Saturday 28 July 2018

Youtube Reviews: Crazy Craft

Series created by: iBallisticsquid

Starring: iBallisticsquid, Stampylongnose, and Ashdub.

Number of episodes: 90

Story: Squid nugget, Stampy cat, and Ash travel through the Crazy Craft mod in Minecraft. Where they encounter monsters, build bases, find lucky blocks, fight Godzilla, and all prepare for their final fight against the three headed dragons known only as the King and Queen.

My thoughts: This is a great series. Squid and co are fun to watch and I wish that the Crazy Craft mod is available on the PS4 and the Xbox one versions of Minecraft. I have to admit that I like episodes 1 to 39 more then the rest (episode 40 onwards feels like a completely different series. Which is the part where they build a huge underground cake factory). I also like the idea of the lucky blocks which either hold a good or bad surprise inside them. I would recommend this for everyone who are fans of Minecraft.

My score: Four stars.

Thursday 19 July 2018

Anime Review: Fairy Tail. Phoenix Priestess

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Release date: August 18th 2012 (Japanese release). December 10 2013 (US DVD release).

Story: After a failed assignment, the Fairy Tail crew come across a woman named Éclair suffering from memory loss. Her bird friend says that they had just escaped from being killed and that she has half of a mystical stone called the Phoenix Stone. The enemy has the other half and they intend to get the other half so that they can combined the two of them and (along with sacrificing Éclair) summon the powerful Phoenix in order to gain unlimited powers. Will the Fairy Tail crew be able to protect Éclair and save the day? Watch the movie and find out.

My thoughts: This is a good movie. There is plenty of action and funny scenes (like when Erza is fighting one of the villains and the fight ends up in a theatre. Making the audience believe that it was part of the play). One of the things that I didn't like about the movie is that it has an abrupted ending. When the villain is defeated, the end credits begin. But this doesn't spoil my enjoyment of the movie. If you are a fan of Fairy Tail or anime in total, then I would recommend giving this a watch.

My score: Four stars.

Saturday 14 July 2018

Film Review: Mars Attacks

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Release date: December 13th 1996.

Story: Mars launches a full scale invasion on Earth. The humans try and make peace with them but it's no use. Will mankind be able to survive and defeat the Martians before it's too late? Watch the film and find out.

 My thoughts: This is not a great movie but I happen to like it. This is a black comedy which was based on the ultra violent trading cards from the 1960's. It may be silly and not as funny for most people but I think that there are somethings in this movie that people may like. The opening credits are magnificent with Danny Elfman's music to add the effect of how big of the situation is. There is an all star cast including Jack Nicholson, Jack Black, Peirce Brosnan, Danny DeVito, Michael J Fox, and Tom Jones. If you like silly parodies of B movies then I would recommend this.

My score: Three stars.

Anime Review: Pokemon

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Release date: April 1st 1997 - present. (22 seasons, 1020 episodes, 20 movies, 48 specials).

Story: The many adventures of Ash Ketchum as he travels around the Pokémon world with his friends and his trusty Pikachu. taking on foes like Team Rocket, visiting new places, meeting new people, earning new badges, battling Pokémon, and ever reaching for his dream of becoming a Pokémon Master.

My thoughts: This is a really great show for all ages. The Pokémon franchise started out as a series of games from Nintendo which evolved into a card game and then evolved into a successful anime. Everybody wanted to be Ash and his friends when this was first released and there have been fan art, fan fiction, fan made games, and mountains of merchandise. And it has only gotten bigger with the release of Pokémon Go two years ago. Like I said it is a great show and I would recommend you watch at least a few shows.

My score: Five stars.

Wednesday 11 July 2018

TV Review: Monsterquest

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Release date: October 31st 2007 - March 24th 2010 (4 seasons, 68 episodes).

Story: A documentary series where a team of researchers try and find cryptozoogical creatures like Big-foot and so on.

