This isn’t a review per se of the recently released direct-to-DVD animated feature as it’s a little difficult to dissociate myself from the comic book it’s based it on and look at it objectively. There are, however, a number of things that sprung to mind as I watched the movie that I feel are worth discussing.

The first and foremost thing I noticed is that this adaptation of Darwyn Cooke’s story loses a lot of character because of the removal of internal monologues. These internal speeches are an important element that’s inherent of superhero comics and Darwyn Cooke uses them to great effect in DC: The New Frontier to explore these characters and to really get in their head as they react to these fantastical elements they are presented with, such as Hal Jordan trying to make sense of how his power ring works soon after Abin Sur relinquishes it. These elements don’t translate very well to film and the story loses a lot of emotional impact because of this. This is visible early on when Hal Jordan lands in the trench with the Korean soldier and is forced to kill to ensure his survival. It’s an intense read in the comic as Hal tries to figure out how to deal with the situation but it ends up being rather bland in the animated feature. Another good example is towards the end when Barry Allen/The Flash starts to cover The Centre with light from Ray Palmer’s device where he ends up looking perhaps a little less heroic than he did in the comic book.

Since I’m comparing scenes nearly side-by-side here, I think this is a good point as any to mention that the movie is very faithful to its source material, as long as you acknowledge and accept the fact that it’s called Justice League: The New Frontier and not DC: The New Frontier. What this means is that the focus here is given almost entirely to the Justice League side of the story and that a lot of cuts were made to the “big picture” originally presented in DC: The New Frontier. The Losers are not there, the Challengers of the Unknown are not there, John Henry is barely mentioned (sorry, ‘Duf), and so on and so forth. They mix characters and events if needed (Hal Jordan goes to space instead of the Challengers) so as to not create plotholes but what is left is very close to what is presented in Cooke’s novel, sometimes even word by word. I did feel like the mystery of The Centre was driving the story for a while though, instead of it being completely character driven where The Centre ends up pulling all the different elements together like it did in the comic. And, of course, the 70+ minute run time ends up hurting the movie as it jumps from event to event with no pauses and little character development. It’s almost like the movie is trying to hit all the beats in the story without worrying about the character aspect of it, which was such a big part in DC: The New Frontier.

The last thing I want to discuss is perhaps of less importance and has less relevance to the project as a whole but it’s something that, just as it was in the Justice League animated series, I’ve come to notice time and time again: The Flash cannot be accurately represented in any sort of film medium. The concept of a man traveling at the speed of light is almost too abstract to work in a medium where time, real world time, is of such importance. In film, the director handles exactly how and when you receive information whereas in comics it’s ultimately more up to the reader to interpret as a single panel can take place in a year’s worth of time or just a single second. In Justice League: The New Frontier, they attempt to show how fast the The Flash is by slowing down time for every else and letting him move in-between what look like statues of human beings. In the end though, all that’s doing is showing how fast The Flash is relative to regular people. They’re not showing just how fast The Flash really is. The Flash, I guess, is ultimately a concept that works best in comic books.

That’s pretty much how I felt about DC: The New Frontier as a whole after watching this movie: just like Watchmen before it, it’s a story that was made for comics and one that ultimately works best when it stays in comics. The animation is passable, the music is passable, the voice acting is really solid as usual (thank you, Andrea Romano) and the story works but I wouldn’t recommend it to everyone. If anything, I’d recommend DC: The New Frontier and then, if you liked that, come back and check out this movie to see how it holds up to one of the greatest superhero stories released in recent years.

I got to see an advanced screening of Michel Gondry’s latest film Be Kind Rewind last night. Once again, Gondry impresses me with his ability to turn the incredibly dire situations in his movies into moments of mixed triumph and quiet understanding that things really will turn out OK – and even if they don’t, that’s fine too. This time is ours to enjoy.

All of the characters in this movie come off as real and sincere. Mos Def is a great actor that really shines here. Even Jack Black with is over the top acting style seems more real in this setting. Danny Glover, like other aging actors, seems to be getting better with age.

What I really like about what this movie accomplishes is that it is funny and heartwarming without wandering into becoming a spoof. It doesn’t even reference these movies for cheap throw away jokes (See just about any Kevin Smith movie.) The funny moments that come aren’t jokes about these films, they are jokes about making movies and having fun in the process.

Gondry has worked in some very impressive visuals that might slip by many viewers, but they add to a framework that keeps the film light hearted without being slapstick. The final master work of the community in Be Kind Rewind is a beautiful piece of cinema that we only catch a glimpse of, but each short scene brings with it a glimpse of the surreal.

Be Kind Rewind is a much more accessible film than The Science of Sleep, but it doesnt lack the heart and emotional strength. It is not without social commentary on the state of copyright law, either.

In short, “Heres to movies with heart.”

As much as I understand the importance of writing a review based solely on a video game’s own merits and accomplishments, I find it very difficult to talk about Devil May Cry 4 without first mentioning the previous game in the franchise, Devil May Cry 3.

