Batman: Zero Year- Secret City Review

Finished reading Batman: Zero Year- Secret City this continues the creative team of Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo amazing run on the book as they take Batman back to his first year of crime fighting. The book opens to a post apocalyptic Gotham as a Road Warrior Batman helps a young boy who is being chased by a couple of thugs. The book then goes to three months prior where Bruce Wayne is foiling one of the Red Hood Gang's plots saving a group of people tied up in a truck. Back at his apartment in Crime Alley his uncle Phillip Kane finds him as he asks Bruce to come back to Wayne Enterprises and run the company because the Wayne's have more public appeal in Gotham than the Kane's. When Bruce refuses Phillip goes to his advisor Edward Nygma who advises him that killing Bruce will solve all his problems. Meanwhile Bruce is infiltrating a Red Hood Gang weapon heist as he goes undercover as the Penguin leading to him and Alfred having a falling out over how Bruce is living his life. After getting an invitation from his uncle Phillip to meet him at the museum where Phillip unveils Bruce to the press only for Bruce to walk away bumping into Nygma on his way out and having his apartment blown up by the Red Hood who was his taxi driver on his way home. After escaping the Red Hood Gang Bruce drags himself to Wayne Manor where Alfred patches him back up leading to the scene where Bruce agrees to "Become a Bat". With Batman now on the streets of Gotham picking of the Red Hood Gang one at a time becoming a myth in the gang and drawing the attention of the GCPD Batman confronts the gang at A.C.E Chemicals where he has his final fight with Red Hood. The the story ends on an explosive conclusion that sets up the rest of the of the story arc in the next book as Edward Nygma becomes the Riddler. The rest of the book showcases some short stories about Bruce Wayne's travels as he trained to become Batman before coming back to Gotham. Overall this was an amazing book as it dived into Bruce Wayne's backstory of becoming Batman as he fights the Red Hood Gang which brings about the origin of the Joker into the book as well. Red hood's dialogue is very similar to that of the Jokers with it being toned back a bit as it doesn't include his crazy laugher as he hasn't cracked yet. Also the dynamic between Bruce and Alfred is great with both of them arguing about how Bruce is living his life which in turn strengthens their relationship becoming the one seen today. 9.5/10.

Forever Evil Review

Finished reading Forever Evil this is the main book of DC Comics first big event in its New 52 publication written by Justice League writer Geoff Johns. The book opens up to Lex Luthor in a helicopter talking to Thomas Kord about a take over of Kord industries only for the helicopter to crash into Lexcorp as Ultraman steals Luthur's stash of Kryptonite to give him enough power to use the moon to block out the rays of the sun. With Metropolis consumed by a black out Lex goes to his underground lab where he's has a Superman clone in a stasis tube for the past five years opening up halfway into its completion. As Luthur and his Superman clone "B-Zero" attempt to fine the members of the Crime Syndicate where they meet with Black Adam, Black Manta and Captain Cold in their surcharge as they declare a truce to take back the world from the control of the Crime Syndicate. Meanwhile Batman and Catwoman enter S.T.A.R Labs with Cyborg in need of medical attention after escaping from the Crime Syndicate at the end of Trinity War as the rest of the Justice League were absorbed into Firestorm's matrix. Once Batman notices the unmasking of Nightwing by the Crime Syndicate on a TV screen he and Catwoman leaves Cyborg with his farther in S.T.A.R Labs as they travel to the Batcave to get supplies that could help in defeating the Crime Syndicate and rescuing Nightwing and the Justice Leagues. At Wayne Enterprises Batman bumps into Lex Luthor and his teams were they agree to work together when Power Ring blasts in as Sinestro comes to collect the Yellow Lantern ring that Batman had in his procession. With the team now consisting of Luthur, B-Zero, Batman, Catwoman, Black Adam, Black Manta, Captain Cold, Senestro and Deathstroke being promised more money by Lex they storm into the Crime Syndicate's base to defeat them and save Nightwing and the Justice League. Overall this was a great book it focus heavily on Lex Luthor making him seem more relatable and heroic than in previous stories as he strives to become a petter person. Some of the teams interactions between each other we great expressly between Senestro and Black Adam be that they were a little brief, while Captain Cold has an amazing scene towards the end of the book with Johnny Quick which is just priceless. 8.5/10.

