fifth-element
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WoW Moviewatch: Tunnel Snakes Rule
When that Fallout video turned out to be a hoax, Pudricks channeled his disappointment into this bizarre video about dancing gnomes. I can't help but notice some Soosdonian overtones to this gnome feature, but that could just be the subject matter. Since this is the first non-raid video from the maestro behind the Fifth Element videos, I was obviously excited. I think everything about this video exceeds expectations, and I'll admit to dancing along with these Gnomeregan denizens. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
WoW Moviewatch: Belligerent Immersus
Observant players may have noted we haven't seen any wild and crazy introductions to raid videos out of Fifth Element lately. That would be because the creators of these remarkable videos have since moved on to a different rading guild called Belligerent. Luckily for all of us, they have begun making more boss kill videos with clever intros for their new guild, beginning with the video for Immersus shown above. Like the other kill videos, the intro for Immersus takes a shot at recreating an opening sequence -- this time, the film Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters. While I've never seen the film in question, when watching a side by side of the video above and the opening titles for the movie, they match up perfectly. I'm pretty excited that Buffmonk and Pudrick are still around and still making films, even if it's for a different guild -- and I can't wait to see what they whip up for the rest of the Siege of Orgrimmar. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
WoW Moviewatch: Batman Beyond Twin Consorts
It's a little-known secret that Batman Beyond remains one of the best Bat-reimaginations we've seen. Clinging to continuity with a tenuous but resilient grasp, Batman Beyond captures some of the best bat-themes and bat-ideas. You can imagine my thrill when I saw Fifth Element's bat-video, Batman Beyond Twin Consorts. With the same sense of excitement and flair they bring to all their videos, the raiding team of machinima gives Terry a whole new spin. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
WoW Moviewatch: WildCats: Iron Qon
It's the return of Fifth Element with an homage one of the most... niche cartoons of the last 20 years. You either loved the WildCats or you hated them. Or, maybe, you didn't notice them. Regardless, Fifth Element reached deep into the caves of creativity and translated its unique rap opening into the intro to an Iron Qon video. So, here we have it: one last hope at redemption for WildCats. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
WoW Moviewatch: Lord of War Durumu
I hate to think that Fifth Element will run out of bosses to kill. Their raid trailers have become legend, and I look forward to new content just so that we might never run out of these amazing videos. This opening is styled after the iconic opening to Lord of War. Fifth Element did an astounding job of recreating the effect in WoW. This opening will go on my list of top videos for 2013; it's simply that good. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
WoW Moviewatch: Gargoyles: Ji-Kun
Fifth Element keeps on delivering. This time, their opening portrays the crack raid team as those legendary Gargoyles. These videos are like taking a long, pleasant drink of nostalgia lemonade on a warm summer Saturday morning. My hat is continually off to these guys for the mind-blowing animations and non-stop awesomeness. It's really amazing. It's simply a bonus that they killed Ji-Kun in the last pull of the night. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
WoW Moviewatch: Fallout - Megaera
Here's another incredible video from Fifth Element. This time riffing on Fallout, the 2 minute intro features all the nostalgic awesome you could possibly want. I'm continually impressed by how these guys manage to kick out these amazing videos, one after another. This video features a special treat. If you keep an eye on the wall posters, you can spot a shout out to this article by Brian Wood. So, Fifth Element may agree that, "Yes, beast mastery can raid." Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
WoW Moviewatch: TMNT: Tortos
It looks like Fifth Element laid low the boss known as Tortos, and they've created another astounding video to celebrate. Their machinima continues to be as amazing as ever. And while I could go on and on about how much I loved this video, I think I'll just quote Anne Stickney: This is EVERYTHING I EVER WANTED TO SEE OUT OF A TORTOS KILL VID Also, bonus points for the use of Vanilla Ice. Go ninja, go ninja, go! Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
WoW Moviewatch: Dinosaucers: Horridon
