I didn't realize this was a Predator movie the first time I saw the poster and thought this was some random horror movie but the positive buzz certainly didn't pass me by so here we are again. After watching it I'm certainly... shocked?
From the get go this did very little to pull me in, be it the CG animals, one-dimensional plot or the the selfish attitude of our heroine. Now obviously one can argue how much that all matters when the action is good but it didn't really scratch that itch for me either... the Predator fighting with the animals was certainly entertaining but random guys biting the bullet with mostly offcam/unclear CG gore not so much. Would have been nice if they showed some wits when they fought him at the camp but somehow him going invisible is enough reason to lower their weapons and start talking to each other. She saw how the camouflage works multiple times in action already..?!!
What all those scenes, and the movie poster for that matter, certainly established, is that our protagonist has little to worry and that a showdown was coming but I would never have predicted the amounts of bullshit that would contain:
- Somehow becomes a baller and expert in alien technology. Knows when the Predator is coming, takes her magic herbs to immediately lower her blood temperature (but is not shivering and still standing up) and is in the Predators path who obviously doesn't see a standing corpse right in front of it or notices her moving out of the way...
- Never used the gun but knows the right angle to shoot and remove his mask (betting on this being a weakness when this did little to stop it before).
- Gets to conveniently escape for the n-th time and has enough time to finish up some traps (which the Predator even hit on some random tree lol).
- Gets hit to the head twice from the shield that cut through the Predators limbs, spear and even stone but is unscathed.
- Can easily remove a fang attached to it's face to save herself just in time.
- GPS dog that always magically reappears is ready to bring her the tomahawk...
- Manages to sit on top of the Predator and even pull him into the bog with a tiny rope and a much much smaller statue.
- The Predator obviously submerges immediately, but little does it know of her the grand plan to have him placed at that exact LOS of the mask in anticipation that he is gonna fire from his gun (despite not having had his mask for the whole time) while he is already targeted by the laser the entire time... b r a v o. Obviously that one shot was also enough to kill it.
...
Honest to god - how does a movie with such a contrived finale get so much praise, or even leave the script writing phase??
I belive "Wake Up, Girls!" was intended to be the first full series made by Yutaka Yamamoto's Ordet Studio to put them on the map or at least make some revenue? They certainly were ambitious with forming their own idol group to base their series on and open with a movie premiere a day before the show start... maybe a little too much.
The story follows a newly formed idol group from Sendai which isn't as lively as Tokyo and thus isn't used to something like an idol group. The format is the usual underdog story that ends early enough for them not having their breakthrough, leaving space to whatever they want to follow up with.
Initially we see a certain degree of criticism of the idol industry like the rival idol group being presented as an army under a draconian leadership, a girl being kicked-out of the group for a romantic relationship or the WUGs being pimped out to a concert in skimpy outfits (no shaved heads though). To really be the anti-idol show though it would have needed more of that because as the show progresses it doesn't concern itself with that anymore. (Let's just hope the AKB48 director does not book his own group for the Olympics in 2020 at this point.)
The biggest issue I had with the show is the Studio itself. They're only about 10 guys or so and they do not manage to keep the visual standards they set themselves in the movie. Every episode has plenty of animation outsourced and gradually increases the QUALITY. The dances look absolute shit at times to the point where you often don't recognize certain characters or only by hairstyle and color (ex. http://i.imgur.com/nhAy9jN.gif). The CG effects are also not pretty nor well integrated (ex. http://i.imgur.com/ctqlB8h.jpg). Certainly does not speak for your "animation" studio.
Overlooking all that, the characters were diverse enough and not just a "product" and the drama worked well enough. It's not something I'd recommend though unless you want a little insight on the idol industry and not the girls being super heros like in AKB0048 (http://trakt.tv/show/akb0048) or your typical worship/moe-blobb show like iDOLM@STER (http://trakt.tv/show/the-idolmster) and it's various spin-offs.
Attack on Titan (aka Shingeki no Kyojin in romaji) has proven to be one of the rare shows that sparks the attention from people who don't regulary watch seasonal anime. I mean, just look at the numbers on trakt alone: Two of the other more popular shows that started at the same time, Maou-sama and Gargantia don't even come close (less than a 100 watchers on the last episode). But not only that - even in the anime community itself it gained immense popularity and currently is still in the Top 10 on Myanimelist (kind of the western Facebook of anime). What is to take away from this is certainly that it seems to make for a good entry-level show but it's not one without flaws and I can't frankly understand why it gets that much praise (oh hello SAO!).
I first came into contact with it's manga because it ranked extremly high on Mangaupdates with some of the genre tags I browse. After reading the first 15 or so chapters I deceided to put it on hold. It didn't impress me and the art was everything but pretty (given that it was the authors first series and he didn't draw much before this). So when the show came around I saw potential for improvement given that the art could only get better plus action never suffers from being animated. This also means I had certain expectations and some of the early tension had been lost on me due to knowing some twists.
Now the story itself has plenty of shortcomings but is still entertaining. It starts out like your grimdark show about the struggle of mankind (in this case versus the titans) but it falls into the usual shonen trappings further down the road. I also find most of it's characters kind of stagnant in terms of developments and it's everything but subtle. The source material is still being published and is probably not even at the midpoint of which thr first season maybe adapted half of. This also means there isn't an ending yet. There is plenty of padding going around in the show and they added some filler to end it before the start of a new arc. I don't think the filler was all that bad but the padding put it's toll on it. Some episodes are extremly tedious to the point that nothing at all happened.
