Horror expert-in-training %Limbo Hengoku saw another piece of frightening motion picture, The Conjuring, and shares his experience with us.
The Conjuring Genre: Horror Age Certification: Rated R Director: James Wan Writers: Chad Hayes, Carey W. Hayes Notable Actors: Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Ron Livingston, Lili Taylor Release: 7/19/2013, English Plot Outline: Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren work to help a family terrorized by a dark presence in their farmhouse. Review Acting: 9/10 The acting was great and very believable. Even the children did well. When they were supposed to be frightened, you actually believe they were all frightened. When they were supposed to be all stoic, you could actually tell that they were scared but didn't wanna show people they were scared. Writing: 8/10 The Conjuring is interesting and the characters are introduced properly. There is also some good character development. But, like any good haunting story, the build up is pretty slow for the first half. There are no unneccessary scenes. Sound/Music: 8/10 I thought the soundtrack was good and it influenced the moments positively. Additionally, the sound effects were great. Visuals: 9/10 The visuals were really great and added to overall experience. The spirits looked real and there were some good shots of the characters and scenery. Visual effects were awesome, too. "Feels": 10/10 I did get emotionally invested because it was incredibly frightening. I was also rooting for the family to get through their troubles. The Conjuring will scare the life out of you and, believe me, you will not sleep for a few nights after seeing it. Personal Experiences: The Conjuring was scary. I liked the paranormal investigators, because they debunk things. They ultimately go into scenarios as skeptics. Another thing I liked was that it excels on the tension aspect. For instance, the camera will be panning into this really dark corner and someone's scared to death as if they're seeing something, causing me to get gooseumps all over and I'm just like "What's gonna happen?" The Conjuring is really effective, it's really creepy and has a lot of good tension. It's not gonna be original material but the execution of it is actually really good. After seeing it, I couldn't sleep well for about a week. Overall Rating: 8/10 Would I recommend it? If you like a good horror then you'll like The Conjuring. Really worth the watch! %Limbo Hengoku had a horrifying experience he wants to share with us: the movie Sinister
Sinister Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller Age Certification: Rated R Director: Scott Derrickson Writers: Scott Derrickson, C. Robert Cargill Notable Actors: Ethan Hawke, Juliet Rylance, Fred Thompson, James Ransone, Clare Foley, Michael Hall D'Addario Release: 10/5/2012, English Plot Outline: A true-crime writer finds a cache of 8mm home movies films that suggest the murder he is currently researching is the work of a serial killer whose career dates back to the 1960s. Review Acting: 7.5/10 I thought the acting was okay and believable most of the time. But at times, when they were supposed to be scared, they were not really believable. Writing: 8/10 The story is interesting and the characters are introduced properly. There is some character development as well. Characters are interesting and there are no unnecessary scenes. Though, at times, the story is very predictable. Sound/Music: 7/10 I thought the soundtrack was okay and it fit each scene well. Sound effects were good, too, but nothing was really outstanding. Visuals: 8/10 The visuals was good and the spirits looked very real, positively adding to the overall experience. Sinister had good shots of the characters. In addition, I thought the special effects looked pretty neat, but some scenes would've needed a little more work. "Feels": 8/10 I did get emotionally invested because Sinister is really terrifying, but I didn't really bond with any of the characters. I was, however, rooting for them to overcome their situation. Furthermore, the spirits themselves will make your hair stand up with fear. As a whole, Sinister is a horrifying experience. Personal Experiences: When I went to watch Sinister, I was like yeah, this is gonna be a just another scary movie, I've seen it all before. Boy was I wrong, it scared the living daylights out of me. I was surprised by the first shots. It just leaves me going "holy cow, so this is what I am in for". It's just disturbing imagery, It's not the last time you're gonna see it. There's not really much I didn't like about this movie but I got home not being able to sleep. Overall Rating: 7.5/10 Would I recommend it? If you're looking for movie that will scare you to death then Sinister is for you. Give it a shot. In an effort to make our plans for the end of the year easier, %Limbo Hengoku took his time to see if we have to make room for the aptly named New Year's Eve.
