The Flash "Tricksters" Review

Mark Hamill says "I Am Your Father" this episode gets a 10/10 for that alone! So this is Tricksters, where 20 years ago, a terrorist named The Trickster committed the greatest terrorist attacks in Central City, in present time a fan of his has now taken up that title, committing similar crimes, so Barry and Joe take this on Silence of the Lambs style to find new Trickster, only for it to be revealed that the two were working together all along and the original Trickster escapes prison, taking Henry Allen hostage. In the end, Flash is able to save his dad, capture the Tricksters and even learns how to phase through walls, and both Henry and Eddie learn the truth about The Flash's secret identity as Barry begins to suspect Harrison Wells of being the Reverse Flash, which we learn in flashbacks that Eobard Thawne used future tech to transform himself into Harrison Wells as the original was killed 15 years ago by Eobard.

For those of you who don't know, this was a pretty big episode, back in the 1990's, Mark Hamill appeared in the original Flash TV Series as The Trickster, opposite John Wesley Shipp as The Flash. So seeing the two on screen together again would give any fanboy reason to be giddy. And this episode made me more than just giddy, this episode was great! And Mark Hamill is a big reason for that, the guy is a great actor, and seeing him onscreen again in this role was great, lord knows how I'm going to handle seeing him as Luke Skywalker again. But seriously, everything about him was great, his performance was great, his dialogue was great, his scenes were great he was...well, great.

Apart from that, all the stuff with Harrison Wells was cool, the opening scene of Flash and Reverse Flash fighting looked awesome and the twist of another Reverse Flash (Kind of) was a very interesting choice and i liked it. Although i wasn't sure where they were going with the whole Barry investigating Wells thing, for one, he came across as too spiteful before having any actual proof of Wells' involvement in anything, just a hunch. Also there came a point in the episode where it looked like Barry was doubting himself in thinking Wells could be a bad guy, which i'm glad they didn't go down that route because they already did that and it would be seriously stupid to pull that on us again, if they're going to investigate Wells then make it official this time, don't back out like you did before.

Then there's Barry revealing his identity to both his father and to Eddie, his decision to reveal it to his father seems to come down to..."why the hell not" and yeah, i'm okay with that, I'd trust him with that kind of secret. Eddie seems to be out of necessity, they're going to need his help in investigating Wells' involvement in the murder of Barry's mother, though I question how interesting of a plot thread this is going to be when we know more than they do. But even still, i congratulate them for doing what Arrow seems to refuse to do, that being moving the plot along! Seriously though, so many shows (ARROW!) refuse to develop anything unless it's at a snails pace, Flash actually has very smooth pacing and has a lot going on in developing both the story and the characters, and i applaud it for that.

So i'm giving Tricksters a 9/10. Feels so good to have some good television to talk about, i was worried we were in a slump there.

-Danny

University Burn Out

I am currently on my Easter holiday, however once i return to university I will only have 2 weeks of university before i finish entirely for the year, and even then, that's only 6 out of 14 days when i'll actually be there, and that's how my schedule has been for the past few months, I am only at university 3 days out of the week, which means i spend the majority of my time relaxing and well, not doing work. This has become kind of a bad thing, because i am so close to the end of my first year and have spent a lot of time relaxing, it feels like i've gotten used to this slump of relaxing that i don't do as much work as i should. As of right now I haven't missed any major assignments and i'm still doing quite well, but this isn't a good way of living, especially seeing as i have to pay for an education now, so i should probably do something with that. The problem is, there are so many things i would much rather be doing, i'd rather be making content for YouTube, i'd rather get a job, i'd rather hang out with friends, i'd rather sit in all day and watch movies, but i can't do that just yet, yet my mind has already set itself to that mindset, and that kind of sucks.

-Danny

The Disney Non-Princess

One of Disney's biggest brands is undoubtedly the princess brand, so many of their characters are princesses that appeal to little girls everywhere except it's all a lie. Well okay, not all of it, but a lot of these princesses aren't actually princesses at all. Belle for example was a peasant girl who married a prince, which means they instantly would have become king & queen, so she was never a princess. Pochahontas is the daughter of a tribe leader, which you could argue makes her a princess except tribe leaders don't inherit their throne, but rather earn it. Mulan, one of the most popular disney princesses is not a princess, hell, she never becomes royalty, she's a peasant girl at the start, and she's a peasant girl at the end. I understand why these characters are often slumped together with the actual princesses because they do share a lot of similar traits and story points, and they can definitely be marketed like them, and i honestly don't actually have a big problem with it, it's just a nitpick. Especially when there are plenty of princesses that never get marketed this way because they don't fit the common trend. Kida from Atlantis: The Lost Empire is a straight up princess, except she's also more of a warrior and much more spiritual than a traditional princess, except that makes her fucking awesome, i wish she got a lot more attention. Or Vanellope from Wreck-it Ralph, she's called a princess in the movie (even though really she should be queen, but then becomes President Vanellope) but again, she's very different from the traditional disney princess. And really thinking about it, Nala from The Lion King is technically a princess, she was engaged with Simba since childhood and does have royal connections (just google how Lion Prides work) so not only was she a princess but she was also technically the first African princess. Really thinking about it, a whole lot of Disney princesses go against the typical formula yet they don't get featured, even though other princesses are featured that go against formula, even though they're not actually princesses, like Mulan or Pochahontas. But that is the sad truth, it's not about whether they act like a Disney Princess, all that matters is if they *look* like a Disney Princess.

-Danny

Ratatouille - Cheap Thoughts

"In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little, yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgement. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so. But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defence of the *new*. The world is often unkind to new talent, new creations. The new needs friends. In the past, I have made no secret of my disdain for Chef Gusteau's famous motto, "Anyone can cook." But I realise, only now do I truly understand what he meant. Not everyone can become a great artist; but a great artist *can* come from *anywhere*."

This might single-handedly be the most important paragraph that someone, anyone who wishes to critique, analyse or talk about their passion can read, if you want to be a critic of movies, music, food, anything, this is something you absolutely must remember. I recently rewatched Ratatouille for the first time in years, i always remembered it fondly as being that fun Pixar movie back in their prime, not the best, but still really fun. Now watching it again, I feel this may be one of their most important and insightful movies they've ever made. The film follows the story of Remy, a rat living in France (with an American accent, because reasons) who dreams of being a cook, naturally his family disdain from his dream because well, he's a rat, if he was anywhere near a restaurant they'd try to kill him no question. After he gets separated from his family, he ends up in the middle of Paris and ends up at his favourite chef's restaurant, he ends up discovering he can control one of the employees there who on his own, can't cook to save his life, so the two work together to become the best chef in all of France and hopefully impress Anton Ego, the most suck-up critic in the world (Imagine if Severus Snape was a critic).

What makes the film so strong is the underlying message behind it all, where a person comes from is not what decides who they are, it's their passion and experience that makes them what they want to be. It's a message that really doesn't get talked about very often in kids films, or atleast not this cleverly, it's never shoved down your throat and things aren't easy, life is always going to throw obstacles in front of your dream and sometimes you are going to have to make a compromise, but that doesn't mean you should give up all together. And it all comes together wonderfully with the critic finally giving his big review at the end, which honestly my just go down as one of my favourite scenes in history, definitely my favourite monologue of all time. The best kind of messages that a movie can give is one that everyone can relate too, like in The Lion King or Big Hero 6, those messages and ideas that even when you watch it as an adult, it can still be thought provoking.

