So up til Halloween I promise you kind readers an assault of posts. Just bam BAM BAM! Okay maybe not exactly like that, but expect a nice amount of horror flick reviews. It is my favorite genre, this is my favorite time of year. They both go hand in hand. So yeah, expect some stuff….starting NOW ^
-J
Yeah, about that…..I’ve been busy with work, as the usual. And with a certain MMO that just came out. What? You think a girl can’t juggle a job and be a pixelated badass??? Well you’d be wrong buddy, because I can do both.
Sadly my film blog has suffered because of this. I am still here, but I honestly haven’t seen anything lately (not entirely true….I will post a review either later tonight or tomorrow). But things happen, life is crazy, shit needs to be killed (in-game of course). So yeah, that is my life right now.
I haven’t seen anything decent in ages it seems. But I will post as soon as I do, promise :p
-J.
So doesn’t exactly fit into a movie review blog, but I am just that excited folks!
Anyone else out there more excited about this game than they probably should be? I am pretty sure I am the biggest FF nerd there is, and I seriously can’t wait. I asked got 3 days off for work for the release. THREE DAYS….mind you I won’t be playing the entire time, I am not a marathon gamer in the least. I get bored after a couple of hours and need to get up or go out. But the three days does allow me a nice chunk of time to muck about in Eorzea as much as I like.
For all of you out there that haven’t pre-ordered yet you still have time, and it seems as if Square-Enix has fixed the game registration problem that plagued players yesterday. I registered my pre-order today without a hitch, and received my early access code.
Just remember to hold onto that code, they will e-mail it to you as well so you don’t have to worry about copy and pasting it into a text document on your desktop like I did lol. Early access begins at midnight in Japan, so 2AM PST or 5AM EST. Get ready guys!!
I will be playing in the NA server Behemoth. I’m currently leveling my character Ashe Loire, stop and say hi if you see me ^^. See you in Eorzea!!!
So I was bored, decided to look through the Netflix recently added section and found this gem. Wake Up follows Jonas Elrond and his struggle to find meaning to a phenomena he claims to have woken up with one day. Jonas can see the dead, angels and demons. He can also see energies, or people’s aura’s as it is sometimes referred to. He was just a normal guy, and overnight his entire world changed. Scared by the visions he is seeing he sets out to prove his sanity, not only to his loved ones, but to himself. The documentary follows Jonas on his search over the coarse of three years.
When I read the description on Netflix (I know….I should have learned by now to ignore them completely, but I occasionally can’t help myself), I was worried. I wasn’t really sure if I wanted to watch a doc about a guy that was obviously losing his mind. I thought it would just be too sad, and hard to watch. Well none of that turned out to be true. Jonas is incredibly intelligent, and his story while seemingly crazy in nature, is told to us the viewer in a completely calm and believable manner. He goes to great lengths to find out what is happening to him. Visiting mystics, psychiatrists, enlightenment camps, energy photographers, has his brained scanned for abnormalities, and goes on a spiritual quest in the woods. No real explanation is given for what has happened to him, And understandably so. No one anywhere understands these things yet, or can even prove they exist. The reason is hinted at though. Jonas lost his nearest and dearest friend Rob in a tragic motorcycle accident. It has obviously stuck with him, and he is unable to let go of the pain. Is this the reason for his new gift? Who knows, but it is discussed as a possibility.
I was engrossed from the beginning. I found myself not only cheering for Jonas to get the answers he so desperately wants, but cheering for his girlfriend whom you can tell has been greatly effected by his new “gift”. I took from this film a few things.
*Society today is incredibly different from anything that has ever walked the Earth before us. We have never been so connected, and yet so distant before. That is terrifying.
