Selfie (Imperfect Harmony)

Many of my readers will be shocked to see this. I mostly review only superhero stuff, but I have a soft spot of romantic comedies if they are done right, and selfie is done right. The pilot threw me off, but it got better over time. I am disappointed in abc for cancelling it. I hope another network picks it up and saves it.

In the last episode, Eliza realizes that she has feeling for Henry, and wants to be with him, breaking things off with her boyfriend Freddie, making him a hot mess, as he claims he can't live without her. Henry is conflicted, as he is with Julia, but knows he feels something for Eliza. The scene where he compared the two to the shows “Uptown girl” and “hollaback girl” was great comedic writing.

Of course, things get heated up as Henry believes Eliza doesn't really love him. He thinks because she was getting too serious with Freddie, she was scared, and just wants to win, which isn't a bad judgement, but Eliza truly feels this way. She loses it, claiming that Henry loves her, and is too chicken to admit it, or the fact that he doesn't really like his girlfriend. As she storms away from Henry, Julia heard the whole thing.

Eliza's rendition of Sia's “Chandelier” was great, but the scene itself was better. This woman just had her heart broken by the one guy that isn't superficial. You can clearly see that her attempts to make the pain go away make her who she was to begin with. Her drunk montage with a shaky camera was a good directing choice, as you see her party away, and then spends the night with Freddie.

Julia give Henry a chance, but when he failed to take it, she ends it. Henry sings a song while the credits play. I don”t know the title, but he kills it, with it really expressing how he feels. How Henry and Eliza interact in the next episode, if they do at all, will be interesting. This episode proved that change is really hard, and comes at a price. Karen Gillian and John Cho are knockouts in this episode. Not really shocked they can sing well too.

I recommend this show. The show may still have a chance for a second season though. Here's the petition.

 https://www.change.org/p/hulu-please-renew-selfie-for-a-second-season

5/5

Arrow Season 3(The Calm)

Season 3. I proud to say I've been watching the show from the beginning. I praised the dark tone, far away from the campiness of Smallville, which aired on the same network. The first two seasons were intense for sure, but the premiere takes things to a whole other level. More on that later. What the audience first sees is Team Arrow as a well oiled machine. We got to see Roy as Arsenal with some sweet archery skills. Not too sure about the costume though. I'm glad that he wasn't involved too much with the other storyline going on here.

The whole relationship issues with Oliver and Felicity are interesting, as she is different from the other women Oliver has been invoked with. She's been part of the team almost from the start, and he knows that he needs her. Detective Lance/Captain has an interesting story too. As what happened to him in the finale, he can't go into the field anymore. His struggles with that is real, as he was very good at it. I'm excited to see where that goes. Ray Palmer, superman's twin, strikes me as a rich goofy nerd who is also going to be a tough threat in Oliver's personal life.

I like where Diggle's story is headed. The man is a father now, so he is going to have to be less involved on the team to take care of his family. It will be interesting to see a softer side of this guy. The flashbacks deserve praise as well. I like how the settings are not on the island. If Oliver just stayed on the island facing a different threat each time, the show would have gotten stale very quickly. I am curious to see more of the tough Amanda Waller. I really don't like her.

Of course, the stand out moment of the episode is the final cliffhanger scene that reintroduces the league of assassins. Sara Lance is back in town, which made me happy we would see more of her. Then, holy crap, she is murdered. Three arrows are shot into her chest. Then she falls off the roof, and the body lands on a garbage can, and hits the ground, right in front of Laurel. I didn't see that coming. Kill off a character in the finale, fine. Mid season, why not. But, in the season premiere, that was a risky and bold move made by the show runners as Sara is a fan favourite.

I like that little cameo of Barry Allen, from the episode of The Flash the night before. The huge crossover is going to be epic. I'm excited to watch next week's episode to see how the characters react to Sara's death, especially Laurel, who may finally become the canary. I guess Diggle isn't leaving the team just yet. This episode starts a new chapter for the show, and it does not fail. Filled with action, drama, and suspense, I am happy with the way things are going. And I have a feeling the best is yet to come.

