REVIEW: In The Heart of the Sea (3D version) (12A)

In the Heart of the Sea is a biographical movie based on the sinking of the Essex, an American Whaling ship from the 1820's. Set in "present day" 1890's-odd, writer Herman Melville (Ben Whishaw) visits one of the survivors of the Essex. This leads to a flash back story about the whaling industry of 1820's America and of a gigantic whale that caused the sinking of the Essex.

Initially wanting to keep the story to himself, a now old and sad Tom (Brendan Gleeson), eventually relents to the personable Herman Melville and tells his story in great detail of the brave first mate, Owen Chase (Chris Hemsworth) and the fresh new captain under his first command, Captain Pollard (Benjamin Walker). the boy Tom (Tom Holland) is on the boat with these two commanders and sees the events through the eyes of a teenage boy and how dangerous and exciting whaling can be. Once the story concludes, a whistful Herman Melville says he has enough material for a story, but says he won't put everything in it. And, if legend is to be believed, that very story was the inspiration for American literary classic, Moby Dick.

Firstly, this movie was watched in 3D and I was really impressed with the 3D effects in this movie both in "present day" and in the flashbacks. The special effects are fantastic - especially with the see creatures and the boats. Ron Howard directs this, and the camera angles and swishes really have you feeling right in on the action. There is a right amount of suspense and desperation and the film really grinds home the difficult job whaling was back then.

Hemsworth's character is brash but noble and is clearly the hero of the piece. Previously, we spoke about Hemsworth in Black Hat which I found a bit lacking and I thought it was a bit of a miscast. However, he does well in this movie and plays a strong hero type - something his physique and booming voice are capable of doing.  At loggerheads with him is the Captain, who comes across as more of a hindrance than a bad guy - promoted only by nepotism and allowing him to skip rank over the more experienced Chase.

Overall the movie is a good one, with plenty of action and interesting sequences. I can imagine this is the sort of movie that excels in 3D rather than 2D and the soundtrack suits the action it accompanies.

If you fancy something a little different and fancy a time travel back to the 1820's - you won't do bad with this. it's quite good. In The Heart of The Sea is out on Boxing Day, 26th December, 2015.

POPSCORE: 7/10 

What am I talking about? In the Heart of the Sea film

Where can I find out more? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Heart_of_the_Sea_(film)

If you like this try: Jaws, The Perfect Storm, Titanic, Castaway

Anything else?

Chris Hemsworth (who plays Thor in the Marvel universe) stars in this movie alongside Tom Holland (who is due to play a teenage Spiderman in the new Marvel universe, Captain America movie in 2016!)
This is also based on a book called In The Heart Of The Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick.

REVIEW: The Martian (12A)

THE MARTIAN is Matt Damon’s latest blockbuster directed, no less, by the legend that is Ridley Scott. Not to be confused with yesteryear classic My Favourite Martian or a male friend named Martin, The Martian is a disaster movie with a difference. One part Castaway and two parts Gravity, The Martian tells the story of a squad of astronauts who when encountering difficulties in a manned mission to Mars, evacuate to return to Earth. As evacuation procedures are put into place, Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is left for dead when he is hit by some debris of part of their equipment. Reluctantly abandoning the search for him to save the rest, Commander Lewis (the luscious Jessica Chastain) sends the crew home to safety.

Not long after Watney awakens to find out that he is still alive and alone on the planet and it will be four long years before help arrives. If he wants to survive he will need to “science the shit” out of Mars and solve each problem as it arises and does so in an almost MacGyver like fashion.

The Martian is such a well made film with emotion, great humour and arresting visuals. As the ensemble cast – themselves of stellar pedigree – assemble on Earth to try and save him, Watney alone is played brilliantly by Matt Damon. He has only his charm and the bleak red desertlike landscape to play with and coupled with an ongoing disgruntlement for Cmdr Lewis’s penchant for disco, the solo sections of him on Mars are as amusing as they are brilliant. The cast on Earth rearing up to save them include  Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sebastian Stan, Jessica Chastain, Jeff Daniels and Sean Bean. I was expecting Sean Bean to die, but luckily he stays within an office environment so in this movie he stays very much alive, much to my happiness. The Earth sequences are a great contrast to the barrenness of mars.

The Martian has a cool disco soundtrack which strangely goes with the story and the quest for one man to survive takes this idea to the limit. Coupled with awesome cinematography and top actors this film is a must see. It’s on for a while but it is great and deserves all the credit it gets.

POPSCORE: 9.5/10 

What am I talking about? The Martian film

Where can I find out more? http://www.foxmovies.com/movies/the-martian

If you like this try: Gravity, Interstellar (especially since Damon features in that), Guardians of the Galaxy, Castaway, Apollo 13

Anything else?

This film is based on the book The Martian by Andy Weir - something I think I would quite like to read!

REVIEW: Mad Max: Fury Road (15)

George Miller, the septuagenarian director, returns with his latest Mad Max movie - Mad Max: Fury Road. No Mel Gibson here, but replaced by the ladies favourite, Tom Hardy. Also featuring a few other well known names including South Africa’s finest, Charlize Theron, Mad Max takes it forward for the next generation.

Using a dazzling array of amazing stunts (here’s to the old school) and minimal computer aided special effects, Mad Max features a dystopian world where everything seems to be miles away, and the people are all a bit strange.

The world in which they live is one I would never like to live in, but it draws you in with its dystopian vibe and barren landscape. Tom Hardy grunts his way through the movie, and for all that he plays the titular character, the main character, it could be argued, that Furiosa (Theron) is the main hero(ine?).

The bad guys are suitably clownish and crazy with a side order of sinister and evil. The movie is pretty much a road trip from one place to another – then they turn around and come back again. Although light on story, the movie is a dazzling array of stunts and explosions and there is an awesome guitarist with flames coming out of his guitar which pretty much plays for the entire movie as the soundtrack.

The cars (sorry, I think I would be better placed saying vehicles) are characters unto themselves and are often garishly made. Imagine The Fast and the Furious cars with horns and pipes and spikes and a jaded paint job and you wouldn’t be too far from this movie.

The movie is really quite good and I enjoyed it even though it was light on story and heavy on action. But, when a movie is this gripping, you can forgive such fallacies.

There are a couple of points about the movie I want to raise though – this includes the fact that Mad Max doesn’t really feature in this movie as much as he should have, and there was not a lot of dialogue or work for Hardy to do – apart from being tied up and being grumpy. Nicholas Holt’s character Nux, was suitable crazy and helped keep up the frenetic tempo we would expect the film to be. He also gets the best line: “Oh what a day, what a lovely day!”  Theron does a good turn as the heroine taking the slave girls away from the antagonist, and trying to save them. She is suitably kick ass and is a strong independent woman.

The movie overall is a good one, and there is talk of a few sequels too – hopefully Max will be featured more in it, but if not, maybe there’s more scope for a Mad Maxine or something. Who knows?

Mad Max: Fury Road is available on DVD, Blu Ray and download/streaming now.

POPSCORE: 8/10 

What am I talking about? Mad Max: Fury Road

Where can I find out more? http://www.madmaxmovie.com/

If you like this try: The original Mad Max movies, Fast And the Furious (if you like the road trip/car racing part), The Book of Eli, I Am Legend (both of these if you like the apocalyptic loner thing)

BYTE: Decisive December

I'm Paul ... and this is Paul & The Popcorn...

Welcome to a Decisive December, and, what's more - CHRISTMAS! The time for goodwill to all men - and of course children, women and animals - Christmas - however you perceive it, is the time to love each other, share that family time and generally try to make the world a better place. In January, the landscape changes to the new year and that is when we can start new, better habits and look forward to the year head, while simultaneously looking back over the journey we have come.

