My Thoughts on the Passing of Bill Paxton

Howdy people of the internet, this is a blog post I didn’t expect to write any time soon. So yesterday the world was made away about the passing of Bill Paxton and there’s been a lot of condolences and beautiful thoughts shared about him from celebrities and fans alike, so I just wanted to share my own thoughts.

So after I left work yesterday evening and was waiting for some fast food I decided to check the internet for some superhero news and then I saw on Comic Book Movie and saw a headline about Bill Paxton passing away at 61 years old. Honestly I thought it was a joke, so I had to check Google straight after and it was confirmed on multiple sites and honestly I got so frigging sad. Now a number people state that getting sad about celebrities that you don’t know is silly/unnecessary, but screw it I can’t help it. Paxton is one of those actors I’ve been aware since I my childhood and while I never really knew who he was specifically until I was a teenager, he’s always been one of those guys you not only knew by face, but also knew he’d deliver a solid performance as well.

I don’t know if I saw him in Aliens or Twister first, but Twister was the film that put him on my radar, I saw that film a good few times when I was younger and as I got older whenever I watched a film with him in it, I’d be like “Hey it’s that dude from Twister, I like that guy.” It wasn’t until 204 when he made a good few appearances in films and TV that he really started to ascend in my favourite actors. And even now going through his filmography, I’ve seen him in a good number of films that I never even knew he was there, and that doesn’t mean he’s invisible, but it just shows how much work he’s done over the decades. We got films like Weird Science, Predator 2, Titanic, Might Joe Young, and even 2 Guns, a film I enjoyed at the time I forgot about his appearance there too.

But my favourite roles were the punk dude from The Terminator, Bill Harding, the leading man from Twister, the stringer Joe Loder from Nightcrawler and one of my favourites, Master Sergeant Farell from Edge of Tomorrow. And then of course you had his appearance as John Garrett from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., say what you want about the Marvel show especially in season 1 but he brought a lot of fun, humour and badassery to Hydra and the show in general.

What really stung about the news of his passing was the fact that I met him. I got to meet him at London Film & Comic-Con in July 2015 a few years ago and he was the nicest dude ever, so kind, welcoming and funny, and getting my picture taken with him was honestly one of the highlights of my life. I look forward to checking out my of his filmography, and though he’s gone he’ll never be forgotten because he was 100% badass.

 

BRIEF THOUGHTS: Oscars 2017 Results

Howdy people of the world, today is the day after the Oscars and like previous years I’m gonna share my thoughts on it.

Now for the last few years I have made a habit of watching the Oscars because as a film fan I naturally gravitate towards award shows especially one as notable as the Annual Academy Awards. But in recent years it has become apparent that a lot of film fans aren’t as invested in the award show or films/people that get nominated whether its down to generic/obvious Oscar bait films or the voters of the academy being too being blind too old or unaware of specific smaller films that deserve attention. Whatever the case is, there’s a been a decrease in the care relating to this award show from what I’ve noticed online. With all that being said, I was in two minds about watching the Oscars, on one hand I’ve been doing it for years so it felt right to continue, but on the other hand I just wasn’t feeling too good after work to try and stay up. In the end I attempted to start watching, but gave up and watched some anime and YouTube stuff instead. I kept up to date with some of the early winners and then fell asleep around 3am.

So unlike previous years I can’t talk about the show as a whole or know how well Jimmy Kimmel did as a host, but what I will do is talk about some of the wins for this year that stood out to me. So here we go:

• Mahershala Ali Winning Best Supporting Actor: Of the people who were nominated for awards of the night, this was not only the one that I saw but also the one that I wast he most happy with. While I haven’t seen Moonlight, I’ve seen the strength of Ali’s acting talents elsewhere and when you take into account Moonlight in addition to Luke Cage and Hidden Figures, the guy had one hell of a year. He’s been around, has done great work and I’m glad he’s being recognised for it. His speech was beautiful and just like his interviews, he’s as humble and cool as ever.
• Zootopia Winning Best Animated Feature: This was something I expected but the same time didn’t. With two Disney films nominated in the same category I knew the outcome would probably come down to these two films, and while I enjoyed Moana a lot, Zootopia was different and was unexpected so I’m happy for its win. However, I REALLY wanted Kubo and the Two Strings to get it, I really loved that film and it would have been great for Laika to get a win for their incredible work.
• Jungle Book Wins Visual Effects: This was almost a given considering how masterfully that film was put together, though I thought it would be tough considering what Deepwater Horizon and Rogue One. But I am happy for the filmmakers, Jungle Book was a technical masterpiece and it deserves the win.
• La La Land and it’s awards: Now for me, La La Land was a really fun time in the cinema, but not this amazing masterpiece that some have made it out to be. So while some of the awards I can understand, some of them I’m not too sure about. Firstly when it comes to Best Cinematography and Best Production Design I can get down with those awards because La La Land was shot so well and some of the set design was really great too. And with Best Original Score and Best Original Song anyone had seen the film knew that this film would clean up, I do like “City of Stars” so I’m happy for that win, but if “You’re Welcome” from Moana had been nominated I would have loved that instead. And there’s Damien Chazelle who I thought a great job with this film so I’m okay with Best Director and with Best Leading Actress I’m happy for Emma Stone, she did really well in the film, however, I unfortunately haven’t seen any of the other leading actress film besides Emma Stone so I’m happy for her win also,

Now I can’t really comment on many of the other departments because I’m not all that interested or haven’t seen the films myself, at this point Moonlight, Fences, Manchester By the Sea, Loving, Hacksaw Ridge and Lion are still on the watch list, so I’ve still got research to do.

The full list of winners can be found here:

Best Picture

• Arrival
• Fences
• Hacksaw Ridge
• Hell or High Water
• Hidden Figures
• La La Land
• Lion
• Manchester By The Sea
• Moonlight (winner)
  

Best Director

• Denis Villeneuve – Arrival
• Mel Gibson – Hacksaw Ridge
• Damien Chazelle – La La Land (winner)
  
• Kenneth Lonergan – Manchester By The Sea
• Barry Jenkins – Moonlight

Best Actor in a Leading Role

• Casey Affleck – Manchester By The Sea (winner)
  
• Andrew Garfield – Hacksaw Ridge
• Ryan Gosling – La La Land
• Viggo Mortensen – Captain Fantastic
• Denzel Washington – Fences

Best Actress in a Leading Role

• Isabelle Huppert – Elle
• Ruth Negga – Loving
• Natalie Portman – Jackie
• Emma Stone – La La Land (winner)
  
• Meryl Streep – Florence Foster Jenkins

Best Supporting Actor

• Mahershala Ali – Moonlight (winner)
  
• Jeff Bridges – Hell Or High Water
• Lucas Hedges – Manchester By The Sea
• Dev Patel – Lion
• Michael Shannon – Nocturnal Animals

Best Supporting Actress

• Viola Davis – Fences (winner)
  
• Naomie Harris – Moonlight
• Nicole Kidman – Lion
• Octavia Spencer – Hidden Figures
• Michelle Williams – Manchester By The Sea

Best Original Screenplay

• Hell or High Water
• La La Land
• The Lobster
• Manchester By The Sea (winner)
  
• 20th Century Women

Best Adapted Screenplay

• Arrival
• Fences
• Hidden Figures
• Lion
• Moonlight (winner)
  

Best Film Editing

• Arrival
• Hacksaw Ridge (winner)
  
• Hell or High Water
• La La Land
• Moonlight

Best Foreign Language Film

• A Man Called Ove – Sweden
• Land Of Mine – Denmark
• The Salesman – Iran
• Tanna – Australia
• Toni Erdmann – Germany

Best Animated Feature

• Kubo and the Two Strings
• Moana
• My Life As A Zucchini
• The Red Turtle
• Zootopia (winner)

Best Cinematography

• Arrival
• La La Land (winner)
• Lion
• Moonlight
• Silence

Best Production Design

• Arrival
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
• Hail, Caesar!
• La La Land (winner)
• Passengers

Best Visual Effects

• Deepwater Horizon
• Doctor Strange
• The Jungle Book (winner)
• Kubo and the Two Strings
• Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Best Make-Up and Hairstyling

• A Man Called Ove
• Star Trek Beyond
• Suicide Squad (winner)

Best Sound Mixing

• Arrival
• Hacksaw Ridge (winner)
  
• La La Land
• Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
• 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi

Best Sound Editing

• Arrival (winner)
• Deepwater Horizon
• Hacksaw Ridge
• La La Land
• Sully

Best Costume Design

• Allied
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (winner)
• Florence Foster Jenkins
• Jackie
• La La Land

Best Original Score

• Jackie
• La La Land (winner)
• Lion
• Moonlight
• Passengers

Best Original Song

• La La Land – Audition
• La La Land – City of Stars (winner)
• Moana – How Far I’ll Go
• Jim: The James Foley Story – The Empty Chair
• Trolls – Can’t Stop the Feeling

Best Documentary Feature

• Fire At Sea
• I Am Not Your Negro
• Life, Animated
• O.J: Made in America (winner)
• 13th

Best Documentary Short

• Extremis
• 4.1 Miles
• Joe’s Violin
• Watani: My Homeland
• The White Helmets (winner)
  

Best Live-Action Short

• Ennemis Intérieurs
• La Femme et le TGV
• Silent Nights
• Sing (winner)
• Timecode

Best Animated Short

• Blind Vaysha
• Borrowed Time
• Pear Cider and Cigarettes
• Pearl
• Piper (winner)

In conclusion the 2017 Oscars wins were partly expected but also not as satisfying as previous years bar a few specific films.

