+khRAIN has decided to join us with a movie review Howl's Moving CastleGenre: Adventure, Fantasy, Family, Romance
Age Certification: PG Director: Hayao Miyazaki Writer: Based on Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones Notable Actors: Chieko Basho, Takuya Kimura (Japanese voices); Emily Mortimer, Christian Bale (English voices) Release: 11/20/2004 (Japan) Plot Outline: Sophie, a self-conscious girl working as a hat-maker, unwittingly attracts the attention of the handsome wizard Howl, which also attracts the wrath of a jealous witch. After a curse transforms her into a 90 year-old woman, Sophie must go on an adventure to find a way to reverse the spell. Review Acting: 7/10. Although I had not previously known of Emily Mortimer, I enjoyed her charming interpretation of young Sophie. I also loved the voice for her counter-part, old Sophie, played by Jean Simmons. Simmons did an amazing job of incorporating the confusion and sass of young Sophie with the newly-gained wisdom of her older self. (I have not watched the Japanese dub, therefore I cannot review it.) Writing: 8/10 Miyazaki chose to change many aspects of Jones's novel in order to give Howl's Moving Castle a Ghibli-esque feel. However, any holes or confusion that resulted from a slightly complicated plot is quickly blown away by the spell-bounding overall story and the dynamic characters whom viewers will quickly fall in love with. Soundtrack: 10/10 It's Joe Hisaishi (a long-time partner of Miyazaki) at his finest. Featuring a beautiful soundtrack with songs such as "Merry-Go Round of Life" and "Cave of Mind", the music will leave you feeling eerie or elated at all the right moments. It wonderfully enhances the scenes. Visuals: 10/10 Exactly the top-notch animation quality that you would expect from Miyazaki and Ghibli. The animation is mostly hand-painted while using a touch of computer-animation to enhance it. Miyazaki can create truly breath-taking settings and graphics with this technique. "Feels": 9/10 I was completely engrossed in the story. The relationship between Howl (a handsome, but whiny, guy) and Sophie (a hard-working girl who is a tad insecure) is very believable and they're able to take great steps to change before the ending. Although I disliked Howl at first, I found myself rooting for both of them through thick and thin! Personal Experience: I was a great Ghibli and Miyazaki fan before watching Howl's Moving Castle (I have also watched titles such as Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke) and this movie definitely did not disappoint. Miyazaki's animation combined with Joe Hisaishi's music score created a beautiful story that made me want to watch it again after the first time. Overall Rating: 9/10 Would you recommend it? YES YES YES! The serial reviewist strikes again. This time, %Limbo Hengoku reviews the latest installment of the monster movie Godzilla.
Godzilla Genre: Action, Adventure, Thriller, Sci-Fi, Fantasy Age Certification: PG-13 Director: Gareth Edwards Writer: David Callaham, Based on Godzilla by Toho Notable Actors: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ken Watanabe, Elizabeth Olsen, Juliette Binoche, Sally Hawkins, David Strathairn, Bryan Cranston Release: 5/16/2014, English Plot Outline: The world's most famous monster is pitted against malevolent creatures who, bolstered by humanity's scientific arrogance, threaten our very existence. Review Acting: 8/10 The acting was good and believable. Bryan Cranston did a really good job. Everyone else did a good job, too, but at times the acting didn't look believable. Aside from that, the acting was awesome. Writing: 8/10 The story is intriguing and the characters are introduced properly. There is good character development as well. There are some minor plot holes but they could honestly be overlooked. Sound/Music: 8/10 I thought the soundtrack in Godzilla was okay and it fit each scene perfectly. In addition, the sound effects were great. They were used to correctly accentuate each scene. Visuals: 10/10 The visuals for Godzilla are aswesome and there were really great shots of the characters and scenery. The monsters looked really real too. The cinematography was outstanding, too. "Feels": 7/10 I did get emotionally invested because there are some emotional moments in this movie. I really felt for Bryan Cranston's character because of what happened in the first 15 minutes. I actually felt attached to him. I did kind of bond with Aaron Taylor-Johnson's character but not as much as Bryan's character because he is a bit emotionally distant. Godzilla as a whole was very suspenseful and exciting. Personal Experiences: I actually enjoyed Godzilla a lot. What I loved most about it is that I knew nothing about it. It's really cool going into a movie that is shrouded in secrecy so that you don't know what you're in for. Another thing I liked about it is that it didn't really focus on the monsters but on the humans trying to live in a world with monsters. Godzilla did a really good job of making me feel like I am in a world were Godzilla exists and monsters are destroying civilization as we know it. Furthermore, I loved the characters in this movie. The only thing I hoped for when watching Godzilla was to see more of the monsters fighting. But when they did fight, cool but not as cool as, say, Pacific Rim. It was more realistic than that though, that's for sure. Aside from that, I enjoyed Godzilla a bunch. Overall Rating: 8/10 Would I recommend it? Yes I would recommend it because it's actually pretty good. Give it a shot, it's worth it. Don't worry, you don't have to be religious to enjoy our next movie review by %Limbo Hengoku, who tells us all about Priest.
