Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Greetings, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 is the sequel to the 2014 film and serves as the 15th movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe which originally started in 2008 with Iron Man. Along with the established cast of Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel, there are some new additions including, Kurt Russel, Pom Klementeiff as well as a brief appearance by Sylvester Stallone. James Gunn and Tyler Bates return to the previous roles as director and composer respectively. Like the original, the soundtrack has many hits from previous decades including work from artists such as ELO, George Harrison and Silver. In my opinion the songs suit their respective scenes but are not as memorable as the soundtrack in the first one.
The story begins several months after the conclusion of the first film. The Guardians, including a now infantilized Groot, are employed by an alien race known as the Sovereigns to protect a very expensive energy source from a creature that seeks to devour the power. After completing their mission they are rewarded by the Sovereign leader, named Ayesha, with a gift. She presents the Guardians of the Galaxy with a captive Nebula, antagonist from the original, sister of Gamora and daughter of Thanos, bound in chains. As the Guardians attempt to leave the planet, with a reluctant Nebula in tow, it becomes apparent that Rocket had opportunistically stolen some of the batteries during the battle with the interdimensional creature. The slighted Sovereigns decided to take revenge by sending a fleet after the Guardians with lethal intent. Star Lord, initially unaware of Rocket’s pilfering, is chased across the galaxy by the Sovereigns and attempts evasive action to escape the numerous hostile force. They are eventually saved by a mysterious figure who destroys the enemy vessels but the Guardian’s ship has taken too much damage and hurtles towards a forested planet.
The ship crash lands but everyone on board escaped unharmed, including Nebula. The mysterious figure rom earlier had followed the Guardians and landed on the planet shortly after them. He, calling himself Ego, and his friend Mantis introduce themselves to the Guardians in which Ego informs Star Lord that he is his long absent father. Ego offers Peter Quill/Star Lord a chance to see the planet on which he lives to which Star Lord agrees, intrigued to understand his much missed father. Gamora and Drax are invited along too, leaving Rocket to fix the ship while accompanied by Groot and Nebula. The group were unware that the Sovereigns had employed the services of Yondu, a Ravager with a complicated relationship with Star Lord. As such, Rocket was left to defend the ship effectively by himself and results in his capture after a spirited effort to fight off Yondu’s men. Star Lord, Gamora and Drax explore the idyllic planet that Ego had made home but slowly realize that it is not as blissful as they had once thought.
Overall, I really enjoyed the film and consider it to be nearly the equal of its predecessor in terms of intriguing characters, well executed action and humorous elements. The infantilized Groot was a particular highlight of Vol 2 for me and was responsible for some of the films more comedic moments. The Guardians of the Galaxy is intended to progress into a trilogy and the characters will make appearances in other Marvel films. I am very interested in seeing what is planned for the next Guardians of the Galaxy adventure and particularly how the character of Mantis will fit into these new instalments.
Plot=8/10
Characters=9/10
Special Effects=9/10
Overall=9/10
Cheese Gromit!
Wallace
Wallace and Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Time Gentlemen Please!
Time Gentlemen Please! is a point and click adventure game by Zombie Cow Studios, which was launched in 2009. It is a sequel to Ben there, Dan that! which was released a year earlier in 2008. Zombie Cow Studios, now Size Five Games as of 2011, has published few games since these two titles but it had released Gun Monkeys in 2013. Gun Monkeys, a one on one online platform shooter, features the voice talent of English comedian Kevin Eldon. Time Gentlemen Please!, like the previous instalment, is highly influenced by old point and click adventures such as Sam and Max, Tales of Monkey Island or Grim Fandango.
The plot picks up from the conclusion of Ben there, Dan that! in which the two protagonists have inherited leadership of an indoctrinated world population after defeating their future selves. Ben and Dan convince the world to watch Magnum P.I. which results in the human race going extinct as they were not instructed to eat, drink or sleep. Once the heroes realize their error they decide to travel back in time and prevent the coat hanger from ever being invented. Their rationale for doing so is due to their future selves using the coat hanger to abduct Ben and Dan into the world they had just destroyed. After using the time travelling device to transport themselves into the past and attempting to solve their problems, they realize they have made matters worse rather than fixing their mistake.
