Sleepy Hollow (2013) TV Series Review

Sleep Hollow (2013)

 On Fox Mondays at 9/8c

This TV show is directed by Len Wiseman and stars Nicole Beharie as Abbie Mills and Tom Mison as Ichabod Crane. The series is an action/adventure, drama, and mystery/crime that premiered on September 16, 2013. The synopsis for this episode (from Direct TV itself) was: "Ichabod Crane finds himself 250 years in the future and realizes that evil accompanied him to modern-day Sleepy Hollow; Ichabod forms a bond with Detective Abbie Mills after the Headless Horseman murders the sheriff."

The acting and actors within the show are spot on I really enjoyed their performances. I also noticed that there was a great deal of effort put into making sure that Ichabod Crane spoken with proper terminology from his time. The settings were perfect for the series, and the camera angles were perfect. I would suggest watching the show after the sun has gone down so that it is easier to see all the scenes. It can get dark at times. The special effects were also well done. It didn't feel overly done and cheesy. It was just the right amount used which mostly centered around the horseman.

This series didn't originally catch my eye from the commercials, and that was because I never really read the sleepy hollow story when I was younger. I still don't really know much about the original story other than the fact that there is a headless horseman. From the bit I do know, I think that is a really good new take on an old classic. I love when old stories are taken and revamped to be more relevant and tell a familiar but different story.

Overall, I really loved the show! There was little quirky humor points that I loved. This show felt more like I was watching a movie than a TV show. I was definitely pulled into the story. It just has so many questions that you want to have answered and you just end up sucked in. The story is a marriage between sleepy hollow, witches, and the bible story of the four horsemen. It is a great merger of a murder mystery and sci-fi/fantasy. 

I highly suggest watching this series! I look forward to finding out more about this mystery and the things to come with this series. My favorite scene had to be when Crane is talking about working under the command of General Washington, and was then handed a one dollar bill that had Washington's face on it. 

Let me know what you thought about the show and your favorite scene if you have seen it, and also suggest any other shows that I should check out in the new future. Happy watching!

Source: Sleep Hollow

Elysium (2013) Movie Review

Elysium (2013)

IMDB

Director & Writer: Neill Blomkamp (who also made District 9)

Actors: Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, Sharlto Copley, Alice Braga, Diego Luna, Wagner Moura, & William Fichtner

Genre: Action, Drama, & Sci-Fi

Movie Release Date: August 9, 2013

DVD Release Date: around December, 2013

The movie takes place on Earth in 2154. The world has been divided into two classes: those who must remain on Earth and those who live on Elysium. Earth is a shadow of what it use to be, and most everyone on the Earth is sick, dying, or struggling to live. While those on Elysium have everything, they are able to cure anything and do not struggle with the same things that those on Earth do. The main character, Max, takes on a mission to infiltrate Elysium and change the rules and laws of their time.

I really enjoyed the storyline because it was truly well written and thought out. There was a definite direction in the movie. A few moments in the movie do have a similar feel to that in District 9, but that is not meant to be a bad comment by any means.

The best actors in this movie had to be Matt Damon as Max Da Costa and Sharlto Copley as Kruger. My favorite scene of Matt Damon's would have to be the scenes were we see Max ill. They are very well acted and shot. I truly felt bad for the character Max and felt that nursing feeling of wanting to cure him. There are several scenes that show Sharlto Copley's amazing acting abilities. This is the same man who played Wikus Van De Merwe from District 9 and Murdock from The A-Team, and I wouldn't have guessed that from the acting in this movie. He does such an amazing job of playing the bad guy and making you hate him. There were so many scenes that made me just want to punch the character; so it is safe to say that I was thoroughly disgusted with the character. I also mean that in the best way possible.

The only actor that threw me off was Jodie Foster. She played the Secretary Delacourt which was originally written as a male role, according to IMDB's trivia on the movie (IMDB). It wasn't as if I disliked her performance, it just threw me off so much that I can't seem to make up my mind about her performance.

