marți, 16 august 2011

Death of Spider-Man

     'Death of Spider-Man' is the last chapter in the Ultimate Spider-Man storyline which features the a change in the Ultimate Universe's status quo.Peter Parker goes off against his deadliest foes yet and beats them even wounded which ultimately leads to a heroic death.
     The last chapter opens up and it is revealed that Norman Osborn(also known as the Green Goblin) is alive and hold captive at S.H.I.E.L.D. by Carol Danvers who kept him alive to run tests on him.Osborn quickly manages to escape from his cell due being more evolved than last time and kills the agents who are trying to stop him than recruit Electro,Vulture, Kraven the Hunter,Sandman and Dr.Octopus than they escape together now Norman calling them 'Men of God' who are brought a second chance to smite their enemies once and for all.Akward but cool ^^''.
Peter meanwhile reunited with Mary Jane and are having lunch when suddenly Steve Rogers(Capain America in disguise) tells him that they need to speak privately and they head to the cemetery where Cap tells him that he(Spider-Man) is just a 17 years old kid who needs to stop what he is doing or will get himself killed one day.Spidey ignores Cap and swings off only to later witness the massive battle between The Avengers and New Ultimates at the Queensborough Bridge.Peter that receives a phone call from MJ who tells him that Norman Osborn is well and alive and escaped from custody together with other villains.
Norman also witnesses the fight in live TV and tells the others that they need to go there while Octopus objects and tells Norman that his is their chance to take off once and for all to which Norman beasts out(literally) and after a not-that-long fight, he kills Otto.
     Same time, Spider-Man sees that the Punisher is trying to shoot Captain America so he jumps in front of his idol and catches a bullet for him.Nick Fury and Captain America are amazed of his bravery and after that they take the Punisher down but the bridge collapses and Spidey wakes up not much later only to find himself alone and heavely bleeding from his found and notice that his so called 'idol' , Captain America and the others took off leaving him there to die.
     Later that night, Johnny Storm(Human Torch of the Fantastic Four) and Bobby Drake(Iceman from the X-Men) are now living with Peter, are headed home and ready to enter the house when they notice that Osborn and the four remaining men on his side are looking for Peter.Johnny and Bobby  quickly take on the fight with them and for a split second they overpower them by knocking Norman out from the chessboard.Now Electro,Kraven,Vulture and Sandman are the only ones left.Peter arrives quickly and takes Vulture out too while out from nowhere Peter's aunt, Aunt May shoots and kills Electro and Peter deals with Sandman and Kraven as well.She and Peter hug each other only to realise that Norman returned and he is ready to take him down.The ultimate fight begins between the two arch rivals and while Peter is already dying of his wounds Norman claims that that is the 'day of Reckoning' and that God wants Peter to die.Mary Jane arrives on the scene and drives a truck into the Goblin taking him out for a bit while she and Peter embrace and kiss to see themselves still in one piece , Norman wakes up and Peter sick of everything, takes the truck and beats the cr@p out of Norman and finally the truck explodes seemingly killing Norman and sending Peter to his death as well but not before saying goodbye to his aunt, May and Mary Jane.As the others begin grieving his heroic death, Norman can bee seen in the flames whos body reverted back to norman form and his seemingly dead body doesnt move but his lips curve into a smirk leaving the door open that Spider-Man's greatest foe may be alive.
     I'm not going to lie, I've been reading Ultimate Spider-Man since 2003 or 2004 and haven't been excited for a chapter like this last one for quite a while now.This comic was with me in everything, good,bad etc. and has a very special place in my heart.Brian Bendis(writer) did a terrific job with this book and the penciles Mark Bagley,Stuart immonen,David Lafuente and Sara Pichelli did also amazing jobs on the book.They all became my favorites.
    Thank you for this amazing comic Marvel and Bendis, thank you for being with me in the last 7-8 years.You will be greatly missed.

luni, 1 august 2011

True Blood Season 4 so far

True Blood really kicks some ass this season.Although not as action packed as before, I have to say this "slower" storytelling really helps the show. Witches,shifters,werewolves,werepanters,vampires,fairies and everythig just puts the whole show and experience on a whole new level.
This season deals with the events of the past and puts the characters into a new spotlight.A year and bit passed since Sookie went missing into fairyland where she only spent a few minutes and upon her return everything went crazy.The world she know no longer exist as she knew.The world entered into a post-Edgington era where vampires aren't liked but neither hated.Bill became the supreme king of Louisiana now taking the title of King Bill and Eric Northman is his right hand man, his scheriff.
That said things go crazy when a group of witches(or necromancers as Bill states) are trying to get control over the dead which would mean they would be able to control vampires as well.Bill sends Eric to stop them but instead the witches erease Eric's memory leaving him compltely tabula rasa. Sookie finds Eric(who bought her house during the one year she was missing so he can "own her") and helps him which makes the two fall in love in each other and ultimately have sex in the forest. King Bill meanwhile wants to get rid of Eric because he can't have Eric "have" Sookie but finally realises that Sookie deserves to be happy and let's Eric go.
The storyline of witches also involves LaFayette and Jesus who are both witches.Werepanter storylne circles around Jason Stackhouse and Crystal while the werevwolves are the usual as last season, Debbie and Alcide.Oh, and Andy Bellfleur is hooked on V.Adict f#ck! xD.
Overall this season is an interesting one.I'd say season 3 was better but than I would be wrong because this one got all season 3 didnt, a slower and more edge hooking storytelling, at least from my point of view.
So far a 8 out of 10.

