Fargo
Greetings, Fargo is a 2014 television series based on the Coen Brother’s 1996 film of the same name. The story is set 19 years after the movie, meaning that it is focused on an entirely new cast of actors and characters while occasionally referring back to the themes or important plot points from the 1996 version of Fargo. It contains similarities to the movie as there is introductive text at the beginning of each episode, suggesting that the storyline is based off real events that took place in Minnesota during 2006 but despite the claims it is a work of fiction. The series does have a relatively large cast with some of the more noticeable actors and actresses including Martin Freeman, Billy Bob Thornton, Allison Tolman, Colin Hanks and Bob Odenkirk.
The story begins with Lorne Malvo, a contract killer played by Thornton, crashing his car on a wintry highway outside the city of Bemidji, Minnesota. Malvo is slightly injured in the accident and goes to a nearby hospital to get aid. The story also focuses heavily on Martin Freeman’s character, Lester Nygaard, an insurance salesman and henpecked husband. One day Lester bumps into an old high school bully of his, a man called Sam Hess, who intimidates Nyggard into accidentally breaking his nose when trying to flee Sam. As such Nygaard meets Malvo at the hospital where the two discuss what had caused Lester to break his nose but the conversation takes a strange turn in which Lorne stated that he would have killed Hess if he was in that position. Malvo continues the conversation by promising he would kill Hess for free if Nygaard agreed to it. A confused Lester was called by a nurse before he could answer, leaving the assassination open to interpretation.
Later on Lorne does kill Hess, a lowlife criminal with connections with a crime syndicate in Fargo, as Nygaard never said no to the proposition. In return the Fargo criminal organization send two of their own assassin’s to track down Sam’s killer, hoping to avenge his death. The story returns to Lester after he returns from hospital. In the spur of the moment he kills his abusive wife, Pearl, with a hammer and calls Lorne to dispose of the body. At the same time Hess’ death is under investigation by the local police force, the meeting between Nygaard and Malvo is discovered in which Sam’s name was often referred to. As such police Chief Vern Thurman travels to Nygaard’s house to question him about Hess’ murder, where Pearl’s corpse is hidden in the basement. Thurman is shot dead by Malvo before Lorne escapes, leaving Lester trapped in a crime scene. Nygaard decides to run into a wall with intentions of knocking himself unconscious, in order to create an alibi in which he was supposedly attacked as well. The investigation falls to Deputy Molly Solverson after the death of her boss, in which she has to unravel the complicated case which appear to be different and unrelated crimes.
That is the main outline of the plot but there are many other storylines that run through it and characters that have a bigger presence later on in the series. The character progression is done particularly well, especially with the fall of Lester Nygaard into the depths of immorality. Lorne Malvo is the character I found that was the most intriguing who was played brilliantly by Thornton. His mischievous nature, oddly worded threats and references to Biblical scriptures have lead some fans to believe that he is actually an incarnation of the Devil but this is never stated outright by the writers. The music, composed by Jeff Russo, sets the mood nicely and positively enhances the experience. I really enjoyed this series and look forward to what season two has to offer.
Plot=9/10
Characters=9/10
Special Effects=9/10
Overall=9/10
Quote of the Day
Ain't no thing like me, except me!
Rocket Raccoon
Guardians of the Galaxy
Guardians of the Galaxy
Greetings, Guardians of the Galaxy was released in 2014 and is the latest instalment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It provides a few subtle references to previous films including the Avengers but it is mostly a self-contained story that revolves around new settings and characters. Some of the most prominent cast members include Chris Pratt as the main protagonist, Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, Dave Bautista and Karen Gillan. Guardians is quite different from the rest of Marvel’s work as it set in space rather than being confined to Earth, providing quite a lot of new lore, extra-terrestrial species and civilizations to experience that hadn’t been mentioned in the pre-existing plots.
The story begins on Earth during 1988 with a young Peter Quill at his dying mother’s bedside. An emotionally distraught Quill runs outside of the hospital when his mother passes, having lost her fight against cancer. When Peter is alone, he is abducted by an alien pirate ship that is captained by an extra-terrestrial called Yondu. The film skips 26 years into the future with an adult Peter Quill who had been raised by Yondu and the pirates that captured him since his mother’s death. Peter followed in their footsteps and became a thief, going by the name of Star-Lord. Quill is sent on a mission to the deserted planet of Morag to steal a mysterious orb but he is intercepted by Korath, a subordinate to the villain Ronan, but Star-Lord manages to escape with the orb in his possession.
