Video games and film references - Act III

Max Max (2015)

Ruined plane (Beyond Thunderdome)

Max munched on Dinki Di food in The Road Warrior.

Going off track.

Airplane!
It is, and don't call him Shirley.

Aliens
And they mostly come at night. Yes, yes, mostly.

Not perfect, but good enough.

Braveheart

When Max activates 'de nitrous', Chumbucket often yells "Freedom!"

Fallout 3

The Lone Wanderer and his dog on back art looks remarkably similiar to still from Mad Max: The Road Warrior.

Sneaky fuckers.

A few more visual refs.

Over at Tenpenny Tower, Danny's tricycle can be seen from The Shining.

Security cameras resemble Hal 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Them!

Optional side quest infested with fire ants is named Those!

Die Hard

Bryan Wilks bitches about the fallout shelter:

"Now I know what a TV dinner feels like."

Cool Hand Luke

Rory McLaren is sure "Nobody can eat fifty eggs."

The Terminator

During The Pitt add-on, one dialogue option states: "Your clothes. Give them to me. Now."

Dr. Strangelove

"Now I bet they're after me! Oh God! I gotta hide. I gotta go."

The Thing (1982)

Robert Joseph MacCready is called RJ.

Apocalypse Now!

Mr Gutsy often says "There is nothing I like better than the smell of plasma in the morning."

Army of Darkness

Upon encountering Moira after she becomes a ghoul, a dialogue choice is: "Moira, don't take this the wrong way, but you got ugly real fast."

The Princess Bride

Moira patches up the Lone Wanderer in the Wasteland Survival Guide sub-quest and asks how the pain feels.

"And remember, this is for posterity!"

Street Fighter

Entering Little Lamplight for the first time and chatting to Mayor MacCready brings the line "The day I showed up here is the best day of your life. For me, it was Tuesday."

Jurassic Park

Sega's 1993 on-rails lightgun shmup of same name kicks things off.

Obviously brought in as an 'attack', Brachiosaurus sneezing was inspired by 'veggiesaurus' doing the same thing to Lex.

When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth

Lego Jurassic World

Banner itself refs 1970 film of same name.

The Lost World segment goes E.T.

Universal Studios Themepark Adventures

Finally.

Back to the Future
Dig site in Jurassic Park III uncovers DeLorean's licence plate Outatime.

Blood

A Nightmare on Elm Street

The Crow

Friday the 13th (specifically Pamela's head from Part 2).

It's Alive

Blood 2: The Chosen

Predator 2

Raiders of the Lost Ark

Toonstruck

Tora! Tora! Tora!

Apollo 13
Houston, we have a zucchini problem.

Saints Row 2

Jason mask (Friday the 13th)

Jaws
You're gonna need a bigger boat.

Metal Slug 3

Zombie laden stage probably refs the undead universe of George A. Romero.

I'm not really sure about this one.

Miserable bastard sea monster randomly makes an appearance during ending.

Which may be a nod to:

Creature from the Black Lagoon

Dinosaurs for Hire

Reasonably obscure Mega Drive run and gun is adapted from Tom Mason's short-lived comic series.

Archie's favourite movie is King Kong and last book he read was Jurassic Park.

Also.

Favourite saying, Part II 'Is it cold in here, or is it just me?' was originally coined by Wesley Snipes' villain Simon Phoenix in Demolition Man.

Lorenzo's cinematic treat is The Sound of Music and Reese is a fan of Terminator, Terminator II and 'hopes for' Terminator III.

Monster got his wish in 2003.

Partial boss rush.

Mega Minotaur Hoyt is an obvious ref to Archie's fave film.

Thawed Mega Lizard smacks of Godzilla.

Gex

Big Trouble in Little China and Jason Vorhees (complete with Freddy-esque gloves)

Lollipop Chainsaw

Apocalypse Now!
I love the smell of almost dead cheerleader in the morning.

Brilliant.

Pulp Fiction

Defeat Zed to achieve Zed's Dead, Baby. Zed's Dead.

Ghostbusters

I Came, I Saw, I* Kicked Its Ass

*I substitutes We.

Dirty Harry

Kill Mariska for Dirty Hippy to flash up.

San Romero (as in George) High School.

Fulci (Lucio) and O'Bannon (Dan).

Until Dawn

Trophies. Trophies. Trophies.

Don't Scare to Jessica to Death (Let's Scare Jessica to Death)
Scream Too! (Scream 2)
The Quicker Man (The Wicker Man)
You Let the Wrong One In! (Let the Right One In)
The Tale of Two Sisters (A Tale of Two Sisters)
Ashley Snaps (Ginger Snaps)

Yeah, I think that's enough.

