Phil Stringer

Surpasses the original in every way. I was pleasantly surprised when someone recommended A Plague Tale: Innocence. The game didn't initially appeal to me. I'm usually more into sci fi or post apocalyptic type games. I found myself absolutely captivated with it's incredibly emotive and tragic storyline, and unique combat and stealth gameplay. Not to mention the excellent voice acting. When I heard there was going to be a sequel, I was eagerly anticipating more of Alicia and Hugo's story, and curious to see where their journey will take us. The sequel is like The Spiderman 2 of sequels. It takes a brilliant concept already established with the first game, and gives you more of what you wanted. It has some addictive puzzle type gameplay in some areas, where you need to figure out how to cross certain areas without being devoured by rats, or caught and sometimes killed by guards. There are some inventive weapons and ways of crafting items that can help you survive. Plus some satisfying ways of dispatching enemies in gruesome ways. The main characters, Amicia and Hugo have for me, become as Iconic as Lara Croft, Joel and Ellie, and Nathan Drake. Amicia's strength comes from a desperate need to survive and protect her brother Hugo. She finds herself at odds with her conscience, and you can feel the remorse within her as her morality is put to the test. But ultimately she has to do what she must do if she is to keep her brother safe, and keep both he and herself alive. A Plague Tale: Requiem is a masterpiece in both storytelling and gameplay. And for me, it is one of the greatest games of all time..

I watched the first episode and was hooked. Wyatt Russell, Mari Yamamoto and Anders Holm all seemed to have great chemistry, and the story seemed intriguing and exciting. Then as soon as we get introduced to Anna Sawai, Kiersey Clemons and Ren Watabe, the excitement and interest takes a nose dive. The great Kurt Russell appears as an older version of his son's character, but he's not in it enough. The pacing is very slow, but then this is probably because the 3 younger characters have zero charm or screen presence. I just found them annoying and whiney. I've quit this show now, as I'm finding it to be a chore to sit through.

Great first half, but a very slow 2nd half. Started off great. 2 evil hit men pursuing a dad who knows too much. The dad escapes from the city with his son and heads for the wilderness with the hit men in hot pursuit. The brilliant and underrated Jake Weber plays the single dad, with an impressive performance from Finn Little as his son. As soon as the movie moves to Angelina Jolie's character finding the boy in the woods, the film starts to drag. Would've been a better film if she hadn't been in it. And Jon Berthal's character featured more heavily.

Inspired by a true story, although in real life, the bear died of an overdose, and didn't kill anyone. So it wouldn't have made an interesting film if it had stuck to the facts. So we have a bear, high on cocaine, terrorising a national park, while a mum searches for her missing daughter and her friend. Add some drug dealing types, searching for the missing coke, a few petty thieves, an eccentric park ranger and her potential love interest who looked a bit like David Spade. OK, negatives first. I hate drugs, drug dealers, anything to with drugs. They are neither cool, or funny. The scenes with children taking drugs, are morally reprehensible. Many people seeing this film will obviously find the humour in the idea of a bear off it's face on cocaine, but the reality of cocaine is no laughing matter whatsoever. I found most of the characters to be annoying, apart from the mum and the veteran cop played by Isiah Whitlock. I'd have happily witnessed every sleazebag drug dealing character torn limb from limb, and yet some of the scumbags actually live to the end. That aside, it was actually a mildly entertaining comedy horror film. It had some decent scares, and one particularly good moment featuring the song Just Can't Get Enough by Depeche Mode. The bear effects were decent enough as you would expect nowadays. Especially to anyone who has seen the Revenant.

Many comments made about this film, seem to say things like "it's so bad it's good." Or "it's not even so bad it's good." Things like that. For me, a movie that is really bad would contain 1 or more of the following elements. Incoherent muddled narrative. Bad acting. Boring storyline/ pacing issues. Bad special effects. I didn't find any of these in this film. Daft? Yeah of course it was. Cheesy? Yeah absolutely. But it was also imaginative, engaging and what's more....FUN. Something that's been missing from Hollywood recently, who seem more intent on ramming THE MESSAGE down our throats, whatever new trendy bit of political proganda that is. Great visual effects, decent score, brilliant cast, well paced, entertaining. I loved it.

