Film Review: The last Samurai

Last Sunday night I watched one of my favorite films on tv. Now I would share with you its review.

The film is "The last samurai" by Eduard Zwick.

The story talks about an american captain who is hired from Japanese people after the war against American Indians. They need someone able to train inexpert japanese soldiers for suppressing what they think it's a samurai rebellion. During a battle the captain is taken prisoner from samurai and he's brought in a small village on the mountains. There he learns a lot about the life of samurai. In spring he comes back to Tokyo.

I really like this film. Because it talks about Japan and its traditions. I love most of the samurai's way of life. I love their meditation, their capacity of living firmly in contact with nature and their self-analysis. Martial arts are beautiful disciplines and "Bushido" could has many thing to teach to us Occidental people.

Have you ever seen this film? Do you like Japan and its culture? Is there something in particular that you love about Japan? What do you think about samurai? Feel free to leave comments with your answers.

Have a nice wednesday.
Emily

Film Review: The secret life of pets

Welcome back reaaders!
This week I want talk about an animation film I watched last week. It is "The secret life of pets" by Chris Renaud.

Picture by Google Image

The story talks about a dog, Max, that was adopted by a young girl. One day the girl find another dog, Duke, bigger than the first one. She wants to take care of Duke as she done with Max. The morning after, the girl goes to work and for the two dogs starts the adventure. They lose themselves in the streets and meet other animals from the drainage system of New York. Escaping from these animals they reach Brooklin and have to find the way of coming back. Meanwhile, the animals of the neighbourhood of Max start looking for him all around the two cities. Finally the two lost dogs come back home and have an happy ending.

I liked the film. It's really nice. I loved the rabbit, it's so funny. But the best one is thee cat. Cats are my favorite pets. Theu are so independent and they don't mind what happend all around them. On the other hand, cats are lovely with their "purrrr" when they approach to you for some cuddles.

Have you seen the film? What do you think about it? What's your favorite pets? Do you have pets at home? Let me know your answers in the comments.

Have a nice wednesday.
Emily

Book Review: I am legend

Picture by Google Image

I read "I am legend" many months ago and I noticed that I wrote anything aboout it. So...let's talk about this book.

"I am legend" is written by Richard Matheston and talks about vampires. It has nothing to do with modern vampires and I really loved it.

The stroy starts talking about a  man, tha last man in the world. All around him there is desolation and death. Years before compared a virus that transformed everybody in vampires. Now he has to survive without knowing how to destroy those monsters. After some researches he finds some answers about his problem and starts to hunt the vampires.

I really loved this book. The story is beautiul and also the way it's written is really fascinating. I devoured all the pages and almost cried for the ending.

Did you read it? What do you think about it? Which one do you prefer between classic vampires and Stephenie Meyer's vampires? Let me know your opinions in the comments.

Have a nice week.
Emily

Film Review: Iron Man 3

Wednesday is back, so it's time for my Wednesday Review. This week is the time of "Iron Man 3".

The film starts with a flashback about an event where Tony Stark met a man who would talk to him about his researches. But Tony Stark didn't dedicated him enough attention.
Some years later, after the attack to the Earth from the aliens, Tony Stark starts to suffer of panic attacks. Escaping from a direct attack to his house, he reaches a small village where meets a boy who helps him recovering the armor of Iron Man. Meantime, a man called the Mandarin attacks some cities with a sort of kamikazes. Looking for some informations about this dangerous man, Tony find the lair where he is hiding. There Tony discover also that the Mandarin is only an actor and that behind all that attacks there is the man Tony ignored at that event many years before. He knows also that the man found a way to controll the mind of human beings.

I didn't like the third Iron Man so much. In one hand I think that the character of Tony Stark panicking is out of place compared to the other films about Iron Man. In the other hand I have to think about the ending of "the Avengers" where Tony Stark (spoiler) risks of dieing. So his panic attack are justifiable.

Have you seen it? What to you think about mind controll and terrorism? Let me know your opinions.

Nice evening
Emily

Anime Review: Mirai Nikki - Future Diary

Hello readers!