The antagonist, called Ronan, is a fanatical alien known as a Kree that wishes to destroy the civilization known as Xandar. While his hatred for Xander isn’t expanded upon it is revealed that he plans to annihilate planet by acquiring the orb that was stolen by Quill, by handing it over to opne of the strongest beings in the universe, Thanos. In return Thanos would destroy Xandar. Seeing that Korath had failed in his task to get the orb, Ronan sends the assassin Gamora to retrieve the object from Star-Lord. Gamora hunts down Quill on the planet of Xander but Peter has also caught the attention of two bounty hunters after his bounty, an intelligent racoon called Rocket that is the result of an experiment, as well as the humanoid tree creature known as Groot. The four end up in a fight on Xandar before being caught and sent to prison by the Nova Corps, in which they meet the fifth protagonist, a prison inmate called Drax. The five decide to work together to escape the high security prison, gradually forming the team that would become to be called the Guardians of the Galaxy.
The film is very impressive overall with an interesting soundtrack that runs throughout the movie, giving it a unique feel and keeping a connection to Quill’s past on Earth while adding to his character. The actors and actresses gave good performances, delivering their lines well, especially in the many humours scenes. It is my personal favourite of the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far and it seems to be building up the character of Thanos, who was barely in the film, for future works. I look forward to what the sequel will add onto the success of the original and what impact Guardians of the Glaxy will have on other Marvel films.
Plot=10/10
Characters=10/10
Special Effects=10/10
Overall=10/10
Quote of the Day
A famous man once said, "We create our own demons." Who said that? What does that even mean? Didn't matter. I said it 'cause he said it. So now, he was famous and it was basically said by two well-known guys. I don't... uhh... I'm gonna start again. Let's track this from the beginning
Tony Stark/ Iron Man
Iron Man 3
The Dark Tower: The Wind through the Keyhole
Greetings, The Wind through the Keyhole is a novel that was penned by Steven King and was published in 2012. It is the eighth book in the Dark Tower saga, the saga being one of King’s main works, and it is the last novel in the series to have been written. In terms of the fictional chronology, it is takes place between the fourth and fifth books which are named Wizard and Glass and the Wolves of Calla. It is similar to previous novel, Wizard and Glass, as it revolves mostly around the adventures of the protagonist, a gunslinger named Roland, while he is still quite young. As such most of the main characters in the series have few chapters devoted to them, instead elaborating on characters from Roland’s teenage years that had only been mentioned in passing in previous books.
The plot is quiet irregular as it is made up of three different but interconnecting stories that are contained within each other. It begins with Roland and his friends travelling on their dangerous path to the Dark Tower after the events of Wizard and Glass. When they arrive at a desolate town, Roland is able to tell that a terrible storm known as a starkblast is coming their way and so they barricade themselves in at the local town hall, planning to wait out the storm that would freeze everything in its path. To pass the time Roland speaks of his past as he tells his audience that when he was a teenager he and his friend, Jamie DeCurry, where sent by his father to a little town called Debaria to solve a mysterious murder case. Reports coming from the town suggested that a Skin-changer, a supernatural creature that takes the appearance of a man and could change its form, was on a killing spree in the small settlement and that it needed to be stopped by gunslingers. The adult gunslingers were busy fighting a war at the time, a conflict that wasn’t expanded on much by King, which meant that the two teenagers had to solve the problem on their own.
When Roland and Jaime arrived in the town they uncover that there had been an attack on a local farm and that one of the victims had survived. The sole survivor, a young boy named Bill, had apparently seen the creature revert back to its human form but was unable to get much of a good view as he had only seen the creature’s feet. Roland wishes to use the boy as bait in his hunt for the monster as he hopes to lure creature out of hiding as it would have intention of killing Bill to keep its identity secret. The young Roland also tries to ease Bill’s fear of being identified by the skin-man by telling him a story from his childhood, “The Wind through the Keyhole”. It is a fable about a young boy called Tim Ross who had lost his father under suspicious circumstances, forcing his mother to marry an abusive drunk, his father’s best friend before he died. The story is somewhat complicated and is partially about Tim uncovering what had really happened to his father.
