First Impression (Movie Review): The Hunger Games: The Mockingjay

There will be a reformation. I will try to keep this review spoiler free and the style might change a little bit.

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So, I think that anyone who saw the movie can agree that part 1 is a waste of film following this "4 movie trilogy" trend that either Harry Potter or Twilight began (I can't remember which one was it, which technically neither of them were trilogies to begin with, but you get the point). In order to say "screw you" to this trend I will review both films instead of just Part 2.

The Mockingjay Part 1: A pointless, stupid, waste of time and money, cash making filler. What is there more to say? The movie didn't give us anything, so what can I say more than that? It didn't even had a story (technically), it was the introduction to the story.

The Mockingjay Part 2: Finally we have A movie!

The Mockingjay Movies are easily the worst addition to the franchise because of this stupid idea of splitting the book in half. Even the cliff hanger they left us on was a dumb choice! In part 2, Katniss gets shot at the beginning of the movie. That could've been a better cliffhanger because she might actually die. We need to know what happened. Instead we got a BORING part 1, mediocre cliffhanger, an awkward beginning in part 2, and a decent movie that only looks great because of the last one. Otherwise, it could've been a very well done conclusion to the Hunger Games saga because the movies are not poorly made. The acting is good, the action and drama are good, and the effects are good.

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The Story of the Mockingjay part 2 is that District 13 is finally putting an end to the unjust reign of President Snow and the capital. Now, the capital is prepared for this and had installed traps for the rebels to fall into, and they were made in such extravagant fashion so that it can be used to entertain the public as well. Basically, THE HUNGER GAMES once more. And because Katniss is war propaganda, she and her squad follow the main forces from behind, which means they don't really fight, but doesn't mean that they are exempt from danger.

So I have a few questions regarding this movie, because even if the story is well told and the pacing is good, there are quite a few STUPID moments I need to point out and some questions I need to ask.
-Where are the capital civilians? The Propaganda Squad (yes, that's what I'm calling them) walk into a deserted city, where only debris and the remaining active traps can be found. However, we do see towards the end, people evacuating their houses to go into President Snow's Mansion, but that evacuation message was given later in the movie, so where are the civilians here? If they left, when did they? Before the attack? After the attack? During the attack? And where did they go if there was no "safe sanctuary" before Snow opened up his doors.
-Where are the other District 13 Squads? So we are told that the main force will move in before the Propaganda Squad in order to keep Katniss safe, and we can see that through the Capital Debris when the Propaganda Squad first enter the city. But where are they? Throughout the whole move after that point, the Propaganda Squad is the one and only target, AND there are no hits that there is any other fight besides that one when the movie explicitly told us that they were opening path for them, and no hint that the main rebel force was defeated or held at bay.

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-Why are the traps so inconsistent/dumb? They stop at just before they get really dangerous by convenience and again, where are these other squads? They have trap detector devices too and are more trained and capable soldiers than the Propaganda Squad, so why didn't they disable them like the Propaganda Squad was doing? Did they go a different route? If that's the case, then what was the point of leaving them behind? The danger was the traps they didn't know about, but all the traps we saw were detected by the device, so what's the excuse of not disabling the traps we saw in the movie? Also, why do the traps stop after one use? And why did the traps stop when another one starts when they are at the same place? Isn't better to have them both? So many questions...

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-Katniss got caught and/or killed approximately 13 times throughout this movie. There were some moments that there was no way she could have gotten away with the exception of (and ironically) the moment when she gets shot. Although convenient, you could argue she got lucky that they guy didn't shoot to the head. But other than that, there are A LOT of moments that Katniss should've gotten caught or killed, but she just got lucky for suffering from a severe case of Main-characteritis syndrome.
-The Movie ended 7 times. It had basically the same ending Return of the King did: it didn't want to end.
-The Mockingjay Rips off Resident Evil. I can't be the only one to Notice that the Lizard Mutts look just like Resident Evil Zombies from either Resident Evil 6 or Resident Evil Revelations.

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Random Journal

I now work at a gym, so I've been listening to the radio a lot, which is set to this one station which is playing pretty much modern Hip-hop hits. I know I might seem like a J-pop lover right now but in actuality I listen to pretty much every musical genre available, and I'm always looking to explore deeper and deeper into every genre, and hip-hop is no exception. In fact, I used to dance in a Hip-Hop dance crew before coming to College, but I'm getting side tracked here.