New Year's Eve Genre: Romantic Comedy Age Certification: PG-13 Director: Garry Marshall Writer: Katherine Fugate Notable Actors: Halle Berry, Jessica Biel, Jon Bon Jovi, Abigail Breslin, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Robert De Niro, Josh Duhamel, Zac Efron Release: 12/6/2011, English Plot Outline: The lives of several couples and singles in New York intertwine over the course of New Year's Eve . Review Acting: 6/10 I thought the acting was okay and believable. Some of the cast I found to not be believable and felt like they were out of character. All things considered, it was slightly above average. Writing: 4/10 The stories of New Year's Eve were not really interesting. in fact, they were pretty generic and the characters aren't really introduced right. There is some character development but the characters and stories just didn't matter at all. Most of this movie's scenes seem unnecessary. Sound/Music: 7/10 I thought the soundtrack was okay and it did fit each scene well, but it failed to influence or accentuate the current mood too often. Visuals: 6/10 New Year's Eve is dialogue dependent so the visuals didn't offer much. It did, however, get good shots of the characters and scenery. "Feels": 3/10 I did not get emotionally invested and I didn't actually bond with any of the characters. I did somewhat care for a few of the them, but that's it. For a romcom, this movie does not have much feels to it. Personal Experiences: There so many characters in New Year's Eve. It's like when everyone is special that means no one is. The thing that this movie suffers from the most is basic economics. There are so many characters that the value of each of them drops, which is the downfall of this movie. I hated myself for even caring for where some of these characters were going because it was just irrelevant. The best part was at the end and that could have been the entire movie. I honestly did not like New Year's Eve at all. Overall Rating: 4/10 Would I recommend it? No, I wouldn't recommend it because New Year's Eve is legitimately bad. Do yourself a favor and skip this please. +Factor is having a change of pace, this time reviewing the literary crime classic And Then There Were None by Mistress of Mystery Agatha Christie.
And Then There Were None Shelves: Crime, Thriller Age Range: Adult Author: Agatha Christie Published: 1939 Pages: 264 Synopsis: Ten people, each with something to hide and something to fear, are invited to a lonely mansion on Indian Island by a host who fails to appear but leaves a recording accusing all of undetected murder. Cut off by his orders, one by one each die according to a nursery rhyme Ten Little Indians. A confession in a bottle solves how nobody remains alive. Review Characters: 8-10 I loved all of the characters in this book. I found all of their back stories interesting and it made them very enjoyable to read about. I found it very gripping and wanted to find out more about the character back stories. Writing: 8-10 The book was very well written and I always wanted to know what happened next to each character in the story. Very interesting and enjoyable. There was a small pacing problem in the beginning, but it recovered. "Feels": 10-10 I really bonded with these characters and could get emotionally invested because after what happens in the story I could understand what they did and why they did it. I really loved how the characters changed how their entire personalities and almost went insane because of what was happening on the island. I feel that was very well done, also it happened gradually and it wasn't rushed. Personal Experience: I enjoyed reading this immensely. I found it really cool how the continuous character deaths caused all the characters to go insane and break the trust that they had for one another. It seemed realistic and so believable that it kept me hooked the entire time to see what happened to everyone at the end of the novel. I felt that the epilogue was totally necessary to end the book and subtly reveal the killer. Overall this was an amazing read that was on my summer reading list. Would I Recommend This? Yeah of course. If you're looking for a classic thriller that is very interesting, and has great characters this is the book for you. Overall Rating: 9.5/10 #Calyxium here, and I'm putting up a rough template for you to use to format and structure book reviews. I hope it's helpful!
