Alien: Isolation teaser uses old video techniques for new fear

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Alien: Isolation Extended TV ad - Distress [INT]Alien: Isolation

Sega is ramping up the fear factor with its latest promo for the upcoming Alien: Isolation, a two-minute slice of space-bound horror that evokes the tense, helpless environment of Ridley Scott's 1979 original movie.

Like the game itself, the ad keeps in line with the retro-futurism of the classic film. It evokes the same technology envisioned as futuristic back when the film was made, opening with a flickering screen of faded, worn VHS. Amanda Ripley's voice crackles in, recording her distress beacon. Lost and alone on the Nostromospace station, searching for clues to her mother Ellen's disappearance, she finds she's little more than prey for a single, monstrous creature....

It's a brilliantly edited piece, with Andrea Deck's imbuing her performance as Ripley Jr with the right mix of fear, desperation, and determination. In both acting and scene setting, it bodes well for developer Creative Assembly's sci-fi survival horror. Written by Dan Abnett, Isolationtakes place while Ellen Ripley is in stasis following her escape from the Nostromo at the end of the film.

Having played the VR test build, we can safely say it's one of the scariest games in years, and although the version released to retail on 7 October will only be for consoles and PC, hopefully it will prove similarly terrifying.

Alien Isolation will also reunite much of the cast from the 1979 film, including Sigourney Weaver returning to the role of Ripley for the first time in nearly two decades.

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Alien: Isolation teaser uses old video techniques for new fear

Dystopian "The Zero Theorem" a muddle of unfunny jokes, half-baked ideas

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Sci-fi. Not rated. 106 minutes

Christoph Waltz, left, stars in Terry Gilliam's "The Zero Theorem." Provided by Voltage Pictures (The Denver Post | Provided by Voltage Pictures)

Here's a paradox: Everyone admires Terry Gilliam's weeble-wobble determination to keep making films despite terrible bad luck, and yet the films themselves, even the ones with relatively misfortune-free production histories, are desperately hard to admire. A case in point is "The Zero Theorem," a sci-fi confection that, at best, momentarily recalls the dystopian whimsy of the director's best-loved effort, "Brazil," but ends up dissolving into a muddle of unfunny jokes and half-baked ideas, all served up with that painful, herky-jerky Gilliam rhythm. Gilliam's die-hard fans will rally, but that probably won't be enough to rescue this from niche obscurity.

Scripted by creative-writing professor Pat Rushin, the story is supposedly set in the not-so-distant future, perhaps in London (the film was actually shot on a stage set in Bucharest). It posits a not-hard-to-extrapolate-from-current-conditions world of clutter and noise, where advertising signage can identify exactly who is walking down the street and there's a church dedicated to Batman the Redeemer.

Neurotic scientist Qohen Leth (Christoph Waltz), a hairless recluse who lives in a ramshackle, decommissioned chapel, works for the Mancom Corp., a sprawling tech bureaucracy that requires employees to work in office cubicles that somewhat resemble old-school arcade-style video-game consoles, but where, in a Steampunk twist, software is transmitted in vials of liquid.

In a none-too-subtle shoutout to "1984," signs warn that Management is watching everywhere, incarnated in the figure of a character actually called Management (Matt Damon, sporting, like everyone else in the movie, a ridiculous hairpiece). Despite the dystopian setting, David Warren's production design strews lots of corrugated tubes and DayGlo colors about, making it all feel doubly retro, a nostalgic callback to the kind of pneumatic tube-futurism "Brazil" pioneered in the 1980s.

Qohen, whose name both sounds Jewish-outsidery and plays on the Zen notion or koan, has been assigned by Mancom to prove the Zero Theorem, some kind of contrived nihilistic nonsense that's never properly explained. He does this by jiggling crude-looking CGI Rubik's cubes with mathematical symbols in virtual space, something about as visually interesting as watching someone play 3D Tetris for Windows 98. As if that weren't a portentous enough conceit, he spends his time at home anxiously waiting for a phone call from someone or something that will explain the meaning of his life to him, which (spoiler ahead) never comes through.

At a party, where everyone is listening to music on their cellphones instead of what's on the sound system (one of the film's few amusing gags), Qohen meets Bainsley (fetching but limited Melanie Thierry, "The Princess of Montpensier"), a simpering coquette who later shows up uninvited at Qohen's house to "shoot trouble" when he gets stuck in his work. A halting sort of romance starts up, albeit one based on "tantric" non-penetrative interfacing.

