Film of the Week
Project Almanac
Found footage is a
genre of film that, if done right, can knock your socks off, blurs the line
between reality and fiction, but if done badly, can leave you disappointed. If
you have a brilliant story and you don’t turn it into a found footage film, can
smash box office records, but if you do, then it can fall to the bottom so fast
it’ll need medical attention from whiplash.
As you may know, I am
a sucker when it comes to most things time travel, and I know I did talk about
another time travel film, Time Lapse last week, I felt that to not include this
film this week would be a missed opportunity. When I heard about this film, I
did leave a space on my calendar to go and see it. This film is very different
from the likes of Time Lapse, but being a found footage film, it does dive into
what life would be like if a group of people living ordinary lives stumble upon
the existence of hopping backwards and forwards into the past, present and
future. The chemistry between everyone in the group keeps this film going.
They laugh and joke and discover things amongst themselves.
As always, this film
does follow the standard formula of using time travel for fun and personal gain
only to wind up being something they shouldn’t have used. However, realising
that they should have abandoned the entire concept from the very beginning
doesn’t just happen from out of nowhere. One of the rules that they create is
to always travel in time together as a group, never go alone, which is
reasonable because if one person goes alone, many things can change, and they
do. It was only because of one character regretting not doing something earlier
that sparks the idea of going back in time to change it, and that’s when things
start to get out of hand. However, that concept of regretting to do something
is only there to move the story forwards, to follow the formula. I can’t help
but imagine what would have happened if that character broke free of that
formula and did that one thing. That way, they would have continued jumping
through time as a group, having fun and doing what they quickly fell in love
with.
The ending of this
film got me thinking as I was driving home from the cinema, and that doesn’t
necessarily mean that it’s too complex that it spoils the entire movie, but
opens itself up for the audience to envision what might happen next, and that
makes it stick in the mind. For me, when I was working out what happens next, I
was able to draw an adequate conclusion on how I felt about the film as a
whole, and I hope that what I have said here will help you decide whether you
want to see it or not.
Here's the IMDB link
TV Episode of the Week
Doctor Who – Series 9
– Episode 11 – Heaven Sent
Last week’s episode
of the week was Episode 10 of Series 9 of Doctor Who, and although I did try
and refrain from putting the following episode in this week’s article, I just
couldn’t find a reason why not.
Heaven Sent focuses
on the Doctor being on his own, trapped in a castle, just after he had lost
Clara. He’s angry at whoever killed her, and he makes it very clear to them
that he will never, ever stop until he has found and confronted them. When I
read the synopsis, I was intrigued as to how it would work. Seeing the Doctor
without his companion is something we’re not used to. A usual episode revolves
around the Doctor and his companion bouncing between one another to figure out
what needs to be done to save the day and because we wouldn’t be getting that
this episode, I was looking forward for it. I’m not going to lie, I did have my
doubts about this episode to begin with since I asked myself was the Doctor
being on his own going to get a bit boring, but it most certainly wasn’t. I was
not disappointed.
Peter Capaldi had a
tough task ahead of him, for he had to support the entire episode on his
shoulders, and it is a testament to his acting that he managed to pull that
off. Engaging the audience for an entire episode – and a special extended one
at that – just goes to show that this show can only get better as the series go
along. It also allowed us to see how great a writer Steven Moffat is. Together,
I believe, they have created an episode that can rival the likes of Blink from
Series 3, and I genuinely mean that.
If you feel that
there is a ‘but’ coming along, you are right. This episode picks up and doesn’t
stop rising until the credits start to roll. And although I wasn’t expecting
how he got there, I was expecting, thanks to the BBC for spoiling it weeks
beforehand, him to arrive… We’ll, that would be mean of me to spoil it if you
are one of the very few that has managed to stay clear of any spoilers, a task
that is much harder than creating this episode.
