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And the name changed! So go there for all our bitingly sarcastic new articles. We will post our new episodes here, but we will make our new site our home! So please join us for ADVENTURE!

Episode #51: Identity Crises

So we've had a break and now we're ready to ingrain ourselves into your hearts and minds once again! We've all crossed the desert on a horse with no name to bring you another enthralling discussion, now with our brand new designation Planned Banter! We've got a brand new site and everything (plannedbanter.com) but we'll still be carrying over content from one to the other for the time being. In the meantime, you can thrill to tales of taking a break to read Star Wars novels at the Toyota plant! Gasp in awe at the treachery committed towards the definition of the word 'interesting' when we discuss E3! Futilely shake your fist at DC with us for creating a reboot aimed at people who read comics for 3 months straight every 5 years! Plus: hang onto your tea and biscuits because there's a fresh new session of Parliament after which nothing will ever be the same! Except for all the yelling; that's never going to change.

Summer Is The New TV Hotness

It's Chris's time to shine!

     Most people don’t look for new TV series to start in the summer, but I would advise you all to give several a shot for 2011. Most networks broadcast their big shows at the traditional fall times, or midseason replacements. Yet this practice is starting to show its age. Now, some of the best shows around are not on the big networks AND premier in the summer.

     This season’s hottest new program is the legal dramedy “Franklin and Bash”, starring Breckin Meyer and the former Zach Morris, Mark Paul Gosselaar. The two are up-and-coming, hot shot lawyers who don’t really take their jobs seriously and have a certain ”style” to their practice. They attract the attention of legendary L.A. lawyer, Stanton Infeild (Malcolm McDowell), who heads one of the city’s biggest firms. Kickstarting the series’ set-up, he invites them to join their unorthodox practicing firm. The show has great humor and fascinating legal drama as well. Law shows of late have been bogged down with the Law and Order template and this show is a breath of fresh air. It’s a great summer watch and I hope they keep it around for another season. It airs on TNT. 

     Another great show for the summer is “Memphis Beat”. This show is in its second season on TNT and stars one of my favorite actors, Jason Lee as Dwight Hendricks. The show follows the police detective throughout the city of Memphis moonlighting as a local blues singer, with a deep love for his city and Elvis. The show has an ensemble cast that really ties the whole experience together. The show brings a new vibe to the standard police show.

     This summer also offers more new show yet to premier: Falling Skies (the new sci-fi drama staring Noah Wyle on TNT), Wilfred (FX’s story of a man who attempts suicide and then sees his new dog as a man), and Torchwood: Miracle Day (the remake of the hit BBC series) will be seen on Strarz. When most people are watching reruns of last season’s shows, I suggest checking out the new breed. You may find out, like I did, that summer is the new TV hotness.

The Prices Are Alright: Not The Brightest Day Edition

Green Lantern is unleashed on the masses, to punish us for enjoying logical film.

Here are the predictions!

Green Lantern:
Jaysun: 65 million
Richard: 57 million
Marshall: 60 million
Michael: 85 million
Chris: 70 million

Mr. Popper's Penguins:
Jaysun: 25 million
Richard: 22 million
Marshall: 23 million
Michael: 25 million
Chris: 20 million

Review: 'Green Lantern'

I've mentioned before that in reviewing a movie I think in terms of personal enjoyment, if I could recommend it to other people and if it was actually a 'good' movie; Warner Brothers' Green Lantern fails in all 3 counts unfortunately. It's a leaden, awkward and inconsistent mishmash of several elements that never even come within the same radius of each other, much less into anything resembling a coherent film.

More After The Jump.

Monday News: Tiny figures with pipes and hammers edition

It's been some time since I've done any news but there's more than a few good reasons for it, of that you can be sure. Anyway, we're slowly making the transition over to the new title of Planned Banter though having to squeeze time away from work to do business cards and e-mail addresses and what-have-you is not a fast process especially the second time around. That's not going to stop me from yakking about all the stuff on the show that can't really sustain a conversation outside of more than two of us though.

