Surviving the Game (1994)

• Rated R: Strong violence and language
• 96 mins
• SD
• I rated it 4 stars (Really Liked It)

Initial Thoughts: 
This one was one of Netflix's recommendations, and with Ice-T and Gary Busey in it, it's bound to be awesome. The box art looks corny and leaves a lot to be desired, so I'm not totally sure this is gonna be worth it. 

Movie:
The film begins with Ice-T as a dread locked homeless man down on his luck (though I wonder how many homeless people are up on there luck). He does have a loyal dog to take the sting out of life, but the dog dies within a few minutes of the opening credits. Fido's funeral is the last straw and he's seconds away from walking into oncoming traffic. At the last minute, Ice-T is safe and has a job offer...

Fast forward to the wilderness; it's so wild the only way in is a chartered plane. T is informed that his new job will basically being a valet for a bunch of rich guys at a hunting lodge.

The night before the "hunt" is by far the best part of the film. Busey gives a long soliloquy on how his father ushered him into manhood. Rewound and watched it twice, seriously it's that good.

The day of the hunt, T is startled awake; he's the prey. The rich white guys pick up street tramps and hunt them down for sport. T is off and running with no supplies or transportation. The hunters have high-powered rifles and quads.

Once in the woods, T morphs into Rambo and starts taking the hunters out one by one. Sadly Busey dies. At points in this sequence, you're reminded why this movie never won an Oscar.

T wins, obviously. Along the way he recaptures what made him a decent and productive citizen. So you could say, his old smelly self died out in the woods, and a new awesome side was reborn.

Afterthoughts:

The film is not bad. Not great, but worth a watching -- but maybe only once. Good for a few laughs, but the real gold is in the scenes right before the hunt. Busey is amazing in this movie. Good to see he wasn't always a degenerate.

Red State (2011)

• Rated R for strong violence/disturbing content, some sexual content including brief nudity, and pervasive language
• 88mins
• HD
• I rated it 4 stars (Really Liked It)*

Initial Thoughts:

A quick look at the box art coupled with the ire-inspiring name, and I thought this was gonna be a pseudo-documentary directed by a known liberal, detailing the crazy us in the "blue states" love to imagine. No noticeable Stars did create a slight allure.

Movie:

Let's just say, this thing doesn't heat up til the mid-way. The premise behind the action we see is flimsy. I'm almost a decade removed from high school, but I surely don't remember being that creative in finding sex. 

I had the feeling that the church scenes were intended by Director Kevin Smith to invoke fear in my cultured, educated, and slightly distrustful towards fundamentalism mind. I found them more comical than anything else. Instead of pantomiming what he thought was creepy, why not just film the real thing?

So this thing trudges along, and you're thinking to yourself, "this is pretty standard, and I have a comfortable idea of where this is going." Then out of the ether, JOHN GOODMAN appears as an ATF agent! Truthfully, after JG appeared, I lost all interest in the rice-paper thin plot and just marveled at Goodman. After about the fifth time I muttered, "Holy crap, that's John Goodman, in this film?!? And he looks thinner!" my girlfriend threatened to turn it off. JG shows up and tries to fix the mess. His superiors proceed to make every mistake possible. JG does the right thing, and gets promoted to a desk job. 

Afterthoughts:

If you're bored and ready to take a trip down the surreal (I don't mean the movie is surreal, just that it's surreal that we live in a world where this is considered HORROR), then why not waste an hour and a half on this.

* The rating might have been skewed by my apparent fascination with John Goodman.