I’m sure you saw my posts by now about this project I’m doing. I’m glad to finally announce it fully and release details about it. A music AI project born from a passion project of mine for 20 years, The Tudor Legacy is a musical look at one of the most talked about periods of English history. From 1485 to 1603, The House of Tudor shaped England into the country it is today. From the reformation into the Church of England to the downfall of the Spanish empire and rise of the British empire and navy, The Tudors created a legacy of joy, lavishness, heartbreak, sorrow, deaths (many deaths like beheading your wife), and scandals (Mainly Henry 8th). The Tudors ruled over a period of golden light so to speak in England.
Lyrics written by me and Music produced and made from Suno AI, The Tudors Legacy takes influences from bands such as Kamelot, Sabaton, Ad Infinitum, Metallica and Iron maiden to name a few while adding in a blend of orchestras, piano ballads, two instrumental pieces and 15 tracks total at an hour and 15 minutes. However don’t let the time fool you for the album rides at a very easy to listen to pace and is broken up well.
From the roaring opener of the start of it all “The War of The Roses” to the tragedy of Henry the 8th’s wives from their POV in “Queen’s Lament”. to the thrash metal “Bloody Mary” and finally ending with epic 11 minute closer “The Tudor Legacy: Rise and Fall:” you are guaranteed to come out of this learning a little bit more then you did about the history of The Tudors. That is the goal anyway!
As for the future? Well let’s dive a little into that since this is the beginning. The Tudor Legacy is the beginning of an epic 3 album story about the English throne from 1485 to 1901! The trilogy, called Dynasties of the Realm, the Sequel Album to The Tudors follows the forgotten House of The Stuarts, who followed the House of Tudor but lives underneath the shadows. Divine Right of Kings: The Stuarts follows The Stuarts claim that they were absolute Monarchs. The Stuarts shaped England into the Constitutional Monarchy it is today, but not after some blood was shed.
The final album in this 3 part trilogy, Dawn of Hanover, follows the House of Hanover, who we know for being the House that American won their Independence from (I got something in the works for this). Following the German King George 1 and the very odd fact that this House had fathers who all hated their sons, The House of Hanover helped secure Britain to be the European powerhouse in the 18th and 19th centuries it would become to be known for before WW1. The Rise of Napoleon, The Fight with The Bourbons in the War of Austrian Succession and of course the French and Indian War and American Revolution all happen during the Hanoverians reign. And of course Queen Victoria, The grandmother of Europe. But this is getting ahead of ourselves.
The Tudor Legacy: Rise and Fall will be available next month. Look for details where you can listen to this in the coming weeks as I figure out the final pieces. Also be on the look out for the next single, “Bloody Mary” next Tuesday the 17th. I hope you enjoy the ride as much as I did creating it!
The Tudor Legacy: Rise and Fall Tracklist
1. The War of The Roses
2. The King of a New Royal family
3. The Crown of Iron
4. Iron Crown, Tyrant’s Roar
5. Queen’s Lament
6. The Coming of the Heir (Instrumental)
7. The Forgotten King
8. Too Young to Rule
9. The Fall of Edward the 6th (Instrumental)
10. Nine Days Queen
11. Bloody Mary
12. The Glory of the Virgin Queen
13. Battle of the Waves
14. The Golden Age
15. The Tudor Legacy
Listen to The first single “The King of the New Royal Family” down below!!!!!
Today (May 12), Netflix released their trailer for their Resident Evil series coming out. If you didn’t know, Resident Evil is a beloved franchise made by Capcom that started all the way back on Playstation in 1998. It has pawns numerous sequels, spin offs, 7 movies, and now a series on Netflix. About an evil corporation that makes a virus that turns people into zombies, the series was a huge hit that is still thriving today.
Well the video games are. The movies….not so much. While the movies were popular and a success for being R rated, they weren’t exactly good. The first Resident evil made 103 million on a 33 million dollar budget. The 5 movie after that would make a similar profit but the reviews were bad, and most fans hated it. I liked the first 5 and thought Apocalypse was probably the closest to the games we got at the time. The most recent one, Welcome to Raccoon City is a faithful adaptation to the games but it has problems, such as taking too long to get to the zombies (it took 45 minutes to even get to the mansion, the movie is 90 minutes long.) With Netflix recent trailer coming out for the series, it doesn’t give me confidence in the series. Let’s take a look at why.
Problem #1- Getting Paul Anderson to Write
Paul Anderson is not a great director/writer. Yes he did Mortal Kombat, but he didn’t write it. But look at his catalog. Monster Hunter, all the Resident Evil movies, Alien Vs Predator, Death Race. This guy just doesn’t know how to write movies. It also doesn’t help that he shoves his wife Mila Jovovich into every movie he directs sinces he’s married her. She’s OK, but shes kinda a generic action actor.
Paul Anderson didn’t really understand that games or characters. I mean, he writes Chris Redfield (CHRIS REDFIELD THE MAIN CHARACTER OF THE WHOLE SERIES) into ONE MOVIE, and he’s overshadowed by Paul’s wife. Jill Valentine is regulated to a side character in number 2, Albert Wesker is killed off in 4, only to be shoehorned in 5 as a GOOD GUY, only to turn back into a bad guy in the first 2 minutes of the final movie. It’s like he just threw characters into the movies so fans would shut up. Leon Kennedy, the fan favorite, is in 5 as a cameo practically. Barry isn’t even shown till 5 and Claire and Chris are standing with Alice at the end o 4 on the boat, only to disappear in the beginning of 5, THAT TAKES PLACE RIGHT AFTER 4 ON THE SAME FUCKING BOAT. I hate this guy.
The movies flip back and forth so much and have no purpose for some things that it’s almost like he just threw game elements in there just because. He also writes himself into a corner by making the third movie have the zombies take over the world and then he gets into clones. It’s hard to write 3 more movies when the world is practically empty by the time 3 ends.
Problem #2- Alice
This blends in to the first problem but I have to expand on it a bit. By forcing his wife into the movies, her character ruins the franchise by overshadowing the game characters that this franchise should’ve been about. In the first movie she is an undercover umbrella security agent that protects the entrance to the hive. She suffers from amnesia and when she regains her memory shes all of the sudden a bad ass, which I kinda get, but still.
In Apocalypse, she is the leader of a group of survivors and can fight Nemesis in hand to hand combat. She overshadows Jill Valentine, and then at the end dies, only to be brought back as a super powerful clone. Which leads to Extinction, where she has mind powers like Carrie, and is in love with Carlos. She eventually fights the big bad in Dr Issacs, who himself is just there to be the Tyrant from the first game and then she decides she is gonna go to Japan with a bunch of her clones.
In Afterlife, she brings all her clones to Japan, fights Wesker, gets her powers taken away cause they realize she is way too over powered and yet somehow can be a bad ass. After giving her back her powers in 5 (Wesker, who took away her powers, gives them back cause Paul’s wife probably was pissed he did that in 4) she finally ends things in.
As you can see from above, Alice was written to be way too overpowered to begin with and giving her powers didn’t help things by the time 3 rolled around. I get not wanting your main character to die, but bringing in clones and super human powers was probably not the right idea. And I know this is a series about zombies and Wesker in the games is super powered, but the regular characters aren’t. They can get beat up. We see in Resident Evil 5 that Chris and Jill are no match for Wesker. They need to rely on their smarts, and out smart Wesker. (Yes Chris does punch a boulder but that’s not the point.) Making the hero someone that we can’t really relate to was a problem. She should’ve been killed off in 2 to make way for Jill to be the new lead going forward.
Problem #3- Not Understanding Wesker
This goes for Paul’s movies and the new movie. Wesker in the games is cold, cunning, calculated. He is always one step ahead of everyone, even from the beginning. He is the leader of S.T.A.R.S just so he can get them to the mansion to be test subjects cause he is a senior leader in Umbrella. He isn’t the bro in the new movie and he isn’t whatever he was in the Paul movies.
In the Paul movies he is a CEO or something, which I guess equals out to the senior part of the games. But he needs to eat people to survive, whereas in the games he just gained powers. He was never one step ahead and they break the one rule they had with him, they make him a good guy in Retribution. Of course they must realize there mistake cause in The Final Chapter hes a bad guy, but he’s never made the threat he should be. He is easily killed off in TFC but having his legs cut of by a trap door. In the games, Wesker is the mastermind behind killing James Marcus to take his formula, he leads Alpha team to the mansion, he takes the T Virus and gains powers (which is explained by his long backstory of him being a Wesker child, look it up it’s a lot), he goes to Antarctica to get T-Veronica virus from the facility down there. He even tries to poison the world with the Uroboros virus in 5. He was always one step ahead and is the main bad guy. Paul didn’t understand that.
