Grimsby movie review

Here's what you need to know; after 28 years on the hunt, Grimsby native and football hooligan Nobby has finally found his long lost brother, black ops agent Graives. But after a misunderstanding, the 2 find themselves on the run, and seek to clear their names and stop a villainous terrorist attack that will kill millions.
I'll be honest, this isn't a film I had in my sights, having never really watched any of Sacha Baron Cohen's previous films, but I was offered a chance to see it, and I can't pass up a chance to watch a free movie, so here we go.

This film has a very perfect opening, with a tasteless and actually very funny introduction to Nobby, and a very well done introduction to his brother Graives, in possibly the most badass action sequence in the film, it's fast, it's violent, and I really liked it. spearheading this film's list of characters is Sacha Baron Cohen's Nobby and Mark Strong's Graives, who are easily the film's 2 biggest high points, Graives is a badass, as evident from the first 10 minutes of the film, and while he's the more serious of the 2, he does provide some very funny moments throughout the film. Nobby on the other hand, is hysterically funny, when he's funny that is, and that can really be said of the film as a whole, when it's funny, it is side splittingly funny, but there's a lot of times when the tasteless and crude attempts at comedy just don't land, more on that later though. The film doesn't really have a villain as such, Penelope Cruz's character is just sort of thrown in towards the end of the film as the big baddie, but for the most part doesn't really do much, and she isn't very memorable, she wasn't funny, and as a result she really doesn't leave much of an impression. the film's various supporting characters are as serviceable as you'd expect, Ian McShane, Rebel Wilson and Isla Fisher are all fine when they're on screen, but Like Cruz, don't leave much of an impression, and are ultimately forgettable. it's not really a character but it might as well be, Grimsby and it's natives are really funny in this film, I've never been to Grimsby, so I don't know how accurate this interpretation is, but it's a really, shall we say, lovely interpretation, and it's satirical approach to both Grimsby and it's natives make for some big laughs, in my opinion. from a story stand point the film isn't much to write home about, with a completely acceptable spy story with false accusations, betrayals and deadly viruses, and a decent amount of action thrown in on top, including the already mentioned opening action sequence, and a few fun action sequences thrown here and there. Where the film falters is in a few ways I've already mentioned, for starters it's villain isn't very good, and while it's supporting cast are better, they too aren't particularly great. but the biggest failing of the film is when the jokes aren't funny, which happens fairly often, the tasteless jokes are very hit and miss, either being hilarious or just cringe worthy, and the attempts at smarter comedy are also hit and miss, but with a slightly higher success rate. for every brief burst of extremely funny shit, there's a long period of mere occasional chuckles, and they take the film down a few pegs. it's good then that the parts of the film that are funny are very, very funny; for example a scene with a poison dart, and another with an elephant, which might have given me a phobia of elephants, in addition to being the most vulgar and vile thing I've seen in a long time, it was actually really funny.

All in All Grimsby is a film I enjoyed, it's got a pair of funny leads, a serviceable supporting line up and spy story, but a very lacklustre villain, it's got some really fun action and some painfully funny parts, but for all of that, there are times when this film doesn't work, or when the vulgarity just doesn't translate to laughs, it's no Deadpool, I'll say that. this is still a film I'd recommend, but I wouldn't call it a film that must be seen, 6 months from now my Blu Ray collection won't be including Grimsby, but it's not a bad film.

Thunderbirds Brink of Disaster review

Here's what you need to know; Jeff is reeled into a dangerous situation when Penelope is visited by a shady businessman in search of investors for his new fully automatic monorail system. When something goes wrong with the monorail, Jeff, Brains and Tintin are the only ones who can stop the train and save themselves while Penelope and Parker deal with problems of their own.

This episode starts off in a pretty amusing way, with Penelope being 'late' to an appointment, a sequence as fun to watch as it is funny. this episode also does a good job of setting up it's more nefarious characters, and their crooked and greed driven master plan, both to make a load of money off the automatic monorail by bypassing safety regulations, as well as to get money through even less legal means. When things start going wrong though is when this episode really ramps it up, as the crooked businessman starts panicking under the pressure of this nightmare scenario, and Brains and Tintin get to work trying to stop the train, an endeavour that comes to a head in a very awesome and very intense manner, similar in many ways to Move and You're Dead, an episode I loved. The Thunderbirds actually have very little to do in this episode, but it's not much of an issue when the bulk of this episode's good bits come before they even show up. Jeff and the gang aren't out of the woods by the time the Thunderbirds show up, and the rescue is decent enough, a good chance of failure never hurt anyone. back in jolly old England land though is the very funny story of the Penelope and the jewel thieves, a sub plot that starts off villainous and shifty enough, but by the end is one of the funniest things this show has done in a while, as the thieves find themselves completely outmatched by Penelope and Parker. Without giving anything away, this episode has a perfect ending too, an ending that wraps it's subplots up very well and leaves on a suitably funny note. All in all this is another episode of Thunderbirds that I really like, it's got some great tension, some great humour, and a fun and satisfying story of the pitfalls of corporate greed, definitely worth a watch.