BUT! 2015 is not over by a long shot, even though, on the 9th December 2015 we still have a good three weeks or so of the month left. Lots of announcements for next year but the biggest thing this month is STAR WARS!

The hotly anticipated film number 7 of the unbelievably popular franchise is stirring emotions and the hype machine is in more overdrive than the Death Star crossed with a Borg cube! There's plenty of conspiracy theories, fan pics and suggestions and even curious things from the cast themselves but there's a few things we can be sure of - the original cast (where possible) is in it, and there is officially no Jar Jar Binks. I've got tickets for the iMax version in 3D - so I'll drop a review off as soon as I see it. Or near as!

Let's get to the computers - Star Wars has infiltrated this medium too with Star Wars: Battlefront - haven't played it yet but it looks great and has some great visuals. Looking like perfect match between FPS and our beloved Star Wars, it takes some of the iconic backdrops and allows you to take part in numerous battles the galaxy over. Is it any good? If you've played it - let me know in the comments.

The Steam Autumn sale has just recently finished and the new one, the awesomeness that is the Steam Winter Sale is (allegedly) kicking off on 22nd December. Save your money as there will be bargains aplenty.

If you are interested in Steam games but want to expand your horizons from just the triple A rated blockbusters and have a peek at other offerings - including indie developers, you could do no worse than checking out a SteamCrate. It says that each game is worth at least £3 and you get 10 random games each month - which could be anything from the latest releases to goodness-knows-what. I have subscribed to this and I'm going to do a review soon - so keep an eye out for it to see if it is worth it or not. They give you a 10% discount if you subscribe to their mailing list too, so it's worth doing that if you want to take advantage.

Looking at the latest stuff as well:

>   Xbox Live:  Games with Gold this month includes:

XBOX ONE gives you:

The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing

Knight Squad

Thief

XBOX 360 gifts to you:

Castlestorm

Sacred 3

All the Xbox games have limited availability and are yours to keep once you have purchased them. However, some are only available at the beginning of the month, some at the end and some longer than that. Generally though, there are some games for the first two weeks and then a different set two weeks after, so you need to move quickly.

>  PSN: PS Plus this month is as follows:

PS4 has:

King's Quest: Chapter 1: A Knight To Remember*

Gauntlet: Slayer Edition

PS3 gets:

SSX

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon

Vita receives:

Freedom Wars

Rocket Birds: Hardboiled Chicken

Of course usual rules apply in that if you stop your subscription those games'll stop workin'. I know this to be true because it has happened to me.

* King's Quest is a five part game - I'm expecting you will have to pay for Chapters 2-5 - season pass is listed currently as £23.99.

Origin has another game on the house and it's Jade Empire: Special Edition - this was an awesome game in it's time so get it now before it's gone forever. As always you need to have an Origin account to get this - but it's really worth the time to get this game as it's fab. If you like Knights of the Old Republic and the more recent Old Republic MMORPG you'll love this.

As always we have Loot Crate and Nerd Block unboxings to look forward to...

...AND Marvel Collector Corps in December which, I'm told, is Guardians Of the Galaxy!

It's time to go now but - have a brilliant Christmas and a fabulous new year and I'll see you soon.

Keep being awesome!

Until next time

Paul

UPDATE: 14th November 2015

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Hey everyone, just giving you an update on some things that have been happening around and about. I've just signed up to link my blog to Bloglovin (above) so if you are interested in when I update the blog and want to keep up to date on other blogs, feel free to click above so it can keep you in the loop and informed.

Secondly, Microsoft have released an update to the Xbox One which finally includes backwards compatibility. This is blooming awesome as it's something I personally feel very strongly about. I think having such a rich, diverse back catalogue as this should be available to play on the next generation - and I'm impressed that Microsoft have found a way to do this. Admittedly there are only about 100 games supported (most on XBL) but it's a start and more will be added. Speaking of XBL - don't forget to get the second set of free games if you are an XBL subscriber after 16th - if you haven't got the first set be quick - you need to get them now.

Star Wars fever is hotting up and in the cinema, 17th December to be precise! With the final trailer being dropped, the release of Star Wars: Battlefront and more merch available this Christmas than Scrooge has savings, this is guaranteed to be one of the biggest blockbusters in recent memory. It still could be rubbish, but somehow (at least I hope) that will be very unlikely, especially since it features the original cast.  Who is Kylo Ren? And what the heck is he doing with that sword? It all starts in a few days more than a month. Yes, that soon!

Mockingjay Part 2 comes out this week with the final part of Katniss Everdeen's trials and is still the YA dystopian franchise to beat. With the Scorch Trials (film two of The Maze Runner) merely luke-warm, how sparkling will the conclusion be to the much loved trilogy of books? Hot on it's heels will be the third Divergent movie - Allegiant in March '16, though it also may be split into two parts. Personally I hate this trend but, if they must they must I guess. I wonder if they made a quadrilogy would they stretch the movies to five?

Finally I would just like to take a moment to show respect to France and to those in Paris after last nights atrocities. My thoughts are with them and the whole world stands with you.

Be strong as the world unites.

Paul


 

REVIEW: The Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse (15)

For those of you that know me, I have a few film rules - any movie that is two words long starting with "The" as the first word and any movies that have a sentence for a title immediately start my alarm bells ringing on the quality of the forthcoming movie. other things that worry me is sequels with the same characters but different casts playing them or a production company I've never heard of. Luckily, the "directed by M. Night Shayamalan" proviso has been removed as you may have seen an earlier post on this blog. In it, I actually thought his last movie, The Visit, wasn't that bad.

So already the film has warning bells ringing as it's practically a sentence for a title. But, unlike She's Having a Baby or The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill And Came Down A Mountain (or whatever it was called) the title of the movie sounds actually quite fun. And you know what? The film was fun too.

The film is all about three teenage lads who are all scouts. Ridiculed for still being in the scouts at nearly college age, the trio try to fit in. However when Augie is to be promoted to getting his Condor badge (whatever that is in Scout talk!), the three go camping to celebrate and to be awarded his badge from the rather strange Scout Leader Rodgers (David Koechner) - a man who has all the hallmarks of Ranger Smith from Yogi Bear and a penchant for Dolly Parton. The three lads - Ben, Carter and Augie are basically stereotypical teenagers - think the Goonies without Data. Ben is more of a leader type, wanting the girl and torn between the difficult friendships between the other two. Carter is just a typical teenager desperate to throw away his childhood, and see as much boobies and sex as possible. And Augie, the one who's desperately holding onto the Scouts and his childhood and is the geeky one, and the one who is cramping Carter's style. Along for the ride when things get a bit difficult is Denise, a kick ass blonde lady who works in a strip club called *ahem* Lawrence of Alabia. Her vocation it turns out, as she cocks a shotgun, is that she is a cocktail waitress and not a stripper.

Still there is plenty of body parts and gore and blood in this crazy tale of a town ridden with infected zombies. The start of the movie locks you in for what's in store as a stoner janitor enters a laboratory and accidently reanimates a dead person by falling onto some equipment and starts a zombie infestation. When the town is over run with zombies, its up to the three Scouts to use their uncanny scouting skills to help them save the town.

The violence is bloody and stupid at the same time and the movie itself is like a mish mash of others I'd seen before. If you stuck Shaun of the Dead in a blender with say, the Goonies, Ghostbusters and World War Z and siphoned it through a sieve, you would probably be metaphorically doing something as stupid as this film. It's nowhere near as good as those films mentioned just now but it is a different take on the zombie movie. It's fun, it's stupid and it passes the time. There are some generally laugh out loud bits - like zombie cats and some interesting uses of music in the movie - especially to Britney and Dolly, but it was never going to be a blockbuster. There are some silly moments too - all I'm saying is the trampoline scene - and this pretty much rounds off the whole movie.

