Lör K.'s Blog, page 2
May 5, 2017
The Forest (2016)
Rating: 6 / 10The Forest was one of the most talked about movies of 2016, due to a large amount of criticism of white washing. Before I start my review, I want to say that, I am a white male. I have Japanese friends. I asked them about this movie before I watched it and they said that the Japanese culture was respected well, and there was no need for a whitewashing call on this movie.This wasn't as good as I was expecting. The way it was hyped up throughout 2016 in reviews and talk of those who had seen the movie, I was expecting a solid 10/10 from opening credits to end credits. It wasn't that great. At all.First of all, don't get me wrong. I found it quite enjoyable to watch. I was creeped out quite a bit. Some of it really had me on edge. Some of it made me cackle at how bad it was. Let's be real - the tunnel creatures? The CGI on those was horrendous and I didn't even feel bad laughing as Sarah ran in terror.There are a lot of interesting theories surrounding this, and a lot of them make sense, but at the end of the day, without the knowledge of the different theories, the film doesn't make a lot of sense, especially at the end. I wasn't keen, I got very confused through a lot of it, and there could have been a LOT MORE done to ensure that it wasn't confusing. Things could have been cut out, other things could have been done better and it would have made the film a lot easier to follow.The ending? I'm sick of the last few seconds of cliché of a character jumping at the screen. That's one thing this movie did really, really badly - this film overused horror clichés to the point of it just being embarrassing.All in all though, it was quite scary, it had me on edge, and I found it to be quite unnerving, when it wasn't being embarrassing.
May 4, 2017
Pinstripe (2017) -- Gaming Review
I just finished watching Jacksepticeye [Seán McLoughlin] live stream this entire game from start to finish and wow. I’m amazed.
I didn’t know what to think of this game at first. I had no clue as to what it was about, and I hadn’t even heard of it before. I wasn’t going to sit and watch the screen, but when Seán mentioned that he had done some voice acting for the game, I knew I was in to watch the whole thing – or at least until his lines had come.
What I found was a beautifully designed, well thought out game.
First of all, let me talk about the graphics. The graphics are so, so well done. This game is utterly beautiful. The landscapes that have been created by Thomas Brush are absolutely breath taking. For sure, I wasn’t expecting anything like this at all from what seemed to be a small little game. There’s a Tim Burton feel to it, and I utterly love stuff like that.
The plot and story line were utterly spectacular. They’ve probably been done before, but you know what? It doesn’t matter. Pinstripe does it so beautifully, the plot devices might as well have been created solely for this game. There was no clear path as to where this was going – other than you have to save Bo – and then more and more things come into play and then everything sits on your lap and you just stare in shock because the whole plot came together without you even realising.
The puzzles and mini games in this don’t seem too confusing or too complex. Some of them seem to be quite annoying, actually. As Seán said; “am I playing Flappy Bird?”. These themselves, don’t seem to have had much thought put into them. However, my personal favourite is definitely the Find the Differences games that you have to do to unlock things. That’s brilliant! I’ve never come across anything like this in a game before, so hats off to Brush in creating such a unique aspect to a game.
The character designs were all beautiful. As I said before, the character designs also remind me of Tim Burton, and the main character reminds me quite a lot of Victor van Dort from Corpse Bride, thinking back on it. Bo’s design was utterly beautiful, she was absolutely adorable and her voice actor was spot on for her. There was so much about the characters I could go into detail about, but I’ll just do a quick little paragraph and say that – they all had utterly beautiful designs, they were all voiced spectacularly, and they were all brilliant in the game.
There’s nothing about this that I didn’t like at all. I want to get this game, I want to play this game twice over, and I want to discover every single secret that’s in this game. Honestly, I would recommend this game if you think it’s a game for you. I’m itching to buy it just watching a play through.
Thomas Brush has created an absolute work of art, and this should be celebrated. It’s definitely one of the games of 2017 for me.
I didn’t know what to think of this game at first. I had no clue as to what it was about, and I hadn’t even heard of it before. I wasn’t going to sit and watch the screen, but when Seán mentioned that he had done some voice acting for the game, I knew I was in to watch the whole thing – or at least until his lines had come.
What I found was a beautifully designed, well thought out game.
