A Good Day to Die Hard
Greetings, Die Hard: A Good Day to Die Hard is the fifth instalment in the Die Hard series and was directed by John Moore. It should be noted that Moore has not previously had a role in the other four movies. A Good Day to Die Hard was released to cinemas back in 2013 which means that 25 years had passed since the original film was launched in 1988 and the fifth film’s unveiling. Among the main actors are Bruce Willis as he returns to his iconic role as John McClane and Jai Courtney as Jack McClane, son of the protagonist. Other performers include Sebastian Koch as a Russian political prisoner called Yuri Komarov and Yuliya Snigir as Yuri’s daughter Irina. Mary Elizabeth Winstead, best known for her roles in Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and Scott Pilgrim vs the World, briefly reprises her role from Die Hard 4.0 as Lucy McClane.
The film starts in Moscow with Yuri Komarov, a whistleblower on the Russian government, is going to stand in a rigged trial. The trial was set up by corrupt Russian official, Viktor Chagarin, as he believes that Yuri has incriminating evidence on him hidden in a secret file. Viktor is unaware of the location. Jack McClane, a CIA operative, has also been arrested after a failed assassination attempt and tries to get a shorter prison sentence by making a deal to testify against Komarov. In America, it is revealed that John McClane has a difficult relationship with his son and has not been in contact with Jack for several years. John learns that his son in is trapped in a troubling situation and he decides to travel to Russia to fix the problem.
Once McClane arrives in the country, he makes his way to the courthouse were Yuri is on trial and Jack is also being held. An explosion rocks the courthouse as part of an attack by an enforcer known as Alik shortly after John arrives at the scene. During the assault, Jack manages to free Komarov and escape the building at which point John is briskly reunited with his son. The three have to quickly escape Alik’s forces as they flee to Jack’s hideout. It is then revealed that Jack had been working undercover for the CIA to free Yuri and use the criminal evidence to bring down Chagarin. Komarov had agreed to the deal if he and his daughter Irina were given safe passage out of Russia in exchange for the document. John McClane is reluctantly pulled into the plan and placed into a dangerous situation once again.
Due to the success of the original trilogy and the first film in particular, A Good Day to Die Hard had a great reputation to live up to. It wasn’t able to do this in my opinion and the series continues to decline in quality. While some of this is to do with Jai’s somewhat wooden performance, the main problem in my opinion is that no villain in the series has been able to surpass or be on par with the character of Hans Gruber. The late Alan Rickman brought charisma to the character and all other foes seem to be a poor substitute for McClane to fight against. Overall, it is an okay but generic action film to watch which can stand on its own without the audience to needing to know about John’s previous escapades. There are also plans for a sixth film that will be a prequel set in 1979 when John McClane is still a young cop. I don’t place too much hope on Die Hard: Year One being able to recapture the feel of the first film but believe that it will be better than the last two instalments.
Plot=6/10
Characters=5/10
Special Effects=7/10
Overall=6/10
Quote of the Day
Most test subjects do experience some, uh, cognitive deterioration after a few months in suspension. Now, you've been under for … quite a bit longer, and it's not out of the question that you might have a very minor case of serious brain damage. But don't be alarmed, all right? Although, if you do feel alarm, try to hold onto that feeling, because that is the proper reaction to being told you have brain damage.
Wheatley
Portal 2
Brotherhood of the Wolf
Greetings, Brotherhood of the Wolf is a French film that was released in 2001 and was directed by Christophe Gans. Most of the stars would be relatively unknown to English speaking audiences due to the cast consisting of French or central European actors and actresses. The most recognisable celebrity would be Italian actress and model Monica Bellucci who plays the character of Sylvia, a courtesan from Italy working in a local French brothel. Bellucci would best be known for her role as Persephone in the Matrix franchise as well as playing Lucia Sciarra in Spectre. Her involvement in the latest 007 film made her the oldest Bond girl in the history of the series. Other performers in Brotherhood of the Wolf include Samuel Le Bihan, Mark Dacascos, Vincent Cassel and Emilie Dequenne. While the film is fictional it was inspired by events that occurred in the former province of Gevaudan. It is based on a mythical beast that was born from the local French population’s hysteria during 1764 and 1767 due to a series of violent deaths in the region. In reality, the savage attacks were likely to be an increase in wolf attacks on vulnerable humans.
