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Because we all have too much free time on our hands, it seems.

 

Feel free to ask Singapore-related questions if you want. Just know that I'm not too knowledgeable on the subject, despite being my own country. :? Not exactly a patriot, or that fond of how boring it is around this hick town. :P

 

Also, since I'm a movie avid, feel free to ask movie-related questions as well. Would be nice to find another fellow movie enthusiast around here. :)

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Random question.

 

How fast is your internet?

Average. I'd say... maybe 55mb/s. I use a wireless router, and that router is outside my bedroom, sealed off by my bedroom door, so that might affect the speed.

 

Of course, that says nothing about how slow my computer is while playing next-gen games... I'm using a crappy iMac with 8gb memory, so I can't play games with extremely high graphical settings.

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Average. I'd say... maybe 55mb/s. I use a wireless router, and that router is outside my bedroom, sealed off by my bedroom door, so that might affect the speed.

 

Of course, that says nothing about how slow my computer is while playing next-gen games... I'm using a crappy iMac with 8gb memory, so I can't play games with extremely high graphical settings.

 

Did you check out how much your iMac can be upgraded to? I use a site called Everymac, and if I put in the identifier, it will tell me what the computer maxes out.

 

Anyway, on to the real question of this thread, what would you do if an angel from heaven appeared in your room?

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Did you check out how much your iMac can be upgraded to? I use a site called Everyman, and if I put in identifier, it will tell me what the computer maxes out.

Cool. Do you have the link? I'll check it out. :)

 

Anyway, on to the real question of this thread, what would you do if an angel from heaven appeared in your room?

Probably what anyone would've done in my position... restrain him and make myself famous by exposing the existence of heaven and God.

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Oh, EveryMAC... no wonder Google turned out nothing when I wrote "Everyman Identifier". lol

Yeah, mistyped it originally.

 

The identifier comes from system profiler on your Mac, and looks like this MacBookPro5,3, or some variation.

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What's it like to be a character who's identity is entirely based off of his glasses Shinpachi kun.

It's existentially disturbing. The glasses aren't even of the right prescription.

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That's OK, at least you're not Hasegawa, then you're based off some s***** sunglasses.

To be honest, sunglasses would've looked more badass... on anyone that isn't named Hasegawa.

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What are some of your favorite, and least favorite visual novels?

I think that ever since I played my first visual novel (Clannad), I fell in love with games that have choices that lead to multiple endings, like the Mass Effect trilogy (the latest one sucked IMO). I like that sense of feeling where my choices have an impact on the storyline, like I'm writing the story alongside the creator, or at least choosing what kind of story I want to see. I think that left me spoiled though, because after that, my favorite kind of visual novels were only those with a branching storyline and multiple endings. It's not until recent years that I started to give kinetic novels or visual novels with few choices a chance, like Higurashi and Umineko no Naku Koro ni.

 

Favorites

School Days

Honestly though, while some kinetic novels have great stories in spite of their lack of choices, I still prefer visual novels with lots of choices as it adds variety to the experience. School Days was the one I remember most fondly due to its HUGE amount of choices that can lead to over 20 endings depending on the version you're playing. School Days LxH has 25 endings! Unfortunately, LxH was never translated and was only available on the PS2. The HQ edition for PC still has 22 endings though. Of course, in terms of storyline, School Days wasn't the best and can get rather cringey at times. But I feel the gameplay made up for it, and I wish more visual novels would have learned from 0verflow. I would play the heck out of visual novels with such a huge branching storyline.

 

Fate/Stay Night: Realta Nua

In terms of a great story, I love Fate/Stay Night the best, particularly the Realta Nua version with updated CGs and music, and more importantly, features voice acting. Fate/Stay night has one of the best writing you'll ever find in visual novels, an ensemble cast of excellent characters, and very cool action sequences that, admittedly, looks a lot cooler in anime form. I still prefer the visual novel version though for one particular scene during the Fate route: when Saber pulled out Excalibur for the first time against Rider. It was a beautiful scene with amazing voice acting on Saber's part. She looked incredibly badass in that scene. I'm still waiting for the sequel, Fate/hollow ataraxia to receive a "Realta Nua" update, but that probably won't happen for a long time to come, especially with Type-Moon working on that Tsukihime remake.

