Captain America: Civil War - A Spoiler Free Review

Last night I saw the midnight showing of the new Captain America movie - and my God it was one hell of a roller coaster ride! The title is not kidding when it says 'Civil War' because this really is a war between the Avenger team. Friends are fighting friends, and they're not holding punches, to say the least, Marvel were not holding back when making this movie. It has to be seen to be believed.
You may be thinking just why I'm saying that - the trailer gives the plot away right? They're all fighting over the Sokovian Accords. Wrong!
Well, half right, there's other things at play here too, which I won't go into for spoiler reasons. What I will say is that the trailers are completely misleading, Marvel have presented every clip to look one way, when in the actual film, it's going another. They've actually used different takes in some cases than they do in the film, to mislead it's audience. And somehow, that really, really works. You expect a scene to be going in one direction, then Marvel throw the curve ball at you and leave you reeling.
To say the least, this film is two and a half hours of tense fighting, mainly focusing on Chris Evan's Captain America, and Robert Downey Jnr's Iron Man. Characters like Black Widow, Bucky Barnes, Hawkeye and Vision are involved, but the argument is centered around Cap and Tony Stark. It's agonising to watch their friendship deteriorate, even as they desperately try to stay friends, while remaining on opposite sides. What I enjoyed about this was that the character did try to talk it out, and that both sides of the argument were shown.
In this film, there is no right and wrong, there is just Steve Roger's opinion, and Tony Stark's, and you as the audience member can choose which side you are on. It's a tough one to call though, both sides have their good arguments, and both sides also have their bad. Both make mistakes along the way, both try to do what they think is the right thing, and they are both right in their own ways. Even now, I'm still on the fence about which side I'm on, I still honestly do not know. I don't think I ever will choose a side for definite, it's just too difficult to call.
Besides all this angst and pain, the film is also surprisingly funny in places. Paul Rudd's Ant Man is as funny as his solo film, Bucky and Falcon have sort of teamed to make a great double act, who bounce off each other, and Steve Roger's well.
And, who'd have thought it, but Spiderman is hilarious in places. Honestly, I never find Spiderman funny, in fact, I generally find him a bit tedious and boring. But this film really brings him to the fore, in some ways he and Black Panther steal the show. For once Peter Parker is compelling, actually looks like a teenage boy, and acts like it too. Tom Holland did a fantastic job playing him, and I feel like after his own solo film, I may actually become a Spiderman fan.
Likewise, Black Panther was not what I was expecting. For some reason, I was expecting a more wild character, someone who would not listen to anybody and would act within his own needs, but I was wrong. T'Challa is incredibly regal and calm, willing to listen, yet absolutely lethal in his search for revenge. I don't know much about his character history, but his future in the MCU is going to be very interesting to say the least.
All in all, Captain America: Civil War is a masterpiece, possibly the best Marvel movie to date. The ending is unexpected in a lot of ways, and is going to lead perfectly into Avengers: Infinity War. There's brilliant light and shade throughout, you will laugh and cry for the entire film. There's only a few niggles I have with the film, and those are either down to personal preference, or because I was expecting something different (mostly at the end credit scenes, of which there are two. The scenes are good, but I was expecting a different character to be in one, but that's just me). But this film is incredibly, honest to God amazing.
And one thing is for certain, the Avengers will never be the same again after this.

Good Deadpool? Bad Deadpool? GOOD DEADPOOL!

