Sequel Saturday presents Sister Act 2: back In The Habit

By Paul Anthony

With Black History month coming to an end, I decided to review a sequel that honestly I long have forgotten about. Whoopi Goldberg has been famous in this generation for being a talk show host and all of that fun stuff but for previous generations she was a comedian and a actress. One of her more famous roles was in the Sister Act franchise, which she played Deloris Van Cartier / Sister Mary Clarence. the first film of the series proved to be a big box office hit because the budget was 31 million and the movie grossed 231 million and when you make a 200 million dollar profit you know a sequel would soon follow and they didn’t waste no time. Just under two years and honestly it doesn’t seem like because the first film came out in 1992 and part 2 came out 1993 just towards the end of the year. Now with rushing a sequel would it be better than the first better question would it do better? Well the budget was 38 million just 7 million higher than the first film but the gross was far lower than 231 million in fact it did not even clear 100 million. The total gross came to 57.3 million which basically made it disappointment but was it really that bad?

Sometimes when a movie comes out and its a hit but the story proves that it doesn’t need to be a sequel. I felt like this was the case but here we are. In this film since the events of the first film Deloris is a headliner in Vegas and all seems to be going well until her old nun friends come to see her with some bad news. The nuns are actually teachers at St. Francis Academy where Deloris went as a child. Problem is the school is going to close if the school’s reputation does not change. So the Nuns need her to be Sister Mary once more and teach Music because the school use to be good in music, where they won awards and everything, so they need her to teach music and get these kids to sing. The problem is the school’s administrator, Mr. Crisp, who wants to shut the school down and retire. Sister Mary now has to deal with him and getting these kids to see that they have beautiful voices. In the end everything works out well because they school win the state championship in  Choir. Of course Sister Mary saves the day and the school and once again she part ways for Vegas until she is needed again.

Now I will have to say this movie didn’t have the magic and charm of the first one and jokes well flat. To be honest it felt like the cast was tired and didn’t want to return. The acting from the rest of the cast seem stiffed at times and the plot was predictable. Now In the end I am giving this film a C or 70 percent because in the end it felt like an average sequel!

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Friday Roundabout

By Paul Anthony

Welcome to this week edition of Friday Roundabout where we run through some of the week’s headlines! let’s waste no time and start with what we saw on Thursday and that was the release of the Candyman trailer and I think the trailer made me even more curious about the film. We were once under the impression that this was going to reboot but now it is clear this film wasn’t a reboot it’s the fourth film of the series and a direct sequel to the first film. I am not the biggest fans of these new part twos because they are always all over the place with filling in the blanks but I do know I am going to see this movie.

CBS has announced that the hit show Hawaii five-O after ten years and nearly 240 episodes. Now as of right now there is no reason given for why they decided to end the show after ten years. The show managed to stay very popular and even ran longer than the original show. The Series will end in early April so say goodbye and enjoy the show well you can.

Tom Holland has been making a name for himself once he got cast as Spider-Man, he’s becoming a hot item to cast but Holland recently let it slip that at one point he was in talks to star in a reboot of Back to the Future franchise. I am glad this was just talk because I feel like rebooting that series right now is a gamble and I don’t want to see Holland take on a project that could ruin or slow down his career but thank you Holland for sharing that people do want to reboot the franchise.

Okay I have to admit I didn’t watch WWE Super Showdown because I knew it would be a waste of time and sure enough I was write. Bill Goldberg beat the Fiend for the title now if you watch WWE , you know how much people love The Fiend and how over he is with the fans since he returned with the Fiend look and only to lose to Goldberg. Now this pissed a lot of people off and even Macaulay Culkin came out and said he is canceling his plans for WrestleMania plans because of Goldberg winning the title.

We have been wonder for awhile now if we would see Jared Leto continue his role as The Joker, Well we official know the answer and that is no Leto is out as The Joker and he will be recast. Leto as the Joker was short lived and maybe even under used. The trailer for Suicide Squad had us hyped but the film itself left a bad taste in our mouth and now we are looking for anther Joker.