Those mad geniuses from Fifth Element are back with Dinosaucers: Horridon. Not only do I thoroughly love all of the animation in this video, but it brought me some real validation. I'd started to worry that I was the only person who remembered my beloved Dinosaucers. Clearly, that isn't the case. I don't know how the creator kicks these out so quickly. However he manages it, we're lucky to have him injecting some new creative blood into the scene. Now that I've said that, he'll probably wander off to pasture... but I plan on enjoying every moment until that happens. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
WoW Moviewatch: Fifth Element Skyrim
I've turned into a Fifth Element fan. No, not the movie. I'm talking about the guild that keeps kicking out these amazing raid videos. This one's for Jin'rokh and the opening is obviously based on Skyrim. And while I'm obviously mostly obsessively rewatching the opening of the video, I have to admit the music choice for the raid itself is electrifying. So kick back, pop open a cold one, and get your fus-ro-dah on. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
All the World's a Stage: So you still want to be a Shaman
This installment of All the World's a Stage is the twenty-first in a series of roleplaying guides in which we find out all the background information you need to roleplay a particular race or class well, without embarrassing yourself. There's something about shamans that gets us thinking and talking. Whether it's something as simple as the proper pronunciation of "shamanism," or something as profound as a shaman's humility in relation to the source of his or her power, the lore and ideology of the shaman class often resonates with players more than many others in the World of Warcraft.One reason for this is that shamans have been such a pivotal force in the lore, possibly more than any other class in the game (depending on your point of view). Other classes, such as warriors, or paladins, come as a sort of pre-defined archetype in fantasy games that don't seem all that different from their original forms in other fantasy settings. The actual beliefs of a priest, for instance, don't seem to matter so much to many players, so long as the class can heal like we expect them to. Even the druids, with their central place in night elf society, sometimes seem more like nature-based magic users rather than true philosophers in their own right.Shamans, however, have a major burden to bear in one of the central plot shifts of the Warcraft storyline -- namely that the orcs, who entered the Warcraft stage in the Warcraft 1: Orcs and Humans computer game as rampaging demonic evildoers bent on destruction, and actually turned out to be a peaceful race that just got tricked into being evil. Shamanism had to be much much more than just an archetype with some special powers -- it had to be a way of thinking, a system of belief that could be taken over by demonic corruption and yet at the same time act as a beacon of truth and goodness once that the demonic taint had been defeated. Shamanism has got to be complex and profound, or else the story wouldn't make sense.
Totem Talk: Totem Consolidation and Totem Expansion
If you read the site (and if you don't read the site you're not reading this now, so I suppose it doesn't matter) then you may have seen yesterday's minimalist beta build notes and the relative storm of comments they created. If not, and if you're terribly opposed to clicking a link, I'll go over the basics. See how much I love you? Well, no, not that way. I'm married. Anyway, the basic gist of it is simple enough. In buffing the Stoneclaw totem so that it protects other totems (a clearly PvP oriented buff, as totems are rarely targeted by mob AI) a small problem has been quickly discerned by shamans everywhere. We shamans are very, very fast at seeing potential pitfalls. And this one is a relative doozy. In PvP, you will often drop Tremor Totem, as it is the only way for a shaman to prevent being feared or charmed. If you're not dropping that, you'll probably drop Strength of Earth for the boost to strength and agility, popular stats among the physical DPSers. And recently Earthbind was stated to be getting a buff that clears snares and roots.So far this all looks pretty good, I'm sure. The problem is, these are all earth totems. So if you want to try and shield your precious torso... er, totems... from damage, or keep yourself from being feared all over the battleground or arena, or clear those pesky roots and snares, or buff your friendly face smashers you can't. You can only do one. Which will it be, shamans?So what, you may say? Other classes have to choose which buffs they can have. Warriors can't provide commanding shout and battle shout at the same time. Paladins don't get ret aura and devo aura at the same time. Having to choose what totems you drop is what seperates shaman players from bots that just thunk down the same totems all the time.
