'Deadpool' video review

Hey guys! My friend Ryan has just put up a review of Deadpool on YouTube. He is just starting out with this kind of thing, so check out his review, hit like and post your thoughts in the comments. If you're feeling extra nice, you could of course also subscribe!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eg0pAxWPzLc

Thanks guys! Hopefully I will get around to posting my own review sometime soon.

Avengers: Age of Ultron review

The Avengers return, but does it live up to the hype?

As the sequel to 2012’s 'The Avengers' (released in the UK as 'Avengers Assemble'), one of my favourite films of recent years, I naturally had a lot of expectation for this year’s sequel from the moment of its announcement. This excitement only increased with every subsequently released nugget of information regarding the plot and characters, and again with each still or piece of concept artwork.

It seemed as if this film, like all great sequels, would have everything great about the first film amplified to new levels of excellence. This film was going to be an epic which would make the first film seem embarrassingly subpar by comparison.
So, did the film live up to my expectations? Let's get to the review and find out!

It was great fun to see Iron Man, Captain America, Hawkeye, Thor, Black Widow and the Incredible Hulk back together in the opening action scene fighting villains and bouncing writer/director Joss Whedon’s trademark snappy dialogue off each other once again, and it instantly felt as if you were back together with a group of old friends as the film began.

A common complaint with the previous Avengers film was the side-lining of characters Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Black Widdow (Scarlett Johansson, left) in favour of other, more familiar characters. However Age of Ultron gives both Hawkeye and Black Widdow more screen time, fleshing out their characters and backstories throughout. This extra development also adds more depth to the team as we now have a better understanding of these characters’ motives and their relationship with their teammates. In addition, new characters Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Scarlett Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) lived up to their hype and were both welcome additions to the Avengers line-up and definitely characters I would like to see more of in future entries into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Of course, one of the biggest talking points surrounding this film has been its titular villian, the highly advanced robot, Ultron (pictured below right). Marvel have attracted some criticism in recent years regarding the villians in their films as many believe that most of them have been unmemorable or poorly developed, with the exception of Tom Hiddleston's character Loki. However, I am pleased to say that Ultron was certainly one of the more intruiging and memorable adversarys we have seen so far in this series, but he was not without faults in my opinion.
Visually, Ultron is spectacular, looking very threatening and also true to his design from the comic books. James Spader also does a great job of voicing the character and giving him personality, even if he is basicly a robot.

However, I felt that Ultron’s motivation in the film was somewhat unclear. This  was frustrating since it is typically the most intriguing aspect of the character for me. The original idea behind Ultron in the comic books is that he is a robot programmed with the aim of protecting the Earth from any threats. However, he soon decides that humanity is the biggest danger to Earth and that the best way to protect Earth would therefore be to wipe out all human life. However, in the film, this idea seemed only to be glanced over briefly before Ultron simply became another villain for the heroes to stop, robbing the film of a potentially interesting theme.

We also didn’t really get to see Ultron do any major damage similar to what he has been known to do in comic book story lines such as ‘Avengers: Ultron Unlimited’ where he and his clones wiped out the entire population of a small country. Perhaps something as extreme as that would be a little too much for a film of this kind, which is of course trying to also appeal to the family market, but it would have been nice to see something which displayed just how dangerous and evil Ultron can often be.

Despite all this, Ultron was far from being the worst villain in the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far. In fact, I would argue that he is one of the better ones that we have seen. Ultron does have several memorable, intimidating moments throughout the film through both his dialouge and his actions.

He certainly has a lot more personality than, say, Malekith, the villain from Thor: The Dark World, but he often feels to be lacking a consistent amount of threat.

I felt like this film often touched upon interesting ideas and themes, but none of them were ever fully realised. It feels as if there is a really great character study somewhere within this film that is struggling to get out. Director Joss Whedon actually said that the original cut of the film was around 4 hours long, so there was a lot of stuff that had to be cut out to save time. It would be great to see an extended cut of the film at some point on dvd, as I believe that even just adding an extra 30 minutes or so to further flesh out some of the characters and plot points could greatly improve the film overall.

Still, despite these gripes, Avengers: Age of Ultron did thoroughly entertain me from beginning to end and all the things that made the first film great are still here; Joss Whedon's witty dialogue, some stunning set pieces, a continous sense of fun throughout and a great cast who have now all grown comfortably into their roles. A mention should also go to the special effects, especially those used to bring the Incredible Hulk to life on screen, which are even better than those in the previous film.

