Musings of a Wandering Writer

Ever since I first saw Scarface as a teenager, I came to believe Al Pacino just might be one of the greatest actors to ever live. Back then, I thought the man could do no wrong, but then he decided to put my faith to the test by starring in Jack and Jill . That wasn't his first stinker though. This film was always a bit of a guilty pleasure for me, but it undoubtedly has some issues. I decided to revisit it after going several years since my last watch. What an experience that was... 1 Where You Can Find It:  I checked this out on Amazon Video where it is available for rent/purchase. General Information  88 Minutes is a suspense thriller film that was released on 18 April 2008 (and 2 March 2007 exclusively in Israel for some reason). It was directed and co-produced by Jon Avnet and distributed by TriStar Pictures. I wasn't all that familiar with Jon Avnet's work, but discovered that he also directed Righteous Kill (which would release one year after this film). I wasn'

I've always been a hardcore fan of Arnold Schwarzenegger's films and have made it a point to check out as much of his filmography as I can. There's something about his cheesy action movie style that we simply don't get anymore in modern cinema that makes it really special. Amazon Video had recommended this one to me for some time and I was surprised I had never seen it (nor even heard of it), so I finally set some time aside to check it out.  * Where You Can Find It: It's free to view for all Amazon Prime members. General Information  Raw Deal is an action movie that was released on 6 June 1986 in theaters and later on DVD on 20 June 2003. It was directed by John Irvin and distributed via De Laurentiis Entertainment Group. Despite earning $16.2 million at the box office (with a $10-11 million budget), the film was considered a disappointment and possibly contributed to the bankruptcy of the De Laurentiis Entertainment Group. This isn't necessarily a bad thing t

The fun never stops with The Expanse, but I'm definitely starting to see the show become a victim of its own success. It's not as bad as the downward spiral that is  Stranger Things , but I had more concerns than excitement about this particular season than I did with the others. I learned just yesterday that the show was renewed for its sixth season (confirmed to be last) and I think it was a wise call. This show has been incredible, but I'm hoping we close the door on this one before it burns itself out. 1 Where You Can Find It: You can still find this all on Amazon Video, where it is free with those that subscribe to Amazon Prime.   General Information  Season 4 of The Expanse debuted on 12 December 2019 after being saved from cancellation by Amazon. This season primarily covers Cibola Burn by James S.A. Corey. Thankfully, I'm pleased to announce that this season's plot is not split in half like seasons 2 and seasons 3 were. Syfy's bisection of those seaso

Dear America, Whether you spend the coming days scarfing down pumpkin pie or railing against the pilgrims, there's something special about Thanksgiving that I think deserves to be recognized. Regardless of one's culture, it is incredibly humbling and retrospective to think about what we have and what we can be grateful for. One thing that annoys me about this particular holiday though is that we usually just say "thanks" to the sky for something someone else gave us and accept that this is good enough. Most of life's gifts are given through the actions of someone else. Our parents gave us life and tolerated our nonsense for 18+ years; our partners currently tolerate our shenanigans and knowingly live with us; and our families/work/obsessions give us reasons to keep going. I want to challenge you, on this Thanksgiving. Think about what you have and where you've come since last year. Some of us have crossed oceans; changed careers; and/or even started entirely

In 2008, I remember going to see The Strangers in theaters and constantly looking over my shoulder on the way home as I found it to be genuinely chilling and terrifying in its potential realism. The Strangers: Prey at Night was not remotely as scary, but it was an entertaining enough time that I was thoroughly pumped when I heard Bryan Bertino was releasing a new film during the cinema drought of 2020. I am now questioning my own judgement though as this film was frustratingly disappointing.  1 Where You Can Find It:   I watched this one on Amazon Video, where it is available for rent/purchase, but it is also on Shudder. General Information  The Dark and the Wicked is a horror film that was released via video-on-demand on 6 November 2020, but also released at the Fantasia International Film Festival on 28 August 2020. It appears that the film was supposed to see a greater theatrical release however it was a victim of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was written, directed, and co-produced b

*Some readers don't like to game, or prefer to watch others play games instead. Due to this, I've decided to add a Recommended Let's Play Section for certain games I review. This will enable those that don't have the game to watch how the game actually plays, as well as those that are interested in possibly buying the game to get a preview of how it looks. I've been in a bit of a video game rut lately so my gaming reviews have seen a bit of a slowdown. By pure happenstance, I discovered this one via a YouTube recommendation and thought it might be worth a try. It seems like a lot of gamers share a nostalgia for the old 8-bit days of Nintendo, but my rose-tinted glasses have always favored the early 2000's. With that said, this one really intrigued me and the thought of it having an add-on multiplayer made me curious enough to check it out.  1 Where You Can Find It:  I bought this one on Steam for PC, where the sequel is also available. General Information Obscur

Man, oh man, this show just continues to impress! For some reason, I recall not being all that impressed when I originally viewed this season back in 2018, but my second viewing has been really enjoyable. It makes me increasingly excited for season 4 as I have yet to see it at all, so I'll be going in completely blind. I hope you all will join me and Rocinante crew when that time inevitably comes! I continued this series on Amazon Video, where it is free with those that subscribe to Amazon Prime.  * General Information  The third season of the Expanse hit screens on 11 April 2018 and is the last season that was produced under the Syfy channel. Similarly to season 2 (check out my review for it here ), this one covers the second half of Caliban’s War and covers a large part of Abaddon’s Gate . As season 4 was produced by Amazon, I wonder if it will follow the same blueprint as season 2 and season 3 by splitting the season again. It wasn’t as bad in season 2, but I was not overly fon

I can't stress how distraught I was over this film. No one was more excited about this than I! A lot of the bad movies I've been watching lately have been fairly older ones set in the 1980s and early 1990s. Now, I'm certainly not opposed to going back to the good ol' days, but I really thought this one could pull off an entertaining 'so-bad-it's-good' vibe. Unfortunately, this one is just plain bad.  * Where You Can Find It:   The bad movie crew and I watched this dumpster fire on Hulu, but it's also available on Amazon Video for rent/purchase. General Information  Money Plane is a heist action movie that was immediately released via video-on-demand on 10 July 2020. I'd wager that even if COVID-19 wasn't a factor here, it probably would've never made it to cinemas anyway. It was directed, co-stars, and co-written by Andrew Lawrence, however Tyler Konney and Richard Switzer co-developed the story and produced. The most interesting aspect of th

I have to admit that I've been taking my time with watching this show, but it's not because I dislike it. My real reason why is that I'm having such a good time that I get anxious about running out of episodes. Does anyone else experience this with shows they like? It took me years before I would finally watch the final season of  Miami Vice  because I didn't want it to end. I even still recall a similar situation where I dreamt I had accidentally skipped an episode of  Sopranos  after finishing the series. While I wouldn't say Expanse is on par with either of those shows (for me personally anyway), it's still been pretty damn good. Like the previous season, I watched this on Amazon Video. * General Information  Season two of Expanse first premiered on 1 February 2017. It is based off of a good chunk of  Leviathan Wakes , as well as  Caliban's War , which were both written by James S.A. Corey. I haven't read  Caliban's War  yet, so I'm not sure h