My favourite films of 2015

2015 has come and gone and I went to the cinemas a few times during the year, to tell the truth I haven't seen a huge number of new movies in 2015, but what I have seen I have ordered and I will now share with you what are my favourite films of 2015, I'm not saying best because again, I've seen a pretty small number of films this year, so this list will be very subjective, with that said, here we go.

Number 10 is Spectre.

When thinking about this film again, I remember still liking Craig as Bond, I remember thinking other reviews gave the love story in this film a little too little credit, and that it had really awesome action, but I also remember being a little bored for the first half and thinking the villain was completely wasted. It is nothing in the shadow of Skyfall, but it's still a film I enjoyed watching.

Number 9 is Jurassic World.

Another film that seemed somewhat divisive among reviewers, I personally really liked it, only one film I saw this year made me even half as giddy as Jurassic World made me, I still don't know what happened to me after I left that cinema, but it was great, and in my opinion, while it obviously had flaws, I had a lot of fun with Jurassic World.

Number 8 is Ant Man.

A film I didn't see in cinemas, the only one on this list, I instead watched it on Blu Ray after a friend got it for me as a Christmas present, and as someone who's never really watched any of the Marvel movies, I really liked Ant Man, I liked it's characters, it's action, and it's comedy, if anything it and Guardians of the Galaxy just make me really want to watch the other Marvel movies.

Number 7 is Crimson Peak.

It's del Toro, it being on the list was an inevitability, sure the main character was boring, but then the twins stole the show, the film looked fucking stunning, and had some really cool and freaky looking ghosts. I know it's not del Toro's best work, but I still really liked it.

Number 6 is Kingsman The Secret Service.

A film that I often joke had to go up against the cinematic torture device that was 50 Shades, but still held it's own like the plucky little British super spy it was. It was a film that knew it was stupid and rolled with it, and it ended up being a really fun spy movie with cool characters, cool gadgets, and an absolutely insanely badass shoot out in a church.

Number 5 is Inside Out.

I love me a good animated film, and Pixar was once the king of animated films, Inside Out reminds me of that time, it's up there with films like Finding Nemo and Up and WALL.E as the best Pixar can offer, and I really, really liked it, it's the film that will probably appeal to the widest demographic on this list, but I struggle to see how anyone can dislike Inside Out.

Number 4 is Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation.

This film ticked a lot of the boxes for what, for me, makes a good spy action movie, it had fun action, cool and intense espionage, funny and likable characters, and an engaging and interesting story, it's villain was a bit weak, but Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg and Rebecca Ferguson more than make up for that.

Number 3 is Mad Max Fury Road.

This film blew my expectations out of the water, after hearing such amazing things about it, I genuinely didn't expect to see a film that surpassed my expectations, it has incredible action, an insane and completely nonsensical plot, and 2 great leads on the run from a menacing and cool villain, and incredible action, can't stress that enough.

Number 2 is The Martian.

The Martian is a very, very good film, it has an extremely likable cast of characters, spear headed by the amazing Matt Damon, it's funny, dramatic, intense, beautiful to look at, and it has so much juicy science, can't get enough of that science.

And Number 1 is, of course, Star Wars The Force Awakens.

This film has changed me, where once there was no love for Star Wars, there is now a burning excitement to see whatever comes next in the trilogy that starts with The Force Awakens. I love this film's characters, the story is very similar to Star Wars in a lot of ways but I still liked it, it had exciting action and some really awesome emotional moments. And then there's of course Rey, who might be my favourite character of any film this year, she was fucking awesome, as was the film as a whole.

Feel free to disagree, but from what I've seen this year, these are my favourite films, even if there were things in some of them I don't like, I'm getting all of these on Blu Ray if I haven't already, like I said at the beginning, I haven't seen anything close to the number of films that came out this year, but I liked what I saw. Now onto 2016, which I hope will be just as good as 2015.

Thunderbirds The Mighty Atom review

Here's what you need to know; after failing once before to obtain the secrets of the new Atomic power plants, the Hood, armed with the latest in espionage, goes for another attempt, forcing International Rescue to intervene, or risk losing an entire continent to a radioactive death cloud.

This episode has a pretty surprising and pretty dark opening, with the Hood's first attempt to get into one of these plants, and it resulting in an atomic explosion that I must say, looked really cool, with pyrotechnics and smoke I think they did an extremely good job of showing the atomic explosion. Something else I really liked was how creepy they made the death cloud, what with the slow panning camera and the music, if I saw that thing coming I would run. Something that I did however find very odd is the Mighty Atom, which has nothing to do with the atomic plants as one would think, but instead refers to a little toy mouse with a camera for an eye, which is also the Hood's latest in espionage. it reminds me of a story I heard once about the U.S using cats with microphone implants to spy on the Russians, it sounded ridiculous, and so does the toy mouse in this episode, though to be fair, the Americans probably tried this too, I just looked it up, Operation Acoustic Kitty, it was "declared to be a total loss." as amusing as the scenes with the mouse were, it just strikes me as completely bizarre, and it is distracting. The Thunderbirds don't really show up until a good way into the episode, and when they do, to be honest it feels pretty by the numbers, the tension isn't really as strong as it has been in past episodes, or as it should be given the situation. What's more amusing is the stuff on Tracy island, mainly one scene with Parker and Kyrano which is hilarious, and to be honest I wouldn't have minded more of that humorous stuff at all with those 2. There was also a not so funny scene that became very funny at the end, but it does contradict how we are meant to see Penelope, a tough, badass secret agent, who is scared of mice, makes sense, I remember that time Bond screamed at the sight of a spider too. All in all this episode had some funny scenes and some really cool uses of effects, but aside from that, it doesn't offer very much, but I still very much like elements of this episode, and it's still worth a watch.

Thunderbirds Are Go Designated Driver review

Here's what you need to know; much to his misery, it's time for Alan to learn how to drive. But while him and Parker are out going through the fundamentals, Penelope and her aunt Sylvia get in a spot of bother at the manor.

