OJ's Movie Reviews - The Dark Knight Trilogy

Man of Steel 2 is coming ever closer and even next year we'll see the toy version of him in The LEGO Movie, but now you can read my review of the latest appearance of the Batman!

I never watched this trilogy when it first came out, I have literally only seen it all at once recently. So instead of reviewing each movie singularly I thought I'd put it all in one review.
  So first off is Batman Begins; the introduction of the main characters and the origin story of Batman himself. I thought this movie was a nice surprise, I enjoyed watching this; there were parts I wasn't expecting and I enjoyed it. The storyline was very good, the characters were interesting and although I felt the villain(s) were slightly weak it was still good; I enjoyed the humor and the action together - it reminded me of season 1 of Arrow, I know this film came out first, but it is a similar story.
  Next in the series was The Dark Knight, I heard this film praised over and over again of how good it was, so I had high hopes and I watched it. Now I think everyone can say that the late Heath Ledger did an excellent job as the psycho Joker, his mannerisms and everything were pure creepy. The film did of course take a very dark turn after the first movie which I think took something away from the plot; the plot I think was very messy and a bit weak in places; so with a plot like that and then a maniac villain it, at times, felt uncomfortable to watch, so I know its not the favored view of many but I felt this was the weakest movie out the three.
  Finally then was The Dark Knight Rises which was one I was looking forward too, and boy did it give. I liked this movie a lot, better than the previous two and just and enjoyable watch. It felt like you were watching parts of other films but yet something completely new at the same time, it brought back the humor that the second one lacked and it was just and extraordinary conclusion to the trilogy, the stakes had gone so much higher and was thoroughly enjoyable.
  All in all I'd give the trilogy as a whole a TIME WELL SPENT.

OJ's TV Review - Doctor Who: The Time of the Doctor

Matt Smith battle's Daleks, Cybermen and his own demise in this years Christmas special!

So after four years of the Eleventh Doctor, his life eventually comes to an end. It's his 13th regeneration too so this really is the end for him. I quite enjoyed the episode actually, very entertaining, funny, and some sadness to balance it out.The Time of the Doctor also had the big job of wrapping up all the story arcs since series 5. Although I liked how they explained the whole arc of the Silence and the cracks, that was a nice surprise and the explanations were reasonable; I wasn't too fond of how they explained the individual story arcs from each series; the Pandorica thing from series 5 was a mere throw-away line, the entire series 6 drag was two lines of diaouge and series 7 was hardly mentioned! All in all though it was  great episode, a good send off to Matt, even though the last two I think were more emotional, this was really good with a cool cameo and then SUDDENLY: Capaldi. Yes, number 12 (or 13, or 14, depends on your view) appeared within a second and really only had 36 seconds of excellent screen time. I give this episode: TIME WELL SPENT.

ORIGINAL VS REMAKE - The Time Machine

Lets travel back and look at two similar but very different adaptions of The Time Machine!

Original

In 1960 H.G. Wells' novel was adapted into a sci-fi movie staring Rod Taylor. In this movie our nameless time traveler goes centuries into the future and meets some very simple humans along some very eerie creatures, known as Morlocks. The film itself is like the usual 60's sci-fi, with effects, dialog, etc. But uses it quite well. THe landscape of this future is really in interesting, almost like a garden of Eden/ancient Greece kind of place. The Morlocks themselves are very creepy, in looks and demeanor. They are quite strong with long ghostly hair and glowing eyes; they walk slowly around caves and use whips! So this film is very interesting to watch, even though a 1960 movie.

Remake

In 2002 The Time Machine starred Guy Pierce who had a very different reason for traveling through time - as with most modern movies they had to have a dramatic romantic plot-line which sparks a now named main character to travel to far future. Here the simple humans are a little more complex and more tribal, but actually a little more boring. The scenery just looks like parts of Earth now but the soundtrack makes it epic. The Morlocks in this adaption are similar but updated making them scary, ape-like and very intimidating with them adding an actual single villain which wasn't particularly needed but adds some more story.

Comparison

You know this one is very difficult for me, because I really like both. I'm afraid to say this really is a tie. Each are equally brilliant in different ways so I recommend a watch of both and tell be your thoughts.

