This review WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS for the film to be discussed, if you do not want certain plot points or story spoilt, please do not read further.
The Aokigahara Forest in Japan is a real place, the story of the forest is deeply disturbing and unsettling, with many believing it to be one of the most haunted places on earth. Even those who do not believe in the supernatural and ghosts find the forest to be an unsettling place to go.
Aokigahara is known as the suicide forest, as each year dozens of people travel to the location to take their own lives. The suicide rates in Aokigahara are so high that the beginning of the forest trail has a sign urging people visiting the forest to think of their families, and to reach out to a suicide prevention helpline. Each year authorities perform annual body searches to retrieve the bodies of those who have taken their lives in the forest. Despite not publishing the figures any more to downplay the forest's association with suicide, based on previous numbers it is believed that between 50 to 100 people take their lives their each year.
It's hard to hear about the nature of Aokigahara without feeling a disturbed, and on paper it makes a perfect location for a horror story. Especially when you factor in the density of the forest, that cuts out almost all outside noise and daylight, and the area's large iron deposits that makes compass navigation impossible. The forest becomes a dark and spooky maze that even seasoned hikers can get lost in.
With so much real world fear, and the troubling nature of Aokigahara it's amazing that none of this atmosphere has managed to translate across onto film for 'The Forest'.
In the film 'The Forest' the filmmakers use Aokigahara's association with suicide to drive forward their narrative. When Sarah, played by Natalie Dormer, has been told that her sister Jess, also played by Dormer, has gone missing in Aokigahara she is determined to find her before she takes her own life and travels to Japan to try and find her.
Once in Japan Sarah searches through Aokigahara with the help of Aiden, a travel writer and journalist who thinks the search for Jess will give him an interesting article, and a local tour guide. The guide warns them that Aokigahara is home to many spirits of those who have taken their lives there in the past, and tells them not to trust everything that they see.
From here the trip into the forest becomes a descent into madness for Sarah as she tries desperately to find her missing sister, whilst being haunted by the spirits trapped in the forest.
There are some big problems with 'The Forest', its story and pacing are all over the place, and the characterisation shifts dramatically for no apparent reason, but the biggest flaw is that the film just isn't scary. For a film set in this location it should be easy to generate enough tension and fear to keep a 90 minute film going.
Instead, 'The Forest' relies on jump scares and things running at the camera screaming to create what should be scary moments, but just come across as overly loud extra's making arses of themselves. Jump scares can be good, but only if the film builds up the tension first, yet 'The Forest' fails at doing so.
There is one genuinely tense and creepy moment as Sarah is walking through the forest as a voice whispers to her to turn around again and again, with ghostly figures watching Sarah from the trees as she passes, getting gradually closer to her like grotesque, decomposing Weeping Angels. Despite the good build up, even this scene ends poorly by resorting to loud screams instead of the tension it had already built up as it's fairly poor conclusion.
'The Forest' tries to sell us on the idea that Sarah is descending into madness brought on by the spirits of the forest, and this could have worked if it was done over a longer time, but in the timeline of the film she's in the forest for a single night before the spirits drive her to breaking point, a single night where nothing much actually happened. Once again it feels like a misstep, as this idea would have worked if used over a longer period of time. As it is her sudden turn to madness feels very forced and unexpected, and makes her character a lot weaker for it.
The film tries to use a twist ending to surprise the audience, as we discover that Jess is alive and well and manages to make it out of the forest at the same time that the spirits have tricked Sarah into suicide, making her another of the ghosts that haunt Aokigahara. By the time this 'surprise' ending came about I had become so bored by the sudden shifts in character, the poor narrative and the terrible jump scares that I genuinely didn't care about the characters or story anymore.
'The Forest' is only 90 minutes long, but feels like a much longer film when actually watching it. It has bland and boring characters, whose actors aren't given the time or opportunity to do anything interesting with. The scares are few, far between and so dull that it hardly feels like a horror film at all. Unless you are an avid horror fan who feels like they need to see every horror film that comes out this one might be worth avoiding.
This review WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS for the episode to be discussed, if you do not want certain plot points or story spoilt, please do not read further.
'Inside Man' feels a bit like a filler episode, not much actually happens to move the plot forward (bar an end credits scene that actually does do something) but that doesn't mean that it isn't an entertaining filler episode.
Adrian Pasdar returns as General Talbot, this time assigned to be head of the ATCU by the President, and will be working for/with Coulson, depending on which of the two men you ask. The episode sees Coulson and Talbot teaming up to attend an international conference discussing Inhumans, and attempting to discover the inside man planted by Hydra.
The two of them work brilliantly together, with their brief but confrontational past playing out like a classic buddy comedy as Talbot steamrolls his way round the conference, being loud and slightly rude, highlighting everyone as a potential Hydra agent as Coulson tries to spy his way through the mission.
The back and forth between the two of them is great, with some subtle comedy moments that actually helps to flesh out the two characters and their relationship together, especially with Talbot refusing to describe their working relationship as Coulson being his boss, despite that being how the President described it to Coulson the week before.
The revelation that Talbot is the Hydra informant is definitely a surprising turn, as it feels completely against everything we'd seen and learnt about the character over the last two seasons. It's only at the revelation that Malick had kidnapped his son in order to get him to cooperate that it begins to make a little sense.
