Korvac Saga: Warzones! Review

Finished reading Korvac Saga: Warzones! Tying into the large events of Marvel's Secret Wars by exploring the Battleworld domain of Forrest Hills while also bringing an end to the Guardians 3000 storyline. The book opens up with a group of the future Guardians of the Galaxy using the gravity of an older Galactus to travel to the present, hoping to find out what is causing the timeline of the future being in a constant state of flux. The teams journey to present day New York gains the attention of the present day team of the Guardians of the Galaxy where things quickly take a turn for the worse when the Stark robot that was on the future Guardians ship finds reinforcements and begins to attack both teams. The final story of the book features an alternative version of the original Guardians as the heroes of the Forest Hill domain of Battleworld as they are preparing for the arrival of Baron Simon Williams and his Avengers of the Holy Wood domain. However the Guardians are trying to deal with a epidemic of people turning into monsters after claiming to see the stars in the sky that should be there and hoping to keep the news of the epidemic from reaching the Avengers and the public and causing mass hysteria. Overall this was a good book as writer Dan Abnett writes some great interplay between the original Guardians and the current Guardians along with their interactions with the Avengers of the Holy Wood domain of Battleworld works well for the book and brings a few great moments. The role that Geena Drake has at the beginning of the book is set up to be quite major for the rest of the book only for her to be an almost nothing character during the Secret Wars part of it even though she was set up to have an interesting role later on which is given to Korvac. The role that Korvac has within the book is very interesting in how he affects the story and the two teams within the book. The artwork in the book is great as artist Nico Leon captures the sci-fi elements of the Guardians extremely well. Additionally artist Otto Schmidt designs some great monstrous creatures and choreographs the fight and action scenes very well. 7/10.

Star Trek: Beyond Film Review

Finished watching Star Trek: Beyond, directed by Justin Lin and starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Leonard Nimoy, Lydia Wilson, Idris Elba, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, Sofia Boutella, John Cho and Zoe Saldana. The film opens up about three years into the Enterprise's mission to explore uncharted space as Caption James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) is beginning to have doubts about his career since his birthday is only a few days away. Once the crew dock into a newly built space station for a break Spock (Zachary Quinto) gets news of the passing of his older counterpart (Leonard Nimoy) which hits him extremely hard. While at the station Kirk applies for the vice admiral position at the station when the station receives a distress call from an approaching escape pod. The survivor (Lydia Wilson) explains what happened to her crew which causes Kirk to rally the crew back together and embark on a rescue mission only to be lead into a trap by the villainous Krall (Idris Elba) who causes the Enterprise to crash land on the nearest planet taking most of the crew as hostages while a handful of crew members miss being captured prompting the free crew members to save their friends from Krall. Overall this was a good film as it continues the franchise by giving it a lighter tone and making the film very accessible for new viewers as well by catching them up quickly at the beginning. The way the script separates the main crew of the Enterprise into pairs allows for some great character interactions with the pairs of Spock and Dr McCoy (Karl Urban) along with Scotty (Simon Pegg) and new character Jaylah (Sofia Boutella) brings some character development along with bring some laugh out loud moments. However the storyline focusing around Sulu (John Cho) and Uhura (Zoe Saldana) puts more focus on to Kroll and his plan rather than the two crew members. Kroll is a very intriguing villain even though is plan is quite simple while his backstory is incredibly interesting and the longer the film runs the more interesting Kroll becomes. 7/10.

Silk: The Live and Times of Cindy Moon Review

Finished reading Silk: The Live and Times of Cindy Moon, spinning out of the Amazing Spider-Man series where Silk had prominent role during the Spider-Verse event. The book opens up with Silk in a fight with a new super villain calling himself Dragonclaw when Silk looks to be in danger Spider-Man shows up to help as Dragonclaw flys away. After the fight Cindy heads to work at the Fact news channel where she's interning in hopes to use the networks facilities to help her find out what happened to her family when she got locked in the bunker that she lived in for several years. After getting into a second fight with Dragonclaw, Black Cat pays a repairman to upgrade Dragonclaw's suit along with building her a team of tech henchmen to take on Silk. The final story in the book ties into the events of Time Runs Out and Secret Wars as the world is on the brink of destruction J Jonah Jameson comes to Cindy with information of someone using her brother's name which prompts Cindy to use her last moments to find the mans last know location while helping people along the way. Overall this was a good book as it dives into Silks background as Cindy try's to find her family in the present while the book flashbacks to before she went into the bunker to show what Cindy's life was like and how the discovery of her powers affected her family. The amount of character development that Dragonclaw gets throughout the book is great as writer Robbie Thompson is able to dive into the home life of the villain and showing what drives him to continue his work with Black Cat by showing how his job affects his daughter. The artwork is good as it works well for the books tone while the colours help to differentiate between the flashbacks which are mostly in black and white while the rest of the book is fully coloured with mostly blight toned colours. 7/10.

