What’s Up Thursday #6: A Little Update!

Its been almost 3 months since the last What’s Up segment! To be honest, its been really busy trying to stay on top with the blog and Game Warp and the Youtube channel. However, we’ve had a sudden surge of one sort of posts lately, and I figured I’d at least do a little post of What’s Up and segway into that. If you don’t really care for what I’m watching and just want to get surprised as the reviews happen over here, That Moment In or Game Warp, then scroll down to the last section of the post.

Let’s not ramble and jump right in!

WATCHING

To be honest, I’m actually not watching anything right now. We started an episode of Mindhunter right before Stranger Things 2 aired so then it was onto a TV binge of Stranger Things 2 and then I got caught up with The Big Family Cooking Showdown which I just finished yesterday.

Oh right, and then there’s Riverdale which is released weekly so thats also there. My guess is we’ll get back to watching Mindhunter soon. It seems like there’s a lot of cool upcoming TV for Netflix so it should be fun although I have a million shows I want to catch up on.

As a side thing, I’m trying to get through some Netflix films since my list is getting ridiculously out of hand and I keep losing films that I’ve waited to long to see. In the next set of double features, you’ll start seeing that I’m choosing films in a fun little way and not alphabetically. Hopefully, it works out as I’d like.

READING

Still reading IT, my friends. Its haunting me in my dreams. I mean the literal task of finishing this book. I keep saying that the end is near and I promise you I’m progressing. I should have like 400 pages left or something which just needs like one or two sittings of not getting sidetracked. On that note, reading IT has put my entire Goodreads challenge behind. Anyways, its my motivation to finish it up quickly.

PLAYING

SNES Classic Edition coming into our existence has given me some opportunities to go play little doses of it here and there. Yoshi’s Island was the one I started. I remember playing the port to Nintendo DS which was a lot of fun but pretty difficult. Its hard to imagine that the controls here are actually even a little harder so I had some struggles. On the Youtube channel, you can see mostly what I’m playing since I record most of the shorter games as full playthroughs. I’ll probably start streaming the longer ones such as Evil Genome and some 2017 titles that I need to wrap up. As from that, its the final episode of Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series Episode 5 that just got released on November 7th. I have a few games in progress but I’m stuck on a few of them as if I’ve plateaued and just can’t seem to get past that point so I put it aside like Crash Bandicoot (which I’m thinking of starting the second one if I can’t get past the level in the first I’m stuck at).

I go through mobile games quite frequently. Be it for Game Warp or not (since I really only review a fraction of the ones worth my time), I’m on the move a lot so when I need to change the pace from reading, I play games on my phone. The latest one I’ve been playing is Once Upon a Tower. Its pretty fun although I always have the same issues with touch controls being not as sensitive as time resulting in my dying. I’ll do a review on it over for Game Warp soon.

And NOW! For the Update!

As you saw in the Watching section of this post, I’m really behind in a ton of stuff. I was looking through the tentative schedule (yes, I do that now to try to be organized), I have a lot of outstanding stuff unwritten and just sitting there nagging me everyday. Since Tranquil Dreams is a fairly versatile blog, I don’t want to shock you with the sudden overload of movie and TV binges but I have to do it. I promise you to stay diverse at the minimum with Goodfoods and some baking stuff I have coming up as well as book reviews here and there but for the most part, I’ll have to get this movie and TV posts out of the way before 2017 ends. Overall, thats the general goal for all things to really get a lot of catch up done to not have anything backlogged hop into 2018 so we can start fresh with possibly a brand new schedule or set-up (that is something I’m thinking about depending on whether I can get the discipline for fixed segments which I’m not completely confident about).

Its not a huge update but I just don’t want you lovely people who don’t care for the TV and movies to feel like I’ve abandoned it all and just changed to a movies and TV blog entirely which I haven’t. If I make any big moves, I will always post about it.

That’s it for today! With that said, I have a movie review coming up later today!
What have you been watching, reading or playing?

Horror Marathon: IT (2017)

If you missed yesterday’s review of the 1990 miniseries IT, you can read it HERE.

IT is easily one of my most anticipated movies of 2017. The images and the atmosphere and seeing the Bill Skarsgard transformation was all really captivating. It may be the horror genre of films I’ve chosen lately but I’ve been struggling to be truly frightened by a film and seeing as I have a deep-rooted fear of clowns, this seemed like one that would do the trick.