The film was directed by Brad Bird and god is he a talent, the man is yet to make a bad film, but his best i still feel lie in the realm of animation. He never talks down to his audience, he never dumbs down the message or writing just to make it more marketable, he makes the films he want to make and they're always brilliantly written, even to the point where this film doesn't focus on the things i normally look for in movies. The thing that I make important above all else is characters, and a lot of them in this film are just archetypes, and the interesting ones (The other chefs) don't get much development and yet...i don't mind. No character is boring, none i feel were badly written, yet if you were to describe them to me then they would sound like the most plain characters possible, i don't know how Brad Bird does it but seriously, make more animated movies Brad. That is however, except for the critic, the critic is phenomenal, i love everything about this guy, I love his design, I love his dialogue, I love his voice (Voiced by none other that Peter O'-frickin-Toole) and he has the two best scenes in the movie, the flashback scene of him eating dinner (Because that's how we all feel when we have that heap of nostalgia) and the monologue which i've already said is amazing!

The film is also swimming with atmosphere, you fully believe like you are in this world, you feel like you're in France, you feel the elegance, style and suave feeling in every scene. Not to mention the food also looks really good, seriously, do not watch this movie on an empty stomach because you will want to go out to a 5 Star restaurant 10 minutes into the movie, it is really effective that way. And I know i don't have to say this but i'm still going to. The film-looks-beautiful. I know that's redundant to say a Pixar film looks great but it is, people worked hard on this film, it's important to acknowledge that. So many shots of Paris look like an artpiece, the glow of the city against the dark blue skies at dusk, it's a gorgeous looking film, but again, every Pixar film is gorgeous looking.

Rewatching this film, i realise just how good it is, this is one of my top 5 favourite Pixar films, everything about it works, the film looks amazing, the message is insightful and the critic is one of the best Pixar characters ever, it's a great film and definitely worth checking out 9/10.

-Danny

Arthouse Movies: Insightful or Pretentious?

I've always said that what I look for above all else in movies is to have fun, because i want life to be simple and fun so i like my movies to be that way as well, but with that being said I obviously enjoy drama and thought provoking material from time to time, so i'll watch something more artistically engaging, something that makes me think about society or life or purpose or something like that. However a lot of these movies I just feel are very pretentious, and not because I don't get it, but because there is no substance past the metaphors. Now you may think that that's a stupid way to put it, the metaphors are the substance, but no they shouldn't be. A metaphor that people often use to describe these elements of movies is to compare it to a meal, the deep and complex material would be the nice steak dinner while the pretty visuals and entertainment aspect is the chocolate pudding afterwards. I personally feel like it should be the other way around, the barebones of a movie should be the impressive visuals and the enjoyable characters and story, once you start thinking about it is when you should realise it's much more complex than just being visually stimulating. Because when a movie puts the metaphor first, if you don't get the metaphor, then it's a bad movie to you.

Here are some movies that I think did it right, American Psycho for example set up a very entertaining protagonist, created some interesting conversations and had a distinct atmosphere so by the end of the movie, you wanted to analyse it because you were having a good time. Enemy had great performances, unique imagery and a shit your pants reveal at the end that you have to find out what it all means. 2001: A Space Odyssey, even though I don't like it, i still respect for being a great example of a movie that can be both the steak and the pudding. It has a lot to say about humanity, technology the course we've taken as a society, but it also has groundbreaking visuals, a great score and a scary antagonist of HAL 9000. I just don't like it because seriously, the movie does not need to be that slow paced, the fuck Kubrick, the fuck?

But what's great is that these days it's not just the arthouse movies that can be insightful, more and more movies are making a blend of the two. Robocop, The Matrix, The Lego Movie, hell, South Park does it better than most, yet most people just brush it off as crude and offensive humour when really it's clever satire mixed with insightful commentary. The idea of high class material being the only source of complex ideas and clever imagery and deep symbolism is an archaic point of view, films can be entertaining and artistic at the exact same time, if a movie is only one then i don't think it's unfair to criticise it on that. If Transformers is just going to be explosions with no depth to it, i'll call it out, but at the same time if Meek's Cutoff is complete bare bones with nothing of value to show me then i'll call that out as well.

By the way, Tree of Life sucks.

-Danny

Arrow "Suicidal Tendencies" Review

The Atom, Black Canary, Arsenal, why does everyone have their superhero name except for the main character!? So this was Suicidal Tendencies, where the League of Assassins are framing The Arrow for murder so Ray Palmer decides to take things into his own hands as Iron Man--I mean The Atom! But of course he was proven wrong and is now on their side, but as he tries to convince the mayor of this, she is killed by an arrow. Meanwhile, Diggle and his wife rejoin the Suicide Squad to save some hostages, and we get flashbacks of Deadshot's life before he was Deadshot.

So let's start off with how stupid it is that everyone assumes it was the Arrow, yes, these people were killed by an arrow and someone wearing a green hood, it really isn't that hard to copy that, not to mention the only testament is from a criminal, and The Arrow has probably made a lot of enemies in his time so there are plenty of people who would want to frame him. The idea of this city thinking he's a murderer just like that is stupid, especially considering all he's done for this city in the past 2 years, god that was dumb. As for the melodramatic arguments between everyone, i just sorta phased out for them because...well it's a melodramatic argument, these type of conversations almost never end with anyone's opinion being changed or their character growing at all, this is one of the biggest flaws in all of Arrow, people complain but nothing changes, they will perform an action and something changes, rinse and repeat, except it makes the stories predictable and half of the episode would be entirely pointless. At least we got some nice action scenes out of it.

The subplot of Diggle and the Suicide Squad was fine, i thoroughly enjoyed that sequence except it felt very disconnected to the A-plot, it literally could have been its own separate episode and maybe expand more on Deadshots history and the relationship between Diggle and his wife (Still don't know her name) and create more of a contrast between them. Cupid wasn't nearly as bad as she was in her last appearance, i don't know if that's just because they reduced her to supporting character instead of lead, or maybe her episode was bad inspite of her, either way i liked her more here than there. Also I would have liked the wedding to have lasted longer, the best times to flesh out our characters are when they're just behaving like people and doing normal things, for example: Going to a wedding. Seeing them outside of vigilante work makes them seem closer as friends and humanises them for the audience.

Apart from that I really don't have anything else to say on the episode, the action was good, the story was lacking in depth and proper pacing, it's not the worst, but also not good. 4/10.

-Danny

The Flash "Rogue Time" Review

I don't really know what to say, my capacity to review these shows is starting to drain on me, i've got Flash fatigue, it doesn't help that i don't really have much to talk about this episode because it felt very by the numbers. Captain Cold and team show up, cause mayhem, Flash stops them. I don't like Captain Cold, he's a boring villain, he's cheesy and it feels like they're forcing him in there. After last week had such a good finale and i was dying to find out where it was going to go, they wrapped it all up really quickly and replaced it with this generic schmuck. We get more of the stupid love triangle stuff (I mean seriously Barry, even i could tell her feelings were a heat of the moment type thing), Iris' boss or co-worker or whoever the hell he was is killed by Reverse Flash (Again, nothing new). The best stuff was still with Cisco, not the family dynamic, we've seen that a million times, but his accepting his failures. Cisco reveals the true identity of The Flash to save his brother and the scene where he tells the others was excellent because of course he's going to feel guilty and the others perfectly understand why, i love it because you'd be surprised how often people in these shows don't react with the proper emotion to these kind of events (*Cough* all of season 3 of Arrow! *cough*) and then the scene where Cisco and Dr Wells are having the talk and Wells is trying to comfort him on his mistakes and he gives the same speech he used last week on him with the whole "you have made me see what it is like to have a son" and all i could think was "you bastard". Oh and then there was the bar scene with Barry and Cisco, because we don't really have too many scenes of them just hanging out together, and then Barry's face when Cisco hooks up.