I've literally just come back from watching Deadpool and I have to get out my feelings right now, because my God Deadpool is amazing! I loved every single second of this madcap, fourth-wall breaking, swearing, gory, laugh out loud funny origin film, and I'd highly recommend that everybody go and see it... Unless you're squeamish, or have a delicate disposition, then I'd say stay away as far as possible. If you're into this sort of stuff, then you're going to LOVE this film.
Going into Deadpool, all I knew about him was the basics - he breaks the fourth wall, swears a lot, and is known as the 'Merc With A Mouth,' other than that, I knew nothing. I'd seen Wolverine Origins (which gets ripped to shreds in this film, or at least Hugh Jackman does anyway) but my knowledge was so skin thin I could have gone in completely ignorant. What I got in return was absolute genius - a completely new take on the 'hero origin' story, where the hero doesn't even want to be a hero. Wade Wilson (the man behind the mask) just wants revenge on the man who gave him his powers and destroyed his skin, and to save his girlfriend from the same man, he doesn't want to be a hero, and he makes sure everybody knows it.
To be honest, this is more of a revenge story than anything else, it's nearly two hours of Wade seeking revenge, with pieces of flashback to explain why Wade is after this guy in the first place. And somehow, that works, and more importantly, you fall in love with Wade as he does this.
From the opening scene, Wade Wilson is having gory shoot outs with his enemies henchman, destroying cars and turning one guy into a shish-kabob. The audience knows straight away that Wade is not a good person at all, and yet, as his story is told, you fall in love with him. It's all through his wise cracks and his love for his girlfriend Vanessa. He's ridiculous in so many ways, but absolutely lovable, not in a way that you'd take him home to meet your mum, but still very lovable. His jokes about Hugh Jackman (of which there are many), the X-Men in general, and pop culture are completely on point and hilarious.
At points, he gets a bit near the mark with his sex jokes, but that was the whole point of Deadpool in the first place - he's not supposed to be correct all the time. He's supposed to be absolutely insane, rude and dangerous, the antithesis of the anti-hero. And in this film, it's perfect for him. No other hero could pull this off at all, Wade Wilson is the least politically correct super hero ever, and it's absolutely perfect.
Deadpool in fact doesn't pull any punches, or hold back in any shape or form. The fourth wall breaks are everywhere, some so subtle you nearly miss them, and others right in your face. Swear words fly around so damn often you forget that this is a Marvel film, they're not at all bleeped out like they are in the comics. The blood and guts are absolutely everywhere, hell even the naked shots aren't held back either. Where other films would use tasteful angles to avoid showing someone's manhood in the middle of a fight, Deadpool doesn't shy away at all. Nothing in Deadpool is shy, or chaste, or anything of the sort. It's loud, in your face, hilarious, and absolutely brilliant. I only have two objections - 1) Hugh Jackman doesn't actually turn up, and neither does Wolverine, even though both are mentioned, and 2) Deadpool never physically meets Stan Lee, which could have been epic. Oh well, there's always next time for these two wishes!
In all seriousness though, Deadpool is an incredible film, and the perfect way to start this year's superhero offerings from Marvel. I can't wait to see what Wade will get up to next, all I can say is that it'll be absolutely epic.

Ant Man - Small Hero, Big Film

I know this blog is supposed to be reviews, writing tips and generally about writing, but currently I seem to be on a bit of a reviewing trip. Blame the fact that I've been watching a lot of films recently, next week I'll write something about writing, deal? Deal. 

Anyway, yesterday I saw Marvel's latest release - Ant Man. And I'm seeing it again. Tonight. Because it's really, really good. 

It's safe to say that I automatically love anything Marvel ever releases, but I do love each film in various degrees. Age Of Ultron, Assemble and Guardians Of The Galaxy are my absolute favourites, for their story lines, characters, and general awesomeness. Then everything else falls into place afterwards, each Marvel release holding a special place in my heart. Ant Man has now joined his fellow heroes, and did so within ten minutes of the film's opening.

The film follows the story of of Scott, an ex-con trying to go straight for his daughter, as he's ex-wife isn't going to allow him to see her until he has a stable job and a flat. But then he hears of a 'big score' and falls back into cat burgling, and without giving too much away, falls into becoming the Ant Man to basically save the world from The Yellow Jacket, all while having quite a good laugh. 

