Ian Livingstone Reviews

Pearl Harbor (2001)

Not too bad, but has flaws.

[8/10 · 29 June 2003]

First of all, I'd like to state that Ben Affleck, although he tries, is not a very good actor. (With the exception of the dog fight scenes)

On the other hand, Josh Hartnett was very good, although his role wasn't a very good one.

Okay, now for the good and the bad...

THE GOOD:

Very well-done dogfight scenes. Big-budget special effects. One very sad scene that actually made me cry. A famous story told through it's survivors, not through the events. (ala Titanic)

THE BAD:

Altered events to make the story more politically correct. Minor characters that you didn't care about but you were supposed to. Bad editing, some parts too long, others too short. (Poorly used time makes one feel tired towards the last third of the movie) A very cliche ending.

Overall this film was better than I thought it would be (after I read all the negative reviews) but it's basically a somewhat shoddy WW2 Titanic. (If you have seen Titanic, you will most likely make several comparisons)

7.5/10

The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall (1996 Video Game)

A VERY deep game.

[9/10 · 7 April 2003]

This game was revolutionary when it was released back in '96, and it still is much much deeper than most games released today.

It had unbelievable amount of potential, and it achieved alot of it, but there were some flaws holding it back.

If you can play games that don't have high-resolution, 3d accelerated graphics, then this game is worth trying out just to see how much depth an RPG can hold.

Overall: 9.5/10

Chrono Cross (1999 Video Game)

A parasite on Chrono Trigger's glory.

[7 April 2003]

For people looking for a sequel to Chrono Trigger (Like me), this isn't for you.

The storyline is only barely connected to the first game, and the gameplay is straight from a recent Final Fantasy game.

Although the music was excellent and the graphics were great for a Playstation game, this game was sorely disappointing for me.

Overall: 6/10

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001)

Highly underrated

[9/10 · 7 April 2003]

Now if you are a fan of the Final Fantasy game series (New games or old), forget all of that or you will be sorely disappointed.

This has nothing to do with any of the games besides the title.

Anyway, this is a revolutionary film as far as visuals, sound and special effects go.

I had high expectations, but I was blown away by the realism and detail, even while watching it on a VHS!

But people often overlook this movie because they think 3d movies are all special effects and no plot, well they're wrong.

This movie has an interesting plot, decent voice acting for most of the characters (Although they should have had a few more takes for one of the actors), and good direction.

As far as film making goes, this movie isn't the best, but I didn't find any real flaws anywhere.

If you're into fantasy/sci fi movies then you've got to see this.

Overall: 9/10

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)

Not nearly as good as first.

[7/10 · 7 April 2003]

This movie was a disappointment for me, I am a huge Tolkien fan and I loved the Fellowship movie, but Two Towers has some big flaws that prevented it from being as good as the first in the trilogy...

1. Very americanized, they put alot of cheesy hollywood gimmicks into it, they also obviously added more of Viggo and Orlando, because of the sucess of the previous film. I found these thing disturbing, and it shamed Tolkien's perfect tale.

2. Bad editing/pacing. They felt they had to juggle all of the characters more and more throughout the movie, it is very distracting because in the book, Tolkien perfectly went from one group to the next, right when you're getting really excited, so it kept the interest of the reader high. This was not done in the movie however.

3. MORE changes in the story. The film's biggest flaw, they changed more of the story, added some lousy scenes into the movie that weren't in the book, and had some bad add-ons also. This disappointed me because they were pretty good about keeping the movie close to the book in the first movie, what I felt this movie was is a gift to the stupid audiences to make more money.

I just wanted to stress these major flaws because all the reviews I have seen say this movie was great, even better than the Fellowship.

But there are a couple good features in this film, like Gollum is spectacular, I have to take my hat off for the special effects people, because that character was extremely well done.

And I was impresses with Elijah Wood's acting in this movie, he was outshined in the first one, but he really showed his talent in a couple scenes in this one.

Overall, I would say this movie was 7.5/10, but perhaps people would like it if they haven't read the books, and had nothing to compare it to.

Kimagure Orange Road (1985–1988)

Excellent

[5 November 2001]

Although this IS the first anime TV series I have seen, I have done alot of research and the other ones seem bent on fighting and girls...

Not that those are bad things, but a good story is more important I say. (Don't misjudge me, I'm just basing it on other people's comments and descriptions.)

It all starts out with a 15 year old guy named Kasuga Kyosuke (Or Kyosuke Kasuga, which you would call him here in America.)

He meets two women, Hikaru and Madoka, Hikaru appoints herself as his girlfriend, but Madoka seems to be his true love.

How he keeps his friendship with Hikaru just a friendship while trying to be with Madoka and keeping Hikaru from being heartbroken is quite a story in itself, but Kyosuke also has telekinetic abilities, which he tries to hide from others because they had to move 7 times because of it.

This series rivals professional live-action movies in it's romance and realism, there is also comedy in parts, but many touching scenes too. (I know critics have made that phrase a cliche, but I don't know how else to describe them.)

The subtitles aren't too bad, and at times you can figure out what they're saying without them, and Madoks's voice is very good.

I'd recommend it to 13-20 year olds, some episodes wouldn't be appropriate for anyone younger than that.

I bought the entire TV collection after I investigated it, and I think that if you're interested, that's the perfect way to start.

I'm thinking about getting the two movies too, I'll post a review on those when I do.

All around, 9 out of 10. A very good series.

Balto (1995)

A Good Unknown Movie

[24 September 2001]

This movie is highly underrated (mostly because nobody knows about it.)

It is probably the best children's animated movie that hasn't been made by either Disney, Don Bluth or the other big companies.

It is well-made and it has good morals for children (which is getting very rare in recent Disney movies.)

All around, 8 out of 10.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (1997 Video Game)

Outstanding

[10/10 · 20 September 2001]

This is the best Playstation game I have ever played, and by far the best of the Castlevania series.

Great music, spectacular gameplay, a recommendation to anyone.

Also a unforgettable storyline and alot of replayability.

10 out of 10.