CATCHING UP WITH WARNER BROS PART 2

Warner Bros

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 a code to one of the movies I missed so that I could share my thoughts on it 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. We are back again with Part 2 to talk about 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.

V for Vendetta 4K

This movie follows a dystopian future of the United Kingdom where church and state are one and the same. Evie breaks curfew and is recued by a secretive hero- V. V spends the next year on a path to tear down the corrupt government that created him. It has always been an all time favorite film of mine and managed to look even better in 4K!

300 4K

300 is one of those guilty pleasure storylines for me. I have always loved the look and style of the Spartans and when Frank Miller wrote the comic I had to pick it up. When this film first hit theaters I was able to go and enjoyed it. Seeing it again but in 4k on my big screen made me wish I made some popcorn because it had that same feeling I missed with going to theaters.

 

Warner Bros

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy 4K

This is Peter Jackson’s trilogy as it is meant to be seen in glorious 4k. It comes with both the original theatrical release and the extended versions. These films have always been visually stunning with a fantastic cast and story. The extended cuts though add many scenes I’ve never seen that add some depth to the story that was not necessary but made for a great time anyway.

Warner Bros

The Hobbit Trilogy 4K

This is the second Tolkien trilogy and once again comes with both the theatrical releases and the extended versions. The first two I was able to enjoy in theater but never saw the third. Until we received our review copies I still hadn’t seen it. This was the perfect chance. We sat down and began watching one after the other (focusing more on the extended cuts) and had a great time. Of course the extras are not essential to the story but there were some great moments that we hadn’t seen before.

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Blade 4K

This was the first Marvel film I had ever seen and even then had no idea he was even a Marvel character. All I knew was he was a badass hero that killed vampires. This movie is a bit dated (last time I saw it was on DVD) but the 4k edition looks so much better than I expect from a film that came out in the 90s. It was so much fun I hope that Warner Bros does the same with the two sequels.

Warner Bros

Bill and Ted Face the Music

With the Bill and Ted franchise there will always be a soft spot in my heart. It was what first got me interested in the concept of time travel. The first two films you get to hear about this show that unites the world but this film promises we will get to see it. They know that they are approaching the deadline to have it ready and decide to travel through time once again to steal it from themselves. My expectations were quite low for this film. Trailers did not truly do it justice. I absolutely loved this film and thought it was the perfect ending to the series.

Tenet

Tenet is a spy film that lays the fate of the world on the shoulders of one man, but it has one defining characteristic that makes it stand out. Conceptually it is very much time travel film without the same control of time travel. Several scenes are replayed multiple times from different angles as time moves weirdly through the film. The cast is fantastic and as always Nolan tells a brilliant film. Well worth the watch.

The Wolf of Snow Hollow

Written and starring Jim Cummings this horror film follows a small mountain community dealing with either a brutal killer or a monster. They slowly piece together that the marks on the victims are similar to a dog or wolf and the town starts to think a werewolf is on the hunt. It can be a bit campy at times but handles the serious scenes quite well. Cummings does both a brilliant job as the Sheriff and writer of this film, I’m honestly surprised it wasn’t better known. In fact I have yet to see anyone really talking about the film and that’s too bad.

Starting next time we will be listing only the coverage we have done as part of the Nerd Cult when it comes to Warner Bros. SO WHICH WARNER BROS FILMS DID YOU SEE? WHICH DID YOU ENJOY?

CATCHING UP WITH WARNER BROS PART 1

Warner Bros

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 a code to one of the movies I missed so that I could share my thoughts on it with you. Part One discussed Teen Titans Go To The Movies, The Nun and The Meg. Part Two was discussing A Star is Born and Part Three focused on Creed 2, Aquaman and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Crimes of Grindlewald. Part Four talked about Imax Pandas, Lego Movie 2 and The Mule. Part Five discussed A Star is Born Encore Edition, Shazam, The Curse of La Llorona and Pokemon Detective Pikachu. Part Six discussed The Sun is Also a Star, Annabelle Comes Home, Gremlins Anniversary Edition  and Godzilla King of the Monsters. With Part Seven we talked about The Goldfinch, Blinded by the Light, IT Chapters One & Two, Joker, Doctor Sleep and The Kitchen. Part Eight discussed Motherless Brooklyn, Just Mercy and Richard Jewel. For the first part of this series here at Nerd Cult Online (and overall Part 9) we are talking 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! 

