PODCAST: Best of Film Focus

Good day to you ladies and gents, today I just wanted to talk about my podcast, Film Focus and share with you some of the best episodes I have produced since I started back in 2016. And while I did highlight some of my favourite episodes in my first-anniversary post, I believe I have produced some better work since then and highlight my better work.

So without further ado here is a selection of some of my favourite/best episodes that I’ve done so far from the earliest to the latest:

Triple Review: Split, XXX: Return of Xander Cage & T2 Trainspotting

Even though I highlighted this episode before, it is still one my favourite and most unique episodes. Before this point, I had never thought of doing three mini reviews in one episode, the thought was a little mad to me and I thought it could be a mistake because I wasn’t giving each film a dedicated episode. However, it worked out in my favour because I was able to say enough about each film without going on too long, and it has gone on to be my second most played episode on Soundcloud which is awesome.

The Fate of the Furious Review

Even though I don’t talk about it too much, I did enjoy the last Fast and Furious film, it was fun, not my favourite of the franchise but still worth watching. And while I liked making this episode, for some reason, towards the latter half of the year it just picked up steam and became the most played episode on Soundcloud, its closing in on 500 plays which is insane to me, but hey I am not complaining in the slightest. 😛

Spider-Man: Homecoming Review

I make it no secret that Spider-Man: Homecoming was one of my favourite films of last year and while it wasn’t the best film, it just gave me a great sense of fun, youthful energy and difference from the Sony Spidey films of the past. And I think you can tell in this episode that I really enjoyed my time watching the film and it was a fun one to record.

Theme Songs in Superhero Films

This is the first episode where I truly got to talk about my love for the music that comes with superhero films and why I believe they are important aspects of these films. I enjoyed creating this episode a lot and putting it out there into the world.

2017 Summer Movie Recap

This is one of the most notable episodes of the podcast as it featured my first guest in the form of Drew from Drew’s Movie Reviews, and he was a lovely gentlemen who helped me go through most of the major films from of last summer from films we both saw and some that we saw individually. It is one of the longer episodes but it was hella fun.

Film Scores and Composers

Besides a few other episodes, this was the passion project that I really wanted to make an episode about since I started the podcast. Music in film is SO important to me and while I’m not well-versed in the proper descriptive terms to analyse film scores and composers, I am very passionate and I can tell you how film scores makes me feel and how I believe it enhances a film or works being the confines of the films they belong to.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi Review

And so Drew thankfully returned to join me for my review of the latest Star Wars films and that was certainly an interesting episode for sure. We both had different opinions about the film, there were elements we agreed on, but there were also a few times where we were on opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to how certain elements of the story, characterisation and evolution of the overall SW canon.

2017 Superhero Film Discussion

And finally, we have the episode where I had my second guest on the podcast, Eddie from Jaccendo to help me talk about the superhero films of 2017. With such a variety of films adapted from comic books last year there was a good deal of stuff to talk about, both good and bad, and what I enjoyed about recording this episode was having another person to bounce off of and offer a different opinion from my own. It is my longest episode but it was just a very casual, fun and nerdy conversation of the best kind. 🙂

Well, that is everything that I wanted to share, if you haven’t checked out my podcast yet I would appreciate if you subscribed on Soundcloud or iTunes and if you could sort me some comments or reviews that would be awesome! 🙂 Anyway 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! 😀

 

My Beastly Jurassic Park 3D Review!

Hi people of the web, time for my review of one of my favourite films of all time, Jurassic Park… IN 3D! Now I don’t care for 3D but there was no way I was gonna miss out on seeing one of my favourite childhood films in the cinema. So today I got the chance to view it FINALLY and I can say that this film takes me on a nostalgia trip that I needed. In short Jurassic Park is still bloody awesome, obviously! 😛 Minor spoilers to follow…

The story in this film involves John Hammond, the founder of a park on the island of Isla Nublar, where scientists have found a way to create living and breathing dinosaurs. In order to get the park signed off and ready to be exposed to the public Hammond invites a paleontologist and a paleobotanist, Hammond’s lawyer, a chaos theorist and Hammond’s grandchildren for the weekend to have a jolly old time. However chaos ensues when one of the employees (due to ulterior motives) runs off and turns all the security off leaving the dinosaurs free to escape and attack people, so now it is a race for survival for all the humans to get off the island.

The story here is one that I’ve liked from the days of watching this as a child, but now I understand it so much better as a young adult. This film is really about what happens when you play god, when science and discovery can lead to dangerous places and how creating things that shouldn’t existence in our time can have some serious ramifications. But most importantly it gives us a great representation of what would happen if dinosaurs were real and all of the good and bad that comes with it. I’ve always found the story to be cool because it does have all the good scientific explanation and themes surrounding it, but it also has all the dinosaurs and action to capture the imaginations of children. While some argue that there are problems with this film, if there is I can’t see them, I guess the only thing I can nitpick is how some of the dinosaurs appear where they do without a clear way of finding out how they got there.

