Dan Duke

I finally got around to watching World War Z tonight, and I must say, that it was sadly as expected.

I read the book several years ago, and it was a fantastic piece, focussing on snippets of survival, politics, and social evolution. There was little gore, but it still did not pull its punches, pulling you into the world, and believing that this is how we would react in the various scenarios. It is the point around 'pulling punches' which is the crux of this film failing to be either a good adaptation, or a good zombie flick. I was hoping it would be more like 'World War Z: Gerrys story', and would be the story of one man trying to find patient zero, this could have been how the film would have succeeded.

It might at times seem like it achieves this, but it keeps tracking back to his family, taking away from the character we are supposed to be observing. Also, the family story is often weak, attempting to show peoples concern over the lack of resources due to over-crowding, before brushing it off without showing the emotional damage that would cause. This would have been an interesting story, just in a film of its own, showing a families survival on a military boat where they are not wanted, or needed, but have nowhere else to go.

So, back to Gerry, why does his story erk me so. Well, what was great about the book was how it showed the harsh reality, and how it causes people to evolve. In fact, this is how the best of the Zombie genre works, focussing on people and relationships as opposed to adrenaline and gore. His story was often just jumping from one action scene to another, with just a little dialogue, and even fewer emotional repercussions for his actions. For example, he doesn't put his phone on silent (he is supposed to be experienced in the field, but let's gloss over that one), and this phone going off causes his whole team (bar a co-pilot) to die. At no point does he seem distraught at this fact, or even consider how he should be grateful for surviving at their expense.

Finally, we have the closure. Why did we have to save the day, really? No one wanted that from this film, the glory in these films is often that it might not actually get resolved, we want the character to complete his mission of course (which wasn't to save the world, but get information), and more to hopefully evolve as an individual.

Overall though, whilst not a work of art, the film was watchable, and had some interesting elements to it (viral camouflage and bicycles), so I am glad I watched it. But if you have already enjoyed some good Zombie flicks, this may not be the film for you.

Finally got to go to the cinema recently to watch the new Mad Max film, and just got around to completing my review on it all. I honestly thought I wouldn't get to see it at the cinema as it didn't seem to be the sort of film I could drag my wife along to. But thanks to the wonder of the @wittertainment podcast, she was willing (if not eager) to see what all the fuss was about, especially as she had not seen any of the other Mad Max films before. I on the other hand remember them from my younger days, and recall the excitement and intrigue that came from this post-apocalyptic world. Granted, we had lost Mel, but I felt Tom Hardy was an excellent choice to fill the role.

What was this film about you may ask? Well, the world has been turned into a wasteland run by those that controlled the oil (and without all their faculties in place). Max has lead a heartbreaking past, and one that has left him in emotional turmoil that he may never fully recover from. The world is full of car gangs, insanity, aggression, and heroes of grey.

Upon sitting down to watch the film, I was ready to just forget all the woes and stresses of my current days, and just be washed over my the film. I must say, this was the perfect choice for such a requirement. The action scenes were close to non-stop, I recall a few quiet periods during the film, but these did not last for long. Now, it is hard to explain how this is a good thing, many times you may hear people go to films and whinge about weak dialogue, or lack of depth to a film, this is not something you hear people comment on with regards to this instalment in the Mad Max saga. I feel that the main reason for this lies with the strength and integrity of the actors and writers. Whilst dialogue was limited, emotion was portrayed in actions and facial emotions, giving another way to show how the world has moved on, and talking is no longer the requirement it is today.

Further to this, there are several points for discussion (and often arguments) afterwards such as portrayals of feminism and physical disability portrayed on film, especially in a film that feels superficially simplistic on the surface. They could easily have gone with various stereotypes of film, and sold to the same audience as all the other high-octane action films, but instead they carefully laced some strong thoughts into the story.

Overall, this was an excellent film, both fun to watch and exhilarating. Also, whilst the story and plot points are not complicated, there are some very interesting visuals and more subtle points to the story which are in some ways more interesting because they are pushed to the background (as though the fact that a character is female, or has a disability is inconsequential, and the story does not care). So long as you aren't of the faint hearted, I would certainly recommend this film though if you were considering it, just don't expect to relax at all.

