Monday 30 April 2018

Avengers Infinity War Spoiler-Free Review




Well, folks, it’s finally arrived. One of the most anticipated movies of 2018. And we’re going to talk about it. Well, we’re going to try to. No spoilers. 



Well, let’s start by summing up how I felt after walking out of Avengers: Infinity War, the culmination of ten years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe:









If it’s all the same to you, I’ll have that drink now




I don’t even know where to begin with this one. Okay, the first thing I will say is this: go in knowing nothing. If you can avoid spoilers, do so. You really need to see this movie fresh without knowing what’s coming. At least the first time. I’m interested to see it again at some point to see what I pick up on the second time. If my feels can handle the second viewing, that is. 
 
I won’t lie to you, this is a rough movie to watch. Especially if you’ve been there since the beginning and you’ve gotten to know and love these characters. There are some definite moments of levity, but it’s a dark one. Even the opening Marvel logo was subdued, as were all the credits. There were several parts that hit you right in the heart and they hurt. This movie also doesn’t hold your hand. It assumes you’ve done your homework and you’re up to speed on who’s who and where the major locations are. So it’s good to at least have a working knowledge of the MCU before you see this one.

Since we’re not going to talk about the story in any way, let’s talk about the cast. Everyone brings their A-game here and even if it’s been a little while since we’ve seen that character, you can understand and get a sense of where they’re at. And, we finally get to see Josh Brolin’s Thanos in action. And he was amazing. Marvel gets a lot of flack for their villains being one-note or underused or whatever, but Thanos is not one of those. Good on Marvel for being 2/2 on villains in 2018. Between him and Killmonger, they’re really hitting their stride on badguys. And like Killmonger, Thanos was more than moustache-twirling-villain. He had a reason that you could understand, even if he was going about it in horrific ways. I actually compared him to a villain from another franchise in regards to motive (sort of) but I don’t want to say for fear of spoilers. But the payoff they’ve been building to really did pay off. 


And can I just say that teenage Groot is probably my favorite Groot


 Finally, I just want to talk real quick about the visuals. They are fantastic. There was one tiny moment where Thanos was walking up some stairs and like Snoke from The Last Jedi, it looked a little stiff and fake. But that was two seconds. The rest was gorgeous and you forget that you’re looking at computer-generated characters and locations. So kudos to all the folks that worked on the visuals, because the quality of that work shows.   

So, in conclusion, Avengers: Infinity War was a heck of a ride. Not always a fun ride, but I expected that going in. All I can say is, I can’t wait to see what they do next and it sucks we have to wait until next year to see how this plays out going forward. If you haven’t seen it (and the insane box office numbers suggest you probably already did), go now. Go see it.

Friday 20 April 2018

Weekly News Roundup!



Hey everyone, we’re back with a roundup of the latest news around the web. Let’s dig in!


Movies

-The first trailer for the second installment of the Netflix Godzilla anime dropped! The next film, titled Godzilla: The City Mechanized for Final Battle, will continue the story of humanity and their allies trying to fight a super-massive, ancient Godzilla. I’d love to break the down the trailer for you, but it’s only in Japanese and since I don’t speak that language, I can’t tell you what’s going on. Some really neat visuals, though, and apparently there will be an appearance by some form of MechaGodzilla. We’ll have to hit when it comes to Netflix, hopefully later this year.




-This poster for the Halloween reboot. Simple, effective, gorgeous. No idea how the movie will be, but I will give props to a good poster. 



-Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom released its final trailer. I think this one’s gonna be pretty dark. They're giving the Indoraptor such an Alien-esque feel, and I don't know how I feel about that. Possibly less optimistic than my other half. On a related note, Mattel has begun rolling out the toys for the movie, and from what I’ve seen so far, they are nice. Quite the step up in variety and quality from the Hasbro line for the first film.




Its three feet long. And there may be one heading to our house even now.


-A final trailer for Deadpool 2 was also released. It’s really just a run of the mill superhero movie trailer, not much to talk about. Trailer HERE (language NSFW)


-Annihilation hits Blu-Ray May 29th! Mark your calendars! I know I’m going to.


-Finally saw Thor: Ragnarok. It’s really fun and really weird and I really dug it. I happen to like the other two Thor movies, so it’s not like I’m sitting here going ‘finally, a good Thor movie!’. Everyone fits nicely back into their roles, the brotherly banter is so spot on for how siblings act, Jeff Goldblum is Jeff Goldblum and we love him for it, and Hela was a great villain. I recommend it.


Gaming

-Xbox One added some new backwards compatible titles to its library, including some more games from the original X Box. So guess what I’m playing though again, but on a new console? A list of all backwards compatible titles can be found HERE

Yay!


 Well, that's what I've got for now. I'm hoping to have a new Road to Comic-Con soon, as I've gotten a whole bunch of materials and am itching to start working! See you all next time! 



Sunday 8 April 2018

New Segment! The Road to Comic-Con!





What's this, something new? I know, right?

Let's start from the top. There was an announcement not too long ago that there is going to be a new con happening in September close to us! So naturally, we got excited and me and the kids had costumes planned pretty much the next day. So I thought maybe as a neat segment we can go through the process together of getting everything ready. It'll probably be a bit irregular, as I will work on costumes when I have time and as I get the materials together but should be something fun and different. Today we're just going to do introductions to the costumes I'll be making.

We are doing a Diablo III group, as this is a game that we have all being playing quite heavily. I've been a longtime player of the series and the kids have gotten into it with the third installment. It was actually the Elder Spawn's idea, as he came up with his costume first and it just sort of blossomed from there. So without further adieu, our choices are:


Me: Female Barbarian. I have wanted this as a character option since the first game and third time was the charm! You're damn rights I'm gonna cosplay her. Lady Barb was the first character I made when I bought the game and she's still my favorite.


this is my actual character



Elder Spawn: Treasure Goblin. The kids are obsessed with these little buggers! As soon as they hear them or spot them on the map everything else is on hold until they find them.


cute lil guy



Younger Spawn: Leah. I told the small one that a comfortable costume would probably be best for her and she opted for one of her favorite NPC's. She would have had Leah as a full companion, I think, rather than an occasional one.


she's no stranger to armor, but this might be better for a con


So there you have it! Look for new posts over the next few months as we start to build! I'll be sure to update our progress as often as possible as we wade through a flurry of foam, glue, paint, and (hopefully) not too much stress!