Tag: Movie Review

Man Up (2015)

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Man Up is the story of a blind date that went wrong mostly because it involved the wrong people. More specifically the wrong woman. See when Jack (Simon Pegg) meets up with his blind date it turns out due to a weird coincidence he meets up with Nancy (Lake Bell) thinking she is his date, Jessica. Nancy is happy to let him think this however since she is surprised by how mice he is. The date is going great actually, that is until she is caught in the bathroom with a guy threatening to blackmail her by telling Jack the truth.

The story itself is pretty nice and is quite original, the problem is much of it is quite cliché. The ending, the date itself, the dance scene. It’s all quite been there done that in romantic comedies which is disappointing. Not that it was done badly, quite the opposite. Simon Pegg and Lake Bell play their roles well and worked well together. The script was also well written, my issue is simply that an original idea falling back on so many old tropes saddened me.

All that being said, I still suggest a fan of romantic comedies check the movie out. It’s still pretty above average and worth checking out at least once. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

The Witch 2015

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The Witch (2015) is an odd film for me. It involves a family on a farm who have lost a son and is being tormented by a witch. As the movie goes on this family in the 1600’s becomes more and more paranoid.

I won’t get into to many specifics on the movie or its story because honestly the fun of this movie is deeply dependent on not knowing much about the story itself, and I worry by telling you too much I will spoil the experience. The acting is well done and as a period piece it is actually one of the best I have ever seen. As far as I can tell most of not all of ti was filmed using natural lighting or at lighting for that time such as candles. The clothing choices also seem to do a very good job of matching that as well.

The sound of it all is also rather nice, with the actors doing a fair job at talking in an older dialect of English. I do however have a few issues with the movie. First off the movie can only sort of be called a horror or thriller movie since it rarely attempts to do either of those things. There also wasn’t too much excitement to be had. The story was interesting, and the last 20 minutes or so was great but I would have liked a little more.

The movie itself however is only worth watching for certain people. I don’t mind a slow-paced period piece so for me it was a pretty good movie. The story was interesting and the religious zealousness was pretty well done. However, for those looking for a fast paced and exciting horror movie, this is not what you are seeking. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Alien Contact: NASA Exposed

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Every so often I like to check out a documentary and see how it goes. Alien Contact, while the info may or may not be various levels of accurate is very poorly made. Not from a CGI or voice acting point of view, those are perfectly fine. The problem for me really is about the first half of this hour-long documentary is talking about Nazi Germany.

After much talk of the occult in Germany and the false assumption that no UFO had been sighted or reported prior to that. We then movie on to what happened to the Nazi scientist after Hitler shot himself.

It isn’t until the last 15 minutes or so we even get to talking about NASA and it mostly focuses on the moon landing and Apollo missions. This is where it truly breaks down with mostly conspiracy theories and voice overs done by the same people who represent radio calls from numerous historic figures that really just destroy any possible credibility. I normally enjoy stuff like this but honestly I couldn’t enjoy this one. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Anguish (2015)

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Anguish is a horror movie that I admittedly thought would be good. The idea was good. A girl named Tess is diagnosed with a personality disorder but things aren’t what they seem. The acting is good and the story honestly is pretty easy to follow, but that is basically where I stopped enjoying the movie. It is just not good. The first hour or so is a whole lot of talking and is mostly meaningless. The last 25 minutes or so is where we finally get into the actual events of what is going on and why but by that time I was so bored I no longer cared.

This review is short admittedly and I won’t spoil the ending for you, but I also don’t suggest seeing it for yourself. I wouldn’t watch this movie again, there are far better movies out there, go watch any of them before you watch this one. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Hunting Grounds (2015)

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Hunting Grounds is the story of a father, Roger Crew (Jason Vail) and his son Michael Crew (Miles Joris-Peyrafitte) that have come down on their luck after a personal tragedy, which not such a big spoiler, mom died. They do have a place to stay thankfully, Will Marx (D’Angelo Midili) has a cabin way up in the woods for them to crash in.

When Will comes to check up on his friends and brings king douche canoe Sergio (David Saucedo) the weekend should be simple. Some drinking, some hunting and things will be on their way. The problem is Sergio is a complete jackass, tho David plays this role amazingly well. Mike is a complete sissy and Sergio is happy to point this out, and that basically never changes. Roger is, well Roger may be the worst dad ever. Will is a nice guy tho.

The story is pretty standard tho, family outing goes wrong, monster starts terrorizing them. The monster itself, which i won’t ruin, also isn’t even all that original but it is rarely done which I liked. The problem is just about everything about the movie is pretty bad. The characters range from extremely whiny and annoying (the father and son) to just over the top nice. (Will) The movie just isn’t good. I’m not sure if it’s the actors or the script or the horrible looking monsters, but the movie is not something I can suggest watching. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Wish I Was here (2014)

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Wish I was here is a pretty simple and straight forward movie. Basically a family having trouble making ends meet, dad is a struggling actor and mom, well they are never all that clear on what mom does, basically works with computers entering data.  Thankfully they cut a deal with Aiden Bloom’s (Zack Braff) father to pay for school as long as he picked the school. As a Jewish man of strong faith he chose a Jewish school. Sadly he has cancer that has returned and he can no longer afford to pay for school.

