If you need some company in Level 4 and your family just isn’t cutting it, how about some scary friends from Shudder?

Adding to their massive slate of flicks and shows is a list of new intriguing ones coming next month.

Hopefully we are out of lockdown by then and you can go get some more snacks for these ones.

Superhost

Travel vloggers Teddy and Claire share their Airbnb experiences staying at vacation homes on their channel “SUPERHOST”. Until recently, their content creation had been going swimmingly – then they meet Rebecca. The longer they stay, the more they realise, there’s something very wrong with their new host

Possessor

Corporate assassin Tasya Vos uses brain-implant technology to take control of other people’s bodies and execute high profile targets in Possessor. However, as she sinks deeper into her latest assignment, she becomes trapped in a mind that threatens to obliterate her.

Séance 

Séance stars Suki Waterhouse as Camille Meadows, the new girl at the prestigious Edelvine Academy for Girls. After joining six other girls in a late-night ritual, calling forth the spirit of a dead former student, Camille and her new friends find they have awakened something sinister after one of their number is found dead

Creepshow

Based on the 1982 horror comedy classic, Creepshow: season 3 sees a comic book comes to life in a series of vignettes, exploring terrors ranging from murder, creatures, monsters, and delusions to the supernatural and unexplainable. You never know what will be on the next page.

A cool little note for October is the Behind the Monsters series. Shudder will dive deep on horror film icons, from Freddy and Jason to Chucky. This new six-episode series will stream October 26.

The post Shudder has some terrifying gems for September appeared first on 8-Bit Island.

Since the MCU has exploded we have wanted to see the Justice League done justice like the Avengers had been. Things like the Dark Knight trilogy and Arrowverse kept hinting at DC making some massive strides but when we finally got to see the DCU team up happen it was rough.

So the saga from BvS to the Justice League began. After Snyder had to leave the movie near the end and Joss Whedon came in to finish the job in post production, we got a messy movie which began a wave of fan requests to release the ‘Snyder Cut’. Now we have Zack Snyder’s Justice League with 80 million dollars of extra work and scenes to try to recover the massive team up we have been waiting for.  

The result? It’s pretty good. This surely isn’t the ‘Snyder Cut’ people were asking for because four years and 80 extra million dollars no doubt has meant a lot of changes from hindsight and feedback. After all, the Snyder cut of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was what we got and that was rough. But despite that, the best way to take on this new version of Justice League is to treat it like its own movie, so that’s how I went into it.

Zack Snyder’s Justice League is a four hour marathon of a film. In it we get introduced to Cyborg and Flash with slices of their back stories but they get rushed into the team by Batman who enlists Aquaman who has already had a bad movie of his own at this point. This is an issue the movie has constantly, things like Flash pushing his limits don’t have the impact that Avengers do in their movies because we haven’t had a movie where we saw Flash testing his limits. This removes a lot of the impact of scenes throughout the movie.

This is key because I remember thinking Gal Gadot in BvS was overrated. Then I saw and adored Wonder Woman and now in BvS she is awesome. The solo flick allowed me to connect with the character and so in the team up her scenes are reinforced by the movies we have already built up. It would be a different story if we have a lot of characters we know and new ones are introduced a la Spidey and Black Panther in Civil War, but a third of the team is too much to introduce like this.

An interesting thing the movie has done is being broken up into parts with a title card with a name for each chunk of the movie. This was a clever way to reset the flow in a way that felt more natural than it jumping around changing pace. 

An uninteresting thing is Cyborg’s design which bugged me throughout the whole flick. The overly CGI’s pointy, shiny design looked super daft. It constantly reminded me of some of the worst scenes in the Transformers flicks. A smoother design, more like a grey Iron Man, would have looked so much better. Still it seems like Snyder was going through a phase because the big, bad Steppenwolf’s armor reminded me of it too.

The gist of the plot here is that many years ago Darkseid used his powerful mother boxes to terraform planets and turn all their inhabitants into Parademons to fight for him.  The Amazon’s, humans, Atlantians and others all worked together to defeat him and take away the mother boxes which they then hid around earth. One of the boxes awakens and so Stepenwolf heads to earth with his parademons to try to claim the boxes for Darkseid. Batman forms his team and we are given a big old battle to save earth.

There is so much to like about this version of the movie, but in this four hour cut the movie still manages to waffle at times. We get an awesome new scene where Flash saves a beautiful woman he sees from a crash, but it hangs on him in slow motion for way too long which turns a funny and cute scene into an uncomfortably long one. This happens a lot with Flash’s slow mo scenes where they take too bloody long to get to the new bits.

