Opinion – Page 112 – Savior Gaming

The Hills Have Eyes

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Last House on the Left was legendary horror director Wes Craven’s first big film and the impact it had was huge, pushing boundaries and kicking ass. His second major feature to follow would only solidify his status as a renegade of horror.

The Hills Have Eyes, like Last House, is simple but full of layers. The Carter family is on vacation, driving through the desert after receiving the deed to a silver mine as a anniversary gift ( I know, WTF but let’s go with it.) They come by a grizzly old guy who runs a rundown gas station who gives them a short cut, a short cut that leads to disaster as they break down in the middle of the desert with there RV, miles from anywhere. The oldest men set out for help, leaving 2 women, 2 teenagers, and 2 dogs behind. They aren’t alone however. The hills are inhabited by a group of incestuous cannibals that are watching the Carters and when night falls, they strike on family. The father is burned alive, the mother and oldest daughter are killed and a baby stolen leaving the daughter’s husband alone with the teens and 1 dog left. the husband rushes into the desert to face the cannibals and get his daughter back while the kids are left to fend for themselves. Can they survive?

I have a massive amount for this movie and the influence it had and the boundaries it pushed but I cannot lie, it didn’t age great. Back then, Hills struggled not to have an X rating; in 2018 it could pass for PG-13 I’d d wager if reevaluated. There is almost no bad language, not much blood and no real nudity. I have a glaring issue with the narrative itself. I feel the beginning and end are too abrupt, especially the ending; I feel there should be more to the beginning to either give the characters more time to develop or develop the situation and the end feels like a car crash, you just slam into it. The cannibals mostly feel like the family from Texas Chainsaw Massacre only with a more deformed, Mad Max twist. Michael Berryman, the iconic face of the film, is great and is a genuinely eerie presence on screen. It’s filmed alright and the score is there but nothing memorable. In the end, by today’s standards the original Hills Have Eyes is an ok horror movie that had some groundbreaking ideas for it’s time but has softened with time but worth a watch. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Supernatural Season 12

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Supernatural season 12. What the hell are you doing to me guys? This season focuses around the guys trying to stop the birth of Lucifer’s son and dealing with the British chapter of The Men of Letters. See at first aside from a minor incident of torture they are quite helpful, until they go back to not being helpful.

This season is pretty great, except for the ending. Don’t get me wrong the end of season 12 is great, but be prepared to be pretty damn upset. I won’t spoil it for you but the series in a way is going to go through a pretty massive shake up.

Aside from that we once again get a pretty definitive ending to one arc that will bring us firmly into the next story in season 13. Tho this time we had a pretty major story that brought us into another pretty major story. My only real complain is if you remember waaaaay back into the apocalypse seasons where Lucifer was this big dangerous evil being, they seem less worried about him now. Not that he isn’t still powerful and invincible, but the rush before of stopping him seems to be gone. In fact the entire act of figuring out a plan and stopping him is largely just the last episode or 2 of the season. After 12 seasons I am still enjoying the show, and I don’t see season 13 changing that. But there are some things you have to look past. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Huntress and Black Canary casted…

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Recently we’ve been getting a lot of news on DC’s upcoming Birds of Prey movie in the DCEU. Margot Robbie is returning as Harley Quinn and as of a couple of days we got a confirmation on casting for Huntress and Black Canary. Mary Elizabeth Winstead will be playing The Huntress and Jurnee Smollet- Bell will be playing Black Canary. I’m not familiar with Smollet- Bell’s work but physically I think she can pull the character off. Winstead I’m on the fence about; I’ve seen her in movies that weren’t great but she always tried her best- with the DCEU’s track record, I don’t want this to be one of those movies. The castings are certainly interesting and I’m curious to see where it goes. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