My thoughts: This is a very good show. The show (like I said before) tries to find cryptid monsters like Big-foot, the loch ness monster, Mothman, and even the legends like alligators in the sewers. The show even looks into things like giant wild pigs, British giant cats, and packs of once domesticated but turned wild dogs. Even though they hardly find what they are searching for, it doesn't mean that they are not out there. If you are interested in these things then I would recommend you checking this show out.

My score: Five stars.

TV Review: QI

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Release date: September 11th 2003 - present (15 series. 217 episodes).

Story: A comedy quiz show where panellists answer questions about general knowledge.

My thoughts: I got into this show when it was hosted by Stephen Fry. I found it both funny and interesting. It's so full of facts and there are times when things that you thought were right were in fact wrong. There are even funny moments from Stephen, the regular panellist Allen Davis, and by the other panellists. The series itself goes in alphabetical order (so there will be twenty six seasons of the show) and I was glad when series A to M were released on DVD in uncut form. I have stopped watching the show when Stephen left was I felt like the magic was gone. But I would recommend you check it out if you can. You might learn somethings while watching it.

My score: Five stars.

Monday 9 July 2018

Gaming Review: Ark Survival Evolve

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Release date: August 2017.

Type of game: Action, Adventure, Survival game.

Story: You wake up on an island filled with dinosaurs, mythical creatures, and giant sized animals. You have to survive by building bases, making weapons, finding food and water, and taming the creatures. You also level up which will allow you to become stronger, faster, and will allow you to access grater things to build. Which would allow you to build laser turrets, castles, and even flying objects.

Any dislikes: There is only online multi player. And there is also no difficulty selection.

My thoughts: When I first saw lets plays on this game, I thought it looked really cool. A game where you tame dinosaurs and build civilisations with other players, it looked awesome. But then I played it and I was sadly disappointed. I kept dying (either from being eaten, starvation, or from the weather), it was extremely hard for me to tame a creature (and I didn't even know how to), I was constantly under attack, and many of the other players are not friendly. On the plus side it is amazing the amount of dinosaurs and creatures that you can find. It would be nice if you are allowed to choose what creatures that you want to find (either dinosaurs, the early mammals, or mythical monsters).

Things that I want to see in a future update or DLC: Easier ways to tame the dinosaurs, a difficulty setting, a creature setting, and a single player mode.

My score: Two stars.

Friday 6 July 2018

My top six favourite Edgar Allan Poe stories.

No 6: The masque of the Red death.
A rich lord invites the other lords and ladies to seek shelter at his walled off castle when the Red Death strikes the country. While everyone else suffers from the plague outside, the lord and his guests selfishly party inside. But during the partying, the Red Death itself (in the form of a hooded figure wearing a red cloak) finds its way inside the castle and targets the lord and his guests.

No 5: The Black Cat.
A man with a hatred for his pet cat cuts out one of it's eyes. Then later on in the story kills his wife and bricks up the body in the cellar. When the police investigate, the man believes that he has gotten away with murder. Until a familiar meowing starts screeching behind the newly build wall. It turns out that the man had accidently bricked up the cat as well and it is this that he gets found out as the police demolishes the wall and finds the dead body.

No 4: The tell-tale heart.
A man (the narrator of this tale) is seriously disturbed by his elderly lodger. Due to the fact that he has a hideous glass eye. The man develops a obsession with the glass eye which leads him to spy on the old man while he sleeps. But the eye is always closed. Until one night the man finds the eye wide open and this sends him into a murderous rage as he drags the man out of bed and smothers him with the mattress. While this is happening, the man hears the old man's heart beating which disturbs him. He is glad when the man is dead and his heart finally stops. The man then places the old man's body under the floorboards of the bedroom and is about to go to be himself when the police turn up on the doorstep. They say that an neighbour had called them when they heard screaming coming from the man's house. The man lies, saying that it was him screaming as he woke up from a nightmare. And invites the policemen inside the house and into the room where the old man's body is hidden. The policemen then start talking and the man begins to get nervous due to their presence. Then he hears a muffled thump, thump noise. This turns out to be the old man's heart and it gets louder and louder. But only the man hears it. It gets on his nerves and tries to ignore it, but it still goes thump, thump. Until finally the man snaps and admits that he had committed murder. And that the body is under the floorboards of which they are standing on.