Well, they didn't goof off when it came to the collector's edition it seems

One of the most legendary pieces of Vaporware finally appeared in real life as every territory excluding the US has already seen the release of Duke Nukem Forever. It drops here on the 14th but so far, the reviews have not been exceedingly kind as you can see here, here and here [Source: Joystiq, PC Gamer and IGN]

If you're in the mood for some positive press about the Dukester, you can head over to either Newton Gimmick's site Infinite Hollywood or to Poe Ghostal for reviews of NECA's action figure of him. I'll probably get one at some point if not just to pilfer his cigar for my Marvel Legends Thing and Nick Fury figures. [Source: Infinite Hollywood and Poe Ghostal's Points of Articulation]

More After The Jump

UPDATE 2! The Prices Are Alright: Hidden Monster Update

We have FINAL numbers for the weekend, and new rankings after the jump.

'Super 8' Review (spoiler-free)

Who got this poster? The final we got was just the teaser with credits at the bottom.

This is Richard so everyone's clear on that fact; since we have other posts now I should probably start marking mine more clearly.

When I'm reviewing a movie I usually think about three questions. The first is "did I enjoy this personally?" The second is "would I recommend this to other people?" The third is "was it actually a good movie?" All of these qualities can sync up though they don’t necessarily have to; I’ve recommended plenty of movies I didn’t enjoy (Howl’s Moving Castle comes to mind) and hesitated to push ones I was thrilled by (Speed Racer). Super 8 sits somewhere directly inside of the triangle formed by these ideas: I enjoyed it, believe it to be a good movie but might hesitate to recommend it to other people. Click That "Read More" for...more.

Mii and U -- Michael's E3 Rebuttal

So, I've been following E3 this year a little sporadically. Honestly, I was interested in only one thing: Nintendo's "Project Cafe" ... now the WiiU. See, I'm a big Nintendo fanboy. I've always had Nintendo consoles and handhelds ... even when I probably shouldn't have. (*COUGH*Virtual Boy*COUGH*) So the rumors surrounding this new console had me all aTwitter.

Then, I watched the media presentation. Then I read Jaysun's article (as quite a few of you have, as well) Jaysun has some very valid points. But, overall, I disagree with his views on E3, so far. I'll take it system by system.

MICROSOFT


Okay. Really? This is where Jaysun and I are in total agreement. The Kinect heavy presentation was a bit of a letdown. With horrible acting. That's right, acting. Because this is all marketing, and instead of having people up there who might actually enjoy playing some of this stuff, they got people who would appeal to that game's target audience. I am not impressed. Halo 4? Meh. Halo: CE Anniversary Edition? Meh. GoW3? Meh. Here's the thing ... I'm not a fan of shooters. I could care less. Maybe some people are hyped, and more power to you. The trailers are very cinematic. The one thing that excited me? TV on my Xbox! So, I don't have cable. I have Hulu and Netflix. Primarily used through the Xbox (The PS3 has issues buffering ALL THE TIME on our internet for some reason). I catch a few games on ESPN for Xbox. Now, I may get to watch shows not currently on either of those services? SIGN ME UP! Also, apparently, not even mentioned in the presentation, Microsoft is adding cloud based storage for Gamertags and Saved Games. Awesome! The death of "Recover Gamertag"? I'm all for it. Talk about stuff like that, Microsoft. Instead of pimping Kinect Star Wars. *shudder*


SONY


Vita? I'm down with it. Especially since one of my favorite franchises of all time is getting a new life because of it. (Heh ... vita ... new life ... heh) ODDWORLD is BACK, BABY! Specifically, Stranger's Wrath, one of my all time favs! So excited. Beyond that? Well, I'll probably get a WiFi Vita. AT&T for the 3G? And, to be honest, 3G? Why not partner with someone for 4G? Someone who has ... um ... good reception? Anyway. To me, Sony underwhelmed. No real shockers for games. No announcements on long-awaited games. (Final Fantasty XIII Vs., anyone?) The Vita is a really solid portable ... but so was the PSP. What happened? There is something intangible that Sony just hasn't had in the past with handhelds. Maybe the Vita will change that. I'll still prefer my 3DS over it, even so.

