It was a monumental relief to see The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug was a much better movie than its predecessor. That being said, it is a surreal movie, which is a strange thing to say when talking about a bunch of short bearded men going off to fight a dragon.
The newest addition to the LOTR series, which can be now abbreviated to the ridiculous LOTR:TH:TDOS (which sounds like an elven name), picks up not long after the first Hobbit film ended. Would-be dwarven king Thorin (Richard Armitage), his band of misfit dwarven companions and increasingly out-of-his-depth Hobbit Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) continue on their way to the reclaim the lost mountain kingdom of Erebor from a dragon.
If you're anything like me, American Hustle is not the movie you were expecting.
That's not to say it's a bad movie. It's actually quite a good movie with a great cast and a pretty engaging story.
The trouble is, it's billed as basically Ocean's Eleven but set in the 70s. Woooooah, look out, Christian Bale is wearing a hairpiece. Wooooooah, Bradley Cooper has a perm. Lololol.
The reality is that it's closer to a flick called The Bank Job that was released a couple years back. But seeing as nobody actually remembers that movie, this was kind of a dumb point to make.
The 50th Anniversary Special of Doctor Who was an episode of two halves - one was a fairly standard romp with shape-shifting aliens invading from the Elizabethan-era...the other was a monumental tying up of loose ends and creating story hooks with one of the most popular Doctors of all time.
The Day of the Doctor focuses on three incarnations of the Doctor. Matt Smith, the current Doctor. David Tennant, the previous incarnation. And John Hurt, the "lost" in carnation - the War Doctor.
Get ready to bleak it up once again as some teenagers are forced to commit mass murder!
This time, however, the two surviving teenagers from the first movie have to mass murder a bunch of experienced mass murderers instead.
Isn't the "young adult" genre fun?
Catching Fire picks up almost immediately after the end of the first Hunger Games film and spends very little time rehashing or recapping - if you've forgotten something or are inexplicably starting the series at the second film, you're likely to be extremely lost extremely quickly.
I don't think I've come across a series that divided me this much for a long time. I couldn't even finish the first book the first time I picked the series up, but I'm glad I went back and finished the series.
The Broken Empire Trilogy is Prince of Thorns, King of Thorns and Emperor of Thorns and follows the story of ruthless aristocrat Jorg Ancrath and his quest to become emperor.
The cynic in me says the historical drama The Butler with a cast that must have cost a pretty penny (and several ugly ones) is pure, unadulterated Oscar Bait.
Starring Forest Whitaker, The Butler follows the life of Cecil Gaines, an African American doorman, barman and eventually butler to several Presidents of the United States of America.
Out of all the Avengers I think Thor probably has to be my favourite, which is why I was so excited to see the big beardy hammerman get a sequel.
Thor: The Dark World follows directly from The Avengers and beardface's first film, with Thor (Chris Hemsworth) crusading around outer space/the Nine Realms cleaning up after his brother Loki's (Tom Hiddleston) mess.
For those not in the know (which is weird. Who goes to see the sequel of two separate movie franchises without seeing both said movies?) Thor was forced to destroy the main mode of transportation around the Nine Realms at the end of the first Thor film.
I did a review the Nickelodeon's Avatar series a couple of months back saying I was quite excited for the second season of their "Legend of Korra" series.
So far there have been five episodes released, with the sixth "The Sting," to be released tomorrow.
While I have enjoyed it so far, this second season hasn't quite lived up to my hopes.
The main crux of this season is that while Korra, the 16-year-old reincarnation of the spirit of the earth, has mastered her ability to command classical elements (earth, fire, air, water GO PLANET!), she hasn't really got a hold on her role as the medium between the spirit world and the physical world.
I think this might be getting a little bit meta. Jenny Trout is an American author who has a long-held frustration with the 50 Shades series by E.L James. So last year, Trout decided to read the first book and recap each chapter.
I'd never read the series myself, but was still curious due to my girlfriend having read all three books. It was about a month ago when I first heard about Trout's blog on Twitter and decided it might be a less painful experience than actually attempting to read 50 Shades of Grey for myself.
So, this is a review of the recap of a series. I guess. Like I said, it's a bit meta.
First things first, I have a confession to make: I've never read F. Scott Fitzgerald's seminal book. Baz Luhrmann's adaptation of The Great Gatsby was the first time I'd experienced the whole story.
I know, right?
That's not to say I didn't know the narrative or the characters almost intimately. But it's one thing to be told about something, and another to experience it for yourself. And seeing Nick Carraway, Jay Gatsby, and Tom and Daisy Buchanan in glorious 3D was like meeting your friend's friends at an insane party.
"So...How do you know Sanjay?"
"Oh, you're a wanted bootlegger. Cool, cool"
For those of you like me who have never read the book, but also missed out on seeing the theatrical release, The Great Gatsby has been released in the last week.
Think of H.P Lovecraft. Think of Stephen King. Think of every creepy conspiracy theory and/or horror story. Put them all together in one small desert town in rural America, and then add one very droll community radio announcer. Congratulations, that's Welcome To Night Vale.
Created by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor, Welcome To Night Vale focuses on the insane amount of insane things that happen in a town insanely accepting of insanity. It's insane. And I'll tell you why.