As for the characters they are bloody cool, funny and wonderful in some awesome and cheesy 90s ways. Sam Neill as Dr. Alan Gran is great, he’s a man who’s fairly serious, into his work and dislikes children. And in this film he gets to see real dinosaurs after digging for years, has to deal with kids while trying to get back to Ellie and use his knowledge about dinosaurs to kept people alive. Laura Dern is great and gorgeous as Dr. Ellie Sattler, she’s a very smart and ambitious lady and definitely gets some good action time too. But one of the best characters is obviously Jeff Goldblum as Dr. Ian Malcolm, he’s amazing! He has some of the best scenes in the film, has the best dialogue and delivers some killer monologues and I just love him and his crazy personality traits.

Richard Attenborough as John Hammond is also great, you can clearly tell that he’s proud of his achievements and is a dreamer with big ideas that he wants to show the world, however he is a bit delusional and unaware of the dangers that could happen in his park and obviously has to the learn the hard way in this film. Attenborough is extremely likeable and delightful in his role. I’ve also gotta show some love for Bob Peck as Robert Muldoon, the park’s game warden. I thought he was incredibly cautious, calm and collected and his personality makes him cool and a wonderful addition to the cast. Then there’s Martin Ferrero as Donald Gennaro, his lawyer tendencies and annoying nature can make him annoying but it also makes him the subject of a lot of humour. Also Ariana Richards and Joseph Mazzello as Lex and Tim Murphy are good as Hammond’s grandchildren, they are tolerable, funny and offer some very convincing performances for kid actors. And lastly Wayne Knight as Dennis Nedry and Samuel L. Jackson as Ray Arnold are bloody cool as hell and both actors have a wonderful parts in the film.

When it comes to the presentation I can say that even after 20 years it holds up very well! This was the film that made realistic CGI dinosaurs and it still looks frigging WAY more impressive than a lot of CGI in present day films which is embarrassing on their part. While on an IMAX screen you can tell that the CGI is a little lacking in detail, it still looks incredible on a massive IMAX screen. Everything you love about the film from its action sequences to its cinematography and the individual dinosaurs look great.

This film created so many iconic scenes like:

• The legendary point when the group fly to the island by helicopter
• The spectacular Brachiosaurus intro scene with Alan and Ellie
• The crazy scene when the kids get attacked by the T-Rex
• Donald Gennaro getting eaten by the T-Rex while on the toilet, classic!
• The epic T-Rex car chase scene with Ian, Ellie and Muldoon
• The scary velociraptor kitchen scene with Lex and Tim

And its incredible that after all these years these scenes still can be so impacting, intense and scary. Oh and by the way this film has some of the best post-converted 3D I’ve ever seen! The depth of field and use of the third dimension is better here than most films today that have it especially the ones shot in 3D!

The audio is frigging beastly in IMAX, so loud, epic and freaky with those crazy speakers! As for the soundtrack by John Williams, do I even have to say how good it is? IT’S JOHN FRIGGING WILLIAMS! This man is one of the gods when it comes to film scores and this has to be my favourite one of his and probably one of all-time my favourite film soundtracks in existence! I know all the themes and all the music cues and every time I hear it I get shivers down my spine because the tunes are so powerful, dramatic and touching, I LOVE THIS SOUNDTRACK, so much so that I actually shed tears! Yeah I bloody shed tears of joy because of this badass film score! 😛

In conclusion even after so many years Jurassic Park was and still is one of the best films I’ll know in this life or the next. Is it wrong that this is my favourite film of the year and it’s from 1993? Man, that is saying something about the quality of films this year haha. Even after all these years the film is still awesome and in IMAX it just adds to the awesomeness but 10x! Everything about the film is badass and beyond words, it made me feel like a kid all over again! If you haven’t gotten around to doing already go out and see this in the cinema while there’s still time or just get it on Blu-ray or DVD, its one of those films that everyone has to see at least once in their lifetime! 🙂

Rating 10/10 (This film is just to special to me not to give perfect rating, it’s THAT good!)

So what did you lot think of Jurassic Park? If you’re an old school fan does the film still hold up for you or if you’re one of those crazy people on just seeing this film for the first time what did of think of it? Drop me your thoughts in the comments below and I’ll see ya on the next review! 😀

 

2013 in Film So Far… Not Been That Impressive To Be Honest.

Howdy people, I’m here again! Haha! And today I wish to take a look back at the films we’ve gotten so far in the cinema during 2013. And I think I can easily say that I haven’t been in the cinema this year nearly as much as 2012, I think that’s just due to my crazy personal life that’s gotten far more complicated than before. But even with that factor taken into consideration, the films I have seen this year haven’t given me much reason to scream and shout about how great they are, and that is truly unfortunate.

2013 has offered a great deal of films, a good few I was super hyped for, but none of them have quite delivered the entertainment factor I was hoping for.

Ah I remember when 2013 started and I was saying to myself “This year is totally gonna be better than last year for films, I can feel it.” Oh what a fool I was. If only I knew of the shit that was coming my way… It is hard to remember all of the films that I’ve seen this year and there’s a reason for that. THEY’VE BEEN VERY FORGETTABLE! I have actually had a lot of trouble trying to remember what I watched this year and its meant that I’ve had to go through my blog posts and cinema tickets to recall what’s come out this year, and you know that’s not a good sign.

