My Thoughts on the Oscars 2016

Howdy people of the world, today is the day after the Oscars has come and gone so I feel like voicing my opinion about the whole thing in a brief manner because why not? 😀

I said to myself that I wasn’t going to watch the Oscars this year, I wasn’t that invested in most of these films and felt like it wouldn’t be worth my time, but believe that when the time for the Oscars started rolling in around 1:30am over here in the UK I was totally got online to watch it, and while I didn’t see everything, it was certainly a good session.

From what I remembered it was a good watch, unlike a lot of the recent Oscars, this one felt fairly swift, award speeches, sketches and videos were keep short and the overall show didn’t drag and that was great. Chris Rock I also believe was a great host, the dude was super charismatic, charming, funny and everything you’d expect, but most importantly he was able to ride the line between being hilarious but also addressing the more serious issues in relation to the controversy involving the lack in diversity when it came to the nominated films and actors. I also really enjoyed the comedy sketches that he did especially the parody of The Martian and Joy, and the point where he asked several black people about the Oscar-nominated films really highlighted how out of touch the average/casual film goer is especially when it comes to people who’re black. I also really liked seeing Chadwick Boseman and Chris Evans together (yeah I’m hyped for Civil War :D), Daisy Ridley and Dev Patel, oh and Louis C.K. he was so hilarious especially his line about Mad Max winning another award. And I also have to show love for Kevin Hart, once again he was not only funny, but he also handled the “Oscars so White” situation well with the appropriate amount of seriousness and positivity as well, that man knows what’s up. But one of the best moments for me was the appearance C-3PO, R2-D2 and BB-8 taking to the stage, it may have been a throwaway scenes for some, but considering my love for Star Wars it was great to see these lot together.

As for the award winners I was happy with most of them, but some stood out more than others. Here’s the main winners I was happy about was:

• Leonardo DiCaprio Winning Best Actor: This was it, this was the main award I was looking forward to, I really wanted to Leo to win this because the dude’s fought so hard over the last few years and after all that madness he went through acting on The Revenant this had to be his time, and it felt like a victory not only for him but for all of his fans too. I really liked his speech, he seemed so grateful and gracious and his speech while a little long, it was important and needed to be said.
• Brie Larson Wins Best Actress: After I saw Room I knew this girl was my first choice for best actress and I just hoped the academy would see sense and give her the Oscar and luckily that came to pass. Larson’s speech was perfect as it was short and yet acknowledge a great deal of people.
• Ex Machina Wins Visual Effects: This was the biggest surprise, of all the awards this could be one of my favourite outcomes. I seriously thought this film had no chance considering the titans it was up against (Star Wars, Mad Max, The Martian), but it really did show that the academy appreciated the most subtle and unique approaches to visual effects, and Ex Machina had some of the finest realism applied to robots in the longest time.
• Alicia Vikander Wins Best Supporting Actress: While I still haven’t seen The Danish Girl, I’ve heard nothing but amazing things about her performance in that film and I’m glad that she got the award.

The full list of winners can be found here: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/29/movies/oscar-winners.html?_r=0

The only award I was gutted about was Best Supporting Actor, I would have loved for Mark Ruffalo, Tom Hardy or Sly Stallone to win, however, it went to Mark Rylance for Bridge of Spies, and while Rylance was good in the film, I don’t think he was really as emotionally engaging as the other actors I mentioned. I really wanted Ruffalo or Stallone to win considering how amazing their performances were, but alas it wasn’t to be. Oh and I guess I should be happy about Mad Max: Fury Road getting so many awards, 6 in total including the technical ones, though I was gutted to see that The Force Awakens got nothing though.

In conclusion the 2016 Oscars was a good turn out, I was happy for most of the winners including Leo DiCaprio and Brie Larson and with the awareness of the lack of diversity this year I can only hope that things will improve when the awards season swing around next year.

So what do you think of this year’s Oscars? Did these films deserve to win or not? If you watched it this year did it live up to your expectations or were you disappointed? Leave your comments below and I’ll catch ya later. 😀

 

ONE PARAGRAPH REVIEW: Triple 9

Howdy people, today I’m back to give you another single paragraph review and it will be on the Triple 9. If you’ve read this blog for at least just over a month or since January last year, then you would be aware of how much I was looked forward to this film and even after the reviews I saw were average, I wanted to see for myself. So without further ado here we go:

If I were to describe Triple 9 in one word it would be disappointed. Dear god, it hurts me that this film turned out the way that it did because it had the potential to be so much more, when I heard about this film I got so hyped; the genre and premise intrigued me, the cast was insane and the trailers got me SO hyped up, but this was definitely a case of the anticipation outweighing the viewing experience. So what’s wrong with Triple 9? Well there’s a lot of things, but the key elements came down to the story, length and characters, none of it was nearly as compelling or engaging as a thriller film should be. There was all of the regular codes and conventions with of a crime film with questionable moral and ethical choices, betrayal, tension and danger, but it was handled in the least interesting manner. I found that the film had moments of fun, action and good tension, but it was hidden within a story that felt so lacking in charisma and style, around halfway through I stopped caring what was happening, and when the key aspect of this film eventually went down, I felt like it was a little too late. As for the cast, the performances were solid for the most part but none of them were overly impressive. It did hurt that several cast members were wasted especially when it came to Aaron Paul and Norman Reedus, Gal Gadot and Teresa Palmer felt completely insignificant and while I enjoyed seeing Kate Winslet as Irina Vlaslov, I felt like more could have been done to flesh her out and give her more personality. Casey Affleck was alright as Chris Allen, but he felt so dull in this role, Anthony Mackie did his best as Marcus Atwood but I didn’t like his character and Michael K. Williams’ appearance in this film was unexpected, and yet quite interesting to watch. The most interesting characters were Michael Belmont and Jorge Rodriguez played by Chiwetel Ejiofor and Clifton Collins, Jr., these two felt the most fleshed out and interesting, but it was mainly down to their acting than anything else. In the end Triple 9, damn, besides some cool action sequences and moments of interest with certain character moments, but the dull story, bad pacing and uninteresting characters made for a dull and sleep-filled experience.

So that was my review, have you seen Triple 9 and if so what did you think of it? Please leave your comments below and I’ll see ya on the next review, laters! 😀

 

ONE PARAGRAPH REVIEW: Trumbo

Howdy people, today I’m back to give you another single paragraph review and it will be on the Trumbo. Last time I tried this was when I reviewed Pain & Gain and while I could say loads about this film, for the sake of time and efficiency I wanted to keep things concise. So without further ado here we go:

Trumbo was a really good film, it was insightful and emotional, and had some absolutely stellar performances from the cast. This story about Dalton Trumbo and the other writers who got blacklisted for being communists was very engaging and fascinating. I’ve never been too good at following the intricate details of politics in films as some of the minor details or technical jargon gets lost on me, but this film did well to illustrate the complexities of having different political views during that time period and how it effected not only the people actively involved, but their families and friends as well. And what really impressed me was the way the subject of communism was handled, whether it were Trumbo and his associates fighting for their beliefs or the way the government or anti-Soviet Hollywood elites did everything in their power to shut the movement down, there was a lot conspiracy, hatred, betrayal and suffering, and this film showed both sides of the argument in a detailed and dramatic way. As previously mentioned the performances were fantastic and for me were the real meat of the film, Bryan Cranston continues to prove he can do no wrong as he gave such a brilliant performance as Dalton Trumbo, Cranston’s emotional versatility, charisma and great delivery of lines makes some of the heated or emotional scenes resonate so much more. Helen Mirren as Hedda Hopper was the most surprising as this role was fairy mean and antagonistic and yet she did so very, very well and Michael Stuhlbarg who I love to see in films wa just incredible as Edward G. Robinson, Stuhlbarg I’ve noticed acts a lot through his face and he did it so well in this film. Diane Lane was also great as Cleo Fincher Trumbo, Louis C.K. also impressed me with his dramatic material as Arlen Hird, Elle Fanning was fabulous as Nikola Trumbo, I always love seeing Alan Tudyk and did really well as Ian McLellan Hunterand, and anytime John Goodman shows up in a film I’m happy and he was great as Frank King. In conclusion Trumbo was a really impressive film that despite some pacing and length issues was a great watch.

So that was my review, have you seen Trumbo and if so what did you think of it? Please leave your comments below and I’ll see ya on the next review, laters! 😀

 

QUICK REVIEW: Concussion

Good day to you ladies and gents time for another film review and today I’ll be talking about Concussion. After so much time of waiting I got to watch it last night after a long day at work, and I’m glad to be finally talking about this film because I’ve been looking forward to it for so long.

The story can be described as the following:

“In Pittsburgh, accomplished pathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu uncovers the truth about brain damage in football players who suffer repeated concussions in the course of normal play.”

