The Grey

Quick, spoiler-free review

The Grey is both an emotionally moving and horrifying thriller depicting the fight for survival isolated somewhere in Alaska. While flawed, the movie is still quite good and probably worth your time. I'd recommend it. But please, note, it's the sort of movie that must be watched in one sitting from beginning to end. Don't try to space it out, because it'll ruin it.

Now that we have that out of the way...

The film starts by introducing our protagonist, Liam Neeson playing the, rough-around-the-edges, Ottway, who works at a petroleum plant in Alaska, killing wolves so that they can't get into the plant and kill people.

The workers all get on a plane to go home and it crashes. The crash is an awesome scene and is probably the best I've seen in a movie. It's shot frantically and it really captures the hell of such a situation. Once the plane lands, the movie begins. The few survivors suddenly realize that they're being hunted by wolves when Ottway is attacked that night. People speculate the realism of the wolves in this movie... I'm not an expert but I'm not a fan of mercilessly nitpicking movies to death, so I'll just keep my mouth shut.

Besides, the movie is about the characters and the trials they have to overcome. It's a poignant film. It's not a movie with a high body count, but every time it's painful to watch and it's tragic. The movie forces the audience to feel for the characters. It's effective at making you feel like you're in that position and that the deaths are real people rather than just characters on a screen.

Of course it goes without saying that Liam Neeson does a phenomenal job. There are some very emotional moments which he delivers amazingly. The rest of the cast is decent but it would be better if the characters were fleshed out more rather than just being supporting roles.

One thing that's rather unfortunate is the CG. It's not that I'm going to say this movie overdid it, it really didn't. But the CG that was in it looked pretty bad. In one scene the characters are looking over on a cliffside and it looks horrible. It's too bad, it really brought down the scene.

Sort of spoiler time

I think that many people are divided over the way the movie ends. I personally like it. It's intensely dramatic. The score perfectly coincides with the moment and when Ottway quoted the poem Into the Fray, I got chills.

End sort of spoiler time

All in all, The Grey is an gritty and intense thriller that boasts some very riveting scenes. Give it a watch some time.

8/10 Recommended.

Plan Your Own Zombie Apocalypse

Zombie apocalypses vary greatly from story to story.

Ever want to plan your own?

Well, this handy guide will help you decide just what kind of zombie apocalypse you want! Just follow the easy step by step instructions.

Step 1: Identify your Zombie

No two zombie movies are alike and neither are their zombies. Here you will decide the exact type of zombie you want. These zombies are placed by tiers and with each succeeding tier, they become more dangerous.

Tier 1: The Voodoo Zombie (As seen in: White Zombie)

These guys aren't much to worry about. They're docile but delirious. They wander aimlessly and are subject to the command of their masters. They can be killed by conventional means. I don't really see how an apocalypse would get started from zombies like these.

Tier 2: The Romero Zombie (As seen in: Night of the Living Dead)

These are the classic, mindless, flesh eating, brain-dead freaks. They take a headshot to kill (or just any sort of brain destruction). They are slow and can't move above walking speed, but they are dangerous in massive numbers. If you are bitten by one you become one. Simple as that. They can't use weapons or do anything involving any amount of advanced motor skills. They are unintelligent and could be fooled by simply a glass pane (Dawn of the Dead). They'll eat any meat they can sink their teeth into.

Tier 3: (As seen in: 28 Days Later)

These Zombies are much more dangerous. Unlike the Tier 2 zombies, these guys are agile and deadly. Rather than relying simply on numbers, these guys can kill by themselves. They can run and jump just as well as we can and sometimes better. They can still be killed the same way.

Tier 4: (As seen in: Return of the Living Dead)

These zombies are the end. If you get stuck with these zombies, it's all over. Everything from before applies only these ones are much smarter and harder to kill. A simple headshot will not do the trick, every body part acts independently, so simply cutting off a limb will only cause it to crawl around and a head shot won't do much at all. These guys can use weapons, talk and have even been known to set traps.

The state of the world

How far along is this apocalypse? How has the world been holding up?

Tier 1: Before (As seen in: Resident Evil)

This is before the zombie outbreak has gone public. It is still relatively contained, at least in an enclosed area. That doesn't mean it's any less deadly

Tier 2: The Beginning (As seen in: Return of the Living Dead)

The apocalypse has just begun and zombies are starting to run rampant throughout a city or town. The army often tries to fight back.

Tier 3: Going Strong (As seen in: Dawn of the Dead)

The zombies have spread beyond city limits and are out and about throughout many miles. Humanity is still very much intact, but it's likely that the city it originated in is a hellhole.

Tier 4: The War (As seen in: Day of the Dead)

Humanity is on it's last toes and a full on war against the undead is underway. Humans may be taking to camps rather than living in cities. Mass panic.

Tier 5: Aftermath (As seen in: Zombieland)

The human population has dwindled to a mere handful. People roam about the deserted wasteland, scavenging for food and supplies and trying to avoid the many ghouls.