I don't like the hits that are coming on the radio today, but to be fair I do like a song or two from the modern hits. From this particular radio station, I don't like any of the songs they play, and a lot of them I've heard before in parties so it seems that is definitely a radio station that will focus on what the youth is listening to. Does that make them bad? No. Does that make the songs bad? Not at all. The fact that the songs are bad makes them bad. It's every lazy auto-tune and loops I've heard before and they all seem to sound the same. Seriously, I listen to this station for about 3 hours every time I work, and always, at some point (not right away) I ask myself "wait, didn't they play this already"? And I out of all of people know best that not all songs in a musical genre sound the same, I refuse to believe that's true (unless proven otherwise) because I listen to Japanese Music and Metal, probably the 2 genres that are accused the most of "sounding the same" and that's not true. As an avid listener and musician I know that is not true. But this radio station is kind of making me doubt my belief on Modern Hits. Besides, the songs never seem to last more than 2 minutes... What the hell is up with that? I know some of these songs are 5 minutes long because (again) I've heard them before.


Also, I went and participated in a Talent Show not long ago (it might be a different Story, but it kinda ties in with my problem with the radio station), and this guy came up stage and performed an original song. Cool! He said he wrote a rap song. Oh... this is going to be interesting. Rap is hard not because of the vocalization, but because I feel is one of those genres that you need a certain "groove" to make it work like Blues, Funk, and Soul. Also, the lyrical composition has to obviously require to have a flow and a rhyme. So, this was going to be interesting, however... It had no flow, no rhyme and he definitely lacked the "groove". It was too "modern". Modern rap seem to have decayed into too much techno and lazy lyrics (and I mean LAZY. Like, barely any fast raps, and some times not even "moderate speed rap") and yeah, it pretty much sucked. I admire his attempt and bravery of performing an original song, but if he is going to, he is going to be judged like any other performer.

First Impression (Movie Review): Love Live! The School Idol Movie

Movie Poster
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What a wonderful Experience! Love Live! The School Idol Movie was both funny and entertaining from beginning to end. On the whole, I enjoyed it a lot. It has a few details here and there (which I will go into detail in a moment), but that would be being picky. I saw this movie in theaters and I was just as exited as the others watching it with me. I didn't have high expectations on this movie because the anime was Ok, not a masterpiece but entertaining and it managed to get you invested in it. I had doubts on the movie because I felt that the ending of the series (last episode of the second season) was perfect, so I didn't know how were they going to make the movie fit in the chronology, and let alone be good, entertaining and satisfying.

I want to comment on the audience before I get into the movie itself. First off, I didn't expect to see so many Love Live! fans in New York. In fact, not only the show I went to was sold out, but also the one on the following Monday and there were just a few tickets left for Tuesday. Although I understand that 95% of the audience were more hardcore fans than me, but I was still surprised how invested these people were. When talking about the 5 Seconds of Summer Concert in my last post, I guess this was the type reaction I was expecting from the audience. If the viewers of the movie knew the songs, I would bet $1000 that they would have sing along as well. In this one scene, there is like a roll call that the main characters do before a presentation in which they count to 9, then they follow up by saying "Muse... Music.... START!" which everyone in the theater joined in on that "START". As you be able to tell right know, the movie had a really positive reaction from the audience, but does this mean that the movie is good? I mean, people cheered for their favorite character at the beginning of the movie and each one had a different amount of fans on their own, so I guess you could say that the audience was predisposed to like the film. My personal take is that although they were, the movie was really good on its own right.  Let me explain (I may give away the ending of the anime, so if you haven't finished it: SPOILER ALERT).

Village East Cinema in NYC

The movie starts with Honoka Kousaka, Umi Sonoda, and Kotori Minami playing in a playground as children. Honoka is trying to leap over a big puddle of water, but she can't reach to the other side. Kotori tells Honoka to stop and Umi is telling her that is impossible, however, the mud-covered Honoka refuses to give up and gives it one more try. On her next attempt she manages to leap over the puddle. As an introduction, although cliche, is a nice way to ease you in and it gives you a little development on Honoka's character. After this scene, the movie jumps to were the second season left off: the third grade high school students are graduating and all 9 members of μ's (Muse) decide that once the third graders graduate, the group will disband (I warned you about the spoilers, didn't I?) because once they graduate, they can't still be School Idols and the group would not be the same without all the original 9 members. Hanayo runs to meet up with the group and show them big news she just received. Apparently, the success of the Love Live festival (a concert were several school idol groups perform and the audience decides who the winner would be. Normally, is just a yearly event, but this particular year was successful to have a second Love Live which μ's won) this year had been so successful that they are going to do a THIRD Love Live, this time in a bigger venue, and they want the champions of the last Love Live to help promote the event. However, since Eli, Nozomi, and Nico will have graduated by then, the girls are unsure on how to respond to the news. The director of the school (Kotori's Mother) also received the email and an invitation from the US to make a show on School Idols in New York. When discussing this, she tells the girls that it would be good for the school if μ's went on this trip, and if they continued performing afterwards. Since they still have 3 months before the third grade students officially graduate, they decide to make a final Live Show.