OJ's Movie Review - Gravity

Yeah, I don't think I want to be an astronaut anytime soon...

So Gravity stars Sandra Bullock as a scientist sent to fix some satellite in space, George Clooney is also there too but the movie centers on Bullock; after A while something bad happens and a load of debris hits their ship. Now to start off, this film had loads of hype before I went to see it, people said it was amazing, reviewers gave it 10 out of 10 and so I was very excited to see it. And when I did see it I can see that the visuals definitely was the source of their enjoyment. The whole look of this film is just amazing, the long camera pans, the intense shots, the claustrophobic angles are all brilliant; especially in 3D, yes I sawGravity in 3D and it is one of the best 3D films I've ever seen; I imagine it is quite enjoyable in 2D but this was just heightened the experience; when that debris was flying towards the screen my eyes sure flinched a lot. I thing to some people it may make them feel sick because it is very realistic; anytime I now think of people in space this is what I think it would be like; just the views and things are amazing. The music also goes well with it, I love the score to this, especially those parts where it goes incredibly loud and then just cuts and its silence, like the silence of space. The story line itself although good felt a bit repetitive about half way through; the scenarios the main character gets in are so similar every time that it verges on unrealistic, in that way I think it was hyped just that bit too much but apart from that its an interesting experience to watch and I'D SEE IT AGAIN.

OJ's Review - Doctor Who: The Day of the Doctor

#savetheday

Here it is! We've waited 50 years and finally we have the amazing anniversary special.
At the end of series 7 I was weary about the John Hurt thing but now I'm OK with it and it worked really well for the story, other things I was scared about turned out to be fine too, all in all I loved the story and how it went, from beginning to end I enjoyed the whole thing. The humor was great too, the way the three Doctors bounce off each other and make fun of each other is great. The references are great, I mean not just the Zygons from the classic series but little words, sentences and pictures you can spot which you know exactly what they're talking about. The special effects were great too, some of the best I've seen in Doctor Who and just the whole way they did it, using the opening titles from the 60's to having the actors names up in the beginning like a movie and even using Who music from the Russel T. Davis era. I think The Day of the Doctor is... AWESOMNESS

OJ's TV Review - An Adventure in Space and Time

An amazing docudrama about an amazing show.

An Adventure in Space and Time is written by Mark Gatiss whom Whovians will know to be part of the Doctor Who family as writer and actor in the show itself; it stars David Bradley playing William Hartnell, and wow it's a really good performance. He does a brilliant job as the first Doctor and all the actors do really look like the people they're playing and act like them too! And when that happens its really exciting to see them recreate iconic scenes, so all of that is really fun to see. Also the story itself is really interesting, I mean I know its dramatized a bit, but this really shows the struggle to get Doctor Who successful and through the hard work Verity Lambert and all that she does. Its also really cool to spot the cameos and references, when two people are talking and in the background you see an old Dalek or an original alien from the 60's episodes. So that was really fun and who'd have ever thought you'd see a Cyberman smoke? All in all this docudrama was out of this world (pun intended) and certainly gets 10 out of 10: AWESOMENESS.

OJ's Movie Review - Thor: The Dark World

It sure lives up to its title - a very dark film indeed.

So a year on since the Avengers assembled and Loki has been in prison while Thor is making peace in the Nine Realms while the Bifrost was being rebuilt. So after all that is explained in the first 10 minutes we get to the story line which revolves around a Dark Elf known as Malekith and his search/revenge plans. Christopher Eccleston did a very interesting role although after watching I think he didn't own it, other people could have done it as well, if not better. That didn't ruin it though as another, unexpected,  plot point revolves around Loki and the issues of trusting him which make for some very twisty and questionable scenes. I'd have to say I enjoyed the parts set on Earth more rather than in space for some reason, but all in all I liked how it looked although some elements I had seen before in other media. There were of course references to past films as the Tesseract got a mention as did New York. So my final thoughts are this: the special effects were great, the plot was ok but I've seen better, and all-in-all I have the same feel about it as the first, it didn't wow me but neither was I bored, it was just in the middle. I give it an OK+.