NINTENDO


WiiU. Silly name, awesome concept. Here lies the major crux of my disagreement with Jaysun. His complaint is that they are talking about it way too early, with no tangibles to deal with. To an extent, I see his point. But, I'm okay with that. How many first party games by Nintendo are buggy? Very, very few. You know why? They test the hell out of their games. Alas, this does cause delays, or at the very least, announcements well ahead of when they should be. Yes, we are probably looking at a Spring/Summer 2012 release for the WiiU. (My reasoning for this is twofold -- firstly, early adopters will be able to build up hype for the system so that holiday sales will be ridiculous, and there are a plethora of games coming out Q2/Q3 that the WiiU will probably want to get in on.) But, in order for developers to have a good foothold on getting great games out for the WiiU in time for launch, I'm sure developer units  are getting sent out soon, if they already haven't been. And for those developers on the fence ... think of the possibilities! This announcement was about innovation. Nintendo has been at the forefront of gaming technology. Now, you have an entirely new way of playing. Again. Motion controls were so popular, both Sony and Microsoft got in on the action, after the Wii, which has not had the best lineup of third-party games, has sold a quadrillion units or so. You now have people who have never owned a video game console (or quit playing video games after the "grew up) have a Wii in their house. With the WiiU ... those hardcore gamers who sold their Wiis long ago may be enticed to come back. And the promo video definitely appeals to the casual gamer that made the Wii so popular. But, third-party support will be how this console lives or dies. We know that Darksiders 2 is supposed to be a launch title. Batman: Arkham City is coming to it. Assassin's Creed. Wooo! Sounds good! But I have a prediction. I'm throwing it out here, for you guys. Remember, you saw it here first! (If it's true. If not, just forget this ever happened.) Mass Effect 3 will be coming to the Wii U. And, I'd hazard a guess that ME 1&2 might too.

Anyway, I've gushed over Nintendo enough. But, that's how excited I got. And we've still got more E3 to go. Expect a wrap-up from the whole gang, soon.

Until then, see ya next Punday Night!

E3 Editorial: Folly of the Major Game Companies UPDATE!

Return of Jaysun:

To say E3 has been below my standards of expectations would be unfair. My personal life has taken a massive blow to a perception of natural enjoyment. But I can still see where the problem lies for major growth in the gaming market. And it's pretty major. I will go by each keynote for the big 3 companies and offer some brief thoughts on each.

More After The Jump Time...Click Away!

UPDATED! The Prices Are Alright: X's and b.O's Edition

X-Men: First Class hopes to magnetize the box office coinage this weekend from action fans disappointed by the lastest Pirates adventure. The previous two films were...not...well...received. So hopefully this attempt can revitalize this once mighty franchise.
Our predictions:

Richard: 68 million
Michael: 110
Marshall: 75
Chris: 95
Jaysun: 72

UPDATE!

Previous Scores and Rankings:
Jaysun: 930
Marshall: 919
Richard: 887
Chris: 849
Michael: 836
$55.1 Million. Let's look at  the old score board.

Richard: -26
Michael: -110
Marshall: -40
Chris: -80
Jaysun: -34

New Scores and Rankings:
Jaysun: 896
Marshall: 879
Richard: 861
Chris: 769
Michael: 726

Gap narrow between Marshall and Richard. Michael lost the same amount of points he estimated in millions. There is a special kind of irony in that. The movie opened on the same level as Inredible Hulk and Batman Begins. The two reboots that are its comparison. Next week we have Super 8, and Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer. The former Jaysun's most anticipated movie of the summer, the later Chris's most anticipated.

The Prices Are Alright: Post-Hangoverpocalypse update

This is Jaysun, I'm making a quick stop to update the game status, no analysis. My personal life is in disarray, so my input will be brief. I took a break from real prediction.

Opening Scores and Rankings:

Jaysun- 979

Marshall- 971

Richard- 953

Michael- 943

Chris- 932

Hangover 2

Richard: 98 million

Michael: 60 million

Chris: 70 million

Marshall: 66 million

Kung Fu Panda 2

Richard: 88 million

Michael: 92 million

Chris: 85 million

Marshall: 45 million

This is only for the 4 day, as Memorial Day is such a big box office holiday it is taken into account.

Actuals: Hangover Part II- 103 million

              Kung Fu Panda 2- 60 million

I will pull down my score so I'm not insanely ahead because this week we took a big dive.

New Scores and Rankings:
Jaysun: 930
Marshall: 919
Richard: 887
Chris: 849
Michael: 836

X-Men: First Class is the only new release next week. Maybe we get closer this time.