This episode has 1 thing I like and 1 thing I liked at first, but found annoying as the episode went on. First off, the original FAB1 from the original series is in this episode, which is brilliant, it's cool to see it again and have the old and new side by side, and I still prefer the original design, no doubt at all. The other thing I liked was a pretty funny call back to the original show, but then they did it again, and it was less funny, then again, and it wasn't funny at all, just one would have been really funny, but instead they kill a pretty funny joke. And now for what I don't like, pretty much everything else. The robbers are idiots, and it's supposed to be funny, I laughed occasionally, but for the most part they're just stupid and it's not funny. Sylvia was also annoying, it's cute that she's Sylvia Anderson, the original Penelope, but her character just wasn't good, never shutting up about the damn tea, and she was stupid too, until you learn what she was really doing, and it was still stupid. The stuff with Penelope, Sylvia and the robbers was clearly meant to be funny, but it just wasn't. The car chase was amusing, not incredible, but kind of chuckle worthy. And then there's the Deus ex machina, a call back that at first I thought was a funny little detail, but then they completely ruined it by changing what it does, and making it into something that was, surprise surprise, really stupid. All in all I really didn't enjoy this episode, it had 1 call back I liked, 2 call backs I liked at first and then started hating, a guest appearance who's dumb and annoying, as well as 2 idiots who, like the car chase, produce mere occasional chuckles. I do not recommend this episode, it's not worth watching.

The Nightmare Before Christmas movie review

Here's what you need to need to know; after years of being the proud king of Halloween, Jack Skellington has grown tired of the same yearly spookiness, and sets out to find something more. what he finds is something magical, and he becomes obsessed with it, deciding that this year, Halloween town will have a shot at hosting Christmas. But things don't work out the way Jack intended, and the consequences are disastrous.

I'll start with something different this time, the aesthetic, the first thing you notice in the film. this film has a very cool look to it, and I really mean that, every frame of this film oozes with creativity and love, the characters all have a very neat look to them, as do the gorgeous environments, and the animation is still stunning to watch. The contrast between Halloween town and Christmas town is very strong, yet both explode with style and creativity, and they're awesome to look at. And now for characters, Jack is a very cool character, in addition to looking cool, he's someone who you can really understand, he's someone who wants more out of his life, and when he finds something new and exciting he becomes obsessed with it, yet through the Halloweeny perversion of Christmas they create, you can still see the love Jack has for it, and that's great. Sally meanwhile is probably the more complicated character, still under the 'protection' of her creator, her premonition about Jack's Christmas makes for a very foreboding atmosphere about the event, and that's also great. it's not really a negative but it is a hell of a bummer that my favourite character in the film is only in a couple scenes, and that character is Oogie Boogie. I really love every scene he's in, because he steals every scene he's in, all 3 of them, and he has by far the best song in the film, more on that later. the supporting line up are fairly decent too, none of them stand out as bad, and while they're not the star of the show, there isn't really one you don't remember by the end of the film, which makes them a very good line up. another element of the film that I really, really like is, oddly enough, the music, normal songs in musical films just don't resolute with me, the only 2 musicals I've seen where I like every song in the film are The Lion King, and The Nightmare Before Christmas, the songs are all great, particularly Oogie Boogie's song, but Jack's songs are great, Sally's song is great, really they're all great, and that's a huge plus for the film. really there isn't a scene in particular in the film I don't like, at least not any that stand out as bad, alternatively, the song scenes, the Oogie scenes, the entire last 25 or so minutes of the film pretty much are pure awesome. pretty much the entire run time of the film, which by the way is only about 75 minutes, is really enjoyable to watch, be it because of the cool characters, the beautiful visuals and animation, the fun songs, or whatever it is, this is a film that I really love, and it's an absolute must watch.

Gremlins movie review

Here's what you need to know; Billy is very happy with his Christmas present, an adorable little critter called Gizmo, little does he know that on Christmas eve all hell will rain down on the quiet little town he calls home, in the form of an army of little green monsters out to cause as much chaos as possible.

Gremlins is a film that will appeal to a lot of different audiences, first up we'll go for characters, Billy is a very good character, he's our hero in this creepy little tale, and he does a fairly good job of being a normal guy to rises up to fight the evil baddie. His girlfriend on the other hand is less interesting, and less useful, she has an emotional scene which, while not ruining, is a bit out of character for the film, more on that later. Really I do have an issue though with a few characters in the film which I feel are a bit wasted, like Mouth from the Goonies, characters who are pretty cool when you see them, and who you'd think will have a greater role in the film, but they don't, one character who isn't wasted however is Billy's mum, who has an absolutely awesome scene in the kitchen that I loved. Meanwhile a far more interesting thing than the human characters is of course the Gremlins, Gizmo is adorable, every time he's on screen you just want to pick him up and cradle him, and he's a pretty cool whatever he is too, he reads comics, sings, and can say a few words in the cutest voice a movie monster has ever spoken in. By contrast the metamorphosed gremlins are completely vile, slimy and scaly little monsters that are, in a twisted and morbid way, just as appealing as Gizmo. But while Gizmo is cute and fluffy and friendly, the Gremlins are nasty and creepy and out to do nothing but cause mayhem, they're a perfect blend of scary and comical, and that is highlighted in several very amusing scenes with them, I won't list any here, because they're funnier if you don't expect them. And they're brought to life with really, really good special effects, genuinely, this film holds up stupidly well with it's effects, and I prefer these things to anything modern CG could create, these things just look cooler. The comedy element of the film takes a while to get moving, in fact this film doesn't really get funny until about an hour in, when the Gremlins finally show up, but when they do, this film becomes hilarious, it leans more towards the horror elements before this though, and while this is fine, it's not the highlight of the film, and while the characters and their story are fine too, they are still in the shadow of the gremlins. There's one more thing I like about the film, easter eggs, this film is packed with them, and it's great to find them and see how the film makers played with them, for example the time machine, I will say no more. Overall, while the characters are good overall, and their story is serviceable, they're not what you remember after watching the film, nor is the horror elements of the first hour or so, you remember the gremlins, they're creepy, hilarious, and done with fantastic visual effects. Gremlins is a film I've had a soft spot for for years and I still highly recommend this film, definitely worth a watch.

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation movie review

Here's what you need to know; Clarke Griswold is planning to have a very special Christmas with his family, but as Griswold holidays tend to go, Christmas doesn't turn out the way he intended, and Clarke can do little to stop the total collapse of his precious holiday.

