Ghostbusters Review

Posted on January 23, 2015 by dreager1

It’s time for a real classic in the form of Ghostbusters. This is one of those films that just about everyone has heard of and for good reason. It’s one of those 80’s films that had the right mix of intensity and comedy. It was about as good as I had hoped although some of the jokes go a little too far. If not for that, this is an easy 7 and maybe even a 8, but hey…we wouldn’t want this review to be too easy right?

There are three Ghostbusters and they make it their business to deal with all supernatural foes…for a price of course. The city of New York typically doesn’t need their help, but ghosts have been appearing more and more as the days go by. The heroes hadn’t gotten any calls at one point and now they were quickly becoming celebrities. One of the members begins to suspect that something is going to happen considering these circumstances, but the heroes don’t do anything about it. Will this be the cause of their downfall or will the Ghostbusters just vanquish whatever ends up appearing?

Ghostbusters is definitely a pretty fun film and it’s a memorable one. The main theme is iconic and it will likely still be remembered 20 years from now. It’s very catchy and while you can tell that it’s an 80’s song, that doesn’t stop it from appealing to today’s crowd. The actual theme is the main reason why I enjoy it and I could probably do with or without the lyrics. There aren’t many other themes to be found here or at least ones that I recall, but the main theme is the important one anyway.

Stay Puft, The Marshmallow Man, definitely deserves some credit here. He’s one of the most iconic villains from the 80’s and it’s easy to see why. He makes for a pretty incredible final boss. He may actually remind you of Pac Man for a while there since he’s always grinning and looking like he’s having a blast as he devastates the city. He glares at the heroes towards the end and you can tell that they’re finally feeling the fear, but they try to hold it together. I don’t see how the sequel will be able to top such a villain, but it’ll be interesting to see them try.

The CGI for the effects definitely looks dated, but it works in a comedy like this one. It’s mostly evident in the scenes with the Gargoyle running around the hotel and outside. If that happened in real life, you could definitely imagine everyone having a similar reaction to seeing such a stiff monster as in the film. These guys made business and they may not have looked realistic, but that may have made them even cooler. You weren’t about to mix them up with a real monster here, they were definitely here from the ghost world.

The weak point of the film is definitely that some of the jokes can be suggestive and unnecessary. An example of this is a ghost who hits on one of the main characters at one point and the fact that the two main ghosts have to make out to activate the final gate of oblivion. The rushed romance at the end is also not something that we needed since falling for someone just doesn’t happen that quickly. None of the scenes are downright terrible (Although they are pretty bad) but they add up and keep the film from achieving its ultimate potential to be one of the best 80’s films of all time. When you think of how the plot wrecked so many parts of the movie, it can be pretty sad. As it stands, I don’t know where it ranks, but still pretty high I’d presume.

Egon is definitely the best member from the Ghostbusters. He’s very smart and he’s a pretty serious figure. He never falls into the romance trap and he eats Cheese It when he feels like it. I was glad that they included the Cheese It in the film since it is still the best non sugar snack out there. There’s no reason not to like Egon and he’s the heart of the team.

Ray gets the least amount of character development from the main three and he’s a good character for the most part. He does have the dicey ghost scene though and he just doesn’t contribute all that much to the big battle against the ghosts. The team gets a new recruit at one point to help out and he seems like a decent character, although he’s not incredibly loyal. Winston is his name and he’s new at the game. Since he doesn’t know a whole lot about what goes on in the organization, he gets the nickel tour which is useful for the viewers. He seems like a nice guy and I guess we’ll see if he’s able to keep up with the others or not as the films go on.

Peter is the main character and he’s definitely all over the place. He’s typically a great character as he takes nothing serious and does whatever he wants whenever he wants to do it. He’s direct and brimming with confidence as he takes shots at all of the politicians who are around. That being said, he suffers from the romance angle as he lets the possessed heroine mess with him a little before he stops her and he’s constantly flirting with her right from the start. He never acts professionally, but it’s typically in a humorous way. I couldn’t approve of the romance and that hurts his character. Still, he does have the best acting here and his character as a whole is good. He’s just flawed like Gourry.

Dana doesn’t look great for many of the same reasons as Peter. She decides to accept Peter’s proposal for a date even though she didn’t seem interested at first. I don’t see how he could wear her down so quickly. She also got possessed pretty quickly which suggests a lack of willpower. At least she was polite enough to say that she would stop by the party on her floor when she got back. That’s good since the party actually looked like it would be a lot of fun. Considering that she noticed the supernatural occurrences in her apartment at the beginning, she didn’t seem too convinced in the possibility that supernatural forces were at work. The heroes definitely didn’t seem professional, but she should have given them more of a chance. She’s not a bad heroine, but she could have been better.

I do have to admit that Dana had one of the only jump moments in the film. It didn’t literally make anyone jump, but it was still something to think about. She was sitting in the chair when some hands suddenly reached out and pulled her into a portal. I did not see that coming and it was surprisingly serious for such a comedy. The ghosts also mean business so there are a few fight scenes. The main characters are mostly on the losing end as the fight goes on, but they get their second wind by the end. The big villain seems to be an all powerful being yet a quick blast was enough to take her down. That seems accurate as far as I am concerned.

The main characters’ weapons appear to be pretty useful. They’re like the laser weapons in Star Trek as you can set them to full power or to capture. When they’re in full power mode they are able to destroy overwhelmingly powerful ghosts and on capture mode they’re pretty harmless. It’s all in how you use it and I’m glad that it does have a full power mode. Its initial showing against the green ghost was not impressive to say the least.

The film is very long, but it never feels drawn out. From the scenic backgrounds to the good dialogue, this is really a complete film. It’s the kind of film that just wouldn’t work nowadays. There are good comedies now of course, but you can never perfectly recreate a film from these days. You can always yell that a good 80’s film is an 80’s film and a 2000’s homage to it will still feel more modern. It can be just as good, but in a 2000’s way. Times have changed and so have media. Each decade has its own greats and the Ghost Busters will always be an icon of the 80’s.

Overall, Ghostbusters is a pretty fun film to check out. The dialogue is pretty witty and the main characters are pretty likable. Peter definitely has his moments where he stops being likable so he’s a mixed bag, but the cast is definitely a good one. There are definitely more suggestive material included than is necessary, which drags it down a few notches. I recommend this to anyone who’s looking for a good time as it’s just a lot of fun. It’ll remind you of the happier days of Hollywood and who doesn’t like a good ghost fight right? I haven’t seen the sequel yet, but it’s going to have a tough time beating this one.

Overall 6/10

Lakeview Terrace Review

Posted on January 23, 2015 by dreager1

Looks like it’s time for a thriller film. Lakeview Terrace may sound like the type of film where the main characters go to a nice looking hotel that is actually in a bad neighborhood, but that’s not exactly how it plays out. It’s a pretty distasteful film that can rival many horror films that I have seen and I can understand why the reception wasn’t very good for it. It’s one of those films that’s just frustrating to watch and it’s certainly not one that will have you smiling throughout.

Chris and Lisa move into a new house where they plan on staying for a while. They’re hoping that it works out, but they were not counting on their next door neighbor. Able is a police man, but he’s racist against couples with different ethnic backgrounds so he decides that he’ll intimidate and terrorize them until they go away. Chris definitely doesn’t want to back down to this bully so they begin to escalate their actions. The main problem for Chris is that Able has been living here for a long time and he has a lot of connections. Home Field Advantage is not something to be taken lightly!

I will admit that the film’s beginning was pretty clever since you initially think that Able could be the heroes. We’re not sure what’s going on with Chris and Lisa, but one of your first guesses could be that they’re bad apples since they keep making moves while the other figure isn’t looking. After he leaves, they still act like pretty unlikable characters for a while. Eventually, we figure out that it’s still Able’s problem, but the beginning does try to give you some doubts at first.

What makes this film unlikable is that it simply goes too far. Able keeps humiliating the heroes and intimidating them without the heroes firing back. One of the worst scenes in the film is easily when Chris goes to Able’s party to tell him to tone down the music. He’s essentially manhandled in that scene and he displays some incredibly weak strength of will there. Naturally, his actions there are quickly sent to Lisa for some more drama. It was a very unpleasant scene to watch and it just went way too overboard. Another cringe worthy scene is when Able goes to Chris’ house to fetch his daughter and totally threatens Lisa. Chris isn’t there to help so there’s nothing that she can really do and you have to hope that the main characters will bring in the cops. Chris probably would have ended things by now, but he wasn’t allowed to buy a gun for 10 days due to a grace period.

