Thursday 31 October 2013

Movies: Enders Game (12A), Thor: The Dark World (12A) and Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2 (U)

Enders Game – What’s it about? Well it’s the future – the earth was attacked by an alien insectoid race – humanity survived thanks for the bravery of one man – since the aliens retreated the earth has begun to train children to fight to protect earth in the future – Ender is one of these children and his journey through command school has begun…

I have been looking forward to this one for a while now – and was it as good as I expected? The answer is pretty much. It was a really great film for a teenage movie – as in that fact it’s about kids – but it was also good in the sci-fi sense – been waiting for some more sci-fi for a while now and this one definitely filled the gaping hole. It is probably one of the better films I’ve seen recently. It’s worth checking out – as it has a great story, effects and is an all round gooden...just keep in mind it is a teen movie.



Thor: The Dark World – What’s it about? The movie takes place after Avengers Assemble and the attack on earth…Thor returned home and helped to restore order to the nine realms at the will of his father. What a surprise some big baddie springs into action again and wants to destroy everything…and who is there to try to stop him? Thor and his gang of course…

What can I say about this…I think Thor is great – I love all these superhero movies…and this one doesn’t disappoint! I think it’s better than the first…oh oh oh and the elves in it are EPIC so much cooler than the LoR’s ones…kind of reminded me of Hellboy 2. This is a great story, full of actions, humour and of course superhero stuff. You know what to expect if you’ve seen any of the Marvel stuff – go watch it…it’s worth it!



Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2 – What’s it about? It takes place after the first movie, and it is the clean-up operation of the island. Flint gets a new job and has to go back to the island and help find his machine…meanwhile though the living-food has evolved and created its own eco-system.


Really I can’t believe I watched this. It was at the bottom of my list of things to see, it just looked awful! There were parts that made me smirk and have a little giggle – it has its fair share of adult humour in it. Overall it was an average kids movie...it's no way as bad as Smurfs 2 and actually wasn't the worst movie I've ever seen – probably the little ones would love it…but me not so much!


Wednesday 30 October 2013

Fandom: MCM Comic Con London – Oct 2013

As titled this is more of a fandom account of the event rather than much of anything else…

About two weeks ago a trip I was taking was cancelled and I wanted to find something else to do. I randomly found out that MCM Comic Con London was taking place at ExCel in the same time period (25-27 Oct 13). I ended up booking tickets for myself and a friend. I’ve never been to a Comic Con before – I should probably make you aware of that now! I was determined though to go in cosplay as I thought I might as well go the whole-hog if I was going…why do something by halves? And thus for the last couple of weeks I’ve been spending all my free time creating my costume...

The Geek Train

On Friday the 25 we arrived by train to Waterloo and made our way across London to where we were staying. It was an interesting thing as even before we got on the tube we were already asked if we were going to Comic Con. We were dressed in civis – not cosplay – but that heightened out spirits more. We boarded our DLR service which had been dubbed by us the “sky train” because it’s the Docklands Light Railway and that name really sucks…anyway it got renamed again after that “the Geek Train in the Sky” because basically it was full of people going to Comic Con. After dumping all our stuff at the hotel we took the train back along the line to ExCel and arrived at the Con. It wasn’t too busy, because we had other plans we were just checking in that day and picking up our wrist bands so we didn’t have to queue the next day. It was alright – there were quite a few people in awesome cosplays already! We only queued for about 40 mins or so – compared to people saying the next day they queued for about 2-3 hours – we realised we made the right choice! We both resisted the urge to enter the Con and continued on our business that day.

The queue

The entrance

The morning of Saturday 26 arrived and we donned our cosplay and headed across Docklands to the ExCel...

Me as Janos Audron from the Legacy of Kain series*

– we had to walk along the river ‘cause the Geek Train wasn’t working and we had to go by bus but following loads of characters along the River Thames was pretty awesome! When we arrived I can’t put into words how cool it was – I was never expecting that many people – let alone 90% of them being all cosplayed up!

Early morning as the place just opened

After spending a few moments taking in the sights – we eagerly entered inside the ExCel. It was absolutely heaving – I wasn’t expecting it to be that manic – you basically were shuffling long the hallway to the main centre – once you got out of the main part it wasn’t as bad though. We followed the crowd and entered into the main hall which was full of stalls selling everything from comics, dvds, clothing, jewellery, cuddly toys, games, collectables, cards, art work and loads of other cool stuff…even weapons! There were a couple of areas here with talks going on too, as well as celebrities signing stuff, movie trailers playing and games demos you could get your hands dirty on. I was like a kid in a candy store and didn’t really know where to look, what to buy, what to do – but it was amazing! I got to meet Alexis Cruz...for those who don’t know he played Skaara/Klorel in Stargate and SG1 *faint* and got a signed photo and a picture with him – once I walked away I basically had what my friend dubbed a "geekgasm" as I screamed, jumped up and down and freaked out in the middle of the Con.

Me and Alexis Cruz

After that my next highlight was playing Castlevania Lords of Shadow 2 on the PS3 (see previous article for my review on it). We then wandered around and shopped. I bought an awesome Dexter shopping bag which has a serial killer shopping list on the back and an assassin’s creed bracelet. Yay!

View from the steps

We stepped outside a couple of times for a breath of fresh air and to get a little space – outside was pretty packed too – there were cosplayers and things happening everywhere – a massive big screen playing trailers – music playing – people dancing and fighting their character enemies. It was epic!!!!! The time come for us to leave for the day and we headed back to the hotel.

We got freshened up and decided what to wear for the evening – we had tickets to the Comic Con Party – the options for dress was smart or cosplay. My friend wanted to wear a dress and I wanted to go in cosplay…at a stale mate we looked at the flyer again and accessed the options – in the end we decided to go in “smart-cosplay” yep this meant cosplay in a smart dress – which was pretty amusing! So Destiny Tiva Xarin got to make an appearance at Comic Con too.

DTX in a dress!!

We arrived at the Novotel Docklands and the party wasn’t much – it was mainly people in cosplay though. As more and more people arrived and drinks were had the party got going…even though the venue probably had the smallest dance floor on record! The DJs were two guys called Baka Punk – which were fantastic – EBM with game/anime/movie music mixed in – which was damn awesome – either that or I had had a bit too much to drink *cough* me…never – would I! The night was a surreal experience – it was like being at a party but being in a movie/TV show at the same time – so strange and fun – and because everyone there was for the same reason there was no trouble and everyone was lovely.

Partying

We met some great people at the party and once we were all kicked out we ended up hanging out with them…drinking more of course! Somehow we managed to get a taxi back thanks to the reception staff at the hotel…it was a silver Mercedes – I really don’t think the driver was thinking he was going to be picking up an Ancient Vampire and the She Hulk lol. We ended up getting back to the hotel in one piece to the reception staff reminding us the clocks went back…umm and extra hour in bed!

Then in not too long a time Sunday 27 arrived – we got up…and well got up – and got ready into our cosplay ready to hit the Comic Con again…much less enthusiastic today due to the most massive hangover ever – we checked out our hotel and dragged our sorry selves across Docklands again to ExCel. I think I was more of a dishevelled Janos Audron this day and spent most of the day groaning and feeling sorry for myself. Anyway after a bit of food we went and had a look around some more and realised the ExCel was even bigger than we first thought – we found more food places we didn't know existed and two more halls – one for table top gaming and card competitions and another where the main talks/panels were taking place with some more stalls selling stuff. We went tried to get our hands on some of the free stuff in a give-a-way in the break between panels (not successful – yep jumping up and down with the Soul Reaver in the air still doesn’t get you £120 worth of free Star Wars goodies!). We made ourselves comfortable for the Warehouse 13 panel we had come to see. (I wanted to see the Lost Girl one too but that was before we arrived – which blowed). Anyway they showed a gag-reel and then came on and talked for a good 20-30 minutes answering questions and telling stories.

Warehouse 13 panel

This was really cool – they were all super awesome. After this we headed outside and I got to meet up with a couple of friends which was unexpected but amazing none-the-less (even though it was only for about 5 minutes each – it was good to see them). After this we crammed in the last bit of shopping until over the tannoy came that it was time to get the hell out of there. We headed outside and got the bus to the tube station…I have never seen a tube station full of people…especially those in cosplay – once again a really strange experience – it was like something out of a cartoon. We arrived back safely at Waterloo to wait for our train…still in costume…I ended up grabbing us some snacks and then we hung about. We crammed on the train home – which was heaving…and got some very strange looks – not as bad as those when we got back home though!

People outside ExCel

Overall it was an awesome and epic weekend – I definitely will be going again next year and will probably make sure I can spend all three days there this time because there was so much to do. I would definitely recommend it to anyone because it is an amazing experience…even if just to sight see!

*I can’t believe people recognised who I was…there were a good 10-15 people who stopped and I had LoK conversations with about how awesome the games are, what they loved, then about Nosgoth and even people saying they so wanted to do an LoK cosplay themselves. There were more though who recognised the costume and I didn’t get chance to speak to. I was pleased with this as I thought the series may have been long forgotten...or the younger generation wouldn't know about it – but obviously not! LONG LIVE LOK!!!

