Teen Wolf S.3, Ep. 18 "Riddled" Review

Important Moments: Show starts with Scott receiving a phone call from Stiles. He is freaked out saying he does not know where he is and the line disconnects. Calls back and says his leg is stuck and makes Scott promise not to call his father. Stiles begs Scott to find him. Scott alerts Isaac to get up that they have to help Stiles. Lydia hears Stiles on the radio saying come find him. Stiles calls Scott and lets him know that he is in a basement and he thinks someone is there with him.

Kira is at her house and breaks a bulb. She sees her mom shock the bulb and thinks she has powers as well. Aiden and Lydia show up to Stiles's house. Scott and Isaac are at the house and realize that Stiles may have lost it with all the red strings in his bedroom. Lydia decides to stay behind and figure out what Stiles was up to. We finally get to see Stiles who has his leg stuck in a bear trap. Stiles sees a man in the basement who writes the number 5 backwards. Scott tells Mr. Stiliniski who now sets up a search. They find Stiles's car at the hospital. Derek is on the roof and can sense that Stiles had intense anxiety there. Lydia finds that strumming the strings helps her to hear people whispering. She hears the voices talking about a house where she believes Stiles is.

Stiles keeps yelling out who is it in the dark. The person is speaking Japanese to Stiles. The guy starts to speak English and starts using “we”. Who are we and we are not shivering. Stiles says to stop saying we. The creature says we are trying to save your life. Mr. McCall is concerned about the transcript when Stiles saying his eyes are burning. Lydia leads them to the house but Stiles is not there but the number 5 is etched into the wall. Mr. and Mrs. McCall are together. He thinks Stiles is still sleeping. The creature talks about the door in Stiles’s head. Stiles is dragged away. The McCalls find Stiles who was asleep. ‘

Isaac shows up to Allison who is asleep. She realizes that her phone was off. She finds a voicemail filled with Japanese. Aiden says he thinks Stiles has the spirit in him but Derek does not want to believe. Lydia hears something but she refuses to tell Scott. She no longer trusts in her powers. Derek shows up to talk to Kira. Mrs. McCall talks to Mr. Stiliniski about Stiles’s symptoms and they agree testing is needed.

Kira and Derek are back at the electric station. They find Stiles’s bat. Derek asks about fox fire. Isaac and Allison go to Kira’s father and ask about the Japanese voicemail on Allison’s phone. It is about Japanese internment camps and the rules. Kira’s father says it is fake because there were no camps named Oakwood. Stile is going through multiple tests. Stiles says they are looking for Frontal Temporal Dementia. It was what his mother had. Lydia starts to hear the same clanking noises that Stiles is hearing. Derek believes Kira’s fox fire jump started the evil spirit into Stiles.  Derek shares that his mother said that his family protected Beacon hills. Lydia screams and you know that is bad. Scott and Derek return to the hospital roof and believe that Stiles was fighting with himself to stop himself from doing something bad. They find a bag of tools and a compromised wire.

Stiles is having a MRI done and they see that Stiles brain is shrinking. Mr. Stiliniski is heartbroken. Stiles starts to freak out in the MRI. He goes into a trance and sees the creature. The creature says they will let those in his life go if he answers a riddle. The answer to the riddle is a shadow. Everyone has one but no one can lose it. Stiles finds the creature has taken off its bandage and looks just like him. Stiles goes missing from the MRI. The spirit has taken over Stiles’s body. Kira’s mother shows up and she is working with the 5 and threatens Stiles. She says she knows someone who will defeat Stiles. Kira walks up the hospital and sees the lose electrical wire come down. End. 

My thoughts: So the evil guy from young Mr. Argent is the spirit that is now in Stiles. Wow the fox fire caused Stiles to have the evil spirit.  They revealed too soon but with the spirit now in charge I wonder where Stiles is. Also wow Kira’s mother is badass! She is a kitsune as well and says she knows someone that can defeat him. Maybe it is Kira.

I wonder if Scott turns Stiles to a wolf can he save his brain from deterorating further. Wolves are able to heal so can he heal that, right? Oh and Derek’s family was protecting the town and by wiping the family out things are now coming into the town.   

The show is truly tying in Japanese myths and the history. I wonder where they are going with the Japanese internment camps. That is a dark time in history. Turns out the backwards number 5 is a kanji.

We will meet another Banshee during the season! 

Smash Bros News 02/09/2014

Hey Everyone,

Do not fear! More Smash Bros. News is here. The director of the new Super Smash Bros, Mashahiro Sakurai, has revealed a legendary Pokemon will be in use in the new installment. The Legendary Palkia from Pokemon Diamond will be available to those who use the Pokeball item during battle.

Sakurai also disclosed the type of attack Palkia will make use of when unleashed during battle. When chosen during a fight, Palkia will use his signature move, Spacial Rend, to attack enemies and inflict massive damage to those unfortunate enough to get hit.

Smash Bros is slated to be released for Wii U and 3DS in 2014. Who else is excited. Leave a comment below.

