Any big movie fan should agree that the music that features in films can improve the film tenfold and can often even become more iconic than the film itself! In this short blog I want to offer up some of my personal favourite film scores. SPOILERS AHEAD.
The first piece of music that comes to mind is “The Bridge of Khazad Dum” by Howard Shore. The piece features in “Lord of the Rings: The fellowship of the Ring” as the fellowship cross the bridge in Moria, and is a famous scene in the film as Gandalf faces a Balrog and protects the rest of the fellowship from the demon as best that he can as he tells them to “Run”. The music perfectly shows the up and down emotions of the scene and is also kind of catchy at the same time which makes the music instantly recognisable.
Another piece of music that has become a favourite of mine through cinema is “Portals” by Alan Silvestri. The music is simply outstanding and the scene in which it features is also brilliant so the two together are a marriage made in heaven! The music starts when Captain America is facing down Thanos and his army alone when all of a sudden through his in-helmet radio he hears from Sam a.k.a “the Falcon” who has just been brought back from the dead along with the other 50% of living things. The music offers the audience a brilliant build up as all the portals appear and our favourite superheroes all come back together to defeat Thanos. Within the music the Avengers theme music is also played as Cap eventually says “Avengers Assemble”, which is the moment that sent avid Marvel fans into raptures throughout cinemas across the world upon release. I am a massive fan of this piece of music and I felt it accompanied the scene so well.
Thirdly, I wanted to mention the music that features throughout the “Rocky” movie series. The music that features throughout the Rocky films are all typically very upbeat and inspirational songs that make you want to get up and go. “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor and “Gonna Fly Now” by Bill Conti are probably the most famous songs to come from the film’s with “Gonna Fly Now” being the movies main theme music, that music in particular has become iconic and even people who have never seen the film’s would be able to tell you that the music belongs to the Rocky films. If you ever feel the urge to run or shadow box, this is certainly the music to play whilst you do it.
The last thing I want to mention isn’t just the music but actually the composer as I feel it would be an injustice to only mention one of this particular legends musical pieces. This legend is of course John Williams. John Williams has composed some of the most iconic music to have featured within films. Williams is responsible for the music in Star Wars, Harry Potter, Jaws, Indiana Jones and Jurassic Park but to name a few. This man is responsible for some of the best and most recognisable orchestral music ever produced and any conversation involving film scores needs to have his name mentioned as he has not only composed so many of them but has composed so many iconic outstanding pieces. He is literally a living legend and should be celebrated more than he is. Not that he will ever read this, but thank you Mr Williams for being great!
As always, Thank you to anybody reading. Feel free to let me know what your favourite film scores are, always interesting to hear other people’s tastes. Cheers.
In this post I will be discussing my top 3 campaign games. These games do not necessarily have to be purely single player games but are just whatever campaign modes that I have actually enjoyed most through my years of gaming. Naturally, I expect there to be some disagreement as games are so subjective but let’s see what you guys think.
3rd Place- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
The Witcher is such a massive and expansive game it is one of the best games ever made into which you can simply lose yourself for hours on end and not even realise you’re doing it. There is so much to do on top of the main story, and it is literally just fun to play. You control Geralt of Rivia in the game and you control his actions throughout this role-playing game. You decide how he reacts to certain situations throughout the game and that can alter the events throughout the game. The game itself can actually have a total of 36 different endings depending on how you play the game. The main plot of the game is that Geralt of Rivia is trying to track down the daughter of the Emperor who has been spotted in various different places throughout the game. The gameplay is decent and the number of things you can do in the game makes it a really enjoyable game to just explore and do whatever takes your fancy. One of the main upsides to this game is that it doesn’t have to follow a linear story path. If you want to go off and do side quests for hours on end then sure thing, everything else will wait for you and you can explore all you like. The game is really immersive, fun and interesting and for those reasons it easily makes my top 3 campaign games. The game has become so popular by gamers in a similar manner to that of GTA: V. Rather than working on a sequel to the game developers have focused on bringing the game to other consoles such as the Switch and working on making the game even better for use on the next-gen consoles such as the PS5. The game for sure isn’t for everybody, But I for sure enjoyed it.
