Scotty Newton - All Round Entertainer

The Scottscars 2025

2025-12-31T11:20:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the 14th edition of the Scottscars!

The annual movie awards blog that makes winning an Oscar feel like a consolation prize.

The movie industry had to bounce back this year after the end of the Sony Spider-Man Universe. Absolutely no Kraven the Hunter or Madame Web movies on this year’s slate.

But bounce back it did — from Amazon making a 90-minute advert for Amazon Prime and calling it War of the Worlds, to Cynthia Erivo getting emotional at a helicopter flying overhead during another excellent and completely normal human being Wicked press tour. Avatar once again blurred the lines between live action and animation, while more live-action remakes continued to dominate the box office.

So grab a cup of coffee, sit back, and have your favourite A.I. summarise this year’s Scottscars for you.

Movie stats for the year

Movies watched: 78
Cinema visits: 29 times
Most watched director: Hayao Miyazaki
Most watched actor: Alan Tudyk

The running order, as always:

The 2025 Scottscars Awards
Last year’s predictions
2026 movie predictions

The 2025 Scottscars Awards

Animated Film of the Year

🏆 Winner: KPOP Demon Hunters🏆

Seriously! Deemed too big a risk by Sony (Asian cast, brand-new IP), it was essentially financed by Netflix and went on to become their highest-streamed original movie ever. And you can tell the amount of love that went into it. Everything is filled with expression, Korean culture, and some surprisingly catchy songs, and once again Sony Pictures Animation pushes the visual style into something new, avoiding ripping off their own Spider-Verse look like so many others have.

Runners-up:

Flow — no dialogue, powerful journey. Made on a fraction of a Disney budget and won the Oscar — a true underdog story.

The "Cinema Experience of the Year" Award

🏆 Winner: F1 in IMAX🏆

After putting us in the cockpit of a fighter yet in the excellent Top Gun Maverick- Joseph Kosinski puts us in the driver's seat of the wonderful F1 and there's no better way to experience it than in Imax. Cameras mounted to the cars, meticulous attention to detail, cut with authentic footage of a real f1 season- it's incredibly immersive.
With a charming cast, subversions of the passing the torch and out of date veteran storylines and a fantastic soundtrack, it rounds out package to make an exhilarating watch, made for the biggest and loudest screen possible.

The “In Case You Missed It” Award

🏆 Winner: The Long Walk🏆

Director Francis Lawrence has directed all of the Hunger Games movies, and The Long Walk is yet again about a dystopian alternate reality where young people from different locations compete in a competition where the last person alive and standing wins… so you would be forgiven for passing over this one. But that’s where you’d be missing out.

Unlike The Hunger Games or similar dystopian films, The Long Walk follows a group of young men walking. Their only rule is not to stop. There is no time wasted on a kooky outside world; it stays with the walkers, and the character development, bonds, and backstories are slowly revealed, making each execution feel personal and intense. A great watch.

Runners-up:

Grand Theft Hamlet — a wonderful documentary about out-of-work actors during the COVID pandemic who set up their own production of Hamlet… entirely within the world of Grand Theft Auto! A fascinating watch, genuinely hilarious and emotional. It may have been the winner of this award, but it was technically released in the UK in December of last year.
Naked Gun - Jokes land alot more than they miss- Liam Neeson is perfect as no-nonsense Frank Drebin Jr and writer/director Akiva Schaefer of Lonely Island fame keeps the laughs coming

Disappointment of the Year Award

🏆 Winner: Karate Kid Legends🏆

Your franchise goes dormant, so you take it in a new direction with a sequel series many years later. That series becomes a huge hit over the course of six seasons. Two months after the finale of that series, you return to the big screen — and then have it not relate to the series at all. Completely baffling.

Shame, because Joshua Jackson and Ben Wang are fantastic, but it feels weighed down by the studio clumsily trying to shoehorn Ralph Macchio and Jackie Chan in for the posters.

Runners-up:

Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning — just didn’t feel very… “final”, did it? Underwhelming, unfortunately.
Avatar: Fire & Ash — unbelievable VFX (seriously, compare it to the first and second films — it’s flawless now), but a played-out script that rehashes the first two movies instead of fully exploring the weirder side of Pandora.
How to Train Your Dragon (Live Action) — disappointing that it’s almost a shot-for-shot remake of the original instead of adding something new and becoming its own thing.

The 'How had I Never Seen This' Award

🏆 Winner: Lilo & Stich (2002)🏆

In a boiling, cramped hotel room in Osaka, Japan, this came on the tiny, far-too-high wall-mounted TV. Normally the exhaustion or the aforementioned conditions would cause me to lose focus on any movie, and I had a lot of preconceptions about Lilo & Stitch — my only experience of it was the overly saturated Stitch merchandise and the live-action remake.

But I gave it a chance and couldn’t stop watching until the end. Turns out it’s popular for more than just the main character design — it’s excellent!

Turd of the Year Award

🏆 Winner: Jurrasic World... Rebirth? Resurrections? Revengeance?🏆

2022’s Jurassic World Dominion was marketed as the end of the saga, bringing the Park and World casts together for another horrible, aimless sequel to finally put the series to bed. Cut to three years later and the studio has a new take, a new story that it’s bursting to tell. Bringing in renowned, established, gritty director Gareth Edwards (Rogue One, Godzilla), adding A-listers Scarlett Johansson and Mahershala Ali, it looked poised to shake some life and drama into the franchise — maybe the same way Nolan shook Batman into his vision.

And yet what was released was another half-baked slog with no stakes, messy subplots, a generic story, and a completely unremarkable continuation of the money train. Please let this franchise go extinct, at least until there is something new to say with it.

Runners-up:

War of the Worlds — a 90-minute advert for Amazon Prime with occasional cutaways to Ice Cube reacting to aliens invading and threatening his family like “DAMN!” At least it was a different approach to an old IP, even if the execution was terrible.
The Toxic Avenger — wasn’t for me. Maybe people like it?

The 2025 Scottscar Film of the Year

🏆 Winner: Marty Supreme🏆

A24 earn their fourth Scottscars Film of the Year award in a row! Timothée Chalamet is hypnotic as salesman/table-tennis player Marty Mausler, a prime hustler with a single goal: making it to the table-tennis world championships in Japan — no matter how crazy the journey gets.

Set in 1950s New York to the sound of a pumping ’80s soundtrack, and featuring not one but two Shark Tank sharks in the main cast (Gwyneth Paltrow returning to the screen and Kevin O’Leary making an honestly excellent debut performance), once the action starts it never lets up. Like Marty, you just have to take it in your stride and see where it takes you.

Runners-up:

Sentimental Value
Sorry, Baby
Eternity
F1
The Long Walk

Last Year’s Predictions

Avatar 3: Fire and Ash is delayed again.
WRONG — it wasn’t!
Sony gives the Spider-Man film rights back to Disney/Marvel.
WRONG — they didn’t!
A live-action Biker Mice from Mars movie is announced.
WRONG — it wasn’t!
James Gunn’s Superman makes less than Man of Steel at the box office.
CORRECT — $600m vs Man of Steel’s $670m. Not that it matters as much in today’s streaming-dominant industry.
Mahershala Ali’s Blade film is cancelled, or he leaves it.
WRONG — he’s saying “don’t ask me about it” in interviews, but hasn’t officially left. Rumours say Jordan Peele may take over.
Both Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts** fail to make over $500m.
CORRECT — yes!
An Iron Giant sequel (or more likely remake) is announced.
WRONG — it wasn’t!
The Naked Gun reboot performs very well critically and commercially.
CORRECT… mostly — yes critically, so-so commercially.
Turd of the Year is Tron: Ares.
WRONG — it wasn’t!
My Film of the Year is Mickey 17 (again!!!).
WRONG — it wasn’t!

Score:
3/10 — I am getting worse at these.

2026 Movie Predictions

A24 sets up its own streaming service
Netflix does not succeed in buying Warner Bros.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is grounded in the first half and goes off the rails in the second
The Mandalorian and Grogu gets a similar underwhelming reception to Solo
TMNT: The Last Ronin gets announced as an animated movie
The new James Bond movie is set in the past
Supergirl performs so badly it puts serious pressure on the new DCU
Avengers: Doomsday exceeds the box office of Infinity War and Endgame
Moana (Live Action) is Turd of the Year
The Digger is Film of the Year

That’s us for another year! Be good and don't let Netflix buy you, unless you get a good price of course.

The Scottscars 2024

2025-01-01T12:26:00.000-08:00

The 2024 Scottscars

Here’s the big one. The one you’ve been waiting for.

2024 was an important year. The year that changed cinema. The year of the Madame Web.

Welcome to my daft film awards that are 100% subjective and 100% more prestigious than the Oscars. Grab yourself your praline latte and enjoy!

The running order as always:

The 2024 Scottsars Awards
Last years predictions
2025 movie predictions

My 2024 Stats

Movies watched: 84

Cinema : 42 times, 14 of which were Imax

Most watched actor/actress: Jackie Chan (2nd year in a row!)

Most Watched Director: Sam Raimi

Number of times in hospital: 4

Notable films I haven’t seen this year:

The Brutalist

Grand Theft Hamlet

Rebel Moon Part Two

Kraven the Hunter

Kinds of Kindness

Super/Man

Monkey Man

Red One

The Substance

Piece by Piece

Blink Twice

Spaceman

Challengers

MaXXXine

Borderlands

Alien Romulus

The Crow

A Quiet Place: Day One

Moana 2

Orion and the Dark

Jackpot!

Atlas

Road House

But I did see Madame Web twice so that makes up for the above.

And now on to the main event!

2024 Scottscars Awards

Remember this is going by UK release dates!

Bonus Award) Best film released this year based on the character ‘Madame Web’

Sponsored by Madame Web

🏆Winner🏆 Madame Web

I’m just being silly. Unfortunately Madame Web wasn’t good or bad enough to make it on to any real awards but I wanted to be the first in its lifetime to give it an award. The actors hated being in this, the script was non-existent, the editing was done by a studio executive with a score to settle and the villain was completely re-dubbed in post. Rest in peace Sony-verse.

1) Cinema Experience of the Year

Sponsored by Madame Web

🏆Winner🏆 Seeing Coppola’s Dracula on Halloween

Packed out cinema screen. Few mates. Few drinks. Fantastic costumes. The worst English accent I’ve ever heard. Not sure how I’d avoided encountering Coppola’s Dracula before, but it was nothing short of eccentric, with everything dialled up to 11. Gary Oldman’s hypnotising take on the ever shape shifting Dracula, with among the best makeup and costume I’ve seen, bizarre story choices, some incredibly creative lighting, cinematography and visual effects and Keanu Reeves trying his best to speak in a British(?) accent. All to a backdrop of a sold out, half-cut, 200 people-strong cinema cheering the whole thing on.

Runners Up:

-Spider-Mondays- Each Spider-man movie played in rotation at the cinema over the summer.

-Wicked in IMAX

-Having my own short film Candlelight play at the Lord Mayor’s Paddy’s Day Festival at Trafalgar Square to 35,000 people. Probably my real highlight, but trying to be a little objective!

2) Shock of the year Award

Presented by Madame Web

😱Winner😱: The weird cast members in the marketing run up to the Wicked release

The first sign of something being off with the cast of Wicked was where lead actress Cynthia Erivo posted that a fan-edit of their Wicked homage poster to make it slightly more like the original stage poster they were homaging was ‘the most offensive thing she had ever seen’. Might want to turn on the news, there’s worse out there.

Followed up by a barrage of interviews with over the top emotional outbursts at even the slightest impersonal question, clutching index fingers, ‘holding space’ and Erivo implying that she wrote and was responsible for the lyrics of Defying Gravity- a song written for the stage by Stephen Schwartz and performed first by Idina Menzel in 2003.

Runners Up:

-Marvel hits rock bottom and brings back RDJ and Chris Evans to the failing MCU

- Nicolas Cage is playing live-action Spider-man Noir

- A.I. starts being used in Late Night with the Devil, the Civil War posters and that hideous new Coca Cola advert

- Robbie Williams is replaced by a CGI chimp in his autobiographical film Better Man

3) The ‘I can’t believe I hadn’t seen this before’ Award

Sponsored by Madame Web

🏆Winner🏆 The Iron Giant (1999)

Only took me 25 years! Heart warming prequel film to Ready Player One that sees Vin Diesel say more than just ‘Family’ and ‘I am Groot’. Seen as part of a ‘1999’ season at Cineworld to celebrate its 25th anniversary and to make me feel disgustingly old.

Boundary-pushing animation techniques that still hold up today, classic story of boy meets alien and refreshingly dark moments that so many contemporary family films are missing. That Brad Bird is one to watch.

4) Animated Film of the Year

Sponsored by Madame Web

🏆Winner🏆 Robot Dreams

In an era where most animated films are either sticking with the spider-versey 3D with 2D elements style or just traditional pixar style 3D, Robot Dreams stands out for its stunning commitment to a graphic novel visual style. Things are detailed where they need to be, yet overly simple in things like character design and shading. Getting past the visuals and you have a gut wrenching story about friendship, love, loss and the hardest part of it all- moving on. All told with no dialogue so it can be universally enjoyed. Oftentimes non verbal films can fell like a drag but due to its compelling main characters and genuinely great gags, the time flies in for Robot Dreams.