While this film may do little to redefine the superhero genre, it is still a more than satisfactory addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and will no doubt be welcomed and loved by all fans.

Rating: ****

Agree/disagree? Leave your thoughts in the comments, or tweet me @daniel_bb8

Dredd review

Today I've decided to shine some light on an overlooked gem from 2012; Dredd directed by Pete Travis. The film is of course based on the 2000ad comic book strip Judge Dredd, set in a post-apocalyptic America, where most of the country is an irradiated waste-land and the population live in a huge 'Mega-cities'. With unemployment high and crime rampant, a police force known as the Judges act as Judge, Jury and on-the-spot executioners, with Judge Dredd, played to a tee by Karl Urban, being the toughest of them all.

Judge Dredd and new rookie Judge Anderson, are sent to a 200-story apartment block to investigate a drug clan and its leader 'Ma-ma', played with malevolence by Lena Headey, who have taken control of the block, using it as a manufacturing plant for a time-altering drug known as 'Slo-Mo'. Upon their arrival, Ma-ma seals the Judges inside the block and orders for them to be hunted down and killed. As you would imagine, chaos ensues.



Despite it's limited setting, the film is able to perfectly capture the run-down, crime-ridden and general unpleasant nature of Mega-City One from the comics, making this a much more authentic adaptation of Judge Dredd than the 1995 film which starred Sylvester Stallone. It would have been nice to see the a bit more of the Mega city, but what we do see looks fantastic, with high production values bringing the comic book to life and disguising the film's relatively small budget of $45 million.

The film frequently employs use of slow-motion to effectively represent the perspective of 'Slo-Mo' users, often cutting between this perspective and regular speed during action scenes, switching from the viewpoint of the Judges to the gang members. This creates stylish, exciting action sequences which are very well shot and easy to comprehend, something which is often lacking in action movies today.

The strong performances, particularly Olivia Thirlby's, are what stands out most in the film, with Karl Urban also offering a downright perfect portrayal of the titular Judge Dredd. Of course, in keeping with the classic tradition of the comic strip, we never actually get a full view of Dredd's face as it is mostly obscured by the iconic Judge's helmet. However, this did not stop Karl Urban from throwing his all into the role and delivering a very memorable performance.

If you are a fan of comic book movies, or even just action and sci-fi movies in general, I highly recommend that you give Dredd a watch, as there is a good chance many of you will have missed it the first time around.


Rating: ****

Agree/disagree? Leave your thoughts in the comments or tweet me @danj_101

Captain America: The Winter Soldier Review

If anyone still has any doubts about whether the likes of Captain America can still hold their own in solo movies in the wake of The Avengers' brilliance, it's time to get rid of them! Not only is Captain America: The Winter Soldier far more than a mere stop-gap between Avengers movies, it also manages to be one of the most satisfying entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe thus far. With a range of hugely enjoyable and memorable characters, both old and new, brilliant action scenes, as well as a plot which tackles today's political issues of government surveillance and security, Captain America: The Winter Soldier really is more than your standard blockbuster.

This is the ninth film to be released as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the second solo outing of the titular Captain, but proves without any shadow of a doubt that the franchise still has more than enough life and creativity left in it to keep it going strong for many years yet.

Chris Evans returns as the Captain and does his usual great job but it's the rest of the cast that really shine. Anthony Mackie plays The Falcon in the character's first screen appearance. Mackie brings a lot of charisma to the role and is sure to make The Falcon a new fan favourite. Fingers crossed that we get to see him join the Avengers in the future!

The actor that impressed me the most however was Sebastian Stan in his role as the title villain; The Winter Soldier. Despite having very little dialogue, he remains an intimidating threat to Steve Rogers and co. and is one of the best, most bad-ass villains seen so-far in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (he beats Malekith hands down). Reportedly, Sebastian Stan has signed a nine-film deal with Marvel Studios (!) so we will be seeing much more of him soon, thankfully.

Samuel L. Jackson is given more do to in this film than he has had previously in his role as Nick Fury, and Scarlett Johansson is still entertaining to watch as The Black Widow.
Finally, we have Robert Redford as our second villain. He plays Alexander Pierce, a senior leader of SHIELD who may or may not be actually secretly a bit evil (SPOILER: he is!).

