Reviews

In The Conjuring 2 a family of a single mother and four children, living in London, find themselves being haunted by an evil spirit. Because of their increasingly dire situation they decide to contact Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) Warren who answer their aid call. So, James Wan! More like James Win, know what I'm saying? Because he directed this awesome movie? No? OK, sorry. In all seriousness I may have found my favorite horror movie with The Conjuring 2. That's not saying much, as I am not that educated in horror movies but this film showed me that in order to create horror there must be no shortage in creativity and practicality. I've heard people saying that crafting a horror movie must be easier than other genres but this movie proves the opposite. Director James Wan injects his film with horror through some of the most elaborate visual techniques I have witnessed in a movie from this genre. From the simple use of shadows to the use of decoys in the shot that only want to trick our focus, Wan plays with our senses in almost every sequence. You are always left examining every aspect of the environment where the characters are in order to guess where the next horrifying thing will jump from next; and at times it is so obvious that you are left squinting your eyes and cringing waiting for the jump scare to take the color out of your skin. From POV shots to elaborate tracking shots, the variety of filming techniques is also astonishing. Wan's excellent directing also tackles the sound category. Every knock and every squeak serves a purpose and enhances the atmosphere.

In the following I am going to do a very spoilery commentary about to sequences which raised all of my body hair and turned me into a chicken-skinned porcupine, but at the same time made me admire James Wan as a horror director. The first sequence I want to mention is the one where Ed Warren contacts the spirit of Bill Wilkins (Bob Adrian) through Janet (Madison Wolfe). Ed is facing the camera and his back is facing Janet, who is sitting on a couch. The camera very cleverly maintains focus on Ed and through the use of depth of field distorts the image of Janet. As Ed begins to interview the spirit and this entity starts to answer in a very crooked voice, Janet begins to shift very subtly into an old man. This isn't implemented as a jump scare but as a "Holy crap! Look look look!" moment. As you maintain your focus in Ed Warren and Patrick Wilsons great performance the oddity slowly and almost unnoticeably starts to manifest. What's incredible is that the scene lasts about 4 minutes. Wan's complete trust in Wilson's performance and in our attention as an audience is baffling. He has no need of hammering in the fear factor; he trusts that our attention and perception will do the job for him. The other sequence I will delve in switches subtlety for the most horrifying character that will haunt my dreams until I drown it with many sessions of watching colorful cartoons and sitcoms that will dry my tears and keep me from reluctantly waiting for that face to pop out of a window at night. Trust me it really is that scary. And if you've watched it you know what I am talking about. Yes, that nun (Bonnie Aarons) is the stuff of nightmares. The makeup and character design is one of the best I have seen in a horror film, probably on par with The Exorcist. It is much simpler but damn that crap brings the crap. But back to the sequence, man was it bone-chilling. Lorraine following the nun into that room and then the way in which the film plays with us through shadows and the shape of the nun's face, damn damn damn. I really wanted to look away as the nun's face just sat there in the dark, and I think I used all of my cringe faces in that single sequence alone. That is true mastery in film design. The film also included some amazing musical choices. All of those Christmas carols that played as the nun's background music were chilly but also pretty epic. But music wasn't always used to enhance the chills but also to bring some heart into the film. "Can't help falling in love" was used to gather our characters in moments of tranquility which made the pace much more tolerable.

The characters were also quite tolerable for a horror movie. They obviously included the kid who wandered out into the darkness alone in spite of all the spookiness that had happened and made us question why he didn't have at least 7 people accompanying him with all the lights on. But all of the characters in general where entertaining to watch and the family and the Warrens had enough character development for us to care about their survival. The awesome performances, especially from Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga and Madison Wolfe also helped the movie become very digestible.

Although I truly admire this film I do have a few negatives to point out. Firstly, there is a tall and silly monster called the Crooked Man that makes sudden appearances and it just feels very out of place given his very over the top and colorful design.

All things considered, The Conjuring 2 is a true masterwork in horror. It is very uncommon for a sequel to be as good as the original, but in my case this movie surpassed the first one because of some extremely clever filming and storytelling techniques. I am thrilled to experience all of James Wan's upcoming projects and I am confident that he has the ability inflict some very intelligent thrills into us audience members. I am rating The Conjuring 2 with a 9 out of 10.

Arrow: Unchained Review

The old school "Team Arrow" is back in business and they certainly haven't lost their touch. Neither has the stunt team apparently! Unchained"deals with the return of a familiar face in the form of Roy Harper (Colton Haynes) while Oliver's campaign runs into some difficulties and a major villain threatens the safety of every Starling City inhabitant.

As a starting opinion I will ask for a round of applause for the men behind those amazingly choreographed fight and chase sequences which truly immerses the viewer in the eye popping action. From the exciting Nanda Parbat Break sequence to those roof and physics defying chases, Arrow still holds the crown in regards to choreographies in TV shows while also showing the film industry how it is done. CGI is used extremely sparingly and that has also helped Arrow differentiate itself in tone and grittiness from other superhero themed shows. Many of the actor's performances in the face of action sequences are also astounding, as many do involve themselves in their own battles.

But with great action comes great responsibility for the characters to be any good. This doesn't seem to be a problem because of the awesome banter and dynamic between our heroes. As a team they all complement each other greatly. That point goes to the current ensemble, but today's episode showed us that the old group can still hold their own when it comes to fist fights and on-screen chemistry.

By "old group" I simply mean switching Thea for Roy, who made a welcomed fan-pleasing appearance with a sort of twist at the beginning. As for his scene with Thea, like with his fighting sequences, it didn't need any introduction because of their memorable rapport.

Aside from the points mentioned above, what impressed me the most from this episode was how it managed to tell separate plots and deal with different conflicts without feeling uneven or cramped. It delved further into Felicity's personal struggles; it posed a new obstacle for Oliver's campaign; it connected Thea to the main villain in an enticing manner and all of that while introducing a new villain who threatened the entire city. It even interconnected Oliver's issue in accepting Thea's decision-making with Roy's need to deliver justice in the face of unpredictable danger. A well- crafted vision in one of the flash-backs was also filled with more heart than expected. These multiple but solid layers of conflict were one of the huge problems with the previous season. Season 3 felt unfinished and very disjointed, as it juggled with plots and villains in a very messy and icky way. An example can be found in the way they totally wasted a possibly incredible gear switch when they almost turned Quentin Lance into a villain for the finale. Season 4, in the other hand, has kept a single main villain as a structural basis, and it has proved to be a very solid decision, as it avoids sudden switches in focus and themes.

