Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows Film Review

Finished watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, directed by Dave Green and starring Pete Ploszek, Jeremy Howard, Alan Ritchson, Noel Fisher, Will Arnett, Megan Fox, Tyler Perry, Brian Tee, Gary Anthony Williams, Stephen Farrelly and Stephan Amell. The film opens up with Leonardo (Pete Ploszek), Donatello (Jeremy Howard), Raphael (Alan Ritchson) and Michaelanglo (Noel Fisher) heading to a local basketball game were they see Vern Fenwick (Will Arnett) who is getting all of the praise and glory for their hard work from the previous film. Meanwhile on the other side of the city April O'Neil (Megan Fox) hacks the CEO of TCRI Baxter Stockman (Tyler Perry) emails thanks to a device that Donnie gave her where she discovers that the Foot are planning to break Shredder (Brian Tee) out of jail during a prisoner transfer along with Bebop (Gary Anthony Williams) and Rocksteady (Stephen Farrelly) with Casey Jones (Stephan Amell) being a part of the transfer. After Shredder escapes thanks to a teleportation device which leads to Casey being forced to take a leave of absence from the police after being unable to stop Shredder, Rocksteady and Bebop from escaping. Overall this was a great film as it blends together the action and comedy extremely well while being able to tell a good story with the characters in the film. The soundtrack is amazing as it works perfectly well within the context of the film. The character interactions throughout the film are great from the way the turtles interact between each other to the friendship that Bebop and Rocksteady have is great as the two steal every scene they're in and being about most of the comedic moments in the film thanks to how the two actors play off one another. 8/10.

Uncanny Avengers: Counter-Evolutionary Review

Finished reading Uncanny Avengers: Counter-Evolutionary, dealing with the aftermath of Marvel's Axis event writer Rick Remender brings together a new team of Uncanny Avengers as Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver travel to Counter Earth in hope to find answers of their true origins. The book opens up with Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch on Counter Earth hoping to find information about their true origins after finding out that Magneto is not their father during the events of Axis. Meanwhile back on Earth Rogue starts to get worried about the two since they have been missing for a week which causes her to form a new version of the Uncanny Avengers consisting of Vision, Captain America, Brother Voodoo and Sabretooth who head to Counter Earth in to help Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch only to find themselves separated across Counter Earth. Overall this was an okay book as it takes this incarnation of the Uncanny Avengers going to Counter Earth which is shown through some great designs and colouring by David Acuña works extremely well for the tone of the book and the world. What lets the book down is the fact that the story is quite a lacklustre as the revelation of Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver's origin creates more questions than answers. While for a team book there's not much team in it as the book focuses more on the twins story while also giving Sabretooth a good amount of development as he deals with still being inverted after the events of Axis which shifts attention away for the other team members that stories feel incredibly sidelined. 5.5/10.

Angela: Asgard's Assassin: Priceless Review

Finished reading Angela: Asgard's Assassin: Priceless, after discovering her true heritage during Marvel's Original Sin event she discovers that her new born sister has a demon laying dormant inside of her. The book opens up with Angela in the wilderness of a planet holding the new born daughter of Odin and Freyja as Angela heads to the nearest town to meet with her friend Sera as Angela is being hunted down by the forces of Asgard. The book continues with Angela and Sera traveling across a handful of the Ten Realms to save the newest addition to Angela's family from a demon that lies dormant inside the body of the young baby. Overall this was a good book as writers Kieron Gillen and Marguerite Bennett craft an intriguing story that has some great emotional moments that drives some of the characters. The sub stories are great as they help to further develop the story and the characters by showing what events had transpired to cause the story of the book. Additionally the sub stories do a great job in building the relationship between Angela and Sera that have some great emotional scenes, while the sub stories also flesh out more of Angela's life with the Angels of Heven. The art throughout is breathtakingly amazing as both Phil Jimenez and Stephanie Hans draw out some great creature and character design and choreograph some stunning fight scenes that show of the amount skill the Angela has in her fighting style. While the colouring of the whole book feels as if it's been painted which works extremely well with the tone of the book and its characters. 7/10.

X-Men: Apocalypse Film Review

Finished watching X-Men: Apocalypse, directed by Bryan Singer and staring Oscar Isaac, Tye Sheridan, Lucas Till, James McAvoy, Nicholas Hoult, Rose Byrne, Alexandra Shipp, Ben Hardy, Olivia Munn, Michael Fassbender, Evan Peters and Hugh Jackman. The film opens up with the origins of Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac) in ancient Egypt as he is betrayed by his followers and is buried alive during a ritual that would transfer his consciousness into a new body. Flash forward to 1983 and teenager Scott Summers (Tye Sheridan) discovers his mutant powers while at school, which leads to his brother Alex (Lucas Till) taking him to professor Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) school, that is now up and running again with the help of Hank McCoy (Nicholas Hoult). Meanwhile over in Egypt CIA agent Moira MacTaggert (Rose Byrne) accidentally resurrects Apocalypse when she stumbles onto a group of people praying to him as a large artefact begins to activate by the sunlight at the entrance of the cavern. With Apocalypse now awakened he sets out to lead a new group of horsemen which take the form of Storm (Alexandra Shipp), Angel (Ben Hardy), Psylocke (Olivia Munn) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender). Overall this was a good film as it brings an end to this chapter of the franchise on a nice note. Quicksilver (Evan Peters) has some amazing scenes within the film thanks to not one but two jaw dropping slow motion scenes. While the character himself is primarily used more for comic relief during the course of the film. Most of the character development is centred around Magneto's character as he goes from being a family man with a wife and daughter to becoming a horseman of Apocalypse which is great. While the action scene between Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and the soldiers in Weapon X is one of the best fight scenes in the film even with parts of it being off scene due to the films age rating leaves little to the imagination in how Wolverine takes out the soldiers thanks to the screams and the blood splattering everywhere. What does let the film down is the fact that the Deadpool film came out before this which showed that 20th Century Fox was able to make a very comic book superhero film while this does feel like more of the same that Fox has used within its X-Men franchise while feels like they went a step backwards with this film even though it does looks like the filmmakers have tried in parts. 7.5/10.

