Alan Rapp

Rampage

  • Title: Rampage
  • IMDb: link

Rampage movie reviewRampage is big dumb fun, but it’s a little light on the fun. Based on a simplistic 32 year-old arcade game and its various sequels concerning giant monsters toppling buildings, the film centers on Dwayne “It’s Okay to Call Me The Rock Again” Johnson and his ape friend George who is one of a small group of creatures enlarged and driven violent by gas from a secret orbital laboratory run by a pair of douchey CEOs (Malin Akerman and Jake Lacy, neither of whom appear competent enough to run a taco stand let alone a multi-billion dollar company). There’s also a scientist (Naomie Harris) and a government agent (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) who figure into the long and drawn-out set-up before the film finally offers us monsters destroying a city.

Director Brad Peyton‘s largest asset is The Rock who makes the film watchable, if not always enjoyable. The best scenes are between The Rock and his ape pal George (even if the humor is pretty lowbrow). As for the rest of the film, it’s comparable enough to any throwaway monster flick from the 1950s with plenty of plotholes and monsters that are somewhat interesting but aren’t necessarily all that scary.

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Truth or Dare

  • Title: Blumhouse’s Truth or Dare
  • IMDb: link

Truth or Dare movie reviewDirector Jeff Wadlow‘s Blumhouse’s Truth or Dare is pretty standard stuff as a group of college kids get in over their heads in a bizarre situation that threatens all of their lives. While on their final spring break of college in Mexico, a stranger (Landon Liboiron) invites Olivia (Lucy Hale), Markie (Violett Beane), Lucas (Tyler Posey), Penelope (Sophia Ali), Tyson (Nolan Gerard Funk), Brad (Hayden Szeto), and Ronnie (Sam Lerner) to a cursed mission where he entices them into a game of truth or dare that gets deadly serious.

Even after returning to college days later, the students find themselves still stuck in a game that forces them to tell secret truths to and about each other or perform increasingly dangerous dares. Failure or refusal of a turn isn’t an option as death claims the player.

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Legends of Tomorrow – The Good, The Bad and The Cuddly

  • Title: Legends of Tomorrow – The Good, The Bad and The Cuddly
  • wiki: link

Legends of Tomorrow - The Good, The Bad and The Cuddly TV review

Cowboys, Legends, and a giant plushie versus Romans, pirates, demons, and vikings. It must be the season finale. After failing to stop Mallus, the Legends turn tail and run to the Old West hoping to buy enough time to learn how to use the totems together to form Voltron in a Care Bare stare – Nate‘s (Nick Zano) description of Sara‘s (Caity Lotz) plan, not mine. Things are complicated by the arrival of vikings, pirates, and Romans all under Mallus’ control, the death of Rip Hunter (Arthur Darvill), and Ray‘s (Brandon Routh) unapproved mission which saves Nora (Courtney Ford) but only because Damien (Neal McDonough) decides to take his daughter’s place as Mallus’ vessel. So, you know, an average Monday for the crew of the Waverider.

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Astro City #51

Astro City #51 comic reviewAstro City #51 continues the theme started in Astro City #50 as we hear from more survivors of those touched by the supernatural telling their stories the in support group led by Michael Tenicek. We get the terrifying tale of Rose Wilkerson who was saved from a giant spider-creature by the Honor Guard (unfortunately her son was not so lucky). It’s a heart-wrenching opening, but from there the comic takes an even darker turn as the grieving mother turns her anger on Michael who (because his wife was taken out of existence) she thinks is a fraud. How to you prove something that, according to the current timeline, never existed?

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