Reviews by MarkusT90

IT KEEPS ON LIVING LONG AND PROSPER

Needed to check this out after watching For The Love Of Spock documentary from the great past Leonard Nimoy and got hooked on it from the beginning. And it's about time. Im little bit ashamed calling myself a geek without seeing this cult classic sci-fi series which every nerd has seen or have to see. I have seen J.J Abrams movies and couple episodes here and there from the original show when it was on Tv years ago on rerun and I know the hype around it as well its characters, but now it's time to experience that all myself.
Although the acting is theatrical, the sets are pretty simple as well as cheap looking and effects primitive but was surely top of the class when it came out on 1966, I enjoy the hell out of this show! Especially those sets, which are all hand builded and that kind of work on movie or Tv business I appreciate.
I even enjoy William "Bill" Shatner's acting which is pretty over the top sometimes and I've read or heard many kinds of opinions from it, but that makes it more funnier to watch. Same goes for that goofy looking action which every time brings smile on my face when the fists starting to swing.
Leonard Nimoy's Mr Spock is essential part of the show which without him couldn't be as good as it is. And same goes to whole supporting cast all the way to George Takei's Sulu, Deforest Kelley's Dr. McCoy, Nichelle Nichols Uhura and every crew member on the bridge of Enterprise or its lower decks creates that final touch for its own unique style and still keeps its place on modern-day pop culture.

IF I HAD A HEART

Michael Hirst became my favorite TV show creator and writer after seeing his previous series, The Tudors (2007-2010). It also became one of my Top 5 favorite series of all time and it's the only series that i've watched straight again after finishing it.
Reason why i like and appreciate Hirst's work is because he take his projects seriously and write every episode only himself. He honor the source material and add some believable fiction in it, without distorting the facts. The story never bore you. There's always something interesting going on. Every character who he write is interesting such as colorful and while perfectly developing them, im sure they reflects respectfully the real person which they are based on.
After finishing Tudors, i looked forward Hirst's next project and couldn't be more happier when i red that he was writing the show based on vikings, which is one of my favorite cultures. After first episode i was badly hooked and after first season, it became one of my favorite shows at the moment. History of different countries and cultures has always interested me and i think it's a great such as endless subject to turn movies, tv show or books.
The show is violent, bloody and also a great human drama. Course of the story progress steady and never slow. There's no unnecessaries fillers, which many series or movies have. Sets, costume design and make-ups are realistic such as mighty excellent work. Also the actors do a great job on their roles.
I have to admit that i haven't heard anything about the main character Ragnar Lothbrok or his life or deeds. But have to say he was very achievable, enthusiastic learner, determinded and also unexpected nature. It's the classic from the simple farmer to the king of his people story, but very interesting and emotional one. There's a lot of twists and backstabbing, but also heartwarming moments.
Season after season show evolves for better and the journey of Ragnar become more dangerous, violent and bloody.

HERE WE GO AGAIN. ONE LAST TIME.