Right now I’m gonna go though a select number of films and break them down by the following sections; films I enjoyed, films that were just there and films that sucked! Also note that this is based on the films that I’ve seen personally, I’m also not including films that were technically released in 2012 and remember this is just MY OPINION. Okay let’s go.

Films I enjoyed:

• Oblivion (I had fun with the film)
• Trance (besides a few questionable story choices, I liked it)
• Iron Man 3 (Mandarin issues aside I loved this film)
• Star Trek Into Darkness (not quite as epic as the first film but Benedict Cumberbatch is awesome!)
• Fast & Furious 6 (not as good as Fast Five, but still cool as hell)
• The Iceman (such a good and underrated film with Michael Shannon)
• Despicable Me 2 (a surprisingly great sequel with good humour)
• Pacific Rim (a kick ass summer fun time film)
• Now You See Me (another surprisingly awesome summer film)
• The Wolverine (while not perfect, it is WAY better than the last Wolverine film)
• Kick-Ass 2 (this was my kind of sequel and I liked it a lot)

Films that were just there:

• Gangster Squad (such a disappointment, but not quite shit though)
• Epic (not ‘epic’ like the name suggests, kind of boring)
• Welcome to the Punch (good leading characters, boring everything else)
• Broken City (I keep forgetting if I’ve even seen this film)
• The Croods (I expected more from the setting and story)
• The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (not a shit film, but a very good one either)
• G.I. Joe: Retaliation (better than the last film but still largely disappointing)
• After Earth (better than I thought it’d be but it was dull and lacking Will Smith)
• World War Z (better than expected but still nothing special)
• The East (a film with interesting ideas that just didn’t capitalize on them)
• Monsters University (a good Pixar film, but not a great one)

Films that sucked:

• Movie 43 (this film still left scars in my mind!)
• Hansel and Gretel Witch Hunters (waste of my life)
• Man of Steel (more disappointed than anything else, hyped up too much)
• Jack The Giant Slayer (such a waste of time, poor Ewan McGregor)
• Evil Dead (2013) (such a crappy remake, such a fail of a horror film)
• The Hangover Part III (not necessary, not funny, not anything)
• The Conjuring (not scary at all, where’s all this hype coming from?)
• This Is The End (not nearly as funny as it should have been)

 

This year showed so much promise especially for the summer season but only half of it has been worth my time yo.

The thing that’s really pissed me off about this year is that there’s not been one single film that’s made me go “Oh my god I loved that film! I need it as soon as it comes out on DVD!” And that sucks because I had SEVERAL films last year that I loved and I wanted/still want on DVD from last year. 2013 has just not been the epic year I had hoped for.

While 2013 is far from over and I still have a lot of films to watch that are on my radar specifically like: Thor: The Dark World, Machete Kills, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, I feel like those films will really have to push the boat out to impress me because so far 2013 has been a bit disappointing to be honest.

 

Elysium Review

Howdy people and welcome to another film review and today, after like 2 WEEKS after the film’s release I’m  FINALLY going to be reviewing Elysium. Now this was a film I’d been waiting to see for AGES, besides Iron Man 3, Man of Steel, The World’s End and The Wolverine, this was one of my key films to watch this summer. So after being let down by nearly all the films I saw this summer, I thought Elysium would be the one to rectify this and as it stands, its good, but not nearly as good as I’d hoped.

The story in this film goes a little something like this:

“In the year 2154 two classes of people exist: the very wealthy who live on a pristine man-made space station called Elysium, and the rest, who live on an overpopulated, ruined Earth. Secretary Rhodes, a government official, will stop at nothing to enforce anti-immigration laws and preserve the luxurious lifestyle of the citizens of Elysium. That doesn’t stop the people of Earth from trying to get in, by any means they can. When unlucky Max is backed into a corner, he agrees to take on a daunting mission that if successful will not only save his life, but could bring equality to these polarized worlds. “

I thought the plot in the film was good for the most part, but I can’t help but feel like it was a bit dull and lacking in originality. While watching the film I was trying to figure out where the film would go in terms of its direction and some of it I could tell from a mile away and some of it was harder to make out. I like the themes of the film involving social class, immigration and heath care, but some of it I feel could have been delved into a little deeper. What I did appreciate was the film’s raw and intense nature, the film doesn’t hide the fact that people on Earth are suffering and dying, everyone gets treated like shit and the laws in place for humans are just terrible with the robot enforcers being very difficult and uncaring about anyone. The social divide between the wealthy and the poor was nicely executed though I wish we got to see more of the snobby rich people, they felt more like window dressing than anything else. Max’s role in this whole thing was good though I wasn’t keen on how generically forced he was put into his situation.

When it comes to the characters they are all pretty much there and I didn’t care for the majority of them besides a special few. Let’s start with Matt Damon as Max Da Costa, he is basically the most important person in this film. He’s central character, I like his back story and personality traits, in this world of poverty, destruction and death he’s pretty level-headed and understands the reality of his situation. It’s only after a series of unfortunate circumstances force him into a situation where he has to become a hero and get to Elysium to change the fate of the world. Damon as always is wonderful to watch onscreen and he has a lovely screen presence and while this isn’t one of my favourite roles he’s done, it is certainly one that should be admired.

