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The Book That Matters Most
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An enthralling novel about love, loss, secrets, friendship, and the healing power of literature, by...
Otakugal (92 KP) rated Pokémon Brilliant Diamond in Video Games
Mar 21, 2022
Underground system (2 more)
Nostalgic feel
Contests
No more grinding (1 more)
Game exclusives
Brilliant Diamond is a remake of Diamond. Remakes aren’t always the best. However for Brilliant Diamond, I believe is was better than the orginal. I enjoyed spending hours in the underground catching Pokémon that I was struggling to get. I did find it annoying to have to trade with others for the game exclusives though.
I spent over 100 hours to beat the story in this game. I enjoyed trying to find the perfect team but I can say I hated how easy it was to level up Pokémon. Yes it’s nice to catch things in the underground once you hit like the third or forth city and spent more hours than I can count down there hunting and catching but it made the game a lot easier as you progressed. It seems to be the latest thing they are doing, to make the game easier. And while that is fine and dandy I miss having to grind the level of my Pokémon team.
I spent over 100 hours to beat the story in this game. I enjoyed trying to find the perfect team but I can say I hated how easy it was to level up Pokémon. Yes it’s nice to catch things in the underground once you hit like the third or forth city and spent more hours than I can count down there hunting and catching but it made the game a lot easier as you progressed. It seems to be the latest thing they are doing, to make the game easier. And while that is fine and dandy I miss having to grind the level of my Pokémon team.
Neon's Nerd Nexus (360 KP) rated The Lion King (2019) in Movies
Jul 19, 2019 (Updated Jul 19, 2019)
If this is where the monarchy is headed Count me out!
Lion king 2019 is by far the worst of the Disney live action remakes & while newcomers/children will certainly love it many of the people that hold the original close to their hearts will leave wishing they had just stayed home with the far superior predecessor instead. Aladdin & The Lion King are two of the greatest animated feature films of all time & as I experienced them both in cinema on release they are very special to me. Now i loved the Aladdin remake & im not one for comparing these to the animated features but while I was watching this all i could think about was how much better the original is. While it looks absolutely gorgeous (until anything starts to move) the animation at times is so unnatural especially when animals are walking slowly that its constantly distracting & kills the illusion of these creatures being real. Voice work is bland/mediocre & delivered with almost no enthusiasm at all like the cast were more concerned with sounding different to the original than giving the characters charm & personality. Voices also dont feel connected to the characters like your watching a nature documentary thats been dubbed over. While Aladdin did its own thing & changed up the movie Lion King is practically & infuriatingly a scene for scene remake which would be ok if it had the charm, colour, grand scale, imagination, excitement, thrill, humour & emotional impact of the original but it doesnt. Songs are butchered/dull with seemingly no energy or spectacle to them at all feeling significantly toned down/grounded rather than fun & toe tapping (they have also ruined 'Be Prepared'). So whats new? theres new humour & yup you guessed it its really bad with awkward timing & dragged out jokes that just fall flat. I wanted so bad to love this movie but not even a scense of nostalgia kicked in either because the film is just soulless, unenthusiastic, boring, bland, lacking in excitement & magic. Kids will no doubt love it but for me its this years biggest let down. If it were a silent film with an epic score over the top it might of at least been unique/watchable & helped be bearable but as it is I just cant recomend seeing it. A big fat cash grab.
LeftSideCut (3776 KP) rated The Lion King (2019) in Movies
Jul 24, 2019 (Updated Dec 15, 2019)
An amazing looking film that unfortunately lacks soul.
I, like many people, consider The Lion King to be one of finest Disney animations of all time. For me, it ranks alongside Mulan as a favourite, and I immediately fell in love with the characters when it was released in 1994. (I was 5 at the time!)
All these years later, and it still stands as a bonafide classic.
And here we are now, in 2019, and this adaption of The Lion King is the latest in an ever growing line of Disney animations to get the realistic remake treatment.
It aims straight for the nostalgic jugular (and is painfully see through), even if the CGI is pretty damn impressive.
However, impressive CGI means nothing if everything surrounding is empty. It's quite simply missing the heart and soul of the original animation.
