The Download Munkey : Finder of Things …

Trailerfreaks.com recommended by commenter blob is one of those sites that you’ll most definitely find handy when you want to just download the trailer of major blockbuster films, without the hassle of actually figuring the actual download link like what I previously wrote about grabbing HD trailers off the web.

Trailer Freaks essentially does the hard work for you by compiling the direct download link for the latest movie trailers posted online at Yahoo! Movies, Apple’s Movie Trailers or the official movie sites so you can simply copy the link for your download manager or grab them directly via your browser quickly and conveniently.

Granted, you won’t find the greatest selection of trailers listed here i.e small indie/niche films don’t seem to get much love at Trailer Freaks but for the majority of big budget commercial films like Terminator : Salvation or the upcoming Transformers 2 : Revenge of the Fallen, this site should more than suffice

Download HD Movie Trailers from Trailer Freaks.

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When you first load up Watchmen : The End is Nigh, the first thing you’ll notice are the visuals – the game paints the world in the way Rorschach would see it – perpetually dark, grimy and thriving with depraved criminals. While it seems like a accurate depiction of Rorschach’s pessimistic ideas of human civilization, it doesn’t necessarily really translate to a believable or engaging world to play in.

Despite my initial skepticism with this game as with every other game spinoff from movies, Watchmen : The End is Nigh does have a few good points. The game delivers visceral action with meaty sounding impacts when your punches connect, especially when playing as Rorschach. His style of fighting is brutal and inelegant, yet ultimately provides more satisfying gameplay as compared to Nite Owl who throws his punches with much more finesse (and as a consequence, feels and sounds weaker).

Speaking of blood, the gory and over the top bloodletting from the movie gets carried over to this game too. I can’t say it’s a good thing but it seems that publishers think that gratitious bloodspilling is a selling point for action games nowadays – must be a sign of the times, eh?

Of course, the game isn’t without its faults. Even though the world is excellently rendered, there doesn’t seem to be any other living soul in there who’s not actively baying for your blood. It doesn’t help that every area that you have to clear for each chapter are populated by the same assortment of thugs.

Despite these flaws, Watchmen : The End is Nigh would be an enjoyable (if mindless) brawler if the enemies employed teamwork or group tactics instead of bunching up together or trying to hem you in from all sides and block your view. Occassionally, swirling melees like this one below do occur

The linear level design ensures you’ll probably only play the game once more as the other character and that’s it (to be fair, most games of this genre are this linear).

Nevertheless, do give the Watchmen : The End is Nigh demo a try if you’re into brawling action – it’s definitely enjoyable for the first couple of runs but the action gets repetitive rather quickly.

Download the The Watchmen : The End is Nigh demo.

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Wallpapers for the recent film adaptation of the Watchmen comics. A bit late but better late but never, right?

© Warner Bros Entertainment, Inc

I quite like the movie but found it to be a bit draggy at 163 minutes and felt that they should have cut out the sappy parts out between Silk Spectre II, Dr Manhattan and Nite Owl since they didn’t add much to the overall storyline (at least for the movie, I haven’t read the comics yet). Oh, you probably know by now that it’s another comic-to-film adaption of Alan Moore’s graphic novels (V for Vendetta, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen)

© Warner Bros Entertainment, Inc

Just got to love Rorschach though – it’s fascinating to watch a character so relentless, uncompromising and unflinchingly violent in pursuit of his idealized form of justice. There’s more downloadable movie posters like the one above over at the official Warner Bros site for the movie.

Some wallpapers from the original comics published by DC Comics.

© DC Comics

And let’s not forget the unofficial but still very cool Watchmen wallpaper featuring the Simpsonized characters from the comics by Dean Fraser of Springfield Punx.

