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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nAlien (1979)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n When I return to a movie I haven\u2019t seen in a couple of years, I often worry my opinion on them won\u2019t be as favorable.\u00a0 Either a different movie will have done something better, or the movie doesn\u2019t hold up anymore.\u00a0 Fortunately, I still think the original Alien movie is one of the best sci-fi horror films out there.\u00a0 Alien has such a unique style, from how the ship looks like the inside of a CRT monitor to the biomechanical nature of the alien planet that gave H.R. Giger\u2019s his famous reputation.\u00a0 The subtle themes of birth woven into the story are brilliant, and the atmosphere is perfect.\u00a0 Sure, I\u2019ll agree the puppet work and the alien monster suit do remind you that this is a forty-five-year-old movie, but that\u2019s like complaining that your grandmother moves too slowly.\u00a0 The upcoming Alien: Romulus<\/em> certainly has a lot of work to do to impress me.<\/p>\n\n\n Lost Highway (1997)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n David Lynch has been a director that I have wanted to get into.\u00a0 With people raving about the strangeness and weirdness of titles like Twin Peaks<\/em>, it has always piqued my curiosity.\u00a0 With the Lost Highway <\/em>playing in a local theater, I felt it was time to dip my toe into the David Lynch pool.\u00a0 Have I been fully converted into a fan?\u00a0 Maybe someday, but not after one viewing of Lost Highway.\u00a0 <\/em>I didn\u2019t hate the film, but I also don\u2019t feel I fully grasp it.\u00a0 Lost Highway<\/em> seems to be about a musician who received videotapes of him sleeping in the mail, a mechanic who is led astray by a gangster\u2019s girlfriend, and how these two characters\u2019 lives become intertwined.\u00a0 Even that description doesn\u2019t feel like enough.\u00a0 Despite my inability to understand it on my first viewing, I would definitely watch the film again in an attempt to see if I can piece together more of it.\u00a0 One day, I\u2019ll understand Mr. Lynch.<\/p>\n\n\n Abigail<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n THE MARKETING DEPARTMENT DID NOT UNDERSTAND THE ASSIGNMENT!!!\u00a0 What could you possibly mean, Doomsayer, this film is about a vampire girl, and they advertised a movie about a vampire girl; what more could you want.\u00a0 That’s the problem, Abigail<\/em> doesn’t reveal that the titular character is a vampire until halfway through the movie.\u00a0 Until that point, the movie almost seems like a haunted house movie as member of the crew get picked off one by one.\u00a0 Except we know it’s the monster vampire girl doing it because she’s on every poster covered in blood.\u00a0 If the marketing department could keep it in their pants and keep the twist of Abigail being a vampire a secret, the reveal could have blown people’s minds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even with the marketing department spoiling the twist, I think Abigail is a criminally underrated film.\u00a0 There’s an early scene where the crew is hanging out in the parlor.\u00a0 They have been told not to tell each other their names.\u00a0 One character, thinking he is hot stuff, tries to predict everyone’s background and motive.\u00a0 He gets everything wrong, but it gets our protagonist Joey to attempt the same trick and get the correct read on everyone.\u00a0 This scene, despite seeming unimportant, is able to properly characterize these characters, getting the audience invested in them.\u00a0 It just shows smart writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you saw a trailer for Abigail<\/em> and rolled your eyes at a monster vampire girl, I would urge you to give it the chance it deserves.<\/p>\n\n\n I Saw the TV Glow<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n As I walked out of I Saw the TV Glow<\/em>, I immediately took to the internet to see what others thought.\u00a0 I saw a pretty thorough split between people loving this movie and hating it.\u00a0 Which did give me a bit of a relief because I walked out thinking \u201cis that it?\u201d\u00a0 To thoroughly cover, why I don\u2019t think this film works, I will need to dive into some spoilers.\u00a0 So if you are looking to watch the film, I urge you to step away and come back once you are done.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n I Saw the TV Glow<\/em> is a movie about two teenagers, Owen and Maddy, who form a friendship over a TV show aimed at teenage girls called The Pink Opaque.\u00a0 <\/em>After the show is mysteriously cancelled, Maddy also disappears.\u00a0 I Saw the TV Glow<\/em> is looking to explore thoughts of queer identity and the dangers of nostalgia; both interesting frame works for a horror\/thriller.\u00a0 The first half of the movie does a good job diving into these themes.\u00a0 Owen is asked if he is into girls or boys, and responses saying he prefers TV shows.