Translate

Thursday, 31 January 2013

BLOG -- Recap of January

January was a crazy month for me. Often, I found myself almost forgetting what happened days before -- because I was so focused on what needed to be done in the present. I guess that's nice, but that also meant that I didn't get that much time to myself -- or maybe I did, but it didn't feel like it was enough. *sigh* Well, I'm sure the next month will be different.

Anywho, if you are curious about my thoughts on anything, as always, please go ahead and ask. :)

Outings/Events in January:
- Had Lunch and went karaoking with my friends.

- Had a drink with co-workers.

- Bought a Japanese PS2. Yay!! Now I have access to some more games and DVDs in my collection.

- Received some awesome gingerbread cookies as a late Birthday present.


Exposures:
- (drink) Shirley Temple -- A co-worker suggested this drink to me since I was telling some others that I was trying to be alcohol-free this month (I think I'm out of that "must-drink-alcohol stage"... for now). The drink was a little too citrus-y for my liking, but it was good overall.

- (musical artist) Hiroyuki Sawano -- So... how I stumbled upon this artist is quite embarrassing. I was trying to find the main piano / violin theme for Twilight on Youtube, and I saw a posting named "Jacob's Lullaby" (Jacob is my man of choice -- not for Bella -- for me, lol). Anywho, I clicked on it and was immediately soothed and awed by the lovely instrumental. It sounded so nice! Then I checked out other tracks from Hiroyuki Sawano. In short, I'm digging it.

- (video game) Children of Mana [DS] -- It was kinda fun at first, but then the dungeons got too repetitive. I spent about 7 hours on this before stopping.

- (restaurant) Sushi Fun -- This is a sushi buffet place. I say it was kinda meh. Some hits and some misses.



Finished...
Watching:
- (Anime): Dojin Work -- This series is strange, perverted, and very funny. At least, I found it funny. It kinda makes me want to draw some dojinshi.

- (Movie): Les Miserables (x2) -- This was great. I was crying at almost every scene.

- (Movie - Anime): King of Thorn -- This anime movie was bloody and neat. Then it became a little confusing, which was unfortunate. It had a lot of potential to be awesome. It makes me want to read the manga to get a better understanding of the story.

- (Movie): Twilight: New Moon -- After watching this, I am now a Jacob fan. He just seems like the funner and funnier guy, lol. And no, it is not because of his 8-pack. >.> Edward is cool, too, but if I had to choose, I'd go with Jacob.

- (Movie): Twilight: Eclipse -- It was good. I liked seeing the backstory to Rosalie and Jasper.

- (Movie): Twilight: Breaking Dawn ~ Part 1 -- I liked seeing Jacob's growth in this movie. But the last part... uh... not that I disapprove... I'm just more convinced that it was done out of convenience more than anything else (I'm referring to the imprinting).

- (Movie): Twilight: Breaking Dawn ~ Part 2 -- A little hokey, but at least it seems to tie everything up. By the way, I saw this with my sister in theatres. Yeah. It was still playing in some theatres... two months after its release date, hahaha.

Playing:
- (PS3): The Walking Dead

- (PS2): Samurai Western -- The camera angles are horrible, but I really enjoyed the premise and gameplay. It's not everyday you get to play a game as a samurai fighting guys with guns. It's awesome.

- (PSP): Hatsune Miku 2nd Diva -- I enjoy all games with Hatsune Miku in it. Not all her songs are winners, but there's a lot that I like.

Reading:
- Nothing this time.


Currently... 
Playing (not all at once):
- (PS3): Folklore 
- (PS3): Borderlands 2
- (PS3): Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale  
- (DS): Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja (stopped, 'cuz I could be playing another game that I enjoy more. Hahhh... I can't believe I said that...)
- (DS): Legacy of Ys: Book I & II
- (DS): Final Fantasy III
- (PSP): Persona 
- (Wii): Fortune Street 
- (PS2): Ape Escape 3
- (PS2): Atelier Iris 2 


Watching:
- (Anime): Yu Yu Hakusho
 
Reading:
- Nothing this time.


