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All posts for the month August, 2016
(This review may contain spoilers).
I saw this movie advertised so many times, by the time I went to see it (at midnight, of course), it was almost anti-climatic.
I really liked the almost Prologue part of this movie, as it allowed me the opportunity to get to know some of the characters before they went into danger.
I did feel a lot of sympathy for Harley Quinn, even though she might have been my favourite character… at least alongside Deadshot. I was prepared for Will Smith to play a much different version of the character I’d seen in Arrow, but I wasn’t expecting him to have quite as much depth.
I really didn’t like Waller, even though she was technically supposed to be one of the good guys. I actually found it really quite hard to suspend my disbelief when it came to forming the Suicide Squad. While I could see the reasons behind wanting to fight fire with fire, I felt Deadshot was really the only one who showed any kind of willingness to keep up his end of the deal. At least as long as he got something out of it.
I thought it was good to have the opportunity to learn about Diablo’s past and to see the contrast between what he’d been like then and his personality in the present time. However, by the end of the movie, I was left with quite a few questions about what was going on with him.
I found the Enchantress and her brother to both be intriguing characters, though the one with the most mystery surrounding her was definitely Katana. It was good to see how much Flag cared June, but I didn’t get to see many scenes with them together and I had originally assumed Flag was playing her.
It was also good to see glimpses of the Joker’s relationship with Harley Quinn, though throughout most of the film, I didn’t really see his feelings as love… more like obsession/wanting to get back a favourite toy.
There was a lot of good action, but although I think some attempt was made to inject humour, I felt much of that fell flat. I was more interested in the characters than the banter between them.
I did enjoy watching this and would definitely see it again in the future. Althoug h the cameos from Batman were brief, I enjoyed seeing them… and the setup for the next films in the DC series.
Oh… and there is a post-credits scene. Make sure you stick around.
(I received this book for free as part of Goodreads First Reads giveaways).
(This review may contain spoilers).
I would probably have given this book 4 stars. Unfortunately, the constant switching between third and first person, with no warning, made this book very hard to read at times.
I thought that the new take on the zombie theme was a really unique one, especially given the link-ins to Brer Rabbit, though I could definitely agree that the name (and title) carried racist connotations, so I was very hesitant to use the actual name.
While it was good to have the opportunity to see the effects on a smaller area of something like that, I did struggle with my suspension of disbelief when it came to the police officer handling things. To be honest, the first several chapters had me assuming it was a satire. While there were more serious aspects later on, I found it very hard to take a bus driver’s refusal to abandon their route, when instructed to by a police officer, seriously.
I really did like the descriptions of the tarbabies, though it was hard to picture how they could have moved around at all, given how sticky they were described as being. One thing I found quite interesting was the fact that, although the majority of them seemed to be driven to ‘go forth and multiply’, there were a few that seemed more harmless. I did, however, feel that a trick was missed when no one attempted to communicate with the creatures through those in the process of being infected.
I did especially like the relationship between Josh and Libby. While I did think Libby was quite physical (even if it was meant to be in a playful, non-threatening way), I enjoyed their interactions and felt they really did care about each other.
One thing I particularly liked was seeing how different people saw the tarbabies. It was good to see that, when faced with the prospect of their own mortality, some people chose to make the transformation… and I couldn’t blame them.
I probably felt the most sympathy for Brandon as a character. While he and his brother seemed to be somewhat lacking in the common sense department, it did seem they really wanted to try to help; and it was pretty awful to see that Brandon was hurt so badly by trying to do the right thing.
I thought it was good to see Libby and Josh have to figure out how to get to her parents, given the roads were blocked. I thought it was good to learn a bit more about the creatures, but I found their supposed weakness to be quite confusing.
I thought it was good to see some semblance of society try to keep going, but I would have liked to see it on a bit of a wider scale. While the ending of the book was a little confusing, it was good and I did find the plot held my attention throughout. I would be interested in reading the next book/s in this series in the future.
(This review may contain spoilers).
Again, though I have read and enjoyed this book before, I liked being able to read it again… even though I remembered who the real bad guy was before I started reading it again.
I have to say, I was really surprised to see that Lucky got away with as much as he did. I felt I would have liked to see him face some more consequences of his actions… at least from his superiors. While there were certain times he did need to act on his own, I felt he didn’t act with a whole lot of maturity, even though I did like his character and seeing his friendship with Bigman, along with his relationship with his uncles. I was left with some confusion about exactly how many people were involved in the Council of Science.
I especially liked seeing Bigman’s loyalty to Lucky, although I felt that he seemed to only have a couple of characteristics that were exaggerated, rather than having the opportunity to get to know him a bit more in depth.
I liked the fact that I saw a bit more emotion from Lucky in this book, though I did feel that he was a bit too good to be true at times. I did like seeing him using his mind and it was good to see he didn’t just trust his safety to his mask all the time. I could really understand his reasoning behind not becoming reliant on it.
