Monday, December 31, 2018

Movies I've Seen This Year (2018)

All the movies I've seen this year.
Movies I watched in 2018
  • January
    • Sully (2016) - Based on the true story of Captain Sully's emergency landing of the commercial jet in the Hudson river.
    • Season of the Witch (2011) - Nicolas Cage as a knight during the 14th century Crusades in a town ravaged by the Black Plague. Evil is involved.
    • Carrie (2013) - ChloĆ« Grace Moretz as Carrie in this remake. It was OK.
  • February
    • The Death Cure (Maze Runner) (2018) - The last book in the trilogy. This took a while to be released because the lead actor was in an accident. No more mazes. Only a cure.
    • Brimstone (2016) - A frontier woman turns fugitive when she is wrongly accused of a crime she didn't commit and is hunted by a vengeful preacher. Stars Dakota Fanning, Guy Pearce, and Kit Harington.
    • Trolls (2016) - An original story based on the Troll dolls. Also has a "Happy" like song by Justin Timberlake (Can't Stop the Feeling)
    • The Cloverfield Paradox [Netflix] (2018) - A space movie with very little in common with the Cloverfield movie. An alternate universe is bleeding into the other in space and they have to save each other. Also, they worked in very small details on the plot of Cloverfield into the story just because. Cash grab, to be honest.
    • Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) - A sequel to the original movie. Since kids don't play board games anymore, the Jumanji board game adapted and created a videogame of itself. Stars The Rock and Kevin Hart.
    • Cars 3 (2017) - Lightning McQueen races one last time... maybe.
    • Black Panther (2018) - Not really an origin story for Black Panther. More of a "How can you stay still and isolate your entire country to the rest of the world knowing all the atrocities happening to everyone and you have the means and resources to help? What do you do?" Also, there's a bad guy. It's like a different take on The Lion King, except it's superheroes and panthers.
    • Life (2017) - A space movie where they discover life on Mars, brings it onboard their space station. Now they have to fight for their lives and prevent the creature from reaching Earth.
    • Hell or High Water (2016) - a rancher and his ex-convict brother rob a bank as vengeance. A cop is on their trail. Stars Chris Pines and Jeff Bridges.
    • All Eyez on Me (2017) - Based on Tupac's life story.
  • March
    • A Wrinkle in Time (2018) - Based on the book of the same name. I fell asleep on this in theaters. Rewatched it later. I feel the movie was lacking. I get what the director was trying to do, but they stripped away the Christian message in the book. That really hurt and pacing.
    • Fullmetal Alchemist [Live Action] (2017) - Bad. Do not watch.
    • Transformers: The Last Knight (2017) - Story was all over the place. Cash grab. Nice nod to previous actors in the series, but it's probably not salvageable.
    • Ready Player One (2018) - In the future, people are glued to virtual reality. When there is no outlook in real life, the OASIS is their escape. The creator hid an easter egg in the game. Whoever finds it will own the company.
  • April
    • A Quiet Place (2018) - Alien creatures with thick exoskeletons and super hearing have taken over the world. One family survives by scavenging anywhere while remaining quiet.
    • War of the Planet of the Apes (2017) - The third movie on the new Planet of the Apes series. The virus that has killed off most of humanity has evolved.
    • Avengers: Infinity Wars (2018) - Everything that Marvel Studios has been planning since 2008's Iron Man has culminated into this movie. They are finally facing off the big bad guy in the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Thanos. He plans to wipe out half the life in the universe to combat overpopulation. The Avengers team up with everyone, including the Guardians of the Galaxy.
    • Unforgettable (2017) - Stalker movie starring Rosario Dawson and Katherine Heigl.
    • Wolves at the Door (2016) - Based on the Manson Family murders.
  • May
    • Deadpool 2 (2018) - The sequel. Deadpool must save a mutant kid from a time-traveler trying to kill him. Hilarity ensues as always.
    • Ghost in the Shell (2017) - Live action versions of anime normally are bad and don't do well. No difference here. In the near future, Major is the first of her kind: a human who is cyber-enhanced to be a perfect soldier devoted to stopping the world's most dangerous criminals. When terrorism reaches a new level that includes the ability to hack into people's minds and control them, Major is uniquely qualified to stop it. As she prepares to face a new enemy, Major discovers that her life was stolen instead of saved. Now, she will stop at nothing to recover her past while punishing those who did this to her.
    • Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) - A standalone Star Wars Story about the beginnings of Han Solo. Great cast. Bad script.
    • Atomic Blonde (2017) - Based on a graphic novel. Lorraine Broughton is the most elite spy in MI6, an agent who's willing to use all of her lethal skills to stay alive during an impossible mission. With the Berlin Wall about to fall, she travels into the heart of the city to retrieve a priceless dossier and take down a ruthless espionage ring. Once there, she teams up with an embedded station chief to navigate her way through the deadliest game of spies. Has some good action.
  • June
    • The Greatest Showman (2017) - Stars Hugh Jackman as P.T. Barnum and how the circus came to be. It's a musical that took several years in the making.
    • Pitch Perfect 3 (2017) - Cash grab. Weak plot. Okay music. Closes out the franchise on a mediocre note.
    • Downsize (2017) - Scientist discovered a way to shrink people, reducing their carbon footprint. People follow suit and live in downsize communities. Stars Matt Damon. Cool concept.
  • July
    • Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018) - Cash grab for the original movie. The Kaiju haven't left apparently.
    • Monster Hunt 2 (2018) - I saw this on the flight to the Philippines. It's the sequel to Monster Hunt (I haven't seen it) about a baby monster separated from it's parents. Stuff happens. Cool special FX.
    • Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) - Ant-Man tool a plea deal after the events of Captain America: Civil War. He's under house-arrest and only a few days away from being free until he sees a vision of the quantum realm. Hope van Dyne visits (read as kidnap) Ant-Man to pick his brain on the quantum realm. Also bad guys.
    • The LEGO NINJAGO Movie (2017) - Based on the LEGO NINJAGO series of toys, Lloyd is the green ninja and must defend NINJAGO from his evil father.
    • Mission Impossible: Fallout (2018) - This movie is the reason why Superman's mouth looks so weird in Justice League. Henry Cavill was under contract and couldn't shave his mustache for his role in the movie. Also, Tom Cruise hurt is knee during a stunt. This is why Marvel requires their actors to have stunt doubles. No ifs or buts about it. Anywho, Tom Cruise tries to save the world again after the government sort of betrays him again.
  • August
    • Inglourious Basterds (2009) - British and American soldiers conspire with German spies to rich Hitler in World War II. Nominated for numerous awards. One of Quentin Tarantino's best films, next to Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2.
    • Mary and the Witch's Flower (2018) - A girl finds a flower in the forest, which leads her to a witch's broom, unlocking her powers, discovering a new world for witches.
    • Ex Machina (2015) - A tech-billionaire invites a low-level employee from his company to his private home in Alaska, introducing him to his top-secret research on artificial intelligence with a human-like android. Things get real.
    • Crazy Rich Asians (2018) - Based on the novel of a New York economics teacher who travels to Singapore with his boyfriend for a wedding. It turns out his boyfriend is old-money rich. Her arrival is unwanted by the elites and his family. Best romantic comedy this year. I highly recommend.
  • September
    • Bleach [Live Action] (2018) - Unlike other anime live adaptations, this one is actually good. They kept the plot simple and focused on the first arc in the manga. That allowed them to refine the story and fighting choreography. Huge potential for future sequel. If you're a fan of anime and action sequences, I recommend this movie.
    • Next Gen (2018) - It's not a typical kid's CG movie. They don't shy away from heavy subject matter (like death). Has a good message.
    • The Predator (2018) - It's considered a sequel to all the Predator movies that have been released so far (excluding the Alien/Predator crossovers). Mix action and comedy, unlike the original and Predator 2.
    • Geostorm (2017) - A company has mastered the weather with numerous satellites deployed around the world to produce rain, snow, artificial sunlight/darkness, and maybe wind. But something is wrong with the computer that controls it all and causing calamities in various locations worldwide. 
    • The Shape of Water (2017) - Sometime after World War II, US scientists somehow found a fishman in the Amazon. It's a love story.
  • October
    • Venom (2018) - Based Spider-Man's arch-nemesis (one of them), the symbiote "Venom" attaches itself to Tom Hardy's Eddie Brock. It's an anti-hero comic book film.
    • Rings (2017) - The sequel that never should have happened. The same scary girl that comes out of the TV and turns your face all bent out and shape and scary after 7 days.
  • November
    • Overlord (2018) - During World War II, a team of US soldiers on a secret mission in a small town in France discovered a castle operated by Nazis, performing experiments on the locals. What they found will shock you.
    • Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald (2018) - Warner Bros. is developing their "Wizarding World" shared universe because the DC Expanded Universe is tanking. But they're on a rough start. What's supposed to be a Fantastic Beast story about Newt Scamander has now turned into a backstory for Dumbledore and Grindelwald. There was a lot of padded moments for me. We'll see what happens in the next three movies.
    • Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018) - Ralph from Wreck-It Ralph travels to the Internet with Penelope to save her game. Really well done movie.
    • The Firm (1993) - An up and coming lawyer at a firm discovers the shady dealings that his law firm has been doing for years with their clients' money. He's targeted and must escape. Starring Tom Cruise. 
  • December
    • Rampage (2018) - Based on the videogame of the same name about a giant ape, wolf, and lizard destroying buildings and eating people except it stars The Rock and it's about a gorilla, a wolf, and a crocodile coming into contact with a gene-altering agent.
    • How to Train Your Dragon (2010) - 2009-2012 time frame was bad for me. I was depressed and hating the world. So I missed out on this movie and it's sequel. I watched it recently and it's REALLY good. A tribe of Vikings have been fighting dragons all their lives. Then the chief's son befriends a Night Fury dragon. 
    • How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014) - In this sequel, the tribe of Vikings now live among dragons. The chief's son with Toothless, his Night Fury dragon, discover people capturing dragons. He must protect his tribe and their dragons.
    • Blockers (2018) - It's a comedy about parents cockblocking their daughters during prom night. The movie has potential to be a classic like Superbad.
    • Tomb Raider (2018) - This version of Lara Croft follows closely the revamped version in the videogame, down to the story. I like it.
    • Aquaman (2018) - One of the better DC Expanded Universe movies. Aquaman is born from two worlds with his human father and Atlantean mother, Atlanna. In the present, his half brother plans to unite the kingdoms of the sea to wage war to the surface world. Aquaman will have to face his destiny in uniting the sea and the ground.
    • Mary Poppins Returns (2018) - The sequel to the original Mary Poppins, the kids are now older. A crisis brings Mary Poppins back to the Banks family.
    • Bird Box [Netflix] (2018) - A surprise hit for the holiday season. When a mysterious force decimates the population, only one thing is certain -- if you see it, you die. The survivors must now avoid coming face to face with an entity that takes the form of their worst fears. Searching for hope and a new beginning, a woman and her children embark on a dangerous journey through the woods and down a river to find the one place that may offer sanctuary. To make it, they'll have to cover their eyes from the evil that chases them -- and complete the trip blindfolded.
    • The Mummy (2017) - Universal Pictures' attempt at creating a shared movie universe, dubbed the Dark Universe, Tom Cruise must face and defeat this version of the mummy. The movie bombed in theaters, but they're still planning to unite Dracula, the Mummy, the Wolf, the Invisible Man, Frankenstein's Bride, and other Universal monsters.
    • Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) - This is the best Spider-Man movie they've ever made. Spider-Man: Homecoming is part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but this Spider-Man movie is close to the comics version. Just like Peter Parker, teenager Miles Morales was also bitten by a radioactive spider. He gains spider abilities different from Peter Parker. However, the Kingpin is planning to open a portal into other universes. The multiverse is in danger. It's up to Peter Parker, Miles Morales, and other Spider-Men from other universes to stop him. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS MOVIE.
    • Life of the Party (2018) - Melissa McCarthy plays a divorced mother going back to college with her daughter. It's a funny comedy.
I'm done.