There were some flaws with the episode, like Amell's believability while being electrocuted. This stood out just because of Amell's great overall performance as Oliver Queen, especially in this season with many stand-out scenes. A specially funny "whahahat?!" moment was when, after being handed his own ass in the beat down of his life, Curtis appeared snapping nonchalant jokes with Felicity in his next scene. Speaking about jokes, not all of them achieve a good landing, mainly when the team is apart and not involve in their accumulative chemistry.

Arrow, nonetheless, kept us hanging in a major twist ending which revealed the identity of "The Calculator" and wrapped the episode with a warm blanket and a good night kiss. That's right, Unchained was not only a good time (like almost all Arrow episodes) but an experience of quality which gave us solid drama and even better sequences of people hitting each other as hard as they can in the face. I just hope that the newly introduced villain established an awesome subplot without stealing that much focus from Damien Darhk. Arrow: Unchained gets and 8.5 out of 10.

Ant-Man Review!

With Ant-Man Marvel Studios solidifies its position as a flexible cinematic universe that has proved its ability to make even the weirdest of weirdos into blockbusting characters. In other words, doing the impossible!

The plot follows Scott Lang as he becomes the Ant-Man with the help of Hank Pym and Hope van Dyke in order to perform a high security heist so that a very controversial tech doesn't fall into the wrong hands. Pretty straight forward right? That's the impressive with Ant-Man; it is very contained in its scale, it never grows into a city wide conflict and it still manages to have incredible action and smart entertainment. I won't spoil anything but there is a crossover with another Marvel storyline that perfectly establishes a comparison between our emerging hero and the titans out there.

So, aside from a slow paced and disjointed start, this movie picks up to leave us laughing and gasping at an incredibly creative heist sequence and climax (especially one climactic sequence that got a big surprise out of me).

From maquettes to a helicopter, the action makes stellar use of the environment by cleverly integrating it into the shrinking down sequences. I never thought a bug could be involved in so much action, and with the implemented camera work and the clever use of focus it is now believable! The Ant-Man thankfully takes part in some damn good action sequences sporting some damn cool superpowers.

And what would the Ant-Man be without his alter ego Scott Lang played by the notorious comedian Paul Rudd? Nuttin'. Nuttin' because Paul Rudd is quite good as the main character. He brings a high level of wit and quickness in humour that few others can match and his charisma helps him handle his role as a protagonist.

Secondary players like Evangeline Lily and Michael Douglas also sell their comic counterparts with believability, especially Douglas whose dramatic and comedic queues work perfectly. Michael Peña is also a standout as the comedic relief, as he gets a lot of jokes right aside from some minor flat ones.

My biggest complaint with the film is the villain who has no real relevance aside from putting on the villainous suit and being really evil with some sheep. The actor fit in well in his scenes but there was just not enough material to work with. He only shows up in some random moments that almost give us the impression that the writers where too focuses on the other characters which turned out awesome. This makes his appearance in the climax very meaningless, as he is just some evil guy jumping around.

Ant-Man sports the "Guardians of the Galaxy Syndrome". Characters who are so unimaginable in a movie context get a lot of controversy and in the end it turns out to be a really good time and a really big surprise at the same time. The director change got a lot of hopes down too but Peyton Reed may have been the actual best choice. Though we will always wonder what kind of project Edgar Wright would have pulled out of that creative and Cornetto filled brain of his.

Bug-sized in scale but big laughs and action, Ant-Man is another landmark in blockbuster originality and risk taking and it is getting an 8 out of 10! Oh Marvel, please keep pleasing us with your extravagant universes (and if you might consider it, give us an extended Age of Ultron cut)!

Hannibal: "Aperitivo" Review

Finally folks, the board is set; and the pieces are moving.

After three episodes of introduction, deduction and anticipation on knowing who the hell was still alive, we can all agree that this fourth episode kicks off the main plot of the (final? :,( ) season. "Aperitivo" ends on a clear signal for take off into present day, after tying up all loose ends.

This fourth episode finishes the telling of the fallout of the "red wedding-esque" scenario in which the second season ended. That, obviously, means we now know who survived and, if they did, how much of a nasty mark Hannibal left on them. This leads us to my only complaint regarding the plot of the show. The impact of the finale lacked a tiny bit of a punch, in my opinion. The emotional and psychological change that the characters experience is quite noticeable but, aside from Chilton and Verger who both carry the meaning of disturbance on their scars, none of the main characters were left with a big physical impact. It is understandable that the wounds on Will and Jack got healed over time and became subtle marks but Alana was the one who really took a huge one for the team. I am no medic but that looked like a fractured spine which made seeing Dr. Bloom walking again hard to believe. And a part of me wishes the story had gone the extra mile of presenting a disabled Alana so that Hannibal's murder fest would carry a much heavier weight.

Speaking of the murder fest, the idea of using left over shots and angles from that episode to present the flashbacks has made me very happy. I can't explain why but it makes the flashback scenes very refreshing and gives their re-watchability a free pass in my taste. Except for that x-ray shot of Alana's fall. That looked like an episode of 1000 Ways to Die. OK, that was another thing I disliked about this episode but I swear I am done.

Continuing now with the superb. Will's guilt was a new aspect of his new persona shown very graphically within one of his lucid trips to imagination land. Jack's story arch with her wife came to a necessary and emotional close that also started a new era for Jack who is now free from the torment of her wife's suffering. Mason Verger is curiously one of the characters who I was happy to see again because of his insane personality. Joe Anderson does an extraordinary job by giving life to such a disturbing character with such disturbing prosthetics, yikes. An episode highlight was his conversation with Dr. Chilton who was another returning character who I was extremely happy to see, as his portrayal is full of life and personality, like any other character really; why is this show being canceled!? No God! No God please no! No! No! Nooooo! OK, yeah...,sorry for that moment there. Back to the episode... yeh. Chilton had some very interesting moments apart from his scar to scar conversation with Verger. Will and Alana also got their Chilton moments, as he strategically visited them and planted ideas in their traumatized brain. But, as I said, the pieces are moving. Alana is impersonating the queen after all. Becoming Verger's therapist is a bold move, but her desire for vengeance is stronger than her fear of this murdering psycho. It is surprising to see Dr. Bloom turn into a volatile manipulative person who, along with Mason Verger and Dr. Chilton, will begin the hunt for "Il Monstruo". Exciting stuff! Another facet of the hunt is that of Will and Jack. Well, Jack is sort of out of it but we know he will be involved in some way, judging by the fact that Hannibal remains "in contact" with his "old friend". This is also one of the clearest moments of their friendship.

