Denzel Curry - TA1313O (3/5)
A really awesome album that I feel really suffers from a massive track list in my opinion. A lot of the songs really do SLAP and I really love Denzel's intensity. But there are quite a few that I have no strong opinions on, dragging down the whole record for me.
Fave Tracks: Taboo, Sumo, Switch It Up, Clout Cobain, Vengeance.
Movies
Fighting With My Family (3/5)
Captain Marvel (3/5)
In another weird twist of fate, I keep changing my mind on Captain Marvel. After first watching the movie I believed that it was a 3.5, pretty good movie, but didn't reach the heights of the other recent MCU flicks. I then thought, 'no this was definitely a 4/5', because it felt right to say I really enjoyed the movie, and then I realised that I didn't like a lot of things about it and maybe it was a 3. That's where I have been since, and I'm going to probably stay that way until I see the movie for a second time. My issues lie in the chracterisation of Carol, she feels like a bit of a jerk, not immediately likeable, I jokingly said in my letterboxd review that she was Becky Lynch, but I have come to realise she's more like Ronda Rousey. (All you none wrestling fans hear me out) Becky Lynch has been compared to Stone Cold because that character is an underdog because the powers of authority try to get rid of someone who is the most powerful person in the room, Ronda Rousey is not an underdog because she walks in the room without any struggle and just IS POWERFUL, there is nothing for the audience to get behind Carol Danvers, she is immediately powerful, even with her chip on her neck, and she acts like an jerk to everyone she meets. Couple that with some other issues, like the muddled character writing and acting for Carol over what she remembers and what she doesn't, in some scenes shes a fish out of water, in others she is the sassy, witty modern hero like she grew up on earth and never missed a beat. Carol is also completely undermined by the most likeable performance by Samuel L Jackson. Another issue I found is that MCU action scenes have been getting worse, and this kinda became the ultimatum for me, after recently watching Mission Impossible: Fallout again this past month I started to question why the MCU aren't doing action like this, this movie and Fury Road are the pinnacle of modern action sequences, so why isn't the MCU reaching that level. It turns out that the directors of MCU movies don't get to actually direct their action scenes, because most of the time they are all CGI the CGI department of Marvel just do it, apparently a director who was interested in taking on the new Black Widow movie turned it down after Marvel told her 'not to worry' about the action sequences. They don't feel exciting and they don't look especially real. The last great MCU action scenes may have come from Infinity War, but the even best the ones that have come out around that haven't been nearly as good since The Avengers from 2012. However, the movie has some pretty great stuff as well, Ben Mendelsohn gets to play a really cool and funny character, the scene at the end of the movie of Captain Marvel makes you wanna fist pump, and it's overall a very enjoyable movie, the story is spot on for a movie like this, its paced well, looks great, but I just think that Marvel, in the next phase of Movies need to start making these movies truly unique, if they wanna stay at the forefront they have to keep inovating and I think that starts by letting the action be the best it can be.
Ralph Breaks The Internet (3/5)
I love the visual representation of everything, the internet, the users, the different websites the way people move around, it's all so amazing, it's funny and heart warming. I think it's a bit cheesy at times but the ending still get genuine emotions from me. Also the Disney bit was great.
Us (4/5)
Realistically I believe this will probably be higher rated over time with multiple viewing but THIS MOVIE JUST FUCKING RULES. It does a couple things right for me, it starts as a really cool home invasion eerie horror movie, and then it turns into a revenge killing spree type movie that really itches my 'Film Bro' part of my brain that likes Tarantino and Fight Club. The script feels extremely tight knit allowing every sentence to mean something in the wider context without feeling dysfunctional. Every shot has details that also feel meticulously crafted, allowing for multiple re-watches. Unlike Jordan Peele's debut Get Out, the political message is not as obvious in this movie, allowing the movie to have multiple interpretations, which I think is a plus, but it also means the movie watched of face value as just a horror movie is also superb. Acting performances all round are superb, all of the main cast are playing 2 roles and they both feel separate from each other, it feels genuine and I think that's down to the fact that all of their physical acting is so good. The posture of characters and their mannerisms, it is extremely effective of giving off the feeling of doppelgangers that aren't just carbon copies, that actually have brains and thought. The soundtrack as well is creepy and perfect, especially its implementation in key moments in the movie, also I got 5 on it is just a banger. All around great movie loved it.
Games
Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Remastered
I did hop on the Cod train back in the day but it was only ever really for Black Ops 1, that story mode was really great and I really loved the multiplayer and Zombies maps that the game had. But that was about the extent I played Cod, I did play Black Ops 2 a bit but not much from there. So when I got this for free through PS Plus I just thought I should give it a go, and after an initial relearning period on how these games work, I had a real good time with it. There wasn't a massive story with this game, but enough to give myself motive from level to level. I really enjoyed the levels where you play as someone else other than Soap, the character you play the most. More specifically the flashback level where you play as the captain you've been following up until this point back when he wasn't a captain. A really fun game, reminds you how good FPS campaigns were when Cod became the best FPS series on the planet.
Hitman: Season 1 (Played through Hitman 2 Legacy Pack)
I don't wanna sit here all night gushing about this game a I wanna try and keep this short and sweet. Hitman is probably one of the modern classics of this generation, the sheer amount of variety from this game itself is insane, but it also the game is so sure of itself, it knows what its good at and it knows whats stupid and funny, it knows whats fun and it strives on that stuff, it means the whole time you are playing the game you're always feeling good. Hitman feels more like a puzzle game, stealth game hybrid, but it also has surprisingly great feeling action underneath too, in a game where shooting your gun may feel like a failure. The game pushes you to replay over and over, finding new secrets and strategies. And as always with a game like this, map design is what it lives and dies by, I found 2 maps here that I wasn't completely enamoured with, but everything else I truly felt like almost impeccable map design. This game is just an amazing time, everyone who owns this generations console needs to give this a try.
Life Is Strange 2 - Episodes 1 & 2
Really enjoying the story so far, it is a considerable VA, graphics, and story bump up for DontNod from the first game, however much I love it. The game feels harder to make the smaller choices because of the dynamic of your brother and how it effects how he acts. However I did find Episode 2 to have too many plot conveniences that felt like they could be choices for me as the player to pick. Usually these types of games hide those really well making the player feel like they also want to do where the plot is moving, though this episode failed that and had me pulling my hair out, I'm excited to see where the rest of the game goes however.
TV
Russian Doll - Season 1
A really funny and thoughtful show, it goes some pretty crazy places. I understand the general jist of the shows message but I feel like there was so much I missed through those last few episodes, Natasha Lyonne has shown herself to be the amazing creative that I always wished she was, as she co wrote and starred in this series. It's a great show definitely worth a watch.
Wrestling
WWE Fastlane
A really forgettable show all around, I skipped the last Shield match just because I felt disinterested by the rest of the show, not exactly the best way to kick off the last month of Mania build up, but I'm still looking forward to Mania nonetheless.
NJPW New Japan Cup
The New Japan Cup ran a lot of shows this month and I didn't watch every show to full completion but I did watch the tournament matches.
Fave Matches: Juice Robison vs Chase Owens - Night 1 (8/3/19), Yuji Nagata vs Tomohiro Ishii - Night 1 (8/3/19), Will Ospreay vs Bad Luck Fale - Night 2 (9/3/19), Satoshi Kojima vs Minoru Suzuki - Night 4 (11/3/19), Will Ospreay vs Lance Archer - Night 6 (14/3/19), Toru Yano vs Colt Cabana - Night 8 (17/3/19), Kazuchika Okada vs Tomohiro Ishii - Night 11 (23/3/19),
Rev Pro: Live In Northampton
I got to attend this show LIVE, in the very small venue and had the absolute time of my life, I got to meet PAC, and then watch him crack his head on the wall I was leaning on, I then freaked out genuinely shook up, wrestling is great. If you know what I look like and you watch that show on Rev Pro's On demand service you can watch me pull a lot of unintentional but hilarious facial expressions to the whole show. The whole show was pretty much great just for vibe alone and no match was straight up awful. Great Time.
Books & Comics
Star Wars Aftermath
I'm not a huge book reader and this took me over a year to read and finish, but here are my general thoughts of the book, I think the book NAILS feeling like Star Wars, which I feel like most other pieces of media struggle with nowadays, I think the writing is generally messy all around, apparently thats due to being written in present tense, again I don't read a lot so I don't really know. But the characters, their back stories, their interactions, the stories moments, the whole book is so entertaining and it really nails the vibe that I feel Rogue One was trying to nail, a fun read despite its messy nature.
Captain America: White
This book is kind of disappointing to me, Daredevil: Yellow is one of my favourite comic books I've read so I was excited about reading the other Sale/Loeb colour books, I picked this up during a clearance sale and I guess that should have been a telling moment. I like parts of the book, but for some one who knows the the dynamic of Steve Rogers and Bucky pretty much exclusively through the MCU, their dynamic here is strange and off putting, Steve feels more milk toast in this and he feels more like a dad, which isn't what I like about Steve in the movies. Overall I think it's an ok book.
