The Last Of Us

Video games, beloved all over the world by all ages. No matter what nation you are from there is always a video game that will fit in your taste. It doesn´t matter if you love killing zombies, killing aliens, driving cars, boxing or just playing golf you can pretty much find anything in video games. These days i don´t play video games like i used to in the 90´s with the first PlayStation. My absolute favourite game at that time was a game called Tenchu - Stealth Assassins, where you played two different samurais ( you choose wich one you want to play as ) who had two kill different evil people for their Lord Ghoda in Sengoku-era Japan. Tenchu - Stealth Assassins may look old today when it comes to graphics but it is a classic 90´s video game that i still love. One of the most difficult things to do is to transform a video game into a movie or a TV series. We have seen this so many times before and still some people believe they will at least give it a try. One of the most horrible movie adaptations of a video game ever made has to be the 1994 movie of Double Dragon, based on the very popular Arcade games. Directed by James Yukich ( the director of the classic Genesis music video of I Can´t Dance ), this film tells the story of brothers Billy Lee ( Scott Wolf ) and Jimmy Lee ( Mark Dacascos ), who have no option than to fight against the evil crime lord Koga Shuko ( Robert Patrick ) in New Angeles ( a futuristic version of Los Angeles ). Double Dragon is a film filled with awful dialogue, bad martial arts action and awful characters. If you want to see a really good film based on a video game you should definetely choose the 2006 horror film Silent Hill. Based on the very popular video game franchise with the same name, this is actually one of the very few film adaptations that capture the atmosphere and feeling of the game. Director Christophe Gans clearly took the source material serious and actually made an effort to make a film worthy the fans of the games. Speaking of video games some of you might have heard of a video game called The Last Of Us, originally released back in 2013. We find ourselves in a post-apocalyptic future, where an outbreak of a mutant Cordyceps ravages Unites States, transforming its human hosts into aggressive creatures known as the "infected". We follow Joel who works as a smuggler, who escapes from the quarantine zones with a teenage girl named Ellie. The Last Of us turned out to be a really powerful game with beautiful graphics, really strong characters and quite difficult missions. I have played the game and really enjoy it and i heard that a TV series was coming based on the game. So here we are with the whole season of The Last Of Us released on HBO Max and the question is, does this TV series capture the feeling of the video game or is this TV series just a cash in to make money out of the fans?

The year is 2023, it has gone 20 years since a pandemic caused by a mass fungal infection, which caused its hosts to transform into zombie-like creatures. There is no ordinary society anymore and now it´s all about finding a way to survive. Joe ( Pedro Pascal is a smuggler tasked with escorting a young girl named Ellie ( Bella Ramsey). In a world that has fallen completely, you can´t really trust anyone.

If you happen to be a big fan of both games of The Last Of Us, i have a feeling you will be pleased to hear me say this. This TV series adaptation of the video game actually manage to capture the feeling of the game and the post-apocalyptic look of the world in the game as well. I might actually say that this TV series may be one of the best adaptations of a video game since the 2006 film Silent Hill, so you know we are already in for a good start. So what is it that i especially appreciate with The Last Of Us? First of all that they have clearly worked hard to make sure that the locations looks like the video game, where you can sense that the world we once knew is gone completely. There are no ordinary homes anymore and you can´t live an ordinary life. You take the job that is avaiable no matter what education level you have, because fancy titles doesn´t matter in this futuristic world. Since fans of the games are probably wondering how the characters of the game works in a TV series version, i can tell you that they actually managed to pull this off, especially the two main characters Joel ( played by actor Pedro Pascal ) and Ellie ( played by actress Bella Ramsey ). Not only does Pedro and Bella have really good screen chemistry together, but you can actually sense that they really took these characters seriously and tried to capture their personalities from the video game. I especially appreciate actress Bella Ramsey ( fans of Game Of Thrones will definetely recognize her ) who is an incredible talented actress. I personally feel that Bella shows that you can be a professional actor even though you are young, and i am really looking forward to see her future work. It was really nice to see actress Melanie Lynskey ( who is brilliant in the very funny comedy series 2 1/2 Men as the character Rose ) doing a completely different role than we have seen before as the character Kathleen Coghlan. There is especially a wonderful love story as well that i did not expect that will touch your heart. The monster design of the infected looks really good and i really enjoy the apocaplyptic look of each episode. The Last Of Us is without a doubt the best video game adaptation i have seen so far made into a TV series, and if they keep the same tone in future seasons we could have a lot to look forward to. If there is a Blu Ray release of this season in the future i am getting myself a copy, because i really love The Last Of Us. A must watch, no matter if you love the games or apocalyptic horror.

