Transformers: The Last Knight Film Review

Finished watching Transformers: The Last Knight, directed by Michael Bay and starring Liam Garrigan, Stanley Tucci, Isabela Moner, Mark Wahlberg, Peter Cullen, Frank Welker, Jim Carter and Anthony Hopkins. The film opens in the middle of a large battle with King Arthur's (Liam Garrigan) army is on the brink of defeat with Arthur putting his faith into Merlin (Stanley Tucci) to find a way to turn the tides of the battle, which he does in the for of twelve Knight Transformers that combine to form a large three headed dragon that wins Arthur the battle and ends up forming an alliance with the Transformers. Back in modern day the film goes to a destroyed Chicago where a group of kids met a young local girl named Izabella (Isabela Moner) try's to stop the kids from getting caught by an anti Transformers military unit, but once they're noticed a wanted Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg) along with Bumblebee save the kids from the the military unit. Once Cade returns to his junkyard where the rest of the Autobots have been living since Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) left Earth, the military unit find themselves working together with Megatron (Frank Welker) to find and capture Cade and the Autobots thanks to the help of a tracker that was planted on Bumblebee in the first fight. During that fight between the Autobots and Decepticons, a human size Transformer named Cogman (Jim Carter) has come to take Cade to England to meet with astronomer and historian Sir Edmund Burton (Anthony Hopkins) after receiving the news of Cade being handed an artefact from a dying Transformer in Chicago. Overall this was an okay film as it continues to deliver on the great Transformer action set prices and some of the CGI that brings to Transformers to life looks breathtaking in some places. However the the film itself is plagued by multiple editing problems from the cutting between shots going from full screen to wide screen shot with a different picture quickly which becomes incredibly annoying as these changes are very noticeable throughout the film. The film's story has some very interesting concepts that are on show which effect that the Transformers movie universe but never all get fully expanded upon and even the ending of the film leaves a lot to be desired as the film becomes a story full of exposition about the secret history of the Transformers on Earth. 5.5/10.

All-New, All-Different Avengers: Family Business Review

Finished reading All-New, All-Different Avengers: Family Business, continuing this incarnation of the Avengers as they find themselves in the middle of Marvel's Standoff event before having an adventure in space. The book opens with Sam Wilson and Jane Foster on the roof of a local hospital as the two talk about Jane chose of being Thor and how it's effecting her health. Meanwhile Vision is apologising for what happened with Kang earlier in the series by giving her a device that allows her to be apart of classic Avengers battles. Then the Avenger are notified of an escaped villain and are met with Maria Hill how takes the team to Pleasant Hill were the Avengers get into a fight with the Unity Squad of Avengers before finding themselves trapped in the town and having to work together to escape. The rest of the book continues with the introduction of the new Wasp, Nadia Pym who introduces herself to the Avengers when Vision begins to malfunction. After helping Vision Jarvis decides it a good idea to take Nadia to see the original Wasp, Janet while the team decide to take a trip into space to help Nova to find his missing father with leads them becoming trapped in the Negative Zone at the hands of Annihilus. Overall this was a great book as it continues the adventures of this incarnation of the Avengers as the interactions between the newer heroes and veteran Avengers with the team building more on their working relationships. The introduction of the new Wasp, Nadia Pym is great as writer Mark Waid makes Nadia feel like an instant hit thanks to her being whole back story being laid out straight away and with it being extremely interesting with how it connects to the wider Marvel universe and the way that she is characterised. The Standoff part of the book is great as it opens by continuing to develop the relationships between the team members while also being a nice addition to the event and barely need any more material is a positive event through the Standoff part of the Uncanny Avengers helps to fill in a few gaps. The art in the book is great as Adam Kubert's art for the Standoff part of the book works perfectly for the depicting both avengers teams in the middle of the event while Mahmod Asrar's art for the rest of the book is also great as it bring to life the intergalactic adventure the team go on. 8/10.

