RaidersOfTheLostCommunist Reviews

Dunkirk (2017)

Nolan's heart was in the right place at least

[5/10 · 31 December 2023]

*I know what Nolan was trying to do, make a war film with as little cgi as possible. He wanted everything to be in front of the screen. We have to applaud him.

Execution wise, this movie is boring, slow, and even at less than 2 hours it feels 30 minutes too long.

*There is no story, no characters, and Dunkirk looks very very bare. Just watch that "Dunkirk-scene" from the movie "Atonement" and you will see that it is done way better in "Atonement."

*This movie is just boring but Nolan can't help but add his "magic" to it. He just can't make a straight forward film anymore, he has to make different timelines, he has to try to make everything "Memento-like." Not everything needs that back and forth thing, just make a straight up story.

5/10 Good directing and acting, but boring film, action scenes are boring, no story, no characters, and Nolan really needed to add come CGI for his Dunkirk films to show more troops. It just looks so bare.

Cruella (2021)

Not a bad movie but annoying

[7/10 · 5 December 2023]

This movies follows a pattern very early on and you will notice it. It becomes a music video every 15 minutes, I kid you not. This movie uses the same overused songs that has been done to hell and back, for example they use The Zombies' "It's The Time of The Season" during a montage. Wow, that has never been done before in a movie.

Seriously, this annoyed me to all hell, and once you start to notice that it is just a giant advertisements for songs, it loses everything.

"The first one attacked Tokyo in 1954. Tens of thousands of lives were lost. We mourned our dead, memorialized the event, and moved on. And then, only one year later, the second attack hit Osaka. And then we learned, that this was not gonna stop. This was just the beginning."

7/10.

Godzilla Minus One (2023)

Leave Godzilla to the Japanese, Hollywood!!

[9/10 · 3 December 2023]

*Welcome the King, the great one, Godzilla. Born from the ashes of atomic war, Godzilla Minus One is THE BEST Godzilla movie ever made, yes it is the best movie in the series, the best Kaiju Movie, and one of the best movies of 2023.

*This movie truly blew me away, from the opening shot to the final epic battle, there are so many amazing action set pieces in this movie. The last 3 American Godzilla films pales in comparison to this movie. This is THE ONLY GODZILLA film you need to see, if you are only interested in one of them.

*The acting is great for the most part, but there are some overdramatic moments, nothing new to Japanese entertainment. The action if AMAZING, all of the action is amazing.

*You HAVE TO WATCH THIS MOVIE.

*- The only downside is that there is a twist at the end that I kinda rolled my eyes at, and the movie could had cut maybe 10-15 minutes off and it would had been a lot smoother.

9/10.

Devil May Cry 2 (2003 Video Game)

Boring game even when it first came out

[5/10 · 22 November 2023]

Played this game when it first came out, thought it was extremely boring. The combat is ok but not really refined, mostly resorting to just shooting everything with your guns. THe maps are bigger but empty. Enemies are bland, from gorillas to these metal skeleton looking things. Boss battles are terrible, from tanks with eyeballs to helicopters with eyeballs. Just stay back and shoot, shoot, shoot.

What i hate is the level up system. Not only does it take a lot of red orbs to upgrade your weapons, you gain no new attacks and it just raises the attack power. You get so much weapons that is becomes annoying when you spent all your orbs upgrading a weapon then you find a new weapon which is stronger and realized you wasted your red orbs on the previously weapon (which you will never use again).

Lastly Dante is now a mute for some reason. Dude barely talks, and the ending is horrible.

Anyways, the only good thing I can say about this is the character model for Dante is great. This is my favorite Dante look.

5/10 Capcom pretty much erased this game from history, similar to WWE and Chris Benoit.

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty (2023 Video Game)

Good expansion with flaws

[9/10 · 22 November 2023]

This is a pretty good expansion, with a great and emotional story to add to the already emotional story of the main campaign. I think it isn't 100% needed to fully enjoy Cyberpunk 2077 (unlike Witcher 3's Blood and Wine expansion).

There are some nice missions in this expansion, and some of the spy stuff reminded me a lot of James Bond and even a little Metal Gear Solid. The new characters are interesting and they all have two sides to them. It makes them all pretty unique.