Jodie Foster as Jessica Delacourt was good as this very stern, badass Secretary of Defense chick whose job it was to keep all people from Earth off of Elysium and her radical methods make her a force to be dealt with. My only problem with Foster in this role is that her character doesn’t really have any kind of human personality to her, she comes across as very cold and militant, so I didn’t really care for her character. Also what was up with Foster’s accent, I couldn’t tell if she was American or some kind of British or French person, I think it was just due to the way that she pronounced certain words that threw me off.

But let’s talk about the standout performance that comes from Sharlto Copley as Agent C.M. Kruger, Jesus Christ this guy was a beast! I remember seeing Copley in District 9 and seeing how nice, friendly and innocent he was in that film, but he does a serious 180 in this film as he is this filthy mercenary who has series anger management issues and is a bit of a psycho. This man is just the baddest of the bad, heartless, ruthless and has a horrible history with people, in short he’s not someone you should fuck with. Copley plays his role to great effect and had me scared as to what he was gonna do next.

And then there’s the rest of the cast. Alice Braga as Frey Santiago is a decent character, she’s Max’s childhood friend and she serves her purpose in the film though I wasn’t too keen on how much she became part of the main plot. Diego Luna as Julio was another one of my favourite people, this guy is a tech expert and has some great moments with Damon. Wagner Moura as Spider is pretty decent and lastly William Fichtner was cool as John Carlyle, I’ve always had respect for Fichtner since his role in The Dark Knight and in this film while’s not doing anything as hardcore in this film, I thought he character was cool, devious and funny.

As much as it pains me to say this, the one thing about this film that stood out the most was the visuals. The presentation in this film is virtually flawless with some of the sharpest, cleanest and most detailed stuff I have ever seen. Granted a good few films have done that this year (Oblivion and Pacific Rim come to mind), but Elysium puts its CGI to good use as we get very detailed robots,  cool exoskeletons, kick ass guns that have varying results depending on which ones are used, an incredible-looking version of space and  the space station called Elysium itself looks gorgeous, it has a very simple yet practical design and I love everything about the way it looks.

In conclusion I enjoyed Elysium, it was pretty awesome and it featured some INCREDIBLE visuals, a wonderful central performance from Matt Damon and had a story just about good enough to keep you interested throughout. However I can’t help but feel like this film could have been more, Neill Blomkamp crafted something insanely specially with District 9 and its hard not to look at this film and feel slightly disappointed that it wasn’t of the same or even higher caliber. But in the end I’m glad I watched it and I’d still recommend it to anyone looking for a slightly more involved science fiction film.

Rating: 7.5/10 (Twas a great film but not nearly as amazing as I was expecting)

So what did you lot think of Elysium? Did you like it or were you disappointed? Whatever your thoughts are drop them below in the comments section and I’ll see ya on the next review yo!

 

Kick-Ass 2 Review

Howdy people, it looks like its time to review a new film again and today’s film is the sequel to 2010’s Kick-Ass in the form of Kick-Ass 2. Now this is a film I’ve been cautiously interested in for a while now. I really liked what Matthew Vaughn did with the first film and when I heard he wasn’t coming back for the sequel I was gutted. The trailers also only made me mildly hyped for the film, so man was I glad after watching the film today to find that it was WAY better than I expected. Thank god.

The plot in this film goes a little something like this:

“Inspired by Kick-Ass and the events of the first film, other people don masks and begin to fight crime. One of these, Colonel Stars and Stripes, forms a team and asks Kick-Ass to join them. Meanwhile, Hit-Girl’s choice to “retire” and try to have a normal life as a schoolgirl backfires when Red Mist is reborn as The Mother Fucker and plans to create a super-villain army to exact revenge on Kick-Ass for his father’s death. The superheroes face threats from their allies and get thrown into prison for wearing masks.“

I really enjoyed the story in this film, it felt like a nice progression from the previous one and had a lot of new challenges for all the character involved and cranked up the danger level by ten times. There’s really three main story arcs in the film:

• The first involving Dave wanting to become a hero again as Kick-Ass and become some more than a regular person.
• The second involves Mindy trying to come to terms with who she is, dealing with life as Hit-Girl but also dealing with high school for the first time.
• And the third involves Chris D’Amico wanting to get vengeance against Kick-Ass and becoming to The Mother Fucker.

All of the key characters from the previous film develop which leads to some wonderfully emotional and really great moments throughout. The great thing about this film is that it has everything you loved about the last one, Kick-Ass 2 retains its sense of humour, style, drama, violence and unashamedly blunt nature. There’s bound to be stuff to offend people from the violence to the profanity and racism too, but hey it’s not meant to be serious, it’s just a movie and the way its used is effective and hilarious. Now obviously for the comic book fans a good deal of things have been changed for the live-action adaptation and I feel like they work for the most part, but obviously some may be disappointed with the changes.

