About six months ago I reviewed "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss on this blog. I never reviewed the sequel "Wise Man's Fear" on this blog because I was afraid of spoiling anything. This is such a fun series to read going in knowing absolutely nothing. I'm currently re-reading the series. I'm on Wise Man's Fear and I thought why not give an overview of the whole series? Because I don't feel it gets enough love that it deserves. Imagine the dark elements of Game of Thrones, add in some of the charm of Harry Potter. You get the Kingkiller Chronicle.
Last August I was at my local Barnes and Noble wearing my Game of Thrones t-shirt and the individual working the counter saw my shirt and told me that because I was a Game of Thrones fan, I would enjoy Name of the Wind. I picked it up shortly afterwards and was immediately enthralled by it. Since I don't want to give too much away I'll just give a brief overview of the series. It chronicles the rise and fall of a man named Kvothe who would become the greatest wizard of all time. He gives up on his life of adventures, fakes his own death, and opens a tavern. His patrons will come in and tell stories about him, not knowing the man they're talking about is the man who is serving them drinks. One thing leads to another and he ends up getting the opportunity to tell his whole story over a span of three days. The first book Name of the Wind is the first day he tells his story, A Wise Man's Fear is day two, Doors of Stone which is not yet out will be day 3. We get to see everything that happens to Kvothe, all his successes and his failures.
A Wise Man's fear picks up where Name of the Wind leaves off. It has more adult themes to it. It expands this universe that Rothfuss created in a really nice way. For most of the first book Kvothe mainly stays in one region of the world that this takes place in. In A Wise Man's Fear he goes on the other side of the world and has some adventures there. This book does what a second installment in any franchise should do. Develop old characters and add in new ones. Rothfuss did both like a master.
I feel I should also mention The Slow Regard of Silent Things in this review as well which is a novella about another character in the series. There's no action and very little dialougue in the book, but it's so wonderfully written I was able to really enjoy it.
What I love about these three books is that it's not your typical fantasy story. There are no armies of elves and orcs fighting. It's not about a hero in shining armor who defeats a dragon and saves a princess. This is a more character driven story. The characters in this story I can easily imagine them living in our world today. I think that's why the people I talk to who have read it love it so much.
Patrick Rothfuss is an up and coming star in the literary world. I give this series as a whole 5 out of five stars. I love it just as much if not more than Game of Thrones. I'm eagerly awaiting Doors of Stone. Hopefully it will be out next year. If you love Game of Thrones pick up these books.
Sunday, June 28, 2015
Saturday, May 2, 2015
Avengers Age of Ultron Review
I just saw one of my most anticipated movies of the year. Avengers Age of Ultron. The first Avengers movie is one of my favorite movies of all-time. I coinsider seeing that in the theatre the end of my childhood. I had my best friend from high school over, we watched all the build-up movies, and the next morning we saw it. The first Avengers movie was also the first movie I bought on blu-ray. Some of my readers may remember that the Avengers review was the first post I made on this blog. That movie made me want to start this blog. Needless to say I'm a huge fan of the Avengers. Does this movie live up to the hype, or was phase two all for nothing?
If you don't know the plot, Tony Stark creates Ultron with the intent of protecting the world, however Ultron becomes self-aware and tries to destroy the world. All that stands between him, and the extinction of the human race is the Avengers.
One problem Marvel had with phase two is that their villains were not memorable. Ultron is not only the best villain in phase two, he's second only to Loki for the best villain in the Marvel Cinematic Universe right now. James Spader as the voice of Ultron knocked it out of the park. What I loved about this movie is that the stakes get higher and higher with each confrontation the Avengers had with him.
The other new characters to mention are Quicksilver/Pietro Maximoff played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff played by Elizabeth Olsen. They had good chemistry together. I liked the Quicksilver in X-Men Days of Future Past a little better, but this one is still pretty good. The route they go with these two characters in somewhat unexpected, but I didn't mind it too much. I like when a movie can surprise me like that. Also as seen in one of the posters, Vision is in the movie played by Paul Bettany. I really liked him as well. It was interesting to see Paul Bettany do something besides Jarvis, and I thought he pulled it off very well.
