John Wick
Greetings, John Wick is a neo-noir film from 2014 which was directed by Chad Stahleski and David Leitch. The music was composed by Tyler Bates who also had roles in creating the soundtrack for other famous movies such as 300, the Guardians of the Galaxy as well as its upcoming sequel. John Wick stars well-known actors including Keanu Reeves as the titular character, Willem Dafoe, Michael Nyqvist and Alfie Allen among other cast members. A sequel titled John Wick: Chapter Two has also been planned and is hoped to be released in 2017, which could potentially lead the way to other sequels in the future.
The plot begins with a retired assassin called John Wick losing his wife, Helen, to a terminal illness. In order to help John cope with her loss, Helen had prepared for a puppy named Daisy to be delivered to her husband in the event of her death. The puppy was given to John as a means for him to stay emotionally connected and ensure that he wouldn’t suffer through her death alone. Overtime the retired hitman and the puppy developed a special bond, forming a happy relationship until it is disrupted by a chance encounter with the son of a Russian mobster. The son is named Isoef Tarasov, a cocky and entitled young man that believes he can get whatever he wants. John and Isoef’s paths cross at a petrol station when Tarasov puts in an offer to buy Wick’s car, a vintage 69 Mustang. The retired contract killer refuses any attempts to make a deal and the two seem to part ways however John is unaware that Tarasov’s gang followed him back to his house.
During the night, the gang attempt to steal his Mustang but John catches them in the act. The gang have the advantage in numbers as well as the element of surprise and as such they manage to knock him unconscious. Despite this, he remains long enough in a state of drowsiness to see his puppy, Daisy, being killed by Isoef purely out of spite. Wick wakes to find the corpse of Daisy beside him and his Mustang stolen. John decides to pick arms once again to avenge the death of Daisy as well as to reclaim his car. Viggo Tarasov, the Russian gangster and father of Isoef, eventually learns of his son’s actions. He beats his son for his foolish actions and declares that John Wick was his ultimate hitman, nicknamed Baba Yaga or the bogeyman because of Wick’s skill in combat. Realizing the potentially dire consequences for himself, Viggo reaches out to John and extends an offer of peace in order to avoid any conflict. Wick refuses, forcing Viggo to send out a hit squad to John’s house in order to end the situation as quickly as possible. John Wick survives the attack and he escalates the matter by seeking revenge on both Tarasovs.
While the movie is not outstanding in terms of character development or original in its storyline, I did find it visually impressive. The fight or action scenes were well choreographed, more so when John was forced to fight in hand to hand combat against multiple hostiles. Additionally, I found that it was easy to root for John Wick as the protagonist while Isoef Tarasov was successfully portrayed as a dislikeable, cowardly antagonist as the writers had in mind. While I wouldn’t say that this film is an essential experience for movie goers, I did find it to be an enjoyable, if somewhat predictable movie. It is certainly worth a watch if you find yourself in a mood to watch an action film but are at a loss as to what to watch.
Plot=7/10
Characters=7/10
Special Effects=8/10
Overall=7/10
Quote of the Day
Those socks need a good darning... Darn you, socks!
Guybrush Threepwood
Tales of Monkey Island
Fargo: Series Two
Greetings, Fargo: Series Two is a television series from 2015 and serves as a prequel to the original Fargo show. The film was set in the late 1980s and the first television series was set in 2006 while this season is located in the final years of the 1970s. It mainly follows the character of Lou Solverson, who is the protagonist in this dark crime thriller, a Minnesotan cop played by Patrick Wilson. The character had been introduced in the first series as a recurring character and father of the heroine, Molly, who followed in her father’s footsteps by becoming another police officer. An older Lou was played by Keith Carradine in the original Fargo television show and it should be mentioned that the actor makes a brief return in this series. Other actors or actresses in the second Fargo include Jesse Plemmons as Ed the Butcher, Kirsten Dunst as Peggy and Jean Smart as the matriarch of the Gerhart criminal syndicate.
The story begins in 1979 in which the Gerhart family is under threat from two incidents. The first is that the ageing patriarch Otto suffered from a heart attack, leaving a power vacuum in his place as the three Gerhart sons want to assume control of the criminal organization. The second is the growing influence of the Kansas City mob who wish to carve their way into Gerhart territory, either by buying the family out or through seizing victory in a bloody gang war. Problems are further escalated for the crime family when the youngest Gerhart heir, Rye, attempts to threaten a judge in a waffle restaurant. The restaurant is nearly empty but the situation takes a turn for the worse when he loses his cool and kills the judge as well as a cook in a heated exchange. Rye, in an attempt to kill all witnesses, chases a wounded waitress by following her outside. He shoots her in the back but before he can get off the snow covered road, Rye is distracted by a glowing phenomenon in the sky at which point he is hit by a passing car.
