Since my last review was a bad movie, let’s talk about a good one. Let’s talk about Martin Scorsese’sThe Departed.

Warning Spoilers:

Warning clip contains langue and violence.

Story and Characters:

This is Scorsese’s western retelling of a Hong Kong movie, Infernal Affairs. The story is centered on Massachusettss state police’s fight against organized crime (without the aid of a man in a bat suit).

Departed focuses around two main characters: Special investigation unit officer Collin is actually a mole planted by the Irish mafia and Billy Costigan being handpicked to go undercover and infiltrate the same mob. As both men get deeper in their respective organizations, along with developing a relationship a psychologist Madolyn Madden, both sides become aware that is a double agent in their midst. Now Collin and Billy race to uncover clues of the other true identity and to save their lives if their cover is blown.

Pros:

Acting: The cast is spear-headed by two of the best modern day actors. Leonardo Dicaprio (Barley seeming like the same kid who was in Growing Pains) plays our fresh faced hero behind enemy lines. Matt Damon plays Collin Sullivan, the two face villain we love to despise (A comfortable role for him, I mean he did play an angel of death in Dogma). Rounding out the cast is other big name talents: Jack Nicholson, Martin Sheen (from Spawn, or the Illusive Man of Mass Effect, if you prefer : D), Alec Baldwin, Mark Wahlberg( Just forget the Lovely Bones) and Vera Farmiga (currently in the Bates Motel series)

Story: Simplicity is strength, it not overtly complicated nor flashy, yet it is does carry a quite power to it, dealing with themes: Identity, Loyalty and corruption. There is also a “love triangle” sub plot. Martin bases his characters off of real life Gangster Whitey Bulger and corrupted FBI agent John Connolly.

Flaws:

I can’t think of much to say against it, outside it might not appeal to everyone. It’s a gangster/ cop thriller, not really at the top of my lists either (I just saw it tonight because a friend brought it over) But it is still an enjoyment for the older crowd.

Overall: I give this an 8.5.

Thanks for reading < 3

I want to start off first by thanking anyone who has read or even skimmed my reviews as of late. Thanks <3

I also want to go on record and say I see myself as an average umm “pop culture absorber” I tend to be pretty fair and lenient to most things, nor am I super critical. So it’s hard press to find me saying anything really negative. But there are some things that do earn my discontent.

This is a review of a movie that I have developed a like/dislike mood with.

Ultraviolet.

Story and Characters:

The story is set in a alternative future where a virus has developed, causing a part of the human population to generate abilities similar to that of vampires, super strength, speed , healing and in some cases elongated teeth. Of course with their new found power, this sub culture of not vampire vampires rage civil war with the humans. The Humans, striking back have created a weapon to end the “infected” once in for all. The main character Violet or Violet Song Jat Shariff (I’m not kidding hehehe) played by the beautiful Mila Jovovich (of Fifth Element fame and in some circles Resident Evil infamy) is a Hemophage (“not vampire” vampire) tasked with securing the weapon for hemophage so it can’t be used against them. But, upon getting the weapon Violet finds out it is a child, that holds the cure to the hemophage virus (X-men the last stand anyone?) She now fights both sides to protect the child from being used as a tool.

Sounds like a fairly good premise right? What could be the problem?

Flaws:

To start off this point, I have to give a little bit of backstory. Ultraviolet was created and conceived by Kurt Wimmer best known for well received “cult” movie Equilibrium and the “gun kata” style (as well as the modern Total Recall and Salt which are both fair in my book). So he is seen (by those who know him) a smart writer.

But the biggest nail in the coffin for this movie is it’s heavily edited for time, going from the original 120 minutes to 88 minutes. It was also edited to be cheap action movie cash in. This really upset both Wimmer and Jovovich and led to the other problems.

Character development: Outside of Violet, who isn’t a well of depth, the characters are one dimensional. The kid “dies” and no one really cares enough: D

Character Design: again Violet is cool, she has an indy comic quality to her, but might be seen as generic by some. The henchmen are so goofy, looking like a rag tag group of Snake eyes in gas masks. Violet’s original allies are a bunch of colorful rain jacket wearing 20 something. This is the main bad guy.