In a similar fashion to the recent Jungle Book remake, it's no easy task to convey emotion on these characters when they are photo realistic animals, and the film really suffers as a result.
I feel like that casting was a big contributor as well. A lot of the voice cast are quite simply doing voice over work, and it's painfully obvious is some scenes that the actors were not next to each other whilst performing. The dialogue flows unnaturally on several occasions.
The songs are...ok I guess. Again, they lack a lot of of the heart that made them so enjoyable the first time around.
In particular, "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" is just awful, listening to Beyonce try to out-Beyonce herself, warbling and riffing unessecarily on a pretty straightforward ballad.
Her involvement had me eye rolling actually. As soon as Hakuna Matata is over and Simba is older, it sort of turned into the Beyonce show - I have absolutely nothing against her, I just thought her involvement with The Lion King was a bit overdone and on the nose.
I'm not sure what I really expected but I feel suitably silly for thinking that this was going to be anything more than a blatant cash grab.
The Lion King offers up nothing new, and the argument of "it's bringing the story to a whole new generation" is rendered mute by just watching the easily accessible and miles better original.
All these years later, and it still stands as a bonafide classic.
And here we are now, in 2019, and this adaption of The Lion King is the latest in an ever growing line of Disney animations to get the realistic remake treatment.
It aims straight for the nostalgic jugular (and is painfully see through), even if the CGI is pretty damn impressive.
However, impressive CGI means nothing if everything surrounding is empty. It's quite simply missing the heart and soul of the original animation.
In a similar fashion to the recent Jungle Book remake, it's no easy task to convey emotion on these characters when they are photo realistic animals, and the film really suffers as a result.
I feel like that casting was a big contributor as well. A lot of the voice cast are quite simply doing voice over work, and it's painfully obvious is some scenes that the actors were not next to each other whilst performing. The dialogue flows unnaturally on several occasions.
The songs are...ok I guess. Again, they lack a lot of of the heart that made them so enjoyable the first time around.
In particular, "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" is just awful, listening to Beyonce try to out-Beyonce herself, warbling and riffing unessecarily on a pretty straightforward ballad.
Her involvement had me eye rolling actually. As soon as Hakuna Matata is over and Simba is older, it sort of turned into the Beyonce show - I have absolutely nothing against her, I just thought her involvement with The Lion King was a bit overdone and on the nose.
I'm not sure what I really expected but I feel suitably silly for thinking that this was going to be anything more than a blatant cash grab.
The Lion King offers up nothing new, and the argument of "it's bringing the story to a whole new generation" is rendered mute by just watching the easily accessible and miles better original.
Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated The Fly (1986) in Movies
Sep 10, 2020
Buzz Buzz
The Fly is a excellent remake of the 1958 version. Cronenberg does it again. All of his 80's films are excellent. I mean the gore, the violence, the horror, the suspense, the thrills, the sci-fi, the visuals, the terror and the acting.
The Plot: When scientist Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum) completes his teleportation device, he decides to test its abilities on himself. Unbeknownst to him, a housefly slips in during the process, leading to a merger of man and insect. Initially, Brundle appears to have undergone a successful teleportation, but the fly's cells begin to take over his body. As he becomes increasingly fly-like, Brundle's girlfriend (Geena Davis) is horrified as the person she once loved deteriorates into a monster.
The Fly was critically acclaimed, with most praise going to Goldblum's performance and the special effects. Despite being a gory remake of a classic made by a controversial, non-mainstream director, the film was a commercial success, the biggest of Cronenberg's career, and was the top-grossing film in the United States for two weeks, earning a total domestic gross of $40,456,565.
Film critic Gene Siskel named The Fly as the tenth best film of 1986. In 1989, Premiere and American Film magazines both conducted independent polls of American film critics, directors and other such groups to determine the best films of the 1980s, and The Fly appeared on both lists.
In 2008, the American Film Institute distributed ballots to 1,500 directors, critics and other people associated with the film industry in order to determine the top ten American films in ten different genre categories. Cronenberg's version of The Fly was nominated under the science fiction category, although it did not make the top ten. It was also nominated for AFI's 100 Years... 100 Thrills and AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions and Veronica's warning to Tawny in the film—"Be afraid. Be very afraid."—was nominated for AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes.