NECA Godzilla 1954 figure

There are some things in life that, while not essential to your survival, you still feel a burning, uncontrollable need for, one of those things for me was a 1954 Godzilla in my collection, I adore the film and the franchise that followed it was a huge part of my childhood, so it only makes sense. After a while I finally got one when NECA released a figure based on the classic 1954 design, I bought it without hesitation during my Hanley Haul, and now, continuing the catch up reviews, I'm having a close look at one of the newest prides in my collection. So right away you know I'll say this thing looks incredible, NECA is at this point fairly respectable in the quality of their sculpts, but this one really needed to be perfect, at least for me, and I think they did it. The head sculpt on this guy is marvelous, very much representing the look of the original design, complete with the eye brows and the pointy little ears, the spinal plates on the top of his head are also very well sculpted and fit seamlessly with the plates going down his neck and back, and the mouth is also very cool. Going down the back are the Spinal plates, which, while not done as perfectly as the head, are still done extremely well, and look very much in the style of the original design, and the lower body and legs, just like in the film, are comically chunky, and riddled with very nicely sculpted creases and scales, that detail continues all the way down the tail with a cool segmented look. Now, paint, normally I'd be unimpressed with the colour scheme of this fella, but in reality, it's just another thing I love; he's entirely monochromatic, no colours used in his paint scheme other than greys. Again, normally I'd see this as lazy design, but this is in fact a very nice respect to the film, with was of course in black and white, so the monochromatic scheme really adds to the figure's look. The paint work, as ever, is extremely well done, the eyes are very good, and the spines have a nice blend of shades to them. Long ago, about 6 years ago to be more specific, I never expected a NECA figure to have better articulation than a McFarlane figure, but this guy has very sweet articulation, a with hinged mouth, a full range of movement at the base of the head, base of the neck, and at the waist, as well as in the thighs and shoulders, the elbows knees. Wrists and feet can also all be posed, though with a little less freedom, the finger are hinged, and the tail has various points of movement, including a bendy wire that does come dethatched in the packaging and needs assembling. in total that's over 20 points of articulation, allowing for some cool poses. All in all I have no issues with this figure, at all, he is, in my opinion, perfect. A fairly predictable response in all likelihood. I love the sculpt, I love the simpler colours, and I like the good number of points of articulation, this is the 54 Godzilla I wanted, and he's absolutely a must buy.

Back in the game

For about 2 weeks now my camera has been out of commission, a black dot you may or may not know of that appeared on the view finder turned out to be a by-product of a more serious problem; it was a blob of grease from a mechanism inside the camera that had come apart. Now however it has been repaired, and I, after wasting a considerably amount of time as usual, got some fresh snaps for this week's theme on SnapperSquad, some Stormtrooper portraits, enjoy.

Thunderbirds The Duchess Assignment review

Here's what you need to know; the Duchess of Royston has found herself in some financial trouble after a stop at a sketchy casino, and Penelope and Jeff decide to help her out. the deal goes very pair shaped however when the Duchess is kidnapped in an attempt to steal a priceless painting, and now International Rescue are on the hunt for the missing Duchess.

This episode is an interesting one, 1, the Duchess isn't very bright it seems, and what's more amusing is her voice, which is probably the stupidest thing in this episode. Other than that though this episode starts off very well, with a fun shootout and car chase. Things slow down a lot after that though, with Jeff amusingly trying to sound English at an airshow and visiting an art gallery. the humour in this episode does a good job of keeping things moving, with a really funny few bits with the Giselle company, with the elevator than sounds more like a Dalek than Braman, if that's possible, but things do slow down for sure until the end. Fortunately the Rescue really saves this episode. both in it's explosive opening and it's fiery climax, and the mole, which is always cool, but the new machine used in this episode looks really cool too, and it's always cool to get more Thunderbirds equipment. All in all this is a short review for a fairy straightforward episode of Thunderbirds, nothing stands out at terribly bad, apart from the Duchess, who is a bit dumb and has a laughable voice, but the humour works and the rescue is awesome, it's no Move and you're Dead, but it's still worth a watch.