I mentioned above
that I was expecting him to be without a companion, and yes we certainly got
that, but we also got to see his companion as well. Usually, whenever something
complex comes up that needs explaining, the Doctor would tell us everything that
we need to know through the companion so that we won’t get lost. When the
companion is taking out of the equation, he ends up talking to himself. Some of
my favourite scenes is how the TARDIS is used to help move the story along. It
is a surprise at first when we see him suddenly fly through the doors and dance
around the centre console, but we quickly learn that this is all happening
inside his head, where his companion lives as well. Clara does make a cameo
appearance. There was a moment in the Zygon Inversion when the Doctor says that
once Clara is inside your head, she doesn’t leave, and that connection between
the Doctor and companion is brilliantly used here. The doctor is never truly
without a companion.
The length of the
episode itself is what made this great from beginning to end. Longer than the
traditional format of 45 minutes was perfect for this kind of story. It didn’t
have to be rushed in anyway, meaning the superb character development could
flourish, and allow the ending to be satisfyingly epic. Steven promised that we
wouldn’t see the cliff-hanger coming, and he was right. It was a belter and a
half. It raises just enough questions to carry over to the next episode, and
all the right ones as well so that we can get all the answers we want to round
off this series. Of course, there may be more questions being asked, but that’s
to be expected.
Overall, this episode
has quickly cemented itself into my list of all-time favourites; I’m still
working on what position it goes, whether it has taken over Blink’s top spot,
or knocked Turn Left’s down to third. All I do know is that it will be on that
list for sure.
Here's the IMDB link
Game of the Week
When I played Just Cause 2, I thought that there
wasn’t going to be a game that could be it in a very long time. It was the
ultimate sandbox. No game could match it. It has one of the biggest in-game
maps, countless activities to get lost in, and an epic story that would leave
you with your mouth on the ground, it would never let you relax for a second.
And I was right; no game could get close to how much you could do with it.
Sure, many games got close; the closest being GTA V. Nothing was off limits,
you could do just about anything and then some.
So, what game, you may ask, can knock Just Cause 2 of
the top spot? It has to be a game that is so great, so full of everything, so
jam packed with complete and utter awesomeness that it would leave you
wondering what the heck just happened. Well, that game has finally arrived.
Just Cause 3 goes above and beyond what its
predecessor was able to achieve. Instead of doing what most game sequels fall
foul of: Taking out what is already good and trying to add something that it
thinks is better is actually not, Just Cause 3 improves what we’ve already got,
and adds some extra stuff, including a wing suit that allows you to fly
anywhere you want. The physics have improved, the explosions have been
magnified, and the overall game has been pushed up a notch to make it look
staggeringly beautiful, it truly is an experience like no other.
Before the release of the game, there was speculation
that it was going to be riddled with endlessly expensive microtransactions that
would spoil the entire atmosphere that Just Cause 2 so deservingly built up
over the years, but the team behind the game, Square Enix, denied any plans to
putting any sort of microtransactions into the game, save from a couple of
pieces of DLC, but that’s to be expected and doesn’t take anything away from
the whole experience as with all DLC, it’s 100% optional. So that’s another
reason why this game, and it doesn’t stop there.
Over the past couple of months, many game developers,
who shall remain nameless, have expressed their dislike towards mods on the PC
version of the game. To be fair, they do put forward a strong argument by
saying that they have spent hours, months, even years developing the best game
they could make for it to be changed somehow. That part is understandable. But
what makes modding a great way for games to flourish is people are taking an
already great game and making it even better for themselves, essentially. They
are adding something that makes their experience playing an awesome game that
much more unique. Modding itself is a powerful medium when it comes to
publicising a game, I’ve noticed, for if developers allow modding, their game
will be snapped up faster than they would ever have expected, plus it’s a great
way of connecting with their fans. Square Enix has openly expressed their
encouragement towards people modding their game. They’re not worried about
people ruining the game they so lovingly built, but making it better instead.
And that concludes yet another reason why Just Cause 3 is this week’s game.
As of writing this article, I haven’t played through
the story yet, just so that I don’t accidentally give away any spoilers.
Anyway, I don’t know how much more I can say about
this game except that I’m off to play it now.
Here's a link to the Steam and the official website
Steam:
Website:
Video of the Week
Googol and Googolplex
– Numberphile
If you want your mind
blown, then watch this video. That’s all I’m saying.
Here's the link
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