The Terminator Movie Review

The Terminator is a science fiction action thriller by director James Cameron... this movie is great and I say that with full awareness of the other movies, making it an excellent stand alone film.

The story fallows Sarah Connor, a young woman who seems to be a very unlucky girl, with a painful dinner job, duchy boyfriend but still puling through life with what she has... but her whole life is put upside down when she begins to be hunted by a dangerous killer android, a terminator, sent from the future to assassinate her before she gives birth and trains the future savior of humanity in a war against machines that nearly eradicate humans; but she is not alone, a soldier from the future called Kyle Reese is sent to the same time to protect Sarah from the dangerous machine and help her survive and discover her potential has a survivor.

What makes this movie so excellent is Sarah herself, her evolution from unlucky dinner waiter to badass survivor is masterfully executed and it works because by the time you reach the end you see how she has changed... this is called an arc; she changes by the end of the film and makes her a much more fascinating character that you feel have gotten to know by the end. The terminator (played by the famous Arnold Schwarzenegger) was the perfect pick to play the threatening killer android, is all thanks to just how dangerous he looks... Arnold himself has a body builder is the kind of men I would´t mess with so he played that part just right, a fun fact: originally Arnold was casted to play Kyle Reese in the movie, I can only imagine that has a bad idea, thankfully Cameron figured he was better playing the terminator, he was right indeed.

The special effects on the terminator are also very well done, is all stop-motion animation that blends perfectly with the robotic movements of the terminator for the last chase of the film, it also uses this opportunity to play with the spectator with the illusion of the monster being dead but coming back to stalk the protagonist some more... the high pitch music is something that I would hate because of how annoying it is, but for this scene it really works because this is at the point where you start to feel like Sarah just can´t catch a break but also kinda frightening it is knowing how hard it really is to kill a terminator. It also has plenty of 80´s vibe to it (it was released the same year after all), but is not shoving it into your face, thus making it more like a time warp experience.

Is very hard to talk about these movies if you haven´t seen them, I am very pro watching films that are good, and The Terminator is definitely on that category, but if you have, you probably are familiar with what I am talking about...

If you haven´t seen this movie then you are missing on one of the best sci-fi action thrillers of all time; the story is strong with excellent action scenes and great use of special effects... if you have a chance check it out, it holds perfectly well even after all these years; chances are that I will continue to revisit this film in the future. I have no doubt that this movie is one of does that ages well.

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Terminator 2: Judgement Day will be up next so stay tuned for it!

Happy New Year 2015!

Hello everybody!

2014 is now behind us and with it, all the memories of the good and the bad things we went through... some of us may feel that we didn't entirely achieve something or gotten somewhere, but is important to remember that we must pursue our goals, no matter how far fetch or impossible they seem to feel.

Here´s to you all that in 2015 can be a productive year and one of success!

Love and Peace <3

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All right! time for a few updates...

Up next I have planed another marathon of movies to review and looking up to what we have in the huge pile I have decided to look into the always awesome "Terminator" franchise, I think is a great way to start the year with some content for you guys to be looking forward to.

I have some big plans on where to move forward my work including maybe a whole new website, one that is more mine and find a better way for you guys to check out my movie reviews, game reviews and more... and the comic of course.

For does of you curious about it it´s still on the works, I will keep regular updates on it´s process, I am now 73 pages in! (in rough...) and I still have a long way to go; specially because of a few re-writes I had to go trough for the sake of the story...

Stay tuned guys! We have a long year ahead of us! ;)

Solty Rei Anime Review

It´s not only been a long time since I post any content on the blog, but it´s also been a long time since I post an anime review (if you count the Animatrix, but that was more of a series of separate shorts and not a series with 30 min per episode and stuff); so I decided to look back at one of the animes I remember fondly, Solty Rei.

The story is set in a futuristic world where humanity lives underneath an aurora that covers a city preventing air travel and is constantly threading it´s inhabitants because of a catastrophe that occurred years ago that left the city in a bad state, many people died, many more got injured and some were never found... Roy Revant is one of the survivors of said event, but he isn´t without his trauma; this man is in his late 40´s lost his daughter to the aurora that fatal day, her body was never found and there is no trace that can proof she is still alive. Unable to move on with his life, Roy makes a living has a bounty hunter working for an old friend of his, Miranda Maverick... During a job, he comes across a mysterious young girl who unintentionally saves his life from a dangerous killer... and with her, his opportunity to finally let go of his past and finally move on from his loss.

