Double Dose of Lucy

This week on Double Dose we have a have Lucy,starring Scarlett Johansson and directed by Luc Besson.

You can check out the (spoiler free) written review by clicking HERE. It’s also up on PillowMagazine.comand can be read HERE.

We also have Episode 17 of The Padcast, which you can listen to below. Paddy and myself review and discuss the film in a bit more depth, so be warned that there may be the occasional mild SPOILER.

You can also download an .mp3 of the episode HERE.

If you’ve enjoyed it please show your support: LIKE, SHARE and SUBSCRIBE!

29th August 2014

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Film Review: Lucy

      There are two main draws for this movie. One: the return to form of Luc Besson, director of such acclaimed films as Leon and The Fifth Element. Two: a leading role for Scarlett Johansson - one full of gunplay, superpowers and general ass-kickery that flirts with being the nearest thing we are going to get to a 'Black Widow' movie.


      Unfortunately, Lucy is neither of these things. Instead we get a hodgepodge retread of some of Besson’s previous artistic flair that occasionally threatens to thrill, but more often than not takes a back seat to extended sequences of philosophical sci-fi noodling.

      The plot, which concerns a drug that increases the brain’s functionality (from the supposed usual mere 10 percent all the way up to its full functionality), is admittedly largely pseudo science and a tad barmy, but not necessarily a bad starting point for a fun action movie. Where Lucy fails however, is in its insistence on taking the concept rather too seriously and coming off all the more of a damp squib because of it. It’s less of a Limitless and more of a Transcendence.

      Scarlett Johansson is perhaps the film’s greatest asset. Despite being relegated to acting stony faced and delivering monotone for much of the second half, she gets to show good range earlier on, particularly during the tense sequences of the first 20 minutes (arguably the best moments of the film). Contrary to what the marketing hype would have you believe, however, there isn’t all that much action involving her – increasingly so as the film goes on.

      Choi Min-sik is terrific as a quietly threatening Korean mobster, but feels utterly wasted beyond the film’s initial scenes, Morgan Freeman barely registers in a typecast role he has played countless times before, and Amr Waked unintentionally yet accurately conveys his almost pointless presence throughout. Elsewhere, the over abundance of intercut stock footage, extended CG sequences that signify changes happening inside her body, and the all-powerful nature of Lucy’s myriad abilities (which means there is almost no sense of threat from her pursuers toward the climax of the movie), all just serve to dull the viewing experience.

      There are occasional flashes of Besson’s brilliance, and yet most of theses are rehashes of his past efforts: the tense standoffs and realistic crime drama (Leon), the beautiful female killer (La Femme Nikita), the reaisation that said female has a bigger role to play in the universe (The Fifth Element), the frantic car chase through the streets of Paris (Taxi - which Besson wrote an produced) – none of which quiet gel together cohesively here. Much like the appearance of a CG dinosaur, they seem to be included here just because Besson could.

      There are some other intriguing moments: the aforementioned opening scenes with mobsters in a hotel that continually cranks up the tension, and a scene involving a phone call home mid-surgery - but these are few and far in between. Although the ultimate trajectory with which Besson aims for with the initial concept is a surprisingly ambitious one, it doesn’t quite work so well in this chosen method of delivery.

      The result: Lucy is a thoroughly average experience that will leave those expecting a fun action romp scratching their heads, particularly come the finale.

 27th August 2014

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Instagram update - 1000 Followers!

     Hey everyone! I recently passed the 1000 Followers mark on my Instagram account, so I thought I would give a general update in regards to my LEGO photography journey.

      This article will also serve as to highlight certain people that have featured me and given me props along the way.

      Firstly though, a quick shout out to these people:

@bricksbydaisy            @g_e_n_y_a_            @isakrundereim 

@lego_pete            @legostorybr            @leon.deakin

@mylegocy            @nenelego            @raddingtonfalls

@theshortnews            @vera_senyuta            @virtueofficial

 

      I don't really do shouts or features on my Instagram account itself (I just like to keep it as a simple showcase/gallery), so I will use this opportunity here to big-up those particular wonderful people who have supported me from really early on (back before I had many followers), and who continue to do so even now.
      You will find links to each of their accounts by clicking on their name above or below – please check them out!

