Steve Pond's Blog, page 1983
February 15, 2020
Justin Timberlake on That Time He Dodged Flying ‘Bottles of Urine’ on Stage (Video)
Justin Timberlake subscribes to the philosophy that “the show must go on”… even when plastic bottles filled with urine are being chucked at him.
The “Mirrors” singer recounted on “The Graham Norton Show” Friday one particularly traumatizing concert performance around the beginning of his solo career that went horribly wrong after Mick Jagger had asked him to join a festival lineup that included rock legends like The Rolling Stones and ACDC in Toronto, Ontario.
Timberlake was on stage, singing his heart out when things got… messy.
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“All of a sudden, bottles of urine were then thrown on the stage,” Timberlake said, as fellow guests Anna Kendrick, Oti Mabuse and Alan Carr listened in horror. “I was trying to at least remember lyrics that I actually wrote to the first song I’m singing. I still have a lot of trauma.”
After he finished the first song, the festival host motioned for him to get off the stage, but Timberlake stayed put and continued his set.
“I was like ‘No, man. I’m staying out here. We’re doing this,'” he said. “The first song, I was at the mic, I’m like moving around and singing at the same time. I was kind of impressed with myself,” he added, reenacting how he ducked and dodged as the bottles flew.
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“And then the second song was ‘Senorita,'” he said. “And I play a Rhodes electric piano on that song. So then all of a sudden, I’m thinking to myself, ‘Oh no, I’m immobile.! “
Soon, Timberlake said, the piddle-pitchers tired themselves out.
“After that song, either one of two things happened: Either they ran out of nerve because they knew I was gonna stay there, or they ran out of urine. So kids, be tenacious.”
Watch the hilarious clip above.
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Daniel Lee Martin, Country Singer Accused of Child Sex Abuse, Dies at 54
Daniel Lee Martin, country singer and host of “Brotherhood Outdoors,” was found dead in his Pasco County, Florida, home Friday of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was 54.
Pasco deputies discovered his body when they arrived at Martin’s home to serve him with multiple warrants for his arrest that included three counts of sexual exploitation on a minor, three counts of aggravated sexual battery, two counts of committing an aggravated sexual battery and one count of solicitation of a minor to commit rape of a child.
Martin was scheduled for a court hearing Friday morning but when he failed to appear, authorities were sent to his home to pick him up.
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“The PSO SWAT team was called in to assist, as Martin previously made threats of harm against himself and others,” a Sheriff’s statement reads. “When deputies made entry to the residence, they discovered Martin deceased from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.”
Martin was indicted in 2018 of child sex crimes in Williamson County, Tennessee, having been accused of acts against three victims under the age of 13 between May 2014 and January 2018. He was arrested again last month in Florida, accused of exposing himself to a young girl, showing her pornography and performing a lewd act in her presence, according to court documents.
Martin was a former baseball player and pro golfer who left a successful career as an advertising executive in 1997 to pursue his dream of becoming a country music recording artist, according to AllMusic.com. At various times he opened for Willie Nelson, Charlie Daniels and Vince Gill.
He released albums “All That I Am” in 2003 and “On My Way to You” in 2007, and also co-hosted a hunting show “Brotherhood Outdoors” on The Sportsman Channel.
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‘Bachelor’ Franchise’s First Broken Marriage: Krystal Nielson and Chris Randone Have Separated
“Bachelor in Paradise” couple Krystal Nielson and Chris “Goose” Randone have separated, making theirs the first marriage of “The Bachelor” franchise to break up.
On Valentine’s Day, the pair, who met on Season 5 of ABC’s “The Bachelor in Paradise,” announced plans to split after eight months of marriage.
“It hurts to announce that at this moment, we have mutually decided to separate. Never did we imagine this scenario, but we’ve come to a point where we both need to work on ourselves,” reads the statement from the couple, which they shared Friday on Bachelor Nation, the official website from the producers of “The Bachelor” franchise.