Uncanny Avengers: Unity: The Man Who Fell to Earth Review

Finished reading Uncanny Avengers: Unity: The Man Who Fell to Earth, continuing the series as writer Gerry Duggan brings founding Avengers member Hank Pym back to Earth after merging with Ultron. The book opens up with the Avengers stopping a high speed chase with the Wrecker being pursued by the authorities after escaping from Pleasant Hill. This leads to the team to follow the Wrecker's hostage, Maria Hill back to Pleasant Hill where things take an incredibly strange when another Maria Hill shows up. The rest of the book then continues with Rouge meeting with her ex, Gambit where she discovers that the last time the two met was actually the Red Skull in disguise thanks to the help of Professor Xavier's stolen powers and stopping Gambit's heist the the city from happening. Soon after Captain America contacts Rouge about a fallen space capsule with a group of astronauts inside as she's the only Avenger nearby and Steve is currently working with Deadpool to stop a group of shooters in a wildlife reserve. While perusing the capsule Rouge is assisted but the reappearance of Hank Pym and once meet with the rest of the Unity Squad who begin to question how is in control Hank or Ultron since the two merged together the last time they were on Earth. This also leads to Steve calling Hank's ex wife Janet to help verify Hank's story. Overall this was an amazing book as it tells brings back founding Avenger Hank Pym into the fold that leads to some amazing ramifications while also putting some interesting input into Marvel's Standoff event from the Unity Squad's prospective. The story cantering around the return of Hank Pym is amazing as it feels like watching a blockbuster film with how well the story has been written by Gerry Duggan and the way that artist Pepe Larraz, along with colourist David Curiel brings to life the emotions between each character and the action set pieces on and off Earth is all breathtaking. However what lets the book down is the fact that the Standoff part of the book only has half of the story due to it crossing over with the All New All Different Avengers series, leaves a lot to desire with the story not being compete even though it has some amazing art work for the story's art team and great character moments, essentially with how Rouge realises that she's living in an illusion and has to get both Avengers teams to realise the truth as well. 9/10. 

Gifted Film Review

Finished watching Gifted, directed by Marc Webb, and starring McKenna Grace, Chris Evans, Jenny Slate and Lindsay Duncan. The film opens up with seven year old Mary Adler (McKenna Grace) reluctantly getting ready for her first day of school as her uncle and guardian, Frank (Chris Evans) has home schooled her to the best of his ability. While at school Mary's teacher, Bonnie Stevenson (Jenny Slate) soon discovers that Mary of intellectually gifted and along with the school's principal believes that Mary would be better suited to a school more equipped for the education she needs. Against the principal advise Frank still believes that Mary should attend a normal school, leading to the news reaching Frank's mother Evelyn (Lindsay Duncan) who believes that Frank is holding Mary back from her full potential and hopes to get full custody of Mary. Overall this was a great film as it tells a very intriguing story that takes some great twists and turns that never feel predicable and can surprisingly leaves you at the edge of the seat. There are some amazing emotional character interactions between the whole cast as their relationships feel incredibly realistic and relatable, essentially in the scenes where the relationship between Frank and Mary is front and centre. 8.5/10.

Illuminati: Life of Crime Review

Finished reading Illuminati: Life of Crime, writer Joshua Williamson builds a team of super villains and places them in limelight of their own story. The book opens up with Titania visiting her husband, the Absorbing Man in prison bringing up the conversation of wanting to turn over a new leaf with the hope of making a better life for the two. After getting a job in a local pawn shop Titania finds herself getting into a fight between Luke Cage and Iron Fist after breaking her parole agreement due to using her powers to stop a robbery at the store and is saved form going back to prison by the intervention of the Hood. After being teleported to the Hood's house he offers Titania a place on his team consisting of the Mad Tinker, Thunderball, Black Ant and Enchantress with the hope to add more villains to his cause once they've been able to put of a heist on Asgardia's own weapons vault. The next part of the book sees the Hood recruiting Absorbing Man to his team after he and Titania was able to help Carl escape for Pleasant Hill during the events of Marvel's Standoff event, which gives Carl enough motive to join the Hood. Overall this was a good book as it puts the spotlight onto a group of lower tier villains allowing writer Joshua Williamson to give some great insight into the character's personal life's outside of being super villains. The Adsorbing Man story of his time in Pleasant Hill works greatly with how it was foreshadowed at the beginning of the book as what he experienced of working in the local dinner was part of what Titania was hoping to make a life after both were out of prison. While the story also brought some amazing emotional scenes with how the truth of Pleasant Hill revealed itself. The art throughout the book is great as artist Shawn Crystal brings a light tone to the book thanks to its animated aesthetic and the colour palette from colourist John Rauch. While the additional art by Kev Walker and Mike Henderson works extremely well for the different settings and change of perspectives away from the main team. 7.5/10.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: The Coulson Protocols Review