*There is so much we don’t understand in this world. And we cannot dismiss phenomena that we don’t understand simply because we don’t understand it. Man has treated certain things with fear since the beginning of time. Now science is able to register these strange happenings. We still don’t understand it, we still don’t even know exactly what these things are. But some of the things are able to be photographed, or even measured with new tools. Eventually we will know the answers, but until then is it really in humanities best interest to just brush these events off? Label the people that experience it as crazy? It is reminiscent of the fear ancient people must have felt when they experienced lightening for the first time. There is a logical explanation for lightening, but long ago no one understood what it was, or why it was happening. It looked like God himself was scorching the earth.
I honestly left this film breathless, and comforted. It also left me feeling that everything is just so trivial, don’t sweat the small stuff. As chaotic and stressful as modern life is we do still possess the ability to enjoy the small things, the things that really matter in the end. It is easy getting caught up with your twitter, and your phone, and facebook, and this and that. But at the end of it all that shit just doesn’t matter. You matter, your family and friend’s matter. And leaving this world in a better state than you found it….that should matter.
I’m a rabid Netflixer, I google ‘scariest streaming titles’ and stuff like that fairly often. Thought I might as well add my own lists to help those like me who want some ideas. I have watched several movies based on suggestions from others that I never would have viewed on my own, and I ended up loving them. So I hope that I can do the same for others.
I have to admit I am guilty of judging a book, or film in this case, but it’s cover. A few of these have terribly cheesy covers…(I’m looking at you Grave Encounters). So I just started clicking on anything that popped up in my suggestion list a few months ago. It takes me ages sometimes to decide on something to watch, nearly an hour…it could even be more than that to be honest. So I began my experiment. Just watch anything, click it. Who cares, if it sucks back to browse and click another.
The results: I found a slew of movies, documentaries and television shows that i never would have tried which I really enjoyed. Experiment was a success and I have learned a valuable lesson. Do not judge based on a poor descriptions. I have found more than enough that are completely inaccurate that I don’t even bother looking at them anymore, I just look up the film on IMDB instead. Also try not to put too much into the cover art, some of them are just bad. They aren’t meant to convey the plot, just to catch someone’s eye. Unfortunately for some they do so in the completely wrong way.
Mini Series or Television Program
Top of the Lake
Hemlock Grove
American Horror Story
Copper
The Fall
Shameless
The I. Crowd
Spaced
Horror
The Awakening
YellowBrickRoad (yeah it is spaced like that, I don’t know why)
V/H/S
The Pact
The Innkeepers
The Caller
The House of the Devil
Grave Encounters
Absentia
Pontypool
Sci-Fi
I didn’t want to list really well known titles, I know some on here are fairly known. But I left out the big hits like Rosemary’s Baby, The Omen….bigger titles, stuff like that. There are a ton of great movies and shows, you just have to poke around. Give something a try you might be pleasantly surprised.
Have something to add to the list? Leave a comment, I myself always love having a suggestion.
When I saw the trailer for Antiviral I couldn’t help but be intrigued. I was worried about the plot, people paying to become infected with viruses that originated from a celebrity. It sounded ridiculous. I am happy to say that the film is really rather wonderful, and I highly suggest a viewing.
In the world that the film takes place celebrity obsession has been taken to the complete extreme. People are no longer satisfied with reading up on the gossip, or rabidly looking through magazines. Now they want an actual physical connection. Syd, played by the amazingly talented Caleb Landry Jones. works for a lab that purchases the rights to celebrities, and their illnesses. People can then purchase an injection of the illness from their favorite celebrity. The client then becomes infected with the virus, and can feel that closeness they crave to their favorite celebrity. Syd also has a side job. Smuggling viruses out of his employer’s lab by infecting himself. He then sells the virus to black market dealers. For the majority of the film Jones’s character was incredibly ill. He was amazing, his acting is honestly superb and I really hope to see him in the future. He was so convincing I swear I am coming down with something as I type this, I need to drink some tea and get to bed early. The entire film I swear I felt my throat getting soar and my head pounding.