You know i'm starting to realise Cisco might be the most important character on the show, definitely one of the best actors on the show.

But yeah this was a really uninspired episode, i didn't care for watching it and i don't care to write about it.

I'm giving Rogue Time a 6/10. Cisco really is the one redeeming factor of the episode.

-Danny

The Flash Makes Arrow Suffer

You probably figured out by now that i'm a big fan of both Arrow and The Flash, hence why I review them every week. You may also have noticed that there was a big gap in quality last week between shows, The Flash had an excellent episode while Arrow had a really bad episode, and i've joked about this before how it seems that if one show has a really good episode one week, the other will have a very meh episode. But i think it's more than that, because overall, Flash has been an excellent show and i highly recommend it to everyone, even the people who don't watch Arrow I say watch Flash because it's really good. Arrow on the otherhand, the quality really has dipped this season, and to be fair this show has always been a hit or miss series, but overall i still recommend it, this is the first season to make me question my loyalty to it. And I realised, the big difference here is that even though the two shows are supposed to support each other, in reality they're making each other suffer. When Arrow first started, the creative team had to try really hard to get people to like it, Green Arrow wasn't as popular as Superman or Batman and the last CW show to have a DC Hero left such a bad taste that no one was sure if it was going to work, so they worked their butts off to make it good, and it was great.

And because they did so well, they were greenlit for a spin-off series about The Flash, and while it would be easier this time as now they have both Arrow fans and Flash fans tuning in, they knew it would still be a lot of work, and at the same time they still had Arrow to work on. So that's two shows that would need a lot of attention, the problem is, even though there a talented bunch working on both shows, it's clear that they've been dedicating more time to Flash to try and make it work. And again, it paid off, it's a huge hit, but at the same time, Arrow has been suffering for it because they've had less focus. My guess is that next season when Flash firmly has its feet on the ground things'll get better for Arrow (Maybe a little bit worse for Flash) but as of now, man, they need a better balance for both shows...Oh except next year they will have Supergirl and a team-up series to work on as well...fuck.

-Danny

The Importance Of Cinema.

If you're a lover of movies then at some point you will have met someone who thinks it's silly to be that invested in something fictional, "how can you cry at a film? It didn't happen" "why are you so passionate about something that doesn't exist?" "oh come on, you can't have a life changing experience at a piece of fiction". But what these people don't understand is almost anything can effect a human, for some it's listening to a great album, for others it's reading about a great historical figure, or it could be someone in our lives, a friend, a family member, a mentor, a deity. The importance isn't to question where they get their influence, but how they use it to shape themselves as people. For a lot of people, movies can do that, so can books, and shows and games and songs. If a person watches a film and they connect to it, if they relate to a character or a scenario, it can have a major effect. When you watch a comedy and you laugh, you're connected to that film, when you watch a horror movie and you're scared, you're connected, that film has given you an emotional connection and if it can do that then why can't it go further? Films make us cry, just the same way they make us laugh, they make us angry, they make us love one character and hate another. 

And for some that is the extent, a movie makes them cry and as soon as it's done, they move on with their day, but for others it's different. Sometimes when someone watches a movie they see something in themselves in that movie, and it goes a step further, it shows them something they haven't seen before. They teach us a lesson, they can make us think differently, they can show us a different viewpoint, teach us a new fact, comfort us, help us through our own problems or maybe just help us forget about them for 2 hours. They can inspire us and change who we are as people. They make us nostalgic for our childhood, they make us hopeful for our future, make us want to change the world we live in. The question isn't "Why are you being affected by something that doesn't exist?" the question should be "How is this going to make you a better person if you let it affect you?".

No not every film is going to be a life changing experience, very few films are, and we've all lived different lives, every film is going to affect us differently, but every so often, we get one of those movies, the ones that shock us, scare us, teach us, connect to us, we see ourselves in the people on screen or they show us someone we want to be and we use that. We see the honesty of Atticus Finch and we want to be like that, we see Will Hunting forgive himself for the years of self-loathing and feel like we can do the same. We see Spider-Man risk his life to save others and fantasize about being like him. We see tragedy in Grave of the Fireflies and are stricken with grief. We see Luke Skywalker rise up against the oppression of evil and we cheer with excitement.

Remember, movies don't just show up out of thin air, they're made by people, they're based on real experiences, ideas, dreams and nightmares, they show us every aspect of humanity, from what we fear we may become to what we hope we'll one day achieve. They teach us morals as children, they empathise with us in our teens, they show us the highs and lows of adulthood, they can let us escape into a fantasy world or show us humanity at it's worst. These aren't foreign concepts to us, this is what people choose to express to us, they want us to have an experience, they want us to think, they want us to celebrate. If a movie is done right then it can be a great piece of art, but sometimes it can be more than that, it can be an experience. It can suck us in for 2 hours, it can show us something incredibly personal that you know isn't going to effect anyone else in the same way and you can let that movie change you, make you a better person or give you a new outlook on things.

A movie lover isn't someone getting attached to something that doesn't matter, it's someone who has had that experience and has changed them for the better and can't wait for the next film to come along and give them a similar experience. That is a movie lover, that is someone with passion for the art and is open to a new ideology, see things from a different point of view, a different race, a different gender, a different age, a different belief system and to hopefully make them a better person. And that is the importance of cinema.

-Danny

I'm Surprisingly Cynical On Comedies

Comedy is both my favourite film genre as well as the one i am the harshest on; I obviously love to laugh like everyone, but my god, so many comedies are lazy, bland and incredibly DULL! Or as I like to call them, Will Ferrell Movies. My problem is that mainstream comedies all feel the same and have little creativity behind how they're filmed or written. And this isn't a problem with just modern comedies, but so many classic comedies are just so blandly filmed. But it's a bigger problem these days by which how so heavily improvised a lot of them are. Now don't get me wrong, I love improve comedians, Robin Williams, Russell Howard, you know, people who are actually good at improvising. But a lot of the big comedians these days, Will Ferrell, Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, are not good at it, because it's not jokes, it's just banter between friends, it's like watching people have inside jokes except you're not inside of it. Now don't get me wrong, I enjoy Seth Rogen & Will Ferrell, when they're doing pre-written material, but when improvising, it's just then rambling a bunch of random words and i'm sorry, that's just not funny. People really don't realise how much planning and strategy goes into good comedy. How much effort went into every Abott & Costello sketch, every detailed frame for Tom & Jerry, when Edgar Wright makes the perfect edit or Jim Rash deliver a perfect line to make it the best joke possible, and that kind of effort just doesn't go into the mainstream comedies.

Above all else, they're all the same, how many times has Seth Rogen played the same character? That's why my favourite comedies are the ones doing something different, anything different. Like Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Life of Brian, Hot Fuzz, Ghostbusters, Emperor's New Groove, 22 Jump Street. The ones that actually try to stand out against what they're going to be compared too, that are clever and creative and do-something-different! And we just don't get that as often as we should, and that upsets me.

-Danny

Batman is NOT An Anti-Hero

A word you hear thrown around a lot, sometimes willy-nilly is "anti-hero" to describe a character, and more often than not it's not entirely accurate. An example and probably the most misused example is Batman, I hear people often say how Batman is the greatest anti-hero of all time, and all I can think is "he's not an anti-hero! He's just a hero!". An anti-hero is someone who you're supposed to question your support for them, they do good things but with a negative consequence, they make you question if the ends justify the means and are they really someone you should hope wins in the end? Batman is someone who you clearly root for from beginning to end, no matter what the story. He's not a conflicted character in the sense of an anti-hero, he always has good intentions behind what he does, always wants to help people, is incredibly selfless, never kills and would be willing to die to protect just one soul. The only reason why people view him as an anti-hero is because he follows this archetype of anti-heroes being dark & brooding, like The Punisher or Rorshach, now those two are anti-heroes, they have questionable morals, deplorable actions but always end up with a good result. Batman doesn't have questionable morals, in fact it's the one thing that's consistent in every adaptation, and his actions, while arguable, no one innocent ever suffers because of him, and when someone does suffer, it's always as minimal as needed, he never takes it too far.