Keep in mind, Love Live! School Idol Project is a slice of Life, so there is no big drama or action in this type of story, so most throughout this first half of the movie, there is not much to comment on when it comes to the general aspect. μ's arrive to New York, and tour around to find the perfect place to perform their last concert. The jokes are pretty funny and there are moments where the characters there is a sad mood and that's done pretty well as well. The transition between the "Happy-Jolly-Joke" feel and the "sad, moody" feel isn't awkward nor forced. Just like in life, there are moments were you feel happy and have fun, and others when you feel sad and down. There are 3 things I would like to comment about this half, however:

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1. The art in this movie is BEAUTIFUL and the attention to detail is INCREDIBLE. And the scenes in NYC prove it. Maybe because I know the place and I've been there, but New York City in the movie was EXACTLY the way it is in real life. Example: When in Times Square and in Broadway, there are signs and billboards all over the place (which is pretty common) but there is a parody of EVERY BROADWAY CLASSIC. Wicked, The Lion King, Phantom of the Opera, they were all there with their name and poster sign slightly changed. Another thing is that the subway entries were exactly the same, you could even see the Metro North logo on the side (that's how accurate).
2. There is a musical number (which is not the Live Show). In fact, throughout the movie, there are 6 musical numbers (hey, they have to sell their last album with this series, am I right?): 3 that pop out of nowhere, 2 live shows, and 1 concluding song. Personally, I didn't mind these. the 3 songs weren't bad, but not their best, the live shows were fun to watch and the last song was pretty good. It gives the feeling that this is a musical, but since 90% of the film is not musical numbers, sometimes when they break into song out of nowhere can be a little awkward.
3.There is a scene where Honoka gets lost when she took the wrong train. As she tries to find her way back to the hotel, she meets up with this street performer. The way Honoka was looking, caught the singer's attention. After she was done, she and Honoka started talking as she helped Honoka find her way back to the Hotel. Interestingly, the singer mentions that she was from Japan as well (coincidence much?), and when she was younger, she used to be in a group as well, but they had to eventually disband. Since Honoka could relate, she asked her what did she do afterwards, and the singer replied with "Why do you sing?" which of course Honoka get's thrown off by the question. She they arrive to the hotel, while Honoka is talking to her friends, the singer leaves her without saying a word. What's interesting is that this woman kind of resembles Honoka (but she is older) in personality, history and physical appearance. She was not seen by any other of the main characters but Honoka and she doesn't want to be seen. So, this leads me to believe that this singer was a personification of Honoka's mind/consciousness. However, she was seen by many people other than the main characters AND Honoka brought her microphone by accident. So the question is: Was this woman real or not? Was this a clever way to portray Honoka's thought and emotion through personification or just lazy writing that the writers used to say "f**k continuity"? I like to believe that is a clever personification, but watch the movie and judge for yourself.

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After their Live Show in New York, they return to Japan, only to find out that the live performance was aired all over Japan and thus, μ's became nationwide celebrities (don't worry, there is a musical number about that too). This is were the drama starts, basically. Because they are happy to receive this much attention because that means that they liked their work. And although they were very grateful, μ's HAD to disband. It was decided way before the movie, however the sudden rise of popularity and fans made the already tough decision even tougher. μ's was not just theirs anymore, so was the decision of finishing their career their decision anymore?  I believe this is a good conflict, although is simple. The idea of giving people what they want and expect against sticking to your ideals is a pretty tough choice to make (specially in this case, you enjoy doing it and are passionate about it, but you also get paid). After discussing the issue with the group, Eli, Nozomi, and Nico feel that despite what happened, they should still keep break up μ's, since they took a decision and they shouldn't back down, Maki, Hanayo and Rin feel the same way, however Honoka is the one responsible of making the final decision as the leader of the group. She meets up again with the mysterious singer from New York and have another talk. Although the singer doesn't give an answer, she helps Honoka find her answer.