Abel is the main villain and he’s definitely very unlikable. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen an openly racist villain like him. He provokes the heroes a lot and takes many chances. He’s basically willing to risk the job that he’s had for decades just to get rid of the main characters. He’s a pretty sick individual so he probably doesn’t care or even think about the repercussions of his actions. It’s all worth it to him and naturally it all comes down to a traumatic event that happened to him a long time ago.

Chris is the main character and I like the fact that he stands up to Abel at the very end, but it’s too little too late. He spends too much of the film trying to be polite to Abel when he should be more direct. Abel loves to torment the heroes only to pretend to be nice before pushing them back down again. It’s one of those social things that is hard to sidestep, but the heroes should definitely be willing to do so. Unfortunately, Chris is one of those guys who does have a whole lot of flaws, which really doesn’t help his case. He’s actually a very unlikable main character. He smokes behind his wife’s back and he does a poor job of exposing Abel’s actions.

Lisa suffers from her poor handling of the Abel case as well. After Abel threatens here and goes onto her property without permission, she doesn’t let Chris know. Instead they have another argument about their romantic drama. One area where I was definitely against Lisa was when she decided to skip her pills so that she could have a baby. Just dumping something like that on the main guy is pretty unreasonable. If she didn’t like the fact that he didn’t want a kid, just breaking up with him seems like the best option. It was a bit of a low blow to say the least and she’s no more likable than Chris.

One of the film’s negatives is naturally that there is a lot of romance and it’s not handled in a good way. There are films that can make a nice romance and there are others that just want to have the main characters constantly flirting and being provocative. This is the latter and they definitely don’t provide a good example to the other characters. You can’t blame the dad for not approving of Chris although Lisa definitely deserves half of the blame as well. They need to tone it down a lot and remember the good ole days where just holding hands was considered to be bold.

There is a subplot about a fire cloud that is approaching the house, but it ends up being a plot that doesn’t really go anywhere. It finally comes in at the end, but we don’t get a big fire to help the climax. No, instead it just gives us smoke. Luckily, that’s enough to get the police to run away so that Abel can make his final stand. The cops were pretty slow at the end since they see that a car has crashed and they’re still unsure of what to do. Telling the main character to drop his gun is great, but they should have also went to Abel to see if he was concealing one. They had quite a few cops on them so it would have still been pretty easy and relatively safe. At most, only 2-3 would be shot and they would be able to mow down the assailant.

Still, as I mentioned, the main negative of the film comes back down to the fact that it’s simply a chore to get through. The party scene with the unwilling consent from Chris was really bad and watching Abel constantly mess up their parties is just sad. The film just leaves a bad taste in your mouth and you’ll be waiting for it to end. You’ll also wonder how the main characters ever accepted the house since there are evidently no locks to secure the perimeter. It’s an easy matter for the villain to jump the fence or just walk in through one of the dozen entryways. You can never feel safe in such a house and I would have moved out (After defeating Abel) immediately.

Overall, Lakeview Terrace is a film that you will want to skip. You’re definitely not going to have fun watching it. Watching the police acting inappropriately while off duty is a stereotype that needs to go and there are no likable characters here. While the villain is really unlikable, it is still hard to root for the main characters since they are really below average when it comes to leads. The film also drags on a little since the heroes are just getting bullied for so long that you wonder when the climax will arrive. No, if you want a thriller film, go check out Final Fantasy VII Advent Children!

Overall 2/10

Summer Wars Review

Posted on January 19, 2015 by dreager1

It’s been almost 3 years since I’ve seen this film so it’s a pretty good time for a revisit. Summer Wars is a film that deals with the cyber threat that can be caused by data programs that we built to keep us secure. If you ever watched Megaman, then you know that this typically backfires on the humans. It’s a heart warming film although I think it tried being a little too “American.”

Well, the plot begins as Natsuki hired Kenji to be her fake boyfriend for a few days. She promised her great grandmother that she would bring him along so she had to resort to this desperate gamble. It’s not a bad situation for Kenji since he’ll get a lot of free food, but he’ll have to survive this dangerous ordeal. He may have prepared for the worst, but even that is not enough as a satellite begins to fall down and threatens to cause an extinction level event across the country. The only way to stop it is to destroy the legendary Love Machine virus that has taken over the internet. One of Natsuki’s relatives is the owner of the legendary King Kazma, but it’s going to take a team effort to defeat him.

Well, I suppose that I should touch on the “American” comment before I go further. This film is one of those really high budget, theatrical experiences that feels like it could almost be American. Summer Wars, that airplane film, Spirited Away, they could almost pass for a product in the U.S.A. They just don’t have that anime feel that a film like Bleach or DBZ would have. It’s not because the film is pretty down to Earth though as Kanon and Case Closed still retain an intense anime feel to them. It’s something about the actual character designs and the animation in itself. It could be that it’s hand drawn, but it still doesn’t add up. There’s just some kind of “American” feeling here that’s hard to describe, yet hard to miss. I’ll admit that it does hurt the film a little since that anime feeling is why anime typically trumps western animation in the first place.

Back to the film, Kenji is not a bad main character, but he’s definitely not my kind of lead. He’s extremely shy and timid. Kenji never really gets over this and he lets the others push him around. When it comes time to fight, he chokes and the villain just pounds on him over and over again until he’s saved by King Kazma. He’s a math whiz, which definitely comes in handy. It’s his strong suit and those scenes are always pretty fun for him. Now, if only he would have more confidence and a tough aura about him…then he could have been a really good character.

Natsuki is the main heroine and she’s not very good at reading the mood. When the heroes are having a big confrontation with the mysterious uncle, she still jumps in with a happy greeting. Reading the mood is key when you’re in life or death situations since you need to react quickly and without hesitation. This weakness could cost her. More importantly, it’s hard to believe that she wouldn’t be aware of the drama around Wabisuke. Bringing along Kenji as her fake boyfriend was also a dicey move and the promise to her great grandmother was definitely ill advised. She may just be a little too realistic for me. She doesn’t go around beating up the main character or yelling a lot of hardcore lines. She panics a little too much and I would have liked to have seen her fight more.

Wabisuke is actually a pretty decent character and I was on his side when it came down to the Love Machine debate. He may have built it, but he sold the program to the US Army. I don’t think that he was in the wrong there since the army is the one who used it. He just wanted the money and building things is what we do. So, I was against Sakae and the others there since Wabisuke didn’t do anything wrong. He helps out in crunchtime and that’s how it should be. He was easily the most likable member of the family.

Kazama is the owner of King Kazma. King Kazma looks like a bunny, but his hand to hand skills are not to be underestimated. In the real world, Kazama became an accomplished fighter and that allows him to type his commands into the computer with a very good amount of speed. It’s all done through the keyboard so you have to be a good button masher. It’s like a less advanced version of Angelic Layer. The line between the cyber world and the real one tends to blur in the film as a person’s psyche seems to go to the digital world sometimes, but it’s technically realistic for the most part. Kazama’s not a bad character although he also tends to panic at some points, which doesn’t help him.

Sakae is a pretty nice lady and she helps out a lot during the big crisis by calling all of her relatives. She has friends in very high places at this point so that’s definitely good for her. I do think that she was in the wrong during the Wabisuke situation, but I guess you can’t win them all right? She’s definitely a decent supporting character and I’m glad that she crushed Kenji in the card game.

The fight scenes are pretty cool when they happen. Unfortunately, they are very short, but it certainly helps the film. A little action here and there is better than none and all of the best scenes are in the cyber world. King Kazma is definitely a solid fighter and the Love Machine’s human form made for a good villain. It’s a little embarrassing that Kenji couldn’t land a single hit, but we can safely say that he was just paralyzed with fear. The true graphics of the server was too much for him so I guess it’s sort of a legitimate reason for his defeat.

