The Creature

[Originally posted 17 August 2013.]

This is it, the latest film that Terrence has Contributed to the World of Film. Apparently, this film is consider his worst out of all of his films, & was the last film Roger Ebert reviewed…this is To The Wonder.

From what I could tell from the film, the plot focuses on this married couple (Ben Affleck & Olga Kurylenko) and their child who live in France and they decide to move to America. When they move, (Probably to where Tree of Life took place) at first they’re happy, but for some reason the kid starts to hate Ben Affleck and consider him not his Father and the couple start to seperate. Affleck eventually has a small thing with Rachel McAdams and then he goes back to Olga for….Reasons. (I Have no idea.) they get married in a Prison for some reason and they keep fighting throughout the fim.

The couple’s relationship at first seemed like they were doing well, but as the Second & Third Act show up in the film, they have fight scenes that are completely jumbled and tossed around in the film. Plus we never really get to know why they were Fighting. You know what, I think EDWARD & BELLA FROM TWILIGHT had a better relationship than these two.

I couldn’t really comment on the acting since, probably, all the scenes were cut to make it look like an Art Film. Ben Affleck almost No Dialogue throughout the film, Olga mainly just dances around in random places (In a park, she randomly licks a Tree……ok…)

Plus we also have Javier Bardem in the film who plays a Priest who the couple know personally. Personally, I couldn’t really tell why he was there in the film

Throughout the film, it still shows off typical Terrence Malick traits that were Overused in the Tree of Life…In Fact, The Film looked just like Tree of Life. The Narration of the film was all in French from either Olga or Javier Bardem. The Pretty Imagery wasn’t overused like in Tree of Life, but it still had a lot of it in the film.

FINAL THOUGHTS: It was Really Really Bad. It was up there with Tree of Life. There was no Acting, the Plot was paper thin, the relationship was confusing, and the film ended up being just a mess.
If you are a Terrence Malick fan, I have to ask this question: Why is this film Considered Bad? To Me, It looks just like a Terrence Malick film. In fact, it looks like all of his films (Except Badlands.)

So that’s the end of T.M. Thoughts…For Now….I found out his next film is called “Knight of Cups” & it will come out sometime this year….oh joy…Plus, he’s making a Musical……….:|

Well, I finally got the chance to see this movie. I’ve been waiting a while to see it due to when the film was released in theaters, I was reading the book. I don’t want to create a gigantic paragraph on the book since I’m just focusing on the film, So I’ll briefly sum up my thoughts on it: It was pretty good. Anyways here’s my review of the Adaptation to film.

A long time ago, a race of aliens dubbed “Buggers” invaded Earth and they lost to Human race. Ever since the attack, the International Fleet has been starting a program to train children to grow and become perfect soldiers for their fleet.
Andrew “Ender” Wiggin is a young boy attending an academy for the International Fleet. One day, Colonel Graff (Harrison Ford) arrives at his home to personally invite him to join Battle School to help the fleet stop the “Upcoming” Invasion of the Buggers.

The first thing I noticed about the film is they cut out ALOT from the book. Of course, this would normally do, but some of the more impactiful stuff was left out.

One of the more important aspects of the books that the movie left out was with a few of the character’s personalities. Ender was dumbed down incredibly and he came off as half as intelligent as he was in the book. (He was basically a Tactical Mastermind in the book, here he seemed like a generic kid.) Plus he was made a couple of years older than he was.
One of the more important characters that was cut severly from the book was Ender’s older brother, Peter. In the book, he played a part as one of Ender’s struggles throughout the book. Peter was basically a sociopath who endlessly tormented Ender before battle school and one of the struggles for Ender was not becoming a ruthless killer just like him. In the film, he’s only as five lines in the beginning and never comes back.
Another character that was cut down alot was Bonzo. He was basically one of the main antagonists in the book, and kept degrading Ender. He was cut down alot and some of his scenes were cut and he was very intimidating.

A bunch of the characters were changed throughout the film as well. (Again, many adaptations do this well.)

The actors in this seemed a bit boring and weren’t very entertaining. Ben Kingsley in it looked like he was trying to stay awake the whole time with his eyes wide open in all his scenes. Harrison Ford wasn’t very interesting as Graff and the actor who played Ender was ok, I could say the same thing for Abigail Breslin as Valentine, Ender’s Sister. (Oddly, their relationship seemed a bit incestuous. )

One of the things they had minor cuts to was the Mind Game Ender plays. The Mind Game, throughout the book, changes based on the emotions and events that Ender goes through throughout the course of the book. They did stick with it throughout the book and It looked pretty much like I imagined in the book,. (I imagined Ender playing it on an iPad.)