2nd place- Gears of War 2
Gears is arguably one of the best game series to have ever been made had the series stopped after Gears of War 3. As the games have gone on, they have progressively gotten worse in my opinion as the newer games have been pretty trashy to be honest. But the first 3 games were solid gold, especially as you can see above, Gears of War 2. Gears had this habit of making really fun and enjoyable games whilst dragging you into a story of emotional turmoil throughout the game. In this instalment of the game, you’re once again playing as Marcus Fenix and if you’re playing CO-OP then your mate is playing as Dom Santiago. These characters are part of the COG forces that are fighting against the Locust that live under the ground. You’re a part of Delta squad which is trying to fulfil certain objectives to defeat the Locust, I won’t go into too much detail as I don’t want to give away any spoilers. The thing about this game that made is so good to me was how you form an emotional connection to characters as you go through the game and then when certain events happen you begin to really feel the emotion that comes with the game. Although the gameplay for this game is decent, it isn’t enough on its own in my opinion to rank it this high on somebodies list of best games. But the story and turmoil in the narrative is something that makes these games rank so highly and this particular game is the one that I consider my favourite. The Gears series is something that I’d recommend any avid gamer plays if you haven’t done so already. This is the type of game that I’m surprised hasn’t been turned into a movie or TV series because the narrative is honestly good enough.
1st place- The Last of Us
It took me a while to getting around to playing The Last of Us. Mainly because when a game or any other media really gains a lot of hype and popularity, I tend to avoid it. This is because If I watch it or play it and don’t agree with the hype then I will dislike it pretty quickly and that is unfair to judge something based on everyone else’s opinions. So, I waited and played the game in my own time, but my word I wish I just played it when I first got it because it is without doubt the best story-based campaign game ever made. The game has everything you could possibly want out of a story game. The narrative takes you on a rollercoaster of emotions and plenty of ups and downs within the story that makes you wonder what is going to come next. The gameplay was good and enjoyable which just tops this game off really. Its not perfect as no game really is, but in my opinion, it is probably as close as we are ever going to get. The gameplay does try to encourage you to play with stealth, but if that isn’t your thing then you can turn the difficulty right down and shoot and fight your way through everything without it being too easy or making the story less enjoyable. But for me the best bit about the game is the ending. It is controversial, and by that, I mean many gamers have had differing opinions on the ending and the way they view it with none of them at all being wrong. Me and several of my friends totally disagree on the ending and how the game plays out but for me that intrigue and discussion is what you want from a game. Yes, the game is linear and quite simple to play but the story that the game takes you through is nothing short of outstanding and that is why this game easily strolls into my number one spot for Number 1 story mode game.
If you have gotten this far thanks for reading! Games are such a subjective platform that I would expect most people to have differing opinions. If you have other suggestions feel free to let me know! Always on the look out for different things to try and play.
With all the hype at the moment surrounding Marcus Rashford I think it is important to consider the great work that he is doing. Naturally as a Liverpool supporter, am I Rashford’s biggest supporter? No of course I’m not! However, having said that, what he is doing for the children of this country is nothing short of outstanding. His tenacity on a subject that is clearly something close to his heart is refreshing in todays society. Not many celebrities use their platforms to voice issues in society and to bring some attention to issues in our society, but Rashford has stopped at nothing to try and gain free school meals for children in need. Not only has Marcus Rashford campaigned for this, he has also inspired numerous other people to join the cause. In the last few days since our disgustingly selfish government voted to not carry on the free school meals, numerous restaurants, cafes and other food shops as well as several labour run councils have offered to fill the void that our government is refusing to fill.
As much as what Marcus Rashford and others are doing at this difficult time is great, shouldn’t we be looking at a very obvious issue? Our own government, the MPs that people of our nation elected to make these choices have failed our vulnerable children so very badly. Quite honestly it is a joke. Some of these MPs can talk the talk but quite frankly cannot walk for shit! It is clear that the government do not have the best interest of the people in mind at all, and all they are interested in is filling their wallets and keeping them full to the brim whilst everybody else can suffer and struggle. So as a nation we are now relying on the generosity of a footballer and the generosity of everybody else just to cover for our pathetic excuse leaders. Back in the last general election we could have stopped this. We could have voted for literally anybody else to be in charge of this country. But the mainstream media and xenophobic nature of most people meant that the Tories once again gained control and seek to benefit themselves rather than everyone else. Naturally under the circumstances with everybody looking to the government for answers that job cannot be easy! But none the less the job that they have done does show that most of them are completely out of their depth and totally inept.