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. 😀

 

PODCAST: Film Focus Episode 26 – Double Review: John Wick: Chapter 2 & The Lego Batman Movie

Howdy ladies and gents of the internet, as some of you may have seen, last year I started a film podcast entitled Film Focus and on this podcast I talk about various topics in film and reviews as well on a biweekly basis. The latest episode of the podcast features a double review for John Wick: Chapter 2 and The Lego Batman Movie. And in case you wondering where episode 25 is, it exists and you can listen to it here.

Anyway here’s the episode 26:

Now I really wanted to do a podcast episode about both of these films because not only did I have a little more to say about John Wick: Chapter 2 beyond my written review, but also because I didn’t do a review for The Lego Batman Movie and I knew I had to share my thoughts somehow so I included both reviews together because I wouldn’t have much of an episode if I talked about each film individually.

Here’s the time codes for the specific reviews:

1. John Wick: Chapter 2 02:49
2. The Lego Batman Movie: 15:10

As I mentioned before in each episode I’ll cover a different topic and since I don’t have much in the way of listeners or promotion, I’m here to spread the word about my podcast. 🙂

You can find my main site on Soundcloud here: https://soundcloud.com/film_focus

Or if you’re on iTunes subscribe and rate me on there: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/film-focus/id1114233892?mt=2

So if you have some spare time on your hands and would like to listen to the ramblings of a passionate/strange man then please check it out, and share it with your friends if you can. Also you have any feedback or if you’d be interested in joining on future episodes be sure to let me know, until next time, laters! 😀

 

What I’m Currently Watching #32 – Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

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 32, and I know its been almost a month since my last TV reviews but February’s been a hella busy month for me. So because I’m short for time today I’ll just be talking about Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and careful for spoilers…

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Season 4) “Self Control”

Mate! Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was crazy this week, I wasn’t sure if I’d be fully invested with this body switching robot angle, but Jed Whedon and the rest of the people working on this show did some really interesting and incredible things with the story and characters.

Man I was pretty tense throughout this episode, just seeing Fitz and Simmons trying to figure out how to deal with the LMDs lurking around was intriguing, but then later have to question which of them was the LMD in a secluded location was even worse and yeah the assumption about Fitz being a robot has come to pass although I thought it could go either way during that scene because he was pretty convincing. Aida also had a notable episode with her conversation with the Superior dude in recovery mode only to be cut apart, that was creepy. But I loved the conversation with Radcliffe about why he created the Framework, and how Aida’s logic determined that Radcliffe was a risk and no longer relevant so she cut his wrists and let him bleed out while in the machine? Bad times. I also enjoyed how Daisy and Simmons were the only humans left, how they proved each of them was real and come up with inventive ways to single out the humans from the LMDs and escape. It was some tense and dramatic stuff. Loved the fight between Daisy and the LMDs, when she was powering up her vibration attack it reminded me of the Rasengan from Naruto (just a reference for anime and manga fans).

It was cool to see the LMDs on the base trying to execute their plan for replacing Daisy and Simmons while also trying to round up and exterminate the Inhumans. Thank god LMD May’s corrupted programming allowed her to see sense allow our heroes to escape. Her conversation with LMD Coulson was really thought-provoking, I liked learning about the LMD logic of why being in the Framework would be a good thing and why LMD May was against. When she blew everything away I had to wonder, how big was the explosion? Did it take out a section of the base or the whole thing? Was there any survivors and if not did a good number of agents along with the remaining LMDs get taken out too? I have too many questions! 😛 Oh and that ending when you find out what worlds everyone was in was really interesting. I knew when Daisy stepped into her room that I’d be Ward and not Lincoln just because their history together would make this relationship in an ideal seen more tangible. It was also nice to see Mac living life as a family man and seeing Coulson as a teacher. Fitz’s world went from being pretty cool to pretty dark if I am to believe that he’s a successful person but with someone else and Simmons is dead? Grim. Oh and to see May in that elevator ascending a Hydra building that looked a lot like the Triskelion felt very ominous. The end scene with Aida was fascinating to see what she did to superior was mental. The dude’s just a head! But it’s been preserved so that he can project his consciousness into an LMD body? That’s pretty cool and I guess a more authentic experience than a brain replication? I like how Aida wants to feel emotion, wonder how that’ll play out towards the end of the season.

