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ShaunAlanAnderson
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Reviews
Game of Thrones: The Red Woman (2016)
Not the strongest of season openers
*Spoilers*
To be honest, in terms of story development the season 6 opener didn't give us much to go on.
I mean, Jon Snow is still dead, but it's hinted throughout the Castle Black scenes there may still be some sort of chance, so we're still at square one in that regard. I hope the storyline gets resolved soon whether he is resurrected or not because it's gonna overshadow the whole series and frankly if he is dead, just leave it there. They also teased Ser Davos taking on the Night's Watch with Snow's companions, which is probably why this was the most interesting part of the episode.
Theon and Sansa seemed to have sustained no injuries at all from jumping off the top of a castle but whatever right? Anyway they run into Brienne and Podrick after they come to their rescue and looks like they'll be sticking with each other for a bit which is cool but it was the only part of them we saw in the episode.
Tyrion and Varys still can't make me care about Meereen to be honest. There's this new enigma of someone who burned down all the boats which could be kind of interesting but for now it's just not swaying me.
Ser Jorah and Daario - I'm telling you the only reason they featured on this episode was to remind viewers that Jorah had greyscale, that's it. They reminded you in the 'previously' part of the show but they reminded us again and gave us nothing else of their characters.
Ellaria and the sand snakes taking control of Dorne looks interesting, well the Dorne scenes in this episode were more enthralling than any in season 5.
With Dany, it's still unclear whether she's really a prisoner or not because Khal Jhaqo promised he would not harm her but referenced a temple where widows of Khal's are made to go to mourn their husbands, so again with Jon Snow, kind of felt like square one.
Arya's story is her on the streets, still blind and now begging. Waif comes over and fights her and says "See you tomorrow." Maybe the most interesting line of the episode, I mean Arya is bound to end up back in the House of Black and White but it'll be interesting to see what her character has to overcome to get there.
Then to close the show (this episode seemed really short by the way), Melissandre while looking into a reflection takes off her robe and necklace to reveal a very aged, old and wrinkly woman. People think the necklace is preserving her age but there was a scene in a previous season where she's in the bathtub, not wearing it so if they go with that, nice plot hole we got there. But people, including me are still interested by the ending of her showing her true self, maybe it's one step to resurrecting Jon Snow, who knows?
Overall, I think a good amount of characters were introduced this episode to continue a storyline but it didn't really give us much in terms of story progression, like it doesn't progress much from the trailer, so hopefully it picks up soon.
Chronicle (2012)
A Fantastic Handy-cam Film With A Superhero Edge!
We haven't had much glory with found footage films recently. The Blair Witch Project was just awful, and there were mixed opinions on others like Cloverfield and Paranormal Activity. With a superhero like film, "Chronicle" coming out, I didn't know why it needed to be a found footage film. Until I saw the film of course.
Now as always in found footage films, there are always small time actors. I thought the majority of the actors done a pretty good job, especially Dane DeHaan (Andrew) who played the character of a socially abused teen with low self esteem and low confidence. The only people that didn't sell it the best was Michael Kelly (Alex's Father) who didn't look like an alcoholic father, and didn't really execute the abusive edge. Another was Alex Russell (Matt) who I think didn't really shine until the end. At the Beginning and mid-way through the film he would just look stoned and not be bothered about the events that happened, like he basically came to terms with it just after the incident. At the end of the film however, he really did come out of his shell and showed his emotional side.
I was greatly entertained with the flying sequences, with it being a slightly low budget film, you didn't expect something as breathlessly amazing as that.
Overall, the only down side to this film is the excuses they made for it to be a 'handycam' film. There was Andrew who said he wanted to film everything from now on and there was Ashley Hinshaw (Casey) who was filming for her blog. If you had to make all these excuses, then what's the point in making it a found footage film? Nevertheless, the film is truly an experience, with it being a superhero film with a twist! I seriously recommend checking out this film, if you're a big superhero fan like me, this will surely be a fan favourite.
- Anderson
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)
The Best Film Adapted From a Book
9 out of 10 is a number I don't use too much, but the way this film ended out to be was just phenomenal.
The majority of you will probably know the synopsis of the film as you're on this website of course, but to break it down quickly, a jobless Scott Pilgrim in a small garage band falls for bad girl Ramona Flowers, who says they can be together as long as he defeats her seven evil ex's. One by one Scott tries to take down the evil ex's with comic book like special effects (obviously with it coming from a comic book).
Now, what I love about this film is that the plot to the film is so simple yet so witty and how Edgar Wright is able to create a both hilarious and beautiful film. It's like nothing you've ever seen before as Wright has created a new style of cinema.
The only sort of downside is Michael Cera who portrays the title role. He plays the role very well but with the films and shows he has been in like Superbad, Juno and Areested Development, he plays the same geeky and timid character in all of these and Scott Pilgrim, but it's because of this that makes Cera the perfect choice to play the lead role, which in a way isn't a down side
Although it was not commercially a success, I would definitely get your hands on a copy of this just to be visually entertained by the way it has almost revolutionised the wonderful world of cinema.
- Anderson
Tekken (2010)
Just Don't Bother
As a huge fan of the Tekken series, upon finding out about the game being adapted into a film, I honestly never had high hopes in the first place.
Normally, video games that are made into a film are normally horrendous (with the exception of Resident Evil) and on seeing the trailer, I knew this would be no exception.
First of all, there are a lot of inaccuracies in the film. First of all, Jin (the main character) wasn't introduced until the third Tekken game but it is understandable to have him in the movie as the majority of the games are centred around him. However, Jin was only 15 when his mother died but in the film he was an adult. Speaking of his mother, Jin, in the video game she was murdered by the character Ogre which is the reason why Jin began to fight and enter the King of the Iron Fist tournament, but in the film she is not killed by Ogre but by a bazooka? and Jin goes to the Iron Fist to kill Heihachi, who in the video game was Jin's mentor!
I could ramble on more about the inaccuracies like Steve Fox being Jin's mentor, or Paul Phoenix not being involved in the film even though he is in all the games, but there are other criticisms at hand.
The acting - TERRIBLE! It was like everyone done a half-hearted performance, not bothered about what events occurred. It was like they were just waiting for filming to end.
Characters - Now I know that they can't include every character in Tekken, but they probably had the worst selection ever! They had Christie to play the female lead which makes no sense. They had Sergey, Raven, and others who weren't introduced until Tekken 5 or 6. And Foo, who played Kazama didn't even look like Jin! He wasn't broad enough and they pathetically modified his hair to make it look like Jin only to have it look like an ice-cream cone.
And where was Hwoarang in this? Everyone loved a bit of Hwoargie in the games!
So overall, I give it a 3/10. The visual effects, the fight sequences and Yoshimitsu's outfit are the only positives about the film. You can tell that they put a lot of work into locations and such with their rather large budget. However, if you're a die hard Tekken fan like me, don't watch it, you will be frustrated. This goes on the list of bad video game to movie adaptations along with Street Fighter, House of the Dead and more. So don't waste 90 minutes of your life watching this frustrating film. Just play the game.
- Anderson