Kong: Skull Island Is The Perfect Opening Of The MonsterVerse

I only watched the recent Godzilla movie a few weeks ago, I'd been putting it off because I thought I'd be disappointed with watching another reboot that's trying to build it's own universe. I was pleasantly surprised when I finally watched the film, it actually had a storyline and watching the film was a good way to spend a couple of hours. It had small nuggets of what is to come by introducing the organisation Monarch and the idea of MUTO but on the whole it felt like a stand alone film and it wouldn't have felt like something was missing if it had ended at Godzilla. Thankfully the movie was a juggernaut and made enough money that the studio decided to treat us with Kong: Skull Island.

The first trailer that was released for the film gained my interest and with every teaser released since comic con last year I became even more enthused. I liked the 70s-esque feel, I liked the John C. Reilly, I like the Samuel L. "mother fucking" Jackson and I liked Kong who was the bigger than I'd ever expected him to be. Low and behold I was free on the day it opened and as my friends had shown know interest in watching the film (well, the two I mentioned it to anyway) there was nothing stopping me from watching it in IMAX and apart from learning I couldn't handle watching movies in IMAX I loved the experience. It made me want to go to an Island somewhere and smash shit up until I realised that that was what the film was telling me not to do.

The Pill: Unlikable, Yet Likable

A few years ago I found myself watching The Pill, a romantic comedy that was released in 2011 starring Noah Bean and Rachel Boston. The film followed Fred (Bean) and Mindy (Boston) as they engage in unprotected sex on the night of their meeting and the following morning Fred has to convince Mindy to take the morning after pill. As the morning after pill consists of two pills, the second to be taken 12 hours after the first, Fred has to spend the day with Mindy to ensure she takes the second pill. I bet you all think you know what will happen. In my initial viewing of it I thought it was a fairly decent film, I didn't hate it but I also didn't believe that I would make an effort to watch it again. That was until Z Nation planted a sour taste in my mouth and I found The Pill on Netflix and decided that a second viewing of that might make me feel better. It did, but not because I was watching idealistic characters play out a love story that we'd all dream of.

When Marnie Was There

Over the weekend I had a tough choice to make, I'd received a voucher for 50% off at Odeon and I had to decide what film I wanted to watch. I've started to favour a small Odeon in Covent Garden, it never seems too busy even with big blockbusters but because it's smaller it means fewer screens and less choice. My options were The Nice Guys, X-Men: Apocalypse and When Marnie Was There. All I knew about The Nice Guys is that it's a crime comedy starring Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe but I wasn't prepared to waste a voucher on a film that could be stupid funny rather than genuine funny. The obvious option with me would be X-Men: Apocalypse, I ingest a lot of comic book adaptations and this would just be adding to the list but something put me off. Probably the fact I knew it would be absolute rubbish. When Marnie Was There was the winner.

When Marnie Was There is a animated Studio Ghibli film that was originally released in 2014. I've never been inclined to watch the work of Ghibli, not because I'm not a fan but because I've never been that interested in animated features. Whenever I did watch them it was usually in passing, I never actively sought them out. Other than Finding Nemo. And Toy Story. Tears. After watching When Marnie Was There I had to message an array of people to recommend the film and they in turn recommended other Ghibli flicks to me so if I don't post for a while it's because I'm hoarding Ghibli works and locking myself away with them. I've been late to the game before (a lot) but I've never regretted it this much, I wish I had gotten into it earlier because the film was superb.

All Hail The New Spider-Man!

I will go on record to say that I adored Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man, it was a far more light hearted portrayal than that of Tobey Maguire who always seemed abnormally sullen. I understand that the character has been through a lot of upheavel in his short life but he was always known to be a wise cracker with an infinite amount of youthful energy and Garfield's version of him seemed more in line with the character that people have spent decades falling in love with. I may be biased as I was a fan of Garfield before and I love Emma Stone in whatever she's in so there was no way I wasn't going to love the reboot and I was saddened with the news of another reboot. Then I watched Captain America: Civil War.

