Fear the Walking Dead - Episode 1 Pilot Review

Fear the Walking Dead was a big concern of mine. I cherish the Walking Dead series through many avenues but a spin-off sounded more like a desperate attempt to generate more and maintain the buzz around zombies in popular culture and milk the cow for a little longer. But honestly, I'm pleasantly surprised.

Entering into LA where the outbreak of the zombie virus is just beginning to take effect, we join our first group comprised of two teachers, Travis Manawa (Cliff Curtis) and Madison Clark (Kim Dickens) and her two children Nick (Frank Dillane) and Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey). Here we begin with Nick in some run down church after doing enough meth to kill a horse (perhaps explaining why he looks so much like one). Almost instantly we are thrown into the zombie apocalypse with 3 dead and one psycho women chomping away at their faces. Fleeing from the area, presuming it was all some bad trip, Nick lands himself in hospital after playing Chicken with a sedan. Enter the awkward family love triangle. Typical step father (Travis) not being deemed as good by his new family and rejected by his original. From here on its about Travis understanding what is going on with Nick and throughout we begin to get bigger and bigger hints about the upcoming shit storm about to hit the world. It feels very real. Its not a superhero with the ability to punch through every wall in their way, its a normal person reacting to an extraordinary situation in the ordinary way. Its a very believable collection of reactions and that in itself is very refreshing towards the larger series.

So, its looking promising, but what about acting? In all fairness, I can honestly say I've never seen any of the actors before apart from Cliff Curtis and that was for a mildly entertaining ER show called Trauma, but there was a reason that didn't survive more than 1 series. The acting in general was okay but my biggest bane is once again young actors. Often their scenes felt full of teen angst with lacklustre acting that belongs in crappy teen movies. Nick seems like a giant shit bag with a potentially complex narrative that will hopefully see him develop into an awesome character to follow later down the line.

Is it worth the watch? Hell yes. Even more so if you're eagerly anticipating season 6 of its parent. The refreshing take on the zombie world has made Fear the Walking Dead a great entry into the lore and environment that separates itself from the activities of its comic book and Telltale variants.

8/10

Film Review: The Bad Education Movie

A Solid F

It is well versed in British culture that TV programmes that make the leap from the small screen to the big tend to lose a certain something which made its' success on the former so appealing and noteworthy. Take The Inbetweeners for example, a series which not only was critically acclaimed during its' three series stint, but was also remarkably original and incredibly watchable to the extent I no longer can watch them due to the severity in which I laughed at constant repeat viewings. The hotly anticipated big-screen leap of The Inbetweeners brought about much fandom screeching and hope for continued success yet the finished results ultimately failed in bringing the brilliance of the series to a wider audience whilst the appalling sequel shouldn't even be recognised as a continuation of the now finished series. 

Much like The Inbetweeners, Jack Whitehall's Bad Education has now decided to take the jump from the small to the large screen yet remarkably like the two Inbetweeners movies, The Bad Education Movie is a disaster from start to finish, filled with racism, stereotype hugging and cringe-worthy jokes that surely will only succeed in bringing joy to that of pubescent teenagers, something of which Mr Whitehall surely thinks he still is even at the slender age of 27. You know a film is set to be unbelievably awful when the first scene features a Jew-filled Anne Frank museum being swiftly terrorised by Whitehall's Alfie Wickers and his incredibly annoying students which not only is highly offensive to both the memory of Anne Frank, the Jewish community and the horror of the holocaust in general, but is so immature and tasteless in its' execution, it beggars belief why such a film was ever conceived in the first place. Want my opinion? The Bad Education Movie should have stayed where it belongs; on the TV and out of my cinema. 

Overall Score: 2/10

Film Review: Absolutely Anything

Everything or Nothing

When it comes to British culture and arts, Simon Pegg surely epitomises everything that I believe is worthy of standing for in the 21st century. I mean come on, he's a full blown geek (Kudos), he loves Doctor Who, Star Trek, and Star Wars, all of which he has or is set to play a part of (lucky bugger), and was the star of one of the greatest comedies ever to surface over the past decade or so, Shaun of the Dead. Add in to the equation the entire cast of Monty Python, with director Terry Jones of Life of Brian fame on such duties, and the final performance of the late Robin Williams, Absolutely Anything was set to be one of the greatest comedies of the year without a doubt yet the final product is something not only wholly televisual and tacky, but riddled with mis-steps and mistakes from the outset. 