That's it for January. Here are some random photos / videos:

My Japanese PS2. So sleek and bada**.

The first game I popped into my Japanese PS2.
It was just to watch the awesome opening CG.
The gameplay is too grindy and slow for me.

My Shirley Temple.

I got a dozen of these gingerbreads. I love it. It completes my identity. ;)

"Jacob's Lullaby"
(The piece that got me interested in Hiroyuki Sawano. The uploader 
notes that the song is called 'Song to the Sun', but I don't think it is)

"Stray" by Hiroyuki Sawano
This track is kinda fast-paced and intense-sounding.

Thanks for reading! :)

Monday, 28 January 2013

BLOG (PERSONAL) -- My Never-Ending To-Dos

So... I should have written this blog yesterday. But I was busy. *Sigh* There just seems to be so many things for me to do! Well, this will be more of a rant, I think, than anything else. Well... maybe not. I'm just ranting about my lack of one thing -- the thing I'm almost sure many others would rant about: a lack of Time.

Stacked up against Time, I just have too many "To-Dos" and not enough time to do them. I wish I could be an immortal so I could have endless amounts of time to do all the things I want.

On top of my over-ambitious New Year's Resolutions, I have constant "To-Dos" and a lot of "Want To-Dos". Constant "To-Dos" include cleaning my room, going through my somewhat massive video game / anime / DVD / book collection to clear up my room (I do not like selling / throwing away media that I haven't experienced), etc. 

Some of my "Want To-Dos" include learning Japanese, getting a keyboard to play with music creation, learning Python, creating text-based games. Learning Japanese, Python, and creating text-based games are possible now, but getting a keyboard... my room is just a mess. There's no room for a keyboard right now.

But to clear up my room, I'll need to go through my collection to see what I want to keep. And going through that takes Time -- Time that could also be spent learning Japanese, Python, creating text-based games.

Hahaha... I guess I just feel really torn right now -- about how to spend my Time... my precious Time. It's times like these where I truly appreciate the value of "Me Time" -- and that includes blogging.

Hahaha, I just had to get that out. Thanks for reading. I hope you all have a great week!! :)

Here's a random Youtube video that I stumbled upon just an hour ago. It's this instrumental track from a Japanese drama called "Taiyou no Uta" (Song of the Sun). It makes me want to find the series and watch it, lol. It sounds very beautiful and heartfelt.

 From Sunset to Sunrise -- Hiroyuki Sawano

Sunday, 20 January 2013

BLOG -- Funny Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Moments / Memories

So I've been playing Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 almost everyday since buying it. And through it all, I sometimes run into funny moments that I just want to share. Since not too many people I know play the game, I rarely get that chance. So I'm going to list them here. If I run into more funny moments, I'll add them to this entry. 

This blog will assume that you've played Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 or are familiar with the maps, weapons, scorestreaks, etc. I won't explain in detail what things are, unless for my own benefit (when I read this years from now).

How I play: I am usually a sniper; sometimes a gunner. I often play splitscreen with my sister who alternates between a gunner and a knifer. 

Unless mentioned, all these moments will come from us playing Team Deathmatch. And if I'm referring to a single opponent, I'm assuming it's a guy.

Map: Express (map with the two bridges, blue box, and train)
- I sniped the same player 7 times in a row... in the same spot. I didn't have to move at all. It was almost like getting free shots... lol.

- When I had enough scorestreak to get a Guardian (a device that sends out waves in one direction that would distort the enemy's vision and eventually kill him if he stays in the waves for long enough), I set it down on one edge of the bridge (facing the outside stairs). Immediately after I was killed by somebody on the opposite end of the bridge (where the Guardian was NOT facing).

