Thursday, December 28, 2006

Black Christmas (1974)

Note: This review was originally posted on Myspace. I am reposting it here for archival purposes. It has been backdated to the date of its original posting.

Black Christmas is the classic slasher that preceded the more well-known Halloween and Friday The 13th. The remake was just released a couple days ago on Christmas, and I couldn't pass up the chance to see a horror movie about Christmas, on Christmas. But I wanted to see the original first, so I bought the DVD. There's not much to say about the remake, but the original version of the movie is great. It's not just creepy, but kind of funny too, in a very natural way.

Plot: a deranged killer sneaks into a sorority house at Christmas time and hides in the attic, making obscene phone calls to scare the girls in the house before killing them off one by one. A simple formula, but this movie is just very classic in every way. My favorite character was Clare, so I was really pissed when (early spoiler) she was the first to be killed.

Slasher movies today are a dime a dozen, and as evidenced by the remake of this movie, are good for little more than a quick gross-out, but if you want to experience what the slasher genre was capable of before we were all way too overexposed to gore and deranged psychopaths, do yourself a favor and give this classic movie a watch.

Monday, November 20, 2006

The Hamiltons (2006)

Note: This review is part of my coverage of After Dark Horrorfest: 8 Films To Die For.

The Hamiltons

A modern-day family of vampires tries to fit in with normal society. After the death of their parents, they struggle to keep the family together and avoid revealing their secret, all the while they thirst for more victims. One of the kids in the family is at that age where he's questioning who he is and what his place in the world is, and he has to grapple with the truth of his nature, and whether or not to reveal the family's secret.

I thought this was a very enjoyable movie. There was a lot of drama, and the characters were fun to get to know. Plus, you're trying to figure out all the while what exactly is wrong with this family and whether or not the one kid will turn them in. It's like American Beauty with vampires. And these vampires aren't your cliche vampires, either. They're almost perfectly normal. Except the one girl does wear a lot of goth makeup, but that's not unusual in this day and age either. Overall, it was a very entertaining movie, and definitely not a typical vampire flick.

Reasons for banning: Honestly, there doesn't really seem to be much to keep this movie from normal channels. There are obviously some bloody scenes - more bloody than gory. And you've got people held captive and treated like cattle, but it's nowhere near as graphic or disturbing as a movie like Hostel. And then there's the scene where the twins kiss. Nothing really that bad, though.

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Penny Dreadful (2006)

Note: This review is part of my coverage of After Dark Horrorfest: 8 Films To Die For.

Penny Dreadful

A teenage girl, who has been deathly afraid of riding in cars ever since a childhood accident that killed her parents, is encouraged by her therapist to face her fears and take a road trip of sorts. It's just her luck when they nearly run over a lone hitchhiker in the middle of the woods. To compensate for nearly killing him, the therapist agrees to give him a ride to the camp he claims he was headed for. Unfortunately for the duo, the hitchhiker is an escaped mental patient (aren't they all?) fresh off a killing spree at a local diner, and he won't be satisfied until he kills a few more. Even more unfortunate for Penny, the hitchhiker caught enough of the conversation in the car that he knows about Penny's fear, and uses it to torture her psychologically all night long. Penny must face her fears if she has any chance of escaping this nightmare alive.

This was an intense movie. Certainly the kind that would cause some people to be on the edge of their seats for the duration. The great thing is that the fear is so psychological, as opposed to the physical fear that's become so common. The plot might sound a little dry (picking up a murderous hitchhiker, having to overcome fears to survive), but this movie really delivers its order. You can feel Penny's various stages of panic. Plus, the hitchhiker was great. He was really creepy, with his coat, and the hood that covered his face, the way he rarely spoke, and the skewer of bloody meat that he ate from...really a creepy character, but with a certain kind of personality - not just your generic hitchhiking murderer. Plus, you really felt that he was a sadistic bastard, the way he tortured Penny psychologically instead of just killing her off right away. This was a great movie, even though the ending was a little open-ended. Definitely an exciting movie-going experience.

Reasons for banning: I can't really say for sure that anything specific in this movie would have necessarily got it banned from a regular theatrical run. It was pretty heavy on the psychological horror the whole way through, so it feels like a dense scare, and that may have something to do with it. The only possible detail that I feel may have garnered a response from censors would be the potential attempted suicide. "Don't try this at home, kids!"