And that's another stupid trend, the idea that anti-heroes have to be dark & brooding in order to be anti-heroes, when that's not true, some of my favourite anti-heroes include Monkey .D. Luffy, Sarah Conner, Spike Spiegel, Jack Sparrow & Nathan Drake. They all have questionable morals or actions and can be incredibly selfish, violent, deplorable or even cowardly, they have all the qualities of an anti-hero but are not dark & brooding. So let this be a lesson to you, not all anti-heroes are dark & brooding, and not all characters that are dark & brooding are anti-heroes.

-Danny

Aquaman Says "Fuck Marvel!"

So here's a funny little story, at a convention recently, Jason Mamoa (DC's Aquaman) was asked to sign a poster and also give a statement about DC vs Marvel hubub, he in return decided to sign a poster saying "Fuck Marvel". First of all, damn that is some fancy-ass writing for a simple insult. Second of all, people flipped about this, everyone saying this is jealousy or ignorance or childish or unwarranted, basically a lot of Marvel fanboys were really upset by this. Here's the thing guys...IT'S A JOKE! Obviously Mamoa doesn't hate Marvel or even think there is this kind of rivalry between them, someone wanted him to make a statement, he's at a convention, everyone's having a good time, he decides to make a little bit of playful banter and say "Fuck Marvel" obviously not meaning anything serious by it. Now when it comes to both movies and comics, i'm a Marvel guy, i love Marvel and do genuinely think it's better than DC (Except in TV where DC is king) so i see this on my Facebook feed and I have a good chuckle at it because anyone with half a brain can tell it's not meant to be taken seriously. And A lot of people forget, Robert Downey Jr made a similar comment several years ago, and everybody had a good laugh about it, you know why? Because it was a joke, banter between rivals. You know, the same way how boxers diss each other before a match, it's all good fun, DC and Marvel have been rivals for decades and they've had plenty of jokes like this between each other, whether it be comics, cartoons, tv shows or movies, if you're genuinely offended by this then guess what, you're taking this more seriously than the people who are actually told to go fuck themselves, so go fuck yourself.

-Danny

Arrow "The Offer" Review

Don't expect something indepth in this review here because what we have here is about 40 minutes wasted, what happened in this episode? Well Oliver and Arsenal went to go fight crime again. Oliver complained that Laurel needed more training, again. Thea complaining about Malcolm, again! Laurel complaining about Malcolm, Again! And Oliver woefully in love with Felicity AGAIN!

Whatever, here's what happens, we spend 30 minutes moping and complaining with about 10 minutes of actual plot development. Ollie is given the offer to take the place of Ra's Al Ghul, considers it, rejects it, Ra's frames the Arrow for several murders. Apart from that, Roy & Thea get back together (Didn't even realise they were apart) and in flashback-land it appears Shado is still alive. Oh and Laurel is now going to be trained by Nyssa (£20 says they become lesbians and it'll be just as forced as every other romance).

This episode sucks. Looking back I realise i have been really lenient on the bad episodes of this season because i like the show, i just assume it was in a slump but it'll pick itself up eventually. This episode is my breaking point, i'm sick of the same melodramatic bullshit we've had to put up all season, except all the other episodes atleast had something good about them, or progressed the story a fair amount, this episode was 90% bullshit with 10% progression. So let's get into the badness that is The Offer, and where better to start than with...the offer.

Ollie is given the opportunity to take over the League of Assassins, and that means he has full control, if he wills it so they don't kill, they won't kill. He even points out that really in the 3 year he's been The Arrow he really hasn't made all that much of a difference, and has he forgotten that if it wasn't for the league then Slade would have won in the season 2 finale!? Fact is there are so many arguments to be made for him joining, he can make a difference worldwide rather than just in Starling City and this time he'll have an army by his side plus immortality, and what happens? He rejects the offer...WHY!? That's really all I have to say about this episode, why the fuck would Ollie not take the offer of controlling the league, what are the negative consequences of that!?

Of course my favourite characters of the show, the only ones not making stupid-ass decisions (Probably because they're not given enough screentime) Roy, Diggle & Lance of course have very little to do in the episode apart from lecture everyone else on how stupid they're being. I mean Roy doesn't lecture, he just acts as a shoulder to cry on, but still counting it. But do you know what would be even better? If their lectures had a point. Every week they have to tell the others when they're doing something stupid, and the fact that they constantly have to give those lectures means that clearly it's not working, guys, the point to these big speeches is so that the characters will grow and learn from it. Lance yelling at Laurel to stop being a bitch only works if at somepoint she stops being a bitch.

Also few smaller things to touch on, Shado is back: God i don't care, even though she was shot in the fucking head she's of course okay, hell, very few people die on the island i'm starting to think it's the safest possible location. Olicity is back on? Fuck off. Fuck right off and never come back. We are done with this shit, please for the love of god just die.

I'm done giving this show a pass whenever it's bad, assuming it's just going to build up to something great, but we're really not seeing it. I still obviously really like the show and i'm not giving up on it yet, but i'm not holding back anymore.

The Offer gets a 2/10.

-Danny

The Flash "Out of Time" Review

Ah hell old friend, it is good to be back to review "The Flash" once again! With that being said:

WHAT THE FUCK.

Where to begin with this episode. Out of Time sees the return of the Weather Wizard (Being waiting to use that since week one) except this time it's his brother, seeking revenge on Joe for killing the original Wizard, so he nearly kills the captain in doing so and takes Joe hostage, baiting out Iris to come and find him so he can kill her as well. Speaking of Iris, the complications of her and Barry reach their peak as she confesses she loves him and the two kiss at the most inappropriate of times (Giant tidal wave, dying father and all that stuff) and she finds out that Barry is The Flash. And if that wasn't enough for you, well Cisco begins to research why the barrier for the Reverse Flash failed and Dr Wells reveals himself to be The Reverse Flash and his real name is Eobard Thawne, a "distant relative" of Eddie Thawne, he explains his backstory and plan as all evil villains do tells Cisco he was like a son to him...just before he kills him...And then Barry travels back in time and undoes it all...huh.

So let's take this one story at a time, staring with the least interesting, the romance subplot...yay. I've said it before and i'll say it again, i do not care for the romance subplot, it's lame, detracts from the story and love triangles are dumb, love squares are dumber, and in a world with super-powered monsters, time travel and genuine emotional moments between friends and family members, your dumb teen romance struggles are not nearly as interesting. Also I wish they would give Eddie something to do apart from be a jealous boyfriend, also everything about Barry's girlfriend just screams: Bitch. What the hell does he see in her? And the big climax of this where the two confess their feelings and kiss...is it really the best time to do this? I mean your father is held hostage by a psycho that can control the weather and is about to kill him and you, priorities people.

Then there's all the stuff with the Weather Wizard, a nice little bit of repetition here, Wizard was the first villain The Flash ever faced and now another one shows up when all the plot threads reach a peak, almost as if it's going full circle, also a nice bit of contrast with the fact that Barry going back in time means he's also gone full circle. But apart from that, the villain was meh, just a means to an end. And all the things like Joe being kidnapped or the Captain getting paralysed, i doubt are going to happen again, Barry's probably just going to prevent them from happening.