Runners Up:

-Ultraman: Rising

-The Wild Robot

Almost a winner, with some incredible sequences, but stumbles with a muddled third act

- Transformers One

5) The 'In Case you Missed It' Award

Sponsored by Madame Web

🏆Winner🏆 Hundreds of Beavers

It’s my biggest film regret of the year not getting to see Hundreds of Beavers at the cinema, in a room full of unsuspecting viewers about to see one of the most refreshingly original films of the year. A live action homage to the silent film era, the like of Charlie Chapman and Buster Keaton, mixed with quite a bit of Looney Tunes- in particular Wile E Coyote and Elmer Fudd, Hundreds of Beavers is a straightforward plot but the most wacky visuals you’re going to see. Crude visual effects, men in suits, fixed camera and high shutter speed- it’s impossible not to get sucked in to see what’s coming next. Goes a little off the rails in the third act but this is definitely one to check out.

Runners Up:

-Ultraman: Rising

I know nothing about the Ultraman franchise and wholeheartedly recommend this one to everyone. It’s barely about the actual superhero aspect and more about balancing life as well as relationships with parents, children and even how Japan views Asians living overseas.

-YOLO

Heart warming Chinese sports comedy about a depressed lady who turns her life around when she discovers boxing.

-Heretic

Hugh Grant is captivating in this thriller. I’m not a huge fan of the genre but it is impossible to look away from.

- Transformers One

Easily the best Transformers film since the original animated one, and honestly- might be better than that. Much better than the trailers.

6) Disappointment of the Year

Sponsored by Madame Web

💀Winner💀: Joker: Folie à deux

So I’ve changed the ‘turd of the year’ to ‘disappointment of the year’ for 2 reasons. One is that Joker 2 was not the worst film of the year, but one that I actually had high hopes for and the other is that I can’t remember enough about GhostBusters: Frozen Empire to write about it.

Joker 2 isn’t a disappointment because it’s a musical- far from it. I thought it could be an extremely interesting idea to have an unreliable narrator and a musical interpretation of his twisted reality. Throw in Lady Gaga and a half decent trailer and I thought this could be a vast improvement over Joker 1, which I didn’t fully connect with. Fast forward to the Joker 2 release and there was about 20 mins of plot pain-stakingly stretched over 2 hours 18 mins, absolute misery with virtually no moments of levity and worst of all- what appeared to be a distancing rather than embracing of the musical genre. Lady Gaga with an extremely limited screen time- exciting shots from the trailer completely absent, the plot coming to a standstill for songs to play rather than the songs advancing it and just overall a lack of energy. Feels like the editing team were trying to backtrack on this one.

This was the first film I went to see after an extended hospital stay and it really made me miss the morphine button.

Runners Up:

- Madame Web

It at least gave me some entertainment, even if it fails at every level of storytelling.

- Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

Truth be told I think I enjoyed this less than Joker 2. I just had zero expectations for it going in.

- Megalolololopolis

Disappointing. A million interesting ideas with absolutely no coherence.

- Godzilla Vs Kong: A New Empire

I’ll give you a tenner if you’ve seen this and are able to recount the plot without reading it on Wikipedia.

- Argylle

It’s pretty good for the first half until it tells you that ‘Argylle’ is actually ‘R.Kyle’ around the halfway part and the film completely falls apart from there.

7) 2024 Film of the Year

Presented by Madame Web

🏆Winner🏆 Civil War

2024 was a pretty good year for the movies and and any of the runners up would have been worthy winners for Film of the Year but even after seeing it 10 months ago, nothing has stuck with me like the grittiness and intensity of Civil War in Imax. Alex Garland returns to his best in my opinion after Men and Annihilation fell short of the genius Ex-Machina, in Civil War- a vision of a post apocalyptic near future where a civil war ensures that no one wins on any side of the political spectrum. A danger and a warning to all, told through the eyes of the neutral photographer travelling the country to document it. Not one you’re going to stick on with a beer on a Friday night, but it’s absolutely worth a watch on the biggest screen possible with the best sound system you can find. I don’t think any film before has ever made me feel like I was actually there on the ground with the main characters as viscerally as Civil War.

Runners Up:

-The Holdovers

-Robot Dreams

-Dune 2

-Poor Things

On to the predictions! Let’s see if I can improve on last year’s dismal performance.

💭Last year’s Predictions💭

1. Fast and Furious 10, part 2 is shelved indefinitely.

WRONG: Vinny D posted a set photo.

2. Deadpool 3 is the highest grossing film of the year

WRONG: It was second ($1.4m) behind Inside Out 2 ($1.7m)

3. Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is a huge critical success

WRONG: 45% on Rotten Tomatoes

4. Due to critical and commercial failures of Madame Web and Kraven the Hunter, Sony cancels their Spider-man villain-verse.

CORRECT: Reports say that the universe has ended with Kraven

5. Chris Nolan is announced to direct the next Bond movie. Bonus point- it's a 2-parter

WRONG: Chris Nolan’s next film is The Odyssey. No word on Bond.

6. A new live action Astro Boy movie is announced

WRONG

7. Kevin Feige stands down from the Marvel machine in some capacity

WRONG

8. Hayao Miyazaki comes out of retirement again

CORRECT: 3rd time he’s came out of retirement now.

9. Turd of the year is Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire

WRONG: It was runner up. So close!

10. My film of the year is Mickey 17

WRONG: It was delayed… Again. April 25th 2025 supposedly.

Score: 2/10 💀

I said that I couldn’t do worse than my 3/10 last year, but here we are.

💫Predictions for 2025💫

1. Avatar 3: Fire and Ash is delayed again.

2. Sony gives the Spider-man Film rights back to Disney/Marvel

3. A live action Biker Mice From Mars movie is announced

4. James Gunn’s Superman makes less than Man of Steel at the box office

5. Mahershela Ali’s Blade film is cancelled, or at least he leaves it.

6. Both Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts* fail to make over $500m

7. An Iron Giant Sequel (or more likely remake) is announced

8. The Naked Gun reboot performs very well critically and commercially.

9. Turd of the year is Tron: Ares

10. My film of the year is Mickey 17 (AGAIN!!!)

Well that’s it! Thanks so much for reading and I hope I got your new year off to a good start. I’ll try and post again before next year, but I do say that every year….

Now you can resume what you were doing before reading this blog, which was presumably watching Madame Web.

Happy 2025 y’all!!

The Scottscars 2023

2024-01-01T08:33:00.000-08:00

The 2023 Scottscars

For the film industry, 2023 was a year of soaring highs, particularly in animation, as well as crippling strains- see the SAG-AFTA strike or the state of Marvel and DC. So grab yourself a Venti Iced Skinny Hazelnut Macchiato, with sugar free syrup and enjoy the 2023 Scottscars- the awards they all want to win, they just don't know it yet.

The running order as always:

The 2023 Scottsars Awards
Last years predictions
2024 movie predictions

My 2023 Stats

Because the Scottscars are 100% my personal opinion, here’s what we’re working with! I had a very busy year doing the festival circuit across the world for my own short animated film, Candlelight, so I didn't see as much as usual in terms of feature films- although I have watched 75,348 short films this year.

Movies watched: 72

Cinema : 29 times, 11 Imax

Most watched actor/actress: Jackie Chan

Most Watched Director: Brett Ratner (oh dear 💀)

Notable films I haven’t seen this year:

Tar

Maestro

The Boy and the Heron

Wish

Ferrari

Next Goal Wins

Poor Things (2024 UK release)

Saltburn

Aquaman 2

Heart of Stone

Dumb Money

And now on to the main event!

2023 Scottscars Awards

Remember this is going by UK release dates!

1) Cinema Experience of the Year

Sponsored by my Cineworld Unlimited Pass

🏆Winner🏆 Wonka

Wonka had the potential to be another lazy, low effort, formulaic, cash grab prequel, but instead Paul King, the director of Paddington, has it bursting at the seams with joy, energy and charm. With a soundtrack of uplifting earworms, snappy editing, half the cast of the Peep Show and what feels like a much tighter draft of the script from the Greatest Showman, experiencing Wonka in IMAX was the ultimate reminder that cinema is the best form of escapism.

Runners Up:

-Gran Turismo in 4DX- experience the same whiplash as the drivers!

-Spider-verse in IMAX

-Having my own short film Candlelight play at the QFT in Belfast in front of my family (This was my real winner, but trying to stay somewhat objective here!)

2) Shock of the year Award

Presented by GI Jane

😱Winner😱 Kang and his downfall

Kang the Conqueror had been lined up to usher in the next era of the post-Thanos MCU and to be the biggest, most terrifying, multiversal threat that would result in the next big Avengers Climax.

However over the course of this year, Kang has went from mysterious and all-knowing, all-powerful, to being pitifully taken down by ants in Quantumania, outmanoeuvred by Loki and of course, off screen, actor Jonathan Majors has been a literal shit. So much so that he's been fired and it appears that due to all of the above, Marvel may be planning on moving away from the character and Kang roadmap altogether.

At this point, they need something bigger than Kang to draw interest to the MCU and a break back to the drawing board may be just what the doctor ordered.

Runners Up:

- CGI -ing dead actors into The Flash for no reason other than 2 second cameos

-The Flash putting babies into a microwave scene

- Ant Man's leaked, parody, big head Modok design/CGI actually being the real thing

-How bad the dialogue/delivery is in the Madame Web trailer

3) Comic Book Movie of the Year

Sponsored by .... ah who cares. Thanks Ant-Man and Disney Plus

💀Winner?💀: No one

Just watch Spider-verse 2, Guardians 3 or Loki Season 2 finale if you're invested in any of those franchises. They're all great.

4) Animated Film of the Year

🏆Winner🏆 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

  When Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse came out in 2018 it was a tangible indicator that mass audiences are willing to embrace new things, even with well established franchises and this signal was picked up on by Paramount and the TMNT crew. Where Spider-verse was praised as bringing a radical, extreme animation style to mainstream Hollywood cinema, several films after took this particular animation style as the new blueprint, with many clones started popping up. All of a sudden the phrase 'spider-verse style animation' was born- choppy frame rates, lack of depth of field, hand drawn textures on 2D models and yet this was not the full lesson that Spider-verse's success should have taught.
  The lesson the TMNT crew correctly picked up on was that it's not about copying the technical animation techniques, but having the confidence to create a unique identity, and not being afraid to bring a new identity to an established franchise. Mutant Mayhem's aesthetic in every pixel and every audio cue is like the gross-out, grungy 'adorable ugly' style of the 90s, like rough and vibrant concept art, breaking every rule of anatomy in service to edgy visuals with the added uniqueness of having actual teenagers in the cast (and the type of energy that brings along with it).
   Mutant Mayhem's reinvention won't suit everyone, but that's the point- it's not meant to. By trying to please everyone, you please no one and this it stands out as one of the most unique takes on the 40 year old franchise, as well as a welcome reminder that some studios are still willing to take risks in the pursuit of artistic expression.

Runners Up:

-Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

-Spider-man: Across the Spider-Verse

- Ernest & Celestine: A Trip to Giberitia

- Elemental

5) The 'In Case you Missed It' Award

🏆Winner🏆 Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

You would be forgiven for ignoring Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, being a sequel to a solid, but largely unremarkable spinoff of a franchise that has been meme'd to death However, if you watch one film from this entire blog, I implore you to make it this one. A plot revolving around an aged character who, for the first time in his nine lives, has to deal with the reality of death and the struggle of trying to fully engage in life while being aware of the ticking clock. Not to mention he is literally trying to outrun Death, a genuinely terrifying, stalking wolf character. Throw in excellent side characters and action scenes heavily 'inspired' by Spider-verse and you've got an emotionally impactful, visually stunning film that isn't afraid to ask us 'are we living life to the full?'
In a Shrek spin off.

Runners Up:

-Godzilla Minus One

Genuinely impactful character piece about a conflicted kamikaze pilot and Japan's post World War 2 depression, with a giant lizard dinosaur that shoots heat blasts from its mouth.

-Dungeons and Dragons

This is so much better than the trailer made it out to be. Very solid, funny, rip-roaring adventure that's not afraid to poke fun at itself or source material.

-Tetris

About the shifting attitudes towards capitalism within communist Russia as it come to terms with the impending collapse of the Soviet Union- disguised as a Tetris movie

- Gran Turismo

Solid and uplifting sports drama with some surprising stakes. Based on True story.

-Wonka

See above

6) Turd of the Year

Sponsored by the Last Episode of She-Hulk

🏆Winner🏆 Ant Man and the Wasp in Quantumania

Our first meeting with Kang, the new big bad of the MCU! The unlimited possibilities of the multiverse/Quantum Realm! The trailer teasing the stakes are so high that our heroes might not make it out alive! What could go wrong?!
Everything, to the point where I think even the last die hard MCU fans have decided that everything post-Endgame could have all been leading to nowhere worthwhile. Cringe-level dialogue, shocking CG/design (see MODOK picture above), no impact on the overall Marvel story and an ending so mismatched and obviously recut to hell and back leaves Quantumania with little to offer but a bad aftertaste.

Runners Up:

- Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

This was 3 movies crammed into one movie that felt 5 movies long.

- Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

Not a dreadful movie, but so much wasted potential. No Michael Bay this time around, but nothing of style or substance to replace the Bayhem. Virtually no beasts in it either. Disappointing as it's based on what was my favourite TV show as a kid- Beast Wars.

- Fast X

They should have just went with time travel. Nothing unique or exciting about this one.

7) 2023 Film of the Year

Presented by Nicolas Cage... one day.... I hope....

🏆Winner🏆 Marcel the Shell with Shoes On

"My name is Marcel and I am partially a shell but I also have shoes and a face"

This mockumentary about a little shell and his grandma who live in an airbnb will have you laughing, crying and feeling warm inside by the end. The whimsical and fragile nature of the main character's design and stop motion animation style will have you charmed and sharing Marcel's sense of wonder as he discovers the big wide world. However, that cutesy design will catch you off guard when the film tackles heavier themes such as dementia and a feeling of isolation from your community.