McFarlane toys Halo 5 Spartan Locke figure

Continuing my string of catch up toy reviews is another from my Hanley haul, a Locke figure from Halo 5, brought to us by McFarlane toys, like the Vulture, I've had this guy for a while, so let's give him a review.

first up we'll discuss the 2 best things about this figure, the sculpt and the paint. The sculpt on this guy is stunning, McFarlane at its best, and to stress just how good it is, you can't see very well in the photo that his jumpsuit is covered in a honeycomb pattern, more obvious is the very commendable attention to detail throughout the jumpsuit and armour pieces, by far the most impressive piece is the helmet, which captures the look of the Helmet from the game flawlessly in my opinion. the chest plate and thruster packs are also crammed with great detail, as is the jumpsuit underneath. He comes with a Battle Rifle and a pistol, both of which are also sculpted with the quality of the figure. the Battle Rifle is also brought to life with some nice touches of paint, and the same can be said for the rest of the figure. While I think the armour and jumpsuit could both be a darker shade, I like the colour overall, and both parts are again crammed with impressive detail in the painting, silver and various shades of blue cover the figure, and it all looks extremely nice. So over all in paint and sculpt I have no issues, I think the colours could be a little darker, perhaps, but that isn't really a complaint, and I love the way this figure looks, now however is when we start to get into issues. This figure has, in my opinion, 1 major flaw, a flaw that really brings it down for me, and that's articulation, the articulation is terrible. while, in typical McFarlane fashion, the figure sports a nice amount of possible joints, but articulation is very, very limited. Knees, elbows, shoulders, with such an extensive amount of joints, it's impressive just how little this figure can move, for example he can't bend his knee, he can't hold his rifle with 2 hands, those 2 things, in my opinion, are terrible flaws for this figure. All in all, in reality I'll put this guy in the most badass pose I can get him in, and then pop him on the display with my Chiefs and Arbiters, but it's a damn shame that, while he looks incredible, he is so stunted by shamefully limited articulation, I'd still recommend him if you like these McFarlane figures or you want a Locke for your collection at a low cost, but prepare to be disappointed if you want more than a very pretty statue.

Deadpool movie review

Here's what you need to know; after being hideously disfigured in a sinister experiment, Wade Wilson is on a quest for vengeance against his former captor and the cause of his new look, Francis, now gifted with super regenerative powers, his path of vengeance will be stopped by no man.

This is a movie that I wasn't expecting in all honesty, and this may be a shorter review than normal A because it's a fairly straightforward movie, and B because I only really have good things to say. Let's start with the characters, Deadpool is awesome, absolutely awesome, he's everything I wanted him to be based on my limited knowledge of the character and how good this film looked in the trailer. in the action he is brilliant to watch, cleaning house with mercenaries like nobody's business, while simultaneously talking shit and cracking jokes that were more often than not downright hilarious, not just in the crudeness, but, in the times where he breaks the 4th wall, at least for me, pure brilliance, his jokes about Fox and the Xmen film franchise are gold, as are his less meta jokes, and some of those jokes are just vile, which is perfect. the comedy really carries over to the rest of the film though, his girlfriend is repeatedly funny, as is his blind roommate, his friend Weasel, the villain, even the taxi driver is funny as shit, and all of these characters together makes for a film that might actually be funnier than Lazer Team, in my opinion, and I adored the comedy in that film. Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead are less funny, but I doubt they're meant to be, more that Colossus' seriousness and NTW's teenagerness is inherently funny when thrown in with the likes of Deadpool. But this film, while consistently funny, has it's darker and more emotional moments, including a pretty nasty torture sequence, and some more emotional scenes with Deadpool and his girlfriend, when they're not having sex, which is, like the nastier jokes and the action, which we'll get to in a sec, not apologetic in the slightest. the action is violent, very violent, heads explode, limbs fly and there's blood everywhere, the action is also very fast paced, very exciting to watch, and no shaky cam to be found, it's filmed extremely well. The various shootouts are gory and fun, and towards the end there's a vicious 1 on 1 fight going on at the same time as a slightly less vicious 1 on 2 fight, and both of them are awesome to watch. The revenge aspect of the story is also done in a really fun way, as Deadpool tracks down Francis and dismantles his operation one head at a time, equally as well done is the romantic element of the film with his girlfriend, and both of these are handled in the same crude and unapologetic way as the comedy and the violence. here is where I'd start to go into negatives but I really do have none with this film, at least none that stayed with me after watching it a few hours ago. Deadpool is a film that I loved, it was funny as shit, violent as shit, crude as shit, and told a very straightforward and very self aware story of vengeance and romance. all round this film is amazing, and it's absolutely a must watch.