X Men: Dark Phoenix trailer 1

The long awaited trailer for X Men: Dark Phoenix has come, after delay upon delay, and what do I think? One word: retread. A lot of the content seems like a rehash of X Men: The Last Stand like I feared. Granted, I think it’s the same direction just done better I hope. I like that the classic suits are back, I like that Magneto doesn’t seem to want to control the Phoenix, and I’m glad there is no Wolverine so we can see this story with Prof X and Cyclops. The effects don’t look bad either. My chief concern is Sophie Turner playing Jean Grey and Phoenix after X-Men: Apocalypse but already I see a tiny bit of improvement. I know this won’t be perfect but I pray for the X men to go out on a good swan song before the MCU. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Telltale Games Facing Class Action Lawsuit

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It hasn’t really been a good week for Telltale games. First their doors get slammed shut and face a ton of backlash for the cancellation of many games and the reveal of their horrible management. Then it comes to light they haven’t always been nice to their employees. So much so that Gamespot and many others are now reporting they are being sued by a former employee in California. The claim is they were required to give 60 days notice prior to closing their doors and clearly failed to do so. If that is true this is a pretty open and shut case and would be more bad news for a financially destroyed company. It will be interesting to see how this turns out. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

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Here we come to the film that made me cover the series, and damn did I have hope for the series…well, apparently we’re getting Jurassic 6 in 2020 so Yay?

So Isla Nublar, home to the ruins of the original Jurassic Park and Jurassic World, is pretty much a unstable volcano that’s going to erupt and extinct the dinosaurs again. It’s a hot topic, should we let all the dinosaurs again or try to keep them alive. Claire is adamant about keeping alive, so much so she blindly signs up for a expedition to try saving them Noah style but she needs Owen’s help with the raptors. He’s reluctant but he goes. A guy named Lockwood is sending them, a partner of Hammond from the old days ( who we’re just now hearing about 5 movies in) who is dying. A company asshole has other plans however. Instead of freeing the dinosaurs, he wants to sell them Black Market under Lockwood’s manor, while also creating a whole new super dinosaur from the tooth of the Indominous Rex- the Endo Raptor. Can Owen and Claire put a stop to them and save the dinosaurs?

Watching this started to piss me off. The movie is still meh at best, I can’t say I hated it but this is without a doubt the weakest movie in the series. First, I’m going to spoil something just because I know many went to see this because Malcolm returns…he’s in the movie for what you see in the trailers. That’s it. Roughly 5 minutes in total. Claire and Owen’s motivations this time are strange; I don’t get how Claire went from being a tight ass workaholic girly girl into a chill pro-dinosaur activist or how Owen just gave up on dinosaurs and seems kind of mopey. For the first time, the effects got me and I knew it was CGI. During the volcano scenes, I couldn’t feel much real excitement but I was sad to watch so many dinosaurs get burned to death- the Bronnchisaurus scene made me tear a bit. The second half of the movie seriously feels like something I’d see in the Resident Evil (remake) You got a freak experiment chasing people around a mansion that seriously does look like the Spencer Mansion. The subplot of Lockwood’s granddaughter and the reason why him and Hammond cut ties- I yelled bullshit at my TV. I want to spoil it but I can’t. There are some suspenseful scenes with the E Raptor but nothing astounding. The acting isn’t wonderful but not terrible. Score is meh, you don’t get the iconic stuff til the end credits. In the end, I can’t recommend this movie because most of what you probably loved about the series isn’t here or died in a fiery inferno and while the very end has interesting implications, I’m predicting we saw the death of Jurassic Park. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Jurassic World

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There was a huge gap in the Jurassic saga after Jurassic Park 3 , almost 14 years between if I’m not mistaken. I can’t really say I was thrilled when I heard we were getting a fourth movie, by then I lost much of my appeal to the series, but I went and embarked on the journey to Jurassic World…

Over two decades after John Hammond’s first attempt at bringing dinosaurs to our world, his dream is realized at long last with Jurassic World- think Disneyland with prehistoric monsters, only the clientele are getting bored with the same old dinosaurs. So what do you do when you get bored of the same old dinosaurs? Genetically create a new one, enter the Indominus Rex. Smarter, faster, and meaner, it’s meant to be the perfect predator and that means things go to shit for a raptor trainer named Owen and a big wig at the park named Claire that’s babysitting her nephews. Welcome to Jurassic World folks…

