Blog where we review MOVIES, VIDEO GAMES, and AWESOME things like that. In our realm, it's all a PIECE OF CAKE.
"For me, the cinema is not a slice of life, but a piece of cake." -Alfred Hitchcock.
My name is Emmaus Nakagawa. Nice to meet you.
Hey there folks, it's been a long while since I posted stuffs. And I want you to know it's all been for a good reason. I've been thinking of how I can better the blog, and I realized that most of you don't want to read an entire summary of a movie, that's what the movie's for.
So I've decided to go back to the beginning of when I started to blog. That's right, WAYYY back in the day we're going. I'm going to restart, writing like an actual film critic. But don't worry, I'll try to not be pesky about it.
The idea is that for every post I re-write, I will delete the old one. And I also realize I've given a false sense that I will be able to review every single new movie that comes out... which you all know by now to not be true.
So starting from the beginning of the blog gives me a lot of content. And if I do review a more recent film, you'll know. I'll still review video games and trailers and whatnot, but now I'm going to get into a weekly rhythm of blogging. I want to blog 4 to 6 times a month, so you'll never be bored! And once I start feeling the groove, we'll make that number bigger.
That's about it, but stay tuned to my YouTube Channel too because I'm gonna be doing 2 videos a month as well. I'll be a busy bee pumping stuff out for y'all, so watch out!
Alrighty folks, sorry for the lack of activity, but here we go with the new review! I understand that I'm quite behind, but please understand that I'm busy making new videos for y'all, too! Hang in there!
T H E
M U M M Y
Tom Cruise stars as Nick Morton, a military operative who is a high-key treasure hunter. Where he's stationed, it's crowded with enemies. He and his buddy Sergeant Vail are on their own, and Nick wants to go into the enemy-infested area to look for some loot. Vail doesn't like it, but Nick assures him, "It'll be quick. In 'n out."
Next thing you know, they're being shot at, and Vail is freaking out. He gets so worked up that he calls in an airstrike, and the tangos leave almost immediately after getting bombarded. One of the shots from the airstrike opens an enormous hole in the ground, and it reveals a mummy-looking statue. You can guess where the mummy is.
Now, I didn't mention the beginning before this particular sequence because I want it to be a surprise for you folks. It's the new mummy's origin story, and it's actually quite interesting. It's unique to Ahmanet and who her character is developed to be.
Okay, anyway, Nick's superior comes onto the scene along with Jenny Halsey, an archaeologist. Apparently, Nick and Jenny have a history, one as soon as the evening before. The backstory explained here is awkwardly dropped in front of Nick's superior, and it feels out of place in the whole unraveling of things. But watching the rest of the film, there's really no other place they could have done it. I kind of wish the two didn't know each other before this encounter, but it's whatever.
They dig up the sarcophagus, and as they're doing so, Jenny is examining the grave. She makes a bunch of ominous realizations (out loud thank god) about how the set up of the chamber is not anything good. The statues looking like Anubis are facing inwards, not outwards, meaning that they are guarding the individual from leaving, not from anything coming in.
The other thing is that there's a pool of mercury covering the sarcophagus, which is being
suspended by four poles held down by enormous rocks that act as a sort of pulley device. Mercury is significant because that's what the Egyptians believed could restrict the powers of darkness. Kind of like Dracula and silver.
And finally, there's no treasures inside the tomb. This is symbolic of no preparation for the afterlife. So whatever this person of nobility (hence the personal tomb) did, it was nothing good. And that's also why it's so far from Egypt itself. It's actually located in Mesopotamia, present-day Iraq. In other words, the Egyptians wanted nothing to do with this force of evil. So it's gotta be pretty bad. Of course it is, otherwise there wouldn't be a movie, right?
From there, I think you can deduce what happens. The only riddle you'll really have to solve is how Tom Cruise is alive for the remainder of the movie since he dies in the plane crash. So go and see it!
T H E
M U M M Y
Ratings:
Family Friendliness - 8/10 Sarcophagi The film is suprisingly family-friendly. I mean, don't gemme wrong, the mummies themselves are pretty scary. They're almost zombie-like, which kind of irked me because it felt like a World War Z-esque film. Nonetheless, there's hardly, if any, swearing, no nudity, and only a few scenes of intense violence and scary images.
Story line - 8/10 Mummies Alright, the story was there, no doubt. And since it was acting as a springboard into Warner Brother's "Dark Universe", it was good in that respect. It was interesting and unique, and I believe the writers did a fantastic job.
Compared to "The Mummy (1999)" - 6/10 Monsters DO NOT GET ME WRONG, this was a good movie on its own. But literally everyone has seen the 1999 version of an ancient Egyptian god come to life and terrorize the planet, so it's hard to live up to the precedent that film set. Had I never seen Brendan Fraser's incarnation of the movie, I would have loved this one so much more. But here's the reason why this 2017 version didn't live up: character development.
