Really now who does’t love a good doppelganger movie? Forget about that crappy 90’s Drew Barrymoore movie because last night I had the pleasure of watching “+1” and to my surprise it was pretty neat little flick. At first I was about to write this one off as another crappy teen horror movie but I’m glad I gave this one a chance to get it’s engine heated. The story revolves around around a few college kids who hit the party of the century one summer. Jam packed with irritating party goers, things get twilight zone-y pretty quickly as a meteor hits nearby and they begin to see duplicates of themselves roaming the party.
It gets a little confusing at times but really feels like a good extended episode of the Twilight Zone. It explores some interesting revelations as well by all who have attended the odd bash. Without giving to much away I’d say this a bit of a new, fresh spin on the whole doppelganger idea and it’s really best if you know as little as possible about the plot.
The movie was directed by Dennis Iliadis who also helmed the remake of “Last House on the Left” (which I haven’t seen and really have no interest to) yet “+1” is pretty mild on the blood and guts. The movie does have it’s shortcomings though as most of the characters look like they walked out of a Justin Beiber video and the party seems a little bit too “Mtv choreographed” at times. But hell, I haven’t been to a full on rager these days in quite some time, so as far as I know this could be how the kids are doing it these days. Either way this one was a neat little self contained sci-fi movie with some truly intriguing plot twists and turns. Check out +1 if you’re in dire need of a good ol’ fashioned doppelganger flick!
Well I just finished reading issue number 2 of Origin II, which continues the legendary unknown history of Marvel’s most valuable asset, Wolverine. Continuing the story of James Logan Howlett from the popular Origin series from 2001, Origin II just doesn’t feel like anything particularly special to me. Hell we could have skipped all the hype and just put this story into one of the regular Wolverine books out there today and it would have felt thus far like pretty typical Wolverine fare.
It’s common knowledge that Wolverine is in far too many comics these days. Honestly I’ve been pretty burnt out on the overuse of the character for quite some time now. I really kinda miss the old days where there was The Uncanny X-men and one solo Wolverine comic. Plain and simple. However as we all know everything these days is about making a buck, and not really putting out quality stories. So we get so much Wolverine crammed down our throats that it begins to make us nauseous.
Well the “long awaited” Origin II tells us more of our favorite berserker’s secretive past in the 19th century. It started out with issue #1 where Wolverine is living with the wolves, because we all know he doesn’t fit in the world of man. So naturally he decides that hanging out in a wolf pack is clearly the answer to all of his problems. As we all know tragedy always follows Logan, and a huge polar bear wandering far from his normal habitat slaughters all of Wolvies “wolf” friends.
So of course he gets his revenge on the polar bear and fights it to the death. He wins, kills said polar bear which takes us to issue #2. Here the story unfolds even more, as we find out that the polar bear was actually owned by a young Dr. Essex (a young Mister Sinister), who at first I thought was Doctor Strange, is determined to capture the killer of his beast. So naturally we get the man for the job, a younger Sabretooth (duh, of course this is a Wolverine comic) to help track down the beast responsible. Hence Wolverine is captured and ends up in a circus freak show. Yeah the misunderstood man beast of course is back in full effect. I guess it’s cool that we get a a pre Mister Sinister meeting Wolverine for the first time?
Now maybe this story is on it’s way to big, big things? I may have to eat my words. It seems everyone has to put their two cents worth into Logans “mysterious” past these days, I mean let’s not forget about the whole “Romulus” mess that was created. It really feels like people just make all this stuff up as they go. It all feels a little too hokey, predictable and issue #2 features some rather sloppy, rushed looking artwork from Adam Kubert. maybe he put all of his effort into the first issue?
I’m really paying close attention to books lately that deliver on all levels these days with strong inspired ideas and artwork. They’re out there, but at 4 bucks a pop finding them can be tricky and costly. It seems that the panels are getting bigger every month too, so you’re getting far far less real content for your money these days. A comic book these days takes less than ten minutes to read. So what to do with the heroes you love? Where do you turn? Has Wolverine’s charm and appeal run it’s course? Is his secret history really all that alluring anymore? Hell does anyone really care? I’m really not sure I’ll be shelling out 4 bones for Origin II #3 next month, I think I might try something new instead…
It’s tough sometimes finding cool new comic books to check out! Sometimes (more often lately it seems) the two big cheezes, Marvel & DC just don’t float my boat! It’s a shame because I’m a superhero guy at heart and not getting that fix can certainly be depressing. So these days with somewhat limited resources I’ve been picking up a few cool new and ongoing titles that thus far seem real promising! So here’s a few that I’ve been diggin’ lately:
Manifest Destiny (Image/Skybound): The third issue of this series just dropped this week and so far it’s a ton of fun! It’s a period piece retelling the expedition of Lewis & Clark with a even more adventure and yeah some creepy run ins with native monsters! They inject some great horror into this historical journey and have created some memorable characters to boot. The artwork too is pretty damn impressive as well and thus far I’m fully on board, I think this could quite possibly fill the void in my life that The Walking Dead has left with it’s recent more & more tired storytelling. Check it out!