 You can see my review of the first Thor by clicking this link: http://bit.ly/1fhRxQU

OJ's Movie Review - Captain Phillips

I think the tagline for this movie should definitely should have been CAPTAIN PHILLIPS: Everything goin' be OK.

 So Captain Phillips is based of a true story of a man called Richard Phillips whose cargo ship he was on was boarded by Somali pirates and bad things happen. Now to start off with this film has an epic feel of realism too it; the shots and atmosphere of this film are just very real, it shows you engines of the giant ship humming which if you've been on a big ship you know you hear it or just the small rooms or the general feel of being out at sea. What I noticed as well, which I think added to the realism a lot was there wasnt much background music, at the beginning, and at the end and some other scenes it was just sound effects and dialogue which was really good. That just added to the amazing story this film documents of Captain Phillips and his run in with these four pirates - what I wasn't expecting is them to show a bit of back story to the pirates, it showed them right at the beginning in Africa and a glimpse of what their life is and what is generally what they do for work and why; not really in that kind of "these are also good guys too" way but it shows how everything happens. Now the whole film is 2 and a quarter hours so there are some slow bits in the middle but it still captivates you and the end of this film, wow, I heard it was one of Tom Hanks' best performances to date and I'd say so too. The final act of Captain Phillips is extremely intense and had my heart pumping for sure which rarely happens. So in the end this was a powerful film based on a true story and I give it the rating of TIME WELL SPENT.

OJ's TV Review - Sherlock series 1 & 2

With series 3 coming soon-ish, I decided to review the first lot of this brilliant show.

 BBC's Sherlock is all about Sherlock Holmes (if you didn't know), but with this adaption, the entire thing takes place in modern day. So yes, modern day London is where all the mysteries take place and the clever twists and plots. Now one of the reasons I'm reviewing series 1 & 2 together is that these two have pretty much one story-arc spreading over them and judging by the final episode of series 2, the next will be slightly different. The story arc in mind is that of his infamous enemy Moriarty, which in this adaption is not a man you want to mess with; seriously, this guy is nuts - and I thought the series did it very well, the whole atmosphere and stories where really good. The way Sherlock sees things comes up on the screen in writing and pictures, all very clever and just fun to watch. Oh, and Sherlock isn't really a likable character, well for the viewer I suppose, but if you really ever met this Sherlock then you wouldn't be friends for long, and that side of him gives a lot of humor to the story. Now with Sherlock each series has only 3 episodes each, and I know that doesn't seem much but each episode is one and a half hour long! So not the measly 45 mins like Doctor Who and nor just a full hour like some TV series are; and it doesn't feel like its dragging either, each story grabs your interest from beginning to end. So if your not watching Sherlock now then go and do it now because it is... AWESOMENESS

OJ's TV Review - Arrow season 1

After hearing about the upcoming season 2 and a Flash spin-off I thought I'd check out this DC Universe.

  So, I don't really know many DC Characters, and so I'd never heard of the Green Arrow, but I liked the idea of the Flash and so I wanted to see what it was spinning-off from, and I'd heard this Arrow thing was pretty good. So after watching the entire first season, I have to say: I like it! This is an intense series. Arrow is jam-packed full of action, suspense, and loads of mystery; just what I like. I thought the characters were great, and each one had a story line that was interesting. And even though I don't like lengthy flashbacks, I actually enjoyed these, I think for this show it was a good idea. If you watch Arrow, then you'll certainly have a few things to think about between episodes as there can be a twist or two you're not expecting! All together I'd give season one a 9 out of 10 - TIME WELL SPENT.

OJ's Movie Review - One Direction: This Is Us

Wait, I'm actually reviewing this??