Firstly, I've got to admit.. I'm a rubbish gamer. I usually prefer linear story based shooters. When I pick up controller, I just want to get lost in a virtual world, exploring, taking out the enemy in whatever way is on offer, and taking a break from reality for a short while. Yeah I want it to be challenging, but also have the option of being able to move forward and progress the story without too much frustration. Basically, when I play video games, I want it to be FUN. I'd heard Returnal was difficult, but I bought it anyway. I'm more than 10 hours in, and I find Returnal to be Anti Fun. Boring, repetitive, soulless, and frustrating. Hey, it's just my opinion, but if this is your thing, lot's of luck.

I think it's been said before, but remember that bit in the film Scrooged with Lee Majors.."The Night The Raindeer Died"?.. Well looks like someone has taken the idea....sort of.. and expanded upon it. I was arranging an evening at the cinema with a friend, and there hasn't been anything that I've been remotely interested in seeing for ages. Then I noticed this, so I went in expecting to be mildly entertained at least. I mean, the premise is ridiculous, so I was expecting to have some brainless fun here. This more than delivered the goods. For a 15 certificate film, there's a suprising amount of violence and gore. Like many great violent action films, especially from the 80's, the violence is so over the top, that the audience knows not to take it too seriously. At the cinema where I watched this, there were plenty of people laughing during some of the more inventive kill scenes, of which there are many. Before I went in, I was thinking if would be worth waiting to see this on Netflix or Amazon. I can now say that it's definitely worth seeing on the big screen. The reaction from the audience added to the experience. I had a really good time with this film, and I would certainly recommend it, especially if you have a dark sense of humour.

I thought the game itself was great to play. Good graphics and addictive gameplay. As good as the first albeit a little shorter in length, but worth the price. What I didn't like was the BLM narrative. Maybe this is because when this game was originally released on PS5, BLM were portrayed by the majority of the mainstream media as heroic and a force for good. I would certainly recommend watching Candace Owen's documentary "The Greatest Lie Ever Sold" on the Daily Wire if you want to see the truth about BLM, Marvel and Sony might want to rethink having any association with them.

I love the Halo games and was very sceptical about a tv series. I watched it with an open mind, and although the story dragged it's heels in certain aspects, I was still fully invested. So Spoiler alert..... I'm sure you already know but Masterchief takes off his helmet, whereas in the games, we never get to see his face. A wise move by producers in my opinion. I felt much more connected to the character as a result of this. The cast were excellent, especially Pablo Schreiber as John 117, as well as Natascha McElhone as Dr Catherine Halsey. By the end of the final episode, I was extremely happy with how Halo tv series had gone, and I cannot wait for season 2.

In 1993, Steven Spielberg gave the world Jurassic Park. Cinema goers, myself included, watched with wonder. The first time in cinema history, we got to see realistic looking dinosaurs. The T-Rex scene was a masterclass in tension. I remember cowering in my seat, and after the movie, I felt exhilarated. Everyone everywhere was talking about it. 29 years and 5 sequels later, I watched with wonder... at how anyone could have messed up a franchise so badly. The challenge with franchise movies like this is how to keep them fresh. I get that audiences expect to see dinosaurs going around chasing people. Special effects have become more sophisticated, and everything is busier, and noisier in modern blockbuster movies. But this is just one of the problems here. Look at all the best monster movies. Jaws, The Original Jurassic Park, Them, The Thing 1982, The Fly. They all have one thing in common. Plausability. The movies are so well crafted, they are able to take you out of reality and put you in a different world, where you can believe what's happening on the screen. You're just engaged with what you're seeing on the screen. You have actors who are able to convince the audience using great performances and well written dialogue. Limitations in special effects are no problem, because a great director and effects artist will still be able to convince audiences by use of well chosen shots, lighting etc.. BUT THIS....Even the dinosaurs looked bored. I was looking forward to seeing the original cast of Jurassic Park reunited. Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum and Laura Dern frankly, look embarrased. Performances were Michael Caine in Jaws The Revenge bad. Really.. THAT bad. So instead of seeing a movie about Dinosaurs, all I saw was one giant Turkey. There is one positive, it makes Jurassic Park 3 look like a masterpiece.