201 DAYS OF THE X-FILES: chipping away at the behemoth...

Resuming after an unabashedly long period of silence...

I, myself for many years have wished to watch from the beginning to the end of the cultural phenomenon that is The X-Files, but to no avail...

So when a new mini-series was announced to continue where it left off a whole 13 years past its ending, with FOX launching a campaign to watch an episode every day until it's première, it couldn't be a better time to start, right?

The show's quality is unquestionably good overall, excelling to great at points, with some episodes becoming genuinely disturbing or unsettling. (Here's looking at you, The Host.) But, here I am in the midst of season 2, no longer being able to deny that episodes can potentially range from being bad to as aforementioned mind-bogglingly great. As for every episode like The Host or very early on in season 1, Squeeze, there's a Firewalker waiting for you, and while it never reaches the levels of unwatchable, they really do struggle to pull me in for their running time.

Quality aside, I complain about the show but I can't bare to pull myself away from it, a definitive first-world problem arises: 201 episodes is a lot to stomach. That is what previously put myself and other friends off of watching The X-Files. However, once you break into it and pass the first season, you're in flying colours and at least myself can't stop watching. An episode a day isn't enough, sometimes I can sit through 4 or 5 in one day. It's an insatiable demand with plenty of supply, only stopped by mortality... primarily sleep deprivation. Watching now is in all likeliness the best way to do it, as when it approaches January next year and it continues, the understanding of all of the show's past nuances and lore can only be rewarding. A time investment that pays off with even more of an investment of said time.

What more is there to say? If you love or even passively like television to some extent, which probably accounts for almost everyone, put the X-Files on your watch list, hell, start it right now. 201 episodes sounds like a lot and believe me it sure is, but believe me again, it sure is worth it.

WE GET THE WORLD WE DESERVE: season 2 of True Detective comes to a close...

For once, I adhere to the namesake of this blog... there will be spoilers!

With the 90-minute spectacle "Omega Station", the somewhat unsteady yet somehow riveting second season has ended. Did it redeem itself? The answer to that is merely a mix of yes and no.

Continuing on from the pilot that so many called disappointing, it received similar criticism for later episodes, but for me, the time investment really paid off when it hit the climax of episode 4: the extravagant shoot-out that only starts the slippery slope for our morally ambiguous heroes. However, up until that point, the episodes were still largely entertaining, but suffered from some surprisingly major detractors.

For example, the end of the second episode. Velcoro is seen to be shot twice in the stomach point blank by a shotgun upon finding Ben Caspere's illusive hard drive, for the week-wide cliffhanger to be clumsily resolved by the reveal of non-lethal riot shells, not buckshot. It did serve the purpose of the story and made sense within its context, but if that wasn't a horrific bait, I don't know what was. In terms of misplaced cliffhangers anyhow, it still doesn't reach The Desolation of Smaug's levels, not by a long shot.

The slow start is the main issue that most had with this fledgling second season and to a certain extent, I agree. When it starts to kick out its shockers, it never lets go. The aforementioned shoot-out in episode 4, the subsequent backlash and time jump in 5, the bizarre and nightmarish orgy sequence in 6, the death of Woodrugh in 7 and now here we are: the final nail in the coffin for a majority of our surviving leads.

One last attempt at cracking the case is made before our characters realise that the hydra is unstoppable, you cut one head off, another one grows in its place. They need to get out before they follow Woodrugh's fate as Velcoro is framed for his murder. Both Velcoro and Bezzerides are fugitives, on the run from the long arm of the law. However, what eventually culminates by the show's closing minutes is utterly heartbreaking. There is one last glimmer of hope as all of the loose ends are tied and they can all make their escape from the toxic noir that is Los Angeles, but emotion and human weakness shatters that illusion and it all comes tumbling down. 

Frank is ambushed by the side he least expected and is left for dead in the desert, stumbling through all of his visions of nay-sayers throughout his life, all of the people who said he could do no good, striding past them, leading up to his one reason to live - his wife. In a twist of fate, when Frank says to her that he has to keep moving, she struggles to retort: "you stopped moving way back there". Reminded of his wife only being a vision, Frank passed before he even got to her.

Velcoro is tracked down after letting down his guard to see his son one last time, throwing away his chance to escape. In his last chase and ditch attempt, he sends a voicemail to his son as a goodbye and to explain to him that it is nothing like it seemed. After an exchange in bullets, just when you think he may actually make it, reality kicks in and he is shot to pieces by his boss Lieutenant Burris, Woodrugh's killer and overall scum bag and his squad. His phone is last seen, with a message that reads: "Failed to Upload Recording to chadvelcoro@gmail.com", his son will never hear his heartbreaking last goodbye as his wife discovers that Chad really is his son, getting back the paternity test.

