Category: Movie Review

Ant-Man

Ant-man

So let’s talk a movie that once announced in the MCU made me say “Wow, really dude? A freaking Ant-Man movie!” but like many times before, I ate my words. This movie is pretty freaking entertaining and it’s about a superhero I don’t even really like.

Scott Lang is a ex con looking for redemption so he can do right by his daughter. Once a thief though, after a hard time getting back on his feet, Lang finds himself thieving again and getting busted trying to rob famous scientist Hank Pym. But Pym has a job for the thief; his Pym particle technology has fallen into the hands of his old protege Darren Cross (Yellow Jacket) who wants to replicate it and sell if off to Hydra. The particles can help him shrink while increasing his strength while wearing a helmet that helps him communicate with ants…hence Ant-Man.

I loved this movie because of the creativity behind it, especially during the fight scenes at the end. It was amazing to see how otherworldly everyday things can be shrunk down and it is filmed on a epic scale. The characters are solid and the tone is fun but Cross is overall a eh bad guy with a cool costume. My biggest flaw with the movie is that it is extremely formulaic, much how Doctor Strange ( 2016) followed the Iron Man formula pretty damn closely but the movie is fun and imaginative enough to stand on its own, especially if you can watch it in 4K or get to watch it in theaters in 3-D. May the gaming gods bring you all glory.

 

Suburban Gothic (2015)

suburban gothic

Suburban Gothic is one of those silly horror movies that isn’t quite funny, but isn’t really serious either. Its pretty well written with decent effects in that better than a B movie nut clearly isn’t AAA title, and that actually helps the movie out very well. There are some laughs to be had and Matthew Gubler (criminal minds) and Kat Dennings (Thor) work amazing together. You actually believe they are both former fat kids that are awkwardly spending time together but also have a strange attraction.

The movie is pretty far from perfect however, for example the main characters parents are basically insane and abusive. The town itself is apparently full of rednecks, rapist and criminals but no one noticed or simply doesn’t care. I’m not really sure which one it is. Also don’t expect this to be scary, best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Fantasia

fantasia

I’ve always been inspired by imagery connected with music, especially if it has a darker tone. When writing, I can listen to a piece of score and create something completely different than what it was intended for, or reinterpret it. As a kid I was utterly fascinated by this very odd Disney film that remains to be my favorite decades later. Fantasia is a blend of live classical orchestra composure with Disney’s animations to create stories whether concrete or abstract. Duke had some fun stories about seeing this in theaters during the late sixties- use your imagination why that may be.  The most famous of the selections is The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, where Mickey enchants a broom to do his chores but it gets out of control and he’s being swamped by evil brooms. While there are bright, vibrant colors there are also some dark and scary ass images- I’ve never been more scared of the devil than I was in this movie. While not for everyone, I think everyone should experience this film at least once and I urge people to give it a shot. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

300 (2007)

300

300 is one of those movies that is based on a true story in the sense that Spartans are real, Thermopylae is a real place, the battle is real hell even King Leonidas is a real person. Most of the details tho are pretty much made up for dramatic effect and to sell a movie.

The movie by the way is about 300 Spartans holding the pass of Thermopylae against a massive Persian horde. The action is great and violent, there is the obligatory sex scene, and of course there is the classic scene where arrows block out the sun and they fight in the shade.

All of this are things anyone would know simply from common sense or previews however as solid as the acting is and as action packed as it actually is i have to say, when I first watched the movie I loved it. Watching it again I noticed while I still enjoy it, there isn’t much to the movie. It’s just an action flick with an extremely historically inaccurate story and not much else going on. Even the struggle of the Queen attempting to get reinforcements to the king is just sort of there and in the grand scheme there for the same of being there more than anything else. The movie is fun, but it’s rather empty. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Game Over, Man (2018)

game over, man

Another Netflix movie that on the surface probably shouldn’t have been all that good. Three idiot friends that work in a hotel, one of which has a weird Salvia addiction that he buys from his possibly delusional money obsessed friend get the surprise on a lifetime. A rich internet celebrity is having a huge party at the hotel, and they are going to try to get him to finance their dream. One small issue, some terrorist have a slightly different idea.

The entire plot of this movie is that Terrorist and these 3 guys want money. Tho the 3 friends had a check that their boss took off them and gave back to the manager and they simply wanted it back. The movie is quite hilarious, and ladies if you want to see Adam Devine’s Dick, this is your chance. It is legitimately in the movie.

The story obviously should not be thought about, it has plenty of plot holes and is far from perfect. It is simply a fun and entertaining movies with some bad but passable special effects. Very much worth a watch tho, best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

 

Ghost in the Shell

Ghost in the Shell is one of the most influential animes of all time, spinning off other movies and anime series and the live action film adaptation in 2017. Weirdly enough, I never watched the anime, instead starting directly with the live action film. As I watched both, I began to see the reach of the influence it’s had on science fiction over the few past few decades.

