REVIEW: The BFG (PG) - 3D Version

"The sun always shines on BFG" - The BFG could be an A-Ha fan...

Legendary director Steven Spielberg and award winning actor Mark Rylance find themselves working together once again in the live action remake of Roald Dahl’s classic novel, The BFG. Starring Rylance as the titular character and relative newcomer Ruby Barnhill as the matter-of-fact, insomniac orphan Sophie, The BFG is a gigantic fantasy adventure for all ages.

Based on the bestselling book from the Dahl archives, The BFG is all about orphan Sophie who wanders around at night in an orphanage because she cannot sleep. One night she is distracted by noises outside and inadvertently sees a gigantic man tiptoeing through the streets. In order to keep his existence secret he pretty much kidnaps her and takes her to his home in Giant Land (somewhere a little further north than the Outer Hebrides) and keeps her in his house. After somewhat of a Stockholm Syndrome situation (or as the film portrays it an unlikely friendship blossoms between the two) the Big Friendly Giant and Sophie explore issues that include being so small in a big world and how to deal with bullies.

Fantastical in the classical sense, The BFG is at times silly and over the top but it somehow fits in with the movie and the sort of whimsical far-fetched imagination a child would come up with. It makes me think that, for all an adult’s imagination is limited by sense and the laws of the world, a child’s is not tied down by logic and a background of reality. Anything can happen, even if it doesn’t make sense or is over the top. The BFG is like this – it thinks nothing of going to see the Queen or calling in an army to help with bullies – this is fantasy at its up most.

The giant’s world is breathtakingly done, as we see it from Sophie’s perspective and some of it (especially in 3D) is overwhelming making you feel as small as Sophie is. Not only that, but he might be a Big Friendly Giant, but in comparison to his people, he’s actually little.

Overall the film is quite good, staying true to the book. Rylance does a great job at creating a loveable character – sad in some respects but wise in others. Even his confused and muddled language is brilliantly performed and I give top marks for his acting skills. Barnhill, as Sophie, is great as the sassy little girl and the dynamic between the two is brilliant. Elements of the movie, especially when the both go out to explore and catch dreams is clearly influenced by such classic literature as Alice in Wonderland, and the effects and experience is great to watch too. There’s a few flaws here and there and questions to be asked (like there’s only so many giants on the land, but why are they all broad cockney and the BFG sounds like he’s from Cornwall or something) but overall an enjoyable kids movie.

The BFG is out now at all good cinemas.

POPSCOTTLE: 7/10

What am I talking about? The BFG movie
Where can I find out more? http://www.thebfgfilm.com/showtimes

If you liked this try: James & The Giant Peach, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), Alice in Wonderland

Anything else?

This is, of course, based on the book by Roald Dahl, who also wrote other books including Matilda, James and the Giant Peach and The Twits.

Steven Spielberg and Mark Rylance worked together on this movie as director and starring actor respectively - and, in 2015, both worked the same on the Tom Hanks fronted Bridge of Spies (which I reviewed here).

My favourite gourmet popcorn brand, Joe & Seph's released a limited edition Frobscottle flavoured popcorn to celebrate the release of this movie. A sharp blend of caramel, mint and raspberry it was certainly an interesting flavour!

REVIEW: Warcraft : The Beginning (12A)

Legendary MMORPG computer game World of Warcraft hit’s the silver screen albeit a little bit later to cash in on its heyday a few years ago. Firmly planting itself as the go-to guy for fantasy movies (in the gaping hole left by The Hobbit trilogy), Warcraft: The Beginning features more CGI than (probably) the game itself, and has plenty of little nods and nuances to the game if you’re a seasoned player. However, it tries to cram as much as it can into its decent runtime and leaves the casual viewer slightly perplexed and thinking that it’s not as good as Lord of the Rings.

My alarm bells started ringing when I saw the trailer for this movie – ages ago, and since then I’ve probably seen it a hundred times to the point I started to get sick of it. A concern of mine is that many movies release a couple of different content trailers to whet the appetite of potential cinema goers – but the trailer for Warcraft never changed so we never saw anything new. I’m not sure if the person who made the trailer was so proud of it they never wanted to change it – but this wasn’t a good sign – I mean surely there were some more good parts to the movie we could get to at least see more than the orcs and the same dialogue over again. However, even though I had reservations, the movie wasn’t as bad as I expected.

Warcraft: The Beginning promises that there will be a sequel purely from its tag line – and if they make Warcraft: The Middle and Warcraft: The End then I think I will boycott them. However, it’s also seriously sassy to assume that there will be a sequel regardless. I guess Blizzard could probably afford to make another even if this one bombs since they have a best-selling game on their hands.

I am not an avid Warcraft player, though I have dabbled in it, and I’m not very familiar with the lore of Warcraft either. I have played other MMORPG’s but not spent enough time with the characters of Warcraft to be familiar with them. As a result, some of what I’m about to tell you I have been told by others, so if it’s incorrect or slightly out, I apologise in advance.

The movie starts with some weird necromancer Orc person (think a dodgy Emperor Palpatine) who has been sucking the life out of the world in which he lives with other Orcs and as a result the world is dying. He decides to open a portal to another world and decides to take over it using his army so he can continue to get power and continue to live. Meanwhile, top dog Orc, Durotan, takes umbrage at this, and wants to protect “his people” and starts a mini uprising within the ranks as he knows that this Necromancer Orc is bad news.