Avengers: Time Runs Out: Volume Four Review

Finished reading Avengers: Time Runs Out: Volume Four, this concludes writer Jonathan Hickman's Avengers and New Avengers series' as Marvel's Secret Wars event looms even closer over the horizon. The book opens up with Doctor Strange and the Black Priests finding and attacking the home of the Black Sisters which leads to Strange meeting with their god Rabum Alal who turns out to be non other than Dr Doom. The next story has the heroes of Earth trying to defend the planet from an attack by the Shi-Ar empire with Iron Man at the forefront of Earths defences. The following story goes back to the almost dead universe where the multiversal team of Avengers are overwhelmed by a group of Beyonders. The penultimate story explains the origin of Dr Doom's journey around the multiverse as Rabum Alal. The final story deals with the final confrontation between Iron Man and Captain America as the main Marvel universe and the Ultimate universe prepare for the final incursion. Overall this was a decent book as it concludes the two series on an interesting note which leaves several plot lines open that should hopefully be expanded upon within the pages of the main Secret Wars book. There are some great character moments within the book between characters like Thor and Hyperion who meet their end along with the other multiversal Avengers which is one of the most heartfelt moments of the book as the friendship that the two built during the course of the main Avengers series makes their final moments one of the best of the book. The way that Dr Doom gets involved with the whole events of the incursions and how he has been a part of it is quite interesting and helps to set up his position for the beginning of Secret Wars. While the final confrontation between Captain America and Iron Man feels rushed and as a result underwhelming as the fight between the two has been set up since the beginning of the Time Runs Out story arc. Additionally the artwork throughout the book is good as it's able to distinguish the differences of the multiple universes as well as past and present moments within the book thanks to the book colouring. 6.5/10.

Ghostbusters Film Review

Finished watching Ghostbusters, directed by Paul Feig and staring Zach Woods, Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones and Chris Hemsworth. The film opens up with a tour guide (Zach Woods) closing up the historic house that he works at only discover that the house is haunted when a ghost appears. The next day the owner of the house meets with Dr. Erin Gilbert (Kristen Wiig) who has written a book on the paranormal years prior with her old friend Dr. Abbey Yates (Melissa McCarthy) who had published the book without her knowing causing Erin to find her old friend who has continued with her studies into the paranormal with electrical engineer Dr. Jillian Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon). After encountering the ghost at the house the group decided to become Ghostbusters, a name that the media gives the group after being joined by subway worker Patty Tolan (Leslie Jones) who called the girls at their office above a local Chinese restaurant with the call being recieved by the groups receptionist Kevin (Chris Hemsworth). Overall this was a good film as it's incredibly hilarious from the get go as each actor plays off each other which is also credit to how well the script has been crafted. The references and callbacks to the original films are great and work extremely well in the context of the film along with the return of the original cast which does feel shoehorned into the film. The CGI and animation is great as the ghosts work perfectly within the real world however there is a couple of places within the fight where the CGI feels disjointed such as the reconstruction of a building at the end of the film which looks unfinished and takes you out of the film. 7/10.

