thinkabout42 Reviews

Whispering Corridors: The Humming (2020)

A surprising comeback

[8/10 · 24 February 2023]

After more than a decade of silence, the Whispering Corridors series makes its grand comeback with the brand new movie. And as usual, it's yet another standalone story.

Following the old tradition, this movie is set in an all-girls school, but refreshingly this time our central protagonist is not a schoolgirl, but an adult woman named No Eun-Hee. Arriving to her hometown, Gwangju, she starts working at a local school that she herself was a student of. Soon after arrival she gets dragged into a whole whirlpool of issues - problem students, odd rumors, vengeful ghosts and her own forgotten past all come with their hardships and challenges.

Despite the supernatural premise this movie is more of a drama disguised as a ghost story. Of course, it has its share of creepy moments, jumpscares and eerie visuals, but they are not central elements of the movie. If you were a fan of the series, you'll know what to expect and if you weren't, I'm making this clear here. It promises to be a horror movie, but it isn't.

With that out of the way, the general storyline of this movie is pretty solid. Not quite novel in many aspects, but enjoyable as a whole package. It combines two layers - past and present - in a rather unique way. Both have their own ghosts, antagonists and societal issues to shine a light on. Most of the time they're only connected by the experiences of Eun-Hee. Telling essentially two different stories in a single movie is a dangerous road to take, but the authors managed to do it gracefully. Certain moments can be very unexpected and shocking, thought provoking and terrifying even. It won't leave your head very easily.

It's not completely flawless though. There are a few odd and awkward scenes here and there. These don't make much sense even on a rewatch and feel like cheap baiting or red herring. It could be much better without those.

Musically it also doesn't have a strong identity, which is especially disheartening when comparing to previous movies. Most of the tracks are just your generic Korean horror stuff. At least there is a pretty nice and bittersweet ending theme song.

Going back to the positives, visually it's very pleasing. It carries good location choices and camera work and overall feels very artistic.

All in all, this is a great watch - both as a standalone experience and as the worthy successor of the long running series. It has a great story, despite a few issues, and looks pretty amazing. It manages to be surprising even in the eyes of old fans, but is also a welcoming introduction to any newcomers.

On a side note, non-Korean viewers might feel a bit confused about certain historical context. I strongly advice to read up on any confusing plot points on the Internet. And don't worry - once you finish this movie, you'll know exactly what to look for.

Coraline (2009 Video Game)

(NDS) You'll get a better handheld experience from the book

[5/10 · 15 February 2023]

A game based on a movie based on a book. For a handheld console, no less. Usually a recipe for a disaster.

And yet at first it doesn't feel that way. The graphics are pretty pleasant and the soundtrack is nice. The game occasionally even references the book, which is a welcome surprise. The retelling of the plot is pretty coherent and there are no missing details. So, as a retelling of the movie, it's a great one. But as a game... Coraline for NDS is a point-and-click adventure, a very boring one at that. You barely get to interact with anything and most of your time will be spent going in circles across locations and talking with the very few characters the story has. Occasionally there are minigames, but they are short and mundane. The game has really nothing captivating to offer in terms of gameplay.

And as it turns out, this game is just like a beautiful candy wrapper with no candy inside. If you really want to reexperience the movie, then reading the book would be a much more pleasant and exciting experience.

The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague: Cherry Blossom Meeting and a Coming Blizzard (2023) Season 1, Episode 1

Romance and yokai

[7/10 · 29 January 2023]

First of all, I find it weird how the protagonist is described as someone who belongs to "a race of supernatural beings" when "a yokai descendant" would make for a more fitting and exciting description for many anime fans. So it's not just about one guy who has weird ice powers - it's about yokai and people living together. With the possible romantic relationship still being at the center of the story.

I think it is also important to note because the show feels distinctively Japanese, something about the refined sense of beauty and the way of appreciating small fleeting things.

Aside from that, the characters are all nice and seem like great people, no one is ever being annoying for the sake of pushing romance or comedy. Everything feels well balanced and nuanced.