Honoka discusses the issue with the group once more and decides that if μ's should leave, they should leave with a bang. Honoka suggests a Live concert  (like Love Live) made with the help of their rival group A-RISE and other school idols from all over Japan. The idea was to rise the popularity of School Idols and the Love Live! Festival, so that other girls would have to opportunity to have an experience like theirs. Despite them not having much time to put this together, they manage to contact the groups, get together, compose AND rehearse the song ALL the groups were going to sing together, choreograph, set up the stage, etc. (it's a movie, of course this plan was going to work!). The day before the big show, Honoka notices that a lot of girls were excited to perform with μ's. Honoka thinks is only fair to tell all of the participants what the future of μ's. All of the girls were really sad and their motivation really dropped after, but at the day of the show, EVEN MORE PARTICIPANTS SHOWED UP to give μ's a warm farewell. I didn't go too into detail but let me tell you that this moment was beautiful. It was truly heartwarming and it almost brought a tear to my eye. They do the Live Show, then they follow up with what happened after, followed by final closing number and roll credits!

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The audience ROARED, and I can see why. The movie was great! Not a masterpiece, but still a pretty good movie. The animation was really good, the songs were good, the attention to the background was amazing and I never thought they could top the ending of Season 2 or let alone make a good coherent story that wasn't too obvious on the fact that the only reason this movie was released was to make a few extra bucks. In fact, they probably made a better conclusion to the series than the ending to season 2. Maybe the reason it was made was to earn more money, but at least there was a lot of thought and effort put into this movie unlike the Naruto movie which just screamed "LAZY". This movie took everything that make the anime good and multiplied it! However, I do have my picks. Although I don't mind the songs, I do have to say, the ones that come out of nowhere like a musical are a little awkward at first. The first time it happened I was actually startled and thought "Oh! So, we're doing a musical now, I guess". Another thing is that the story is very "Honoka-centric" as you probably noticed. We have 9 main characters, but the movie only focuses on the thoughts, ideas, and feelings of 1. To make a better story, this works because there is only 1 psyche to worry about, and besides, it's not like it totally ignores the other members, they do have their moments and even though Honoka has the last word, the Eli, Rin, Maki, Hanayo, Umi, Nico, Nozomi, and Kotori are the ones who support her and/or confront her if needed. Though I do feel that is a waste to have 8 other characters which in the anime we did touch in their emotions and struggles not have their share of the drama in the movie. Honestly, I started to get tired of writing "Honoka" so many times (I felt like Bart Simpson during the opening of the show). However, I have to make something clear: This movie is a sequel and a conclusion to the anime. So this means you have to see the series before hand, which brings me to this point: you will not like the movie if you haven't seen or don't like Love Live! School Idol Project. The movie has a lot of in-jokes and and overall humor and style of the storytelling is exactly the same as in the anime. Therefore, this movie IS NOT A STAND ALONE MOVIE! Judging this movie without watching the anime would be like judging the last Harry Potter, Star Wars, or Lord of the Rings movies without watching their respective prequels (in the case of Star Wars would be watching Episode VI without IV and V). With this said, I say, if you finished the anime, watch the movie, and if you haven't watch the anime, if you like slice of life
and J-pop, give both the anime and the movie a try.

Concert Night: 5Sos @ Nikon Theater (September 2nd, 2015)

"WE Won't let you leave until you've had the best night of your Life!"

These were the words of Michael Clifford on the night of September 2nd at the Nikon Theater in Jones Beach, and he, along with his band members, kept their promise. 5 Seconds of Summer was truly a show worth watching. My personal opinion: The Concert was GREAT. The band was ON POINT, the sound was amazing, and the Nikon Theater is just an awesome venue in it's own right. I liked the bands attitude, I could tell they were having fun, and they enjoyed what they did. In fact, 5Sos gave me a "Green Day Vibe" when they were on Stage. They did make me compare them to other bands because I saw a certain resemblance (maybe their influence shines through). The first thing that came to my Mind was "Wow, so this is what it must have felt to be at a Beatles Concert". Why? Well, I almost lost my hearing due to God Knows How many High school girls screaming frantically. When they played American Idiot, I made a kind of funny comparison. It almost seemed like if you grabbed Green Day and One Direction and put them in a blender you would get 5 Seconds of Summer. Their music, sound, lyrics, audience, and vocals just seemed like a combination of the 2. I know they hate comparisons, but it's just that it's hard not to see this once you've realized it. It's not bad, it's just funny how hard can influence shine through original content.