Overall it was a fair attempt at the zombie genre - and an enjoyable watch. One for the lads or for some light hearted buffoonery. There's plenty more movies that are way better - but it's just good enough to spend some time with. Check it out and let me know what you think.

The Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse is out now at all good cinemas.

POPSCORE: 6.5/10

What am I talking about? The Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse

Where can I find out more? http://scoutsandzombiemovie.com
If you liked this try: The Goonies, World War Z, Shaun of the Dead, This Is The End

REVIEW: SPECTRE (12A)

It's been nearly 10 years that we have seen Mr Daniel Craig slip into the white tuxedo of cool and brining back the next iteration of Bond to a contemporary audience. In Casino Royale nearly 10 years ago in 2006, Daniel Craig was rough, gritty and a man's man. The women loved him for his ... well probably for the blue Speedo's which he managed to rock very well apparently. Seriously though, in a world getting sick of the camp and the pie in the sky gadgets, it brought James Bond to the modern times. Die Another Day was so out there it practically signalled the end of Bond altogether and the ageing Pierce Brosnan (who had held the franchise quite well up unitl then) was becoming a parody of himself.

Craig, in my eyes at the time, wasn't a suitable James Bond. However, after seeing his performance in Casino Royale my mind was changed. I ate my hat, swallowed my words, what ever you want to say. This version of James Bond was realistic, gritty, painful and witty and had the charisma of his previous incarnations but has a silent deadliness in his dealings with others. When, at the beginning of Casino Royale, he is asked about his first kill his quarry responds with, "the second one is much..." and off goes the gun and Bond replies coolly, "yes, considerably."

...that was one of my favourite lines of the first movie, and he does have some cool retorts, especially in the torture scene of Casino Royale. Quantum of Solace followed which took place straight after this movie and felt like the extended, straight to DVD sequel movie that was more of an extension to Casino Royale rather than a movie itself. Still it wasn't bad, but it didn't drop much hope for the one after that. But things did change.

Skyfall pretty much decimated the box office and, to me, it only felt like five minutes ago that that movie was at the cinema and Adele's track, Skyfall, was doing the rounds and doing it's own record breaking as it was. Skyfall was a conscious move by the makers to bring Bond back to what we know and there were a lot of changes made to set up Spectre, Daniel Craig's fourth outing as our favourite spy.

Spectre then, is probably the Bond movie that is starting to get back to the Bond that our parents grew up with. Still maintaining the Bond we know from the Craig era and using ideas from the others, this is both a moving forward movie with the story but also an homage to the old ones. Some parts are blatant visual cues or references to the old movies, and some reference the more recent ones.

Spectre feels like it is a movie that has a story to tell and is on for quite a long run time, so you have to strap in for the ride. The action is judiciously spaced with character and plot developments and sometimes the talking and walking is on for a bit too long before anything exciting happens. For those who have seen all the other Craig era movies, then there is plenty to get your teeth into as it answers some questions, raises some others and has some nice references so you feel you are moving along with the character as they develop (i.e. there's a rather fetching porcelain bulldog on Bond's table near the beginning of the movie).

Director Sam Mendes and, of course, Daniel Craig return for the next instalment of the James Bond franchise. Most of the characters return from the previous movie - Mallory (Ralph Fiennes) from Skyfall comes into his own in this one, which is good because he came across as a bit of nasty piece of work in Skyfall. That role now is filled by 'C' or Max Denbigh who is wanting to disband the 00 initiative and have something more modern and new in it's place (involving drones and computer surveillance). I can't help but feel he would love to hang out with Silva from Skyfall with all of his computers. But 'C' is the least of our worries as Bond discovers the mysterious organisation SPECTRE led by the mysterious Oberhauser (Christoph Waltz) who has been "the architect" of Bond's misery since Casino Royale. Or, at least, so he says.

Backing up Bond once again is new pals Moneypenny and Q (Naomie Harris and Ben Whishaw respectively). I had my concerns about them changing Moneypenny too - but Naomie Harris does such a fantastic job that I was glad to hear that the makers of Bond want to keep the aforementioned characters (and their actors) for a few movies more.

Spectre starts at the Day of the Dead festival as Bond is following a lead to try and uncover the truth about recent events (i.e. what happened in Skyfall). As MI6 is undergoing changes in the office, Bond is told that, after causing some chaos, he is destined for some time off. As he leaves the office he enlists the help on Moneypenny and Q to continue his off-the-record investigation of this mysterious syndicate. Along the way he meets some rather attractive ladies in the form of Monica Bellucci and Lea Seydoux who provide the exotic Bond girl love interest. Bellucci claims the record of oldest Bond girl (though she isn't in it very long) and Seydoux's Madeleine Swann, though sexy, gives Bond a run for his money every now and then.

Heavy on exposition, story and character development, Spectre takes Bond into its next chapter. There is a lot going on here and it's great. The action sequences come when they are ready and when they do they are worth waiting for. There's some surprises, nods to the other movies and feels like a follow on though this could stand in it's own right. This is a great movie and is up there with the best, but in my opinion its not quite as good as Skyfall or Casino Royale.   

SPECTRE is out now at all good cinemas.

POPSCORE: 8.5/10

What am I talking about? SPECTRE, the latest James Bond movie

Where can I find out more? http://www.007.com
If you liked this try: The James Bond movies Casino Royale (2006), Quantum of Solace - basically the Daniel Craig era Bond, any of the Bourne series, Taken, Mission: Impossible series of movies 

Anything else?

The theme tune for this one is called The Writing's On The Wall and is performed by current pop star Sam Smith.  

SPECTRE is an acronym standing for Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion. It is a fictional global terrorist organisation featured in the James Bond novels by Ian Fleming and prominent in the 1960s James Bond films.

BYTE: New November

I'm Paul ... and this is Paul & The Popcorn - welcome to New November - one step closer to Christmas, but we have bonfire night first and, of course, BLACK FRIDAY!!

Firstly I need to apologise for my scant October updates - so much has been going on that I've forgotten to upload my reviews on the blog, though I do regularly keep tweeting. I've had a busy October including a visit to Pinewood Studios for a recording of British institution, Birds Of A Feather, a One Direction concert (yes, really), a visit to Birmingham and numerous cinema visits. I realised I haven't uploaded my reviews and thought I did - so I'll be uploading a block of them this week!

It was back to the Future day on 21st October 2015 and this would have been when Marty McFly and Doc travelled to the future to see what life was like in 2015. We found that generally some of it was complete codswallop, but some of it was quite prophetic. Did you watch the trilogy on the day like I did? They are still brilliant movies and the first one is one of my all time favourites. When I got to sit in the Delorean earlier this year at Sheffield Film & Comic Con, it pretty much put the icing on the cake.

Let's look to the cinema - the latest James Bond offering SPECTRE is doing really well at the box office and is supposed to be brilliant. Featuring the new Bond them by Sam Smith, The Writing's On The Wall, Bond discovers that there's a sinister organisation at work that has been following him about causing trouble. Featuring star turns from Daniel Craig, the awesome Monica Belluci (who is the oldest Bond girl yet) and backed up by the talents of Ralph Feinnes and Ben Whishaw, I think this promises to be a great Bond movie. Also starring Christoph Waltz, Lea Seydoux and Drax himself, Dave Bautista, this movie is one to see.

In November, Mockingjay Part II hits the silver screen which will conclude the Hunger games Trilogy (erm, I mean series, or whatever). Word on the street is that they are looking to capitolize (see what I did there?) on the success and want to make more even though they are no books to follow on just yet. Will Suzanne Collins write exclusively for another movie? Will she write more books? And where does this leave Katniss? We will find out one day but not yet.