This is the prequel to the despicable me films, and follows the trials of a group of minions as they are on the hunt for their 'big boss' (of evil). The focus is on 3 specific minions (and a teddy bear called Tim), as they hunt and (in an evil way) set out to save the day.

I went into this film ready for a nice relaxing bit of fun that I can just ride for the next 90 minutes. There was a little concern over how this would play out, but that was mainly because the last CG film I saw was 'home', which is absolutely awful. Luckily, I re-watched 'cloudy with a chance of meatballs' which helped me get over that.

Could this film stand up against the others in the series though? Especially as the minions don't speak a language as such, rather a cobbled together set of words from various places.

Ultimately, this film actually did work quite well, it was funny and the minions style of classic visual humour worked really well. The cinema-full of kids seemed to really enjoy it, as did I. That said, it wasn't as good as I had hoped. I went in expecting something a little cleverer, not too much, but just something subtle to add a little more than the classic slapstick, this was sadly not the case. This lack of confidence in the audience went right up to the last scene where it deemed it necessary to tie into the future films a little too much. I would have loved an open ending, a little more like the classic tv shows where at the end of each episode they walked into the distance, looking for their next big boss whilst Willie Nelsons 'On the road again' is playing in the background. But alas no.

I don't mean to over-criticise this film though, it was fun, and suitable for all, which is always a hard thing to do. Also, when you compare with the other big CG hit this year (Home), it was so much better and more enjoyable. The narrator alone (Geoffrey Rush) was an excellent choice, and I would have loved more of him going through the film.

On thing to take-away is the great choice in voice over case. There are many excellent actors/actresses in the list, but none that you feel are purely there for star power. They could easily have gone for a member of One Direction or something which would have certainly made the film feel too much like a PR piece marketing towards kids (that is not to say that I haven't been seeing minions in every shop window in town right now)

My wifes review:
Ba-na-nas!!!
(yes, I know this isn't really a review, but it was said with such glee, I would take it as a positive review)

Okay, for those that don't know, the DCAU (DC Animated Universe) is leading the way as far as superhero cartoons go. Marvel has the cinema, and had a few cartoon hits, but not so much in recent years. Whereas DCAU with Batman the animated series, justice league, young justice, and now the animated films, is top dog in my opinion.

After his grandfather is killed, Damian is taken to his father, Bruce Wayne to train and learn. This leads to the expected conflicts we often have with Batman, namely revenge versus the old no-killing rule.

My main concern with any Batman animated part is that Kevin Conroy was not doing the voice. For those that don't know, he was the voice throughout Batman the animated series, and through Justice League, and many other mediums afterwards. The story has to be good to not be constantly noticing the voice difference. Thankfully, whilst I was noticing that at the beginning, I did start to get used to Jason O'Mara, who did a very good job of it.

Damian though gives a new edge to the 'no-killing rule' storyline, as the idea of killing is not new to him (being from the league of assassins), and would not scar in the same way as it would many of our other heroes, so in a way we empathise with the restrictions on him, which is no small thing to manage to do.

Empathy aside, he is still quite annoying, granted he gets much less so throughout the film, and eventually becomes a character you could see appreciating. But the Damian/Batman scenes are frustrating most of the time. Although, if he hadn't been so annoying, the first Nightwing/Damian scene would have been nowhere near as enjoyable to see and listen to.

And there it is, one of my big pluses of the film, Nightwing. He is an excellent character, and brings a very interesting depth to the Batman story, being the first robin that is now grown up. The series (and fanbase) now accepts Dick Grayson as an adult, and not the early Nightwing either with the ponytail, but someone to be taken seriously as one of the top tier heroes (well nearly).

Overall, this was a good animated batman, and I hope that do the others in the modern batman and robin run that they did in the comics, which would include some interesting Grayson stories too.

Sidenote:
On a sidenote, whilst on animated films from comics, give the mignola films a chance such as the 2 hellboy films, and amazing screw-on head. Well worth the time.