So the main story of this is pretty good, the downside is Dogtown itself. It really doesn't look any different from other parts of Night City, sure it looks a tad bit more "Mad Max" like, but it isn't like Witcher 3's Toussaint map, which was almost the completely opposite of the dark and bleak world of the main game. Dogtown isn't interesting, there isn't anything cool to do there, and I thought this expansion was gonna open up the map more towards the outer top right area (since it was blacked out in the original).

Also Dogtown is extremely, extremely small, you can drive through Dogtown in maybe 30 seconds if you were to just go straight. I can't express just how tiny Dogtown is. Just imagine maybe 7 - 10 Night City blocks (squared).

Anyways, it adds a new but depressing ending, multiple choice regular endings, and a few cool missions and action set pieces, especially one in an airport (that is all I'm gonna say).

9/10 (I recommend fans to play this game, but casual players can probably get through Cyberpunk 2077 without going through this story)

The One (2001)

Jet Li's Nu-Metal: The Movie

[5/10 · 12 August 2023]

Seriously, this movie is just an advertisement for Nu-Metal, yeah remember what was back in the late 90's to mid 00's? Spiky black hair, big baggy pant, two note riffs, black makeup, piercings and of course, dreadlocks!!!

Every single scene that involves a car chase, shootout, explosion, or fight scene has a nu-metal band playing loudly. We have Disturbed blasting, there is a lot of love for Drowning Pool and Papa-Roach in this movie for some reason. I mean the first Papa Roach album is good and that is pretty much it, same with Drowning Pool. It does become a music video at most points.

The story is dumb as hell, but Jet Li tries his best. Jason Statham is also good as this one note "tough" future cop. Also love to Delroy Lindo dude! Man it is weird seeing Statham with hair, it looks sprayed on or something. Glad he went the bald route.

The action is just okay but the use of slo-mo for the final fight really sucks, and this movie is probably Jet Li's 2nd worst American film. War is his worst.

5/10.

The Critical Drinker (2012– )

Started off good, then leaned too right

[1/10 · 25 July 2023]

This dude started off kinda good, his early Resident Evil reviews were good. Somewhere along the way though, he became some sort of far right leaning dude, aiming for that target of people. Example would be, he was praising Resident Evil games, then suddenly he disses RE3 because he said Capcom (which is an Asian company) is trying to be woke because they made Jill a strong woman. She has always been a strong woman since the 90's you idiot.

Anyways, his Tom Clancy ripoff books are trash, he hides in Europe so nobody can find him, he bashes any movie that doesn't have 100% White people, he bashes people's work but doesn't let people review his books online. But the thing is, all these companies are rich and have money flowing, they ain't gonna go bankrupt anytime soon bruh.

That is who this dude is. He was hiding his face for a long time but finally revealed his face, now we know what he is like.

10/10.

Oppenheimer (I) (2023)

3 hours of talking and I was not bored

[9/10 · 23 July 2023]

Yes, this is a 3 hour movie with 99.9% talking, the other 0.1% is stuff involving bombs or chemical reactions. I would say I was not bored in this movie. I went in knowing its gonna be 3 damn hours, but Nolan did a great job of pacing, the music really helped make this movie not a snooze-fest. Also, do not go in expecting to see explosions and all this war stuff, there is not a single image of war in this film, which is a great choice. Minor spoiler but they don't test the atomic bomb until pass the 2 hour mark.

If you are interested in the subject matter like me, you will find a really well done and perfectly acted film. There is not really a lot to complain about, but I feel this movie is best watched with subtitles since there are a lot of talking, a lot of names, a lot of accents, and sometimes you can't really hear what is being said because of the loud music.

I would go and even say this is Nolan's best film since Inception, which has gotten better over the years in my opinion. I would love to re-watch this again with subtitles. Also the acting is great, and awesome to see Josh Harnett back. He really is an underrated actor.

Anyways I say 9/10 because even though it is 3 hours long, it still felt like stuff was missing at certain points, Oppenheimer's wife barely had any characters, they jump two years in time and it didn't really feel like that was done smoothly.