I basically covered the animation in the “American” discussion so I don’t really need to go over that again. Needless to say, it is good animation, but I just miss that anime feel. If I had to put a label on it, maybe lack of color is what I’m looking for. The film’s not very colorful in the human world so everyone is pretty faded. It also brings back traumatic memories of FLCL so that could also help me instinctively not like it as much as I could have. I’ve always preferred the traditional animation from TV shows and cash in films to the big budget productions because of this American feel. So, saying that this animation is technically below average for me may sound dicey, but that’s just because it can’t beat the standard animation that anime typically have. It’s naturally tough to compare a realistic slice of life to something like Naruto, but look as Kanon. It was pretty realistic, but the animation is still leagues beyond this one.

There is unfortunately some fanservice in the film at the very end. Natsuki gets a random transformation sequence that doesn’t have a purpose in the film. It was definitely shoehorned in at the very last second and the only bonus is that she got a super form at the end of it. The fanservice was not necessary for this transformation. There is also a brief scene where a baby is sucking to get his nutrients and I always wince there. It’s so unnecessary and I’ve always found that kind of thing gross. Just jot it down as one of the numerous reasons as to why I don’t care for babies. Luckily, it’s only there for an instant, but it’s a “not cool” moment.

As far as slice of life films go, I think the cast was definitely one of the main weak points. The writers seemed to be going for more of a total realistic vibe so it can be dicey. I’m all for really cheery films and they can be pretty fun in their own way like My Little Pony, Frozen, or Pokemon, but this one didn’t work for me. It’s not because they’re happy, but it may be just how expressive they are. They’re just bubbling over with happiness and the comedy scenes don’t work for me.

Actually, I think I just nailed it. The comedy is not my style. Like the old man recounting some of the famous war battles or Kenji constantly blushing. It’s just not my kind of humor I suppose as I prefer sarcasm and jokes that involve witty dialogue or quick thinking. This film has that sophisticated feeling that should definitely work for many, but I couldn’t dig it. On the whole, the film is actually a little hard to describe as we’ve seen throughout this film. I would say that it’s too mainstream, but that also counts titles like Sword Art Online (That was good before the series died in arc 2) and Soul Eater so that’s not specific enough. Maybe it’s more of a mainstream, realistic, film, which is why so much of it just didn’t appeal to me. I typically enjoy things that are not universally accepted like Yugioh GX (Black sheep of Yugioh until Zexal) and the Amazing Spider Man films.

Well, regardless, the film still isn’t a bad one. As I mentioned, the fight scenes are fun when they happen and I do like all of the scenes in the cyber world. You can just imagine how great the film would have been if it had all been there. I could have watched them do battle for 2 hours easy. The avatars were pretty cool and it definitely could have been like Megaman or Accel World. The actual film is about 2 hours and it was maybe a little too long for its own good, but my motto is technically “the longer the better” so it’s always hard to count that as a negative. More length usually equals more fights right? Love Machine’s final form was epic so I’m glad that we got to see that one. It’s too bad that it never got to fight, but I suppose that it was already pretty OP at that point. It’s design is like the Phantom Blot, but given an anime spin, which is basically always a good spin to put on it.

The soundtrack is decent. There aren’t many tunes, but we get a good theme when the Love Machine is beating up on Kenji. It’s a nice techno theme that sets you up for the nice fight that’s about to begin. (It still should have been a lot longer since it would have been awesome to have seen them really go at it. Unfortunately, the kids interfered over in the real world) Unfortunately, that’s one of the only themes in the film so I can’t really say that it’s a good soundtrack, but it gets the job done. I would have liked some more battle themes and that would have definitely helped the film out some more. Fights are the way to victory.

Overall, Summer Wars is a decent film. It’s not quite as good as the average anime film due to a lack of action and the animation style not being my favorite, but things reverse when you compare it to a lot of the big films here in the U.S.A. (Animation films anyway) It can hold its own there and the fight scenes to put it above a lot of them. The cast can be pretty annoying, which drags the film down, but if you want an emotional tale about family and friendship, this is the place for you. If not, check out Super Android 13 for an example of what I’m talking about when I say that you need to watch an anime’s anime film. That one is the perfect example of what to expect inside one of those.

Overall 5/10

The Maltese Falcon Review

Posted on January 17, 2015 by dreager1

The Maltese Falcon is a film that is even older than the original Godzilla. It’s definitely known as a classic at this point and with good reason. It’s a film that definitely holds up pretty well against the test of time. It’s nice and confusing without necessarily cheating the audience as it goes along. You have opportunities to try and piece together what is up amist all of the trickery that is afoot.

The main character is a guy named Sam Spade. He is a detective and one day a lady comes into his office asking him to tail someone. This guy may be dangerous so she wants them to proceed with caution. Sam has his partner tail the guy, but he ends up getting knocked off. This just got personal for Sam and he knows that the lady knows more. Other wrinkles quickly develop in the plot as an organization led by the Fat Man enters the picture along with a shady fellow representing another organization. What ties all of these individuals together is their desire to obtain the Maltese Falcon.

It’s definitely a pretty fun mystery as you watch Sam try to piece it all together. He definitely has no help since none of the characters want to be honest with him. He handles the whole thing pretty well for the most part although he does get knocked out once or twice. Sam is still human so I suppose he’s entitled to a few mistakes. One area where he didn’t look good was how he would let Brigid get to him even though he knew that she was pretty shady. By the end he makes the right call, but he should have kept the whole thing a little more business like anyway since he knew that it wouldn’t work out. As a detective, he’s definitely one of the best in the biz. He doesn’t back down from the cops or from gangsters. Sam just seems pretty fearless and we know that he isn’t, but his tough facade is a hard one to break down. He’s also a pretty talented fighter as he disarms several villains in the film.

Brigid is the main heroine and she constantly tells Sam lie after lie. It’s a good thing that he’s got a lot of experience at detecting those because she would have had him trapped otherwise. She got herself into this mess so it’s hard to feel sorry for her. She’s just as guilty as the other villains in pursuit of the Falcon so it’s hard to know which group to root for from the big 3. Regardless, she is typically on the defensive since she usually doesn’t carry a gun. She wasn’t my kind of villain.

Cairo is the kind of villain who acts really polite even when he is doing something sinister. He doesn’t look too impressive in his first fight with Sam, but he manages to do all right by the end. He is treated like a punching bag compared to the other villains though and you never get the feeling that his group will end up winning. He’s pretty brave and a quick thinker sometimes. Cairo’s a fun villain to watch, but one that you don’t expect to go very far.

Poor Wilmer is the main subordinate of the “Fat Man” and he always has a gun yet he is never really able to win. He’s constantly outmatched against Sam and the humiliations never stop for him. For a while you start to think that the “Fat Man” might just off him for being so inneffective as a hit man. Wilmer manages to escape that fate, but let’s just say that things aren’t all well and good for him by the time everything’s over. He does get more character than the “Fat Man” though. The boss talks tough, but he’s the kind of guy who really needs a bodyguard since he wouldn’t last very long on his own. He was a pretty fun villain and he also likes to act polite, but he enters the party pretty late. His final trick was a doozy though.

As with most of the old (Pre 60’s) films that I’ve seen, The Maltese Falcon has exceptional writing. If films still used the dialogue of the old days it would make for some pretty thrilling moments. There’s just something about the lines that makes all of the characters seem reasonably smart. It’s pretty neat and it’s probably one of the reasons why I like the feel of these films. The adventures are always very interesting and even if you manage to get lost in the shuffle of plot twists at some point, you’ll have had fun.

The ending was definitely a little unexpected, but in a good way. It was good to see a certain character get the last laugh after such a complicated endeavor. This character never actually gets to appear, but we begin to realize his brilliance once the final plot twist pops up. Trust me, it’s a doozy! It was a satisfying way to end the film and while we could in theory get a sequel, it can stand up on its own. The solid writing and good cast of characters definitely make the mystery entertaining. There is no soundtrack to be found here, but I suppose that I can overlook that this time…..I suppose.

Overall, The Maltese Falcon lives up to its reputation of being one of the best films of its time. It holds up well to the Hitchcock films or the other Bogart titles where he starred in a similar role. You may have some trouble keeping up with the names at first, but once you’ve go them down you’re all set to start deciphering the clues. Sam does let his feelings overwhelm him at times, but for at least 90% of the film, he’s the intense main character that we had been waiting for. I highly recommend checking this out if you like a good mystery.