In this new timeline Hitler has won the war, taken over the world and commands an army of Nazi dinosaurs that do his every bidding. Ben and Dan, upon encountering Hitler, are thrown into Big Ben as prisoners of the Nazi regime. Time paradoxes begin to emerge and the time stream becomes increasingly unstable as the game progresses. Eventually Dan and Ben manage to flee their holding cell but their method of escaping by manipulating the time line causes more rips in the fabric of time and space. Once free from their imprisonment they aide the resistance in their attempts to overthrow Hitler. During their adventuring the duo also seek out PAL, a robot with some knowledge on time travel, in order to fix the mess they had made.
Overall, this was a fun and very bizarre game that was well received by critics. The humour and off the wall, complex puzzles were a highlight of the game for me but it wouldn’t appeal to every gamer. The puzzles could be quite infuriating at times but provided a sense of satisfaction once you had solved a difficult one that you had been stumped on for a while. While I doubt there are any more instalments planned for this series, I would be eager to see to see what Dan Marshall and Ben Ward could design now almost ten years later.
Plot=7/10
Characters=7/10
Graphics=6/10
Overall=7/10
Quote of the Day
Now put your clothes back on, and I'll buy you an ice cream.
James Bond
For Your Eyes Only
Red Dead Revolver
Greetings, Red Dead Revolver is a video game by Rockstar San Diego and was released over a decade ago, back in 2004. It was the first game in the Red Dead series, having been followed by the well-loved Red Dead Redemption in 2006 and Red Dead Redemption 2 which is scheduled to be released later this year. Despite being in the same series, Revolver appears to have limited links to Redemption but the next instalment could bridge the gap between Red and John Marston’s adventures. The game’s score uses various tracks from several composers after their deaths such as Mario Migliardi, Bruno Nicolai and Francesco De Masi. While there are several main characters, most of the actors and actresses voicing them are not well known. The main character, Red Harlow, is portrayed by Robert T. Bogue.
The story starts in 1880s America when Nate Harrow returns home after finding gold in Bear Mountain and making him an exceedingly wealthy man. His reunion with his Native American wife called Falling Star and his young son named Red is cut unexpectedly short. Raiders begin to attack the Harlow family in which both Nate and Falling Star are killed by the raider’s leader, Colonel Darren. Having watched his parent’s die and filled with a strong will to survive, Red pulls his father’s pistol from a fire it had landed in during the combat. Through the pain he fires it at Colonel Darren as the flames irreparably damage Red’s hand. The impact tears Darren’s arm clean off and provides Red with a chance to escape from his assailants.
Many years later an adult Red has become a bounty hunter and still seeks revenge for the deaths of his parents. His dangerous escapades bring him to the small town of Brimstone in which he works for the local sheriff hunting quarry and pursuing outlaws. During his travels, he comes into contact with other main characters such as British sharpshooter Jack Swift and Annie Stoakes, a successful cattle rancher. As Red progresses throughout the story, he starts to uncover the conspiracy behind the massacre of his mother and father as well as coming closer to identifying his parent’s murderers.
Overall, this was a very fun game to play despite some bugs and glitches that made it quite difficult to progress at times. Revolver is much more cartoonish than it’s more serious and realistic sequel. For instance, one of the primary antagonists has a canon in lieu of an arm and one minor villain, a carnival ringmaster, gains the ability to teleport by drinking a magical potion. While many characters, including main ones, don’t really get a fleshed out personality or unique backstory I found the game to be quite charming in its simplicity. My review of Redemption back in September 2016 was full of praise for the game and Red Dead Revolver has only further added to my positive experience with the series. I look forward to seeing what else Rockstar can do with this intellectual property, especially regarding their plans with Red Dead Redemption 2 and how that might link all the games together.
