Gattaca Review

For some this may be a controversial inclusion in this column, the premise for which is to highlight movies that have been forgotten or overlooked. On one hand a film that received an Oscar Nomination and entered the box office at number 5 may not seem to fit that bill. However while Gattaca had some success it only made $12.5 million against a reported budget of $36million, [1] was written and directed by then little know Andrew Niccol, and has since moved into some relative obscurity, despite being the film that basically launched Niccol’s career.

One of the films great strengths may also be its undoing in this case. For a science fiction film it is rather low key, and does not feature any real special effects to speak of. For those of us who read a lot of science fiction literature, it is more akin to a good novel, brought to the screen in its purest form. But unfortunately that does not make much money in the Hollywood machine. Viewers want CGI graphics that melt your brain, and a plot that makes you think about issues such as artificial insemination and human genetics does not exactly make for an easy advertising campaign.

Cataclysm Preview: A Changing World

Hidden away in a secluded sanctuary, the corrupted Dragon Aspect Deathwing has waited, recovering from the wounds of his last battle against Azeroth and biding his time until he can reforge the world in molten fire.

Soon, Deathwing the Destroyer will return to Azeroth, and his eruption from Deepholm will sunder the world, leaving a festering wound across the continents. As the Horde and Alliance race to the epicenter of the cataclysm, the kingdoms of Azeroth will witness seismic shifts in power, the kindling of a war of the elements, and the emergence of unlikely heroes who will rise up to protect their scarred and broken world from utter devastation. [1]

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm is the third expansion pack to the award winning MMORPG, announced by Blizzard in August 2009. Over the next few weeks I will be looking at some of the different features of the new expansion, starting this week with the changing landscape of the World of Warcraft.

The main plot of the expansion is the return of Deathwing the Destroyer from an elemental plan called Deepholm. This return creates a tear in dimensions which is going to cause a lot of changes in the world of Azeroth.

Another big change is that Blizzard are going to introduce flying mounts to all regions. At the moment flying mounts are available at level 60, but only in Outland and Northrend. Some of the upcoming changes will be to allow the use of flying mounts in the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalmidor, though the details are limited at the moment. So here’s a look at some of the big changes and what this may mean to current players of World of Warcraft.