Truly original and uplifting, as well as being a technical masterclass, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On is my pick for 2023.

Runners Up:

-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

-Wonka

-Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

-Past Lives

On to the predictions!

💭Last year’s Predictions💭

1. The Flash gets a cinema release and becomes highest grossing comic book movie of the year
WRONG: HA! It came out and people did not like it.

2. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mutant Mayhem does very well, critically
YES: 96% on rotten tomatoes

3. Henry Cavill signs for Marvel

NO: lol

4. Avatar 3: The Seed Bearer (due 2024) is given a delay

YES: Delayed a year to December 2025

5. A relative unknown, younger actor, is cast as next James Bond
NO: not yet

6. Fast and Furious 10 at least HINTS towards time travel of some kind

NO: it should have though

7. There’s another shift in hierarchy at the top of DC Studios
NO

8. Sony announce a Sinister 6 film

9. Turd of the year is Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

NO: Glad to say I was miles out here. Trailer was rubbish, film was excellent fun.

10. Film of the year is Marcel The Shell With Shoes On

YES:)

Score: 3/10 💀

Why do you read this, I clearly have no idea what I'm talking about. Surely we can't do any worse next year?

💫Predictions for 2024💫

1. Fast and Furious 10, part 2 is shelved indefinitely.

2. Deadpool 3 is the highest grossing film of the year

3. Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is a huge critical success

4. Probably due to critical and commercial disappointments in Madam Web and Kraven the Hunter, Sony get cold feet and don't move forward with any more crossovers/team ups with the Spider-man villain universe

5. Chris Nolan is announced to direct the next Bond movie. Bonus point- it's a 2-parter

6. A new live action Astro Boy movie is announced

7. Kevin Feige stands down from the Marvel machine in some capacity

8. Hayao Miyazaki comes out of retirement again

9. Turd of the year is Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire

10. My film of the year is Mickey 17

That's it! Took me a whole year to write this, so I better start the next one now.

Support local cinemas if you can, it's much better craic than sitting at home and watching your electricity and gas meters deplete. All (or at least most) the Northern Irish cinemas all seem to serve alcohol now.... what could go wrong?!

Have a great 2024 everyone and I appreciate the read if you made it this far. Catch you next time!

The 2022 Scottscars

2023-01-01T10:30:00.004-08:00

The 2022 Scottscars

Hello readers! Hope you’re both well.

2022 was a funny old year in the movies. There’s certainly a sense of Hollywood trying to find its place in the new post-covid landscape, to varying success. Disney’s MCU experiments had mixed results, with the Disney plus shows varying wildly in quality and Thor 4 being an attempt to make a film about cancer into a stand up comedy routine.

The year started with Will Smith’s slapping Oscars performance, then the world heard about Amber Heard’s dog stepping on a bee, Ezra Miller continued to be the absolute worst, Henry Cavill being in and out and all about with the Witcher and Superman, Warner Brothers showing absolutely zero confidence in their products by shelving 2 COMPLETED movies and James Gunn deciding to toss out the entire DC universe and rebooting it from scratch.

But one thing that DOESN’T change is the most obscure and least renowned film awards of the year (It’s tradition now, so we're stuck with it). Welcome to the 2022 Scottscars!

The running order as always:

The 2022 Scottsars Awards
Last years predictions
2023 movie predictions

My 2022 Stats

Because the Scottscars are 100% my personal opinion, here’s what we’re working with!

Movies watched 106

Cinema : 43 times

Streaming: 45 times

Blu ray/DVD: 13 times Could this be RIP?

Most watched actor/actress: tie between Michelle Yeoh/ Donnie Yen/ Idris Elba

Most Watched Director: Wilson Yip

Notable films I haven’t seen this year:

Strange World

Marcel The Shell With Shoes On (2023 UK release)

The Woman King

The Bubble

Aftersun

Tar (2023 UK release)

Weird: The Al Yankovich Film

Puss in Boots The Last Wish - (2023 UK release)

Paws of Fury

Beast

Ambulance

The Bad Guys

Elvis

The Fabelmans - 2023 UK release

Don’t Worry Darling

Belle

All Quiet On the Western Front

And now on to the main event!

2022 Scottscars Awards

Cinema Experience of the Year

Winner: Top Gun Maverick in IMAX

Top Gun Maverick is the definition of a cinema movie, with its action focussed plot, ludicrously loud jet engine sounds and epic practical stunts. Paired with IMAX and you can’t help but feel you’re up there in the sky, doing barrel rolls with Tom Cruise, miles and miles away from Earth and real life worries…. Like your mortgage…… oh great. Take me back up there!

Runners Up:

-Everything Everywhere All At Once in IMAX

-Avatar : The Way of Water in IMAX

-Moonfall

-Seeing The Room and Miracle Valley with star Greg Sestero there

Shock of the year Award

Presented by Chris Rock

Winner: Moonfall - The Entire Film

The Moon is falling out of orbit and is on a collision course to Earth. What ensues is an ongoing physics lesson presented by a 6 year old child jacked up on coca cola that truly has to be seen to be believed. I think the moon turns out to be an alien spaceship or something, I don’t even know.

Runners Up:

- Taylor Swift getting run over by a car onscreen in Amsterdam

- RRR

- Pompo the Cinephile- an animated film literally about Adobe Premiere Pro

- Matt Smith dancing in front of a mirror for 3 minutes straight in Morbius

Comic Book Movie of the Year

Winner: Black Panther Wakanda Forever

Probably the last time I’m going to do this award, sadly comic book movies have become a bit overdone and stale, all kind of blending together. The MCU in particular this year has lost its magic for me, with the Disney plus shows continuing to fail to grab me, and the big screen movies not living up to their premises or potential (here’s looking at you Dr Strange).

However, just when I’d all but given up, Black Panther 2 reminded me that the genre can still take risks and say something, break away from the quippy punchy formula (eh, Thor?) and pack a punch. A serious tone for a serious subject matter, brilliant. Dial back on the Iron Man stuff though next time please though!

Runners Up:

-Black Panther Wakanda Forever

-The Batman

-Sorry I can’t nominate Thor, Dr Strange 2 or Black Adam. I just can’t.

The INCYMI Award

Presented by Liz Truss

Winner: RRR

Watching RRR is a truly special experience, like watching your first martial arts film or your first stage play. An incredibly well made, over the top, bombastic action-adventure buddy movie that keeps escalating in insanity, while always keeping its heart. A true pushing the boundaries of what high octane cinema can be with the most over the top stunts, set pieces and excellent cinematography to boot with an epic story between two of the most likable performers you’re likely to see this year. My biggest movie regret this year is watching it on a TV and not on the big screen

Runners Up:

-Lightyear- Bad marketing pinning it as a Toy Story film, which it very much ISN’T, but instead it’s an excellent Sci-Fi movie.

-The Good Boss - Javier Bardem in a FANTASTIC comedy about a CEO who will do ANYTHING to keep his employees on their best behaviour for an upcoming inspection.

-The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

Turd of the year Award

Presented by Dr Michael Morbius

Winner: Jurassic World: Dominion

The most prime example of a cynical cash grab you could possibly find. A movie that has nothing to do for its modern main cast, as well as digging up the original Park cast, only to have nothing for them to do either. A movie that ends exactly where it begins, with nothing of substance inbetween- something to do with locusts? Nothing explains how confused the mission statement was more than the fact that the director ‘was surprised when the marketing described it as the climax of the entire Jurrasic saga’ -as that wasn’t what he had made.

Runners Up:

-Thor Love & Thunder a film about cancer and a god killer, played as a comedy special

-Fantastic Beasts 3 You can just tell all the actors are done with these. Nothing happens in it.

- Morbius It’s Morbin’ Time

- Moonfall A movie where the moon falls to Earth. Scientists love it.

2022 Film of the Year

Winner: Everything Everywhere All At Once

Hot dog fingers to a laundromat to sentient rocks and a tax office.

Film of the year really can’t be anything other than Everything Everywhere All At Once.

An impossible to describe sci fi multiverse film about a middle aged asian couple and their teenage daughter, exploring limitless realities and universes while keeping a strong emotional core to hold on to. A true shock at every turn, anchored by incredible performances by Michelle Yeoh, who really should have been a leading lady in Hollywood decades earlier than this, and Ke Huy Quan who shows he’s much much more than just Short Round.

It was frankly embarrassing that EEAAO was released the same week as Disney’s Marvel’s Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and was able to show a million times more creativity with the 'unlimited multiverse' concept, on a fraction of the budget, as well as staying narratively engaging.

‘In another life, I would have really liked just doing laundry and taxes with you’. Damn, what a line.

Runners Up:

-Coda

-RRR

-Top Gun Maverick

On to the predictions!

Last year’s Predictions

1. The Batman is the highest grossing comic book movie of the year.

NO! Somehow Dr Strange 2 got $955m compared to the Batman’s $760m

2. Dr Strange & the Multiverse of Madness is overstuffed with cameos and too many side characters, with the finger being pointed at Disney for ruining Sam Raimi's vision.

YES…..sort of. The cameos that it included were criticized for being just throwaway cameos and the majority say that while it has ‘Raimi-isms’ it didn’t feel like a full Raimi film

3. Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore is my turd of the year

NO! So close! Nominated

4. Lightyear flops compared to Toy Story standards

YES Certainly did, going by box office $226m. Shame, great movie.

5. The Flash movie faces huge fan backlash when it wipes the Snyder DC films out of canon

VOID Think James Gunn did that and took that backlash. This movie’s been postponed to 2023.

6. Across the Spider-verse reviews (somehow) even better than Into the Spider-verse

VOID Postponed to 2023!

7. Chris Pratt's Mario voice acting has a borderline offensive accent.

NO I mean, it’s not a popular one but it’s not offensive.

8. The Rock and Vin Diesel will kiss and make up, with Dwayne returning for the last instalment of Fast and Furious. The real reason for the make up is actually $$$$

NO although now that Black Adam’s been shelved we may see The Rock change his tune next year

9. Avatar 2 has some kind of technological gimmick, maybe high frame rate?

Yes! It switches from normal 24fps to 48 fps on frames with more motion to ‘keep the 3d comfortable’. I found the switching distracting, like when you see Chris Nolan films jump to IMAX ratios, but it did help 3D

10. My film of the year is Avatar 2

NO Was good, and a technical masterpiece, but not my FOTY.

Total: 3 out of 8

Surely we can do better than that next year.

Next Years predictions:

1. The Flash gets a cinema release and becomes highest grossing comic book movie of the year

2. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mutant Mayhem does very well, critically

3. Henry Cavill signs for Marvel

4. Avatar 3: The Seed Bearer (due 2024) is given a delay

5. A relative unknown, younger actor, is cast as next James Bond

6. Fast and Furious 10 at least HINTS towards time travel of some kind

7. There’s another shift in hierarchy at the top of DC Studios

8. Sony announce a Sinister 6 film

9. Turd of the year is Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

10. Film of the year is Marcel The Shell With Shoes On

That’s us! Thanks so much for reading through my ridiculous annual post. Have a wonderful 2023 and support your local cinema if you can!

The 2021 Scottscars

2022-01-02T12:22:00.003-08:00

Happy new year folks!

Welcome to my annual daft wee movie blog post, recapping my year in cinema and aiming to give you a few laughs for a few minutes. Bit late this year. I usually post it on December 31st, but truth be told- I'm just knackered. I think we all are from 2021.

And what a year it was- musicals to multiverses, with everything in between. There were plenty of highs with the arrival of a few blockbusters that were delayed from last year, as well as quite a few lows, with studios occasionally missing the mark and making 'checklist' movies with no originality or point for existing (except $$$).

Will try to keep this year's awards more upbeat and focussed on celebrating the year in film, rather than putting down films- as even the most misguided, cynical, or failed movie will have had hard working people in the crew. People who don't deserve to see something they've been involved with shat upon, by me.

Oh and don't worry I will have NO SPOILERS for any movies throughout this post.

With that all said, here's the running order for the post!

1. End of year statistics

2. The Scottscars Awards

3. My predictions from last year

4. Finally, a brand spanking new set of predictions for 2022

Let's get to it!

My 2021 in Numbers

Watched 82 movies (not including shorts)

Most watched actor/actress - JK Simmons

Most watched director - Lana Wachowski (due to my Matrix marathon)

Visited the cinema 30 times - :( again, thanks COVID for keeping us locked down the first half of the year.

Streaming Vs Physical Media-

Streamed: 30

DVD/Blu Ray: 17

Notable Films I didn't see this year

Raya and the Last Dragon

Encanto

Pig

West Side Story

The Green Knight

The King's Man

The French Dispatch

The Croods 2

Outside the Wire

Malcolm & Marie

Willy's Wonderland

I Care Alot

Judas & the Black Messiah

Cherry

Thunder Force

The French Exit

Paper Tigers

Another Round

Riders of Justice

Army of the Dead

Cruella

Infinite

Old

Reminiscence

Ron's Gone Wrong

Last Night in Soho

Spencer

Belfast

House of Gucci

Red Rocket

Sound of Metal

The Courier

The Wish Dragon

Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0 Thrice Upon a Time

With that in mind-on to the main event!

The 2021 Scottscars

Best Comic Book Film

Winner : Spider-man No Way Home

No Spoilers here, don't worry!

Spider-man: No Way Home is the latest entry in the MCU, as well as the wrapping up of Tom Holland's Homecoming trilogy. Beyond that, it's also a celebration of all previous Spider-man incarnations on the big screen, with the inclusion of the most iconic villains from the past 20 years of Spider-man movies (and Electro, for some reason). While not a perfect movie by any stretch, with some convoluted storytelling, pacing issues and a bit too much reliance on having seen external movies to get the full experience, it succeeds overwhelmingly in giving Tom Holland's Peter Parker proper growth, as well as some incredibly memorable and joyful moments.