Sadly the whole situation is introduced and resolved in the very same episode. Where this could have been a story line to play out over a number of episodes, and could have been a great way of putting Talbot in an interesting situation it's all resolved within 45 minutes. We could have had multiple episodes of watching Talbot having to work for the enemy organisation he hates in order to keep his son alive, of watching him fighting with his ethics and morals and getting to explore his character, but now he's back to being the grumpy general who sometimes teams up with Coulson and S.H.I.E.L.D.. It feels like a misuse of a potentially interesting story.
Some of the best stuff in the episode is the reintroduction of Carl 'The Crusher Creel, AKA The Absorbing Man. A one off villain from the start of season two, it was great to see him back, this time working with Talbot as his personal bodyguard. His power set is a great one, and gives the writers and effects team a lot of creativity to produce some awesome looking versions of the character. One of my favourite ones is still the rocky concrete version in season two.
Having another super powered being that S.H.I.E.L.D. can potentially call on is good, especially as he's not just an Inhuman. It's unknown how much more we'll see of the character over the rest of the season, but as Talbot says he doesn't go anywhere without him, hopefully he'll appear a few more times and won't just be sidelined like Deathlok. (Seriously, the team should have Deathlok helping them out way more than he does.)
The best use of Creel in this episode wasn't in his powers though, but the effect that his reappearance had on the team, especially on Hunter, whose friends were killed by him in season two. Hunter not trusting Creel and wanting to kill him at points felt perfectly in character for him, and was the perfect response for him to have, and the resulting barbed dialogue between him and May because of this was a high point. It helped to point out that despite being a main part of the team now Hunter still has incredibly selfish motivations for staying around, and isn't always fighting for the same ends. It's an aspect of the character that the show doesn't always have time to explore as much as they could, so it's inclusion here is good, and fits well.
The reintroduction of Creel also brought in a potentially very interesting storyline as the team discover that his blood might hold a vaccine to Terrigenesis. Whilst his blood can't cure anyone who has been through the process and unlocked their Inhuman powers it will stop potential Inhumans from going through the process. Very obviously taken from the mutant cure plots used in most of the X-Men media, it's more than likely going to come into play at some point again in the future, and could even act as a division amongst the team. Hopefully it will be done a lot better than the plot for X-Men: Last Stand.
Elsewhere we also get to see more of Hive, the Inhuman entity possessing Ward's body. Lucio, the Inhuman with the power to paralyse people that was introduced last week, is brought before Hive, where we discover that his powers don't affect him at all. Hive performs the same strange smokey thing he did to Giyera in the previous episode. It's still not clear what it's doing to the Inhumans, it's definitely getting them to follow Hive's orders, though it doesn't appear to be mind control. My money's on that he's beefing up their powers in some way, but we'll have to wait to see.
Hive gets Giyera and Lucio to gather him a group of humans, he then uses them to rejuvenate his decaying body. The Marvel Cinematic Universe tends to stay away from the openly gory or bloody parts of their universe, so the bloody skeletal remains of Hive's rejuvenation process is a moment that packs some serious shock value, especially when we realise that Hive is back in peak physical fitness.
'Inside Man' might not be the best episode of the show, and it doesn't move the plot forward greatly, but it packs enough fun character moments (especially between Coulson and Talbot) and interesting plot ideas to stay relatively entertaining throughout.
This review WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS for the episode to be discussed, if you do not want certain plot points or story spoilt, please do not read further.
After the Jedi fuelled events of the previous episode it feels a little strange that Star Wars Rebels would go from such faced paced and dramatic storytelling to another character of the week episode. 'The Forgotten Droid' is definitely a slowdown from the episode before, and feels like it was shown out of the correct order. That being said, the first Chopper centric episode of the series is definitely an enjoyable caper.
With the Rebel fleets carrier ship low on fuel the crew of the Ghost go on a mission to steal a shipment of fuel from the Empire. When they arrive at their destination Chopper spots a local merchant selling a droid leg that matches one of his, and wants to get it to swap out for his replacement leg.
Hera tells Chopper that he has to stay with the ship whilst they steal the fuel, but Chopper disobeys orders, steals the leg from the merchant and ends up stranded when the rest of the crew return to the Ghost and leave without him.
From here Chopper stows away aboard an Imperial freighter, where he befriends a downtrodden and badly treated droid, AP-5, who he manages to convince to join up with the Rebellion.
Managing to capture the vessel Chopper and AP-5 find the fleet moments before they jump to a new system where they are hoping to find a safe planet to set up their base. Using the information from AP-5 they find out that this planet is a trap set by the Empire and find another base instead.
This won't be an episode to everyone's liking. It's not as bad as the droid centric episodes of Clone Wars, where things were so childish and cutesy and annoying that it made you pray for the end credits, No, some people will dislike this one because Chopper is the most unlikable member of the Ghost's crew.
Now, I'm not saying that you can't enjoy Chopper or this episode, but as Hera points out, Chopper is self centred and selfish. Everything that happens to him this week stems from the fact that his desire to have matching legs trumps his desire to keep his friends safe,
The mission that the rest of the crew go on goes without a hitch, but he was their backup in case it didn't, and that's an incredibly important role that he ignores just to get what he wants. I'm sure we can all think of at least one time Chopper has flown the Ghost or the Phantom in to save someone at the last minute, now imagine if instead of doing that he was off shopping. Yeah, that's the level of selfishness we're dealing with here.
Whilst things work out well in the end, the Rebellion gets another ship, they avoid a trap and they have AP-5 join them, that can't really take away from what Chopper did. If I were a member of the Ghost's crew I'd be finding it hard to trust him going forward.
