Anime movie review: Princess Mononoke

Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli have created an epic and thematic adventure brimming with exciting action and dazzling visuals. Set aside some time to discover the impressive set of characters and story of this highly acclaimed and beloved movie.

Princess Mononoke is an epic fantasy adventure set in the Muromachi period (around the 15th or 16th century) in Japan. The movie opens with a small village being attacked by an  angry demon whose body is enveloped in a mass of dark slithering entities. The prince of the village, Ashitaka – our hero –  kills the demon in order to save his village, but is injured and cursed by the demon.

The demon turns out to be a boar god, consumed and twisted by hatred originating from an iron ball found inside his body. Ashitaka now sets off to find a means to lift his curse and discover where the iron ball came from.

He comes across a human settlement, Iron Town, and their conflicts with the nearby great forest and the animals, spirits and gods inhabiting it.

Series review: Hannibal season 1

Take a seat, turn off the lights and enjoy the dark stories and graphic imagery of murder, cannibalism and psychological torment in the fantastic new TV series featuring Hannibal "the cannibal" Lecter.

We once again get to see our favorite psychopath Dr. Hannibal Lecter in a TV series taking place prior to the events of Red dragon. The story revolves around exploring the relationship between Hannibal and Will Graham, an FBI profiler who suffers from his ability to empathize with serial killers.

Hannibal is the darkest TV series I have ever seen - in just about every sense of the word. It is violent, graphic, psychologically ominous, with both a visual and auditory presence that amplifies the content and general atmosphere of the show.
This is one of Hannibal's greatest aspects. Because while it's almost never downright scary, it has an unpleasant ambiance to it.
Another great aspect is one of the main focuses of the entire story - the relationship between Will Graham and Hannibal Lecter, and the characters themselves, played by Mads Mikkelsen and Hugh Dancy.

Book review: Inferno

Dan Brown, author of the mega-hit The Da Vinci Code and several other thrilling mystery novels returns with  a book closer to a tour guide than a suspense novel.

We return to follow the Harvard professor of religious iconography and symbology Robert Langdon as he wakes up in a hospital bed with a gun-shot wound to the head and no recollection whatsoever of the past two days, only to instantly be chased together with his new sidekick, Dr. Sienna Brooks, at gun point by a strange woman. He is now once again thrown into a life-and-death treasure hunt concerning famous historical locations, artifacts and pieces of fine art.

This premise basically screams "rip-off!", not only because amnesia is one of the most overused set-ups for mystery solving, but because it is otherwise an exact replica of the other three novels starring Langdon - Angels & Demons, The Da Vinci Code, and The Lost Symbol. And make no mistake about it, this is by far the worst one. So if you didn't enjoy any of the previous stories, run. Run as fast as you can.

Movie review: Hope Springs

Kay (Meryl Streep) drags Arnold (Tommy Lee Jones) to an intensive week-long couples counseling to rediscover their spark after 31 years of marriage.

I am not the intended demographic for Hope Springs. Far from it. This movie is meant for romantic couples - the older the better. If you are planning to watch it, make sure you do so with your partner. And I urge you NOT to watch it with a family member seeing how there are some "funny" awkward and uncomfortable scenes when Kay and Arnold tries to learn how to touch each other once again, or seeing Kay masturbate under the covers.

Movie review: Star Trek: Into Darkness

The crew of the enterprise goes from exploration for the federation to assassination at a dangerous location outside of regulation with dark motivation.

We start off Star Trek: Into Darkness at a classic style Enterprise mission on an alien planet where Kirk (Chris Pine) breaks rules and Spock (Zachary Quinto) cites regulation - doing their regular dance.
That's as far as the regular plot style of the original series goes. Beyond this the story ventures into a much more military based plot as they set off for the renegade Star Fleet agent, John Harrison who has been behind attacks against Star Fleet.

Movie review: Oz: The Great And Powerful

Welcome back to the wondrously and imaginative magical land of Oz, before the time when Dorothy wandered along the yellow brick road and things were a bit ...less wondrous and imaginative.

A poster depicting the incredibly beautiful scenery of Oz: The Great And Powerful

The movie begins in black and white and in the old 4:3 format as we see Oscar "Oz" Diggs (played by James Franco) in the time before he ventured to the land of Oz.
Here he is a womanizing con-man and a magician who has his own magic show on a traveling circus, bossing around his underling, Frank (played by Zach Braff), and dreams of becoming more than a good man - a great man. He is so intent on becoming one that he even gives up the woman he loves, Annie (played by Michelle Williams), for his goal.
However, as a result of his debauchery, he is forced to flee in a hot air balloon from one the men whose wife/girlfriend he has romanced. Once up in the air, he's caught in a tornado where he pleads to be saved and swears he will become a great man if he survives.