First of all, let me talk about the graphics. The graphics are so, so well done. This game is utterly beautiful. The landscapes that have been created by Thomas Brush are absolutely breath taking. For sure, I wasn’t expecting anything like this at all from what seemed to be a small little game. There’s a Tim Burton feel to it, and I utterly love stuff like that.
The plot and story line were utterly spectacular. They’ve probably been done before, but you know what? It doesn’t matter. Pinstripe does it so beautifully, the plot devices might as well have been created solely for this game. There was no clear path as to where this was going – other than you have to save Bo – and then more and more things come into play and then everything sits on your lap and you just stare in shock because the whole plot came together without you even realising.
The puzzles and mini games in this don’t seem too confusing or too complex. Some of them seem to be quite annoying, actually. As Seán said; “am I playing Flappy Bird?”. These themselves, don’t seem to have had much thought put into them. However, my personal favourite is definitely the Find the Differences games that you have to do to unlock things. That’s brilliant! I’ve never come across anything like this in a game before, so hats off to Brush in creating such a unique aspect to a game.
The character designs were all beautiful. As I said before, the character designs also remind me of Tim Burton, and the main character reminds me quite a lot of Victor van Dort from Corpse Bride, thinking back on it. Bo’s design was utterly beautiful, she was absolutely adorable and her voice actor was spot on for her. There was so much about the characters I could go into detail about, but I’ll just do a quick little paragraph and say that – they all had utterly beautiful designs, they were all voiced spectacularly, and they were all brilliant in the game.
There’s nothing about this that I didn’t like at all. I want to get this game, I want to play this game twice over, and I want to discover every single secret that’s in this game. Honestly, I would recommend this game if you think it’s a game for you. I’m itching to buy it just watching a play through.
Thomas Brush has created an absolute work of art, and this should be celebrated. It’s definitely one of the games of 2017 for me.
Chicago Justice - S01E01 - Fake (2016)
This episode is getting a 6.5 stars from me.Nine out of ten for the special effects; seven out of ten for the acting; six out of ten for the plot line and four out of ten for the ability to grip the viewer. (Nine plus seven plus six plus four = twenty-six. Twenty-six divide four = six and a half.)Maybe it was because I had really high hopes from what I've seen on the internet about this. I went into this with really high expectations and found myself utterly bored throughout the whole pilot episode. The aim of a pilot episode is to keep the viewer entertained and to want to watch more.I was heavily disappointed. I felt that this was quite rushed, and the plot line was jumping through the plot points without much thought to the story itself. I appreciate when there isn't a lot of things in filler or too much story line that takes away from the plot of each episode -- however -- there needs to be some form of plot for a whole series. There was nothing in this that made me want to watch the second episode.This is extremely clever, I admit it. I thought that Peter Stone was an extremely clever character. He thinks a lot through, he comes up with the points no one is expecting, but I think that Anna Valdez helps him with that. The problem is we haven't seen that. We haven't seen any connection between any of the characters so far, mere titbits of what we have been given.There's no way of knowing where this season is going and it makes me very nervous to continue it. All bets are off. There is nothing to even hint at what the second episode could be about.Overall, I'm not sure about this series, but it holds a good plot for the first episode, at least. From the little we've seen of the characters, they look like they're going to be good characters. The acting holds up really well, and the make up department have done wonders already. I have one or two hopes still for this show. I'll just have to watch the second episode and see what I think then.
May 3, 2017
Shutter (2008)
Rating: 4 / 10This was cheesy, for sure. I admire the traditional Japanese cultures and such within the movie but boy was this cheesy.Shutter has a good premise, and when it was released in 2008, it was probably considered heavily scary. Now, it's more of a heart pounded than a "I'm never gonna sleep for a while". The premise was a really good one, it's intrigued me for a few years, and maybe I amped it up too much for myself. I was really disappointed when watching this.The acting is well done. The setting is good, and the scares are set up quite well.. This one is suspenseful, and it made me sit on the edge of my seat. But it just seemed too much. The glare in a photo and then suddenly a spirit appears in them. It took a little too long to build up, and by the time the real horror started, I wasn't fully immersed, so it really didn't go down too well for me.The ending was a real twist, and I was as shocked as Jane was on screen. It was a really good twist and I cringed away really badly and was nibbling on my lip as much as was possible.The ending of the movie as a whole, I found it way too cringey. A flapping door, a window reflection - it all just seemed a bit too cliché.The acting was done really well, as I said before. Joshua Jackson and Rachael Taylor did brilliant jobs at acting in this, but the star of the film was definitely Megumi Okina. She plays our spirit and I definitely want to see her in more things, and I will be watching through her filmography for sure. She did amazingly and she did really creep me out and gave me goosebumps.It was a good horror movie, it had some really good aspects, but at the end of it all, it ended up a total cringe fest, which really put me off the movie. It's just a total rip off of the original Japanese movie, and that really aggravated me, in all honesty.
