Posts Tagged ‘two’
22
Apr
Posted by vagrantesque in Movies. Tagged: america, Best, captain, films, galaxy, guardians, hulk, incredible, infinity, Iron, Man, marvel, Movies, one, phase, ranking, studios, ten, thor, three, top, two, war, worst. Leave a comment
So a long time ago on this blog I posted a ranking of my favourite Marvel Studios movies, back when there were only 10 out in the wild and the idea of a proper shared cinematic universe was fresh and exciting. Time moves so fast nowadays that we’ve already blown right past 20, and while the MCU is now a household term with more familiarity around it, the films that have released since are also more confident and the average quality level is arguably higher. With a rather clear sense of finality hanging over the upcoming Avengers: Endgame, I’ve been rewatching a bunch of Marvel films to refresh myself – with the ultimate goal of having watched each film available on Blu-ray at least twice overall – and so a list refresh is also in order. This is all expressly my opinion, of course.
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21. The Incredible Hulk
This may be the bottom of the list, but let it not be said that I didn’t enjoy re-watching The Incredible Hulk regardless. I don’t believe that any MCU movie is outright bad, after all. If you pretend Ed Norton is Mark Ruffalo it kinda still works. Once upon a time I looked at this particular story as the less exciting of the two modern Hulk movies (the other being Ang Lee’s utterly bizarre 2003 Eric Banner-led Hulk), and nowadays it still looks more unnecessarily self-serious and grim than almost every other Marvel movie. But because it does so without that colour-washed filter a lot of other Marvel movies use, the majority of the film still stands apart with a grainy-yet-saturated grime. Every scene in Brazil is a surprisingly vivid delight as a result – though the bombastic finale’s reliance on a bucketload of dated shades-of-grey CGI makes it a bit cringey to watch nowadays, not to mention hard to follow. Liv Tyler is a polarising performer at the best of times but I don’t like her in this movie, though Tim Roth makes for a fun, believable villain. There are more wider MCU connections here than you might remember – including an important final shot – but it’s still the black sheep of the Marvel Studios output.
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1
Dec
Posted by vagrantesque in Movies. Tagged: 2, Film, francis, gale, Games, hunger, ii, jennifer, lawrence, mockingjay, Movie, one, part, peeta, Review, two. 1 comment
Nothing like a few gigantic rapid-fire movie releases to get you blogging again. I couldn’t let this series go without a lengthy review, of course.
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Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Julianne Moore, Natalie Dormer
Director: Francis Lawrence (Constantine, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1)
Rating: M
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I feel a little conflicted when it comes to The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part II. Every movie adaptation mega-saga has to end, and now The Hunger Games has joined that club. The second half of Suzanne Collins‘ bestselling finale novel Mockingjay has completed its transition to the big screen, and I have a funny feeling the lasting impact of this film will divide opinions just as much, if not more, than that sucker punch of a book did back in 2010.
Filmgoers who haven’t delved into Collins‘ vehemently anti-war pages will likely find themselves a little shocked at how depressing this final chapter can get, even despite the film’s much higher action emphasis than that of its predecessor, Mockingjay Part I. Meanwhile those who have read the trilogy may find that, despite some crucial scenes that don’t quite land in the same way they did on paper, Francis Lawrence‘s closing vision for this wildly popular series successfully achieves what it needs to.
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10
Nov
Posted by vagrantesque in MUBC. Tagged: 2014, blast, Bros, cast, deku, dog, episode, Game, mega, MUBC, of, overwatch, podcast, scrub, smash, thirty, two, ultra, yoghurt. Leave a comment
There is just too much to talk about on the latest episode of the Mega Ultra Blast Cast, as we drown in news and a flood of videogame releases. In MUBC 32 we talk dog vacations, Overwatch, the secret link between Crash Bandicoot and Majora’s Mask, the latest Nintendo Direct, Shane’s obsession with The Binding of Isaac Rebirth, John Wick and Delaney’s poorly conceived plans. We also argue at length about Freedom Wars, discuss whether the Amiibo range has shown enough to impress us and hurl insults at each other as per usual.
If you feel so inclined, go for a run, take a scenic drive, jazz up your afternoon commute or just curl up on the couch and play some games while you listen to the opinions of three busy Sydneysiders.
You can play the whole episode right off this page if you like:
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Or you can go to the Soundcloud site/app and listen from there:
https://soundcloud.com/mega-ultra-blast-cast/mubc-32-will-the-real-deku-scrub-please-stand-up
(To download and listen offline, follow the link and then click the download tab)
As always if you enjoy what you hear please share the cast with your friends – Until next time!
22
Aug
Posted by vagrantesque in Movies. Tagged: america, Best, captain, films, galaxy, guardians, hulk, incredible, Iron, Man, marvel, Movies, one, phase, ranking, studios, ten, thor, top, two, worst. Leave a comment
Well, would you look at that. The release of Guardians of the Galaxy means there are now ten movies out in the wild from Marvel Studios. You know what that means…
Here’s my personal ranking of the films, from my least to most favourite. You will probably disagree. Mild plot spoilers might follow.
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10. The Incredible Hulk
In truth it’s been a while since I saw this one, but I don’t really have much interest in seeing it again, which probably explains why it’s at the bottom of my list. The Incredible Hulk is not a bad movie, and it’s certainly better than the Eric Bana – Ang Lee green monster movie from 2003. Tim Roth makes a cool bad guy and that bit at the end turns out to be critical to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a whole, but the film’s dark, gritty tone means it is missing much of the sense of fun that makes the rest of the Marvel Studios movies so memorable.
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3
Jul
Posted by vagrantesque in Movies. Tagged: 2, dragon, fury, hiccup, how. to. train, Movie, night, Review, toothless, two, your. Leave a comment
My apologies for the lack of content lately. The FIFA World Cup is dominating pretty much all aspects of my life at present, including my sleeping patterns. But today is a rest day!
