Pete Messum Reviews...

My thoughts on the new Spidey flick...

***CONTAINS SPOILERS*** I’m going to be honest. I wasn’t exactly looking forward to this film. It was my least anticipated Marvel movie for this year, and the trailers made the film look bloated and convoluted. The amount of marketing for this film was actually amazing, but it’s such a pity that the actual content they showed not only spoilt the film, but made it look like this bloated mess. However, despite this – despite even the mediocre-ness (and rehash of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man) that was The Amazing Spider-Man – the film is actually pretty good. Don’t expect it to be of the same quality as most of Marvel Studios’ films. This is good for what it is. It certainly is very different to the original Sam Raimi movies, and to the Avengers and X-Men movies, so like it for what it is. OK, introduction over – let’s review The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (the least creative sequel title known to mankind. The Amazing Spider-Man: Rise of Electro would have been much better). The plot follows

So much for Agents of SHIELD Agents of SHIELD has needed to pick-up a little for me recently. Last episode showed signs that the series was heading in a new direction needed, and this episode finally gave us the game-changing twist we needed (although none of the main characters have been killed yet). SHIELD is now revealed to be in fact HYDRA, and this episode is a case of 'who do you trust?' Sadly, out of the many characters that could have been HYDRA, it was John Garrett. Damn it, I liked that guy! If there is one problem with this, its that the 'shock twist' that Ward is in fact HYDRA was a little too predictable to me; it makes a million times more sense than Garrett after all. Ward is a character that I'm still not a fan of. There are times when he will do something cool, but has nothing to him to make him likeable. He's more of the team's 'I hope he's the traitor 'cause I'm not rooting for him' than the total awesomeness that

After a really 'meh' episode, Agents of SHIELD pulls us back into the plot that has actually been engaging this series, with SHIELD on the hunt for Deathlok, AKA Mike Peterson, who is now under the influence of the mysterious Clairvoyant. The opening shows Garett and Triplett having a quick face-off with Deathlok, quickly defeating their enemy. Mike Peterson is then given a package, which he opens up to find a new weapon for him. Deathlok himself looks pretty awesome (and I'm betting an action figure will come one day), but it's a shame that this only has the budget of a TV series, as he probably would look even more awesome otherwise. SHIELD's hunt goes badly, but they soon find their enemy in an abandoned racing track. Just as they are about to find him though, they find...the Clairvoyant. Throughout the episode Skye is trying to work out who the Clairvoyant is and how they have access to so much information, and that leads them straight to the Clairvoyant him

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 may have had pretty awful and bloated trailers for the most part, but the film itself is an incredibly enjoyable comic book-to-screen adaptation, enhanced with some stellar action and special FX. While the trailers do spoil the film to the point where the final shot is used, there is the odd twist that is thrown in there for the audience (although the film itself has plenty of not-so-subtle foreshadowing) that wasn't revealed in the marketing. Emma Stone and Dane DeHaan are stunning in this film as Gwen Stacey and Harry Osborne. Harry is a complex character the portray, but DeHaan is so brilliant that he plays across the tortured insanity perfectly, and Emma Stone gives Gwen the heart that the film needs. Andrew Garfield is good, although Peter Parker's complicated personality drags the performance down in places. Jaime Foxx is a little too hammy as Electro, but Paul Giamatti steals the ham as Aleksei Sytsevich, with a performance worthy of the Adam

This is again a rather tough episode to review. It sets up many elements (that I won't talk about just yet) but also contains its own self-centred story, albeit connected to the Thor films. The episode is primarily focussed on Lorelei - a sorceress who escaped Asgard after the mass breakout in Thor: The Dark World. First things first, what has she been doing between Episode 8 (set shortly after the film) and this episode. There must have been months! OK, plot-holes don't always mean a bad story so let's carry on. Lorelei has the ability to control men to her very will and make them fall madly in love with her. This is a rather clichéd idea, and the predictability of Ward being taken over ruins it slightly. Clichés can sometimes work in Marvel films. After all, they know that they are quite cheesy at the end of the day (even if some elements in Captain America: The First Avenger took it too far) and so it can work. It has worked in previous episodes, but in this episode, n

This episode provided the most interesting mystery for the series in a long time, and as a result it gave the episode a crime drama feel, especially as it all resolves around a murder. After last episode's shocking cliff-hanger, Stephen is explaining to his mum (or mom, if you live in America) about his important work at Ultra, while the family takes John in after his exile last episode. This shows John again at his height, and Cara at her lowest. She seems to be unable to have full control over the Tomorrow People and after this episode's ending, I'm hoping someone else takes over soon. Really soon. For most of this episode, Cara and Russell seem to be working against Stephen and Ultra, which causes some friction between both parties. John seems to be caught in the middle, enjoying it all. I won't spoil this episode, but the ending was a fantastic twist for the series. You can kinda see it coming in the final scene, but it is truly a brilliant reveal. Overall, the

