Can Hermione Be Black?

There is currently a Harry Potter stage play in the works taking place 19 years after where the series ended, though it is not being written by JK Rowling it is based on her story and recently they've announced the cast and the big controversial casting is that Hermione Granger will be played by Noma Dumezweni, so yes, a character who used to be played by a white actress is now being played by a black actress. Now i'm not all too familiar with Ms Dumezweni's work apart from an appearance on Doctor Who, so i don't really know how good of an actress she is, for all i know she was so perfect for the role it would be a crime not to cast her. And while this "black washing" (If that's even a thing) has received some negative feedback from a vocal minority, she has received the support from JK Rowling herself and Emma Watson, so the writer and original actress to play Hermione are both okay with it. The other important point is there is nothing in Hermione's canon to suggest that she is white, with that being said there is plenty to imply that she is white just based on her background, personality and a drawing JK Rowling did of her, but nothing definitively part of her character to suggest her skin colour absolutely has to be one or another. So there is no technical problems with the casting at all.

Personally...I don't have a problem with it either, hell, if anything it might make even more sense. One of Hermione's traits and subplots is that there is a prejudice against her because she's muggleborn, to suggest she's subhuman by wizard standards, isn't as worthy or skilled as other wizards because of her origin, even going as far to have a degrading insult designed specifically for people of her culture. Or would that be too obvious? But let's be honest, whether intentionally or unintentionally, the people in charge of casting must have known this would stir up some controversy and will use it as a springboard to put the play in the public eye, because despite being an insanely massive Harry Potter fan i completely forgot this play was in production, but now, i ain't gonna forget about it anytime soon.

-Danny 

Baccano's Blurb is Brilliant

Don't let nobody tell you there's no future in a life of crime, because some rackets can last forever. But we'll get around to all that immortality jazz later. A mafia turf war is raging on the mean streets of the Big Apple, a place where regular joes bounce between backdoor booze joints and the breadline. But this caper ain't about a simple gangland brawl. It's abut hoods who can't seem to die proper after catching a bullet or five between the eyes. Sadistic hitmen and the dames they love, mad bombers going boom, monsters going bump and soul sucking alchemists bootlegging an elixir of eternal life. Just remember, Baccano! ain't about beginnings and ends. It's about the twists and turns, bub. Paths don't cross in this story - they collide. Every Dick and Jane plays the lead and it's gonna be a bumpy ride.

This is may just be the best blurb written for a story, ever! Baccano is not an easy show to describe, damn impossible to do it in a sentence and still difficult with a paragraph. Where do you start? How much do you reveal? So summarizing the show is a bit of a challenge, so when trying to summarize it they just decided "Eh, why bother?". The description actually tells you very little of the plot apart from the fact it's an ensemble, the mafia is involved and there are immortals; but what it does give you is a tone. From this text passage you instantly get what kind of show this is, it's a fast paced, gangster fantasy adventure that will be told in a simple manner. The flow of the words, the alliterations and almost poetic nature of the piece makes it a work of art on its own and more importantly, it does its job of making me want to watch the show.

P.S. Thankfully the show is awesome too.

-Danny

Best Years in Gaming

The end of the year approaches but really the gaming world ends around November time, and people have been referring to 2015 as one of the best years in gaming and i always think "Really?" I mean it was a good year, definitely better than 2014, but one of the best years ever? That's a pretty bold statement which got me thinking "What are the best years in gaming?" So that's exactly what we're going to be taking a look at today. Now keep in mind when i say best years in gaming i'm not just including years that had one or even two iconic games come out, but the year as a whole for variety, business practises and quantity of quality games.

1987
The first great year of gaming is...actually the only year i would refer to as dated. This year is remembered mostly for it's releases and the beginning of so many popular franchises. Metal Gear, Megaman and Final Fantasy were all introduced to the world this year. Though the reason why I say it's dated is because these games are not very good today in my opinion and all of the franchises have made better installments in later years. The Legend of Zelda was finally released in the US and Europe, the very first game ever to have a save feature and good god where would we be without that and Japan had just released The Legend of Zelda II, so yeah, big year for Zelda.

1992
1992 was the first true year of gaming (to not be dated) to have not just one iconic videogame franchise to be started, but three. Wolfenstein, Kirby and Mortal Kombat were all initially released in 1992 and these are franchises that are so popular that they are still going on today. Though Kirby's games aren't necessarily best sellers the character is one of Nintendo's most iconic and this is where he got his start. A similar deal for Wolfenstein, the initial game isn't talked about that much but MechaHitler is one of gaming's most iconic villains. It's also funny to think that Mortal Kombat was considered controversial and graphic back in the day, i mean it still is, but the idea of a videogame being controversial for this level of blood and gore is kind of silly with today's practise standards. Alone in the Dark also got it's release in this year though being honest this is a franchise that doesn't hold up particularly well, especially the original. Some already well established franchises that continued their success in this year was Sonic The Hedgehog 2 which is often considered by many to be the best of the franchise and Super Mario Kart, a franchise which still gets rehashed and released every couple of years. So overall this was a damn good year in terms of quanitity of games that stand the test of time and multiple franchises saw their birth in this year.

1994
A similar year to 1992 in terms of why it's one of the best but it expands it's roster even more. Donkey Kong, World of Warcraft and Tekken all saw their initial release in this year and i don't need to expand on the fact that they were successful games. Another franchise premiered in 1994 is System Shock, a series that isn't remembered for much now but many consider the stepping stones to a spiritual successor Bioshock, i'm sure you've heard of that franchise at least. As well as the arrival of Earthworm Jim, a cult classic  Then not one but two games which are considered to be two of the greatest videogames of all time got their release in this year, Super Metroid and Earthbound (Mother 2), Super Metroid is remembered for it's stellar gameplay and is often considered to be one of the best action games of all time, while Earthbound i honestly didn't think was anything special until that final level...seriously that's one of the most fucked up/disturbing final levels of a videogame ever, i freakin love it and so does everyone else apparently. Then there was Final Fantasy VI, not as popular as the next game in the FF franchise but still a beloved franchise.

1996
Tomb Raider, Super Mario 64, Pokemon Red/Blue, Crash Bandicoot, Resident Evil. I don't think I need to explain anymore. Okay I guess I will, because this was the start of the 3D era in videogaming, true there were 3D games before...kinda, but the 64 bit era had begun and with it, gaming took a massive leap. The Playstation being released the prior year was getting major traction and well, i don't think i need to explain how far that took off.

1997
Geez, two great years in a row? Wow the 90's were spoiled with great games. This year saw Final Fantasy VII, to this day considered one of the greatest videogames of all time, certainly the best in the FF franchise...i've never played it so...i don't know if it holds up. This also saw the release of GoldenEye 007, one of the best movie videogames of all time (Even if i personally think it's overrated) and is still played by thousands all over the world. Star Fox 64 got it's release and is a game that holds a significant place in pop culture, after all, what gamer hasn't heard the phrase "Do a barrel roll!". Cult classics Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee and PaRappa The Rapper, while not beloved at first have received more attention over time. Finally the famous racing franchise Gran Turismo dawned its head around this time (In Japan). Overall this was a very diverse year in gaming and in my opinion is one of the best.

1998
Ya know, i don't look ahead when writing up these lists, but hot damn the late 90's were on a role! Again, this is a year of both iconic franchises and cult classics of a wide variety of genres to the point where i'm not even gonna give detail, just list them off, they speak for themselves. Keep in mind, i obviously haven't played all of these, but i am aware of their success atleast. Banjo Kazooie, MediEvil, Metal Gear Solid, Grim Fandango, Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped, Half-Life, Sonic Adventure, Spyro the Dragon and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. 3 of these are considered some of the greatest games of all time, and they all came out in the same year. Jeez, i wonder if '99 will be just as good.

1999
Hot diggity damn! They did it again! Super Smash Bros & Mario Party sailed Nintendo through a good year, Silent Hill and Ape Escape gave Playstation a good year and finally we saw Tony Hawk Pro Skater hit the airwaves, does that saying still work in this context? So yeah, less than other years but damn if it still wasn't another great year. By the way, if you've never played Ape Escape: Play it!

Ya know what, there are so many good years for videogames that i'm gonna have to split this off into two parts and some time soon i'll talk about the 2000's of gaming.