Some critics say that Ant Man is as funny as Guardians Of The Galaxy, and while I wouldn't go as far as that, I would say the film is very funny in places. Namely, when Ant Man fights Captain America's friend Falcon. I was nearly crying I was laughing so hard as I watched the two fight, and nearly screamed when I first saw Falcon turn up, even though I knew he was making a guest appearance. The pairs fight was incredibly funny, mostly because of what they were saying to each other (and well, watching a full grown man get beaten up by someone the size of an ant is pretty damn funny) and I'm now sure it's my favourite scene of the entire film. It was comedy gold, and classic Marvel. 

Now, to address the big elephant in the room regarding Ant Man, the thing that has sent a lot of Marvel fans into uproar. Wasp being written out of the film. For those who don't know, Wasp is Ant Man's friend, and she possesses a similar suit, which can make her shrink and resize just like Ant Man. In the comic world, the two go out on missions together all the time, and helped found The Avengers themselves. Yet in this film, Wasp has been written out of it almost entirely. Lots of fans were disappointed in the revelation that Wasp would not be in this film, and I must say I was as well. I'm a firm believer in Woman Power and strong female characters kicking ass with the good (and bad) guys, just like Black Widow. I haven't read the comics so I can't say that I loved Wasp before watching the film or anything, but I was a bit disappointed to know we wouldn't get another female superhero. 

And then I wasn't disappointed. After watching the film I understand completely why it was necessary to write Wasp out, as it would have made Ant Man's mission pointless. There was no need for more than one person to shrink to steal the Yellow Jacket. If Wasp had been there originally, Scott wouldn't have needed to become the Ant Man. So I can completely understand why Marvel decided to change her story line and have her in an alternative dimension after a previous mission went wrong twenty years ago. But I think Marvel will pleasantly surprise you in the first end credits scene, because again, without spoiling the film for others, they give scope for Wasp to return. By Ant Man 2, we'll have Wasp, and one who has already proven herself to be a brilliant fighter and a brilliant superhero who can hold herself up with the big boys. 

I would end this review there, but there's just one other scene I want to talk about. The finale end credit scene, involving a tie in to Captain America: Civil War. That's right, at the end of this film, CAPTAIN AMERICA AND BUCKY BARNES TURN UP. It took all I had to not scream at the sight of them, I'm a huge fan of Bucky Barnes, and love Captain America, and am getting ridiculously excited for Civil War. So to see them, and have a small hint of trouble in Camp Avenger, oh it ended the film perfectly. The scene is literally about two minutes long, and Bucky doesn't say a word, but oh it's giving me so much more excitement for Civil War! It may even mean that Ant Man turns up for Civil War to help Steve with Bucky, as for some reason Steve can't help Bucky by himself. It's already stated that The Avengers need Ant Man at the end of the main film, but the question is : why does Steve need Scott to help Bucky? and why can't Tony help? It's all very intriguing and I for one cannot wait for the next film Marvel throws at me! 

The Liebster Award

I'm horribly late doing this, but Cameron didn't tell me he'd tagged me in this until yesterday!
Thanks to him for tagging me in this, and here we go:

1. What’s your favourite movie/tv series?

• Are you sure you're ready for this answer? Currently I'm loving How To Get Away With Murder and Agents Of SHIELD, but my main ones have to be BBC Sherlock, Marvel, and Buffy The Vampire Slayer! 

1. Do you love reading? If yes, what is your favourite book?

• Hell yes! I'm always reading! Well currently I'm loving All I Know Now by Carrie Hope Fletcher, but the book I'm REALLY loving is Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell 

1. How would you describe yourself in 5 words?

• Writer, Vlogger, fangirl, tired and... nerdy 

1. Who’s your favourite band/artist?

• MCFLY! I adore McFly and McBusted! They got me into writing and I adore their music! 

1. If you could have 3 wishes, what would they be?

• To make a success book, to be able to own my own house, and to help people with their writing through my channel! 

1. If you could have a superpower, what would it be?

• Ohhhh, superspeed I think! It would save me a tonne of money in travel costs, and help me to not be late all the time!

