Films of 2017: The Year in Review

2017 has turned out to be a pretty excellent year for films. I've watched a grand total of 97 of them at the cinema, which is a slow year for me. I've seen some brilliant ones, I've seen some awful ones, and compiling my top ten of the year was really, really difficult - a testament to the quantity of great films we've had this year.

This is, it's obvious to point out, entirely my own personal top ten. Everyone, quite rightly, has the right to say "what the fuck were you thinking?" Some entries in my top ten may surprise you by their inclusion, some might surprise you by not being there, but I hope you'll consider taking a look at any on the list that you haven't seen, as they're all worth your time.

So, without further ado . . .

1. Baby Driver

Everything about this film was just brilliant. The story, the performances, the direction, the cinematography, the car chases, and that soundtrack. The coolest cinema experience of the year and a triumph for director Edgar Wright, who's been trying to get this film made for years. Outstanding!

2. La La Land

A wonderful love letter to the musicals of the golden age of Hollywood, and one of the most heartbreaking romance stories to boot. Fantastic dramatic and musical performances from both Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling help make this one of the best of the year - let's just try and forget the Oscars mix up . . .

3. Logan

Hugh Jackman's swansong as Wolverine was a triumph, not only one of his best performances ever but the best superhero film of the year. Dark, brutal and bloody, with an incredibly emotional core that hits you right in the gut. A fitting end for the character.

4. Wind River

Director/writer Taylor Sheridan continued to impress with this bleak tale of revenge and loss, beautifully shot against the frozen winter backdrop of Wyoming. A phenomenal performance from Jeremy Renner as a mourning father was the highlight of this excellent thriller.

5. Colossal

An absolute delight of a film that was incredibly funny and one of the most original story ideas I've seen in a long time. Anne Hathaway is fantastic as the alcoholic Gloria who, bizarrely, finds herself unwittingly controlling a kaiju monster attacking South Korea. Absolutely brilliant!

6. Manchester By The Sea

A heart wrenching, bleak story of family loss with brief touches of dark humour. Incredible performances from Casey Affleck and Michelle Williams, and beautifully shot and directed.

7. Blade Runner 2049

The biggest surprise of the year for me was how much I enjoyed this film. A thrilling, absorbing work of science fiction that had me completely engrossed for its three-hour run time.

8. Spider-Man: Homecoming

Marvel's biggest success of the year was, for me, the triumphant return of Spidey to the MCU. Funny, action-packed and full of charm, with a fantastic supporting turn from Michael Keaton. Just brilliant.

9. The Disaster Artist

A film about one of the worst ever made, was one of the year's best for me. Hilarious, and brilliantly acted and directed by James Franco, this poked gentle fun at The Room but also celebrated the idea of two people taking a chance on their dream.

10. Star Wars: The Last Jedi

You either loved it or hated it. I loved it. One of the best Star Wars films to date, and a magical third act that gives you an experience that no other film franchise can provide.

Honourable Mentions

Or, the other films that I thought were fantastic this year and didn't quite make my top ten:

Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol.2

The return of the Guardians was just what we wanted - hilarious, and full of action and heart.

Thor: Ragnarok

Marvel completed their hat-trick of excellent films this year with this, the funniest tale of the Thunder God yet.

Loving

A true story about a couple overcoming racial boundaries, with fantastic performances from Ruth Negga and Joel Edgerton.

Hidden Figures

A joy of a film, celebrating the important role that the largely unknown black women of NASA played in the US space programme.

Free Fire

A hilarious film from Ben Wheatley, revolving around a huge gunfight that occurs when a weapons deal goes wrong. The impressive cast includes Brie Larson, Sharlto Copley and Armie Hammer.

Wonder Woman

Finally, DC really got it right and brought us this fantastic, action-packed film - Diana kicks serious ass.

The Beguiled

A slow-burning, tense story set in the Civil War, from my favourite director Sophia Coppola.

IT

Pennywise is back and better than ever in this fantastic adaptation of the Stephen King story, with the impressive teenage cast forming the heart of the film.

A Ghost Story

An (excuse the pun) haunting tale of loss in an original concept, with brilliant performances from Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara. 

And that's it for 2017! I hope you've enjoyed my reviews this year, there are already a lot of promising films coming our way in 2018 and I'm aiming to bring you at least one new review each week, along with reviews of video games - and hey, I may even start reviewing anime as well, like I intended to do. Cheers!

Video Game Review: Life is Strange: Before the Storm (2017)

Arcadia Baes

Life is Strange: Before The Storm (2017)

Format: PS4/Xbox One/PC (Reviewed on PS4)

Publisher: Square Enix

Developer: Deck Nine

What is it: A story-driven graphic adventure game and prequel to the cult hit Life is Strange. Set three years before the events of the original game, and once again in the town of Arcadia Bay, players take control of fan-favourite character Chloe Price. Chloe is sixteen and at a difficult time in her life, still dealing with both the death of her beloved father and the loss of her best friend Max, who has moved away. As she takes the first steps towards the rebellious character players know from Life is Strange, Chloe meets Rachel Amber, the most popular girl at school, and the two form an instant connection - one that will be tested as you guide Chloe through a story that sees a dangerous element of Rachel's family make itself known.