The story begins in Gevaudan in 1764 where the protagonist, a man called Gregoire de Fronsac, has been sent by French monarch Louis XV to capture or kill the beast that has been terrorizing the local population. Gregoire is joined in the hunt by his friend named Mani, a Native American who is skilled at combat and hunting. Fronsac, a knight and royal naturalist for the king, is sceptical about the existence of the creature. His scepticism is fuelled when he talks to survivors and finds out that the monster would be bigger than any wolf he had ever come across. A large scale hunting force is formed to cull local wolves in the process of finding and killing the beast. Fronsac and Mani were a part of the aforementioned unit. They were also accompanied by Jean-Francois de Morangias, the son of a local count and a hunter who had put his skills to use in Africa until his arm was devoured by a lion.
The cull appears to have been a failure as other victims of the predator are discovered after the hunt had been called to a halt. Gregoire’s doubts increase about the creature’s existence when he finds another victim of the supposed supernatural predator and discovers that one of the beast’s fangs is made of iron. At this point Fronsac theorizes that there are more rational explanations than a paranormal creature roaming the land and comes closer to understanding the nature of the beast. Additionally, the failure to capture the animal has caused a book named L’Edifiante or the Edifying in English to start making its way around France. The books claim that God had sent the beast to torment the French population as Louis XV had been embracing science over Christianity.
The film is an enjoyable mix of genres with a colourful and unique style even if the characterization wasn’t of the highest quality. The music was composed by Joseph LoDuca, who is perhaps best known for his work in the Evil Dead series. While Brotherhood of the Wolf does has its flaws, it is a movie that I would call an entertaining watch. In other news, my latest entry and sequel to Cogworld has now been published on Write Wise. I hope you like reading Cogworld: Tales of Peter Jepson as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Plot=8/10
Characters=6/10
Special Effects=7/10
Overall=7/10
Quote of the Day
Hey guys, you ever see that really old movie "The Empire Strikes Back"?
Spider-Man
Captain America: Civil War
Now and Then
Greetings, today’s blog update is not a normal instalment in which I review a film, novel or video game as per usual. This is more of a general update in which I inform you of what is currently happening now and what will happen in the future regarding my blog as well as my involvement in Write Wise. At present, I write two blog updates a month and in almost eight years of the blog’s history there has only been four occasions were just one blog update was written for an entire month. I intend to ease off the amount of blog updates that I am currently writing by releasing one per month. This change is for a number of reasons. Firstly, I am not experiencing or consuming as much media to review for the blog that I had been able to do so in previous years. This is due to increased time constraints with work and exercise, among other things. I am hoping this relaxation on producing updates will give me more time to invest in writing new Write Wise entries as well as providing me with an opportunity to experience more games or other mediums. This in turn will mean that I will have a greater variety of items to choose from and review.
On another note, while I had been able to produce around four articles a month in the early years of my site, this has changed because of the growth in content. The modern reviews are a simplistic breakdown of the topic with my own verdict on the subject but the new ones are much larger than and more in depth to what I had been writing back when I started reviewing in 2008. Despite this, I intend to write the updates at the same pace or frequency until the end of this year as I have been so far and will start producing around one per month when 2017 begins. Of course, months like December will probably have more than one update due to the blogging traditions that I have created over the years. For instance, the last update in the year is when I review the year’s entertainment, meaning there are three blog updates that month rather than the standard two.
In Write Wise news, I am still writing the follow up to Cogworld and aim to release it soon. I hope you are looking forward to it and that you will enjoy the story when it is finally released in a short while. This is a notable instalment in my entries as it serves as a prequel, sidequel and a sequel to the original story that was released back for the 2012 Christmas challenge. As such, quite some time has passed as I was still a first year in Queen’s University when Cogworld was published but this new addition is a story that I have wanted to tell for a while and decided this was the year that I would write it. While the original characters play a role in the new novel, they are not the main focus of this plot. It is focused on a character from the first Cogworld and new individuals but the protagonist of this story was never really developed in the original.
During one of the final blog updates from 2015, I had stated that I was hoping to return to the Guardian series in 2016 due to its absence from Write Wise since 2014. This is looking increasingly unlikely considering that we are almost halfway through the year already. I always write the Guardian novels in batches of two due to the fact that it is one long overarching storyline that can be difficult for the readers to remember if the entries are too spaced out. I do plan to write the sequel to the Scoundrel Squad however, as well as continuing a Christmas entry for either the Death and Life of Ellen Smith or the Misadventures of Murdoch and McKenzie. I have yet to come up with a concrete plot for either at the minute but I am confident that I will have an exciting one as the time draws nearer.
Quote of the Day
I am going to die surrounded by the biggest idiots in the galaxy.