I have two problems with the film. The creation of Ultron seemed a little rushed. I know Joss Whedon cut some scenes out. I read somewhere that the original cut of the movie was almost three hours. It's been confirmed that there will be an extended cut released on blu-ray. Hopefully that will resolve this issue. The second problem is that I was hoping for more set-up for Civil War at the end. The very last scene in the movie is somewhat of a set-up for it, but not as much as I wanted.
A few problems aside, I loved this movie. Needless to say stick around until the middle of the credits. The scene was one of my favorite post credit scenes. My friend and I stayed after that scene and there's nothing there. I'm going to give this movie 4.75 out of 5. These Avengers movies are the definition of summer fun at the movie theatre.
If you don't know the plot, Tony Stark creates Ultron with the intent of protecting the world, however Ultron becomes self-aware and tries to destroy the world. All that stands between him, and the extinction of the human race is the Avengers.
One problem Marvel had with phase two is that their villains were not memorable. Ultron is not only the best villain in phase two, he's second only to Loki for the best villain in the Marvel Cinematic Universe right now. James Spader as the voice of Ultron knocked it out of the park. What I loved about this movie is that the stakes get higher and higher with each confrontation the Avengers had with him.
The other new characters to mention are Quicksilver/Pietro Maximoff played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff played by Elizabeth Olsen. They had good chemistry together. I liked the Quicksilver in X-Men Days of Future Past a little better, but this one is still pretty good. The route they go with these two characters in somewhat unexpected, but I didn't mind it too much. I like when a movie can surprise me like that. Also as seen in one of the posters, Vision is in the movie played by Paul Bettany. I really liked him as well. It was interesting to see Paul Bettany do something besides Jarvis, and I thought he pulled it off very well.
I have two problems with the film. The creation of Ultron seemed a little rushed. I know Joss Whedon cut some scenes out. I read somewhere that the original cut of the movie was almost three hours. It's been confirmed that there will be an extended cut released on blu-ray. Hopefully that will resolve this issue. The second problem is that I was hoping for more set-up for Civil War at the end. The very last scene in the movie is somewhat of a set-up for it, but not as much as I wanted.
A few problems aside, I loved this movie. Needless to say stick around until the middle of the credits. The scene was one of my favorite post credit scenes. My friend and I stayed after that scene and there's nothing there. I'm going to give this movie 4.75 out of 5. These Avengers movies are the definition of summer fun at the movie theatre.
Thursday, April 9, 2015
Kingsman The Secret Service Review
Kingsman the Secret Service is directed by Matthew Vaughn and stars Colin Firth, Micheal Caine, Samuel L. Jackson, Mark Strong, Teron Egerton, and Sophia Boutella. In this movie Colin Firth is a member of a secret spy organization called the Kingsman. He recruits Teron Egerton, the son of a former Kingsman to audition to become a Kingsman. He trains him not only how to be a spy, but also how to be a gentleman.
Matthew Vaughn was rumored to direct Star Wars for a very long time, he was also going to direct X-Men Days of Future Past and he turned it down to direct this movie. Why would he turn down such a big franchise like those? Because he can direct a very fun and action packed spy film. This is a great omage to classic British spy films. Spectre and Mission Impossible 5, you have a lot of competition for the best spy movie of this year.
Colin Firth was amazing as the lead role in this movie. I really doubted weather or not he would be able to do the action scenes well. I read somewhere that he did 80 percent of his own stunts. That amazed me! Samuel L. Jackson as the villain, they gave his voice some sort of lisp, I thought that itself was an omage to old school James Bond movies. To give the villain some sort of tick. Samuel L. Jackson knocked this role out of the park. I've saved the last performances I want to talk about for last, Teron Egerton, and Sophia Boutella. What Breakout performances by both of these actors! I've never seen either of them before in anything. Something tells me I have not seen the last of them either. Teron Egerton plays the young kid Colin Firth recruits. He was so believable and his performance really drove this movie. Sophia Boutella as Samuel L. Jackson's assistant. She was such a great villain with blades for feet. She was really over the top in such a great way.