The "Green Day Vibe" is a reference to the band Green Day (obviously) and is when the relationship and interaction of the band and the audience is really strong, but also intimate, blurring that line of separation between the stage and the seats. Green Day is a band that seems that if there is something that they enjoy more than playing music is playing with the audience (in Costa Rica, that "playing with the audience got so literal that Green Day got a 3 people from the audience to play the drums, the bass and the guitar. They finished the song like this). 5 Seconds of Summer definitely gave that vibe. It ranged from the typical sing-a-long routine all the way to bringing a girl on stage, and making her playing guitar. She said she had NEVER played guitar at all and they still let her play, in fact, they encouraged her to play and have fun. The Set list was great, they played great songs and Opened up with "End Up Here" which it is a great song to start with. They played some songs they played were "Good Girls", "She's Kinda Hot", "Out of My Limit", "Rejects", "Amnesia" and 2 covers: "American Idiot" by Green Day and "What I Like About You" by The Romantics (Which, by the way, sounded awesome. I lost my voice in "What I like About You").

However, if I were to nitpick, I would say that on that concert, that was their greatest weakness. I have been to MANY concerts throughout my life, and this one was the one were the audience wasn't as active. I was surprised that the audience jumped, danced, and sang more at the BABYMETAL concert at the Hammerstein Ballroom. Just a little reminder, BABYMETAL sings in JAPANESE, and not English. I don't know if this was because 5Sos didn't know how to manage an audience or if the audience was too young and disinterested to get more involved. I know this sounds weird, but bare with me. I brought up my "Concert Maturity" because I feel that concerts have a certain "art" that need to be learned. Of course, different types of music have a different way of behaving at a concert (Nobody is going to do a Mosh Pit in an Orchestral concert). The thing is, the audience that attended this concert was either High School Girls or their parents (I was probably the only College Student there, let alone Single Man), so I feel that I could be that the girls were too "young" to really interact and the parents weren't invested enough because they either didn't enjoyed the band as much or didn't know enough about their music.

In the over all, it was a great show and I absolutely recommend to check it out if they are coming to your city or a city nearby. If you like that Punk Rock/Pop sound, I'd say it's worth it and definitely is a fun show to watch and be a part of.

First Impression (Movie Review): Clown

I want to like this movie, I seriously do. The idea is interesting and the story is also intriguing, but it was so badly put together it genuinely makes me feel sad about it... Of course, I will talk about the story and its contents, so SPOILER ALERT to anyone who hasn't seen this movie that might want to see it (not that I recommend you to do it anyway).

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Good News for this movie: I am NOT a regular Horror, Terror, or Suspense movie viewer, so I won't be able to compare it to other great Horror/Terror/Suspense movies. Which in turn, would also make me an easy target for scares, right? Well, here are the bad news for the movie: I wasn't scared... at all... In fact, I wasn't moved in any way possible. I didn't get scared at the movie, the jump scares didn't even startle me, I couldn't get into the drama (or "empathize with the character(s)" would be a better choice of words), wasn't disgusted by the gore, this movie seriously couldn't get me to feel ANYTHING.

The moment the movie began was when I yelled "RUINED!" because of the way the story was set up. The Story is about a father (Kent McCoy played by Andy Powers) who works as a Real State agent. His son Jack (played by Christian Defano) loves clowns, so for his birthday he hires a clown to perform at his party, however his wife Meg (Played by Laura Allen) receives a call during the party from the company telling her that the clown they hired will not be able to come to the party. Meg calls Kent to tell him what happened so he is looking for an alternative. COINCIDENTALLY, in the house he was trying to sell at that very moment there was a clown costume. He puts it on, and goes to his son's party as Dumbo the Clown. My first problem with the movie is this part, this whole set up is done in about 15-20 minutes. No, I didn't have a chronometer, but I am sure that was the run time for this set up, and it felt even FASTER. So basically we RUSHED into the plot without knowing who our characters are. We know that Kent is a father and would do anything for his kid (because he literally says it in a later scene, which we don't know if he means it, though at least we know he believes it) but that's it. Meg is a supportive wife... and that's pretty much it. Meg's father is trying to help her and she puts him aside, anything else to this character? OF COURSE NOT!!! Movie, tell me, WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE!? Watching this set up was like watching the movie trailer. It was done so fast that I actually think that you can find the whole introduction/set up (first scenes) of  the movie IN the trailer and a couple of later scenes. For those first scenes, I felt I was watching THE trailer with a couple of shots to make it slightly longer. In fact,watch the movie trailer + the ending! Done! Roll Credits!

