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Month: August 2017

Review: Game of Thrones – The Spoils of War

Some may have felt unsure coming into this season with the loss of ‘Battle of the Bastards’ director Miguel Sapochnik. However, they had their doubts firmly crushed in a stampede of screaming Dothraki and an inferno wreaked by a scarily-well CGI’ed Drogon. Considering that final fifteen-minute battle in the Reach (arguably giving the Pelennor Fields a run for its money), it’s a staggering achievement that the rest of the episode doesn’t feel outshone.

Let’s start in the North, and work our way down. Bran’s new identity as the Three-Eyed Raven is getting a lot more interesting, as we see him struggling, in a Dr Manhattan-eque way, to interact normally with Petyr, Meera, and then Arya.

His “chaos is a ladder” line to the former is nailed by Isaac Hempstead-Wright, and visibly unnerves Littlefinger. It’s a mystery why Petyr chooses to give Catspaw to Bran, but he looks suspiciously satisfied when he sees it has been passed to Arya later on in the episode.

Arya’s return to Winterfell is heralded with the stunning House Stark score by Ramin Djawadi, and the nostalgia is ramped up by a confrontation with two guards reminiscent of a scene she had outside the Red Keep in Season 1.

The following reunion scenes with Sansa and Bran are kept earnest and realistic, heartfelt without toeing the line to cheesiness. D&D chose to retain the awkwardness that would be natural after years of separation, giving the scenes a palpable tension. It must be said, however — Bran’s wheelchair is hilarious.

It was nice to check in on Brienne and Podrick as well. I’m glad they got a couple of strong character scenes, although the fight with Arya edged on cliché. It’s one of the few questionable moments of the episode for me.

Down in Dragonstone, we are given another questionable moment: the romantic tension between Jon and Daenerys in the dragonglass cave. The forced quality of it may be down to Emilia Clarke’s generally forced performance, but I also think it was unnecessary for the writers to shoehorn in the romance so early into their alliance.

To be fair to Daenerys, she also produces the best dialogue in ‘The Spoils of War’ when she confronts Tyrion. She makes a perceptive, discomposing observation that his “master plan” was heavily impacted by an unwillingness to hurt his brother.

This weakness of Tyrion’s comes to a heartbreaking head in the Field of Fire battle in the Reach, where we find our real standout performance: Matt Shakman, the director. After helming It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and episodes of Psych and Fargo, Shakman had proved his directorial range, but not with large-scale battle sequences like this.

Man, did he deliver. (Full disclosure — I may be biased, because Jaime Lannister is my favourite character.) As the Dothraki hoard gradually approached the Lannister train, and Drogon materialised in the sky above them, my skin crawled. The next fifteen minutes are a true Game of Thrones emotional rollercoaster.

Like with the Blackwater, viewers are attached to characters on both sides of the conflict. When Bronn aims the Scorpion at Drogon, with Tyrion looking on and Jaime surrounded by fire, you can only watch in horror, not wanting any characters to be hurt, not sure who you want to win. The CGI on Drogon as he falls from the sky is far too good for television, considering they had no real-life reference when crafting the mythical creature.

The battle treated us with two absolutely breathtaking camera shots, which compete for the most impressive in the entire show. There is the long take tracking shot following Bronn as he battles his way to the Scorpion. Then, another tracking shot follows Jaime charging down Daenerys and Drogon through fire and water.

Tyrion’s less active role on the clifftop is equally stellar. He watches the carnage of the queen he serves decimating his brother’s army and his city’s food supplies. His internal conflict is communicated wordlessly by the always outstanding Peter Dinklage. When he whispers, “flee, you idiot,” to Jaime, it’s heartbreaking.

Nothing is more heartbreaking, however, than the moment the credits roll over Jaime and Bronn’s sinking bodies as Jaime’s armour weighs him down to the bottom of the Mander River. Next Sunday has never felt so far away.


 

 

Quick thoughts from a book reader:
—From the mention of the Golden Company in Cersei’s conversation with Tychos, is it too much to hope for an appearance by Aegon Targaryen? It’s probably way too late to introduce him and give him a character arc with only one season left. If D&D find a way, though, I won’t complain.

—Since Meera’s going back to the Neck, is it possible that we’ll get to see Howland Reed this season?

