5 great foreign horror films

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Between 17 and 18 I was fortunate enough to have a local video store downtown that specialized in horror movies and oh I had one hell of a list to search through. I discovered some of my all time favorites here and I discovered the wonders of horror from other cultures and my mind expanded. In no particular order, lets begin with…

the beyond 1. The Beyond-

Part 2 of Lucio Fulchi’s unofficial “Gates of Hell” trilogy, Fulchi’s shocking imagery and the great score is a awesome mix. Because of this, I understand why people are scared of spiders, that’s for damn sure. If you want something really weird, check this picture out.

audition 2. Audition-

Crazy girlfriend movies are a dime a dozen these days but none of them compare to this crazy ass movie. Audition made me a bit scared to enter the dating scene because there’s never a feeling of fakeness and a shockingly realistic antagonist. I highly recommend this to new horror fans.

pans labyrinth 3. Pan’s Labyrinth-

Guillermo Del Toro is an astounding director and while this isn’t totally a horror movie, it did give me nightmares for one particular part, because of a certain creature a decade later I still can’t forget. While not exactly a horror film, it’s one of the top 10 greatest films I’ve ever seen.

the orphange 4. The Orphanage-

Much like Labyrinth, this Spanish ghost story is very deep and rides the line between conventional ghost story and sad character drama that may not be for everyone, but’s worth checking out if you like ghost stories.

cannibal holocaust 5. Cannibal Holocaust-

You know those stories you heard about the Exorcist where people fainted and had legitimate visceral reactions to it in 73? I had visceral reaction to this movie, quite possibly one of the most controversial films ever made. As a special, once we hit 1,000 subscribers here, I’ll talk in a lot more detail about Cannibal Holocaust but I’ll say now, for as powerful and thought provoking as it is, don’t bother if you suffer from weak constitutions. You’ve been warned.

I hope you all enjoyed this list and please follow and once we hit 1,000 followers, I’ll do a Cannibal Holocaust review. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

The Matrix Reloaded (2003)

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Ok so while The Matrix Reloaded was good, nobody thinks it was as good as the first for the most part. Taking place 6 months after the first movie we now find ourselves  watching a romantic relationship between Trinity and Neo, the attack from the machines on Zion, Agent Smith going rogue and a whole host of other things to numerous to mention without confusing the hell out of people that have not seen the movie. Seriously there is a lot going on in these movies, I won’t even try to explain it. You even find out Neo isn’t the one because there were 5 before him. That technically makes him the Sixth realistically. The movie is still good, but its less about making you think and more about making this new world seem more real than it was. It succeeds quite nice by the way, it is just a lot to take in and I still would recommend watching it. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

The Matrix (1999)

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Today I realized  this movie is almost 20 years old,and that upsets me. This movie also changed a lot in movies, namely everyone and their brother using that bullet dodge move Neo does, you know the one. We aren’t getting into it right now. We all now the story, computer hacker meet beautiful woman, computer hacker wants a lil something something if you know what I mean, computer hacker gets a choice between 2 pills, computer hacker discovers his entire life is not what it seemed.

The entire purpose of this movie is to make people thing, to question what is going on around them and to ask, what is reality and how would you know what is real and what isn’t? I think,there are plenty of theories out there. Regardless this movie that brought us memes and long black coats is still to this day discussed for a reason. It looked beautiful, sounded beautiful, had a rich and engrossing story and all these years later is still meme worthy. If you haven’t seen it by now you need to, and lucky for you the trilogy is on Hulu. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

May the 4th be with you!

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May the fourth be with you all as we celebrate Star Wars day. For every nerd, all it takes is that opening title of “a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away.” and the thunderous John Williams score and all so legendary title to send our blood rushing and light up a smile on our faces. During our trip to Last Jedi, the crowd cheered and roared applause before the damn movie could even begin- that’s a rare thing, I can sure as hell say that. Star Wars inspired me so much as a kid; without Star Wars I don’t think I’d be the same kind of writer I am today. Dynamic characters you can’t get enough of, epic battles you can’t stop watching, and a special message: no matter how small and insignificant you seem, you can change the world. Before I leave you with links to our Star Wars collection so far, I beg every nerd to stop and remember the lessons the series has taught us, and go out to make the galaxy a better place. May the gaming gods bring you glory and may the force be with you.

Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back Return of the Jedi The Force Awakens Star Wars The Last Jedi Review (Savior) The Last Jedi (second opinion) Star wars: Rogue One

Star wars: The Clone Wars (game) Star Wars: Bounty Hunter Star Wars: Battlefront 2 Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter

Star Wars: the Clone Wars (05)

 

12 Strong (2018) — Dan the Man’s Movie Reviews

So. Many. Bullets. In the wake of Sept. 11, Capt. Mitch Nelson (Chris Hemsworth) leads a U.S. Special Forces team into Afghanistan for an extremely dangerous mission despite not having much combat experience and a bit of a chip on his shoulder. Still though, he has enough skill and smarts to feel confident enough in […]

via 12 Strong (2018) — Dan the Man’s Movie Reviews

Carrie (1976)

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Not sure what anyone expected from Stephen King, but Carrie is just a demented story. The book is even worse than the movie to be 100% honest. We start out in gym class playing some volleyball. Sadly poor Carrie sucks at sports and the other girls know it, so they hit the ball her way and game loss. Later in the shower Carrie, who is in the middle of the type of super religious upbringing that would make Scientologist tell her mom to lighten the hell up, gets her period. The problem is she has no idea what this is, thinks she is dying and freaks the hell out. You can imagine how this goes for a high school girl. She gets pelted with pads and tampons and towels.

