BYTE: Jolly July

It's Just July... or is it? Summer is here!

It's sweltering this week in England, UK - which makes a change really as we're used to dark clouds and rain. So out comes the barbecues and chilled drinks and also some serious fun over the next month or so.

Movie wise we are looking at Marvel's latest offering - Ant-Man, featuring Paul Rudd as the titular character. My fellow Popsters have generally been a bit lukewarm about this movie - but I will assemble the Avengers and we will go to see it and let you know what I think. My TwitterMate (tm) +James Gunn (the director of Guardians of the Galaxy among other things) tweeted "I think @AntMan is my favourite @Marvel film since Iron Man (well, excluding one to which I'm partial). Holy cow is it a blast." I guess we'll have to wait until 17th July to find out!

Meanwhile - Terminator Genysis is out today (as I write this) - so that's 3rd July for you guys in the UK. Magic Mike XXL (I'll skip that one) and Minions also have been released recently. We have Ted 2 to look forward to - and Fantastic Four next month - which is going to be interesting to see. it's all going on in the movie world, it really is.

Let's get to the computers - last months Steam Summer Sale was immense - and sadly I didn't keep any money aside but there were some awesome deals. The challenge this time around was a click mouse to shoot aliens type of game - and my goodness did it play havoc on my fingers and mouse. Still it was a unique way to get involved - even if I was at work for most of it and didn't get the best out of it.

London Film and Comic Con is this month - and it looks unbelievable. The line up is beyond astounding - and I thought they couldn't top when they had Stan Lee (when I went!).  But, if you are interested you have the opportunity to meet Richard Dean Anderson (MacGyver, Stargate SG:1 and all), Marty McFly himself - Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd (GREAT SCOTT!), Ellen Ripley (aka Sigourney Weaver) and... [deep breath] Neve Campbell from Scream! and more besides. You lucky, lucky people! I'm visiting Sheffield Film and Comic Con, so it's not quite as big but still exciting.
 

Let's get to the computers - last months Steam Summer Sale was immense - and sadly I didn't keep any money aside but there were some awesome deals. The challenge this time around was a click mouse to shoot aliens type of game - and my goodness did it play havoc on my fingers and mouse. Still it was a unique way to get involved - even if I was at work for most of it and didn't get the best out of it.

 

Looking at the latest stuff as well:

>   Xbox Live:  Games with Gold this month includes the full game of Plants Vs Zombies on XBOX 360 and for the posh 'uns who have XBOX ONE you are treated to Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag (yes, really) and Massive Chalice (still) to download free if you are a subscriber.
 

>  PSN: PS Plus this month hasn't really updated just yet so nothing new to report on this front. But rumour has it the following games will be available from 7th July:

 

PS4 has:

Entwined, MouseCraft, Rocket League, Styx: Master of Shadows

 

PS3 gets:

Entwined, MouseCraft, Rain

 

Vita receives:

Entwined, Geometry Wars 3, MouseCraft

Personally I'm excited for Geometry Wars 3, but that's just me. 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 August after July's fantastic Ant-man offering!

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

 

Keep being awesome!

 

Until next time

Paul

REVIEW: San Andreas (12A)

This year seems to be the year of literally MIND-BLOWING special effects. Already we have had blockbusters such as Jurassic World, Age of Ultron and the forthcoming Ant-Man - all of which are challenging our minds and eyes to believe in the unbelievable.  Putting the capital D in Disaster Movie, The Rock (aka Dwayne Johnson) takes on the might of mother nature in the latest hi octane, blockbuster disaster movie San Andreas. Clearly influenced by modern disaster movies (read: 2012, Day After Tomorrow) with a little bit of science jiggery-pokery to make it all sound rather plausible, this movie is actually quite an enjoyable romp.

