Terminator Genisys - Double Trouble Review - I'll probably be back

DAN - As soon as it was announced that a new Terminator movie was set to grace our screens sometime this year, the first thought that came to mind was "flogging the horse", with the annoyingly named Terminator Genisys (Erm, dictionary anyone?) being the FIFTH instalment of a series in which the first two both settle in the category of classics, whilst its' successors only manage to solidify themselves into the category of, "okay, but not brilliant". With Arnie taking a break off from the franchise in Terminator Salvation, his return in the Alan Taylor directed Genisys, was at least some sort of reconciliation with my personal love for the series, with Mr. Schwarzenegger always having that monumental feat of being a truly brilliant screen presence, regardless of how bad a film he is in may be (Think of "classics" such as Eraser for example). Unfortunately for Arnold and friends, including Emilia Clarke (Erm, Game of Thrones), Jason Clarke (Zero Dark Thirty), Jai Courtney (Die Hard 5), and the lovely Matt Smith (Doctor Who), the sign of how mediocre a film like Terminator Genisys actually is can be traced back to the first theatrical trailer in which for its' entire duration we are treated to echoes, lines, and even direct scenes from previous entries in the series and after finally watching the movie in its' complete package, that's pretty much what I took from it, with Genisys being a movie essentially jealous of its' better, older siblings and it subsequently attempting to mimic them into becoming something it most definitely isn't. Rant mode activated. 

The plot of Terminator Genisys, if it can actually be called a plot, focuses on the war-torn John Connor's (Clarke) attempts to finally foil the Skynet invasion of Judgement Day by sending back good friend and fellow soldier Kyle Reese (Courtney) to the 1980's by use of a Skynet designed time-machine which has already sent back a Terminator to kill off Sarah Connor, the mother of John, in order to prevent the resistance of man from ever coming to fruition. Uh, hold up, isn't this just the plot from the first Terminator? Yes. It is. But wait! In an attempt to do something wholly original, Genisys attempts to make us believe that the events of the first two Terminator movies in fact never happened with a plot line that is one, completely ludicrous, two, not clear-cut or understandable in the slightest, and three, certainly abides by the 12A certificate by presenting no sense of threat, shock or horror throughout its' two-hour runtime and in fact, keeping with the Matt Smith casting, actually felt like a two-hour Doctor Who episode, solidified by the cheesy, saccharin sweet ending in which my love for the Terminator series was seriously put into question.

Aside from the nonsensical plot, Genisys was evidently a film in love with its' previous incarnations, with way too many in-house references to the first two Terminators, whether it be cheesy, over-used lines such as "get out", or "I'll be back", direct copy of villain choice, with the brilliant Robert Patrick portrayal of the T-1000 in Judgment Day being replaced with a shoddy, boring, no-one that thankfully was on screen less than I actually expected, or just the same characters, albeit in a much more boring and shallow reincarnation. I mean, I love Emilia Clarke as much as the next man but to be honest, she is no Linda Hamilton, and Clarke's portrayal of Sarah Connor just felt wrong and flat, with no sense of depth or a case for me to actually believe Clarke could be this character. I'm sorry Emilia, you have been miscast. Of course, in any case in which a film has so many negative attributes, there are some positives, with the film being rather silly and fun in some places, with some of the effects being so cool it actually produced a little snigger of joy now and then, but when it comes to the fulfilment of a movie, I personally need more than that, and Terminator Genisys may indeed be action-packed and explosive ridden on the surface, but its' depth is essentially non-existent, resulting in a popcorn movie for the masses rather than a much-loved classic like its' older, and indeed better, siblings. 

Dan's Score - 4/10

PETE - Well, it seems like Dan and I have swapped roles this week. Since Jurassic World's giant disappointment, I was left hoping that Terminator would do something different and dazzle me. Fortunately it did. Sure, its not the greatest movie in the series but it didn't simply repeat itself with a half-arsed money spinner with a plot that was vacant of any consistency.Terminator is another movie from my childhood that I actually feel was a decent reboot. Lets hope its not a new trilogy...

The plot was basic. It was a little complex and over convoluted with the general use of time travel but the rest of it is very simple. I wasn't expecting something with a story like Interstellar, I wanted something entertaining with a plot that wasn't ripped off from the previous generations. It was a creative use of the situation which tied the series up with a nice bow. Sure, its basic and the big surprise of the movie was ruined in the trailers, but this is one of the reasons I tend to avoid them. Its simple, but gives the originals enough of a twist to become different and have a creative angle on a series that's been drawn out for many years.

What really lets the movie down is the visual FX and CGI. On the Terminators themselves, it was fairly good but it tried to hard to use visual effects similar to that of the originals as some sort of fan service but it looks so blunt and disjointed amongst other good examples in the same scene! The way people fly off a rolling car isn't like a ragdoll, its more like a still being slid along the screen in animation closer to SNES Mario. Its as if one of the artists was being fired and just fucked with everything he could while the better in the group simply continued with everything they had without even a look to see just how bad some of it was.