Before we review a film like Jurassic World, we need to state one basic rule. We will try not to compare it too much to our memories of the original. Jurassic Park is one of my favourite childhood films, and thus is etched into my mind as a masterpiece that no other dino flick can reach, therefore any sequel would not be up to par. Also, it's worth noting that before going in, I had already seen/heard lots of thoughts and opinions (it's near impossible not to tbh when you have the current action hero Chris Pratt starring, and listen to the Nerdist podcasts).

So, let's get into this, I am not sure we need a synopsis for this film, so I will keep this brief. In the previous film(s) dinosaurs had been brought back from extinction, and they ate some people. In this film, corporate sponsors decided to try it all again, but people are bored of dinos now, so they create a new one. This leads towards, yup, dinosaurs eating people.

Do you need to have watched the previous film(s)? No, not really, although you should anyway. There are a few scenes where the characters don't explain where they are, but if you have seen the first film, you will know and recognise the vehicles/equipment, but if you don't know, nothing is really lost.

My main concerns going into this film though, were not about the plot or dinos, but around whether I would actually connect with any of the characters, the kids looked annoying, as did the Clare character, also, I didn't just want another Star Lord character from Pratt. That being my main concern, this was actually pushed back after the first quarter of the film, once some actual peril was inserted into the plot, Clare quickly opened up to be a proper character, and the kids were less screamy than I thought they were going to be (my scream limit was at the brink in the first film, I must say). As for Pratt, he brought some light humour, but not the loose cannon style we have seen before from him, he was knowledgeable and serious, with a light tongue-in-cheek style which worked nicely.

The other concern was from the trailers, in that Pratts character seemingly communicates with the raptors. Now we all saw Indy IV with Mutt speaking to his monkey army (sorry to all those that were trying to forget that nonsense), and I was really fearful this would again be the case. Well, set your minds at ease, it's portrayed in a much more realistic way, where he is merely slowing the raptors down and feeding them. This gives the illusion of control, which is a central point of the Jurassic films.

The last point, which you may have read a lot on is the marketing in-film with a lot of product placements. I will keep this brief, it is there, and there are parts of the plot which use this in a really nice way. I did not feel it over the top in a Waynes World style as others have implied, and am often suprised I don't see more of this on TV (especially as ad breaks are dying out)

So, with those pre-concerns out of the way, what did I think of the film? Well as a film, it was really good. We got the action and poor-judgements we expect in this sort of film. There is also some family turmoil (with the kids and their parents) which thankfully is not suddenly resolved because of this disaster (that would have close to ruined the film for me if they had).

Sadly there was one thing missing in my opinion, but if you think about it, it makes sense based on the plot points and story (bigger, scarier). There are no small dinos, even the petting dinos are baby ones of larger dinos. One of the few things I liked about JP2 was the small dinos which stalked and nibbled people to death, they were proper scary. This is maybe the point which carries my only real negative opinion of the film, there was no fear factor. The big dinos, whilst amazing to look at, and are dangerous, aren't scary enough. Yes they added some extra stealth features, but still, in JP1 we had the stealthy raptors, and in JP2 we had the micro-dinos. The third film did not have the dinos, but it was a different type of movie IMHO than the other films (note, I did enjoy JP3). But JP4, the closest I got to good scary dinos was from the birdcage, so wish those had stealthed a little more like in 'the birds'.

Finally, for better or for worse, the ending involves something that reminded me of some kind of dinobot teamup, I quickly got over that, but it was still there, and a little less realistic because of it.

Overall this was a really good/fun film, which I certainly enjoyed. That said, the fear factor (mini dinos/ flying dinos) really was the missing element for me. I don't want to be in a cinema of crying children, but having the silhouetted mini dinos in a long creeper scene would have been great.

It definitely deserves to sit in the Jurassic Park series though, and is probably a good 2nd in my list of JP films (although I do wonder what those that weren't born to JP1 in the cinema think of that ordering).

My wifes review
Me: Did you like the film?
Wife: yes, it was all raaaaargh and stuff

Finally got to go watch Marvels Avengers: Age of Ultron today, and I must say, I quite enjoyed myself. My hopes weren't too high though, whilst I have enjoyed all the Marvel films so far to varying degrees, I had concerns around certain aspects. Things such as the well known belief that too many heroes/bad-guys make for a bad movie (see batman forever for reference), this alongside how Wanda's potential role could have ended up very similar to Loki's (causing distrust within the group). I love superhero films, but I still wont enjoy the film if it is just the same as all the others.

