Musings of a Wandering Writer

After the impressive feat that was Narcos: Season Three , I had to keep the ball rolling and immediately segued to the spin-off. Like Narcos: Season Three , I had some doubts about this series being able to keep up its momentum. The casting of actor, Michael Pena, for a central role in the show made me worry as I typically view him as more of a comedic actor than serious one. Like the original series, this spin-off exceeded my expectations, however it did have some issues. Once again, I watched this show on Netflix, however it is also available to purchase on DVD/Blu-ray.  Spoiler Warning: From what I can tell, this show is supposed to be watched after finishing Narcos . Although both shows take place in different countries, the original series mentioned that a main character in the show dies at some point in the show. I have no intention of pointing out when that particular character dies, however I will mention who that character is as it's sort of given away. If you haven'...

I feel like I need to rush this review, but not because I'm feeling lazy or anything, but more-so because I'm worried I'll forget the paper-thin quality of this film before I can properly write about it. If you've been reading my reviews, you've probably noticed that I've been watching a lot of awful movies lately. Funnily enough, when I watched this rotten egg, it was under the assumption that it would actually be a good movie. Instead, I think I may have just found my worst movie of the year (thus far).  1 Where You Can Find It:   I saw this one on Amazon Prime where you should avoid it at all costs. General Information  Columbus Circle was released on 6 March 2012 as a direct-to-video independent thriller. It was directed and co-written by George Gallo (Kevin Pollak also co-wrote). It was distributed by Universal Pictures and holds an (undeserved) six stars on IMDB . The highlight of this movie was that I originally mistook this for 2020's The Woman in t...

After the fantastic conclusion of seasons one and two of Narcos, I had to press on and see if season three would be able to keep the momentum going. Back when the season first came out, I actually gave this one a shot, but gave up before I even finished the first episode as I just couldn't imagine the show being good without Wagner Moura's incredible performance. How wrong I was to doubt this show... I checked this one out on Netflix. Please check out my review of seasons one and two of Narcos , if you haven't already and let me know if you agree or disagree in the comments! * General Information  Season three of Narcos first aired on 1 September 2017. According to the Wikipedia page, it is the final season of the original Narcos series, however the show has since spun off with Narcos: Mexico. Like the first two seasons, the show is based off of historical events in Colombia's fight against cocaine narcotics trafficking. I don't have too much to say that I didn'...

To truly appreciate just how far video game movies have come, one might recommend viewing Super Mario Bros. , however there is a place far darker and grimmer than even that. There was a time that the infamous director, Uwe Boll, cornered the market on these atrocities, and thus we continued our journey into what just might be the nexus of foul blockbuster movies.  * Where You Can Find It: We watched this one on Amazon Prime, however it's out on home video as well. General Information  BloodRayne is a fantasy action movie based off the once-famous BloodRayne video games. It is the third video game movie Uwe Boll directed and was apparently produced by Boll's own company, Boll KG Productions. It hit theaters on 6 January 2006, which was around a year after the second video game hit store shelves. If the poster alone doesn't make it clear, BloodRayne completely bombed at the box office by making less than even one fifth of its original budget. It was also nominated for a who...

Earlier this month, I played the painful game of trying to find something worth watching on Netflix as I was starting to consider cancelling my subscription. I cheated somewhat as I'd already seen this show before, but it had been a while since I'd last checked it out. I decided to combine my review as seasons one and two tell a more cohesive story as a combination than as separate parts.  1 Where You Can Find It:   I streamed this on Netflix, however it is also available on DVD/Blu-ray. General Information  Narcos is a crime drama television series that was produced by Gaumont International Television. It was initially released as a Netflix original series on 28 August 2015 with season two airing on2 September 2016. Its reception has been relatively mixed as its depiction of the Republic of Colombia is not altogether flattering.  Something the show gambled on was its natural use of Spanish as most of its characters originate from Colombia and do not know English. Am...

For some reason, my friends and I continued our self-abuse of watching awful movies and decided to throw this stinker onto the top of the pile. I'm told that video game movies are finally starting to make headway at the box office, but back in 2008 that certainly wasn't the case. We watched this fine piece of cinema on Amazon Prime, however it is also available on DVD/Blu-ray. 1 General Information  Max Payne is an action thriller movie based off the popular Max Payne video game series. It was directed by John Moore and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It hit theaters on 17 October 2008. It appears to be a vehicle for Mark Wahlberg's acting career to take off, however I'm not sure how effective this movie was in that endeavor. Despite making over twice its budget, the only notable critical reception it received was Wahlberg's nomination for the Golden Raspberry Award (he lost to Mike Myers). Now that I think about it, I can't recall a film that Marky Mark has s...

I'm usually loathe to try multiplayer-only games, but this one specifically spoke to my southern roots so I felt it was worth the attempt (it was also on sale, but I won't talk about that). I don't necessarily have anything against multiplayer-only games, however I typically play games for their story and these types of titles rarely bring much to the table on that end. With that being said, I felt it was time to try something new and this one made for a nice break from the more intense games like my previous run of The Last of Us Part II . I played this one on PS4, but it is also available on PC and Xbox One. 1 General Information The Hunt: Showdown is a multiplayer-centric first-person shooter that was developed and published by Crytek. It was originally released on PC in 27 August 2019 and for Xbox One on 19 September 2019. It was later ported to PlayStation 4 on 18 February 2020. The overall reception for the game has been fairly good, however most of the most grievous ...

Sometimes there are movies out there that simply defy everything you thought you knew about cinema. They are few, but I would liken them more to "experiences" than movies as they don't fit neatly into the boxes of genre that we are all so comfortable with. I would say that 2001: A Space Odyssey is a good example of this as, though it may say "science fiction," it is clearly quite different from nearly anything else you're ever going to encounter. Although this one is not remotely in the same league as Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece, one cannot deny that Y.K. Kim's Miami Connection is truly something wholly unique. My friends and I were in complete awe when we watched this as there's so much to unpack that one can only truly appreciate this film by watching it first-hand. We saw this on IMDB TV (yes, that's apparently a thing), however it can be found on Amazon Prime as well. * General Information  Miami Connection is an independent martial a...