Despite highlighting just how much of a jerk Chopper can be, the episode does have some great moments. When the Ugnaught looks over to find the droid leg missing we expect Chopper to be long gone, instead he's standing a few meters away holding the leg staring out into space it's a genuinely funny moment.
AP-5 is also a great addition to the Rebellion. Through him we find out a little more about Choppers past, that when Hera found him during the Clone Wars and repaired him he was a military droid, and was shot down in a Y-Wing.
It's nice to find out a little more about Chopper and why he was on Ryloth during the war, and it helps to flesh out his character a little beyond just being a broken droid Hera rebuilt as a child. It's also very touching when he describes Hera as his friend, and then later extends that friendship to AP-5, especially when Hera says that Chopper doesn't have friends, before being corrected by AP-5.
Whilst having AP-5 around in the future looks like it could lead to a lot of fun, especially with his relationship with Chopper looking to be the angrier and grumpier version of R2 and 3PO, it did take away from the emotion of the moment when AP-5 'died'. Sabine repairing him in the very next scene meant that the character can stick around, but it took away from the emotion of his sacrifice.
One other great thing about the episode is the return of Ketsu, Sabine's bounty hunter friend from earlier in the season, who has joined the Rebellion fully now. Her role in this episode may be little more than a cameo, but it helps to build up the Rebellion as something bigger than just the crew of the Ghost and adds more characters for the viewer to care about. With her, Captain Rex and Ahsoka playing roles in the Rebellion it might not be long before we see more familiar faces from Rebels and Clone Wars have recurring roles.
'The Forgotten Droid' slows the pace of the season after the previous episode and doesn't add much to the overall narrative, but it gives us a better insight into one of the least developed characters on the show.
The Leicester based Centre For Hate Studies has launched a new animated short to try and highlight the effect of people who suffer verbal abuse, harassment and physical attacks because of who they are.
The animation takes the time to look at someone who is transgender, gay, disabled and of an ethnic minority.
Real people who have actually suffered through real life discrimination and hate have taken part in the project, lending their voices and their stories.
I'm proud to say that I was one of the people to take part in the animation, and that I hope it helps The Centre For Hate Studies in their efforts to raise awareness of the everyday hate that people who are seen as 'different' have to live through.
The Centre For Hate Studies is asking for people to submit their own ideas for how to challenge hate by tweeting to the hashtag #myresponse2hate .
The official press release for the campaign goes as follows;
'Animated film highlights risk-free ways to support victims of hate crime New animated film from University of Leicester Criminologists shows how the general public can play a key role in supporting victims of hate crime
• Hate crimes take place in everyday locations such as streets, supermarkets and public transport • Animated film highlights ways in which people can support victims of hate crime without putting selves at risk • University of Leicester inviting people to tweet their own ideas for how to challenge hate using the hashtag #myresponse2hate The animation ‘I Can’t Ignore Hate Crime: Can You?’ is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHKQ5HHEHKo
The University of Leicester’s Centre for Hate Studies has produced a short animated film urging members of the public not to turn a blind eye when witnessing acts of hate and hostility.
The animated film, entitled ‘I Can’t Ignore Hate Crime: Can You?’, showcases the stories of four victims of hate crime whose experiences have been made worse when witnesses have walked on by or ignored their suffering without offering to help.
The short animated film, which was produced in association with Seed Creativity, is designed to highlight ways in which we can all support hate crime victims without putting ourselves at any risk.
Rather than placing the responsibility to report on the individual victim, the animation illustrates what bystanders, frontline practitioners and organisations can do to support victims more effectively.
The Centre for Hate Studies is also asking people to tweet their own ideas for how to challenge hate using the hashtag ‘#myresponse2hate’.
Dr Stevie-Jade Hardy, Lecturer at the Centre for Hate Studies, said: “Hate crimes often take place in everyday locations: in public streets, in supermarkets, on public transport. For victims, seeing bystanders rushing past or turning a blind eye can contribute to a heightened sense of victimisation and isolation.”
Professor Neil Chakraborti, Director of the Centre for Hate Studies, explains: “We all have a collective responsibility to do whatever we can to challenge hate and prejudice. Research evidence shows that hate crimes can cause enormous damage to victims, and this animated film has been created to highlight practical, safe and straightforward steps that we can take to offer support.”
Please add your voices to the discussion and share the Centre's work if you can too.
A new campaign launched by Young Minds For Gender Equality aims to shine a spotlight on the pay gap between men and women in many workplaces, but has created a campaign that has left some members of the transgender community feeling insulted and under attack.
The Business Bulge is a 'product' that offers women the chance to level the playing field in the workplace, by making it look like the wearer has a penis. 'Finally, a solution that will get you the respect and salary you deserve' the advertisement claims.
This fake product is reported to be the 'satirical' work of Clark Hoffman and is intended to start a conversation about gender income equality. Hoffman says on the official website that 'The Business Bulge is a fictional product. What's not fictional is the fact that in 2016, women still earn less because of their gender. That's not just wrong. It's embarrassing. Politicians aren't addressing the problem, and CEO's need a reason to act'.
The gender pay gap is without a doubt a serious issue, and one that really does need talking about. But can we not find a way of bringing up the subject without using the 'satire' of a woman with a penis to do it?