Upon respawning, I ran back to my Guardian, assuming that it was being attacked by that same guy who killed me. As I was running, though, I was getting Suppress points, telling me that somebody was in my Guardian's waves. Then I got a Suppress kill. Then I got more Suppress points and kills. In my head, I was thinking, What's happening? That guy didn't destroy my Guardian?

When I finally got to the bridge with my Guardian, I saw some enemy player facing the Guardian head on, trying to knife it (you can't damage a Guardian with knife attacks). The guy died, of course, and dropped a Scavenger bag (I had the Scavenger perk on -- a perk that refills your gun's ammo and makes the enemy drop a loot bag to replenish your tacticals and lethals every time you kill somebody in a non-explosive manner). 

I went past my Guardian and at the bottom of the stairs were dead bodies piled on top of each other, with a pile of Scavenger bags. It was a most hilarious sight.

- Around when my sister and I first started playing, we decided to camp out at one of the bridges. We would lay down, our backs to each other, and aim at opposite entrances to the bridge. So any enemy trying to run through that bridge would be shot.

It worked very well in the beginning. Then the enemy got angry. 3 or 4 of them showed up at once and took out my sister while somebody else sent an RC-XD to us, just to make sure we were destroyed.


Map: Standoff (with the four snipey buildings)
- My sister and I played a match where it was largely made up of snipers. It was such a funny and fun match. Every few seconds, we heard our teammates yell out "SNIPER!" or "SNIPER GET DOWN!" or "Sniper down" (the third phrase meaning that our teammates took out an enemy sniper).

There was one instance where my sniper rifle was aimed at one of the windows and I saw three enemies in shrouds. Two were crouched and one was standing. They all looked exactly alike. In my head, I was thinking, What is this? Magic Eye? (those books where you see the same pattern and there's supposed to be some other image as well)

They were all sniped, of course (by me).

- I was at my favourite house, on the roof, crouched in my favourite corner (it's the house with the gates). All of a sudden, an enemy came out onto the roof and backed up into the same corner (i.e. he was crouching right in front of me). What did I do? I knifed him. Always make sure your corners are enemy-free.


Map: Aftermath (large run-down buildings)
- I was in the building with the books, and I was aimed at some enemy by the washroom area. Just as I was about to snipe him, I see my sister pop up, ballistic knifing his back. What a brutal sight.


Those are all I got so far. I'm sure there will be more moments, since I'm still playing the game.

Anywho, I hope you found some of these moments amusing. And thanks for reading! :)

Sunday, 13 January 2013

REVIEW/THOUGHTS [VIDEO GAME] -- The Walking Dead (Telltale Games)

Playthrough Status: COMPLETED ONCE
Approx. Length: 15 hours (about 2-4 hours per chapter; 5 chapters total)
Language: English
Played on: PS3 (Digital download)
Also Available for: XBox 360, PC, Mac OS X, iOS
Type of Game: Point-and-Click; Choose-Your-Own-Adventure; Puzzle; Horror
Overall Impression: It's really good, but holy **** (feel free to insert whatever swear word you want) -- it's dark, sad, intense, and depressing as well.




SPOILER ALERT WARNING!!
This review will contain some spoilers -- or rather, there will be a "Spoilers" section at the end of the review to go into further detail about certain things. There may still be slight spoilers throughout the review, but I've tried my best to keep them at a minimum.

PERSONAL STANDING (Pre-exposures, thoughts, etc.)
Before the game existed, I read some of the comic books. It was recommended in some nerdy podcast I listened to. Curious, I borrowed the first 4 volumes from the library and was hooked. 

When I heard that there was going to be a video game, I was a little hesitant. Video game adaptations of anything tend to be horrible. After reading an entry about it on Siliconera and watching the video (that video has comic book spoilers, so don't watch it unless you've read maybe the first 8 volumes), though, I decided to give the game a chance.