5/5

Agents of Shield Season 2(Making Friends and Influencing People)

The dark turn agents of shield took after the events of the winter soldier has made the show better, and helped it find its footing. Coulson isn't the same, having to make tough choices for the better of the team. And now, he is keeping secrets from the team, something that he hated from the previous season, having not told anyone that Simmons was a double agent until they were in the field, and not telling Fitz that's why Simmons left.

Speaking of Fitz, he met the man who Skye get her information from: Ward. His former friend that is responsible for his brain damage. Fitz's revenge was coming, but is short lived as Ward has much more useful information. Ward as the bad guy has made the character better in a lot of ways. He became my favourite since his story is heartbreaking, proving not everyone is born evil. I want to see him try and redeem himself. Ward in a cage for a whole season will get boring quick. I doubt he has that much information about Hydra.

I'm not a fan of this new Skye though. She kills for the first time, and has almost no remorse. Ward has not hurt her that much that it is easy to kill people like that. I also hate the fact Triplett is being ignored. We still don't know that much about the character, and he sees interesting enough to have a sole episode or something. I'm not a fan of the whole mind control thing either. Even for Bucky Barnes, I wasn't really sold on the idea, even though that's what happened in the comics. But they could have done something different of the Ice cube character(I forgot his name). The villain isn't interesting, and seems like a real creep. I still don't know what his motivations are, and his power hasn't really been established.

Simmons on the inside is going to be interesting. She is not a field agent, and she is taking an awful risk doing this. I'm is curious what's up with Fitz now that he know Simmons is really gone, and the man who ruined his life is living with him. I want more work with the villain, not an agent carter flashback to explain stuff. (Excited for her show though)

3/5

Guardians Of The Galaxy(2014)

Guardians of the galaxy was expected to be a huge flop with both the critics and audiences because of the fact that no one ever heard of them, except for a few weird nerds. The fact that was it was being made into a movie interested me, because I never heard of it until the cast appeared on the comic con panel last year. After many trailers and the soundtrack full of classic songs were released, I got excited.

The premise of the film is that  Peter Quill forms an uneasy alliance with a group of extraterrestrial misfits who are on the run after stealing a coveted orb.I was a little worried how the film would be like, because James Gunn, the writer and director of the film had not done many projects with positive reception, despite his very funny writing. My worries were unfounded. He does an incredible job, with his choice of style. The music is fantasic, and they were restored properly. Other filmmakers should take note to include good songs in their films. Chris Pratt impressed me with a great voice performance as Emmet in The LEGO Movie, and he continues to showcase his amazing acting chops. His portrayal of a rude confident Star Lord was spot on, with a sense of Han Solo and James Bond combined. 

The other stand out performance in my opinion is Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer. I found out that Dave is a professional fighter, and decided to go into acting because he sucked at it, and he wanted to get better. He has done a great job as Mr. Tough guy who makes sure nothing goes over his head. I love how that film isn't a typical sci fi film or superhero film. For example, the costumes the team wears in the comics look nothing like the costumes in the comics, but like the team look more like explorers than heroes. 

Finally, the special effects was top notch, as every marvel movie. The designs of the ships was just really cool. If you haven't already, watch this movie, go see it now and stay to see the post credits scene. All I can say is that a well loved marvel character makes a surprise cameo.

5/5

Union City Episode 3

Antonio Ferrara has a talent for taking a fairly basic concept, and making it great with his amazing writing skills, and the Union City series is no exception. Though, You may have to watch the other episodes to understand what is going on, you may get the basic idea.

This is Antonio's best animation to date. They are no camera bumps, the screen does not get blurry, and the special effects are decent. Despite the numerous improvements, there are still a few problems. The voice actor that plays Blake had a static voice recorder, and it hurt the ears a little. The camera shots are pretty basic and boring. In the beginning fight scene, it didn't really have anything to do with the main action. It seemed to be just there. The shoot out was slow, and unrealistic. The blood looked nice, though.

There is a lack of set decoration, which takes away from the film. The series can be 10x better than it already is. I wish Antonio the best, and recommend him to go to the Resources page on bricksinmotion.

