Reviews

Quantum Leap is like nothing you've ever seen on TV. It redefines the meanings of time travel and science fiction at the same time. Sam Beckett, through a scientific project, has his spirit or soul entering someone else's body in the past with means to "put right what once went wrong" of all things surrounding the body he enters .

I remember caught glimpses of Quantum Leap in TV a few times at first, but I didn't pay much attention, as I was just thinking, "What kind of show is this? It has different settings in every episode." I just guessed it was like Alfred Hitchcock presents or Twilight Zones, which were not my favorites, until a friend of mine told me about the show and I finally watched (It was a Season 2 episode "Blind Faith"). And boy, was I stunned, and became an instant keen fan. I'd never wanted to miss any single episode ever since.

The most extraordinary thing about Quantum Leap is, since Sam leaps into various people with various backgrounds, the setting has virtually endless possibilities. As a Sci-Fi show, it does not try to bother us with much technical jargon or scientific terms that often hinder its viewers from fully enjoying the story. I imagine that even the show can run into thousands of episodes without running out of ideas. Basically it is a sci-fi melodrama kind of shows, but at times it could change into comedy (A Tale of Two Sweeties), war (The Leap Home part 2), thriller (Dreams), and even horror (The Boogieman). I couldn't help but stuck in front of the TV as the show played, as well as curious about whom he would leap into next. I even bought the whole DVD sets containing the whole seasons, while my favorites, among others, are 'Blind Faith', 'What Price Gloria?', 'The Great Spontini', 'Temptation Eyes', 'A Tale of Two Sweeties', and 'Pool Hall Blues'.

Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell are just flawless - it is like they were born to be Sam Beckett and Al Calavicci. I couldn't think of other actors that could fit into their characters - Scott is Sam, Sam is Scott, Dean is Al, and Al is Dean, they are inseparable.

Too bad, that gem was killed after only 5 seasons, with unsatisfactory conclusions. 'Sam NEVER leaps home'? How's that? Is it fair, for he sacrifices to save someone else he didn't know (at some points that even threatens his life), and he couldn't help himself? It just can't do the justice.

OK, I know it's overkill, but I feel somehow sad that Sam is trapped somewhere and sometime out there. Whether he is still fighting to put right what once went wrong, or even thrown in the abyss, we could never tell. So, please, does not anybody out there in Hollywood hear him? Save him, give him a chance to be home, and give audiences more times to venture into the brightest light of fantasy TV has ever seen.

I enjoy virtually all Silent Hill games. Thankfully, most of them were also out on PC, which had become my sole gaming platform for years. Starting from Silent Hill 2, 3, 4, and the latest one is Silent Hill Homecoming - the last title out for PC (no word on PC version of Downpour as of yet, quite a letdown indeed).

Homecoming offered an interesting plot: a soldier returns home from battlefield finds his family is a mess: his brother and father are missing and his mother, while not missing, is no less tragic. So it's up to the soldier to find out the truth behind the disaster, and the rest is as we've all expected - trapped in the demonic dimension of a Silent Hill neighbor called Shepherd's Glen, and followed by the traditional story (for Silent Hill series anyway) of human sacrifice and things - No, I wouldn't reveal the plot further, you just have to experience it yourself.

The atmosphere - as we have all expected - is spooky enough. It is nicely designed to tickle your inner fear. The graphics, while not as good as, say, Heavy Rain, are great, not surprising though giving it is a PS3/X360-class game. Our favorite SH arch-nemesis, Pyramid Head, is back on the trail of terror, only this time he is called The Boogeyman. Boogeyman or Pyramid Head, I honestly agree (and most of you I think will too) that he is one of the scariest enemies in horror games.

One most distinctive feature is that Homecoming employs more gory scenes than before. I remember one scene where the character's father is chopped in half by - none else than our beloved Pyramid Head/Boogeyman, after made a tragic confession to his son. Quite a chilling thought to behold, especially if you imagine, what IF it is REALLY your father?? Gloomy, eerie, and disgusting at the same time. Gore-splatter element would give significant value to the 'horrorness' of a horror, though fears could still be elicited without one, and even many gory scenes are present in non-horror shows. So how about gory horror? One thing for sure: it is certainly not for the faint-hearted. At times it will be more disgusting than it is frightening.

LA Noire's general premise is noticeably similar to those of its GTA sibling: it's a sort of open-world action game where you walk, talk to someone else, driving cars to various destinations, even at points of 'hijacking' other vehicle...well, nothing we had never seen in GTA.