Runners Up

Venom: Let There Be Carnage

The Suicide Squad

Scott's Thoughts: The MCU Move to TV

2021 saw the mainline MCU venture into a new realm for the first time, (sorry Agents of Shield, you don't count) - TV, with WandaVision, Falcon & the Winter Solder, Loki, What If? and Hawkeye. For me, this shift away from movies has done the MCU alot more damage than good, even if these shows have succeeded in Disney's main goal- to get people to subscribe to Disney Plus. Stretched out out pacing, lacking the punch required when conforming to a 2 hour movie runtime, with little narrative interest to keep people engaged. IT's obvious that Disney are focussing on the end of episode stingers/gimmicks, aimed at showing up in Twitter's trending bar rather than filling their episodes with worthwhile content. Plenty of the casual audience have dropped off, not wanting to commit to these shows, so it remains to be seen if this will affect future MCU movies/Avengers films.

The Award for WTF Moment

Winner : Annette (the entire film)

Annette is an absurdist musical/drama film starring Adam Driver, Marian Cotillard and Simon Helberg and to pick just one WTF from it would be impossible as it continuously blew my mind throughout its 140 minute runtime. One moment Driver is singing to the audience while performing oral sex and the next, his daughter is being lifted through the air by a set of drones, to an stadium of screaming fans. Oh and by the way, his baby daughter is a moving marionette doll, which is the stuff of nightmares. It's a compelling watch, especially if you're looking for something you've never experienced before, with fantastic performances from Helberg and Driver in particular.

I mean, I think.

Runners Up

First trailer for Dear Evan Hansen has Ben Platt looking like a melting ice cream.

The end of No Time to Die

The pointless post credit scene in Spider-man: No Way Home

Turd of the Year

Winner : Dear Evan Hansen

Uncomfortable. That's how I would sum up the experience of watching DEH.

Ok, so first thing's first- I'm not putting this here because they cast 27 year old Ben Platt as a teenager.

I understand the desire to put Dear Evan Hansen to film, to 'immortalise' it, as well as the desire to include Platt in the lead role, with him being the original Evan and becoming quite synonymous with the show. On the contrary, I would have felt some disappointment if Platt WASN'T cast as the socially awkward teen and have no problem suspending my disbelief at actors not looking their age. (Look at Grease).

However, ignoring the decision to cast Platt, this film fails on so many fundamental levels that it almost certainly has caused more damage to the musical's reputation than good. For a start, they try to make Platt look young with far, FAR too much make up and a truly old man hairstyle. It makes him feel.... wrong.... amongst the other high schoolers. Direction wise, Platt has been allowed to keep his exaggerated and over the top stage expressions, which leads to some truly hilarious over active facial expressions and movements, whereas all the supporting cast conform to the more subtle, traditional film style of acting.

To make all of this more uncomfortable and jarring, the majority of the songs happen while characters are sitting down! No choreography, no clever dance moves, no making use of the film medium at all- just Platt bursting into song- sometimes mid-conversation, menacingly screaming at Amy Adams and Julianne Moore with coke fuelled eyes, while they awkwardly stare back at him, waiting for their checks to cash.

P.S. My turd of the year may have been the pointless and morally questionable remake of West Side Story, but I watched it on 1st January 2022 so it's not eligible!

Runners Up

My Hero Academia: World Heroes Mission

The Eternals

Space Jam: A New Legacy

Shang Chi: The Legend of the Ten Rings (the CGI filled nonsense second half)

Cinema Experience of the Year

Winner : Spider-man: No Way Home in IMAX, Belfast

NO spoilers

Spider-man No Way Home, packed audience, in the first IMAX screen in Belfast was one hell of an electric atmosphere. Tense moments, familiar faces, laughs, tears and cheers. The Sam Raimi Spider-man movie franchise is the reason I work in the film industry today and the Tobey Maguire trilogy means so much to so many people. That combined with the fact that Spider-man is by far the most popular comic book character and you're looking at a film that had a mountain of expectations. So when it delivered, the audience responded and it was a truly memorable cinema experience that I won't forget.

Runners Up:

Dune

The Matrix (original) in 4DX

My Film of the Year

Runners Up:

Dune- This NEARLY took the title, especially as it was such a fantastic experience up on the big screen. All consuming sound design, unbelievable epic visuals and engaging narrative that leaves you begging for more information about the world. Found a good mix of the more far reaching sci-fi concepts and mainstream appeal.

King Richard - The story of the Williams sisters, the two most successful female tennis stars of all time with a truly heartfelt and engaging performance from Will Smith.

Spider-man: No Way Home- A wonderful and respectful celebration of Spider-man's film history, as well as a satisfying arc for Tom Holland's Peter Parker

Don't Look Up- An entertaining, if a little depressing parody of how information is shared, prioritised and received today. How far is the truth stretched? Debatable, depending on who you ask. But this is a film that sums up today's world and will get people talking.

drum roll.......

Winner : Tick...Tick...Boom!

Tick...Tick...Boom is the directorial debut of one Lin Manuel Miranda, who you may know from any musical released in the last few years. It's based on a one-night-only autobiographical stage play written and performed by Jonathan Larson, the writer of Rent and stars Andrew Garfield with a truly career defining charismatic performance.

In TTB, main character Jonathan, a theatre writer and part time waiter, is freaking out about turning 30, comparing his career unfavourably to successful writers who have achieved success earlier in their lives. The film follows him as he tries to finish writing a show that he's dedicated 8 years of his life to writing and deals with his struggles at maintaining relationships, enthusiasm and drive to continue his journey in the arts while those around him choose more typical lifestyles and office jobs. Jonathan's tunnel vision of not planning for what happens if his musical fails is a particularly prominent point.

The direction from Miranda is energetic and the pace can speed up or slow down when it needs to, with the film cutting back and forward from Jonathan performing the musical on stage, to the actual events that inspired it. The choreography is inspired and it's so full of life that I doubt you'll be able to watch it without smiling.

Anyone who knows me can probably tell why I can relate to all of the narrative points I've just listed and why I engaged with this movie more than anything else in 2021, thus deserving it the title of my film of the year!

Oh and the soundtrack slaps.

Scott's Thoughts: The Matrix Revolt

NO Spoilers.

The Matrix Resurrections could have been a contender for my film of the year, if it had fully committed to its overall promise. It positions itself as an anti-modern blockbuster, an anti-cash grab, an anti-sequel in today's world of reboots, nostalgia exploits and pandering. With a truly meta script, Lana Wachowski delivers a small-scale, low stakes epilogue to the original trilogy, focussing just on two of her beloved main characters, rather than setting up a launching pad to a brand new epic franchise. However, for all its criticising of the cynical modern Hollywood studio system, the Matrix 4 falls into many of the traps it mocks, shoehorning in old recognisable characters for seemingly no narrative reason and delivering a rather weak villain, with an open, and easily exploitable open ending for a hungry studio to cash in on down the line.

LAST YEAR'S PREDICTIONS

Let's see how I got on!

1. After all the delays, 007: No Time to Die is released on streaming the same day as the theatrical release, whenever that may be.

Result: NO.

Amazon bought the rights but still gave it an exclusive theatrical release, instead of shovelling it straight onto Prime Video. Bravo!

2. Black Widow also comes out in cinemas and on Disney Plus on the same day.

Result: YES

3. The Seth Rogen Ninja Turtles movie gets a trailer and the character design looks more like the 90s live action films.

Result: NO

We have a title card, but no trailer.

4. The Snyder cut scores lower critical ratings than the 'Josstice League'

Result: NO

It has reviewed much, much higher on Rotten Tomatoes

5. Marvel's Spider-man 3 gets delayed to 2022.

IF it does come out, it's a mess. Tries to put in too many characters and becomes convoluted. Also cops out of really dealing with the identity crisis.

Result: NO, it came out.

Jury is out on the second part of this.

6. The next Avengers movie is announced with a hugely different 'next generation' lineup

Result: NO

7. Godzilla Vs Kong is turd of the year.

Result: NO

It wasn't particularly good, but Evan Hansen was a proper log.

8. The Matrix 4 is criticised for being too safe and formulaic. Let down of the year.

Result: NO

9. At least one MAJOR cinema chain shuts its doors

Result: NO

Glad to be wrong on this and theatres seem to be slowly recovering thanks to high profile releases like Bond and Spidey.

10. My film of the year is The Tomorrow War

Result: NO

I liked it, quite a bit but it wasn't my FOTY

Overall: 1/10 Why are you reading this blog, I clearly know NOTHING about movies!

2022 PREDICTIONS

Let's hope I can do better than last year!

1. The Batman is the highest grossing comic book movie of the year.

2. Dr Strange & the Multiverse of Madness is overstuffed with cameos and too many side characters, with the finger being pointed at Disney for ruining Sam Raimi's vision.

3. Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore is my turd of the year

4. Lightyear flops compared to Toy Story standards

5. The Flash movie faces huge fan backlash when it wipes the Snyder DC films out of canon

6. Across the Spider-verse reviews (somehow) even better than Into the Spider-verse

7. Chris Pratt's Mario voice acting has a borderline offensive accent.

8. The Rock and Vin Diesel will kiss and make up, with Dwayne returning for the last instalment of Fast and Furious. The real reason for the make up is actually $$$$

9. Avatar 2 has some kind of technological gimmick, maybe high frame rate?

10. My film of the year is Avatar 2

That's all folks! Thanks alot for reading, it's really appreciated.
Have a great 2022. Stay safe and support local cinemas if you can :)

Thoughts at 30

2021-08-28T08:14:00.002-07:00

Yesterday was my last day in my 20s. Flip, am I old now?

I'm definitely guilty of being someone who puts too much stock in certain dates and occasions as a time to reflect and re-evaluate. I mean, look at this blog- I think every post is a new year's eve or a milestone birthday.

And hey, this year's no different - but it might be the last time.

I made a note that last year, on my 29th birthday, that my life at age 30 was on a wildly different trajectory than I had imagined it would be when I was younger. And in almost every way it's turned out alot better and a heck of alot more exciting! I'm currently finishing up an animated short film, an absolute dream project that I never imagined I 'd be put in charge of and I have a hell of a stand up crew helping make something that is far too ambitious. I'm working in an industry I love, in a great house and in a long term relationship. I even have a tortoise (!)

However, anyone knows me how driven and passionate I am and while that can be a huge strength of mine, I've also come to realise it can be my biggest weakness. I put tremendous pressure on myself to push myself and take EVERY opportunity that I can and also to create my own chances, rather than wait for life to hand them to me. It's led to a massive amount of learning in my industry and working on TV shows and films non stop for the last 7 or so years, but the truth is that I've not been living the most maintainable lifestyle, have neglected my social life, invested in relationships that haven't been worthy and I'm finally being caught up with by a long overdue burnout.

So as I hit 30, I don't have any more lists or targets to make, because I think for my mental (and physical) health I need to chill out and catch up on some life away from the computer, away from my own ambition. I'm happy with where I am career-wise and don't need to compare it to anyone else, or be compared to anyone else. Time to take some time away from the screen to create some down time and re evaluate where I actually want to and should invest it- hobbies, friendships and health wise. I have some exciting projects in my mind, but they can take a year, two, ten- it doesn't matter. They'll get done when I feel like I can and have energy to invest.

So here's to the next big milestone birthday where I have no idea where I'll be or where I'll end up, but hope to have a blast getting there, with the right people (and tortoise) around me.

Oh and here's a teaser for my almost completed short film Candlelight which should be doing the festival rounds from around the end of this year!

See you at the New Year's Blog post!

Old Scott

The 2020 Scottscars

2020-12-31T11:07:00.003-08:00

2020 was fun, wasn't it? You don't need me to recap the fun we've all had this year. But here you can escape thinking about diseases, curfews and elections for 5 minutes with my traditional end of year movie post. Unfortunately, with the beginning of the death of cinemas, an intense work project and you know, 2020, my movie watching took a pretty sizeable dip this year. However, the show must go on! And I know the whole film industry has been anticipating the Scottscars since this time last year, so here we go!

I'll keep it brief as I know everyone just wants this year to be over, at this point.

First up, the running order for this post.

1. End of year statistics (everyone's favourite bit)

2. The Scottscars Awards,

3. My predictions from last year

4. Finally, a brand spanking new set of predictions for 2021

STATISTICS!

I hate watching movies in the house. Your phone goes off, the itch to check your social media, the crap sound/picture balancing on my mediocre tv/speakers- no thanks. But here's how we did anyway.

Rosie and I made a set of drinking game rules that appear to work for every Adam Sandler movie ever and considering the amount of alcohol we needed to get through this year, it's definitely skewed the results.

Watched 97 movies (not including shorts)

Most watched actor/actress - Adam Sandler

Most watched director - Dennis Dugan (one of the Adam Sandler money crew)

Visited the cinema 21 times - :( thanks COVID

This year marked the first time I watched a movie that I own on Blu Ray, on Netflix instead, out of pure laziness and not being arsed to get up and change the disc.

Anyway on to the highlight of a year full of lowlights.

The 2020 Scottscars

These awards contain no monetary value and cannot be exchanged in any way, shape or form

Best Comic Book Film

Winner : Nothing to see here.

I wouldn't feel right giving any award with 'Best' in the title to Harley Quinn, Wonder Woman 84 or New Mutants. Will come back next year for this one.

