{"id":18863,"date":"2019-03-01T00:01:52","date_gmt":"2019-03-01T00:01:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/?p=18863"},"modified":"2019-02-24T20:48:47","modified_gmt":"2019-02-24T20:48:47","slug":"cary-wrecks-winter-movies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/2019\/03\/01\/cary-wrecks-winter-movies\/","title":{"rendered":"Cary Wrecks Winter Movies!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>At the end of summer, I usually see enough movies that season that I can write a blog about them.\u00a0 And sometimes during the winter, I see enough movies to do that, too!\u00a0 And this is one of those times!\u00a0 So here are my impressions of new movies I\u2019ve seen in the past few months.\u00a0 I\u2019ll try to keep spoilers to a minimum, but in case a small one seeps out here and there, you\u2019ve been warned!\u00a0 OK let\u2019s begin!<\/p>\n

The Grinch<\/strong><\/p>\n

This movie came out before Thanksgiving, but I didn\u2019t see it until after that because who wants to see Christmas movies before Thanksgiving?\u00a0 Anyway, this was a computer animated version of the Grinch story, and it was done by Illumination.\u00a0 I know a lot of people are like, \u201cEw, Illumination.\u201d\u00a0 But I don\u2019t really think they are that bad.\u00a0 Sure they\u2019re not Pixar quality, but not everything has to be. \u00a0As long as it\u2019s entertaining, I\u2019m happy.\u00a0 And The Grinch movie certainly was entertaining to me.\u00a0 It was a heck of a lot better than the live action Jim Carrey Grinch movie anyway!\u00a0 I remember when the live action one came out, Konami made some 3-D platformer versions of the Grinch into a game.\u00a0 I reviewed it for The Dallas Morning News, and I wrote the review entirely in rhyme!\u00a0 I got a lot of feedback from that review.\u00a0 Anyway, after the new animated Grinch movie, we stopped to eat at IHOP.\u00a0 At the time, they were doing a Grinch movie promotion and had special items on their menu.\u00a0 We had green Grinch pancakes and I had a Who Roast Beast omelet.\u00a0 It was basically an omelet with Arby\u2019s style roast beef and jalapenos in it.\u00a0 It was also huge.\u00a0 I was able to only eat half of it and took the rest home in a to go box.\u00a0 But it was all fun.<\/p>\n

Wreck-it Ralph 2: Ralph Breaks the Internet<\/strong><\/p>\n

I really liked the first Wreck-It Ralph movie a lot.\u00a0 So much so that Wreck-It Ralph himself became one of my top five favorite Disney characters.\u00a0 Right on up there with Chip N Dale, Scrooge McDuck, and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.\u00a0 So I knew I wanted to see the sequel, even though I just suspected it to be Disney\u2019s version of The Emoji Movie.\u00a0 I\u2019m glad to say it was a lot better than The Emoji Movie, but I still liked the first one more.\u00a0 The first movie focused more on classic arcade games, whereas the second movie focused more on the Internet in general.\u00a0 I know more people know more about the Internet, but I liked it better when it was just about classic arcade games.\u00a0 And all the references to games in the sequel were just recycled stuff from the first movie.\u00a0 The movie deals with topics like friends moving away or having their own lives so you don\u2019t get to see them as much, and that really hit home for me so I actually came out of that movie a little depressed.<\/p>\n

Ralph Breaks VR<\/strong><\/p>\n

OK technically this wasn\u2019t a movie.\u00a0 But I did do it in a movie theater.\u00a0 Where the arcade used to be, one of the Cinemark theaters now has a VR attraction.\u00a0 Most VR games you just stand there, but this one was more advanced and you could walk around and pick up stuff and whatnot. \u00a0I\u2019m sure we were just walking around the same two cubicles, as you do a lot of double backing, but it was still very neat.\u00a0 Once they can get the costs down on this, I\u2019d say this will be the future of arcades.\u00a0 Well, I don\u2019t think it\u2019ll replace arcades entirely, just be an attraction alongside of them.<\/p>\n

Anyway, in this VR game, Ralph and Vanellope want to take you into the Internet to play this neat new online game.\u00a0 But since we are just regular people, we had to get disguises so we looked more like \u201cNetlanders.\u201d\u00a0 Would that be identity theft?\u00a0 Anyway, you pick these cards of cartoony characters, and that\u2019s what you\u2019d look like in the game to the other player.\u00a0 You got to keep the card, too, and I also recommend playing this game with another player, as it is a lot more fun.\u00a0 Then you get suited up with a vest that rumbles and your VR helmet.<\/p>\n

