ORIGINAL VS REMAKE - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

This Original VS Remake takes you to a world of pure imagination.

Original

In 1971 Roald Dahl's unique book was adapted to the big screen and fascinated a generation. The film was called Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and Gene Wilder created an iconic depiction of the titular character. I really like this film, it's warm and actually really funny; Wilder delivers some cracking lines that wouldn't look out of place in today's comedy movies. It has a solid story, you enjoy watching the characters interact with the factory and for it's time it has some pretty good practical effects. A true classic.

Remake

Along comes 2005 and with it a film that actually has the same title as it's source material, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Johnny Depp becomes the chocolatier and popular child actor Freddie Highmore is Charlie Bucket. Unlike the original, this adaptation does stick much closer to the book and obviously CGI makes for some awesome visuals along with more of a science fiction feel than the original's fantasy vibe. Johnny Depp's Wonka though is where I think it fails, his portrayal makes him seem very weird and even a bit mentally unstable, which I guess what comes when you have Tim Burton directing. 

Comparison

I'm glad that the 2005 adaptation stuck closer to the book with making the setting British again and using the actual songs (which were pretty catchy) but in the end Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory caught the imagination of many audiences and so today the original wins.

OJ's Game Review - LEGO Marvel Super Heroes

I love Marvel. I love LEGO. What else is there to say?

So LEGO Marvel Super Heroes was released late 2013 which is when I bought it and planned to review it; unfortunately I didn't read the PC specifications and basically I couldn't play it on my then-current  laptop. So eventually I got a new laptop and here we are!

   This game is your basic LEGO game, you collect studs, you unlock characters, etc. But this time it's Marvel! These characters are awesome, you can fly, you can shrink, you can grow, throw fire, ice, electricity. It's just a roller coaster of powers that you love exploring. The mechanics are nice and smooth, easy to get a handle of. The animation is amazing, the movements of Spider-Man swinging or the transformation from Bruce Banner to the Hulk look incredible. Some of the characters can be a bit generic like construction workers or enemy minions but the majority of the people have unique powers from the X-Men, Avengers, Sinister Six, you have them all. 

    It does have a plot mode which isn't bad. It has some good comedic lines and some of the cinematography was definitely influenced by the films. Also the music, the music in this game is really good, especially when you jump off the Helicarrier. The only down-side I would have to point out was the repetitiveness, because there are so many things to collect you have to redo levels over and over again which for me took some of the joy away. In the end though, this is the first LEGO game of this type I've bought and I am a satisfied customer.

9/10

OJ's TV Review - Falling Skies season 4

This is not a world I would like to live in.

So TNT's Falling Skies has reached it's 4th season, where can they go now? Well if you remember last season we were introduced to the character of Lexi, a human-alien hybrid and daughter of Tom Mason; this year she is grown up due to her extra terrestrial DNA and she is the main plot of the season.
   When the season began various characters were quickly thrust into one of four story arcs; I felt this was weird, I thought that each story arc was going to drag over the whole season and then meet in the finale. Fortunately that isn't what happened, although some of the arcs were interesting they dispersed with them around episode 5 and it got into the main focus of Lexi. Now Lexi did have a solid and complete story, but I, and I know others do, didn't really care. Lexi just never caught my interest, she never did anything which I really wanted to follow. Her story does allow us to see some new things concerning the Espheni though and that was cool to see; the series definitely looks like it has had a budget rise. All the main characters were on top form though, and we even had to say goodbye to some; a couple of new faces joined as well and they were fun to watch. After all that though I'd say it was an improvement on the last season with a good finale cliffhanger but still not quite as good as the first two seasons.

7/10