Review: Before I even begin to start talking about Before the Storm, I need to talk a bit about Life is Strange. And I need to restrain myself as I could talk about it for hours - I absolutely adore Life is Strange. I fell in love with the game when it came out on console last year; it could easily be criticised for having a hipster vibe, which it does, but the story (with it's sci-fi twist) and the relationship between the central characters Max and Chloe had me emotionally invested in a way I haven't been since The Last of Us, and it introduced me to the word "hella". There may be some of you who don't play video games but have been kind enough to read this anyway, who are now thinking "emotionally invested? In a video game?" - yes, really. Storytelling isn't just limited to books and films and other mediums these days. Video games are capable of telling rich, emotional stories that affect you deeply. So, before we dive in to Before the Storm, allow me if you will to give you a brief outline of the original game's story, as it really helps to understand where this prequel fits in and what it's about:

In the original Life is Strange you play Max Caulfield who, at 18, has returned to her hometown of Arcadia Bay after moving away to Seattle five years earlier. Max feels incredibly guilty for losing touch with Chloe Price, her former best friend, and when she sees a strange blue-haired girl being shot Max discovers she has the power to rewind time. She uses it to save the girl, who turns out to be none other than Chloe - after initial awkwardness, Chloe forgives Max and the two rekindle their friendship, discovering their deep bond is still there. Chloe is frantically searching for Rachel Amber, who has been missing for several months, and Max learns Rachel became Chloe's best friend - and possibly more - during her absence. Max uses her new powers to help Chloe find out what happened to Rachel, but it leads them to a very dark and dangerous place, and the more she uses her powers the more Max has visions of a deadly tornado destroying Arcadia Bay, leading her to the most difficult decision of her life.

When Before the Storm was first announced, fans of Life is Strange had concerns: first, that it was a new developer taking the helm (Deck Nine, compared to Dontnod for the original), and second, that due to the SAG-AFTRA strike during the time of development, original voice actor Ashly Burch wasn't able to return to voice Chloe again - instead she would be voiced by Rhianna DeVries. I'm happy to say that any concerns have been dispelled, as Deck Nine have done a wonderful job in creating a worthy addition to the series that captures the feel of the original, and DeVries does a fine job voicing Chloe. Ashly Burch was, wisely, hired by Deck Nine as a story consultant for the game and had a lot of input into how Chloe is portrayed here. From a visual point of view Deck Nine have absolutely nailed it, perfectly recapturing the graphics and general aesthetic of the original, which really helps returning fans get right back into this world.

So let's talk about the actual mechanics of the game first. The game is episodic, just like the original (albeit three chapters compared to Life is Strange's five) - the first episode came out in September, but I held off reviewing it until the third chapter was released this month. If you've played the original you'll feel instantly at home, as Deck Nine have recreated it to a tee: it's played from a third-person perspective and you move Chloe around, interacting with objects and people to advance the story. When you speak to people there are multiple dialogue choices and, just like the original, the dialogue you choose or actions you take directly impact how the story plays out, meaning that several playthroughs of the game are possible with different endings available. Anytime you're faced with a decision that effects the story you're warned with the same visual and audio moments that fans of the original will recognise:

Bringing up the pause menu brings up a familiar set of screens from the original, here altered to fit Chloe: her phone, where text messages that you receive from characters frequently throughout the story can be viewed; a journal where Chloe recaps what's happened in the story so far along with her thoughts in it, this time in the format of letters to Max that she never sends; a photo album of characters in the story, each of which can be selected to view a bio of them written from Chloe's perspective, and finally a screen that records all of your graffiti - this is a new feature introduced for the game. In the original, Max could take optional photographs (many of which you had to seek out and find the right prompt for) which acted as collectibles for the game. Chloe isn't into photography like Max, but she does like graffiti, so in this game you can seek out areas and things for Chloe to leave her mark on, and just like the original some of these are not visually obvious and need to be found. Another new feature for the game is called backtalk: these are moments where Chloe can engage in verbal sparring with another character to get the result she wants - as the player, you have a short amount of time to read each response you get and choose the most suitable verbal attack. It's a cool addition that reflects Chloe's growing rebellious nature and provides an additional challenge.

Games with a format like this need a strong story to drive it, and I'm happy to report that Before the Storm delivers a fantastic one that's rich with emotion and feels perfectly in place as a precursor to Life is Strange. I'm not going to go in to any spoilers as to what happens in it, in case anyone reading this decides to get the game - which I absolutely recommend you do - but I will say that it's well paced, multi-layered and captures the feel of the original. Life is Strange had an element of sci-fi to it's story, what with Max's time powers, which Before the Storm doesn't for the obvious reason that Max isn't there; instead it has a more realistic story dealing with things like grief from the loss of a loved one, first love, and betrayal from those most close to you. These are all things that anyone can relate to, no matter who you are - hell, I'm a thirty-six year-old man, and at times I was teary-eyed as this story of two teenage girls unfolded. The biggest compliment I can give the story is that I found Chloe and Rachel's relationship just as compelling as Chloe and Max's: the two can have a purely platonic relationship or a romantic one, depending upon your choices - I went for romantic, as that's what Life is Strange implied, and let me tell you there were some hella feels in some scenes - but either choice feels completely real and believable, and the voice acting from both Rhianna DeVries as Chloe and Kylie Brown as Rachel is fantastic. Brown was nominated for a 2017 Golden Joystick award (the gaming equivalent of the Oscars) for her performance. There's a sequence in the second episode of the game where Rachel manages to convince Chloe to be a last-minute stand-in for Ariel in their school production of The Tempest, in which Rachel is playing Prospero, and the whole scene is an absolute joy, both hilarious and emotional as Rachel cleverly alters the dialogue to convey a message (and a promise) to Chloe about their plans together. It was wonderful and the best moment of the game for me.

As a fan of the original game, it was also really interesting to see these characters at this point in time, knowing what's in store for them. In Life is Strange Chloe is blue-haired, tattooed and a legitimate bad ass, not giving a single fuck about anything. In Before the Storm she's taking her first steps towards this, smoking weed, sneaking out to rock clubs and mouthing off at people, but we get to see just how vulnerable she really is: she's still deeply affected by the death of her father William, the hurt still fresh and portrayed through several effective dream sequences where she interacts with him; she's deeply angry at the arrival of David, her mother's new boyfriend (who, as players of the original will know, ends up becoming her stepfather) who she sees as a stranger violating her home; and most of all she's lonely, still deeply upset by the disappearance of Max, the best friend she thought she'd have forever. It makes the appearance of Rachel and the impact she has on Chloe all the more believable.