Most Forgettable Film

Winner : Project Power

Oh Jamie Foxx. Soul is one of the most memorable films of the year and Project Power is a film that I had to google again as I couldn't even remember the title. That one that was like X-Men, I think? People had powers and I think they came from pills? Was Jamie Foxx a cop? An Assassin? Was Joseph Gordon Levitt even in this? I honestly remember nothing from this snorefest.

Runners Up

Enola Holmes

Bloodshot

The Award for WTF Moment

Winner : Tenet (entire film)

I like Christopher Nolan alot. And I will take a complex film over a by the numbers script any day.

Tenet, however was on a whole other level, where I couldn't engage with it because I just couldn't understand what was going on at any time. And it turns out Robert Pattinson feels the same.

https://www.indiewire.com/2020/05/robert-pattinson-made-tenet-without-understanding-plot-1202234249/

Technically incredible, the practical FX being the best I've ever seen in a movie, but it means very little if the film is too complicated to follow. Maybe I'm just not smart enough!

Oh and your characters probably shouldn't mumble for the whole run time.

Runners Up

Wonder Woman rides lightning

Wonder Woman rides a missile that Chris Pine fires from a tank

Wonder Woman makes her jet invisible randomly

Pedro Pascal in Wonder Woman

Jim Carrey's extremely over the top acting in Sonic the Hedgehog.

The "Film I Really Should Have Seen Before Now" Award

Winner: Se7en

Se7en is awesome, but you probably already know that.

Kevin Spacey is fantastic in it too, but I don't know if I'm allowed to say that these days.

Runners Up

Labyrinthe

Top Gun

You've Got Mail

Jumanji (Robin Williams one)

News Story of the year

Winner : Trolls: World Tour puts the first nail in the coffin for cinemas everywhere.

Whoever would have thought that a Trolls sequel would become so significant! This was the first major release that was announced to skip cinemas and go direct to streaming, pleasing parents everywhere as they could get an hour and a half break from watching Frozen on repeat. Unfortunately, it was an experiment that, on the surface, appears to have been successful (profitable) for the studio and has led to more and films going direct to streaming. This could be the beginning of the end for cinemas.

Runners up:

-Tobes in talks to reprise his role as Spider-man <3

-Warner Bros. announces that their entire 2021 slate will be available day 1 of release on streaming.

-Snyder cut is happening

The ICYMI award

Winner : Wolfwalkers

Wolfwalkers is probably the best looking animated film I've ever seen (although Spider-verse and Princess Kaguya might have something to say about that). A fantastic folkore fairytale, set in Kilkenny and bursting with celtic style. You won't want to miss this, but you might as it's been trapped as an Apple TV exclusive (yuck).

Try and find a way to give this one a watch, your eyeballs won't regret it. Bravo Cartoon Saloon!

Runners Up

I'm Thinking of Ending Things

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Palm Springs

Sonic the Hedgehog - don't judge it by the horrible first trailer. Sonic looks great now and the film is pretty darn solid. If you were one of the voices complaining for them to change their character design I hope you showed support by watching the final film!

Best Animated Film

Winner : Soul

Soul may have been the most important film of this year for me. It's is a movie from Pixar ,about a regular guy, his anxiety, existentialism and his purpose in life sprinkled with some jazz, the most technically breathtaking CGI ever seen in a 3D animated film and a Pixar-esque representation of pre life and post death. It's a movie dealing with relatable fears, heavy themes, clearly aimed at an older audience and most importantly it's a movie that prioritises its message and themes over creating an exploitable universe.

In an age where studios, Disney in particular, are just churning out movies to set up universes and sell Funko Pops, Soul reminds us that Pixar isn't too far gone yet and that they are still the leading animation studio with worthwhile stories to tell and themes to explore. It's a reminder that the studio still has *ahem* soul.

Runners Up

Wolfwalkers

Weathering With You - a worthy follow up to Your Name? I think so. Can't wait to see JJ Abrams get his hands on it too and ruin the ending.

My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising-

This film includes the creator's original intended ending for the manga and it's truly a great conclusion- ruined by a quick retcon, deliberately implemented to make the movie pointless and to keep the series going.

Onward

Turd of the Year

Winner : Dolittle

More like DOES- LITTLE am I right?! *coughs*

You know what? I have no problem with films that are aimed at children and are therefore light on plot, light on character, high on gags and aim for cute. But even putting RDJ's questionable Welsh accent and half hearted performance aside, this film's script is a complete stinker that shouldn't be screened for children or anyone with a brain.

I'll give you an example here.

There's a dragon (for some reason) who has a sore stomach.

Dolittle says it's because she's heartbroken, it's made her sick. Ok fair enough.

He then proceeds to stick his hand up its ass and pull out a set of bagpipes that were clogging her up.

The dragon is all better.

So the love sick thing was complete bullshit.

Oh and of course it then farts for 20 seconds.

SKIP.

Runners Up

The New Mutants

Jiu Jitsu

Viy 2: Journey to China / The Iron Mask

Jojo Rabbit- sorry, I just didn't really warm to it

My Film of the Year

Winner : 1917

1917 is truly the best example of the power of movies that I could find this year and a definitive example of why we will always need movie theatres. A simple story, but one that the audience truly experiences every step of the way. Two soldiers have to carry a message across the horrors of a WW1 battlefield and through incredible sound, practical FX and one continuous uninterrupted shot you can't help but be transported there with them.

Would this be as effective on the small screen? I honestly don't know, but this 1917 is proof to why movies need to experienced on the big screen and how powerful they can be.

Runners Up:

Soul

Parasite

Uncut Gems - My GOD it was nice to see that Adam Sandler is actually an actor

Wolfwalkers

I'm Thinking of Ending Things

Notable Films I didn't see this year

A Whisker Away

Nomadland

Train to Busan presents: Penninsula

Proxima

Over the Moon

Mank

Minari

Red Shoes

Vanguard

Guns Akimbo

Extraction

Artemis Fowl

The Trial of the Chicago 7

Days

Call of the Wild (I'd say would have been a strong contender for turd of the year)

Let's get onto the predictions! Starting with how badly I did last year and then onto things that won't happen next year either.

LAST YEAR'S PREDICTIONS

1. Black Widow bombs, at least for Marvel's standards. People are over comic book movies and she's literally dead.

Result- VOID - thanks covid

2. Wonder Woman 1984 is the highest grossing superhero film of the year.

Result- VOID - thanks again covid

3. Hayao Miyazaki retires AGAIN. At least in some capacity

Result- No

4. They'll announce a Pokemon movie based in the Kanto region (based on the first games, Red and Blue)

Result- No

5. Sonic earns just enough for a sequel to be announced

Result- Yes!

6. Turd of the year is Dolittle

Result- Yes!

7. Shia LaBoeuf is nominated for an Oscar

Result- No, Shia surprise

8. New Ninja Turtles live action reboot trailer comes out and it sparks redesign demands on Twitter, similar to Sonic.

Result- No

9. More films get their visual effects 'patched' similar to Cats.

Result- No, at least not that I'm aware of

10. My film of the year is Soul

Result- No 1917 tipped it

Final results- 2/8

BONUS

a few years ago I said an animated Transformers movie would be announced, and it was!

Josh Cooley of Toy Story 4 directs

2021 PREDICTIONS

1. After all the delays, 007: No Time to Die is released on streaming the same day as the theatrical release, whenever that may be.

2. Black Widow also comes out in cinemas and on Disney Plus on the same day.

3. The Seth Rogen Ninja Turtles movie gets a trailer and the character design looks more like the 90s live action films.

4. The Snyder cut scores lower critical ratings than the 'Josstice League'

5. Marvel's Spider-man 3 gets delayed to 2022.

IF it does come out, it's a mess. Tries to put in too many characters and becomes convoluted. Also cops out of really dealing with the identity crisis.

6. The next Avengers movie is announced with a hugely different 'next generation' lineup

7. Godzilla Vs Kong is turd of the year.

8. The Matrix 4 is criticised for being too safe and formulaic. Let down of the year.

9. At least one MAJOR cinema chain shuts its doors

10. My film of the year is The Tomorrow War

Well that's it! Stay safe, wash your hands, avoid humans like the plague (because they are the plague).

See you in 2021 where things can't get any worse, right?

The 30 before 30 list

2020-08-28T09:35:00.009-07:00

The 30 Before 30 List

Don't panic, I've only just turned 29 today. Still in the twenties. We're not at the big 30 yet.

Back when I turned 18 (or was it 21?) I wrote a list of 30 things I wanted to have done before I reached the big 3-0 and I'm pleased to say I hit them all!* The good thing is I still have a year to polish off the remaining goals and 'update' the list, just a tad.

*None of them**.

**Well maybe one or two, if you twist the rules.

Out with the old

The list was your typical and conventional one- married, kid(s), mortgage, fancy car, pug, have travelled the world and even more ludicrous ideas like 'have paid off my student loan' LOL

Seriously, how can the interest be above my repayments?

I've picked up one or two few things since I wrote that initial 'to do list' though and noticed a few issues with the entire premise of it. So much of life today is focussed on 'where you should be at' or 'where you should be going'. Pressure, pressure pressure. As opposed to simply enjoying where you are at the present time, so much of today's world seems to exist to rush you into a frankly outdated preset of life.

I've learned that not only is it ok to deviate from the path you initially set for yourself or is 'expected', it can actually be much more beneficial to!

While I didn't do any of the things laid out for me by the fountain of knowledge teen Scott who could drink double figures of absynthe shots and not think about liver damage, I did do at least 30 other things that I'm proud of, but I'll look back more next year when I'm feeling a bit more freaked out at my fourth decade, I'm sure. Maybe even 31 of them.

Enough to fill a list anyway, just not the one I had.

Goals change. Expectations change. Pandemics happen. It's all part of the journey and where I think a few targets can be great for motivation, especially if you've not fully figured out your passion or calling, I think it's more than ok to not know exactly where you're going.

In with the new

So with all that in mind, I'm going to bin my list of 30 things to do before I'm 30 and update it with a new one. This one isn't filled with life defining milestones and I'm not going to be unrealistic with my expectations for what I can do in a year with a pandemic and limited funds. I also realise I have about the same chance of completing this list as DC has of cutting together a successful movie on the first go. But that's not the goal.

These are all projects I've started or just silly things I've had on my mind for a while, but even just the act of writing them down here gets them out of floating round my head, so I think there's a real benefit to this blog post, even if no one ever reads it (myself included). Alot are work/career orientated, but that's just where my head is at the moment! If I get ANY motivation out of writing this blog post, I'll be more than happy.

The best teacher I ever had told me we tend to hit 70% of what aim to achieve, however my goal isn't to aim to complete all of these. If I can finish ANY of these and either enjoy it and find a new hobby, or not enjoy it and eliminate it from my curiosity, I'll take that as an absolute win. Every little step along the path helps.

So that's my goal for by the time I'm 30. Complete between 1 and 21 of the following....

30 Before 30 'To Do ANY of' List:

Complete ONE of the following

1-Watch Pulp Fiction

2-Launch my podcast that's literally been in development for about 5 years now

We have filmed 12 episodes, it's moving!

3-Put a piano video on youtube

Seriously people are still surprised when I tell them I play piano because I never let anyone hear me!

4-Get a showreel of my previous work together

5-Create a scrapbook

6-Finish a short film

7-Put a giant monster in Belfast (CGI, not like a radioactive smick)

8-Set up Etsy Store and start selling REDACTED (can't share anything about this yet)

9-Watch any of Nicolas Cage's actually critically acclaimed films

10- Figure out how the heck taxes work

11-Play a full length tennis match

12-Create an Artstation page where I can post art

13-Record a tutorial

14- Actually do something with www.scottynewton.com

15-Get a little bit of confidence back at swimming

16- Try being vegetarian for longer than a week

17- Platinum Crash Team Racing for PS4.

I've pumped approx. 250 hours into this and still haven't got that 32x32 platinum trophy icon yet.

18- Finish building and painting a car model kit

19- Make custom Blu Ray artwork

I'm super critical about packaging and have always wanted to see if I could do better. Weird, I know!

20- Try baking (gluten free) bread

21- Actually complete GTA 5's campaign and stop using it solely as stress relief. Poor civilians.

22- Write a song/score

23- Write a film script

24- Master the the La La Land piano score

25-Change my car tyre (I've literally never had to)

26- Design a REDACTED Sorry, not ready to talk about this one yet either!

27- Be able to run 5km in under 30 mins

28- Play a game of Risk

29- Do another blog post that isn't just my annual film reviews

30-Not make a list for when I'm 40. Que sera sera

Hopefully it won't take another year til my next post!

Stay safe and mask up :)

Scott

The 2019 Scottscars

2019-12-31T11:38:00.001-08:00

2019, the end of an era for so many things. Who could forget the universally praised climax to Game of Thrones, finally answering the question of where Daenerys buys her coffee from. Or the end of the Skywalker saga! A trilogy that spent more time retconning itself than actually telling a story.
It was also the last time that we lived in a world before Cats was unleashed and changed cinema forever, showing us how musical the results of interspecies breeding could be.

A year where the voices of Twitter trolls became loud enough to pressure a VFX house to redesign an entire CGI character, subsequently leading it to close its doors, as well as helping struggling indie company Disney to bully smaller companies into cruel deals, because they want to see Spider-man line up alongside the Avengers.

But if that sounded bleak, then fear not, as we have the most prestigious and uplifting event of the year here! My annual blog post with my daft wee movie awards.

Today's order of events are....

1. End of year statistics (how fun!),

2. Then The Scottscars Awards,

3. My predictions from last year

4. Finally, a brand spanking new set of predictions for 2020.

STATISTICS!

