DVD Movie Review #155 Yuru Yuri Happy Go Lily Season 1

Hello all and this is back again with yet another in a long lineup of movie reviews. It seems that I am watching a lot of TV as I am doing a lot of TV reviews. This time I am reviewing the Series Yuru Yuri which comes to us from the wonder factory that is NIS America and as it seems to always be Righstuf.com has the best release price. I love Slice of Life series and I admit here I went a little bit crazy.

This series follows a close group of girls as they find the unused and isolated tea ceremony club building and claim it for their own. The girls form the "Amusement Club" dedicated to fun and lesbian hi-jinks for all.

I must admit that I may go a little far with the lesbian comment but I will go more into that in the next section. This had nice bright color and fairly light and poppy music that gets you into a mostly happy mood. The situations are mostly funny and the series itself as a whole seems to hold together.

I don't really understand how this got a second season and Lucky Star did not...go figure. The characters are not that special really not overly sticking out and at times a bit annoying. I don't care for Japanese language voices in the first place and the actresses they got were pretty annoying. The story seems to be a tag of a lag and I feel that they were throwing in a lesbian angle to make up for this fault.

In the end this is a sub standard Slice of life series that I am..sigh watching another season of soon.

As usual NIS puts together a beautiful Premium set though I cannot say as much about the content.

Rating:  5/10

Used:      $55.98  Amazon Marketplace

New:     $47.99  Rightstuf

DVD Movie Review #154 X-Files Season 3

Hello again and welcome to a new DVD movie review. This time I am reviewing X-Files season 3. This was a gift along with the rest of the series from a friend for Christmas so I is continued bed time viewing with my girlfriend. This is a fun series and worth having in any collection and I am glad to work on Season 3.

Season 3 starts us with one in many creature stories and continues our romp in the desert with a mysterious alien burial ground and a cover up by the government. This series again goes through our usual monster of the week one shots and ends with a two part episode so you will be obligated to continue...

Again we see some improvement in the effects but do have moments where you laugh a bit at the campiness. I do want to continue to see this series as the plot has been pretty crisp this time around with less repetition of story and more original works. I feel that the chemistry between actors is well on the way and getting to meet and then see the demise of Scully's dog is well worth it. 

I series continues to suffer from uneven writing with some episodes being snore worthy yet others being gripping. My goodness we continue and I sometimes start to wonder how this series got as popular as it did. 

In the end this is a good series and I shall continue.

Rating:  7/10 

As before this is the price of the full set I got including the movies. 

Used:   $111.49  Amazon Marketplace

New:   $138.92 Amazon Marketplace

DVD Movie Review #153 The Wolverine

Hello again and welcome to the next in my lineup of standup movie reviews. This time I am reviewing the great and powerful Wolverine in his newest film. I was walking through Costco  and saw this at the price I could not resist ($10) I mean that's great for a Blue Ray and DVD combo. I love collecting super hero films and hope to one day get them all (yes cat woman is going to be included but only if I find it for under $1.)

Well we follow our favorite mutant hero in the wold post X-Men 3 and he is having nightmarish regrets about being in that colossal flop losing all hope for the franchise. He is just done harassing a local hunter about his torture of a fake looking animatronic bear when he is approached by a skinny Japanese skeleton model who sees peoples death through emaciated eyes. She takes Wolverine back to her home to see off his old friend that surprisingly didn't die of severe radiation poisoning being only a few miles from ground zero of a nuclear attack during world war two. Now wolverine must protect the man's only granddaughter from ninjas, robots and yakuza...oh my!

Well I must say that the action in this film is intense. I was interested the whole way through from beginning to end. The fight scenes are very well scripted and they definitely get the blood pumping. The Plot line gives you the comic book feel that you always hope for in a movie about a comic book character (we don't need an art piece here). Oh yeah stick in for the stinger during the credits.

Well the acting is so so really not worth mentioning either here or above. I am not really certain that this was a great movie for comic lovers. They kind of butchered all the characters that they did show making them not even represent their original format. I felt that their handling of wolverine is also pretty lame. I mean the character was actually pretty darn intelligent and he can live like forever so he never picked up a foreign language? They make him look pretty stupid. I also felt that the cinematography could use some work though the fight scenes were intense I felt it flopped around a bit making things confusing at times. Lastly the effects were actually a little worse than the first movie...I mean look at the bear! Look at it! Well you'll have to rent the movie as Youtube doesn't have it...shoot.