Rachel was something of an enigma in the original game - we never got to meet her, only seeing her face on a missing person poster and learning about her through what Chloe and other characters told us. Here we get to learn about her properly: on the surface a model student, the most beautiful and popular girl in school, but it's all a facade for her true rebellious personality underneath, one that instantly connects with Chloe on a deep level. She's a vibrant character that undergoes a journey of her own as a skeleton in her family's closet comes out and, knowing the tragic fate waiting for her in Life is Strange, it makes the time we spend with her here a bittersweet one.

By now you're probably sick of me mentioning "the original", especially if you haven't played it. Well, sorry - it's very relevant to keep alluding to it. Deck Nine have, to their credit, gone to great lengths to ensure that Before the Storm has strong links to Life is Strange, not just in the visuals and story. There are lots of little things for fans to find, including some very deep cuts. Here are just a few of them:

• Rachel's outfit featuring the red plaid shirt is both worn by her, and one of the ones she gives to Chloe, and players can put it on in episode three. This is the same outfit that Max borrows in Life is Strange, which Chloe reacts noticeably to upon seeing her in it
• In the first episode where the two girls are getting to know each other on the train, Rachel says rather cryptically to Chloe "Don't be surprised if you wake up one day and I'm gone" which, as it turns out, is exactly what's going to happen in the future
• While exploring Chloe's room, opening a drawer of her dresser will find a mix CD given to her by Max featuring two cartoon versions of them as pirates on the cover - this is the exact cover of the soundtrack CD for Life is Strange
• Even though she's not physically in the game, Max is everywhere - there are far too many instances to mention here, but there's her pirate hat on Chloe's mirror, a picture of the two of them on the wall of the Price living room that players can also see in Life is Strange, and Chloe finds her father's old camera in the garage and comments on how Max would probably find use for it, which she does

A brief mention, before I wrap things up here, to the music. The soundtrack/score is composed by Daughter, and it's absolutely fantastic - it's a mixture of vocal and instrumental tracks, with the vocal tracks directly referencing key points and themes of the story, and it makes for a perfect accompaniment to it. Daughter's ambient/electronica style suits the score really well, and if you haven't heard of them before I encourage you to check them out here.

If you've made it this far, congratulations and thanks for sticking with me. In what must be incredibly obvious by now, I absolutely loved Before the Storm. In fact, it's my official Game Of The Year (TM) for 2017. I loved everything about it, especially being such a huge fan of the original Life is Strange, but it all boils down to the story: this is a wonderful tale of loss and love featuring two incredibly well-acted and fleshed out characters. You do need to be a fan of this style of narrative-driven story games to enjoy it, as if you're not then this really won't be for you, but if you are then this is an absolute gem of a game that, for all my mentions of the original, you don't need to have played to appreciate or enjoy.

One final aside - there's an additional bonus chapter of Before the Storm coming in early 2018, where players will get to be Max again. We're going back further in time to the point when she leaves for Seattle and has to say goodbye to Chloe, and both Hannah Telle and Ashly Burch have come back to voice Max and Chloe again. There will be hella feels. I don't know if I'll survive.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
I don't need to say anything else. Go and buy this game.

Film Review: The Greatest Showman (2017)

Not quite the greatest show on Earth . . .

The Greatest Showman (PG)

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Michelle Williams, Zac Efron, Zendaya

Director: Michael Gracey

The Plot: A musical drama set in the mid-1800s, based (very loosely) on the life of P.T.Barnum and the creation of his famous circus. As a boy he dreamed of entertaining the masses, but now as an adult Barnum (Jackman) works a mundane job in New York City and feels he is letting down his wife Charity (Williams) and their daughters as they live in poverty. Barnum comes up with a plan to stage a show featuring musical performers, acrobats and freak show oddities, which initially has great success and leads to him partnering with playwright Phillip Carlyle (Efron) to expand its appeal. However, as an increasingly hostile public begins to turn on the stars of the show, Barnum becomes distracted by his promotion of a famous opera singer . . .

Review: The fact that I've already mentioned this film is a musical will probably be enough for many to decide if they're going to see it or not. You either like musicals, or you don't, and there's nothing wrong with that. I like them (there, I said it), and if you like musicals there's a good chance you'll like The Greatest Showman. It has all the ingredients for what you want from both a musical and a big Christmas release - it's high on spectacle, and the genuinely talented Hugh Jackman is perfect for this kind of role, but weakness in the story prevents it from shining.

The film has spent a long time in production - Jackman was first attached to the project way back in 2009, and in an interview has stated that the creation of the original music for the film played a big part in its delay. The songs were composed by the duo of Pasek and Paul, who most recently won acclaim for their work on La La Land and a Golden Globe for its song "City of Stars", and it turns out the delay was worth it as the music and songs are one of the film's high points. You may have noticed that in the plot section I used the term "very loosely" - the film features about as much creative licence as you could possibly take with Barnum's life. While it does advertise itself as "inspired by the imagination of P.T.Barnum", if you're knowledgeable about Barnum's life or the history of his circus you may take some serious issue with what's on display here. I certainly wasn't, and didn't.

The musical aspect of the film is what it gets absolutely right. Despite what seems like a small budget for a film of this nature (approx $84million), the musical numbers are incredibly lavish and the sheer spectacle on display during them is fantastic. The standout is a number between Efron and Zendaya (as Anne, an acrobat in the show and Carlyle's love interest) that sees them both soaring around the stage as they sing, which is really terrific. The cinematography is actually excellent throughout the film, not just during the numbers, with Anne's slow-motion first glimpse of Carlyle as she swings up to him on the trapeze (used heavily in the trailers and promotion for the film) particularly effective. The songs are well-written, all with an emotional core and having meaning to specific points in the story, and the characters transition into and out of them with ease.