But is LA Noire really worth it to look at? Does the game have the bravery to stand out of the shadow of its superior brother? Fortunately, Rockstar do bring some refreshments, for they don't solely copycat the gangster style into a raw concept. Noire puts you as a police officer in charge of solving various cases, interrogate suspects, witnesses, until finding the real culprits, the procedures like the ones you'll find in, say, CSI series, with the addition of - being an open-world game - more freedom of movement of course. There are some shootout scenes too, not too intense indeed, but we're talking no Max Payne here.

One distinctive feature of LA Noire is the adaptation of facial motion scan. Simply said, the characters you play and meet have very lifelike facial expressions. Sure, they are modeled after real actors, but the motion scan does make the difference - you won't believe that you're playing a video game rather than watching a movie. The environments - cars, buildings, world objects - are beautifully rendered as well.

Speaking of storyline, LA Noire has an enjoyable one. You don't just chase some crooks, apprehend them, and go for another...there's more than that. Remember that I made some comparisons to CSI series? You got it, this game has some significant mixture of drama. Betrayal, romance, sadness, desperation..those kind of things...not very deep, but nicely put though.

Sound is good. Personally I am no audiophile, but generally LA Noire has nothing to complain about sounds: not bad, and not remarkable either. Oh, and plus you got some nice tracks to give you more taste of how life in 1940s sounded like.

So, yes, I'm here to conform to other gamers that LA Noire is a great game. But you may wonder as why do I think this game as a great one with mistaken identity? We should not forget that LA Noire is an open world game, like other Rockstar games. My guess is, the biggest point of any open-world game is, there is still plenty to do after finishing the main storyline. Free roaming is one thing, but there should be more. Again, making a comparison to GTA series, finishing the main story is just a small part of the game, it might even takes longer to finish side missions than the main game.

Honestly, how many extra hours you're willing to spend for Noire after you finish the story? Right, if you're still thirsty for some chase-and-shoot things after the main game finishes, you can play about 40s extra side missions in forms of street cases scattered around the city.

Well, in my experience, at first, they're enjoyable, but as I played, I realized how boring these missions eventually became. They are highly repetitive: chase, shoot, apprehend or kill, done; the formula is obvious. If you choose to stop before you finish all the street cases, that shouldn't be too surprising, really, just like I didn't. More deeply interrogations? More clue searching? Nowhere to be found this time. The FMV scenes are no less boring: you call the office after finishing one case, then you just get the hell out of there for another one.

Oh, let's go back to the main story for a while. Being an open world, do you think you can choose which case you pick the first before others, well, like GTA? Forget it. The story has a strict linear gameplay, a rather oddity for an open-world game. This has been loosened up in street cases where you can pick the case you want first (well, not that FREE though), but it is best saying that, LA Noire's free roaming is only the matter of which road you take on the way to destination, and whether you want to go slowly or speedily. To make it clear, the free roaming mode in this game is somehow pointless, since nothing much to do in town other than collecting somehow bizarre items and photos. No restaurant or stores to visit, you can't buy clothes, shoes, or food (other than you have unlocked), let alone playing in casinos or shoot some pools - well OK, maybe I've gone too far for expecting that.

WARNING: MAJOR SPOILER AHEAD! YOU SHOULDN'T READ BEFORE FINISHING THE MAIN GAME! Oh, and you know, what makes those extra missions even more ridiculous? The ending. Yup, I hate the fact that our character, Cole Phelps, is dead in the end. OK, the ending may not be so bad, many games do that, but considering that you'd STILL play the very same character after finishing the story?? How come? Or do Rockstar want to tell us that the character is not actually dead? Or the Missions are just flashbacks of events when Phelps was still alive? The answers are nowhere to be found. We're just guessing and guessing...

In the end let's make it clear: LA Noire is a great action game, good storyline and beautiful graphics are truly the strong points. Unfortunately, Rockstar had pushed it too far by making it an open world game where in fact it just couldn't qualify as a decent one. If those pointless half-baked open-world gameplay elements were cut, it would surely score perfect. A sequel should be great, but I really hope that Rockstar would give it the right identity.

I am a fan of horror-action games, and of many titles around this game stands out as the most original and refreshing I've ever played (though the producers insisted not to call it a horror game). A writer trapped in nightmares he wrote himself?? What idea could be cooler than that? This was the game I was dying to play, and I couldn't be happier when this game was eventually out on PC, along with the two extra DLCs (a.k.a Alan Wake The Complete Edition)

Having finished the main game and currently playing the 2nd special episode "The Writer"...I can say that this game rocks! Beautiful graphics, great story, awesome tracks, and cool atmosphere, all unite to create a great game. The greatest of all is (to me anyway) this game runs smoothly on my mediocre PC. What more could I expect? My wait has finally been paid off. Don't forget the episodic styles, 'end of episode one', 'previously on Alan Wake'(though no 'next on Alan Wake' narrative is a bit disappointing)..gorgeous! If someone would adapt this into the movie someday, this kind of thing could perfectly tune in of course.