Patriot's Day (2016)
Rating: 10/10
This is a film for ages to come. Never before have I been so taken aback by a movie.On April 15, 2013 Boston, Massachusetts, Police Sgt, Tommy Saunders is pulling security duty on the annual Boston Marathon when the Tsarnaev brothers strike with their homemade bombs in an act of terrorism. In the resulting chaos as the wounded are cared for, Saunders and his comrades join forces with the FBI to get to the bottom of this attack. As the investigation continues, the Tsarnaev brothers realise that the authorities are close to identifying them and attempt to flee the city to continue their fanatical mayhem. To stop them, a police manhunt is performed that would have bloody confrontations and a massive dragnet shutting down the City of Boston to make sure there is no escape from the law.We all had our questions when this happened, and became a world wide piece of news. We were all staring at our television sets in shock, trying to figure out what had happened. Where those injured getting the correct care? Were the fatality numbers going up? Have they caught those that caused this terrorist attack yet?This film brings all of those questions we had into one piece of media. We follow the bombings, with real life footage of the bombs going off back in 2013. It shows us real life photos of the original bombers, and the accurate representation of what the FBI did to work with the police and do their investigation.This movie had me on the edge of my seat for nearly the whole two hours. There was such raw emotion in this, I found myself crying countless times. The work put into this, the acting, everything was absolutely amazing. I'm giving everyone a solid ten out of ten for the acting they did in this. It was absolutely spectacular. Never before have I seen a more emotional performance than the actors in this movie. I was warmed by the amount of love shown in this movie, and it warmed my heart even more to know that this was how the Americans actually reacted when the bombs went off. Truly, seeing how much love and care everyone held during these events really rekindled my hope for humanity. Mark Wahlberg put on the performance of a lifetime, I've never been more amazed by his acting. He deserved so many awards for this.This is an absolute work of art and this is one of those movies that really needs to be kept in the film archives for years. I will definitely be watching this numerous times this year. I would definitely recommend this to anyone and everyone.
This is a film for ages to come. Never before have I been so taken aback by a movie.On April 15, 2013 Boston, Massachusetts, Police Sgt, Tommy Saunders is pulling security duty on the annual Boston Marathon when the Tsarnaev brothers strike with their homemade bombs in an act of terrorism. In the resulting chaos as the wounded are cared for, Saunders and his comrades join forces with the FBI to get to the bottom of this attack. As the investigation continues, the Tsarnaev brothers realise that the authorities are close to identifying them and attempt to flee the city to continue their fanatical mayhem. To stop them, a police manhunt is performed that would have bloody confrontations and a massive dragnet shutting down the City of Boston to make sure there is no escape from the law.We all had our questions when this happened, and became a world wide piece of news. We were all staring at our television sets in shock, trying to figure out what had happened. Where those injured getting the correct care? Were the fatality numbers going up? Have they caught those that caused this terrorist attack yet?This film brings all of those questions we had into one piece of media. We follow the bombings, with real life footage of the bombs going off back in 2013. It shows us real life photos of the original bombers, and the accurate representation of what the FBI did to work with the police and do their investigation.This movie had me on the edge of my seat for nearly the whole two hours. There was such raw emotion in this, I found myself crying countless times. The work put into this, the acting, everything was absolutely amazing. I'm giving everyone a solid ten out of ten for the acting they did in this. It was absolutely spectacular. Never before have I seen a more emotional performance than the actors in this movie. I was warmed by the amount of love shown in this movie, and it warmed my heart even more to know that this was how the Americans actually reacted when the bombs went off. Truly, seeing how much love and care everyone held during these events really rekindled my hope for humanity. Mark Wahlberg put on the performance of a lifetime, I've never been more amazed by his acting. He deserved so many awards for this.This is an absolute work of art and this is one of those movies that really needs to be kept in the film archives for years. I will definitely be watching this numerous times this year. I would definitely recommend this to anyone and everyone.