Top 5: Christopher Nolan Films

Christopher Nolan has become one of the most critically acclaimed directors not only in modern cinema, but in film history.  Despite not quite receiving the same commercial fame as directors such as Spielberg – perhaps due to the lack of lucrative characters such as sharks, aliens and dinosaurs in his features – the British film-maker is without a doubt in the top tier of screen auteurs, but in the grand scheme of things, his career has hardly started.

With only ten cinematic releases under his belt, Nolan has got a long and undoubtedly increasingly successful career ahead of him, yet here are his 5 most impressive works to date…

 

5.         Insomnia (2002)

Nolan’s third film, Insomnia is a tale of guilt, deception, and tragedy.  Starring Al Pacino as homicide detective Dormer and Martin Donovan as his partner, Eckhart, the film follows the pair’s investigation into the murder of a teenage girl in a remote Alaskan town where the sun never sets.  Not your typical Nolan movie, Insomnia is void of fantasy or head scratching twists.  Instead, the film’s true power lies in the relationship between Al Pacino’s protagonist and Robin Williams’ crime writer-cum-serial killer.

 

4.         Dunkirk (2017)

Currently showing in cinemas, Dunkirk slides effortlessly into the director’s top 5.  It is a gripping and visually remarkable depiction of the Miracle of Dunkirk in World War II. Nolan regulars Tom Hardy and Cilian Murphy are joined by Mark Rylance and Kenneth Branagh in a cast which is surprisingly side-lined by a stunning performance from debutant Fionn Whitehead as the film’s ‘hero’: Tommy.

You will find your heart racing as Hardy’s spitfire pilot fends off Nazi bombers, and Allied troops duck for cover under fire from incoming shells from the skies.  Possibly the best looking and sounding Nolan film to date, even if the Best Picture award at the 2018 Academy Awards eludes Dunkirk, it will surely claim Best Cinematography and Sound.

 

3.         The Prestige (2006)

The Prestige  is spearheaded by a fantastic cast of Hugh Jackman, Nolan’s then-newly-chosen Batman Christian Bale, Scarlett Johansson and Michael Caine, not to mention the late David Bowie. It marked Nolan’s true emergence onto the Hollywood scene.

Stripped down, it is a story of two rival magicians caught in a vicious rivalry, willing to do anything to best the other, resulting in terrible and sometimes fatal consequences.  Possessing probably the biggest of Nolan’s cinematic twists, The Prestige is truly spectacular, and is one of those films that seems to get better every time you watch it.

 

2.         Inception (2010)

Inception’s lead is Leonardo DiCaprio, who plays a corporate spy. His role as ‘extractor’ involves entering people’s dreams and discovering information for his clients.  However, when offered the opportunity to leave this life behind him, he must find a way to achieve ‘inception’ – the planting of an idea in someone’s mind through a dream, in a way which will lead the subject to believe the idea is their own.  How Nolan came up with the idea for this film I will never know.

Doubtlessly one of the most truly original films ever made, Inception is a cinematic masterpiece.  It proved that a film can have a colossal budget yet still essentially have the values and artistic creativity as an independent production. Not only this, but just because a movie has long action set pieces in, it does not mean it has to be brainless and purely for eye candy.  Michael Bay and Jerry Bruckheimer, take note.

 

1.         Memento (2000)

It really was too close to call between Memento and Inception, but the former just about clinched it. A very minimal cast is led by Guy Pearce’s Leonard, who, due to an accident, has severe ‘anterograde amnesia’ – the inability to create new memories.  In order to get through his days, he relies on tattoos and hastily annotated polaroids to help him keep track of his actions, yet amongst the wrong crowd, his system could become dangerously unreliable.  However, it is Nolan’s complete reshaping of traditional film narrative which makes Memento one of a kind.

Momento  is often mistakenly described as Nolan’s debut film – his 1998 crime drama Following was in fact his first cinematic release. It alternates between colour scenes at the end, and black and white scenes at the beginning of the film’s narrative arc, resulting in the film’s climax occurring in the middle of the story’s chronological events.  If you think this description is confusing enough, wait until you start watching the movie.  However, akin to Inception, once you’ve got your head round the concept, Memento is an absolutely fantastic film – a gem which Nolan has yet to top.