Let's get to the computers - biggest release going forward looks like the old Call of Duty franchise will be reanimated (as there's probably zombies in this one) with the muchly anticipated Call Of Duty: Black Ops III. And batten up the hatches because in December we will not doubt be having the legendary Steam Christmas sale so better get saving up. New Skylanders game Super Charger looks interesting too - just when you thought we'd ran out of ideas they stick cars into the mix.

Looking at the latest stuff as well:

>   Xbox Live:  Games with Gold this month includes the full games of DiRT 3 and Dungeon Siege III on XBOX 360 and for the posh 'uns who have XBOX ONE you are treated to Pneuma: Breath of Life and Knight Squad to download free if you are a subscriber. Microsoft have started releasing these games over 2 week periods so the first games listed are available for the first two weeks in November and then the others in the last two weeks in November so you'll have to get a wriggle on for the first. Some of them are on for the whole month (or in the case of Pool FX - for about 8 years lol)

>  PSN: PS Plus this month is as follows:

PS4 has:
the Walking Dead: Season 2
Magicka 2
Dragon Fin Soup

PS3 gets:

Mass Effect 2
Beyond Good and Evil

Dragon Fin Soup

Vita receives:
Invizimals

Dragon Fin Soup

After last months rather lacklustre list, this list really got my appetite whetted! I can't believe Mass Effect 2 is in this list, wow! Well done Sony, well done!

Of course usual rules apply in that if you stop your subscription those games'll stop workin'.

As always we have Loot Crate and Nerd Block unboxings to look forward to...

...AND Marvel Collector Corps in December.

It's time to go now but - have a new November and I'll see you soon.

Keep being awesome!

Until next time

Paul

BYTE: Original October

I'm Paul ... and this is Paul & The Popcorn - welcome to Original October - even though it's nearly finished!

The leaves are a-fallin' from the trees, it's getting colder and darker and we get to brush off our Hallowe'en costumes and go for the original cosplay on 31st October! Shortly after in November we have bonfire night and the month after that we are at Christmas. but before all that - we have October and here it is.

Let's look to the cinema - out this month is the latest James Bond offering SPECTRE which looks superb - but as I visit to see it will I think this will be better than Skyfall? Or will it be more Sky-fail? I'm going to see it on Wednesday - so I'll let you know.

Let's get to the computers - biggest release going forward looks like the old Call of Duty franchise will be reanimated (as there's probably zombies in this one) with the muchly anticipated Call Of Duty: Black Ops III.

Looking at the latest stuff as well:

>   Xbox Live:  Games with Gold this month includes the full games of Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes and The Walking Dead: First Season on XBOX 360 and for the posh 'uns who have XBOX ONE you are treated to Valiant Hearts: Then Great War and The Walking Dead: First Season to download free if you are a subscriber. So lots of subtitled titles here this month.

>  PSN: PS Plus this month is as follows:

PS4 has:
Broken Age
Super Meat Boy
Unmechanical Extended
Kick Beat
Kung Fu Rabbit

PS3 gets:

Unmechanical Extended

Kick Beat
Kung Fu Rabbit
Chariot

Vita receives:
Broken Age
Super Meat Boy

Of course usual rules apply in that if you stop your subscription those games'll stop workin'.

As always we have Loot Crate and Nerd Block unboxings to look forward to...

...AND Marvel Collector Corps in October which I received this morning and has the theme - VILLAINS.

It's time to go now but - have an awesome October and I'll see you soon.

Keep being awesome!

Until next time

Paul

REVIEW: The Visit (15)

M. Night Shyamalan's latest movie is The Visit,  a weird cross pollen genre of horror-black comedy with an over egging of found footage.  Having a peek at some lovely factoids about this movie, apparently M. Night made two versions of this movie - a comedy version and true horror one and the finished one is kind of a mix up of both.

The story begins as single mom decides to send her children - 13 year old Tyler (who pretty much steals the show with his charisma - if a little overbearing at times) and his older sister Becca, who is much more matter-of-fact and has an interesting vocabulary considering she's supposed to be about 15. In a vain attempt to get her mom to make peace with her estranged parents, Becca decides to make a documentary about their week long visit to see "Nana" and "Pop Pop". Although her mom isn't too forthcoming about why she abruptly left the house she grew up in and turned her back on her parents - Becca is desperate to find out the truth. When the kids go away, mom goes on a holiday with her latino lover, Miguel and the kids meet their grandparents for the first time. However, when the rule is not to leave the bedroom after 9.30pm, the modern teenagers flaunt this rule (mainly to sneak downstairs for some midnight snacks) and their grandparents are not all what they seem.

M Night has had a difficult time of late from the heyday of when he was awesome and could do no wrong - hit after movie hit came - Signs, Sixth Sense, Unbreakable - and it seemed he was. Then came the dross that was The Last Airbender and After Earth and his credibility was practically non-existent. Still he is churning out the movies, when maybe he should have stopped. However, this movie isn't bad, but he still has a long way to go to reach the former awesomeness that was his original set of movies. Shyamalan takes the now clichéd route of found footage and takes a stab at this genre - and those expecting a jumpy horror will be disappointed. Tyler (played excellently by Ed Oxenbould) is both endearing and wholesomely annoying, but is a welcome comic relief in the movie. His matter of fact sister - Becca (Olivia DeJonge) is also great as the sensible one, but she doesn't have enough time to develop as a character rather than a person to help the narrative along. The grandparents are suitably strange and Deanna Dunagan plays Nana with the endearing dodderiness of an old lady one minute and the slight of madness in the next. Pop Pop is also a strange character who is as grumpy and withdrawn as the children's mom is outgoing and loud.

The movie is definitely not one of M Night Shymalan's best, but it's certainly a step in the right direction for redemption after the recent disappointments he has helped fill the bargain buckets with in supermarkets. I have high hopes that he will be back as the go-to director for tense thrillers and people will again say - how awesome is that movie. This movie is above average, but I think that he is getting his form back and I hope that as he continues we'll be seeing a lot more awesome movies from this director who gave us such memorable movies in the past.

The Visit is out now at all good cinemas.

POPSCORE: 6/10

What am I talking about? The Visit - the movie
Where can I find out more? http://www.thevisit.com.au
If you liked this try: Paranormal Activity, Insidious, Sinister and any of the multitude of sequels. I would even suggest The Gallows or to a lesser extent the Blair Witch Project.

BYTE: Super September

I'm Paul ... and this is Paul & The Popcorn - welcome to Super September!

As the we leave the summer behind, September springs forth with a number of confusing weather patterns and darker nights - but also my birthday, a few more cool movies at the cinema and the transfer window closes on the football which means only one thing - FIFA is out and people are playing it!

But before we get to the computers let's look to the cinema - now blockbuster season is waning, there is still lots more to look forward to - films such as October's SPECTRE (the latest James Bond outing for Daniel Craig) and November's Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 and December's Star Wars offering, the movies of 2015 haven't quite finished blowing your mind just yet. One on my "to see" list is Matt Damon's latest The Martian which looks superb - but at first I thought it was a sequel to Interstellar. If you've seen that movie, you'll know what I mean.

Let's get to the computers - the Star Wars themed next exciting installment of Disney Infinity 3.0 is now available and not only are we treated to some classic Star Wars charactes to play but also the new ones from the new movie are there too. Mickey & Minnie Mouse are also available as are the cast of Pixar's latest movie Inside Out. This expands the game somewhat and to round it off the Hulkbuster and Ultron are also available for the playset. Cool huh?

I also visited York comic-con which was a fantastic adventure at York racecourse. There was plenty of things to see and buy - and I came home with Jack and Sally Pop Vinyl's from Nightmare Before Christmas.