Uncharted game franchise is very, very enjoyable series of games which are filled with intense action, interesting treasure hunts, history, memorable and colorful characters, emotional drama and great humor.
Naughty Dog is maybe my favorite gamestudio out there which focus more to detail on their games and character development alongside with Bioware, than any other studio. Their pervious game Last Of Us (2013), which became one of my favorite games of all time, was a perfect prove from that and so was Uncharted 4: A Thief's End.
I played the first Uncharted game on 2007 after christmas when my sister's fiancé brought his PS3 system to my grandparents ranch, where we were spending our christmas holidays at the time. I finished it in couple of days and liked it very much. It reminded me a lot of Tomb Raider, which i prefer slightly more and the 2013 reboot is also one of my favorite games of all time. I've always liked arkeology themed movies, games and books so these games are perfect from that area.
It took almost eight years when i got a chance to play the rest Uncharted games Among Thieves (2009) and Drake's Deception (2011) after i bought Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection on my PS4 system. I was Xbox 360 owner at the time when the games came out, but i tried both of them couple of times somebody elses PS3 system never finishing them. I also had seen my sister's fiancé and friend played them when they came out and eventually watched playthroughs in YouTube.
This Uncharted become my second favorite Uncharted game in the series after second installment, Among Thieves. I really like pirate era in history and pirate captain Henry Avery's story was written well alongside of Nathan's final adventure. Like Last Of Us, this game was also very well "acted" by Nolan North, Troy Baker, Emily Rose, Richard McGonagle and the rest of the cast on their motion capture suits and of course voice acting was also flawless.
I really liked the drama between Nathan's brother, Sam but more with his wife Elena. And who can forget his trusted buddy Victor "Goddamn" Sullivan a.k.a Sully who was funny and epic in this one too. There was a few scenes which were very emotional to watch, which hence the great acting/voice acting.
And those bad guys. Uncharted is one of the few games which can provide a decent, plausible and even intimidating villains. Some of them were charismatic gentlemen with a cunning attitude and almost have equal amount of knowledge with Drake, or some of them  were just merciless killers. Zoran Lazarevic, who was rival trasure hunter in Among Thieves and my favorite bad guy in the games, was that last one. Now he was very scary and deadly enemy to have.
The game was so detailed and gorgeous looking. It was almost like watching a movie. It's awesome how much Naughty Dog use time on that, so the game would look as perfect as it can. Sound effects and editing was realistic and it bringed environment to life. Action was over the top, like in previous ones but that makes these games so enjoyable to play.
This was definitely the most serious part of the series and it can see in the stroytelling. Ending was good and heartwarming. I couldn't ask for more. On one point at the end i was gasping that it would end like almost every second game in past few years, but luckily it didn't. I won't spoil anything, but let just say that Nate got himself a good and earned ending.

WHAT REMAINS

Second season from Telltales The Walking Dead game series was more darker, serious, brutal and emotional than the first season and thats why i liked it slightly more.
Like i said at the first season review, Clementine is interesting and strong character who needs to have her own series or movie and this season proved it again. It was pretty breathtaking to see her journey throughout the game. The situations she was getting into, all that brutal violent she saw or did and hard choices she needed to face. And let's not forget that she's just eleven years old girl.
Right from the beginning you can see how joyless she is where the world has gone to and how it's starting to eat her from inside when the people around her are dying after another. She has faced the fact, that there's no mercy or happines anymore in this wrecked world. Only strongest will survive and all that knowledge and skills what Lee taught her will now come in handy.
I choiced her to be brave and determinded, because that's the only way how to survive in this zombie apocalyptic world, where the walking dead aren't the only things to be afraid of. I did bold choices, which some of them leaded to shocking outbursts inside my group, but in the end people knew that it was the right thing to do. For the sake of the group.
It was also pretty dumb when grown ups asked this eleven year old girl sometimes to do things behalf of everyone which might be dangerous for her life. Things what adults need to do. Not kids. But they saw that this girl is stronger than she looks like and all those requests were good training for her survival skills.
Again the story was well written and the mood was perfectly same than at the first season. Though way more serious and darker.
Graphics were updated and looked more colorful.
I like when the player can make choices which impact the course of the story and i make them like i was in that situation. It connects me more into the story and the gaming experiense is way more better
Like to see more Clementine in the future. Ending was satisfying, although the last choices were pretty hard to make. It'll be nice to know what would happen next where the game ended, because it left us wondering it. I quess we need to just hope and see.