Alan Wake is not flawless though, well here are the few downsides:

1.Limited enemies: you only fight three enemies: possessed humans called Takens, crows, poltergeist objects, and oh...a storm! Yep, that's all. No abominable monsters, no disgusting creatures..and very lastly, no boss battles...very untypical for a horror game. OK, maybe you can consider fighting against the storm near the end as the boss battle if you want..Simply say, if you long for a tough boss battle, you will most likely disappointed

2. Limited weapons: throughout the whole game you will only need two weapons to fight the aforementioned enemies: a flashlight and a gun, by the means of boosting them with your flashlight to drive away the darkness and then finish them with your gun. Enemies once throw knives at you, but sadly, you can't throw them back. You can't punch them with your bare hands either. Very annoying, given that ammunition is limited.

3. Heavily repetitive battles:combine no. 1 with no. 2 above, and you'll get one of the dullest battles in video games

4. Not enough extras: playing the PC version which saw release far behind its console counterpart, I was expecting more sweeties rather than the core game (and the 2 DLCs). Indeed in the main menu you'll find an 'extra' option, but it's nothing special you're expecting. An Alan Wake wallpaper? Behind the scenes video? Should be cool, but apparently it's not our lucky day...

5. Confusing ending: By playing the PC version, you still get two extra Wake flavors out of the box after finishing the main game. But playing the 360 version without the DLCs? 'It's not a lake, it's an ocean', how's that for an ending?

Those flaws aside, Alan Wake is still a very good game. And in my opinion, its original story is the strongest point. It's worth your time and bucks. Horror or not, you'll surely get nice treats in the darkness of Wake's realm.

I'm not totally agreed to categorize Into the Mirror as a pure horror movie. In my opinion, it is more of a thriller movie, with horror elements within it. It does have a 'ghostly' appearance and 'supernatural' effect like 'those 'deviating' images in the mirror. It is slow-paced movie, with investigations involving cops with hundreds of dialogue lines, more of a drama. And the eerie tension is noticeably below average, only at some points where homicide occurred, and it was not much, I notice there were only four deaths in this movie, including death of the antagonist near the final scene. That's why I prefer to call this movie as a thriller, not a pure horror movie.

The idea for the movie was original, it was quite good. Instead of focusing storyline on haunted house, hotel, etc, the director decided to take different approach into making a horror movie (though I think he did not make a quite impression of a horror one). Into the Mirror tells the story of a series of mysterious deaths occurred in a supermarket, all which involving mirrors. Finally it was revealed that all victims were murdered by their own mirror images. And there was a clumsy cop trying to investigate the murders as he was still traumatized for carelessly causing the death of his own partner while held as hostage by a group of crooks. The investigation became more complicated as it unwrapped some peculiar facts like the concept of 'another world behind the mirrors' (well this one is more of a fantasy, world behind mirrors, eh?), 'a ghost seek for revenge', and 'twin sisters'. The plot was then rather predictable: the task of the cop was to help the 'undead' looking for the murderer.

The opening scene itself was excellent. Scene of an employer trapped inside the supermarket after it was closed looking for exit, and then she was killed when standing in front of a mirror. A decent introduction to the movie's storyline.

However, despite the somewhat good ending (i.e. the aforementioned revenge was successful), the ending was rather vague. Unlike the self-explanatory opening scene, it is quite possible that the ending left you many unsolved and confusing questions. It was told that the protagonist had actually died in the real world, and now he lived in the mirror world. Little bit confusing, right? Ah yes, maybe the director did not want to leave a 'pure' good ending, instead leaving you with questions, or else, forced you to watch the movie over and over again to understand the ending.

Generally, while not the best movie ever made, Into The Mirror is still worth a try (or rent, if you are reluctant to buy). As a horror movie, it still lacked requirements to be a good one. But the unique story has its own strong point. Maybe it's so strong that it interested Hollywood to remake their own version of this movie (of course with more terrors and gory scenes, Hollywood-style (Mirrors starring Kiefer Sutherland anyone?). Yeah, another Asian flick to be remade by Hollywood!). If you like horror movies with non-stop terror, do not watch this. You will be boring by its slow-paced story and hellishly long dialogue lines. But if you are willing to be more patient, maybe you will find hidden gem somewhere between the scenes (in which, too bad, I mostly didn't). Not a special movie that I will remember for a long time though, but it is not that bad. Give the mirrors a chance.