When it comes to the characters they are all on top form and the cast do a brilliant job. Let’s start with Aaron Taylor-Johnson with is still badass as David Lizewski/Kick-Ass. In this film Dave has a great journey that we experience in this film, he’s been out of action for a while but then dresses up and joins a group of costumed heroes and is really enjoying himself, until things get complicated. Johnson is still odd, hilarious and cool as the title character. And then there’s Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Chris D’Amico/The Mother Fucker. Bloody hell, The Mother Fucker is one of the strangest creations any person has come up with, the guy is a nutcase with some stupid and weird tendencies, but that also makes him a frigging awesome character. Christopher Mintz-Plasse plays this character to great effect being charismatic and naturally funny throughout. But the real star as per usual is Chloë Grace Moretz as Mindy Macready/Hit-Girl. Mindy has the strongest of the character arcs in this film for me, her character has a lot of things on her mind and has to deal with new challenges as both herself and her alter ego. Chloë burst into the world of film as Hit-Girl and continues to be amazing as this crazy acrobatic fighter, but also as a girl who doesn’t know anything outside of the world that her father put her into.

Now let’s talk Jim Carrey as Colonel Stars and Stripes. I was REALLY looking forward to seeing Carrey in this film and I can report that he did a great job in the film. His character was funny and has a great sense of justice and knew how to throw down, he was really badass. HOWEVER I was really gutted with the amount of time he was in the film, I felt like his character exited the film far too soon and I felt like his character wasn’t as integrated into the main cast as the trailers made me believe.

I also want to give a shout out to Donald Faison who was totally great as Doctor Gravity, he provided some wicked moments of humour. Also Olga Kurkulina should really be highlighted for her work as Mother Russia, she was the definition of badass, she was like a human tank of beastliness! And John Leguizamo (who I remember as Tybalt from Romeo + Juliet) does a great job as Javier, he’s funny, relatable and cool. And finally Lindy Booth as Night Bitch and Claudia Lee as Brooke were great in their roles but were also total hotness, I had to say it!

In terms of presentation its pretty cool, visually the film is done very well with some nicely shot scenes and wonderfully choreographed action scenes and sequences. The best element of the action comes in the awesome fight sequences involving Hit-Girl, Mother Russia, Kick-Ass and the epic battle between hero and villain groups towards the end of the film. As for the soundtrack by Henry Jackman and Matthew Margeson its great, it retains the heroic, distinct and soft themes from the last film while adding some nice new ones in this film. The soundtrack also works thanks to its choice of music tracks too, the best example of this is use of “Korobeiniki” which is the Type A music from Tetris covered by the band Ozma. It is a frigging awesome cover of the original and is used SO well in one sequence in the film which is just beastly!

So to conclude, Kick-Ass 2 is a lot of fun. It’s just about as awesome if not more so than the original, its violent, over-the-top, ridiculous, hilarious and doesn’t care about who it offends. I wasn’t expecting the film to be as good as it was but it exceeded my expectations and was a lot better than a lot of the films I’ve seen this summer. I can only recommend this film for those who are fans of the first film or those who don’t mind a bit of violence with their action and comedy, but yeah Kick-Ass 2, good stuff. 🙂

Rating: 8/10 (A solid sequel fun of all the good carnage that made the first film rock!)

Now I wanna here your thoughts on the film in the comments below! Did you enjoy Kick-Ass 2? Did you like it more or less than the first film? Also if you’re a fan of the comics do you like the changes or despise them? Whatever your thoughts drop them below and I’ll see ya on the next review yo! 😀

 

The Wolverine Review

Alrighty then, the day has come to review the latest Wolverine film entitled The Wolverine. Now understandably after the disgusting atrocity that was X-Men Origins: Wolverine I was hesitant about watching another solo film involving the claw-wielding mutant. But the director James Mangold, seemed to have a better understanding of the source material and even Hugh Jackman said that this was the kind of Wolverine film he wanted to make. So with their good interviews and interesting trailers I started to feel hope. So now that I’ve actually seen the film does it rectify the mistakes of the past or do we get more of the same shit from before? Read on and find out.

So let’s start with the story. In this film Logan is a drifter, he’s rough, out of action and having nightmares in the form of memories of the past and illusions. At one point Logan is found by Yukio and told that her employer  Yashida, an old friend of Logan’s wants to see him, so they travel to Japan and it is here that Yashida offers Logan a chance to be rid of his immortality (his healing factor). Well let’s just say that one thing leads to another and eventually Logan looses his powers, vulnerable for the first time Logan must fight to the limits of his abilities while trying to protect those close to him.

I thought the story in this film was pretty cool. The film started out very strong and it had me captivated, you see Logan’s struggle, understand his suffering and the Japanese setting presents a whole new set of interesting aspects. Unfortunately the film looses steam getting a little convoluted, slow in pace and the final act is a bit lacking in originality and logic. That aside, it seems like the script writers have drawn inspiration from the comics and if you’re nerd like me you’ll notice the subtle references. The clear reference for this storyline is Chris Claremont and Frank Miller’s 1982 Wolverine, and those key elements are spread throughout this film with modifications made here and there. James Mangold’s direction is done nicely, but after watching this film I can’t help but think that Darren Aronofsky could have done a much better job with the adaptation of the source material. The film as it stands is good, but I could totally see moments where Aronofsky’s talent for torment and psychological stuff would have really elevated the drama, emotion and madness that this film is trying to convey.