Is it wrong that in the third solo Captain America film, integral in the ongoing MCU story line, the most exciting part was a glorified cameo? Seriously, Tom Holland's Spider-Man was one of the most enjoyable parts of the film. It helps that we bypassed the origin which we've already seen twice in the last 15 years and see him after he's lost uncle Ben and gotten his powers. One of the things that was off-putting about another reboot was the thought of having to sit through that again because at this point it probably wouldn't have any emotional effect. It would be like watching Thomas and Martha Wayne die, I know it happens and at this point I don't actually care. Skipping this part of his origin story also means skipping the grief that comes with it so the character can be fun which is what he should be. I may have liked Garfield's version but he still had his mopey moments, I've heard significant people in your life dying can do that to a person.

Dumplings: The First Horror Movie To Scare Me

*Spoilers for Dumplings below*

I wrote about how Kill List had frightened me and hailed it for doing so as I am a psyc normally don't scare easily. The moment I published that post I had flashbacks of various Japanese and Chinese horror films I'd seen over the years that had me quaking and one film in particular had me punching myself for forgetting that I had known fear. The fear wasn't due to shocks and the grotesque which we normally see in more conventional horror, the scares came from the storyline itself, the kind of storyline that puts me off of my food. Watching the film while I was on the way to get food wasn't a good idea. That film was Dumplings.

Kill List: The Horror Movie That Scared Me

*Slight spoilers from Kill List*

I have discussed this numerous times on The Dorks Deduction Podcast but I don't scare as easy as sane human beings. I was desensitised to gore and violence at quite a young age, having older siblings I often watched whatever they watched instead of the usual Disney animated films which would have been more appropriate. In theory the lack of fear would seem to be a good thing but it's truly not, I see what people go through when watching a film they deem scary. The shock, the awe and the excitement in their faces wasn't something I remembered experiencing, instead all I did was think about how it wasn't scary in the slightest. Then Kill List happened.

I recently professed my burgeoning obsession with the work of Ben Wheatley which started off with my viewing of his 2011 film Kill List. I knew almost nothing about it before watching it other than it's name and from that I assumed that it would be a thriller because what else would it be? I'm happy to say I was incorrect. Kill List on the surface seem like another British gangster flick, following two contract killers on assignment. If it had followed that format it would have been far less interesting and my jaw wouldn't have dropped so low that I had to have it wired shut, it was that shocking.

Spoiler Or Not A Spoiler, That Is The Question

I recently wrote about The Night Manager that aired in the UK earlier this year and it's starting up on the other side of the pond so I decided to investigate what the Americans think of it. When I say investigate what I mean is that I was procrastinating at work and wandered onto IMDB. I didn't end up getting much information about their thoughts and feelings towards the series but what I did witness was a lot of people complaining about the amount of spoilers on the boards. I've had this discussion with friends extensively in the past and actually wrote about it a little in regards to Game Of Thrones, but can you really call information about something that has aired/been released a spoiler?

In the past regions have had to wait months/years for foreign television shows/films and we've come a long way since then, sometimes we only have to wait a day after the country of origin airs it. It may not seem like a long time but that's still an extra day for the episode to be spoiled with memes, message boards, friends Facebook posts etc. but do you have a right to get mad because it's spoiled the episode for you? In short, no. When an episode/film/book has aired or has been released all the information is out there and no longer a spoiler. It may not feel fair that you don't have access as early as others to eliminate the reveals you wanted to wait for but sometimes it can be avoided so the threat of spoilage can be diminished.

How Marvelous Is Deadpool?