And now let's get to the big WHAT THE FUCK of the episode. Cisco & Caitlin discover the truth about Dr Wells and in return, Wells kills Cisco. First of all, damn that was a good sequence of the reveal, the acting from both parties was outstanding, Tom Cavanaugh was creepy as hell and Carlos Valdes as this quivering and scared victim was great, i do like the fact that he was trying to be brave when really he was shitting his pants, he has good intentions but he knows he's not leaving that room alive. Frankly, this was the most intense scene in the entire show and i loved every goddamn thing about it.

Finally...there's the big shake up at the end, Barry goes back in time and prevents it all from happening, thus undoing all the development that this great episode delivered. And oddly enough...i'm not mad about it. Usually stuff like this can kill a great show, but i'm not pissed at all, i think it's because this isn't out of nowhere, we've had plenty of foreshadowing in both this episode and the concept of time travel being discussed several times. But I think the biggest reason is, we don't know where they're going to go from here. How are things going to be different, how is Barry going to handle things with this kind of knowledge? Minus the Eobard Thawne reveal because Barry didn't know about that, but still, that works great for the audience, we know how far he's willing to take this thing and it makes him a legitimate threat now that we know his intentions.

God it's good to be back to talking about this show because it's a great TV show and this was a great episode and i'm giving it a 9/10.

-Danny

The Onion Layers of a Simpsons Joke

One of my favourite things about The Simpsons is that because i grew up with it, there were a lot of jokes that went over my head, and watching them now i realise there were twice as many jokes as there were before, and in some cases, one line can actually be two jokes at once. A lot of Simpsons jokes have these layers to them, just like an onion. But what I think is probably one of my favourite Simpsons jokes is simply because it has not one layer, not two, but five layers to it. The clip to your right has Homer putting on a pair of glasses he finds, says a bunch of mathematical jargon, and then gets proven wrong. So let's take a look at the layers of this joke. One: The fact that Homer puts on a pair of glasses and is instantly smart. Two: That he still gets it wrong and is still an idiot. Three: that someone actually cares enough to correct Homer in the most blue-collar slob way (Also he's on the toilet). Four: it's a reference to The Wizard of Oz where the Scarecrow says the exact same thing. Five: The Scarecrow also got it wrong, making it a satire.

Those are five jokes all wrapped up into 8 seconds and just 2 lines of dialogue, it's moments like this that prove The Simpsons isn't just great because of nostalgic reasons, but was legitimately an insanely clever show. And if you're one of those hipster douche-nozzles that thinks classic Simpsons is overrated then get off my blog!

-Danny

My Favourite Characters - Dr Cox

There are a lot of things to love about Scrubs, its characters, its witty writing, its emotional impact, its memorable moments, but i don't think there is anything to love more about it than Dr Perry Cox. Dr Cox is a man of medicine, he's also a man who hates almost everything on the planet, everything annoys him, he's cynical to almost everyone he meets, is incredibly sarcastic and also very aggressive. He's also more than willing to make himself look like a complete fool, just as long as you look like an even bigger fool. He has the biggest ego on the planet and is incredibly self-obsessed and also very impatient...and I love every single aspect of him. The thing that makes his inflated ego so entertaining is that he has earned it, he's a fantastic doctor, he's incredibly hilarious and is good at almost everything he does, he never pretends to be modest about it because he doesn't need to be, he takes all the praise because he's earned it dammit. And I've honestly never seen a character like him, he's like Bugs Bunny mixed with Louis CK mixed with Chandler Bing mixed with Gaston...on Crystal Meth. His comedy is gold, i don't think any of his jokes fall flat and it's all because of the deliver, he works well off of everyone and he always has the last laugh (I would kill to see an argument between him and Dr House).

But this isn't to say he's cynical to everyone, he knows when to actually give a damn, like i said, he is the best damn doctor in the world because he does care, he does try as hard as he can to help save people, yeah he can't win them all and he knows that, but even after all these years he still cares and wants to help people, even if he hates everyone around him. But it's in those moments when he loses when he becomes more of a complex character, when a loss does hit him, like his best friend dying or being responsible for three people's deaths or whenever he talks about his family growing up. He hates the world because the world seems to hate him, so even though he won't admit it when someone does mean something to him, he always has his own ways of showing it, like actually referring to you by your real name rather than a demeaning nickname he gave you.

He's one of the most entertaining characters that has ever graced our television and he's also one of the most emotionally engaging, he's uniquely charming in his own douchey kind of way, he's the king of the jerks, it's Dr Cox.

-Danny

People Who Don't Care About The Story

Videogames are still a young medium, we are yet to actually be able to decide on what's important to a game in order to judge it. Story for me is a very important element in how i view a game, no it's not as important as gameplay but if you have a shit story then it can really hold you back. But at the same time we have a generation of people who grew up on videogames that didn't care about story so they don't care about story, for them it's all about the gameplay, nothing else, if a game has a good story, that's just a bonus. This is simply an outdated point of view, story matters, themes matter, writing matters. I talked about this a while back where videogames have been accused of just stealing cinema techniques, but i argued that taking those techniques and adapting them to the medium of videogames can allow for a much better experience. Now this isn't something that applies to all videogames, i'm never going to critisize a Mario game for a simplistic story, i mean i would love it if they tried, but it's not a necessity. However, when you have something like The Last of Us or Bioshock or Mass Effect or Spec Ops: The Line or Shadow of the Colossus or Uncharted or any of the dozens and dozens of games that put effort into the story, just for players to completely ignore the story, character development and themes that people have put a lot of effort into, it's not right. Story is important, and if a videogame isn't going to try or is just going to half-arse it then i'm going to critisize it for it and so should you. Yes every story type is going to be different, you can't critisize something like GTA V for not being deep or complex, it's a satire, you can't critisize Mario for not having a thought provoking story, it's a kids game, and again, it's not even trying to have a story or characters. But fact is, when a videogame goes the extra mile, of if they could go the extra mile and they fail then they need to be called out for it, it's how they develop as a medium, by knowing they can do better and then strive to be like that, and if you're just going to shrug that off then you're holding back the evolution of what is in my opinion, the strongest medium there is, it just needs more products willing to take it to the next step.

-Danny

ERASED

The DC TV Universe

Yesterday was me talking about the new Supergirl costume and even rambling on about the confusion that is the DC TV Universe, and that being there is too much inconsistency. I always felt it would be great to have a DC Movie Universe and a DC TV Universe, everything is consistant and in the same universe as others of the same medium. So let's take a look at the planned shows in the DC  universe, we currently have Arrow, Flash, Gotham & Constantine, with iZombie and Supergirl in production, pilots ordered for Lucifer & Preacher and currently in development are shows for Static Shock, Teen Titans, Krypton, DMZ & Scalped...oh and another spin-off for Arrow, this time for Atom...that's 14 shows planned to be released all on different networks, and only 3 of them taking place in the same universe. Now look, chances of seeing all of these come to the small screen is unlikely, i wouldn't put too much money on seeing Lucifer, Krypton, Preacher, DMZ, Static Shock or Scalped, people don't seem to realise how hard it is to get a show on television, first you have to get approved for pilot, then get approved for 13 episodes, then a series and then if you did well enough, get renewed for a second season, chances of a hit are slim, chances of all of these shows getting made, non-existant. So look, here's my suggestions for how to keep these shows connected without feeling like you're flooding the market.

