Howdy ladies and gents, how are you? So today is the day after the 92nd Academy Awards and I’m here to deliver my thoughts on the results via my podcast, Film Focus! So another Oscars has come and gone and while my interest this year was pretty much nonexistent, there was a handful of specific awards I wanted certain films and individuals I wanted to win. Now like last year I didn’t watch the Oscars but I saw most of the winners as it was happening online yesterday, so like last year I wanted to do a brief and casual recap of the winners.
Anyway here’s the episode:
So what did you think of the Oscars, whether it be the winners, losers or anything else, please drop them in the comment section below and I’ll see ya in the next post, laters! 😀
Howdy ladies and gents, how are you? So today is the day after the 91st Academy Awards and I’m here to deliver my thoughts on the results via my podcast, Film Focus! Now, I’m not gonna lie, I didn’t wactually watch the Oscars as I was at work, but after seeing who won I did want to throw my two cents in. so without further ado let’s jump in.
Anyway here’s the episode:
So what did you think of the Oscars, whether it be the winners, losers or anything else, please drop them in the comment section below an I’ll see ya in the next post, laters! 😀
Good day to you ladies and gents, so San Diego Comic-Con has once again come and gone, and even though I’ve been interested in this convention each year it’s come around, this year, in particular, I actually found myself way more hyped than before even though I wasn’t entirely sure of what was going to appear. And this year had a lot of really cool, fun and interesting reveals. A good chunk of which we have gotten to see, and some that we haven’t unfortunately. But anyway, I just wanted to make a quick post about my favourite trailers releases from this year’s Comic-Con. 😀
Godzilla: King of the Monsters Trailer
Now if you’ve followed this blog for a while then you know I was a big fan of Gareth Edwards’s Godzilla from 2014, I know the film has it’s fair share of issues, but I still believe it had a great sense of atmosphere, tension, distinctive visuals, a great film score and brought Godzilla back into the public consciousness in a good way. And while I thought last year’s Kong: Skull Island was fine, a lot of people really liked it and the film teased the larger universe where all these characters exist, and it feeds into this trailer. Good gravy I loved it. The sense of dread and chaos going on throughout this trailer is excellent. I like the choice of that classic piece of music (though I can’t remember what it’s called), I also love the visuals, there’s a love of striking colours from the skies to the creatures, and speaking of the creatures, we’ve got good old Godzilla back but we also see brief shots of Mothra, Rodan and frigging King Ghidorah! I’m also curious to see how this new family fit into the film, Vera Farmiga, Kyle Chandler and Millie Bobby Brown are great talents and clearly, their family has gone throw some stuff due to Farmiga’s pursuit of the monsters, and it looks like their drama will only get worse. I just hope this human element will be stronger than the last film.
Shazam! Trailer
So we finally, FINALLY got a trailer for Shazam! and it looks good. Now I’ve never been a massive fan of Shazam, but I have really liked him in the animated stuff like Young Justice and Justice League Action, and from what I know of him, the film feels pretty accurate to the source material. This trailer really gives off a fun kind of vibe, the tone and overall presentation are brighter than most of DC’s previous films except for Wonder Woman and there’s a relatable factor that comes with Billy Batson becoming a superhero. Oh and the costume definitely looks better in motion than the recent images suggested. However, some of that humour was a bit hit and miss, and that stupid floss dance made it into a frigging superhero film and that just irks me. Otherwise, bring on April 2019!
Aquaman Trailer
And then there’s Aquaman, I liked this. What really impressed me was the visual style of this film, it feels like a combination of the Zack Snyder style with what was done with Wonder Woman when it comes to the scenes in darkness and scenes in the daytime with muted and vivid colours. I’m liking the sense of scale, the underwater world of Atlantis looks cool and some of the sea creatures look great. And while I know a lot of this material has to be in CGI, it looks a little inconsistent, but I know there will be time to fix it up before release. Right now I’m a little less excited for the film than before because I was hoping for something with a little more of James Wan’s style, but whatever I’m still gonna see it.
Young Justice: Outsiders Trailer
Hooray for Young Justice‘s return! I don’t know if I mentioned it on the blog before, but I LOVE Young Justice, it was one of my favourite TV experiences while I was at uni around 6 years ago, and for the longest time, I thought there was no hope of a third season, but for it to exist and for there to be a trailer, I couldn’t be happier. While I would have liked a fully new trailer without the mini recap of season 2, at the same time it was great to see the crazy and emotional highlights from the last season, and then transition into this new material with all the new and familiar faces, new locations, Darkseid and a whole load of other stuff. I’m just happy to know that it exists and I can’t wait to see it next year!