Games
Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Remastered
I did hop on the Cod train back in the day but it was only ever really for Black Ops 1, that story mode was really great and I really loved the multiplayer and Zombies maps that the game had. But that was about the extent I played Cod, I did play Black Ops 2 a bit but not much from there. So when I got this for free through PS Plus I just thought I should give it a go, and after an initial relearning period on how these games work, I had a real good time with it. There wasn't a massive story with this game, but enough to give myself motive from level to level. I really enjoyed the levels where you play as someone else other than Soap, the character you play the most. More specifically the flashback level where you play as the captain you've been following up until this point back when he wasn't a captain. A really fun game, reminds you how good FPS campaigns were when Cod became the best FPS series on the planet.
Hitman: Season 1 (Played through Hitman 2 Legacy Pack)
I don't wanna sit here all night gushing about this game a I wanna try and keep this short and sweet. Hitman is probably one of the modern classics of this generation, the sheer amount of variety from this game itself is insane, but it also the game is so sure of itself, it knows what its good at and it knows whats stupid and funny, it knows whats fun and it strives on that stuff, it means the whole time you are playing the game you're always feeling good. Hitman feels more like a puzzle game, stealth game hybrid, but it also has surprisingly great feeling action underneath too, in a game where shooting your gun may feel like a failure. The game pushes you to replay over and over, finding new secrets and strategies. And as always with a game like this, map design is what it lives and dies by, I found 2 maps here that I wasn't completely enamoured with, but everything else I truly felt like almost impeccable map design. This game is just an amazing time, everyone who owns this generations console needs to give this a try.
Life Is Strange 2 - Episodes 1 & 2
Really enjoying the story so far, it is a considerable VA, graphics, and story bump up for DontNod from the first game, however much I love it. The game feels harder to make the smaller choices because of the dynamic of your brother and how it effects how he acts. However I did find Episode 2 to have too many plot conveniences that felt like they could be choices for me as the player to pick. Usually these types of games hide those really well making the player feel like they also want to do where the plot is moving, though this episode failed that and had me pulling my hair out, I'm excited to see where the rest of the game goes however.
TV
Russian Doll - Season 1
A really funny and thoughtful show, it goes some pretty crazy places. I understand the general jist of the shows message but I feel like there was so much I missed through those last few episodes, Natasha Lyonne has shown herself to be the amazing creative that I always wished she was, as she co wrote and starred in this series. It's a great show definitely worth a watch.
Wrestling
WWE Fastlane
A really forgettable show all around, I skipped the last Shield match just because I felt disinterested by the rest of the show, not exactly the best way to kick off the last month of Mania build up, but I'm still looking forward to Mania nonetheless.
NJPW New Japan Cup
The New Japan Cup ran a lot of shows this month and I didn't watch every show to full completion but I did watch the tournament matches.
Fave Matches: Juice Robison vs Chase Owens - Night 1 (8/3/19), Yuji Nagata vs Tomohiro Ishii - Night 1 (8/3/19), Will Ospreay vs Bad Luck Fale - Night 2 (9/3/19), Satoshi Kojima vs Minoru Suzuki - Night 4 (11/3/19), Will Ospreay vs Lance Archer - Night 6 (14/3/19), Toru Yano vs Colt Cabana - Night 8 (17/3/19), Kazuchika Okada vs Tomohiro Ishii - Night 11 (23/3/19),
Rev Pro: Live In Northampton
I got to attend this show LIVE, in the very small venue and had the absolute time of my life, I got to meet PAC, and then watch him crack his head on the wall I was leaning on, I then freaked out genuinely shook up, wrestling is great. If you know what I look like and you watch that show on Rev Pro's On demand service you can watch me pull a lot of unintentional but hilarious facial expressions to the whole show. The whole show was pretty much great just for vibe alone and no match was straight up awful. Great Time.
Books & Comics
Star Wars Aftermath
I'm not a huge book reader and this took me over a year to read and finish, but here are my general thoughts of the book, I think the book NAILS feeling like Star Wars, which I feel like most other pieces of media struggle with nowadays, I think the writing is generally messy all around, apparently thats due to being written in present tense, again I don't read a lot so I don't really know. But the characters, their back stories, their interactions, the stories moments, the whole book is so entertaining and it really nails the vibe that I feel Rogue One was trying to nail, a fun read despite its messy nature.
Captain America: White
This book is kind of disappointing to me, Daredevil: Yellow is one of my favourite comic books I've read so I was excited about reading the other Sale/Loeb colour books, I picked this up during a clearance sale and I guess that should have been a telling moment. I like parts of the book, but for some one who knows the the dynamic of Steve Rogers and Bucky pretty much exclusively through the MCU, their dynamic here is strange and off putting, Steve feels more milk toast in this and he feels more like a dad, which isn't what I like about Steve in the movies. Overall I think it's an ok book.
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