Anyway... After the party, Kent notices he can't take off the clown suit. The nose won't come off, the hair looks and feels like real hair, and the suit won't come off, not even by cutting it open which ends on him accidentally cutting his wrists. This scene made some of the people in the audience go "Ishhh.... ouch..." but, again, it didn't do anything for me for several reasons:

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(Anime: Blood-C)

-First off, I watch anime and have watched Gore anime. Not my favorite genre and tend to stay away from it, but after scenes where a high school girl is grabbed by a giant monster, smashed to the ground several times (imagine holding a whip and mashing  to the ground, now change the whip for a school girl hitting face first) , then grabbed one leg per arm and torn apart slowly watching all blood and organs come out of her body and have the monster each her afterwards with no censorship what so ever and pretty much in my face... Well, I'm sorry, but the "gore" scenes have to work a little harder than a cut on the wrist.
-Second: I don't know who the character is, therefore I don't care what happens to him. A cut on the wrist done with an electric saw or knife or whatever could be deadly, so even if I didn't get grossed out by the blood, I could at least worry for the character, but NO. Not only are we not even 3/4, not only he's the main character, but we don't know WHO HE IS. So, not only we know he WON'T DIE, but even if he did, I wouldn't care.
Third and last: THIS SCENE WAS TOO STUPID TO GET INVESTED IN. You know those "Fail" compilation videos or those memes that you see with "The moment we forget how to think" tagline? Well, this scene could've easily be any of those 2. Kent grabs a bloody electric saw or knife or whatever from the construction workers and tries to cut the suit open right on top his wrist. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? Dude, don't tell me it was an accident, you were looking for a bloody wrist.

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Moving on... He immediately  comes to the conclusion that there must be something demonic with the suit, so he goes and investigate. I liked this part because after not being able to take it of not cut it, it only makes sense that this clown suit is definitely something else. But I have some questions: Why did he assumed demons right away? Why did he do this research alone while his wife could've helped him? Why did you fall into the "demon" cliche, movie? After some research, he contacts a man who apparently knows how to take off the suit. He explains that clowns were originally demons that lived in caves in the Nordic countries and that his appearance of the big red nose was because of the cold of the regions. This demon kidnapped and ate 5 children every year one for each month of winter (why does it have to be this way?) and that somehow this child-eating demon got translated into a lovable child entertainer (really...?). After this exposition, the creepy old man knocks Kent out and ties him up. Kent wakes up and the creepy old man tries to cut his head off because that's the only way to take the suit off and stop the demon who is slowly possessing Kent's body. The guy conveniently waits before landing the ax on his head after apologizing 5 TIMES and Kent manages to escape, leaving only a wound on his shoulder. He ties the old man and plans to take him to the police for attacking him. After some reunion with his wife, his father in law and other people you don't care about (not that you care for any of the main characters anyway) he takes the old man to the police, but crashes because basically, the demon made him crash while adjusting his body.

Here's the part where I would've love this movie if it were done better. After the crash and the old man telling him the the only solution is for him either killing himself or feeding the demon, Kent for the rest of the movie is struggling to hold the demon back. It's a psychological and emotional struggle to hold on to his humanity, and even though he did attack that boy scout, he seems to really be trying to attack no one. Even a kid who literally is there with a sign that says "EAT ME" he tries to not let the demon have its way. But then again, I don't know who this guy is. So if the producers don't care, neither should I. Kent eventually decides that suicide is the only option for him so he builds a decapitating-dual-Electric-saw-Chair-back-drop-seat-ish mechanism which fails hilariously. This is one of the scenes that is so unrealistically convenient to keep the plot going. One of the saws kills the kid I mentioned before by accident and Kent regrets and mourns his death... and eats him. So, wife finds him, tries to help him, Kent escapes, kills the kid bulling his son, blah, blah, blah. He has eaten 4 kids (although it would've been nice if it where 4Kids Entertainment instead) and threatened Meg to kill Jack if she didn't bring another kid. She agrees and takes a girl who was a Jack's birthday party to the spot, but this scene was pointless because the demon clown never came to the agreed spot, Meg tried to save the girl and regretted her decision, but the guy outside was not the demon clown but the police. ANYWAY, she rushes home because grandpa being a dense son of a gun he took Jack back home when Meg clearly told him NOT to do so. When Meg arrives home, her father FOR NO REASON decides to help Meg to cover up the murders. Then demon comes in and kills grandpa. Damn, I wish I knew who he was so that I could feel genuinely sorry for Meg's loss. So, after impossible fight/chase scene, Meg finally manages to decapitate the demon clown and the face of her husband is coming back to normal. And all Kent's belongings are kept sealed to use as evidence. The End.

