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nathanjonesrs
Reviews
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
A Visual feast-nothing more
All those here who are bothering to examine every detail of this film are really wasting their time. It's perfectly clear by now that these Super-hero films are just a visual feast which provide entertainment for a couple of hours and then are soon forgotten. The cinematic equivalent of junk-food. The CGI in this film is breath-taking, the fight scenes go on endlessly and it all sweeps along at a (mostly) frantic pace. That's all there is to it. The plot has so many holes that several sky-carriers could fit through, the actors know they are NOT performing Shakespeare, and the producers are too busy counting the money that's coming in to bother anyway. And there you go. Those who love this kind of thing will probably be happy-those that hate it will hate this too. To properly enjoy it you must dis-engage your brain and let it wash over you. And that's exactly what it does.
Just as a comparison-in the 1950s audiences flocked to see pulp sci-fi flicks, such as "Them!"(about giant spiders), "The Blob" (about a giant blob!) and many others. They were a distraction, to take people's minds off the serious things that were happening in the world. And they were meant to be viewed on that level. There were, admittedly, a few gems along the way, such as, "The day the earth stood still", "War of the worlds", "Forbidden Planet" and "invasion of the body-snatchers". These films had a fair amount of intelligence to them-but they were more the exception really. It was just about entertainment. Today's equivalent are these Superhero films. Anyone watching them knows exactly what to expect, or should do by now considering there have been 3 Iron Man films, 2 Thor and 2 Captain America films. This film is hardly going to deviate from those by being an intimate study in human relationships! No -it's big, loud and meant to be viewed in good weather! So enjoy it for what it is, just don't expect anything more. For those that do then this film is really not for you and you should go and watch something else.
Thunderbirds Are Go (2015)
good and can get better
Having now seen a number of episodes including "Fireflash", which is a partial remake of the very first Thunderbirds episode "Trapped in the sky" I feel this is a good series which could get better, with some adjustments.
Firstly there needs to be more background to the characters and to the world they are living in (this could well happen over time as there are still many episodes left in season 1 and season 2 has already been given the go-ahead). But this needs to happen soon, so that we can grow to like the characters and have an understanding of their (future) world. It's all too vague at the moment and is really just 5 boys whizzing about (loudly) in great looking machines. Yes, the original was about that too, but you were given info. right at the start, that Father Jeff Tracy had been an astronaut and that he had set-up the International Rescue organization. In this remake we are not told this. What we are told is the year, that there is a Global force which has col. Casey as one of its leaders and that the mysterious, villainous "Hood" is the Uncle of Kayo, and was somehow involved in Jeff Tracy's disappearance. Hopefully this will all be expanded upon in upcoming stories. And hopefully we will also learn more about Lady Penelope and how she became involved with the team, as this has not been explained at all yet.
We don't need to know everything right away of course, but we do need some more information if we are to become involved as viewers. As it's not a continuation of the original series (Brains could not suddenly be Indian!) more info. is needed. And on that note about Brains I have to be honest and say I'm not in favour of the change to his character. As David Graham is back doing the voice of Parker, as he did in the original, I feel he could so easily have also reprised the voice of Brains as well. It seems very silly to change a beloved character, for no good reason. All it does is upset fans of the old series. The remake of "Battlestar Galatica" did a similar thing, by turning Starbuck into a woman! It seems the producers of these things do this on purpose just to make it a talking point to generate publicity! It does them no favours as fans of the old series are already against them from the start! And to say they just wanted to appeal to a new audience is incorrect, otherwise they wouldn't have taken so much trouble to keep it as close to the original as they have done. So it's clear they wanted old fans to come onboard also. Not the best way to go about it!