One the shows biggest problem for me comes in terms of animation quality. There are good looking scenes and the 3D rendered high-speed slides through the city on their 3DMG always looked great... it's just that it was inconsistent to the max. Quite early you begin to notice copy pasta and the worst possible use of stillframes with narration or dialogue over it. This is done a lot in the industry and it isn't necessarily a bad thing but the way they do it in this is so in your face and frequent you just can't help it. There was some talk about them lacking animators and that they were apparently looking for more but that couldn't have been the only issue. Around the episodes that relied on it the most a new OP hit the show with plenty of quality animation so yeah... The level of detail also decreased towards the end whenever it wasn't a closeup or something in the focus.
I guess this sounds really negative but I still gave the show a 7... it is just frustrating to see this hyped to the heavens when it really is far from perfect. If you're looking for an action show, sure - give it a go. It's just nothing great. I'm sure there will be more coming down the road (there have been spin-off stories already) and I cannot wait to see the train-wreck the live action movie planned for 2014 will be.
R.I.P. Moe titan.
I really don't know about this... The middle school drama is a big turn-off for me, especially since none of the characters seem believable. Grief is apparently not something this show has time for and weird scene flow is also not helping (7 minutes in heaven but it plays out like they've only been in for a minute / Chucky going from playing with the little girl and not knowing where Lexy is to being right under her bed with a knife (which he didn't bring and the kids at the party are certainly aware of his presence) / Jake going back into the mansion to "show Lexy" only to find her with her sister ready to go when she had just placed herself in the center of attention seconds ago (also what is up with the trench coat - she was wearing an overall so it's not like she used that to conceal her costume??))... Really the only thing making this passable is Chucky himself but he isn't his usual "killer doll" here and they're really forcing his dynamic with Jake (which potentially leads to him getting in the backseat even). I guess the next episode will be telling of the direction of the show.
That's a strange one but since it's for the 4th of July it's not the worst idea to take on political hot topics. These days most of the media produced with a message is usually a left leaning and this one could also just have been that too but despite some easy jabs at Trump it actually also questions the idealization of the "American Dream" of those looking to cross (&the "nice people"). Now don't get me wrong; this is far off from being grounded in reality which also makes it hard for me to accept this as anything relevant to the discussion but it's worth pointing out that it isn't just a "you have to think" lesson.
From a fictional movie standpoint it was a weird mix of previous ideas (ie. "The Stepford Wives" or "Sleep Dealer") which were decently executed but also not without it's heavy "horror" label. I'm sort off glad it didn't go the "Undocumented" route which was sort-off implied from the intro (and given her previous works not unexpected).
It's OK to pass the time but anything else concerned with the morality of the topic was not really coherent to me thus only a 5 (no idea how we are supposed to read Shawn Ashmore's character or them getting really violent to get out of an "assimilation" facility and her killing her rapist and their baby being the reinforcement needed to go back DESPITE all of this happening BECAUSE she wanted to get away from that)...
Not as terrible in execution as Arkangel but I couldn't help but burst out laughing in one of the key moments due to the stupidity of this where it should have been a moment of tension instead. I mean that this show is an anthology is a good thing but this was on par of British no-budget genre film... if you want me to invest in your setting at least bother to make things to have at least a little bit of sense. Turning it black & white is not enough.
- The dogs technical functions seemed to jump around all the time... This is sort of endless. / Can magically generate and store power forever apparently (since it can still charge from within the factory)... still goes on standby. / Instead of killing the target point blank it prefers to instill a tracking device before it kills the person. / It just hides in the factory.. because robots. / Abandons factory straight away and goes for the target not instilled with a tracking device. / Can at first only track people via tracking device (still kills the other guy and can drive a car just fine however), later on it can still employ a sort-off wallhack (it did the tracking by an endless stream of blood left behind LOL)... however once it was in the house it could not see behind the furniture she was located at. / Can apparently only kill with a weapon(knife here) after it lost it's weapon - scary. / They suddenly swarm the area so they can supposedly communicate with each other, but that isn't really seen in their behavior regardless.
- The reason for getting a teddy this far out can't be made up. If this really was a dangerous world people would have helped themselves differently (and not by leaving the dying kid there). This wasn't just something that happened a few days ago anyways.
- We are supposed to believe this is a world that exist. So obviously she first runs away when the first guy gets attacked, only to stand still to have him tell to run away again on which she still does this as she wouldn't have cared either way.
- These things get rekt by energy drain, paintjobs, trees and are only good in close range. Now this will wipe humanity out for certain...
I'm dropping this show as of Episode 7. I gave it a chance but especially with the last two they only made it much worse.
Taking the now age old concept of people being trapped in video games, these folks wake up with no recollection of their pasts and little desire to change anything about that. This setup however is only a cheap way to help with self-insert as it hardly plays a role in the show (just to pad the time with sometimes lengthy expositions about boring abilities). Instead Grimgar is focused on keeping everything as mundane as possible within it's fantasy setting: the protagonists are poor, suck at fighting, spend their time cooking and dwelling in teenage drama. The only enemies they fought so far are goblins, goblins, goblins... and goblins. Everything proceeds at snail pacing and that with only 12 episodes in total. There are other people that woke up in this world too but they all progressed much further in rank in the same time so there is no excuse to keep them as trashy as they are.