Oh and for the love of Christ STAY FOR THE AFTER CREDITS SCENE! You’ll appreciate it, I freaked nerded out to the highest level yo, its super cool. 🙂

When it come to the characters the cast do a good job as bringing these people to live, though some stand out more than others. Firstly let’s start with Hugh Jackman as Logan/Wolverine. Man, Hugh Jackman is still awesome in this role and his physique is something to be admired (yeah I said it, but it’s so true). I loved how his character was down and out, haunted by his past and how he handled pain for the first time. I also think he embodies the title character even better than ever before. It’s the subtle mannerisms, handling of his powers and fighting style that really feels like the character from the comics and Jackman excels so well, he is the key element that makes this film work so well. The other key person is Rila Fukushima as Yukio, she’s a very deadly and flexible fighter who not only has connects to Mariko but also Logan due to their current circumstances and I loved how cool and action-oriented Fukushima was.

Then there’s Haruhiko Yamanouchi as Yashida, he played his role pretty well in the film. Also Tao Okamoto is very pretty and lovely as Mariko Yashida and Hiroyuki Sanada as Shingen Yashida is a badass douche as Mariko’s father. Will Yun Lee as Harada is pretty interesting and cool, even though his character’s credibility goes down towards the latter part of the film. Brian Tee as Noburo Mori was also good and Svetlana Khodchenkova as Viper was intimidating and freaky, if somewhat generic and boring. And lastly I was happy with what Famke Janssen did in the film as she reprises her role as Jean Grey from previous films.

As for the presentation it’s pretty good. Visually the film is great, there is some nice cinematography, lovely fight choreography for Wolverine and Yukio, and the CGI while a bit questionable at times, works overall. I think my favourite elements of the film is seeing Wolverine kicking ass, cutting, stabbing and being a badass with his lovely claws! Also the soundtrack Marco Beltrami is nice, definitely adopting a very different and Japanese-esque sound, it is subtle, beautiful and dramatic, though it does lack impact and memorable songs.

In conclusion The Wolverine is VERY GOOD improvement over that garbage film from 2009. With a much better story, setting and wonderful action set pieces, this film is definitely an entertaining piece of work. While it’s not perfect by any means and does have a few problems here and there, The Wolverine does succeed in being a film that has more pros than cons. How much you enjoy it is down to you especially if you’re what kind of comic book fan. I know most fans and critics will hate on the film, but I say go watch it, I feel hope for this character again. 🙂

Rating: 8/10 (It’s an awesome step in the right direction for Wolverine)

So what did you think of The Wolverine, was it the film that rectified the mistakes of the past or was it another failure in the line of X-Men-based films? Whatever your thoughts, drop them below in the comments section yo! Until the next film review, laters! 😀

 

Monsters University Review

Alrighty then it’s time for the second review of the day and this one comes in the form of Monsters University! Now I’m not big on prequels and honestly I really didn’t require one for Monsters Inc., but hell Pixar just had to do it anyway so here it is in 2013. I wasn’t all that interested in the film from the trailers and after the disappointment of Brave I was weary of Pixar’s powers to good films. However I was pleasantly surprised with Monsters University and I’ll tell you why its good in this review!

So the story is set many years before Monsters Inc. and focuses on the college years of Mike Wazowski and James P. “Sulley” Sullivan prior to their friendship. Basically you have Mike, a monster who’s wanted to be a scary monster since he was a kid, so he eventually gets to Monsters University and does a scare major. It is at this point that Mike comes gets introduced to Sulley, a big furry monster who is from a long line of scary monsters, and because of their different backgrounds both of them butt heads. Mike believes in being knowledgeable about scary from books, while Sulley believes that because of his looks and heritage he doesn’t need the knowledge and just goes by instincts. So eventually through varying circumstances the two end up working together when they join Oozma Kappa and participate in the scare games, and it is at this point where these two will have to work together not only for the sake of their team but for each other.

I thought the story in Monsters University was surprisingly pleasant, funny and had that trademark Pixar moments of heart that we’ve come to expect. It was great to see where the origins of these two characters and eventually see them form the friendship that we see later on, I was always rooting for Mike because of his dream and righteous while Sully just came across as a douche a lot of the time, so yeah he didn’t have my respect for a while. Also it was nice to see all the neat little references and see how certain elements or characters would eventually tie-in with the sequel film, though I think more could have been done in that department. However for all the bells and whistles that this film had, some of it did come across as a bit predictable and the emotional impact was not nearly as strong as Pixar’s previous efforts.

When it comes to the characters they’re all great at bringing their different personalities to the screen, though some start out more than others. So let’s start with Billy Crystal as Mike Wazowski. Crystal still has it as Mike and I still enjoyed his character a lot because of his encouraging, righteous and enduring nature. Also John Goodman as Sulley was still as cool as ever, Goodman was playing a different kind of role than before and while I wasn’t too keen on how much of an asshole his character was at first I came to like him as the film progressed.

