Iron Man 3

I’ve seen this movie a while ago but I haven’t had the time to write about it so I will just leave the plot for the movie here.

In a flashback, Tony Stark recalls a New Years Eve party in 1999 with scientist Maya Hansen, inventor of Extremis, an experimental regenerative treatment intended to allow its users to recover from crippling injuries. They are approached by crippled scientist Aldrich Killian, who offers them a place in his company Advanced Idea Mechanics, but Stark arrogantly rebuffs him.
In the present day, some time after The Avengers, Stark’s experiences during that film are causing him great anxiety, and he has built several Iron Man suits, creating friction with his girlfriend Pepper Potts. Global tensions also run high in the wake a string of bombings by terrorist the Mandarin, which have left intelligence agencies bewildered by their lack of forensic evidence. When Stark Industries security chief Happy Hogan is caught in one such attack, Stark overcomes his stupor and issues a televised threat to the Mandarin, who responds by destroying Tony’s home with helicopter gunships. Pepper and Maya, who had come to warn Tony, survive the attack. Tony then finds himself in rural Tennesseeafter his artificial intelligence JARVIS follows a flight plan from Tony’s investigation into the Mandarin. Tony’s experimental armor lacks sufficient power to return to California, and the world believes him dead.
Teaming with Harley, a precocious 10-year-old boy, Tony investigates the remains of a local explosion bearing the hallmarks of a Mandarin attack. He discovers the “bombings” were triggered by soldiers who had been subjected to Maya’s Extremis virus, which in its still-imperfect state causes certain subjects to explosively reject it. After veterans started growing unstable and exploding, their deaths were used to cover up Extremis’ flaws by manufacturing a terrorist plot. Tony witnesses Extremis firsthand when Mandarin agents Ellen Brandt and Eric Savin attack him.
With Harley’s help, Tony traces the Mandarin to Miami and infiltrates his headquarters using a variety of home-made weapons. Inside he discovers the Mandarin is actually a British actor named Trevor Slattery, who is oblivious to the acts carried out in his name. The Mandarin is a creation of Killian, who appropriated Maya’s Extremis research as a cure for his own disability and expanded the program to include injured war veterans. Killian reveals he is the true Mandarin and has kidnapped Pepper and subjected her to Extremis, intending to infuse her with superhuman abilities and turn her against Tony as leverage to gain Tony’s aid in fixing Extremis’s flaws.
Killian has also manipulated American intelligence agencies regarding the Mandarin’s location, luring James Rhodes — the former War Machine, now re-branded as the Iron Patriot — into a trap to steal the armor. Tony escapes his captivity and reunites with Rhodes, discovering that Killian intends to attack President Ellis aboard Air Force One. Remotely controlling his Iron Man armor, Tony saves the surviving passengers and crew but cannot stop Killian from abducting Ellis. They trace Killian to an impounded oil drilling platform where Killian intends to kill Ellis on live television. The Vice President will become a puppet leader, following Killian’s orders in exchange for Extremis to cure a little girl’s disability.
On the platform, Tony goes to save Pepper, and Rhodes saves the President. Tony summons each of his Iron Man suits, controlled remotely by JARVIS, to provide air support. Rhodes secures the President and leads him to safety, while Tony discovers Pepper has survived the Extremis procedure. However, before he can save her, a rig collapses around them and she falls to her apparent death. Tony is forced into confronting Killian and traps him in an Iron Man suit that self-destructs, but fails to kill him. Pepper, whose Extremis powers allowed her to survive her fall, intervenes and finishes Killian once and for all.
After the battle, Tony orders JARVIS to destroy each Iron Man suit remotely, as a sign of his intention to devote more time to Pepper. The Vice President and Slattery are arrested. Pepper undergoes surgery to remove the Extremis effects, while Tony augments his own body with a modified version of the Extremis virus in order to remove the shrapnel embedded near his heart. He pitches his obsolete chest arc reactor into the sea, musing he will always be Iron Man, even without his armor.
In a post-credits scene, it is revealed that Stark has been recounting his experiences to Dr. Bruce Banner, who awakens, having fallen asleep at the beginning of Tony’s story.

Just want to say that Iron Man 3 is the perfect follow up for The Avengers and the way Tony reacts is perfectly understandable.

That final battle was fantastic and the Mandarin twist was totally unexpected.

It’s going to be difficult for the other Phase 2 movies to top this and even The Avengers 2 will have a hard time competing against Iron Man 3.

Spartacus

Spartacus premiered in January 2010 and ended in April 2013 after 3 seasons and a mini-series prequel.

Spartacus was created by Steven S. DeKnight and Robert Tapert for Starz channel.

The show became famous for its fights and the use of slow motion, blood, nude and sex scenes and strong language. Personally I think this things help to make the show feel more honest and true to its premiss.