Hugh Jackman quite literally takes centre stage with his performance as Barnum, who not only forms the show but acts as its ringmaster and leader. You won't be surprised to hear that the Tony-winning actor does really well with both the songs and the dance numbers, but for the dramatic part of the role he's let down by the script (which I'll get to in a moment). While he does his best to put across both Barnum's bravado and his fears, he isn't really given enough to work with. He does, however, have good chemistry with both Williams and Rebecca Ferguson, who plays the opera singer Jenny Lind that Barnum becomes distracted by.

Of the other notable cast, Michelle Williams is perfectly fine as Barnum's wife Charity and does well with the vocal performances, including a solo number late in the film. She too, however, is let down by the script, never really given anything juicy enough for an actor of her talent to work with. Zac Efron proved early in his career that he could sing and dance, as did Zendaya, and they both are excellent here in that regard. Also, there are a number of moments for both of them (mostly Zendaya, who spends the most time on it) when it's clearly them on the trapeze, not a double, so kudos must be given for the physical performances as well. But again, they are also let down by the script.

The script is the film's weakest link and has a number of problems. The first is it's sheer predictability - it's incredibly easy to see where the story is going at all times, so virtually nothing is a surprise. It also struggles with pacing: the film clocks in at 1 hour 45 minutes, and because of this the story moves along at a brisk pace. This in turn causes the problems I mentioned when talking about the performances - none of the main cast are given any significant time for the dramatic parts of the story. In the case of Barnum, not enough exploration is given to his character's need to prove himself, or the physical temptation of Jenny Lind. For Carlyle and Anne, there's not enough bite in the racial tensions of society that impacts their relationship, particularly in the short scene involving his parents. The pacing of the story also means that the other stars of the show, the freaks, are given short drift - we only learn a few of their names, despite the importance they play in the lesson that Barnum eventually learns about knowing that it's only the approval of those you love that matters.

Now, to be fair, in musicals the dramatic aspect is not normally why you go to see them, so you could argue that the criticisms I have about the plot aren't that important when the musical numbers and visuals are as impressive as they are here. I'm not saying that the weaknesses in the script make this a bad film, far from it, but they do prevent the film from being really great. As it stands, it's just a good one.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

An entertaining musical that's high on spectacle but lacking in dramatic bite. The songs are great, the numbers lavish and the performances are excellent, but the film suffers from being predictable and not having enough time to flesh out the dramatic story threads. Still, it's very enjoyable and recommended if you like musicals.

Film Review: Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)

The Force is strong with this one . . .

Star Wars: The Last Jedi (12A)

Starring: Mark Hamill, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Carrie Fisher

Director: Rian Johnson

The Plot: The First Order have seized control of the galaxy and located the base of the Resistance, led by General Leia (Fisher). Faced with new technology that can track them through hyperspace, the Rebels find themselves in what seems like a hopeless pursuit as they flee. While Poe Dameron, Finn and newcomer Rose try a desperate plan to disable the First Order's tracking system, Rey (Ridley) has finally found Luke Skywalker (Hamill) and seeks his help - she shares a Force connection with Kylo Ren (Driver), and believes he can be turned back to the Light, but Luke has vowed never to train another Jedi again . . .

Review: I've held off posting my review of The Last Jedi until now for two reasons: firstly because I wanted to see it a second time, and secondly because I'm going to spoil the fuck out of it. If you haven't seen it yet, and plan to, trust me when I say now is the time to stop reading (but come back when you have, yeah?). I first saw it on opening day, and while I really enjoyed it I found there were a number of flaws and what I considered to be odd moments or choices that I didn't like. After a second viewing, however, I found I was able to appreciate some of those choices more and I can say, hand on heart, that this is an excellent film and I believe it's one of the best Star Wars films to date.

Now, if you've been keeping up with any of the reaction to the film on the internet, you'll know that to say it's been divided is an understatement. Despite widespread glowing critical acclaim, the reaction from fans has been split right down the middle: half absolutely loved it, praising the story and the performances, while the other half have completely hated it, denouncing director/writer Rian Johnson and the actions/portrayals of the characters, particularly Luke, and the humour. I think that a lot of the people who hated it had certain expectations for this film, a preconceived view of what was going to happen, and got angry when it didn't. I think basically a lot of people expected this to be a second version of The Empire Strikes Back, as The Force Awakens was to A New Hope. It isn't. I'm a big fan of Rian Johnson, as he's previously brought us two amazing films in 2005's Brick and 2012's Looper, and he had one hell of a difficult job here: the weight of taking the reigns of the biggest film franchise ever aside, this is a long film (it clocks in at two and a half hours) that has to juggle a lot of different story threads. As I've mentioned, after a second viewing I think for the most part he's nailed it, but there's still a few things that I didn't like. I'm going to go ahead and talk about those first.

SPOILERS, my young padawan.

So, while this is high fantasy and not really something that should bother you, I found the main "background" story thread of the Rebels being pursued by the First Order to be a bit . . . silly. It basically amounts to a car chase in space, where the Rebels cars are just fast enough to stay ahead of the First Order. While you ultimately find out why this plays out the way it does, you have to wonder why, since they know where the Rebels are, the First Order don't just jump a few ships to hyperspace somewhere else, then jump them back ahead of the Rebels in a kind of galactic pincer movement? Also, why would only the one ship be using their special tracking technology? That just seemed like an excuse for the next point on my list . . .

I didn't like the whole plot thread with Finn and Rose pursuing a codebreaker on the casino planet. While I loved those two characters together (I'll talk about that later), I found this whole sequence to be long and convoluted. It seemed to just exist to try and get the message across that there are wealthy people profiting from the war, and I found it a little bit jarring that, after being told that there was only one codebreaker who could possibly get them onto Snoke's ship to disable the tracker, they just happen to run into another one (a stuttering Benecio Del Toro, whose performance I liked) who can do it? Please.

