It’s rare when a film outside of the mainstream releases gets a review or mention on this site but THIS is a rare opportunity. During the week I was given a wonderful chance (thanks to a friend) to see an advanced screening of The Kings of Summer, a film that received much praise at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and for good reason.

The Story

Joe Toy (Nick Robinson) is a teenager on the verge of a meltdown thanks to his stressed relationship with his father Frank (Nick Offerman). Much of the stress comes from the passing of his mother and the absence of his college attending sister Heather (Alison Brie). Once things reach their boiling point Joe recruits his best friend Patrick (Gabriel Bass0), a kid with parent issues of his own, as well as a new friend named Biaggio (Moisas Arias) and they set off into the woods to build a house and live off the wild.

What Works

The performances top to bottom are fantastic in this film, from the trio of Joe, Patrick, and Biaggio who all have their own differing personalities, execution of humor, and range of emotion, to the parents and the stereotypes they follow that are fun to watch develop. Nick Robinson displays a wide range in his acting ability showing the perfect emotions and reactions a 17 year old would display over the developments in the film. From happiness to heartbreak the kid had the acting chops to carry this film as the lead and did it perfectly. Moisas Arias hands down stole the show when it came to comedy as the enigmatic Biaggio. From facial expressions to outlandish lines like “I met a dog who taught me how to die” I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if this role propelled Moisas into a career in comedy. The only one to rival Biaggio in number of laughs would be Joe’s father Frank played by Nick Offerman. He has the perfect amount of wit and dry humor where every scene he is in it almost felt like he was plucking every smart ass comment out of my head and saying it on screen. Any time either of these characters were on screen I couldn’t wait to see what they say or do.

That’s not to say that the rest of the cast was weak, Alison Brie, although her appearance was brief she had many enjoyable scenes scattered throughout the movie. Also Gabriel Basso certainly held his own as Patrick, having to deal with his parents obnoxious behavior and also the emotional turns throughout the film he certainly was no weak link. It’s just in the next the characters of Joe, Biaggio, and Frank were truly the standouts. The pacing of this film was also strong, never feeling like it slowed down as new developments kept happening as we moved back and forth between the kids and their parents.

The writing is also top notch, providing each character with the tools they need to really knock it out of the park with their performance. Even side characters like the local police officers have some great moments written and the developments never seem too far fetched. There is honestly a lot to love about the film.

What Didn’t Work

To be honest I have put a lot of thought into this portion of the review as I have been piecing it together since I saw the film two days ago. The only character I really didn’t take a liking to was Heather’s (Alison Brie) boyfriend. He was written to be an awkward girly opposite to Heather’s father but it never really worked for me. Besides that I really don’t have any other flaws that I see in the film. It’s well written, well acted, hilarious, and has the right touch of drama that never tries to shove any sort of message down your throat.

The film will release on May 31st, so once you have seen your Hangovers and your Fast and Furious 6′s give this film a shot, I don’t think you will be disappointed.

This week’s episode of the Digital Reload is jam packed with gaming goodness!

• Impressions of Monaco
• Breakdown of Opinions Regarding The Fuse Demo
• Eary Impressions of Lobo, the first DLC character from Injustice
• Krieg The Psycho
• And we give predictions for what we expect to see during Microsoft’s “Future of XBOX” Conference happening on Tuesday

Be sure to check out the episode late tonight/ early tomorrow on our podcasting home at PodBean!

1. C*nt P*nt: 68 points (Iron Man 3)
2. Wumbo: 26 points (The Great Gatsby)
3. Team Zigglypuff: 18 points (Star Trek Into Darkness)
4. 1.21 GigaWATTS: 0 points
5. Son of Fizbitch: 0 points
6. Madea Saves Arbor Day: 0 points
7. The Head Writer of Impact: 0 points
8. The Left Testicle: 0 points

Star Trek opened on it’s first weekend taking the top spot and earning over $80 Million leaving him 8 points out from taking 2nd place. However that close margin may not last for long as Fast & Furious 6 opens this coming weekend and will be Wumbo’s 2nd film on the board. Combine that with The Great Gatsby sticking around and possibly breaking the $100 Million mark by that point and C*nt P*nt may start to see some stiff competition. Also opening that weekend is The Hangover Part III(owned by Son of Fizbitch), the last installment of the extremely successful Comedy franchise looking to battle it out with Fast 6 for the top spot. Things will really start to heat up in this competition and big budget movies continue to be released through this first month of the Summer Movie Season.