My Dad adores this film, there was once a time where I could not escape Mele Lakikimaka, seriously, escape was impossible, and it drove me insane. He'd be very surprised to learn that I really like this film myself. Let's start with the characters, Clarke is a very good character, yes, he's an idiot, but at the same time he's a very believable and relatable idiot, we've all had bad days, and Clarke in this film is having a very bad day, in that his deterioration in stability is very easy to get behind. you'd think then that the characters that ruin his Christmas are annoying and unlikable, but they're not, the only 3 characters in this film you don't like are characters you're not supposed to like, while everyone else does a very good job of being funny and messing up Clarke's Christmas while not being unlikable. but who really makes it is Eddie, who is one of the funniest characters in the film, like Clarke says, "his heart is bigger than his brain," and he cracks me up pretty much every time he's on screen, the scenes with him and Clarke are brilliant, not just in their humour, but in the heart, and that can be said for all the characters in this film, there is no one comic character, everyone has their funny moments as well as their serious moments. the comedy element of this film is however probably it's strongest asset, there were a few times in this film where I was laughing out loud, harder than I ever laughed at it before now I'm an adult, as well as the simpler, dumber jokes I laughed at as a kid, which are more often than not still funny in their absurdity, like when he gets trapped in the loft or when he finds a squirrel in the Christmas tree, or one that makes me still laugh my arse off, when the dog eats the bone under the table, got me as a kid and it gets me now still. really I don't have any major issues with this film, and I find it's characters to be likable, it's comedy to be at times hilarious, and for it to have a nice healthy dose of heart for the Christmas season ,this film is one I would definitely recommend, worth a watch for sure.

Thunderbirds Vault of Death review

Here's what you need to know; Parker isn't a fan of investigating an emergency at the Bank of England out of fear of running into an old friend, unaware that now the only hope for a banker suffocating in the sealed vault is International Rescue.

It's bizarre that how I remember this episode and how I feel about it having just watched it are 2 completely different things. I remember not being a huge fan of this episode as a kid, thinking it was boring, so I'm genuinely surprised by how much I enjoyed this episode, because I really did like this episode. I'll begin with one of the funniest things not just in this episode, but Thunderbirds in general, Parker and his efforts to keep him, Penelope and the banker away from the vault, the story behind his reasoning is really funny, as are his efforts to slow their progress, and the comedic timing is very good here to. It only get's better when Penelope drives FAB1, she isn't a terribly good driver. When the Thunderbirds show up things aren't all that interesting, but there is a decent amount of tension as the air in the vault runs out, it's no Trapped in the Sky but it's enough to keep you interested. Again though the highlight of this episode is the stuff with Parker, and how funny it is, and the way this episode ends is also extremely funny. I do have a bit of an issue though, and that's how much they talk about how impenetrable the vault is before closing it, it gets a bit annoying at a point, like they know it's not true and they're trying to convince themselves otherwise. But really that and the slightly boring Thunderbirds story are the only issues I have with this really funny and really enjoyable episode, made by the Parker stuff and with some good tension and a really funny ending, it's worth a watch for sure.

Star Wars The Force Awakens spoiler review

So I've done my spoiler free review of The Force Awakens, now it's time to go into detail, and discuss some spoilers, which is a warning, big spoilers ahead for The Force Awakens, so don't read on if you haven't seen the film, now I've given my mandatory spoiler warning, let's spoil the shit out of The Force Awakens.

 ok, first off, like the original trilogy, it opens with the roaring John Williams score, and one of my viewing party didn't seem to see this coming, and jumped out of his skin when it happened. Then I love the first shot of the film, it's something that immediately stood out to me; it's a shot of a planet, then a First Order ship slowly moves into frame and eclipses the light from the planet, it's very unsettling and I really liked it. From there we see the cute little BB8 droid, who, far from being an annoying little robot in the film for the simple reason of selling toys, is actually a really cute and likable little fella, he's the kind of droid I'd go out and buy a toy of for the same reason I'd get a Rey toy, he's a cool character. And good job Abrams for making a metal ball that only talks in bleeps and bloops more likable and cool than anything George Lucas could come up with in the prequels. Poe is also an awesome character, right from the first scene when he stays to fight the First Order rather than running for his life. Which brings me onto the First Order, who slaughter a village, because why not, sure it's really grim, but it makes sense, the First Order doesn't yet have the same power as the Empire, a power that could easily maintain control through fear alone, the First Order isn't that feared yet, so they'll be more inclined to be more brutal in their methods to achieve that fear. and when Kylo Ren uses the force and freezes that blaster round in mid air was insanely awesome. Finn's desertion was a bit brief in my opinion, but what I really liked was the friendship you immediately see with Finn and Poe as they escape the First Order, in addition to being a fun action scene, it was a great character scene for those 2. Now to bring up Kylo Ren, who is a very interesting character, at first glance he's a big evil bad guy dressed all in black with a menacing helmet and voice, then under the helmet you find he's a completely normal guy, this may sound stupid, but I really love this about him. a big part of his character is the very serious emotional issues Ren is suffering from, he is afraid that he won't live up to the image of Darth Vader, with the mask off you realise that the mask, the black, the voice, the violent outbursts and abuse of the force, it's all just a show he's putting on because he want's the power Vader wielded but can't have it. and you see this when he's trying to read Rey's mind and she fights back. I started loving Rey when she sat eating her portions at the foot of a wrecked AT-AT while wearing a Rebel pilot helmet, that was cool. It does seem a bit odd at first that her and Finn escape in the Millennium Falcon, her being able to out manoeuvre 2 special forces Tie fighters and navigate the wreckage of a Star Destroyer while having no experience flying ships in her entire life, but now I realise something, that was a clue, Rey is one destined to become a Jedi master, and, while none of us knew it, not even her, that flying sequence was her being in tune with the force.