Thunderbirds Move and You're Dead review

Here's what you need to know; in a desperate bid to keep Alan awake, Jeff forces him to recall the series of events that led to his current predicament, trapped on an isolated bridge with a motion activated bomb at his feet, while Scott and Virgil race against time and sunstroke to save their brother.

I really like the way the story in this episode is structured, told pretty much entirely through flashbacks with brief sections in the present as Alan struggles to stay focused, it's a very interesting way of telling the story, and the breaks in the middle really help to build the tension as Alan becomes more and more delirious. the story being told in the flashbacks has its ups too, with a really cool, if perhaps unrealistically explosive racing sequence, that makes sense of the really weird sequence which is simply close ups of a painting with the sound of cars in the background. I would have actually liked to see more of the race itself, personally, since it was a really cool scene, and again, the transition from the bar to the race, while odd and weird at first, is actually perfect once it makes sense. before I get to what I really loved about this episode, just one thing that I also liked, the music, the guitar was a great choice given the circumstances. and now for what makes this episode in my opinion; tension, it should come as no surprise at this point that when it comes to Thunderbirds, for me, the best moments are the moments where you forget to breath because the tension is so great, and this episode has 2 such moments. the weaker of the 2 sees the baddies of the episode try to kill Alan in a car stacker, I won't go into details, but it was, shall we say, close. by far though when this episode really starts giving you heart problems is towards the end as Virgil and Brains get to rescuing Alan and grandma Tracy, there's some marvelous subtly with Jeff and Tintin which lends hugely to the scene, and the absence of music and increasing loudness of the neutralising beam builds the tension in a way I honestly don't think this show has since Trapped in the Sky. And I love it when character motivations are left ambiguous, this happens with Scott in this episode, or at least I would argue it does, maybe me overthinking. all in all I really liked this episode, dare I even say loved it, it tells a fun story in a very interesting way, puts it's characters in a very precarious predicament, and is the most intense this series has been for a while, that last point alone, for me, makes this episode an absolute must watch.

Mega Bloks Halo UNSC Vulture set

I got this set a very long time ago, and I won't lie, I never reviewed it because I am awfully lazy, but since my Hanley haul a few months ago, I got a few new toys that are certainly worthy of review, so I am getting off my arse and getting these reviews done, starting with number 1, the UNSC Vulture from Mega Bloks, which set me back £99.99, included 1031 pieces, including 3 mini figures and one UNSC Vulture, and took me 5 hours to build.

straight away this set looks stunning, Mega Bloks did a very good job of capturing the look of the Vulture from the game, and that very few specialised parts were used is very nice, I like that, but how they got the look is something I have mixed feelings on. First the good, their use of hinge pieces and joints to achieve the shape of the Vulture's body looks very nice, and from the top and sides the panels that cover most of the body hide the innards very well and keep up the shape. Now onto the bad, the innards are ugly, beneath the panels along the sides, the body is full of holes, consisting of the interior of the vehicle, and then huge gaps under the outer panels, this gives the ship an odd feel, and makes it quite awkward to hold, that and the panels just sit there with nothing holding them down and not a lot of friction to hold them down either, it's another issue I either chock up to quality control or bad design , but this thing is definitely far more aesthetically impressive as it is structurally. the interior however is more impressive, with a cockpit with a seat and room for 1 mini figure, and a space inside the body with seating for 4, that's accessible either by a hatch on the top or by a ramp on the back, both of which are very well hidden to maintain the look, and adding some playability to go along with the forward guns and rocket pods, which can all be rotated and tilted up and down, as well as non functional missile hatches along the top hatch into the interior. my biggest issue with the ship is the awkward feel of the thing thanks to the hollow innards, which are really noticeable from the bottom, but I really like the look of the model, and if to fix the issue I have would mean compromising the marvelous look, then I'm fine with it, without a doubt though, this thing is more intended for display than it is for play.

this set also comes with 3 mini figures. The UNSC pilot looks very at home in the cockpit of the Vulture, and on his own looks pretty cool, even if he stands out from his 2 fellows; Spartan Locke and a generic Spartan, the Spartan is just another troop in the army for me, I don't hate the armour design but I'm not the hugest fan of it, and the colour just doesn't do it for me. mine also has a bit of an issue, his hand won't rotate, I know it sounds very petty, but it won't, and this limits his displayability greatly, I know though that this is most likely an issue with mine and not an issue with the toy. now would be a good time to mention the set comes with a DMR, a pistol and a redesigned rocket launcher. holding the pistol is Spartan Locke, definitely the coolest figure in the set, I really like the design of his armour, the helmet in particular, with his blue visor painted very well, and the subtler details are really nice, like how his crotch plate matches with his jumpsuit, along with the absence of shoulder plates giving him a very sleek look, he and the other 2 figures also use the interchangeable armour system. Overall this set is one I really like, the Locke figure looks really cool, as does the pilot, but I'm not terribly fond of the Spartan, but the star, at least from an aesthetic standpoint, is the Vulture itself, which looks incredible, but it's bugged by the awkward feel and the lack of sturdiness in the panels giving it that great shape. it's better on a shelf than it is as a toy, if, like me, you want to put it on a shelf, I'd very highly recommend this set, but really only if you intend that, if you want this thing as a toy, it might not be the best choice of set.

