Keeping an Eye on: Kingdom Hearts HD, Iron Man 3 and Star Trek: Into Darkness

It’s been a while! I’ve been busy at work recently, and with the release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey this week, it’s going to be even busier for me! Expect a fopcused post on that film as soon as I see it, however, there are a few things I’ve been keeping an eye on recently and will continue to do so.

Also, I hope to have one more book/author review done before Christmas. The Dark Tower series post will be up in the New Year. It is already massive, so I’m working on condensing it right now!

Kingdom Hearts HD Collection

When I first encountered Kingdom Hearts, I wasn’t particularly enthused. I was in that awkward stage where Disney wasn’t cool but I loved Final Fantasy. Now that I’m older (and I like to think wiser), Disney is cool again and the announcement of a HD collection for this series excited me greatly, possibly more than any other gaming announcement I’ve heard this year – yes, even that of Guild Wars 2’s launch!

The game, a fusion of Final Fantasy style RPG and Disney characters was much better than I thought. It was a game with depth and the story was well crafted. There were things to do beside the story, and while it seemed too young for me then, the sequel was much darker and seemed to grow as the gamer did. I loved every minute of playing it, even on replays.

The collection, called Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX, is set for release on the PlayStation 3 in Japan only, but it won’t be long before it travels to other regions too, such is the popularity of the series. This collection will include Kingdom Hearts Final Mix, Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days cutscenes. The 1.5 in the title implies a second collection will be released with the second game, and I hope Birth By Sleep!

I can only hope it lives up to the expectations we all seem to have. Now, if we can get a Final Fantasy VII remake, I’ll be even happier!

Movies in May

May 2013 should be a good one, if nothing else but for two films: Iron Man 3 and Star Trek: Into Darkness. Both appear to have taken a very dark tone, inspired by The Dark Knight Trilogy, I reckon. 

I am a fan of the Marvel franchise – Disney has done a superb job in the “parental” role and I hope this continues as the films keep going. The Iron Man films are my favourites (other than the crossover film, but I was always going to love that one!) and I have very high hopes for the third instalment. Talking to some colleagues at work has made me think about the casting choice for Mandarin, but it is not as big of an issue for me. It is done and I can’t say it’ll be good or bad until I see it…six months from now! 

When Star Trek was released in 2009, it was one of the few films I was prepared to pay to see in a cinema. I’m a bit spoiled in that, having worked in a cinema for so many years, I hate paying to go to one. In the end, I blagged my way in and enjoyed it for free! I was pleasantly surprised. I couldn’t have told you what I expected but it surpassed anything I could have expected. Zachary Quinto as Spock was probably the best choice in my opinion. I was probably biased from his role in Heroes, but he made the character his own. Simon Pegg as Scotty was also a brilliant choice, and the inclusion of Leonard Nimoy as the original Spock gave the continuity that the film was lacking, even though it’s a reboot.  

I suspect that closer to the time, I’ll go into more detail about each of these but I am already overly excited. Six months is a long time to wait and it’s been even longer since I was this excited about a film, let alone two coming out in the same month!