Here are my film stats of the year, just in case you're trying to impersonate me and need a hand.

Watched 134 movies (not including shorts)- up from last year's pitiful effort of 109! I attribute at least some of this to getting chickenpox and being in bed for a few weeks.

So top tip if you're trying to catch up on movies- just pop into your local Wetherspoons and you'll surely catch something.

Most watched actor/actress - Keanu Reeves and Mila Jovovitch, both with 7 movies watched. For some reason Rosie and I watched all 37 Resident Evil movies this year, so that's also why my most watched director isn't Scorsese or Spielberg- it's Paul W.S. Anderson.

Visited the cinema 57 times- a personal best I believe. This is obviously in no way linked to my increasing waistline and lack of physical exercise

This is the first year I have watched more movies via streaming than physical media :(

5 more to be precise. RIP

Anyway on to the most prestigious awards on the planet.

The 2019 Scottscars

*awards will not be posted out to anyone, nor will the winners be notified in any way, shape or form.

Best Visual Effects

Winner: Avengers : Endgame

On a technical level, The Lion King possibly has Endgame trumped, however, Endgame provided me with the biggest mind=blown moment of the year. It wasn't the millions of fantastical supernatural characters on screen throughout this 3 hour extravaganza, nor the CGI worlds, or recreation of the original movies (HOW WAS THIS DONE) even though any of those could have been enough.

Instead, it's the white team time travel suits. A Youtube breakdown tipped me off that these were fully CGI and after 2 more rewatches I still haven't found a frame to indicate these aren't real, practical costumes. This would have involved placing the CG costumes over the original costumes, removing the original costumes from the original footage, matching the CG suit's animation to the actors, lighting the costumes to match the scenes and a million more things to make the end result absolutely flawless.

TLDR: This must have been very hard.

Runners Up

Ad Astra

Spider-man Far From Home

-The Mysterio mind control sequence is the most visually creative the series has been yet

Pokemon: Detective Pikachu

The Lion King (2019)

Alita: Battle Angel

Best Comic Book Film

Winner : Avengers Endgame

Avengers Endgame has the near impossible task of wrapping up the Infinity Saga in a satisfying way. 11 years, 22 movies. And incredibly, it manages to do so and in a fairly coherent manner too. Having written themselves into a bleak corner with last year's Infinity War, the plot has to result to time travel with a questionable logic, but the shear heart and soul of the movie keeps it joyfully thundering along and allows it to not distract too much. Delivering stand out memorable moments like "Avengers Assemble", Cap picking up Mjonir, and Tony's death, this is a perfectly satisfying jumping off point for the majority of passing comic book fans.

Runners Up

Spider-man : Far From Home

Joker

Batman v Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Seriously this is real and actually surprisingly good

Best Animated Film

Winner : Klaus

While not the strongest year for animation, Klaus does alot to stand out from the pack for several reasons, including a great script, memorable voice acting, particularly from J.K. Simmons as the tragic man-mountain Klaus, but chief among them is the stunning 2D/3D hybrid art style. This Santa Claus origin story is full of heart, even if its main character, Jesper the postman, is a bit hard to warm up to.

Runners Up

Abominable

How To Train Your Dragon : The Hidden World

Dragon Ball Super : Broly

Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Most Forgettable Film

Winner : Men in Black: International

The worst part about this, is that I watched MIB:I 3 days before writing this post. I remember being incredibly bored, so that's probably not a great sign. Unengaging plot, a main character who achieves her goal early on with little resistance and doesn't grow over the course of the film, forgettable villains, no real 'jokes' and just nothing new to say or add to the franchise or genre.

Runners Up

Captain Marvel - Seriously, tell me who the villain was and you get a free subscription to my blog

The Lego Movie 2

Roma

X Men: Dark Phoenix

The Award for WTF Moment

Winner : Jean Grey forces a crippled Professor X to walk up the stairs.

The whole cinema burst out laughing- I assume that wasn't the reaction intended. Watch it for yourself here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ1NR3RnlJw

Runners Up

Rey's lineage revealed (Star Wars TROS)

Rey's final word (Star Wars TROS)

Female Avengers all happen to be in one place and line up in Avengers Endgame.

The twist in Serenity

Biggest Disappointment

Winner: Toy Story 4

Toy Story 4 is not a bad movie. Hell it's a pretty good one and above the majority of animated movies I've seen. But when you have a trilogy so perfect, so satisfyingly concluded as Toy story 1-3, you better have a good reason to revisit it (ignoring the fact it was obviously to revitalise the merchandise.) Toy Story 4 drags the series away from being an uplifting, rounded trilogy full of completed character arcs to a new more mature, darker and much more depressing place for no real reason. The theme of friendship and family throughout thick and thin, is abandoned here to the point that all of the old crew except for Woody are shelved, including Buzz. We didn't need to see this depressing chapter in the story of the toys.

Runners Up

Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Glass

Alita: Battle Angel

Zombieland: Double Tap

The "Film I Really Should Have Seen Before Now" Award

Winner: Minority Report

I'm not sure how I managed to miss this one! Stylish, hi-paced thriller Minority Report doesn't show signs of being 17 years old. Tom Cruise looks, well exactly the same as he does now and is great in this high concept sci-fi mystery show. Surely raised and set the bar for all blockbuster sci-fis from 2002 onwards.

Runners Up

Speed

Stand By Me

John Wick

Face/Off -This was probably the most fun I've had watching a film all year. Cage being Cage and Travolta pretending to be Cage. Big smiles all round.

News Story of the year

Winner : Manhog the Sonic gets completed redesigned after the first trailer drops.

This year, more so than ever, studios have been trying to give the fans exactly what they want, often with dire consequences. Star Wars became an unfocussed mess, trying to satisfy naysayers of The Last Jedi, Sony had to concede to corporate overlords Disney for a new Spider-man deal to keep him in the Avengers, but worst of all is the Sonic redesign debacle. After a first trailer featured a horrifying man- Sonic, the Twitter outrage was so loud that the studio literally bended the knee and redesigned the titular character. The VFX studio responsible recently went out of business, surely linked to this, as movies don't usually come with a whole 'redesign and reanimate your main character' budget included. This trend is concerning, as how can artistic vision be maintained if things are changed to suit what fans want? What changes next? Do we recast and reshoot if an actor isn't popular?

Runners up:

Cats getting 'patched' with a new updated version with improved VFX 3 days AFTER release.

The Cats trailer in general

Spider-man Sony/Disney deal falls apart and then is quickly reinstated after widespread outrage.

The ICYMI award

Winner : Little Monsters

Lupita Nyong'o stars as a dead serious primary school teacher whose school trip to an amusement park gets interrupted by a zombie attack. Determined to protect the children from the truth and fear, she fights her way through the undead masses while covering it up to make it as normal and child friendly as possible. "Oh I got caught in the middle of a jam fight" she says after returning to the kids, covered in blood. Josh Gad is brilliant as an alcoholic, sex addict, children's TV presenter. It's shut your brain off, fantastic entertainment. With loads of Taylor Swift.....

Runners Up

Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound

Wild Rose

Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Peanut Butter Falcon

Turd of the Year

Winner : The Lion King (2019)

The Lion King is an absolute joy to watch, the visuals being among the most impressive photorealistic VFX and animation ever put to screen. Similarly, the audio, voice cast and music are all solid as well. The problem is that what you have is a bunch of A list celebrities with far too recognisable voices (John Oliver? Beyonce? Seth Rogen?) doing impressions of the original, fun, over the top, cartoony, animated movie and even have James Earl Jones back doing the same thing as in 1994, layered on top of what is essentially a nature documentary. The two physically don't go together. These overly expressive voices, with animals whose mouths barely move, have no facial expressions and can't 'dance' or emote due to the constraints of realism. The idea is fundamentally flawed and clearly just an obvious, nostalgia-fueled cash grab with far less originality than even any of the other, cynical, Disney live action remakes. Technically amazing, creatively bankrupt.

Runners Up

Hellboy

It: Chapter 2

Pet Semetary

Serenity

Isn't it Romantic

X-Men: Dark Phoenix

My Film of the Year

Winner : Wild Rose

Relative newcomer Jessie Buckley absolutely shines in a drama about a country singer from Glasgow, desperate to do whatever it takes to make it to the top, to make a better life for herself, but is torn by her responsibilities at home. The struggle between leaving to go to Nashville to follow her dreams and stay at home to look after her children leads to a fantastic road to discovery. A film dealing with acceptance, priorities, dreams and hard decisions and on top of that -fantastic music, I can't recommend this one enough.

Runners Up:

Stan and Ollie

Vice

If Beale Street Could Talk

The Favourite

Green Book

Avengers : Endgame

Notable Films I didn't see this year

Parasite- uk release is next year

Cats - while I don't mind going to the cinema on my own, even I have limits

Marriage Story

El Camino

6 Underground

Dolemite is My Name

Shadow

Uncut Gems

Little Women

The Lighthouse

The Aeronauts

Doctor Sleep

Reuben Brandt, Collector

Good Boys

Long Shot

Missing Link

Kid Who Would Be King

Fighting With My Family

Booksmart

One Cut Of The Dead

Last Black Man in San Francisco

Let's get onto the predictions! Starting with how badly I did last year and then onto things that won't happen next year either.

LAST YEAR'S PREDICTIONS

1. Avengers Endgame will be widely criticised for resolving the conflict with a convoluted time travel or alternate dimension gimmick. Will review considerably worse than Infinity War.

-Not really.went down well. 0/1

2. The Lion King outshines Aladdin and Dumbo both commercially and critically.

-Commercially, yes. Critically, not really. All were poo. ½ / 1

3. Pokemon: Detective Pikachu does well enough commercially and critically to have a sequel announced.

-Yep 1/1

4. Meanwhile Sonic the Hedgehog bombs HARD.

-Trailer bombed so hard they had to redesign the character, so yes. 1/1

5. Hellboy is going to be Let Down of the year or Turd of the Year. At least sniffing for one of those titles.

Yep! 1/1

6. How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World is going to outmatch Toy Story 4 critically and for me personally, sending me into a deep depression.

-Yes! 1/1 similar on rotten tomatoes, but Toy Story did traumatise me

7. Frozen 2 is the highest grossing animated film of the year.

-Depends if you count The Lion King as an animated movie.
0/1 I say Lion King IS animated

8. They announce an Animated War for Cybertron Movie.

Paramount see the success of Spider-verse and decide to strike while the iron's hot.

-Lol no 0/1

9. Terminator 6 is delayed, due to extensive reshoots and rumours circulate saying it just isn't working.

-No it came out. Bombed but I liked it. 0/1

10. My Film of the year is Captive State.

-No, didn't see it. 0/1

RESULT! 4.5/10

2020 PREDICTIONS

1. Black Widow bombs, at least for Marvel's standards. People are over comic book movies and she's literally dead.

2. Wonder Woman 1984 is the highest grossing superhero film of the year.

3. Hayao Miyazaki retires AGAIN. At least in some capacity.

4. They'll announce a Pokemon movie based in the Kanto region (based on the first games, Red and Blue)

5. Sonic earns just enough for a sequel to be announced

6. Turd of the year is Dolittle

7. Shia LaBoeuf is nominated for an Oscar

8. New Ninja Turtles live action reboot trailer comes out and it sparks redesign demands on Twitter, similar to Sonic.

9. More films get their visual effects 'patched' similar to Cats.

10. My film of the year is Soul

Well that's all folks! I hopefully won't leave it another year to post again ;)

The 2018 Scottscars!

2018-12-31T12:09:00.000-08:00

On December 31st you're guaranteed 2 things every year. The passing of the year and my little film awards. And it was an alright year, wasn't it? I feel like I gave 90% of all movies this year 3 or 4 stars out of 5.

Here are some of my stats for the year.

I logged 109 films this year, up 6 from last year! Went to the cinema 43 times, down quite a bit from last year's 54.

34 films were rewatches. I put this high number down to doing a Marvel Marathon before Infinity War, which I certainly won't be doing again this year.

I watched 2 more movies on streaming than physical Blu Ray and DVD, also helped by said Marvel Marathon, but I see next year as the year that streaming takes over for me.

First up are my wee awards, then the results of my predictions from last year and finally at the bottom my predictions for the next year in film!!!

2018 SCOTTSCARS

The Mark Ruffalo's Floating head award for Visual Effects of the year

First Man

There are very few times when I walk out of a cinema saying that I couldn't tell at all where the VFX were, but First Man was the standout occasion this year. Visuals that made it impossible to see the line or even guess where the line was between CG and live action. An unbelievably tense film throughout, with tension and full immersion being made possible by the flawless VFX, recreating the authentic rocket launches as well as the harsh emptiness of space.

Runners up:

Mission Impossible Fallout- Used masterfully, to enhance the impressive amount of practical FX and stunts.

Mortal Engines

The Steppenwolf award for Best Superhero Movie of the Year

Avengers: Infinity War

The Russo brothers had a monumental task ahead. Make a film that balances 37,541 main characters and make Thanos a threat worthy of 10 years of build up. Somehow they achieved this and much more, by making the bold of choice of making Thanos the protagonist, making him relatable, even if his ideas and methods were somewhat twisted. The result was a movie and certainly an ending that certainly stays with you, which is truly remarkable in this ocean of superhero noise.

Runners up

Spider-man: Into the Spider verse

Deadpool 2

Aquaman

Performance of the Year

Rami Malek

What a transformation! To play someone as iconic as Freddie Mercury is not an enviable task and yet Rami Malek is able to be both unmistakably recognisable as the legendary Queen frontman, while delivering a performance so engaging and emotional that it is much more than a mere imitation or impersonation of him. Bohemian Rhapsody is an undeniably enjoyable and polished film, elevated immensely by Rami Malek's performance.

