Bear

While remaining a bit sceptical, I cannot deny my curiosity here. I really hope they've gone back in time to a thrashier, darker or grimmer sound.

Burnt Offerings - A fun mid 70's haunted house film. It's not exceptional, but the atmosphere is there, the cast is doing good and the special effects and shit is very good. THAT ending too. Holy fuck! Creep 2 - I liked the first one, but it took a few years to realize how much I actually liked it. Creep 2 kinda steps the game up. If it is better I do not know, but it is not any worse. But it does take a bit of a different angle, so it's not just a copy of the first one. In the second film we get to get under the skin of Josef, who now goes under the name of Aaron. We get to know him and who is better. Deeper, if not creepier. The horror itself is toned down, but it's got a lot of depth. Mark Duplass is huge. What an actor! El Sanatorio - Found footage horror/comedy from Costa Rica. Shot on a super low-budget. It's simple and straight-forward, but it's pretty good. There's some comedic elements that feels very out of place, and there's some which works. But the film as a whole is fairly good. Well worth a watch if you enjoy found footage horror. Better Watch Out - Last year's best christmas film for sure. Better Watch Out is a psychological horror film with a small, young and unexperienced cast that truly does their best to impress, and they all do impress. I thought this film was fantastic. Can see it gaining a cult status with the years. Ryde - Uhm... decent horror about a man who takes on the personality of one of his victims and drives around picking up people who need a ride and kill them in violent and sadistic ways. It was an OK watch, but it's basically a torture porn without enough graphic violence. It's never made clear why our main guy acts and does what he does, and all but one character is unlikeable as fuck. Decent, but will not watch again. The Return of Swamp Thing - The first film is a brilliant horror/sci-fi superhero film, and while this is a fun film, it's not close to the first one. This is more a comedy and they tried to make it campy as fuck, but they tried so hard they took a lot of the fun and charm away. It's just really sloppy and poorly acted throughout. Pitch Black - One of Vin Diesel's best films. It's become a cult film over the years and for good reason. There's some poor CGI, but the CGI is never out of place or overdone. It doesn't get much screentime. There's some poor acting and so on too, but it's really claustrophobic and the setting makes the entire film feel unique, even by today's standards. Badass as fuck!

So what did people think of this? I though the poster was iffy as fuck, but I knew that if there's one man who could make this cool it's Miike. He just does whatever the fuck he wants and he's not afraid to do his own things and go his own ways. If you ask me I'd say this is his best film since 2003's Gozu, or maybe even his best since 2002's Graveyard of Honor. I thought this was faithful enough to the source material that the majority of the fans of the manga will enjoy it, and at the same time it was so over the top, bloody, violent and cartoonish that it'll please fans of cult films and with time I am pretty sure this will gain the status as a cult film. The two and a half hours went incredibly fast. Very pleased!

And this. So much better than the original. Superb artwork too.

Master of Puppets never sounded this cool before. Holy fuck!

Fuck yes! Mortiis doesn't do much live, but this type of music doesn't exactly require such things either. Sounds excellent! I can't wait for this gig. By the way, he is doing concerts with Old Tower in Netherlands soon. Old Tower is, alongside Thangorodrim, the new gods of dungeon synth/ambient/whatever you want to call it.

Right now, almost three hours into the work day, we got 5 kids and 8 or 9 adults. Since I got here I've had breakfast,made coffee and sitting around drinking coffee. Can't complain. Love working the vacations.

Shovel Knight are one of the best games post-SNES era IMO. Absolutely brilliant throughout. It feels new, fresh and original while maintaining a very familiar and classic feeling to it. Modern classic!

It is. And it is something you'll never get enough of. And especially at this price. I know that the two big ones alone cost about $40 each and the four medium sized ones cost between $24-30 each. So it's not exactly cheap food either.