The fact that an actor as revered as Robert Redford is in this movie really goes to show just how huge the comic book movies of today are. Especially when you consider that Redford turned down the lead role in Superman (1978) as he thought he was too famous. How times change!

In this movie we see that Steve Rogers has already adjusted to life in the 21st century so we thankfully don't get any tired fish-out-of-water jokes regarding the fact that he's from the 40s. In fact, there is very little humor at all in this film, especially when compared to Thor: the Dark World. A lot of the humor in that film verged on slapstick and I definitely felt like they overdid it a bit, but CA: TWS is pretty much the opposite extreme. Despite this, there are a few (intentionally) humorous moments and the film still has a big sense of fun, mostly due to Antony Mackie's performance as The Falcon.

Plot-wise this may well be the best installment yet in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Without going into too much detail, it deals with ideas about how much privacy the people of Earth are or should be willing to sacrifice in order for things such as terrorist attacks to be prevented. Cap's not a fan of SHIELD's upcoming plans related to this idea and eventually ends up going rogue when SHIELD is overtaken by a sinister organisation hiding within it's own ranks; HYDRA. On top of this, the mysterious and seemingly unstoppable 'Winter Solider' is out to kill Cap and anyone else who gets in HYDRA's way.

The ideas of national security and privacy are explored a lot in this film but that doesn't mean there isn't any time for some action. This film has it in droves and provides many memorable set pieces.

I don't usually see films in the cinema more than once, but this one I did and both times I came out thinking that this was one of the best Marvel movies to come out for a while now. If you still have the opinion that Captain America is one of the least interesting characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, then this movie will change that for sure!

Rating: ****

Follow me on Twitter: @danj_101

Thor: the Dark World Review

Hammer Time!

Thor: the Dark World is the eighth instalment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the third film to feature the character. Despite this, Marvel Studios are currently showing no signs of stopping any time soon. Almost all the films in the series thus far have been of a very high quality, and Thor: the Dark World is certainly no exception.

The film is set in the present day, meaning that it takes place about a year and a half after The Avengers and two years after the first Thor film. The picture begins with an ancient battle between the armies of Asgard and our main villain, Malekith (Christopher Eccleston) over a force called the Aether. With this Malekith planned to return the universe to a state of darkness, over which he can rule. However Malekith was defeated and the Aether was sealed away. Now, in the present day, Malekith has returned to claim the Aether once again which becomes stuck in the body of Thor's earthling love interest, Jane. Obviously this is a job for Thor!

The film takes itself seriously but there's also plenty of comic relief to balance the darkness. This is, of course, a good thing but at times I felt that it was a little bit overdone. For example, one particularly dark scene is followed by a joke on the subject just a few minutes later, robbing the scene of some of it's drama and impact. The majority of the jokes are still funny, but I think that the film would have benefited from fewer of these moments.

As is to be expected with these films, the cast all put in great performances, particularly Thor's brother/arch enemy Loki (Tom Hiddleston ) who is as menacing as ever despite turning over a new leaf to aid Thor. However, Malekith himself isn't very interesting and doesn't come across as a major threat to Thor. He's not a bad character but he's certainly not as memorable as Loki. I think the film would have benefited more from some more conflict between Thor and the villain. Chris Hemsworth is as fantastic as ever in the lead role and particularly inpresses when sharing the screen with Hiddleston as the two actors show a lot of chemistry together.

The film is absolutely phenomenal on the visual front, with the scenery, costumes and special effects all impressing me throughout. Asgard in particular is a fantastic work of computer animation and the wide angle shots of the city were something I stared in awe at whenever it was on screen. I didn't see the film in 3D but I couldn't help thinking that it would have looked even better when viewed in that format.

I would go as far as to say that this film was as good as the first Thor film and is a must watch for all Marvel fans, even if, like me you don't have much experience with the character.

Oh, and if you are a Marvel buff, there's something very special for the initial post credits sequence! Honestly; it's not an Iron Man 3 style cop out, this one actually leads somewhere!