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“We are best friends that love and care for each other so deeply. We’ve appreciated everyone’s love and support so far throughout our journey and we just ask that you please respect our privacy as we navigate through this,” they continued.
The two got married on June 16, 2019 at Vidanta Resort in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico, where they had their first date and exchanged their first “I love you.” Their wedding was televised on Season 6 of “Paradise.”
Despite the “Bachelor” franchise’s goal for couples to get engaged at the end of each season, there haven’t been that many actual marriages over the course of the show’s long history. It’s more common for couples to get engaged at the end of their season and break up before actually tying the knot — or for couples to stay together at the end of their season but choose not to get engaged. There are also several “Bachelor” proposals that have yet to produce a wedding date. Flare has a pretty exhaustive breakdown where all of the current “Bachelor” relationships stand.
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“Bachelor” couples who actually have gotten married include Jason Mesnick and Molly Malaney of “The Bachelor” Season 13; Trista Rehn and Ryan Sutter of “The Bachelorette” Season 1; Ashley Hebert and JP Rosenbaum of “The Bachelorette” Season 7; Desiree Hartsock and Chris Siegfried of “The Bachelorette” Season 9; Jade Roper and Tanner Tolbert of “Bachelor in Paradise” Season 2; Carly Waddell and Evan Bass of “Bachelor in Paradise” Season 3; Arie Luyendyk Jr. and Lauren Burnham of “The Bachelor” Season 21; Ashley Iaconetti and Jared Haibon of “Bachelor in Paradise” Seasons 2 and 3; and of course, Sean Lowe and Catherine Giudici of “The Bachelor” Season 17.
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Bernie Sanders Pranked by Russian Comedy Duo Posing as Greta Thunberg (Video)
Sen. Bernie Sanders became the victim of a pair of Russian pranksters posing as teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg and her father, culminating with the Democratic presidential candidate being asked to “become a sleeper agent of the KGB.”
Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexey Stolyarov, who are known for trolling high-profile figures, spoke with Sanders — or at least a man saying he was Sanders — on the phone for what the Democratic-Socialist believed was a discussion about the potential for Thunberg to publicly endorse him for President in 2020.
However, the conversation soon turned into a joke about communism at Sanders’ expense.
Sanders’ campaign and reps for Thunberg did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
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Kuznetsov and Stolyarov posted a recording of the phone call to YouTube along with a crudely-drawn animated video.
In the recording, an unidentified woman’s voice claimed to be Greta, while Stolyarov played the voice of her father, Svante. The pair offered support for Sanders.
“If you wanted to make a statement in support of my candidacy and the program we have outlined for climate change, I would be very, very appreciative,” a voice identifying himself as Sanders said, suggesting they do an event together during her next visit to the U.S.
Then came the first bit that should have tipped Sanders off to the prankster-nature of the call.
“Greta” said she had plans to record a rap song expressing her support for Sanders along with her “friends,” Billie Eilish and rapper Kanye West. She informed Sanders that in order to make the video “successful,” it will need to be filled with “expensive cars and girls,” and he would need to “wear gold jewelry and chains.”
“Sanders,” laughing nervously and sounding a bit uncomfortable, thanked “Greta” for her work in activism and tried to say goodbye. But the pranksters keep him on the phone by asking for advice about an upcoming visit to Russia.
“Sanders” answers earnestly.
“Here’s what I think: Russia and Putin have been very bad, as far as I know, on climate change,” he said. “I think what you don’t want to do is simply walk in there and get used… before you go there, you can do the research but say you are going to Russia because Russia is one of the important economies in the world, and it is absolutely imperative that Russian leadership acknowledge the reality of climate change and pledge to do everything that it can to transform its own energy system and work with other countries.”
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And the conversation made a turn for the absurd.
“Greta” tells “Sanders” that he was secretly recruited by the KGB during a 1988 visit to Russia.
“Excuse me? Is this what you believe?” Sanders asked.
“Yes. You become a sleeper agent of the KGB… now, it’s time to wake up and fulfill your mission,” she said. “Become president of the United States, build communism in the United States, and work for Russia. I’ll tell you the code phrase and you’ll remember.”