Dwayne Johnson plays a fire rescue pilot Ray, capable of flying most airborne vehicles (and the ability to dangle out of them). The film starts with a situation right away - pretty blonde girl veering her car off the road while trying to check her latest Facebook update or equivalent. Cue the fire rescue to come and attempt to rescue her. The special effects in the first 15 minutes are breath-taking - giving an almost POV shot of what the girl is experiencing tumbling to her doom down a ravine. Luckily a tree overhanging stops her fall 'til the authorities get there - and Mr J & his helicopter team come in for the rescue. of course they save her - and maybe that's a spoiler but that's just the first 15 minutes of the movie or so.

We find out more about Mr Fireman - hot daughter, estranged wife dating millionaire property developer (played by the guy who played Reed Richards in the 2000's Fantastic Four) and a very rocky set of relationships. For the most part this set up seems to be a bit of a short cut way of setting up a family unit in modern movies and, although we learn a little bit more of it, it completely pales into insignificance once the action starts. Meanwhile all this is going on, over in a university lab, Paul Giamatti as Professor Lawrence (that's his first name not surname I assume) develops an early warning system to detect earthquakes. When one goes off and kills his colleague Dr Kim Park, he discovers that his theories are correct and there are bigger things on the horizon (also bigger special effects budget by all accounts too). As the Western part of America is slowly subject to numerous earthquakes it's up to Ray to rescue his family and Lawrence to save the people.

This movie is actually quite good. It's action from start to finish and as a visceral disaster movie you really do get your money's worth. The Rock is carving out a fantastic acting career for himself - managing to distance himself from the wrestler/actor stereotype defined by so many of his contemporaries before him.   Where this film really shines is in the special effects and it really places you into the action. The intenseness (is that even a word?) of the action sequences will have you on the edge of your seat. I watched this in 2D but if there's a 3D version* and they did it well I would think this would be mind blowing. Yes, it's stupidly unrealistic at times and nearly every second one of the major characters is in mortal danger - but it's enjoyable.

Overall this film is good - there's only so much headway you can make in a disaster movie and we have seen it all before - but Dwayne Johnson is likeable enough to keep the story moving and there's enough action and destruction to keep ardent fans of the blockbuster/big budget special effects happy. if you want a mindless action movie with amazing special effects and don't want to think too much - this is your movie. Get the popcorn and settle down for some fun and excitement.

San Andreas is at the cinema now and is rated 12A.

POPSCORE: 8/10

What am I talking about? The movie San Andreas

Where can I find out more? http://www.sanandreasmovie.com/
If you like this try: Deep Impact, Volcano, 2012, The Day After Tomorrow

Anything else:

Kylie Minogue (yes, really) features in a scene in the movie.
This movie has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with Grand Theft Auto - though strangely, he steals a truck and gives it someone else in exchange of a plane. So maybe it has.

*When I was looking up the website address it says it is available in iMAX 3D. I may have to track this down - it would be one heck of a thrill ride!  

BYTE: Jovial June

Welcome to June - yes, yes I know I'm a bit late and it's nearly over! but better late than never eh?



Awesome sentiment from Marvel.

Lots of turmoil has been happening in this world this month - and it's been very sad to see the events that have unfolded earlier on today. Also Patrick Macnee, wrestler Dusty Rhodes and Sir Christopher Lee all passed away over the last few weeks. Sad times indeed.

What's been going on? Well let's look at the movies first - the much anticipated Jurassic World hit our silver screens this month - and hit it it did - even knocking Avengers Assemble for six in the box office stakes. Chris Pratt once again took on his Marvel companions and beat them into submission with his Velociraptor squad. Featuring more than a few nods and homages to the original, Jurassic World is definitely one of the best movies of this year - and a worthy follow up to the ones before it. Check out my review here to see what I thought of it - and you can leave your opinion on there too.

Where's Owen when I need him?

 I happened to be in London for a Piano Guys concert - and I reviewed that too. There was a big hoo-ha at Waterloo Station too - where Velociraptors were trying to break out of containment. So I did what anyone else would do - get a picture of them!