When schoolteacher Neil Clarke (Simon Pegg) is given the ability to do absolutely anything by a genocidal group of aliens (Monty Python Team) in order to test whether Earth is worthy of saving, he begins to put such powers to work in order to better his own life, including making fellow resident Catherine (Kate Beckinsale) fall in love with him and allowing pet dog Dennis to speak (Voiced by the late Robin Williams). When Neil begins to realise the extent to which he can change the world with such a gift, he begins to change his own ways for the better in order to unknowingly save the world from total destruction. With the entirety of Absolutely Anything riding on the goofiness of the main plot device in the form of our main characters' new found ability, the film unfortunately feels overly bland, with the plot never really going anywhere, whilst ending in such a mashed-up way, you'd think the ending of Fantastic Four was much more in-depth and coherent. Add in to the equation a ridiculous amount of swearing for a 12A, awful jokes about misogyny and sex, and rather shocking CGI, Absolutely Anything can only be regarded as a major misstep for Pegg and co. with its' only redeeming feature being a cast so loved the film was never set to be awful, its' just not anything good. 

Overall Score: 4/10

Film Review: The Man From U.N.C.L.E

From Russia With Love

With gun's and gangster's auteur Guy Ritchie seemingly popping off the radar recently, even after the release of the two Robert Downey Jr. Sherlock Holmes films, which let's face it, were rather forgettable affairs in comparison to the much better BBC series, his decision to return with a cinematic release of the famous U.S television series The Man From U.N.C.L.E was a strange one to say the least. Yet after promising trailers and a superb cast including Man of Steel's Henry Cavill, The Social Network's Archie Hammer, and queen of 2015, Alicia Vikander who has starred in everything this year from Ex Machina to Seventh Son, Ritchie's latest cinematic offering was something I was rather excited for yet its' final product ultimately is something unfortunately much more forgettable with only rare flashes of brilliance in what can only be regarded as great idea not fulfilled to its' full potential. 

After news of a potential nuclear threat is made by business mogul and suspected criminal Victoria Vinciguerra (Elizabeth Debicki), American agent Napoleon Solo (Cavill) is tasked with teaming up with Russian agent Illya Kuryakin (Hammer) in order to combat the supposed threat, aided by Russian defector Gaby Teller whose missing father may or not be aiding such developments. With moments of sheer entertainment, particularly in regards to the banter-esque relationship between our two main heroes, and scenes of high comedic value, with the late torture scene coming first to mind, The Man From U.N.C.L.E shows signs of how Ritchie could have potentially found an overly winning formula for such a film, but is ultimately let down by an overly cliched plot, a shocking lack of overall threat, and a desire to retreat to flashbacks to spoon-feed details of the plot. A missed opportunity? Possibly, but for the time it was on, The Man From U.N.C.L.E was reasonably harmless, just not overly memorable. 

Overall Score: 6/10 

Film Review: Pixels

Game Over

Within the space of the past two weeks or so, the gods of cinema declared it within out interest to allow Adam Sandler to release not one, but two films in which he takes leading roles. If you saw my review of the awfully dull The Cobbler last week, you would have seen that Sandler's first attempt at some sort of cinematic redemption flopped entirely yet the much more publicised release of this weeks' Pixels seemed always to be the one in which Sandler was set to be at least slightly praised for. What can be said about the Christoper Columbus directed Pixels then? Is it any good? Not really. Is it terrible? Not at all. Does it feature Adam Sandler as a burned out low-life with no sense of future or accomplishment who somehow ends up with the gorgeous supporting actress through a wacky turn of events? Of course. Sandler territory here we are.

Years after a space probe featuring classic arcade games from the early 1980's is sent into space, weaponised versions of such games declare war on Earth, much to the horror of President Cooper (Kevin James) who enlists the help of childhood friend Sam Brenner (Adam Sandler), Eddie Plant (Peter Dinklage) and Ludlow Lamonsoff (Josh Gad) to use their expert knowledge on arcade games to defeat the evil presence that has engulfed their planet. Sound cool right? And to be fair to Pixels, its' well designed CGI and willingness to go full retro does play the cool card every time said arcade games are brought to life on-screen, but is ultimately let down by a farcical and cliched script, cringe-worthy acting, particularly, and strangely, from Dinklage of all people, and an adolescent desire to retire to age-old jokes about women and sex. Typical Sandler territory then. Although it may not be as mind-numbingly boring as The Cobbler, Pixels ultimately fails at bringing a rather cool premise to fruition and instead only accomplishes in being another cog on the wheel of Sandler's embarrassing filmography. 