Characters © DC Comics
Art © Dean Fraser

And while we’re at it, we might as well take a look for the wallpaper(s) for the spin-off game Watchmen : The End is Nigh. Expect to see my impressions of the demo very soon

© Warner Bros Entertainment, Inc

Download The Watchmen wallpapers from Watchmen movie site, Watchmen : The End is Nigh videogame site (under Media > More Watchmen), DC Comics and Springfield Punx

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Waltz with Bashir is an Israeli documentary about the 1982 Lebanon War which won Best Picture Award and 5 other Ophir awards from the Israeli Film Academy as well as the Best Animated Feature Film at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards last month. The film also features the work of the Israeli twins and artists, Tomer and Asaf Hanuka, together with Michael Faust and Ya’ara Buchman. First discovered Tomer Hanuka’s fabulous artwork from Brazilian art blog IdeaFixa and found some awesome art of the Merkava tank by Asaf Hanuka for Waltz With Bashir at their shared blog Tropical Toxic.

A mighty IDF Merkava tank crushes all in its path while traversing a narrow Lebanese street.

Frankly speaking, I don’t really know much about this film, so here’s the sypnosis from the official site.

One night at a bar, an old friend tells director Ari Folman about a recurring nightmare in which he is chased by 26 vicious dogs. Every night, the same number of beasts. The two men conclude that there’s a connection to their Israeli Army mission in the first Lebanon War of the early eighties. Ari is surprised that he can’t remember a thing anymore about that period of his life.

“Don’t you ever have flashbacks from Lebanon?”

“No.”

Intrigued by this riddle, he decides to meet and interview old friends and comrades around the world. He needs to discover the truth about that time and about himself. As Ari delves deeper and deeper into the mystery, his memory begins to creep up in surreal images.

Some additional captures from the theatrical trailer.

I don’t think it has been shown in Singapore yet – I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it will be shown in Singapore at the local box office or at least during one of the upcoming film festivals soon.

Visit the official site at waltzwithbashir.com or the Wikipedia or IMDb page for this film.

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I’ve been a big fan of Traveller’s Tales’ series of Lego games with the sole exception of Lego Indiana Jones – I didn’t like the muddy palette (khaki, brown and more brown) and the jumping puzzles were too frustrating for reflexively-challenged me. Most of the time spent playing the demo was helping Indy fall into bottomless chasms or exploring spike-filled pits while been chased by a giant boulder

Now, the Lego Batman demo is a different beast entirely. It’s an enjoyable romp through a bright and shiny Lego (Legoized / Legofied ?) Gotham City with excellently animated Lego minifigs of familiar characters from DC Comics’s Batman universe (and less of those bloody jumping puzzles). It doesn’t seem to be tied to any of the Batman films unlike the other Lego games for the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises which probably imposes less creative restrictions on the developers.

Lego Batman now sports Hero and Villain modes so that fans of supervillains like dastardly The Joker get to start off as the bad guys immediately rather than having to unlock them first after playing the good guys as in the Star Wars series. Batman is far less “goody-goody” than most typical superheroes but it’s a welcome addition nonetheless. An uzi-toting Joker and acrobatic Harley Quinn are yours to control in the demo.

Robin in his Magnet Suit

New suits which dynamically change the special abilities of your characters allow you to approach some of the puzzles in your adventures through Gotham City in multiple ways. Most puzzles still require that certain suits be worn in order to advance to the next area.

There’s also a new Batarang mode for the good guys which allows you to precisely target and hit distant opponents or objects. It’s something that works better on paper since not everything can be hit with the Batarang and the aiming is rather finicky at times.

The poor man’s batmobile

Top-notch animation : Batman shimmies across a rope with ease while Robin follows along in his clumsy Magnet Suit

Batman prepares to pound a petty thug into tiny Lego bits

As with Traveller Tales’ series of Lego games, Lego Batman manages to appeal to gamers of all ages, non-gaming fans of the Batman universe and Lego enthusiasts. The gameplay won’t exactly challenge any serious gamer but it’s entertaining and endearing (the Lego characters are surprisingly expressive despite the fact that they don’t even speak a single word in the game.)

The series is also highly addictive : I still remember replaying the Star Wars game multiple times to collect enough coins to unlock additional characters and goodies to play with)

I wonder what’s next in store for Traveller’s Tales and the Lego videogames. Since Batman is a Warner Bros license, another WB franchise (Harry Potter or even better, Lord of the Rings) might be already in the works for Traveller Tales. Let’s keep our fingers crossed

Download and play the Lego Batman demo.

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