In the newer movie, he is the leader of the team, but he betrays the team not cause he wants to but because he is employed by someone else and doesn’t even want to kill the team. He is their friend. He is also like 7 foot tall when he should be like 6 and not made t be a fucking tank. I am gonna give the newer movies a chance cause they are closer to the games but so far not looking good. Well see if a sequel is made.
Problem #4- Going Original and Not Adapting The Games
This is a big one and why i’m writing this blog. The Netflix trailer made me realize that Sony is apparently terrified of just adapting the first game. Instead they do these original stories with beats of the lore. The first game is honestly probably more primed to be a movie then they think. It writes itself.
A spooky mansion with jump scares and zombies. You can make a 90 minute movie with this team of cops walking around this mansion, fighting zombies and creations that this evil company made. Explain the lore through flashbacks similar to the documents you find in the games. Then the sequel can adapt 2 and then go from there.
But no, instead Sony decides to make a underground facility called the Hive and make it all lively and not dark at all. Oh and this AI is controlling everything and they need it’s help, and fucking Alice. The first movie has NO GAME CHARACTERS in it at all. The second one does better at adapting the games but again, Alice Alice Alice. And Nemesis says STARS once. Isn’t he suppose to be there just to kill STARS?
Welcome to Raccoon City does a better job at this, but instead of focusing on one game, it makes 1 and 2 happen concurrently. By doing this it really takes away from the mansion as the mansion maybe has 15 minutes of screen time and the majority of the movie is in the city. I do applaud them for sticking to the game but Lisa Trevor not being at the mansion isn’t right and Claire and Chris meeting so soon defeats her purpose of being there in the first place. But with this series I will wait to see what they do cause it has potential.
Final Thoughts
You are probably think Oh look at this fan boy, he just wants them to copy he games. I just wish they would stick closer to the games, especially when the mansion can be a movie by itself. With the r rated movie scene, and with this me in particular, you can take risks because the budget will be low with the reward being high. We know this series has a fan base that will go watch these movies. You just gotta give them a faithful version. No Alice’s or writers who have no idea what they are doing. Don’t cut down one of them for the sake of doing two games at once. Embrace your source material if you are gonna do it. That’s why video game movies struggle. Companies are scared to embrace the material. If you are scared then don’t even bother. Resident Evil can be fixed so easily. All it takes is a little faith.
The 1980’s, for me anyway, provided some of the best metal bands ever. The inspiration for a lot of the bands that the new generation of metalheads listen to today. One of them is my 2nd favorite band ever, IRON MAIDEN.
Iron Maiden started from the mind of Steve Harris, the bands bassist. Over the years the line up has changed over and over. 3 lead singers, multiple guitarists, 5 piece to now a 6 piece (with three guitarists!), and two different drummers. However, Steve has been the one consistent piece in the band (even long time guitarist Dave Murray was at one point, not in the band). Iron Maiden is truly a special metal band and one many bands should look up to.
Known for pick galloping, story lyrics, a bassist who plays the bass as the rhythm guitar so the other 3 can play lead, dueling guitar solos and of course a lead singer whose voice is compared to an air raid siren, Iron Maiden’s career spans 40 years and 17 studio albums, plus a bunch of live albums. While some of these albums are good, others are OK. I know for me, I like every album in some way. The deep tones and dark lyrics of Blaze Bayleys time with Maiden, the punk feel of Paul DiAnno and the first two albums, and of course, Bruce Dickinson and his 13 albums with Maiden. While they may not be my favorite (check back for that ranking later) I still love Maiden.
I decided to go back and listen to each of their albums again and give you my rankings. As I said in the last paragraph, I like each album so this isn’t a worst to best but more of an OK to favorite. I might not listen to 17 as I do 10, but I still like 17. Without wasting anymore time, let’s do this!
Blaze is a good singer. It’s just……he had to follow up Bruce Dickinson after Bruce had sung on 7 albums. By then, Bruce was the singer of Iron Maiden and would always be. It didn’t help that Blaze is a totally different singer. This album takes on a darker, more personal tone then any of the albums before it. Steve was going through a bitter divorce at the time and it reflects in his lyrics. There are some good songs on here like The Sign of the Cross, which is still played in sets today. At 11 minutes it is one of Maiden’s longer songs but it is still epic. Another one is Man on the Edge, with was the lead single that introduced the world to Blaze. It still has dueling solos, and the drums are a beast. It sounds like a Maiden song for sure. Lord of the Flies is one that did rear it’s head back up during the Death on the Road tour, but hasn’t seen much time since Bruce has been back, even though I think he makes the song better. Overall though The X Factor just doesn’t compare to the rest of the catalogue.
16. Fear of the Dark
Recorded in Steve Harris’ Barnyard with the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio, the 2nd album to do so, Fear of the Dark is OK. Production is better then the album before it but it just feels like it’s missing something. The album deals with more modern themes, like politics and love, and the AIDs pandemic of the 1980’s but outside of The Fugitive, no fantasy themes like Maiden is known for. The album starts off with the thrashy Be Quick or Be Dead, which is about politics. Then it goes into the latest song in the Charlotte the Harlot saga with From Here to Eternity. Then we get the war song Afraid to Shoot Strangers. But then after that the album tapers off until Iron Maiden’s only ballad Wasting Love. Then we get a lull before the album ends with the title track, that is a staple to live shows to this day. Overall though a meh album in a catalog of great albums.
15. Senjitsu
The problem with the most recent Maiden album for me is again the progressive flair it has, The songs are too long and honestly most of the album bores me. After a fantastic single in Writings on the Wall, I had high hopes. However except for one or two tracks the album is just too long. I’m hoping Maiden break out of this phase and make a shorter record (highly doubt it though since the 2000’s have been all long releases.)
14. The Final Frontier
Like a lot of Iron Maiden’s post 2000 releases, The Final Frontier plays with a lot more progressive styles, such as crazy time changes and longer songs. Until 2015, this album was Maiden’s longest and had it’s longest song, the epic album closer Where the Wild Wind blows, a song about a couple hiding in a bomb shelter as the end of the world happens….or so they think. The album just doesn’t have very many memorable tracks. What makes it rank higher then the previous two is the tracks are stronger. There are some catchy riffs (El Dorado) and the opener, The Final Frontier, has a catchy chorus that’ll get stuck in your head. I just wish the album didnt dip it’s toes into the progressive so much.
13. Dance of Death
Im gonna get so much crap for these rankings but keep in mind this is my opinion, and the post 2000 stuff just doesn’t hold up to the rest of the catalog. The 2nd album after Bruce came back, Dance of Death was the start of the progressive styles we would see in this era of the band. Long epics, with a few singles sprinkled in. The title track comes off as different but Maiden like, with fantasy lyrics and dueling solos. No More Lies has Brucels signature wails singing about the last supper. Rainmaker is the lead off single, clocking in at just over 3 mins. The guitars sound like rain falling, which makes perfect sense. But the song here is Paschendale. An 8 minute epic about the Battle of Paschendele in WW1, the story teller tells us a tale about a dying solider he fought with in the Battle. But what stands out the most is the part at 5:36. As Bruce sings Blood is falling like the rain, you can picture solders running over the trenches to their deaths, bullets flying and people screaming. It is the type of story telling only Maiden can tell and it’s a shame this song isnt a staple in shows, as it is up there with the best Maiden hits.
12. A Matter of Life and Death
Besides the weird marketing campaign for the lead single, The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg (which is the biography of Eddie the bands mascot), A Matter of Life and Death just kinda came out. Not much lead up to it, and the lead single was the only single released for the album. The Progressive styles start to mature more on this albums, and once again, lyrics of war (These Colours Don’t Run) and the birth of the nuclear age (Brighter Than A Thousand Suns) are the themes. Although not a concept album, the albums title is a sign of the themes on this album. With tracks like Different Worlds, The Pilgrim, and For The Greater Good of God, the album holds up but it isn’t the best effort of the post 2000’s.
