Monthly Archives: July 2022

Book Review: Skip Beat! Vol 12 by Yoshiki Nakamura

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Skip Beat! Vol 12     

Author: Yoshiki Nakamura

Publisher: Viz Media

American release date: September 4, 2007

Format/Genre/Length: Paperback/Shojo Manga//216 pages

Overall Personal Rating: ★★★★★

Reviewer: Julie Lynn Hayes

 

Mr. Yashiro feels his plan to have Kyoko make dinner for Ren the night before must have been a failure. Ren is silent today, and even more odd, he’s listening to a cd on his earphones. What kind of music does Ren even like? Kyoko hurries to intercept them, as she knows where they will be, and grabs her chicken suit, but ends up with the slimmer version, just so she can talk to Ren. Meanwhile, the director is concerned that he will have to fire Ren, although he doesn’t want to and he surely doesn’t want to hurt him. But something is seriously lacking in his performance, and he can’t have that, not if he is going to make a better version of the film than his father. Besides that, the President of LME has told him if Ren can’t do it, then fire him. He’s coming back in two days and he will decide about Ren for himself when he watches his performance.

Kyoko takes a box lunch to Ren at his apartment and she offers to help him rehearse, taking the role of Mizuki. He agrees and they begin.  During the course of the day, they find themselves accidentally in an intimate position.

Ren is finally confident in his portrayal of Katsuki. But will he be good enough for Lory? Ren has a request for the director, though. He wants to improvise some of the lines in the scene, in order to play the part the way he feels it. He is confident that he can make it work. Will the director give him the chance? And will Lory accept what he does?

I love, love, loved watching Kyoko and Ren rehearsing together, especially knowing how Ren feels about her. He has hinted as much, albeit obscurely, in his talks with the chicken, talking about the person he likes who is still in high school. Kyoko hasn’t caught on that it’s her he’s talking about and would not believe it if someone told her that. She is very clueless when it comes to Ren, and is just starting to realize that she likes him as him, not as Ren Tsuruga the movie star/actor. But how will she feel when she finds out he is Corn? I can’t believe that will end well. I can’t wait to see how the scene goes and what Lory’s reaction will be.

Rooting for Ren to succeed and looking forward to the next volume!

Saturday is Horror Day #69 – The Witch, Rec 2

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Reviewer: Julie Lynn Hayes

The Witch

William and Katherine and their four children are forced into the wilderness in 1630s New England, ousted by the village where they lived. They find a piece of land they like and start fresh. Months later, having added a new mouth to the family, they are struggling and life is hard. Thomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy) is the oldest, and helps as much as she can. The twins, Mercy (Ellie Grainger) and Jonas (Lucas Dawson) are the worst and make her life miserable. Caleb (Harvey Scrimshaw) is the next oldest, but he seems to spend a lot of time becoming aware of his sister’s body.  There is even talk about sending Thomasin away, to keep from having to feed her. Especially after, while she is watching baby Samuel, he mysteriously disappears.

Caleb, not wanting to lose his sister, decides to steal away in the middle of the night to find food but Thomasin catches him and insists on going with him. They encounter the strange rabbit he and his father  had run across before while hunting. Thomasin’s horse spooks and she is thrown. By the time she comes to, Caleb is nowhere to be seen. By then, the parents are calling frantically for their children. William finds Thomasin but there is no sign of Caleb. Unknown to them, he found a small house in the woods, with a strange lady.

 

The situation goes from bad to worse with accusations of witchcraft being tossed out by the evil twins. The mother is losing it, and the father is frantic. What more can happen to one family?

This was a dark film, for sure. Descent into madness or something worse? I’ll confess, I had to look up the explanation, despite having just watched it. It was well done for the most part. However, the end went off the rail, in my book. For that reason, I’m giving it 3.5 Stars.

Rec 2

There is a situation going on in an apartment building in Barcelona. Police have been called to the building, as well as fire fighters, along with a TV news crew. All are still inside, and unable to leave due to the building having been quarantined. A medical officer and a group of soldiers are sent inside to assess the current situation… but unknown to the others, someone has his own actual agenda.