For Nosgoth!

Monday 28 October 2013

Game: Castlevania Lords of Shadow 2 (PS3) - Pre-Release Review

What is it? Lords of Shadow 2 is part of the Castlevania reboot series - it follows the story of Gabriel and previous games Lords of Shadow and Mirror of Fate…if you don't know what the series is it's basically about vampires, demons, monsters etc in a medieval fantasy third person action-adventure setting - and yeah killing bad things with sharp and pointy objects!!!


What did I think? Well I saw the trailer for this earlier on in the year and have been dying to play it since then - I only got to play about 5 minutes of this so it’s hard to give a full review on the game because that’s not long to play! What I will say is what I saw I very much liked - ok liked is probably the most understatement I could ever use - how about ooohhhhhh this is so cool and awesome and *jumps up and down* ooohhhhhh. It has superb voice acting and was aesthetically pleasing - yep the graphics were super nice. The characters moved and flowed well on screen and the buttons/game play was responsive and the combos were cool as hell. It was very much similar to the previous game(s) in the series - keep in mind I have only played LoS as I do not have a 3DS! I was taking part in a ‘boss’ battle and very much as always died a lot until I got my head in gear and in the gaming zone - figured out the buttons and what to do and then I was off - well apart from dying a lot - oh yeah. I very much can’t wait now for this to come out - I will definitely be in the queue to get my hands on this baby. If you love Castlevania series - if the rest of this game is as good as those 5 minutes then you will be drooling at this one!


Thursday 24 October 2013

Movie: Captain Phillips (12A)

What's it about? Adapted from the book, this is based on a true story and it tells the account of Captain Phillips and his crew aboard the Maersk Alabama which is seized by Somalian pirates in 2009. The story is from Captain Phillips perspective as he undergoes his traumatic ordeal at the hands of the pirates...

Well...what can I say about this one...should I first of all remind you how I really dislike true life stories? yes - but...yep there is a but in there - this one - this one was actually probably one of the better cinema movies I've seen over the last few weeks! I didn't get bored - I didn't look at my watch - which is a bloody good sign! This has a good balance of drama and action as well as story - and knowing its based on real life kind of makes it an emotional ride - don't worry though its not as traumatic as The Impossible - but this one is one true life movie I would definitely recommend seeing - its at there at the top of the true movie story list right now (I think)...


= T

Tuesday 22 October 2013

Movie: Escape Plan (15)

What’s it about? Well if the title doesn’t give it away its about escaping…ok – from a prison or numerous ones as the case may be…


This is an Arnie and Stallone film…need I say more? If you like action movies – their previous movies then you will of course like this – yeah yeah yeah they are getting on a bit now but this movie works and that doesn’t matter! This is another awesome action movie where you can just go and watch stuff happen…of course it’s predicable aren’t they all? But it's enjoyable and it has some great one liners…say cheese :)


Monday 21 October 2013

Game: Primal (PS2 – 16)

What’s it about? Jen…ends up getting pulled into the Nexus – where she has to help save the four netherworlds by bringing balance between good and evil…

It was released back in 2003 – so it's pretty old school now – so that’ll give you some idea of the graphics and game play – yep – its very Soul Reaveresc so if you like that (which you really should) then yeah you may like this! It has the cool switching between characters and as you advance through the game Jen – can morph into other forms to use certain skill sets – and of course Scree’s pretty damn cool too. Dude this is really fun – I’ve lost a good few hours of my life getting sucked into this world – if you haven’t given it a go then go do so or if you have then go re-play it!! I wish I played this back years ago when it came out...luckily a kind person reminded me of it a few months back – yay – the old ones are sometimes the best :)


Friday 18 October 2013

App: Comixology (Android)

Comixology is a comic book app for electronic devices…it is basically a downloadable comic book store! There are free comics and those you can pay for – so you can give it a try and see if you like it. If you like comics then you really need to download it...if you haven’t already – it’s so worth it – dude it’s an app for comics yay woohoo!


Thursday 17 October 2013

Game: Forest Zombies (Android)

What is it? The forest is getting invaded by zombies! Ahhh run for your lives!!! You take the role of a rabbit who tries to protect its little forest friends from getting abducted by the fiends. The little scamp has an array of weaponry to assist – a catapult which of course launches grenades and axes – what else would it do? Ah yes shoot more weapons of course – at the casual moving monsters!