Every now and again I participate in various betas for MMOs or any other title I can get my hands on. My latest adventure leads me to the game Marvel Heroes from Gazillion Entertainment. Marvel Heroes has actually been a game that has changed styles, genres, developers, and even names over the past 5 years. The title was originally called Marvel Universe Online and was developed by Cryptic Studios to be released for XBOX 360. However the deal fell apart and what was once Marvel Universe became Champions Online. The work laid dormant and changed hands over to Gazillion Entertainment who signed a 10 year contract with Marvel to make games (their first release was Marvel Super Hero Squad Online) and is set to release Marvel Heroes.

What Is The Game?

Marvel Heroes is an online dungeon crawler for the PC designed in a similar sense to Diablo and Torchlight. It has it’s own uniquely developed storyline for the title that is chapter based with various villains from the Marvel Universe serving as bosses of different types.

What Does It Offer?

The ability to play with friends through the game’s story, leveling up your characters and collecting loot. There are optional dungeons you can find, similar to Diablo. There are no job classes, instead offering the player the option of starting as Daredevil, Storm, Thing, Scarlet Witch, or Hawkeye. Other heroes can be unlocked and used throughout the game. Characters can be unlocked either as loot drops from enemies, or purchased through microtransactions where each character has a different value. You can also purchase different costumes for each character, though they only seem to be cosmetic as they do not offer different powers or stats.

Now The Details

This was the last Open Beta offered for the title before it launched on June 4th. The beta offered participants the choice of using Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk, or Black Widow and once a choice is made that is your character, the others initial choices are no longer available. When starting the game did give each player 2000 of the game’s currency to purchase more heroes. Heroes ranged from 600 to 2000 so you could buy up 3 lower tiered characters or opt for one high tier. For my main character I chose Hulk and jumped right into the tutorial which is an introductory mission that you play entirely by yourself. The game does include cut scenes that are done in a comic style as opposed to CG cut scenes, and each character is voiced (for example the same actor who voiced Hulk in Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes is also the voice for Hulk in the game. Same goes for the voice actor for Spider-Man in Ultimate Spider-Man) though it isn’t to the level of voiced dialog in comparison to a game like Star Wars  The Old Republic.

The left and right mouse buttons house your first two attacks while the rest are set to the A S D F G H keys on your keyboard. Moving is kept specifically to mouse clicking and the attacks you assign are based on the ones you choose from each character’s skill trees. Each character has 3 trees that all shape your character into a certain role. For example Hulk can play the role of either a Damage Dealer or a Tank while Spider-Man works as a trap character with various moves to stun or slow enemies. OK back to the actual game, once you complete the tutorial you are dropped into Avengers Tower which is the main hub for all players in the game. This is where you shop for new items, craft things, store collectibles, and accept missions. Each mission is set in a certain location, for example Mission one is in Hell’s Kitchen and involves the Kingpin. When you leave for this mission and arrive in Hell’s Kitchen there are plenty of players running around fighting enemies. The area will spawn random side quests that everyone can participate in and receive items from upon completion. The two I remember from Hell’s Kitchen are the mission to help protect a police barricade and the other to stop criminals from setting a neighborhood on fire. On top of these missions random raid bosses will spawn and you will receive a notification telling you they have spawned and to go and attack.

These battles are a bit tough and are by no means soloable in early levels. It’s a fun fight and seeing so many heroes converge upon the boss and start an all out assault was cool to see, but there were some lag issues as the number of players increased. You encounter all these side missions and bosses as you travel the map in search of the story dungeon. Once in the dungeon the only players you will possibly run into are the ones you invite into a party. Other than that you will be alone in these portions. You’ll complete various objectives and defeat a boss in the end before heading back to Avengers Tower for the next chapter. On top of the story dungeons there are also optional ones that work the same way as story dungeons (in the manner that you won’t see random players running around, only you and your party). Once completing missions you have the chance to go back to each area for fun, or reset your point to any mission and play them over again, though I am not sure if resetting the chapter adds any incentive.

