Robyn Writes

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (a review by Nox)

Okay, so I know there have been a lot of opinions flying about the new Wolverine: Origins movie and I figured I would give my two cents. Honestly, I loved the movie; however, they definitely messed up the story a LOT.

I’m going to go from least important to most, and first of all Wolverine’s love was from Japan not Canada. That was completely bogus. Also, the girl with diamond skin that played her sister looked pretty tacky (Note from Ripper: She’s billed as Emma Frost, but Emma Frost actually has telepathy, so I don’t know what’s going on with that), but quality is another story altogether. Secondly, Victor Creed is Sabretooth. Liev Schreiber did a wonderful job playing Victor in the movie, but did anyone else notice how he looks nothing like the Sabretooth in the X-Men trilogy, and how Wolverine had no relationship with him in those movies? (Note from Ripper: They chose Liev because he’s awesome and the other guy was not. That makes perfect sense to me!) Not very well thought out. The war sequences were definitely cool. I loved the whole brother team thing they had going. I do wish more comic relief could have been tied in throughout the movie and not just in the first twenty minutes. I think the entire story would have been more comprehendible if each member of the Striker team would have had a background snippet.

Finally, the big issue: Deadpool. Ah yes, let’s talk about how much they messed up his character. Wade Wilson had cancer and could only be cured by Wolverine’s power, but Chemical X mutates and disfigures him. Deadpool gets his powers through killing mutants. He is not put together like a build-a-bear and Striker never controls him using a computer. All of that was bogus. In the beginning they had Wade Wilson right on point, and might I add Ryan Reynolds does a wonderful job playing the part; however, the sword coming out of Deadpool’s hand mimicking Wolverine never happened either. I don’t know why the writer’s decided to change such important details, but it only seemed to confuse most people and infuriate others.

There’s talk of Gambit and Deadpool spin offs in the future. An after credit scene featuring Deadpool makes this rumor look probable, but as far as Gambit goes I hear there are complaints about Taylor Kitsch playing the part. Either way, I completely support separate movies for both Gambit and Deadpool, and as far as Wolverine: Origins goes I give it three out of five high fives. It was a good movie, but the writers just messed up way too much for me to give it a higher rating with a good conscience.

Clash Of The Titans

Last night, I decided to go along with my friends and check out Clash Of The Titans, in 3D no less. So, with 3D glasses in hand and ketchup all in my hair (it was an eventful dinner at Nando’s beforehand), we trouped off in search of adventure and to watch Sam Worthington (Avatar, Terminator Salvation) kill absolutely everything ever.

I must admit to have never seeing the original Clash Of The Titans in its entirety, as it’s always one of those ones that ends up on the TV in holiday periods when I’m drifting in and out of the living room, and therefore can’t judge if the movie can indeed live up to its predecessor. However, in regards to monsters, I share Chad Gilbert’s opinion, as viewed on his Twitter the other day – “I will see any movie with a Krakken in it, but I wont like every movie with a Krakken in it.” Truth is, I’ll watch any movie with mythical beasties in it, but I won’t necessarily like them. Case in point: the second Pirates of the Caribbean film. Therefore, I was holding out some hope for this movie and hoping that Mr Worthington would look fantastic in a leather skirt. Otherwise, it just wouldn’t be worth it.

The story is your typical Greek myth affair – man decides to rise up against the gods because they’re fed up of their rule, gods decide to fight back, man sends in a hero – who’s a demigod! Surprise surprise! This is essentially thrown at you as soon as the movie starts with little explanation until Io (Gemma Arterton; Quantum of Solace, Prince of Persia) decides to ever so helpfully and conveniently tell our hero Perseus that yes, he is indeed the son of Zeus – and oh, Hades wants to take over everything. If you’ve ever read anything to do with Greek mythology, you’ve heard it all before, and Clash Of The Titans is pretty much an excuse to shove anything to do with Greek mythology into one film and to have Perseus destroy it in style. And to have Liam Neeson play Zeus because he was made for that beard. Nobody else could pull off that beard.

The film is reasonably well casted and a good call for Worthington to keep his Australian accent, even if he did go a bit too into the Christian Bale end on the Scale of Gravelliness. I’m not entirely sure what makes people think that mythology calls for accents that aren’t American, but I’m glad that faculty exists, because it just makes it seem that little bit more authentic, somehow. That, and that British/Australian accents are far cooler. There’s plenty of action, as would be expected from Hollywood’s latest take on mythology, because if there’s anything we’ve learnt from recent years, it’s that swords + leather + monsters + pretty ladies = instant blockbuster. So, there’s plenty of hacking, men in leather skirts all over the place, every monster you could ever think of and a reasonable amount of eye candy (but no sex! This is a 12A after all!) to get excited over. And if you’re not looking for a particularly intellectual film, then this is the way to go.

The 3D is excessively lacking. To be honest, I wouldn’t bother paying the extra money to see it in 3D unless you like great 3D adverts, because all there happens to be is a spear that comes out and the text looks nice and shiny and standouty. That’s all. The monster effects are all 2D anyway and those in fact do look fantastic . They’re also possibly some of the more realistic I’ve seen in a while, despite being creatures of myth. In particular, Charon just looks incredibly twisted and the journey across the Styx is a sight to behold. The only one that looks at all computer generated is Medusa – even the Krakken itself looks reasonably realistic. And if I don’t get to ride a Pegasus soon… well, let’s just say I won’t be happy.