Well this is a fun little cartoon game…you remember all those cool flash games you used to get on Newgrounds back in the late 90’s early 00’s? Well this is what this is like! It has kept me entertained – its free so yeah its something for nothing – oh yeah and you can buy stuff for it too…check it out if you want something to keep you occupied for a weebit…

Here's a link to a video of the trailer on Youtube...sadly I can't get it to link properly....

Wednesday 16 October 2013

Movie: Twelve Monkeys (DVD – 18)

What’s it about? Well it’s the future and most of humanity has been killed off by a virus - nice! A convict is sent back in time to find out about what happened, how, why and who was behind it.


This is an odd one…far out…weirdness – come on it’s slightly off the wall you’ve got to give it that much – randomness – yeah! A combination of present day and sci-fi with a bit of insanity thrown in, it’s a fab story, good acting, interesting and yeah – it’s a niiiiiccceeeee little movie – even if a bit dated now.


Monday 14 October 2013

Movies: Fifth Estate (15) & Blue Jasmine (12A)

Fifth Estate - What’s it about? Ever heard of Wikileaks? The website that leaked lots of stuff including government information?…well that’s what this movie is about – the people behind the website and how it came to reach viral status of leaked goodness.

How much of this movie is fact – I don’t know…it was interesting, yes interesting, very interesting – and I liked it. I liked the way they worked the computing and the visuals…ummm computing. It’s not a movie you have to see at the cinema though – probably best to wait until DVD! If you’re curious about the whole wiki and leakage and like real life stuff then you’ll like it – if not you probably wont.



Blue Jasmine - What’s it about? A rich woman gets taken down a few pegs, her husband was a conman – he ends up topping himself in jail whilst everything she has gets taken away from her. She has a breakdown and moves in with her working class sister…she tries to sort her life out.

Really they made this into a movie? How pointless was this film – damn pointless – it went no-where…I’m not kidding you. There was nothing – the story was pretty bad – and the end was complete rubbish – I can’t believe that these actors agreed to this! It’s probably ok if you don’t mind stuff that’ll turn your brain to goo and romance stuff but really I wasted two hours of my life – I can’t get that time back...damn it!


Wednesday 9 October 2013

Movie: How I Live Now (15)

What’s is about? A young American girl goes on holiday to the UK to stay with her relatives in the countryside - at this time world war 3 breaks out and it is the families story for survival.


What can I say about this movie? Where to start? Ah yes – if you want an action movie with fighting and war and all that jazz then you will be highly disappointed. If you want an emotional and dramatic story then this will be right up your street! This film is very realistic and British *yay* and basically I think I’m still in bloody shock from seeing it – don’t worry not as bad as after The Impossible! – it was very believable . It has a few good one liners and bits that make you laugh…cow cheese…had me in fits! I really did like it…thought from the trailer it could go either way – but yeah they did good!


Monday 7 October 2013

Movie: Life of Pi (DVD – PG)

What’s it about? An epic journey of a young mans survival of a ship-wreck – he tries to survive the lonesome journey stuck in a life-boat…with his only companion a tiger.


Ok what can I say about this movie…my initial thoughts was how can there be like a 2 hour movie about a guy and a tiger stuck on a boat? I didn’t really have any expectations or desire to watch this but…holy hell fire this is one of the best films I have seen in ages! – It’s up there with Avatar – yes I love that movie – it has blue people in it! This movie is moving and beautiful, it is truly a wonderful masterpiece…what the – yes I’m actually agreeing with the critics on this one – don’t have a heart attack! If want to watch something that is remarkably gracious…and well – an epic journey – then you HAVE to see this one!!!!! Watch it – do it, do it now! This was so so good…


Sunday 6 October 2013

Movie: Filth (18)

What’s it about? A cop who isn’t quite on the straight and narrow is going for promotion, as he messes with the heads of his co-workers and those in his life, his world begins to unravel around him.

If you like films like “Trainspotting” then you will love this one - its gritty and well damn messed up and sickly funny at times! Interesting to see but not something you would want to show the kids…this definitely deserves the 18 certificate it got. I wasn’t enjoying it too much but kind of got drawn into it by the end...I think - but I'd probably never watch it again! The trailer really gives you the picture of what to expect - it's basically an hour and a half of that …so here it is - if you don't like it then stay well away!

Saturday 5 October 2013

Bullet to the Head (DVD – 18)

What’s it about? A hitman’s partner gets killed and he’s on a quest of revenge, in the process he meets a cop…they end up teaming up to take out the bad guys – including those corrupt police officers working for them.

This is another one I’d been dying to see – dude it has Ronon I mean Momoa in it yay! Oh and Stallone. It’s pretty action packed…come on it’s an action movie so you know what to expect – guns, fighting and violence and a bit of kidnapping thrown in for good measure. Yeah so if you like all that stuff and want to watch a really really good action movie then this will be for you…if not then meh to you!