The scene pictured above is a scene I wanted to see the instant I saw the image of Rey scared out of her mind with Ren's lightsaber right next to her face, that's freaky shit, and I really liked that scene. Starkiller kind of gave me goosebumps when it blew up an entire solar system, really the Death Star was pretty crap, it could only blow up one planet at a time, but then I realise that Starkiller exhausts stars to powers it's gun, not very efficient, that isn't. Back to Kylo Ren for now, because my favourite scene in the film is next. Han solo is Kylo Ren's father, and he confronts him to try and turn him to the light side, the minute Han stepped onto that bridge I knew he was going to die, and I love the interaction they have, as Ren is clearly conflicted, torn between the dark side and his own father, but he chooses dark side, and murders Han where he stands, that was pretty damn hard to watch, and funnily enough, the last time a character death hit me that hard in a cinema was the last time I saw a J.J. Abrams movie in cinemas, I adored it. now for one of the most awesome scenes in the film, the end lightsaber battle with Ren, Finn and Rey. it's a vicious fight, trees are getting scorched and falling over, Ren burns Finn with his lightsaber hilt, and it's amazing that Finn didn't die after one solid hit right on his spine, that was one mother of a hit. and then for the force to awaken, in one of the coolest things in the film, Ren uses the force to pick Finn's lightsaber out of the snow, it pops up, flies right past Ren and into Rey's hand, that was stupidly awesome, it really was, and I'm now really looking forward to Rey being a Jedi Master, that's just going to be awesome to see. that was the moment I was settled on Rey as my favourite character in the film , and the moment I really got excited for Episode VIII, I didn't want this film end at that point, but it must, so VIII hype it is. less awesome I thought was that they show Snoke in the film, I think what would have been better is keep the scenes with him in, but just don't show, let our imaginations run wild, let us fear this Snoke, rather than ruin the surprise in the first film, I didn't think they'd show him here, and I'd have preferred it if thy hadn't. finally we have the ending, where Rey goes to an island in the middle of the ocean, and on the top of the island she finds Luke Skywalker, yep, he's in the film for all of 30 seconds and doesn't say a single word. I personally really like this cliff hanger ending, because unlike most cliffhangers, this one didn't piss me off, unlike another recent space opera with a cliffhanger ending, *cough* Halo 5 *cough*.

I've given it some thought, not settled yet, but The Force Awakens might be my favourite film of 2015, and this spoiler ramble I hope explains while I feel the way I do, this film is still an absolute must watch in my opinion, and I'm pissed off not that the film lacks a conclusive ending, but that I have to wait 2 years to see these characters that I love again, and that is a fantastic thing for a movie to do, this is a fantastic movie.

The Grinch movie review

Here's what you need to know; high above the happy, Christmas loving town of Whoville in his mountain lair lives the Grinch, a creature with a burning hatred for the Whos and their festive celebrations, until one day, a brave young Who dares to show the Grinch the true meaning of Christmas, an idea that goes disastrously for the residents of Whoville.
While I thought about my Christmas line up I considered 2 options; being kind, and just tearing this film apart, I've decided to do neither, I'll be fair to this movie, at least.

Right out of the gate I love Jim Carrey as the Grinch, he nails the energy of the character perfectly, and at times the Grinch is pretty funny, I'll get to them later. The Grinch also addresses something very relevant and interesting in this film when it comes to the modern culture surrounding Christmas, unfortunately though I feel that the message this film was trying to convey is completely ruined. What's the point in having a message about commercialism and materialism when Whoville in this film is literally everything that's wrong with Christmas; every single surface is plastered in obnoxious decorations and lights, people run around in a blind mob getting ready for the holiday with mountains of presents, maybe this film is a clever commentary on society, or maybe it's not that smart and I'm grasping at straws to find something good in this mess. I really don't like the way they portray Whoville in this film, and it's a shame that the film takes this direction. Speaking of directions the film shouldn't have taken, I hate Cindy Lou, she just annoys the fuck out of me, especially when she sings, it's bad, and to top it off, she's just not convincing, you don't buy that she's this cute little girl with a heart of gold and a true understanding of Christmas, she's just an annoying kid actor that you just don't buy. In fact really besides the Grinch and Max, no character in this film is particularly likable, really, they're so wrapped up in the all the presents and all the lights, that they're no better than the Grinch, they too have no clue what Christmas actually means, and have to be told by a little girl. And to be blunt, the Whos look fine when drawn in a book, but in live action, played by actors with fake dog noses and missing upper lips, it just looks weird. In fact everything in the film looks weird, the sets are stupid, the costumes are stupid, I get that they were trying to do Dr Seuss's style, but it looks ridiculous, everything looks fake and abstract and I just don't like it. You could make the argument that's it's just a kids film and it's based on a kids book so of course it's like that, so why then does this film have some really inappropriate jokes, it's not smart like a Pixar film, it's just crude and un funny, like a guy kissing a dog's arse, or the Grinch landing face first in a who's rack. It's a lot of dumb, immature comedy that works on children and teenagers at a stretch, but falls dead in the snow for adults.  And when the film does go for the smarter humour it's often still not funny, like a joke the Grinch makes about racism, it just doesn't work. By contrast there were times in this film when I genuinely found it funny, but I was the only one who laughed at them, stuff like the joke about mistletoe, and the joke about the baby looking like someone's boss, which I think really says something about what this film appeals with, and it begs the question as to why this film can have some good humour and so much shit. I do however like a lot of the stuff in the Grinch's cave, I enjoyed a lot of the absurdity and, by contrast to the rest of the film, pretty funny humour, and the Mr Grinch song makes me laugh every time, I just can't control it. The Mr Grinch scene is however one of a few scenes in the film that are completely ruined by a for the kids mentality, by that I mean a need to have Jim Carrey make funny noises and faces and act super over the top dramatic. One time in particular in the film he does this, and I just couldn't forgive it, what could have been an effective warm moment, started so well, then got utterly destroyed because haha funny, I really can't forgive that, I fucking despise that choice, it broke my back with this film.

The Grinch is a film that I cannot like, there are things that work, like a small minority of the comedy, and Jim Carrey as the Grinch, but this film is riddled with annoying characters, dog arse comedy, a ridiculous and fake look to everything on screen, and an obvious and obviously failed attempt to convey a deeper message about the meaning of Christmas, one that is so utterly battered and crushed it breaths with a machine. This is a film that will appeal to children, but it's a film I loath, it's a disaster, and to be avoided at all costs.

A Christmas Carol movie review

Here's what you need to know; Scrooge is a man who is hated by everyone in London, known for being a soulless, greed driven business man with a particular hatred of Christmas. But one Christmas his deceased business partner returns to warn him of his looming fate, and offers him a chance to change it, now Scrooge must face his demons and learn a kindness that left him long ago.
This latest adaptation of the Charles Dickens story was brought to us by Disney in 2009, and, to celebrate this most festive of holidays, I'm reviewing A Christmas Carol.