-Danny

2015 For Me

You know one of my dreams if to one day write an autobiography, of course my life isn't nearly interesting or popular enough to write one of have anyone read it. Regardless I like to think of these end of year look backs as sort of a mini-biography chapter on what i did with my life. To sum it up in just 2 words: Fuck All. I've said before how i'm in an awkward stage of life, i'm at university but i would just like to go into a career already but i don't have the qualifications, hell i'm studying film & screenwriting, i'm not going to have any useful qualifications by the end of this, and that's still a year off. This hasn't just been a year where nothing much happens, but less happens than normal. Me and my best friends live in different cities and even when we are all back home we can never hangout either because of jobs or they still live too far for walking distance and i don't have a car anymore because my dad sold it, i mean fair enough it was his car and no one was driving it while me and my sister were away at university. But even still, now we hangout even less because it takes so much hassle and money and my friends were never the most organised of people to begin with. But i'm getting ahead of myself.

Life at university has been decent, i finished my first year back in May and i would have to describe it as one of the most uneventful years of my life, i didn't make any good friends, acquaintances at best, the 10 or so people i shared a flat with i haven't spoken too since i moved out and i doubt i even learnt all that much to begin with. The most eventful thing that happened in my entire time in the first year at uni was that i finally started to drink alcohol. £9000 well spent. In September i went back for my second year at university and even within just 4 months it's already been a better experience. My new flat is much smaller, i only live with 2 other people and it is near perfect, they're quiet, i barely ever see them and the kitchen is rarely messy, i have a nice view and it's much closer to my university than the last place. Socially things are better, i joined a couple of societies, Sci-Fi & Fantasy and Harry Potter, because i'm a nerd like that, thankfully these are nerds that like to drink, so it's all good. Oh and the actual university part is going well i guess.

For me personally not a whole lot has changed, still don't have a job, actually i did get my first proper job this year, i was a bartender for York Racecourse, it is probably the worst thing i've even done in my life, i only lasted for two days before eventually quitting, and by quitting i mean i just stopped showing up and they eventually stopped texting me. Thankfully I was one out of 1000 bartenders so i doubt they missed me. But even still, i'm still looking for a job, so far, i've been rejected over a dozen times. Honestly the most positive thing to happen to me this year is that i joined a gym and finally started to lose weight. Now i am still fat and being home for Christmas is most certainly not going to help that, but i've lost over a stone and i am enjoying going, for the first time in my life i don't hate my body and that's always swell.

And...that's actually it, like i said it was very uneventful year, it's this awkward waiting phase, not quite an adult, not quite a teen, it's a void state of life. Happy Holidays!

-Danny

My Favourite Characters - Kamina

"He takes the blazing sun in his bare hands and endures the searing heat. A man's man sustained by strength of will. When you hear of the great Kamina they're talking about me! You'd best remember that!"

*Spoilers Ahead*

Kamina is the second main character of the Gurren Lagaan series, he's the older bro of the main character Simon (Not actually related) and the founder of Team Dai Gurren, a group of mech riding freedom fighters for the human race, he inspires the rest of humanity to follow his lead and to break through the heavens, go beyond the impossible and kick reason to the curb, just who in the hell do you think he is? He's the mighty Kamina!

Kamina is of course a great pilot when it comes to Mech Gunmen, especially when co-piloting with his bro Simon, and he's just a good fighter in general, but that's not where the charm of Kamina comes from. What makes Kamina one of the best his is naturally inspiring leadership. He's a man who even before he had the slightest hint of greatness always had faith in himself, and faith in Simon that they were both destined for greatness, and once that opportunity arose, no matter how small, he took it, he held it tight and he never let go, no matter how much everyone else tried to beat it out of him. When Kamina has his eyes set on a goal, no matter what challenge he has to go through, nothing can deter him from acheiving it, giving 110% both physically and mentally. He's an unstoppable idealist, in a world where robots are powered and fixed by will power, he's a man with an unlimited source. He's a man who the character Yoko described as having "Unlimited Stupidity" but really there is thought behind all of his goals, he makes the impossible possible and walks away a winner in the end.

It's never just for his own benefit either, he inspires people, not just because they believe in him, but because he believes in them. Even Simon who seemingly has no talent of skill, Kamina has undying faith that he is meant for greatness, he believes everyone in Team Dai Gurren has greatness in them. Even after his shocking death that doesn't stop him from influencing them, they now fight for the world Kamina believed possible, the man who believed humanity deserved freedom and a chance to decide their own fate, no one can decide your limitations for you and it's always possible to break them, that is the man Kamina was. Someone who made his way to power through pure stubbornness alone and used that power to bring out the best in everyone else.

"Just don't be distracted by the what-ifs, should-haves and if-onlys. The one thing you choose yourself. That is the truth of your universe"

This man is like an anime version of Shia LaBouf's "DO IT!" Speech.

-Danny

Star Wars The Force Awakens - Cheap Thoughts

It was really really good.

-Danny

Creed - Cheap Thoughts

Rocky is a franchise that I don't love but i'm quite fond of, there is a charm to it and i've never really felt like i was let down by any of the films, each one game me something to enjoy, even Rocky V which people often consider to be the worst of the films I still found enjoyments from parts. Creed is the newest film in the series directed by Ryan Coogler, a very talented director, Michael B Jordan, someone whom i'm a fan of, and was receiving critical acclaim left and right, people calling it as good as the original Rocky. It was okay. Creed follows the story of Donnie Creed, the son of Apollo Creed who is now trying to make his own way to become a boxer and make a name for himself and in doing so he enlists the help of Rocky Balboa played once again by Sylvester Stallone.

*Spoilers Ahead*

So let's talk about the best things about this movie, the acting and the directing. The direction of this movie was so expertly done, the long takes done in one shot, the brutality of the fight scenes, the great pacing and style of the film to give it this grounded and realistic feel, which is especially needed for a franchise that kind of went off the rails near the end of its run. Then there is the acting, now Michael B Jordan in my eyes is one of the best up and coming actors today, with Chronicle, Fruitvale Station and now Creed, this is a future Oscar winner if I ever saw one. The raw emotions he expresses, going through fits of rage to pure bliss when the fight is over, he doesn't care if he won or lost, he's just happy that he made it this far. Then there is Stallone who is giving his best performance in over 20 years, and never going overboard and becoming melodramatic, there's a lot of subtlety in his performance, his heath gradually getting worse and worse, always sounding tired and in pain, a man who has gone past the prime of his life and is now wandering with little purpose.

But then there are the two most important things about a movie, the story and characters, and they just ain't very good. Looking at the story overall it is just basically a retelling of the original Rocky, now Rocky itself isn't a very original film, but how it chooses to tell its story is what makes it stand out. It's a very personal movie about achieving one's personal goals and realising what's important in life, that's why at the end of Rocky, Balboa doesn't care that he lost, he cares that he fought. So when this movie is hitting those exact same beats it just seems repetitive. The relationship with the girlfriend that goes through trouble because of his fighting, the end of the movie not caring about winning or losing, just making it to the end, even down to setting the damn thing in Philadelphia again. But of course none of it is as effective as it was in the first Rocky movie because we've already seen it! The best way to describe it is to just look at the big 'Training climax' Rocky ended his by running up the Philadelphia Steps, Donnie ends it by...running down the street. Well if that just doesn't represent the relationship between these two movies perfectly.

Now some people might think it's unfair to judge this movie solely to Rocky, well i might not have if this movie doesn't constantly do it so much! Donnie's arc is supposed to be about creating his own legacy and not just ride the success of his fathers name but is constantly comparing himself and being compared to not just his father, but Rocky as well! He want to create a name for himself as a boxer, so his first thought it to go to the guy who trained his dad!? And then when he turns him down he goes to the guy who fought his dad!? The movie is constantly sending these mixed messages here of Donnie trying to create his own identity but always doing these things that mean of course people are going to compare the two! Even down to his fight, his mother sends him a gift with the card "Make your own legacy" and the gift is the exact same shorts his dad wore! How is he able to create his own legacy when he keeps being reminded he's Apollo Creed's son?! Even during the fight commentators keep talking about how he keeps fighting like Rocky, ya know, you never saw commentators in Rocky talking about how he fought like Mickey.

But then Rocky has a story in this movie, he gets cancer and refuses to get treatment until Donnie convinces him to. Now this is a good set up for a story, a man who though he isn't suicidal or depressed, he's lost everything that matters to him, now he's got a new family member in his life and the two can help each other in their problems. Where my issues come from is that his story is never resolved. Does he beat cancer? Does it kill him? I dunno, and we're never told. So yeah, that storyline ended up being a waste.