Moon Knight: In The Night Review

Finished reading Moon Knight: In The Night, writer Cullen Bunn concludes the Marvel series as Moon Knight try's to deal with multiple supernatural threats that seem to have a link to Khonshu, the Egyptian god that resurrected Marc Spector several years prior. The book opens up with Moon Knight seeing a load of ghosts inside an abandoned hotel who are slowly fading away due to a group of criminals using them as a power source. The next story has Moon Knight dealing with feral dogs attacking the wealthy members of society. The following story has Marc Spector defying Khonshu to fight what is essentially the bogeyman who is terrorising the city. The final two stories has Moon Knight coming face to face with a military group and a woman who is worshiping Khonshu as both stories see both antagonists planning on sacrificing people for Khonshu. Overall this was a great book as writer Cullen Bunn brings an end to the series by showing how Khonshu affects the work while also playing on his relationship with Marc Spector which leads to a very satisfying end to the series. The episodic structure to the series is back and works exceptionally well as it allows for some intriguing plot lines and moments within the story while also using subtle references to things from earlier in the series that should reward people who have read the whole series. The artwork throughout captures Moon Knights fighting style and the horrific imagery of the monsters within the book incredibly well while also giving the city streets and the interiors of the buildings their own unique characteristics. 8/10.

Spider-Gwen: Most Wanted? Review

Finished reading Spider-Gwen: Most Wanted? This spins out of the events of Spider-Verse and due to the character's surprising popularity the creative team of writer Jason Latour and artist Robbie Rodriguez continue their Spider-Gwen story. The book opens with Gwen Stacy coming back to her universe after the events of Spider-Verse as she is trying to get her life in order after not speaking to her dad and has been missing band practice since getting involved with the fight against Morlun and his family. While swinging around New York Gwen gets into a losing fight with this universes version of the Vulture which leads to the home of her band mates who have gotten more fame since the Rhino crashed their last gig. After reconciling with her friends Gwen heads back home to fix the relationship she has with her dad only for the Vulture to crash into the house while the head of the police's special crimes task force Frank Castle also joins the fight in hopes to arrest Gwen. The next story has Gwen's band The Mary Janes playing the opening set for Felicia Hardy who has come to New York to seek revenge on Matt Murdock for killing her father years ago. Additionally the book has the first appearance of Spider-Gwen from the Edge of Spider-Verse story which helps to set up and introduce the universe to new readers that didn't read the Spider-Verse event. Overall this was great book as writer Jason Latour further explores Spider-Gwen's world and shows how different it is to the main Marvel universe. While the different takes on characters like Daredevil and the Punisher within this universe are incredibly intriguing as they're different enough to capture the curiosity of the reader to see how events will unfold further down the line. The inclusion of Spider-Ham in the book is hilarious and also makes sense within the context of the story as he is the conscience of Gwen, this comes to life after she fell into a garbage boat during the fight with the Vulture. The artwork by Robbie Rodriguez is great as it captures the tone of the character incredibly well, additionally colourist Rico Renzi's colour palette looks as if the music that Gwen's band play within the book is a strong influence to the colouring which works perfectly. 8/10.

The Legend of Tarzan Film Review

Finished watching The Legend of Tarzan, directed by David Yates and staring Christoph Waltz, Djimon Hounson, Alexander Skarsgård, Margot Robbie and Samuel L. Jackson. The film opens up with a group of Belgian soldiers lead by Léon Rom (Christoph Waltz) meeting with Mbonga (Djimon Hounson) the leader of a local tribe in the Congo for diamonds that will help to fund the Belgian army only for Mbonga to tell Léon that he will receive his full payment if he can bring Tarzan (Alexander Skarsgård) to the tribe to pay for killing the chief's son years prior. Meanwhile in London Tarzan has now been living in society as John Clayton III for several years with his wife Jane (Margot Robbie) as he gets an invitation from the King of Belgium to join him in the Congo with news of this American George Washington Williams (Samuel L. Jackson) asks to join John in hope to find criminal evidence against Belgium for using slave labour. Overall this was a good film as it brings together a good Tarzan story with a nice amount of character interactions comedic moments that is blended together incredibly well. The way that the film transitions between the main events of the film and the flashbacks of Tarzan's life within the jungle and the first time he meets Jane works perfectly within the context of the film as the events of the past are affecting the events of the present while also helping to explore the history of each character. There are some great emotional scenes with some characters deaths being extremely heartfelt as the relations the characters have with Tarzan and Jane helps to fuel the emotions within each scene. 7.5/10.