STORY
In The Walking Dead, you play Lee Everett, a convicted murderer. The zombie apocalypse hits while he is being driven to prison. Eventually, he finds a little girl named Clementine, and he decides to take care of her and help her find her parents. That's all I'm going to say. Part of experiencing the game is seeing what happens next.

I can tell you: the story is very well written.


GAMEPLAY
The gameplay involves a mix of point-and-click interactions, some quick-time events, some puzzle-solving, and one of the most important and driving aspects of the game: making choices. At the start of each chapter, before you even begin, these two sentences are displayed on a black screen:

This game series adapts to the choices you make.
The story is tailored by how you play.

While this sort of gameplay is not especially new, it is very engaging and feels unique.

TYPICAL GAMEPLAY FLOW
At the beginning of each chapter, some cutscenes are played and then Lee (i.e., you) will get placed in some kind of situation -- either internal (something happening within his group) or external (something happening elsewhere). From there, it will be a mix of point-and-click exploration, talking with the other characters, quick-time events, solving puzzles, and making choices. 

After you meet your objective (whatever it may be), more cutscenes are shown and the whole cycle starts over again. At the end of the chapter, you'll be presented with stats of your major choices and how it compares to everybody else who's played The Walking Dead. I will show my stats in the "Spoilers" section.

THE INTENSITY OF CHOICE-MAKING
One series of choices presented to you in Chapter 1.
From left to right: Larry, Kenny.

When making choices, a timer will start going down, so you don't have forever to make your decision. Sometimes the timer is slow; sometimes super fast. Sometimes I don't have time to read all the choices, and I think that's intentional -- to go with your gut instead of always trying to make the rational decision or the decision you think the characters want you to make (and just so you know, you can't please everybody).

While choices don't always affect the end result, they do affect the characters and how they might treat you later on or what they will do or say. And some choices can be very difficult to make. One situation puts you in charge of handing out the rations for the day, but you only have 4 pieces of food for a group of 10 people. If you imagine yourself in a real situation like that, how would you decide who gets to eat and who goes hungry?

I'll mention how I generally played / made my choices in the "Spoilers" section.

The game hinting that Clementine will remember whatever choice you just made.
Left to right: Lee, Clementine. 


CHARACTERS/VOICE-ACTING
In The Walking Dead, there are a good number of characters. Some of them are jerks; some of them are decent. I think the cast is varied, and the characterization for some of them were really nicely done. My favourite characters are Lee, Clementine, Glenn, Carley, Mark, Molly, and Chuck. I'll mention more about the characters in the "Spoilers" section.

VOICE-ACTING
The voice-acting is great. While each chapter would be about 2-4 hours of gameplay, I can only imagine the large size of the script, to accommodate the varying choices you make. My favourite voice is Clementine.


GRAPHICS
The Walking Dead has a very comic book feel to it. It's kinda like how a comic book would look if it was 3D. I think it works very nicely.

Since this is a horror game, there are a lot of bloody, graphic moments. Some of Lee's death scenes are pretty brutal (zombies digging into your entrails and such). Just like the comic books, nothing feels censored here. So make sure you've got a strong stomach.


MUSIC
The music fits with the sombre, hopeless, bleak atmosphere. Sometimes it gets very intense for the moments where zombies are chasing you. Other times they're sombre string pieces. At least, that's what I remember.


VIDEO GAME VS. THE COMIC BOOKS
So, The Walking Dead video game and The Walking Dead comic books are completely different. Some of the characters in the game come from the comic books, and the game is supposedly canon to it. Similarities would be the atmosphere and its focus on story and characterization instead of a focus on zombies. 

To me, I find this almost like a breath of fresh air. Playing as Lee Everett instead of Rick (Rick is the main character in the comic books), you are really free to make whatever choices you want and have a better, more immersed experience in the Walking Dead universe than if you were playing a character that already exists and already has his personality established (from the comic books).

 
REPLAYABILITY
The neat thing about replaying the chapters is if you make different choices, you'll get a different experience. So, I'd say that there is a lot of replay value here. The only question is whether or not you would want to replay it, since the story can get pretty dark and depressing. 