The campaign makes the joke that a woman with a penis will get the 'respect and salary you deserve', well I'm sorry, but that argument is absolutely wrong. No. Never in a million years would that happen. Trust me, I am a woman with a penis.
In my last four jobs I experienced transmisogyny and hate in three of them. I was driven out of two of them and had to threaten to take one of them to court to get any semblance of justice. All of this, because I'm transgender.
Being a woman with a penis does not mean you get respect, if anything it strips you of it. Before I began to transition I was able to walk down the street without any issue, now when I go out people stare at me, they laugh and point, I've had people call me a freak, people have threatened me, I've been spat on. Perhaps you have a different view of respect than I do over at Young Minds For Gender Equality, but I don't see any of those reactions as respectful.
I do not get viewed as male by men, I do not get any of the privileges or respect that men get. Men (the one's who aren't trans allies) view me as either a freak or a sex object. I do not get paid the same as them because I have a penis, I am not respected by them because I have a penis. My penis makes me a target to them. I have had people literally threaten to beat, rape and murder me because I am a woman with a penis.
As for employment opportunities, the general public are unemployed at roughly 7%, trans people suffer unemployment at 14%. For those who can't do math, that's double. Trans people suffer unemployment at double the rate of the cisgender population. So please, tell me again how I'd have a better job because of my penis, because employers take one look at me as a trans woman and don't want to give me the chance of working with them.
Transgender people are also underemployed at 44%, and are four times more likely than cisgender people to have a household income of under £10,000. But sure, a woman with a penis will definitely get that pay rise, right?
As a trans woman who has been put in countless humiliating and threatening situations because she has a penis, who has lost jobs because she has a penis, who is struggling to find employment because of her penis, who is struggling to get benefits because of her penis, who is in debt and has literally not a penny to her name because of her penis I say this whole campaign is an insult.
The gender pay gap is important, I'm not saying it isn't, but does this campaign really have to mock people like me? Does it really have to make a joke out of trans women and make the central theme of it's campaign something that has caused so many trans women to be attacked, raped, murdered or to take their own life?
I know that some of the people reading this are going to turn around and throw the 'it's just a joke' or 'it's just satire' argument at me to deflect away from the real problems with this campaign, but you're missing the point completely.
My life, and the lives of every trans person, is not a joke. My unemployment is not a joke. My poverty is not a joke. There are so many other ways in which this group could have tried to raise the point of the inequality of the wage gap without resorting to 'ha ha tranny' comedy. It wasn't clever or funny when Sarah Silverman made the joke, it's not clever or funny now that you've copied it.
Young Minds For Gender Equality, please do one of two things.
1/ Learn that gender is more than just cis male and cis female, that gender is a spectrum, not a binary and figure out that 'jokes' and 'satire' like this discount people who don't fit into a binary system and mock their struggles.
Or
2/ Change your name, because you have no right to say that you support gender equality when you throw trans people under the bus for cheap laughs.
Anyone who wishes to express their anger and disappointment at the Business Bulge campaign can contact Young Minds For Gender Equality can contact them via their Twitter page or by leaving a review on their Facebook page.
I've never really liked Apple products, there's something about the unwavering and unquestioned loyalty of Apple fans that bothers me slightly, and the idea of a film that idolises the man behind the company in that same way didn't appeal to me. Then I saw the trailers for the film and saw that the team behind the film were not holding Jobs up as a great man, but an incredibly flawed, and at times horrible, person.
'Steve Jobs' takes an approach to telling their story that not many films would. Rather than telling a traditionally structured begin to end story of the rise and fall and rise again of the man, the film is split into three separate acts. Each of these acts takes place in real time before an Apple product launch, occasionally containing brief flashbacks as characters speak.
The first section of the film is set in 1984, and covers the release of the Macintosh, the computer that would be the company mascot throughout the 1980's. The middle section covers the launch of the NeXTcube in 1988, where Jobs has parted ways with Apple to launch his own device. The third and final section of the film covers the launch of the iMac, the computer that would make Steve Jobs a household name and let Apple become the powerhouse it is today.
Each section of the film are filmed on different mediums, and coupled with differences in set design, costume and hairstyles, gives each section their own distinct feel. The 1984 section is filmed in 16mm, the 1988 section in 35mm, and the 1998 section in digital. Director Danny Boyle stated that he filmed each section this way to help illustrate the advances in Apple technology across the sixteen years depicted in the film.
It's only after reading about this difference in filming technique and looking back at the film that I've actually become aware of the changes. Instead of being jarring and disruptive they fit seamlessly into the narrative and helps to show the passage of time. I remembered thinking at the time that things looked more slick and modern in the final section, but put this down to changes in costume and the background technology, but it's easy to see now how the visual style altered too.
The best part of the film though has to be watching great actors a verbal ballet with each other, using the brilliance of Aaron Sorkin to turn what could have been a dull 'talky' film into a genuine pleasure to watch. Sorkin brings his flair of passionate and hard hitting dialogue and character building that a film like 'Steve Jobs' needs in order to be successful and entertaining. Indeed, it was knowing that Sorkin wrote the script that actually drew me to the film the most.
Every scene is interesting and engaging, whether people are talking about technology, family and personal issues, or even talking about sharks (yes, there is even a great conversation about pictures of sharks in a film about Steve Jobs and Apple) it jumps out of the screen at you and draws you in. the writing for the film is second to none, and I think that if you're going to talk about truly great dialogue writers like Quentin Tarantino or Joss Whedon, Aaron Sorkin absolutely must be on that same list.
