Category Movies

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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

Recently the fine folks at Disney 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. With Part 1 we are taking a look at the live action version of Mulan!

Mulan

Growing up (and this will tell you approximately how old I really am) I was able to see the original Disney Masterpiece that was Mulan in theaters and did so multiple times. To this day it is still one of my favorites. I have also heard that this adaptation was good so my expectations and hopes were quite high. There were two facts I had been informed of prior to seeing the film and that was that there were none of the original songs being sung by the characters and that the film would be missing the comedic relief by removing Mushu from it entirely. Knowing both of these were crucial because had I expected them I would have been disappointed. Having watched the film I can say that it exceeded all expectations I had. The action was well choreographed, acting top notch and cinematically beautiful. This was by far the best of the live adaptations.

Have you had a chance to see this film from Disney Studios? What were your thoughts? Let us know on our facebook page!

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 One of this article I discussed The Shape of Water, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and Red Sparrow. Part Two discusses Maze Runner: Death Cure, Alien Covenant and Love, Simon. Part three covers Super Troopers 2 and Murder on the Orient Express. Part Four discusses Sorry To Bother You and Darkest Minds. Part Five discussed The Predator and Bad Times at the El Royale. Part Six covered Bohemian Rhapsody, The Hate U Give and Once Upon a Deadpool. Part Seven talked about The Sisters Brothers, London Fields, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Widows and the Favourite! Part Eight covered Destroyer, The Prodigy, Alien 40th Anniversary Edition, Vice, The Kid Who Would Be King and If Beale Street Could Talk, and Part Nine we discussed Missing Link and Alita Battle Angel. Part Ten we discussed Tolkien, Booksmart, X-Men Dark Phoenix and Stuber. Part 11 discussed The Art of Racing in the Rain, Where’d You Go, Bernadette, Ad Astra, and Ready or Not. Part 12 talked about Ford v Ferrari, Spies in Disguise and A Hidden Life.  Part 13 was the last part I did with PNTV and discussed Downhill and The Call of the Wild. Part 14 (forever referred to as Part 1 on this site and our first with the Nerd Cult) was all about Underwater and we are back with the New Part 2 with The New Mutants!

The New Mutants

The New Mutants is intended as a horror film within the X-Men universe and begins with Danielle Moonstar as she runs from something chases her into the forest and almost immediately kills her father in front of her. She is knocked out almost immediately after and awakes in some form of hospital for mutants that looks more like a psychiatric facility or the medical ward of a prison. It film successfully gives a solid creepy vibe and handles some of the dark tones from Illyana’s past quite well but fails to hit the point of actually being a scary film. As a darker drama it works quite well and handles the universe around it quite well, making several nods to it without relying on having seen any of the other films. When the true villains are revealed however it relies more on an intimate knowledge of the comics to know how bad things have gotten and left the rest of my family confused by the implications. I felt the film was quite solid and really enjoyed it but the rest of the family (not knowing the same comic history as myself) thought it was worthy of only 2.5 out of 5 stars, I gave it a solid 3.5.

WHICH OF THESE FILMS FROM 20TH CENTURY STUDIOS HAVE YOU SEEN? WHICH WAS YOUR FAVORITE?

IT IS RARE FOR ME TO SEE A MOVIE WHEN IT’S STILL IN THEATERS BUT THANKS TO PARAMOUNT PICTURES I WAS ABLE TO CATCH UP ON SOME THAT I MISSED!

Recently the fine folks at Paramount Pictures (their home page is here) had sent me a code to some of the movies I missed so that I could share my thoughts on them with you. Part One discusses Overlord and Instant Family and Part Two focuses on Bumblebee and What Men Want! Part Three discussed Isn’t it Romantic, Pet Sematary and Wonder Park. Part Four discussed Rocketman, Addams Family/Addams Family Values Anniversary Edition, Light of My Life, Galaxy Quest Anniversary Steelbook, Crawl, Dora and the Lost City of Gold and Night Hunter! Part Five discussed Official Secrets, Playing With Fire, Shutter Island Anniversary Edition, A Quiet Place Steelbook, Gemini Man, Terminator Dark Fate and Beverly Hills Cop Triple pack! Part Six covered Like a Boss, Clueless 25th Anniversary Steelbook and The Hunt For Red October Anniversary Steelbook. Strap in and grab some popcorn and let’s get started! For our first segment of this series with NerdCultOnline we are resuming the series with a new numbering with Part 1 and discussing the classic film Airplane.