Speaking of Snoke, the Supreme Leader of the First Order and powerful Sith Lord . . . dead. Yep, he gets cut down by Kylo Ren in what was a genuinely shocking moment. Now, this is one of the moments that after a second viewing I was able to appreciate more, as it's an extremely effective moment in the transformation of Kylo, but it's still annoying that we don't learn anything about this mysterious figure who is clearly incredibly powerful with the Dark Side - we see him throwing Rey around and torturing her with Force powers easily. Unless his back story is revealed in Episode 9, we'll never know who he really was, where he came from or how he became so powerful, and that's a real shame.

In another moment that I've been able appreciate more the second time around, but am still unsure about, is the "reveal" of Rey's parents. I say "reveal" because . . . we really don't know yet. Kylo Ren tells Rey that her parents were no-one special ("They were filthy junk traders. Sold you off for drinking money. You come from nothing. You're nothing. But not to me.") and he's clearly trying to use it to turn Rey. It's another extremely effective moment in the journey of her character, as she overcomes the impact of this revelation to reject Kylo and remain with the Light, but we still don't know if it's the truth. After the lengths that The Force Awakens went to suggest at some connection to the Skywalker lineage for Rey (I mean come on, why else would Luke's lightsaber call out to her?) it will be disappointing if this is the true reveal. We'll have to wait and see.

Some other small niggles:

• In one of the moments that's really divided fans, we see Leia using the Force to survive being blown out of a spaceship and pull herself back in. I thought this was wonderful, as we've seen Leia's connection to the Force before via her communicating with Luke, but with the sad death of Carrie Fisher we're now never going to find out how or when Leia gained this ability or what else she was capable of
• Captain Phasma is the Boba Fett of this new trilogy, as while the character looks amazing she's literally useless. She has one bad-ass moment here when Rose shoots at her and the bolt zings off Phasma's armour, Phasma not giving a single fuck as it does, but that's it. I hope that the character survives and has a more effective role in Episode 9, as I like the idea of her being the main antagonist for Finn, but who knows.
• I really didn't need to see Luke milk a four-titted alien and then drink it. Yes, that happens.

 Now, onto the good stuff! 

I loved the journeys of Luke, Rey and Kylo Ren in this film. I particularly enjoyed Luke's, and I think this is Mark Hamill's best performance to date in anything he's done. Luke is not a Yoda figure here, not the wise old Jedi Master ready to train Rey and teach her everything she needs to know. He's utterly broken, so full of guilt over his part in Kylo's turn to the Dark Side that he's not only exiled himself to the island of Ahch-To to die but also closed himself off from the Force itself. This leads to some very effective moments, such as him worriedly asking Chewie "Where's Han?" It's only through a wonderfully emotional scene where R2-D2 plays him the original recording of Leia from A New Hope that he agrees to teach Rey about the Force and the Jedi, but even then he's scared at Rey's display of power and how she's drawn to an area of the island strong with the Dark Side. I liked how he tries to teach Rey that the Force belongs to no-one and the importance of balance, but most of all I liked how, even as an old man with all of his experience, he's still learning - it's through a final lesson from Yoda (in wonderful scene where the old Jedi Master reappears as a Force ghost once more, voiced and puppeted by Frank Oz) that Luke is able to accept his failure and understand its importance.

This all leads to an astonishing sequence at the climax of the film where, in what I felt was a fitting ending for the character and gave me goosebumps, Luke displays a phenomenal amount of Force power and projects himself across the galaxy to face Kylo Ren and the advancing First Order army. We're treated to a glorious vision of Luke Skywalker, Jedi Master, fully robed and armed with his lightsaber in a display of what could have been. After an emotional meeting with Leia, he tricks Kylo long enough for the Rebels to escape, and in doing so destroys himself. His final moment, sitting facing twin suns as his body fades away just like Obi-Wan and Yoda did before, is a beautiful moment of cinematography.

Rey and Kylo's journeys are intertwined and extremely effective. Sharing a connection via the Force (which, we learn, is Snoke's doing), both believe that they can turn each other but neither can see where the other is headed: Kylo, broken down and belittled by Snoke for his failure, is building his hatred for his master to the point of his violent betrayal, which finally erases any conflict in him for killing Han and seals his full turn to the Dark; Rey, on the other hand, comes to realise that she doesn't need to be taught what her place is or to know who her parents were to do what's right - she knows that Kylo's path is the evil one and rejects it. She didn't need to be taught how to use a lightsaber, or use the Force, and she will be the last Jedi. I thought this was all excellent.

I've already mentioned Rose and Finn. Rose, a new character, was the beating heart of this film for me and played wonderfully by Kelly Marie Tran. I loved her character and how well she worked with Finn - she begins as basically a nobody, an engineer on the Rebel ship ("I'm behind pipes all day") who sees Finn as one of the famous heroes. Finn doesn't think he's worthy to be included amongst them, but it's through their journey together that he learns the really important part of what they're fighting for, and that he is worthy to be a hero. I already talked about how I didn't like the actual long sequence in the story that they go on, but it didn't prevent the characters from being extremely effective together. They spark off of each other well, and there's even a romantic seed placed between them at the end which I thought was very fitting. I hope to see more of them both together (and with Poe, who they also work well with) in the next instalment.

There's some truly fantastic cinematography on display throughout the film. As well as some individual shots, such as Luke's aforementioned departure or a moment where he's framed perfectly against the entire advancing First Order, the space battles are some of the best of the saga so far. The opening sequence is thrilling, and features Poe doing a handbrake turn in his X-Wing, and towards the end there's a wonderful sequence with Rey and Chewie in the Millennium Falcon taking on a bunch of TIE fighters over and through the planet Crait, all choreographed to that incredible Star Wars theme music. The must jaw-dropping visual moment however, is when new character Vice Admiral Holdo (Laura Dern) sacrifices herself and the Rebel main cruiser by going to lightspeed through Snoke's ship, splitting the behemoth vessel in two and decimating the Star Destroyers following it. It's truly astonishing.