Plot=7/10
Characters=8/10
Graphics=6/10
Overall=8/10
Quote of the Day
I just know that there are two theories when arguing with women. And neither one works.
John Marston
Red Dead Redemption
La La Land
Greetings, La La land is an award winning 2016 musical staring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling as the two lead performers. It was directed by Damien Chazelle who had previously worked on films including Cloverfield’s spiritual sequel, 10 Cloverfield Lane and Whiplash. The music was conducted by Justin Hurwitz who also composed the score for Whiplash but he appears to be relatively new to the businesses as he only has a few scores credited to him. The OST has won numerous awards including best original song and best original score from the Golden Globes. A lot of the songs are purely orchestral while the rest mainly consist of duets by Stone and Gosling or solo pieces by one of the main performers. Supporting cast members include J.K Simmons, who while having a minor role, is probably the most notable of the actors and actresses in the film. Simmons also collaborated with Chazelle and Hurwitz in the past while working as a prominent actor on the critically acclaimed Whiplash.
The plot begins on a highway in Los Angles in which the two central characters are both blocked in traffic in their separate cars. Mia, an aspiring actress with hopes of becoming an internationally recognised star while currently working as barista, is played by Emma Stone. Jazz pianist Sebastian is portrayed by Ryan Gosling, known for his roles in movies such as 2011’s Drive. An infuriated Sebastian honks his horn in a fit of road rage at Mia, who is unaware of the moving traffic as she is too busy practicing her audition lines while sitting in the gridlock. It is alter revealed that the audition does not go well for Mia and she does not get the part. Later that same night she goes to a lavish party in Hollywood Hills and at the end of the night she discovers that her car has been towed. As such, she is forced to walk back home but during her travels she hears a piece music that catches her attention. Drawn to it, she walks into the building that it is emanating from and finds Sebastian sat at a piano and playing the instrument. Sebastian, who was to play a set list of Christmas music but chose to play his own improvisation, is fired on the spot due to previous warnings being unheeded. The pianist then leaves the room and ignores Mia who was about to compliment him on his encaptivating performance.
The next scene takes place a few months later when the two meet again at another party. At this point in time, Sebastian has swallowed his pride and joined a 198s cover band in order to pay his bills. Mia, upon recognizing him, teases Sebastian by requesting “I Ran (So Far Away)’ by English band A Flock of Seagulls. It is a song that he considers beneath his talents and a demeaning insult to his self-perception as being a serious musician with a strong passion for Jazz. Once the party is over the two walk together to their cars and begin to sing their first duet. During this scene, the chemistry between the two becomes more apparent to the audience as they sing about their feelings of attraction in a humorous song entitled “A Lovely Night” in which they playful insult and jibe at each other. Their relationship begins to blossom when Sebastian offers to take Mia on a date to see the 1955 film ‘Rebel without a cause’ in which their date ends with the couple dancing in the Griffith Observatory.
The film’s storyline is rather simplistic and doesn’t include many characters or side-plots, having a heavy focus on Mia and Sebastian’s intimate relationship instead. It is also a very vibrant movie with aesthetically pleasant locations and visually impressive scenes that prove to be very memorable. While I have no particular interest in or fondness for musicals, I did enjoy La La land despite my earlier concerns about seeing a movie of this genre. I also believe that the conclusion, which was intended to leave the audience with a bitter sweet ending, was the right decision for the movie to take. It fits in well with the consistent rivalling themes of La La Land of sacrifice, dreams and love. Due to my opinions on La La Land, I would be interested in exploring Whiplash and any future collaboration between Chazelle and Hurwitz.
Plot=8/10
Characters=9/10
Special Effects=7/10
Overall=9/10
What is it that makes a man a man? Is it his origins — the way things start? Or is it something else, something harder to describe?