Friday 4 October 2013

Movies: Byzantium (15 – DVD), Star Trek Into Darkness (12 – DVD) & Cradle 2 the Grave (15 – DVD)

Byzantium – what’s it about? Two female vampires and their lives in modern times, one filled with sorrow and torment for what she is and the other takes enjoyment and pleasure from her existence. They move to a new home and set up shop…a brothel…and it follows their experiences and relationships in their new lives and abode.

I’ve been dying to see this film since it come out in the cinema – but where I live sucks and it wasn’t shown anywhere near here booooo! I had really really high expectations for this film – come on it was done by the guy who did Interview With A Vampire…so yeah. Hailed as a female Louis and Lestat – these vampires aren’t Twilight muppets but...sadly it isn't that good - it’s nearly up there but that's a high bar for comparison! If you love vampire movies then you will appreciate this one beyond a measure and this is one you definitely have to see…if you’re not into vampires then watch it anyway but you probably won’t like it!



Star Trek Into Darkness – What’s it about? It continues on from the previous Star Trek (remake) movie – Captain Kirk, Spock and the crew continue their adventures aboard the Enterprise – mooching around the galaxy and this time tackling one of the best bad guys of Star Trek ever…

If you like the previous Star Trek remake then you will probably love this – if you hate this whole alternate timeline reboot then probably steer well clear. I personally loved this – it’s still at my number one choice for the year – its got action – geekness and well Klingons – and one word “FIRE!!!!” Yeah and that’s all I’m going to say so I don’t spoil it! It’s funny, graphically pleasing and good cheesy acting – you will have a few laughs and shocking wows during this one. If though you’re really into Star Trek and you want a bit of depth then you may be a little put down…don’t look too deep you’ve been warned – if you’re a major Trekkie or not then still check this…it’s well worth it!



Cradle 2 the Grave – What’s it about? Fait and his crew are thieves – they are hired to steal some uber rare black diamonds…they do but it’s all not quite as it seems when everyone wants the loot – it ends up a tale of martial arts, kidnapping and crime – with a tad humour chucked in for good measure!

Ok if you can look beyond the rap music – which is really really awful – then this is actually a pretty good movie – lots of fighting and martial arts…and of course humour – it definitely packs a punch! I love Jet Li he’s great – DMX though on the other hand…ugh. So it’s a love hate film – love it for what it is – but hate some of it because it’s damn annoying. Have a look though if you like action movies…


Thursday 3 October 2013

Music: Celldweller – Wish Upon a Black Star

The band Celldweller, the album Wish Upon a Black Star…what can I say about this album? Well it’s the one that got me into Celldweller – though each of their albums vary and every song is slightly different…some times metal, rock, industrial, dubstep or a little bit of this that and the other all thrown into one. This is one of my favourite of their albums…and of course the self titled Celldweller one! This one is uplifting and well damn good…have a listen…


Wednesday 2 October 2013

Game information: Nosgoth Q&A Broadcast

This wasn’t what I planned at all today but hey it’s more important because it’s about Nosgoth – hurrah!

On the evening of Monday 30 Sep 13 - Bill Beacham and George Kelion did a live Q&A session via Twitter/Twitch…if you didn’t catch it because life sucks and humanity enslaved you to perform the mundane tasks set – then never fear – you can now catch it via Youtube. Of course I have linked it below – would I make you have to endure going to Youtube and searching it out for yourself with all the clicking and the typing? Of course not!

Personally I thought Bill and George did a fabulous job of answering some questions which were posed on the Nosgoth forum and Twitter – and hopefully managed to shed some of those concerns people have…or maybe not. But yeah I thought it was great to have many things finally aired to the public…plus they had an awesome background too – yay!

Anyway - enough from me and more from them – here’s the recording of the live broadcast…


TV Show: The IT Crowd (final episode)

What’s it about? The adventures of Roy, Moss and Jen continue in the IT department at Reynholm Industries. The final episode doesn’t fail to deliver with jokes and geekness – with Roy and Jen going viral everything goes a little unusual for the gang as they try to get themselves out of the situation!

If you like the series then watch this…or if you’re a geek then watch it – yes and I mean you – but sadly another great show has come to end…sad times…man I need some tissues this week! This is one of the few comedy and sitcom shows I like…actually there’s only two – but heh. If you haven’t seen it then check IT – but I ask you where have you been? …living in the cupboard?!

...no trailer for this one as I appear to have broken the internet - better call the IT Crowd!