Overall 7/10

Insidious Review

Posted on January 17, 2015 by dreager1

Time for another horror review. It’s been a while since I saw a film like this one, but you’ll definitely still be ready for what’s about to come. It was about as good as I expected, maybe a little better. That being said, there’s only so much that you can do with this kind of plot. It’s not my style, but if you’re looking for a nice horror film, this one beats the average flick in that genre.

A family moves into a house where their son falls off a ladder and enters a coma. A few months later, they start to see demons and they fear that the house is haunted. The main couple actually decides to move to another house, which is pretty impressive since that choice is rarely made. Unfortunately, it appears that the demons have followed them. Will they be able to fend them off and save their son? The poster gives us a not very subtle hint about what’s really going on.

Well, we get tons of jump scenes and a lot of fake outs as well to try and get that perfect balance that we’ve always wanted. The atmosphere is definitely creepy and the film does a good job of setting the tone early. It probably tried a little too hard to be scary at the beginning, but the director/writers know that you have to scare the audience early on or they’ll move on to the next film. The first half is pretty average and the main characters are powerless to stop these creatures, but that’s when a few new characters show up to help.

Bring in the Ghost Busters and an old lady who happens to be their leader. They deal with supernatural forces all the time and they know how to not only detect these guys, but they can see them as well. As you can expect, they aren’t actually good at fighting these guys. They merely detect them and try to reason with the demons. You may be underwhelmed during the mask scene as the old lady tries to convince the kid to come home, but then the demons take him away again. All she can do is watch so that’s not a great help to him.

That’s when the film’s biggest twist occurs, we’ve actually got enough budget in the film to visit the astral plane. It’s safe to say that this places the film on a higher level than most horror films. Many films would have been satisfied to have just let the kid make it back and we never actually see the astral plane. Not here! The main character wanders into the astral plane to find his son and he actually gets to duel with one of the demons. He does pretty well once he realizes that he’s stronger than the demon, but he doesn’t look too good against the main villain. The main villain isn’t strong enough to drag the kid away once he is running, but he’s still tough enough to throw around an adult for a while. It’s just how these things roll. In the astral world, will power is really what counts.

Josh is the main lead and he’s not a great main character. He stays at school pretty late to grade tests a lot of times when he should be home to help against the demons. Give all of the students As and Bs if you have too, but fighting demons is a lot more important. It’s good that he does ultimately journey to the Astral World to save Dalton, but then he decides to stay back so he could have a few words with one of the ghosts who’s been following him since he was a kid. Bad move Josh…bad move.

Renai is the other main character and she’s a decent heroine. She tries to get through this dangerous situation, but the demons are just too powerful so it is a losing battle. She tries to get help from many sources and she manages to last at the house while the demons are basically keeping her up all night with their random sounds. She definitely gives it her all, but knowing that it is all futile can be pretty sad.

The supporting characters are typically here to either look bad or add to the plot. We naturally have the pastor who comes to help, but is pretty ineffective and he leaves right away. Then we have the Ghost Busters who are treated as a joke until their leader appears. I really liked the Ghost Busters and a whole film about them fighting the demons would have been pretty good. Their leader is pretty knowledgable, but not quite as likable. She’s a little too old to be fighting demons and it seems like she hasn’t trained a successor. Once she is gone, humanity will be gone.

Again, I definitely give the film props for its special effects on the Astral Plane. It was pretty fun seeing Josh go in there and it’s a very trippy world. Things change in the blink of an eye and it would make for a pretty fun virtual ride in some amusement parks. I imagine that it would give many people heart attacks though so they would probably need to make the jump scenes a little less scary. There is a passing moment where we learn that one of the previous families was murdered by one of their own during this trippy moment and I wasn’t too surprised. Horror films love this twist so I guess they wanted to include it somehow.

So, where did the film go wrong? Well, one passing moment that was pretty wince worthy was when the demon decided to act demonic and stuck out his tongue. We know that the demons are evil, but let’s see that in a classy way and not in a cheap way. I’d rather that they just took out guns or something classic like that. The main reason why the film definitely gets a low score (Barring the fact that it is a horror film and watching the main characters get toyed around with for an hour and 40+ minutes is just not my cup of tea) is that the kid is basically defenseless against these guys, but he’s forced to stay in the astral world for months. They do mention that time flows differently over there, but that’s still a pretty sad fate for him. The demons seem to have attacked him off screen and we know what happens in the ending.

To an extent, I could extend that complaint to all of the main characters. I never like to see non combatants get injured by the villains because they didn’t sign up for this. It’s like watching a cop go up against an immensely powerful super villain. He’s a brave cop, but we don’t need to see him get beaten up for a while. That’s what it feels like when you see the humans trying to stand up to the demons. It’s more fun if one of the heroes can actually fight with supernatural powers or something like that. Then we’ve got a film. As it stands, this still takes down other films like Amityville and Haunted in Connecticut. Those make this one look like a masterpiece!

On the bright side, the villains actually have real designs and we get to see them pretty clearly on more than one occasion. No cop outs where they are just spirit forms or something like that. Now those are the kinds of plot twists that can be pretty annoying to see. They actually went to the trouble of getting some pretty scary costumes so the film went all out there. It makes up for the lack of a soundtrack I suppose since I wasn’t expecting any real music here anyway.

Now, this wouldn’t be a horror film without a twist ending right? There were really only two scenarios that I could think of as the ending drew near and let’s just say that the film probably made the right choice if we want the heroes to be doomed. It’s safe to say that these guys shouldn’t be in the sequel since there wouldn’t be a good reason for their survival. If you were expecting a happy ending then I will have to recommend taking another look at the genre for this film or maybe even the title. I appreciate the fact that the film keeps up with the horror standard of having a twist ending even if it does make the characters look bad and increases the body count. It’s expected, although I can’t say that it really helps the film. Who wants to see an old lady get attacked by one of the villains? Definitely not a fun scene.

Overall, Insidious is a horror film that tries to really scare the viewers. That is the job of such a film after all and it tries pretty hard. It probably has more jump scenes than almost any other horror film that I’ve seen. There’s probably almost one a minute during some parts of the film. There isn’t any animal violence and it’s classier than a lot of its counterparts, but it’s still not my kind of film. There’s no hope for the heroes and idea of the kid being stuck in the astral world for over 3 months is pretty terrible. If you are ready for your next horror film then this is probably the way to go, but if you really want a film that gets your heart racing, check out Yugioh 3D Bonds Beyond Time and get ready to duel!

Overall 3/10

Taken 2 Review

Posted on January 14, 2015 by dreager1

You have to admit that the poster is a bit much. It looks very good of course so I have no problems there, but it just looks a little too good if you know what I mean. Let’s just say that the main character doesn’t go around blowing up the city as he stops the crooks..he has someone else do that for him this time. It’s a decent sequel, but it’s definitely a little too dreary to get a solid rating. There is no replay value to be found here folks.

After Bryan saved his daughter from a fate worse than death in the first film, he has continued on with his job of keeping the peace and protecting people. He doesn’t want to let the events of the first film get him down so he invites his wife and daughter to go with him on a vacation. Naturally, they check into a pretty charming hotel like last time and leave the daughter along like last time as he heads out to have fun. A car appears to be chasing him and then he realizes that his daughter could be in trouble once again. The gangsters are mainly after Bryan since they want their revenge, but they’re going to take it out on anyone who is with him. It’s time for Bryan to take his gun back out since things just got serious!

Well, the film plays out as you may expect. There isn’t a lot of things happening here to be honest because the film is under 2 hours and we need the first 20 or so minutes for character development. See, the daughter wants to live a “normal” (AKA, a Hollywood) life so she decides to find some random guy and make the next step. That subplot is pretty bad and we’re lucky that it’s only here for a scene near the beginning and one at the end. That being said, it’s still a pretty terrible subplot and it’s a good way to start the film off on a low note.