Feeling pity when he finds out she is an unregistered citizen, the girl is eventually adopted by Roy and because the girl remembers nothing from what happened before meeting with him (not even her name), he names her Solty and from there the story is more about their relationship developing and eventually moving to the mystery of the aurora, Solty and the truth behind the event that hunts the cities past.

In this futuristic setting, some humans are enhanced with cybernetic implants, despite the original intention of the technological advances are purely humble to help does harmed from the aurora´s blast, many have used the implants to resort to a criminal life... Solty is 100% cybernetics, witch is impossible within the universe, making her a robot with emotions and capturing the attention of some curious people has well has other dangerous people.

The first thing I want to talk about is the good stuff; I really enjoyed the setting, the sci-fyish/post-apocalyptic setting is always cool to watch for me, the action scenes are fun and well animated in general and let´s not forget the story itself, while not perfect and not being exactly the best example I would use for a father/daughter bonding story either, it feels like the creators were´t really targeting to  make something that pushed the envelop is terms of the previous mentioned elects but just make something fun and memorable; and in some respects they do that very well.

The characters are also fun to watch, Solty and Roy´s relationship is shaky at first, in a strange way; I would almost believe like they are forcing things up, like you kinda know that Roy will end up accepting Solty has family, but surprisingly I want them to get along... I guess that comes mostly from Solty herself; she is so innocent and despite all of her inhuman strength she would never hurt a fly. The rest of the cast in also likable, Miranda is supportive to Roy despite being a little stoic at times and the Anderson Brothers are alright.

But the best characters of the whole series in my opinion are the RUC Proceeds agents (witch are all curiously named after car models), on their own they aren´t particularly interesting, but is their legit camaraderie and friendship what makes them great has a group to see them work together and just being overall friends.

These characters are always thrown in harms way and always have something going wrong for them, at some points I felt really sorry for them, not only that... but through out the series these characters really seemed to be the only ones in legit danger. Without spoiling much, one of them dies, killed off in front of the others, I could tell when they are distraught by the death of their dear friend and after seeing just how close they are has friends, I could´t help but feel sorry for them. When characters are in genuine danger and care for their safety, you know the show in doing something right. (On a side note... Integra Martel is the best)

On the bad side, some of the CG animation sticks out like a sour thumb... specially on the mechs, funny because there really aren´t many in the overall show, not just mechs but the overall CGI just looks laking, unlike in something like Tiger & Bunny where the CG in not only good but is also an integral part of the characters, here; it just feels like a pointless additions.

Now I have to give some spoiler warning because I am going to talk about some key story elements, unless you plan to watch the show, you should skip the RED words:

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!

The "death" of Rose has a whole was well set if you ask me, she dies just has Roy finds out she was his lost daughter all along and just has they were accepting each other despite their differences, the outburst that Roy had on Solty I can understand, but is the fact that they BROUGHT ROSE BACK FROM THE DEAD what bothers me the most story wise about the whole anime! This was a huge missed opportunity to have Roy truly deal with his loss a second time, yeah it´s hard, but to me it should have been about him figuring out that he still had Solty and that it was all going to be alright, ya know, there is still hope and a chance for him to be happy (I really wanted to see something like that, and it would have really given the anime a more interesting air)... but NO; THEY HAD TO THROW THAT SHIT OUT THE WINDOW!! I think it could have also helped if the Rose that was used later by the RUC would have been reveled to be a high tech AI like Solty but by then it really would have mattered little, the damage was already done...

It bothers me because I can see potential for something very intriguing and that can really put a test to the father/daughter bond between Roy and Solty the series developed for almost the entire show but instead they went with the most dumb way they could have taken the story into... is a huge missed opportunity, is only salt in the wound when you see later how they killed off one of the Proceeds, almost like "oh it´s ok, that one is not an important character" *grunts*.

Despite it´s serious lows, I can forgive some of these and I can really enjoy this story has a whole, it´s a fun ride and one I hope to revisit again in the future when it feels new again and I can experience the entirety of the moments I like in this anime with nostalgic eyes...