Then there is the supporting cast, which was just meh. The biggest supporting character is Donnie's girlfriend Bianca, a partially deaf musician, interesting enough set up, wasted character. In the end she's nothing more than just Donnie's girlfriend, someone there for him to date, break up with in the second act and get back together in time for her to be his cheerleader by the big fight. I've said it before and i'll say it again, this isn't a character, it's a character's girlfriend. And the antagonist of the movie, oh god could they have gone for something more stereotypical, he's just a standard jerk, no development, nothing interesting about him, just an obstacle for Donnie to fight, and despite the fact that he is an asshole for 98% of his screen time, by the end of the fight he decides he respects Donnie? Where the flying fuck did that come from!? Finally is Donnie's adoptive mother, who does nothing for the movie and just reacts to Donnie's actions. Which is another but much smaller problem of the film, in the climax he's fighting in Liverpool, England and she's watching back home in Los Angeles, and it's somehow night time in both cities. Okay assuming this film takes place at winter and even then we're still being generous, the fight would have to be taking place at 1am for it to be night time in LA. I know that may seem nitpicky-which it is-but for a film this technically well put together it's amazing that they missed something like that.

In the end, the movie was just simply okay, I was really looking forward to this film after a great first trailer and universal acclaim, but i don't chalk this up to the movie being overhyped, honestly that word gets thrown around too much for people to justify why someone was disapointed with a popular film. Sometimes a film is just okay because the things that appealed to a lot of people doesn't necessarily mean they'll appeal to others. 7/10.

-Danny

Why Does Saren Look Like That?

I've always felt my biggest problem with Saren as a villain in Mass Effect is simply his design. He's actually quite a tragic backstory, he was a Spectre of the council and a respected hero amongst his own people who was slowly corrupted and tricked into working with the Reapers. Yet none of that means anything because as soon as this guy's face pops up on screen you think to yourself "hello bad guy". Which is why I have to ask, why does Saren look like that? If you wanted to make his tragic story more effective then have him look more normal, to insinuate that what happened to him can happen to anyone. Having him look like an obvious villain just means it's even more ridiculous that anyone would have ever let their guard down around this guy. But even more so it just doesn't anatomically make sense, Saren is a Turian, and no other Turian looks like that. The biggest change that we see from Turian to Turian is the colour of their skin, but for the most part they look fairly similar. Saren looks absolutely nothing like a Turian so what's the explanation here? Do other Turians look like this? Why haven't we seen any? Is it some kind of facial disfiguration? What's the explanation here people!?

-Danny

Star Trek Beyond - Trailer Review

I feel like fans of the original Star Trek series are too harsh on the newer Star Trek films, okay all the business with Khan I can understand but we got 1 and a half great films out of this and no, i don't think they were the betrayals of the franchise that so many Trekkies would make them out to be. Then this trailer had to come out.

Alright look, now Simon Pegg himself has come out and said this trailer is not accurate to the actual film, to paraphrase him, this is just a bullshit, get dumb casual fans in the seats, don't worry, the actual film is nothing like this. But good god, this trailer just sucks. Because you know what I think of when I think Star Trek? It ain't The Beastie Boys! That's for sure! Star Trek is supposed to be the mature science fiction show, grounded in realistic expectations for the future and deal with themes of humanity, morality, logic vs emotion, cultural differences and work as commentary on societies unfair prejudices against other cultures. This was Fast & Furious in space. Jesus Christ I thought that was supposed to be a joke! I didn't know they were actually going to turn this literally into Fast & Furious in space!

Like I said, Simon Pegg has said the actual movie will be nothing like this and I certainly hope so, because out of all the trailers we've been getting this past couple of weeks, this is easily the worst. And if the movie is like this then I am going to be sat groaning all the way through the film.

-Danny

Did Darth Vader Earn Redemption?

One of the bigger controversies surrounding the special edition changes is replacing Sebastian Shaw with Hayden Christensen in Return of the Jedi. Now while I agree it's wrong to make the change because that's really offensive to Shaw's memory and ruins that little moment of seeing Anakin where he would be as a Jedi now. But with that being said, i can understand Lucas's logic behind changing it. George Lucas claimed to have made the change because Young Anakin was the last time he was good, which is not technically true because the last time he was good was when he saved Luke. But I just think he mispoke, what he meant to say was that it was the last time Anakin was a good person. Let me explain.

Really the final film is a redemption story for Vader, amongst many things. But really, does Vader get redeemed in the end? Keep in mind this is the man that executed dozens of Jedi, including children, attacked and killed even his own men and attempted to kill his own children and blew up an entire planet without so much as a whim. After so many evil deeds over the years, why is it that apparently saving his son from being killed suddenly redeems him from all of his evil deeds? Allow me to quote the great Christopher Eccleston from Doctor Who "You let one go, but that's nothing new. Every now and then, a little victim's spared. Because she smiled, because he's got freckles, because they begged. And that's how you live with yourself. That's how you slaughter millions. Because once in a while, on a whim, if the wind's in the right direction, you happen to be kind."

So really the right answer should be, Anakin shouldn't have a force ghost there to begin with, because Anakin didn't die that night, Vader did, saving one life does not negate years of torture and cruelty...Wow that got dark,

-Danny

Is There Anything GOOD About Attack of the Clones?

Attack of the Clones is often considered to be the worst of the Star Wars movies, a sentiment of which I agree with, the dialogue is flat, the characters unlikeable, the set pieces dull and the story a mess. But is the movie-like Vader-is not beyond redemption (More on that tomorrow). Now true this movie is not one of the worst films ever made so finding positives is not as difficult, but even still, the negatives outweigh the positives so it's still more difficult. Regardless we may as well get into it and talk about them.

Now the first major positive in this film is Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan, now yes he did play the role in Phantom Menace but he was so underutilised and let's be honest, boring in that film. This is the one where he finally got to portray an Obi-Wan in his prime and even to this day, people love Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan, in fact i'd say i prefer him far more than Alec Guiness. He's still wise and caring but is not so old and jaded that he can still have fun, he's witty and sarcastic and is able to look cool in a fight. Not to mention Ewan is the only actor in this movie that is still able to inject personality into the film and not always make it feel like it's on life support. His naturally energetic yet equally cynical personality makes him a delight to watch on screen.

Which leads me to my next point: The comedy. While Phantom Menace may be less annoying, it is more boring, and while i'm not saying this film is gut-busting in anyway, there is clearly more comedy and even some half-decent banter in this film. The death sticks scene with Obi-Wan, the "we're here to rescue you" "good job(!)" interaction between Obi-Wan and Anakin. Obi-Wan's "Oh dear" and...actually i just realised all these scenes are because of Obi-Wan. Damn he was a real treat in this movie.

So other things not involving Obi-Wan that work about this movie, the first one that comes to my mind is the music. In fact, i think we can all agree the best thing to come out of the prequel trilogy is the score, in each film it is still a masterpiece. Dual of the Fates, Anakin's Betrayal, Battle of Heroes, each one is incredible. This films addition to this series of amazement is Across The Stars, the romance theme between Anakin and Padme. Now yes the romance itself is almost as bad as Edward & Bella, but good lord this theme is one of the most romantic, passionate, endearing tracks i've ever heard. In fact, i'll say it, it's better than Han & Leia's theme. I love it.

Something else Anakin related that didn't suck is the death of his mother, a sequence with minimal dialogue and some actual emotion and weight behind it. This was the start of Anakin's downturn, his switch to the dark side. It was brutal, hard hitting and for the first time in this movie, had Anakin express an emotion apart from lustful stalking.

Then there are the technicals of the movie, the sound design as you can imagine is incredible. I think it speaks volumes when a franchise like this has iconic and recognisable sound effects of all things. In this films case the seismic charge is just one of the most...pleasing explosions ever. I know that is a very strange statement to make, but it is, it's like if an explosion can give a massage. Then there is the sound design for the car chase on Corusant, it's just so pleasant to listen to. Looking at that's another conversation due to the overuse of CGI.

Speaking of CGI, here's a controversial opinion: I think CGI Yoda is better than Puppet Yoda. Now i'm not saying Yoda is better portrayed as a character in the prequels, nothing will ever top Empire's version of Yoda. But when it comes to just the visuals, i prefer the CGI version, he's much more expressive and detailed, when he moves i believe there is an actual character there. Are there times where he looks like a Playstation 2 character? Of course. Is it stupid to have him flipping about? Absolutely. But when he looks concerned or saddened, i genuinely believe that reaction, unlike the original films where he looks like...well a puppet. He isn't that expressive and fairly dead eyed, just in comparison, the one here looks more alive than the one in Empire.