Nim's Island (2008)

A 3-in-1 package

[7/10 · 25 December 2022]

So, what can you expect from Nim's island?

Considering it's an adaptation of an obscure children's novel released a decade before the movie (as in, 1999) - not much.

But wait, I'm not trying to be negative here. While it doesn't provide anything spectacular or groundbreaking, it is still a fun watch for the whole family. It has adventure, it has comedy, it has some wholesome moments of characters growing and learning about being resilient and brave. It's also a splendid watch for any nature lovers out there - the island's views are genuinely captivating, with its jungles, the volcano and the surrounding sea. The local animals can be a bit disappointing though, leaning more into the "cartoonish" vibe with their behaviors.

Despite its short length (96 minutes) the movie contains 3 whole plot lines. One for the titular girl, Nim, trying her best to survive through the many hardships and trials. One for her dad, stranded amidst the merciless sea. And finally, the third one takes place mostly away from the island and tells a hilarious story of a mysterious writer who published a dozen adventure books but never took an adventure of their own. Well, until this very movie, that is.

The strength of this split is variety that it brings. The movie jumps around, showing how the characters deal with the problems that they face, relying on nothing but their own strength and willpower. But here also lies the movie's greatest weakness. The story lines feel very disjointed and rarely rely on each other. And I'm not sure whether this was a fault of the original book as well, but it's a downside nevertheless. Even by the end the plot threads don't connect in a satisfying way. They just kind of end at the same time. Lame. The target audience - the children - probably won't pay too much attention to that though.

Overall, it's a cute little watch for a family evening - you'll have some laughs and for children some valuable lessons will be learned. Just don't be harsh on it and don't expect more than it promises.

Sonic the Hedgehog (I) (1991 Video Game)

The recipe for a timeless classic

[10/10 · 6 November 2022]

Undeniably, Sonic the Hedgehog was one of the strongest Sega Mega Drive core titles. Nowadays it is very well known and gets ported to new systems almost every generation.

For someone outside of the Sonic craze this game's insane popularity might feel weird. Did this 16-bit platformer from the 90s really managed to become a timeless classic - something that people can enjoy even nowadays, without hours of preparing and consulting manuals?

Well, yes. Mostly.

Sonic 1, as it's also called, offers a fast paced platformer that is very easy to pick up and play. Running, jumping and rolling - that's all you do, really. But at the same time, despite the common belief, here you're not always expected to "go fast". Carelessly blazing through the unfamiliar levels will only lead to frustration, as you will lose a lot of rings and lives on sneakily places enemies and spikes and bottomless pits.

Thinking "How was I supposed to see that coming?" is not that uncommon with the new players.

Due to that it is recommended to conquer this game's levels slowly and carefully. As contradictory as it might seem.

And you don't have to worry about time. Even the most relaxed playthrough will take you about 1-2 hours to get through every level.

In that time you will learn how to handle Sonic properly and how to use the physics of his movement to your advantage. You gain speed when rolling down slopes and lose speed when climbing hills.

It's an idea that is very natural to grasp and, in my opinion, turns this title into almost a physics based puzzle game.

And the game will periodically display new ways to explore this mechanic.

With the mix of simplicity and unique movement mechanics the gameplay here aged surprisingly well - you won't see any annoying gimmicks or blood boiling sections which are so common in video games of that era.

Just take it at your own pace and ignore the folks who speak nonsense about "always holding right".

Aside from the gameplay, Sonic the Hedgehog manages to be an enjoyable experience with the help of its visuals and music. They're memorable and exciting.

Through its presentation the game created a mold for all future Sonic titles: a bit of gameplay and a bit of spectacle. Though, if you don't like when the game takes control away from you to show something cool, then this could be a negative aspect for you. Take that into consideration.

Finally, the level of replayability is not that high by itself. You get another "physics puzzle" between levels in the form of a rotating maze to gather Chaos Emeralds. But they do nothing except altering the ending visuals slightly.

Despite that, if the game manages to capture you with its simplicity, level design and the aforementioned spectacle, then re-experiencing that magical and captivating feeling could be a replay reward by itself.