Blood and Sands:

The story begins with an unnamed Thracian’s involvement in a campaign against the Getae (Dacian tribes, in what today is Romania) under the command of the legatus, Claudius Glaber. In 72–71 BC, Roman general Marcus Terentius Varro Lucullus, proconsul of the Roman province of Macedonia, marched against the Getae, allies of Rome’s enemy, Mithridates VI of Pontus. The Getae frequently raid the Thracians’ lands to the south, so the Thracians are persuaded by Glaber to enlist in the Romans’ service as auxiliaries. Glaber, persuaded by his wife Ilithyia to seek greater glory, decides to break off the Getae campaign in order to confront the forces of Mithridates in Asia Minor. The Thracian preferring to protect his homeland as promised, feels betrayed and leads a mutiny against Glaber, but returns to find his village in flames. The Thracian finds his wife Sura, but they are captured by a vengeful Glaber the next day; the Thracian is condemned to die in the gladiator arena, while Sura is condemned to slavery.
The Thracian is shipped to Capua in Italy, a center of gladiator training. Against all odds he slays the four gladiators appointed to execute him in the arena and becomes an instant sensation with the crowd. Senator Albinius commutes the punishment from death to slavery. The prisoner’s true name unknown, Lentulus Batiatus, the owner of a ludus in Capua, suggests to name him “Spartacus”, because he fought like the ferocious Thracian king of that name. Noting well the Thracian’s fierce raw talent and popularity with the masses, Batiatus purchases him for training within the walls of his ludus under the tutelage of the doctore (or instructor) Oenomaus, a former gladiator and fellow slave. He is befriended by Varro, a Roman who sold himself into slavery to pay his debts and support his family. He is harassed by more senior gladiators, notably Crixus, an undefeated Gaul, and Barca, a Carthaginian. Spartacus soon learns that Sura was sold to a Syrian slave trader. Batiatus, who has been unable to control Spartacus during his first days of training, returns a makeshift garter of hers, and promises to find Sura and reunite them in exchange for his cooperation in the arena.
After many near-fatal ordeals and much further training Spartacus attains the status of a living legend and is named the “Champion of Capua”. Batiatus arranges the purchase of Sura, but she is delivered mortally wounded, supposedly having been waylaid by bandits en route. Her murder was secretly ordered by Batiatus to keep Spartacus loyal and focused. Spartacus casts off his heritage as a Thracian and forgets his dream of freedom, becoming content with life as champion.
The turning point comes when Spartacus is set to fight his only friend in the ludus, Varro, in an exhibition match celebrating the coming to manhood of the Capua magistrate’s son, Numerius. Ilithyia, who has hated Spartacus since he embarrassed her husband Glaber by his mutiny, seduces the young man and convinces him to demand death for the loser of the match. Spartacus wins (as expected), and when the young man gives the “thumbs down”, Batiatus, wishing to ingratiate himself with the boy’s powerful father, forces Spartacus to comply and kill Varro. Suffering from both a wound received during the match and his remorse over having to kill his friend, Spartacus has feverish dreams that lead him to suspect that Batiatus arranged Sura’s death. He is later able to confirm his suspicions. Knowing that it is all or nothing when it comes to resistance of his enslavement, he resolves to “kill them all” and lead a revolt against the ruling house he once fought for.
In order to get his revenge, Spartacus enlists the help of Crixus and the rest of the gladiators to defeat the house of Batiatus once and for all. A battle to the death between Crixus and Spartacus is arranged for the Capuan elite at the ludus. The doctore, Oenomaus, confronts Batiatus about Barca’s death and Ashur’s hand in it. Spartacus gains support from Mira, who agrees to surreptitiously open the gate to the villa from the training area. Crixus initially refuses to aid Spartacus in the hope of being reunited with Naevia. However, after learning during the fight that he has been deliberately drugged to ensure Spartacus’ victory, he helps Spartacus get within reach of Batiatus. At the first attack, the doctore Oenomaus prevents Spartacus from killing the lanista. In the ensuing chaos, the gladiators kill the guards and some guests. Crixus persuades Oenomaus to join him with Spartacus; Illithyia flees and orders her guards to protect her by sealing off part of the ludus. Oenomaus, fulfilling his word, tries to kill Ashur, but Ashur barely manages to escape. Crixus grievously wounds Batiatus’ wife, Lucretia, with a sword stab to her abdomen, piercing her womb and killing their unborn child. Aurelia kills Numerius after revealing to him that Varro was her husband and Spartacus finally kills Batiatus in front of the seriously wounded Lucretia. After the massacre, Spartacus vows to make “Rome tremble”.

In Blood and Sands we see how Spartacus started and the fall of the House of Batiatus.

Andy Whitfield is fantastic as Spartacus and the cast includes great actors like Lucy Lawless, John Hannah, Manu Bennett and Craig Parker among others.