In the end this is a pretty fun action ride but not really that much better and sadly even less true to the comics than the first one.

Used:     $16.00 Amazon Marketplace

New:    $17.97   Amazon

Halloween Movie Blog #31 Cabin in the Woods

You know this is Halloween and I have decided to save the best for last. This time I bring you the movie Cabin in the woods. I had been wanting this movie to come out for a long time. It may have never happened if it wasn't for a little movie success called The Avengers. Now we have it in all the vaunted glory!

Well we are following two concurrent events in cabin in the woods. The first is a group of technicians that appear to be behind a terrible plot of haunting and killing people in a strange pagan sacrifice. The other is a group of horney college kids on their way to a cabin to spend some time together. They accidentally set lose a terrible evil bent on killing them all. Will they survive the horror that awaits them?

The first thing I want to say is that this has all the traditional features of any horror movie and that is exactly the point of the film. I will try and not totally blow it for you as the twist is actually something that makes this movie unique in the horror genre. The characters are the traditional ones you would find normally and then they are not the traditional souls you would find. I will leave it there. One of the cool features early on is the stoner's bong at the beginning of the film you will see what I need.

The Imagination it took to craft this story really shows much like with other projects by this vaunted Buffy Lord. You will have fun looking at the variety and craftsmanship of the evils in store for our odd heroes. The last of this will satisfy all horror fans for many years to come.

Ok the last part of this is the humor involved. This is still a horror movie but much like Evil Dead it does harness elements of comedy while retaining its horror roots (unlike Child's play). You will chuckle here and there yet still be scared for the heroes and worry as to weather they will live or die. What side you root for will depend on your feelings oversll.

The only issue I have with this film is the ending. I am a bit miffed at it. And for many who have asked there will be no more Cabin in the Woods 2! I mean really watch the film and if you are still wanting a sequel watch it again so you know this is it.

Creep Factor - 7/10
Entertainment Factor - 9/10
Scare Factor - 6/10

Halloween Gaming Blog #31 Zombies Ate My Neighbors!

Welcome to the last of the halloween gaming blogs! I really wanted to do something special for the last blog but then I stumbled upon this classic and had to do this as my last review. This time we are following the game Zombies ate my Neighbors.

This is where I do the whole story thing. Well we have our two heroes and a world overrun by horror bad guys. They must save their friends and neighbors while at the same time taking out the evil zombies and monsters that have mutated and risen from the graves. Armed with your trusty water guns you can do it and take out the evil that has infected the block.

First you get s choice of water gun wielding heroes. This I feel is an application mean to appeal to both male and female gamers. This is a simple shoot em up and really gives you two different player options so you have a different sprite for your two player mode.

The Premise of the game is simple. You utilize your arsenal of weapons to go through each level and rescue the survivors as well as take out the monsters and baddies all the way. If you don't save them they get eaten so you meed to go about doing so. Score points get the keys and go to the next level.

The variety of enemies in this game and the snide humor are the two major fun factors in this for horror fans. You like old school campy horror you will love this game and all the references it goes through. The only issue I have is that the difficulty is also quite old school so be prepared to die lots and lots. It is still to this day worth having via emulator or game download.

Creep Factor - 4/10
Entertainment Factor - 7/10
Scare Factor - 4/10

Halloween Gaming Blog #30 Luigi's Mansion

Hello again and now I am covering one of the cool launch titles for the nintendo gamecube. This game is a fun little launch title which was a good way to show off the graphics of the new more powerful system.

Luigi has inherited a mansion from a dead relative and he goes off to claim his new prize. Unfortunately it was a haunted mansion filled with ghost that wan tto take him out for good. Luigi runs into a professor that manages to teach him how to not only catch the ghosts but how to save their souls once and for all.

I really liked this game. It has a fun combat system and cute dynamic. The mansion has a lot of fun puzzles and the graphics are smooth and work out quite well. The story is amusing and well worth seeing. Of course in the end this is a rather short romp. I do believe that this series is worth checking out again on the 3DS with its new life.