March 31, 2017
Don't Breathe (2016)
When this was advertised for the cinema, it looked amazing. The trailers made the film look like the masterpiece horror of 2016, not to be missed at any cost. After all the amazing reviews I read for this, I just had to sit down and watch it. I love amazing horror movies, and this seemed like the one that was going to be the best for the last of 2016, and the start of 2017.This movie started off terribly slow. It didn't catch my attention at all, and I found my attention wandering and thinking about other horror movies I've been meaning to watch. Eventually, our main characters get to our veteran's house. There's still nothing to really drag you in at this point in time. It's not until about half an hour, forty minutes into the movie when you're really dragged in.We're thrown in straight away into a tense situation that makes the viewer shiver and get goosebumps. You end up rigid on the couch, trying not to make too much noise. You watch in fear as our main characters struggle through an almost Saw like situation, trying to break out of the veteran's house after breaking in.Then we have some weak fight scenes that again, made my mind wander, considering what movie to put on next.
Spoilers in the next paragraph
After this we have some very disturbing scenes in which he tries to artificially inseminate the female main character with things that are explained better within the movie than what I could do. I thought this would be a movie where disability =/= weakness, but it ended up with the disabled being totally psychotic and plain vile.
Spoilers over.
This movie doesn't end. It just continues on and on to the point where it's just overkill and no longer entertaining. The female character ends up becoming strong, finally, and it's welcome to see, but it was mostly a boring movie. I was glad when it was over, and I turned it off as quickly as I could. Give this film a miss; it was over hyped, treated it's disabled character terribly and also lacked decent characters. A definite failure of the horror genre.
Frozen (2010)
Frozen was released in 2010, and received great acclaim through horror movie reviews and critics to be one of the best horror movies of the year.Why is it always some of the worst horror movies of the year are meant to be the best ones?Frozen is entirely illogical.Number one: there are employees on ski sites that check the ski lifts at the end of every shift to ensure that the events in this movie do not happenNumber two: wolves are not native to anywhere in this area. The only logical explanation for wolves being in this area is that they are pets of someone who lives near the ski lodge - and the ski grounds would have to be in a 30 mile radius. This is highly unlikely.Number three: wolves do not kill randomly like are shown in this movie. They only attack if hungry, and wouldn't attack to kill the skiers unless they were in the wolf den - this would be because they are seen as intruders and must be removed from the den and territory. Going back to point two, the 30 mile radius I mentioned, is the territory a wolf pack keeps.Number four: the inaccuracy of the woman's skin disappearing from the metal after it's just been pulled off because it was frozen to it. Sorry, did it just come off in the wind?Number five: the film basically just being Parker's sobbing face on close up. This got boring very quickly. Director and editor should have come up with better crap.Number six: they're freezing up there and don't think to put gloves on, put their hands in their pockets or do their jackets up? This is meant to be a survival movie, no?The entire movie was just illogical and annoying.I enjoyed that acting which is why I gave it such a 'high' review but this was one of the worst films I have ever watched. Cross it off your to watch list and don't come near it. Trust me. Not worth the hour and a half it takes to watch.
47 Metres Deep (2016)
It took me a while to decide how to rate this movie. At first, I gave it a mere two stars out of ten because when it finished, I thought it was poor. After reflection, I decided to give this six stars.
I never heard of 47 Metres Deepbefore I came across it on IMDb after reviewing The Reef and decided to give it a chance. I’m a sucker for sharks and love them so anything in the shark attack subgenre is a must watch for me, no matter how much everyone says it sucks. This was rated pretty fairly at an average of six stars and so I decided to give it a go.
This starts off pretty boring. I didn’t really care for the backstory of why the sisters were in Mexico, but without the start, we wouldn’t have had the movie, I suppose. It starts off like your typical shitty cheap horror movie and it ruined the movie straight away for me. That’s one of the reasons why I dropped some stars. There was also some really guessable things that just seemed highly unrealistic and when they happened it was boring, which was a shame.
The other reason why I dropped stars, is because of the seeming ignorant knowledge of great white sharks in this movie. I understand they were chubbing the sea, but great white sharks aren’t pack animals, it’s unlikely that more than one would show up. I understand the ending of this, spoiler free, but there’s no explanation for the three sharks at the end.