Locke and Key Season 1 review

By Paul Anthony

Netflix seems to be on good track in 2020 with their films and shows. I recently reviewed The Witcher and I did enjoy it, when I enjoy one show I have to give them the chance again with another show. Now Locke and Key was starting to be advertised and once I finished with The Witcher I decided to give Locke and key a chance. Could Netflix struck gold again? Well at first I wasn’t so sure but as I watched the show the more and more I started to realize that I am enjoying it. Not to mention you can’t go wrong with a product that was created by Stephen King’s son Joe Hill though he doesn’t like to tell people who his father is , which is a good choice, now onto the show right?

This season which is the first season does consist of 10 episodes and each episode is between 40 to 60 minutes long. Now I know this series is based on the comic book series, which I have not read, I can’t say how close to the source it really is, I can only base the review off of what I watched. The season focuses on the Locke family as they move from their home in Seattle to Matheson, Massachusetts when the children loses their father Rendell who is murdered by a former student of his. This situation forces them to move to their father’s family Home and there after the three kids, Tyler, Kinsey and Bode begin to find keys that opens magical doors but then soon realize that opening these doors do cause problems and reveal stuff about their father that they never knew. All this magic and fun and learning they doing they also have to battle a demon that they basically helped release by opening doors that they knew nothing about. Slowly with the help of their friends they battle the demon and the monsters but little did they know that the demon did a body switch and prisoned the wrong person who was a friend of their father and one of their friends is now possessed to make matters worse and that is how the season ends.

Now when a show is ten episodes and an hour long, sometimes a story can be dragged out and I feel like that is what we have here. Please understand that I am not saying it was dragged out too much but at times it did seem like they were dragging. I did enjoy the horror and magic mixed together it was good blend. I did like the other highlight of seeing children grow from and deal with the trauma of losing their father. I am interested in seeing what happens in season two. If you looking for a good show to watch I would say you will enjoy this show much. In the end I am giving this show a good 80 percent or a B rating.

Top 7 Video Game Movies

By: Justin Hopkins

I know what you are thinking. That there are no such thing as a good video game movies. That they are all bad and should have never have happened, and others may say that there is perhaps one, maybe two, but no way could I actually have found seven. True, it was a bit of a challenge towards the bottom of the list. Wishing I could just go the normal route of Top 5, but with that said, I do enjoy all seven of these films. They may not be classics, but not asking for them to be. Just want to kick back and let the story take me along for a ride, with the tools that make the game they come from so enjoyable. Before we start, there was one rule, and it’s the same as always. I can’t judge a movie without having seen it. So, movies like Rampage and Detective Pikachu, along with a few others were out of the running. Alright, with that said, lets begin.

7. Dead Rising: Watchtower

The only movie on the list to not spend time in the theaters, which for me is kind of a surprise. It also took a second viewing for me to really enjoy it as well, but they do a lot of enjoyable things throughout. Going with a new lead character in the form of Chase was a bit of a questionable choice, but Jesse Metcalfe performed really well at the rule to make us care enough about him. They way they incorporated them making their own unique weapons and having a psychopath as the main villain was wonderful. Dennis Haysbert did great as the General. Fans on the game know there is always a conspiracy going on, and his soothing voice and tone really adds to the menace when you get to the end. Would be higher on the list had they treated Frank West better than they did, but still an enjoyable film.

6. Doom

Wait, please don’t go. Hear me out. I know, they did the game wrong in quite a few places. I am not disagreeing with you there. Had they dropped all the scientific and super soldier like shot. All they had to do is keep them demons from Hell. This could have been really something. The action was great. Liked the characters and set pieces. The actors did as well as they could with what they had to work with, and that First Person Point of View shot they did is still beautiful. Respect they had for the BFG. They had a fun assortment of demons, loved Pinky, and they could have easily swapped the science bits for demons and ran everything and would easily be jockeying for the top spot, and maybe have The Rock go full on Demon at the end, for Urban to square off with. Also, watching Doom Annihilation, this one is light years better.