Overall Score: 4/10

Film Review: The Gift

What's In The Box?

If you are an avid follower of my own personal film reviews on this blog, you may have latched on to the notion that my hatred of Blumhouse Productions stems from the fact that such a company seem to be the physical form of Satan himself in an attempt to not only ridicule and dispose of all the goodness that decent horror films bring, but to destroy them completely, with tosh including the never-ending Paranormal Activity and Insidious series just a few examples of why Blumhouse were on my hit-list of companies to dissolve as soon as possible. What a crossroads I seem to have hit however this year with not only the absolute masterful Whiplash being released under such a company, but now The Gift, a film that so unexpectedly diverts from all the solemn traits of a Blumhouse production that maybe, just maybe, such a company is finally changing for the better, with their latest release being a Hitchcokian feast of chills and thrills from start to finish. 

Written, directed, and starring Joel Edgerton, The Gift focuses on married couple Simon (Jason Bateman, Arrested Development) and Robyn (Rebecca Hall, Iron Man 3) who after moving into their luxurious new home in Simon's hometown of California, begin to receive gifts from newly acquainted friend Gordo (Edgerton) whom Simon knew from school. When the number and type of gifts begin to be questioned, Simon breaks the friendship off, much to the displeasure of Gordo who subsequently sends a letter to their home regarding his hope in letting "bygones be bygones", much to the confusion of both Robyn and Simon. When Simon seems to be letting off less than he actually knows, Robyn seeks to find the truth behind Gordo's murky past, yet such discoveries lead to a path much different to what she originally believed about both Gordo and husband Simon. First off, the now famous bore-fests that have come to embrace Blumhouse "horrors" is strictly, and gracefully, absent from The Gift, with the cliched "cattle prod cinema" being replaced with atmosphere, darkness, and a sense of threat which has been sorely missing from both horrors and thrillers over recent history. Scenes in which silence is the key function, overclouded with perpetual darkness, were heart-wrenching to say the least, resulting in the jump scenes actually being wholly effective and more importantly, deserved. 

One of the most striking things for me about The Gift for me however, was how multi-layered it was, with themes of loneliness, revenge, heartbreak, and regret all being touched upon in its' perfectly weighted runtime of 110 minutes wherein our feelings regarding who is to blame and who is the true victim constantly changing, even within the films' shocking conclusion in which its' ambiguous nature leaves the audience to make up their own minds, something of which I wholeheartedly salute. Adding to the films' brilliance is the acting in which our main three characters are all brought to screen in a superb fashion, particularly mastermind Edgerton who forces you to hate him one minute and then subsequently sympathise with him the next with an on-screen threat reminiscent of Kevin Spacey's Jon Doe in Seven. So in conclusion, here I am eating a huge slice of humble pie and wondering how on earth two of the best films's of the year in Whiplash and The Gift are now firmly locked in the filmography of Blumhouse. But wait, its' Sinister 2 next. Just a blip then? We shall see. 

Overall Score: 9/10

TV Review: True Detective - Season Two Episode Eight "Omega Station" SPOILER ALERT

A Truer Detective?

This week brought an end to the second season of Nic Pizzolatto's highly addictive crime sage True Detective, a show that this year has been rife with criticism and finger-pointing with many arguing that aside from being wholly unsubstantial to its' predecessor, it has also been an utter disaster with many being critical of its over-elaborate plot, cliched characters, and the ability of lead-writer Pizzolatto who has come under much scrutiny for this season's attempt to diverge from the occult-ridden themes of the first and move into a noir-fueled epic, featuring a bundle of new characters and a range of different plot threads in order to make up its' eight episode run. In terms of my own personal viewpoint on this season of True Detective, I am seemingly one of the few in believing that this series offered the opportunity for Pizzolatto to expand his horizons in regards to what can be achieved with such a format that True Detective holds, resulting in a season that yes, did have a wide range of flaws and weaknesses, but was also highly enjoyable with moments of sheer greatness which distinguished itself from anything else on TV at this particular moment of time. And I salute it. 