I really enjoyed the settings that they used for the Earth scenes. They were believable and well designed. The scenes on Elysium were weird. There were scenes that were super futuristic looking, but then when they would show the houses on Elysium, they didn't look as futuristic. The houses seems like stuff we could build today; the only futuristic thing about them were the medical pods they had within them. So Elysium as a whole felt rather inconsistent. The special effects were nicely done. No one scene was overly animated or fake looking. My favorite special effects were probably to battle suits used by Kruger and Max. They just look so nifty and have that anatomical correctness to them.

This was a really good movie. I definitely got pulled into the storyline, and I wasn't able to guess the ending early on in the movie. Rotten Tomatoes gave the movie a 68% with a rating of 6.5/10 (Rotten Tomatoes Elysium). I would agree with that rating. This isn't a movie that I would want to buy and re-watch any time soon, but I am happy that I seen it.

I do not own any of these photos. These and more can be found here: Rotten Tomatoes

Warm Bodies (Book) Review

Warm Bodies

by Issac Marion

This book was published by the company Atria Books and released April 26, 2011. I would classify the genre of this book as Zombie Apocalypse.

The story follows around R, who is a zombie. After interacting (or more attacking) a group of humans, he begins to get attached to the memories he is seeing after eating the brain of one of his victims. Within these memories, he sees images of a girl named Julie who happened to be in the group of humans he attacked. The relationship between Julie and R is the main focus of the story.

R is the main character and who we get to read the thoughts of. The book does not have much dialogue due to the fact that zombies don't exactly have a big vocabulary and tend to have very, very short sentences.

M is R's best friend or at least would be his best friend if zombies had best friends. He is a bigger part of the story in the beginning and end, but not so much in the middle.

Julie is the other main character. She is a rather interesting character, or at least, the thoughts of R on this character are interesting. Within the humans, she has a different thought process and hasn't given up on the ideals of the old world before the zombie apocalypse.

The way the book is written is done in a simply yet beautiful manner. There is just enough descriptions given to be able to create an image within your mind, but not so much that it is impossible to follow the story. The few action scenes within the story are not overly written which is refreshing. Sometimes authors put too much thought into the scenes, and all that does is make it hard to follow.

While reading this book, I found that I was pulled into the story and curious about what was going to happen. There was a randomness to some of the scenes that kept the story refreshing. I always looked forward to the times that I would sit down and read more of the story. It was a little odd that the chapters weren't cohesive with their sizes, but each chapter had a specific scene within them. Some scenes didn't need as much writing within them to be able to tell them while others needed more. While reading, there are points where you can set the book down. It is nice because then you don't get some engrossed in the book that you forget to live your daily life (which has happened to me one too many times).

Where you can find the book for yourself: 

Warm Bodies (Hardback) $16.70

Warm Bodies (Paperback) $15.00

Warm Bodies (NOOK Book) $5.99

Warm Bodies (Kindle Edition) $5.46

Here is where you can find the movie which I haven't seen yet:

DVD Release Date: 6/4/2013

Warm Bodies (Blu-ray) $39.99

Warm Bodies (DVD) $29.99

Other Works by Isaac Marion

The New Hunger: The Prequel to Warm Bodies

The New Hunger - The Prequel to Warm Bodies (Amazon)

You can get a NOOK Book version….in Italian…. Publication date 2/5/2013

The New Hunger - The Prequel to Warm Bodies (Barnes and Noble)

If there is a book that you'd like to see reviewed, feel free to leave it in the comments so that I review it for ya! Also let me know your thoughts on this book and whether I should or should not watch the movie. Have a nice day! 

Sword Art Online Review (Anime & Manga)

Sword Art Online 

Written by Reki Kawahara

Recently, Adult Swim has picked up a new anime for Toonami. I could not be any more excited for that series which is Sword Art Online. I read/watched this series a while back, and though it seems like it is suited for a male audience, I don't think that is an adequate target group. The audience that should be looking forward to this series is all gaming nerds (myself included). 

The story centers around Kirito who plays a game called Sword Art Online. The console for the game (which I hope can become a reality one day because it sounds amazing!) is a helmet that gives the gamer the experience on being within the game. You can taste, feel, hear, etc while in the gaming world; it feels like you are in the game quite literally. The trick to the game is that you cannot log out of the game, and if you die in the game you die in real life. The only way out is beating the game.