So, what can we actually do about it? A forceful revolution would sound good. But obviously that is not what I am suggesting. Please Mr. Policeman don’t come knocking on my door now. But in all seriousness, these rotten eggs need to be discarded of. At the next available opportunity, you all need to vote! Naturally who you all vote for is your own business, but I would urge everyone to vote for somebody for the right reasons. Politics is becoming too much like football for my liking. Rivalries between left and right are coming bigger and rather than voting for somebody based on their deeds, beliefs and qualities they are getting voted for based on the colour of the pin that they wear. Rather than writing somebody off purely for belonging to a different party maybe open up your mind to some new ideas and here people out. If everyone thought these sorts of things through, then maybe we would not be in the situation we are in and no child would ever have to go hungry in this country.
Once again Thank you to Marcus Rashford and every other restaurant and business owner than is offering up their generosity to help the less fortunate! You are all great people and are the people we need to get through this pandemic as a whole. To those MPs that voted against the free meal’s movement, sort your fucking lives out!
With the sad news that Cineworld is temporarily closing down all branches of its cinemas in the UK it has made me think and wonder why the cinema industry is suffering as much as it is. The obvious answer is Covid-19, with everything going on people naturally aren’t going to want to sit in a room with other people for hours for the sake of a movie and that is for sure understandable. But even if you take Covid out of the equation the cinema industry was something that was dwindling.
Convenience is something that your average movie enthusiast would take into account when considering whether to take a trip to the cinema or simply stay home and watch a movie from the sofa instead. It’s obvious when you think about it, why would somebody go out and spend more or less 3 times the amount of money when they can do the exact same thing in the comfort of their own home. The only real difference being is the movie as you have to wait a few months for any new releases. Providing you can avoid spoilers on social media that isn’t too much of a problem. Also, with the rise of Netflix and other content providers growing online it has offered even more competition to cinemas themselves, Netflix and Amazon prime have both started to produce movies that are exclusive to their sites, with newly released titles becoming available at the click of a button in the comfort of your own home it would seem silly to go out and have an evening at the cinema instead. So, with people often taking the easy option to get their movie fix that means cinemas themselves start to lose out on a considerable amount of business.
But the one thing that people miss out on when they don’t go to the cinema is the experience. In the past it was such a big thing for people to do and would arguably be considered one of the better nights out that somebody could have for a reasonable price. During the 40s and 50s cinema boomed and it wasn’t out of the ordinary for people to go and watch a movie every week. But slowly over the years the novelty of the cinematic experience has worn off for some people despite advancements in the industry. Different aspects to the cinematic experience have been added over the years such as 3D, IMAX and even 4DX recently have been added to offer another string to the bow of the cinematic experience. But even with those advancements in place this still didn’t lead to the masses flocking back to their nearest cinemas. But the experience of watching a blockbuster on the big screen is something that is special without people even realising. The best way to judge it is to see the reaction of a kid going to the cinema for the first time. They are mesmerised by the big screen and deafening noise. When you go to the cinema to watch a movie it’s not like you are just sat watching a movie, you become so engaged that you feel like you have become part of the movie. You are more of a fly on the wall within the movie rather than somebody sat watching it, and that sort of in-depth experience is something that you just don’t get sat at home on the sofa.
Cinema seems to be on a slight hiatus at the moment with Covid, but next year when movies begin to be released again people should look to the cinema as a form of escapism in these times of hardship. Being able to go somewhere different that isn’t your own home and delve into something interesting for a couple of hours could do wonders, not just for the cinema industry, but for people as well. Mental health is something that has come under serious stress for people when they can’t go out and live their normal lives. Cinema can be that few hours of peace for people in the darkest of times and that special ability that cinema has is not something that should be shunned.
Horror movies and their fans are something that has confused me for a while, mainly because of their passion for the genre that very rarely produces any quality cinematic pieces. Naturally this is not always the case as with any genre there are always the good with the bad, but my feeling is that the majority of the movies that fall within this genre suck! Obviously, a lot of the issues within cinema and reviewing it is that everyone has their own opinion, and somebody could have a polar opposite opinion without either of those people being wrong, but in my opinion horror movies are generally awful.