It is soon revealed that a local beautician called Peggy Blumquist had hit Gerhart and in a state of panic brought Rye back to her home, believing she had accidently killed him. It turns out that he was seriously hurt in the accident but still alive. Ed, Peggy’s husband and the local butcher, soon finds out about Rye as he is trapped in their garage. The manic Gerhart attacks Ed but Blumquist is able to stab Rye to death in retaliation. A startled Ed and Peggy decide to get rid of the body by disposing of it in the butcher’s shop as well as hiding any evidence of what had occurred by dealing with the broken car. Meanwhile Floyd Gerhart, acting leader of the mob as well as mother of Dodd, Bear and Rye, grows increasingly worried over her youngest son’s disappearance. A Native American tracker for the Gerhart’s, called Hanzee Dent, is sent to find Rye’s whereabouts and bring him home. The situation is increasingly pressurized when the Gerhart’s are faced with the prospects of war with Kansas City when enforcers such as Joe Bulo, Mike Milligan and the Kitchen Brothers attempt to push the Gerhart’s syndicate into selling over their organization.
I really liked this season and thought that the colourful styles or fashions were visually pleasing, giving the show some character. I also believed the 1970s setting proved to be an interesting backdrop for the story to take place and liked the occasional hints of the future to come. For instance, Ronald Regan was added into the plot but he has little roles in it except to drive home the point that Fargo was set in the 1970s. While the show did have some draw backs, such as the unexplained extra-terrestrial side story and the supposed fate of Hanzee Dent, I believed that the series was on par if not slightly better than the original. The season didn’t suffer from the absence of the original antagonist, Lorne Malvo, like I had previously been concerned about and as such this is a show that I would definitely recommend, especially if you enjoyed the first one. I look forward to the third series which takes place after all the events we have seen so far in all the Fargo timeline as it is set in 2010.
Plot=9/10
Characters=9/10
Special Effects=8/10
Overall=9/10
Quote of the Day
Because some roads you shouldn't go down. Because maps used to say, "there be dragons here." Now they don't. But that don't mean the dragons aren't there.
Lorne Malvo
Fargo
Tales of Monkey Island
Greetings, Tales of Monkey Island is a Telltale game from 2009 and is a continuation of Lucasart’s Monkey Island series. While it is the fifth game in the franchise I have not played any of the previous instalments which began in 1990 with the Secret of Monkey Island. Despite this, I was still able to enjoy the latest video game and got to grasps with the existing characters. Some actors had reprised their roles such as Dominic Armato as the protagonist Guybrush Threepwood and Alexandra Boyd as Threepwood’s love interest, Elaine Marely-Threepwood. Unusually for a Telltale game, Jared Emerson-Johnson had little involvement in the Original Sound Track which is composed by Michael Land, the artist responsible for previous music in the series. Jared was involved in the game however, by voicing one of the antagonists known as the Marquis de Singe.
The plot begins in the middle of action sequence in which Guybrush is trying to save his wife, Elaine, from the demonic pirate called LeChuck. Threepwood stabs LeChuck with a magical sword but unfortunately the hero hadn’t assembled all of the parts for the weapon to be effective. The attack transforms LeChuck into a human while transferring the “Pox of LeChuck” into Threepwood’s hand which has become able to control itself. The pox will turn those it possesses into a demonic and aggressive creature. Before Guybrush can save Elaine an explosion on the ship knocks him overboard and he wakes up on Flotsam Island. Threepwood is stranded on the island as the winds have being blowing inland for years according to the local residents, as such he is unable to search for Elaine and he travels Flotsam in search of a way out.
It is on Flotsam where Guybrush meets a familiar but mysterious figure called the Voodoo Lady who he had encountered before in his adventures. She informs the pirate that the “Pox of LeChuck” will spread throughout the Caribbean if he cannot locate a magical sea sponge called “La Esponja Grande”, which would suck up the magical energy of the pox. The Voodoo Lady also claims that if Threepwood wishes to find the sponge, then he should seek guidance from a man called Coronado DeCava who has mysteriously vanished in his search for it. He also crosses paths with a French scientists called the Marquis de Singe who becomes obsessed with Guybrush’s infected hand as he believes it holds the key to eternal life. As such, Guybrush Threepwood must get off the island, find “La Esponja Grande” and rescue Elaine while evading De Singe’s grasp.
There are five episodes in total in which the player is introduced to a whole range of unusual creatures and colourful characters such as pirate bounty hunter Morgan LeFlay or Murray the demonic skull. While some puzzles were infuriating at times, I can say that I enjoyed this game as it was full of comedic scenes and contained an interesting storyline. I am unsure if there are any plans for a sequel but I would definitely play it if one came about. Although I cannot be sure of the future of the series, I do know it has plenty of other previous instalments that I would like to experience at some point in the future.