Since it’s a Sci-Fi film, the Special Effects are one of the more important aspects to this. The Effects seemed pretty standard to if you would compare it to stuff like Avatar or Tron Legacy. They should off the Battle School, many ships from the Fleet, and the Training Room. We do get to see one of the Buggers in the film, which did look like a cross mix of an Ant and a Moth. I’ll admit, the Special Effects looked decent, but I thought the Bugger looked really good.

Final Thoughts: I didn’t like it…at all. I didn’t really see any redeeming factors to it, aside from the Special Effects were decent. The film felt like it was a gigantic mixture of Starship Troopers, Lord of the Flies (the 1996 film), and the Last Starfighter thrown together with elements from the book. I’d recommend reading the book instead of seeing the film.

I decided to take a look at The Purge after it labeled itself “The Scariest Film of the Year”

Each Year, the United States Government actives the Purge which is a Twelve Hour Period where all criminal activity is legal and Medical, Police, and Fire Department Services are Unavailable.
The year is 2022 in Los Angeles, California. We follow James Sandin (Ethan Hawke) and his family as they try to survive this year’s Purge. During the Purge, James’ Son lets a Stranger covered in blood go into their incredibly locked up home. Suddenly, a group of people arrive at their home demanding the Stranger to come out of the house or they’ll get in and kill everyone inside.

The film is pretty much a basic Home Invasion film with the villains to be similar to the film The Strangers. It also tries to be a Social Allegory throughout it stating that Humans are Savage and we need the Purge to help us cope with that fact. There is also talk throughout the film stating of how bad the Purge is and stating that it could be about Money. It could be seen a strange Satire, but I saw it as a means to give backstory for the Purge.
The film does do a few things to set up how the Purge works, most of that is done in the Trailers. It seems like the Purge is used to be a means of Catharsis for the American People and so they can help vent out their rage and Negative thinking to make America seem like a very happy nation according to the “New Founding Fathers”. I will admit the idea of the Purge is incredibly similar to an episode of Star Trek called “The Return of the Achrons” which also has a society which has a 12 hour period of lawlessness and Violence.

James and his wife (Lena Headey) pretty much seem like characters that don’t really care much about the Purge and is established that they never go out during it. I found these two to be a bit uninteresting but the actors portraying them did a decent job with them.
The Son, Charlie, is the only one in the family who sees the Purge as a bad thing and is the one who pretty much starts off the film’s plot. (He, oddly, also looks a little bit like Egoraptor.)
The Daughter, Zoe, isn’t really interesting. She was mainly in the first half hour and then disappears and occasionally pops up in the film. She was mainly in the film due to a minor subplot involving her Boyfriend who is in the house to kill her dad.
Both of the kids aren’t really big characters and you could pretty much ignore them throughout the film.
The Stranger doesn’t have a personality aside from the fact he’s ( or was) in some form of Military (I assume this since he’s wearing Dog Tags.)

As for the “Villains”…
The Majority of them don’t talk. The leader of them is a Blonde Australian who doesn’t reveal anything about them or himself. He’s surprisingly polite and only wants to “Purge” the stranger and he will not leave until he does so, and he gets more violent and Angry as the film progresses. I think he was the best performance in the film. (Although I don’t really think that says much.)

Overall, the film was Boring. I wasn’t really enthralled, Scared, or Invested in the film. It came off as a film you could put on to maybe kill some time. I’ve seen a few Home Invasion films and this was one of the weaker ones. ( It could have been better. ) I can’t really compare to the other Home Invasion film that came out this year [ You’re Next ] So I’ll just end it here: Watch it if want to.

[Originally Posted 3 February 2014.]

…Marijuana.

We all know what it is and is used for Medical Purposes or for Getting High. Mainly Getting High. which is what inspired the Marihuana Tax Act. Back in 1937, Congress passed this to ban the use of Cannabis throughout the United States which was many started due to the notice of usage from many people, pushing as far back as 1860.

Now why is this relevent to my blog? Well…..This helped inspire a church group to create a little piece of film to release to the general public and I decided to take a look at this piece for my 50th review on It Came From the Drive In. So…What film was this?