I won’t dig too much into all the pros and cons of the movie, because that could take longer than the four hour run time itself, but I feel like that is a pretty good example of what you are in for. Some good stuff, some meh stuff, and Cyborg’s design.  

At the end of the day, Zack Snyder’s Justice League is a decent movie. I wouldn’t have gone back and rewatched the original Justice League cut, but I will rewatch this one. It’s a bit of a mess, it’s chaotic, Aquaman is still meh, but at the end of the day it was entertaining.

Hopefully Batlfeck can come back for a solo movie now.

Zack Snyder’s Justice League is available to stream on NEON now.

The post Zack Snyder’s Justice League Review appeared first on 8-Bit Island.

If there is one thing that seems to be an easy sale these days, it is throwing a sequel to an older series from the 90s or early 2000s. Some should be left as a relic of their time, I am looking at you Dumb and Dumber To. Others somehow seem to be the perfect sequel, and Bad Boys For Life is definitely the latter.

Bad Boys For Life has an older Mike and Marcus, with Marcus gearing up for his retirement. Obviously we know that Will Smith is in insane shape, and Mike still has his high energy from the first two movies who doesn’t see retirement in his future. After some high profile killings by a hit man, Mike is the next one to receive a bullet.

After recovering from his wounds Mike finds that Marcus has locked in his retirement. This leads to the characters having one of their classic arguments. After some time they embark on their classic odd couple partnership to find the assassin and the person pulling the strings from Mexico.

One strength of the movie is that the actors have kept up with their characters. We find Will Smith still being high energy and Martin Lawrence being a little slower in his age. This lines up with their characters perfectly which helps enforce the movie’s setting.

Added to this are the excellent antagonists played by Jacob Scipio and Kate del Castillo. Jacob is an unnervingly good constant threat in the movie with some morality aspects that keep you interested and Kate is an excellent master that controls the situation. The wider team that Mike and Marcus work with throw some interesting personalities in the mix that gives much needed character diversity.

The Blu Ray comes with a decent selection of behind the scenes features which includes how they went about tackling a third movie and some alternative scenes. The best feature here is of course the bloopers. Funny people like Martin Lawrence and Will Smith always make for a hilarious blooper reel. 

Bad Boys For Life is a worthy sequel to the old action flicks. The excellent action is well balanced with some classic humour and a lot of new characters to make the whole thing as new as it is old.

The post Bad Boys For Life Blu Ray Review appeared first on 8-Bit Island.

Are you getting sick and tired of how optimistic superhero movies are? Did you find Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice a bit to light and fluffy, wishing it could be a bit darker? Do you hate how capitalism spoils everything pure? Well The Boys could be the show for you, and now it comes on a disc.

The Boys is an 11 episode series that follows two main characters. One is Starlight who is a small-time superhero that emits a super bright light and gets the opportunity to join the team of superheroes working for Vought International.

The Vought International superheroes get the benefits of money and status thanks to the publicity on offer. Vought International gets to control everything the superheroes do from jobs to promoting events. Naturally this means that the company puts profit before everything else, which is the opposite to the goodness for goodness sake we are used to in superheroes.

Starlight’s journey sees her dealing with the horrible corporation, the overburdening rules, and the massive egos involved when people are put on such a pedestal. Given there aren’t many companies these days without corruption and sexual assault problems, The Boys doesnt shy away from making Vought International an example of the worst of them.

The other major storyline is that of Billy Butcher. A man with no power who was unfortunate enough to see his girlfriend explode when the superpowered A-Train accidentally runs through her. The story is covered up and as such Billy is on the warpath to get his revenge the violent way.

Throughout the series he collects some allies, also of the non-powered variety, and they take their fight to the bad superheroes. Hence the name of the show The Boys.

The whole series is surprisingly compact for an American Show. Great special effects and acting make for a tight and enjoyable experience if, (a big if), you want a dark, twisted show. It’s everything you don’t want in a superhero series, in the best possible way.  

There isn’t too much more to say about this series without spoiling it which I don’t want to do for anyone on the fence.  

The Boys is one hell of a dark ride. People who have experienced some serious personal trauma and get triggered by depictions of it should be careful, but for those wanting to see some average joes trying to take down some corrupt heroes, it’s a cracking watch.

Oh and there is heaps of blood, if that’s your thing.

The post The Boys: Season One Review appeared first on 8-Bit Island.

When it comes to fun action movies that are family friendly there is a wide spread of quality, usually from terrible, to watchable. The Jumanji remake was one of the few that actually managed to be enjoyable for kids and parents alike. Now it has a sequel.