          @bricksbydaisy                 @g_e_n_y_a_                  @isakrundereim

               @lego_pete                     @legostorybr                     @leon.deakin

 

               @mylegocy                             @nenelego                       @raddingtonfalls

 

          @theshortnews                      @vera_senyuta                      @virtueofficial

     Okay, now an update on what's been going on.
     
     To get a bit of context, have a look at my previous article 10 Steps to Becoming Insta-famous, that outlines my motivation, method for attracting followers and other general Instagram Do’s and Dont’s that have served me well. For an even wider context, check out all my other LEGO articles (collected together) HERE.

      So has anything changed since then? Well since the time of writing that article (roughly 3 weeks ago) I have gained around 500 followers. Not included in that number, are around 20 followers who have followed me only to subsequently unfollow me (all ‘randomers’ and not actually people I know in real life), who I suspect only followed me to get a follow back. It’s all good – just part of the game. As outlined in the earlier article I will only follow others that post consistently (in terms of subject matter and quality – read my previous article for more on this).

      As well as the regular organic methods of growth, a few successes here and there have helped boost my profile (also on my Twitter and Tumblr accounts).

      Here are a few of them:

      Having bought some custom printed tiles from minifigs.me, I used them in my photography, namely these two:

      I also thought it would be good to tag the shop when I posted the pics on twitter as a way of saying ‘thank you’ and giving them a shout-out (they are a small business that have a great passion for LEGO), and was surprised to get this tweet back:

      So basically I said 'sure, why not', and here is the result:

     Pretty neat, huh? You can view the actual store page HERE.

     As it did big me up and also had a direct link to my Instagram in there, I gained a bunch of new followers on both my Instagram and Twitter. It was around then that I started up my Tumblr account too, as another way of showcasing all my photos (but in a higher resolution). Since all my social media accounts link back in to each other (and this blog) it all helped increase exposure across the board.

      Later on, this idea of using the LEGO dice as a TV grew quite popular and was featured front and centre in a minifigs.me promo piece on brickfanatics.co.uk – a popular LEGO blog that I often browse.

      You can check out the actual feature HERE. As this also had a direct link to my Instagram, it lead to some more great exposure for me. I think the TV idea was very popular and lead to some ‘inspirations’ for others doing a similar sort of thing on their Instagram accounts.

      Some, like isakrundereim, were super polite and asked permission before (not that he really needed to) and then tagged me after. He’s super cool – check out his awesome MOC here:

      Others, didn't credit or give me a shout out at all (so I wont give him any free advertising here). Such as:

      There were one or two others too, but I forgot to screenshot them at the time. Oh well – it’s still flattering I guess.

      Another really cool moment is when one of my favourite bands Chromeobigged-up one of my photos (based on the cover of their recent hit album White Women). You can see the photo and the original pic below:

       After retweeting me (which was cool enough as it is) they eventually reposted the picture on their own Instagram account, and the number of likes that got was ridiculous!

       Since then I’ve also been a featured photographer on brickcentral:

      Three separate occasions of having my work featured on the super-popular Lego-minifigures Tumblr:

      Some random guy on Instagram replicating my sigfig as a homage (along with those of some other popular Lego Instagrammers he admired):

      And even strangers tagging me in their random stuff.

      It may sound like all of this is bragging, but in truth it’s all very flattering and I am grateful for everyone that has bigged-me up and my work along the way! I really appreciate all of it!

      Of course , for some ideas like my ‘300 followers’ celebration pic:

      I’ve seen variations of this since then such as:

      But in hindsight the idea is kind of obvious so it would be silly to assume they copied me. Others, such as my ‘500’ followers celebration:

      ...has been done by someone else too, but I reckon this one was just sheer coincidence. (Plus mine’s a bit better – haha!)

      You do also get the odd person stealing your work and reposting it without crediting you (and then blocking you when you try and talk to them! - scumbags!) but I guess you are always going to get a few of those...

      Finally, before I go, shouts also go out to these guys, as they have also all been super supportive! Thank you!