What this film did well was to illustrate the dangers of playing American football and show the long-term psychological effects it could have on the players, through Dr. Bennet Omalu’s research and conversations with various other important figures, the informed and engaged you about the game of football and really helped create a compelling, disturbing and dramatic look at the brain damage that players went through. Another element that worked well in the film’s favour was the NFL’s attack on Omalu, it was intriguing to see such a massive company go out of their way to discredit and ruin the man’s career because his research could expose their negligence when it came to the safety of their players. There was also a heavy focus on Omalu’s personal life and while certain elements were interesting, I felt like the focus should have been more on the NFL’s side of things and his battle with them. If this film had struck a balance between Omalu’s life and the NFL’s dealings with him with a more conspiracy and emotional material then this story could have been so much more.

The cast was great across the board with a fabulous central performance from Will Smith as Dr.Bennet Omalu. I thought that the accent would be distracting, but after a while I really got into it and for a good 80% to 90% of the film I didn’t see Smith and saw Omalu, and I have to give it to Smith for committing to this role, giving us the great dramatic material that he’s known for, but also giving us I think the most subdued performance he’s done for a long time. Albert Brooks and Alec Baldwin both provide some really great performances as Dr. Cyril Wecht and Dr. Julian Bailes. Gugu Mbatha-Raw was also great as Prema Mutiso, and if was great to see Eddie Marsan as Dr. Steven DeKosky as well. And finally David Morse as Mike Webster, such a great performance from him, this character was pretty pivotal to the film and Morse played him with such dramatic flair and sensitivity.

In conclusion Concussion was a pretty solid film with an interesting story and some excellent performances from everyone involved especially Will Smith, unfortunately I feel like there was some missed opportunities to dive deeper into CTE issue with other players and how the NFL had to deal with the issue once it became more recognisable. The film was still solid and deserves to be seen for the story and performances.

Rating: 7.5/10

So have you seen Concussion and if so what did you think of it? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below and I’ll see you on the next review, laters! 😀

 

QUICK REVIEW: Room

Howdy people of the internet, time for a review that I’ve been wanting to do for a while now, today I finally get to talk about Room. Now before this film came out in the UK, there was so much buzz around this film for its incredible story and performances, but when I saw the trailers I had no clue what the film was about, and normally if a film can’t give me a feel for what I’m gonna what beforehand it’d be a hard sell. But after so much positive word of mouth from certain online film shows and people that I know, I decided to see what was up, and now I’m gonna pass judgement.

The story can be described as the following:

“After five-year-old Jack and his mother escape from the enclosed surroundings that Jack has known his entire life, the boy makes a thrilling discovery.”

This film was quite captivating because of the sheer concept of what took place, from start to finish it was an engaging and dramatic experience. Now I find it a little hard to talk about this film without discussing spoilers because it is those details that reveal this story’s brilliance in the mystery, tension and discovery of key elements as to why I liked this film, but I’m going to be as vague as possible. What this film did well was paint a picture of an incredibly strange scenario, which as the film went on, you discovered just how complicated and difficult it was for this mother and son to operate within the confines of the room, and how, no matter how hard things got, they needed each other to keep going. There was so much drama emotionally and psychologically, things got pretty melancholy and traumatic, but then there were some humourous and absolutely beautiful moments that made me SO happy as well. I will admit that this film felt very similar to A Place Beyond The Pines or Cast Away where the first half of the film was much more engaging than the latter and people who have seen said films may be able to understand what I mean by that. That’s not to say that the parts beyond the escape was bad, I just had a preference on the earlier half where things were a little more mysterious, difficult and confined.

As for the performances, damn, all I can say is well done to the cast involved especially when it came to Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay. Firstly Brie Larson, talk about a breath-taking performance. Larson played Joy “Ma” Newsome and she was so good as a mother who was doing her best to protect her son physically and mentally, but also having to deal with her own personal issues which came with being a mother and adapting to a life that felt so trapped and dehumanizing. Not to be outdone Jacob Tremblay was insanely talented as Jack Newsome, As usual child actors can fall into one of two categories; pretty good or pretty bad, and luckily Tremblay fell into the former. Jack was a really interesting character as we got to see him adapt and learn about the world from a very different way that most kids grow up, and we see a lot of the film through his eyes (kind of like Rugrats), and learning about how he interprets things, what should and shouldn’t be done and seeing the strong bond he had to his mother so was fascinating. Seeing Joan Allen again was great as she did a fine job as Nancy Newsome, her scenes with Jack and Joy were some of the most powerful moments in the film, and it was also interesting to see William H. Macy as Robert Newsome, his character was good and had some interesting moments in the film too. Sean Bridgers as Old Nick was very good and Tom McCamus was also great as Leo.