Rating: DDDD

Venus

I have visited Spain three times so far and everytime i came back to visit the country i always feel welcome. The Spanish people were very friendly and easy to talk to, and i have to say i love the Spanish kitchen. I have tried several traditional Spanish meals and i especially loved Spanish beer ( something you don´t see very often here in Sweden, at least not in ordinary restaurants ). One of the most fun moments i experienced in Spain was the Malaga Summer Festival. So many different Spanish artists and bands i have never heard of before, and it is always nice to hear something else from the usual Spotify list. I did see Las Ketchup live who had a huge hit with The Ketchup Song and the whole audience seemed to know the lyrics, as well as the ketchup dance. If you plan to visit Spain at some point there are several locations i could recommend for you to visit, but i do feel that Barcelona is a city worth visiting if you love arts, music and experience Spanish culture. I hope to go back to Barcelona at some point, especially to visit Spanish breweries and try different beers. Perhaps even visit a Spanish whisky destilery since i am a big whisky fan. Since we are speaking about Spain, i have seen a lot of really good films from Spain for many years. All the way back to the 80´s when i first discovered some films from this wonderful country and in the 2000´s when i really digged into a lot of releases. One of my absolute favourite films from Spain is without a doubt the 2007 horror film known as REC from directors James Balaguermó and Paco Placa. Even if this is a zombie film it is definetely one of the more interesting films in this genre, considering that this is a found footage horror film. REC begins telling the story of Reporter Ángela Vidal ( Manuela Velasco ) and her cameraman Pablo ( Pablo Rosso ) are covering the night shift in one of Barcelona´s local fire stations for the television series While You´re Sleeping. While they are recording, the firehouse receives a call about an old woman, Mrs. Izquierdo ( Martha Carbonell ), who is trapped in her apartment and screaming. As the firefighters arrive to the apartment building with the film crew, they are about to find out that something is seriously wrong with Mrs. Izquierdo. REC is not only a very effective found footage horror film but is especially effective when it comes to zombie attacks. This film got 3 more sequels and i do enjoye the second film a lot. The other sequels are ok but you could tell it was getting difficult to keep the same level of quality as the first REC film. One of the directors of REC who i mentioned earlier under the name James Balaguermó have directed several films since the original film, and when i heard his latest film Venus have been released i was very happy. I didn´t check out the trailer just to keep the plot unknown. Is this horror film known as Venus another highlight from Spain, or is this the worst film from director James Balagueró so far?

Go-go dancer Lucia ( Ester Expósito ) steals a bag full of drugs from her working place, a night club dowtown. One of the night club workers notice that Lucia is trying to leave without permission, as he tries to stop her. Lucia is stabbed in her leg and manage to escape to her sister Rocio´s ( Ángela Cremonte ) apartment building. Rocia doesn´t want to have Lucia in her home but accept to let her stay to heal her wound. This also gives Lucia the chance to get to know her niece Alba ( Inés Fernandez ). The night club criminals are looking for Lucia, but there is another danger that seems to be coming from the floor above.

Let me begin by saying that Venus is not in any way related to any of the REC films or remind us about that franchise at all. This is a completely different kind of horror film and i am actually happy that director James Balagueró decided to tell a completely different story. Venus is really more about the importance of fixing a broken sisterhood between two sisters, even though they have gone through a lot of rough moments in their lives. I would also say that Venus tries to show that everyone deserves a second chance in life, if you have made some bad choices in the past. At first i was getting vibes from the 2002 Japanese horror film Dark Water, since there are some strange things that seems to be happening from an apartment above. But that part changes a bit as the film goes on and we even get Rosemary´s Baby vibes in this film. And if you are a fan of both of these films i do think you will appreciate Venus for trying an interesting combination for a horror story, mostly taking place within an apartment building. The ending though in this film turns into a horror version of the Denzel Washington film The Equalizer with plenty of violence, and i did not expect this honestly. Does it make any sense to end this film in this way? I doubt it considering how damaged the girl really is, but i still had fun watching the film. Ok, let´s get into the characters for a bit and let us start with our main character Lucia played by actress Ester Expósito. At first you might think Lucia is just a night club dancer, but she really turns into a bad ass character as she is forced to survive against drug dealers. Ester Expósito does not only act great in this film, but i also feel that she manage to bring out her emotional pain that the character is carrying within her. Lucia´s sister Rocio, played by actress Angela Cremonte also deliver a solid performance and i love her scenes together with Ester as they argue over their past. This is where you feel how damaged these sisters really are, and need to find a way to move on. I love child actor Inés Fernández as Rocio´s daughter Alba. Her screen presence is charming and just feel so natural as this character. Venus is actually better than i expected and should be appreciated by fans of foreign horror films. It is still not as good as REC but definetely a great attempt to bring back the horror genre that is clearly inspired by apartment horror films from the 60´s and 70´s. Director James Balagueró knows how to make effective horror films and proves it once more with his latest film Venus. Do you feel the need for some Spanish heat? Then i suggest you sink your teeth into Venus and see if you enjoy this film, just like i did.

Rating: DDD

November ( Novembre )

Even if i had been to several European countries by the year of 2015, i was ready to visit Paris on November 13. We were taking my mother back to France that she has not been in since the late 70´s and our flight was taking of on November 13 late that evening. I remember as we were preparing to head from home down to the train station to go to Arlanda Airport in Stockholm, i noticed on the way that i had some missed phone calls that i did not recognize. I didn´t have the sound on so i listened to the voicemail that was left on my phone. It was our flight company asking me to call them up and so i did. A woman named Malin told me that they had to stop all flights to Paris because there have been terrorist attack in Paris. She told me that they can´t take any risks for any passengers and need to make sure no flights would go to Paris at that moment. I remember i was completely shocked, knowing that we were trying to get to our flight. It was of course cancelled but i had to listen to the news and really hear what was going on. It felt so unreal that it happened that specific day, our first trip to Paris. I started thinking:- What if we would have gone a day earlier? A lot of thoughts rolled around in my mind. Looking back today 8 years later i am thankful that the flight was cancelled, because you never know if all flights would have been safe either. After we got back home after a long night, i turned on CNN News right away and watched all morning. There was a lot of information coming out about the Paris attack and then i also found out how many victims have been found dead. All together 220 people killed and another 416 people injured. When you hear numbers like that you find it very unreal that something like this could actually happen. We didn´t get all the money back from the travel package but that´s ok, i am just glad that we were not in Paris at the moment when everything happened. Since the terrorist attacks in Paris, 2015, i have listened to several crime podcast episodes about this horrible tragedy. The criminals behind these attacks seemed to be very disturbing personalities with no empathy for no one. Last year i heard that a new French film was coming out that told the story about the Paris terrorist attacks in 2015 in a film called November ( Novembre is the French title ). Ever since i heard about this film i just knew i had to see it, considering i was supposed to be in Paris that same day the terrorist attack took place. I have always been a fan of French films especially from director Francios Ozon and his 2003 film Swimming Pool. Knowing the horrible tragedies that took place in November of 2015, is this film based on the criminal acts suprisingly good or is it not as well made as i was hoping it would be?