The Abandoned (2006)

Note: This review is part of my coverage of After Dark Horrorfest: 8 Films To Die For.

The Abandoned

Two twins, abandoned and separated at a very young age, both find their way back to their house of birth in a remote forest in Russia, 40 years later, searching for information about their parents and their roots. However, the truth behind their abandonment could turn out to be something they'd be better off not knowing. They become stuck in this house, which is haunted by memories of the past tragedy, and get to meet their doppelgangers, the presence of which alludes to their own impending demise. When they discover the horror they escaped from as infants, will they be able to change their own fate, or will they be able to escape at all?

I really enjoyed this movie. The plot was very complicated, which kept you thinking and wondering about things, and the style of the movie was very beautiful and very creepy. A lot of this movie just gave me a feeling of the atmosphere of Silent Hill, especially the decrepit condition of the abandoned house - it was like Silent Hill without monsters, except for the doppelgangers. And speaking of which, I'm a huge fan of the doppelganger legend, and I was very excited to find out that this movie featured a couple of them. The ending was very exciting, and there was seriously a lot going on. It was hard to put everything together, but I think I was able to get the important ideas. Overall, I think this movie was fantastic and is my pick for the best movie of Horrorfest so far.

Reasons for banning: There were a lot of graphic ideas in this movie, including at least one unusually disgusting death, as well as infant-related violence, which I think would be the strongest reason this movie would be considered too extreme for a regular run.

The Gravedancers (2006)

Note: This review is part of my coverage of After Dark Horrorfest: 8 Films To Die For.

The Gravedancers

The name pretty much describes it. Three old college buddies mourn the death of the fourth member of their circle of friends, and in the process, they get liquored up and go dancing over the graves of a sadomasochist, a pyromaniac, and an axe murderer. Unfortunately for them, an old Pagan curse causes the souls that have been disrespected to haunt the fellows who chose to celebrate life that night. They seek out a couple of parapsychologists to try to find a way to keep the unfriendly ghosts from killing them before the curse wears out.

I enjoyed this movie, it was fun and it had some genuinely creepy moments. The gravedancing scene was actually pretty good, as they had a pretty rocking song playing on the boombox that I could groove to (Thought I Was Dead by The Richmond Sluts). In the one scene with the writing on the wall around the doorway, I just knew something was gonna jump out of the doorway (cause your attention was being drawn to the writing, ya know?), but it still made me jump! There was a girl sitting down the row that actually screamed out at a part or two - I think that's the first time I've ever been in a theatre where someone actually screamed out! Also, when the parapsychologist was explaining the Pagan curse, it was weird but I totally predicted his exact words just before he said "a spell, a curse"...which was kind of cool for me. The one thing that really bugged me about this movie was the young female parapsychologist - she was just so annoying. Even regardless of that one particular incident, throughout the whole film she just seemed so snug, and trying to be hip or cool or funny or whatever. She was such a poser, and it bugged me. Otherwise, this was an enjoyable film.

Reasons for banning: I'm thinking the reasons would include a) the whole burial desecration subject matter, especially the scene where they actually dig up the dead, and b) the one throat slice which was specifically graphic and bloody, moreso than I recall these kind of scenes normally being.

Saturday, November 18, 2006

Dark Ride (2006)

Note: This review is part of my coverage of After Dark Horrorfest: 8 Films To Die For.

Dark Ride

You know those rides they have at carnivals and amusement parks, where you sit in a little moving seat that takes you through a dark, haunted house where creepy things jump out at you? That's the Dark Ride. In this movie, there's one particular Dark Ride in New Jersey that housed a rather brutal murderer that killed a couple of twins, prompting the ride to be shut down for twenty years or so. Just before its grand reopening, a bunch of idiot college co-eds decide to take a detour on their way to New Orleans for Spring Break, and spend a night in the abandoned Dark Ride. Unfortunately for them, the murderer recently escaped from the insane asylum and has come back to resume his old hobby of killing people.