11. No Prayer for the Dying
Shocked to see this one so high? Me too. But honestly, this album shocks me with how much I like it. Yes the titles are somewhat cheesy and some lyrics are kinda bad, but Bring Your Daughter to the Slaughter is soooo good and Tailgunner kicks off the album in style. Bruce’s vocals change to a harsher tone on this album which I don’t care for but even with Adrian Smith departing (he didnt wanna go backwards he said) and Janick Gers coming in, you wouldn’t notice it unless you looked in the booklet. The album has a strong closer in Mother Russia, which sounds like something the Czars would dance to and holy smoke wasn’t bad as a lead off single. The production sucks though.
10. Iron Maiden
The album that started it off, the debut album from Maiden is a punky one. With Paul DiAnno’s punk raspy vocals and all the songs clocking in under 4 to 5 minutes, the album is far from what most people think of Maiden, but yet with that style tucked away in there somewhere. Paul isn’t Bruce and honestly, the band had to eventually depart with him to reach the highs they would achieve but as a debut, he does the job. Prowler, Running free are great songs and the title track is still in setlists today.
9. Virtual XI
Blaze’s second album with the band is a lot better then his first. It has a more Maiden feel to it. Although a bit long (8 songs at 54 minutes equaling out to almost 7 minutes per song) and some songs are very repetitive (Looking at you Eyes of a Stranger) the album is held up by great songs such as Futureal, The Clansman (that is still in set lists today) and the powerful closer Como Estats Amigo. Blaze was really starting to hit his stride with the band and if Bruce hadn’t decided to come back, his 3rd album could’ve been a great one. But with the 90’s not being kind to metal, and things out of Blaze’s hand, this would be his last record with the band. But at least he ended on a high note.
8. The Book of Souls
I sound like a broken record but stop making such long records! The Book of Souls is a double album that could’ve been cut down. While the album has more strong songs then weak, (The title track, If Eternity should fail and the epic 18 minute closer The Empire of the Clouds) it just doesn’t help hold it higher. Although the Robin Williams dedicated song Tears of a Clown might make you have tears.
7. Killers
The bastard step son of the Paul DiAnno albums, Killers suffers from the classic second album syndrome. It is A LOT better then what you might hear from people. It’s problem is that it comes after the powerful debut album. A lot of bands suffer from this but Killers is actually really good. Wraithchild is a classic and is practically in every Maiden show, the title track is good and Purgatory and Twilight zone are underrated singles. This would be Paul’s last album with the band as his habits for doing cocaine and getting blasted all the time would cause Steve Harris to look elsewhere for some pipes (vocal pipes of course).
6. Piece of Mind
The second album of the Bruce Dickinson first run, this is also the first album with the golden line up aka the line up everyone considers the best. Nico McBrain replaced Clive Burr on drums and the results show in the opening track Where Eagles Dare. What makes it even more impressive is Nico is TOTALLY against double foot pedals so all his drum track are done with ONE FOOT PEDAL. Seriously go listen to Where Eagles Dare and you’ll be like SERIOUSLY?! This also has The Trooper which everyone knows and loves to sing along too and Flight of Icarus. The band finally had their line up and it was time to see what they could do….and they were just beginning.
5. The Number of the Beast
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
That”s what Bruce screams in the title track and you know this isn’t your old Iron Maiden. Gone were the punk riffs and vocals and in was the air raid siren and the galloping guitars. Iron Maiden was here to stay and you couldn’t stop them. With Hallowed Be Thy Name and of course Run to the Hills, this is the album that sent Maiden down the road to greatness.
4. Somewhere in Time
I’m a sucker for the glam era of 85-90 (yea yea get over it) and the synths that came with this era. So naturally two of Maiden’s synth albums are in my top 5. Somewhere in Time had the unfortunate pleasure of following Powerslave and the huge tour that came with it. Bruce was burnt out, which explains the fact he has no songs on this album (he wanted to do all acoustic…..yeah he wasn’t all there during this time) but Adrian Smith wrote some songs including my favorite Maiden track of all time Wasted Years. The album does go overboard a bit wit the synths (not for me but I get it with others) but Stranger in a Strange Land is an underrated gem and so is the closer Alexander the Great.
3. Brave New World
Bruce was back in 2000 and this is what came of it. Maiden came flying out of the gates of metal hell and the depressing metal scene of the 90’s like a bat out of hell (RIP Meat Loaf). Brave New World kicks you in the nuts for thinking Maiden was dead, because they were not! As soon as the Wicker Man comes on you know they are back. And the album doesn’t let up. Blood Brothers, Dream of Mirrors, the title track. Everything is just so good on this album. Oh and Maiden decided to have 3 lead guitars! Easily the best post 2000 album Maiden has done.
2. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
The second synth album by Maiden, this one uses the synth a lot better then SIT. Bruce has some songs in this and they are some of the strongest in the catalog. A concept album about the Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, Maiden heads into the 90’s with a head full of steam. The Evil That Men Do, Can I Play With Madness, everything on the album works. It’s just a shame that Steve thought the band needed to go backwards after this because this was the direction they needed to go. Epic songs, epic time changes, this was the progressive way they should be. But because of those decisions, this would be the last record with the golden line up as Adrian Smith would leave following this.
Powerslave
The best album. The album that spawned the biggest world tour they had done up to this point. The biggest stage step up. Maiden was all grown up and Powerslave shows. This album doesn’t have a flaw and it’s peak golden line up. Everyone was settled in and everyone was ready to kick the world in the nuts. Powerslave is one of the best metal albums ever made and from beginning (Aces High) to end (The Rime of the Ancient Mariner) this album is pure 80’s metal at it’s high. Up the Irons!!!!!!!!!!!
Music is something I have had all my life. It has helped me through dark times and happy times. Starting with this blog, I am gonna give you a chance to get to know me more. I will eventually be doing albums but today its all about my favorite bands.
I’m a metal guy in the heart but I do go outside of that. I enjoy Glam, power, thrash, gothic, and hard rock. Honestly I will listen to anything if I enjoy it. And judging by the picture up top, I also love theatrics. You’ll notice this in the list. So lets get this goin!
I have a weird relationship with Volbeat. I saw them in 2014 for the first time with Megadeth and I HATED THEM. Then when I heard their albums, I came to appreciate how unique they are. These guys can make any style into hard rock. Shady Ladies was a late 1800’s western rock album. Seal the deal was a backroom 1930’s voodoo rock album. Rewind was a 1920’s gangster rock album. It’s amazing how crazy these guys get. And the lead singer has one of the most unique voices in all of music. They also got better once they added Anthrax’s old guitarist to the band.
9. Iced Earth
How the Mighty have fallen. If you asked me a year ago, IE is easily in my top 5. However, Jon’s recent actions have knocked them down a few pegs and while I try not to let his idiotic decisions affect the music, the rest of the bands on this list just outweigh these guys now. Their catalog didn’t really age well to me and looking back some albums I thought were awesome (Plagues of Babylon) are not as good as I remember. Iced Earth really relays more on the older stuff (Horror Show and before). Horror Show is still the best record in my eyes, and after that, it falls off the cliff. Glorious Burden is good but the just got closer to the edge. Dante’s Inferno is a real banger though and Burnt Offerings is flled with rage. The fact that the band is probably done for good though.doesn’t help.
8. Ice Nine Kills
I told you I love theatrics and INK really does it with the horror theme. I recently got into them (Check out my Welcome to Horrorwood review) but I love that they are now doing lyrics about movies and stories and not emo crap. 2015 Every Trick in the book is a great album that starts off the trend with the theme being books, but The Silver Scream is where I came in. Now that they don’t have their old guitarst (I hated his screams, too high pitched) Spencer really handles the grunt work well. Honestly I enjoy their screaming and think it adds a nice touch to the music. And they also are adding more metal elements to their sound. A plus.
7. Ghost
Before I get into this, let me apologize to my best friend Richard. Sorry bro. But man do I love Ghost. I saw them back in 2019 and they are an act you need to see live. Easily my 2nd best concert experience (well get to 1 in a second.) This dude sings in full blown prosthetic make up and probably sweats his balls off. Tobias is the brain child of this. Set as a Satanic church who is trying to take over the world with their gospel, Ghost has dipped their toes in everything from 60’s devil rock (Mary on a Cross) to soundtrack themes (Hunter’s Moon) to hard rock (Rats). Rats is easily one of my top 5 favorite songs of all time, that chorus is just catchy. Also the lyrics really hit home with the world we live in “In times of turmoil, In times like these, beliefs contagious, spreading disease.”