First of all, put Supergirl and Teen Titans in the same universe as Arrow & Flash. Supergirl has the same production team behind Arrow & Flash so it makes sense to have them together, and Arrow has Arsenal, a pretty big member of the Teen Titans so they could definitely fit together, also that way maybe you can get Static Shock in there. Also of course the Ray Palmer show is going to take place in the Arrow universe, and i think it's gonna be awesome. Even though I love the two detectives in Gotham, the show needs to be canned because it's just going to be confusing audiences, it's a prequel, we can't have any Batman characters in the other shows as long as that Gotham is around, besides, is anyone really a big fan of Gotham? Constantine is perfectly fine off doing it's own thing, it's not interfering with anything, but then again maybe crossover with Arrow would help it's ratings out. Everything else gets scrapped, we don't need them, they're just going to confuse things and make the medium over saturated.

So in my universe we have: Arrow, Flash, Supergirl, Atom, Teen Titans, Static Shock and Constantine.

Will it actually go down like this? Highly unlikely, but it would be a lot better personally, more organised, more consistancy and easier to follow.

-Danny

Supergirl's Costume Revealed

This is the problem with planning out post topics in advanced is that when a story breaks i have to reorganise my posts to make up for it, and sometimes i can't be arsed. This is one of those times. So if you don't already know, there is a Supergirl TV show coming to CBS this fall, whether or not it takes place in the same universe as Arrow & Flash is unknown and confusing so let's not get into that. But now we have our first look at Melissa Benoist in the costume and...I really like it. I think she has that spunky charm that Supergirl is known for, I like the fact that she is actually smiling, almost as if she's saying "hell yeah, Imma superhero!" and I like that. The costume was designed by Colleen Atwood, the same person who designed the Arrow & Flash costumes so you knew it was gonna be good and it is. I'll be honest, i wasn't that excited for Supergirl before because...well it's CBS and if it's not gonna be in the Arrow universe then what's the point? But we don't actually know if it's in the universe, though it has a lot of the same production teams behind it so it could be, i don't know. Point is, i think the costume looks good and it's gotten me excited for the show.

-Danny

The Secret of NIMH is Getting Rebooted...

*Sigh*...Oh Hollywood, thou art a bitch...hm, i feel like i've used that opening line before, well it's Hollywood so, I wouldn't be surprised. If you haven't heard, The Secret of NIMH is getting rebooted, already sounds like a bad idea but you just wait. It's going to be a live action/CGI mix (Ugh) it's going to be part of a planned franchise (Ugh!) and it's being written by the writer of Ice Age 5 (UGH!). I know I shouldn't make a judgement on this movie before seeing it but...seriously, they made every wrong turn and the movie hasn't even begun production yet.

If you aren't aware of The Secret of NIMH, it's an animated film from Don Bluth, and like everything Don Bluth made back in the 1980's it was a masterpiece. It's a timeless story with a unique protagonist, thought provoking ideas and of course, masterful animation. Everything about the movie works, the only criticism i can even conjure up is that the pacing is slow, but really, that's a nitpick. The movie doesn't need to be rebooted because it's already as perfect as it can be. And besides, if the reboot turns out to be a hit, what's to stop them from rebooting Land Before Time and American Tail!? Can't you just reboot the crap movies Don Bluth made? Leave the masterpieces alone!

But let's talk about some of the ideas they've put forth, the concept of it being live action/CGI, oh yeah, because that always worked so well with The Smurfs and Alvin & The Chipmunks; and even then, best case scenario is that you have convincing CGI that looks like a mouse. The original still has breathtaking animation that tops anything they can do with CG. It's going to be a new franchise: Did you not see Secret of NIMH 2? It sucked, how many secrets of NIMH are there? It's the writer of Ice Age 5: Now i couldn't find out who the writer of Ice Age 5 is (A franchise that needs to die by the way) but i'm just guessing that there's nothing too impressive on his resume that lives up to mature storytelling of the original.

Now i know that i should go into this movie with an open mind and it is entirely possible that it will surprise me and be really good. But nothing so far exists to give me any faith in that happening, so let's talk about some of the arguments for the remake. It's going to be more faithful to the original book: Trust me, if anything in it is more faithful to the book, that is purely coincidence and that doesn't instantly make it a good movie anyway. It could do with a modern retelling: Why? The original is a timeless classic, it's not dated, the ideas and characters are still relevant to today, the only way how "modernizing" it is going to change anything is by putting in pop culture references and a lot of slang, yeah, because that's not gonna be dated 5 years down the line.

So no, i know i sound incredibly negative here but i am, this is a reboot that doesn't need to happen, it is a terrible idea and it honestly sounds like this is just going to lead from bad to worse.

-Danny

Gravity Falls "Not What He Seems" Review

I haven't reviewed Arrow or Flash in a while, i need some TV to review, so here's a one off review of the latest episode of Gravity Falls. Now if you don't watch Gravity Falls, two things, One: what the hell is wrong with you? Two: Spoilers ahead. And for those of you thinking "oh come on, how many spoilers can there be in a kids show?" trust me, this show has one hell of a mystery plot to it and you will get engrossed and you do not want it spoiled for you. Now Gravity Falls, despite only watching it for a few months has pretty much taken over my life, i binged watched the entire show, fell in love with the characters, the animation, the theme song, the writing, it's without a doubt the best cartoon--screw it, the best show on television right now, it's amazing.

So in this episode, after 1 and a half seasons, we finally start getting answers, Gruncle Stan is arrested for stealing radioactive waste, Dipper and Mabel begin to learn that he may not be who he says he is and they even discover the portal that Stan had been keeping a secret from them, and amongst all of this madness, all the betrayal, drama and lies, what's the big reveal? The author is brought in through the portal and is actually Stan's brother. Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat!? *Mind blown*.

This episode was fantastic all round, the comedy is still brilliant, while there was no gut busting joke in this episode like there are in most, it was still a very funny episode, especially the whole rock face argument returning (Side Note: Grappling Hook mothafuckas!). But I feel like the writing of the episode definitely shines through with the drama, Dipper and Mabel beginning to doubt Stan for who he is and having to make a life or death decision based on whether or not they trust him, and you know what, i didn't know what to do either, the relationships between the characters have been so well developed that i know Stan would never intentionally hurt the kids, but at the same time he's kept so many secrets from them that it's hard to know what to believe anymore. And then there's Soos caught in the middle who stand by the kids and tries to protect them because Soos is just that awesome. Fact of the matter is that this is one the best written Gravity Falls episodes there is, there's a great balance between comedy and drama, the relationships have been developed so well that we get this great pay off and the reveal of the mystery was paced perfectly.

The animation of the episode was also some of the best it's ever been, there's so much detail in the action and the use of colours to create drama was outstanding, every frame of this episode looks like it could be a painting. I've always felt that while Gravity Falls' animation was simple, it was never dull, the colours were always vibrant, the characters always expressive and every frame just beautiful to look at. You can tell that they definitely gave their A-Game here and they really wanted to impress us.

And finally there's the big reveal, we've been waiting months and months to find out what Stan was doing, why he was doing it and who the author of the journals are. And boom, we get all of our question answered...well, not all of them, in fact this reveal raises a whole lot of questions, but even so, this show is yet to let me down, i doubt they would drop the ball now. But you have to admit, you were shocked at this reveal and i doubt you saw it coming, I certainly didn't. Also anyone else find it really creepy on that final scene of the two of them as kids just sat on the swings? Nothing was said yet i really got this uncomfortable atmosphere from the entire thing. And that's what makes the show so great, it has a perfect use of atmosphere.

This episode was amazing from beginning to end, it was perfectly written, perfectly paced, perfectly animated, i could have used a few more gut busting jokes, but that is really a nitpick. This episode gets a 10/10.