November 13, 2015 in Paris, France. What seemed to be a completely ordinary day will change completely when three suicide bombers at 9.15 p.m. outside the Stade de France stadium kill innocent people watching a football match. It turns out that these are not the only suicide bombers and the killings continue on other locations across Paris.

If you love films based on real criminal cases you simply have to see November ( Novembre ). This is a very professional film from start to finish that really let you follow the investigation of the terrorist attacks across Paris. They really manage to capture the heavy atmopshere of everyone who is forced to work on these cases, knowing that so many people died and they could not stop the terrorists. There are some scenes where you see how difficult it is too handle all of the sadness that they are forced to deal with so many innocent people killed. What do you do when it affect you personally, is it ok to mourn or do you just turn your emotions off? One of the details that i especially appreciate with this film is how good this film looks. The cinematography from Nicolas Loir is really smooth and effective, and the late evening scenes in Paris looks really good. We might as well get into the characters and what a fantastic lead performance we have from actor Jean Dujardin ( you might recognize him from Martin Scorsese´s film The Wolf Of Wall Street ) as the character Fred. Knowing that Fred have a lot to deal with surrounding these tragedies, i feel that Jean Dujardin manage to bring out the frustration and anger that his character Fred feel. There is especially certain scenes between him and actress Sandrine Kiberlain ( who is really good in the 2015 French film Florida, a must watch ) as the character Héloise that really capture your attention. The chemistry between these actors is so good that you can tell that they really tried to capture how difficult it must have been working on these cases. The acting in general from actors in this film is really good, and it feels like they really made sure that they found the right actors to portrait each character. I have to mention that this film does not disrespect muslims in general in this film that they really show respect to the muslim community in France. Just because some people are terrorists does not mean every muslim is. Director Cédric Jimenez ( director of the really good French drug drama The Connection, a must watch ) does not only tell a very powerful story with November, but he also show a very emotional side of how difficult it must be dealing with terrorist attacks and how you find the guilty ones. His camera work is very effective and he clearly have a sense of how to tell a criminal story without making the plot too complicated. November is a film that will make you emotional and fascinated about the cases of the terrorist attacks of Paris in 2015. I really hope this film gets a wider release on DVD or blu ray, November really deserves to be seen by all ages and nationalities.

Rating: DDDD

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

I still remember my birthday party as a 7 year old in 1984. My mom have fixed a birthday party at our home with some school friends of mine and some other neighbor kids. There were some games that we all played and then it was time to watch a cartoon movie. I picked the film out myself with my dad at the VHS rental store and i choosed a cartoon called Dungeons & Dragons. The kids thought this was a cool film, and we all pretended to be different characters from the film as Sheila The Thief, Presto The Magician, Hank The Ranger and many others. At this time i did not know this was a TV series but it didnt matter. I loved the combination of monsters and different heroes fighting evil in a different world. We did rent some of the other VHS tapes of Dungeons & Dragons as well when they were released, and i can´t tell you how many times i watched them. Looking back today at this cartoon show, it may not be perfect or look as good as it did in the 80´s. But i actually enjoy these seasons for nostalgic reasons, because there is something magical about these cartoon shows that you can´t make in modern cartoons. I never played the board game that turned out to be popular, but i did try the video game called Eye Of The Beholder in 1991 that was connected to Dungeons And Dragons on Amiga. I just remember that the game was enjoyable at that time when i purchased it, but that was over 30 years ago and the graphics are perhaps not so good looking today. A nostalgic game either way, especially for fans of Dungeons & Dragons of course. I did not play both of the game sequels, only the second one called Eye Of The Beholder II: The Legend Of Darkmoon. Reminded me of the first game but definetely improved certain details. In the year of 2000 a movie adaptation based on the board game was released called Dungeons & Dragons from director Courtney Solomon. A terrible film with bad special effects, bad acting and bad characters as well. The film was a big box office flop and still two sequels were made direct to DVD. I still to this day do not understand how legendary actor Jeremy Irons could say yes to be in this film, he must have had a big pay check. It didn´t seem that we would ever see a new film adaptation of Dungeons & Dragons but here we are in 2023 with a complete new adaptation. When i heard about this film i was actually curious to see if they could surprise me, if they finally could get it right. After seeing this film in cinema, can i confirm that Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is the best film adaptation on the board game so far, or is this just as bad as the 2000 version with Jeremy Irons?

