#1 What I Have Watched This Month

WHAT I HAVE WATCHED THIS MONTH / ISSUE 1 / JULY

THE AMAZING SPIDERMAN

new and future

releases the amazing spiderman prometheus | 5-year engagement u n d e f e at e d | d e tat c h m e n t | ta k e t h i s wa lt z

THE AMAZING SPIDERMAN dir - Marc webb, star - andrew garfield, emma stone, rhys ifans

HE GETS MAULED BY A GIANT LIZARD BUT IT’S OK BECAUSE HE’S DATING EMMA STONE. If you are like me I bet you hated all of the previous Spiderman films. This was probably caused by one of two things: 1. Tobey Maguire 2. No that was probably it (sorry Tobey). Lucky for us he has been replaced with the superb Andrew Garfield, The Social Network, who makes for a much more realistic Spiderman than Maguire because he has that underlying geeky quality and awkwardness to him that Tobey never did. His performance is second to none in this film the whole way through there is not a second of doubt that he is Spiderman but what would Spiderman be without Gwen Stacy and in The Amazing Spiderman they have found the perfect Gwen in Emma Stone, The Help, who has that same fantastic awkwardness Garfield has and the two go together like Kim and Kanye (not just in the film but in real life too).

The storyline goes as expected: parents die, Peter grows up, gets bitten by spider, becomes Spiderman, fights bad guy, makes flirty jokes with Gwen, credits. However even with the predictable story you are hooked the whole way through because the quality never dips wether it’s an action scene or just pure dialogue you are constantly glued to the cinema screen. I think the director, Marc Webb, has done this by using a similar type of humor and language he uses in 500 Days of Summer. In the previous Spiderman films you were just waiting for the talking to stop and the action to start again but in The Amazing Spiderman the whole film is enjoyable and interesting.

The main thing I thought about this film was how ingenious the casting was not only did we get Garfield and Stone but Rhys Ifans, Martin Sheen and Irran Khan also star, to top it off Stan Lee makes a cameo appearance as an over enthusiastic school librarian. In short go see this film.

8.5*

Superb re-boot of the classic comic. Action filled but also has serious elements to ut. However you really want to see it to see Spike from Notting Hill turn into a lizard.

Advice: See it in 2D and buy it on Blu-ray

prometheus dir - ridley scott, star - michael fassbender, charlize theron

have a nice trip, mr. weyland.

So any hyper Ridley Scott or Alien fanboy will have been squirming in anticipation for the release of Prometheus since it was announced and the wait was finally over on the 1st June. I waited til this month to see it for some unknown reason but it did mean I got to see all the mixed reviews for it. Some people loved it others hated it, I loved it.

It combined basically everything that has been good this year into one feature. The main thing that made it amazing was the supreme acting talent of Michael Fassbender, Shame, who played a humanoid robot called David. He had to act with no emotion as his character, being a robot, did not have feelings or emotions and he was faultless he was so cold the whole way through delivering lines that sent chills up your spine making your face shake. The special effects, as expected, were out of this world and took full advantage of the 3D format. However it is not a film for those with a weak stomach as throughout the film Scott does not skimp on the gory details. In one scene you see one character give herself a cesarian section to reveal the baby was an alien octopus monster, in an earlier scene you also get to enjoy seeing someones face get melted off by alien acid. Don’t worry it’s not like Saw cheesy gore it is well done as you would expect from Scott. To conclude, haters gonna hate. Ignore them and go see it anyway it’s very different to the original Alien films but still superb, Alien and Ridley Scott fans will enjoy this as well as anyone who likes a good action film.

9*

A worthy prequel for the Alien films with superb direction and a lot of Michael Fassbender. A must see for any Ridley Scott fan.

Advice: See it in IMAX 3D and buy Ltd. Edition Blu-ray Steelbook on play.com

the 5-Year engagement dir - nicholas stoller, star - jason segal, emily blunt, chris pratt, alison brie

this is your wedding. you only get a few of these.