Disenchantment Trailer
Once I heard about this new project from Matt Groening I was intrigued, but seeing it in action only enhances my excitement for this new show. As much as I’ve loved the classic episodes of The Simpsons and certain elements of Futurama, it is refreshing to see Groening on another project that is different, but feels like it has his style all of it. And that’s the best thing about it to me; the fact that it is different yet familiar, and the fantasy setting mixed in with the humour feels like a nice and strange mix.
Glass Trailer
I quite liked this trailer, so much so that I recently rewatched Unbreakable and Split, and it got me super excited to see what Shyamalan comes up with in this new film. It looks cool, unique and strange. I like how Mr Glass, the Beast and David Dunn have somehow ended up in a mental institution and are being interviewed by Sarah Paulson’s character. When she says that she’s looking at people who believe they are superheroes it does make me wonder how many people she’s come across and if there will be more seen in this film. Either way, it is great to see Samuel L. Jackson back after so many years along with Bruce Willis, I’m very curious to see how their lives have changed and what brings them back together, There’s a lot of possibilities with Glass and that’s the most exciting part for me.
Christopher Sabat and Sean Schemmel Yelp Reviews
This is something I had to include, it was just too good not to. Now while this brief IGN interview was in relation to the upcoming Dragon Ball Super film and the dubbing process of the film and Super tv series. But the main thing that I took away from the interview was Chris Sabat and Sean Schemmel reading angry Yelp reviews as Vegeta and Goku. These are such silly, silly reviews, and hearing Chris and Sean bring their energy to these Yelp reviews really helps sell you on Vegeta and Goku in these scenarios and makes you wish these moments would be animated. 😀
And so that’s my highlights from this year’s SDCC, what was your favourite trailer or announcement from this year’s Comic-Con? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below and I’ll see ya on the next blog post, laters! 😀
Howdy ladies and gents, how’s it going? So today is the day after the 90th Academy Awards and we have our winners of the awards being talked about online and now I’m going to throw my opinion into the mix with a quick recap of the Oscars… In audio form! Yeah rather than write a whole load of questionable words out, I thought it’d be more interesting to record an episode for the podcast to fully illustrate my positive and negative thoughts on those who won and those who didn’t.
Anyway here’s the episode:
So if you have any thoughts on the Oscars, the winners, losers, speeches, Kimmel’s hosting skills or anything else sure to drop them in the comment section below an I’ll see ya in the next post, laters! 😀
Good day to you ladies and gents, time for some film reviews and today I’m going to start a new series of reviews under the title REVISITED, and what that means is that I’ll be reviewing films I haven’t seen for a while and checking out how they hold up since my last watch. And today’s reviews will be of films I’ve been meaning to rewatch for a while and they are The Incredibles and Super 8.
So first we have The Incredibles, a film that is not only in my top 3 Pixar films but also one of my favourite animated films ever. Funnily enough, I never watched this film in a conventional way, I missed it in the cinema and saw at least the first half of it on a pirated DVD and then saw it properly on TV a few years later. I’m pretty sure this film was made for me, it is a superhero film with elements of the spy genre and family drama mixed in too. I loved being introduced to this world of superheroes learning about how they operate, how they were phased out and how it affects the main characters down the line. For all of the fantastical elements, this film has a lot of realistic material at its core. This film deals with a lot of issues relating to death, revenge, missing the simplicity/glory days of youth, having marital issues, being able to truly express yourself and sacrificing your wants and needs for those you love. This film does a good job of balancing between the humour, drama and action, and there’s a lot to enjoy for audience members of all ages. The characters are all great, they all have wonderful quirks, strengths and weaknesses, confidence issues and specific personality traits that make them shine, like Dash for example. Also, the voice work is really good especially from Craig T. Nelson and Holly Hunter as Mr Incredible and Elastigirl, Jason Lee as Syndrome, Samuel L. Jackson as Frozone and of course director Brad Bird as Edna Mode. Visually the film is so very beautiful, artistically the film is very distinct and colourful, the animation is super smooth and the camera work used during the action sequences is very kinetic and has some amazing tracking shots. Oh, and the creativity in the use of the abilities of all the superpowered individuals was so creative and badass. Equally as good is the film score from the brilliant Michael Giacchino, besides Star Trek (2009), The Incredibles has my favourite Giacchino score overall as it is some of the sassiest, upbeat and bombastic material of all his compositions. The score has a varied sound that works in all situations, besides having a deliciously jazz-inspired soundtrack that harkens back to the days of old spy films, there are also lovely dramatic and emotional moments that stick out a lot too. My favourite pieces were during the action scenes with Dash and Mr Incredible training montage. In the end, this film is still as fun as the day I first saw it.
