Top 10 Favourite Films of 2016

Hey, hey, hey ladies and gents, how’s it going? So 2016 is almost over and most of the major film releases have come and gone and while tis year has been a bit on the disappointing side when it comes to some of the major blockbuster films and the summer in particular, there has still been some really cool films that’s dropped this year and I’m here to give you my top 10. Now before we begin know that this is my opinion so don’t get on my case if your films aren’t on my list, okay? Cool, let’s get going

Honorable mentions:

• The Nice Guys
• Deepwater Horizon
• Star Trek Beyond
• Moana
• The Accountant
• Don’t Breathe
• The Edge of Seventeen
• Arrival
• Hunt For the Wilderpeople

10. Green Room

Original review available here

This is a recent entry in my list as I saw it last week and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it, I mean I’d heard a lot of good things about this film over the course of this year but when watching it was just super engaged and captivated by the chaos, violence, darkness and the characters. I’m not a fan of horror films at all, but this film had me from beginning to end and I think I liked it more because I went in blind with little information on the story, the performances were all really solid especially from Patrick Stewart, Alia Shawkat, Imogen Poots and the late Anton Yelchin.

9. Hell or High Water

Original review available here

This film was such a nice surprise, it was one of the few films that was hyped up during the early reviews that lived up to the hype. This film was engaging, dramatic and featured incredible performances from Ben Foster, Jeff Bridges and Chris Pine especially. I wish more people had seen this film, I recall it being pretty intriguing in the beginning, but it just got better and better and by the end I was loving it.

8. Zootopia

Original review available here

Zootopia was a film I had next to no expectations for, the trailers looked interesting enough but I thought this would just an okay to decent Disney film, and yet it ended up being one Disney’s best films in recent times. This film was fun and colourful little adventure, and yet it did get pretty dramatic, emotional and had a lot of interesting themes and issues that relate to the world we live in today. I loved the characters, animation, soundtrack and the pop culture references, and just the fact that was humour for kids and adults was just want I wanted.

7. Doctor Strange

Original review available here

I really like this film, one of the best aspects was the fact that it was another origin story that was familiar yet unique with its mythology, locations, characters and mystical/supernatural powers and locations. The film had an interesting interpretation of magic, really cool and vivid visual effects, crazy and creative action sequences, a lovely film score and really solid cast including Benedict Cumberbatch, Tilda Swinton and Chiwetel Ejiofor.

6. Jungle Book

Original review available here

Jungle Book was another one of the best surprises of 2016, I thought the film would be decent, but ti was so much better than I expected and I enjoyed it more than the original in a lot of ways. What I loved about this film was its ability to take the foundation of the orignal cartoon but find ways to modernise it with some updated story and character elements, and by expanding upon a few elements, it made for a more interesting experience with more depth and darkness. The voice cast were great especially Idris Elba as Shere Khan and those visual effects were INSANE, so damn impressive and probably the most realistic talking animals ever produced in film.

5. Midnight Special

Original review available here

I was really annoyed I missed this in the cinema because when I watched it in the summer I enjoyed it so much and it jumped into my top ten immediately. I love sci-fi films and love films with mystery and suspense, and this film had that. I really liked the story and characters just wanted to know how everything would play out, and throughout the film’s engaging and making you question the end game. And while the ending has led some to either love or hate the film, I thought the ending was solid and fascinating, oh and the performances were all really good especially from Michael Shannon and Joel Edgerton.

4. Rogue One: A Star War Story

Original review available here

This film has a lot of elements that I would consider to be favourite of the year material, but there are a few minor issues that prevent it from being in my top three. Rogue One presents a side of the Star Wars universe that we’ve not yet seen in live-action, mainly the darker, grittier and realistic side of things. While we know of the tale of how rebels stole the Death Star plans, but we never saw the specifics, and this film told that story in an interesting way which expanded the mythology of SW, showed more the war-like events that take place in this universe and had great ties to the all of the SW films and TV shows. With really impressive visual effects, cool characters, awesome action sequences and one of the most exciting third acts of any film ever, Rogue One ended up being a really good session considering all that the reshoot hullabaloo.

3. Kubo and the Two Strings

Original review available here

Ah Kubo, I really wish more people had seen this film. Laika is a studio that I had a great deal of respect for and ever since Coraline they’ve been delivering new and interesting content in their films in terms of the stories, characters and especially with the animation and this film I think might be their best to date. I saw this film opening day and then again around a month later and still really enjoyed it, besides the gorgeous art direction and animation, the film had a great sense of atmosphere, adventure, playfulness, drama and emotion, with great characters and a story which felt familiar yet had really important themes and mythology thanks to the Japanese setting.

