Review: Warcraft (2016)

“Lok’tar ogar!” is what cinema staff everywhere should have responded with when asked for a ticket for Warcraft (2016). If the response to that was a blank, confused face, the customer should have been escorted back to the showings board, and told to pick something else. I don’t mean that to sound as condescending as it does, but this one was made for the fans, folks. If it makes you feel any better, I never played the original games, and the part of lore chosen for this movie goes a bit over my head, too.

So no, this isn’t a World of Warcraft movie. I pray to the Movie Gods that there will be one day, I’d love to see Arthas’ story on the big screen, but years before the MMORPG was released, existed Warcraft, a PC strategy game from the 90’s. The World of Warcraft we know now has more races than I have fingers (8 and 2 thumbs, if you’re wondering) but the original Warcraft focused solely on the Humans and the Orcs, or so Wikipedia tells me.

There is so much lore surrounding these games that I won’t try to go into detail about the plot in fear of the fanboys shooting down my inaccuracies. I honestly started playing WoW 9 years ago just so that I could understand what my friends were talking about, and created a Mage named Lunar because I was told they could turn people into sheep, and I thought that was cool. The moment in the movie when Khadgar used Polymorph on a guard gave me no end of happiness! My point anyway, is that I’m a casual fan. I tend to click away the lore given to me in game for favour of hunting down quest items and treasure.

For the fans, there’s plenty to enjoy in the movie. One of my favourite parts was seeing the lands I’ve come to know better than my home town brought to life, as well as my favourite raid location, Karazhan. In fact, I almost wanted to get on my high horse and complain about the greenery surrounding that beautiful, looming building, and then the events in the movie showed just how Deadwind Pass came to be, and that was honestly pretty awesome. There are plenty of nods to the game, plenty I probably didn’t spot myself (I saw the fishing lure at the end, though!) but that’s just all the more reason to rewatch it.

That said, I wish Blizzard had picked a different story. I know that this one is the foundation of it all, and really the hardcore fans would have complained if they didn’t start here, but World of Warcraft brings so much more to the table. I want to see Illidan, I want to see the Lich King, I want to see my beloved Paladins in their Tier 6 armour, heck I’d even love to see Deathwing destroy everything I love and hold dear.

I just hope that Warcraft made enough money to warrant more movies. They’re all going to be CGI fests, I accept that, but there are so many great stories to be told that could be loved by fans and newbs alike. Just...leave the Pandas out of it Blizz, okay? We can do without them for a while…

P.S. Travis Fimmel for everything please. I love that man.

Review: Starter for 10 (2006)

UPDATED

Sunday nights are just perfect for Netflix, they really are. I think I should make it a weekly thing, 8pm, glass on wine, kittens on my lap, and Netflix. I had no idea what I wanted to watch, but I was tired and didn't want anything that would make me think. So I had a flick through the Romantic Comedies section and chose Starter for 10.

I have finally go around to getting Netflix and therefore watching this (only 6 months after the original post but hey ho!).  This was the first thing I headed for on Netflix (after I realised that Gilmore Girls was only on the US version boo hoo!!) as I knew Allie had already done her bit so I could add to it :-)

I'm going to try and actually review this film. I promise you, I'm going to try. But I spent the whole film in shock because I knew every single actor and actress from something else I'd seen. I knew nothing about this film when I started to play it. I knew James McAvoy was in it, his face was the poster! I'm rambling already, so let me try and get to my point.

This is an awesome little British film about a student called Brian, starting his first year at Bristol University. As a child he loved quizzes and would play along whilst watching University Challenge on the TV, and so he tries out for the team at his university...whose team captain just happens to be Benedict Cumberbatch. I think I dropped a biscuit and threw a kitten across the room at that moment! Back on track Allie...back on track...but first!

I really enjoyed this film. It wasn't anything original, and I may have enjoyed spotting the cast more than anything else, but it was enjoyable none the less and it ended how I hoped it would. Being a British film as well I hold it close to my heart. Especially the New Years scene because I don't know anyone who actually knows the words to Auld Lang Syne! I even had to Google 'New Years song' just to find out how to spell that.

This film was entertaining and typically British, my Dad watched University Challenge religiously when I was little so there was a bit of nostalgia thrown in there as well.  James McAvoy was great as always and proved why he has done so well since.  He delivered the comedy with perfect timing and the head-butting scene literally made my spit my tea across the room! 

I did find the story overall quite predictable, but there was odd lines and actions that I just didn't see coming (see head-butting comment above) and the 'meet the parents' scene in the kitchen so I was engaged throughout.  I can't say I liked either of the leading ladies, I have never been a fan of Alice Eve since seeing her 'act' in Star Trek Into Darkness and I actually found Rebecca Hall's character quite irritating.