2.9/5

View the video here. I couldn't post the video directly for some reason, unlike the rest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-_oH2IADT0

ANZAC

Kieran Barnett is relevantly new to the world of brickfilmering, and his first films shows that his name will be known by many others very soon. His first film, Creative love impressed me with its depth for a min long short. After watching it, I've been waiting for when his new video shows. Now, it has.

His new film, ANZAC is about a soldier in battle during a beach landing. I thought it would be a thoughtless war action film, but it shows what is going though a soldier's head, and the sacrifice that they make for us. The voice acting quality was fine, but the sound effects drowned it out at times. The animation was great, but the one shot camera technique wasn't done right. The camera were blurry at times.

As well, I was disappointed by the fight scene. There was no muzzle flash. The soldiers were just moving their guns up and down. And when they were "shooting", they looked like they were humping the air. They kept doing it, so they must have enjoy it. Overall, it's a decent short. It's in a contest now, so I recommend it for you guys to vote for it. Vote here!

3/5

Perpetual Twilight

At first, I thought it was a twilight fan film.

Thankfully, it's not. Perpetual Twilight is about the struggle between elves and vampires for a power source. It was made for a contest on bricksinmotion on contrast. The award was well deserved. I won't say too much on the plot as I plan not to reveal any spoilers in my reviews, but I can say it was well written and detailed. No stone was left un-turned. The music fit in well, so kudos to the composer. The cinematography in the film was amazing. It really brought in more life in the sets, which were very well designed.

Of course, the film had some problems. The film had these, like tracking shots, similar to the ones in Gravity, but it was not effective. It was cool, but in a few shots, it would zoom in on a wall, then return back to the action. This technique was only effective for the fight scene at the end, which was awesome. There were minor set bumps and light flickers, but it would be hard to notice.

The music somethings overlapped the voice actor's lines. I had a little trouble hearing what they were saying. Speaking of the actors, the female asked the council a question:"All the favor?", then a microsecond later, she says "It's decided". The line felt rushed. But despite the flaws, this is a great watch. You will keep your eyes on the screen from beginning to end.

4/5

Gray Latitude - Part One

With those unfamiliar, Gary Latitude is a brickfilm announced a few years ago to be made by Nick Durron. The trailer was quite interesting, a sci-fi mystery. It was recently canceled, yet Nick decided to complete it, and release it to us.

I am a fan of Nick's work. All of his brickfilms have such amazing and intriguing stories, at the skill level to rival a certain writer named George Orwell. But sometimes, even the best has weaknesses. Nick has only released part one of four, which is great because if it was only part one, I would give him 1.5 stars out of 5!

Let me explain. In the story, Peter Gray has to face menacing forces in the late 19th century in New York city. I didn't like the setting. How come terrible events always happen in New York? Marvel destroyed that city countless times. The tone of direction shows that this film would be dark, with the amazing unsettling music, but at the end, the main character mocks death, funerals, and rain. The joke was unnecessary and threw me off. At the beginning, there was a murder. Fine, if it was a cop investigation. Since the film is about someone who knew him, a scene should have portrayed them interacting.

The talking scenes were long, and boring.  The mouth movements were great, yet he could have used facial expressions. A happy face at a funeral? The kidnapping scene seemed rushed. I felt it could have been better executed. To be honest, I watched the film four times half way. It was hard to stay interested. The quality is less than your previous work, but since you made it a few years ago, I won't hold that against you. I just hope part 2 is better.

But this is still an interesting watch. Great acting, music, direction, animation, and special effects. I'd only recommend it once I've seen the whole time.

3.5/5

Literal Man (Go-film)

Literal Man is a nice little short about a superhero who has to beat a villain, and he literally does everything people tell him to. Just tell him what the do straight. No hidden messages or anything. No, but honestly, I like this. The animation was incredible from the beginning, and the sound quality was great. I only wish it was longer. But now, the negatives. Blue: the background in every scene was an unnatural blue, which I found annoying. The sets were okay, but I feel much more detail could have been added. It didn't look like much of a construction site.

There was a minor set bump during the drive thru scene, but It's hard to notice.  To be honest this idea has kind of been done before. The "It's a bird, it's a plane..." line is used so much, I hate superman now. As well, the basic story is that there is an absent minded hero that annoys the good guys. There are many brickfilms that have a similar story. The only thing that sets this film apart is the animation quality. END films, you can make so much better animations than this, and once you do, I'll watch it in a heartbeat.