Yep. The infamous 1930’s expoltation propoganda film that has been labeled as one of the worst films ever made. It has been gained a bit of a following as well as being Remade, Riffed, and Turned into a Muscial…Well, Let’s get started.

The film tells of a series of events involving some high school sudents who try Marijuana and eventually become addicted, and soon a series of unfortunate events follows after their first time using it. One of them being a kid who accidentally performs a hit-and-run. Another one involves a boy named Bill who starts to have an affair and ends with an untimely death. All of them being connected by a couple who serves the kids the drugs.

The film is told by a series of brachets similar to an Anthology film, partially telling the two stories in different parts. The other parts of the film consist of the couple and how they seem to drift apart from each other as the film progresses.

The Acting in the film was nothing really special or worthy of mentioning. They were all mediocore performances from a relatively unknown cast. Since the film was in an Anthology style of filming, It doesn’t really set up any kind of “Main Character” throughout the film. If there was a main character, I guess it would have to be the Drug Dealing Couple since they get the most screen-time out of the cast.

Much like any Propoganda film, they usually try to push a message into it. The one in this is very VERY obvious: Drugs are Bad. They usually adress the issue via the events of the film and they really try to push this over the edge and into your face at times. It didn’t really seem to persuade me, weither it be taking or avoiding the drugs mentioned.

One of the main reasons this film was popular was the unintentional comedy aspect that the film provided (Much like Ed Wood movies.) Probably from the campy performances throughout the film, the supposed effects from drug use and how it is seems to be overplayed. I didn’t really get that vibe from the movie. I saw it as mostly what it was: A Boring Attempt to tell people about the dangers of drugs.

FINAL THOUGHTS: This was Stupid. It wasn’t very persuading, the acting was very good, the plot of it was rather played up to seem important, and it came off as one of those Cornett PSAs you’d see from the 1950’s. I can’t recommend watching it, or avoiding it. It was just an odd piece of film history.

After I saw Tree of Life, I decided to Watch this…unfortunately…     The Film tells of this Kid named Seth who lives in Idaho with his Crazy Motherand Quiet Father. He and his friends grow suspicions of his Neighbor (Lindsay Duncan) being a Vampire. Plus his older Brother (Viggo Mortensen) comes back from his Military Tour and later falls lin love with the girl he thinks is a Vampire.  Throughout the film his friends start dying and later on his father Commits Suicide.   He also finds a Wax Fetus which he believes is his dead friend’s angel and thinks he can hear him talking to him.     At first, the film sounded like a rip off of Fright Night, but it later turns into a pile of S***. They only touch upon the Vampire Aspect for at least 3-5 minutes while the rest of the film shows the Mystery of how Seth’s Friends are Dying and Ocassionally him talking to his Fetus. Plus their are scenes of him and his friends acting like idiots, Destroying his Neighbor’s House and Belongings and Blowing up a frog into of her.   The Quality of the version I had was very Poor but I’ve heard it’s much better. The film takes place in Idaho and reminds me alot of the Terrence Malick film Days of Heaven.     FINAL TOUGHTS: This was Bad. Really Bad. The Child Actors can’t Act and even if they do, they seem like Idiots. The Story started to make me lose interest in the film, the Characters weren’t that Interesting, and Overall I thought this was a Bad Film to see.

I love Kaiju Films. I like seeing giant monsters from Japan played by people in rubber suites attack cardboard cities with bad English dubbing, they may sound bad but they are was a big part of my childhood. So, with Godzilla coming back into theaters, I decided to list my Top 13 Favorite Giant Monsters from Movies.

13. Grabber – Grabbers

I don’t want to spoil too much because I plan on reviewing the movie after my Month of Spaghetti is over, so I’ll briefly describe them. They are large squid like Creatures who basically want to eat people. Pretty basic stuff for a Monster, but what I liked about these monsters is their very Unique Weakness. The look a bit like the Kraken from Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man’s Chest except they come in different sizes. These little monsters definitely a unique beast.

12. The Trolls – Trollhunter

Another very interesting creature from a Mockumentary style of films. They aren’t very different from most other versions of Trolls except that they have large amounts of Hair and get oddly very angry at Christians…(Not Really Sure Why.) There appearance makes them look a bit like a very hairy Troll doll. Never the less, he is still a very different monster.

