Mad Max: Fury Road and Babadook Movie Reviews

Mad Max is a long existing franchise that I watched when my dad and uncle talked about while we where in a video store where we saw the DVD collection of the original 3 movies with Mel Gibson... quick thoughts? Mad Max 2 is the superior film while the other two are alright for what they are and I do respect them.

Now on to Fury Road, I'd say this is a very good and fun movie to watch... and that is really the just of it has I can't really add much to the rest. Has it comes is what I expected it to be by meeting my expectations with a simple plot and plenty of action scenes I couldn't have asked for more; so more than a review of Fury Road consider this my honest thoughts.

The story fallows series main character Max, a tormented soul in a post apocalyptic world after a collapse of oil and water... Max has his own story that is vaguely reveled through the story but at a very loose way that it´s pretty much irrelevant for the over aching plot of the movie witch is definitely the best way to handle it; of course the first movie WAS about that, but new audiences don´t know that. The story is fun but that is not the reason why you will like this movie, is about the flashy action scenes and special effect usage with every moment being full of adrenaline. Is almost like filmmakers knew about this and decided to just give what they have to give with this franchise... after all Mad Max 2 is the one movie most people remember from the classic trilogy and that was a very fun movie.

Fury Road meet my expectations when I saw it in theaters being what it set out to do, being a fun pop-corn action movie to shut your mind off and to enjoy the ride!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Babadook is an independent Australian horror movie, I may not have shown it but I love horror film has they are one of my favorite genres of film out there, so when I had a chance to check it out it! I heard my many people online that this is one of the best horror films of the modern times so I check it out and... well... it´s pretty good indeed but it wasn't great.

Let me elaborate about what I mean: The story fallows a widowed mother and her son in their hard life styles... the kid is very problematic by getting into trouble in school and the likes, the mother had suffered the loose of her husband leaving her along with the child and having a job she clearly does not enjoy. Things take a turn for the worst when the two decide to read a children´s book title "Babadook" and from there a journey through a world of schizophrenia and fear begin.

To be perfectly clear, I think this setting is perfect for a great suspense film and in many areas the movie success... although it kinda misses in the horror department, why? well let´s start by stating a very clear aspect of horror films: fear is subjective, in other words, something that´s scary for someone may not be for another and that is very well the case for me here. The movies depiction of loneliness, ambiance and vulnerability is spot on and I love it for that, however I don´t remember ever really being terrified by what I watched nor uncomfortable... if anything I was marveled by the movies execution in every regard.

I love the journey that I took with the movie, that would be the key component here, more than fear I was actually interested in where it was all going and how it was going to end... is like experiencing the world of a schizophrenic person in movie form. I only wish that the last act was little more intense because (without spoiling much) at that point it became very light hearted.

Babadook is a very good movie and if I had to give it a score it would be an 8 out of 10, the journey alone one for me worth the price of admission, the story it self is something I had seen other times before but it still felt fresh here because of it´s execution... I loved Babadook for the experience, not because it was scary!

Thoughts on Silent Hills cancellation + Bloodborne Game Review

A while ago the internet was blown by the news that Hideo Kojima (the now legendary game creator responsible for the Metal Gear franchise) has been unofficially fired from Konami, with his studio Kojima Productions being left in the hands of the publisher... including the IP, the FOX engine, etc...

This news really depressed the MGS fan base the most, because Kojima is the men who basically kept the whole franchise surviving with great entry after great entry and knowing that phantom pain may the the series last hoorah... even with Konami saying the Metal Gear series will continue. To me the real boomer is the cancellation of "Silent Hills" (witch I still feel like it's a stupid title BTW), it's playable teaser showed so much promise and understanding of the main source material that it could have actually worked; and with the talents of Kojima, Del Toro and Reedus there was plenty of hope for rejuvenating the franchise once again into something that brings a large audience into the survival horror camp.

We know little details of what actually happened and honestly I don't care to know; it really is a boomer to see the work of an artist thrown away because of some board deception or dispute or whatever the hell the one thing that we all noticed with the demo was potential... could it have been a bad game? the answer is we'll never know. So what happens to Silent Hill now? Konami has said that "they are determined to make more Silent Hill games" well woohoo Konami... what'cha gonna do? give it to Vatra Games again so the same dudes who said "bleh... the cult is boring, who cares!" make the next game? Earth to Konami: Downpour wasn't THAT good... is not terrible but... you know what I'll drop it...

