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Kathleen Hanna recommended Delete Yourself by Atari Teenage Riot in Music (curated)
Chayu (810 KP) rated Twilight (2008) in Movies
Aug 28, 2019
Great romance movie
Movie is about strong first love between two teenagers. Not your cup of tea? Don't watch it just to cry how bad it is, because it is actually good. In this movie, Bella, who seems to be an introvert, moves to a new school. She is supposed to feel and act awkward because everything is new to her, and Kristen did an amazing job. Edwards being abusive as some people complain, well...a person who feels strong emotions for another and at the same time wants to protect that person from himself, no one would be rational at that point. Remember when you were madly in love, how did you act? Add to that the fact that Edward is a vampire, a killing machine. Great movie about true love of two teenagers and how they overcome problems and their differences.
LeftSideCut (3778 KP) rated A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988) in Movies
Sep 21, 2021
For me, ANOES 4-6 have always been a big step down to the pretty solid original trilogy. The Dream Master is of course the first of these three entries, and it's marred by sloppy writing, forced character development, and Freddy turning into a full blown one-liner machine, an aspect of the series that I know a lot of people love, but personally, I prefer Krueger when he's being a terrifying bastard.
It's not all bad though. The practical effects on show are pretty damn great, the kill sequences are imaginative, and I enjoy the commited narrative connections to Dream Warriors.
A far cry from the best in the series, but also, nowhere near the worst.
Side note, the bit where the dude sits up in his coffin and shouts "Helloooo Baaabbeehhh!" is dumb, but low key hilarious and I enjoy it every time.
It's not all bad though. The practical effects on show are pretty damn great, the kill sequences are imaginative, and I enjoy the commited narrative connections to Dream Warriors.
A far cry from the best in the series, but also, nowhere near the worst.
Side note, the bit where the dude sits up in his coffin and shouts "Helloooo Baaabbeehhh!" is dumb, but low key hilarious and I enjoy it every time.
Ross (3282 KP) rated Avengers: Endgame (2019) in Movies
May 1, 2019
Fantastic
Contains spoilers, click to show
What a fantastic film!
I have waited a few days before reviewing this film, and honestly think it would have been 10/10 if I had reviewed it straightaway.
This is so very nearly the perfect superhero film. There is a massive cast of characters, there is humour, there are niche geek references, there are shocks and twists, there are highs, there are lows and there are tears.
But also (and here comes why 1 mark was lost) ... there is time travel. I have an uncomfortable relationship with time travel. I know you always have to give a bit of artistic license with time travel and not get too hung up on the nitty gritty. But here the plot revolves around the characters changing nothing in the past as it would change the future/make it not happen. And yet they go ahead and do it anyway! We have to go back and put the infinity stones back the instant after they were taken. But they didn't have to with Thor's hammer? And why did they have to do that at all because past-Thanos died which means the Infinity War never happened.
I have never been truly happy with time travel in film, with the notable exception of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure which somehow nails it. For me, Endgame failed in this regard purely by setting itself rules it then broke and didn't explore the consequences.
But still, an outstanding film and if I can get myself happy with a crude, straight-talking, machine gun-toting space-raccoon and a teenage living tree then I think I can overlook some timey-wimey things.
I have waited a few days before reviewing this film, and honestly think it would have been 10/10 if I had reviewed it straightaway.
This is so very nearly the perfect superhero film. There is a massive cast of characters, there is humour, there are niche geek references, there are shocks and twists, there are highs, there are lows and there are tears.
But also (and here comes why 1 mark was lost) ... there is time travel. I have an uncomfortable relationship with time travel. I know you always have to give a bit of artistic license with time travel and not get too hung up on the nitty gritty. But here the plot revolves around the characters changing nothing in the past as it would change the future/make it not happen. And yet they go ahead and do it anyway! We have to go back and put the infinity stones back the instant after they were taken. But they didn't have to with Thor's hammer? And why did they have to do that at all because past-Thanos died which means the Infinity War never happened.
I have never been truly happy with time travel in film, with the notable exception of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure which somehow nails it. For me, Endgame failed in this regard purely by setting itself rules it then broke and didn't explore the consequences.
But still, an outstanding film and if I can get myself happy with a crude, straight-talking, machine gun-toting space-raccoon and a teenage living tree then I think I can overlook some timey-wimey things.
Andy Bell recommended Amnesia by Mr. Fingers in Music (curated)
Pete Fowler recommended Zero Time by Tonto's Expanding Head Band in Music (curated)
Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated The War of the Worlds (1953) in Movies
Oct 3, 2019 (Updated Oct 3, 2019)
Original Sci-Fi Classic
The War of the Worlds- is a classic, but just not just a classic, a sci-fi classic, that came out in the early 1950's. With this movie, the thing from anethor world and the day the earth stood still that all came out around the same time. The early 1950's was on fire with sci-fi movies.