11. The Stay Puffed Marshmallow Man – Ghostbusters

Definitely the most innocent looking out of the whole bunch on this list. There’s not much to say about him. He’s Big, He’s made of Marshmallow, and he look a bit like the Michelin Mascot. Plus he’s probably one of the more iconic parts of the movie and is still one of the more memorable monsters in film.

10. The Rhedosaurus – The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms

I can’t have a Movie Monster list with having some Ray Harryhausen on here. The Rhedosaurus must have been quite an impact when The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms first came out. With this film being one of the first Creature Features ever, the Beast was quite a spectacle for audiences to see and he left quite an impression throughout the course of the film. His reputation, along with the film, helped spawn films like Them! Gorgo, and even Godzilla. It definitely was a great menace to North America in the film and even 60 years later, he still looks great in Black & White.

9. Clover – Cloverfield

Ok, I know that Found Footage is a bit of a very hated genre, but I do have to admit that I liked Cloverfield and I have to add this one in here. The movie took the Jaws approach and decides to not show him very much until the 3rd Act and when he’s revealed he did seem a bit creepy with his Dead Black Eyes and Fish-esque Head. He isn’t a victim of Radiation though, He’s a baby alien which landed off the coast of Manhattan and decided to go on a rampage. (Imagine Honey, I Blew Up the Kid except with an Alien.) Plus if you don’t think he’s intimidating, he also carries little Spider-Crab like Monsters upon his body. He may not leave much of an impact, but he still gets the Basics done.

8. Daimajin – Daimajin Trilogy

This one was relatively new to me since I only found out about him a month ago. He is a Giant Statue like Monster, which is similar to Talos, who was trapped within a Mountain and he goes on a rampage. He is a pretty basic monster who us actually an ancient spirit who resembles a Shogun. Basically, don’t make him mad and he will not attack you.

7. Cyclops – 7th Voyage of Sinbad

The Classic Cyclops has been interepted by many different filmmakers and illustrations throughout time, but my personal favorite will always be the Harryhausen version. The Cyclops seemed to be very intimidating and was quite the match against Sinbad and his men. It was always a joy for me to see the Cyclops make his way on screen, especially knowing it took almost a year for him to make the animation for this film, and it always holds up as a great adaptation of a Classic Greek Beast.

6. Mothra – Mothra

The 1950’s were certianly all about Giant Bugs and Mothra was the result of when Japan caught on the bug craze. Mothra flew into the Kaiju genre and was quickly put up against Godzilla. Although it’s basically a gigantic bug, it does have plenty of special attacks and abilities lick shooting Posion, Hurricane-like winds, and can use Magic. (Apparently) Plus, I think the big blue eyes make him look a bit creepy. Basically, Mothra is a very interesting Idea and still a memorable monster in the Godzilla films.

5. Xenomorph Queen – Alien Franchise

The Xenomorphs are a rather dangerous spieces of Extraterrestial life, but they all fall short to their Queen. Standing in at about 15ft, the Queen is indeed just a larger version of the normal Xenomorph, but is more lethal due to her massive size and also has an extra set of arms, plus throw in their acid blood and you have a very deadly alien.

4. Gamera – Gamera Series

Japan continued the trend of Giant Reptiles except this time they went with a Turtle and named him Gamera. This giant Turtle came out of the Ice to do what all Giant Monsters always do, Terrorize a city. Gamera was constantly attacked with rockets and bullets, but they hit him like they were fired from a Nerf gun. Throw that in with his Fire Breath and the fact he can fly, He was almost unstoppable. Much like Godzilla, he had multiple monsters thrown at him and he still couldn’t be taken down.

3. The Kraken – Clash of the Titans (1981)

This is the final Harryhausen pick on my list I Promise. The Kraken was one of my first exposures to the work of Ray Harryhausen and it left a big impact on me. It rarely made an appearance until the ending of the film and his scene in the movie is probably one of the best parts of the film. Plus at his height, he could have easly defeated Perseus If he didn’t have a Pegasus, Medusa’s head, and Bubo. Even though he was defeated easily, he still was a great Monster.

2. King Kong – King Kong films

The Original Movie Monster. Kong is not only one of the first movie monsters, but he’s also one of the best. The Giant Ape that roms the grounds of Skull Island who was Taken to New York is very dangerous, but he also has a soft side to him, escpecially with Ann Darrow. He can fight off Dinosaurs, Climb the Empire State Building with ease, and take on Godzilla. Whether being animated by Willis O’ Brien, or being Motion Captured by Weta Workshop, He truely deserves the title The Eighth Wonder of The World.