Admittedly I have not watched a lot of horror movies in my time, but I am instantly turned off to them and find myself not wanting to watch them for a few reasons. The main reason being is how poor the movies are themselves, the acting is typically poor and laughable, some of the worst performances that I have ever seen in cinema have come as a result of a horror flick. If some evil demon is following you and terrorising you, I would expect the main protagonist to at least seem worried about it. But most horror films fall short of the mark by a clear distant. An example of what I mean by this is Nicolas Cage in the Wicker man. Personally, I am normally a fan of Nicolas Cage but this film and his performance in it were both absolutely dreadful. Obviously, I am aware that not all performances in Horror movies are poor, there are also good ones, but they are rare, especially compared to the amount of bad performances.
Secondly the actual stories that come with horror movies are normally shocking, once again this is not always the case but typically horror movies are just simply awful story-wise. Obviously most films are over dramatized in order to create entertainment, but horror movies take that issue to a whole new level, whether it be the stupidity from the characters involved in the movie, or whether it’s just the total randomness of the events that occur in the movie itself. A lot of horror films seem so aimless as if they are just making up the story as they go along. In the Tall Grass is a good example, it is often hard to follow as you never know where they are taking the film, it is also hard to concentrate on any kind of story and content when they’re constantly trying to shove jump scares down your throat, often horror movies seem to be focused on trying to scare the watcher rather than entertain with cinema, but I guess that is a subjective opinion and that is the great bit about cinema as it is all subjective. My point being is that it is hard to try and take viewers through a story or narrative whilst you are trying to scare them, especially when mostly these jump scares aren’t natural they are purely fabricated at random times during a movie just to try and catch you off guard even if it does not make sense to have a jump scare in the movie at that time.
Obviously, certain horror movies are considered classics and they aren’t something that I am trying to hack down. But the genre is easily the most hit and miss in the world of cinema, horror movies tend to have a 5% chance of being great and when the director, producers, writers and actors get it right then they can make a really edgy, intense and interesting movie, but often horror movies do fall short of that mark and often feel misguided. This is why most horror movies are considered poor movies amongst reviewers. According to Statista.com Horror falls 6th in the list of genres for box office earnings so even the number of people that go and see these movies shows the standard of movie, obviously these stats cant just be taken at face value as typically people under the age of 18 cannot go and view the movie and this accounts for a massive amount of tickets, but none the less it is clear these movies fall short.
Anyways, thanks for reading my nonsense, as always, I expect people to disagree and that’s cool too.
This short blog or whatever you want to call it is going to review my top 5 MCU movies as I see it, I’ve no doubt that many people will disagree with it, but hey its just an opinion, don’t like it then that’s cool. SPOILER ALERTS PEEPS.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
First up, the second instalment of Captain America movies in the MCU. For me this is more than likely always going to be my numero uno. In the most part, people do more or less seem to have the same view on their number one MCU flick and let’s be totally honest its easy to see why! The Winter Soldier has a little bit of everything, and we get to see roller coaster story of Cap and Bucky begin after The First Avenger. The relationship between the two goes on to have an impact on throughout the MCU including causing tensions in Civil War. Whilst the plotline and story in this movie rocks, the main Avenger in this movie “Captain America” is also my favourite character in the MCU. He is by far the most human Avenger and the emotional turmoil that Cap feels in the movie is something that many people can relate too, and before anyone says anything, no im sure many people have not had to deal with an old best friend coming back from the dead with a metal arm trying to kill them, but you get my point about how Cap deals with the choices he has to make right? Lastly, the fight scenes in this movie quite simply kick ass. The elevator scene where Cap takes on numerous Shie… Sorry, I mean Hydra agents is in my opinion one of the better fight scenes in the entire MCU. In my view the Russo brothers got everything just right in this flick and I thank them for putting out this masterpiece!
Avengers: Infinity War.
Second up on my top 5 list in Avengers: Infinity war! This was probably one of my most highly anticipated MCU movies, having waited however many years it was seeing drips and drabs of Thanos and what he was angling at throughout the MCU we finally got to see that big purple chin feature properly in an MCU film. The film took the viewers through various emotions and feelings through the film with good comedy references with Spidey’s movie ideas but at the same time heart break with “Mr Stark, I don’t feel so good”, I hope I got that quote write but I can’t be bothered to double check myself, I’m sure if it’s wrong some bore will point it out to me. Also one Loki’s many deaths came in this movie too as he got throttled by Thanos, the death of Loki and of course Heimdall set the tone for the movie and showed us how it intended to carry on and boy it did not disappoint! Some may argue that this deserves the top spot and I wouldn’t be too annoyed at those who believe that as it is a worldie of a movie and a true whirlwind but for me it comes in at numero dos.