Anyways, a great film, 9/10.

Monster (2014)

One of the most misguided thriller ever

[2/10 · 28 June 2023]

Korean thrillers are usually pretty decent, but this movie is one of the most misguided and misdirected thriller ever. There is literally ZERO direction in the themes, the story, the acting, and the overall feel of this movie.

This movie is a bunch of random stuff put together, and it is pretty damn bad. It starts of dark and bleak, then suddenly turns into some weird comedy, then dark and bleak again, then back to a comedy but this time it is all slapstick, and it just goes back and forth. Also towards the end it becomes a buddy comedy coming of age movie for about 5 minutes. This is one of the worst movies I have ever seen. Also the two main girls are good but all they ever freaking do is cry CRY cry. What is wrong with this movie?!?!?!

There is no real plot to this movie, it makes no F(_)cking sense. The story literally makes no freaking sense. It is about many things, but the main plot is about this guy who hired his serial killer brother to go find a cell phone for him. It is later revealed that they are not real brothers but they are afraid of him but keep calling him to come over too. It makes no sense.

Second plot is about this girl who has a mental illness (done very poorly in this movie and also kinda offensive). She is trying to find the serial killer because he killed her sister, but along the way she meets a young girl whose sister got killed by him too. The little girl happens to know where the cell phone is at. Along the way they go on a wacky adventure, a lot of annoying crying scenes, some very very weird and out of place comedy, a lot of annoying screaming, and the ending is just bad.

Also the serial killer has no real back story, and there is no explanation as to why he is a skinny dude but somehow is also part Terminator, being able to take multiple heavy blows to the back of the head that will kill even the strongest man, or being able to survive getting stabbed in the kidneys. Also he is able to easily destroy 5+ Korean soldiers in a fight which makes no sense.

The first act is not bad, but from the half way point it is pretty much unwatchable. This is one of the worst Korean movies I have ever seen, and also one of the most annoying movies too.

2/10 (only good thing is that the actresses are kinda cute)

Confession of Murder (2012)

Good premise, but inconsistency

[7/10 · 28 June 2023]

The overall movie is intriguing no doubt, but it is very inconsistent. This movie is for the most part a very dark and bleak thriller about a serial killer who "got away" with murdering people. The plot is pretty cool and the final big twist is not bad.

The main problem is that despite being a very dark and bleak and even violent film, there are scenes were it just straight up becomes a looney toons cartoon, with a crazy set piece involving people fighting over an object on a freeway going 60 MPH. It kinda becomes a slapstick Three Stooges skit for about 5 minutes. There is also a part towards the end with another crazy unnecessary chase scene where one character literally (I mean literally) becomes Spiderman and is able to cling on to a truck like Spiderman would in any of those movies.

Lastly I really like the twist, but at the same time it was also extremely extremely crazy and utterly insane. I have to give balls to the writer/director for coming up with such a crazy ass twist.

Anyways, not a bad watch 7/10.

Gôruden bouru (2002– )

Just an average predictable (but good) drama

[7/10 · 28 June 2023]

There is really nothing new here, it is just an average predictable but ultimately decent drama. There are all the beats that people love in these dramas, some cheating, some romance, some comedy, a few fights, and some stakes.

Overall it is not a bad watch, but if you are to watch only one of Takashi Kaneshiro's dramas that he did, go with Kamisama Mou Sukoshi Dake, it is better.

Anyways the story is not bad, it is about bowling, and it is nice to see a romance where the woman is older than the guy. She is 100% a milf though, and probably looks better than most 30 year old woman.

Final rating is a 7/10.

Drunken Master (1978)

Good movie, Bad English dub, a little too long

[8/10 · 27 June 2023]

This is a good film, very funny, and man Jackie Chan was damn ripped and shredded back in the day.

This movie is for the most part kid friendly, but towards the end it becomes kinda dark for some reason.

The reason I am giving this an 8/10 is that the comedy is great, the training scenes are awesome, I love Chan and the guy who played Beggar So, they both were awesome. The downside is that I saw the English dub and Jackie Chan's voice guy sounded like a mixed of Rocky Balboa and Bruce lee. It just sounded bad, like an Asian dude trying to do a Rocky parody. It just didn't work, also the sound mixing. The voices were mixed too loud, and during fight scenes are you hears are dubs of people moaning, screaming, yelling, and making noises.