Overall, Clash Of The Titans is a fast paced, no holds barred action fest. There’s death and destruction pretty much everywhere. At the start of the film, this is well done, but towards the end, it starts to feel rather rushed – the ‘end game’ as it were lasts for about two minutes and you feel somewhat cheated. However, that doesn’t detract too much from it being a very entertaining way to spend a couple of hours. Oh, and the staring at the legs of attractive men is pretty sweet too. Sorted.

3 out of 5 high fives!

Star Trek reviewed by ninthandash and Nox

ninthandash’s review

I’d just like to state, first off, that I don’t consider myself a Trekkie. While it’s true that I can name all of the Starfleet captains in both chronological order according to the timeline of the show (Archer, Kirk, Picard, Janeway) and according to the order the series appeared in (Kirk, Picard, Janeway, Archer). And, of course, in order of my personal preference (Kirk, Janeway, Archer, Picard). Not to mention that I am aware I missed out Captain Sisko, but this is because he was the captain of a spacestation, not a ship, and was a Commander as opposed to a captain for the majority of the Deep Space 9 series.

But I’m not that into it. I don’t have an obsessive understanding of the themes, plots, characters. I know the different series, but I don’t really have a favourite. I can’t take part in a discussion about it at any given length. And although I’d grown up watching the original series (and of course the following ones), I wasn’t super excited about going to see the movie. Until the trailers came on, and then I couldn’t wait to see it. Still, not a Trekkie. I didn’t discuss it online, I didn’t wait anxiously for new set stills to be released (although I will admit doing this for Watchmen, but that’s a different story). I decided to go see it with my father, because we’d been watching the show together for years.

Then I saw, across the bottom of the trailer, those five fateful words. ‘Showing in selected IMAX cinemas.’ I live in one of eight cities in England that is lucky enough to have an IMAX cinema, and I make the most of this opportunity every time I can. So I didn’t hesitate to immediately go online, and book two tickets to see Star Trek in IMAX. My father and I really wanted to go see it at the midnight showing the day it came out, especially as I’d heard rumours about free Spock ears, but we were unable to make it. Nevertheless, on the 9th of May, we turned up at the IMAX and joined the already long and winding queue.

There’s something exciting about going to see a film at the IMAX, I’ll confess. The atmosphere is entirely different to that of a normal cinema. Maybe it’s because of the giant screen taking up a whole wall in front of you, or maybe it’s the fact that everyone is there to watch the film — not mess around on their mobile phones, or talk loudly to their friends while chewing on popcorn. Either way, as the lights darkened and the familiar Star Trek theme music began to play, there was an almost reverent hush in the silence of the theatre.

I was spell-bound from the first moment. The story isn’t simple, as such, but it’s an easily recognisable one. It follows a young James T. Kirk, and a young Spock, as each make the decisions needed to take them to the Enterprise. It’s interesting watching each character develop, and the crew members joining them along the way — Bones, Uhura, Sulu, Chekhov and finally Scotty. Watching the movie slowly unfold to set up the world of the original Star Trek series is strangely nostalgic. But there’s no real time for that.

Star Trek is nothing if not action packed. From the first moments of the movie, in which we see James T. Kirk’s father sacrifice himself for his wife and newborn son, there are explosions and fighting and aliens, oh my! The action doesn’t let up throughout, without the plot being sacrificed in favour of CGI and special effects. The Vulcans are introduced to us as a community first, and the conflicting aspects of Spock’s heritage (half human, half Vulcan) are set up perfectly, enabling us to fully understand why he makes the decisions he does.

The same can not be said for Kirk, however. Shown as a rebel, we’re told that his aptitude tests are “off the charts” but for some reason, he doesn’t go to Starfleet Academy until he’s pushed into it. Why not? In my head, I made up the story that he doesn’t want to live in his heroic dead father’s shadow, but the true reason went unexplained. However, his character as a cocky, arrogant but charismatic teenager is believable without being annoying, and the dynamics between him and the young Spock are fantastic.

Zachary Quinto made a perfect Spock. Being a fan of Heroes, I was worried that I’d see him as Sylar first and Spock second, but he was unrecognisable as anyone other than the young Vulcan. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed him playing Spock, and my father agreed that he was amazing. And of course, the movie wouldn’t have been complete without none other than Leonard Nimroy. The original Spock, he was not only playing Spock in the movie but also given a logical (for Star Trek, at least) reason as to why he would be there.

Finally, the IMAX experience made it even better. Although sometimes it was hard to keep track of what was going on, especially in the fight scenes, the overall sounds and images made it amazing. The picture almost seemed to surround the audience, and there was a definite feeling of being a part of it. I thoroughly enjoyed it, from start to finish, and would definitely reccommend it — in IMAX, if you can.

Nox’s review

Okay, so I just got home from watching Star Trek and the verdict? Pretty sweet. Now, I grew up catching an episode or two of the show every now and then, but I never really got into it. This movie, unlike most of the episodes I caught, was easy to understand and kept me interested from beginning to end. The twists were well placed and the fights were probably my favorite part.

I was waiting for the ‘Beam me up, Scottie.’ But sadly it never came. I was kind of bummed, but that little alien following Scottie around made me laugh so it was okay. I think the casting director did a great job. Spock was hella rad as a kid, young adult, and old man. Kirk was totally hardcore as a kid. No spoilers but the young Kirk was the coolest little kid ever, and I loved how the movie kind of showed the rebellious similarities between Spock and Kirk throughout the years.

Visually the movie was awesome, the fight scenes were great, the sarcastic comic relief was executed perfectly, and the all around substance of the film was stellar. I highly recommend seeing this movie if you haven’t already. I give it a five high five rating because who doesn’t love a smart ass trouble maker turned captain?

Overall rating…

5 out of 5 high-fives!