The quote "Be afraid. Be very afraid." was also used as the film's marketing tagline, and became so ingrained in popular culture (as it—and variants—have appeared in countless films and TV series) that a large number of people who are familiar with the phrase are unaware that it originated in The Fly.
Its a excellent movie.
The Plot: When scientist Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum) completes his teleportation device, he decides to test its abilities on himself. Unbeknownst to him, a housefly slips in during the process, leading to a merger of man and insect. Initially, Brundle appears to have undergone a successful teleportation, but the fly's cells begin to take over his body. As he becomes increasingly fly-like, Brundle's girlfriend (Geena Davis) is horrified as the person she once loved deteriorates into a monster.
The Fly was critically acclaimed, with most praise going to Goldblum's performance and the special effects. Despite being a gory remake of a classic made by a controversial, non-mainstream director, the film was a commercial success, the biggest of Cronenberg's career, and was the top-grossing film in the United States for two weeks, earning a total domestic gross of $40,456,565.
Film critic Gene Siskel named The Fly as the tenth best film of 1986. In 1989, Premiere and American Film magazines both conducted independent polls of American film critics, directors and other such groups to determine the best films of the 1980s, and The Fly appeared on both lists.
In 2008, the American Film Institute distributed ballots to 1,500 directors, critics and other people associated with the film industry in order to determine the top ten American films in ten different genre categories. Cronenberg's version of The Fly was nominated under the science fiction category, although it did not make the top ten. It was also nominated for AFI's 100 Years... 100 Thrills and AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions and Veronica's warning to Tawny in the film—"Be afraid. Be very afraid."—was nominated for AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes.
The quote "Be afraid. Be very afraid." was also used as the film's marketing tagline, and became so ingrained in popular culture (as it—and variants—have appeared in countless films and TV series) that a large number of people who are familiar with the phrase are unaware that it originated in The Fly.
Its a excellent movie.
Neon's Nerd Nexus (360 KP) rated Mulan (2020) in Movies
Sep 10, 2020
No honour
GUEST REVIEW BY THE BEAUTIFUL @fandomfanatichere - PLEASE GO CHECK OUT HER PAGE ON INSTAGRAM TO SEE MORE OF WHAT SHE DOES.
The new Mulan lacks the Disney magic of the other live actions, I found it tiresome, frustrating and the acting very lacking in some parts. The action was reminiscent of a martial arts film, which in itself would be enjoyable, but when you pair it with being a Mulan remake just forms really disappointing and cheesy action scenes. I was also sad to discover that after all of the backlash the film had been getting about its lead actress - Liu Yifei, her acting felt a little wooden. We have an additional character - a witch, whom personally I think brings absolutely nothing to the plot of the film other than irritating camera angels when she attempts to exert her power. One moment she is a strong ominous character and the next she is overthrown in the blink of an eye. We also had the addition of a CGI phoenix, rife with symbolism, a beautiful creature flying around in moments of hope and power, but the whole time I was thinking we have this, and no Mushu?! Our actress was also very unconvincing as a boy, so their surprise upon learning she was in fact a woman, felt very forced. I was, however, delighted to hear instrumental versions of 2 original songs in the background, and some paraphrased lines from the original Mulan subtly added in as Easter eggs for us uber fans of the animated film. The film itself, visually was stunning, sweeping landscape shots, interesting costume design and beautiful colours encapsulated the seductive aesthetics of China. I was also happy to see that whilst we still had hints of romance, it did not take over the plot or cause Mulan to fight for just one man, I still felt she was fighting for her family, her honour, and her right to be a strong woman. Now I feel I have slated the film a lot, but bare in mind I am a HUGE orginal Mulan fan and overall I feel I would have enjoyed the watching experience had it been a general martial arts film set in China, but as it was a highly anticipated Mulan remake, that had been set back multiple times, I was sadly very disappointed.