Last weekend my boyfriend and I finished to watched a new anime called "Mirai Nikki" by the mangaka Sakae Esuno.

The story talks about two children who are used to write a diary in their mobile phone. One day, both are included in a mortal game. In this game each player has to kill all the other players with the objective of becoming the new God of time and space.

I really, really loved this anime. So strange and so impredictable. Those future diary are simply well thought and the entire story to. Impredictable, I repeat it. I would have never sayed that something happened in that particular way. Fantastic. On wikipedia I read it's a psycological gendre. I completely agree. The story of Yuno, the female protagonist, and the way she acts are absolutely insane.

Have you seen it? What do you think about? If you would participate to a survival game like this, what would you do? Let's enjoy writing what saies to you the imagination.

Good night and sweet dreams.
Emily

Film Review: The Avengers

Let's go on with the Marvel films and let's talk about the first film of "The Avengers".

In "The Avengers" a group of powerful people has to fight the evil who is brought by the brother of Thor, Lokee. He wants to bring on Earth a race of aliens with whom he made a deal. But, first of all, he needs to catch a powerful item found by humans. Once he cought it, he starts to open a portal on the Universe for his friends aliens. The aliens come and the heroes fight.

The story is really simple and predictable. The film has good special effects, especially when the aliens arrives on Earth. As usual, I liked the character of Tony Stark.

Have you seen the film? What do you think about it? What do you think about strange visitors coming from the Universe? Let me know your answers in the comments.

Have a nice week
Emily

Film Review: Captain America - The First Avenger

The film of this week is "Captain America: The First Avenger" by Joe Johnston.

It talks about the story of Captain America. He was a young boy who wanted to fight for his countrym but he was too weak. His body was too slim and he was rejected over and over again. One day a scientist, asked him to participate to an experiment. If he would have been able to surviv, he would have become the strongest man in the world. The boy accepted and the experiment was succesful. And he became the strongest soldier in the world whho fought the Nazis.

I really liked the story of the film. It's difficult for us, modern men and women, understand how much important was being a soldier in the last century. It was the best way for being useful to the own country. Personally, I'm not able to think so. Today we have lots of ways for being useful to our countries. Also the way of make war is changing. I heard that soon we will be able to fight wars at a distance, controlling machines almost like a videogame.

Have you seen the film? What do you think about the theme of war? Let me know in the comments.

Nice Wednesday.
Emily

Film Review: Thor

Hello readers!
It's a long lont time I don't post my reviews. I was so busy and...hurt.

This week is the time of Thor.

Thor is the son of Odino who was sent to Earth for punishment. There he meets a girl and fall in love with her. They fight together against the half-brother of Thor, Loki and he comes back to Asgard.

I liked the film. Good special effects and a really handsome protagonist. I liked also the film because I love the legends of the North Europe. I didn't like so much the character of Loki.  He is the god of evil-doing but in the film he wasn't so evil.

Did you see the film? What do you think about? Let me know in the comments.

Have a nice week.
Emily

Film Review: Iron Man 2

Hello readers.
This week is the time for "Iron Man 2".

Tony Stark is accused of the creation of a new kind of weapon. Justin Hummer of the Hummer industries makes a deal with Ivan Vanco for the creation of robots similar to the Stark's armors. Ivan is a brilliant technician who was captured during a direct attack to Tony.

I didn't like so much the second chapter of Iron Man. Ivan Vanco is a boring enemy and Justin Hummer is so stupid. The entire film is completely foreseeable, but Tony Stark is always the best.

Have you seen the film? What do you think about? Let me know in the comments.

Have a nice week.
Emily.

Top 5 horror stories

Hello readers!
Yesterday was Halloween and for the "Wednesday Review" of this week I thought to do a list of my favourite 5 horror stories. They come out from animes, mangas, books and fimls.

1. Hellsing Ultimate - Anime: Nazis rise again in the 20th century planning to conquer London. The Hellsing organization protects the English capital from Nazi vampires with the biggest of all vampires.