Tier 6: Rebuilding (As seen in: Survival of the Dead)

The zombie apocalypse happened several decades ago. Zombies still roam freely but the human population has gotten it's second wind and has gained a foothold. They are trying to start a new society.

Adding a twist into the mix

What else is at play here other than zombies?

Nothing:

There are many zombie apocalypses that are nothing but zombies. If you don't feel that there's anything else your apocalypse needs, skip this.

Monsters: (As seen in: The Resident Evil Series)

Besides the typical zombies, humans also must contend with giant mutated freaks of nature. They serve as a sort of boss battle in the apocalypse.

Corrupt Governments/Militaries: (As seen in: The Crazies)

In this case, the government wants to put a stop to the impeding doom at any cost... even that of human life.

Raiders/Bandits: (As seen in: Planet Terror)

Just other humans who are trying to get by in the end of the world... it just so happens that they'd rather kill you and take whatever it is you may have been carrying rather than find things themselves.

This One Time...

Where I live, there is nothing to do.

Nothing to do anywhere. Ever. It's a small town that is the centerpiece for a bunch of suburban areas and is the only thing resembling a city in, probably the entire state. People hang out on the streets just doing drugs and whatever else happened to be in what was just sold to them. An environment like this tends to attract all sorts of interesting folk, many of them creepy and some just straight up bizarre and while From here on out, when I refer to any story that takes place in this setting, I will refer to it as a Downtown Story. Although I mentioned creepy people, this story has nothing to do with any of them. But trust me when I say they are creepy. Y'know that kind of guy.

This kind of guy.

One of the many popular places to be

Are the train tracks. I go down with ifmymemoryservesme.jpeg, three other people. We will call them, Broman, Cool Kid and Eben. Broman is pretty outdoorsy. He plays sports but isn't so far gone that he could be called a jock. Besides he watches a shit-load of Anime so that makes up for it. Cool Kid is the type who prefers winter and stays inside, playing video games most of the time. He also tends to wear all black but that's not a very important detail. Eben is... just Eben. I don't know, he's hard to describe. I might have an entire blog post on this person at some point.

So anyway, we walk down the small hill in between buildings to get to the train tracks. They're not heavily trafficked, (I think they get one or two trains a day?) so it's quite safe to walk all over them.

The first thing we notice when we get down there is a glass bottle that would've been used to hold Vodka. Now, down by those tracks you find discarded glass bottles all the time. It's the kind of place where hobos stand solemnly before getting arrested and pulling fake weapons on the cop (And yes that did actually happen once). The only thing that made this glass different was that it was upright on some concrete steps (That have honestly, never seen use. They lead up to a door which is basically barricaded) and the bottle wasn't empty. It was half full of not vodka but a mysterious yellow liquid.

A bit like this except a vodka bottle... and also less yellow liquid...

If you're thinking what we were thinking then you're a normal person. After standing around for awhile we decided to go but instead of going back the usual way, we decided to take a different way that involved running up a steep dirt slope to get to an alleyway and then the main street. Cool Kid decided he'd go first so he started running up the hill. Broman followed suit followed by Eben followed by me. When we were nearing the top I suddenly spotted two people talking right where we would have to walk past. If you've been to this town, then you know that you don't want to just walk by any old person in an alleyway, it's simply not recommended.

Seeing this...

I decide to bail. They were probably just normal people, but I wasn't going to have anything to do with it. I promptly turn around and start to head back down. Eben sees this go down and follows me in the bail. Broman sees Eben go and, like him also decides to quit. So, Cool Kid is the odd man out and is the only one who doesn't see any of this. While he maks it to the top, we make it to the bottom and we all silently agree to play this up in the most dickish way possible.

Cool Kid, upon arriving at the summit, turns around to find that we are not behind him. He looks down and there we are running away. I look back. We make eye contact. He holds his arms out on either side in confusion and I flip him off, naturally. He notices the creepy duo standing right near him in the dark and they see him. Before it was too late he started running back down the slope and we start heading towards the small hill that we came down. As he Cool Kid hits the bottom of the dirt slope, we pass the concrete steps and Broman grabs the bottle of mysterious yellow liquid and...

Don't ever ask why but...

Throws it at him. Or more or less in his direction. The throw had a lot of hight to it as the distance was far. It comes down onto the tracks and shatters audibly. Two other people who were chatting at the top of the hill Broman, Eben and I are running up, hear this and turn to look for what may have caused it just as we come around the corner into sight. Thinking quickly, we all turn to look for the noise as well, pretending to be confused (Keep in mind this all happened in a matter of seconds). We then pretend that we don't care, shrug it off and walk away as if we had nothing to do with it.

The next person to come up that hill is Cool Kid. The two guys immediately assume that it's Cool Kid who was smashing things and looks at him warily. One of them threatens to call the cops. Cool Kid runs and meets us around the corner on the street. He's pretty good natured about such things and doesn't get all pissy over it, so we move on.

And that is one of my many stories.