Management's intellectually precocious son, Bob (Lucas Hedges, "Moonrise Kingdom"), also invites himself over, as do various pizza- delivery guys, the obligatory dwarves and David Thewlis as Qohen's backward-toupee-wearing boss, Joby. Altogether, a bunch of nothing happens, more or less, until the film runs out of steam and budget.

Those who made it to the end of "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" or "Tideland" will be amazed to find Gilliam sinking even further here than those low-water marks. The production notes, as if trying to forestall inevitable criticism, make many mentions of the quickness with which the production was executed and the challenges of the low budget, all of which is all too apparent onscreen.

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Dystopian "The Zero Theorem" a muddle of unfunny jokes, half-baked ideas

Freedom to Marry ad targets court

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Gay marriage advocates are counting on Supreme Court justices to be watching the Sunday shows ahead of their first private conference of the new term Monday.

Freedom to Marry, a group thats long pursued gay marriage legalization in courts, will air a new ad aimed at urging the Supreme Court to take up one or more of the five cases currently on its docket. Most expect the Court to take up a caseand ultimately legalize gay marriage across the countrythis term. The justices could decide to start a case moving as early as Monday, though they could also wait until a future conference in the coming months.

Currently, 19 states and Washington, D.C., have legalized gay marriage. The cases already up for consideration by the court are from Utah, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Virginia and Indiana, with another from Ohio expected to follow soon.

(PHOTOS: Where same-sex couples can wed)

One nation, indivisibleexcept if youre gay, the narrator of the Freedom to Marry ad says, as a map appears on screen with all the states that have legalized marriage in bright blue, against the dull grey for all the rest.

Proponents and opponents alike are eager to see the Supreme Court establish one set ruling, a swift change from even just a few years ago. Thats not the only shift: now the wide expectation is that the court will rule in favor of legalization, likely with the courts four liberal justices joining Anthony Kennedy, whos spent years writing opinions that have eased restrictions on gays. Some even think Chief Justice John Roberts might join a legalization decision too.

(PHOTOS: 26 gay-rights milestones)

Over photos of gay couples, the narrator of the ad says, theyre taxed unfairly, denied Social Security and parenting rights, and can lose a family home when their loved one dies.

Our ad underscores the human costs of prolonging marriage discrimination. Every day of denial is a day of real and needless injury, indignity, and injustice to too many families across the countryand time matters, said Freedom to Marry found and president Evan Wolfson.

America is ready for the freedom to marry, 40 lower courts have affirmed the freedom to marry, even opponents are saying its time to bring the country to national resolution, Wolfson added. And it is, indeed, time.

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Freedom to Marry ad targets court

WATCH: Freedom to Marry Tells Supreme Court 'It's Time'

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The nationwide advocacy group has a message for the justices on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Set to air one day before the Supreme Court meets for its first private conference of the new session, a national advocacy group has created an ad that argues that "it's time" for the high court to establish marriage equality nationwide.

The 30-second spot, produced by advocacy group Freedom to Marry, will first hit airwaves around Washington, D.C., during the Sunday morning talk shows, the group announced. Starting next week, the spot will be broadcast nationally on network television. Focusing on the critical legal protections denied couples in any of the 31 U.S. states without marriage equality, the ad highlights the dissonance between a society that claims to cherish independence and freedom but relegates many of its citizens to second-class status.

"One nation, indivisible except if youre gay," says a narrator in the ad. "In 19 states, gay couples and their children share in the protections that only the freedom to marry provides. In the others, they are banned from marrying. Theyre taxed unfairly, denied Social Security and parenting rights, and can lose a family home when their loved one dies. Every day of denial means real harms to real families. Its time to end marriage discrimination."

In a statement released with the video, Evan Wolfson, the founder and executive director of Freedom to Marry, said, "The ad underscores the human costs of prolonging marriage discrimination. Every day of denial is a day of real and needless injury, indignity, and injustice for too many families across the country and time matters. America is ready for the freedom to marry, 40 lower court rulings have affirmed the freedom to marry, even opponents are saying it's time to bring the country to national resolution and it is, indeed, time."