5. Tomb Raider (2018)

This movie had a lot of things going for me, loved the story and the dark tones and atmosphere, but what really made this movie so good for me, was Alicia Vikander’s performance as Lara Croft. That she wasn’t this over the top can do anything characters. Playing her with gritty realism of a character who was in over her head. Having to scrape and claw and fight for her survival, because she isn’t the over the top, legendary Lara Croft yet. By playing it the way she did, left her so much room to grow in the future, and thankfully, we will be getting a sequel, which will hopefully be even better.

4. Resident Evil

Yes, this series went screaming down the draining faster than even I expected it to, and the seventh one, was one of the worst finales of anything I have ever seen in general, but the first one though. That is still a good watch. The atmosphere of the lab and the music were fantastic. The zombies were perfect and the Licker looked gorgeous. Even the fact that it transformed was reminiscent of the game. Feel the danger around every corner. Milla Jovovich gave us a character, at least for this movie, felt like a character that could have appeared in a Resident Evil Game. If Paul carried this much love forward, who knows how good this run could have been after the second one, but the first, Definitely still a good time.

3. Sonic The Hedgehog

This one and entry number 2 had to of changed spots at least a dozen times and they are razor close to one another. You can check out my review for this for more details, but they hit a homerun with this film. Sonic came across in a great way. Having a hyper friendly attitude you would expect for him to have. Fun use of the rings, and callbacks to the games. While, Jim Carrey was spectacular as Robotnik.  Check it out if you haven’t. You’ll have a best.

2. Mortal Kombat

The song alone earns it’s spot as one of the best of all times. Almost impossible to say the name without trying to imitate the famous scream of, MORTAL KOMBAT! In all seriousness though, this is fun from start to finish. The fights were well choreographed and done so well. The characters all felt ripped straight from the game. The lines, as hokey as they were. All felt like something they would say. Again, if you want to hear more, can check out our review on it. Paul W.S. Anderson hit gold with this, and to many, it never got better. Well.. except for one, in my opinion.

1. Silent Hill

It couldn’t be anything else. When they take the entire opening scene of Harry chasing who he thinks is Cheryl until he is attacked by they Grey Children, and replicate it shot for shot with Rose and who she thinks is Sharon. The psychological elements are deep and great. From sins of the mother and the town being tortured by Alessa in their own version of Silent Hill and wanting to finally crush them for good. The gore was awesome and Jodelle Ferland is still one of the creepiest kids in a movie. Way she danced around in the blood raining down and then moving straight to the camera. Excellent from start to finish and wears the crown as best video game movie.

Do you disagree? Feel free to let me know in the comments. In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed, and as always…

Thank you for reading.

 

Impractical Jokers: The Movie

By Paul Anthony

I am sure you guys have heard of the show called Impractical Jokers on Tru Tv and now even on TBS at times as well. I have been a fan the show for a few years now and every free moment I get I watch the show, sometimes I know I seen the episode a few times doesn’t matter I watch it anyway. When I found out they were going to come out with a movie I knew I had to see it. However then I found out that the movie was going to be in select theaters, which made me nervous because here in Pittsburgh we don’t see too many movies that are on a limited release but we struck gold this time. The film was released in 380 theaters and we were lucky enough to have a few places showing it, so here I go to get watch one of my favorite shows on the big screen. before I break down the story let me say this, in it’s opening weekend it made 2.6 million dollars and nearly cracked the top ten. Mind you it missed out just by like a million dollars but the tenth film also was in 3 to 4 thousand more theaters so good job to them!

Now this where things will become a spoiler for those who haven’t watch the film just yet. The Movie blends storytelling and reality in on film. The story begins as the team is in high school and well out to a Paula Abdul concert, they get into trouble which pisses Paula off and she even knocks down a young Sal. 25 years later the jokers are at an Red Lobster eating and they run into Paula who doesn’t remember that night congrats them on their success and asks them to join her in Miami but she only gives them three passes instead of 4 which causes them to think of what to do and then they decide to do the challenges and whoever loses the most will be the odd ball out. The challenges are the reality part and trust me they are funny as hell. Well they are traveling they try to wonder what Murr does when he isn’t around them so each night one member visits Murr to see what he is up to and it is always some type of party. Long story short Murr is the one that loses the most and is left out which at the party the group realizes that without the four of them that it is just not the same. But little does the group know Murr plans on sneaking in which makes Paula remembers them which stuff gets crazy but the night ends and the Jokers relax on the beach where Joe tells them that Paula wants him to be her hype man but he turns it down to remain a joker. The team flies back without Murr who is attached to another plan as the plan does tricks.