Fury - Been wanting to see this since it came out, but haven't done so for whatever reason until now. And what a film! The story is as thin as a needle, but the four main characters are great, it's superbly acted and visually stunning, and more than anything it's really fucking grim and destructive. It turns a bit over the top during the end, but it felt really realistic throughout the majority of the film and the way it shows the horror, madness and cruelty of war is fantastic. A breath of fresh air as far as war films goes IMO. The Hitman's Bodyguard - To say I had high expectations to this would be a lie, but I did at least expect some sort of entertainment. And I was pleasantly surprised because this is a lot more than just 2 hours of decent entertainment. This was a very fun and exciting action-comedy with Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson in the lead roles, both being very good and very funny. Almost had me in tears at times. Was that fun! Whatever Happened to Monday - Dystopian action-adventure by Tommy Wirkola, the man behind crapfests such as Død Snø I & II (Dead Snow) and Kill Buljo. I never understood the appeal of this filmmaker, and I still don't, even though this was a decent effort. Noomi Rapace plays seven different characters, but isn't too good if you ask me. Unlike Tatiana Maslany in Orphan Black, Noomi Rapace simply isn't good enough to make any of the characters different. Some of them are too alike, and with others she just tries to hard. Doesn't help her any that Tommy Wirkola spends about zero minutes building these characters, so that when each of them get into action they're just all the same. He should've spent at least 20 minutes of the film showing more of them as teens and young adults, to give us some clear indication on who each and one of these girls are. But nah, he doesn't do that. And it makes it hard for Noomi Rapace to give us a superb role, and it gives Wirkola a hard time telling a good story with good characters. It's not an awful film, but it's not a very good one either. Decent entertainment at best. Some cool action scenes, though. But that's about it. Falcon Rising - Nice little action flick starring Michael Jai White who is as badass as ever. Lots of great action scenes and... yeah, well that's about it. Lots of cool action scenes. Simple as that. There's been talk about this being the first out of many Falcon films, and I'd be happy to see more of Michael Jai White as John 'Falcon' Chapman. Some very cool fights. Especially enjoyed the ones involving Lateef Crowder, a well-known Brazilian capoeira practitioner.

I'm the type of guy who don't celebrate christmas and I don't give away christmas presents. Which means I don't receive too many either. But I got a handful of presents from people at work anyway. The best one was the gift I got from the kid I work with (2nd grader). A SUPER MARIO mug and a Bowser coaster (top right). Really appreciated those. Been using them a couple of times daily ever since I got them last friday. Had to open it together with the kid who got 'em for me as he was really keen on seeing my reaction to it. And I got a bag full og spekepølse (cured sausages?). Contained a shitload of different type of cured sausages, some meant to eat with bread and similar food and some meant to be eaten together with a beer. Featured a knife and a coffee mug made out of wood as well. Really appreciated this too. Can never get enough food, and this is the type of food I never get enough of. It's expensive as fuck, so I never really buy it for myself. Other than that what I got was mostly crap tbh. I know my co-workers meant well and all and that is nice, but it doesn't change the fact that it's useless crap that I'll never use.

Deep Rising - This ain't quite the same as the films above, but rather it's an action-horror film set on a big cruise ship. It's from 1998 so I expected awful CGI, but this wasn't too shabby at all. The CGI is, for most part, decent and has survived the test of time better than the CGI in Avatar or Transformers, as an example. What they did right with the CGI was that the CGI monster for most part was moving quickly around and was almost "blurry" in a sense, and that just takes away much of the CGI feeling. Even though the monster at a few times looks godawful due to CGI. But it's not poorly executed at all. It's well-executed and even more so smartly executed. As a film Deep Rising offers lots of fun action and is one hell of a ride. It's not very good, but it is loads of fun! There's also moments of nice, practical effects that looks stunning. Warlock Moon - Judging from the poster I thought this would be a vampire flick, but it is not. It's something quite different and very, very awesome. Superb atmosphere, great suspense and overall nice feeling. It's one of those late 60's and 70's rural horror films. An overlooked and forgotten gem for sure!

The Rift - Another deep ocean sci-fi horror from 1990. But let me start by writing a fun fact here: Dino De Laurentiis, who produced this film, produced his first film in 1941. But in 1990 he'd go on to finance this low-budget film for about $1,3m. However, a year before he produced this, he also helped produce the $30m flick Leviathan. I have to admit I think that's cool. Because The Rift is a similar type of film. Just like Leviathan this is far from an original film. It offers nothing new and doesn't quite live up to the quality of Leviathan, but it's a real fun film nonetheless. Good atmosphere, great suspense, cool special effects and so on. It's not a superb film, but it's a very fun and entertaining one. Very much recommended if you're into this type of deep ocean/space sci-fi/horror flicks, and even more recommended if you can tolerate trash films too. Btw, this film is directed by Juan Piquer Simón, the guy who gave us the masterpiece exploitation slasher that is *Pieces and Slugs. *Pieces still has the best tagline ever. You don't have to go to Texas for a chainsaw massacre! Best tagline ever! DeepStar Six - Another of those 1989 deep ocean sci-fi/horror films. I was in all honesty quite disappointed by this. It's not awful, in fact it's pretty entertaining. But it just lacks something. Sean S. Cunningham (Friday the 13th) does a good job, but he doesn't really get the pacing right. So at times I actually find myself a bit bored. But by all means, it's not bad. It's fun enough, but not something I'll rewatch anytime soon.