Another great thing about this movie is the soundtrack. As soon as the movie opened "Money for Nothing" by the Dire Straits played and at that point I knew the soundtrack was going to be a character as well. It adds a comical element to one scene that I will not spoil. But when it happened, I was laughing very hard.
If there's any negative I can think of it's there's one action sequence in particular that went a little over the top with the violence. and this movie is not for the faint of heart.
Overall I had an absolute blast with this movie. My hope is that this movie will overtake Fifty Shades of Gray in the box office. I don't think that's going to happen but it deserves it. I can't wait to see it again I'm going to give Kingsman the Secret Service 4.8 out of 5 stars.
Matthew Vaughn was rumored to direct Star Wars for a very long time, he was also going to direct X-Men Days of Future Past and he turned it down to direct this movie. Why would he turn down such a big franchise like those? Because he can direct a very fun and action packed spy film. This is a great omage to classic British spy films. Spectre and Mission Impossible 5, you have a lot of competition for the best spy movie of this year.
Colin Firth was amazing as the lead role in this movie. I really doubted weather or not he would be able to do the action scenes well. I read somewhere that he did 80 percent of his own stunts. That amazed me! Samuel L. Jackson as the villain, they gave his voice some sort of lisp, I thought that itself was an omage to old school James Bond movies. To give the villain some sort of tick. Samuel L. Jackson knocked this role out of the park. I've saved the last performances I want to talk about for last, Teron Egerton, and Sophia Boutella. What Breakout performances by both of these actors! I've never seen either of them before in anything. Something tells me I have not seen the last of them either. Teron Egerton plays the young kid Colin Firth recruits. He was so believable and his performance really drove this movie. Sophia Boutella as Samuel L. Jackson's assistant. She was such a great villain with blades for feet. She was really over the top in such a great way.
Another great thing about this movie is the soundtrack. As soon as the movie opened "Money for Nothing" by the Dire Straits played and at that point I knew the soundtrack was going to be a character as well. It adds a comical element to one scene that I will not spoil. But when it happened, I was laughing very hard.
If there's any negative I can think of it's there's one action sequence in particular that went a little over the top with the violence. and this movie is not for the faint of heart.
Overall I had an absolute blast with this movie. My hope is that this movie will overtake Fifty Shades of Gray in the box office. I don't think that's going to happen but it deserves it. I can't wait to see it again I'm going to give Kingsman the Secret Service 4.8 out of 5 stars.
Thursday, March 26, 2015
Is Hollywood Rebooting Too many Franchises?
I subscribe to a couple movie podcasts and a couple times over the past few months, I've heard them debate weather Back to the Future and Indiana Jones should be rebooted. That got me thinking is Hollywood rebooting too many of our childhood franchises? In my opinion, yes they are. DISCLAIMER: Some of the reboots like Star Wars, I'm very excited for. Others like Ghostbusters should be left alone.
A couple days ago I made a list of all the franchises I'm aware of that are getting rebooted and the list that I made is as follows; Star Wars, Terminator, Jurassic Park, Ghostbusters, Power Rangers, and rumors of Back to the Future and Indiana Jones. I believe it's inevitable that Indiana Jones will be rebooted. If Chris Pratt ends up playing him I will be on bored. That's only because I hated Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. If the Indiana Jones franchise ended with Indiana Jones and friends riding off into the sunset at the end of The Last Crusade, I would not want the reboot. That's why I'm excited for Star Wars so much because I hated the prequels. Movies that have not had a terrible movie should be left alone.
With Ghostbusters it's not the all female cast that bothers me, I'm fine with the first two movies. It's unnecessary for this franchise to be rebooted. I watched a Youtube video where someone was talking about this particular reboot. I'll put a link in the comments section because he makes some good points.
The Jurassic World trailer got me excited for the movie. I'm cautiously optimistic that this will be an entertaining movie. However it's not going to be as good as the first one. The first Jurassic Park movie is one of the best movies ever made. It changed cinematic history with the mind blowing CGI. The dinosaurs looked so real in that movie. With all the advancements in technology, it won't be as special as the first one.
