Search

Search only in certain items:

Scream 4 (2011)
Scream 4 (2011)
2011 | Horror, Mystery
11 years after Scream 3 "graced" cinema screens, Wes Craven returned to his meta horror series in an era where the genre had gone into full remake mode.

I'm not convinced that Scream 4 needs to exist, especially after the underwhelming way the third film closed out the original trilogy, but this entry is definitely a step up.
The Meta side of things is again a little over the top, but it's good to see Ghostface in a more modern setting. This Ghostface is brutal as well, and Scream 4 is arguably the goriest of the franchise, making it's iconic masked antagonist more intimidating than ever.

The returning cast are back again - Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, and David Arquette - and have somehow survived all of the Scream movies - as per usual, it feels like a homecoming with them in tow. It's not often in horror you have one person make it this far, let alone three. It gives the series a uniqueness that I can appreciate.
The new characters are all written like typical cannon fodder slasher victims but they all serve there purpose well. Hayden Panittiere is a welcome addition, and it's nice to see Anthony Anderson in a pre Black-ish role.

The plot is so so. It's all ground that has been relentlessly trodden by this point, but it still works. Sidney is back in town. People start getting stabbed. Everyone is a suspect. Rinse and repeat.
The killer reveal in this one isn't too shoddy either, and makes more sense that the reveals in Scream 2 and 3, and there's a lot of direct homage to the first movie in how it's all executed (coming round full circle to the remake commentary)

All in all, Scream 4 is a bucket load of fun, even if it doesn't quite hit the heights if the original. It will be interesting to see how the upcoming sequel will turn out following Craven's death, but I have the feeling it won't quite be the same. Long live Wes Craven!
  
40x40

Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated the Xbox One version of Blair Witch in Video Games

Mar 13, 2021 (Updated Mar 13, 2021)  
Blair Witch
Blair Witch
2019 | Action, Horror, Strategy
The Witches Playground
Contains spoilers, click to show
Blair Witch- is a good psychological survival horror game. Its downfall, its only 6 hour or 6 and a half hours long. I wish it was longer. Also i died alot, some it was my purpose, other times come on. Also one to three glitches.

The game is set two years after the events of the 1999 film The Blair Witch Project, which takes place in 1994. The game follows former police officer Ellis Lynch as he joins the search in Black Hills Forest for a missing boy.

The game focuses on survival horror mechanics and stealth and is played from a first person perspective, requiring the player to use items such as a camera, cellphone, flashlight or Ellis' dog, Bullet, to track and follow the trail of missing nine-year old Peter Shannon while fending off shadowy creatures. Along the way, players will find strange wooden dolls, photographs and cassette tapes and will also be tasked with solving puzzles. Like the film, it integrates the found-footage subgenre with the gameplay and story, often through the use of cassette tapes.

It is crucial for the player to keep Bullet close to them at all times, as being separated from him for some time can affect the state of the character. The game's ending is dependent on the relationship between the player and the dog, accounting for the actions the player has done.

The game roughly takes up to six hours to complete, with a possibility of four endings and an additional secret ending.

The ending cutscene varies and depends on players completing certain requirements; the endings can either reveal that Lanning's body was never found or was recovered and buried with top honors, the lumberer Todd Mackinnon was found nearly beyond identification or recovered by his family to be buried, and Peter's fate can be unknown or revealed that he was ultimately murdered at Carver's hands or safely found by the authorities and returned to his family unscathed.

Its good but forgettable.
  
Mockingbird
Mockingbird
Kathryn Erskine | 2016 | Children
10
9.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Mocking Bird Review

I'm writing this in a document first so I can copy/paste to everything else later LOL.

Mocking Bird was given to me by my aunt who occasionally sends me books she thinks I'd enjoy. I'm mentioning this because Mocking Bird arrived with a purpose. My family, or more accurately, my Mom's side of the family suspected I was Autistic but I was never tested.

When I read the book for the first time (2016/17-ish) I found that Caitlin and I shared a lot of quirks and that I related to her in a way I hadn't related to any protagonist before. I mentioned these things to my Bonus Mom who skimmed it and said:

“We're getting you tested”

Months later I was officially diagnosed as Autistic.

With that little story out of the way onto the book itself.

I loved this book and frequently re-read it. I love seeing the world as Caitlin does even in the middle of a tragedy. Reading her journey and how she navigated the world without her brother really hit home for me. It treats the topic respectfully and realistically. Showcasing her day-to-day struggles in a world without her brother.

I have to admit, I was at first caught off guard by the formatting of the book. The dialogue is in italics and without quotation marks but in the context of the book, it makes sense.