I really don't know what else to say... P.T. has proven that there is hope for the franchise; I love Silent Hill so of course I want to see a good new entry in the franchise because let's face it, the last good SH game we got was SH4... and that was the last official Team Silent contribution to the series before being disbanded by Konami...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bloodborne was released for the PlayStation 4 on March 2015, it has received critical acclaim from many critics and players around the world... but what is the real secret of it's success? Is it just the name and legacy of From Software? Is it Miyasaki's capacity to create interesting worlds?

The story takes place in the goth-like city of Yharnam; where all of it's inhabitants have been infected by a decease that transforms them into monsters, your character must uncover the core of the issue and solve it in order to survive. The entirety of the game is centered on exploring and unveiling it's secrets yourself with little help... you are given your tools, little explanation and context to go along and you are immediately sent to venture into the dangers of Yharnam; the most engrossing aspect of Bloodborne is how it trust you has a player to know what to do and how to defend yourself. Little handholding.

In terms of difficulty, well... it's hard indeed, but I never found it unfair I am the kind of player that takes my time when in combat I like to study the opponent and figuring out the best way to counter attack... Bloodborne is all about knowing when is the best opportunity to strike and of course leveling up your character. I don't know about Dark Souls because I never played it, but I indeed died a lot and with each game over screen I figured I was having fun just trying to overcome the brick wall I encountered.

The art direction in this game is great too, it creates a great sense of loneliness and hopelessness that only a visionary with a clear idea of how his world looks can come up with; I have the feeling that Miyazaki is the kind of guy that has an specific vision of how his worlds look like. Bloodborne is a great game full of action and suspense, there is room for improvements (like maybe more weapon types) but that is really it, I have little to complaint about. It´s a game worth picking up if you want a good action adventure to sink your teeth into; but I warn you that it´s difficulty is not for the faint of heart.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ok guys, update time... here ya go:

I would love to show more actual comic pages but has you may be able to tell I am still learning my ropes around photoshot CC 2014, I´ve been learning via tutorials online and they have been very helpful so far, some things are different in the way it´s all depicted in the window and well... let´s just say it´s taking me a little bit of time getting used to it. Drawing on a wacom has never really been my forte has I prefer the pencil and paper more to draw my characters.

While I keep working on this I wanna do another marathon and I have a few ideas, but if you have any suggestions I would be glad to hear it and to oblige if I can... some of you have already voiced me what you want me to talk about via PM but don't be shy to comment in the comment section.

Thank you and stay tuned!

Dr. Strangelove Movie Review

Released on January 29th 1964, Dr. Strangelove is a black comedy film by the famous Stanley Kubrick... even though it's portrayed has one of the best comedies of it's kind, I kinda don't find it all that funny; although I do indeed consider it a very entertaining movie to watch nevertheless.

The story is basically a satire of the cold war; a US air force general orders a massive nuclear strike against the soviet union, with the order being basically completely out of control from high politicians (like the president of the US) because of the "Plan R", thus laying to his men and using it has a ploy to attack the Russians to prevent them from "polluting the American's precious bodily fluids". Is all a race against time to prevent a nuclear apocalypse.

Now the first thing I love is the setting, the cold war at it's hype where the fears of the world at the time were coming together and the portrayal of all the characters are great to give an excellent mood to the time period... it works has a cautionary tail of humanity's self destructive tendencies and psychotic nature in times of fear and uncertainty. (It all kinda reminds me of the Fallout franchise)

However, the films humor just sometimes didn't get to me... there were times where I indeed found jokes and scenes funny, but most of the time I was just paying attention to the plot and wondering "omg how are they gonna get out of this one". The characters are pretty interesting too and the ending was actually funny for the last 10 minutes, with great directions (I mean c'mon this is Kubrick we are talking about...) and acting.

Dr. Strangelove may not be the funniest comedy of all time, but it is indeed a great satire of a very real danger... thankfully one that didn't happen and a good political satire that I may revisit in the future!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well this is going to be my last post before I go away... (if you read my anime cliche post you know why)

I want to do more movie and game reviews before I post updates on the comic... I know some of you have been wanting to know more about that and if it was me I would want that too, but there is just so much to do and doing it alone is resulting in being a bigger challenge than I anticipated; all while also learning my ropes around photoshop.

I finally got around owning Bloodborne... I must be like 50hrs in and so far it's been a great time; I want to get around to review it has well has MKX... but that will be later.

Thank you for tuning in!