Curse (Boom! Studios): Just picked up the first issue of this cool (so far) horror comic! It’s being called a werewolf story, but I’m still guessing it could be based on the Wendigo mythology. We’ll see I guess. Either way it’s got some fantastic gritty artwork and an intriguing story about a down on his luck single father who decides to try to collect reward money by hunting down a killer in the woods to pay for his dying sons doctor bills. What he encounters is even more than he originally bargained for! So far this four issue limited series looks totally promising!
B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth (Dark Horse): This comic book is probably my favorite these days and has really compelled me to go back and collect all the trades to read from start to finish. The recent story line is as always jam packed with monsters and as always incredibly unique art. Issue #115 find the BPRD teaming up with Russian Special Science Services (the Russian version of BPRD) as they travel on foot through a desolated Manhattan landscape looking for survivors of a recent Monster attack on the city and the cause of it all. This current arc is awesome and we’ve now finally got Liz Sherman back ready to kick monster ass with her recently renewed fire power! I only hope that Abe Sapien makes his way back to the team! If you don’t read this series you’re missing out!
Guerrillas (Oni Press): This series isn’t new, but it’s new to me and I love it so far! Written and fantastically drawn by Brahm Revel this kick ass little adventure set in the Vietnam War follows Private John Francis Clayton on his first tour of duty. Unsure of himself and deathly afraid of combat finds himself alone in the jungles after his platoon is slaughtered by the enemy. It’s not long though until he runs into a strange platoon of chain smoking chimps armed for combat dressed in full on army fatigues. Sounds almost like a comedy? Not chance this one is played out serious and the story becomes more intriguing with every turn of the page. Thus far there’s two trades out and they’re a hell of a lot of fun. Right now Mr. Revel is working on Marvel Knights: X-men which so far is great. However he told me himself that we can expect the next chapter of Guerrillas to unfold in 2014! So check it out before the third act hits!
I had to take a moment of your time here to get something off my chest that has been bothering me for a little while now. It seems lately that anytime I go to the theaters I am forced to sit through “I, Frankenstein” previews!! Anyone else notice that this trailer seems to have been playing before every fucking movie in the theater for like the past 6 months?! The first time I saw this pile of Franken-shit trailer it instantly made me angry! Seriously, “I, Frankenstein” is what I loathe most about modern cinema. It’s first and foremost a bit of a missed opportunity, as it could have been a cool campy little flick based on the comic.
However, this movie somehow manages to make “Van Helsing” look like a Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury prize winning drama! Aaron Eckhart as Frankenstein’s monster?! Why the fuck does he have stitches all over his face and body? He clearly wasn’t stitched together from other body parts-cuz he even though he’s sewn together he’s looks exactly like…….Aaron Eckhart!!
What the hell is up with Frankenstein’s Monster’s fashion too? Is he getting ready to model for an Urban Outfitters catalog?! Also it’s funny because it would seem that this highly attractive monster must have a 24 hour fitness membership too, yeah Frankie has been hitting the gym hard lately, because we all know that’s what monsters love doing with their spare time!!!
Lastly why the hell is Frankenstein trapped inside some bad PlayStation video game from 1999? Oh wait, that’s just the special effects! I thought I was watching the lost “third film” from The Lawnmower Man franchise! I just can’t stomach that something this stupid has made it to the big screen. I already feel that by seeing this trailer on repeated occasions that I’m somehow now suffering from some sort of permanent brain damage. This will be without a doubt be one of the WORST movies of 2014. I am fairly certain it will take the number one slot though with grace. If you pay to see this movie you better go see a shrink to discuss your what’s wrong with your brain. Phew…I feel better now…
There’s a new demon baby movie coming out this Friday called “Devil’s Due”. I haven’t really thought much of the movie as it looks like it could be another fairly passable, if that even, Hollywood horror romp.
