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

REVIEW: The Secret Life of Pets (U)

The Secret Life of Pets is the latest offering from Minions/Despicable Me production team Illumination Entertainment. Proving that they don't just do Minions well, The Secret Life of Pets is a cute, funny adventure movie in a similar premise to Toy Story but with... Pets. Before the film starts we are treated to a Minions short which is quite funny. Then it's time for the movie...

Pets, as I'll now shorten it to, features main mutt Max, adored by his owner Katie and has a cushy life in a high rise flat in Manhattan, New York. When Katie goes to work, the pets get up to a variety of activities and hang out together at various places. Consisting mainly of dogs and cats - apparently they can live together - the pets also include budgies, fish, Guinea pigs and tortoises. Max's world is turned upside down though when Katie (ever the dog lover) brings home another dog she found at the pound. Looking like a doggy Chewbacca, this huge doggy soon takes over the flat, mainly because he's quite large. Duke, as he is known, is immediately on the wrong side of Max and tensions flare.

Max manages to get the better of Duke and ends up blackmailing him to behave, and when they are out for a walk with a dog walker Max asks... Nay demands Duke to get him a stick. Duke entices Max to go over with him and they get separated from the other dogs. As they do, the world of New York opens to them and sends them both on an adventure to get back home.

There is a stunning array of characterised animals in this movie, and, as Max and Duke head deeper into the city, we find stray animals that are adorable but evil, sinister and even ugly. However the movies strength is that the actions of the animals really fit with how they would probably act in real life. The scene stealer - megalomaniac, evil but oh-so-cut bunny Snowball (voices amazingly by Kevin Hart) is a joy to watch and the supporting cast do a good job too. What I found, personally, was that the movie did well at developing these animals but the least time was spent on Max and Katie themselves which felt kind of strange. It was kinda a bit at the beginning and a but at the end for them.

Featuring some amazing animation (the water looks so real I almost went to get a towel) and the furs of the animals were realistic too, this show how far computer animation has gone since the mind blowing, forward thinking of Toy Story way back when. The soundtrack is really good too with a sweet power pop tune heralding the start and an interesting interpretation of a song from Grease.  

Overall this movie was very good and I really enjoyed it. It was a little slow in places and some tweaks here and there would have made it awesome but as it is it's a really enjoyable film and will make you think twice before you leave your little fur baby at home to go to work.

POPSCORE: 8/10

What am I talking about? The Secret Life of Pets movie
Where can I find out more? http://www.thesecretlifeofpets.co.uk/
If you liked this try: Disney's Bolt, Minions, Despicable Me, All Dogs Go To Heaven

Anything else?

If you look carefully on the back of the bus towards the end of the movie (on the bridge) there is an advertisement for the next movie Sing
I can't be sure but I think that later in the movie there is a scene with a garden gnome in it - this is remarkably similar to the one that is featured in the Minions short before the movie.

REVIEW: MOVIEBLAST: Bridge of Spies (12A) & Suffragette (12A)

Double review time as we go to MOVIEBLAST and binge watch on streaming site Wuaki with EE Film Club...

Bridge of Spies (12A) is the 'based on a true story' latest offering from legendary director Steven Spielberg. Starring equally legendary Tom Hanks and a quality cast (including Mark Rylance), Bridge of Spies is based on a real life 1950's New York insurance lawyer called J Donovan. Hanks plays lawyer Donovan with conviction and accused "spy" Adolf (Rylance) works well against Hank's knowledgeable lawyer.

Bridge of Spies is based on a true story whereby a man is accused of being a soviet spy in 1950's America. Firmly gripped in the fear of nuclear weapons, the USA's relationship is on tender hooks with the USSR. Enter James Donovan; insurance lawyer and, as he says, "yeah I'm pretty good at what I do...". Demanding a fair trial, Donovan is given the opportunity to represent spy Adolf in a court of law. Accepting that the trial is a foregone conclusion, but working in the interests of his country, Donovan agrees to represent him, but as he does so this sets in motion much bigger things at hand.

One part court room drama, two parts spy thriller, Bridge of Spies is a thought provoking yet compelling drama. Hanks' Donovan is a fabulously intelligent lawyer, using words to his advantage. Words are less with Mark Rylance's "spy" but are effective, even if his accent slips from Scottish to Soviet on occasion. The rest of the supporting cast are fab too, and the story itself is interesting at the backdrop of a world not too distant from us yet so different from us. This is where the threat from nuclear fallout was a real possibility, a wall was constructed to divide Germany and one insurance lawyer helped save the lives of at least 3 people. And no internet or mobile phones.

Bridge of Spies is great viewing if you like a good drama or spy thriller. Mr Hanks is doing a good job of biopics over recent years also playing the titular character in Captain Phillips which, like this movie, was a great performance based on a true story.

Bridge of Spies is out now on DVD, Blu Ray and all good streaming sites.

POPSCORE: 8/10

Suffragette (12A) is a movie about a group of women repressed by society who discover the suffragette movement led by Emmeline Pankhurst (Meryl Streep) and charts the progress of the start of the movement and the way the women are being treated by society in early 20th Century London.