The last one I want to talk in depth about is Terminator. The Terminator franchise has declined a lot. We have not had a good Terminator movie since Judgment Day in 1991. The trailer did not win me over. My main problem is Arnold Schwarzenegger hasn't done a good movie in a long time, James Cameron isn't directing this one, and the T1000 isn't going to be as good as Robert Patrick's.
I want to see more original movies be made. I understand why Hollywood reboots these franchises because they make the most money. Last year a movie came out called Edge of Tomorrow. The movie was based off of a graphic novel called "All You Need is Kill" and it only did okay at the box office. I've read a lot of books over the past few months like Name of the Wind that would make good movies or TV series. I would like to see something new every now and then. However even if a franchise you love gets rebooted, and the reboot doesn't do it justice. You can always watch the originals. Reboots don't destroy childhoods, they're just cash grabs. I'm curious to know What are your thoughts about all this? Did I leave something out you wanted me to talk about? or what franchise do you want rebooted? Because as I said earlier, I don't hate all reboots. Leave a comment below and let me know.
A couple days ago I made a list of all the franchises I'm aware of that are getting rebooted and the list that I made is as follows; Star Wars, Terminator, Jurassic Park, Ghostbusters, Power Rangers, and rumors of Back to the Future and Indiana Jones. I believe it's inevitable that Indiana Jones will be rebooted. If Chris Pratt ends up playing him I will be on bored. That's only because I hated Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. If the Indiana Jones franchise ended with Indiana Jones and friends riding off into the sunset at the end of The Last Crusade, I would not want the reboot. That's why I'm excited for Star Wars so much because I hated the prequels. Movies that have not had a terrible movie should be left alone.
With Ghostbusters it's not the all female cast that bothers me, I'm fine with the first two movies. It's unnecessary for this franchise to be rebooted. I watched a Youtube video where someone was talking about this particular reboot. I'll put a link in the comments section because he makes some good points.
The Jurassic World trailer got me excited for the movie. I'm cautiously optimistic that this will be an entertaining movie. However it's not going to be as good as the first one. The first Jurassic Park movie is one of the best movies ever made. It changed cinematic history with the mind blowing CGI. The dinosaurs looked so real in that movie. With all the advancements in technology, it won't be as special as the first one.
The last one I want to talk in depth about is Terminator. The Terminator franchise has declined a lot. We have not had a good Terminator movie since Judgment Day in 1991. The trailer did not win me over. My main problem is Arnold Schwarzenegger hasn't done a good movie in a long time, James Cameron isn't directing this one, and the T1000 isn't going to be as good as Robert Patrick's.
I want to see more original movies be made. I understand why Hollywood reboots these franchises because they make the most money. Last year a movie came out called Edge of Tomorrow. The movie was based off of a graphic novel called "All You Need is Kill" and it only did okay at the box office. I've read a lot of books over the past few months like Name of the Wind that would make good movies or TV series. I would like to see something new every now and then. However even if a franchise you love gets rebooted, and the reboot doesn't do it justice. You can always watch the originals. Reboots don't destroy childhoods, they're just cash grabs. I'm curious to know What are your thoughts about all this? Did I leave something out you wanted me to talk about? or what franchise do you want rebooted? Because as I said earlier, I don't hate all reboots. Leave a comment below and let me know.
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Avengers Age of Ultron Trailer 2 and Ant Man Trailer
Earlier this week, Marvel released a second trailer for Avengers Age of Ultron, and they released a trailer for Ant-Man. Now I'm reviewing them.