I had kind of a love/hate relationship with this film as I watched it. The characters were morons, and their dialogue was asinine - basically, the only thing they had going for them was the fact that the hitchhiker was pretty hot. Lucky for me, the murderer was actually pretty intimidating, and the fact that most of the movie took place inside a dark and scary carnival ride allowed for a truly creepy setting. Flashing lights everywhere, creepy faces of all kinds, a labyrinth of halloween decorations. Truly a worthy setting for a slasher film. The murderer even donned a white (child-like) mask that made me think of Michael Myers from the Halloween films. I have to say, despite the idiot characters and their equally idiotic conversations, this was actually a pretty creepy film, and certainly more entertaining than watching Michael Myers break out of a mental institute to go on a murder spree yet again.

Reasons for banning: There was plenty of "rude" language and violence (including a disemboweled adolescent and a decapitated slut), a tad bit of nudity (not unappreciated), and even a little sexuality (implied offscreen), but my instincts tell me that the primary reason for 'hiding' this film from the public is the drug use. Not that it's heavy drugs or anything, just a little pot and maybe a few mushrooms. But it's right out there in the open, and I can imagine the narcs screening it and erupting into disfavor over a couple harmless scenes.

Unrest (2006)

Note: This review is part of my coverage of After Dark Horrorfest: 8 Films To Die For.

Unrest

Two words sum this movie up pretty well: gross anatomy - from removing the ribcage, to swimming in a formaldehyde tank full of cadavers. Apparently, an archaeologist uncovered an Aztec sacrificial site, and became possessed by not only the god of fertility and prostitution, but also by the many tortured souls of those who were sacrificed there in the past. She dies somehow, and ends up in a medical school as a cadaver to be studied and examined by students. One of the students has premonitions about the possession of the cadaver, and people start getting killed in mysterious ways while she tries to figure out how to appease, or at least get rid of, the angered souls of the dead.

This movie was alright. It wasn't so much creepy or scary as it was gross, as I've already alluded to. There were some spiritual issues thrown in, since the one student who has premonitions is an atheist and has trouble making some decisions about what to believe when it comes to spirits of the dead. Nothing terribly deep or philosophical, though. The characters weren't too incredible, either, but maybe I just have a hard time empathizing with high-level medical students. I could empathize, however, with the general feelings the students had about their 'gross anatomy' class, that it was basically the primary nightmare in their medical education, an obstacle that had to be overcome. I also liked the motion-sensing lights in the hallway of the hospital, it made for a creepy atmosphere at times. All in all, it was an entertaining, but not incredible, movie.

Reasons for banning: I think the obvious reason that this movie would never get a regular run is generally the volume of material concerning cadavers. Cadaver nudity, graphic cadaver violence (cutting open a dead body), cadaver-related language and jokes, and the disturbing scene where two students decide to half-strip and take a swim in the formaldehyde-filled cadaver tank (I'm being unfair, they had a reason to dive in - maybe not a good reason, but a reason).

Rinne (2005)

Note: This review is part of my coverage of After Dark Horrorfest: 8 Films To Die For.

Rinne (a.k.a. Reincarnation)

A Japanese Horror film not unlike The Grudge (same director, in fact), this one seemed to me to be half Japanese ghost story, half The Shining, and half Night Of The Living Dead. About 35 years ago or so, a man killed eleven people staying in a hotel, including his family and himself. The only survivor was the wife. Now, a Japanese director is filming a movie based on this tragedy. The trick is, the murderer from the past tragedy was doing an experiment with reincarnation, and now all the poor souls alive today that were reincarnated from the souls of the 11 people killed are being drawn back to the hotel to die once again. And their souls are seeking vengeance on the person who inherited the soul of the murderer.

I enjoyed this movie. It was definitely better than The Grudge 2 which I saw recently, but to be fair, this one was in Japanese, and I saw The Grudge 2 in English. I really liked how it was sort of a story within a story, in that the movie was about making a movie based on a real life event (within the movie world). And then you had the parallels between the original tragedy and the reincarnated souls, so there was a lot of reciprocal story-telling going on that made the experience rather interesting. I also really enjoyed the ending. It took a bit of a turn, and the way it ultimately ended hit me in a kind of psychological way. I recommend it.

Reasons for banning: The only reason I can imagine this movie wouldn't get a regular run is because it's in Japanese. You don't see the Japanese versions of The Ring and The Grudge playing in most theatres, you see their English remakes. I thought it was thoroughly refreshing to see a Japanese movie at the theatres. Of course, I've had lots of practice reading subtitles.

After Dark Horrorfest: 8 Films To Die For (2006)

Note: This review was originally posted on Myspace. I am reposting it here for archival purposes. It has been backdated to the date of its original posting.

