Your Trusted Entertainment Reviewer My dream is to make it big in the entertainment business as a reviewer / critic. I have a burning passion to make it big so support and feedback would be much appreciated. This is only the beginning and there are...
“Who says ghost stories have to be depressing or creepy?”
With the end of the awards season for movies and blockbusters such as Kingsmen: The Secret Service, Furious 7, Avengers: Age of Ultron and Mad Max: Fury Road are taking over the summer season, sometimes a breather of quiet entertainment is needed. Especially anticipating more on the the way we all need to slow down and let our minds simmer a little after boiling over with these big releases. For me personally, a Ghibli film is the perfect remedy for that exhaustion. “When Marnie was There” is latest release of Studio Ghibli before going into hiatus after Hayao Miyazaki himself has left.
The film revolves around the main character of Anna, an orphaned and unsocial girl sent to the countryside by her Auntie to aid her health issues. There she stays with her Auntie’s relatives and across the river, appears an abandoned mansion which seems familiar for our protagonist. While sketching the mansion with a girl who she supposed lives there and visiting it during nightfall, Anna meets a girl named Marnie who she becomes close to and eventually become best friends. But who is Marnie? What makes Marnie so familiar to Anna? And could her relationship be closer to home than expected?
As expected from Studio Ghibli, the visuals are astounding as hand drawn animation gets, as there is this everlasting wonder that I get with 2-D animation that I hope many others will catch on as well. The themes in this movie are also rather mature for a children’s film as it deals with the struggles of growing up, solitude, friendship and family. This is something that feels fresh as a lot of other animated films, especially North American which are admittedly more fun and light-hearted, it takes great care and pacing to craft something wonderful and enduring.
Absolutely breathtaking animation and imagery. Look at that sunset!
I am a person who has dealt with loneliness most of my life, I immediately connected with these characters struggling with their personal issues and their friendship with each other. I almost teared a lot of times during the film, it’s very emotional and especially for anyone going through the same issues, this film will hit you deep emotionally. Right around the ending as well, it all wraps up nicely with a conclusion both tender and hopeful. Also Priscilla Ahn’s “Fine on the Outside” which you might have heard in the promotional footage prior to this film fits the story and the characters amazingly well.
As much as flaws go for this film, the mystery of reaching Marnie’s conclusion felt a bit to complex for it’s own good when watching at least. However, it all sifts that out in the end which makes the backstory all the more tragic and enduring. Not big of an issue but it is worth a little of a nod to overlook.
“Always by each others’ sides”
I highly recommend this film to anyone with children, anime enthusiasts and film goers in general. Be aware this is a limited screening (found mine at the Vancity Theatre in Vancouver) and if you can find a screening near you, please go watch this movie, I implore you to support this potential last film by Studio Ghibli.
Grade: A (A tender story with realistic themes, added with enduring characters, great soundtrack and amazing visuals as always by Ghibli.)
Thank you for reading this review and please reblog to get this around, add to your favorites and reply feedback will be greatly appreciated. For a final question before concluding: What is your favortie Ghibli film? Mine is between Spirited Away, The Wind Rises and Castle in the Sky. Reply in the comments below and I’ll be looking forward to your responses.
This is Konraq and I have a Ghibli marathon to go through today with some cookies’n cream ice cream in hand... signing off!
If you already had your schedules written or your PVR set to record you probably already caught the very first episode of Gotham already. As far as first impressions go, it was solid and I'm looking forward to next week's episode. The story starts out with Bruce Wayne witnessing the death of his parents and from there Jim Gordon makes a promise that he will catch the man that murdered his parents. From there you Gordon realizes that Gotham is more corrupt as it is and it is up to him and Harvey Bullock to take down the corrupt and find the truth within Gotham.
From the pilot episode alone should give audiences a taste of what Gotham has in store for them. The gritty tone really sets the atmosphere of what Gotham has in store for the characters. Speaking of characters, each of the actors do a great job at portraying each of their roles, especially three in particular: Jim Gordon, Harvey Bullock and Fish Mooney.
Another thing to note is that this man also voiced Bruce Wayne in Batman: Year One, so have no worries on source material butchering.