If you didn’t catch the first movie, the synopsis seems pretty cringe. The first movie had the kids playing a board game that brought jungle things into the real world. The remake had the kids playing a video game and being sucked in. It sounds like a gross millennial remake.

Then when I sat down and watched the remake I was shocked at how enjoyable it was. A likeable cast playing likeable characters in a video game jungle made for a cracking watch, and Jumanji: The Next Level keeps that going.

Jumanji: The Next Level is set after the kids from the first movie catch up, but Spencer is missing. They go to his house to see why and find he has reassembled the console they destroyed at the end of the first movie. Nervously they enter it, but accidentally get pulled in with Spencer’s grandfather (Danny DeVito) and his old friend Milo (Danny Glover).

Upon entering the game they discover they have a new mission, and their characters have been shuffled around. What surprised me was watching the actors doing a good job handling totally new characters. I won’t lie, watching Kevin Hart play an old slow talking fella was entertaining. 

Without spoiling the movie, there isn’t too much more to say about Jumanji: The Next Level. If you enjoyed the first movie, you should enjoy the new one. If you didnt I doubt you would enjoy this one, and if you haven’t seen it then do watch the first movie. Seriously, it has The Rock in it, it’s fun. 

The Blu Ray offers a decent little package with some behind the scenes content and bloopers. Thanks to likable actors making a fun movie, these are great for a relaxed laugh after the movie.

The post Jumanji: The Next Level Blu Ray Review appeared first on 8-Bit Island.

Bloodshot threw me off with its tagline “Heroes are getting an upgrade” as I went in expecting a weird dark superhero movie. What the movie winds up being is a dumb fun sci-fi action movie, so going in with those standards will definitely change your experience.

Vin Diesel plays Ray Garrison, a US Marine who is holidaying with his wife when they are kidnapped and both killed. Ray is brought back to life thanks to nanites which allow him to be super strong and super regenerative. He winds up being one super… man I guess.

The problem is he decides to take out the killer of his wife instead of a requested target and the plot thickens… slightly. Basically without spoiling it there are some shenanigans involving memory replacement and things go tits up for everybody involved.

Throughout the whole movie I was reminded of ideas from many other sci-fi films, and it doesn’t introduce any new ideas. Despite this it is actually a fun ride. Every movie doesn’t have to break new ground, sometimes turning off your brain and relaxing is what I want to do at the end of a hard week. Bloodshot absolutely satisfied that.

Now to be fair, Bloodshot is a comic, and this is the planned start to the Valiant Comics shared universe. On top of that Iron Man was also a fun sci-fi movie and became more of a superhero flick once the surrounding movies became involved. So depending on how Harbinger goes, assuming it comes out, I may eat those words.  

The acting in the movie is exactly what I expect from my action movies. Vin Diesel does his Vin Diesel thing, and the supporting cast is exactly what I would expect from a decent action flick. Winston from New Girl rocking an English accent was new; Though I was waiting for him to put on a bird shirt.

The Bluray comes with a decent selection of features, but best of all it comes with an alternative ending. Even with unfinished CGI they definitely went with the better option for the movie but it is always interesting to see different ways the filmmakers envisioned it.

It is unfortunate that I got so annoyingly hung up on the tagline. Once I sat back and let the movie be what it is I couldn’t have been happier. It isn’t going to revolutionise cinema, but it is a fun ride while it lasts.

The post Bloodshot Blu Ray Review appeared first on 8-Bit Island.

Filming has begun on Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Entertainment’s epic Dune, being directed by Oscar nominee Denis Villeneuve (Arrival, Blade Runner 2049).

The big-screen adaptation of Frank Herbert’s seminal bestseller Dune stars Oscar nominee Timothée Chalamet (Call Me by Your Name), Rebecca Ferguson (Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation), Oscar Isaac (Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi), Oscar nominee Josh Brolin (Milk, Deadpool 2, Avengers: Infinity War), Stellan Skarsgård (the Mamma Mia! films, Avengers: Age of Ultron), Dave Bautista (the Guardians of the Galaxy films, upcoming Avengers: Endgame), Zendaya (Spider-Man: Homecoming), David Dastmalchian (the Ant-Man movies), Stephen Henderson (Fences, Lady Bird), with Oscar nominee Charlotte Rampling (45 Years, Assassin’s Creed), with Jason Momoa (Aquaman), and Oscar winner Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men, Skyfall). Chang Chen (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, The Grandmaster) is in discussions to join the cast.

