Da Vinci's Demons (TV Series Review)

Untold and fictional story of Da Vinci and his demons

David S. Goyer. The legendary writer of the new series of Batman films which were all very well written or perhaps assumed as such due to the talents of Christopher Nolan’s directing.

The reason I mention this is because the writing of Da Vinci’s Demons rather fails when compared with the aforementioned film series in areas of weight, context and connecting with the audience. This makes me think, how can these two very different styles of writing come from the same person?

I have never really been a fan of historical events being portrayed in an over exaggerated manner in the attempt to add dramatic effect. Makes the events seem illogical. Then again, I find myself enjoying films such as 300 where over exaggeration is encouraged as it is after all an all an out, unjust, brutal war. Now you cannot compare the two but I understand why the character Leonardo Di Vinci is being beefed up and that is because he is a 25 year old artist embracing life and his egocentric nature. Be it a bit ludicrous.

Please remember that this is the untold fictional story of Leonardo Da Vinci when he was oh so very young and his name was associated with delinquency. Do not take anything literally and you will have to allow for the fluff and overly dramatized scenes which they laced the first 51 minutes with so heavily if you want to enjoy this series.

Being an untold and fictional tale allows the writer to explore a whole new world with Da Vinci as his lead character. On occasion I allowed myself to be swept up and indulged in the story but I soon found myself losing interest in this tale of Leonardo.

This makes me sad... I suppose if I want to learn of the great name that is Leonardo Di Vinci I will have to stick to the History channel or read up about him in books rather than be educated through entertainment.

Cry of Fear (Video Game Review)

Never once I have ever been so afraid, so traumatized. Never once in my entire life have I ever screeched like a little girl from a survival horror video game before, nor from a horror film.

I have played through the Fatal Frames, some Silent Hills and Resident Evil games and not one has ever fiscally made me feel so stressed.

Cry of Fear is so sinister, so dark and twisted that I was afraid I was not going to make it to the 51^st minute.

When starting up Cry of Fear a warning screen is displayed. Like most video games, I do not take it serious and continue on. The menus are presented with a slight eerie feeling with some sharp sudden sounds but nothing I haven’t seen or heard before, I simply continue. What follows is a short cinematic with a few credits whilst developing a sense of solitude with a gloomy and depressing atmosphere. You are then dropped right in the middle of 4 walled room with a poster of “The Grudge 2” posted against the door. Upon exiting you find yourself in a black maze and the only way out is to use your flash camera to take snap shots of white x to reveal what is hidden and find your way out of there. Doesn’t sound too bad, right?

Wrong.

No spoiler alert here as I do not want to deprive you from the fear, shock and terror you will experience when the single most terrifying event I have ever expressed finally hits you. My immediate response was a combination of the following reactions:

1. Scream
2.  Release the mouse
3. Through off my headphones
4. Jerked my head away from the screen
5. Jump out of my seat
6. And bolt for the door

Breathing heavily. Confused. Terrified.

Will I be able to continue?

Yes.

I finally sum up the courage to re-enter my room, sit down and continue playing.

51 minutes have passed…

I now fear for my life…

None the less. Although it is truly terrifying I am enjoying my single player experience. 

Star Trek Into Darkness (Movie Review)

The directing skill of J.J Abrams quite simply makes him a action sci-fi God. I thank the writers, Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, Damon Lindelof and of course Gene Roddenberry.

I am not too sure when the 51^st minute come round but it most certainly came and past without me noticing it.

Star Trek Into Darkness commences with the Star fleet of the USS Enterprise attempting to save a world which is distant to be destroyed by a vicious volcano. Scenes of actions and humour instantly come into play which sets the tone for the remainder of the film. Star Trek Into Darkness is packed with all your geek-tastic CGI and gadgets as well as some awe-sational camera shots that are just so grand and done on such a massive scale. The second instalment re-introduces the Klingon race for a brief moment before a whole squadron is lay down to rest by a ruthless and respected villain known as Khan. This guy is a bad-ass. He tears limbs off for a living and beats you with them.

When the first instalment of the new Star Trek series was released and viewed I was impressed. It is an action/adventure sci-fi film which I thoroughly enjoyed and watched quite a few times over. When they announced the making of the second instalment, excitement instantly brewed within me as well as concern as to whether the second film would be able to live up to the greatness of the first.

With that being said – this film picks up the awesomeness and the awe from where the first one left it. I cannot say it is a better film as the first instalment was an introduction to the characters and the new series of the Star Trek world. They are however on par and equally as great in their representations.

There was so much action, passion, emotion, excitement and intrigue that I could not draw my eyes away from the screen for even a moment. The acting was solid. These fine young actors and actresses have adopted the personas of their characters and portray the witty/comical dialogue with such perfection that I felt connected to these characters. These characters go through emotions and convey their feelings. These subtle elements allow the viewer to be drawn in and immersed within the world of Star Trek and the experiences the characters go through.

Whenever the 51^st minute came round and passed we had already been treated too much action and exciting moments.  What followed was even more, edge-of-your-seat, moments, daring action, breath-taking imagery with some epic camera shots and emotional moments that truly tugged at your heart strings. It’s not all serious though – there is a lot of humour in store with the well scripted witty/comical dialogue making a return. The dialogue gives such depth and character to these characters. Love it.  

Defiance Review (TV Series)

Farscape mixed with a little bit of Firefly without all the great things that made those Sci-Fi series iconic.