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Starring: Jay Baruchel, Cate Blanchett, Gerard Butler
Director: Dean DeBlois (Lilo & Stitch, How To Train Your Dragon)
Rating: PG
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It’s been a while since the first How To Train Your Dragon movie flew into cinemas and swept up the hearts of more than a few moviegoers. Though Dreamworks’ animated feature output had been inconsistent since the first Shrek, the fantastical 2010 coming-of-age tale about a social outcast who finds his purpose through a chance dragon meeting was a bona fide hit in more ways than one. It nailed the difficult balance of appealing to a wide range of audience tastes, with badass dragons on one hand and some tear-jerking moments built off strong characterisation rather than tacky manipulation on the other. It was a great film, and four years later the now-franchise has managed to top itself. How To Train Your Dragon 2 is just downright excellent.
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14
Jun
Posted by vagrantesque in MUBC. Tagged: blast, cast, e3, episode, lost, mega, MUBC, podcast, predictions, twenty, two, ultra. Leave a comment
The Mega Ultra Blast Cast just celebrated its one year anniversary and that means another E3 wrap-up episode – only this one is thankfully about half as long as the first one we did in 2013! Shane, Delaney ad I still manage to talk about pretty much every single game at all five big conferences, then we break down our top five games of the show and who won our predictions (spoilers – It was me). There’s a lot to get excited about in 2015, and of course in that ridiculously packed October of this year. Enjoy!
If you feel so inclined, go for a run, take a scenic drive, jazz up your afternoon commute or just curl up on the couch and play some games while you listen to the opinions of three sleep-deprived Sydneysiders.
You can play the whole episodes right off this page if you like:
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Or you can go to the Soundcloud site/app and listen from there:
https://soundcloud.com/mega-ultra-blast-cast/mubc-23-e3-2014
(To download and listen offline, follow the link and then click the download tab)
As always if you enjoy what you hear please share the cast with your friends – Until next time!
5
Jun
Posted by vagrantesque in MUBC. Tagged: blast, cast, e3, episode, lost, mega, MUBC, podcast, predictions, twenty, two, ultra. Leave a comment
Every other podcast seems to be doing it, so the Mega Ultra Blast Cast takes a shot at predicting the big announcements of the five big E3 press conferences! We each make two predictions per conference, with the stakes set at an all-expenses-paid dinner for the person who gets the most correct! We also pack in some in-depth discussions of Watch_Dogs, Mario Kart 8, all the pre-E3 game leaks, a debate about whether the Wii U really needs its gamepad controller and some confusion over Cher lyrics. It’s high-intensity and its only on Soundcloud.
If you feel so inclined, go for a run, take a scenic drive, jazz up your afternoon commute or just curl up on the couch and play some games while you listen to the opinions of three opinionated Sydneysiders.
You can play the whole episodes right off this page if you like:
.
-.-.-.-
Or you can go to the Soundcloud site/app and listen from there:
https://soundcloud.com/mega-ultra-blast-cast/mubc-22-e3-predictions
(To download and listen offline, follow the link and then click the download tab)
As always if you enjoy what you hear please share the cast with your friends – Until next time!
7
May
Posted by vagrantesque in Movies. Tagged: 2, amazing, Film, Man, Movie, Review, spider, spiderman, two. Leave a comment
Time to make good use of an extremely rare case where Australia gets a huge movie before the US does.
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Starring: Andrew Garfield, Jamie Foxx, Emma Stone
Director: Marc Webb (500 Days of Summer, The Amazing Spider-Man)
Rating: M
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I’m still questioning why the first Amazing Spider-Man had to play out the way it did in 2012. Sure, I get the business reasons behind Sony Pictures wanting to keep the Spider-Man license and thus needing to churn out another film within a certain number of years after the conclusion of the Sam Raimi trilogy of Spidey flicks. But I’m sure I don’t stand alone in the camp of people wondering why said situation had to mean a reboot functioning almost identically to the first 2002 Spider-Man. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 presents an opportunity for the aptly named Marc Webb and his gang to kick on, having established their groundwork, and show what sets this new version of Spider-Man apart from the mostly well-regarded Raimi movies. In this regard, ASM2 succeeds, which is great, but disappointingly it fails to learn from the mistakes that plagued Raimi‘s Spider-Man 3 – the one that had too many villains vying for attention. It’s just a wee bit over-indulgent.
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26
Jun
Posted by vagrantesque in MUBC. Tagged: 2, blast, cast, episode, mega, MUBC, podcast, two, ultra, zombies. Leave a comment
We did it; we reached our second episode!
Episode 2 of the Mega Ultra Blast Cast (MUBC) features a much shorter run time, better overall audio balance and a lot of zombies!
PLEASE NOTE: This episode contains Spoilers for The Last of Us, but we do give warning when they are about to start. If you have not played the game yet and intend to, when you reach 0:27:15 in the podcast just skip ahead to 1:10:09 . It cuts out most of the runtime but you will be safe from TLOU spoilers then.
If you feel so inclined, download the following file (or just click play), go for a run, take a scenic drive or just curl up on the couch and listen to the irritating opinions of three rather zombified Sydneysiders.
Here it is! It’s up on Soundcloud again.
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https://soundcloud.com/mega-ultra-blast-cast/mega-ultra-blast-cast-02
(Follow the link and then click the download tab)
We are working on getting the cast onto iTunes but we don’t know how long that will take. At the moment we realise it requires some know-how that we do not yet have – and potentially a larger number of episodes. If you like what you hear please share the cast with your friends and like our brand new Facebook page. Enjoy!
Vagrant Rant 