Another scene I want to mention is the one in Hannibal's ex-home. Alana and Will both returning to it means that it remains a beacon of change for them, something special. And Will turning to face Abigail after Alana leaves was a heartbreaking touch. That final show of Will sailing to his new destination gives the whole ending a vibe of journeying into the unknown. The start of the hunt.

Not only did "Aperitivo" set off the rest of the season in an intriguing way, but it also introduced us to whole new facets of some of the main and side characters. All of this by, obviously, retaining that air of mystique and extraordinary cinematography and editing. Hannibal's fourth episode of it's third season gets a 9 out of 10.

Hannibal: Secondo Review

When the lambs whistle, everyone will be rallied to aid their call. And that is the setup for the third season of Hannibal.

Season 3 is a new beginning. A rallying cry for all the main protagonists that got owned by Dr. Lecter at the end of Season 2. And even after him bailing out on them covered in their blood and tears, no one can refuse a reunion. Florence is the setting for this event. A completely alienated location for the protagonists compared to the previous US locations and a truly bold move for the producers to pull off. This new location is giving the show the tone of a new beginning, where everyone is willing to set foot on new grounds. Especially Will and Hannibal, who after shattering their friendship are willing to confront one another one more time. The theory that they can't function without one another, similar to Batman and the Joker, is ever present as Will wants to track Lecter while the latter lays a clear trail of breadcrumbs for him to follow.

So, this third episode of the season continues to feed us information about the time line and each character's goals in separate dishes. Will is on a mission to reunite with Lecter. And although we don't know his true goal yet, we know that the approach that he is using will prove to be an effective one. As Hannibal says: he is somewhere I cannot follow. Meanwhile Hannibal and Bedelia continue their confusing sort of dance where he leads and teaches and she follows but is also aware of all of Hannibal's weaknesses, like that of Will Graham, which according to her will lead to Hannibal getting caught. A big character reintroduction was that of Jack Crawford. We now know about one more survivor of the slice fest that was the previous season finale! It was an interesting character decision for him to want to step away from Hannibal's path and just fin Graham. The characters being reintroduced in separate episodes fleshes out the sense of a gathering taking place. Every week a new guest arrives and sits at the host's table to take a bite of that delicious human salted ham. Speaking of human salted ham, human salted ham! This show continues it's tradition of weirding you out when you realize that that arm probably tastes deliciously good. Seriously, the terrific editing of the food montages is to blame. And all of that passion for the (cannibalistic) culinary serves a purpose in Hannibal's way of treating his meals. He first spoils the lamb and makes it enjoy a beautiful final meal before slaughtering it. By lamb I mean some dude. And that adds to the beauty of his crimes. And what a way of slaughtering that dude! I jumped out of my skin when the murder happened and after seeing so many movies and games with over glorified gore, this particular moment just disturbed me to my bones. I always repeat this after a Hannibal episode but, how can they top this?? Again, props to the amazing editing.

The final crime design was also utterly disturbing but more so the fact that it was Will doing the piece and not some nut. He is going to extreme lenghts and adopting some of Hannibal's traits, like the manipulation, to reach his goal. This plot also introduced us to Chio, Hannibal's sister played by Tao Okamoto. She did an amazing job, and at first I was really worried that she might turn out to be a mere plot device for Will to find Hannibal but she really developed an arch of his own in this episode. I hope delving into Lecter's past will be handled with care by the writers and developers, and I am not afraid to approach this season with mass confidence.

The slow pace of these first episodes makes complete sense as it is practically planting a new seed. I hope that the reintroductary episodes are over and that now we can begin to be introduced to new creepy murderers because the case solving of Hannibal has always been a highlight for me, maybe because it has always balanced it out with interesting character development. That end sentence also built on a new devotion for Hannibal to adopt and might prove to take his relationship with Will a step further. This season of Hannibal is submerging itself into originality. My hopes couldn't be higher and with a show like this it isn't anything to worry about. I am giving "Secondo" a 9 out of 10.

Mad Max Review

"I am a fuel injected suicide machine! I am the rocker, I am the roller, I am out of controller!" That crazy monologue (courtesy of the Nightrider) may be the best way of summarizing the action sequences in Mad Max.

So, set in a post-apocalyptic version of the lands "down unda", Mad Max tells the tragic but extravagant story of a man trying to give the world a last chance by serving a collapsing law system that is overshadowed by the insanity and violence that now rules over the land.

As you may have guessed, the word dystopia is a synonym for Australia in this movie and the filmmakers do an amazing job of portraying this with an extremely low budget. They use an excellent idea of only having very few city sets. The hall of justice, the hospital and some apartments and garages are seen throughout the movie but they are very scarce and empty looking. This gives the audience a true feeling of emptiness and insight on the situation that most of society has gone missing. The rest of the film is smartly shot on location. The desolated and flat landscapes of Australia serve as the perfect places to let out all the road rage in ever lasting car chases that could go on and on for days, as the roads seem to always lead to more nothingness. This wasteland is characterized very well with numerous bike gangs roaming it constantly and you can also feel the desperation of the cops who find it extremely difficult to deal with a certain gang lead by someone named "Toecutter". Hissssssss. But there is one man that stands strong like a rock against a current. A man who has taken the law into his own hands. Mad Mel. Sorry, Mad Max. That name carries the title of badass like no other. He gets along with his mates, he has a smoking hot wife and a cute kid, he believes in the law and he sports a roaring V8 that can catch on to almost any baddie. He is basically a symbol for the stable world, but we'll talk about all of those crazy theories later.

For now let's talk about innovation. The ground base this movie establishes is vast. The "post-apunkalypse" that we have witnessed in many movies and parodies through the last 4 decades has its source in Mad Max. The costume design and the whole tone of the original make it somewhat of a pioneer.But aside from the style he helped to establish, George Miller surprised his audience (which at the time was fairly small) with a heavy dose of maniacal stunts that had people wandering how in the actual hell had the director convinced the stunt-men to pull off those cringing vehicular tricks! The action in this flick is astounding and the lack of a big budget solidifies the fact that you are a visionary director with a remarkable ability to plan and direct action sequences (just watch Mad Max: Fury Road and you'll know what I am talking about). Risk clearly lies behind every shot but that is the only way that passion transcends into the big screen.