The problem however isn't just that it's slow but also that it's presented quite badly. Instead of ranting about the immature dialogue here or other shit they pull it is probably best to point to the production side of this show: it's further ruined by the urge to get money. Grimgar wasn't exactly a popular light novel and it seems they added in quite a lot of ways to generate revenue (kinda similar to how MARVEL markets it's universe). The edgy as fuck traumatic episode featuring a fight to death with a poor, lonely goblin ends with the boys trying to peek at the naked girls bathing. It was totally out of place and guess what, that part is sold as a BD special with the first volume.
In similar ways the insert songs work for the show. You get whatever plot in the first half and then montages of whatever mood the cast is in overlayed with insert songs. It totally fails but figure what; the band belongs to the production company of the anime and they're releasing the OP and ED discs...
While there were enough reasons to drop this one earlier I was kind of hoping for something unique. The visuals did that in a way with lush water color backgrounds but the animation ended up being mostly absent in many scenes further hinting at the lack of dedicated talent to this show.
After the last two episodes of truly autistic teenage problems I can safely say that this show has no potential at all and you're better of watching something else.
Gnaahh~ here we wait again.. the third movie should be fun with the Eclipse finally happening. I even went back to see if there have been some more manga chapters released since I last read up only to realise that in the last 5 months only three new ones came out. I sure hope we don't have to wait another 20 years for it to complete >_>.
As for the movie itself: While I still enjoyed it overall there are plenty of issues. The CGI is still present but it feels like they amped up the use. While sometimes this works, there are many scenes where it looks choppy and ugly as hell. This is rather unfortunate since Berserk is known for Miura's awesome visuals. The other major drawback is the pacing/adaptation. The movie is too short given that the 25-episode anime for the same arc wasn't enough.. how are three movies supposed to work? They skip a lot but still have some scenes running longer which results in a weird pace. The biggest drawback because of that is the lack of character development. Their connection to the Band of the Hawk isn't really there as they hardly get any screentime (which lessens the impact the Eclipse will have), Griffith's determination is played down and Gut's just the muscle. For people new to the franchise it'll just be a medieval action story without much depth...
It would be great if it actually sold well in Japan but that doesn't seem to be the case. It would have been awesome to get the other arcs animated aswell although they would have to make improvement's to their CGI (I don't dare to imagine how the battle versus Ganishka would look).
Don't get fooled by the first episode. This show is pretty bad (at least if you expect quality writing out of it).
The main problem for me was the lack of story. They setup a life or death siutation but instead of showing the players coping with it we get a timeskip and a chronological adaptation of the source material (light novels) which means lots of irrelevant side stories. The stakes are mainly ignored and hardly anyone works toward the goal of completing the game (clearing all 100 floors). When the SOA story arc comes to an end it is abrupt and makes no sense at all due plotarmor. The second arc is still airing but luckily it'll be over soon. All changes have been for the worse.
Another issue are the characters; cardboard cutouts and personality changes on demand. Most of the women (or better girls) tend to exist to form a harem for our MC. Speaking of which, this show goes full-shonen as far as his powers go. It is ridiculous what he can pull off (getting his own skills in an mmo, hacking, highest leveled player in the game when all you see is him idlying and helping lowlevel players.. it get's even worse in the second arc).
Given that it is an action show you would at least expect the fights to be good. Unfortunatly these are a letdown. The bossfights usually look rather bad. Not only because of the CGI but the way they animated it. There is hardly a battle choreography and they overuse still frames. You can literally see that the only things animated are the flashing lights which are supposed to represent sword strikes.
Add to this the ever increasing fan-service, silly dialogue, unbelievable romance and countless things that make no sense.
Due to reasons I cannot understand this show is popular and sells really well so a second season could happen.
Fucking Umetsu is all I can say. After delivering the train-wreck that is Galilei Donna last season which was according to him the fault of the studio cutting the episode count in half - here he is again with a new show. One might think that after his pedo rape-fest that is Kite getting a movie adaptation with Samuel L. Jackson he would be fired up. That is apparently not so.
The story follows Cecil who is a Wizard Barrister; a lawyer for magic users. The first episode makes the impression that this will be a Law and Order but with magic and some action... it even had decent action but once the show progressed it became just a big mush of nothing (it doesn't help that the magic law is ridiculous anyways). This could have been just a mediocre show with a slightly annoying MC but somebody wanted to make sure that the train crashes. The overarching mystery gets concluded in such a stupid and pointless way that I can say for certain that it's really bad (you can't make this shit up). Supported gets the whole thing by a disastrous episode 11 with the worst "animation" and plot I've seen in a while. It's a bad omen when two of your shows end in a courtroom...
Stay away. And if you want to see why episode 11 was so wrong feel free to suffer: (SPOILER ALERT) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhmBnaEcbfA.
Pretty much agree with @randompadley except that the last 20-30 minutes weren't much more exciting either.
The movie seems to have been written around one core idea but failed to even setup a believable "celebratory weekend get-away" to make up the runtime. Add in tons of classic facepalm horror moments and shitty characters et voilà.
