The Ritual (2018)

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The Ritual is a very odd movie. I don’t mean that as a bad thing. The movie starts out with a group of friends in Europe planning a guys weekend. Arguing about hiking and drinking and where to do it. But its time to go to the shop and buy some booze. They sadly pick the wrong store and some drug addicts packing a machete decide to rob the place. One friend is unseen and stays hidden, while the other gets brutally murdered trying to defend his wedding ring.

Later on they decide to honor their friend by going hiking, having a couple drinks and just remembering their friend in the way he would have liked. Its a nice thought, one that he actually would have loved. This is where the movie takes its odd turn, first they don’t hike anywhere near as far as they thought. Turns out they can still see the cabin they left from in fact. No big deal tho, in the morning they will head back. Or it would be if somehow they didn’t get lost.

This is where things get weird. while lost they find a dead body nailed to a tree, and yes this becomes important later. After traveling all day a storm hits and they find a cabin, a cabin they didn’t see earlier. There is some weird stuff in this cabin they spend the night in. As you can imagine it isn’t long before people in the group start dying and the last two end up in a village that worships an ancient god that kind of looks like a massive skeleton deer with hands near its mouth. The movie is interesting and while not great is a fun watch and I would suggest checking it out. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

The Resident (2012)

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Being a guy I probably miss how scary this movie truly is, but it is creepy as hell none the less. Imagine moving into a new house and meeting a new landlord, nice guy by the way. Doing a lot of nice work. When suddenly weird things start happening. You start sleeping through alarms for example and you just have this eerie feeling of being watched constantly and just a general bad time. That is what this movie is about.

The movie isn’t great, its average at best and at times is very convoluted but the concept is good. Hillary Swank and Negan, I mean Jeffrey Dean Morgan, play their parts well but there is only so much you can do with what they were given. Still the movie is worth giving a watch if you have the time, but be aware the movie has some very trigger inducing moments that sensitive people may not want to see. They certainly do not shy away from the subject matter which honestly I do appreciate. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

The Cloverfield Paradox (2018)

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After watching the Super Bowl and recovering from celebrating the Eagles winning I decided to check this movie out. I will say this, its a fun watch. Don’t think about it. At all. Don’t think about the science involved, because the writers did not. Don’t think overly much about the plot to much either, it won’t be hard to find holes. Just accept it for what it is. Also do not expect this to be some scary horror movie, its pretty much a comedy with a couple semi creepy bits.

With all that out of the way, the movie is still pretty fun to watch. After being sent up on a space station to fire a sort of high powered particle accelerator into space in order to get an unlimited supply of energy ( don’t think about this) they end up in an alternate dimension and discover an Earth during a massive war ( again don’t think about this).

The movie is a fun little Netflix exclusive, but if it were released in theaters I am pretty sure it would have bombed to be honest. As it is, grab a snack and enjoy it. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Night of the Living Dead Resurrection (2012)

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Every so often someone decides to make a movie call it Night of the Living something in either an attempt to make a quick buck or as some sort of indy film. Now as many of you know, I love indy stuff. For example Preacher Six Preview  is an indy film or Game Preview: Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark is an indy game that looks great.

But every so often there is something like Night of the Living  Dead  Resurrection. I don’t swear much on my blog but seriously, fuck this movie and fuck me for being dumb enough to sit through the whole thing. If someone ever says hey Savior how do you NOT make a horror movie, I no longer have to speak. I would just show them this movie. I won’t go so far as to say this is the worst horror movie I have ever seen, but I will so it is without a doubt in the running.

Before we get to this dumpster fire of a story, let me say the visuals will make it perfectly clear this is a very low budget indy film. And not in that fun way Romero did things, in that some guy that things he is cool making a movie but ran to best buy and bought a camera does things. Thankfully the special effects person knew what they were doing because that at least looked good enough to make me not want to rip my eyes out.

The story. Well first I encourage you not to watch the movie. Read this, and if it sounds like something you want to watch because it sounds good I am sincerely sorry, it was an accident. If it is out of morbid curiosity I encourage you to bring a friend and some booze. The main character for the first about 10 minutes is a black guy driving down the road listening to the radio. That is all he does. He will then call Barbara and tell her he is coming to get her. Ha Ha. Very clever. He will then drop his phone to show his screens background appears to be the poster from the original Night of the Living Dead. So there is our required nods to Romero. a few minutes later he will get to a farm house and be shot in the face.