It was interesting to see Lucky try to infiltrate the pirates and I did like seeing more of the world in general, as well as learning about things such as the pushguns. It was nice to see that Lucky wasn’t perfect in everything and that he had to use his brain to survive.
There were some good elements of tension, but not as much as I would have liked… even though it was good to see things like the surface of the sun. I felt there was too much talking and I didn’t really get to see much of Lucky’s thought processes as he worked out what was really going on. I felt that Bigman saw more action than Lucky did… even though Lucky did get into a couple of fights.
I did, however, enjoy reading this book and I have the next four books in this series. I definitely intend to read them and see more of Lucky and Bigman and their adventures.
(This review may contain spoilers).
This was one book I read originally years ago, but recently decided to re-read the series. And even though there were parts of it that were cliched, it remains one of my favourite science fiction books.
One of my favourite parts of this book was the friendship that formed between David and Bigman. While David did seem like a character who was a bit too good to be true, there were problems he had… and I enjoyed seeing glimpses of his relationship with his honorary uncles, even though the book was really too short to allow me to see much of his history, apart from what was stated in the narration. At the same time, the reflections of David’s past made me feel a lot of sympathy for him as a child.
I thought it was really good to see something of how the food poisoning would affect the residents of Earth, especially considering just how many people were still on Earth. Even though the information about Mars was outdated, I was able to suspend my disbelief enough to picture a lot of what had happened on the planet. I enjoyed seeing the effects of the gravity change and how different the culture on Mars was.
I did think that David could have come up with a better story than he did when he first went to Mars. While it was good to see that there were conflicts between him and many of the Mars workers on the farm he joined, it did seem fairly obvious who the bad guys were… or at least some of them. It would have been good to see a bit more of the world in general, but I did like seeing some of the technology used, both on Earth and Mars. I would have liked a bit more background on the things like emotions being linked to exposing the colourless tattoo, for example.
I really liked the opportunity to see what the real natives of Mars were like and it was also interesting to see how the communication through minds worked. And the Space Ranger itself was a really interesting idea, with an air of mystery added that I really liked seeing.
While I would have liked to see the book expanded upon, I did really enjoy reading it and I’m sure I would read it again in the near future.
(This review may contain spoilers).
In comparison to the Peter Quill of the Guardians of the Galaxy book, I really didn’t like the Peter Quill portrayed in the first of these comics. While the style choice of black and white was a good change, I couldn’t see Quill as a hero; or even an anti-hero.
Even though the second comic was in the same style as the first, I found Quill to be a much more likable character. It was good to not only be able to see his relationship with the Ship, but also to see that he did care about the people who were being enslaved. However, I did feel that the romance between the two secondary characters moved way too fast and didn’t feel easy or natural.
I liked being able to learn more of Quill’s past and why his mother’s husband was so willing to believe she’d been unfaithful to him. However, I didn’t get the chance to see much of Quill’s life, as there was too much exposition, which might have been why I found it so hard to connect emotionally with him as a character.
I did like the main set of comics… even though there wasn’t a whole lot of background provided. I would have liked to see a bit more detail about how Quill had come to the terrible decision… and I found myself quite confused by who the real enemy was.
I liked seeing Quill working with the others, although Mantis made me think of an NPC from a video game who just tells the player random information. While I thought the details about her were interesting, I wasn’t sure why she was imprisoned compared to the rest of them.
I thought it was good to see that Quill was affected by what he’d done and I especially liked Rocket… though I was completely confused by why Groot was so eloquent. I didn’t like him as much as I did in his other appearances, although I did really like his appearance… and the information about his race.
It was interesting to learn bits and pieces of the rest of the characters, particularly about the Shi’ar… though I felt the one that was part of the group was far too unstable to be a real hero. And I did really like learning about the universal power. I also really liked Gabe’s character.
In the future, I would really like to read more about Peter Quill, but as part of the Guardians of the Galaxy storylines… rather than the much more unlikable version of him.
(This review may contain spoilers).
I hadn’t really known much about Jessica Jones, other than seeing her briefly in a previous comic and also a different version of her on Netflix.
I was a bit disappointed not to have the chance to see Jessica in one of her first appearances, even though I did enjoy seeing her romance with Luke Cage. I was a bit disappointed that her personality seemed so at odds with the way her personality was described beforehand. I didn’t really see any of the hangups she was supposed to have had.
It was good to see Jessica offered a job at the Bugle, even though I really didn’t like Jameson’s attitude towards her and the other superheroes. The person I felt the most sympathy for, however, was Terri. I felt that her actions were a direct result of how she’d been treated by her boss… and even though I wasn’t really able to learn much about her, she struck me as being quite a tenacious person.
It was good to see and have the opportunity to learn a bit more about Ben Ulrich. The only chance I had to see him was in the Daredevil television series, so even though he was mentioned in other comics I read, I liked being able to see him in person.
