Movies: Seoul Station

Movies: Seoul Station

Korea is starting to look like a very dangerous place with zombies coming out in Busan and now they have infected Seoul too. But this time, they have infected the animation world instead of the real world but because the train is no longer the main scene of the movie, you will get to see how the zombie apocalypse will work in a city setting... something that even "The Walking Dead" did not have much opportunity to dive into. (The Walking Dead story focuses not so much on the start of the zombie apocalypse and how it spread, but rather on the immediate aftermath and life after).

As you can see, its not real life film, but don't worry, Zombies are plenty

So how does this other angle into the world of korean zombies do overall? Lets break it down!

Storyline 4/5

The storyline in this movie is.... surprisingly interesting. It has a very good amount of twists and turns throughout the movie and being an anime, it is alright for characters to die... and in this movie.. dying is aplenty!

It also seems to be trying to tell another story about the real world by highlighting real world issues such as the homeless, the poor and those who are living more unfortunate lives even after contributing much in the past. Like many zombie movies, it shows the horror and what people do when driven to the brink and everyone starts becoming self serving. It also shows the result of what happens if you are "too noble" in the real world which may very well reflect the world today.

The only issue is that it did take slightly too long to get into the exciting portions of the movie from the beginning, but once it starts, the storyline remains exciting till the end.

Character 4/5

Characters are really interesting... all the time you will be suspecting whether this character would be the sacrificing type, or the self serving type and they are all unique and have their own backgrounds that explains why they choose to things they way they did.

Overall the characters are quite believable, although the world is slightly strangely empty and a bit too void of zombies.

Cinematography 3/5

Cinematography had its good and bad points.

Good, in that this movie action puts in SOME first person sights BUT sadly, it hardly uses this during the action or exciting scenes but rather to sort of try to help u immerse into the view you would see if u were really there... its quite a waste but in this case, this movie didn't end up becoming a jump scare kind of movie which may be the overall aim of the producer.

The bad point is the anime drawing and method is somewhat bit distracting as characters are clearly animation and not entirely human like at times. In a time whereby animation aims to be life like, this is a slight step backward.

Also, action scenes are just slightly underwhelming and never actually reaches the level of excitement of Train to Busan.

Music 4/5

Music is pretty good in this movie and it really helps to immerse and set the scene of the movie. They didn't try to do anything particularly special with the movie though hence keeping the score at 4.

Spectacle 3/5

In this movie's case, its unfortunate that it came after Train to Busan as it is clearly a more lower budget version of the movie. On the other hand, had there not been the Train to Busan, most likely there will not be as much as a hype to see this movie in the first place.

Like the Train to Busan, this movie does not JUST focus on the zombie survival method but rather more on the human / inhuman aspects of what would happen in a zombie apocalypse and its trying to tell us just a little bit more then how to survive. Hence the storyline aspect feels a bit more fleshed out and interesting.

Like what was said previously in the Cinematography section though, its action scenes does pale in comparison and it just does not have the same impact as the Train to Busan which is unfortunate given that you could actually do a lot in an animation. Guess CGI may actually be less resource intensive then animation or there is really a clear difference in budget.

Overall

Storyline: 4 (Surprisingly interesting and has good twists, but just took a bit longer to get exciting) 
Character: 4 (Good mix of characters with believable backgrounds)
Cinematography: 3 (Movie did attempt to make good shots, but it just did not go all the way and stand out above the crowd)
Music: 4 (Music is quite strong and added to the overall experience)
Spectacle: 3 (Its no Train to Busan and the score suffered if you would compare. Nonetheless, the storyline is still good enough as an alternative zombie story in korea)

Overall: 3.6 (It's a fair enough score... obviously with the weaker budget and lack of big names there are some hits to the overall quality of the movie. Nonetheless the storyline is still good enough to entertain someone who has seen the Train to Busan and is interested in how the other cities may have been like in the same situation. If you didn't really see it, or are not the animation loving type though, you can really go ahead and give this a miss as it does not really add anything to the world. It's also not a very strong action movie so don't go into this movie expecting human VS zombie type of action. If you are picking between this movie and Train to Busan however, go for Busan. This movie is only 1 and half hour long so try not to over expect...)