The concept is incredibly intriguing. In our society celebrities are treated so differently from normal people it is shocking. They have no privacy whatsoever. They are legally stalked and hounded by the paparazzi, and then have their private moments captured on film by total strangers which are then sold off to be consumed by the masses. People seem to think that they are part of our lives and therefore open to the hounding, and the harassment. Brandon Cronenberg’s (yes, Cronenberg) film takes this to an entirely new level. Celebrities really do become a piece of meat in Antiviral, which people not only consume, but line up in droves to do so.
This film poses an incredibly interesting idea, how far is too far when it comes to societies views on celebrities? Where is the line, if there even is one. People sell tissues that have been used by Britney Spears, nail clippings of Lady Gaga. Not exactly the flu in the form of an injection, but it is still pretty out there. People so desperately crave to be close to total strangers simply because they are famous, simply because their faces are plastered everywhere we look. Why? Why do we feel this near gravitational pull to the people that grace our television screens, and line are magazine racks? Antiviral doesn’t try to tackle the why, it just amps up the obsession that already exists to a deafening decibel.
8/10
I’m sad to say Mama Firefly is no longer with us. The amazingly talented, and gorgeous Karen Black has passed away at the age of 74. Today is my birthday and I have to admit this news definitely knocked down my happiness a bit. I have always been a fan of Karen’s and was really hoping she would make a miraculous recovery. She has been battling ampullary cancer for nearly 3 years. My mother also lost her battle with cancer in 2004, it was incredibly difficult to watch and she was half Karen’s age. She must have been one very tough and courageous woman to fight for that long.
R.I.P Ms.Black, you will be missed. In honor I’m going to watch ‘Burnt Offerings’ I think.
***SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THOSE THAT HAVE NOT WATCHED SERIES 1-4 YET***
So I just finished watching the last episode of Cook’s mini come back. I was disappointed at first, it didn’t feel like Cook….at all. He is a badass, carefree angry, complicated bastard. Who is this mushy subdued guy before me? The same could be said for Effy, and for Cassie. They weren’t the characters we grew to love. But that is a good thing.
The characters of Skins are in their prime to us as the viewer in college (high school) doing fucked up crazy teen shit. They can’t be who they once were as 20 somethings, it would just be….sad. And frankly unrealistic considering all they have been through. Effy had her family torn to bits, her friends turned her back on her, oh yeah a bit of a major mental collapse not to mention the murder of her boyfriend. We never see the fallout Effy experienced from the murder, but I think it is safe to she it was terrible when you think back on what we did see her go through already. Cassie witnessed a close and dear friend die, and felt to blame on top of her severe eating disorder and self worth issues. And Cook. Could never live up to his mother’s expectations, black sheep and all that. The love of his life (as he thinks) also happens to be his best mates girl, and there is of course the horrendous murder of said best mate.
The events we saw these characters go through have taken their toll on each, as they would in real life. They have also had more experiences since we last saw them, maybe more heartache even. They are all running from something. Effy, the eternally lonesome heart breaker who can’t cope with her emotions. Cassie another lonely soul always in search of someone or something to validate her. And Cook the rager.
While it was sad not seeing them how we recall, and not really having enough time to get to know them like we did before, it was nice seeing what paths they each chose, and where they ended up. My biggest complaint, series seven left more questions answered than it answered. Freddy…not mentioned, Sid barely mentioned but not by name. Both characters from their respective seasons had a huge impact on the protagonists of series 7. Not mentioning them at all, or how Effy, Cassie and Cook dealt with the fallout is incredibly frustrating. And honestly I was a bit insulted. The creators had to of known we the viewers desperately wanted closure. And instead we end up with more answers.
I was pretty annoyed right after watching “Rise’ until I started to really think it over for my review. What the writers did was actually rather realistic. The experiences they each lived through were incredibly traumatic. Why would they want to relive them, or even address them again? Yeah, it seems selfish, but the more I think of it I can understand why we never hear exactly what happened after series 2 and 4 ended. Instead we pickup in the middle of an entirely new life for the each of them, and that’s okay.
