Gamebox 1.0 (2004)

Number Rolled: 14

Movie Name/Year: Gamebox 1.0 (2004)

Genre: Horror (According to Netflix…)

Length: 83 minutes

Rating: PG-13

Director: David Hillenbrand, Scott Hillenbrand

Writer: Worm Miller, Patrick Casey

Actors: Danielle Fishel, Nate Richert, Patrick Kilpatrick, Patrick Cavanaugh

So, Harvey Kinkel from Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Topanga Lawrence from Boy Meets World meet and fall in love. Sabrina hears about it and casts a spell…. Wait… sorry… that’s just how I looked at the movie because of the VERY familiar characters I saw. Relax, I kid – I kid.

Honestly? Rated 1.9 on Netflix and 14% on Rotten Tomatoes, I expect nothing short of bullshit from this movie. I severely underestimated it, and I think I know why. Netflix went all sorts of crazy with the labeling of this films genres. This is not, I repeat NOT, a horror movie in anyway-shape-or form. If you are expecting to see a horror, quickly pick up your remote and skip this film. Whatever moron sat through this and said “Oh, hey, this is a horror movie!” was on way too much LSD that day. I hope you had a bad trip douche-bag.

If I were to categorize this movie I would keep the Sci-Fi & Fantasy, trash the rest and add “Indie Film,” “Video Game Movie” and “Psychological Thriller”… then find the guy who labeled it a horror and kick him square in the nuts.

Now, as for the movie, don’t go into it expecting an A class movie, it’s definitely a B movie, but it’s done really nicely. A video game tester getting over the death of his girlfriend receives a free virtual reality game in the mail and assumes he’s meant to test it. He does and gets locked inside. It’s an interesting concept – true it’s something I’ve seen done before – but it was done well in my opinion. The acting was good, not great, but good and the storyline was great. I happen to especially love the ending.

My suggestion? This is one of those movie you need to say “fuck the critics” to, watch and judge for yourself. And for the love of the dice, don’t expect it to be a horror.

Overall Opinion – 3.5/5

Overkill (1996)

Number Rolled: 24

Movie Name/Year: Overkill (1996)

Genre: Action Thriller

Length: 91 mins

Rating: R

Director: Dean Raphael Ferrandini

Writer: John Langley, Jerry Lazarus, Ron Swanson

Actors: Aaron Norris, Michael Nouri, Kenneth Moskow, Pamela Dickerson, David Rowe, Enrique Munoz, Damian Alcazar, Gerardo Soublette, Gerardo Zepeda

First of all, I need to get this off my chest. The way “Norris” is printed on the cover makes me believe they wanted people to think that it was Chuck and not Aaron in the movie. Cheap move I think, but after actually watching it, kind of fitting. Overkill had all of the Norris, none of the Chuck.

Don’t get me wrong, I like my share of B movies, but my favorite B movie is the kind that doesn’t try to be anything else. This movie was certainly nothing else, but tried to be. Undoubtedly, they thought having a Norris in their movie would sell tickets. However, I expect an actor to react to a nice hard kick to the face. Not stand there for a few and then jump backwards in a very obvious way.

At the beginning of the movie, things are pretty much cut and dry. Uncontrollable cop screws up a raid and is told to get their shit together or resign. Cop goes on vacation and gets wrangled into helping out some nerdy tech guy who looked into the wrong computer file. That’s the storyline. Not much more to it really…. Until you start hearing about the shadow people out in the jungle. That touch of the supernatural in a movie like this was definitely unexpected.

For the majority of the movie I found that added other-worldly plot just as corny and predictable as their dialog, but the ending really caught me off guard. I was actually really impressed with it and that’s what saved this movie for me. In fact, it jumped it up from what would have been an overall opinion of one.

If you do decide to watch it, watch it with the knowledge that you are watching a B movie. Don’t expect a blockbuster or you will be disappointed.

Overall Opinion – 2/5

Starship Troopers (1997)

Number Rolled: 46

Movie Name/Year: Starship Troopers (1997)

Genre: Action & Adventure

Length: 130 minutes

Rating: R

Director: Paul Verhoeven

Writer: Edward Neumeier, Robert A. Heinlein

Actors: Casper Van Dien, Dina Meyer, Denise Richards, Jake Busey, Neil Patrick Harris, Patrick Muldoon, Michael Ironside, Clancy Brown, Seth Gilliam, Rue McClanahan

There’s not much I can really say about this movie. I am a big fan of it, but it’s not really for everyone. It starts out with a group of high school friends deciding to join the military in order to become citizens or follow their crushes around… either way they wind up in the military fighting the forces of bugs that are threatening their way of life. It sounds a lot more stupid than it actually is.

My favorite part of the movie is the beginning, where they’re catching you up to speed through website new reels. They explain the threat and the war without making you feel like the writer thinks you’re stupid and you can’t figure things out.

It’s a campy kind of movie, but it’s cute. I hear the sequels leave much to be desired… but we’ll see.

Overall Opinion – 4.5/5