I'd honestly have skipped this seeing who directed it but with the other poster variant it made it appear like there might be something cool going on (with the flipped perspective of the house and the figure in the sky). :thumbsdown:
And while I don't need a resolution to a movie necessarily the reveal that it's just a random stranger doing this only left me with more questions in how this all played out. Kinda hard to believe this setup over a weekend and I doubt the MO should just have been that he likes watching and then killing strangers. I mean he rents the place beforehand to set it all up so just how many places could he possible have "sliced up" by this method... His plan was also far from foolproof. They could have easily have made it away (as shown by the stupid chase scene in the forest)... there is also evidence on their phones, etc. so why even bother removing all the cameras :rolling_eyes:.
I've put this on my watchlist quite some time ago and did not bother to check on it's ratings again... unfortunately as they are a fair indication of the quality here.
This is a South American take on hillbilly horror that is at times blatantly derivative of the classics without adding onto it (and nothing supernatural as the poster might have you believe). While the setting of Epecuén with it's tragic past was a good choice for this it ends up kinda wasted. Now I don't expect an indie to be perfect but without a story or tension to show it's hard to glance over the issues.
The characters are stereotypes if they even got that level of "attention" as some are plain interchangeable, the supposed documentary backdrop does never really come into play nor did they do any planning for this and the use of location/space is terrible with a lot of the events feeling disjointed. Part of that is also the editing as I even paused the film to double check if this was really the uncut version*. Not that additional runtime would have necessarily made it better but maybe there is something missing that would have prevented my initial irritation with it. Still plenty of shots lasting for too long or stuff like unnecessary drone shots included though.
When things (finally) go awry it fails to build any tension in part thanks to terrible music choices, shit sound design and choreography. They apparently also enjoyed some Giallo movies recently so they added in red monochrome still frames at one point but never utilizing them again after that (one guy is even wearing a "Francesca" shirt)...
Their final trump card would have been the cruelty showcased from the bad guys but all those scenes are framed in such a way where it's very clear that you're watching a not so great movie and thereby not carrying much weight. Besides the scene where one girl is strapped onto the rack they are also far less graphic than anticipated (and folks are disposed "quickly" otherwise).
Disappointed.
*The "German" uncut version is 93 minutes and so are streaming versions but IMDb lists this at 98 minutes which is also what the Sitges Film Festival had it at in it's archive (where the movie premiered). I'm curious to know if the recent Unearthed US edition is actually at the full runtime?
I looked at this and thought myself: yeeah... this is going to be another dumb action flick - you don't want to watch this. But then I saw Christoph Waltz on the bill and figured this is Quibi's attempt to create a hook*... But really all the people attached to this must have either envisioned a different version of this or just plain don't care.
The plot... is generic and predictable, the action is rather lame no small thanks to the "choreography", the "hunters" are caricatures and the whole thing is more or less shot to accommodate portrait mode and sports very little flair. Not that the production values wouldn't be sufficient for a "flick" but it just can't safe writing this bad. The scenario this plays out in is already quite unrealistic (and they even have the audacity to imply this is a long running tradition that has been going on for centuries) but there are also like 3253895725 plotholes in this. Don't get me wrong... it can be quite hilarious at times (far more than most comedies) but it's not a thrilling hunt. Maybe they thought their audience is just watching this one poop at the time (would explain all the annoying exposition dialogue) but if they can't even work within their own story to make things SEMI realistic I can't help but call this shite.
*Like 90% of all Quibi press/reviews reviews were put out for the launch with only 1/4 of the content available...
I give this show one thing, it's ambitious in it's production but content wise it's terribly lackluster. Feels like Watanabe is on it's way to joining the ranks of eccentric elderly Japanese directors :rolling_eyes:...
Set in the future one of it's early themes is the idea of AI song production VS that of humans but really it doesn't do much besides raising that question. Even more so the duo of "Carole & Tuesday" felt inhuman as even towards the end they felt like blank slates which magically create new songs over night... I mean it's not like they already overproduce popular music without AI and here they champion a duo which exist as singer/songwriter in the thousands today...
After you get through what is basically the anime equivalent of a real world talent show it branches out to immigration topics (people of Mars vs. Earth) but everything t here feels forced and superficial (even stupid at times).
And really that superficiality can be found everywhere, be it an unrequited love interest (which has 0 impact on the character) or a guy basically saying he is doing his last performance for them and that they carry his hopes only to not ever come up again (???) (heck - we have TWO stalkers)...
Recommended if you like talent shows I guess..?
I like horror, I like anthologies... but I don't like this show.
So this show wrote "diversity" on it's blurp thus forcing me to touch upon that. This translates into either female directed and written episodes or otherwise black/hispanic/asian guys. Similar things applies to the cast... And thereby makes a strong case against the diversity hire (note: this is not me saying skin color or ethnicity is an indication either way but this project certainly seems to be based around this).
Anyways; I know none of this "viral" fiction they are based on but they are pretty much irrelevant since what do you even make of two sentences (typically connecting a statement to something eerie/bad)... Petty really is that most of these do not work well with the 20 minute episode format. I often got the feeling that they're trying to imitate horror films they've seen but just have no clue what made them work. Budget is low with often unfitting music, lots of weird edits and acting all over the place. The cap on the length also means bland stories and very few surprises. I'd say two of them are passing at best, while others like "Little Monster" are so horrifically bad that they turn into comedy.