You open this film with a very sweaty and agitated Jason Segal, Bad Teacher, driving a confused Emily Blunt, The Adjustment Bureau, to what she thinks is a new year’s eve party. Segal drops the ball and tells her he was going to propose to her and then takes her to a special surprise meal he had planned. It sets you up thinking yep here’s to another two hours of mind-numbing rom-com rubbish then Chris Pratt, Parks and Recreation, pops up and your like O.K this is interesting then throw in Alison Brie, Community, as Blunt’s younger sister and Rhys Ifans, Notting Hill, as a possessive professor who’s in love with Blunt and all of a sudden you have a hilarious cast with a bizare storyline.

It continues to be funny all the way through but the best bit by far is when Brie and Pratt’s daughter shoots Blunt in the leg with a crossbow. Segal’s reaction is nothing short of incredible. Why was there a crossbow anyway you ask, well it’s because Segal becomes a hunting enthusiast and starts bringing home whole deers for dinner.

Blunt is quick to try and curb his enthusiasm (props to L.D) mainly because he grows a crazy long beard and starts wearing horrible sweaters. This is the best rom-com for a while and is genuinely funny as opposed to a lot of rom-coms that force the humor upon you. If nothing else go see it for the dream couple of Chris Pratt and Alison Brie or as TV fans will think of Andy and Annie.

7*

A good solid rom-com not trying to be too clever but a dynamite cast makes for a very funny 124mins.

Advice: Date night at a good cinema or rent on release.

undefeated Dir Daniel Lindsay T.J Martin Star Bill Courtney O.C Brown Montrail Brown Chavis Daniels Release 3 August

take this waltz Dir Sarah Polley Star Michelle Williams Seth Rogan Sarah Silverman Luke Kirby Release 17 August

detachment Dir Tony Kaye Star Adrien Brody Christina Hendricks Byran Cranston Lucy Liu Release 13 July

IMDB says: A documentary on an underdog football team who look to reverse their fortunes with coach Bill Courtney.

I say: I don’t know about you but I love a good American sports film, remember the likes of Coach Carter, Moneyball and of course Remember the Titans. So when I saw the trailer for this I got rather excited, not only is it another American football story but it’s a documentary so the dialogue and actions are going to be so much better than the ‘Based on a True Story’ films. I’m not sure if it will get shown at many cinema’s in the U.K but if it comes go see it because I certainly will.

excitement 7/10

IMDB says: A happily married woman falls for the artist who lives across the street.

I say: This is the second film by Sarah Polley and after Away from Her there are going to be big expectations from Take this Waltz however I’m staying optomistic for it. Polley has got a great cast including Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine, and Seth Rogen, 50/50, so even if the story is crap Seth will still keep things rosy. The only thing about this film I’m not so keen on is the fact the person Williams falls in love with is a rickshaw come aspiring artist...so hipster it hurts. Overall should be a good semi-indie film to drag someone to.

excitement 5/10

IMDB says: A substitute teacher who drifts from classroom to classroom finds a connection to the students and teachers during his latest assignment.

I say: This is a big one for me. The trailer has been around for so long and the release has always seemed so far away but finally it is getting released! If you, like I, loved the 2006 Ryan Gosling starring film Half Nelson I think you may like Detachment. It has that rough school environment teamed together with a main character blatantly suffering a depressive breakdown that should make for a gripping story. The difference between this and Half Nelson however is we have a more star-studded cast including Adrien Brody, The Pianist, Christina Hendricks, Drive, Lucy Lui, Kill Bill, and the incredible Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad. If you only see one film this month make it Detachment.

excitement 9/10

t.v

p r e v i o u s ly o n a m c ’ s

breaking

bad

walter thought gus was going to kill him and jesse so he had jesse kill gale. hank found a file linking gale and gus and was investigating it from his wheelchair. meanwhile skyler buys the carwash against the advice of saul. jesse and mike become friends much to the annoyance of walter. then jesse has to show the kartel how to cook meth and gus poisons himself but manages to kill the kartel at the same time. walter pushes it too far with gus which causes saul to freak out and try and escape. this is at the same time skyler is trying to make ted pay his taxes but it doesn’t matter because ted falls over and kills himself. walter then comes up with a masterplan to kill gus using an elderly kartel member as a bomb. gus gets his face blown off. walter becomes the meth overlord. oh yeah and walter jnr had some breakfast.