Woman in Gold Film Review

Finished watching Woman in Gold directed by Simon Curtis and staring Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds. The film opens up with Maria Altmann (Helen Mirren) at the funeral of her sister where she speaks to a close friend about some letters she found and wants some legal advice as they reveal previous attempts of trying to get back the Woman in Gold art work as it was taken by the Nazis when they occupied Austria. This is where Randal Schoenberg (Ryan Reynolds) a down on his luck lawyer is introduced as he takes Maria's case of retrieving the Woman in Gold from Austria. After failing to make any headway in Austria Maria and Randal return to Los Angeles as Randal works overtime on the case until he finds a new way to tackle the case thanks to a published book he finds on sale allowing the case to be brought to an American court which could work in their favour. The case is then taken back to Austria in front of the Austrian art restoration who give the final verdict on the case. Overall this was an alright film there was some great interactions between Helen Mirren's and Ryan Reynolds' characters. The film also dives in to Maria's history showing what happened during her last days in Austria before fleeing to America in the 1930's giving a nice background to Maria which allows for an insight to her reactions of coming back to Austria. 7/10.

Justice League: Forever Heroes Review

                                      

 

Finished reading Justice League: Forever Heroes this is primarily used as companion book towards the Forever Evil event as it tells the subplot to the it. The first half of the book showcases the origins of each member of the Crime Syndicate with each member's origin being a twisted version of each member of the Justice League. The origin of Johnny Quick and Atomica is one of the more interesting ones as it shows an alternative version of the Flash's villains the Rouges as cops how fail to apprehend Johnny and Atomica leading to them getting their powers. The second half of the book follows Cyborg as he rebuilds his robotic body with the help of his farther and Dr Morrow with the equipment in the Red Room of S.T.A.R Labs. After being rebuilt Cyborg goes to Dr Will Magnus the creator of the Metal Men for help as Cyborg hopes to recruit them in stopping the Crime Syndicate as the Justice League is unavailable which leads to a big fight between Cyborg and his old cybernetic body Grid. Overall this was a great book as it dived into the origin of the Crime Syndicate members and has a great origin for the Metal Men as well which has an interesting gut punch within it. There are also some nice scenes of the Doom Patrol being defeated by Johnny Quick and Atomica along with the appearance of Patrick O'Brian getting his PlasticMan powers as Owlman crashes a meeting of rival gangs in Chicago. The only thing that lets the book down is that the story flows in and out of that main Forever Evil book as some plot points start in that book and continue here while others start here and end over there. 8/10.

Forever Evil: Rogues Rebellion Review

Finished reading Forever Evil: Rogues Rebellion, this follows the Rogues as they travel around different cities like Metropolis and Gotham trying to escape the Secret Society as they go against the Crime Syndicates orders. The book opens up with the Rogues in a bar after a failed attempt at robing a bank by going through an old mining tunnel. After a failing out with with Captain Cold, Golden Glider goes to the hospital where her body is lying in a coma where she brings Mirror Master out of the Mirror World while keeping an eye on her vitals as she goes into cardiac arrest. After Mirror Master joins back up with the Rogues where they are invited to the Crime Syndicate's meeting and ordered to continue to lay waste to Central City only to go against that order when they try to protect the patients in the hospital with Golden Glider  leading to Deathstorm and Power Ring from the Crime Syndicate to start a fight. During the fight Deadstorm extracts Captain Colds powers out of his DNA causing the Rogues to make a strategic retreat to the Mirror World they get stranded in Metropolis thanks to Power Ring blasting them. In Metropolis Captain Cold joins with Lex Luthor on his campaign against the Crime Syndicate while The Rouges under the Leadership of Mirror Master take a detour to Gotham landing in Poison Ivy's garden while escaping from Parasite. After failing to help Ivy in getting sunlight to her plants the Rouges end up fighting their way out of Gotham only to get captured by the Royal Flush Gang. On the way back to Central City the Rogues defeat the Royal Flush Gang and team up with the police and the Pied Piper as they take back the city from the Crime Syndicate's control. Overall this was an amazing book as it took advantage of the Forever Evil event by giving a spotlight on the Rouges as Mirror Master becomes the lead character of the story with him finally reuniting with Golder Glider at the end. There were also some great comedic moments with the back and froths of the team and with some of the situations they get into. 9/10. 

