Movie Review – Page 119

Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy

First i’m going to say, I did prefer the book. With that out of the way this movie is harmless…well mostly harmless. The movie starts off by introducing you to what is pretty much the main character Arthur who just never got the hang of Thursdays. His house is about to be bulldozed and he is laying in front of it to prevent this and the construction of a highway system. Around this time his friend Ford rushes up with a shopping cart full of beer and peanuts for what I can only assume was what he wanted to bring off Earth with him. He then bribes the crew to wait awhile before demolishing Arthur’s house. Coincidentally Ford was there to pick up Arthur and catch a ride off Earth before a fleet of construction ships destroy the Earth to build am intergalactic space highway.

This is much of what goes on in the movie. Seemingly weird and random things to create a humorous and interesting narrative. I would definitely suggest checking out the movie or even the book if you like comedy, and even more if you want to see Snape ( Allen Rickman) play a clinically depressed robot. As always thanks for joining me, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Carrie

Carrie bk

The classic that started it all for the legend that is Stephen King. I’m sure we’ve all either seen one of the 3 film adaptations or seen a parody of it somewhere, my first intro to Carrie was a moment in Tiny Toons for shit sake. If you haven’t been introduced to this classic, here’s the gist: a unpopular girl in high school gets bullied for being weird while at home she takes shit from her insanely over religious mother and learns she has the gift of telekinesis (the ability to move things with her mind.) When life looks to be looking up when she begins to understand the power and gets asked to prom by a popular guy, it violently goes to shit when she gets drenched in pig blood as a prank and Carrie goes apeshit. First I’m going to say I love the book. Every film has Carrie has a defenseless, skinny, quiet, girl but in the book we’re able to see her dark, hateful feelings boiling inside and her feelings on god which are interesting; of every adaptation I always enjoyed the book’s bleak ending the best. Carrie dies wounded on the side of the road after killing her mother, most of her classmates and destroying most of the town, just her and Sue Snell- the mean girl who took pity on Carrie. They talk one last time, Carrie driving her lifetime of pain into Sue’s memory like a nail, dying before sending out one last wave to scramble the minds of the town so they can’t remember much except that Carrie fucked them up. The 2002 film has an intersting ending where Carrie lived and her and Sue ran off, forever on the run. Of the films, 2002 was my favorite and most accurate to the book. For the original, Piper Laurie stole the show as Carrie’s mad mother, one of the scariest performances I’ve ever seen but Sissy Spacek is probably my least favorite Carrie. As for the 2013 remake, Chloe Grace Moretz gave a great performance as Carrie but besides that the movie was a modern day retread with DragonBall Z effects. Either way you go with it, it’s still a great story but I do recommend hitting the book first, it’s a quick but powerful read from a powerful writer.

The Amityville Horror (2005)

amityville horror

Hey who wants to go back in time and watch Ryan Reynolds play a complete psycho and possibly murder his family? Did you say yes to that question? Than skip this review and just go watch the movie. Still on the fence? Keep reading.

There have been many iterations of the Amityville Horror with varying degrees of accuracy to the actual events. If you want to research the real story feel free, but its pretty boring and has very little in common with the movies. With that being said lets move on.

The special effects are pretty well done as is everything else you would want in a movie. By now we all know the story pretty well, family moves into house, shit starts getting weird, little girl gets an imaginary friend, things slowly get worse, wife realizes something lives in the house. Dad tries to murder everyone. However the real star of this movie and what truly makes this movie from typical demonic presence in a house movie into the realm of classic is Ryan Reynolds. From the onset he plays his usual self. a Fun loving guy that cracks jokes, and slowly descends into madness. And he does it amazingly well. Little things like simply being a bit snippy with the wife, and moves on towards insomnia. But at each stage he never truly lets go of the last, His performance was far beyond what I expected. As always, may the gaming gods bring you glory.

