Bear

Watched the classic 70's bodybuilder movie Pumping Iron last night, and started today by watching Generation Iron. Both follows a group of people as they get ready for the yearly(?) Mr. Olympia. Pumping Iron is classic and for a good reason. It's just fantastic, with brilliant people involved, such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lou Ferrigno, as well as Franco Columbu, Mike Katz, Ken Waller, Ed Corney, Serge Nubret, and other famous bodybuilders of the era. What this does well and which really makes it a lot more interesting and entertaining than Generation Iron, is the friendship shown by the rivals, the great atmosphere they got between them and so on. Arnold Schwarzenegger comes off as really cocky, but in a good, friendly way. It comes off more as friendly banter than anything else. It just seemed like everyone involved were friends and had fun, and even rooted for eachother to do the best of their ability. Amazing documentary. Generation Iron is set in 2012-2013, and the entire bodybuilding culture has changed a lot. The bodies are way, way, way more extreme, the friendly atmosphere you see on the gyms and backstage in Pumping Iron seems to be completely gone, and the contenders seems so more fiendish, arrogant and so on. There's obviously those who comes off as really genuine and nice, but several of them comes off as douchebags. But as a documentary it's really good, although I'd love for it to dig even deeper into scenes behind it all. More of the drug culture and more about their diets and so on. But it's a great documentary as well.

Fuck yes, Lazerpunk putting in some work lately. Man, this guy has come so far since his earlier stuff and he just keeps getting better. The video is fucking AWESOME as well. This too is just fantastic. More poppy, but such a cool and catchy song. It's also nostalgic as fuck as I used to play Doom on repeat when I was young. Parents didn't like it, but we'd join LANs anyway and play Doom all fucking week.

Binged The Umbrella Academy season 2 and thought it was really good. The first season was very good, but this was a massive step up in the right direction. Really, really good and fun. Also watched High Score on Netflix, which is about games and goes into everything from early video games to newer stuff, and gets into LARPs, soundstracks, people who won competitions and people who made early games within certain genres that no one really knows about. Loved the interview with the gay guy who made GayBlade. Would fucking love to play that game. The way they talked about it made it seem like a masterpiece. Really good series overall.

New Stälker is coming and this song is ripping, just as expected after the brilliant speed metal masterpiece that is Shadow of the Sword and the incredible demo Satanic Panic. These vocals, man. Just superb really!

Holy fuck, that is truly amazing and hilarious.

Johansson & Speckmann - The Germs of Circumstance If you're unfamiliar with Johansson & Speckmann, this is Paul Speckmann (Master, Death Strike, Funeral Bitch, Abomination etc.) and Rogga Johansson (Paganizer, Putrevore, Revolting, Ribspreader etc) and a couple of friends playing death metal in the vein of Master, Death Strike, Abomination etc. You know what you're getting, and it's usually pretty damn good. Occult Burial - Burning Eerie Lore https://invictusproductions666.bandcamp.com/album/burning-eerie-lore New album from these Canadian black thrashers. Bathory meets Sodom, Venom and Nifelheim. New track is incredible! Necrophobic - Dawn of the Damned New track is more of the same, but really, really good. Should be a good album.

2020is the year that keeps giving. Holy shit! Sale Freux - Le dernier corbeau du monde Sale Freux does not know how to disappoint. Still has a lot of elements of the first Peste Noire and their demos, but I don't mind that. This shit is just absolutely gorgeous in its melancholic grimness and ugliness. Drakonhail - L'autre lieu Solo project by Dunkel, the main guy in Sale Freux. It's more lo-fi and a the overall atmosphere is totally different, but so far every Drakonhail release has been amazing. Can't wait to hear this! Wytch Hazel - III: Pentecost Wytch Hazel has, so far, made some of the very best Christian heavy metal/hard rock ever, and I really can't wait for this. Thin Lizzy meets Pagan Altar meets Angel Witch. Tøronto - Under Siege A new EP from Sweden's speed metallers Tøronto, featuring members and ex-members from Morbus Chron, Lethal Steel and Temisto. Earilier stuff has been great and this EP sounds amazing as well. There's a few more songs on youtube. Sounds terrific! Blazon Rite - Dulce Bellum Inexpertis E.P. Heavy metal of the more epic kind that's among the best releases of 2020 so far. It's just different, unique and absolutely fantastic. Devil's Poison - Street Metal Attack Raw and catchy black speed metal. Think Hellripper, Midnight, Venom and Bathory. Great album! Evoke - Seeds of Death Black speed metal that just cruches. Both demos are brilliant, and this sounds amazing too.