The soldiers are instructed by the medical officer to film everything, much the same directives given by Angela, the news reporter, when she first entered. A man tries to follow them inside, claiming he has medicine for his wife and daughter, but they refuse to listen to him or admit him. Inside all is eerily quiet. The soldiers are unsure what is going on, but the medical officer Dr Owen (Jonathan Mellor) seems to know what he is looking for, and he is determined to find it.

 

Rec 2 picks up right after the events of the first Rec, now in POV of the soldiers.  At first, all is quiet, 

but that quickly changes as creatures begin to appear, leading to casualties on both sides. The soldiers are unable to simply leave, because the medical officer (who isn’t what he appears to be), has the only means of egress, one which involves voice recognition. What was once a virus in the first film has become demonic possession in the second. I am not convinced of the demons, to be honest, and think that is Dr Owen’s perception. Guess we’ll find out in the first film.

I was ready to rate this film lower when something happened to restore my faith in it , bringing it more full circle than I’d believed, and unifying it with the first film.  I am scratching my head over one point, I must admit. The goal was to obtain blood from a particular someone (sorry, no spoilers here), but the man who wanted the blood got upset that the person was shot, when all I could think was he could take the blood anyway, what difference did that make?

 

I think it was a worthy sequel. I’m giving it 4 Stars.

Wednesday Briefs: July 6, 2022

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Here is a list of all the authors flashing this week, along with a brief snippet from their latest free work. Click the link after the snippet to be taken to the complete story on the author’s home page.

Ancalagon: Chapter Ninety-seven by Cia Nordwell

“Is there any way to bring him out of that?” I wasn’t even sure what it meant.

“Ordinarily? No. Our minds are different from most species. We can retreat within our memories, sort of lock our consciousness away. It’s the opposite of learning how to bring forth memories as we become adults instead of needing to be taught.”

Which means the male who attacked, or at least who was left holding the remaining silver ball thing, wasn’t young. Seedrah was still learning from Garjah, which meant he couldn’t activate his racial memories fully without help. I assumed the opposite would

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Book Review: Bleach, Vol 66 by Tite Kubo

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Bleach, Vol 66     

Author: Tite Kubo

Publisher: Viz Media

American release date: March 1, 2016

Format/Genre/Length: Paperback/Manga/Supernatural/192 pages

Overall Personal Rating: ★★★★★

Reviewer: Julie Lynn Hayes

 

Everyone is appalled when Captain Hitsugaya is presented as one of Gigi’s zombies! Through observation, Kurotsuchi surmises that Hitsugaya was turned into a zombie before he was dead. Does that mean there is hope they can reclaim him? Kurotsuchi is excited at the idea of all the drugs he can test on Hitsugaya… for the sake of the Seireitei, of course.

Stern Ritter L – L for Love – Pepe seems to have Byakuya and Hisagi fighting one another. What’s up with that? They’re too smart to fall for that, right? Meanwhile, Kurotsuchi is having a very interesting conversation with Gigi, in which he explains how he anticipated her moves and countered with his own. In other words, he has turned her zombies into his zombies.

Back at Reiokyu,  Yhwach is seemingly impervious to attacks, surrounded by an impenetrable force. He presents to them Stern Ritter W, for the Wind, a strange looking little guy with two tongues. And in other news, just as Ichigo et al are about to take their departure in Kurotsuchi/Uruhara’s device, Ganju arrives and demands to go with them! (Long time no see, Ganju!)

Yhwach has more warriors up his sleeve, so to speak. Stern Ritter M (the Miracle) and Stern Ritter C (the Compulsory). He thinks this is the end of Squad Zero. But nothing is over until the fat lady sings…

Even if they defeat Yhwach… I mean when they defeat him… can life go back to the way it was in the Soul Society, or have they been irrevocably scarred by events? Hitsugaya a zombie? Say it isn’t so! But it is. And now we can only hope Kurotsuchi’s tactics and amazing brain will help bring the Captain back to himself.  Hopefully in the next volume we’ll see the arrival of Ichigo and the others. I can’t help but be reminded of the last time we saw this happen, when Ichigo, Chad, Orihime, and Uryu were catapulted into the Seireitei in order to save Rukia. Let’s hope they are equally successful this time!

