As a fan of the anime series, in fact it's one of a very few anime series that I like, I was somewhat intrigued to see how a live action version would turn out. Well it seems it turned out to be utter s***. First of the soundtrack just feels weird, as if he doesn't fit what is happening on screen, bar a few actions scenes, also the um creative changes they made to the Titans was not necessary, sure they stick mostly true to the anime and manga in terms of looks, I even forgave the fact that some Titans look down right stupid given that there were Titans in the anime that had the same affect. But why on earth did they make the Titans wail and laugh, it was just unnecessary attempt to make them scary. In anime the fact the Titans barely made any sounds minus the occasional moan, snarl or roar made them absolutely terrifying. The addition of laughing just felt weird. But by far the films biggest f*** up is how it deals with its characters. Now the fact that the characters have been castes by Japanese actors even though in the anime the story is set in Europe and almost every oriental person is dead. I can look over, after all it is a Japanese productions and is westerners are guilty of the same sin. But how the hell were we meant to care about these characters, Armin in this film is the personification of a third wheel, Eren was about as relatable as the set props and Mikasa (whilst was still bad-ass) was pretty redundant. Oh yeah y'know those awesome members of the scout regiment, Cpt Levi, Erwin Smith? Not in this movie why ? Well they thought to replace the calm, cool, collective and all round bad-ass Levi with a smug and arrogant prick character who I can't even care to remember. The problem was is that they didn't include the character traits and stories that made these characters so memorable. Arwin didn't have his development from wimpy kid to tactical and brave leader, Mikasa and Erens story of how they met is thrown aside for a stupid love story. And they chuck Erens story of how he witnessed his mother get eaten by Titans for what reason, who knows. Add in horrific acting and bam, complete destruction of the characters you love. Also they chuck the cool and intriguing story for a complete bore fest of one. There are two good things. First the fight scenes are cool and the cgi is not that terrible at least not all the way through and the second is that the first initial Titan invasion of the wall was really well done and was quite chilling. But all in all this film is just a spit in the face for anyone who loves or likes the anime like I do. 3/10
Reviews
10 Reviews
Jurassic World
(2015)
Predictable yes, but f****** awesome as well
25 August 2015
Warning: Spoilers
I am a massive Jurassic park fan, the first movie is my second favourite film of all time, the second one I can enjoy and the third one...I can watch it and that's really it. Now since I am reviewing this over 2 months since I last saw it, I will be going into spoilers, so prepare. Now I want to start of with the bad so that I can totally go into a fan frenzy to finish off the review. First of I thought the characters could have been a tad bit better as could the writing, as whilst it wasn't abysmal and completely cheesy as say Pacific Rim it still could have been better. Though I will say I enjoyed the main group of Owen (Chris Pratt) Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) who I was expecting to hate and actually liked so points for that. And the two kids Grey (Ty Simpkins) and Zack (Nick Robinson) who I did end up enjoying as well. Two of my biggest complaints character wise is one they try and force in the character development, like when Grey starts crying about the parents getting divorced which came out of no where, yes the film hinted and you could pretty much guess that was what was happening, but in terms of his character it felt random as he gave no indication before hand and afterwards he was all happy and smiley again. My other gripe is with 3 characters themselves which are the new park owner Simon Misrani (Afran Kahn) Chief geneticist Henry Wu (BD Wang) and head of security Vic Hoskins (Vincent D'Onofrio). I felt Misrani was too cheesy and wasn't as lovable as the late Richard Attenbrough's John Hammond and turning Henry Wu into mad scientist felt strange. But my biggest complaint is Vincent D'Onofrio and his weird character portrayal of Hoskins, not to mention the stupid idea of using raptors (and other dinosaurs) as weapons. I honestly felt that either the writers, the actor of the character himself was on crack. The line delivery, the body language and just the dialogue felt awkward and weird, which is disappointing as D'Onofrio impressed me as Wilson Fisk in the Daredevil show on Netflix. And the weaponised dinosaurs subplot was stupid and I didn't like how they are setting up the sequel to feature more of that idea, it feels like a straight to DVD movie. There are other minor grips as well like starting up a 22 year old jeep and RUNNING IN HIGH HEEL, but let's get to what I loved about the movie. Now