John Wick Film Review

Finished watching John Wick directed by Chad Stahelski staring Keanu Reeves, Michael Nyqvist and Alfie Allen. The film opens up at the end with John Wick (Keanu Reeves) severely injured and passing out as the film goes back to the day of his wife's funeral where he is sent a small dog to help him Mourne her death. The next day after John comes across a few trouble makers at a nearby garage they break in to John's house to steal his car killing his dog in the process. This is where it's found out that one of the group is the son of the head of the Russian mob (Michael Nyqvist) in New York who John worked for as he was a hitman named "The Boogyman" as he would do dirty jobs for the mob. With this information John decides to seek revenge on Losef Tarasov (Alfie Allen) for killing his dog leading to a one man war on the mob. As John is going after the mob the film showcases some great fight sequences with one set in a members club were the background music sets the location while the fight technique is the opposite as the higher tempo music has a slower technique. Overall this was an alright movie John's motivation is shown straight away and the fight sequences were coriograhed well. The films second half however was prominently all action heavy which leads to a seemingly anticlimactic ending. 6/10

Forever Evil: Blight Review

Finished reading Forever Evil: Blight, this is the crossover featured in the pages of the Justice League Dark, Constantine, Trinity of Sin: Pandora, and Trinity of Sin: Phantom Stranger books written by J.M. Dematteis and Ray Fawkes. The book opens with John Constantine waking up inside the House of Mystery as it saved him from the Crime Syndicate at the end of the Trinity War story arc. Constantine try's to find Zatanna and the rest of the Justice League Dark only to be unsuccessful as a Blight is blocking his locator spell. This leads to the appearance of Nightmare Nurse, a mystical healer who brings Swam Thing to the House of Mystery via a failed attempt to create her own. After a failed attempt at defeating the Blight within the Collective Unconscious Constantine summons the Trinity of Sin to the house with the Question teleporting himself away, while the Phantom Stranger and Pandora stay to help defeat the Blight who has taken a physical form by using Chris Esperanza a young boy who Phantom Stranger brought back from the dead as its host. The team head to New York where they come face to face with Blight with them having to retreat causing Constantine to have a vision of Deadman who became stuck inside of Sea King's body when the Crime Syndicate arrived, Constantine keeps Deadman trapped as the team head for heaven for answers where the angel Zauriel joins them in the quest. After one last fight with Blight Chris becomes the embodiment of redemption causing Constantine to discover where all the mystics have gone. The second part of the book has the team going to Nanda Parbat in order to rescue all of the magic users of the world who have all been strapped into a super weapon that harnesses all their powers for ammunition against any extra dimensional enemy that might have followed the Crime Syndicate. Overall this was a good book it gave a great insight to Constantine, Phantom Stranger and Pandora as the narrated through out the book as they dealt with Blight and the facility in Nanda Parbat with Zatanna taking centre stage at the end leading to an interesting ending. 7.5/10.

Constantine: Blight Review

Finished reading Constantine: Blight this continues John Constantine's story within the DC universe during the events of Trinity War and Forever Evil. The book opens up with Constantine coming home finding out that he's been robbed of all the items in his vault by the Cult of the Cold Flame as the Cults leader Tannarak uses the magical items to power up himself, Mister E and Sargon. Sargon then manipulates Constantine which brings Mister E out into the open as Constantine traps his soul into a magical sword causing E's powers to be split up between Tannarak and Sargon which is exactly what Sargon wanted. The story ends with Constantine seeing what is happening to Shazam and Zatanna during the Trinity War event leading to Constantine jumping back into the fight. The rest of the book has four parts of the eighteen part Blight story act set during the events of Forever Evil. Overall this was an decent book the first part of the book continues the ongoing story with the Cult of the Cold Flame nicely. The only problem with it is that the Blight story makes little to no sense as it misses the rest of it that is within the Justice League Dark, The Phantom Stranger and Trinity of Sin: Pandora books. 6.5/10.

Fast and Furious 7 Film Review

Finished watching Fast and Furious 7 directed by James Wan and staring Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham. The film opens up with Jason Statham's character Deckard Shaw standing at his brother's bedside vowing revenge on the people who put him there, starting with Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) a government agent who has information on Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his team as Hobbs worked with them in the previous film to take down Shaw's brother. With Hobbs hospitalised he warns Dominic of what Shaw is capable of as a package from him is delivered to Dominic's home where he lives with is sister Mia (Jardana Brewster) and her husband Brian (Paul Walker) with the package exploding after Dominic gets a call from Shaw currently killing his friend Han (Sung Kang) in Tokyo during the events of Tokyo Drift. At the funeral Dominic notices Shaw leading to their first meeting, as they are about to fight each other a government task force comes in with Shaw using them as a destruction to get away. The leader of the task force "Mr Nobody" (Kurt Russell) asks Dominic to help in their operation to retrieve the God Eye, a "Big Brother" like computer program that can track anyone anywhere at any given time which is exactly what Dominic needs to find Shaw. Once Dominic gets his team together they go on a couple different heists to retrieve the Gods Eye in order to find Shaw. Overall this was a great film the fighting choreography was amazing as the camerawork flowed very well within the scenes, the comic relief from Roman (Tyrese Gibson) was laugh out loud funny especially with the back and forth from Tej (Ludacris), while the ending scene is a nice tribute to Paul Walker showing clips from the previous films. The only thing the lets the film down is the fact that Shaw's random appearance in Abu Dhabi seems very convenient as it made him easier to find with the God Eye, but it is only a small complaint. 9.5/10.

