TV Review: Game of Thrones - Season Six Episode One "The Red Woman" SPOILERS

"Weak Men Will Never Rule Dorne Again..."

Ah Game of Thrones my old friend, how nice it is to finally see you after all this time. It's been way too long indeed, and throughout the vast black hole of nothing since we witnessed the death of Lord Commander Jon Snow, there have been laughs-a-plenty at the ways in which people have created nonsensical and completely ludicrous solutions to keeping our beloved Jon alive. Face it people, he's most certainly dead and we don't need the latest Daily Mail shot of Kit Harrington's hair-do to tell us differently. Maybe he just likes it greasy and curly? Completely disregarding and albeit ending any belief for fans of the show, the show-runners thought best to show how dead Lord Snow really was throughout the entirety of "The Red Woman", the most lackadaisical Game of Thrones premiere I can remember without much really happening at all. Sure, some port got set on fire in Meereen and Daenerys was forced to live out her days as a hermit in some godforsaken Dothraki hole but on the whole, the juicy stuff was left with the dead in the Nights Watch. It's okay Jon Snow, it could be much worse.

Speaking of worse, kudos to Maisie Williams for pulling off best-blindness of the year so far on TV, beating Matt Murdock in Netflix's Daredevil to the punch, with her life continuously going downhill ranging from blind begging on a road to getting the crap knocked out of her by that girl from 2014's Doctor Who Christmas Special. Poor Arya, hopefully things will get better, and the same goes for some of the story-lines, I mean come on, who cares about Dorne really? Aside from some decent bloodshed and a spike through the face, that particular storyline is to be fair, rather meh. Adding the fantasy element was both the sheer wonder of Sansa being saved by Brienne in the middle of nowhere as well as the show going full on The Shining, with the Red Woman looking deep into the Dorian Gray-esque mirror and revealing her true self. If that scene alone doesn't give you the creeps, then nothing will. Game of Thrones is back people and that itself is something to applaud. Filler and no killer makes the first episode of the latest venture into Westeros something of a solid, rather than a spectacle, but the return of our favourite psychopathic killers is enough to keep the appetite wet.

Overall Score: 8/10

Film Review: Eye In The Sky

"Never Tell A Soldier That He Does Not Know The Cost Of War..."

Having just arrived back from the drone-filled mayhem of Muse's tenure at the O2 Arena, a gig in which the infamous remote-controlled weapons of destruction wowed me and my fellow rockers by flying around our heads in proper mind-boggling fashion, something of which a band like Muse could only get away with, the chance to witness Eye in the Sky was a chance to embrace the deadly nature of the world's newest and deadliest form of killing machines, where although drone-filled media scares fill the news almost 24/7, a chance to display their true ambiguity was something I was inherently interested in, particularly after last years' somewhat disappointing Good Kill, the Ethan Hawke thriller which attempted to cover similar territory. With a solid cast featuring the likes of Helen Mirren, Aaron Paul and Alan Rickman in one of his last performances before his untimely death this year, Eye in the Sky definitely had the chance to be the first mainstream movie to highlight the power of drone warfare and the polarised views upon it across the world. Did it succeed? Absolutely, with Eye in the Sky being a powerful, if sometimes ludicrous and slightly silly, war drama focusing on the morally complex issue of 21st century warfare.

Although following a plot-line remarkably similar to that of Good Kill, with the scenes in Nevada bearing an almost uncanny resemblance between the two, Eye in the Sky attempts to highlight the ambiguity and indecisive nature of the armchair warfare which engulfs the modern-day war on terror by handing us a situation in which the death of one may indeed help stop the deaths of many more in the future. Helming the responsibility of such is Helen Mirren's Colonel Powell, a military intelligence officer hell bent on capturing or killing top ranking Al-Shabaab extremists of which they have located in Nairobi, Kenya whilst being surrounded by Alan Rickman's General Benson in London and Aaron Paul's drone pilot Steve Watts, situated in the heart of the Nevada desert. Although Mirren shines in the lead role, it is Rickman and Paul who deserve the most critical attention with the hardened veteran being offset by the relative newcomer, broken by the power of his actions and the consequences it ultimately leads to. Some shoddy dialogue aside, with an abundance of cringe-worthy exposition, and rather silly CGI-created on-screen drones, Eye in the Sky is an of-the-moment war drama, one that has the strength of its' conviction to end the correct way and one that will no doubt heighten the awareness of drone warfare and the problems it fundamentally brings with it. 