As after all, the second season of True Detective doesn't succumb to what the twists and turns of the case are, it's about the people behind it and your hope for their success. Cohle and Hart from the first season may have survived, but they never even scratched the surface of the conspiracy that they attempted to uncover. The higher-ups and those responsible will never be accounted for as they left it too long unsolved. The final message that this season poses wraps it up ever so perfectly as the current conspiracy becomes too much to handle and comes back and ruins our heroes chances of a new life, absorbing them. While Frank's wife and Ani get away with Velcoro's second child, they are left no more satisfied. Ani lays down all of the evidence they had, knowing that it will most likely never even make a dent on the unsolved conspiracy. 

Incredible performances from Colin Farrell, Rachel McAdams, Taylor Kitsch and of course Vince Vaughn all hold this up past the sometimes questionable dialogue and slight holes in the plot to create an overall touching experience that is as good as the season that preceded it. The bad guys win, and we all do get the world that we deserve...

INSIDE OUT (2015) thoughts & review, "the best since UP!"...

It's time for a current release, current to the point that I haven't actually seen it yet! These words were kindly provided by one Adam James Young, currently running his own blog, right here.

I must admit, I wasn’t really expecting anything much from Disney/Pixar new movie. After all, the last films that Pixar had done weren’t exactly stellar: Monsters University was okay, but lacked humour of Monsters Inc. and before that Brave was a piss poor attempt to try and be “Brave” with the princess theme that Disney perfected a long while back and try and make it empowering to women and younger girls. However, that went horribly to say the least. Even when I saw the excellent reviews on Rotten Tomatoes at an amazingly high 98%, I felt something inside me saying that it was going to be another mediocre dud. Not bad, just plain average.

Boy was I shocked - not only was this good but it was certainly by far the best Pixar film since Up! No film since Up! has had a stronger message for kids than this. It’s excellent. The story is about Riley Anderson (Kaitlyn Dias), an 11 year old girl who has moved with her parents from Minnesota to San Francisco. Naturally moving from Minnesota to hippy central San Francisco both of which provide a mix of emotions to experience.

In comes Riley emotions: Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Fear (Bill Hader), Anger (Lewis Black) and Disgust (Mindy Kaling). The cast is for the most part. Amy Poehler voices her the exact same personality as she does in almost everything else she's been in. Optimistic, bubbly & just a little bit unrealistic. Really if you close your eyes and just listen to her talk, it sounds like clips from Parks & Recreation. But... I like Parks & Recreation so I'll allow it. The real standout though is Sadness voiced to perfection by Phyllis Smith. Her dry & slow performance make the most quotable lines in the film.

The story is interesting and always seems to be on the move. This is because of the need to swap perspectives in the film to flesh out both sides. Usually this is never helpful for a kids movie (Osmosis Jones anyone?) but because of it always being interesting to watch, whether it be in Riley's head or outside of it you'll probably not seem to mind.

The many messages of the film is by the far the best thing about this film. Every kid’s film should have some important message. The message in this kid’s film however, it even goes to rival many adult films. It’s damn well in philosophical terms.

The message is the importance of our mixture of emotions. It talks about the importance of suffering. To link in with religious philosophy, this film is saying the Veil of Soul Making. The idea that we suffer to make us better people. We need sadness as much as we need joy. Those events make us stronger. Another compelling idea that has been overlooked by other reviewers is the accepting that we let go of things. We lose friends in life. We have to face that facts that we just grow apart and move on. This may not be a nice concept but it is an honest one, the whole film had me genuinely questioning things about life. A rare feat for a supposed “child’s” movie...

Safe to say, Inside Out is one of the most mature films to come out of the Disney canon. No real and generic truly happy ending and no bad guy or villain. (Unless you consider loss of one's self a bad guy but who would?) All you need to make a great film is good characters, good story and concepts that get your head into motion.

Not forgetting Richard Kind's portrayal of Riley’s ex-imaginary friend Bing Bong, playing it to Jewish perfection...

THREE FLAVOURS CORNETTO: The World's End (2013), just one more...

THE WORLD'S END is what most people consider the weakest of the series - I'm here to disagree with that.

Why I believe this film is not the worst of the three but the best, reasons are aplenty. The complete role reversal between Simon Pegg and Nick Frost for one. In the past two entries, Pegg has been the upstanding citizen or at least the better of the two, with Frost being the self-deprecating and borderline dumbbell. This time, it's different. It's unusual seeing Pegg as the loony, and he fits into the archetype perfectly, the entirety of the film he is bursting with energy and is so pinned on his rose-tinted spectacle of the past it's heartbreaking. However, as they progress to titular pub, Frost reveals his true colours as a drunken beast of a man, albeit that isn't applicable to his initial character.