2. Captain America: Civil War

Original review available here

What can I can about this film that hasn’t been said already? Civil War was a damn good time in the cinema and in a lot of ways set a benchmark for not only superhero films and mainstream blockbuster films to follow, and I think a fair amount of people agreed that there wasn’t many, if any films that was able to match the quality that this film provided. Now sure the villain wasn’t the best, there were some convenient plot elements and if you weren’t up to date with the MCU films then you wouldn’t be able to fully invest in the story, but the pros of this film outweigh the cons by miles. This film was dramatic and hilarious, introduced Black Panther in fabulous way and reintroduced the world to Spider-Man, had some incredible action sequences and delivered great fan service for comic book fans. This was easily one of my favourite experiences in the cinema. 😀

1. Sing Street

Original review available here

While I loved Civil War, I think Sing Street just edges it out for being an original film that came out of nowhere as one of the best feel-good films I’ve seen in a while. I had heard a lot of talk online on Collider Movie Talk and Schmoes Know Show about this film so I checked it out in September and was really surprised with how heartfelt, beautiful and fun the film was with its story, characters and soundtrack. It had the right balance of realism and fantastical elements. Oh and can I just mention that soundtrack again, all of the 1980’s choices of songs were great, but its the orignal songs that will make you want to buy the soundtrack, the sounds of “Up” and “Drive It Like You Stole It” are my favourites. 🙂

So that’s my top 10, hope you enjoyed it. Feel free to drop me a comment below, tell me you like my choices or tell me I’m totally wrong, I don’t care. 😛 Anyway thanks for reading and I’ll see ya with new film reviews in 2017! 😀

 

PODCAST: Film Focus Episode 15 – Is It Too Late For A Black Widow Film?

Howdy ladies and gents of the internet, as some of you may have seen, back in April I started a film podcast entitled Film Focus and on this podcast I talk about various topics in film and reviews as well. I was actually meant to make this post available last week but was super busy with work, but hey better late then never right?

Anyway here’s the 15th episode:

This is a topic of conversation I’ve wanted to talk about for some time now, Black Widow has become one of the most notable and well-received characters in the MCU since 2012’s The Avengers (I mean she was good in Iron Man 2, but I think more people took notice of her afterwards), and these days talk of her getting a solo film is something that always comes up every so often because a lot of fans want it, but unless Marvel Studios are still finding the right means to make it happen or just don’t care, a lot of people are left wondering if it’ll ever happen. And with the ever-changing nature of Hollywood and the cinematic film landscape, the longer Marvel leaves this, the less interested people will become, so I thought I’d just share my thoughts on the matter and hopefully start up some discussions.

As I said 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! 😀

 

PODCAST: Film Focus Episode 14 – The 2016 Summer Movie Season – Has It Been A Disappointment?

Howdy ladies and gents of the internet, as some of you may have seen, back in April I started a film podcast entitled Film Focus and on this podcast I talk about various topics in film and reviews as well. I was actually meant to make this post available last week but was super busy with work, but hey better late then never right?

Anyway here’s the 14th episode:

Even though the summer movie session is not completely over, but most if not all of the heavy-hitters have come out and since there’s been some discussion online about the quality of this year’s summer of films I thought it’d make for a good episode on the podcast. So in this episode I cover all of the film’s I’ve seen and talk about whether this year has been a disappointment for summer films.

As I said 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! 😀

 

PODCAST: Film Focus Episode 2 – Captain America: Civil War Spoiler Session!

Howdy people of the internet, as some of you may have seen, last week I started a film podcast entitled Film Focus and that first episode focused on Captain America: Civil War in a spoiler free review and today I’m return to the recent Marvel film with a spoiler-based discussion. It is slightly longer than the last episode but it’s no too long, I mean originally it was around 1 hour! 😛 But any way in this episode I discus a little more detail: Black Panther and Spider-Man, Vision and Scarlet Witch, discuss the drama in Civil War and why I liked Baron Zemo among other things.

Anyway here’s the second episode:

As I said 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 back here to spread the word about my podcast. 🙂 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 like it. 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! 😀

 

I’ve Started a Podcast!

Howdy people of the internet, to all of your who still pay attention to this blog I wanted to announce that I’ve started a film podcast entitled Film Focus and the first episode dropped online today! The reason I started this podcast was due to the fact that for the longest time I’ve wanted to get back into doing reviews online, but after YouTube became a little more stressful and complicated than before I had to bail and rethink my return to the online landscape, and for about a year I’ve wanted to start a podcast but didn’t have a solid idea. But in the last few months I’ve made a lot of plans and movements, and after some setbacks it’s finally a reality. Now I would like some long-term success with this, but at the end of the day I will be doing this for fun and hopefully I’ll still be doing this more than six months from now.