So yes, I watched One Direction's biographical/concert movie. Wasn't planned at all, a spur of the moment thing that wasn't my idea. Anyway originally I thought I wouldn't like this movie and would find it boring because I'm not a fan of One Direction at all because they are very generic and the celebrity gossip side can be annoying. But then I watched a review of it and it peeked my interest. After watching This Is Us I've noticed that they didn't make the group out to be perfect people who are easy going; One Direction do really act like a bunch of teenagers - they literally don't do much at all, they don't write the songs, pick the tour venues or anything. So in that way it shows they're not responsible for a lot of things their disliked for such as copying other people's songs or doing things past boy bands did - that's all down to Simon Cowell. It also shows the strain of being that famous such as the sudden change of life for them and their families had. So the documentary side of it was quite interesting. The movie side of the production (which was basically the concerts) were also quite entertaining, if you do go watch this then definitely go in 3D, this movie has excellent 3D effects, they did that really well, some of the things they did to amplify the 3D was quite clever as well. The bad points about the film is that some parts can be very cheesy such as getting a neuroscientist to explain the effects of 1D on fans; also Harry Styles got a bit annoying constantly going shirtless every time the camera was on. So all in all it was interesting to watch and the pranks at the end were entertaining but I still find them to be a very generic boy band and probably wont watch this movie again ever but for for my only viewing IT WAS OK+.

OJ's TV Review - Falling Skies season 3

Well season 3 of Falling Skies has been and gone now; time sure flies when your having fun.

Last year season 2 ended on what I thought was an epic cliffhanger that I couldn't wait to see what they did with. Now with Falling Skies, there are always a few months between the last scene of a season and the first scene of the new one, in this case 3, so the first few episodes you got to know whats been happening and what last seasons' effects were. Mild spoiler here but new aliens have landed! A small clan of what are called the Volm have appeared, and they have the story of trust issues in the series; two more story-lines then appeared, that which involved Hal, and one involving Tom's new daughter; the former of the two I thought was great and enjoyed it all, the latter, though, not so much, at first it was intriguing but then became quite boring and then made no sense. Even the Volm didn't have much screen time as I expected. So even though this season has my most favorite episode in it, I felt it was the weakest of the seasons we've had so far - mostly because the finale cliffhanger was just not as good as the suspenseful endings of the previous; they have a lot of explaining to do in season 4, that's for sure. All-in-all this season gets a 6/10 so IT WAS OK+.

OJ's Movie Review - Jurassic Park

A milestone in cinematic history, a huge achievement in CGI effects, and by the most well-known director in the world.

 Jurassic Park. An island full of dinosaurs who terrorize people; a simple premise but extremely well done. From beginning to end this film is just an enjoyable watch. Back in 1993 when it was released these never-before-seen effects had to have wowed audiences, and even now it still holds up with the anamatronics, CGI combo, it is really good; I've seen worst stuff in other movies and TV series. The characters I thought were pretty well done and acted, you really didn't want certain things happen to certain people and I really like Sam Neil as Alan Grant. Now, I was really exited to watch my favorite film on the big screen and especially in 3D, I watched it in IMAX as well, something I had never done before, and boy did it deliver. The 3D in this movie was one of the best I've seen in ages, better than Man of Steel and Iron Man 3 by far. Jurassic Park in the third dimension brought a whole new life too it, just some of the scenes with the trees, and leaves and then an awesome scene in the kitchen was good in 3D. So yes, I think Jurassic Park will continue being my favored film for a long time to come; I do enjoy the sequels too but this will always be... AWESOMENESS.

The OJ Reviews 1st Anniversary

WELCOME to the first ever OJ Reviews Anniversary Post; these little things will be posted annually marking the day the website was created - each post will give you updates, stats, upcoming stuff and more!
  To start this thing off I'll give you a load of statistics about the website from the past 365 days!

Stats

Numbers 

Page views of all time - 4,604

Comments of all time - 7

Subscribers of all time - 5

Top three countries that visit the site:

1. United Kingdom (1843)
2. United States (1048)
3. Germany (338)

Posts

First Post Ever - OJ Reviewing: Megamind (http://bit.ly/1nQ3SN5)
Most Viewed Post Ever - ORIGINAL VS REMAKE - King Kong (http://bit.ly/1h9Z4A3)
Longest Review Ever - Iron Man 3 (http://bit.ly/1jfyrMe)
Shortest Review Ever: Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (http://bit.ly/1c4lpvT)

Changes to the Site

Now you've seen the stats and that it's still in the early stages, I'll tell so you some big changes that are coming up on The OJ Reviews.