X-Mas Family Celebration Weekend 2018

On the weekend before Christmas Eve, the family and I went to MGM National Harbor Hotel and Casino. Ate at Shake Shack before heading to watch Cirque Dreams Holidaze. I don't have footage of that, but I recorded the scenery outside the hotel. Afterwards, we went to Gaylord National Resort to check out the Ice sculpture exhibit. This year it's A Charlie Brown Christmas themed. It was cold. Ended the night with McCormick and Schmick's restaurant.

Music
Song: Wassail Song
Artist: Jayme Stone



I'm done.

Thursday, December 20, 2018

Crossing BOTH MAPS w/o TOUCHING the Ground! The Floor is Lava Challenge (Assassin's Creed Unity)

Is it possible to cross both Versailles and Paris maps in Assassin's Creed Unity without touching the ground? In this video, I'll do the "Floor is Lava" challenge, previously attempted on the New York map in Assassin's Creed Rogue on PS3 (I made it three-quarters of the way through).

I start from the farthest "non-ground" surface on one side of the map and climb/hop/scale walls, trees, roofs, and other above ground objects towards the opposite side without touching the main ground. Below are interesting sections in the playthrough:

00:17 - Explanation of the challenge
01:22 - Start of Versailles section
04:48 - Close Call #1
05:23 - ???
06:40 - Close Call #2
07:11 - Almost at the other side of the map

07:35 - Next up, Paris!
08:57 - Start of Paris section
11:00 - YOLO Jump, Close Call #3
16:30 - ????
17:10 - Co-op dude says 'Hi'
20:30 - Heading to row houses on top of bridge
21:28 - ?????
23:55 - Two-thirds of the way across Paris map
24:22 - Close Call #4
26:41 - Rant about how beautiful this game is
30:00 - Home stretch
32:23 - Scaring bullies
34:30 - Random cat


Music:
Alex Nekita - Jazz background music 15 min(Free download - CC)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Assassin's Creed Unity Soundtrack - Pause Menu



I'm done.

Tuesday, December 18, 2018

Duck Walking Through Assassin's Creed Unity (Time Lapse)

The streaming quality was so-so in my previous video. Whenever I have too much movement going on, the screen starts tearing and pixelating. Unless I'm directly connected to the Internet, my stream quality will be a downgrade. I managed to get my Live Gamer Portable working on PS4. I can get 1080P HD resolution. Only problem is it can't get to 60FPS at 1080P. Good thing is AC Unity maxes out at 30FPS on consoles, I believe.

So this is a first for my channel and for this series: Duck Walking.

In previous AC games (AC3, AC4, and AC Rogue), crouching is contextual. There is no dedicated crouch button. Your character automatically crouches when you're near a hiding spot like tall grass, plants, and when you're stalking a target. AC Unity introduced a crouch button. This means you could crouch walk throughout the entire game as long as you're not running. This is me duck walking through the main game maps (Versailles and Paris) to see how long it takes cross.

Music:
Duck Tales - The Moon (Mega Drive Soundfont) by Num-Kirby



I'm done.

Monday, December 17, 2018

Strolling Through Assassin's Creed Unity (Time Lapse)

I haven't played the rest of the Assassin's Creed franchise in the current gen consoles. I'm working my way up from Unity to Odyssey right now. Of all the stories I've played so far, Unity's is the most tragic.

It's been a while since my last Assassin's Creed videos. I decided to try and record walking through the main game maps (Versailles and Paris) live with PS4.

Music from Assassin’s Creed Unity:
On Father’s Watch
Versailles for Sore Eyes
Artists: Chris Tilton, Sarah Schachner



I'm done.

Sunday, December 9, 2018

DC Weekend w/ the Fam (November 2018)

Final found time to upload this.

Early November, family and I went to DC. We walked from L'Enfant Plaza to the National Museum of African American History and Culture, crossing the National Mall. Afterwards, we walked the opposite way towards the Wharf to eat and hang out for a bit.

Music:
Beyond Good and Evil - Thoughtful Reflections



I'm done.