The films' cast are all on top form, and feel perfect for the roles they play. Fassbender might not look perfectly like the man he's playing, but he brings his charisma and magnetism to a role that could have come across as thoroughly unlikable if played by another actor, and delivers a flawless performance throughout. Seth Rogen proves that he can do more than play the funny man in a role that I'd not have expected to see him in as Steve Wozniak, the man who founded Apple alongside Jobs.
For me, the stand out performance has to go to Kate Winslet, playing Joanna Hoffman, Jobs' marketing executive, and possibly his best friend. She plays both his confidante and his conscience throughout, calling him out on his mistakes and challenging him in a way that no other character in the film was able to. Her performance was so engrossing and engaging (and her hair and costume so brilliant) that I didn't even realise that it was her in the role until the very end and the credits rolled.
Yes, there are certain parts of the film that take liberties with the real events they depict, Steve Wozniak and John Sculley weren't at the 1988 launch event, and the idea that Jobs launched the NeXT flawed just so he could use it to get back into Apple seems to be a falsity made to make it seem like he had a plan all along, instead of just releasing a flawed product.
The biggest departure that I've read about though was the relationship with his daughter. One of the most compelling parts of the film, his reluctant relationship with his daughter and the way he treated her over the years, gets wrapped up quite nicely in the film when the two of them have a reconciliation at the 1998 launch, and we discover that he's been carrying around a picture she made on the mack in his pocket for the last sixteen years. From what I've seen this never happened in real life, for one thing Lisa Brennan-Jobs never made her father that picture in 1984.
Perhaps Sorkin felt that he needed something of a happier and uplifting ending to the film in order to make the audience forget, or at least forgive, a lot of Jobs' actions throughout the film. The sudden shift in their relationship at the end feels very forced and doesn't feel true to what we've seen up to that point. If it really did happen then that's fine, but from everything I've read it didn't, and it does feel like the most fake aspect of the whole film.
'Steve Jobs' tells a story of a deeply flawed man, and whilst it might not change the views of hardcore Apple fans as to what he was like, it certainly helped shed light onto a side of him that I'd never heard of before.
It's a film about people, there's no goal that drives anyone in this film, no end point that people are trying to reach, it's just a film about people, about the way they act to others and the things that drive them. The cast is phenomenal, the writing is second to none and the cinematography is clever and unique without drawing you out of the viewing experience.
Even if you don't like Steve Jobs or Apple this is a film that manages to stand on its own and tell its own very human story without having to appeal to the people who buy Apple products.
This year marked the 20th anniversary of the release of the original Pokemon games (Red and Green) in Japan, and to celebrate Nintendo re-released the Pokemon Red, Blue and Yellow to download via the Nintendo eShop.
The beauty of Pokemon Red and Blue (slightly improved versions of the original Red and Green that were released outside of Japan) are that their sheer simplicity and streamlined version of the franchise that fans have become used to over the last twenty years is so well put together that it still hold up today as an engaging and entertaining gaming experience.
For those not in the know, Pokemon is a game that lets you take on the role of a young, first time Pokemon trainer. You are tasked with picking your first Pokemon, one of the original three starters, Squritle, Charmander and Bulbasaur, before setting out on a journey to collect every single Pokemon and become the greatest trainer in the land.
From here you're free to tackle the adventure in relative freedom. You can capture new Pokemon after battling them and add them to your team of six monsters. With 151 Pokemon available there are plenty of combinations you can build your team around, with each Pokemon having their own type, move set and statistics that give each Pokemon their own advantages and disadvantages.
Where future games in the series have altered the stats for the creatures, introduced new monsters, abilities, natures and special statistics called IV's and EV's, generation one keeps things simple, and you can see where the groundwork for many of these future innovations came from.
It's not just the gameplay that's a simplified version, but the graphics also. Being two decades old and made for the original Game Boy the graphics are basic at best, and a lot of the time many Pokemon struggle to look like the creatures we're used to, with a few brilliant exceptions.
The gameplay is simple, and in a few places buggy, and the graphics take a little suspension of disbelief that what you're seeing really is the Pokemon the text says it is, but the core gameplay that has created the second highest selling game series of all time (yes, it's a better selling series than Call of Duty or GTA) is still here and means that a game two decades old is still engaging enough to keep you playing for hours and hours.
The main criticisms would come more from a place of having played the newer games and missing some of the features introduced later in the series. Without the experience share it takes much longer to train up and evolve your Pokemon, having to do so one at a time. Certain moves aren't typed the way we're used to, such as Gust not being a flying move.
Whilst these might make parts of the game a little more frustrating, it's only because we've become used to the way the series has progressed. Taken on it's own Pokemon Red and Blue are still solid games, with strong gameplay and a fun open world adventure.
The transfer of the original titles to the download store means that many fans of the franchise who never had the opportunity to play the games when they were first released can experience the games that started it all for the first time, as well as giving those who remember the original the opportunity to go back and relive a massive part of their childhood.
This review WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS for the episode to be discussed, if you do not want certain plot points or story spoilt, please do not read further.
After the intense and disturbing events of the last episode of The Walking Dead it would have been very easy for the show to let the pacing slow down for a moment and give audiences a break, instead 'The Same Boat' just kept on piling up the pressure and kept asking the question of is our heroes have gone too far in their actions.