Once in the VR game, you enter a tram that Ralph and Vanellope are piloting to the Internet.\u00a0 But there is a technical difficulty and you have to play a coding game to get past.\u00a0 It\u2019s basically just whack a mole on the wall, but if you hit the wrong thing, it\u2019ll show your hand getting shocked and you\u2019ll feel a rumble on your vest.\u00a0 Then you enter the online game, which looks like a cross between Galaga and Battlezone.\u00a0 You can swat at bugs with your hand, and push a button on the wall to fire a turret at other bugs.\u00a0 It was pretty neat and made me wonder what other classic arcade games would be great with this kind of VR treatment.<\/p>\n

But then, something goes wrong and the game gets all buggy.\u00a0 Ralph helps you escape, but now the bugs are infecting cute little kitties and bunnies.\u00a0 You know how in the trailer to the sequel, there is the game where the girl feeds pancakes to the bunny and the milkshakes to the kitty?\u00a0 Well you kind of get to do that here.\u00a0 You get to pick up a gun (yes it\u2019s real) and when you pump the reload thing on it, it\u2019ll change from shooting pancakes to milkshakes, and if you look at the gun, it shows you what you are shooting on the barrel.\u00a0 You then go through some shooting gallery sections, first in the kitchen and some aerial shots in the internet world.\u00a0 The neat thing is that in the kitchen, a fire breaks out and they blow hot air on you!<\/p>\n

And after that, it\u2019s all over.\u00a0 The game shows you your score, but you can also look at it at any time by looking down at your wrist, and you\u2019ll see a watch with your score popping out on it.\u00a0 Neat!\u00a0 They also have a version of this VR game with Star Wars characters and settings, and I\u2019m sure it\u2019s pretty much the same kind of thing.\u00a0 I\u2019d like to do that, too, but the whole thing is pretty expensive at 30 bucks a pop, so I doubt I\u2019ll do it again anytime soon.\u00a0 But I\u2019m still glad I got to experience it at least once.\u00a0 After the game, we got our pictures taken holding a plate of pancakes and a milkshake. \u00a0The game is pretty impressive, I even tried to see if I could flip my brother off and have him see it in the game.\u00a0 It showed that I held up a finger, but not my middle finger!\u00a0 Still pretty impressive, though.<\/p>\n

Spider Man: Enter the Spider-Verse<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m not a big fan of Spider-Man or any of the movies.\u00a0 But with that said, this is the best Spider-Man movie out there.\u00a0 I took my brother to see it because I figured he\u2019d like it and I ended up liking it, too, even if it was a little weird.\u00a0 It\u2019s a great movie to take the family to see, as it has a lot of good messages in it.\u00a0 I only had one problem with it, and it\u2019s the same problem I had with the Grinch movie.\u00a0 Both movies were animated, and both had 2-D and 3-D versions you could see.\u00a0 I saw the 2-D versions, because I\u2019ve been blind in my left eye since birth and can\u2019t see the 3-D effects.\u00a0 But I don\u2019t think they made the transition from 3-D to 2-D in these movies very well, because a lot of the backgrounds and action scenes were a little blurry.\u00a0 Even though I can\u2019t see 3-D effects, I know how they work, and I know those were the 3-D parts.\u00a0 And I\u2019m not the only one who noticed that, too, so it\u2019s not just me.\u00a0 I hope that doesn\u2019t become a trend in future animated movies.\u00a0 I don\u2019t like seeing blurry movies.<\/p>\n