Not recommended...
That's a strange one but since it's for the 4th of July it's not the worst idea to take on political hot topics. These days most of the media produced with a message is usually a left leaning and this one could also just have been that too but despite some easy jabs at Trump it actually also questions the idealization of the "American Dream" of those looking to cross (&the "nice people"). Now don't get me wrong; this is far off from being grounded in reality which also makes it hard for me to accept this as anything relevant to the discussion but it's worth pointing out that it isn't just a "you have to think" lesson.
From a fictional movie standpoint it was a weird mix of previous ideas (ie. "The Stepford Wives" or "Sleep Dealer") which were decently executed but also not without it's heavy "horror" label. I'm sort off glad it didn't go the "Undocumented" route which was sort-off implied from the intro (and given her previous works not unexpected).
It's OK to pass the time but anything else concerned with the morality of the topic was not really coherent to me thus only a 5 (no idea how we are supposed to read Shawn Ashmore's character or them getting really violent to get out of an "assimilation" facility and her killing her rapist and their baby being the reinforcement needed to go back DESPITE all of this happening BECAUSE she wanted to get away from that)...
This show has definitely lost it's charm. I was really hoping to find some of the spirit of the first iteration but as the "CW" logo in the corner would already tell you... it's just a generic/cheesy fantasy show now with nothing to show for it. The new sisters have a dynamic I just don't care much about and where as the Halliwell's had a lot to work on, including their powers these ladies already decide after the first episode that they have to science the heck out of magic (which hardly ever comes up anymore). No one really cares about the "Book of Shadows" anymore (which was turned into a voice activated search device) or exploring witchcraft since their power level is just too convenient (and that is not even relying on the power of three). Heck, they even added in Phoebe's premonition power in form of a device now... Maybe it's because I'm bored at this point but they really cram a lot into the episodes but it's all moot story threads. There have been multiple episodes now with major mood whiplashes too so yeah... it's bad; and this is not even mentioning the "woke" writing which can be in a league of it's own. I should have dropped this way sooner...
Looking past the early attempts for brownie points I did not really find something to grasp onto.
I have very little memories of the previous TV adaptation but it's certainly sad to see an iconic character like Salem was be pretty much non-existent in this. This version of Sabrina not shying away from the darker implications of witchcraft is certainly one of the better aspects of the show but it was still weird to watch as it's those elements that bite with the more YA topics of it (which shouldn't be when it has a demographic of 18+ tbh).
At some point I feel like Netflix took the "we don't have to limit episode run times" moto as an excuse to just stretch out content to better fit their business model... you can watch a 10 hours long season only to get superficial storylines. Many aspects of the show are only just starting to develop (her "mortal" friends in particular) and a lot of what went on felt very contrieved. It's so inconsistent that it feels like someone forced them to do it that way. But remember, she is a bad ass witch yo..! How this comes to be does not matter. Morality jumps all over the place unlike Sabrina's powerlevel which is Mary Sue tier. Her relationship with her boyfriend is awkward to watch and must have been though for the actors as well, her friends are just background noise to randomly insert when needed... and so is a lot of the stuff (including the past of her parents)... At this point I feel like I could rant on for quite a while so I'm just going to go ahead and lower the rating further. Yes, you can watch it... but I'm not sure who really should.
In my never ending naivety of trying out not too shabby looking found footage movies I gave this one a try. As @kingkon_nl already pointed out this isn't one for the highlight reel. My problem isn't necessarily with the poor FX or the bad acting (Jamal is just as bonkers behind the camera) but the way this all plays out. Instead of devoting time to the process of finding the three supposed specimen the movie cares more about setting up the internal drama of the crew. Their "amazing" project then ends up being 1:1 interviews with each of them in a creepy location. It's no surprise to anyone that things obviously go wrong but even this is in sequence; ohhh nooo, the skinwalker is running after us ---- ohhh noooo, the vampire is attacking ----- oh noooo, there's a demon here. The time devoted to the "ohhhh noooo" part of the movie is actually quite lengthy but also what was the final turnoff for me... how the hell do you make those so boring? It's like 40 minutes of night vision and just running from things. The only semi interesting moment was with the demon (the fog was a cool effect, not the CG however) but even that resulted in nothing.
Dear god, this is such a bad movie. I don't even know why I had it on my watchlist. Inspired by the real life rampage of Elliot Rodger that happened in 2014 it has had it's release delayed due to outrage over it's production. While I do not agree that this was necessarily just, it was probably the best for everyone because this is one of those "inspired by" that can be reduced to "something bad could also happen near me" with superficial motivations. Not renaming the movie was a stupid decision because the director has made some really bullshit statements about what this was going to be about.
"Del Playa" turns out to be an uninspired slasher that fails at it's job... I thought of shutting it off in the first minute where you hear one of the worst acted screams in cinema history. The focus for most of the movie lies with his desired spouse and her campus live so if it couldn't get any more generic then IDK. The backstory is quite cringey with an extra dose of edge added. "Asking the hard questions" the director decided on a visionary direction for the future killer that is unrequited love, bullying and trouble at home. But it's not like this matters all that much since there is a monologue from him later on as well as a voiceover by one of the victims in which they're throwing more possible motives at you. Once the killing starts it doesn't really amp up either... the bad guy moves and fights quite autistic and all the kills are super dark (where you can tell nothing is put on screen) or offscreen. When it's not then still terribly edited (which is a running theme). The climax (happens on Halloween ;;;)) is also of the super "special" kind of dumb.