I think I would replay it at least once more.


CLOSING THOUGHTS
The Walking Dead is a really great game. It is very engaging, immersive, heavily plot and character-driven, and fun. And you get to kill some zombies. What's not to like about this? Well... I gotta say that sometimes there are slight graphic goof-ups, but that's a minor issue. Not a deal breaker when it comes to a gaming experience like this.

Thanks for reading! If you have any comments, feel free. Now to get to the meat of my review -- my actual experience with the game, which is spoiler-heavy.

So I'll do the scrolly thing and the "Spoilers" section will appear after that. Then I'll add some more scrolly things after the "Spoilers" section in case anybody wants to comment, but not see the spoilers.

..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................

SPOILERS

My general gameplay

In this playthrough, I was generally playing Lee as the nice, honest guy. I tried to make the choices that would satisfy others. But when I got angry, I'd get angry, lol. I was super angry when Kenny killed Larry and told him off whenever I got the chance. 

I think I was a little too forgiving of Ben. He really did screw up so much. When he pleaded for me to let him go in Chapter 4, though, I just couldn't do it. That's just too sad -- feeling that the only redeeming quality for yourself would be to die.

When faced with choosing sides, I would go with what I thought was "right" at the time, or I'd side with who I was most loyal to. I really liked Carley and was always nice to her. I also always tried to be nice to Clementine. I really wanted her and Lee to have a family-like bond.

I think for me, the most difficult decisions were:
-splitting the food rations in Chapter 2
-whether to bring Lilly in the RV in Chapter 3
-whether to have my hand chopped in Chapter 5
-what to do when Ben was impaled in Chapter 5

There's probably more, but I don't remember right now.

 
Characters

My first thought: why did Carley have to die?! I almost think it was forced -- so the writers didn't have to further develop her path. And I fully get that. I've made text-based choose-your-own-adventure kind games before (not on a professional level, though I want to) -- I understand how difficult it is to write to a game with many branching paths. I understand how difficult it is to code / program a game with many branching paths. It is time-consuming. I just wish she didn't have to die.

Well, this section would probably be mostly me whining about why they had to off characters I liked, like Mark, and Chuck. Mark seemed like a decent guy, and Chuck seemed pretty bada** and wise. 

It's too bad Molly left at the end of Chapter 4. She was pretty bada** as well.

I really didn't like Kenny in the beginning. I get how family is very important, and how family takes priority over pretty much everything. But when your family is safe, can't you, err, help out everybody else? I was pretty upset when he didn't help Shawn in Chapter 1 after he took Duck to safety. Close to the end, though, Kenny turned out pretty decent. I was sad when he died in Chapter 5.

Lee and Clementine... that last scene between Lee and Clementine... it was so sad. I cried a lot. Clementine's desperate voice really did it for me. My last words to her was "I will miss you."

My stats for each chapter + fate of the characters

So here are the stats of my choices at the end of each chapter. Yeah, they're horrible screenshots. I also took pictures of the fate of the characters that shows at the end of Chapter 5.

Chapter 1
Lie to Hershel? -- You and 63% of players were honest
Duck or Shawn? -- You and 47% of players chose Shawn
Side with Kenny? -- You and 48% of players defended Kenny
Gave Irene the Gun? -- You and 45% of players gave her the gun
Doug or Carley? -- You and 76% of players chose Carley


Chapter2
Chopped David's leg off? -- You and 84% of players chopped his leg off
Shot Jolene? -- You and 87% of players had Danny shoot her
Helped kill Larry? -- You and 68% of players didn't help
Killed both of the St. John brothers? -- You and 82% of players didn't kill both brothers
Stole food from the car? -- You and 44% of players didn't steal