It makes Kim a pretty unlikable character here from the start. Considering how hard Bryan worked to save her last time, you’d think that she would be a lot more grateful. Moving on is always a good thing to do, but you still need to be a little more rational about the whole ordeal. A vacation to a country that isn’t Sweden or France is definitely something that I wouldn’t go for. She gets to help out a lot in the climax and it’s good that she’s able to step up when she needs too, but that’s just not good enough for her to be a well rounded fighter.

Bryan looks pretty good as he continues to show why he is always prepared. He has a lot of weapons around him, but more importantly, he knows how to get out of a trap. His mini phone definitely came in handy quite a few times and he’s still a really good fighter. He doesn’t really have any flaws. You can actually say that he’s a bit like Kirito in the fact that you are meant to put yourself in his shoes. He’s basically the ultimate team guy. You like to think that this is how you would solve the problem if someone took your family hostage and he always delivers. In that sense you can argue that he is “too good” but I never really bought that argument. Whether he is meant to be the viewers or not, I’m glad that he is a pretty capable lead.

It’s hard to say whether Lenore looks good or bad since she is taken out of the picture pretty quickly. One of her flaws is definitely who she choose to be with instead of Bryan since we see that it was a bad choice. The game of romance is always risky and it’s why I never recommend participating in it. That being said, she seems like a reasonable person for the most part and she holds up pretty well when she’s captured. There’s nothing really negative about her so that’s a good thing.

There’s not much to say about the villains since they’re just meant to be unlikable. None of them really have any character to speak of. They want vengeance for the other ruthless gangsters who died so they just use that as an excuse to destroy more people. They’re all pretty sick individuals and you’re just waiting for them to get arrested as you watch the film. Unfortunately, the cops look pretty bad once again as they fail to take down even one gangster before they are mowed down. Not very flattering for them.

This film is definitely more violent than what you would see in your typical PG 13 film and mixed in with the dark tone, you have a film that you probably won’t want to watch again. The replay value just isn’t there and it’s not really a fun film to watch. The film is pretty realistic for the most part, but that just makes you want to avoid it even more since you know that these things are happening in real life, but without happy endings. It’s definitely not my kind of film or it’s just “taken” it a little too far. Regardless, one viewing is definitely all that you need.

There is one scene that definitely does stretch your disbelief a little bit as Bryan gives Kim a lot of tasks to do over the phone and she’s able to do them pretty easily. Drawing a circle with her equipment may not be that difficult, but it’s still not something that you can typically do without any experience. She was able to locate things on her map with ease and the whole thing was pretty unbelievable. Bryan was also a little too good there as he memorized exactly how many twists and turns the van did as they went on a pretty long journey. He was also counting the seconds of course so he knew just how far they had driven. I don’t care how much of a genius you are, that’s just not happening. Getting into the Embassy was also a little dicey since the heroes probably would have been shot as soon as they barreled past. The U.S. Embassy means business after all and they wouldn’t let a few trigger happy individuals in a speeding car get past them.

Naturally, the film decides to put some emphasis on the final murder for Bryan. He gives the villain a classic choice, walk away or he will destroy him. The villain makes a move and then Bryan does as well, but now we’re dealing with a defenseless villain vs Bryan, which makes the whole ordeal a little more dicey. Arresting him is always the just move, but Bryan is here to avenge his family so he doesn’t really care about all of that. The villain wasn’t smart there either since he should have expected the gun to be empty. I guess we’ll find out if his threat will come true or not about his other allies and their quest for vengeance.

Overall, Taken 2 is not a good action thriller. I recommend Mission Impossible as an alternative course of action and specifically the first one since it was pretty great. This film is just too dreary to really recommend watching. Seeing Bryan (AKA the viewer) beat up all of the bad guys in pretty intense ways as he saves the day can probably feel pretty rewarding for some, but it can also just make you think of how believable the whole thing is. There isn’t a lot of hope throughout the film and even the ending has some dark twists since we are led to believe that more villains will pop up. Since there is a Taken 3, it seems that this will probably happen. The film did a good job of avoiding language and unnecessary (fake) romance scenes, but it’s still just not a very good movie. I recommend it if you are looking for a fairly realistic story where you get to see the gangsters beaten up, but otherwise this is a film to skip.

Overall 4/10

Naruto Shippuden Road to Ninja Review

Posted on January 12, 2015 by dreager1

I finally checked out one of the latest Naruto films. This one got the most hype out of any Naruto film. Even the new one that came out about a month ago didn’t get the same kind of publicity as this one. This was going to be the ultimate Naruto film with the best villain yet. I understand that a lot of people did like the villain, but I can’t say that he was for me. This film suffers from the fact that it seems to appeal to the general audience a lot like the last film, but it’s still a decently good movie. We’re just falling back to the pre Shippuden level for the films.

Naruto and Sakura are having some drama with their parents/lack of parents. This results in some tense scenes in the beginning, which inevitably leads them to conclude that their lives would be better off if they could have swapped parental situations. That’s when the Masked Man appears and blasts them into an alternate world where that is the case. Naruto and Sakura realize that they’re going to really have to put some effort in if they want to escape this world and they’ll need to stop the Masked Man. The only problem is that the Masked Man looks a little different in this world. No matter, time to take him out!

Well, it’s a pretty fun plot, but the movie just messed up in several areas. I will admit that I was worried from the very start, but luckily the film fixed my problem with the intro. Let’s just say that it plays out like a bad fanfic. (Good concept, but terrible execution = bad fanfic) The Genin 11 (Mostly Chunins at this point) are slaughtering the Akatsuki when the film starts. It’s embarrassing for the big villains who used to be a threat. Even Itachi and Kisame are treated like random minions. I was definitely wincing a little during this fight since the disregard for power levels was at an all time high. I feel like power levels tend to be more inaccurate as you go through a series so that made me extra cautious here. Luckily, we get a big twist that makes the Akatsuki look better while making Naruto look worse.

I definitely did not like Naruto as he is treated like a plot device to get things rolling. He suddenly starts to feel bad about not having any parents and he takes it out on Iruka. It’s just not the Naruto that we remember. He got over that a long time ago and seeing his parents in his memories was enough to finally snap him out of that. He’s proud of what they did so he would never wish that they were back here. It seems like something that the writers felt was “realistic” for a kid who didn’t have any parents so they threw that in. This transitions into the general audience problem, but I’ll sidestep from that for a little longer.

Naruto gets to meet up with fake versions of his parents and he decides that he’ll act like a rude person so that they’ll stay away from him. He decides that he’s not going to play the Masked Man’s games, but he’s stuck in the world for now so breaking ties with them is not the best way to go about it. Not to mention that fake Minato is the reason why he will get to go on the mission in the first place. If Naruto really didn’t want to hang out with them, he should have just slept on the bench or in the woods like last time. As long as he is in the house, he should definitely act hospitable.

Even worse than Naruto’s actual personality though is definitely how weak he looks. Naruto has long since surpassed everyone in his village by now so he should have crushed the “Akatsuki” in the opening now that we know the twist. He looks worse than most of his allies there and it’s sad since he was the first one to rush in. Then, he finally gets to face off against Menma and he is thoroughly outclassed. His Sage Mode is unable to do anything so he is forced to summon a giant monster so that we can have a one hit KO attack when he finally gets close to Menma. Not exactly how I pictured the final battle.

Sakura doesn’t look very good either. Temporarily she doesn’t even care about going back to the real world. This also happens to Naruto in the second half, which is also pretty disappointing. She also has her arguments with her parents that is out of character, but still counts against her in this film. Her portrayal definitely wasn’t very good like with Naruto, but she could have been a lot worse. Just look at most of the supporting characters. Once again, it’s safe to say that the Leaf Village is pretty unlikable. Iruka deciding not to recommend Naruto to be a Jounin is just a really low blow. This is why nobody can trust this village, they’re always stabbing each other in the back.

Time to back it up a little. The film really feels like it’s trying to be a decent introductory movie to new viewers in a few ways. One way is that we get to see Naruto’s origin story once again (Luckily we skip all of the bullying this time) and Naruto hasn’t gotten over the death of his parents like I mentioned earlier. Sakura’s arguments with her parents are completely out of character for her and it’s just here so that she can be a part of the plot. It’s also a common plot to use for a film so the writers just couldn’t pass it up. (The Author was the main one who decided what the film would be like, but I say writers because the film guys likely helped along the way with their suggestions) Another way that it feels like a general audience film is that the climax is a giant monster battle instead of a nice hand to hand experience.