1. What’s your all-time favourite food?

• Toad in the hole (I'm eating some now) or Chinese chicken balls, I could live on either! 

1. Where’s your favourite place to shop?

• Anywhere that sells geeky things, like redbubble, amazon, geektown, anywhere like that!

1. What’s your favourite colour?

• Black!

1. What is your future plan?

• See above wishes, with added moving in with my best friend and making our super awesome house! :)

1. Who do you admire most?

• Joss Whedon for writing, McFly for general life strength, Carrie Hope Fletcher for general life strength again, Benedict Cumberbatch for again life strength, the list goes on!

Age Of Ultron Is A Marvel

Again, long time, no see. There hasn't really been a film or TV show I've wanted to review for a while, but right now, I have to get my feelings out about Marvel's latest Avengers film - Age Of Ultron.
I was lucky enough to go to the midnight showing of the film last night, and having only just woken up, I'm still in a state of shock. Last night there were no words to describe just how incredible the Age Of Ultron is, but today, I think I can manage some at the least. Let's start with the obvious:
THIS FILM IS THE BEST THING MARVEL HAVE EVER DONE!
I'm not even overstating this either, Age Of Ultron is a masterpiece of cinema, possibly Joss Whedon's best work (and there's a lot of amazing work to compare to). This film revolves around obviously The Avengers from the original characters, and their fight against AI robot Ultron. Ultron was created by Tony, wanting to protect the world from more Chitari and other alien attacks, so New York doesn't happen again. But Ultron goes wrong in the process, deciding that The Avengers, and the entire human race, is destroying the planet, so we must all die so robots can take over. All the while fighting of the Maximoff twins, otherwise known as Quicksilver and Scarlett Witch, before they team up together, which the help of a few others.
I won't give much else about the plot away because that would be too spoilery, but my God, this film packs a powerful punch. Plot twists coming from all manner of angles, beautifully written characters, hilarious one liners, Age Of Ultron is pure Joss Whedon with a Marvel twist. I was on the edge of my seat for the entire film, clinging to my best friend's hand for half of it, giggling for the rest.
Everything is beautifully written and executed, with an incredible plot to sink your teeth into. Ultron is an incredible mix of psychotic killer and confused child (and if you watch The Blacklist, bits of James Spader's Reddington come through, though it's not obvious unless you were watching for it) Quicksilver and Scarlett Witch made you care for them despite how they are so quickly introduced and thrown into the middle of the chaos. The Hulk and Black Widow break your heart. Hawkeye swings one hell of a plot twist (while perfectly explaining where the hell he was when SHIELD went down in Captain America 2 - The Winter Soldier). Thor bumbles through social interaction in a hilariously cute way. Tony Stark is well, Tony Stark in the perfectly sarky way he is known for. Rhodey aka War Machine (or Iron Patriot, depending on who you're talking to) and Sam aka Falcon make wonderful surprise cameos. The Vision is a beautiful addition too, one I hope to continue to see in the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The entire cast twists together beautifully, almost like one big, insane family, complete with in jokes and running jokes (all I'm saying right now is watch your language) emotions and clashing heads.
There is still the fights from the original Avengers Assemble, but this film makes it all seem slicker. The tone of the entire film is darker, more complex. Gone are the days of Loki causing trouble because he wants to be a king, here comes the morals and a lot more adult themes. Yet the film manages to be funnier than the original, lightening the mood without taking away from the tone. It's a beautiful film, that will make you cry and laugh, and quite possibly scream DAMN YOU JOSS WHEDON at least twice. And all in all, I'm in love with this film, my only complaint would be that it needs to be LONGER. There's so much plot and plot twist to cram in that some things have had to be shortened, there could have easily been an extra half hour added onto this film and it would not have dragged at all. I never wanted this film to end, and because it did end, I'm going to have to see it at least three more times before it comes out on DVD, just to keep my Marvel fix going.
All in all, Marvel has done it again and made an incredible film for us to enjoy. Go and watch this film as soon as you can because it is a masterpiece of superhero cinema. If Marvel continue on this path, I cannot wait to see where they will go next!