6. Green Day
Bet you didn’t expect this one huh? Green Day is my number one concert experience. Green Day kicks ass live and they basically put on a party. Green Day also helped me out during my later high school years. I had just gone through a big break up and I remember that the song Letterbomb was how I was feeling towards the whole situation. I’m more of a fan of later Green Day but the old stuff is good too. But I will never forget that concert. So good.
5. Sabaton
I saw Sabaton in 2014 when they opened for Iced Earth and I remember someone telling me they sang about history. Metal and History, my two favorite things? Sign me up! Sabaton is catchy as hell. All their songs can hook you real quick with how catchy they are. They talk about anything from WW1 to using other bands lyrics in their songs as a tribute. They have really grown since I saw them that day and they are becoming a huge band in their own right.
4. Avenged Sevenfold
Avenged Sevenfold is probably the other controversial band (after Iced Earth Thanks Jon) on my list. If you are not a fan, you probably will say they are posers or bland or boring. To me, they are a love letter to the top 3 bands on my list. They combine all their traits into their own. They play all over the place with time signatures, and when they had The Rev (RIP) the sky was the limit. Now I think they are still trying to fill that void but they might have found it with their new drummer. Of course replacing The Rev is never gonna be easy and probably won’t happen. But they do have one of the best metal records ever made with Nightmare.
3. Judas Priest
The Priest has been around for 50 years. 50!!! And yet you have to look very hard in their catalog to find a bad record. Yes Demolition is not great but Jugulator is just HEAVY. With albums like that and Painkiller and Firepower, it’s no wonder they are called the Metal Gods. And the Metal God himself, Rob Halford, fronts the band so that adds to the points. Priest is straight up metal and is widely stated as an influence in a lot of newer bands. Priest has left their mark on everything metal and judging by the product you can see why.
2. Iron Maiden
I chose that picture just to show you that Bruce Dickinson is a pilot, and he is still metal. Bruce is also an author, fencer, speaker….and I think a bunch of other things too. The point is is that Iron Maiden is as metal as you can get, 17 records, and even on record 17 they are as good as they can be. Oh and the stage show is just nuts. These guys will set a bonfire just to set another fire on top of that fire. You want dark chocolate ice cream? Here is 5 more scoops and a kick in the nuts just cause it’s metal. Oh and Bruce can run around for an hour and jump off shit and yet still sing at the top of his lungs. These guys dont stop for being 70. Oh and Bruce beat cancers so yea Metal as fuck.
1.Metallica
Im sure this doesn’t surprise any of you. Metallica is my favorite band. They are the reason I love music, why I love metal. Why I wanna write my own music. My singing style is based off James Hetfield’s. My playing style too. When I hear Metallica, I am happy. Blissfully happy. I can’t describe it. I really can’t describe how I feel when I hear them. Their music means so much to me. It has helped me so much, during my parents divorce, during my first lost love, during my first year after moving to a new state. Metallica is and always will be my favorite band, even 20 years after hearing their first note.
Well its finally here! Spider Man No Way Home, the highly anticipated 3rd installment in the Tom Holland Spider Man Series, hit theaters december 17th after COVID delays and the worry of box office numbers (Spoiler…it is the 3rd highest grossing opening in the US so screw you COVID). NWH is a celebration of all the Spider Man movies before it, while being a satisfying conclusion to Hollands arc. I am gonna just post this now SPOILERS WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Its hard to talk about this movie without getting into spoilers so this is your last chance to turn away. Go see the movie and come back….
See it? OK Good lets do this.
Story
After Mysterio outed Peters identity to the world, we start off right at those final moments. Peter and MJ swing away as people shout that hes a murderer. We see Peter being questioned by the cops and his friends and Aunt the same. Then we get our first big reveal….
CHARLIE COX IS BACK AS MATT MURDOCK. He tells Peter none of the charges will stick and just like that…..the Mysterio thing is over. This is one problem I had with the movie and I get we had to shave this to get to the meat and potatoes of the story but still. The first 15 minutes also drag. This whole thing really drags until Strange is brought into the story. Which happens after Peter, MJ and Ned dont get into MIT cause of Peter. So Peter goes to Strange, wants him to d a forget spell and erase everything, until he finds out that includes MJ, Ned, May, Happy.
Peter being Peter changes the spell too much and Strange loses it. And thats when Goblin, Ock, Sandman, Electro and Lizard come to this universe. The explanation is instead of people forgetting Peter, people across the Multiverse who know hes Spider Man are coming HERE. Chaos happens and I really dont wanna go beat by beat for the film so lets get onto the characters! Overall the story does it’s job even if you have to suspend belief a little bit.
Charcters
Lets start with the man himself. Tom really gets to show off his acting in this one. His range is huge and wide and in the scene with May’s death (Ill get to that in a second) I really felt for him, as he is beaten and bloody and is like “May run Please.” By the end of this movie he is finally the Spider Man we know. Not Iron man Jr. He is truly alone (The spell ends up working at the end and everyone forgets about Peter Parker.) He has no friends, no May, Happy forgets him, and when he talks to MJ he decides not to tell her. I think A lot of people will be won over by his performance.
Im gonna lump Ned into this because honestly….Ned doesnt do much. There is a scene where he tells Peter he will never betray him (Someone else had a friend who almost killed them HINT HINT) but other then that he is just….there. Yes he is the reason why two people come back but other then that….nothing.
MJ does a bit more and you do find out her surname is actually Watson, but she prefers Jones. It isnt until the end when she is about to lose Peter that we see her acting. Her and Hollands chemistry is a lot like Emma and Andrews in ASM. It’s very strong and good.
Lets get into the onesy you all wanna see!
Im just gonna say one sentence and youll know exactly how I feel about Dafoe’s Goblin. 20 years after first playing the role and he is instantly a top 3 MCU villain. Dafoe is THAT GOOD. He is easily the most dangerous villain Holland has ever faced and since he is not wearing a mask the whole movie, we see Dafoe’s facial expressions. We see how he changes from Norman to Goblin, not just with his voice. He is TERRIFYING. He is evil. he is chaos and insane. He is the MCU’s Joker. And he did this in ONE MOVIE and with like 10 minutes of screen time. His entrance is the best 10 second introduction Ive seen for a villain. It is brilliant. Yes Dafoe is now an MCU villain because he appeared in a movie. (Thats my rule. Its canon if you appear, so Raimi’s trilogy is canon as is ASM. He is an MCU villain). He beats Holland to a pulp in Happys apartment in one of the best close fights scenes I’ve seen. he kills May. He wins by the end of this movie. He has ruined Peters life. he has taken everything away. Only Joker and Thanos can say they’ve won.
If you were one of the people who was worried they would ruin Doc Ock’s character, don’t be. Basically hes pulled from when he was choking Tobey so he is still controlled by the arms. But once he is fixed and the voices go away (so silent, so silent he says, and now you know why he was such a prick) he is that love able guy who loved Rosey. Even when the arms have control he shows flashes of the nice kind guy he is. Molina knocks it out of the part and his interaction with a certain character made me cry. Ock was one of my favorite characters in the Raimi trilogy and he is the same character in NWH.
Electro returns and honestly, he’s OK. He takes the whole nobody thing and runs with it, but he is really just a power hungry villain. Yes with his backstory in ASM 2 he is a more complex character, but in NWH they kinda threw all that out the window. In other words, I don’t remember much of his character.
Same goes with Sandman. When he first shows up he protects Spider Man, but really he feels like he was just added to fill the Spider Man 3 requirement. That is one problem in that it had to represent each movie and SM 3 gt hurt cause of this. No one is touching Franco with a 100 foot pole and Venom was a no. Also, Sandman is complete CGI and the dialogue feels….off. I honestly think they couldn’t get Thomas Hayden Church so they had him do some dialogue and used archive footage when he went back to a human. I get it cause of COVID.
The Lizard though, he is actually used more then I thought he would. Rhys Ifan did the lines but like with Sandman, when he reverts back it’s old footage. Rhys does live in England so again COVID. Lizard isn’t muscle as I thought he would be, he has more lines then Sandman and does more too.
I know what your thinking and I’ll answer the question for you now…..
TOBEY MAGUIRE IS BACK BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No that is not a fan edit. Andrew Garfield and Tobey are back!!!!!
Let’s start with Tobey. Tobey comes in as the calm Peter. We hear glimpses of his life after 3, and he even mentions Venom. He doesn’t miss a beat and it brought me back to my childhood. Tobey’s Spider man got me into the comic book world and seeing him back one more time was what I wanted, needed in this. He is there to be Hollands guide (along with Andrew.) And his interaction when he sees Otto is just…..wow. *Tears* It felt like the characters were talking to me. “Peter is that you. Dear boy you’re all grown up” Damn it Otto yes I am. I need to move on.