Also questionable is the "Fireflash" episode which is a remake of the very first episode of the old series. I'm not sure why this was done-and so soon-was it a homage to the original? Was it a way to tell old fans that although Brains and other things are different, this is still Thunderbirds as they knew it?!! I have no idea, but as a lover of the original series it was nice to see Fireflash again, albeit in re-designed form.
what isn't as nice is the new score. The opening intro, with the same countdwown as the original, is welcome, but the music is missing the power of the original, bombastic Barry Gray theme. And, yes, of course there is too much music in the episodes and too loud. But this seems to be the norm now with shows aimed at a young audience-don't let them get bored with too much dialogue just boom-out the music as much and as loudly as possible! No thought spared for the adults or parents who have to reach for the volume-down button on the remote!
The look of the series, however, is very good. The CGI is mostly extremely well done, although the characters are a bit clunky in their movements at times. But that is a minor point and it could improve in time. The machines and environments all look great, which is probably the most important thing. (I have to say, though, that I did wonder where on earth Lady Penelope & Parker were in the opening episode. It was, presumably, meant to be an English country lane that they were driving on, but it looked more like they were driving around and around on a snow-globe type diorama!)
So, although I feel there is promise for the future of this series, it depends on how quickly the producers start injecting more background info. into it, to get viewers more involved. Seeing all the machines flying around is great but that isn't enough-otherwise we could just play with the toys! Whoooosh!
Olympus (2015)
Will at least encourage book reading!!
Like most of the reviewers so far, I couldn't believe how bad this series is. When watching the first episode you feel you have missed a previous one! It is as if you have opened a new book at the half-way point and started reading from there! The characters are not set-up properly, or practically at all, nor is the background to their world.
Plus it is clear that is is filmed on a "virtual set", as it has a "video game" look to it. But worse than that, it isn't even one from today, but rather one from the 1990s! Yes, it looks that bad! Plus the acting and script is very poor-we are certainly not talking "Game of Thrones" here, unless it is a version performed by high school students! The only good thing I can say is that it may well encourage those who see it to seek out a book on Greek Mythology to gain some understanding of it. As for this series, it leaves you wishing they hadn't bothered!
Agent Carter (2015)
today's Emma Peel
Many of the reviews on here are comparing the character/show to other US characters/shows. They are wrong! A female British spy who fights is Emma Peel, from the original (and best) "The Avengers" British spy series from the 1960s! Jarvis, the butler to Howard Stark (father of Tony Stark-Iron Man) has elements of John Steed from the same show-a suave, witty, well dressed English gentleman. When you watch Carter & Jarvis exchanging witticisms and jibes you are watching today's version of Steed & Mrs Peel. One of the soldiers in episode 5 even wears a bowler hat- a nod to Steed if ever there was one. Yes, the time period is different and in that respect is similar to Dick Tracy, or even to the 1st season of the 1970s "Wonder Woman" TV series with Lynda Carter, which was set in world war 2. But seeing Agent Peggy Carter fight here, using kicks, punches and touches of martial arts is like watching Diana Rigg once again. For those here who don't know check out Cozi TV or Itunes to see the real Avengers. Marvel Comics took the name and even created a near carbon copy of Emma Peel with Black Widow. Emma Peel was a widow who wore black leather cat-suits-see the connection?!! It is long overdue that this was acknowledged in US as it is in UK. The first Marvel "Avengers" film had to have the name changed to "Avengers Assemble" in UK because the copyright for the name "The Avengers" belongs to the TV series which began in 1961 !
However, despite all this the show does have great potential because Hayley Atwell, as the modern version of Diana Rigg, is excellent. And James D'Arcy is doing a good job as Jarvis. These two are immensely likable and convey great warmth. The male US agents that work with Carter will feel familiar to anyone who has watched old black & white crime movies of the 1930s & 1940s such as those featuring Humphrey Bogart or James Cagney. Not a bad thing as those films are timeless classics!
So Marvel has done a good job of merging one of the best TV series ever with some of the best crime movies to create Agent Carter. But they cannot claim originality. For those who are either too young to know or who don't remember, then this show will feel different. For those of us who know and/or remember clearly we can still enjoy it but we know and understand what it is based on and what it strives to re-create.