I'm Sorry To Announce This Is The End

Some of you may have been expecting this for a while now but i'm afraid to say that this will be the final post of this particular blog so all there is left to do now is wheep and remember the good times. So farewell my friends it's been a blast!!

Review: Fright Night

Fright Night (2011)

Director Craig Gillespie

Well Vampires are very popular at the moment, all down to a certain teen vampire series we shall not speak the name off, so it was probably inevitable that one of the most popular films starring our pointy toothed admirers would be remade and no before you ask i have not seen the original. The remake does have a great cast which like many is what drives it, but really comes alive when David Tennant (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Doctor Who) gets his share in the spotlight, of course it does help i'm a bit of a fan. In fact it is the European cast who are the stars of the film with Colin Farrell (In Bruges, Horrible Bosses) providing a quite likeable villainous blood sucker. The problem i really had with the film was i was watching on 24" TV and several parts of the film were so dark that you couldn't actually make out what was happening on the screen and surely this couldn't of helped the 3D in the cinema. However i think we may actually have something to thank Twilight for as Fright Night mangers to be thrilling and witty in parts.

7 out of 10

Review: Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol

Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)

Director Brad Bird

Now I've never really being into to the MI series, I've seen 1 and 3 but was never really impressed but I've got to say that i enjoyed the fourth outing of the series very much. But then again i wouldn't expect anything less than a good film from Pixar director Brad Bird who effortlessly makes the transition into live action. You know what to expect from Tom Cruise (War of the Worlds, Tropic Thunder) but this time out his team come close to stealing the show with Jeremy Renner (The Town, Avengers Assemble) adding to the cool factor and Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) getting an extended role from that he had in the third film. The problem is the lack of a great lead villain with Michael Nyqvist (The Millennium Series) not really getting enough screen time to make an impression. But were the film really excels is with the set pieces which are pretty spectacular, good job Cruise is not scarred of heights!!

6 out of 10 

Ones To Watch: Jennifer Lawrence

Well i'm sure you've noticed that i seem to have been running out of ideas for what to do for new blog posts so i'm bringing in a new special feature in order to give me something to do over the summer aswell as keeping up my writing skills and keeping this much beloved blog up and going because i'm sure you'd hate to loose it. I'm sure you can guess from the title of 'ones to watch' that its going to be me giving you little reviews and previews of upcoming actors, actresses and maybe even footballers that i believe are going to make it big in their respective fields.

Well what a suprise my first one to watch is a kinda obvious one. Now i'm not sure if i've mentioned it but i'm a bit of a Jennifer Lawrence fan, big shock i know!! But yeah what to say that hasn't being said before. Well she made her big break in Winter's Bone and became the 2nd youngest actress to be nominated for best actress Oscar. Has since moved into the blockbuster world with X-Men First Class as well as keeping up with her independent cinema in The Beaver and Like Crazy. Has bagged herself one of the biggest roles around at the moment in Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games. She's defiantly got a massive future in cinema and could be one of the actress's of her generation.


Upcoming projects

• 21st September 2012: House at the End of the Street
• 22nd November 2013: Catching Fire
• 2013: Serena
• 2014: X-Men First Class Sequel

Review: Avengers Assemble

Avengers Assemble (2012)

Director Josh Wheldon

For a film that didn't even make my top 5 films to watch several months ago, it's fair to say now it truly is my film to watch at the moment and remember the Hunger Games is still out. Yes thats right i think i may like this film more than the HG adaptation. Avengers Assemble even manages to combine blockbuster action sequences, the final battle even surpasses the one seen at the end of transformers 3, with actual rounded characters and witty dialogue. Of course the build up to the film helped with the character parts but its those who we have seen little or nothing of before that steal the show with Clark Gregg's (Iron Man, (500) Days of Summer)  Agent Coulson and Mark Ruffalo's (see previous Avengers post) new Hulk very impressive. But to single them out is unfair to the rest of the cast as everyone pulls their wait and even seems to be having fun at the same time. Infact fun is the word for Avengers Assemble (most of the time you have been warned) and is probably the best American Blockbuster since the Dark Knight. Bring on round 2!!
10 out of 10

It's the Business End

Well during the time I was away from you a lot has gone on in the football world. It is the most exciting time of the year and several clubs have already started their celebrations or began planning on how they will bounce back from the disappointment of relegation. So here is my round up:

• The race for the Premier league title race looked to be all wrapped up until Manchester United's failure to beat Everton at the weekend in a thrilling 4-4 draw as Manchester City beat Wolves (We'll get back to that later) and this Monday's derby could be the massive game changer with the points difference between the two clubs now only 3 points (Just occurred to me you know all this Matthew so don't really need to tell you but I need to fill up my blog for this month)
• It also looks like the most exciting race for the Champions League is in progress with shock of the season Newcastle in pole position and this years finalist's Chelsea looking in a position of needing to win if they don't leap frog both the Geordies and Spurs
• The relegation battle is also heating up with 5 teams fighting to avoid the two spots that will see either Aston Villa, Wigan, QPR, Bolton and Blackburn relegated. Unfortunately it's too late for Terry Connors Wolves who were relegated after defeat to Manchester City (told you we'd get back to it) at the weekend.
• The battle for a spot in the Premiership this season is also still on (we're not mentioning the play-offs or else i'll get to nervous and start screaming at the Middlesbrough players) Reading are already up as champions thanks to Middlesbrough beating Southampton who will go up if they win at Coventry this weekend or even a draw will probably do.
• The relegation places have already been sorted as Portsmouth, Coventry and Doncaster will be playing in League 1 next year where they will not be playing Charlton who will be coming as Champions while the Sheffield clubs fight over the 2nd promotion place.

