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mikko85
Reviews
Bad Santa (2003)
Some people just don't get it
Black comedy is like, the alcohol of film. You have to learn to, in this case, perceive it. Just like heavy metal is the musical alcohol beverage. In addition, to fathom dark comedy, you got to have a good sense of humor, generally. Not all people are able to understand it, and that's what's so great about this genre, it doesn't try to appeal to everybody. Which is impossible anyway. This movie has great scenes that made me laugh out loud.. A great piece. The fact that there isn't much of this genre out there is because stuff like this isn't easy to come up with, and make it work as a film/book/whatever. This film anyway is successful.
Naruto (2002)
One of the best
Many people seem to misunderstand this great shounen series by the quality of the episodes that started around ep 136. And rightly so! In order not to catch the manga storyline which the anime is based on, there have to be fillers. First I thought they could simply, for instance, have a one year break or animate storyline-related episodes for later airing, but that would make people soon forget about the series and lose the whole feel of it. Those fillers are extremely stupid and annoying and could have been done much better, but people shouldn't base their opinions of the whole series on them.
Naruto is an addicting piece of entertainment and one in the top5 of my anime favourites, accompanying great titles like Bleach, Cowboy Bebop and Death Note. It's also good to remember that no series should be judged by the first eps of it; Naruto is a good example, because not much happens and not many characters are introduced in the very beginning. Give it time.
For getting the best enjoyment of the series, naturally watch only the canon (non-filler)episodes, 1-100, 107-135. After that there will be a load of fillers, which will fortunately end Thursday this week on Japanese television(I think it's episode 220ish!). In my opinion the original Japanese voice actors are much better than their English counterparts too, so it sounds and works better undubbed, if you like it that way.
Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence (2005)
Get It
Because I'm a huge fan of the Metal Gear series, I just had to get this version of Snake Eater that was released in 2005 here in Europe, so I could get my hands on the MG-MSX games that came out in -87 and -90 that are included in Subsistence. I'm a little disappointed that those games (at least Metal Gear 1) were altered; a good part of the beginning of MG1 was chopped off so you don't start it all in the jungle but from the military base you're supposed to infiltrate later in the game. I can't help to wonder why. Unlikely that it didn't all fit into the disc because you could've dropped one of the Secret Theater-vids off(which were hilarious for the most part). Graphics were altered too in MG1, although it's not too much of a problem.
That they also added an online mode to Subsistence looks to work really great. Solid. This feature makes you think it'd be a really good idea to purchase an adapter for multiplayer fun. If you already have it, it's only good for you.
The new camera angle for the real core game of Subsistence where you can rotate the view 360 degrees around Snake, works too and deepens the experience to the point of intense, I think. Though, I was left wanting the camera to be a little more far away from Snake, but it does its work fine anyway. It's great for them to allow changing back to the original camera view by pressing R3, because in a few points in the game the original works better. Other than that the game's the same ol' immense stealth action package with a cool, greatly written script, where you'll find new things the more you play it (currently playing to catch Japanese model picture posters on camera.. <_<).
There's also a rare limited release available. In it, there's a third disc which houses a movie adaptation of the game with re-shot scenes. It's nothing that special compared to the standard two disc version, but they say if one couldn't finish Snake Eater and would've still liked to see the story to the end; or if your friend is interested in the game's storyline but isn't that interested in seeing it played, this is the chance for that.
So, in short, an expanded and better version of an already recognized masterpiece.
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (2004)
The Ultimate Battle: Survival
This game can't really be put into words, you have to play it to feel it. And making the player feel the game is exactly what the director Hideo Kojima is so good at. As for me, every moment of stealth-action that MGS3 provided and still does, feels like really being there, as Snake. Sneaking through enemy territories, using CQC, living in predation and taking benefit of your surroundings in addition to the excellent story(-telling), not to mention the imaginative boss battles make the experience truly worthwhile. I've finished this game more than many times and I still get the goosebumps running down my spine at the ending scene, where Big Boss salutes his former comrade's grave.
Of course, there could have been a few more things there that would have spiced up the experience to be even more fulfilling. Like, the stamina bar could deplete faster. That, without a doubt, isn't a problem in higher difficulty settings, but a situation where your stamina is compulsorily low and you would be forced to use First Person View and aim would've been a nice addition :P.
That still doesn't change the fact that MGS3 is a true masterpiece, though. The well-done score by Harry Gregson-Williams gives a nice final nostalgic feeling to the story and deepens the experience. This game is a very good addition to the Metal Gear saga, and I have to give credit to Mr. Kojima and his team for accomplishing his goal in making Snake Eater. He's also got that wicked sense of humor that suits the game well.
Now that MGS4 is in development, I hope Guns of the Patriots too has that same feel of play. Also, after the 'Gene x Meme x Scene'-scenario worked well with the earlier works; we'll see how this new theme 'Sense' works. Anyhoo, 10/10.
Operation Delta Force 2: Mayday (1997)
Gross
What can you say after watching this movie? That is, if you had the interest and concentration to see it to the end. I was left speechless, due to the amazingly dull story, annoying situations where one American equals that of a fifty or more Iraqis, and boring dialogue. I think that if this movie has something to teach, it probably goes like "Don't screw with US, or we'll come and kick your butts". Plus, this film truly encourages and votes for killing masses of foreigners, in the name of war. I got the image of tackling chess pieces out of the playing board. Except, now it's fast and there's not so much thinking. And on top of that.. no character there has any spirit; then, how can you care at all what happens to any of them. Excluding war movie fans with no taste, I wouldn't recommend this to anyone. There should always be something more interesting to do.