So those are certain things about Attack of the Clones that I think are legitimately good. Does that make the film good overall? No. It's still a bad film, but it just wouldn't be fair to ignore the things that it did actually get right.

-Danny

X-Men: Apocalypse - Trailer Review

A trailer for a new superhero movie coming out in 2016? I feel like we've been here before...Oh well, this is the trailer for the upcoming X-Men: Apocalypse, a movie I am very much looking forward to, but for some reason a lot of people are bitching about this movie, why? Because Marvel fanboys. I swear these guys are starting to overtake anime as the worst fanbase. Look Marvel is awesome but jesus chris, stop acting like they make flawless movies! Even more so why the hell should they get X-Men back? Because X-Men The Last Stand and Origins sucked? Yeah but those were 10 & 7 years ago, they haven't made a bad X-Men movie since then. Every single time before a new X-Men movie comes out fanboys assume it's going to suck and then it comes out and they like it, yet for some reason they still assume the next one will suck! Why!? Fucking Marvel fanboys.

Just had to get that rant out of the way, let's talk about the trailer...it was fine. The big talking point is of course Apocalypse, people nit picking and whining over the smallest things "His design sucks!" Right, because the comic book design for Apocalypse would totally work on screen "He's not even purple!" Well i'm glad to see your life is so good that the biggest problem you can have is that a character is blue instead of fucking purple. And yes, the design is different from the Entertainment Weekly shoot, but this isn't a reaction to that, they said in that interview that his design is constantly changing, and besides EW can't do a good photoshoot to save their lives.

From what we can gather from this trailer is a pretty standard story, Apocalypse shows up to fuck things up, he gathers his 4 horsemen, kidnaps Xaviar and now the X-Men lead by Mystique of all people have to fight to get him back. That's another complaint people have but one i think has some legitimatcy behind it "Why doesn't Mystique look like Mystique!?" I don't know. My assumption would be they think audiences are so stupid that they won't recognise Jennifer Lawrence if she's blue, especially seeing as this doesn't make sense for her character because she's supposedly "Mutant and proud" and being in disguise all the time only makes her half as strong, so what the hell Raven? Also i'm kinda sick of Mystique being the big vital role in these films, i understand Jennifer Lawrence is a massive star and you want to use that to the best you can, but she's not meant to be the lead character, she's a supporting role. I dunno, maybe i'm just jaded because her character was so awful in the last film that i'm hesitant on seeing her in a major role again.

But the best part of this trailer in my opinion was the final few seconds with Professor X in Cerebro and feeling Apocalypse's power, the range of emotions he goes through in just one sentence "I've never felt so much power" he goes from horrified to impressed to overjoyed to respectful within 6 words. That's what Fox has over Marvel, they fully take advantage of the fact that they have phenominal actors in their ranks and they give some damn amazing performances and James McAvoy's delivery on just that line proves it.

So those were my thoughts on the X-Men: Apocalypse trailer...admmitedly half of this was just me bitching about Marvel fanboys but that's because they're really starting to irritate me. I'm excited for this movie and i am sold, i don't need to see anymore trailers.

-Danny

Arrow "Dark Waters" Review

Now it's time for the mid-season finale of Arrow. Here we see Oliver publicly out Damian Darhk as the one responsible for all the attacks in Star City, which leads to Damien seeking vengeance on Oliver by killing those closest to him. Oh and Oliver proposes to Felicity and 5 minutes later she is shot in the gut, dang.

So something i've really liked this season is that Oliver really has not been making as nearly man stupid decisions as he did in season three. Outting Damien Darhk is without a doubt the dumbest decision he's done all year. You've just publicly outed your villain, so what is stop him from attacking you in a large crowd of people!? He has nothing to lose, his anonymity is gone, he has more powerful men, of course he's going to attack you in public because unlike you, he doesn't have anymore secrets to keep! He can do what he want! And he does! You really didn't think this one through Oliver! To make it even worse is that at one point he questions whether outting Damien was the right thing to do and Felicity assures him that is was. Good lord you people go dumb around the holidays!

Let's talk about Felicity, because she has quite a bit to do in this episode. Let's start with Mini-Felicity at the start of the episode, a girl who is really smart yet when a drone is shooting up the beach she for some reason is just stood there looking at it like a fucking idiot. Kid, you don't need to be a genius to know that when something is shooting at you, you take cover! Don't just stand there being like "ooh, shiny!" fucking moron. Oh and then there is Felicity's mum who is...still here for some reason, spoiling the surprise and showing Felicity the wedding ring, well gee, way to ruin the fun for everyone, bitch. So then we get a lot of talk about why Oliver didn't propose and it's because he didn't want to agree to something like that incase one of them died because of course one of them would die in that situation, it's movie law (Or TV). Then surprise, they get engaged at the end of the episode and Felicity is shot, i guess this would be a bad time for Oliver to say "I told you so". But no, i don't think Felicity is going to die, i think this is just a red herring, there to make us think she is totally the one in the grave when she's not. How do i know this? Because you don't end a cliffhanger in this style, if a character looks dead but is not 100% confirmed that they are dead then they are most certainly not dead, again it's movie law (Or TV).

Then on a final note here are some random notes I have. How many warehouses does Damien own? It seems like every single episode there is a fight in a warehouse. Also it's nice to see Black Canary using her sonic screech tech thing more often, after all it is kinda her thing and would come in handy quite a bit. And then flashbacks are still not interesting at all.

This episode was...eh. Lot of dumb character stuff, cliched storytelling galore and repetition at its finest. 5/10

-Danny

The Flash "Running To Stand Still" Review

Don't ya love a traditional Christmas episode? Family gathering around, celebrating peace, joy, love and having Santa give you explosives that will kill you and your entire family. Ahh the holidays. In this episode, Weather Wizard decides to break Captain Cold and The Trickster out of prison and go on a little bit of a holiday rampage and to kill The Flash.

So let's talk about the villains, starting with Captain Cold who almost has nothing to do in this episode, they break him out, he refuses to work with them, he warns Barry, he's gone by the 10 minute mark. I get why they had to break him out because he can't be in prison for Legends of Tomorrow, but you could have given him more to do. Then Weather Wizard who...I have no real opinion on, he's threatening in a way as he's the only villain who seems to be consistently challenging Barry but personality wise there's just not much to him. Then there is Mark Hamil returning as The Trickster, something I did not expect but goddamn am I glad he did because it's Mark-freaking-Hamil, i'd watch this man eat a peanut butter & jelly sandwich. I want it to be a yearly tradition that this man appears in at least one episode of The Flash every season, he's insanely enjoyable.

However the best thing about this episode is without a doubt Jesse L Martin's performance. Joe is arguably my favourite character in the show and this is just another great episode to add to the list of reasons why, for nothing else but Martin's acting skills. His reaction when finding out he has a son, the emotion behind his eyes, the subtle change in his body movement, you fully see the mixture of shock & sadness all with just an expression. Everything about the way Joe handles this is excellent, he doesn't blame Iris & Barry for not telling him, he doesn't go into a state of denial and he reminds Barry that no matter what, he is still his son. Also now that we're at the halfway point I just have to give praise to Iris, we're halfway through the season and she has not been annoying at all, she has not made any stupid decisions, she has not acted irrationally, she has kept other people's best interests in mind and she is not being forced into anyone else's story or as part of Team Flash. If they keep this up then they will have fixed what for me was the only major problem with The Flash.

Now let's talk about Mr Jiggle Wiggle. Now despite the fact that it was without a doubt the funniest line in the episode hearing Tom Cavanaugh say in the most serious voice "That's Mr Jiggle Wiggle" the huge guessing gap this creates is too big to be ignored. The Trickster posts a video, in that video there is a reflection in his eye of a toy called Mr Jiggle Wiggle and from that information alone they are able to figure out his location is an abandoned factory. But not only did they figure it out, but Patty figured it out as well, and The Trickster expected them to have figured it out and laid them a trap. There are only so many times you can shout "Well that was convenient!" in a matter of 5 minutes.