In conclusion Room was a very interesting, dramatic and thought-provoking experience that had absolutely stellar performances from the leads Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay, and a story that was very compelling to watch. I now see why so many people were talking about this film during its main release in the US and while it isn’t my favourite of the Oscar-nominated films of this year, it certainly is in the top three and I wish it nothing but luck at the Oscars.

Rating: 8/10

So have you seen Room and if so what did you think of it? Be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments below and I’ll see ya on the next review, laters! 😀

 

QUICK REVIEW: The Finest Hours

Howdy people, feels like ages since I’ve done a film review fresh from the cinema, but since my plans got changed last night I had some free time and decided to check out The Finest Hours. Now this was a film I was looking forward to because of not only the amazing true life story it was based on but also because of the cast. I saw the reviews were okay, but I still wanted to see what it was like for myself, and that I’ve seen it I’m ready to pas judgement!

So the story can be described as the following:

” The Coast Guard makes a daring rescue attempt off the coast of Cape Cod after a pair of oil tankers are destroyed during a blizzard in 1952.”

So here’s the thing about The Finest Hours, it was great when it was primarily focused on the seaman of the oil tanker and their attempts to survive and the eventual rescue mission conducted by the Bernie and his crew. I really did enjoy the moments with the crew of the SS Pendleton, their situation was very scary and dangerous and this film did well to illustrate tension, fear and hopelessness within the crew members but also demonstrate the near impossibility of their survival. But when the story was shifted from the sea to Miriam and her ongoing concerns for her fiance or anything going on with the characters on land, that’s when the film got uninteresting. Near the start of the film we get to see the start of Bernie and Miriam’s relationship and it was cute and fine, but unfortunately as the film went on it became more of a hinderance on the story than a compelling part of it. And while I understood the need to show the story from the perspective of the friends and family of the men stranded at sea, it wasn’t as interesting as I’d hoped and a fair amount of the story felt a little formulaic when it comes to these “based on true events” kind of film.

As for the cast they were pretty solid but there were performances that stood out more than others. For me the stand outs were Chris Pine as Bernard “Bernie” Webber and Casey Affleck as Ray Sybert. These two characters are given the most amount of screen time and have the most engaging and relevant effects on the story, plus their performances were really solid. I enjoyed the tenacity of Webber, while Sybert’s knowledge and level headedness in the face of adversity was nice to see. As for Holliday Grainger as Miriam Pentinen Webber, I did enjoy her performance as she was cute, yet determined and concerned for her fiance, but unfortunately the character became more annoying than anything else. I also enjoyed Ben Foster as Richard Livesey, John Ortiz was good as Wallace Quirey and I really liked Graham McTavish as Frank Fauteux, and it was good to see Keiynan Lonsdale from The Flash in this film as Eldon Hanan. And finally it’s always good to see Eric Bana around and while he was decent as Chief Warrant Officer Daniel Cluff was alright

The presentation was one of the stronger elements of this film. Visually this film looked great with an awesome sense of scale, good lighting and detail for the action sequences when the ship was falling apart or when the rescue boat was pushing through the crashing waves of the ocean. And the film score by Carter Burwell had some moments of beauty in some of the dramatic or uplifting scenes, but I felt like it wasn’t dramatically well-matched with what was happening on-screen of numerous occasions.

In conclusion The Finest Hours was decent film with good special effects and solid story material out at sea, however, with too much time dedicated to Bernie’s fiance and a lack of emotional depth, it missed the chance to be more than an average historic film.

Rating: 6/10

So have you seen The Finest Hours and if so what did you think of it? Be sure to leave your thoughts below and I’ll see you on the next review, laters! 😀

 

What I’m Currently Watching #19

Howdy ladies and gents, and after a good few weeks off I would like to welcome you back to What I’m Currently Watching where I give you a tiny update on what TV-based stuff I’m watching and give mini reviews/impressions on them. This is the 19th week and I have to mention that I only watched two shows this week, and I got pretty giddy about Agent Carter so those episode reviews will be a little on the long side. With that out of the way let’s talk about some TV! 😀 Oh and careful for spoilers and bad language below…

Agent Carter (Season 2) “Life of the Party” & “Monsters”

