Universal Dork

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“Curse of Chucky” is the Ultimate Franchise Sequel!

October 9, 2013

I saw “Curse of Chucky” last night, the sixth installment to the franchise and the second BEST movie of the series! I honestly didn’t know what to expect from this one, except that it was reffered to as some what of a reboot and that it was going to bring back a more frightening version of ol’ Chuck than the last two movies which to be quite honest I wasn’t much of a fan of. Really for me the first two are the only ones I’d ever, up to this point, I have any desire of watching again at all. That being said I was fairly certain I’d be in some way disappointed here with Chucky in 2013. I really couldn’t have been more wrong, as ‘Curse’ not only delivered the goods but exceeded my expectations and packed a punch full of surprises to boot!

This one once again, helmed by Don Mancini, who wrote all six films (but only directed my two least favorites) brought the story back to basics. I wouldn’t be lying if I said this one felt like a straight up reboot when it started out, but believe me this one’s got more to it than meets the eye. The story starts out relatively simple, handicapped Nica (Fiona Dourif, Brad’s daughter!) lives alone with her mother in an old creepy mansion and receives a strange package in the mail-guess what’s inside? Yep-A Good Guy Doll!!

Shortly thereafter Nica’s mother is found dead and soon the rest of the family arrive to meet up for the funeral and stay the weekend at the old creepy house. Nica’s young niece Alice takes a liking to the Good Guy doll and then as you might guess mayhem ensues. Now that’s about all I really need to tell you plot wise, it’s really best if you don’t know much more than that. What I can tell you is that it’s the perfect film to bring the franchise back to what it’s best known for which is some good scares like only Charles Lee Ray (Brad Dourif) can deliver. This installment brings back the horror that has been missing for so long but neatly serves as the perfect end to the franchise while also opening the door to possibly one more movie?

Now onto what people had been fearing since the preview hit for this a couple months back, that Chucky was going to be CGI in ‘Curse’. Well fear not, he’s still fully done with puppetry and animatronics as Fiona Dourif tried to set the record straight back in July on her twitter page. There are a couple very short sequences that may or may not have been CG animated to some degree, but 99% of the FX you see are hands on puppetry, fake blood, latex, castings, old school 80’s style gore. The proof there lies in the special features which are definitely worth watching. So what we have here is a great direct to dvd release, which I feel should have made the theaters.

Curse of Chucky fully connects to the original 80’s Child’s Play, I’d like to call it the “Rocky Balboa” (meaning Stallone’s last Rocky movie he made in 2006) of the series. If they never made another Chucky or Child’s Play film ever again this one would be the perfect stopping point. But if you stick around til after the credits, for the awesome yet somewhat confusing(?) finale you might agree there could be one more story to tell here! This Halloween Chucky is back on TOP!!
The History of D&D!

October 5, 2013

I am a huge D&D nerd, I pretty much play every week and I’ve spent many years in the Dungeon Master’s chair. I’ve been checking out this neat-o little documentary called “The Dungeons & Dragons Experience” on Youtube piece by piece. It will give you some cool history on its origins and it will also take you into different peoples games and styles, revealing the legendary secrets shrouded in mystery for years by the taboo table top role playing experience.

It’s a cool little obscure film that gives that will give you everything you ever wanted to know about the world’s most popular RPG. Check it out if you play or if you’re one of those people who are always asking me what it’s all about! I posted all seven segments below..

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The Wolverine Movie Gets a Second Chance?!

October 1, 2013

It appears us Wolverine fans might just get exactly what we were hoping for with the upcoming release of “The Wolverine: Unleashed Extended Edition” come November 19th digitally and December 3rd for Blu-Ray Dvd. So what the hell does this really mean? Well the new version of the film boasts an extended, unrated cut that’s “more violent and hardcore than ever before”.

I was mostly a fan of the theatrical cut and was actually hoping for something like this to be announced. Could it be we may actually see blood in a Wolverine movie? A few severed limbs thrown about? Perhaps a glimpse into what an R-Rated Wolverine flick might look like? Could the unrated cut be the holy grail of the onscreen movie Wolverine? My guess is probably not. But it still intrigues me. now what is even more exciting is the addition of the “Alternate Ending” added. I have already read fans betting that they’ll drop the final inner fortress battle sequence and instead have something that fits more with the rest of the movies tone.