In a rather ironic sort of way, "Omega Station", the concluding episode of this years' series, pretty much epitomised everything that True Detective stood for this time around, with the beautiful cinematography, including the wonderful overhead shots of California's vast landscape, and heart-pounding scenes of tension, particularly in regards to Velcoro's tragic last stand, being the highlights of the episode. These particular highlights were traits that although were absent slightly from the first three episodes of the series in which time seemed to go rather slowly with not much actually happening in regards to the overall plot, came to form the basis of the second half of the series in which the story finally managed to take a step forward, resulting in the last three episodes of the series being undoubtedly the best in a string of episodes that began with a drag yet concluded with an almighty band. And what a bang it was. If Frank and Ray's raid on Agranov's cash deal wasn't thrilling enough, "Omega Station" left us with a range of memorable scenes, ranging from Velcoro's redemption to Semyon's hallucinatory last-breath, something of which was straight out of the Lynch-school for dramatic weirdness.  

 In typical noir-esque fashion, the fate of our three heroes in this years' season, as well as Vince Vaughn's Frank Semyon, was rather depressing to say the least, with only Rachel McAdam's Ana Bezzerides coming out alive, albeit on-the-run from the corrupt power structure that has overtaken our beloved heroes' home, following the now-famous Game of Thrones policy that sometimes that bad guys have to win. In regards to out main band of heroes, it was obvious that Colin Farrell's Ray Velcoro was indeed the most interesting of the bunch, with Farrell's acting being on top-notch from the start, whilst Vince Vaughn must also take credit for embodying a role which so easily could have gone majorly wrong due to Vaughn's capacity for cringe-worthy comedic acting, yet ended up being one of the better points of this years' season resulting in a true sense of redemption for an actor so easily laughed at for his involvement in a string of rather questionable movies more recently. So, where did it all go wrong? In my own opinion, most of the backlash in regards to this years' series simply came from people jumping on the True Detective-bashing bandwagon, with it seemingly being hip and cool to add to the growing list of haters for this years series, whilst many simply couldn't deal with the fact that this years' series was nothing at all like the first, something of which I was impressed by, with this season offering a truer and more down-to-earth take on the crime genre than the occult-ridden themes of the first.

But in all my fondness for the series, there were noticeable weaknesses and missteps, no more so than the ear-gratingly bad dialogue that our characters spoke at particular moments of the season, with our heroes' hatred of E-Cigarettes being a personal favourite whilst Semyon's attempt at being his own personal Gandhi with cringe-worthy anecdotes and "inspirational" speeches being draining at times, highlighting that perhaps all the critical praise Pizzolatto received first time around slightly going to his head. Also on the weaker side was the rather messy plot lines that although were rather hard to follow at times, also resulted in a sense of hollowness during the revelation of Caspere's true murderer, which, in the end, was wholly anti-climatic and had only a slight relevance to the messy plot lines regarding corrupt police officers and business officials which Pizzolatto felt compelled to tell us about. But hey ho, I'd rather watch a series with flaws and weaknesses than anything else if that particular series has as much entertainment value as True Detective undoubtedly has. At the end of the day, Nic Pizzolatto's crime sage may not have been for everyone this time around, but for me it was wholly refreshing and gave me a reason to wake up early on a Monday morning, and for those reasons alone I am going to miss it. I can only hope for Season Three this time next year.

Episode Score: 9/10

Overall Season Score: 8/10

  

The Fantastic 4 - Sinking Faster than The Thing on the Titanic

Dan - With my local multiplex offering the chance to watch a preview screening of Marvel's new Fantastic Four, a reboot of the widely panned Chris Evans/Jessica Alba films released ten and eight years ago respectively, it was one of the rare occasions in which I went into a high-profile release without a sense of whether it was set to be a masterpiece or a complete turkey due to the miracle that is social media, something of which I believe results in a much more reliable and fresh opinion in one's opinion of that film. One thing that has always impressed me about the abundance of Marvel movie releases and the subsequent Cinematic Universe, harking back to the release of Iron Man in 2008, is that throughout its long list of releases, all the films within such a universe have always tended to be in the positive spectrum when it comes to a critical stance, where although some are much better than others (The Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy), nearly all have also been rather solid, if rather formulaic, without one seemingly sticking out and declaring itself as the black sheep of the bunch. With the release of Fantastic Four however, although not being a part of the MCU in terms of the bigger picture, it seems that this particular run of good Marvel fortune has seemingly come to an end, with Josh Trank's reboot being a complete mess from beginning to end, resulting in a movie on par with the widely panned original releases ten years previous.