Andrew steals the show though as the grief stricken Peter. He tells Peter he doesn’t want him to be like him, To pull your punches, become bitter. Andrew gets redeemed so much in this movie and it’s not his movie. I have come to like his Peter and I want an ASM3 now. He also gets to save MJ, after watching her fall and redeems himself from Gwens death. It needed to be Andrew. He needed his moment. And he cries as he tells MJ he’s OK. God it hits so hard.
Really Quick We Have to Talk about the Post Credits
This isn’t gonna count against the movie but I HATE THE POST CREDITS SCENE. Why did you bring Tom Hardy here if your gonna just SEND HIM BACK. It drives me nuts. You mean to tell me in a world where aliens are real, Asgardians are real, there is a whole universe that the Guardians explore and other things, but Symbiotes are too out there?! You can easily add the symbiotes to the MCU, not have it get left behind when you transport Tom Hardy back to his universe. I was looking forward to that fight. Good job blue balling me Sony. Fuck you.
Final Thoughts
Spider Man NWH is the best Tom Holland Spider Man movie. Is it the best Spider man movie? Maybe, honestly I will have to revisit that when its out on blu ray and watch it back to back with SM2. As far as my personal favorite? Again I will have to watch it after The Dark Knight and Endgame. I don’t want the Nostalgia to cloud my judgement. It has it’s flaws, like slow first 30 minutes and really just sweeps the Mysterio thing under the rug. But after that the movie takes you on a roller coaster of emotions and set’s the stage for Dr Strange 2. Tom’s Peter evolves into the Spider Man we know and he faces his greatest threat in Dafoe’s Goblin. He learns the sacrifices it takes to be Spider Man. And he becomes his own hero by the end.
I am not really a fan of metalcore. I dont mind screaming if it is right for the music. For example, I believe Breaking Benjamin does screams perfectly. They are filled with emotion and provide a picture for the lyrics you are listening to. They are not over kill or used for every line. With that being said, when I was drivin down to see Ghost back in 2019 in a car filled with my brother, a close friend of mine Zac, and Schyler, I was told about this band who had recently done a album the year before full of songs about horror movies. Naturally I was interested since I love 80s slasher movies.
Sitting in the back seat I pulled out my phone and looked into The Silver Scream by Ice Nine Kills. I also saw they were a metalcore band (at the time). I was a little hesitant but checked them out. Im so glad I did. The Silver Scream isn’t a perfect record and I like 8 of the 14 tracks, but it was a good starting point. But this isn’t about that album. This is about the sequel, Welcome To Horrorwood.
Welcome to Horrorwood The Silver Scream 2 is of course like all things horror, a sequel. It is 13 tracks (the first track is a spoken track about the story line we see in the music videos. Spencer Charnas, the lead singer, has been linked to the murder of his fiance) of new horror movies to listen to and maybe eventually, check out for yourself on blu ray or DVD. The track listing and movies are….
Opening Night….
Welcome to Horrorwood (about the movie industry in general)
A Rash Decision (Cabin Fever)
Assault and Batteries (Child’s Play franchise)
The Shower Scene (Psycho Obviously)
Funeral Derangements (Pet Semetary)
Rainy Day (Resident Evil franchise)
Hip to be Scared (American Psycho)
Take Your Pick (My Bloody Valentine)
The Box (Hellraiser)
F.L.Y (The Fly)
Wurst vacation (Hostel)
Ex-Mortis (Evil Dead)
Farewell II Flesh (Candyman)
Judging by the movies, there are no ballads on this album. The closest you’ll get is F.L.Y. No Grace Mistake or Love Bites. This album straight up bangs from the beginning to the end. This shit kicks you in the nuts and then proceeds to keep going. The tracks dont even let up, as they blend in together with maybe a second or two pause between some songs. The tracks really sum up the movies they talk about well (except for F.L.Y). I compare this record to Waken the Fallen by Avenged Sevenfold. The mix of screaming and singing is a very nice blend and fits really well. If you like that album you might like this album too. At 45 minutes long, this album feels more like 30 and that’s a good thing.
Track by Track
After Opening Night, we get the title track, which explains the movie industry. It starts off with piano before Spencer ends the chorus with a scream of the word BACK!! Then the albums really gets moving. Talking about movie clinches and call backs and establishing shots, this track is a great opener.
A Rash Decision is up next with a guitar intro that sounds like it could be from Hail to the King by Avenged Sevenfold. One chord piano arrangements follow in the background till we get to the lyrics and the song, again takes off. Spencer mixes in some screaming but there is more singing in this song then I thought there would be.
Then out of no where we get a news ad, talking about a shootout in a toy store and a wanted serial killer dead. Then we get a toy ad and then the line that makes us all know what song this is. “Hey Andy! IT’S TIME TO PLAY MOTHERFUCKER!” Yes it’s childs play and Chucky. Spencer breaks into singing the verse and then we get a huge bass line and the spelling of E V I L D O L L. What makes this song more abut the frnachise and not about the first movie, unlike some of these tracks, is there are references to Seed of Chucky, the 2019 reboot, and bride. Spencer did a great job including all the movies into this track. Sadly tho this is also one of the more forgotten tracks since it is weaker compared to some of the others. (It was also the 2nd single and gets lost between the other 3.)
DING! We here a motel bell and it’s time for one of the most famous horror movies Psycho. The Shower Scene has almost no screaming. I would say this is probably the closest to A Grave Mistake we get on this album. The lyrics are literally just about the opening of the movie and the end of the song has a detective show up looking for the woman. This song is one of the more commercial songs on the album and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a single eventually. Not that that is a bad thing some commercial songs are really good. This is one of those.
Funeral Derangements is next and like the movie is it based off, this shit kicks. It is also the start of what I call single alley. This song and the next two were the 3 singles released along with Assault and Batteries. This one came out a week before the record came out. This one is 3.4 screaming and thats OK. We also get a backing vocal saying the line from the movie “Sometimes Dead is Better.” The chorus hits hard though as I am a parent myself. “I’ll see you on the other side, but I’d kill to bring you back to life. Don’t give up dont let go, Ill make this right.” If you lost your kid and you could bring them back, don’t lie, you would try. This song is also my 2nd favorite on the album, behind another single.
Rainy Day was a shocking one. Everyone thought it would be Poltergist or 28 Days Later. Not Resident Evil. Spencer isn’t a big gamer so this was out of left field but it fits. It is also the most radio friendly song on the album. But with a chorus that is catchy, you will find yourself banging your head while listening to it in the car if it comes on.
Hip to Be Scared is my favorite on this album. Featuring guest vocals from Jacoby Shaddix of Papa Roach (he plays Paul during the breakdown, a fantastic recreation of the Paul Allen death in American Psycho and sings the last chorus by himself) this song shows us Patricks ever changing psyche by going from nice melodic singing to borderline screaming, kinda like how Patrick would just snap in the movie by one thing. The hip to be square part in the middle is a nice touch too.
Take Your Pick is easily my least favorite song on the album. Although extremely heavy, it leans to far into death metal for me to really enjoy it. Obviously this is because of guest vocals by Corpsegrinder of Cannibal Corpse. But this song does bash your head in with how heavy it is. Just isnt my cup of tea.
The Box. This song is probably the one that sounds like it’s movie the most. Featuring Brandon Saller from Atreyu and Ryan Kirby from Fit For a King, this song closely resembles The American Nightmare from TSS. Ryan Kirby plays the part of Pinhead and Brandon sings the chorus. Ryan’s part fit the song well and it sounds like Pinhead is a guest vocalist. And right before the breakdown when he screams “HELL TEAR YOUR SOUL APART” I just smile everytime. I love Hellraiser 1, 2 and 3 and this song really feels like Hellraiser 1.
F.L.Y is probably second weakest track on this album for me. I mean the lyrics don’t really fit the movie (unless Im mistaken, please tell me) minus one or two lines and it feels like filler. Almost as if Spencer needed one more song and just decided to put this in. It’s OK but probably should’ve been a B side. Take Your Pick at least fits the album, this one doesn’t.
Wurst Vacation is about Hostel and includes some german guy saying some stuff to capture the German torturer from the movies. The chorus is extremely catchy too, and the intro has a nice beat to it. It has some techno elements in it but not much. My only problem is the song just kinda ends. You think they are gonna sing the chorus one more time but instead it just goes right into the next track. It’s kinda odd.
