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.

And Then There Was One Massive Plot Twist

Hey everyone, I hope your Christmas' were fun and you got everything you wanted! I had a pretty good time, and have mostly been sitting on my arse doing nothing all week. Well, when I say nothing, I mean watching TV, and my God did I stumble upon one hell of a TV special.
Of course, I'm talking about And Then There Were None, the BBC's latest adaption of Agatha Christie's novel, and over three nights I was utterly hooked on it. I'd been looking forward to watching this show ever since I saw the advert for it a while back, to be honest, I probably would have watched anyway because a) Aiden Turner is in it and I love that man a lot, and b) it's a murder mystery. If there's one thing I love to watch, it's a murder mystery, or really anything to do with murder. So, I sat down and watched it, and I fallen in love.
First of all, the plot is amazing, ten strangers are invited to an island, each one with a secret, and slowly they get killed off one by one, not knowing who is behind it. Each person is killed according to poem that hangs in every persons room in the house, and when a body is found, the ten statues in the dining room reduce numbers. This could have gotten very monotonous after the third murder, possibly even predictable, but it never did. I was on tender hooks the entire time, wondering who was going to die next, and how it was going to be done. For the first two episodes, I resisted looking up the whole poem, but I had to by the end episode, just to see if I could get any clues from it, all I got instead was the creepy factor amping up further.
Secondly, the characters were incredibly cleverly written. Each one is hiding a common secret - they're all guilty of murder in some way or other, and none of them have been caught for it. Between a doctor who drunk on the job during a surgery, to a cop who killed a gay man simply for being gay, every single one has killed at least one person and none feel the least bit guilty for it. And while some characters are sort of likable, you as the audience don't really warm to anyone. Not to say that they all deserved to die (though let's be honest, Douglas' Booth's character was a complete asshole and was pegged to be 'the first to go' from the start) but you don't actually route for anybody, not really. I found myself liking Aiden's character, not just for his face (or his body, dear lord that towel scene was a nice edition, thank you producers that one) but because he was honest. He admitted to his killings, and while showing no sign of remorse, he did show some brain, and some kindness at times. He didn't just think of getting himself off the island, he did try to help the others he trusted to. So I liked him. Which (spoiler alert) made his death quite painful in the end, at least he was second to last to go, so it wasn't too bad.
Nothing is all too obvious in plot line either, nothing is revealed straight away. You have to watch all three episodes to get everyone's story, and to figure out who is behind all this. It is never made clear, or even hinted at, whether the killer is part of the ten or if they is another player in the mix. Trying to figure it out is nigh impossible, as at every turn you find out something new that creates a new theory. I had so many I lost count, and never once was I right in my deductions. At one point I went so far as to think that maybe this was all happening in someone's head, and that this was some sort of psychotic break Shutter Island style, which seemed very plausible. Every theory seemed plausible as I went along, and I never expected the plot twist at the end.
Now, I'm going warn you SPOILERS AHEAD. IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED AND THEN THERE WERE NONE, SCROLL PAST THIS BIT RIGHT NOW. I HAVE WARNED YOU.

At the end, just when I thought I would never find out who was behind all the murder (let me tell you right now, if that had happened, I would have hit the roof in anger and this review would be very different) to find out that it was the judge all along - I never saw that coming in a million years! In hindsight, I probably should have, judge/jury/executioner and all that, but I honestly didn't! I immediately discounted him after he faked his death, thinking him as just another victim, and possibly the sanest one of the lot. So to see him actually reveal that he was behind all of it, as a sort of 'get the uncaught bad guys' before dying himself, wow I had never even considered it. I actually screamed a little when I did if I'm honest.

SPOILER FREE ZONE STARTS AGAIN HERE.
Truly, And Then There Were None was a brilliant thrill ride of a TV show. Combing suspense, gore, murder and wonderful plot twists into a beautiful three hours. It distinctly reminded me of an old fashioned How To Get Away With Murder mini series, set in the space of a few days instead of a few months. I love every single second of it, and wish to see more things like this in the future! BBC get right on it, I need more!
Did anybody else see anything good over the holidays? If so, let me know, I need more things to watch to distract me from my essays and currently not much is working. Also, if you watched this show, let me know some of your theories, were you as shocked as I was when the killer was revealed? Let's start a discussion going, I sure as hell don't want to let this show end so soon!

Frankenstein Is Alive And Well!

I’m a bit late to the party here, but last night I watched Victor Frankenstein, starring James McAvoy and Daniel Radcliffe, and I have to say, it was amazing!