-Danny

Mad Max - Cheap Thoughts

I had never seen a single Mad Max movie before a few days ago, the reason why i've chosen to watch them now is because there's a new Mad Max movie coming out this year that looks incredible, so i wanted to watch the original films first, and i have done that with the first one and shall watch the other two soon. Mad Max is an Australian dystopian film directed by George Miller and starring Mel Gibson in his breakthrough role as the titular character. The film is set in the Outback of Australia on the brink of an apocalypse after a major energy crises and crime runs rampid, and Max is a police officer who after accidently killing a member of a gang, is now being hunted by the rest of that gang who will get at him through his friends & family for revenge.

*Massive Spoilers Ahead*

Now there are certain liberties that you have to take with this film, it's a low budget dystopian Australian film from the 1970's, so don't expect any big action set pieces here, but even then, this film is highly dispointing from a production stand point. Let me start out with my biggest problem with the production design of this film, it doesn't look even remotely dystopian. A lot of the film takes place in the Outback but that doesn't instantly make it look dystopian because that's how it would look anyway, and whenever they do enter civilization, everything seems perfectly fine, apart from a shortage on police officers and everyone having a large obsession with leather, i would have no idea that this was supposed to be a dystopian future. Especially considering the main issue would be a major energy crisis which means low fuel reserves yet everyone drives around everywhere, some crisis, if supplies were low then you probably shouldn't be driving so many places and wasting supplies.

Then there is the story, which is highly generic and not even remotely fascinating, Max is a police officer with a best friend/partner named Goose...and big surprise, he's killed off. And then the movie almost shifts tones completely after that, Max is encouraged by his superior to go away for a while and decides to take his family on vacation, despite the fact that he's fully aware there is a biker gang trying to hunt them down, and they go to this farm house where the owners know them somehow, but there is no development there, i have no idea who these people are or how they know Max and his family. Though I will say, the fact that Max's wife and son (Named Sprog...what the fuck) are killed off, i found kind of surprising, mostly because, though it was offscreen, it was very brutal, especially the fact that they killed a baby, i didnt expect it.

But this also leads to another problem I have and that would be Max himself, he has so little dialogue and doesn't really do much police work that I have no idea who his character is supposed to be, so at the end of the movie when he hunts down the gang members for revenge and we're supposed to feel like this man has been broken and is now a fragmant of who he was...i have no idea who he was though! He got along with his family, that's about it. I have no idea who Max is as a character so i don't feel anything for him at the end of the movie, because i can't tell how he's changed at this point.

But the film isn't terrible, the acting i felt was good, the gangsters were comically over the top and because Gibson's portrayal was mostly quiet and subtle, when he did express emotion, it felt a lot more effective because of the contrast of the rest of his performance. And despite the low budget and conditions of filming, it was still a well shot movie, especially the chase scenes and they were honestly the most exciting moments of the film for me. Also Gibson looks damn good in leather (Though i can't imagine it could have been that comfortable considering how hot it is).

Also oddly enough, the film has an American dub and is automatically set to play that version despite the fact the original version is still in English, i mean yes there are a fair number of Aussie slang terms in the film, but i doubt your audience would be so ignorant to not understand what the hell they're saying. So watch the original Australian version because the dubbing can be quite obvious at times when the lips don't match up with what they're saying. Also another annoyance is that they only have English subtitles for the American dub and not the original, and i find that rather irritating.

In the end, Mad Max is a very cliched movie, that does have some good moments sprinkled inbetween but the production design is it's biggest betrayal at trying to get me invested. I'm giving Mad Max a 4/10.

-Danny

One Piece: Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island - Cheap Thoughts

I am a massive fan of the manga/anime series One Piece, I know that a lot of hard core anime fans consider it to be overrated at this point but i personally don't care, i love this franchise, I’ve always loved this franchise and I will always love this franchise. Though one part of it that has never really impressed me are the feature length films, usually because they work in a similar fashion to the arcs in the TV Show, just a lot shorter which means they are less developed (Hell some of the movies are literally shortened versions of the arcs in the show), also the fact that they are non-canon makes the impact they have less effective. However one of the films that I find to be interesting to discuss is Baron Omatsure and the Secret Island, the 6th feature length One Piece film, directed by Mamoru Hosoda. Now this is a man that has made a name for himself in the past few years as a talented director and is quickly becoming one of my favourite Japanese film makers. All of his films have this distinct art style to them to make them stand out in comparison to other films and his films often have a strong emotional focus as well as unique presentations of old ideas. Another reason why this film stands out is because it is a very controversial film for both critics and fans of the series for having a much darker tone than what was normally a very upbeat and light hearted series. So with all this being said, what do I think of the movie? I kinda love it.

The film takes place just before Water 7 arc of the series and has our main characters travel to an uninhabited island, apart from a vacation resort made specifically for pirates. However not all is at it seems as it is revealed the residence of the island are all a former pirate crew who use the island the lure in fellow pirates and slowly tear them apart one by one, eventually killing all of them in a sacrifice to extend their lives. Soon it's learnt that it's actually the captain of these pirates who is the only surviving member after a terrible storm, once he learned the island had a secret plant that could revive his crew by sacrificing others, he does just that. So one by one our Straw Hat Crew's friendships are tested as they are picked off one by one.

I should start off by saying if you've never seen One Piece then don't even bother watching this movie because they don't try to explain much and neither will I, so you're gonna be lost on a lot of things.

So the main reason why i like this film is because of the emotional centre of the movie being Luffy and his Nakama. Like i said before, one of Hosoda's many talents are that he knows where the emotions of the film should lie, and in my opinion the strongest emotional element that makes One Piece so great is the bond between the crew, these people who live and die with each other and would be willing to do anything for each other. And this film explores that, their friendships are tested and they have to see what things would be like if they did lose each other, especially Luffy who has to witness all of his friends die one by one. A lot of people were disturbed by the amount of physical suffering Luffy has to go through in this film but I think the bulk of it was in his emotional suffering, nothing will ever freak me out as much as seeing Luffy willingly accept death after the loss of his crew. The film explores one of my favourite aspects of One Piece and I think it did it justice and was highly affective.

Hosoda's animation style is a very subjective thing, i can easily see people being put off for his style for its fluidity but lack of detail, personally for me I very much enjoy his style, though I will admit it was a bit distracting at first, both in general and for this film. The animation for One Piece is normally the reverse of this, it's very stilted but incredibly detailed, so seeing the opposite of that was unusual to say the least. But because I am a fan of Hosoda's work, i quickly adapted and i ended up really liking the different style of animation and it made me really curious on seeing other One Piece films being done not just like this again, but also try some other different variations to see what it would look like. Not to mention the quick and fluid nature of Hosoda's work really plays well to the action scenes of this film which look incredible and really works well this the movement of Luffy's character, after all, he's a rubber man, his body is very fluid in movement so his fighting here looks more natural than ever before.

And then there is the dark tone of the film, which i personally found very welcoming. I know that One Piece is a very lightly toned anime with some mature themes thrown in but visually it was always pretty safe. And while there's nothing too dark or disturbing in this film that when juxtaposed with the original source material to make it feel out of place, there was enough to actually challenge both the characters and the audience. The entire point of One Piece is to see these characters overcome all these various obstacles and grow as people for it, and that includes having to face some darker subject material, so at the end of the film when Luffy smiles in the bright sunlight, it feels very satisfying. Though I will admit, seeing Luffy on the brink of death with a hundred arrows implanted in his body was sometimes uncomfortable to watch, but i can't really fault the film for that because it was clearly intentional, it's just seeing Luffy suffer like that felt really disturbing.