\u00a0 Soon, Maddy returns, believing that her and Owen are The Pink Opaque\u2019s<\/em> character, pulled into the real world by the villain of the show.\u00a0 She believes that the only way the two of them can return to the show is to bury themselves alive.\u00a0 So we have established Owen is wrestling with his identity and Maddy is taking her fandom to a potentially dangerous level.\u00a0 Good so far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Owen eventually decides to not be buried alive because Maddy is unable to present any evidence that The Pink Opaque<\/em> is more than a TV show.\u00a0 He runs home and never hears from Maddy again.\u00a0 Owen is able to have a \u201cnormal family\u201d (which we never see) and also learns that the TV show wasn\u2019t as good as he remembers.\u00a0 At this point, the movie is establishing that Owen might be suppressing his queer identity and learning that engaging with the toxic fandom of The Pink Opaque<\/em> were definitely not worth the risk.\u00a0 The movie ends with Owen developing a mass inside his chest that resembles a blue, glowing light.\u00a0 In terms of queer identity, this certainly seems like a sickness growing in him due to denying his identity, but from the nostalgia perspective, it looks like Owen is being punished for not going along with Maddy\u2019s dangerous idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a result, I am left with a feeling that the movie is unable to marry these two concepts in a way that gives us a satisfying conclusion.\u00a0 On top of that, a good chunk of the movie is dedicated to showing off some of the indie bands that the director is friends with.\u00a0 When Owen goes to meet up with Maddy, we watch a band perform a song for a solid 5 minutes.\u00a0 With an ending that is a bit rushed and haphazard, it just feels like a waste to focus so much on the music; that\u2019s like focusing on the icing when you haven\u2019t baked your cake properly.\u00a0 If you are someone who can look past these pitfalls in story, you might enjoy this film, but I just couldn\u2019t.\u00a0 I was honestly rooting for this movie, but I can\u2019t help feel that this is a swing and miss for me.<\/p>\n\n\n Uncut Gems (2019)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I still struggle to believe this movie is real.\u00a0 I grew up on Adam Sandler titles like Waterboy<\/em>, Happy Gilmore<\/em>, and The Wedding Singer<\/em>; films to played to Sandler\u2019s wacky and crude humor.\u00a0 Even when I got older, Sandler was still making movies with his own brand of comedy like Click<\/em>, You Don\u2019t Mess with the Zohan<\/em> and the Grown Ups<\/em> series.\u00a0 That said, Uncut Gems<\/em> felt like a real woah moment.\u00a0 A rollercoaster of a movie, where Sandler\u2019s character, Howard Ranter, continuously double downs on his bets by constantly trying to raise the stakes of the last bet.\u00a0 It\u2019s the equivalent of speeding down the highway at a hundred miles an hour.\u00a0 You want to slow down, but Ranter knows he\u2019s dead if he takes his foot off the gas for just a second.\u00a0 For an actor like Sandler, this was truly a breakout performance, and it is heartbreaking to see that he didn\u2019t get a Best Actor nomination.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n Furiosa: A Mad Max Sega<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Some movies will forever live in the shadows of the ones that came before it.\u00a0 Despite George Miller\u2019s attempt to expand the world of the Mad Max<\/em> series, I believe Furiosa<\/em> will be doomed to live in the shadows of Fury Road<\/em>.\u00a0 Furiosa <\/em>has the feel of a Dune<\/em> or Star Wars<\/em> movie: we see war councils, locations only mentioned in Fury Road <\/em>like Bullet Farm and Gastown, and we even get to see how a war rig is assembled.\u00a0 It is all solid world building, but I can\u2019t escape the fact I wanted something closer resembling Fury Road<\/em>.\u00a0 Is that an unfair reality that I have saddled the movie with?\u00a0 Probably.\u00a0 However, if I am trapped on an island and can only watch Fury Road<\/em> or Furiosa<\/em>, I am going to go with the movie that has the pedal to the floor, like Sandler\u2019s performance in Uncut Gems<\/em>.\u00a0 If you are going to watch Furiosa, <\/em>do not be like me.\u00a0 Try your best to remove Fury Road<\/em> from your memory and you will have a good time.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n The Fall Guy<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I find it really enduring when a movie loves movies as much as I do.\u00a0 Early on, The Fall Guy <\/em>establishes Ryan Gosling\u2019s, Colt Seavers, and Emily Blunt\u2019s, Jody Moreno, as movie dorks.\u00a0 They’re always talking about movies, comparing scenes of movies and discussing their favorite scenes.\u00a0 Maybe it’s due to my own transformation into a similar kind of dork, but I just loved watching these two interact with each other.