Well fuck me, episode 6 of Agent Carter entitled “Life of the Party” was some damn good stuff with Dottie Underwood on the loose and Whitney Frost becoming all-powerful. This episode was about revealing secrets, uneasy alliances and making tough moral decisions. There was so much to love about this episode and I could talk about it for ages, but since this is a condensed review I’ll try my best to highlight my favourite aspects of the episode. A fair amount of stuff took place in this episode with Wilkes devising a plan to make himself whole again, Peggy requiring Dottie’s helps to obtain Zero Matter from Whitney, Whitney taking over the council and Jack Thompson having to turn against Peggy in order to ensure not only his loyalty to Vernon Masters, but also secure the safety of his career. I also liked how this episode addressed Peggy and Sousa’s subtle/not so subtle feelings for each other because of Violet’s discovery last week, it was clear that there’s still hope for these two and Wilkes can see that he’s now part of a love triangle, oh yeah! Let’s quickly talk about the return of Dottie, oh man I’ve been waiting to see this firecracker return and she was brought back in such a great way because of Peggy’s injury, and it was awesome to see these characters face-to-face with the witty dialogue and knowing how each other works, so when Dottie attempted to escape, Peggy knew beforehand to catch her later on or when Dottie was on infiltration duty she knew how to be crafty and get lost while with Jarvis. I loved Dottie’s interaction with Jarvis and Wilkes and Bridget Regan just kills it with her energy and charm. Oh and Whitney, man she had an important arc in the story this week, I knew Calvin was setting her up before the council meeting, I just didn’t know what he’d do, but after demonstrating her abilities Calvin had men try to choke her out from a distance, but then she literally sucked them up, killed her hubby and half the council members! Shit, she wasn’t playing around anymore and left a few key members around as her new henchmen to assume power as the new leader in town and I loved it SO much, oh and what the hell is Whitney doing with a chained up Dottie in that box!?! MYSTERIOUS!

And then we go from one damn good episode to another. Episode 7 “Monsters“ has to be noted for one key factor; Whitney Frost got to Dottie Underwood! Vernon was playing interrogator and Dottie wasn’t having any of it, she was too tough, but Whitney came in, grabbed Dottie and filled her with Zero Matter and then got her to not only talk, but we saw her break. As witnessed in last season, Dottie’s one of the woman from the Black widow program and she’s tough as nails to a ridiculous degree, but what Whitney did was install fear into Dottie, the look of shock and desperation in Dottie’s face was surprising and incredible. The woman even shed a tear, I didn’t think Dottie was capable of that! Besides that beautiful moment, this episode was filled with a lot of good stuff with Vernon Masters being a crafty bastard, Wilkes finally becoming whole again and Whitney Frost learning about Wilkes’ connection to Zero Matter and eventually stealing him. I once again loved how this episode addressed Peggy’s love life and brought to light that she now has two men chasing after her affections and she didn’t know how to deal with it. Having Peggy and Jarvis going to find Dottie only for their plan to fail and get captured was pretty funny. I also enjoyed the witty banter between Peggy and Dottie as they were escaping, the fact that poor Sousa mysteriously got beat up by masked men, but then got relieved from his position as head of the LA division of the SSR by Vernon or that Whitney’s made plans, asserted her dominance over other people and discovered new things about Zero Matter and Wilkes. That speech she gave about the reason why Wilkes was hired and the tough realities that women and black people faced at that period of time felt not only appropriate but powerful too. Oh and finally poor Ana, she was literally in the wrong place at the wrong time, and while I appreciated her trying to do the right thing by confronting Whitney, the woman got shot and you could see that it broke Jarvis. That final moment with him and Peggy together in the hospital spoke volumes about their friendship and the pain of their current situation.

Star Wars Rebels (Season 2) “Homecoming”

This week’s episode of Rebels was pretty solid, not a great episode but I liked it. It was night to see another episode dedicated to Hera and giving her some development in terms of her aiding her home planet Ryloth and dealing with her father, Cham Syndulla. I’ve always been a fan of family conflicts and it was interesting to learn about Her’s history with her father and Cham’s reasons for doing what he did and why he and Hera had their differences, but ultimately still wanted the same thing; to be heroes and safe people in need. There were a few individual good moments I did enjoy like Kanan adjusting himself before meeting Cham or Her and Cham’s conversation where Hera reverted into her father’s accent or the point when Kanan and Ezra were throwing each other with the Force during the action sequence. I will admit the episode did have a lot of familiar story and character moments when it came to ulterior motives and then having him and Hera make up towards the end of the episode despite years of pain,

Well that’s what I’ve been watching. So have you seen or plan to watch any of these shows? If you have any thoughts be sure to drop a comment below and let me know what TV shows you’re currently watching  too. Until next time, laters! 😀

 

QUICK REVIEW: Daredevil Season 2 Trailer #1 (Part 1)

Howdy people of the internet, so yesterday the first official trailer for season 2 of Netflix’s Daredevil dropped online and needless to say a lot of comic book fans lost their minds. With the recent release of Deadpool, the awesome final trailer for Batman v Superman and now this, it has been a great time for fans.

