Divergent

Divergent
Neil Burger // 2014 // 139 mins

Revisiting the Spider-Man Trilogy

2012 was undoubtedly the year of the comic book movie with a blockbuster season that saw Marvel bring together all of it's greatest heroes in one film for The Avengers, Christopher Nolan conclude his Batman trilogy with The Dark Knight Rises and Marc Webb reboot the Spider-Man franchise with The Amazing Spider-Man.

The Avengers ran away with the title of best comic book film that summer, and for some reason most people maintain that The Dark Knight Rises was a strong second place and equally great. As a result it became the cool thing to hate on The Amazing Spider-Man. I'm not claiming that the film was without flaws or on par with The Avengers, but it was a much better film than many considered it and suffered greatly from being released amongst such heavy-hitters that had the advantage of being hyped up by previous successful films in their respective series'.

Three weeks ago, and then again last week, I went to see The Amazing Spider-Man 2, a film which I was incredibly excited for and enjoyed just as much as the first. Unfortunately it seems that the general consensus on this series is staying strong and I've seen a steady stream of hate being thrown at the sequel. A common statement being tossed about by said 'haters' is that Webb's films will never match the greatness of Sam Raimi's first two Spider-Man films (I think we all know of his third films reputation), and so I thought it was time to revisit Raimi's trilogy and see exactly what Webb's films are supposedly failing to live up to.

Jack the Giant Slayer

Jack the Giant Slayer
Bryan Singer // 2013 // 114 mins 

Frozen

2012 saw the release of Disney's reinterpretation of the story of Rapunzel. Tangled signalled the company's departure from the traditional hand-drawn animation upon which it was founded and into a new, entirely CGI style. I was among those who found this transition jarring, and when I finally got around to watching Tangled the goofy looking characters and uninspiring musical numbers failed to win me over. This was not the Disney I had grown up with. When I saw the trailer for Frozen it seemed that the film was going to match my incredibly low expectations, and I had actually planned to post quite a scathing trailer post on how this film looked to be Disney completely giving up on making films of the high quality they once were. Thankfully I never got around to finishing that trailer post, because after seeing the finished film I am happy to say that I was very, very wrong about this one.

Monsters University

Monsters University
Dan Scanlon // 2013 // 104 mins

The Dark Knight Rises

Seven years ago Christopher Nolan unleashed a film that was to be the start of a new Batman franchise. Batman Begins wowed viewers and took them back to the dark, gritty roots of the character that had been defiled by the gaudy neon paint of the characters previous outing, Batman & Robin. Four years ago Nolan followed up his origins story by pitting the hero against his ultimate long-standing enemy, The Joker. An immaculate performance and brilliant storytelling propelled The Dark Knight to comic-movie history, securing the franchise as the creme-de-la-creme of superhero films. Nineteen hours ago I sat in my seat at my local Odeon and watched the trailers roll before the third and final film in Nolan's trilogy began, The Dark Knight Rises.

*WARNING* May contain mild spoilers.

Avengers Assemble

At the time of writing this review I have seen (The) Avengers Assemble a total of four times, twice in 2D, once in 3D and my initial viewing in IMAX 3D. This film has become one of the biggest ever cinematic releases, garnering an incredible one and a half billion dollars, and has been lauded one of the greatest comic book films ever made. Here are my two cents.

The Amazing Spider-Man

Just ten years after Sam Raimi's original Spiderman trilogy hit cinema screens Marvel has brought their most prized superhero back for a rebooted adventure. Continuing in the vein of darker grown-up comic adaptations Spidey's latest outing is an emotionally packed film full of action, humour and an exceptional cast which tries its best to distinguish itself as a completely separate entity to the aforementioned franchise.

Silent Hill

Back in the days of the Playstation 1, around the time I was finishing primary school, some friends stumbled upon a game that they described to me as the 'scariest thing ever'. Due, in large, to a highly uncooperative console I never got the chance to play that game in my school days. Now, 12 years later, I recently had the chance to see the cinematic adaptation, a visually impressive, yet overall sub-par horror film.

Prometheus

I have never seen a film from the Alien series all the way through, none of them have ever appealed to me. I'm not a huge fan of Sigourney Weaver and I'm not a huge fan of Sci-Fi films in general. Despite having no prior relationship with the Alien series, I have been hugely excited for the prequel for quite some time. Hyped up by an incredible cast and one of the best trailers of the year, I finally saw Prometheus last night.

*WARNING* Features descriptions and images which contain spoilers.

Snow White and the Huntsman

Chances are while you were growing up you would have encountered at least one fairy tale, the story of a loveable rogue or dainty princess fighting the evil queens and warlocks who threaten their happily ever after. The thing about fairy tales though, is that once you grow up the fantastical stories start to lose their appeal and the Disney-esque wonderment isn't enough the entertain. Cue 'grown-up' fairytales, films that have gained substantial interest as of late, where a well-loved tale is re-presented in a darker, more pointy package. Cue, this time around, Snow White and the Huntsman.