maque-3
Lifetime Total
1+
IMDb Member
15 years
Reviews
Monster (2004)
For the pickiest watcher, Monster is sure to please.
I've always been very picky about my anime. I don't mind watching most series, but I always hold myself back from really truly liking most of them -- I watch, say, Fullmetal Alchemist, and I get some visceral joy from it, I cry a little bit, but I wouldn't call it a favorite; I find Cowboy Bebop enjoyable, but I wouldn't ever watch it ten times.
Monster blows everything I've ever seen out of the water.
I stumbled upon the anime by accident. I had just finished watching Moribito -- which was one I truly liked because the characters didn't follow normal anime standards -- and was searching for something to follow up after that. I expected to be disappointed. Someone on a forum suggested Monster, so I looked it up and watched it.
I kept expecting something to be horrible. But the show started, and the art was realistic for an anime--something I hadn't quite experienced before. The opening theme song wasn't some annoying pop song that grated on my ears and made me snicker. The characters were real. The background music always fit the scenes and was never overbearing. The language spoken was honest and like something I could hear on the street. Germany looked like Germany and not some twisted version of Japan. The story was compelling.
I watched all 74 episodes expecting something, -anything- to go horribly wrong, waiting for it to fall into the tripe I had watched hundreds of other anime go into. But there was never fan service, no overly gory violence. Nothing like that.
Monster is a masterpiece. You can truly connect with every character. You'll see a person on screen for, at most, five minutes, but they'll have more depth to them than the main protagonists of other anime. You'll feel overwhelming sorrow whenever someone is killed after only one episode. You'll decide that a certain person fits the title--"Monster"--only to decide a few moments later that no, someone else is a monster. And you'll even feel empathy for people you long to hate.
This is one of the only anime to ever please this picky fan. It might not be for people wanting more action, but as someone sick of anime where all that happens are flashy fights, this was a more than welcome release. Give Monster a try--you'll probably find it worthwhile.
Monster blows everything I've ever seen out of the water.
I stumbled upon the anime by accident. I had just finished watching Moribito -- which was one I truly liked because the characters didn't follow normal anime standards -- and was searching for something to follow up after that. I expected to be disappointed. Someone on a forum suggested Monster, so I looked it up and watched it.
I kept expecting something to be horrible. But the show started, and the art was realistic for an anime--something I hadn't quite experienced before. The opening theme song wasn't some annoying pop song that grated on my ears and made me snicker. The characters were real. The background music always fit the scenes and was never overbearing. The language spoken was honest and like something I could hear on the street. Germany looked like Germany and not some twisted version of Japan. The story was compelling.
I watched all 74 episodes expecting something, -anything- to go horribly wrong, waiting for it to fall into the tripe I had watched hundreds of other anime go into. But there was never fan service, no overly gory violence. Nothing like that.
Monster is a masterpiece. You can truly connect with every character. You'll see a person on screen for, at most, five minutes, but they'll have more depth to them than the main protagonists of other anime. You'll feel overwhelming sorrow whenever someone is killed after only one episode. You'll decide that a certain person fits the title--"Monster"--only to decide a few moments later that no, someone else is a monster. And you'll even feel empathy for people you long to hate.
This is one of the only anime to ever please this picky fan. It might not be for people wanting more action, but as someone sick of anime where all that happens are flashy fights, this was a more than welcome release. Give Monster a try--you'll probably find it worthwhile.
The Strangers (2008)
Good in All Ways but One
An excellent premise brought down only by one horrible character who happened to take up a lot of screen time.
This movie would have been fantastic if it weren't for Kristen, played by Liv Tyler. Every other actor/actress was fantastic; the horror was realistic. As a college student whose primary focus in their minor of comparative literature is the horror genre, I admit to being, perhaps, overly harsh. But when the "strong female lead" tends to fall over sobbing and repeating everything that someone else says back to them as a question, I think of myself as, not harsh, but right. Scintillating conversation does not sound like this:
"He wasn't wearing a mask!" - James "What do you mean he wasn't wearing a mask!?" - Kristen
or
"I'm going outside." - James "What do you mean you're going outside?!" - Kristen
Throughout the movie, Liv Tyler's acting gets constantly repetitive. She's either repeating phrases back to people or she's making her mouth into an "O" (similar to the painting of "The Scream" by Edvard Munch) and sucking in air as if insulted. By the end of the movie, my friends and I were longing for her death, be it via ax to the head to knife stabbing.
Everything else in the movie is great. The soundtrack fades when it needs to, when it is playing it offers a startling contrast to what is seen. Acting (from all but Liv, as you've heard me complain) is fantastic--Scott Speedman did a particularly good job as James. The fear would have been spot on with its development--the effects look good and the attacks are perfect.
But, the low voting comes from Liv--her presence in the scene can turn something horrifying into something laughable. And it is that which downgrades it from a near-perfect 8 or 9 to a 6.
This movie would have been fantastic if it weren't for Kristen, played by Liv Tyler. Every other actor/actress was fantastic; the horror was realistic. As a college student whose primary focus in their minor of comparative literature is the horror genre, I admit to being, perhaps, overly harsh. But when the "strong female lead" tends to fall over sobbing and repeating everything that someone else says back to them as a question, I think of myself as, not harsh, but right. Scintillating conversation does not sound like this:
"He wasn't wearing a mask!" - James "What do you mean he wasn't wearing a mask!?" - Kristen
or
"I'm going outside." - James "What do you mean you're going outside?!" - Kristen
Throughout the movie, Liv Tyler's acting gets constantly repetitive. She's either repeating phrases back to people or she's making her mouth into an "O" (similar to the painting of "The Scream" by Edvard Munch) and sucking in air as if insulted. By the end of the movie, my friends and I were longing for her death, be it via ax to the head to knife stabbing.
Everything else in the movie is great. The soundtrack fades when it needs to, when it is playing it offers a startling contrast to what is seen. Acting (from all but Liv, as you've heard me complain) is fantastic--Scott Speedman did a particularly good job as James. The fear would have been spot on with its development--the effects look good and the attacks are perfect.
But, the low voting comes from Liv--her presence in the scene can turn something horrifying into something laughable. And it is that which downgrades it from a near-perfect 8 or 9 to a 6.