Durotan is not the only person to not be happy about this impending invasion. The humans on the other side of the portal aren’t happy about this evasion either. King Llane Wrynn (Dominic Cooper) gets wind of this through Khadagar, who was once a really good wizard, but for story purposes isn’t now. Arranging an army to tackle this head on, the Guardian, Medivh (who I would describe as a poor man’s Gandalf) and Anduin Lothar (Wannabe Aragorn) join forces to help their king against this oncoming Horde. However all is not what it seems – some alliances are forged, some friendships are broken, and there’s a green baby somewhere involved in proceedings.

The king, played by Dominic Cooper, seems legit, but doesn’t have the feel of power or clout you would anticipate with a king and looks a bit too pretty in his armour to be taken seriously. The grand Guardian looks like he should be in a rock band, and is too young to be an awesome wizard he is supposed to be. The only characters who hold any defining characterisation are the wannabe Aragorn, the turncoat orc and a half human/orc fighter woman, Garona (Paula Patton). Even so, they seem to be woefully under developed, especially human/orc woman who could have been used so much better than she was, even though she is literally two letters away from actually being Gamora from Guardians of the Galaxy – with funky teeth.

Overall this movie is a special effect laden movie that is a decent fantasy movie that holds extra value if you are a Warcraft fan but can be a bit confusing if not. However, it’s called Warcraft: The Beginning for a reason, so expect some more soon. Lord of the Rings for the gamer generation; this movie is a decent stab at the fantasy genre but is far too paint by numbers fantasy to be considered a classic. Fans of the game will enjoy the nods and Easter eggs hidden or referenced in the movie, but for the casual movie goer it's a medi-Orc-re fantasy flick that'll make up for the lack of new Lord of the Rings movies. Not bad.

POPSCORE: 7/10

What am I talking about? Warcraft: The Beginning movie
Where can I find out more? http://www.warcraftmovie.com
If you liked this try: The Hobbit trilogy, Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Mummy trilogy

Anything else?

Warcraft: The Beginning is based on the World of Warcraft MMORPG, and includes characters, places and spells from that games lore

BYTE: Merry March

Hey guys

It's been the calm before the storm for me and a quiet week geek-wise. I've been mourning the passing of Orange Wednesdays at the cinema.  I have been trying to find out more about the tease of Compare the Market doing it - after seeing the meerkat advert at the cinema last week. No news has come forward so far so as soon as I find out I will let you know.

Meanwhile, on the movie front, I think I have not seen a movie this week! I'm so letting you down. However, Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer 3 dropped and is whetting our appetite even further. If you are eagle eyed, or good with the pause button, you will get to see a glimpse of The Vision at the end of the trailer. Also, I'm going to see the new Divergent film, Insurgent soon, so there will be a full review of that.

As for the blog and stuff, well, I've managed to add my logo to the blog, and I hope you like it. I'm still working on the vlogging stuff - I have purchased some software to have a crack at learning editing before I get cracking unleashing my presenting skills onto the unknowing internet. I've set up a Facebook Page, but I will have to get the page address - it's the one with the Paul & The Popcorn logo on of course! And while you are there - don't forget to follow me on Twitter too - @paulandpopcorn if you haven't already. Once I get the youtube up and running I'll bring all the links together.

Also, fancy some free stuff? I've been looking about and I've seen that:

> Google Play is celebrating 3 years of existence - so you can get a free download of Fast and Furious movie (handy since the 7th instalment is being broadcast to a cinema near you in the very near future). Some amendments to this though - a) you will need a google play account that's active (I got this offer through the email) and b) it's not the first one but the one without the "The"'s in it from 2009.

> Origin: If you are registered with Origin you can get a free "on the house" copy of early 1990's classic Syndicate for free download for a limited time.

>  PSN: PS Plus this month has updated now and the new roster of games for the PS formats are:
Sherlock Holmes: Crimes And Punishments and Papa & Yo on PS3 and Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty (what?!) and Valiant Hearts: The Great War on PS4.
If you're into multi format there is also OlliOlli2: Welcome To Olliwood bundled for PS4/Vita and the triple bundle for all three of a game called CounterSpy. Of course these are active while your subscription is and will cease working if you are not a member.
PSN Store also have a special offer on Final Fantasy games for the moment too - do now's your time to get some of those FF gaps in your collection filled. As always, these are for a limited time and access/costs may be dependent on whether you are a subscriber or not so check first before purchase.

>   Xbox Live:  Games with Gold this month hosts the full game of Tomb Raider on XBOX 360 and for the posh 'uns who have XBOX ONE you are treated to Rayman Legends and #IDARB to download free if you are a subscriber.

Also I've signed up to Star Wars Online - that is, The Old Republic AKA SWTOR so if you'd like to join me on there - add paulosolo and you can explore the galaxy with me. I have been playing it this week and am at the grand old rank of level 10. I'm a Jedi Sentinel so it means I can use two lightsabers. That's gotta be good, hasn't it? If you play - let me know what you think.

Anyway that's enough update for now; hopefully next week I will get my rather fetching Paul & The Popcorn T-Shirt, but who knows?

Until next time

Paul