Check out the trailer below:

This trailer, ah man it makes me so giddy!

Watching Daredevil last year was one of my favourite TV experiences of 2015 and waiting for season 2 has been so agonising especially after it was announced that Punisher and Elektra would be joining the show. So we had that teaser trailer back near the start of January which only showed snippets of new footage, but with this trailer we got a much better look at what to expect and I’m SO hyped!

Frank Castle aka Punisher looks like he’ll be so frigging badass. This trailer gives us introduction of Punisher into this world, how he functions and how he’ll be a difficult foe for Daredevil to take out. Punisher looks like a lethal assassin stepping into Hell’s Kitchen and leaving a trail of bodies in his wake, he’s clearly Daredevil except much hardcore and hearing some of his quotes highlights how dangerous he is, stuff like “You’re a half measure” “You know you’re one bad day from being me.” and my personal favourite “You hit them and they get back up, I hit them and they stay down!” Oh lord, scary words being spoken there. Jon Bernthal right now looks like he’s gonna kill it in this role and I hope that it leads to a Punisher TV show as we need some of this beautiful madness.

But this trailer isn’t just about Punisher, we get to see Matt Murdock again and this trailer highlights that he has challenges to deal with Karen and Foggy, but also with confronting Punisher and realising how lethal and relentless he is. Looks like Matt’s gonna get messed up fighting Punisher with these brief glimpses of mortal combat going on. I also enjoyed the brief shots of some of my favourite secondary characters Father Lantom and Brett Mahoney, seeing Claire Temple again is great, Karen and Foggy look good too. But the most interesting is the appearance of Elektra just at the end of the trailer, she looks very calm, cool and happy to see Matt even though he’s more surprised/aggressive towards her. I hope that in the second trailer we get to see more of her and her combat skills too.

In conclusion season 2 of Daredevil is looking so cool and I need this in my system possibly more than any of piece of comic book stuff coming out in the near future. It looks dark, tense, bloody and violent and I CAN’T WAIT. I need it now!

So are you hyped for Daredevil season 2? Leave your thoughts in the comments below and I’ll see ya on the next review, laters! 😀

 

What I’m Currently Watching #18

Howdy ladies and gents, and welcome to What I’m Currently Watching where I give you a tiny update on what TV-based stuff I’m watching and give mini reviews/impressions on them. This is week 18th and I apologize for leaving this post so late but I’ve been a little on the busy side this week so I’ll only be talking about three shows today. With that out of the way let’s talk about some TV! 😀 Oh and careful for spoilers below…

Agent Carter (Season 2) “The Atomic Job”

Agent Carter at this point I can’t recommend enough, I really love this show now. Things are starting to escalate a little with Whitney Frost wanting to set off an atomic bomb to make use of her Zero Matter powers and Peggy assembling a team to stop her. Having Peggy have a team for the Roxxon break was great because it allowed for more of an interesting dynamic beyond her already fun adventures with Jarvis and more recently Sousa too, I’ve liked the way Rose has been used in this season so far with a little more interaction with Peggy and Sousa, but man she seriously kicked ass in this episode. Who knew she was fighter or that she was such a good flirt/manipulator of men? That woman was crafty! And even an inconsequential character like Samberly got to step into the field and show off his gadgets and skills. Other things I liked was the fact that Calvin was starting to stand up for himself, but was still put back in his place by Whitney who clearly is enjoying her new abilities, seeing Peggy get impaled was horrible, but it did allow Violet to patch Peggy up and then realise that even though she wanted to marry Sousa before, she’s not dumb and could see that Sousa still had feelings for Peggy (oooooo relationship drama). This may be my favourite episode so far, or at be my favourite when it came to the humour. From Jarvis and Peggy discussing possible infiltration techniques for Roxxon that all ended in death to Peggy constantly zapping Hugh Jones while trying to find his key to seeing the strange yet interesting interactions between Rose and Samberly were fun, oh and how good was the slow motion walk scene with Peggy and her crew. 😀 This episode just had a lot of everything and so many moments just made me want to laugh or smile.

The Flash (Season 2) “Welcome to Earth-2”

Man I really liked week’s episode of The Flash and it might be my favourite of the season so far. It was so strange, different and awesome with Barry, Cisco and Harrison Wells travelling to the much-talked about Earth-2. Seeing all of the subtle similarities and many differences for all of the current and past characters from the prime Earth was so cool and interesting. I loved the use of Killer Frost and Firestorm, learning about Reverb and seeing his interaction with Cisco was amazing, and having Barry live the life of his Doppelganger and discovering the differences in his life with Iris, Joe, the police station and his mother lead to some funny and emotion moments. This episode had a lot of the best sci-fi elements that Iove when it comes to futuristic worlds and cause and effect, oh and towards the end with Zoom showing up and once again establishing his dominance by killing Reverb, Firestorm and capturing Barry, shit, totally surprised by that and can’t wait to see how Barry will escape.