As always, include a [MAJOR SPOILER WARNING] whenever it's necessary, but please confine all spoilers to the Personal Experience section. Book Title Shelves: Classic Literature, Horror, Fantasy, Sci-fi, Paranormal Fantasy, Contemporary Fantasy/Sci-Fi, Epic Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Mystery, Crime, Historical, Non-Fiction, Romance, Contemporary Romance, Suspense Romance, Paranormal Romance, Dystopia, Comedy, Alternate History... etc. Age Range: Adult, Young Adult, Children's. Author(s): The Author(s), if audiobook or graphic novel, also include the narrator and the artists. If it's an anthology, just list the biggest names. Series: Ignore this if the book is standalone, but otherwise include the name of the series it's from. Published: Publication date/original language. Pages: The number of pages in the book, this information is on Goodreads. Synopsis: An outline of the plot, or the book's blurb. This can be sourced from Goodreads or written yourself, but make sure it's spoiler-free. If you are reviewing one book from a series, ensure you do not spoiler the previous books here. Review Plot: 1-10 Was the plot well-constructed? Were there plot holes? Did it make sense overall? Were things left hanging, questions left unanswered? Was the plot enjoyable and engaging? Did the author rely too heavily on deus ex machina? Were all elements of the plot skilfully brought together for a satisfying conclusion? Please don't spoiler here, just your comments on the quality of the plot's construction. Pacing: 1-10 Was the book too slow, so you lost interest, or too fast so you couldn't follow what was happening? Did you remain engaged throughout reading? Were there sluggish parts where nothing interesting happened? Did you constantly want to read more and find you couldn't put the book down? Characters: 1-10 Were the characters likeable? Believable? Sympathetic? Did you root for the hero, or for their cause? Did you engage with them? Were they fully developed - did they have flaws and full, fleshed out personalities or were they reader or author-avatar characters, or just there to push the plot onward? Writing: 1-10 Was it well written? Were there grammar errors, or sentences that ran on too long, or not long enough? Did the author use synonyms or overuse the same words over and over? Was it too descriptive, or not descriptive enough? Did the author "show, not tell" and introduce you to information as it became relevant to the current plot, or did they have large chunks of exposition to wade through? Worldbuilding: 1-10 Were you given a sense of the wider-world? Was it described, did you have a sense of the geographical location the book was set in, and how it related to other areas? Were there different cultures which were presented and developed? Was the description and imagery lacking, or enough for you to imagine this setting? Narration/Illustration: 1-10 OPTIONAL category for people reviewing audiobooks or graphic novels, or books with illustrations. For audio, consider whether the narrator was the right choice from the book, and if his performance added to the book, or detracted from it. Was his range sufficient for the cast of characters? Did he add emotion to scenes or read in a flat monotone? For illustrations, did they add to the book? Were they skilfully illustrated in a style that fit with the book? Did they illuminate scenes that might otherwise have been obscure? Feels: 1-10 Did you feel for the characters, and for their plight, or for their successes? Did you care about them and about what happened to them? Did you connect emotionally, or relate to any of the characters or circumstances? Personal Experience: Your personal experience and any other thoughts you had while and after reading. You can obviously include spoilers here but be sure to use the spoiler warning tag: [MAJOR PLOT SPOILERS] where appropriate. Are you looking forward to reading more by the author, or similar books, or the next in the series? Did the book make you think about issues you hadn't previously considered? Would I Recommend This? If so, who to? Who wouldn't you recommend the book to? Explain why. Overall Rating: The numerical average of the score for the previous categories. Middleweight reviewer +Factor is taking on the Pay-Per-View WWE Summerslam in our very first sports event review.
WWE Summerslam Genre: Action, Sports Notable Wrestlers: Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Brock Lesnar Released: August 17, 2014 Synopsis: The WWE World Heavyweight Championship is on the line with John Cena defending it against The Beast Incarnate, The 1 in 21, Brock Lesnar. Review Acting: 10/10 All the wrestlers that took part in Summerslam made all of their matches look great and sold all of the moves they got hit with perfectly, it all looked very believable. Writing: 10/10 Everything was written perfectly, who had to win won and I couldn't be more pleased by the outcome, knowing all the feuds the wrestlers had, the matches were written to look like a personal vendetta was really at its peak instead of it being just another match, adding truly incredible drama. "Feels": 8/10 I was very invested in most of the matches in the pay-per-view, a few of the matches didn't get me too interested or make me really care, but the good outweighs the bad entirely. I really liked the main event and I really enjoyed the match with Dean Ambrose vs Seth Rollins, I felt that match was fantastic and I was very excited to see what moves they would pull off, how well their psychology would work, and how great they would look as enemies at Summerslam. Personal Experience: [MAJOR SPOILERS] I had a lot of fun with this PPV. It almost hit perfection and was easily the best PPV of the year so far; it will be very hard to top. I loved that Dolph Ziggler won the IC Championship, and everyone who watched the PPV would agree with me on this. After Ziggler jobbing to everyone for so long, I felt that Dolph winning at Summerslam was the best idea. The Lesnar vs Cena match was amazing, it really showed Lesnar is a huge beast by completely destroying Cena and winning the titles. Overall a phenomenal PPV and everyone should see it when it's possible. Would I recommend it? Yes, all wrestling fans will love this PPV. Overall Rating: 9/10 The best pay-per-view this year by far. From a special survival trip returns our very own %Limbo Hengoku to tell us about the movie After Earth.