Anyway here’s the first episode:

 

In each episode I’ll cover a different topic and this week’s topic is revolves around my spoiler-free review for Captain America: Civil War. So if you have some spare time on your hands and would something strange yet fun to listen to then please check it out. And if you like it then be sure to share it with your friends! Also if you’d be interested in joining on future episodes be sure to let me know, until next time, laters! 😀

 

EPIC REVIEW: Captain America: Civil War (Spoiler-Free!)

Howdy people of the internet, so after waiting two painstakingly long days to get back to my laptop I’m here to give you my review of Captain America: Civil War. I’ve seen the film twice in IMAX (once at the midnight screening and again on the same afternoon) and I’ve had a lot of thoughts in my head about this film, and a lot of it is spoiler-based, but I’m going to try my hardest to be as vague and spoiler-free as possible. Alrighty then, let’s begin. 🙂

So the story can be described as the following:

“After another international incident involving the Avengers results in collateral damage, political pressure mounts to install a system of accountability and a governing body to determine when to enlist the services of the team.”

What should be clarified straight away is that Civil War is definitely Captain America 3 first and foremost, as the story furthers what we learnt in The Winter Soldier, but it also acknowledges the larger world of the MCU by introducing most of the main heroes so far, but also adding new characters and stories in this film. What I loved more so than anything else was that there was drama, real drama and it was material that was raw, emotional and effective. This is easily the most layered and emotional film in the MCU to date dealing with the themes of freedom, accountability, revenge and friendship being handled in a realistic and captivating manner. Not only do get to see Captain America try his best to keep his best friend safe, and butt heads with Iron Man with their different ideologies, but also see our heroes weigh out the pros and cons of their actions, pick sides based on their beliefs and clash. It was not only interesting, it was also complicated morally and ethically too. You’re given both sides of the argument and luckily both sides are effective at what they’re trying to convey, you’ll probably be conflicted during and after the film ends as well. If I have any issues with the story it was probably just a few changes in some of the character motivations which would have elevated the film a little more, but I have to hand it to the writers and the Russo brothers for juggling so much material and making it work in a coherent and stylish manner.

With the cast they were all brilliant, and while some stood out more than others, everyone has a reason to be in the film and have their moments to shine and some of the best moments in the film are just with characters talking and interacting. Firstly there’s Chris Evans who was brilliant as Steve Rogers/Captain America, he’s a faced with difficult choices, and yet found a way to be just as heroic, charismatic and true to his beliefs while also being a leader and friend to his allies. Robert Downey Jr. killed it as Tony Stark/Iron Man, just when I thought I’d seen everything from this character, we find out there’s still more to learn. In this film Stark was very still very humours, but also passionate, vulnerable and driven and while he seemed like the bad guy, at the same time you understood his viewpoint. Scarlett Johansson  was wonderful as Black Widow, it was cool to see her character more in line with The Winter Soldier version where she was intelligent,logical and showed off her skill set on and off of the battlefield. Sebastian Stan also did well as Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier continuing to be an interesting and tragic character with good ties to Steve Rogers, and speaking of ties to Steve, Anthony Mackie also did a great job as The Falcon, their bond continued to grow and get tested with the appearance of Bucky and I liked how funny Falcon continues to be.

Oh and Black Panther, dear god, he was brilliant! Chadwick Boseman was everything I wanted him to be and everything, as T’Challa/Black Panther he was intelligent, driven, honourable, tenacious and when he threw down, damn! He was insanely athletic, flexible and animal-like and I adored his treatment in this film. Paul Bettany and Elizabeth Olsen as The Vision and Scarlet Witch were brilliant, I love how they had developed a grew since Age of Ultron, but found new hurdles and personal issues to fight through, Vision continued to have a lot of funny and thought-provoking dialogue, while Scarlet Witch had a good few light-hearted and dramatic moments that developed her character in great ways. Jeremy Renner looked like was having a great time as Hawkeye and I really enjoyed his scenes, the same could also be said for Paul Rudd and Don Cheadle as Ant-Man and War Machine, both of them bring back what you loved about their characters and have great moments in the film.

