the United States on October 18th.