vineri, 10 iunie 2011

Fast Five Review

Regardless previous receptions, the Fast & Furious series always gets a comeback and after two disappointing installments(not me, I loved both Tokyo Drift and Fast & Furious) the creators decided to throw in a new formula.Picture The Fast & Furious meeting The Fugitive because that's what this franchise was turned into and I will have to say it, It is extremely enjoyable.Vin Diesel & Paul Walker have an undeniablely good chemistry and bringing Dwayne Johnson in just made it whole much lot funnier to watch.
The movie is starting where Fast & Furious ended, Brian and his crew going after Dom to free him and after a successful break out, they go on a mission to stole some cars which would give them enough cash to disappear once and for all.Things don't go smooth(where do they?) and Crime Lord Herman Reyes starts looking out for them(in the bad kinda way) and wants to kill them and if that wouldn't be enough, a new bounty hunter cop joined the hunt/game, U.S. DSS Agent Luke Hobbs.Now both the crime lord and DSS in their a$$es, Dom, Brian and Mia must take what they can get and move out from sight as soon as they can and Dom comes up with an idea that only has two ways to end: they either die or get as rich as hell and be gone after that from the eyes of the world, and that plan is non other than robbing Herman himself, a full cash of 100 $ million dollars but for a job like this they need a damn good team and who else than previous hotshots like Han,Roman Pearce,Tej and other news too like Giselle Harabo,Tego Leo and Rico Santos. The action sequences and awesome WTF moments just make this movie one of the bests this year and summer and also, I can easely say, the best installment of the Fast & Furious franchise.
The scores and soundtrack used in the movie also play a huge part making the enjoyable atmosphere for the movie.Hope Fast Six arrives soon, can't wait for it.


RAZOR rating: 9 ( out of 10)

X-Men First Class Review

(From my ComicVine review)

X-Men First Class was a pleasent surprise for me as I expected this movie to turn out as a disappointment judging by previous comments, thoughts and so called "rushed" production.As many before me stated, the movie isn't completely a reboot, but a prequel for previous X-Men movies with sometimes major continuity errors like how did Xavier got paralyzed before being bald as he was walking at the end of  "X-Men Origins:Wolverine" and in the beginning of "X-Men 3".If you close your eyes upon these things than you'll find First Class the perfect summer kick in movie.Matthew Vaugn like always did a brilliant job on the movie,my only concern which turned ot half to be true was that they were so many mutants introduced whom weren't properly explored like for example Darwin, who was introduced and killed in no time, I just feel like his character was wasted or another good example is Emma Frost aka the White Queen who was there but had no significant role other than being Sebastion Shaw's b!tch, other than that I have no serious problem infact I loved that Azazel was kept mysterious and not much was revealed about him.Of course the movie was supposed to show where our favorite mutants were before the first X-Men movie, the show was stolen by the undineable chemistry between James McAvoy's Xavier and Michael Fassbender's Erik whom I found the perfect to fit the role of the master of magnetism. He was a great choice to fit into Ian McKellen's place. The movie is set duing the Cuban Missle Crisis, in 1962 but sometimes felt like our characters were in the present day due some scene like for example the strip scene of Angel Salvadore.The surprises cameos were nice as well especially Wolverine's "go f@ckyourself" statement which I found pretty hallorius. The main villains or antagonists of the movie were the Hellfire Club led by the crazy bastard Sebastian Shaw who had the ability to absorb energy with this slowing down his aging also.While he served as the main antagonist of the movie as he was the one to make Erik the bloodthirsty man he was, Azazel,Emma Frost and Riptide were also much significant as well.Xavier and Raven's relationship was something pleasent and unexpected.I loved how the two had this brother-sister/best friends relationship and even after siding with Erik, she was still loyal in some ways to Xavier which also makes me bring up the one major thing that was bugging me, that how the hell was Xavier okay with Erik taking the rest of the Hellfire Club members and  Mystique and not even try to stop them.Okay, let's pretend we haven't seen that.The last part of the movie was something we were (and I think we all can agree with this) waiting for, Erik finally becoming Magneto , the true master of magnetism and the true villain of Xavier.He formed his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants starting with Mystique, Azazel,Angel, Raptide and finally ending with the newly freed from prison, Emma Frost.
The movie I think farely deserved a 3.5 out of possible 5, the rest, the 1.5 goes away for the continuity errors and other plotholes which were small but a few of them was significant in one way or another.Can't wait for a sequel.