IT review,2nd opinion

So me and Torsten went down to our local theater today, our first visit in fact. The Iron Warhorse Movie Bistro had a really old time feel with old photos of our home town in Scranton Pennsylvania. Great theatre with probably the most comfortable seats I have experienced in a theater. I snapped a couple photos for your enjoyment.

Their walls are lined with similar photos and I absolutely loved the person touch they had. The staff was friendly as well. If you are in the area check them out. Now on to the review.

First I have to admit, the first time I saw a picture of Pennywise and then the first trailer for the film, I was expecting a sub par movie. I was wrong. The acting was great, and if you are a fan of the Netflix show Stranger Things you will love how this movie feels. The acting is great and I can’t say there was a weak performance. The special effects looked great and the music score and sounds went very well with the movie itself.

The opening scene of course is Billy and George building the boat, and while George goes into the basement the suspense starts with a great scene and moves eventually into him chasing his boat down the street. As shown in the trailer he slams into a saw horse and his boat goes into the sewer. This is our first real taste of the new clown, and he is creepy as hell.

Throughout the movie many people let out small yelps or gasp as various scenes startled many. While some of the scares come from jump scares they are all pretty well placed and the movie did not rely on them to much. The movie does have a few comedic moments but they aren’t as plentiful as I had feared and they never took away from the sense of dread these kids had in the movie. I highly recommend seeing this in theaters if you can.

I shall now say something I NEVER thought I would say. This movie is superior to the original in ever single way. I loved the original and I loved Tim Curry. And if you are looking for a similar movie and performance you won’t get it. You should not compare one to the other as they take totally different ways of telling the same story, but this movie and Bill Skarsgard are am all around better horror movie. As always thanks for reading, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

It (2017)

Today me and Savior had our first official outing as Saviorgaming, being able to head out to see a movie and say we were working- one of the coolest feelings ever. We saw It pretty much the most epic way possible at the new Iron Horse Movie Bistro in downtown Scranton, and we rode the bus back…getting dropped off at Jackson Street in the rain…next to sewer grate and we were legitimately creeped out over the coincidence. I’m just gonna say this, I’m sorry I ever gave this movie shit. Upon the first release, I didn’t like Pennywise’s new design initially; I thought the first couple trailers were ok but nothing special. I was insanely wrong.

It is the story of Bill, Richie, Ben, Beverly, Eddie, Mike, and Stanley- young kids deemed preteen losers in Derry, Maine during the late 80’s who have to come together to stop Pennywise the shape-shifting demon clown that feeds on children and fear. One of Stephen King’s most famous and frightening horror stories, It was two part mini series in 1990 with Tim Curry playing Pennywise, becoming an iconic figure of 90’s horror. Problem was it was a series meant for basic cable so we got a accurate but watered down version of the tale, but 27 years later Pennywise returned as he does in the lore, new and brilliantly portrayed by Bill Skarrsgard. Whereas Curry had a more natural lightheartedness about him and his look was more of a normal clown, the modern look is more accurate to what I pictured when I started reading the book, no much a perfect imitation of a clown but something clearly trying to imitate but not fully succeeding. I like his aged, vintage appearence, a long open face with long pointed teeth reminiscent of classic Nosferatu, and a very off putting thing where his left eye keeps drifting. The effects on all of his forms are great and this movie does not pull back on the violence toward children which I respect; the opening scene with Georgie, it doesn’t cut away when Pennywise shows his true form and chomps Georgie’s arm clean off. I admit to jumping when this happened, knowing this sure as shit wasn’t edited for TV. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the movie’s lead children do an amazing job, showing a genuine chemistry I haven’t seen since Guardians of the Galaxy or the Power Rangers reboot. I believe them as relate able kids, not squeaky clean Hollywood kids- they swear, they freak out, and they deal with some really heavy shit in there lives. I really can’t find any serious flaws with the plot, except that Ben and Mike feel kinda pushed back to the side but not to the degree I’ve seen in other movies but overall I highly recommend It and unless I see something at least twice as good, I’m calling It my favorite horror movie of the year. May the gaming gods bring you glory…because everything floats.