William Hurt’s performance as Thunderbolt Ross was also great, he’s changed a great deal since The Incredible Hulk, but I really enjoyed his role as the government official attempting to keep the Avengers in check. It was great to see more of Emily VanCamp as Sharon Carter as she had more to do and had a good few memorable moments in the film, and Martin Freeman as Everett K. Ross was delightful and tough and I’m sure we haven’t seen the last from him, and the return of Frank Grillo as Brock Rumlow/Crossbones while brief was really cool. Daniel Brühl as Baron Helmut Zemo was interesting, while he’s not utilized in a conventional way and won’t please fans of the comics, I thought his role was very smart, though I believe the film would have worked without him. And finally Tom Holland as Spider-Man, holy crap! Marvel Studios nailed it! If you’re like me you’ve seen Spidey done five times and he’s been done well in certain areas but not completely comic book accurate. But here he’s the most accurate Spider-Man the to date with right balance of action and humour. He’s introduced in a logical and natural way, and seeing Holland as Peter Parker inside and out of the suit was delightful as he felt so fresh different to the actors who’ve come before him.

When it comes to the presentation it was pretty solid. Visually the film is very nice, the cinematography is great with some wonderfully shot action sequences, good editing and wonderful CGI. The fight scenes are some of the best in the MCU so far with really creative, acrobatic and versatile action for everyone involved whether they be superpowered or not, and there’s the much-talked about epic fight sequence in the airport which for me was one of the most beautiful fanboy moments I’ve ever seen. It was like a comic book come to life in the best way possible. However I will say for everything I liked, I will say that the shaky cam in some of the fight scenes was a little chaotic, and the visual effects in certain parts of the film felt a little lacking in detail and didn’t mesh as well with the live-action footage, but those are nitpicks for sure. As for the film score, Henry Jackman returns to compose and his score definitely feels in line with Winter Soldier, but was also a little more dramatic and heroic than before. However this score while it works within the film, it didn’t have any standout tracks or a theme that I can remember like some of Marvel’s previous films.

In conclusion Captain America: Civil War was a lot of fun and solid follow-up to Winter Soldier. While it won’t change the game for the superhero genre, it did dive a little deeper into those thought-provoking and emotional territories that the MCU hadn’t fully embraced beforehand, and with some awesome action, an intriguing story and well-developed characters, this is an adventure that people won’t want to miss out on especially if you’re fans of these films and comics.

Rating: 8.5/10

So are you going to see Captain America: Civil War and if you’ve seen it what did you think of it? Please sound off your thoughts in the comments below ane I’ll see ya on the next review, laters! 😀

 

Captain America: Civil War Trailer #2 Review

Howdy ladies and gentlemen, time for another trailer review and today I’m finally getting around to talking about the second trailer for Captain America: Civil War. Now I loved the first trailer and was hyped to see the new one a few days ago, but trust that when it came out I was at work and had to wait until around 11pm which was horrible. I would have reviewed this trailer much sooner but again work has kept me at bay for the last few days, but now I’m finally free to talk about this trailer and wouldn’t you know, it’s pretty damn awesome! 😀

Check out the trailer below:

So first impressions after seeing the trailer, “Forget today, forget tomorrow, maybe even forget my birthday. Get me to the release date of Civil War because I need this film in my system now!”

Just like the last trailer what I love about the footage we get here is that this film at the center of all the action and chaos really feels like a personal story which is focused on the characters. Once again we have Steven Rogers and Tony Stark on opposing sides and the trailer further illustrates their points of view and why each of them is right or wrong depending who you side with. And just like before this trailer includes that tone, where things are serious, it feels like there are pretty big stakes as not only the heroes with be beating the crap out of each other, but with the attack on the United Nations, the return of Thunderbolt Ross and Black Panther’s involvement, it seems like there will a great deal of ramifications felt all over the place.

A lot happened in this trailer so I’ll just highlight a few things:

• Highlighting the events of the past: Having Thunderbolt Ross show some of the heroes the destruction that laid in their wake after New York, Washington DC and Sokovia was really great as it showed just how much damage they’d unknowingly caused and was also a way to communicate to the audience that even in the MCU for the victories there were sacrifices and the heroes have to be made accountable, seeing Scarlet Witch’s reaction to Sokovia and having Steve telling Ross to stop showing the video was a beautiful moment.
• MORE BLACK PANTHER: Jesus, I fucking love this character and I haven’t even heard him speak or do anything besides run, jump, slice Bucky’s motorcycle, have a quick fight with Bucky and get shot at with bullets from a helicopter, but that doesn’t matter, what does matter is that the Panther is a frigging badass and I just can’t wait to see how Chadwick Boseman kills it in this role. The Panther has an elegance and ferocity to him that just makes him look so dangerous and cool and I seriously want to see him kick some ass around about now.
• Ant-Man on the move: This was a fairly brief moment but when Hawkeye shot the arrow and Ant-Man rode it and then leapt jumped onto Iron Man’s armour that was just frigging kick ass. More Ant-Man love is welcome.
• Scarlet Witch overpowers Vision?: This was another blink and you’ll miss it moment, but seeing Scarlet Witch use her powers to bring Vision to his knees was very interesting and pretty much gave us a confirmation that the almighty Vision does have competition in the powers department.
• Cool lines of dialogue!: “You just started a war!”, “This job, we try to safe as many people as we can. Sometimes that doesn’t me everybody. But you don’t give up.”, “I’m not the one who needs to watch their back.”, “I was wrong about you, the whole world was wrong about you.” and “I could do this do this all day.” (great callback to The First Avenger) I can see myself quoting this film for a while in the future.

