Food and Cosplay

Happy new year 2019 to all of you lovely readers. I genuinely hope you had a wonderful Christmas and new years. I have most certainly been busy, which is why this review is a little later than should be, apologies for that, but let us talk about the superhero movie that is on everyone’s lips, Aquaman!

Now considering the past outings from Warner Bros’ and DC, it has split people down the middle, some saying that the movies were not a great effort and that DC are trying too hard to push a franchise that hasn’t been built up, others saying they enjoy the difference in what is out there to watch and the movies are good. Personally I genuinely can’t get over “MARTHA” and the glaring stupidity in a certain moment in JL. Either way, there is a want from the fandom to have DC movies striving for brilliance so that there is more on the market than just Marvel…..no scratch that, Disney.

Aquaman comes out of the box with a fresh feel for DC. The story centers around Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa……I will grant 30 seconds for you to think of him before continuing with the review because I’m going to……ok back to it), a man born of both worlds, father of earth, mother queen of Atlantis. As Arthur grows up wanting nothing to do with the under water world, he has to face his destiny as his half brother, King Orm (Patrick Wilson), looks to take down the mortal world by uniting all 7 factions of Atlantis. Mera (Amber Heard…….dammit stop daydreaming about the beautiful people) and Vulko (Willem Dafoe…….that time I was thinking of him as the Joker) hope to lead a coup by helping Arthur find the lost trident and claim his birthright as King.

This movie, like I said before, is a nice bit of fresh air for DC as with the different stories flying around that the DCEU isn’t technically a universe and more of an assortment of stories, this movie has been able to take the time to really delve into the character and story. The main plot, while basic, really helps to focus the characters and drives a brilliant narrative. Because of the nature of the character and his backstory, you can tell the filmmakers had a lot of fun with the imagery and scenery which can also be credited to something else they did: flooded the movie with a ton of colour! Now there have been others that have said this movie draws from Black Panther and Thor but I don’t want to compare. I think, while yes taking queues from those movies, the filmmakers had an opportunity to really play with what they wanted to present. With the main scenery not being limited to a place on earth, they could go straight to the comics and have a play with the different designs and what they could realistically bring to the screen.

The performances here are brilliant as well. Jason Momoa, gave a brilliant performance and really showed off how much fun he had being the character. Amber Heard was also really good as well, having some brilliant dialogue with Momoa as well as Wilson and played off them brilliantly. Willem Dafoe was great, and will always be great in whatever he is asked to do, playing double agent really well. Patrick Wilson was fantastic, you can really feel for him, the notion that he, as a full atlantian, should be the true King and will stop at nothing to achieve greatness, while at the same time being driven to be the best son for his mother. I’m gonna say it, it was a nice way to have the mother being a driving factor for the two characters, destined to face off, without it resulting to “hey my mum has the same name as yours, all is forgiven!” Standout for me though, even he didn’t get much time was Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Manta or Black Manta. With what little time he had, he was able to show a credible opponent to Curry and sets up for a sequel that will build promisingly on their on going feud.

The clothes and suits displayed in this movie WERE. ON. POINT! From Aquaman’s final form, to Black Manta and even Orm when he puts his helmet to become Ocean Master, they were incredible to be realized on the screen and fangirled quite a lot when they all appeared! What’s even more amazing is the amount of effort I’ve already seen cosplayers going to, to make these costumes. Using incredibly tiny pieces of foam to make Aquaman’s suit, puff painting to make Mera’s suit stand out and its nice to see even a Black Manta cosplay recently which looked incredible. With the new year upon us, I’m so excited to see some of the amazing cosplays that will come out this year! Let’s get this year rolling baby!

Other Film Reviews

Avengers Endgame review

11 years in the making, over 20 movies and it finally comes down to this. We’re in the endgame now. And boy….was it a hell of an endgame. Now obviously I will try to make this a spoiler free review, but this is a hell of a movie to try and unpack without going too specific so I promise I will do my best. Now the best way to summarise this movie is that everyone that’s left after the snap happens is trying to find their way through this new world that has been created by Thanos, that is until someone comes up with an idea that could change everything…….yeah that’s vague enough not spoil anything Everything about this movie was just perfect. The pacing, the music, I know I already mentioned the performances but the beats each character hits, hits home so amazingly! Ok. This movie. IS AMAZING!!!! Before I even talk about this movie, I’m gonna tell you that you NEED to do a marathon before getting to this movie. There are so many hints and nods to the past movies. Along with that, this movie is literally like a fan service to us, the ones who have stuck to this movie franchise over the past decade and a bit. The performances from everyone involved were at top level. There are minor plot holes, but honestly, this movie delivers so much to the fans that you genuinely don’t care, and I can tell you now, the last hour of this movie is the best cinematic piece in comic movie history. Hands. Down. And when it comes to cosplay, there is only thing i can say, and that is a huge thank you and congratulations. All weekend i’ve seen cosplayers doing what they love for the movie franchise they love and it has been to raise so much money for charities and it just shows how much cosplayers love to give back, not just to the community but to people in need as well. Bottom line. You need to stop reading this and go watch this movie! Like this:Like Loading... [...] Read more...