Anyways, it is a good movie, but go for the original Hong Kong audio. Also this movie should had been 90 minutes, at 110 minutes, it dragged on a bit too long.

8/10.

Attrition (2018)

The most nonsensical film ever made

[1/10 · 22 June 2023]

I know we shouldn't take things too serious when it comes to a Steven Seagal movie, but this movie is hands down the dumbest and most nonsensical movie ever made by him.

This is just a bunch of stereotypical Chinese "philosophical" ramblings by Seagal and the Chinese actors, and these dialogue scenes make absolutely no sense and they think they are being smarter than they are.

Nothing happens then suddenly we get this twist out of the blue from these two characters who we don't really know, with one of them telling the other guy "I am your father" and then he plays "hand dancing" with Seagal for his son to look at.

Seriously, this movie just hurt my damn brain.

1/10.

Mouth to Mouth (2005)

A terrible movie that starts off good

[2/10 · 22 June 2023]

Was a huge Ellen Paige growing up, like most fans I saw Juno when it came out then went back and watch her catalogue of films. Some of her indie stuff is not bad, this one is terrible though.

This movie starts off good, Ellen playing a rebellious teenage girl (something she did a lot in her indie films), but after about the 20-30 minute mark, this movie just becomes a terrible and boring movie.

They literally meet some people in a weird cult, then suddenly for the rest of the film they are picking fruits and stuff in a camp and it sort of just stays there.

I don't even know what this movie is honestly about anymore at that point, and it stays with the cult and just ends.

Yeah, it is bad.

2/10.

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum (2023 Video Game)

This game is me precious!!

[1/10 · 17 June 2023]

Oh, I loves it, the humanity, the controls, the graphics, me loves it all. The Lord of Ring: Gollum Gollum is great.

No, we hates it, we don't wants it. The pain, the pain, the pain, it is real. I can't jump, I get stuck, the developers said they were gonna revolutionize stealth gameplay? Then why does we have broken A. I? It has early 1990s stealth mechanics? No, no, no, no, wrong! This is a scam, there is no way they spent longer than 1 month on this game. Scam, scam, scam!

Why don't you likes it? It is torment, and you know we loves torment. We loves money! $70.00 Americana Dollars, think about what we can buy with it. We can hire people to help use get ze precious, MY PRECIOUS which I must have. Give me more money.

Why is this a thing? Why precious, why? Don't do this, don't wants it precious, throw me into Mount Doom instead of another second in this game. Precious, precious, find my precious so I can disappear away!!!

Gollum and Daedalics rating = 10/10 (aka F**ck you give us money)

Smeagol and everyone else = 0/10.

Summary: This game is me precious!!

Diablo IV (2023 Video Game)

Conflicted

[5/10 · 8 June 2023]

This is a hard review because on one hand the graphics, controls, gameplay, music, and story is great. The game just feels good to play.

The main issue is the "always online" requirement that Blizzard implemented. The issue with this is that for some reason your character will suddenly get stuck in invisible walls, you literally cannot move, suddenly you either get teleported all over the map of if there are enemies around you, your hit detection doesn't work and they just stand there. Eventually when the server is finally able to catch up to you, you are DEAD, DEAD, DEAD!!!

Blizzards explanation is somewhere along the lines of "the server is trying to catch up with you that is why there are invisible walls." They basically said to fix this teleport out and re-teleport back in. Seriously? Is this how we can fix this issue?

I hope one day there is enough demands that Blizzard releases an off-line mode. There is literally no reason as to why you must absolutely remain online at all times except for Blizzard to spy on you like the Chinese Government.

Anyways at this state with the servers and the invisible walls and the no hit detection issues, this game is pretty much borderline unplayable. I don't what to give this but when the game is working, it is a 10/10, but because of the issues with server and stuff I just mentioned, I don't know, maybe a 1/10 cus it is unplayable at this STATE.