Edgins Darvis ( Chris Pine ), a bard is sitting locked up at Revel´s End arctic prison with his friend Holga Kilore ( Michelle Rodriguez ), a barbarian. He was arrested after a heist went terribly wrong and now he is hoping to get out to be reunited with his daughter Kira Darvis ( Chloe Coleman ). Since they don´t know if they will be released, Edgins and Holga escapes from Revel´s End prison and travel to Neverwinter. They are about to find out that a lot has happened during these two years, and they are about to face a lot more difficult challenges than before.

Since i still remember the 2000 film version of Dungeons & Dragons i can tell you right away that this latest film adaptation of the classic board game have improved a lot. First of all Dungeons & Drahons: Honor Among Thieves have a much more funny approach than the previous films, with several quite funny moments that i did not expect. I think this was a great idea since i feel that it works better when you look at the characters. If they would have done a more serious approach with these characters, i think it would have been more difficult to make them match with the look of this film. Before i get into the actors and some other details that i appreciate with this film i have to talk about the CGI effects of Dungeons & Dragons. If you think about the film from the year 2000 it looked horrible with action scenes that didn´t work, and it almost feels like they understood how important it would be for them to bring back this franchise back on track and make the action scenes more fun. And honestly i have to say that i had a good time in several scenes, no matter if we are talking about battle scenes between different characters or against monsters. I would not say that the CGI effects are really good, but compare to the previous films and you will see a huge difference. Just look at the dragon attack scenes in this latest film and compare that to the film from 2000, it´s almost embarrassing. Let´s get into the character and i have to say actor Chris Pine ( who i really enjoyed in Wonder Woman ) is far more funny in this film than i expected. Not only does he have good comedy timing but he´s also charming in his role as Edgin Darvis. The coolest character and performance comes from actress Michelle Rodriguez ( who remember her form her awsome debut film Girlfight? ) as the bad ass character Holga Kilgore. Not only does Michelle deliver a lot of battle scenes but i love her sharp dialogue where she takes shit from no one. British actor Hugh Grant is surprisingly funny as the character Forge Fitzwilliam. I have never been a big Hugh Grant fan but i have to say he actually did a great performance in this film. Actress Sophia Lillis ( who i loved in her role as Beverly Marsh in the 2017 horror film IT ) delivers another charming performance in this film as the character Doric. So what else do i think works in this film? The world itself surrounding Dungeons & Dragons looks good in this latest film adaptation. I think the medieval time period works well combined with fantasy, and they are able to throw in supernatural ingredients without destroying the plot. Directors Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley have finally made a worthy Dungeons & Dragons film adaptation that i am pretty sure that especially fans of the board game will enjoy. If you are a fan of medievel films and fantasy, you should definetely go to the cinema and have fun with this film.

Rating: DDD

Freeze

Sometimes i don´t think people who live in warmer countries realise how lucky they are. They can jump in an ocean that does not have ice blocks hitting you and you don´t have to shovel snow from your driveway for 6 hours. You can just lie in your sun chair and feel the sun, instead of feeling the snow make you suffer in all eternity. I have especially one horrible memory from the late 80´s when i went on a school skiing trip to Norway, where we was supposed to try skiing from a massive mountain. I hated it and didn´t enjoy it all, except for the breakfast buffé served every morning and i would easily have stayed there instead. So since the 90´s i have travelled to warmer places instead of going to any skiing holiday. We already have plenty of snow here in the North of Sweden where i live so it is far too much anyway. I personally believe that Satan created snow to torture the souls of humanity. Speaking of winter and snow, there are actually some good films out there that takes on the subject of winter. One of the films that i like to revisit sometimes is the 2007 horror film known as 30 Days Of Night. Directed by David Slade ( who directed the brilliant psychological thriller Hard Candy ( a must watch ), this film takes place in the town of Barrow, Alaska, where they are preparing for its annual "30 Days Of Night", a period during the winter with a month-long polar night. What the town don´t know is that a group of vampires, led by Marlow ( Danny Huston ), have a perfect oppurtunity to feed on the citizen during this month with no sun. 30 Days Of Night turned out to be much better than i expected when i saw the film in cinema, and a very different idea for a vampire film. I personally feel that this is one of the better films actor Josh Hartnett did in his youth, and definetely worth picking up on the Double DVD release. Listen to the very interesting commentary track, it is very good. You might remember that i reviewed a winter horror film a couple of years ago called Winterskin from director Charlie Steeds. I enjoyed that film and i really enjoyed his film A Werewolf In England. I have seen some of his other films as well and reviewed some of them and i think he is a talented independent horror director. I got a chance now to see his latest film called Freeze, another winter horror film but with a completely different plot than in Winterskin. Is this another highlight from director Charlie Steeds, or have he lost his magic touch with Freeze completely?

Captain Roland Mortimer ( Rory Wilton ) and his team is on a rescue mission to the North Pole to retrieve an old friend and his lost expedition crew. When their ship is stuck inside the ice they suddenly get visitors on board, creatures like they have never seen before. They have no other option than abandon the ship and continue their rescue mission.