The editing makes the action even more extravagant by mashing these scenes with perfect pace and adding subtle touches like those weird "eyes popping out" moments. Those subtle moments of insanity are what make this movie so unique. The antagonist hissing at Max is a weird "wut did I just watch" instance but that sort of weirdness is what keeps us from shutting our eyes in these sort of films.

Aside from all the praise lie a couple of negatives that are understandable because this was George Miller's first feature lenght film. One of them being that Max becomes "Mad" as the movie is reaching its end. And I don't mean the third act; the real "Mad Max" gets maximally 15 minutes of screen time. Even the normal Max gets only half of the movie worth of screen time, as the first half mainly tells the story of Goose, Max's friend. Mel Gibson only gets to shine as an actor in a very limited amount of screen time. The rest of the movie he is just staring at nothing like a badass and that is to little for our main man Mel! The pacing is all over the place switching, very confusingly, between some vehicle crashing into a million peaces and a scene of Max's wife getting a long walk along the beach and an even longer tan.

As distracting as they might seem, the negatives don't outweigh the positives. George Miller creates a world where sanity and insanity have come to a final confrontation. A world where you can only survive if you adapt to the circumstances and become as crazy as its inhabitants."Mad Max" is the product of this world. The product of "Toecutter". Stripped from all hope and love, a new Max emerges and adapts to the world as it is. That's why "Toecutter" is such an iconic character and worthy of an introduction as awesome as the one he gets, he represents madness and the birth of "Mad Max".

But we will not thank "Toecutter" for molding such an iconic film persona, as he now lies in the category of roadkill. We will, however, thank George Miller for starting out on such a successful franchise with very low resources but immense passion. This film is a must see for someone looking for the work of a mastermind behind action sequences and scene building mixed in with some maniacal ideas of characters and even some laughs that will come out of its 80's movie cheesiness. And it even made Mel Gibson reveal himself to the world! But before I lose myself talking about Mel Gibson's career, I will finish this review by giving Mad Max an 8 out of 10.

The Flash: Who is Harrison Wells? Review

What was up with the villain's name in this episode; Hannibal Bates? That's like naming your child The crazy ass murderous killer.

And names where indeed the gripe that I had with this episode. It's called "Who is Harrison Wells?", and when I read the name I obviously had in mind a flashback-heavy, or at least a present set, Harrison Wells (or Eobard Thawne) centered episode. It might even have been called "Who is that ugly and slimy bald guy at the end?" and it would have had the same connection to the plot as the original. It did dwell on the lingering question if Wells could be a good guy or if he is all evil and a total douche for acting like a friend to the team but the only plot point that furthered the entire story was exposed in the epilogue.

Aside from the misleading name, this episode was solid. It featured a cool new power and took the opportunity to explore the funny situations that this particular power might cause, and it even gave us an entertaining, and honestly, visually impressive character swapping climactic fight. For that it deserves our praise.

The other furthering that The Flash offered us was that of the team- ups with the Arrow series. It was not a very usual team- up and that was a good surprise. The only major characters that came face to face where Laurel and Cisco, and yet the true team-up was Joe with Detective Lance. It was like positive energy clashing with negative (Lance is still kind of crazy I think) but, all in all, they helped each other out. My theory is that they mix-up so well because of their amazing chemistry in their individual shows. All of the actors seem to have an awesome time filming and it translates to the screen when performing. And the chemistry of both mixed into an episode just makes you look at this world as an organic one. An at the end they all got something out of the meeting. I can't wait to see the canary cry and laugh at a moment as funny as the one with Cisco's picture again.

Back in Central City, the team (that includes Eddie now, m'kay) tries to catch the shape-shifting crazy guy who is running across town having way to much fun. The one who got the best storyline out of this was Eddie, surprisingly. He had an opportunity to show morale & an interesting persona and he ended up with Iris hugging it out with him (maybe more than that but you get the point). The villain created some fun situations but the writers only exploited these without writing him a compelling and fun personality like in the case of Mark Hamill's "The Trickster". The visual effects department though, they got the chance to get shiny, just like the slimy frog-face on "Everyman". They created sleek looking fights and an impressive character model.

As I mentioned before, the epilogue gave the true plot-punch when the team (except Wells obviously) discovered the "Wellscave"and made Cisco almost drop the f-bomb. Now they know for sure and clear that Harrison Wells is the "Reverse Flash" and I want to see what their next move is and what the writers have planned for a finale. The Arrow Season 1 finale was a truly amazing surprise that blew my brains away 2 years ago because of how awesome it was and the scale that it suddenly achieved. I hope I am equally surprised by The Flash's performance in it's final episodes.

I hope this was the last episode with a "minor meta-human villain". The next episodes look to be promising and I really don't mind putting too much trust in the team behind the series. They have gained it through the escalating quality with which they have created a fun and sometimes fascinating adaptation to this DC character.

In the meanwhile this episode gets an 8 out of 10.

I'll tell you, it takes lots of guts to create a show like this. Sorry, couldn't help it.

So... stuff is happening, some really tough stuff is going down And that may mean... The Walking Dead is back.

So after, in my opinion, a big decline in the second half of its 4th season and in the first half of its 5th, the show is once again starting to show some very fresh ideas and also delivering some very intense and "TV Gold" moments. It started of with that Tyreese episode that caught everyone off guard with how stylish and different it felt and after that, Rick's group entered a new situation that is now proving to be quite interesting, Alexandria. The beautiful but shady shady Alexandria has given us little glimpses of something awry within its walls but we can't yet tell if it is just our "Rick paranoia" or if these people can't really be trusted. I personally think that they are people of good will but there certainly are a few bad subjects in there.

More noticeable than anything this week was "The Group" gaining a lot more of ground and importance within this community. Abraham started off by gaining himself the employee of the month award and getting the lead at the construction job. This also gave us the chance to have a nice inside look into one of the other jobs at Alexandria. Carol, in the other hand, is still "under cover" but gets to express her true nature by interacting with the little annoying kid who ends up revealing that his douche dad is, in fact, a complete douche. I think that Rick and Carol taking this issue into their own hands will prove to be a breaking point between the people of Alexandria and Rick's group, but more on that later. Something small that was a quite big shock was watching the characters listen to some dub step song. It served as a realization of how far away they are, mentally and emotionally, from the previous "real world".