RAZOR rating : 7 ( out of 10)

sâmbătă, 14 mai 2011

Smallville SERIES FINALE review


This is it!The series finale, an event of 10 years in making comes to an end.Fans should just lay back on the sofa because even there were lowpoints in the episode, everyone got what wanted( at some point):Superman. Tom Welling  put on the suit and saved the day from Darkseid and the coming Apocalypse(and Apokolips, the big bad planet heading toward Earth planning on destroying it.)But that wasn't just all, Michael Rosenbaum returned for one last time to bring back the only true evil and villain without whom Superman wouldn't be Superman : Lex Luthor!In flesh and blood.Turned out Lex used those organic parts from clones which had usefulness and  "combined" them to heal himself but one last thing was missing, a heart.Lionel from Earth-2 decided to help his son(from another mothe---- universe) by cutting Tess Mercer's heart out and putting in Lex's body.You got to see the irony in that.Tess of course is a kick ass girl and managed to escape and mortaly wound Lionel who even in his last breath tried to save his son.Darkseid appeared and cut out Lionel's heart and healed Lex than took over Lionel's body and began using him as his vessel on his mission to kill the bringer of the Light, Kal El , Clark Kent.

The highlight of the episode was of course(besides the flying and super-suit)the many guest characters, most notably John Schneider aka Johnathan Kent who whenever speaks, wisdom comes out from his mouth and this time was no different.The wedding of Lois and Clark was back on even after Lois had a cold feet but the party was crashed by a darkness-fully-taken-over Oliver who tried to give Clark a ring with golden kryptonite but Chloe managed to save the day(and Earth also, who knows what would've happened if Clark would've put on that ring.) and after a fierce fight, Oliver was back on track and defeated the unholy trinity of Darkseid. Now only thing they needed was to somehow make the big vulcanic planet above them gone and Darkseid defeated and Clark while preparing for his ultime battle has a nice family reunion with his mother, Martha Kent and the ghost of his father,Jonathan Kent.Of course Lex is was now back and the two faced off at the ruins of the Luthor Mansion.Lex admitted that besides he considers Clark his greates enemy, he believes in him that he can save mankind from it's demise and apocalypse.Clark now went to the barn of his house only to be confronted by a Lionel who is now the vessel of Lord Darkseid.Clark during the battle learns how to fly as he realises that he had the power all along in him only that the past was holding him back and defeated Darksied.Have to say I was a bit dissapointed as I expected a bigger fight, but it was enjoyable either way. Clark went to the fortress and put on the suit and saved Lois who meanwhile was on Air Force One to tell the President about the danger they are facing.The plane was to crash but Clark now Superman saved them and pushed the Apokolips planet out from Earth's orbit.The day was saved.
Of course we still have Lex Luthor who know took over LuthorCorp and renamed it LexCorp than finally killed Tess saying that he is saving her by killing her because than she wouldn't become like him. This is what I like about Lex, he always thinks he is doing the right thing and maybe that's one of the many factors that make his character the most epic and also sympathic villain in the show.But dear old sis had one last chance at redemption and took it by poisoning Lex with an organic black liquid which was in development for years and reveals that this will erease Lex's memory up to that very point.As she lays dying a memory-less Lex realises that he has no idea what is happening around him and looks out to from the window totally confused.

We flash forward to year 2018 where all of our characters have nicely evolved.Clark Kent is the mild-mannered riporter secretly asking Lois to marry him and being Superman when people need him, Lois Lane is a top riporter at the Daily Planet, Chloe is a mother and she is married with Oliver and Lex Luthor is elected as the President of the USA.
The last shot of the show needs no words.It's perfect.Check it out and you'll know what I'm talking about ;)

RAZOR rating: 8.5 ( out of 10)