The characters were interesting. They were all explored and we end up getting to know them pretty well. One thing I liked is how the writers weren’t afraid of killing people that off when necessary.

The show had great moments but the climax at the last episode “Kill Them All” is my favourite.

Gods of the Arena:

The mini-series features the bloody history of the House of Batiatus and the city of Capua before the arrival of Spartacus. Quintus Lentulus Batiatus becomes a lanista (manager) when he takes over his father’s ludus of gladiators. He has ambitions of stepping out of his father’s shadow by seeking recognition for his own name and achieving greatness for his house. By his side stands his beautiful wife Lucretia who will help her husband achieve his goal no matter what the cost. Batiatus puts all his fortunes on the man who will gain him fame and glory, his best gladiator, the Celt, Gannicus; a skilled warrior who wields his swords in the arena as if it were his last day alive; however, those who oppose Batiatus and his future champion(s) of Capua plot against him only to fail.
Purchased as an undisciplined and disheveled recruit in the first episode, Crixus the Gaul endures mockery and threats of death to become the greatest gladiator in the house after Gannicus. As Batiatus fends off repeated attempts by his professional rival Tullius to obtain Gannicus, his relationships with his father Titus and friend Solonius begin to suffer the strain of Quintus’ relentless ambition. Former champion gladiator Oenomaus reluctantly retires from combat to become Doctore, while Syrian recruits Ashur and Dagan become fierce enemies as Ashur tries to prove himself worthy of being a gladiator. Veteran gladiators Barca and Gannicus accept the rising star of Crixus but fear that their own careers will suffer, as the machinations of Batiatus and Lucretia to court Capua’s elite end in tragedy for several members of the household. Against all of this, the city’s splendid new arena nears completion and with it the opening games that will make men into gods. When the arena opens, Solonius’ and Batiatus’ gladiators compete with each other. Batiatus’ gladiators prevail in the contest. Gannicus again proves himself to be the champion of Capua and the god of the arena. By virtue of his win against Solonius’ gladiators, he gains his freedom and Crixus becomes the new champion of Capua.

With the health problems of Andy Whitfield the creators of Spartacus decided to make a prequel to the show to let Andy recover from his cancer.

Gannicus is the opposite of Spartacus, enjoying the fights, sex and wine. We also get to see how Crixus became the champion of Capua.

Vengeance:

After the bloody escape from the House of Batiatus that concluded Spartacus: Blood and Sand, the gladiator rebellion begins to strike fear into the heart of the Roman Republic in Spartacus: Vengeance. Praetor Claudius Glaber and his Roman troops are sent to Capua to crush Spartacus’ growing band of freed slaves before they can inflict further damage. Spartacus is given a choice between satisfying his personal need for vengeance against the man who condemned his wife to slavery and eventual death, or making the larger sacrifices necessary to keep his budding army from breaking apart.

With the death of Andy Whitfield, Liam McIntyre was cast as Spartacus. I think it was a great choice for the role and he looks more threatening which suits the show but he is capable of showing emotion when needed.

Vengeance brings the show away from the arenas and gives new depth to the fights. We also see the arena of Capua burning down.

We see the number of rebels increase. In “Sacramentum” we see Spartacus and Agron rescuing a group of slaves from a ship that turned out to be Germans like Agron. That brought even more tension between the rebels since Crixus fears that these new rebels will follow Agron and not Spartacus.

I didn’t like Lucretias ending that much but watching Glaber being killed by Spartacus and Naevia decapitating Ashur was fun.

War of the Damned:

This season follows the final struggle between Spartacus and Marcus Licinius Crassus. Crassus pursues Spartacus as he struggles to feed his ever growing army of former slaves. Spartacus wins several victories against Crassus’ forces and continues to frustrate the Romans. The series culminates in a direct all out battle between Spartacus and Crassus.

During War of the Damned we see a constant battle between Spartacus and Crassus but also between Spartacus and Crixus culminating in a separation of the two in “Separate Paths” with Crixus going directly to Rome defeating several of roman army’s until being defeated by Crassus forces. In this battle we see Crixus being decapitated by Crassus son Tiberius, Agron is crucified alive (he is later sent back to the rebels camp) and Naevia is sent back with Crixus head as a message to Spartacus.
The final episode was one of the best of the entire series:

With discipline and morale among his followers breaking down, Spartacus turns his forces to face Crassus in a final last stand against the combined legions of Rome climaxing the slave revolt at the Battle of the Siler River. Prior to the battle, Spartacus meets privately with Crassus and the two come to a mutual understanding, but both agree to fight each other to the death on the battle field. Spartacus also reveals to Crassus that Kore killed Tiberius. Spartacus gives a final speech to his remaining rebels, and Agron creates a sword that will allow him to fight despite the critical wounds he sustained in the previous episode. In the beginning of the battle Spartacus and the rebels manage to kill several Romans, but Lugo is killed by a flaming projectile. A roman rider kills Castus who dies in Nasir and Agron’s arms. Saxa is fatally wounded by several Romans and dies in Gannicus’ arms after killing those Romans. Naevia and Caesar then battle, and Caesar slits her throat before killing her with a grin on his face. Caesar and Gannicus then battle. Gannicus wounds Caesar, but is surrounded and defeated by Caesar’s soldiers. Spartcus and Crassus engage in a bloody battle. Spartcus manages to defeat Crassus after the two exchange severe blows, but is mortally wounded by three Roman soldiers who appear behind him and impale him with spears. Agron then arrives and transports Spartacus away from the battle ground. Pompey arrives and steals credit for defeating Spartacus’s army. Gannicus is crucified and Crassus crucifies Kore next to him due to her association with the rebels. Spartacus dies in Agron’s arms and is buried under a red serpent shield.

Everybody knew when the series started that Spartacus and his army would be defeated and killed at the end and they make it happen in the best way possible. I also like the fact that Agron lived since he was one of my favourites since season 2.

Spartacus did something that a lot of other shows should try to copy. Spartacus told a story from the beggining to the end and didn’t lost they’re focus. Other shows in other networks would go and invent new plot lines to extend the show and give it 2 or 3 more seasons but Starz did the right thing and kept it short. Think of what Heroes or Prison Break could have been if they weren’t afraid of killing important characters and end the show sooner and with a high note.

Jurassic Park 3

“Evolve or Die.”

Jurassic Park 3 is by far the worst of the 3.

Steven Spielberg gave the direction of this movie to Joe Johnston and I still can’t understand why.

Here’s the plot from Wikipedia:

Incidents surrounding Isla Sorna don’t deter tourists Ben Hildebrand and Eric Kirby from parasailing around the island despite warnings, but when their boat crashes, Ben cuts them from their line and they go sailing into the wilderness.
Meanwhile, Dr. Alan Grant has become famous from his survival and reporting of his discoveries on Isla Nublar, and Ellie Sattler, never marrying Alan, is married to lawyer Mark Delger and has a son Charlie, who calls Alan “The Dinosaur Man.” One afternoon, Alan’s assistant Billy is able to replicate the larynx of a Velociraptor which he says indicates raptors are far more intelligent than Alan and Billy had previously been led to believe. Being approached by a couple Paul and Amanda Kirby, who offer full funding for their dig, Alan hesitantly agrees to give them a tour of Isla Sorna and Billy attends. With the Kirbys’ associates, Udesky, Cooper and their pilot Nash, Alan learns that they plan to land on the island. When Alan objects, he is knocked out by Cooper, only to awaken to the sound of Amanda calling out to someone on the island using a bullhorn. This attracts a Spinosaurus and Cooper manages to lead it into the path of the plane before he is devoured. The Spinosaurus then attacks the plane and manages to eat Nash while destroying the tail and sending it crashing into a tree. As they continue to escape, aTyrannosaurus appears and the humans escape in the fray before the Spinosaurus manages to snap the T. rex’s neck. After finding Ben’s remains in a para sail trapped in a tree and seeing a video of his and Eric’s final descent onto the island, the Kirbys explain they’re actually a divorced couple looking for their son, Eric. Their fortune is fake, and Alan’s grim perspective of Eric’s fate paints a sad portrait; Udesky and Grant become separated from the others when they’re attacked by Velociraptors and Udesky is killed by them after being used as live bait, proving their intelligence. Alan is rescued by Eric, who has managed to survive for several weeks in an overturned supply truck, clearly impressing Alan. Eric recognizes the sound of his father’s satellite phone which was lost when Nash was eaten; they’re reunited with the Kirbys and Billy before the Spinosaurus attacks again. Narrowly escaping, they make their way to the site compound in the hopes of finding communications equipment, but find nothing but broken test tubes and shut down equipment.
Billy becomes possessive of his satchel, and when Alan looks he realizes Billy had taken two eggs from the raptors’ nest, explaining the reason they were being attacked. Alan berates Billy for his careless behavior, comparing him to nothing more than InGen. They make their way to a large outdoor complex which turns out to be a bird cage for a Pteranodon which attack the group and separates Eric, taking him to be eaten by their young. Billy uses the remnants of Ben’s para sail and rescues Eric, shortly before he falls into the river below, then is attacked and apparently killed by a group of Pteranodons. The group find their way out of the cage and make their way up river using a small boat, soon retrieving the satellite phone from the deposit left by the Spinosaurus. It attacks and capsizes the boat as Alan is trying to contact Ellie, but he manages to tell her “The River, Site B” before he’s disconnected. Alan and Paul manage to drive off the Spinosaurus and they start making their way toward the shoreline. Close to their goal, they’re surrounded by raptors who see Amanda as a female and a threat to their clutch. Using Billy’s resonant chamber replica, they manage to communicate with the raptors and Amanda returns the stolen eggs before they’re startled off by the sounds of helicopters. Returning to the beach, they find that Ellie had called in the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Navy to rescue them. And they discover that Billy, while critically injured, is still alive. As they depart the island, they see a group of Pteranodon that had escaped from their cage after the humans are now flying free, and Alan recounts that it’s time for them to find their place in the world again.