Every year we have more and more comic book films arriving in our cinemas and I believed that audiences were getting bored of them. I have in the past discussed my affliction with comic book movie fatigue and that remains unchanged. Yes, I still watch every film that Marvel releases but at a significant delay. Yes, I am prejudice against DC films but not because I'm in camp marvel but because their cinematic universe is affecting the television one, and also because they aren't actually at all good anymore. Apparently not everyone is fed up with the realm of comic book movies because when Deadpool was released everyone seemed to go nuts over it, and I know this will not be a popular opinion but I don't quite get it.

Are You Satisfied With Life In The High-Rise?

*Minor spoilers from the novel and the film below*

I've been eager to watch High-Rise ever since it was announced as I'm a fan of J.G. Ballard's dystopian outlook on life. I must admit I hadn't read the novel of High-Rise but I picked it up as soon as the movie was announced and was absolutely engrossed, finishing it within a couple of weeks. Who doesn't like to read about an idyllic society living high in the sky yet descending into the chaos of  class war, leading to the residents partaking in rape and murder? Americans apparently as my computers language is set to American English and 'dystopia' isn't in the vocabulary, but fortunately Britain loves doom and gloom so this movie was made. Prior to the film being green lit I hadn't gotten to know the work of director Ben Wheatley but I certainly do now and I will forever be grateful. I should probably discuss the film as it will be more topical than the novel that was released decades ago and don't worry, Wheatley's previous films will most definitely be a post for another day.

The DVD Is Dead, Long Live The DVD

Listeners of The Dorks Deduction will already know this but I have a major thing for DVDs. My obsession with them runs so deep that I even have a spreadsheet to keep track of what they are and where they are. I also have a thing for spreadsheets but this is not the time to get into that (there will never be a time to get into that). I even know when the obsession with them started, I was 16 and researching for a piece of coursework I was doing for college so my father gave me £20 and I popped down to HMV. That day I owned my first 5 DVDs outright and it was an amazing feeling, I didn't have to share them with anyone. From then I always believed my adding to the collection was just because I was able to claim ownership over something but lately I've come to realise it's a lot more than that, the DVDs mean a lot more to me and not just items I possess. My emotional attachment to these inanimate objects has left me incredibly disappointed whenever I've purchased them within the last year.

Why The Imitation Game Will Get Nothing Tonight

The Imitation Game has had a constant presence amongst the nominees of the numerous awards this awards season but to me it seems as if its been largely ignored in favour of its competition. If you had asked me a year and a half ago I would have said this film would be the front runner for all the best picture awards because it is a biopic (which awards ceremonies love) of Alan Turing, an eccentric but highly troubled man and it featured a very talented cast. I’ve watched the movie twice now and twice I’ve been underwhelmed. When the film was green lit and the cast was being put together I did some of my own research and the man seems extraordinary and I was shocked I’d never heard of him before, he’d created the algorithm that I was using to search him and I knew nothing about him! His story was a rich one which would usually be prime for awards gold but The Imitation Game falls flat and I couldn’t quite put my finger on why.

Think back to a few months ago when the film premiered at TIFF it garnered near universal praise but there was one criticism that critics kept picking at, the lack of sex scenes for Turing. You see Turing was a war hero who wasn’t celebrated in his lifetime and ended up being convicted because he was a homosexual and his sentence was to be dosed with a substance that led to chemical castration. Critics were discussing the lack of gay sex scenes in the film and pointing out that it made the film less realistic, and although I hadn’t seen the film at the time I wasn’t inclined to side with the critics. I’m not a fan of featuring sex within a film just for the sake of it and in all honesty I didn’t see the point, you wouldn’t expect to see a heterosexual couple constantly in compromising positions in a biopic if theres no specific reason behind it so why would you see it here? Because the characters gay? Why should that character be treated any differently?