Ah Super 8, I remember this film well, the hype behind this film was quite notable because of the mystery surrounding the film and the well-crafted yet intriguing trailers that had a lot of interesting shots but no major plot details revealed. I recall upon this film being released that the reception was quite mixed, a good few people liked it, but a lot of people found it boring and unengaging especially given the lack of information about the film beforehand. I remember enjoying the film for the most part but thought it the reveal of monster and main story towards the end lost some steam. Either way, I haven’t seen this film since it was in cinemas 2011 and I’ve wanted to check it out again for ages. So how was my experience 6 years later? Pretty good actually. I feel like Super 8 is one of those films that benefit from a second viewing, once you understand how the story works in terms of the style, pacing, mystery and character arcs I believe it is a more enjoyable experience. I found it interesting how this film combined a coming of age story with a sci-fi plot and I feel like it works for the most part. You have a story dealing with friendship, growing up, dealing with traumatic events of the past, mysterious events that have dangerous ramifications and the search for truth. I enjoyed the adventure, while there were some issues with the hit and miss humour and some less than interesting story stuff when the kids weren’t involved, I thought it had some really cute, funny and dramatic material that worked well. I thought the cast of kids were good, they acted well and had good chemistry, bouncing off of each other in a natural way, Joel Courtney and Elle Fanning, were really good, and I also liked Riley Griffiths and Ryan Lee too. As for the adults, they were fine, but Kyle Chandler was the most memorable even those his character wasn’t very likeable. Visually the film looks nice, the lens flare is less than usual, and while it was a little too dark during the night scenes, there were some really cool-looking action sequences including one of the most impressive train crashes I’ve ever seen put to film, it is a beautiful massacre, so much crashing, smashing, flying debris and explosions. It is truly a wonderful spectacle. Also the film score from Michael Giacchino is really nice, Super 8‘s score feels like it has elements of Jurassic Park and Star Wars, but most notably has shades of Lost in the sense that there are subtle/emotional vibe moments mixed in with these uplifting and hopeful sounds that swell and engulf the scenes they’re used in. Overall I was glad I saw this film again and if you’re interested to give it a watch.
So have you seen these films and if so what do you think? Also if you’ve seen them more than once do they hold up better, worse or the same as before? Be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments section below and I’ll see ya on the next review, laters! 😀
Howdy ladies and gents, how’s it going? Normally I would be here to give you a film review, however that is not the case today as the first single from Jamiroquai’s upcoming 8th album has been released and I just have to talk about it!
Let me just start by saying if you didn’t know already I am a MASSIVE Jamiroquai fan, have loved them since childhood and just behind the Red Hot Chili Peppers they are my all-time favourite band. It was also a life goal to see them live and I got to live that dream in summer 2013. And so their last album Rock Dust Light Star came out in 2010 and I have been waiting for what feels like an eternity for some new material, following every tiny bit of information about the band, their studio time and what not, and I knew something would be going down this year, but I had no clue the info would drop so soon. In the last week we got info on the name of the album, track listing, tour dates and locations, a teaser for the music video of the first single, and when the first single would get its first play.
Yesterday I saw on Twitter that the song would drop on Jo Whiley’s show on BBC Radio 2 so I downloaded the app just to hear it and unfortunately I didn’t catch the whole thing because I got lost in a game demo, but I caught the last half of it and what I heard, I liked. 🙂 Then I found out the song, “Automaton” would be officially released today and now that I’ve heard the song in full and seen the video I’m ready to give my thoughts on it.
Here’s the song:
Firstly let me talk about the song itself, wow, what a jam, it sounds so good. The cool thing is, it is different and familiar and I’m really feeling the style of music. The best way to describe the song is that it feels primarily electronic with disco mixed in. I felt shades of A Funk Odyssey and Rock Dust Light Star but with a Daft Punk edge from the Tron: Legacy soundtrack. During the first verse the difference in sound did take a little adjusting, but once that chorus kicks in with Jay Kay’s gorgeous vocals, everything slots into place. But then towards the latter side of the song there’s a lovely breakdown where the song taps into the more familiar Jamiroquai sound with the funky disco sounds and it feels so nice! I feel like this song is an evolution of the sound from “White Knuckle Ride” but on another level. This sound is bold, in your face and just oozing with flair and personality.