I visited the new Madame Toussaud's Star Wars exhibition in London and it was really rather good - however some over zealous customer broke Yoda's ear so we couldn't see the iconic little green man. I did however get to sit with Princess Leia and Jabba the Hut (I think they wanted to watch the Simpsons) and reached out to Darth Vader (see below) and saw an abundance of other Star Wars scenes and characters. This is featured at the end of the standard Madam Toussaud's experience and follows on from the Marvel 4D experience and the traditional wax works they are famous for.



"Luke! I am your fath..."
"I'll stop you there, mate, my name is not Luke..." 

Other stuff I've been up to this month also includes getting tickets for the Sheffield Film and Comic Con - I'm gonna try and meet some wrestlers, a horror icon and goodness knows what else - but keep it locked here in August for a full rundown and some pics of what I get up to with that.  The line up for the London one looks like a fanboy (or girl) dream - but I can't make it this year due to spending all my money on subscription boxes, other cons and...

 

...The Smithsonian Rise of the Superheroes distance learning online course. I've just completed the 5 week course and I found it really interesting and fascinating. Professor Michael Uslan and none other than Stan Lee, take you through the history of superheroes and tell you about your favourites. Complete with videos, assignments and reading lists - this course is fantastic for people who love history, comics and erm, Marvel. It was the first time they ran this course so I'm in the first class alumni - but it was so successful they are running it again. If you pay for the course - which I recall was about $50 then you get an exclusive art print digitally signed by Stan Lee and Prof Uslan - and a certificate from the Smithsonian. You can also do it for FREE but won't get credit or the exclusive artwork. Originally it sounded like you would get the print as a proper signed piece of work - but later they elaborated to say it was an exclusive signed print - but it was done digitally. I was a little disappointed at this - but the course was really good and to be fair that was the only disappointment. I will do a review soon of it in full - but until then, why not check it out and join me as an alumni?

 

Looking at the latest stuff as well:

>   Xbox Live:  Games with Gold this month includes the full game of Thief on XBOX 360 and for the posh 'uns who have XBOX ONE you are treated to Pool Nation FX (still) and Massive Chalice (?!) to download free if you are a subscriber. Major Nelson posted July's offerings and they look very good indeed!

>  PSN: PS Plus this month you have Metal Gear Solid 5 and Skulls of the Shogun on PS4, Futuridium EP Deluxe and Super Exploding Zoo as a bundle for PS4 and Vita and Call of Jurarez: Gunslinger and Cloudberry Kingdom on PS3. As always you need to be a subscriber, and stay one, for these games to continue working.

 

If you are interested in any of these games you will have to get a wriggle on as they are valid until the end of June. Also out this month is the Arkham Knight special edition PS4 and there is talk of 1TB models being released for both PS4 and Xbox One. But the most surprising news of this month is that Xbox will become backwards compatible! That's right! Xbox One will play Xbox 360 games - the exact intricacies are not yet available but support will be added gradually. I'll let you know more when I get it.
 

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

 

...AND Marvel Collector Corps: Ant Man edition!

I've had a crack at doing an unboxing video - I'll tweet the link when I manage to understand how to edit. If anyone is good at this sort of stuff feel free to send me some tips!
 

Anyway I've wrote enough now - have a Jovial June and I'll see you soon.

 

Keep being awesome!

 

Until next time

Paul

REVIEW: Jurassic World (12A)

Jurassic Park is back!

Kind of!  It's been 20 odd years since Hammond exclaimed - "Welcome... to Jurassic Park!". What ensued was a worldwide madness for dinosaurs and you couldn't move an inch before a rubber Velociraptor or a plastic Tyrannosaurus was in your face. I'll admit I'm a bit geeky when it comes to dinosaurs and really fell in love with the first movie. It was the first book that I read that I couldn't stop reading too. It was recently released in 3D at the cinema and I went once again to see it in it's glory with Chris - and it stood the test of time - even the special effects (and I'm not talking about the 3D stuff) were still holding up really well. It was the only film in the 1990's I went to the cinema to see more than once - which was unprecedented for me. So I'm lucky enough to have the original fresh in my mind but how did the new one do? My favourite character, Ian Malcolm was not in it, and neither was Dr Grant, Ellie Sattler or the two Hammond grandchildren Lex and Tim.