Review: War for the Planet of the Apes

There was always going to be a large, ape-shaped shadow cast over each entry in the rebooted franchise. The famous last scene of the original has damned them to be second best regardless of their quality. Matt Reeves and his cowriter missed a trick with the ending, and lost out on an ending that could have rivalled the original.

Caesar and his ape brethren are forced to live a nomadic lifestyle. They cannot settle too long or the ruthless human hunting party led by Colonel McCullough (Woody Harrelson) will slaughter them.

His son returns from an expedition to find a new permanent home far away from San Francisco with the perfect candidate location. Many close to Caesar call for the immediate moving of the colony but he refuses, a move that costs the life of his wife and son and the eventual capture of the entire colony except him and his key advisers such as Maurice.

Whilst trying to seek revenge, he is himself captured and brought before McCullough, with his punishment among other things being to listen to an exhaustive lecture. It detailed the current state of mankind and a new disease which ironically turns people into what the primates were before ALZ-112.

Harrelson tries with all his might to inject his lifeless lines with vigour; although he performs admirably — by far the most complex villain of the trilogy — it never quite materialises into anything more than a plot device for exposition. Having said that the manner in which he meets his demise was impressively well executed.

The plot was let down in other areas too such as its circumstantial development. When Caesar is tracking McCullough he tails the soldiers from afar. Three times in succession he gains the exact information he needs in the dying breath of both friend and foe. This manner of writing is unoriginal and chokes the life out of the narrative, detracting from the immersion Reeves tries to envelop the viewer in.

Reeves should be praised however for using heavy themes such as concentration camps, slavery and biblical imagery. This coupled with the distinct lack of dialogue for large portions of the film make this a blockbuster unlike any other. It tackles real issues, taking risks in the process.

War for the Planet of the Apes is a noticeable improvement on both its predecessors. Even the CGI which has been phenomenal so far got better with Maurice looking as real as his human counterparts.

The biggest criticism I have is one that runs through all three films but is most prevalent here. Besides the small girl there were only a couple of female actresses peppered in the background of the film, and the only racial diversity was embodied in an albino silverback gorilla named Winter. How can a film that preaches togetherness, equality and acceptance of differences have such narrow representation of minority groups?

From this point I will talk about my proposed alternate ending so there will be major spoilers; continue at your own peril.

As the apes are escaping the stronghold during the human battle, the faction from the north are victorious. They watch the stronghold explode from outside its gates, thousands upon thousands of men. Caesar stands on a large boulder and they all turn to face him, each dressed in snow camouflage with masks covering their faces.

Instead of an avalanche coming down the mountain and killing them all, and the tepid ending that follows, I would have liked to see Caesar rise up and roar. A roar that releases his anger about his wife and son’s death, his anger at his fellow apes’ slavery and murder, and the sadness at what a refusal of peace had cost him. Every member of the army in front of him would begin to remove their masks and camouflage to reveal themselves to be apes. Beginning one by one, then en masse, they put both arms in the air to form the together strong symbol. The camera pans across, showing thousands of apes forming the symbol before cutting to credits.

Some minor changes would have to be made in terms of the narrative in order to make this a watertight ending but the capacity for shock and awe is massive. Not only that but it would have given the trilogy something it currently lacks; a reason to re-watch. Over 6 hours of film, multiple large scale battles and innumerable casualties for them to simply to move away from San Francisco. It was always going to be difficult to achieve what the original did for a climax, but it’s hard not to be disappointed with how Reeves chose to conclude the series.

Manchester sixth most affordable UK city for students

Manchester is the sixth most affordable city in the UK for students, the 2017 Student Living Index has indicated.

Monthly rent payments, in particular, have been suggested to be comparatively lower than other UK cities. Students in Manchester are estimated to spend an average of £425.92 per month on rent, below the UK monthly student average of £448.00.

The city is also argued to offer some of the best nightlife in the UK. 85 per cent of students believe that Manchester has diverse nightlife, according to Which? University’s Student Survey. Manchester nightclub Hidden was named the Best Small Club in DJ Mag’s 2016 Best of British awards, with Manchester’s Warehouse Project picking up Best Club Series.