I had high hopes for this film, for several reasons. One, because it’s Frankenstein and so I know the story pretty well, two, the trailer looked pretty damn good, and three it’s James McAvoy and Daniel Radcliffe. I was not disappointed in the slightest; the film completely lived up to expectations and then some!

With most cinematic adaption’s of classics like Frankenstein, the story either falls flat, or there’s something missing from the piece, but this one didn't. There was the right amount of humour, the right amount of gore, and the right amount of plot. Usually, one of those things are missing - take the recent adaptation of Jekyll and Hyde, it was poorly acted with cartoon violence at best, and a completely obvious plot line it was almost laughable. Frankenstein Chronicles looks good but I feel like the story is going to drag itself out (and isn’t focusing on the mad scientist, who is arguably the most important character of the entire story). But Victor Frankenstein actually focuses on Frankenstein himself (and Igor obviously) and tells the story of his first attempts at making the famous monster.

This film, instead of going down the same old route of ‘Frankenstein creates monster, monster goes on rampage, Frankenstein gets killed in the end by the monster in supposedly dramatic but ultimately predictable way,’ goes down a rarely trodden story line. Victor Frankenstein tells the story of how Victor met Igor, and more importantly, the steps he took to create the monster. How the man started with bringing animals back before moving onto humans, how in the well known story, he got it all right first time, and how he didn’t escape notice from the police.

It’s an interesting route, one I didn't expect after seeing the trailer. I was expecting the usual story line of Frankenstein creating the fully made monster, but this was far more interesting. This showed his steps to creating that famous monster, where his funding originally came from, where Igor came from in the first place, and how the two went about creating a man out of various body parts. All the while having the right amount of gore to be disgusting, yet not off putting, which is perfect for this type of film!

James McAvoy is a brilliant Frankenstein; he’s rude and brilliant enough for the scientist, while still giving Victor the undercurrent of madness that would eventually be his undoing. More importantly, he made him sympathetic, in other versions I haven’t felt an ounce of sympathy for Frankenstein, because he’s generally been a complete ass with no redeeming qualities. James pulls of an enjoyable mad genius, who is still an ass, but he’s a loveable one, which makes all the difference.
Daniel Radcliffe is fantastic as Igor, going nowhere near the ‘yessssss master’ stereotype usually associated with Igor. Even the hunchback is dismissed within the first twenty minutes (in a gross fashion that even had me saying ‘ewwww’). I loved him as Igor, and loved the story the writers gave him, lifting the character from being a subservient slave to a well spoken, clever partner.

Andrew Scott’s detective character was the right amount of creepy, evil and just a tad bit mad too. I loved to hate him throughout, yet I still managed to feel a bit sympathetic for him too in places. Also the bit with his hand (won’t say what, in case of spoilers) had me cringing in pain for him. Andrew nailed the role.

There were a few cameos too, coming from a few other actors related to Andrew and director Paul McGuigan, which will make a lot of Sherlock fans happy. Mark Gattiss, Louise Brealey and Alister Petrie, also known as Mycroft Holmes, Molly Hooper and James Sholto. I knew all were coming into the film, yet each was a pleasant surprise. Paul McGuigan used similar editing techniques used on Sherlock, in terms of showing body parts under skin, topping the whole thing off beautifully. Any Sherlock fan will be pleased to see the familiar faces and techniques, and even if you aren’t a fan of the show, then you’ll still certainly love the film on the whole.

I’d highly recommend this film to anybody looking for a decent retelling of Frankenstein; it’s got everything - humour and gore in just the right amounts, storyline that for once doesn’t drag, and no completely obvious plot hole in sight! Better yet, the end leaves it open for a sequel, and I for one would be delighted to see another outing with Victor Frankenstein and Igor! 