Miscellany

Aliens: Colonial Marines
Spaceballs

Hello ma baby.

I might be talking bilge, but Chun-Li's victory quote I'm the stongest woman in the world could be reffing The Strongest Man in the World.

Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3
Scarface (1983)
Say hello to my little friend

Tiger Road
Sudden Impact
Go ahead, make my day!

Shadow Warrior (1997)
Monty Python & the Holy Grail
The killer rabbit of Caerbannog.

Stranded Deep
Cast Away
Wilson is known as Wollie, wihich could be also reffing WALL-E.

Uninvited
Raiders of the Lost Ark
"Dogs," "Why did it have to be dogs?"

Segment of Paul's ending in Tekken 6 recreates Enter the Dragon.

Until next time.

It Chapter Two - The scoop and digest

Andy Muschietti returns to finish what he started.

Jessica Chastain - Beverly
James McAvoy - Bill
Bill Hader - Richie
Isaiah Mustafa - Mike
Jay Ryan - Ben
James Ransone - Eddie
Andy Bean - Stanley
Bill Skarsgård - Pennywise

Summary

27 years after Pennywise's defeat, a homophobic murder in Derry indicates that nasty clown is back in town, prompting Mike to make a few phone calls.

Mike reveals to the Losers that the Shokpiwah tribe showed him how to perform the Ritual of Chüd, the only way to permanently destroy It.

Before that, Pennywise has some fun.

You'll sink too

Strong cast, gorgeous production values and another madcap performance from Bill Skarsgård fails to rescue a huge disappointment.

As sequels go, it's okay, but approach was near suicidal.

Unlike the first, Gary Dauberman solely pens screenplay and unwisely goes for the comedy jugular.

Aftermath of horror sequences are often undermined by a joke, usually from Bill Hader.

Chinese restaurant and fortune cookies sets the tone, and never looks back.

Yes original contained humour, but now it's ridiculous.

As this is effectively just a copy and paste job, I struggle to understand why shit needed to be dragged out for nearly 3 fucking hours.

Throughout bloated chore, characters share little chemistry and de-aged kids feature nearly as much as adult counterparts.

Compared to recent Marvel films, weird CG distracts.

Dual timeline doesn't work and handled clumsily.

Stephen King cameos as antique store owner and sells Silver back to Bill.

'Versions' of It include giant zombie hag and Paul Bunyan statue coming to life.

Believe me, they're nothing special.

At one point, another zombie vomits black liquid on Eddie.  During which, action plays in slow motion and accompanied by jolly piece of music.

How FUCKING bizarre.

Giant spider is visually impressive (as you'd expect), but arachnid giving chase feels like a video game boss.

Once again, egg laying is resisted.

Of course, It's true form is composed of the Deadlights themselves.

References

Towards the end, Pennywise forces all and sundry into nightmarish scenarios.

Beverly is confronted by several faces trying to force entry inside toilet cubicle, with Henry Bowers needlessly exclaiming 'Here's Johnny!'

(Sigh).

At 29 Neibolt Street, Stan's head rolls off body and quickly sprouts spider legs.

Richie comments "You gotta be fucking kidding!"

Yes, a blatant nod to The Thing (1982).

Super Spider impales Eddie from behind, briefly smacking of Aliens.

Anachnorism

During a flashback scene in 1989, some dude is smashing Mortal Kombat.

Trouble is, arcade wasn't released until 1992.

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark - The scoop and digest

Guillermo del Toro co-produces and also assists with screen story, as André 'Trollhunter' Øvredal adapts Alvin Schwartz's controversial children's book series of same name.

Zoe Margaret Colletti - Stella
Michael Garza - Ramón
Gabriel Rush - Auggie
Dean Norris - Roy Nicholls
Gil Bellows - Chief Turner
Lorraine Toussaint - Lou Lou
Austin Zajur - Chuck
Natalie Ganzhorn - Ruth
Austin Abrams - Tommy
Kathleen Pollard - Sarah Bellows

Summary

Mill Valley, Pennsylvania, 1968.

On Halloween night, a bunch of nerdy friends are on the run from local town bully Tommy.

After meeting drifter Ramón at drive-in theatre, Stella takes them to the Bellows derelict mansion where family imprisoned Sarah in the basement, leaving daughter to while away the hours writing creepy yarns.

Legend has it that if she told you a story, it's the last you'll ever hear.

Stella makes the foolish mistake of stealing magnum opus, and it doesn't take long for a new story to appear, spelling immediate danger for unfortunate lead.

The book reads you

During opening and ending, voice-over tells us:

"Stories hurt, stories heal. If we repeat them often enough, they become real. They have that power."

