For some reason I've ended up watching way too many movies recently. I usually try to keep up on the buzz-worthy releases, but I rarely have time to devote to seeing everything that comes out. So once in awhile I find myself unintentionally playing catch-up by watching three or four movies in a short period of time. Here are a some I've seen within the last week:

Night Watch

In preparing to review the Night Watch game I went out and rented the movie. I was really dreading watching it, because I heard from several people that it was a confusing mess of a movie. So going into it I was expecting it to be complete rubbish. To my surprise, I ended up enjoying the movie quite a bit. I think it helped that I played the game first, because the game does a much better job of explaining the underlying concepts of the story. If you're a fan of vampires, special effects, and the supernatural you should definitely check out the movie. As for the game, you'll just have to read my full review when it goes up next week.

House of the Dead

Over the long weekend I happened to catch House of the Dead on the Sci-Fi channel. Having heard so much about the movie I figured I might as well watch it. It's actually the first and only Uwe Boll movie I've seen, and after watching it I can see why people trash the guy. It's one of those movies that as you watch you find yourself wondering if the director, writers, and actors are all aware that they're befouling not only the source material, but movies in general. At some point I have to imagine that they knew the movie was terrible, so they just decided to go whole hog and make it as terrible as they possibly could. Good lord that movie is so bad, it really boggles the mind. That scene where the group is running towards the house while jumping around and shooting zombies to techno music is so overdone that it would be hilarious if it didn't drag on for 10 minutes. Ugh, and that rave scene with like ten people dancing around underneath the giant SEGA sign, and the girl dressed in the stars and stripes jumpsuit whose name is...Liberty? After watching that movie I must say that my faith in Sega was shaken for allowing the name of one of their franchises to be soiled like that. But then I booted up The Typing of the Dead and after a few minutes of that all was forgiven.

The Hills Have Eyes

I had seen this in the theater awhile back and I thought it was a pretty decent movie, but I realized that what I like about it is the way it reminds me of Resident Evil 4. Specifically the scene in the house with that huge mutant guy and the hero. That huge guy with the axe reminds me of one of the Chainsaw Ganados, just a hulking mass that flails about erratically and destroys everything in its path. I like this concept, and it's done fairly well in The Hills Have Eyes. The rest of the movie is alright, if a bit uncomfortable to watch. Someday I'll have to watch the original. I think it has the lead singer of Midnight Oil in it, which is cool I guess?

Superman Returns

I did the obligatory summer moviegoer thing and saw Superman Returns. It was pretty dull actually, but I thought the guy playing Superman did a fair job. I think that Lois Lane and Lex Luthor were mis-cast though. Lois was just kind of snooty and annoying, to the point that you have to wonder why the hell Superman keeps saving her. Lex Luthor on the other hand was just silly. I'm admittedly not a big Kevin Spacey fan, I think he's kind of tiresome to watch because he always plays the same character. In this movie he was supposed to be a villain, but he wasn't at all sinister or even interesting. He was just a bumbling idiot, like a less crass version of Dr. Evil. In fact, the best performance in the whole movie was from the guy who plays Cyclops in X-Men. He actually seemed somewhat human, unlike the rest of the cast.

That's it for my movie wrap-up. I'm sure I'll end up seeing the new Pirates of the Caribbean soon, although I heard it isn't so great...