Jurassic World (not quite Jurassic Park IV) is a follow on from the previous 3 in the series but it's not really Jurassic Park IV and not quite a reboot - it's like just a bit further on in time, I guess like we are as the audience. Peppered throughout the movie are references to the first Jurassic park movie and some homages too.

Chris Pratt (Guardians of The Galaxy) stars as Owen, a zookeeper of sorts with an affinity (or respect) for Velociraptors. He has been working with them to be able to follow his order and have them as you would a bird of prey. Some people mistake this for him having tamed them, but he says that he hasn't - it's just a matter of mutual respect. A bit like birds of prey. Meanwhile, bonny redhead Claire (Twilight & Spiderman 3's Bryce Dallas Howard) has her nephews visiting for a few days at the theme park - which has gone from strength to strength since the madness that ensued with Hammond's original idea. However, it has been running pretty good so far until the admissions are starting to wane - so the owners decide to create their own genetically modified dinosaur -  the Indominus Rex - a cross breed of... a lot of nasty stuff including a velociraptor and a cuttlefish. Better keep it away from Ulysess Klaue from Age of Ultron then!

As the I-Rex (it sounds like an Apple product now) learns and develops and is intelligent enough to challenge even velociraptors, it is proven that it is a very dangerous dinosaur indeed. However, when it breaks loose from it's paddock - every one on the island is in danger and it's up to Owen and Claire to help the guys on the island and save the day.

The movie is a great homage to its predecessor and does it just as well. The special effects are fantastic and the 3D is good. The new dinosaurs are spectacular and the velociraptors aren't quite as scary as the first one but still deadly. 

The movie has a lot of homages to the first movie and even some sequences echo the first one - but I won't go into too much detail as it will spoil the movie if you haven't seen it. But if you look carefully you'll see Mr DNA make an appearance and there is a shop called Winston's that's named after special effects legend Stan Winston who worked on the original JP (and a multitude of other movies besides).

This movie has it all, action, excitement and ... dinosaurs. If you like a good action adventure with amazing special effects you could not do any wrong. In this day and age, and the success this film has, I feel that there will be a lot more dinosaur movies after this one - but let's hope they maintain this quality because if they do, Marvel will have competition on their hands in the blockbuster movie stakes.

Jurassic World is at the cinema now and is rated 12A.

POPSCORE: 9.5/10

What am I talking about? The movie Jurassic World

Where can I find out more? http://uk.jurassicworldintl.com/
If you like this try: Jurassic Park, Jaws, Shark Attack 3 (maybe)
 



If you're at Waterloo Station this week -
check out the display of the Velociraptors.

IN CONCERT: The Piano Guys, Eventim Apollo, June 13th 2015

"Have you heard of The Piano Guys?"

"Who?"

The concert started with some vox pops and potted history of the YouTube sensation that is The Piano Guys. The 'Guys themselves were conducting the interviews and, I suspect, those not of the YouTube generation will meet the question, "Have you heard of The Piano Guys?" with a resounding - "Who?". If that is the case, though, you are sadly missing out.

 



Gee, I wonder which artist is on tonight?

For those of you in the know, permit me to elaborate first and stay with me. For the others, TPG are a set of "middle aged dads who play music via YouTube videos", as Jon Schmidt (the talented pianist of the band) says. They do songs but they do mash ups, usually of famous songs you've heard of, and mix them with classical music you might not have. You might get Bach meets The Jackson 5 or Vivaldi versus the Theme from The Bourne Identity. As recently a few days ago they did a version of the Jurassic Park theme in one of their videos. The videos are great too - very arty, picturesque and into nature. The Piano Guys are most notably two artists - Jon (piano) and Steve (cello) but there are actually four of them. Their history of how they got together is both miraculous by Jon's own admission but also serendipitous. But I'll stop giving background now and go for the gig.