Gamora
Guardians of the Galaxy
Captain America: Civil War
Greetings, Captain America: Civil War is the third instalment in the titular heroes’ series and is the thirteenth Marvel movie to have been released since Iron Man first began the Cinematic Universe back in 2008. Civil War also started the third phase of the MCU which will see movies like Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Spider-Man: Homecoming and Thor: Ragnarok coming to the big screen in the years to come. It retains most of the cast from previous instalments of the Avengers as well as the first two Captain Americas but Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk, Chris Hemsworth as Thor and Gwenyth Paltrow as Pepper Pots were notably absent. Among new additions to the universe were Tom Holland as fan favourite superhero Spider-man in his long awaited debut as well as Chadwick Boseman who played the Black Panther.
The story follows on from the events in Avenger’s Age of Ultron and is set several months after the fictional East European Nation of Sokovia was attacked. Several members of the Avengers thwart the plan of Crossbone’s to steal a biological weapon in Lagos but things take a turn for the worst when the villain decides to take drastic measures. Crossbones, instead of admitting defeat, decides to detonate his explosives in the hopes of taking out Captain America as he is in the blast radius. Wanda quickly uses her telekinetic abilities and traps the explosive power in her force-field but she accidently destroys a nearby building, killing humanitarian workers from the fictional country of Wakanda. This accident is another event which causes the United Nations to consider passing the Sokovia Accords, an act which will keep the Avengers under check by a UN committee. It divides the Avengers with Tony Stark leading the side to follow the Accords and Steve Rodgers resisting attempts to be controlled or regulated.
The teams are divided further when the UN conference in Vienna is bombed while a committee is ratifying the Sokovia Accords. Among the casualties is T’Chaka king of Wakanda, the country the dead humanitarian workers were from at the beginning of the plot. This serves to motivate T’Chaka’s son, T’Challa, to take the mantle of Black Panther and seek vengeance on the terrorist responsible for the atrocity. It is soon revealed that Captain America’s friend and Hydra sleeper agent, Bucky Barnes, is thought to have caused the bombing. As such Steve Rogers attempts to find his old war comrade in Germany, with help from a CIA agent named Sharon Carter, before Bucky can be captured by government forces. T’Challa is also on Bucky’s tracks but all three are eventually arrested by German police during a fight, further accelerating the fragmentation of the Avengers and the formation of the two conflicting groups.
While I enjoyed the first two films in the series, I would say that this is my favourite of the three as it mixes humour and dark themes in a perfect blend. I believe that while it took a while to get going, Civil War has raised MCUs standards after it had faltered a little with Age of Ultron. One of the highlights was the introduction of Spider-man, who had quite an impressive impact on the film despite his short screen time. It was also interesting to watch protagonists fight each other rather than have them a united against an antagonist like Loki. Overall, it is a fun instalment in the series and staved off my concerns that the Marvel universe is getting oversaturated for now. I look forward to seeing how this story will continue.
Plot=8/10
Characters=9/10
Special Effects=8/10
Overall=9/10
Quote of the Day
Thats a stupid question Havoc. And when I'm Fürher, there will be changes. That day, all female officers will be required to wear... Tiny Miniskirts!
Colonel Roy Mustang
Fullmetal Alchemist
Escape from New York
Greetings, Escape from New York is 1981 film directed and co-written by John Carpenter. Carpenter has made many movies during his career with the Thing, the Fog and Big Trouble in Little China being some of his most well-known works. Prominent actors in this film include Kurt Russel as the protagonist and former US Special Forces agent called “Snake” Plissken. Kurt would work with John Carpenter again in Big Trouble in Little China, another American film from the 1980s. Other performers including Lee Van Cleef as New York Police Commissioner Bob Hauk, Donald Pleasance as the unnamed President of the United States and Isaac Hayes as a criminal leader with the self-appointed title of Duke. The music was conducted by Alan Howarth who had collaborated with John Carpenter on various projects.
The plot is set in the late 1990s when the American government had already evacuated civilians from Manhattan, transforming it into an enormous maximum security prison after there had been a giant spike in the amount of criminal activity. The prison is walled off from the rest of the US and there is no potential escape routes for prisoners as the surrounding area is well patrolled by guards who engage in lethal methods to deter anyone from leaving. The President of the United States is travelling to a peace conference with the People’s Republic of China and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics when Air Force One is captured by terrorists. The President is saved by his security when they lead him to an escape pod aboard the plane and launch it with him inside. The plane eventually crashes, as part of the terrorists’ plans, but the President is trapped in New York and carrying a brief case that contains an audio tape which describes the blueprints of a new weapon.
