World War Z (2013)

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Once again, it's been a while. I'm bad, I know. I was actually going to release this review the day after World War Z came out, but I just never got around to finishing it. I'm not sure if it's even playing in cinemas anymore.

Whether you've read the book this was based on will strongly affect your reaction to this film. It could be argued that that's a bad thing and that this should be examined as stand-alone from the book. That's a completely legitimate argument, but I'm afraid I disagree.

Iron Man 3 (2013)

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Hello. It's been a long time.

I can't say I was excited for Iron Man 3. The trailer looked a little too "let's be Batman" for me, and Shane Black directing it doesn't get me excited. Having said that, it's not like I was dreading it. (I mean, I did see it). Having now seen it, I can say that I care about it far more than I did before, although not for the right reasons.

The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) - Mini Review

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Hello everyone! Sorry for not having written anything for so long! I'm currently on holiday and want to post reviews again because I haven't in so long, but don't really have the time to post full-length ones, so I'm going to do some mini reviews. If I like the way these go, I might start doing this kind of thing whenever I'm really busy so that I can still be releasing content.

Just Cause 2 (2010)

Why is it that most gamers determine whether a game is casual or hardcore by either its price tag or the “maturity” of its subject matter? Just Cause 2 is a perfect example of a full price (well, at launch, at least) game that has “highly mature” subject matter but is in every sense of the word a casual game. And that’s something more games should aspire to be.

Chonicle (2012)

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When the trailer for Chronicle came out, I remember immediately despising it. It showed us a bunch of arsehole teenagers getting superpowers and becoming bigger arseholes. It had terrible music, cheesy moments (that cross-legged car-crushing shot that’s in the trailer is still the worst part of the movie) and used the found-footage technique, which I really wasn’t a fan of at the time. It was because of this trailer that I never bothered seeing it in the cinema. Despite the great reviews it got and the numerous recommendations from friends, I just didn’t give a shit. So, after finally watching it upon its DVD release, did it live up to the hype or did the trailer, for once, not lie? Let’s just say I’ve watched it three times since buying it.

The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

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I’m going to just rip the band-aid off quickly before it becomes too excruciating. The Dark Knight Rises isn’t very good. There, I said it. Before I devour all the faults of the film, I want to make it very clear that it’s not awful. It’s an okay movie, and had it been the first film in the series (even if that would have made absolutely no sense) I would have been a little less harsh on it. But the simple fact of the matter is that I couldn’t walk into this movie with an objective point of view because I’ve seen the first two Batman movies and I love them to bits. It is humanly impossible for me to detach those two movies from my mind while viewing this one, and I don’t see any reason why I should. A precedent was set, and said precedent was not lived up to. I would also like to clarify that precedent is different to hype. I actually wasn’t very excited for The Dark Knight Rises. I tried very hard not to think about it and let it creep up on me. I remember talking with a friend of mine and saying “when we see The Dark Knight Rises” and subsequently realising we were going to see it the following week! I was more hyped for The Dark Knight than for The Dark Knight Rises, and I was far more satisfied with it than I was with this. Here is why.

The Hunger Games (2012)

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Before I begin this review, I'd like to make it clear that I had read all 3 books in the Hunger Games trilogy before I saw the movie. I do not believe that an adaptation should try to mirror whatever it is based on. It can be as identical or loosely-based or somewhere in-between as it likes, as long as it can be understood without any knowledge of the original material. However, I generally believe that the adaptation should not be exactly the same as the original, as a change in medium almost always requires changes in the text for consistent quality to exist. I ask you to read this review with this in mind, as I will be criticising the film with this perspective. This will be the case with any future reviews of adaptations also. So, let's review The Hunger Games!

I came into The Hunger Games expecting a mediocre film. I saw it a few weeks after it was released, and had heard a lot of things that didn't sound promising. Having said that, I was still excited to some degree, being a fan of the books (the first one in particular), and was interested in seeing the story come to life in a new format.