The Plot- Scientist Clayton Forrester (Gene Barry) and Sylvia Van Buren (Ann Robinson) are the first to arrive at the site of a meteorite crash. Soon after, an alien war machine emerges and begins killing at random. The Marines are called in, but they're no match for the aliens' force field. Forrester and Van Buren, however, are able to wound one of the creatures and procure a sample of its blood. They take it to Los Angeles where they hope, through testing, to be able to discover the aliens' weakness.
This film and the other that i did mention are a must watch.
The Plot- Scientist Clayton Forrester (Gene Barry) and Sylvia Van Buren (Ann Robinson) are the first to arrive at the site of a meteorite crash. Soon after, an alien war machine emerges and begins killing at random. The Marines are called in, but they're no match for the aliens' force field. Forrester and Van Buren, however, are able to wound one of the creatures and procure a sample of its blood. They take it to Los Angeles where they hope, through testing, to be able to discover the aliens' weakness.
This film and the other that i did mention are a must watch.
David McK (3207 KP) rated T2: Infiltrator in Books
Jan 30, 2019 (Updated Sep 27, 2020)
This was first released back in 2002, so 11 years after the film (which was 1991), but only a single year before 'Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines'. I think I remember reading at the time that it closely followed elements of the plot of the (then) proposed third movie: re-reading this, it is interesting to see how many of those elements actually made it into the movie, or even into 'The Sarah Connor Chronicles' TV show (all of which are now no longer considered canon).
This (obviously!) follows the events of T2, with the Connors hiding out in Paraguay after having ended (or so they think!) the Skynet threat. Of course, this proves not to be the case, with a 'master terminator' (the Infiltrator if the title) sent back in time (again) to make sure that Cyberdyne's work carries on. This 'master terminator' takes the form of a female - T3, anyone? - and is actually a human hybrid rather than a machine in her own right (so, basically, a cyborg), so that she is better able to infiltrate the humans she hunts (in the future, and in the present). In this respect, she's probably closer to the original vision of the Terminators as somebody you could walk past in the street, rather than the hulking Arnie of the movies!
This (obviously!) follows the events of T2, with the Connors hiding out in Paraguay after having ended (or so they think!) the Skynet threat. Of course, this proves not to be the case, with a 'master terminator' (the Infiltrator if the title) sent back in time (again) to make sure that Cyberdyne's work carries on. This 'master terminator' takes the form of a female - T3, anyone? - and is actually a human hybrid rather than a machine in her own right (so, basically, a cyborg), so that she is better able to infiltrate the humans she hunts (in the future, and in the present). In this respect, she's probably closer to the original vision of the Terminators as somebody you could walk past in the street, rather than the hulking Arnie of the movies!
Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated the Xbox One version of Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs in Video Games
Nov 14, 2020
Scary and Spooky
Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs- is a terrorfying, horrorfying, spooky, scary, creepy game.
The game features several interlocking storylines. Some take place in the past, some in the present, and some are overtly real while some may be imagined. Set in London on New Year's Eve, 1899, the game's protagonist is Oswald Mandus, a wealthy industrialist and butcher who is implied to be the great grand-nephew of Daniel, the protagonist of Amnesia: The Dark Descent.
The game is a survival horror game played from a first-person perspective.
Players explore the environments using a lantern, with diary entries and notes providing information on the lost memory of the title character. While the core of the game remains the same between the two, some elements of The Dark Descent have been removed for A Machine for Pigs, while new elements have been added, one reason being to provide a fresh gameplay experience to players of The Dark Descent.
Most of the puzzles are based on physically interacting with the environment because of this change. The sanity mechanic of the first game has been removed, meaning that the darkness and looking at the creatures no longer cause any drawbacks. Health lost when Mandus is injured, will regenerate after a certain period of time; thereby eliminating the need to find vials of laudanum to restore health as in The Dark Descent.
The game's level design has been touted as "significantly different" from that of The Dark Descent, with larger areas and outdoor environments included. AI was also adjusted to ensure players are unable to predict enemy behavior based on their experiences with the original game.
Its a excellent survival game.
The game features several interlocking storylines. Some take place in the past, some in the present, and some are overtly real while some may be imagined. Set in London on New Year's Eve, 1899, the game's protagonist is Oswald Mandus, a wealthy industrialist and butcher who is implied to be the great grand-nephew of Daniel, the protagonist of Amnesia: The Dark Descent.
The game is a survival horror game played from a first-person perspective.
Players explore the environments using a lantern, with diary entries and notes providing information on the lost memory of the title character. While the core of the game remains the same between the two, some elements of The Dark Descent have been removed for A Machine for Pigs, while new elements have been added, one reason being to provide a fresh gameplay experience to players of The Dark Descent.