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Hello readers!

I am sorry for the long delay but well... I´ve been very busy this last few weeks (yeah Christmas is part of the reason), but plenty has happened.

In the case of the comic, is coming up great... I hope that in January I can show a complete page has a preview of what will be

I will keep updates on this blog, stay tuned!

Monsters vs Aliens Movie Review

This movie is actually more fun than the poster and trailer made it seem back in it´s day...

The story fallows Susan, a young woman who is getting ready to get married and going to live her life has a regular housewife until catastrophe hits on her wedding day, a giant meteor hits her making her become a giant, thus the government takes her from society and locks her away along with other monsters like her; so their time to prove themselves arrives when the government makes them fight against an innovation of aliens.

I have to say that the strength of the movie comes along from the main character Susan; the way the movie plays out her predicament is made in a way that you do feel legitimately bad for her... she is very innocent and would´t even hurt a fly yet everybody is terrified of her, and has icing on the cake her fiancé turns out to be an asshole. The rest of the cast is quite likable has well, I think some people won´t like these side characters but I felt like they didn't came across has obnoxious at any time; in fact I did felt like they were given some funny things to say and do has well has doing a good job in showing how much of a pack of misfits they are.

The animation is also pretty good, the movements and weigh are all very well shown and the characters with different physics move in a way that you would expect them to (or at least me)... textures are good and there is a certain attention to detail that I really appreciate. One thing about the presentation that really took me away from the experience is the character design, the monsters and aliens look alright, but the human character just look awkward to me, like they were trying to make them look like toys or something I don´t know... but Susan is the one they got right though; she looks cute and her design gives room to some funny reactions.

For all my praise it must sound like I love this movie; I actually think is a movie I enjoyed watching twice and that´s it, it´s a fun film but nothing special... is not like the movie changes or does anything new or big for the 3D animated films.

Check it out and judge for yourself if you haven´t already.

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Well... this took a while, I am still thinking about what other marathon of films I could look at has well has working on the comic...

Boy is hard to be a one men crew... XP

Keep in touch!

Casper: A Spirited Beginning Movie Review + Update

For some reason I can´t be able to explain I have been having this movie on the back of my brain for a while now... and I might be exaggerating with this statement but this is one of the very first movies I ever watched in my whole life; I owned the VHS tape and I used to watch this a lot back when I was like 7... but why?

What was it about this movie that had me watching it so much? why did I liked it? why is the intro theme always playing in my mind? I decided to watch it again to figure out why my brain can´t delete  it or block it once and for all...

This story is a prequel to the events of the original 1995 Casper movie, it was direct to video back in 1997 and produced by Saban Entertainment (The producers of The Power Rangers). Although it´s considered a prequel, I don´t really feel like I am learning how Casper came to be or something about him I didn´t knew... hell it dosen´t even connect in anyway with the movie that is supposed to happen latter in the original. Casper has just died, he is about to go to a ghost school along side the ghost of other people who have died, but they all seem to be unaware they have passed away... because of a stupid reason he get´s kicked out of the train and ends up in this town and I figure out how it was all a convenient plot device by connecting it´s dots to get Casper into a happy little town and creeps everybody out unintentionally and becomes friends with this kid named Chris, and the whole "adventure" is about Casper trying to learn how to be a ghost.

On a fundamental level, the movie is functional, I can´t say I was ever bored about the way the sequence of events played out, the characters are 90´s stereotypes but the relationship between the father and the son is actually quite neat and really want to the see them work their differences out, the rest of the cast is ok, I mean some of them can be a little annoying (the bullies) but they felt harmless to the story... except for that part where they locked Chris up inside a mansion that is about to explode! Does this bullies were trying to graduate from bullying to killers or what?!

Regardless, after watching this movie again I have come to the conclusion that the reason why little me liked this movie is very simple actually... I was young and dumb. Regardless of the negatives, I think the movie is for the most part a fun time, although I doubt I would watch it again.

Casper: A Spirited Beginning feels like a movie that was made because of the success of the original movie without a doubt; but something tells me that the people behind it probably didn´t had evil intentions... like they made this movie has good has it could possibly be on it´s own; true or not it is a fun little movie and I see no harm in young watchers seeing it (well except maybe the murderer attempt by the bullies).

