MUSIC: PHOTOS: HOPE AND ANCHOR THURSDAY MAY 10TH 2012

Last Thursday I went to the Hope and Anchor in Upper Street Islington to watch some bands. Was a great night all the bands done a fantastic job and it was another great night organized by Nightshift Promotions. Check out Nightshift Promotions by clicking here to see whats coming up in the future. This promotion does great nights, with great talented bands and the entry fee is great value for money. Here are the band photos click the band names to check them out also. Hopefully should be playing some of them on my upcoming metal show.

F.S.I

SONIC MASS

BLIND HAVOK

THE DAY OF LOCUSTS

GAMING: MAX PAYNE 2: THE FALL OF MAX PAYNE PS2

NOTE: THIS IS A REVIEW OF THE PS2 VERSION. I RECENTLY PLAYED THE XBOX VERSION AND IT WAS REALLY GOOD. K ROD

When reviewing old school video games I like to do it as if I am reviewing fine wines and vintage ones at that. Some vintage games age very well and sometimes even get better with age. Games like Super Mario Brothers 3, Street Fighter 2, Sonic the Hedgehog, Tetris, Resident Evil 2, GTA Vice City and so on.

The first Max Payne game is also a game which has aged very well and is an undisputed classic shooter, which was very innovative and a blast to play. However Max Paynes 2003 sequel was no where near on par. This statement may make fans of the series burst in to fits of rage but please hear me out.

I bought the original Max Payne for the PC when it was released in 2001 and thoroughly enjoyed playing through it. Yeah there were parts of the game which sucked like dodgy plat-forming and horrendous dream sequences that went on for far too long, but I let that pass as this was a new ground breaking video game.

With the upcoming release of Max Payne 3 I decided to play through the second game as I had never done so before. I was expecting a much greater game than the first which would add new elements and remove the ones which were detrimental to its predecessor. When I started to play through the first few levels I was enjoying it and then disaster struck. It seems that not only have Rockstar left the annoyances of the first game in this latest outing but have even added a few more.

The horrendous plat-forming (which really harmed the first game) has returned yet again. Max can only jump like 1 feet in the air and with the tiniest of tickles to the analog stick you will be plummeting constantly to your doom.. unless you saved. The saving option in this game is horrendous also. In the first game there were autosave check points but no option to save when ever you like. In this outing the autosave check points are gone and manual saving is the way to do it. So if you have blasted away through a large part of the story untouched and then you fall to your doom, unless you have saved you will have to start from the beginning. Also during one point of the game saving actually rendered my game un-winnable  where I had saved the game just as I was about to walk into a trap.

I had to start over and use multiple save states to progress through the game and found myself having to constantly save all the time which really spoiled the flow of the game.

The games graphics are top notch for 2003 standards and yeah a lot of the enemies all look the same but thats nothing to moan about really. The sound however is a very lazy effort as 90% of the sounds in the game have just been re-used from the first game. Every person dies with the same annoying ouch and for a game this recent it is a pathetic effort. Even Wolfenstein 3d had more death cries than this!

One good thing is that the annoying dream sequences from the first game have been removed which was something I was pleased about. The games story line starts off good but nose dives from there to a conclusion which really does not give the game or the series any decent closure like the first game did. After completion you kinda feel like you shouldnt have even bothered in the first place.

When the game was originally released it was reviewed 9.4 by one of the biggest gaming websites. Playing this game almost 10 years later it really seems like more of a chore than a gem. This game has not aged well what so-ever and yeah I will play the next game in this series when it comes out but this one sucked. 

GAMING: SOPRANOS ROAD TO RESPECT PS2

I like to go to second hand stores and buy old video games for next to nothing. Being someone who owns almost every console ever made its always a win win situation picking up decent games for a cheap price. I recently picked up The Sopranos Road to Respect on Playstation 2 for like £2 or something in that price range.