Running time cobbles together:

Harold, The Big Toe, The Red Spot, The Pale Lady and Me Tie Dough-ty Walker!

Some monsters are actually lifted from other stories.

Whatever.

The eagle-eyed will notice The Cat's Paw and The Wendigo when browsing through book.

Kudos has to be given to filmmakers for expertly bringing Stephen Gammell's chilling illustrations to life on the big screen.

However, mild horror relies on too many jump scares and spills little, or no blood.

But army of tiny spiders emerging from Ruth's cheek in The Red Spot was quite effective.

Shadowy hand dowsing surroundings in darkness tease something special, but sequences that follow underwhelm.

Seemingly invincible corpse (able to disassemble and reassemble at will) could have been horrific, but really wasn't.

Best part is definitely Pale Lady meandering towards Chuck, before eventually assimilating teenager.

Source material was considerably more adult than its target audience, so why not let 15 cert flex gory muscles?

As survivors play detective, narrative goes exposition happy, revealing Sarah was used as a scapegoat to cover up family poisoning river with mercury.

Leads are more kidnapped rather than killed, and Turner is the only character to die, as Jangly Man snaps neck like a chicken.

Stella vows to use book to bring friends back, leaving door wide open for a sequel.

After all, pickings aren't exactly slim, so anthology series could easily happen.

Making 'sense' of the Rocky saga

You'd think a boxing franchise would be fairly straightforward, but...

Rocky (1976)

25 November 1975 - 1 January 1976

Rocky II (1979)

1 January 1976 - 25 November 1976

Nice and simple.

But now things bizarrely spiral out of control.

Rocky III (1982)

After Clubber goads Rocky into a fight, Mick states 'three years ago' Rocky was supernatural, confirming film (definitely before first fight) is set in 1979.

News broadcast (after defeat) confirms Rocky is 34.

If we really stretch shit out, rematch occurs in 1980.

However...

Rocky and Thunderlips raise $75,000 for youth club.

Minor detail but May 15 1982 fell on a Saturday, not Wednesday.

(Raises eyebrows).

But wait.

Mickey's headstone reads:

April 7, 1905 ✡️ August 15, 1981

So trainer died before charity bout?

Of course he 'didn't', but WHAT?

More so, Mick states he's 76 in Rocky, meaning he hasn't aged a jot since original.

What a guy.

Let's recap.

According to all the bullshit we've seen and heard, film is set in 1979/1980, 1981 and 1982.

MIND. FUCKING. BLOWN.

Rocky IV (1985)

To make things easier, just forget about third film.

Contrary to popular belief, events take place in 1985 (so at least 5 years after Apollo clouted Rocky during behind closed doors fight).

Boy, it sure took our man an awfully long time to drive home.

I'm no doctor, but I'm pretty sure bruising would have healed by now...

Rocky and Adrian were married in 1976 and dialogue confirms happy couple are about to celebrate their ninth anniversary.

Before Drago shows Apollo death's door, a worried Adrian says former heavyweight great has been retired for almost five years, meaning the King of Sting lost to Rocky in 1980, even though Superfight II occurred in November 1976.

The only visual clue of film taking place in 1985 is a newspaper article.

©️ 1985 News Group Publications Inc.

Fact.

David vs. Goliath takes place on 25 December.

Rocky V (1990)

25 December 1985 (briefly) - ?

I'm not sure why, but poster detail is taken from pre-credits still of Rocky IV.

Plot-holes include:

Paulie signed a Power of Attorney to Rocky's accountant, giving shady figure licence to invest fortune in a number of dodgy dealings.

Trouble is, he signed shit off before Rocky left for Russia, which never happened.

Near the beginning, random dude states that Mick willed gym to Rocky's son in 1982, so after he 'died' in 1981.

Remarkable.

But the most interesting thing about terrible sequel is Rocky Jr's age.

Rocky II (born November 1976)

Rocky III (3 or 4)

Rocky IV (9)

 And now.

Odious child has magically become a teenager.

HA HA HA!

Basically, like film, it's a load of shit.

Taking anachronisms into account, let's say embarrassing turd took about 4 years to flush.

Rocky Balboa (2006)

late 2005 - 26 February 2006

Although Rocky's age is never explicitly stated, all evidence suggests final entry takes place roughly 30 years after original.

Talia Shire made a public statement supporting Stallone's decision to kill off Adrian, with character dying of ovarian cancer on January 11, 2002.

She was born on March 10, 1950, making her 25 in original film.

More importantly, Paulie rants 'she's pushing thirty freaking years old', inferring she's nearly 30, not in her mid-twenties.

As no references are made, this arguably ignores events of V.