Despite this, the Student Living Index suggests that Manchester students spend less per month than the average UK student on going out; £20.30 per month compared to the UK student average of £25.10.

Students also spend less per month on clothes, shoes and accessories; £26.30 per month compared to the UK student average of £27.40.

However, the Student Living Index did suggest that Manchester students spend £41.61 per month on alcohol, slightly above the UK student average of £38.61.

The research involved 3,407 students across 35 UK Universities, and the index calculated affordability by dividing students’ average monthly living and accommodation costs by average monthly income.

Broad factors about student life were analysed in the Student Living Index including student income, spending, budgeting, employment and studying vs. socialising.

According to the Student Living Index, Cardiff is the most affordable student city in the UK, followed by Aberdeen and Durham.

The least affordable student city in the UK for students was indicated to be Glasgow, followed by London and St Andrews.

Despite sometimes having a reputation for spending lots of time partying and going out, students in general spend over three times as many hours on academic studies than they do on socialising, the Student Living Index suggests.

Manchester students are estimated to spend 96 hours per month on their academic studies, above the UK monthly student average of 91.7 hours.

Review: Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

First published in the French magazine Pilote in 1967, Valérian and Laureline has become a landmark of European culture. Growing up director Luc Besson was an avid reader, citing it as an inspiration for The Fifth Element.

During the production of that film he had the chance to work with Valérian illustrator Jean-Claude Mézières, who asked him “Why are you doing this shitty film? Why you don’t do Valerian?”. 20 years later and armed with the biggest independent film budget in history at an estimated $180 million, Besson’s passion project has finally reached the silver screen.

In the late 1980’s through his films Subway (1985), The Big Blue (1988) and Nikita (1990), Besson has been noted as a founder of ‘Cinéma du look’. A film movement coined by critic Raphaël Bassan, it is a predominantly stylistic film making approach, opting to neglect the narrative in its favour.

Valerian, although produced three decades too late, can be seen as an extension of this. The visuals throughout are resplendent and bright, yet the plot leaves a lot to be desired. This doesn’t make Besson’s work a bad film though; I think it is one of the most imaginative I have ever seen, but it is the first major blockbuster film that feels like it was made by actual, flawed people.

Extensive crowd testing normally takes place behind the scenes to make sure a movie is clean. Any coarse or offensive edges will be sanded out and it causes a lot of releases, especially in recent times, to be stale.

Valerian is different. It is highly original, and fantastically entertaining. Granted there are lots of mistakes, for example the chemistry between the on-screen partners Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne was frankly non-existent, but what it lacks is dwarfed by what it brings.

Set in the 28th century, the film opens with a delightful sequence showing the expansion of the International Space Station. First, other nationalities add modules such as Russia and China, then countless Alien species join too, which are all fantastically bizarre in design. The ISS grows rapidly and gets renamed Alpha, a universal home for all to live peacefully.

Naturally not all Aliens will be bipedal or even breath oxygen, so the station incorporates different environments within it. Every shot of these environments and the creatures within them are breathtaking. The artistry and craftsmanship in designing and making each of the hundreds of species is in my opinion worthy of the Best Visual Effects Oscar.

We are then introduced to our leads, Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and Laureline (Cara Delevingne). They are two intergalactic cops on their way to stop a black market handover of a last-of-its-species animal called a Mül converter, which can infinitely reproduce any object that you can squeeze in its mouth.

When they arrive at the planet though there is no sight of ‘Big Market’, the universes biggest shopping centre, just a walled area on a dusty planet. That’s because in order to see it you have to wear special VR-esque goggles that let you see into another dimension.

This sounds silly but the moment you see the full scale and diversity of ‘Big Market’, you can’t help but be enamoured with Besson’s work. The way both dimensions interact is both extraordinary and hilarious. It is hardly surprising to learn that the Valerian crew didn’t understand his vision for this 18 minute sequence, and he enlisted the help of 120 of his film students to shoot the entire thing as an example.

An extra dimensional market city isn’t the only outlandish idea Besson threw in. Singer Rihanna plays a polymorphic prostitute called Bubbles (Ethan Hawke plays her pimp) who delivers a 10 minute dance performance for Valerian. While this was quite mesmerising, he wasn’t there for pleasure, and after a lot of persuading he wears Bubbles like a suit and she changes form into a brutish ogre of an Alien to help Valerian on his quest.