I could rant on about the music and all but let me just reinstate that this is a bad slasher flick and has NOTHING to do with Elliot Rodger.
I wanted to attend a screening of "Grave" (now re-titled to "Raw") almost a year ago from today but it was canceled so I have been looking forward to it's regular release ever since. The general press continued to hype this up, the trailer looked quite dope and even Mondo jumped on the wagon doing the OST pressings... expectations high [✓] (check).
As one can already see by my rating they were not met at all... I was even more so offended that it got that much praise. Frankly put: the movie sucks.
I don't quite understand what it is that some people saw in this... maybe they're vegetarians or just got distracted by the shlock.
The so-so concept which consists of elements all done before is terribly under baked. The changes occurring in the main girl are not really grounded in her character but rely on music or shlock scenes to progress but even with those I feel duped. Nothing in the setting helps to support the story (and it's nonsense) and instead makes the whole thing seem even more unrealistic and distracts with some overly edgy bullshit.
As the movie progresses it just falls apart even more and looses it's focus, building towards a tonally misguided ending. It almost felt like a joke.
The only positive thing I can say that the cinematography is quite good for the most part ¯_(ツ)_/¯...
The fuck is this movie? I was expecting voodoo... but hey, that's not really on the cover ¯_(ツ)_/¯.
Like many of the bad found footage films nothing interesting is happening until 2/3rds into the movie however in this particular case it goes absolutely bonkers. I mean I was sort of impressed at their attempt to create the hellscapes but a low budget production and clumsy film making aren't going to cut it. They built their own set (which was quite obvious) and they certainly liked it thus it got reused non-stop, just like the mediocre lead actress's "range" (just doin' some screaming y'all). Many of the scenes ended up being more silly than anything but still quite unpredictable and thus still interesting to watch. The included obscenities and ending helped the atmosphere of the setting but it's also part of why I'm highly confused... the mythology is non-sense. There is some pseudo voodoo in this - probably - I don't know really because last time I checked you do not use a philosopher's stone in voodoo... there are also ghosts(?) and once everything goes to shit there is just every random satanic imagery at play you can think of but then Satan himself sits on a throne with a philosopher's stone??? I give up really. You probably shouldn't watch this.
I was a bit shocked when I first clicked the IMDB to see it's deep red metacritic score but thought that just maybe it was just pissing of some reviewers... but they are right. This movie sucks.
Unfortunately it's not just a few things that went wrong but the whole thing throughout. First there is the "plot" - haha, just kidding? The survival game scenario can nowadays hardly be called original but never before was it done as superficially as here. None of the characters are worth giving a damn about either because they do not get any development. What we ended up with here is a boring framework for killings, which aren't even worth your time. While they can be considered violent, they lack any punch due to the storytelling but also because it mostly happens off-screen (but not even gore could have saved this). All but the "final" killer in the movie are just time wasters as they absolutely fail to be a threat to the group and are solely defined by their costumes or speech... having just watched the most recent Purge movie I gotta say even that one packs more punch and originality. And if anything screams creativity then it's dark lit pipe-rooms which make up for most of playing field in this.
So yeah, this looks like a passionless side-project for Zombie and I'm sorry for anyone who supported him during it's funding.
Ajin is the second time Polygon Pictures got Netflix on it's production committee but just like Sidonia it's all CG again which already kills off some interested parties which is weird seeing as the manga is rather popular. This series as it is now is pretty much a cross promotion: the first half of the series, with a little less content, ran in cinemas as a limited release (https://trakt.tv/movies/ajin-demi-human-compel-2015) with the content of the second half of the TV series premiering in May as Part 2 (https://trakt.tv/movies/ajin-demi-human-collision-2016). The final arc of the anime will stay exclusive to it's cinema release only. If you're wondering what route you should pick I'd say watch this and then the final movie. They're not that self contained that you need the "movie" experience.
As previously mentioned this is all CG and that is fine by me. There are still issues but I actually enjoyed watching it a lot more than reading. The story isn't really a standout and has enough violence in it to sell the seinen but it's still worth pointing out that just after a single volume the original writer left for another series of his and left the work to his artist who then took over both roles and that isn't a bad thing as it only improved. As of now we're pretty much at a Death Note-esque duel between the protagonist and the antagonist which is sort of enjoyable considering they're both immortal and can utilize some interesting strategies.
Myriad Colors of Phantom World is the most recent in-house Light Novel adaptation from KyoAni. Unlike the ones before they didn't even award it their own grand prize (after which they publish submitted works). For whatever is written in the original work not much seemed to have made it on screen besides the core concept of the phantoms (I have however little proof for this except the back blurbs google translations). The episodes are all episodic and varying greatly in quality, most of them are however bland setups for fan service and action scenes. Don't get me wrong, they can be creative... it's just that the whole cast and the battles they're put in are not engaging at all.
The characters have the depth of whatever waifu generator that is cool right now. Needles to say they don't need much of a personality. This also fits in with whatever (little) logic this world carries; each and everyone of them feels redundant as it's mostly a gamble as to whose power is able to defeat what phantom.