As I attempted to calm my excitement for a new Sci-Fi series called Defiance and settle down to listen intently to the introduction narration I couldn’t help but become even more excited for the forth coming adventures.

Defiance commences by narration of the past war which has lead us to the not too distant future where aliens known as Voltans and humans live upon a single post-apocalyptic Earth. This wasn’t always the case. The Voltans came to Earth, seeking a new home. Upon being refused the land which they were promised the Voltans declared war upon Earth and the humans. Decades pass before a ceasefire was put in place. Now, humans and Voltans life together under constant tension. The beginning of a new order, a new world resides within the walls of an area known as Defiance.

We follow the lead character known as Jeb. Jeb is, well as complex and as layered as his name suggests. He has an adopted daughter who is a Voltan and they roam lands fending for themselves as, I can only assume, they are anti all forms of government.

Series like these are built upon quite a solid premise but once you have sat you view them, small things become apparent and you soon realise that there is nothing special or unique about this series.

When searching for a good series conveying human and alien relations living together in harmony, tension and turmoil you can simply reference the TV series Farscape. Farscape portrayed this element particularly well. The series gave each character depth, character through characteristics which were developed upon their well thought out back stories, race and believes and moral.

Defiance simply seemed to lob together a bunch of aliens, give a brief narration in the beginning which is meant to develop the story and then gave the characters no developing characteristics.

It seems to me, and where a lot of production value is lost, is that a lot of writers these days attempt to write dialogue which they use as a print for all their characters which is built upon the stereotyped tough guy with an attitude problem coupled with mediocre wit.

Firefly did this perfectly. Each characters dialogue was unique to this character’s characteristics. Tough guy antics and dialogue weaved with attitude and sarcasm on occasion never felt forced or miss placed.

One thing I did notice is that the actors who portrayed these aliens delivered their lines and acted their scenes as awkward as some as the aliens looked. Directorial wise, nothing seemed to flow seamlessly together. Scenes just seemed liked events stuck together all following the same thread of – Fighting followed by tough guy dialogue then mixed up with some more scenes of trouble leading to some average acting and dull story development.

Defiance, episode 1 season 1. 51 minutes in. That was enough for me.

Bates Motel Review (TV Series)

Would Alfred Hitcock have enjoyed this series?

I sat myself down to view the first episode of a TV series whose premise seemed very promising. Bates Motel can be seem as a prequel to one of the most memorable suspense films I have ever seen and staring Vera Farmiga as the lead actress. My attention was sparked and expectations set.

Norman Bates and his mother decide to pack up and leave home after the suspicious death of his father. Relocating far, far away after having purchased the Summerfield’s hotel along with the iconic house of the hill, they decide to settle in. Little did they know of the mysteries and secretes that lay dormant within this little town.

Could this pass as an Alfred Hitcock prequel to the suspenseful mater piece known as Psycho? The simple answer, unfortunately not. Be it that it is only the first episode of a series and character development needs to come into play I felt that most the dialogue and scenes of suspense felt forced and very much clichéd and stereotyped to the modern form of teen-films/series. 

Alfred Hitcock utilised cleverly orchestrated scores and smartly plotted out suspense points that seemed to glide into one another with ease as though these events seemed like mere misfortune.

The characters in “Bates Motel” seem stereotyped and moulded from your standard single layered character draft board. This contradicts the underlying mysteries of the characters developed by Alfred Hitchcock in Psycho.

This makes me think... The brave person who decided to take this project on, was he/she a true fan of the Alfred Hitchcock film Psycho?

Will I be watching the second episode? 

I am tempted to find out if the character development becomes deeper and the elements of suspense become more sinister. I would like to know how Norman Bates became the notorious villain in Psycho. What made him eventually kill his mother and decide to dress as her in the nights.

Saying that, I am not convinced that “Bates Motel” will satisfy my curious questions with suspenseful satisfaction.

Mars: War Logs Review (Video Game)

A Mars I would never like to return to

After playing Mars: War Logs for 51 minutes it became apparent.

I can let slide the unimaginative title but as soon as poorly scripted  dialogue, poor animations as well as repetitive character animations and ear wrenchingly bad voice acting became involved, I could not muster the effort to carry on.

The game never built any enthusiasm within me and all I could see in the near and distant horizon was boredom. Tedious hours of walking through the land of Mars which never sparked the same sort of  curiosity or suspense which has been delivered by previous titles such as the great and wonderful Doom 3.

The fighting system was okay. That being said, you will find yourself completing the same routine time after time with not much variety. Block, hit, throw sand, shoot. Once mastering that - you will never fear the AI system.

Most of the NPCs are somewhat pointless as well. Whilst walking from one mission point to another along a linear map which tries to pass itself off as an open world map, you will find yourself speaking to NPCs that have absolutely no relevance or importance. The conversations do not immerse you within the Mars world but rather making you feel like you want to flee the conversation as soon as possible.

The good parts - it's a RPG that allows for a good amount of choices and conversation responses, when you find a good NPC, the lead character is pretty bad ass and his voice acting and character animation was finished to a higher standard then compared to characters around.

An animation that will forever be imprinted within my mind is of the fat man talking, what I can only assume was the best version of tough-guy-dialogue that the writers could come up with whilst repeating the same animations over and over again. Thank God we were allowed to beat him up.