This is one of many sizeable detours from the main plot-line that alter the pacing and tonality of the film. While ordinarily this would be a major quibble, I was always left amazed at the imagination needed to create these ideas.

As with his previous film The Fifth Element, they will undoubtedly be a large cult following but it remains to be seen whether it will be enough of a success to warrant a sequel. For such an expansive and intriguing world, it would be desperately sad if our door to it was closed so soon.

Review: Dunkirk

Back in 2015 when Christopher Nolan announced his next work would be Dunkirk, I could not help but feel a twinge of disappointment.

My initial thought was that a ‘war epic’ would be wasted on a director with such an impressive back catalogue; his vast array of mind-boggling films broke the cinematic mould.

Memento (2000) completely reconfigured film narrative.  His Dark Knight Trilogy reimagined the iconic Batman and arguably paved way for the current influx of ‘dark’ superhero movies in Hollywood.

Inception (2010) proved that film-makers don’t need stoop to Michael Bay-esque levels of dumbing down in order to attract the popcorn audiences, and his latest film Interstellar (2015) continued in the same vein.

My main concern was that the only recognisable features of Nolan cinema in Dunkirk would be the grittiness or the intensity of both the film’s plot and look.  In a film based on a true story, how much creative freedom could Nolan really have?  Fortunately, these qualms were dispelled almost immediately.

Dunkirk is based on the real life events of the Dunkirk evacuation during World War II. Hundreds of thousands of Allied troops sought to retreat across the channel back to England, having been cornered and pushed back by Nazi forces.

In an attempt to ensure the success of the evacuation, a flotilla of hundreds of civilian boats, from fishing boats to pleasure yachts, sailed out to ferry the soldiers back to the southern British coast.

Nolan’s dramatisation of the events follows four different characters’ narratives: Mark Rylance’s Mr Dawson: a mariner who sets out in his own boat to rescue troops. Then, Tom Hardy’s RAF pilot Farrier and Kenneth Branagh’s Commander Bolton – the leader of the evacuation from the pier.

Yet it is Tommy, played by the fresh face of Fionn Whitehead, who steals the show and who is without a doubt the film’s true protagonist.

Whitehead’s Tommy, joined by Harry Styles’ Alex and the eerily quiet Gibson (Aneurin Barnard), are the focus of the film. They portray three young British soldiers who are fighting to overcome physical and mental torment.

Sceptics of Styles’ casting will be silenced as the One Direction poster boy pulls off a dynamic and convincing performance.

Big screen debutant Fionn Whitehead also has a bright future ahead of him after grasping the limelight through an understated yet heroic characterisation of a young boy who just wants himself and his fellow soldiers to go home.

The intensity of the film is unrelenting, yet untiring.  In recent years, films such as Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) sadly ended up becoming just one huge set piece (essentially a 2 hour long chase scene), leaving viewers exhausted.

However, Dunkirk‘s constantly changing storylines allow the audience to take a breather from Tom Hardy’s nail biting dog fights with Nazi bombers, and from Tommy’s desperate attempts to escape enemy gun fire, without the film losing focus or tempo.

This tempo is coupled impeccably by the metronomic score of regular Nolan-collaborator Hans Zimmer, producing arguably his greatest work yet.

Substituting the adrenaline pumping ‘Inception-horn’ for an omnipresent ticking of a clock, it is this sound which forms the centre of the film’s musical themes, and almost acts as the heartbeat of the film’s events.

Just as all Nolan’s films are, Dunkirk is visually breath-taking.  After the CGI heavy Interstellar, it is a relief to see the director now minimising the use of computers for his effects and big set-pieces.

It is always refreshing to see Hollywood auteurs avoiding the use of CGI, especially in a summer where Wonder Woman, Spiderman: Homecoming and War for the Planet of the Apes, whilst impressive, have been dominated by computerised explosions, creatures and landscapes.

Nolan even used cardboard cut outs of soldiers and vehicles to add to the illusion of there were over 300,000 troops on the beach, as opposed to the 1500 cast members.  There truly is an authentic feel to the visuals in Dunkirk, which just goes to amplify the sheer potency of the film’s most tense and thrilling moments.