After the focus on Carol last week I was genuinely worried for her chances of getting out of this episode alive. It's become a bit of a pattern on the show that when a character begins to develop or become a focus something really, really bad is going to happen to them and I thought that was going to happen here.
With Carol and Maggie taken prisoner by a group of Saviours it seemed highly unlikely that Maggie would be killed, the show has done some brave things over the years, but executing a pregnant woman might just be too far even for The Walking Dead, which left Carol up for most likely to die.
The fact that Carol seemed to be breaking down added to this. At first when Carol begin to hyperventilate and cry in front of the Saviours I thought that it was all an act, this is Carol after all, she's a killing machine, these can't be real tears. But over the course of the episode you begin to suspect that it might not all be an act, maybe things have just gotten too much for her.
The acting by Melissa McBride in this weeks' episode is fantastic, and she sells the idea of a woman who has seen and done too much and whose conscience is finally starting to break. The Carol from seasons one and two was beginning to show through again, the soft and caring woman afraid to take action.
Carol has had some of the best character development on the show, and having her now beginning to feel the weight of her actions, of not wanting to kill anymore is a great new direction to take her. She won't stop killing, as with the events of this episode, when push comes to shove and she has to protect her own she will take up arms and kill, but she doesn't enjoy it. Where in the past she's shrugged off a lot of the lives she's taken as being necessary, each and every one of them are going to haunt her now. In the scene where she tells Maggie that she has killed eighteen people, then corrects herself to twenty you can see the pain it is causing her.
Maggie has a few moments to shine in this week's' episode too, her kill crazy rampage shows a side to the character we rarely see as she sets up a walker to bite on of the Saviours before proceeding to beat the woman's skull in with her weapon. It might be the mother coming out in her, fighting desperately to protect her unborn child, or it could be a further sign of the ever loosening morals of the group and their further willingness to kill.
The shift in the group is brought to the forefront more than once by the Saviours, who very much treat Carol and Maggie the way out group has treated villains in the past. They see them as a group that has come out of nowhere to attack and kill them. And for the most part you can see why they'd think that way. One of the Saviours tells Maggie that our heroes weren't the good guys in this scenario, and they might be right.
The episode shows us that despite what we've seen and heard of the Saviours maybe not all of them are cold blooded killers. They do nothing to harm Carol and Maggie, they stop one of their own from attacking them, we even see that some of them have been through very similar journeys to our heroes. Negan might be a monster, he might be the horrible person we're told he is (as someone who knows him from the books he really is!), but maybe not everyone who is with him is as bad.
Could it be that the Saviours are more like the residents of Woodbury than those of Terminus? Could some of them be people like our heroes, trying to survive but not knowing how truly evil their leader is? If so, then how many 'good' people did our heroes kill in their sleep?
The lines between good and bad, hero and villain are becoming very blurred in this half of the season, and only some of our characters are recognising that. Maggie wants to fight to the death and kill everyone as Carol just wants to escape or give the Saviours the chance to run away and live. There are divisions forming between members of the group over what is and isn't the right thing to do.
'The Same Boat' is a great episode that keeps the tension turned up throughout, and on paper was the episode I expected Carol to die in. The constant fear that one of the best characters in the show was going to be killed created such an intense viewing experience that it made for a great hour of television.
Whilst a lot of this tension will be lost on a second viewing where you know the characters are going to make it out alive there's enough great character development and interesting dialogue to maintain it's place as a great episode of The Walking Dead.
'Can't even shout, can't even cry, the Gentlemen are coming by. Looking in windows, knocking on doors, they need seven and they might take yours. Can't call to mom, can't say a word, you're gonna die screaming but you won't be heard.' Plot Summary: The episode begins with Buffy asleep in her college lecture. In her dream she and Riley kiss, before the two of them are interrupted by a young girl, holding a distinctive wooden box and singing a creepy nursery rhyme about 'The Gentlemen.' Buffy is broken from her dream by a frightening white faced man with an evil grin and metal teeth. After class Buffy and Riley speak and are close to kissing, but neither are able to stop their awkward talking.
Buffy calls Giles to tell him of her dream, worried that it might be one of her prophetic dreams. Xander and Anya argue about their relationship as Anya tries to get Xander to tell her what she means to him, with him unable to put his feelings into words. At college Willow attends a Wicca group, hoping to meet other witches, but is instead disappointed to find that she is the only witch, and gets chastised for the stereotype of witches performing magic. A shy woman in the group, Tara, begins to speak up for Willow, but falls silent when attention turns to her.
That night white wisps of smoke like substance leaves the mouths of every resident of Sunnydale as they sleep, making their way through the town to an old belfry where they are collected into the box seen in Buffy's dream by skeletal white men with grins and metal teeth, the Gentlemen.
The next day the residents of Sunnydale discover that none of them can speak, leading to large scale panic and depression. That night both Buffy and Riley are patrolling the streets, trying to keep residents calm. The two of them meet, not knowing that the other is doing the same, and share their first kiss.
Elsewhere in town the Gentlemen leave their belfry, accompanied by their Footmen, and float their way through the streets, searching. The gentlemen eventually find what they are looking for and knock on the door of one of the college students. When he opens the door he is grabbed by a pair of Footmen and held down, unable to scream as the Gentlemen cut out his heart with a scalpel.
The next morning, with the aid of the local newspaper reports and a drawing made by his girlfriend Olivia, who saw one of the Gentlemen, Giles is able to piece together the mystery and uncover the creatures identities. Using an overhead projector Giles is able to brief Buffy and the gang, telling them that the Gentlemen steal all the voices in a town so that no one can scream whilst they gather the seven hearts that they need, as only a real human scream can kill them.
