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Underworld Blood Wars Review (2016) | Just Stop Already!

Underworld Blood Wars has been helmed just like its previous parts, except unlike, of course, the first one. And that is just when you look at its fast paced direction, the action and its poorly written screenplay. It gives you nothing but cheap thrills and is barely there to take the story forward.

Watching Underworld Blood Wars was supposed to help rekindle the lost memories of one of my favorite badass protagonists. To watch her kick some more ass in a war-ridden world trying to rip each other apart was supposed to be an exciting adventure. But alas! The movie is as stale as its yawn worthy action.

If you wish to revisit those forgotten enclaves, here’s a link to revisit all the prequels. Go binge-watch:

Plot of Underworld Blood Wars (Spoilers Ahead)

To constitute its plot Underworld doesn’t have much to offer. It’s like a ladder that leads to naught. So if you want to put things in a nutshell, you can say the title of the movie gives away the story. Yes it’s an ongoing war between the Lycans and Vampires, no doubts there. But remember (at least try!) how the last part had ended with Kate trying to save Eve, the hybrid child? Well she has been hidden, and even Selene doesn’t know her whereabouts. For the very fact that if she did, someone might extract that information through her blood.

The movie starts with talks about Marius portrayed by Tobias Menzies, him being the big bad beast of Lycans. The leader is planning a huge attack on the Vamps holed up in a fortress. Side Note: If it weren’t for his hubris and badassery the movie would have been even more punishing to watch.

Both Lycans and Vampires are after Eve trying to locate the gifted child to have an upper-hand in the war. The consumption of her blood would turn one into Vampire-Corvinus hybrid.

We have betraying creatures like Semira (Lara Pulver) and Varga (Bradley James) who stay constantly at the top of the pyramid of perversion. Charles Dance and Theo James reprise their respective roles as Thomas and David.

One of the most memorable scenes to watch out for is when Selene rips out the spine of Marius slaying him in the process. But right after that, Underworld Blood Wars seems to be galloping towards the end. It’s almost as if Anna Foerster, the director is shouting at the top of her lungs:

“Pack up! Pack up! Quickly!”

It just forces you to shake your head at how pathetic and unruly the rush is.

The Final Verdict

For once you think maybe Underworld might have learnt from its past mistakes, and this time, maybe just this time it would try to present the Lycans and Vampires story in a better light. But no! It only gets terrible with every release.

At the end of the day you realize Underworld is badly in a need of reboot, but trying to envision someone else filling the shoes of Selene is just not right. Kate is Selene! Period.

I just hope it finds a good director who decides to bring some calm focus to the tale, whilst rebuffing its action, and embellishing the drama.

I would recommend you watch it only if you are a big Underworld fan and can’t live without seeing Kate Beckinsale back in action again.

Check out the trailer of Underworld Blood Wars movie:

dracula untold movie wallpaper Luke Evans

Dracula Untold Review (2014)

February 20, 2015 / scottshak / 0 Comments

Dracula Untold is told by a beautiful dark direction of the newbie ‎Gary Shore‬, Stoker’s tale has found a perfect variant.

Luke‬ is ravishing in the drac shoes and the tale of Dracula Untold is brilliantly scripted. There are subtle glimpses that Shore uses like depicting rad scenes of war through the dead eyes of a Turk that makes things different. Although the action bit isn’t that great and put out quickly, the story still keeps you rooted. Some clichéd pieces pop up here and there, but its our own favourite fictional protag Drac, what do you expect? The score is apt. It makes you feel the vampire wrath. Screenplay is good.

When we contain the awesomeness of Luke’s gripping facial gravity, make it dark, combine it with some twists and turns of the legendary Bram Stoker’s tale, add some ‪Cooper‬ to it, throw in some ‪Charles Dance‬ grim screenplay voice then lo! we get a good decent movie that has the potential to run a fine franchise on its own.

We have forever rooted for a better depiction of the bad-ass Dracula tale, haven’t we? Well, Dracula Untold might not be the right justice we expected for our beloved anti-hero, but it isn’t quite bad either. Gary Shore might have ignited a franchise spark, that could be picked up by a much better director and an imminent promising story as well.

But everything aside, If we really want the right adjudication and the perfect hammer to drop, we want it to be picked up by some brilliant directors like Cameron, Nolan or Scorsese to give it the perfect verdict.

The Imitation Game Review (2014) | Benedict Cumberbatch is ‘The’ Prodigy

January 20, 2015 / scottshak / 0 Comments

The Imitation Game is a beautiful glimpse into the head of the prodigy Alan Turing. Who plays that? None other than the handsome and captivating Benedict Cumberbatch himself.

“Are you paying attention? Good. If you are not listening carefully, you will miss things. Important things. I will not pause, I will not repeat myself, and you will not interrupt me. You think that because you’re sitting where you are, and I am sitting where I am, that you are in control of what is about to happen. You’re mistaken. I am in control, because I know things that you do not know.”

The flick takes birth with the aforementioned enthralling screenplay that smells of confidence dripping off Benedict Cumberbatch’s brainiac-avatar. We like to listen to him that way. His bold voice that reeks of the Smaug fury. That voice of Khan that reminds us of his sharp demeanor that he so beautifully donned and carried throughout the movie Star Trek Into Darkness. He literally thrives on screenplay. Don’t you just wish sometimes screenwriters had more badass words to feed him?

Plot of The Imitation Game (Spoilers)

Enigma is impossible to crack. So the world told him. Alan Turing, the prodigy who defied a relentless encrypting machine, was the person responsible for reducing the devastating span of war that engulfed Europe by two years. The Father of Artificial Intelligence played God to minimize casualties and nobody had a clue. The biopic is a tribute to Turing which eases through 114 minutes of brilliance manifesting his love life, his genius, his eureka and his sorry demise.

Cumberbatch as the polymath works extremely hard to project a guy who is different from the rest. He imparts him an apt stammer with a clumsier gravity. Alexandre Desplat weaves magic in the background with his brilliant notes.

You can order The Imitation Game from here:

I loved how Keira Knightley‘s character Joan Clarke tries to reason with Turing when he tries to break up with her.

“We will have each other’s minds. Sounds like a better marriage than most.

Downsides to The Imitation Game

Morten Tyldum’s direction is good but there are times when you feel it could have gone better. Since, directors believe viewers to be laymen, most of them don’t venture into the technical aspect of a prodigy. A little bit fathomable technical is a welcome inclusion and if a director makes you understand the what and the how of the work entailed, big things like cracking a code should give you an equal and exact amount of thrill as its protagonist projects. Precisely what the flick missed.

Turing is a war hero often unsung and overlooked. What he gave the world is truly precious. Somehow something tells me, this guy’s life deserves a series to portray minute crucial details. Now that is something that couldn’t be possibly condensed into a movie. The grandeur of what he was doing and what he did is beyond time. A flick like this doesn’t do justice to his remarkable life.

The Final Verdict

The Imitation Game rivets you with Alan’s ingenious almost instantly. Desplat’s notes make sure that you don’t get a jaded moment at all. Whilst Cumberbatch ensures you witness a prodigy. Matthew Goode, Keira Knightley, Charles Dance and Mark Strong fill the screen aptly with their effective and memorable presence. Overall the movie turns out brilliant.

A great biopic to watch! Highly recommended.

Check out the trailer of The Imitation Game here: