Venom



Venom is an ok movie. I loved the interactions between the symbiote and Eddie Brock. Whether it was the conversations Eddie would appear to be having by himself as he walked down the street or to the symbiote’s input when Eddie is talking to another person.

The symbiote scenes are CGI. But not terrible CGI. Passable.

Thankfully, they did not try to force a spider symbol on his chest since this version of Venom has no real connection to Spider-Man. Sure Eddie is a West Coast transplant from New York. A former reporter for the Daily Globe (not the Bugle). And one of the astronauts from the beginning is named Jameson, but that is it. At least that I can remember.

The main villain, Carlton Drake, is your typical God-Complex, super rich, megalomaniac.

The plot is nothing to write home about. It gets the job done. It sets up Venom as an anti-hero. I like where the movie ends up. I think a sequel can focus more on the antics of Venom. And needs to not be symbiote-heavy.

Starring: Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed, Scott Haze, Reid Scott, Jenny Slate

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Puppet Master The Littlest Reich

Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich



Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich is a gory B-Movie throwback to the late 80s early 90s Puppet Master films from Full Moon. It is not a reboot …. more an alternate history version of Puppet Masters.

Instead of fighting Nazis like in the other films, Andre Toulon worked with the Nazis. To the point that his home was decked out in Nazi imagery – including an 8 foot swastika.

The puppets all have new looks (I prefer their original looks, but that’s just me). They are not unique. Instead of one Blade, there are numerous iterations of him, Pin Head and the rest. We are missing Jester and Six-Shooter, though.

The gore was excellent and appeared to be practical effects for the most part. Tom Lennon is a surprising lead for this horror movie. There are some deaths that I wish had not happened in the latter half of the movie. One especially since it was meaningless and seemed to be there more for comedy.

The ending does set itself up for a sequel in this new Puppet Master Reality. Who knows? Maybe we’ll get an Original Puppet Master versus New Puppet Master movie down the line.

This is a B-Movie. This is not an Oscar-level movie. Please bear that in mind. I can really only recommend this movie to fans of the original movies.

Starring: Thomas Lennon, Michael Paré, Jenny Pellicer, Nelson Franklin, Barbara Crampton, Charlyne Yi, Udo Kier, , Stephen Brodie, Mary Katherine O’Donnell, John Walpole, Mercedes Cool, Charles “Skeeta” Jenkins

Synopsis:
WORLD WAR III BEGINS ON YOUR TOY SHELF

A recently divorced young man discovers a mint condition Blade doll in his deceased brother’s closet and plans to sell the toy at a convention in Oregon celebrating the 30th anniversary of the infamous Toulon Murders. All hell breaks loose during the auction when a strange force animates all of the puppets throughout the convention, setting them on a bloody killing spree.

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The Predator



The Predator is not a reboot, thankfully. It acknowledges the previous entries (minus AVPs).

The movie opens with McKeen’s team in Mexico attempting to assassinate drug cartel members to free as hostage. But a predator ship crashes the party. MvKeen is the only survivor ad brought back to the states – but not before shipping a mask and gauntlet to his PO Box back home.

We get a scientist specialized in hybridization to the government secret base where the predator that crashed is being held. Things escalate as the predator escapes and McKeen and a bus load of section 8 patients attempt to hunt it down.

But the predator is itself being hunted by a bigger scarier version. All trying to get to McKeen’s son for the tech he got in the mail.

Zany bloodshed ensues.

The plot is all over the place. I wish it had been more stripped down. It does setup a possible sequel.

Starring: Boyd Holbrook, Trevante Rhodes, Jacob Tremblay, Keegan-Michael Key, Olivia Munn, Sterling K. Brown, Thomas Jane, Alfie Allen, Augusto Aguilera, Yvonne Strahovski, Jake Busey

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Skyscraper

PG-13 take on Die Hard. Less killing. More Duct Tape. No surprises – just a popcorn movie to get you through the summer heat.

Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Neve Campbell, McKenna Roberts, Noah Cottrell, Roland Møller, Byron Mann, Pablo Schreiber, Hannah Quinlivan

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Rampage



Rampage was a fun giant monster game back in the day.

Rampage is a fun giant monster movie with the Rock. Nothing more to say. That is all the plot you need.

There are some slow spots, but this was a fun watch.

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