After Earth Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-fi Age Certification: PG-13 Director: M. Night Shyamalan Writers: Will Smith Notable Actors: Will Smith, Jaden Smith Release: 5/31/2013, English Plot Outline: A crash landing leaves Kitai Raige and his father Cypher stranded on Earth, a millennium after events forced humanity's escape. With Cypher injured, Kitai must embark on a perilous journey to signal for help. Review Acting: 5/10 The acting was was okay and fairly believable. Will Smith did fairly decent in this movie but he was boring to watch. Jaden Smith, in comparison, was les enjoyable. His acting was subpar and wasn't really believable to me, but he did have some good moments. Writing: 2.5/10 The story is interesting, but the execution of it was horrid. The characters are not introduced properly and there is no character development at all. The characters were just boring and the plot was really slow. Some things just didn't make sense. There are some conflicting messages and some unnecessary scenes. Sound/Music: 5/10 I didn't really like the soundtrack, but it did fit most scenes appropriately, yet failed to influence the moments positively. The sound effects were average. Visuals: 7/10 The visuals were okay but didn't really add to overall experience. However, it did have some good shots of the characters and scenery. The predators did look kind of cool, too. Additionally, the special effects were decent. "Feels": 3/10 I did not get emtionally invested at all. I didn't bond with any of the characters either. I was, however, rooting for the protagonists' father-son-bond, but that's about it. If you're looking for a movie with feels, then After Earth isn't for you. Personal Experiences: I honestly did not like After Earth at all. There's just something at the end of it I can't get over. The fact that Will Smith stands up and his first reaction is to salute his kid like a soldier shows me that their father-son-bond (the thing that you're supposed to be rooting for the entire time) hasn't been growing at all. Will Smith saluting his son just shows me that he respects him as a soldier and that's it. I thought I was supposed to root for their father-son-bond and I was supposed to watch that grow. I like a good survival movie as much as the next guy but in the end, the only survival scenario was sitting through the entire movie. Overall Rating: 4/10 Would I recommend it? No, I wouldn't recommend this movie. Do yourself a favor and skip After Earth, it's just boring. The serial reviewist %Limbo Hengoku is back, this time reviewing Quentin Tarantino's masterpiece Pulp Fiction.
Pulp Fiction Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller Age Certification: Rated R Director: Quentin Tarantino Writers: Roger Avary, Quentin Tarantino Notable Actors: John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman, Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Amanda Plummer Release: 10/14/1994, English Plot Outline: The lives of two mob hit men, a boxer, a gangster's wife, and a pair of diner bandits intertwine in four tales of violence and redemption. Review Acting: 10/10 The acting was excellent and very believable. Everyone in this movie did a great job and they were enjoyable to watch. Writing: 10/10 The story of Pulp Fiction is interesting and the characters are introduced. There was some good character development as well. The dialogue in Pulp Fiction is really well written and it's very quotable as well. There are no unnecessary scenes in this movie. Sound/Music: 10/10 I thought the soundtrack was really good and fit each scene perfectly. Visuals: 7/10 The visuals for Pulp Fiction are great. It had good shots of the characters and scenery, but it is mostly dialogue dependent, so the visuals weren't outstanding in any way. "Feels": 7/10 I didn't really get emotionally invested. However, I could relate to Bruce Willis's character because I would react the same way if I was in similar circumstances. Pulp Fiction as a whole was really engrossing and it had me happy the entire time. It was kind of funny, too. Personal Experiences: [PLOT SPOILERS] Pulp Fiction is amazing, from the get go, I knew what I was in for. Great dialogue, a lot of racial slurs and obscure originality. Whenever you see a movie that has a lot of racial slurs and nobody gets upset over it, that tells you that the writing is really good. One thing I liked about it was that it wasn't in chronological order. Instead, the chapters were all mixed up in a really stylistic kind of way. Half the fun after I was done watching it, was piecing everything together. Another thing I enjoyed were the characters, they were fantastic. My favorite is Jules. I honestly cannot think of any negatives for this movie. Overall Rating: 8/10 Would I recommend it? Yeah, I would recommend this movie because it's very entertaining. If you like great dialogue in movies you will love Pulp Fiction. After a short hiatus, %Limbo Hengoku is back with his latest review for Silver Linings Playbook.