Star Wars Rebels (Season 2) “The Call”

This week’s episode of Rebels was good and much more entertaining than last week. I liked that this was another episode where the Ghost crew in a tight spot with them cold, lacking many options and close-to-death due to their lack of energy for their starship. But I also liked how this was an episode that focused on the use of the Force and made those moments between Ezra and the Purrgill special and kind of magical/supernatural, and once again reinforces that Ezra is a strong individual with the Force (probably more foreshadowing for later events). Even though I love Hera, I did find her pessimism towards the Purrgill a little annoying, I mean sure she explained her reasoning later on but it was a little frustrating to see that she had no faith in Ezra’s instincts.

Well that’s what I’ve been watching. So have you seen or plan to watch any of these shows? If you have any thoughts be sure to drop a comment below and let me know what TV shows you’re currently watching  too. Until next time, laters! 😀

 

Revisiting The Matt Damon Bourne Films

Howdy ladies and gents, now after seeing the getting super excited for 30 second teaser for Jason Bourne, I thought it would be a good time to revisit that awesome trilogy of films from 2002 to 2007. I love these films so much, however I’ve only watched them 2 or 3 times each so I thought it’d be fun to see if my opinions have changed or remained the same since my last viewing. Minor spoilers follow!

The Bourne Identity

I’ve never been more fascinated and engaged with a film than with the intro of this one. Having Bourne found in the ocean with bullets in his back and no memory of who he was. Slowly but sure this film starts to give small details, small pieces of a bigger puzzle and the story just becomes more intriguing and engaging. The main story surrounding Jason Bourne’s amnesia and his search for answers is so compelling because he’s a blank slate at the beginning, but then learn that he’s travelled a lot in the past, he’s resourceful and has skills that make him look like a human weapon, and it also doesn’t help that he’s hunted by a secret group in the government who want him dead for reasons that become apparent as the film goes on. This film features some of the most interesting and smart story elements that I’ve seen in the spy genre, and sure it’s adapted from a book but it’s an enjoyable film regardless. I also really enjoy the action which is slick, well-edited and choreographed when it came to the fight scenes and there’s one car chase which is one of my favourites in film ever.

Oh and of course I really enjoyed the cast Matt Damon kills it as Jason Bourne, he rides a fin balance between being innocent and confused to being a full-on badass who’s in control of every situation. Franka Potente is also great as Marie Helena Kreutz, she’s just an innocent bystander who gets caught up in the madness and yet chooses to stick around because of the dangers around her and her ties to Bourne. Potente and Damon have such nice chemistry and their interaction throughout the film is great. Chris Cooper is awesome as Alexander Conklin, I didn’t remember him being as pivotal to this story, but damn he great to watch because of his intensity and commitment to trying to stop Bourne. Brian Cox is another solid actor as Ward Abbott, also Clive Owen as The Professor, the guy doesn’t say much or show a lot emotion, though when he’s on-screen he’s like a ghost-like Terminator and he has a pretty important scene later on in the film. I don’t think some fans and critics give Identity the respect it deserves in comparison to the sequels, this was a great spy film with mystery, conspiracy, tension and awesome action sequences and director Doug Liman did such a fabulous job at bringing this world to life and creating the foundation of which the next two films would build upon.

The Bourne Supremacy

Even though he wasn’t a complete man, Identity established that Jason Bourne was not someone you wanted to mess with and Supremacy reinforces that with the lengths that Bourne goes to in this second adventure. While the mysteries behind Bourne’s memories are still at the forefront of the story, in it is not the only story elements in play. A CIA operation goes bad and Bourne is framed for it so the government are after him to get answers. The levels of conspiracy go deeper than the first time and there are a lot of moving pieces to this story with Bourne’s past, the CIA and Treadstone, it’s a lot to handle but luckily it is done carefully and effectively, and adds to the history of the government program and Bourne too. This film also got a little more personal and emotional than before, and there are dramatic intense and heartbreaking moments a well. Once again this film shows off Bourne’s assassin skills but to a higher degree than before, here he’s a bit of a tactician, staying a few steps ahead of his enemies in really cool ways, he also displayed pretty badass fight moves and continued to find ways to be invisible and yet still be in plain sight.