I was wary of another Avengers trailer because I don't want another trailer like the Amazing Spiderman movies where they show you the entire movie in 2 minutes. I am pleased to say that this trailer for Avengers Age of Ultron does not do that. It doesn't show a lot that we have not already seen. The big take away I had was the scene when Tony Stark is in the Hulk Buster armor fighting the Hulk. There was a theory before this trailer came out that Ultron was controlling the Hulk Buster armor after watching this trailer I feel that theory has been proved wrong. There's a new theory that maybe Scarlet Witch is controlling Hulk. We see Hulk's eyes are red in one shot. Maybe that means he's being controlled. I guess we'll have to wait and see. That's what I love about this trailer that I can go see it on May 1st and not know everything. There will still be surprises in the movie.
Also this week, we got a trailer for Ant-Man. I want to preface everything by saying there was nothing in the trailer that got me upset and I'm going to see this movie when it gets released in theatres. However there was nothing that got me really excited to see it. Nothing in that trailer made me think "WOW! July can't get here fast enough. Ultron Who?" I have fears that this movie will not be good. A trailer is a chance to put your best foot forward and if this footage is the best they've got we're in trouble. They showed some test footage at comic-con that was better than this. I feel that if they put a little bit of that in this trailer, it would've been better. I feel like Marvel doesn't know the tone of the movie. Edgar Wright left this project less than a year ago. I feel like he had a vision for this movie and now he's gone and I fear this movie will not be able to recover from that. On the flip side of the coin. I like the talent in the movie. Paul Rudd is playing Scott Lang who is the second Ant-Man. Micheal Douglas is playing Hank Pym who was the first Ant-Man and Evangeline Lily is Hope Van Dyne. I don't know anything about that character we'll have to wait and see. Maybe the movie will still be good. All I'm saying is the trailer could've been better.
So that's my thoughts on the trailers for The Avengers Age of Ultron and Ant Man. Have you seen the trailers and what did you think about them? Feel free to leave a comment below.
I was wary of another Avengers trailer because I don't want another trailer like the Amazing Spiderman movies where they show you the entire movie in 2 minutes. I am pleased to say that this trailer for Avengers Age of Ultron does not do that. It doesn't show a lot that we have not already seen. The big take away I had was the scene when Tony Stark is in the Hulk Buster armor fighting the Hulk. There was a theory before this trailer came out that Ultron was controlling the Hulk Buster armor after watching this trailer I feel that theory has been proved wrong. There's a new theory that maybe Scarlet Witch is controlling Hulk. We see Hulk's eyes are red in one shot. Maybe that means he's being controlled. I guess we'll have to wait and see. That's what I love about this trailer that I can go see it on May 1st and not know everything. There will still be surprises in the movie.
Also this week, we got a trailer for Ant-Man. I want to preface everything by saying there was nothing in the trailer that got me upset and I'm going to see this movie when it gets released in theatres. However there was nothing that got me really excited to see it. Nothing in that trailer made me think "WOW! July can't get here fast enough. Ultron Who?" I have fears that this movie will not be good. A trailer is a chance to put your best foot forward and if this footage is the best they've got we're in trouble. They showed some test footage at comic-con that was better than this. I feel that if they put a little bit of that in this trailer, it would've been better. I feel like Marvel doesn't know the tone of the movie. Edgar Wright left this project less than a year ago. I feel like he had a vision for this movie and now he's gone and I fear this movie will not be able to recover from that. On the flip side of the coin. I like the talent in the movie. Paul Rudd is playing Scott Lang who is the second Ant-Man. Micheal Douglas is playing Hank Pym who was the first Ant-Man and Evangeline Lily is Hope Van Dyne. I don't know anything about that character we'll have to wait and see. Maybe the movie will still be good. All I'm saying is the trailer could've been better.
So that's my thoughts on the trailers for The Avengers Age of Ultron and Ant Man. Have you seen the trailers and what did you think about them? Feel free to leave a comment below.
Thursday, January 1, 2015
Interstellar Spoiler Review
Interstellar has been out in theatres for almost 2 months now. As many of you may know, I just saw this movie for the first time recently. I really enjoyed this movie, however I've heard a lot of controversy about it. Some people hail it as a masterpiece, while others say that it's overrated and boring. Watching the trailer I couldn't see how a movie that looked so epic and interesting could be so polarizing. To this day I don't think Christopher Nolan has made a bad movie. Throughout this post I will defend my stance on the movie.