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I think I already showed and expressed how I feel about this movie. It's Bad and stupid. And it's a shame because I liked the concept of the clown and I liked the back story of the children-eating demon. Even though the demon thing has been done before and it is practically a Scary movie cliche, it was different and I have to say maybe even creative. But this movie is too dependent on Jump Scares and Gore but lacks of any other content. There is no real fear, no drama, no emotion, nothing for me to get into this movie. All I could think of when I was watching this movie was "Oh wow... Is it still going?" and this is coming from a guy whose first scary movie was Scary Movie 3, which gave me nightmares. In my defense, I was still a kid (probably about 7 or 8 years old) but still, SCARY MOVIE 3 IS SCARIER THAN THIS!? Are you kidding? When I watched the trailer, I was intrigued. When I watched the movie, I was disappointed, but most of all I was sad. I was sad that this movie had so much potential to be a good movie but failed because of a simple flaw: the writers didn't know how to tell the story. That's all there is. The Effects where good, the blood looked real, and the story was really good, but the film as a whole just failed.

Artist Overview: μ's

This band is as commercial as you can get. As soon as you google it, you know their purpose is to sell-out, and nothing more. However, they are pretty darn good at it.

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μ's (Pronounced "Muse")is a J-pop band that started with the anime "Love Live! School Idol Project". And seeing how their 5th Anniversary is being celebrated on the month of June, I thought it would be appropriate to talk about this group. The band consists of 9 singers: Honoka Kosaka , Kotori Minami, Umi Sonoda, Rin Hoshizora, Hanayo Koizumi, Maki Nishikino, Nico Yazawa, Eli Ayase, and Nozomi Toujou. Nishikino Maki writes all the music for μ's while Sonoda Umi writes the lyrics. Kotori Minami makes the costumes by herself while Ayase Eli, being a former Ballet dancer, is the main choreographer of the group... but that is in the anime. IN REALITY, the group consists of the voice actress for each character: Emi Nitta, Aya Uchida, Suzuko Mimori, Riho Iida, Yurika Kubo, Pile, Sora Tokui, Yoshino Nanjo, and Aina Kusuda respectively. The Lyrics are written by Aki Hata, the music and the arrangements are composed by several  people who vary from song to song. Now, if you hate the typical squeaking voices of J-pop singers and female anime characters, you are probably going to hate this band (and pretty much 80% of J-pop), however, if you don't mind these high pitched voices, I can actually say that this is a really good band.

First of all, I think that the high pitched voices are something the listener has to get used to. Is like listening to metal for the first time. I remember when I heard Master of Puppets for the first time and how I thought how heavy, fast, strong and loud that song was, and to be honest, I was frightened. Now, Master of Puppets feels like a breeze to me (I can actually fall asleep to it). It is not going to happen overnight, and of course, there are people who will never get it because it's simply not their type of music. But I do encourage to keep your ears and mind open to new types and styles of music.


What are the Strengths of μ's?

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I feel that this group cheated when I got hooked up with it. When I started liking their music it was because some songs reminded me of other songs (which, some, I grew up with). For Example: Kitto Seishun ga Kikoeru sounded awfully similar to the song played in the stage Mission Street from Sonic Adventure 2 Battle (which was a game a grew up with, and remember it fondly). Coincidence or not, for the better or worst, I got into μ's. Once inside I discovered something interesting. I already knew that J-pop was not just pop music in Japanese (musically speaking). In J-pop you can find heavy guitars, orchestral instruments, choral vocals, rocking guitar solos, etc. But for the most part, is still pretty simple, and for a band like this (whose purpose is to sell records and look pretty) usually not only simple, but bland, happy, super sweet and cute with lyrics as shallow as pop can get. μ's was quite a different story. The biggest strength μ's has is that there is so much to listen to. In one song, there are Heavy rock guitars, acoustic guitars, synthesizers, a string section with violins, violas, cellos, bass... and they all come together to make one good song (somebody give the arranger and the composer a cookie). Not only in one song, but from song to song is different there's something new to listen to. Pop, Metal, Ska, Rock, Latin, Punk are some of the musical styles you can find μ's' (is this even grammatically correct?) repertoire and it even seems like the composers and arrangers understand the essence of each style as proven in songs like "Cutie Panther" and "Music S.T.A.R.T." that were translated from one musical style to the other rather flawlessly. Also, the fact of them having 9 singers just strengthens the song. It feels fuller and interestingly they even play around with what this of course allows like call and response and multiple voice harmonies.  The reason why μ's is great is because they don't waste anything in their music. They do have their stereotypical "sugar happy" sound, but also uses other musical styles, genres and techniques to make something richer and more unique.