 

Steins;Gate

Of course, Steins;Gate can't be beat in terms of great writing either. Having just recently played this, I already love the heck out of it. It has some of the most tragic characters endings ever, really setting in the cruelty of time-travel and the harsh choices Okabe had to make. While not perfect, I feel this is a good way to make a game with choices, by making the choices a tough decision. There are differences in the anime version, some of which I didn't like, while others (the pacing in particular) I felt were done better and improved the story. However, I would still recommend the visual novel first because of those changes they made. That way you can get the full experience first before you miss out. For example, I feel those character endings that the anime didn't have added a lot more depth to Okabe's choices, showing what could have happened if he gave into the temptation of helping out his friends retain their altered fate instead of returning it to how it originally was. All of the endings were ambiguous and didn't tell you whether it's right or wrong, and I even felt that they were better endings at times than the True End, which felt more like a generic happy ending to me personally, as badass as future Okabe was in that one scene.

 

Speaking of future Okabe, I stopped playing Steins;Gate at the start of Chapter 11 because that's where the divergence between Steins;Gate and Steins;Gate 0 occurred, where the timeline splits apart. I intend to finish Steins;Gate 0 first before I finally reach for the Steins;Gate True End it deserves. I feel it would definitely feel more satisfying that way if you know just how much pain and hard work Okabe needed to go through in S;G 0 before getting that badass happy ending.

 

Umineko no Naku Koro ni

Another very well-written story, albeit less so than the above two. It has plot-holes sometimes, and a lot more cringeworthy moments that I felt were unnecessary, as the franchise is known to go over-the-top with how much suffering the characters go through. I had a lot of fun though, especially with those awesome moments when Battler makes an epic comeback just as he's about to lose the battle and defeat the witches with such style and badassery. The amazing music by ZTS really makes those scenes even more exciting and heart-pumping (my favorite is still

). Definitely worth a listen if you're into electronic music, as it's been praised to be one of the best VN music ever. The storyline can also be rather tragic too with sympathetic characters. Almost all of the characters have a sympathetic background, no matter how despicable they appear to be at first (*cough*Trollkastel*cough*). There's also a lot of mind games in the story, so those who prefer a more psychological kind of horror would probably love this a lot.

 

Unfortunately, I haven't the time to finish the last two episodes, which I've read that were rather unnecessary, and only added to give fans certain closures, even though Episode 6 already felt like a conclusion on its own. I plan to read the last two episodes after I finish the three VNs I'm currently reading.

 

Clannad

I can't talk about my favorite VNs without mentioning Clannad, my very first VN. It's not as well-written as other giants like those mentioned above, but it's still got a very emotional story that left me crying several times. The music is great, adding on to the already flooding amount of feels. The OST is one of my favorite albums of all time due to its excellent choices of music. I think, in terms of VN choices, Clannad and Key have always perfected the formula in a very balanced way, especially in Clannad. The choices can often lead to very different endings and routes, and the progression is so natural you would barely notice the route-change (unlike Grisaia no Kajitsu). Admittedly, many of the choices are simply there for comedic effect, but I love them all the same because they can be so funny.

 

Least Favorite

There are very few VNs that I outright hate that are not hentai titles. Yes, I've been known to play h-games, and more often than not, they can be rather poorly made, even in terms of how erotic they are. Most of the h-games I've played, I gave very low scores unless they turned me on (which do happen, fortunately). Aside from h-games, however, there are almost no VNs that I could say have such a terrible storyline that I would outright hate it. There were, however, a few titles that I found boring.

 

Analogue: A Hate Story

The closest one is Analogue: A Hate Story, which was short and kinda boring, but still has its merits. It's a tale of revenge and family honor. A lot of political stuff goes on in there. Most of the VNs involve you reading crew logs to learn about the past, so it gets kinda boring.

 

D.C. ~Da Capo~

I guess there's also Da Capo, but this is more due to my own taste than the VN's bad writing. It's a romance slice of life story, the opposite of Clannad which makes you cry. Very little emotional drama goes on if at all, which makes it kinda boring. I never completed it or its anime counterpart. If you like romance, however, you might enjoy this.