It was also really good to see Spider-Man. While Peter showed some of his trademark humour, I liked seeing the more serious side to him. And it was sad to be reminded of Gwen’s death.
It was interesting to have a glimpse into the two sides of Osborne’s personality. I was quite taken aback by how quickly he shifted into the Green Goblin persona.
There were some really good elements of tension in the first set of comics, particularly when it came to Jessica’s worry about her baby. And I thought her dream about having a girl was really sweet; even if I did think Luke could have been a bit more understanding.
I did particularly like the final comic, as it was sweet to see Jessica and Luke as a family with their baby. And even though the first scene was a bit sad and creepy, I liked that the comic ended on a hopeful note.
Even though it was good to see the other Avengers, I was somewhat confused by the exact timeline in relation to the rest I was reading.
I did like the elements of humour and also the hints of a deeper storyline involving a potential double agent. At some point in the future, I would like to see the origins of Jessica Jones.
(I received this book for free as part of Goodreads First Reads giveaways).
(This review may contain spoilers).
I thought this book was quite an intriguing concept, though by the end, to be honest, I didn’t really feel it had lived up to its potential.
I felt it was a good idea to have the book read as if it were non-fiction. There were some aspects that were really quite interesting, particularly when it came to the different accounts given by Julia’s brother, sister and parents about her. I was very intrigued by the way each of them saw her and it was good to get an idea of some of the events that might have shaped her through childhood.
The real problem was that I felt this book didn’t really live up to its potential. While it was clear that Clare was obsessed with Julia, to the point that there were several different versions of her rather than none, I had very little clear detail about Clare herself. Apart from towards the end of the book, there was no focus on the victims of the attack. Even when Julia’s parents mentioned them, there was little in the way of reaction from Clare. And despite the observations she made at the end of the transcripts, I had the impression that Clare herself was just acting as a recording device.
The character I felt the most sympathy for was Amy. Whether she was perhaps unhealthily dependent on her sister wasn’t important so much as the fact she was clearly unstable… and just as clearly, everyone had washed their hands of her. While not a victim in the same way as those killed by Julia, I felt she was still a victim through the way she’d been treated; and the fact she’d been forgotten about didn’t really sit well with me.
Even by the end of the book, I had very little clear idea of Amanda and Laura’s real personalities. Everything about them was coloured by Clare’s perceptions… but as a reader, I was given hardly any chance to see and judge what they were like for myself.
While there was quite a bit of tension throughout the course of the book as it led to a confrontation with Julia, I somehow felt that the events after that fell somehow flat. While I could slightly see her point about words not having any effect, there was no clear resolution; and I felt that Clare’s actions seemed very at odds with how I thought she would have progressed.
There was a lot of potential in this book, but I felt Clare wasn’t well-defined or very sympathetic as a narrator. I felt the book could have been improved by more showing rather than telling. I didn’t feel this book was one I would read again.
(This review may contain spoilers).
Having seen bits and pieces of this storyline in other comics, I was really quite eager to see the full story of the Skrull invasion.
It was interesting to see the effects of Earth’s mightiest heroes not being able to trust each other, although I think it would have been less easy if there hadn’t been so much conflict generated by the Superhero Registration Act.
One thing I found particularly interesting was the implication that some of the Skrulls went native. I would have liked a bit more background about how the Skrulls’ shapeshifting ability worked, however, as they seemed able to change at will with no ill-effects.
Despite the conflicts in the superhero community, it was good to see them fighting alongside each other, though I found most of the fight scenes to be quite confusing.
I particularly enjoyed the banter between the two Spider-Mans, even without knowing which one was the real Peter Parker. I would have liked to see a bit more of two identical superheroes having to face off against each other, though, particularly with the implications that some of the Skrull didn’t know that was what they were.
I thought it was interesting to see the Skrull side of things, even though it was clear that they were doing entirely the wrong thing. There were some implications that things weren’t quite as simple as them wanting to conquer a planet just because they could.
I particularly felt for Tony, not only with the virus hitting him hard, but also with what was said to him. It was understandable that he began questioning everything and even though there was still obvious conflict between him and Thor, at least, I did have some hope that things might eventually get better.
I also really liked seeing the Young Avengers, though I would have preferred seeing a bit more of Teddy’s and Billy’s relationship, along with perhaps some greater detail about Teddy perhaps struggling with his own heritage.
I liked seeing the different heroes make an appearance and it was pretty cool to see Maria Hill facing off against one of the Skrull impostors, though I found myself a bit confused there.
It was good to see Beast and Wonder Man working together when neither of them were sure they could trust the other, but I would have liked to see a better resolution. It also would have been good to see a bit of background to the crashed ship.
While the dossiers on the Skrulls were informative to read, I would have liked to have those a bit less dry and engage me more as a reader.
I still enjoy reading the Marvel universe and in the future, I’d like to see more of the fallout from these events and the Superhero Registration Act.