The Dark Tower is a strange series which has so far involved psychotic monorails, vampires, giant bears and witches but it is enjoyable if you can appreciate its strange mix of genres. I only have two more novels to read, Songs of Susannah and the Dark Tower, which will hopefully be posted in this blog in the coming years. There are also talks about a film coming out which should be interesting to see, starring Russel Crowe as Roland of Gilead and Aaron Paul of Breaking Bad fame to star as ex-drug addict Eddie Dean. I thought the book was an interesting read and wonder how King is going to end it.
Plot=8/10
Characters=8/10
Wording=8/10
Overall=8/10
Quote of the Day
Distrusting me was the wisest thing you've done since you climbed off your horse.
Petyr Baelish
Game of Thrones
Hector: Badge of Carnage
Greetings, Hector: Badge of Carnage is a point and click adventure game that was developed by Straandlooper and published by Telltale Games. Straandlooper is an animation studio and game developer located in Northern Ireland with the Hector series being the first game they have ever made. Like other Telltale works Badge of Carnage has an episodic format that consisting of three segments in total and a storyline that runs through all the episodes. The humour is adult in nature, with the plot being set in the fictitious and degenerate town of Clappers Wreak, infamously renowned as the crime capital of Britain.
The storyline follows the brutish and vulgar protagonist, Detective Inspector Hector of Clappers Wreak Police Service as he gets entangled in a hostage situation that is occurring in an abandoned building. Hector is sent in to settle the situation by order of Meeks, Chief Superintendent and Hector’s boss, after several negotiators are killed by a skilled sniper hiding in the abandoned building. Once negotiations begins it is revealed that the unidentified terrorist is shocked at how far the town has sunk into depravity and demands that Hector rebuild Clappers Wreak by handing him three assignments.
As such Hector is forced to comply, repairing the dysfunctional town clock, destroying the local adult entertainment industry and donating a large sum of money to Barnsley Noble, head of the Clappers Wreak Preservation Society. The first episode is rather simple in terms of plot as Hector merely fulfils the sniper’s demands but it expands later on with the terrorist being identified at the end of the second episode and the aims of the villain being uncovered in the third game.
The series has a large and colourful cast of characters, some of which appear throughout the whole trilogy, but only two of them are playable. Hector’s slow witted partner, Lambert, becomes an increasingly important character as the story progresses and the player has to take control of him to solve certain puzzles in the last two episodes. The puzzles are unusual and can only be completed with the use of various items found throughout the map, some of which have to be combined in order to solve them. Overall it is an enjoyable game with interesting challenges, art style, setting and characters, especially Hector himself.
Plot=9/10
Characters=8/10
Graphics=8/10
Overall=8/10
Quote of the Day
Today. Today... at the edge of our hope, at the end of our time, we have chosen not only to believe in ourselves, but in each other. Today there is not a man nor woman in here that shall stand alone. Not today. Today we face the monsters that are at our door, and bring the fight to them. Today, we are cancelling the apocalypse!
Stacker Pentecost
Pacific Rim
Pacific Rim
Greetings, Pacific Rim is a 2013 film that was directed by Guillermo del Toro, fusing together the two genres of Kaiju and Mecha into one movie. The most prominent cast members of Pacific Rim include Charlie Hunnam as the main protagonist, with supporting roles from actors such as Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, Ron Pearlman and Burn Gorman. Ellen McLain takes on a role similar to her infamous character GLaDOS from the Portal series by voicing the AI system of a Jaeger called Gipsy Danger, a humanoid mecha designed to kill the Kaijus. A sequel had been announced earlier in 2014 and is set for release in 2017.
The plot is mostly set in the 2020s and begins in 2013 when Earth is attacked for the first time by an aggressive creature named a Kaiju that emerged from the Pacific Ocean. Existing military vehicles and weapons prove to be useless against the monster, leading to the creation of the Jaeger program. Jaegers are large combat robots that can only be operated by two people who are able to drift together, a term which means the two pilots must mentally link their minds together to control the mecha. The program is successful in the beginning of the invasion until the Kaiju attacks become more frequent and more powerful as the creatures adapt to humanity’s counter-attacks. It is revealed that the Kaiju come from another dimension and are able to enter earth through a portal hidden in the Pacific Ocean floor.