2. Corpse Party - Manga: the story talks about a group of friends who is thrown in different dimensions of their school. There they find a lot of corpses and the evil souls of three children that have been brutally murdered many years before. In these dimensions the students are victims of strange accidents. They see also every kind of terrifying things like a large spot of blood and guts on a wall.

3. Van Helsing - Film: Van Helsing is the most popular monster hunter of the Europe. He works for the Vatican and one day they receive a help request from the last vampire hunter of Transilvania. She needs to fight Dracula before dieing and brack the curse on her family. The curse doesn't let her and her family reach Paradise forcing them to stay in Purgatory.

4. Frankenstein of Mary Shelley - Film/book: Dr Frankenstein is a medical science student of the 19th century. After the deah of his mother he cultivates an obsession for the ressurection of deads. During his studies he finds a teacher who is studing the resurrection and that succeded with a gorilla arm. After the death of the man, Victor uses his notes and creates a monster stitching up pieces of dead people.

5. Dracula of Bram Stoker - Film: the Count Vlad loses his wife during Crusades because she commits suicide. The Count repudiate his Christianity and beocme a vampire the first of the history. Many centuries later he finds a girl who is very similar to his wife and he fall in love. He wants to transform her in a vampire and live together forever.

This is my top 5 horror stories. What are your favourite horror stories? Is there a particular monster that you like the most? Let me know in the comments.

Have a nice week.
Emily.

Film Review: The Incredible Hulk

Hello readers!

Also from the hot springs I'm here for our weekly review. Today is the time of "The Incredible Hulk", from the Avengers films.

A scientist is researching the formula of immortality using himself as test subject. After a period, his wife has a baby and the scientist starts to analyze the child. The resultls show that the child got the modified DNA of the father. After an accident with a dangerous explosion, the child is adopted and starts to become a scientist. Many years later, the child become a man and after another accident with gamma rays, he starts to transform into a sort of beast. Meanwhile he finds also his biological father and remember all his past. 

Hulk isn't one of my favourite marvel hero, but the film is very good. It's made in 2008 and for that year the special effects were really good. When Banner transforms himself into Kulk, the transormation is something particular. I like also the senes of cells and neurons during the main titles. They give a good atmosphere. Hulk is a very powerfull character while Brus Banner is almos a genius. I can say that he remember me the alchemist's base class of D&D. 

Have you seen the film? what do you think about? Did you like it? Let's leave some comments.

Have a nice week.

Emily

Film Review: Iron Man

In the last two weeks I started to watch all the Avengers films in chronological order. The first one is "Iron Man"

The story talks about Tony Stark, the most famous seller of war's weapons, During a jurney in the Middle East he is kidnapped by a group of terrorists. They want Stark builds the new missile Jericho. After a first refusal, Stark is forced to collaborate but instead of build the missile, he builds an armor for escape. He comes back to the USA and starts to work on a new armor for fight the terrorists.

The genre is one of my favourites and the film is very good. I love the character of Tony Stark. It's so snooty and egocentric and...hey! He is the worst man of the world. He builds and sells weapons for the war and makes money on the corpses of war's victims. He has to face everyday all those people who accuse him. But after the kidnapping he decides to change. War is wrong an his high tecnoglogy can be used in other areas of expertises. He is betrayed by his associate because war make more money.

So Tony Stark is my favourite avenger, which is yours? What do you think about the film "Iron Man"? Did you liked it? Let me know in the comments.

Have a nice week!
Emily

Anime Review: 18if

If you are looking for something new nd strange, let's look for "18if". It's made by Atsuhiro Tomioka and it seems to don't have something normal.

The protagonist, Haruti, seems to be called inside the dreams of particular girls. They fell into a sort of endless sleep and start to dream their ideal worlds. Haruto has given the task of break the sleep of the witches and wake them up for prevent the awakening of Eva.

