Zodiac (2007)

zodiac

Hey who here loves serial killers? Pretty morbid question to ask I know. My favorite is Jack the Ripper. I know its cliche and everyone mentions him but he is just a fun one with a great conspiracy surrounding him. This movie is about the case surrounding the Zodiac killer.

Admittedly I am not overly familiar with the case and stuff surrounding the Zodiac killer, but the movie it self does an amazing job telling the story from different angles. From the killer standpoint we get to see the different murders from that perspective. This is interesting but is clearly just supposition for the movie. On the flip side we also get to see the side from the media getting letters from Zodiac and the decision to print the first letters or not and the toll it took on one of the writers when Zodiac started threatening him.

The other side is the perspective of the cops and their hunt to find him and their struggle and the toll it took on the detectives chasing him and what it was like attempting to catch an elusive and dangerous killer as he avoided them at every turn.

The movie was fun and interesting but was pretty long and had a tendency to drag and felt like some parts dragged a big to much. If you like this sort of thing the movie is great, if not you may be a little bored at times. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Kingdom Come Deliverance

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Kingdom Come Deliverance seems to be a pretty divisive game even among my close friends. The word Eurojank gets tossed around a lot as well. One friend takes great issue with the eating mechanic claiming it gets in the way, and admittedly I do wish Henry would shut up with his damn complaining about being hungry every 2 minutes when he isn’t even that hungry. There is one thing we all agree on tho, but I will get to that a little later.

To start, the game is beautiful on my Xbox One X but there is a small exception to that. Sometimes the graphics don’t quite load as fast in some spots on others and for a moment certain things won’t load in and suddenly you got a chick walking around with no head for a few seconds or suddenly a tree that wasn’t there will suddenly be there. Its nothing game breaking and at times it will be funny, but some people this will be a major issue for.

The combat is nice, it is however slow and methodical. Unlike games like Skyrim or the most action games you won’t be running in and hacking and slashing your way to a quick win, at least not often. You will be circling each other and attempting to out smart each other as you slash and stab each other. There is also no magic at all in this game.

Two things you do pretty much NEED to know, as of now the lock picking while technically possible is hard as hell. In fact I have spoken to several people who have never even managed to do it. I tried once and said screw it and stopped trying since the company has said they intend to fix it in an upcoming patch. The second thing you need to know is that you play the son of a blacksmith and as such you pretty much suck at EVERTYHING. In fact your character can not even read at the start of the game. Many of the issues people have with the game actually seems to stem from the fact that in a way this is a true RPG. You aren’t a chosen one or special really in any way. You simply are the son of a blacksmith and the game treats you as such. Many of the games characters actually talk down to you because of it.

The game is far from perfect, you can find many Youtube videos about the many glitches in the game, and there are many possible to run in to. My hours in the game didn’t have me come across any of the severe ones like floating people or people loading inside of other people,sadly because I really want to try to shoot a floating person with an arrow but hey, no luck so far.

The game is best viewed however as a medieval life simulator if you want to get the most enjoyment. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

The Boondock Saints 2 (2009)

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The Boondock Saints 2 starts out with the brothers living a quiet life home in Ireland with their father. Years later they learn beloved priest is killed by the mod and they return to Boston to bring justice on them and get revenge and clear their name. This movie however didn’t really hit it off as well as the first and I can see why, it wasn’t as good as the first. Not to say the movie was bad by the way, it just had a lot to live up to. It wasn’t as funny nor was it as original. It very much tried to live off the success as the first and while the movie was passable and I would love a sequel we may not get one sadly. That being said, the ending to this one is far superior to the ending of the first and I won’t spoil that by even hinting at it. If you liked the first by all means see this one, but don’t expect the greatness of the first. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Patton Oswalt: Annihilation

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This is one of the more odd stand ups I have seen. Its funny, and he openly admits that while Trump winning the election was good for comedians in theory, in practice it gave them so much material it essentially made it all useless. He is funny and thought provoking but he also talks about the death of his wife. This part was actually pretty heart wrenching having 3 daughters myself as he goes on to say the worst day of his life wasn’t the death of his wife, but the following day when he had to rip a part of his daughters life away by telling her that her mom had died.

