Archives June 2023

IT IS RARE FOR ME TO SEE A MOVIE WHEN IT’S STILL IN THEATERS BUT THANKS TO WARNER BROS I WAS ABLE TO CATCH UP ON THOSE I MISSED!

Recently the fine folks at Warner Bros (their home page is here) had sent me copies of some of their movies I missed so that I could share my thoughts on them with you. For the first part of this series we talked about Scoob, Birds of Prey, The Way Back, Goonies 4K, Beetlejuice 4K, Full Metal Jacket, Sherlock Holmes 4K and Sherlock Holmes A Game of Shadows 4K. Part 2 ‘twas massive and discussed V for Vendetta 4K, 300 4K, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy 4K, The Hobbit Trilogy 4K, Blade 4K, Bill and Ted Face the Music, Tenet and The Wolf of Snow Hollow. Part 3 talked about Wonder Woman 1984, The Little Things and Judas and the Black Messiah. Part 4 discussed Tom and Jerry the Movie and Godzilla Vs Kong. Part 5 was all about Wrath of Man, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory and Space Jam. Part 6 had discussed Mortal Kombat and Those Who Wish Me Dead. Part 7 discussed In the Heights, The Conjuring 3: The Devil Made Me Do It, Zack Snyder’s Justice League and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone 20 Years of Movie Magic edition. Part 8 discussed A Clockwork Orange, Space Jam: A New Legacy and Shawshank Redemption. Part 9 talked about The Suicide Squad and Reminiscence. Part 10 discussed The Outsiders, Cry Macho, Malignant, the Many Saints of Newark and the Mad Max film collection. Part 11 talked about Dune, Matrix: Resurrections, The Batman, Dog and Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore. Part 12 discussed Elvis, DC League of Super Pets, The Lost Boys and Poltergeist. Part 13 shared some classics with 8-Bit Christmas, Casablanca, A Christmas Story, Three Thousand Years of Longing, The Polar Express, Elf and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. Part 14 had Don’t Worry Darling and Part 15 was discussing Black Adam. Part 16 had Bones and All, House Party plus the 4k release of Training Day. Part 17 returned for the 4k release of Rocky the Knockout Collection and Magic Mike’s Last Dance. We are back for Part 18 and the Superman 5 Film Collection, Creed III and Shazam! Fury of the Gods. Part 19 is here with A Good Person, National Lampoon’s Vacation 4k Edition and Evil Dead Rise.

A Good Person

The film follows one woman’s struggle with recovering from grieving the loss of a loved one and Florence Pugh and Morgan Freeman give some of their best performances in this film. The only real issue I had with the film was Morgan Freeman. The studio has been quite inconsistent when it comes to using problematic (or supposed problematic) actors. With the last Grindelwald film Johnny Depp was replaced based on accusations he was later cleared of but Morgan was accused of something similar but was not removed from roles for this.

National Lampoon’s Vacation 4k Edition

Prior to seeing this edition of the film I had only ever seen Christmas Vacation from National Lampoon’s Vacation films. I had no idea that the kids weren’t the same in all of the films until now. Chevy Chase remains a riot and John Candy is a treasure. For the two of them alone this film is worth watching and with the higher resolution of 4K it’s an absolute win.

Evil Dead Rise

This film had me very conflicted. I’ve never made my dislike turned appreciation for the horror genre. The ads alone were creepy as hell and this film looked fantastic. The only problem with the ads was how they played on YouTube channels aimed at children. My 7 year old freaked out each time they came on. The production quality, makeup and music alone are fantastic. Where the previous Evil Dead film felt more like a reboot this is more of a true sequel in the series as a whole and includes the greatest costar in the franchise- Bruce Campbell himself! His appearance is worth seeing alone if you are a fan of the franchise and we thoroughly enjoyed this gorefest of a film.

Which of these Warner Bros films have you had the chance to see? Which was your favorite? Let us know on our Twitter!

IT IS RARE FOR ME TO SEE A MOVIE WHEN IT’S STILL IN THEATERS BUT THANKS TO 20TH CENTURY STUDIOS I WAS ABLE TO CATCH UP ON A FEW THAT I MISSED.