Perhaps it was fan service, but the fan service I enjoyed was Arnie. Who doesn't love the man? He's a power house on and off screen, his acting is pretty poor which aids the whole robot thing and he's been given an element of humour to him rather than cold blooded killer we've seen before. Although not along the lines of the original but an enjoyable take nonetheless. As for the rest of them, meh. Emilia Clarke is a woman I've had little contact with in my consumption, her role in Game of Thrones seems to be the driving force behind her but her performance in this doesn't give me hope for when I eventually get around to watching GoT. Die Hard's Jai Courtney is another that suggests poor things about his other pieces of work and I'm extremely disappointed by Jason Clarke. His role in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes was a solid performance which put him onto my watch list, this is just weak and lacklustre. As the dominant villain, he should have been far darker and twisted to really suggest his power and ability. 

Visually poor, acting was fairly flat and the story wasn't half bad. It is a popcorn movie and it always has been, I won't lie, but I can't see how the reincarnation of Jurassic Park using exactly the same basics of big bad dino, stupid people making a park and annoying children can be deemed as a good movie for the previous incarnations while Terminator is slated for daring to change the formula and wrap up its loose ends. I enjoyed it. Its funny, some great action scenes and a rather interesting take on the past.

For me, its a 7/10

OVERALL SCORE - 5.5/10

Film Review: Ex Machina

I, Robot

Another week, another bunch of brand new film releases, with this weeks' most anticipated (for me anyway) being Alex Garland's Ex Machina, starring Domhnall Gleeson and Oscar Isaac, both of whom are set to star in that little thing called Star Wars which is out later this year. After discovering Garland had wrote screenplays for both 28 Days Later and Dredd, both of which I love, I was instantly compelled to go and see his latest effort, and his directorial debut. Off we go... 

For the plot, I will try not to give too much away, (I went in to the showing hardly knowing anything) so I will stick to the basic premise which is laid out within the trailer. After Domhnall Gleeson's character, Caleb, wins a competition to spend a week with the CEO of his company, "Bluebook", he soon becomes part of a groundbreaking experiment that focuses on Ava, an AI created by Oscar Issac's character, Nathan, and is asked to determine whether it is capable of exhibiting human behaviour by means of the Turing test. First off, Ex Machina, benefits slightly from last year's release of The Imitation Game, which documented the life of Alan Turing, so those who saw it may indeed have the upper hand already in understanding the basis of the test used in the film. In terms of similarities between the films however, they most certainly end there as Ex Machina is a creepy and claustrophobic, proper sci-fi film, reminiscent of last years' Under the Skin, which I named my top film of 2014. Good start...

Much like Under the Skin, Ex Machina, relies on an overall sense of isolation, with each having very little cast, and both focusing on the differences of what is is to be human against what it is to be considered the "other" or the "outsider". In the context of Under the Skin, the "other" was an alien who had taken the form of Scarlet Johansson, whereas in Ex Machina, the other can arguably be recognised as the AI Ava or Nathan, whose paranoid and untrustworthy tendencies have pushed him into a reclusive lifestyle, where the interaction with Caleb only succeeds through Caleb signing his freedom away. Literally. The secluded nature of the film gives it an overarching feeling of forthcoming dread, especially in the scenes where we witness power cuts, where the sense of danger is emphasised by the colour changes from natural to a bold, blood-like red. 

The film also includes top-notch performances from Isaac and Gleeson, but it is Alicia Vikander's portrayal as AI Ava that really steals the show, so much so that it would have been interesting to see if her, or the film in general, would have been recognised by the Oscars if it had been released only a few months earlier. Although the film does suffer slightly from being rather too slow in places, it is strong and effective addition to the sci-fi genre. I look forward to seeing Mr. Garland again.

Overall Score: 8/10

Transformers: Age of Extinction - Giant Robot UFC - Review - SPOILERS

Everyone with half a brain knows that Transformers is bound to be a huge hit in cinemas. With Michael Bay at the helm, it makes it that much more special (Lets not talk about the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles...). With Shia LeBeouf having his alcohol fuelled plagiarist mid-life crisis, Transformers return has had to make a change. Although its very unlikely that he was planned to feature in this instalment even before his impression of Lohan came too light, it feels empty not seeing the hero that we've followed for so many years. Now we have been lumbered with Mr Mark Wahlberg and it certainly isn't the same. With his new reality TV series and the emotional pallet of a dead skunk it has led me to slowly lose faith in a big player in the movie industry and made me wary of the quality of the film.

Since the Chicago war in which the Autobots annihilated the Decepticons, NEST was shut down, the alliance between Humans and Autobots has ceased with them being granted asylum and a new task force was created to deal with the Decepticon threat and those who are hidden away on Earth. Although, not all is well with this new task force. Harold Attinger (Kelsey Grammer), CIA and our lead villain has an alliance with a Transformer bounty hunter and Joshua Joyce (Stanley Tucci) in providing Optimus to the bounty hunter and with his help all the Transformers, including the Autobots too Joyce, dead. Attinger stands to inherit a bomb from the bounty hunter that creates the very material Transformers are built from and a large sum of money from Joyce who is using the mineral to create his version of Transformers but under his control, thus cornering huge markets. Walhberg, who plays Cade Yaeger is simply a bystander who bought a truck which turned out to be Optimus. Some stuff blows up and now him and his 'family' are on the run from this shadow organization with the Autobots.