Let’s face it, “Bigger is better” is still a popular saying in films. So, instead of letting audiences see Naruto and Menma go at it in a DBZ style confrontation, we get to see the Nine Tailed Fox duel a giant monster. They are naturally implied to be far superior to Naruto and Menma is strength even though they look pretty unimpressive. They can spam their energy blasts, but the small range of the blasts (They strike more vertically than horizontally) means that we end up with two monsters who are effectively “camping.” They just keep firing blasts at the other and none of them actually connect. It’s more of a chase than an actual fight and then we get the one punch that ends it all.

That would have been the more disappointing final anime fight since Pokemon if not for the fact that we quickly get another fight after that. Unfortunately, the film was running out of time by then so Naruto’s fight against the Masked Man is very short. No worries, they decide to rip some scenes out of the manga as Naruto wins in a move that pays homage to Minato’s fight. The film’s homages didn’t begin there though as Naruto’s punch with Menma is almost identical to how Naruto defeated Gaara back in the day. I like homages….actually I don’t. Thinking about it now, they’re typically just not good and take away opportunities. Look at Avengers Assemble and how often it copies the film. It’s always best to do something unique and a homage should be more subtle than just copying a fight scene. That’s a lesson that this film really needs to learn.

The film’s animation is pretty good. It’s definitely not something to write home about, but the quality is definitely very good and it makes for a pleasurable viewing experience. I think it’s a little dicey that a show that’s a few years old like Fate/Zero looks better than this film, but that company’s animation budget is just through the roof so I suppose that it’s not fair to compare. What hurts this film a lot is the fact that we didn’t get any real fight scenes, or at least ones that would have a chance to shine. No character uses any fancy energy weapons or has a power up scene where the animators can have fun with the aura. The energy blasts from the Kaiju are the only chance for the film to show off its movie budget and the blasts look good, but they’re more like energy balls so you can’t really make them look quite as good as a Kamehameha no matter how much time you spend drawing it. The fight against the Akatsuki is pretty smooth, but not flashy in the slightest, which is why it actually doesn’t look impressive. You could compare it to the fights against Kakuzu and Hidan in the series and it would actually be pretty similar. The film is more streamlined, but just not as explosively colorful sometimes.

This film borrows just about all of its themes from previous films and the show. That’s pretty sad for it, but it’s a new trend for films based off of old franchises nowadays. It’s a pretty bad trend if you ask me since the music may be established and great, but you need to keep making new songs. Imagine a time where all films just use old tunes and remixes of old tunes. That’s not what we want to see, but the soundtrack is definitely 5 stars worthy. They’re old, but the themes are tried and true. They’re perfect for battle scenes and some of the villain themes really make you feel like the end is near. They’re fitting for such a world filled with despair as everyone fears Menma.

Speaking of which, one of the gimmicks for this film was that Naruto’s supporting cast would have warped personalities in the alternate world. It’s a decent sub plot in concept I suppose, but totally unnecessary. I always liked the idea of parrellel worlds, but just turning all of the heroes to villains and villains to heroes would suffice for me. Instead, the writers decided to make just about all of them unlikable. We have a few perverts, and more of the others are either really meek or too aggressive to the point where they are antagonistic. It’s hard to imagine how this village lasted for a year, much less up to now. There are no good fighters and the whole world lives in fear of Menma.

Time to finally talk about Menma. Saying Menma’s true identity is hardly a spoiler since it’s probably basic Naruto knowledge at this point considering how popular he became for a while, (Not to mention that the actual plot mixed in with the tie in episode makes it a logical conclusion) but I shall not mention it just in case. He has brought the entire Shinobi world to its knees and he is feared as the ultimate Naruto villain. He knows about the Masked Man and then he decides to destroy the Red Moon scroll. It is the one thing that can defeat him so he heads to the Leaf Village to destroy it and that’s when the climax begins. He can summon several monsters like Pain and his physical abilities are already pretty considerable. He is able to catch a Sage Mode Punch from Naruto, which is no easy feat. Unfortunately, the film was just toying with us there as he doesn’t actually fight. Instead, the monster battle begins. From that one moment, we can tell that he is a tough villain, but he just couldn’t end up showing it.

Menma is ultimately an unlikable character despite his powers. One of the main reasons is that he seems to just be a tool the whole time. He has no real motivations and he seems to just fight for the thrills. What really doesn’t help this is the fact that he has a terrible voice. It’s one of the worst voices that I’ve heard for a final boss in some time. It doesn’t strike fear into you or make you gain respect for his character. It just makes Menma seem like a villain who’s tough talk is all that he’s got. Menma’s true design is pretty good and the voice luckily shifts, but it’s hard to watch his masked form.

This review is definitely turning out longer than I had expected. Partially it’s due to how many ways the film went wrong, but also just because this is a Naruto film so there is a lot to discuss. Naruto’s fake parents look pretty good for the most part. One scene is there to quickly reinforce the point that Naruto’s parents were better so that he could leave with no regrets. It definitely shows how much fun it would have been if the parents had been here since the beginning. That would make for a pretty good AU spinoff series since the Leaf Village would definitely be overpowered with them in the ranks. In a way, that’s how it should have been.

I think I’ve addressed most of the points in this film by now. Time to quickly mention one of the negatives that certainly helped to drag the film down. The fanservice. This film has a lot more of it than usual, which is pretty disappointing. It’s not a huge amount, but for Naruto film standards it is considerable. We have the generic bath house scene, which is pretty cringe worthy. There is really no point to it at all. It’s probably just there to get in some more money, but this has always been a pretty cheap trick. You don’t need fanservice in a film and then having two of the characters be perverted for no reason is also in bad taste.

This film is pretty long, but it doesn’t know how to maximize the time that it is given. Too much time is spent on showing us how everything is a little different and not enough is spent on the actual fights or the villain. The film is already almost over by the time that the final fight happens so naturally it is given the shaft instead of the filler moments. Definitely not a good move for the film if you ask me. The film could have been the usual 70 or so minutes without a lot of the filler moments or 2 hours with more action. Either way, it would have been a huge improvement from what we did get.

Now, the moment you’ve been waiting for. Was this movie as disappointing as Battle of Gods? I’m going to say no although it’s very close. My hopes for this film were slightly tempered by Blood Prison while I had nothing to protect me from Battle of Gods before hand. This film still had a great soundtrack, which Battle of Gods lacked although the DBZ film had the much better fight. It just goes to show that the modern films for these two series are not as good as the classics, but that just means that the sequels have a higher chance of being better than these. I’m already hyped for the return of Frieza and I think that the final Naruto film should be pretty good as well. I don’t have high hopes for that one anyway, but the big battle should be good.

In the missed opportunities section, there are definitely a few things that come to mind. One of them is Sasuke since his appearance literally has no point here. He just gets 2-4 lines and that’s about it. He’s relegated to the background like most of the characters here. That’s pretty sad for his fans when the trailers made it seem like he would actually get to do something. The Masked Man’s plan at the end is decent, but plot hax get in the way of this and he also looks rather weak since Sakura is able to hold her own against him for so long. Sakura is a tough fighter, but she’s not Naruto level so he should have been able to crush the Masked Man considering how Sakura’s fight turned out.

Now, I should probably summarize what the positives of the film are since we have so many negatives. How does it actually deserve a 6? Well, we still get a decent fight with the Akatsuki at the beginning and watching them fight random monsters at the end may not be extremely amusing, but it’ll do as an action scene. You just need to ignore the power levels for this film and then you’ll enjoy the fights a lot more. The actual concept is interesting, but it just isn’t used very well. The soundtrack and animation are pretty good as well of course. The film is also pretty interesting while you’re watching it and it’s a fun film. It’s a popcorn fun, action block buster so you’ll leave it feeling satisfied. Amidst all of the negatives, you have to remember that this is still a Shonen Jump film. The designs are unique and the fights are fun. We have good amounts of those two positives here and mixed in with the music, you’ve got the makings of a pretty good film. That’s about it for positives I’m afraid, but they’ll do.