Surprisingly DC Television Seems To Be Doing Women Justice

So I watch comic book movies and television because watching movies and television is like second nature to me and comic book adaptations seem to be all there is right now. We have the powerhouse that is Marvel that takes over your local Vues, Odeons and Cineworlds for what feels like all year. The films are filled with so much testosterone that I wouldn't be surprised if I discovered I had another leg when leaving the cinema. Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) is the only significant female character in the universe that doesn't serve as a love interest, and she could easily head up her own solo movie but that is not likely to happen anytime soon. Or ever. Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) should be just as important in the franchise because she is essentially Nick Fury's second in command yet we rarely see her in the two films she has been featured in, if you blink you really do miss her. It pains me because Joss Whedon is heading it up the universe in name but sometimes it doesn't really feel like it, I'd expect a few more kick ass women from him. Who knows, maybe the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) might change matters in The Age Of Ultron but I think it takes more than a couple of scenes in one movie.

We also have Marvels Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. but I gave up on that after a couple of episodes, one of the main reasons being the female lead was so damn annoying. Yes, it may have changed a lot since episode two and I would like to try it out again at some point but it will probably be in the distant future. Marvels women may be sucking but a lot of the DC television adaptations seem to be doing them a lot more justice. Let's forget about Constantine because I've already aired my views on their women and I don't really want to get into that again because it will only annoy me even further. Other than Constantine we currently have Arrow, The Flash and Gotham currently on air which all feature and array of women that make me proud of my gender.

If You're In The US And Under 17 You Can't Watch A Film About Gay Activists. Seriously.

I'd like to start off this post by asking you to watch the trailer for Pride below.

What do you see? I see a lighthearted comedy thats based on Lesbian and Gay activists as they attempt to help a mining community. Its seems like it has likeable characters and will be a barrel of laughs and probably educate me as I had no idea that the LGBT society and the miners formed an alliance during the miners strike and I can't wait to watch the film. The film has been well received at the box office in the UK and generally gotten positive reviews yet the US censors believe that the film isn't appropriate for people under 17 and has rated it R.

So I Finally Watched The Stag (aka The Bachelor Weekend)

We haven't exactly been deprived of stag/bachelor party movies since The Hangover was released and exceeded everyones expectations and it seemed as though we'd a new genre of stag/hen movies. Of course we've had The Hangover sequels, one of which was essentially a carbon copy of the originally, A Few Best Men and even female led films such as Bridesmaids and The Bachelorette. That's all well and good and happens all the time in the industry (we all saw the influx of vampire films/television after Twilight), the only problem is that in my opinion not many of the ones released have actually been very good. I had hope for The Bachelorette but all those characters were so darn unlikeable and I was hoping A Few Best Men would be a really good British Comedy but it just fell flat. In fact the only one that didn't fall flat and outdid my estimations was Bridesmaids. 

Bridesmaids was advertised as a female version of The Hangover which is my opinion was the worst thing about the film as a whole. Sure The Hangover was funny but thats all it was, there was no in depth storyline, it was just about men that got slaughtered, then Ken Jeong showed up and hilarity ensued. Bridesmaids was adored by audiences and critics alike because it went beyond the drunken antics of a soon to be bride and her bridesmaid and instead expanded the story and looked into their lives more than The Hangover did. It was funny, had a solid storyline and a stellar cast and deserved better than to be called the female version of The Hangover. Now, I didn't start writing to insult The Hangover, I just simply wanted to discuss The Stag (aka The Bachelor Weekend in the US). You can take a look at the trailer below:

What Is Binge Watching?

So I read recently that watching three episodes of a television show is classed as binge watching, and because I'm all tech-savvy now I decided to tweet about it! I even learnt how to embed! EMBED! Granted, it's not actually that difficult but please allow me to have the small victories.

Apparently binge watching is watching 3 episodes of a TV show in a day. I could do that in an hour.