 

This was the last gig of the tour and featured a multitude of awe inspiring songs - sometimes to the videos we've seen on YouTube and sometimes not. Stretching from Story of My Life by One Direction to the Theme To Kung Fu Panda via Let It Go to some self penned tracks, TPG were inspiring. The fluency and skill on the part of both artists was nothing short of jaw dropping and the speaking in between as they interacted with the audience was like they were talking to you in their front room. At the start it was more about telling you what song they were playing next but by the time they got to their second act they were joking and chatting on like they'd known us for years. 



There's actually four Piano Guys -
here they are playing a piano at the same time!

I think it takes a large amount of skill to play both a piano and cello to the level they do; but to keep people enchanted for two hours is something else... And they did. Their mix of raw talent and humility was refreshing and their take on music is too. They've successfully mixed classical music with contemporary music and made it accessible to the masses. Some of their work borders on genius and in their own way they are as good as the composers they so obviously admire.

I would go and see these guys again. As a musician myself I was in awe, but as a spectator it was fun, enjoyable and refreshingly different. They created The Piano Guys YouTube channel to sell pianos from the shop they had set up. They created it to showcase the pianos... they never sold a single piano. They became world wide famous and released four albums and got signed by Sony instead.

 

Dreams can come true and these guys deserve every bit of it.

Top drawer music from a talented bunch.

POPSCORE: 10/10

For more on The Piano Guys and their amazing cross-genre music check out www.pianoguys.com and their YouTube channel - search "The Piano Guys"

I have used a photo taken from the gig in this review to supplement the text - if this is not appropriate then let me know and I will be happy to take it down.

REVIEW: MOVIEBLAST: Run All Night (15) & Pitch Perfect 2 (12A)

MOVIEBLAST:

RUN ALL NIGHT (15) is the latest action/thriller from legendary Irishman Liam Neeson. The premise is a little confusing but basically goes like this - Jimmy Conlon (Neeson) is an ex-criminal who is getting on with his life - and when his long time friend, Shawn Maguire, (not the actor/singer from Grange Hill)  is still in the game they are pretty much keeping apart. However, Shawn's son is still being sticky fingered and in a twist of fate, Conlon's son's life is threatened by Maguire's son. Conlon happens to be about so it comes down to a fire fight and Conlon kills Maguire's son. As you can probably imagine, this doesn't go down well in the Maguire household, so Shawn sends his entire contingent of henchmen and bruisers after the Conlon family. It's up to Jimmy to show them all who's boss in a mediocre action thriller.
Neeson is good as Conlon, but it seems that over recent years (thanks to Taken) that he is being stereotyped as a no-nonsense hard man who can take on small squads of ruffians dispensing justice as he sees fit. It's not a bad movie, really, but it's completely unoriginal and exactly like the others we've seen over recent years. Do what you want with it but it's like these movies have a certain formula they have to follow but they just never reach the dizzy heights of Taken. Overall, not bad but could be better.
POPSCORE: 6.5/10

PITCH PERFECT 2 (12A) is the sequel to 2012's acc-amazing Pitch Perfect. The Barden Bella's return as America's number one acapella group and start the movie at the top of their game.
Performing at the Lincoln Center in front of the President and on TV, they give it their all, until a slight mishap (read: wardrobe malfunction) occurs when Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson) is lowered from the ceiling on a ribbon and she gets a split in her rather eye-wateringly tight leggings. Unfortunately she forgot to include underwear, so she is exposed live on TV and in front of the president. Disgraced, they are sent home, and they end up being kicked off the acapella circuit. Meanwhile, Beca (Anna Kendrick) realises that her days at high school are numbered and is following her dream of becoming a producer - and when she gets a placement at a local studio with Snoop Dogg recording there, this is her chance of a lifetime. Meanwhile the rest of the Bella's have to earn the right to perform once more - but this time they have to win the international championships. Only thing is they have to face the emotionless powerhouse Das Sound Machine, a technically flawless German acapella  group that leaves other's in their wake. Can the Bella's do it?
The movie features an amazing soundtrack and lots of laughs and I really enjoyed this one. The actors assembles for the movie are all fabulous and Rebel Wilson is fantastic comic relief. I really enjoyed this, even more so that I'm a singer/songwriter. The acapella arrangements are great. Only thing is some of the jokes and content were a bit shocking - and I'm surprised they got away with it. But they did, and the film is good.
POPSCORE: 8.5/10

