The Magnificent Seven Film Review

Finished watching The Magnificent Seven, directed by Antoine Fuqua and staring Peter Sarsgaard, Haley Bennett, Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Byung-hun Lee, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Vincent D'Onofrio and Martin Sensmeier. The film opens in the mining town of Rose Creek where businessman Bartholomew Borge (Peter Sarsgaard) takes the town for himself in order to make money from the mine located on the outside of the town. After the death of her husband by Bartholomew Emma Cullen (Haley Bennett) travels to a nearby town where she finds help in the form of Sam Chisolm (Denzel Washington) who along with his new aquantince Joshua Faraday (Chris Pratt) form a team consisting of Goodnight Robicheaux (Ethan Hawke), Billy Rocks (Byung-hun Lee), Vasquez (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), Jack Horne (Vincent D'Onofrio) and Red Harvest (Martin Sensmeier), in hopes to help Emma and the townsfolk of Rose Creek to take back their town from Bartholomew Borge. Overall this was a good film as it revitalises the Western genre and makes it feel like it never left thanks to the classic traits and conventions the film uses. The character interactions are great which is a credit to the acting as everyone works of each other exceptionally well which makes some of their development and story progression more personal and impactful. The action is great as director Antoine Fuqua combines the great choreography of the western fight with great camera angles and timely paced editing. The music is very indicative of the 1960 version while also having its own take on the main theme. Additionally the rest of the score by James Horner and Simon Franglen helps to build the tension in curtain places of the film and help set the mood in others. 7.5/10.

Star Wars: Vader Down Review

Finished reading Star Wars: Vader Down, this brings together writers Jason Aaron and Kieron Gillen for Marvel's first Star Wars crossover with their Star Wars and Darth Vader series. The book opens up with Vader traveling to Vrogas Vas the planet where Luke Skywalker has come to in hopes to learn more about becoming a Jedi, and Vader plans to have Luke for himself before Commander Karbin, his rival in the Empire, finds Luke. After coming out of hyperspace Vader is surprisingly met by a large fleet of X-Wing's on a training exercise. After an intense battle Luke decides to ram his X-Wing into Vader's Tiefighter leading to the two to crash land on the planet below. When news of this hits elsewhere Doctor Alphra and her droids BeeTee and Triple-Zero head to Vrogas Vas to help capture Luke for Vader while Han, Chewie and C3PO also head to the planet to help Luke, with Leia coming along for the ride to confront Vader and get revenge for the destruction of Alderaan. Overall this was an amazing book as it tells a Star Wars story that is fit for the big screen thanks to its explosive action, great use of comedy and character development that helps to build upon the foundations set by the films. The character interactions are great as the book brings together the main Star Wars cast and the new characters that writer Kieron Gillen has been using in the Darth Vader series and they instantly work perfectly together with BeeTee and Triple-Zero who are dark and twisted versions of R2 and C3PO along with Alphra being a great matchup for Han. The art by Mike Deodato and Salvador Larroca is amazing as it feels movie quality with how the book is laid out and drawn while credit should also be given to colourist's Frank Martin and Edgar Delgado with how things are brought to life and how the tones of colour palettes work with the location. 9/10.

Avengers: Rage of Ultron Review

Finished reading Avengers: Rage of Ultron, writer Rick Remender brings together another one of Marvel's Original Graphic Novels which brings Ultron back into the limelight that coincided with the release of Marvel's Avengers: Age of Ultron film. The book opens up years in the past with the Avengers of the time dealing with Ultron in the middle of Manhattan which leads to the Avengers being victorious when Yellowjacket lures Ultron into a trap with Hawkeye using an arrow to stick him onto an upgraded version of a Quinjet that blasts Ultron into space. In present day Ultron crash lands the Quinjet onto Titan and quickly takes over Titan's technology and assimilates the moon along with its population with former Avenger Starfox being lucky enough to escape Titan and find the Avengers on Earth only for Vision to realise that Ultron followed by bringing Titan to Earth. Overall this was a great book as it not only delivers on the action but the drama as well as writer Rick Remender plays with the weird family dynamic of Ultron, Hank Pym and Vision along with the relationship Hank has with is ex-wife Janet. The action is stunning and is very edge of the seat thanks to the inclusion of the amount of drama that has weaved into the book. The artwork is great as it transitions between artists Jerome Opeña and Pepe Larraz in a very intriguing way as its not only surprising but also works incredibly well within the context of the story which is also the same for their art styles. 8/10.