You do? I am sure there's plenty people here with a more interesting top 10 than myself. I'm a bit of a weird, you see. You've missed out on his three best movies then. Three absolute masterpieces, and an absolute must if you're into action, neo-noir or thrillers. It's completely mind blowing that John Wick 1-3 are Chad Stahelski's three first movies as director. Not many have managed to start off with three movies this strong back to back. But they're incredible, and Chad Stahelski, alongside Gareth Evans (The Raid), are easily the two best non-asian martial arts/action directors out there. They make action movies just like the top asian directors of the 80's, 90's and 00's. Top notch!

Yes, he does. He's absolutely brilliant in John Wick, John Wick: Chapter 2 and John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, and he's also superb in movies like Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Point Break and The Matrix. And more of course. Thing with someone like Keanu Reeves is that he doesn't have a big range, so as soon as he steppes outside of that range he usually falls through. But he's not a bad actor at all, and given a proper script he can most definitely act well. It's the same as with someone like Scott Adkins (and Michael Jai White, Jason Statham, etc) . He most likely won't do well in a romantic comedy or a regular drama movie, but anyone who's watched him as Boyka in Undisputed II: Last Man Standing, Undisputed III: Redemption or Boyka: Undisputed, or in Avengement, Ip Man 4: The Finale, Triple Threat or Accident Man knows he can absolutely act. But again, he doesn't have a wide range to act on, so he needs specific roles with fitting scripts etc. And the list goes on.

Macabre Omen - Anamneses New EP from Macabre Omen, five years after their second album Gods of War - At War. Their debut, The Ancient Returns, is a god damned masterpiece and their second album, Gods of War - At War, is really a fantastic album. So this is something I really can't wait for. Unique and epic pagan black metal. Bathory's "Twilight of the Gods" meets traditional Greek black metal from the 90's.

After the joke that Batushka has become I've decided that the only real Batushka is Batyushka. 14 full lengths since September 12th, 2019. That's impressive!

New track from Emyn Muil's upcoming album "Afar Angathfark". Emyn Muil's last album, Elenion Ancalima, was an absolute masterclass in how to make Summoning-esque epic/atmospheric black metal, and judging from this track this won't be any different. A medieval take on the classic Summoning sound. Gorgeous! I don't know if it's a coincidence or not, but David Seys who did the spoken words on track 3 and 8 on Summoning's "Old Mornings Dawn", are doing the spoken words on track 3 and 8 on "Afar Angathfark". That's weird. But looking forward to it.

This absolute legend just does not know how to disappoint. Hilarious stuff.

Shinobi no kuni aka Mumon: The Land of Stealth - A ninja movie based on a novel that later became a mange (as far as I know), which genuinely felt like a live-action anime adaptation. Of all the movies I've seen, both anime, live-action adaptations and other movies, this is probably the one that has felt the most anime. There's something about the action scenes that just feels like they were taken straight out of some of Naruto episodes. Super fun stuff. The entire movie was just really fun tbh. Lighthearted for most part, over the top and really silly, but it still has a lot of serious themes and topics throughout, as well as some character development. Impressed!

I disagree. I thought it was a very predictable film. Incredibly bad too btw.

If you're into gothic horror movies then The Woman in Black is a proper good choice, although the original from 1989 is a lot better. It's just more atmospheric with a lot more focus on creating genuinely creepy and chilling atmosphere, whereas the remake feels way more modern with scares being utilized more than the creation of atmosphere. I really like the remake, but the original is just superior and one of the best TV movies ever, made on a very small budget and all. I think one of the things I really liked about Guns Akimbo is the exploitation feeling of it, and how it feels like a video game movie. I think it carries much of the same feeling as Death Race 2000, The Running Man, Shoot 'Em Up etc. So video game like, so over the top and so beautifully violent. Excellent!

https://gravewurm.bandcamp.com/album/night-creatures-2020-album-original-and-remastered-versions So Gravewürm, the AC/DC of black metal, are about to release their second album of the year. And the entire album is up on bandcamp. It's like their other albums, no more no less. Swedish black thrashers Pagan Rites is about to release their first album since 2010, and it's a double album. Could be good, this. Good band. https://toxikdeath.bandcamp.com/track/malicious-assassin Norwegian black thrashers Töxik Death are gonna release their second album this year, and the debut is good this sounds even better.