He is then transported to the magical land of Oz.

Game review: Borderlands 2

Make yourself comfortable as you once again take stride as a vault hunter on the planet Pandora, where you will kill, loot, purchase and sell, loot, chase and be chased by Handsome Jack and his minions, loot, and blow shit up! …and loot. Oh, and did I mention loot. LOOT!

Yes, Borderlands is back, in its entire looting and gun-crazy splendor! It's been 5 years since the end of the last game and in that time, a certain joke-cracking villain (who constantly refer himself as the hero) by the name Handsome Jack has appeared. He became super-duper rich by mining the strange mineral known as eridium that poured out of the planet when the vault opened at the end of the previous game. He has then used that fortune to make himself head of the Hyperion corporation and has been up to all kinds villainy and whatnot.

The game opens with an intro video introducing the four playable character types: Gunzerker, Commando, Siren, and Assassin chasing Jack, and gets blown up in the process. As you start playing, the hilariously irritating little robot Cl4p Trap finds you in the snow and “helps” you out in the beginning.

From there on out it’s a never ending barrage of killing and looting as you try to find and stop Handsome Jack.

New stuff

I am definitely going to write some new stuff soon - after months and months of leaving it alone. The reason I've been gone is because I've been busy with work and friends... and because I'm lazy as hell :P

I do however fear that the upcoming reviews (wich may include such titles as Borderlands 2, Oz: The Great And Powerful, Princess Mononoke (rewatch), and Lost Odyssey)

Movie review: Se7en (rewatch)

Two detectives, a rookie and a veteran, hunt a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sins as his modus operandi.

Anime review: Natsume Yuujinchou Shi

The fourth season of Natsume Yuujinchou is here. But is it as good as it's predecessors? The answer is "I guess..."

Natsume Takashi has the ability to see spirits, which he has long kept secret. However, once he inherits a strange book that belonged to his deceased grandmother, Reiko, he discovers the reason why spirits surround him. Containing the names of these spirits, a binding contract was formed between the spirits and the owner of the book. Now, Natsume is determined to free the spirits and dissolve the contracts. With the help of a spirit cat - Madara/Nyanko-sensei, his days are filled trying to return the names to these spirits. 

- Source: Anime News Network

Just started (sort of): Dragon Age II

I didn't really like Dragon Age: Origins - And yet I've started playing the sequel. Bad move.

Ok, technically I haven't "just started" playing Dragon Age II. In fact, I'm pretty sure I'm over the halfway point. But I figured that I should at least make a post saying that I am in fact playing it. A big reason as to why I want to state that I'm playing it is because it has been eating up a whole lot of my time. Time better spent elsewhere to be honest. Mainly because I have so damn much I SHOULD do. Like watching anime, writing reviews, studying for my C# class, continue studying C++ or for the CCENT, or looking for actual work.

But no, instead of doing any those actually important and useful things I'm playing this mediocre RPG. So why do I do it even though I think it's mediocre? Because one thing it has gotten right is the addictive aspect. It's easy to think "I can play a little while longer" every time I beat a group of enemies or finish a quest - even if I didn't really enjoy doing those things. This is what I like to call "braindead gaming".

However, I'm not sure wether it's better or worse than Dragon Age: Origins yet.

Game review: Bayonetta (Xbox 360)

Killing angels have never felt - and looked so good!

Bayonetta is a third person shooter centering around a sexy four-gun wielding witch named Bayonetta who spends her days killing all kinds of angels in the most stylish manners.

What did I expect from Bayonetta before I began playing it?

I had heard that the game's pace was very fast, the visuals were cool and the heroine - Bayonetta herself was smokin' hot. That's about it.

Did it deliver on these aspects? Hell yeah it did! That and more!

One thing I hadn't heard about it that I love is the immensely entertaining "combo fighting style" the game uses, which I consider to be a mix of a fighting game and a hack n' slash. Or maybe most hack n' slash - like God of War and Devil May Cry - are like this. I haven't played many games in this genre. But if they're like Bayonetta, then consider me a future fan of those two franchises :)

Dishonored live preview

I'm watching a live streaming preview of the first-person stealth assassin game Dishonored at gamespot.com.

I have read a few articles about Dishonored in LEVEL (a Swedish gaming magazine), and from those articles, it seemed like a pretty badass game. My impression of it has only strengthened from watching bits of this preview. Generally I'm not too fond of sneaking games. I did somewhat enjoy Deus Ex: Human Revolutions - which I stealthed myself through. But besides that one... nah.
Dishonored however looks really fun, intense and challenging. I am definitely going to play this (although it's gonna be a while until I do that because of othergames I still haven't played) when I get the chance.