What’s the same? In the future, technology has evolved to such a degree where people have used cybernetics to enhance themselves, whether on a small level or extreme level. We follow Major Motoko Kusanagi, an officer of Section 9 that deals with cyber crimes. Her and her partner Bato are on the hunt for a dangerous hacker that is screwing with peoples memories and rewriting people. Major is a ghost, a living brain in a full mechanical body. Many of the breathtaking and gorgeous images have been recreated in the 2017 version, as well as the context to both.

What’s different? The anime film was a more contained story where the live action film went into some heavy Blade Runner territory, trying to make it a deeper story and give more answers. In the anime, the adversary is the Puppet Master, while the live film has a more elaborate villain. Major is more coldly portrayed in the film and surprisingly more human in the anime.

Ok, so which do I like better? Though not quite my favorite anime and/or film, I respect both of them a lot. I love the concept and art style of both. I found both fascinating and beautiful but somehow neither grabbed me as much I thought they would. I recommend watching the anime first but I think you’re solid either way. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

 

Mermaids (1990)

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When I was flipping thru the movies on Netflix and Hulu my girlfriend saw this one and wanted to watch it. Now being an idiot..I mean good boyfriend, I said sure I will watch and review that. I mean I overlooked the fact that Cher was in the movie, plus Winona Ryder and Bob Hoskins are always solid. So this had to be good right?…right?

No, no it didn’t. First Charlotte (Ryder) is a very religious 16-year-old girl in the 1960’s, all good. She is also discovering herself in a sexual manner. Pretty normal. But this has been blown WAY over the top to the point a stereotypical teen boy would be telling her to chill out. And this is legitimately something that happens in the movie, she pursues and sleeps with her much older and adult bus driver.

Mrs. Flax (Cher) is the worlds worst mom, first off she encourages the actions of her daughter,and has more emotional baggage than a large international air port. Seriously she has a great guy in Lou (Hoskins) and she does everything in her power to drive him away. At one point he even turns an entire room in his house to look like the bottom of the ocean so the youngest daughter can know what it feels like to sleep on the bottom of the ocean ( she is a swimmer and loves the water and ocean) and Cher treats him like garbage and even accuses him of attempting to use her kids to get closer to her like what he did was some nefarious scheme.

The movie did however have some funny parts, but all in all just wasn’t very good. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Look Who’s Talking Now

look whos talking now

The last of the look who’s talking movies, and in my opinion the best of the group, tho also the most odd. In the first movie, Look Who’s Talking (1989) we met Mikey and in the second, Look Who’s Talking Too we met Julie. In Look who’s talking now, we meet their dogs, and yes we will hear their side of things. Rocks ( Danny DeVito) and  Daphne (Diane Keaton) Come home when both the parents decide to be the cool parent and bring home a new family pet

Like the other look who’s talking movies, this one was predominantly met with mixed reviews by both critics and fans with what seems like younger people and parents enjoying them and others not liking them so much. The story also revolved around typical family problems where one again there is almost a divorce. The movie honestly does nothing new from the last two, they just did it better and added animals to the mix. If you enjoyed the last two you will probably like this one, if not you probably won’t like this one. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Look Who’s Talking Too

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Look Who’s Talking Too is obviously the sequel look Who’s Talking, and sadly it is kind of the black sheep of the three movies. This time around Mollie (Kirstie Alley) and James (John Travolta) are married and having a little girl, and she is now added to the children we hear from.

We also get to deal with potty training issues, a separation of Mollie and James, the murder of a stuffed Penguin and even the first steps of a new little girl named Julie. (Roseanne Barr) As far as family comedies go, the movie isn’t bad. In fact it has its moments and is even quite cute and pretty well written. The problem is older adults that don’t have kids usually tend not to like those types of movies, so much so the movie was actually demolished on Rotten Tomatoes by both critics and fans, tho fans did rate it higher. This is another one of those movies some will like it, but most probably won’t. Its cute, but it’s for a very niche market. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force: The movie

athf the movie

It finally happened: the Aqua Teens finally face Dr. Weird as we finally discover there origin in this epic feature film. Seriously, this movie sneaked up on me. It opens on a cameo of Abe Lincoln, a trip to the moon, and a sweet nu- metal remix of the theme song. So the plot mainly focuses on the gang getting a new piece of exercise equipment that turns out to be an apocalyptic death machine. If you love the show, you will love the crazy scale of the movie and will appreciate the other cameos throughout (Space Ghost man). I found myself liking it a lot more than I thought I would; may the gaming gods bring you glory.