No 3: The Raven.
This is a poem where the narrator tells about his encounter with a talking raven which constantly says "Never More!".

No 2: The cask of Amontillado.
In Italy, there is a man named Montresor. Who had suffered great pain misery at the hands of another nobleman named Fortunato (we never get to know what Fortunato has done to him in the story). So Montresor hatches a plan for revenge. He finds a drunk Fortunato at a carnival (wearing a jester's outfit) and tells him that he had recently brought a pipe (three gallons) of a rare sherry called Amontillado. Fortunato is amazed and begs Montresor to take him to it. So Montresor leads him to his home and deep down into the catacombs under his house. Which due to the damp makes Fortunato develop a serious cough. But Montresor gives him a flask of a random drink to keep him happy. As they decent deeper, they talk about things like Montresor being part of the Masons and Montresor's family's coat of arms (which is a foot which is stepping on a snake which is also biting the ankle). They then arrive at a hole in the wall where Montresor claims to be were he has put the barrel of Amontillado is and tells Fortunato to take a look. When he does, Montresor quickly chains him up inside the hole. Then proceeds to brick up the hole. Trapping Fortunato inside and leaving him to die.

No 1: Hop Frog.
Hop Frog is the dwarf jester of a obese king of some unknown country. He is also a cripple (being unable to walk properly but can climb and swing without any trouble) and is constantly mistreated by the king and his seven ministers. One day Hop Frog decided that he had enough and so comes up with a plan. It happens to be the night that the king is to hold a masquerade but he and his ministers haven't decided what to wear. Hop Frog suggested that they dress up as orangutans and makes them their costumes (with tar and flax). Then he chains them up to make it look like they had escaped from their captors. During the masquerade, the king and his ministers make their entrance by running into the ballroom shrieking and frightening the other guests. But then they get tangled up in the chains and Hop Frog manages to attach the chains to the chandelier. They then get hung up high above the heads of the guests and Hop Frog leaps onto the tangles mess that is the king and his ministers (grabbing a lit torch while doing so). Hop Frog then drops the torch onto the flax and the king and his ministers are set on fire. And as they burn alive, Hop Frog makes his escape. 

Tuesday 3 July 2018

Anime Review: Hetalia

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Release date: January 24th 2009 - October 2nd 2015 (6 seasons, 1 movie, several special episodes, a stage musical, and a radio series).

Story: This anime tells the story about the personifications of countries. But mainly focuses on mainly Italy, Japan, China, Germany, France, England, America, and Russia. With a supporting cast including Prussia, Austria, Canada, Hungary, Poland, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Southern Italy (a.k.a Romano), Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, and many others.

My thoughts: Even though this is a comedy, I didn't find much of the comedy funny. When they make jokes, they expect that the viewer would find them side splittingly funny, but instead they would be like "was I supposed to laugh?". Also each episode is five minuets long. When you are just getting into the story, the episode ends. On the other hand the characters are great (even if they are stereotypes at times) and the animation is colourful. If you are an anime fan then I would recommend that you stream this.

My score: Three stars.

Film Review: Dick Tracy

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Release Date: June 15th 1990.

Story: Warren Betty stars as top crime fighter Dick Tracy as he fights crime lord Big Boy Caprice (played amazingly by Al Pacino) in order to rid his city of crime. With his trusty kid sidekick named Kid.

My thoughts: This is a good movie. There is a feeling that you're watching a comic book (seeing that this was based on a comic strip) with the bright colours and villain features. Along with Warren Betty and Al Pacino in the all star cast are Madonna, Dick Van Dyke, Dustin Hoffman, and even veteran character actor Ian Wolfe plays his last ever role in this movie. Disney was hoping to make a franchise out of Dick Tracy but due to poor box office results this was quickly scrapped. It is a shame because I would like to have seen where this franchise would go. It is a good movie and if you are a fan of action, comedy, crime fighting movies then I would recommend this.

My score: Four stars.