Marvel Have Done It Once Again!

Again, it's been a long time since my last review, and I apologise for that, but I've had exams/uni worries to deal with since them, as well as starting writing two other stories that I've wanted to focus on recently. But today I went out with my best friend Charlie to see Guardians Of The Galaxy, and once again, Marvel have proven why they're the top of their field!
GOTC is a film about a rag team of outlaws saving the entire galaxy (sound familiar to a TV series by the current Marvel show runner Joss Whedon by any chance?) and the film does exactly what it says on the tin with added laughs making a brilliant tie-in to The Avengers universe too!
The film starts with the heart wrenching seen of Peter Quill as a child losing his mother before being abducted by a space ship. It only lasts about five minutes, but did honestly make me want to cry at the sight of a little boy losing his mother, it was excellently acted by everyone in the scene and really had me routing for Peter before the 'real' part of the film started.
The scene moves onto him twenty years in the future, where Peter is now basically a bounty hunter for treasure across the galaxy, and he's on a decimated planet looking for an orb. He runs into the guards of Ronan, this films resident bad guy, who is working for Thanos (remember him?) A fight scene ensues and he escapes, to land on the planet Xandar, only to be captured by Rocket and Groot,(a raccoon and a massive tree...yeah I wasn't sure on that either) who promptly lose him to Gamora (a green woman with brilliant martial arts skills, slightly strange too) only to then for the four of them get arrested for breaking the peace on Xandar.
They're thrown into prison and meet Drax the Destroyer (not going into too much detail here for those who want to see the film) and form an alliance. They make a daring escape and fly off to find the orb, to be told by The Collector (previously seen at the end of Thor - The Dark World) that inside is an Infinity Stone, of the same sort of power as the Tesseract, capable of destroying worlds. And Ronan wants it, as does Thanos... This is not ending well!
More fight scenes commence and Ronan gets the orb, thanks to his helper, and Gamora's adopted sibling Nebula. If the Guardian's want to save the galaxy, they must fight them to gain the orb back and give it to the people who will look after it, but not use it's powers for good nor evil. Let the battle's commence!
Now that's the basic premise of the film, so I'm going to stop talking about the actual story line before I ruin it for anybody who hasn't seen it and instead talk about how much I enjoyed it.
The film itself is very good, very clearly Marvel with it's classic one liners and unique characters, yet this film was a bit more out there in its characters than it's Avengers/X-Men counterparts. Maybe because Rocket and Groot (oh how I cried over Rocket and Groot at the end) are very clearly not human, Gamora is bright green and Drax is gray with red designs over him, it sticks out to me as a bit more unique in its characters differing from the 'average' humanoid team of superheros saving the world/universe/galaxy. And this film had more gags in than The Avengers, which had me laughing the entire way through, which also helped for the ride.
And yet, I didn't enjoy it as much as I did The Avengers, and not just because I'm a bit biased with my love for The Avengers. To me the characters stick out against the other Marvel film counterparts because they look different, not because they're amazing characters and I root for them. Sure, I like them, but I didn't feel as much for them as I do for say, Iron Man and Magneto. There was only the showing of Peter's abduction as a boy of a back story for the characters, everybody else got a few lines talking about their pasts. I'm not saying that I didn't like the characters, or that they should all have had solo films first so we all got introduced properly, but maybe a few flashbacks would have been helpful along the way to help make the characters more 3D they were.
Gamora could have such a bigger backing story line to herself, having been taking in and brought up by Thanos from a young girl alongside Nebula before being given on loan to Ronan. There could have been a lot more to it than the throwaway lines she got about it. She even states at one point that 'she has been brought up by her enemies' so I would have loved to have seen a bit more into this. All we know is that she wants the orb at the beginning to sell on to escape Thanos and Ronan, but we don't know why, or anything else to it. She could have had her own few flashbacks, or a bit more dialogue, to explain her actions. Her fighting with Nebula and trying to convince her to join them could have done with a bit more sisterly feelings (unless there are none between them, they explanation please). This could have been done with all the characters too, a bit of back story goes a long way in films, even when it's based on comic books, as some of us haven't read them!
That being said, the film was very good for a laugh, and a slightly better look into Thanos (anybody thinking that Loki is going to be needed again soon, seeing as it was Thanos' scepter and army he was using? God I hope he's back soon!) coupled with a small mystery by the end of the film to set up the next time. A few references to The Avengers (12% of a plan, and Groot pulling a Hulk 'puny god' move, the tesseract etc). But mostly I would implore the writers to invest some more time in character back stories to flesh out their characters, bad ass fighting and good one liners only go so far. They've got a good premise going with Guardians Of The Galaxy. The cast is brilliant, Chris Pratt is hilarious, Zoe Salanda is brilliant, and I didn't even recognise Karen Gilligan or Lee Pace until half way through. Though I would have made a few changes, the film stands as a good film, and I'd recommend seeing it as a Marvel fan, or if you're just up for a good laugh with some action scenes thrown in!