Runners up

Gary Oldman -Darkest Hour

Lady Gaga- A Star is Born

Bradley Cooper -A Star is Born

The Logan Paul award for WTF moment of the year

Sorry to Bother You- The Entire film

As I was writing this list I had so many points from this film that I just had to pick the whole thing. From "You have to use your white man voice" to horse people, this is the year's standout original film and like me, you'll have your mouth hanging open in shock for the entire run time.

Runners up

End scene of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

Venom - Tom Hardy's performance. But in a good way!

ICYMI award for film you should check out asap!

Bumblebee

I'm hearing so many people aren't giving Bumblebee a chance because it's a Transformers movie and although I've ran out of ways to defend that franchise, I can honestly say THIS ONE IS ACTUALLY GOOD! Gone are Michael Bay, racist jokes, messy unclear action scenes, and enemy scrotum! It's a gal and her friendly robot, Iron Giant, kinda story, focussing on Bumblebee's arrival to 1980s Earth and his friendship with Hailey Steinfeld, with John Cena popping up for a one liner or two.

This one is directed by Travis Knight, from last year's excellent animated film Kubo and the Two Strings, so expect a little less Bayhem, and a little more heart.

Runners up

Sorry to Bother You

Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse (Seriously, not enough people have seen this movie)

The Godfather 3 award for Biggest Let Down

Mortal Engines

Don't get me wrong, I wasn't expecting Mortal Engines to be film of the year, at least not for everyone. Based on a YA novel, it always had potential to fall into that plot thin, weak character Twilight category. But I watched the first teaser trailer early this year that just showed the city of London racing through a post apocalyptic wasteland on a Mad Max style monster truck, with a stupid high production value, then I seen the words 'Peter Jackson presents' and I got my hopes up. Executed right and taken seriously, could something this outlandish and original, with $100m and the mastermind of the Lord of the Rings behind it, be something truly special?

No.

The world is interesting and the characters are fine, the VFX are great, but a horribly weak script sees the film spiral into oblivion in the second half. Such a let down.

My Hero Academia: Two Heroes

Batman Ninja

The Fortnite award for Turd of the year

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

I don't even know where to start on this one and I don't even want to think about it too much as it will ruin my memory of 2018.

Runner Up

Pacific Rim: Uprising

The Con Air award for Film of the year

Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse

After I watched Sam Raimi's Spider-man as was a young and ridiculous child, I knew that I had to work in fantasy or film in some way. While I have obviously enjoyed my fair share of sci fi, comic book and fantasy films since, Spider-verse brought me right back to that exact inspired, creative and mesmerised mindset in a way that few other films have. With its unique art style, ludicrous dimension hopping plot, stunning sound effects and score, every frame brings something new and the love and hard work that has clearly gone into it by every artist it is constantly bursting through the screen. Sony took a huge risk by throwing out the rule book with this one and I seriously hope it pays off by encouraging studios to stop making copy paste safe movies, as well as encouraging Westerner audiences that animation is no lesser a medium for adults than live action.

Oh and Nic Cage voices a Spider-man so obviously that's the real reason it won ;)

Runners up

Avengers Infinity War

Bohemian Rhapsody

Bumblebee

Films I missed this year

Holmes and Watson (likely would have been a contender for Turd of the year)

Bad Times at the el Royale

Vice

Mary Poppins Returns

The Ballad of Buster Scrubs

LAST YEAR'S PREDICTIONS!

1. Jurrasic World: Fallen Kingdom will be laughably bad.

Holds 48% on Rotten Tomatoes, I wasn't a huge fan. Is 5/10 laughably bad?

I'm saying yes. 1/1

2. Bumblebee will be loved by audiences, will revitalise interest in the Transformers franchise.

Yes! People are already saying they want to see more from Cybertron and Bumblebee sits at 93% on Rotten Tomatoes. 1/1

3. Deadpool 2 outgrosses both X-Men: Dark Phoenix and New Mutants put together.

Deadpool 2 is sitting at $741m at the worldwide box office. New Mutants and Dark Phoenix were both shelved until next year and technically didn't make a penny. But I'll push this one to next year

N/A

4. Disney announce a Fantastic Four animated movie.

Lol no.

0/1

5. Tomb Raider to be the worst film of the year for me, gets slated critically.

Nope, I gave it 3/5. Was just a bit bland.

0/1

6. Alita: Battle Angel to be a massive financial disaster, potentially the biggest flop of the year.

It was pushed to next year, so I'm pushing this to next year.

N/A

7. Solo to be criticised for adding nothing worthwhile to the Star Wars mythos and being 'pointless'.

Yep, I enjoyed it, but it wasn't needed.

1/1

8. Aquaman to be pushed back to 2019. Nope, came out on time and was pretty good!

0/1

9. Del Toro's The Shape of Water to be my film of the year.

Nope and I liked it, rather than loved it.

0/1

10. Avengers: Infinity War is everything we hope for. Highest grossing movie of the year.

Yes! For the most part Thanos and his cronies delivered critically and as for commercially....

1/1

RESULT

4/8

Not bad!

2019 PREDICTIONS!

1. Avengers Endgame will be widely criticised for resolving the conflict with a convoluted time travel or alternate dimension gimmick. Will review considerably worse than Infinity War.

2. The Lion King outshines Aladdin and Dumbo both commercially and critically.

3. Pokemon: Detective Pikachu does well enough commercially and critically to have a sequel announced.

4. Meanwhile Sonic the Hedgehog bombs HARD.

5. Hellboy is going to be Let Down of the year or Turd of the Year. At least sniffing for one of those titles.

6. How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World is going to outmatch Toy Story 4 critically and for me personally, sending me into a deep depression.

7. Frozen 2 is the highest grossing animated film of the year.

8. They announce an Animated War for Cybertron Movie.

Paramount see the success of Spider-verse and decide to strike while the iron's hot.

9. Terminator 6 is delayed, due to extensive reshoots and rumours circulate saying it just isn't working.

10. My Film of the year is Captive State.

BONUS! Ones carried from last year.

11. Deadpool 2 outgrosses both X-Men: Dark Phoenix and New Mutants put together.

Deadpool 2 is sitting at $741m at the worldwide box office. The 2 new movies would have to flop pretty hard to not make that between them. But I have full confidence in Fox letting us down.

12. Alita: Battle Angel to be a massive financial disaster, potentially the biggest flop of the year.

Standing by this one

See ya on the flip side! Happy New Year!!!

The Scottscars 2017

2017-12-31T13:33:00.001-08:00

Well it's tradition now. Last day of the year brings my wee film awards for everything I watched over the past 12 months, the Scottscars! As well as a recap of how I got on with my predictions from last year and a set of fresh new ones for next year!

Wasn't this a much better year for movies than last year? Transformers was back to being laughably bad instead of sad and depressing, DC didn't bore us into submission and question our love for movies as a whole, and Universal cancelled their Dark Universe!

As for my movie stats this year, I ended up watching 104 movies, exactly the same number as last year! 54 of which were at the cinema and 33 of which were rewatches. More interestingly, this was the first year that I watched less on physical media than through streaming, 2 less to be precise! As someone who champions physical media, this was a big surprise, but if the support means that Netflix can make more content like Okja, then let's all go digital!

Anyways, onwards to the part you're all here for, the awards that the Oscars wish they could be, the Scottscars!

The Scorpion King award for MOST IMPRESSIVE VFX

War for the Planet of the Apes

The Apes films always wow with their advances in technology, but this was just a whole new level. The incredible detail on each ape, crowd scenes, weather effects, cloths and fabrics on each ape, all just unbelievable. Incredible work from all departments, especially the CG animators who do so much more than the 'CG makeup' Andy Serkis would have you believe.

The Suicide Squad award for FAVOURITE SUPERHERO MOVIE

Logan

A fitting and satisfying send off to two of the most recognisable and likeable characters in any cinematic universe, Wolverine and Professor X. This is the first time Jackman's Logan has been truly unleashed, free from the largest possible demographic audience and PG13 rating that Fox love so much and the extra freedom allowed with extremities and profanities, such as gore and swearing give this incarnation of Logan an extra level of impact. Bloody and brutal while also caring and compassionate, Hugh Jackman's Logan will be sorely missed. Almost ruined by a 'comic book villain, with symbolism that's a little too literal, but there's just too much right to bring it down.

Runners Up:
Spider-man Homecoming
Thor Ragnarock

The Nicolas Cage Award for STANDOUT PERFORMANCE

Patrick Stewart

Logan was the movie that allowed Patrick Stewart finally show a true emotional range in the role of Professor X, showing us the tragedy of what happens when the most powerful brain in the world begins to fail.

Runners Up:
Willem Dafoe (The Florida Project)
Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman)
Chris Pine (Wonder Woman)

The Last Airbender Award for BIGGEST LET DOWN

Valerian and the City of A Thousand Planets

After seeing Dane DeHaan in several roles playing Mr-Creepy-Villain-Man, I was interested to see how he could transform himself into the likeable, charismatic leading protagonist of a big budget adventure romp and what I discovered is that he can't. A crying shame that a such an influential graphic novel series such as Valerian, inspiration of Star Wars and Luc Besson's own Fifth Element, could end up as such an incohesive, boring and cringey film with a lead who wants to be there even less than the audience does.

Runners Up:
Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi
xXx: The Return of Xander Cage
Alien Covenant

The Miley Cyrus award for WTF Moment

Princess Leia

If you've seen Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, then you don't need me to explain this one. I'm just going to leave this quote by Han Solo from The Force Awakens.
"That's not how the force works."

Runners Up:
Pokemon I Choose You- Pikachu Speaks.
Mother- the entire second half

The Deadpool Award for UNEXPECTED BRILLIANCE

Okja

Since Netflix and other streaming services began to create their own original content, Okja was always the type of movie I wanted to see being produced due to how completely unique and original the synopsis of it is. A bizarre concept, that of a lush public competition for which could raise the best giant 'superpig' and one girl's journey to save her best friend Okja from the slaughter, would not have been greenlit from one of the major studios, nor had the budget from an indie. With A-listers Jake Gyllenhaal and Cate Blanchett adding to both the legitimacy and overall level of the film, Okja is a unique idea, made well. Long live Netflix originals if they keep giving us fresh ideas like Okja!

Runners Up
Shin Godzilla
Wonder Woman
It

The Batman V Superman award for WORST MOVIE OF THE YEAR

Assassin's Creed

Assassin's Creed had two major things going for it that had me genuinely excited that this could be the first great video game movie adaptation- Michael Fassbender in the leading role and UbiSoft's Movie Division making it. Unfortunately what we ended up with was just plain nonsencial, boring tripe, favouring spectacle over any kind of character or plot development. This could potentially be the most bored I've ever been in a cinema.

Runners Up:
xXx: Return of Xander Cage
King Arthur
The Mummy

The Transformers award for FAVOURITE MOVIE OF THE YEAR

La La Land
For the second time Damien Chazelle delivers my favourite movie of the year. La La Land is a love letter to old Hollywood, theatre and jazz, that also dives into the darker side of following a career in the arts and the trials and tribulations on those who try. In this sense, La La Land carries on from Chazelle's previous work Whiplash, but this time from a different perspective, that of the charming aspiring actress Emma Stone and hardcore Jazz enthusiast, musician Ryan Gosling, as opposed to the single minded and brooding Miles Teller. By focussing on these two charismatic leads, the film emits a more positive tone, giving us more of a song and dance, while still climaxing in a multilayered emotional ending, inviting the audience to decide if everything ended up a success or tragedy. La La Land's more surreal nature allows it to go further than the grounded-in-reality Whiplash by giving us an alternative ending within the film's running time, further challenging the audience to decide what defines success and failure in life.
Oh and the musical numbers are catchy as all hell too ;)

Runners Up:
Logan
Hacksaw Ridge
Spider-man Homecoming

LAST YEAR'S PREDICTIONS!

Let's see how I did with my predictions from last year!!

1. La La Land to be my film of the year. Yes, I have the right year this time.

Yup, indeed it was. 1/1

2. Power Rangers to be the worst thing that comes out this year. Pulls in around the $300m mark but gets completely slated critically.

Nope, wrong on all 3 counts. I actually gave it a 7/10, it made $146m and reviews mere mixed to good. 0/3

3. Ghost in the Shell to do well at the box office, outperforming Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, but Valerian will be the much better movie.

Wrong again on both counts. Valerian pulled in $225m against Ghost's $169m and I hated Ghost SLIGHTLY less than Valerian. 0/2

4. xXx Return of Xander Cage kills the franchise for good this time. Performs poorly and reviews even worse. I'll love it.

Totally wrong again. It performed the best in series with $346m and I despised it. 0/2

5. Alien Covenant to be the Alien movie we've been waiting for with unanimous praise.

Wrong again. Critical reception was lukewarm with a 55% audience score on RT and I personally wasn't a fan. 0/1

6. Blade Runner 2049 to be the best reviewed movie of next year, barring perhaps La La Land for us UK folks.

An argument could be made here to give me the point (it was a bit of a vague prediction). IGN gave it film of the year and I gave it a 9/10 so I'll take the point. 1/1

7. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 to be criticised for just copying the first film completely, bringing nothing new. Will cross $1bn at the box office though and will outgross Transformers 5: The Last Knight and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.

Pretty on the money here (get it?). Adding nothing new to the formula was certainly a criticism of GOTGv2 and it outgrossed both Transformers 5 ($605m) and Pirates 5 ($794m), but it did fall short of the $1bn mark with $863m. 2/3

8. Justice League will be better than Suicide Squad and BvS, but will still be considered an unbalanced mess with a forgettable villain, awful pacing and bloated run time.

