The title is an obvious nod to the popular tabletop game, and while Hungry doesn't reinvent the wheel, it is a mid-tier thriller. The narrative centers around a diverse group of holidaymakers who book a routine alligator-watching flatboat tour through the Louisiana bayou. There were some familiar faces amongst the cast, such as Madison Davenport, who I haven’t seen since the television version of From Dusk Till Dawn, as well as Joaquim de Almeida, who serves as the primary human catalyst for the film's deadly events. Following watching the film, I did find myself having to research the overall likelihood of an African hippopotamus in the Louisiana bayou. Not so much because I consider the idea a legitimate threat, but more so because I wanted to identify just how out-of-left-field the premise of the film was overall. Based on my research, I was correct to surmise that the idea was out of left field, but not quite as much as I thought it was. Because on the one had there are no wild hippos in the bayous of Louisiana or anywhere else in the United States, but the idea of hippos in the bayou does comes from a real historical proposal.

"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is August Christopher. I was named for St. Augustan, who coined my favorite phrase, 'Give me chastity and give me constancy, but do not give it yet.'"

See if you can follow me here. The Saint started as a serious of novels by Leslie Charteris in 1926. He was a debonair "spy" who dressed with sophistication and really liked the ladies. He liked the finer things in life, and that often included a nice new weapon or gadget from time to time. I think you're with me so far. He reminds you of Ian Fleming's James Bond. And it's true that Fleming based his super spy on two people. One of them was himself. Yes, Ian Fleming worked on Her Majesty's Secret Service. He was inspired by The Saint, Simon Templar, for many of his personality attributes. The character drifted for decades. There were several Hollywood versions from the 1930's to the 1950's. Like Bond, he was played by several actors, including the immortal Vincent Price. But it wasn't until 1961 that James Bond took his first steps on the path of becoming the most successful movie franchise in the history of the industry. Sean Connery brought the larger-than-life spy to life on the silver screen, and it caused an avalanche of movies, books, and particularly television shows

"One thing I remember about me pap was that he always used to throw me up in the air. Yeah, heh heh ... but he'd never be there when I come down, you know. Heh heh heh. Boy, he had a sensek'a humor, didn't he? Yeah, that was me pap. I remember the time he gave me a electric eel as a toy. Hah, yeah, that was fun. Or, or he'd rock me cradle real, real, real hard and I'd lose me formula. And then he'd say "One day, you'll be a sailor." Heh that's ... that's what I yam today, yeah. Hm. Yeah. Sometimes he'd bounce me on his knee. Heh, most o' the time he'd miss, though, 'cos he couldn't see too well with one eye ... heh, oh, me pap, yeah ..."

It all started with, of all people, Dustin Hoffman. He had a desire to make something that was very kid-friendly.. His original idea was maybe a clown version of Dracula or Frankenstein, and he took the idea to producer Robert Evans. Evans thought the horror comedies were a terrible idea, but in the conversation it came up that the theme from Popeye cartoons was still pulling in over $75,000 in royalties after decades since the last cartoons were made. So the idea of a musical based on Popeye was born. He went to King Features Syndication, who hold the Popeye rights, and bought the film rights.

So, I’m usually a huge fan of dialog. That's normally my jam. I love some good wordplay. However, in the case of Exit 8, the minimalism of the dialog worked in my favor given my inability to understand Japanese. And when there are subtitles, I find my focus split between paying attention and reading. However, fortunately, Exit 8 Director Genki Kawamura intentionally constructed the film with a sparse script to replicate the isolation and quiet focus of the original video game. That’s right, it is based on a video game, and based on my research it is a pretty good likeness of the game in terms of story mechanics, visual and environmental continuity, as well as overlapping anomalies and non-playable characters (a.k.a NPCs). Inspired by the concept of liminal spaces such as the fictional Backrooms 4chain imageboard thread, the game, as well as the movie, is set in a passageway of the Japanese metro. Within this setting, the main character, an unnamed man (dubbed “The Lost Man”) is caught in a looping subway corridor and must spot possible anomalies in each loop to escape.

"I'd like to talk to you a little bit, ladies and gentlemen, about how I got in this business. There's been a lot written and a lot said, but never from my side of the story.. " 

The above quote shows up at the very beginning and very end of Baz Luhrmann's EPiC, so you pretty much know what he considered his mission to be on this film. EPiC cleverly spells out to Elvis Presley in Concert, but this is so much more than a concert film. So much so that I suspect anyone expecting this to be a concert film is likely to be disappointed. I think it was a mistake for so much of the film's marketing to leave that impression. What you get is actually so much deeper and better than a concert film. It doesn't really stand up to any traditional label. It's a documentary, but it's not. It's a concert film, but it's not. So what exactly is EPiC, and should you care that NEON and Alliance Entertainment have tag-teamed to bring it to you in UHD Blu-ray in wonderful 4K? Let me try to answer that for you.