Just started: Bayonetta

I recently started playing Bayonetta - the game where you're a witch (who is a total babe) that hunt angels and demons. 

What I had heard about it before I started playing it was that it was a very high-paced and stylistic action game. That description is completely spot on! The story and characters may not be anything to cheer for. But the game oozes style from every part of it's being. And the speedy arcade style battles are furiously entertaining and addictive. Despite that I've only played through four chapters so far, my need to improve my own score and increase my halos (the game's currency) has gotten me to re-play those chapters several times.

I just hope that I won't get sick of this game before it ends. But right now I absolutely love this game!

Anime review: Ben-To

While innocently reaching for some half priced bento, You Satou finds himself beaten up on the floor of a supermarket. He soon learns that getting half-priced bento is an all-out brawl between customers. Satou is invited to the Half-Priced Food Lovers Club by one of the top fighters, Sen Yarizui (a.k.a. The Ice Witch), in order to train to compete in these battles.

Movie review: Looper

In 2072, when the mob wants to get rid of someone, the target is sent 30 years into the past, where a hired gun awaits. Someone like Joe. But Joe makes the biggest of mistakes when his older self gets sent back and manages to escape.

I went into Looper with extremely high hopes. I'm not fully sure where these expectations came from, but ever since I've heard about this movie, I've wanted to see it. And the more I noticed people and critics praising, the more I wanted to see it. I was so eager to see it I nearly wet myself. So it's no surprise why I came out of the theater a tad let down.

That's not to say that it was a bad movie. Not at all. In fact, it was a good sci-fi sction thriller. It had suspense, action, good characters, human drama, and even some comedy, and it didn't get tied up in the whole time travelling aspect.

Review: Invisible Worlds

Invisible Worlds is a BBC documentary mini series about things in our world that or eyes don't have the capacity to see. Too fast movements, infrared light, microscopic activities are some subjects these three episodes discuss.

The actual title (on IMDB at least) is "Richard Hammond's Invisible Worlds". Richard Hammond is the narrator/presenter of the three episodes. And that's all he has to do with this series. Which is why I don't want to classify this series by that name. If he had been the main producer and/or the director, THEN I might have felt comfortable calling the series by that name.

Anyway, on to the actual documentary.

First things first; I loved this documentary. I loved it because it's gorgeous (duh, it's BBC), informative, interesting, cool, and really entertaining. I never felt bored while watching this. In fact, I was glued to the screen from the very first minute to the very last. I saw with some friends and we marveled at some incredible sequences and laughed because of some other ones.

Just Started: Ben-To

CHAAAAAARGE!!!

Ben-to: One day a poor freshman high school student named Satou You discovers a bento (boxed meal) on sale at half price at the local supermarket. Only to find out about the extreme fighting that breaks out over those half-priced bentos.

Expectations: Many annoyingly clichéd moments and stereotypical characters, but still filled with funny and silly stuff (hopefully at least).

First ep: Turned out to be somewhat better than that. No annoying clichéd moments, characters aren't very entertaining though, everything is silly - but not portrayed silly enough, and the humor wasn't 'lol' funny - just 'chuckle' funny.

Seems decent enough, with room for improvement.

Anime review: Another

In the spring of 1998, a 15 year old boy named Sakakibara Kouichi transfers to the countryside town Yamiyama. He soon grows suspicious of the fearful atmosphere surrounding his classroom - class 3. In particular, there is a strange girl named Misaki Mei who wears an eyepatch and is always alone drawing pictures.

Another is in many aspects a classic horror tale.The music, the setting, the mysterious and secretive inhabitants, and death. These aspects are nothing new, but used right it can result in an effective scary story.
Surprisingly, the end result turned out quite well.

The first half of the series was honestly very creepy. Now, while it wasn't actually downright scary, it is still among the scariest anime I've seen. And that is ...kinda sad actually when you think about it.

However, it's not just some creepy and gory scenes spread out over 12 episodes. There's also a mystery, a couple of romantic moments and some decent character development.

...But it's mainly creepy and gory scenes.

Just started: Another

It began with a very classic horror story vibe. Dark visuals, slow piano background music, a strange young girl, a new person in small town in the country side where the inhabitants all act secretive, and there seems to have been a horrible murder there years ago.
None of these aspects are anything new, but if they're handled right, the end result could be very good. However, horror stories usually end disappointingly, and this anime somehow seems like it's gonna fall into some "harem pitfalls". It just has that kind of appearance.

So, I'm hopeful, yet hesitant.