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