All in all, this game does deserve its place in the gaming Hall of Fame. It's simple and enjoyable to play, it has amazing presentation and it is short enough to fit into a busy evening or two.

If you enjoy good 2D platformers, then this game is a must have.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)

Embrace the comic book spirit

[8/10 · 24 September 2022]

The most curious thing about this movie is that it feels like a comic book. Yes, that certainly sounds oblivious and even moronic, but I don't mean it in a sense that it's a story about a comic book superhero. Well, duh.

No, the connection here runs deeper.

The movie essentially shapes its identity around being a comic book story, taking all the good aspects and, well, the bad ones.

For example, when you see some grand and thrilling frozen still shots of Spider-Man finding himself in a barely escapable peril, with everything moving at a snail's pace around our hero, you can't think of anything else but a comic book panel. That one magical moment when you're about to flip the page and see if he managed to "do it" or if he did not. This movie pulled that off gracefully.

Next is the story flow. And again, it is portioned like a comic book series, when one single story line is moving from one issue to another. Sometimes it can move a bit too fast, or too slow, and get side tracked with some smaller scale events. But if you ignore the occasional bumps it can be a pretty enjoyable experience. And also, while the story has its serious and rather tragic moments, just like its origin it doesn't afraid to be silly and childish - and not with the sterile kind of gag humor that MCU is infamous for. It's the kind of experience that you'd say "it's so stupid" about, but would smile while saying so.

The main villain chosen for this movie works well for a big screen superhero story - a man with electric powers is guaranteed to entertain viewers with things zapping, and blowing up, and sparkling - they have a lot of fun with it. Aside your usual hero / villain dynamic, Gwen Stacy's story and character are surprisingly good too. She brings in that human element that brings variety and grounds the whole story.

For something completely different, the music here is a blast. It's exciting, it's fresh, and Electro's theme will probably get stuck in your head.

As for the negatives, the movie sometimes lacks coherence - it's one of those "bad elements" inherited from the comic book origin. It has to waste screen time hastily closing awkward story lines started in the previous movie, as well as doing an embarrassing sequel hook for the future movies that never came to be. And finally, let's be honest, the silly aspects might be too much for some people here.

But honestly, even despite some occasional stupidity, this movie is really worth seeing at least once. It's pretty unique in handling its source material and does something that honestly wasn't emulated so well by other Spider-Man movies, for better or worse.

It's the most to the letter "comic book" Spider-Man of them all.

Mobile Suit Gundam: Gundam Rising (1979) Season 1, Episode 1

Not quite the giant leap, but still a step towards glory

[10/10 · 4 September 2022]

It goes without saying, but this here is the first episode of the entire Gundam franchise, and thus has an immeasurable historical importance.

While it does look and sound like a typical 70s anime, it's still pretty engaging. Without pulling any punches, this anime shows the horrors of war from the very first episode. Destruction, chaos and random massive deaths are all around here.

Instead of focusing on the characters of the show, this episode mostly establishes the basic premises and the conflicting sides and introduces the core point of interest - the giant robots fighting each other in some awkwardly animated battles. Visually the anime understandably shows its age, with stiff animations and basic human character designs, but still, the surroundings are marvelous, and the robots are drawn with a high level of detail.

The soundtrack feels a little basic and uninspired, sans the ending song which is rather beautiful, somber and poetic.

Overall, it's far from a strong start, but the historical importance alone makes this a must watch for any appreciator of Japanese animation.

The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

Amazingly confusing Spider-Man

[6/10 · 10 July 2022]

This is a movie with a rather tragic fate. Trapped in the Sony's basement for a long time, it got lost in the shadows of both Tobey Maguire and Tom Holland's portrayals of the character. It all changed when No Way Home was released in 2021, which shone a ray of light on this forgotten movie.

At the time of its release The Amazing Spider-Man was received rather mildly. And watching it a decade later I also had some mixed feelings. It's like a pendulum - it swings back and forth between some genuinely amazing decisions and some rather awful ones.