Resident Evil 4 (2023 Video Game)

Crazy good game

[10/10 · 3 April 2023]

I was there, I remember first time playing Resident Evil 4 on the good ol Gamecube and being completely blown away by the graphics, the violence, the gameplay, and the tension. I have always loved Resident Evil but even back then after playing Resident Evil 0 I knew the formula was getting a little old and stale. Resident Evil 4 completely change gaming forever, and even now most 3rd person games continue to use the "over the shoulder view with an emphasis on having your character located slightly towards the left of the screen."

Resident Evil 4 Remake is again, another great remake from Capcom. Despite liking Resident Evil 3 remake, I have found that the game did not aged as well as Remake 2 or Remake 1 (even though I still think it is a good game.)

Resident Evil 4 Remake is not only just as good as Resident Evil 4, it does a great job as to not erase Resident Evil 4 (original). Capcom does a great job of remakes since it improves on the original, but is different enough that it doesn't totally erase the original from history.

This game is not only a lot harder than the original, but it is longer, more anxiety inducing, as well as just overall better gameplay.

Anyways, a great game despite some changes here and there. I am also not a big fan of the new Ada voice, it just sounds very dull, emotionless, and sounds like it is coming from a prison cell or some weird echo chamber. Whoever edited the voice for Ada really messed it up because it just sounds weird, like their is a weird reverb sound to it. I am sure they used different studios and maybe even a different recording software for her voice. Ada's voice sounds.....weird. Anyways, don't hate on the voice actress, it is Capcom who messed this up.

10/10.

Hogwarts Legacy (2023 Video Game)

A good game with some flaws

[8/10 · 3 March 2023]

A pretty good game in my opinion, but it really doesn't bring anything new into the gaming industry. There is nothing wrong with a game that is just made to be fun.

The combat honestly looked kinda bad watching the trailers but once you play it and star unlocking some of the offensive magic, this is really a good combat. I just wish you had more magic attacks. The combat is very similar to FF7 Remake.

The castle of Hogwarts is amazing, and I am not even a fan of the Harry Pothead movies. I never seen a single one, and even when they came out when I was a child they always looked boring and long. You can spend hours just exploring the castle, it really is awesome. Also if the game was based solely in the castle, I think a lot of people would had still like this game.

The bad thing about this game is that there is only one town to explore and it is rather small and not much to do there. There are other places but they are usually just 4 - 5 houses with on shop. The game makers should had added at least one more town to explore and walk around.

Another bad thing is the graphics. The graphics are just ok, but the characters faces are pretty good. My issue is with the horrible clipping. Hairs clip through clothing all the time, which is very distracting and caused me to just resort to getting a short haircut for my girl character. Also scarfs and hoodies clip as well through the characters arms when running. So I just wear my birthday suit. FIX THE DAMN CLIPPING.

Lastly the story is really not that good and is very generic and not interesting at all. You don't really know or care about what is happening, it is the experience of exploring Hogwarts that is the real thing here.

Anyways, a fun game worth the $60.00.

8/10.

Blood Debts (1985)

It is good

[10/10 · 3 February 2023]

This is a good movie man. It just shows that you don't need more than $100 to make a great film. This is awesome, full of action, and epic action packed ending, and a final scene that really makes you wonder why modern movies need these long "Return of The King" endings when all you need is 3-4 sentences telling you what happened to the characters.

Anyways, I had fun watching this, and this is an underrated classic. This movie should be just as famous as Samurai Cop or Troll 2.

You should watch this movie if you are into those types of film, like me. Sure, it is rather old and grainy but fun and entertainment, it still is.

10/10.

Super Powerful Man (2003 Video)

Pure crap

[1/10 · 25 December 2022]

This movie is pretty much an unwatchable piece of garbage. I am glad it wasn't named "Story of Ricky 2" because it would make you never wanna watch that original again. The creators of the "Story of Ricky" manga must have saw this movie first and gave them the thumbs down on naming it.

This movie is not only a very very cheap home-made type movie, but everything about this is just bad, from storytelling, to acting, to the horrible fight scenes.

Siu-Wong Fan, after filming Ricky, spent almost a decade just making B or even C rated martial arts movie. This was when he hit rock bottom in my opinion, but lucky for everyone he made a great comeback with Ip Man series.