I started this anime for curiosity and I'm really happy to have seen it. It's relaxing and for each witch there is a moral like the most common "accept yourself the way you are". There is a little shotgun at the end. It seems that Eva would destroy the entire world, but she's stopped. Not by a dangerous or epic fight, but by a beautiful speech between her and the other witches. Despite this, in my opinion, it's a bittersweet ending. The world is saved but...let's watch ti and discover this "but"

Have a nice week.
Emily

Anime Review: Netsusu Trap

Usually I watch an anime because I want, but sometimes I watch an anime because I'm curious. "Netsusu Trap", by Hisayoshi Hirasawa, made me curious and I watched it only for curiosity.

The story talks about two girls, best friends since they were children. One of them fall in love with a boy and the other suggests to help her doing practise.

Everithing in this anime is patently made special. For those who like love stories this could be a nice one, but I have to spoil that it's an homosexual love story. It wasn't so rousing for me, I don't like so much love stories. I watched it till the end only for knowing where they would have gone parade. I don't regret I saw it, it wasn't so bad, only a bit annoying for me and my boyfriend.

Have you seen it? Would you watch it after this review? Let me know your options in the comments!

Have a nice week
Emily

Trillogy Review: The Hobbit

I love fantasy and I can't think to a world without it. "The Hobbit" is one of my favourite film trillogies.

It's the prequel of "The Lord of the Rings" and it talks about the adventures of Bilbo Beggins. Bilbo leaves his tranquil hobbit hole and starts to travel with a fellowship of 13 dwarves and a sorcerer. The dwarves want to regain their home which has been stolen by an enormous dragon. Bilbo and Gandalf, the sorcerer, want to help the dwarves. During the travelling Bilbo meets Gollum and steels him a ring which is able to make people invisible.

I like Tolkien's fantasy. It's a bit different from the D&D's fantasy, but non so much. Goblins are mad, trolls are stupid and orcs are aggressive. Maybe, orcs are smaller than the D&D ones, but I thin they're good enough.
There is only one mistake in the films, and it's a common mistake. The dragon isn't really a dragon, it's a wyvern. Wich is the main difference between the two races? Dragons have four paws while wyverns have only two paws. Wyverns don't have anterior paws!
Despite this mistake, I really liked  all the three films. I loved in particular the hate between dwarves and elves and I loved the characterization of dwarves. They're simply perfect. Subborn, wise and friendly (except with elves) and fighters. Beautiful!

Have you seen it? What do you think about? Let me know you opinion in the comments.

Have a nice week.
Emily.

Anime Review: Fullmetal Alchemist - Brotherwood

"Fullmetal Alchemist - Brotherwood" is an anime inspired by the manga of the same name and made by the director Yasuhiro Irie.

The story talks about two brothers who tried to reanimate their mother with the alchemy, but they failed. One lost his right arm and the other lost his body and his soul found a shelter inside an armor.
For all the series they are travelling and studying for getting back the body of the young boy. During their travels they know the Homunculus: creatures created with the alchemy, without a soul and able to transform into powerful monsters.

This anime follows beautifully the story of the manga. There is another series, instead, that is absolutely awful. It's funny and serious enough. I really loved the concept of the equivalent exchange, those who sayes that everything have a price.
Like every anime/film/tv series, there are lovely and hateful characters. For me, the most hateful is the child-like homunculus. His power are shadows. He can hide himself inside them and attack people without they see him. His power would be nice, but his character is really vile. On the other hand, I loved another homunculus. Couard and heartless, it could be considered as hateful as the others but he's only an empty body who desperately desires a soul. And he's really good-looking.

Did you see it? What do you think about? Which are you favourite character/characters? Let me know your opinions in the comments below.

Thank you for reading.
Love
Emily

Anime Review: Hellsing Ultimate

I'm a vampire lover and the darkest they are the most I love them. Alucard, came out of the anime "Hellsing Ultimate", is my favorite and its anime is absolutely fantastic.

The anime talks about an english organization called "Hellsing" created for killing the vampires in London. However, the organization has a vampire at its service. He is the oldest and the powerfullest one. Going on with the story, is showed that the Hellsing has a lot of enemies. First among all, the Catholic Church. And also Alucard has a lot of enemies like a Priest of the Judah Iscariot order and the worst one, a Nazi Major. He wants to destroy london and conquer the rest of the world.

