OJ's Game Review - Test Subject

Well, this is my first review of a free online game you can play on your desktop browser.

 Test Subject is a series of platform games on the popular site Nitrome; the site has many games but few spawn sequels and even fewer have an entire trilogy and story. Test Subject is basically about some sort of living organism being tested through different obstacles and other organisms, its a pretty simple premise but can be quite challenging both to the mind and fingers! The story in itself is pretty good for a little internet game; a professor creates the organism and tests it but feels he is being watched until things start to happen and then there's kidnapping, and all sorts, so that was enjoyable to watch, and each level has something new and more difficult. The controls are simple and you get a slight upgrade in each game; the obstacles are fun to work out sometimes too, so it is definitely worth a try. The entire thing is split between 3 games and a bonus 2-player one, so go to www.nitrome.com and enjoy!

OJ's Review - Marvel One-Shots (Phase 1)

Just a quick post about my thoughts on the first three Marvel One-Shots that tie in to The Avenger's universe.

The Consultant

The Consultant was a little bonus short film found on the Blu-ray edition of Thor. It has Agent Coulson and Agent Sitwell talking about something they've been assigned to do and how they go about it; the entire thing takes place before, during, and after the final scene of The Incredible Hulk. Even though its only about 4 minutes it has a slight humorous tone and ties up a few loose ends, an enjoyable watch if you can see it as it can be found on YouTube.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor's Hammer

The second little one-shot from Marvel takes place just before the post-credits scene of Iron Man 2 and follows Coulson's journey to Thor's hammer in New Mexico - purely for laughs but a nice insight to the life of Phil. This Marvel One-Shot came on the DVD for Captain America: The First Avenger, but is also available on YouTube.

Item 47

Now this One-Shot is very different from the previous as it has its own poster and it is considerably longer; it takes place after the Battle of New York from The Avengers/Avengers Assemble and follows a mission for Agent Sitwell. This third one-shot I think was an interesting take on the MCU and I am expecting the upcoming Agent's of S.H.I.E.L.D. to be very similar. Item 47 came on the DVD release of The Avengers but you can find a few official clips on YouTube.

OJ's Movie Review - Now You See Me

I seem to be reviewing a lot of movies lately, but this one's a good one.

This movie is one of the most interesting, movies I've seen in a long time. I honestly don't know what else to say, it's really thought-provoking and just fascinating to watch; not just for the illusions featured in the film or the explanation of how they're done, but also the story, the puzzle, everything. Now You See Me, I was expecting to be some big heist film with some cool scenes of illusion and then an on-the-run type scenario, but really, it's much more. It's one huge mystery from the first scenes, and then the very last scene, you're just kind of like, 'wait, what?'. All-in-all I can say Now You See Me is definitely worth a watch, by everyone; the plot takes you in and you enjoy whats happening, one or two parts I felt were a tad boring but they only lasted, like, 3 mins. I will definitely want to see it again and urge you to go watch it too. I don't really have a rating system (at the minute) but I would put this film at level: AWESOMENESS

OJ's Movie Review - Man of Steel

Okay! The new, modern, Zack Snydered Superman is here! Lets review:

  So lets start off with my previous experiences with Superman - comics? Never read them. Original run of films? I faintly remember seeing the first two; after that I then saw Superman Returns only last year because nothing else was on TV, so I wasn't really bothered about superman but then I saw this awesome trailer with action, proper sci-fi, realistic shots and it was looked great. It really made me want to see Man of Steel. So I went to the cinema and watched it. The movie itself; I really really really loved the beginning - yes, you get this entire alien world with alien creatures and alien ships and alien landscapes, it's really cool to watch, it reminded me of Avatar in some ways, with how they made the scenes look; so everything's happening on Krypton and they send baby to Earth... and now he's an adult. Yes, they go through his childhood through lengthy flashbacks, which I'm not really a big fan of; I like my chronology. So that kinda disappointed me and then because of these flashbacks we're about half-way into the film until the actual plot begins. Zod and everything comes down and now we have some real action scenes - a lot of them. The last hour I think no one actually takes a break, its just action, action, action. Although it had really good CGI and things falling apart, super hero and villain smashing buildings, the usual sci-fi movie stuff that we enjoy, I have to say I did yawn during this. I don't know why, the scenes were pretty epic, but unfortunately, you've seen this formula before. So all-in-all Man of Steel wasn't as good as I expected but a good watch anyway.