— The Tharminator (@Tharmim) September 1, 2014

That isn't me being sarcastic, I could genuinely do that. I have genuinely done that. A sitcoms running time is around 20 minutes long, so I've gotten through three of them in an hour no problem so I don't see watching three episodes of a television show as binge watching. Binge watching usually ends up with us looking a bit like this:

Apart from the fact that we probably don't look that great to begin with, so in actual fact we'll end up looking worse. Over the course of this past Sunday and Monday I watched seventeen episodes of House Of Cards. Seventeen. That my friends is binge watching. I essentially watched over a years worth of television (I think the time frame the show covered was over a year anyway) in about thirty six hours. I watched what should have been weeks/months worth of tales of political corruption, sordid affairs, drug/alcohol abuse and murder within the space of two days! I did take a bit of a break though to watch some Harry Potter but I jumped straight into House Of Cards again as soon as I was done with that. The only reason I haven't finished it all off is because if I start again I won't stop and I can't function without sleep like I used to.

RIP Robin Williams

I've been on this Earth for 22 years. I've seen many performers come an go, but half an hour ago I logged onto facebook just before falling asleep and saw it. Robin Williams has passed. You know that moment when Michael Jackson died and the World just stopped, cried and mourned over the great loss? I never went through it, I was never really a fan of his and he was before my time. Like I said I've seen many performers come and go but I don't think any one has ever hit me this hard. Robin Williams was ingrained in my childhood. There isn't a person out the who hasn't seen Mrs. Doubtfire, Jumangi, even Flubber and of course Good Morning, Vietnam (granted, I was a bit older when watching Vietnam). Whenever any of these is on television I still sit down and watch it (even Flubber), it doesn't matter how old I am now, I'm not ashamed. It's Robin Williams! He was pretty much a babysitter to me growing up, just pop in a VHS tape (yes, it was that long ago) and I'd settle down for a couple of hours. I'm pretty we still have a self recorded tape of Mrs. Doubtfire and the youngest person in the house is 15.

It's not just the children of the 1990s he managed to garner adoration from, even this past decade he has managed to invigorate children's imagination with Robots, Night at The Museum and Happy Feet, so you can see that he is timeless. I've sat and watched this films with my younger cousins and seen the joy in their eyes, the same joy that was in my eyes when I had my Robin Williams experience as a child. To be honest I probably still have the look in my eyes when watching him, but nobody notices because EVERYBODY has that look in their eyes. I can honestly say that he made my childhood what it was, and if I ever have children I am absolutely sure that he will be their babysitter as well and I will most certainly be looking out for the delight in their faces that he brings.

He wasn't just a star of family films that I devoutly watched, he was an incredibly versatile actor. Sure he was a comic, and the majority of his film and television work garnered there but I don't think I have ever met anyone that didn't think he was a brilliant dramatic actor. His work in Dead Poets Society, Awakenings and One Hour Photo speaks for itself, and I'm sure that there is a host of others that I'm probably forgetting, but you can remind me later. Through his dramatic work I feel like I genuinely have grown up with him. I watch the family films and they remind me of my childhood and the more dramatic work he's done has encapsulated my adult viewing experience. I tend to say that I have grown up with and entertainer quite frequently but right now all those statements feel false. Robin Williams is who I grew up with, all the others came and went. He's pretty much been a permanent fixture in my life, even more so this past year with his weekly appearances in my household with the delightful The Crazy Ones.

Honestly, since we've revived this blog it's actually felt like a chore to actually write and if you've read the last few things I've posted you could probably tell. Writing about Williams' brilliance wasn't a chore at all. Robin Williams is a legend and he was taken from us much too soon. I don't particularly want to discuss the circumstances of his demise or his personal demons (I probably won't ever want to discuss it), but through the tears in my eyes (which are ridiculously sore right now) I will say that I do hope that he's found peace and I can say with certainty that he will be missed and his legacy will live on through generations.

Comic Con 2014: 24

As you already know we have come to the end of 24 but that doesn't stop 24 from going to Comic Con 2014 with Kiefer Sutherland and Jon Cassar to help Fox sell some Blu-Rays. Even though there isn't another season of the show to gather spoilers for from the panel *dies a little inside* I decided it's still worth a watch. I mean it is 24, it's been around for more than half my life. I say that stuff to make me feel young again.