Inhuman: Lineage Review

Finished reading Inhuman: Lineage, this concludes Marvel's Inhuman series as writer Charles Soule brings an end to the series long story as Inhuman Lineage finally shows his true colours but first New Attilan has do deal with an attack from Ennilux. The book opens up with the Inhumans of New Attilan under attack by the forces of Ennilux as their leader the Capo wants the Inhuman Iso back so he can live on for another generation by inhabitanting Iso's body. After the battle Black Bolt leaves Medusa after the two have a heated argument. Meanwhile in New York the NuHumans are joined by Gorgon in a club as Dante is playing with a local band only to lose control of his powers. Once the group return to New Attilan Gorgon is unable to find Medusa as she and a small team of Inhumans went to Europe to investigate the remains of a Kree laboratory that Lineage told them about, only for it to be a trap for Lash and his people to attack the group. While back in New Attilan Lineage paralyses Gorgon which restricts him to a wheelchair so Lineage can be unstoppable in accomplishing his plan to wipe out the human race by getting them to kill themselves. Overall this was a great book as as writer Charles Soule wraps up the series by the Inhumans fighting against Lineage on several different fronts and even with the large amount of action Charles Soule still makes room for some great character interactions and development along the way. The interactions between the new and classic Inhumans are great as the book shows how characters like Gorgan, Frank McGee and Medusa have grown over the course of the series, while the interaction between Black Bolt and Medusa is a great example for how much development Medusa had over the series as she's become more of a leader to the Inhumans since Black Bolt released the Terrigen Cloud around the world. The artwork throughout the book is amazing as artists Ryan Stegman and André Araújo draw out some amazing action scenes and character moments. There is some brilliantly crafted silent scenes drawn by Ryan Stegman which bring a large spotlight onto the emotions of Medusa after she has a large falling out with Black Bolt and the moment involving Inferno on the last page of the book with his sister and her newborn Inhuman baby is a perfect ending to the book and the series. 8.5/10.

Captain America and the Mighty Avengers: Open For Business Review

Finished reading Captain America and the Mighty Avengers: Open For Business, this begins writer Al Ewing's second Mighty Avengers series as the team deal with the events and aftermath of Marvel's Axis event. The book opens up with an inverted Sam Wilson Captain America planning to get rid of the Mighty Avengers with Iron Man and the other inverted heroes as they are not with them. Meanwhile the leader of the Mighty Avengers, Luke Cage who has also been inverted, try's to make money on the Mighty Avengers by selling their rights to the Cortex corporation only to realise that he doesn't own the Mighty Avengers as its split between each member. The rest of the book deals with the aftermath of Marvel's Axis event as Sam is in the Mighty Avengers board room questioning about his role as Captain America after being affected by the inversion while Luke Cage is still pretending to be invented so he can find out what Cortex's boss Jason Quantrell is up to. As this is going on White Tiger and Power Man are assisting the police in the murder of Gideon Mace who is becoming a monstrous creature thanks to the upgrade in powers that the Inhuman Quickfire got from her boss Jason Quantrell which turned her into a demonic creature. Overall this was a great book as it shows how the events of Axis affects the members of the Mighty Avengers while also bringing the fun and lightheartedness of the previous series as well. The way that the inversion effects the team is handled extremely well thanks to Sam's thought boxes and how the Mighty Avengers deal with Luke Cage's inversion is very interesting. While during the aftermath of the two characters being inverted Sam seems to take it very personally which allows writer Al Ewing to craft a great conversation between Sam and Monica about his place on the team along with how Sam deals with his teammates being turned into monsters helps to bring some nice character development. The art is great as artists Luke Ross and Lban Coello do a great job in capturing the fast paced action and monstrous designs for characters are depicted brilliantly. 8/10.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Film Review

Finished watching Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, and staring Tina Fey, Josh Charles, Christopher Abbott, Margot Robbie, Martin Freeman and Alfred Molina. The film opens up with journalist Kim Baker (Tina Fey) being offered a job as a war correspondent in Afghanistan which she accepts to the dismay of her boyfriend Chris (Josh Charles) who meets with Kim at the airport after returning home from a flight. Once Kim lands in Afghanistan she meets with local fixer Fahim Ahmadzai (Christopher Abbott) who takes her to her new home where all of the international journalists live while they are on assignments in the country. Overall this was a great film as it shows how news journalists deal with working in a war torn country and how it affects both their personal and professional lives. There are some great character interactions and moments throughout the film from the friendships that Kim forms with fellow journalist Tanya Vanderpoel (Margot Robbie), photographer Iain MacKelpie (Martin Freeman) and government member Ali Massoud Sadiq (Alfred Molina) which are incredibly interesting especially with how each relationship between the characters changes over the course of the film thanks to the amount of development each character has and how that affects one another. The soundtrack of the film is great as it works extremely well by certain songs that tonally and lyrically matchup to what is going on in parts of the film. 8/10.