Pete Messum Reviews...

http://fbcpetemessumreviews.blogspot.co.uk Age of Ultron...in the flesh. Marvel's Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015). Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, James Spader and Samuel L. Jackson. Director: Joss Whedon. Plot: An attack on Baron Von Strucker's Sokovian castle brings the Avengers Loki's scepter, although it soon becomes clear that the gem inside contains an artificial intelligence. When Tony Stark tries to use the A.I. as a world defence program, the A.I. - Ultron - gains sentience and plans to exterminate the Avengers once and for all, with the help of Pietro and Wanda Maximoff... Avengers: Age of Ultron belongs to Marvel Studios. Music is by Kevin Macleod and is royalty free. This video is for critical and entertainment purposes only. All copyright belongs to the rightful owners. No profit is made from the production of this video or any others.

This week's Agents of SHIELD followed the 'real SHIELD' taking over the base, as well as a flashback subplot detailing the origins of this 'real SHIELD', and Skye meeting Gordon, who seems to know all about what happened to her in the alien city. Alas, Skye has become an actual focus of the series once again, now that her powers have been revealed, and it appears she's become a bit of a catalyst for the season. It'll be interesting to see where they go with her character in future episodes, but otherwise I have nothing else to say. The takeover of the 'real SHIELD' was the main focus of this story, and while I have no idea what the hell the other SHIELD wants exactly, the show seems to want to make them bad guys doing the right thing to make the good guys think about whether what they are doing is right or not, which I guess makes for complex enemies, but they all seem to be one-note characters, and all of this comes too late in the game for Agen

The big question hovering over Marvel Studios' shared universe continuity was as to whether this whole experiment would actually work - establishing four different super heroes in their own respective movies and franchises and then bringing them together as a team-up. Four years later Marvel's Avengers Assemble came out, and broke box office records in 2012, and here we are, three years later, four movies later and a hell of a lot of anticipation later, we have Avengers: Age of Ultron - the second Avengers film and the eleventh installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film certainly has a very different tone to the others, becoming much more of a chapter in a saga more than anything, tying lose ends from previous movies and character arcs whilst establishing new arcs for the characters and even setting up new characters and elements for this Universe to build on in future movies. Age of Ultron has a lot on its plate, and it is truly amazing that the film keep

Truly incredible... The Incredible Hulk (2008). Starring: Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, William Hurt and Tim Roth. Director: Louis Leterrier. Plot: An experiment with gamma radiation leaves scientist Dr Bruce Banner with a condition that, when his pulse gets too high, turns him into the Hulk... The Incredible Hulk belongs to Universal Pictures and Marvel Studios. Music is by Kevin Macleod and is royalty free. This video is for critical and entertainment purposes only. All copyright belongs to the rightful owners. No profit is made from the production of this video or any others.

Is Iron Man as strong as its name suggests? Iron Man (2008). Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Terrence Howard, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges and Clark Gregg. Director: Jon Favreau. Plot: When Tony Stark is captured by a group called the Ten Rings, he and fellow captive Yinsen plan their escape, using a metal suit... Iron Man belongs to Paramount Pictures and Marvel Studios. Music is by Kevin Macleod and is royalty free. This video is for critical and entertainment purposes only. All copyright belongs to the rightful owners. No profit is made from the production of this video or any others.

Agents of SHIELD's improving quality continues this week in an episode that feels much more like a continuation rather than a standalone episode, but this allows for more character focus and less pointless, over-complicated plot threads that ultimately go nowhere. While yes, I still find it odd that despite being the strongest character of SHIELD, Skye gets so little focus in this second season, she has been getting more focus over these recent episodes, and Love in the Time of Hydra sets her up for some interesting character-focused episodes to come, now that she's practically trapped in a 'safe' house on her own. I also find it odd now that the writers keep trying to set Coulson up as the bad guy, when, if he is in character, he is not the bad guy, and very much the opposite. We also had some explanations as to the 'other SHIELD' this week, but it didn't feel very explanatory and seemed almost pointless. Maybe this will go somewhere in future episodes

"We know better now, don't we? Devils don't come from hell beneath us - they come from the sky!" "Tell me - do you bleed? You will." Wow. I was ready to rip this trailer to shreds as being pointless advertising for a film not due to come out for another year, but damn it Warner Bros you exceeded my expectations! The teaser for the teaser trailer may have been one of the most pointless videos ever made, to the point where I'll be amazed if anyone actually got paid to edit that, but this trailer is a teaser at its best. Now, of course it can't capture our imaginations in the same way as the second teaser for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and of course this only "leaked" early because WB wanted to show people that Batman v Superman was happening as well, but this was a fantastic tease. Now, Man of Steel was a film I initially loved, and now just enjoy as a good, solid blockbuster with an overlong final action sequence and a lack of a