Then much of the movie is people talking. Mom and dad, a girl and her husband and that girls sister. Who by the way the husband is nailing on the side. Dad will then at one point leave, mom will find out hubby is nailing both daughters after the wife dies in childbirth. Yes by the way there is a like 3 minute scene where he approaches a blanket to discover a zombie baby that you will never ever see. The movie has pretty much nothing in common with the original, even the ending the original did so well this went for a shock value ending. A militia type group shows up, shoots mom in the head because she was bit and the sister that the now dead husband was nailing gets tossed in the “rape trailer” amd the movie ends with her having a terrified/shocked look on her face and it freezes there. So even the ending isn’t original. Seriously, don’t watch this piece of garbage. Ever. Best wises, and may the gaming gods have mercy on the souls of the people that made this movie.

Odd Thomas (2013)

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Odd Thomas based , the books by Dean Koontz is a rather interesting movie. Odd, yes that it is actual name, has the interesting talent to see dead people. He uses this talent to catch murderers and on this occasion solve the potential death of an entire town.

With his long time girlfriend Stormy, Odd will explain some fry cook lingo as well as what these weird apparition that only he can see are. We will be lead on a journey of discovery, mystery and intrigue with plenty of twist and turns and even some surprises.

The movie is well written and will keep you interested and on your toes with each new piece of information leading into the next and in the end will all come together nicely but will leave you wanting more. More that sadly most likely won’t ever come thanks to the untimely death of Anton Yelchin. Not to say they could’t recast him, many people just wouldn’t want them to and I think the backlash would be bad. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Lethal Weapon 4 (1998)

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Lethal Weapon 4, the last of the Lethal Weapon movies. It is also in my opinion the worst of the Lethal Weapon movies. Thats not to say the movie was bad, because it really wasn’t. It was just very average in every way. This time around Riggs is trying to settle down with his now pregnant girlfriend while Murtaugh also attempts to deal with the fact that his daughter is pregnant and not married. Tho we soon find out she is married, to a cop played by Chris Rock. The story also involves the Chinese mob and their attempt at sneaking in what are essentially slaves labor from China.

Eventually it boils down to Riggs and Murtaugh attempting to dismantle their operation to protect their family much like the other movies which I think is what brings the movie down a bit, we have seen much of it already as it is. The movie is still good, it just happens to be the worst in a great franchise. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Meet the Blacks (2016)

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This is one of those movies you will either love or hate. Its not quite a spoof movie, but it isn’t quite its own thing. See the Blacks ( that is the families last name) move to a rich gated community from Chicago, on the night of the purge.

The movie it self has a fun premise, take a family that doesn’t fit into the neighborhood, add a night of lawless fun and see what happens. Making it a comedy, that was a twist that could have gone either way and honestly for me it worked. That being said much of the humor relies on racial stereotype jokes, such as bills not being paid or all white people are racist and don’t black people living in their neighborhood. Tho the reason this works is because people recognize these things and like all good comedy people recognize that ridiculous it is when people actually fit that stereotype.

All in all this movie is not for everyone, and many people simply won’t find it funny. If you enjoyed the Friday movies you will probably like this. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Lethal Weapon 3

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We are once again back with Riggs and Murtaugh, and this time they are chasing an ex cop with inside knowledge of how the whole system works. This normally doesn’t seem so bad, but he is using it to steal weapons an drugs from the department and out them back on the street. He also happens to have armor piercing bullets. Murtaugh has about a week until retirement and is starting to worry he won’t quite make it.

At this point we all know the Lethal Weapon routine, and it hasn’t much changed tho weirdly the movies are all pretty solid. They have managed to use the same formula and stay interesting and fun which isn’t something easily done. The movie has some twist and turns and Riggs ends up with a new love interest which is nice. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Lethal Weapon 2 (1989)

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Lethal Weapon 2 finds Riggs and Murtaugh chasing down a South African diplomat using his diplomatic immunity to cover his crimes. While totally unrealistic is still kind of fun.

The formula has slightly changed this time around tho. Riggs while still kind of crazy seems to be no longer suicidal which while is nice for him and his character growth does make him seem crazy for no real reason at this point and now just seems like an idiot.

The movie is still fun, and the relationship between Riggs and Murtaugh is fun as always tho the tradition of Riggs having rought luck with women and Murtaugh’s family being threatened will pretty much be a staple of the movies at this point. It works but it won’t much change from here on out. The stories will change, how will change, but this this will basically stay. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

 

Goon:The Last of the Enforcers (2016)

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The 2nd Goon movie takes place a bit after the first. For a quick refresher you can check out my review of the first one here. Goon (2011) Doug and  Eva are now married and the NHL is having a but of a lock out. The movie starts out with our enforcer friend getting hurt in a fight that he loses, and he loses badly.

This movie is less about hockey and more about Doug and his struggle to come to terms with his life outside of hockey. Suffering from a career ending injury with a kid on the way and working a job in the insurance industry he hates starts to take its toll.

Of course with some training and work he finds his way back on the ice, and the name last of the enforcers will make sense by the end of the movie. I didn’t enjoy this one as much as the first, but it is funny and fun for hockey fans. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.