Posts Tagged ‘the’

11 Aug

Movie Review: Guardians of the Galaxy

Posted by vagrantesque in Movies. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Even though this movie just came out in Australian cinemas officially, I feel so behind the times right now. So many of my friends got advanced screening tickets…

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Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista
Director: James Gunn (Slither, Super)
Rating: M
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I often talk about how important expectation is to how you perceive a movie (or anything, really), but I didn’t really know what to expect quality-wise from Guardians of the Galaxy. I mean sure, the trailers and interviews sold it as a wild west-style sci-fi action comedy, and that is thus far a different and exciting direction for Marvel Studios, but it was also billed as another team-up movie “from the studio that brought you The Avengers“, which arguably made it a more ambitious project because none of the five members of the titular Guardians had enjoyed any prior screen time, while each of the four main Avengers got his own movie. And yet the Hollywood studio with the longest hot streak at the moment has once again married a promising small-time director (Super‘s James Gunn this time) with a big budget and a clear sense of fun to create a real winner. Obscure subject matter it may be, but Guardians of the Galaxy is great.

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24 Jul

Movie Review: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Posted by vagrantesque in Movies. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Saw this one the other night. This really is a top-notch year for big budget movies.

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Starring: Andy Serkis, Gary Oldman, Keri Russell
Director: Matt Reeves (Cloverfield, Let Me In)
Rating: M
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Dawn of the Planet of the Apes has a rather stupid title. Yes, I understand this. So did its predecessor, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, three years ago. The naming scheme hasn’t gotten any better and it looks like we’re stuck with it as we move on to the next installment in another couple of years. So let’s get over it, because Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is yet another really good 2014 blockbuster. It improves on the already awesome Rise in a number of ways and makes me really keen to see where the ambitious Planet of the Apes prequel franchise goes next.
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30 Mar

Movie Review: The Raid 2

Posted by vagrantesque in Movies. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , .

And so begins a mini-landslide of impossibly exciting movie releases.

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Starring: Iko Uwais, Julie Estelle, Arifin Putra
Director: Gareth Evans (Merantau, The Raid)
Rating: R18+
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The limited release of The Raid 2 (full name The Raid 2: Berandal) in Australia and indeed around the world suggests that not enough people saw the first The Raid movie. That’s perfectly understandable; after all it’s an Indonesian language film without any instantly recognisable Hollywood stars. The only probable way you’d have heard about it is if a friend recommended it to you. So if this is the first you’re hearing of it, please, friend, go see that film. If you like action movies for their action sequences above all else, you will be hard pressed to find a better film in recent memory than The Raid. That is the highest and most honest praise I can send its way. It is a brutal, stylishly framed triumph and several Hollywood blockbusters are already attempting to emulate its approach.

Now that I’ve said this, go track down the movie and watch it. When you’re done, come back here and read on.

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17 Feb

Why You Might Want to Play The Last of Us’ DLC

Posted by vagrantesque in Games, Lists, PS3. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , .

So I just finished the single player downloadable content for PS3 exclusive The Last of Us, released a couple of days ago, and I have to say that it’s pretty damn good. Entitled Left Behind, it’s definitely short (around 2-3 hours, which is probably par for the course with this kind of DLC) and maybe you could argue it’s also a bit pricey for what it gives you. But I’m certainly glad I played it. As you might already know if you read my review last year, I adored The Last of Us and it only just missed out on my personal game of the year award for 2013. If you share my feelings on the brilliance of the original game then you owe it to yourself to consider playing Left Behind. Here are five reasons why:
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1. It fleshes out both the original story and its world.

Though it sets itself up as a prequel, Left Behind is only really half so. The narrative follows two interchanging paths, one set before Ellie meets Joel and one set during the events of The Last of Us’ main storyline. As such, if you face the temptation to play Left Behind first and let it lead into the main event, resist. You will have things spoiled for you in a big way if you elect to look at things in that manner.

Having said that, the bulk of the story of Left Behind focuses on Ellie as she explores a decrepit mall with her friend Riley, who has recently joined the rebellious Fireflies organisation. The brief tale is inspired by, and indeed connected to, the four-issue Dark Horse comic book series American Dreams that was released last year. It features callbacks and references to both major and side events in The Last of Us, particularly if you are willing to poke around the environment a bit, and its revelations add an extra layer to the main game’s excellent ending. TLOU rightly stands alone as a well told, standalone story, but Left Behind certainly makes it richer.

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