Looking at the latest stuff as well:

>   Xbox Live:  Games with Gold this month includes the full games of Crysis 3 on XBOX 360 and for the posh 'uns who have XBOX ONE you are treated to The Deer God and, surprisingly, Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition to download free if you are a subscriber.

>  PSN: PS Plus this month is as follows:

PS4 has:
Driveclub: PlayStation Plus Edition
Grow Home
Teslagrad
Super Time Force Ultra
Xeodrifter

PS3 gets:

Teslagrad

Twisted Metal

Vita receives:
Super Time Force Ultra
Xeodrifter
La Mulana Ex

Of course usual rules apply in that if you stop your subscription those games'll stop workin'.

Origin have another Game On The House which is Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2.

As always we have Loot Crate and Nerd Block unboxings to look forward to...

...AND Marvel Collector Corps in October.

It's time to go now but - have a super September and I'll see you soon.

Keep being awesome!

Until next time

Paul

REVIEW: American Ultra (15)

American Ultra stars contemporary starlets Jesse Eisenberg as Mike Howell and Twilight's Kristen Stewart as his long suffering girlfriend, Phoebe Larson. In a small town, Mike Howell is in a "perfect" relationship with his girlfriend. He works at a small convenience shop, is pursuing his dream of being a comic book artist and everything is going great. Great, until a new director of the CIA comes into play and decides that Mike is on his hit list to be eliminated. The former director takes umbrage to this and decides to warn Mike about his impending doom. Then the story unravels to find that Mike is actually a highly trained and genetically modified super soldier that has been deactivated. So, naturally when the CIA goes after him, the former director reactivates him. This then gives him heightened senses and abilities - not bad for a guy who likes to get drunk, stoned and suffers panic attacks.

What could be best described as Trainspotting meets Salt, American Ultra has the graphic violence of a manga comic or anime with a black comedy undertone. I found Eisenberg's character hard to like, and spends most of the time running away or cowering in the corner. But when he does fight it is both gruesome and quite gripping. What could have been an edge of your seat action flick becomes more of a run and hide operation and we only see flashes of this guys abilities. He is almost a superhero in his own right but we don't get to see enough of that.

Topher Grace plays a fantastically smarmy bad guy as the CIA director Adrian Yates and is as smarmy as he is dangerous. The ever reliable John Leguizamo is fantastic and basically plays himself - which is what he always does and it's great. It's also nice to see Bill Pullman in the mix too. Eisenberg plays a decent Mike - but the character himself doesn't really have much going about him. Kristen Stewart doesn't do bad acting here and is sometimes (I said sometimes) endearing but generally joins in the with run and hide/getting caught mould for most of the movie.

Although the movie is full of bloody violence, drugs, sex references and bad language there is one awesome moment where one of the head henchman called Laugher, has a moment with Mike after trying to kill him. He asks Mike who controls him. Mike replies, "No-one," and Laugher shows some real humility by replying innocently - "that must be nice." It was a fantastic and moving piece of cinematography which was probably one of the highlights of the film. The other spark of brilliance was when Mike is pinned down by a gun man in his own house and he throws a pan in the air and shoots a bullet to ricochet off it. It's things like this that make you think a bit more thought and this could be downright awesome!

The zero to hero storyline and the basic premise have been seen a million times before, but the movie is really strange but I can't put my finger on why. It's seems to be a bit all over the place and I was desperately trying to think what score I could give it and I found it difficult. I though 6/10 but that is totally doing it an injustice because it's actually ok as an action movie. Then 7/10 is being too generous. Even 6.5/10 is not quite right so, for the first time ever I'm giving a movie:

POPSCORE: 6.8/10

What am I talking about? American Ultra the movie
Where can I find out more? http://www.americanultrathemovie.com
If you liked this try: The Bourne Identity, Salt, Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, Hot Fuzz

REVIEW: The Fantastic Four (or Fant4stic)

Never has a film caused so much of a stir as Josh Trank’s “offering” Fantastic Four. Rocked by controversy and even Twitter updates from the director before release, this film had everything going against it. Stan Lee doesn’t cameo in it and even the trailers looked lack lustre. My blog, as you may have read, celebrates all things geeky, movies, music and more. I should have been excited for this, I should have been chomping at the bit just like I was for Avengers: Age of Ultron. But you know what? I was quite happy to pass it by.

However, I didn’t and watched the movie – and I’m sorely disappointed.

Josh Trank had a great run with the ever-so-popular Chronicle – so he knows how to make a good movie. Although Chronicle was a decent enough movie (not that I particularly thought it was the best myself), his credentials suggest he was capable of stepping up and making a mark with a superhero movie in the mainstream. I was excited at first, but then saw what he wanted to do. He changed the race of Johnny Storm and was starting to make other changes too. I questioned the casting – yes, Kate Mara is a very pretty girl – but was unsure of her Sue Storm. Aside from the whole Human Torch debate, Jamie Bell cast as Ben Grimm/The Thing was another issue for me. I have nothing against Jamie Bell as an actor – and he even hails from the same town as me - but I didn’t think he was the best choice for the role. Miles Teller – who puts in good performances in Divergent and Whiplash was cast as Mr Fantastic too – but again, he wouldn’t be my choice for Reed Richards. However, I have been wrong before – I wasn’t happy with the casting of Daniel Craig as James Bond and Chris Evans as Captain America at the start – but they both were, and still are, excellent actors (and nice guys) and won me over because they are world class actors and made the role theirs. The key point here is that they convinced me that they were the characters that they played.

So onto Fantastic Four. The runtime is around 1 hour and 30 minutes and this is disconcerting for a reboot. I’m not sure how much stuff you can get into a movie that length – especially if it’s not an animation or kids movie. However what I experienced was that, yeah, you can’t get much into it.

Fantastic Four is a reboot of Marvel’s First Family and the truth is – it was my first exposure to Marvel and comics I had followed by Spiderman. I have a soft spot for them and I appreciated the previous movies even though they are generally described as bad. However, this movie takes us back to the days when they were not sure about superhero movies and not the awesome blockbusters we are used to now.

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

The movie starts with a young Reed Richards in school saying he will do great things at the ridicule of others. Fast forward a few years later (7 actually) and he’s at a Science Fayre where he is selling his wares and inexplicably Franklyn Storm and his adopted daughter, Susan, give Richards a chance to make his idea a reality. Teaming up with Victor Von Doom (who is stereotypically goateed and grumpy) and Sue they set to work on his idea. Meanwhile Johnny Storm is doing a Fast & Furious racing and when he prangs his dad’s car he is kind of grounded and gets forced to work on the project by his dad with the others. After a montage of working lots and about 30 minutes of run time (or more) Ben Grimm gets a phone call to ask if he fancies popping by to have a go at this new device they reckon can get them to another dimension called Planet Zero. Ben, of course, thinks this is an awesome idea and turns up and off they go. Disaster ensues when they visit - they get some powers and leave Doom behind as they think he’s bought the farm. They return a bit injured and, we now at around 50 mins into the film they are tested upon by the government.

Right now we are nearly two thirds through the film and really nothing much has happened. The last 30 minutes is condensed into – oh Dooms alive let’s bring him home, I’m home now I want to go back, let’s go back and fight, the end.

END OF SPOILER

Considering the movie is 1 hour and 30 minutes and it takes nearly 2/3rds of that to get going, this is a massive opportunity wasted for Marvel’s First Family. The characters are bland and uninteresting – it’s as if the writer is thinking “we all know who they are …let’s just get on with it” and then hasn’t a clue what to do with them. Sue Storm spends most of the movie rapping computers and when she does get powers spends most of her time holding her breath and flying around in force bubbles. The Thing doesn’t even have blue eyes (another change which I was not happy about), is completely naked (for the love of Mike, why!?) and spends most of his Thing state begging Reed Richards to help him. Reed himself is a flimsy geek stereotype and not the strong leader we know and love in the comics – he even naffs off for some of the movie and leaves the others behind. No real role stands out except for Reg E. Cathey’s Franklyn Storm who has the deepest voice known to man and comes out with some nice thought provoking statements.

It’s hard to say what exactly went wrong with Fantastic Four without mentioning – well pretty much everything. The casting was suspect, the story makes no sense at all (complete with major plot holes) and the changes the director opted for just doesn’t work. It might have been a decent movie if it wasn’t the Fantastic Four and a bit more of an awareness with continuity and sense but as a Fantastic Four movie it’s just terrible. I’ve never seen such an awful adaption since 1996’s The Avengers (which was based on the 60’s spy series of the same name). The movie is confusing and slow and it’s a massive wasted opportunity. I would love to see what Marvel would do with this franchise if they had control of it – and I’m sure it would be awesome, but as it stands it’s really, really bad.

POPSCORE: 4/10

EVENT: Sheffield Film & Comic Con

On 15^th & 16^th August, Sheffield’s Motorpoint Arena held their Showmasters fronted Film & Comic Con featuring an array of stars from the silver and small screen – and the slight peppering of sports stars. I knew I was in for a good convention when I walked in, saw ‘Hacksaw’ Jim Duggan and said, “Alright” and he replied “Alright” too.

First order of the day was to see the various stalls and sellers which had everything from replica swords to those Funko POP! Vinyls I love so much. There were cosplayers everywhere and some cool photo opportunities.

The celebrities were out in the gangway at various points and the stalls were in the stadium itself. To the back of the room there were photo opportunities with props and to the sides were two discussion areas – one for the cosplayers and one for the celebrities. The first order of the day was a caht with the wrestlers – WWE Hall of Famers “Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase and “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan took to the stage along with a TNA Tag Team Champion duo to talk about their experiences in the wrestling worlds. DiBiase was very candid about the goings on and said it was a very competitive market and is a very lonely life as you are always on the road. Duggan added that working with an inexperienced wrestler could be very painful. DiBiase said that a lot of the matches are predetermined – but the actual match (although they know the winner) was all improvised as it happened which made it more exciting. The tag team contributed through their eyes of more modern wrestling but it was quite interesting finding out about the classic wrestling I grew up with – and all of them seemed really nice people.

After the Wrestlers Talk the next guy up for a chat was none other than Michael Biehn, who discussed about Aliens, Hicks, Terminator and Kyle Reese. He said that and Aliens sequel had been greenlighted but he has not been asked to reprise his role yet – but he would be up for it if he was asked. He also said that although he hated what happened to his character in the sequels, this new movie will be a sequel to Aliens and will forget the Alien 3 and the really poor Alien Resurrection. Hopefully it will forget the AVP movies too.

I got to meet “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan and he was a lovely person and really friendly. We “Hoooooo”’d together and he signed my Wrestlemania Box Set DVD collection. I was tussling with the idea of getting a signed photo, but I have it in my head that I’d like a set of DVD’s signed by different wrestlers. I’m considering doing this with my Star Wars collection too. What do you guys think? Put a comment and let me know.

There was the opportunity to pose with some props and those of you regular readers to my blog will know I had my photo taken with the clockface from Back to the Future when I went to Newcastle Comic Con back in March. Here was even better – you could pose with Doc Brown’s tombstone or sit on the throne from Game Of Thrones. Best of all though – you could get a photo sat in the DeLorean from Back To The Future. I, of course, jumped at the chance and to get a photo for £5 in such an iconic car, it will be a picture I will treasure for a long time to come.

After the Delorean and Duggan I wanted to see Robert Englund, arguable the most popular guy at the event this time. I took a ticket to see him – number 297 no less. Even by 3pm he was nowhere near that. He was spending a lot of time talking to the fans and taking pictures so I never got to meet him – but he will be on my list next time. We did however get to see his talk which involved a skit about Freddy vs Jason and Freddy Vs Chucky (which of course Freddy would win). He was very entertaining and really enjoyed the talk and this rounded off my day.

I had early bird tickets and they cost £15 but you could have got standard ones for a bit cheaper, £8 I think. It was a well organised and enjoyable day with some great celebrities and all of us had fun. Well done Showmasters – I’ll have to come to Sheffield next year.   

REVIEW: MOVIEBLAST: The Gift (15) & The Man From U.N.C.L.E (12A)

THE GIFT (15) is  the latest movie starring Jason Bateman as Simon, a successful businessman with everything he ever wanted.  Simon gets a dream job and as a result has to move back home to an enviously lavish house with his doting wife. When Gordo (Joel Edgerton) his old classmate appears and leaves gifts outside his door things get creepy. However when Simon decides the gifts are getting too much and tells Gordo to leave him alone, a sinister letter from Gordo saying he will no longer let bygones be bygones threatens everything Simon knows. The Gift is a psychological thriller from Blumhouse Productions (who also were involved with Insidious and Sinister).  Good, thought provoking movie but not the horror I was expecting. 

POPSCORE: 7/10

THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E (12A) is Guy Ritchie’s take on the classic 60’s spy series has hit the cinema this week – and the question is – how did he do? Combining acting talents of Henry Cavill as Napoleon Solo and The Lone Ranger’s Armie Hammer as Russian KGB agent Ilya Kuryakin, this action fest is ready to blow your mind.

We are at a juncture whereby we are now in 2015 and the Sixties – which seems a long time away now – is ripe for picking from TV series and shows that have been beloved then but maybe forgotten now. Like Mission: Impossible, The Man from U.N.C.L.E was a much loved spy series and it has now been given a more modern makeover. I am not very familiar with the original series but remember my parents loving it back in the day – so this time I took my mam with me to see what she thought. Her answer? It’s nothing like the original.

The mismatched duo attempt to foil a standard world domination plan featuring a nuclear bomb. To do so they need to work together despite their differences and obvious distain for each other. Napoleon Solo, a smarmy ex-con with a penchant for speaking exposition and the grumpy but capable Russian special agent, Ilya Kuryakin find themselves in a race against time to save the world. It’s all very predictable and formulaic but it’s a fun movie nonetheless – I enjoyed it but it’s apparently very different from the original.

Henry Cavill plays a good role as Napoleon Solo, and Armie Hammer (known mostly for the dire The Lone Ranger) puts in a good performance as his Russian counterpart. Hugh Grant drops in here and there to add a little Britishness to the proceedings and the love interests are beautiful and deadly in equal measure. It’s a run of the mill spy film, based on a beloved 60’s show and it’s not bad. Good for a Sunday afternoon or if you’ve seen all the blockbusters out then there’s this to fill the void while you are waiting on the next hit movie. It’s not quite up there with Mission: Impossible, but the ending suggests there may scope for some sequels.

POPSCORE: 7/10

ARCHIVE: REVIEW: Iron Man 2

hey guys, I've always reviewed movies and here's an article I wrote a long time ago - and it was when Iron Man 2 came out. I really liked this movie, but here it is from the archives for your reading pleasure...

FILM: IRON MAN 2

Starting pretty much straight after the last one, after Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) announces that he is IRON MAN it seems that he is on cloud nine and is doing really well for himself. Starting a rather nifty Stark Expo that runs for a year and, according to Pepper (Gwyneth Paltrow), it will also drain the finances of Stark Industries.  It's a needless folly but the public like it. Meanest of whiles, an evil is brewing from all sides.  The army want the Iron Man suit to use as a weapon.  Stark's competition, Hammer Industries, want to develop similar suits but fail miserably.  And, a disgruntled son of Starks father's work colleague (Mickey Rourke) decides to have a crack at taking Iron Man down. For the lads, theres a rather nubile Natalie (Scarlett Johansson) working with Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) to try and convince Stark that there's a bigger game to play than the one he thinks he is involved in.