He has something in his nose , what it is, idk

Violet has along with her Hemophage powers and weapons (guns that look like staplers) has a rather useless ability to change the color of her hair and clothes, while pretty, it’s pointless

Weak twist, the main bad guy, Ferdinand Daxus, is actually a hemophage and the cure kid’s father.

The final fight between Violet and Daxus is done in complete darkness. Finally Violet gets to fight someone on equal terms and all you see is flashes of faces and swords.

Good points:

Mila Jovovich

William Fitcher is a supporting actor

Visuals are the name of the game, but the amount of color can give some people a bit of a head ache, like me V-V

Action is fair; I wish it was paced better.

It’s a non-comic book, comic book movie. It has a nice little intro of the Ultraviolet “comic” through the ages

Overall score: 5.3 out of Ten, the potential is all there, but not executed. Some people like it, but I in good faith can’t be one, but I want to, part of me likes it,I want to justify spending 15 something bucks to buy it (back when I had it) I want to see a comic of it....kinda...maybe

Thanks for reading ^-^

<3<3<3<3

It’s a quiet and sunny weekday afternoon. You stop by the bank to get some cash to spend on your date tonight. Standing in line, you glance around at the surroundings and people to kill the time, the guy behind you is in a suit and gloves, odd, but you don’t think much of it.

“Alright if everyone remains calm, you all can get out of this alive.” You hear a voice and look up. You see man sporting a clown mask holding an Ak-47 in the back of the bank manager emerging from the back. Beads of sweat soak your brow; turning around seeing the man behind you in a clown mask.

In anticipation of the Sequel hitting the market in August, I thought I do a review of the original and also one of my favorite games in the past couple years. Without further ado, here we go.

Story and Characters:

Payday: The Heist centers around the adventures of a four man crew of clown mask wearing robbers (Dark Knight much? Heheeh) as the work to make it big by robbing: banks and jewelry stores, fancy high class parties and screwing over gang bangers. The crew consists of: Dallas, who is pretty much the leader, Chains, Wolf, Hoxton a.k.a Hoxtalicious and their informant/ negotiator Bain

That’s about as far as this side of the game is concerned, but that’s all you need in my book. The characters are shrouded in mystery and do have small back stories (Chains was a former Navy SEAL) and their personalities shine through during missions. (Hoxton gives each of his crew member’s nicknames)

Gameplay:

Payday is gameplay heavy. It is a four player co-op first person shooter that feels like another popular game, Left 4 Dead. What you do during missions varies but they follow the same basic idea, infiltrate the area, round up hostages, hold out against the cops until you can get your valuables and fight till you can escape. How things go is up to you (unless you screw up). Either you take the stealth route, not waste a single bullet or kill a single cop, slip in and slip out or, you go in guns blazing. Some levels well encourage using a specific method for the best success. The enemy is the entire might of the Badge ranging from: Security guards to SWAT, along with special enemies like the Taser squad and the heavily armored “Juggernauts”. You are outfitted with your primary assault rifle and your secondary pistol (you’ll unlock more weapons as you level up). Other gear are things like: ammo bags, med kits and cable ties to take hostages, which you’ll need to trade to crew members if they get arrested (if your unable revive them if they get downed) and Drills to cut into things like vaults doors( you need to check up on the drills a lot cause they break down)

Appeal:

Who is going to play it? Let’s look at the list:

It’s an FPS game

It’s at its best with one or more buddies

It’s available on PSN and Windows (Number 2 will be available on all consoles as well as pc)

It’s rated M, but it’s a “light” M

It’s about twenty dollars on Steam, good for cheap weekend fun

It references other popular heist based media like Point Break (there is a mask pack of presidential figures like Obama and Bush) and as I said earlier it plays like the Left 4 Dead games, the developers created a DLC based around the No Mercy hospital level of the first L4D, before the outbreak, the crew is tasked with retrieve the blood of a patient. This DLC comes with Masks based around the special zombies like the boomer also a Cameo by Bill.

Overall: This game rates for me 3.8 out of 5. If you’re interested give it a go and be on the lookout for number 2.

