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The Great Gatsby (2013)
The Great Gatsby (2013)
2013 | Drama, Romance
Completely unlikeable
I remember watching this at the cinema when it was first released and really hating, however I felt the same about Moulin Rouge on the first watch and ended up loving it, so after 7 years I've finally decided to give this another try.

Sadly on the second watch, I could barely find anything to like about this film at all. The soundtrack and how dashing Leonardo DiCaprio looks are probably the only saving graces. The plot isn't too bad, it's just poorly executed and doesn't make a massive sense because of the inconsistent and confused characters. All of the characters are completely unlikeable and Daisy especially, what is going on with her voice? And then there's Tobey Maguire's narration of meaningful writing, that is so deadpan that the words become totally meaningless.

I also don't like the look of this film. The vibrancy is pushed too far that it looks overly garish and the reliance on CGI is overwhelming. It seems that there's barely a scene that isn't CGI or green screened and it gives the film an overall cheap shoddy feel, as the CGI is ridiculously noticeable and over the top. Being this CGI heavy works for films like Alita, Avatar as they're futuristic or unrealistic storylines, but for something like Gatsby which is mainly a drama, it just doesn't work. And Baz Luhrmann seems to be throwing all of his tropes that worked so well in Moulin Rouge into this and they just don't fit at all.

I really wanted to like this but I just couldn't get past how shockingly dull and bad it is.
  
    OXENFREE

    OXENFREE

    Games

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    “Oxenfree takes the best parts of supernatural 1980's teenage horror films and combines it with...

    Oceanhorn ™

    Oceanhorn ™

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    SET SAIL AND EMBARK ON AN EPIC JOURNEY Grow from a boy to a legend. 5/5 - TouchArcade - "Must-have...

    Aralon: Sword and Shadow

    Aralon: Sword and Shadow

    Games and Entertainment

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    The sequel for Aralon arrives on December 3rd on iOS!!! That which is done cannot be undone, but...

The Umbrella Academy
The Umbrella Academy
2018 | Action, Fantasy
Deserving of the hype
I have to admit, I was pretty impressed with this show. It's not every day when you watch something that meets all of the hype surrounding it, and I was quite sceptical to begin with.

The show manages to brilliantly blend action, the supernatural and dark humour to form an intriguing and interesting adult plot, with just enough twists to keep you hooked without going too OTT (Lost style). It also has some brilliant fight scenes (with a decent amount of blood and gore) that are paired with a truly killer soundtrack. And it has fortunately gone down the adult route rather than making this suitable for kids like some of the Marvel type shows/films.

The characters too for the most part are witty, deep and well thought out, from the family members to the villains Hazel and Cha-Cha. My favourites are by far Five and Klaus. Robert Sheehan is a great actor, I've loved him since Misfits and he's really perfect for Klaus. And Aidan Gallagher is brilliant as the old man in a child's body Five, there's something very humorous seeing a thirteen year old outsmarting and killing people. He's a true delight whenever he's on screen. My only real issue with the characters is with Vanya. For me I found her very dull to begin with and I thought her entire storyline was a teeny bit predictable. She does pick up and get more interesting towards the end, it's just a shame she puts a downer on the earlier episodes. Luckily the rest of the show more than makes up for it.

I can't begin to say how devastated I was at the end of the final episode. I could've quite happily watched more, so I really hope they renew this for another season.
  
Captain Marvel (2019)
Captain Marvel (2019)
2019 | Action, Adventure
First female lead for Marvel (2 more)
Unexpected twists
Kept with MCU continuity
Kree make up lacked a little (2 more)
Good Marvel knowledge required to make full sense of movie
Possibly released too close to Endgame to get the recognition it deserves
Brie Larson rocks Captain Marvel with almost perfect performance
Brie Larson kicks butt in this action packed adventure that takes Carol Danvers on a trip down (a very long) memory lane.

The overall plot of the movie works brilliantly and does well to give fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe a glimpse of the raw power that Captain Marvel posseses. The story (with good reason obviously) focused a lot on Captain Marvels journey to learn who she is and where she comes from. In doing that however I feel like Marvel left us with little back story behind the Kree-Skrull war. This could be paid off in later films but I do feel as though this was the perfect opportunity.

The 90's feel was executed to perfection, from the costumes to the sets, the soundtrack to the technology, there was a perfect amount of nostalgia without it getting close to cheesy. This allowed the film to focus on it's 'Top Gun' style and makes it stand out and stand strong amongst any other Marvel film to date.

Whilst I feel there was a small amount of detail missing, overall I thought the film was an action packed rollercoaster of fun which made great use of the opportunity to set up everything that was to come in the MCU timeline.

Brie Larson and Samuel L Jackson were terrific and I hope they can collaborate further in any planned sequel.

On a final note, now that Captain Marvel is out there for the world to see, bring on Avengers: Endgame!

Higher Futher Faster.
  
Captain Marvel (2019)
Captain Marvel (2019)
2019 | Action, Adventure
I had to explain the notion of video rental to my kids (0 more)
Great, exciting fun and so much more than an origin film
I think Marvel have finally nailed an origin story. Lord knows they've had plenty of shots at it, but have finally delivered one that also works as a film in its own right.
We join Vers as she travels with her Kree companions doing their bit against the evil Skrull forces. She doesn't seem to know much of her own past and over the two hours she gradually pieces things together. We are treated to hints and teasers and but by bit they are all tied together to tell a twisting and turning tale of war, good vs evil, propaganda, power and self belief, all wrapped up with some science-y stuff.
I wouldn't say the plot is perfect but made a good attempt at it and it all hangs together. We are even treated to an old school Mar-vell character (albeit as a female rather than the cringey 60s negative zone-dweller).
There is humour galore and Sam Jackson gets the majority of the laughs, mainly through his interaction with Goose the cat (CHEWIE DAMMIT!). Brie Larson is somewhat po-faced and serious throughout but still a believable superhero (and if she is set to replace Captain America as head of the Avengers it makes sense if she isn't all that entertaining in her own right!).
There is a good, female-dominated soundtrack for the majority of the film (Garbage, Sheryl Crow, TLC, Hole etc).
A fun film and a good backstory for someone set to be a big deal in the next MCU release.
  
Show all 6 comments.
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Ross (3284 KP) Mar 12, 2019

Given how long it takes my kids to pick a film on Netflix, I think we'd have to pay rent to Blockbusters for the amount of time we'd be there!
It was easy in my day - we had to go to the small dusty beta-max section because my Dad made bad tech choices, so there wasn't a great deal of choice.

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John Martens (1 KP) Apr 27, 2020

John