The Tomorrow People has gone on many ups and downs over the past twelve episodes. At points when I wanted to stop watching the series, it would come back with an amazing and fantastic episode. Then, there would either be an okay or pretty poor episode, putting me off again. This episode follows Cassie – daughter of the Founder – which allows for some interesting plot twists. While the revelation about her being the Founder’s daughter may be a rather predictable twist just to keep the audience hooked into the opening titles (and on E4, the first advert break), somehow it makes sense. Easily my favourite scene in the episode is when the Founder confronts Jedikiah. Their conversation shows their relationship with each other brilliantly and how both, despite being horrible excuses for people, have their own weak spots. Their reactions when Jedikiah mentions Cassie are priceless. Jedikiah’s smile of victory and smugness and the Founder’s of “I’ll get you next time” demonstrate both actors’

Stephen seems to have enemies all around him. He does not trust his mum’s boyfriend, Ultra keep betraying him, and for this episode he’s dealing with both of these issues. Our main character goes on a camping trip with his mum, brother and his mum’s boyfriend Peter – whom he suspects to be a Tomorrow Person – and assigns John to look after Astrid, as he’s sure Ultra has found out about her. This episode shows Stephen’s paranoia – and why he is right not to trust everyone. However, his paranoia bites him in the backside when he tries to get Peter to show off his powers, incidentally almost killing the guy! Peter is simply human, so who did all that strange stuff...? Astrid’s singing audition goes horribly wrong when Ultra tries to kill her, and – when he rescues her – John, and a section of the episode focuses on Astrid looking after John after her is shot. It’s clear that John and Cara are becoming even more separated, and now he’s siding with Stephen more. Overall, the episode had

Urgh... After last episode’s disappointment, we’re given this: a clichéd mess of a story. Normally this would be OK, but this story has been done so many times before, and has been done better. While it answers questions about other gangs of Tomorrow People and what becomes of the kid after the last episode (I think she has a name, but is so forgettable that I can’t be bothered to even look it up) as well as John’s job for the team now. One aspect I liked about the episode was John. He started off as a rather archetypal and dull character, but has grown on me. The twists with his character have ironically made him more likeable, and his interactions with other characters are fantastic. Then we have Mr I’m-an-evil-gang-leader-who-knew-one-of-the-good-guys-cliché that goes up against Cara. This only works as it shows what became of Cara once she left home and how she copes as a leader. However, her defeat of Mr I’m-an-evil-gang-leader-who-knew-one-of-the-good-guys-cliché brings up s

Urgh...I thought this episode would be amazing. If this really was the mid-season opener in the US, then what a disappointment! The episode sees Stephen trying to work out where his father’s body is, and follows Cara as she tries to break some Tomorrow People from the Citadel and becomes the leader of her species. Cara is first of all not suited for this, and it’s going against what I liked about her. John gets a chance to loosen up but the idea was that he was meant to be a bit tight. The Citadel sub-plot is weak and doesn’t go anywhere. “Let’s introduce this young kid!” “We need an evil bloke!” “What if this evil bloke, isn’t evil?!” “Can we kill this bloke off now and keep the kid?” The episode has nothing going for it. Had it not been for the fact that there was no break here in the UK, I would have been really tempted to stop watching. It doesn’t know what story it wants to tell, and it’s clear where it will go in the grand scheme of things, so why not focus on what will do

Agents of SHIELD's story arcs are being added to each week now, and I for one am glad. If a series has such a complex storyline, then almost all episodes should do something for it (something I wish the US version of The Tomorrow People would do). This episode of the series is no exception, and consequently adds to its brilliance. After last week's shocking cliffhanger ending, its fantastic to see the characters working together (sans Skye) and to see their reactions. May beating the living daylights out of Ian Quinn is my personal favourite moment from her so far. Its clear that this Clairvoyant all the bad guys are BFFs with is some kind of psychic and is almost certainly trying to use Coulson, but who is he or she? A popular theory is an Artificial Intelligence leading to next year's Avengers: Age of Ultron but we'll see. Its clear that whoever it is, it isn't relying on Quinn or Raina any more to do the dirty work, so what is it's aim? The episode guest-f

Here is my spoiler-free review of Marvel's Captain America: The Winter Soldier in video form.