Creep Factor - 5/10
Entertainment Value - 8/10
Scare Factor - 6/10

Halloween Movie Blog #30 Evil Bong Part I

Hello and welcome to the next of my Halloween movie blogs. This time I am going it to the realm of the absurd with the classic evil bong. I saw it in Moviestop and I didn't believe my eyes when I saw the title. I said to myself "I have to have this."

Well our story begins with a nerd starting to attend a new school and renting a place with three stoner roommates.  They manage to buy a cool plastic bong off the internet which turns out to be an evil cursed bong. When you take a toke off of this then you are sucked into a crazy bong world where your soul is trapped and your body dies. Only Tommy Chong has the key to defeat this evil bong for good.

Ok one of the cool ideas that this movie has is bong world. Full of sexy vixens that have specialty bras utilized to torture and kill the victims. This world has some odd characters including the Gingerdead man.  This adds to the odd nature of the series that is already odd. I mean an evil bong as the villain?  I really do enjoy this comedy/horror series.

Though there were two sequels with one taking place in the jungle and other having an alien bong none have Tommy Chong! I have to say this was worth the money and if you ever get s shot you need to see this trilogy

Creep Factor - 4/10
Entertainment Value - 7/10
Scare Factor - 4/10

Halloween Movie Blog #29 Friday the 13th Blog Part IV

Ok I didn't really need a full blog about this one but I really wanted to do the roman numeral IV for the blog in the spirit of the series so here it is the last of my Friday the 13th Blog posts! Today we cover the attempted reboot at the series done in 2009.

We have been here before...horney teens...kid drowns in lake...kid becomes horney teen killing machinee...etc. This time we have Jason himself right up front in the first film. New film new effects continued horror same old stuff new coat of paint.

The first two movies in the original series were the best of the best and unfortunately we are not finding this here. The reboot was sadly lacking and didn't differentiate itself that much from the other movies in the series. You have a few modern jump scares and the effects budget is clearly better but in the end it is the same old horney teen killing psycho relegating this film to be just another crappy sequel to an otherwise iconic series.

So Goodbye Jason! I am keeping our farewell as brief but we may return if you are going to have yet another reboot idea...actually I have read that they are planning a sequel to this in 2015 for those that are really psyched by this film. Farewell and good luck.

Creep Factor - 6/10
Entertainment Value - 6/10
Scare Factor - 6/10

Halloween Movie Blog #28 Friday the 13th Blog Part III

Well we continue with the next set of higher budget films that really ended the cannon for the series. This time we start with Part 8 for those of you counting which is named Jason goes to hell. We last left jason in a pile of toxic waste which mutates the undead monster into an odd worm thing that then possesses others to become the evil killing machine. Thank goodness we have some horney teens to come to the rescue! Jason managed to finally form his own newly demonic body but sadly the teens end up trapping him in hell where he is gone for good...or is he?

Ok this was an interesting installment in the series. It was by far the biggest bank roll job I have seen other than the remake. It had good effects and a fairly creepy story but I feel it went a tad over the top for my taste. You know in the end I was not feeling this film like I did the others and yet the saga continues...

Jason X, the tenth installment in the series (even though the creators insisted that the title did not refer to the actual installment of the film.) takes place in the far future. Jason, while hunting down horney teens is frozen and left buried. Unfortunately horney space teens from the future find Jason's frozen body and decide to unfreeze him...huh? Well Jason gets defrosted and becomes mecha Jason a well oiled horney teen killing machine. Jason is eventually beaten and blown into so many pieces he may not even make it to the next movie.

Ok this is a fun space romp so I can give them that much. I mean what isn't better when you add space ships and cyber tech? I was not really impressed with their "original concept" but as quality goes it does belong in this series of slaughter fest.

You know fans have been waiting for this matchup for years and finally it was delivered. In Freddy Vs. Jason we find Freddy straight out of the last Nightmare on Elm street film forgotten and powerless. Freddy Finds Jason in Hell and resurrects him so that he can spread fear and panic to make freddy strong once again. Unfortunately Jason keeps killing the horney teens before Freddy can sink his claws in. This prompts a bloody grudge match and woe to any horney teen getting in their way.

We have all been waiting for this match up and we were all a little disappointed. It was a fun movie and I did enjoy it but at the same time I feel that they missed the boat on a lot here. Still I am going to try and let others decide as this one I feel is the one on this list that you really should watch.