The new Mulan lacks the Disney magic of the other live actions, I found it tiresome, frustrating and the acting very lacking in some parts. The action was reminiscent of a martial arts film, which in itself would be enjoyable, but when you pair it with being a Mulan remake just forms really disappointing and cheesy action scenes. I was also sad to discover that after all of the backlash the film had been getting about its lead actress - Liu Yifei, her acting felt a little wooden. We have an additional character - a witch, whom personally I think brings absolutely nothing to the plot of the film other than irritating camera angels when she attempts to exert her power. One moment she is a strong ominous character and the next she is overthrown in the blink of an eye. We also had the addition of a CGI phoenix, rife with symbolism, a beautiful creature flying around in moments of hope and power, but the whole time I was thinking we have this, and no Mushu?! Our actress was also very unconvincing as a boy, so their surprise upon learning she was in fact a woman, felt very forced. I was, however, delighted to hear instrumental versions of 2 original songs in the background, and some paraphrased lines from the original Mulan subtly added in as Easter eggs for us uber fans of the animated film. The film itself, visually was stunning, sweeping landscape shots, interesting costume design and beautiful colours encapsulated the seductive aesthetics of China. I was also happy to see that whilst we still had hints of romance, it did not take over the plot or cause Mulan to fight for just one man, I still felt she was fighting for her family, her honour, and her right to be a strong woman. Now I feel I have slated the film a lot, but bare in mind I am a HUGE orginal Mulan fan and overall I feel I would have enjoyed the watching experience had it been a general martial arts film set in China, but as it was a highly anticipated Mulan remake, that had been set back multiple times, I was sadly very disappointed.
Ryan Hill (152 KP) rated Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) in Movies
Jun 29, 2019
"We opened Pandora's box. And there's no closing it now."
With Godzilla (2014) Legendary Pictures was the first American studio to get it right. No idiotic US edits of the latest Japanese films. No remakes that went out of it's way to be anything but Godzilla. It was GODZILLA! Now from what I understand from an interview with Shinji Higuchi is that Legendary only has the rights to Godzilla until 2020. So what do you do in that case? Well since you only have time to make one more Godzilla film before Godzilla vs. Kong, you do the obvious; You remake Destroy All Monsters!
There is some Michael Bay level stupidity going on in some moments of this film, but I don't care. I loved it. Some of the great Toho Godzilla films have goofy science combined with forgettable human characters. This one isn't even close to being the greatest offender of this in the franchise. Besides, when it comes to Vera Farmiga and Kyle Chandler I'm going to care about their characters at least a little no matter how they're written.
The film makers really went out of their way with tons of references from Godzilla's history. They even find a way to do a subtle nod to the Shobijin which I didn't think they'd ever touch with a 10 foot pole. I don't want to spoil anything, but it's just things that are used in the film that aren't part of American pop culture like the character itself of Godzilla. There's a lot of shit that only people who have seen the original films will pick up on.
The score is great, but even greater is that they actually used Gozilla's theme which is god damn iconic and shockingly even Mothra's theme. How can you not love that? I dunno. Maybe I'm just a geek, but seeing Ghidorah, Mothra, Rodan and Godzilla in a big budget Hollywood movie just blows my mind. I loved it. It's basically the American remake of Destroy All Monsters. Don't bother telling me how dumb the movie is either. I fully realize how dumb it is.
There is some Michael Bay level stupidity going on in some moments of this film, but I don't care. I loved it. Some of the great Toho Godzilla films have goofy science combined with forgettable human characters. This one isn't even close to being the greatest offender of this in the franchise. Besides, when it comes to Vera Farmiga and Kyle Chandler I'm going to care about their characters at least a little no matter how they're written.
The film makers really went out of their way with tons of references from Godzilla's history. They even find a way to do a subtle nod to the Shobijin which I didn't think they'd ever touch with a 10 foot pole. I don't want to spoil anything, but it's just things that are used in the film that aren't part of American pop culture like the character itself of Godzilla. There's a lot of shit that only people who have seen the original films will pick up on.
