Film of the
Week:
Kingsman the Secret Service
When I first saw the trailer to this film, I was expecting the
film to be very serious, but when I came to watch it, I was pleasantly surprised
to discover that doesn’t take itself at all seriously and is a very funny film.
In fact, it’s the most surreal and the most… film I’ve seen in a very long
time. I wouldn’t say that it is a straight up parody of spy films, but I would
say that it does have that vibe about it whether it intended to be or not, but
that’s OK, because the excellent plot and brilliant directed action sequences
that adds to the surrealism to the point where all thoughts about it being a
parody have been dissolved.
It’s a British spy film that focuses on a smart and intelligent
teenager, Gary “Eggsy” Unwin (played by Taron Egerton) that doesn’t see the
point in doing anything important because the world he lives in doesn’t help
him in any way. This all changes when he meets Harry Hart (played by Colin
Firth) who takes him under his wing and puts him in the training scheme that if
he succeeds, he will become a full-time Kingsman within the secret service. In
the background, a terrorist plot is underway to try and reduce the population
of the Earth. Richmond Valentine (played by Samuel L. Jackson), a billionaire
who speaks with a lisp and has a very weak stomach for blood and violence, is
the mastermind behind the attack. This film follows the Secret Service as it
tries to stop this attack from happening.
As I said before, it doesn’t take itself seriously, which is where
most of the comedy comes from, but some of it comes from the brilliant actors
and actresses involved. The director has done a stunning job with putting all
the action in the centre so your eyes never need to leave the centre of the
screen, allowing you to focus and drink in everything that is happening without
missing a single thing. And I can’t write a recommendation for this film
without saying something about the incredible music. If you were to listen to
the music without watching this film, you wouldn’t say that the two go
together, but you’ll be surprised to find that they actually do. The bouncy and
joyful music increases the surrealism tenfold until it’s flying off the charts.
You won’t be taking this film seriously either, but for all the right reasons.
Below is the link to the film’s IMDB page:
TV Program
of the Week
Darren Brown: Pushed to the Edge
This is probably one of the hardest things I’ve had to write
about. I don’t fully understand how psychology works on a professional level, or
even at a basic level for that matter. Neither do I have a professional
understanding of sociology, but I do understand the basics. I understand that,
given the right circumstances, we feel as if we need to follow the crowd so
that we don’t feel out of place. There are those that have managed to
successfully understand society on some level that they don’t have to follow the
crowd, they can just sit back and do their own thing whilst everyone else is
doing something else. By diverging from the path, people will start to look at
you differently, whether it is because you are doing something that they want
to do, or because they feel as if you shouldn’t do that. What they are doing is
the right thing to do, which is following the crowd.
Darren Brown’s one-off special, Pushed to the Edge, focuses on just
that. As demonstrated in his show, it’s relatively easy to rope in a stranger
because another complete stranger is telling that person that it is the right
thing to do. By starting off small, you can then gradually work your way up
until they are willingly completing without question massive tasks that will only
ever get bigger and bigger. By using this method, Darren Brown wanted to know
whether it is possible to convince someone to push another person to their
apparent death. It’s a dark concept, but a very important one to analyse. Don’t
worry, no one was hurt and everyone involved was informed of the experiment.
As we grow up, we are taught the difference between what is right
and what is wrong. That state of mind allows us to avoid committing crimes, or
any awkward situation as a whole. It was revealed at the end of the show, that
there were four people who were selected to take part in the experiment – they
didn’t know that everyone around them were all actors and actresses, that
everything was cleverly choreographed so that nothing would go wrong – and I
was stunned to see that all but one didn’t walk away. Because they were told
that it was the right thing to do, they committed the deed. They pushed a man
off the edge.
Although pushing a man to their death is an extreme case of social
obedience, but we now know that it is possible to convince someone to do that, because
it is the right thing to do. There were many times during the show when I was
thinking about what I would do in their position. Would I realise what is going
on a walk away, or would I carry on following the crowd, and it’s safe to say
that of course I said that I would obviously walk away. Everyone would say that
they were in too deep and would walk away without hesitation, but when it comes
to actually being in that situation, walking away feels like the wrong thing to
do, and therefore we don’t.
That experiment was set up with the sole principle of demonstrating
that we as a society are constantly being talked into doing something that we
wouldn’t normally do because it is the right thing to do. As I mentioned
before, those people that successfully break away from the path are looked at
funny, but in actuality are the most happy, or the most successfully with their
business; we, who are following the crowd, may not realise that it is the wrong
thing to do.
As I said at the beginning of this recommendation. I have no
professional understanding on psychology or even a basic understanding because
I simple never studied it at school or college or in my free time. Neither do I
have a professional understand on sociology, but watching this show allowed me
to open my eyes a small amount and see that I need to know the basics just so that
I can stand up for myself more.
All the people involved in the experiment, apart from the person
who didn’t have a clue what was going on except what rough situation he was in,
were actors and actresses, and I would like to dedicate this paragraph to them.
They were exceptional at acting and deserve way more credit than they got –
even though they got a lot of credit throughout the show.
I very highly recommend seeing it.
Below is the link to the show on 4 On Demand:
Game of the
Week
Emily Wants to Play
Emily wants to play is a horror games that keeps it simple and
therefore is incredibly affective at making you jump out of your skin until
your knees smash against the underside of your desk. The entire game revolves
around a pizza delivery person delivering the last pizza of the day to a house
where no one appears to be home. You find the door to be unlocked. It’s pouring
down with rain and so to avoid the pizza going cold and getting ruined, you
venture inside. Big mistake.
You now find yourself being chased around the house by creepy
dolls that you do not want them to catch you. The lights flicker on and off
randomly, adding to the tension and the jump scares. Whilst it can be compared
to popular games such as Five Nights at Freddy’s, I see it as the game taking
that concept and moulding it into something new and fresh. And of course, it
gets harder as the night progresses.
The visuals are well done, and the atmosphere is simple, which
allows you to be drawn into the gameplay that much more. The horror aspect of
it is done well, and isn’t overdone to the point where you become desensitised.
When midnight strikes, you will wish that you are anywhere but inside that
house. Good luck.
Oh, and if you are familiar with the Weeping Angels, the game may
become simpler, but that might be just me…
Below is the link the game’s Steam page:
Video of the
Week
3 MILLION SUBSCRIBERS! – Best of TheGamingLemon Montage #3 –
(Funny Moments)
(By TheGamingLemon)
TheGamingLemon is one of my all-time favourite Youtubers. Each
video is packed full of funny moments that are amplified via the superb use of
his wide range of sound effects. No matter what game he plays, whether it’s
something indie or from a big studio, TheGamingLemon will work his magic and
you will be hauling with laughter right from the word go.
Recently, he hit 3,000,000 subscribers and he celebrated that
well-deserved milestone by putting together a 45 minute compilation of all of
his best bits from all of his videos between 2,000,000 and 3,000,000
subscribers. If you aren’t that familiar with his type of content of his style
of comedy, that this compilation is a sure way to introduce you to that, and I
can guarantee that you will be sticking around for the entire duration of the
video. If you are familiar with his content and, like me, have watched the
majority of his videos, then this will be a trip down memory lane when you
first watched that video.
Congratulations on this momentous achievement and hears to
4,000,000.
You can watch the video here:
Thanks for reading
Antony Hudson
(TonyHadNouns)
My book, Sector 22: Zoey, is now available on Amazon, eBay, and the SkyCat Publication's website:
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