All hail the king As you can see a lot happened in season four of Breaking Bad and left a lot of storylines open for some crazy stuff to go down, especially because this will be the last season of Breaking Bad. After digging around the only information I could find was a very synopsis for the first episode of season five, Live Free or Die:

‘As Walt deals with the aftermath of the Casa Tranquila explosion, Hank works to wrap up his investigation of Gus’ empire.’

So not a lot to go by really however they have released 6 picture from this episode as well. All is not lost though because it is the last season you know all the stories will get tied up. My money is on Walt dying but I don’t want to be too pessimistic.

Breaking Bad has been one the most successful TV shows of all time in terms of awards racking up 29 awards including 2 Golden Globes in just 4 seasons.

Bryan Cranston has personally received an Emmy for Outstanding Actor in a TV Series for each season of Breaking Bad. Personally I am so excited for season five to start I hope you are all up to date if not, what is wrong with you.

Season five of Breaking Bad starts on 15 June on AMC.

LOUIE

5 Best Louis CK Quotes 1. When girls go wild, they show their tits to people. When women go wild, they kill men and drown their kids in a tub.

2. I don’t have a gun, but if I did, I would shoot a baby deer in the mouth and feel nothing.

3. You know that you wouldn’t even exist if your mom hadn’t raped a homeless Chinese guy.

you owe me a strawberry Not only Breaking Bad back Louie is back this month for a third season of random girls, swearing and Miami?

In the first episode of the new season we see Louie go to Miami and he just doesn’t fit in, the best example is when a girl in a swimsuit takes a strawberry from Louie without asking he goes crazy and demands a new strawberry. Yes it’s going to be another classic season of Louie. I’m really interested to see where the rest of the season will go because Louis CK announced on his twitter page that this season would be much darker and different to the past seasons. Here’s hoping for more celebrity cameo’s in this season following last seasons appearance by Ricky Gervais. The main question that we all have on our minds though is what’s going to happen with Louie and Pamela after he missed out on that bath and then mis-heard her at the airport in the season two finale. I’m hoping she comes to her senses and dates Louie but when she left it seemed pretty final. We’re only one episode in and we’ve got 11 or so to go and I’m pretty confident they’re going to be amazing.

4. Everything that makes you happy is going to end at some point, and nothing good ends well. It’s like, if you buy a puppy, you’re bringing it home to your family’s saying, hey, look, everyone, we’re all gonna cry soon. Look at what I brought home. I brought home us crying in a few years. Here we go. Countdown to sorrow with a puppy.

5. Fuck it.

6. The day you get married you realize “Shit! I can’t leave now.

I wasn’t thinking of leaving but now I really can’t leave”. And then you have a kid and the moment the kid arrives you realize “Shit! I coulda left! I totally coulda left! The door right there and it wasn’t even fucking locked.”

boardwalk empire I’m amazingly behind on some shows with the main one being Boardwalk Empire. I only started watching it 3 weeks ago but I’ve found it so gripping I’ve worked my way through about 25 hours worth of it already. So are so many things to love about Boardwalk Empire so here’s a list: •

“we all have to decide for ourselves how much sin we can live with” -enoch thompson

•

•

•

•

•

Steve Buscemi was born to play Nucky Thompson and is generally just amazing.

The costumes are incredible. All the men wear three piece suits and the women all wear fantastic dresses from Madame Jeunet’s French clothing store on the boardwalk.

Paz de la Huerta plays a complete idiot who fails drastically at life, so basically she plays herself, but it’s fun watching her character (Lucy Danziger) make a fool of herself in each episode.

There is a hit-man called Mr. Harrow, pictured above, who has had half his face blown off in WWI and wears a metal mask to cover his scars. His voice is absolutely terrifying.

Chalky White, aka Michael Kenneth Williams from The Wire, is the unofficial major of the African American community in Atlantic City and throws an amazing fit when his wife refuses to make him some ‘Hop and Pop’ for dinner.

Martin Scorsese directed the first episode.

If none of those points make you want to watch Boardwalk Empire then you obviously have no taste and this definitely the wrong publication for you. Season 3 starts about September time so you have plenty of time to catch up ready for the premiere.