(Insert Star Wars-related pun here.) We're a mere eight months away from the biggest film of 2015, and potentially one of the biggest films in recent memory. Just as we were all hyped for Avengers: Age of Ultron, Disney unveiled the second teaser trailer for The Force Awakens - the seventh installment of the Star Wars saga - at the Star Wars celebration, and millions of people were amazed. Myself included. The new trailer opens with a shot of a new planet - akin to Tatooine - with a speeder travelling across the desert, but hang on a second - there's a destroyed Star Destroyer in the background! Irony! References! Probably something more interesting in the foreground but all of us went "oh my god - it's a massive bloomin' Star Destroyer!" We also get a narration from Luke Skywalker, talking about how the force runs in his family, mentioning subtly that his father has it. Does that mean we'll see Anakin Skywalker's ghost in the film, or maybe eve

The recent second-half improvement for Agents of SHIELD continues this week with One of Us, a story following Skye's adjusting to her powers, and Cal's attempts to punish Coulson for the suffering he and the other Inhumans have caused. Alas, the weak link this week was Cal's Inhuman super-group, consisting of the most boring characters one could possibly imagine. Their powers were boring, their personalities absent and character dynamic with Cal himself non-existent. Perhaps had Cal just been on his own or had one sidekick the story could have been improved in that area. Cal himself though is excellent, proving to be one of the most entertaining super-villains I think I have ever seen on screen. The focus of the story lingered mostly on Andrew - Agent May's ex-husband - working with Skye to help her control her powers. Not only did he get so much more character than this season's supporting cast over 13 episodes but the scenes were interesting to watch, expandi

This is an amended version of my Top 10 Films of 2014 list that I made several months ago. 10 - THE BOOK THIEF I feel I should put  The Book Thief  further up the list. Its an excellent film and I really liked it. However, upon reflection I realized just how bad the pacing was at points. Its a great film though with a strong cast, great production design, fantastic score and an excellent screenplay.  8/10 9 - EDGE OF TOMORROW Put simply, I can't quite put my finger on what's missing from  Edge of Tomorrow . Maybe its the lack of originality at points or that I would have preferred to have had someone other than Tom Cruise playing Cage. That being said, he's good in the role, so what is my problem? The beginning is a bit clunky as you'd expect and there are a couple of unexplained plot holes - Rita explains that Cage relives the same day over and over again, yet he's reliving the same two days over and over again - and a few other things. That being said, i

A Life in the Day An interesting character piece focused on Liv, A Life in the Day is a Doctor Who -style romance time travel fiction, complete with androids. While the plot plays second fiddle to the characters, and with rather lackluster villains, the story is very interesting, albeit with a rather unclear, if oddly satisfactory ending. 9/10 The Monster of Montmartre A solid follow-up to A Life in the Day , The Monster of Montmartre deals with an interesting premise, which is sadly ruined by not only the CD's cover but also the sound design itself. There are some great ideas in there though, and while the score is a little dull, the final cliffhanger is excellent.  7/10 Master of the Daleks A well-structured epic time travel story at long last dealing with The Master teaming up with the Daleks. The scale is fantastic, and Dan Starkey makes for much better Sontarans than in his TV appearances. There is also a great twist to do with a supporting character mid-way through

Sourced from:  http://www.doctorwhotv.co.uk/series-9-to-open-with-darkest-ever-plot-73015.htm WARNING: the following article contains potentially major spoilers for Series 9 of Doctor Who. The Mirror, a newspaper infamous for false Doctor Who rumours, is now claiming that the ninth series of Doctor Who's opening story, titled The Magicians Apprentice and The Witch's Familiar , will be based around The Doctor deciding whether or not to kill a child. However, the big twist will be that the child is in fact a younger Davros, and will be based upon a line from 1974's Genesis of the Daleks . This could, in the hands of the right writer, be one of, if not the best Doctor Who story of all time, but could, in the hands of a writer like Steven Moffat, be poorly done. This would inevitably the the most interesting story of all time, and make a lot more notice around the time of transmission. That being said though, the article is incorrect with actual facts, so accuracy in rumo