One problem I've heard people say is that they were disappointed with the revelation that Cooper was Murph's ghost. This was during the scene when Cooper is trying to communicate with her through the bookshelf. I thought this part was very heartbreaking. I was fighting back tears during this scene.
Another problem I've heard is that people didn't like Anne Hathaway's character. Nolan's detractors say that the female characters in his movies are weak. People complained that during the Scene when Brandt is trying to convince Cooper that they should go to this planet that another explorer had visited previously. To see if he's still there because she's in love with this explorer. People say that Brandt was dependant on love from another man. I disagree with this completely because I don't see how love makes a person weak. What if the person Brandt was describing was a brother, or a friend. I don't think people would have complained as much.
The man that Brandt is describing in that scene was said to be the best of them. The one that gave them hope for the future. They go to this planet and find him. This was when it was when we are introduced to Matt Damon's character. This is considered a spoiler even though it was public knowledge that Damon had accepted a small role in the film. It was really shocking to me to find out that he was really the bad guy. However after I got home from the movie, I started thinking. I imagined the character sitting alone on a planet with nothing but ice. He goes into his sleep chamber and does not set an awakening date, So he just goes to sleep possibly forever. Looking back on it, his attempts to sabotage Cooper and Brandt's mission is clear as day. I was very impressed with Matt Damon's performance because I've never seen him play a cowardly character, but he was able to pull it off.
My main problem with the movie was I don't feel like the final 10 minutes of the movie where necessary. I didn't feel the emotional pull like how I did earlier in the movie. When Cooper is trying to communicate with Murph and begging his old self not to leave home. And when he was able to make contact with her in her older form, he was so excited. Murph was able to reconnect with her father through space and time. That moment was so powerful because both characters had reached their arcs. I enjoyed seeing Cooper visit Murph in her older self but it wasn't necessary.
These are the points I wanted to touch on. Even if I didn't like the movie, I would still much rather watch it than watch another Micheal Bay Transformers movie. Because at least this movie is ambitious and tries new things.
One problem I've heard people say is that they were disappointed with the revelation that Cooper was Murph's ghost. This was during the scene when Cooper is trying to communicate with her through the bookshelf. I thought this part was very heartbreaking. I was fighting back tears during this scene.
Another problem I've heard is that people didn't like Anne Hathaway's character. Nolan's detractors say that the female characters in his movies are weak. People complained that during the Scene when Brandt is trying to convince Cooper that they should go to this planet that another explorer had visited previously. To see if he's still there because she's in love with this explorer. People say that Brandt was dependant on love from another man. I disagree with this completely because I don't see how love makes a person weak. What if the person Brandt was describing was a brother, or a friend. I don't think people would have complained as much.
The man that Brandt is describing in that scene was said to be the best of them. The one that gave them hope for the future. They go to this planet and find him. This was when it was when we are introduced to Matt Damon's character. This is considered a spoiler even though it was public knowledge that Damon had accepted a small role in the film. It was really shocking to me to find out that he was really the bad guy. However after I got home from the movie, I started thinking. I imagined the character sitting alone on a planet with nothing but ice. He goes into his sleep chamber and does not set an awakening date, So he just goes to sleep possibly forever. Looking back on it, his attempts to sabotage Cooper and Brandt's mission is clear as day. I was very impressed with Matt Damon's performance because I've never seen him play a cowardly character, but he was able to pull it off.
My main problem with the movie was I don't feel like the final 10 minutes of the movie where necessary. I didn't feel the emotional pull like how I did earlier in the movie. When Cooper is trying to communicate with Murph and begging his old self not to leave home. And when he was able to make contact with her in her older form, he was so excited. Murph was able to reconnect with her father through space and time. That moment was so powerful because both characters had reached their arcs. I enjoyed seeing Cooper visit Murph in her older self but it wasn't necessary.
These are the points I wanted to touch on. Even if I didn't like the movie, I would still much rather watch it than watch another Micheal Bay Transformers movie. Because at least this movie is ambitious and tries new things.
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