Long Time, No See!

Sorry for neglecting this blog, I just haven't had much time between writing books/reviews for TubeChum and school to get anything written for here! But now that I've finished school (woooo) apart from two exams, and have been to the cinema, I think it's time I wrote a new blog post! This time, I'm going to talk about X-Men Days Of Future Past. I could talk about Godzilla, which I have also had the (dis)pleasure of seeing recently, but I have a vlog coming up soon about that, so X-Men it is!
Now, first off, I am a big X-Men fan, really, I love it so much! The films, alongside The Matrix, were my childhood. So I'm admittedly a bit bias here. But this film surpasses so many expectations! At first, I wasn't sure what to make of the idea of time travel and the young X-Men meeting the older X-Men, but it was done perfectly! From the trailer, I'd thought that the old and young versions of the characters were going to be interacting together throughout the film in the same timeline, but I was completely wrong. Wolverine goes back 50 years, sent by Patrick Stewart's Xavier and Ian McKellin's Magneto, to find James McAvoy's Xavier and Michael Fassbender's Magneto. To me this made much more sense than having all four of them interacting at the same time, as that might have gotten confusing.
Now I won't give away much about the plot (which is genius) but I will say this, McAvoy and Fassbender are brilliant young counterparts to Stewart and McKellin. They are totally believable (despite they look nothing like their older counterparts, and Michael is actually taller than Ian, small details, small details) as the troubled youths of the 70s. James McAvoy stole the film for me, maybe because I'm slightly bias as I fancy him quite a bit, but he was amazing as a young, troubled Xavier, fighting his guilt and pain. From the minute he turned up, I was entranced by him. Also, for when anybody see's the film, who else was reminded of Benedict Cumberbatch's Sherlock when Wolverine tries to recruit Xavier? I think its the couldn't-care-less attitude mixed with the dressing gown that sent me down that route, but I did see some resemblance there... I shall keep an eye on this for a while longer, see if I'm just imagining it....
Michael Fassbender plays Magneto effortlessly too. He was a great version of a troubled, young and falsely accused Erik, who has lost faith in humanity due to their actions towards him. I almost wanted him to succeed in his plans of revenge. His interactions with Jenifer Lawrence (Mystique) are perfect, him serving almost like a father figure who's done wrong in the raising of his child. I loved it.
So, without giving too much away (the ending makes me want to cry it's so good, I adore the ending, though now my brain has exploded with how things have now changed... You'll soon find out when you see it) X-Men Days Of Future Past is a masterpiece, one of the best in the series, totally makes up for Wolverine, which was the worst film I'd seen before Godzilla. I can not wait for the next one!