Whilst the first trailer for Ant-Man felt a little underwhelming, this second one (dubbed trailer 1 for some reason) is certainly more interesting. I do worry that there is far too much of the plot being shown here, with Yellowjacket - the main villain of the piece - being far too prominent in this trailer for my liking, considering he is probably not going to appear until the final third of the film. Perhaps they are showing this much of him in action for a good reason - maybe there will be a plot twist we haven't heard about yet - but for the time being, this could be the film's undoing. Also, the action shown was pretty awesome, so lets hope there is some more awesome stuff being kept under close wraps for now. I am disappointed that Evangeline Lilly won't be suiting up as the Wasp though, or as a new Ant-Woman, as she seems to be a better candidate than Paul Rudd's Scott Lang. Speaking of our main hero, my favourite scene from the trailer was certainly this: &

As of late, Arrow seems to have dropped in quality. The overall narrative structure of Season 3 so far has been terrible compared to the previous two seasons. The writing has been nowhere near as good and the flashback sequences become less interesting and more irrelevant every episode. What was the point in making an entire episode's flashbacks when it was just going to be Oliver and Akio running around Hong Kong, only to bump into a woman who looks just like Shado at the end? What was the point in delving into Deadshot's background only to barely give it any focus or time? In fact, an even bigger question would be what was the point in telling the story of Suicidal Tendencies? It seemed to be an episode there to kill off Deadshot (no doubt due to Warner Bros upcoming Suicide Squad movie) and to provide closure to Task-force X. In fact, the episode could have consisted simply of Diggle and Lyla's wedding (probably going horribly wrong), as that could have explored all

After last week's promising return to form, Agents of SHIELD goes back more to a Season 1 feel, featuring a special guest appearance from Lady Sif, who has forgotten who she is (save for anything relevant to the plot) and is in pursuit of a Kree, set to collect and destroy all of the Diviners and Inhumans, while Skye loses control of her powers, the team begins to divide and Mack and Bobbi plot incredibly conspicuously. So yeah, a simple, character-led episode is off the cards this week. Surprisingly, the various threads of the episode all manage to just about string together. The episode focuses a lot more than previous instalments of Agents of SHIELD this season on a standalone plot building up a bigger whole. The lack of any appearances from Cal, Raina or Hydra also help this episode not feel too cluttered. Its nicely tied in to not only the rest of Agents of SHIELD's arcs but also into the Thor movies. Last season's Thor crossover episodes were the worst Season 1 h

5 years ago, Doctor Who returned for its fifth series with a brand-new Doctor, companion and creative team steering the show into a new direction, kicking off with The Eleventh Hour. The Eleventh Hour acts as a jump-on point for people new to Who, following the story at first from the perspective of little Amelia Pond, who meets a strange man who crashes in his time machine into her back garden. Promising he'll take her with him, The Doctor seals a crack in Amelia's wall and disappears, supposedly for five minutes (there's a lot of fives in this review so far). However, we then follow The Doctor as five minutes later he finds himself back at Amelia's house ready to pick her up several hours late...or possibly even twelve years late. This is a really clever way to start the show for newcomers, but the focus on The Doctor (including a little comedic almost-crash scene as a pre-credits sequence to the surprisingly dark and haunting theme and title sequence, new for thi

Is 'The End of the World' a perfect summary of Doctor Who? Is this review a bit too soppy at points? Doctor Who: The End of the World (2005). By Russell T Davies. Starring Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper. Plot: Rose Tyler is taken to the year five billion, where she and The Doctor find themselves witnessing the end of the world...

***CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE EPISODES*** The Flash is a show that constantly seems to be evolving, figuring out what works and what doesn't, and in the most recent episodes it has been able to combine long-running series arcs with standalone meta-human-of-the-week formulas, so alas, here is a breakdown of my thoughts on Episodes 11-16: "The Sound and the Fury" The Sound and the Fury is an interesting, if a little formulaic look at a prodigy-gone-bad of Dr Wells', who is just as, if not more intelligent than Wells himself. Calling himself the Pied Piper, Hartley is set on vengeance against Harrison, and the story plays out like a game of chess - a common game the two used to play. The flashbacks also show Cisco, Caitlin and Ronnie as good friends when they first met and their reactions to Well's favourite are great fun to watch. Also, I did like Cisco's "Han shot first" T-Shirt. Overall, The Sound as the Fury is a rather forgettable, if hugel