The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

What would you do with the power of time travel? Would you be one of those panicky people who believe that if I so much as pass gas in front of my great great great grandfather that it will have disastrous effects for the future? Or are you someone who would go back and kill history’s worse dictators, like Hitler or Stalin? Or are you just a guy who would use it to get laid? Whichever kind of camp you fall into, you have to admit, you could do so much with that power. Well, here’s a movie that does….not so much with that ability.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is an Anime that was released back in 2006, now I can already picture quite a lot of people clicking off after reading the word Anime, but you should really give the genre a chance, even if it isn’t this particular movie.

Now, TGWLTT tells the tale of a high school kid who suddenly finds herself with the ability to literally leap back in time…and…that’s about it, plot wise anyway. Like I mentioned before, Makoto (the protagonist) doesn’t really do anything big or interesting with her power, and I guess this could be credited as a fault of the movie, but she still does things that any one of us would do in her shoes, like ace exams, stop her from being late for anything, fix bikes, stop bullies and stop your best friend from hitting on you…okay maybe not that last part, but she is still completely relatable.

I still understand why this wouldn’t be everyone’s cup of tea, there a lot of people who see any form of animation and assume it is for a child (narrow minded grand parents I call these people.) but there will also be people who are bored during this film, which is understandable, there isn’t that much plot to speak of, it’s Buried all over again, but I for one was hooked, the art is beautiful and I was so involved in what was going on with these characters, especially when Makoto’s actions starts to have consequences.

I fully recommend this movie.

 

Danny

 

Danny@Dragoose.co.uk

Paranormal Activity 3

Well that was pretty funny, when’s the scary shit start?

I was asked the other day, “Dan, why do you only seem to review movies that you like?”

Well, to be honest, why would I want to watch something I know I’ll hate, simple questions, simple answers buddy. But he has a point, it is not my agenda to force movies that I like/love onto this site, it should be a mix of the good, the bad and the neutral, so here is one that is fucking awful.

Paranormal Activity…I have so much hate for this movie, and now it is on the third, with a fourth in the pipework. To make things worse I was dragged to go watch this pile of manure by a group of friends, luckily my buddy next to me turned the experience into something so fun by laughing his ass of at the funny shit we had to say about the movie, but that’s another story that doesn’t belong in this review.

I am not masking my feelings for Paranormal Activity like I probably should be, this is starting to sound like a rant rather than a review so let me start explaining myself, my arguments relate to all the movies in this series but I will be talking primarily about the third as that is the one I saw in the cinema.

Okay, for a start, it isn’t scary, I’m sorry, I don’t care how many times it made you jump, it is full of pathetic jump scares, listen Hollywood, it isn’t scary to cut all sound out for 30 seconds and then make a loud noise to make us jump, the sound could be anything from a scream, to a baby laughing to a fucking fart and it will still make you jump because it has been deadly silent for the past minute, this isn’t horror, no matter what “ghosts” are in the building. Quick message to the writers of Paranormal Activity, if you are going to use this lame technique to make us jump, at least do it right, I never so much as flinched while I was sat in that cinema, it was just so predictable, I was actually looking around at the scared teens in the audience and thinking “how do you not know that something is going to make a noise or jump out at you by now?” It practically telegrams exactly what is about to happen.

Alright, so I don’t look like I am pushing movies I love onto you guys and steering you away from films like this I guess I should talk about some things that Paranormal Activity 3 did right, I’m sure after a few hours of soul searching and pondering I can think of something…oh I got something.

The actual ghost, poltergeist, demon, whatever the hell you want to call it is pretty damn awesome, when that thing is throwing shit (and little children) around the room it is so engaging, and fun, and actually has the potential to be scary, but then it goes back to the predictable dull shit again.

I wouldn’t pick it up just for that scene though, that’s what Youtube is for, but by this point in the series, you already know if you will like a movie like this or not, and it wouldn’t take a guy like me to change your mind, of course I have nothing against anyone enjoying this, I am not a crazed hater that’ll disown anybody for differing on my opinions, many people are fans of this series for whatever reasons and if you are one of them then by all means, go check this out.

 

Danny

 

Danny@Dragoose.co.uk