From the synopsis you may think I’m not a fan of this movie but truth be told, this is my second favorite of the series. The premise is wacky and convoluted but it’s mostly done pretty well. Strangely, much of the story feels natural and there is a LOT of nostalgia fun for the kids who grew up with the classic Jurassic Park . Chris Pratt brings his charm to the role of Owen and is a welcome leading man; Bryce Dallas Howard isn’t bad as Claire but I will say I laughed my ass off at the scene where she runs away from a T Rex in high heels. The effects are pretty great and you got a lot of the classic score, as well as some badass fan service. The Indominous Rex is cool but watching it fight THE T Rex from the original made my inner child jump for joy. The bad guy is flat which sucks but doesn’t hurt the movie too much. In the end, it’s a really fun movie but kind of corny at the same time but definitely worth watching. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

DC Birds of Prey Release Date

DC has tons of movies going on, seriously a ton. Aquaman,Wonder woman, another Joker movie the works. Now Birds Of Prey, which will at least see Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn. Not much else is known but we have plenty of time with the February 7th 2020. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Nailbiter vol 2: bloody hands

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A special thanks goes out to my long time friend Violet who got me volumes 2 and 3 as a birthday gift after finding out how nuts I was after Nailbiter: vol 1 there will be blood ; absolutely awesome gift…

The town of Buckaroo is suffering a familiar hit after the Murder Store was burned to the ground, the local high school asshole/ reverend’s son ended up dead, press and attention are running amok again as a new killer in the long line of Buckaroo Butchers seems to be afoot. A big, broad shouldered figure in black wearing a horned mask. Nick Finch, enraged after finding what was left of his best friend is out to track down the secret of the Butchers and stop them once and for all; Sheriff Shannon Crane is trying to keep the peace but it’s easier said then done. Finch finds a family of bee obsessed red necks; the long time town bus driver loses his mind and tries to “cleanse” the children’s souls by drowning them in the river. This madness and more while the horned killer watches and Finch is pushed to the edge, driving to Warren- The Nailbiter- for answers…

Volume 2 is strange but another great addition to the series. This world feels oddly realistically crazy, I can’t say it ever felt too scripted but rather natural how much of it goes down. At first, it does feel like filler but it does help build up to the madness to come. I like the chapter about real life comic book writer Brian Michael Bendis and his journey to Buckaroo and the chapter about Crowe the bus driver. As before there are grim undertones of dark humor that work pretty well in a dark story. The art is creepy and looks good. Overall, if you read the first book, the second won’t disappoint and I can’t wait for the third. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Jurassic Park 3

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Ok, here we come to what many consider the low point of the series but I’m going to do as I have quite a few times, and take the high ground. I argue this isn’t the worst of the series, but let’s get into why…

Several years have passed since the events of Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park: The Lost World and we follow up with Dr Alan Grant, ever hounded by the fame he gained from being at the notorious park. He and Ellie have remained close friends, never getting together as the first movie made it seem would happen, and of course he’s broke. Enter the Kirbys, Paul and Amanda, who proposition Grant with a lot of money if he accompanies them on a trip to a place Grant has experience with. He gives in, accompanied by his assistant Billy venture off but the Kirbys true intentions reveal themselves when there plane crashes on Isla Sorna, the island from Lost World. The truth is the Kirby’s aren’t rich and there son got lost there after a parasailing accident and they though Grant could help him. Grant is pissed as you’d imagine, trapped on a island full of flesh eating raptors that keep on there asses- they find the boy, but can they make it out with there lives?

Again as with the previous installment, this is a mixed bag. Again the effects and score are great. I was glad to have Sam Neil return as Grant and the story I though was better, but the movie at some point drops and becomes really forgettable. This is primarily a raptor movie which is cool because we learn more about them. Other than Grant and the kid, Eric, the other characters are either annoying as hell or just fodder. The pacing is better and doesn’t feel as long and there are more action scenes so it’s more entertaining but less thought provoking. In the end, it’s a solid movie. Not great but bad. May the gaming gods bring you glory.