Some other positive moments:

• Rey and Kylo Ren's lightsaber battle against Snoke's Praetorian Guard is thrilling, and includes two incredible moments when Rey fluidly drops her lightsaber and then catches it with her other hand to take out her opponent's legs, and then throws it to Kylo who ignites it through a guard's fucking eye. This was probably the most metal moment of the film.
• There's a wonderful little moment where, on Ahch-To, Rey stands beneath the Falcon while it rains and smiles and stretches her hand out to feel it, a small reminder that her character has been living on a desert planet her entire life and is still finding joy in her new surroundings.
• Porgs! You really don't have to worry about these furry little crosses between birds and rabbits. They're only used sparingly throughout the film for brief moments of light relief, and they're very funny. They most certainly are not the Jar Jar Binks of the new trilogy.
• Speaking of funny, yes the film does have its funny moments, but unlike many I didn't feel that it was too much. Watching the film a second time, the funny moments really didn't seem as frequent and the film is still overall incredibly serious and dark in tone. The moments of comedy were brief breaks and didn't feel overused to me.

And so overall? This is an incredible Star Wars film. Ultimately I'm just one opinion - there are still parts of it that I wasn't fond of, but overall I absolutely loved it. As with all things, your opinion will vary, but if you've seen the film and didn't like it, I really encourage you to see it a second time like I did as you may find yourself appreciating it more.

For me personally, the third act of this film is pure magic. From the reappearance of Yoda, to Rey and Kylo's confrontation with Snoke and the ensuing lightsaber battle, to Luke's reunion with Leia, his incredible display of Force power and demise, to Rose and Finn's moment in the battle on the salt flats of Crait, to the Falcon's battle with the TIE fighters and then Rey's display of the Force. It's everything you could ever want from a Star Wars film, and there are few series like it that connect with so many people in the way that it does.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Despite some flaws and odd choices in terms of story, this is a truly excellent film and one of the most exciting and well-made Star Wars films to date. Visually superb throughout, with great performances from Mark Hamill particularly, the third act of the film is so magical that it more than makes up for the issues present and delivers an experience that few other films can. Absolutely essential viewing.

Film Review Round-Up: Pitch Perfect 3 & Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

Christmas time is here! Well, almost. And yes, for anyone that's wondering, my review of Star Wars: The Last Jedi is coming - I've been holding off for a second viewing, and to give people a chance to go and see it before they read my review, as I'm going to spoil the fuck out of it.

In the meantime, there have been two big releases this week that make up your alternative Christmas cinema viewing before Hugh Jackman's The Greatest Showman arrives on Boxing Day. So it's time for another review round-up here at The Welsh Geek Reviews, with short (but hopefully sweet) takes on these new films. We start off with a return from the aca-mazing Barden Bellas . . .

Pitch Perfect 3 (12A)

Starring: Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, Hailee Steinfeld

Director: Trish Sie

The Plot: Most of the now-graduated Bellas find themselves at an all-time low, in jobs they hate or, in the case of Beca (Kendrick), quitting. After Emily (Steinfeld) gets them together for a reunion, former leader Chloe uses her father's military connections to book them onto the USO tour performing for the troops, and they find themselves in competition again: all of the bands on the tour are vying to be picked by DJ Khaled to open for him at the final big show. But where the Bellas go, disaster typically follows, this time in the form of Fat Amy (Wilson)'s estranged gangster father . . .

I unashamedly love the Pitch Perfect series, and it's not just because I'm in love with Anna Kendrick. Honest. The first film was a surprise hit, as a story about an all-female accapella group isn't something you'd expect to work, but it did - it was funny, the cast was wonderful, and the music was incredibly catchy. For this third (and mostly likely final) instalment, the writers and director have taken the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" approach and given us more of the same Pitch Perfect fans know and love - and that's not a bad thing. The story is typically silly, and the cast is as funny as always - Elizabeth Banks and John Michael Higgins return as accapella commentators Gail and John, now filming a documentary about the Bellas, and there's even some jokes at the invisible nature of members Jessica and Ashley (the two who never even feature on the posters). The one real flaw is that the music has taken a back seat here: we do get some great vocal performances by the Bellas, but they're not the focus of the story this time and they're single songs, rather than the clever mash-ups of the previous two films.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

An excellent final outing for the Barden Bellas that's hilarious, silly, and full of warmth and affection for the characters. The music may have taken a step back here, but these Pitches are still on top form.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (12A)

Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan, Jack Black

Director: Jake Kasdan

The Plot: The cursed Jumanji board game has transformed itself into a video game, in reaction to modern society. When four high-school teenagers find themselves in detention, they discover the game and decide to play - they find themselves sucked inside the video game itself, and transformed into the characters they chose: nerdy Spencer becomes smouldering, musclebound explorer Dr Bravestone (Johnson); football player Fridge becomes Bravestone's diminutive weapons valet Moose Finbar (Hart); self-conscious Martha becomes the kick-ass babe Ruby Roundhouse (Gillan); while self-absorbed Bethany becomes (to her horror) cartographer Prof Shelly Oberon, a middle-aged man. The four most overcome their differences and beat the game to escape, but they only have three lives each . . .

I'm a really big fan of the original Jumanji - I remember going to see it way back in 1995, so it has a very special nostalgic place in my heart. I even own the Collector's Edition DVD (no standard version for me, thank you very much). So, like many, I was worried when I heard that a new Jumanji film was being made. Thankfully, they haven't tried to do a remake, or a direct sequel, and the result is a very fun, entertaining romp set in that same world. There are some nice nods to the original film: the board game, when we see it, is identical, the main villain within the game is named Van Pelt, and the legend "Alan Parrish was here" is carved into a jungle house the characters discover. The focus of the film is on the comedy, rather than the action (a switch from the original, which was mostly serious with the odd humorous moment) and there are a lot of laughs to be found, mostly from the characters reactions to their new bodies - the four leads are clearly having a good time acting as teenagers, and the best moment is Martha (as Ruby)'s hilarious attempts at flirting after being given a crash-course by Bethany. It would be very easy to criticise the script, and much of the acting, but I'm not going to, as this isn't high-brow entertainment after all. What this is, is a perfectly acceptable, fun popcorn film that, thankfully, doesn't take a massive shit on the beloved original.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

A fun and entertaining film that doesn't try to be the original. While it's never going to win awards for its story or acting, the four leads are entertaining and the laughs and action come thick and fast. A film to switch your brain off and simply enjoy.