The returning cast members are fantastic, Damon continues to be cool, vulnerable and engaging as Bourne, Potente is once again charming, supportive and lovely as Marie Helena Kreutz, Gabriel Mann is also back doing a fine job as Danny Zorn, Julia Stiles while good in the previous film, didn’t have nearly as much to do as she did here as Nicky Parsons takes on a more prominent role providing information and emotional depth. But it’s Brian Cox who steals the show as Ward Abbott, this guy, he has some of the best dialogue and I love how well-informed, suspicious and confident he is because of his history with Treadstone. With the new cast members the only two that really stand out are Karl Urban as Kirill and Joan Allen as Pamela Landy. Urban is a frigging badass here, he’s like Clive Owen’s character from the first film but more cold, ruthless and a bit more personality. And Allen really does so well as Landy, while not well-versed in all of the CIA’s operations, she’s tough, tenacious and ready to take down anyone who’s in her way. I will admit that there are certain elements of Identity that I liked over this film, but overall this film had new level of energy, darker tone and better direction thanks to Paul Greengrass when it comes to the filming of action (minus the shaky cam scenes) and adding intimacy to certain scenes. OH and this film has one of my favourite endings to any film involving a conversation between Bourne and Landy which basically confirms just how badass the man is. I love it. 😀

The Bourne Ultimatum

So here we are with the final entry in this series (until July this year), and it is one hell of an a good ride. From the time the film begins you’re already in the action and from there the film keeps up a fairly swift pace, but also slows down for some of the big reveals later on. Bourne’s always been a pawn in a larger game of chess with the CIA and their actions, and now more than ever this is about finishing the issues that the CIA started. I love the story in this film as things get more complicated and personal with the new mysteries surrounding Bourne’s origins, additional ties to Treadstone and the corruption with the CIA. Just like before there’s a lot of cat and mouse chasing going on in regards to: 1) Bourne hunting someone or 2) The CIA going after someone or 3) The CIA chasing after Bourne. There’s so much mystery, tension and paranoia surrounding these films and this may be the best at highlighting those elements, Ultimatum feels like a great culmination of the last two films with a satisfying conclusion that ties up all of the loose ends. Once again the action scenes are on-point with some incredibly well-choreographed fight scenes which are raw and realistic, there’s also some really great stunt work with some of the car and foot chases, and the amount of destruction that Bourne leaves in his wake in nothing short of incredible. I also have to note how much better the sound effects are than in the previous films as punches, kicks, glass smashing and explosions sound clearer and more distinctive than before. And just like before the film score by John Powell is so brilliant and fuels all of the scenes it’s used in.

The are all on fire and do such fine jobs in this film. Damon pretty much cements his awesomeness as Jason Bourne, here he’s still just as smart, efficient and lethal as before, but he’s also more focused than before to end the all problems and find out what really happened to him. Bourne has now started to come to terms with who he is and who he was and it’s really interesting and compelling to see how he deals with these issues when talking to certain people in some of these great dramatic moments. Stiles’ role once again increases with her return as Nicky Parsons, she has a lot more to do physically but also is very integral to the plot and Bourne’s missions and Stiles does such a fine job in this role. David Strathairn is new on the scene and does such a great job as Noah Vosen, he’s a new player in the CIA and he has his mission and when Bourne becomes a factor we learn how vicious and crafty he can be. Also Joan Allen really shines as Pamela Landy, she takes on more of a Ward Abbot role as she’s the one with experience with Bourne and knows how he operates and helps Vosen with finding Bourne. Landy is great at her job, but is also perceptive and can smell when something’s wrong and in this film we see that she does a moral compass and will break regulation to make sure that things are done correctly. I never even noticed Scott Glenn as Ezra Kramer before, but thanks to Daredevil I’m more aware of his appearances and he did really well as the director of the CIA. Paddy Considine is very good and intruging as Simon Ross, and Albert Finney is really good as Dr. Albert Hirsch. Oh and finally shout out to Daniel Brühl who I never even noticed until who plays Martin Kreutz!

In conclusion this Bourne trilogy of films is one of my favourite series of films and if it weren’t for The Bourne Legacy and the upcoming Jason Bourne, I would have labelled this as one of the most consistent film trilogies. We have some of the finest action, mystery and intrigue, and at the center of all this is a great story involving badass amnesiac who wants to find the truth. After seeing these films again I love them more so than before and my hype for the new film is SO high, I can only hope that this new film will have a story worth telling.

Also tell me what you think of these films in the comments below and I’ll see ya on the next review, laters! 😀