offering in the form of

When boy genius Reed Richards (Miles Teller, Whiplash) is given the opportunity to further his studies into the boundaries between parallel dimensions by Professor Franklin Storm (Reg E. Cathey, House of Cards), he and his team of like-minded scientists including Sue Storm (Kate Mara, House of Cards), Johnny Storm (Micheal B. Jordan, Chronicle) and the reluctant Victor Von Doom (Toby Kebbell, Dead Man's Shoes) successfully gain access to the parallel world known simply as "Planet Zero". One drunken night, Reed, Johnny, Victor and close friend Ben Grimm (Jamie Bell, Jumper), decide to be the first to venture into the unknown plant and inadvertently witness Victor seemingly fall to his death, whilst bringing back with them a range of powers that have not only changed their own genetic structure, but that of Sue who was attempting to help them return from Planet Zero. With their new-found powers and abilities, the team not only must adjust to their radical changes, but the threat of impending doom from something they thought they had once lost but has now returned with a vengeance. So, in terms of the premise of Fantastic Four, it is pretty much what we all expected, with a redesign of the origin of our four main heroes and an influence of their biggest enemy, Doctor Doom, in an attempt to give them their first taste of heroism, all of which was given away in the rather overplayed trailers. So with a solid, if rather unsurprising, story to helm it, Fantastic Four was never set to be anything as good as previous superhero entries but the completed picture can only be classed as something of a complete disaster with a wide range of faults and issues that succeed only in making it one of the biggest disappointments of the year so far. 

With recent superhero movies attempting to redesign the notion of what such a film entails, helped by the success, both critically and financially of The Dark Knight trilogy, Fantastic Four seemingly has decided to completely disregard such ideas, with the added depth that has been highly prevalent in recent comic-related movies missing entirely, resulting in characters that I don't overly care for and a story that is completely off the chains to say the least in terms of its' narrative structure and discipline, evidenced by a final act that not only is rushed completely off its' feet, but has no dramatic or logical impact whatsoever aside from the fact that a big-budget Hollywood movie like this has to have at least some sort of scene whereby destruction and only destruction is the key concept. I mean come on guys, did your editing or production team simply bypass watching the film as a whole before releasing it, or were they just not bothered about the critical appeal of such a film and instead took the Micheal Bay approach in that big explosions and fire results in making big money? Well if that is the case, unfortunately for you, Fantastic Four will not take Avengers-like levels of cash and instead will only be seen for what it is; a fantastic disaster from start to finish which not only will anger cinema viewers who will no doubt pay to witness such drivel, but the Marvel fans who were waiting for at last a solid take on one of their most beloved comic creations, something of which they definitely did not get this time around. 

Adding to the mediocrity of Fantastic Four is its' fundamental contradictory in what it wants to see itself as. Is it a dark, adult, comic film in similar vein to Watchmen, or instead a light-hearted, comedic take on the superhero movie like Guardians of the Galaxy? Too many times the film seemingly flipped in and out of its' true intentions with cheesy one liners being offset with scenes of shocking violence whilst the calm and collective beginning being transposed with a shoddy collapse at the films' conclusion all resulting in a film, which although must have had good intentions, seemingly being made without a care in the world, something of which angers me deeply as lover of film. The one saving grace of the film? The cast, with Miles Teller leading the way in doing the best he can with the script he was handed, whilst it is good to see Reg E. Cathey getting more of a shot in Hollywood after his heart-braking performances in House of Cards. But in terms of the good, that's just about it. Ironically, director Josh Trank has come out this week stating that the reason for Fantastic Four sucking so much is due to the input and influence of 20th Century Fox, and that his version would be receiving much better reviews if not for their desire to edit and change. Well Mr, Trank, if that is the case then you have my sympathies, but for now we are left with a shoddy, out-of-place, disaster-ridden raspberry that not only will be quickly forgotten, but will hopefully be lost in the vaults of cinema completely and left to die along with its' equally as bad predecessors ten years previous. Want my advice? Watch Ant-Man again.

Overall Score: 3/10

Pete - Lets put it this way, Fantastic 4 is as fantastic as an empty bottle of Fanta filled with lukewarm piss. Its as if Josh Trank wanted to make the worst Marvel movie in history. How someone can actually enjoy this, I will never know. We can't even class it as a child's entrance film into the MCU because there is so little substance, you may as well let your kid watch paint dry.