Film Review: The Disaster Artist (2017)

Oh hi Mark

The Disaster Artist (15)

Starring: James Franco, Dave Franco, Seth Rogen

Director: James Franco

The Plot: A dramatisation of how a film considered by many to be the worst ever made, 2003's The Room, came into being. The Disaster Artist chronicles the events of how Greg Sestero (Dave Franco) meets the bizarre Tommy Wiseau (James Franco); the two share a passion for acting and the movie business, but lack any talent whatsoever. Tommy encourages Greg to move to LA with him where, after a sustained period of rejections, Tommy decides to make his own film: The Room, written by, produced by, directed by and starring himself, with Greg as the second lead. The results become infamous . . .

Review: Despite having become a viral sensation over the years, it's quite likely that you may not have heard of The Room before, or the spectacularly bizarre Tommy Wiseau and his terrible acting. I've seen it, and I have to tell you, it really is awful. Before we go any further, I'm going to direct you to a YouTube link that I encourage you to watch first and then come back here. It's a short montage of some of the most infamous moments from The Room, and it'll give you an idea of both the production value and the acting:

"You're tearing me apart!" - best bits of The Room

It's something, isn't it? It's rather ironic, then, that in making a film about what's possibly the worst film ever made (although after seeing Transformers: The Last Knight this year that's open to debate), James Franco has brought us what is, in my opinion, one of the best films of the year. The Disaster Artist is hilarious, and it really is brilliant.

The film is based on the novel of the same name, co-written by Greg Sestero (Dave Franco's character in the film). It's interesting to note that over the years Wiseau has discredited the book, claiming that it's not an accurate depiction of what happened, and he also initially spoke out against the making of the film. However, in recent weeks he's been appearing with James Franco on late night talk shows in the US promoting it, so he seems on board with it now. This about-face is not unusual for a person who's so unusual himself: as the film points out at its conclusion, to this day nobody knows where in Europe the intensively secretive Wiseau is originally from (he claims to be from New Orleans), how old he is, or where his money comes from - he self-financed The Room to estimates of $6million.

Central to the film is James Franco's performance as Wiseau, which is not to take anything away from Dave Franco's excellent performance as Greg, which I'll get to in a moment. James Franco is simply astonishing here - he has quite literally become Wiseau. From the first moment he appears on screen (at Greg's acting class in San Francisco, where he launches into a manic performance of a scene from A Streetcar Named Desire) he completely nails the character, from the look with the long black hair and facial prosthetics, to his strange accent, mannerisms and odd laugh. He reportedly stayed in character for the entire shoot, and even went so far as to mimic what Wiseau himself did - he placed a billboard advertisement for The Disaster Artist featuring a real phone number, to which Franco would randomly answer the calls made to it, in character as Wiseau. I can't think of the last time I saw an actor become a real-life character so completely, and it's again ironic in that, playing a character who has zero acting talent, Franco has produced such a terrific performance. It's not just the visual and physical stuff either: he shows us all sides of Wiseau's character here, from the bizarre to the unpleasant, and there are even moments when he cuts a tragic figure, such as when we see Wiseau at his lowest points after being completely rejected or facing the prospect of being alone after Greg wants to move out, and we feel genuine sympathy for him. Wiseau is a comical figure and Franco is absolutely hilarious here, but it's important that he's not mocking him with this performance. This is echoed in the overall tone of the film, which I'll talk about shortly.

 

As I mentioned, Dave Franco also puts in an excellent performance as Greg. While the film is dominated by Tommy (and James Franco's performance), this is arguably Greg's story - it's told through his eyes, it's about how he met Tommy, about how Tommy convinced him to shoot for their dream of acting, and about his experience during the awkward and unusual shoot for The Room. Greg is a much more sympathetic character than Tommy - he's a bit naive, and lonely, but he's trusting, and he sees something in Tommy that other people can't. The two formed a genuine bond in real life which (despite the ups and downs we see in the film) they maintain to this day, and Franco's performance makes it very clear just how important it was for Greg to find a friend like Tommy.

The rest of the supporting cast all do very well. Seth Rogen has a very untaxing role as Sandy, the exasperated script supervisor on the crew of The Room who cannot believe Tommy's bizarre behaviour, but he plays it well and gets a lot of laughs from his reactions to Tommy. Alison Brie has a small supporting role as Greg's girlfriend Amber, which is far below a woman of her talent but she provides warmth whenever she's on screen, and she's the setup for a cameo from Bryan Cranstone. It was also amusing to see Josh Hutcherson and Zac Efron in small roles, particularly Efron who, as the character "Chris-R", basically just had to yell "Where's my money you cocksucking motherfucker!" over and over again.

A quick mention must be made to James Franco's direction here as well. This is a confident, well-shot film and the attention to detail that he's paid is astounding. The film goes to great lengths to recreate key scenes from The Room, not just in performance but also in sets, lighting, framing, music, so much so that at the beginning of the credits we're treated to a series of clips where scenes from The Room are played next to their equivalent scenes in The Disaster Artist, and it's uncanny just how accurate they are.

Ultimately, what makes the film work so well is that this isn't a mockery of The Room. While the film is incredibly funny, and pokes fun at The Room and at Wiseau and his persona and acting, it's done in a good-natured way and isn't done for cruelty. What the film is, is a celebration of the bonds of friendship and the act of chasing your dream, regardless of what the results of that dream are. Great affection is shown here for Wiseau's passion and determination, despite his bizarre nature, and it's clear that the message that Franco is trying to get across here is that while it's okay to laugh at The Room and at Wiseau and Sestero, these are two people who took a chance to make their dream happen, and that deserves your respect.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
The irony is strong here as one of the best films of the year is the chronicle of one of the worst ever made. This is a terrific film, with an astonishingly good central performance from James Franco who directs with strength as well. Supported by an excellent performance from his brother Dave Franco, this film both pokes good-natured fun at The Room and celebrates the passion that brought it to life. Essential viewing.