 

Ever17 -The Out of Infinity-

This VN is notorious for having a boring beginning. You need to suffer through some very dry infodumping before you get to the good part. Not a good way to tell a story IMO, but it does have its praises and fans, so I'm willing to give it another chance in the near future.

 

Maji de Watashi ni Koishinasai!

Shortened as "Majikoi", it's a comedy VN without, again, the kind of emotional drama I need. It does have a lot more dramatic and emotional moments than Da Capo, but not enough that I got bored before completing it, especially when it focused so much on comedy over drama. Comedy is effective for me to get to know characters better, but I feel, without drama, there's no pay-off for me to connect with the characters on a more human level. Majikoi has a large ensemble cast, but most of them I don't care about because there's no drama for me to relate with them.

 

Kanon

The only other Key VN that I disliked (I'll get to my most disliked one later). I prefer the anime version of this (the 2006 one) because it gives all the characters proper closure. In the VN, however, if you choose one character route, all the other characters are left to suffer their own fate. There's no "save all character true end" like in Clannad. It does make it more realistic, but I prefer the way Clannad handles the "multiple character route" angle.

 

Rewrite

The first Key VN that I dropped, and my most disliked Key VN yet. My first route was the Kotori route, and it was so boring. It's been such a long time that I played it that I could barely remember why I found it boring though. I guess I just didn't like the characters enough to stick so long with them. And it is a very long VN, much more than Clannad. A lot of infodumping that isn't as interesting as Fate/Stay Night's infodumping. The bad guys seem kinda lame. I feel that Key made a mistake to mix the action genre into their story, as I feel they're unable to do action very well. Stick with what you know best, Key, and make us cry buckets again.

 

That's about it. :)

 

what is life?

Life is having fun doing what you love. Life is not survival. Life is whatever you want to make of it.

 

And last but not least, the ultimate answer to what life is:

 

 

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What are your favorite horror movies?

Oh boy. Here we go. The horror genre is one of my favorite genres of all time, and I remember being fascinated by horror films since I was a kid, so I'll probably go quite in-depth on this one. Grab a cup of java and get ready for some heavy reading. Don't say I didn't warn you...

 

The Fly (1986)

 

 

I was, surprisingly enough, quite a gore hound even as a child. And not just any gore would fascinate me. I mean, you could pour tons of gratuitous fake blood and it would just be that, superficial red paste. What I really enjoyed was the shock factor, something I hypocritically criticize today. I love horror movies that went for the extremely disturbing, so I really liked Carpenter's The Thing remake as well, if for the uncanny gore alone.

 

But with (David) Cronenberg, he's specialized in body horror, a true expert really, so he's able to twist human flesh into some of the most disturbing imagery you could ever imagine, and there's something especially disturbing about our own flesh looking as horrifying as that because it's part of our own body because it reminds us how vulnerable the human body is. The Fly had this really gory scene at the end that really shows this well. [spoiler=Plot Details]Brundlefly spits out acid onto Stathis' arm and literally melted it like a fly would melt its food,

and it was both an uncomfortable and a fascinating sight to watch because it made my child-like mind think, "What else could the monster do to the human body with this cool ability?" It just set my imagination on fire.

 

In years to come, however, I would look at the movie very differently, more than just some cheap b-movie schlock. When I watched it again as an adult, I realized it's a very tragic story, a metaphor for a man's struggle against cancer or a terminal illness really, and this made it become my favorite horror movie of all time. The best tragedies usually involve an inevitable or unforeseeable cause or mistake - it's sadder because there was nothing any could've done to predict it - and The Fly's tragedy begins with such a mistake, a mistake done with good intentions in mind too. It's your science experiment gone (very) wrong. Usually, that kind of movie would have some generic story about a monster killing people, but here, it's more about a man watching himself dying slowly. A truly heartbreaking film that one must experience.