Recently the fine folks at 20th Century Fox (now 20th Century Studios- their home page is here) had sent me codes to several of the movies I missed so that I could share my thoughts on them with you. Part 1 was all about Underwater and Part 2 focused on The New Mutants. Part 3 we talked about The Personal History of David Copperfield. Part 4 discussed The Empty Man. Part 5 talked about Nomadland and Speed 4K Ultra HD. Part 6 discussed The Night House and Free Guy. Part 7 focused on The Eyes of Tammy Faye and Part 8 had The Last Duel. Part 9 discussed Ron’s Gone Wrong and Part 10 talked about The King’s Man and Summer of Soul. Part 11 discussed Nightmare Alley and West Side Story. Part 12 highlighted Death on the Nile and Part 13 talked about The Bob’s Burgers Movie. Part 14 highlighted Barbarian and See How They Run. Part 15 discussed Amsterdam and Part 16 talked about The Banshees of Inisherin and The Menu. Part 17 shared our thoughts on Empire of Light and Part 18 with Avatar: The Way of Water. We are back for Part 19 and Avatar in 4k and Chevalier.

Avatar 4K Ultimate Collector’s Edition

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Avatar is a fantastic film and that still holds true. The acting is fantastic and despite the blatant “save the environment” messages this remains a family favorite. The visuals, while already gorgeous after all these years, look even better than before. I honestly didn’t think it was possible. If you have a 4k capable television then this is a must for you.

Chevalier

This a film that challenges that great talent can come from any race or background, despite the fact that society may not be ready to accept that talent. The cast of this film was fantastic and the costumes looked perfect for the era. The story highlights how racism and slavery resulted in not only the destruction of lives but the destruction hiding of music created by Bolagne, whom the film is about. Overall it was a great film that was full of wonderful music.

Replikator is a twin stick shooter from the folks at Ratalaika Games and posits that death is only the beginning of the story.

Ratalaika Games how been kind enough to share a copy of their latest twin stick shooter, Replikator. The game places you as a mercenary aboard an, until recently, abandoned scientific facility in space. Your role is to explore the facility and learn the secrets of the Replikator device. The first time you are killed by the denizens of the facility you learn that the device be able to make duplicates of any item, including yourself when you die. Like most twin stick shooters the game provides an isometric view that looks like feels like JRPGs from the SNES era.

Unlike most games of this style there is a limited amount of ammunition for your guns so aiming is essential. The good news is if you do run out you have a powerful melee attack you can use. Most enemies will have consistent attack patterns making both easier if you are patient. Trying to speed through the map is one of the easiest ways to end up dead. Along the way you will find dozens if not hundreds of weapons to use and items to improve your skills. Remember to explore everything and be patient. Did I mention, be patient? My impatience resulted in my death more than any single foe.

Visually the game felt like I was returning to some of my favorite titles from the early 90s and matches the level of quality we are used to seeing from Ratalaika. Overall I found the game engaging and at the same time frustrating. I have terrible aim and with limited ammunition some of the map sections were harder than they should have been. That is entirely a reflection of my skill and not of the gameplay quality. At $10USD the price is quite reasonable for the hours of gameplay you’ll find and I have played some garbage titles with higher price tags too. Once again I find myself looking forward to seeing what Ratalika comes out with next.

World Championship Boxing Manager has returned from Mega Cat Studios, do you have what it takes to take your gym to the top?

Mega Cat Studios have come back with the sequel to what is called “THE G.O.A.T. BOXING MANAGEMENT SIM RETURNS” with World Championship Boxing Manager 2. The game follows as you take on the role of Jake, a gym owner and promoter who is trying to make a name for himself. The game starts with the opening of his gym that is below the standards of most boxers.

Having never played the original and not being a fan of boxing I went into this game with low expectations. The game very much feels like a SIM game where you are micromanaging the actions and training of your fighters. This leads you to your scheduled fight nights. Each month you have matches that you must have at least one fighter participate in. This is where you earn money for your gym. You can even schedule additional fights any day of the month you would like. If you so choose you could even push your fighter to the breaking point by never allowing them to rest.

Using downtime between the matches you can assign different trainings and designated resting periods for the fighter. The game becomes a balance between training your fighter quickly to improve skills and stats and keeping them fighting to keep that money coming in. As the game progresses you add additional fighters to your roster and the balance becomes both easier and harder. Easier in that you can keep someone fighting every day but harder because you are having to balance their training on top of it.

The game far exceeded my expectations with how well the management and scheduling systems are built. Simply put the mechanics were interesting and engaging but where it really shines is the fights themselves. At the start of each round you give the fighter some basic instructions like choosing their fight style. One round you can choose to be defensive and the next can be wildly aggressive. There are about six choices from the start and each has their uses. More often than not I had my fighters choose the aggressive option with the water bottle. The water bottle adds stamina where the bandage recovers health.

During the fights the game was focused on tactics from the side of the ring where most other boxing games focuses on the speed and combos used by the players as the fighter. In small doses the game was enjoyable but in a longer stretch it became repetitive and dull.