If you'll forgive my rambles, I have a little trivia for you. Benedict went on after this film to star with 3 other actors/actresses in this film. Sherlock with Mark Gatiss, Parade's End with Rebecca Hall, and Star Trek Into Darkness with Alice Eve!

Don't rush out to see this but if, like me, you have a Sunday evening free, give this a try because it's worth a watch!

That is what I did and I was pleasantly surprised, held my attention (moreso that University Challenge ever did) and loved seeing Cumberbatch and McAvoy before the 'big time' but the ladies let it down for me.





Review: Need For Speed (2014)

UPDATED: Now that Jenna's seen the film!

Although I'm not a huge Breaking Bad fan, (please bear with me) I think Aaron Paul is brilliant, and I love the Need For Speed games, so I was really looking forward to seeing this. I can happily say that I wasn't disappointed! I love Aaron Paul and I was disappointed!

I didn't want to spoil anything for myself, but I couldn't help reading a few reviews before I went to see this. I'm glad I did because someone heartily recommended seeing this in 3D, which we did. I don't usually do 3D unless we go to the Giant Screen in Birmingham, and generally I don't like 'real actor' 3D films, but this was something else. The racing scenes in particular were fantastic in 3D!  I wouldn't have minded giving this a go in 3D, even though I have a strict rule of no live action films in 3D, animation only!

Now, as much as I don't want to, I'm going to mention Fast and Furious. I'm sorry! But you just can't help comparing the two. However, I've only actually seen the first and sixth films in the series, so I have a slightly fresher view on it. In my personal opinion, I prefer Need For Speed. I liked the characters more, I liked the racing scenes more, and in some places this film was absolutely hilarious.  I have to disagree, I prefer the characters in the F&F films, although the comedy was a little better in this, I find the storylines in the F&F franchise much better and actually somewhat more logical (see my 5 point rant below that include spoilers - sorry!

 

 

My only criticism would be that it lacked emotional depth. Perhaps a silly thing to say taking into account the genre of film? But that's what I thought, nonetheless. The romance was nice, but I didn't really see how prison really effected Aaron's character. That's all I can say without spoilers, but see what you think. 

I really enjoyed the racing scenes and the comedy element to the film and I actually quite liked the characters but the awful storyline and lack of logic really ruined it for me, I just couldn't understand why half the characters were doing the things they were doing. 

Just some words of advice? If you see this on the big screen, hold back the temptation to drive home like this:

 

*SPOILER ALERT* Please don't be mad at me for including spoilers, if you have seen this film you will understand why I had to do it!! I got so grieved about these points while watching this film, I had to write them down immediately so I wouldn't forget.  Plus I don't think I can do a full review without discussing these points.  I have put them in grey so if you haven't seen the film you can just skim past and head to the ratings at the bottom!!

 

1. Why would a man pay $2.7m for a car and then 2 years later allow a convict (who isn't allowed to leave the state due to parole) to drive it across country to compete in a race to win him $4m and if I heard the rules right all the cars are given to the winner so he has absolutely no collateral if Toby loses!! Ridiculous!

2. Why is this girl happy to vouch for Toby who we are led to believe she has met all of once and why is she happy to help him break parole to go to the race and get herself a criminal record for a guy she doesn't know.

3.  Why does Toby have to compete in the race to get revenge, surely killing the dude would be revenge, what does beating him in a race do, put more lives in danger.  Surely after what he saw happen to Pete he would rather skip the races all together no??

4.  Pete's sister got engaged to the guy who Toby said killed her brother, from what we can tell she has know Toby a long time, even if she didn't know for certain do we really think she would marry him? Are we supposed to believe that??

5.  When some random girl (to her, to us it's Julia) announces on the radio that Toby is only driving across country to prove he didn't do it (how?) suddenly all the doubts (that she should have had all along) come to light and she decides to search her fiancé's  computer, impressive considering she didn't know what she was looking for found compelling evidence of his betrayal within 30 seconds... Genius!!!

Ahhhhh...deep breaths Allie, deep breaths...it's based on a game though, a game which has very little storyline and focuses nearly solely on the racing. Anyone who has ever played a Need for Speed game knew what to expect so I don't think it can bashed for that. 

 

I can confidently recommend watching this film, and I for one can't wait to see it again.

As you can probably tell from my 5 point rant above (if you read it) I would recommend this film for the action and even the comedy but not for the storyline.  If you like films where you don't have to think and just watch fast cars fly by, this is the film for you.  I hate to give it such a low rating because I actually really enjoyed it but the story dropped the rating right down.