Creep Factor - 4/10
Entertainment Factor - 7/10
Scare Factor - 6/10

Halloween Gaming Blog #29 State of Decay

Ok who doesn't love a good zombie movie or zombie game on halloween? I can tell you that I am very excited about the game State of Decay. If you purchased the crappy walking dead game with hopes that you were getting a real zombie survival game you are sadly out of luck but here however...

The Premise of this game is quite simple. You are on a camping trip with you friend and then you run into a group of the undead. You fight your way to shelter and then your experience begins. This game has a bit of a story to it but in reality the core of it is to survive the zombie apocalypse the best way that you can.

The graphics on this game are nothing to jump up and down over but that is not where the game shines. This is a real zombie survival type game and there are no bones about it. It involves picking up survivors forming a band, making a hideout, protecting that hideout or just taking to the road foraging for supplies and ammo and enjoying the large free roam world. I feel that the simple aspects coming from combat with the multitude of weaponry and items such as vehicles and buildings to choose from make this game very much worth your attention and play value.

In the short and sweet this is a game that any zombie game fanatic should check out if they too wish to test out the zombie apocalypse survival fun for themselves. Just tell yourself it is only a game.

Creep Factor - 7/10
Entertainment Factor - 7/10
Scare Factor - 7/10

Halloween Gaming Blog #28 Costume Quest

Hello all and welcome to the next in my Gaming Halloween reviews. This time I am covering the game Costume Quest. I had been really interested int his game for years and finally I had seen it available for $5 last year so I downloaded it. There is something about a cool indie rpg that makes us have fun again.

This game follows a pair of siblings out for candy during halloween. Unfortunately one of them gets kidnapped by a candy craving monster. This uncovers a plan by the monsters to take all the halloween candy away. You are charged with keeping the candy safe via the power of your imaginations.

This game plays like your standard rpg with you walking around talking to people doing quests and fighting monsters. This game has ok graphics and a fun atmosphere that is perfectly suited for halloween time. The cast of characters is really fun and the combat system is also very enjoyable and adaptable. The innocence with which this game was crafted gives me a little hope for gaming.

The coolest part about this is the costumes themselves which allow you to morph into lifelike versions through the power of imagination that is then used to launch a variety of attacks on your enemies. The costumes are findable and makeable so that you can trade out and anjoy different types of attacks and cool scenes like the one above. I would recommend this game for all ages as a fun way to enjoy the holiday.

Creep Factor - 3/10
Entertainment Value - 7/10
Scare Factor - 3/10

Halloween Movie Blog #27 Friday the 13th Blog Part II

Ok we are back again With Friday the 13th Part V a new Beginning This time we have a copycat that decides it would be fun to pretend to be jason and slaughter a few horney teens. This "Jason" goes on a rampage with the telltale hockey mask and machete but sadly he comes to a bad end.

This movie was an interesting follow up from "the final chapter" this reminds me a little bit of Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2 where they decided to go someplace a little different. I was not overly impressed by this and other than it being a crazy bit of work.

The 6th installment of the series entitled Jason lives brings Jason back from the dead making him the undead psycho killer that we all know and love to this day. Jason decides that the best thing he can do is return to crystal lake where he finds a bunch of horny kids.

Again nothing new here other than Jason becoming the undead engine of destruction that he is today. I must give them that this is worth the watch as a fun and bloody romp. No more imitators we want the real thing!

HA! You thought they couldn't wake Jason up again well some dumb girl decides that it is time to wake the dead and Jason accidentally hears the call. Ok well now that Jason is awake what did he decide to do? Go to Disneyland? No he goes back to Crystal lake where he finds yet another group of horney teens to slaughter. This time Jason is drowned in the very lake he died in to begin with supposedly closing the circle and sending him down for good.

Really and truly I just wanted to show off the poster this is really nothing new here killing kids horney you get it.

Jason comes back again! This time via electricity and decides to take a cruise in order unwind and get away from slaughtering horny teens at Crystal Lake. Now he's decided to branch out and go after a bunch of horny teenagers on a boat. (It's great when you diversify). Jason is eventually killed when he falls in a vat of toxic waste. Boy you can't see a sequel here anywhere.