Anyways, this movie is so bad it is good.

1/10.

Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)

Great visual, lacking in story, character, and pacing

[7/10 · 21 December 2022]

Probably the best looking CGI ever put on film, it honestly makes those Marvel movies seem like nothing compared to it. Seriously, watching this in 3D Imax is a must for everyone. There is not one moment where you go "that character looks so fake," or "that character moves so fake." This ain't no "Black Panther" type CGI here, this is some real stuff.

Unfortunately the story isn't really that good, the acting is good for the most part but there are some "iffy" dialogue that could had been cut. Also there are way way too many unneeded subplots that just brings the movie to a halt, mostly involving the kids.

Anyways, it is a good film, but the pacing, story, character motivation, and slow padded out middle part brings the score down. I would rather watch this over the first any day of the week, but it still isn't in the top 5 James Cameron movie though.

I know people complain about the length, and I did feel it but it has to do with the pacing. Titanic is a long movie, but I can watch that and not think about the time.

James' top 5 films are Terminator, Terminator 2, Aliens, Titanic, True Lies.

7/10.

Code of Honor (2016)

T2 ain't got nothing on this

[10/10 · 15 December 2022]

This movie is so good, Steven Seagal is a magician. He can lose 50 pounds in one scene, then put it back in another, then completely change his face to a different guy then back to his own.

Some deep philosophy question, such as "Would you give your life to save the world if nobody knows you did it?" Man, that is so deep, cuts deeper than an Rwanada Genocide-type machete.

The cgi is amazing, some of the best blood effects I have ever seen. Like I said, T2 ain't got nothing on "Code of Honor."

Also the chair sitting action scene is honestly pretty awesome and a unique idea, man what a great film. I think this should had been released in theaters, would had made over billions of Milwaukee Bucks. Watch this movie, but prepare yourself for the best movie since Terminator 3, because nothing, nothing can prepare you for the final rooftop fight scene filmed in darkness. Also there is an awesome nod to Star Wars where these two agents at the end look like force ghost or something. What a great film man, what a great film.

10/10.

Shanghai Knights (2003)

Better than the first

[8/10 · 13 December 2022]

The promise of a sequel is it will give you what you got from the first movie, but that is often broken. Shanghai Knights is an exception, giving the audience that same mix of dialogue and martial arts that made the first movie so much fun. This time the duo heads to England, allowing them to make a bunch of incredibly jokes about England and Sherlock Holmes and Charlie Chaplin. The movie is one long wink, and if you like that humor you will likely to find it amusing. At times I thought they pushed the anachronistic dialogue not far enough, as when Owen asks the sexy Fann Wong if she eats out, but overall it works pretty well. Chan supplies a number of bloody and violent entertaining fight sequences along with his usual good look charm and the end result feels like a better movie than the first.

Kurt's Bloody Suicide (1984)

A very moving motion picture

[10/10 · 23 October 2022]

A hidden gem about growing up in a small town, having to face your demons, fighting for your life, and the battle between oneself and the demon within.

The long tension that builds in his movies will overlap the senses that drive our every day struggle to live, our struggle man, our struggle. The day is hard enough but then we get loaded with pills and viagra that turns us into zombies controlled by the man, the man known as the record label boss.

Kurt knew, kurt knew they were coming for him, the men in the shadows that wears cowboy boots and glues wigs to their head. The man came for him, but he survive and is now in a group called Nirvana. They are touring in 1993.

10/10.

Recess: Taking the Fifth Grade (2003 Video)

An okay ending to Recess

[7/10 · 19 October 2022]

Recess deserved a better ending to their storyline, but I guess this isn't all bad. It just feels really disjointed and the three stories don't really join well with each other. Fortunately, I love Halloween so I didn't mind the final 20 minutes as it dealt with the gang trick or treating as 5th graders, realizing that they are getting older and things change, and realizing that all good things will come to an end one day, just like our life.

Everything will end for us, it just will, but what is truly forgotten, the physical body or when your name has disappeared?

Live your life like the end is coming, because it will get here one day man.

7/10.