Akin to in his crime-drama Insomnia (2002), Nolan has proved he does not have to use the fantastic or the psychologically thrilling to put his creative signature on a film.  Visually stunning and with a seamlessly interweaving set of narratives, Dunkirk is a must-watch.  Come awards season, it could prove to be a heavy hitter.

4/5

University pensions deficit skyrockets to £17.5bn

The deficit of the UK’s largest pensions fund scheme in the university sector has soared to an incredible £17.5bn according to the Financial Times, which is a £9bn increase since last year.

This makes it the largest of any British retirement fund, and has increased already mounted pressure on higher education establishments.

The University of Manchester is a paying member of The Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), which provides pensions for academics and has more than 390,000 members.

An independent pension consultant, John Ralfe, told the Financial Times the only options that might help fix the USS deficit were all “unpalatable”.

He suggested that the only way forward is to either reduce benefits for the members within it, or increase tuition fees to fill the black hole that has been created.

This has outraged some pensions experts, such as Steven Cameron, pensions director at Aegon who said increasing tuition fees to fund the gap would be “robbing grandson Peter to pay grandpa Paul” in an interview with Your Money.

However, these drastic measures are not likely to be adopted by the University of Manchester any time soon. A University spokesperson said that “it is too early to speculate”, however “any changes to the scheme would only be made after consultations with employers, with staff” and through other negotiations, such as with the University and College Union (UCU). This would regard any reductions in benefits academics already receive.

USS CEO Bill Galvin released a statement on Wednesday explaining that the deficit was a result of “large drop in long term interest rates in the year.”

He added that the £17.5bn figure “is based on accounting rules and is not the figure that drives the benefit and contribution decisions for the scheme” and that “members pensions earned to date are secure”.

On the topic of increasing fees, the University of Manchester spokesperson pointed out that they “can only be increased if the Government makes changes to the amount English universities can charge”, as well as noting that “the Chair of the Employers Pensions Forum has described the prospect of raising tuition fees to address the deficit as ‘inconceivable’.”

The new Students’ Union app has landed!

With Welcome Week on the horizon, the University of Manchester’s Students’ Union launched its new app on Wednesday, hailing it as a “one stop shop for all students to find out What’s On and information about the key services the Union offers”.

The free application will provide information on how to access the confidential Advice service, how to join and create societies, as well as giving freshers the opportunity to find out what they should be doing and going to during Welcome Week.

Photo: UoM Students’ Union

New students will also have the ability to introduce themselves to all the people living in the Halls of Residence that they are moving into on a page called ‘Community Chat’, with an extra chat room reserved for students who opt to live at home.

The app isn’t just for Welcome Week though: as the year progresses it’s set to evolve to reflect the academic year, update everyone on what the Exec are working on, and have an up to date calendar of events that students can book tickets through and add to your own personalised schedule.

It also includes the SU bar’s opening hours and links to all the Student Media websites, as well as a ‘listen live’ feature for the University’s student radio station, Fuse FM.

The Students’ Union’s new Activities and Development officer Kitty Bartlett told The Mancunion: “I think it’s really good – it will help new and old students to plan what they want to do in the SU much easier and help everyone to keep track of what’s going on in the SU. I love the the halls chat [function], it’s really cool and will help new students to connect and organise socials and events . It’s something that I definitely wish we had had when I joined in first year.”

You can download the App here, and it is available on both Apple and Android devices.

Review: Baby Driver

Not since his cinematic debut in 1995 with A Fistful of Fingers has Edgar Wright been the sole credited writer on one of his films. Baby Driver, a crime caper set to the beat of the getaway driver’s iPod, is an idea that dates back to that very same year.

The 22 year delay between inception and release is a blessing, allowing him to refine his technique. The result is one of the best films this summer.

When Baby (Answel Elgort), a young getaway driver from Atlanta was young, his parents were killed in a tragic car crash. He was lucky to walk away but has suffered from severe tinnitus ever since.

To drown out the ringing in his ears he listens to music on a wide range of iPods, presumably from the cars he has stolen. One of those cars belonged to mastermind criminal Doc (Kevin Spacey) and Baby has been paying him back ever since by driving on his jobs.