Silver Linings Playbook Genre: Comedy, Drama. Romance Age Certification: Rated R Director: David O. Russell Writers: David O. Russell, based on The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick Notable Actors: Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Jacki Weaver, Anupam Kher, Chris Tucker Release: 11/16/2012, English Plot Outline: After a stint in a mental institution, former teacher Pat Solitano moves back in with his parents and tries to reconcile with his ex-wife. Things get more challenging when Pat meets Tiffany, a mysterious girl with problems of her own. Review Acting: 10/10 The acting was great and believable. Robert De Niro as a supporting actor stole the show. He was excellent in his role and the other actors did a fine job as well. They were likable and enjoyable to watch. Writing: 9/10 The story of Silver Linings Playbook is interesting and the characters are introduced properly. There is also some good character development and they were enjoyable all around. In addition, the dialogue for this movie is really well written, with no unnecessary scenes at all. Visuals: 6/10 Silver Linings Playbook is dialogue based so there aren't that many noteworthy visuals. It did, on the other hand, have good shots of the characters and scenery. Everything looked great. Soundtrack: 7/10: Soundtrack was okay to hear and it influenced the scenes positively. Feels: 7/10 I did get emotionally invested because there are very heartfelt moments. I didn't really bond with any of the characters, but they were very relatable. Silver Linings Playbook as a whole is touching and humorous. I was happy throughout the entire movie. Personal Experiences: I really liked Silver Linings Playbook. It's the most accurate, realistic, relatable, bipolar representation I have even seen in a movie. It got me to think that maybe we all have a little bit of craziness in all of us. The interactions between the characters are what I liked most about it because they was enjoyable and realistic. Everyone in had a flawed social aspect to them. I honestly can't think of any negatives about this movie. Overall Rating: 8/10 Would I recommend it? Yes, I would recommend this movie because it's really enjoyable. It's relatable, it had heartfelt moments and it's kind of funny, too. Worth the watch! Where the remake failed, the original did everything right. Here's the review for The Inbetweeners by +Factor
The Inbetweeners (UK Version) Age Certification: TV-14 Genre: Comedy Director: Ben Palmer Writers: Iain Morris, Damon Beesley Run Time: 2008-2012 Synopsis: The exploits of four friends, who are socially only marginally above what one of them calls "the freaks", are presented as they grow from their late teen years into adults and as they go on their quest, usually unsuccessfully, for such grown up things as beer and sex. Review Acting: 10/10 I believe the acting was very well done here. Very believable characters that were easy to like and understand. Writing: 10/10 I loved the cringe comedy in The Inbetweeners. It's not very easy to do cringe comedy and most of the time people end up failing, but here it's done correctly and it's really funny. There weren't any filler scenes really, all the scenes had influence on the plot in the long run. Sound/Music: 7.5/10 For what it's worth, the soundtrack is pretty decent. The intro theme is really catchy and set an overall nice tone for the show. None of the sounds are overly comedic and annoying, they don't give away any of the comedic moments either. Visuals: 6/10 This is based solely on the dialogue. So there's not much to say about the visuals. "Feels": 10/10 The characters were easy to bond with and are very likable. I felt really happy when watching The Inbetweeners and got emotionally invested with the characters. Personal Experiences: In spite of The Inbetweeners being a bit short, I enjoyed all of it. All the characters were lots of fun, the cringe humor was very good and the show made me want to see more of that. It's truly a gem of comedy that was short lived but will never be forgotten. Would I recommend it? Yeah, it's really funny, the show s great plots for each episode and the characters are very enjoyable. Overall Rating: 8.3/10 A must for comedy fans. |
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