 

That human element is a key ingredient the sequel would come to miss, returning the series into cheap Hollywood schlock once again. The Fly II was gorier, more violent, and sleazier too. Yes, you may argue that it was the gore that attracted me to the first movie in the first place, but you'd be dismissing the fact that it was Brundle's tragic character that made it one of the top horror movies in my book.

 

Scream (1996) and Scream 2 (1997)

 

 

Today, tongue-in-cheek self-aware movies are aplenty, and not always appreciated as good movies because it shows how dated certain tropes and genres have become. Even the satire horror has become the new cliche. Everyone has to be clever nowadays.

 

But back in the '90s, when Wes Craven first set the trend for self-aware slasher flicks, it was an exciting period, albeit short-lived. I remember feeling proud that I was in on the joke. Scream 2 took it even further by mocking movie sequels, albeit ending up becoming part of the joke it was telling. I was becoming Randy Meeks the movie geek, just picking apart movies and making fun of the bad ones and terrible sequels. I was so full of myself back then, thinking I know better than I really did, but I digress.

 

Needless to say, Scream had a big impact on my life, and it was one of my favorite scary movies back then (it's technically a slasher film, not a horror one, but I hope this counts anyway). But it has dated quite a lot today and just doesn't contain the same excitement or novelty. Scream was a lot of fun back then, trying to break all kinds of rules and being as clever as it could be. In a lot of ways, the movie was like a metaphor for my teenage years - a fun time, but not one I would look proudly upon. I feel like it's important to mention Scream regardless of whether if it's still one of my favorite horror movies today because it played such a significant role in molding my love of scary movies.

 

I think I still miss it though, if only because of Randy. Randy is this movie-savvy expert, and I looked up to him and even wanted to act like him. I loved it when he talked about sequels in Scream 2, like how Empire Strikes Back was part of a planned trilogy (so it doesn't get extra credit for being a good sequel), or how the first Alien was more superior than Cameron's Aliens in spite of the latter's popularity ("Thank you; Ridley Scott rules."). He was such a snob, but such a knowledgeable snob that I wanted to be that guy, the guy who could charismatic assess the quality of a movie with a silver tongue. I do appreciate that I've mellowed out though in my movie criticism, but like the childish memories of your adolescence, those Scream movies and Randy still carry a special place in my heart (kinda like how some adult males still dig American Pie in their 30s lol).

 

Scream 2's opening was one of my favorite movie openings of all time, by the way. The first Scream had a really clever opening on its own, [spoiler=plot details]tricking the audience into thinking that Drew Barrymore, America's sweetheart and also a well-established household name at the time, would survive.

The sheer brutality of that scene might feel like it was made for cheap shock, but I think it was an important scene to set the serious tone of the film, how the movie wasn't going to play around, and that no punches were being held back. The second movie imitated that same shocking opening that the two other sequels would come to imitate as well (and fail). The second one was even more shocking because it took place in a theater, which we now know to be a place of real life violence as well. The real genius of that scene was showing how the audience reacted. They all thought it was just part of a show, a marketing ploy, and the barrier between fiction and reality was distorted. It's a wonderfully written scene that I felt was criticizing slasher fans and our obsession with violence.

 

Also noteworthy was Sidney's character. Neve Campbell is a terrific actress and made Sidney the Ellen Ripley of my generation. I really loved her character development, especially in Scream 2 where she became this strong but realistic victim of the horrors that kept dogging her life. The allusions to PTSD symptoms were intriguing to watch, and it made Sidney my favorite Scream Queen of all time. I also love

that, aside from being a suspenseful track that effectively sets an edgy vibe (in a good way) during the first-half of the song, also expresses Sidney's constant struggle as the unfortunate main star of a slasher franchise in the second-half. Being a satire franchise that makes fun of slasher flicks, it's not surprising that Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson (the latter, writer of the first two films and the fourth one, being the real brain behind the Scream franchise IMO) created such a character who not only embodies female empowerment in a genre that usually portrays them as damsels in distress, but also a slasher protagonist that deconstructs a lot of trends and tropes of past slasher protagonists, like her ability to survive till the fourth film, or how she had a relatable character arc and managed to grow as a character, or how she managed to live a semi-normal life in spite of all the killers after her.