But with that being said i do have some issues with this film. First of all, even though the friendships between some of the crew were tested, a lot of them felt rushed and utterly pointless, in the end they never betrayed each other or let the other one get hurt and the characters were never in any peril because of their actions or lack thereof. So the idea of having them turn against each other seemed really underdeveloped and unecessary. Also the origin of the flower and a lot of the details on how it works were just sort of swept under the rug. Very little about how it works or how Baron discovered it was left unexplained. And there's a lot that i'm willing to believe in the world of One Piece without explanation, but even so, some explanation would be welcomed.

But even then those problems are honestly nitpicks, the film still has a strong core to it, the action is very well done and the animation is very nice. I personally find it to be the best One Piece film out of the ones that I've seen and I’m going to give it an 8/10.

-Danny

The Ending of Paranormal Activity is Awesome

Paranormal Activity is one of the biggest horror franchises of the 21st century and is also one of the most polarising films there is. People either love or hate this movie, it's either the scariest thing they've ever seen or it's stupid as hell. I'm sort of split down the middle, a lot of the film is just them sat down and talking about the ghost with a loud bang every now and again. However, the ending of this movie is one of the best horror moments i've seen.

The ending is almost completely unseen by the audience, Katie goes downstairs, begins screaming bloody murder, Micah goes after her, he begins screaming bloody murder and then...everything goes silent in an instant. Suddenly, we begin to hear footsteps, slowly coming closer and the BANG! Micah's body is thrown into the camera, Katie comes back in, possessed by the demon, destroys the camera.

What makes it so effective is the fact that you don't see any of it actually happening, the camera remains in the room and you have to use your imagination to think of what could be happening down there, and those are the best kind of scares. Our imagination is scarier than anything they could show on screen because we picture what would terrify us specifically, what would make us react like that in our situation? And then there's that slow build up of something coming up the stairs, you have no idea what it is, why it's coming upstairs, but the only thing up there worth notice, is you. Then when the demon comes in, that's when it happens, the demon looks directly at the camera, for the first time ever, acknowledging us, and with Micah and Katie gone, who is it's next target? Us.

The movie as a whole may not be that scary, but this is one of the most affective endings to a horror film i've seen...that is until the Marked Ones ruined the mystery of it all. Man fuck that movie.

-Danny

The Avengers Trailer And Fuck The Internet

Back in 2013 I made a deal with myself to stop watching so many trailers for movies, i would watch the first trailer and that's it, hell in some cases i don't even watch the full trailer, why? Well for one, some trailers like to spoil the entire movie in the trailers, but two, i don't need to watch them. Trailers are marketing tools, they're made to sell the movie to you, i don't need the whole trailer if i'm sold by the first minute mark, i wanna see your movie. Hell i don't even need a trailer for The Avengers, i would go in completely blind if possible, except i'm weak and this is the internet, you know that's impossible, so I watch the first trailer and that's it.

But the more trailers that come out, the more footage you see and i don't need that! I don't need you to show me all the big action scenes, i don't need you to tell me what the plot is or what characters are doing, i will find out in the movie. Yes it's entirely possible that the movie is going to have a lot more featured but i don't fucking care! The less you know going into a movie (Especially the big blockbusters) the better, that is a fact. So i don't watch the trailer, but apparently i don't have to because the internet loves screencapping everything and showing the trailer without you having to watch it.

OH MY GOD DID YOU SEE THIS SHOT OF THE TEAM TOGETHER-No! I don't wanna see that!

WHAT ABOUT THIS SHOT OF HULK AND BLACK WIDOW HAVING-Shut up! I Don't want to know!

OMG! WE CAN SEE WHAT VISION LOOKS LIKE AND HE HAS THE SOUL GEM!-SHUT UP! SHUT THE FUCK UP! WHY WOULD YOU GIVE AWAY A MAJOR PLOT POINT LIKE THAT!? Why do people insist on analysing and telling you what every single frame of the trailer means and try as hard as they can to figure out the plot of the movie before even seeing it, why!? How in anyway is that going to improve your experience while watching the movie!?

I made a similar rant to this about The Fantastic Four, everyone complained about the lack of promotional material and i said that's a good thing! When I go into Fantastic Four and not knowing the story or what the characters will look like while using their powers, i'm gonna have such a fun time, because i don't know what's going to happen next (If the story turns out to be good that is).

So the point i'm trying to make is, if you watch the trailers and you want to talk about it...keep in mind, Europe gets it a week earlier than you Americans, and I will spoil it if you don't shut the fuck up...nah, i won't do that (I will).

-Danny

No Arrow/Flash For Two Weeks

So last week we didn't have any Flash and this week we don't have an Arrow either...in fact we don't have either for another 2 weeks, meaning this week and next will there will be no Flash/Arrow reviews...huh...well fuck. What the hell am I supposed to do now? I mean I usually plan all of my posts around the Flash and Arrow discussions. Well I could review the latest episode of Gravity Falls. Or maybe talk about that new Last Man On Earth comedy. Game of Thrones is starting soon, maybe I'll review that. Or maybe I'll just fill time by making a post complaining about not having a topic to post about and then debate what my next post should be without actually making that post...yeah that work's for me.

-Danny

My Favourite Characters - John McClane

You wanna know what my biggest problem with Die Hard is? The tagline on the poster reads "Twelve terrorists. one cop. The odds are against John McClane...That's just the way he likes it.". the reason why that's my biggest problem is because they're wrong. That's not how John McClane likes it, that's not how he likes it at all.

Die Hard is in my opinion, the greatest action movie ever told, it has a simple premise that serves itself well with the genre, a lot of funny one liners and of course, some great action. But the biggest asset in Die Hard's corner, is John McClane played by Bruce Willis. John McClane is the greatest action hero because he is the least like an action hero. John McClane is a cop from New York who is spending the holidays in Los Angeles, when visiting his wife at an office party, the building is attacked by terrorists and John is left to fight them off all by himself. So what is John's first instinct? Go in guns ablazing and be the immortal hero? No. He finds somewhere safe to hide and tries to call for backup, because even for a police officer, to go up against 12 terrorists on your own is pretty fucking crazy. Even at one point when an innocent person dies, John says to himself "Why didn't you save him John!?...Because you'd be dead too ya fucking asshole" which is true. John is not an immortal character, he's running around a skyscraper, hunted by terrorists, no back up and doesn't even have any shoes, he doesn't stand a chance, and throughout the film, we see him get hurt just like any normal person, he steps on glass and he starts to bleed, he jumps through a window and it hurts like hell. But he never gives up. Those are the best heroes, the ones who start at the bottom and have to work their way back up on top, John is always the underdog and he's a very relatable and human protagonist for the audience. He's having marital problems, he's afraid of flying, he's got a bit of a temper, John McClane is not a perfect human being, but he's also brave, quick on his feet and can hold himself in a fight. We get to see John McClane the human before we see John McClane the action star.

And of course, he's a very funny character, he has the best one liners because of how natural they always seem "who's driving this car, Stevie Wonder!?" "Now i know what a TV dinner feels like" "No fucking shit lady does it sound like i'm ordering a pizza!?" and of course "Yippe Kay-Yay mother fucker". The best way to describe John McClane is "loveable asshole", yeah he'll call you a retard to your face, but he'll also protect you from gunfire. He both hates people and loves em at the same time, he may not always go about things in the right way, but his heart is always in the right place and wants to do the right thing.

John McClane is the ultimate action hero because he's one of the most humble action heroes, he's not immortal, he's not always smart, and he is clearly a very unlucky person, but he doesn't give up and always has a catchy one liner up his sleeve.

-Danny