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"OH FLYNN WHERE ARE YOU???? WHERE IS YOUR SO CALLED PROJECT HUH????!!!!!!
YOU TALK ABOUT IT BUT YOU NEVER SHOW ANYTHING EVER"

ejem...

Everything is still in rough... but I work every day and still am a one men crew... just in case there are any doubts

Thoughts on the Assassin´s Creed franchise and Assassin´s Creed III Game Review

If you asked anybody who knows me what I think about the Assassin´s Creed franchise, they will probably say something like "I don´t know, the guy says he is not a fan yet he often talks about it", and that is certainly true...

I am not a the biggest AC fan you will ever see and I don´t even consider myself a fan; I actually think the games are somewhat boring specially considering I haven´t played much of them but does I have played have bored me to sleep... but why you ask? I don´t know that myself and yet here I am being able to talk with someone about the stories and their opinion on the series has a whole somewhat like an interested watcher.

I see many reasons to play and enjoy the AC series but every time I pick one up and play it, I find myself struggling with it´s extremely repetitive nature. Up until now it seems like I have been analyzing the series has a whole from my point of view, but I just find myself in the need to say all this before getting to the infamous AC3 considered by many to be the worst AC of the franchise, because I don´t want to come across has an ignorant idiot talking about a topic he dosen´t understand.

I remember when the first trailer was reveled and everybody on the internet was going nuts (literary); there was not a single person I knew was wasn´t exited about the game, so much in fact that I seriously considered buying the game day one; when the first reviews came up and said the game was good I really took it has some sort of mixed message; like is it very good or just... good? Eventually when it got to the publics hands is when the negativity showed itself, some independent reviewers were giving this game 6 and 5 out of 10; I was kinda flabbergasted. Just knowing that it was one of the most anticipated games at the time and disappointing that many people, I could only imagine if I was that big of a fan... when I ask people about their thoughts on the game many answer the same way pretty much, with "is ok, but is not the best" either if they really feel that way or they just say that to feel better about their full price purchase, I don´t know.

I have been skipping pretty much every AC game that has been released (At the time of the post the newest game is AC Unity, and I am not playing it... not even interested), I know that the logical would be that I play every game and talk about them all in one, but with Ubisoft announcing there will be a new AC game every year, I will eventually grow tired of this trend and be completely irrelevant to tackle every game one by one; I am not even playing every game and I feel like I am warmed out, I will keep an eye on the series, but maybe play all games in the future, but not every time a new game lunches.

Although in my somewhat awkward relationship with this franchise, I have only played a handful of games (more specifically Revelations, AC3, Liberation and a little bit Black Flag), non of them have really wowed me at all, in fact the only game I have played fully is Liberation when it was re-lunched for the PS3; I got it after playing Revelations and I was kinda curious about the fact that Aveline was the first ever female assassin to be playable in any AC game.

Quick thoughts on Liberation, it was actually pretty fun to play, Aveline´s story is kinda interesting, parkour is fun and more importantly, the persona gameplay is the best thing any AC I have played or seen has done (more so than the popular boat exploration of AC3 and Black Flag); I mean, how come nobody at Ubisoft has seen the potential of this mechanic, I will never know. Overall, my favorite AC game (for now).

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Now is time to talk about the game that has cause the biggest deception in the AC community, Assassin´s Creed III was released in October of 2012 for PS3, Xbox 360 and eventually Wii U and PC on November of the same year.

Set in the colonial times in north america, the hooded persona of this chapter is Connor, a native american of British decent who is fighting for the independence of his own people. The story itself is alright; I am not American so I can´t tell how historically accurate it is, but when seeing the moment when Connor is present during the signing of the declaration of independence... I can tell is really stretching many moments in the history of the united states. To be fair the games before it were also very exaggerated historically.

Gameplay wise there is no big leap forward, the boat mini game however was so well received that it became it's own major element in the fallowing year's AC4 Black Flag... is a testament to how sometimes a mini game can do such a big service to a video game. Because colonial america is a setting with a lack of major cities and locals, the wilderness is the most prominent place every player will most likely be wondering around... hunting and finding collectables witch is not really all that fun for me.