Priest Genre: Action, Fantasy, Horror Age Certification: Pg-13 Director: Scott Stewart Writers: Cory Goodman, Based on Priest by Min-Woo Hyung Notable Actors: Paul Bettany, Karl Urban, Lily Collins Cam Gigandet, Maggie Q Release: 5/13/2011 Plot Outline: A priest disobeys church law to track down the vampires who kidnapped his niece. Review Acting: 5/10 The acting was okay and believable half the time. Most of the cast didn't really do great though. Karl Urban was decent but for everyone else you could tell they were acting. They weren't particularly likable. Writing: 2/10 The story is interesting but the characters were not introduced properly. The characters didn't really develop as well and they were boring and forgettable. They meant nothing to the story at all and even the main characters were boring. The script was just disjointed and there are some plot holes as well as unnecessary scenes in Priest. Sound/Music: 4/10 The soundtrack was average and but didn't fit some of the scenes at all. It didn't influence the moments properly either. The sound effects weren't to my liking. Visuals: 4/10 The visuals were okay but sometimes just looked incredibly fake. The CGI vampires in this movie looked fake as well. The special effects didn't look great either. "Feels": 1/10 I didn't get emotionally invested in Priest. I didn't bond with or care for any of the characters in this movie. This movie is not for you if you're looking for feels. Personal Experiences: To me, Priest was terrible. One of the biggest things I did not like about it were the vampires that weren't really vampires, they just looked like the lickers from Resident Evil 2. I wanted the vampires to look like legit vampires and these didn't look like intelligent beings. They just looked like animals that you were supposed to get rid of. I didn't like the characters at all, too, and the main villain, who had some potential, ended up not great either. In the end, Priest is just straight up trash to me. Overall Rating: 3/10 not good Would I recommend it? No I would not this movie is terrible and you shouldn't waste your time watching such garbage. Our movie-review-machine %Limbo Hengoku isn't scared easily. Let's see if 2010's Legion did the trick.