Now that NEST has thoroughly been pushed out of the picture, it feels as if they just blew away all of the past characters that could still have played a role and really strengthen the cast and add some familiarity to the screen. Lumbered with a new frontman, we have to be able to connect with Wahlberg from the bat and it's just not possible. With the acting range of Steven Seagal's back catalogue, Wahlberg cannot express emotion to any other degree than a blank canvas that shouts a lot. mixed with two young actors whose blockbuster virginity has been popped but have the likeability of women with a tramp-stamp. Paired with the fact that Nicola Peltz plays Tessa Yaeger, the stereotypical American blond popular girl who dates Shane Dyson (Jack Reynor), a 'rally' driver

picked up by Red Bull who is a giant pussy when it comes to anything else. Then we have a few Youtube sensations appearing for small roles. Kassem G and TJ Millar (I know he does other stuff) were horrible. Annoying character, even when they didn't speak. Many of their scenes were useless and are worthless additions to try and make something funny. Another bone to pick is the plug advertisements. Of all things, Beats Pill got its grubby hands on Michael Bay and he bent right over. The scenes were so painfully forced, you could see the souls of the actors die a little inside.

Now apart from all of this, this film is a ton of fun. Lured in by the addition of giant Dinobots, I was sold on the idea from the first trailer release. Although they only appear in the last 30 minutes, the action is heavy enough with plenty of witty moments to lighten up the mood. The range of vehicles was astonishing and seeing the first Transformer with the ability to transform into 3 forms (A Samurai, Bugatti Veyron Vitess and an attack helicopter) was cool too. The huge range of vehicles and Transformers was amazing and their general quality was incredible. At parts it slips and looks like its pasted onto the scene with little shading and the new transform style isn't the nicest looking but the level of work, expertise and dedication that goes into making something on this scale shows the love and passion that everyone had working on this. I would like to put into question the prop designer on a gun used by Mark that is picked up from the armoury of the bounty hunter's ship. With the size of the crew, how is it only the size of a standard issue rifle and shaped like a sword but extremely blunt?

With a few plugs confirming the next Transformers movie, hopefully the cast can be sorted and we get a better group of people to face it. Hopefully Shia will have woken up from whatever moment he is having and will be considered to return as the forerunner to the next title as I don't think I can stand dealing with Mark Wahlberg in a movie that he doesn't fit. The passion and effort that went into making this warrants a lot of more score alongside the fact that the movie is just pure craziness from the get-go. Unadulterated fun with giant dinosaurs and clever little twists and loveable Transformers. What's not to love? 7/10

Titanfall Beta - REVIEW!

As many of you may have noticed, the Titanfall Beta ended last week. I've left a little time between posting this to allow for it to settle down and hear some new information running up to the release. Down below is one of the first videos I uploaded to Youtube of my Titanfall antics. If you'd like to like, subscribe or anything else, simply go to the channel/video!

Titanfall is undoubtedly one of the, if not THE biggest game coming out this year. With rumours circulating about MLG competitions and Xbox One bundle with reduced price, this game is going to sky rocket even further than before. Based entirely online, the game has one weakness; No single player campaign. The lack of story worries me initially as it removes a lot of the potential. The story could be extremely fast paced and would be great to understand the warring factions. Although news of an online campaign within the multiplayer matches addresses these, it relies on others to pull their weight and also a stable internet connection to enjoy for a long period of time.

Ignoring the story, the Beta was simply an online stress test of their servers and checks on any glitches or bugs that may occur. Looking back at GTA V and others, the popularity of a beta would have solved many of the problems that plagued (and still do) its launch. With games like Bungie's Destiny later this year and Defiance (based on the Syfy channel TV show), it feels as if we are journeying towards multiplayer being the key component for gaming on the next generation consoles and Titanfall is the first to really open this.

If you care to look at my videos, it is easy to see how chaotic the game is. It feels like an all-out war zone although it's only 6v6, the inclusion of AI minions/grunts/spectres and the auto Titan function, the battlefield is packed. All the space is usable and easily accessible with the double jump and wall run functions but you cannot camp out as accessibility to every spot is incredibly easy. The fast paced nature and goals of each game also force you to keep moving and stop people from hiding in a corner under the stairs and delve right into the thick of it. All of it's mechanics are flawless and it flows brilliantly. All of the additions can switch the tide of a game for better or worst in a matter of seconds and it truly gets the blood pumping with no "WTF, How the fuck did he get me" when you no damn well how they got you. I couldn't get angry or rage quit like Call of Duty can do from time to time. Titanfall puts you in a zone and just doesn't let go!

As it stands, the game has the potential to be the biggest thing coming out this year. Smashing the CoD franchise into dust with it's new take on first person shooters and multiplayer team play. Jumping from this to CoD is probably the worst decision I have made and simply cannot wait for it's release!