Finished reading Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: The Coulson Protocols, beginning a new series for the main Marvel universe version of Marvel's cinematic S.H.I.E.L.D. agents as writer Marc Guggenheim blends together elements of the TV show within the context of the main Marvel universe. The book opens with agent Phil Coulson in the disguise of Batroc to infiltrate an auction between a few villains where the highest bidder will gain the location of a new biological weapon, while the rest of the team are trying to keep the real Batroc. The book then continues with its main story as an Iron Man impostor breaks into the Pentagon which causes Tony Stark to try to make contact with Coulson about the situation. After finishing up a mission with a group of former A.I.M. agents Coulson debriefs his team of the Iron Man imposter as he goes to meet with his ex girlfriend and government official, Lola while the rest of the team track the imposter. After being unable to find the imposter the team get news of a different auction that has an item that the imposter Iron Man stole from the Pentagon on show, while agent Simmons, Deathlok and Quake have been reassigned to apprehend Rick Jones after being discovered by S.H.I.E.L.D. during the events of Standoff, only to find themselves face to face with the New Avengers. Overall this was a good book as it delves more into Phil Coulson's past which brings the great introductions of Coulson's ex girlfriend Lola and the first appearance of Grant Ward within the main Marvel universe leads to some great character growth for Coulson. However the rest of the cast feels short changed in places with the book's prime focus being on Coulson leads to some secondary storylines being left open with little development and simply set up, like how Simmons is dealing with being exposed to A.I.M.'s DNA bomb which only comes to the attention of Deathlok during the fight with the New Avengers. The art by Germán Peralta is great as the action sect prices and even the more quiet undercover scenes are drawn greatly, along with the addition of colourist Rachelle Rosenberg helps to bring to life the full story and differentiate the scenes set in the past to those set in the present thanks to a more monotone colour of the flashbacks. 7/10.

The Mummy Film Review

Finished watching The Mummy, directed by Alex Kutzman and starring Russell Crowe, Sofia Boutella, Tom Cruise, Jake Johnson and Annabelle Wallis. The film opens with a group of London Underground worker stumbling on to a mass grave of knight from the 12th century as the organisation named Prodigium takes over to investigate as their leader Dr Henry Jekyll (Russell Crowe) notices the story of Egyptian Princess Ahmanet (Sofia Boutella) on the wall above. Meanwhile in Iraq army officer Nick Morton (Tom Cruise) and Sargent Chris Vail (Jake Johnson) who are looking for treasure in hope make money on the black market with what they find, only to find themselves in trouble in a local town as Chris calls for an air strike to save them which leads to the two finding an ancient Egyptian underground passage to the tomb of Princess Ahmanet. The two are soon join by archeologist Jennifer Halsey (Annabelle Wallis) to take a professional look at the tomb, where Nick inadvertently begins to wake up Ahmanet inside her Sarcophagus when he brakes the chains holding it in place. Overall this was a decent film as it 

sets up the groundwork for what could and hopefully will be a very interesting cinematic universe consisting of the classic cult horror monsters. The relationship between Nick and Chris is great as it allows for some funny comedic interactions between the two while also helping to drive the plot forward. The character of Princess Ahmanet is very intriguing with how the film try's to make her a slightly sympathetic villain by diving into her past in ancient Egypt. While her look and design seems to fit with in the world very nicely and the way that she finds and creates henchmen is simply awesome. The introduction of Dr Jackal already having his Hyde counterpart and the way he plays a part in this world is extremely interesting, however some of the dialogue Jackal uses to describe himself brings about a ton more questions with how his dual personalities work. 6.5/10.

New Avengers: A.I.M.: Standoff Review

Finished reading New Avengers: A.I.M.: Standoff, writer Al Ewing continues to tell the story of the Avengers team based at A.I.M. with the current head of the former criminal organisation Roberto Da Costa gets involved within Marvel's Standoff event. The book opened with the evil version of Reed Richards from Marvel's Ultimate universe visits former White Tiger, Angela Del Toro in her prison cell with a proposition to reclaim the mantle of the one true White Tiger from her successor as the Maker gives Angel his universe's Tiger Amulet. The book continues by crossing over with the events of Standoff as A.I.M. gets a message from Rick Jones who is currently on the run from S.H.I.E.L.D. asking for help. However by the time the message reaches the New Avengers and decide to help Rick they end up having to brake him out of S.H.I.E.L.D. custody which give the American army enough motivation to declare war on A.I.M. for coursing an international incident. The last story in the book catches back up with the members of the New Avengers who left during the Standoff story of the book and beginning to wrap up their story for the series. Overall this was a great book as writer Al Ewing uses a couple of plot threads form the main Standoff story to continue the series as the Standoff part of the book is very brief but leads to some large ramifications which have been hinted at since the beginning of the series. There is an amazing amount of comedic moments from how the multiple A.I.M. agents interact with the main and supporting cast, to the fight with the Plunderer at the end of the book which is incredibly hilarious. The art is great as each art style accompanies its respective story extremely well with with the situations the characters find themselves in and how the action is set out especially with the fight between a giant mech suit at A.I.M.'s disposal and the monstrous American Kaiju looks breathtaking. 8.5/10.