REVIEW: Unfriended (15)

Unfriended (also known as Cybernatural) is another found footage movie but presented in such a way that it's like you are using a lap top. Not only that, but it uses (here comes the product placement) Skype, Facebook, YouTube and a few more. Thing is, as much as I'm not the biggest fan of found footage movies (the best one in recent times was Project Almanac in my opinion) this does it different, and, if you are open to it, it's really pretty good.

The film starts with a girl called Blaire Lily, who has booted up her lap top to chat with her boyfriend. As they start getting a bit raunchy (don't get too excited - she only unbuttons her top) the rest of her friends invade Skype to have a 5 way conversation about their day. It all seems fairly monotonous until all through the convo they finally notice there is an extra caller who is not showing their photo on Skype. Funny things start to happen and soon it is revealed that this extra caller isn't exactly there to be very nice.

Backstory time - there is a young lady by the name of Laura Barns who is ridiculed/shamed on YouTube after getting very drunk at a get together in a field with her classmates. She passes out (I still cannot define whether she was raped or pooed herself or both) but the upshot of it was it was uploaded to YouTube with the tag line "LAURA BARNS KILL URSELF" and then posts were ridiculing her on the site. However, it didn't stop there and overflowed onto Facebook. This cyber bullying obviously affected Laura who took her own life by shooting herself in the head. That's as far as it goes for now, until this random chatter has joined the Skype Squad (I'm trademarking that) and starts talking. It's all kinda ominous until one person discloses it is a year since Laura took her own life and that the account these new messages are coming from are hers.

The film is basic, even some of the young men in the cinema who were noisily scoffing popcorn claimed "This film is rubbish - I could have made that on the computer" are completely missing the point. Yes, it's about as back to basics as found footage goes, but it is suspenseful, realistic and very grounded using things we take for granted every day.  This includes authentic Facebook chat, Skype chats and the like. Although if you really look you can see glaring errors - like erroneous time stamps and the fact a 99kb photo takes over 15 seconds to download but a 1.8GB file takes less than 10 seconds is irrelevant. The film uses those things we see while being on the net as devices to add suspense - the freezing of the Skype picture as one of her friends is screaming and no-one knows what is going on then it stutters on to see a horrific image of a character meeting their fate, or the sinister extra caller issuing threats by chat message and following up on them is both unnerving and quite close to home.

It's been called the Blair Witch Project for the internet generation but it's definitely a horror. It's definitely a thriller. But it also has a message. It's social media gone crazy and it's inference is that a lot of the naughties children (who are now teens) have grown up with this in their lives and a small amount of them think it's funny or cool to degrade and hurt others through pictures, taunts or posts - it's bullying evolved. This film is an example of this to the nth degree. In this movie their dead class mate comes back through the internet to wreak her revenge on those who drove her to kill herself. Although it is highly unlikely that deceased people's Facebook and Skype's will start posting and ringing people, the fact of the matter is that cyber-bullying is very real and affects people in this way.

The film then is a horror - it's jumpy in parts. It's basic and it's premise is simple, but it's the message that is what was clearest for me. A lot of people left the movie at the end and didn't seem to struck on it and I guess it's an acquired taste. But it's clever, very clever.

Unfriended is at the cinema now and is rated 15.

POPSCORE: 8/10

What am I talking about? The movie Unfriended

Where can I find out more? http://www.unfriendedmovie.co.uk/
If you like this try: Paranormal Activity, The Ring, Blair Witch Project