The Greengrass Zone…Bourne Again?

No, but in a good way.

‘Green Zone’ is a smart, taut, and believable political thriller that is far more realistic about its subject than the average Hollywood motion picture. This is a movie for people familiar with the subject matter, if you’re looking for escapism and mindless entertainment (not that there is anything wrong with that…) this is the wrong film… You will also leave this movie with the strange desire to play Modern Warfare 2… Or maybe it was just me…

Many people have been comparing ‘Green Zone’ to the Bourne trilogy, simply because director Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon are both involved in this film. By the same standard, Greg Kinnear is also in the film along with Matt Damon, and nobody’s comparing this movie to ‘Stuck on You’… (Not that I even think anybody remembers that movie…thank goodness)

Matt Damon’s character in ‘Green Zone’ is nothing like Jason Bourne’s super spy, instead, Damon’s character of Roy Miller is a dogged and determined everyman (granted he’s a Chief Warrant Officer and an expert on Weapons of Mass Destruction as a leader of a Mobile Exploitation Team, but he’s an everyman in the sense that he only knows what his job skills are and unlike other super-spy movies, Miller doesn’t break into Krav Maga and take out a Special Ops team), offering a story that is more grounded in reality and less escapist and fantastical than your average war-centric political thriller of espionage and intrigue. Damon’s character of Miller doesn’t whip out any martial arts moves, or takes down legions of evil minions single handedly, far from it, he is simply resilient to find the truth…He takes a lickin’ but keeps on tickin’.

Along with Damon’s Character of Miller, Brendan Gleeson (speaking with what I assume is supposed to be an American accent?) portrays Martin Brown, a pragmatic (to the point of choosing the lesser of two evils) CIA ally of Miller. Amy Ryan plays Lawrie Dayne, a foreign correspondent for The Wall Street, whom, like many reporters, didn’t verify information government officials handed her, and begins to suspect she may be partially culpable for the war. Greg Kinnear portrays Clark Poundstone, head of Pentagon Special Intelligence, a Machiavellian and arrogant bureaucrat, similar to L. Paul Bremer, the head of the Coalition Provisional Authority…Poundstone screws up everything and serves as the primary antagonist of the film. Khalid Abdalla portrays Freddy, a patriotic Iraqi citizen and wounded veteran, he is Miller’s translator and through insightful and poignant statements acts as a sort of voice of the soul of Iraq. ‘Green Zone’ was inspired by the 2006 non-fiction novel ‘Imperial Life in the Emerald City’ by Rajiv Chandrasekaran, about life in the Green Zone in Baghdad.

Buy, Rent or Fail: Buy

If you liked this you might also like:

The Hurt Locker (2008), Shooter (2007), The Kingdom (2007),

Syriana (2005), Body of Lies (2008), The Good Shepherd (2006),

Lions for Lambs (2007), Three Days of the Condor (1975),

The Bourne Identity (2002), The Bourne Supremacy (2004),

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), United 93 (2006), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956),

Foreign Correspondent (1940), Full Metal Jacket (1987),

Jarhead (2005), Apocalypse Now (1979)

At Sony's Playstation GDC Press Conference today, Sony announced the final name for their motion controller and it will be called the Playstation Move. As shown at last years E3 event, the Playstation Move works in conjunction with the Playstation Eye camera to track the controller.

The Playstation Move will be avaialbe in three configurations. It will come either as a pack in bundle with a new Playstation 3, standalone, or as a Starter Kit that will include the Playstation Move, Eye camera, and a game. The starter kit is said to be under $100.

Its not very often that I get jealous but after seeing the Game Informer vault I can honestly say not only am I jealous but I am also currently exploring ways to infiltrate the vault through the use of ropes and the help of Ving Rhames.  Check out the video tour of their vault with over 11,000 games on their site here.

Those who weren't fortunate to attend GDC this year, fret not because most of the Conferences will be streaming live. One of those is Sony's Playstation GDC Press Conference which will be held at 2:35pm PST or at 5:35pm EST.

You can watch the streaming video here: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/playstation-gdc-press-conference-2010 or on our page when the conference starts.

Live video chat by Ustream

Like most of you, I was actually quite intrigued by the movie “The King of Kong.” The whole story about Steve Wiebe and his battle against Billy Mitchell was very fascinating and how their whole rivalry began and the controversy surrounding it.

Well, it looks like there is a new contender out there and he happens to now be the new King of Kong. His name is Hank Chien, a 35 year old plastic surgeon from New York who has now set the world record for Donkey Kong at an astonishing 1,061,700 points beating out the former record holder, Billy Mitchell’s 1,050,200 score.