The Play's The Thing... To Get Me Into Shakespeare

Yes, yes alright, I've had another month long absence from blog writing. In my defense, uni is kicking my arse very hard currently, I've forgotten what day of the week it's been at least four times since going back. A frazzled brain is not exactly useful when blog writing!
But, I have found something to blog about, and it's Hamlet, currently being performed at the Barbican in London. And oh my God, was it incredible!
I've never been a fan of Shakespeare, reading Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet nearly bored me to tears in school, but I figured that I'd go along to see Hamlet when it was broadcast to cinema's, partly because I enjoy plots filled with madness and murder, partly to help me in my play writing module for uni, and partly because of Benedict Cumberbatch. If you didn't already know, I'm a very big fan of the actor, and have been since he burst onto our screens as Sherlock Holmes in 2010, he's very quickly become my favourite actor, and I always try to see whatever he's in because I know he'll give one hell of a performance.
So, I went along, thinking I'd just about follow the story line, and enjoy a bit of murder (I'm really quite morbid when I want to be) but that wasn't the case. I understood what was going on, which has never happened before. Hell I laughed at points, and never in my life have I laughed at Shakespeare. As far as I can tell, the dialogue wasn't changed from the original, but somehow, this production was understandable to a complete novice like myself, and while there were some points that lost me, I caught up again very quick. It didn't take me much time to translate what was being said into contemporary English, and after I got into the flow of doing it, I found myself following along quite easily. Coming from someone who's only previous experience of Hamlet is The Lion King, I count that as a rip roaring success!
That isn't even mentioning the story line itself. I loved the story line and it's characters, I loved to see Hamlet's desperation to avenge his father, and how it made him lose his mind, loved to hate his uncle who's name currently escapes me, loved figuring out if his mother was in on the murder plot, all of it. The sarcastic wit was something I was not expecting at all (the father/uncle, mother/aunt line was brilliant) I was expecting deep tragedy with no let  up, and yet I did find myself laughing throughout too. Be it at Hamlet's sarcasm, or some of the mad things he was doing (the mucking about on the table was brilliant) or whatever else, it was genuinely funny, and lifted some of the heavier scenes beautifully. While this is such a popular play, the twists and turns were brilliant, watching Hamlet's murderous uncle set him up to die was a classic move, yet still slightly shocking to watch.
What really makes this play work though, was the acting, I have to admit. The writing can be the best in the world, but the acting is what brings it to life. Benedict and the rest of the cast gave it their all, in every single scene, they're acting was so good I forgot they were acting half the time! If you'll excuse the fan girl moment, but Benedict was incredible as Hamlet. With some actors, you see traces of some other characters they've played while they're performing, but with him, I didn't see a trace. While he's obviously the same human being, with the same face/expressions/voice etc, I never saw a hint of Sherlock, Khan, or any other character I've seen him play. I just saw Hamlet, completely forgetting every other role I've seen him in. He owns the stage and demands attention, you can't take your eyes off him for a second, not very many actors hold my attention like he does, but wow, he outdid himself last night.
The energy the cast have too is commendable, running around the huge stage, up and down stairs, weaving through other people, moving props, fighting, dancing, all of it was incredible. To keep up that level of energy for four hours is no mean feat, I certainly couldn't have done it, so to watch so many people keep on going and going like that was outstanding. The cast were incredible, every single one, they really transported the audience to Denmark and didn't let us lose interest for a second. I left wanting to watch again straight away, and twenty four hours later the play hasn't left my mind much at all.
More importantly, it's made me want to find more Shakespeare (Macbeth with Michael Fassbender is currently at the top of my list to watch now) because if all productions were like this one's, they're going to be incredible.

Links And A Magical Consulting Detective.