It is later decided that the kids will be home schooled until next year when they will go to public school,something Aiden isn’t happy about. The movie is a comedy but above all it is honestly a feel good family movie, tho you probably  let your kids watch it as it does deal with some adult content. The movie itself isn’t bad and is good for some laughs, it is just a bit odd. The conflict you are used to in movies honestly doesn’t really exist here. You never feel like the family is being torn apart or anything like that. It is simply the story of how the family deals with pulling together during a time of trouble.

If you are in to that sort of movie definitely give it a watch, it is a nice drama/comedy, but unless you are fans of that type of movie there isn’t much here for you. I don’t regret watching it, but I wouldn’t watch it again. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Young Guns 2 (1990)

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Young Guns like the first one is a movie I haven’t seen in so long I forgot the story. If you read my review of the first one yesterday you will know I did enjoy both movies and suggest you watch them both. The story of this one takes place not long after the first.

With most of the gang dead or in hiding Billy is still in New Mexico traveling around doing his thing. The story is actually however one big flash back told by a man named “Brushy” Bill Roberts. He is talking to a lawyer in the 1950’s telling the story of how he was promised a pardon years ago and never received it. He would not like to meet the governor to talk about getting it now. The flash back details how him and his crew attempted to run and escape to “old Mexico” to avoid the new sheriff Pat Garrett that used to be part of Billys posse.

Interestingly enough the movie is actually based off an actual man who claimed to be Billy the Kid and was discredited but there is some evidence to support that Pat Garrett killed the wrong man or that him and Billy intentionally mislead people to help Garrett collect the reward money and Billy could finally be free. Bill Roberts died in 1950 but was verified to be billy the kid by some people who did know Billy tho most people don’t believe him. Honestly we will never know, but it is a nice story none the less. Best wishes  and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Young Guns (1988)

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Young guns is a movie I haven’t seen in years, to the point I forgot what both movies were even about. Seriously I forgot it was about Billy the Kid and Doc.  The story starts out with a man named John Tunstall taking in a bunch of deviant basically criminals and giving them a second chance. The problem is him and another local cattle merchant are both going for a government contract for beef and with some powerful enemies John is murdered.

Billy, Doc and the rest of Johns boys are deputized to arrest the murderers and go off to do their thing. Billy however gets a little trigger happy and kills the first guy they go to arrest. This results in a gun fight that kills many and a legend is born.

What follows is an interesting take on the Billy the Kid story. Emilio Estevez and Charlie sheen do an amazing job at their roles as does Kiefer Sutherland as Doc Scurlock. In an era when westerns died off it managed to be a great movie that even warranted a sequel, a movie that I will be covering as well and I promise will be getting my recommendation just as well as this one. If by some chance you haven’t seen the Young Guns movies, Hulu has them both and Netflix has the first and now is a great time to check them out. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

World’s Greatest Dad (2009)

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World’s Greatest Dad is what we affectionately call, a dark comedy. Robbin Williams plays  Lance father of Kyle Clayton. Kyle is what you would call a complete douche. He treats his dad like crap, his friends has no respect for women and appreciates nothing. Lance is a wannabe writer that has written many things, but has never had anything published and teacher at his son’s school. He isn’t well liked, but he isn’t disliked. He is respected and has a girlfriend that is a teacher but the relationship is a teacher.

The problem here is Kyle has a weird I guess you could say masturbatory fetish called erotic asphyxiation. I won’t go into too much detail but basically its a dangerous practice and it kills him. Lance having found his body didn’t want him to suffer the indignity of being found that way and wrote a suicide note and moved the body to make it look more in line with that.

Afterwards things at school eventually get a bit weird when the suicide note is released at the school news paper. Suddenly Kyle was loved and popular, because as well all know everyone loves you when you are gone. But this isn’t where the story ends. Seeing how everyone has actually been helped by all this, Lance writes a book and claims it was written by his son. The problem is his son is basically a moron and his best friend sees through it.

I won’t spoil the rest of the movie for you, but it is well done and the acting is great. It can be a little slow-paced tho, but the story is deep and worth the slow downs. I definitely recommend checking this one out. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Devil’s Gate (2017)

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Devil’s Gate is a movie I saw that looked pretty decent, but I honestly chose to watch because I saw it had Jessie (Milo Ventimigilia) and William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) in it and I have always been a fan of both. With them of course is Amanda Schull (Agent Daria) The story is a simple, yet complex one. Jackson Pritchard’s (Milo) wife and son go missing and Agent Daria is tasked with going to the town of Devil’s Gate North Dakota to sort everything out. Frakes (Sheriff Gruenwell) tells her to leave Jackson alone since he is a good man and wouldn’t do anything wrong. Daria of course as a good agent knows in most disappearances, whether man or woman, has something to do with their partner.

After a quick investigation Jackson pulls a gun on our agents because why the hell not. Why wouldn’t you pull a gun on the head of the investigation you’re the biggest suspect in. Daria shortly after subduing our friend Jackson and continuing the search we find something quite odd in the basement.

I don’t want to give to much of the story away, but it is all quite exciting. It won’t be long before the wife is returned, but not the son. What follows that is where the real fun begins and we start hitting the twist and turns, of which there are a few. The movie isn’t perfect, and quite a few people will see the twist coming and that’s okay as they are fairly well done. The movie isn’t perfect by any means. The dialogue at times can be cheesy but  great cast more than made up for it and the special effects at times didn’t quite hit the mark.

It should also be pointed out that there is apparently another movie with the same name on the internet that uses the same poster but is not the same movie. It is supposedly pretty bad, but I haven’t seen it nor do I plan on it. This one however whole not perfect or even great, is worth seeing. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.