@Asuka18Matilda,

@brickcentral

@brickdreams

@bricking_it

@fbouckley

@just_annie

@kpeerthy

@lego_bengee27

@legoahlic

@llego123

@sadlegomike

@scottakoz

@ycp28

     Anyway, that's about it for now. See you next time!


     You can check out my other LEGO related articles by clicking HERE.

20th August 2014

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Double Dose of Guardians of the Galaxy

This week on Double Dose we have a have Guardians of the Galaxy.

 You can check out the (spoiler free) written review by clicking HERE.

We also have Episode 16 of The Padcast, which you can listen to below. Paddy and myself review and discuss the film in a bit more depth, so be warned that there may be some mild SPOILERS.

You can also download an .mp3 of the episode HERE.

If you’ve enjoyed it please show your support: LIKE, SHARE and SUBSCRIBE!

3rd August 2014

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Film Review: Guardians of the Galaxy

 

       One of the most anticipated cinema releases of the summer, Guardians of the Galaxy has a lot riding on it. On one hand, it represents Marvel’s foray into unknown territory – a raucous space opera that is self-aware, irreverent and features some of the their more obscure comic book characters - prior to the film’s release, anyway.

       On the other hand, Guardians is still very much shackled to Marvels Studio’s existing continuity, and as such the story feels slave to the rather generic McGuffin-chasing plot that plagued Thor: The Dark World. All of which is building up towards the real climax that will be the third(!) Avengers movie that follows on after next year’s Avengers sequel: Age of Ultron.

       Shortcomings of the plot aside, it’s the likeable characters and humour that is the real draw here. Chris Pratt is excellent as Peter Quill, a wisecracking rogue (the self-dubbed ‘Star-Lord’) who isn’t as notorious as he wants to be, who finds himself thrust together with a motley crew consisting of a green-skinned assassin (Zoe Saldana), the bounty hunting duo of Rocket Racoon and Groot (voiced by Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel respectively), and the hulking bruiser Drax (Dave Bautista). From being adversarial to each other before eventually learning to work together as a team is certainly a well-worn trope, but the witty banter and interplay between them is such that they are a joy every time they are all on screen.

       The acerbic Rocket Racoon (an almost unrecognisable vocal performance from Cooper) predictably gets a large portion of the laughs, but it is former professional wrestler Bautista as Drax (with his tendency to take all figures of speech very literally) that provides the most unexpected guffaws.

       The main cast is so good that unfortunately the supporting cast don't really get too much time to shine. Karen Gillen is effectiive as icy sub-villain Nebula and Michael Rooker has his moments as a blue-skinned version of his character Merle from The Walking Dead (making good use of a nifty whistle-controlled spear), but there is just not enough screen time left for them. Similarly, the remaining impressive cast that includes John C. Reilly, Djimon Hounsou, Peter Serafinowicz, Benecio Del Toro and Glenn Close, only get a handful of scenes between them. Lee Pace is a threatening presence as the big bad Ronan The Accuser, but his role follows much of the same template as Thor: The Dark World’s chief antagonist Malekith – seemingly hell bent on destroying the galaxy by means of acquiring a powerful weapon (one of the infinite stones) just because the Marvel film’s overarching continuity demands it.

       Still, the visuals are great, the action sequences do not disappoint and the climactic battle is suitably grandiose. The soundtrack is also bound to be talking point – largely consisting of kitsch hits from the seventies (deriving from the mixtape that is Quill’s only keepsake from his childhood on Earth), that interestingly serves the dual purpose of being nostalgic for older viewers (as is the space opera adventure of the film’s various influences), but also sounding very alien and out of place for younger viewers (which parallels how most other characters in the film respond when hearing Quill playing these songs).

       Despite having to align with Marvel’s bigger picture, writer/director James Gunn has succeeded in managing to deliver an entertaining intergalactic romp that feels at once both familiar and yet also fresh and engaging. It’s not without its flaws, but Guardians of the Galaxy is a solid entry into the Marvel Studio’s repertoire and will likely appeal to both comic-book fans and the uninitiated alike.

2nd August 2014

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