TV: Hemlock Grove SE1

Hemlock Grove
Horror, Mystery, Thriller

I started watching this show because I heard that season 2 was coming, it's a Netflix so seasons come out all in one go (love that!) and because I'd run out of decent shows to watch... if you have any suggestions, let me know! I'll be reviewing anime soon... ha!

Anyway, this show confused the hell out of me at first. I kept thinking I was missing things but I'm pretty sure that's just the way the show is. I'd heard a few whispers about werewolves and vampires but I didn't see any for the first few episodes and thought I must have heard wrong... then I saw the above clip... WOW! I literally stood up and cheered. I am so glad they did the werewolf thing right. No cheese, all gross: fantastic! I spent the rest of the season waiting to see the change again.

I love that they've used Gypsies instead of witches, witches are so overdone. In fact, the way this is written, scripted and filmed is done so well that none of the supernatural elements are lame, as we see in most shows of the same genre. Add in Famke Janssen (Jean Grey from X-Men), Bill Skarsgard (Alexander Skarsgard's little brother), Landon Liboiron (Terra Nova, Degrassi) and Lili Taylor (Almost Human, High Fidelity), a mostly unknown yet surprisingly fantastic cast, and we have a pretty darn awesome show!

I especially love the tense bromance between Peter (Liboiron) and Roman (Skarsgard). I wasn't sure whether they were going to rip each other apart or tear each others' clothes off... please go with second one! I'm also enjoying the Gypsy lore featuring Peter's cousin Destiny (Kaniehtiio Horn), the whole mystery of who/what/where Roman's sister Shelley (Nicole Boivin) came from, and what exactly is Roman supposed to be!?

I figured out who the killer was in the first few episodes but that main plotline wasn't what kept me watching... and I kept changing my mind back and forth. This show is full of mysteries! Stay tuned for season 2 review...

4 out of 5 werewolves...

Movie: Oldboy (2013)

Oldboy 
Action, Drama, Mystery

I've had this movie sitting around for a while now, something about the preview made me not too keen to watch it right away. Wow it was amazing, I can't stop thinking about it!

This Spike Lee (Malcolm X) remake from the hugely popular 2003 Korean movie of the same name starts off pretty average. Joe (Josh Brolin) is an ignorant drunk until one morning he wakes up from a bender to find he's been kidnapped and held prisoner with no explanation. His only company is a small television set from which he discovers that he's been framed for the murder of his ex-wife. After being held captive for 20 years with no visitors, he is suddenly and mysteriously let go. He has only a few days to figure out who captured him and held him for 20 years and why, or they will kill his daughter.

I really, really want to give away the twist that made this movie so awesome...but that would spoil it. Go and watch it, it's totally worth it. One of the most underrated films I've watched lately. Also, Elizabeth Olsen's (younger sister to the Olsen twins) boobs and Samuel L. Jackson as a bad guy! Special mentions to Lance Reddick (Fringe, Lost) and Michael Imperioli (Sopranos, Californication).

4 out of 5 twists...

Movie: X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

X-Men: Days of Future Past
Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

I love X-Men... need I say more? I don't think so but of course I will...

So many awesome characters, so many awesome actors. We got to see everyone we wanted to see, even if the main X-Men we're used to didn't get that much screen time. I'm a little peeved Anna Paquin got cut to a bare 3 seconds at the end of the film but I'm sure we will see more Rogue in the extras when the DVD is released. Shawn Ashmore as Bobby/Iceman, Daniel Cudmore as Collossus, Booboo Stewart as Warpath, Lucas Till as Havok... and I haven't even brought out the big guns yet!

So the story revolves around Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) of course. I have no idea where Kitty (Ellen Page) got the send-someone-back-in-time power from. Did she have that in the comics? I can't remember... But anyway, she sends Logan back because apparently he's the only one who can handle it. Young Xavier, played by the amazing James McAvoy, is in a bit of a slump after Raven/Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) left him for Erik/Magnito (Michael Fassbender/Ian McKellen).. oh, yeah, and Erik crippled him... So this film is (mostly) set after the events of First Class. Logan has to pull Xavier out of it with the help of Beast (Nicholas Hoult) in order to save both the mutant and human populations from destroying themselves with giant killer robots called Sentinels (seriously, The Matrix again anyone?) designed by antagonist Dr. Trask (Peter Dinklage). Like giant sentient robots are ever a good idea!

Quicksilver was one of the best things about this film. I remember when the trailer came out some people thought he would be lame.. but no, he is awesome! The small part he plays in the film really stuck in my mind and when I watched it recently for the second time, he was just as good. He's played by Evan Peters from American Horror Story who does a fabulous job. Hope we see more of him in the next films. I also thought the meeting of the two Xavier's was excellent, how cool to meet your future self... and who else would be able to kick young Xavier's ass back into gear but older, wiser Xavier (Patrick Stewart)? Stand out performance was definitely James McAvoy.