But let’s talk about that Spidey reveal. I actually had it ruined for me while I was scanning ComicBookMovie.com and it was used in a few thumbnails and I was like “That’s not the new Spidey suit is it?” But sure enough, I watched the trailer, saw Tony shout “Underoos!” And bam, my boy just webs Cap’s hands together, steals his shield and drops in like a badass sporting a slightly modified version of the classic suit with moving eye lenses! Now I have to say I wasn’t too keen on his look at first mainly because it looked so CG heavy and felt like it didn’t look very realistic, though now that I’ve seen the trailer a few more times I’ve definitely warmed to the suit and in the images released there’s actually been so notable levels of detail seen in the suit that weren’t visible in the trailer probably because of the YouTube video compression.

I really like the suit, it’s classic, but updated with a few stripes on the arms and legs, but it’s those eyes that got me immediately. At first I thought this film was pulling a Deadpool and decided to animate them just because that’s how they were in the comics, but when you listen, you could actually hear a mechanical sound at the lenses got smaller which made me certain that this suit would be part mechanical and possibly made by Tony Stark because Spidey couldn’t make something like this on his own given his age and current freshness in the MCU. Either way I’m down with this new version of Spidey, I just hope the suit looks more realistic in the film.

In conclusion the second trailer for Captain America: Civil War has just amplified my excitement so much. All this glorious footage just makes me giddy for not only this film, but the future of the MCU going forward with the storylines and characters who make it out of this thing alive. This film looks so good I can’t imagine it failing, I mean it has to be great right? However I am reminded constantly in the back of my mind about Age of Ultron and how my hype technically ruined that film so I’m being cautious, but damn it’s hard not to be insanely hyped with all this good stuff Marvel’s doing at the moment.

So have you seen the second official trailer for Civil War and if so what did you think of it? Are you more or less excited than before? Please sound off your thoughts in the comments below ane I’ll see ya on the next post, laters! 😀

 

2016 SUPER BOWL MOVIE TRAILER MADNESS!

Hello people of the internet, hope you had a good weekend. Obviously the Super Bowl 50 went down yesterday and while that’s all well and good for sports fans, us movie fans were looking forward to the trailers for the upcoming blockbusters that will be dropping in the next few months and we were treated to some pretty cool stuff. Now for the sake of this review I’m 1) Skipping Deadpool because that’s coming out pretty soon so this additional marketing doesn’t mean much to me, 2) I haven’t seen The Jungle Book trailer, but I’m already sold on that film so I don’t need to see it and 3) Independence Day: Resurgence and some of the other films aren’t being talked about because I’m not interested in them. With all of that out of the way, let’s begin.

Captain America: Civil War

Gotta start with the big one; Civil War and man I really liked that trailer. There wasn’t too much in the way of new footage, but just like the previous trailer, there’s serious tone, plenty of tension and you really get a sense that these heroes have some serious beef and shit is gotta get real. I like the chanting in the background, but the two coolest moments were: 1) Bucky going to shoot Tony Stark with a gun, and Stark using a cool metal glove to stop the bullet. It’s a quick moment, but it’s pretty cool and shocking. And 2) We get to see both teams standing off against each other; with Team Cap consisting of Cap, Bucky, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Falcon and Ant-Man (sporting a new kick ass helmet). And on the other side there’s Team Iron Man with Stark, War Machine, Black Widow, Black Panther and frigging Vision! I’m curious to see how this’ll play out considering how badass Vision is haha.