That next track is Ex Mortis and it feels like Sam Raimi was in the room with the band giving them pointers on how to make an Evil Dead song. I mean this song feels like Evil Dead. If Sam Raimi had to make a song this would be it. The chorus will stick in your head for a long time and you’ll find yourself humming it. It’s that catchy.
Our finale though is Farewell II Flesh, the story of Candyman. We get a soft beginning of him narrating how he fell in love with a forbiddon lover and then like the title track, goes heavy as he screams colony! This is as big as the finale on TSS IT is the End. We get occasional sounds of bees and then the bridge, as he tells her she is his Queen Bee. It’s hauntingly beautiful, kinda like the first movie. We get one more scream and then bees end the album, and our journey through another album of our horror favorites.
This album isn’t perfect, even if it may seem like it is, but it is close for me. I get not everyone will enjoy this but do what I did and at least listen to it once. INK is a band that deserve to be given a shot. And by that I mean check out either The Silver Scream or this. They have evolved from their older sound and this may be more up your alley. Break out of your comfort zone. It’s only 45 minutes and if you don’t like it, that’s OK. Not everyone is the same. But for me, I am so glad I got into this band.
On June 5th 2003, Metallica came out with St Anger, their 8th studio album and by far the most divisive one. After Load and RELoad in 1996 and 1997 and then a covers album in 98 and live album in 99, fans were dying for a new Metallica album, one of originals and back to basics. It had been 12 years since the black album, one of the biggest selling metal records of all time and the one that cemented Metallica into heavy metal fame. With fans beginning to divide into pre 91 Metallica and post 91 Metallica, I fell into neither camp….mainly because I didnt know who Metallica really was!
Nowadays if you know me, you would think that’s psycho but back in 2003 I was a freshmen in high school getting ready to go into my sophomore year. I wasn’t big into music at the time and I was mainly into the trends at the time. Papa Roach, Linkin Park you can see the roots of metal were there. But all that would change the summer of 2003.
To give you a quick story into the recording of St Anger, In 2001, the band was a shell of itself. They were fighting (mainly between Lars and James) James Newstead had quit and they hired a therapist to help them solve there differences. James Newstead thought this was stupid since they were all in their 40s (hes right looking back on it. Should’ve just punched each other in the face and hugged haha) but at the time James Hetfield was in a very bad spot. He was addicted to alcohol (he pounded a whole bottle of Vodka on a hunting trip in Russia in 4 days!) and he had anger issues. Lars was and has always been a bit of a prick and was pushing James buttons. James entered rehab and no one knew if Metallica was a thing now. James was in rehab till December of that year, but only allowed to work from 12-4pm. With all these setbacks, the album took more then a year to record. Also a lot of the songs that were recorded before James entered rehab would not be on the albums (like temptation). Listening to clips and the final product I understand why.
St Anger as we got it is way different then even Load and RELoad. It is a tuned down, raw production with a lo of emotion behind lyrics, mainly James battles within. It is the only product we could’ve gotten from Metallica at the time and it needed to be done in order to get the band we now know today. Otherwise we dont get an album in 03 and maybe not till Death Magnetic in 08. The album showcases 01-03 for this band in amazing fashion. Yes Lars drum is annoying as hell but to me this album is a living recording a band rehabbing itself, no matter how awful it might. This album also holds a special place in my heart and Im finally gonna admit it….I like St Anger and always have. Even for it’s flaws.
St Anger is the album that started it all for me. There would be no Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, or any of that on my Ipod if it wasn’t for that album. In the summer of 03, as computers were blooming, I was on my computer when I first heard St Anger. I begged my grandparents to buy the album for me (my family hated those advisory stickers.) When I got it, it’s all I listened to., My world had turned upside down. I knew some of Metallicas song thanks to my parents (my parents grew up in the 80s, hair and all). I knew Enter Sandman cause who didn’t? But this album was the one. I didn’t stop listening to it for weeks, even as I went to school and other kids were like “There are better albums.” I didn’t care. I emerged myself into the world of Metallica. Metallica became my favorite band. James Hetfield became my reason for singing and learning guitar, and wanting to write music. James Hetfield became my hero for overcoming his flaws and addiction (even if he had a setback or two).
I learned about Metallica and set out on a quest to find the other albums. next came buying Load in a blizzard, popping it into my cd player as the wind blew in my face. Then of course RELoad cause it was the sister album to Load. Then Kill Em All, then Master, and so on. I had them all and thats when I decided to try other metal bands. Iron maiden has a cool mascot they must be like Metallica! My old bowling alley boss was like “You like those bands, try Judas Priest.” Megadeth had similar artwork (My best friend Richard is a huge Megadeth fan so that helped too.) On and on it went.
I owe my whole metal catalog to St Anger. If you don’t like St Anger that is fine. i know a lot of people don;’t. But that album made me who I am today. It helps when I’m angry, or feeling upset. It has my second favorite Metallica song, The Unnamed Feeling, which as a high schooler got me through my first love leaving me. It was practically a tale of my life during my most confusing years. It was a symbol of my high school life. It is more then a record for me.
So yes it is probably Metallica’s worst album and that’s OK. What matters at the end of the day is what it means to me, just like some of you favorite albums. Never let anyone make you think otherwise. I like St Anger, and Im glad you know I do.
Godzilla vs Kong is the most epic (and hopefully not last) latest installment in lLegendary’s MonsterVerse. After 7 years (2014 Godzilla) these two forces finally clashed and the battle wasn’t what I was expecting. Besides the obvious low points (why do we even need humans in this?) this movie works best when the two title characters are in the movie.
Warning: Spoilers Below
THE STORY
GVK starts off with Kong in a dome. The people on his island are all gone except for a little girl, who has adopted Kong, and he has adopted and protected her as well. Kong is pissed to be there though as we see that since the events on 2019’s King of the Monsters, Skull Island isn’t what it use to be. Its raining and breaking down. They want to move Kong to find the hollow earth, but Dr Ilene does not want to move Kong, for HE will come after him. And the he we are referring to is TEAM GIANT THIGHS BABY, THE ONE, THE ONLY KING OF THE MONSTERS GODZILLA (I’m a Godzilla fan, deal with it).
Meanwhile, the Apex company approaches Nathan about funding an exploration to the hollow earth, a region in the center of the earth that can house Kong. Nathan convinces Ilene to take Kong there, and they set sail with Kong on a boat. Meanwhile, Godzilla is attacking Apex facilities and Madison from the last movie thinks something is wrong with Godzilla. Something is messing with him.
Eventually though, Godzilla gets wind of Kong being transported and decides to go take him out. What follows is an 18 minute long monster fest of Kong getting his ass handed to him, because he cannot compete with the King. Kong gets some good shots in, I will admit, but by the end of this fight, Godzilla is clearly up 1-0.
They play dead and Godzilla leaves. Nathan decides to fly Kong to Antarctica since if they set sail Godzilla will know they were lying. After getting there, they go into the hollow earth and Kong is at home. After exploring a bit, Kong finds a throne and statues of his ancestors. Oh, AND HE FINDS AN AXE WITH BLUE ATOMIC COLORS. Meanwhile, Godzilla is now in Hong Kong.
Oh and Madison is there too. And they find out Apex is actually evil and they use some of the hollow earth power or whatever to power up MECHAGODZILLA, who is using King Ghodoriahs head to cause Godzilla to go nuts. Mechagodzila gets a mind of its own and kills the head Apex guy.
After Godzilla blasts a hole into the center of the earth (this movie is so stupid I love it), Kong falls through it and we get round 2. But Kong HAS AN AXE. He gets a good few whacks in and wins round 2. By this point it is pretty much known that Godzilla isn’t trying to kill Kong. He just wants him to bow. Well Godzilla is now pissed and almost kills Kong in round 3. Godzilla wins. Yes folk, WE HAVE A WINNER AND IT IS TEAM GIANT THIGHS. However Mechagodzilla enters the fight and totally whomps Godzilla. Nathan and Dr Ilene jump start Kong’s heart and he helps Godzilla win (after the humans short circuit MechaGodzilla. Look I don’t care about these characters,). Kong gets the killing blow and after a stare down, Kong drops his axe and leaves. End.
CHARACTERS
This is a Kong movie. Kong is front and center. He is made the main character and by the end of was feeling bad for Kong. He wanted to be left alone. He never really wanted to fight Godzilla. Godzilla just forced him too. Kong was trying to find a new home. The fact that gets the killing blow against MechaGodzilla is good too. Little reward for losing the real fight.
