Friday 31 July 2015

24 Hour London Student Challenge - Next Week!

A small note on something I will be doing next week. Because of this blog I have been selected amongst 11 other students to create a 24 hour student guide to London with Unite Students. This means that I will be sent off to London and made to travel around for 24 hours on a budget, blogging, vlogging, tweeting and instagraming my vist. I'm travelling up Monday and will be meeting and planning the trip with my fellow companions on the Tuesday before then setting out on the Wednesday. It's been put on by Unite Students and you can find out a little about the trip here. As well as the students involved (including myself) here.

Make sure to follow me on Twitter: @SuperAlexMan and Instagram: superalexman to find out what I'll be up to and join in! All of us will be using the hashtag #uStudents24 so make sure to check it out over the next week! Also check out the trip's official Twitter: @uslondon for more information, competitions and prizes along the way!

Come back to my blog next week to see what I'll be up to! I'll be sure to put a twitter feed up here on Monday when I travel up so you can follow everyone throughout the week. It's going to be a great time!

Thanks for reading!

Sunday 26 July 2015

Ant-Man

Ant-Man has had a whole host of problems in the run up to its creation. Not only was it one of the earlier films stated by Marvel, only now being made, it also had Shaun of the Dead director Edgar Wright leave the project just before production. Anybody would think that Marvel's latest would be an absolute disaster but thankfully it is not, not quite anyway...

Ant-Man follows Scott Lang, an ex-con and brilliant thief, as he is recruited by scientist Hank Pym to don the Ant-Man suit and steal back the plans from Darren Cross, who looks to turn the suit into a weapon for sale.

Paul Rudd is the hero of this film and he is supported by Michael Douglas as Hank Pym, Evangeline Lily as Hope Van Dyne and Corey Stroll as Darren Cross. Nobody really stands out in the film but nobody sucks either. Paul Rudd is a pretty convincing hero but it is one of his friends and fellow crooks who steals the show, Luis, played by Michael Peña. There are also a couple of great cameos that really help make the film better. 

The best thing about this film is the shrinking action, If you didn't know already, the Ant-Man suit allows the user to shrink to the size of an ant, but still retain their strength, as well as being able to talk to fellow ants and manipulate them. It sounds stupid but director Peyton Reed really uses the ability to create some really memorable awesome looking action scenes. Reed really makes the most of the power and has the action take place in a variety of comedical, but also impressive, settings such as a briefcase and a bathtub. These are the scenes that really stood out in the film but unfortunately, there is a lack of them in the first half. For me this did make the first half of the film a bit boring as I didn't care much for what else was happening.

With a premise as difficult to pull off as Ant-Man's is, I did think the film would be funnier. There were laughs but for me the comedy didn't always work and with someone as great as Paul Rudd as the lead, I was expecting a lot more. For a film that was described as a 'heist' movie, there is only really one clever heist pulled off near the start. The main big heist isn't really that interesting or clever and didn't do anything new for the genre, apart from the fact that the main guy is very small.

This is the problem with Ant-Man, the story itself is pretty formulaic and by the numbers. Many of the Marvel origin stories have been, but thankfully they have had more interesting characters to follow throughout. Ant-Man didn't have this. I didn't care for Scott Lang, he felt like a combination of other Marvel characters with his only unique trait being that he had a daughter to care for. Hank Pym was the most interesting character in the film because we haven't really seen an old hero pass down his mantle yet in this universe. Michael Douglas also brought a lot of weight to the character that never is or was a purely good hero.

Marvel yet again suffer from lacklustre villains. I really like Corey Stroll but he plays a villain that is just evil, a reason is given but it wasn't enough for me. The fact that his powers are similar to Ant-Man's does make their fights look great but like the rest of the film, the action works and everything else is pretty forgettable. Marvel really need to sort their villains out for Phase 3.

The troubled production doesn't help and you can tell the scenes which are very Edgar Wright-y. Who knows what his film would have looked like overall! The film is not a total disaster and I would like to see a sequel now that they are more confident with the character and the world. Unfortunately the first outing is a bit messy but overall there is fun to be had, especially with the awesome shrinking action! It's not astonishing but its not rubbish either, it's a bit in the middle. I am rating Ant-Man a 2.5/5.


What did you think of Ant-Man? So far it looks like I am in the minority of people who weren't overly keen on it! Let me know where you stand in the comments below.

Thanks for reading!


Monday 13 July 2015

SDCC 2015 Thoughts #2

So a lot happened since my last post...

A lot of trailers from the con have been leaked, so I won't be linking them to my blog. However if you get chance to see one, they do look pretty sweet! One trailer that didn't leak but was posted officially to the Internet was Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. The trailer is just full of crazy fan service and really builds up the epic feel to what is probably the biggest movie event of next year. It looks amazing and Batfleck looks incredible, I am loving the suit and can't wait to see it in action. Check it out below:



Footage for Suicide Squad, Deadpool and X-Men: Apocalypse was also shown but unfortunately nothing official online. All footage was said to look amazing though and they will all no doubt do well next year.

Also announced was the title of the Green Lantern reboot, named Green Lantern Corps. Lets all keep our fingers crossed that it turns out better than the Ryan Reynolds movie...

Audiences were treated to a special screening of Syfy's new show The Expanse. The show has already been compared to Game of Thrones, however if you are a fan of the books the new show is based on then you will no it's a little bit different. Either way they are some brilliant books and the show is shaping up to be great. Check out a behind the scenes video and new trailer below that was released online for those who couldn't make it to the con.


Finally, if you are a fan of the show Arrow, it turns out that Oliver has a new costume for next season, check out the image below to get a look at his new suit. Looks pretty cool and a lot more superhero-y than previous. Hopefully the show will improve after its pretty disappointing third season.

Well that's probably it for SDCC news this year. Check back soon though and I will hopefully have a review up for Ant-Man when it comes out this week!

Thanks for reading!


Saturday 11 July 2015

SDCC 2015 Thoughts #1

Another year, another San Diego Comic Con. Unfortunately I still haven't been able to make to the Con yet, but will still provide you with some of my thoughts on the news that has come out so far.

Lets start big with Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. No huge news came from Star War's first Hall H panel, but we did get treated to a very powerful and emotional behind the scenes video for the upcoming film. I feel this video did more than a trailer ever could, it created excitement by making you feel like something big is coming up and the people involved with bringing a huge part of my childhood back to life, are just excited as I am! Good move Star Wars, good move. Check it out below:



After the panel, fans were treated to a special concert and were escorted out of the building to witness the amazing soundtrack played live. Although this sounds amazing it did mean that Star Wars screwed over Kevin Smith, whose panel followed theirs, meaning he was left with a smaller crowd to witness the trailer for his new film Yoga Hosers. Hopefully the trailer will be released online soon! To tide us Smith fans over though, here's a picture of Kevin as one of the villains in his new film, a bratwurst...


The Walking Dead also released trailers for there new season at the con, as well as their spin off show Fear The Walking Dead. The trailer for season 6 looks good but is nothing special in my eyes. Fear The Walking Dead looks really good though! It's a lot different to the original series and I look forward to seeing what the creators do with show since they aren't constricted by the comic books. It looks a lot like World War Z to me as well. Check them out below:


That's it for now but make sure to check back tomorrow for more SDCC news, especially since we still have the Batman V Superman panel coming up, fingers crossed for a new trailer!

Thanks for reading!