3/5

Henri & Edmond - Copyright

Yeah, I'm reviewing brickfilms now, in an effort to post more on this blog, and generate more interest in it.

Henri & Edmond - Copyright has been praised as one of the greatest brickfilms ever made, and with a sequel coming out later, I decided to watch the film for the first time. It was so worth 30 mins of my time. After downloading a mp3 file of a song, Henri is tracked down by a copyright protection agency. His best friend Edmond, the fireman is the only one who can help him. The description seemed to be simple, and I felt that I would been bored, but that wasn't the case.

The screenplay was surprisingly very well written. The film's animation was amazing, combined with excellent lighting and very detailed sets. The voice actors were great, sounding very professional, and combined with the English subtitles, and minifig movements, it made the brickfilm 10x funnier. A brickfilm being funny is rare, as most are 1 minute shorts with a stupid fart joke, or something. The way the characters broke the fourth wall was a great way for the viewer to feel that they knew the characters, making them want our heroes to succeed in their quest. I like Herni and Edmond's relationship in the film. They are a great comedic duo together. The soundtrack was great, with the original song a nice little thing to listen to. There is not much to say that hasn't already been said, but it is clear that Maxime Marion put a lot of effort into this film, and I congratulate him . The success he is getting for this film is well deserved, and I are personally excited for the sequel.

5/5

Here's the film:

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)

The film that started off the summer blockbuster films of the year. Two years after the first film, this film follows Peter having relationship problems, daddy problems, and super villains problems. Three villains, just to be clear. Spider-Man 3 was terrible because the villains weren't really developed enough, and I feared that The Amazing Spider-Man 2 would do the same. I was wrong. IT WAS TEN TIMES WORSE!

First, the positives. Andrew Garfield, in my mind, is still the best actor the play Spider-man. Like him, or hate him, we are stuck with him until 2020, when his contract is over. His chemistry with Emma stone is one of the film's strong points. Dane Dahann is one of my favourite actors, and soon, when people ask who played the green goblin, they won't be saying James Franco.( Not dissing Franco either, just saying)

Now the negatives, which is alot. I didn't like Jamie Foxx's Electro. Not racist, since I'm black. Anyway, the character is practically a baby, who is obsessed with Spider-Man. This kind of behavior should put Max in a mental hospital. The sloppy dialogue that Jamie was given makes this one of his worst performances. Speaking of dialogue, the whole script was bloated, filled with characters. Rhino did nothing for the film. I know they added him to get us pumped for the next spidey film, but the way he was introduced to us was pointless.

The special effects are top notch, but the fight scenes were very short. For the longest Spidey film ever, you would expect a lot of violence. Marc Webb has made it clear he can't direct action. The fight scenes didn't have spidey throw a single punch. Just swinging around, and throwing things with his webs. The Green Goblin fight was sad. Just pushing, and well, pushing. The next spidey better be good, or the franchise will fail, Sony loses alot of money, and the rights go to disney.

2.5/5

Rated PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi action/violence

The Wolf of Wall Street(2013)

2014 comes new reviews. Since I am now getting paid to do this, the website will be a lot more active. To start off 2014, I am reviewing my favorite movie of 2013: The Wolf of Wall Street. Warning: Don't watch the film with your parents.

The film is about Jordan Belfort, a long island penny stockbroker who served 36  months in prison for defrauding investors in a massive 1990s securities scam blah blah blah. The point is, Jordan steals a lot of money, okay?!

Leonardo DiCarpio is as charismatic as ever amazes me yet again. No scene is boring. Each is interesting in its own way. Yeah, i know. A three hour long movie that manages to keep you awake, I know. Jonah Hill proves that even though he is a comedian, he can act. Like, really act.

Martin Scorsese is one of Hollywood's greats, and his talents seem to improve with age. This film is very well done. Yeah, The "f" word is used over 500 times, and there is a lot of nudity and scenes with men and women naked together in one large group, but it shouldn't turn you away.

5/5

Rated R for sequences of strong sexual content, graphic nudity, drug use, and language throughout, and for some violence.