Jason takes manhattan is a bit misleading as the total takes place on a cruise ship. This is really nothing other than diversity killing on a bunch of teens on a ship. Why can't Jason simply go after a few Church goers after revival? I mean what is it with the whole morality thing (see cabin in the woods blog later this week). In the end this would normally be the end but when you use toxic waste to kill a villain you are just asking for a suped up stuper sequel.

Creep Factor - 5/10
Entertainment Value - 7/10
Scare Factor - 5/10

Halloween Gaming Blog #27 The Suffering

Hello again this is the gaming blog for the nation and I am saving one of the best for the near the end. I have played a lot of survival horror and I have beaten some survival horror but this is one of the better survival horror games. It may have had a crappy sequel but nothing can touch the original that made the world cringe...the suffering.

In the suffering you are playing a convict on the way to death row. You are taken to the prison and left to wait for your fate when suddenly a massive earthquake hits the prison. Suddenly the prison is crawling with evil demons ready to eat alive anyone cop or convict that they can get their hands on. You have the choice of helping prisoners, guards or both in this massive survival horror game. Will you get to the bottom of the crazies that have invaded the prison? Will you find out what really happened the night your wife was murdered? We shall see...

This game has a lot of open gameplay giving you plenty of weapon and item options building on the old school horror and mixing it with action and slaughter. You can turn into a monster and rip your way through the enemies or go around with double tommy guns mowing them down. This game has a lot to explore and a plethora of hidden bonuses.

 This game is also terribly imaginative from being able to turn into a psychotic monster that represents your inner demons and evolved with the choices you make to the monsters that were based off of different methods of execution. This game has cool story options that leave you with three endings. If you play the good guy you are innocent and didn't kill your wife now if you are evil not only did you kill your wife you were lovin every minute of it. This game is still one of my all time favorites and if you have a PS2 or can get a PC copy play this game.

Creep Factor - 8/10
Entertainment Value - 9/10
Scare Factor - 7/10

Halloween Movie Blog #26 Friday The 13th Blog I

Hello and welcome to the next halloween movie blog. This time I am covering one of the more acclaimed horror series of all time Friday the 13th and this is the first in a series of blogs covering the life of Jason and friends :)

The first move follows the reopening of Camp Crystal Lake where a boy drowned due to the carelessness of their camp counselors. Apparently the new counselors haven't learned their lesson humping like rabbits as soon as they arrive on site. It looks likes the ghost of Jason has decided to come in and teach those counselors a lesson they will never forget.

This is by far my favorite of the series. I love the the killer is someone that you did not expect and if you are familiar with the Jason character and are not terribly familiar the movie itself you are very much blown away by the aspect. This set up a long series of killing and terror and is well worth the praise it gets.

Well Friday the 13th Part 2 takes up from the first one where the one survivor gets a nasty surprise. Also a group of teens take refuge at the camp where all those people got killed. You get to meet with the real Jason who has decided that he is damn tired of meeting with these crazy horney teens.

I did enjoy this as it was the first real appearance of the real Jason and he has a sort of life and not unlife in this one being horribly deformed and living in the woods all those years. They even have a scene where he thinks one of the kids is actually his mother and is convinced not to kill for a moment. This unfortunately does set up a long line of crap that we have to put up with and speaking of...

Jason who has been badly hurt in the last movie manages to hide and lick his wounds. By recoverying we mean he is going to kill anyone that comes nearby his recovery shed. Sadly enough we have a lot of horney teens nearby and who does Jason like to kill?

Part three had a few good points with the first being it was in 3D and had some cool jump scares. The second is that this is the first time we see Jason with the characteristic hockey mask and machete that we know and love. Again we get to see the hunting down of teenagers which is the norm and a climactic death scene at the end.

 Ok Jason isn't dead yet but this is the Final Chapter...ok I have a hard time saying that with a straight face. Well Jason gets up in the morgue and slashes his way back to Crystal lake where he finds yet another group of horney teens out to have fun in a camp known for continued death and murder. The teens clash with Jason yet again and this time Jason is finally killed...for real this time.

This movie begs for me to wonder if these kids are that dumb why do they manage to defeat him in each film. Who goes to a lake that has been having murder after murder take place at it? Well this was to be the end and it is in a way as this is the end of the flesh and blood Jason that we barely know these days and is to begin with the supernatural engine of destruction that we all know and love. Until next time.

Creep Factor - 7/10
Entertainment Value - 7/10
Scare Factor - 7/10