Focussing on the married mother of one, Maud (Carey Mulligan), Suffragette looks at the working class group of women she belongs to. Working in a washroom with iron fisted, domineering (and sometimes very sexist) men as managers, Maud reluctantly becomes the face of the women's movement when her activist work colleague is unable to continue due to her abusive husband.

She risks everything to stand up for what she didn't realise she believed in and strikes the match to set the future bright for women and their options to vote and become equals amongst men. Making sacrifices of her own - including imprisonment, abuse, beatings and losing her child to the system, Maud still stands by her resolve to change the world for the better. 

The film, although I'm sure is made up, runs alongside the factual, historical Suffragette movement in its infancy. For all the optimism it concludes with, and the gritty troubles that are highlighted throughout the movie, Suffragette is a thumping story on the history of women's rights. However, for all the progress that have been during (and indeed the decades after) the suffragettes, there still is some way to go for true equal rights in pay and such for women. However, the film clearly states a fantastic point - "how can you silence half of the worlds population" - food for thought I reckon.

Well acted and fantastically thought provoking, Suffragette is a drama that stays with you long after the credits roll.

Suffragette is out now on DVD, Blu Ray and all good streaming sites.

POPSCORE: 7/10

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

REVIEW: Avengers: Age of Ultron (12A)

Oh my goodness! It's finally here after three years of waiting and one of the most hyped up, advertised and eagerly anticipated movies that I have ever experienced in my life. Avengers: Age of Ultron is here, in the UK, now.

 

Let's start with a quick catch up - after phase one and the absolutely astoundingly marvellous amazing Avengers Assemble in 2012, we moved into phase two. But let's not forget the constant battling and grumbling between all the heroes. Then everyone's mind was blown as they all worked together, we saw the Hulk in action and everyone went home happy and felt the need to binge eat shwarma's. I wonder if there is any link to the fact that once this movie hit the cinemas, a load of shwarma shops appeared in my local town?

 

We started with the not-bad-but-not-brilliant Iron Man 3 with Tony Stark facing repercussions from his Battle of New York experiences and the Chitauri invasion masterminded by Loki. Fast forward and we had Guardians of the Galaxy which was a risk but a hit, and then the critically acclaimed Captain America: Winter Soldier. Now we have this - but how did it do?

 

I've read a load on the internet about this movie - Loki is in it, an Avenger dies, there's no post credit sequence, there's no teaser sting after the first bit of the credits, this, that, the other. I can tell you some of those are true and some are just rubbish. The bit where they say Stan Lee's cameo is awesome is true though - especially if you are clued into the Marvel universe.

 

The movie centres around Tony Stark and his worry over the events of New York and, in an attempt to protect the world,  he decides to try and create a defence mechanism to protect from potential invaders as he feels the Avengers, for want of a better term are "hopelessly outgunned."  His response to this is to create a robot defence using ideas from J.A.R.V.I.S and the power from Loki's staff (which was nabbed from him back in Avengers Assemble) with the help of fellow Science Bro, Bruce Banner.  But, while the Avengers are partying downstairs, the experiment he left to boil goes a bit awry and creates Ultron. Ultron is a sentient robot taking Tony's idea of saving the world to the nth degree by concluding that, to save the world, is to cause extinction of the human race. When Ultron crashes the party and the other Avengers find out Tony has been tinkering without their knowledge, this leads to a bit of a conflict between the team and also gives Ultron time to leave and start his world domination plans. The rest of the movie is all about stopping him.

 

The movie is fantastic and I can't take that away from it. From the beginning strains of the orchestral Avengers theme introduced to us in the first movie, to the fighting and CGI effects, this film is a visceral beauty. There are some unbelievably amazing shots and sequences which really stretch the imagination and the first 15 minutes or so is the Avengers kicking butt like they did in the New York battle of AA in 2012. Even some of the sustained shots of all the Avengers fighting individually are carried through with gusto and this is where the film really shines. But if you think that battle was immense - and it was - then there's a canny few others to ogle at. The Hulkbuster vs Hulk battle was amazing, and the finale was too. However, every single time there is a battle where there is people there is a massive emphasis on protecting the people and elaborate evacuation procedures. There's a few scenes were innocent bystanders are caught in the battle and an Avenger saves them at the last minute.

 

We also find out a lot more about the characters though some of it was probably unnecessary. Hawkeye gets a meatier role, and we find out a lot more about him and there is a hilarious sequence where all of the Avengers have been caught under mind control except him and he says something along the lines of "not this time, been there, done that!". There's a lot of comedy in this film, and there was a lot of laughing out loud in the cinema over it, but as the action moved on quickly your laugh when kind of haha -ooo as something exciting happened. I'm not entirely sure of Chris Hemsworth's comic timing, but Thor has a lot of comical lines too which makes the film quite enjoyable. Hulk gets lots of screen time too - and this is a good thing. There is also a similar joke like Loki's "ta-da" in Dark World, and the punching of Thor by the Hulk in AA in this movie too. And speaking of Thor there is an on-going joke over his hammer which I found amusing.