Post By Vikki

Twitter: ProfessorWhite

The Lego Movie Review

The Lego Movie was released and yes I saw it despite not having a kid to take with me as cover. The movie is 1 hour and 40 minutes long. It is directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. The story and screenplay are by Phil Lord, Dan Hageman, Kevin Hageman, and Christopher Miller.

Story Line: The original 3D computer animated story follows Emmet (Voice – Chris Pratt), an ordinary, rules-following, perfectly average Lego minifigure who is mistakenly identified as the most extraordinary person and the key to saving the world. He mistakenly finds the piece of resistance while checking out the cute girl, Wyldstyle (Voice – Elizabeth Banks) He is drafted into a fellowship of strangers including Batman (Voice – Will Arnett) and Vitruvius (Voice – Morgan Freeman) on an epic quest to stop an evil tyrant known as Lord Business/President Business/The Man Upstairs (Voice – Will Ferrell), a journey for which Emmet is hopelessly and hilariously unprepared.

My Thoughts: The movie destroyed the box office by grossing 69 million opening weekend and is already slated for a sequel. It also has an annoying but charming song that is now my ringtone and I find myself randomly singing it. You can listen to the song in the video at the end of the post. 

The movie is a great movie and can be watched by everyone. I highly recommend it. It was well written and had clean lines visually. The story is simple but funny as Emmet tries to stop the villain from releasing the Kragle that will permanently freeze all the Lego citizens. The moment you figure out what the Kragle is and the Piece of Resistance you cannot help but to laugh out loud. 

The movie has a great message about working together, never giving up, and it is okay to be different. The best part of the movie is when you see the real humans behind the Lego land and it makes you stop and look at who you are and how you are treating those around you. 

This movie is star packed and here is the list of voices you may hear and know you know who that is but just cannot seem to place it. Jonah Hill as Green Lantern, Keegan Michael Key as Forman Jim, Liam Neeson as Bad Cop/Good Cop, Shaquille O’Neal as Shaq (yes he has a cameo), Channing Tatum as Superman, and Billy Dee Williams as Lando because anyone else would be disrespectful.

Check the movie out and share your thoughts in the comments.

Post by Vikki
Twitter: ProfessorWhite

Vampire Academy Movie Review

Hi Everyone, 

Yes I go see my teen movies, don’t judge me. Vampire Academy is based off the series by Richelle Mead. The movie was directed by Mark Waters and screenplay by Daniel Waters. 

IMDB Story Line: Rose Hathaway (Zoey Deutch) is a dhampir, half-vampire and half-human, who is training to be a guardian at St Vladimir's Academy along with many others like her. There are good and bad vampires in their world: Moroi, who co-exist peacefully among the humans and only take blood from donors, and also possess the ability to control one of the four elements - water, earth, fire or air; and Strigoi, blood-sucking, evil vampires who drink to kill. Rose and other dhampir guardians are trained to protect Moroi and kill Strigoi throughout their education.

Along with her best friend, Princess Vasilisa Dragomir (Lucy Fry), a Moroi and the last of her line, with whom she has an unbreakable bond. Rose tried to run away from St Vladimir's, in order to protect Lissa from those who wish to harm the princess and use her for their own means but was dragged back to the school and is now faced with gossip, teen vampire mean girls, and a hot guardian trainer by the name of Dimitri Belikov (Danila Kozlovsky). 

My Thoughts: I made sure to read the books prior to the movie being released so I was prepared. I know the movies can never live up to the books but sometimes a movie can stand on its on. This movie did an okay job. There were points that I just wanted to stand up and fill in the blanks that were left out. 

Deutch did a great job as Rose. I felt the appropriate amount of sass and stupidity was conveyed on screen. Deutch did not push it too far and was a believable character. Fry as Lissa is a different story. In the beginning I could not connect with the character but once she started to use her powers the actress became stronger in the role. She properly settled into the role of vampire princess and I started to root for her relationship with Christian Ozera (Dominic Sherwood). 

The annoying Natalie is played by Sarah Hyland from the hit show The Middle. She does a great job as Natalie and somehow is able to down play how truly beautiful she is in real life. Rose and Lissa also had to face the head of the mean girls, Mia Rinaldi (Sammi Gayle). The actress was chosen well as she had the little kid look down but was the appropriate level of mean and petty. 

The Christian and Lissa story line worked for me as the actors picked for the roles worked well together on screen. The Dimitri and Rose story line did not work for me at all. I understand Dimitri is supposed to be older and forbidden fruit but he appeared too old for Rose and became a little creepy. He was not cute enough and did not bring the character to life. If they decide to make the next book into a movie they should replace Dimitri. 

Overall the move stayed true to the book which is always good. I enjoyed the fight scenes and Rose is a strong female character. I think there is room for growth but overall the movie was okay. I cannot say it was bad but I wished for more. I must admit they did a great job of poking fun at themselves at times and had a Buffy the Vampire Slayer feel. I think there is potential if they continue the series.

