Uh, wow.

So many of you probably liked Skyrim, but may have been let down by the climactic battle of the game which was…(spoiler) another dragon fight. Yay! Yes, it was in Sovengaarde and you have ancient Nord heroes helping you hack away at it, but there was still little that differed from past encounters.

Now THIS is what the climactic battle of Skyrim should have been. This seven minute short film shows an epic Skyrim battle between skeletons, wraiths, dwarves, undead dragons and a good and evil Dragonborn. It’s quite simply the most epic video I’ve ever seen to come out of the game, and the damn official mod tools aren’t even out yet. This is truly an amazing creation, and any fans of the game should appreciate it as much as I did.

It’s been a while since we’ve shown a particularly epic blockbuster trailer to spark discussion, and I thought this one would qualify. The first Amazing Spider-Man spot was largely introductory, but now this new trailer shows a great deal more of the reboot.

I like it, and not just because Andrew Garfield is the closest thing I have to a celebrity doppleganger. I’m already digging his character as a harder version of Tobey Maguire’s whiny, hapless Parker. You can never go wrong with Emma Stone, and I’m curious if they would have the balls to kill her off.

The CGI on The Lizard looks a touch sketch, but you never really get a clear view of him, so it’s hard to tell. Why do we hate actual costumes so much these days? Anyway, I think it could turn out well. What do you think?

by Zack Ruskin

[$9 Trailers is a feature that examines movie trailers, and judges how well (or poorly) they execute their job of making me want to shell out nine bucks to see them. I thought this one paired well with my review of Chronicle that went up earlier today]

While every movie trailer exists for one reason only, the methods employed to get viewers in theaters are as varied as the films they advertise. Some genres of film have such predictable trailer formulas that you can actually watch the scenes before they appear:

- Katherine Heigel is committed to her job
- She meets a guy that’s perfectly wrong for her
- Cue the sappy power ballad
- Heigel makes a sweeping generalization about love while standing in the rain
- Up pops the film’s title

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…but it is. It’s very real.

It’s an official trailer for The Phantom Menace developed specifically to aim the 3D re-release of the movie at children, who are quite literally the only target demographic who might actually be excited about it.

Before I hear the usual “So what? They’re marketing a kids movie to kids, and there’s nothing wrong with the fact Lucas wanted kids to like the new films.” Something being a “kids movie” is still NEVER an excuse for it being complete shit. The Lion King, Wall-E, Tangled, How to Train Your Dragon and more might all be “kids movies” but they’re still fantastically animated and written and can be enjoyed by all ages. A four year old might laugh at Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked, but does that mean it’s “good”? No, and the same four year old would likely laugh if you jangled keys front of him.

And the narration of this trailer is so above and beyond what you’d ever expect to hear in an official spot, you almost PRAY it’s a parody, but alas, it isn’t. Here’s to hoping the cash grabbing 3D re-release of the biggest cinematic disappointment in history somehow manages to lose money.

If Unreality took human form, and was a person that balanced nerdiness and coolness, I think that person might be one of our readers, David Hoang. You’ve seen him featured here many times, along with his very cute girlfriend Cin cosplaying a whole host of video game characters from Mortal Kombat to Killer Instinct to Street Fighter. Also, he has some pretty sweet dance moves.

Anyway, he’s now auditioning for a new Capcom show called Cross Assault. It’s based around Street Figher X Tekken, and chooses five people via audition videos for each side. This is David’s video, and without him even asking, I thought it was funny enough to feature.  He makes a better Ryu than almost any I’ve seen, and his Sagat friend is rather cool as well. And of course, you can’t beat that Chun-Li.

So yeah, watch the video like 500 times, thumbs up it, all that stuff, and it will help him stand out among the other entrants. Thanks.

If you’re somewhat close to my age, then you grew up in the late ’80s and early ’90s with a certain set of shows. Transformers, Thundercats, Masters of the Universe, Voltron and many, many more were all animated series that you followed religiously, and often shared elements of with each other.

A common theme was “the team.” A group of ordinary guys  (and girls) given giant mech suits that they fought monsters, aliens and robots in. Power Rangers, Voltron, etc. Well, in that spirit, for 2012 The Animation Workshop has created an entirely NEW series in that vein called “Space Stallions.”  It’s a parody of that type of show, and it captures all their tropes perfectly. You’ll definitely want to check it out above.

Thanks, Remy.

Skyrim is so popular these days, that even mainstream late night hosts can’t ignore it. That’s why on a recent episode of Conan, he devoted a segment to the game when it was revealed that Andy Richter actually did voices for the game. Well, not just voices, ALL the voices.

I’m not sure why, but it really makes me happy to see a game like this work its way onto a mainstream comedy show. That doesn’t happen nearly enough.

Also, if there was a mod to make this actually happen for every character, I would probably sink another fifty hours into the game trying to hear every line.

I’m not going to pretend that this is anything more than viral marketing, but I will say it’s the best damn bit of viral marketing I can remember seeing in years.

It’s a stunt for the movie teenager superhero flick Chronicle, where human shaped cut-outs were attached to RC planes and flown around NYC. The effect, as you’ll see, is quite incredible, and I’ll be damned if that wouldn’t have caught me off guard if I didn’t know what was going on.

Also cool to note is that Unreality guest writer TJ Fink was actually involved in crafting this project. And I hear Chronicle is pretty damn good to boot.

by TJ Fink

As anyone who has ever gone to a book reading can tell you, individual humans have the capacity for logical, critical thought. As anyone who has ever gone to a summer music festival can tell you, however, a lot of this logic gets tossed out the window when said individuals find themselves in large crowds.

This becomes a delicate balance for our nation’s advertising industry. Yes, they’re shilling products whose monetary success relies on mass consumption, but winning ads must also cater to the sensibilities of consumers on an individual level.

That said, I find myself getting unreasonably annoyed at certain commercials for technological products. There’s nothing particularly unique about these ad spots, I guess; they’re employing most of the same marketing strategies that have been around for decades.

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Alright, so sorry about my less than professional title there, but there are few things out there that truly make me giddy in the media anymore. A new Christopher Nolan movie, the next Mass Effect and of course, Game of Thrones.

We’ve seen a few teasers for season two so far, but this minute long spot is the best one so far, and it quite literally sent chills up my spine when I watched it. I’m unbelievably excited for it to come back, and April 1st seems like a thousand years away.

“Even a small man can cast a very large shadow…”