Then there’s Helen Mirren as Dean Abigail Hardscrabble, her character you could say was the villain of the film as she was constantly looking down on Mike and Sully, hoping they would fail. Hardscrabble looked scary and intimidating and Mirren certainly had the impressive voice talent to back up the character’s visual persona. I aslo liked the return of Steve Buscemi as Randall “Randy” Boggs, Buscemi is a great actor and I liked seeing his return to this role in a much different light to what we remember of him in the sequel.

And then there’s the members of Oozma Kappa fraternity who are simply a joy to watch and each have their own individual quirks that make them special. Joel Murray as Don Carlton is great as the senior student, while Sean Hayes and Dave Foley as Terri and Terry Perry make for a strange, two-headed monster. Peter Sohn is just cute as Scott “Squishy” Squibbles and finally Charlie Day provides many moments of humour as Art. And lastly I want o give some shout outs to Alfred Molina as Professor Derek Knight and Nathan Fillion as Johnny J. Worthington III.

As for presentation, while, it’s Pixar and if there’s one department they’ll never fail in it’s the presentation. Visually the film is great, the colours, animation and art direction just screams greatness. I think Pixar have come such a long way, the lighting and texture work is of some of the best I’ve seen in any 3D animation, the fur and hair especially is great and when its hit by moonlight or other artificial lighting is just INCREDIBLE! So good. And the soundtrack by Randy Newman is also wonderful. While not the best soundtrack he has composed, I feel like Newman hasn’t lost his touch at all at creating nice and pretty themes, though the best song in the film by far is “Gospel“ by March Fourth Marching Band, it was SO good and addictive!

In conclusion Monsters University was a fun film that worked thanks to a decent story, lovely characters and that gorgeous animation that only Pixar can create. While the film is fairly predictable and not nearly as memorable as Monsters Inc. I’d say its Pixar’s best film since Toy Story 3 so they’re doing something right in my book. I’d recommend it for any fans of Pixar looking for a fun time in the cinema.

Rating: 7/10 (A fun animated film that’s just held back by slightly cliché elements)

So have you seen Monsters University and if so what did you think of it? Whatever your thoughts drop them in the comments below and I’ll see ya on the next film review yo.

 

Man of Steel Review

Okay then, now it’s time review what is probably the biggest film of the year, Man of Steel. There has been a lot of hype and marketing promotions going around to make sue that people know that this film is coming out. It has been suggested many moons ago that this would be the film of the year. So now that I’ve seen it, is Man of Steel the triumphant return of Superman? Well I can say that this is finest Superman film that’s come to exist since the original 1978 film.

The premise for this film is as follows:

“Clark Kent is a humanoid alien who after being transported to Earth from the dying planet of Krypton, was adopted as a child by Jonathan and Martha Kent. Raised with the values of his adoptive parents, he feels alienated because of his unique super powers and struggles to find his own place in life. When the world is attacked, he becomes the hero named Superman to protect Earth and its people.”

The story in this film definitely was different. In comparison to the previous Superman films it is a lot more serious, realistic and modernized from the original source material. We get to see more of Krypton, learn Zod and his crew and have more for Superman do too. The film’s overall narrative works though it doesn’t always feel cohesive at points. This film finds a way to tells Clark’s story through flashbacks and for the most part it works, though sometimes it doesn’t work as effectively. In truth I found the first half of the film not as interesting as the second half, some points just felt like they dragged or didn’t properly connect, but eventually the film finds its feet and gets really cool especially towards the end.

Also for those who have seen Superman 1 & 2, you’ll notice the similarities to the previous films and how some of these story elements or characters have been updated/changed for this film. Some of it works a lot better in this film whereas some of it works in the classic films instead. I can’t go into spoilers so watch the film and then you’ll see what I’m talking about.

When it comes to the characters of the film the cast do a great job of bringing these characters to life.

Let’s start with Henry Cavill as Clark Kent/Superman/Kal-El (he has many names lol). Cavill shows that he has true star power as he gives us probably our best version of Superman. I like how this version of the character is conflicted, isolated and a little more serious and had a good sense of justice too. I guess my only nitpick would be that Cavill was a little too serious and wasn’t too jolly and that’s something I missed from the Reeve version of the character. Then there’s Amy Adams as Lois Lane, I like Adams as an actress and I thought she was good in the film, all I need to say really. Now to talk about Michael Shannon as General Zod. I really was looking forward to seeing Shannon in this film because I’m a massive fa of his and while he was good in the film, I guess he wasn’t as epic as I thought he’d be (believe me he can be even more intense than this.

Russell Crowe as Jor-El was definitely different and had a more active role than Marlon Brando back in the old films, I did like this version of the character Crowe did it was cool. Also Kevin Costner and Diane Lane as Jonathan and Martha Kent were awesome, I loved their portrayals of the characters, they were active in Clark’s life and offered some great advice and life lessons for him and I felt like this was the best version of the characters I’ve seen so far. Laurence Fishburne was as Perry White but I wish I’d seen much more of him. Antje Traue as Faora, one of Zod’s followers, she was pretty badass in the film but I didn’t really care for her character as much as Superman and Zod. And lastly Ayelet Zurer as Lara Lor-Van was lovely as Kal-El’s mother, she had a much more active role than the actress in the first film and I liked how this film made her feel a lot more relevant.

