Bear

Shin Godzilla - Hell yeah! This is how you make a proper fucking Godzilla film. Thought this film was superb from start to finish, despite some truly dodgy and ugly CGI every now and then. Really liked the weirdness of Godzilla's looks, and how fucking awkward he looked combined with the immense and destructive powers that he showed. He actually looked pretty fucked up (in a good way), menacing, and felt like a proper threat and had that classic movie monster feeling and look to it. Superb soundtrack too. Wasn't quite sold on some of the English dialogue, tho. Some of it felt really forced and corny, but I don't really mind. I can look past that. All in all a really, really good Godzilla, kaiju and monster flick film. As even though the directors approach this film with a different view and idea than the older, classic stuff, they still manage to capture and pay respect to the original Godzilla films in a lovely way.

Funny thing about Narcos atm is that a lot of people where very sceptical due to the events and a few specific death's in season 2, but most people seem to think that this is a huge step up from season 2 which again was a huge step up from season 1. Seems to be going the right way for sure.

Robo Vampire - As far as I am concerned, Robo Vampire is Godfrey Ho's absolute masterpiece. First off, who is Godfrey Ho, you ask? Godfrey Ho is the Ed Wood of Hong Kong Cinema, just with 1/10th of Ed Woods talent. Which does say a lot about Godfrey Ho. He's a Z movie fan favourite because everything he touches turns into golden shit. So terribly bad it's good, for those who likes films like this. Also, an interesting fact: Godfrey Ho has been credited under more than 40 different names during the course of his career. Robo Vampire offers and incredibly disjointed story, giving you at least three different stories for the price of one. None makes much sense, especially not together in the same film. Maybe even more than that. You have a cyborg that is a Robocop rip-off, with no less than a suit that looks like a poorly constructed cosplay done by 4th graders, fighting classic Chinese vampires (hopping vampires) that shots something out of their arm, you have a story about a kidnapped drug enforcer and good guys vs bad guys, and something I believe to be a love story with a traditional Chinese ghost like the beautiful one found in the masterpieces that is A Chinese Ghost Story trilogy. This film is ÜBER fucking SHIT, but it's good shit. Hilariously mindblowing. But I have a saying and it goes like this: You can't spell Godfrey without GOD. That's how I see the man, and that is how I see this film. Godly! Btw, some years ago someone created a webseries called Ninja the Mission Force which was a huge tribute to Godfrey Ho. Totally recommended!

I am not getting enough of this EP and I've probably played it between 5-10 times a day for the past month or so. Probably the very best release of the year for me. First thing I do when I wake up is to spin the EP once, then take shower, then spin it twice more before I go to work. Last thing I do before I go to bed is putting this on repeat 2-3 times and just enjoy it as I go to sleep. The chorus of Kaleidoscope Dreams and Tåget as well as the intro to Tåget is probably my favourite parts of the EP. The clapping towards the end as the chorus repeats just makes the song a little bit better too. Cheesy! I kinda wonder if Tåget, which is Swedish for train btw, is a reference to the Holocaust. But I just can't make up what they're singing.

Exterminator 2 - I think he first one is total fucking cult classic, but for some reason I never watched this. It's the only directorial feature of Mark Buntzman, but he does a good job. From what I know they had a lot of problems during the production of the film, with everything from the budget, to having to re-locate shooting, re-shoots and censorship issues. I think the latter is the biggest problem of the film, because the film is lacking in violence. But as with most Cannon Films sequels, this is dumbed down quite a lot. It lacks the madness and overall grindhouse-feeling of the original, it's far from as dark and gritty as the original and lacks the humor. I once saw someone call The Exterminator "First Blood done in a hateful, nihilistic fashion", and that is spot on. This is almost the opposite, like a parody of itself. It's like they tried to do what they did with Death Wish and turn it into an over the top gonzo action film, but it just isn't over the top enough. But hey, it just blow-torches itself throughout its entire runtime and I was very much entertained. You want to clean out the streets? I am the streets! Exterminators of the Year 3000 - One of the many cheap Mad Maxploitation films of the 80's. It's directed by none else than Giuliano Carnimeo (The Case of the Bloody Iris, lots of Sartana and a shitload of other Spaghetti Westerns), but is one of his last films. Cheap, cheesy, mindless and just an excuse to make an action film, but it's immensely entertaining and fun. And I just can't get enough of these cheap and cheesy Mad Maxploitation flicks. I love 'em!

Why? I fucking love Bollywood, both old classics and the newer over the top action flicks that's completely insane.

Seen some more. American Samurai - Considered an off-shot of American Ninja, but this film is nothing like American Ninja. This is Sam Firstenberg's (American Ninja, Avenging Force, Revenge of the Ninja, Cyborg Cop) attempt at making a martial arts tournament film in the vein of Bloodsport, Kickboxing, Shootfighter and so on. While the film itself has nothing on Bloodsport, it's one of the better in this style. It's immensely entertaining throughout. It's really violent and bloody, and the cast does a good job, even though the acting isn't good. It's just fitting. David Bradley and Mark Dacascos are both awesome as fuck here. Invasion U.S.A. - Cool and entertaining Chuck Norris feature. It's a typical mid-80's action film, but it's just really cool and fun. Nothing spectacular, but if you grew up with this type of films you should not be disappointed. Avenging Force - Written as a sequel to Invasion U.S.A., but as Chuck Norris turned it down it's not really considered a sequel even though Dudikoff plays a character with the same name as Norris did in Invasion U.S.A. This film stars Michael Dudikoff and the legend that is Steve James and they are both fantastic. The chemistry is immense throughout the film. One of the things that takes this up a step above a film like Invasion U.S.A. is that there's a lot of unexpected things that happens. It's one surprise after the other, even though you kinda know how the film will end. Lovely stuff! Braddock: Missing in Action III - By far the worst in the trilogy. It's entertaining enough, but doesn't offer as much entertainment as the two first films, and especially not the classic first film. This one takes itself a bit too serious, and that's never good for a cheesy action b-film. The Delta Force - An absolute classic and one of Chuck Norris' best films. Starts of fairly realistic actually, before it evolves into a film that relies on one huge action cliche after another. And that is by no means a bad thins for a film like this. Total classic!

Cool! I think one of the things about Trevor Something is the unique vocal approach and the overall laidback style of the music. It's very different from other synthwave acts. I'm not sure how to explain it, but I think this is a fairly decent description myself: You have: Outrun which is the more upbeat sound of the genre soundtrack to someone driving a red Testarossa through the dark, bright neon lit streets, often in rainy weather or in the dark: Lazerhawk, Kavinsky, Arcade High, Lost Years, Mitch Murder, Power Glove. Darkwave which is the dark and futuristic sounds of the genre, often heavily inspired by tech-noir, neon-noir and films like Blade Runner, Terminator, Ghost in the Shell, Akira, Escape from New York and so on, films in which they would also work perfectly as soundtracks: Perturbator, Gost, Carpenter Brut, Dan Terminus, Dance with the Dead. Dreamwave which would be the more chillout, bright, dreamy stuff which is the soundtrack to a beautiful girl dressed in very little clothes roller skating down the miami streets on the hot summer day with a don on a leash, or a cheesy 80's work out video with sexy girl dressed in bright tights and tops/bra's: Miami Nights 1984, FM-84, 80s Stallone, VHS Dreams. This the last "sub-genre" is where I feel like Trevor Something belongs, but at the same time he just stands out very much because of the overall sound he's managed to create. Like a mix of "outrun" and "dreamave", but without really belonging to either. I don't know. Also, you have the more sci-fi-esque stuff like Dynatron, Waveshaper, Zombie Hyperdrive and so on which I don't really know where to put. This is hard.

Anyone familiar with Ted Nicolaou's Subspecies franchise? Looks fucking stellar! I seriously need to take a look at these films. Especially the two first looks superb, but as they're form the 90's I remain a bit skeptical. But my main skepticism for 90's horror are mostly in form of what the special effects look like. Too many potential good movies ruined by awful CGI during that decade. But if it's all/mostly practical it should be neat.

I thought most people knew where I was from on this forum. And my English doesn't exactly look like it's written by someone with English as their mother tongue. Heh. But yeah, it was hilarious. I just saw the mail that someone had sent me a PM on discogs, so I knew immediately that it was you since you mentioned you'd PM'd lots of people on discogs.

Yeah, you did send me a message. So I am one of those you messaged. Me? Well, no chance as I live in Europe.

I had a problem getting into Trever Something as first too, also because of the vocals. But there was something very unique about the music so I kept spinning the album until Miami Nights clicked with me. And shortly after I fell for the entire album. Now it's become one of my all-time favourite songs and the song I always play when I mix and drink my first gin & tonic for the evening. My friends have also made this their g&t song due to me. You could try Noir Deco too. Was featured on at least Perturbator track that I remember. Future to Fantasy is a very good album. Anyway, Magic Sword: That is just way too good to be real.

It's a good offer, but I haven't sold it. No idea why, because I would still have the music on vinyl after the sale+trade. But yeah, some things I just have a hard time getting rid off. Recently moved and promised myself I'd get rid of most of my VHS', but I only manage to throw away 3 of them. The rest I had to keep. Haha! Are you Dan? Perturbator is always great, and the new one sounds great too. Also thinking about getting Dan Terminus on vinyl. Great release.

I'd be very surprised if anyone cared, but FLEURETY is releasing a new album. Who is Fleurety you ask? Fleurety is a Norwegian band that formed in 91 and released some amazing black metal between 93-95, before they started to move towards a more experimental avant-garde sound with their 99 EP Last-Minute Lies. One of the early bands considered norwegian weirdness, and for a reason. Min tid skal komme is a classic and is easy to mention alongside Written in Waters, The Linear Scaffold, La Masquerade Infernale, Hail Horror Hail, Satanic Art, Heart of the Ages and so on as albums that helped push the boundaries of black metal. Experimental, often in the direction of avant-garde. Sounds fantastic. So weird, so unique, so good.

Just keep and eye on this thread and you'll get all the news you need from me. Posted this last month:

Thought I'd just throw out a few rcommendations for overlooked death metal releases of 2017. Just a few that seems to have flew under most peoples radar: Venenum - Trance of Death An album hard to decribe. Death metal with some progressive elements. For fans of Tribulation, Morbus Chron, Excoriate, Necrovore, Invidious. Venenum - Trance of Death Death metal with some progressive touches. For fans of Invidious, Necrovore, Venenum, Obscure Burial. Obscure Burial - Obscure Burial This feels like cheating, but this is a compilation of their two demos. Most excellent! Black/death metal for fans of Necrovore, Incubus, Invidious, Ensnared. Rude - Remnants... Old school death metal with a new sound. For fans of Pestilence, Morbid Angel, Death, Autopsy, Possessed. Cryptic Brood - Brain Eater Death/doom for fans of Autopsy, Coffins, Winter, Druid Lord and Anatomia. Vampire - With Primeval Force Epic, Castlevania-sounding death/thrash. For fans of Possessed, Tribulation, Necrovore, Repugnant, Merciless I've got more to come.

The Fate of the Furious - How many franchises reached their peak at film number fucking seven? And how many franchises only got good from the fifth film and onwards? Not many, so in that sense The Fast and the Furious is kinda unique. Four poor to godfuckingawful films before they suddenly hit the target with the exceptional Fast Five, then a small step down with the very, very good Fast & Furious 6, before they peaked with Furious 7, and now a step down again with The Fate of the Furious, but still great, great fun. Mindless and messy, but so much fun from start to finish. This franchise knows exactly what is it, and that is mindless, over the top action that doesn't try to be anything than that, mindless and fun. And loving the cast. Some talented actors (Charlize Theron, Kurt Russell, Nathalie Emmanuel, Helen Mirren, Luke Evans, Kristofer Hivju) , some less talented ones with lots of screen pressence and charisma (Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham), some shite ones that's still fun (Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris) and one which is just annoying and has one of the most punchable faces in the whole world of cinema. I am of course talking about Michelle Rodriguez. Btw, Charlize Theron has never been hotter, and is currently the best looking female in the entire god damned world. Holy shit! And that at the age of 42. Hands down! And another sequel? Heeeeeelz yeah! I'm in!

Spoiler about Littlefinger during season 7; I have not checked if this is actually true, but if it is then it's a brilliant detail that would explain so much.

Manos: The Hands of Fate - Or, as it is also known: "the worst fucking film ever!". Is it actually the worst film ever, though? Well, it's hard to say. But it is among the very worst and can be found at the bottom among films such as Monster a-Go Go, Plan 9 from Outer Space, The Beast of Yucca Flats, The Creeping Terror, The Horror of Party Beach and so on. So yeah, it's really fucking bad. But as it is, I just happen to love films like these. I can't get enough of them. As bad as they are, they just hit me in the right spot. They got plenty charm and are absolutely hilarious. Complete trash and I love it!

Been feeling like watching lots of 80's trash the past few days, and been watching and watched some new-to-me films from Cannon Films lately. I love trashy action films from Cannon Films and highly recommend the documentary Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films. Despite the actual quality of the films, they knew how to entertain. American Ninja - By far the best film in the series, and while it isn't a very good film per se, I just can't help but to love it. So entertaining! It's fun how Steve James always ended up as a side kick despite being the better actor (and most likely martial artists) in these films. Steve James as Cpl. Curtis Jackson are half the fun of these films. Michael Dudikoff was such a shitty actor. No emotion whatsoever, and there's a good reason why he doesn't get to say much. Still love him, tho! The entire film is cult as fuck! American Ninja 2: The Confrontation - A huge step down, but it's still loads of fun throughout its runtime of 90 minutes. Steve James rules, Michael Dudikoff is fun. American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt - Michael Dudikoff did not return for the third film in the series, but David Bradley lands the role and steps the fuck up. The film itself is on par with The Confrontation, but David Bradley is a better actor than Dudikoff. But Steve James is the shit, and I love Michele B. Chan, an actress best known for her role as Mei Jan in a couple of MacGyver episodes. American Ninja 4: The Annihilation - Dudikoff is back, but David Bradley gets to continue nonetheless. But they don't get much screentime together, and that's the biggest problem here. They should've had a shitload of screentime together. And gone is Steve James, which massively drags the film down. Still entertaining tho. American Ninja 5 - This film is a rare case of... something. This was never intended to be a part of the American Ninja franchise, but a different film known as American Dragons. But they changed the title to cash in on the original American Ninja films. It stars David Bradley, but in a different role, and the overall tone of the film is different. It's lighter and lean a lot towards comedy and adventure, elemts which played more or less no part in the previous films, even tho Steve James was a funny motherfucker. But in a different way. Anyway, I still like it, tho the weakest of the series. I'd say that these American Ninja films are way better than their reputation, but they're more for 80's b-film action maniacs than anything. Will watch the connected films Lethal Ninja and American Samurai later this week. Looking forward to it as I've never watched them before. Hadn't seen American Ninja 4 or 5 either. Missing in Action - This film was actually shot after its sequel Missing in Action 2: The Beginning (shot back to back) and was supossed to be the sequel, but the producers saw more money and quality in this and just changed the titles and made this the first one. And it was the right decision if you ask me. This film draws more or less all inspiration from the script of Rambo: First Blood Part II which was floating around in Hollywood at this time, but that doesn't matter. Rip-off or not, Missing in Action is one hell of an action film and is one of Chuck Norris best, coolest and most entertaining films. Badass! Missing in Action 2: The Beginning - This is a slower film than the first and with a lot of emphasis on plot, unlike the first one which is mindless action from start to end. That isn't to say that this is a clever, well-written film of course. Because it's trash, it just so happens that it's a bit more focused on characters and storyline. Doesn't come close to the first, but it's still lots of fun. Soon-Tek Oh is awesome as the main villain! Will watch Braddock: Missing in Action III later. Looking forward to it.

Yeah, that Droid album is neat and very unique. I do have a hard time comparing it to Vektor, tho, because musically and stylisticly it's just way different. They do carry many of the same progressive elements, but it's really different at the end of the day. They're as much speed metal as thrash, and they really do embrace their prog and space rock influences and braid it perfectly into the mix of speed and thrash metal. Spacey, progressive speed/thrash metal. The last time I talked about them I said something along these lines: imagine Megadeth being heavily inspired by Voivod (87-89), Realm, Yes and Ash Ra Tempel instead of Metallica, or something along those lines. Not sure I've heard Tchornobog. Will check it out for sure.

What is dungeon synth, you say? Dungeon synth is a form for ambient that draws heavily from black metal and dark ambient. But I'll stop there and just quote a wiki instead: Everyone knows I'm very much into black metal, and while the music itself doesn't resemble black metal, the atmosphere sure do and I can't think of a genre closer to black metal than this. Which is probably why I've become such a huge fan, and in recent year the genre have seen a massive revival with a shitload of new artists popping up everywhere. So I've really gotten into the genre beyond Mortiis, and grown familiar with lots of new and old artists. I don't expect this thread to be popular at all, but if you like 90's black metal and listen to that type of music for the atmosphere I am sure you'll find this very interesting and enjoyable too, tbh. And it's the perfect soundtrack for an evening of tabletop RPGs like Dungeons and Dragons and other fantasy games. Some of my favourite dungeon synth releases: Mortiis - The Song of a Long Forgotten Ghost Mortiis - Født til å herske Mortiis - Ånden som gjorde opprør Mortiis - Keiser av en dimension ukjent Mortiis - Crypt of the Wizard Wongraven - Fjelltronen Thangorodrim - Taur Nu Fuin Thangorodrim - Dagor Bragalloch Thangorodrim - Towers Of The Teeth Old Tower - Spectral Horizons Old Tower - The Rise Of The Specter Old Tower - Remembrance of the Lone Enclave This youtube channel uploads an incredible amount of dungeon synth, both old and new: The Dungeon Synth Archives