 

The soundtrack, story and special effects in this movie are second to none. The actors reprise their roles fiercely and the new additions to the team - namely Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch and The Vision fit in rather nicely with the rest of the cast. Having such a large set of main characters is difficult but they even managed cameos from Agent Carter, Heimdall and a little bit of support from War Machine and Falcon. It seems that this movie has got everyone together for a bit of a party and it's nice to see some of the old faces appear.

 

So what do I think? Well, I've been hyped to the max with this movie and I have been waiting 3 years for this and admittedly Avengers Assemble set the bar very high. I really liked the movie and think it is great but something about it was missing and I don't know what. Maybe it was that for all that James Spader was awesome as Ultron, he wasn't as fun as Loki. Or was it that we've seen all the surprises that we can and now it's about telling the story? The first movie teased and teased the Hulk and we didn't see him do his stuff until the very end. We didn't see the Avengers come together until the very end and when they did it was mind blowing. This movie they are already together and are fighting right from the off.

 

In summary I really liked this movie, but I think it just fell short of my stupidly high expectation, but then again, who cares as it's a worthy addition to the Marvel universe. I need to see this again and I'm sure I will get to see more of what I missed as this movie has so much in it that is practically a treasure trove of Marvel stuff. Go see it yourself and make your own mind up - regardless it is action packed to the rafters and is a fantastic ending to phase two. Jeez, I can't wait for phase three.

 

Avengers: Age of Ultron is out now in the UK and comes out May 1 at all good cinemas in the US.

 

POPSCORE: 8.5/10

What am I talking about? Avengers: Age of Ultron
Where can I find out more? http://marvel.com/movies/movie/193/avengers_age_of_ultron

If you like this try: Avengers Assemble (2012), any other marvel Movie really

Anything else?
This is actually not the end of "Phase 2" of the Marvel Cinematic Universe or MCU - Ant-Man is.
This movie features Andy Serkis as Ulysses Klaue who has links to Wakanda (a clue to a movie in Phase Three perhaps?)
This film references Disney's Pinocchio
Kevin Fiege stated that there is a homage to Star Wars' the chopping off of hands in every Phase Two movie and this one is no exception.
There IS a sequence a few minutes into the credit sequence so don't leave as soon as the credit roll. Honestly, it's worth it.  

BYTE: Avengers April

Welcome to April - yes I know it's nearly over, but we still have some excitement left!

How are you? I haven't really had chance to get to the computer to write a Byte recently but now, before I have to go work, I'm taking a time out to connect with you guys once more.

How is it going? I hope you've been keeping up to date with my Twitter as I can update that more frequently with things that have been happening while I've been out and about. It's been a quite month Convention-wise but some interesting things have been happening. It's been a very exciting trailer-centric April, especially over the last week or so. We've been treated to the final Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer, and, to be fair, it looks blummin' awesome! Marvel have released some clips too - 4 no less, and they all look awesome - check out the YouTube stuff - https://youtu.be/_AFtMIBwKho?t=1s and check the other links too.

Other studios have got in on the act too though and we've seen trailers for the upcoming Batman Vs Superman and the much anticipated Star Wars: The Force Awakens. the latter nearly broke the internet when it concluded with an older Han Solo and Chewbacca saying "Chewie, we're home".  Oh, and let's not forget Ant-Man, the other Marvel movie release this summer.

Marvel has been very busy with those movies, and announcements about the furture - Dr Strange and Captain America 3 no less, they have also been working with Netflix on the new Daredevil TV series. I've seen the first episode and after 7 minutes I was impressed - it's is a quantum leap forward from the dismal Daredevil movie starring Ben Affleck. After I've seen the series, expect a review up - but for now, I'm really impressed - especially the little references to the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe).

My blog is getting more views and I'm working behind the scenes to set up my youtube channel and getting everything in place for that. I'm looking to do a little tune for the YouTube channel and looking into that - so expect it soon.

There's more film releases this month too - the major one, of course is Avengers: Age of Ultron next week - so expect a review (and I'll try and not spoil anything) especially for those of you who read my blog in the US (you poor guys have to wait til May 1!).

I've signed up to subscribe 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.

Looking at the latest stuff as well:

>   Xbox Live:  Games with Gold this month celebrates the success of Xbox Live they are doubling the free games and check this out! The full game of Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag on XBOX 360 and for the posh 'uns who have XBOX ONE you are treated to Pool Nation FX, Rayman Legends AND Child of Light to download free if you are a subscriber.
>  PSN: PS Plus this month hasn't really updated just yet but as of today you have Dishonored on PS3, MonsterBag and Killzone: Mercenary for the Vita and Never Alone on PS4. If you're into multi format there is also a game called Tower of Guns and Aaru's Awakening that you can download for all three. Of course these are active while your subscription is and will cease working if you are not a member.

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

Anyway I've wrote enough now - have an AWESOME APRIL and I'll see you soon.

Until next time

Paul