Legion Genre: Action, Fantasy, Horror Age Certification: R Director: Scott Stewart Writers: Peter Schink, Scott Stewart Notable Actors: Paul Bettany, Lucas Black, Tyrese Gibson, Adrianne Palicki, Charles S. Dutton, Jon Tenney, Kevin Durand, Willa Holland, Kate Walsh, Dennis Quaid Release: 1/22/2010, English Plot Outline: A group of strangers fight for the welfare of humanity. Review Acting: 4/10 The acting was subpar and most of the time unbelievable. Most of the cast were not good and you could actually tell they were acting. Writing: 2/10 Legion had an interesting premise but the execution of it was really terrible. The characters aren't introduced properly and there wasn't really any character development at all. The pacing of the movie was really bad and the characters are forgettable, they really offer nothing for the story. Also there are huge plot holes that will leave you scratching your head. They threw in a couple of "deep" monologues that could have been cool but ultimately they only draw out the story. There is a decent number of unnecessary scenes. Sound/Music: 4/10 I didn't really like the soundtrack to be completely honest. It did, however, fit some scenes well, while in some of them it felt out of place. Also, the sound effects were subpar. They didn't positively influece the moments either. Visuals: 5/10 The visuals were okay but sometimes didn't look right to me. Special effects weren't outstanding either. You could tell some of the angels and monsters were fake. "Feels": 1/10 I was not emotionally invested at all. I couldn't bond with any of the characters, I just didn't care for any of them. If you're looking for characters to bond with or a movie with a decent amount of feels, this movie is not for you. Personal Experiences: [MINOR PLOT SPOILERS] Legion was terrible. I honestly wanted to like this movie as an action movie but I ended up hating it. Poor construction, bad execution and generic characters is what makes this movie bad to me. A death squad of angles closing in on mankind making its last stand with a rogue angel should have at least been entertaining, but it wasn't. Ultimately, to me, this movie was a bad version of The Prophecy mixed with a bad version of The Mist and mixed with a really bad version of Terminator. I remember walking out this movie thinking I would rather watch a slow, agonizing career suicide preformed by The Rock. I was not pleased at all. Overall Rating: 2/10 Not good Would I recommend it? No I would not recommend this movie. Do yourself a favor and skip this horrid movie. Travelling to the moon was an important idea in the 20th century. Factor tells us what a moon landing would have looked like in 1902. A Trip to the Moon Movie Title: A Trip to the Moon
Genre: Short, Adventure, Fantasy Rating: G Writers: George Melies Director: George Melies Notable Actors: George Melies, Jules-Eugène Legris, Victor André Released: 10/04/1902 Synopsis: A group of astronomers go on an expedition to the moon. Review Acting: 10/10 I felt that for a silent movie, the reactions from the actors were a good tool to convey what was going on. That's not an easy task. Writing: 7/10 It's a silent movie so there's no writing really, but the reactions and expressions were enough to look like writing actually. Directing: 10/10 I liked how the jump cuts in the movie made it look realistic. That's pretty amazing for an early movie, having better transitions than other recent movies. Sound/Music: 8/10 The music in silent movies are essential to a good or bad experience. The music here is pretty catchy and wasn't obnoxious or annoying, which I liked. Visuals: 10/10 I loved the visuals for this short film. George Melies really extended his imagination on how the Moon looked like. The visuals looked beautiful for its time. Personal Experience: Well, I had fun with this. Even though it's very short it had a structured plot and a good pay-off. It never really slowed down really, I could tell what was going on even without any talking because all of the visuals did that perfectly. No plot holes were made at all. Would I recommend it? Of course, it's a good 13 minutes of film and it's shocking film was this advanced in 1902. It's really enjoyable and fun to watch. Overall Rating: 8.7/10 A awesome early film made by an imaginative man. Is it a bird, is it a plane? No, it's +Limbo Hengoku, giving us the low-down on DC Comics' Superman reboot, Man of Steel.
Man of Steel Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Sci-fi Age Certification: PG-13 Director: Zack Snyder Writers: David S. Goyer, Christopher Nolan Notable Actors: Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Kevin Costner, Michael Shannon Released: June 13 2013, Original language English Plot Outline: A young itinerant worker is forced to confront his secret extrastellar origin when Earth is invaded by members of his own race. Review Acting: 8/10 Everyone in this movie did a great job and they were believable. Henry Cavill nailed it as Superman. He looked the part and acted the part really well. Michael Shannon could've done better but he was decent as general Zod. Writing: 8/10 The story was interesting and was good. It introduced the characters and the dialogue was good. The action sequences were cool and intense but less could've been better. Also the first half of the movie at time was kind of choppy too. Soundtrack/Music: 8/10 Soundtrack was good. It added intensity to the action scenes and fit each scene well. Visuals: 8/10 The visuals were good. Also the cinematography was good as well. Everything looked great. Feels: 6.5/10 The movie was very intense and exciting. It kept me at the edge of my seat. This movie had me happy the entire time because everything was enjoyable. Also felt the growing connection between Superman and Lois Lane. Would I recommend it? I'd recommend this because is it was truly a good movie. I liked it, it was enjoyable and I loved Henry Cavill as Superman/Clark. This movie had a lot of cool action. Worth the watch in my opinion. Overall Rating: 8/10 Personal Experience: [MINOR PLOT SPOILERS] This movie was really good. I thought the action sequences were really cool. Also liked how when Superman flew for the first time he actually showed emotion. He actually acts human in this movie despite being from another world and I liked that. I thought it was a cool way to start a Superman reboot. I walked out the movie theater pretty pleased. In case you needed an extra set of lessons in dragon training, +Limbo Hengoku is here to talk you through summer blockbuster How To Train Your Dragon 2.