When you have seen the work of Charlie Steeds in the past, you know this will be something for people who appreciate independent horror films with practical make up effects. And trust me, these creatures that you will see in this film actually looks pretty cool. They kind of look like sea creatures that we have seen in old horror films from the 50´s and the 60´s. One of the things i have always appreciated about director Charlie Steeds is that he tries to capture different time periods in history, and he manage to do so with the right backgrounds and settings. You can tell that he have a limited budget to work with and i am completely fine with that. What matters is that you show passion for your project, and that is something i can always tell that director Charlie Steeds have. So how is the film Freeze compared to the previous films in Charlie´s filmography? Perhaps the biggest difference is that this film actually tries to look like an old school adventure horror film from the 50´s. I was reminded of the classic Creature From The Black Lagoon from 1954, a film i have seen years ago. There are some big differences when it comes to the creature design and the plot as well, but the old school monster vibe can be found in Freeze for sure. The acting in general in this film are ok. I especially enjoy actor Rory Wilton ( who can be seen in the Charlie Steeds film The Haunting Of The Tower Of London ) as the character Roland Mortimer. Roland is the kind of man you want to have as a guest at your Sunday roast dinner, because you know that he will make sure that the party never stops. I also enjoy the performance of actor Johnny Vivash as the character Barnabas. It feels like Johnny just have a natural way to deliver dialogue, without making it too complicated. Best acting performance definetely comes from actor Tim Cartwright ( who have been in several of Charle Steeds films ). I just love his acting style and amazing British voice. And that is why he fits so well with his character William since the character was definetely a perfect match for him. Anything i feel could have been improved? Perhaps that since they are supposed to be in the arctic it looks kind if strange that they just walk around in their sailor clothes outfits. Maybe they didn´t bring winter clothes, but if i understand this correctly they knew thety were going here and that comes across as strange why no one brought winter clothes on board the ship. Anyway, in general this is a horror film i enjoyed for trying to be a throwback to old monster films. I am a big fan of Charlie Steeds films and i had a good time with Freeze as well. Not one of his best films so far but still entertaining for fans of this genre. If you want to see a horror film with practical make up effects and monsters look no further, Freeze might be what you want to experience. Director Charlie Steeds manage to deliver another enjoyable horror film, and i am looking forward to see his future films. Perhaps he could try doing a doll horror film set in the 1960´s in England? If anyone could pull this off i truly believe Charlie Steeds would be the one to do it.

Rating: DDD

The Siege

Ordering coffee these days happen very quickly no matter if you order take out or at your local Starbucks coffee shop. And so many flavors to choose between that you simply stand there wondering what should i choose? Customer service have changed a lot though, at least as i remember how it used to be back in the 80´s. If you went into a café in the 80´s with a guy having a mullet hair at the cash register, you knew there was a chance that two things could happen. If you complained too much the cash register guy would pull out a shotgun and say:- If you think this coffee taste burned, wait until you taste my shotgun. Or he would throw his library card in your face and say:- Don´t you read the Handbook Of Mathmetical Tables And Formulas ? I would perfectly understand why, because back in the 80´s that was the sexiest book you could find in the library. There was no other book that would shape formulas like a woman as in the Handbook Of Mathmetical Tables And Formulas. It was like author Richard Burington knew he was way ahead of his time, considering that this book was actually published in the 1940´s. Since i was too young looking in adult magazines in the early 80´s, this was the book where i would imagine what a woman looked like. Speaking of shotguns that i mentioned earlier, i sometimes miss the simple life of the 80´s. If someone asked you for direction to another street, you knew you could do a round kick to that person and no one would wonder why. That was just a simple way to answer someone, instead of actually explaining everything. And if someone said you danced badly at the disco floor, all you did was throw a Samurai sword in their head and the dance could still continue as planned. One of the things i especially appreciated during the 80´s was how many great action films that came out. No matter if we are talking military action films or martial arts films, i loved watching all kind of combinations. In 2021 i was actually surprised when a B action movie called Last Man Down was released, that was actually filmed both in Sweden and in England. Why did this film susprise me? It was basically a low budget copy of Schwarzenegger classic film Commando with bodybuilder Daniel Stisen in the lead role as the charater John Wood. It is a bad film in many ways but still entertaining. When i heard that Daniel Stisen would return in an action film called The Siege, of course i was curious. Would this be another fun throwback to the 80´s, or is The Siege just as bad as the Birdemic franchise have proved itself to be?

Walker ( Daniel Stisen ) is an assassin, one of the best in the business. When one of his witnesses doesn´t turn out to be dead, his cover could potentially be blown. Walker is sent to Reassignment Center 42, to be fitted out with a new identity. What they did not expect is that a team of heavily armed mercenaries break in to the facility. Walker and the people inside the facility have no other option than fight for their lives to survive.

If you are a big fan of the 1998 film Holy Man with Eddie Murphy and Jeff Goldblum i have some fantastic news for you. The Siege is the most natural film you would want to watch after you have experienced Holy Man, because the same spiritual feeling comes along with The Siege. There are some differences of course, such as we get bigger muscles in The Siege, men kicking ass and shooting people down. The Siege feels like a healing process that you want to experience, to clear your mind from anything negative. Because this film feels like a lot of love and joy, where it is very clear that this feels like a love letter of 80´s action films. You could probably say that The Siege feels like a mixture of Dolph Lundgren´s classic Red Scorpion and combines something similar to the Netflix film Interceptor. Now, let´s make one thing perfectly clear. You do not come to a film like The Siege to look for fantastic acting, because it doesn´t exisit here. This film is made specifically for action lovers from the 80´s and 90´s where you don´t need a complicated story and thankfully they have not tried to make this film look intelligent. All you need is lots of guns, fighting scenes and some fun dialogue. Action actor Daniel Stisen continue to do what he does best, just being a bad ass and kill a lot of people. His dialogue scenes are not very good but it is the action scenes where he works best. Actress Lauren Okadigbo ( who have done stunt choreography in many films such as Zack Snyder´s Justice League, Wonder Woman and Black Widow ) plays the character Elda. I personally feel that Elda is one of the coolest character in this film, with her cool attitude and not afraid to kick ass. I have to mention actress Samantha Schnitzler´s character Keates, this is the kind of woman men wish they would marry. The action scenes may be cheesy but that´s the whole point, you just want to have a good time. Is there anything negative to say about The Siege? Since there isn´t a interesting plot here you don´t really care about the story. There are some characters that you don´t know why they are there, because they only seem to be added into the story without making any bigger impact. Director Brad Watson ( director of the 2016 independent horror film Hallows Eve ) give us a very simple action film that will probably only appreciated by fans of this genre. Sure, the acting is terrible and not much makes any sense. But if you can accept that and just want some classic 80´s violence you should give The Siege a chance. I have a feeling if actor Daniel Stisen continue on this path making low budget action films, he could be the next big Norwegian B action movie star.