So have you seen or plan to watch Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.? 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! 😀

 

ONE PARAGRAPH REVIEW: John Wick: Chapter 2

Today I get to talk about John Wick Chapter 2, a sequel I’ve been looking forward to for some time. I saw the first film not too long ago and really enjoyed it, and while I wasn’t in love with the idea of a sequel, I was curious to see what the filmmakers could do with this series going ahead.

The plot can be summed up as the following: “After returning to the criminal underworld to repay a debt, John Wick discovers that a large bounty has been put on his life.” What I appreciated about this film was how it similar to the first but also how it found a way to be different at the same time, this sequel not only advanced John’s story, but also expanded the world and added extra layers to certain characters and information about the Continental and the nature of the assassin business. The plot felt like a natural progression from what’s come before and it was a fascinating and cool ride that added so much more to this series than I expected. The cast was all super effective. Firstly Keanu Reeves as John Wick, what a beast. Reeves really suits this kind of role, he’s intimidating, tough and acts with a physicality and purpose that makes Wick so fun and engaging to watch. Riccardo Scamarcio also made for a great villain as Santino D’Antonio, here we had a character with purpose, motivation and a cool and charismatic demeanour. Common was also really great as Cassian, this is probably Common’s most notable role for years and I loved his performance and how integral his character was to the plot. Ruby Rose as Ares was pretty effective, while I didn’t think much of her too much at first I feel like the end of the film I did enjoy Rose’s performance especially with her fight scenes. Laurence Fishburne as The Bowery King was also quite interesting, while Ian McShane was really good as Winston,and the appearances of John Leguizamo, Lance Reddick, Peter Stormare, Franco Nero and Peter Serafinowicz was very much appreciated. Oh but the best part was the visual presentation, good god, this film brought it! This film had good lighting, a striking use of colour and sweet cinematography during the action scenes, and speaking of the action scenes… Dear god, I thought the first film handled the action pretty well, but this film cranked things up to eleven! The gunfights were longer and more intense, the hand-to-hand combat was brutal and car chases were fast and chaotic. And the violence, damn, there was a lot of great broken bones, car crashes, blood splatter and so on, and the way everything was set up was incredibly creative, and some of the death scenes were just badass!! I also really enjoyed the film score by Tyler Bates and Joel J. Richard, it was very energetic and helped accentuate the action on-screen. In conclusion John Wick: Chapter 2 was a lot of fun and far better than I expected, with a solid story, good characters, awesome action choreography and violence, this is a sequel that’s worth watching.

So have you seen John Wick: Chapter 2 and if so what do you think of it? Be sure to leave your thoughts on the comments below and I’ll see ya on the next review, laters! 😀

 

ONE PARAGRAPH REVIEW: Hidden Figures

Howdy ladies and gents, its time for my first review for a while in form of Hidden Figures, a film I’ve wanted to watch for months mainly because of the involvement of my girl Janelle Monáe.

The plot can be summed up as the following: “The story of a team of African-American women mathematicians who served a vital role in NASA during the early years of the US space program.” What I appreciated about this film firstly was the story, the fact that these events actually happened at NASA was really fascinating, and regardless of how true to life this film was, I found the story to be quite captivating and engaging with all of the drama and segregation the main women faced, but also because of America’s efforts to beat the Russians in the Space Race. And while some of plot points and scenes play out in ways you’ve seen before if you’ve seen a drama based on true events, tis film was still very effective in its direction and execution of its themes and emotional content. As for the performances they were all really impressive. Firstly you have Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monáe who played Katherine G. Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson. Each of these characters were smart, had very specific skills and had an uphill battle trying to follow their dreams, while Johnson was the primary focus of the film, I was also very intrigued and interest in the lives of Vaughan and Jackson too. Henson was really good especially during one specific speech, Spencer was as great as she always is and Moná, she was lovely and acted with such flair and conviction. I also really loved Kevin Costner in this film, Kirsten Dunst showed a different side to her than I’ve seen in the past which I liked, Jim Parsons who I don’t like in The Big Band Theory was actually tolerable/pretty good here, also Glen Powell was likeable and Mahershala Ali was really charismatic and charming too. Oh and the soundtrack crafted by Hans Zimmer, Pharrell Williams and Benjamin Wallfisch was really good, the original songs were super catchy and film score was also solid. In conclusion Hidden Figures was a really lovely film, it was very insightful, emotional and humourous with great performances, awesome music and an uplifting tone. I was so glad I got to see the film in my local cinema and I would highly recommend it.