Plot=9/10
Characters=9/10
Graphics=8/10
Overall=9/10
Quote of the Day
I love my brick!
Father Jack
Father Ted
Deadpool: The Video Game
Greetings, Deadpool is a video game from 2013 that stars Marvel Comics anti-hero Wade Wilson, also known as the titular Deadpool. It is a brawler game and was developed by High Moon Studios, a fact that is referenced several times in the narrative when the script breaks the fourth wall. While I was not overly familiar with Deadpool before playing the game, I was aware that he was a zany character that suffered from split personalities. Womanizing, outlandish humour and hyper-violence are also aspects of his unique personality that the writers bring across into the video game as well. In true superhero fashion, Wade also has special powers such as immortality and his ability to teleport was incorporated into the game by the developers to escape enemy attacks or for jumping puzzles. Despite his immortality, Deadpool can still die in the campaign and while his teleportation is useful, it has a short range.
The plot begins with Deadpool’s apartment in which he gets a phone call from High Moon studios who are creating a video game around the Deadpool character. Wilson wants to make it the best game of all time by forcing the developers to make it exactly as he sees fit. Therefore, Wade ignores the script that was given to him and begins making up his own random story in which he is hired to assassinate media mogul Chance White. After fighting through hordes of Chance’s men, Deadpool reaches the entrepreneur but is stopped by mutant villainesses Vertigo and Arclight before being able to kill White. The two mutants are part of the Marauders, an army of mutant clones that are under the command of Mister Sinister, and bring him to the aforementioned villain. Mr Sinister then kills Chance when he reveals that the mogul’s satellites are under Marauder control. Deadpool seeks revenge on Mister Sinister as his target had been killed by the antagonist and sets up one of Wilson’s motives for going after Sinister.
Deadpool was knocked unconscious by Sinister and is wakened by several members of the X-men. The marauders are gone by the time Wade has come to, however he and the mutants discover that Mister Sinister had moved to Genosha. As explained in the game, Genosha was a mutant hideout before the Sentinels massacred them and it now serves as a Marauder base. Deadpool being his usual self decides to fly the Blackbird, the x-men’s private jet, and crashes it in Genosha. Wilson manages to knock everyone into unconsciousness including Wolverine. Wilson comments on how it was almost as if the level was designed for him to be the sole character in it and continues his pursuit of Mister Sinister.
As already noted Deadpool is a character that if aware of the fact that he is fictional and much of the game’s comedy comes from that meta-humour. For instance, Deadpool will often playfully insult the player with profanity when he is killed and mock the player’s skills. There are plenty of enemy AIs to keep the game play fresh but as it is a brawler game, most hostiles are challenging because they attack in numbers. I really enjoyed Deadpool even though the campaign quite short and only has a handful of varied locations for the player to explore. I wouldn’t be surprised if another Deadpool game was created when considering the recent success with the movie.
Plot=8/10
Characters=9/10
Graphics=8/10
Overall=9/10
Quote of the Day
Chewie...we're home.
Han Solo
Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens
Mogworld
Greetings, Mogworld is a comedic novel from 2010 and was written by Ben ‘Yahtzee’ Croshaw. It is written in a first person narrative and is about an undead protagonist called Jim in the virtual world of Mogworld. Croshaw is a British-Australian video game journalist and author who is probably best known for his Zero Punctuation series on the gaming website, the Escapist. He has also been known to co-operate on other projects with ex-Escapist members such as fellow game reviewer Jim Sterling before the former’s departure from the site. Mogworld is Ben’s first novel and was published by Dark Horse Books. He published another novel in 2012 called Jam which is a loosely related book to his original. I have yet to read Jam but the premise sounds even more comical and absurd than that of Mogworld’s.
The story begins with a student, Jim, who is studying sorcery at a magical school in the fictitious land of Mogworld. The school is attacked by a neighbouring army and Jim is one of the first pupils to be killed during the invasion. The main story takes place some decades later when Jim became a decomposing corpse and is awakened during an earthquake. He and other undead, run to the surface as they flee their sinking crypts. When they reach the land, the zombie masses discover that a necromancer by the name of Deadgrave had been responsible for waking them and was the cause of the earthquake. After a quick conversation Deadgrave manages to convince his undead legions to become his employees and defend his castle from intruders and adventurers. While Jim had tried to escape his existence via suicide, he realises he is unable to die and keeps getting patched up by fellow undead employee Meryl after his failed suicide attempts. Meryl soon obsesses over Jim when she learns that he used to belong to her own nation before it had been annexed by their neighbours.