Speaking of Patty, we got a fair bit of development for her in this episode, yes some might complain that she's giving The Flash her life story after just meeting him once before, but it's The Flash, who wouldn't trust him instantly? Besides Patty needed this development, because so far while she's not a bad character, she's been heavily side lined for most of this plot and needs a more active role, learning more about her is a good way to start. However I agree with a complain a lot of people have had and that is that she should have killed Weather Wizard at the end. A man who killed her father and she has been seeking revenge for years, to the point where she has thought this through so much that she actively incapacitated The Flash to make sure he couldn't stop her, not to mention she's been willing to shoot criminals in prior episodes as a precaution. This isn't a woman that would hesitate when it comes to killing the man who killed her father, and you know something else? It would have been so much more interesting to see where her character would have gone if she did shoot Weather Wizard. You could have shown how it affected her job, her relationship with Barry or her personally, there is so much narrative potential here but instead we've just gone back to the status quo.

Then finally there is Zoom and Harry, we find out Zoom's plan all along was to make sure Barry got faster, which would explain why he hasn't just killed him already, because he wants Barry to get faster so Zoom can steal it and become faster himself. So Harry in a final desperate attempt to save his daughter agrees to help Barry get faster for the sake of Zoom. Though i am worried about Harrison Wells yet again being a villain, i am still interested in seeing where they take this, maybe he doesn't become a villain, maybe he makes Barry faster just for the sake of helping Barry, or maybe his daughter will play a huge role, or maybe he will have to make a noble sacrifice, i don't know and that's what makes it so exciting!

Oh yeah, speaking of exciting, Wally West appeared! I'll be honest, even though I knew he was going to be showing up this season, i didn't expect him to show up this early. Now we didn't get enough of him to establish what his role in the rest of the season is going to be, for all we know he may not even get super speed, that feels like a season finale cliffhanger type of thing. But just seeing him on screen is really cool.

Overall this was a really good episode, Joe's story was emotional , the villains were entertaining and a lot was set up for the rest of the season, i'm giving this episode an 8/10.

-Danny

Movies That WON'T Make My Best of the Year List

Good lord it's not even Christmas yet and i've seen some people posting their top 10 lists already. Okay granted it's mostly for videogames and most of those are out already, but even still it's getting earlier every year. Now I did a similar post like this last year but with a very different context. That post was talking about the films that weren't going to be in my Top 10 Best Movies of 2014 video because they weren't released before January in England. The sad thing is this happens every year, and the majority of the movies that just barely missed it almost always deserved to be in my top 10 list. So this year i'm changing that, i will most likely be doing my top 10 list some time in mid-January because I want to see every movie that has a shot at making my list. So with that being said, the purpose behind this post is to talk about the potential list makers that I have seen that are likely to make it into other people's lists that won't actually make my list, won't even get an honourable mention and give my reasons why.

Ex-Machina
Ex-Machina is one of those films that received a lot of hype and had a lot of build up behind it and for me and fair few people, the film just did not live up to that hype. But that's not to say all hyped up movies fail, It Follows was insanely hyped up and most definitely will make my list, in fact I saw both these films on the same day and It Follows is the one that stuck with me. Now I admit this is a good film, it's very well shot, the acting is incredible and there are interesting conversations discussed in the film. That however is also the major problem, this movie at times feels more like someone's philosophy essay asking questions about "What does it mean to be human?" "Can we recreate true intelligence?" "Are robots living?" all of these questions that have been asked hundreds of times in hundreds of movies and fact is, this movie is doing nothing new with it, it's asking questions and giving answers that have been done before. To be fair this is a problem I have with almost every story that attempts this, A.I., Battlestar Galactica, I Robot, Ghost in the Shell, Bicentennial Man, they all tell the same story, ask the same questions, give the same answers and it's boring. The only film to do it new and cleverly is Blade Runner, in my opinion. Even more so I do not like the characters in this film, and the setting gets really boring to look at for nearly 2 hours and the pacing really just dies at the end, speaking of the ending, it makes no sense.

Inside Out
This is similar to Ex-Machina, it was good but overhyped and is telling a story that has been told plenty before. The concept of little people controlling us has been done before, Hermans Head, Beano's Numbskulls, Ozzy & Drix, Out of Jimmy's Head. I will admit it's still creative in its details and designs but it's a done before concept nonetheless. Then there is the actual plot of the movie, two polar opposite characters are forced to go on a journey together to get back to their kid before it's too late and along the way they'll become the best of friends...it's just Toy Story all over again. Pixar just reused the plot of the first Toy Story movie! I still enjoy this movie, it's colourful, it's funny, it's heartwarming and I would enjoy watching it again. But honestly I thought the short film that came with the movie was better in every way, it was more creative, better animated and i got more emotional, also it's a good song, so there's that.

Straight Outta Compton
This isn't one of those films were it has any major problems apart from a lack of focus on its subplots, it's just not going to make the list because it was only...okay. The story is okay, the pacing is okay, the drama is okay, it has a story to tell, it tells it decently enough and i had a good time watching it. Yes it heavily screws over the facts of the real life events but this is a movie first and a recap of real life events second, if changing things works better for the movie then do it. The best aspect of the movie is its acting, everyone in this movie kills it, especially Corey Hawkins as Dr Dre. But it's just a movie that does not stand out to me as one of the best.

The End of the Tour
I really wanted to love this movie, it seemed so interesting, Jason Segal & Jesse Eisenberg looked fascinating, the real life people it's based on seemed fascinating and the trailer looked fascinating. But again this is just another case of it just being...okay. The characters, the story, the dialogue, the acting is all okay. Actually I take that back, the acting is really good, but the actors aren't really given any time to shine or really show their talent, which is a shame because you can tell that they put a lot of thought into these characters, especially Jason Segal. But really for a movie that's supposed to be a road trip of this author and this journalist and they have these deep conversations about life, work, relationships and family, by the end of it, i still felt like i barely knew these two and i just didn't get all that invested.

Me & Earl & The Dying Girl
Oddly enough even though this film was getting mad praise i honestly wasn't expecting much, which doesn't make sense because i never saw anything to suggest i wouldn't like it and it is a genre i like, the Quirky Hipster Teen Indie Movie, we get atleast one a year and they're usually really good. But really this movie does nothing new, it is a by the numbers QHTIM (Because I ain't spelling it out again), which wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the fact this movie is constantly patting itself on the back for avoiding cliches that it completely ignores the cliches it is following. Yes you avoided the typical romance in a lot of teen movies, oh you threw us for a loop with the ending by having the narrator lie to us, and not in a clever or subtle way you just...lied. It's like if i said "Oh no, Vader is totally not Luke's father" that's not me being a clever use of the unreliable narrator trope, i'm just lying. Then there are the cliches it does follow, the angsty teenager who doesn't fit in, opening with a character writing a personal statement for college, the cool teacher/mentor, the soft lighting, the indie musical score, it's stuff that is been done plenty before yet this movie loves to act on how original it is. Which is not to say i didn't like it, i do still like those cliches, it's just how of an ego the movie has that ruins it for me. It's also an incredibly directed film with some really good cinematography and really talented actors, lots of long shots with no cuts, plenty of creative close-ups, some interesting use of stop-motion and probably the least obnoxious drug trip scene there's been in a while. But again, this movie is kind of in love with itself that it just sort of ruins it for me from liking it that much.

So those are the movies that might be showing up on other people's top 10 lists but certainly won't be appearing in mine, even though i will clarify i enjoyed all of these movies and would still recommend that you all check them out and decide for yourselves if they're worth the hype. But they just didn't do enough for me.

SIDE NOTE: One movie that i will give an honourable mention to is Steve Jobs, the reason why is because I actually can't decide if it's going to be featured in my top 10 of the year list, i very much enjoyed what i was watching but i don't know if i would watch it again anytime soon, so, we'll see.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows - Trailer Review

So this came outta nowhere, the new trailer for the sequel to 2014's Ninja Turtles movie; Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows. Personally I thought the 2014 movie was just okay. I had fun watching it but as a movie it sucked, as a Turtles movie it sucked with potential. But the action was decent, the jokes were decent and they did a decent job of portraying the Turtles. But nothing so far has topped the 1990 movie as the best Turtle movie. So the first thing that stood out to me about this trailer is the tone it establishes. The first 30 seconds or so are played up like your stereotypical blockbuster movie, dramatic end of the world, variation on the Inception horn, evil, destruction, bla bla. Then we see the Turtle Van and this trailer instantly becomes nothing but action and jokes, which is so refreshing! The first film while still self-referential still tried to be serious and mature, well now we have a Warthog mutant with a Mohawk, mature is thrown out the window. Because that's the secret to the turtles, you can be insanely stupid and insanely serious at the same time, but never mature, that's not what the turtles are. It's as if the first film had the vibe of "Yeah we know this is stupid but we'll try and make it work" while this one is all "Yeah we know this is stupid but it's also awesome!!!".