Outside the walls, the scouting party ran into some really deep excrement and Eugene got to show off his abilities, his courage and his best impression of Sam Gamdgee. A good day for Eugene in general, as he passed his test to prove that he has got what it takes to be a reliable member of the group. But while Eugene got to play the hero, other members of the Alexandria community got to show their true cowardly nature. Nick admitted to being a big puss in boots and got to face a gruesome end that was showcased amazingly. You felt this man's pain as Glen tried to yank him off his deathbed and that gut- spilling death... holy hell. Again, the Walking Dead showed us how amazingly they can put practical effects into good use. I just hope they use these more often instead of going for the computer animations because they really give weight to a lot of scenes.

This discussion reminds me that I have to talk about that big punch in the face we received by watching this episode, and a good punch by all means. Noah-dea why he had to die ;) :( . That's right, Noah bit the dust while taking part in a horrible jigsaw trap-like situation. Glenn watching as his friend get torn apart in front of him was deeply disturbing and will surely bring repercussions, as that p*ussy prick responsible for Noah's death won 't get this problem off his shoulders so easily.

The episode Spend ended with a gut-wrenching revelation by Gabriel. While he confessed to Deanna about the true nature of "The Group" I could help but feel dazzled. It is true that Rick and company bring chaos to whatever they touch, I think we all knew that, but listening to Gabriel compare them to the Antichrist was a very dark and gritty realization. Are they truly aiding the inexperienced people of Alexandria or is their harsh polar opposite nature categorizing this community as cowardly and bringing an early doom to them? We will have to wait and see. But as for now, there are truly two sides to this coin.

I personally liked this episode a lot, not just because of how intense and gory it got or because it surprised us with an unexpected death to show us that they haven't reached paradise yet, but because it capitalized on the speculation that Rick and company may not be saints and may actually be a dangerous and harmful group. And this information coming from someone trusted and known, just made the impact greater. I can't wait to see how this goes down on the season finale, but for now I am giving this episode a golden 9.5 out of 10.

The Flash: Plastique Review

In this The Flash episode, the show took a more investigative tone, as the army got involved in the latest mission undertaken by STAR Labs to stop a new meta-human.

As we all expected, these first episodes in the series have been tricky as they have to be used to flesh out the character of Barry Allen so it is understandable if the plot of these episodes or even the villains are a bit weak for the first half of the season. The same way it went with the Arrow series which hit it's high note in it's second half and season finale. So it was surprising to see that Plastique handled it's plot fairly well by adding a more mysterious and interesting case for the Flash Team to investigate.

The army's involvement was a nice touch that gave this episode a bit of more tension and even a new shady character to join the roster. The negative was that this episode's meta-human "Plastique" had an uninteresting personality just like the previous ones (although quite good-looking) and the actress that played her gave a hurtful performance, and not in a good way. It was cool to see a different and more original set of powers though, different to the gassy ones of the other episodes. Speaking of powers this episode perfectly added plenty of new abilities for Barry to master like running on water and running up walls. These led to two awesome moments (especially the climax, holy crap!) that proved that set-pieces are The Flash's strong suit. It was also pretty awesome to see him distort his voice just like Oliver Queen does but instead of some voice changing software, using his super-abilities. It was kind of freaky how much Joe enjoyed that ability but he is still a cool dude.

One issue I have to address is the unrealistic way Iris met with The Flash. It was cool to see her meet him but why the hell didn't Barry keep shaking his head like he always does? Do they expect us to believe that the convenient lights placed in convenient places that give us, the audience, a hard time seeing Barry Allen's face due to the lens flare affect Iris the same way? Barry was lucky that Iris needed glasses at the time or was half asleep or something but next time he will have to do the shaky-face thing in order to retain believability. I had the same issue with "The Arrow" but I guess he doesn't have much of a choice aside from speaking face-to-back with people, which wouldn't be very dramatic.

But aside from that Platique was awesome. A new villain was introduced that may shine some light into some of Dr. Wells'shady activities and, as every The Flash episode does, it gave us some funny Flash Team moments that showed us how cool their friendship is and some freaking explosions and a man running on water away from an even bigger explosion!!

The Flash: Plastique is getting an 8 out of 10.

My Guardians of the Galaxy Review From the espionage thriller that was Captain America: The Winter Soldier to this colorful and old-school sci-fi epic, the studio behind these movies has earned its name, as a lot of its movies have been marvelously fun and varied experiences.

This year's Guardians of the Galaxy, while being silly and sometimes having its main characters be hilariously oblivious to everything around them, manages to be the most optimistic and funniest of all Marvel movies to date. And that must be something very rewarding for director James Gunn.

So after what may be one of the best title screens and character introductions of this decade, Peter Quill, also known as Star-Lord, retrieves a mysterious sphere that, he later discovers, contains one of the six powerful infinity gems. Quill then arrives on Xandar where, after a quick and conflictive encounter, he and three other criminals, which include the greenish assassin Gamora (Zoe Saldana), a genetically engineered talking raccoon who's great at being a smartass called Rocket (Bradley Cooper) and his more organic "Chewbacca type" companion called Groot (Vin Diesel), all get arrested and sent to the prison facility The Kyln. There they meet Drax (Dave Bautista) and reluctantly form their own personal team of misfits to escape the prison and eventually try to save the galaxy by keeping the infinity gem from falling into the wrong hands, these being Ronan the Accuser's hands.

The main plot may sound very familiar and in a way it kind of is your basic super hero plot. It has the powerful MacGuffin, the evil villain and the hard time adapting team of good guys.

But James Gunn uses these classic plot points as his workbench to build one of the most unique summer blockbusters we've seen in a while. It also surprised me how they dived face first into the Thanos content and I think that will please many people who have been waiting to see what that is all about since his side-nose was shown in The Avengers Like Groot himself, the story branches out and focuses in characterizing the five awesome multifaceted characters that form part of the main team and creates some very unique and sometimes heartwarming bonds and interactions between each of the members. From Rocket's inner struggles to Drax's very literal way of thinking, every single one of the five members gets his or her spotlight through the course of the film.