While Jim eventually accepts that he is immortal and is forced to live in his rotting body, he also embraces his job as a tormentor of adventures that break into Deadgrave’s liar. Jim gets a sense of Déjà vu during one raid in which he captures an incompetent adventure by the name of Slippery John. He soon realizes that he has killed the adventurer several times beforehand and learns that the whole world had become immortal due to an event known as the Infusion. While he talks to John, the entire fortress begins to fall under attack. Jim and Meryl, alongside an undead priest named Thaddeus, manage to escape in time to witness the compound as well as its ruler, Deadgrave, be deleted by mysterious angel-like creatures. The three manage to escape their extermination by the beings, nicknamed ‘Deleters’, while the zombie hordes are vanquished. During the moment of terror, Jim forgets that he actually wanted to be killed and so begins a quest with the other two protagonists to find the Deleters in order to finally get himself removed from existence.
I enjoyed this book overall although I did find it a bit difficult to get into at first. The humour works quite well on page, with most of it coming from Thaddeus in my opinion, but it doesn’t come across as effectively as his comedic style in Zero Punctuation. It proves to be a unique experience with a variety of colourful characters and an original plot set in a massively multiplayer online game. I also intend to read Yahtzee’s second novel at some point in the near future.
Plot=7/10
Characters=7/10
Wording=7/10
Overall=7/10
Quote of the Day
And when Alexander saw the breadth of his domain, he wept...for there were no more worlds to conquer. Benefits of a classical education.
Hans Gruber
Die Hard
Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens
Greetings, Star Wars Episode 7: The Force Awakens is a 2015 film and is the first in the series to be released after Disney purchased Lucasfilm from George Lucas in 2012. The seventh movie leads the Star Wars resurgence, since the damaging reputation of the prequels, as several spin offs and the rest of the new trilogy will follow suit in the coming years. It reunites fans with some of their favourite characters like Han Solo, Chewbacca, Princess Leia, C3-PO and R2-D2 after the fall of the Empire as well introducing several new characters. As such, many of the old cast including Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Peter Mayhew and Antony Daniels reprise their old roles while new comers, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega and Adam Driver introduce original characters to the iconic series. John Williams also makes his return, delivering a score that is not as memorable as his original soundtrack but still proves to be a good addition to the film.
The story takes place thirty years after the destruction of the Death Star and a new sinister organization has risen after the death of Palatine and Darth Vader. The First Order, remnants of the Galactic Empire, attempts to hunt down and exterminate the last of the Jedi. Luke Skywalker, the last Jedi Knight, has disappeared without a trace and is also being sought by Leia and the resistance in order to aid them in their fight against the First Order. Poe Dameron, a skilled resistance pilot, meets a village elder on the planet of Jakku and receives a map that will lead to Skywalker but the First order also arrives at the same time. Dameron has enough time to hide the map in his droid called BB-8 before Kylo Ren, a leading figure in the First Order captures Poe and orders the villagers to be massacred. One soldier who doesn’t partake in the slaughter is FN-2187, a storm trooper who is visibly distressed at the sight and his defiance is noticed by Kylo and Captain Phasma. BB-8 eventually crosses paths with a scavenger by the name of Rey, one of the main characters in the film.
Back on Ren’s star destroyer, FN decides to break Poe out of Ren’s clutches as he no longer wants to fight alongside the First Order. He manages to free Dameron and the two escape by stealing a TIE fighter while being shot at. Their brief conversation in which Poe gives FN the nickname of Finn is cut short when the damaged TIE fighter crashes into Jakku. Finn wakes up to find the TIE fighter is swallowed by sinking sand and cannot find Poe anywhere. After taking Dameron’s jacket to disguise himself, Finn then travels the desert until he finds Rey and BB-8 in a nearby village. BB-8 recognizes the jacket and alerts Rey about it. Finn doesn’t have enough time to explain how he got the jacket as the First Order begin attacking them. The three then escape by stealing the Millennium Falcon and they manage to evade capture but are soon abducted by a bigger vessel in space. At this moment, it is revealed that both Han Solo and Chewbacca had been piloting the ship and make their return to their old vessel.
While the film was heavily influenced by A New Hope and features many of the same storylines, I still really enjoyed it. I felt that the new characters paled in comparison to the older generation and that some like Captain Phasma or Poe served as more of a plot device than an actual character. Despite this, I believe that Episode 7 was a big improvement on the prequels and had genuinely comedic moments as well as more simplistic but powerful fight scenes than the previous instalments. Overall, I look forward to what the new films will bring and how they will expand upon many of the characters.
Plot=7/10
Characters=8/10
Special Effects=9/10
Overall=9/10
Quote of the Day
Ashes to ashes, funk to funky
We know Major Tom's a junkie
Strung out in heaven's high
Hitting an all-time low.
David Bowie
Ashes to Ashes