 

But I've talked about the Scream movies way longer than I had intended. Seems that I still have a lot more love left for the franchise than I would like to think.

 

The Cabin in the Woods (2012)

 

 

My interest in self-aware movies that made fun of movie genres would carry on with this film (especially after this film, actually). The Scream movies were a good start, but Cabin in the Woods really took the genre and had fun with it, mocking (and deconstructing) all kinds of horror cliches you'd find, from the dumb blonde to "the virginal final girl" to splitting up instead of staying together. There are a lot of subverted tropes here you won't recognize unless you've seen your share of horror films. It's the ideal gift and a love letter for horror movie fans.

 

Just talking about what the plot is about ruins the experience, so I won't do that and will instead say: A bunch of kids visit a cabin in the woods. Bad things happen. I would LOVE to talk at length with you about the movie once you've seen it, because there are so many in-jokes that are worth talking about, all those clever little writing Whedon and Goddard put together to tell you, "See what we did differently? Clever, right?"

 

The Orphanage (2007)

 

 

This was one of those (very) lucky opportunities I was given. It's a movie I didn't seek out myself, and was only made aware of due to the grace of another movie fan back then. And boy, was I grateful.

 

Much like the other films I've talked about here, there's not a lot I could talk about without spoiling the story (I see a trend here), but I will say that, if you ever find yourself the good fortune of seeing this film, don't let the seemingly generic formula of the first-half put you off. I was initially skeptical of how good the film would be when it went through the usual routines, like how the main character would investigate the cause of the horror and discover an expositional backstory waiting for her. lol But eventually, this cynicism of mine was put to rest and was for naught, because there's an incredible pay-off at the third act that not only made this a great horror film, but also an emotional tragedy. I haven't seen this film for a long time so I can't say for certain, but I think it tackled the theme of childishness, and how we as adults tend to abandon the once guileless nature children had, that utter lack of cynicism and jadedness.

 

It's a brilliant film that a lot of people would probably put off because it's not in English, but I would definitely recommend anyone to check this out, not just horror fans.

 

That's all that I can name right now. :P To be honest, while I like what horror movies can do when done right (which isn't often), my preferred genre is thriller (particularly the psychological kind), not horror. And yes, there's a significant difference. So, ask me what my favorite thriller movies are next if you wish, and I'd be able to name you a lot more favorites. :D Of course, that's only if you could stomach even more heavy reading after this...

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Okay, that was a masterful response. Thank you!

 

The Fly (1986)

 

Never have gotten around to see this one, though it sounds like it may definitely be worth adding to the list!

Scream (1996) and Scream 2 (1997)

 

Hah. I remember seeing the original Scream when it was first out on VHS... I would have been eleven at the time. I had never really watched many slashers (always found Friday the 13th / Nightmare on Elm Street / etc to be too boring to sit through), so it was basically my introduction to the genre. I don't actually remember much at all about the movie apart from the Horror Expert dude doing his little rants, which tickled me pink.

 

The Cabin in the Woods (2012)

 

Hahahahaha, oh God. I watched this with @Cy~ a couple months ago, actually. That was a total blast. :D

 

The Orphanage (2007)

 

And we watched this one about two months ago as well, I think! We originally stumbled upon it, if I remember correctly, through a combination of combing the internet looking for good horror movies and looking into movies that Guillermo del Toro was involved in. It was incredibly, incredibly well done, to say the absolute least!

 

That's all that I can name right now. :P To be honest, while I like what horror movies can do when done right (which isn't often), my preferred genre is thriller (particularly the psychological kind), not horror. And yes, there's a significant difference. So, ask me what my favorite thriller movies are next if you wish, and I'd be able to name you a lot more favorites. :D Of course, that's only if you could stomach even more heavy reading after this...

 

Once again, that was a top-notch response! With that said, with regards to thriller movies and such...

Tell me all the things.

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What were your least favorite horror movies (aka. Ones that should have never seen the light of day)?