Finished season 2 of Hap and Leonard yesterday. I though the first season was really good (8/10), but I think they've stepped it up quite a lot for the second season. The humour and lovely chemestry is still present, but this time around they find themself in deeper trouble and the story is a lot darker, dealing with more serious subjects. It works as a crime/noir series, and it works as a comedy-drama. Proper overlooked gem of a series that deserves so much more. James "Solomon Kane!" Purefoy and Michael "Omar Little" Williams are both truly excellent and manage to drive this series alone. Excellent performances!

Jaden Smith's debut album is pretty dope. It's fantastic!

Windhand and Satan's Satyrs split release with each act contributing two and three tracks. I enjoyed the first Windhand album when it was released, but now I don't really listen to it anymore. It's a decent Electric Wizard clone, but nothing more. The later outputs I find to be straight up awful. So to be honest I wish Satan's Satyrs had just released these three tracks as an EP. Diggin' the cover art tho. Looks neat!

Sweet!

Sadly I do not know you yet, but perhaps it could've been you. Depends on your taste in movies, TV-series, graphic novels and music tbh.

Leviathan - The year of 1989 didn't only see the birth of the most magnificent and beautiful human being this world have ever seen, in meself of course, but it also saw the release of several underwater-themed sci-fi/horror films including the masterpiece that is The Abyss, DeepStar Six, The Evil Below and Lords of the Deep, as well as this one, Leviathan. Leviathan is a fairly standard film and is by no means original or good. But George P. Cosmatos (Tombstone, Rambo: First Blood Part II , Cobra) knows exactly what he wants this film to be, and he knows exactly what he wants it to do. And the result is an atmospheric, claustrophobic and very tense mix of Alien and The Thing with a really neat monster design, even though the monster isn't given nearly enough screentime. But the result of the film is incredible, and I'd even go as far as to call it semi-classic. A hidden, forgotten and underrated gem of a film. You a fan of Alien, The Thing, Event Horizon, Sphere, The Descent, The Abyss, DeepStar Six, Sunshine, The Relic and similar films? Hell, even if you a fan of Pitch Black with Vin Diesel you better watch this.

Vexovoid's debut album is up on their bandcamp: https://vexovoid.bandcamp.com/ Progressive thrash clearly inspired by Vektor, Voivod, Black Fast and Droid. It's not very original, but it really does the job to say at least. I'm really diggin' it!

Deathsport - This Roger Corman-produced post-apocalyptic action flick was meant as a sequel to the cult classic Death Race 2000, but it doesn't feel like one and it certainly does not deliver the same quality as Death Race 2000. Deathsport is a hugely disappointing action flick, and where Death Race 2000 delivers beautifully campy dialogue, black humour and plenty social commentary, this offers cheap action scenes and a serious tone. It's simply boring. Only positive is David Carradine who is cool as fuck as usual, but that is about it. Black Scorpion - Super cheap superhero film with a female superhero known as the Black Scorpion, who is a bit like Batman. She's got no super abilities, she just know how to fight and got some gadgets. It's not a great film, but it is good, campy Batman-esque fun with a hot Joan Severance dressing super sleazy as the Black Scorpion. Just imagine Tim Burton's Batman with a female lead, a small budget and intended camp and you've got this. It's hilarious how her costume features high heels, but every single time she's running or fighting she's got flat shoes. Funny as fuck!

Picasso Trigger - Andy Sidaris isn't exactly a known director, but he has gained some reputation among fans of cheese for his BBB films. What is BBB, you ask? Bullets, Bombs, and Babes, which sums up his films fairly well. Females had a huge role in his film, but he did not care if you could act or not. The thing he looked for was beautiful girls, which is why the cast always includes several Playboy Playmates and Penthouse Pets. Sidaris made no less than 12 BBB films (or L.E.T.H.A.L. Ladies as they are also known as), and while there isn't exactly any continuity throughout the films (I've seen at last), they all carry the same tone and the same type of lovely cheese. Picasso Trigger is the third film in the series, and while it isn't as good as the classic cheesefest that is Hard Ticket to Hawaii and Savage Beach, it's a very entertaining entry to the series. Features Playmates such as Dona Speir, Hope Marie Carlton, Roberta Vasquez and Cynthia Brimhall. All these appears in several of the BBB films, and quite often they are showing plenty skin. And I don't mind.

Godless was fucking brilliant. Despite not bringing too much new into the world of westerns story-wise, the plenty female characters really does make a difference and the depth to them all, as well as the males, are out of this world. Some truly amazing characters here. Jeff Daniels, best known for his role in Dumb and Dumber alongside Jim Carrey, gives us a performance worthy of an Oscar. He's a God throughout the entire season. Fantastic job!

I'll throw together two lists sometime before the week ends.

New Sigh is all that matters tbh, but it would be cool to see something new from Sabbat and Magnesium too. Don't see it happen, tho.