The vendors are interesting in the fact that you can upgrade them by donating various items to them. By doing so you gain benefits, such as the item vendor’s being able to stock rare green or blue items, and crafters being able to make more items. It’s an interesting option for unwanted loot, though the amount of experience the vendor gets is based on the rarity of items. I don’t know how worthwhile it is to level gear vendors as drops will more than likely be better than what they sell, but it is interesting. Another part I enjoyed was the co-op play with friends and the freedom the game provides a party. A Party can be as simple as starting one just to chat with one another as each player has their own freedom to run around and work on what they want. They can also get together and progress through chapters and beat the story mode together. One thing regarding parties is the content you can play depends on how far each person is individually in the story mode. If I am in chapter 8 and you are in chapter 6, you cannot come along with me and help me progress. It means you may end up playing other chapters repeatedly to be able to play with friends.

What I Liked

The game just felt fun the entire time I played it, running through dungeons, watching the attacks of my Hulk smashing and destroying the environment around me as well as enemies, unlocking new abilities and putting points into them to see how they look or execute. Running around areas and seeing all these heroes running around, spread out and battling enemies, working together on raid bosses were all things that felt great and gave me the feeling of a fun community that works together. I also had a blast replaying areas and obtaining better gear or working with friends.

What Might Concern You

The game overall.. doesn’t really do anything new or different in the dungeon crawling MMO genre. It does plenty of things that other games like to have done for a while, and it’s all fun, but it just doesn’t offer much that is new other than placing you in the Marvel Universe. This may turn some people off as many don’t like jumping into the same game with a new coat of paint. I personally don’t feel this way as Marvel is the type of universe that can get me addicted to the genre, which is something Diablo hasn’t been able to do.

Overall Impressions

At the end of this beta I came out of it very positive towards the game as it provided a ton of fun and now I have an itch I can’t scratch until June 4th. Luckily for anyone that reads this and is curious about the title will all be able to play it soon and the game itself is free, looking to sustain itself through the microtransactions. I myself will be downloading the game come launch and look forward to diving in and experiencing all the title has to offer.

WAIT! There’s More!

I haven’t covered EVERYTHING about my experience or how the game works as I plan to discuss it more in this week’s episode of the Digital Reload.

Be sure to visit our podcast site HERE to listen to more about Marvel Heroes this week

1. C*nt P*nt: 51 points (Iron Man 3)
2. Wumbo: 14 points (The Great Gatsby)
3. 1.21 GigaWATTS: 0 points
4. Son of Fizbitch: 0 points
5. Madea Saves Arbor Day: 0 points
6. The Head Writer of Impact: 0 points
7. Team Zigglypuff: 0 points
8. The Left Testicle: 0 points

Despite a strong weekend from The Great Gatsby it just wasn’t enough to knock Iron Man 3 to second place. IM 3 is now on pace to pass $300 Million by (or maybe even before) next weekend. That weekend will also be the release of Star Trek Into Darkness, a film that almost all are expecting to take first place at the box office. That will be Team Zigglypuff’s debut as another week goes by adding a new team to the competition.

With so many anticipated films this year it seems like the championship is truly up for grabs! That being said however the film that kicks the season off is making waves. Several teams are relying on past trends to hopefully pull them ahead of the pack this season. Son of Fizbitch, who last year under a different name has Hangover II and is hoping the last installment in the trilogy will provide as much of a strong start as the comedy franchise did last season. Defending champion 1.21 GigaWATTS is hoping their knowledge of Horror films pays off as they took not one but three from the genre including Paranormal Activity 5, where the strong opening weekend of part 4 helped put the team over the top last year.

Some teams go for comic book films, others go for kids films, all are hoping to find a diamond in the rough like 2011′s Bridesmaids. With all that said the season has no started and we now move onto the standings. If you are unfamiliar with our rules follow this link HERE

1. C*nt P*nt: 28 points (Iron Man 3)
2. 1.21 GigaWATTS: 0 points
3. Son of Fizbitch: 0 points
4. Madea Saves Arbor Day: 0 points
5. The Head Writer of Impact: 0 points
6. Team Zigglypuff: 0 points
7. The Left Testicle: 0 points
8. Wumbo: 0 points

Iron Man 3 opened with a bang as it obtained the second largest opening of all time, 2nd only to The Avengers. Critics were overly positive and most movie goer reaction is as well. If I were C*nt P*nt however I wouldn’t get too cocky with the big debut as Avengers had a huge opening, yet last year’s champion held on by only 8 points despite having the biggest movie of the Summer. The competition will heat up quick as each week sees a large release, and another team enter the battle. It seems that competition will get fierce quick and remain tough all the way until the end. See you next week!