To tell the talent of this man tho, he even managed to to turn such a sad event into something people could smile and laugh about. This one won’t be for everyone, but it was still a good one. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

What’s the difference- mutant, mutate, or inhuman (Marvel)

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In Marvel, many of it’s fine heroes and heroines have extraordinary abilities and powers. In Marvel, these folks can be broken down into three main categories though of course not every character fits, for example Thor, Vision, or Ghost Rider but this will help clear up questions I’ve gotten in the past such as ” is Captain America an Inhuman?” ” Is Spider-Man a mutant?” “What’s the difference between a mutant and mutate; what’s the difference between mutant and inhuman?”

Mutants primarily exist within X-men and are people who naturally develop powers around puberty. There powers can vary in there degree of devastation and physical change; I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t notice Wolverine, Storm, Cyclops, or Jean Grey walking down the street but guys like Beast, NightCrawler, or Apocalypse are a little harder to hide. Besides the X-men, other famous Marvel mutants include Submariner, Franklin Richards, and Cassie Lang (Stature). Submariner has flight capabilities unlike an other Atlantean and while Franklin’s parents aren’t mutants, he was born with powers, much like Cassie’s who developed later. Blade doesn’t count because he’s  vampire hybrid. I do get questions about Scarlet Witch, in regards to if she is magic or a mutant and I can’t really tell I’m afraid.

A mutate is someone who got powers from a source of some kind. This is where the Fantastic 4 fall into place as well as Spider-Man, Deadpool, Daredevil, Luke Cage, and Hulk just to name a few. The Four and Hulk got hit with radiation, Daredevil got chemicals to the face, Parker got bitten by a radioactive spider, and Deadpool and Cage got experiments done. Capt. America is a interesting specimen in this regard. Project Rebirth pushed his body to its upmost peak, pretty much the best a human body can be. Does he qualify? I think not just because he doesn’t technically have powers in that way but the argument is still there.

Finally there are Inhumans. Inhumans don’t really live on Earth exactly but on Attila, a moon kingdom per say. This gets weird. So they basically start as human, but through a rite of passage are exposed to the Terrigan Mists which transform them either, and depending how depends where you go in society. I’m not the biggest on Inhuman lore but I can tell you the royal family is not to be screwed with, especially Black Bolt, who is voluntarily mute because his voice causes mass destruction. I also know that if you expose a mutant to the mists they die. Members of the royal family include Black Bolt, Medusa, Gorgon, Triton, Karnack, Crystal, LockJaw, and Magnus; another notable Inhuman to include is Kamela Khan, the new Ms. Marvel.

I hope this helps put things into perspective a little better. As always best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

 

The Boondock Saints (1999)

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The Boondock Saints is a rather odd movie in that it probably shouldn’t be as good as it is. Sure the premise is good. Two guys take it upon themselves to kill the undesirable criminals that the law can’t take down themselves. The issue is the addition of the religious twist. This usually makes things come off as weird.

However this time around their religion while very much in the forefront of who these Irish brothers are, it isn’t in your face. It is the reason for what they are doing, but it isn’t quite the catalyst. It does however drive them. Oh, and did I mention its also a damn comedy? Seriously it is a serious movie and a comedy at the same time. The entire movie on paper reads like something a drunk guy wrote down or a couple of 15 year old kids made some weekend. It should not work. Yet it does, it works well. The movie is interesting and has some parts that are hilarious and may be one of the most quotable movies of its time. Admittedly the movie is over hyped at times, it is far from perfect and has its issues. The story has so many plot holes its ridiculous. Don’t try to think about the movie, just enjoy it for what it is. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

5 Marvel stories that hooked me

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As a great man always said, “Hey there, true believers.” Though the amount of DC content we have here on Saviorgaming may suggest differently, I don’t consider myself a DC fanboy. I like to think I have a love for both pretty equally. While maybe not considered classics, these were stories I’ve read from Marvel that just hooked me I want to talk about in no particular order, starting with…

cap dimz 1. Captain America: Castaway in Dimension Z – this story brings Cap to another time and world out of place, a wastleland of horrors and hardship ruled by Baron Zola. Aided by the boy Zola claims as his son, Cap must survive living hell in  Dimension Z.

thanos imperative 2. The Thanos Imperative- the scope of this massive space story was breathtaking, featuring the Guardians of the Galaxy, Nova, Medusa, Quasar,  Gladiator, Silver Surfer, Galactus, Captain Marvell, and of course the Mad Titan Thanos, there’s a epic fight amongst our universe and the Cancerverse, leading to a sad farewell to some beloved characters.

ultron book 3. Age of Ultron- disclaimer, this isn’t what the movie was based on. This story focuses on the dystopia of the world after Ultron took over and consumed Vision and became perfect, essentially this is the worst case scenario. It was a punch in the gut to see how destroyed what remaining Avengers become and the book ends with Wolverine and Invisible Woman going back in time to assassinate Hank Pym (Ant-Man) so Ultron is never born.

deapool kills the marvel universe 4. Deadpool Kills trilogy ( Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe, Deadpool: Killustrated, and Deadpool kills Deadpool)- as these titles suggest, there’s a lot of killing. An evil Deadpool goes on a murder spree through Marvel, than through the realities of fiction to murder the influences of Marvel, and finally murders his own multi-verse selves. Just wow. Dark, morbidly hilarious and creative, and bloody as hell.

trial of Jean Grey 5. Guardians of the Galaxy/ All New X-Men: The Trial of Jean Grey- if both teams didn’t have enough problems to deal with, a league of alien rulers piss themselves to discover Jean Grey is alive and walking about, not caring she is young, naive, and only vaguely aware of the horrors of the Phoenix in her future. Taken, it’s up to the two teams to band together to get her back, filled with some cool action and laughs, it’s a good crossover.

I hope you enjoyed, best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory. Excelsior!

Dazed and Confused (1993)

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This is another movie I didn’t see until well after it came out. I actually had a friend that kept calling me  Matthew McConaughey and when I asked why he wouldn’t tell me, all he kept saying was watch the movie. Finally I did and well, my girlfriend while legal was a bit younger than me. We met freshmen year in college, tho I went through the army before college and she went straight from high school. You do the math.

The movie itself however is amazing.  Its a coming of age story about a few of the football players and choosing between giving in to the demands of the coach, or staying true to themselves. It doesn’t stop there tho. There is a love story as well, there is some philosophy talk and even a fun side story about the tradition of of High School seniors essentially chasing the soon to be freshmen down and beating them with paddles.

Now I am not quite old enough to know anything about what the 70’s was like. I was born after that, but the stories I hear makes it seem pretty accurate. The acting is also amazing and they really capture what many think of when they think stereotypical high school experience. It is one of those cult classic movies people love and there is a reason for it. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Chris Rock: Tambourine (2018)

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Chris Rock has always been a favorite of mine in the stand up world. Not only has he always made me laugh but there was always some great social commentary and was usually pretty thought provoking and his newest addition is no exception. There are some parts that when taken out of context sound HORRIBLE and a few will probably make a few people a bit uncomfortable regardless. He however hasn’t lost anything in all these years and any fan of his will also enjoy this one, best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Violence in Video Games…Again

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It seems like every so often after a tragedy someone decides its the fault of video games. Before we go any further by the way, this transcends party lines. At one point Democrat Hillary Clinton took her shots at the industry and she wasn’t alone. The original Mortal Kombat was also attacked from what seemed like all sides for what was touted as realistic violence and blood.

This time around however it is American Republicans. Recently Donald Trump also decided to blame violent video games and movies and according to Robert Nardolillo of Rhode Island they actually need a special Tax applied to them, which while it would help schools it would exclusively be used to punish gamers for an alleged issue being caused by games that I will discuss in a minute, but spoiler, science mostly says otherwise.

In a recent study from the University of New York found no evidence to support the claim that video games make players more violent and in the opinion of Jesse Marczyk, Ph.D this claim also holds no water. There is also some simple common sense to this tho. Violent video games are played all over the world, yet these shootings aren’t an issue in every country. Hell it isn’t even an issue in every state tho I promise you will find a copy of Grand Theft Auto in all 50 states. Another study also shows no link between violent games and movies and real life violence.

I do apologize for all the links on this one by the way, I know they can be annoying at times. I do however realize this subject can be very divisive and I did want to share the source of where the claim was coming from in case people wanted to see that for themselves. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you safety and glory.