Change Your Image
solid-12
Reviews
Monster: Heru Dr. Tenma (2004)
A brilliant (if slightly strangely scripted) start to a superb aeries!
This episode, and the series, begins in a most mysterious manner, with a quote from the biblical book of Revelations (13, #1-4, for all you bible fans), instantly giving a Gothic, supernatural tone to the piece, not helped by the following fade into a dark, dingy hospital, with deep bells chiming in the background; this is an effective introduction, pulling the audience in deeply, due mainly to the fact that such a large proportion of the show is realistic. The show then proceeds to introduce the series protagonist, a brilliant neurosurgeon from Japan, now living and working in Düsseldorf, Germany, named Kenzo Tenma, but before the credits, you will be treated to yet another sorrow filled sight. He seems to have the perfect life; a beautiful fiancé named Eva (the daughter of the hospital's director), a great job (apparently with enough skill to one day be head of the surgical department), and the ability to really help people in need. However, when he operates on a famous person instead of the man he who came in first, on his future father-in-law's orders, and the poor person dies, he becomes emotionally scarred, and disillusioned with the political and power hungry ways of his colleagues; so when he soon after finds himself in the same situation, when a small boy with a gunshot to the head is brought in before a powerful politician, he opts to do what he thinks is the right thing. The basic foundations of many of the main characters are laid down well in this episode, and it should be commended for the way it explains the reasons for Tenma's first main action, but there are far too many overly emotive pieces in this episode, none of which are truly believable (such as Eva's chat with Tenma in the café or her father's description of why he became a doctor, both blatant attempts to vilify them beyond humanity) and Tenma has far too many flashbacks for my personal liking (unfortunately a recurring trait of the show). There is also an overuse of dramatic techniques (slow motion and tense music for a woman cutting her steak in a restaurant? Repetition of a woman's cries, which blend together into one?) and a misuse of the admittedly excellent musical score (an action packed score for a man driving to work?). Much of this episode is left a mystery, and it has a good cliff-hanger ending, making you wonder what will happen to Tenma. The episode is a good beginning, due to it's introduction of the major characters and it's way of drawing the audience into it's plot, though when I see the quality of the later episodes, I can but wonder why this was not of better quality.
The Jimmy Timmy Power Hour 3: The Jerkinators! (2006)
this film must have been wished into existence by a genius!
This is one @!$% of a great film, that really captured the spirit of the shows, and bettered its prequels massively. The premise was original (Me movie buff-me not seen nothing like it! Me avid reader-no book like this!) and hilarious, and the kids do come across as kids in it, very well charactered! The mixture of animated styles also helps the film to shock and amaze! The script was funny! There was a good mixture of the shows tones, and they didn't clash like oil and water for once in a nicktoons crossover! The 3-d Dimsdale people and 2-D Jimmy should give a superb kick to the fans of the shows! The 2.5-D bits were amazing, lots of 2-D-in-3-D hilarity! The film is good! Some superb plot twists also present!
SpongeBob SquarePants (1999)
what can i say about He who is our pourous and yellow saviour?
I have seen a lot of televisual comedy in my time... much of it animated. But believe me when i say that, never before have i been reduced to flopping on the floor like a fish with laughter as in this most magnificent of cartoons. I know what you must be thinking... a tad hyperbolic for a kids cartoon. But stop right there; whilst the animation might not be a work of art, and the script isn't quite going to change your socio-political viewpoint, the charictarisation is actually quite believable (hilarious i know to be saying about the likes of an evily capitalistic, burgar bar owning crab, a doped up starfish and a karate-kicking, sea-trawling, Texan scientist squirel) as well as fully funny, the show never goes where you think it will, and i'm sure only the coldest of Robinett's wouldn't find joy seeing the look on the little pourous yellow face of the well conceived protagonist. It may be a bit too full-in-your-face for some, but it is subtle enough for me, with some great details you will most likely miss unless you play every episode really slow, 20 times over.
Siren (2003)
One of the tensest gaming expieriences i've ever played
Directed by the genius that brought the world Silent Hill, This horror masterpiece is one of the tensest, most terrorfying expieriences in gaming, litriture or movies. However, anyone expecting more of the same will be very shocked to find that the game's story isn't its most compelling part; that is the storytelling. The player plays as a verity of charactars over a three day time frame, all of which can die from one or two hits from the undead foes. Most of the time, you must escort weeker charactars (not so bad). This has forced stealth, which is helped by an ingenious system whereby the player can see through the eyes of his enemies, the Shibito. The only bad point is the lack of any light in this dark game- literally and metaphoricaly; the plot is very dark, as is the screen. Special mention to the music and the graphics, whereby actors faces are filmed and projected on 3-d models to add emotion (strange but it works!).