Thanks for reading ^-^

(A little short, but I plan to carry this for about five parts, only one gym and getting one to two pokemon,not going all out)

Ma-Choke…Ma-Choke…Ma-Choke.” A Machoke stalked through the doorway, carrying a large beige box in its massive, blue hands. He set the box down in the living room, where a little girl, about ten years old, sat cross legged. She wore a black shirt that was too big for her, it had a silhouette of a Jigglypuff on it, pink denim shorts that matched her hair, which was stuffed under a black net hat, she was playing what many could guess was a version of go fish with her sidekick and friend, Panpour, A primate like water Pokemon. Her fur was light blue about her head, and a cream like color for its lower half. Princess’s eyes went from the cards that rested in her tiny hands to the box, with 'Princess’s toys' scrawled on it in orange crayon.

She leaped up, a being of pure joy. She quickly emptied the box, and hugged the Machoke, who was completely caught off guard. This was the second (and hopefully) the last time Princess had move. She had came from Nacrene city in Unova, all the way here to Sandgem Town, of the Sinnoh region. It was very stressful, yet also very fun. Princess loved seeing new sights and Pokémon, making new friends. Behind the scene of Princess showing her appreciation, with Panpour pulling on her foot was Mr. Bush paying the moving man, he walked in and sighed but it was soon replaced with a smile. Mr. Bush wasn’t her father, he wasn’t even related by blood. Mr. Bush was Princess’s legal guardian and hand been since she was four when her parents passed on, being a family friend. He stood stout; his big bushy white goatee covered most of his aged face.

“Mind toning it down squirt?” Mr. Bush asked as Princess got finish hugging the moving man as they left. Panpour and Princess stood, Princess beamed up a bright smile, sans one front tooth. The spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking, getting new house in order, this took them to the nighttime hours into a big house warming dinner. Later on Princess was snuggled up under her big, puffy blanket, Panpour curled up on her tummy asleep. Princess let of a whopper of a sigh, it being a challenge. Tomorrow was a monumental day, the biggest day for anyone when the turn ten, which is the day, they become a Pokémon trainer. When the world becomes their own, she was going to visit Professor Rowan in the morning to get a Pokedex and some sage advice, Princess sighed again, hoping that would make the sun rise faster, she turned her head. She gazed at the big bulletin board that was on her wall which was illuminated by pale yellow moonlight that shined through the window.

There was a photo on the board. It was of Princess, Panpour, Mr. Bush and Princess’s brother Duke, holding a Glameow. That was the day Duke started his adventures, being accepted into the Pokémon Academy in Kanto. Glameow was originally Princess’s, but she traded with Duke as a way to remember each other.

She smiles, her gentle green eyes started to close.

To your burning questions. I'll try my best to answer you all.

This blog is dedicated to a big portion of my younger life. These are my top 5 fav stories, special thanks to R.L. Stine for stories that got a generation of kids into reading and Tim Jacobus for some of the best cover art ever. Also for giving this girl Goosebumps =^o^= (sorry for how the layout happened >_>)

I found this list hard to do, given I own all of the main series and really like all of them lol

5. Welcome to Camp Nightmare: Billy is spending the summer at Camp Night moon, your typical summer camp…even though the counselors are a bit off. This camp has one major rule: Don’t go near the forbidden bunk.” This one had one of the better twist endings in all the series, if not the best.

4. Attack of the Masked Mutant: Skipper is an avid comic book fan and collector. His favorite character is the Super Villain, the Masked Mutant. So imagine his surprise when he gets off at the wrong bus stop and finds a building exactly like the Mutant’s lair.

3. The Curse of Camp Cold Lake: Sarah dislikes water sports and camps, yet much to her dismay, she sent a water sports camp anyway for the summer. Her attitude gets her fellow campers annoy, so they prank her. To get revenge she pretends to drown, but when she is rescued the camp isn't the same as it was. The cover still kind of creeps me the math out.

2. The Haunted Mask 2: Steve, the school prankster, punishment for wrecking the gym of his school is that he has to coach a soccer team. The kids he coaches give him a taste of his own medicine. To get even, he plan to scare them this Halloween night, but he needs the right mask. The sequel to the book in spot one

1. The Haunted Mask: Carly Beth is regarded as the school “Scaredy Cat” and is constantly picked on bye Steve and Chuck. Fed up she wants to get back at them, this Halloween by dressing up and scaring them. She visits the new costume shop in town and stumbles into the back where on display a collection of masks. My first Goosebumps book and my favorite.