In the year 2020, the protagonist and his brother, Raleigh and Yancy Becket are sent on a mission to stop a Kaiju. Yancy is killed in action while still in drift with his brother, Raleigh manages to survive the fight but ultimately leaves the program due to his failure to protect his brother. Becket becomes involved in another form of defence, the construction of giant coastal walls that are designed to keep the Kaijus out of major settlements. Due to a change in strategy, the Jaeger program lead by Stacker Pentecost is about to be closed down until one of the coastal walls fails as a Kaiju breaks it down. With humanity facing the possibility of extinction Pentecost suggests a suicidal mission as a last resort in which the remaining Jaegers fight their way to the portal and destroy it by detonating a nuclear bomb inside of it.
Overall, it is an enjoyable movie that is visually pleasing with plenty of fight scenes between the Jaegers and the Kaiju. The actors and actresses deliver a strong performance, with the characters of Pentecost, Dr Herman Gottlieb and Hannibal Chau being among the most memorable. While the film does have some intriguing characters and ideas such as the concept of the drift, I still wouldn’t call it a must see film but it is one of the better ones I have seen lately and would encourage you to watch it. I’m not sure what the planned sequel would be like due to the events of the first Pacific Rim but I am looking forward to what it will add to the story.
Plot=8/10
Characters=8/10
Special effects=9/10
Overall=8/10
Quote of the Day
Kill him and I'll pay whatever you want. Make him suffer and I'll double it.
Black Mask
Batman: Arkham Origins
Batman: Arkham Origins
Greetings, Batman: Arkham Origins is the third instalment in the Arkham series and serves as a prequel to Arkham Asylum. Unlike the rest of the franchise, including the up and coming Arkham Knight, Origins was developed by Warner Bros. Games Montreal instead of Rocksteady Studios. A few of the voice acting cast had been changed as well such as Kevin Conroy handing over the role of Batman to Roger Craig Smith. Mark Hamill had also ended his career voicing the Joker after Arkham City and the part was passed over to Troy Baker, who had voiced Robin and Two-Face previously. Similar to Arkham City, Origins has side quests that are centred on villains including the Riddler, the Mad Hatter and Anarky. The open world also provides the player with the opportunity to find hidden Anarky tags hidden throughout the large map and to stop crimes in order to gain experience points that can be spent on upgrades.
The story takes place on Christmas Eve, five years before the events of Arkham Asylum and begins with Black Mask escaping from Blackgate penitentiary. Black Mask, who is actually called Roman Sionis, is Don of the most powerful criminal syndicate in Gotham, facing competition from the Penguin and the Falcone family. After his successful escape he places a bounty of £50 million on Batman’s head, attracting the services of the world’s most notorious assassins. The most notable of the eight killers are Bane and Deadshot, who had appeared in the series beforehand, as well as introducing Deathstroke.
When trying to track down Black Mask and avoiding the assassins, Batman uncovers that the Penguin knows of Roman’s location. Batman then boards Penguin’s ship called the Final Offer, defeating two of the killers sent to kill him and finds out the location at an apartment complex. It appears that Black Mask, along with his girlfriend, had been murdered in that room but Batman deduces that the corpse is actually a body double, suggesting Black Mask was still alive and being targeted by an unknown villain. As such Batman attempts to unravel the mystery of the murder case, find the real Black Mask and fight off the world’s greatest assassins.
While I did enjoy the game I didn’t think it was as good as the two that came beforehand due to the plot being a bit thin. I also thought that while it does provide introductions for characters, including Batman’s future ally Oracle, it was missing the opportunity to provide other iconic characters that were in the other games, such as Two-Face or Poison Ivy, with an origin story. I’m looking forward to how Rocksteady will conclude the series but Arkham Knight won’t be released until 2015. Another issue I had with the game was that it didn’t seem to add any new elements to the series but this might change with inclusion of the Batmobile in Knight.
Plot=7/10
Characters=8/10
Graphics=8/10
Overall=7/10
Quote of the Day
At some point in their lives, 1 in 6 children will be abducted by the Dutch.
Fact Core
Portal 2