Movies: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Movies: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Introduction:

If you seen the trailer, you might have been as confused as I am. Is this supposed to be a horror movie? maybe a horror version of Xavier's school for gifted youngsters in the X-men? With creepy characters like the twins who prance around in all whites, and the vampire looking Miss Peregrine who can transform into a peregrine falcon (usually vamps can turn into bats), what exactly is this show about and who is its targeted audience?

First of all, note that this is not a movie made by Marvel but rather the 18th movie directed by Tim Burton. Tim Burton movies include the most whimsical and strange such as "Alice in Wonderland" and "Edward Scissorshands" and he is known for action movies although he did do two Batman movies (not the recent action packed Batman Vs Superman though). So, don't go into this movie expecting to see fire balls, high speed action and fighting all over. So overall, how did this movie do and would it really interest you? Lets break it down and find out....

Storyline 4.5/5

This movie has a very strong storyline aspect to it. It does not rush to introduce you to the world of Peculiar Children and does not immediately tell you everything there is to it from the start. Instead it just follows the life of this boy who is experiencing everything for the first time and learning from people and circumstance around him. You will not have a guru character that knows everything and reveals it all from the start and let everything just play out. 

What this means is that the movie remains interesting and intriguing from the beginning till the end and it does not become stale or expected. New elements are added throughout the movie and better flesh out the entire world that they live in. Also, this movie makes  use of time travel and as for Sci-Fi lovers, the moment that there is time travel you should expect some level of headache trying to understand how everything dives together. Thankfully this movie does not take its time travel aspect to the extreme in attempt to create an over intelligent movie but a fair bit of thinking is required to better appreciate this movie and all in all, it draws the line appropriately.

True to it's storyline focus, it also does not have overpowered characters like you may see in Marvel flicks and this movie becomes more about how everyone works together with their strengths and weaknesses which brings out the storyline flavor more. It is also rare to have a storyline based movie whereby it does not dive into a section of pure story progression that can lull you to sleep, you know, those parts where they just keep droning on and on and on and it gets so boring, yea this movie doesn't have that which is great.

Character 4/5

Characters are pretty interesting, mostly are distinct and true to the style of the movie, you will not see overpowered characters and everyone knows their abilities but in a simplistic way not the action and destroy everything kind of way. Weak abilities are clear and attempts to use the weak abilities in a fight is, true to its nature, a clear cut joke. 

Very believable and good acting from the actors and the plus point is this movie also does not get too serious. With Samuel L Jackson in as the bad guy, you will tend to enjoy the bad guy's presence a bit too much. 

There are one or two scenes where the characters do strangely weird things but overall, all the characters are pretty interesting and the movie allowed the full movie play time to really show the uniqueness of the characters.

Cinematography 4/5

Cinematography is not one that would stand high above any Marvel movie, but that being said, there is still some good emphasis on stop time and some fun action scenes. It does better then even some movies but just did not do anything to get to the next level.

Music 4/5

Music is pretty good and it is placed in a way that really adds to the entire movie feel. It is light hearted at the appropriate moments and does not overpower what is happening on the screen.

Spectacle 4/5

As a movie that focuses a lot of the storyline, this is truly where the movie managed to excel throughout the entire length of the movie with its good and fluid pace. It does not waste time attempting to use the peculiar powers to make a action movie but intelligently crafts in the powers into the storyline and making everything character and ability relevant in the long run. It also has the advantage of introducing a new world, not that of X-men, but rather peculiar and the powers are not disgustingly heroic but all seems to have some set backs.


Overall

Storyline: 4.5 (Main focus of this movie, and it is kept entertaining all the way to the end)
Character: 4 (Many characters, all with their moments and uniqueness that entertains well)
Cinematography: 4 (It's not an action flick, but the scenes are generally done in a impactful way)
Music: 4 (Music is definitely there and supports the immersion of the movie.)
Spectacle: 4 (Movie has a great focus on the storyline and does it very very well. It does not go too heavy into the action scenes and instead just keeps the story fluid and moving along very well)

Overall: 4.1 (If you are a fan of film or a fan of Tim Burton, this movie is no question a movie you should see with its very strong storyline that will keep your mind active all the way from the start to the end. It's long movie length only adds to its value instead of seeming too draggy. Just do not go in expecting to see an action flick cause you can probably say that this is about 10% of a Marvel movie)