1. How I Met Your Mother, Murtaugh, S4 E19

2. Friends, The One in Massapequa, S8 E18

3. Entourage, One Day in the Valley, S3 E2

4. Parks & Recreation, L’il Sebastian, S3 E16

5. Scrubs, My Life in Four Cameras, S4 E17

6. Game of Thrones, Fire and Blood, S1 E12

7. Game of Thrones, Garden of Bones, S2 E4

8. Community, Critical Film Studies, S2 E19

rewatch

I’ve cherry picked my favourite episodes and films I’ve seen in the past month, details below.

1. How I Met Your Mother, Ted tells Barney he’s too old to be playing Lazer Tag to which Barney responds to by going crazy and getting his ear pierced and going to a neon rave. 7*

9. Westworld, 1973

2. Friends, I don’t usually watch Friends but Alec Baldwin makes a cameo appearance for 2 episodes; Jack Donaughy in Friends? YES! 5* 3. Entourage, opening day for Aquaman and there’s rolling blackouts then Ari’s wife makes him go to couples therapy and Ari gets all of two minutes through it before telling everyone to fuck off. 9* 4. Parks and Recreation, everyones favourite Pawnee pony L’il Sebastian dies and the city holds a funeral, the highlight of which is Andy’s specially written song, 5000 Candles in the Wind. 8* 5. Scrubs, they do a special live sitcom episode and for some reason everyone seems to be on crack.

Classic Scrubs episode, can’t go wrong. 6*

10. Cowboys and Aliens, 2011

6 & 7. Game of Thrones, in the S1 finale not only is it just generally awesome but at the end Daenerys becomes a badass and walks out of a fire with some dragons. In S2E4 Joffery continues to be a complete prick but Tyrion also continues to be awesome and insult him public. 9*, 7* 8. Community, Abed convinces Jeff to meet him at a restaurant to parody My Diner with Andre but Jeff has already planned a surprise Pulp Fiction Party for him. Highlight has to be Shirley as Samuel L. Jackson.

8*

11. 500 Days of Summer, 2009

9. Westworld, a forgotten obscure futuristic cowboy film with Yul Brynner playing a robot. Need I say more? 7.5* 10. Cowboys and Aliens, after watching Westworld it had to be done. I know it’s bad but I love it. 6* 11. 500 Days of Summer, to prepare for Spiderman I watched Marc Webbs other film, its such a classic but Summer is a complete bitch. 8* 12. Dead Poets Society, Carpe Diem boys, seize the day. You heard the man. 6.5* 12. Dead Poets Society, 1989

when harry met sally, 1989 dir - rob reiner, star - billy crystal, meg ryan

Keeping the spirit of romance in this issue I decided to watch When Harry Met Sally having never seen it before.

I will admit my hopes for this film could not have lower, I mean they were at Twilight low but it is regarded as a classic so I gave it a go. It was worth a watch, definitley.

It starts with Billy Crystal being a complete asshole, which he carries on through the whole film, to Meg Ryan who is kindly giving him a lift home to New York.

It then skips in time a bit and the two bump into each other on an airplane and once again Crystal is a jerk to her but she seems to tolerate it for some reason. Skip in time again both Crystal and Ryan have had their hearts broken and become friends (isn’t that nice) and they both go out and sleep with a succession of people then eventually they fall in love etc etc. This film poineered the format for all modern rom-coms and I think it is worthy of the title of first rom-com because it is actually pretty good. Crystal’s character is likable in the same way Larry David is likable this means his jokes are a bit more edge-y then most rom-com ‘hero’s’ and Ryan’s character reaks of Annie Hall in the way she carries herself and how her funny quirks attract men. The characters seem fimilar within minutes of the film starting which makes for much easier viewing. Insert a fake orgasm scene in a deli and a really chessy love speech at the end and you’ve got this film. It’s a film I think is worth having in your collection for when you get dumped and Dirty Dancing just won’t cut it.

6*

I’ll have what she’s having.

Worth it even if just for New York dining tips.

that speech in whole: I love that you get cold when it’s 71 degrees out. I love that it takes you an hour and a half to order a sandwich.

I love that you get a little crinkle above your nose when you’re looking at me like I’m nuts. I love that after I spend the day with you, I can still smell your perfume on my clothes. And I love that you are the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night.

And it’s not because I’m lonely, and it’s not because it’s New Year’s Eve. I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.

ISSUE #1 DONALD FOR SPIDERMAN next issue: batman.