The ending/final battle was really my only problem with the movie, aside from say the last 10-15 minutes I loved the movie. It made it hard for me review it, because 90% of the movie was a home run. So what is this alternate ending really all about? I’m willing to bet that we won’t be getting a rid of the giant Silver Samurai robot battle thingy. We’re most likely going to get a sequence after that, where Wolverine stays in Japan with Mariko rather than getting on the plane with Yukio. One that leaves Wolverine more at peace with life for once. I think replacing an expensive final battle sequence would just too much wishful thinking. Either way I’m on board to see if Wolverine is really “unleashed” in this new cut of the film!
Listen Up Abrams! The FOUR Golden Rules for Star Wars Have Arrived!

September 26, 2013

Here’s a great little video that hit the web today, simply titled “4 Rules to Make Star Wars Great Again”. Meaning what? That the prequels were BAD?! Yeah…well we don’t need to get into those pesky prequels again. What we have here is a simple guide line with some great animation for Abrams to roll around in his brain from Portland Oregon’s own Sincerely Truman.

Honestly though at this point in the game it certainly doesn’t appear that JJ Abrams is gonna screw anything up, everything I have seen and heard thus far points to the next installment being the opposite of what we got served from the prequels. In fact, so far I am so certain that he’s not only going to do it right but he’s going to exceed us Star Wars fans expectations! But then again, with Hollywood THESE days you just never know! So here are 4 rules along with their official website!

Are these four rules enough? What do you think? I’d say they nailed it but Star Wars was cute back in 1983 Return of the Jedi’s the Ewoks were about as cute as it gets!
Deadworld: King Zombie Comes to Town!

September 24, 2013

Years ago we heard that a Deadworld movie was in the works based on the 1980’s comic book series. As I suspected however nothing has come to fruition. Now normally I’d wouldn’t give two shits about another zombie movie as I’ve been pretty over the whole zombie thing for probably the last five years or so. Deadworld however is a favorite of mine and has been since the late 1980’s for one because it’s got more going on with it than most zombie fare, probably the best part of the series is the evolved intelligent flesh eater, King Zombie! He’s a mean Harley riding badass that’d make the Sons of Anarchy cringe in their leather boots!

I recently saw this awesome fan made Deadworld trailer which impressed the hell out of me! It may be the closest thing we get to a real Deadworld movie anytime soon at least, if you’re a fan check this out directed by and starring Scotty Fields-Bravo! Now let’s get us a real movie in the works aleady! If you’ve never heard of Deadworld check out the Trade Paperback-it’s a fun old school Zombie/Monster comic straight from the 1980’s!
Modok Exposed! Sexy Comic Book Cover of the Week!!

September 20, 2013

Modok is easily one of my fave Marvel villains of all time and that’s why I had to add this awesome cover for Captain America #313 from 1986 by probably my fave comic book artist of all time Mr. John Byrne! This one always kinda gave me the creeps because it showed Modok who’s easily one of the strangest Marvel villains with his pants down! By that I mean we see the guy without his armor chair which normally covers most of his body. This story was titled “Mission: Murder Modok!” and it featured one of my personal fave super villain teams the “Serpent Society” as they attempted to assasinate him! Seeing Modok on the cover laying on his back like a big cryin’ baby with his little body(he can’t walk because his head is too big) was kinda like when as a kid I’d see my pet hermit crab walking around at night without his shell searching for a larger one. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a hermit crab without it’s shell, but it’s pretty weird, It freaked me the fuck out! This is a cool cover and a rare glimpse of Modok “undressed”!!!

I really hope that Modok makes it into the Marvel cinematic universe-he’d be such a fun villain to see on the big screen! Hopefully they would go with animatronics and puppetry rather than CG, it’d be quite a site! If hadn’t already noticed someone did indeed put a Modok inspired character into a movie already – the 1996 flick “Head of the Family” !

Total Modok rip-off!!! But you can see how cool of a villain he would be on the big screen!!

Oh yeah and then there’s THIS!
BIG Action Hero News: The Expendables Recruit……….Kelsey Grammer?!

September 19, 2013

Hmmmm…this is NOT exciting news no matter what the entertainment news sources are trying to tell you!! Yeah Yahoo News, Ain’t it Cool ect are really trying to get us all pumped up into being stoked on the fact that Kelsey Grammer is playing a bad ass mercenary in the next installment of The Expendables. Seriously this less than mediocre news in the casting of this next film, but wait, Grammer did play the Beast in the worst installment of the X-men films!

Now just too be clear I really did like him as The Beast, I just thought the movie was a crap shoot. If they really wanted a mercenary that’d impress us 80’s action fans they had a hell of a lot more choices than Grammer! Here’s a few for Hollywood to think about off the top of my head- Mr. T, Roddy Piper, Carl Weathers, Jesse Ventura, Michael Dudikoff, Hulk Hogan, Christopher Lambert, Bill Duke…but seriously Kelsey?! Not impressive when guys like these two still exist!!

