Recommended 10-2-18

The following are my recommendations and do not reflect the views of any person or organization. 

Carter–A TV show about a TV actor who returns to his hometown and begins solving crimes. It’s a funny show with lots of humor and some action and mystery, but follows the usual theme of the “civilian” who solves crimes much like Castle or Murder She Wrote. I found the light-hearted mood of the show to be refreshing. 4.3/5img_2674

Smallfoot–A movie about a Yeti who comes across the mythological creature known as Smallfoot (aka humans). The movie is filled with tons of humor; there are moments you just don’t stop laughing for minutes. There isn’t a lot of action or violence, which makes it a great family movie. I enjoyed how it had a lesson but didn’t hit you over the head with it. Also, the animation was great–you can see each hair on the Yetis. 4.4/5

Total Dramarama–A TV show that takes place in a daycare and showcases the crazy adventures of the kids in it. At first I thought this would be a show really directed to very young audiences, but I found that even “older” younger audiences would enjoy it and maybe even “older” audiences. They don’t give you life lessons all the time; most of the episodes focus on the crazy things that happen in daycares but just cracked up to eleven. 4.4/5

Minecraft Evolution SMP–A group of Minecraft YouTubers (including SystemZee, Netty Plays, and Solidarity) “travel” through the different versions of Minecraft showcasing how it has evolved. On Oct. 1, they celebrated their one-year anniversary, which also was close to the “soft reboot” after Grian’s departure. The Evolutionists were kicked out of their old area and forced to begin again (but not completely from scratch–they were allowed to bring some items with them). Right now, the Evolutionists are building bases and getting started, but I’m sure the pranks and other mischief will begin again soon. In the meantime, they’ve added a Death Counter and the loser will face some form of public embarrassment. 4.3/5

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A Quiet Review


I decided to see what all the hype was about and check out A Quiet Place, a movie about a family trying to survive a world where creatures hunt by sound.

I enjoyed the fact that you actually saw the monsters. They weren’t these blurry objects that moved around and you might catch a glimpse of an arm. Or all you ever “saw” of the creatures were thumps and hissing noises.

The creatures looked pretty awesome. They definitely looked like something out of a nightmare. My problem with them was they had the typical long, thin, blade-like arms and legs that seem to be trending in the monster world. They also had the retractable/opening face and the teeth looked they were too big for their mouth. But I loved how they moved like wild animals; and when they moved slowly in order to sneak or hunt, it just added to the creep-factor.

img_2674Even though there were many stereotypical horror movie moments, such as the monster in the room with the baby, there is one thing that made this movie stand out: the people weren’t complete idiots. They still did stupid things, but reasonably stupid given the situation, for the most part (minus the mother not taking care of the exposed nail and the daughter having temper tantrums while killer monsters are attacking).

I did find it a bit hard to shallow that the mother wasn’t more concerned for the daughter once the creatures attacked the home. But at the same time, she was about to have a baby.

Another feature that made A Quiet Place different from other movies was the jump-scares. Normally, you can tell something scary is about to happen because it’ll get quiet or the music will change; but when the movie is already quiet, you can’t tell if it’s normal quiet or jump-scare quiet. I found myself jumping at things I normally wouldn’t have.

And since the movie was quiet, I could hear the noises from around the theater and from outside it. So any time someone would shift in their seat or someone in the lobby would say something, I’d jump about ten feet.

My last main problem with the movie was them taking so long to figure out the monsters’ weakness. I thought that this weakness would have been exploited pretty early on. But, I figured that by the time people learned the creatures hunted by sound, the monsters had become too much of a problem for armies and such to get coordinated.

All in all, the movie was a great horror movie. It had lots of scares, some spooky looking villains, and even a bit of hope for survival. The characters seemed smart but not so much that the plot never happened. I felt like the characters had a chance to survive but not so much that I felt like it wasn’t tense.

I’d give A Quiet Place a 4.7/5.


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