Bumblebee<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now THIS is how you do a Transformers movie!\u00a0 I didn\u2019t think I\u2019d like this movie as much as I did, but I think this was one of my favorite movies I saw in this batch.\u00a0 The movie is set in the 80\u2019s, so all the music is from that time, so the soundtrack is good.\u00a0 I\u2019m so glad the 80\u2019s is cool again.\u00a0 I also loved the beginning part which was done in all CG and the robots were fighting on Cybertron.\u00a0 I wouldn\u2019t mind a whole CG movie about that.\u00a0 It reminded me of the Transformers: Fall of Cybertron game that was on the Xbox 360.\u00a0 I loved that game.\u00a0 Usually I don\u2019t play third person shooters but I played all the way through on that one, so you know I must\u2019ve liked it.\u00a0 And since the movie was based on a toy line, I\u2019m glad they didn\u2019t take things too seriously.\u00a0 Heck, they even dedicated a scene in the movie to Bumblebee and friends trying to TP a house!\u00a0 Even the teenage romance thing they shoved in there didn\u2019t make me want to puke too much. \u00a0As a kid, I liked the Transformers toy line and cartoon for a little while, so you can kind of call this film: \u201cCary\u2019s Childhood: The Movie.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aquaman<\/strong><\/p>\n

This movie came out a little before Christmas but I didn\u2019t see it until afterward.\u00a0 It\u2019s just a fun little super hero movie you can take the family to see over the holiday, that seems to be what they designed it to be. \u00a0Just turn your intelligence off to fully enjoy it.\u00a0 The movie had a lot of robot fish, and it made me think of the old Taito shooter Darius.\u00a0 I kept expecting words to fly across the screen saying \u201cWARNING!\u00a0 A Huge Battleship \u2018Queen Fossil\u2019 is Approaching Fast!\u201d<\/p>\n

The LEGO Movie 2<\/strong><\/p>\n

So don\u2019t get me wrong, I fully enjoyed this sequel.\u00a0 But it suffers the same fate as the Wreck-It Ralph sequel.\u00a0 They just reuse the same jokes and concepts, so it\u2019s not as impactful as the first one.\u00a0 It still has some good messages and is a great movie to take the whole family to see.\u00a0 Plus you know I\u2019d have to see it anyway if I review the video game of it.\u00a0 And I usually get to review most of the LEGO games out there.<\/p>\n

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World<\/strong><\/p>\n

Just got back from watching this one actually. I have to say that I think the How to Train Your Dragon movies are the best things DreamWorks has done so far, as they can be almost PIXAR quality sometimes.\u00a0 This one was no exception, as it looked great.\u00a0 Only problem I had with it was that I predicted the story even before the movie started.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know if I\u2019m getting better at predicting movie plots or if movie plots are just getting stagnant.\u00a0 It\u2019s just that the last two movies had something unexpected happen in them, but this one not so much.\u00a0 It was still a fun movie, though.\u00a0 Now I have to review a game based off of it, so keep an eye out for that in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

Spring Movies?<\/strong><\/p>\n

And those are all the movies I saw this winter.\u00a0 I did catch a couple of movies on Netflix.\u00a0 One was Venom, which was kind of weird.\u00a0 Another was Christopher Robin, which was cute and had some good messages in it.\u00a0 There are a lot of movies coming out this Spring that I want to see, but I may wait for some of them to come to Netflix since there are so many.\u00a0 Captain Marvel looks neat because female superheroes are oftentimes more interesting.\u00a0 I wonder if Marvel will ever make a She-Hulk movie?\u00a0 I\u2019ll probably hold off on the Shazam movie until Netflix as it looks a little too goofy, even by my standards.\u00a0 I\u2019m a big fan of Laika\u2019s work, but I\u2019m a little on the fence on Missing Link right now.\u00a0 I\u2019ll probably have to go see Avengers: Endgame so I can see how they wrap up that cliffhanger from last time.\u00a0 And of course I\u2019m going to go see Detective Pikachu.\u00a0 It looks bad, but entertaining at the same time.\u00a0 I\u2019m a big fan of Aardman\u2019s clay animation, so I do want to check out Shaun the Sheep: Farmageddon.\u00a0 When I looked at a list of Spring movies, there was a Minecraft movie in the list.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t know about that.\u00a0 And finally, I was such a big Godzilla fan as a kid that I\u2019d like to check out the new Godzilla: King of Monsters movie, too.\u00a0 Which movies did you see this winter and which ones do you want so see?\u00a0 Let me know in the comments section!\u00a0 Later!\u00a0 –Cary<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At the end of summer, I usually see enough movies that season that I can write a blog about them.\u00a0 And sometimes during the winter, I see enough movies to do that, too!\u00a0 And this is one of those times!\u00a0 So here are my impressions of new movies I\u2019ve seen in the past few months.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":18821,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18863"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18863\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18865,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18863\/revisions\/18865"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}