For example if you said Gamora or Groot where your favorite characters I would totally understand it because of how unique every single one of them is. Aside from how well their archs are written the performances given by their respective actors are all great. Even Rocket's voice-acting by Bradley Cooper was fantastically weird and never did I picture Bradley behind a mic. The same goes for Vin Diesel's Groot who with very few lines felt very present in the mixture.

But the one that surprised me the most may be Batista as Drax the Destroyer. As a wrestler transformed into an actor (you may say his change was a little bit "draxtical" ;) ), I never had many expectations for him, but he delivered every single line with hystericaly perfect timing making me and many others laugh out loud.

Another thing to point out is how perfect the producers used their budget. A balance between CGI and practical effects was well established and the two of them matched perfectly, as both where equally colorful and vivid. Quill's ship, The Milano, looked freaking awesome, and as well as the prison and other various locations it was an actual set which is amazing. It actually feels like a throwback to the more old-school, bright and colorful sci-fi movies of the 70's. But mixing that with the amazing technology they used for the space scenes, the dog fights and the characters of Groot and Rocket, which are so well realized you do see them as being a talking tree and a racoon and not some animated blob hoping around, it's more than we could ever ask for. Good job Marvel.

There is also an amazing scene in the movie, which I won't spoil, that takes place in space and James Gunn used a very special technique for the depiction of zero gravity that I had never seen before and it looked f*cking awesome as hell. Very creative too.

The only gripes I have with it are the secondary characters. They didn't have much relevance in the plot even the main villain was kind of just there to give the characters a cause. The one that I thought had some funny scenes and was relevant aside from the Guardians was Michael Rooker's Yondu. He had a a very funny scene in a shop with James Gunn's brother Sean Gunn who played his kind of sidekick Kraglin. But aside from him everything girates around the Guardians on purpose and they have it well deserved.

Heart-warming, extremely fun and freaking hilarious, Guardians of the Galaxy is one of Marvel's best and for many it may be the best. Not in many summer blockbusters do you get to have this much fun laughing out loud and caring for every single one of the main characters. This movie definitely deserves this 9.5 out of 10.

Stay awesome people!

My Inside Llewyn Davis review Telling the down spiraling story of a struggling folk performer, Inside Llewyn Davis manages to charm it's audience and give them something to meditate in the following days.

The one that makes the movie work in every way and is the essential part of the movie is the one and only Oscar Isaac. After this film I decided I absolutely respect this man. Not only for his amazing performance as an actor, as he perfectly plays the conflicted and subtly funny character the bros wrote for him, but as a folk performer who hits every emotional note as he sings. Another thing is that the songs where filmed live by the Coen Brothers and that peaks the challenge for Oscar Isaac just to the point to be amazed.

While the other actors are bypassing side-characters (except for Carrey Mulligan who is more present than the others) all of them manage to play their roles pretty awesomely and feel like Joel and Ethan Coen picked them very specifically for the characters they wrote, as every one of them understands how they must play their figure so that the subtle comedy can work. This film showed us the ability that the Coen Bros possess to write original characters.

The dialog was fun to watch as you always expected a dose of crude humor to suddenly pop up. And that's another aspect that was handled pretty good. The humor in the movie is very subtle, natural but never over used, and it comes mainly from the dialog and the performances who hit every humorous note needed.

Scene selection is something that the Coen Bros excel at, and now that folk song selection is their thing too. These songs fit the mood of the movie perfectly which is bleak but at the same time sympathetic. And plus the beautiful photography this is a well done package.

Being said, this movie isn't a cheerful one. Llewyn takes quite a life beating in many scenes and it may be a little melancholic for some viewers.But it knows it's themes and works with them in such a way that you won't get this film out of your head in a few nights.

I just said that because this movie is deeper than just simply Llewyn's journey this movie has metaphors and symbolism in it that won't be easy to find but movie lovers will love to dig through the internet for answers. And that will be a gripe for some too. Many will feel confused because they just wanted to watch a fun movie or just sit back, relax and look at some meaningless crap (I sometimes like doing that too).

So in the end, great movie, amazing music, great acting, an awesome pretext for making your brain hurt by analyzing it but clearly not aimed at the general audience. I am giving this movie a 9/10. Check my other reviews at http://thechannelofawesome.blogspot.mx/

My 300: Rise of an Empire review I just found out that the previous movie made by the filmmaker of this 300 sequel/prequel/parallelequel was a romantic comedy. He is such a badass.

Speaking of badass, this movie's action sequences are even more badass than Noam Murro. He does an excellent job at making it look Zach Snyderish. The shots are chosen perfectly and remastered with sweet visual effects to make them look awesome. Like the previous 300 film the scenes are so stylistic they could come off as standalone pictures or paintings. Noam Murro is a talented man let me say that. Or Zach Snyder is a mind controlling wisp, that could be another option.

The action sequences are beautifully done. They breed energy and they manage to get people hyped up about topless men fighting on boats while riding the waves. And the battles are put to the max by an actress named Eva Green. The villainous Artemisia feels like a threat and makes over acting cool again. Every scene she is in feels worth it. But the awesomeness meter is put to the test with the rest of the characters who wouldn't be able to hold the movie on their own. The actors try their best but the limitations clearly come from the script. The main hero is one of the victims. He does his best but the scenes he is in that include dialogue are too weak to keep our attention. Rodrigo Santoro as Xerxes was another shining point in 300, and in this movie he is back with an origin story. I loved how they did it because they stuck true to telling it like a visual legend. Mystical and weird but cool.

Another thing that caught my attention was the blood. I don't know why but there was something gooey about it that made it distractingly odd. I know it was made to put more style in the stylistic but they should have gone for something more from this world.

And to end this review I am going to add that I like that they brought back some old faces from the original to please the fans and the ending left me wanting more and looking forward to something...? Cersei Lannister was cool to.

This movie was worth the watch mainly because of the battle sequences which where unique and made everyone look like a badass and Eva Green's moments on screen. But the quiet moments with the heroes where mainly made of dull dialogue and encouraged yawning a little too much.

I am giving 300: Rise of an Empire a 7 out of 10.

Sorry about the awful pun. Don't even think the movie is as horrible.