As for the music video, I really liked it. I watched it around an hour ago so I may miss some details, but I thought it was very sci-fi/otherworldly with Jay Kay playing some kind of man who was either: 1) A cyborg. 2) A human with robotic tendencies. Or 3) An alien. Either way it was an interesting video to watch this character move through the underground train stations, abandoned trains, out in the fields and in the room with that other guy watching all those monitors among other places. And that ending when he found the hat (which I believe is the same one from the cover of the High Times compilation album from 2006) I got so giddy, but then UFO’s showed up with a spotlight on him and that was a crazy, the way I interpreted the video was that this character was an alien sent to earth to learn and somehow contact his people to get picked up. I liked the colour scheme of the video, from the outdoor locations, to the glowing robot hat to the cool mirror room Jay was moving around in, plus this was the first video in ages to see Jay Kay dancing again and it was hella fun to see him busting some moves on the underground.
So that’s my quick thoughts on “Automaton“, I think it’s a really cool song which will grow on me and I will bleed the hell out of for weeks to come. And while I can see old school fans of the acid jazz days of the first 3 albums not being too captivated by this material, I think that this is a sign of good things to come. Anyway, for you Jamiroquai fans what did you think of this new song? Drop me your thoughts in the comments below so I’ll see ya on the next blog post, laters! 😀
Good day to you ladies and gents, once again another crazy session at San Diego Comic-Con has come and gone, and if you’re fan of comics, film and TV then you’re more than likely hyped for this event. So between Thursday and Saturday this week us fans were treated to a plethora of information in form of interviews, trailers and descriptions of panels and footage, and man, it was an overwhelming amount of gorgeous announcements. While some of the stuff that shown off was expected, at the same time there were plenty of unexpected announcements and it was glorious as a fan of several of these different franchises to get all of this information. The hype is real right now and just trying to think of it all right now is boggling my mind! But like last year, I’m gonna try to show off my personal highlights from SDCC 2016 😀
Doctor Strange Trailer #2
Yo, this was the best thing I could have woken up to. I had heard rumours of a second trailer for Doctor Strange being released during Comic-Con, but I wasn’t sure it was going to happen, but sure enough it did and it was glorious! And while this wasn’t super amazing, it was certainly fascinating to watch. We got some additional details on Steven Strange’s path to becoming the Sorcerer Supreme with his training, use of magic and interaction with other characters, we also got to see more of the main cast especially with the extra scenes of Mads Mikkelsen as the villain and Benedict Wong as Wong. What I’m loving is how Marvel Studios are embracing the supernatural elements of the source material which is reflected in some of the dialogue and plot, but mainly with the visual presentation which is super trippy, colourful beyond comprehension and clearly got an Inception kind of feel but times twenty! Cumberbatch looks so cool especially with the way he puts on that cloak and I love that line at the end of the trailer with Baron Mordo giving Strange the Wi-Fi password, that was great. I’ve been hyped for this film for ages, but now the hype has gotten so much higher! 😀
Wonder Woman Trailer
Okay so the Wonder Woman trailer has finally been released and I have to say that I’m intrigued and definitely down for this film more so than before. The thing about Gal Gadot’s version of Wonder Woman is that she’s pretty, but I don’t find her intimidating or badass, and while she had her moments in Batman V Superman, I wasn’t in love with her. However this trailer really seems to be winning me over with the good chemistry between Gal Gadot and Chris Pine, the WWI setting and the action sequences that look pretty cool. Oh and the colour, I’m liking the use of colour especially in WW’s costume and some of those action scenes look pretty hardcore. Oh and the use of WW’s theme from BvS, nice! My only issues with the trailer was the use of slow motion during the action scenes, these days it feels a little excessive in action movies and seeing some of WW’s movements, it looked a little awkward, but other than that the trailer’s good and I’m ready for this film.
Justice League Footage
But this footage was the real surprise for me, Justice League is still in production as far as I know and for there to be such polished-looking footage already is crazy, but welcomed for me. This footage if anything proved one single thing, that Justice League will be a different kettle of fish from the last two DCEU films with humour, light-heartedness and colour. I liked how Bruce and Diana were on the hunt for their superhero team and how these moments of banter between Diana and Bruce about Aquaman’s recruitment or the conversation between Bruce and Barry Allen. Ezra Miller’s version of the Flash is one that I think I’ll like a lot and Jason Momoa looks tough as nails as Aquaman, and overall it looks like this film will be good session. I will admit that this trailer lacked the style, charisma and impact of a proper trailer like Wonder Woman, but since the film’s not done with principal photography I’m gonna let it slide.
