Uberto Lenzi’s poliziotteschi about a small-time criminal who decides to kidnap an heiress and ends up killing just about every person he meets. Throughout he’s pursued by a hard-nosed police inspector played nicely by Henry Silva. The first half of the film is gritty, brutal, and has a lot going for it. Unfortunately, it kinda drops the ball with the character development. Tomas Milian kills a guy in the first three minutes but then there’s no story arc beyond this first sadistic turn. Yet still, it is entertaining to watch and I wasn’t bored for a second.
I have finally submitted myself to the precursor to Escape from the Bronx. It’s a more enjoyable than the sequel and but still feels cheap and incomplete. At least the costume design is more interesting. You can see that they a really trying hard to imitate The Warriors aesthetic but instead of Baseball Furies there are ice hockey thugs on roller skates. The lead actor still has that weird lanky body shape and gait. I could stop trying to analyze just what was wrong with it (with little success).
A Eurocrime thriller about a fellow who gets wrapped up in a jewelry robbery. I’m not sure if he was a cop or just a random dude. The film makes little effort to explain anything. The important part is that it is filmed in Greece and they apparently got permission to film the last act on some old ruins on Rhodes. The action is boring and the scenery is dusty and dull.
This is a terrible Poliziotteschi about a ruthless cop who has been kicked off the force but is determined to take down a blackmail ring. Everything about this movie oozes tacky 70s style. The action scenes are just poorly staged fist fights and an opening car chase with tiny crap European cars. The only redeeming part of the film is the opening montage of our “hero” engaging in all sorts of Death Wish style police brutality.
It’s a Predator sequel that doesn’t suck! The plot mirrors the first movie but the setting has been shifted to the 1700s with Native American protagonists. I almost wish it was not a Predator movie because much of the surprise is lost as we in the audience all know how predators work. The setting an time period are what really make this fun but I don’t think, as many have suggested, that they need to make more sequels during different eras. Quit while you are ahead.
I’m surprised that I enjoyed this kid-friendly platformer as much as I did. It leans in heavy into its cuteness factor but manages to tell a story that isn’t insulting with some genuine moments of wit. It’s not really a pure platformer either. About half the levels have you swimming in all directions rather than jumping. It’s a mechanic that seems overly simple at first but eventually builds up to a moderate level of challenge. Throw in a bit of exploration/secret hunting and you have a pretty decent little game here.
This is the first Castlevania sequel I have ever completed. I’ve played the first five minutes of Symphony of the Night half-a-dozen times. For whatever reason it never really grabbed me. Today there are about twenty games in the franchise and they all seem to be about the same: Run around a big castle with a whip, kill enemies that endlessly respawn, and defeat bosses to gain new skills which open up other sections of the castle.
I have to say I still find the whip attack and the platforming to be clunky but I managed to stay somewhat engaged in the exploration aspects of the game. This one has a big collect-em-all mechanic where various randomly dropped tarot cards give your character magic abilities. I only managed to find about a third of the cards as they are mostly random drops. This must drive completists mad.
The post-boss power-ups are also kinda boring. Sure they let you get through barriers and locked areas, but, with the exception of a high jump, they never made your character feel more powerful the way similar items would in Metroid or Guacamelee!
I did manage still to have some fun with Circle of the Moon. My goal is to eventually play one of the NDS games which seemed to have mush smoother controls and slicker graphics. This was an adequate introduction to the Vania side of the Metroidvania genre.
Several years ago I tried watching this when a YouTube user posted it on their channel. I came to find out that the last 10 minutes were missing and I never learned the identity of the killer. You get what you pay for. This time round film was intact all the way to the Poirot-style “and the killer is one of you” ending. Aside from one gruesome killing and the dissonant Morricone score, this leans more towards a standard police detective mystery than a stylish giallo.
Lately I have become obsessed with bullet-hell shmups like this. I’d see these images of these impossible patterns of projectiles and wonder how anyone could maneuver a ship around them for more than a few seconds. Most of my experience with them has been through Mame arcade emulation with a special interest in ones with detailed pixel art. No matter the title, I could always manage to get to the end of the maybe the first level and would then be absolutely destroyed after that.
Mushihimesama is a classic Cave arcade shmup, but here, in the Steam PC port of the game, there are several modes of play including a forgiving novice mode. This reduced difficulty level is still painfully hard on my Gen-X reflexes but I managed, over the course of many hours of play, to just about master the entire game through to the end.
This is where the appeal of these games ultimately lies: the gradual mastery of the mechanics, levels and patterns of bullets. It’s not easy but it always feels like you’re getting a little bit farther after every punishing defeat, Plus, the skills I have lean on the baby mode have helped me get a little further on the more aggressive difficulties. I will never master the hardest levels but it’s within the realm of possibility.
