Quick Movie Review

I Feel Pretty (2018, USA) | Rating: 4/5
Say what you will about Amy Schumer's stand-up, she's pretty enjoyable in feature films...at least what I've seen so far. I think for those who want to enjoy Schumer's humor without too much crass comedy, going the movie route seems like the best option. Then again, I haven't fully delved into the stand-up side of this comic. Anyway, I remember enjoying her in Trainwreck and I wasn't originally going to check this one out, but I heard some good things from my co-workers. They weren't wrong in their positive opinions. I really enjoyed this one. It was like a semi-reverse version of Jack Black's Shallow Hal, where the supposed love interest unattractive (read as: fat *rolls eyes*) woman looks like your stereotypical super modelesque beauty, but this time our main character is that beautiful person. One thing I was surprised about the "transformation" is that we never see what Schumer's character sees, which proves the whole point of the movie, especially when you hear the inspiring speech, or a-ha moment, of the movie. So far, Schumer has been 2 for 2 for me in the movie department as I really enjoyed this one and it even gave me some words to think about in my own life.



Hallows Eve (2016, UK) | Rating: 2.5/5
That moment when your movies are about expire on Hulu and you have to force yourself to watch them right away. Yeah, that's what happened with this movie and 2 others I will review later. Honestly, I don't remember if I even read the description when adding this movie to my watch list. While watching, I gradually thought to myself that maybe I added this based on the cover and expected it to be some mischievous Halloween themed movie of horror...and probably fun. Well, this wasn't the Halloween movie that I thought it would be and it's barely a horror movie, which isn't a bad thing. What I got was a turf war gone over the top; where vengence fuels the feud. While some aspects of the story and characters were interesting, I feel like there's something missing to fully pull me into this almost one-sided battle of the gangs. By the time the "twist" came around, I felt like the motivation reveal was rushed...unless I missed some sort of detail at the beginning half. Nonetheless, I don't think this one movie I would remember for Halloween or even just a normal day, but it definitely wasn't a bad one. I thought it was entertaining take on gang wars and families with a smidge of horror.



Tully (2018, USA) | Rating: 3.5/5
I've seen the preview to this movie a few times from other DVDs I've rented and it looked really interesting. Kind of a semi-reimagining of "Mary Poppins" without the magic and music. It's interesting seeing the usually fabulous and badass Charlize Theron as your typical mother figure who's simply overwhelmed. The story was rather intriguing as she deals with her trying to her two children and newborn for the most part by herself while her husband works, but he's no dead weight or anything. Although reluctant, she does eventually hire a nanny to alleviate her situation and ultimately enjoy herself as an individual. One thing I can say is that I didn't expect to enjoy this movie as much as I did, especially when Theron's character Marlo's relationship with the nanny Tully grows so deeply. I will admit that there are some dramatics toward the end, but it did add a very sweet ending to this story.



Pop Aye (2017, Singapore) | Rating: 4/5
*whines about being bad about watching foreign movies with subtitles* I have never heard of this movie before, but it sounded interesting. Once I popped it in my PS2, I was ready for whatever adventure I was being taken on with Thana and his childhood companion Pop Aye. This is definitely one of those stories of being tired of being overlooked, taken advantage of, and just living your childhood drama to the fullest...or as full as possible. This movie was very charming; think Pee Wee's Big Adventure. You get attached to your main character and want him to succeed with his goal, but the most important part is the journey, not the destination. That's the beauty of this film! I don't think I've seen a lot of movies from Singapore, but this one left a very good impression on me.



Extinction (2018, USA) | Rating: 3.5/5
A co-worker and I were exchanging movie recommendations and at first, he told me to watch The Invasion, which was the wrong movie. I did watch it and I might do a short review for it. When he realized his error, I watched the correct movie...this one. This futuristic movie starring Michael Pena, who I just saw in Deadpool 2, ended up being just as interesting as the "mistake" recommendation. The way my co-worker described it really made a huge impression on him and he was quite shocked by the turn of events. So, that set a somewhat high bar for me. I was supposed to be expecting something that would blow my mind and...it didn't. Well, I mean it did successfully surprise me, but I wasn't as shocked as he was. Going back to certain scenes, since I fell asleep in areas, I noticed how this all tied up into the neat little package that it is. If I gave the movie my full attention, maybe I would've been less passively surprised by the conclusion. The movie isn't a bad one in the least. It has a really good premise with lots of action and interesting enough characters. Although I didn't know much about the movie's main family, I did want them to survive this spontaneous ordeal they had to face. I will admit that this movie isn't perfect and I've seen this sort of concept done a little better, I do believe that it is well worth a watch or two.

After Theater Review: The Darkest Minds (feat. Angeline!)