A Christmas Carol opens with Scrooge being a scrooge, in a scene that I really like, where we see just how horrid Scrooge is, in a very fun sequence through London showing people celebrating Christmas. Since he's the main character we'll start with Scrooge, played by Jim Carrey, who I think is a really interesting character, it's kind of unsettling to see how heartless he is, and the scenes where that greedy mask falls are equally as cool, as the various ghosts take him on his adventure, from a character standpoint I very much like the scenes where he's with Present and Future, Future in particular, more on that later. Really though the other characters in the film are less interesting, Fred and Cratchit both have really good moments, but again that's with the ghosts, on their own they only play minor roles, and aren't that interesting. The ghosts on the other hand are really cool, Past has a really cool design, while I'm not sure what to make of the voice. Present meanwhile is characterised by his roaring laughter and jolly nature, he's cool, and he gets quite menacing towards the end. But if you want menacing, my favourite, Future is really cool, him usually just being the shadow of a hooded figure, maybe it's my fear of the dark, or shadows, or maybe an apprehension for the future, but Future really gets under my skin, in a really good way. From a technical standpoint the film is now a bit of a mixed bag, like most motion capture animated films it can sometimes get a bit uncanny valley, while other times it looks fine, contrasted by other times when it really doesn't, those however are more of an issue of physics, which I know doesn't make a huge amount of sense, but watch the film and you'll know what I mean. Unfortunately I do have a notable issue with the film, and it's one that won't make a lot of sense as well, this film was released in 3D, and I get the sense that it's really intended to be seen in 3D because it has some really flashy moments that, in my opinion, kind of feel out of place in the story. Example, the bells in Scrooge's room go nuts, then silence, then you here a noise from the hall, as it gets closer you recognise it, heavy dragging and rattling chains, it gets closer, and Scrooge get's more afraid, as do you, then that great moment of unease is ruined when the ghost enters, throwing it's weights through the wall and at the screen. I really feel that these flashier scenes kind of let the film down, and a slower burn would have made for a more enjoyable film overall. There is however 2 exceptions to this issue, and I won't spoil them because they are fantastic scenes that I really enjoy watching. And by far my favourite scene in the film is one of these scenes, it's during the Future sequence, and it's superb, I love it.

A Christmas Carol is a film I like parts of, while disliking other parts; Scrooge and the ghosts are all really cool, while the rest of the line up is a bit underwhelming for the most part, the animation is good at times while not so good at other times, and I do feel that the film is too flashy at times, but then there are other times where I am really liking this film, and they make it for me. I can definitely recommend A Christmas Carol, it's worth a watch.

Star Wars The Force Awakens movie review

Here's what you need to know; decades after the fall of the Empire, a new evil has gripped the galaxy, and the last of the Jedi has vanished, now little more than a myth, now an unlikely band of heroes must rise to do battle with the sinister First Order, and to return balance to the Force.
I really wasn't sure if I should have done my usual vague summery of the plot with this film, like Inside Out this film is a film that's better the less you know going in, but I did one because I probably will go into some plot stuff here, it's a review after all, if you want the short version, here it is; for the love of god go see this film, it's incredible, now onto the review.

This film has a pretty dark opening, which is never bad, where you see the cruelty of the First Order, and are introduced to a few of the characters, starting with a character that really did deserve more screen time than they got. Poe is a really cool character, as well as a stupidly badass X wing pilot, he's fun and he has some really good scenes, as well as one really awesome scene pretty early on in the film, followed by more really cool stuff with another character in the film I liked. Finn is a surprisingly interesting character, given where he starts out in the film, and he gets more interesting as the film goes on, both on his own, and in his relationship with the other characters, he is also a very likable character, and his loyalty to his friends was something in particular that I really liked. Han Solo and Chewbacca return from the original trilogy, and while still Han Solo, he's a very different character to the one in the original trilogy, he has aged noticeably in the 30 odd years, not just in hair colour, but as a character, he still has that Han Solo shit-talking smuggler thing going on, but he's wiser. All the other returning characters really just play minor roles, Leia for example, who's only in a few scenes, along with the droids. Now though is when we get to my 2 favourite characters in the film, starting with the film's villain Kylo Ren, who is not just Vader 2.0. he's evil for sure, and he does some pretty nasty things in this film, but he isn't just bad, there's a visible conflict within him, an emotional battle between the light side and the dark side, and one that makes the scenes where he's less than the dark and scary bad guy really interesting to watch. A few in particular that involve Rey, who is by far my favourite character in this film, she's just really interesting, has a cool history and an interest in the fall of the Empire, particularly the legends about Luke Skywalker, she also get very interesting past a certain point, for a reason I won't spoil, and like I said, has some incredible scenes, scenes I can honestly say I loved, in fact all of these characters had such a scene, or scenes where I was just loving it, and the dynamic and relationship between them all was really fun and cool, and that made the more emotional scenes all the more enjoyable, and this film has a few of them, no joke, it's rough at times, and I love it.

Story wise this film does seem to borrow very, very heavily from Star Wars, without going into specifics it's very easy to draw parallels between this film and the original 1977 film. Do I think that's bad, to be honest, not really, because it's still a very enjoyable story which, just like the originals, is carried by it's characters, and I liked the story as a whole by the time the film wrapped. The film also had some really sweet action, typical of J.J. Abrams, and by sweet I really do mean sweet, the air battles were really fun, as were the numerous blaster battles, and the lightsaber battles, which are cooler than ever, more on that later. The action was really exciting for starters, and J.J. Abrams' directing in the action scenes was worth note, because he does it really well, it's vicious and fast but worry not about shaky cam, and worry not about choreography, which brings me onto the lightsaber battles, which are almost certainly more violent then they've ever been in previous films, the final battle in particular, that's teased in the trailers, was really fun to watch, because it didn't look like a dance like a George Lucas directed lightsaber battle, it looked dirty and grounded and painful, and it was intense to watch. Going on in this film though is more than simply action, it's emotion, something that is really strong here, like I said before, sometimes this film is pretty rough to watch, but they're by far the best scenes in the film, as they're really when the really fun and likable characters hit emotional peaks that, putting it soppily, hit you where you live, in addition to really catching you off guard, which is a huge plus for the film, a film that can give you the feels is usually a good contender for a good film.

