Movie Review: Arcade

Some movies have good concepts and not so good execution and when you can appreciate what the film makers are TRYING to accomplish, I think you can enjoy a "bad" movie. Full Moon Pictures' Arcade is a perfect example. Before David Goyer would go on to pen the script for Batman Begins, Man of Steel and the Dark Knight, he wrote a screenplay for a little B-movie about a possessed video game that would consume the souls of it's players. Now, in 1993, the technology seemed ridiculous, but fast forward to 2013, where video games are almost more real than realty and a lot kids are living in that realty. Arcade doesn't seem stupid at all, in fact, it is downright scary.

Movie Review: Atlantic Rim

I love a good mockbuster. For those that don't know, a mockbuster is a rip off movie that comes out, usually direct to video, around the same time as a big Hollywood blockbuster. It'll have a similar plot, same artwork on the box and a lot less money behind it. However, the idea (I guess) is to capitalize on people's craving for more of the same, even if it means a lesser quality of film. The Asylum film studio does this better than anyone, they have made several mockbusters over the years, titles like: Transmorphers, King of the Lost World, and I Am Omega have all graced SyFy Channel movie nights and DVD shelves at Wal Mart. They also seem to be good at it, as I have actually been more entertained by some of Asylum's offerings than their Hollywood counterparts. For example, I enjoyed their Cloverfield rip off Monster more than Cloverfield and their take on Hansel and Gretel was really good (the Hollywood version didn't even appeal to me in the slightest). So when I was scanning through my TV guide and saw that Atlantic Rim was playing on the Space Channel I immediately set my PVR to record.

Movie Review: Sharknado

I first heard of Sharknado through a post on Weird Al Yankovic's Twitter and I said to myself "I have to see this movie." After re-tweeting Al's post, a friend of mine commented that this movie combines two things she is scared of: sharks and tornados. But isn't that the new trend in B-movies these days? Combining two things and making something "scary" out of it. It started with battles: the trailer for MegaShark vs. Giant Octopus was a huge hit on YouTube , this led to many more gigantic monster battles, not unlike what we saw in the golden age of Toho's Godzilla vs. Monster XYZ. However, when that well ran dry we started combining animals. Sharktopus (half shark, half octopus, all killer) was a ratings hit for the SyFy network and then came the storm seen 'round the world: SHARKNADO! Sharktopus may have been a freak of nature, but Sharknado is a FORCE of nature.

Movie Review: Thor the Conqueror

Italian filmmakers of the 1970's and '80's loved to rip-off Hollywood blockbusters. Look no further than when Dawn of the Dead came out and we saw a slew of poorly dubbed zombie movies. Some even credited as sequels to their American counterparts. Well, films like Conan the Barbarian and The Beastmaster were not safe from being exploited and this is how we get Thor the Conqueror (also credited as The Beastmaster 2). Move over Chris Hemsworth, Conrad Nichols is in town!

Movie Review: Hatchet

It's not a remake. It's not a sequel. It's not based on a Japanese one. This is what was on the cover of the DVD I picked up at my local Wal Mart when I saw this movie; available for a reasonable price ($5) and I HAD to pick this up. Now, I have heard of Hatchet but had never seen it, so on Halloween night me and the Mrs. decided to check this one out and what fun we had.