Airplane 4k

The film follows Ted, a man who is afraid to fly, take over the plane and help it land when the pilots become sick. This film is a classic that I had honestly never seen before now and boy did I miss out! This film holds up under the 4k release and is worth the pickup, I would just advise that this release did not include a digital copy.

THANK YOU TO PARAMOUNT FOR SHARING THESE FILMS WITH US!

SO WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THESE FILMS FROM PARAMOUNT? LET US KNOW IN THE COMMENTS BELOW!

Brothers and Sisters! There is a generation, whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw teeth as knives, who intend to devour us in our sleep! Heed then, the warnings of Wolverine, chapter 5, verses 1-32!

This is the story as scribed by Benjamin Percy!
Given life on the page by Viktor Bogdanović!

The official plot:

“In the snowbound darkness of the north, Wolverine is the prisoner of Dracula. By forming an unlikely alliance, Logan fights back. Stakes, claws, tricked-out snowmobiles and wintry mayhem await you.”

Marvel Comics

Wolverine versus vampires…so yeah, Marvel’s description is on point. Meaning there’s not much of a plot…but it’s violent and pretty, so I bought it anyway.

My Impressions:

• Growl, snarl, snikt, stab! Nuff said!
• Sorry Mr. Silvestri, I think Bogdanovic has elevated himself to my favorite Wolverine artist. There is no doubt that bold expressions and confident lines set a great tone for a book that’s basically “The Lost Boys” with a twist.
• Crossover Dependency: Thankfully, none. Thus far the Wolverine title has kept itself mostly separate from the mega X-Men behemoth. Feel free to jump in any time.

Notable Appearances/Events:

• Wolverine (Logan / James Howlett)
• Omega Red (Arkady Gregorivich Rossovich)
• Dracula (Vlad Tepes | Marvel)
• Final page Fortnite crossover

Bottom Line: 3 Stars!

Pissed off Wolverine…you’ve got to love this! Good, bloody, wholesome violence. With vampires. There’s even a throwaway reason for them to have come after our favorite Canadian. Don’t you dare pretend you wanted some drama from this title!

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! 

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. 

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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

Recently the fine folks at 20th Century Fox (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 One of this article (shared a couple weeks ago) I discussed The Shape of Water, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and Red Sparrow. Part Two discusses Maze Runner: Death Cure, Alien Covenant and Love, Simon. Part three covers Super Troopers 2 and Murder on the Orient Express. Part Four discusses Sorry To Bother You and Darkest Minds. Part Five discussed The Predator and Bad Times at the El Royale. Part Six covered Bohemian Rhapsody, The Hate U Give and Once Upon a Deadpool. Part Seven talked about The Sisters Brothers, London Fields, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Widows and the Favourite! Part Eight covered Destroyer, The Prodigy, Alien 40th Anniversary Edition, Vice, The Kid Who Would Be King and If Beale Street Could Talk, and Part Nine we discussed Missing Link and Alita Battle Angel. Part Ten we discussed Tolkien, Booksmart, X-Men Dark Phoenix and Stuber. Part 11 discussed The Art of Racing in the Rain, Where’d You Go, Bernadette, Ad Astra, and Ready or Not. Part 12 talked about Ford v Ferrari, Spies in Disguise and A Hidden Life.  Part 13 was the last part I did with PNTV and discussed Downhill and The Call of the Wild. Part 14 (and our first with the Nerd Cult) is all about Underwater!

Underwater

When I heard about this film I was certain it would be garbage. The lead is Kristen Stewart, that alone was reason enough for me to not want to watch this film but after seeing her in Charlie’s Angels I knew she had the ability to rise above her role in the Twilight movies. She plays an Engineer, a believable one too, in an underwater station and within the first few minutes of the film the station starts to collapse. Her and the other surviving members of the crew must escape to the surface and the captain is determined to save as many of them as he can. Expectations were low but I must admit that this film was quite enjoyable. The suspense was well managed, visuals were stunning and the acting was great. I highly recommend this film for fans of science fiction and survival horror.

WHICH OF THESE FILMS FROM 20TH CENTURY FOX HAVE YOU SEEN? WHICH WAS YOUR FAVORITE?