May 10 2012
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Movies, Reviews

popOmatic Reviews: The Avengers (Spoiler Free)

The Avengers made box office history last weekend as it destroyed the previous record for the Highest Grossing Opening Ever. The movie earned $207.4 million, which is over $30 million more than the previous record set by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, which made $169.2 million in its opening weekend. I contributed $14.50 (two matinée tickets) to The Avengers $207.4 million haul and I consider that money well spent.

Here is my spoiler free look at the movie.

The Avengers is the culmination of Marvel’s last few years of summer-time, super-hero movies, which technically started with the end of The Incredible Hulk (2008). In addition to The Hulk, we have seen Iron Man, Thor and Captain America star in their own movies with members of S.H.I.E.L.D. (a secret government organization), led by Nick Fury, making appearances in all these movies. The Avengers finally reveals S.H.I.E.L.D.’s plan to create a team of super-heroes to save the planet from Thor’s brother Loki.

In addition to the super-heroes mentioned above, The Avengers team also includes two humans with insane combat skills–Black Widow and Hawkeye–along with members of S.H.I.E.L.D. That’s a lot of scene-grabbing characters to put in one movie and the movie could have been a real mess if it wasn’t for the super-directing/writing talents of Joss Whedon. Whedon brings all these characters together without downplaying their individuality. Heading into the movie, I was worried that it would feel like an Iron Man movie with additional characters (like the Batman movies) but it didn’t. This was without a doubt, an Avengers movie.

If you haven’t seen The Avengers yet, get your ass to the movies this weekend and see it. There are two end-credit scenes so don’t leave the theater until the credits are done and feel free to ask me who that is in the first end-credit scene because I did my research on him as soon as I got home from the movie last week.

For more movie and Avengers chatter, follow me on twitter @JeffMMcKinney

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May 09 2012
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Video Games

Zombie Tycoon 2: Brainhov’s Revenge

Earlier this week, at the first “PlayStation <3 Canada” event (whatever that is), Frima Studio announced the development of Zombie Tycoon 2: Brainhov’s Revenge for PS Vita and PS3. This is a sequel to the 2009 PSN game, Zombie Tycoon.

Here’s some info from the official press release:

“Brainhov’s Revenge steps up the hilarious, irreverent RTS gameplay of the original with an array of new zombies, sharper graphics and multiplayer Cross Play capability.

In addition to providing hours of zombie blasting fun, Zombie Tycoon 2 will ambitiously tackle one of the biggest debates in pop culture, pitting classic, shambling zombies against Dr. Brainhov’s new breed of frantic, über-fast undead to open an entirely new dimension of gameplay.

The release also mentions Cross Play on the PS3 and Vita. Sounds rad!

Brainhov’s Revenge is expected to launch in early 2013 and as long as the Mayans are wrong about the world ending in December, I’ll definitely check it out.

For more zombie-blasting fun, follow me on twitter, @JeffMMcKinney

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May 08 2012
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Current Events

Google’s Self-Driving Car Heading to Vegas

Nevada, where people go to party and bury corpses in the desert, just issued the first license for a fully automated car. Nevada’s DMV has determined that Google’s Self-Driving car is safe for testing on public streets as long as there are at least two humans in the cars when driving.

Google’s self-driving cars use GPS and a laser radar system to detect obstacles, other cars and people in the street. Passengers in the car can instantly take control by touching the brake pedal. For the upcoming street tests, one person will have to sit in the passenger seat while another monitors a computer screen that displays the car’s route and real-world obstacles on the road.

If all goes well, it’s probably just a matter of time until these cars replace human-driven cabs everywhere.

Here is video of one of Google’s cars in action.

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May 07 2012
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Movies

Weekend Box Office: We Have A Hulk

Via The Play Forum (Cause I write there also):

You will never guess what movie took the #1 spot at the box office over the weekend and no, it wasn’t Celine & Julie Go Boating (that’s a real movie, look it up). It was The Avengers!

The Avengers opening at #1 wasn’t a surprise–everyone knew it was going to happen–but what is astonishing is the box office record that the super-hero flick set by earning more that $200 million. That astronomical domestic take easily secured the title of highest grossing opening weekend ever. That honor was held by Harry Potter And the Deathly Hallows Part 2, which made close to $170 million in it’s opening weekend last summer.

The Avengers also set records for Marvel as it soared past Marvel’s previous highest grossing opening - Iron Man 2‘s $128 million. Opening weekend aside, The Avengers will likely continue to break records as it will remain relatively unchallenged at the box office until Battleship opens on May 18th. The other thing that The Avengers has going for it is that it’s really good. I saw it over the weekend and loved it and audiences everywhere are saying the same thing, which means this movie should see a lot of repeat viewers and continued buzz.

Did you see The Avengers over the weekend? If you haven’t and are planning to see it, make sure you sit through the entire run of end credits because there are two secret end-credit scenes. Find out if the movie is ok to take your kids to by reading our Family Film Critic’s review of the movie, here.

Some other movies were showing over the weekend including The Hunger Games, which interestingly returned to the top 3 (it was #4 last weekend). Here is a look at the Top 10 for the weekend of May 4 – 6, 2012:

1. Marvel’s The Avengers ($200,300,000)
2. Think Like a Man ($8,000,000)
3. The Hunger Games ($5,700,000)
4. The Lucky One ($5,510,000)
5. The Pirates! Band of Misfits ($5,400,000)
6. The Five-Year Engagement ($5,100,000)
7. The Raven ($2,508,000)
9. Chimpanzee ($2,395,000)
10. The Three Stooges ($1,800,000)

Hey, are you on Twitter? So am I! Lets follow each other, @JeffMMcKinney.

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May 04 2012
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Current Events, Music

RIP MCA

MCA died today. The cause was cancer. In tribute, here is one of my favorite Beastie Boys songs, So What Cha Want.

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