Now I am mixed on the film as whole the storytelling part was hit and miss at times but the challenges were the funniest parts of the film. No doubt that the pranks and challenges are the jokers bread and butter. In the end I am giving it a good B plus film or 85 percent and would say if your looking for a good laugh, this is your film.

Box Office Rundown 2/24/20

By Paul Anthony

Here we are new week and new predictions, last weekend we saw the release of The Call of the Wild which stars Harrison Ford and CGI animals, which is funny because I think we had another movie using CGI animals and a big name actor. The Movie was going up against the surprise hit Sonic. The biggest question is could Sonic hold the number one spot with many predicting that Ford’s movie would come in at number 1 and the winner is Sonic The Hedgehog. The Call of the Wild came in a close second only lost out by two million. Even though Sonic is the repeat winner we do have some losers this week first we have Fantasy Island which went from three to 7th and the biggest loser is The Photograph that went from number 4 last week to number 10 this week. And now the rest of your top ten!

1. Sonic The Hedgehog, 26.300 million
2.  The Call Of The Wild, 24.820 million
3.  Birds Of Prey, 7,005 million
4.  Brahms, The Boys 2, 5.900 million
5.  bad Boys For Life, 5.860 million
6. 1917, 4.400 million
7.  Fantasy island, 4.185 million
8.  Parasite, 3.121 million
9.  Jumanji: The next Level, 3 million
10.  The Photograph, 2.800 million

Now here are the predictions for the next box office weekend!

1. Sonic The Hedgehog
2.  The Call Of The Wild
3.  The Invisible Man
4.  Birds of Prey
5.  Bad Boys For Life
6.  Brahms: The Boy 2
7.  1917
8.  Fantasy Island
9.  Parasite
10.  Jumanji: The Next Level

No Tell Motel Movie Review

By: Justin Hopkins

**SPOILER WARNING**

  Hello and welcome back to this weeks B Movie Sunday. Took a bit of a break from this series and when I saw this movie. Thought it was going to be a fun little ghost killer movie, and well, that couldn’t possibly be further from the truth. Proving to be a wild and one of the more darker movies I have seen in quite some time. Lets jump and discuss shall we, and see if it was worth while and if I would suggest it shall we.

We open with a bit of a flashback to when the hotel was open, and we see a Mom in a lawn. Not paying attention to her Daughter, who chases a rabbit out into the road, and gets hit by a car. Then we get a fast track of the hotel becoming dilapidated and we jump to a group of college kids in an RV. Arguing over a shortcut that Kyle took. Off the bat, we find out that three of them are keeping some sort of secret, and coming out at the store. See one buying a pregnancy test, a pill popper, and one is cutting herself. After they leave, they run into a road closed sign, and in a fit to make up. Kyle ends up flipping the RV and after the quickest walk in the world. Corey and Spencer finds the abandoned hotel and they decide to hold up here till the morning and the store opens again. Right away, Megan takes the pregnancy test and discovers she is pregnant, and runs off crying. This was not a planned pregnancy and doesn’t understand how this happened. Telling all of this to her friend Rachael, who saw her buying the test, who opens up with a secret of her own. That she ran someone over when she was drunk and left the scene. Suppose to make it clear she wouldn’t tell anyone, but these two don’t really don’t even out, but more on that later. After she leaves, Rachael stays back for a moment. Broken up by her own memory, and the ghost girl appears. Leading her out into the road. Stunned by her injured and bloody face. Freezing Rachael up long enough to get hit by a car. Her friends find her dead and the driver is drunk and unconscious. Bringing him inside and Kori goes off to find something to fix him up with and that is where I will stop, not to refrain from spoiling anything, but because at this point, things start to run and nothing is ever as it seems.