Captain America: Sam Wilson: Standoff Review

Finished reading Captain America: Sam Wilson: Standoff, writer Nick Spencer brings together the current and former Captain America's for the main story of Marvel's Standoff event. The book opens up with a S.H.I.E.L.D. debriefing former Captain America, Steve Rogers on an attack by Bucky Barnes who has recently returned to Earth and left a napkin for Steve to find so he can meet Bucky at an old dinner. Meanwhile current Captain America, Sam Wilson gets a message from hacker, the Whisperer who turns out to be Rick Jones to meet with him. Once both Sam and Steve find out about a secret program involving the Cosmic Cube that Maria Hill has been overlooking and continued with even after it was revealed to the world, S.H.I.E.L.D. arrives at Ricks home in hope to arrest him and only escapes thanks to Sam's help, while Steve is picked up by Maria Hill who takes him to the town Pleasant Hill where he meets a young girl named Kobik who happens to be a sentient Cosmic Cube who has helped change super villains into normal citizens with her abilities, only for the appearance of Steve to cause a few of the towns prisoners who have recently rediscovered who they are to beginning a prison break lead by Baron Zemo due to being extremely angry with what S.H.I.E.L.D. did to them. There is also an additional three stories to celebrate Captain America's 75th anniversary which are mostly silent pieces and are all incredibly amazing. Overall this was a amazing book as it brings together the three current and former Captain America's back together again which brings about some interactions and characters moments with the three meet each other again especially when Steve reverts back to his younger self. There are some great comedic moments coming from the interactions between the villains and how they execute their plan to find and retrieve Kobik is incredibly hilarious especially with it being an idea of Kraven the Hunter. Additionally the book does a great job in setting stories to be revisited in the future, from the situations that Maria Hill and Steve Rogers find themselves in with having to deal with the aftermath of the whole Pleasant Hill incident and how new characters like Kobik and the newest Quasar go on after being introduced within the story. The book's artwork is great as it accompanies the each part of very well while the change of the art styles to fit the character who is taking centre stage at the time is a nice touch. 9/10.

Wonder Woman Film Review

Finished watching Wonder Woman, directed by Patty Jenkins, and staring Gal Gadot, Connie Nielsen, Robin Wright and Chris Pine. The film opens with Diana (Gal Gadot) going to her office in the Louvre, in Paris were she revives a package containing a photo of her form World War One, which leads to her reminiscing about the events that lead to her leaving her home on Themyscira. The film then transitions to Diana's childhood where she was raised by her mother the queen of the Amazons Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen) who try to protect her form learning how to fight and keep to her studies only for the Amazonian general Antiope (Robin Wright) to teach Diana how to fight even though it's initially against the wishes of Hippolyta. Years later after a training session Diana notices a plane crash just of the cast of the island where Diana saves the life of American spy Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) only to discover that he was followed by a fleet of German ships leads into a fight on the beach between the soldiers and the Amazons. After the fight and finding out what is happening in the rest of the world leads to Diana take Steve back to the war in hope to join the fight even though is against her mother's orders and he better judgment. Overall this was a amazing film as it brings the story of Wonder Woman's origin to life amazingly well that brings a surprising and a long welcoming of a more brighter and optimistic tone that has been missing for the DC films for years while still feeling a part of their film universe. There's an amazing amount character interactions and development with how some the film shows enough insight of each character which allows for some surprising amazing mini arcs for multiple characters. While Wonder Woman as a character fells incredibly relatable with how her story sees her leaving the safety of her home and venturing out into the wider world and the way her naivety effects her view on the world. There's is also some great visuals throughout with how the fantasy elements of Wonder Woman mixes extremely well with how it fits within the look and feel of World War One and the slow motion effect within the fight scenes works extremely well with how it focuses on parts of the action scenes. 9.5/10.