Godzilla is more of a supporting character. We only see him when hes destroying things and when the plot calls on him to fight Kong. He is made the weapon of destruction he was made back in the 50’s and we see in this universe the people finally scared of him. But then by the end we realize he is not so bad. Not much to say about him though.
I’m sure you noticed I didn’t talk about the humans much and that is because I just dont care. They are literally the worst things in these movies. They exist to get the monsters to fight each other, to get from point A to point B. They are blah, they are boring, they are stupid (Madison’s mom in KOTM is horrible I hate her so much), they just are badly written. I don’t care what they do to the plot, just give me monsters. MONSTERS FIGHTING MONSTERS WITH ALL THE NONSENSE YOU CAN GIVE ME.
Speaking of nonsense, the plot is stupid, but in a good way. If you go into this movie thinking it’ll be serious (Its a movie about a giant lizard and giant Ape fighting really with a hollow earth) you will hate it. But if you turn your brain off and eat some popcorn, you’ll love it.
MechaGodzilla is the worse kept secret ever, and the 3 minutes he’s in it really justify his position in Godzilla lore as a force. He almost kills Godzilla and almost kills Kong, if not for a stupid joke. Hopefully we get MechaGhidorah.
PLEASE MAKE MORE
Speaking of MechaGhidorah, I really hope Toho gives Legendary the rights again or something. This universe needs to continue. There are so many avenues you can go. Explore Kong’s history and his adventures in the hollow earth, while Godzilla fights on the surface of earth. Once in a while have them team u to face a bigger threat. In a world where you can show mankind’s and humanity’s failures there is so much you can do. I think we should get Biolinte, to show mankind’s destruction of mother earth. Then you can end this whole series with DESTROYAH, the creature born from the oxygen destroyer. The thing that almost killed Godzilla. Hell Destroyah KILLED Godzilla Jr in the 1994 version. He is clearly a threat.
Overall this movie is good. The effect are great, the fights are great, we actually get a winner and not a cheap cop out (looking at you BvS). It’s a great popcorn movie. But can we please just not have anymore human characters, or make their roles very small,thanks.
I use to love wrestling. I remember my group of friends and me gathering around outside the school on a Monday morning (after a PPV) or Tuesday (After a Nitro or Raw, I grew up during the Monday night Wars) and just going crazy about what Stone Cold or the NWO did the night before. I was truly spoiled. I grew up during the prime of WCW/WWF.
I love wrestling….or loved I should say. I loved watching it. I still enjoying playing it, but with only a handful of people I know on the roster, I stick with the legends or creating my own wrestlers. It just isn’t the same. How did we get here? Let’s journey down that road and start from the beginning.
Attitude with a Bit of Nitro
Like I said above, i grew up with wrestling in the mid 90’s. My parents said I was a huge Hulk fan but honestly, I was too young to remember that. I grew up in Glens Falls, NY, home of Hacksaw Jim Duggin. So wrestling was huge among the people there. My first real memory though is Summerslam 97. My mom was a huge HBK fan (of course she was) and me at the time, Undertaker, and Bret Hart. Those 3 were the main event of SS 97. When HBK hit Taker with the chair I was furious. But I was hooked.
Every Monday night I would flip back and forth between Raw and Nitro. Watching HBk and Taker feud and some fat guy talking about I KNOW YOUR SECRET UNDERTAKER!!!! KANE IS ALIVE!!!!!! Ah good old Paul Bearer. If only I was old enough to understand your brilliance. Then on Nitro you had Hollywood Hogan and the NWO, which I was also into. I don’t remember much about my times with Nitro but I remember my parents shelling out 120 dollars a month for both shows PPVs. I was too young to understand the Montreal Screwjob but just that I wondered why Bret wasn’t around.
Then it happened. Stone Cold happened. My parents hated Stone Cold. Guess who loved Stone Cold. Me! He was my favorite. he was every one of my friends favorite. He was edgy and cool. He didn’t give a shit. We loved it. I had every shirt. I tried to mimic him (luckily I never got in trouble though haha). Stone Cold was my favorite. I gave him every title in the games.
I was at the Raw the night after he won the title at WM 14. The night X-Pac came back ( I was so confused in the audience, I didn’t know who he was at the time). It was a great time to be a fan. I never missed an episode until 2001….
Moving to a Whole New World…..Where Wrestling Doesn’t Exisit
In June of 2001 my family and I packed up to move to the frozen wasteland of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. It was a total 180. No one here cared about Wrestling. Which meant I stopped caring too.
As a 13 year old moving to a new school in the early 2000’s, you kinda had to go with everyone else. So I tuned out. I tuned into one Wrestlemania during this time and that was the Trump one. Don’t ask me why I don’t know. I just wanted to find my love for it again. But it was tough, no one liked it so I had no one to talk to.
Finding New Friends to Ignite an Old Passion
Then in 2010 I found a group of friends who were into it and we watched again. My buddy Richard and I would stay up till 3am playing Smackdown Vs Raw. We watched every PPV at my friend Sean’s house. I had found my passion for wrestling again. And as we dissected every show by listening to podcasts or reading the dirt sheet, wondering what was gonna come next, it was fun again. Although Cena dominated most of the early years, stars like Brock Lesnar, The Rock coming back for a few years and Undertaker and HBK going at it, really helped keep it going. The matches were some of the best.
But what really cemented it for me was CM Punk and the Summer of Punk. When Punk went on his pipe bomb, he was instantly my favorite. He locked me in like Stone Cold did. I had his line of shirt and enjoyed everything he did. And he was better in the ring then Austin was. Punk was awesome.
After he left in 2014, I had trouble finding a new favorite, and honestly I still dont. I like Rollins but Rollins just doesnt have that promo that I like. No one hooks me anymore like those two did. And that is where the seed began to grow.
Passion Lost
When the Shield debuted, they were lesser known people. But my love for wrestling slowly went away when the company started forcing Roman down my throat. I dont like Roman Reigns, even now that he is heel. I find nothing great about him and honestly wish he would go away for a year. I had the same problem with Cena but now that he is gone and been gone, I find myself missing the son of a bitch. Roman being pushed in the main event, rarely losing, goes away for a few months and then wins the title when he comes back just leaves a sour taste in my mouth. It made me not wanna watch
Also like I said before, no one really sticks out. Bray Wyatt never really got going, Randy Orton lost his edge when they went PG, Seth Rollins is great in the ring but I find myself wanting more out of his promos, The Miz is a great heel but he was never really given a great run as his only title run came at the expense of The Rock vs Cena Feud, and his recent two week reign was a joke.
AEW is around and after the first few months I realized they aren’t bringing the change they said they would. Kenny Omega is overrated in my eyes, and when the Young Bucks stay near the top, I can’t help but think it’s favoritism cause Cody Rhodes is the booker. No one is really a rising star outside of a few guys. It feels like WWE Lite to me.
The story lines are horrible in WWE and only a few ones are good. Creative can’t keep a story going and have no end goals in sight. Vince changes his mind constantly, and even he doesn’t know what he wants. The women have made great strides and Im glad they aren’t a joke anymore, which is one of the few hightlights.
Watching Wrestlemania even feels like a chore now. For every good step wrestling does to bring me back in, they do something to push me away. I wanna love it again….but I can’t. After all this I think I realize why I can’t.
The Main Event (Conclusion)
The issue here is the product is just so bad. It is too reliant on the mainstream, the kids. And I get that, They give them the money and that’s fine. The product is not made for me right now. Maybe in a few years it will be. 5 maybe even 10.
It just sucks because wrestling has been such a big part of me and now it isn’t. I can’t force myself anymore to try and watch it. Maybe I’ll tune in every once and a while and hopefully one day it’ll hook me again. But I need to accept the fact that this product is made for those 7 year olds and 10 year olds in the crowd, who don’t know story telling yet, and that’s OK. Please love it. Please enjoy it. When I was your age I didn’t get it either, but I had FUN. and that is what your suppose to do when you watch wrestling, have fun. I don’t right now. If you do have fun and enjoy it I’m happy for you. This is just my opinion, just like yours. Watch what makes you happy and what you enjoy.
For me, that’s not what’s on TV right now. Until that is, I will continue my re watch of wrestling in the 90s.