OJ's TV Review - Person of Interest season 2

 Really, what kind of name is Root?

  So here we go, season 2 of Person of Interest, if you've read my first review you'll know I likened it a lot to the film Eagle Eye but its come much further away from that now - this really is a show with mystery and interest. I said last review that it had 3 story arcs, and those were the mystery of the machine, the HR group & it's dealings, and then Alias's story line. Now in season 2 they expand much more on the HR plot point and it becomes the focus of most episodes and has disastrous results for a few characters, the story behind the machine also gets a little clearer but you'r still left in the dark on a few things and even gives you new questions to consider, Alias isn't really a main point in the series now, he has his appearances which help move the episodes along but really he's in the background. Some new arcs that have come about is the character of 'Root' - aa clever, but insane, hacker who views most people as "bad code", and for some reason wants to set the machine 'free' or something so that was interesting and gives some heart-pumping scenes. So all-in-all Person of Interest is still pretty enjoyable, they've got a new minor character who's scenes are very comedic and Finch & John now have dog too which is fun, so yes if you enjoyed season one then keep watching and the last episode really leaves you some pondering thoughts.

OJ's Movie Review - Fast & Furious 6

Oh well, maybe next time.

Fast & Furious 6. Wow. Six. The sixth film of the franchise - a franchise which started off as a little racing movie and then an undercover cop movie and then a Japanese drifting movie and then something else and then a heist and really this franchise has gone everywhere, which so far I think is pretty good - I've enjoyed watching these movies; Fast Five I thought was great and was was pretty looking forward to the whole Letty mystery; and then I watched Fast & Furious 6. Now, some parts of this movie I liked, it was good, what you'd expect from an F&F movie but for quite a bit there was just pointless things. I mean really pointless things, scenes that happened that made you question what on earth was going on, most of this was due to unnecessary violence - and I don't mean "oh! lots of people fighting, I don't like it!" I mean really, people just walk into a room and suddenly they fight - for no reason! That got a bit annoying; and then talking of unnecessary things: Letty. Yes, the entire Letty mystery wasn't needed at all; the only reason I could see for bringing her back was to give Dom some motivation to get the bad guys and extra screen time for Paul Walker, that whole thing could have been done better. But apart from all that, the racing was fun to watch and you can laugh at the humor, even if some was unintended. I recommend it for the Fast & Furious fans but not for the average movie goer unless all you want in a movie is 'who's The Rock gonna beat up next?'.
    The very last scene though is almost worth the whole movie, it ties in Tokyo Drift exeltantly and sets up next years Fast & Furious 7.

OJ's TV Review - Doctor Who series 7

Enough with the mid-series breaks!!!

Well, well; series 7; the last series before the big 50th Anniversary - and it sure sets itself up. It starts off with The Doctor still visiting Amy and Rory Pond every now and again and taking them on a few adventures along with some new characters and some old. And then, after the emotional parting from his two companions he delves into the mystery of an impossible woman he keeps meeting (no, not River Song). So as far as the entire series as a whole goes, the Clara Oswald story-arc started off quite interesting but by early 2013 you just were tired of waiting; the individual episodes themselves, well, personally it was a bit of roller coaster; series 7 had some pretty good plots but also some really bad ones. Some of the episodes I myself didn't like were  Asylum of the Daleks, The Power of Three, Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS, and Nightmare in Silver. I just felt really disappointed after watching those, especially Nightmare as it sounded and looked really good but the execution just felt choppy and confusing. I did like some of the better episodes though like A Town Called Mercy, The Angels Take Manhattan, The Snowmen, and Hide, which I enjoyed a lot. Now, for the finale; you may know me and Doctor Who finales haven't always seen eye-to-eye, the last 'good' finale I think was in 2006's series 2; so now this year I got to watch The Name of The Doctor - hmmm, yes; I actually enjoyed a good part of this episode; the throwbacks, the settings, the plot, but then you get to the final scenes and now after one big mystery is solved and you're out of breath from all the thinking you had to do, Steven Moffat slaps you round the face with John Hurt. That's all I'm going to say so I just hope on the anniversary I will be pleasantly surprised - so that's my thoughts and my next Doctor Who review will be on, well, 23rd November I suppose!