Cecil Baldwin is the host of a community radio show in the town of Night Vale. His fortnightly slot usually lasts between 20 minutes and half-an-hour. Cecil covers the usual things you'd expect in a community radio broadcast - traffic, community events, sport, the movements of the mysterious hooded figures in the ominous dog park, and the offerings the secret police are planning to leave to appease the perfect form of material terror. You know, the usual.
For an original sci-fi blockbuster, you absolutely cannot go past Neill Blomkamp's sophomore flick Elysium.
Set roughly 150 years in the future, Earth has turned into a big smelly dust hole. The natural resources have been used up, there's massive overcrowding, and the poverty line is so high that the only people living above it are in space.
Max (Matt Damon) lives in Los Angeles and dreams of getting into Elysium, the giant orbital station on which the world's elite live.
Problem is, he's an ex-crim who works a factory job, which probably doesn't pay particularly well. Also, he ends up getting a full blast of radiation, which as you know, can seriously put a dent in your five-year plan.
There comes a time in everybody's life where they think "hey, I really enjoyed x when I was a kid. I think I'll revisit x as an adult."
For me x represents everything from cartoons like the 90s X-Men Animated Series, to music like Evanescence. (I owned an Evanescence CD when I was younger. Feel free to shun me with the power of a million sons suns. Goddamn it autocorrect.)
No, seriously, I feel ill admitting that.
I gotta go shower or something. Ugh.
Inevitably, however, you will discover one of the things you used to enjoy as a child is, in fact, a big pile of poo.
I call this feeling "nostalgia death" and it is both a terrible and wonderful thing.
Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost have gone closer to their roots with their venture, The World's End, than either of their previous entries into the Blood and Ice Cream Trilogy.
The World's End keeps the references to pop culture coming thick and fast while while delivering a slew of laughs wrapped in a narrative inspired by old genre movies.
It's no surprised I loved The World's End, as it has so many similarities to the late 90s sitcom Spaced, which first introduced the world to the combination of Wright, Frost and Pegg.
It shames me to admit it, but I go hot and cold on reading.
Sometimes I'll be overwhelmed by the desire to sink myself into the world of a book, which can be much more detailed, intense and better-paced than a video game, movie or TV show. Other times, however, I just can't be bothered doing all the work of creating an entire world in my head.
Strangely, I started reading Promise Of Blood, book one of the Powder Mage trilogy, in the middle of the former mindset, and ended in the latter.
By all means, this had nothing to do with book. I purchased it just before flying home to Sydney and read more than half of the novel in a single day - but it took about three months to finish the end of the novel because of reasons.
It's an interesting premise that grabbed me from the start. The aristocracy and monarchy of Adro have been dicking around for ages and the recent king is the most inept to date. The military, run by a guy called Tamas, gets the shits and decides to have a massive coup and instate a democracy. To do this he gathers up crooks, the church, scholars and pretty much everyone who isn't high-born.
The thing is, all of this happens before or at the very start of the book. This isn't some novel focusing on a civil war - it does what only a few (that I've seen) and focuses on the aftermath and the power vacuum created by such a coup.
The setting seems to be in a renaissance period (to me, at least). There are swords, robes, poor conditions for the masses and an active aristocracy mixed in with guns and a feeling of technological advancement. McClellan also injects a fantasy element with three distinct classes of "magic" users - but I'll get to that later.
Most of the story revolves around the neighbouring country, Kez, wanting to invade. Before the novel started, the old king had planned to annex the country to Kez, which then would have imposed taxes and disbanded several groups that had formed in Adro in recent years.
Other elements of the story include an investigator called Adamat, who has a literally perfect memory, looking for a traitor in the midst of Tamas' co-conspirators; and Tamas' son Taniel - a fellow military man who is on the front line of royalist insurgency and is essentially his father's dog.
McClellan has introduced three unique forms of magic so far in Promise of Blood. The "Privileged" who manipulate the elements and are treated as rock stars; the "Knacked" who have small talents (infallible memory, the ability to survive without sleep); and "Powder Mages" who can manipulate gunpowder.
The Powder Mages are by far the most interesting of the three groups, which is not to say the other two aren't interesting. Powder Mages can not only ignite gunpowder, they can sense it, use their abilities to "nudge" projectiles, and even snort/ingest the powder to make themselves stronger, faster and more efficient.
The cocaine parallel was very interesting to me, especially when both Taniel and Tamas start to slip into deep powder trances and have withdrawals from overusing, essentially dancing with an overdose.
Pacing-wise, Promise Of Blood keeps things moving constantly, introducing new elements when not throwing the reading into action-heavy sections.
Adamat's traitor mystery was handled very well, with enough intrigue to keep me guessing at the identity of the traitor. Each character he investigates felt distinct, but lacked enough depth to feel like real people rather than mere character devises. Adamat himself also felt strangely blank to me, but there's plenty of development opportunity for future books.
Tamas' storyline was also engaging, focusing on a soldier trying to deal with the pressures of leadership and "ruling" a country under martial law.
Taniel's "adventure," for want of a better word, had the greatest variety of characters. While that kept things interesting for a short amount of time, many of the characters were forgotten or forgettable - there were times when I'd have to look back to find out which characters were which.
All that aside though, it was an enjoyable read and I recommend it to fans of the fantasy genre.
I have high hopes for the next installment of the series and I hope to see other countries explored and the world expanded upon. One thing I dread is to see the book fall too far into "standard fantasy."
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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