“Sanders” then appeared to hang up.
In a statement to the Associated Press, Kuznetsov said the prank was part of the comedians’ “Stars Save the Earth” project in which they call high-profile politicians and celebrities posing as Thunberg.
Also Read: Bernie Sanders Retracts Endorsement of Congressional Candidate Cenk Uygur
“Many laugh at Bernie Sanders (and say) that he is a KGB agent and wants to build communism in the U.S. Since he calls himself a democratic socialist, we decided to play up this topic — the topic of Sanders being a recruited Russian agent,” Kuznetsov said.
“Everyone, from presidents to street cleaners, are ready to talk to Greta Thunberg,” Stolyarov added.
Stolyarov also clarified to the AP that their goal was not to influence the U.S. presidential election, and that they don’t expect negative consequences to come of the prank. insisted the pranksters didn’t want to influence the presidential race in the U.S. in any way. In previous years, the two have been accused of having ties to the Kremlin — a notion they have repeatedly denied.
“It’s not illegal, and we’re well known in the U.S.,” he said.
Watch the prank video above.
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Michael Bloomberg Denies Considering Hillary Clinton as His Running Mate
Michael Bloomberg’s campaign denies published reports that he is considering choosing Hillary Clinton as his running mate for the 2020 presidential election, saying, “We are focused on the primary and the debate, not VP speculation.”
A campaign official on the former New York City mayor and Democratic candidate’s team said on Saturday, according to the Drudge Report, that internal polling had determined that the pairing “would be a formidable force.”
A rep for Clinton didn’t respond to TheWrap’s request for comment, but the Drudge Report opposes a statement made by Clinton last week on “Ellen,” after the talk-show host asked her if she’d ever consider being the running mate for one of the current democratic candidates.
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“Ah, well that’s not going to happen. But no, probably no,” she told DeGeneres. Watch the full interview here.
Clinton explained her view on the situation by comparing it to the time former President Obama asked her to be Secretary of State.
“I was shocked. I had no idea he was going to ask me, and I turned him down twice. He said, ‘The economy’s in free fall, it’s a catastrophe, I’ve gotta focus on that. We’ve got problems around the world, you go focus on that,'” Clinton recalled.
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“I said, ‘No, no, I’m happy where I am, you get somebody else, I’m sure there’s good people around.’ The second time I said, ‘No, Mr. President-elect, I’m not gonna do it,’ he said, ‘I’m not calling you again until you say yes.’ So I’ll tell you, I started thinking about — I thought if I’d won, and I’d wanted to ask him to do something, I would have wanted him to do that for me.”
“So I never say never,” Clinton continued. “But it’s not gonna happen.”
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Does ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ Have a Post-Credits Scene?
It’s been a long wait, what with the delay due to Sonic’s disconcerting mouth, but the “Sonic the Hedgehog” movie has finally arrived. And it’s weirdly very good! It’s only at 64% on Rotten Tomatoes right now, but that’s actually pretty solid for a movie that everybody assumed was gonna be terrible.
And it got an A Cinemascore from audiences, which ties it with “Bad Boys for Life” for the top score of the year so far.
Given that “Sonic” is already a very long-running video game franchise from Sega, you can bet that Paramount is looking to have this movie spawn a cinematic universe of its own. Not that the “Sonic” games are really known for their stories, but there are certainly a lot of other characters they could use in sequels — none of Sonic’s pals show up in this one.
So it’s certainly worth wondering whether “Sonic the Hedgehog” has any extra scenes during or after the credits, a la the post-credits scenes that Marvel popularized over the past decade.
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You might have your doubts when the credits get going — the final scene in the movie is the sort of bit that other movies might put at the end of the credits. But still, it’s worth wondering: Does the “Sonic” movie have a mid-credits or post-credits scene?
The answer is YES. “Sonic” contains one extra scene, which comes midway through the credits.
(I’m NOT gonna spoil the contents of the scene here, but if you want to know absolutely nothing more than what I just said, now is the time to make an exit.)