So... it's been a while... I apologise for that, for some reason things got busy and when I did have the time for blogging, I had no inspiration. Current story of my life - 'I have time to write, yet I have no ideas/doubt my ideas... well damn, guess I'll just read all day.'
Anyway, I've decided to combine three blog posts into one, because I have time, and because I want to. My blog, my rules!
First things first, on Sunday, I finally bit the bullet and started uploading original fiction to Wattpad. I've been debating this for months, but have decided that it's a good idea to start uploading, because what have I got to lose? I've got ideas in my head, a novel series world to build, and the perfect place to start posting some short stories to hopefully gain some interest in my writing. So, I wrote my first 'worldbuilding' short story to my original novel series, and will hopefully continue to do so whenever I get the chance. If you want to check it out, the link is here. I've possibly not done everything I should have with posting it, but hey, I'm new, I'll work it out eventually. If anyone has some tips on how to use Wattpad though, please do drop me a message - I'm useless with new websites!
Another thing I've recently posted is my new vlog, this time about 'Beating Writers Block' which is a bit appropriate considering how blocked I've been lately. So I figured I'd make a vlog to a) lift my own block and b) help others with it too. I hope some of the tips in there help you guys out!
Finally on the links front, I've also set up an account on PeoplePerHour, where anybody can hire me (for a small fee) to proofread their work/write 'about me' pages, or anything like that. So if there's anything you need proofing, or written, come hire me.
Now that business is attended to, let's talk Magic Mike XXL and Mr Holmes. Two very different films, and two films I thoroughly enjoyed for completely different reasons.
I watched both yesterday back to back in the cinema with my best friend, because we love a bit of Sherlock Holmes (even though I'm die hard BBC and she's Elementary... I won't go into that, I'd be here forever) and we loved the first Magic Mike. So we thought, why not? Let's have a cinema day! And that's how we found ourselves in the cinema for six hours to watch two films of completely different genre.
I'll start first with Mr Holmes, because we saw that one first. To say that I wasn't expecting what I saw is an understatement. In my head, I expected Ian McKellin's version of Mr Holmes to be well, like my Sherlock Holmes, brash, bold, beautifully flawed. But instead, what we see is an old man, a very ill old man, trying to figure out one last case with the help of his housekeeper's son. At 93, Sherlock Holmes hasn't solved a case in thirty years, after one fateful case, yet he can't remember why it was his last case, just that it was. John wrote it down of course, as he did with all of their cases, but the ending to this particular one doesn't feel right to Mr Holmes. So he tries to remember and write it down himself, in between tending to his bees and recalling his trip to Japan for a Prickly Ash plant.
I won't tell you why he wants that particular tree, or what happens in the case, but I will say this. Mr Holmes is an incredibly sad film if you're a die hard Sherlock Holmes fan who loves the character. If you're like me, and have enough time on your hands to analyse whichever source material you love most (for me it's BBC all the way), coming to the conclusion that Sherlock Holmes is an incredibly lonely man, then this film was be just a tad bit devastating, and then some. The writers have admittedly messed with canon a lot, leading to only mentions and shots of John from the neck down, a two minute scene with Mycroft and a Mrs Hudson who never speaks. All of which makes Sherlock the centre of this film, instead of it being Sherlock-and-ensemble cast. In that sense, it was a new take on the original canon, yet at the same time, I want to condemn the writers for doing that, as I know in canon John retires with Sherlock in Sussex, Mrs Hudson does talk and while Mycroft is more in the shadows, he's still there, instead of leaving his poor brother to fend for himself in this big, dark world.
Yet, despite this, I did enjoy the film greatly. Having only seen modern BBC Sherlock and Robert Downey Jnr's versions (don't sue me Sherlockian purists) until the long awaited Victorian Christmas Special comes out, it was great to see this great character as Arthur Conan Doyle intended, just quite a few years older, and without his usual team behind him. Ian McKellin did not disappoint as Sherlock Holmes either, something I never doubted he would for a second. There was not one minute of Gandalf The Grey or Magneto reflected in his performance, I almost completely forgot he was also those characters. Ian really was Sherlock Holmes, and dare I say it, more believable than Robert Downey Jnr. Maybe because he was English and subtle in his deductions, maybe because I wasn't expecting him to turn into Iron Man at any given moment, either way, I thoroughly enjoyed Ian's performance as Sherlock Holmes.
So, while the film is incredibly sad for people who believe Sherlock Holmes to be a very isolated character in their own canon, and also had me begging to see a little bit of Sherlock's interactions with John Watson, I did enjoy it. Little Roger was a joy to watch, and the way they treat Sherlock's illness is heartbreaking and beautifully written. The little tie-ins to the canon are perfect (seeing Phil Davis - the killer in BBC's A Study In Pink was a lovely little touch to the BBC's most famous production of the stories) and the film did just enough to make it stand out against the masses of other adaptions. Well done Mr Holmes!
Magic Mike on the other hand, was a whole different ballgame. Whole different genre, whole different universe to Mr Holmes. Obviously set in the present, Magic Mike XXL focuses back on ex-stripper Mike, taking one last trip to Myrtle Beach with his old stripper gang to take part in the stripper convention. The entire crew have decided to pack in stripping and get normal jobs, and so have decided to go out on a high together, having one last dance together before they say goodbye to dancing and hello to the 9-5 grind (no pun intended).
Again, I won't give away too much, but the plot surprised me again, as the first one did too. When I walked in to both Magic Mike films, I was expecting a whole lot of hot naked men, lots of dancing and not much plot (not that I was complaining) but instead I got hot men with depth and differing personalities, a bit of stripping and a real plot line. This is not about a group of men who don't want anything but to strip for their entire lives, this is a group of men who love stripping, but want real jobs, real girlfriends, and to follow their passions.
What surprised me even more, was just how respectful this film was to women. I really was not expecting this film to be so respectful to women, instead I was expecting us females to be used as basically props to hold up every male character. And while there aren't that many, given big parts, there are a few who jump in and out, all of whom aren't treated like props. They have thoughts and feelings, are witty and have desires. A group of middle aged women are not treated as throw-away women who are 'past their prime' they're treated with respect by Mike and his friends. They are told repeatedly that they deserve love and respect, that they deserve to be romanced and taken to cloud 9 by their man. Another female character does not back down to Mike once, instead puts him through his paces, and when she MCs for him and his team, she never stops telling the girls around them that they are queens and goddesses, that they are beautiful and deserve the attention these strippers are given them.
Hell, even the girls in the dances at the end aren't all stick thin models either. At least two plus sized women are given huge amounts of attention by our strippers, WOC were given huge amounts of attention, so many body types were included. I never expected that, it's subtle, but it's there, and I loved that about Magic Mike XXL.
The actual story line of the film is a good one too, the dialogue is witty again, and gives each character their own depth and personality. They're all given an opportunity to explore what they want their act to be, what they're going to do after their weekend of fun is over. It's bittersweet to watch, and more compelling than I thought. I expected pretty faces and no personality, I got pretty faces and personalities to match.
So while I wanted a tad bit more stripping (a girl does have needs) what I got was a film about beautiful men with real personalities, diverse amounts of women, and a whole lot of laughs. The Twilight and Matrix send ups were a fantastic surprise, Matt Bomer singing had me nearly falling out of my chair in surprise, and the end stripping scene more than made up for the lack throughout the rest of the film.
If you made me choose between Magic Mike XXL and Mr Holmes, I physically couldn't do it, I loved both equally for entirely different reasons. Mr Holmes was poignant and intriguing, Magic Mike was funny and a whole lot more inclusive than first thought. I'd recommend seeing both films, though just maybe not back to back, it's a culture shock to see both within the same day!