As a standalone reboot of the franchise we all know and love starring Brendan Fraser, it was kind of a disappointment. Each character, no matter how minor in the original Mummy, had something that defined them and made you understand them. That way, when they died, you felt bad! Even if they were being jerks to Rick! In this version of The Mummy, you felt no pity for those who
died. You were only attached to Nick and Jenny, and they were overall stale characters.
Also, if you compare Imhotep and Ahmanet, I believe Imhotep is a better mummy. Not because he's more badass or anything. Here's why: background. Imhotep was driven by love to summon the dark arts. So his rage came from something that was pure, and that made his story tragic. I pitied Imhotep, even though I knew he had to go.
Ahmanet was driven by rage from the get-go. There's nothing behind that except greed. So I don't really pity her because she was just being a selfish and whiny baby because she couldn't get the throne. AND she was so pissed about the throne being taken from her that she KILLED A BABY!!! How messed up d'you have to be to kill a baby? You've gotta have a screw loose or something. I don't think even Imhotep would have done that.
Story Action Balance - 7/10 Buses There was a lotta lotta action, and I don't think there was enough build up to the mummy's grand reveal to make her scary as much as Imhotep was scary in the original Mummy. Then again, that's my nostalgic self looking for something to live up to Brendan Fraser. Unfortunately, you can't look at this movie that way.
Overall - 7/10 Stars Personally, I think this is a generous rating. But I try to be generous with films as much as I can. I hope you can forgive this film more than I have, and I haven't even completely expressed my distaste for this movie so as to give you folks a chance to watch it. So please lower your expectations and give it a chance guys.
The movie starts with the Guardians fighting a giant octopus-looking monster that's trying to take some batteries. It's pretty nasty, and it's got some pretty tough skin. The only thing that's vulnerable about it is it's underside. So you can imagine that the Guardians are having a tough time. And Baby Groot is just running around and jamming out to some music.
After they beat the giant octopus thing, they go to the people that hired them, the Sovereign. They're like golden people. It's pretty cool. In exchange for defending their batteries, the Sovereign give the Guardians Nebula. So Nebula tags along with the Guardians as their prisoner. As they're leaving, Rocket steals some of the batteries to sell on the market.
Obviously, the Sovereign figure that out and, as you can imagine, are pretty mad. So they send their fleet after the Guardians. And it's pretty cool how the fleet is operated. They have pilots, but they pilot the fleet from a room that looks like Mission Control at NASA, and they're controlling the fleet from there. It's almost like they're playing a video game.
So, naturally, the Guardians get outnumbered and they have to crash land. Now, there's these things called "jump points", where a portal of sorts allows interstellar travelers to jump from one galaxy or planet to another with ease. Rocket and Quill get into a fight over who should be piloting the ship, and that's eventually what gets them crashed.
Not long after they land, a ship follows them onto the planet, and an older looking man called Ego emerges from the ship. He claims to be Peter's father, and takes him to his planet. Spoiler,
Ego is a living planet, as you can see to the right. This leaves Rocket, Nebula, and Baby Groot to watch the ship.
At the same time, Yondu is on a different planet, and is at a bar with his Ravagers. He's been disowned as a Ravager, meaning that he won't have an honorary Ravager funeral once he dies. He's reminded of this by Stakar (played by Sylvester Stallone). Fun fact: Stakar is actually one of the original Guardians of the Galaxy in the old Marvel comics. But anyway, Yondu finds out about a bounty on the Guardians from the Sovereign, and that's how he gets entangled in this whole affair. That's as far as I go, but just know that the film is great fun. There's a lot that's revealed about Peter's origin and his potential as a very important contender in the final battle with Thanos. The movie is also a lot about family, and that's quite apparent as it goes on, especially between Peter and Yondu. By the end of the movie, you've been tear-jerked, shocked, angry, and on the edge of your seat, and then the credits roll and you're left to watch the five after credit scenes. Don't worry, you'll have time to digest everything. Cuz there is a lot! Still, go see it. You won't regret it.
Alright folks, this is Trailer 2 for PoC to review! I am so stoked.
S P I D E R - M A N:
H O M E C O M I N G
TRAILER
Alright, I'm not sure if y'all are aware, but I am a huge Spider-Man fanatic. Something for the ladies to know, if you just wanna see me blabbing and geeking out, ask me anything about Spider-Man and I will go on an hour rant. I promise you.
But we're not here to talk about me, we're here to talk about Tom! First off, I love the fact that Marvel has really shown him to be such a nerd, but one that hints at a struggle to balance being a kid and a hero. And this is kinda like "Spider-Man: Year One", which I really like. DO NOT
GET ME WRONG, I absolutely loved the original Spider-Man Trilogy, Tobey Maguire was my childhood. The Amazing Spider-Man series was phenomenal. Even though Andrew Garfield was kind of a stretch for me at first, he ended up being one of my favorite actors. And I think the same can go for Tom. I'm giving him a chance, and I can't wait to see what they're gonna do with him!
First thing we see is Peter running into a back alley and whipping out the suit. And oh my goodness, if you didn't like the whole loose-to-fitting suit feature, just stop reading because that was so freaking cool. I think everyone can agree (especially cosplayers) that that's something that Spidey has needed. It's such a tight suit! So he just keeps it under, but this is cool because it's strip, throw on,
fit button, BOOM, Spider-Man.