It's a very fast read for me. If I were to just sit down with it and read without stopping I would most likely finish in a few hours maybe even less time than that but ten-year-old me would probably flip the book over and start again.

It really is that enjoyable and I cannot say enough good things about it but as someone who has very little experience or know-how writing a book review I've probably bored you already.

I love this book and highly recommend it!
  
40x40

Benedick Lewis (3001 KP) rated Die Trying (Jack Reacher Book#2) in Books

Sep 14, 2020 (Updated Sep 14, 2020)  
Die Trying (Jack Reacher Book#2)
Die Trying (Jack Reacher Book#2)
Lee Child | 2010 | Fiction & Poetry
8
8.4 (12 Ratings)
Book Rating
Some really tense moments - particularly towards the end (3 more)
Reacher isn’t always right but he always wins
Nice chemistry between the two main characters
A definite resemblance to Far Cry 5
Definitely some padding (0 more)
Different from the first but equally as good
Jack Reacher (no middle name)’s second outing is a lot different to his debut. Killing Floor was a personal story and felt more focused around Reacher - it also felt like he had godly powers and never seemed to lose. In Die Trying, Reacher is put in a situation out of his element initially but eventually gets his stride. Without wanting to spoil too much, it involves Reacher and a woman on crutches getting kidnapped. When they find out the purpose of the kidnapping, things are a lot worse than one can imagine.
It isn’t really giving anything away to make parallels with 2018’s Far Cry 5. It would be really surprising if the makers of the Ubisoft hit hadn’t read this book. Child’s style is very too the point - with a little padding here and there that if you preserve you get through. Chapters are broken into segments and sometimes flick between multiple characters, which keeps the pace rolling. Child has a good ability to make an event happen and for it to be seen via multiple character perspectives observing said event. It was a little confusing towards the end with certain twists, if you’re not reading in one go, but it isn’t so dense that you lose track and give up.
The payoff is satisfying and action packed, delivering surprises and rapid story telling. Sometimes novels have difficulty rounding things up but there’s no trouble here. It is a well researched novel as well but Andy McNab’s Nick Stone delivers more authenticity regarding weapon handling and operation.
Read this if you enjoy a Hollywood style thriller. It is compact enough to get through quite quickly but detailed enough to make you enjoy the ride.
  
Harry Potter: Wizards Unite
Harry Potter: Wizards Unite
Games
6
6.0 (33 Ratings)
App Rating
The idea of collecting items sounded fun (0 more)
Slow to load, Really oversensitive when casting spells. (0 more)
A Disappointing Game
Being a Harry Potter fan, I was really excited to finally be able to download and play this game. However, I have been left disappointed.

When I first started up this game, it took forever to load. So, thinking this was due to my phone (I don't have a fancy phone, just a bog standard one), I bought a new SD card, hoping that the extra memory would do the trick. It helped, but I found the game to still be really slow.

Also, it was a bit frustrating when you had to cast spells, you kept having to do them again and again, because your tracing of the patterns, wasn't quite right. Possibly I would have done better using a stylus to trace the patterns, but I think it shouldn't be so exacting, because not everyone has a stylus to hand when they are out and about.

I also found that I wasn't able to put the VR backgrounds on my phone and had to resort to having the computer generated ones, which kind of defeats the purpose of this game, as it's supposed to be fun to find 'foundables' within your home or town.

This leads me to another problem I had. During the game, you had to go to certain places within your area. However, when I got there, it said that I had to wait for players to do a battle or some kind of challenge with. I don't know whether I chose the wrong time of day, where other players were elsewhere or there aren't many players within my area, but I didn't fancy standing around on a hot day, eating up my Internet MBs.

The concept of this game is good, but due to the slowness and uninspiring context of the game, this didn't get me enthused to play it. Actually, I've deleted the app from my phone. Very Disappointing.
  
    Death Road to Canada

    Death Road to Canada

    Games and Entertainment

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    App

    Big new update, featuring a lot of new content! Includes new music, weapons, locations, characters,...

    Qrafter Pro

    Qrafter Pro

    Productivity and Utilities

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    App

    Qrafter Pro (Crafter Pro) is a two-dimensional barcode scanner for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. Its...

    Garanti Tablet

    Garanti Tablet

    Finance

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    App

    Garanti Tablet mobil bankacılık uygulaması ile günlük bankacılık ihtiyaçlarınız ve ticari...

    AURA-SOMA

    AURA-SOMA

    Lifestyle and Reference

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    App

    Discover the power of your personal color code… You are the colors you choose and these reflect...