Nothing in this movie seems to work starting with the script.

There were so many different dictions to take and they chose the worst of them. The second worst actually since in the commentaries on the BluRay disc Joe says the original idea involved 2 planes, one with adults and the other with kids going near the island until the one with the kids would fall on the island but because of timing they had to rewrite the script.

There are a few other moments that don’t work in the movie like the Spinosaurus heating a phone that still rings inside of him or Billy appearing in the helicopter having being rescued before the others despite being deeper into the island inside a giant bird cage filled with Pterosaurus that were trying to eat him.

The dinosaurs are one of the things that disappoint me the most in this movie.

Starting with the T-Rex that where the fans favourite for the past two movies to only appear for a minute and die at the hands of the Spinosaurus who looks fake in most of the shots during. One of the problems with having a Spinosaurus in the movie is that there wheren’t any in previous movies and according to Alan there’s no mention of them in InGen’s records. Where did he came from? We never got the answer to that.

The Velociraptors have apparently evolve. Unfortunately not in a good way. Not only they look weird with those things in their head but the whole thing about them talking to each other is just not right for the movie. How did they evolve so much from the second movie to the third?

I seriously hope they have a good script for the fourth movie and stop messing with the dinosaurs style.

The Lost World: Jurassic Park

“Something as survived.”

The Lost World is a 1997 movie directed by Steven Spielberg following the success of the first Jurassic Park movie.

I’ve seen this movie when it first came out but unlike the first one I found that I didn’t keep almost any memories from this one. I honestly though the scene with the T-Rex in San Diego was at the beginning of either the 2nd or 3rd movie.

Here’s the plot from Wikipedia:

Four years after the incident at Jurassic Park, a wealthy British couple and their daughter hold a picnic on Isla Sorna. The girl wanders off and is attacked and injured by a pack of Compsognathus.
Ian Malcolm publicized the incident at Jurassic Park, but disbelief has destroyed his academic reputation, and legal action has prevented him from getting any evidence. John Hammond, having lost control of InGen to his unscrupulous nephew, Peter Ludlow, and as a result of the family’s accident, summons Ian to his home and tells him about Isla Sorna.Isla Sorna, also known as “Site B”, is the island where the dinosaurs were engineered and nurtured for a few months, before being moved to Isla Nublar, the park’s location. He explains that after Jurassic Park was shut down, a hurricane destroyed the containment facilities on Isla Sorna, and the dinosaurs have been living free in the wild ever since. Hammond asks Malcolm to join a team that will travel to Site B to document the dinosaurs in their natural habitat to rally public support and prevent Ludlow from exploiting the site for InGen and leave it as a nature preserve. Ian initially refuses, but agrees after learning that his girlfriend, paleontologist Sarah Harding, is part of the team and is already there, while the others will meet her after three days.
Ian meets the team of people he will join with: equipment specialist and engineer Eddie Carr, and documentary producer Nick Van Owen. Shortly after arriving on the island, they find Sarah and discover that Ian’s daughter, Kelly, has stowed away on the trailer. Ian tries to get Kelly home, but they’re interrupted by the arrival of an InGen team of mercenaries, hunters, and paleontologists led by Ludlow, which they spot chasing and capturing several dinosaur species such as Parasaurolophus, Pachycephalosaurus, Gallimimus and Mamenchisaurus, for another park in San Diego. Tracker Roland Tembo wishes to hunt and kill an adult male Tyrannosaurus by luring it to the cries of its injured offspring. That night, Nick and Sarah sneak into the InGen camp to free the dinosaurs, which causes a huge commotion as a Triceratops destroys the camp and the dinosaurs escape.
During the commotion, Nick frees the baby Tyrannosaurus and takes it to the trailer so Sarah can set its broken leg. Ian takes Kelly to the high hide, a lift Eddie built to keep them safe above the trees. Ian, after trying and failing to contact the trailer via phone, returns on foot. Shortly after he arrives, two adult Tyrannosaurus find the trailer. The team gives the infant back, but the two adults begin pushing the trailer over the cliff with the team inside. Eddie leaves Kelly in the “high hide” and returns to the trailer in one of the SUVs. With the adults temporarily gone, Eddie is able to tie a rope to a tree trunk and send it down to Ian, Sarah, and Nick to grab onto. Eddie then ties a cable to the trailer to pull it back over the edge. He partially succeeds, but is attacked and eaten when the Tyrannosaurus return. The trailer and the SUV fall off the cliff, but Ian, Sarah, and Nick are rescued by the InGen team. With both groups’ communications equipment destroyed in the attacks, they team up to reach the old InGen compound’s radio station.
Roland’s deputy Dieter Stark is attacked and killed by a pack of Compsognathus, His friend Carter fails to hear his screams because he was listening to headphones. At night, the two Tyrannosaurs come across the group’s camp, having followed the scent of the infant’s blood on Sarah’s jacket. The female pokes its head inside Sarah and Kelly’s tent while they hide under their sleeping bags. Carter awakens, and shouts upon seeing the Tyrannosaurs, causing the entire camp to awaken and run away, while Malcolm stays low and hides. The female gives chase to the camp, while Roland stays behind and manages to tranquilize the male. Carter is trampled to death by the female, and the rest of the group disbands into the thick trees, with Sarah, Kelly, Nick, and Burke hiding in a waterfall. A snake crawls into Burke’s shirt, causing him to panic, and he stumbles too close to the Tyrannosaur, allowing it to grab him and eat him. The rest of the team, including Roland’s hunting partner Ajay, exit the thick trees into a field of tall grass near the compound, and are killed by a large pack of Velociraptors. Ian meets back up with Nick, Sarah, and Kelly, and they continue on toward the compound, along the way finding Ajay’s bag containing the support team’s radio frequency. Upon reaching the compound, Nick breaks off to find the communications room, and Ian, Sarah and Kelly are attacked by three raptors, and take refuge in a shed. After barely escaping from them, they reunite with Nick and fly away in a rescue helicopter. While flying away, they spot the caged adult Tyrannosaurus and Ludlow preparing to ship it and its baby back to the mainland.
A cargo ship carries the Tyrannosaurus back to the mainland, but, upon reaching San Diego, crashes into the dock. Ludlow and several guards investigate the boat and find the crew dead. A guard opens the cargo hold, thinking there might be some crew members below, inadvertently releasing the Tyrannosaurus, which escapes into the city and goes on a rampage, smashing cars and causing damage to buildings while terrorizing civilians fleeing from the chaos. Realizing that the creature will likely come for its infant, Ian and Sarah learn from Ludlow that the infant is already at the park. They rush to the park to get the baby, and use it to lure the adult back to the boat. When they arrive, Ludlow calls a helicopter to kill the adult Tyrannosaurus. Ian and Sarah leave the infant in the cargo hold leave, after which Ludlow goes on the ship himself to retrieve it. The adult arrives while he is still on board, trapping him in the cargo hold and injuring him as he tries to escape. The infant leaps on him and kills him while the adult watches. Sarah finds the transport crew’s tranquilizer gun, and sedates the adult Tyrannosaurus before the helicopter shooter can kill it, while Ian seals the cargo hold doors.
The next day, Ian, Sarah and Kelly watch television reports of the cargo ship on its way back to Isla Sorna, surrounded by a convoy of naval vessels. During the program, they see an interview with Hammond, who explains that the American and Costa Rican governments have agreed to declare the island a nature preserve so the dinosaurs can live free of human interference, and adds “Life will find a way,” paraphrasing something Malcolm told him on Isla Nublar four years earlier.

Like I said I didn’t remember much from this movie and I tought it would have something to do with the can that Nedry stole in the first movie.

The story for this movie doesn’t seem as plausible as the first movie and some situations seem forced.
The entire scene in the caravan with the T-Rex’s pushing them off the cliff doesn’t work that well for me.

Some of the actors are good but the most of seem out of place.

Visually the movie improves what the first had done. Everything looks great particularly the little “Combys” and the whole scene with the T-Rex in San Diego.

The Lost World looses to the original because of a much weaker story.

BioShock Infinite

“Give us the girl and wipe away the debt”

After Rapture, Columbia.

BioShock series started in a city under water called Rapture and after 2 games there we go to a city in the sky called Columbia.

I played the first 2 games on a PC and now I played Infinite on my PS3. I find it easier to play with the controller than the combination of keyboard and mouse.

Lets start with the plot for the games history:

In 1912, Booker DeWitt is hired by the Lutece twins to recover a girl from the floating city of Columbia in exchange for eliminating a debt, stating “give us the girl and wipe away the debt”. He is taken to an island lighthouse off the coast of Maine; the structure houses a rocket silo which transports Booker to Columbia.
Booker’s presence in Columbia goes unnoticed until a citizen identifies the letters “AD” branded on Booker’s hand, a sign of the False Shepherd that Comstock prophecised would corrupt Elizabeth and bring about Columbia’s downfall. Now a wanted man, Booker fights his way to Monument Island where Elizabeth is held within a tower, discovering a large device called the Siphon. After freeing Elizabeth, Songbird attacks and destroys part of the statue, and Booker and Elizabeth narrowly escape with their lives. The pair work towards the aerodrome, planning on taking an airship to Paris, a city Elizabeth has always wanted to see. When Booker directs the ship to New York City with the intention of delivering Elizabeth, she knocks him out. He awakes to find the airship under the control of the Vox Populi and their leader, Daisy Fitzroy. Fitzroy offers to return the ship if Booker recovers a shipment of weapons from the slums of Columbia.