After a year of waiting, phase 4 of the MCU is finally here! And boy does it start off with some heavy themes of grief, acceptance, denial and loss. Announced back in 2019, WandaVision was originally suppose to come out in Spring of 2021, right before Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which is directly connected to it. However after the world shut down due to COVID, everything got pushed back and WandaVision, instead of Falcon and the Winter Soldier became the beginning of phase 4.
WandaVision clearly shows that is was effected by the delays. It seems as though it was rewritten a little bit towards the end since Dr Strange was now a year away (March 2022, now behind Spider Man: No Way Home, that is also supposedly connected to these two). Also the style and drawn out story lines seem to be something that was suppose to be two shows in, not the kick off we’ve all been waiting for. ( Warning Spoilers to follow . For Disney Plus shows I will review them once the whole series is out) Reminder: This is just my opinion and it is OK if we have different views. Please be respectful.
The Story
Like I explained a little bit above, this is Wanda’s story. It is a 6 hour story about Wanda dealing with grief and accepting the loss of her lover, Vision, who has one massive headache after Thanos. We start out in this 50’s sitcom reality and through the first 3 episodes, go to the 60’s then 70’s, where Wanda gives birth to twins. Everything is happy go lucky until things start not being as they seem. Vision’s boss chokes on some food, which freaks out his wife, A red helicopter toy is in Wanda’s yard that shouldn’t be there (everything is in black and white till episode 3) someone talks to Wanda through a radio and then Monica Rambeau gets thrown through a wall and ejected after bringing up Ultron. This is clearly Wanda’s world and she is playing with everyone in there, so don’t piss her off.
We find out Monica works for SWORD and the shady director Hayward, who is really interested in Vision, and just wants to go straight up WW2 on Wanda. The whole town of Westview is missing and no one seems to care, except Jimmy Woo. Oh and Darcy is here, but she’s here to really just tell Vision he’s dead.
As the episodes go on, SWORD tries to break in, only for Wanda to come out of the hex and tell them to leave her alone, she has everything she needs. Vision begins to suspect that everything isn’t what it seems and when he reaches the barrier and escapes, he proceeds to break down and die. Something isn’t right with Vision.
Meanwhile Wanda has a very noisy neighbor names Agnes. Something isn’t right with her! Well yea that is because she is Agatha Harkness, the real big bad in this series (or not? I don’t know she seems shoehorned in to give us a villain). Agatha calls Wanda the Scaret Witch and she is using Chaos Magic to make this world. We then go on a Christmas Carol like backstory, showing Wanda all the crap she has gone through, and OOOOOH boy did she go through a lot. Loses her parents, then becomes a witch (I think they are retconning her to be a mutant now that they have the rights but that isn’t the point), then loses her brother Pietro, loses Vision, only to get dusted, come back five years later and oh ya that bastard Hayward shows WANDA HER DEAD LOVERS BODY IN PIECES, which causes her to lose her mind, go to westview where Vision bought a piece of land to build a house and she just breaks down and makes this reality. And the sitcom part comes from the fact that she loved the Dick VanDyke show as a kid.
Meanwhile at SWORD, Hayward uses some chaos magic from the missile that they shot in to reactivate Vision, who is now The White Vision, an emotional less robot. Wanda is gonna love that one huh? Agatha reveals her plan, which is to take Wanda’s powers (BLAH) and they fight, while Vision fights…..Vision. Vision gives the White Vision his memories, Wanda becomes the Scarlet Witch for real, and banishes Agatha to live as Agnes the rest of her life. Wanda gives up her family, and leaves to go live in a cabin in the middle of nowhere. She studies the Darkhold (an evil book about her powers) and hears her kids cry out. And Thats that.
Overall I didn’t mind the story but it took sooooo long to get any answers. We didn’t get any concrete answers till Episode 8, the backstory and really the show doesn’t give us many hints as to how it connects to DS2. Yes it tells it’s own story and is really self contained but it felt like this was made with DS2 payoff a few weeks later and probably would’ve benefited from being pushed back as well. I get they wanted to get it out since they had nothing for a whole year and Falcon and Winter Soldier was not ready, but now we have to wait till at least December to see if there is any payoff to the post credit scene and the twins screaming. Obviously she’s gonna break the multiverse open to get them back but its over a year away.
But again I didn’t mind the story. It was Wanda’s story and the fallout for her after Endgame. It did what it set out to do as far as she goes with explaining more of her backstory and really putting her at the front since she was such a side character in Ultron, Civil War and Infinity War. While she had major impacts in those films, they weren’t about her. They were about The Avengers, Captain America, and Thanos respectfully. Wanda gets her chance to shine.
The Characters
Like I said above, the show is about Wanda. We watch her go through the stages of grief before she finally accepts that she is alone (until her twins cry out, then everything goes backwards). But another person I thought was really fleshed out more was Vision.
We knew Vision was a hero but we thought he was a calculated hero. Running numbers and doing what the numbers said were the right thing, such as Civil War when he joined Tony due to chaos. However here we see that is not the case. he just does what is the good thing to do. When he is getting sucked back into the hex and dying, he doesn’t care about himself, he cares more about saving the people. Here is a man who is dying and all he is saying is the people need help! Nothing about help me, just help everyone else. He is also willing to fight Wanda to get answers about why the people are suffering. He is truly a hero and unless White Vision becomes just like him, i’s a shame we won’t see Vision anymore.
Agatha Harkness is suppose to be the big bad of the show and honestly it hurts the show a bit. Agatha is really just a generic big bad once she reveals herself. Yes her own mother betrayed her in 1680 (or whenever) but other then that, there is no motivation for her to act the way she is. She really just wants to know how Wanda learned chaos magic and then wants to steal it, cause that’s her powers. She can drain the energy from people and kill them (BLAH). To me she was just not fleshed out enough to warrant being the villain in this series. I honestly would’ve liked it if there was no villain and Wanda just went crazy and they had to stop her.
The supporting characters are Good to OK to once again just generic. Hayward, just wants to make his own version of Vision and make it a weapon (like every villain in the Iron Man movies). If he had more of a motive behind this, it could’ve worked. Jimmy Woo is in this and if they wanna make a Jimmy Woo spin off of him just going after weird shit, I’m OK with that. He’s funny and like able enough in this to warrant a show. Darcy is here too and again she is to provide comedy and tell Vision a recap of the last 10 MCU movies. Oh and “Pietro” comes back.
Yes Evan Peters plays “Pietro”. And boy does this hurt to type. Through 4 episodes, you think that he is playing the X-Men Pietro. The good version. You’re thinking, yay multiverse! Here is the connections! Hugh Jackman is coming back! Pump the breaks. He isn’t playing Pietro. He’s a boner joke! An effing boner joke. He is a resident actor named Ralph Boehner. And I’m sorry but it isn’t funny. Just make him the X-Men Quicksilver or don’t cast him.
Multiverse?
Which brings me to this. There is no hint to the multiverse in this whole series. The big payoff we kept hearing about. Wanda breaking the multiverse open, Dr Strange cameo to set up DS2. NOTHING. Fiege said at investor day that WandaVision, Spider Man and DS2 are all connected. But nothing except that post credits scene with the kids screaming, and even that didn’t really make any concrete connections.
I know this is the MCU and everything pays off at the end of the phase or in the future, but just one connection would’ve been nice. Just one hint like “Wanda if you do this, the multiverse could break open”. Aside from a name drop of the Sorcerer Supreme, nothing. If it sounds like im hating, I’m really not. It works as a self contained story but Marvel and Disney didn’t do much to help themselves by hyping up the connection to DS2. Yes this is probably due to the fact that fan theories went WILD during this show. We all probably just were jonesing for some MCU stuff after a whole year of waiting. I get it. I am guilty of all this too.
The Final Word
Overall I enjoyed WandaVision, but as I let it sit for a month, I realized it wasn’t as great as when I saw the last episode. That’s why I waited to do this review. I needed to rewatch it and let it settle. It’s good, and I think it is a worthy addition to the MCU timeline, but it is probably more near the upper middle of the pack in terms of where it fits in the MCU. It is a great origin show for Wanda, getting to really see who she is, while setting up where she is going in the future. We saw her grow into the Scarlet Witch and really got to see all the pain she has experienced, and not just hear about it. We got to see Vision a bit more and what he is really like. We saw Wanda grieve, go into denial, and accept that Vision is gone. We now get the reward of speculating for a whole year of will Wanda use her powers for good or break the multiverse open to get her kids back. I’m guessing come March 2022, Dr Strange will be stopping Wanda from doing the latter.
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