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What’s in the box? It’s the 4k remaster of Se7en from Warner Brothers staring Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt!

Warner Brothers are back at it again with another classic film released in the new and fancy 4k format, this time with Se7en, or Seven, depending on where you are reading about the film. This film follows a pair of detectives, portrayed by Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt, as they investigate a serial killer that is choosing his victims based on the seven deadly sins and using their sins themselves to kill them. One such murder is killing a glutton by force feeding him spaghetti until his stomach explodes.

What makes this film really stand out is how graphic it is while keeping the truly offensive parts off screen. By that I mean that you never seen any of the deaths until the killer is executed by our detective heroes, before that its all just the aftermath. Imagine how much worse it would have been had we also watched the the killer force feeding the guy till he died, I doubt the film would have ever made it to theaters had they included those parts of the story. In fact that scene has stuck with me since the original release on DVD over twenty years ago and I think about it EVERY time the family has spaghetti. When you can’t forget a scene after that much time, you know it was well done.

Start to finish this film is a masterpiece. I would have never guessed that this is the same director that was responsible for Aliens 3, a fun film but nothing special about it besides some slight expansion on the lore. Ironically just before our contact at Warner Brothers let us know they were sending this to us, I was discussing how brilliant the film was with my oldest who is now a few years older than I was when I first saw the film. I can’t wait to share this version on the larger screen with her. If you enjoyed the film or would like to see a film the exceeds the quality of most films these day in terms of tension building, story and practical effects then this is a must purchase for you. If we weren’t sent a copy I can guarantee we would be purchasing our own as well!

A Real Pain is a comedy from Searchlight Pictures staring Kieran Culkin and Jesse Eisenberg as they tour Poland after a death in the family.

Searchlight Pictures has shared their latest film with us, A Real Pain, for the purpose of our viewing and reviewing. As with every film review we have done, our opinions are not for sale but we will be more than happy to watch the film and share our honest thoughts on it. I figure we should remind folks of our process every once in a while.

A Real Pain is the story of two cousins that had drifted apart and with the passing of their grandmother are reunited for a trip through Poland to see where their Jewish ancestors came from and what all they endured along the way. The film is listed as both a Comedy and Drama in Vudu and I feel they are only half right. Sure there are some amusing lines and moments but this film is not a comedy in any way. Either that or I have a very different definition of “comedy”. I had only seen a single trailer for the film and didn’t know much about what to expect. The only expectations that I had were that our two leads, Culkin and Eisenberg, were an odd pairing that deliver great performances. With that pairing one other thing was clear, at some point things are going to be said that can’t be unsaid. I can confirm that both expectations were met.

The writing is fantastic as was the portrayals by the cast. Culkin should honestly be nominated for his role. The pain his character feels and shows in everything he does and says is done so well that you want to see if he will be okay. The journey through the film leaves you caring about him, more than his cousin who carries his own pain but comes off more sanctimonious about it. By the end of the journey their relationship is stronger for it but leaves you wondering, what happens next? The film was well done, start to finish. Not my usual style of film but if you’re looking for a well written tale of overcoming grief and facing your demons you won’t go wrong with this one.

Joker has returned with Joaquin Phoenix reprising his role in Joker Folie A Deux from Warner Brothers Pictures.

Joaquin Phoenix returns to his rendition of the Joker in Joker Folie A Deux from Warner Brothers Pictures. The story follows the end of the first film as Arthur awaits trial in Arkham. During a regular meeting with his lawyer, when all humor had left him, he saw into a choir group therapy class, making eye contact for the first time with Harley Quinnzel. He starts attending the group soon after, using that meeting to talk to her more. The humor has returned and things escalate as she starts a fire as a diversion so they can be free, if only for a short time. The majority of the film centers around his trial for the murders committed in the first film.

As to be expected, the acting by the cast was fantastic and visually it looks like the perfect film to follow the original. I expected the film to have a few songs sung by the characters due to their meeting and them almost exclusively within the confines of that room. There were so many songs in this film being sung by the duo that it might as well have been categorized as a musical. I applaud them for continuing to push the idea of what and who Joker is but overall it fell way flat. All technical aspects of the film were fantastic but the story felt interrupted by all of the musical numbers, resulting in a film that was difficult to enjoy in the end.

Who watches the Watchmen? Perhaps we’ll get the answer with the next installment of the animated film series!

In mere months following the release of Chapter 1, Warner Brothers brings us the sequel and finale with The Watchmen Chapter 2. The former super team has seen one of their people murdered, one in self exile and one in prison. Two have donned their costumes once again to help where they could and continuing Rorschach’s investigation. Night Owl manages to find that each of these events seem to be tied together through corporations owned by Ozymandias himself. While this is happening the world is also on the brink of a new World War.