Thor: Ragnarok.
Third up to the plate is Thor: Ragnarok. Taika Waititi’s first movie in the MCU (Did you notice how I said first? Yes, I’m excited for the next one) was one of pure entertainment in my opinion. Waititi clearly got to put his very unique comic stamp on this one as he took the reins on a re-imagined Thor. In this one Thor had a new looks and new comic style that we hadn’t seen a lot of before and boy did I enjoy. As well as all the bright colours and different styles that were shown off in the film, we did also get a lot of thick emotional plots to get through, we saw the death of Odin, Valkyrie suffering from some sort of depression and battling back, Thor losing Mjolnir and of course Thor realising he has a sister who wants to kill and conquer everything! Hard hitting for the Norse God for sure. But throughout all this Thor does prevail and with a little help from his friends he does become the rightful King of Asgard, even though Asgard is only now the survivors aboard a passenger vessel in space. I know this flick making the top 3 will probably get some disagreements which is cool, but for me this one is certainly up there, it may not have the grit that comes with a Captain America film or the comedy and music genius that goes hand in hand with the Guardians of the Galaxy but for pure entertainment and comedy value this one is certainly high up on my list. Also, special mention to Matt Damon playing an actor portraying Loki, took me a couple of watches to notice it to be honest.
Captain America: Civil War.
Number 4, Captain America: Civil War. This like my numero uno, is a long watch. It has a lot of grit and a lot of characters to try and keep track of. But if you can keep up with all the goings on it is a great movie that divides the masses, yes, I am referring to the debate of Team Tony or Team Cap. For me its team Cap end of story, but I am rebellious in nature and would also not be told what to do by a government if I was a superhero. The movie also introduces the audience to two big characters going into the later phases of the MCU, Spider-Man and Black Panther. We see the start of the emotional relationship that forms between Peter Parker and Tony Stark, and we finally got to see Chadwick Boseman pull on the Black Panther suit, although I did not find Black Panther too integral to the movie it was cool to get a glimpse of him before his very own movie. Civil war sets the tone for the rest of the Infinity stone saga as Cap and Tony go their separate ways after different views. I mean if id have found out that one of my friend’s best friend had killed my parents id be pretty annoyed too just saying. But even though this was quite a gritty and long watch, it had big entertainment value and we got to see all of our favourite characters go up against each other rather than a bad guy which was a different flavour from the usual! But easily makes my top 5.
Spider-Man: Far from Home.
Lastly in my Top 5 of MCU movies is Spider-Man: Far from Home. This choice could quite possibly surprise people. But I honestly loved this film, I loved pretty much every MCU film but this one had me coming out of the cinema feeling good which in itself is a hell of a good feeling. This one had a different feel to it for more than one reason, it was the first MCU movie to be released after Endgame and we began to see how life was going to be like after the death of Iron Man (RIP Tony lad, we love you 3000). Peter seems to take on a new father or mentor figure in Happy Hogan, but still grows as a character and begins to take a bit more responsibility as a key avenger. He takes on Mysterio and subsequently wins even though his identity was exposed at the end of movie by Mysterio getting J. Jonah Jameson involved. As well as Peter’s character development there was also the different feeling in the type of film it was. We see Peter as the young human he is as he tries to express his feelings to MJ and struggle with the feelings and emotions that comes with being an avenger. It seems often throughout that this is a typical teen flick with the added context of a super hero involved. Normally in all honesty I would rather stick pins in my eyes than watch this type of film, but there was something about far from home that entertained me.
So, there you have it, I know nobody cares by the way. But yeah that’s my top 5 MCU movies. I’d like to add that I liked pretty much every MCU movie but these 5 in particular caught my eye and I enjoyed them deeply for varying reasons. If you have read this entire thing and got this far then thank you very much, but I feel like you need to re-assess your life and prioritise your time a bit better. Cheers guys, I love you 3000.
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