Overall, Road To Ninja is definitely one of the worst Shippuden films and probably ranks pretty low on the all time Naruto list. It loses to films 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8. I’m going to say for now that it does beat films 1 and 5 though. 5 was probably the ultimate disappointing Naruto film since Sasuke was in it, but he couldn’t save it. This is a good film to introduce you to the world of Naruto and Naruto fans should still enjoy the fights. Just be prepared for all of Naruto’s friends to look pretty awful and for the unnecessary fanservice included. Also, brace yourself for the final battle because you are sure to be disappointed unless you were waiting for a giant monster fight. The soundtrack and animation are pretty solid and it’s still a good film despite all of the flaws. This review was certainly on the negative side, but that just seems to be the fate of the modern anime films that get a lot of hype. Obscure titles like Bleach 4 and Yugioh 3D seem to get all of the fun. You’re still guaranteed a fun experience here.

Overall 6/10

Scooby Doo Adventures The Mystery Map Review

Posted on January 10, 2015 by dreager1

It’s time to take a look at the latest Scooby Doo film! This one decided to try its luck with puppets. It’s certainly a bold move, but it’s one that definitely did not pay off. It’s one of those films that just doesn’t age well and it hasn’t been out all that long yet. It has its moments I suppose, but this isn’t the Mystery Inc gang that I remember.

The gang is just enjoying a day at home when the pizza delivery guy gives them a pizza. A treasure map is found inside of it and the heroes decide to look for the treasure. Before they can locate it, they are attacked by an evil parrot. Can this be a real monster or is it someone in a mask? The heroes don’t know the answer to this question yet, but they intend to find out. This case could be dangerous so they’re going to have to use everything that they’ve ever learned if they want to come out on top.

The film is very short and it only runs for about 30 minutes. There isn’t enough time for any development so we quickly just meet a few suspects before the case wraps up. There’s an old lady accompanied by a teenager who explore some mysterious caves for the thrills. A mean janitor lives on an abandoned light house and he certainly can’t be trusted. Finally, we have the pizza man. You won’t want to underestimate any of these guys and one of them must be the culprit. That being said, they all only get about 30 seconds of screentime so it’s tough to really know if they are criminals or not. You’re just going to have to go with your gut on this one.

The evil parrot made for a decent villain I suppose, but it didn’t have the greatest design. There’s a good reason for that of course and I’ll get into it in a second. Fred makes for a good main character although they decided to make him look really unintelligent for some reason. I guess the writers just figured that it would be a wise move…they were wrong. The other characters are pretty similar to how they usually are I suppose.

Now, what shot this film through the ground? From what I’ve said so far, it still sounds like a decent 6-7 star film right? It’s safe to say that it is considerably worse than that though and we have the animation to blame. The puppet techniques really look bad and it’s why I could never get into the Muppets. I’ll take CGI over puppets and that’s saying something! Everything just looks really stilted and the puppets seem to be pretty low quality as well. They look as if somebody just found their uniforms and added a few buttons. This really wrecks the film.

It’s sad when animation techniques wreck an entire movie, but that’s what happened here. The formula is still pretty similar to the average Scooby Doo film, but you can’t get into any of the scenes because of how they look. The chase scenes aren’t fun and watching the characters discuss what they are going to do next can’t be taken seriously. We know that they’re puppets and there is just no way to get around that. Everything just looks sooooo fake. I don’t see this being a hit with the younger generation either so it’s really just a big miss on the producer’s part.

The soundtrack isn’t much better. The insert songs aren’t really catchy and there are no tense themes to really get your heart racing. The dialogue was also a little off, or at least the delivery of the lines. It felt like they were aiming a little younger than usual as there would be a bit of a pause between words to make sure that they didn’t speak too quickly. Pokemon did this during the Zekrom/Reshiram film, but it’s certainly handled more delicately than this title.

I’m struggling to think of a positive for this film, but I can’t really think of one. It was only about 30 minutes and it still manages to drag on for a while. That’s definitely not a good sign if you really think about it. Even small things like the pizza that Shaggy ordered turned out to be negative. Remember the old films where Shaggy loved to eat, but it was always food that actually looked good? Not anymore! He picks out a pizza that looks terrible so nobody would even want to eat it. This isn’t the first time that he’s done that in a film, but it looks worse than usual.

Overall, Do not watch this film. This Scooby Doo Adventure is one that’s best left in theory and not in stores. I don’t see why you would want to spend the big bucks to watch such a short film anyway when you can check out a classic like Cyber Chase or Zombie Island. Those are two films that are significantly better than this one. I guess I would probably put this one over some of the musicals that came out, but even that is a stretch since those still managed to have good animation. I typically walk out of Scooby Doo films humming the songs (in my mind) and remembering the epic case, but that definitely did not happen here. Avoid this film at all costs and hopefully enough of us will do this so they won’t announce a sequel. If they do announce a sequel…let’s hope that it has proper animation this time!

Overall 4/10

The Maze Runner Review

Posted on January 2, 2015 by dreager1

The Maze Runner was hyped up as the next Hunger Games and that series hasn’t even finished in cinema world yet! Obviously the Maze Runner must have known something that I didn’t so I finally got around to checking it out on DVD. Great concept, but the execution left much to be desired. No worries, the Maze scenes are the best part so that did live up to the billing.

Well, the film takes place in the near future. A lot of kids have been trapped in a Maze and they don’t know how to get out. Every month, a box is sent to them from underground with one more teenager and food supplies. They’ve spent the last few years just trying to survive in their living space as they hope for the best. There are “Runners” who are teenagers that are selected to check out the maze. They have to be careful though since the Maze closes every night and staying inside will mean imminent destruction. So, they have clung to their lives for quite a while and that’s when good ole Thomas shows up. He doesn’t like this status quo…and he’s going to shake things up!

As you can expect, we’re all just waiting for Thomas to go into the Maze. It was in the trailer and we all would have expected it anyway. At first, I was pleasantly surprised with the film’s pacing since Thomas went inside it sooner than I had thought he would. I was practically cheering…until he left and we spent another long period of time outside the maze. (The living quarters are at the center of the maze so I say “out of the maze”) Don’t get the wrong idea….seeing teenagers discuss how they’re all doomed can be entertaining if handled right, but it just isn’t.

Most of the scenes at the living space are just boring or not fun to watch. We have the stereotypical bullies and the twist is that almost all of them are bullies. Everyone falls for peer pressure and the natural born leader wants the status quo to stay. The actual leader is a nice enough guy…or is he? I actually didn’t like him and his replacement was not much better. The whole thing just felt like a scam from Thomas’ point of view and nobody wanted to give him any intel. Just about everyone seemed to be mindless as they would just follow the order’s of the leader. It’s basically a dictatorship and this is certainly not the kind of place that you would want to hang out in.

The atmosphere of the film is very similar to Resident Evil during the climax. Once the maze is…no longer a factor, you expect zombies to start jumping out at you. It’s hard to describe of course, but the area is just very foggy and everything looks very hi tech. You quickly start to get your hopes up about aliens, zombies, or something else. Naturally, the film sends you crashing back down to reality with one of the worst plot twists that I have seen in a long time. The cliffhanger just makes you uninterested in what’s going to happen to the heroes or you at least lose most of your interest. There just doesn’t seem to be much of a point in their journey right now and they should have gone with the aliens/zombies idea. The atmospheric effect is pretty good and few films can actually pull it off, but you need something to happen to keep the atmosphere or it’s just going to fly away.

Thomas is a decent main character….I guess. He just strikes me as pretty annoying to be honest and he’s not very quick on the uptake. It doesn’t help that the other kids shun him of course, but he is always in the dark. He decision to help another one of the kids during a dicey time was pretty good of course and he managed to do well against one of the monsters, but that was mainly plot hax. He also could have put up a much better fight in the ~~getting beat up~~ wrestling game. I’ll never understand how someone can just stand there and watch himself get pushed around without much of an effort. Naturally, Thomas does land one hit so he quickly starts to gloat and then takes his eyes off his opponent. I can’t even…..