And my number #1……it’s pretty obvious who it is….

Godzilla

Like I said, It’s pretty obvious. I don’t think I even need to tell you about him. Everyone knows who Godzilla is, He’s the King of the Monsters. He can take on anybody: Mothra, Ghidorah, Hedorah, King Kong, He even had to deal with Rolan Emmerich. He’s existed for 60 years and has attacked and Saved Japan and Many Many occasions and will always be there when people need him or when he just wants to go out on a rampage.

was very intrigued by this film the moment I saw the trailer for it mostly because you never really expect Disney to put out a Horror Film or even be a part of one. What also intrigued me was the fact they left it alone instead of trying to sue for Copyright infringement. I never got the chance to see it in theaters, but finally it came out on DVD recently and rented it. So, it’s time to decide if a Disney themed Horror Film is a good idea or a bad one.

The film tells of a man named Jim who is on vacation with his family at Walt Disney World. On the morning of the day he got fired, He goes to the Park for one finally day before heading home. However, this day is several different. While going on rides, he starts to Hallucinate and sees demonic visions throughout the course of the day while following a couple of French Girls that start to occupy his mind.

To be honest, based on the trailer, the film seems a bit misleading. After seeing the Trailer, I was expecting some kind of Mad Scientist Frankenstein-esque film along with some elements of Posession films like the Exorcist. Instead, what we get is a knock-off of Jacob’s Ladder mixed in with The Shining. It even threw in some elements from a Zombie movie with a diseas called Cat Flu. It was a bit disappointing for me because I’m a fan of Jacob’s Ladder but it wasn’t fully explored like the movie.

The acting in this was Mediocore at best. Jim and the kids were alright, Jim’s wife did bother me a couple of times, and there was a woman who randomly pops up in the film who seemed to overact her part a little bit. So there wasn’t anything very special in that department.

I know that Disney probably would have had some problems from the media if they actually were a part of the film. So the filmmakers actually censored parts in the film. Songs on many of the attractions were changed, a few products were black-bared, and when Jim sayed the Word “Disney” he was Censored while saying it. Plus this is the only disney related film where you’ll see a Sex scene as well as Nudity. (Except for one small bit in Fantasia.) Disney would most likely frown upon the idea of a bad image and someone getting away with it.

Well then again…there was also that scene in Exit Through the Gift Shop that happened a little while ago….

The film doesn’t really say anything about Disney World except that it’s big. The Trailer suggests that the park is evil and the workers and imagineers have created some kind of odd Manipulative attraction based park that will warp anyone to its will….Okay, most of that’s what I thought the film would be about. Anyways, the film doesn’t seem to make it out to be evil. All it tells us is the one thing we all know: They have lots of Lines and the lines are long.

One of the bigger things you’ll notice in the film is that it’s shot at Disneyland and Disney World. I saw this pretty much immediately since I’ve never been to Florida ever. It did bug me since it took the film is suppose to take place in Disney World and mixing the two park together looked a bit odd and it can be very obvious.

I will admit that being shot on a bunch of Handheld cameras, the film actually looked pretty good. Plus some of the special effects in it were actually good like the scene where Jim was inside Spaceship Earth. The helmet that he had on in the scene and how it came on him looked really good.

Although, I will admit there are some Green Screen Shots that were incredibly obvious and didn’t really look good.

Final Thoughts: I thought it was a bit boring. The Concept of it is rather interesting and it does seem on the audacious side, but it does come off as a bit dull and would be a rather odd sit for the Disney fans since it doesn’t really do anything to be mean to Disney or suggest that it’s evil. So if you want to see it, go right ahead. I’m not going to stop you. I just find it to be rather dull, but like I said; It’s an interesting idea for a film. I just wish it was executed a little bit better.