Kong: Skull Island Trailer
Out of every trailer that dropped from SDCC, this was the one that really caught me by surprise. I’ve been looking forward to this film for a while, but to see some actual footage and the tone this film is going for, I was like “Damn, this needs to be in my system now yo!” This film really has a Godzilla (2014) kind of vibe especially with that opening shot on the ocean with the use of colour and the dark clouds, but the style and tone feels more in line with a film from decades ago like the 1970’s. I also enjoyed seeing how big of a part Samuel L. Jackson and John Goodman have with Jackson looking like the tough military guy and Goodman being some kind researcher familiar with the island. The visuals are looks very solid with some cool cinematography, big set pieces and King Kong, damn, how big is here? This film definitely establishes that Skull Island isn’t a place for humans, that it’s been around since the early times of Earth and that trespassers will meet their end, and that just excites me to see how dangerous this place and it’s inhabitants are.
Danai Gurira Joining Black Panther
This was one of the best small surprises for me, to have Danai Gurira from The Walking Dead come over to the MCU in the new Black Panther film? Hell yeah, she’s perfect to come into this film and to have her as the head Black Panther’s personal body guards it seems like a great role that’ll hopefully have some action material as Gurira excels at that in Walking Dead. And just in general to see Ryan Coogler talk so passionately about being a fan and working on Black Panther was great, but also seeing the current cast, Chadwick Boseman Lupita Nyong’o, Michael B. Jordan and Danai Gurira together talking about their excitement for this new film was awesome.
Luke Cage & Iron Fist Trailers
And finally there’s the trailers from the first day of SDCC that got me all sweaty in the from of the trailers for the Netflix Marvel shows; Luke Cage and Iron Fist. And while there was this nice teaser for The Defenders, these trailers had actual footage and I’ve been hyped for these shows because of their potential in the future especially when it comes to crossovers. Firstly there’s Luke Cage and while there wasn’t really much in the way of story, this trailer definitely gives a look at the kind of tone, action and style of this show and how it’s different from Daredevil and Jessica Jones. I’m liking the action and how brutal/humourous it is with Cage just dispatching bad guys. And with Iron Fist there’s even less to see, but what glimpses we do get are pretty cool flashbacks to a young Danny Rand and his mum in a plane crash and then being found by monks in the snow, then fast forward to modern times with Rand being restrained in a bed and then smashing through that wall. I liked it, Finn Jones looks cool and with the music it really felt mystical and otherworldly.
And so that brings my highlights from this year’s SDCC to a close, what was your favourite material from Comic-Con this year? Whatever they are be sure to comment below and let me know and I’ll see ya on the next blog post, laters! 😀
Howdy people of the internet, been a bit since I posted anything new so here I am again talking about a trailer, or more so a behind-the-scenes featurette on the upcoming Rogue One: A Star Wars Story that’ll be showing up in December.Now I’ve been pretty hyped for this film since I saw the leaked footage from Comic-Con last year I think, and after the first trailer game out I got even more excited. But I think it’s the footage that dropped online from Star Wars Celebration that really got me the most giddy so far. 🙂
Check out the video here:
After I saw this yesterday I felt the hype ascend in my soul again haha! 😀 I mean how can you not see that footage and not be anything but excited for this film? That reel pretty much confirmed what we’ve been told this film would be from the beginning; a war film. Rogue One looks rough, dirty, more serious in tone and just from the shots on the beach, the collection of Stormtroopers and other individuals running through explosions, this looks a war film set in the Star Wars universe and I love it.
Just the approach in style, direction, cinematography and use of practical effects is fascinating and feels very different from The Force Awakens where things in this film feel a little more intense and action-packed. It really feels like Gareth Edwards and the rest of the cast and crew know what they’re doing and are creating something familiar yet totally different from what we’ve seen before in the main series of films. And while I usually don’t like to check out how certain films are made because I just like not knowing the details, at the same time it can be very insightful and can give you a greater level of respect for the film you’re watching and I dunno how Edwards and company are keeping such a crazy production in check but they seem to be doing it in such a great way from what I’ve been in this footage.
And speaking of footage look at all that goodness like:
Donnie Yen looking all badass and dispatching dudes in only the badass way that he can, love it!
Felicity Jones continues to look more and more interesting.
The amount of different designs of the human and alien-based characters is varied and cool.
