Category Archives: Reviews

Comic Book Men – Junk Review

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‘AMC’s new unscripted one hour series, Comic Book Men, dives deep into fanboy culture by following the antics in and around master fanboy Kevin Smith’s New Jersey comic shop, Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash.‘

Year: 2012

Starring: Kevin Smith, Walter Flanagan, Bryan Johnson, Ming Chen & Mike Zapcic

Network: AMC

Fair warning: About four of you are going to enjoy this show.

The latest offering from geek-made-director Kevin Smith is an unscripted, junk drawer style discussion about the life that surrounds his own slice of fandom (or possible tax shelter) “Jay & Silent Bob’s Secret Stash”, in Red Bank, New Jersey. Considering that only one episode has aired, I’m not sure that the format is set for the entire six-episode series, but since it’s all I have to complain about (since I’m a geek with an online forum) then I guess that will have to do. Continue reading →

Spartacus: Vengeance – A Place In This World Review

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‘Under Spartacus’ leadership a villa is liberated. Oenomaus, however, decides to throw himself into the brutal pits.Despite his wife’s protests Glaber decides to support Lucretia’s prophecies.‘

While the opening of the second (Gods of the Arena was a prequel) season of Spartacus felt like it was trying to play catch up, A Place In This World seems to be laying the ground for things to come. There were some fantastic moments in this episode, but the pacing of the show is suffering from needing to cover too many characters. One of the strengths of the previous series’ was the focus on a very small group of characters that audiences grew to love (or hate) with a passion. Continue reading →

Spartacus: Vengeance – Fugitivus Review

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‘Spartacus realizes that becoming the leader of a mass of freed slaves can be challenging and he struggles to keep the rebellious group intact when news of Claudius Glaber’s arrival in Capua reaches him.‘

Spartacus: Blood and Sand was one of the big surprises of early 2010. Unlike Starz’s other disappointing series Camelot, Spartacus‘ stylised combination of blood and sex served as the flavour of the show rather than the substance. Andy Whitfield’s titular character had great screen presence and a stellar supporting cast including the likes of John Hannah and Lucy Lawless which made for a riveting series of double and triple crosses that led to a satisfying and brutal finale. Unfortunately, it was announced during the gap between Season 1 and 2 that Andy Whitfield had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. The show creators, rather than taking the easy route of recasting decided to shoot a prequel series – Gods of the Arena – that turned out even better than the original. Sadly, Andy lost his battle with the disease last September; he did however give his blessing to the man who is filling Spartacus’ big shoes: Liam McIntyre. Continue reading →

Californication – Boys & Girls Review

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‘Hank hands a completed draft of “Santa Monica Cop” over to Samurai Apocalypse, but he still finds himself stuck in L.A. when he’s asked to take Kali, his “acquaintance” from the flight to Los Angles, out for a night on the town.‘

Californication

The fifth season of Californication seems to be having a bit of trouble finding its feet. After an interesting premiere, the second episode did nothing to really advance the story in any way. Boys & Girls is certainly better than The Way of the Fist, but like the premiere it fails to really stand out in any way.

What keeps the show from being completely Continue reading →

Hank, Tyler and Becca

Californication – The Way of the Fist Review

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‘Hank turns down the job to write Samurai Apocalypse’s new movie, but Sam refuses to take no for an answer and takes Hank to a meet with director Peter Berg, where they discover that Hank and Peter have shared more than just a love of writing.‘

Californication

After a season premiere that left me with an equal mix of hope and concern for the upcoming season, The Way of the Fist plays it safe and tells a fairly low-key (for Californication anyway) story while setting up several plot lines to spice things up over the next few episodes.

There isn’t really all that much to complain about Continue reading →

Sherlock and Moriarty

Sherlock – The Reichenbach Fall Review

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‘Moriarty embarks upon what may be the crime of the century, but breaking into H.M.P. Pentonville, the Tower of London, and the Bank of England is only the start. Sherlock must discover what his greatest foe is up to and stop him, but his reputation, and even his life, come under threat.‘

Sherlock

The creators of Sherlock proved themselves to be masters of the art of the cliffhanger with Season 1’s The Great Game and they have reinforced that impression with this week’s The Reichenbach Fall. Based on Doyle’s story The Final Problem; famous for the first appearance of Holmes’ nemesis Moriarty and the apparent death of the great detective – The Reichenbach Fall is a tense battle of wits between two masterminds that felt very satisfying in its conclusion, despite the fact that we all knew where it was headed from the start.

One of the most interesting aspects of this episode was Continue reading →

Tintin and Captain Haddock

The Adventures of Tintin Review

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‘Intrepid reporter Tintin and Captain Haddock set off on a treasure hunt for a sunken ship commanded by Haddock’s ancestor.‘

Tintin

The story of The Adventures of Tintin‘s development is long and convoluted, but we finally have a big screen adaptation of the comic that has been a favourite around the world for over 80 years (although I was always more of an Asterix and Obelix fan myself). Tintin has always been a fun character, working his way through adventures that Indiana Jones would be proud of with his trusty sidekick Snowy and it is only fitting that Steven Spielberg be the one to adapt it.

Spielberg first found out about Tintin when Continue reading →

Holmes and Watson

Sherlock – The Hounds of Baskerville Review

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‘Henry Knight claims that his father was killed by a monstrous creature at large in Dartmoor, and asks Sherlock for help. When he and John Watson arrive on the moors to investigate, they discover a top-secret army base.‘

Sherlock

Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss once again show everyone how an adaptation should be done with an update on one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s most famous stories – The Hound of the Baskervilles. While the narrative strays from the original very quickly, the spirit of the story is kept intact and there are plenty of references for die-hard Holmes fans.

The Hounds of Baskerville takes on much more Continue reading →

Hank and Karen

Californication – JFK to LAX Review

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‘Californication returns and picks up two and a half years after Hank departed Los Angeles with Karen leaving him for another guy and moving on.‘

Californication

People could be forgiven for thinking that the Season 4 finale of Californication – And Justice For All was meant to end the series. The major story arcs had been wrapped up and it looked like Hank Moody might finally be ready to get on with his life, driving into the sunset with his typewriter in the backseat. But no series as popular as Californication is allowed to rest on its laurels, every last penny has to be squeezed out and so we have JFK to LAX, the premiere for a fifth season of a show that seemed to have said all it needed to.

Season 5 picks a few years down the road Continue reading →

Top 10 Movie/TV Tie-in Games

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Top 10Movie Tie-In games have developed a terrible reputation over the years for a variety of reasons. Firstly, while a movie’s storyline is meant to keep the audience interested for only a couple of hours, an 8 hour game is considered to be very short. This means that a whole slew of unrelated storylines and time-wasting exercises are shoehorned into the final product, leaving it feeling disjointed and unrelated to the source material.

One of the other big reasons behind Tie-In Games’ bad reputation is the time constraints put on developers. The amount of time to make a movie is nowhere near comparable to the time needed to build a game from the ground up, but the developers of these games often have even less time than the filmmakers to develop their product. This is the primary reason for the many buggy unimaginative games that litter store shelves the world over. Thankfully, a number of publishers are slowly waking up to these facts and realising that making a sloppy game and slapping a movie title on it is no longer a surefire recipe for success.

Every rule has its exceptions though, and there have been a number of Tie-In games over the years that have broken the mould to give audiences a fun and engaging experience. Here is a list of my Top 10 favourite Movie Tie-In Games. This list is entirely subjective, so feel free to put forward your own favourites in the comments section. Continue reading →