How To Train Your Dragon 2 Genre: Adventure, Family, Fantasy, Animation Age certification: PG Director: Dean DeBlois Writer: Dean DeBlois Notable actors: Jay Baruchel, Cate Blanchett, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera,Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse,T.J. Miller, Kristen Wiig, Djimon Hounsou, Kit Harington Released: June 13 2014, original language English Plot outline: When Hiccup and Toothless discover an ice cave that is home to hundreds of new wild dragons and the mysterious Dragon Rider, the two friends find themselves at the center of a battle to protect the peace. Review Acting: 10/10 each voice over was done really well and fitted each character. Writing: 9/10 The story was really well written and the dialogue was good too. It was touching and it established the characters. Also had good character development as well. There were a couple of moments where the story pushes past emotional moments without derailing the action or suspense in the plot. Visuals: 10/10 The computer animation was really good. Some of the shots looked like live action. The cinematography was excellent as well. Sound/Music: 9/10 I enjoyed most of the the soundtrack in the movie. It fit each situation and influenced the moments in the movie. Sound effects were good too. Feels: 10/10 I really loved the bond that Hiccup and Toothless shared. There were really touching moments in the movie and really sad ones too that made me tear up. The action was really exciting as well. Would I recommend it? I'd recommend this movie because it's really good. If you're a pet owner you're gonna relate to it. This movie is made for both adults and children, all age groups can enjoy it. Adults would love this movie because there are themes that really hit adults. Kids will like this movie because of the fun action and awesome dragons. This movie had everything you would want in a movie. It's totally worth the shot. Overall Rating: 9.5/10 must see Personal experience: I really enjoyed this movie. It was a great way to start off the summer . Also really loved the connection Hiccup and Toothless had. As a pet owner I was able to relate to and understand them. The only problem I had with the movie was the end. As in, the fact that the movie ended. I honestly did not want it to end at all. I was so engrossed in it, it had me entertained the entire time. I really want a third movie, that's for sure. Who ya gonna call?
Factor can't clear up your pesky poltergeist problem, but he can tell you why you should watch this much-loved comedy sci-fi gem. Ghost Busters Age Certification: PG Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Sci-Fi Director: Ivan Reitman Writers: Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Rick Moranis Notable Actors: Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Rick Moranis, Harold Ramis, and Ernie Hudson Release Date: June 8 1984 Synopsis: Three unemployed parapsychology professors set up shop as a unique ghost removal service. REVIEW Acting: 10/10 The characters were lovable, believable, and very funny to boot. I was always listening to what they had to say and had a lot of fun with them. Writing: 10/10 The writing was spectacular, no plot holes were made to confuse anyone and hurt the overall experience. Another plus of the movie. Sound/Music: 10/10 The soundtrack consisted of great 80s Pop music that were very catchy and could never get out of my head. Also, it influenced the mood in a positive way. Visuals: 10/10 It was perfectly over the top and fit the movie's overall purpose to make you laugh out loud. "Feels": 10/10: It was very easy to bond with these characters and understand their intentions and their personalities. It's very hard for a movie to do so well with that and this one did Would I recommend Ghost Busters to others? I sure would recommend it to others. It's a cinema classic adored by older and newer audiences, so if you haven't watched this golden masterpiece, well you should. Overall Rating: 10/10 A cinema classic! See it! Personal Experience: [MAJOR PLOT SPOILERS] Click "Read More" to view. |
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