Bear

Crawl - Alexandre Aja showed some proper talent early in his career with High Tension, and a decent remake of The Hills Have Eyes and the more than excellent Piranha 3-D, but he's missed more than he's hit. Crawl however is a return to form. It's, for most part, very predictable and you'll know how it'll play out, but it's a really intense and suspenseful creature feature survival horror. It had me on the edge of my seat for most of the movie, and that's proper good like. Recommended!

https://www.metal-archives.com/images/7/9/9/2/799293.jpg?4422

Batyushka can't be stopped! A third album lol!

Fanarchy - "Fanarchy uncovers a subculture of die-hard fans who risk life, limb and financial bankruptcy in their quest to pay homage to the films and stories they love."

Good documentary, but the part about comicon and such was pretty boring. Simply because it's done to death. But most else was pretty entertaining, especially the parts about fanmade movies.

Which made me go on and watch a bunch of fan made movies:

Judge Minty - 25 minutes fanmade movie about Judge Minty, and elderly judge in Mega-City One that has to retire and is sent out in the wasteland to find a good death. It's very low-budget and the special effects suffer from that, but it's cool other than that. Enjoyed it a lot.

Then I decided to watch several of the shorts in Adi Shankar's Bootleg Universe. For those unaware, Adi Shankar is that weirdo who produced the masterpiece that is Dredd, as well as being the creator of Castlevania, among other things. The Bootleg Universe started with The Punisher: Dirty Laundry, which I HIGHLY recommend, back in 2012. And it's still going strong.

Venom: Truth in Journalism - Black and white movie about a documentary team that goes to america to document the life of Eddie Brock, and his sometimes questionable methods as a journalist. It's a tribute to Man Bites Dog, but it's a brilliant short movie. Truly excellent! 17 minutes long. This is what the recent Venom movie should've been like.

Judge Dredd: Superfiend - An animated re-interpretation of Judge Dredd's arch-nemesis Judge Death. I thought it was really fun, but I wasn't too fan of the visual style and it's more cartoonish side. But it was fun and violent. Can't complain about that.

Power/Rangers - A dark and violent reimagining of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers in an alternative timeline. It's really cool, and the world deserves a full movie out of this. Really damn cool!

Spider-Man: Far from Home - A really good and solid start on the new chapter in the MCU. Fun, charming and silly, albeit maybe a bit too childish at times? But all in all it was pretty damn good. Positively surprised.

Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed - A step up from Frankenstein Created Woman, and this time we get a new side of Frankenstein. He's as charming as always, but we see a much darker side of Frankenstein. A side which is really fucking dark. Peter Cushing is as amazing as always, and the rest of the cast is very good too. Great atmosphere, amazing ending!

Annabelle Comes Home - I didn't expect much from this, but as the second Annabelle movie was good I just had to check it out. And it was surprisingly good. Felt very old school, but super simple and straight-forward. Good atmosphere. Good, 80's-esque horror fun.

Bloodline - A dark, Dexter-esque horror movie with a truly excellent Seann William Scott in the lead. Dark, twisted, cool, stylish. I liked it quite a lot.

Watched Altered Carbon  season 1 and was surprised by how much I liked it. The story isn't perfect, the characters aren't either and neither are the action scenes, especially those with hand to hand combat. But the world created was really good, especially when the characters moved around in the Blade Runner-esque city which looked really cool. Gonna watch season 2 for sure.

Haven't care for American Horror Story for obvious fucking reasons, but I am actually looking forward to the new season now that they've jumped on the retro-wagon and embraced the 80's. Looks really fucking awesome.

The Curse of Frankenstein - One of Hammer Horror, Terence Fisher, Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and Hazel Court's many, many masterpieces of horror cinema. Probably my favourite adaption of Frankenstein. It's mean, dark and raw for its time, it's beautifully acted by all the involved, it looks gorgeous, it's beautifully shot and the sets are stunning. Fantastic from start to end, and the atmosphere is top notch!

The Revenge of Frankenstein - Hammer  Horror's sequel to The Curse of Frankenstein is, believe it or not, close to as good, if not as good, as the original. Christopher Lee and Hazel Court is gone, so is much of the rawness, but it's a really classy movie and director Terence Fisher is on top of the game as usual, as is Peter Cushing. This does tell a better story than the first one tho, and it looks as gorgeous. Amazing sequel with amazing atmosphere!

The Evil of Frankenstein - For the third entry in the series Terence Fisher is gone and Freddie Francis has taken over the direction. Which weakens the film a bit, but not much as he's also really talented. Peter Cushing is, as always, beyond amazing, the movie looks fantastic, atmosphere is spot on and so on. It's just amazing!