The reason I love this story so much is that I have never heard or read a storyline that was similar to this one. It also made me question like what would I do if I couldn't leave a game; would I be happy or sad about it? There were guilds within the game, dungeon raids, and plenty of other nerd references that just filled me with so much enjoyment. I also enjoyed the characters within the story, though the girl, Asuna, could get a little annoying at times. The stroyline was also enjoyable because it just unfolded very nicely. It wasn't too fast paced or slow, and always left me wondering what was going to be happening next.

My least favorite part is probably the second arc to the series. It just felt more like an after thought to me. I still enjoyed it though. It just didn't flow as well as the first arc did. There was like a stop and go moment to the second arc.

This is also one of the few series that I don't feel like there is a lot of difference between the manga and the anime. So if you are concerned as to which you should view, you can do which ever you prefer more! The anime moves a little quicker than the manga does, but the manga has a few little scenes that aren't included in the anime.

I would highly suggest this anime to anyone! Especially to gamer nerds!

Let me know what video game you would like to be stuck in?

Adult Swim Schedule: http://video.adultswim.com/schedule/

Shows on Saturdays at 1:30 AM

They are currently on episode 4 (this Saturday the 17)

More about the series in general: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sword_Art_Online

Episode guide: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Sword_Art_Online_episodes

Images From: http://swordartonline.wikia.com/wiki/Sword_Art_Online_Wiki

The Perfect Mobile Game: Robot Unicorn Attack 2?

Robot Unicorn Attack 2

This game has currently been an obsession of mine. After playing this game many, many times, I had finally had the thought that it might just be the perfect mobile game. Let me explain my reasoning...

The first reason that I love this game is that there is a choice to customize your unicorn. Now the choices are not overly feminine with actually makes me happy, because I totally want a bad ass looking unicorn. Each customizable piece also does different things which allows you to tailor the pieces to work best with your style of game play...like a certain person's (ME) inability to master the flying unicorn...

Now the game play is a typical running game play like that of say Tiny Wings. There is, however, an option to change the two actions for game play. The game is set up that when you tap one side of the screen it will either jump or dash and tapping the other side does this opposite. I had to change the configuration and was completely happy that I was able to do so. The original set up was just not working for me at all. Each day is a new map and each map has more than one possible path that can be taken. For the most part, the paths seem to have either a high, middle, or low choice.

Another feature of game plan that I really enjoy, is that each game is made up of three different wishes (as the game calls them). You actually get to see whether or not you beat your last attempt and get extra points for doing so. It is an onscreen icon so that you don't have to remember your last score or distance in an attempt to beat your previous attempt.

My next favorite feature is that there are set goals that are to be achieved. I truly am an achievement whore and love when games give me tons to get. There are two personal goals that the game gives you that you either finish or pay to skip. There is also a daily goal given that obviously changes each day which is nice in my opinion because sometimes I get stuck on the two personal goals. The final goal is one that all players get to be involved with. It is some outrageous goal that each player contributes to getting which makes me feel like I have more friends that I actually do... There is also an in game benefit of getting extra in-game money for each day that you log in and play the game. Makes me want to come back every day and play even more than I did before!

The next two choices that I love being able to have are picking teams (kind of like Alliance or Horde in World of Warcraft) and getting bonuses for rounds. The team picking is important because you battle against each other, and the higher scoring team gets extra in game cash for winning. The bonuses can be super help when trying to finish certain goals. Some of the bonuses help you crash through things in case you are slow on the draw while others pull in game items towards you so that you don't have to be perfectly upon them to get the item. One of my favorites gives you a jump start in the game so you get to skip the beginning bit of the map. (I'm team RAINBOW!!!)

Overall, the only thing that I would love to see included in possible updates of this game is a stats tracking which tells you how many of each item or things you dash through on an average run. They could also include a tracker of what kills you for the rounds.

So you should play now!

(While it is still free in the app stores!)

Let me know your favorite combination from below!

Mine is Row 2/Column 1!

I do not pretend or act like I own these above images or the game itself. 

The game has been updated recently and I love the things that they have added. Now among the little blue droplets that you collect to buy the items to customize your robot unicorn (which there are also two new sets that you can buy), there are orange droplets that allow you to resurrect after dying in the game. It goes to show that the company truly wants to keep improving their game which I love! I'm excited to see what else they change in the future.