The gym teacher doesn’t like this and severally punishes the girls for how they treat Carrie and this leads to eventually the usual prom trick of guy asks girl to prom that he doesn’t like just to play a vicious trick. There is a small problem, our girl Carrie has some um.. special abilities that involve how do we say moving things with her mind and unexpectedly disassembling items..and people.

The movie is considered a classic horror movie for a reason, the story is great, the acting is great and for its time the effects are great. Some of it is a bit cliché but for its time I suppose much of it was new, Regardless if you like the genre there is no reason not to check this one out. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

My 5 favorite movies in the MCU

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I’ve been asked 1,000 times, what do I like better: Marvel or DC? I can’t pick. I love both of them for similar and different reasons. But when it comes to movies, the MCU regions supreme. Here’s 5 of my personal favorites. In no particular order let’s begin with…

dr strange 1. Doctor Strange- ever since I read Dr Strange & Dr Doom: Triumph and Torment I’ve grown to love the beautiful and weird exploits of the the sorcerer supreme and I was ecstatic to hear Benedict Cumberbatch was playing him; as a Strange fan, I was really pleased and it’s mind blowing as hell in IMAX 3D.

gotg v2 2. Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2- This was a really tough pick between the first and second but the second has a deeper story and a much better villain in Ego…also Baby Groot is freakin adorable, he seriously maybe the cutest damn thing I’ve ever seen.

avengers 3. Avengers – you can’t beat the once and probably future king of superhero flicks. While Iron Man is also a phenomenal movie, as well as the underated Incredible Hulk but watching Hulk slam Loki around like a rag-doll- truly epic.

spiderman homecoming 4. Spider-man: Homecoming – Spider-man maybe the coolest, most versatile superhero out there but at the end, he’s a regular kid and Homecoming gave us that: he’s Spider-man at Homecoming. Nothing fancy, no overblown world building, and Holland’s portrayal is spot on. Plus, growing up with Batman it was great to have Michael Keaton back in a super role, and as Vulture nonetheless, one of my favorite Spidey bad guys was a huge treat.

avengers 3 5. Avengers: Infinity War – I laughed, I almost cried, and I couldn’t help thinking about the movie on a whole hours, even days after seeing it. As a nerd I freaked out in joy and I give credit, it may be my favorite of the Avengers trilogy…

I hope you all enjoyed this list, may the gaming gods bring you glory, and as a great man always said : EXCELSIOR!

Fight Club

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There’s one quote that comes to mind, made synonymous with this story: “Rule one, don’t talk about Fight Club. Rule number two, don’t talk about Fight Club.” And weirdly enough because of the movie, we do…

Fight Club is a strange story of a hapless white collar smuck who hates his boring, meaningless, empty life. The only solace he gets is wandering into support groups where he meets up screwed up Marla, a woman he is fascinated by but too meek to really engage. Until one night he meets Tyler Durden, his exact opposite. Cool, badass, mischievous, and outspoken. They come to a conclusion, start a Fight Club to make them feel alive and get out there frustrations; this soon becomes a new kind of revolution on it’s own, albeit a malevolent one. Durden is a full scale Anarchist and wants to tear the world down and our weak narrator is in the middle, trying to stop the only real friend he ever had.

Fight Club is a strange beast, it’s such a BRO story with some strong philosophic innards, enough to satisfy both demographics. I read the book as well as saw the movie. The book is written very strangely I admit, Palahnuik’s writing style takes a bit of getting used to but becomes addictive once you get immersed and the end feels more appropriate. The movie is stylish and damn near perfect but I do like the book ending better and the expansion to the characters themselves in the book. Either way, Fight Club is a messed up story  that is irresistible as hell and I highly recommend it. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

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Ant-Man and the Wasp, trailer 2

 

Just when my nerd adrenaline was starting to level off after Avengers: Infinity War we got a fresh new trailer for Ant-man and the Wasp ( a link to my thoughts on the last trailer here; AntMan and the Wasp trailer ). First, disclaimer, I’m not a huge Ant-Man fan when it comes to comics. That being said I love the move. Wasp’s costume is really badass and I’m thrilled to have her in the MCU. I’m also glad we get more Giant Man stuff which is always cool. As for the villain, I think Ghost’s outfit looks like a Destiny costume but I think she’ll be awesome enough to ignore that. I’m really excited for this movie and I can’t wait to see it. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

The Week Of (2018)

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As most of you know I am a pretty big fan of the Netflix movies. I am also a pretty big fan of Adam Sandler and Chris Rock. Both are quite funny, and Netflix has in my experience released some great movies. However this is not one of them.

Before I get into the things I don’t like about the movie, I will say it is a nice family movie, a few parts may be a bit edgy for the kids but no more than most movies these days with that rating. And the story itself is well put together with nice pacing and great acting.

The issue is the movie itself isn’t funny, and honestly I never really cared what was going on. The story of a well off man marrying a somewhat poor but still pretty middle class girl really isn’t something most people will relate to. And walking the line between being a comedy and more serious rarely works out, and it didn’t work out here. The movie is will be enjoyed by some I am sure, but for those expecting more from Rock and Sandler you will want to look elsewhere. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.