It is difficult for a movie to have an after taste of philosophical questioning leave you with a warm heart, but Her pulled it off like a pro. While having some issues with pacing in the third half the relationship between Joachim Phoenix's character Theodre and Samantha voiced by Scarlett Johansson was a spark that managed to warm my heart. Phoenix is an amazing example of a talented actor. In one film like "The Master" you feel strange and uncomfortable toward him while in "Her" you know that if you met his character you would just feel like hugging him. Theodore is warm, funny and organic. Scarlett Johansson in the other hand manages to charm the viewer and have great chemistry with the male protagonist just by using her voice. She is complex and interesting because if you didn't know, she is an A.I. The amazing thing is that you feel her actually being real and having emotions and sometimes the film purposely reminds you that she is artificial. You know Spike Jonze did a good job when your thoughts are carried forward intentionally by his project. When I said this movie warmed your heart I really meant it. Arcade Fire outdid themselves with the soundtrack and every time a song mixes itself with the beautiful photography you get those bittersweet knots on your throat. Speaking about photography, it is beautifully shot. Many shots here you just see and build a meaning for them. Surprisingly "Her" has a very smart sense of humor too. It is subtle and never feels over planned because it mixes in with plot so well.

In the end "Her", while not perfect, brings up many philosophical theories with its amazing and original writing, but at the same time plays with your feelings like no other romantic themed movie.

I give "Her" a 9/10.

As I watched this movie I felt Guillermo del Toro asking me: Wanna have a dose of sweet awesome fun? Grab some popcorn, buy a red flavored Icee, lay back and enjoy this movie brother. And that was all I did.

This movie tells the story about people who pilot giant robots that are up to stop the obliteration of our species when giant monsters, straight out of every ones childhood fantasy, burst out of a portal in the Pacific Ocean. It may sound cliché, and I can proudly say it is full of clichés and it doesn't shy away from the fact. It knows what it was sent to this good earth for and that is entertain the hell out of us. And it does that oh so good. And looks astonishing while doing so! From the plot it is implied you expect some ginormous robot vs big monster battles, and holy crap are they going to blow your skin of. Beautifully filmed for you to see the scale of the situations and for these brawls to look just badass. The Hong Kong battle in particular is going to stand out as a perfect set piece for me. And responsible for all of this are the special effects. In my opinion what helps to scale out things is are the water effects. How it cascades off these giants is as realistic as it gets. After all this focus on its looks and battles you may be wondering about the human element of the movie. While not perfect the arcs these characters go through with each other are fun to watch. Especially Idris Elba who transmits authority like a boss. Charlie Hunamm while not as good manages to hold as a main character. Rinko Kikuchi, the female lead is the one who should win the "Underrated hot chick of the year" award. And finally we have the two crazy scientists played by Charlie Day and Burn Gorman who while incredibly cliché and hyped up on something unknown tend to be funny and energetic. A curious fact in the movie is that it shows the social reaction to these monsters and robots and realistically it isn't always fear but propaganda and adapting to the situation. The second one involves Ron Perlman in it. After all this praise there is one stand out sequence that involves Mako's (Rinko Kikuchi's) past that you should really look out for. It changes the tone to a more serious and dark one and is made with excellence.

And of course there has to be a negative or two in this flick and the one negative I can pick is that while the movie builds itself on clichés sometimes these go over the legal limit and strive into predictability and unoriginality. But in general this is an amazing achievement in entertainment and special effects that you should really look for if you are having a grey day and want to jack release your worries by watching robots beat the living crap out of some monsters. I'm giving this jacked up child dream a 9/10.

Anchorman 2 review

Ron Burgundy and his team of two perverts and a retarded weather forecaster are back in this much expected sequel from which people expect the same smartly done dumb humor from the previous one. So we all wondered going into this film: is it gonna rise over its predecessor like a flaming eagle or is it gonna plummet into a forgotten pit? The answer is... this movie is a sweet random treat for those who enjoy this kind of humor and are in the mood for it. Warning! For those grumpy artsy humans looking for a quirkier and more mature humor go sit somewhere else or you will go blind from all the eye rolling. But for those which enjoyed the last one and just wanna have a fun laugh, go right in. The movie continues the travels of Ron Burgundy and as expected goes to the most random and silly situations imaginable. I will start with the cons to get them of so here they are: Though being bigger than the last one this one drags on a little bit at the end of the second act and an estimated 10% of the jokes don't hit that laughing spot. The movie is quite long compared to the first one and I think for this kind of humor the length of the film needs to be shorter. Now to the pros: As I said previously this movie is BIG! It involves from Ron Burgundy raising a shark to the news team fighting a minotaur. The Channel 4 News team has a lot of screen time specially Brick! There are a lot of scenes involving Brick and since they are so many there are some that don't get you where it tickles but there are undoubtedly some that make you roll into a fetus position and cry of laughter. I will say a beloved occurrence from the last one makes a comeback 10 times bigger and involves some creative cameos that made me smile. In conclusion this movie has some flaws but they are overshadowed by an amazing fan service and loyalty to the first one. It hasn't got that many quotable lines as number one but it sure makes for a "laugh out loud" awesome time! I give this motion picture an 8 out of 10!

After three X-Men movies, a mediocre origin story and a short cameo, the Wolverine finally gets the stand alone film he deserved.

If you always had wanted to see a movie delve deep in the Wolverine mythology, his personality his mentality and his rage filled problems, this is the movie for you!

Taking place mostly in Japan (except for like three Canadian filled scenes, this movie isolates Logan from all familiarity and puts him in a situation of finding what he truly stands and lives for.

At first the plot seemed simple. Logan is stripped from his awesome powers and has to get them back. But the good thing about this movie is it delves deep into his personality and into other interesting plot points. There are various groups and sides in this movie and you never know who to trust and who to hate (except the Yakuza, those are some straight up assholes). The story always gets you to point badass A. to point badass B. and when it isn't kicking ass it is immersing you into the Japanese coulture and some cool Marvel stuff too. The only familiar face is Logan's and every other character is new and surprisingly interesting. I was never annoyed by any cast member. And of course Hugh Jackman plays the role like a fierce and rage filled badass.

The story could not have been good without the great thematisation of the character's surroundings. Japan is colorful and vivid, the sets are very detailed and some scenes just stand out like the opening, the finale and that one awesome bullet train action scene! Speeking of bullet trains one complaint is that the camera man seemed to be stuck in one through some action sequences. The shaky cam was sometimes overused and it just pulled me out of the action. But there are some moments that just get your veins pumping with that awesome geek blood that we all got.

The wolverine in general isn't a comic book masterpiece but it took us in a more personal journey that explored the character through the whole deal and gave us some memorable action scenes.

