Everybody Wants Some! | Craig's Movie Report

Viewed – 14 October 2016 Online-rental

As soon as I heard about this I wanted to see it. Director Richard Linklater’s as he puts it ‘spiritual sequel’ to one of my all-time favourite movies; Dazed and Confused. This like Dazed follows a group of high school students but is now set in 1980 rather than that movie’s 70s and on the eve of starting college as apposed to the last day of school. It primarily follows baseball pitcher Jake (Blake Jenner) as he arrives at a frat house and becomes acquainted with the rest of the college baseball team; a group of guys who seem obsessed with getting high, partying and getting laid.

It’s hard to not make comparisons with that earlier movie, as I kept being drawn back to it for everything this one lacked. Jake is the only particularly likeable character here but even he has very little ark but for a tacked-on romance towards the end. Everyone else are simply obnoxious stoners or loud-mouthed jocks who despite being believable … I really wouldn’t enjoy being in the company of. Also Jake’s story is the only one we follow, nobody else has a ‘journey’ or any real defined personality and frankly several of the characters are very similar to one another. Also situations rarely had any pay off, like an early scene with a water bed and a little later on one character having to leave for the weekend because his girlfriend might be pregnant … but when he returns, it’s never mentioned again.

That’s not to say the movie doesn’t have it’s merits. Linklater’s keen observations of the era and setting are well done and the soundtrack on the whole is decent (the movie starts off well with The Knack’s ‘My Sharona’). And well, It all looks pretty good too, shot with an early eighties vibe that works a treat. Just a shame the wafer thin characters and lack of interesting situations means that unlike ‘Dazed it’s unlikely this one will achieve anywhere near the same cult status.

Verdict: 2.5 /5

I feel I’ve been neglecting my readers of late and not posting as much as I should. What can I say, life get’s in the way and yes I have a life. But apart from that I really do like posting on this blog even if only a handful of people ever read it…those handful are important though! Anyway I digress. What I wanted was to give you the heads up about a few things I’ve been doing of late. There’s been an emphasis on gaming and well, I got myself some games I need to get around to finishing before the big slew of releases leading up the Christmas. There are too many good games coming out to actually manage to play them all let alone complete – but I have my beady eyes on a few.

For now though two games are on regular rotation, that being Uncharted 4: A Thieves End on PS4, arguably the best looking PS4 game and a rather polished adventure with that as expected Naughty Dog mastery of detail and game design. I won’t say for such a game it’s grabbed me as much as Rise of the Tomb Raider did, but then that game was more about survival and this game’s more a summer blockbuster. But I’m enjoying it. The other game I took a gamble with and downloaded is the much underrated Recore for XB1, like Uncharted an exclusive but nowhere near as well received, which is understandable – Uncharted is clearly a flagship title for PS4 and Sony whereas Recore was under-marketed and isn’t really meant to be a system seller as much as the forthcoming Gears of War 4 will be. However what it is is a rather classic throwback to platform shooter / exploration games like Metroid and I’m enjoying it a lot. I love exploration, puzzle solving and platforming and this does those three things brilliantly. The surrounding game, it’s story and it’s character design isn’t anything to write home about and it suffers from a few technical issues here and there … but it’s nowhere near as bad as the media will have you believe. I’d say If you like the sound of it, give it a chance.

I also have Mafia 3 pre-ordered on the XB1 and have asked for Watchdogs 2 on PS4 for my birthday (note for your diaries readers, it’s 14 November lol). I also would like to dive into the latest expansion that’s been released for Destiny namely ‘Rise of Iron’. I really like Destiny and it’s world and the upgrading of my character and weapons and exploring etc. keeps pulling me back far more than The Division seems it ever will. But to save money and give me a chance of completing those two games above, I’m holding off on taking the leap as of yet. I can also see even Dishonoured 2, a game I’m particularly excited for being put on the back burner until there are not so many games to play.

TV is taking up some of my time too and I’m trying to finish off current seasons of certain shows that I like, such as having just finished Daredevil season 2 (it was great, sometimes amazing, started a little slow but really delivered half way through. I think I still favour season 1 more though). Also nearing the end of the current season of Orange is The New Black which I feel has failed to really hit it’s stride this season apart from a strong opening and the return of a favourite character…I just wonder where it’s going. I’m also watching House of Cards season 2 … yes I’m waaay behind but love it. Its been pretty strong this season too. Also enjoying British police drama Luthor…I think I’m on series 3…but I lose track. Suitably violent and disturbing and well, Idris Elba is fantastic. I’ve also lined up two more Netflix Marvel shows to get into, Jessica Jones which I keep hearing good things about and the imminent Luke Cage which looks a lot of fun. I may focus on Jones first as the two shows seems to connect with one another by looks of it.

Now back on topic … for movies I have a few in the pipeline you’ll be seeing reviews of. I need to get around to watching Everybody Wants Some! Richard Linklater’s spiritual sequel to one of my all time favourite movies, Dazed & Confused. Also I’m hoping to see The Magnificent Seven with friends from work next week sometime. Did I also mention that I have a special edition of Donnie Darko coming? Look out for an in-depth review of that and how it stacks up on Blu-ray. Also there’s that final Studio Ghibli movie When Marnie Was There that‘s out soon so I can’t wait to get my paws on that.

I’ve not forgotten about my continuing series My Gaming History which will have a new post in the coming days so look out for that. But for now that’s what’s going on with me as far as a few of my hobbies, interests and this blog is concerned.

Craig.