Next thing is a swinging sequence. I've always loved every single swing sequence we've ever been shown, and this is no different. Spider-Man's agility, seamless swinging, and even his funny character is shown in the next few seconds. I guess what I woulda liked more is the realism of the actual swinging.
Not sure if you are completely aware of this, but in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, the first time we see Spidey in his new suit, his swinging seems to be heavily rooted in physics. His angel dives give him his momentum to swing far and to swing high. There was even a camera that showed his perspective of the swinging, and every time he came to the bottom of the web, there was a slight lurch. WHICH IS TOTALLY ACCURATE. If you think about it, that lurch would dislocate any regular human shoulder because of the G-Force, but since Spider-Man is enhanced, there's still the lurch, but he can handle it.
In this trailer, I didn't see any realism in the swinging motions. Nonetheless, the sequences are cool.
Thirdly, we see Peter and Tony together, and Peter is wondering about how he's going to
play a role as an Avenger. Which is pretty cool, but he seems eager to join the team. In the comics, Peter has been eager to join teams before, but in the end, he's always ended up solo because he believes that's the best way he can operate. Even in the new comic series The Amazing Spider-Man (2017) he primarily works alone, even though he's got a giant corporation behind him. The company is simply there to back him.
Then Peter decides to be sneaky and climb on the ceiling of his room, which he obviously fails at, which is pretty funny. So he accidentally lets his buddy in on the secret that he's the Spider-Man. Cool!
"Can you summon an army of spiders?" Man, I'm telling you, I'm gonna love this kid. He's gonna be so funny. But also, he's going to be a good support for Spider-Man in his times of need. Which I think every hero needs. Think about Tony and Rhodes! They've got it good.
"I stole his shield" was probably one of the coolest scenes they showed. Cuz yeah, this movie doesn't take place too long after Civil War. So he's still proud of that.
Alright, I geeked out too much, but now we see Vulture. And oh my god, I didn't believe in Michael Keaton, but he is gonna be a hella good villain. And the Vulture suit just looks scary in general. It's dark green, he's got freaking talons, and he's got crazy tech that blows everything up. All in all, I am very impressed with this new trailer and I can't wait for the film.
S P I D E R - M A N:
H O M E C O M I N G Arrives in Theaters July 7, 2017
Hey folks! Emmaus Nakagawa here. I mean, I've been the only contributor to this blog for some time now, but that's okay I can still introduce myself.
Alright, as has been so clearly labeled in the title post above, I have an announcement that
I would like you all to be aware of: Piece of Cake's new website is looking great! So far, I have built up the general skeleton and I've put some layering on. Now, the hard part is adding some cool animation so that it's not just a boring click website.
I'm going to be working on linking this blog to the primary Piece of Cake site, and also linking some more important pages to that site like a YouTube Channel that I can hopefully start soon. I am saving up for a pretty nice camera, so if I do post YouTube videos soon, don't expect 1080 P Resolution.
Now the whole idea behind Piece of Cake was originally that I wanted to do some movie reviews. I love movies so so much, and I loved the idea of being a legitimate film critic while I'm still relatively young. I wanted to do movie reviews because I think we can all agree that film critics today are as trustworthy as Weather Forecasts: most of the time they're wrong, and there's a slight 1/10 chance that they get something right and the viewers agree with them.
But now, Piece of Cake has evolved in my mind to be much more than that. I want to put myself into one media form that encompasses who I am as a whole. I have many different interests, and I wanted to see if I couldn't put all of me into something easy and accessible. So I thought, "Well hey! Websites are pretty versatile!" So I started building one.
Now, the name of Piece of Cake won't just be related to movie reviews and the occasional video game review. It's going to be about ADVENTURES, WILD IDEAS, MOVIES, VIDEO GAMES, MAGIC, and hopefully so much more.
I want to put myself out there because I want to, not because I need the approval of a bunch of people I call my friends. I want to put myself out there because I am Emmaus Nakagawa, and I feel like I have something to say about myself.
Hopefully people see that and think it's pretty cool who I am, but even if I get three views on my blog and two likes and fifty dislikes on my YouTube videos, I'll keep at it. Because I'm going to love every minute of it. I'm going to keep doing what I love because I don't need your approval.
If you see me and bash me in other videos of yours, you're only making my name more popular. And there will probably be a handful of people that actually go to my channel to see if I'm really that bad, but they'll disagree. They'll like me, and they'll appreciate me. Those are the ones I'll
be thanking for putting up with my shenanigans.
Anyway, this turned into a longer rant than I wanted, but I hope you understand that I am making the name of Piece of Cake more versatile. And as such, you will see me posting on this blog, my YouTube Channel, and whatever other platform I take up as "Piece of Cake". Don't worry, I'll still be around, just under a different name and a different banner.
Thanks guys! And bear with me! I'm teaching myself how to code my website, so to get it actually up and running may take awhile. But I'll definitely keep you guys posted!