Ben McKenzie does a great job at portraying the boy scout detective of Jim Gordon, and in contrast we have Donal Logue playing the infamous Harvey Bullock. I don't know why but Harvey seems to be for myself the interesting out of the bunch. I think this give some great depths to the character as in most interpretations of Harvey Bullock he's usually seen as an asshole and a careless cop only doing it for the recognition. However with this new series, I hope some depth could be added for the character giving him more of an anti-heroic yang to Gordon's boy scout yin. Jada Pinkett Smith's role of a character I assume to be exclusive to Gotham named Fish Mooney. She acts as what I believe to be the center of the web, the central of all the things involved with the murder of Bruce's parents and the corruption of the police. Let me tell you: She is very sinister and I'm interested in seeing where they can take this character in the future of Gotham (new character can be a hit or miss, I hope they hit).
I have a feeling this guy might end up the dynamic character for myself.
For the rest of the characters on the other hand, they do alright andsome inclusions feel a bit odd for myself. For example, Selina Kyle aka. Catwoman in the future is shown as a younger version of herself in this series. When first watching the trailer I had no idea why Selina was there, and later thought that maybe she was just included as a throwaway character. But hey, maybe the future episodes will shed some light on the inclusion of Selina here, besides it's the first episode can't judge something right away, gotta wait until the series ends. Bruce Wayne played by David Mazouz did alright as a young Bruce Wayne but in the end, I wanted to see more. He doesn't get enough screen time with in the pilot episode, but with I've seen: I just want more from this kid.
Another thing I really appreciated is the fan service they included in this pilot episode alone, but not so much that is overstays its welcome. They present it that this is Gotham and the elements and the people of it are here. A small portion of the future villains are shown here such as the Forensic Analyst Edward Nygma (The Riddler), Gangster Oswald Copplepot (The Penguin), and even Posion Ivy makes a brief appearance (although her name is Ivy Pepper, originally being Pamela Isley which flusters me a little). Also, the storyline of the Falcone gang war is referenced here setting up and presenting that this is Gotham City in it's youth.
All I see right now is the potential of another great series for DC TV Shows alongside Arrow and the upcoming Flash TV series and later Constantine. As always the with the current DC TV series, they have great actors portraying the roles, amazing camerawork, great effects and overall a feeling of wanting more with satisfaction in the end. I can't wait to see more, and the pilot alone should give audiences a glimpse of what to expect of this new series.
Gotham TV series so far:
Watch it
Record it
Skip it
What did you guys think of the Batman pilot and what do you think should happen with the series. I personally want to see a Harvey Bullock character arc, giving that grey line of a detective could be interesting.
Make sure to share this with your friends, reblog and add it to your favorites to give me support.
I have now changed my identity to Konraq and I'm signing off.
The new Alien game that focuses more on survival horror. Although tread lightly with this title as we all remember the previous Alien Title (Aliens Colonial Marines).
There are two groups of people where there is one group that only see the positives of a film and praise to be the best that they have seen ever, flaws and all. Then there is the extremely pessimistic group who can ONLY see the negatives and claim it's the worst film ever made and tell everyone to avoid it. The Amazing Spiderman 2 was a mixed bag for myself, while being a big fan of Spiderman (one of my top 6 favorite Marvel heroes) I try to keep my fanboyism out and judge it as a movie. This movie was very tricky to critique because of one thing: with every amazing moment comes a very disappointing moment. Is it worth the watch or the skip?
Is it just me or is this movie crowded already?
The Amazing Spiderman 2 takes place after a year from the first film. Both Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy are graduating from high school and finally setting themselves up for the future. Peter Parker continues to struggle and enjoy between his normal life and being Spiderman. With him being well known now he has to deal with new super villain Electro, his childhood friend Harry Osborn, the relationship with Gwen Stacy and find out the truth with about his parents.
First to say is that Andrew Garfield kills it as Spiderman and feels like Spiderman to me. Within his charm and humor he does a great job at portraying the web slinger. This is really the Spiderman that I can solve any problem using his intellect and the intellect around him with determination. (something that never came to light in the Sam Rami Spiderman Trilogy). Emma Stone returns as Gwen Stacy and still remains a good female character that not only HELPS Peter Parker, she can handle herself on her own. The relationship between Peter and Gwen was very believable and I have to admit: they are an extremely cute couple. I felt a genuine relationship was happening between the two and it was very precious to see.