IT (2017)

Director: Andy Muschietti

Cast: Bill Skarsgard, Jaeden Lieberher, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Sophia Lillis, Finn Wolfhard, Chosen Jacobs, Jack Dylan Grazer, Wyatt Oleff, Nicolas Hamilton, Owen Teague, Stephen Bogaert

A group of bullied kids band together when a shapeshifting demon, taking the appearance of a clown, begins hunting children. – IMDB

IT is everything that you can imagine it to be. It does atmosphere and the horror really well. IT himself portrayed by Bill Skarsgard and his eye tricks are downright creepy. This movie is the IT that I had expected from the 1990 miniseries. However, with that said, I have to say that IT also suffered from a great PR team. Maybe not so great and also why I usually try to stay away from horror movie trailers because a lot of the effective scares were shown off in the trailers making all the scares rather expected with a few exceptions. Still, the experience of watching IT was a tense thriller with horror elements. And that hits my soft spot because I love movies that gives me a lot of thrill and has me anxious and tense.

For this remake, I can’t do this write-up without first talking about Pennywise. The 2017 Pennywise finds a balance between the friendly clown and striking all those horror elements perfectly. Bill Skarsgard has had some supporting roles here and there, even for myself, as I looked through his filmography, those roles didn’t quite leave any impressions because it wasn’t significant enough. The only one I know him from is as one of the main characters in Netflix Original Hemlock Grove and that show is plenty odd. I have a love hate relationship with it on various elements and thats why I haven’t finished the final season yet. However, my impressions of Bill Skarsgard stems from there. I think he is a fine looking guy so its hard to imagine him as Pennywise and actually pulling off this role so remarkably that we can forget the man is behind all this makeup and that is the most impressive. Ten out of ten for Pennywise!

When the film finished, we had a huge discussion about this and 1990 miniseries. It was a long one so maybe I’ll finally do the adaptation, remake and source material idea that I never followed through with (yet). One of the main talks was about how the kids were played. Both has a commendable cast and very convincing portrayals of their respective roles. In short, my husband enjoyed the 1990 version of the kids and I thought these kids did a great job. In fact, The Losers had a lot more individuality in this one. You can really tell them apart as they accentuated how these characters are supposed to be. Perhaps having just seen Stranger Things helped and didn’t for Finn Wolfhard as it got confusing with the bike scene however he did a great job at being Richie Tozier especially with his speedtalking and the accentuating his fears. The Eddie character stood out especially with all his concerns and fears which had some comic relief in various parts. In general, there was a decent balance of action, thrills and a little humor. However, whenever Pennywise showed up in whatever form was always creepy and tense. The star of the Losers is Sophia Lillis playing Beverly Marsh. She was so convincing and fantastic. It was a lot of fun to watch her.

IT 2017 has some parts that stayed more true to the source material (and I’ve read the majority of what happens here) and does the parts the miniseries couldn’t. At the same time, they did make some changes that still made it effective. Changing up what the original or source material had never bothers me as long as it adds to it and still makes sense. In here, it does make sense. IT is made up by a lot of moments however, there is still a strong feeling of the bond they have created in The Losers. There are some nice effects and the atmosphere works really well. Pennywise is creepy and fantastic. Its a mostly tense movie. If you have avoided the trailers up till now, continue to do so, so that this movie becomes much more effective with each of the build up to the tense moments feeling fresh. Other than that, sit back and be thrilled by IT. It may have gotten a little overhyped by its PR and the trailers revealed too much but the film itself hit all the right notes for me. There were some parts that slowed down a little but it picked right up in the next scene so it never quite feels like it lingers.

Overall, IT packs the perfect horror thriller experience. Yet again, Stephen King has created some great characters and in this, we get a much more deeper look at the hints of how Pennywise came to be. We get to see his lair, which is captivatingly much different in a good way. The Losers are great because they feel like they are their own individuals and bring a certain something of their own skills to the table. My favorite is Sophia Lillis who plays Beverly. Now, I’m just sitting around wondering who will be cast for Part 2 and their adult roles. Its one I’m looking forward to a lot!

Have you seen the remake of IT?

Horror Marathon: IT (Miniseries 1990)

It’s time for another Stephen King adaptation! We’re finally looking at the 1990 miniseries IT which I’ve never seen before today. Perhaps a good way to justify why I haven’t is that I have a GIGANTIC fear of clowns. I can remember exact moments of being a little girl and the clowns that scared the heck out of me. However, I watched this one to have a comparison with the new IT movie that had hit theatres earlier this October and that review will be up tomorrow. Unfortunately, I’m still working on the book.

Let’s check this out!