Then there are the Turtles themselves, my instant reaction to them was "...They look different...They look better" and doing a comparsion to the prior film, they've clearly done some redesigns, their skin is brighter, they're not as bulky and their outfits aren't as cluttered and they've given them the slightest resemblance to a snout. They also didn't come across nearly as obnoxious or annoying as they did at parts of the prior film, hell, the prior film's trailer, especially Mikey, god he could be annoying in the other film what with his perverted attitude to Megan Fox, hopefully they've toned that down in this one. Speaking of Megan-because i still don't acknowledge that this is April O'Neil-she...barely did anything in this trailer, admittedly she got a pretty funny line in when she was about to be attacked in an alleyway and she just responds "You know this never ends well for you guys right?" also there was that one shot of her in a school girl's outfit because of course that's there, we gotta appeal to the 13 year old horny boy demographic somehow. And Will Arnett was only in one scene in this trailer, hopefully that is reflective of the movie. Don't get me wrong I like Will Arnett, but damn he was pointless in the last movie.

Next is Casey Jones, played by Stephen Amell. I'll be honest, i don't really care for Casey, no matter what movie or cartoon, i just don't care for him and i didn't care when he was announced for this movie...but then they announced Stephen Amell would be the one playing him and I was instantly hooked, because I like Stephen Amell, so at the very least that got me excited to see Casey Jones in the movie. There wasn't nearly enough of him in the trailer to be able to tell if he's going to be any good, but you know, ever the optimist.

Now for the villains of this movie, also known as fan service central. So Tyler Perry is Baxter Stockman...I honestly do not give a crap. As long as he's not forced into the movie as stupid villain comic relief then sure, why not have him in the movie, i just have that feeling he's going to be overused. Then there is Bebop and Rocksteady, putting some truly awful CGI aside, they're kinda perfect. They sound right, the designs are excellent, seriously i'm surprised they kept the Mohawk and glasses. But there was one character i was confused by, i was thinking "Who's the asian dude?...Wait that's the Shredder!? No it's not, they had their version of the Shredder in the last movie!" But no, turns out that is the Shredder again. So I guess they decided to reboot Shredder and pretend the last one didn't happen and go for one more accurate to the comic book. Also people are saying the giant portal in the sky is supposed to be the Kraang...okay good for them. I don't really care for the Kraang myself, but sure why not.

Finally, there is the money shot...no i don't mean Megan Fox, i mean the last shot of the trailer, Mikey and Donnie riding down a river when a tank jumps out of the water (No idea how) being driven by Rocksteady as he fires at them and misses by mere inches. Between this and Doctor Who I think we can say definitively that tanks make everything better!

So overall, I liked this trailer and it already looks like they're improving on the last one. I don't know if i'd say i'm that excited for it but at the very least it looks like a fun time.

-Danny

Why You Should Be Supporting Dragon's Lair On Indiegogo

If you didn't know, Don Bluth, director of so many great films has an Indiegogo campaign going now for funding to create a pitch for a Dragon's Lair movie. So yes this is funding for a pitch, not an actual movie, and before you ask, they are funding most of it themselves, they just need that little extra. If you never played Dragon's Lair it's this...bizarre retro game where instead of traditional 8-bit graphics the entire thing is animated, so you're basically controlling a traditionally animated movie. It's one of the most creative and beautiful games out there...it's impossible to play and is extremely aggravating but god does it look good.

If you're interested in learning more yourself then here's the link: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/dragon-s-lair-returns

Now i'm the type of person who very rarely backs a project unless there are some great perks or if it's a project that might legitimately not get made unless people like me support it, but this is one of those projects i absolutely want to see get made no matter what. So one of the reasons why it would be excellent if this film did get made is because one: it'll be another fully 2D animated film, drawn by hand, out in theatres, something that we haven't seen in a while, at least not in full and in a wide release. If this film is a hit then it'll show studios that there is still an audience for this and the craft isn't dead which means we could see even more films in this style. But a reason even bigger than that is something more personal and that would be just getting to see another Don Bluth film. This man is one of my favourite film makers and is a huge inspiration to me. The man behind An American Tail, All Dogs Go To Heaven, Anastatia, The Secret of NIMH, The Small One, The Land Before Time-one of my all time favourite films-this is a man who never talked down to kids and never made things simple for them. He made these films that were beautiful and thought provoking but they were also dark and realistic. The answers weren't always clear and the journey wasn't always happy but they all still had that level of hope, that there is still a way for things to come out on top. The happy endings in his stories were earnt, and things weren't always made clear, lessons weren't forced down childrens throats but at the same time they never felt like they were a waste, like kids and adults can take away from these films and just feel different and feel better for watching them. When I think of art amongst animation, i don't think Studio Ghibli, I don't think Pixar, I don't even think Disney, I think Don Bluth and Gary Goldman, the two men who have made some true masterpieces in their time.

Yes he made a lot of stinkers, hell, i consider Titan A.E. to be the second worst animated film of all time but nevertheless, i never lost hope, i've always said "god, i wish this guy would come back, he needs to make more movies" and this is his chance. Taking one of his most popular projects and making it into a feature length film. This is a man who deserves this, and honest to god, i would much rather see this film get made than all of the upcoming Marvel films, i would gladly cancel them if it meant this one movie was made and it was another masterpiece. Because I need that, and i would hope i'm not alone, i hope other people remember how sad you felt when Littlefoot's mother died, or how happy you were when Feivel found his family, or how admirable you thought Mrs Brisby was because of her bravery. So if you do then please support this project and maybe, just maybe we can get another great film from a legendary film maker.

-Danny

Doctor Who "Hell Bent" Review

So here we are, the end of a great series for Doctor Who and after the masterpiece that was last weeks episode, does the finale end on a high note? Let's find out. Hell Bent sees The Doctor finally return to Gallifrey and plans on manipulating the entire planet in a way to bring Clara back to life. In the end she is brought back in a way, her body is in suspended animation so she is technically on her last heartbeat but that heartbeat can last as long as they want. In the end The Doctor is forced to have his memory wiped to prevent himself from destroying the universe to try and protect Clara.

So let's get to some details, starting with all the stuff on Gallifrey. Now I will say the first 10 minutes or so were awesome, no dialogue from The Doctor and he still some how gets his way and is able to manipulate and scare all of Gallifrey, first they threaten him, it doesn't work, then they send the council, it doesn't work, then finally the damn Lord President shows up and what does The Doctor say to him? "Get off my planet" Mic-fucking-dropped! But then we get to the bad stuff about Gallifrey, kinda something that seems to be a recurring thing in modern Doctor Who, the Time Lords are fucking retarded! The big thing here is that they are scared of a prophecy of "The Hybrid" a believed creature that is half-Time Lord, half-Dalek, making it an unstoppable monster. Of course it turns out not to be one person but two, a Time Lord and a human, The Doctor and Clara. So where do we begin? How about the fact that the mere concept of time travellers being afraid of a prophecy is really dumb. You're fucking time travellers, you should know whether or not a prophecy comes true! Also The Doctor and Clara being an unstoppable monster when combined, not really true, The Doctor is the unstoppable monster, Clara is just his motivation.

Speaking of Clara, this was a pretty bad way to end her storyline, i mean not for her personally, i'm sure she's very happy, but as a character in a narrative it was awful. She had a dramatic, heavy and excellently handled death which lead to another great episode of The Doctor experiencing grief and sorrow and pain trying to deal with it. Turns out that was all pointless because she's not really dead. Yes she is still technically dies but she can choose to go back there whenever she wants, and because her death is a fixed point in time she's now immortal just like Jack Harkness was, and she's travelling across all of time and space with Ashildr. So basically we went from an emotional death that lead The Doctor to experience pain like he's never felt, to Clara becoming immortal and travelling like before except now with a different person. BULL-SHIT! You don't give a character this incredible and momentous death and have another character go through a traumatising experience just to turn around and say "So none of that was important!". Doctor Who has brought back dead characters before and done it really well. When Rory died Amy experienced a quiet pain, she forgot he even existed but was still crying tears without knowing why and when he did come back and she remembered her character changed and grew, nothing beforehand was lost for either parties and they both changed and were better for it. That's not the case here because the development was all lost by bringing her back.