A squad of police are sent into Manhattan to retrieve the President but are met by the right hand man of the most powerful crime boss in the prison. Romero, on behalf of the Duke, gives the police a warning. He presents them with the president’s severed finger and his insignia ring, demanding that the prisoners are to be freed in 24 hours or the presidential hostage will be killed. At this point Hauk decides to offer Snake a deal. Plissken, convicted of attempting to steal from the Federal Reserve, will be given a presidential freedom if he returns the President successfully. The protagonist will be given a glider to enter Manhattan alone and undetected by landing on the World Trade Centre. Bob gives the anti-hero extra motivation once Plissken had agreed to the deal. To ensure that Snake wouldn’t try to escape, Hauk had him injected with microscopic explosives that will detonate within 22 hours unless he is given the antidote by the Commissioner.
Overall, I believe that Escape from New York has some interesting plot points that could have made it into a great movie but that it was let down in other regards. For instance, the dystopian future setting was intriguing but I feel that the movie faltered with unenthusiastic and subpar acting from some of the main cast. Additionally, there didn’t seem to be any character progression at all nor did I think any of them were particularly likeable. It is difficult to root for a character to win if you aren’t particularly interested in what happens to them or about the individual themselves. It should be noted that although I wasn’t overly struck on it, it has gained a cult following. A sequel titled Escape from LA was also released in the 1990s to mixed reviews.
Plot=6/10
Characters=6/10
Special Effects=7/10
Overall=6/10
Quote of the Day
I'm not signing. Birthdays are just a bogus holiday created by greeting card companies!
Floyd Pepper
The Muppets
A Storm of Swords
Greetings, A Storm of Swords is the third book in the Song of Ice and Fire series which was published in the year 2000. It was divided into two different novels called Steel and Snow as well as Blood and Gold, due to its length. The series was written by George R.R. Martin and it has a very extensive lore, numerous historical events that are relevant to the plot and a great range of characters. This vast amount of characters can cause the story to become complicated but it generally has several main points of view that are seen from Jon Snow, Daenreys Targaryen, Arya Stark, Davos Seaworth, Tyrion Lannister as well as a few others. Most characters do not have chapters dedicated to them and serve as secondary or territory actors in the storyline or are only mentioned in passing.
The plot begins shortly after the second novel ended as war ravages the seven kingdoms of Westeros with several kings fighting for the iron throne. The main challenges to Joffrey Baratheon’s crown are Robb Stark of Winterfell, Balon Greyjoy of the Iron Islands and Stannis Baratheon. Additionally, Daenrys is building her own forces by freeing slaves known as the Unsullied and adding them to her army as she makes her way to the seven kingdoms. Her dragons are an additional tool in her arsenal that she uses to terrorize those that oppose her. A different threat comes from the northern regions that are separated from the kingdoms by the Wall which is protected by the Nights Watch, an army of criminals and vagabonds defending the civilized against the Wildlings. The self-proclaimed king of the Wildings, Mance Rider, threatens to break through the wall with his enormous army of savages, supernatural beings and trained fighting animals such as mammoths.
Balon Greyjoy is killed off at the beginning of Blood and Gold without any great details of how it happened. It is rumoured that he fell off a bridge during a storm but more sinister explanations are possible. Stannis, one of the kings, is informed by his priestess called Melisandre that she had seen in a vision that other competitors for the throne would also die as he was the rightful ruler of Westeros. In another storyline, Robb Stark had alienated the support of the Freys by marrying Jayne Westerling, and breaking his word to marry into the Frey Household. Cateyln, Robb’s mother, notes that it was a dangerous decision for her son to marry out of love instead of thinking strategically but she believes it is possible to re-secure the allegiance of the Freys via having her brother marry into the Frey family.
These novels are very difficult to summarize due to the great scope of the series and the many storylines that run through it. One of the aspects of a Song of Ice and Fire that I enjoy is the unscrupulous acts of betrayal and clever schemes that are devised by intriguing characters such as Tyrion or Little Finger. Another entertaining feature is that the reader can be taken by surprise at how quickly a character can be killed off in an unforeseen circumstance and it should be noted that death is a common occurrence in Westeros. While there are supernatural elements involved, they are barely touched upon and the narrative focuses on the wars between the different houses. I enjoyed these novels and look forward to the next instalment as well as eventually knowing who will end up on the iron throne.
Plot=9/10
Characters=8/10
Wording=9/10
Overall=9/10
Quote of the Day
I understand. You found paradise in America, you had a good trade, you made a good living. The police protected you and there were courts of law. You didn't need a friend like me. But, now you come to me, and you say: "Don Corleone, give me justice." But you don't ask with respect. You don't offer friendship. You don't even think to call me Godfather. Instead, you come into my house on the day my daughter is to be married, and you ask me to do murder for money.
Don Vito Corleone
The Godfather