Another great volume, on tenterhooks waiting for the next one!

Saturday is Horror Day #68 – The Blackcoat’s Daughter, The Mist

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Reviewer: Julie Lynn Hayes

The Blackcoat’s Daughter


Rose (Lucy Boynton) and Kat (Kiernan Shipka) attend a rather exclusive private school for girls. But they have something else in common – at winter break, they’ve both been left behind by parents who never arrived to pick them up. The head of the school, Mr. Gordon (Peter James Haworth) tries to make the best of a bad situation, asking Rose to look after Kat. They will both be looked after by the nuns, but even so he feels responsible for them. Not enough to forego his own vacation, though, and off he goes.

Each girl has a secret, and neither is exactly enamored of the other’s company. Rose is afraid she is pregnant, and doesn’t pay attention to the admonishment not to leave the school, having her boyfriend pick her up for the evening. The isolated Kat has been hearing voices, a demon telling her what to do. His voice is growing more and more insistent.

 

Meanwhile another girl, who calls herself Joan (Emma Roberts) is traveling toward the school. She is noticed sitting all alone by a couple, and the husband Bill (James Remar) offers Joan a ride, although his wife Linda (Lauren Holly) is less than thrilled. Bill goes out of his way to be kind to Joan, and she fears an ulterior motive. But he finally confides to her that she reminds him of his late daughter.

 

An uneasy Mr. Gordon returns prematurely to the school, only to be met with a most disturbing sight.

I have to confess that the film can be rather confusing, as there are three timelines here but they seem to be happening simultaneously, although they aren’t. I won’t give away any plot points, but I honestly had to look up an explanation of the ending to understand what I saw. Then it made sense. Having said that, I spent more time wondering what was going to happen, but if I should watch it again, at least I would understand it better. The music does indeed set the scene. And coincidentally, this was directed by the same guy who directed Gretel & Hansel, which I just reviewed. That guy is Oz Perkins, whose very famous father was Anthony Perkins. I guess horror genes run in the family.

Now that I understand the ending, I like it better and might give it a second watch sometime. For that reason I’ll give it 4 Stars.

The Mist


A major storm in a small town in Maine has wrought major damage to the dismay of the residents, locals and part-timers alike.  David Drayton (Thomas Jane) is on shaky terms with his next door neighbor, attorney Brent Norton (Andre Braugher), but they set aside their differences and begin to heal the rift in the aftermath of the storm, as both have suffered property damage. Norton’s vehicle was destroyed, so he asks to ride along with David and his son, Billy (Nathan Gamble) to get a few things at the grocery store. The store is pretty crowded with people who have also come to make purchases, and tempers are a bit frayed. But then a local, Dan Miller (Jeffrey DeMunn) stumbles into the store, blood on his clothes, claiming he just saw someone get taken by something in the strange mist that is creeping up on them, and no one should go out there.

 
 

David volunteers to go to the back of the store to look at the generator, and while he is there he hears something. He reports his findings to some of the men but they’re skeptical, so he takes them back there. They hear nothing.  A teenage boy offers to go outside. David warns him not to go, that something’s out there, but they don’t listen, and the grown men encourage him, overriding David’s concerns. But something is out there and it has tentacles….

 

 


The Mist is based on a Stephen King short story of the same name. The story is actually better, of 


course, but they did a good job with the movie. You can imagine being caught in this supermarket, with these other panicked people, not knowing what is going on outside, and then seeing these very scary creatures that no one is equipped to deal with. What would you do? I don’t know, to be honest. Watch for the unexpected ending. I had already been spoiled for that, so it was no surprise, but I won’t disclose that here.  I’ll give this movie 4 Stars.