The prologue is one of the most infamous elements of the game and honestly is not a mystery at all why it is; has someone who plays plenty of video games, is annoying to have always to get an overly long tutorial for new comers, I may not be an AC veteran but I don't have to be a rocket scientist either to pick the game up and play it, I sometimes feel like the game exaggerates this moment to the point where basic gameplay elements are arbitrarily taken away until I progress through the story. I don't know about the audience but I like to explore and to do side missions and other activities while progressing through the campaign... specially in open world games like this one; but AC3 is very linear despite of the game stating the opposite.

Visually is fine and there is certainly plenty to do, in the story itself and in the world of colonial america has well... Connor has also gotten plenty of negativity has the least interesting protagonist in the series, I though he was ok... he is primitive, raise by a native american group and with actual little ambition or even little interest for the major war that is happening; he does appear to be humorless, but I don't think is about that but about his culture, he was not meant to be funny or cocky like the fan favorite Ezio; he has a noble goal and he is primitive. Overall, Connor is alright... no more no less.

Assassin's Creed 3 is ok, maybe a little rushed and somewhat unfinished but is certainly not bad at all, I have played much worse games in my life that's for sure; but there is no doubt that the game is rough around the edges.

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Thank you for reading, I will have more to talk about in the future and a new update on my project... I know it seems like I have abandon it but remember, I am a one men crew here.

Stay tuned for more content

The Animatrix Anime Review

Animatrix is not a whole cohesive single story, but just a compilation of short films telling multiple stories within the matrix universe; created and putted together by the very same Wachowski brothers with some of the most influential Japanese animation veterans making a series of "mostly" well crafted pieces of story... and I have to say, that this single series of shorts injects more life to the matrix franchise than the two sequels that fallowed the original movie.

The first short is called "Final Fight of Osiris" and it was alright; it features some excellent 3D realistic models with some fluid animation, more fluid than what I see in most movies of this kind of realistic 3D approach it works well enough to keep me interested. It fallows a crew of humans when they are attacked by machines and eventually killed; The characters are really not the main focus has much has just witnessing their action that does have an impact the the movies. The animation in the characters faces are also very good, conveying the emotion that many movies in this department fail to bring forward. "Final fight of Osiris" is good... but is not the best in my opinion.

The next is a two parter called "The Second Renaissance" and it´s actually pretty good. The animation in this ones is the traditional 2D Japanese animation but being much more fluid and I would´t want it another way. The story is actually the prequel to the events that take place in the matrix trilogy telling the origin of the war between humans and machines, the plight of the androids and the eventual downfall of humanity. Although it has a computer voice serving has a narrator, the images tell you everything you need to know to understand... you can see when robots are being abused by their human overlords and you can tell when humanity is running down into desperate measures during the war and all just with the images that you are seeing all showing the exact emotions correctly. "The Second Renaissance" is quite good and an excellent "prequel" to the event of the main trilogy.

"Kid´s Story" is probably the worst. The animation is something similar to what you see in "Heavy Metal" and it sticks out like a sour thumb without adding any kind of depth to it´s story because of it. I know that Neo and Trinity in this short are both voiced by their original actors (Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss); it´s a fine nod to fans, but that is not something that makes the short any better; the main problem I have is that is pretty much a re-hach of Neo´s escape from the matrix... the kid feels like his life is a lie and gets contacted by a guy (Neo himself) that he is not going crazy and that he is not the only one; again, a total reenactment of the first matrix movie. While the weakest I can say I do like it´s ending, I won´t spoil it; however I´ll just say that it did got me by surprise and that´s maybe because it was being predictable all the way through the end.

The next short is called "Program" and this is another one I really enjoyed. Unlike kid´s story, this one goes back to the classic 2D animation style with superb and fluid movements helping me appreciate every movement and the feeling each impact during the fight; the story fallows a woman named Cis within one of the many simulations that humans can access and play with, until a close friend of her tells her that he is going to find a way back into the matrix and be plugged in back like he never left. While the core story is nothing fascinating is the dashing animation and fight sequence what kept me interested, it takes full advantage of animation quality to make it one of the most flashy fights in the matrix franchise I´ve seen. Program is a pretty good short and I really had fun watching it for what it was.