Qualms aside with this movie, I thought it was really good. The tension used was really good, and it wasn’t a usual weak ass female survivor movie where they just sit around doing nothing. They actively tried and that seems to have gotten really rare in the shark attack subgenre. The cinematography was brilliant, especially at the start, however, I feel like this got overused a lot at the beginning, and that muted the affect later on in the movie. This was really well thought out, in all honesty. The ending section really had me shocked and I just stared at the screen before yelling at my partner. I just wish there’d been more action with the sharks. Shark attack movies with just mostly the survivors and only serious action at the end, I find rather weak. That’s the other reason I dropped some stars.
Other than all my qualms with this, I did actually really enjoy this. It’s well done and I think it deserves a bit more attention. Apparently, it’s set to be released again this year, so with any luck, it’ll get the attention it’s due.
I never heard of 47 Metres Deepbefore I came across it on IMDb after reviewing The Reef and decided to give it a chance. I’m a sucker for sharks and love them so anything in the shark attack subgenre is a must watch for me, no matter how much everyone says it sucks. This was rated pretty fairly at an average of six stars and so I decided to give it a go.
This starts off pretty boring. I didn’t really care for the backstory of why the sisters were in Mexico, but without the start, we wouldn’t have had the movie, I suppose. It starts off like your typical shitty cheap horror movie and it ruined the movie straight away for me. That’s one of the reasons why I dropped some stars. There was also some really guessable things that just seemed highly unrealistic and when they happened it was boring, which was a shame.
The other reason why I dropped stars, is because of the seeming ignorant knowledge of great white sharks in this movie. I understand they were chubbing the sea, but great white sharks aren’t pack animals, it’s unlikely that more than one would show up. I understand the ending of this, spoiler free, but there’s no explanation for the three sharks at the end.
Qualms aside with this movie, I thought it was really good. The tension used was really good, and it wasn’t a usual weak ass female survivor movie where they just sit around doing nothing. They actively tried and that seems to have gotten really rare in the shark attack subgenre. The cinematography was brilliant, especially at the start, however, I feel like this got overused a lot at the beginning, and that muted the affect later on in the movie. This was really well thought out, in all honesty. The ending section really had me shocked and I just stared at the screen before yelling at my partner. I just wish there’d been more action with the sharks. Shark attack movies with just mostly the survivors and only serious action at the end, I find rather weak. That’s the other reason I dropped some stars.
Other than all my qualms with this, I did actually really enjoy this. It’s well done and I think it deserves a bit more attention. Apparently, it’s set to be released again this year, so with any luck, it’ll get the attention it’s due.
The Reef (2010)
The Reef was supposedly one of the best horror movies of 2010. I was 12, and I wasn't allowed to watch it when it came out because all the reviews said it was horrifying and one of the best shark attack movies out there. I waited for years to watch this and finally watched it a few years ago.How bad this is still haunts me whenever I want to watch a shark attack movie. "What if it's as bad as The Reef?" flashes through my head whenever I settle down to watch a new movie in the genre.I don't understand how this has so many positive reviews and such a high rating. It was absolute trash.First of all, getting stranded in the middle of nowhere? Stereotypical trope that wasn't done great in any form of the word. And after saying this, the part where he goes into the sunken boat to get supplies is probably the tensest part of the entire movie.Then we have the survival. And the main characters just being absolutely ridiculous and doing nothing that would keep them alive. Going out of the group to grab a float that you DON'T need because it MIGHT make things a little better for you whilst you swim for safety. Why would anyone in their right mind do that instead of, hey I don't need this let's just keep swimming to safety.The shark 'attacks' themselves aren't even remotely realistic. Sharks don't act like that unless provoked and there only chance that the shark would be hunting down these humans to eat is if it had eaten humans before. Shark 'attacks' are actually very unlikely and mostly happen because a surfer is mistaken for a seal. There was obviously no research done into sharks - the only fact they got right was that great white sharks hunt alone.And oh the mistakes. There are two times here different characters injure themselves and then just scenes later, the injuries are gone. It's not even discreet. Who watched this through for consistency? If there was anyone, they definitely shouldn't get a job for this again. It was horrendous and was a sore thumb that really annoyed me and made the movie even less realistic than it already was. The acting itself was absolutely poor and it was so unbelievable that these people were being hunted by a shark. Their horror just seemed fake.Seriously, don't watch this movie. Skip it, cross it off your horror movie to watch list. If you want a decent shark attack movie, watch The Shallows, or Jaws. Don't waste an hour and a half of your life on this movie.