Leave your thoughts about the movie in the comments.

Post by Vikki
Twitter: ProfessorWhite

Movie Monday: Devil

Random Movie Mondays is here. I finally had the chance to watch the movie Devil. It was released in 2010, directed by John Dowdle, screenplay by Brian Neelson, and story by M. Night Shyamalan. Yes it is one of his movies but relax I think it was pretty good.  

IMDB Story Line: In Philadelphia, Detective Bowden (Chris Messina) is still grieving for his wife and son, killed in a hit-and-run five years ago. When someone jumps from a skyscraper onto a truck, Bowden is sent to investigate. Meanwhile, five strangers are trapped in an elevator in the building where the jumper committed suicide. The communication radio in the elevator is broken but the guards, Lustig (Matt Craven) and Ramirez (Jacob Vargas) observe the individuals via CCTV as events unfold. Tensions run high among those trapped, so Lustig calls the police and Detective Bowden assumes the case. Without being able to contact the individuals, he tries to work out who they are, but he can only account for four of them. Time is running out for the occupants of the elevator, as Bowden realizes he has to get them out quickly.

My Thoughts: First I must share a disclaimer. I do not like elevators. I have been stuck in an elevator numerous times and even had to be pulled out of one by the Fire Department. Being stuck in between floors and having to be pulled out is not an experience I would wish on anyone. So with that said this movie just hit all my freak out buttons for me. 

Every time the lights would flicker and then go out something horrible would happen to a character in the elevator. This movie is a typical Shyamalan movie in which everything is explained and wrapped up at the end. I think some mystery would be great but in the case of this movie I was okay with the ending. 

I enjoyed being freaked out with everyone in the elevator and the deaths in such a small space were done very well. You begin to become invested in the cop and security as the attempt to figure out what exactly is going on. I also like the character Ramirez because he held on to his faith and plus he is Snake from Airborne. I would recommend checking this movie out. You will enjoy the scare factor and think twice each time you are in the elevator.

Share your thoughts about this movie in the comments. 

The Walking Dead S.4 Ep. 9 “After” Review

The show starts with the zombies overrunning the prison. Michonne watches on as she sees it burning. She walks through the gauntlet of zombies taking off heads as she goes. She collects two zombie followers for protection and finds the zombie head of Hershell. She appropriately kills it. We now see Carl walking on a mission as Rick stumbles behind him. They find an old bar to ransack for supplies. Rick tries to get Carl to stay outside but Carl properly puts him in his place and luckily they find supplies.

Michonne comes upon Rick and Carl’s tracks but heads the other way. Rick and Carl find a house to stay in for the night. Rick is one big bruise and has labored breathing and despite this Carl does not go easy on him. Dream sequence of Michonne with her brother and fiancé before zombies and they are happy. She has a son. A different flash of after the zombie outbreak occurred and they are fighting among each other. Another flash and they are without their arms. Michonne wakes up from the dream visibly upset. 

Carl wakes up at the makeshift house. Carl realizes that Rick will not wake up and by mistake notifies the zombies outside. Carl leads the zombies away from the house. Carl finds himself overwhelmed by the  zombies and buried under their bodies but in the end comes out on top. Michonne is walking with a horde of zombies. Carl begins yelling at Rick for all his failures as Rick is passed out on the couch. Carl goes out to scavenge the neighborhood for supplies. 

Carl has a run in with a zombie in the house but wins again but does lose a shoe. He sits and eats pudding on the roof, proud of his accomplishment. Michonne wakes up from her stupor of following all the zombies and begins slaughtering them all. Michonne comes back to where she initially found the tracks and begins to follow them. Carl wakes up and realizes the Rick is waking up. He thinks he has become a zombie and starts to cry that he might have to kill his father. He says he cannot do it but luckily Rick has not changed but is very ill. Michonne comes up to the bar and has a moment of reflection about her past. 

Rick is up and awake telling Carl to be careful but understands things have changed and Carl is a man now. Michonne is happy to see Carl and Rick alive and has a moment of crying and says a silent prayer before knocking. Rick is happy to see Michonne and tells Carl the person at the door is for him. End. 

My Thoughts: Appropriately titled. The aftermath of the Prison falling, while not as epic as the graphic novel it will do. Finally Carl is getting more and more grown. I cannot wait for him to start becoming the true character he is meant to be. I am enjoying the power struggle between Rick and Carl. This moment needs to happen. It is a telling moment when Carl is at first happy to see all the toys in a room in the house but then ends up using the cords to tie the front door closed. Carl needed this time to become self-sufficient as Rick is passed out on the couch. This is a turning point for Carl and I am happy to see that they appear to be doing it justice. 

Well done showing the magnitude of loss that Michonne went through. While we still do not have the whole story we at least now know that she lost family and a child because of the zombies. The relationship between Michonne and Carl is strong and good for the story line. She helps to bring Carl out of his shell and he helps to soften her up. The two reuniting is a nice end to an episode.