Most of the puzzles are based on physically interacting with the environment because of this change. The sanity mechanic of the first game has been removed, meaning that the darkness and looking at the creatures no longer cause any drawbacks. Health lost when Mandus is injured, will regenerate after a certain period of time; thereby eliminating the need to find vials of laudanum to restore health as in The Dark Descent.
The game's level design has been touted as "significantly different" from that of The Dark Descent, with larger areas and outdoor environments included. AI was also adjusted to ensure players are unable to predict enemy behavior based on their experiences with the original game.
Its a excellent survival game.
Gareth von Kallenbach (971 KP) rated Bendy and the Ink Machine in Video Games
Aug 14, 2019
Set in the long abandoned Joey Drew Studios, Bendy and the Ink Machine (“BatIM”) is a survival horror game with an aesthetic of classic cartoons of yesteryear. As Henry, you set about to revisit your old workshop after receiving a mysterious letter from your past employer. When Henry arrives at the shop, he finds duhn duhn duhn the Ink Machine. The Ink Machine is a rather large device that gushes out black ink and has mystical qualities. Henry then becomes trapped in the maze-like studio, though he soon finds that he is not alone. Like a creep in the shadows, Bendy, the Mickey Mouse of the Joey Drew Studios universe, is lurking. BatIM blends puzzle solving with first-person gameplay as you adventure through a studio brimming with horrors. The art style is reminiscent of Steamboat Willie, with a macabre twist. Instead of happy go-lucky little animals, we are bombarded with the sinister grin of Bendy as he emerges from the shadows.
Similar to other games with an episodic structure (e.g.: Alan Wake and Life is Strange), BatIM uses short levels to advance the story line in some intriguing ways. Love of Exploration will be your saving grace in this game, as each area requires some in order to advance to the next. The game is not fast-paced. On the contrary, it’s meant to be a slow experience for the player with sparse combat scenarios present only to add a brief moment of action. Your actions as Henry are very limited, as is his speed. With 5 chapters, the gameplay time is at just about hours, and the game uses every minute to pull you deeper into the dark world it has created.
I reviewed BatIM for the Nintendo Switch and found that the game was somewhat held back by the platform’s technical limitations. The biggest drawback I found was that textures would often blur and have jagged edges, with the shaky 30FPS frame rate just feeding fuel to this fire. This is a detriment to gaming’s purpose in keeping the players immersed in the environment. BatIM is meant to be tense, but I often found myself dispelled of the illusion due to blurry visuals and dropped frames. With a game designed so well, how unfortunate that this be its biggest flaw. Maybe this can be patched out, but we can only hope at this point.
BatIM developer, theMeatly Games, may have taken inspiration from Five Nights at Freddy’s as the gameplay and overall genre of the games are quite similar. The world is conceptualized using objects such as books and tapes found within the game instead of long cut scenes that can tend to take you out of the moment rather than add to it in games like these. As you delve deeper into the oubliette of a workshop, you’ll find that the gameplay is perfectly paired with the game’s sick and twisted visuals, proving that BatIM delivers on every level.
Bendy and the Ink Machine is available now on all major platforms.
Similar to other games with an episodic structure (e.g.: Alan Wake and Life is Strange), BatIM uses short levels to advance the story line in some intriguing ways. Love of Exploration will be your saving grace in this game, as each area requires some in order to advance to the next. The game is not fast-paced. On the contrary, it’s meant to be a slow experience for the player with sparse combat scenarios present only to add a brief moment of action. Your actions as Henry are very limited, as is his speed. With 5 chapters, the gameplay time is at just about hours, and the game uses every minute to pull you deeper into the dark world it has created.
I reviewed BatIM for the Nintendo Switch and found that the game was somewhat held back by the platform’s technical limitations. The biggest drawback I found was that textures would often blur and have jagged edges, with the shaky 30FPS frame rate just feeding fuel to this fire. This is a detriment to gaming’s purpose in keeping the players immersed in the environment. BatIM is meant to be tense, but I often found myself dispelled of the illusion due to blurry visuals and dropped frames. With a game designed so well, how unfortunate that this be its biggest flaw. Maybe this can be patched out, but we can only hope at this point.
BatIM developer, theMeatly Games, may have taken inspiration from Five Nights at Freddy’s as the gameplay and overall genre of the games are quite similar. The world is conceptualized using objects such as books and tapes found within the game instead of long cut scenes that can tend to take you out of the moment rather than add to it in games like these. As you delve deeper into the oubliette of a workshop, you’ll find that the gameplay is perfectly paired with the game’s sick and twisted visuals, proving that BatIM delivers on every level.
Bendy and the Ink Machine is available now on all major platforms.