Everysthing in this anime has something unusual. Each episode lasts at least 45 minutes and for each of them there is a different ending theme. The episodes are in total ten and I'm not able to say with precision haw many series they are. I think two. The opening theme is showed only twice between the first and the fourth episodes. The headmaster of the organization is a lady (pardon my french) with balls and the protagonist, Alucard, is anything but good. The Priest follows the same way.

To conclude, I really loved this anime and if you haven't seen it yet I suggest it to you, especially if you like horror genre. All the main characters are well defined and you will love some and hate others of them (like the "Game of Thrones" series more or less). If you have already seen it let me know waht do you think about it. Which is/are you favorite character/s?

Have a nice week!
Emily

Anime Review: Pasycho Pass

"Psycho Pass" by Gen Urobuchi and Naoyoshi Shiotami is an action sci-fi anime.

The entire Japan is regulated by a new system able to detect evil minds before they commit evil actions. The same system organizes people based on its Psycho Pass, a numeric index that determine how much inclined is a person to evil. Those who have the least indexe are usually assigned to job placements like investigators. They work together with executors, criminals rehabilitated to social life.

They exist two series of this anime. The best is the first one. The second is only a bad copy of the first in my opinion. There is a strong thought behind the series: is it correct that a non-human system manages the entire life of people? Both investigators and executors are equipped with guns controlled by the system. They can decide anything without it approves. And people who have a weaker mind is instantly considered to be sent to prison for "rehabilitation".

All in all the anime is really nice. I liked the characterisation of main characters and the main thought behind the story. I hated instead the system and its control on the guns. I call them "bugged guns" because they shoot only if system approves.

Have you seen it? What do you think about the system? Leave comment and let me know you opinions.

Have a nice week!
Emily

Game Review: Fallout Shelter

My boyfriend taught me to love Bethesda games, even if I've never played some of them. The "Fallout" series is one I've never played but I watched my boyfriend play it a lot. Now I downloaded "Fallout Shelter" for my tablet and I'm playing it.

The story of Fallout is inspired by the "Mad Max" films. The USA were nuclearized and people need safe shelters. The Vault Tech Industries created underground shelters where people can enter for being safe. So "Fallout Shelter" let you build your vault and make it grow up with survivors who look for a place to stay.

All in all the game is really nice. It starts simpler at the beguinning and it becomes hader the most you go on. Building your vault you have also to produce resurces for people like food, energy and water. And you have also to keep alive the survivors who you can equip with armors and weapons they find exploring the wasteland or you received completing quests.

In my opinion, it's te best city builder I've ever played. Its variety of activities from the city management to the exploration mode is its strongest power. It isn't boring, especially when riders or beasts attack the Vault. I like also the wanderful assistant that suggests you the best way for manage your Vault.

Do you know the game? Have you ever played one of the Fallout games? Did you like them? What do you think about Fallout Shelter? Is it enough good for its fathers? Leave comments and let me know something about your Fallout expeprience.

Emily

Anime Review: Bakemonogatari

The strangest anime I've ever watched is "Bakemonogatari" by Atsuhiro Iwakami, Mitsutoshi Kubota and Masayuki Haryu. It is one of the series of "Monogatari".

Each episode tells the story of one particular demon or spirit who possessed the life of one human. The protagonist wants to save them all by the possession with good ways, but his new friend teaches him that sometimes there is no good ways for saveing people.
Despite this obscure aspect, it's generally a nice anime, with a lot of fun.

The 5 girls who was possessed in the series "Bakemonogatari"

There is a distinctive trait that characterize this special anime. Each episode contains flshes of imagines or writings that aren't completely connected with the story. Sometimes they show you something connected with what the characters are talking about, and sometimes they show something totally different. I liked this, even if it was really strange.

Have you seen it? What do you think about? Leave comments and tell me if you liked it.

Have a nice week!
Emily