The people who worked on this really didn’t want you to have any idea on what was happening next. Any time you thought you knew where this movie was going. It would immediately turn into and run into a vastly different direction. From the events after Angela’s death and what happened to her Parents. To your main cast of characters. Everyone having a horrible secret and the direction they went with them, and things just kept getting darker and darker. I can see some people looking at it as too much, but it worked well for me. It kept me curious and wondering exactly where this was going and how it was going to end. At some point, just had to give up and go along with it.

Casting wise, there wasn’t many who really stood out. They were alright. I did like Angel McCord’s Corey. Would have liked to see more of her. The fact that it seemed like she might play heavily into the ending later, but didn’t was a little frustrating. The one who did stand out for me, was Rileigh Chalmers. Creepy kids always freak me out, and she did a wonderful job as Angela. Especially, when she was just staring down Kyle while he was shooting up. Great job throughout.

I am kind of torn on the ending. Much like the rest of this movie, it is dark, and while I understand why. It kind of goes for how easily secrets can tear people apart and the grave consequences that their secrets have on one another, they may have gone a bit to far at the end. Not with Spencer, but with how Megan’s story ends. I already think she was the weaker of the three female characters, and could have used a slightly better ending.

Alright, got to talk about the little sharing moment between Rachel and Megan. Megan’s problem, while is a big one, is a far stretch away from hit and run. She is admitting to murder as a bonding moment. Megan’s secret is going to be outed in a few months, while the horrific thought of her friend killing someone is forever. Should have had this moment with Corey, so you can at least tell us what is going on in her life, and why she is hurting herself. Plus, her and Megan have that in common. Both are kind of suffering in silence and could have built them both up, and since you weren’t going anywhere with Corey’s Character anyways. Could have her run over and Rachel’s secret can come out with Spencer later.

With all of that said, would I suggest No Tell Motel. After thinking it over, I would, but with a bit of a warning. This movie, although short. Has more than its fair share of twists, and goes down a dark road, with an not so happy ending, and these movies are not for everyone. If you are, you may find some enjoyment in No Way Motel. I for one, did.

As always, I hope you enjoyed and…

Thank you for reading.

 

Mortal Kombat review

‪Fight! “1995 Mortal Kombat Review!” at https://www.buzzsprout.com/285696/2811241-1995-mortal-kombat-review #embarrassing #saturdaynight #SaturdayMood #SundayFunday ‬

Friday Roundabout 2-21-20

By: Justin Hopkins

Hello, and welcome to this weeks Roundabout. Where we go back through the week and give my opinion on some of the things that occurred throughout the past week, and this weeks has given us more than enough to pick through. So, let’s dive right in with some Baseball news.. that doesn’t revolve around the Astros, but a more personal team, The Pittsburgh Pirates.

It’s very difficult to be a Baseball fan in Pittsburgh. A team that looks at a growing team with 98 win season and think, Lets rebuild. A lot of times, you got to go in and just try and enjoy the fact you are watching the game, and less about the team. It’s one thing to think that as a fan, but when a recently signed Center Fielder is saying it, it makes it that much harder. When Jarrod Dyson was asked about being apart of the Pirates organization, he went on about how he has to take the good with the bad, and there was nowhere else to go and play. Now, a lot of people got on Baker Mayfield and how over confident he was about the Browns the past season, but as a fan of a lackluster team. Would love to go in with some big talk and false hope from the players. Cause all this interview did, was make it that much more depressing, with my only hope, that he’ll play hard to better his odds on being traded. No wonder why Pittsburgh ranked at last, with a zero percent hype for this season.

On to some potential better news. According to the great Bruce Campbell, there are a few Evil Dead Movies in the works, with one potentially set to start shooting this year. I would love to see Jane Levy return as Mia, but it sounds more like they are going into a completely new direction, and no, it does not sound like Ash will be involved. Which, I am fine with. Bruce has given us a ton of great memories, and in his words, it’s time for another idiot to try and save the world, and there are other stories to tell, and I for one, am looking forward to a new adventure in this world.