Now while his role in the film might be the most bad ass shit we’re ever gonna see this kind of news bums me out a bit when I think of all the other possibilities of legit 80’s action stars around his age who could have added to the fun and nostalgia that this series promises. I was hoping for a real genre shifting plot this time around like they had promised but it seems like this one might be more standard Expendables fare. This is also a disappointment when it’s now looking like Jackie, Milla Jovovich and Nicholas Cage WON’T be appearing in this film after all. This was not a good way to try and make it up to us. Sly and the boys you could have done more for the true action fans!!

Jackie who cares if there are too many actors!!!! GET OVER IT DUDE!!
Star Trek: Less Action Please!!

September 18, 2013

I’ve been thinking about for it for quite some time now and I’ve just GOT to say it: Current Star Trek has way too much damn action! After watching the most recent “Star Trek: Into Darkness” I realized that the franchise is going in the wrong direction. No, I won’t deny that JJ nailed it on the first Star Trek he directed, it was fun, action packed and nostalgic. However the lackluster sequel where he tried to recreate the whole Khan storyline was not necessary to us Trekkers! We had two previous installments (Space Seed and The Wrath of Khan) which simply cannot be touched. It was a loud mess of story with a decent villain but who unfortunately just wasn’t seen as the legendary Khan in the eyes of Star Trek fans. I felt it was such a disappointment that I am actually glad that Abrams is leaving the franchise.

Yep, I realized that this current “Star Trek” doesn’t really represent real spirit of Star Trek. It’s so jam packed with wild explosions, glitter and insane action sequences that it is missing what really made Trek so intriguing in the first place. A good solid story. Nope we didn’t get crazy effects heavy action, we got good sci-fi about traveling the universe looking for new alien civilizations, beaming down to unknown planets, exploration and strong bonds that slowly grew within the crew in the process. it wasn’t about being flashy, it was the perfect blend of action, story and adventure. I’d like to see the next movie be a more intelligent plot driven adventure of discovering new worlds and the the unknown threats or challenges that are waiting on the planet’s surface.You know like a star trek should be…

Let’s not try and modernize an old story or try to redesign an old villain with a “cool factor”. Give us a good story without all the pointless hyperactive action- this is Star Trek not The Fast and the Furious! “Into Darkness” really made me miss the spirit of the old shows and movies. I think Abrams did a great job of kick starting a franchise and making it “cool again” for the kids but as we continue this journey let’s remember that all that glitters is not necessarily gold, let’s remember what made Star Trek great in the first place. Star Trek was never broken, its crew just got old and eventually retired, let’s remember even in their younger days they were never concerned about being hip and cool for the kids, they were there to explore the final frontier! Give us some good ol’ fashioned science fiction dammit! You remember episodes like “City on the Edge of Forever”? “Mirror Mirror”? “Arena”? “The Naked Time”?! The Savage Curtain”? Well if not maybe all you Trek fans should go back and revisit the classics, the foundation of it all. Who do you think would be a good choice to helm the next movie?! Do you think Star Trek is on the right path?
Step Aside Jason “Saturday The 14th” is Here!

September 14, 2013

What? You never heard of the 1981 movie “Saturday the 14th”? Well I thought I’d give it a shout out today as it’s indeed Saturday the 14th! This little long forgotten horror comedy, produced by Julie Corman, wife of Roger Corman! it’s a fun little low budget horror spoof starring Richard Benjamin whom most people remember as the main character from Westworld.

This one though is jam packed with a ton ridiculous man in rubber suit monsters, schlocky 80’s effects galore and full on corny humor, it’s the perfect movie to follow up everyone’s Friday The 13th parties! It’s streaming on Netflix too so check it out already!! It’s been many years since I’ve seen it, hmmmm….Saturday The 14th party anyone?! Could be a new trend in the making!
The Turkish “Exorcist”: Demonically Terrible FX!!!

September 12, 2013

Turkey had a reputation of remaking American hit films back in the day and that’s a damn good thing because most often these movies were jam packed with some of the most ridiculous shit you’re likely to see on screen! We had movies like the Turkish Rambo, the Turkish E.T. and the Turkish Star Wars and upon viewing this little 4 min video from FX Hell about the Turkish “Exorcist” or otherwise titled “Seytan” released in 1974 a year after it’s American counterpart hit the screen, well I just couldn’t resist posting it here!!

Yeah that girl in the above photo is the “Linda Blair” character from this one-I gotta admit she’s damn pretty frightening! Check this shit out-this is some funny ass possession going here in this household! Maybe the demon in this case suffered from some brain damage?!