On the positive end I can greatly appreciate the dark aesthetics of the movie. When Spider-Man first appeared in comic books, he was seen by many as a rather creepy character. In this context, the darker tones of the movie make a lot of sense. This aspect also finds its way in the choice of the main antagonist - the fearsome Lizard, a scientist with great intentions in mind and a victim of his own experiments.

Moreover, speaking of comic book inspirations, this movie takes some elements from the Ultimate universe, which appeared in 2000s and absorbed qualities of its own time. Some characters, as well as story elements, were taken from it. In this regard the movie seems like a pretty unique and creative combination of both old and new elements of the huge Spider-Man lore. It even makes some innovative choices that defy expectations.

A recipe for a timeless classic for sure.

I can also praise certain specific characters in this movie. For example, George Stacy , a police captain and a great family man. His character is well characterised and is surprisingly deep, which you can't help but admire.

Finally, the visuals, the bread and butter of the superhero movies. Nothing to complain about here. The scenery is great and the costume design is superb.

Unfortunately, now it's time to discuss some of the questionable aspects. For me a lot of this story's problems can be summed up as such - the sheer lack of consequences for protagonist's actions. Which pretty much goes against everything that Spider-Man as a character represents. With great power comes great responsibility, but only when it's convenient to the writers. It's possible to point out quite a few scenes where the viewers expect some kind of consequence, a retribution for the action taken. But the movie just writes it off as a joke or just ignores it. It happens once, it happens twice, and your immersion is ruined. Instead of dealing with certain problems Peter Parker will just shrug them off. Earlier I said that some characters here can be praised. Well, on the opposite end, others were ruined by this very aspect described here. For example, aunt May exists as a mere butt of the jokes, completely invalidating her care and worries for Peter. Moments like that really take you out of the movie and greatly lower you overall enjoyment.

Overall, I wish the story was given more time to develop. Sometimes you can see some orphaned story beats, which appeared in the trailers, but are absent in the final cut. A little more time in the oven could've helped.

All in all, it's not a very bad movie - you can spend a peaceful evening watching it while preparing for the massive MCU crossover. But it's hard to recommend it as an individual piece, since the story seems so much unfinished and it goes against a lot of things that the character is loved for.

But oh well, the fans of Captain Stacy will be happy. Yeah, all four of you.

Star Wars: Battlefront (2004 Video Game)

Not a "must play", but still enjoyable and captivating

[7/10 · 4 January 2022]

Star Wars Battlefront is a nice and amusing multiplayer shooting game for nostalgic people and those who never liked the remake.

Despite its age, it aged gracefully - the units are recreated pretty accurately, and the maps are big and detailed. As for the game modes, there's only one - conquering the map territory.

You choose your class, run around and shoot stuff, while conquering important strategic points on the map. You can cooperate with your AI teammates and, frankly speaking, they're not that dumb as you might think.

The game feels rather lacking with single player content. You get 16 missions across 5 movies (Episode III is missing because it wasn't released yet), and, also, the galaxy conquest mode.

Said conquest mode has a whopping number of 8 different planet setups, but most of them differ only in the way the planets are assigned to each faction at the start.

The unlockables are pretty poor too - some concept artworks, some prop photos. And most annoying that can be in a licensed videogame - poor quality stills from the movie. Ugh.

After more than a decade after its release, it is by no means a "must-play" (especially considering that the superior sequel exists), but if you're a fan and decide to spend 7-10 hours to unlock all maps, you won't have a bad time.

Overall, it's a fun distraction for lonely people - for a few evenings in a familiar setting of Star Wars. And if you have a like-minded nostalgic friend, you could try the co-op mode as well.

Detective Grimoire (2014 Video Game)

A detective story from your childhood

[8/10 · 29 September 2021]

In my opinion, the best way to picture this game is as follows - imagine you're 5-10 years old, it's a cold winter evening during the holidays, you're sitting in front of a TV and click through channels. Suddenly, you stumble upon some cartoon channel like Fox Kids (or Jetix, or Cartoon Network) and you see the intro to an episode of some unknown detective TV series. "Well, why not..." - you think as you watch through 2-3 episodes of one single detective story. You're captivated by the witty humour, expressive characters and memorable voice acting. You have a great time and the story ends with a light cliffhanger, hinting at future adventures of the title's hero.