Alan Moore has penned some of the greatest stories in comics and many have seen adaptations in film. The Watchmen was first adapted in live action film but for some reason the studio saw fit to make this into a two film animated series. Having never seen the original film or read the comic, I am unable to compare the animated films to either but from what I’ve been told, the main story points are exactly the same. The voice acting is fantastic, which is not a surprise since it includes legends like Troy Baker, Katee Sackhoff and Matthew Rhys. The animation reminds me of the art style from the many games that Telltale Games published years ago and fits the story perfectly. Overall I thought the film was wonderfully written and once again proves how brilliant of a writer Alan Moore really is. In it’s entirety the film was fantastic and I know I must watch the live action film to see if it lives up to this version of the story because if it’s only half as good then its going to be a damn great film.

The team at Warner Brothers are back with three classic films being released in 4k, Blazing Saddles, North By Northwest and The Terminator!

Warner Brothers have released 4k versions of three more classic films, Blazing Saddles, North By Northwest and The Terminator. Prior to receiving these I had never seen any of the films but knew of them well enough. One thing to keep in mind is that these three films have not aged very well. For example, Blazing Saddles is full of racist comments and jokes.

Blazing Saddles is one that my family have told me for years to watch since I am a fan of Mel Brooks and many of his films. The story follows an African American rail worker turned Sherriff. He must protect a small town from bandits and to prevent the railway from tearing through the town. I was amazed by how the story matched, practically scene for scene, to another Mel Brook’s film, Paws of Fury. The story and the non-racist jokes were great but leaned too far into the racist dialogue.

North By Northwest is a thriller by Alfred Hitchcock that stars Cary Grant. Grant plays Roger Thornhill, an advertising executive that is mistaken as a spy and must clear his name. For a spy thriller from the 50s it was surprisingly well done. I’ve never seen a true Hitchcock film till now and I can see why his name carries so much weight.

The Terminator is the classic film that started the franchise. This film focusing on the Terminator hunting and attempting to kill Sarah Conner. T2 was my introduction to the franchise and despite having seen the original before this was a much needed piece to the overall puzzle.

All three films are currently available for purchase at your favorite retailers. Which one will you be picking up? Is this your first time viewing or are you revisiting a classic you remember?

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is the sequel to the film we never knew we wanted or that we needed with the original living cast and some additions.

The original Beetlejuice film was one that my twisted young mind loved and is probably why my tastes tend to lead towards the macabre and twisted. Warner Brothers have brought back the original cast, those that are still living anyway, and brought us the sequel I think no one really expected with Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. The film follows Lydia and her daughter as they learn of their father/grandfather’s death and return to the home where Beetlejuice plagued them all. Astrid, Lydia’s daughter, is tricked by the ghost of a dead boy into following him into the afterlife to see her deceased father with a secret plan to trade places with her. Lydia must call on the one entity she knows she can’t trust to save her.

With Tim Burton at the helm and a team of master effects artists this film was a treat from start to finish. Even better is we are given several behind the scenes features where at least one goes in depth on how some of these effects were made. The shrinking Danny DeVito effect was fascinating to watch how they figured it out but even more so was the reassembly of Delores’ body. As to be expected, the cast was over the top in the portrayals of their characters. If you’ve seen the original film then you know they played them no differently then they had then.

I’ve read numerous reviews that complained about the fact that there were two villains or about how they were each defeated. I honestly felt like this was very on brand for the franchise and the progression of the story it made sense each step of the way. Overall I thought the film was EXACTLY was what I wanted from a sequel of a classic from my youth. Regular callbacks to previous events and natural progression of the characters completed the formula. I thoroughly enjoyed the film and feel that anyone that didn’t wasn’t a fan of the original or went into the viewing with the wrong mindset. Following the naming, does this mean we might get a sequel? I certainly hope so.

Trap is a film about a serial killer that attends a concert with his daughter that turns out to be snare meant to prevent him from escaping.

The film Trap, from Warner Brothers and M. Night Shyamalan, follows a father and his daughter as they attend a pop concert where law enforcement hope to catch a serial killer. The story focuses on Josh Hartnett’s character Cooper and his alter ego, The Butcher. He bounces around the arena between searching for an exit and spending time with his daughter. This is all while trying to figure out how law enforcement learned he would be there.

Every step of the way it seems the police are a step ahead and have another avenue of exit blocked off. His creativity with how he avoids them and blends in is quite impressive. If only he used his skills for good.

Having seen the trailer my first impression was that the film would focus on him recognizing he was trapped and then going on a killing spree to as one last party before the end. That is not the film we got. Like a classic Shyamalan film there is always a twist and this time it was much more subtle than expected. Typically his twists basically slap you in the face but this time it could be argued whether it truly is the twist at the end. Despite the film not being the story I expected, or wanted, it was still very well written, exceptionally acted and directed. This is one of those films that I’m certain has hidden details throughout and will require multiple watches to see everything and I’m looking forward to what I find on the next viewing.

