I took a bit of a holiday from videos this week. I still posted three, though. And they featured some reviews! However, they weren’t of books.
My main channel has been on vacation, and so has my vlog/science channel. Next week, I’ll be doing some channel trailers, though. Take a look at the videos for my main channel!
First up, I talked about the YouTube subscriber glitch. It’s a serious problem that has affected my channel, but it seems when I don’t upload, my subscriber count increases steadily. No drops, unless I upload.
Up next is my first movie review. It’s of the new Star Wars movie, Rogue One.
And then I did a review of an anime. I haven’t watched any for such a long time, so this is my return to watching anime occasionally. The review is for Attack on Titan.
Look forward to some big updates in the next week. My regular videos plus some channel trailers!
My sister and I went to a VIP theatre to watch Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. It was in 3D. We had our food and drinks delivered to us at our seats. Very nice. But how was the movie? Here’s one of the official trailers to start us off.
Visuals
Since this is a science fiction/science fantasy movie, you’d expect good special effects and visuals. I wasn’t disappointed. It looked great! Even in 3D, it was well done. I was very satisfied with the 3D aspect of it, no visual problems at all. The ships looked very good. Much like the original movies. All the X-Wings, Tie Fighters, and Imperial Destroyers were very nicely done.
The planets were very good. I especially liked the tropical world filmed in the Maldives. It was the first time I’ve seen a world looking like that in Star Wars.
The CG for non-human characters were good, and a step up from the original movies’ puppets, which were a bit jerky-looking at times. But these were done well. The CG for the human characters (Tarkin and Leia) were quite good, but almost too perfect. So perfect that they didn’t look entirely real.
Overall, I’d give visuals a 5/5.
Characters and Acting
I found that the acting was fairly good. Felicity Jones as Jyn Erso was good. Diego Luna as Cassian Andor came across as arrogant, which I think is what they were looking for. I really liked Donnie Yen as Chirrut Imwe. He was my favourite human character. I also really liked Jiang Wen as Baze Malbus. He really grew on me as the movie went on. Riz Ahmed as the pilot was fairly good, though not my favourite character. Forest Whitaker as Saw Gerrera was okay. He wasn’t in the movie as much as I thought he would, but I wasn’t blown away by him. But I think the one that really stole the show as Alan Tudyk as K-2SO. The droid was the best. Very funny and a great character. Of course, Peter Cushing couldn’t reprise his role as Grand Moff Tarkin, as he passed away more than twenty years ago. However, he was as I expected in his CGness (that’s not a word). And James Earl Jones is back again as the voice of Darth Vader. Great job, as always.
Overall, 4/5.
Story
I came into this with an expectation of being treated to a movie which would bring me back to the original Star Wars trilogy. It was set just before A New Hope, and what we get is a story where a group of rebels try to steal the plans of the Death Star. That’s the entire premise of the movie, and it’s an incredibly important event that leads to Episode IV. I found that the story was a series of life or death situations that they had to get through to finally reach their goal. It’s difficult to talk about the story without giving anything away, but you have to expect some deaths. It’s not a story where you expect everyone to come out alive. Sounds depressing, doesn’t it? However, it’s a story that provides hope. Everyone has a positive attitude about what they’re doing, and they charge ahead regardless of their possible deaths.
One thing I was hoping to feel was a goosebumps feeling or two. I didn’t get any feelings like that at all. Nostalgia? A little. It was nice seeing brief cameos of beloved Star Wars characters. But it wasn’t amazing. It was very good. I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t amazing.
Overall, I’d give the story a 4/5.
Overall
Excellent visuals, good acting, good story. It wasn’t entirely what I expected, but I did gain a couple favourite characters (Chirrut Imwe and K-2SO). I do highly recommend this movie, though. It’s certainly better than the prequel trilogy. It was fresh, though a bit grittier.
In the end, I give it 4/5.
Watch my review on my YouTube channel:
How about you?
What did you think of Rogue One? Let me know in the comments section below.
You know that viral video going around on Facebook? The one about that woman who bought a Chewbacca mask and can’t stop laughing? Well, it got me laughing, too. And you know what I did? I watched reactions to her video. And then I laughed even more. Here’s one of the more popular YouTubers who does reaction videos reacting to her.
He can’t stop laughing, either. His channel is Tyrone Magnus, in case you’re interested. He laughs a lot.
It’s not often that I laugh to tears. This made me laugh like that. I love it when I find something that does that to me.
Did you see the Chewbacca Mask Lady video before? What did you think? Also, do you know of any other extremely funny videos? Let me know in the comments below.
Google has recently been offering you the ability to choose between the Light and Dark side of the Force. A couple weeks ago, you could go to Google and search “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away” and you’d see something pretty special.
Now, you can choose between Light and Dark Side. I haven’t actually tried it out yet, but that’s not the point of this post. I have a simple question for you:
Which would you choose, the Light or Dark side of the Force? Why?
This is the first part of the Mission Statement of this blog. This is what you can expect in the coming year and more. And it’s a pretty geeky Mission Statement!
When I started this blog, I wanted to focus on book reviews and my writing. So, I’d like to reiterate that book reviews are a major feature of this blog. However, that’s going to expand to movies and TV. And not just any movies and TV, but science fiction, fantasy, and superhero movies and TV!
Movies
I’m going to be doing a few challenges, as well as following very specific themes when reviewing movies. Here’s what you can expect to see:
Marvel and DC superhero movies
Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit
Star Wars
Star Trek (will be done along with the TV series in chronological order)
James Bond movies
Harry Potter
Transformers movies
Terminator movies
Alien movies
Jurassic Park movies
Robin Williams movies (my favourite actor, so I should do this)
And pretty much any science fiction or fantasy movie I can get my hands on.
