This Is Where I Leave You (2014) - Movie Review

Given my habitual watching of everything that comes my way, expectations on how a movie looks and sounds before seeing it means something different than what it used to. Before, as it probably does for a lot of you reading this, I would look at a film’s cast, premise and trailer and judge whether or not I would go and see it based on that. Now, since I watch most if not all of the movies I get trailers for, it feels more like opening a birthday present from somebody I don’t know; it could be good, bad, bizarre or any mixture of the three, but I won’t know till I open it. I’ve had movies that were good that I thought would be bad (The Fault In Our Stars), vice versa (22 Jump Street) or had my assumptions proven right (Divergent sucked). What am I getting at with all this? Well, tl;dr I thought This Is Where I Leave You would be hilarious just because Tina Fey is in it.

Fury (2014) - Movie Review

In the words of one of my favourite actors: "War. War never changes." The same is true for movies about war; more times than not, they deal with the adverse effects going through war can have on the soldiers and how endless the fighting is. Not saying that these bad points to bring up, just that they can be extremely stale if not handled correctly because we’ve no doubt seen such points brought up before. Fury, I have to admit, handles things far better than the trailers would have you think.

Happy New Year (2014) - Movie Review

As much as I like to pretend that I know what I’m talking about, I really don’t for all intents and purposes; I just like talking about movies. It is with today’s film that my lack of experience shows as I go into a Bollywood movie. Not to say that I’ve never seen a Bollywood movie before, but then again, I might as well have because I only have two under my belt so far: Kick from earlier this year, which was good, and I vaguely remember watching Dhoom when I was younger. Aside from that, I know very little about the norms of Bollywood movies and I will without a doubt get thrown off by some things. However, I did start this blog partially as a learning experience for myself, so I guess I’ll just have to learn as I go.

Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (2014) - Movie Review

Before getting into this latest iteration of one of the most popular horror franchises of this generation, let's quickly get into what came before it. The first one was good, the second was even better and the third, while decent, wasn't as good as the other two. In all three, I loved the thick eerie atmosphere, and yeah they are pretty jump-scare heavy but I personally really liked them. Then I watched PA 4, which ended up being a crushing disappointment and easily one of the worst films of the year. After all that, I was very hesitant to check out this spin-off of the franchise, but I eventually gave it a go.

Before I Go To Sleep (2014) - Movie Review

The plot: Christine (Nicole Kidman), after suffering a terrible accident 10 years earlier, keeps losing her day’s worth of memories every time she goes to sleep, and can’t remember anything past her early 20’s. However, she soon discovers that it wasn’t a simple accident but that she had been attacked.  With the help of her husband Ben (Colin Firth) and her neurologist Dr. Nasch (Mark Strong), she sets out to find her assailant.

Tusk (2014) - Movie Review

When I first got interested in reviewing movies back in 2010, I decided to cut my teeth on a little film called The Human Centipede. I reviewed it no less than three times that same year: Once as a blog, once as an assignment for high school Drama (which I got decent marks for), then again as an 'improved' blog on the same site as the original. Now, while I freely admit that giving that much effort to a movie as meme-y as 'Centipede' was a mistake, I also admit that I'm glad that I chose it to start with and after having seen today's movie, Kevin Smith's 'Tusk', I feel even better about that decision.

Tammy (2014) - Movie Review

Okay, I swear I didn't plan for this. It just happens that this is the third review in a row where I talk about a lead actor who is best known for playing one character in most of their movies. At least I get to shake things up a bit by talking about an actress this time around: Melissa McCarthy, best known for being the loud obnoxious woman whose weight is the butt of most of the jokes. Well, here's the official notice: I am going to refrain from just constantly making light of her weight, unlike some other reviews out there, because quite frankly it's well-trodden ground and if there's one thing internet critics are well known for, it's originality… wait…

A Walk Among The Tombstones (2014) - Movie Review

Twice in a row I find myself talking about actors whom have become known for playing the same role over and over. And to make matters worse, the actor in question played pretty much the exact same character earlier this year. Liam Neeson, despite what my mother and I’m sure countless others would like to argue, is not a bad actor. He is just good at playing to type and prefers to stick to said type. He is best in movies like the Taken series (The fact that that movie became a series is testament enough to how good he is at playing that type), Batman Begins and of course Non-Stop from earlier this year: The soft-spoken but hardened ‘specialist’ who will beat you and everyone who’s ever looked at you senseless if you cross him. Here, he is once again doing his thing in the new thriller ‘A Walk Among The Tombstones’.