The score is great, but even greater is that they actually used Gozilla's theme which is god damn iconic and shockingly even Mothra's theme. How can you not love that? I dunno. Maybe I'm just a geek, but seeing Ghidorah, Mothra, Rodan and Godzilla in a big budget Hollywood movie just blows my mind. I loved it. It's basically the American remake of Destroy All Monsters. Don't bother telling me how dumb the movie is either. I fully realize how dumb it is.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Queen Kong (1976) in Movies
Feb 8, 2019
Low-budget cash-in spoof of de Laurentiis's King Kong remake; there's a lot of uneven comedy and some dreadful monster suits, so you can see why Dino felt impinged upon. Tough female film-maker (Lenska) despairs of finding a man with the guts to star in her new movie; she kidnaps petty thief Ray Fay (Asquith) and takes him off to a remote African country with a large gorilla population (only one gorilla, but it is very large). You can probably guess the rest.
You turn up to a film like Queen Kong with subterraneanly low expectations, but there are actually some not-bad jokes here, along with other bits which are so weird they are actually entertaining (title song includes the lyric 'When I'm feeling kinda spunky I want to do it with my funky monkey', which I didn't anticipate). There's also a rather peculiar feminist subtext and it's not entirely clear whether the movie is taking the mick out of Woman's Lib or if it's sincerely intended. A definite oddity; the production is primitive, but it has just enough ideas to be interesting.
You turn up to a film like Queen Kong with subterraneanly low expectations, but there are actually some not-bad jokes here, along with other bits which are so weird they are actually entertaining (title song includes the lyric 'When I'm feeling kinda spunky I want to do it with my funky monkey', which I didn't anticipate). There's also a rather peculiar feminist subtext and it's not entirely clear whether the movie is taking the mick out of Woman's Lib or if it's sincerely intended. A definite oddity; the production is primitive, but it has just enough ideas to be interesting.
Erika (17789 KP) rated Cold Pursuit (2019) in Movies
Feb 23, 2019
I am so torn on how to review/rate this film. This film is a remake of a Norwegian film, and the setting is moved to Colorado. The director of this film is also Norwegian, and it is apparent that this is the case from the beautiful shots of scenery.
Basically, Liam Neeson's character is taking out a drug network after they OD his son. It is amusing when he's committing the crimes, which is a very weird thing to say.
I don't know if it's funny enough to be considered a black comedy, but there are amusing/awkwardly funny parts. Midway through the movie, another drug network is brought into the picture, and I'm not sure it was strictly necessary.
I have to give a shout out to Tom Bateman, who plays Viking. After I got over the weird/pretentious American accent he was rocking, he reminded me of a lot of the people I know with his... interesting... viewpoints and parenting habits. I can't figure out if I liked this film or not. I think the further removed I get from seeing it, the more I like it.
Basically, Liam Neeson's character is taking out a drug network after they OD his son. It is amusing when he's committing the crimes, which is a very weird thing to say.
I don't know if it's funny enough to be considered a black comedy, but there are amusing/awkwardly funny parts. Midway through the movie, another drug network is brought into the picture, and I'm not sure it was strictly necessary.
I have to give a shout out to Tom Bateman, who plays Viking. After I got over the weird/pretentious American accent he was rocking, he reminded me of a lot of the people I know with his... interesting... viewpoints and parenting habits. I can't figure out if I liked this film or not. I think the further removed I get from seeing it, the more I like it.
Madbatdan82 (341 KP) rated Child's Play (1988) in Movies
Mar 21, 2019
He'll be your friend till the end
Coming from the UK the childs play films are best remembered for the real life James Bulger murders where 2 evil shits kidnapped a young boy and killed him using scenes from the films as inspiration - particularly childs play 2. It was a horrible crime and I remember when i first watched the Childs Play films i expected gore galore but in all honesty there was never really that much gore in them until Bride of Chucky. It's been years since I've watched them and with the 'remake/reboot' out soon I thought I'd revisit the original. So being the film that started it all, the original childs play is far more a suspenseful horror than a gore flick. Tension is built up as chucky stalks his prey and then dispatches them using some good old fashioned jump scares. Some of the support acting is quite wooden but Andy and his mum are really good and the always impressive Chris Sarandon is excellent. A 'classic' that holds up ok still.