Ty Watches "Resident Evil"

Yesterday I went out and saw "Resident Evil". I am a Zach Cregger fan, so whenever he puts out a new movie, I'm most likely going to see it. I really liked "Barbarian" and I loved "Weapons". So, when it was announced that he was going to do his take on "Resident Evil", I was intrigued.

I should point out that I have never played the video game before. It was never on my radar. I'm not much of a gamer, you know that if you listen to the podcast. I have also never been much of a fan of first player shooter games. They have never appealed to me. So I kind of went into this movie blind, which was great for me. I didn't have any preconceived notions or things I was looking for in this movie. For me it was all about Zach Cregger, and what he was going to do with his new movie. I saw the trailer, and even though I knew that it was based on a video game, to me this was a horror/body horror movie. It also stars Austin Abrams, who was exceptional in "Weapons". Abrams seems to be having a moment right now, and he is capitalizing on it. So, going into the movie, I was as blind as one could be.

I really enjoyed the hell out of this movie. "Resident Evil" was a blast. It was also gory and bloody. There were jokes. I found myself laughing more than I thought. It was also intense, and in a good way, gross. All in all, I found this movie to be fun as hell. I'm also going to go about the rest of this review without any spoilers. I think what I liked most about this movie was the fact that Cregger made Abrams' character a regular dude put in an impossible situation. This all felt like some stuff I would do if I was in the same predicament.

Abrams plays Bryan who is a courier that brings things to hospitals. It is usually body parts for transplants, but he is offered a super secret, very hard job that he cannot pass up on. And when he is driving to the place he's supposed to go, he accidentally hits a person crossing the road. This is when everything starts to go to hell. From the moment he hits this person, it happens about 10 minutes into the movie, everything after takes us on a wild, wild ride. And all the while Bryan is dealing with all of this craziness in real time. There are moments when something totally wild happens and during the aftermath Abrams can be heard cursing under his breath, and complaining about this wackiness he has encountered. He seems to be so frustrated that all he can do is curse under his breath. He also continually tells himself that he is almost to his destination after every horrendous situation he is dumped into. I tell myself that I'm almost done with stuff all the time. I will be on a run and constantly be telling myself that I'm almost there. Abrams played this role as just a regular dude and I loved that. It was nice to see someone who doesn't have any superpowers or is a wiz with guns or anything. He is put into an impossible scenario and he is just reacting like most of us would. I also thought that the graphics and  "bad guys" looked really cool. I thought that Cregger and crew did a very good job making the monsters that Bryan has to fight endlessly. There is one scene with a kid that is very creepy and very well done. There's another with a dog that totally reminded me of "The Thing". It was a nice homage. I think what I liked best though was the sheer fact that I got to see a kickass horror movie with some comedy. I had no want to see anything from a video game that I have never played. I got to see a cool story told in a cool new way.

I liked "Resident Evil" a ton. I highly recommend it to anyone that is a fan of Cregger's previous work. He continues to make really funny and very scary movies. I like where his career is headed and Austin Abrams proves in this role that he is a star that is going to continue to shine. Check out "Resident Evil". It is dope. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Ty Watches "Weapons"

Now that I have finished my preseason football stuff, I have some movie and album write ups I want to get to. The first movie I want to talk about is "Weapons".

I wrote a blog a while back about the trailer and how much it made me want to see the movie. And I found a way to see it on opening weekend, going to see it solo on the Sunday it opened. And I absolutely loved this movie. I will be as spoiler free as possible moving forward by the way.

The story of the movie is as follows, 17 kids from one single classroom all leave their houses at 2:17am and "never come back". The movie then tells the story of the aftermath from different perspectives. Julia Garner plays the teacher of the classroom and we get her story first. It's clear she has some deep seeded issues, but in the end she is a person who cares about her kids. She wants what is best for them, she just doesn't really know how to go about it the right way. Garner does some great stuff in this movie, and after seeing her in "Fantastic Four: First Steps", which she is also very good in, she is amazing here. I was very impressed with her work. Alden Ehrenreich plays a local cop who isn't on the job about the missing kids, but he has insight because he works in the police office. Ehrenreich does some solid work too. He is always anxious and nervous about everything around him. He has an overbearing girlfriend.His girlfriend's dad happens to be the chief of police in this town and he may or may not have issues with alcohol. He is also a friend of Garner's, and they may or may not have a personal past. Ehrenreich was fun to watch. He also brings a little humor in an otherwise very scary movie. Josh Brolin plays a parent of one of the kids who left their house. Brolin is about as reliable as they come in Hollywood. He portrays the ache and anger of a parent whose kid is gone. He wants answers and he will stop at nothing to figure it all out. He is also involved in what I found to be the scariest part of the whole movie. There's a long scene with him that made me jump in my seat in the theater. Benedict Wong plays the principal of the school and he is incredible in the movie. He has to do a bunch of different things in his ten minutes on screen and boy oh boy does he nail it. He is probably my favorite part of the whole movie. I also appreciate how he handled the whole scenario as the principal for the school where the kids left. Austin Abrams plays a local junkie who is the catalyst for uncovering the mystery of the movie. But, since he is constantly high, no one will listen to him. It doesn't really end well for him. And then we have Amy Madigan, who gives a performance of a lifetime. She is top notch in this movie and I hope she gets some kind of awards consideration. I was absolutely blown away by the work she did.

"Weapons" worked on a ton of levels for me. I thought about how I would handle this situation if it happened to me. I thought the kid actors did good work. Zach Cregger knows how to make a scary and mysterious movie that always has me on the edge of my seat. "Weapons" is definitely scary, but it also has moments of humor and levity. I appreciate that it isn't entirely shot at night. They created a universe that I'm interested in seeing much more of.

Overall, I'm stoked I was able to see this movie on a big screen and I cannot recommend it enough. "Weapons" is amazing. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.