\u00a0 The Fall Guy <\/em>is also produced by 87North: you know 87 North, the production company made up of mainly stuntmen who created one of the best action movie series in the John Wick<\/em> series.\u00a0 So it\u2019s not a surprise that these guys are behind a movie about stunt work.\u00a0 Between The Fall Guys<\/em>, A Violent Night<\/em> and Bullet Train<\/em>, I can\u2019t help but smile at all the films 87North has help produced over the years.\u00a0 Go watch all these movies.<\/p>\n\n\n Blade Runner: The Final Cut (1982)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I think as we move into the age where CEOs are culling thousands of employees and replacing them with AI, Blade Runner<\/em> will start to age like fine wine.\u00a0 How long will it be before the AI start saying \u201cI think, therefore, I am\u201d before demanding rights?\u00a0 This movie is constantly asking where is the line drawn between being a living thinking organism and merely a machine, and it allows the audience to draw that line for themselves.\u00a0 This is definitely an important sci-fi movie, paving the way for movies like Ex Machina<\/em> and The Matrix<\/em>.\u00a0 Despite our 2019, looking nothing like how the film portrays the year, I can\u2019t help escaping the dread that sooner or later our world will resemble the dark, dreary world of Blade Runner.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n In A Violent Nature<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n In its simplest of term, you could consider In A Violent Nature<\/em> the spiritual successor to Friday the 13th<\/em>, but I think there is more to the movie than meets the eye.\u00a0 The killer, Johnny, almost felt like a vengeful spirit of the forest.\u00a0 He initially comes to life when one of the foolish teens steals a locket from his unmarked grave.\u00a0 From there, he stumbles on a hunter, who we learn from a conversation between them and the park ranger, has a nasty habit of leaving dangerous traps throughout the forest.\u00a0 Much like Jason getting revenge on absent-minded camp counselors, I couldn\u2019t help but root for Johnny has he slaughtered his way through cruel hunters and arrogant teens who didn\u2019t respect the forest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I think the most common complaint you will hear is there are too many walking scenes in this movie.\u00a0 Rather than follow the lives of the campers as they try to escape this force of nature, the movie follows Johnny even when he is trekking through the forest to his next kill.\u00a0 There are numerous scenes of the camera following behind Johnny on his little nature walks.\u00a0 Personally, I think it helps solidify Johnny as the vengeful spirit of the forest, but I\u2019d also agree, they could have cut down on the number of these scenes and added another gruesome kill.\u00a0 It is what we are there for at the end of the day.\u00a0 However, I believe In a Violent Nature <\/em>is a great slasher film, and that subgenre of horror has been in dire need for something new.<\/p>\n\n\n Fallout<\/em> (TV Series)<\/p>\n\n\n\n I got another confession to make, I\u2019m not really into Bethesda games.\u00a0 I have always worried that I would start playing just before I go to bed and keep playing until I notice the rising sun the next day.\u00a0 So I came into the Fallout <\/em>TV series with only a glancing understanding of the games.\u00a0 Thankfully, the series seems built for fans and newcomers alike.\u00a0 Characters like Lucy, Maximus and the Ghoul are original characters but have relations with Fallout staple factions like Vault-Tec, The Brotherhood of Steel and the N.C.R.. It gives the series writers, the flexibility to tell a story that fits a TV format while still capturing the feel of the games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I just love the huge western feel that seemed to be baked within this TV show.\u00a0 The standoff at New Philly, feels so much like a western, I was expecting a stereotypical tumbleweed to come rolling through the scene.\u00a0 I also can\u2019t get over the brilliance of making Lucy, Maximus and The Ghoul have appeared to be varying archetype of different play styles within the Fallout games.\u00a0 I am in utter awe of just how smartly written this show is; it knows exactly when to pull from the games, and when it needs to forge its own path.\u00a0 It also makes other shows look foolish for not casting Walton Goggins.\u00a0 If we are going to have more video game adaptions, this should be the format going forward.\u00a0 Looking at you, Halo<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" May is for the movies \u2026 and one TV show. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2223,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-opinion","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2222"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2236,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2222\/revisions\/2236"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/63549a7edd5084ad52c760e99e430259.jpg\")
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