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.

Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

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I’m going to preface this review with a confession: I’d never seen a Wes Anderson film before this one. Not even The Royal Tenenbaums. I know. Some film buff I am. But anyway, just keep that in mind while reading this.

Had this movie not gotten the supremely high critical acclaim that it did, I probably wouldn’t ever have seen it. The trailer showed me a quirky family romantic comedy about a boy scout, Sam, and a “troubled” girl, Suzy, and their journey as they run away so they can be together. Does that sound like a movie I would be even remotely interested in? No. However, I had a free movie ticket and Moonrise Kingdom was the most interesting thing that was screening. And now it may well be one of my favourite movies of the year.

Cosmopolis (2012)

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I’m not sure if it’s a good or bad idea to review Cosmopolis right after having finally overhauled this blog. It’s by no means a mainstream film, and my opinion is sort of controversial. Or maybe that’s a good thing. We’ll see.

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)

 IMDb Page

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.

Liquid Rising (2012)

Official Site

Before I begin this review, I’d like to apologise that I haven’t posted any reviews for the last two weeks. I have had some important exams on and decided not to write any reviews until they were over. I’ll release two extra reviews to make up for the two weeks that I missed. Anyway, let’s get to it.

Liquid Rising is a really niche documentary, to say the least. Funded by online pay-what-you-want donations, it tells us about the members of Team Liquid, arguably the biggest non-Korean professional Starcraft 2 team. Their lives in Team Liquid, their tournament careers, and their personality are all shown in detail here, through a bunch of cut-up interviews with all the Team Liquid members and other big Starcraft community personalities. I’m going to say right now that if you are against the prospect of gaming being considered a sport, you’ll find no enjoyment here. In fact, unless you already have some level of interest in Starcraft and E-sports, you probably won’t find anything to like here at all.