Category: 2023

Some Of My Favourite New French Extremity Films

Published November 16, 2023

We are now past the month of October, the time of year when horror media becomes most acceptable to mainstream audiences, but horror is always relevant no matter what time of year it is and I wanted to talk about something quite interesting today. The films of the New French Extremity is a topic that I’ve touched on before but that I wanted to return to at some point and, having recently rewatched several of them, I thought it was a good time to do so. Also, for those curious, the New French Extremity films that I’ve seen up to this point have been Dans ma Peau, Irreversible, High Tension, The Ordeal, Satan, Martyrs, Frontier(s), Raw, Revenge and Climax. While I’ve not seen as many as I would like to, still waiting to see Inside, I do believe that I’ve seen enough New French Extremity films at this point that I can pick out a favourite or few.

Martyrs

Let’s start with arguably the most famous, or infamous, of all New French Extremity films and, also, the first one that I ever watched. For those who’ve heard of Martyrs, you’ll have heard tales of people fainting and vomiting during its first screenings and the film has developed a reputation for being unrelentingly brutal. I went in expecting an absolute gorefest and found the film to be tamer than I was imagining. Nonetheless, I found the film to be immediately intriguing and I found myself thinking about the movie for days afterwards, particularly for its ending which is one of the most profound and brilliant horror movie endings I’ve ever seen. While I don’t regard it as the absolute best that the New French Extremity has to offer, I have great respect for what Martyrs achieved as one of the most thought-provoking and original horror films I’ve ever seen.

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Why Pixel Art Isn’t Going To Disappear Anytime Soon

Published November 13, 2023

In the lead-up to the release of Sonic Superstars, Sonic producer Takashi Iizuka discussed why they decided to make a 2D Sonic game using 3D graphics, 2.5D in other words, rather than using the pixel art style of the earlier Sonic games or the critically acclaimed Sonic Mania. In his own words, he stated “we look at the pixel art – it’s great – but when we think about 10-20 years in the future, we don’t think it’s going to be a viable art style or presentation for our players.” Besides the fact that I disagree with this statement, I would consider myself a fan of many Sonic games, it also set off a discussion about pixel artwork in games and its place in the future of the industry. Taking this into account, I thought I might explain why I believe that pixel art in video games isn’t going to disappear anytime soon.

For those unfamiliar with this art style, pixel art refers to artwork that is made up entirely of pixels, typically at a limited resolution that allows you to see each pixel clearly and distinctly. This art style developed out of the graphical limitations of consoles and PCs but games made in this style continue to be made even though technology has advanced enough that a myriad of other art styles and graphics are available to choose from. This can be for aesthetic, authenticity or budgetary reasons.

A shot of battle from Shining in the Darkness — An example of pixel art work from Shining in the Darkness.

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Anime Series With The Most Number Of Episodes

Published November 9, 2023

I remember, many years ago at this point, being at a convention and a friend of mine joined me in a queue. In that queue, she told me that she’d just been at a quiz and that one of the questions had been which anime series had the most number of episodes. I knew the answer and replied with it but she said “No, it’s One Piece.” I remember being stunned by this and I guess it’s possible that there may’ve been some context I was missing such as ‘released in English’ or something like that but I was genuinely shocked that some anime fans mistakenly thought that One Piece had more episodes than any other anime. I don’t know if common knowledge has changed since then but I thought it might still be interesting to take a look at some anime series that have had the most number of episodes produced.

Let’s start with the correct answer to that question. The anime series that has actually had the most number of episodes is Sazae-san. One of the most popular anime series ever, Sazae-san is based on the Michiko Hasegawa manga of the same name and the series has been running near continuously since 1969! When you look at the episode count of the series, you’ll see that two figures are often presented, usually one being over 8000 while the other is over 2500. This may seem confusing but this is explained by the fact that each episode of Sazae-san is broken up into segments, typically three. Regardless, the accomplishment of this feat should not be underestimated and should certainly not be ignored by Western fans who are likely to overlook this series.