TAKING CARE OF YOUR LOVED ONES BY THE END OF THE WORLD

I played Telltale's The Walking Dead game for the first time when the first episode came out. I was already a fan of the show and of course i needed to check this one out as well.
First, the graphics got my eye and it took me a while to get used to it. I think they're pretty and it have this own kind of unique feeling. Sure the movement and action is a bit doll-like time to time but however, they make it look good.
Secondly, there are versatile characters who are all interesting. Some of them are hateful, some reasonable, some stupid and some lovable. Especially Clementine, who need to have her own series or movie along with the game. She's so adorable and brave for her age, that you just wanna take care of her. It's interesting, but also breathtaking to see how this little girl, who yet haven't seen any bad things in her life, have to deal with this quickly chancing world around her and get used to grow part of it mentally such as physically if she's going to survive on it. But luckily, she doesn't need to do this alone.
Lee Everett, the playable character is kind and thoughtful, but also tough and sometimes maybe too direct with his actions. But he needs to be. Even against his own nature if he going to keep Clementine safe and sound and train her for the new world. Even if it means to his life.
Story is well written such as full of emotions, twists and decisions which effect partly the course of the story.
Mood is realistic, intense, scary and sometimes peaceful as well. I also liked the lighting a lot and it shows best at the second episode, Starved For Help which is my favorite episode from the season.
The game stays true to the show and comics, which i've readed bunch but yet not all. The end was sad and emotional, but it gaved interesting and long awaited start for a second season.

THE FLAMES HAS FADED

Im a huge Hunger Games fan and i've also red the books before i saw the first installment of this franchise. I loved the books and films, which are by far the best and only good young adult movies what is out there on these days. And i also think that even adults can enjoy these movies.
The story is interesting, lovable, thrilling and filled with emotions. Sure there's that familiar love triangle between younger cast, but everything else whats going on at the background mixed it in just fine.
Acting is great and dedicated. Jennifer Lawrence became one of my favorite actresses after the first movie and she has done many great performances after Hunger Games and few before it. She surely deserves her oscar. Woody Harrelson is awesome and funny like always and Elizabeth Banks did a good job as well.
It was a right choice when Francis Lawrence took the director's chair from Cary Ross after the first movie. Cary's directing was good, but hes choice to use handheld shaky cam dropped the quality of the movie. That made a good movie harder to watch.
Francis gaved rest of the parts a new kind of look and even darker as serious mood, which worked perfectly all the way to the end.
This was great conclusion for a great film saga and it was also good to see, that the filmmakers stayed most of the part true to source material, which is rare to see when books are changed to movies. There was few left outs, but nothing major for the plot.

PEN AND A GUN

I don't usually like cop shows or movies anymore. I was big fan of those when i was a kid. Lethal Weapons, Die Hards, almost all the known ones you can name of. But nowadays, i have lost my interest towards that genre, mostly because i think that they all resembles remotely or closely eachothers.
Only reason why i started watching Castle, was because of Nathan Fillion. Hes such a great actor and one of mine favorites. Charismatic, talented, funny and energetic.
And along the way of the series, i've starting to enjoy the police genre again.
Castle is not only crime investigations and catching the bad guys. It's also romance between main leads, which is sometimes very frustrating to watch like almost every romantic film, mixed with great humor, intense chace scenes and fast action. I also like Castle's nerdy side very much and references towards movie, shows, comics and games.
Since the first episode, i have been this wide grin on my face and got spurts of laughter when i watch an episode.
The show gets me a good mood every time i watch it and that's why i love it.

YO HO, YO HO! A PIRATE'S LIFE FOR ME

First season was little bit lacky. Premise was good, characters interesting and colorful and sets gloriously beautiful but those wasn't enough to fully convince me on the show. But after second season, they did.
Right from the start i knew that it's going to be interesting journey. New characters appeared, new threats rise and the old ones either sorted out or leaved waiting for the right moment to be take up. The old bonds got broken and the new ones borned.
Toby Stephens character Captain Flint and couple of other characters, got deepent more which was good thing for the character development.
Also the fight scenes on the land and offshore was nicely performed. So as the effects.
The Score, made by one of my favorite composers Bear McCreary, was solid like always.
It's interesting and thrilling to see where the series leads us along the way. Must say what everything was, at the beginning, is going to change and im looking forward to see that. Nothing good, im sure of it.