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Judging by the reactions we’ve seen from audiences, this bonus scene is one you’ll definitely want to stick around for — my audience absolutely shrieked, in a good way, during it.
And that’s because I lied up above. Somebody else from the “Sonic” video games actually does show up in this mid-credits scene, and the reveal filled my fellow moviegoers with glee. Whether that’s simply because everybody loves this particular character that much or they were riding high after the surprisingly heartfelt end of the film, this is a real crowd-pleasing bit.
So if you go see “Sonic the Hedgehog,” you’ll definitely want to stick around for this mid-credits scene. But that’s all you need to stick around for, as there’s nothing else at the very end of the credits. Though, of course, we always encourage everyone to hang around for the credits anywhere just in appreciation of all the hard work all those people did to bring the movie to life.
Especially the ones who had to fix Sonic’s teeth.
‘The Flash’ Actor Rick Cosnett Comes Out as Gay: ‘I’ve Made a Promise to Myself to Live My Truth’ (Video)
Rick Cosnett, an actor known for “The Flash” and “Vampire Diaries,” shared the truth about his sexuality in a touching Instagram post Friday.
“Hi everyone. Dramatic pause — I’m gay,” Cosnett said in the video.
“And I just wanted everyone to know, because I’ve made a promise to myself to live my truth every day, and sometimes that is a really hard thing to do when you have all these subconscious things you don’t even know about from childhood and from society and from being, you know — just life,” he continued.
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“So there you go. I’m sure most of you probably knew anyway. And, um, yeah, that’s actually all I wanted to say.”
As of Saturday morning, the video had 53,642 views. Several fans shared messages of support in the comments.
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“Congratulations for living your truth and expressing yourself!” one user said.
“You are wonderful!! It’s still a hard thing to initially say out loud but just know there is a community that loves you for who you are. Very proud of you!!!” another wrote.
In addition to playing Detective Eddie Thawne on The CW’s “The Flash” and Dr. Wes Mayfield on “The Vampire Diaries,” Cosnett is also known for playing Elias Harper on “Quantico,” as well as appearing in “NCIS” and “Castle.”
Watch the full video below.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Rick Cosnett (@rickcosnett) on Feb 13, 2020 at 3:24pm PST
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Caroline Flack, Former ‘Love Island’ Host, Dies at 40
Caroline Flack, former host of “Love Island,” has died at 40. A lawyer for the family told BBC that Flack took her own life.
“We can confirm that our Caroline passed away today on the 15th February. We would ask that the press both respect the privacy of the family at this difficult time,” Flack’s family said in a statement to the Press Association.
The British television presenter and radio host stepped down as host of the hit U.K. reality dating show after she was charged with assaulting her boyfriend, 27-year-old Lewis Burton in December. Flack pleaded not guilty and was due to stand trial on March 4.
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After the arrest, Flack told her 2.3 million followers on Instagram, “This is the worst time of my life. I don’t know where to go to. Where to look. Who to trust. Or who I even am.”
A spokesperson from ITV, the British network that carries “Love Island,” said: “Everybody at Love Island and ITV is shocked and saddened by this desperately sad news. Caroline was a much loved member of the Love Island team and our sincere thoughts and condolences are with her family and friends.”
Earlier last year, she opened up to her Instagram followers, saying that her “biggest fear” was being a burden” and that she had been struggling with “anxiety and (the) pressure of life.”
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Laura Whitmore, who stepped in as “Love Island” host when Flack exited, tweeted a photo of her and Flack with a poem and note saying, “I’m trying to find the words but I can’t.”
In addition to “Love Island,” Flack hosted “The Xtra Factor” from 2011 to 2013 and won Season 12 of “Strictly Come Dancing” in 2014. She also went on to co-host the 13th season of “The X Factor” and take on the role of Roxie Hart in the West End stage production of “Chicago.”
Her personal life made headlines when she began dating a then 17-year-old One Direction star Harry Styles when she was 31, and later when rumors surfaced that she was dating Prince Harry.
