Reviews

Captain America The Winter Soldier is a thrilling throwback to 1970s spy thrillers and an excellent action adventure. Sprinkled with humour it does what every good sequel should do, surpass the first in every way possible. Twists and turns are aplenty and the 2 hour and 16 minute runtime moves at a swift pace and the viewer is never bored as there is such variety.

The film deals with the titular hero Captain America aka; Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), attempt at adapting to modern times. This notion was severely lacking in The Avengers and cut to help with the pacing of the movie. An emotional scene that was supposed to be in The Avengers, was when Steve Rogers met Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), after not seeing her for years. It evoked a sense of sadness as she was the last link to his past. Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) 'Falcon' is introduced and becomes Captain America's sidekick in the vein of Batman's, Robin. Captain America's mistrust of both Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and the organization Shield in general are another big focus in the movie.

The film does an excellent job at fleshing out the characters, particularly Steve Rogers, Black Widow and Nick Fury, and in doing so makes the viewer care about them in ways not seen before in any of the previous films. This is especially the case with the Black Widow, who we see more of and Nick Fury who tells about his grandfather who operated a elevator. The main villain of the movie alluded to in the movie title is The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), who is one of the best villains in a Marvel movie, so much so that he could become a fan favourite, like Loki. The Winter Soldier is menacing, intimidating and an unstoppable force. He has an air about him similar to the Terminator and the fact that he can go toe to toe with Captain America and be a major threat to him throughout the whole movie, is something special compared to other villains in movies, who are all talk but can't back it up.

The fight choreography and action sequences were some of, if not the best, I've seen to date. The first battle between Captain America and The Winter Soldier on the highway is a clear highlight of the movie. The Winter Soldier gives Captain America a run for his money and was able to take on Captain America, Black Widow and Falcon at the same time without breaking a sweat. The same could be said for the CGI and effects which were stunning.

There was not much hype for Captain American - The Winter Soldier, yet ironically it is the best Marvel Studios film released, far surpassing The Avengers, which will surprise people who haven't seen this film. I highly recommend this movie. Although you can watch it without seeing the first Captain America – The First Avenger, or The Avengers for full appreciation of the series I recommend that you view these first as you will get so much more out of the movie. Make sure to stay until the end of the movie, as there are two post credit scenes, one of which helps lead into The Avengers 2.

The Cell is all style and no substance, a movie that is visually impressive even by today's standards but with a cast you don't care for, weak dialogue/script including a hollow story that raises many questions about the technology used throughout the film. Additionally, it is a movie that has been done better before, think Silence of the Lambs or the influx of sci fi movies that came out around the same time including (but not limited to); Dark City (1998), The Matrix (1999), The Thirteenth Floor (1999).

Although the movie has a relatively short runtime of 1 hour 30minutes it spends too long trying to build suspense and tension. The latest victim of a serial killer, is trapped with only 40 hours to live, unless the FBI find her before she drowns. Building suspense and tension meant it wasn't until half way through the movie where the movie's main 'attraction' or selling point happened with Catherine Deane (Jennifer Lopez) entering the mind of Carl Stargher (Vincent D'Onofrio) who at times appears to channel Norman Bates (quiet, weird, loner type).

The films strongest aspect is the wildly vivid imagery and thankfully it still stands up 14 years later. It is clear while watching inside Stargher's mind scenes, that director Tarsem Singh, has taken heavy inspiration from works of art by the likes of; Hirst, Nedrum and Giger. It's as if the director needed an excuse for the plot to show such uniquely disturbing images, that varied in styles including the recurring theme of water, and misogyny which normally in a movie wouldn't blend together. The director came up with the idea of going into the mind of a disturbed schizophrenic, using some kind of newly created experimental technology, which then made it possible to incorporate his eerie dream like sequences. Never once was it explained what this experimental technology was, how it worked, or any detail about the device, the machine was also rather reminiscent of the virtual world used in The Matrix released the previous year and worked in a relatively similar fashion.

Other than the vivid imagery, the movies only other saving grace is Vincent D'Onofrio, who excels at what little he has been given to work with. Vincent D'Onofrio is the standout of an otherwise mediocre cast, a cast many people may be scratching their head over. The leads are a singer (Lopez) and a comedian (Vaughn). Having a poor cast is one thing then to go and have no character depth, weak script/writing and clichéd lines these hamper the film even further.

The only reason anyone should watch The Cell is for the creative visuals, costumes, set pieces displayed and Vincent D'Onofrio's strong acting, which shows how truly underrated he is as an actor. This has people questioning why he doesn't get much work.

Those looking for a good sci fi, horror, thriller should look elsewhere, as this story is forgetful, with no surprises or twists. Its predictable and has a clichéd Hollywood style ending.

Further viewing; Silence of the Lambs, Dark City, The Matrix, The Thirteenth Floor.

"I've got news for this herd of donkeys. There will be only a winner, and it's Bruce 'The Stallion' Robertson."

Set at Christmastime in the 90's, at Edinburgh Scotland, Filth (based on the novel of the same name by Irvine Welsh of Trainspotting fame) is a dark comedy drama that is both disturbing and disgusting. With a title and synopsis like this it lives up to it's namesake which gives the viewer an idea of what to expect. From the get go, James McAvoy, who plays the titular character Bruce Robertson, is quickly established as an unlikeable anti hero and as the movie progresses the acts he participants in just makes him even more despicable but on the other hand due to the strength of McAvoy's acting and the script I couldn't help but like Robertson he was smart, intelligent, cunning and very manipulative.

Thanks to McAvoy's excellent acting I was questioning throughout the movie whether there was a little good in Robertson, or whether he would redeem himself by the end of the movie. The strong supporting cast also made sound contribution but I felt as the movie focuses on Robertson the cast weren't in it as much as expected. This was a shame as the pedigree of the actors was high calibre. The games Robertson plays with his fellow colleagues, who are all vying for promotion, and the way he turns them against each other is truly hilarious and one of the highlights of the movie.

The brisk pace of the movie ensured that I wasn't bored, yet there were times where I found the movie hard to follow as numerous questions were raised which kept the viewer interested and guessing to the end. While I didn't have an issue with the thick Scottish accent, it may be a problem for some viewers. The imagery used throughout the movie luckily answers most questions that were raised but I did walk away with more questions which the novel covers in more depth.

It's established quarter way through the movie that Bruce Robertson is suffering from some form of mental illness, where he suffers hallucination sequences, he see things and in the last act his mental health takes a downward spiral but so does the quality of the movie which I thought started to falter towards the end.

Halfway through the movie Robertson and his friend Bladesey, played by Eddie Marsan, go on holiday to Hamburg. This is accompanied by a film grain/screen filter technique which is specifically used for this scene. I found it very effective making this scene unique, in fact a stand out.

Filth is an excellent movie however due to limited release in some countries and still not released in the USA, has certainly flown under the radar. McAvoy is outstanding and this is one of his best performances yet, the all star supporting cast do an excellent job as well. This movie will keep you guessing until the end with a surprising twist.

8/10 Benjamin Ryan 23/03/14

Every Saturday morning I couldn't wait to wake up and watch Spellbinders 2. Spellbinders 2 screened on TV before the original and because it was the first one to show I thought it was more original than the first one and I enjoyed it more even though at times that spend too much time in one world/realm or another. I thought the story was original and kept me eagerly waiting for more. All I remember the story being about is a young Australian girl and her older brother who somehow travel to different worlds/realms and have adventures. Spellbinders are people who while wearing some suit have powers. Each episode was another amazing adventure some worlds they went to were Ancient China, An opposite world where everything was opposite eg:In the 'real world' there neighbour was a plumber and in the other he was a celebrity and a place where there were these spooky robots with no faces that looked like humans which use to scare me. If you are looking for a great children's show then watch this it is rare but they came out with the first one on DVD so them should be coming out with this one soon hopefully.

Everyone should know the story but here is a brief summary through my eyes, Carl (Jack Back) needs to make a blockbuster movie so he can stay in business. So he gets a cast of people together including Ann (Naomi Watts) and crew with Jack (Adrian Brody) writing the script. He tells everyone that it is going to be filmed in Singapore but they are actual going to a mystery's place called Skull Island he doesn't tell anyone because he doesn't want to scare them. When finally reaching the "deserted island" their boat crashes upon the rocks, so they send a boat out to shore and go to explore the island. While there they see a supposed "deserted village" but then the natives surround them and kidnap Ann and give her to King Kong as a offering and the ships crew are sent out to rescue her. You'll have to see the movie to find out what happens next.

After seeing King Kong today I thought it was a bit too long. Each scene seemed to drag out for longer than it should have, (eg. King Kong and Naomi Watts relationship, time they spent together and in the valley when the group of humans were running away from the dinosaurs). I thought that Peter Jackson could have saved a lot of money if he'd cut the movie back to 2 hours instead of dragging it out for 3.

Don't get me wrong I thought this was a good movie! The cinematography was excellent, from the lush forest of Skull Island to the re-creation of 1930's New York and Broadway. I thought the cast of actors was excellent. They not only suited but also played their roles really well. The costumes and make up were realistic, especially the natives on Skull Island, I was really creeped out by them. The CGI(Computer Generated Imagery) was amazing. The creatures on Skull Island not only looked realistic they seemed to act and move like they were living which really creeped me out.

I couldn't believe that Andy Serkis (who played Gollum in LOTR) played King Kong because, at not one point in the movie did I think about King Kong's voice being performed by a human. It sounded so real that it could have actually been done by a gorilla.

Just like LOTR, King Kong's soundtrack was superb the whole way through the movie I thought it excellently suited each scene (eg. When King Kong and Naomi Watts are on top of the building) and at times it was emotional it almost brought a tear to my eye.

Peter Jackson did an excellent job of recreating the 1930's and remaking King Kong, any fan of the original should go and see this. It is a worthy follow up to LOTR and I Recommend this but if you can sit still for 3 hours yo might want to give this movie a miss!

Before I start I would like to say Australia has THE BEST MINI SERIES, for example some great Aussie mini series are: Blue Murder, The Day of the Roses, Jessica and this Mary Bryant to name a few while the Americans had crappy ones like the 4400 and Battlestar Gallactica which I was looking forward to but was disappointing. I think the secret to Aussie mini series success is because some are based on true stories and are interesting to learn some true events, they are realistic, you can relate to the characters, the locations show how beautiful Australia is and in these mini series there is a chance that the viewers of these shows have been to the location where it happen and know the area like in The Day of the Roses Granville.

Mary Bryant (based on a true story) shows the life of Mary Broad a young seventeen year old pregnant girl who is on the first fleet sent to Australia for stealing food for her starving family, on the journey over she meets and befriends a man by the name of Wil Bryant who she later marries when they reach land. Sick of their life at the colony they plan to escape with five others and Mary's children to Timor. This is a great story that has a great Australian and international cast who play their roles perfectly. This is another great Aussie mini series that should not be missed just like the other Aussie mini series highly recommended!

I saw the Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper before Wallace and Gromit:the curse of the were-rabbit during a special screening a few months ago (if your wondering how could I its because Wallace and Gromit came out a few months ago in Australia) and I was surprised to see this before Wallace and Gromit, I wasn't interested because i haven't seen Madagascar and thought it was going to be a crappy kids short animation film ( like a few of the pixar short animation films),but I was surprised this was entertaining and funnier then the Wallace and Gromit movie that was after it and found it funnier then most other kids animation films. It had a good christmassy feel and I wouldn't mind watching it again especially at Christmas time. I highly recommend this for adults and children alike and hope this appears on the Wallace and Gromit: the cures of the were-rabbit DVD as a special feature!

I say yes. Wallace and Gromit:the cures of the were-rabbit was a bit of a let down because I was really looking forward to it thinking it was going to be great going for 90 minutes but instead the humor wasn't really funny not as good as the others,the story wasn't that good, the jokes were lame and the movie was just to long it bored me.

Now that I got the bad points out the good points are the clay animation was excellent the best out of all the other Wallace and gromit movies, the sound was good, it had a big cast which was excellent i thought this was great because normally in the other Wallace and Gromit films it is just them or one or two other people in the film which is hard to keep the audience entertained but they did it well in the other movies.

In the latest Wallace and Gromit movie it is a few days before the vegetable competition and Wallace and Gromit run the anti-pesto company which protects everyone in there neighborhood's garden from pest especially the rabbits which are eating everyone vegetables then Wallace comes up with a plan to make the rabbits not want to eat everyones vegetables but will it work? Overall I thought this movie was good but not as good as A Close Shave I recommend this movie to anyone that likes Wallace and Gromit or that clay animation!

Wallace and Gromit: A close shave has to be my favourite out of all four Wallace and Gromit movies. It has better clay animation then the other two, the story is excellent, it is never boring (with A Grand Day Out I found some scenes boring) and you can even watch it two times in a row its that good! In Wallace and Gromit's adventure there is a sheep rustler, Wallace falls in love and Wallace and Gormit are ensare in a malevolent mystery only they can unravel.

I saw a close shave years ago but I still really like it all these years later, I think most people that see the Wallace and gromit like them and like them still years later. Thats whats great about all the Wallace and Gromit movies adults and children alike can enjoy them.

Overall I think this is the best in the Wallace and Gromit series and I highly recommend it!

Wallace and Gromit:a Grand Day Out introduces us to the lovable duo who goes on to other great films like The Wrong Trousers, A Close Shave and the highly anticipated The Cures Of The Were-Rabbit, well enough about this and on to the film.

I first saw them in The Wrong Trousers and from then on I loved them and then saw A Close Shave which made me like then even more so I really want to see A Grand Day Out. I finally saw it last night and was disappointed compare to the other two films. It was probably because of the other two had better clay graphics but that just shows Wallace and Gromit have evolved which is good too. The story wasn't really a story and wasn't good compared to the other two, the story was about Wallace was about to have his afternoon tea (cheese and crackers) were he finally sees there is no cheese in the house he decides to go to another place that has cheese....The Moon! Overall I thought A Grand Day Out had a few problems but other then that it was good!

Metal Arms:Glitch In The System is a great game that can be enjoy by children and adults alike. The story is you are Glitch found as scrap metal but transformed into destructive machinery, Glitch is determined to free his people from the evil clutches of General Corrosive and his maniacal army. I thought this game is great because it brings a comical relief to the violence but it isn't that violent especially since its robots blasting at each other with pieces of metal flying here and there. Metal Arms is like halo with similar vehicles and similar types of characters but only in 3d person view which I prefer. Overall Metal Arms is very funny and a great game which i recommend, like i said this game is not only for children but adults will enjoy it too.

Children of the Corn the film that started all the unnecessary sequels. Cotc wasn't a bad movie but wasn't good either it was just OK a movie that if you had some spare time you might as well watch it you might like it. The story is about in a mid western town called Gatlin a preacher named Isaac gets all the kids to murder all the adults in town, then a couple who are traveling knock a kid over and go to the nearest town which is Gatlin to report it. I was looking forward to watching this movie but was disappointed because I thought the acting was bad, it wasn't long enough and the main characters got out of the situation quickly and easily with not much effort. Overall i think this movie is OK and worth seeing.

I went into Secret Window thinking to see a boring movie but i was on the edge of my seat particularly the whole way through it and the twist at the end was good too. Secret Window is about Mort (Deep) a writer who has been accused of plagiarism by a mysterious man named John ( Turturro) and from then on weird things start happening. I thought the acting was good and everything seemed to happen at the right time which kept me entertained. I thought there was a few bad points but to me the good weighed out the bad, I was surprised how good it was because there wasn't much hype about it and reading on IMDb not many people seemed to have liked it, i didn't even know what it was and have never heard about it until my friend told me about it and since there was nothing else at the movies worth seeing i thought i will watch it. overall i thought Secret Window was a good movie and i recommend it.

I have one thing to start off my review: THIS IS THE WORST MOVIE EVER! when I was at the DVD store I saw this DVD for only three dollars and i looked at the cover and thought it would be like Kill Bill but i was too wrong. First of all the main character was an old lady suppose to be an assassin, a guy with no legs in a wheelchair kicking ass and doing all this kung fu, Michael Madsen and Brad Douriff couldn't keep a straight face and looked like they were going to laugh the whole way through. these are only a few of things that made is movie terrible. I am lucky I picked this movie up for three dollars. Overall I don't recommend this movie and no one should see it go watch something better like Kill Bill.

Capcom vs snk 2 eo is the battle of the two gaming corporation (capcom and snk). The graphics are the best for a 2d game and the music is way better than marvel vs capcom 2 (which gets repetitive fast), the gameplay is excellent and the controls are easy to learn. One of the great things is there are loads of characters to choose from and there are two secret ones as well. There are a lot of game modes which makes it long lasting for example: arcade mode, survival mode, training mode, replay mode, color edit, 2 player mode and online enable. CAP vs SNK 2 EO is excellent online to test your skills and to see how really good you are. Overall this game is a must for 2d fighting fans if you are not a fighting fan then give this a miss because it will get repetitive fast. I give this game 9/10.

Halo 2 is Not flawless/Perfect! Don't get me wrong it is a great game but it is what the first halo should of been. I am going to point out what I mean, 1.In Halo marines couldn't drive so you couldn't be in the gun turret, 2. You couldn't blow up the warthog and scorpion, 3. you could only hold 1 weapon, 4. The graphics weren't that good, 5. there are not many weapons and 6. the game was short having only ten levels.

Lucky there is halo 2 that solved all these problems expected for being short. Some good points are: 1. You can be an elite, 2. New aliens, 3. New Vehicles and 4. New weapons ( some old ones are replaced the assault rifle is now the battle rifle with a scope, the pistol is now the magnum with no scope).

I will stop going on about how good or bad it is and get down to it. Story: The story is great so much happening at once The Covenant is invading Earth so it's up to master chief to stop them and then he finds out that there are trying to activate another halo (there are seven halo's in total). It kinda feels like the first halo was a waste since you destroyed one halo when there is seven. 9/10

Graphics: The graphics are the best I've seen on a xbox to date. They are really detailed and look like they have had a lot of time put into them. 10/10

Audio: The Audio is the best I've heard on an xbox to date. 8/10

Controls: The Controls is the same as the first which is good but with some new buttons (Locking on enemy vehicles, holding two weapons etc.). The controls are easy to learn which is good too. 8/10

Conclusion: Halo 2 is excellent and is worth buying, it maybe short but you would want to play again, with co-operative it is good, it is great on xbox live too but you shouldn't buy this game until you have the first or have finished the first. Overall: 9/10

Equilibrium does it match up to the Matrix? Well it didn't have as big of budget as the Matrix and it didn't makes as much money as the matrix but money doesn't necessary mean a movie is going to be good. Equilibrium is set in the future where everyone has to take a drug call equilibrium (it makes you have no feelings) so no one can be violent, happy, sad, mad etc. The person/people who don't take the drug are executed. The movie follows John Preston (Bale) as the bad guy turned good .The movie is slow to start but once it gets into it, it is pretty good. The cast is good and so is the story, so if you liked the matrix you won't be disappointed. This movie is under rated and is recommend.

Kill Bill vol. 2 picks up right where the firsted one lefted off. It is good but it lacks style that the firsted one had. It has a good range of characters but doesn't use them well. I am a big action fan and was a bit disappointed because it didn't have as much action as the first and most of the movie was just talk. Don't get me wrong this is a great movie the talking explained a lot of the story that the first one didn't. This is good because the first kill bill just gets into the action straight away and doesn't really explain the story too well. Overall kill bill vol. 2 finish well and is highly recommend! Kill Bill vol. 1 and 2 should not be missed and they should defiantly be classics.