Tony Stark is finding that the power he gets from that thing in his chest (you can tell I'm very accurate here can't you?) is killing him, so a side part of the film is his quest to try to save his own life as well as that of others.  He also has some great lines - and on his birthday he dresses up in his Iron Man suit and answers the most question he gets asked from people - how do you go to the toilet in the suit?

Add a sprinkling of War Machine (Ironman's colleague) and a rocking soundtrack from AC/DC I think you get very much a good bang for your buck. Robert Downey Jr is one of may favourite actors and his portrayal of Tony Stark is spot on - he's a bit arrogant but a bit witty but has his heart in the right place. Scarlett Johansson plays a really sexy part in the film and can kick ass as no one else can, and the remaining characters help the story along.

There is always that problem of the difficult second movie.  But retaining the original cast, moving on from what was developed in the first film and the immediately likeable Tony Stark - this film is fantastic and I'm sure there will be another sequel. There have been a lot of questionable Marvel films out - but this is totally in line with X-men and Spiderman blockbuster standard.

Brilliant movie, if you like action or comic book movies it's a must see.

POPSCORE:  9/10

Oh and as an addition - I really think you should sit through the credits... they may be a surprise at the end... ;-)

BYTE: Awesome August

It's Awesome August... Hello!

In a month full of sunshine, comic-cons and festivals, here we are nearly at the end of August. Really, I should have written something by now but I do have a demanding full time job I'm doing in between watching all these movies (I have to pay for it somehow! ;-) )so I'm sorry for the late updated.

However lots has been happening in August - including recent movie releases. Although blockbuster season is upon us, a number of movies that have been advertised and released this month have failed miserably to set the stage alight.  Pixels was released to some soggy fireworks and an amazing yet scathing review (parental advisory if you click the link - lots of cursing!) of it too. Not only that the worst superhero movie in recent memory Fantastic Four was also released. Riddled with problems from the outset the final product was terrible too - and I'm saying that! You know how much I love my superhero movies.

There's still some movies to look forward to going forward including Star Wars: The Force Awakens in December and SPECTRE, the new James Bond in the Autumn too. Other movies that recently have come out that you may or may not fancy to see include - The Man From U.N.C.L.E, Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation and computer game based action/thriller Hitman: Agent 47. Sinister 2 hits movie screens too if you like your horror sequels.

Let's get to the computers - a new release from Rare had me reaching for my wallet - 30 of their classic games for the Xbox One - starting way back in the 80's to present day. Starting off in the early 80's with the games I grew up with on my ZX Spectrum, Rare Replay starts with Atic Attack and JetPac. Going through the decades via Battletoads and Killer Instinct in the 1990's to more recent 2000 hits like Viva Pinata and Perfect Dark Zero - I found this game pack to be very good value indeed. I purchased the limited edition version with the T-Shirt and, when I get time to play, I'll do a full review for you.

Star Wars will be the theme for  the next exciting installment of Disney Infinity 3.0 and will be available in the autumn too. It's definitely on my to buy list - and there will be more as I get it.

Sheffield Film and Comic Con was this month - and I'll give you a review soon enough as I attended it!   I introduced two of my friends to their first comic-con and they both enjoyed it too. Guests included Michael Biehn (from Terminator and Aliens), horror legend Robert Englund and Darth Vader himself David Prowse. Also there were legendary wrestlers "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan and Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase.  It wasn't as busy as other conventions I've been to but it was still excellent.

Looking at the latest stuff as well:

>   Xbox Live:  Games with Gold this month includes the full games of Metro 2033 and Metro Last Light and How To Survive Storm Warning Edition on XBOX 360 and for the posh 'uns who have XBOX ONE you are treated to Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes to download free if you are a subscriber.

>  PSN: PS Plus this month is as follows:

PS4 has:

Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris

Limbo

Sound Shapes

Stealth Inc. 2: A Game of Clones

PS3 gets:

CastleStorm

God of War: Ascension

Sound Shapes

Stealth Inc. 2: A Game of Clones

Vita receives:

CastleStorm

Sound Shapes

Stealth Inc. 2: A Game of Clones

Of course usual rules apply in that if you stop your subscription those games'll stop workin'.

As always we have Loot Crate and Nerd Block (this months has actually been excellent as I've received it now) unboxings to look forward to...

...AND Marvel Collector Corps in August is based on Secret Wars! Apparently it's been dispatched! 

It's time to go now but - have an Awesome August and I'll see you soon.

Keep being awesome!

Until next time

Paul

REVIEW: Terminator: Genisys (12A)

Terminator movies have been gradually churned out over the years since the first one back in 1984 when James Cameron took a risk with some unknown actor called Arnold Schwarzenegger and a lead character combo of Linda Hamilton and Michael Biehn. Fast forward a few decades later and we have the latest instalment of the popular franchise.

Many Terminator movies feature wars, Terminators and the ongoing travails of John Connor and his mum Sarah. Although iconic now, Terminator was a massive risk for the relatively unknown actors at the time – and even now, the memorable lines like “I’ll Be Back” and “Come with me if you want to live” resound in popular culture and make the original an instant classic. But where do you go from the following movies? Terminator 2: Judgement Day was a massive smash and was awesome (in my opinion) and made the Terminator a permanent fixture on a lot of peoples top ten movies of all time.

They tried to mix it up a bit with Terminator 3 with a stunningly beautiful girl as the cyborg killer. More recently, Christian Bale took up the standard bearing in Terminator: Salvation which was lacklustre at best – and had no Arnie (kind of). However that movie pretty much wrapped everything up. So where do you go from here?

Well, Genisys is the latest incarnation of Terminator and what do you do when the last movie pretty much completed the cycle? You – kind of remake the first one. Already on dodgy ground, Genisys starts in the future and sends Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) back in time to protect Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke) from The Terminator (Arnie). John Connor (Jason Clarke), leader of the resistance against Skynet is our only hope against the machines. Making a plan to protect his mother he sends volunteer Kyle Reese back to 1984 where Genysis attempts to reboot Terminator by making the same movie again. This time the amazing chemistry of Hamilton and Biehn is replaced by the awkwardness of Courtney and Clarke. Sarah Connor is no longer the petrified waitress but a hot, sassy kick-ass chick attitude with and Reese spends most of the movie being taken aback by her and trying to figure out what the hell’s going on. The movie also features “Pops” (the original Terminator character played again by Arnold Schwarzenegger) who apparently actually visited Sarah Connor when she was young and has become part of her family as a guardian and surrogate parent.

Seeing original 1984 The Terminator at the cinema only weeks before on a one off special showing, I had the original still fresh in my mind. It follows the original quite closely for a time, albeit with different actors and slightly different consequences – when old Arnie fights young Arnie for example, is on of the best parts of the movie and is inspired. As the movie goes on, it continues to develop the story and brings it in a different direction and rushes to a conclusion. Lots of homage’s to the original 1984 movie, some hat tips to T2 and 3, and none regarding Terminator: Salvation.

This film has tried to bring Terminator to the new audience, but although by no means bad, this movie, I felt, could have been a lot better. There is no taking away that Emilia Clarke is a stunning looking lady, but her sassy Sarah Connor never fit right with me at all and her chemistry with the rather lacklustre performance of Jai Courtney had me pining for Hamilton and Biehn.

The special effects are fantastic and the highlights include Arnie as the Terminator and the fact it’s a twist on the original movie. However, the movie, although enjoyable, was not as good as it could be, and this means that they will have another challenge if Terminator 6 is going to be made. Overall though, it’s not bad, but could be better. For those of you who heard that Dr Who’s Matt Smith was going to to be featured in this movie – well he is – but don’t expect much screen time. It did make me smile however that he is credited as Matthew Smith. Guess he gets his Sunday name on this one.