It2

Sharknado review

sharknado

Ok lets be 100% honest. This isn’t exactly a good movie. Its campy as hell, the dialogue is down right painful at times and they don’t even attempt to take the CGI serious. And I loved this movie because of it. Sharknado wasn’t scary or well written, it was just fun.

This movie reminded me of an old 80’s B movie. Fake blood is used by the truck load when a shark being flung through the air rips off a guys arm. Old people panic when sharks are tossed into swimming pools seemingly at random by tornadoes. A gas can and some matches tossed into the pool to deal with them somehow ignites the entire damn pool into a fire storm for no other reason than it will look cool. This is definitely a niche market that most people don’t care about but the Syfy channel has mastered, and the gaming gods thank them, and may they bring you glory.

Insidious: the Last Key trailer

insidious 4

Yesterday the new, much anticipated trailer for Insidious 4 dropped and I’m happy to report I found new intrigue in what I saw. Admittedly I never saw either sequel because the trailers or word of mouth sparked the desire to do so but this trailer intrigued me enough to want to see it. From what little I could gather, 4 will follow series regular, elderly medium Elise as she returns to the house she grew up in and scary shit happens. I got a eerie vibe from the imagery and a sense of some decent WTF moments I enjoyed about the original. I can’t say much from one trailer and the fact I’m unfamiliar with how the rest of the series plays out but I’ll keep an eye out for more… may the gaming gods bring you glory as always.

Little Evil

little evil

Little Evil is a horror comedy new to Netflix that admittedly I watched for two reasons, 1. Adam Scott is hilarious. 2. step dads being abused by children is funny. This movie did not disappoint me at all. The movie starts with the step dad being legit buried alive. We then go back a week to see how we got here. The acting is top notch, and has a few cameos I won’t spoil. As the movie moves on it takes an odd but fun turn. For example in retaliation for burying him alive step dad fills the kids floaties with sand and sends him down a water slide because hey, the kid is literally the Antichrist. There is much more to the movie but I really don’t want to spoil such a great experience.

Comedy horror movies are usually pretty bad but this one gets my full recommendation for all comedy or horror fans. It pretty much has everything you would want with the exception of a standard horror movie sex scene but honestly its not even needed. Go give it a shot, an may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Within (2016)

within

I watched this movie as a sort of joke. The idea sounded so basic I figured I would watch this have some laughs at the bad movie, come on here bash it a bit and move on.

Here is the very basic plot. A man moves his daughter and new wife to a new place for a job and away from the daughters sorted teenage past. The family soon finds out about some murders and strange disappearances in the home and odd things start happening. See pretty basic. The acting is nice, the script solid and the visuals and sound are well done. While I admit my purpose was to insult this movie I can’t. Its not perfect, and the start is pretty slow and at times seemingly without purpose. Tho with those complaints aside, the movie was still solid enough to be worth watching and the ending was one of those rare things I did not see coming. That alone was worth the time to me. So get out there and give it a watch, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

The Beast of Xmoor

This the the story of 3 people hunting a rare large cat in Europe. Georgia is for lack of a better way to describe her a sort of journalist of rare animals while her boyfriend Matt is a camera man. Georgia receives a a call from an old friend she met in a bar named Fox, a hunter and tracker of creatures and has helped Georgia in the past find creatures thought not to exist.

This particular hunt however takes an odd turn. The creature they are hunting isn’t a large cat after all, but what Fox believes to be a serial killer. The movie itself has some odd yet fun twist and turns while the characters may be a little one dimensional at times they are still interesting enough to get the job done.

My only real complaint is that the movie takes place mostly in the woods at night which is fine, but many of the scenes are so dark they are at times painful to watch. That aside it was a pretty fun movie for a B movie found randomly on Netflix and had a solid twist ending that wasn’t just done for the same of having one. i would recommend checking it out sometime, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.