Star Wars The Force Awakens is up there with my favourite films of 2015, for sure. Yes it's flawed, a few of the characters are just in minor roles and don't really do much, but the characters you do see a lot of are awesome, and they really make the film's more emotional side as wrenchingly enjoyable as it is. The film's story is very similar to Star Wars, but it still works well enough that you like it, and it's built on by some fun and tense action and the already mentioned feels. I'll be honest, I love this film, and it is without a doubt an absolute must watch.

Thunderbirds Are Go Comet Chasers review

Here's what you need to know; Alan might just get his wish to get up close to Halley's comet when a rich explorer get caught in it's tail, but the comet's tail is a very dangerous place, even for the Thunderbirds.

Apparently Alan is a complete freak for astronomy, I mean, he wasn't this excited when they went to the moon. It's something I can believe to an extent, him being the astronaut and all, but it's a bit odd that this side of his character suddenly appears 20 episodes in, and to the extent that it does, but I really don't blame him, who would, I'll be 63 when Halley's comet makes it's next flyby, and I'm a sucker for science and space, I'll be excited too, in 45 years. Something I really liked in this episode was the comet itself, it just looked cool, and the closer they got the cooler it looked. On the other hand the reason they were there; the explorer, I didn't like so much, he was annoying, plain and simple, him and his cheese, and his stupidity, flying into the tail of a comet, and not wanting to wear an EVA suit because they look uncomfortable, I really didn't like him. Back to what I did however, I liked the rescue, with everyone hopping around from boulder to boulder, and Thunderbird 3, which apparently has a giant drill in it's nose cone, coming to pick them up. I'm not sure what to think of the drill, it seems like a very odd thing to have stored away in Thunderbird 3's nose cone, but at the same time in the way that its used, it makes sense that they would have it, it also makes me think vivid will bring out a supersize Thunderbird 3 with a big drill in it's nose cone, which would admittedly be pretty cool. And I like Alan when he's on the comet, it's just a cool moment for his character, as is when he throws himself off the comet after the explorer, I did like that a lot. And there is some good excitement in this episode towards the end, as everyone makes their escape and the world falls apart around them, and that's always good. All in all this episode has one really unlikable character, but really no other pressing issues, what works works, to mixed degrees but it still works, and there is excitement and fun to be found in the rescue, making this overall an episode that isn't the best this show can do, but something that's still worth watching and that I'd still recommend.

feel the Force

I simply couldn't resist when I saw these in my local Home Bargains today, and now I have 2 Lightsabers, because why the hell not. What we have here is Darth Vader's Lightsaber, and Luke's green lightsaber from Return of the Jedi, they had an Anakin lightsaber too but who really cares, there's a reason I've watched the originals but not the prequels, and thus, I only have 2, for now. To be honest though I do want a Kylo Ren lightsaber now. These things are part of a new Star Wars line called bladebuilders, and I don't know what it is but I'm guessing it's pretty self explanatory, it's a pretty cool sounding idea to be fair, but I'm more about the movie toys than the blade builders, I also have a Sting from Lord of the Rings lying around somewhere. In this state they look really cool, but really they look less cool with the blades popped, the blades look a bit Naff in my opinion, and they're short, but I really like them, so much so that I don't know if I should take one to The Force Awakens or not, yep, in the span of a few months I've gone from not caring about Star Wars to being a complete Star Wars freak, what can I say, the force is really strong in me right now, and I have some Lightsabers, I hate waiting for things, but now I must wait.

Thunderbirds Operation Crash Dive review

Here's what you need to know; all Fireflash aircraft are grounded after one takes off from London International and vanishes without a trace. International Rescue listens in on the situation, and finds something rather interesting.

Well, this episode takes me back, it's so cool to see the Fireflash again, probably because of how much I adore the design of the Fireflash. And right away I'll get to something I'm not a huge fan of, the first Fireflash to go missing had 600 people on board, 600 people who are now dead I guess, in a show about people whose job it is to save lives, 600 is a bizarrely high number of dead to just sweep past in the story. I find it really odd that, especially given the events of Trapped in the Sky, International Rescue weren't called to at least aid in the search efforts, and I can't say I like that. What I can say I liked was the International rescue stuff, the rescue of the second missing Fireflash was pretty cool, though I don't get how cutting off the plane's engines magically makes it float. It's a shame I'm nit-picking so much, so while I'm at it, the sabotage reveal is a bit underwhelming, there's a saboteur on the plane, ok, who is he, who does he work for, why does he sabotage planes, how does he make his getaway after crippling the plane, the more relevant of those questions are just passively brushed off similarly to the death toll of the first missing Fireflash, but the mystery of the Fireflash's malfunctions as far more interesting than the reveal, hunt's sweeter than the kill I guess. On the subject of kill, this episode has some solid tension, not going to lie, there was some pretty elevating scenes in this episode, and they're great, in typical Thunderbirds fashion. And to me they make this episode enjoyable, as does the mystery up until the reveal, which along with a list of nit-picks, really brings this episode down, I'd still recommend it, for it's more tense scenes and the cool mystery, but this isn't Thunderbirds at it's strongest.

Damn you Photography Alevel

Why did you never teach me about this, something that might actually have been useful, but no, instead I had to do a detailed analysis of Marc Adamus and whoever else it was, no disrespect to Adamus, his photos make mine look like shit. what they didn't tell me about was raw, something I was told about by my sister's boyfriend's dad, uncompressed photos, so, with my mood low after a particularly bad relapse into self pity and intense hatred, I went out and took some photos of a tree, this time in raw. I took several of the tree, and couldn't resist playing around with nightshot, both with the tree and a spooky as all shit church yard nearby, not kidding about the spooky part, I was very on edge, almost shit myself a few times. but it made me feel infinitely better, and I got some photos, which is never bad, enjoy.

Thunderbirds Are Go The Hexpert review

here's what you need to know; Parker's alleged history on the wrong side of the law might just come in handy when a scientist gets trapped in a vault with an extremely unstable scientific experiment, and Parker is the only person with the knowledge to save her.