Right I'm getting a tiny bit bored of it and it's getting harder and harder to sort out the lay out... So Rochdale are down Chesterfield are fighting their little hearts out. Swindon are going up with Paulo Di Canio as their manager. But i will leave you with thoughts on Darlington who are still in business but have ended been relegated and could even be demoted a further division if they are not out of administration by June. But rather then leave on downer i'll put up a nice picture of the happy times Darlington enjoyed at Wembley in the FA Trophy this time last year.

Avengers Assemble!!

So the Avengers Assemble is been released in the new few days so in preparation for this I give you another one of my special features!! Oh I am spoiling you aren't I!! Anyway there will be no reviews of the two previous Hulk films as I have not seen them which would make a review pretty hard would't it.

Iron Man (2008)

Director Jon Favreau

Possibly the success of this film is the reason that we have eventually reached the position of the Avengers Assemble. Robert Downey Jr. (Tropic Thunder, Sherlock Holmes) is perhaps the perfect actor for the role of Tony Stark managing to be arrogant rude and a bit of a prick really yet do it in a way that you can't help but like him. Like all the leads in the previous Marvel films he is at the centre of a film, which although not perfect is still a pretty good ride. The film is really a film of two halves and with the first half featuring the dark origins of Iron Man and the second half featuring his fight for power against the villainous Jeff Bridges (Tron Legacy, True Grit) but the problem is that he's not a memorable villain or even one that seems much of an adversary to Tony Stark. Gwyneth Paltrow (Se7en, Glee) is likeable enough but doesn't receive the screen time she deserves until the film sequel. Overall a solid start to the series of films but probably the least enjoyable of the instalments.

6 out of 10

Iron Man 2 (2010)

Director Jon Favreau

After a reasonably successful Hulk film starring Edward Norton, who was apparently asked back for the Avengers but turned it down because of scheduling issues, Marvel returned to the Iron Man series to build on the success of the first film and set things up for the now in motion movement for an Avengers film. Downey Jnr and Paltrow improve on their roles from the first film and the sequel also takes time out to introduce Samuel L Jackson's (Pulp Fiction, Star Wars) Nick Fury, briefly seen in one of Marvels famous post credit scenes for Iron Man, and Scarlett Johnansson (Lost in Translation, The Island) as Black Widow. The film is one of those rare superior sequel, with the first third suggesting that if it had kept up the pace it could have been THE comic book  movie. Where it really succeeds from the first film is in the casting of Mickey Rourke (Sin City, The Expendables) however unfortunately if will always be remembered as a film with lots of potential but just falls short.

7 out of 10

Thor (2011)

Director Kenneth Branagh

With The Avengers film clearly in site 2011 was the year for Marvel to introduce two of the teams major members and Thor got the spotlight first. The film has a pretty impressive cast but two of the major roles went to relative roles. Chris Hemsworth (Star Trek, Cabin In The Woods) picking up Thor's mighty hammer and Tom Hiddleston (Midnight In Paris, War Horse) as his villainous brother Loki, both of whom look set to play major roles in the new film. The story of the film is the most well thought out of the series, although it does leave you guess as to how the film will lead into Avengers Assemble. When watching the film in relevance to the Marvel Universe there's a blink and you miss it cameo for Jeremy Renner (28 Weeks Later, The Town) as Hawkeye, another Avenger, god there's a lot isn't there!! Whether its the fact that it doesn't souley take place on Earth or the fact that Kenneth Branagh was directing Thor is certainly proving the star of the series so far but there's a long way to go from here!

7 out of 10

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

Director Joe Johnston

With less then a year to the release of the Avengers, as it was then called and is still called for the US market, it was time to introduce the final key member of the team. Chris Evans (Fantastic Four, Scott Pilgrim Vs The World) was no stranger to adaptations of Marvel comics when and is becoming another rising star of the Avengers Universe. Even though it is set before its predecessors there's still references cleverly inserted to the storyline, particularly the character portrayal of Tony Starks father, played by Dominic Cooper (Mamma Mia, An Education) who doesn't quite get another time to prove himself as the true Dad of Iron Man. It's also nice to see Tommy Lee Jones (Volcano, Men In Black) and Hugo Weaving (The Matrix, Lord of the Rings) return to having major roles in big blockbusters. Overall Captain America does not quite live up to Iron Man 2 and Thor but still manages to perfectly set up Avengers Assemble even placing Steve Rodgers right where he's needed.

6 out of 10

So that the past of Marvel's Avengers universe and Avengers Assemble is the present but with the film looking to become one of the highest grossing films of the year it seems that Marvel still has big plans for it's studios most high profile and lucrative franchise (It doesn't own the rights to the X-Men Series). So what is next ? Well officially the current schedule looks like this:

3rd May 2013: Iron Man 3

15th November 2013: Thor 2

4th April 2014: Captain America 2

Well that's the official time table but it has been said that all those films will most probably lead into the Avengers 2, with talk also flying around about Mark Ruffalo's (Shutter Island, Date Night) Hulk, Nick Fury, Hawkeye and Black Widow all receiving their own features and there has even been mention of Avengers 3. What ever you do i wouldn't make plans to say goodbye to this universe any time soon.