A mythic and emotionally charged hero’s journey, Dune tells the story of Paul Atreides, a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, who must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and his people. As malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet’s exclusive supply of the most precious resource in existence—a commodity capable of unlocking humanity’s greatest potential—only those who can conquer their fear will survive.

Villeneuve is directing Dune from a screenplay he co-wrote with Eric Roth and Jon Spaihts based on Herbert’s novel. The film is being produced by Mary Parent, Cale Boyter, Joe Caracciolo and Villeneuve. The executive producers are Tanya Lapointe, Brian Herbert, Byron Merritt, Kim Herbert, Thomas Tull, Jon Spaihts, Richard P. Rubinstein, John Harrison and Herbert W. Gains, with Kevin J. Anderson serving as creative consultant.

Behind the scenes, Villeneuve is collaborating for the first time with Oscar-nominated director of photography Greig Fraser (Lion, Zero Dark Thirty, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story); three-time Oscar-nominated costume designer Jacqueline West (The Revenant, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Quills) and co-costume designer Bob Morgan; and stunt coordinator Tom Struthers (The Dark Knight trilogy, Inception). Oscar-winning and multiple Oscar-nominated composer Hans Zimmer (Blade Runner 2049, Inception, Gladiator, The Lion King) is creating the score. Villeneuve is also reteaming with two-time Oscar-nominated production designer Patrice Vermette (Arrival, Sicario, The Young Victoria), two-time Oscar-nominated editor Joe Walker (Blade Runner 2049, Arrival, 12 Years a Slave), two-time Oscar-winning visual effects supervisor Paul Lambert (First Man, Blade Runner 2049), and Oscar-winning special effects supervisor Gerd Nefzer (Blade Runner 2049).

Dune is being filmed on location in Budapest, Hungary, and in Jordan.

The film is slated for a November 20, 2020 worldwide release from Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Entertainment.

The post Cameras Roll as Dune Starts Production appeared first on 8-Bit Island.

Can you believe it? The highest grossing movie of all-time (inflation adjusted of course) is turning 80!

Sky are celebrating the 80th anniversary with a special screening this Sunday night on Sky Movies Vintage at 8pm.

Also to celebrate we decided we’d run a Gone With the Wind Quiz to see how well you know this grand old classic film.

Question 1

Q: The novel Gone With The Wind was written by which author?

Question 2

Q: Where is Rhett Butler originally from?

Question 3

Q: Who is Frank Kennedy truly in love with?

Question 4

Q: How does Scarlett kill the Yankee deserter?

Question 5

Q: What is the name of the O’Hara plantation?

Question 6

Q: What is Scarlett O’Hara’s middle name?

Question 7

Q: What did Rhett Butler do during the Civil War?

Question 8

Q: Two of the key cast hailed from England, Vivien Leigh was one – who was the other?

Question 9

Q: True or false: At 3 hours and 41 minutes, Gone With The Wind is the longest film to win the Best Picture Academy Award®?

Question 10

Q: What was Scarlett trying to do when she fell down the stairs?

Question 11

Q: Finish the quote: “If I have to lie, steal, cheat, or kill, as God as my witness, …”

Question 12

Q: Which actor only agreed to be in Gone With The Wind on the proviso that they would not have to do a Southern accent?

Question 13

Q: What is the name of Rhett and Scarlett’s daughter?

Question 14

Q: What excuse does Rhett give for not being able to help Scarlett pay Tara’s taxes?

Question 15

Q: What was noticeable about Hattie McDaniel’s (Mammy) Best Supporting Actress Academy Award® win?

Question 16

Q: Who said, “After all, tomorrow is another day”?

Question 17

Q: True or false: Mickey Kuhn (Beau Wilkes) is the only credited cast member still alive today.

Question 18

Q: Which species of animal is responsible for two deaths in the film?

Question 19

Q: What kind of business does Belle Watling run?

Question 20

Q: Vivien Leigh won the Best Actress Oscar® for her portrayal of Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With The Wind, for what role did she win the same award 12 years later?

Question 21

Q: What was the primary source of controversy over Vivien Leigh playing the role of Scarlett O’Hara?

Question 22

Q: How many sisters does Scarlett O’Hara have?

Question 23

Q: Who threatened to boycott Gone With The Wind’s Atlanta premiere after Hattie McDaniel (Mammy) was unable to attend due to racial segregation?

Question 24

Q: What does Scarlett O’Hara use to make her infamous green dress?

Question 25

Q: After turning down the role of Rhett Butler, which A-list actor was quoted as saying, “Gone With The Wind is going to be the biggest flop in Hollywood history” ?