I feel also that this holds up more because it mixes the niche subject matter of Shaun of the Dead and the hilariously over-the-top, debris-filled action of Hot Fuzz to garner the best of both worlds. It learns from its predecessors and takes appropriately from them to become the most progressive film of the three. The same silky smooth camera work and direction trademarks have their place, only more refined. The cumulative experience of past work coming together at once.

As for audience reaction, upon its release, the reaction was certainly positive and a majority of critics seem to agree with me, but no one whom I know that has seen The World's End thinks it is anywhere near the best, but the worst. That I don't understand, with the only aspect of this film that I could nail down to that attribute perhaps being the plot, in its simplicity. However, that never dismayed audiences with either of the past films, as Shaun of the Dead in itself was no complex narrative.

If anything, the detail of The World's End should simply please any fan of the Wright/Pegg/Frost collaboration, an example being how each of the pubs that the cast has to crawl through to achieve The World's End not only foreshadow the plot, but the characters actions within said plot, The Old Familiar serving as quite a hearty and memorable punchline from a much more prominent, gladly, Martin Freeman. The supporting cast is arguably the strongest also, as usually a majority of the chemistry between Pegg and Frost's characters are solely with their characters, and The World's End opens that up to a whole crew, broadening the personalities on offer whilst also maintaining said tight chemistry, as if it were still between only the two.

The whole film ties up the loose trilogy very nicely, perhaps incredibly, as all of the past efforts and experience with one another culminate to create the most refined, being equally as entertaining as the past two if not more, as the loving care and homages are all still there, it just makes it so very difficult not to recommend for one who is looking for a comedy. As The World's End, Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead are all must-watches for anyone who is even remotely interested in film, regardless of their preferences. It is a guaranteed good time.

A montage/recap of the best of the trilogy, obvious major spoilers ahead...

THREE FLAVOURS CORNETTO: Hot Fuzz (2007), back for seconds...

The "extravaganza" continues...

HOT FUZZ is the second and what most people would argue is the best of this titular and loosely-related trilogy - and with good reason.

Blue is the colour of Hot Fuzz, as well as the colour of the trilogy's name check, and by all means far more action-oriented than the previous entry. That only benefits Hot Fuzz, as it allows for the spoofing and subsequent homage to not two but three separate and wholly clichéd genres: comedy foremost, but the buddy cop sub-genre housed within action. What is also housed within Hot Fuzz is a bigger budget and more star power, Timothy Dalton lending his hand to a rather villainous role that he was destined for.

I sung high praise for Simon Pegg and Nick Frost which needs not to be sung again, as honestly they've done just as well, if not better than prior. They follow their character's archetypes to a tee, Pegg being the attentive hard-worker with Frost countering with his slacker sensibilities. There is honestly nothing more to be said that hasn't been said already as regards to their performances, at least in the case of Hot Fuzz.

The reason I believe as to this film's wild success in comparison to Shaun of the Dead which was already a wildly successful film is that the punchy dialogue and more accessible action sequences lend themselves to a much more mainstream audience. The niches of Shaun and the latter sequel The World's End, from horror to science fiction have never been as popular as a straight forward action flick, which is all the more perplexing as Hot Fuzz certainly has some definite horror elements within it.

Besides the film's success other than it being deserved, this film is awe-inspiring in its creativity, watching, you can really point out the little nuances and details in almost every aspect of film making. It demonstrates how much fun they must have had during it's production and that transmits on the audience perfectly, judging by the matter of fact I have never spoken to anybody who has actually disliked this film.

Whilst I may have mentioned that the previous entry Shaun of the Dead was intended as a horror, Fuzz doesn't hold back in it's usage of blood and gore. Perhaps past Shaun, as it features a literal head explosion, the screen spattered with the colour red and other gleeful gore. The special effects are to be commended in that extreme case and in most others also.

Now, while this is not my favourite of the three Cornetto flavours, it certainly still is incredible, delivering wall to wall laughs and some pretty mind-boggling action interwoven to leave a long-lasting impact on you as a viewer. With that, there is only a lead onto the next and final film of the comedic combos - as Danny Butterman would say, they're simply off the fucking chain... another one for the Station's swear box.

THREE FLAVOURS CORNETTO: Shaun of the Dead (2004), the first of three...

Arbitrary personal deadlines aside, over the next three days, an "extravaganza" of posts celebrating Edgar Wright's Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy will arise from my own vocabulary utilising the English language...