That night, whilst at Giles' home Spike is drinking from a mug of blood whilst Anya is asleep on the sofa. When he bends down to pick up a dropped book Xander enters and thinks that Spike is drinking from Anya and attacks him. Anya stops him and the two kiss passionately, before Anya indicates that they should go home and have sex.
At the college Tara has found a spell to get the own their voices back and goes to show Willow. On the way to Willow's dorm she finds the Gentlemen, and they begin to chase after her. Tara manages to find Willow and the two of them flee from the Gentlemen, locking themselves in a laundry room. They try to barricade the door with a vending machine, but it is too heavy for them. Willow tries to use her magic to move the machine but it fails, having seen what Willow was trying, Tara clasps her hand, their eyes meet for a moment, then the two of them send the machine hurtling across the room to block the door.
On patrol, Riley sees something suspicious in the belfry and enters to investigate. Outside, Buffy finds two of the Footmen and fights them, she manages to kill one, but chases the other into the belfry. Inside the belfry Riley is fighting against the Footmen when Buffy crashes through the window. The two are shocked to find the other in the belfry, but fight side-by-side against the Gentlemen and the Footmen. Buffy sees the box from her dream and gets Riley to destroy it, returning her voice and allowing her to scream, blowing up the Gentlemen's heads.
The next day Tara tells Willow that she is special and has more power than she realises. Riley and Buffy meet to discuss the events of the previous night, but find themselves unable to say anything.
Analysis: 'Hush' is without a doubt the best stand alone monster of the week episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, with a simple story, frightening monster and amazingly executed gimmick that make it a truly stand out piece of television.
The central idea of this episode, of no one being able to speak, came from series creator Joss Whedon being told on multiple occasions that the primary reason for the show's success was due to the dialogue. Whilst most writers and directors would take that as a compliment, Whedon saw it as a bit of an insult. He stated in interviews that he felt he was becoming stagnant as a director and wanted to avoid falling into the trap of creating only formulaic episodes. Thus 'Hush' was born.
The episode stripped away all of the dialogue that the series was being praised for, and aimed to not only tell a compelling and well crafted episode well, but also drive the characters forward and allow them to develop.
Whilst most shows would have done a straightforward episode without dialogue where the heroes overcome the foe and that's it, Buffy allows its characters to grow without dialogue. Before the Gentlemen even arrive on screen there is conflict in this episode, a foe to beat, and it's language. It might sound crazy, but it's people using language that are causing so many of the characters problems at the start of the episode.
Buffy and Riley can't admit that to each other that they are attracted to each other because they can't stop talking long enough for something to happen. Xander and Anya are having problems in their relationship because Xander can't speak out his feelings and Anya, who is still getting used to human interaction, often says the wrong thing and comes across as blunt or rude.
Without language to get in their way Buffy and Riley are able to act on their feelings and kiss for the first time, Xander is able to show how he feels for Anya, confirming that despite her fears their relationship is clearly based on more than just sex. It even allows growth in the same episode that introduces Tara. Whilst she is incredibly shy and quiet when first introduced, being unable to speak allows her to find the courage to reach out and touch Willow, an act that not only gives them both the strength to survive, but goes on to be the start of the shows most important same sex relationship (sorry Kennedy, but the fans just don't love you as much as Tara).
It says a lot for a show that had thus far been praised so highly for its dialogue is able to deliver real character development and lasting changes that would carry on for seasons without relying on dialogue for 27 minutes of the episode.
It feels impossible to talk about 'Hush' without mentioning the Gentlemen, possibly the most frightening villain to ever feature on Buffy. Whedon references Pinhead, Nosferatu and even Mr Burns as the inspiration for the visual design, and it's clear to see where each other these played a part in the creation of the monsters.
Whilst many of the creatures in both Buffy and Angel are large, monstrous foes that have a real physical threat to them, the Gentlemen are one of the rare exceptions to this rule, skeletal and corpselike, with slow and elegant movement that takes away from physical intimidation, but adds so much to the fear factor.
Even after fifteen years the scene where Olivia is looking out of Giles' window and one of the Gentlemen suddenly comes floating past, smiling at her, gives me the creeps in a way that no other Buffy creature ever has. It's appropriate that Whedon received the inspiration for the creatures from a childhood nightmare, as many of the scenes with them feels like a nightmare scenario.
The scenes with the Gentlemen are beautifully added to by the direction and use of haunting musical score. The almost fairytale like music, mixed with haunting vocals makes every moment with them scarier and heightens the tension as they glide through Sunnydale, searching for their next victims.
The fact that the Gentlemen glide rather than walk is a great choice for them as characters, increasing the creep factor and the nightmare like feel, but also means that they have to be shot a certain way as to hide either the wires holding them up or the dollies that move them around. Certain angles and shots we're used to seeing are changed ever so slightly to hide these technical pieces, and makes things feel ever so slightly wrong and out of the norm.
Despite being one of the creepiest episodes in the history of Buffy 'Hush' is not without its light moments, providing some laugh out loud jokes, once again without the need for dialogue. The episode uses the lack of dialogue for some great visual gags, the way Xander and Buffy's faces simultaneously fall when they try to talk to each other on the phone, or the way Forrest waves a pad with 'come on come one' written on it as Riley tries to override The Initiative's voiceprint security (it's the second come on that really makes it funny).