I'm a little disappointed that Taylor Kitsch's role of Gambit hasn't reappeared. Gambit was always one of my favourite X-Men and the little teaser we got of him in Origins: Wolverine just wasn't enough for me. I would have thought the timeline would be perfect for him too... Bring back Gambit! Also, the reappearance of Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) and Cyclops (James Marsden)! I did a little swoon there but we all knew they were both coming back didn't we? Yes, I watched the cartoons as a kid... And you can't have an X-Men film without Storm (Halle Berry).

I love X-Men. Keep 'em coming. Which X-Men is your favourite? Who do you want to see in the next film? Let me know in the comments!

4 out of 5 Marvels...

TV: The Strain SE1 EP1

The Strain
Drama, Horror, Sci Fi

I spoke a little about this in my mass post of upcoming new shows and it's finally here! A friend recommended me the book by director Guillermo del Toro who's dark, spooky style is well known from Pan's Labyrinth. I'm glad I read it before the show came out...at least I was semi prepared for the creepy factor.

It starts with something we've seen in these kind of shows before: a dead airplane. There is a mixture of traditional vampire mythology: the coffin of dirt, being transported over water, what I think is a Master, etc. But it's just a tad different. I might be giving some of it away here but I'm assuming most of you will figure all this out in the first couple of episodes. There are vampires... but they're not the sexy, fang sporting vampires we are used to. These vampires are infected with a parasite and they feed via these really ugly looking stingers. Very cool, very spooky.

I recognised Corey Stoll right away even though with the hair he looks a little different from his House of Cards role. Mia Maestro (Alias, Twilight: Breaking Dawn) was also hard to miss, she's showing up everywhere lately. They play the two leading CDC investigators who got more than they planned for with the dead airplane. David Bradley (Filch from Harry Potter) plays a kooky old dude who's apparently dealt with these monsters before.

The first episode has not disappointed so far: it's sufficiently spooky and mysterious. Even having read the book I'm still interested in watching the show, which is a good sign. It's set to get even creepier so give it a go and let me know what you think.

4 out of 5 parasites...

Movie: The Amazing Spider-Man 2: Rise of Electro

The Amazing Spider-Man 2: Rise of Electro
Action, Adventure, Fantasy

I actually really enjoyed the first one of these and was surprised to hear some people though it was crap. Andrew Garfield (The Social Network) as Peter Parker is funny! He has this wicked sense of humour I love in the character. Then there were people bitching about how they've just made the Spider-Man movies and why remake it again... but this is a different time in Peter Parker's life and Tobey Maguire did pull out so they had to remake it if they wanted to make any Spiderman movies at all, so yer. *shrugs*

Shall we talk about Mary-Jane (Shailene Woodley) who was supposed to be in the movie but had all her scenes cut? I saw a few interviews about why that happened and they pretty much said they didn't want Peter to look like a sleezy player. We all know that Peter and Mary-Jane have this thing going on later but right now it's all about Gwen and to introduce another love interest into it would distract from the Gwen storyline, and gosh are they cute together. I've got such a huge girl-crush on Emma Stone and everything she does. It is unfortunate we didn't get to see Mary-Jane in this one but we will see her eventually.

I'm a little disappointed in Jamie Foxx.. I don't know why... maybe because Django Unchained was so good and this role is so different. Dane DeHann on the other hand, wow! He is amazing, every role I see him in just gets better and better; Chronicle, Kill Your Darlings and now this. I also LOVE that Stan Lee appears in all of the Marvel movies, it's always makes me laugh to see him.


I do love superhero movies!

4 out of 5 spiders on drugs...

TV: American Horror Story SE3 EP13

American Horror Story

Drama, Fantasy, Horror

Ok, I've heard good and bad things about this finale and I have to agree with both. The Stevie Nicks music video at the very beginning of this episode is overkill. She's already had a feature in an entire episode, stop being so greedy! Yeah, yeah, she's like massively famous and rumored to be a witch so it's kinda smart I suppose but like I said, one episode is enough Stevie. Plus, that lip syncing was terrible!

This season - Coven - started off really slowly, I was actually very disappointed at first but it's really picked up in the last few episodes. I was so excited when I saw Kathy Bates (Misery, Fried Green Tomatoes) was guest starring in this season, that was huge! And what a character she played, fantastic. I hope she will be in next season too.