Video Game Review: Assassin's Creed Origins

Walk like an Egyptian

Assassin's Creed Origins (2017)

Format: PS4/Xbox One/PC (Reviewed on PS4)

Publisher: Ubisoft

Developer: Ubisoft Montreal

What is it: The latest instalment in Ubisoft's successful, open-world action-adventure Assassin's Creed series. This game takes the series further back in history than ever before, to Egypt in 48BC and chronicles the events that led to the formation of the Assassin Brotherhood. You play as Bayek, a skilled Medjay (a sort of Sheriff) on a quest for revenge after his young son is killed by five masked men who have designs to control and enslave the country. Players travel around Egypt, exploring, seeking out and killing the masked men in a story that sees Bayek discover the larger conspiracy behind their plot, even help Cleopatra re-take the throne from her brother Ptolemy XIII.

Review: This is the tenth main game in the Assassin's Creed series and it arrives following a year's break from what had become an annual release - following the shocking technical bugs of 2014's Unity, and the concern of the ageing gameplay in 2015's Syndicate, Ubisoft wisely allowed the team developing Origins an additional year to produce the best possible game, rather than stick to the annual release schedule and risk another inferior one. The results are excellent - this is a well-polished, exciting game that's one of the best of the series so far.

Now, that isn't to say that this is a radical departure from the series - this is very much an Assassin's Creed game, sharing the same core structure and gameplay as we've seen countless times. If you've played any of the previous games, you'll instantly be familiar with the parkour mechanics that govern how you explore and assassinate your enemies, and the structure of many of the missions. What the extra development time has allowed is the creation of an epic story and a vast gameplay environment which, combined with some gameplay tweaks which I'll mention shortly, make the experience feel fully fresh again. You also get a lot of gameplay for your money - opening the map for the first time and seeing the sheer size of the game environment can be daunting, especially when zooming down into each area reveals a vast amount of side-quests and activities to discover. As well as the main story there's plenty to keep you occupied, including chariot racing and arena combat, and completionists will be kept happy for some time as they seek out every optional activity. The game itself is beautiful to look at - this is probably the best looking game of the series, with great attention to detail paid to the location and time period. Being able to climb up to the top of a pyramid while the sun sets behind you is really something.

The main story is really terrific, an emotional tale of revenge that follows a logical path around the various areas of Egypt as Bayek pursues the men responsible for the death of his son. It quickly develops as Bayek discovers those five men are only the beginning, the bottom rung of a larger group known as The Order (precursors of the Templars in the wider AC story). Along with his wife Aya, a bad-ass woman who's also a Medjay and burning for revenge, they seek out the remaining group members and become the foundation of the Assassin Brotherhood, but at great personal cost. It's an engaging story that only has one real flaw, and that's that the final act feels quite rushed - the final three members of The Order are revealed and dealt with far too quickly for my liking. The game does tie in the to wider AC story by featuring the Apple of Eden and vaults of the Precursors, who speak about events players will recognise from previous games, and there are short breaks where the player is transported to the present to take control of Layla, an Abstergo employee using a new portable Animus to experience Bayek's memories. These short sequences move the present-day story on (and even ret-con the events of the rather terrible Assassin's Creed film into the game) and, while largely uneventful, provide welcome breathing space from the main story.

One of the changes that have been made to the gameplay concerns stealth. In the previous games, all of the assassins have had "Eagle Vision", a kind of blurry view mode where they're able to identify their targets in a crowd via coloured auras. Origins features, well, the origin of this - Bayek has an actual eagle called Senu who dutifully follows him around. Players can summon her at any time by pressing up on the d-pad, whereupon they're transported up in the air to Senu and can move her around and visually pick out and mark targets from above - these marks remain when you jump back to Bayek, making infiltration into heavily guarded areas and picking your route to an assassination target incredibly satisfying. It also gives an extra layer of challenge to sequences when Senu isn't available, e.g. exploring tombs beneath the pyramids.

Combat has had a big shake-up, and it's a welcome change. Previous games featured a basic combat system that prompted players to just block and then use a counter ability for an instant kill. The combat here is much more fluid and it has to be said, more difficult, as there's no counter ability and you have to carefully choose when to attack and when to block. Specific limbs of your opponents can be targeted, and the addition of a shield to your arsenal really changes things up. Players have an adrenaline meter that fills up as you land or block attacks, and once filled can be used to unleash a powerful move that can result in an instant (and brutal) kill.

A loot system has also been introduced to the game. Players have the option of using four different kinds of bows for ranged combat and a wide range of different melee weapons for close combat, and these weapons can either be found in loot chests or dropped as rewards from enemies. Weapons can range in quality from common to legendary, with increasingly beneficial perks on the rarer versions, and they can all be upgraded at blacksmiths meaning that if you find a weapon you particularly like, you can hang on to it for the duration of the game by continually upgrading it. I was particularly fond of a legendary pair of dual blades I found quite early into the game - you lose the ability to use your shield with them equipped, but you strike incredibly quickly and look stylish as fuck as you do so. Shields, outfits and mounts can also be found and similarly range from common to legendary. The game features a truly vast skill tree which is unlocked as you level up, and you can tailor these unlocks to suit your play style - if you prefer using your bows, you can unlock all the hunter upgrades first that benefit them. It's entirely up to you.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
A terrific return to form for the Assassin's Creed series. While the core gameplay is essentially the same, the changes that have been made are enough to make it feel fresh again. Beautifully presented and with a strong, engaging story, this is a fantastic game that will satisfy both fans of the series and newcomers. 2017 has been a strong year for video games and Assassin's Creed Origins stands among the best of them.