  The description at the very top of the site that introduces everyone to what I do will change - I will completely redo that due to a better sounding intro and easier for translation into other languages. 

  Another bit of change will come to the right-hand bar. All of the little things on there will get a bit swapped around and changed, maybe some new stuff added and some stuff taken, but keep your eye out!

 Just another thing is the theme, possibly some color changes, maybe the title font and look will change, and some other bits and bobs.

Rating System

The biggest change I'm most looking forward to is the new rating system! Yes, originally I was just doing who I'd recommend it to but/and now I will be rating the things I review! How you ask? Well here is a little key:

10 = AWESOMENESS (Truly an awesome, well-made thing, I really enjoyed it)

9 = TIME WELL SPENT (There are better stuff but I didn't class reading/watching/playing this as a waste because I quite enjoyed it))

8 = I'D SEE IT AGAIN (If on TV, or a friend brought it round, I wouldn't mind but I wouldn't go out of my way for it - excludes some books & games.)

6-7 = IT WAS OK+ (It was alright but it had more good parts than bad)

4-5 = IT WAS OK- (It wasn't too bad but had more bad things than good)

3 = FAIL (Something that was hyped a lot, or tried to be something it wasn't or was just bad and a complete fail)

1-2 = SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN MADE (Can we just forget this thing ever existed? Why was this even made??)

Upcoming Stuff

Well, my next review as you probably know will be my favorite movie Jurassic Park, as I will be seeing it 3D at the cinema on Monday and then reviewing it straight after. After the month of August expect a lot of TV Series reviews including Falling Skies, Arrow, and the new Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D later on! On the movie front is obviously Thor: The Dark World, maybe RED 2, and Gravity. With games, you can look forward to Oddworld: Abe's Odysee (plus sequels) and LEGO Marvel Super Heroes (PC). Books, hmmmm, not particularly reading any at the moment but we'll see.

Shoutouts and the Thanks

Each year I think I'll thank everyone who have gone on The OJ Reviews and looked around, read my stuff and liked it. I'd like to thank my five only subscribers: LegoJT, pluckykelly, Lulu Newman, Georgia Newman, and Ethan Grierson. Ethan is a friend of mine and loves roller coasters and tech so you can check out his two websites:

• EJ Grierson
• Tablet and Phone Specification

So that's it. Thanks for all the views over the past year and I look forward to doing more reviews! Don't forget to subscribe, which you can by pressing one of the buttons down the right-hand bar and also visit some other sites The OJ Reviews are on:

• Google Plus
• Instagram
• Rotten Tomatoes
• Pinterest

 And don't forget, you can always comment on my posts in the comment section; if you want to debate, agree express a thought or ask for a shoutout.

OJ's Top 10 Favorite Films

For the 1st Anniversary of The OJ Reviews I have decided to count down the top ten of my favorite films I like to watch again and again. Now this list could be out of date next year, and a lot will probably change as more and more good movies are coming out, so this is my 2013 Top 10 Film list:

10. Holes

YEAR: 2003
STARS: Shia Labouf, Sigourney Weaver, Jon Voight

PLOT: A wrongfully convicted boy is sent to a brutal desert detention camp where he joins the job of digging holes for some mysterious reason.

WHY I LIKE IT: A really original story, true to the book; has great mystery and good humor.

9. Life of Pi

YEAR: 2012

STARS: Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Adil Hussain

PLOT: A young man who survives a disaster at sea is hurtled into an epic journey of adventure and discovery; while cast away he forms an unexpected connection with another survivor: a fearsome Bengal Tiger.
REVIEW: http://bit.ly/1gK7Fv6

WHY I LIKE IT: I love tigers, and I love adventure; truly epic and the visuals are stunning.

8. Jumper

YEAR: 2008

STARS: Hayden Christensen, Samuel L. Jackson, Rachel Bilson

PLOT: A teenager with teleportation abilities suddenly finds himself in the middle of an ancient war between those like him and their sworn annihilators.

WHY I LIKE IT: A unique story, with good CGI and Samuel L. Jackson with white hair!?