Rating: DDD

Cocaine Bear

Even though i am allergic to cats, dogs and other furry animals i can´t help myself enjoying the company of an animal. In our family we used to have an allergic friendly dog called Benson who was a pudel dog. He did some funny stuff sometimes and especially that his holy place was to sit on my crotch. Everytime i sat down on a sofa or on a chair, he always wanted to sit on my crotch and didn´t want to leave. If anyone tried to sit next to me he would take his paw and tell them to back away, he was having his own time with me and that´s the way it was. I remember one time when i lied down on the grass in a park, i put a blanket out and Benson wanted to lie on my crotch again infront of people. I thought it might look kind of weird in public so i let Benson lie next to me on the side instead, and he was ok with that. Oh and sometimes he would clean my toes for some reason, maybe i wasn´t cleaning them any good or maybe it was just his way to show appreciation. He lived for 13 years so he did live a good life and we did share some good times together. He´s buried in an animal sematary outside the city and i still to this day have flashback memories of him. Speaking of animals, there are some animals i would never want to be near such as bears. Not that they are beautiful to look at from a distance ( i did see one in Värmland in the early 90´s in a forest, it was from a boat as we were fishing ), but i wouldnt want to intrude their privacy because i understand they can be dangerous. There is a really good documentary film about grizzly bears and a very insane story that is actually true in director Werner Herzog´s powerful documentary film Grizzly Man. This film tells the odd story of bear enthusiast Timothy Treadwell and his years living in Alaska living close to grizzly bears. Director Werner Herzog used footage from Treadwell´s own video footage, since he have filmed over 100 hours of footage. It becomes clear that Timithy had mental problems and living out there close to the bears was a way for him to deal with himself and live a life in harmony, not wanting to live in an ordinary society. He did get a girlfriend called Amie Huguenard, but both of them were killed on October 5, 2003, when the tent they slept it was attacked by a grizzly bear. Grizzly Man is a very fascinating story that not only give you a very interesting portrait of who Timothy Treadwell was but also the lives of grizzly bears in Alaska. I highly recommend you buy a DVD copy. Since we are talking about bears you might have heard of a film that came out early this year called Cocaine Bear directed by Elizabeth Banks ( who played the great villain Rita Repulsa in the 2017 film version of Power Rangers, worth checking out on Blu Ray ). I did find the trailer to be entertaining and of course i had to check it out. Is this one of the films everyone should see this year, or is the hype around Cocaine Bear too big and it is actually a terrible film?

It is the year of 1985. Drug smuggler Andrew C. Thornton II ( Matthew Rhys ) is throwing out a lot of cocaine bags from an airplane in the sky, and as he prepares to jump out with a parachute he accidently knocks himself unconscious on the doorframe, causing him to fall to his death. His body lands in Knoxville, Tennessee, where he is identified by local police. What they don´t know is, that an American black bear eats some of the cocaine it finds in the forest. What seemed to be an ordinary day in the forest is about to turn into pure hell.

