Politics, Civil War, and How Marvel's Villains are Ruining their Own Movies

I always find it so interesting how much movies reflect the feelings of their time: the Original Star Wars are widely considered far better than the prequels because the prequels were marred in the politics and corruption which gripped America at the time they were made, whereas the original trilogy were influenced by the seventies style of rooting for the little guy, the post-Vietnam era of peace and understanding rather than violence and war and the idea of promoting peace where possible and rising up against tyrannical orders who threaten peaceful ways.

In a way, I find it funny that the prequel trilogy didn't feature so much of that. Created around the rise of terrorism, we see much more of the Bush ideals of forcing democracy on a country in the Clone troopers and the Jedi as generals, something which somehow aptly fitted in with the original trilogy and gave way for that story to be told. Movies are windows into the time they are made, they show us the cultural and political landscape through which they were created and give us a way into the mindset of the people of the time.

With all that said, I suppose I should explain that this isn't just some random article about Star Wars and politics (although you might get something along those lines come Rogue One), but a review on Captain America: Civil War.

So much to catch up

So I've not been writing much on here recently, but at least this time it's because I've been hella busy: between getting a new job, trying to write several thousand words of fiction a day and vlogging nearly every day last month, it's been pretty hectic since the end of February.

With that said, shall we get on with this? We've got a lot to catch up on...

My Top Gear Fear

So you might have seen recently that Chris Evans of Radio 1 fame (not the American actor, sadly - boo hoo!) has been joined on the new series of Top Gear by Matt LeBlanc of F.R.I.E.N.D.S. Which, fair enough, is a bold move, especially since he set the fastest lap time as the star in a reasonably-priced car under the three stooges who are now ex-presenters.

Abrams brings a Franchise back to Form this December

I was surprised, even a week after it opened, that the cinema for The Force Awakens was not more crowded - it was almost empty, in fact. But I suppose that's what happens when it's just after Christmas, movies aren't exactly on people's minds.

But Star Wars. I remember as a kid being taken by the brightness and acrobatics of the prequel trilogies; as I grew older I saw through the colour and the extravagance to what was a pretty dull story, mired in politics and the science side of science-fiction, trying to explain what the original trilogy hadn't felt the need to. It's more or less a general consensus that the prequel trilogy isn't on par with the original, and it's clear that resident geek and nostalgia-artist J.J. Abrams feels the same way too.

And so the curtain rises, the screen lights up and, in total silence, the Lucasfilm logo sparkles across the scene, followed by those famous words: "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..."

And suddenly the music swells and you feel your heart catch in your throat as you see, superimposed over a starry background, the two words you've been waiting for: STAR WARS.

This is the entirely spoiler-free review; I'll be posting a spoiler article later tonight where I can examine my thoughts more in depth.

Book Review: The Quantum Universe...

Okay, so this is probably the most difficult review I've done, in part because I don't actually understand quantum physics, but also because this book took me months to read.

A Film to Make you Cry

Since my last review turned into a major cock-up with regards to research and stuff, I've decided to investigate Inside Out properly. So here goes nothing: Inside Out is a DreamWorks film about a group of emotions living inside...

Perhaps There's Hope in Franchising

Um, wow. I really got this wrong, didn't I? So it turns out Minions isn't a DreamWorks movie at all, but made by a studio called Illumination Entertainment. So let's rewrite this. I'm gonna try to keep this as close to the original review as possible, only taking out references to DW and maybe cleaning it up a little in the process. So, without further ado, the actual, proper, corrected review for Minions: