So Bryan Fuller's TV adaptation of a franchise focusing on one of the most famous non-supernatural serial killers in fiction immediately grabbed my attention for several reasons.
NBC's Hannibal introduces Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant psychiatrist, a masterful chef, a sharp mind...and a cunning cannibal.
A warning before you proceed: this review will have some "mature" images from the show. But hey, it's a show about Hannibal "Fava Beans" Lecter, so you probably expected that.
So the Steam Summer Sale (thanks Steam!) gave me the opportunity to do something I've really wanted to do since March - play Bioshock Infinite.
Long story short, I wasn't able to bring my Playstation with me when I moved to Sydney, and my laptop was shitty, which made me hesitant to shell out $80 on a game that might not have even worked. Now I have a new computer and the game was cheap, so I figured "why not?"
I am ridiculously glad The Wolverine wasn't an affront to films.
Don't get me wrong, The Wolverine has some serious problems, but it's a solid watch and worth seeing, especially if you're a fan of the X-Men franchise.
Hugh Jackman reprises his role as the hairy, blade-y, shouty mutant who is dealing with the events of X-Men: The Last Stand. An unspecified amount of time has passed and Wolverine is sorting through his issues like a sensible human being, drinking heavily, alone and living in a cave. I suppose killing the woman of your dreams will do that to a guy.
While in a random border town, Wolverine is picked up by a Japanese woman who tells him an "old friend" wants to see him. Turns out said friend is a soldier he saved from the bombs at Nagasaki in World War II. Despite being set some time in the future, this friend, Yashida, is still alive and is basically the Tony Stark of Japan.
Apparently Old Man Yashida stole some Kryptonian technology to make his bed.
Yashida offers Wolverine the "gift" of mortality and is promptly turned down. Yashida dies, due to probably being more than 100 years old, and then shit hits the fan.
Turns out Yashida was actually the head of a family that takes cues from the Borgias - they're a bunch of scheming liars and all want a piece of the old man's empire. And by a piece, I mean the entire thing.
Wolverine is tasked with protecting Yashida's granddaughter, Mariko, who seems to be the only decent family member of the dynasty.
Seriously, just look at her dad's expression in the background.
It seems like the filmmakers were trying to capture the lightning in the bottle that was Wolverine's cameo in X-Men: First Class, and for the most part they succeed. Wolverine is significantly more likable in this incarnation and has regained his sardonic wit from the first X-Men films.
An earlier attempt to make Wolverine more likable.
The supporting cast does an admirable job, despite the fact most of their screen time is just spent looking villainous. Wolverine's new "sidekick," Yukio (Rila Fukushima) is surprisingly not annoying and was compelling enough to leave me wanting to see her character developed more.
Actually, her fringe really annoyed me.
The villains of the film are almost cartoonishly evil and seemed to have powers that relied on deus ex machina rather than complex things like "logic" or even "consistency."
While the plot twist was painfully obvious to me, the machinations of various other characters had me second-guessing myself enough to hold my attention.
Totally not a baddie, you guys.
The action is great and the fight scene on the top of a bullet train was actually amazing. From what I saw of the trailers, I expected the scene to be contrived and dull, but it turned out to be well designed and choreographed.
The Wolverine also does what no other X-Men film has done, and that is giving an element of danger to the combat. Not only is Wolverine stuck protecting somebody who isn't a mutant, he also finds himself unable to use his impressive healing factor, making fight scenes all that more interesting.
I think know way too much about Hugh Jackman's dental work,
thanks to The Wolverine and Les Miserables. So that's something.
Using Japan as a setting was an ingenious choice and handled tastefully. The locale was exotic and unfamiliar enough to intrigue me, but Wolverine never once lit some incense or meditated or anything as cheesy as all that.
Despite being an X-Men film, there's not really that much distinguishing it from other action movies. There are only a few passing references to The Last Stand and there are only two other mutants in The Wolverine - not that that's a bad thing, per say, it just doesn't have the same feeling as the other films in the franchise.
Although, Wolverine does fight ninja.
The Wolverine is a solid film and infinitely better than the last endeavour lead by old Bladehands McSideburnface. I had this awful sinking feeling for the first hour and kept waiting for the film to jump the shark, but the moment never came.
It's not brilliant, but it sets up Days of Future Past...so think of it as Iron Man 2.
So a new trailer for Avatar: The Legend of Korra launched this week at the San Diego Comicon and it looks pretty amazing.
The Avatar franchise (shut up James Cameron) is probably one of my favourite animated series in recent years. With the second season of the second series being released in September on Nickelodeon, now seems like a good time to explain why I like it so much.
Quentin Tarantino has perfected his craft of making an exploitation film in his most recent venture, Django Unchained.
Tarantino continues the tirade against the racists and bigots he started in his Nazi exploitation piece Inglourious Basterds, this time aiming at slave traders in the Deep South of the USA.