Twin Galaxies officials David Nelson and Eric Akeson verified the new world record which was done on an original Donkey Kong machine in New York.

All I can say is congratulations to Hank Chien and I’d honestly like to see the story about how he became the new champ and the circumstances leading to it. I’d also love to see Bill Mitchell’s reaction as we all know, he’s a bit of a sore loser.

I don’t know about many of you, but I am a poly-consolist and actually own something other than just an Xbox 360. I know right? Gasp. Bring out the torches. Anyways, like most of you who also own a Sony Playstation 3, I’m sure you have messed around with Playstation Home and wondered what exactly the point of it all. I still don’t really understand it myself. I guess you could call it Sony’s version of Second Life or what the Xbox 360 Marketplace would look like if it was in a virtual world.

For those of you whole actually love Playstation Home, you’ll be happy to know that a new update 1.35 heading our way as early as tomorrow and will feature many changes. The Official Playstation Blog describes some of the many changes that will occur.

Like much of PlayStation Home, the design of this new navigator is directly based on community feedback on how to improve access to the content used most in PlayStation Home. This streamlined interface features categories to help you quickly move through PlayStation Home and locate friends in just a few clicks.

Categories will include:

•  Favorites: Personalize your own section to make locating your favorite places quick and simple.
• Personal Spaces: Your clubhouses and personal spaces are now right at your fingertips. The personal spaces you own and the clubhouses you belong to will be viewable in one convenient location.
• Friends: Finding your friends in PlayStation Home has never been easier. View the current location of your friends in PlayStation Home, and then navigate there to enjoy the action together.
• Explore: Browse all the spaces PlayStation Home offers. Finding a space that suites your taste and mood has never been easier.
• Recommend: Keep up with what’s hot in PlayStation Home. This regularly updated category will feature the newest and most exciting additions to PlayStation Home.

Just a reminder that PlayStation Home will not be accessible for a brief period tomorrow as we work the magic on our side to bring you this update. If you have any questions or comments, as always, please drop us a note in the PlayStation Home forums.

With now 12 million users around the world playing games, attending special events, watching videos, listening to music, and meeting new friends, there has never been a better time to join the PlayStation Home community. For those of you that are already part of the party, with tomorrow’s 1.35 update, I think you’ll agree that everything you love about PlayStation Home just got that much better.

Apparently I am!  Sure I admit I am fairly good at the game and usually do rather well but so do countless other people when they play as well.  Needless to say I was quite surprised to find out from a friend of mine today that I am the most viewed profile in Battlefield 1943. I had no idea! I feel so honored thanks DICE for making what I think is the best XBLA game to date! Now please make some DLC for it!

Being a film student in the hours I spend away from writing about video games and their perpetual awesomeness, it seems like all of my peers subscribe to the omnipresent Netflix movie rental service. I don’t, however, because I like being different and I am too poor. Nevertheless, Netflix is obviously hustling for my attention, as they recently made evident they are considering the Nintendo DS as their next media portal off which to broadcast movies. Say what? Oh yeah, Netflix is thinking about it while you sleep and eat donuts. Just imagine: the ability to instantly watch movies and TV episodes on the go. But will it work out in technical terms?

Yes, while I can say Netflix appears to be an awesome thing to have on your Xbox and your PS3 and your computer and basically everything in-between, I’m kind of wishy-washy about bringing it to the millions of DS handhelds kicking around the planet. Screen’s too small, yo, for one, although I won’t question the leagues of iPod owners out there who for some reason find their microscopic screens suitable for cinematic experiences. I for one will probably continue being a Netflix teetotaler even if it does happen—mainly because the requirement of being connected to a Wi-Fi network is near-impossible for my own handheld to perform flawlessly enough to watch half of the first Beethoven movie.

Nothing’s totally confirmed here, of course, as Netflix is merely pondering the economical possibilities through an online customer survey. In the meantime, keep using those bigger, prettier screens for fulfilling your Glee addictions.

Long time friends of SFX Carlos Ferro and JVB both put voice work into Tweet Defense.  It’s a new zombie tower defense game for the iphone and ipod from Promethium Marketing.  A deadly marketing virus has most of the world into zombies and it’s your job to stop them using everyday items and your twitter account.   It sounds like a really cool take on an otherwise old idea, be sure to check out the game today in the App store. 

Those of you who still have it can check out the new trailer for Army of Two the 40^th Day’s new DLC set to release on April 1^st.  It appears to be more of the same as Rios and Salem tromp around in Shanghai and continue to kill people and talk to others while using the conversations as a deep moral compass in their lives.