That's a more difficult question to answer... difficult because I don't have an interesting answer. I don't try to remember bad movies, and there were a lot of bad horror movies, too many to list. I could name you dozens of b-horror movies like Alligator, Creature, Spiders, Sabertooth (all very creatively titled, aren't they?). I do have a few notable titles that I disliked:

 

- Evil Dead remake (yet another unnecessary remake that pales to the original)

- AvP: Requiem (the first one was guilty pleasure; this second one was torture)

- Alien: Resurrection (Joss Whedon actually had a part in writing this atrocity)

- Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid (see remark about AvP)

- Darkness Falls

- A Sound of Thunder

- I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer

- The Final Destination (remember the prefix, "THE", as inaccurate and pointless as it might be)

- Halloween: Resurrection (what an insult to the franchise and Jamie Lee)

 

I'm sure there are a lot more, but you get the idea: generic remakes and sequels that were made for blatant cash-grabs. As long as a movie is made with some level of creativity, I can't fault it to my "least favorite movie" book.

 

To further answer @zoop's question about horror films, here's another one I would like to mention:

 

Curse of Chucky

 

 

Much like other horror franchises, the "Child's Play" franchise was dying of its own bloatedness choked full of sequels and reboots. So when "Curse of Chucky" came along, I didn't have a lot of expectations. But then I saw the positive reviews and decided to give it a chance. So glad I did.

 

Curse of Chucky returned to its horror roots and even played around with certain tired tropes like other horror films I've mentioned, twisting your expectations about certain characters around. There's actually a story in this movie, and decent characters too, not just throwaways you wouldn't care about and wish would be dead. The morality of the characters is ambiguous and realistic, so that's a bonus. A lot of things about Curse of Chucky just went right, and it shows a promising future for the franchise.

 

Now onto my favorite genre...

 

with regards to thriller movies and such...

Tell me all the things.

The key difference between horror and thriller is the effect on the mind. Horror movies are meant to frighten, whereas thrillers play on the mind and the expectations of the audience much more often. It's these mind games that made me love thrillers much more than horror, because more often than not, I wouldn't know what to expect.

 

Here are some of my favorite thrillers of all time. Disclaimer: A lot of these trailers rely on your lack of expectation, so don't watch these trailers unless you've already seen the movie.

 

Phone Booth

 

 

Joel Schumacher gets a lot of flak for his Batman movies. What people didn't know was that he created not just one, but two magnificent thrillers - Falling Down and this film. I remember Joel mentioning something about his interest in a Batman: Year One movie after Burton's departure, and I think he would've made a great "Year One" film had it not for studio intervention (as much as I love Nolan's take).

 

The great thing about Joel's thrillers is the human element in them. There's always a protagonist who is relatable on some level, whether it's job loss or family issues. Phone Booth features a fast-talking dirtbag who acts like your typical movie jerk. He's a womanizer and only looks out for himself. But by the end of the film, I was shedding tears for this guy, surprisingly enough. It just shows how well Joel is able to bring the sympathetic side out of his characters, no matter how much of a scumbag they are (initially). I don't think I need to state how much of an amazing actor Colin Farrell is if you've seen his other works (like "Saving Mr. Banks" and "Seven Psychopaths"). Along with Joel's direction, he brought out the desperation of his character effectively.

 

Because of the nature of these films, I'll be avoiding plot spoilers as necessary, but Phone Booth is quite a straightforward storyline - arrogant d-bag gets punished for his deeds. As familiar as thriller storylines can be, I feel that it's the execution that makes all the difference in holding your attention and your pulse running. Phone Booth succeeds very well in that respect IMO.

 

The Game

 

 

David Fincher is the master of thrillers. There's no argument about it. He's the best in the field in twisting your mind and scooping it out from the inside. This is especially apparent from his latest work, "Gone Girl", which also subverts audience expectations. But his earlier works like "Seven" and this film showed just as well the talents of a rising talent. He's like J.J. Abrams in toying with your mind if Abrams wasn't obsessed with that stupid "Mystery Box" gimmick.

 

Much like Phone Booth, The Game is also about an arrogant d-bag that gets his. Unlike Phone Booth, and more like Fincher's other works, there are tons of unexpected twists. I can't talk about the plot from this point, so you'll just have to check it out yourself. Highly recommended for fans of psychological thrillers who love mind games.