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

 

Saying Goodbye To Regular Show

Howdy ladies and gents, how’s it going? I know its been a little while since I wrote any film or TV reviews, but today I return with a topic that just needed to be talked about. The other day I finally got around to watching the three-part finale for season 8 of Regular Show, and the fact that one of my favourite cartoons has come to end has me feeling a lot of emotions. And I don’t think I could let this blog continue without addressing the show’s 8th and final season, the finale and my feelings on the show overall. MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD…

Now some of you may already know about my love for Regular Show as I did a post about it a while ago, but season 7 and more recently season 8 has done a fair amount to reinforce that love not with only the quality of the storytelling and character development, but also the ability to mix up the basic formula by creating new and interesting scenarios, adding to the existing mythology of the world, and building off of the foundations of previous seasons. And yet it still retains the balance between humour and more relatable/dramatic material which fans have come to appreciate.

I will admit, for all the love I’ve had for this cartoon over the years, its consistency in overall seasons hasn’t always been on point. I remember I think after season 4, some ways into season 5 things started to slow down for me, and while there were certainly moments in season 6, again, I didn’t feel like I was having as many great episodes as had come in the show before. That being said, it was during these later seasons that there was more continuity and on-going storylines taking place from what I recall. Season 7 was when things really picked up with the humour and crazy material that made me fall in love with the show, but also bringing up plot points from previous seasons, having character-driven stories and a greater focus on Rigby and his journey to get a high school diploma. And the way that season ended, bloody hell, it totally took me by surprise (SPOILERS with the dome leaving Earth taking the main primary cast into space). And season 8 has featured a lot of really random and bizarre material for the characters to deal with stuff like being homesick, understanding the different rules of space, making new allies and enemies, learning about the history of the space dome and dealing Pops’ key storyline. I had a lot of fun watching this season with all the inventive ways the people behind this show were able to give us more of the same in the simplest/normal of ways, but at the same time was able to provide larger than life circumstances in various ways, some of my favourite episodes include:

• Space Creds
• Ugly Moons
• The Brain of Evil
• Fries Night (one of my absolute favourites)
• Stuck in an Elevator
• The Space Race
• The Ice Tape
• The Key to the Universe
• No Train No Gain
• Christmas in Space (one of my absolute favourites)
• Kill ‘Em with Kindness
• Meet the Seer

But then you have that finale, “A Regular Epic Final Battle” where we got a lot of information from learning about the planet Pops came from to the history of the many battles between Pops and Anti-Pops to the all-out battle between good and evil and how everything got resolved. Good gravy it was a lot to take in, but it was one hell of a ride. The humour was on-point from the dialogue to the visual material, but it also brought in so many characters and elements from previous seasons together for this absolutely fun and action-packed session. It felt like a mini event, like Regular Show had tapped into Captain America: Civil War‘s style of taking most of the best elements from what’s come before and put it all in one place and made it work. But then there was two major surprises: 1) The way Mordecai, Rigby and ultimately Pops finally dealt with Anti-Pops was unexpected, yet natural and quite sad. And 2) That ending montage… Good gravy, I know that there have been shows that have ended like this; with a montage of future events, but to see how long the characters were in space and more importantly where their lives went after they went their separate ways, it was some heavy stuff, but it felt natural, cute, beautiful and most importantly relatable. And the fact that it was set to “Heroes” by David Bowie, damn, that brought the feels on a whole new level. I love that song, and with it being the final music in the Regular Show finale, it meant so much more to me and felt so perfect. While I wish I had seen what had happened to Margret and CJ, and possibly even Thomas, I feel like the conclusion to this show was very appropriate.

It has been like two days since I finished Regular Show and I honestly felt a little empty after I finished the episode. Regular show has been part of my life for around 5 years and for it to be over, it does make me feel sad. Not since Parks and Recreation ended in 2015 have I felt such a loss in the world of TV (check out my thoughts here), funnily enough both shows share a lot of similarities in terms of its characters, humour and emotional material too. Even at the time of writing this, it feels surreal talking about Regular Show in past tense, but I’m glad the show ended on a high with the show having a satisfying conclusion.

It sucks that one of my favourite TV shows has left the airwaves, but I am so thankful for the memories and the fact that it ended on a good note. Regular Show is one of the best shows Cartoon Network has released and I will miss it greatly. So now I ask you ladies and gents, if you’re a fan of this cartoon did you watch the finale and if so what did you think of it? Drop me a comment below! And if you’re not on this hype already, sort your life out watch some Regular Show, it’s damn good! 😀 😀