Django (Jamie Foxx) is a slave in the mid 1800s, being transported across the country for sale. About half way through their journey, the convoy is stopped by a traveler who offers to buy Django. Vexed by the traveler's fancy words and offended by the way he speaks politely to the slaves, the slavers try to get rid of the traveler by force. This ends badly when the traveler kills one slaver and severely maims the other.
Turns out, the traveler is one Dr King Schultz (Christopher Waltz), a bounty hunter who wants to use Django to identify a trio of outlaws. During their travels, Django quickly adapts to the hunter's life and a friendship begins to blossom between the two men, with the former slave telling Schultz he wants to find his wife.
This film is everything you expect from the crew who created Pineapple Express, Superbad, and Knocked Up - for better or for worse.
This Is The End feels like a movie you'd make with your friends one night at a really wild party. You get a bunch of insane ideas, make a bunch of in-jokes, and generally have a great time while using an extremely vague narrative to tenuously hold everything together. The only difference is, these guys have the cash to turn that into a blockbuster.
It's only $2...wait...HOW DID I SPEND ALL THE MONEY?
One of the things that I wanted to do with this blog was to not be limited by any one medium - films may be my forte, but I have opinions on loads of things! Why shouldn't I have a go at talking about things like video games?
That being said, I'm not the biggest gamer in the world. I don't know if I'm a "filthy casual," but I find I don't have the dedication to sink the hours needed to complete a game quickly enough to pump out a timely review.
The Steam Summer Sale is about midway through and I thought this would be a perfect moment to buy a load of cheap, smaller games.
Guillermo del Toro's giant robots vs giant monsters film, Pacific Rim, is a BDM - a Big Dumb Movie.
Let me preface this review by saying I desperately wanted to like Pacific Rim. I avoided promo materials, interviews, and even trailers where I could. I wanted to go in as clean and without expectation as I could.
It didn't help.
It's a couple of decades in the future and an interdimensional portal has opened up at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. Through said portal come huge beasts, which proceed to do what huge celluloid beasts do and go to town on the puny humans'...towns.
Whenever you hear people talking about Batman these days, the majority will know him as a sour, determined man with an industrial-grade scowl - that image was popularised by Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns.
An animated adaptation of the 1986 comic book story arc was released in two parts, the first late in 2012 and the second at the start of 2013.
Being only vaguely familiar with the source material, The Dark Knight Returns was a shockingly grim look at the Batman world, but nevertheless an enjoyable one.
The year is 20Unspecified and Batman hasn't been seen for 10 years. Things have gone straight to hell in Gotham City without the Caped Crusader to keep crime under control.
Bruce Wayne (SPOILER, BRUCE WAYNE IS BATMAN) is now 55 and attempting to live his life without being Batman, ostensibly by finding a "good death." Not a particularly bright outlook from the get-go, really.
It's refreshing to see one of Batman's origin stories told not entirely from the perspective of the eponymous hero.
Batman: Year One was released in 2011and follows a storyline that has been around in DC comics for a long time - the first year the Dark Knight donned the mantle and started fighting crime.
Those familiar with Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins will see more than a few similarities between the two films, albeit Year One has a dramatically reduced runtime.
Forget everything you think you know about what happens in the story of Evangelion, because Rebuild 3.0 - You Can (not) Redo takes things in a radically different direction.
Evangelion is probably one of the most influential anime series of the last two decades. Originally aired in 1995 under the name "Neon Genesis Evangelion," the story focuses on a post-apocalyptic Japan. 15 years ago an event called the "Second Impact" happened, melting polar ice caps and summoning giant monsters called Angels. The monsters proceed to do what giant monsters do best, and ruin things.
The protagonist of the story is one Shinji Ikari, a 14-year-old who is called to Tokyo by his mysterious father. Turns out Dad is the leader of a military taskforce, called NERVE, and is dedicated to eliminating the Angels. NERVE's weapon of choice are giant robots called Eva, and Shinji has been volunteered as the newest pilot.
Now this summary probably doesn't do the series the justice it deserves, but Neon Genesis was probably the series that first introduced me to the medium and it stands out as a shining beacon among so much rubbish.
You Can (not) Redo is the third instalment in the Rebuild of Evangelion series, a collection of four movies ostensibly recreating the 24-episode TV series.
I use the word "ostensibly" because until this film the series had only a few minor inconsistencies - barring the end of the second movie.
This film takes place 14 years after the end of the You Can (not) Advance, opening with Eva pilots Asuka Shinikami and Mari Makinami battling what appear to be Angels in space.
Director Zack Snyder has worked his very specific brand of movie magic on what happens to be the biggest character in comic book history, Superman.
Man Of Steel is a polarising film. You will either be in awe of the stunning visuals, or you'll find yourself tiring - tiring of the slow pace of the first half and then tiring even more quickly of the endless action slog that is the second half.
For the most part, I found myself in the first category.
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