Night 1: I saw the first three movies of Horrorfest tonight. It was fun, and the movies were pretty good. I've included brief descriptions and my reactions to each of the movies below. I've also included for each movie reasons I think that these particular movies might be considered too graphic for general audiences (and hence, why they're a part of Horrorfest).

Reincarnation
Unrest
Dark Ride

Night 2: I saw three more Horrorfest movies tonight. And once again, I've included brief descriptions and my reactions to each of the movies below (as well as reasons I think that these particular movies might be considered too graphic for general audiences). I'd like to say that the quality as well as the creepiness of the movies shown tonight were generally higher than the movies shown last night. But it's no surprise they'd save the better movies for Saturday night.

The Gravedancers
The Abandoned
Penny Dreadful

Night 3: Well, I just saw my last movie of Horrorfest. I regret not being able to see Wicked Little Things, but the schedule was earlier for Sunday and it was just too early for me. I do not, however, regret missing Snoop Dogg's Hood of Horror.

The Hamiltons

Saturday, August 5, 2006

The Descent (2006)

Note: This review was originally posted on Myspace. I am reposting it here for archival purposes. It has been backdated to the date of its original posting.

The Descent into Terror,
The Descent into Madness,
The Descent into Hell...

I just got back from seeing the movie that's calling itself the best thriller since Alien. Now, I still think Alien is better (it does have more of a fantasy aspect, and the creature is way cooler), but I would have no problem sitting this movie up on the same shelf as Alien.

It was a really exhilarating movie to watch. I loved it. I'm not gonna say too much, but here goes. It's a short movie, and it was a little long getting to the cave, but once they got in, man, it was a joy ride straight to the end. It starts out alright, just a little spelunking adventure, then the claustrophobia sets in, there's a little accident, and then things rapidly go from bad to much much worse.

I dunno that I'm a huge fan of the way you see fight scenes filmed in horror movies these days, with the quick, frantic shots, where you're struggling just to figure out what's going on in front of you. It definitely has a specific effect on the viewer, and it may have been right for this movie, but I just have to say, I prefer the slow scenes in Alien where the creature moves in silently, the person turns around and sees it there, he freezes, and there's a short moment of terrifying calm, then in a split second the creature takes its prey. But that's just me.

Excellent movie. It was a thrill ride, for sure. It was a pretty disturbing realization that the humans were just as, if not more, brutal and violent than the cave creatures. Also, some of the scenes had a definite Doom-y feel for me - dark caves, pools of blood, imp-like creatures stalking you. I would have loved if the movie had more of a fantasy aspect, and the cave became hell itself, but I guess that would have been a different movie, and the one I saw was good, too.

The Descent - Gollum's raised a family, and he's tired of answering riddles...

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Shinya Tsukamoto's Haze (2005)

Note: The following was originally posted on Myspace. I am reposting it here for archival purposes. It has been backdated to the date of its original posting.

Spoiler Warning! This is a discussion of how to interpret this film, and not a review. As such, it contains massive spoilers. For a brief description of the movie, I recommend this review written by Leo Goldsmith at Not Coming to a Theater Near You.

Since Haze is the kind of film that makes absolutely no sense at all, and since I had a revelation that's got me thinking I actually understand what in blazes the film was about, I'm gonna explain it.

This film is about a couple - a young man and woman. They are dissatisfied with their lives and the world they live in and they want to 'escape', i.e. kill themselves. So they decide upon a ritualistic double-suicide. Using a rather large kitchen knife, they begin the process with a stab in the stomach. But at this moment, they are both transported (assumingly only psychologically) into a dungeon of hell. Their memories are erased and they have no idea where they are, how they got there, or even who they are.

This is where the film begins. They start out separated from each other, but after crawling through the hellish dungeon they eventually find each other and have brief glimpses of the past as their memories begin to return. They obviously want to escape the dungeon, but they also have a feeling that wherever they came from, they didn't want to be there either (since they were trying to kill themselves). The woman remembers that she was imprisoned before she was able to escape (i.e., she found herself in this mental dungeon before she could finish the act of killing herself). The two of them decide to try to escape the dungeon, and finally they do.