Seeing Gareth Edwards behind the camera during some of the key action scenes looked great and its cool to see him actively involved with the camera work.
Oh and that cool small creature towards the end of the video who laughed before going back to shooting stuff from that gun, I love him. I have no clue who or what he is but I think he’s now my favourite person since Wicket or Nien Nunb! XD
Anyway, regardless of how Rogue One turns out I’m still glad that the effort was put into this film to make something different and I’m more hopeful than ever that I’ll have a good time in December.
So those are my thoughts, right now I’m on the hype train for this film and the wait for December continues to get harder and harder. 😛 But how about you? Were you impressed with this behind-the-scenes footage or would you have prefered to see a proper trailer instead? Whatever your thoughts be sure to drop them below and I’ll see ya on the next review, laters! 😀
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! 😀
Howdy people of the internet and today I’m continuing my 2015 film catch-up session with The Peanuts Movie (aka Snoopy and Charlie Brown: The Peanuts Movie). I missed this film when it was originally released, but since I had some free time yesterday I decided to check it out and now I’m ready to pass judgement.
The story can be described as the following:
“Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy, Linus and the rest of the beloved “Peanuts” gang make their big-screen debut, like they’ve never been seen before, in state of the art 3D animation. Charlie Brown, the world’s most beloved underdog, embarks upon an epic and heroic quest, while his best pal, the lovable beagle Snoopy, takes to the skies to pursue his arch-nemesis, the Red Baron.”
The story was simple yet familiar. but it was certainly an enjoyable one. The film operates in two halves; the one that focuses on Charlie Brown’s story and the other on Snoopy’s side story. For anyone who has seen any of the Peanuts TV shows or specials, they’ll be in be in nostalgic heaven as this film took a lot of elements from the source material, but also found a way to update some of the classic elements in ways that felt relevant. What I loved about this film was how well it captured the essence of what made the old TV adaptations so enjoyable, there’s that same sense of wit, charm and relatability, but there’s also lot of interesting moral and ethical life lessons in this film that certain animated films lack. Now one could argue that this film relies too heavily on nostalgia and there were moments where I did feel like I was just reliving the past with no variation, but it never got to the point where I hated it.
As for the characters they’re all there and kicked ass. Everyone you could think of showed up had a moment in the sun whether you’re talking about Snoopy and Woodstock or Charlie Brown, Linus, Sally, Peppermint Patty, Marcie, Lucy, etc. It was delightful to see all of these characters again with all of their interesting personality and physical traits intact, and I also liked seeing some more moments dedicated to some of my favourite people like Franklin and Pig-Pen. But I LOVED Charlie Brown though, this kid has been my favourite for years purely because he’s one of the most unlucky people in the history of existence, and yet he’s so kind and righteous, you just want the kid to succeed and those characteristics were evident in this film as well. I felt so bad for this kid when he was failing that it hurt, but I also loved when he was the right side of success as well and I really liked Noah Schnapp brought to the role. Also Snoopy was still just as loveable, charismatic and creative as ever with his interactions with the other children, but also while on his Red Baron adventures. I also have to give a shout-out to Alex Garfin who did a fabulous job voicing as Linus, Garfin sounded spot-on to the original voice actor.
When it comes to the presentation it is nearly flawless. Visually this film takes a 3D CGI approach to the animation as opposed to the old 2D traditional style, but interestingly the filmmakers reworked the art and animation style to mimic the old cartoons. So when characters move, dance or talk it looks just like it did back in the day but with a 3D coat of paint, and besides certain moments where the CGI looked a bit jarring, otherwise it was gorgeous to look at. Oh and the music is great too, besides the use of modern music which wasn’t for me, this film included several of the classic Vince Guaraldi music which still sounds as great as ever. But I also have to hand it to Christophe Beck for his awesome film score which felt new, but also appropriate to the tone of Peanuts and there were some absolutely gorgeous pieces especially when it came to “Fifi’s Theme“.
In conclusion The Peanuts Movie is everything you want from an animated children’s film, it has humour, adventure, style, charm and heart. For long-term fans it provides the right level of nostalgia and for people new to the franchise it’s a unique and relatable experience that they may fall in love with too. This film was everything I wanted to be and more, and I’m gutted I didn’t see it sooner as I ADORED this film and it should be seen by everyone as soon as possible!
Rating: 8.5/10
So have you seen The Peanuts Movie and if so what did you think of it? Please be sure to comment below and I’ll see ya on the next film review, laters! 😀
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