However today I’m suddenly a bit more interested in the movie now that I’ve seen this promotional video they drummed up using a bad ass animatronic demon baby to scare the living shit out of innocent bystanders! Better yet they even have a remote controlled baby stroller! Check it out:
Now if the actual movie is half as awesome as this video I’ll gladly check it out! However this little prank is going to be hard to top, especially if they resort to using a cg baby in the movie or perhaps decide to skip showing the child at all. In the meantime we have this awesome slice of promotion to enjoy! Here’s the real trailer for the movie:
I had the pleasure yesterday of watching ‘Dead Weight‘ a great little indie horror gem all the way from my home state of Wisconsin. I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect from this one and to be honest, I haven’t really seen too much in the way of cinema coming out of “America’s Dairyland”. I’d have to say that Dead Weight is much less of a horror movie than it is a drama set in an apocalyptic wasteland.
I could draw some comparisons obviously to The Walking Dead, as I’m fairly certain that writers and directors Adam Bartlett and John Pata are big fans (I’ve heard the DVD will feature artwork by original Walking Dead artist Tony Moore!) but this plays out as something much more than a mere carbon copy. Sure the story revolves around a small band of survivors of some sort of viral outbreak traveling a barren landscape and yeah they meet some ultra sketchy people along the way. What we are really witnessing is one man’s psychological breakdown as he desperately travels by foot to reunite with his lover in a small northern Wisconsin city.
The movie shows flashbacks of Charlie (Joe Belknap) and his girlfriend Samantha (Mary Lindberg) before tragedy struck while at the same time following him on his journey to reunite with her after these events. I really loved the contrast between the warm colorful flashbacks and the cold, grey, dismal look of Charlie’s journey in the aftermath. Who would’ve known that Wisconsin would make such a convincing setting for a zombie wasteland?
The film really looks great too, the locations chosen really give you a feeling of dread and isolation which makes it that much more tense when other survivors enter the equation. What also grabbed me was the tightly woven story, which I might add has it’s fair share of twists and turns, something I truly appreciate in my cinematic viewing when done effectively. The short explanation for what may have caused this tragedy was also an interesting addition to the plot as it unfolded.
Dead Weight is pretty light on the violence and we barely see a “zombie” in sight anywhere throughout the movie. To me that’s great, as I’m quite honestly pretty burnt out on the zombie genre at this point. It seems people are still cranking out zombie movies by the boatloads these days, jam packed with, shoddy gore, CG blood and weak ass plot lines. That’s exactly why Dead Weight succeeds, its unique character study plays out quite differently than most zombie flicks.
Without giving too much away, I’d say this is a pretty true to life tale of how people might actually act in this type of situation. Sometimes there are no real heroes and people act simply off of their own emotions and selfish motivations, making the idea of a situation like this much more hopeless and bleak. Something this movie did a great job of portraying. That’s not to say the movie was flawless, the flashbacks were well put together but I really wasn’t fully convinced of the love and emotion Charlie and Samantha had for each other. In fact the two of them together felt a bit off at points. It would have been nice to really feel exactly what made Charlie go against all odds to try and reunite with her.
Plain and simple Dead Weight is a great slice of cinema from Wisconsin! An intriguing story and solid acting by all involved. This was a true independent film and the first for Adam Bartlett and John Pata. I was truly impressed that they pulled off a horror drama, I consider it quite daring as most people on a small budget in this genre go for the tired “over the top” zombie comedy. So kudos for putting some real heart and emotion into a memorable zombie film. That alone is an incredibly tough thing to accomplish in the sea of undead movies flowing onto the shelves these days! I’m pumped to see what these guys do next, I’d say they’re going to be putting the cheese state on the map of movie making in a big way in the near future….
Dead Weight will be released nationally on DVD and VOD January 21st, 2014. Look for it here soon on Netflix too. Check out the trailer:
There are movies way back from when I was a kid that I never thought would see the light of day on dvd. I’ve fond memories of going to the video store (back in the 1980’s when everything was VHS or Beta!) on the weekend and picking out movies with my friends on our parents video store cards. Mostly what I remember most are the amazing VHS box cover art from the 1980’s and how excited I was to get back home and watch the movies! We had to be sneaky around our parents because a lot of these movies they would’ve never allowed us to watch. It’s funny to, looking back because most of these movies we were sneaking around with were incredibly cheezy horror, action or sci-fi flicks that most people today think are nothing more than laughable cinema. To us though that shit was fully legit!
So years have passed and many of those flicks have been forgotten right? WRONG!! Thanks to Shout! Factory we are getting a LOT of those classic movies released now on DVD! I recently had some extra money to blow and found two movies I’d thought would remain on VHS only forever. However not only did they have them both on DVD but they also came with three other movies each that I have never seen before, but fondly remember their cover art from back in the 1980’s!! First up is one of my faves as kid, The Eliminators!
This movie was featured a couple times at our Bad Movie Nights we have here in Pdx and it delivers the goods above and beyond every damn time! If you are looking for the ultimate movie to get wasted with your friends and laugh (and love at the same time) this is IT!
The DVD of this one also includes three other movies which I have never seen, “Arena” from 1989, America 3000 from 1986 & The Time Guardian from 1989. So for a mere $9.99 you’ve got quite an exciting quadruple feature!!
Second I found that they released “The Dungeonmaster” from 1985 which was also one of my all time favorite movies as a kid. Being eleven years old and seeing this one for the first time back then was a real treat. The movie is downright ridiculous but it’s jammed to the brim with stop motion monsters, puppets, animatronics, crazy action, adventure, Richard Moll in a cloak & a rock and roll battle against the heavy metal band W.A.S.P.!
This one should really be viewed as a double feature with Eliminators but the DVD also features 3 other flicks two of which I have never seen before! “Cellar Dweller” from 1988 which is a pretty cool little monster flick, “Catacombs” and “Contamination 7” from 1993. So if you love those old video store movies of the 1980’s as much as I do but don’t have a VHS player or access to these on video do yourself a favor and spend some time exploring the Shout! Factory website!
I had the pure pleasure the other night of watching a perfect 1980’s adventure flick I’d somehow never seen before! Survival Quest has got all the right moves to make it the ultimate 80’s flick for a movie that somehow slipped through the cracks into obscurity. Let’s count the things it has going for it, First it was directed than Don Coscarelli of Phantasm and Bubba Ho-tep fame, I mean I really don’t think I really need to go on, on that alone! But let’s continue, it’s also got Reggie Bannister, Dermot Mulroney, a young Catherine Keener and Lance Henriksen when it really meant something good when he appeared in movies. It’s got everything you want from the beloved era, an awesome score, incredibly hokey heartfelt moments (and there are many), some killer action and some laugh out loud ridiculous moments that only 1988 could give us in film making.
The premise simple, a group of mismatched people fly into a remote airstrip for a four week long survival quest adventure with team leader/guide/teacher Lance Henriksen. Sounds like fun huh? Well it might be except there’s also a troop of teenagers on the same land who’re being trained by a crazy, over the top, trigger happy survivalist who’s a cross between Eminem & Woody Harrelson!
This movie is non stop fun from the get go and never lets up in a way movies of today only dream of being. The survival quest soon ramps up to much more than enduring the elements of the wilderness. This is one of those movies that’s a real treat for anyone whom loves movies from the 80’s like Karate Kid or White Water Summer which actually would be the perfect flick to accompany this one as a double feature! What are you waiting for check this shit out-it’s on Netflix!
I recently just finished playing my first D&D 4th edition adventure, and though it was a good time I just personally wasn’t sold on the changes that were made to the game. I know 4th edition is old news now, but the reason why it took so long for us to finally try 4th was because we all liked 3.5 so much and the freedoms that come with those core rules. What they were trying to do with 4th was to make it more like playing a modern video game, which left for some stiff battle action amongst other things. It just wasn’t very interesting.
I’m getting ready to launch a new adventure where I will be the Dungeonmaster and we’ve all chosen to go back to playing version 3.5. Now though I play D&D more frequently than most gamers I’m not too up on all the new D&D merch and pre-written campaigns. All of our adventures are written by our DM, whomever that might be for each adventure. I like to think that we’re a creative bunch, we take it seriously but still like to socialize at times while playing, drink and smoke all while in the confines of the a candle lit basement. Just generally taking a real break from the real world.
So now I’ve just been hearing that D&D Next is the new thing for table top role players. So now just what the hell is D&D Next? It seems that Wizards of the Coast has had people downloading free play tests of this new edition. Supposedly “Next” is more of a throw back and combination of the previous editions. Thus far there is no firm release date for this new edition. I’ve heard some positive reviews for it, but at this point I’d have to be sold pretty hard on it to switch again to another system, obviously releasing new editions is a good way to make money but if it ain’t broken why try and fix it? here’s a few videos I found interesting about it!
Or if you have a few hours to spare you can watch this official game go down using D&D Next rules:
Just discovered ‘Covered‘ probably a bit too late in the game, but nonetheless it’s a damn fun blog to look at! It’s a blog that ended it’s run in September 2012. Having 1000 popular and unpopular comic book covers posted with another artists representation posted side by side. At least now we don’t have to wait for them to be posted!
Most of these artists that recreate the covers are up and coming or mostly unknowns but they all provide a cool new vision of the classics. Apparently there is a “Covered” book on the way in the near future but in the mean time there’s a thousand of these bad boys to check out-Gotta love it!
Universal Dork 