So, what did we end up with (without spoiling it for you)? We had enough plot and dialogue to stop the film getting boring, the whedon humour, an awesome bad-guy voice, and as everyone was hoping, a hulk side-punch. What didn't we get? Well, tbh, the plot at times got dangerously close to the 'seen there' concern I had, but luckily reeled itself in fast when it did this (see the Wanda comment when you watch the film, and how things are different to Loki). Also, my main disappointment was more around how awesome Ultron could have been. Let me get this straight, he was really good, but I still wanted more. James Spader is an awesome actor, and his voice is the sort you would love to hear monologuing for a good few minutes, but at times, the crazyness gets a little too theatrical as opposed to a cold robot. If you don't know what I mean, watch the trailer again, listen to the oft-discussed pinocchio quote, creepy enough yet allowing a sense of fun.

For all those geeks, and also those that know the basic histories of some of the characters, there are a lot of nudges and winks to future stories. You don't need to know about them to enjoy the film tbh, but they certainly gave for excellent dialogue when talking to my wife afterwards. I think she was listening, but if not, I enjoyed talking about it anyway. If you want to read up before you go in, maybe read up on vision (his history is different in the film, but all the potential future stories are still possible), as he gives himself most for speculation. The other areas, I wont mention now for risk of spoiling.

There is one more thing you will want to know, in case you missed the news, Joss Whedon did say there was only 1 after credits scene. This is the case, so you don't need to stay around for a second, go enjoy the day, and talk about all the geeky teasers you may have seen.

My closing view: A great action film, with a fun story, a sense of risk and tragedy, and strong characters. Just be aware this is action/dialogue heavy, the plot is there, but not as intense as it could have been.

For those that have not yet been hit in the face with Deadpool in has graphic (novel) form, then here is the briefest of briefs on who he is. Deadpool (aka Wade Wilson) is a hero/villain out for revenge/fun in the most entertaining way possible. Think the Punisher crossed with a clown (maybe even the clown from Stephen Kings It).

As far as making a film about Deadpool goes, I walked in with very little confidence, but a bucket load of hope. The comics are fun, but the amount of convention breaking that happens, and the general tone of the pieces, should have made for a LOT of problems in capturing an audience, and trying to have some manner of plot. But what we got was a pleasant surprise. As expected fourth walls were broken (this appeared to be the marketing slogan at times for the film in interviews), f-bombs were dropped, and there was enough blood and splats to question whether the 15 rating in the UK should have been an 18. I think the only way it got the 18 was because the gore was so comically daft, that no-one could be truly grossed out by it. But then, if you look at the BBFC notes, it says "strong bloody violence, strong language, sex references". I think the word very is used extremely loosely here, also 'sex references' should probably just say drop the word 'references' altogether.

The way the film pans out as a piece is, at times, a little more generic than some Deadpool fans would have wanted (damsel in distress, bad-times-mutation, flashbacks), but it still did it's best at trying to break these conventions anyway. What with the bad-times-mutation being some rather nasty torture, or that the damsel-in-distress is pretty bad-ass themselves, I think we can forgive it's sins here. After all, without these conventions, we may have ended up with the sketch-show style I went in concerned about. Also, as many other reviews have noted, there were budgetary constrains on this film which threatened a family friendly rating. But these constraints aided in getting the sub 2-hour film we get, and some of the jokes are directed at this too, pulling no punches.

But as a review, the film was great fun to watch, and at less than 2 hours (which is always a blessing with an action-comedy), I would certainly recommend going to watch it to others, so long as all the notes I made above haven't put you off. The only downside left for me is that I now have to discuss this film with my mum tonight, with no idea how that will go, or what questions will be asked of me.

Now we just have to await the sequel, and so long as the budget isn't high, Reynolds is back, and we have a certain silver-haired cyborg from the future, I will be happy.

BBFC link: http://www.bbfc.co.uk/releases/deadpool-2016