I love dinosaurs, always have since I was young (coincidently since I watched the first Jurassic Park) and I was so pleased to see them done in an awesome way again, and yes the lack of animatronics and the over use of cgi in some parts as well as the cgi not being 100% great was disappointing it was still a pleasure watching these dinosaurs on screen, like when Zack and Grey roll up to the dinosaurs in that open space, with the soundtrack that was playing, it was awesome. And the two things I was most concerned about, the trained raptors and the hybrid dinosaur, well they where easily some of the best parts about the movie, the raptors still felt cool and intimidating, I liked Owens relationship with them and enjoyed watching his interactions with them. And the indominus Rex was very cool, I liked the look, it was very subtle, there was nothing too obvious about its appearance that made you think it was a hybrid, in short it looked like something that could have existed. I like how they handled its abilities, it was intelligent without it feeling a bit too unbelievable, the scene where it came out camouflaging was awesome (and the film should have had more). And the scene where it makes the raptors turn on the humans and you cut to the control room and see the raptor cams, looking at them was pretty badass. Also the soundtrack I really liked especially when the kids where arriving to the island and the original theme started to play, well I had a massive smile on my face, speaking of which I now tell you to brace yourself for I am going to explode into a massive nerdgasm. When I was 8 years old, I watched Jurassic Park 3, and when the infamous fight between the T- Rex, my favourite dinosaur of all time, and the Spinosaurus was over, a cloud hung over my and my love of the T-Rex it felt as if my child hood was never going to be the same. Well that cloud was dispersed and that 8 year old boy had the biggest cheesiest smile on his face when the T-Rex (the original one from the first film which was even more awesome) smashed through the Spinosaurus skeleton and started to face off against the Indominos Rex. The whole thing from when Owen gets his raptors back and turn them on the indominous to the fight between the T-Rex and the I-Rex, to Blue coming along and inadvertently saving Rexie (yes I know the name of they-Rex and I am not even sorry) then Rexie and blue fighting the indominous together, which was all one shot starting from where blue jumped onto the indominous to the mosasaur jumping out and dragging the Indomious into its pool. All of that I found highly entertaining. And that sums up this movie, it's highly entertaining and really I wasn't expecting much else, all I wanted was a fun movie with some throw backs and feelings of nostalgia which I thought where done really well. It's not as magical as the original, but it was still a very good summer movie that I will happily own on blu-Ray along with the rest of my JP collection. Therefore I give Jurassic World a roaring 8/10
Paper Towns
(2015)
A likable if somewhat forgettable film
25 August 2015
I got a text from my friend on Sunday (23rd August 2015) asking if I wanted to join him and another friend to see Paper towns. And in all honesty I had no intention on seeing this film but I though what the heck. A quick synopsis is that Quentin (Natt Wolf) is in love with this Girl Margo (Cara Delevinge), and near the end of highs hook after no talking for what seems like at least 5 years they do a big hooray one night before Margo disappears, and Quentin with the help of his friends Ben (Austin Abrams) and radar (Justice Smith) along with Raders girlfriend Angela (Jaz Sinclair) and Margo's friend Lacey (Halston Sage) on a road trip to find Margo. Now for the first quarter maybe even half of the film I was very disinterested, I disliked Cara Delevinge's character Margo, I found her to be one of these overbearing preachy teens, inadvertently telling me to live my live freely and so on and so fourth. And when they where searching for clues to find out where Margo went, I honestly couldn't care less due to the fact I didn't like Margo. However when the road trip started I started to enjoy the movie a lot more, the three friends all had good chemistry with each other, as well as the girls tagging along and when they talk about the end of high school I got a bit sad, and could relate as I was with my two best friends from high school and know what it's like to feel as if this golden age is over. In fact I completely forgot about Margo and the whole reason why they went on a road trip and just enjoyed it. There are a few laughs as well (Radars families obsession with breaking a world record tickled my funny bone more than I expected). And also one moment right near the end that nearly made me cry. I will say despite my distaste if Margo and a few other things I did end up enjoying the movie even if it is forgettable. It was a nice teen drama about the end of high school and that's all that needs to be said and all it need to be 7/10)
Bloodborne