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Is There a New ‘SNL’ Episode Airing This Week?
We’re deep into the 45th season of “Saturday Night Live” now, and also deep into the holiday season. In the most recent episode of “SNL,” which aired on Feb. 8, saw RuPaul make his hosting debut, with Bieber doing his third stint as the musical guest. The cold open was a parody of last week’s Democratic primary debate, with Larry David as Bernie Sanders and Colin Jost as Pete Buttigieg stealing the show.
In season 45, Alec Baldwin has made six appearances as Donald Trump thus far, starting in the premiere episode, and in the cold open on October 26, when he shared the stage with Darrell Hammond, the former “SNL” cast member who played Trump on the show for years. Baldwin popped up less often in season 44 than he did in the previous two seasons, when he would appear as Donald Trump in the cold open most weeks. Thus far he’s made one appearance per month in season 45 aside from January, which only had a single new episode.
Baldwin’s most recent appearance was in the Feb. 1 episode, when “SNL” imagined a version of Trump’s impeachment trial that actually made sense.
This week, on Saturday, February 15, there WILL NOT be a new episode of “SNL.” The next new episode is on Feb. 29, when “SNL” alum John Mulaney will host with David Byrne as the musical guest.
Since NBC is doing a rerun this week, “SNL” won’t do its simulcast from coast to coast, meaning it’ll air at the standard 11:30 p.m. on the East Coast and out West.
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While season 44 saw “SNL” seemingly tire of doing political commentary late in the season, season 45 has seen it return its politics-heavy form. Every cold open this season has been political, and each has featured some surprise celebrity cameos. Including, perhaps most shockingly, Darrell Hammond’s brief appearance — Hammond was devastated three years ago when it picked Baldwin to play Trump over him. We’ve also seen Lin-Manuel Miranda and Billy Porter feature in one cold open, and Matthew Broderick in another.
While it certainly was surprising how light “SNL” was on politics in the back half of last season, it’s certainly no surprise that it’s back to its old ways given that we’re now neck deep in a new presidential election cycle. So the focus has been not just on mocking Trump, but also the circus that has been the run up to the Democratic primaries.
Not that the sketch show has in any way shied away from mocking Trump. The impeachment has certainly been a common topic for cold open sketches this season. There was the one where Baldwin’s Trump went through his contacts list trying to find a fixer who could make the impeachment stop, ending with a call to Liev Schreiber playing himself — Trump thought his character Ray Donovan, a fixer on the eponymous Showtime series was actually a real person.
There was also that one where “SNL” sent up the impeachment hearings by doing a “Days of Our Lives” parody that starred Jon Hamm.
As for the madness with the Democratic primary, we’ve had numerous big cameos in the debate sketches, as presumably “SNL” is already preparing for how season 46 will handle the general election this fall. So we’ve had Woody Harrelson make a couple appearances as Joe Biden, as well as Lin-Manuel Miranda as Julian Castro, Larry David as Bernie Sanders, Rachel Dratch as Amy Klobuchar, Fred Armisen as Michael Bloomberg, Mara Rudolph as Kamala Harris and Will Ferrell as Tom Steyer.
That’s a lot of cameos, and “SNL” actually managed to jam nearly all of those folks into a single sketch — a 12-minute debate parody from a late November episode. Miranda did not appear in that one, but he had previously popped up as Castro in October in a parody of the Democrats’ LGBTQ town hall that was moderated by Billy Porter in character as himself.
Meanwhile, the show is staying in-house for Elizabeth Warren, who has been played this season by “SNL” cast member Kate McKinnon several times, including a town hall sketch that she had all to herself.
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All 46 Video Game Movies Ranked, Including ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’
As a class of adaptations, video game movies don’t get a lot of respect. But that’s just because they, appropriately, lean toward trashiness over respectability. In reality, some video game movies are good, and some of them are really, really bad. Let’s sort them out, by ranking all the video game movies through “Sonic the Hedgehog.”