Hellboy Review

This remake centres around Harbour’s Hellboy working with his father Ian McShane and facing off against Milla Jovovich’s Numie who is an eternal living blood queen who wants demons and monsters to take over the world. Hellboy must beat her with the help of Sasha Lane’s Alice and Daniel Dae Kim’s Major Ben Daimio. A lot of people were a tad sceptical when a Hellboy remake/reboot was announced, however, the pictures of David Habour surfaced of him in the full Hellboy make up which raised all the excitement for the project! And so, the movie hit theatres with a lot of expectation! This movie took full advantage of the 18 rating, ramping up the gore that you would find in the comics. Now comparing this movie to the first Hellboy movie back in 2004, because of course it was gonna be compared, where the 2004 version opted for more storytelling and world advancement, this movie decided to shy away from more storytelling and went for adding more action. Most people do enjoy this but I personally didn’t like this. The movie was hindered by lack of story and some CGI that looked incredibly bad. This CGI looked better placed back in 1998 it was that bad. Now don’t get me wrong, David Harbour’s performance was brilliant, I was a tad unsure with regards to some of the prosthetics but in the overall look, they were amazing in the movie, its just a shame that some of the other effects seemed unfinished and the gore itself became a bit too much at some times. The movie was a fun experience to go see, I would suggest going for it but don’t expect an amazing movie. Now the prosthetics are amazing for Harbour’s Hellboy and I think some of the best body paints to use for cosplays would be a good thing to speak about. One of the best paints I’ve used is mehron, the amount of variety you can get is amazing and it seems to go on quite well. There are also many other products you can grab from other places, as long as you can grab some body paint setter that will help keep the paint on for longer. There are many cosplayers who have done some amazing Hellboy cosplays that have used some excellent paint! I can’t wait to see some more amazing cosplays using some stellar paintwork! Like this:Like Loading... [...] Read more...

Shazam Review

how goes it fellow nerds, geeks and the like! Well you’ll be hearing alot from me this month, with quite a few films coming out, and a final season that I hope to review at the end. So let’s start with another installment from DC, after their very big success with Aquaman, Shazam! Shazam revolves around 13 year old, or basically 14 year old Billy Batson, who is essentially recruited by an old wizard and passes on his powers to him to protect the world against the 7 deadly sins and to carry on the legacy of wizards that came before him. Unfortunately, Billy runs into his first super villian in Dr. Sivana and has to take him down with his new found powers. I have got to say, this movie was really good, I feel like the DC movie universe has turned a new corner and has a new freedom with their movie making. Asher Angel who plays Billy Batson as his younger self had a great chemistry with the other young members of the cast, especially Jack Dylan Grazer who plays Freddie Freeman, who helps Billy as he takes on this transformation. Zachary Levi, i’ll be honest, I could never see as a super hero, and yet he handled it brilliantly! Showing the power that he possesses, while using his funny side to portray 14 year old stuck in a man’s body who has superpowers. Mark Strong who plays Dr. Sivana is very compelling as a supervillian. All in all, this movie was incredibly fun and lighthearted, while still maintaining a sense of danger and dread. The costumes from this movie are really awesome as well. obviously due to this movie being in production for a while, there have been many set photos and its been amazing seeing people’s take on how to do the lightning on Shazam’s chest! From using yellow foam, to people using the same kind of lighting mechanism that can be used. What is also amazing to see is using red puff painting to add the small design and details to the suit. Hopefully when a sequel comes, and oh yes, there most definitely has to be a sequel to this movie because it was great, hopefully we can see the long awaited debut of Black Adam, which can add to the cosplay list for alot of people! I genuinely suggest you go and see this movie, DC have finally hit their stride with their movies and hopefully they will continue get better with the freedom the directors have. Like this:Like Loading... [...] Read more...