Booker rejoins with Elizabeth and they venture deeper into the city. While Elizabeth uses her ability to manipulate tears to aid their journey, she grows disturbed by the consequences of manipulating reality. One tear leads them to a world where Booker has become a martyr for the Vox Populi cause, leading to open warfare between the Vox Populi and Columbia’s Founders. This universe’s Fitzroy believes that this Booker undermines her Booker’s sacrifice, threatening to weaken the Vox Populi cause, and so turns her forces against him. Elizabeth is forced to kill Fitzroy when she threatens to execute a Founder boy.
As they prepare to leave Columbia by airship, Songbird attacks and they crash back to Columbia. While continuing their search for escape, they begin to unravel a conspiracy behind the founding of the city. Comstock had taken Elizabeth as his adoptive daughter to groom her as the city’s leader. He had the Lutece twins construct the Siphon to subdue her powers, before plotting their murderer along with that of his wife to conceal the truth, blaming their deaths on the Vox Populi. Elizabeth is captured by Songbird and taken to Comstock’s mansion. Booker follows but is drawn into the future by an elderly Elizabeth who has suffered years of torture and brainwashing in Booker’s absence, revealing that Songbird always stops his rescue attempts; she has inherited Comstock’s cause and wages war on the world below. She implores Booker to stop this future from coming to pass, offering him the means to control Songbird.
Booker is returned to the present and rescues Elizabeth, and the pair pursue Comstock to his airship. Comstock demands that Booker explain why Elizabeth is missing a finger. Booker becomes enraged and drowns Comstock. Booker denies knowledge about Elizabeth’s finger but she asserts that he knows, but does not remember. Booker decides to destroy the Siphon so she can access her full power and learn the truth. With Songbird under their control, the pair fend off a Vox Populi attack, before ordering Songbird to destroy the Siphon. When the device Booker used to control Songbird is destroyed, it attempts to attack him. Elizabeth opens a tear, transporting the three of them to an underwater city; Booker and Elizabeth remain safe inside, but Songbird appears outside and is crushed by the water pressure.
Elizabeth takes Booker to this reality’s surface and lighthouse. They travel through the building’s door to a place outside space and time containing countless lighthouses and alternate versions of Booker and Elizabeth. Elizabeth explains that they are within one of an infinite number of possible realities both similar and drastically different due to choices that have been made. She shows that some time prior to 1900, Robert Lutece approached Booker on behalf of Comstock, requesting that he “give us the girl and wipe away the debt”, referring to Booker’s infant daughter, Anna DeWitt – Booker’s “AD” branding. Booker reluctantly agrees to sell Anna but soon changes his mind. He arrives too late to stop Comstock escaping through a tear; the closing of the tear severed the child’s finger, and through this, gave her the ability to open tears. Comstock subsequently raised Anna as Elizabeth, his daughter. Later, Robert, angry at Elizabeth’s treatment and Comstock’s betrayal, convinces Rosalind to help him bring Booker to the reality where Columbia exists to rescue Elizabeth.

Elizabeth explains that whatever actions Booker makes against Comstock, Comstock will still remain alive in at least one of these universes; the Luteces have tried to enlist a Booker from different universes numerous times to end the cycle. The only way to break the circle is to prevent Comstock from being born in the first place. Elizabeth transports Booker to the place he went to be baptized and cleansed of his sins after his actions at the Battle of Wounded Knee. Booker avoided baptism at the last moment, while in another universe he took the baptism, found religion, and became Comstock. Booker and Elizabeth are joined by alternate versions of Elizabeth from other universes. Booker allows them to drown him, preventing his choice from ever being made and stopping Comstock from ever existing. One by one, the Elizabeths disappear, leaving a single Elizabeth standing in the water.

In a post-credits sequence, Booker awakens in his apartment, hearing music from the next room; he opens the door and calls out Anna’s name before the screen cuts to black.

I have to say that I loved the story of the game. It’s rare to see a game with such immersive story that makes me want to play and see what’s coming next.

All the characters in Infinite feel real and behave as you would expect. At one moment right after rescuing Elizabeth from her cage Booker as to engage in a fight with people who were trying to get them and kills everybody. Elizabeth sees this and runs away from Booker.

In Rapture there were Big Daddies, Little Sisters, Big Sisters and Splicers. In Columbia we have Patriots, Handymans and people with a variety of weapons. At first I tought I would eventually have to go face-to-face against the Songbird but Elizabeth always protects me from him and he actually helps us at the final battle.