46. “Postal” (2008)
The pinnacle of director Uwe Boll‘s string of horrendous video game movies (he has five that qualify for this list by getting theatrical releases somewhere), but to be fair it’s probably still a better work of art than the game it’s based on.
45. “Alone in the Dark” (2005)
“House of the Dead” briefly tricked us into thinking Uwe Boll was a camp master, but his next video game movie, “Alone in the Dark,” was such an incomprehensible slog that I have never been able to sit all the way through after my first viewing in the theater.
44. “The Wizard” (1989)
Technically this is an adaptation of a novelty video game peripheral, the Nintendo Power Glove, rather than an actual game. And it’s as much of a joke as you’d expect a feature-length ad to be.
43. “The Angry Birds Movie” (2016)
I’m a negative person on principle, but even I was offput by the misanthropy of this kids movie. When men’s rights activists embrace your cartoon, you probably did something wrong.
42. “BloodRayne” (2006)
In 2003, Kristanna Loken looked like she was gonna be somebody when she starred as a Terminator in “Terminator 3.” And then she starred in two Uwe Boll movies, including this travesty.
41. “Silent Hill: Revelations” (2012)
Worse than the first “Silent Hill” movie in every possible way, down to actors who seem incapable of doing facial expressions. Which is bad news, because most of the acting a “Silent Hill” movie demands involves reacting to all the weird things the characters encounter.
40. “Max Payne” (2008)
Most videos games aren’t really suited for film adaptations, but “Max Payne” is an exception as violent melodramatic noir. The movie version goes for that, to its credit, but ultimately it’s just not very good.
39. “Pokemon Heroes” (2003)
This is the fifth “Pokemon” movie. That’s all I have to say about it.
38. “Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li” (2009)
Usually, bad video game movies are the “boring” kind of bad, but the second attempt at a “Street Fighter” movie almost manages to achieve “accidental camp classic” status at some points. But the rest of it, unfortunately, is just an affront to humanity.
37. “Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within” (2001)
Exactly the sort of half-baked melodramatic garbage you’d expect from the awful “Final Fantasy” series.
“Assassin’s Creed” (2016)
This is a movie that won’t make a lick of sense if you haven’t played one or two of the games it’s based on. But I have played all of the games, and I found it to be a reasonably entertaining action flick. It’s definitely pretty dumb, though.
“Resident Evil: Extinction” (2007)
This one has zombie birds. I can’t imagine why anybody would dislike that.
“Resident Evil: The Final Chapter” (2017)
Paul W.S. Anderson caps off the “Resident Evil” series by throwing out any and all worries about continuity. Iain Glenn is back from the third movie for a chance to be super ridiculously evil again, and we finally get a reason for this zombie apocalypse. “The Final Chapter” more awesome monster-beat downs and more horrific deaths.
5. “Mortal Kombat” (1995)
The ’90s were a rough stretch for movies overall, with seemingly every other film being a bad action movie or a bad supernatural thriller. “Mortal Kombat” feels very much like a product of that sort of time, but thankfully it knows exactly what kind of trash it is, and its cast leans into having fun with the underlying weirdness.
4. “Resident Evil: Afterlife” (2010)
Paul W.S. Anderson directed the first “Resident Evil,” then left the director’s chair to someone else — until he returned for “Afterlife.” There’s a marked leap in technical wizardry with this one, turning the franchise from B-level afterthought to B-level greatness. This is a movie that actually makes great use of 3D to look awesome.
3. “Sonic the Hedgehog” (2020)
This movie is like shockingly sharply written. In a lot of ways, it feels like they made a “Jump Street” movie geared toward children. It’s an absolute blast.
2. “Pokemon: Detective Pikachu” (2019)
The reason why people generally have such a low perception of video game movies is because they very rarely take themselves seriously. But “Detective Pikachu” is hellbent on just being a real movie, and somehow it works incredibly well.
1. “Resident Evil: Retribution” (2012)
It’s goofy, gory, excessive action shot absolutely impeccably. A trash masterpiece that doesn’t get enough credit for being gorgeous, and an easy choice for the best video game movie ever.
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