When one gets ideas for Musicals, they often are inspired by Film or True Events or the one that has always been used the most…Books. Many of the most popular musicals on the 20th and 21st Century are based on some pieces of literature either forgotten or highly recognized. One of the more recognized of recent years is a novel by Gaston Leroux from 1910 entitled “The Phantom of the Opera”

The Novel that has been adapted to film multiple times in the early 1920’s and 1930’s and eventually became an inspiration for one of the most popular musicals of all time by Andrew Lloyd Webber in the 1980’s. The musical has a great success and is personal of my favorites in the Theater circuit with great art direction, costumes, and of course the songs…BUT…That isn’t what I’m here to talk about today. I’m here to look at the first musical adaptation of the novel that came out in 1974 by Brian De Palma and has been a massive cult classic Musical just as Campy as Flash Gordon or Blood for Dracula. Before we had Rocky Horror Picture Show, We were given The Phantom of the Paradise.

A Songwriter by the name of Winslow Leach (William Finley) gets the attention of the mysterious Record Producer Swan (Paul Williams) who steals Winslow’s song “Faust” believing it will be perfect to open his new theater “The Paradise”. Winslow tries to contact Swan about it, but is eventually arrested, badly injured, and is presumed dead. Sometime later, Winslow confronts Swan who offers him a deal to right music for Swan and he will keep Winslow’s name on it.

Much like the Phantom, the film also tells a bit of a Love-Triangle between Swan, Winslow, and a singer named Phoenix who originally caught Winslow’s attention and believes she is perfect to sing the piece. Throughout the film, Swan and Winslow conflict over Phoenix and her singing with multiple different singers replacing her.

The film not only is an adaptation of the Phantom of the Opera, but it also carries elements and plot points from Faust and The Picture of Dorian Gray. The mixtures of stories are often contained with the two characters. Winslow carried the Phantom plot, while Swan had Faust and Dorian Gray. Plus it has allusions to The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Frankenstein, and a minor parody of Psycho.

It is definitely one of the most Unique Adaptations out there…In a good way.

The characters throughout the film resemble the majority of the characters of the Phantom of the Opera. Winslow and Swan split the role of the Phantom into the two characters. Winslow represented the obsessive side that writes the music and who also loves Phoenix, while Swan was the Manipulative side of the Phantom. Plus the two also have elements of some other characters. Winslow had elements of Raoul within him, seeming to make him like a fallen hero; while Swan also represented Andre and Firmin, the Opera Managers from the book. With the two similar yet different characters, they came out as my favorite characters from the film.

The rest of the characters are pretty obvious who they resemble. Phoenix is the equivalent of Christine Daae, except she doesn’t have as much development as her though. Then there’s Beef….

Aside from Swan and Winslow, Beef was probably one of the better characters basically because of the over the top camp factor of the whole character. He was the Equivalent of Carlotta if you gave her a Glam rock David Bowie-esque outfit as well a stereotypical gay accent but comes out singing like Meat Loaf. (Plus his name is probably a parody of Meat Loaf.)

There were many characters that were in the book that they left out but that didn’t leave much leave a difference of the film since this is a very loose adaptation of the book.

The Songs in the film were written by one of my favorite Songwriters and one of the main actors in the film, Paul Williams.

The main song that is played and sung by multiple people is Winslow’s song “Faust” which tells the story of Faust and is one of the major plot points throughout the film and to be fair, Faust is the best song in the whole film. Winslow’s singing voice originally was William Finley, but after he became the Phantom, it changed to one that is Paul William’s singing voice. That’s ok to me since Swan doesn’t sing the film anyway.

A bunch of the songs were sung by a Band which changed their appearances throughout the film. They started off as a Rockabilly style band called the Juicy Fruits, then a Surf Rock band called the Beach Bums, and then a Doom Metal style band called the Undeads. Phoenix and Beef get songs as well in the film but they’re much later into it. They are still good, but I still think Faust is the best in the film.

FINAL THOUGHTS: I Love this Movie. This is probably one of my favorite musicals as well. I loved the Songs, I love the Camp Factor of it similar to Rocky Horror Picture Show, I liked the majority of the characters, it was a very creative adaptation of Gaston Leroux’s Story, and it definitely should be seen by more people. I Highly recommend seeing this…In fact, why are you still reading this? Go Watch The Movie!

…Why Does This Exist?

Plot: You wake up to see Trixie where She tells you that you get to spend Three Days in Ponyville and she turns you into a Red Earth Pony.

As you go through Ponyville, you get to meet The Mane 6 (Except for Rarity) who are usually hanging out by their Houses. You can also meet Vinyl Scratch/DJ Pon3, Spike, Dr. Whooves, Big Mac, and you can keep talking to Trixie who later can give you a Horn or Wings so you can explore Cloudsdale.