Frankenstein Created Woman - Terence Fisher is back, Peter Cushing continues his spree as Frankenstein and so on. On the fourth movie they start to try something different. Whereas the other movies are about the physical aspect of the body, this movie is all about the metaphysical dimensions of life. The weakest of the four first, but still an amazing movie and very interesting. 

The Terror  season 1 was truly magnificent. Slow-burning, atmospheric horror drama that's a big fat adventure with twists, turns, mostly amazing CGI, great characters and plot and so on. Truly stunning. Very much recommended!

'Dungeon synth reimaginations of five Dwarrowdelf songs, inspired by the likes of Thangorodrim, Mortiis, Old Sorcery, and Mists of Antiquity.'

https://dwarrowdelfuk.bandcamp.com/album/from-beneath-the-fells

Sounds like we're getting the best Dwarrowdelf release thus far. But truth be told I haven't been too fond of his previous stuff. It's not bad, but it's Summoning, Caladan Brood, Emyn Muil and so on, but incredibly sugarcoated just like Eldemar is. Good stuff when relaxing, trying to sleep etc. but not for pure listening. But this sounds pretty sweet. Sugarcoated dungeon synth > sugarcoated black metal.

https://coffins.bandcamp.com/album/beyond-the-circular-demise

A new Coffins album is always appreciated and this sounds awesome as always. Crushing death/doom.

Blood of the Tribades - A slow-burning homage to sleazy and trashy 70s euro lesbian vampire movies like those made by Jesus Franco and Jean Rollin, and also with a bit of influences from Hammer's own The Karnstein Trilogy (The Vampire Lovers, Lust for a Vampire, Twins of Evil). But the way it's written and filmed is clearly inspired by Jean Rollin, whom I personally love. The main difference here is that it's a very pro-feminist, is about self-identity and stuff like that. But unlike movies from Jean Rollin where the vampires were evil and very, very erotic, this changes that and make the vamps sympathetic and nice, and the males evil basically. And it really works. My main problem with this movie is its modern and digital look, and some of its effects. But the modern look really killed a lot of the fun for me. But recommended for fans of Jean Rollin's surrealistic, dreamy, slow and offbeat lesbian vampire movies.

Haunt - A Saw-type of movie set in a haunted house that was surprisingly cool. Could've been a bit more graphic and violent, but it was really fun nonetheless. Recommended if you like Saw and shit like that.

The Phantom of the Opera - Hammer Horror's Phantom of the Opera from 1962. Not as good as the Universal Monster PotO, and it's far from Terence Fisher's best movie, but it's really good nonetheless. I'd say it's on par with the 1942 version. But it feels a bit darker and more horror-esque than that version, but both are equally good. The music scenes however are superior in this film, and the overall visual style and choices of colours are gorgeous!

Project Gutenberg - Hong Kong movie starring an excellent Yun-Fat Chow and a really impressive Aaron Kwok. It tells a familiar story and despite loads and loads of twists and turns I found it to be fairly predictable, tho I seem to be the only one who thinks so. It's well-written and well-directed, but I thought it was a tad too long for its own good, and it tried to be smarter than it had to. But it wasn't bad.

Diabolic Night - Beyond the Realm

https://diabolicnight.bandcamp.com/

New track is RIPPING! Old school black/speed/thrash in the vein of Sodom's "In the Sign of Evil", Destruction's "Sentence of Death" and Bathory's "Bathory" with hints of Running Wild's "Gates to Purgatory" and Venom's "Welcome to Hell". Demo, EP and single released in 2014 and 2015 were all amazing, and this is gonna be the same.

I also saw it announced that German black/thrashers Nocturnal and black speed metallers Nuctemeron (who released one hell of an EP back in 2016) are releasing a split together. 

This is some older stuff, but both bands rule so this should be awesome. Some proper black/thrash and black/speed metal.

Another album by the new Batyushka.

Quotes from the first album: A true БАТЮШКА album by a band formed by the real orthodox priests from Russia. We are not some bunch of larping posers, but true christians.

Quotes from the second album: New Album (The previous was in fact a compilation of unreleased songs made back in 2005). Yes we are very old band.

lol. Kinda enjoyable trolling this.

Oh yes! This new 7" is gonna be so fucking good.

Batyushka - Батюшка

Quote

The band claims to be "a true БАТЮШКА band formed by the orthodox priests from Russia". It is not affiliated with the more famous Polish Batushka or any of its offshoots.

Fucking hell, this shit is hilarious. We now got Batushka with Derph, Batushka with Bart and the new Batyushka. L O L!

Child's Play - I love the original and didn't really expect much from this reboot/remake, but I actually liked it quite a lot. Didn't like how Chucky looked in the movie, but everything else was mostly well done and cool. A bit more comedic than the original, but not so much that it goes into horror comedy territory. Thumbs up! And Aubrey Plaza is amazing.

Satanic Panic - Low-budget horror comedy that really worked well throughout. Not too keen on the ending, but everything else was really awesome. Fun shit. Felt very silly and 80's.