Rating: ****

Agree/disagree? Leave your thoughts in the comments or tweet me @danj_101

Batman: Year One movie review

Batman: Year One is a 2011 animated adaptation of the 1987 comic of the same name and is the 12th film in the DC Universe Animated Original Movies series. Year One is among my favorite Batman story lines, so I was interested to see what a movie based on it would be like, and thankfully I wasn't disappointed.
                                                       
Fans of the story line will be pleased to know that the content of the book has not been toned down for this adaptation. Put simply, this isn't a kids movie and it's all the better for it (even if it does still manage to get a 12 rating). The book wasn't that adult to begin with anyway, but all the grittiness and violence has remained intact on the journey from page to screen.

The film is based on a four issue story arc which chronicles the early days of Batman's career from his arrival back in Gotham after training around the world to him donning the Bat suit, terrorizing the underworld and becoming the stuff of legend to the citizens of Gotham.
The film also has a major focus on Lt. Gordon who has just moved to Gotham along with his pregnant wife, Barbara. His story arc focuses on him trying to stick to his morals when surrounded by the city's corrupt cops and his first experiences with the Batman.
Catwoman makes a few appearances and although her presence doesn't amount to much in the grand scheme of things, she is still a fun and interesting character.

Visually, the film is traditionally animated with a few computer generated effects (snow etc.) and looks great. The film does not utilize the book's unique art style but this choice is likely for the best as I can't imagine that particular style looking too good on the screen.

The comic is followed very closely meaning that there wont be any surprises for Year One veterans but the fantastic story line means that the film manages to remain engaging throughout. One downside of this fact is that being closely based on a four issue series will result in a short run time and Batman Year One clocks in at a minuscule 64 minutes. However, this fact didn't bother me and is a minor gripe considering how good the film is overall.

This was my first time watching one of the DC Universe Animated Original Movies and I was very impressed overall. I purchased this film as part of a DVD set (left) which also included four other animated Batman movies, so look out for my reviews of those films in the near future.

If you're a fan of Batman I would say don't pass up any opportunity to watch this film unless you've read Year One so many times that you're sick of it, but then again, I can't see why that would happen to anyone!

Rating: ****

Man of Steel Review

So while everyone and their dog has been giving conflicting opinions on the Superman re-boot, I have spent a while working on a review of the movie without actually knowing what to do with it. So since I had a lot to say after seeing the movie on it's UK opening weekend, I've decided to make this blog so I'll have a place for me to post this and other movie reviews so I can kind of just let it all out and hopefully entertain and inform some of you. Let us begin!

I’m a huge fan of DC comics and comic book movies in general and this was easily my most anticipated film of the year. But unfortunately, I was a little disappointed.
Like I said, I was really looking forward to this film, I was just hyped up that I was convinced that this was going to be easily one of the best films I had ever seen, so I think I had unreasonable expectations! The trailer made it look impossibly awesome, particularly the first full trailer that was released which hardly showed any action and featured a lot of fantastic looking drama scenes.

This brings me onto my first criticism. As far as these drama and exposition scenes go, what it shown in the trailers is almost all you get. This causes one of the film's main faults; a lack of character development.

Now, Henry Cavil makes a great Superman and Zod is an equally great villain, but the rest of the characters aren't particularly memorable. Take Lois Lane. Aside from the fact that she's a famous character and played by Amy Adams, she just isn't very interesting. I don't think I would have even remembered her name if she was another character!

My second point is how incoherently Superman’s origin is told. Remember how in Batman Begins, Bruce’s early life was told in flashbacks in the film’s first act? Well, here the same technique is applied, but it isn't nearly as effective as these flashbacks constantly switch between time periods, rather than being told in a chronological order like in Batman Begins. For example, the first of these scenes shows Superman as an adult, next he’s a child and then a teenager. These scenes are all well done, but they would have flowed much better if they were shown chronologically. Then we would have been able to better understand how Clark copes with his powers as he grows progressively older, making us more attached to the character and his arc.

I also felt that there was a bit too much action during the films finale. Don’t get me wrong, it’s spectacular stuff, but there’s so many action scenes close together that it makes it harder to appreciate these moments. For me, the best action scene was Superman’s final battle with General Zod which is amazing, but it comes right of the back of another long action scene and you’re barely allowed any time to catch your breath in between. Additionally, it goes on a little longer than I think was necessary.

After all this, you may think that I hate this movie, but I didn’t. I only sound so negative because my expectations were so high. Overall, I found it to be pretty enjoyable and I’m sure that most Superman fans should be happy with it so I’d say give it watch if you’re into comic book movies. 

Rating:  ***