7. Iron Man

YEAR: 2008

STARS: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges

PLOT: When wealthy industrialist Tony Stark is forced to build an armored suit after a life-threatening incident, he ultimately decides to use the technology to fight against evil.

REVIEW: http://bit.ly/1mvxYu1

WHY I LIKE IT: A really entertaining movie with brilliant action and humor; plus set in the Avenger's universe!

6. K-PAX

YEAR: 2001

STARS: Kevin Spacey, Jeff Bridges, Mary McCormack

PLOT: Prot is a patient at a mental hospital who claims to be from a far away planet; his psychiatrist tries to help him, only to begin to doubt his own explanations.

WHY I LIKE IT: A really unusual and intriguing plot that leaves you with an open view of what just happened.

5. Captain America: The First Avenger

YEAR: 2011

STARS: Chris Evans, Hugo Weaving, Hayley Atwell

PLOT: After being deemed unfit for military service, Steve Rogers volunteers for a top secret research project that turns him into Captain America, a superhero dedicated to defending the USA.

REVIEW:  http://bit.ly/1l0YI3P

WHY I LIKE IT: The best of Phase 1 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe I think and is really funny.

4. Iron Man 3

YEAR: 2013

STARS: Robert Downey Jr. Guy Pierce, Gwyneth Paltrow

PLOT: When Tony Stark's world is torn apart by a formidable terrorist called The Mandarin, he starts an odyssey of rebuilding and retribution.

REVIEW: http://bit.ly/1jfyrMe

WHY I LIKE IT: An awesome Iron Man film that's hilariously good and excellently cast.

3. Signs

YEAR: 2002

STARS: Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix, Abigail Breslin

PLOT: A family living on a farm finds mysterious crop circles in their fields which suggests something more frightening to come.

REVIEW: http://bit.ly/1ha05rY

WHY I LIKE IT: Really suspenseful and one of M. Night Shyamalan's better movies.

2. Avengers Assemble

YEAR: 2012

STARS: Robert Downey Jr., Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson

PLOT: Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. assembles a team of superhumans to save the planet from Loki and his army.

REVIEW: http://bit.ly/1jSvbsL

WHY I LIKE IT: It ties in a load of movies into one universe which creates a fantastic piece of entertainment.

1. Jurassic Park

YEAR: 1993

STARS: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum

PLOT: During a preview tour a theme park suffers a major power breakdown that allows it's cloned dinosaur exhibits to run amok.

REVIEW: http://bit.ly/1jfzD1S

WHY I LIKE IT: Dinosaurs, Spielberg, Dinosaurs

Almost Made It:

Some movies that almost made to Top 10 include:

• Some Like It Hot (1959)
• The Fifth Element (1997)
• Jurassic Park III (2001)
• Windbag the Sailor (1936)
• Super 8 (2011)

Thanks for reading my list; do you agree? Do you have your own list? Comment now to tell me!

ORIGINAL VS REMAKE - Spider-Man

This Original VS Remake is all about Spider-Man from 2002 and The Amazing Spider-Man from 2012. Technically the later one isn't a remake but just a different adaption of the comics, but I'll refer to it as a remake

Original

In 2002 we got a very superhero film, one of the first of it's kind with sci-fi, humor and action. Spider-Man was just a nerdy kid who was just leaving school and worked for a newspaper company. After a spider bite he becomes the guy who can climb walls, have superior strength and shoot web from his wrists. This was all pretty good; a nice family film we can all enjoy. I mean the villain wasn't too brilliant but the story seemed to go OK. Unfortunately many people didn't like the sequels, I myself didn't think they were too bad but eventually it killed the franchise, but the first movie I always think is a good watch.

Remake

Ten years later we get a new and improved version of Spider-Man, this time he is 'Amazing'. With updated Cinematic Technology and 3D this remake was pretty good. I felt it was more realistic and more funny. I like Andrew Garfield's take on it and enjoyed quite a few things about it - although this movie is not perfect. You can see my full review HERE.

Comparison

I think Spider-Man is still a good movie now and doesn't seem out of place but The Amazing Spider-Man I enjoy more so for this Original VS Remake, the remake wins!

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!

OJ's Movie Review - Star Trek Into Darkness

One word: tribble.