(2015 Video Game)
Frightening, frustrating, fun and fantastic
29 July 2015
There's another four f words I use when playing this game that sound like duck. That's because Bloodborne is one of the most immersive and atmospheric games I have ever played. Now I do have to say that I've never played any of the previous souls titles (but after this I definitely want to give them a shot) so I was a bit cautious going into this whether or not I would like it. Well I liked it a lot, in fact I loved it and it is easily among the top ten games I have ever played. The combat is face paced and quite brutal at times due to the fact that when you've been hit you've got a couple of seconds to hit back and regain the health you've lost which a very nice mechanic and gives you more reason to be on the offence. Not to say that it's easy, no,no,no,no. When I say combat is brutal I mean brutal, like watching game of thrones deaths brutal. There are times when your overwhelmed by the opponents strength or numbers. Some enemies have lots of health or move very quickly and some enemies are near impossible to beat especially the bosses. I have to say though when I died (which was a lot) I rarely felt cheated or cheesed. Usually it was my own fault, either I didn't prepare enough, wasn't the right level, used a certain item (like my health potions) too much when I really didn't need to and so on. It makes you think about what you need to improve upon and when you do kill that enemy that's been a thorn your side for ages the sense of satisfaction is unparallelled. Speaking of bosses, most of the bosses in this game I liked or loved fighting, even the highly challenging ones, In fact especially the challenging ones, there are two bosses I came across that I felt where too easy (compared to bosses I fought at earlier stages) and in fact quite boring. Besides that though the rest are awesome with great soundtracks accompanying the fight. I felt my knuckles whiten as I was franticly trying to kill this boss or enemy and gain my blood echoes ( the games first form of currency, used for gear, items and levelling up) after dying previously. The games main story and subplots are not as easy to review mainly as its a "go and figure it out yourself" type deal which I personally liked and it's not too difficult to get what's going on (though near the end you kinda go wtf is that about) and speaking of endings there are three possible endings depending what choice you make and if you gathered certain items. I won't spoil what they are but I went for the third one as it seemed the most complete ending and I got an ex machina vibe from it, I preferred the other two endings I saw on YouTube . Other gripes I have is that I didn't find all the armour sets that great, there are maybe three or four that I'd use, though I love the weapons (at least the Melee as most of the side arms are a bit inept which is fine as it would have defeated the purpose of the game) that i've used and despite the fact there's only really two now that I use frequently I would happily use the others and there is a great variety of unique weapons. Another gripe is that sometimes, usually with bosses I did feel that I was cheated, either a boss or an enemy would spam the same attack over and over or I'd suddenly be surround by enemies that came out of no where. Possibly my biggest complaint though is that when your a higher level, going through the areas at the beginning to farm blood echoes to help level up so you can advance more easily through the area your stuck at can feel repetitive when your pretty much op and aren't really threatened by those enemies that once put the fear of God in you, the game looses a bit of its horror aspects in that regard. My other big complaint is that when you start a new gave + you can't change anything like your characters background ( this decides what stats your character has) or how they look, it was a bit annoying as I wanted to change some things. One thing though that I did like and was actually surprised by was the multiplayer which is not as in your face as other games like cod, destiny and so on. You can select from preset text (this I imagine is to avoid detailed spoilers or tactics) to leave notes that offer some cryptic advice or just leave a inspiring message, which can be found by other players in their world and they then rate them fine (which restores your health) or foul (which removes it if enough people rate it foul) also you can join or invade other gamers to help them out or kill them and vice versa. It's a nice addition that is appreciated in this day and age. I could go on in fact I would but all that matters is that bloodborne is a master piece in my opinion, there's so much more I could talk about, tiny little features like opening shortcuts to get around an area quicker, the chalice dungeons and the unique enemies. All in all bloodborne is a great game, and like I said I've already started a new game plus and I look forward to fighting old foes. 10/10
Avatar: The Last Airbender
(2005–2008)
Not only one of the best cartoons ever, but also one of the best shows ever
19 May 2015
It's amazing what you can discover (or in this case rediscover) on Netflix. There I was scrolling through the shows and there I found something from my childhood Avatar the Last Airbender which I loved when it first came on, I watched season 1&2 in their entirety but missed a few episodes of season 3 and as I don't like leaving things unfinished I watched season 1-3 over the weekend. Now I was expecting the same thing that happened when I watched some Power Ranger episodes that it is actually not that good and should have just left it alone, not tainting the perfect image in my head. However I can say with no doubt that this show is timeless and a must watch for any child as well as being thoroughly entertaining for grown ups. This show lends it self to both a young and old audience (the season 2 and 3 do this the best) There are characters, story arcs, plot points and jokes that I found just as interesting (and humorous) as I did when I first watched it 10 years ago. The story set in this fantastically created fictional world where there are four nations the fire nation (the baddies of the show) the water tribes of the North and south poles) the earth Kingdom and the air temples of the North, East south and west. And in these four nations are these people who can bend the elements of there respected nation. It is about this boy Aang who is the next avatar (someone who can bend all four elements) who after a shocking discovery leaves his home in the southern air temple and ends up getting frozen in ice for a hundred years. He is then discovered by brother and sister Katara and Sokka who are from the southern water tribe and after he is awakened from his 100 year slumber he discovers that the fire nation have been at war with the world for a 100 years and that his people have disappeared. He return is soon picked up by Prince Zuko of the fire nation who has been banished only to return when he captures the avatar and is accompanied by his Uncle Iroh. Aang also learns that he must master all four elements to stop the fire nations plan that will destroy the balance of the world. The story itself is great expanding epic but it's some of the smaller plot lines that can either be intriguing, funny or even emotionally evoking. And the characters are fantastic, Aang has a sort of captain America vibe to him in the sense that the world has changed so much from what he remembered it and he has to adapt to that but he also if fun carefree (most of the time) and has a strong bond with his friends and his pets Appa ( a flying bison with six legs...no really) and momo a mischievous flying lemur. Katara is a very strong female character which is not surprising since she and her brother lost their mother at a young age and their father is now fighting in the war as well as her being the last water bender from the South Pole. She and Aang also have a will they won't they romantic storyline that is very sweet and doesn't feel too cheesy or forced. Sokka is a bit of a screw up and the comic relief but he is also trying to fill his fathers shoes and be a great leader like him. Later on in season two we get many more characters on both sides like toph a young female blind earth bender who is funny and forthright, Azula who is Zukos sister and favoured child of their father and many more. All are great but two who really stand out for me are Zuko and uncle Iroh. Zuko as a villain for the majority of the show isn't doing this for purely evil reasons, he wants to capture the avatar because he wants to return home and have his glory and more importantly his fathers love returned to him, making him very interesting and conflicted in the later series. And Iroh is a old wise war veteran who is absolutely hilarious at some points, badass at others and tear jerking at others and there relationship is a very strong bond, the father/son I never had type that is very well done. In fact this show is very well made in general though it does suffer from a couple of episodes that aren't really necessary and only there to make it X amount of episodes, but since breaking bad and game of thrones also suffer from that it's not really a bit complaint. All in all this show was meant for kids and yes there are elements of that with some character moments, story arcs and so on but even those are still enjoyable to an older audience. When I finished this show late on Sunday night I felt this mixture of sadness and happiness that I only feel when I finish something so great that even though I understand that it had to finished at some point I still wanted more. 10/10 Also if your off put from watching this due to that atrocious film by M. Nightshamaladingdong then let me tell you that has nothing on this show may as well just forget it all together.
Avengers: Age of Ultron
(2015)
Slightly disappointing in some respects but awesome in others.
30 April 2015
Two things you should know about me before we get started. 1st I love the avengers and 2nd Ultron is my favourite villain period.
That is why I am happy that this film is really fun and feels far more like an avengers film than the first as the first film, which I love by the way, did feel more like an iron man film with other superheroes turning up. This however starts off immediately (with one of the coolest scenes that I have seen in a very long time) telling you that this is an avengers film. The dialogue and chemistry between characters is great, the jokes work well and the action if you hadn't guessed was incredibly and some scenes sent my nerdiness into ultra. With that said however I would have liked if this film spent more time on its own story rather than setting up for future films most notably Infinity wars. Also I could quite clearly tell at some points that this film had been edited down from the original 3&1/2 hr cut to the 2&1/2 hr. Some scenes felt forced in and others felt like they could have offered more. And possibly my greatest gripe about the film is Ultron, not how he is portrayed you understand as James Spader does a stellar job, more so the amount of screen time he got and his introduction. It felt rushed and I had a feeling that important scenes relating to that character where cut out completely. Not to mention that they seemed to Nerf Ultron. It would have been awesome if he single handedly nearly defeated all the avengers (which he has done multiple times in the comics). He just felt like another Loki all talk but when he has an army at his back, but by himself he's not much of a threat, which as an Ultron fan myself disappointed me greatly. However I feel that this has to do with what I said earlier about the film being cut down, and personally I would rather see a 3&1/2hr movie with my favourite villain ever done right than a 2&1/2 one where he was done okish. One final minor annoyance is that quicksilver felt useless as a character and really didn't add anything to the film baring a couple of cool scenes and funny jokes. On the other hand the introduction of Scarlette witch was very welcome and she unlike her brother added a fair amount to the story as well as providing some pretty cool abilities. And speaking of cool the addition of Vision was awesome and done so well, Paul Battany portrayed him perfectly and was hands down one of the best parts of the film. Other parts that the film did well was the character moments especially Brice Banner (Hulk) and Clint Barton (Hawkeye). Hawkeye was really flushed out and the film did a great job of having him really hold the team made up of people with near godlike abilities together. And with Banner, they made him feel more present and relatable in this film than the first though I have to say the romance with black widow was a bit weird and forced. The story itself is more serious and the stakes felt much higher than the first. In summary, it felt rushed at points, I could tell it wasn't the final cut and I was very disappointed in the villain. But it was still an awesome time, with cool characters, incredible action scenes and good character moments. 8/10
That is why I am happy that this film is really fun and feels far more like an avengers film than the first as the first film, which I love by the way, did feel more like an iron man film with other superheroes turning up. This however starts off immediately (with one of the coolest scenes that I have seen in a very long time) telling you that this is an avengers film. The dialogue and chemistry between characters is great, the jokes work well and the action if you hadn't guessed was incredibly and some scenes sent my nerdiness into ultra. With that said however I would have liked if this film spent more time on its own story rather than setting up for future films most notably Infinity wars. Also I could quite clearly tell at some points that this film had been edited down from the original 3&1/2 hr cut to the 2&1/2 hr. Some scenes felt forced in and others felt like they could have offered more. And possibly my greatest gripe about the film is Ultron, not how he is portrayed you understand as James Spader does a stellar job, more so the amount of screen time he got and his introduction. It felt rushed and I had a feeling that important scenes relating to that character where cut out completely. Not to mention that they seemed to Nerf Ultron. It would have been awesome if he single handedly nearly defeated all the avengers (which he has done multiple times in the comics). He just felt like another Loki all talk but when he has an army at his back, but by himself he's not much of a threat, which as an Ultron fan myself disappointed me greatly. However I feel that this has to do with what I said earlier about the film being cut down, and personally I would rather see a 3&1/2hr movie with my favourite villain ever done right than a 2&1/2 one where he was done okish. One final minor annoyance is that quicksilver felt useless as a character and really didn't add anything to the film baring a couple of cool scenes and funny jokes. On the other hand the introduction of Scarlette witch was very welcome and she unlike her brother added a fair amount to the story as well as providing some pretty cool abilities. And speaking of cool the addition of Vision was awesome and done so well, Paul Battany portrayed him perfectly and was hands down one of the best parts of the film. Other parts that the film did well was the character moments especially Brice Banner (Hulk) and Clint Barton (Hawkeye). Hawkeye was really flushed out and the film did a great job of having him really hold the team made up of people with near godlike abilities together. And with Banner, they made him feel more present and relatable in this film than the first though I have to say the romance with black widow was a bit weird and forced. The story itself is more serious and the stakes felt much higher than the first. In summary, it felt rushed at points, I could tell it wasn't the final cut and I was very disappointed in the villain. But it was still an awesome time, with cool characters, incredible action scenes and good character moments. 8/10
Daredevil
(2015–2018)
Daredevil, was surprisingly daring
14 April 2015
When this show was announced I have to admit I didn't expect much. After the recent mishaps with agents of shield and agent Carter I thought this show would follow suit and not be anything more than filler between the long awaited films. And as I have just finished all 13 episodes, I am so happy to admit that I was wrong.
Daredevil takes place in Hell's Kitchen which as my fellow Scots would say is the arsehole of the word. It's a nasty horrible part of New York, and it's where our hero Matt Murdock aka Daredevil (and is a lawyer by day) was born and raised by his father Jack Murdock who was a boxer. After an accident that leaves him blind at the age of nine Matts life changes, he developed special abilities, that are explained in the show so I won't go into them here. And after a number of years of very unfortunate events, and intensive training he honed these skills and has become a mask vigilante. Yes I know clichéd but honestly it was executed very well and one moment nearly brought me to tears. Matt's story is one of tragedy and angry which he later vents out on some thugs and follows the pattern of recent films such as Captain America the winter solider and Gaurdians of the Galaxy where the main protagonist have tragedy thruster upon them. The story then expands into much bigger story about one mans struggle to make his city a better place and having to fight forces that are well equipped and as tenacious as he his. Enter Wilson Fisk, who at first I though was portrayed very strangely, as I was comparing him to the Wilson Fisk I remember from the Spider-Man cartoon back in the day and was expecting this very intimidating man who had unquestionable loyalty of his followers and was intimidating 24/7. But the more I saw, the more I appreciated this take on the character, he is a violent and fiercely intimidating man on the outside, but he's a fragile being on the inside that has a troubled past which bled into his present. I have to say that these two characters where played brilliantly by their actors. The conflict between Murdock and Fisk was more that just fighting on the street, it took a more political route with Fisk trying to destroy daredevils image whilst glorifying his own. This added layers and complications to the characters. And not just Murdock and Fisk, Foggy (Murdocks friend and partner in their law firm) and Karen Page ( a client that later works for them) also find themselves sucked into this struggle against Fisk along with an old fashioned reporter Ben Uric. All played well by their actors. In fact almost every character was portrayed brilliantly and has a significant part to play. One character that I didn't like was a Nurse called Claire who ends up helping Murdock with patching him up after a rough fight. It wasn't her acting, it was her characters reasoning and introduction which I found too convenient and didn't feel right. That, and the fact that some episodes just felt like they where put in to make it 13 episodes are two of the only major complaints I have about the show and the later can be said about game of thrones or breaking bad so I don't hold it against the show too much. What I also liked was the dark gritty nature of the show, which was refreshing from the light-heartedness of other marvel projects, it added a sense of realism and relatability to not only the show but also the whole Marvel Universe. And yes this is apart of the MCU. There are references to Avengers Assemble and even the Incredible Hulk. It was fun watching and seeing these references and knowing that whilst all this is going on that the Avengers are out there stomping on Hydra and the Gaurdians of the Galaxy are out in space doing something that's a bit of both good and bad. It also doesn't beat this over your head but some references did feel a bit clunky and unnecessarily ambiguous. The action is well directed and violent, and I mean violent, arms get broken and heads get smashed, there's blood and all sorts getting sprayed around and it's awesome, especially when it's a fight scene with Daredevil (which oddly enough are majority of them) he's a bad-ass, and you get to see (well hear) the world as he does when he's in these fights. Hearing heartbeats or when weapons get drawn/picked up, even guns getting cocked. It's cool and makes it feel unique to the character rather that just a copy of fights in other franchises such as Batman. But whilst he is a bad-ass he does take a beaten which makes him feel human and you are in fear for his life especially against some advisories who can match up to him. It makes fights interesting and tense which is rare in the superhero genre these days. Outside of fights the cinematography is really nice, especially when they film a scene all in one shot (which usually happens before a fight) it's cool and can be appreciated by people who do appreciate that type of thing like myself. All in all whilst it does have some flaws Daredevil is a fantastic start to Marvels new line of shows, I'm genuinely excited for Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron fists TV debuts. And of course to see the Devil of Hell's Kitchen again. A must watch for both fans of the Marvel comics or of the MCU as well as average TV watchers. 9/10