Question 26

Q: True or false: As a prank, Olivia de Havilland (Melanie Hamilton) fastened herself to the set to make it impossible to Clark Gable (Rhett Butler) to pick her up.

Question 27

Q: Which of these men was not one of Scarlett’s husbands: Frank Kennedy, Ashley Wilkes, Charles Hamilton, or Rhett Butler?

Question 28:

Q: True or false: As the epic ‘burning of Atlanta’ sequence was the last scene to be shot, much of the left over set was added to the fire to fan the flames.

Question 29:

Q: Olivia De Havilland, who played Melanie Wilkes, and her real-life sister famously did not get along. Name her equally successful sister.

Question 30:

Q: Which cast member was killed during active service in the second World War?

Question 31:

Q: George Reeves had a small role in the film as one of Scarlett’s beaux – what super hero did he famously portray on television in the 1950s?

For the answers check back on Monday.

And here are the answers, how well did you do?

Question 1

A: Margaret Mitchell

Question 2

A: Charleston

Question 3

A: Suellen O’Hara

Question 4

A: She shoots him with Rhett’s gun.

Question 5

A: Tara

Question 6

A: Scarlett – her full name is Katie Scarlett O’Hara.

Question 7

A: He was a blockade runner.

Question 8

A: Leslie Howard

Question 9

A: False: Lawrence Of Arabia (1962) only just takes the title at 3 hours and 42 minutes long.

Question 10

A: She was trying to hit Rhett.

Question 11

A: “I’ll never be hungry again”

Question 12

A: Clark Gable (Rhett Butler)

Question 13

A: Bonnie Blue Butler

Question 14

A: He says his money is tied up in Europe.

Question 15

A: She was the first she was the first African-American to both win and be nominated for an Oscar®.

Question 16

A: Scarlett O’Hara

Question 17

A: False: Olivia de Havilland (Melanie Hamilton) is still going strong at the age of 102.

Question 18

A: Horses. Gerald O’Hara dies after drunkenly falling off his horse and Bonnie Blue Butler does the same – minus the alcohol.

Question 19

A: A brothel

Question 20

A: She won the award again in 1952 for playing Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire.

Question 21

A: It was widely felt Vivien Leigh was too British to play the beloved Southern belle.

Question 22

A: She has two sisters, Suellen and Carreen.

Question 23

A: Clark Gable (Rhett Butler)

Question 24

A: Curtains

Question 25

A: Gary Cooper

Question 26

A: True: Gable almost threw his back out trying to lift her.

Question 27

A: Ashley Wilkes

Question 28

A: false: The ‘burning of Atlanta’ sequence was first to be filmed. It is rumoured the filming of this scene was the first time producer David O. Selznick met his Scarlett O’Hara.

Question 29

A: Joan Fontaine

Question 30

A: Leslie Howard

Question 31

A: Superman

The post Quiz – How Well Do You Know Gone With the Wind? Watch on Sky this Sunday appeared first on 8-Bit Island.

With just over a month until its New Zealand release, Roadshow have dropped the second trailer for Hellboy.

Hellboy is back, and he’s on fire. From the pages of Mike Mignola’s seminal work, this action packed story sees the legendary half-demon superhero called to the English countryside to battle a trio of rampaging giants. There he discovers The Blood Queen, Nimue, a resurrected ancient sorceress thirsting to avenge a past betrayal. Suddenly caught in a clash between the supernatural and the human, Hellboy is now hell-bent on stopping Nimue without triggering the end of the world.

Hellboy is directed by Neil Marshall and stars David Harbour, Milla Jovovich, and Ian McShane, Sasha Lane, Penelope Mitchell, with Daniel Dae Kim.

Hellboy releases in New Zealand cinemas on April 11, 2019.

The post Roadshow Release new Hellboy Trailer appeared first on 8-Bit Island.

Horror fans, especially old-school horror fans, all old frenemy is about to hit the big screen once again.

That’s right folks in an era of film-making where no movie is safe, Child’s Play has has been given the boot, well re-boot in fact.

Back before Woody and Buzz had shown the fun side of toys that aren’t inanimate, Chucky was the toy that no kid should ever play with. Well ladies and gents, Chucky is coming back. Roadshow have dropped their teaser trailer and it looks like Chucky is up to his old tricks once more.

Releasing on 20 June in New Zealand, Child’s Play is directed by Lars Klevberg and stars Aubrey Plaza, Brian Tyree Henry and Gabriel Bateman.

The post Child’s Play Teaser Trailer Drops appeared first on 8-Bit Island.