Then there is erasing The Doctors memory, admittedly and interesting concept but executed so poorly. A good companion should change The Doctor, make him grow, learn, adapt, build new relationships, all things I admit Clara did do well, especially for Capaldi's Doctor. But now with his memory erased of her, all that development is now gone and made the last 3 seasons pointless. Oh but his memory wasn't completely erased, he remembers bits and pieces of her. Well then that makes it a shallow plot point then doesn't it? Again, it's another case of creating this big dramatic scene and then having that lead to nothing. He only sort of forgets Clara, so he remembers enough for her time to have not being wasted but not enough so it's okay for her to leave the show. I repeat BULL-SHIT!. Isn't that just convenient? He only remembers the important things that the writers want him to remember, so i guess we should all just go for half-measures on these things, cheap and easy drama with no lasting consequences! Because that's good storytelling!

Good lord, what happened? This show was on such a high streak, but thankfully, unlike this episode, one element does not ruin everything that came before it. The good episodes are still good and the bad episodes are still bad, and thank god this season had some truly excellent episodes and overall this was the best season of Doctor Who since Matt Smith's first year.

I'm giving this episode a 5/10.

I'm giving this season a 9/10.

-Danny

The Death of "Superman Lives": What Happened? - Cheap Thoughts

This is one of those film that i'm very torn on but for unreasonable points. Death of Superman (Because that title is a mouthful) is a documentary by Jon Schnepp that explores the production and eventual cancellation of a planned Superman movie that was to star Nicolas Cage and be directed by Tim Burton. Now i was very much looking forward to this film because it's an interesting subject matter and i am a big fan of Jon Schnepp, I even got to meet him at London MCM Comic-Con and talk to him about the film. But watching this film i found myself getting very angry, but not because of the film, but because of the subject matter.

Before watching this documentary, my opinion on the film 'Superman Lives' based on leaked photoshoots and small details was "wow thank god they didn't make that film" and now after seeing the documentary i can say "WOW. Thank GOD they did not make that film". Because honestly apart from Kevin Smith it seemed like nobody even cared or knew anything about Superman and they got the entirely wrong team behind this film. Let me start off with the man who pissed me off the most, the producer Jon Peters, now i'm sure he's a nice guy in real life and everything but good god this might be one of the dumbest producers in Hollywood. He was a hairdresser turned producer who didn't like to read scripts and said he didn't want Superman to fly or wear his uniform...I don't think i need to say more, but i will. Some more of his ideas were to have Braniac arrive at the fortress of solitude and fight Superman's guards, and when told how stupid it would be to give Superman guards he said "fine, polar bears"...what is going on in this guys head!?

Even taking him out of the picture this film still would have sucked, Tim Burton was very clearly the wrong person to be put in charge of this project. Yes, he directed Batman and he did a good job with it, but Batman and Superman are completely different characters. He wanted to make the look of Superman's world more Gothic and Art Deco based, again, that's fucking Batman! Not Superman! Then the designs and choices for the costumes to make it more tech based and having it being passed down from generation to generation, as well as wanting to make the character darker and more edgy. Look i'm not against changing characters but you have to actually understand characters before you're allowed to change them. Make Superman dark and edgy, yeah and while you're at it why don't you make Sherlock Holmes more like Daffy Duck? Or Atticus Finch more like Tyler Durden? Or Yoda more like Mr T? Because the best way to make a character interesting is to completely ignore everything that made them popular in the first place and be different just for the sake of being different you fucking morons!

But again, these are all unreasonable complaints because none of them are to the documentary itself but the subject matter, and it's not like the documentary is edited in a way to vilify anyone, except maybe Jon Peters but even then that's quite subtly handled. So this is clearly my subjective interpretation of the material getting in the way of the merits of the project. As for the technical aspects of the documentary it is very well shot and edited as well as the amount of research and material that went into this film is admirable, after all making documentaries takes a lot of hard work, especially an independent documentary which i can only imagine how much hardwork was put into making this.

I'm very sorry but i cannot get my own personal feelings out of the way when talking about this documentary. Superman is my all time favourite hero and he gets a bad rap these days by people who clearly don't understand him (The next person to complain that he's not relatable gets punched in the face). So seeing professionals in the film industry who were given the character and treating him with such little care just makes me mad as a Superman fan. I praise Jon Schnepp and his team for the effort that was put into the film but i just got so angry watching this and i cannot put that aside no matter how hard i try, but i have to be fair and give this documentary a 7/10.

-Danny

The Flash & Arrow "Legends of Today/Yesterday" Review

The thing i'm most conflicted about with this episode is whether or not that Age of Ultron reference was funny & cool or lame & badly delivered. This is the yearly Flash and Arrow crossover, this time round Legends of Today and Yesterday, Team Flash and Team Arrow discover the truth behind Cisco's girlfriend Kendra, that being that she is the reincarnation of an Egyptian priestess along with her life partner (Literally) Carter, the two are fated together along with Vandal Savage, an immortal who has dedicated his life to hunting them down and killing them over and over again.

It's strange how the charm of seeing these characters together has worn off so quickly, but even stranger is that i like that. The fact that this group of characters from two different shows can appear in episodes together without it feeling gimmicky or distracting just shows how well they blend and how good the chemistry between the actors are. Even more so is that one episode doesn't draw more focus to one team than the other, yes the Flash episode had more Flash characters and the Arrow episode had more Arrow characters but in terms of focus and individual stories they split them down the middle very well. Lots of Flash's episode took place in Star City, lots of Arrow's episode focused on Cisco and there are plenty of other examples like that making it feel not just like "Flash featuring Arrow" or "Arrow featuring Flash" but "Arrow and Flash" together.

With that being said there were still individual story arcs that took place across these episodes, let's start with the most prominent one, Oliver's son, a storyline i have wanted them to address since it was set up back in season two and for what we got, i wasn't disappointed. As of right now this only got a small bit of development, Oliver has set up the stepping stones towards building a relationship with his son and a friendship with the mother, also as a little note i respect that the mother didn't cash the cheque that she was given to leave Oliver but rather leave for her own good and the good of the child. I also like that Oliver's son is more a fan of Flash than he is the Green Arrow. SIDE NOTE: Surely Barry should be getting some royalties money in someway for those action figures, otherwise that's a lawsuit on their hands. Also Oliver's choice on not telling Felicity about his son is an enigma, on one hand this was supposed to be Oliver turning over a new leaf, being honest and not keeping massive secrets between his friends, especially the woman he loves. But on the other hand, a man is entitled to his own secrets, especially when they don't actually involve anyone but himself, but of course Felicity is going to find out eventually so then it becomes a question of how she finds out. If she goes snooping and learns it behind his back then she's a total bitch, if he tells her and she reacts negatively then she's still a total bitch. Frankly if she in anyway considers it unreasonable that Oliver did not tell her then she is absolutely, positively a total bitch

Then there is Barry who didn't actually get much to do in this crossover apart from be a plot point, he travelled through time again...yay, because that doesn't dissolve any tension this episode had going for it and exploit a plot device that Barry only used once before and using it any other time would be seen as redundant, cheap and lazy. But seriously, why do this? This feels like it was there to fill up time rather than for any actual plot change or character development, after all, learning that their plan to fight Savage will fail means that they're going to...do pretty much the exact same thing? The only difference is they brought more people with them, which it didn't make any sense why he didn't bring them along in the first place, nor would it signify enough of a difference in the equation to change the outcome, in fact the fight ended the exact same way, the only difference being Oliver "wasn't distracted" what!?

I suppose I should also probably talk about Hawkman and Hawkgirl seeing as they are officially introduced to us in this episode. To talk about my prior history with the two characters, i don't care for them. Hawkgirl i know better because she was in the Justice League cartoon, yeah she was good in that show but she was my least favourite of the team, as for how she was portrayed in this show, she was fine, and Hawkman just seems like the biggest bore on the planet. So ya know, give em points for accuracy. So yes neither characters were that good but neither were that bad either, but you know something? That ain't enough. If they were just a character of the week then i would have no problem, but seeing as they are two of the main characters for Legends of Tomorrow i would expect more and now that they are the last two to be introduced apart from Rip Hunter they are so far my least favourite of that team. They don't have interesting personalities or super powers, their backstory is interesting enough but honestly the more detail we got the less i found myself caring.

Then there was Cisco's part to play in this as Kendra's (Hawkgirl) boyfriend, a relationship that was incredibly rushed, pointless and not nearly as effective as it should have been. Cisco's speech to Kendra to make her more comfortable in her destiny honestly feels like it shouldn't have had the effect that it did because him and Kendra don't know each other well enough, he doesn't know what she's like as a person to know she can get through this and handle it nor would he know what's best for her. Also when Oliver implied that the two were in love is absolute bullshit, they've been dating for about 2 weeks, cool your jets.