The Summer Movie Season has officially kicked off with the release of Iron Man 3 into theaters. The film has made huge box office bank both overseas and domestically, but is it deserving of it? Hit the jump as I provide a spoiler free review, and then a separate discussion of the film’s most talked about moments to follow.

*NOTE* Like I stated in the opening, the review itself will be free of spoilers, so you can check out my opinion and be free of learning anything about the film if you have not seen it yet. After I will discuss two or three major spoilers for those who have seen it and I will provide plenty of warning.

Iron Man 3 is the first post Avengers film and Marvel’s first step into Phase 2 of their cinematic universe. The main plot focuses on a distressed and anxiety ridden Tony Stark who has issues coming to grip with what happened in New York involving Loki and his alien forces. It keeps Tony up at night, it distances himself from his friends and the ones he loves, and it leaves him in his workshop constantly building suits to protect the ones he cares about. Just as things are reaching their peak Tony is haunted by his past as the US comes under attack by a terrorist called The Mandarin and a techn-virus known as Extremis. Tony must battle his emotional demons and use the most important tool he has to defeat the Mandarin, his mind.

Iron Man 3 tells a thrill ride of a solo adventure as Tony Stark goes from being the Hermit that is on top of the world, to a man on the run, away from his tech, and only his intelligence to save him. The film is well paced, never slowing down as something is happening to Tony no matter where he is, whether it’s physical or emotional the plot is always moving and rarely gives fatigue for it’s 2 hour and 15 minute run time. Robert Downey Jr. continues to show why he was the perfect choice for Stark with his quick wit, great execution of humor and when all things are at their lowest, the smartest man to rely on. His chemistry with Don Cheadle, playing James Rhodes is well expanded on from their relationship in Iron Man 2 and is expanded really well, especially in the film’s climactic battle. Guy Pearce plays Aldrich Killian, a man from Tony’s past who now runs a brain trust corporation called AIM, the corp that designs Extremis. He initially comes off cocky and at an intelligence that almost rivals Tony Stark. By the end of the film his role is taken on a wild twist that has left some fans upset, but in my personal opinion his performance outweighs the continuity and he becomes one of my favorite Iron Man villains for the franchise.

One of the more anticipated performances comes from Ben Kingsley as The Mandarin. A role that begins as you expected from the trailers with the low drawn out tone, the cryptic messages and a feared terrorist, yet as the movie progresses he becomes an entirely different beast of a character. It’s hard to discuss his performance as a whole without the temptation of stepping into spoilers but what I can say is the character becomes something you didn’t expect and depending on your history with the Iron Man comic franchise and your love for keeping things similar to the comics you may walk away intrigued, or irate. It certainly wasn’t what I expected, but once this turn takes place I felt OK with it and by the end of the film I was completely on board with Shane Black’s vision.

One thing I can take away as a criticism from the film is the humorous tone. I love humor, and I enjoy going to the theater to laugh, yet with a story that takes an emotional turn towards fear and anxiety I felt some of the humor was poorly timed. The execution by the actors was strong and still drew a laugh from me, but my only gripe would be keeping humor further away from dramatic scenes. I feel as if a quick witted joke is oddly places seconds after Tony Stark has an anxiety attack or begins to doubt his ability to be a hero. It’s not a damning amount of humor and at no point was I cursing the film for it, just let the dramatic parts have a little more time before Stark makes a wise crack.

On the flip side, one of the biggest praises I can give this film is on it’s action sequences. This film is packed with huge scenes of explosive battles that may not be on the worldwide scale of Avengers, but feels bigger than anything seen in Iron Man 1 or 2. I was blown away by the entire scene where the Mandarin destroys Tony’s home and even a battle midway through the film where Tony was armorless was enjoyable to watch. The climactic battle scene was quite frankly an awesome experience and was one of the longest in the franchise. The final battle between Iron Man and the Mandarin was extremely satisfying compared to previous efforts with Iron Monger and Whiplash.