Chapter3
Did you shoot the girl in the street? -- You and 40% of players shot her
Did you abandon Lilly? -- You and 57% of players did not leave her
Did you fight Kenny? -- You and 44% of players talked him down
Did you shoot Duck? -- You and 79% of players shot him
Did you help Omid? -- You and 43% of players did not help Omid


Chapter4
Did you kill the boy in the attic? -- You and 74% of players killed him
Did you lie to or threaten Vernon? -- You and 66% of players were rational and honest
Did you bring Clementine with you to Crawford? -- You and 74% of players brought her
Did you let Ben fall to his death? -- You and 67% of players pulled him up
Did you reveal your bite to the group? -- You and 80% of players showed the bite


Chapter5
Removed Lee's arm? -- You and 70% of players removed your arm
Lost temper? -- You and 27% of players calmly argued with Kenny
Gave up weapons? -- You and 58% of players surrendered your weapons
Killed Clementine's captor? -- You and 56% of players didn't kill the stranger
Stopped Lee from turning? -- You and 62% of players made sure Lee didn't turn


Left to right: Kenny, Katjaa.


Left to right: Larry, Lilly.
I don't remember calling her a b*tch, lol.


Left to right: Lilly, Omid.
Yeah, I pushed Omid off that bridge in Chapter 3.
I thought it was the only way to get him on the train.


Left to right: Ben, Carley.


Left to right: Christa, Doug.


Left to right: Doug, Duck.
I left Duck hanging when he wanted a high-five in Chapter 3. 
I thought he was just going to have his hand up forever, lol...


If you read my spoilers, thank for reading them! Now to finish with more scrolly things. Feel free to comment :D

..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................
..............................................................

Sunday, 6 January 2013

BLOG -- My Movie-Watching History (in Theatres) [2012]

Here is my movie-watching (in theatres) history for 2012. Since I'm all up to date now, I won't be putting "part 6" or whatever. It'd just become a ridiculously large number years later.

SPOILER ALERT WARNING!!
Since I will be mentioning a good number of movies in this blog, some of them will contain spoilers. Any movie that will contain a spoiler will be marked.


2012


MOVIE: The Hunger Games [SPOILER]
DATE: March 24, 2012
RATING (OUT OF 5): ****

COMMENTS: This was a very well put-together movie. I enjoyed it, especially Peeta’s love for Katniss. I just wish that she felt the same way. Peeta’s little interactions with Katniss – like him gently touching her hair when she was counting down to them eating those poison berries… those little things cemented just how much he loved her. Gosh, I’d want a guy with such strong feelings for me.

You can read my review for it here.

*********************************************************************


MOVIE: 21 Jump Street
DATE: April 11, 2012
RATING (OUT OF 5): ****

COMMENTS: It was hilarious! I wanted to watch it mainly for Channing Tatum (I’ve liked him ever since Step Up). He acted about the same as Tyler in Step Up, which I guess isn’t really a good thing… but I don’t mind. I liked that his character became more geeky in 21 Jump Street. Mmm… a hot geeky guy… I loved the imagery of him and Jonah Hill coming out of that limo in suits and doves flying. That was really cool.

*********************************************************************


MOVIE: The Avengers [SPOILER]
DATE: May 15, 2012
RATING (OUT OF 5): ****

COMMENTS: This was really cool. But at the same time… I almost think that some of the individual movies leading up to this one were better (Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America). Maybe because you don’t get to see too much character development since that was done in the individual movies. I liked Black Widow’s character development, though. And how Hulk handled Loki in the Stark building was great. The audience was applauding to that moment. In the movie, Tony Stark was still my favourite “Avenger”. I was so scared at the end – scared that he would really die. I think they casted a good Hulk replacement, though he looks a little shady.

*********************************************************************


MOVIE: Snow White and the Huntsman
DATE: June 12, 2012
RATING (OUT OF 5): ***

COMMENTS: This movie felt forced. There were some interesting visuals, but then they would always eventually turn weird and gross. Snow White didn’t do a good job. Chris Hemsworth was really good, though.

