Monthly Archives: April 2018

TV Review – Westworld: Reunion

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TL;DR – This first episode is like watching an oncoming storm approach. It is beautiful but also full of trepidation as it unleashes its torrent.

Score – 4.5 out of 5 stars

 

Reunion

 

Review –

What is life? It is a question as old as time itself. Were we created? Did we evolve? A little of both? Well in this week’s episode we take a look at some of those questions when the created become the creators and the created fight back. While Journey into Night (see review) had to do a lot of setting up to get the season started again, Reunion doesn’t have that baggage and as such it barrels full steam ahead into the season.

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Movie Review – Avengers: Infinity War

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TL;DR – Infinity War brings everyone together and then tares them apart leaving you with a foreboding as to what will happen next, but also an excitement as they try to work it all out.

Score – 4 out of 5 stars (this is a tentative score, it might change after Part 2)

Post-Credit Scene – There is an end credit scene

Avengers Infinity War Banner

Review –

It should be no surprise that I have been eagerly awaiting the new Avengers film. In preparation not only did I map out the Marvel Cinematic Universe (see here) but I also ranked every film released in the build-up (see here). However, if I am to be perfectly honest, part of this stemmed from a nervousness, could they stick the landing, could they create a story that would give justice to all the desperate characters they were involved, could they actually bring on Thanos? Well as you can probably tell I have seen the film now, so I can now answer those questions … sort of. Now a quick note today, there will be [SPOILERS] for several of the recently released Marvel films including Thor: Ragnarok (see review) and Black Panther (see review). As well as this, I will try to avoid most of the major spoilers until a paragraph at the end when we discuss the ending, but because of how quick the film moves this is just a general [SPOILER] warning if you have not seen the film yet.

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The Marvel Cinematic Universe Movies Ranked from Best to Last

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When I was putting together my map of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (see here) as a way of ignoring the fact that Infinity War is coming this week and I’m not ready, I knew that at some point that I would have had to look at the MCU as a whole. There is always trepidation when looking at lists like this because first how do you actually nail down your top five and then not want to change it moments later. As well as this, these are deeply personal films for people and my list is not going to look anything like your list, maybe, maybe not.

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TV Review – Westworld: Journey into Night

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TL;DR – This first episode is like watching an oncoming storm approach. It is beautiful but also full of trepidation as it unleashes its torrent.

Score – 4.5 out of 5 stars

Journey into Night

Review –

I didn’t get the chance to see Westworld Season One when it first aired because it was locked away on the only cable provider here in Australia and I just simply couldn’t afford to access it. So for me, it was just this show that was rumbling across the internet each week. Well a year later, and that same provider finally had to compete with something and they put out a half-ass streaming service for Game of Thrones (see review) and one of the bonuses was Westworld was watchable for the first time. So I sat down to see what it was all about and I was entranced. There were these fascinating stories that encapsulated you and that is before you realise that we are dealing with different timelines. There is the look at what makes something alive and how far you will go to make something sentient. There was a hunt for a child that you can’t remember, the greed of corporations, nudity that is first used for titillation but then used to make you deeply uncomfortable with the whole scenario. Now all of this was captivating but then that episode happened and everything changes, and at that point, I knew I was hooked. Well, today Season Two starts and I happy I get to see them live with everyone else, so let’s go back to the universe of Westworld and deal with the fall out of The Bicameral Mind.

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Movie Review – Super Troopers 2

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TL;DR – Canadian jokes, American Jokes, and an absurd set up that somehow still works by letting all the characters shine in the absurdness of it all, oh my.

Score – 3.5 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid and end credit scene

Super Troopers 2

Review –
When a cult classic has a sequel, especially a sequel after a long time, there are the usual questions as to can it strike lightning again? Now, this is always an unfair question because if they just do the same thing as before you get hit for not innovating, and if you change it up you get hit for not respecting the original. So how do you approach a sequel with this minefield ahead of you, well the first thing is you engage with the fans from the start, which a well-crafted Indiegogo campaign clearly did, but also it is to know your strengths and play with them and Super Troopers 2 is a great example of this. Also releasing on the 4th of April, I see what you did there Super Troopers.

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Exploring the Past – Super Troopers (2001)

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TL;DR – A combination of off-brand Afghani animation, smugglers on the border, and all the shenanigans.

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid and end credit scene

Super Troopers banner

Review –
Super Troopers is one of those little films that could. Fighting hard to get it financed and being turned down at every point and then finally getting it greenlit but you only have $1.2 million to put your passion project together. Well after many years a sequel is about to be released so I thought it would be good prep to take a look down memory lane at a world full of shenanigans, so, many, shenanigans.

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Map-It – Mapping Infinity: The Cartography of the MCU

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TL;DR – Today with the next Avengers release imminent we take a look at where on Earth we have visited during Phase One, Phase Two, and Phase Three

Avengers 1Article –

I like I think a lot of people have been sitting around with nervous excitement/suspense for Infinity War that drops next week at the time of writing and I thought it best to funnel that nervous energy into something productive. So since I like maps and I like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I thought it would be interesting to map out where the MCU has visited during its three phases up to this point.

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Map-It – Rampage

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TL;DR – Today I take a look at the world of Rampage and all the rampage they did in Rampage

Rampage

Article –

Now in my review of Rampage (see review) I mentioned that I really liked the film, and that it might be the best direct adaption of a video game that we have gotten so far. But one aspect of the film that I liked that didn’t mention in my review is how much of America we jump through before we hit Chicago.

While I was quick to write everything down I did miss where in Colorado the Private Military Base was so I had to estimate that. As well as this, there are some locations which are vaguely mentioned like the East Coast of the Gulf of Mexico, and others you just had to guess like the plane crash site.

However, in the end, we get a film that actually charts across most of the United States of America and also shows that Lizzie sure can swim fast.

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Movie Review – Rampage

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TL;DR – Rampage knows what it is and leans into it hard, with giant monsters crashing into buildings and Dwayne Johnson being his charismatic best

Score – 3.5 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Rampage

Review –

Now, this is the point at the start of the review where I talk about how there has never been a great movie adaption of a video game so far, and I talk about the problems about adapting and trot out examples like Assassin’s Creed (see review) and Tomb Raider (see review). However, this time around I don’t think I have to do that because while this is by no means a masterpiece I think it is the first film to really crack that adaption puzzle or at least the one who has got the closest to it. With that in mind, today we are going to enter the realm of giant monsters crashing into buildings, and who doesn’t love a giant monsters crashing into buildings.

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Movie Review – Blockers

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TL;DR – Despite the fact that none of this should work, it is surprisingly touching and quite funny

Score – 3 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There is a Mid-Credit scene

Blockers

Review –
This is a film that shouldn’t really work at all. It is smashing storylines of what feels like two completely different films from different genres together and it should be an unmitigated mess, yet somehow it all kind of works. So today we will take a look at what makes Blockers work when it really shouldn’t.

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