VGW Update

New page is up!
Check it out!

PS: I am working on another review right now (Resident Evil), so stay tuned!

VGW Update

New page is up now!
Enjoy!

The Blaire Witch Project Movie Review

Yep... another found footage horror movie at Inlikeflynn's Corner! Yay!

This one is little bit different for me though, the hype for the movie was in 1999 (the year in witch it came out) and I was around 5 years old when people talked about this movie like it was the scariest movie of all time.

Me being a little boy, avoided this movie like the plague for being a little scaredy cat with horror movies back then... even many of my classmates talked about the movie in class, it really was a huge phenomenon back then (some people even actually believed the movie was real life). Years passed and I still didn't watched it mostly out of fear...

The story fallows 3 film students lost in the woods and being hunted by someone or something; that's pretty much it... The entire movie is shoot like a homemade movie and that helped to bring home the fact that it is "real" and that it "actually happened", the movie had little than a small budget indeed and I think that holds more water when you see it's three kids with a camera and shooting a documentary helping to bring home the scares. The bulk of the film is just this kids lost in the forest for what seems like almost a week with hauntings while they try to leave the forest.

The reception towards the movie seems to be very split, some consider it one of the scariest movies of all time while others consider it a mess of a movie where you can't tell at all what is happening, but to the films credit, the movie makers didn't had the budget to make a big epic scary fest... could they have made a true scary masterpiece? I don't know but regardless, the movie turned out pretty good if you ask me! While I don't find the movie scary in the slightest it is a very interesting film for what it is and how it was made with it's limited budget: I like how we never see the Blair Witch at all through the whole movie thus leaving us, has viewers, to imagine how this "ghost" or whatever looks, even though there are descriptions about how she looks at the beginning of the film it paints a picture in your mind that stays there until the rolling credits.

Now... how does the fear factor stacks up? it's not scary at all (at least to me), I will say though that I like how the movie subtly let's the tension be built around the situations that the main characters are in instead of relying on cheap jump scares with no build up or good real pay off.

Many horror movies rely on the anticipation of fear rather than the actual scare, some movies do this right others not so much, I feel like Blair Witch Project at least treats the viewer with a certain level of respect... witch is more than what I can say from many other horror movies that play it super safe and fallow an strict pattern of dumb.

Blair Witch Project is fun, and is made even more evident by the way it was portrayed to the audiences, being a success in all frontiers (with critics and at the box office) plus all the inspirations it gave to movies like Paranormal Activity and Grave Encounters... I wish the movie was truly more scary that what it is but it's still a fun movie to watch in a dark night... alone.

Grave Encounters Movie Review

This movie draws me... not in the "it fucks with my mind" kind of way but just by the idea of it.

A crew of filmmakers decide to lock themselves up inside a clearly creepy abandoned mental asylum for a reality TV show called "Grave Encounters". Has they lock themselves up during the whole night they experience certain hauntings and paranormal activities just has they wanted and has the time to leave approaches... something is clearly wrong with the place; something evil and dangerous.

I guess the reason why I somewhat like this movie so much is because I like the idea of a haunted place with angry spirits that kill people who trespass their territory (is golden creepy pasta stuff), the crew are an alright bunch with them being clearly playful bunch just doing their job, characters like T.C. do get on my nerves for being unlikable but with a situations that confusing and all out crazy I can't blame him when he or any of the other characters get natural frustrated and start to loose their minds.

The "found footage" style of horror is somewhat common now days with all the Paranormal Activities and such... so the movie is another attempt at cashing in on the style right? with it being relatively easy to shoot and such, well yes and no. Grave Encounters works for me because of two reasons: the story and the editing, the story is about filmmakers shooting a reality TV show inside an old abandoned insane asylum so it naturally makes sense to see the cameras being put in movie-ish ways and the editing help minimise does awkward camera angels of handheld shots by the main characters clearly done for "dramatic purposes".

Has you may have been able to tell I haven't talked about the fear factor of the film at all and that is because fear is subjective... some people are more easily frightened than others, I can say that I personally wasn't scared nor was it a nightmare inducing thriller, for me it was just a fun little movie and nothing more. I suppose if you are easily startled by the occasional jump scare with loud SFX and creepy looking face or stuff like that then yeah... it will be scary for you.