"World Record" is the next entry in the series of shorts and I have some mixed feeling about this one. The story fallows an athlete named Dan that while trying to beat a world record he was able to self disconnect of the matrix unwillingly... interesting idea that while similar to the one from "Kid´s Story" this one is done way better and making it more fascinating storywise that even has propose in the series if I am being asked about it. The animation is where I have a few problems with, not that is terrible; but it just docent sit well with me, like every movement is exaggerated to the point of it being kinda funny when it´s not trying to be... is hard to explain, I think is better if you watch it and see it for yourself. I still liked "World Record" though... it was a great short though kinda awkward in the animation department.

"Beyond" is perhaps my favorite of the whole compilation. The story is about a girl named Yoko who while looking for her missing cat finds a house witch is seemingly "hunted" and discovers all sorts of glitches within the matrix; and that´s all I´ll say because I believe is something you must see for yourself... the animation is also great, is fluid, is colorful and the character models are really cute to watch. I really think this one is the best for a seemingly number of reasons but what ultimately sells it for me is the ending, witch is just really fitting for what I though should have been; it could have ended in the way that fitted does who knew what was going on and have it end in that very way but instead it just goes and finishes in another way that´s more open than "Word Record" in my opinion... it has no flashy combat that I would normally associate with the franchise; but it still manages to be interesting somewhat like the first movie, but in a much different way.

"Beyond" still lingered in my mind long after I finished watching all shorts witch is why I considered it the best; the story is simple but deep, the animation is colorful and full of life and it was just fun to watch overall; like a good short film you watch in a film festival.

Now there is "A Detective Story" and this one was pretty good (although after "Beyond"... well). Ash is a detective who is hired to track down and find a hacker named Trinity; when he finally meets her, he is told that that she can show him the truth, is good enough; having Trinity (voiced by Carrie-Anne Moss) is a great nod to the fans of the original films and she is actually quite interesting to watch, I don´t know exactly what it is but she actually come across has somewhat of an interesting individual instead of being boring like in the trilogy, maybe is the fact that she is never fully coming out to Ash about who she is. The animation is also pretty good, the esthetic is that of a film noir; like does old classic detective mystery films. "A Detective Story" was really good and actually has some interesting characters in it (even Trinity is really cool to watch); although the ending was pretty meh...

Last we have "Matriculated" and this one is... well... really strange, although somewhat fascinating. A crew of humans capture a robot and now are trying to hack it by entering it´s... um... "mind"? and then it turns into a journey of what happens when you do drugs I guess. Now seriously, I get is like the journey of transition of this android like understanding human emotion of something like that and it like converts to the side of humans in the end... it´s ok and I get the idea behind it, but it´s just not... reaching out to me... maybe because it´s being to ambiguous and not really helping me understand this robot. The animation is ok although the character models are "bleu" thus being kinda awkward to look at; maybe some like this character design, but not me. "Matriculated" is not bad or even weak... but it fails to be impressive; it has a really interesting premise but is not reaching out to me.

That finishes Animatrix series of short films and I gotta say, this series of films do a hell of a lot more for the series than the two sequels that fallowed, by having interesting stories to tell within the matrix universe and expanding upon it. Maybe it has a few "not so good" ones but others are really impressive; not only for the matrix franchise, but has excellent shorts on their own (*cough* Beyond *cough*).

If you get the chance to see them all then do, even if you are not hardcore on the matrix franchise like myself, you can enjoy of the great animation and of some of the cool stories it has.

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That wraps up the Matrix marathon, If you have been seeing everything I have been posting than I hope you have enjoyed reading through every post. After watching every film I have to say that it´s been quite interesting, the first film is quite good and the anime shorts are really fascinating for what they are (at least most of them)... but the two sequels are just, not very impressive.

If you are planing to watch these films then by all means do, I particularly recumbent the first movie and the shorts, maybe Reloaded and I recumbent skipping Revolutions, but then again you might find something in them that make these films great entries to the franchise...

I don´t know what´s in for the future of the franchise but it´s been quite a while since the films... but who knows...

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Thank you for visiting... I am sorry for the long delay between posts ^^´

I will have more content and news in the future!