Objective: The Game has only One major Objective or Choice with the Female Ponies….

you F*** them… Seriously, It’s the only way to progress in the game…

I went into this Game not knowing anything about it and that was my first mistake. I later found out that it was made for the “Cloppers”. I Don’t Know who made this Game and I Don’t want to know. Most fandoms have a Dark Side and this Game comes from it. It looks like it comes straight out of the Pony Thread Simulators.

Graphics: They’re Ok. Some parts of the Game aren’t finished yet and are shown in a Rough Sketch like the Scene with Zecora and how she was actually Queen Chrysalis. The Game has only been in Alpha Every since it was released and Updates will be made for it…Unfortunately…

All I would put for the Graphics is This:

Final Thoughts: Don’t Play This. Don’t Look it Up on Youtube, Don’t Look it Up on Google, Just Please Stay Away from this Game! I’ve seen some stuff that has been considered Nasty, but in my Opinion, this Tops all of them. I would never recommend this to anyone and I would never show this to anyone.

(Posted originally before the movie came out.)

I figured I might as well join in and Share my opinion on this.

When the anouncement was first made about this, I wasn’t very sure what to think, like most of the Bronies at the Time. Then the Images of the Mane 6 as humans came out and most Bronies either Ran & Hid under Rocks or they Screamed like Twilight in the Trailer.

Most people were quick to Judge. Most considered this to be a horrible idea and wanted to Ignore it completely stating that the writers didn’t know what they were Doing.

Reminds me of what some people thought of a Certian Season Finale.

And then it became a Spin Off Film and when the Trailer came out, The Sh*t Storm Grew Larger. People ACTUALLY STARTED SENDING DEATH THREATS TO THE CAST & CREW and some of them are considering leaving the show.

Personally, After I Saw the Trailer, I thought it looked GOOD. I decided that I’m going to see it with a bunch of my Brony Friends when it comes out.

One of my main reactions for the hate was similar to this:

Character Designs I thought it was interesting that everyone in the human world is Multi-colored. Reminds me alot of the Show Doug.

Spike as a Dog I don’t really care about that. They could have made him a Duck & It still wouldn’t have upset me.

Plot I know it looks like a High School Drama but Maybe it’ll be good.

“Brad”

So People say he looks like Shining Armor…I Don’t see it. I think he looks more like A humanized Comet Tail.

It doesn’t bug me that Twilight might have a BF in it. Besides, If Shining Armor was in this, He Probably would be in College or have a Job.

And for the death threat thing….ARE YOU F***KING OUT OF YOUR MINDS!??!??! IT’S A CARTOON FOR LITTLE GIRLS!!! WHY WOULD YOU EVEN DO THAT?!

Most Bronies are treating this like its A Type of Cancer! It’s Extremely Premature and I think you should at least give it a look before you judge it.

I’m doing the same thing with Terrence Malick. I’m watching his films before I actually can saw anything about him & his work.

If you have some doubts about the whole thing, I ask you to consider a few things:

1. It’s Intended Audience is Little Girls. It wasn’t made ONLY for Adults.

2. Alot of Bronies wanted an MLP:FiM Movie. And now that we get one, you complain.

3. It’s A Spin Off. It mostly likely will not be Canon with Season 4.

4. DON’T JUDGE A BOOK BY IT’S COVER!!! This is the One Thing everyone did & is doing with the film right now. Yes, It looks like a Teenage High School Drama film but Maybe it will be like a John Hughes film (Except with Ponies)

Overall – It Looks Good. I’m going to see it June 22th with a bunch of my Brony Friends. I’ll post a review/My Thoughts on the Film a few days later.

Haunted House films can be classified as one of the easiest films to come up with, but are very popular. With films like The Haunting, Poltergeist, The Shining, House on Haunted Hill, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark & Paranormal Activity it can be easly seen why people would enjoy them.

This film makes them look like kid’s movies With Flesh eating Pianos, Flying Heads, Cat Paintings shooting out blood, all of that and more in the 1977 Japenese film HAUSU (House)

The film was the feature film debut of TV Ad Director Nobuhiko Obayashi who was hired by Toho when the film was on hold for two years since no one wanted to direct it.

