Resident Evil, Onslaught, Fall 2: Deadpoint, Hope, Mutiny, & Colony

Now is the time for me to finally catch up on my theatrical experiences the past 6 or so weeks.

First was the most obscure. Hot Spot is an arty European sci-fi thing which should have been something I enjoyed as it was weird& wacky... and some might be interested in how overtly sexual it was. However, the story is an absolute mess, too obtuse and odd even for my tastes, so alas.

Mutiny sure was a modern Jason Statham action film. There weren't really any surprises yet the story, characters, and action were satisfying enough to make the movie fine, if never a must-see or idiosyncratic enough to make it an automatic recommendation.

I saw the first Fall four years ago. The story was dumber than a box of rocks yet it was OK. Well, its sequel was even stupider and did not have as many thrills... even so, it was another OK movie as some scenes were SO dumb, they made me laugh.

Colony is a Korean horror-action movie from the director of 2016's Train to Busan-something I highly recommend. This is an “infected person” picture that at least has a unique premise (all the infected have a hive mind that frequently receives upgrades) and while flawed, was a lot of fun.

Onslaught is from the director of The Guest-which is still awesome-and the last two American Godzilla movies, which were fun. Unfortunately, Onslaught was only fine & nothing more. The action was decent yet not spectacular and while the vibes of an 80's movie were appreciated, never warming up to the female lead of the film (what an unlikable character) was a massive problem. Nevertheless, at least there was Reginald VelJohnson in an important role.

Concerning Resident Evil, none of the games have ever been played & only a few months ago did I even watch the 2002 adaptation of the gaming franchise. Now, I've seen the director's Barbarian and the first two acts were fine until a rancid final act; Weapons was skipped entirely. The rave reviews for RE swayed me... if I knew the movie followed an unlikable idiot protagonist that constantly cussed, was inept at everything he did, and the picture was full of “modern humor” that wasn't funny, I never would have bothered. This version of Resident Evil was real bad, despite some nice snowy woods scenes & a cool synth score.

Finally, Hope; it's another Korean horror-action movie. This was from the guy that directed 2016's The Wailing, which was an interesting horror film. Unfortunately, Hope was much worse than I could have hoped or dreamed. Hope was 2 ½ hours of utter misery. This also was full of “modern humor”, had idiotic leads that were inept, and everyone cursed incessantly. Unlike Resident Evil, the threat were giant aliens (two of them had the faces & were voiced by Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander, of all people!) and other goofy-looking creatures, all of which were brought to life by CGI that looked so horrible, it was as if they were created 30 years ago! The fact that you see them in most scenes after the opening half-hour and they were out in the open instead of trying to hide how bad its appearance was... I hated Hope like few other films I've ever seen theatrically! Please don't ever watch it. The icing on the cake was the finale, which was a setup for a planned sequel!

Sorry to end on a negative note. I hope to return sometime in the first half of October.

Dolly Parton, Tim Curry, Fanta Ghostface Punch, Back Yard Burgers, & H Mart

My apologies for doing one of these a few weeks later than I wanted to; there just hasn't been too much to write about. In the next few days, I have plenty of theatrical movies to discuss but otherwise there isn't too much to write about. I suppose it's fine that there haven't been too many adventures, what with what gas prices are now... in short, I've been doing alright. Nothing alarming has happened.

Like everyone else, I was bummed when Dolly Parton passed away then next day, Tim Curry passed. Both I knew since my childhood. What Dolly did in terms of philanthropy is even more impressive than her legendary music career. She also had the likes of Dollywood and I have baked some cakes from her brand in recent years. Curry, I saw him in both Home Alone 2: Lost in New York and Clue when I was a kid. It was great seeing him in other movies as an adult. Both will be missed.

Both Fanta's limited edition Ghostface Punch and Mountain Dew's limited edition Trolli Mango Pineapple Punch are pretty good. It's been nice to have those different flavors now. I did hear just a few days ago that for the holidays, Pepsi will have a creamy vanilla soda; that sounds quite appealing. It's cool that both college & pro football have began. What happened to the Chicago Bears yesterday makes me wonder if the franchise is cursed, but at least there are other games in general to view where a particular team is not favored by me.

No new restaurant experiences to mention; it does have to be mentioned that I've become a fan of Bojangles, so good thing one is in town. Recently, I went to a place for the first time in years: in Altamonte Springs, there's a Back Yard Burgers. It's a regional chain which has greatly shrunk in size; they now have only six, mainly in the Southeast. Their food has always been at least decent and they usually draw a decent crowd; visits should be more frequent by me, and I hope they stick around.

Finally, I'll mention the Asian grocery store H Mart; last September-soon after they opened-a visit was attempted but they had an absolute confusing disaster of a system of letting a limited amount of people in at one time and it was so not customer-friendly, I left and at the time, another attempt to try them out in the future seemed impossible. Finally, it was decided that “being a hater” (at least in this case) didn't seem right so finally, a visit to their Orlando store occurred. Turns out, they had the Korean microwavable rice I get from Amazon, for a lower price. That and a few other items were purchased. For their unique offerings alone, future visits will occur.

To reiterate, in a few days, a variety of different theatrical films will be discussed.