Daredevil takes place in Hell's Kitchen which as my fellow Scots would say is the arsehole of the word. It's a nasty horrible part of New York, and it's where our hero Matt Murdock aka Daredevil (and is a lawyer by day) was born and raised by his father Jack Murdock who was a boxer. After an accident that leaves him blind at the age of nine Matts life changes, he developed special abilities, that are explained in the show so I won't go into them here. And after a number of years of very unfortunate events, and intensive training he honed these skills and has become a mask vigilante. Yes I know clichéd but honestly it was executed very well and one moment nearly brought me to tears. Matt's story is one of tragedy and angry which he later vents out on some thugs and follows the pattern of recent films such as Captain America the winter solider and Gaurdians of the Galaxy where the main protagonist have tragedy thruster upon them. The story then expands into much bigger story about one mans struggle to make his city a better place and having to fight forces that are well equipped and as tenacious as he his. Enter Wilson Fisk, who at first I though was portrayed very strangely, as I was comparing him to the Wilson Fisk I remember from the Spider-Man cartoon back in the day and was expecting this very intimidating man who had unquestionable loyalty of his followers and was intimidating 24/7. But the more I saw, the more I appreciated this take on the character, he is a violent and fiercely intimidating man on the outside, but he's a fragile being on the inside that has a troubled past which bled into his present. I have to say that these two characters where played brilliantly by their actors. The conflict between Murdock and Fisk was more that just fighting on the street, it took a more political route with Fisk trying to destroy daredevils image whilst glorifying his own. This added layers and complications to the characters. And not just Murdock and Fisk, Foggy (Murdocks friend and partner in their law firm) and Karen Page ( a client that later works for them) also find themselves sucked into this struggle against Fisk along with an old fashioned reporter Ben Uric. All played well by their actors. In fact almost every character was portrayed brilliantly and has a significant part to play. One character that I didn't like was a Nurse called Claire who ends up helping Murdock with patching him up after a rough fight. It wasn't her acting, it was her characters reasoning and introduction which I found too convenient and didn't feel right. That, and the fact that some episodes just felt like they where put in to make it 13 episodes are two of the only major complaints I have about the show and the later can be said about game of thrones or breaking bad so I don't hold it against the show too much. What I also liked was the dark gritty nature of the show, which was refreshing from the light-heartedness of other marvel projects, it added a sense of realism and relatability to not only the show but also the whole Marvel Universe. And yes this is apart of the MCU. There are references to Avengers Assemble and even the Incredible Hulk. It was fun watching and seeing these references and knowing that whilst all this is going on that the Avengers are out there stomping on Hydra and the Gaurdians of the Galaxy are out in space doing something that's a bit of both good and bad. It also doesn't beat this over your head but some references did feel a bit clunky and unnecessarily ambiguous. The action is well directed and violent, and I mean violent, arms get broken and heads get smashed, there's blood and all sorts getting sprayed around and it's awesome, especially when it's a fight scene with Daredevil (which oddly enough are majority of them) he's a bad-ass, and you get to see (well hear) the world as he does when he's in these fights. Hearing heartbeats or when weapons get drawn/picked up, even guns getting cocked. It's cool and makes it feel unique to the character rather that just a copy of fights in other franchises such as Batman. But whilst he is a bad-ass he does take a beaten which makes him feel human and you are in fear for his life especially against some advisories who can match up to him. It makes fights interesting and tense which is rare in the superhero genre these days. Outside of fights the cinematography is really nice, especially when they film a scene all in one shot (which usually happens before a fight) it's cool and can be appreciated by people who do appreciate that type of thing like myself. All in all whilst it does have some flaws Daredevil is a fantastic start to Marvels new line of shows, I'm genuinely excited for Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron fists TV debuts. And of course to see the Devil of Hell's Kitchen again. A must watch for both fans of the Marvel comics or of the MCU as well as average TV watchers. 9/10
Interstellar
(2014)
Amazing acting and special effects, confusing, overdrawn and uninteresting story
9 November 2014