Overall Score: 7/10

Film Review: The Jungle Book

"I Am Mowgli, And This Is My Home..!"

Of all the Live-Action Disney remakes that have graced our screens over the course of the past few years or so, the latest from Iron Man's Jon Favreau could easily be regarded as perhaps the best of the lot, with Kenneth Branagh's take on Cinderella last year arguably being the closest Disney re-imagining that manages to at least rival and in some areas, better, the latest take on Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, a film featuring an impressive foray of CGI inflicted animals, each with their own personalities, aided by a stellar voice cast featuring the likes of Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley and of course, Idris Elba as the terrifying figure of Shere Kan, an enemy completely parallel to the one featured in the 1967 Disney animated classic, highlighting the darker and scarier direction Favreau's film has decided to go in. The real question still remains though; does the latest incarnation of Mowgli and Baloo's story give justice to both Kipling and the 1967 animation? It does indeed, although, perhaps inevitably, probably won't be as endearing as the latter has been in terms of longevity and legacy.

Of the film's many successes, the CGI animals throughout the entirety of the film are a sheer wonder to behold, with flawless design and an incredibly voice cast accomplishing the incredible feat of forgetting the animals' fictionalised reality and entirely believing in them from the outset. A dour joke at the beginning that fell flat on its' face aside, the CGI through the course of the film is easily the best use of the technology in recent memory, perfectly realising the characters of Kipling, particularly that of the stand-out trio in Bill Murray's charismatic Baloo, Idris Elba's sinister Shere Kan and finally, Christopher Walken's King Louie, harbouring a comical updated version of "I Wan'na Be Like You". Letting the team down rather comprehensively however is Scarlett Johansson's Kaa, a involvement way too short to have any impact whatsoever. Of course, being the only real-life actor within the film, Neel Sethi's portrayal of Mowgli is one of depth and interest, a testament to the young acting abilities of Sethi, a previously unheard actor. Not any more I would think. Disney does it again, congratulations, The Jungle Book is a easy-going family treat, one that will please everyone that intends to see it. With a sequel already in the works, it is safe to say the story of Mowgli has a very strong future indeed. Any news on Star Wars now?

Overall Score: 7/10

Film Review: Midnight Special

"Could We Go Back To Texas Now?"

Oh boy, it's glad to be back. Taking a much needed couple of weeks off from the cinema during the over-long Easter break, my return to the big-screen begins with Midnight Special, the newest film from the mind of Jeff Nichols, best know for films such as Take Shelter and the critically acclaimed Mud a couple of years back. Erasing the horror of my last venture into the cinema before my break, with Batman v Superman still hurting my mind every time I think about it, I ventured into Midnight Special hardly knowing anything about it apart from the incredibly solid A-List cast featuring the likes of the brilliant Michael Shannon and Joel Edgerton as well as the newest Sith Lord himself, Adam Driver being on the payroll. Mixing in-between genres quicker than you can say space invaders, Midnight Special is a strange, quirky movie, one that undeniably revels in showing off it's love of movies like E.T and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, in fact, it's love of Spielberg in general, yet it ultimately fails to live up to the great man, coming up short in many aspects that could have perhaps made it a future cult classic. 

Delving right into the mix of things, Midnight Special begins head-first into the action, with little characterisation to begin with being offset with ambiguous plot threads ranging from a mysterious cult, to the involvement of the FBI and DEA, and finally, the kidnapping of a young child, one whom may not be all he seems, ripping a plot device used so effectively in Rian Johnson's Looper, a film which bears minor similarities to Midnight Special, along with a hint of last years' Tomorrowland, particularly in the film's slightly over-long final third. Mix in a element of A.I, and the recipe completes the blueprints to Midnight Special, a film which begins well enough but then slightly descends into generic sci-fi territory, with added corny CGI thrown into the midst. A solid sci-fi, but nothing extraordinary, but hey, at least it's better than Batman v Superman. 

Overall Score: 6/10