The Infiltrator Film Review

Finished watching The Infiltrator, directed by Brad Furman and staring Bryan Cranston, Daniel Mays, John Leguizamo and Diane Kruger. The film opens up with U.S customs agent Robert Mazur (Bryan Cranston) catching a drug dealer (Daniel Mays) but finds himself burned by the microphone which makes his bosses offer him an incredible well payed early retirement due to being hurt in the field. Robert declines the offer of early retirement as he goes undercover as a businessman named Bob Musella along with is colleague Emir Adreu (John Leguizamo) who helps to get Robert at the bottom of the drug smuggling ladder in hopes to climb up it the top to win the trust of the higher ups in order to stop their operation. Overall this was a good film as it dives into the world of the drug cartel with Robert being the point of view character that helps to keep all of the criminals and the further up the ladder criminals even though they seem incredibly nice and relatable people especially with Robert and his family dynamic. The acting is top notch and helps to bring some great tension and emotion takes to the surprises of some character's reveals and the journey Robert and his undercover fiancé Kathy (Diane Kruger) got through during the film. 7.5/10.

S.H.I.E.L.D.: The Man Called D.E.A.T.H. Review

Finished reading S.H.I.E.L.D.: The Man Called D.E.A.T.H, this brings an end to writer Mark Waid's series as he brings over more elements from the TV show as well as diving into a large part of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s fifty year history. The book opens up with a story about Quake and her father Mr Hyde that retcons the main Marvel version of Quake's origin and her relationship with her father to be more inline with the TV show. The second story sees Mockingbird working with Coulson and agent May in tracking down an underground surgeon who has been turning his pacents into animalistic creatures. The next story expands upon the original S.H.I.E.L.D. story by Jack Kirby which captures Coulson's attention which leads to him tracking tracking down D.E.A.T.H. after being given an invite to meet him. The following story sees agent Fitz teaming up with Howard the Duck as reality is causing things from different time periods are appearing in New York due to a disruption in the multiverse. The penultimate story has one of Nick Fury's old war friends Dominic Fortune coming to S.H.I.E.L.D. in hopes to reclaim his casino boat after actually gambling it away. The last story has the team traveling back in time thanks to the help of Heimdall to stop an assassination on Odin's life which leads to a war between Asgard and Earth. Overall this was a good book as it continues to use the main characters form the S.H.I.E.L.D. TV show in great ways with how they interact with different characters and the history of the main Marvel universe. The story centring around Quake is great for new readers to comics who have started reading because of different TV shows and films but for long time readers it may raise a few eyebrows. There is a nice amount of comedic moments woven into the book especially within the Howard the Duck and Dominic Fortune stories. The artwork in the series continues to be a great choice with the different artist styles working in sync with each story writer Mark Waid has wrote while the transition between some works extremely well especially with the man called D.E.A.T.H story where it uses the older Jack Kirby and Jim Steranko artwork as flashbacks gels incredibly well. 7/10.

Silver Surfer: Last Days Review

Finished reading Silver Surfer: Last Days, this brings an end to the first Silver Surfer series from the creative team of Dan Slott and Michael Allred as the book ties into the events of Secret Wars by giving a perspective from outside of reality. The book opens up with the Silver Surfer stuck in a time loop as he is helping the survivors of worlds he helped destroy when he was the herald of Galactus find a new planet to live on after Galactus recently destroyed their adopted world. The rest of the book continues with Norrin and Dawn heading back to Earth after spending months trapped on the planet they found for the survivors due to the planet being sentient. The two then find themselves caught within the incursion of the main Marvel universe and the ultimate universe only to escape through a tear in reality where they discover that Dr Doom has taken over reality and Norrin and Dawn are given the offer of rebuilding the main Marvel universe by a being named Glorian. Overall this was a great book as it ties into the larger events of Secret Wars on an outside perspective while still giving Dawn and Norrin some great character development. The layout and execution of the repetitive day story is amazing as it is a different take on a comic that pays off incredibly well. The art by Michael Allred is as amazing as always itch the rest of the series due to the great designs of the aliens and planets and the colour palette used by colourist Laura Allred. 8.5/10.

Don't Breathe Film Review

Finished watching Don't Breathe, directed by Fede Alvarez and staring Jane Levy, Dylan Minnette, Daniel Zovatto and Stephen Lang. The film opens up with buglers Rocky (Jane Levy), Alex (Dylan Minnette) and Money (Daniel Zovatto) from Detroit being given information for another job on a desolate street where a blind man (Stephen Lang) is one of the last residents and has enough money to send the group to California in hopes to start a new lease on life. After the group stake out the house they decide to burgle it during the night while the man is asleep however things quickly take a turn for the worse when the man wakes up after hearing the group. Overall this was a great film as the constant build of tension throughout the time the film spends time inside the blind man's house thanks to the amount of horror conventions and treats that director Fede Alvarez uses. The film is written extremely well due to the characters having their backstories being unraveled during the time the cast are in the blind man's house and this is even more impactful by the great acting. 8.5/10.