That's how I felt about this game. It's an easy, and somewhat childish detective mystery with great characters and rather predictable plot, for an adult mind that is. It's easy to pick up and play and it's pretty short in length. And your progress is tracked clearly in the interface.

Overall, it's a cute little adventure for a few evenings, but if you come here expecting a Sherlock Holmes / Ace Attorney kind of intricate story, then you'll be left disappointed. The game attracts you not with its complex twists and turns, but instead with its nostalgic simplicity, not at all losing its unique charm in the process.

Artemis Fowl (2020)

As a fan of the series, I am insulted

[1/10 · 21 August 2021]

This is an absolutely terrible movie adaptation of a popular teenage book series. The fans of the original "Artemis Fowl" story would be angered and downright offended by this atrocity.

As for others, you can expect a terrible, cluttered story, like it was written by a 5 year old, boring characters and a thin veil of great CG, which is nearly not enough to save this worthless experience.

The movie takes every aspect of the original books and twists them in a very unrecognizable way, ruining every single moment of the story.

Artemis Fowl is one of those movies which absolutely no one should waste their time on, period.

Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue (2017 Video Game)

Birth by Sleep Vol. 2

[8/10 · 4 May 2021]

(this is a review for the Fragmentary Passage only!) --- In essence, this is a short bonus addition to Dream Drop Distance home console release. It was never released as a separate game and for the good reasons.

The game tells of the times when Aqua was stranded alone in the Realm of Darkness. For its short duration of 3-5 hours, the game showers the player with an astonishingly beautiful picture and sound, colourful and dynamic dance-like battles, a bit of puzzles and a pretty good story, which consists mostly of monologues.

If you liked Aqua back in Birth by Sleep, then this game can be considered a very generous gift.

One of the very few annoying elements is the repetition of certain boss fights. It's apparent that even with its short length the game is not completely free of padding. But honestly, that for me didn't make the experience considerably worse, since the combat is still a pleasure to both play and watch.

So overall, it's a great experience, rich and concise, rather short to do much wrong.

Garfield (2004 Video Game)

A mentally painful to play disaster of a game

[3/10 · 8 March 2021]

If this was a students' project, it could easily get a B+. But as a commercially released game based on a popular franchise this attempt at a quick cashgrab looks extremely pathetic. The visuals are tolerable, the sound is lazy, and the gameplay is insanely lame and repetitive. In this game Garfield has to clean the entire house after Oddie ravaged it, moving items to their designated places. Your progress will be slowed down by the most annoying dog Oddie, and, more importantly, the game itself - the inventory is terribly small, the vacuum cleaner which Garfield uses refuses to work properly and the loading times are horrible. The game of course features many references to the original material, and it also gives you the possibility to explore John's house, but these little things will hardly force you to play this atrocious game. If you really want a game about a cartoon character cleaning their house - go to Goofy's Fun House, that one at leasts rewards you with some classic cartoons. Want some vacuum cleaner action - then it's the Luigi's Mansion for you. And this game about the laziest cat in the world should be entirely avoided for the sake of your mental health.

Orange (2016)

Mostly harmless

[7/10 · 7 March 2021]

It's a pretty good romantic drama with some simple, but important truths about our actions and their consequences, multiple "what if?"s and regrets we all have. The characters of the story are very lively and their friendship dynamic is very fun to watch.The visuals and the music are nice too and fit well with the genre and the themes. I even found some animations to be impressive for the genre that doesn't rely much on movement.It can be rather predictable at times and there are some slightly disappointing moments of cheap artificial drama near the end of the series. But despite all this, the final moments of the story make up for these shortcomings and finalize the show's ideas in a satisfying way. Overall, it's not the show I'm gonna zealosly recommend, but the one you'll probably would not regret watching.