The most brilliantly funny part of the episode has to go to the scene where Giles is using an overhead projector to brief the scooby gang. Yes, his childish (and at one point disturbing) drawings give the scene a visual comedy, but there's so much comedy in the scene that comes down to characterisation and misunderstanding. Anya's blatant indifference to the whole thing as she eats popcorn. Xander being stuck thinking about sex, thinking that the Gentlemen want 'boobies'. Everyone's reaction to Buffy making a staking gesture whilst sitting down that makes it looks like she's suggesting masturbation. Buffy's protest of Giles' drawing of her. It's all stuff that feels real to all of the characters and works to create one of the best laugh out loud scenes of the show.
With fantastic visual storytelling, great comedy, wonderful dialogue (for as little as the episode has it) and the creepiest Buffy villains that will stick in your nightmares, 'Hush' is a near perfect example of what makes Buffy The Vampire Slayer an enduring classic piece of television and a must watch.
This review WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS for the episode to be discussed, if you do not want certain plot points or story spoilt, please do not read further.
After two weeks in the future Legends of Tomorrow heads back into the past with a trip to 1950's small town America in a slick and stylish episode that captures the feel of both Back to the Future and cheesy 50's monster movies.
With updated info on where they can find Vandal Savage the Legends head to Pleasant Falls in 1958, where they discover that not only are there a series of bizarre murders and disappearances, but Savage is living as a citizen of the community and working as a doctor at the local psychiatric institute.
The team split up to investigate the murders, with Jax trying to find out information from the local teens, Stein and Sarah getting jobs at the psychiatric institute as a doctor and nurse respectively, Ray and Kendra pose as a married couple moving into one of the murder victims homes and Rip and Snart pose as FBI agents.
These splits of the team are good for not only giving each of our characters the chance to do something that adds into the whole of the story, but lets us take a look at the culture of 1950's America from multiple sides.
There's a line that sums things up brilliantly, Stein is talking to Jax and Sarah about how wonderful the 1950's are 'Even someone as jaded as yourself can't deny how idyllic this time was', at which point Jax responds 'Yeah, if you're white', with Sarah adding 'And a man. And straight. And...'.
It's a point that a lot more people are beginning to talk about now that we can look back with a modern sensibility, and the characters in the show not only know this, but butt heads against these walls of racism, sexism and homophobia.
Jax is met with anger and open hostility by the local teens, who feel that a black man has no right to be openly talking with a young white woman. Kendra is met with the assumptions that she's Rays maid rather than his wife, and once corrected the two of them are encouraged to leave town because people in Pleasant Falls aren't accepting of interracial couples. Sarah comes up against both sexism, and homophobia as she finds friendship in a nurse who is fighting her own homosexual feelings.
The episode sets up the idea that beneath the white picket fences and friendly faces there are horrors hiding in the suburbs, both in the inequalities of the time period and in the literal sense as monsters stalk their victims.
Having found another Nth Metal meteorite in the outskirts of Pleasant Falls and using it to experiment on local teens. Rather then granting them with extended life like Savage it turns them into hawk monsters, creatures that take aspects from several creatures featured in the DC comics.
Savage captures Jax and experiments on him, turning him into one of his hawk creatures. It's not clear exactly why Savage is conducting these experiments, whether he's just looking into the nature of the substance that made him immortal, or if an army of hawk monsters is part of one of his plans for world conquest, but seeing him playing mad scientist is great. Casper Crump has been criticised for a lack of charisma in past episodes, and in some ways I have to agree, he doesn't come across as a huge tyrant or the lead figure in a cult, but he's very believable in the mad scientist role.
Luckily for Jax the team arrive at the institute in a dual rescue mission and an attempt to kill Savage. Kendra manages to get in close to Savage, playing on him thinking she doesn't know who Savage is, but Savage gets the upper hand and a fight breaks out between the two of them. Kendra manages to put up a good fight, but despite all of her training it's still very evident that she's not a match for Savage yet, and only avoids being killed by the timely intervention of Ray.
In the facilities basement Cold and Stein come across the hawk creatures and have to fight for their lives. However, when the monster Jax arrives Cold refuses to turn his gun on his teammate, even trying to appeal to his humanity instead of attacking. Cold manages to incapacitate Jax without hurting him, allowing Stein the opportunity to cure him of his mutation.
This is an important moment, as during the whole episode Jax had been openly critical of Colds actions in the previous episode, and for 'killing' Heatwave. He makes the point that none of them can trust Cold, but then Cold puts his life on the line to save him. Not only does Jax end up reversing his thoughts on him, saying that he understands that Cold turned on Heatwave because he was a threat to the safety of the team, but Stein also calls Colds actions heroic.
Captain Cold has always been one of the most interesting characters in the show, and his transformation from villian to hero one of the most compelling arcs, and this week's episode goes a long way towards having the other characters acknowledge that. It'll be fun to see just what kind of person will be returning to Central City after the series has ended, Captain Cold the criminal, or Captain Cold the superhero?
The episode ends on a cliffhanger scene as Kronos once again arrives out of the blue in order to move the plot forward (please go use him as something else than a plot device for once!) and attacks the Waverider, forcing Rip, Jax, Stein and Cold to escape on the shuttle, just as the rest of the team arrives in time to watch the Waverider enter the timestream, leaving Kendra, Ray and Sarah stranded in 1958.