To put it bluntly, I think DMC3 has the most enjoyable, open and flexible combat system out of any other action game out there. Look no further than the combos videos of the game, something usually associated with fighting games, sprinkled around YouTube and the web. Whereas Ninja Gaiden is strictly dial-a-combo, DMC3 lets you cancel nearly any move into another. As you progress through the game, you eventually gather 5 Devil Arms (melee weapons) and 5 Ranged Weapons (guns) and you can carry two of each and switch between them in real time, essentially doubling your move list and the ways in which you can dispose of your enemies. You also pick a “style” at the beginning of each mission which only affects the use of one button yet it strongly changes how you play the game from being able to block to dashing maneuvers to having more attacks with either your guns or your swords. Needless to say, the variety and experimentation than comes with having so many tools in your hands is nearly unrivaled in the action genre.

So why is this important when talking about Devil May Cry 4? Well, a good sequel must remain true to the original game but still expand upon the concepts introduced therein. It’s important to mention DMC3 to more easily see where DMC4 fails in this regard.

At the outset of DMC4 you’re put in the hands of Nero. He looks and plays very much like Dante, the main character in the previous games, so if you’ve played a DMC game before you’ll feel right at home with him. He does bring something new to the table in the form of his Devil Bringer arm which, among other things, allows you to execute a powerful throw on any enemy. It works as a third element in combat alongside your gun and melee weapon and it’ll grow on you, especially the ability to pull enemies towards you. The use of your gun however, is quite dimished because of this and most of the time you’ll be fighting up close though they do throw a couple of enemies that need to be shot first which is nice and keeps your gun from being completely useless. The first few missions of the game are a blast as you get more and more accustomed to your devil arm and the Exceed system which allows you to charge up your sword to release a more powerful strike. The level design is typical Devil May Cry fare which means there’s beautiful architecture and slight backtracking inside levels. But then as you reach Mission 4 or 5, the first big issue rears its ugly head when you realize that you still haven’t gotten any new weapons.

It’s not that Nero’s sword, gun and Devil Bringer don’t offer a lot of options, especially as you purchase new moves and learn to implement them in combat, but there is this feeling of repetitiveness that starts to creep into the game the further you go along. It’s disappointing because the aforementioned DMC3 gave you your very first new weapon at the end of Mission 3. Unfortunately, this lack of new elements to experiment with continues well into the game until you receive Yamato (which isn’t really a weapon as it only unlocks your Devil Trigger form which allows for more powerful strikes) and even drags on to Mission 11 where things just go completely downhill in the game.

It’s at this point that you stop using Nero and switch over to Dante and it’s here that you start to see some huge development issues in the game. Dante starts off with his two pistols, Ebony and Ivory, his sword and a shotgun and you gain two melee weapons and one gun by the time you switch back to Nero at the end of Mission 18. You also get access to all 4 of the styles available in DMC3 and you’re able to freely switch between them in real time via your D-Pad. These styles, great as they were in DMC3, are directly copy and pasted from that game which gives DMC4 a big feeling of déjà vu the moment you get your hands on Dante. The feeling of déjà vu doesn’t stop there as Dante’s moveset is very similar to the one in DMC3, much more limited compared to Nero’s in spite of being able to change styles midfight and the first melee weapon you gain is an exact copy of Beowulf from DMC3. The biggest offender however, is that you’re forced to backtrack through all the levels that you played through as Nero with Dante, including bosses. This manner of artificially extending play time has been seen before but when half of the game if recycled you’re just being slapped in the face by the developer.

There is a saving grace in the whole Dante section though and it’s both Lucifer and Pandora. Pandora is the 3rd gun you get for Dante and it’s easily the one you’ll want to stick with for the remainder of the game. It’s basically a briefcase from hell that can transform in many different forms (666 according to the description though you only really get a handful) including a missile pod that you actually sit on as you fire rockets all over the place. It’s brilliant, it’s inventive and it’s just a blast to experiment with. Lucifer, on the other hand, is the 3rd melee weapon you get for Dante and it’s basically an infinite dagger dispenser. You constantly throw these daggers out, albeit with a limited range, and those that hit the enemy will stick on him until they eventually explode after a few seconds. Those that miss will keep floating in the air until they explode and you can call any and all daggers that haven’t exploded back at any time and launch them all towards the enemy in one fell swoop. You can also detonate every single dagger around with a simple command move. Stabbing an enemy with a dozen or so daggers and them seeing fly up in the air as you detonate every single one of them is as good as video gaming gets.

And that’s when you realize how great this game could’ve been. I don’t understand how a game that’s been in development for over two years can end up with so little content. Some bosses you fight three times, you have to replay half the stages and Dante is basically a copy and paste job based on DMC3 Dante. The game does have a nice difficulty spike as later enemies and bosses will force you to slow down a bit and the graphics can be pretty inspired at times. The music and story are serviceable, though they did manage to find a nice middle ground between the silliness of DMC3 and an actual video game story that doesn’t make you laugh at how bad it is . A few more levels, a couple more bosses, a couple new weapons for Nero and getting rid of Dante altogether. That’s all this game needed to be great. As it stands, it’s merely half a game that falls very short of the bar set by DMC3 and is not worth more than a rental.

Final Score: 6.5/10