Quick Anime Review

Occultic;Nine (2016) | Rating: 3/5
Since I started this whole "semicolon series", I feel obligated to just keep moving ahead on watching whatever else comes out with it. You can check out my quick reviews for Steins;Gate and Robotics;Notes. Unfortunately, I didn't review Chaos;Head, but I did see it and I heard it was one of the least popular in the alternate universe series. Anyway, I started this series when it was fresh and new, but lost track due to trying to keep up with other series. Obviously, I'm terrible at juggling. When I finally had time to finish where I left off, I was on and off interested in what was going. Sometimes it felt like a lot of things were going on, but the story wasn't moving forward. It did have some interesting elements and twists to it, but I felt like I couldn't fully immerse myself like Steins;Gate or even Robotics;Notes. One of my biggest complaints was the dialogue had the same fast pace speed as Durarara!!. It was hard trying to process everything I was reading and then forcibly digest it to understand the characters' reactions to whatever news they discovered. Also, Ryoutasu's uh...bosoms are very distracting. In the end, I did enjoy it enough to get to the end and now I've started Chaos;Child.



The Satellite Girl and Milk Cow (2014) | Rating: 3/5
This was a different experience for me from South Korea. I know I've seen a couple or so animated features from the country, but I believe this is my first venture with a full length animated movie. I went into this movie blind and only heard of it when a patron turned it in at my job. Sadly, I don't keep up with all these anime movies, so when I do see them on the shelf or in the catalog, I check them out whenever I can. This was...interesting to say the least. I decided to watch this in its native language and it took a long adjustment. The story was a bit scattered in places on what it wanted to do in the beginning, mostly because it jumped you right into the action of our main character Ko Gyeong-cheon singing then turning into a Milk Cow all of a sudden. Also, my introduction to Il-ho the Satellite was kinda odd. As time went on, I felt the story slowly adjust to what it wanted to do with itself...as strange as the conclusion is. I did find myself enjoying this odd, comedic romance, even though it had a rough start.



Netsuzou Trap (2017) | Rating: 2/5
I heard a lot of people were excited about this shoujo ai/yuri story to be adapted into a series, especially with Citrus on the way. I've never heard of it before, but I'd figure I'd check it out. To everyone's surprise, the show ended up being 9 minute tease fest of infidelity, blackmail, and confusion, which I wasn't expecting. I think it's safe to say that NTR fans were disappointed with their approach. Sure, it was still interesting for me, but I feel like there could've been more. I'm not sure how it compares to the source material, but 3 out of the 4 main characters were very dislikable. Takeda, you deserve so much better for yourself! There is so much manipulation and sexual misconduct going on in this show that it can be borderline problematic. Then again, it does keep the story interesting and moving along for our two leading ladies Hotaru and Yuma. Compared to Citrus, this isn't the best yuri option and it's a shame that they decided to make each episode 9 minutes long. Although, they effectively gave you the emotions you're supposed to feel, but I feel like they could do so much with the story.



Redline (2009) | Rating: 3/5
I've been wanting to watch this movie for a very long time. I remember seeing screenshots and gifs of this colorful, vibrant feature and hearing some pretty positive comments about it. While doing public streams to promote the blog's Patreon [insert shameless plug here], I decided to get this one out of the way and hope the other people would be interested in checking it out as well. This high adrenaline race for the ages reminded me of the Wachowski's Speed Racer. It was just as insane as that Speed Racer when it came to the racing portions that I don't think I could properly explain what happened in the movie easily. I enjoy the action, the animation, and even some the characters, especially the main two characters, but I have no idea what was going on in the story whatsoever. Fun movie, but weak story. Of course, there's a small part of me that feels like I need to rewatch it as I think I missed some special aspect in the story to truly appreciate the film through and through.



SoniAni: Super Sonico The Animation (2014) | Rating: 2.5/5
I've seen Sonico quite a lot, especially at anime conventions, and I've always wondered if she's some mascot for something or if she's actually from a series. When I saw the DVD set at my job, I had to check out what the hype was over this character...excluding the obvious visual appeal. So...the show wasn't all that impressive. I mean, it was alright seeing this idol in her daily life, interacting with her friends, and working, but there's not a lot of substance to the "story". According a friend that's a fan of Sonico (it's one of her waifus), she said that the anime didn't give Sonico justice and it wasn't that good. Although, I can say that it built more of a personality dimension in my head and made me interested in her best friends and bandmates. I might investigate further and see if there are other ways to figure out Sonico's full appeal, but for now, I just have this fun little series that wasn't terrible, but seriously didn't give me much to work with.


If there's something you want me to review, check out Muddy Cult's Patreon on how to submit requests.