Spider-Man/Deadpool: Isn't it Bromantic Review

Finished reading Spider-Man/Deadpool: Isn't it Bromantic, paring up what could arguably be two of Marvel's most popular characters as writer Joe Kelly tells more than just a simple team up story. The book opens to Spider-Man and Deadpool captured by Dormammu and his army of Mindless Ones due to Deadpool teleporting Spider-Man away for a battle with Hydro-Man who comes back to finish the fight when the two heroes find a way to escape Dormammu. After not being to initially to provide to Spider-Man that he what's to be a better person, Deadpool keeps teaming up with Spider-Man and even Spider-Man to see his daughter Ellie to prove why. Only for Deadpool to take a job to kill Peter Parker with the hope to find enough evidence on Spider-Man's "Employer" to make sure that Peter Parker is an evil person. Overall this was a great book as it brings together Deadpool and a reluctant Spider-Man on their own adventures as Deadpool hopes that spending time with Spider-Man will hopefully make him a better person which leads to some great interactions between the two especially when Wade's daughter, Ellie is brought into the story as it makes Spider-Man to eventually help him. There's an amazing amount of comedy weaved throughout the book thanks to the way Spider-Man and Deadpool interact with one another and the types of situations they find themselves in and how they get of them is extremely hilarious. The art by Ed McGuinness is great as it not only accompanies the story extremely well but also delivering on some great emotion and the action scenes are drawn greatly. While the rest of the art team on the inking and colouring help to breathe even more life into the book. 8.5/10.

Astonishing Ant-Man: Small-Time Criminal Review

Finished reading Astonishing Ant-Man: Small-Time Criminal, continuing the series with writer Nick Spencer with the reveal of what lead to Scott back behind bars getting closer. The book opens to Scott still reflecting on what lead to him being thrown back into prison as he recounts the time he had to travel to meet with the new Giant Man, Raz Malhotra who is in need of some well over due training. While in San Francisco Scott teams up with Raz to hopefully stop a conference that the Power Broker is hosting which is showcasing the Hench App's newest feature. The book then tells a story focusing on Cassie Lang with how she's trying to come to terms with her new life without superpowers and trying to adapt to her new life in Miami when her former teammate Kate Bishop comes to town to spend time with her friend and to stop a criminal organisation. This leads to Cassie applying to the Hench App in hope that the Power Broker will be able to give her powers back. However the Power Broker what's Cassie to brake into Cross Technological to sabotage a similar app to Hench which the company stole, in exchange for her new powers as Cassie is completely up for when she discovers that she went through another heart transplant when Augustine Cross kidnapped her to save his father. However once Scott is told about Cassie by his employees Machinesmith and Grizzly who have taken a part time job at Cross Technological to work on their copycat app, Scott decides to use the Hench App himself to build a team to hopefully stop Cassie from going the same road that lead to him going to prison the first time. Overall this was a great book as it continues reveal the events that lead to Scott finding himself back in prison while also giving the spotlight to Scott's daughter Cassie and the villains he requires for the heist on Cross Technological. The is a great amount of character development and insight to Cassie as she becomes a superhuman again while the amount of interactions and insight to the villains that come from the Hench App is great and extremely hilarious especially when the heist part of the book begins with how the characters interact and the way the plan is executed. The art throughout is great as the art by Ramon Rosanas continues to work for Ant-Man's story by bringing the emotion, action and comedy to life extremely well. While the additional art by Annapaola Martello on the story cantering around Cassie and Brent Schoonover art on the story of the villains that Scott hires coming together, both do a great job in give each story their own look and feel with the spotlight being away for Scott, while also making it still feel a part of the series. 8/10.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man Tell No Tales Film Review

Finished watching Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man Tell No Tales, directed by Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg and staring Brenton Thwaites, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightly, Javier Bardem, Johnny Depp, Kaya Scodelario and Geoffrey Rush. The film opens up with the Henry Turner (Brenton Thwaites) the son of Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Turner (Keira Knightly) who has got himself a small boat to go out at sea in hope to find his father. After seeing his father for the first time Henry promises to one day life the curse that is his keeping the family apart. Years later Henry is working on a British ship that finds itself heading into a strange area in the sea where the ship comes under attack by the undead crew of Captain Armando Salazar (Javier Bardem) who gives a message to Henry in hope he can find Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) who is currently in the middle of an elaborate bank hist. Jack soon finds himself behind bars when his crew leaves him for not getting any of the money from the bank and meets with scientist Carina Smyth (Kaya Scodelario) who is in a cell next to Jack due to being mistaken as a witch, and was recently recaptured after meeting with Henry who plans a rescue of the two before their adventure can begin. Overall this was a good film as it brings back the main characters from the first three film and gives Will and Elizabeth's story closure by revisiting the characters last scene together in the original three films and building upon that with the introduction of their son's motivate is to save Will from the curse that keeps him at sea. There is a great amount of comedy throughout the film from the hilarious situations the cast find themselves in to the way characters interact with one another. While the amount of character development that new and previously established characters have is great as new characters Henry and Carina get some great insight to their origins and motivations, while Captain Hector Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) gets one surprisingly great redemption arc which helps to show how far the character has come since the original film. 7.5/10.