Isn't everything Radcliffe plays in incredibly predictable? Haven't seen anything he's done where you don't know the entire story and plot within the first 30 minutes tbh. I do like him tho, and I think Guns Akimbo was incredible. Over the top, super silly video game violence for 90 minutes. Just my cup of tea. On par with his best Harry Potter movies and The Woman in Black IMO.

Mortal Engines - Man, what a fucking waste of opportunity. I haven't read the books and won't compare them, but this could and should have been so much more. The concept is awesome and the world they've made is even better, and fuck it even the visual effects are good and impressive. But that's about it. The first major mistake is that it starts off like it is a sequel, and you feel like you've missed the first 40 minutes of the film. The second problem is that every single character is a shell without anything on the inside. Empty shells without anything to give. The characters are simply awfully written and lack proper personalities, motives and so on. Nah, this was a poor mess saved by a really cool concept and world bulding. 5/10, and that is me being quite generous.

Isengard - Varjevndögn Motherfucker! Isn't this some of the best news of the year? This is something I really can't wait for. Both albums are beyond brilliant, and knowing this is recorded between 89 and 93 just makes me even more excited.

It's all about talent, baby. And writer-director Andrew Patterson is obviously one talented man. This movie was great indeed. Suspenseful and atmospheric, but without being big and flashy. It really captured an old school feeling, especially that of 50's sci-fi, so it's fitting that it's set to the 1950's. Really good film! Speaking of good films, talents and nothing big and flashy: Gundala! Gundala is the first movie in the Bumilangit Cinematic Universe, Indonesia's answer to Marvel Cinematic Universe and DC Extended Universe. So yeah, it's a superhero movie, but unlike the big budget CGI fest from MCU and DCEU, BCU delivers a very down to earth origin story about one of the biggest superheroes from Indonesia. It's directed by Joko Anwar on a budget of $2m (compare that to the $140m of Iron Man or $225m of Man of Steel), so it's not filled with big, flashy CGI or anything like that. I like loads of MCU and even DCEU have impressed me with their two latest movies, but this is something very different. It's darker, it's grittier, and way, way, way more down to earth with way more fleshed out characters. The plot is over the top and silly as fuck, as expected from a superhero movie like this, but it's also a lot of fun. I'd absolutely recommend this to any fan of superhero movies. This was fantastic, and while not quite as good as Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Thor: Ragnarok or Birds of Prey, I'd absolutely say it's as good as Captain Marvel, Dr. Strange and Captain America: Civil War. There's planned eight movies in phase one to begin with, and I really can't wait for more. It's really refreshing to both see and hear a different type of superhero movie about a superhero I really don't know much about. Never read, never seen him in any cartoon or anything. The one I am looking the most forward to are easily Si Buta Dari Gua Hantu, which will be written and directed by none other than Timo Tjahjanto, who just doesn't know how to fail and topped off everything with the absolutely brilliant and stunning masterpiece The Night Comes For Us. Bring on Bumilangit Cinematic Universe!

I am very much looking forward to this myself. Ju-On has been very hit and miss. At its best it's just beyond amazing, but at its worst it's been nothing short of dreadful. But heard this was really good. I'm currently watching Folklore, an HBO Asia production. Anthology series with six 1 hour long episodes focusing on Asian superstitions and national folkloric myths, with each episode directed by a different Asian director. The directors are Joko Anwar (Satan's Slaves, Gundala) from Indonesia, Takumi Saitoh from Japan, Eric Khoo from Singapore, Pen-Ek Ratanaruang from Thailand, Ho Yuhang from Malaysia and Lee Sang-woo from South-Korea.

Motherfucking yes! Superb news. Haven't been a fan of their recent outputs, but still excited as hell and the guest list for the new album is absolutely insane. This could easily become one monster of an album. Maybe about time I give their recent outputs a new, fair chance as well.

I am also popping out to recommend the new Andy Samberg movie Palm Springs. Romantic comedy that is actually absolutely hilarious, fun, sweet and cute. It's a full length debut by Max Barbakow, starring Andy Samberg, Cristin Milioti and J. K. Simmons, which all are really good. Probably one of the best comedies of recent time, and with no doubt one of the best romantic comedies ever created. Highly recommended.

I also just finished Brooklyn Nine Nine season 7. This has to be the funniest and most consistent comedy series of all time. 7 seasons of pure gold, and not a single bad or boring episode. Shame it was only 13 episodes, but all 13 was amazing. Top, top notch!