Considering that this film is directed by actress Elizabeth Banks ( who directed the Charlie´s Angels reboot from 2019 that i felt was too weak for a number of reasons ), i can say that i am at least a bit more positive than i was in 2019. Her remake attempt of Charlie´s Angels should have been more fun and have fun character´s as they did in the year 2000 film Charlie´s Angels with Cameron Diaz, Drew Barryore and Lucy Liu. Not saying it was completely awful but there were so many details that they could have fixed in the reboot film, and what we got was basically just something that was supposed to look cool. Cocaine Bear on the other hand shows that at least director Elizabeth Banks might have listened to the negative feedback of Charlie´s Angels and actually decided to do somthing more positive about her future work. You can tell that she definetely had fun making this film because there is a positive energy here that comes across on the big screen. Knowing that this film is loosely based on a true story i would suggest that you forget about that part, because the true story is completely different from what we actually get in this film. This is a just a crazy horror comedy that definetely tries to do something different when it comes to animal horror films. So how does Cocaine Bear function as a film in general, is it too complicated to work as a feature film? If you can drop any expectations of finding any realistic explanations in this film, i think you might find yourself enjoying this film for what it is. This is a film that is definetely meant to be enjoyed for people who loves crazy combinations in a horror story that doesn´t need any logical explanations. Just seeing a bear high on cocaine attacking human beings almost feels like a throwback to animal horror films of the 1960´s and the 1970´s when they did make a lot of animal horror films. I especially appreciate that they tried to capture the 80´s era with clothes, hair styles and that the character´s have their 80´s personalitites. Not as effective as Netflix series Stranger Things when it comes to 80´s nostalgia but still good enough to recognize the time era. Let´s get into the characters and i have to start with legendary actor Ray Liotta ( may he rest in peace ) as the character Syd. Not only is he one of the coolest characters in this film but i love his look, he looks like the perfect cocaine smuggler you always wanted as a neighbor. The children actors Brooklyn Prince ( who is fantastic in the independent film The Florida Project, a must buy on Blu Ray ) and Christian Convery are both great as the characters Dee Dee and Henry and i really enjoy their chemistry on the big screen. The greatest 80´s hair in this film comes with actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson ( mostly known from Modern Family ) as the fun character Peter. As a horror comedy i would say that this is more of a comedy than a horror film, at least for me personally. And there are a few scenes where i did laugh a bit because it is silly 80´s fun. The horror scenes may not be as effective as i was hoping they would be, but from a comedy perspective there are scenes in this film that actually works. The bear does provide with some entertaining scenes, especially when things really get out of control. Cocaine Bear is a silly film in many ways but entertaining for what it is, and if you just want to unplug your brain cells for a while and just have some laughs, this might actually be a film that you are looking for. Tired of all the horrible Pokémon films that´s taken over Netflix for too many years? Then you definetely need to experience Cocaine Bear instead.

Rating: DDD

Left Behind: Rise Of The Antichrist

I remember years ago when i was at a movie convention in Stockholm. I met a lot of movie fans from all over the world and we talked about movies, what kind of films we enjoyed and what films we were looking forward to see. At some point we started talking about films that we just didn´t enjoy for some reason. And when it was my turn to pick the film i knew exactly what film i was thinking about, and that film was the 2014 evangelical film known as Left Behind. None of the people i mentioned this film to knew what film i was talking about, and i can at least say im glad they didn´t have to sit through and suffer watching it. For those of you who don´t know the background of this film, there was an original version of this film made back in the year of 2000 simply called Left Behind: The Movie. This film is directed by Vic Sarin and stars Kirk Cameron ( yes it´s that guy from TV series Growing Pains ) and Brad Johnson ( perhaps mostly known from the Danny Glover film Flight Of The Intruder ). I never saw this film when it came out or the two sequels simply because i wasn´t really interested in seeing them. Maybe the terrible DVD cover of the first film didn´t help either, so in 2014 they decided to do a reboot of the first film and this time with some bigger movie stars included such as Nicolas Cage ( Wild Heart, Ghost Rider ), Lea Thompson ( Back To The Future trilogy ) as well as TV series star Cassi Thomson from TV series Big Love ( definetely worth watching ). Left Behind is pretty much a film about what could happen during the end of days. Here it is portrayed that people suddenly vanish out of nowhere, and no one really knows why. It may sound like a very interesting premise for a film, but Left Behind is one hell of a big mess from start to finish. It didn´t matter if Nicolas Cae was the best part of this film since there were so many problems that damaged the film. Everything from bad acting to strange editing made Left Behind such a horrible experience. There was an Indiegogo campaign made to get money for a sequel and it didn´t do well. So it seemed that we would not see a sequel for quite some time, but here we are in 2023 with Left Behind: Rise Of The Antichrist. Not only that, it also seems that this sequel is directed by Hercules himself who is Kevin Sorbo of course. Even if i did not enjoy the 2014 film at all, i decided to give this sequel a chance. Is this the best film in the Left Behind franchise so far, or is it just as bad as i might have expected?

The world is in chaos six months after the Rapture took millions of people, and a new charismatic leader named Nicolae Carpathia ( Bailey Chase ) is gaining prominence. No one really knows what his plans are, if it has something to do that involves the Tribulation, but the world is about to find out.

Before i watched this latest Left Behind film i actually watched the original film from the year 2000 with Kirk Cameron. The film started off pretty cool with planes bombing in Israel and i thought to myself:- A Christian Rambo film? Yeeeaaah. That only lasted for a short moment and the film started to take itself too seriously. Then we went straight to the end of days theme and just another ordinary Christian film. Too bad, because a few scenes were actually fun. So going from the original film and remembering the 2014 film version of Left Behind, where does this latest sequel take us in this franchise? Well, if you have seen the previous films and expect a big change when it comes to quality of film making and acting, i can tell you right now that Left Behind: Rise Of The Antichrist have at least tried to improve since the 2014 film. That does not mean that this film is good in anyway, but there is one detail that i actually think saves from film from falling apart completely. And that we can thank actor Neal McDonough (who had a solid role in the TV series Legends Of Tomorrow  ) who is the best part of this film as the character Jonathan Stonogal. He should have been the lead character and lead actor of this whole film, because he is so good compared to all of the other actors. While other actors try and act as if they are serious and look like they are lost, Neal just steps right in and knock them all out by delivering dialogue in his own uniqe way. Now it´s time for the negative and where do we start? One thing i have noticed with evangelical films is that they make a lot of odd scenes. When we are supposed to take the film seriously they almost do it too much so it almost becomes lifeless. There are references to the pandemic and they also try to throw in several scenes where you are supposed to feel Christian persecution. Honestly it never feels like you feel sorry for some of these characters, so the message is completely lost along the way. The acting in general is just very boring and uninspired and for the most part you wonder if some of the actors really wanted to be there? For a 2 hours long film this feels like a very slow motion picture and you try to keep yourself awake. Kevin Sorbo is at least not absolutely horrible in this film compared to some of the other actors, but even he can´t save this film. Director Kevin Sorbo have tried to make a better sequel to the 2014 film, but there are way too many problems to make this film work. Left Behind: Rise Of The Antichrist is definetely not the worst evangelical film i have seen, and i do think Neal McDonough deserves respect for his role. Other than that this sequel will most likely only be enjoyed by evangelical people, while the rest of us will most likeley forget that this sequel ever existed.