Television Series
There are so many TV series I want to watch, and I will do reviews episode by episode. They will be brief, though. Don’t expect me to go into as much detail as I do with books.
All Star Trek TV series in chronological order
Battlestar Galactica (all series)
Doctor Who
Firefly
Xena
Hercules
Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis
Transformers
The Shannara Chronicles
The upcoming series based on Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars Trilogy
Game of Thrones
Possibilities: The X-Files, Space: Above and Beyond, Earth 2
That’s a lot to watch, isn’t it? There may be more, it just depends on what I find. What are you looking forward to seeing? Any I missed that you think I should watch? Let me know in the comments.
In Japan, Star Wars mania is everywhere. There are posters, ads, products, and toys everywhere. Japan loves Star Wars. With the upcoming movie premiering in only a month, the ad campaign has many people excited about the movie.
Well, there’s a campaign with Kirin (it’s a drink company) where they are selling Star Wars themed soft drinks. They come in two flavours: Mets Blue Force and Mets Red Force. From what the label says, the Blue Force is refreshing, and likely a somewhat minty flavour. Red Force says spicy/dry (they use the same Chinese characters). It also says cayenne, which makes me think it’s spicy. I have to wonder if it truly is spicy.
I haven’t tried them yet, but I’d like to. I’ve seen them everywhere, so it’s only a matter of time. I’ll probably take videos to taste test them. So, look forward to that.
We lost another big name in the science fiction, fantasy, and horror genres. Christopher Lee passed away on June 7th, 2015 at the age of 93.
He was a highly prolific actor even shortly before his death. He’s well-known to movie fans for his roles in Lord of the Rings (Saruman), Star Wars (Count Dooku), The Man With the Golden Gun (Scaramanga), and of course as Count Dracula.
What I found particularly interesting is his involvement in heavy metal. After 2005, he did a couple of heavy metal albums. Before, he’d sung opera. He was a man of many talents, it seems.
With the Star Wars trailer out, and my comment about how I’m a Star Trek fan, I thought I’d ask you a series of questions. Where do your loyalties lie? Leave your answers in the comments.
Star Trek or Star Wars?
Coke or Pepsi?
Mac or Windows PC?
iPhone or Android?
Dog or cat?
Scrambled or sunny side up?
Bacon or ham?
Coffee or tea?
Mickey Mouse or Bugs Bunny?
Butter or margarine?
Book first or movie first?
I look forward to your answers. Let the debate begin.
So, lots of people are talking about some new movie coming out later this year called Star Wars: The Force Awakens. I saw the first teaser trailer and thought, “Meh, whatever.” So there was a Millennium Falcon in it. There were characters I’d never seen. Big fat hairy deal.
Well, then came the second teaser trailer, almost two minutes long. If you haven’t seen it, here it is.
My thoughts when I watched it? Oh look, a desert with an Imperial Star Destroyer crashed on the surface. Ooh, it’s Luke speaking. Oh, Darth Vader’s helmet. R2D2! And definitely Luke! A woman receiving a light saber. Oh wait, that was Luke’s, the one he lost! And he said someone has the power of the force? His child? Then lots of action that looks pretty. Rey and Finn, two of the new characters. But then, then it happens. Millennium Falcon. The screen went dark. And we hear it, “Chewie.” The picture comes into focus and there’s Chewbacca with Han Solo! “We’re home,” he said. That was what I was waiting to see!
So, it’ll be in 3D. But while watching the trailer, I noticed how it wasn’t as shiny and pretty as episodes I, II, and III. It was grittier, like episodes IV, V, and VI. That’s a very good thing! The nostalgia I felt while watching this was great. It’s got me looking forward to this so much.
Star Wars and I have an interesting history. The original movie was in theatres the year I was born. I saw the movies when I was in elementary school, though. My cousin loved the movies, had all the toys, and I just watched them. I didn’t become a big fan. The late 80s saw me getting into Star Trek, and I was firmly in the Star Trek camp. Fast-forward to Episode I. I saw it in the theatre when I was in university, and was somewhat unimpressed. Episodes II and III didn’t impress me, either. And when Disney got the rights to the movies, I was a bit worried. But watching this trailer has me excited. In fact, more excited than I’ve ever been for Star Wars.
Fantasy and science fiction are known for having long series based in very detailed fictional worlds. On TV, the biggest is probably Star Trek. It’s probably rivaled only by Japan’s Gundam universe. But in literature, there are some that have several different authors.
Let’s look at fantasy first. I recently started reading R. A. Salvatore’s Homeland, the first book of The Dark Elf trilogy. I’ve already read The Icewind Dale trilogy, though that was a few years ago. Forgotten Realms is based on Dungeons and Dragons, and has a very extensive universe. There are more than 200 books at the moment. Another series is the Dragonlance series. This is also based on Dungeons and Dragons. It also has more than 200 books. I have yet to read any of them, but I am interested.
On the science fiction side of things, let’s take a look at the two big ones. First is Star Trek. This consists of episode and movie novelisations, as well as original stories based on the characters and series. There are more than 500 novels, some canon, others not. That is huge. I do have one novel, but it’s a novelisation of one of the movies. I should be reading it very soon, actually. The other big one is Star Wars. Again, I haven’t read any of them, but this is another multi-author universe that’s become big. It has more than 200 novels.
I’ve only read three of the Forgotten Realms books, though I’m reading one now. I haven’t read any of the other series.
Out of all of these series, which have you read, and how many? Which ones do you prefer?
The official blog of Jay Dee Archer. Exploring new worlds, real and fictional.
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