Wright wastes no time in getting down to it; we open to Baby and his team pulling up to a bank. The camera cuts to his iPod and he presses play on The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion’s hit song Bellbottoms. From this moment on every movement is to the beat, even the gunshots and shouts.

Rather than watch the robbery unfold we see Baby lip-sync and dance away, almost ignorant to what his team is doing. Contrary to what Elgort’s recent song release might suggest, he isn’t a thief.

Once they get back to their headquarters, Doc distributes the money equally and they head their separate ways. Jon Bernthal, who plays one of the crew, was a top-billed actor whose name appears on every poster.

As they leave he says “If you don’t see me again, it’s because I’m dead”. His character is not seen again during the film. It’s small details like these that keep viewers coming back, hoping to spot something new each time.

Baby finishes paying his debt back after the next heist and he wants out. No longer does Doc have leverage on him. He is free to live his life on his own terms, even meeting a waitress at a diner called Debora (Lily James) and falling in love.

Naturally Doc won’t let him go that easily, having never failed a job when he has been driving. The promise of an equal cut of the earnings doesn’t sway him, but rather unsurprisingly the threat to kill his girlfriend and foster father makes him fall back into line. The next target? A post office.

Later on in the film when the relationship between Baby and Debora is established, they are always seen wearing black and white outfits. Their romance has a timeless feel because of this, especially when juxtaposed with the bright outfits of his fellow crew, especially Jamie Foxx. His outfits are mostly red, symbolic of his tendency to kill or threaten to kill just about every person he meets.

Baby Driver is overflowing with slick car chases, snappy dialogue and pop culture references all set to a meticulously edited to a fantastic soundtrack. My only quibble is fatigue. Two hours of constantly tapping your foot and nodding your head is simply exhausting; who knew.

Review: Spider-Man: Homecoming

Tom Holland stars in the third iteration of the Spider-Man character and the first within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There is an increasing sense of fatigue with the over-saturation of superhero films and this does not change with Spider-Man: Homecoming.

From the first scene it is made clear though that this is a smaller scale movie, one than looks up to the Avengers not down from their height. For that reason this is Marvel’s most realistic to date. The people are real and so are the stakes.

When the Avengers destroy parts of the city, it is the citizens that are left to clean up the damage. A whole industry has formed in the wake of these repeated disasters that without warning is suddenly taken away. Tony Stark’s latest venture Damage Control will now manage all salvage operations leaving Adrian Toomes (Michael Keaton) and his crew in New York jobless.

Rather than back down and find employment elsewhere, he and his team steal a truckload of alien technology and use it to create hybrid weapons destined for the black market. In order to keep a steady flow of new scrap, Toomes tracks and hijacks Damage Control trucks.

For 8 years his business has thrived, but after Spider-Man stumbles upon some otherworldly weapons, their paths begin to cross.

From the offset it is clear that director Jon Watts is trying to innovate, to surprise the audience with something new, however using a brighter colour palette and a selection of musical cues does not change the fact that the skeleton of each film is the same.

The villain is always forgettable yet well acted; here Keaton is formidable as Vulture, but his motives are foggy. He wants to take revenge on the Avengers in their ivory towers but does so by selling weapons to thugs to buy himself an ivory tower for his family.

The action scenes, although destructive, are almost always aimless. As the ferry gets split in half part way through I should have been exhilarated, instead the whole sequence was a drag. In 2015’s Age of Ultron the entire fictional city of Sokovia is ripped from the Earth and rises into the sky, the end result in a series of ever more catastrophic events across multiple films.

In cinema — as in real life — our empathy and interest towards conflict and disaster only extends so far before we become numb. I did not care about the ferry nor the people on it because I have seen it relentlessly in every Marvel film.

What the viewer will not become numb to is good character development and clear motives, something that most superhero films, including this one, lack. Far too often brilliant actors are wasted in one-dimensional or bit roles; Tony Revolori, Donald Glover, Kenneth Choi, and Hannibal Buress all fall into these categories.

Self-promotion is another issue prevalent in the Marvel franchise. Every release will at some point reference its predecessors and advertise a few more. The deeper we go into the franchise the worse it gets. While this allows for more complex storylines that work across multiple films it alienates the average movie-goer.