The gameplay is essentially the same as the previous BioShock games. There’s new guns to play with but I used the Shotgun and Carbine as my main weapons only picking a Sniper Rifle when necessary, the Hand Gun at the beggining and some sort of rocket launcher at the final battle after loosing all my Carbine ammo.

In Rapture we had Plasmids that required ADAM in order to use them. In Columbia we have Vigors and you need Salts to use them. The Vigors work in a similar way as the Plasmids giving Booker different abilities. The first one you get is Devil’s Kiss wich is my favourite to use against the Patriots. There’s a few more Vigors to find and the other 2 that I used the most were Murder of Crows and Possession with a small use of Shock Jockey and Bucking Bronco here and there. You can improve the Vigors trough the vending machines and I improved both Devil’s Kiss and Murder of Crows to the limit resulting in more powerful explosions (DK) and corpses of the ones who died becoming traps (MoC).

There’s also a new component called Gear that can be found trough Columbia. There’s 4 kinds of Gear: Hat, Shirt, Pants and Boots. You can have 4 Gears but only one of each. These are useful in different situations and you can choose wich ones are better for the way you play the game. I bought the Premium edition so I had access to 3 Gears right in the beggining of the game but I changed them during the game. One that I found useful was one that if I was low on health would give me a little of health for every enemy I killed.

Elizabeth also proves to be more than a supporting character thats there to help the story. When you are investigating certain places she will point out that there’s a lock pick in the floor or give you coins. When in battle she will hide herself so you don’t have to worry about her getting hurt and she will provide ammunitions, health packs and Salts. She can also use Tears to bring cover spots, automated guns, weapons, health, Salts and Griplocks to this reality. She’s the best sidekick I ever had in a video game.

Columbia impresses with several different locations that makes you want to discover every inch of that place. There’s a very realistic feel to the city even considering we are talking about a city in the sky.

There’s a lot more more to talk about but I guess it’s better to just play the game.

BioShock Infinite is definitely one of the best games I have ever played.

Welcome to the Punch

Welcome to the Punch is a British thriller directed by Eran Creevy and starring James McAvoy and Mark Strong.

I’ve been waiting for the movie since I’ve seen the trailer and read an article about it in Empire magazine.

This is the plot from Wikipedia:

Welcome to the Punch presents the story of a former criminal, Jacob Sternwood (Strong) who is forced to return to London from his Icelandic hideaway when his son is involved in a heist gone wrong. This gives detective Max Lewinsky (McAvoy) one last chance to catch the man he has always been after. As they face off, they start to uncover a deeper conspiracy they both need to solve in order to survive…

The movie is interesting but could be better.

The story was interesting but the characters could have been a little better constructed. Despite that the actors do a good job with what they have. I was surprised to see David Morrisey (the Governor from The Walking Dead) in the movie.

There are scenes you just don’t believe them to be true or lack a connection to a previous scene to explain it.

The movie starts in London with a chasing scene where at one point Max (McAvoy) gets out of the car to listen for the sound of the bikes he was chasing. Are we supposed to believe that London is so quiet at night that you can simply stand still and focus on one particular motor sound?

Later in the movie Sarah (Andrea Riseborough) is seen chasing Dean Warns (Johnny Harris) car but the last time we seen her she was at the hospital. How did she get there?

In conclusion, Welcome to the Punch is a good movie but not a movie you will remember for long.

Last Weekend

It took me a while to write this post but I think there’s still time.

In this past weekend (Easter weekend) we’ve seen The Walking Dead season finale, the return of Game of Thrones with the first episode Valar Dohaeris and the premier of Orphan Black.

The Walking Dead:

After a second season that was criticised for its slow pace we seen a much better third season with a lot of zombies and a lot of action.
There was 1 or 2 episodes that had a slower pace but it was necessary to build things up.
The final episode was different than I thought it would be and really surprised me to see the Governor kill his people and disappear. Rick went to Westbury and did what had to be done to help the innocent people who lived there but mostly to help Carl who seems to be developing a dangerous attitude towards others.
I can’t wait for the next season to start and see what happened to the Governor and how everyone is going to adjust in the prison.

Game of Thrones:

The best show on TV is back.
The show starts right were it left and slowly builds from there. We see a few new characters and Margaerys is the one who has most time onscreen. This was my first time watching new episodes after reading the books and so far it didn’t change the experience that much.
We’ve seen 3 of my favourite characters in this episode (Jon, Tyrion and Daenerys) but Arya didn’t appear yet.

Orphan Black:

This is a new show that premiered last weekend at BBC America.
The show stars Tatiana Maslany as Sarah at the beginning of the show but after witnessing the suicide of a women who looks just like her she assumes her identity and becomes Beth. We later see in the first episode yet another women who looks like her and ends up getting shot in the head.
There’s a lot still to learn about what is going on but according to what I’ve read these are all clones.
The supporting characters are interesting with special note to Felix and Vic interaction during the first episode.
I can’t wait for the second episode of this very promising new show.