I give this bad boy an 8 outta 10!

As you saw in my title the script in this movie takes the main spotlight. The twists and turns, the dialogues and the right 'till the end top level suspense. All of those aspects are majorly improved by the amazing man sitting in the directors chair and the talented men acting it out in front of the camera. Especially the one and only Hugh Jackman who steals every single scene he is in. That doesn't by far mean the other actors aren't that good. Gyllenhaal and Terrence Howard both portray two desperate men perfectly. Now to the plot which puts you in this awful situation on which two girls get abducted. A detective (Gyllenhaal) is put in charge of the case while the father of one of the girls (Jackman) takes some extreme measures. I won't go further than that to not spoil you of anything awesome (which by the way tends to be the whole movie). Directing-wise this movie is just out there in space. By I literally don't remember looking away or blinking. I just sat there at the edge of my seat biting my fingers! The composition of the opening shot just gave me the chills. A still shot of some creepy snowy woods with a dear walking by, while Jackman spells out "The holy father" is beautifully unsettling. A lot of the shots are still shots. They don't shy away of lingering the shots. Props to that dude named Denis Villeneuve. I'll throw it out there that this movie made me cringe. It is disturbing **** The last thing I wanna point out is the ending. It has you on your knees by being a very quiet but intense scene full of some sweet sweet shots. In the end this movie tackled all of the aspects that make a thriller great and it will definitely get itself some of those Oscar noms! 10 out of 10 baby!

Space... the final frontier... of near death and thrilling situations. That sums the movie up. If we left out the jaw dropping ambiance, scenery and cinematography. When the first cut in this movie happened I clapped. Wanna know why? Because it doesn't happen till 3 minutes into the movie when the satellite debry starts cutting through dudes faces. That is masterpiece editing done by the proud Mexican (I'm Mexican) Alfonso Cuarón. The flowing of every scene is smooth but tense at the same time. You gasp for air and control when you are put in Bullock's point of view while she spins into the nothingness of space. And those scenes last... and are absolutely beautifully choreographed. The tense atmosphere that Cuarón achieves doesn't let go of you until the last second of the movie for you to realize how sweaty you are. The script and dialogue aren't something to be amazed about, but the acting makes up for it. The charm and charisma of Clooney are entertaining and you really believe some of the scenes done by Sandra Bullock who plays this really unlucky (but at the same time lucky?) astronaut. Cuarón achieves greatness with eye popping visuals and a surprisingly low (for the things you experience in the movie) budget and that is something you don't see that often. I can really see some Oscar statues in Cuaron's pocket in 2014.

The female Indiana Jones/ Nathan Drake is back with a reboot that looked like a more mature turning point for the character. I personally have only had the chance to immerse myself into only one of these boob fests and that is Tomb Raider: Underworld. While a good time it never managed to shine bright on my gaming shelf. And this new one is something I wanna talk about now. One of the things to take note off is the brutal violence. And this is where it got messy. This game could have pulled it off if the script could mix in with this aspect. I thought it was cool to see this type of violence and darkness to the game but it mixed like oil and water with the actual script! They confused me by telling a mild adventure story with some mild characters and then throwing an F-bomb or some grotesque violent image to my face. It was incoherent and weird. Imagine watching a classic fun Indie movie and then seeing him say "F*ck this f*cking sh*t!" and impaling someone. That was a major turn off for me since at first I didn't understand what was off about it. Another thing is the survival aspect that was portrayed at us in an awesome intense way in a poster where they show Lara tying a peace of cloth to her wounded bloody arm. And it actually delivered at some points where you saw Lara all messed up and hurt in the rain fighting a pack of wolves or surprisingly by just sitting at a sad campsite in the woods! But at the same time it got tuned down when Lara just jumped of a building at fell through an entire mountain just to shrug it off after wards. That was a coherence aspect of the game too. A thing that really made this game shine was it's environment and graphics. The snow and rain where sharp and you could almost feel the wind in Laras skin while it blew her off a bridge (f*cking Himiko). The game play was fluid too, Lara moved realistically and there wasn't something more bad ass than using the bow. Besides what I said about Lara weirdly taking massive destruction falls of death, those set pieces where pretty amazing (plane crash FTW). So... was this game the reboot everybody has been waiting to play? Maybe, for some but the definite most awesome one they could make, no. Script and game incoherences made it confusing and sometimes awkward. So if you want to play a game focused on telling a full adventure story go play whatever Uncharted game for the fifth time. I'm giving Tomb Raider a 7 out of 10.

When was the last time a movie blew your expectations away? And it did it not with lots of drama, emotions or even action, but comedy? Well for me it was a long time ago. And I'll tell you, my expectations where very high about this one. I love Evan Goldberg movies and with the help of Seth Rogen something good had to come out of it. So when this movie began I was a little worried. Though I cracked up many times at the beginning at at the party sequence there was something missing. And I'm not saying it was bad at all! There where some really funny references with celebrities and coked up Michael Cera was some really funny I'm just saying it was going somewhere different than I expected. But ten minutes later the apocalypse started. hit the fan celebrities died and then we got the five friends trapped in James Franco's house. From here the mechanic, the acting, the improvising, the writing just improved by the second. And this lasted till the END of the movie! The chemistry between all of the actors was so natural and the timing of the jokes was so spot on! Danny McBride had some of his funniest scenes that I've seen in his movies in This is the End and Jonah Hill played this version of himself that I just crack up when thinking about it. Of course Franco, Baruchel and Robinson also where hilarious and smartly done. The Emma Watson sequence adds some lady badassery to the movie! And *SPOILERS* *SPOILERS* by the time near the ending when they go out of the house and encounter the "new" McBride was my favorite twist in scenery o the movie. The gimp man! I was gagging for air in that scene! When Channing Tatum says like "I loove hiim" I went full on peeing my pants laughter. What follows... Celine Dione, The Backstreet Boys did the satirical part of the movie. The be good do good to go to heaven was smartly written and the awesome never-ending party in the skies was a perfect representation of what we actually would expect heaven to be! By the end you had this feeling of having had the best and funniest time watching this awesome ****. This movie showed the audience and the industry that we don't need all the cheap hit comedies that use the getting hit in the balls and fart humor that is getting worse by the day. Adam Sandler just got by this movie. I hope Rogen and Goldberg keep making these marbles and keep cracking us up. Congrats dudes! I'm giving this good time a 10 outta 10.