POPSCORE: 7/10

What am I talking about? Terminator: Genisys

Where can I find out more? http://www.terminatormovie.com/home#

If you like this try: Terminator (previous movies especially the first one), Robocop (especially the first one), Aliens

Anything else?

James Cameron officially endorsed this film and considers it the official third film in the franchise.

The body of young Arnold Schwarzenegger in the movie is not actually Arnie but actor and body-builder Brett Azar who was playing the original Terminator. Arnie's face was computer edited on him later.

REVIEW: Sense8 (18) (TV Series - Season One - Netflix)

Netflix are going the right way to become some sort of TV power house. They are investing in making their own TV shows – but not wobbly cardboard backgrounds with silly scripts and dodgy acting, oh no! These can take on the likes of ITV, Sky, ABC, CBS or whatever. Dubbed as ‘Netflix Originals’ these shows are becoming hits in their own right and are becoming household names. Shows such as House of Cards, Breaking Bad prequel Better Call Saul and Marco Polo (oh yeah and Orange is the New Black) there seems no sign of them stopping. They’ve recently sided with Marvel too – and are now are releasing shows like Daredevil and the soon to be broadcast AKA Jessica Jones. However the latest fanfare approach is the ‘Netflix Original’ Sense8 by the Washowski siblings and, you know what? It’s actually pretty good.

So many times we have a show or movie where there is a fantastic idea and it’s executed so badly that the piece of inspiration that grew it struggles to develop. Well, you’ll be pleased to know this is not the case here.  

Sense8 is about a set of 8 individuals who are vastly different and live in different parts of the world. However, they can all share the same consciousness. One of the other 8 can either appear next to the other – in which case appear a bit like Al in Quantum Leap. This means that they can communicate and chat with the other person but no one else can see them. If an onlooker sees them talking it looks like they are talking to themselves. Alternatively they can inhabit their body and thereby gaining the skills of the other person to allow them to achieve a goal or do something cool.

Scattered across the 8 are all in different situations. We have a cat-burglar called Wolfgang in Germany, a closeted Mexican gay actor who is in a relationship with a man, but has a public persona as a ladies man. There’s Riley, a young DJ of Icelandic descent based in London, Will (a police officer in San Francisco), Sun (a Korean business woman who is particularly talented at kickboxing) and Nomi, a trans woman in a relationship with another woman. The final two are a black African man in Kenya who is constantly searching for medicine to treat his mum suffering from HIV and finally, but by no means least, an Indian girl who is due to be married and is a chemist. All 8 eventually meet and when they do it is to fight a bigger force at work. It is then that all of their skills come into play. For example, the guy from Kenya is under attack by the town crime boss and the Korean kickboxer goes into his body and fights all of them on his behalf, even though one is in Kenya and one is in Korea. Who needs FaceTime?

As a creative writer myself, I have thought about this whole mind melding storyline before but it was only with 2 people in a relationship. But to take 8 very different people and meld not only their minds but the story is a big ask and they do it very well. Merely explaining the people who are in this show is madness – what an operation to try and get the locations and actors all together to do this – it’s ambitious to say the least! All of the characters mentioned above are (in the main) played by real life actors of the nationality or situation. They guy who plays Wolfgang is actually from Germany. The trans woman is actually played by a trans performer, etc.

I loved this show – it’s great, creative and the characters are great, The acting is good, the stories are engrossing and it’s such a fresh new idea. However, I found it very slow to begin with and it doesn’t really pick up until about episode five. When they are all working together in the later episodes you can see how great this programme could be.

The Washowski’s have been riding on the coat tails of The Matrix for many years now – and like this, was a work of genius. However the Matrix sequels and some of their recent endeavours have been met with poor critical reception. Cloud Atlas was okay, Jupiter Ascending was good but not right, and let’s not mention Matrix 3. Just don’t.

If you have Netflix, it is worth a watch and I eagerly await season two. Well done Washowski siblings. Well done Netflix. Keep it up.

POPSCORE – 9/10

What am I talking about? ‘Netflix Original’ – Sense8 (TV Series)Where can I find out more? https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80025744

Anything else?

This first season features 10 episodes and all are available on Netflix now. However, you do have to be a subscriber to get this.

REVIEW: Inside Out (U)

For people of a certain age (by this I mean my age give or take a few years either side) there was a comic strip in the British kids comic The Beano called The Numbskulls. They were jelly bean shaped creatures with arms and legs and lived in the head of people and they would work together to operate the human body. I guess for the following generation you could say it was a bit like a Mech robot with a pilot or two but in a more organic way. For those of you familiar with either or both of these references – this is what Inside Out is kind of like. For those who don’t know what I’m talking about – read on. In fact just read on regardless because I need to tell you a bit more.

Inside Out is Pixar’s latest offering and is based around a young girl of around 11 years of age who is quite happy with her life. Then everything gets turned upside down (as opposed to Inside Out) when her father gets a job and they have to move from the leafy countryside to municipal surroundings of none other than San Francisco.  A simple story you may assume – but this story chronicles the effect it has on this little girl called Riley – in particular from an emotional stand point in ones head. Inside our heads (according to the movie) we have a set of fuzzy creatures that represent some emotions – Joy (glowing, radiant and ever optimistic), Sadness (who’s always feeling (and looking) blue), Fear (who’s always wanting to run away), Disgust (‘nuff sed) and Anger. All of these work together to create Riley’s mindset and, after a whistle stop introduction of human developments (and how these mind creatures appear and develop) they throw our heroine into this situation and this is where the film really gets going. A large potion of emotion, six helpings of imagination and a side of light comic relief in the form of Bing-Bong (Riley’s imaginary friend from when she was little) round off a thought provoking emotional journey of a movie.

I really liked this one and it really made you think. The trailer (of which I have seen a number of times) suggested that we would be bouncing around heads – as we saw her mam and dad talking at a dinner table – but really this visiting of other people’s heads is rare and mainly done for a contrast or for comic effect.  Some of this movie is inspired – and it’s so creative it nearly deserves it’s own genre. This film could easily have been terrible – and it’s a very tough subject to do right. I believe they did well. It would have been so easy for some sort of combat between an emotion like Joy (as a kind of superhero) and, say Sadness (a kind of supervillain) to fight in her head to represent some sort of internal monologue and how the girl would react outwardly. Instead it provides a thought provoking approach of saying there are actually times we need to be angry or sad and by working with the emotions rather than repressing and hiding them, it’s actually really good for you. Yes, it’s actually that deep. From a children’s perspective it’s more of some cute colourful fuzzy characters doing some interesting, and sometimes silly, things. 

Pixar are famous for their awesome movies including classic titles like Toy Story, Monsters Inc. and Cars. However they have recently been off the boil making sequels like Cars 2 and Monsters University which weren’t quite as good as their previous portfolio – however this is definitely a back to form for them. It’s both original and thoughtful on what at first glance seems a mundane plot for a story.

Inside Out is out at all good cinemas now.

POPSCORE – 8.5/10

What am I talking about? Pixar’s Inside Out (movie)

Where can I find out more? http://movies.disney.co.uk/inside-out

Anything else?

Some of the memory balls in Riley's mind contain scenes from other Pixar movies, such as Carl and Ellie's wedding in Up .

In the middle of the control console, the top three buttons form Mickey Mouse, otherwise known as a hidden Mickey.

According to director Pete Docter, each emotion is based on a shape: Joy is based on a star, Sadness is a teardrop, Anger is a fire brick, Fear is a raw nerve, and Disgust is broccoli. He noted that he likes broccoli very much, however.