An image of the show Sazae-san. — Sazae-san.

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What Is The Magic Realism Genre?

Published November 6, 2023

You may look at the title of this article and scratch your head in confusion. Magic Realism? Surely that’s a contradiction in and of itself, right? An oxymoron of genre. If you’re not already familiar with the genre then you may be surprised at how much of it you’ve already experienced. Therefore, I thought it might be interesting if we took a look at the genre of Magic Realism, what it consists of and a few examples.

So what exactly is Magic Realism? Basically, it refers to a story which takes place in a realistic setting but which has a magical or supernatural component(s) that set it apart from a work entirely grounded in reality. Usually, but not always, these elements are left unexplained with the characters trying to deal with the effects rather than figuring out the cause. While the term was first coined by German art critic Franz Roh in 1925, there are numerous examples of works predating this that could easily be considered part of the genre. As with any genre, there is some debate as to which titles fit the criteria of Magic Realism and which ones go too far/not far enough so please be aware of this throughout this article.

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Battling My Video Game Backlog

Published November 2, 2023

I think anyone who considers video games to be a hobby of theirs will have a buildup of titles that they want to play at some point. A little over a year ago, I decided to go through and clean up my Steam library and part of that was determining an easier method for games that I had lined up. I ultimately decided to use the Steam library’s Favourite feature where I put any game that I had interest in playing, excluding sequels which I would only add upon completing the prior game. However, things haven’t been going the way I want so I thought it might be interesting to discuss how I’m battling my video game backlog and how I’ve come to realise it’s a losing fight.

I should start by explaining why I believe this to be a fight I cannot win. When I first established that favourites list, I believe the number of titles within was somewhere close to 200, an already intimidating task. Since then, I’ve played through dozens upon dozens of games from that list but I’ve slowly watched that number continue to grow and grow. As of the writing of this article, my favourites list sports a total number of 296 games! What’s sad as well is that, as I mentioned before, this does not include sequels to games I have yet to play nor does it include about 10 titles that I’ve downloaded onto my Steam Deck!

A mere taste of some of the games I have lined up for the future!

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Taking A Look At Some Manga Based On MAL Score Vs. My Score

Published October 30, 2023

Having just written an article called “Taking A Look At Some Anime Based On MAL Score Vs. My Score“, I thought it logical that I should do the same with regards to manga. However, I’ve run into a few issues which necessitate a change compared to the anime article. First, I have a lot more manga that I haven’t completed in their entirety than anime, presumably a byproduct of their different distribution models. Second, I wasn’t satisfied with the selection that MAL chose when it came to my statistics page and have chosen to pick titles from my manga list personally instead. I will include a photo below of the manga statistics but be aware that I’m unlikely to discuss the majority of these titles specifically. Now that I’ve dealt with that, I think it’s worth taking a look at some manga based on their MAL score vs. my personal score.

Ayako – 7.69 vs. 10

The cover for the English language release of Ayako by Osamu Tezuka.

While an average score of 7.69 isn’t bad at all, it does stand in high contrast with my own personal score of 10, enough so that I feel it worth discussion. Ayako, written by Osamu Tezuka, takes place after World War II and follows Jiro Tenge who secures his release as a prisoner of war by serving as an agent for the U.S. He returns home only to discover how depraved his family has become in their struggles for power and no character better represents this than a little girl called Ayako whose origins demonstrate the corruption surrounding the Tenge family. I consider Ayako to be a masterpiece and my personal favourite out of all the Osamu Tezuka manga that I’ve read. The artwork is stellar and Osamu Tezuka’s intricate storytelling is masterful but I can see why some may not care for it as much as I do. For one, the manga features quite a bit of sexual content, some of which involves incest, which I could imagine putting some people off while fans of Osamu Tezuka may find the lack of his trademark humour odd and perhaps disorienting. Nonetheless, I think it’s a brilliant work that deserves to be read.