To start with I think Christopher Nolan is a very good director who has made remarkable films. And he also tries (in my opinion) to to push himself further with each film. And it was clear from the get go that Nolan is yet again trying to push himself further, this time further than ever before. Unfortunately he has pushed himself a bit too far this time. Let me start of with the good of this movie. Matthew McConahey with out a doubt is the strongest part of this film, with one of the strongest performances I have ever seen from him, and the chemistry between his character and his characters daughter is very strong. The other actors such as Michael Cain, Anne Hathaway and various others also do a very good job and each character feel real, relatable and most importantly interesting. Even the two robot characters (yes there are robots) feel very human. And for someone who hates cgi Nolan sure knows how to use it to maximum effect. The landscape of the alien worlds are breath taking as is the scenes that take place in space. Now here is the bad of the film, it is too long with the content feeling very stretched. The story essentially revolves around three things, the main character and his family, the consequences of living in deep space and the effects of the relativity of time and the solution to save human race. And whilst this sounds on paper like there is enough to fill the whole 3 hours, in reality only the family aspect is explored with any real effect and whilst the consequences of living in deep space and the relativity time prove some truly emotional moments it doesn't feel like the fully explored there potential and then got trapped in the plot holes that come when you deal with time. And the solution to save humanity isn't touched on and without spoiling too much the way in which it was resolved was profoundly stupid. There was simply not enough to make the whole 3 hours feel fulfilled. And like I said it sadly turned very confusing and silly towards the end and left me feeling very bemused. In conclusion it had the makings of a great sci-fi but fell short on one too many things for that to be the case.
The Inbetweeners 2
(2014)
They should have stopped at one film
20 August 2014
I'm not a great fan of the inbetweeners TV series or their previous film but they both did make me laugh when they where on. Unlike this film however, which for the majority of I groaned and sighed more than I laughed. The jokes were unfunny and over the top crudeness that had no brain behind it. I think I smirked twice, chuckled once and went huh a few times (like 3). The story itself was predictable and boring with some plot points just being plan annoying. In fact one plot point took up a good percentage of the film just to lead to a unfunny predictable joke and made me feel as if my time was wasted. In the end I hated myself for going to see it with my friends, who all but one equally disliked at as I did. In the end fans will flock to this but I have a feeling a few may flock out in disappointment as for average film goers avoid it like the plague.
Jack the Giant Slayer
(2013)
It's no Lord of the rings but it's still fun
7 April 2013
When I saw the trailer for this movies I was very cynical, right up until I went to see it at the cinema with my family. I have to say that although Jack the giant slayer has it's flaws, it does have it's positives. I believe to get the bad out of the way first so here we go, firstly the acting is not always good, or even OK, of course Ewan McGregor, Nicholas Hoult and Ian Mcshane give good performances, and Stanley Tucci was good even though he was very dumb down kiddies villain at points, and Bill Nighy as General Fallon larger head (this character has two heads) was also good, but again dumb down but his quite frankly retarded smaller head, which degraded the character. Also Eleanor Tomlinson was OK, but I felt she lacked emotion in her voice from time to time. Another point is how I felt the villains could have been done better,as I said both Tucci's and Nighy's characters where dumb down, degraded, and at points laughable, when really they shouldn't have been, General Fallon smaller head made this character feel laughable and detracted from what Nighy could have made him, which is a very good villain as we all know Nighy can be a good villain. They felt like kiddies villains, yes it is a kids movie, but so is the Lion king, Hunchback of Notradam and A bugs life, want to know why I picked them, there villains are some of the best in cinema history, definitely among kids cinema at least. Another thing is that some characters felt like they could have been left out, and brought nothing then an attempt to bring comedy which in large part fails miserable or to just to die (sometimes both). On that last point I should also warn you that if you are thinking of taking a five year old to see this movie, don't, There are some intense, dark stuff in this movie, that would scar a child for life, nothing overly grotesque but still does not leave much to the imagination. This film is still in large part enjoyable, there are parts which are exciting and entertaining, the story was face paced, not too much down time, which in this sort of film is fine. This film is no a fantasy epic like LOTR or the more recent The Hobbit: an Unexpected journey, but still it's enjoyable, fun and at parts intense. Yes it has bad CGI, bad acting at points, and really if you miss it it's not something people will hate you for till (and beyond) your grave, but if you have nothing better to do, and it's cold and wet (Which in the UK it always is) I'd recommend it.
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