SHAUN OF THE DEAD prides itself on being a mix of romantic comedy and the more visceral staple of horror: zombies, and so it should.

The film that launched the trio of Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost into the movie-making spotlight, it's sharp wit and wonderful homages to both genres on offer here is what keeps it relevant today, over a decade since it's release.

Pegg and Frost work and bounce dialogue off of each of so effortlessly with an endless stream of quirky jabs at each other and their surrounding environments that you could be forgiven for these characters being their actual respective persona. They serve as good company throughout the film's runtime, always welcoming what they have to say to the point where you'll be grinning hopelessly at the screen at everything, chuckling at the aforementioned punchy dialogue.

Leading onto the writing team of Wright and Pegg, the unconventional blending of comedy and horror not often seen up until that point in time is beyond refreshing. The often strict and fast pace that Shaun of the Dead handles creates this slap-happy and relentless combo that never lets up, with the surviving cast members holed up at the Winchester as quick as the outbreak starts. By no means bad, with the pace only reinforced by Wright's directorial trademarks lending to cinematography, several pans, snap zooms and dolly cams are peppered across this self-titled "rom-zom" film. 

As any self-respecting visceral zombie film, there is blood, and no shortage of it. The use of practical effects lends to the film's instinctive tone, but then with this, a man whom is attempting to gather focus in his life and revive his failing relationship. Liz first, zombies later, which comes as no surprise after learning that this film's inception came about due to Wright and Pegg, both finding that they had a mutual respect for zombies after an episode of Spaced handled a similar subject matter.

There is no words for how influential Shaun of the Dead was with it's release in the early 2000s, with the main proprietor of the zombie sub-genre George A. Romero asking Pegg and Frost to be apart of his then next film Land of the Dead... which ironically pales in comparison to this one. Whoops.

TERMINATOR: GENISYS (2015) review: "I've been waiting for you..."

Just pretend it's Friday.

If you haven't seen the trailer, consider yourself lucky...

TERMINATOR: GENISYS is the fifth film in the franchise that frankly should have ended after the second, but nevertheless here we are...

Horrific marketing campaigns aside, this film, I probably shouldn't defend it, but I honestly didn't find it anywhere near as bad or unenjoyable as other critics and audience members alike have been telling. It suffers from an unnecessarily convoluted and borderline silly plot, but only just barely saves itself with some bizarrely unexpected humour. There's a lot of it sprinkled throughout the film, and whilst humour has been no stranger to the Terminator franchise in the past, it's utilised far more in Genisys as an obvious tip of the hat for fan service, and it worked to an extent. That's as far as I can go - to an extent. 

As with everything that this does well, there's about a dozen other problems to counter-act it. For one, the lead characters with the exception of Schwarzenegger, lack charisma in almost every conceivable way. Acting is not the strong suit of this film, I'm not necessarily cutting Schwarzenegger slack for his acting ability, as he is safe to say, not the greatest. However, when he appeared on screen, all was well. Until he left and then it's back to the jarring and uninteresting plot that fiddles with the entirety of the Terminator timeline. Back to the same old and honestly incredibly repetitive premise of the two Connors and their quest to stop Judgement Day.

Yes. It's a Terminator film, but does it always have to revolve around these characters that have already been done to death? Why can't it refresh itself with a new slew of characters, perhaps a smaller division of the resistance and their struggles? There would at least be something to admire there, even if it flopped, you could say that they at least tried something new - but no, they bend and change everything that the previous films set so their plots can fit in between and it glaringly shows. This insignificant plot is squished in between all of the other Terminator timelines.

Flipping back onto the love-hate relationship with this film as the plot could be rambled over all day, with the action sequences falling flat and serving as bland for entire sequences, and some of it being unintentionally laugh out loud hilarious and mind-numbingly entertaining. The latter involving everyone's beloved Arnie, without a doubt. 

Special effects deserve a shout out also, with a majority of it looking top notch, all thanks going to the flashy budget that Genisys boasts, delivering some pretty believable set pieces and computer generated imagery, with the only thing stopping it being the uncanny valley that all humans stand upon. A sequence involving the T-800 circa 1984 is near perfect looking... until it moves. However, you could take individual frames and you could be mistaken.

"Smile..."

It is what it is, and after reading all of this you probably think that I hate Genisys, but the truth is, I don't. You could consider it the guiltiest of pleasures for Schwarzenegger alone, and that is it's saving grace, with the exception of very nice visual effects and dips and dabs of acceptable action thrown in here and there. I'm probably letting Terminator: Genisys slide off the hook too easily, probably far too easily, but after all, the Terminator franchise has seen much, much worse times. One word: Salvation.