Rating: D

There´s Something Wrong With The Children

There is no question to why children can light up any day, no matter how bad your day have been. You get to laugh over their thoughts, ideas and you might also get inspired since children are very good at finding creativity in a lot of things that they do. I am a proud uncle to a 3 year old and i have made a promise to him, that one day we will visit Belgium together to see the Jean-Claude Van Damme statue in Brussels. When he is a little bit older i will personally show him all the Van Damme classics so he is prepared for our Belgium trip. We will of course wear Van Damme tshirts, pose with Van Damme fists so we will be the coolest guys in town. This is a really good way to develope children, bringing in the knowledge of Van Damme classics. Who knows, he might even be inspired to try some Van Damme kicks? You see, i am the best uncle ever. Speaking of children there are a lot of movies that takes on the subject of kids in many different situations. I especially find movies interesting that takes on the horror genre and have children included, that´s a combination that requires a story that works with children included. One of the films i am especially thinking about that i really appreciated, is the 2008 British horror film The Children from director Tom Shankland. This is a very effective horror film that especially focuses on what children can do when you least expect it. The film takes place during a Christmas vacation where families are supposed to enjoy themselves, but it all ends in a complete nightmare. Director Tom Shankland used simple but effective horror elements to make this film work, and adding children into the mix made the horror scenes even more fun. If you have not seen it pick up a DVD or Blu Ray copy online today. Since last year i read about a new horror film that included children that is called There´s Something Wrong With The Children. When ever i see a horror film that especially includes children i am definetely interesting, since you never know if you will be surprised. I did not see any trailer of this film just to know as little as possible .Is this a horror film that will please the horror community in general, or is There´s Something Wrong With The Children one of the worst films i have seen this year?

Margaret ( Alisha Wainwright ) and Ben ( Zach Gilford ) take a weekend at a cabin with longtime friends Ellie ( Amanda Crew ) and Thomas ( Carlos Santos ) and their two young children, Lucy ( Briella Guiza ) and Spencer ( David Mattle ). As they all explore nature they discover an old building where the children especially feel interested in a deep hole in the ground. Margaret suggests that she and Ben can babysit one night so Ellie can have some time with her husband Thomas. The kids sleep over at Margaret´s cabin and everything seems alright, until the next morning. The kids are not in their beds and their shoes are not there. They seem to have taken off during night as Ben look for them. They do show up later, but they seem to behave differently than yesterday.

One of the things i think this film does correctly from the early parts of the film is to show how friends who have known each other a very long time, see their lives change completely since they become parents. We have discussions among these friends and how life is different from their past, and it´s of course natural since parenthood changes everything. Once this film switches track and fouses on the children, this is where this film becomes interesting. What happened to the children to change their behavior? Are they not who they used to be or did something change their personalities? Interesting premise for a horror film and for the most part this film actually surprised me. There are a couple of predictable pieces found along the way but i can accept that. Since we all know that children are vulnerable in a lot of different situations, this film clearly thought about that and especially make it very clear when it comes to heights. There is a scene that will clearly show that and there is a connection to a specific location what made the kids suddenly change. The acting is actually pretty good from basically the whole cast, but i have to say that the children actors Briella Guiza and David Mattle are the real shining stars of this film. Their chemistry and timing in both dialogue, body language and facial expressions, it all matches so well on the big screen. I love to see children actors who really take their role seriously and actually knows how to act in front of a camera, and these two young actors do a wonderful job. Fans of TV series Friday Night Lights will definetely recognize actor Zach Gilford here playing the character Ben. I wasn´t really a big fan of him in Friday Night Lights but i definetely think he does a much better performance in this film. If he continue to improve his acting skills as he clearly did in this film, i would love to see him in a very strong destructive drama story. The most interesting adult character is Margaret Winslow, played by actress Alisha Wainwright ( who you might recognize from Netflix TV series Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments ). You can tell she have a lot on her mind if she wants to start a family or not, and i really feel that Alisha bring out a female character that a lot of women can relate to. The horror elements surrounding the children works better than i expected and i almost got vibes from the children in the original Children Of The Corn film from 1984. There is a big difference between these films when it comes to why these children are evil, but the evil tone of Children Of The Corn is definetely in this film as well. There´s Something Wrong With The Children shows that you can never trust children completely, because you never know what they are capable of. They may look sweet and innocent but underneath the surface they may be a darkness that you didn´t expect to find. Director Roxanne Banjamin ( director of the great independent film Body At Brighton Rock, worth checking out ) deliver a child horror film that will be appreciated by parents, or family members with children around them who might begin to wonder what their children are capable of. If you are a horror fan, i have a feeling you will appreciate There´s Something Wrong With The Children for exposing a different perspective on parenthood and children. Especially if you are planning to babysit in the future, then this is definetely the film you should see. 

Rating: DDD