I would not say that. One of the things Game of Thrones has done well throughout the series is the use of CGI. They've never gone full retard with it. At least not very often. Even the scenes which are 90% CGI it's usually looked good, much of it because they've used CGI for the unimportant parts, and kept the important parts real. The Night King is a good example of this, and how to properly use CGI to get the best results. He's not entirely CGI, but 98% prosthetics with just a bit of CGI to get the finishing touch. 99,9% of Hollywood blockbusters nowadays would've made him entirely CGI. This here is a great example too, even though it's not looking perfect: Again, in a Hollywood blockbuster the special effects woulda been entirely CGI, while in Game of Thrones it's 80% practical effects and 20% CGI for the face. It's just a nice example of how to do things. Now there's times where they've gone a bit over the top with the CGI, but that's more the exception rather than the rule in Game of Thrones. But as far as CGI goes, it's never been the CGI itself that's the problem. But how it's been used. Same as with auto-tune, programmed drums, drum triggers/samples and so fucking on. As long as you don't go full retard there's no problem with it, and same goes for CGI. "CG is a very specific tool, like a hammer. It is good for certain uses, but when you wish to saw a board a hammer is useless.". This quote is spot on. There's a reason why the CGI in 1993's Jurassic Park may be the best CGI ever, and it's not because they had the tools we have today. It's entirely because of how it's used in the film. Perfection! In recent times Mad Max: Fury Road comes to mind as a superb example of how to use CGI. Thing there is tat most people don't realize that the film is FULL of CGI, but it's just that the majority of the important things are the real deal. I could come up with a shitload of examples here on how not to use CGI. I Am Legend? The original look of the zombies are absolutely brilliant, but for some reason they were dropped in change for the godawful CGI we see which in turn make the zombies look like something from a poor Playstation 2 game. Another example here is the remae of The Thing. They made som extraordinary practical effects for the film, but again they were either dropped for or overlayed with some cheap, poorly made CGI. Not a great movie to begin with, but when they took away the practical effects they completely fucked the film over. Had they kept all the practical effects the way they originally were, this film would've been remembered for 100 years. Now it was forgotten in 2 becase there's nothing unique or anything in it. But as far as I know, both writer Eric Heisserer and director Matthijs van Heijningen were both totally against CGI and shot the film with practical effects, but as CGI is the trend the studio went over their head and decided to change it, probably because it's what was trendy at the time. But it's weird as CGI is about 5-10 times more expensive than practical effects. But enough with CGI talk. I could probably go on forever here. Sorry for the off topic.

A couple of recent re-discoveries or whatever: Agnostic Front - Cause for Alarm Agnostic Front is a band that should be perfect to my taste, but for some reason it never clicked with me... until now that is. Gave this album a new chance the other day and it just clicked. A brilliant mix of hardcore punk and thrash metal, but without becoming a regular crossover thrash band. Which is weird, as crossover thrash is a mix of thrash and hardcore punk, but this album is kinda 70/30 hardcore and thrash, but without actually mixing them together. You have hardcore parts and you have thrash metal parts, but no parts that's a mix of the two. And there's acertain rawness to the album that is phenomenal. Cardinals Folly - Holocaust of Ecstasy & Freedom I'm not sure I've actually heard this album before, but I heard their two first EPs once and could not get into it. But this is just magnificent. It's heavy and stuff, but catchy as fuck and full of great riffs and passionate vocals. I can hear elemts of bands such as Reverend Bizarre, Saint Vitus, The Lamp of Thoth, Lucifer's Fall and The Wizar'd in both riffs and atmosphere. But you won't have a problem telling the band apart from the mentioned ones. Looking forward to giving the rest of their discography a chance too.

I thought this was a really good season finale, and as for the complaints, I think they are understandable. I've enjoyed the season from start to finnish, but there is no denying the fact that this is a different Game of Thrones in in the 5 first season. The drama that made the series one of the best series ever are gone in exchange for standarized action-adventure with one fantasy cliche after another. But tbqh, I don't mind even though the quality has falled quite a bit. This last episode however was back to old standards if you ask me. It was more than just your average fantasy-action. Btw, I'm both surprised and impressed by the CGI this season. I think it's really well-done, and from the looks of it these dragons will actually look more than decent in 10 years, which is something I don't say often about CGI.