The Judge (2014) - Movie Review

Whenever people bring up how great actors like Jack Nicholson or Liam Neeson are, it always kind of confuses me since they play every role they get exactly the same. Really, the only difference between the roles they, and a few other actors, get is that they may swear more in some of them. Ultimately, another actor who is making a fortune with this practice is one Robert Downey Jr.: An intelligent, cunning, anti-social prick that really has a heart of gold and wants to do good; the Sherlock Holmes movies, his cameo in Jon Favreau’s Chef, Tony Stark in the Marvel Cinematic Universe… actually, pretty much anything he’s been in since Iron Man in 2008 has had him in this role.

Dragon Ball Z: Battle Of Gods (2014) - Movie Review

My personal experience with Dragon Ball Z, admittedly, mostly comes from Team Four Star’s abridged series on YouTube. However, I did watch quite a bit of it when I was a kid, particularly during the Majin Buu/Super Buu arc (That Fantastic Voyage crap with Goku and Vegeta sticks out especially in my memory). Then again, DBZ is one of those shows like Pokémon and Digimon (and possibly Yu-Gi-Oh!) that are even people who don’t follow anime are aware of, so this is probably the case for most people.

One Direction: Where We Are - The Concert Film (2014) - Movie Review

I don’t hate all boy bands; I myself have a certain affinity for 5ive (Everybody Get Up is a little too catchy for me to ignore) and even some songs by N*SYNC. That said, though, I have ears and a brain that would even scrutinize my baby brothers’ crayon drawings: I know emotional manipulation when I hear it and that is the crux of what every boy band does. They are tools of record companies to exploit feelings of Lisztomania in teenage girls (and some women… and some teenage boys, come to think of it) through songs with lyrics that are vague enough that they could apply to just about any girl listening, and yet specific enough to latch on to some minor part of said girl’s psyche due to basic probability (You drop a brick out of a plane, and it will hit something eventually). It’s almost clinically fascinating to see the effect boy bands can have on people.

Why didn't I start this sooner?

Yeah, seriously, why didn't I?

Okay, here's a good place for an introduction: I'm Mahan, as far as the internet is concerned. I have a compulsion for analyzing and cataloging pretty much everything I watch/listen/play, as you'll no doubt find out if you stick with me. I have a major love for speculative fiction and have even written a bit of it myself here and there. I'm extremely opinionated, but I try to have a 'live-and-let-live' approach when it comes to what other people think... key word being TRY. Like everything else in this world, it's still a work in progress.

Speaking of work, what is this blog gonna be about? Well, it'll be a kinda-sorta continuation of my YouTube channel, which you can find here, where I do reviews of movies and TV shows... less often than I would like, but I do plan on getting back to it at some stage. I usually end up with a pretty solid opinion of any form of media once I've finished it, but making videos on every single one of them is going to take too damn long, so I'll put a lot of them here instead. I'll be covering a lot of different areas (Movies, TV shows, anime, music, games, along with any other general ramblings I conjure up) and I'll mostly update on the weekends.

And now, for the 'fun' part: The lists. I wasn't kidding when I said I catalog everything I experience, particularly when it comes to movies. Since 2012, I've been listing every movie I see that comes out each year, listing them from what I consider best to worst, along with a short blurb about my thoughts on the movie in question. I do a similar thing with anime (Only I list EVERY anime I watch), along with my favourite albums, games and movies that I've experienced so far overall. Up until now, these have mostly been for my own benefit, and just something I can bring up when I've run out of shit to talk about with friends. But now, over the next long while I suspect, I will be posting them here for a potentially wider audience.

In terms of movies, I've made it my goal to see every film that comes out at my local cinema, which means that I will be writing up movie reviews on a regular basis, so there will be plenty of content on here regardless of what's going on. I don't usually have a schedule for such things, but for this weekend at the very least, I plan on seeing the following films:

Dragonball Z: Battle Of Gods (English Dub)
One Direction: Where We Are
The Judge

Hopefully now, you'll believe me when I say that I see EVERYTHING that screens at my local.

Till then, I hope you'll hitch a wagon to my star... actually, another thing I should bring up while I have a clear example: I have a very oddball sense of humour. I won't always make sense, I won't always be PC (No one should be anyway, but that's another story), and I always go for the cheap shots. You have been warned. :)

Regardless, I hope that you will join me in my critical ventures. This is going to get... interesting.