Thor - The Dark World - Review & SPOILERS

Seeing that over the last few days, I've been hammering out Assassins Creed: Black Flag so I can get a review out of it, I didn't want to leave anyone out of my recent travels.

Earlier today we Brits were treated to the release of yet another Marvel movie! This instalment of Thor details the resurgence of the Dark Elves - a race who ruled the universe in complete darkness and seek to bring back the black with the use of a super weapon which does a lot of complicated science stuff. So, we have more aliens fighting alien. I always feel that this is what makes Thor shine. It's not always bound to saving earth. It's a much wider aspect that opens up far more avenues for high octane fun. With a mix of brilliant cameos and sassy jokes, Thor is definitely a must-see.

As I've already explained the story, I don't feel much need to complain about it. With a lot of twists and turns, you are drawn into the story, even if moments are predictable. Being that it is a Marvel movie, it is going to have the good vs bad which drives the story forward even if it feels a little generic.

Visually, it was almost perfect. ALMOST. Certain green screen scenes and long distance shots made characters stick out like a sore thumb, overly bright in a dark area and this really agitated me. The same could be said about some of the fight sequences that do exactly the same. Otherwise there are some brilliant visual effects all the way through astonishing costume design that makes everything look badass.

Marvel are not known for Oscar worthy scripts and acting but it wasn't bad. Yeah, there was a few cheesy lines but they were mixed in with witty one-liners that were very funny and kept a continual up beat feeling throughout. The sassy nature of Loki with his banter towards Thor is golden. It helps to enforce the fact that they are siblings. This sassy nature also uses Loki's power to transform himself into Captain America and spout excitable, patriotic nonsense which he is notorious for but also makes Loki look like he is trying to impress his older brother. With another guest appearance from Stan Lee, the film seems complete. The only other thing to focus on is the acting. Hemsworth and Hiddleston were perfect, as ever. My issue rides with Natalie Portman who plays a pretty pathetic character in the first place but she doesn't look genuine - almost uncomfortable in her role. Fear ends up looking more like shock. An additional actor that many people don't really focus on when they think Thor is Idris Elba. If you haven't read my Pacific Rim review, you should know that I love this man and I feel he didn't have a big enough role within this film and I wanted to see what happened to him at the end.

Overall, I consider a 8/10 a good score. It's a darker and more personal twist for Thor to undertake
and appears to be the current trend at Marvel (Look at Iron Man). Yet, some acting, some poor CGI and a few loose ends within the story do drag it down for me. Superhero/action movies will never achieve a 10/10, simply because they are more for fun rather than the critical film making that many critics desire.
I'm sorry for such a short and crazy review but seeing I'm running on 5 hours sleep and trying to keep up with everything that's going on is not an easy task.

Jackass Presents Bad Grandpa - Quicky Review! - SPOILERS!

Enjoy watching pranks on Youtube, excessively crude and brutally honest jokes? If so, this is the movie for you. Johnny Knoxville makes a triumphant return to the silver screen as Irving Zisman whose wife has just passed away, daughter going to jail and now having to take his grandson across the country to live with his father. The general idea of being dropped into a comedy movie is that it is all scripted and everything folds out the way the production crew wish and plan, yet the outcome of this is really different. They rely heavily on the use of public pranks with actual reactions (which also made jackass famous). The melding of a minor story and pranks is a different aspect in the comedy genre. It's also how Sasha Baron Cohen does so well with his Borat character but with the exception of added script. As far as the story goes, it is fairly basic and occasionally feel like it is trying a little to hard to be taken seriously, whether this is a ploy at getting you to interact with the characters or to feel some sort of emotion for them which you just can't take seriously.
Otherwise, the movie is a really enjoyable tale and fantastically acted. Without Billy (Jackson Nicoll) this movie would have made this review very different. Billy adds a new layer to the pranks that is a refreshing take on a relationship that is very limited nowadays. Then you have The Bad Grandpa himself - Johnny Knoxville. At many points through the plot, you will sit there and forget that Irvine isn't a real person and is just a character but Johnny plays this off perfectly and makes it refreshing to watch a comedy actor take on a role without being seen as the same dude who played this one person.

So, for filming, it's a mash of secret cams which aren't the highest of quality but do help to enforce the idea that they aren't scripted and really place you in the area. The reason you're here is probably

because you want to know how funny this film is - very. I'm still thinking back to certain scenes and laughing to myself. It's not always about the punchline of a joke that really kicks it home, it's the shocked reactions of the public which is guaranteed to crease you up. Most of the jokes are fairly tame in nature, trying to avoid anything too sensitive and give it the 15 rating which defiantly benefits the movie by opening it up to a bigger audience.