Yep, that Hagzissa album is highly recommended. It's got some of that mid 90's Eastern European black metal feeling to it.

Yes! That sounds catchy as hell. More 60's than before, and I love it.

Finished Swamp Thing and thought it was awesome. A very late 80's-early 90's adventure/action/horror with one hell of a design for the Swamp Thing himself. He just looks stunning as hell! Some dogy CGI and shit, but it only felt very out of place a few times. But it was really fun, and it's a real shame it got cancelled. But hey, at least we got one great season.

Recommended for sure.

The Losers - This came right before A-Team back in 2010 and is a very similar movie in so many ways. It's based on the graphic novel by the same, which I have not read, but I think I will have to check it out. Because this was fun. Dumb and silly, but very, very fun action movie with comedic overtones. Yup!

How anyone can find something like this boring live is beyond me. Darkside alone is reason good enough to stay for the entire gig, and as long as the drums are clear in the mix everything else can be pretty muddy without it taking away all the enjoyment of the gig. The cymbal work is just beyond everything and anything.

Wigrid - Entfremdungsmoment

https://wigrid.bandcamp.com/

It's been no less than 14 years since Wigrid last released an album, so this is a pleasant surprise. New track is excellent, and more similar to Wigrid's Burzum-worshipping demos and debut album Hoffnungstod, than the slower, more doomy and melancholic Die Asche eines Lebens, although it does carry some influence from Die Asche eines Lebens too. Can easily be heard in the slower moments of the track.

Both albums, and demos, are fantastic btw so it wouldn't be bad if it was more similar to Die Asche eines Lebens. But as Hoffnungstod is among my all time favourite black metal albums him going back to that style really does it for me.

On 5/20/2019 at 6:55 PM, Bear said:

Watching movies and I am getting so tired of all this wacky CGI use now. It's incredible how Jurassic Park (1993) still looks better than both Jurassic World (2015) and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018),  despite the fact that the CGI has come a long, long, long way since then. It's all about how they used it, how they mixed it with practical effects and how and when they chose to use it. Probably the best example ever is the T-Rex shot in Jurassic Park. They didn't just throw it out there, they really thought about it. Having it dark and rainy made the whole task so much easier to make it look good, and it still looks incredible. Is there even a decent shot in Jurassic World or Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom where the dinosaurs actually look threatening, scary and real? Heeeell naw!

 

And this also sums up why movies like Avengers: Endgame and Alita: Battle Angel already look dated, despite being out for only a few months. They use of CGI are fucking disgusting.

 

If you want another disgusting example: Take a look at how Black Panther looks when fighting in his suit in Captain America: Civil War, as opposed to how he looks when fighting in his suit in Black Panther. How you ever wondered why he looked so awesome when fighting in Civil War, and why he looks so fucking awful when fighting in his own Black Panther movie? Three letters: CGI!

 

In Captain America: Civil War you have a guy in a black suit, a stuntman, actually doing stunts. So the physics is spot on. It's real. They just glossed up his suit and shit, but they didn't make him CGI. So they didn't fuck up any of the physics.

 

In Black Panther it's just CGI, and because the CGI is still far from being perfected they still haven't managed to master physics and so on. They're just cartoons fighting, and they're light and can do whatever the fuck they want. It doesn't look OK at all. Compare the non-suited Black Panther vs Killmonger with the later fight where both are in a suit. Just look at the difference.

 

So annoying, and what's more are all the people in the world who actually consider this to be good looking and a fine thing to do. Open your eyes, use them and just think for a second. Christ almighty.

 

Rant over!

I have to take this back, because the shit in Black Panther was actually human beings fighting. I could not tell at all, but neither could VFX artists who specialize in this shit. They also thought it was only CGI. But it's actually humans fighting, and originally it looked really fucking good. But they decided to drench it in CGI to the point where the physics changed and it went from looking good, to the point where it looks pathetic.

Reminds me of The Thing (2011) where the special effects originally looked amazing, mindblowing and disgusting, but they drenched it in CGI and made it looks pathetic.

Anyway, point still stand tho. CGI, when used right, is a 10/10 type of tool to make something look good. CGI, when overused, like seen in 9/10 blockbusters, are useless as it takes everything away from the scene.

Not gonna lie, this is pretty damn good and catchy as FUCK! Best song since Quintessence, surely? Banger!

The Boys - This is, hands down, one of the coolest series I've ever seen, and one of the best superhero movies/series in a long, long, long time. Yes, I know it's based off a classic comic but I haven't read it yet. I own the first issue, but want more before before starting. Anyway, this was fun, violent, silly, over the top and just awesome throughout. Hell ye! Give me season 2 already!

Swamp Thing season 1 is up next. Shame about the cancellation. And I say that even before having watched it.