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.
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.
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.
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?"
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.
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.
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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