You would not be able to fully comprehend the events of Homecoming unless you had seen Civil War, and that was the build up of multiple films in itself. Suddenly you have 16 films you have to watch as a prerequisite for simply understanding the latest release.

There are 3 more in post production as of writing with one more filming and multiple more in the works. As more time passes the issue will continue to get worse and diminishing returns is inevitable.

Spider-Man: Homecoming is the first indication that Marvel might deviate from its formulaic structure of producing films. The original elevator pitch for this would have been ‘High School Drama’ yet the creative licence given to the writers never extends to a majority.

It always has to be a superhero film first and foremost. If Marvel wants to remain relevant it has to evolve, to stop making the same movie in a different skin. Homecoming is a step in the right direction but for every one step forward they seem to take 2 steps back.

Review: Game of Thrones – The Queen’s Justice

Leading the episode with the series’ heroes Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen meeting for the first time was a good decision. An exemplary 20 minutes of well-written, well-directed, and (mostly) well-acted television, it showed off the best Game of Thrones had to offer in layered characterisation and witty dialogue.

Never mind Daenerys — the dramatic scenes between Jon and Tyrion Lannister were easily highlights of the episode. Kit Harington and Peter Dinklage played off each other expertly, exposing just the right amount of sentimentality through their guarded performances as they were reminded of how far they’d each come since Season 1.

Unfortunately, almost every other decision made in this episode was a misstep. The modest doses of self-deprecating humour and nostalgia fed throughout its first act spilled into a fracas of fan service and illogic, and the rest of the hour felt almost like a parody of its own show.

The promise Pilou Asbæk showed playing Euron last episode disappeared as soon as he left his boat. The terrifying sea-lord has disappeared from his performance, and the deranged clown is back. As being cheered by peasants made him declare: “I have to be honest, this is making me hard,” it was hard not to turn off the television.

Game of Thrones took no time, however, to remind me who they gave all the prime awful material to: Tyene Sand. For this scene, the fault lies with director Mark Mylod, slayer of Barristan Selmy, who for all his admirable aesthetics doesn’t appear to know the characters he’s framing in shot. Don’t get me wrong: the poisoning was a smart move by Cersei, and acted compellingly by Lena Headey.

Her victim, however — a Sand Snake, trained in combat by the Red Viper of Dorne, and self-declared poison expert — whimpers and cries in more terror than Myrcella had in Season 5. The helplessness she expresses in front of her enemy is as characteristic of her as… well, as characteristic as incompetence in battle is for Ser Barristan Selmy.

The second act is closed with Bran’s return to Winterfell, which is about as uninteresting as you’d expect it to be, punctuated with a peculiar comment from Bran, telling Sansa that she looked pretty when she was raped.

Petyr Baelish got the best lines in the North tonight. His smarmy manipulation is wearing on Sansa, but its effectiveness is somewhat dulled by the knowledge that such an expert tactician had still married her to Ramsay Bolton for no explicable reason.

Two battles comprised the third act. The first, for Casterly Rock, was very engaging, with Tyrion Lannister lending narration. Euron’s destruction of the Unsullied’s fleet bodes badly again for Daenerys Targaryen, but not as badly as Jaime’s victory at Highgarden does.

That last battle was probably the most bizarre part of ‘The Queen’s Justice’. The defeat of the Tyrell army was so swift it’s skipped, but it shouldn’t have been anywhere near as easy as the following dialogue with a capitulating Olenna suggested.

The Tyrells are the wealthiest house in Westeros, and their leader is arguably Westeros’ most brilliant tactician. Her admitting that she didn’t prepare for the attack, and telling Jaime that he duped her, felt more like the ending to a Scooby-Doo episode than Game of Thrones. By rights, her forces should have put up more of a fight than Ramsay Bolton’s had against Jon Snow.

The fact Olenna Tyrell is even in Highgarden at all is befuddling. Is the audience meant to believe that she sailed from Dragonstone at the same time as the Greyjoys and Sands, but not with their fleet? They took a detour, avoiding Euron’s ambush, even though they were headed for the exact same destination?

It was nice to see Bronn again, although the choice to have Tyrion’s lowborn sellsword at the head of the army alongside Jaime Lannister was emblematic of all the problems in this episode: it was silly, mawkish, but crowd-pleasing.