When it comes to the presentation I can easily say that it’s the BEST aspect of the film. This film looks amazing, the cinematography is great, the look and style of the film was nice and the CGI was great. The visual feats crafted in this film was nothing short of amazing. This film finally gave us a film where Superman looks and feels like Superman. His powers were beastly and really came to life in this film in ways the previous films couldn’t do (like Superman’s laser eyes, they were perfect in this film). Plus we get to see Superman fight people IN ACTUAL COMBAT AND IT WAS BADASS. The scenes were intense, epic in scale and great to watch. As for the soundtrack, it was handled by the brilliant Hans Zimmer and I really liked it. Obviously it was a tough challenge to follow-up the iconic score and themes created by John Williams, but Zimmer does a great job at giving us some beautiful and dramatic that sometimes sounds similar to Inception on occasions too.

In conclusion Man of Steel wasn’t a disappointment by any means, I guess I just expected more because of the critics who hyped this film up to the heavens. I had absurdly high expectations and I guess some of them weren’t met. That being said, Man of Steel is the definitely a good modernized and dramatic take on the classic character and its also most action-packed DC film I’ve seen for a while now. While I’ll probably have to see the film again before I can truly tell whether I love it or not, most people will fall in love with it straight away. Go check this film out, it’s finally a Superman film that works in the present realm of superhero films.

Rating: 7/10 (The most epic Superman film that’s come into existence)

So what did you think of Man of Steel? Did it met your expectations or were you let down? Do you agree with me or think I am mental for my score? Whatever your thoughts drop them below and I’ll see ya one the next film review yo! 😀

 

The Hangover Part III Review

Alrighty then, now I am going to review The Hangover Part III. I can’t believe I am typing these words. I actually had NO intention of watching this films at all, but when I was at the cinema yesterday I needed to something to pass the time but also coincide with my screening of Mud so The Hangover Part III was the only option. So went into this film with no expectations whatsoever and in the end it was alright, but hell that isn’t saying much really.

The premise for this film is as follows:

“In the aftermath of the death of Alan’s father, the wolfpack decide to take Alan to get treated for his mental issues. But things start to go wrong on the way to the hospital as the wolfpack is assaulted and Doug is kidnapped. Now they must find Mr. Chow again in order to surrender him to the gangster who kidnapped Doug in order to save him.”

The story in this film isn’t exactly standard fare, there is a different focus this time. This time rather than “the hangover happens, we lost a person, let’s go find them!” its “okay our friend’s been stolen and we can’t get him back unless we find the crazy chinese guy who stole someone’s gold, let’s go!” There are a lot of similarities and connections to the last two films, but because of the change in formula it doesn’t really feel like a Hangover film, there is an actual hangover within the film, but it is definitely not the main focus.

Now its time to talk about the characters of The Hangover Part III. Firstly Bradley Cooper as Phil Wenneck, he was still the cool and sort of level-headed one of the group. Phil had some cool moments but it was continuously hard for me to imagine Bradley Cooper in this film after seeing Silver Linings Playbook. Ed Helms as Dr. Stuart “Stu” Price was alright, he seems to be the character who gets fucked over in each of these films and I think the same rule applies to this film, some of his scenes were funny while others weren’t. Then there’s Zach Galifianakis as Alan Garner who played a slightly different if somewhat similar role as he did in the previous films. Alan really is the heart and soul of these films because he’s had most of the laughs, screen time and crazy happenings go down in this life, so it is kind of annoying to see this different and arrogant version of the character in this film. Eventually we see some more of his previous qualities come into play later on in the film but it’s just not as good as it was before, he’s still very stupid by the way. And course we have to talk about Ken Jeong as Leslie Chow. Now Chow has been noted as one of the annoying character in this film series due to his crazy antics and high-pitched voice. For me he was alright in the first film, but then he got really weird in the second film, here he is just as loud and annoying as before and I guess I didn’t like him as much because I prefer Ken Jeong as Ben Chang in Community. Also even though Justin Bartha  wasn’t in the film that much due to kidnapping it was still good to see his return as Doug Billings.

Heather Graham as Jade serves a purpose for the sake of the plot but isn’t that memorable in the film. Jeffrey Tambor as Sid Garner was good, he was good in the film and that’s all I have to say about that. And lastly John Goodman as Marshall was great and one of the best characters in this film. Goodman makes a for a great villain in films and it definitely worked in this film as he was intimidating

In conclusion The Hangover Part III was surprising better than the last film and definitely did something different from the basic formula which I appreciated. But for all the changes the film makes, it’s still part of a film series that should have just been one standalone film in the film place. At this point I’ve seen and laughed at funnier things so yeah this film kind of feels pointless and reestablished the fact that the comedies are the genre I have the least amount of fun with in the cinema.

Rating: 5/10 (Unless you’re a fan you’re not gonna care about this film)

So what did you all think of The Hangover Part III? Did you think it was a return to form after the second film or do you think that this film was just as bad? Whatever your thoughts drop them in the comments below and I’ll see ya on the next review yo! 😀