The Dinosaur Project (2012)

Marchant set out on a quest "The Dinosaur Project" with his team of explorers, with the aim of finding the water creature whose origins were rooted in myth. his son Luke hid in their luggage compartment of the helicopter the team were riding. hovering over the sky of an isolated African jungle, the helicopter was attacked and brought down by a flock of strange birds that looked surprisingly similar to the Pterosaurs. while they tried to survive until they were rescued, the team came across different variety of dinosaurs, which civilization had presumed extinct for million for years.

The Dinosaur Project (2012) felt like some low-budget action film that adapted the ideas from Cloverfield (2008) and Jurassic Park (1993). it was painful to watch as the film was supposedly shot from Luke's pocket cameras, where he ran and stumbled all over the place, jotting our images like the terrible Cloverfield (2008) did, fortunately not enough to cause nauseousness. the plot was fairy simple, the team strolled through the jungle, got killed one by one. when the team got down to only a few left, one of the unsuspected member turned into the bad guy and started killing people instead. Marchant and Luke had such bad father-and-son relationship that it was obvious that they had to patch up and of course, right before one of them die. the only scenes worth watching were the dinosaurs. they were believable and having such closeups, it was a thrill to look at.

Kaiji 2: Jinsei Dakkai Gemu カイジ2: 人生奪回ゲーム (2011)

a year after successfully rid himself of all debts, Kaiji was back in the same debt ridden situation. with the help of those sharing his fate in the underground, he was given 2 weeks to clear his debts and releasing everyone else that was involved. he then came across a pachinko (パチンコ) machine called The Swamp owned by the Teai organization. together with Ichizo, Sakazaki, Tonegawa, and Yumi, they threw every cash they owned into the hands of Kaiji, while their lives were at stake.

like the first Kaiji (2009), Kaiji 2 (2011) had a slow moving pace as well. the building tilting idea might be slightly impressive if not impossible to achieve, but that was how far it went. the rest of the film was mostly predictable, especially the point that Kaiji would win no matter the odds, and having everyone on board, giving him their trusts and everything. the pachinko (パチンコ) machine was a luck ridden game, though in the film it was purposely tweak to have no winner, thus Kaiji and his gang was forced to play around that to win the money it stacked within.

Acchi Kocchi (2012) あっちこっち

Tsumiki and Io were close friends. despite feeling connected and often depending on each other, they had yet become lovers. their awkward relationship was obvious to their friends, thus they often jumped in between the duo just to get on their nerves.

the story followed the life of Tsumiki and Io, where they attended school and hung out with their friends. however, the happenings around them were often hilarious. the anime reminded me of Lucky Star (2007) as well as Toradora (2008), especially Tsumiki that felt so much like a shy version of Konata or Taiga. she was a bit of a Tsundere, but absolutely adorable when came face to face with Io. even though there weren't a strong storyline behind the anime, it was enjoyable just by watching their interaction. they were so comfortable together that it was absolutely sweet and heartwarming. not to mention the satisfaction after watching every episode and yearning for more.

E.L. Pender #1: The Girls He Adored (2001)

FBI agent Pender had been investigating the random disappearances of women across the country. among the women, their only common characteristic was their strawberry blond hair. Max was an intelligent killer who suffered from Multiple Personality Disorder. he staged a jailbreak and kidnapped Irene, his court-appointed psychiatrist. she was kept in a secluded shelter away from civilization. she analyzed Max's various personalities, some viewed her as his prisoner, and others his salvation. she knew enough to survive by playing along with his game of perversion. but soon, under all the layers she discovered a shattered background of a young boy.

Max was actually a very appealing character. mass amount of time was spent on building his character, especially the abusive childhood that played a huge role in shaping him into the monster that he eventually became. at some point, i felt sorry for him for losing so much innocence at such a young age. the storyline original and engaging, being fast paced made it an absolutely exciting read. its creepiness and goriness was a delicious treat to the mind. it was one thriller that kept things tense throughout the book, with no promising ending as the story slowly formed, but eventually everything came together, giving a satisfying end.