Teresa is the main heroine and she shows up as the final person to be sent to the ring. Naturally, she’s a girl so the other boys are mad/afraid that she’s here and she’s also shunned. She doesn’t help her case as she throws rocks at everyone, but I can’t blame her and I just hope that she can fight. Thing is…she feels like she is only here so that we can have a female character involved. Most films don’t pull a reverse harem situation like this in Hollywood so it’s pretty intriguing and I don’t mind so long as they don’t start to fall into the romance game. At most it is implied here and you can easily deny that. I have to give the Maze Runner props where it is due right?

As for the other characters, they’re all pretty unlikable and it’s hard to even talk about them. Newt is the second in command who gets very defensive at the drop of a hat and he just wants Thomas to stop asking questions. He’s the kind of guy who is immensely annoying to be around and he can’t completely stand up for himself even if he’s the leader. Alby actually seems like a nice kid at first, but we know that this can’t last and sure enough…he shows his dark side. He gives Thomas a very lightly veiled threat about what will happen to him if he breaks the rules and he did allow Thomas to be roughly handled when he first came out of the box. Sure, Thomas may have ran, but it was definitely uncalled for. Then, he cracks towards the end and while we’ll probably get a lot of sob stories and twists so make this seem reasonable, it’s still pretty sad.

We can’t forget about good ole Gali. He’s the main bully and he would rather thin the ranks of the heroes then go up against the maze. He’s always pretty unreasonable and he resents Thomas from the very start. You have to wonder how he got along with everyone else. He’s just your stereotypical bully and he pushes everyone around when he feels like it. There’s nothing likable about this guy and the film basically admits that he’s crazy by the end. We also have Chuck, who is the only guy who is really nice to Thomas and wants to be his friend. He also wants to see his parents someday…..Hollywood loves their drama so I’m sure you can imagine how this subplot ends. Minho is the main runner and he warms up to Thomas after the hero proves his worth, but I wouldn’t call him a very good character. He basically doesn’t mind Thomas because the main character is useful to him…that’s about it. Before that, he is pretty cold and he doesn’t mind leaving allies to get stomped on.

We can’t forget the monsters right? There is a pretty chilling moment where we think that there might not be any actual monsters here thanks to a twist, but that it luckily thrown out of the window right away. There are monsters here and they are ~~almost~~ tough. They are essentially mechanical scorpions that move like spiders and there are a lot of them. They’re definitely not very strong as you can destroy them with a simple, sharp stick, but they move quickly, which can make this difficult for the average kid. I’m always glad to have monsters here, but they are definitely not impressive power wise. Their design is decent though.

The actual violence isn’t as repulsive as the first Hunger Games, but it can get rather intense as we peer through one of the monster’s remains. The rest is pretty tame as we just hear/know things without seeing them. It uses the implied violence tactic that the Dark Knight used, which is actually pretty good if you need the violence angle. It’s a safe way to still get the message across. It naturally results in a rather dark tone like The Lord of The Flies and it continues on til the end, but it could be worse. The violence isn’t much of a negative here, but it’s still worth a mention that this definitely isn’t the kind of film that you want to show your kid.

There isn’t really a soundtrack although I’m sure that there are some generic/free domain themes in this film. That certainly doesn’t help the film. The main reason why I just didn’t like this film is because of the scenes at the home base. It’s hard to really describe why it’s so awful there and it may be a number of things. I’ve seen the “main character gets bullied” plot to death at this point and it is definitely not cool to see. Especially since the film is already devoid of any hope, we’d rather not see the main character get put in such a position. The actual setting is also very unimaginative and not very fun to look at the then the disappointing ending didn’t help matters. This is the kind of film that could be much better with adults as the main characters and better still if it had come out in the 80’s/60’s as a black and white film with a lot of debate. Sort of like 12 Angry Men. A reasonable discussion about whether they should leave the Maze or not as the whole film could have been much more interesting. The film just dropped the ball in all of these areas.

Overall, The Maze Runner is about as “good” as I expected. It does manage to crush the Hunger Games, but you are still left feeling empty. Is this the extent of our novel adaptions or are there other titles that we are missing? The Seeker and Alex Rider seemed like good bet back in the day, but they were cancelled and Harry Potter is already over. Ah well, maybe The Maze Runner gets even better with the sequel. The mystery is pretty engaging and I did like the concept. I could almost recommend it to you on that alone, but I could also just recommend the trailer instead. If you don’t mind monster violence and the classic bully scenarios going on for a very long time, then I recommend this film. If the thought of a rather depressing film where all of the main characters are teenagers who are pretty unlikable is too much to handle…you may want to run all the way back to the first Harry Potter film. It’s your choice!

Overall 4/10

The Year Without a Santa Claus Review

Posted on December 30, 2014 by dreager1

Time for a Christmas special about Santa and we already saw that the last one didn’t fare quite as well as the average special. Unfortunately, that continues as The Year Without a Santa Claus may have ended up being the least interesting Christmas Special to date. Perhaps Santa Claus just isn’t cut out to be the main character of a film. It could also just be a bad roll of the dice and then he can get em all next year.

Well, the plot is pretty self explanatory from the title. Santa is feeling tired and sick this year. His doctor lets him know that nobody cares about Santa or Christmas anymore and Santa quickly buys this story. He decides to take a day off and his two elves are sad about it. Ms. Claus thinks about being Santa herself, but ultimately decides not to do it. Her Elves must now find some Christmas spirit in South Town to show Santa that there is still hope. One thing leads to another and one of Santa’s reindeer is placed at the pound. Can the Elves make it snow in Southtown so that the Mayor can believe them and free the Reindeer? It’ll be a pretty dicey challenge for the heroes.

Well, the biggest problem with the film is that it’s simply uninteresting. Santa isn’t really the main character since he’s taking a break so the two elves…I guess I’ll just say their names, Jingle and Jangle must team up with Ms. Claus to be the main characters. They mean well, but they are definitely not main character material. Jingle and Jangle making mistakes and one of them beating up the other one gets old very quickly and Ms. Claus is a nice person, but her type of character isn’t great for the lead. She’s the nice old lady that everyone is actually afraid of and I’ll admit that I’ve never been a fan of this kind of character. It’s decent comic relief I suppose, but the film can certainly do better.

Things get a bit better once Snow Miser and his brother Heat Miser show up. First we have to listen to their songs of course and then we get to see a display of their abilities. I think it’s safe to say that Heat Miser would probably win in a fight, but Snow Miser is a lot more reasonable and he is definitely the better character. This guy doesn’t miss a beat and he’s always ready to throw a little snow your way. These two added a supernatural effect to the special and then we got to meet their boss.

Once again, the film tripped a little in how it handled the situation. Mother Nature was a being that scared even Ms. Claus and everyone talked about how tough and vicious she was. Then…she’s actually a really nice lady who scares the two Misers. It was not entirely unexpected, but it was still not a great twist and you’ll probably wince a few times. “This can’t be happening” is something that you might say as she forces the Misers to compromise.

Even the ending is rather odd as the moral is that the kids decide to give Santa his own holiday so he can rest. It’s all going well until one kid can’t hold her feelings back any longer and guilt trips Santa by letting him know that her Christmas is going to be terrible without him. The other kids start to cry too until they finally force Santa to don his old costume and take up the tradition once more. The holiday is cancelled and you wonder what the point of it all was. What just happened here?

The film certainly made me drowzy as it powered through all of the tropes imaginable. At least the Reindeer got a happy ending since everyone else wasn’t doing very well at the time. I will admit that the Mayor was a pretty great character since he mocked the heroes until the bitter end. He even danced with a little kid to show just how tough he was when he let the elves know that he wouldn’t release the Reindeer. He’s just that kind of guy, he’d rather let the animal stay at the pound than find him an owner. It’s the kind of thing that could definitely make him unlikable, but I like to think that this is a nice pound where the animals are cared for.

Overall, This film was a bit of a miss compared to the other Christmas specials. There is no sense of wonder or amazement here. You can’t even really call it a cheerful/happy film. Santa definitely doesn’t look good here and the film never really knew where it wanted to go with the plot. Ms. Claus’ decision to abandon her Santa adventure was so sudden that you know a last second script re write must have happened. If only the characters had been more interesting, the film could have had some hope. I can’t recommend this film and you should watch A Charlie Brown Christmas instead.

Overall 4/10

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