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Countess_Olaf
Reviews
Fear Factor (2001)
It is getting old..
Okay. Back when I saw this show, probably about a year or two ago, it did seem pretty cool to me (around 13 years old, at the time). People getting put up against each other, and put up against some common fears that people generally have. Now it seems.. trashier. The tasks are becoming stupider, and less based upon fear than they are on strength and the willingness to degrade oneself. Things are beginning to get too repetitive (many of the tasks seem to involve dropping from the air and hitting a target on water, or eating various disgusting animal parts.) The tests are degrading, and at least twice in the last month (December 2002 through January 2003) I can recall people becoming physically ill and vomiting during the second stunt, as the sounds are played so everyone can hear and the host laughs at them.
The concept of the show had been okay, but it is getting out of hand lately, and not to mention old. I think it is due time that NBC yanks this from its already declining-quality lineup.
Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (2001)
Beautiful
::Caution: May Contain Minor Spoilers::
Admittedly, I went into the film with LOW expectations, regardless of the good things I heard about it. It just seemed too weird. Some little girl getting taken away to a spirit inhabited world, on a quest to save her parents from a lifetime of being pigs. (However short that lifetime would be. Mmm... Bacon.)
Wow.
This totally surpassed all my expectations. Sure, some of the monsters were a bit freaky, especially the old lady and her enormous baby, but you get used to that. I went in with apprehensions about one monster, (who other people had commented on it projectile vomiting-- something I don't deal with so well) but it wasn't bad, even that. And sure, this is animation, done in Japan, and you may be thinking.. "Ew, anime. Dumb shoot-em-up cartoon. Totally male-adolescent-video-game-obsessed-geek fare. No way. This is not a cartoon, it is animation. This is something parents can take their kids to (in most cases. I'm sure some of this stuff would give kids nightmares), but not get bored out of their skull, which seems to be the case in most movies aimed at children nowadays.
The animation was simple, in an amazing way, and many of the things in that movie are meant just to see. I thought about this movie for a long time afterward, and it still left me stunned, in only the way an awesome film can. If it comes to a theater near you,
SEE THIS MOVIE.
I doubt you'll regret it.
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
Not too shabby, from a "Newbie's" point of view
I have not read the Lord of the Rings trilogy, nor have I read the Hobbit. However, I am still able to follow (somewhat) the plot outline of TTT and its predescessor, The Fellowship of the Rings. Still, I did not like this movie as much as the one before it. It seemed to be slower, and the Hobbits, who, as I understand, are supposed to be more of the lead characters, are largely ignored as the adventures of Aragorn, Legolas (-swoons!-), and Gimli are followed.
I think that Smeagol/Gollum was done pretty well, but to a newbie like me, much of his turmoil and incentives fail to make much sense, rather than to get some laughs from the audience.
The battle scenes are pretty nice, with good special effects, but much of it is hard to follow because of the whiplash speeds the camera changes when going from shot to shot. Some humor is put into the battle scenes, to lighten the dark mood, and in the theater I was in, it was appreciated.
Overall, a good movie, but lacking in the diverse scenery the first one had (the environments in this one are a little dull, mainly on the grey and brown side) and some of the things I had a little trouble taking seriously (Fear the mighty Ents!) 8/10 stars.