I'll just cut to the chase and actually start with what I didn't like here, I didn't like the GDF in this episode, so what, they just landed one of their big arse transport ships outside Creighton-Ward manor and went in for the kit, and met resistance from a pug, a sodding pug, weak. And to be honest, yes Parker allegedly has a very interesting backstory, but when he starts getting a bit guilty about it, it just comes across as a bit out of place. And now for the reason I started with the issues, I really liked this episode, first off, it's cool to see Parker being cool, because he is cool, and his alleged history with cracking vaults makes for some funny moments as he tries to crack this one. Things stay interesting when the Thunderbirds show up to lend a helping hand, as they try to break the vault out of the building it's in before it's contents explodes and takes the surrounding area with it. I also really liked a more subtle part, with the scientist in the vault insisting they leave her to die instead of risking other people's lives, it's something that doesn't sound like it means much, but I like it. And finally, I must say, the finale with pretty awesome, and surprisingly intense, even with how brief it was, I really enjoyed the finale. And the episode of the whole, in my opinion, was very enjoyable, and I really liked it, sure I have my issues, but nothing's perfect, and I would highly recommend this episode, definitely worth watching.

Return of the Jedi movie review

Here's what you need to know; after learning the truth about Darth Vader, Luke must now face his destiny, or risk suffering the same fate as his father. Meanwhile, the Rebels prepare a final assault on the Empire to destroy their rebuilt Death Star and kill the villainous Emperor, but it's going to be harder than they thought.

Just like Empire Strikes Back, it's not a good idea to start here, prior knowledge on Star Wars is pretty important in this film. And what surprised me in this film is where it started, the film opens with the Empire and the Death Star, in a pretty cool scene with an absolutely badass entrance from Vader, and then some foreboding stuff about the Emperor. As ever the characters are a really good part of the film, just saying that now, but Luke is now a very different character to who he was in the first and second films, far from the reckless kid he was, and now a young Jedi, it's actually a bit jarring, but it's a cool change. Han Solo is still a smart arse as well as a badass, as is Leia, and C3P0 and R2D2 are still gold. The villains are also awesome, Vader is still Vader, as in still awesome, but with some interesting humanity thrown in. and now we have the Emperor, who's a bit of a creep really, as well as in my opinion a bit too open with his evil brilliant plan to turn Luke to the dark side, to the point where it kind of ruins his plan, however he's still a cool villain. Jabba the Hutt is, surprise surprise, an big, ugly slug, and he's nasty, but at this point everyone knows that, might as well add myself to the pile of people who like Jabba, because he's just vile. Overall then the characters are still the strongest part of this film, now for plot, this film is a culmination of a trilogy, so how well it wraps up the story is a bit important, but really, I think it does a great job of wrapping up the trilogy's story, as the characters do end up finding resolution in the end, and the emotional punch of this film's ending works really well, and I loved it. But I do have an issue with the plot, and the film as a whole, and it's an issue I appear to be in the majority on. Ewoks, what the hell is with the Ewoks, I wasn't sure what to make of them until the Empire's forces showed up, then they did, and I started hating them. It's just obvious that they were put in the film because oooh look at the cute teddy bears who we could totally sell shit loads of toys of, really the tribe would have been less irritating if they weren't teddy bears, who somehow take down highly trained Storm Troopers with sticks and stones, literally, while the Troopers have armoured walkers and blasters, makes perfect sense. The Ewoks really drag it down, it's just that the stuff with Luke and Vader is really cool, as is the stuff with the rebels, so overall I liked the film's story, easily on par with Empire Strikes Back, and could easily have been better without the teddy bears.

Effects wise it's another strong film, obviously the effects are small fish compared to modern computer effects, but the effects still do their job well enough and look pretty cool, and to be fair, I like films with out-dated visual effects, films like The Thing and Godzilla, and the Star Wars movies, there's just something cool about it. That said, I still think that when things move fast on screen, the effects don't look as good, meanwhile the blaster battles and lightsaber battles, particularly the battle with Luke and Vader look really cool, maybe that's why I like Battlefront so much, I like blaster battles. Practical effects are also good, Jabba for example is pretty impressive looking, and the very diverse range of aliens in Jabba's lair look weird and cool, but some more weird than cool. The Ewoks, as much as I dislike their presence, are pretty well put together, as are the bigger things like the Rancor and the Sarlacc, and of course Jabba. Overall, like the characters and story, Return of the Jedi is very strong in the effects, and like the first 2, the action is fun and exciting. But after all that, what I felt actually really worked in this film was the Force, I was most interested in the stuff with Luke, Vader and the Emperor, as the Emperor tries to turn Luke to the dark sight and Luke tries to find the good in Vader. And the ending of that story is something I really loved, though, as usual, no spoilers, in a film that's about 30 years old.

Return of the Jedi is a very good film, dare I say almost as good as Empire Strikes Back, were it not for the damn teddy bears. But aside from them I have no real issues with this film, nothing stood out to me as bad, while so many things stood out to me as great, the Characters, the action, the story, the Force, the effects to an extent. I really enjoyed Return of the Jedi and I would highly recommend it, definitely worth a watch.

Thunderbirds Sun Probe review

Here's what you need to know; things start to heat up for the crew of the Sun Probe when their rocket's retros fail to fire, and they fall into a collision course with the Sun, International Rescue is called to the rescue, but things only get worse from there.

This episode starts slow, with the Sun Probe launch taking up a good few minutes, yes the rocket launch is cool, but purely on the principle that it's a rocket launch and they're always cool, but this episode takes a noticeably long time to get interesting. On Tracy island it's cool to see Brains working on his new robot, and every time it spoke I couldn't help but think of the Daleks from the 1965 Dr Who film with Peter Cushing, does anyone even know that exists? Something I really liked is a very simple moment when Brains is watching the Sun Probe on TV and he says they're not going to make it, doesn't sound like a lot, but it's actually pretty eerie. I also really like the rescue itself, which involves Thunderbird 3 and Thunderbird 2 trying to fire the rocket's retros remotely. And it's cool to see the 2 sides of the rescue, with Scott, Alan and Tintin in Thunderbird 3 flying towards the sun, and Virgil and Brains in Thunderbird 2 in the Himalayas. But then the big twist happens, and this episode becomes a lot more intense and cool in my opinion, not just because of the immediate rise in tension, but in the subtle emotional stuff, it really works, and while the finale lacks any real explosive punch, it reaches a peak of intensity this show hasn't reached for a while, and it really works. All in all, this episode is a bit of a slow burn, but as the temperature rises, so does the amount of fun this episode offers, it's got some real tension towards the end, and some subtle emotional stuff for added substance, so I'd highly recommend this episode, definitely worth watching.