Warner Bros

Scoob

Starting with the first meeting between Shaggy and Scooby the film shows how they join Mystery Inc to later become separated and chased by none other than Dick Dastardly. Dastardly is looking for a way to bring back his lost friend from some hellscape. Believing Scooby to be the descendant of some great dog Dastardly spends most of the movie collecting mystical skulls and attempting to capture the dog. Animation for the film was fantastic and writing was rather solid for an animated movie. My only real complaint was that Shaggy’s voice was just plain wrong. Will Forte is great in several films but his voice just does not work as a replacement for Casey Kasem. 

Warner Bros

Birds of Prey

Before I will discuss my thoughts on this film I gotta say the name was utterly ridiculous. Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) is just too long winded. They should have left it as either Birds of Prey or Harley Quinn. Now as far as the film goes I am very conflicted. While watching I thought it was trying too hard to be it’s own thing but the character just couldn’t carry the film. At the same time though I still enjoyed it.

Warner Bros

The Way Back

I used to think Ben Affleck would never amount to much as an actor but these last few years had proven me wrong on many occasions. His character must battle his addictions and issues with his father in order to come back a better person and try to lead his team to victory. A bit formulaic but Affleck’s performance saves this film.

Goonies 4K

Goonies never say die and neither will this film. I watch it as often as I can and OF COURSE I just had to get the 4K version of it. I was worried that the age of the film would not respond well to the 4k quality but after seeing this version I can honestly say it was like seeing it for the first time. The age of the film holds up quite well.

Beetlejuice 4K

Growing up this was a defining movie for me and thanks to Lego Dimensions my son was curious about watching it. I immediately purchased it on Vudu and we watched it together. The 4k release is the exact film we know and love but in crystal clear 4k definition.

Sherlock Holmes 4K

Start to finish this is a fantastic movie in every regard. Brilliant acting, directing and visually. Robert Downie Jr and Jude Law (Holmes and Watson) must stop Lord Blackwood as he’s come back from the dead to use magic to take over all of England. As those that have seen the film may recall there is of course no magic and only sciences that are used creatively. It was a joy watching this film again.

Sherlock Holmes A Game of Shadows 4K

Holmes and Watson return to try to take down Professor Moriarty and his attempt to start a world war. I honestly thought they wouldn’t have been able to top the original but they knocked this film out of the park out of the damn park. On top of it, the film has never looked better than in 4k.

Full Metal Jacket 4K

This is the classic film by Stanley Kubert. Surprisingly I had never seen this film before the 4K release. My father in law warned that this is essentially two films, the lead up to the Vietnam War and then the war itself. He was right, each half of the film was fantastic and looks better than I would have expected in 4k.

Starting next time we will be listing only the coverage we have done as part of the Nerd Cult when it comes to Warner Bros. SO WHICH WARNER BROS FILMS DID YOU SEE? WHICH DID YOU ENJOY?

Hogwarts Battle Card Game Review

Hogwarts Battle

Players take the role of their favorite Hogwarts heroes in the Hogwarts Battle Cooperative Deck Building Game from USAopoly!

In Hogwarts Battle players work together fighting against increasing odds but with the help of your expanding decks of spells you will be able to fight and eventually defeat them. The fine folks at USAopoly supplies us with our review copy of this game (along with others) and we let our son choose which we played first. So one thing became apparent early on in the game- the more players you have the easier the fight will be. Makes sense because anytime you have a set number of enemies and increase the number of people fighting them you usually will have an easier time of it.

Hogwarts Battle

We went around the table adding cards to our individual pools of magic spells in order to quickly get an upper hand against Draco Malfoy, Crabbe & Goyle and eventually Professor Quirrell.

I’m notorious for misreading rules the first few times I go over them so to save time I asked my wife to give them a quick read and we were able to jump right into the game within only a couple minutes. The rule book is full color and well written and you’d have to be a fool to misunderstand them. Somehow I did and she straightened it out quickly.

Hogwarts Battle

The first stage of the game took about forty five minutes total, including multiple readings of the rules and even a check of them again later on. In our house the toughest critics are the kids and after completing the first stage Merrick immediately asked if we could do the second stage tomorrow. This game is a definite keeper and I think this image says all you need to know about whether or not you should get this for the Harry Potter fan in your life.