 

The Dark Knight

 

 

Yes, The Dark Knight is a crime thriller, not part of the non-existing "superhero genre", just like how "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" is a political thriller.

 

I think that everything that can be said about The Dark Knight has already been said by everyone and their mother. Greatest superhero movie that ever existed. Heath Ledger was an amazing Joker. The Batman movie that we deserved and needed. I love The Joker's expertly-planned manipulation, and I love his morally grey speeches about the vulnerability of law and order to influences of corruption. It's not a masterpiece, but it's certainly one of my Top 10 favorite movies of all time.

 

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

 

 

I actually have more to say about The Winter Soldier, even though I love TDK much more than this. It's because Winter Soldier helped shape the Captain's character much more significantly and dramatically than TDK did with Batman. This was the film that examined how a relic from the "greatest generation" would treat the 21st Century ideas of counter-terrorism. It challenges the pure and noble ideals of Steve Rogers with hard truths and pragmatism that he couldn't ignore. Not only does this make it a fantastic character arc, it also sprinkles sufficient amount of commentary to encourage discussions about the current political climate.

 

Rather than proving Steve's seemingly naive ideals false, I think it merely reinforced them and made me love and respect the character even more for planting himself like a tree beside the river of truth.

 

By the way, I would love to see a Captain America v. Joker movie, if only just to see how the most morally incorruptible man on Earth would face against the most corrupting force on the planet.

 

Such an amazing film. It's both philosophically and creatively ingenious. A survivor of a post-apocalyptic world is sent to the past to fix things only to end up in a nuthouse and forced to question his sanity. Usually, such fear of the apocalypse would be associated with delusional conspiracies conjured up by either doomsday phobics or just plain tinfoil hat-wearing basement dwellers. It's why it's such a clever plot - how could we tell which is the reality if it seems like such a likely delusion?

 

Aside from an examination of the human sanity, it also delves into fate and our inability to stop the wheels from turning... like monkeys dancing to a street organ.

 

I found this film while seeking out high-octane action-packed thrillers that would pump up my adrenaline (being the junkie that I am). Surprisingly, this was a smarter film than what I was looking for, like most thrillers out there. It deals with Cold War politics, anti-war sentiments (rather than anti-military), and how blindly following orders isn't always the best idea. Tony Scott is known for his hyperbolic thrillers that often go over-the-top, but I'd say this is his best work yet that's smarter than his other films.

 

Aside from the politics, the main attraction here is really the confrontation between the two heavyweight actors of the time: Denzel Washington and Gene Hackman. The intense rivalry between commander and officer here is riveting. Neither is really in the complete wrong and both have good reasons to launch or not launch those missiles.

 

.

 

The real reason why I suggested for you to ask me about my favorite thrillers. This was another hidden gem that I just happened to stumble upon thanks to a review by Chris Stuckmann. Like a lot of my favorite thrillers, it has such a simple plot with a massive pay-off. An old friend reunites with our protagonist and his wife, later offering them a seemingly harmless gift.

 

Again, not much can be said without spoiling, but it's a story about the past coming back to bite you. The great twists aside, the acting here is wonderful, and you can see the emotional pain all of the characters carry here beneath their facade.

 

Another film I've mentioned a lot in the forums. The first MI was a spy thriller through and through with very little of the goofy comedy you'll come to find in the fourth and fifth film. The film follows Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise), an agent who is betrayed, with his entire team killed in a failed operation. Cruise delivers a great performance, particularly when he discovers who really betrayed him at the end. You can see all the pain on his face as he put the pieces together and realized the truth during the confrontation.

 

Noteworthy is

playing during that scene. Danny Elfman once again delivers a haunting score that's unforgettable. It fits the scene incredibly well and made it one of my favorite movie scenes of all time (next to the vault-infiltration scene I described in length in the "Favorite Movie Scenes" thread, the one devoid of any BGM).

 

Last but not least...