ININ has returned with the second volume of the IREM Collection, featuring games from the arcade and SNES.

ININ has come back with another installment of their IREM Collection with Volume 2 and once again it is multiple games I had never heard of. There are three primary titles within the collection with a couple variations of two of them. Those titles are Air Duel, GunForce 1 and GunForce 2.

Air Duel is one of those classic looking top down shooters like 1942. These games were truly the first bullet hell games. If you weren’t quick enough to kill the planes, tanks and ships before they fire then the game becomes more difficult, almost exponentially. Playing these game, while never being very good at them, has always taken me back to playing in the arcade in my youth. The look, feel and total gameplay is exactly how I remember and despite dying, a ton, I loved it.

GunForce 1 and 2 and classic side scroller games that become to be known as a precursor to the king of all run and gun side scroller, Metal Slug. For the majority of both games its not quite so obvious but in GunForce 2 its more obvious. There are literally vehicles that are nearly the exact same in Metal Slug and I knew I had to check this out. Both titles are as unforgiving as the king is, full of nonstop mayhem and hard hitting weapons.

Thanks to these titles being ported in their arcade versions you can load up each game with enough “credits” to play to the end of them all. Of course you can add more as you go to ensure your victory. More often than not, porting vintage/classic titles feel like a lazy attempt at grabbing some nostalgia fueled funds and fall flat on the actual gameplay. For the first time though I am the EXACT demographic for this round of releases. Metal Slug is one of my ride or die titles and I grew up on games like 1942. Makes me rethink my snarky thoughts on the other releases like this. There is a perfect person or people for each release and just because its not perfect for me doesn’t its not for someone else. Honestly the only change I’d make to this game is making the controls/buttons on how to start the games easier to understand on console. It seriously took me way to long to figure out how to start. Pushing on the left stick adds credits to the game. It’s not very intuitive but once you finally get into the game and start then the controls make sense. Other than that though I had a great time with all three titles.

Camp Sunshine is a 16 bit survival horror roleplaying game that first saw success on PC and has been finally released to consoles!

The team at Fossil Games brought out their latest title Camp Sunshine from finding success on pc to see if they can do it again but on consoles. I didn’t realize this until I was writing the review but this is the second title we’re reviewed and were provided by this studio. It is also the second title by them that includes “Sunshine” in the title. Coincidence? Possibly but I doubt it. I expect that if you play them through to the end you’ll find them linked in some way. The original release of this game came out in 2023 and as far as I’m aware there is no difference to the story beyond the console you are using.

In this game you play as Jez, a young but somewhat troubled child who is attending camp. Your first night there you awake to see the aftermath of the murder of one of your bunkmates. It is now up to you to not only survive but to solve and stop the murders around the camp. The game is filled with puzzles, hidden lore and a surprising amount of core for only 16 bits. The Summer Camp Slasher is hunting you, will you help Jez with solving the puzzle and defeating the killer?

As I mentioned I was quite surprised by all they could achieve with the 16 bits and for 16 bits it looks great. The controls are intuitive, puzzles (at least the ones I attempted) were easy to grasp and solve but not so easy they were overly annoying. The music was great for creating the tone of the game and set the ambiance. Overall experience was surprisingly good and I found the game enjoyable. The only change I’d have made is releasing it early in the month of October to better grab the attention of all the horror fans, otherwise this was a surprisingly good tribute to horror stories and an enjoyable game that is more than worth the cost.

Blink Twice starring Channing Tatum is a thriller that surprises at nearly every turn. The pieces are there but will you see them?

Blink Twice is one of those films where the trailer seemed to imply the film was entirely different than it actually is. The film is a thriller but the premise was not at all what we expected. Almost feels like a bait and switch. The trailer from Warner Brothers made the film appear as a story where the uber rich Slater King was tricking people to come to his private island to then be hunted by him and his friends. There is some truth to that but not any of the hunting.

The film starts with Frida arriving to work her shift at a part for Slater King’s charity. With a change of outfits she attends the party and gets invited to the island by Slater himself, played by Channing Tatum. Other than some weird run ins with staff working the grounds, it all seems like fun in the sun with drugs, booze, gourmet meals and watching the help eliminate the native snake population. Everything seems to be great until Frida’s friend was bit by one of the many snakes and it changes everything for Frida.

For anyone interested in seeing the film, I must warn there are numerous scenes of Sexual Assault that I was not expecting to see. Despite those scenes the writing of the film and how it was filmed was quite brilliant. Without spoiling the movie I will only say that I loved the end. The acting, directing, all it, was fantastically done.