Professor Bruttenholm
Hellboy
The Dark Tower
Greetings, the Dark Tower is chronologically the last book of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series, a collection of novels that provides a connecting bridge for all of the revered horror writer’s stories. Many characters from King’s other novels are either featured in this conclusive book or are mentioned in passing and therefore adding to the overall lore of this fictitious universe. It is the seventh instalment in the franchise and was released back in 2004. While it serves as the finale of the adventure, King wrote a short novel entitled ‘The Wind through the Keyhole’ in 2012, which is situated between ‘Wizard and Glass’ and ‘Wolves of the Calla’. As such, ‘The Wind through the Keyhole’ is regarded as book 4.5 as it takes place between the fourth and fifth novels. A film adaptation of the books is currently in development, staring Idirs Elba from Luther and Pacific Rim fame as protagonist Roland Deschain of Gilead. Matthew McConaughey portrays a primary antagonist and sorcerer named Walter or the Man in Black. The choice of Idris as Roland has been met with sharp criticism from the diehard fans of the series as it tampers with central character progression and the circumstances around certain individual’s relationships with others.
The plot resumes where ‘Songs of Susannah’ left off in which they protagonists are searching for the demon possessed and pregnant member of their team, Susannah. Jake Chambers, the youngest member of the heroes, Father Callahan, the main character of Salem’s Lot and Oy, a fictitious creature known as a billy-bumbler, enter a restaurant called the Dixie Pig. The New York based restaurant is infested with Vampiric creatures which the trio must fight their way through to save their friend and fellow gunslinger Susannah who is trapped in another dimension known as Fedic. In the other world of Fedic Susannah watches as Mia, the hermaphroditic demon that had possessed as well as impregnated her, is about to give birth to an unholy creature. The child birthed by Mia is partially human due to Roland’s forced copulation with the demonic Mia in the first book, and a partially mutating spideresque being fathered by the primary antagonist, the Crimson King also known as the Lord of the Spiders. The transforming boy, called Mordred Deschain, feasts on Mia shortly after the pregnancy is complete. Susannah, no longer possessed by Mia, is able to shoot and injure Mordred. This causes the infant to scuttle away for safety. The last part of the band of gunslingers, Roland and Eddie Dean, attempt to find the otherworld of Fedic from Maine in America. They eventually make their way to the destination and find Susannah in her right mind once more.
Once the heroes have been reunited in the other world, with the exception of Father Callahan who never made it past the Dixie Pig, they continue their long journey to the Dark Tower. Mordred Deschain, although severely wounded by Susannah Dean, continues to stalk and pursue the group with the hopes of killing Roland as per the Crimson King’s demand. The team continue on with their mission to save and reach the Dark Tower, which is of central importance to keeping the universe from ripping apart. The beams which hold up the tower are being attacked and weakened by telepathic humans called Breakers. Breakers, as revealed in the novel, use their supernatural powers to unravel the universe and it is up to the gunslingers to stop the fall of the beam by any means necessary. Several beams had already fallen prior to the beginning of the final novel which caused strange effects to ripple across the worlds such as time slowing down. Once the protagonists reach the station where all the Breakers are located, they prepare for a mass assault on the compound.
The Dark Tower series has a very bizarre story as I am sure you have realized after only glimpsing at the plot through my reviews. King combines the Western genre with fantastical elements to create a very unique story as well as some intriguing characters. The franchise is still ongoing in a sense despite the conclusive novel being released over a decade ago. As already mentioned, the film is currently underway and opens up possibilities of a new future for the Dark Tower property. Numerous graphic novels that focus on these characters are still being produced by Marvel comics and have been published throughout the years since they began in 2007. These graphic novels provide the reader with new adventures to explore, plots that revolve around a young Roland Deschain who’s earlier years were only partially mentioned in the original books. After having read the entire collection of Dark Tower novels, I am eager to experience some of Stephen King’s other novels.