Let me make one thing clear, these actors suck. They suck more than Kim Kardashian. The casting was just awful. Pretty much every incarnation I've seen of FF source material has involved adults. The group were of a serious age to be taking part in space age opportunities, not borderline psychopathic children that where clichés from High School Musical. The teen angst drips from this and it has to be one of the most painful experiences I've ever had the displeasure of watching. Oh, big spoiler here, Doom dies. Deader than a doornail. Sucked into some power hunger hole that tore him into pieces and it was probably for the best. Hopefully he will never come back to grace the screen with his awful costume that looked more like a morph suit than it did the real Doom. Don't insult the source material with such an awful depiction. Although, this is honestly the only action that happens in the film. The last 10 minutes of the film is occupied with it while the rest of the experience is tortuous attempts at storytelling.

Dan speaks of the indecisiveness of the plot from gritty and dark to 'comedy' and I couldn't agree more. Every attempt at character development was removed, deaths were played off as something not relevant and these "incredibly smart children" are fucking morons. I've watched many movies in my time and more so with the creation of this blog but I don't think I've ever felt like throwing faeces at the screen and swinging out like fucking Tarzan 10 minutes into a film. Sure, The Counsellor was bad, like real bad; but Christ, at least they tried.

You know what made it worse? The acting. Even the extras were awful. Often you would catch one staring at the camera lens like its some sort of mythical creature with a creepy grin slapped across their face. Obviously they're just extras who somehow landed a quick role in the flick but when the main cast can't type on a keyboard in a convincing manner, is almost an indefinite sign that they have no idea what they're doing. At least put a little effort into what you are 'doing'. Perhaps write an essay on how you're such a terrible actor and that you really don't want to be on a film that everyone will see because you don't want your reputation to sink any further into the precipice of Josh Trank's vacant mind than it already has.

I'm not going to argue against Dan. I'm in fact, going to congratulate him on such restraint. The awful composition, shots, music, story, acting, character development, design and visuals were trash for a Marvel film. Perhaps if 20th Century Fox actually worked with Marvel on this, we could have finally got the FF we deserve but noooooo. I'm almost tempted not to give this a score. Giving it score would acknowledge is actually exists and I don't feel like it even deserves that. Dan's score says it all and heed these words, we do not want another. I saw you had it scheduled, stop it. Now. For the love of god, kill it off now and please don't fuck up X-men...

OVERALL SCORE - 3/10 - DO NOT WATCH

Mafia III - Official RELEASE Trailer

The long awaited 3rd instalment into the Mafia series is finally upon us. Will it follow Vito and Joey from 2 or take its own new path? Well apparently its going to take a new path, throw the past away and join a gentlemen named Lincoln Clay in 1968 after the Vietnam war. As a lover of all things Mafia and crime related, I'm worried. Its not what I had hoped for. See for yourself below

TV Review: True Detective - Season Two Episode Seven "Black Maps and Motel Rooms" SPOILER ALERT

Death 'Til Us Part

With the complex and sometimes baffling plot threads, questionable dialogue, and a desire to try and out-class its' critically acclaimed predecessor this season, True Detective Mark II has had a wide range of detractors and naysayers, yet this weeks' episode proved that when done correctly, True Detective has the fundamental genetic makeup to be a true great within the already brilliant HBO lineup whilst having the potential to match and rival anything on TV all across the globe. This weeks' penultimate episode featured everything that made True Detective what it was last year with an increased level of threat and danger towards our main three heroes, solid acting from all involved, and twist and turns that solidified my anticipation for the concluding episode next week in which we are set to tie together the many loose ends that have been left by the complex nature of the overarching plot-line regarding the death of Ben Caspere. This week also handed us the first taste of death for one of our "True Detectives" with Taylor Kitsch's Paul Woodrugh violently biting the dust at the hands of Ray Velcoro's police chief. Lieutenant Burris, after narrowly escaping a confrontation with his blackmailers, all of whom seem to be privy to the events of last week's drug infused orgy in the hillsides. 

With Kitsch's Woodrugh off  the payroll, one man who took the lead with some panache this week was Vince Vaughn, who although at times hasn't had the best writing to work with, particularly in regards to his sometimes ear-grating dialogue, has proven to be one of this highlights of the season with this week's episode allowing him to fully embrace the deceptive and seedy nature of Frank Semyon who once again escaped from bleeding out entirely and instead remained firmly on the ropes after destroying his two clubs after acknowledging the power struggle between him and Russian gangster, Osip Agranov. Following suit, Detectives Bezzerides and Velcoro also felt the heat this week by both turning to the other side of the law after a turn of events in which their one trusted source within the law department was found dead in their car with the blame firmly placed in the lap of Velcoro. With the walls falling in around our three remaining leads, next week's conclusion of this year's season of True Detective is one that shouldn't be missed. See you then. 