Justice League: The Grid Review

Finished reading Justice League: The Grid, this continues writer Geoff Johns run on the series. The book opens up with the Justice League inviting a group of heroes up to the Watchtower in hoping to recruit some of them in to the League as they realised that they needed the extra numbers during the Throne of Atlantis story arc and want to be prepared if something similar was to happen. The next story begins with someone breaking into the Batcave to steal a Kryptonite ring which is given to Despero, who breaks into the Watchtower looking for a fight with Superman only to be disappointed as Firestorm, Element Woman and Atom are the only ones there while Batman is arguing with Superman and Wonder Woman for interfering in a hostage situation in Kahndaq as Americans are banned from the country. The story ends with the Watchtower crashing into Happy Harbour with an unconscious Despero inside holding the Kryptonite ring, leading to Batman to showing Superman his contingency plans for the Justice League if they were to ever turn evil or become possessed. The end of the book has the first and last parts of the Trinity War event with the first one bringing the Justice League and the Justice League of America in conflict with each other in Kahndaq as Shazam goes to burry Black Adam's ashes with both teams trying to prevent an international catastrophe. The final part has both leagues and the Justice League Dark fighting each other thanks to being influenced by Pandora's Box, once the fight ends its found out the Atom is a triple agent as she was used to infiltrate the Justice League and Justice League of America in order to retrieve the box as its a gateway to a world inhabited by an evil version of the Justice League. Overall this was a good book as it gave the spotlight to the new Justice League members with Atom's character being developed in such a small space of time bringing a big twist at the books end. While Batman's protocols are a nice reference to previous stories and showing how prepared he is for almost anything. The only thing that lets the book down is that it only contains two parts of the six main parts of Trinity War only giving a third of the story. 7.5/10.

Constantine: The Spark and The Flame Review

Finished reading Constantine: The Spark and The Flame, this follows John Constantine's solo adventures within the DC universe. The book opens up with Constantine with a kid named Chris coming to Constantine as he is having visions of a magical item called the Croydon's Compass that has caught the attention of The Cold Flame, a group of corrupted magicians who have a history with Constantine. This leads to Constantine travelling around the world to revive the pieces of the compass before The Cold Flame can assemble them. The next story shows Constantine having a stroll around a neighbourhood of New York as he has a run in with Papa Midnight and meeting up with his ex girlfriend Zatanna. The rest of the book is set during the events of Trinity War as Constantine and Shazam go to the local bar near Constantine's apartment as he "Borrows" Shazam's powers only for it to backfire. This leaves Constantine having an out of body experience as he's lying on the floor dying giving The Cold Flame the perfect distraction to storm into Constantine's apartment. Overall this was an amazing book as it gave a nice reintroduction to Constantine as he cons and manipulates his way out of situations like convincing The Spectre to spare him which is a great scene on its own. 9/10.

The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out Of Water Film Review

Review
Finished watching The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out Of Water, directed by Paul Tibbitt starring the cast of the TV show with Antonio Banderas as "Burger Beard the pirate". The film opens up with Burger Beard traveling to the island above Bikini Bottom where he steals a magical book which contains the story of the film. Spongebob's story begins with him and Patrick defending the Krusty Krab against Plankton's many contraptions in a trench warfare fight with food and condiments as the ammunition. Once Plankton gets his hands on the Krabby Patty formula, Spongebob try's to take it of him only for it to disappear leading to the everyone blaming them both as Bikini Bottom becomes a post apocalyptic wasteland without any Krabby Pattys. This brings about the idea of building a time machine to go back in time and retrieve the formula before it disappeared, leading to a Bill and Ted like adventure as Spongebob and Plankton trying to reach their destination. After failing to get the formula Spongebob, Plankton, Patrick, Squidward, Sandy and Mr Crabs going to a beach were Burger Beard is selling Krabby Pattys in his boat thanks to the formula he stole with the magic of the book from the beginning of the film. Things go in favour for Spongebob and his friends when they use a ripped page of the book to give themselves superpowers in order to get things back to normal. Overall this was a great movie for anyone who is a fan of the TV show as it keeps to tone of the shows comedic background and expands around them by taking advantage of the mix of live action and animated scenes thanks to a bigger budget. 8/10.