BlipMasta5's February & March 2018 Favorites

Favorite Rap Song
44 More - Logic

After the heavy concepts tackled in Logic's last album, hearing this song as his next project teaser has me along with others to believe that a Bobby Tarantino 2 seems like it's around the corner. He has already released a music video for another single, "Overnight", but "44 More" captivates me much more. This song shows Logic's ability to deliver an impressive flow along with his positive message and disregard toward what a popular rapper is supposed to prioritize. Do you think this is a proper successor to "44 Bars" from Bobby Tarantino like I do?

Unboxing: Rarezhut Haul

Quick Anime Review

Evil or Live (2017) | Rating: 2/5
Brought to you by the studio of the incoherent flops Duan Nao (Die Now) and Bloodivores, we now have another potentially entertaining show that partially reflects the real life internet addiction in China. Similar to Bloodivores, the story was once again incoherent and just a mess. It started off with some promise with a sprinkle of comedy here and there to break up the tense moments, but it gradually became more and more confusing with its cliques and struggles against authority. I think this could’ve been something if they maybe worked on its characters and their interactions better. Perhaps there was a little too much involved and underdeveloped. Hopefully, I won’t come across anymore half-baked ideas from Haoliners Animation League.



Juuni Taisen (2017)| Rating: 3.5/5
Blah blah blah Miko loves survival games blah blah. Yeah, you’ve heard this spiel before, so it’s no surprise that I jumped onto this particular anime when it came out in the fall of 2017. This time it’s between the 12 warriors of the zodiac fighting for the chance to grant any wish they want. While on the surface this show is wildly entertaining with its strategy and action, if you delve deeper there may be some problems with its story. For me, I loved learning about our opponents, picking favorites, and also being tricked from the beginning ala Scream tactic. While a couple or so of my favorites unfortunately didn’t get the backstory treatment, the ending offered a moment of discussion among viewers on what really happened to the winner. I definitely had a fun time with this series and mostly tried not to think too deeply on its flaws.



Ousama Game The Animation (2017) | Rating: 3.5/5
Oh, look another survival game! I’ve heard about this one from The Anime Man of YouTube and how he wanted to see an anime of this manga series. Ta-da! Here it is~ Around the time I saw this video of The Anime Man, I believe I was in the midst of finishing Judge and jumping into Tohyo Game: One Black Ballot to You which are both voting base survival games. This show falls into this category in a way, minus the voting. There is no “battle royale”, but simply a task sent to each student for them to complete in a certain amount of time with the end result of one ultimate winner...if you really want to call them that. The mysterious king gives the students a task through text messages that they must obey. If they fail to complete the task in a certain amount of time, they will suffer the consequences. As ridiculous as this concept is, I easily got into this "game" and its characters. Although, I must admit while some of the characters were trying to figure out who the mysterious king is and how to stop the game, it did become a bit out of control. Of course, I went along with the insanity and the silliness and ended up being quite entertained. It's not a perfect show, but I got what I wanted from it ultimately.



Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou (2017) | Rating: 4/5
When I added this series to my watch list, I expected a gloomy, post-apocalyptic series with a similar melancholy feeling of Grave of the Fireflies. What I got was a couple moe blob characters learning about the world and its lost concepts such as photographs, airplanes, and alcohol. At first, I was kinda put off by the character designs and was unsure about the plot, but the more I watched the more I got into their adventures of the day. The Anime Man explained this theoretically impossible concept's appeal by describing the depth of these characters' explorations and differences to the world we live in now. I don't think the show is for everyone as I think it would take some time for regular viewers to really get into such a seemingly minimalistic story, but I urge people to definitely give these series a chance. The characters are very likable and listening to them describe things and get through obstacles is simply fascinating.



Tsukipro The Animation (2017) | Rating: 3/5
I have been unintentionally procrastinating on comparing these two new-ish idol anime series, B-Project: Kodou*Ambitious and Tsukiuta.: The Animation, but I honestly thought this series was a crossover between the two. What a missed opportunity! This series follows SOARA, Growth, SolidS, and QUELL under Tsukino Entertainment Productions (a.k.a Tsukipro). The show does feature some of the groups' seniors from Tsukiuta.: The Animation, but it's not necessary to watch it to get into this show. It's another slice of life idol show, but with more characters. The music remains enjoyable and the characters are interesting, but I didn't get into it as much as "Tsukiuta". It took me a while to really get into the daily lives of these idols, but I think it was because I had to keep up with so many pretty boys at once. Despite enjoying what I watched, I feel like they could've been an easier way to organize each groups' episodes or give me more time to learn about them as well as their individual styles. Honestly, you're not missing out if you skip this one nor are you wasting your time watching as it is enjoyable overall.


If there's something you want me to review, check out my Patreon on how to submit requests.

BlipMasta5 at MetroCon 2018

Just wanted to share a bit of my experience at my first all anime con. I recap some of the things I did as well as show some footage of the performances I saw. Hope you enjoy it and look forward to joining me next year!!

July/August 2018 Updates