IT (1990)

Cast: Richard Thomas, Tim Curry, John Ritter, Tim Reid, Annette O’Toole, Richard Masur, Dennis Christopher, Harry Anderson, Jonathan Brandis, Brandon Crane, Adam Faraizi, Seth Green, Ben Heller, Emily Perkins

In 1960, seven pre-teen outcasts fight an evil demon who poses as a child-killing clown. Thirty years later, they reunite to stop the demon once and for all when it returns to their hometown. – IMDB

This miniseries turned out to be quite a lot less scary than I imagined it. Its probably because it didn’t age well and Tim Curry brings that very comedic clown feeling even when he gets his sharp fangs out. It originally aired in two episodes. The first part was focused on the kids and the adults heading back to Derry on a promise after their friend calls them back and the second part focuses on the adults who now need to face the reality of the reoccurence of the terror that has struck Derry again and how they plan on dealing with it. This is a long piece with the two episodes combined of over 3 hours. I guess that isn’t so bad considering we frequently get 3 hours blockbusters (close to it) so its doable to just watch the whole thing in one sitting. IT is a pretty good time to be honest. The ending is a little lackluster and I’m wondering if the actual book ends the same way.

Part 1 is definitely the highlight of the movie where we focus on the kids and shape how they’ve turned out as adults as we take a peek into their lives. All the actors are quite good and there are a few familiar faces. Since this was made for TV, there are some parts that were taken out and modified which makes sense to me and for the most part, it still flows pretty well. What makes the first part intriguing is its familiar structure to the source material which helps us not to only see how the story started for each of The Losers but also how they became friends and also to see their characters at the same time. The Losers each had skills and added individually to the story and the group. The kids here are very believable and they hold a naive sense to them despite their struggles.

Its length here has its pros and cons. For one, it allows it to stay more faithful to the source barring the moments that may be too much for general TV audience. The con however is that when the story isn’t moving, it feels like a bit of a drag. However, those are fairly rare moments. IT also uses its length to give more substance and create more of the moments. The effects are definitely dated but it is to be expected in a 1990 film however, it still is quite entertaining.

Tim Curry has taken on a lot of daring roles and some not so much. It really depends on what tone wanted to be created here. Pennywise is what will bring in those creeps as he is the villain. While Pennywise is quite entertaining and  clown-like with a slight darker edge, he or the tone of the mini series never manages to get into the horror elements well. Perhaps it is the first viewing being now that I feel this way and that if I saw it back in 1990 (unlikely since I was 4 and all I watched was Mr. Dressup and Ghibli films) that it would have scared me a lot more. The scenes had its intentions of being scary and creepy but it never sinks in.

Overall, there are some great elements here however, to say this was a scary movie experience would be inaccurate however, it is still very entertaining and has its moments. Tim Curry’s Pennywise also delivers a good performance.

Halloween Horror Marathon Announcement!!

Its the 5th ANNUAL HALLOWEEN HORROR MARATHON ANNOUNCEMENT!

Another year sure passes by fast! 5 years since I’ve officially hopped back into the horror scene! For those who don’t know, I had stopped for a while from horror films mostly because I’m just a major scaredy-cat and almost anything scares me. My husband scares me occassionally just by walking up when I’m working. Jumpy? That I am. Anyways, the break was needed and in 2012, I decided to hop back in and man, has it been a fantastic journey. Most of my horror films now are seen in this month or during Fantasia Festival in July. And then its incredibly scattered throughout the year mostly whenever I feel like it, which isn’t too often because its a whole new challenge to figure out what horror subgenre I’d like to watch and then deciding on the film. Okay..stopping the rambling.

In the last 5 years, we’ve done a lot of the big franchises: Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, Friday the 13th and even did Scream and Evil Dead last year. So, what next? The contenders for this year went from Hellraiser (which was abandoned because apparently one or two of the Hellraiser sequels are impossible to find) then Final Destination (which I heard is pretty disgusting) and finally, the final final decision is THE SAW FRANCHISE! Barring the last movie that will open in October because I’ll be swamped at work at that time frame so we will be looking at 7 existing movies!

Alongside that will be a few book reviews, TV binges and of course, other movie selection. I had a head start this year so some absolute ones making an appearance will be Ash vs. Evil Dead Season 1 TV Binge for example. In terms of books, IT is being read but its taking a long time so I fill in the breaks with Horror Movies A Day. Hopefully that might inspire some of the movie choices if I can find them. As for movies, The Autopsy of Jane Doe review is coming up.

Those are just three (or four) entries that you will see. Add in the 7 from Saw, we still have a lot of empty space… You know what else I’m doing which is incredibly overdue is to watch George A Romero’s films. We can’t afford to buy any ones that we don’t own so we have 3 more selections that will be reviewed. All first time viewings! I think it’ll be fun and interesting 🙂

So we have close to 15 entries set along with some random posts like Music Obsessions, My Weekly Adventures and such. The rest will be surprises as I haven’t started them yet but hopefully, they’ll all get some love. I’ll try to pick from Netflix and my unwatched physical copies.

As usual, if you have any suggestions, please do tell me what you’d like me to watch and I’ll try my best to see if I can access it. However, if you do suggest, you can check out if I’ve reviewed it before right HERE. At the time you are looking at it, it should be updated till the end of September!

See you all tomorrow for the first entry as we kick off with the review of Saw!