Overall, it's a loose story that develops and evolves with the pranks pushing everything forward. If you're looking for a serious night out with the girl/guy you've been seeing, it's probably a pass but with a group of friends, you'll have a brilliant time and well worth it, even if it is 90 minutes long and costs a small fortune. For it's comedy aspect and the style it brings to the genre, I feel Bad Grandpa deserves a 7/10. Enjoy the film guys!

Captain Phillips - REVIEW- SPOILERS

Captain Phillips is a shining example of film-making that will stand with some of the all-time greats in years to come. Standing as one of the best movies this year, Captain Phillips is sure to get some awards. The story details the first American cargo ship to be hijacked in almost 200 years, done so by Somali pirates on the horn of Africa. The true element to this story really engrosses you into the thick of it. Genuine fear will send your heart racing too sinking deep into your chest in a matter of seconds, then an incredibly powerful ending that tugs the heart strings. The ending is also completely improvised and made the Navy medic cry in the first take.

A movie with such a good script and storyline obviously needs a powerful cast behind it to really portray the characters effectively. Fortunately enough, Greengrass has selected quite the collection. In general, Tom Hanks is a top line actor who can fill seats but also give a top class performance, without compromising everyone else on screen. A group of people who look creep up from time to time in the movie world were very silent throughout, but the lines they were given made life difficult when they never met the pirates until the scene which really instilled a sense of fear into the whole of the boat crew. Then we have the Somali pirates who are dropped in at the deep end for their first
IMDB credit and I can see them doing fairly well for themselves in the future. A calm and collected Muse (Barkhad Abdi) bounces off of Captain Phillips on a regular basis and the confrontation is electric. Muse speaks the logic of Somalia of achieving something, and living happily while Phillips tries to reason with him and save everyone’s lives. This could be a connotation for what America should stand for and what they actually do but that’s just digging. A big name cast is very hard to work out to some decent standard, a mass of A-listers can end up looking like they are fighting for dominance on screen but utilizing a varied cast can always pose a better acted movie experience even when big actors draw people in, it shows an intention to make it about the story and not money.

"They're not here to fish"

All I can do is credit this film. I’ve been on large cruise ships and small vessels over the years and I understand how much room you have. Filming at sea on a giant cargo vessel is really difficult as you have to consider many variables. Keeping the footage relatively smooth is probably one of the harder parts but it utilizes this to look like a documentary and the second hardest is using space effectively. You’re at sea, it’s not easy to get expansive landscape shots when you’re drifting out in the ocean. To compensate and keep shots moving, helicopters are used fairly often to track the ships as they sail. From expansive padding too story footage - When hidden in the engine room, you almost feel like you’re hiding with the crew just by how it is all framed. A shot that grinds on me a little is the initial sighting of the pirates. The cliché shot is when the perspective shot of looking through a scope with a
slightly grainy effect added really doesn’t look that good. I would have preferred to have seen a fast paced collection of close ups to build up some more excitement.

The sound for the whole of the movie was good. The rumble of the engines and the ting from assault rifle rounds hitting the ship and pinging around are crystal clear. When the navy jump in the sound is very clear but in comparison to the pirates when they boarded the ship, it was really difficult to keep pace with what was being said, fortunately there are subtitles but these don’t always help when you have everyone shouting. Not much could be said about the soundtrack for the movie, the only thing really is that it wasn’t very striking, it didn’t ring in my mind repeatedly which was a shame but easily forgiven.
So finally we have my opinion on the film. An incredible movie which stands as one of the best this year. Rivalling Rush is hard to do but this movie is put together perfectly and with Tom Hanks final scene, it’s extremely moving. Overall, a 9/10 to equal Rush. A bit more focus on the soundtrack and a few little camera angles would have pushed it forward for me.

Sorry that it has been a while. With everything that is going on, I’ve lost a lot of motivation for anything regarding work or reviews. I just need to get back into the flow of things. I hope you enjoyed the post, if so, like it, Comment, subscribe to the Youtube channel or tweet me on twitter!

Eurogamer 2013!

A few weeks ago, we travelled 200 miles to London for the UK's biggest gaming convention. Down below is a video I mixed together of our trip and what we got up too!

The video is on the brand new Youtube channel which will be inundated with a ton of stuff once I finally manage everything else going on.

Be sure to like, subscribe and SHARE! :D