At this point, they find themselves back where they were just before they were 'thrown' into the hellish dungeon of their minds - that is, they are both lying on the floor bleeding. But now, after having crawled through that horrible dungeon, they have been instilled with a newfound will to live (like that one victim in Saw), so instead of finishing the suicide, the man grabs the phone and calls for help.

They both survive and grow old, as the next to final scene shows the man aged and a picture of the woman aged. The man walks out onto the roof and is mesmerized by the bright sunlight shining off of the white sheets on the clothesline, rippling in the wind - this is an example of how the man had been given an appreciation for the small wonders in life after his mental ordeal of crawling through hell.

The final scene is the fireworks scene. This is when the man and woman were younger, and it happened before the attempted suicide. I believe the significance of this scene is just that despite the couple's dissatisfaction with life and desire to kill themselves, they enjoyed sitting together watching the fireworks, and it is the realization of this fact that helps the man and perhaps too the woman gain a newfound appreciation for life during their dungeon travail.

Why fireworks? Well, I figure the best reason is because when the man mentions fireworks while he's in the dungeon, it makes you think of bombs and war, which just encourages the wrong understanding of the plot and keeps you guessing about what's really going on (since neither you nor the characters themselves have any idea how they got into the dungeon until things clear up [though not really] at the end).

And so there it is. It makes a lot of sense to me, and as far as I can remember, all the pieces fit into place pretty well with this explanation in mind. Let me know if you have any questions or notice any discrepancies, or if you have an altogether different interpretation of the film - I'd love to hear it!

P.S. Oh yeah, and as for the shimmering koi pond images, I assume that's just an example of how the man is slowly becoming aware of the simple brilliance of life. He's remembering watching a koi pond and reflecting on how beautiful it is, as a kind of contrast to the dark torment he is experiencing.

P.P.S. Frankly, I think this particular interpretation transforms this film from 'disturbing' to 'enchanting'. Should a film require this much afterthought in order to fully appreciate? I'm not sure...

Friday, May 26, 2006

Silent Hill (2006)

Note: This review was originally posted on Myspace. I am reposting it here for archival purposes. It has been backdated to the date of its original posting.

Okay, so I just came back from seeing the movie. I had wanted to see it since the day it came out, but because of a dick roommate whom I won't mention, I didn't get a chance until tonight, which happens to be the last night the movie's showing anywhere within reasonable distance from my home. Following is my review, and I'll try to warn about spoilers as necessary for those who haven't seen it.

First of all, overall impression: it was a good movie. I thoroughly enjoyed it and it was a great movie-going experience. It was also a pretty creepy movie, as expected. It's not even close to being as scary as the video games, but that's also expected. As far as creep-out scenes, as far as monster design, as far as setting/environment, as far as storyline, I'm satisfied. One of the best parts of the movie was the kind of artistic way they would set the mood, with the right music, and scanning the scenery - I like that kind of stuff, it's classy.

Second: the all-important comparison to the video games and whether or not the movie lives up to the Silent Hill name. If you haven't seen the movie, or haven't played the games, and don't want them to be spoiled (and playing them unspoiled is the only way to play them), then I suggest you skip ahead to where it says "end of spoilers" below.

SPOILERS BEGIN!

Now then, for those of you who know Silent Hill, and those of you who are either too curious for your own good or just don't have enough self-control, I shall continue. I was impressed by how much the movie lives up to the games, in terms of atmosphere, etc. The very way the camera angles were set up was very reminiscent of the video games. The creatures, although a few liberties were taken here and there, were immediately recognizable and suitably creepy, from the kids to the nurses to Pyramid Head himself. The environment looked copied straight out of the games in a lot of places. I did indeed recognize a lot of the locations, like the restroom in the elementary school, the bowling alley, and the gap from the apartment building to the next building, and the way the town was done outside with the snow/ash was perfect, especially with the gorges blocking off certain areas of the town.

I could go on and on about specific details, but hopefully you get the point - the movie payed expensive tribute to the games. Now for the flipside. There were some liberties taken, most notably in the storyline. The plot did very largely follow the plot of the first Silent Hill game, with the story of the cursed daughter, and the cult, and the source of the nightmares in SH, and there were some familiar characters, like the cop Cybil, Dahlia Gillespie, and the red nurse at the end (a tragic character and fan-favorite from the first game). As far as the ending is concerned, it parted a bit from the game, and it actually went so far as to get me cheering for the nightmares as opposed to the humans at the very end. But in that respect it worked well, at least it was a much more satisfying ending than the game offered.