Avengers: Times Runs Out: Volume Three Review

Finished reading Avengers: Times Runs Out: Volume Three, writer Jonathan Hickman continues the Time Runs Out storyline as Marvel's Secret Wars event begins to cast its shadow over the Marvel multiverse. The book begins where the previous book left off as Sue Richards has stopped all the avengers teams and the Illuminati from fighting by trapping them inside invisible boxes until Steve Rogers promises to talk with the Illuminati in hopes to come up with a plan to get rid of the Cabal after Namor confirms with the heroes that he made a mistake. During the next incursion where the heroes plan to kill the Cabal, Black Panther and Black Bolt severely injure Namor and leave him for dead on the planet below moments before it blows up. Not long after the incursion Mr Fantastic receives a signal from Hank Pym who has returned from his travels around the multiverse hoping to find out more about the incursions. Overall this was a good book as the events of the series begins to ramp up as the heroes have put aside their differences and begin to tackle the problem of the incursions together while different alien races of the galaxy have now discovered what's going on with the multiverse. The use of the Ultimate universe within the context of the story is great as it helps to show how different universes deal with the incursions and what that universe's Reed Richards has done in saving his world. The artwork throughout the book is great as the changing art works extremely well within the book by helping to distinguish between the different universes and the different character points of view. 7/10.

Amazing Spider-Man: Spiral Review

Finished reading Amazing Spider-Man: Spiral, this sees the return of veteran Spider-Man writer Gerry Conway to the character as he brings an end to the series by telling a very intriguing gang war story with Police Captain Yuri Watanabe at the centre of it. The book opens up with Spider-Man coming across a SWAT team outside one of Tombstone's strongholds as a stand off begins due to one of Tombstone's men shooting at Spider-Man. With Tombstone now behind bars it leaves a power vacuum within New York's criminal underworld which each leader of multiple crime organisations plans to use to increase their power. However Mr Negative plans on building his grip on New York's organised crime by exploiting Police Captain Yuri Watanabe to bring down his competition as her costumed alias The Wraith. Overall this was a great book as writer Gerry Conway tells a very interesting Gang War story with Spider-Man taking an almost backseat which gives Yuri Watanabe some great character development while the story itself is very captivating and keeps you wanting to continue reading by wanting to see the who's who of New York's criminal underworld and how they interact with Spider-Man and Yuri. The use of The Wraith being a secondary main character to the story works extremely well as the events that take place and the way that they affect Yuri parallels that of what has happened in Spider-Man's life but with a nice twist to the proceedings. The artwork by artist Carlo Barberi works perfectly for the story as it captures the fighting styles of Spider-Man and The Wraith greatly, while also capturing each character's emotions very well. 8/10.

Central Intelligence Film Review

Finished watching Central Intelligence, directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber and staring Kevin Hart, Dwayne Johnson, Danielle Nicolet and Amy Ryan. The film opens up twenty years in the past as top student Calvin Joyner (Kevin Hart) being awarded in the years final assembly when a group of bully's throw Robbie Wheirdicht (Dwayne Johnson) on to the middle of the schools basketball court when the group of kids see him singing in the schools showers. Calvin then helps Robbie up from his embarrassing moment. Years later in the preset Calvin has married his childhood sweetheart Maggie (Danielle Nicolet) but is questioning about how his life has turned out especially with the school reunion looming in a few days time. Once Calvin is back at work he receives a message from Robbie who has changed his name to Bob Stone and has become a C.I.A agent and is in need of Calvin's help on a case. Things turn for the worse when Bob's boss agent Pamela Harris (Amy Ryan) goes on a hunt for Bob after he's gone rogue from the C.I.A. Overall this was a good film as the comedy, while great, is very predicable in places, regardless of this the film still hits all of the marks as a large amount of the comedy is extremely laugh out loud funny. The action scenes are choreographed and edited together extremely well while the reactions from characters to what's going on within the scenes help to keep the comedic tone to the film. The interactions between Calvin and Bob are brought over perfectly thanks to how the two actors play off each other which is highlighted during the outtakes that are shown during the films credits which helps to show how well the two work on scene together. 7/10.