Just Cause 3 first impressions

well, a little bit of me knew I'd get Just Cause 3 at some point, in the same way I knew I'd end up picking up Destiny, only instead of 6 months later for £25, it was 1 week later for full price, what can I say, Just Cause 3 looked pretty fun, and wasn't getting really disappointed reviews, so I picked it up, and now I'll tell you what I think.

For starters, this is the game that's made me want that hard drive upgrade more than ever, god help me when 343 releases Forge mode because I literally have no space on my Xbox one, I had to uninstall a few games just to make room for this one, since it comes in at a modest 45gb or something like that. But I finally got down and played the game, and I will say right away, I haven't hit any of the technical issues that I've heard this game has so far, there was a hefty update before I could play it, so maybe they've fixed some problems in the week since release, but apart from the load times, I've only had slowdown once, and the game hasn't crashed on me yet, I've played about 3 hours of it so I'm sure that will change. That said, the load times, yes they're bad, but to be fair, I've seen worse, Fallout 4 for instance has longer load times than this, and this game, in my opinion, looks much better than Fallout 4, the graphics are really good here, given the size of the game and amount of chaos you can cause, the good presentation doesn't stop there, I really like the playable character, whose name I think is Rico, he's just a badass, and he, like the rest of the game, doesn't seem to take itself seriously at all, and all the characters get introduced in a really funny little pre title sequence, leading up to an absurd level were you stand on the roof of a plane firing rockets at anti air guns on the ground. Which leads me onto the chaos, so far I've had a fair bit of fun causing destruction, though it's not that I was expecting, to the game's credit, what I was expecting was more chaos, and I'm sure a few more hours playing will fix that. Really though that's what I can say about the whole game, I think I'll have more fun with it the more I play, the more vehicles and guns I get to play with, it feels like this game is one tank rampage away from being the best game I've ever played, I'm sure. But what I can say is so far a few missions have been cool, like liberating a town or destroying an outpost, you know, missions that involve a lot of chaos, but then there's a mission when you drive a scooter to a dock garage, it's as fun as it sounds, which is to say not very, I hope that the game has a wide range of missions, but I hope at least most of them are actually fun, not shitty scooter retrieval, the fun parts of that mission were when I got side tracked by a watchtower, and tore it apart with machine gun fire and grapple tethers, and when I failed by driving the scooter into the ocean. But so far I've enjoyed Just Cause 3, and I'll play more for sure and probably have more fun the more I play. A crap mission and long load times aside, I look forward to next time I Play Just Cause 3.

Thunderbirds Are Go Extraction review

Here's what you need to know; International Rescue have another tough day ahead when an illegal gas mining station is consumed by the earth, trapping a seismologist and his son underground, but things get even worse when the gas threatens to blow them all off the face of the earth.

This episode starts with a very interesting idea that outside of Cry Wolf from the original series has never really been explored in Thunderbirds, and that is how children view the Thunderbirds, not going to lie, if I was 11 and I lived in a world where the Thunderbirds were real I would absolutely be obsessed with them, because they're so damn cool. From that point though this episode goes more in the direction of Terror in New York City, with Thunderbird 4 trying to navigate an underground labyrinth, it's a nice little homage that I really liked, and to be honest, I don't know which one I prefer, which is either a compliment to this, or a detriment to the original, purely on principal, but sod principal. The underwater portions are pretty cool, more on that in a sec, but I was more interested in the Thunderbird 2 stuff, as Thunderbird 2 is tasked with somehow moving the mining station without burying or blowing up Thunderbird 4. However, 1 element with the Thunderbird 4 stuff really stuck out to me, and that's the times Gordon has casual back and forth with the kid, that doesn't sound like much, but it's really important, and it's ridiculously cool to see it portrayed in an episode, as Gordon tries to keep their spirits high throughout the rescue, this, like the idea of the kid being an International Rescue fan, is a really fascinating idea for this show to explore, and I want to see more of it in future episodes. Really the only issue I have with this episode is how the finale isn't as cool as I think it really could be, for example Gordon falling into the cave doesn't really do anything that adds to the story or situation. But all in all there are things in this episode I felt worked well and I really liked them, and I can honestly say I really like this episode, definitely worth watching.

Thunderbirds The Uninvited review

Here's what you need to know; while returning to base from a mission, Thunderbird 1 is suddenly attacked and shot down, but Scott finds help in a pair of desert explorers. After returning to Tracy Island, International Rescue receive a distress call from the desert explorers, but what they find amongst the dunes is not what they were expecting.

So this episode, much like Terror in New York City, has a pretty nuts intro in which a Thunderbird gets shot down, while it's not the same level as the Thunderbird 2 crash, this crash is pretty cool and also pretty rough looking, it also sets up the mystery and adventure element I think works so well in this episode very well. let's get right to that shall we, this episode is big on the adventure aspect, as it spends a lot of time following the desert explorers in search of a lost pyramid, in there also lies a lot of the episode's funnier scenes, at least in my opinion, but when that trailer blows up I always crack up, it's so perfectly timed. The 2 bicker and ramble and it's pretty funny as they banter annoyingly at one another, and, while this is an episode I don't really want to spoil, one of them cracks, and there's a pretty intense scene with him and Scott which I really liked. The stuff with Scott I also very much liked, and the scenes with him and the rest of the team back on Tracy Island too. but now is when it gets tricky to review this episode without spoilers, but I'll say some things and try my best. First and what I find very amusing is the idea of how bat shit insane SJW's would go if they saw the bad guys in this episode, and heard them, I don't know if what they speak can even be called a language, but when Scott gets to the explorers he finds something that A makes very little sense and B is in my opinion stupidly cool, and their daring escape is one of the episode's highlights. All in all I really like this episode, it's got a great intro, a fun and adventurous story, and some funny characters, and it comes together in a really cool finale, and therefore I would highly recommend this episode, definitely worth a watch.