Yes! Finally, Star Trek Into Darkness - I think we've all waited enough of the 4 years to see this! Wow. To start my review I think I will say, if some fans were disappointed by he 2009's Star Trek and that it wasn't a giant fan fest, well, lets just say, you'd better watch this my friend. Star Trek Into Darkness gives the tie-ins, references and appearances you were asking for. That out the way, the story is excellent as well, the whole plot, the scenes and the action, but it definitely wasn't joking with 'Into Darkness'; this film doesn't really have as much humor as Star Trek but it has the odd quips and bits but its mostly a serious film, "that being said" long time fans will be smiling just because of whats happening. I have to say, there was a certain point where it looked as though it was going a certain way but then there was a certain scene with a certain unexpected person where it went back on track and I enjoyed every minute. Bennedict Cumberbatch of course was on top form, if anyone can play a villain its him; and then Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and the other crew members were also superb and delivered well. So in the end Star Trek Into Darkness was what I think one of the best of the movies and I recommend it to fans of the whole franchise and new comers from 2009.

OJ's Movie Review - Iron Man 3

Okay, so this review has come a little later than intended, but for a good cause!

 Iron Man 3 is the first movie set after The Avengers/Avengers Assemble and the first movie in Phase 2 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It of course would be Iron Man as he started the franchise and is the most popular of The Avengers; so, how does his third movie do? Well, I first went to see  Iron Man 3 late last month in 3D and the again tonight in 2D, so it has marinated in my mind a bit and also had a refresh and in the end Iron Man 3 is just..... AWESOME! Yes I love it! The third installment if a brilliant piece of cinema and is just an enjoyable experience to watch. This movie has a different directer from 1 and 2 and you can defiantly see that; its differs so much from what we've seen of Iron Man movies, the story, the settings, the characters; Iron Man 3 has some scenes where your just like "WOW" especially one scene - it was in the trailer - where Iron Man has to save people who have fallen out the plane, that bit there was so thrilling to watch, I like how instead of green screen they used a stunt team with parachutes; you can defiantly see the money was used wisely. The film's story arc, although its nothing quit like you are expecting, did remind me of a few films such as The Incredibles and Mission: Impossible - yes I know, but you'll see where I'm coming from if you watch. And as some of you may know there is a twist in the middle of the movie that will split fans straight down the middle, I myself enjoyed the twist and rolled with it but I know that others will hate it. Talking about hating I couldn't really find anything wrong with this movie but a little surprise to me was the setting: Christmas, yes a summer movie is at Christmas time; it's not a major thing to the plot but it makes you aware of it which I thought was weird  and also I mentioned watching it in 3D - don't bother, I've seen much better 3D at LegoLand, it didn't really do anything for the movie but in 2D its a great watch with great references to The Avengers and of course the post-credit scene, so do go see Iron Man 3 and enjoy every minute!

OJ's Movie Review - Oblivion

Wow. Okay then. Oblivion.

Tom Cruise and Morgan Freeman, yes that's right, Tom Cruise and Morgan Freeman. Sometimes you just go to the movies and watch something you never expected at all. Before viewing this I watched reviews, asked opinions and looked up the general view so that all pointed to this movie being rubbish or boring, or not much too it. So then I'm walking in now not expecting much at all from a maybe 1 and half hour film - not expecting the 2 hour sci-fi mystery I witnessed! People said that this film didn't have much of a plot but they must have been watching something else! This movie had twist after twist after twist! The pieces getting together in your mind was almost like that of Inception; I mean this is a very interesting, complex - yet slightly simple concept that you don't see very often at all. To start off with it was very much like Wall-E and then had sets like that of The Time Machine and plot strands from i, Robot. All of that mixed together I have to go against most reviews and say I really enjoyed this. Oblivion for me was an unexpected surprise I liked. Oh, and by the way, the CGI in this movie was awesome; the whole atmosphere  landscapes, the ruins, looked brilliant. So yes, Oblivion is a good movie for people who love a good mystery but then also understand the revelation as some maybe need another watch or two.

5 Upcoming OJ Reviews

For this special post on The OJ Reviews I will be showing you previews of FIVE things I'm going to review in the remainder or the year, 2013. Which are you most exited for?