I have the feeling this wasn't anyone's passion project and the intended audience is probably quite young given the lengthy exposition intros every episode (or maybe that is related to them opening up an English website).
Ranpo Kitan is apparently commemorating the 50th year since the passing of Edogawa Ranpo; a famous Japanese mystery writer. I'm saying apparently because I hope that the guy never wrote anything as bad as this. I've only seen https://trakt.tv/movies/rampo-noir-2005 that was based on stories of his which lead me to believe that they were all a lot more grotesque (having ero guro influences) but this show is probably more a nod to his detective stories.
I honestly would be hard pressed to find any praise for the show*... The build up mysteries were sort of tolerable but it is really the main arc involving an alias called "Twenty-faces" bringing "Justice" to alleged criminals that is really bad.
In addition to that most of the characters are shallow or caricatures like the main character being maximum autistic and a trap for no reason or a imprisoned female thief that helps with intel who is keeping her submissive slaves in her cell for on-demand whipping.
Airing in the Noitamina the show does things slightly different visually like shading out people until they're relevant to the story and doing theatrical stage sets for exposition. While I usually like these sort of things it has that weird subpar Lerche look like on Danganronpa or AssClass. Certainly doesn't help to set the mood when something looks silly.
I'm cutting short here with a simple tip: don't watch this.
*Okey, the opening and ending songs are good fits ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Too bad they skip the subs for all the songs:
触れたら崩壊 仮想の世界
Everything I touch crumbles down in this imaginary world
何度も創りなおして
How many times have I rebuilt it?
ずっと待ってた 身体甘くして
I've waited for so long that my body became skilled.
月の裏側から
From the other side of the moon
さみしいかみさま
A lonesome God
あたしのこといってんの
Is telling me...
さみしくなんかない
Don't be sad...
さみしいとか考えない
Don't think about sad things...
ねえ きみの生まれた世界は
Hey, there in the world you were born...
きみの過ごしてる味は
What's the flavor your time is spent?
甘い 辛い しょっぱい 苦い
Sweet? Spicy? Salty? Bitter?
それとも 酸っぱいの？
Or is it poisonous?
どれくらいの愛情を
Where is your love?
この世界に向けてんの？
Are you pointing to this world?
影 嘘くさいな
The reflection is unnatural...
仮面舞踏会みたい
Looks like a masquerade party...
ぐるぐるぐるぐる まわる
Going around round round
すぐすぐすぐすぐ空いちゃう
So quickly it is thinning out (Of people)
ぽっかり空いた穴から
Gently disappearing from the hole
甘い 淡い 痛い 溢れる
Sweet Faint Pain is brimming over...
触れたら崩壊 仮想の世界
Everything I touch crumbles down in this imaginary world
何度も創りなおして
How many times have I rebuilt it?
ずっと待ってた 身体甘くして
I've waited for so long that my body became skilled.
月の裏側から
From the other side of the moon
触れたら崩壊 妄想の果て
Everything I touch crumbles down as this is the end of the illusion
何度も創りなおして
How many times have I rebuilt it?
ほらみて触れて
Oh look! I'm touching...
何か感じて 本当のアタシを
It feels... Really I'm...
触れたら崩壊 妄想の果て
Everything I touch crumbles down as this is the end of the illusion
何度も創りなおして
How many times have I rebuilt it?
触れた途端に崩れて消える
Right when I touch it, it collapses and disappears.
あたしの中のアタシ
The me from within me.
I 愛 I 愛 I 愛 しりたい
I love I love I love... Want to know.
I 愛 I 愛 I 愛 - あいして
I love I love I love... - I love (as in she loves someone)
I 愛 I 愛 I 愛 アイがなくちゃ
I love I love I love... I lost my love.
この世界は破滅よ
This world is doomed.
--
ゆめみてたのあたし
The me from a dream
天と地の丁度真ん中
Right in between heaven and earth
浮遊する揺るがないあたし
I'm there floating quietly
誰もが羨むんだ
Envying everyone
唯一 絶対的な存在
I'm the only one that exists...
こんにちは
Good afternoon!
こんばんは
Good night!
おはよう
Good morning!
はじめまして ありふれていて
"Hey how is it going?" are a common thing
当たり前でないふれあいを 知りたいの 求めているから
I want you to greet me different than the others
対等の 価値ある何かを ありったけ あたしにだけ
That you give me everything that you have, only to me
運命 奇跡 導きがあって あたしに会えたあなたは幸せ
Fate Miracle Divine guidance... Being able to meet me brought you happiness.
足りないものしかない
There is nothing that suffices
足りないものしかみえない
I can't see nothing that suffices
あたし以外のすべて
With the exception of me
きらめいてみえるのなんで？
Why does everything glow?
楽しいな 楽しいよね
Is it fun? It's fun!
嬉しいな 嬉しいよね
Are you happy? I'm happy!
あなたもそうならみんな同じ 話しましょう
You are like that, just like everyone. Let's talk.
何から話そう
What should be talk about?
ワクワクするね ドキドキするね
You're nervous huh? You're excited huh?
今が一番 幸せ
Right now I'm the happiest...
みんな と出会えて良かった
I'm glad we all met.
あたし ひとりじゃないんだ
I'm not alone.