fire, in a can

I have watched videos from a youtuber called Grant Thompson for a while now, and his videos have given me loads of really cool ideas, like making a metal foundry and crafting movie and video game props out of aluminium, but I still live with my parents, so there's still only so dangerous I can go before they inevitably step in. but he did do a video where he used an old drink can, some cardboard and candle wax to make a really cool looking little burner, and since it doesn't involve pulling apart a microwave or cutting a fire extinguisher in half, I thought I could give this one a try, so I did. It didn't go as smoothly as I thought it would, I got a lot of shards of metal all over the place when cutting the can, and I oven cooked the candle wax to melt it, which went well, I didn't melt enough the first time, so I melted a few batches, which came back to bite me when I lit it. other than that though I think it worked really well, when I first lit it, it was a very stable and very clean burn, and the flame got pretty high, once the air bubbles in the wax between the layers stopped exploding, which was actually quite cool to watch. I lit it several times and it burned pretty well every time, but I did notice that the longer it burned, the dirtier the burn got, it started giving off black smoke and leaving a black rim along the outside of the can, before the wax finally burned off and the cardboard stopped burning, which took a long time, not sure exactly how long but definitely more than an hour. And the can survived, I don't know if it would survive a second try, because I'll make another, and this time I plan to scrape together some old crayons as fuel instead of candles, just to see if it would work. in the meantime, this design from Grant Thompson's video worked really well, and I like it.

Thunderbirds Danger At Ocean Deep review

Here's what you need to know; everyone is left baffled when a cargo ship explodes on her maiden voyage. Brains may have just found the answer to the mysterious disaster when contact is lost with Thunderbird 1 and 2 during a mission, but now a second cargo ship is heading straight for disaster, and International Rescue must act fast to save it's doomed crew.

This episode is one of a few in this series I actually didn't remember that well, for some reason, the reason obviously wasn't anything objective though. This episode has a very creepy intro, as the first Ocean Pioneer sails into a very ominous looking fog, and then vanishes, until the explosion becomes visible through the dense fog, most creepy. Something that lightened the tone pretty quick though was Parker, as ever, this time drunk off his face on Champagne during the Pioneer 2's ceremonial launching, it was quite funny. I did like the mystery element of the lost Pioneer and the strange interference Thunderbird 1 and 2 meet on their rescue, which probably didn't get shown simply for budget restrictions, which does suck, as that rescue probably would have been more interesting to watch than the one we got, more on that later. admittedly I don't actually know if the science in this episode is accurate or made up, probably the latter, but the sciency tingly feeling is always cool to have, at least not when then the science in question is very obviously nonsense. When things come to a head in this episode they do get pretty cool. again we have the very creepy ship disappearing into a cloud of fog, not going to lie, if I was on a ship and we were moving towards a cloud of fog, I'd be somewhat spooked, nothing to do with this episode, and I wouldn't exactly be quaking with fear, but I'd be unsettled. this episode presents a very interesting idea, limited to only close range radio because of the interference, the only thing they really have to go on is sight and sound, one of which obviously obscured by the fog, it's not an idea that's played with much, and I would like to see more, but the fog itself was just cool to look at in this episode, and it was, minus that, used to great effect. the rescue itself however was less interesting, again this episode lacked the cool Thunderbirds equipment, and while this should be a very tense situation, the tension wasn't really there, and that really is a shame. what's more of a shame though is while the foggy ship rescue was the one we got, the hospital rescue, where they take pod 3 and come back all muddy, that would probably have been a far more interesting rescue to watch, we'll never know, but I wouldn't just throw that idea out. All in all this episode does a very good job with atmosphere with the fog, and while the sciency elements sounds a bit off, I still liked it, but it kind of deflates at the end with a pretty standard rescue, made worse by the teasing of another rescue that sounds cooler, but that we'll never see. I still like this episode for the reasons stated though, enough that I'd gladly recommend it, worth a watch.