The film tells of a schoolgirl named Gorgeous who was going to Italy on vacation with her father, but when finding out she gets a stepmother, she’s distraught and instead ask her aunt to visit her instead. She accepts and Gorgeous decides to bring along Six of her friends. When they arrive they begin to experience Supernatural happenings in the house and try to survive.

Some of the girls’ personality are giving by their names like Melody plays piano, Kung Fu knows some Martial Arts, and some of the others are like that as well. Most of the characters go through supernatural experiencs like Melody gets eaten by a Piano and Mac’s flying head bites

The Film has painted backdrops in most of the scenes which gives it an unique style. It also has surreal special effects (Which the Director was known for using) and uses different filming techniques which adds to the surreal nature of the film. Plus, it uses some animation in the film which look like markers drawn on the film reel which are added into some of the supernatural scenes of the film.

The Film was recognized for having mostly Amateur actors and getting Negative Reviews in Japan; but favorable reviews whe released in the USA in 2009 & 2010, and gaining a cult following with a release on DVD by Criterion Collection.

Final Thoughts: This is one of the most strangest films I’ve seen…But it was awesome. The film is very pretty to look at with the Sets & Painted Backdrops, But it also contains some of the most surreal supernatural scenes you would probably see on film. I can’t really say anything on the writing, but I thought it was ok.

Overall, If your looking for something completely different from the usual Haunted House flick, I’d recommend this.

This is highly debatable, but I think Derpy Hooves is probably the most popular background pony.

She’s certainly has been a subject of Censorship and Controversy along with popping up a lot more since she first unintentionally appeared. She certainly is quite the popular pony. So it doesn’t surprise me that she is the subject of a fan game called “Muffins” or “Muffins.EXE” as some call it.

The Game opens with a Prologue:

“Our Story begins with two ponies who are the best of friends. These ponies are Roseluck and Derpy. They have been friends ever since they were little fillies. A lot of ponies like to pick on Derpy because of her eyes, but Roseluck is always there to stand up for her friend.

Earlier today, Derpy lost all of her muffins and came to Roseluck for help. So you, as Roseluck, must go out into the fields and find them. She had ten of them. After you find all of them meet Derpy at the edge of the forest to return them.

Good Luck!”

As the Prologue mentioned, you play as Roseluck, collecting 10 Muffins for Derpy and then having to go to the edge of the forest to return them to her.

After doing so another Text based Story pops up:

“After returning the muffins to Derpy you decided to head back home. You asked her to come back with you, but she said there was something she needed to do and she would talk to you later.

It’s been a few days since then. Nopony has seen her since. With the whole town worried about her you decide to head back to the fields to search for her. Hopefully nothing has happened to her.

Good Luck!”

So, the game then turns into a search & possibly rescue mission. When you get half way through the level, Static appears…and things take a rather dark turn… (As they always do with the stuff I review…)

Your new objective is simple, Leave and try to back to the Normal World.

As you further progess into this Nightmarish world, you start to notice some things such as Derpy disappearing and re-appearing in different spots as well as the Blanks from Story of the Blanks show up. Plus many Zalgo-fied pictures of Derpy pop up on your screen. Plus you also find the bodies of Daisy, Carrot Top, and Blues around a level.

When you lose early on in the Nightmare world, it shows pictures of a Zalgo-fied Derpy with Static effect with her quote “I Just Don’t Know What Went Wrong.” played in reverse or with Static noises

When you finally encounter Derpy, she looks like this:

(I couldn’t find an in-game screenshot.)

Shortly afterwards, you disentegrate into ash. Followed by a Jump Scare, a scene with Berry Punch, Zombie Roseluck, and Derpy, and a black screen with the word “Soon…“ in red pops up.

The Game relies on Jump Scares and Zalgo pictures and they are used alot in the game. Personally, I think that the whole Zalgo Creepypasta is bit overrated and a way too similar to Cthulhu. So, I tend to see it as a bit of a Copycat. As for the Jump Scares, they’re annoying, as most Jump Scares tend to be.

The Graphic in it are very similar to the Luna Game sequels. The Environments are very similar to them and they use Ponies similar to 16 bit characters. The Background for the Nightmare World looks like Hardening Lava. I was expecting something different, but it does bother me.

Overall, I thought this was just Ok. I’ve seen alot worse games out there (Creepypasta and Others) but this didn’t seem Bad. I wish it didn’t rely on Jump Scares though.

[Vector is MUFFINS.EXE – Derpy created by LouisVSFrost on DeviantArt.]