Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

t3  So it’s pretty universally recognized that the first 2 Terminator movies were freaking awesome. Simple stories filled with interesting characters, a bleak future, and epic action scenes. Well Terminator 2  pretty much wrapped the story up in a nice, fulfilling bow and the promise of a T3 was legend until it came with this and the great downfall began.

Judgement Day never came and John Conner grew up off the grid, waiting for the future that him and his late mother never hoped would come. The military trusted Skynet with a new AI that is being infected by a strange new computer virus. A new Terminator has come but not solely to protect Conner, but the person to lead after he dies in the future. They are hunted by the extremely dangerous T-X, a Terminator designed for extreme combat including destroying other Terminators. She is also implementing the virus. Can we really stop or end or is our fate inevitable?

I can’t say this movie is good, but it’s not total shit, it’s just simply meh. The acting is fine and Schwarzenegger tries his ass off to make the most out of a lame script. the effects are alright and there are some cool action scenes but what doesn’t feel recycled, feels out of place with the blooming CGI. The story is ok I guess but everything about it feels forced, and as I got older I couldn’t help but feel like a giant cash grab. In the end, it’s a decent action movie but nothing special. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Terminator 2: Judgement Day

t2  Terminator maybe one of the most tragic sagas in cinemas, but there is a valuable lesson to be learned from it: when to leave well enough alone. Like many kids growing up in the 90’s, I was in love with the first 2 Terminator movies, and to this day I ask which was better, though undeniably T2 is in the rare but slim category of sequels that surpasses the original like Aliens , The Empire Strikes Back , and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes .

Sarah Conner defeated the Terminator, knowing a dark tomorrow was on the way. A new type of Terminator has come from the future to murder John Conner as a teenager and to try to stop the new prototype, Conner sends a reprogrammed Terminator to the then present to save him. John has grown up running away from the crazy shit his mom filled his head with about nuclear war and machines taking over the world, to find out its true. The pair manage to break out Sarah, but the challenge comes having to break into Cyberdyne where Skynet will begin, all the way being hunted y the relentless liquid metal T-1000.

Terminator 2 is seriously an amazing sequel and indeed one of the best ever made. The story is easy to follow but there’s a lot of complexities with John’s bond with the machine as well as the contrast of Sarah’s paranoia and PTSD involved with it. The cast is great but I have to admit, Schwarzenegger is fantastic as the Terminator, feeling like a lovable but badass learning machine. The effects are pretty impressive and hold up pretty well in the current age. The score is great. If you never saw Terminator 2, I can’t recommend it enough, and to everyone else, Hasta La Vista Baby.

The Grudge 2020 trailer

I’m not going to lie, I’ve never been a fan of the last, American Grudge remake that swept my middle school when I was a kid along with the American Ring remake. Whereas the last remake kept much of the Japanese influence, the 2020 movie seems to have scrapped it completely. For the most part it looks like a generic horror movie and I can’t see much promise in it. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Antlers trailer

Just when I think horror maybe dying, I find something damn interesting. Antlers has some striking visuals I wouldn’t expect anything less from Del Toro. I’m pretty hooked to find out what this creature is but I’m glad you don’t see much of it in the trailer. I’m pretty excited for Antlers now. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Bloodshot trailer 1

Bloodshot is the latest in a long, endless line of comic book movies that I have to admit looks pretty badass. The effects are pretty awesome and the plot looks fairly interesting. The only thing that makes me nervous is that Sony is doing it, but after Venom and Dark Tower it’s a fair enough concern. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Halloween

halloween

Happy Halloween everyone, and I hope you all have a really fun, safe night. So for the holiday, I feel it’s only appropriate to talk about the quintessential Halloween movie about today. Halloween is the frightening story of Michael Myers who stabbed his sister to death Halloween night when he was six, and fifteen years later he escaped from Smith’s Grove Sanitarium and returned to his hometown of Haddonfield to kill again while being hunted by his terrified psychiatrist  Dr Loomis.

Halloween is a prime example of simple horror done perfectly. Michael Myers is frighteningly cold but Donald Pleasence as Loomis and his haunted performance as Loomis elevates Michael to true legendary boogeyman status. The score by Carpenter is absolutely iconic. The ending is my favorite ever in horror and would have 1,000,000 times scarier without the truck loads of sequels. Halloween is a simple classic that is still scary today and I can’t recommend it enough. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Day 31, Xenomorph

alien c1

Happy Halloween, and for the final day of our Halloween special I bring you the Xenomorph, my favorite biological death machine. Born with acid blood, razor claws, spear tipped tail, two sets of jaws, and and tongue that can pierce through metal is just the beginning of the horror of these iconic beasts. It’s easy to believe they are the perfect organism which only makes them more terrifying, whether one or a hundred, they are my ultimate beast. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Dead House (2014)

I put off watching Dead House for what seems like forever because it just seemed like a silly movie. Thieves break into a house only to discover hidden in the basement is a house of the dead. A silly but fun movie it seemed like admittedly.

I was so damn wrong and should have avoided this damn movie for longer. First, the thieves are essentially demented rapist that film it and stop to steal money from a safe for about 10 seconds to move the plot along. It is pretty graphic, so if you are easily upset or bothered by such things don’t watch it and definitely not around children.

The zombie portion doesn’t even show up until the last 20 minutes or so and even that seemed to be there for no other reason than to give us a twist ending and some shock value. Truthfully everything done in this movie is done somewhere else and it is done better. The movie has no real redeeming qualities outside of the acting being pretty well done on all parts. If you are morbidly curious feel free to give it a watch, aside from that skip this burning heap. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Day 29, The Cenobites

cenobites

Pleasure is a subjective  concept, as well as happiness, love, and arousal. The Cenobites are the embodiments of pleasure and pain that are summoned by solving the puzzle of the Lament Configuration. Deformed, cold hearted, and kept in a constant state of agony the Cenobites’s purpose is to present the solver of the box with ultimate joy. I love how much gravity accompanies them both in the The Hellbound Heart novella and the original Hellraiser movie. May the gaming gods bring you glory.