All in all Iron Man 3 is a strong start to the Summer season and an entertaining first step in Marvel’s Phase Two. It’s not perfect, surpassing Iron Man 2, while falling short of the first Iron Man, yet still being a strong entry in the now long list of comic book films. If you have enjoyed the franchise so far there really is no reason that I can think of as to why you should avoid this film.

As a side note, there is an after credits scene, but if you are expecting it to be a lead in to Thor: The Dark World, or give you the first clue into the path Marvel has set towards Avengers 2 you will be a bit disappointed. It’s still worth seeing as it has a pretty great cameo, but I just wanted to give a small warning.

Alright, you have reached the end of spoiler free territory. If you have not seen the film close now, if you proceed.. well hell.. I warned you.

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Still here?

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Alright than…

The Mandarin

The big twist that seems to have the hardcore fanbase in a rage is that Ben Kingsley is not the Mandarin. Kingsley’s character is an actor hired to be the face of the true Mandarin Aldrich Killian. Everything shown about Kingsley’s Mandarin is fake, even down to the person he kills on camera. Many people felt Kingsley’s portrayal in the trailers was the true Mandarin, the one we all wanted to see and the development of completely changing who the character is as upset many fans.

Most of my experience with Iron Man is through the 90s cartoon, and a few trades I have read over my lifetime. While I may not have the level of connection that some fans have with the Mandarin character I can still say I was a bit disappointed, though not in the manner you may think. I was disappointed because I was excited to see Kingsley take on a primary villain role and I really wanted to see how his performance could stack up going toe to toe with Downey’s Tony Stark. When I realized I was not getting that disappointment set in. I love the acting ability of Sir Ben Kingsley and to be denied a big climactic scene between his Mandarin and Iron Man did bum me out a bit.

That being said I felt Guy Pearce took over the role as Mandarin superbly. Sure, he isn’t the magic wielding, 10 ring wearing chinese terrorist but he is a man of strong intelligence, powerful, skilled in combat, and went toe to toe with Stark in one of my favorite battles in the franchise. He quickly became a villain that I hoped would live and become the staple foe of Iron Man films to come. His fate is in question as he seemed to have been killed by Pepper Potts, yet minutes before that explosion he survived a previous one. Only time will tell what the true fate is for Pearce’s version of the character but I for one welcome the change.

Marvel from the beginning stated that these films are of a universe all to themselves. They do not follow the comics to the letter and never will. Change has been implemented in comic films since their debut and as long as they work, they are acceptable. In this case I feel it works, as the strong presence of Kingsley’s “traditional Mandarin” was replaced by a new spin and a strong execution of Pearce’s Mandarin. When he stands over a fallen Tony Stark and yells “I AM THE MANDARIN” I had no response other than “damn right you are!”

Iron Man No More

The other topic I have seen a lot of backlash on is the end of the film, where after taking care of the Extremis virus in Pepper, Tony finally has the shrapnel removed from his heart, taking away the necessity of the reactor in his chest. Many fans were up in arms accusing Shane Black of taking away Iron Man and starting a suspicion that this was the end of Stark in the armor. I only point to one, closing line. After all is said and done, and Tony Stark is making his closing inner speech he still says “I am Iron Man”. Tony Stark isn’t going anywhere and the idea that people would think this is the end for him in the suits is ridiculous. It now gives future writers (such as Joss Whedon for Avengers 2) the opportunity to create new ways for Tony to use and manipulate armor.

The “clean slate” protocol was not to put Iron Man in retirement, it was to show Pepper that she was more important than his armor and to wipe away the last representation of his anxiety (as all those suits were only made after his panic attack regarding the events in New York). This could provide a new and exciting way for us to see the bleeding edge armor (for those unfamiliar, this is a suit of armor Stark is able to keep in his bones and when he calls upon it, it bleeds through his pores and covers him in a more organic looking set of armor. People shouldn’t be upset by the ending, it really should be something that gets people excited as to what comes next.

As I stated before, change happens all the time in comic films. From Organic Web Shooters, to black leather replacing yellow spandex, to a new Mandarin. As long as the changes that are made remain strong like these I will continue to welcome them. This was never meant to be like the universe we grew up reading, so take a deep breath, enjoy the ride and look forward to the creative ideas future writers and directors can provide. I know I will!