You can read my review for it here.

*********************************************************************


MOVIE: Brave
DATE: July 4, 2012
RATING (OUT OF 5): ****

COMMENTS: It was not at all what I was expecting from the trailer, but I really enjoyed it. I cried a few times. I loved Merida’s accent.

*********************************************************************


MOVIE: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
DATE: July 7, 2012
RATING (OUT OF 5): ****

COMMENTS: It was a bloody, serious movie, despite the ridiculous premise. It really worked. That axe was really cool.

You can read my review for it here.

*********************************************************************


MOVIE: The Amazing Spider-Man [SPOILER]
DATE: July 17, 2012
RATING (OUT OF 5): *****

COMMENTS: I really enjoyed it. Andrew Garfield was great as Spider-Man, and Emma Stone was great as Gwen Stacie. I think there was a bit more humanness in this one. But I hated that Uncle Ben still died. It’s such a painful guilt.

*********************************************************************


MOVIE: The Dark Knight Rises [SPOILER]
DATE: August 23, 2012
RATING (OUT OF 5): ****

COMMENTS: This movie was terribly long. But I really enjoyed it. I couldn’t hear everything that Bane said, and it really sucked that Miranda was really the bad guy. I empathized the most with Alfred, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt was really good as usual. I loved it when Jospeh Gordon-Levitt got out of the police car holding that rifle. It made him look so bad-a**.

*********************************************************************


MOVIE: Step Up Revolution (in 3D)
DATE: September 13, 2012
RATING (OUT OF 5): ****

COMMENTS: I really enjoyed this. There was a decent enough story, and great dancing. I really liked that it featured dancing from different styles and genres – instead of the freestyle break dancing that the last two movies focused on. It’s too bad that the soundtrack isn’t as varied.

*********************************************************************


MOVIE: How to Train Your Dragon
DATE: October 20, 2012
RATING (OUT OF 5): ****

COMMENTS: I think this was overhyped for me. It was still really good and there were moments that really blew me away. The touching moments were really, really touching (with the help of the stirring, intense background music). I have minor issues with some of the scripting in the beginning. Those dragons were awesome, though.

*********************************************************************


MOVIE: The Perks of Being a Wallflower
DATE: October 23, 2012
RATING (OUT OF 5): ****

COMMENTS: Emma Watson was really good as Sam. Lerman Logan and Erza Miller were really great as well. All I thought about was how honest their characters were – and how I wanted to know more about their lives. Sam’s words really stuck with me – how she “doesn’t want to be somebody’s crush.” For some reason, I find that pretty deep.

You can read my review for it here.

*********************************************************************


MOVIE: Argo
DATE: October 27, 2012
RATING (OUT OF 5): ****

COMMENTS: It was really good and suspenseful. The politics of it… I’m not all that interested in. The idea of it was cool, and it was neat that there was still humour in it. I didn't realize Mendez was played by Ben Affleck. I thought he just directed the movie. What a crazy beard.

*********************************************************************


MOVIE: Looper [SPOILER]
DATE: November 6, 2012
RATING (OUT OF 5): ****

COMMENTS: This was really good. The acting was great, and the world was neat. I just don’t like the horrible loophole in the story.

You can read about my thoughts about the loophole (and about Terminator's loophole) here.

*********************************************************************


MOVIE: Wreck-It Ralph [x3]
DATE: November 11, 2012
DATE: November 13, 2012 (in 3D)
DATE: November 18, 2012
RATING (OUT OF 5): *****

COMMENTS: This movie was absolutely amazing. Sarah Silverman was great as Vanellope. Ralph was great, and the emotions were great. And I could really relate to them.

You can read my review for it here.

*********************************************************************

That's it for this blog. Thanks for reading! If you have any comments about anything (even if you greatly disagree with anything I've said, or if this made you think about the movies you've watched and want to share), feel free to comment! :)