Remastered Fifth Element Blu-ray disc finally shines
We can imagine quite a few Fifth Element faithful were ready and willing to hand over MSRP in order to take home one of the first Blu-ray copies of the quasi-cult classic, but the overwhelming response from those hoping for the best was nothing short of unpropitious. Thankfully for those still hanging on for some type of retribution, Sony announced that it would be exchanging the original copies out with fresh, remastered iterations just as soon as the cleaner, smoother, and more BD-worthy version went gold. Of course, it'd be awfully good to know whether to waste your time with such a process if the new flavor was just a minor upgrade, and we're quite relieved to hear from HighDefDigest that Sony nailed it this time around. From the overall image quality improvement to the unexpected addition of a Dolby TrueHD audio track, the differences were more than noticeable to the discerning eye, so if you managed to save yourself from snagging the subpar edition the first go 'round, it looks like the updated cut may actually be worth your while.
Blu-ray movie releases for the week of July 16
This summer has been a little dry on the Blu-ray release front, but we get a pretty decent batch this week. The most interesting movie is probably the remastered Fifth Element release; a move by Sony to help appease critics who dinged the initial release for poor visual quality and compression artifacts. In a rare move, they're also allowing the people who originally purchased the movie to send it in and get the new updated version for free. The Fifth Element (Remastered) Premonition Wild Things: Unrated Edition Waiting... Unrated and Raw Other releases include an unrated version of the sex and drama packed cult classic Wild Things, the Ryan Reynolds comedy Waiting (another unrated treatment), and the Sandra Bullock mystery Premonition. Not exactly a bunch of the most high-brow movies ever, but good fun all in all. What are you going to check out this week?
Fifth Element Blu-ray exchange program details announced
Considering what a mythical reference title The Fifth Element was when released on DVD (and Superbit, and Laserdisc!), it was surprising to see it reviewed as just another softly-focused, dirty, and scratchy launch title for Blu-ray. Many reviewers and fans complained about the lackluster MPEG-2 encoding, and the general poor quality of the transfer. Sony has announced details and contact information about a plan to exchange the first -- now discontinued -- batch of Blu-ray Discs for the remastered edition, due to be released in July. The new version is a new 1080p transfer from a different master, and includes Dolby TrueHD as well as uncompressed PCM audio. It will also be encoded in MPEG-4 AVC, which will hopefully show off the improved compression of the newer codec. Quite an olive branch from Sony for those who have already picked it up, and a show of good steps toward making Blu-ray titles the best they can be. Now the question remains, how many of the other initial MPEG-2 Blu-ray titles will be remastered like this?
Trade in the junky Fifth Element Blu-ray for the remastered one!
Did you get suckered into thinking that the coolest Blu-ray movie to get upon the PS3's inception was the incredibly colorful and flashy film The Fifth Element, only to realize upon viewing that it actually didn't have an impressive transfer at all? This blogger did. But at PS3 Fanboy, we strive to learn from our mistakes and pass the information gained onto you all. So, you may be happy to know that the folks at Blu-ray headquarters (if such a thing exists) are ready and willing to trade in those old Fifth Element Blu-rays and send you a fresh copy of a newly remastered and much improved version.The new version is getting released on July 17th, complete with AVC encoding, two lossless/uncompressed audio tracks (the original PCM track as well as a 20-bit Dolby TrueHD track), and an overall cleaner, crisper video presentation. Sony is taking it upon themselves to get your name and address so they can contact you closer to the release date in order to dole out information how you'll go about exchanging your old movie for the new one. We'll give you the contact info below, but have your name, address, and phone number ready to be imparted to Sony whichever path you choose. USA phone: 800-860-2878 Email: consumer@sphecustomersupport.sony.com Thanks, Sony!
The Fifth Element on Blu-ray to be remastered
Not even the most devout Blu-ray fanboy would argue that Blu-ray got off to a good start. Sony was responsible for the initial movie push and many of their titles looked like they were transfered from film in an alley. The one title that stood out among the rest -- as bad -- was The Fifth Element, because many of us had previously enjoyed this title on an HD movie channel and the quality was so good that it left an impression. When the title was announced on Blu-ray, many were very excited to own such a great looking HD movie, but then were very disappointed by almost every aspect of the Blu-ray disc. Well, it finally seems that Sony is ready to admit its mistake and re-release the title on July 17th, but hopefully they'll do it right this time. Of course this does nothing for everyone who bought the first version, but hey what do you expect? **There have been reports from a Sony insider that there will be an "informal exchange program", more details will follow when available.