Overall Score: 9/10

Deadpool - OFFICIAL RED BAND Trailer

Let's get right to this. Any decent superhero/comic book fan will know of Deadpool. Above we see parts of the reveal trailers and the leaks all bundled into one hell of a package. From this small short, we can really begin to see how Ryan Reynolds fills the shoes of one of the most beloved characters of the universe. Down below is the trailer for the trailer which tears into Reynolds previous appearance as Wade in some of the best marketing I've seen in a very long time.

Now personally, I'm not sure how this movie will fair with the general public who don't know of the character and I worry that his reach and the violence may not appeal to them. Lets hope the Marvel community goes out in droves for this because we could be looking at a cult classic of the superhero universe!

Film Review: Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

The British Invasion

It never fails to amaze me how even after years of movie companies churning out the same age-old tale of the super-spy, whether he be American or British, that even in 2015, such a story can be just as entertaining and thrilling as ever, and in the case of Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation, the fifth entry into the cinematic series based on the American TV series of the same name, the argument that too much of the same will inevitably get boring is lost in the chaotic spectacle that is Tom Cruise's latest run out as IMF Agent Ethan Hunt. If the first M:I showed us that stunts and deception were the core traits of the series, then Rogue Nation laps up such a notion and turns it up to eleven, with the film offering as much spectacle as all the previous entries in the series put together, whilst fully embodying the comedic element supplied by the inclusion of Simon Pegg in a clear attempt to distance itself from the darker and much tougher spy movies we have been used to recently in the form of the Bourne Series and the Craig-era of James Bond. 

In terms of the high points within the movie, the scene in which our beloved hero tracks down the leader of the so-called Syndicate during an operatic session within Vienna was a fabulous concoction of thrills, comedy and high-risk tension, with the background performance adding to the sense of drama that was occurring on-screen. Other highlights included the constant comedic output supplied by our team of agents, with Simon Pegg gratefully lapping up the chance to keep the British end up and be the star of the film in scenes in which we are reminded of how much a step-away Rogue Nation has decided to be from the darkness of say Skyfall and, I assume, Spectre, which from watching the trailer, looks even darker than its' predecessor. Setbacks within the film include the obvious over-use of CGI in certain scenes which unfortunately only weakens the sense of reality we get from watching scenes and stunts that did not rely on CGI and were actually done FOR REAL in a George Miller-esque fashion, whilst the overarching villain in the form of Sean Harris' Solomon Lane, won't exactly be remembered outside of the film, with it being a rather hollow and cliched performance from start to finish. Rogue Nation therefore features a whole lot of thrills, but ultimately, a few too many spills, making it entertaining for the time-being, but definitely not something to be treasured for the long-run. Still, its' better than M:I 2. Seriously John Woo, stop with the doves.

Overall Score: 7/10 

   

Film Review: The Cobbler

Throughout most of his rather bland and unremarkable career in film, Adam Sandler has at least managed to dial down his annoying and slightly repulsive acting ability to demonstrate how, if he chooses to be, he can actually be a solid comedic actor with some degree of talent, with my personal preference in his back catalogue being Big Daddy, a film, that although has a range of flaws, is rather funny in some places and overall, is a good solid comedy. Also, Little Nicky gets minor kudos for the hard-rock soundtrack and having Harvel Keitel as the devil. Now in 2015 however, we have The Cobbler, a film so muddled in its' own mix of comedic and magical elements, that its' almost the type of film you expect an actor of Sandler's pedigree to be a part of, particularly when looking back at his most recent endeavors into cinema. Aside from The Cobbler not being funny throughout its' overlong running time of 100 minutes, it is also one of the most boring experiences I have felt within film so far this year with the magical element that the film completely hinges on losing steam after about twenty minutes or so as well as being an element that settles more on the creepy, stalker side rather than the empowering, life-improving one. To be fair to Sandler, The Cobbler isn't the worst thing he has ever done, but it might be the most boring, with Sandler himself actually being better than usual and not making me want to hang myself every-time he is on screen. So overall, not awful, but not any good either. 

Overall Score: 3/10