Jason Bourne

Fuck yes! My boy Jason Bourne is back and I’m SO frigging hyped. While I’m not fond of the film’s title and feel like it’s a bit lazy, other than that this trailer’s got me giddy. Seeing Damon back in this role, looking cool and taking people out is so cool. We also get some cool shots of Tommy Lee Jones, Ato Essandoh and Julia Stiles. There’s hand-to-hand combat, gun fights, cars getting smashed up and Jason Bourne knocking a dude out with ONE PUNCH! Damn, I’ve watched the trailer twice and it’s still just as badass, it’s just one of those key factors that highlight how efficient he is and it felt like a physical statement that would read like this: “You don’t fuck with Jason Bourne!” 😀

X-Men: Apocalypse

Now I haven’t been fair to this film in recent months, the first trailer didn’t wow me and while I’m intrigued by the story, new cast members and the mythology, there just hasn’t been much to blow me away, but this trailer really got me on board. While I hate the choice of song because it continues this annoying habit of film trailers having dark and unnecessary covers of good songs, everything else I’m down with. It really looks like the world is going to shit, the level of destruction and chaos looks insane with those missiles firing and cities being disintegrated, it’s madness. I’m really liking Apocalypse more and it looks like Oscar Isaac is gonna kill it in this role. I also liked seeing shots of other mutants like Jean Grey, Cyclops and Angel, but Psylocke, damn, she looks pretty badass and Olivia Munn, she’s gorgeous, nuff said.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows

This was one of the trailers that surprised me, even though we got to see cool moments with the Turtles running around, and brief shots of Casey Jones, Shredder and April O’Neil, what really surprised me was the visual introduction of Krang. While we only got a brief look at the brain within the humanoid suit, it was genuinely surprising how cool it looked and seeing Mikey’s reaction was priceless. My anticipation is definitely growing for this sequel, I’m just hoping it doesn’t go too far into the lighthearted/comedic department, I was a good balance, but who knows how this’ll pan out.

So of all the material shown at during the Super Bowl which was your favourite? Be sure to comment below and I’ll see y’all on the next review, laters! 😀

 

My Top 11 Most Anticipated Films of 2016

Howdy people of the internet, time for the penultimate blog post in this series based on upcoming films in 2016 with my top 11 most anticipated films of the year.  If you haven’t already, check out PART 1, 2 & 3 of my 2016 film preview. It’s a little late considering that we’re three weeks into January, but hey its better late than never right? Unlike last year this year’s list won’t be in any particular order.

Triple Nine

This is a film I’ve been looking forward to for a good while, I just like the concept of the story and the blackmail and corruption involved, plus the choice of actors and actresses is so good and its crazy to see some of these TV and film stars together in one place. I’m really interested in seeing how these actors come together especially when it comes to Norman Reedus, Aaron Paul, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Anthony Mackie.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

I believe my hype for this film has dropped a good deal since the release of the second trailer, but my hype for the film isn’t dead. For me what I like about this film so far is the initial tension between Bruce and Clark, the differences in their ideals, their main confrontation and the amount of chaotic action that ensues. But I am concerned about Lex Luthor, what will happen after the Batman and Superman beef is over with the Doomsday Troll monster and how this film will introduce Wonder Woman and the other Justice League members, but here’s hoping it’ll work out and be badass.

Deadpool

When it comes to Deadpool I am a massive fan of the character and his insane backstory, self-aware humour, violent and crazy personality. And for the longest time I’ve wanted to see a proper live-action version of this character and the trailers so far seem to be delivering all of the action, humour and violence that the character’s been known for. That being said I am concerned for the humour and the sexual references and I hope that the film will have better humour than most adult comedies.

Free State of Jones

Since I saw the trailer for this I’ve been very intrigued, not only does the subject matter make for an interesting tale in film, but I’m also very curious to see what the cast do with this material and whether it’ll be as dramatic and emotionally engaging as I hope it’ll be.

The Jungle Book

This film just has me full of curiosity and fascination, having a live-action/CGI hybrid adaptation of The Jungle Book is bizarre to me, but seeing the trailers leads me to believe that it’ll be cinematic experience worth seeing in the opening weekend. So far I’m liking the incredible visuals and the impressive voice cast as well, I can only hope that this film will be just as, if not more successful than Cinderella.

Suicide Squad

I’ve already said how much I’m looking forward to this film, but for the sake of this post I’ll mention it again, I am really looking forward to this. The concept of getting some villains and forcing them to work together on a dangerous mission that could involve death has my interest. But more so than that I want to see if David Ayer can make these characters work because if so then the possibilities for future DC films are endless.

The Girl on the Train

I haven’t even seen a trailer for this film, but the story and cast members Emily Blunt and Rebecca Ferguson has my attention so that I don’t need any more of a reason to watch this. I can only hope the subsequent trailers and eventual film will be worth the wait.