After watching the panel I reiterate, I don't want the show to leave, and from watching the panel I don't think that Kiefer, Jon and Howard are ready to say goodbye yet, as they did essentially jump at the chance when the limited run of the series was proposed. They mentioned numerous times during the panel that they still get together and consider what would happen with the show and dream cast members they would have (in Kiefers case that would be Gene Hackman, good choice), and Jon saying that they were again discussing the possibility of a movie. To be fair we've heard that before, but when it didn't happen before we did end up getting Live Another Day so I like to think it was a win.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier Is The Best Marvel Film

A friend of mine watched X-Men: Days of Future Past and was sooooo 2010 about it that he updated his status saying that it was the best Marvel film that had been released. I liked the status because I thought he was being sarcastic as the X-Men movie rights are owned by Fox, not Marvel. I figured that this was general knowledge, not geeky knowledge. As I scrolled through the comments I realised I was wrong. He genuinely meant that Days of Future Past was the best Marvel film. I did enjoy watching the film but recently I re watched Captain America: The Winder Soldier and I completely disagree with him. The Winter Soldier is hands down the best Marvel film.

I probably wouldn't have felt this way 10 years ago, but in 2014 I certainly do, the major reason being comic book movie fatigue. Yes it is a real thing, not some sort of made up disorder. Think about it, we have multiple comic book movies coming out every single year and it does get a bit much. I'm not saying that I don't watch them because I really really do, but I used to go opening weekend and be pretty psyched about it and discuss for weeks on end afterwards. I can't currently remember the last time I went and saw a comic book movie opening weekend, I just don't get excited enough to do that anymore. I watch them out of habit and to be honest I don't think I'd care too much if I waited for the DVD's rather than shell out £12 to watch it in the cinema. I mean we all know whats going to happen in the movie right? Every film has the same structure and nothing really changes.

The 'Alien' trilogy: No, There Isn't a Fourth One. Shut Up. Stop Lying.

Ahem. I should probably explain myself for that title, but I don’t really think I have to as my point is THAT valid. The trilogy seemed so final and complete that it didn't seem necessary to rehash an awful premise for the fourth film. Given I like seeing Winona Ryder getting shot as much as the next guy; but I digress, it was needless and unnecessary (The film, not the shooting).  It was safe to say it didn't keep up with the incredibly high standards of the other films, despite a very impressive scene including Sigourney Weaver and a basketball, it didn't stop the sense of "Why? Just why was this made in the first place?” I do hope that she got a few Nike sponsorship deals out of it but still the film sucked like the Alien out of the door in the first film.  

Alien was released in 1979 and is still considered a masterpiece of the science fiction-horror genre. With the tagline of “no-one hearing you scream” driving the marketing campaign the film was a monster success (no pun intended). My father always tells me it’s the first film he saw that made him get sick, thanks, really. The film is famous for many reasons, the twists and turns, the horrific imagery, the emergence of Ellen Ripley as one of the major female heroines of the 20^th Century. But on top of all that I just think that the complex and simply amazing direction of Ridley Scott that makes this film, in my opinion, the best horror film ever made. The tension in the scenes following THAT scene with John Hurt is still hard to watch, and when the big reveal ‘reveals’ itself it’s almost like being punched in the stomach. It’s that intense. With the tension and occasional outbursts of violence it was a nerve-shredding, brilliant film that still beats many of the new wave of horror films being released these days.

Isolation: You'll Never Go To The Countryside Again!!

Generic titles such as this one are usually just for show, to sucker the reader into the story, but this is a genuine feeling I got after viewing this film. The film is set on an idealised farm in Ireland, but all is not as it seems. As the audience are starting to be introduced to the characters and their everyday lives, it is revealed that the farm has been subject to many medical experiments. It’s safe to say that the experiment backfires somewhat, without giving too much away. Therefore all does not go well for said characters, and there are many gruesome moments involving some of them in this film.