Ant-Man: Second-Chance Man Review

Finished reading Ant-Man: Second-Chance Man, this begins the Marvel series that started by coinciding with the release of Marvel's Ant-Man film. The book opens up with Scott Lang, Ant-Man breaking into Tony Stark's apartment after having an interview to be the new head of security for Stark Industries and the only way to get the job is to hack into Stark's own security system which Scott is able to do by using one of Iron Man's helmets to get into the system. After being offered the job Scott discovers that his ex wife Peggy is moving to Miami along with his daughter Cassie which prompts Scott to ditch his new job for Tony Stark so he can move to Miami to be with his daughter. After being in Miami for a few days Scott starts up his own security company with the reformed villain Grizzly being his first employee after he mistakes Scott for being Eric O'Grady who Grizzly wanted revenge against. Overall this was a great book as writer Nick Spencer blends together the comedy and serious moments within Scott's life extremely well. The character moments between Scott and Cassie are great as their relationship feels very organic and is immensely relatable which works perfectly within the book. The artwork by Ramon Rosanas is amazing as it captures the comedic tone of the book extremely well while the art also conveys the large amount emotion between Scott, his ex wife and his daughter Cassie greatly. 8/10.

Amazing Spider-Man: Graveyard Shift Review

Finished reading Amazing Spider-Man: Graveyard Shift, this tells writer Dan Slott's last Spider-Man story of the series as he is joined by frequent co-writer Christos Gage with the two telling a story of Spider-Man coming back to his New York after the Spider-Verse event as he still try's to get used to being the CEO of his own company. The book opens up with Spider-Man at the Central Park zoo fighting The Iguana as he's getting calls from his Aunt May and his colleagues Anna Maria and Sajani saying that he's late for and appointment with city officials about building a new super prison. After presenting their pitch, Alchemax employees Tiberius Stone and Mark Roxton head to a local criminal bar in order to hire the Ghost to sabotage Parker Industries in order to get the prison contract. The next story written by Sean Ryan begins with Sajani asking Peter to go over her report that she's emailed to him only for him to get preoccupied as Spider-Man hoping to find the owner of a phone that he found near a traffic accident that takes him on a trip around the whole of New York. There is an additional story within the book that centres around Black Cat that helps to cement her new villainous role within the Marvel universe. Overall this was a great book as it continues to show how Peter Parker becomes more used to being a CEO of his own company but still finding it hard to find the time of running the company and being Spider-Man as well. There are great comedic moments throughout from the opening fight between Spider-Man and The Iguana which has some great back and froths between the two while the transition of Spider-Man having to pick up the phone makes Iguana's reactions incredibly funny. The art work throughout the book is great from artist Brandon Peterson as he captures Spider-Man web swinging around the stunning location of New York. While art work for the rest of the book is great as artists Humberto Ramos designs some great fight scenes between Spider-Man and the Ghost, showing brilliantly how the two's powers work within the fight. 8/10.

Independence Day: Resurgence Film Review

Finished watching Independence Day: Resurgence, directed by Roland Emmerich and staring Bill Pullman, Sela Ward, Maika Monroe, Jessie Usher, Liam Hemsworth, Jeff Goldblum, Deobia Oparei and Brent Spiner. The film opens up with another group of the aliens that attacked in the first film receiving a distress call containing the speech of President Thomas J. Whitmore (Bill Pullman) just before Earths victory from twenty years prior. This quickly turns out to be Thomas having a nightmare vision of the aliens plan. The film then goes to the White House where the current President Elizabeth Lanford (Sela Ward) is preparing a speech written by Patricia Whitmore (Maika Monroe) for the Independence Day celebrations as pilot Dylan Dubrow-Hiller (Jessie Usher) enters the room as he prepares to go to the moon base where Patricia's fiancé Jake Morrison (Liam Hemsworth) is currently helping to build more of Earths defences up there. Meanwhile in Africa scientist David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum) meets with the warlord Dukembe Umbutu (Deobia Oparei) who has been fighting the remnants of the aliens who landed in Africa as the ship that brought them there reactivated and started drilling into the Earths core. Later during the Independence Day celebrations at Washington D.C. an alien ship appears over the moon base which is literally shot out of the sky almost immediately due to world leaders being reluctant to trust this different alien ship which is quickly followed by a massive ship containing the aliens from the previous film attempting a second invasion of Earth. Overall this was a good film as it keeps the same amount of crazy and senseless action from the previous film while also building upon the world that was created back in this films predecessor twenty years ago. There's a great amount of comedic moments throughout the film from the many interactions between each character while the reappearance of Doctor Brakish Okun (Brent Spiner) brings some of the best moments within the whole film as he pretty much steals every scene he's in. There is a few pacing and editing problems in parts of the film as some cuts feel a little disjointed in places that takes you out of the film a little. 7.5/10.