sâmbătă, 7 mai 2011

Supernatural 6x20 The Man Who Would Be King Review


Okay, it's not a secret that I dislike(d) season six but this one...well this episode was extraordinary, it felt like Supernatural for me once again.I followed the show when season four started and after watching it I checked out seasons 1-3 and I absolutely loved it especially season four and five but when season six premiered last september I felt like that something was missing, that something was gone from the show and it didn't felt like it was the show that once I loved.Maybe because Eric Kripke told that he originaly planned the show to last five seasons and they didn't had much time to develope proprely the sixth season and as they went on they came up with interesting ideas, because from where I am, that's what is happening.The start was more than disappointing to me but I didn't give up(although they were times when I asked myself why am  I still watching it?!) and  I'm glad I sticked because recently it started to feel fresh and new again and considering the fact that it was picked up for a seventh season, I believe the writers now know for sure and 100 %  where to go forward with the story.
Talking about story, I'm glad Crowley is back and he wasn't dead.At first I highly disliked his character but now it is considered as a mastermind villain for the Winchester brothers and Castiel is also much more interesting than ever before.Being on his own, a "Superman gone darkside" as Dean stated, we get the whole story on him from the start til' the end.The episode was narrated by Castiel who is sitting in Heaven waiting for God to give him a sign of weather is he on the right path or not.Of course for whatever he is waiting for, it's simply not coming.God may be gone or refuses to respond on Cas' prays.In one word, Cas is lost.Alone. Flashes from season five and few from season four are also present.Ahh, good ol' times.The theme is rivalry and redemption.Rafael is still much more powerful than Castiel and wants him to join his crusade of angels who want to free Michael and Lucifer from the cage so the apocalypse can go on and happen what was written of course our dear old Cas has other visions of the future and plans on stoping Rafael's madness once and for all and this is where Crowley comes into the picture, he offers help Castiel's if he will help him find purgatory and geather souls for an army.Cas agrees and fakes Crowley's death so the Winchesters would be off his trail for good and they can work together again.After stoping the Mother of All, Eve , the Winchester go solo on fiding Crowley and they "outsmoke" Castiel and trap him to confess which he does but with this he looses the friendship of the Winchesters forever.Being again alone he understands that he really is a "superman gone darkside" and the "kryptonite" is in the Winchesters hand.Looooved the bunch of Superman references, this may be a reference for Smallville ending which is kinda cool from the writers.
So Heaven or Hell,Angels or Devils, Castiel is now a tragic hero who only wanted what he thought is best but failed and lost everything, so now it might be a good time for him to proove Sam,Dean and Bobby's that he really is their friend and set things right.
Of course question must be answered because there are a lot of them still and two weeks from now the 2-hour season finale airs.I personally would love to see a fight between Sam,Dean,Castiel and maybe even Balthazar going up against Crowley and an army of demons and even Sam's block on his soul would fade away could give us a suspense finale.The season might have been mostly down for me this past year but if they get the finale right than all is forgiven and we can go back to the way things were and wait season seven with great anticapation.

RAZOR rating: 9 (out of 10)

Fringe 3x22 The Day We Died Review

And so season three came to a conclusion which was a brilliant season with a bit slow ending.The third part of a three episode arc finale showed us a grim future,a man's suffering and a possible solution to save two worlds. The finale picks up where the last episode left, 15 years in the future, more precisely in May 20th, 2026.The world is heading toward the unstopable doomsday and there might be only a tiny hope to save the world after the parallel universe was destroyed.
Joshua Jackson did a brilliant job portraying a heartbroken and lost Peter who killed billions, lost the love of his life and besides the guilt the only thing - or better said man - he can rely on is Walter Bishop who was sentenced to life for starting all this back in 1985.John Noble does an extremely good impression playing two enterily different characters., the heart warming and kind Walter who was released from prison to crack a new technology and help Peter fix the past and the evil mastermind Walternate who before their universe was destroyed, crossed over to get revenge.He hired a terrorist group to rip holes in the fabric of the universe plus murders Olivia with cold blood.
Anna Torv didn't have that much screen time as she used to but that might be a good thing considering the theme of the episode as it revolved around Walternate-Peter-Walter.Broyles also had a wierdo eye -thing which was kinda reminescent to Nick Fury from the Ultimate Marvel Comics.(Talkin' about comic book references huh?This is a plus for the show :D).Of course the recurring theme for the episode was "revenge" and this was the exact thing that showed us viewers whats the real differences between the two Walters.

Walter  realises what he has to do to right the wrongs and through a wormhole, sends the doomsday device parts back to the past a few thousand years(indicating that HE was the one from the future who sent the parts to the PAST which they've found in the PRESENT. Looooove when things get this complicated xD ). Peter than also returns to the PRESENT but with the memories from the FUTURE so he can tell them that he's seen doomsday and in order to prevent it the two sides must work together to save both worlds but before he could finish his sentence,he disappears and Walter and Walternate   and  Olivia and Bolivia form a wierd kind of partnership to prevent the destruction of either worlds.

Outside the Liberty Statue in our universe, the Observer are standing and we learn that Peter "served his purposse" and he never existed from now on, in one world he might have been wiped from history indicating that he may have died as our Peter too, thanks to his illnes.
Now sure many people began speculating that if Peter never existed than Walter wouldn't have crossed over and this whole things would've began in the first place, but I assure them they're wrong, even if Peter still have died in both universes, Walter and Bell would've found a way to cross over because they're scientest, curiosity is THEIR thing.So overall it was an exciting and interesting episode but not as mind blowing at action scene department as I've expected.

RAZOR rating : 7 (out of 10)