Being a huge fan of the Sopranos TV show and crime based video games in general I thought I would give it a go and see how it would pan out. The games story line is set in-between seasons 5 and 6 of the TV show and tells the story of Big Pussy's son Joey moving his way up in the ranks of the family.

For a video game story line it is quite well told and keeps you interested the whole way through. The entire story (and game) is not very long and I did manage to play through it in a matter of hours. I don't see that as a bad thing though as some of my favorite games of all time like Resident Evil and Metal Gear Solid can be done in the same amount of time if you know what your doing.

The gameplay of this game is quite surprising and goes down the route of a button bashing beat em up instead of the GTA route like The Godfather did. In fact shooting people will only end up making you lose the game. I only had to use my gun like 3 times through the entire game.

The game controls are very poor and if you find your self surrounded by two or more enemies you have no choice but to button bash for dear life, as they just hammer you to the point where you cant even move. There are certain hotspots where you can grapple enemies into torture situations but getting the enemies into the designated area becomes a long drawn out affair. In THQ's video game of the Punisher this was much easier to do and the objects of interaction had much more imagination. In this game however there will be a circular saw in a room for no reason and other unrelated props just slotted in for lack of creativity.

The shooting and aiming on this game is very poor, as it takes about 6 shots to finally down an enemy, and the shot gun has no aim what soever and you kinda just have to point you character in which way you want the bullets to go. Also during hand to hand combat mode there is no way of locking on to enemies and you will find your self constantly missing punches and melee attacks

The visuals on the game are great and are the best that PS2 can deliver. The cast of the Sopranos are brought to life with great visuals and the locations are top notch. Its cool to have a look around the Budda Bing and the other locations from the show as there has been a great level of detail included and you really do feel like you are part of the show. The game has got great blood and guts effects and when fighting faces get bruised and all kinds of messed up.

The games soundtrack is also top notch with superb voice acting by the real cast of the show and a brilliant music soundtrack from many popular artists at the time. The game has some great humor as well and playing through certain parts really made me chuckle. The game has some extra features like videos, concept art and a fun poker feature where you can play against the boys in Tonys office.

The Sopranos road to respect is an average game but if your a fan of the show and have a £2 to spare then give it a go. If you are not a fan of the show then avoid this one. 

MUSIC: UPCOMING LONDON EVENTS

MOVIES: WARRIORS PRODUCTION PHOTOS

Since I started doing the movie production photo articles I have obtained many different pictures from various movies. The best set I have obtained are from the cult classic movie The Warriors (which I recently reviewed).

Here are some rare shots from the making of the Warriors. I will also be doing part 2 of the previous article I posted yesterday later this week. I decided these pics deserved their own article and when you scroll down you will see why.

CLICK TO ENLARGE

cameras rolling in Grammercy Park

The Turnbull AC's

The Warriors take a time out.

Filming in the subway

Coney Island

A great silhouette of a baseball fury. Reminds me of the classic underpass shot from A Clockwork Orange.

Great shot of Cyrus before his demise.

Coney Island subway station

Shooting the restroom brawl

The Rogues. I remember scribbling all over my Ghostbusters car as a kid to make it look like this.

This is from a deleted scene of Cleon and his old lady before the meet.

Another great shot of the Turnbull AC's in their ultra cool bus. Imagine working late at a Shell garage and this pulls up. You would be fucked.

Shooting the final beach scene.

The next article will include photos from Night of the Living Dead, Evil Dead, American Werewolf in London and many more rare snaps.

RELATED LOST ENTERTAINMENT POSTS

THE WARRIORS REVIEW

THE WARRIORS DELETED SCENE 

MOVIES: THE PHOTO'S BEHIND THE MAGIC PART:I

The world of cinema will always be a magical place for everyone. Dreams become reality and so do the creatures of our nightmares and darkest fears. Special effects will always be something which will grow and evolve, as with every movie made, lessons are learned and techniques are mastered.

Today on Lost Entertainment I (Kristian Rodriguez) will pull back the magical fourth wall and show you the reality of what the other side of the camera looks like.

I must warn you that you may not want to see the secrets behind the magic. If you do then please scroll down further and if you don't, well.. you can just fuck off then.

JAWS

Even to this day I have a real problem getting in the sea. Its not just the of the fact Speilberg and co made me petrified of Great White Sharks but its also the fact I got stung by a Jellyfish on my balls once. There is a new documentary on the Jaws Blu Ray release which looks quite decent titled "The Shark's still Working". It's notoriously documented that the mechanical shark "Bruce" was on of the least cooperative props in movie history. Due to the ocean current in Martha's Vinyard (the location of the filming) battering the mechanical equipment behind the fake shark, the crew were faced with nothing but disaster. In the end they decided not to use the shark on film as much as they wanted to, which luckily for them, worked in their favor, thus giving the movie more of an atmosphere.

A young Steven Speilberg is pictured above in the most famous teeth in cinema history. The original mechanical Bruce was recently discovered in a scrap yard in Los Angeles. I always said if I won the lottery I would buy this and have it in my pool to jump out and scare people for a joke.

Here are some more images just to remind you that "it's just a movie"

A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET

Freddy Krueger will always a topical on Lost Entertainment but another topical fact is that the first nightmare movie was Johnny Depp's big screen debut. Robert Englund endured hours upon hours of grueling make up sessions and after 8 of these movies it is a sure bet that he has spent at least a few months of his life in the make up chair. 

It's a very surreal image to see all the kids of Elm Street posing with Freddy Krueger with massive grins while he chills with his old school tape deck. 

Englund rips of the latex after a hard day at the office.

A rare snap of the first batch of Elm Street children.

The Dream Warriors grab a snap with Freddy.

Freddy goes for his last make over on the set of Camp Crystal Lake.

HALLOWEEN

John Carpenters Halloween is the undisputed king of the slashers in my personal opinion. Michael Myers is the archetype of what any horror movie antagonist should be. Feelingless, remorseless, brutal and cool as fuck. The first two incarnations of Myers were the best and the movies after should be avoided like the plague. Here are some rare photos from the film set.

Nick Castle poses with the infamous mask which still terrifies audiences to this day. The mask was in fact a Star Trek mask of Captain Kirk sprayed grey.

Another rare shot of Jamie Leigh Curtis embracing Michael Myers.

This would be the best Coca Cola advert for a certain time of year.

"What's the worst that can happen?" Someone escapes from a loony bin and kills everyone!

DAWN OF THE DEAD

1968's Night of The Living Dead laid down the path for zombie movies and 10 years later Dawn of the Dead rode down that path in flaming chariots. Possibly my all time favorite movie in general, Dawn of the Dead is easily the greatest zombie ever made. Filmed on a tight budget in Pennsylvania shopping mall Dawn of the Dead is not just a zombie movie its fucking art. George Romero teamed with special effects guru Tom Savini to make the most violent gore fest ever seen at that time. 

Tom Savini had recently returned from Vietnam where he served as military photographer and after seeing so many dead bodies he was the right guy to bring the living dead to life in this project. I will be doing a great length Dawn of the Dead article for Halloween.

Romero instructing a zombie.

Savini giving another one of the ridiculous amounts of zombies the paint job.

Due to the amount of zombies cast in the movie multiple teams of make up artists were deployed in the mall.

Savini chills with a body who is about to have an exploding head episode.

TERMINATOR

When James Camerons sci fi/film noire master piece was first released in 1984 it was the most expensive film ever made at the time. Casting Mr Universe Arnold Schwarzenegger in the lead role the movie would be a mega hit and would spawn maybe the most successful sequel of all time. 

Arnie grabs a snap with the woman he shot in the face. Nice shirt as well Arnie.

Michael Beihn who played Kyle Reese takes a quick snap with James Cameron. 

Arnie stabbing the biker in the bar scene from Terminator 2. Im kind of glad he wasn't really naked walking around the film set.

Arnie poses with Cameron during the shooting of the final scenes from Terminator 2.

MORE TOMORROW