These two make a great couple and it shows in the film
The action has improved from the last film and some of these fights are huge in scale and you really get to see the power of these supervillains and the intuition and agility of Spiderman. What I enjoy about the rebooted Spiderman films is that it shows you what is like to be a web slinger moving around building to building, you genuinely feel the action. The one down side to action sequences are the fact if you are the ones that have seen all the trailers it almost feels like they shown all the action sequences within those trailers. I swear almost 70% of the action can be found in the trailers. The music is also extremely well done and has one of my favorite tracks this year: The Electro Suite. I really love it when a villain has his own theme, it helps define who Electro is. They also changed the costume to give it that classic feel from the comics, a change I thought was great.
Dynamic Action from start to finish
Now what can I say about the villains, well from the poster you notice that Spiderman has to take on three villains this time around. When I first saw I said to myself, "This movie is going to get crowded." Rhino is technically in the movie but not really the Rhino yet, he only appears for almost three minutes. Also Harry Osborn is in it but not really the Green Goblin fully in this film. So in reality, The Amazing Spiderman 2 has 1 1/2 villains in it. The way they handled the villains and understanding their motivations are really well done and I can faithfully say that the feelings portrayed by these new villains are far better than The Lizard in the first Amazing Spiderman. Electro played by Jamie Foxx does a fantastic job as Max Dillion / Electro who is one of the villains that I felt sympathy towards being a misunderstood figure and suddenly gaining power. Also the design of Electro was awesome and unique and I glad that comic Electro didn't make the cut (would've been funny though).
Another favorite of mine is Harry Osborn played by Dane DeHaan (Chronicle). Dane portrays a more disturbed version or Harry Osborn which is convincing from the first time you meet him. While the first half of the movie feels alright for these villains, it feels as if the writers just put all the villains into the final 15 - 30 minutes in order to set up the next film, which in the end makes the film sloppy and unorganized.
The Amazing Spiderman 2 lacks focus on what it wants to accomplish and that is where the majority of the problems lie. There is WAY too much going in this film, with Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy, Aunt May, Harry Osborn's arc, Electro's arc, Oscorp's secrets, Peter Parker's parents...there is way too many things going on at once and it really needs to focus on which plots to accomplish. Whenever there is one storyline that is being worked on, there comes in another storyline to be introduced and worked out. It almost feels like the movie is written by six different people and it actually is written by that many people and it shows in execution. The set-up was great until halfway through and near the end where they throw everything together in order to wrap up all the lose ends. This is a very sloppy way to end the multiple story arcs and even with that some don't conclude in order to set up the Sinister Six. With every well done moment there is a really choppy moment that doesn't flow well with the film (and trust me there are great moments in the film but they were put together so sloppily it doesn't flow well). I hate admitting this but Spiderman 3 had slight better focus than it did in The Amazing Spiderman 2, and this film does feel a lot like Spiderman 3 (not saying that it is worse than Spiderman 3 but feels that way). I thought we were supposed learn from the past, not repeat it...sigh.
I understand the pain of criticism Mr. Parker, but you have to admit that there are some things that need to be addressed. (Ignore the pessimists though they can be hypocritical)
In the end The Amazing Spiderman 2 is a "fun film" to watch. It isn't the must watch film of this summer and I wished it was. The movie had so much potential and while some of it is put to good use, other times it was just poorly executed. Almost most of this film just feels like set up for the future films in the Spiderman Cinematic Universe. Watch this movie if you are a Spiderman fan, but for the rest of you its okay. This is a fun action superhero film with great elements of potential put to use and those that are put to waste.
6.8/10
[An Enjoyable film with a lack of focus in plot which sets the movie down for me]
What did you guys think of The Amazing Spiderman 2?
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This is Haukeye, and I just found these web shooters from a dumpster nearby, and I'm slinging out...
Coming Up This Week: Godzilla & X-Men Days of Future Past
Bonuses: Arrow, Agents of SHIELD, Attack on Titan (Part I) [Dub], From Dusk Till Dawn The Series, Orange Is The New Black