Borderlands is a game that has been sitting in my Playstation Library for quite some time now. The promise that next week I am going to start playing made over and over again. With the news that Eli Roth has been brought in and filming to begin by the end of the year though. May force me to follow through with actually playing. WIth Video Game Movies seeming to come more and more. With Sonic and Detective Pikachu doing so well. Mortal Kombat due out in January, Tomb Raider 2 in the works, and Uncharted trying to get out of the starting gate. Eli has a chance to make Borderlands a fun ride. Just hope that he learns from the pitfalls and brings the spirit of the game to life.

With a new movie and a continuation potentially on the horizon. Where else can we go, but to two remakes coming to us from HBO Max. Both Police Academy and Oceans being in the works. Police Academy has a better chance of succeeding out of the two, if they let it be raunchy and have fun with it. Oceans on the other hand, is going to have a much harder time. I don’t normally care about studios doing remakes. If someone has a better idea for an idea, let them run with it and see how well they do, but this will be remake number 4 for the franchise. Third in twenty some odd years, and the last one didn’t fare so well. I do wish them luck and hope they got a good script. Cause they will need it.

In sad news, the world lost a great entertainer in Ja’net DuBois. I grew up in a house that always played classic TV shows such as Good Times and have seen her quite a few times, and always sad to see a true Pioneer pass away. Contributing heavily to African American Actress breaking out in Hollywood. Passing away in her sleep at the age of 74. Our thoughts and positive energy goes out to the DuBois family in their time of mourning.

#NoMoreSpoilersInTrailers is still in effect for more than one trailers, but there were a couple first trailers going around that you should check out. The movie Run looks particularly good and Castlevania Season 3 has me hyped for the next installment in the excellent series. If you haven’t seen them, I do suggest giving them a watch.

And that brings us to the end of this week’s Roundabout. As always, I hope you enjoyed and…

Thank you for reading.

XFL: Review so far!

By Paul Anthony

Sport leagues that we know like NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA. Have been around for a very long time and have earn the right to be at the top and then those leagues have minor leagues to groom their young talent. Let’s look at the NFL with 32 teams and each team has 53 men that makes a total of nearly 1700 players not counting practice squad. Now we know there are clearly more people who want to play pro football when they leave college either through being drafted or graduation. Look at how big the NCAA football system really is. It’s not fair to say those who don’t make it isn’t that good enough to make it, the sad point is there isn’t enough room for everyone to make it. There has only been one other true football league and that is the AFL or Arena Football league. Last year we had the AAF which folded midway through the season and left many players without a job. At This point we knew the XFL would be starting the following year, Which gave everyone hope or at least I thought so. XFL was around once before back in 2001 but folded just after one season. 19 years later they came back but will they last more than one season and will they grow?

I wanted to wait review the season after week 2 because the second week of these new football leagues are very important because now the hype is over, things are settled down and the season is in full swing. There is no doubt AAF folded because it ran out of money and we see the AFL teams fold as well because the league has shrunk but not folded. XFL is different though and that is because they have a little more money to work with and they have been drawing decent crowds which is averaging around 15000 per game and the ratings are around 1 million per game. these numbers sound low but things take time. With more money to spend and not spending like crazy which the average player makes 1000 dollars at the lowest each week and up to 2700 for winners with a salary cap of 4 million for each team it’s something the league can afford and I do hope they give us a second season.

Ratings are important and even at 1 million per average it’s still doing better than some tv shows that networks could use to replace it. Now If the ratings dip below a certain number then it could spell doom for the league. America loves football, we see that football in any market thrives. Just look now Las Vegas has a football team and a hockey team. XFL needs to use a good 5 year plan then see what happens, which I hope they can afford it and maybe even consider playing within the NFL season when people are craving Football more at. At this point XFL is doing good for being a baby league but they will need to grow but for now let’s enjoy more Football!