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!

Dexter: The Finale

I have just finished watching the last episode of Dexter (late, I know, but school has been getting in the way of my TV watching schedule) and so I thought I'd do a review of it, because I have a lot of thoughts on the ending.
Now, the first half, I loved, I loved it to pieces. It was another classic Dexter episode, with the added 'Oh no, is Deb going to die?! I don't want Deb to die!' because, personally, I loved Deb. She had her short comings, her love life being one of them (because I don't care her and Dexter weren't related, her being in love with him was WEIRD and a bit incestuous, and so gave me the creeps) but overall, her character I enjoyed watching (maybe because she stood up for herself and swore a lot, unlike a lot of conventional female characters on TV).
Another thing I loved, was the suspense of whether or not Dexter was going to kill Saxon, and if him, Hannah and Harrison would get out of Miami without being caught. I was routing for the three of them to get out alive, and for Saxon to end up in a body bag. One last kill, for the greatest TV serial killer I've seen. And the kill, oh the kill was perfect! Watching Dexter stab Saxon in the neck, slightly symbolic of how Dexter has knocked out previous victims, was brilliant, and had me whooping at my screen in joy... and then the show went a bit down hill.
Now, I understand why Angel and Quinn let Dexter off for killing Saxon, because Deb was their friend, and in Quinn's case, lover. They wanted revenge for Saxon putting her in the hospital, fair enough. That bit I dealt with, and kinda agreed with, because where would the fun be if it was Dexter's own friends catching him out after a kill like that? At least when Deb found out, that had been a dramatic in-the-middle-of-a-massive-kill reveal! But, then, when Dexter got to the hospital, that's when I started to switch off and get very disappointed. The flashback to Harrison's birth was all very sweet and lovely, a nice reminder of where Dexter has come from, but as Dexter said goodbye to Deb before turning off the machine, I was a bit disappointed. To me, it felt like Dexter gave up a little on her, and was getting rid of her so he could get out of Miami with no ties there.
So as he carries her onto the boat, I'm still not feeling any kind of emotion as to his actions yet. For me, it was all a bit too symbolic of Dexter's old life, saying goodbye to the old, and hello to the new. And then, Dexter said something I can not forgive him for. He said he had to leave Hannah and Harrison forever to protect them from him. The line is so cliche and reminds me so much of Edward Cullen I nearly slapped my hand to my head screaming 'moron!' Yes Dexter, you are a dangerous serial killer, yes people around you die. And yet, Hannah can look after herself, and you've done a fine job of keeping Harrison out of trouble for years now, this does not mean you get to up and leave them! Deb died because she was a cop, doing her job, not because of you being a serial killer! She was recovering from the trauma of finding out who you are, but Hannah already KNOWS who you are, and Harrison needn't find out. So there is no need to leave them to live by themselves.
But, being the big 'hero' if you would call Dexter that, he drives towards the storm, and dumps Deb into the sea, again, symbolic of his other kills. She sinks, which wouldn't actually happen, as bodies float in water, but never mind, Dexter is still alive, mourning his sister. So, what does he do next? Drive towards the storm, facing certain death. At which point, I am screaming at the TV again 'NO DEXTER! GO BACK! GO BACK TO HANNAH AND HARRISON!' which of course, he doesn't hear. Someone invent a TV show where you can personally choose what the character does, please?
Anyway, so flash forward to Hannah and Harrison, who are looking at the news on the internet, where there's a report that Dexter is dead. She's upset, but she hides it from Harrison, and takes him out of the cafe, never to be seen again. We all think its over, but then we see a lumberjack yard, what's going on here then? We see none other than Dexter! He's alive! Woooo! But wait, why is he there, is he on a kill mission? What's going on? Why is he hiding in a room, which looks a bit like his own room, and why does he have a beard?  There is no-one talking, not even Dexter's voice over, or Harry, his Dad who guides him on these things, talking. Not even a bit of music, just the sounds of the construction site outside. Dexter sits down, and stares at the screen for a few seconds, then the screen goes black. No explanation on what's going on, where he is, how he survived the storm, nothing. Just the lumberjack yard and the beard. Leaving a lot of questions. And naturally, I was not impressed.
I wanted a big, fantastic, mind meltingly awesome ending, where either Dexter get's his comeuppance for being the real Bay Harbour Butcher. Or maybe him actually getting away with Hannah, living a normal life with her, as she seems to calm his 'Dark Passenger.' But no, we got Dexter 'protecting' the ones he loved, by hiding away from them. With no explanation as to whether or not he still was killing (he proved in an earlier season he couldn't stop, so was he still killing, if so, was he still following the code, and if that was true, how was he checking these people were bad people?) how he survived the storm on his tiny boat, that clearly got smashed up, as we saw in a previous scene, or anything of the sort. I would have taken watching everyone die in a mass shoot out, or something similar over the ending we got. I'm highly disappointed in the ending, and I really wished it had been better. Dexter had been such a good show, that I had highly enjoyed watching, but this ending just wasn't up to par with the rest of the show.