Star Wars: Rogue One

Also known as Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (still is a horrible name) is the next Star Wars film, it’s a spin-off/prequel and there’s a lot of hype and speculation behind this from fans and critics. Since it’s set before A New Hope I’m curious to see what kind of stakes the heroes will take on and there are questions to ask like: 1) Who will survive? 2) What original characters will make cameos? 3) Will Darth Vader make an appearance? 4) Will there be any tie-ins to Episodes VII, VIII and IX? Regardless of the answers I’m curious to see what Gareth Edwards does with this film and what Donnie Yen will do in the film as well.

Doctor Strange

So Doctor Strange, ah man, I have so much hype for this film its mad. Marvel Studios have taken a good deal of risks over the years with Thor, Guardians of the Galaxy and recently with Ant-Man, and each of those films have introduced some new and creative elements to not only the MCU, but also to superhero films in general and I believe this film won’t be any different. Doctor strange is one of the most interesting character with his characters, backstory and mythos relating to the villains, different realms and magical abilities. I want to see how the supernatural elements get incorporated into the MCU and if this film is good then I’m gonna freak out yo!

Bourne 5

It’s the return of the Bourne series, with Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass, what’s not to like? I know I never wanted a sequel to Ultimatum, but hell if Greengrass and Damon have a relevant story that they feel like telling that would further this franchise want to see it.

Captain America: Civil War

And of course I had to have Civil War on this list. 🙂 The MCU has been forming nicely over the years and while not all of the films have been hits, the Captain America series so far has done well especially with Winter Soldier and Civil War may be the best entry in the trilogy. This film looks to change the way the heroes function in the world with superhero accountability from the government and pitting Cap against Iron Man for a superhero royal rumble. With friends on opposing sides, new heroes like Black Panther and Spider-Man showing up and a tone similar to Winter Solider, I believe that this will be the ultimate Marvel sequel. Now I got overly hyped about Age of Ultron, so I’m learning to manage my expectations, but I believe the Russo brothers and Marvel Studios have gotten this one right though.

So that’s my top 11 list done, hope you enjoyed my choices. So what are your most anticipated films of 2016 and are any of your entires on my list? Whatever your thoughts are be sure to drop them in the comments below and I’ll see you on the next post, laters! 😀

 

Films To Look Out For In 2016 Part 2

Howdy people of the interweb and welcome to Films to look out for in 2016! This is my preview of upcoming films that I believe deserve your attention. In PART 1 I covered films from January to March, and in this post I’ll be covering April to July.

Now before we begin I have two main things I need yo point out:

1. Obviously a lot films come out, so if they’re not on my list it’s either because I don’t know about them or I don’t care…
2. 2015 films getting their UK releases this year don’t count! So there. 😛

Okay then, let’s start 😀

Elvis & Nixon

Release Date: April 15th (USA), April 29th (UK)

Trailer:

I only found out about this film around a month or so ago, but after reading about it and seeing this trailer I’m very intrigued to see more. This whole story sounds absurd and it is made even stranger by the fact that Kevin Spacey and Michael Shannon are playing Nixon and Elvis, but I love those actors and want to see more of this madness when it’s eventually released.

The Jungle Book

Release Date: April 15th (USA & UK)

Trailer:

So here we are again with another live-action adaptation of Disney classic animated film, but I’m down for this one. So far not all of these adaptations have worked (Alice in Wonderland and Maleficent come to mind) however, last year’s Cinderella was the first film to really demonstrate how a live-action adaptation could be done in new ways while preserving the original material. And now I’m very interested in seeing what Jon Favreau does with this version of Jungle Book because it’s live-action, but only has one human character, the rest are CGI talking animals and I want to see how this turns out. The voice talent is impressive and this film looks a lot more dramatic and action-heavy than the old cartoon and from a visual standpoint the film looks damn good and I can’t to see how it turns out in the cinema.

The Huntsman: Winter’s War

Release Date: April 22nd (USA), April 8th (UK)

Trailer:

I didn’t mind Snow White and the Huntsman, but it wasn’t that memorable beside Chris Hemsworth and Charlize Theron as the Huntsman and the Queen. So I guess they removed the weakest element from the picture (Kristen Stewart as Snow White) and decided to focus on a new story and it actually looks better than I expected. Adding Emily Blunt and Jessica Chastain to the mix is never bad thing and while it could end up being an average film with standard plot elements and decent action sequences, I’m still curious.

Captain America: Civil War

Release Date: May 6th (USA), April 29th (UK)

Trailer:

Ah man, this film, this film has me all giddy at the moment, but also has me SO concerned. On one hand you have the Russo brothers returning to direct after their great work on The Winter Soldier, we’re also seeing the introduction of Black Panther and Spider-Man into the MCU, but most importantly we’re seeing Cap go against Iron Man in an adaptation of the popular Civil War comic. My only fears about the film is that it won’t be serious enough, certain characters won’t get enough screen time and there won’t be any major ramifications. However I have faith in the Russos and the trailer makes me believe like this will be the next chapter in the MCU that will affect us fans to the core.

