Movie Monday: The Prestige

This week for Movie Monday I’m back with a really depressing movie. It’s The Prestige!

Plot: This is a movie all about stage magicians, and the only reason I remembered ever watching it was because someone mentioned the name Tesla recently and I remembered watching a movie about magicians with him in it. In fact even looking up this movie made me remember how utterly depressing this particular movie is. I won’t reveal the trick, because spoilers; and that’s just not what you do with magic tricks, but I will say this is not a movie with a happily ever after.

Casting: The cast has some pretty big names, like Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale and Scarlett Johansson. They all play central characters and while I enjoyed them in their role, it didn’t take away from the utterly depressing mood of the film which just goes to show how well they can act.

Cinematography: The cinematography is pretty amazing, it’s not up there with something like the Star Wars films but it was good nonetheless.

Music: The score is decent, it fits the film but isn’t anything amazing.

Overall: This is a really depressing movie, but has some really well done acting and cinematography. If you can handle the former the latter is definitely worth watching for.

For those who like: Being really depressed, Amazing Acting, Great Cinematography.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.

 

Retro Game Friday: Front Mission

This week for Retro Game Friday I’m back with a game that was hugely popular back in it’s day. It’s Front Mission!

Plot: I forgot how sad this story is, honestly after looking up the story for a refresher I was tempted to not bother covering this game due to how freaking depressing the story is. The story is good, but damn is it dark and depressing.

Gameplay: This was a pure tactical RPG and boy did it do it well for it’s time and helped paved the way for games like Final Fantasy Tactics and Advance Wars in the future. You could customize the Wanzers to a pretty deep degree given the tech limitations and the standard of quality at the time. That being said it’s a nearly a pure single player game and while you could play with another it’s hard to do that when you shared a screen.

Art: The art was pretty great for it’s time, and it’s aged fairly well. It’s not the best of it’s era, but it holds up pretty well.

Music: I don’t remember it much at all, sorry.

Overall: A great game, but if you don’t like bawling your eyes out you might want to skip it due to the dark nature of the story.

For those who like: Mechas, Tactical RPGs, Drama, Good Story, Great Gameplay.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.

Anime Sunday: Violet Evergarden Episode 01 Impressions

This week for Anime Sunday I’m covering another series from this winter’s line up. It’s my Violet Evergarden Episode 01 Impressions!

Plot Synopsis: Violet is a soldier in the Leidenschaftlich Army who served under Major Gilbert Bougainvillea, who she was utterly devoted to. However, Violet is injured after a mission which resulted in the loss of her arms, requiring them to be replaced with prosthesis. Colonel Hodgins, an old acquaintance of Gilbert, arrives to pick up Violet. He explains to Violet that the war they were fighting has ended and peace has come, though he is unwilling to tell Violet what happened to Gilbert….

Plot: This isn’t a happy series, despite that I’m still deeply interested in watching this series despite how depressing the setting seems to be. I will note that this an adaptation of a completed Light Novel series, so the adaptation should cover the entire story, although I don’t know anything about it myself. I enjoyed this first episode, and I’m curious to see what occurs in later episodes.

Characters: Violet is a very broken young woman, and yet I still found her endearing, if a bit distant.  The rest of the cast is good too, although we don’t have much of their background story yet. Hell we don’t even have much of anyone’s background. Hopefully this is fleshed out sufficiently in subsequent episodes.

Art: This is a Kyoto Animation production, so the quality is quite good. That being said I still find it lacks the fluidity of ufotable’s work, but I wouldn’t use that particular animation studio as my gold standard if it wasn’t as good as it is.

Music: The score is very fitting, with little to no uplifting tones used in this first episode, it fits the somber mood of the episode incredibly well.

Overall: Definitely worth a watch, although I expect this series to be a real tearjerker given the mood of this first episode.

For those who like: Drama, Military Fiction, Broken Main Characters, Excellent Artwork, Fantastic Score.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.

Sensate Saturday: Mikkakan no Koufuku by Miaki Sugaru

This week for Sensate Saturday I’ve got another Quick Review. It’s Mikkakan no Koufuku, or Three Days of Happiness in English, by Miaki Sugaru!

Plot Synopsis:A twenty-year-old with little hope for the future discovers a shop that buys lifespan, time, and health. This is a story dealing with the ensuing consequences.

Plot: I’m not really a fan of this, it’s the typical “Deal with the Devil” stereotype and frankly I don’t think these stories really ever end happily. Plus if you’re going to sell your lifespan you’d do it for more than $1000 per year sold right?

Characters: Our main character, whose name I’ve completely forgotten since I read this first chapter ten minutes ago (Gimme a break, I’m still sick), isn’t really all that likeable. In fact I pretty much hate this kind of person. I’ve got a pretty depressing life myself, so when someone else just throws theirs away without really trying it sickens me. It’s the same sort of thing I hated about Unbound Deathlords for those who read my Wednesday columns.

Art: The art is okay, but frankly wasn’t enough to keep me reading this story.

Overall: If you can stomach these kinds of stories, I guess this might be interesting, but personally I just find them depressing and enraging.

For those who like: “Deals with the Devil” Plots, Romance (Or so the genre tags told me).

Not for those who don’t like: Either of the above, or just depressing stories in general.

Sensate Saturday: Witch’s Hammer by Miyamarun

This week for Sensate Saturday I’m covering a series I came across recently. It’s Witch’s Hammer by Miyamarun!

Plot Synopsis: The chivalrous thief Chloe spends her days and nights acting on behalf of those in need, resulting in her being seen as the hero of the poor, but Chloe herself feels guilty thinking of how a mere thief like her is regarded so highly. However, meeting the witch named Meifa will change her fate…

Plot: This is a fairly creepy series, and while there are only two chapters out thus far, I was thoroughly hooked. I won’t go too much into detail since that’ll take away the fun of reading the chapters for yourself, but I’ll say that everything is not as it seems.

Characters: The entire cast is pretty interesting, with the Guard Captain being a stickler for the rules even if he does sympathize with the masked woman thief, Chloe. Chloe on the other hand seems fairly shallow thus far, but that will probably be taken care of in future chapters. Meifa is just plain creepy. Monica on the other hand is kind of a bitch, although whether she is right in doing so or not remains to be seen. That is pretty much the entire cast in a nutshell.

Art: The art is great, easily reaching Shueisha level of quality.

Overall: While there aren’t many chapters out as of right now, in the future this should prove to be a very interesting series. Definitely worth a read.

For those who like: Fantasy, Chivalrous Thieves, Great Plot, Amazing Cast of Characters, Fantastic Artwork.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.