Plot=7/10
Characters=8/10
Wording=8/10
Overall=8/10
Quote of the Day
You stupid woman.
Rene Artois
‘Allo ‘Allo
Rogue One
Greetings, Rogue One is a 2016 film and the first instalment in the Star Wars: Anthology series. The story serves as a prequel to a New Hope and offers a more complex view of the conflict between the Rebel Alliance and the Galactic Empire than the previous entries. Most of the surviving original cast are not involved in Rogue One bar a few cameo appearances from actors such as Anthony Daniels. Interestingly, GCI was used to bring back characters such as Grand Moff Tarkin who was originally played by Peter Cushing in A New Hope. This option had been used as Cushing has been dead for over two decades at the time of this film’s release. New actors and actresses were brought into the Star Wars universe to introduce original characters to the series. Among the main cast are Felicity Jones as Jyn Erso, Diego Luna as Cassian Andor, Ben Mendelsohn as Director Krennic, Mads Mikkelsen as Imperial scientist Galen Erso, James Earl Jones as the iconic voice of Darth Vader and Alan Tudyk as K-2SO. The music was composed by Michael Giacchino who orchestrates a soundtrack in a similar style to John Williams.
The film begins, with the iconic opening crawl notably absent, on an isolated farming planet in which research scientist Galen Erso and his family are in living. The world was chosen as part of a deliberate attempt to hide from the Empire’s clutches. Imperial forces lead by Director Orson Krennic, land on the planet once the scientist has been located. Krennic confronts Galen and attempts to convince him to continue constructing the superweapon named the Death Star. The negotiations take a violent turn when Lyra, Galen’s wife, is killed and his daughter Jyn goes into hiding. Galen is coerced into working for the Empire once more while Jyn remained unfound by Imperial Stormtroopers. The girl is eventually discovered by the extremist Rebel and Clone War veteran Saw Gerra as he had been informed by Galen about Krennic’s arrival in a prior scene. Jyn is taken under Saw’s wing for a number of years until they eventually go their separate ways before the next sequence begins 15 years later.
A defector from the Empire, Bodhi Rook, tries to smuggle a holographic message from Galen to the extremist Guerra. Saw is currently waging an armed revolt against the Imperial presence in the desert moon of Jedha. The message explains that Erso, as architect of the Death Star, had intentionally created a weak spot within the superweapon that could be exploited by the Rebel Alliance. Meanwhile an adult Jyn Erso is freed from an Imperial labour camp by rebel soldier Cassian Andor and K-2S0, a reprogrammed droid that used to work for the Empire. Andor, an intelligence officer for the resistance, was sent to save Jyn so that she could help the Rebels find her father and uncover more information about the Death Star.
I believed that the film was an admirable attempt of beginning the anthology series but it had several flaws that prevented me from classifying it as one of the best Star Wars films. Initially, I found the opening scenes which introduced several of the main characters to be poorly paced. I also thought that the majority of the characters had no real personality nor did they significantly progress as individuals through the storyline. There are also hints of potential romantic desire between Jyn and Andor during the finale but this is also the first indication that their relationship isn’t strictly platonic. K-2SO was the one character that stood out the most to me but I found that about half of his punchlines or snide remarks fell flat in its comedic attempts. On the positive side, I consider Galen’s installation of a weak spot in the Death Star to be an interesting technique that explained how the superweapon had such a fatal architectural flaw in the first place. Overall, the film was satisfactory in my opinion and that the last scene was by far the most interesting as audiences witnessed a glimpse of Darth Vader’s extensive and powerful abilities as a Sith Lord. Despite my reservations with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, I have high expectations for the next Anthology films centred on the iconic smuggling scoundrel Han Solo and feared intergalactic bounty hunter Boba Fett.
Plot=7/10
Characters=6/10
Special Effects=8/10
Overall=7/10
Quote of the Day
Never half-ass two things. Whole-ass one thing.
Ron Swanson
Parks and Recreation