I guess what I am trying to say is that Grave Encounters is a film i can tolerate  better than many obnoxious horror films that I usually come across... I love good horror movies and I like seeing good horror movies so it is a breath of fresh air to see one that is not bad but actually fun to watch and I want to see it again in the future when it feels fresh again.

If you decide to check out Grave Encounters just keep in mind is really nothing special in terms of horror movies but it is a fun ride still witch is in my opinion the most important thing a movie must achieve first and foremost.

PS: don't watch the sequel, is shit...

VGW Update

New page up check it out here

BTW new reviews are underway so stay tuned!

VGW Update

New Page is now online!
Read here

Shimoneta to Iu Gainen ga Sonzai Shinai Taikutsu na Sekai Anime Review

Or just "Shomoseka" for short...

Originally a light novel lunched in 2012 by Hirotaka Akagi and Eito Shimotsuki later adapted into a manga since 2014 and recently into a short 12 episode anime in summer 2015. The story revolves around a future where the japanese government has banned all kinds of lewd material (from pornography, to simply dirty jokes, etc...) and all citizens are forced to wear PMs or Peace Makers on their rists to analyse every word spoken and hand gesture that could break the law.

If you have seen my top 10 anime cliches you may remember I said that fan service is out of control in recent memory, Shimoseka still has plenty of fan-service but instead of going in full blown out of the reasonable it does manages to contain a certain amount of self control, witch is quite surprising considering both the attractive girls in the show and all the opportunities the show has to show it right in from of your face.

The main character is Tanukichi Okuma, he is has bland and boring of a main character has you can get, he is the typical blank slate you see every time in bad anime... thankfully the other characters fair much better, like Ayame Kajou (SHE SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE MAIN CHARACTER BTW), she is the "super hero"/"Terrorist" trying to fight in a world where the obsession of banning people from having access to obscene material exists and all while under the secret identity of "Blue Snow".

Other characters like the stern Hyouka Fuwa has many funny moments or Anna Nishikinomiya who starts a has a pure hearted and innocent council president becomes cartoonishly funny later in the series. I can say all the characters stand out except for the boring main character.

In a general sense however, I should hate on this show... it includes many tropes of things I absolutely cannot stand: dirty jokes, stupidly forced "romantic" plot lines, absurd amounts of fan service and sexual innuendos that add nothing at all... but for whatever reason I managed to stay through the entirety of the series and found myself attracted to it despite being something I should not be able to stand: It's like I said at the beginning, does hateful forces sexual innuendos don't go has far has some other anime that rely solely them do, it does what it does and it moves on, many of the good jokes in the show don't come from the dirty humour but from the situations the main characters get involved in has well has many of their reactions to does situations can be funny.

Another thing I love is the character designs, the way many of the characters are build physiologically should be for an ecchi style of scenes and shots showing us every nook and cranny but I feel a really interesting self restrain, not to mention the many female characters have a dress up way that covers their body whole heartly, of example: Anna Nishikinomiya is a pure innocent character and her uniform shows it, she wears a long skirt (the longest in fact) in the whole series and that also applies with the other female characters... even the male characters don't have that much attractive get-up styles to them actually.

I guess another thing that is really interesting is that the anime does carry a message about censorship and how far it can go. We live in a world where the internet is a part of our lives and when a government or a company attempts to censor people is received with a general negative backlash at the simple attempt; I do firmly believe that people have a right to express themselves about how they feel and I am sure many would agree with me. The plight of Ayame to fight censorship is something we can all relate to and sympathise with.

Do I recommend Shimoneta to Iu Gainen ga Sonzai Shinai Taikutsu na Sekai? Ehhh... yes and no...

If you think you have the stomach to get through the foul comedy of the anime then yeah why not, but if you can't stand that kind of humour then avoid it because it won't be pretty...

VGW Update

New page is out!
Check it out here
Remember that new pages are released every Wednesday so stay tuned!