Star Trek Into Darkness Review

Well I've just come back from seeing Star Trek Into Darkness for the second time. I watched it last week for the first time with a friend (now boyfriend) and just watched it with my mum, so I thought I'd give it a bit of a review.
Now admittedly, I did originally watch it because of Benedict Cumberbatch, as I am a big fan of him, and have been since Sherlock series 1. And because of Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto (fan of them both since Just My Luck and Heroes - and because they're hot... don't think I'm weird/perverted, I generally can not help but think they're all fit) but after watching the film, I found that there was so much more to it than hot actors.
I would go into detail about the entire film, but I feel like that would be boring, and would spoil the film for others, but i will say this. As someone who hasn't seen any Star Trek previously, not even the previous film, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I knew the basics of the story line of the Enterprise, e.g., Kirk being the Captain, Spock his first mate, identified by his pointed ears and blue jumper. All other characters I easily picked up on along the way too, which was a relief as I would have been very confused otherwise. The film itself was very good,  with an easy to follow story line, with lots of action scenes, some funny moments to lighten the mood of the film, and some incredible CGI as well.
The make up was very good on the aliens involved, and the sets were very realistic. The actors themselves were very, very good too, I can always trust to have a good performance from Benedict, but what really blew me away from was how different he is from Sherlock. He looked almost like a completely different person from the skinny detective, in this, he was muscular, excellent in combat. Though he was still very intelligent, and did a very good job at playing a bad guy, something I haven't seen him do previously. All with a very sexy voice that just drew me in and made me hang on his every word.
Chris Pine was also a very good Kirk, he was slightly cheeky, but commanded respect and was thoroughly believable as the captain of a ship. He took the role in his stride, and portrayed his love for his team and his ship very well, and had me routing for him, despite me slight biased for Benedict's Khaan. The same can be said for Zachary Quinto, his portrayal of Spock had me captivated too. He played the idea of a Vulcan with emotions perfectly, though i was reminded of Castiel from Supernatural, though it wasn't necessarily a bad thing, as both characters are not used to feeling emotions and such. I will admit that I started shipping Kirk/Spock by the end...
In summary though, Star Trek Into Darkness is a very, very good film, so go out and see it as soon as possible!