Poor Misty Day (Lily Rabe), what a sweet girl and I did so hope for her to be the new Supreme. I did not expect her to die that's for sure... actually I'm surprised at how many of them did die this episode. Once Misty was out of the running I thought for sure that Zoe (Taissa Farmiga) would be the Supreme... then she died too. Just when we thought that Madison (Emma Roberts) - the bitch - was going to be the Supreme. Thank goodness she wasn't! I'm not surprised that Kyle (Evan Peters) killed her, I wanted to strangle her too. Cow. 

I'm not at all surprised that the Supreme turned out to be Cordelia (Sarah Paulson), or that Fiona (Jessica Lange) was still alive. I knew that when Cordelia saw the vision of the Axeman (Danny Huston) killing Fiona that it wasn't quite right. Then when they were hugging I thought for sure Fiona would stab Cordelia in the back... oh well, I suppose it had to end somehow.

I was totally surprised about Myrtle (Frances Conroy) burning at the stake - again! I thought for sure after half the coven had been killed that she would stick around just to make up the numbers. But of course she was right and Cordelia had already put the word out about the coven, so more witches would be joining soon. Still, who would volunteer for that?!

Three seasons and I think season two - Asylum - is my favorite so far. We've had murders and ghosts, crazy people and more ghosts, and finally witches and voodoo; what will be next do you think? I love how this show changes every season and recycles most of it's cast. It's good to see that they can actually act and continue to convince us of their characters each season.

4 out of 5 cauldrons...

Honorary mention to Denis O'Hare as the help, the demented butler, Spalding. I didn't recognize him!

TV: Hostages SE1 EP12

Hostages
Drama, Thriller

This is actually a really good show. This first season reminds me very much of what Homeland's first season felt like. Every episode has a bit of a wow factor and we are continually finding out more and more about the story.

The story is that the president has to go in for surgery of some kind and Dr Sanders (Toni Collette - United States of Tara) is chosen as the best in the field. Someone wants to kill the president so they hold the Doctor and her family hostage and force her to kill him during the procedure. She stalled the first time and now they are running into all of these problems... plus there is a lot more to the story than first seemed.

The head of the group holding the family hostage, Duncan (Dylan McDermott - American Horror Story), is an FBI agent who's wife is the illegitimate daughter of the president, born of rape. She has leukemia and needs the bone marrow of a family member to survive; the president. So now the Doc is semi on Duncan's side...she even kissed him in the last episode... but then she told her husband that she couldn't do it... It's a bit all over the shop.

They're all trapped into the plan now because whoever it is who hired them will kill all of them if they don't somehow pull the plan off, and if they suddenly decide that this team isn't good enough, they can just wipe them out and start again. It's a big fat mess and more things keep going wrong, and more things keep getting revealed and complicating everything all over again. Like I said, big fat mess. But I'm still really interested, so that's a good thing right?

I love Toni Collette and Dylan McDermott. Special mentions to Tate Donovan, Mateus Ward and Quinn Shephard who play the rest of the Sanders family; Rhys Coiro (Entourage), Sandrine Holt and Billy Brown (Sons of Anarchy) as the team holding them hostage, Francie Swift (Gossip Girl) as Duncan's ailing wife; and Joanne Kelly (Warehouse 13) and Brian White (Cabin in the Woods, Beauty and the Beast) who are the big guns hiring people to kill the president.

4 out of 5 balaclavas...

Biopic: CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story (2013)

CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story
Biography, Music

When I heard about this biopic I had to go and find it. I grew up with TLC, they were my high school jam ya'll! Seriously, I remember hanging out with the girls in the quad and working out all the dance moves during lunch. We even did No Scrubs as one of our music assignments; I can still remember the lead guitar tab for that song.

I won't talk too much about the film because you should go watch it. I found it very nostalgic and a little weird to watch scenes that I can actually remember happening, reenacted by these three girls who look, dance and speak a lot like the real thing. I remember after they won a bunch of awards and were asked by the media how the high life was going and they revealed they hadn't actually made any money. I remember Lisa - Left Eye - burning down a house and causing all kinds of a ruckus.

The three actresses - Keke Palmer, Drew Sidora and Niatia 'Lil Mama' Kirkland - did an amazing job. They recreated all the video clips as we saw them. I actually got to a point in the film where I forgot they weren't the real thing and that they were acting. In fact, Lil Mama did so well at portraying Left Eye that T-Boz and Chilli signed her up to be a part of TLC 2.0. They performed together at the AMAs just a few days ago. I didn't particularly like that performance, but her part in this film was brilliant.

If you grew up with TLC like I did, you should watch this film. Very nostalgic, very in-your-face honest, very good.

4 out of 5 waterfalls...

RIP Lisa Lopes