As much as I enjoyed the movie, there are a number of things that I missed from the game that I would have liked to see on the silver screen. Some of these include: the clock tower in the elementary school, the lizard beast ('the monster lurks'), the mutant teddy bears, dogs and birds, the amusement park, etc., etc., etc. Plus, the presence of Pyramid Head, while utterly cool and frightening, seemed out of place, especially in the elementary school, since he's a character from the second game and not the first. Personally, I would have preferred if they had saved Pyramid Head for a second movie, and instead introduced the lizard beast and/or Samael - which brings me to another point, I was just waiting to see Samael at the very end, but instead it was this cotted (yes, cotted - not rotted) corpse with barbed chain tentacles, somewhat more like the final boss in the second game. It was still pretty cool, but I would have liked to see Samael.

As a final note, if I haven't already mentioned it, the music was very reminiscent of Silent Hill, although I didn't hear my favorite song during the credits which I was hoping for ('She' from the BAD plus ending of the first game).

END OF SPOILERS - IT IS SAFE TO READ BELOW

Wow, okay, what else is there to say? Well, let's summarize. It was a very enjoyable movie. It was a creepy movie. There were tons of references to the games, so fans of the games will feel right at home, but at the same time, there were a number of changes to keep it fresh, so it's not exactly like you're just playing the same game over again. Final words: if you're a fan of scary movies, especially ones of the more demonology variety, or if you're a fan of the Silent Hill games, see this movie. You won't be disappointed.

Oh yeah, and my favorite scene? I'd have to say it's the one after Rose first enters Silent Hill, and she's looking for Sharon, and the sirens sound and it gets dark for the first time, and the following scene up til the point she wakes up to the sound of Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire on the jukebox (by the way, excellent choice of song there - not only does the music fit the scene in a hauntingly calm sort of way, but the lyrics are perfect "I fell into a burning ring of fire" - excellent choice!). Not only was this scene pretty much straight from the beginning of the first game, but it was also done very well.

Now then, there's one last thing I'd like to discuss, and actually it's really two things. First of all, what I would have changed had I done the movie. I'm not saying the movie necessarily should have been done this way, because you obviously want to make it enjoyable for as many people possible, but this is what I personally would have preferred to see.

I loved the monsters and the scary parts and the depiction of Alternate Silent Hill, but I want to see more of it. I would have even gone so far as to throw the story out completely...forget about trying to explain things, and just show more demons, and more environments. Like some of the creepier terrains from the second game (the prison comes to mind). And more monsters, did I mention that?

I also would have made it more personal/psychological, but this kind of gets into the second topic I wanted to discuss, since that's more the kind of direction the second Silent Hill game took with its storyline. If they make a second Silent Hill movie, I would love to see it follow the storyline of the second game, and consider the town from the perspective of that game.

Let me explain. With spoilers from the games (skip ahead to the next paragraph if you want to avoid them). In the first game, and too in the first movie, the explanation for the nightmares of Silent Hill are pretty much the result of the suffering of this one child, and the child's desire for revenge against the town that destroyed her. In the second game, the nightmares take on a much more personal nature, and the game seems to suggest that Silent Hill is not just this breeding ground for a scene of revenge, but also serves as a kind of judgement plain that draws in those who have sinned, and then forces them to face nightmares of their own devices (Pyramid Head seems to have much to do with this).

So I would really like to see a second movie that takes this direction, and makes the nightmares more psychological - so that you can make the suffering more distinct and terrifying without having to resort to a deus ex machina every time to explain the character's survival from a specific ordeal (in this case it would be a mental victory more than a physical victory). And then, you can just go crazy on the monster designs and make them really hideous. Am I messed up or what?

In any case, disclaimer: I've only played the first two games (absolutely loved 'em). Haven't touched any of the other ones yet (only because I haven't gotten around to it), but I am really looking forward to playing the rest and it might just happen soon (summer's good for scary games, anyway). But if my theories or ideas seem off or underdeveloped or something, you should consider that I haven't played those games yet.

Thanks, I guess this wasn't so much just a review of the movie, but also a chance for me to finally explain some of my ideas about the games that I've had for a while and never really expressed. I'm really glad I got to see the movie, though, and I really hope they make another one!