 

I could write an entire article on what I love about this film, what it has done right for the Bond franchise, all the amazing characters it has, the groundbreaking character development of James Bond, the exhilarating music that kept my heart pumping, the amazing villain, and many many more. It's my third favorite movie of all time and no other films have surpassed it, including The Dark Knight. I could write at length about this, but I think I'll save it up for an idea I have for the "Favorite Movie" thread which I'm planning to respond to again in the near future, but with an extremely lengthy post that will rank all my favorite movies from Top 20 to Top 10.

 

In fact, I think I've exhausted here what I have to say about some of my favorite movies I intended to talk about in that post, so I think I'll stop for now. :P I feel like I'm just repeating myself at this point anyway. What I would generally look out for in a thriller is often what I would look out for in a good movie - unexpected twists, emotional characters I could relate to and sympathize, ambiguous morality, and a sprinkle of philosophical musings if needed.

 

Thanks for the question, @zoop. I hope you had fun reading it as much as I did writing it.

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What was your favorite route in the Clannad VN?

Sorry I missed this question. Was intending to put it off because I wanted to give a proper reply, which would have taken some time to write...

 

Favorite route... God, it's been a long time. I think I really liked Kotomi's route. She has the best ending of all. Fuko's route comes close due to the feels-factor. lol Maybe Nagisa's main "After Story" route would be third due to all the little things I liked about it (the realism, the spotlight on a young adult working his butt off for his kid, Ushio, etc.).

 

Honestly, I can't really remember. I mean, my favorite girl in there is either Fuko or Kyou (Tomoyo is a very close third choice), but I can't remember much of Kyou's route more than I could remember Kotomi's route (probably due to how distinct Kotomi's ending was). Like I said, it's been a long time. >_<

 

Sorry if my answer isn't satisfactory. :P My memory sucks.

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What did you think of the two different ends of Fuko's route?

I'm assuming you're referring to Fuko's After Story arc when talking about the second ending... right? >_< Like I said, it's been a really long time, so I had to Google what is even the second ending of Fuko. lol Didn't know there were two different ends.

 

Erm, care to refresh my memory again what's the second end? xD

 

Have you seen any films by the Coen Brothers? If so, what do you think of their work?

Woo, good question! But I'm afraid you asked the wrong movie fan, and you might be disappointed at my answer.

 

See, I've known of the Coen Brothers' reputation for a long time, but to be honest, I just wasn't really interested in the more "artsy" side of movies, even if I do occasionally watch one or two. For the Coens, I did watch one work of theirs - and it wasn't even one of their more serious works, since they claimed to have written it as a diversion for their writer's block while working on Miller's Crossing. Yep, I'm talking about Barton Fink. I was really interested in this one because it talked about the angst of a writer (a writer working for Hollywood if you want to get specific). It reflected a lot of my phobias and anxieties while writing my stories.

 

The thing about Coens' work, while I have only seen one of them, I do like their heavy use of symbolism in their story. You could never really tell what their story is truly about. I believe that if you show a Coen movie to a room full of people, you'll get at least two different interpretation of what it means.

 

For Barton Fink, I alone had two different interpretations walking out of that movie: 1. The more straightforward interpretation, a struggling writer being swayed by the greed of Hollywood, and 2. It's about Nazis and fascism, specifically how the left-wing Barton had sold himself out for, supposedly, "the common man". But I have to admit that I got that second interpretation only after reading Roger Ebert's review. :P I was never really good at interpreting these kind of movies.

 

Based on that movie alone, I could say I am interested in seeing more of their works in the future, particularly the popular No Country for Old Men. What I ultimately think of such '2deep4me' movies is that they can be amusing to interpret, to think about what it all means and how it fits into our mundane lives, but I'm afraid they just won't really land into my top favorite spots because I would be too confused to have an emotional impact. It doesn't help that Barton Fink had a rather cynical ending, one which I won't spoil here. There are certain allegorical films that have heavy symbolism but managed to be straightforward and entertaining enough to resonate with me, however, like Alex Garland's Ex Machina, a movie I really loved in spite of not understanding it all.

 

So there it is, my opinion of the Coen Brothers. Apologies if it's an underwhelming answer. lol Go ask Cy~ instead about the Coens. I've got a feeling she might have the intellectual prowess to provide a more interesting response. ;)

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