So what do I give series 7? As an avid ‘Skins’ fanatic I would probably rate it a 10/10 for simply existing. I never thought I would ever get to see the characters I fell in love with years ago every again. So just seeing them once last time was enough for me. Also this series wasn’t meant to be like a normal one, so I have to take into account the limitations it has. I think a realistic rating would have been an 8/10. After all we do get to hear one last glorious time ‘I’m fucking Cook!”
As I plan on re-watching Gen 2 I thought I would end this post with one of my favorite all time moments, so for your viewing pleasure….
I decided it would be fun to review older movies also. I’m thinking of having a DVD Review for films that are fairly recent, and an Oldie but Goodie review for films made more than 10 years ago, and which I may or may not have seen. So look forward to those! Any suggestions just hit me up 🙂
So I am typically very anti-remake. I hate the thought of it, what’s wrong with the original? Can’t you come up with your own material yada yada yada. I hate to be one of “those people” but I typically jump on the hate wagon when a remake is announced without giving it a try. Halloween started it to be honest. Huge Carpenter fan, heck even a huge Zombie fan. But Halloween II pissed me off and I blame that shit-fest for my remake hatred. And the jerks that wanted to re-do Suspiria…leave that alone!!!
I just finished watching this (found out David Tennant was in it last night, hence me watching it tonight…I ❤ him lots). It was shockingly good. I’m not the biggest Colin Farrel fan, and to be honest I don’t have a reason not to be, he hasn’t really done anything to deserve my dislike…..oh yeah Phone Booth, but besides that he is a good actor. Oh yeah, Alexander…..and Daredevil. Okay so besides THAT he is a good actor and did an amaaaazing job as Jerry, the vamp next door. This is how remakes should be. It wasn’t a carbon copy, the director and writers tossed in their own flavour, and made a distinctly different film. The cast was awesome and did a great job in each of their roles. Did I mention Chris Sarandon has a cameo???? That pretty much sealed the deal for me.
David Tennant was amazing, as usual. Plus he goes shirtless and wears eye liner so that was worth the watch alone, who would have known I was such a perve? But seriously folks a really really fun watch, and I’m happy I finally got around to it.
P.S I am sorry I hated on you Mr.Farrel, you are a good actor. The first time I ever saw you in a film was Tigerland and you rocked. So I retract my comments and will from now on will no longer throw you in the crap actor bin. I can’t think of many actors that haven’t made a few bad films, or had a few bad roles.
I have been waiting to see this for months and was finally able to fit it into my schedule. I am a big James Wan fan, and I love a great haunted house flick. The cast is also great by the way, Lili Taylor, Ron Livingston, Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson (<3).
The Conjuring is based on a true story about the Perron family who lived in a haunted farm house between 1971-1980. The film is based on the case files of Lorraine and Ed Warren who investigated the home between 1973-1974. The family has stated they are happy with the way the film depicts their experiences, and although liberties were taken it is still fairly accurate. The filmmakers had to piece the material available to them into a coherent story. And they did a great job.
Carolyn and Roger Perron move into a beautiful farmhouse with their 5 daughters. Soon after moving in they begin to experience strange things, which culminates one night when Roger is gone on business. It is then that the family decides they can’t handle what is happening and needs to seek out help. Carolyn attends a lecture given by the Warrens and pleads with them to help.
The tone and pace of the film are excellent. I can’t remember that last great haunter house flick, so this one was a longtime coming. I have to say the only issue I had at all with the film is I saw it in the theatre. I prefer horror films at home, much scarier in my opinion, but I just couldn’t wait any longer on this one. It was great, don’t get me wrong. But I think I will like it even more at home. I suggest to anyone that likes haunted house or ghost films to absolutely see this, you will not be disappointed.
The Flick Chick 