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Taking A Look At Some Anime Based On MAL Score Vs. My Score

Published October 26, 2023

I was perusing MAL ( MyAnimeList) and noticed a link due to a big ‘New’ icon being beside it called ‘Statistics’. Clicking on it, I saw that there was a little bit of interesting information, much more information seems to be hidden behind a paywall, but what stood out to me was a section that compared some anime that I liked that others didn’t and anime that everyone seems to love but that I didn’t. While I won’t cover every title that’s mentioned, the image is below, I thought it worth taking a look at some of these anime based on the MAL score vs. my score and explaining my thoughts behind them.

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Horror Films That Genuinely Upset Me

Published October 23, 2023

As a fan of horror, I’ve seen quite a few films that many others would consider to be too upsetting to watch. If you want some examples, feel free to take a look at my articles concerning the films of the Disturbing Movie Iceberg and the New French Extremity. I was able to watch these movies without much issue, although the tortoise sequence in Cannibal Holocaust did make me feel a little queasy, but it’s interestingly been a couple of relatively tame horror films that actually managed to genuinely upset me in a way that I found both disturbing and triggering. Therefore, I thought it might be interesting if we took a look at the two films in question, the scenes in question and why they managed to get under my skin when so many others were unable to. Even though it may seem obvious, I still wish to warn you that there will be spoilers for the two films in question.

Drag Me To Hell

Of all the films that may’ve upset me, I’m sure many of you weren’t expecting this one, the Sam Raimi directed 2009 film Drag Me to Hell. From what I remember, it’s a pretty good movie. Following Christine Brown, a loan officer, as she has to contend with the curse a Romani woman gave her after her house was repossessed. She attempts to fight back against the curse with the help of a fortune teller and it’s one of these attempts that is the part that upsets me. You see, Christine has a pet cat at home and the fortune teller tells her that an animal sacrifice may be required to stave off the entity haunting her. She is abhorred by the suggestion but, after a particular incident, she is driven to sacrifice her cat in an ultimately futile attempt to free herself.

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The Films I’ve Seen From The Disturbing Movie Iceberg Part 2

Published October 19, 2023

Here is the conclusion to “The Films I’ve Seen From The Disturbing Movie Iceberg Part 1“

Tier 2 – Saw

We’re finally onto the second tier and we’re starting with one that I, and I’m sure many of you, are familiar with, Saw. I’m actually quite a fan of the franchise, even though there are several entries that are…not great, and the first Saw is quite deserving of the success that it earned. The mystery at the heart of the film is engaging with much of the background giving us new insight into the characters. Admittedly, the film isn’t as gory as I would like it to be, something that the sequels quickly dealt with, and there’s one plot hole that does bother me but I look forward to watching it every time I feel in the mood to watch the franchise.

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The Films I’ve Seen From The Disturbing Movie Iceberg Part 1

Published October 16, 2023

It’s October! That special time of year when people are more receptive to horror media which I absolutely adore! Therefore, I thought I’d write some horror articles that have been long overdue with the first one being on quite an interesting subject, the Disturbing Movie Iceberg. I spoke before about how my interest in disturbing movies has waxed and waned but I still thought it might be interesting to take a look at the films that I have seen from the Disturbing Movie Iceberg and to give my opinion on them.

Tier 1 – Friday the 13th

The original Friday the 13th sparked a series that currently consists of twelve films, ten of which I’ve seen, and is probably one of the most recognisable horror film franchises ever. Assuming that the iceberg is referring to the original film, something I’ll have to do several times throughout this article, Friday the 13th from 1980 is a respectable slasher film with some deliciously great kills courtesy of Tom Savini and a few clever plot points that may actually surprise viewers, particularly those who are familiar with the later films. However, it also has to be said that this movie also displays some of the biggest weaknesses when it comes to slashers such as the paper-thin characters, the long wait between kills and the subpar acting but I do find myself enjoying it whenever I watch it and I do think it’s definitely worth a watch, perhaps serving as a Halloween party film!

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