I was never too much into soap operas/dramas, but I've found Autumn in My Heart/Autumn Tale a decent one. The storyline itself was quite simple: two babies were switched at the hospital they were born. And then the conflicts throughout the series were developed from here, into the complicated one. I have seen some viewer critics this drama for, 'unrealistic' 'too many crying' and 'too predictable'. Yes, maybe its storyline was little unrealistic, but I suppose there are many stories in real life that seemed unrealistic too. Besides, I believe there was no show that is pure realistic, they are for entertainment, if you were looking for something very realistic, then do not watch any film, look no other than events in your daily life...

The storyline followed the lifeline stages of the two main characters, Jun-suh and Eun-suh: their teenage and adult years, which played by different actors (adult Jun-suh and Eun-suh were played by Song Seun Hoon and Song Hye Kyo, while their teenage versions were played by Choi Woo Hyuk and Moon Geun Young respectively).

The storyline of teenage years was told in about one-fifth of the whole 16 episodes: in episode 1, 2, and half part of episode 3. Since it built the basis of understanding before advancing to later episodes, I think this stage could not be less important. Of course, I watched the entire episodes, but my favorite scenes were all from the teenage years episodes.

Yes, all actors throughout the series had played their roles flawlessly. And child actors, in the teenage years, are no exceptions. Especially, I want to highlight an actress played as the teenage Eun-suh, Moon-geun Young that is…

Moon Geun Young is now one of the most popular stars in Korea. She is known to be a multi-talented actress – could play virtually any given role with different types, from the stressful and fearful poor girl in the famous horror flick 'A Tale of Two Sisters' into a funny but bossy young wife in the romantic comedy 'My Little Bride'. Autumn in My Heart was shot when she was still 13 or 14. Even at that age, she was able to show her shining talent. She was not famous at that time, but certainly she was paving her path into glory. Her current nickname, 'Korean Little Sister' couldn't be wrong. My favorite scenes of this drama included: 1. when Eun-suh kissed the family cups at night she was acknowledged not the biological daughter of Yun family; 2. when she told her foster mother that she refused to go with her to the US in favor of returning to her biological mother; 3. when she quoted the infamous 'I want to be reborn as a tree' line by the railway track while bid farewell to his 'brother'; 4. while she helplessly stood while seeing the Yun family car leaving for the US in front of a tunnel (although I regretted why they at least not bid farewell to Eun-suh for the last time) – the last scene of the teenage years (excluding flashbacks, of course) Yes, I watched those scenes over and over….every time she cried I felt very touched. I didn't cry but I felt the emotion. Could not stand but felt pity for such a poor innocent girl..I could not even imagine if it were taken from a true story.. Honestly, Song Hye Kyo's success in portraying the life of adult Eun-suh might not be that good if not 'pioneered' by the character played by Moon Geun-Young.

Asides from my admiration to Moon Geun Young, in storyline side, though it was excellent, I did feel it somewhat flawed. First, what happened to Eun-suh seemed not fair. She was a kind and grateful girl (remember when she still try to be gratitude for having a bad lunch after being returned to her biological mother), but she tragically died of leukemia at the end of the story. Seemed she never got happiness she deserved until her very end. Meanwhile, her rival, the annoying and stone-hearted Shin-ae (who also played superbly by other actors) who had always been cruel to Eun-suh seemed to have a happy life even until the end of the story. If only the director had 'blessed' Eun-suh with better luck.. And the ending was rather abrupt. It ended with Yun-suh hit himself to an oncoming truck, in the same location that his 'sister' was hit years before. I really wished that there was more to come after the incident. Yet, many aspects left unexplained. What happened to Yun parents knowing that their son died too? Weren't they even more broken-hearted? And Shin-ae, she didn't get what she deserved for being malevolent to Eun-suh? Well, at last I conclude, may be it was up to us to continue the story in our very own versions…

Well, as my conclusion generally, this drama was entertaining, worth watching. It has successfully delivered its stories via the flawless acting of its actors. Won Bin, Song Hye Kyo, Song Seun Hon, and virtually all actors (including Moon Geun Young of course) 'merged' with their roles superbly. Though not perfect (well, what's perfect in this world anyway?), it was one of the best dramas I've ever seen. The music scores were also very suitable and beautifully mixed into the story. If you hate slow-paced and touching drama then stay away from this. You will only get bored and waste your time. But if you love touching stories, this is for you. It could demand your deepest emotion, and you might as well surrender it.