Iron Man 3

Well, this was obvious so I put it first. As I've said on Google+ this review will be up in early May.

Person of Interest season 2

Yes, I hadn't forgotten; I'm still in the middle of watching this mysterious series.

Doctor Who series 7

For those of you who were wondering about this, I like to wait until the entire series is over before reviewing so when you do see it, it will be my thoughts on both parts.

Thor: The Dark World

Defiantly at the end of this year I'm very exited for this sequel to the brilliant Thor.

Spore

A bit surprised?  Yes me too. A seemingly old game in the world of tech but I've always wanted to try it and am considering buying it so this review is more of a maybe.

OJ's Movie Review - Robot & Frank

Meant to do this review earlier but I just forgot to actually sit down and watch it. Anyway, lets review.

Robot and Frank is a nice little film with some very familiar faces just sitting there amongst the big blockbusters. I mean, I wouldn't have known about it if I hadn't seen the trailer on a related video when on YouTube; but this film is very good. The trailer gives you the premise and sets you up for a good film, and then you watch it and you start liking it even more.  Robot & Frank is also good for all genre lovers including sci-fi as you definitely have some relatables to Bicentennial Man or *batteries not included, you get the romance as well and then the mystery which you don't think is in there until you see the brilliant litte twist at the end. My only gripe about this movie is probably the language, there is quite a bit at the beginning and then trails off, but that just isn't needed. I thought the film was OK as a whole and the story, characters and those bits of future tech where you think 'I must have that!' are all great so if you want to see a good film then defiantly go and see Robot & Frank.

The OJ Reviews NEW LOGO!

For those of you who have read The OJ Reviews' Google+ post you will know we are having a logo change. The old one was bit messy and didn't look to good but now after some viewpoints and votes we finally have the OJ Reviews logo 2.0. I hope you like it and you will be seeing it on other sites we're on soon!

Another tidier version will be used for thumbnails and small profile pictures:

OJ's Book Review - Why the Whales Came

Yes; a bit random but I've just read it and have only posted one thing this month. So here we go!

Why the Whales Came is a Morpurgo book that came out in 1985. It was lent to me by a friend so I read it. While reading I came to the conclusion that this book should not be called Why the Whales Came because the entire story has nothing to do with whales until the very end; so the title is almost like a spoiler for a twist ending. A better title would be The Birdman because that is what the book centres on really - this apparently crazy old man who is maybe related to a witch. Two children start talking too him through shell messages and that begins the story. As I've probably mentioned before Michael Morpurgo is very good at describing things, some scenes you can see in your mind like a photo. The story too was well executed. Very good mystery and it kept leaving you asking questions in your mind. It also built a little bit of fear at the beginning to the children's safety when they got near this Birdman guy and then as nearly all Morpurgo books do it ties in with the war and that becomes a main plot line. So Why the Whales Came was a very good book and do recommend it to all ages; just don't expect everything to be about whales.

ORIGINAL VS REMAKE - King Kong

The first Original VS Remake is 1933's King Kong going up against the 2005 remake.

Original

1933 brought us a crazy film maker called Carl Denham who liked filming wild animals and strange things for his movies. And he has a new film to shoot but his lead actress has quit so he accidentally finds a girl while she's stealing an apple and they go off aboard the ship to Skull Mountain - an unknown island of mystery. This movie was pretty good for its time, it had a good plot, characters and good effects in the case of stop-motion which was all the rage back then. The acting was a bit shabby but all in all in was enjoyable and an old monster classic.

Remake

In 2005 they upgraded King Kong with CGI, a popular cast and more storyline. Obviously the effects where better, and it was in colour but King Kong in 2005 definitely kept true to the original. There were almost exact scenes, same lines, and same time period. There were of course new things as creatures, characters and plot points and they changed a few things like the beginning the natives being a bit more savage but they were for the good and really improved it.

Comparison

1933's was good but 2005's was just that bit better, maybe for the effects but more for the story line - there was a lot more to it. But I'm happy they kept very close to the original so the remake wins the first Original VS Remake but that's just my opinions. What do you think?