Vandal Savage was...a little better? I say that because at least he left an impression on me and seemed threatening to an extent, having a 4000 year old immortal villain is a great set up, they say it takes you 10,000 hours to master something, i feel like this is a man who has had more than enough time to master a few tricks. But at the same time, Team Flash and Team Arrow teaming up to take him down seems like more than enough. I don't care how long you've been training you can't beat a man who runs faster than you've been alive. And then he is killed but Malcolm takes his ashes and is planning on bringing him back an-oh god i do not care, shut up Malcolm, i'm mad at you for not making a single Jack Harkness joke, seriously you were up against an immortal man, not one reference? You got the damn Age of Ultron reference but not Doctor Who?

Also there was a subplot in the Flash episode involving Harrison getting shot by Patty and then Jay has to save him. It was meh, it was pretty pointless and got such little focus that it feels like it should have been saved for another episode, mostly because Patty now knows Harrison Wells is alive! Also Harrison and Jay are on their way to becoming friends, yay.

So to sum up two episodes worth of plot it was...meh. You know how Iron Man 2 was just a set up for Avengers? Well this feels like it was nothing more than a set up for Legends of Tomorrow, while Oliver's story with his son, Patty shooting Harrison, Cisco's relationship with Kendra, Hawkman & Hawkgirl's relationship get underdeveloped while Caitlin, Laurel, Diggle, Thea, Barry, Joe & Iris almost get shoved to the side with how little they have to do in the story. 6/10.

-Danny

Doctor Who "Heaven Sent" Review

I probably should have mentioned in the previous review, the reason why i'm doing these Doctor Who reviews on different days is because really each episode has enough content for me to do a full review on rather than having one over stuffed review. Especially when all the episodes are really self-contained stories...also i have nothing else to fill up these days, might as well.

In this episode we see The Doctor on an adventure on his own, he has been teleported into his own personal hell, a prison designed specifically for him, based on his nightmares and a never ending mystery. In the end The Doctor realises that he has been trapped there for thousands of years, just repeating the same day over and over again until after 2,000,000,000 of repeating the same day he's finally able to escape.

So where do I begin? Let's actually go with the directing and tone of this episode, this is one of the most creatively directed episodes i've seen Doctor Who do in a while, The Doctor only having a split second to think of a plan imagines himself back in the TARDIS with Clara helping him figure out a plan, asking the right questions, remembering the right notes, like a good teacher would. I especially love the first time they do this, making you think it was a time skip ahead and now they're going to recount it, but in fact the entire thing is his fantasy and we're watching him figure it out as it's happening, that's actually really clever. Not to mention holy crap this episode was terrifying! Now i'm not one who gets scared at Doctor Who, believe it or not i didn't even get scared at Blink, and i was only 12 years old when that came out...holy shit that episode is 8 years old, what the fuck. But back to this episode, the monster in this episode named The Veil is a reflection of The Doctor's nightmares he had as a child and it terrifies him as much as it terrified me, and what's great is even when there are jump scares, they really aren't, you're always aware of it's presence due to cameras and the flies, but that made it even more intense, hearing the buzz of the flies and you instantly know it's nearby, it was fairly horrifying to watch and certainly made my heart skip a beat on several occasions.

Then of course there is Peter Capaldi, not only does it show how talented this guy is how even when he's the only character with dialogue for the episode and even then half of it is exposition that he's explaining to himself, that's not usually good writing, but good god this guy keeps your eyes glued to the screen. Every line, every scene, he is just giving his all and just the range of emotions he goes through, from his typical cocky smartass to fearful and confused, to broken down and depressed, his exploration of his grief over losing Clara and his eventual breakdown. This is truly the best performance Capaldi has ever given in his career. I already liked him as The Doctor but seriously, if there is anyone out there who still is not convinced this man is The Doctor, you need psychiatric help.

Then there is the punching of a diamond wall, for 2 billion years, The Doctor punches away at a diamond wall, okay it's actually 400x the strength of diamond but nevertheless, an impressive feat. Fact is not only is this most definitely a Doctor thing to do, dedicating 2 billion years to one cause, each day slowly working at it to eventually achieve your goal and never giving up, but again, this is something in the episode that was really well handled. After all the pieces had come together and The Doctor had realised he had just been reliving the same day, there was a brief time there where i thought "What's he gonna do? Is he giving up? The Doctor doesn't give up! Has he just accepted the fact he's gonna be reliving his life over and over again?" But then you see it fairly quickly, which is another brilliant thing about this episode, you're still guessing as long as The Doctor is guessing, you never figure it out before him, this episode has you on the ropes for almost the entire run time and then finally you get your answers alongside him.

Also brilliant music in this episode, Murray Gold has done a lot of phenomenal-and I mean phenomenal-work on Doctor Who but I actually feel like he hasn't done that much great stuff recently and none of Capaldi's tunes have done anything for me. This episode finally redeems that and we have a dramatic, moving, fitting and impactful track to go along with The Doctor punching the diamond wall-as previously mentioned.

Oh and yeah I guess The Doctor has found Gallifrey. Neat.

Both fans and critics alike are considering this to be one of the best episodes of the season. I agree. They say it's one of the best of the revival. I agree. They say it's one of the best of all time. I agree. This episode of course gets a 10/10, it's damn near perfect.

-Danny

Doctor Who "Face The Raven" Review

So...that was something. This is the first part in the three part finale of this season of Doctor Who, here Clara's friend Rigsy (Yeah, remember him?) calls her up about a strange tattoo he's received, as it turns out, he's been sentenced to death by a hidden alien city in London after supposedly murdering an innocent alien. The Doctor and Clara investigate and as it turns out the entire thing was a hoax so Ashildr could capture The Doctor. However because Clara took Rigsy's sentence for him, she is killed and The Doctor is powerless to do anything.

Let's get the small stuff out of the way, Rigsy is a character from the previous season, granted it was the best episode from that season he really didn't leave much of an impression and i don't see why they brought him back. I guess they just needed someone to be a walking plot point who has some connection to Clara and The Doctor but seriously this is not an important character. He's not bad per say but...seriously, who gives a damn about this guy? Also Ashildr is back, hey, always happy to have more Maisie Williams in this show but i feel like she was wasted, this felt like a role that anyone with a grudge against The Doctor could play, it didn't require any of Ashildr's previously established skills, in fact they had to give her an entirely new one just so the plot makes sense. Both these roles feel very transferable and that really hurts the narrative of this episode.

But that's not what you care about, let's get to Clara's death. Now there are a few things that need to be established beforehand, i've made it clear i was not a fan of Clara in her first season but she has gotten much better lately mostly because of her chemistry with Capaldi and the fact that they've finally written a character for her outside of little miss perfect. And also no, i did not cry at this, not even teary eyed. With that being said, they couldn't have handled her death scene more perfectly, her dialogue with The Doctor and even in death she has to comfort him because she knows he can be a loose cannon, if he blames anyone for her death, hell will break loose. That's what a good companion should do, be there to humanise The Doctor but not fix his mistakes, just help steer him away from making those mistakes in the first place. Even more so Jenna Coleman's performance is excellent, having the perfect mixture between brave yet fearful, compassionate yet angry, supportive yet sad. Not to mention this is pretty rare for Doctor Who to kill off the companion before the finale, i mean yeah this is technically part of the finale but this is only the 1st act, this is usually the bittersweet end of the 3rd act type material, give em credit for handling it differently and making me curious what they're going to do with the next 2 episodes. Seriously i can not understate how well handled this death scene was, the build up was shocking, the killing was disturbing and the aftermath was worrying, top it all off with The Doctor's threat/promise to Ashildr should she mess with him again "I strongly advise you to stay out of my way. You'll find it is a very small universe when I'm angry with you." truly brilliant.

Really that's all there is to talk about, the death scene was perfectly handled while the rest of the episode was ok and didn't really have much to talk about, actually that's kinda been a recurring thing for several episodes this season, most of the episode is just ok but then the finale is fucking brilliant. Hm. Oh well, guess i'll do the same i did for the Zygon episode.

The majority of this episode gets a 6/10, there was a lot of nice production design but the story was lacking.

The final few minutes gets a 9/10, perfectly executed it's just i didn't care enough about Clara to get invested to the point for a 10/10.

-Danny