Movie Monday: Schindler’s List

This week for Movie Monday I’m back with a classic. It’s Schindler’s List!

Plot: The plot is inspired by a true story and honestly this is one of the few historical films I think should be a must watch movie. There are some liberties taken with it, but for the most part the things that happened in the movie actually occurred.

Casting: This is where I would say Liam Neeson started his career in being a badass lead character. He’s gone on to be a badass in tons of movies afterwards, but still this where I’d say he started that particular career path.

Cinematography: Being filmed in black and white and being a historical film there is very little in the form of special effects, but there is one part that deserves mention. The use of the red coat is a pivotal thing in the film and incredibly noteworthy.

Music: Fairly tame, but given the nature of the film that’s a good thing.

Overall: A must see film, if you haven’t seen it you really need to do so.

For those who like: True Stories, History.

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

Anime Sunday: New Life+ Controversy

This week for Anime Sunday I’m not covering a new series. It’s all about the New Life+ Controversy!

Huh?: So for those unaware there was in the past month a huge controversy that exploded regarding a Light Novel series that was getting an Anime adaptation. Than someone found some pretty inflammatory Twitter posts by the author and everything went pear shaped. First the Voice Actors quit the Anime adaptation, than the Anime itself got cancelled. Following that the original publisher pulled the series from Print and the US Publisher did the same.

Seriously?: Yeah, it really happened and personally I find it a shame that it happened and now a bunch of people are out of jobs after putting in work on it.

But they were really insensitive remarks, and so was the main character in the book!: Well I will agree that the Author was an asshole, and probably still is one, but I will dispute the fact that the main character was racist.

First the main character doesn’t have any memories, only knowledge of his past life. The fact that he killed thousands of people as part of a war is something he’s completely unaware of from the first 60 or so pages of the first volume of the Light Novel that I’ve read. The fact he did that is slightly unbelievable, but then again it’s a war, people die; get over it. The fact that some American people got upset at that and call foul when America has a sitting president with known racist Tweets, Multiple Sexual Assault Allegations and tons of other sleazy shit is a bunch of bull to me. Personally I am fully aware of how nationalistic Chinese citizens can be, it’s featured prominently in much of their own literature and authors make similar remarks all the freaking time. Some of the authors of series that have even gotten true Anime have also made rather insensitive remarks on the Chinese equivalents of Twitter. So this occurring is a bit confusing to me   I’m fully aware of how much bad blood there is between Korea, China and Japan, but people losing their jobs over remarks made by another person years in the past is a bit much to me. If you’re going to be upset, than be upset BEFORE people start working on something.

That’s it for this week’s Anime Sunday.

Retro Game Friday: Battlefield 1942

This week for Retro Game Friday I’m covering the first entry in a series that is incredibly popular now. It’s Battlefield 1942!

Plot Synopsis: Look up World War II.

Gameplay: This was a pretty revolutionary game at the time, as it had a massive amount of players that could play in a single match at one time. 64 players was pretty amazing. As for the rest of the gameplay it follows the now standard Battlefield formula of capturing locations and holding the majority of them to slowly whittle away the enemies spawn tickets which let an enemy respawn upon death. 1942 also allowed players to pilot various vehicles ranging from Jeeps to bombers. This made the matches get really insane when you had all 64 players playing.

Art: The art has aged poorly, but that’s to be expect of a 3D game.

Music: I don’t remember a whit, I was having too much fun gaming with my friend online.

Overall: It’s might be worth a try if you can get a free copy, but I’m pretty sure the servers for online play are down now so it’s not really worth spending any money on this.

For those who like: FPS, Military Games, World War II, Vehicular Mayhem.

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

Anime Sunday: Dies Irae Episode 00 Impressions

Hey all I’m back with a look at one of this latest season’s new series. It’s my Dies Irae Episode 00 Impressions!

Plot Synopsis: At the start of the second great war, an important leader in the German security bureau takes on a mission to fight supernatural mutants himself…

Plot: The plot of this first episode really doesn’t make much sense, but I’m going to bet it’s a really important set up for the series. I do want to note that this is an adaptation of a visual novel and that it has an English release, for those who get curious about the series. I myself might look into the source material if I can get a solid grasp on my workload again.

Characters: Reinhard Heydrich seems to be our main character, at least in this first episode, because there was some odd kid that just screams “Main Character” that shows up in the first minute that I don’t really think we see again in this episode.  The rest of the cast was also fairly interesting, although I’m quite creeped out by Karl Kraft.

Art: The art is okay, but not even close to ufotable quality animation.

Music: The music was okay, but not super memorable either.

Overall: A pretty odd start to an adaptation of what is looking to be an interesting Visual Novel. Hopefully it does the source material justice.

For those who like: Historical Fiction, Supernatural, Military Fiction, Urban Fantasy, Action, Drama, Interesting Cast of Characters.

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

 

Anime Sunday: Izetta Episode 01 Impressions

This week for Anime Sunday I’m covering another Fall 2016 series. It’s my Izetta Episode 01 Impressions!

Plot Synopsis: Set in an alternate Earth on the eve of the 2nd World War, the story follows Finé a princess of the tiny Alpine country Eylstadt and her friend Izetta.

Plot: The plot of this first episode is pretty intense from start to finish, and while I really enjoyed it opening with a shot of Finé running in a forest with a Corgi that single scene is probably as peaceful as the entire episode gets. After that everything is incredibly tense.  I won’t spoil any more than that, but I’ll just say I’m hooked thus far. As long as the story keeps up this quality I’ll be watching this series avidly.

Characters: We really only get to meet Finé in this episode, but it’s enough to learn a lot about her as a character. I have to say I enjoy her quite a bit, but I’m looking forward to learning even more about her and Izetta’s relationship. The rest of the cast is good, although I’m expecting we have only touched the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the cast.

Art: The art is great, personally I thought I was watching something animated by A-1 Pictures, the studio who did Sword Art Online among many other series. However I was surprised to see that it was a studio I haven’t heard of before, Ajia-do Animation Works. They did great work in this first episode, and while it’s not close to ufotable quality work, it is leaps and bounds ahead of anything Studio Deen could make.

Music: The musical score fits this series perfectly and while we really didn’t get to enjoy the theme songs I’m looking forward to hearing them in future episodes. We’ll see if it can meet the standard that the score set with this first episode, because they did a great job with it.

Overall: If you want a new spin on World War II, or just want a great Politcal/Military series Izetta might just end up being the show to watch this Fall 2016 season.

For those who like: Politics, Military, World War II Stories, Alternate History, Fantasy, Action, Drama, Excellent Plot, Fantastic Cast of Characters, Great Artwork, Amazing Musical Score.

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