March 30, 2017
Hush (2016)
Turn the lights off, shut your curtains and stay Hush
I’ve seen a lot of talk about this film about how it handled the deaf aspect of the character of Maddie. As a partially deaf horror movie fan, I decided that I had to watch this and make a decision for myself and hopefully, perhaps shine some light on the aspect itself.
This film delicately handles Maddie’s deafness and has done an excellent portrayal of a deaf person. I found this to be extremely gripping and I’ve found myself in a mildly similar situation; it’s almost completely dead on. The way she has been portrayed is not offensive in anyway, and is one of the closest portrayals I have seen to being deaf by a non deaf actress.
Our main character is deaf, and can’t hear a thing. When she was 13, she contracted a disease that took away her hearing and also her speech. Alone one night at her secluded house buried in the woods, she’s clearing up the burned dishes of her failure of cooking, when a sociopath arrives outside her house.
What follows is a tense hour and twenty minutes of a twisted, sociopathic game of cat and mouse. We see Maddie adapt as a character and see her develop into a survivor, someone who must stay alive for as long as humanely possible until help arrives.
I have never seen such a strong female character in a horror film before. Maddie was absolutely amazing and someone I aspire to be if I ever find myself in such a horrifying situation. She is the epitome of disability does not equal weakness. Kate Siegel did an amazingportrayal of Maddie, and I am personally honoured to have her represent the deaf community in a film such as this.
I didn’t expect for this to be as good as it was. I was expecting a cheap thriller (this only had a budget of around $1 million) that did nothing for the viewers. I was not expecting to get goosebumps, and to get paranoid about going near the windows of my house, expecting a sociopath to be stood outside, wearing a mask.
The gore in this was actually believable in a horror film. It was scientifically accurate, and it wasn’t grossly over exaggerated for the shock horror gore aspect, which is always the sign of a good horror film. So much thought went into this beautiful film and it shows, it really does show.
This is an amazing movie and deserves so much more hype and views. This was absolutely stunning. A definite 10 out of 10 movie for me.
I’ve seen a lot of talk about this film about how it handled the deaf aspect of the character of Maddie. As a partially deaf horror movie fan, I decided that I had to watch this and make a decision for myself and hopefully, perhaps shine some light on the aspect itself.
This film delicately handles Maddie’s deafness and has done an excellent portrayal of a deaf person. I found this to be extremely gripping and I’ve found myself in a mildly similar situation; it’s almost completely dead on. The way she has been portrayed is not offensive in anyway, and is one of the closest portrayals I have seen to being deaf by a non deaf actress.
Our main character is deaf, and can’t hear a thing. When she was 13, she contracted a disease that took away her hearing and also her speech. Alone one night at her secluded house buried in the woods, she’s clearing up the burned dishes of her failure of cooking, when a sociopath arrives outside her house.
What follows is a tense hour and twenty minutes of a twisted, sociopathic game of cat and mouse. We see Maddie adapt as a character and see her develop into a survivor, someone who must stay alive for as long as humanely possible until help arrives.
I have never seen such a strong female character in a horror film before. Maddie was absolutely amazing and someone I aspire to be if I ever find myself in such a horrifying situation. She is the epitome of disability does not equal weakness. Kate Siegel did an amazingportrayal of Maddie, and I am personally honoured to have her represent the deaf community in a film such as this.
I didn’t expect for this to be as good as it was. I was expecting a cheap thriller (this only had a budget of around $1 million) that did nothing for the viewers. I was not expecting to get goosebumps, and to get paranoid about going near the windows of my house, expecting a sociopath to be stood outside, wearing a mask.
The gore in this was actually believable in a horror film. It was scientifically accurate, and it wasn’t grossly over exaggerated for the shock horror gore aspect, which is always the sign of a good horror film. So much thought went into this beautiful film and it shows, it really does show.
This is an amazing movie and deserves so much more hype and views. This was absolutely stunning. A definite 10 out of 10 movie for me.