What are the Weaknesses of μ's?

First of all, μ's is a band/group specifically targeted to make money (this is for you all you purists who hate commercial music). In fact, I think this is the epiphany of "commercial". The idea of having an anime which revolves about a musical group is great business because you can sell the anime, figures, video games, musical albums, singles, concert tickets and DVD's. I personally don't mind that as long as it sounds good (which as I said, it pretty much does) but my problem with this is the following: It limits the group. It's kind of ironic that I band that seems that they don't limit themselves have such an obvious limiting factor. The music of the band has to revolve around the story. They have tried to milk more money by making singles from sub groups of μ's like Printemps, BiBi, and Lily White but these will only take them so far. In fact, there's going to be a new Season with a totally different group because they know μ's can't go on with new content. I can't really say about the lyrics because I don't speak and I understand very little Japanese. What I have understood or read, I like the lyrics. Sometimes they have really nice messages and others are just something innocent and harmless (in other words, not bad nor stupid). But because of the nature of the group, I wouldn't expect any timeless or deep philosophical lyrics that will criticize modern day issues or give you something to think about. This first point is not that much of a problem because you should understand the type of music you are getting into when you listen to any band. Here, do not expect groundbreaking content.

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The biggest issue of the band is ironically their biggest strength: their music. Why? I praise the music from μ's because the instruments and how they relate to each other in one song and within all the songs is just amazing. In the concerts, however, it's a huge let down. For better or worst, I will probably will never be able to go to a μ's concert because I don't live in Japan, so my observations are solely based on videos I found on Youtube. Like other Idol groups they use an instrumental backing track for all the songs in the concert set list, so that's a huge let down right off the bat. Why you have such beautiful Music, why wouldn't you spend a little more on a band that can properly play the music like in the studio? It would be totally worth it because not having a live band is a flat out waste of potential. Interestingly, however, I did find a video of a concert (which was presented only 2 songs) which they did have a small band which consisted of drums, a bass, 2 guitars, and a keyboard performing with them. So maybe their concerts are more like a Russian Roulette? Another issue they have while live is that the singers have a little bit more trouble singing. In their defense, they are dancing and jumping a lot, so hitting each note perfectly is pretty hard, but also we have to keep in mind they are not singers, but voice actresses. I don't know if they have any type of musical training before Love Live! but the point is that singing is not their priority. To top it all off, they are trying to sing while staying in character. You are not hearing Emi Nitta, Aya Uchida, Suzuko Mimori or Pile in the concerts (for example), but you are hearing Honoka Kosaka , Kotori Minami, Umi Sonoda and Maki Nishikino instead. I see the voices not being pitch perfect more as a nitpick than an actual flaw. As much I want to criticize it, I have to give them credit for doing it and being able to pull it off most of the time. I mean, have you ever tried to sing a song with a voice that is not your natural voice while dancing a choreography and jumping around a stage keeping the energy up and staying in tune?

My conclusion:

μ's is a cool and interesting band to check out. Because they are such crowd pleasers, I am sure you will find something you like (unless you cannot stand J-pop). It's definitely a band I tend to go back to a lot in my every day life. If you want to check them out recommend you listen to the albums "Love Live! Best Album" and/or "
Love Live! μ's Best Album Best Live! Collection II". Some of my favorite μ's songs are (no specific order):
-Aishiteru Banzai!
-Kaguya no Shiro de Odoritai
-Wonderful Rush
-Mermaid Festa vol. 1
-Akifureta Kanashimi no Hate
-After School NAVIGATORS
-Loveless World
-Binetsu Kara Mystery

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