Free State of Jones

Release Date: April 16th (USA), May 27th (UK)

Trailer:

This film looks really good. I like the story about people banding together and fighting for survival but also for justice and freedom, and this film looks very intense and dramatic in the ways that I like to be engaged when watching films. I only saw the trailer today and now I can’t wait to see how it turns out.

Bad Neighbours 2 (Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising)

Release Date: May 20th (USA), May 6th (UK)

Neighbors (or Bad Neighbours as it was known here in the UK) was a decent comedy and probably one of the few I’ve liked in a while (I’m a hard man to please haha) and while I didn’t need a sequel, at the same time I am curious to see these character reunite for another crazy adventure and see what kind of foolish fun they’ll get up to.

The Nice Guys

Release Date: May 20th (USA & UK)

Trailer:

I have a lot of hope for this film. It is another film from Shane Black, the wonderful man behind the brilliant Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and the divisive Iron Man 3, and I am just liking the sound of the story and the pairing of Russell Crowe with Ryan Gosling, but more so than that is the style of humour, it is so Shane Black it is insane and I love it.

X-Men: Apocalypse

Release Date: May 27th (USA), May 19th (UK)

Trailer:

X-Men: Apocalypse, man I want to love this film but I’m unsure about it. On one hand I like the fact that we’ll get to see younger incarnations of Jean, Cyclops, Storm and Nightcrawler, and the concept of Apocalypse as the main villain and his powers and history seems so engaging. However, the first trailer didn’t blow me away and I’m concerned about the fact that some of the main characters will be mind-controlled slaves for a good chuck of the film which means that we won’t see them as themselves and that would be unfortunate.

Now You See Me 2

Release Date: June 10th (USA & UK)

Trailer:

This first film was surprisingly good and I really enjoyed it, and while I didn’t want a sequel I am interested in seeing where things go for the returning characters. The tricks and stunts look crazier, larger in scope and more impossible than before and I can’t wait.

Warcraft

Release Date: June 10th (USA), June 3rd (UK)

Trailer:

I don’t think many people realise how important this film is, if Warcraft works then it’ll open the floodgates to other video games adaptations in the future. Most video game films have failed both as adaptations and singular films as well due to the lack of care for the source material, but also due to bad writing, direction, visual effects and so on. I hope Duncan Jones has crafted something worth watching, I mean I like a lot of the cast and the visual effects and story seems engaging, however, I’m not sure about the CGI, it looks a little too fake like the Hobbit films but that could probably change closer to the film’s release.

Independence Day: Resurgence

Release Date: June 24th (USA & UK)

Trailer:

I never wanted this sequel, I thought it was a stupid idea, but hell it’s coming and I’m actually interested in this sequel. The trailer was the main thing that sold me on this film, I just like the sense of scope, new technology and destruction that has come with the return of the aliens and I’m down to see Jeff Goldblum again in this franchise.

The BFG

Release Date: July 1st (USA), July 22nd (UK)

Trailer:

I really enjoyed the animated BFG film as a kid back int school, but I’ve never been entirely in love with it or the orignal book, but I have to say the teaser trailer looks interesting. Whenever something is being done in live-action there is some hesitation, but since Steven Spielberg is behind it I’m gonna give this film a shot.

Star Trek Beyond

Release Date: July 22nd (USA & UK)

Trailer:

I’ve already make it apparent how I didn’t care for this trailer, but I am still interested in seeing how Star Trek Beyond turns out. This film certainly hast he action side of things down, but I’m very concerned that it will be the only element this film gets right. From the look of things so far there won’t be any of the older/conventional sci-fi elements that Star Trek has been known for and I’m not seeing any deep character-driven moments, but I hope that I’m wrong and that this film can be fun, adventurous, but also dramatic and rooted in the realm of sci-fi.

Bourne 5

Release Date: July 29th (USA), July 28th (UK)

Ah the return of the Bourne series with Matt Damon, just the concept of this film makes me smile. While I wanted to leave Jason Bourne’s adventures back in 2007 with Ultimatum, after the disappointing adventure with Legacy in 2012, I need my Bourne fix with Damon and Paul Greengrass together again. This film could end up being a mistake, but considering the track record of Greengrass and the story details revealed so far it sound like it’ll be great.

Alrighty then, that’s PART 2 done. Thanks a lot for reading. Are any of the films listed on your personal list of films to watch? Whatever your thoughts are be sure to drop them below and I’ll see you for PART 3! Laters 😀