Watch the ad here:

When the nine justices of the U.S. Supreme Court hold their first private conference of this session on Monday, they will have the opportunity to consider reviewing seven marriage equality cases from five states. While the court is under no obligation to take up any of the cases at this conference or any other advocates on both sides of the issue widely expect the court to consider at least one of the cases in the coming year or two.

It is possible that the court could decline to take up any of the cases currently before it, which would have the effect of affirming the so-far-unanimous decisions of lower courts finding statewide bans on same-sex marriage unconstitutional. If that's the course taken by the court, marriage equality could be on its way to an estimated 65 million Americans who reside in the states with cases before the court, and those states covered under the jurisdiction of circuit courts of appeal.

While it is impossible to predict the actions that might be taken by the Supreme Court, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg recently made headlines for her assessment that "there is no need for us to rush" to issue a definitive ruling, pointing the nearly unanimous decisions by lower courts finding marriage bans unconstitutional.

However, with more than 80 cases challenging statewide marriage bans in every U.S. state and territory without marriage equality, it's entirely possible that federal courts will eventually disagree with one another on the issue. In fact, earlier this month, a federal district judge in Louisiana bucked the national trend and upheld the state's ban on same-sex marriage, claiming it was rationally related to the state's "legitimate interest" in "linking children to an intact family formed by their two biological parents.

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WATCH: Freedom to Marry Tells Supreme Court 'It's Time'

Shark nets for WA beaches

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Greens MLC Lynn MacLaren claims The Old Dunsborough shark net had big holes in it. Photo: Lynn MacLaren

The Premier has announced a new shark net will be installed on a Busselton beach and more West Australian beaches are being considered for shark barriers.

Premier Colin Barnett made the announcement while in Busselton on Friday.

The Premier also announced that aerial patrols would begin eight weeks earlier than usual for the South West region.

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Mr Barnett said the State Government would provide Surf Life Saving WA with an additional $650,000 in this year to extend aerial patrols to cover the school holiday period beginning this Saturday, weekends and public holidays, before daily patrols start over the summer period, starting November 24.

The move follows the Environmental Protection Authority's rejection of the state government's proposal to use drum lines for the next three summers.

The government had planned to continue the kill zone policy where baited hooks on drum lines were set one kilometre from shore on selected WA beaches.

Any great white, bull or tiger shark longer than three metres wa shot dead as part of the program designed to reduce the risk of shark attacks. It was promptedby seven deaths as a result of shark attacks in WA over three years.

Following the EPA's rejection of the drum lines plan Mr Barnett ruled out using drum lines this summer, but said he was still considering other methods to keep beach-goers safe.

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Shark nets for WA beaches

Unleashed dogs to be banned on Wollongong's beaches

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Charlie, with the Hurley family of Wollongong, at Little Austinmer Beach. Photo: Kirk Gilmour

Depending on your perspective, Wollongong City Council has either gone to the dogs or the community is barking mad.

A proposal to effectively ban dogs being off the leash on northern Illawarra beaches has outraged the community, particularly those who moved to the area to luxuriate in the feel of sand and sun in their hair and fur.

If the changes go ahead as planned, dog owners in beachside suburbs such as Thirroul, Coledale and Austinmer will have to drive 20 minutes north or 30 minutes south to find a beach where their dog can frolic off-leash. Other than a dog-friendly park in Helensburgh, there are no parks in the northern Illawarra area where open space is limited by the escarpment that allow dogs off-leash.

Under the changes, several beaches in Wollongong's north, includingSharkey's, McCauleys and Little Austinmer, will go from green zones allowing unleashed dogs anytime to orange, where leashed dogs will only be allowed early in the morning and late at night.

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The council says the changes are prompted by complaints about dogs and competing uses at the beaches as the area's population grows.

However, David Hurley, a member of theIllawarra Dog Community group, said the move wasunfair and did not have community support. There had only been 81 complaints about dogs on Illawarra beaches. Only 25, which came from 15 households, related to the northern beaches where the bans will be introduced.Swimming is also banned on most of these beaches, where signs warn of a $100 fine.

"This is a very drastic proposal for something that can be managed in a sensible and straightforward way," he said.

Ifthere were issues about faeces or dog owners using areas that had Aboriginal heritage or where migrating birds stopped, these could be addressed with better signage and education, he said.

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Unleashed dogs to be banned on Wollongong's beaches