満たされた願望
The wish I could fulfill...
これが求めてたきもち
This is how it feels to have wished
あたしもみんなと同じ きらめいてみえるはず
I'm just like everyone too... I should see the glow too now...
叶ったはずの夢だ
My wish came true in a dream.
これが求めてた居場所？
Is this where wishes are?
まだあたし以外がすべて
I still see the glow
きらめいてみえるの
in everything else (everything that's not her)
叶ったはずの夢だ
My wish came true, in a dream.
足りないものしかない
There is nothing that suffices
足りないものしかみえない
I can't see nothing that suffices
あたし以外のすべて
Everything that is not me
きらめいてみえる理由
Glows for a reason.
すき、スキ、好き、大好き。
Like, kiss, like, love.
ないものねだりなあたし
I beg for what I don't have
いつから壊れていたんだろ
For the things that have been broken for who knows how long.
ゆめみてたのあたし
The me seen in a dream
ゆめでもみれて嬉しかった
But being able to see it in a dream made me glad.
It seems really odd that Contracted has gotten a "sequel". The ratings on trakt and on IMDB are not exactly high (and I didn't dig it much either http://trakt.tv/comments/7163) but according to the Producer IFC basically handed them money and let them do what ever they wanted (the original writer and director probably had little to do with this movie).
Being titled " Phase II" one would expect a large scale infection following what happened to Patient 0 in the first one but this isn't the case (yet). The story follows Riley who had the pleasure of poking some worms in the first one and the investigation into the multiple deaths surrounding him. Let's just say this one isn't surpassing the first one in any way.
The investigation is boring, not done proper and conducted by a Canadian cop who doesn't even try to put on a different accent. Parallel to this Riley also tries to find the culprit known as BJ on his own (played by a Barrett look-a-like as he didn't return for the role) because of the changes to his body and the fact that he received threats from him for giving away his license plate number to the cops.
Unfortunately the outbreak is reserved for a different movie along with a conspiracy as they decided to let BJ behave stupidly for no good reason making him the worst person to spread "hate".
We learn nothing really new except that it isn't a STD as spit is already enough to transfer the disease. There is little consistency to the rules: Riley gets well over a week where as another girl he kissed barely makes it a day (his sister who drank a chunk of his blood also lives longer). They also can just infuse the disease with a needle so this sort of ruins the main aspect of the first movie.
As with the one before this, the body horror is the main enjoyment factor for this and there are a few cool scenes for that. It is however very obvious that they were heavily reliant on makeup when it wasn't a closeup.
If you watched the first and didn't hate it it doesn't hurt to see this one too. For those who are torn there isn't much to see here.
Thanks to some wonderful poster artwork and being billed by Noé the movie already earned itself the "artporn" joke. While this isn't true for most of the movie there are indeed some pointless sex scenes to be found.
The story is told from the perspective of Murphy who isn't happy with his current relationship, partially forced on him by an unwanted pregnancy. As he gets a call from his Exes mom worried that she'd done something to herself he starts to reminisce about their old relationship... while doing the opium he got from her "for when he's down". Those segments sometimes carry a Before Sunrise vibe to them but mainly depict what went wrong for the two and sex.
It was sort of nice getting the personal views from the main character (which fit his persona really well while being sort of misogynistic) and Noé adds his directorial flair to many scenes. The music is also really diverse from classic pieces to doing drugs to Salem or a lengthy guitar improv song over a threesome.
While I enjoyed myself in the first half it got rather tedious later on. I don't think we really got into their " love" and some parts of their characteristics were missing; Murphy for instance studies filmmaking (he is an exchange student and came to Paris for this) but this never plays into the plot except for countless movie posters in his room and some dialogue calling 2001 a must-see! Noé also references himself a lot in the movie from naming the MC after his mom, the couples son Gaspar and casting himself as a character called Noé into the movie while calling himself a pedophile...
As for the sex scenes, they're not a big deal mostly and shot well. As the couple gets into their experimental phase however this escalated quite bit with a visit to a swinger club or inviting over a trans only to handle that immaturely. The money shot is obviously also in this in 3D.
The movie had potential but it just doesn't deliver what's needed.
I'm always a bit weary when it comes to movies from my country as they tend to be lackluster or made for TV productions (especially when it's sci-fi)! Luckily this wasn't the horror I imagined.
Being a cross media project there is an augmented reality game this movie builds on but not relies on (I haven't played it as it's city based). That is also the main theme the story builds on: an engineer built machine that allows you to blur the line of what is real and virtual. He disappeared as he realized the danger of his invention leaving it up to his wife to stop said release to the public.
The movie has a strong weabonism to it (I made that word up). The opening shot is what looks like a field in the alps with Mt. Fuji in the background and two people in a kimonos walking down the hill. He met his wife in Japan who was cosplaying as "Tokyo Heidi" and she frequently speaks Japanese with their son. The evil lady in the game is also a western rendition of the slith-mouthed woman (an urban myth), and so on. Apparently this is because Japan is already doing more of these kinds of media projects and had thematic influences given.
The film looks good for it's budget and the story was ok. The first half feels rather exposition heavy though and the dialogue is "overwritten" giving it a bit of a theater feel.
By Swiss standards this certainly is a good sci-fi movie it's just something I've personally seen done before better.