Yes! Mainly.... Thanks to a botched surgery in post production the edit ended up being a little shorter, cutting out everything Zack Snyder shot. 2/3

9. Spider-man Homecoming will be a huge success, with critics saying it's the best standalone superhero film since The Dark Knight.

Nearly, I was a little excited when I wrote that. It certainly was a huge success both commercially and critically but the Dark Knight comparison was a bit off. 1/2

10. Logan to be dangerously close to superhero film of the year but be let down by a few ridiculous and distracting over the top superhero set pieces, similar to how the giant robot samurai destroyed The Wolverine.

Thankfully, not quite. Although as mentioned earlier the comic booky villain almost let it down in a similar fashion to the giant robot samurai, but it didn't and it was my superhero film of the year. 0/1

TOTAL: 7/19
I need to make less vague predictions!

2018'S PREDICTIONS!

1. Jurrasic World: Fallen Kingdom will be laughably bad.

2. Bumblebee will be loved by audiences, will revitalise interest in the Transformers franchise.

3. Deadpool 2 outgrosses both X-Men: Dark Phoenix and New Mutants put together.

4. Disney announce a Fantastic Four animated movie.

5. Tomb Raider to be the worst film of the year for me, gets slated critically.

6. Alita: Battle Angel to be a massive financial disaster, potentially the biggest flop of the year.

7. Solo to be criticised for adding nothing worthwhile to the Star Wars mythos and being 'pointless'.

8. Aquaman to be pushed back to 2019.

9. Del Toro's The Shape of Water to be my film of the year.

10. Avengers: Infinity War is everything we hope for. Highest grossing movie of the year.

Cheers everyone! Catch you again on the 31st December 2018 to talk about how great Bumblebee was ;)

The Scottscars 2016 Movie Awards

2016-12-31T09:18:00.002-08:00

So it's been quite the year. Quite the year indeed. From celebrity deaths to crazy political shifts to me spending the last 8 weeks recovering from surgery, quality films have been needed more than ever to distract us average joes from the chaos of 2016.
Once again, I didn't get to see as many new movies as I would have liked (104 to be exact, 23 of them being rewatches, but who's counting?) but the year certainly has given us some incredible highs, like when we discovered just what was really going on in Arrvial, and some facepalm inducing lows, like TMNT 2 from start to finish.

So with that, here are my thought on the past year, followed by some predictions I made last year ( which didn't go so well) and a brand new shiny set for next year. Enjoy!

THE AWARDS!

Food Fight Award for FAVOURITE ANIMATED MOVIE

Boy and the Beast

Runners up:
Zootopia
Moana
Kung Fu Panda 3
Your Name

The Mummy Returns Award for BEST CGI

Jungle Book

The Ghost Rider 2 Award for WORST MOVIE

Sausage Party
I hate everything about this movie. From treating its animation staff like dog shit to Seth Rogen and James Franco's half arsed approach to making lazy stoner movies. Unfunny, pathetic plot, sub par animation quality due to no budget and eugh, just everything.

Runners up:
Suicide Squad
War on Everyone
Allegiant

The Arsenal Award for BIGGEST LET DOWN

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows
It gives me no pleasure to write this. Bebop and Rocksteady were cool new additions, done quite well and the slightly lighter tone helped somewhat, but the whole thing was brought down by a trash human cast of forgettable characters with zero motivation and an idiotic plot.

Runners up:
Star Trek Beyond
X Men Apocalypse
Sausage Party
Suicide Squad

The Green Lantern Award for FAVOURITE SUPERHERO MOVIE

Captain America: Civil War
In what was a less than stellar year for the superhero genre, Civil War really did it for me, giving new motivations to an old cast, finally giving us the rock bottom I wanted to see Tony Stark at in Iron Man 3 and of course successfully introducing and integrating Spider-man and Black Panther to an already bloated cast. Didn't just feel like like a big set up to Infinity War either which was great and something that DC needs to take note of. This movie was nearly impossible on paper and the Russos nailed it. Bravo!

Runner up:
Doctor Strange

The Leicester City FC award for UNEXPECTED BRILLIANCE

Train To Busan
Again, a zombie film! I hate zombie films but this was so much fun!

Runners up:
The Jungle Book
Deadpool (Don't look at my predictions from last year)

The Ghost Rider Award for FAVOURITE MOVIE

The Girl With All The Gifts
If you had told me last year that a zombie movie would be my movie of the year then I would have thought the world was ending (like at do ye?) Great new take on a worn out genre with incredible visuals, deep and interesting characters and a new take on the question of who has the right to survive.

Runners up:
Creed
Boy and the Beast
Arrival
Train to Busan

THE PREDICTIONS!

Let's see how I got on with the predictions I made on this day last year.

1. La La Land to be film of the year.

Didn't get released in the UK this year so nope.

2. Deadpool will be critically panned and just about make back its budget.

Woops. Overwhelming commercial and critical success.

3. Batfleck will win over the haters, being the only interesting thing about Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice.

Yes! Success!

4. Tom Holland’s Spider-man cameo in Captain America: Civil War to be the highlight of the year.

One could make a case for this. Holland's Spider-man got unanimous praise. My highlight of the year? Possibly.

5. Star Trek Beyond will be completely bland and forgettable, forcing the studio to consider a reboot.

Underperformed with a $345.3m worldwide take, but had generally favourable reviews. I thought it was boring pants though, so I'd consider a reboot.

6. No one will care about Channing Tatum's Gambit.

It got postponed, probably indefinitely so I take this as an unintentional win.

7. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows will be be praised for its lighter tone and new characters, becoming everyone's guilty pleasure and bringing in close to the $500m mark.

Bugger. Complete flop, still unfavourable reviews and caused the studio to halt plans on the third film.

Score 3/7

Oh dear, definitely the worst thing about 2016.

PREDICTIONS FOR 2017!

1. La La Land to be my film of the year. Yes, I have the right year this time.

2. Power Rangers to be the worst thing that comes out this year. Pulls in around the $300m mark but gets completely slated critically.

3. Ghost in the Shell to do well at the box office, outperforming Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, but Valerian will be the much better movie.

4. xXx Return of Xander Cage kills the franchise for good this time. Performs poorly and reviews even worse. I'll love it.

5. Alien Covenant to be the Alien movie we've been waiting for with unanimous praise.

6. Blade Runner 2049 to be the best reviewed movie of next year, barring perhaps La La Land for us UK folks.

8. Justice League will be better than Suicide Squad and BvS, but will still be considered an unbalanced mess with a forgettable villain, awful pacing and bloated run time.

9. Spider-man Homecoming will be a huge success, with critics saying it's the best standalone superhero film since The Dark Knight.

Let me know what you think! Cheers, now let's all celebrate the death of this crappy year!

The 2015 Film Awards

2016-01-01T11:03:00.002-08:00

THE 2015 FILM AWARDS

Well here it is folks, the awards that really matter. The most prestigious and exclusive awards of my entire street. These are my favourite films of 2015 and their messy counterparts, the biggest flops.To top things off you can see how I got on with last year’s predictions as well as my predictions for 2016.

TOP FILM OF THE YEAR

WHIPLASH

Stand out performances and intriguing character motives all create the most tense and interesting film of the year. The question asked here is 'how far would you go for greatness?' and luckily Whiplash goes all the way.

Runners Up-

Birdman

Inside Out

Ex Machina

Bridge of Spies

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT

FANT4STIC

Although expectations weren't high, it's still incredible that something this disjointed and boring was allowed to be shown in cinemas. Watching 2 hours of Cillit Bang commercials with Barry Scott is a much better use of your time.

Runners Up-

Terminator Genisys
Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part Two

Avengers: Age of Ultron- Ultron himself in particular

Lack of Shia LaBoeuf

Last year's predictions

Star Wars to be the best film of the year.

WRONG. A solid film, just not the best film of the year due to feeling like it copied A New Hope. (That's twice you've done this now, Abrams!)

Avengers: Age of Ultron won’t balance the old and new cast

WRONG. I have my problems with the movie, but I think the cast seemed pretty balanced, possibly except for Vision getting a little jipped out of screen time.

Terminator Genisys or Jurrasic World? Both will be average and forgettable at 3/5 each. Jurrasic World to tip it.

WRONG. Genisys was horrendous and Jurrasic World was a moderate critical success and tremendous commercial success.

No one will care about Ant-man or Fantastic Four.

No and Yes. No one cared about FF thanks to poor reviews and invisible marketing, but Ant Man found an audience and exceeded critical and commercial expectations.

Score: 0.5/4

My Predictions for 2016

1. La La Land to be film of the year.

2. Deadpool will be critically panned and just about make back its budget.

3. Batfleck will win over the haters, being the only interesting thing about Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice.

4. Tom Holland’s Spider-man cameo in Captain America: Civil War to be the highlight of the year.

5. Star Trek Beyond will be completely bland and forgettable, forcing the studio to consider a reboot.

6. No one will care about Channing Tatum's Gambit.

7. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows will be be praised for its lighter tone and new characters, becoming everyone's guilty pleasure and bringing in close to the $500m mark.

Dragonball Super: Episode 4 Review

2015-08-10T16:11:00.004-07:00

Hot off the heels of last week's first 1 star rated episode, Dragonball Super delivers Episode 4 'The Pilaf Gang's Master Plan.' But will this be the episode to finally start hinting at a new plot? Read on Z Fighters....

Summary

So this episode begins another mentioning of the fabled Super Saiyan God again, just in case you are a new viewer and missed the 9000 mentions of it in the last 2 episodes, as Whis and Beerus are on the way to King Kai's planet. Cue some more harmless food banter. The bulk of the episode then features a catch up with the characters just before Bulma's party kicks off, including Chi Chi, the Krillins, Goten, Trunks, the absent Vegeta and Goku, as well as no one's favourite villains, the Pilaf gang. GoTrunks are up to old tricks, sneaking around Bulma's hidden bingo prizes, as Chi Chi and #18 dream of winning said prizes. When Trunks deactivates Bulma's security grid and reveals the Dragonballs, it incidentally triggers the nearby Emperor Pilaf's Dragon Radar. Pilaf and his companions, Mai and Siu, treasure hunting, having eaten nothing but grass in days and with this blip of hope, they set off to steal the Dragonballs and wind up at the party. Meanwhile, King Kai spills the identity of Lord Beerus to Goku, just before Whis and he arrive.

The new Team Rocket

The art style can't even stay consistent within a single frame

While this episode still doesn't cover new ground in terms of plot, it does give us some good insight into a new (to Super) character, the comically tragic Emperor Pilaf's character moments provide this episode with a surprising level of depth. We see how desperate the Pilaf gang are as they search for treasure on a hilariously dodgy looking hand made map, with Siu mentioning that they've only eating grass for two days and Mai on the verge of a breakdown. There's a good case of comic bad timing to show Pilaf as a bad luck charm as hedrops his radar, only to pick it up to show his companions and the signal to have gone. While on board Bulma's ship his refusal to take food from Trunks and Goten due to his pride actually shows a good amount of integrity for a laughable villain (he's a 2 foot tall child-like 'Emperor'). Mai and Siu's obedience to also not take the food, given how desperate they are, is also a nice touch indicating the loyalty and respect of the three.

Kamehamehaaaa!

I've mentioned in previous episodes about stand out moments and this episode actually delivers several of its own. Emperor Pilaf's decision to finally accept the food, putting his pride aside, when he stops and considers his team mates is an excellent moment and puts the trio into the realm of likeable comedy villains that I'm going to enjoy watching, similar to Team Rocket. Also we finally got our first Kamehameha! And it was a big one. Ok, so it wasn't in a fight and was only Goku training, but it was big and it was loud, so it's a worthy milestone. However, more importantly, we got our first reveal of the Dragonballs. A strong dutch angle camera and dramatic lighting, plus the fact they were guarded by a laser grid means that this was a powerful reveal of the most important thing in the series.

Same old story

Of course, these nice moments are bogged down and restricted by the poor direction of the show. Focussing on Emperor Pilaf and the gang was a nice character piece to introduce the (hopefully) recurring characters to the show, but it didn't provide anything new for fans. Any time even Pokemon focussed an episode on Team Rocket we at least learned something new about one of their backstory. Beerus is still once again teased as the primary antagonist (yawn) and we've already seen the Pilaf gang at Bulma's party so no surprises there. Also there is some kind of apocalyptic music played at the end as Goku explains Beerus's story to Goku and as they prepare for his arrival-which- is fine- but it really doesn't work when played over comical visuals and dialogue of Bubbles and Gregory falling through a roof and Goku prancing about and asking silly questions.

One style of animation? Why not all of them?

These two images are totally different art styles.

For once in Dragonball Super it wasn't the plot that was hurting my eyes and making me want to close my laptop lid, but the horribly jarring animation. Ok, maybe I haven't noticed it in previous episodes as I've been to fixated on the disappointing story, but it's like they can't just pick a style and stick to it. Where have these snake-like, huge, thick outlines come from? At times the close ups look like they've been outlined with a sharpie, seriously contrasting with the thin line style of anything further out than a mid shot. And I say 'at times' because it isn't even consistent! We'll start with a wide shot of Pilaf with thin lines, cut to a close up with sharpie lines and then to a close up of Mai with thin lines! And it was this way throughout. Seriously distracting.

Conclusion

Overall this episode of Dragonball Super is much more entertaining than Episode Three, at least giving us a relatable and likeable 'villain' in the form of the Pilaf Gang, but it still suffers from building up to things we've already seen and also from some shockingly inconsistent animation.

Score: 4 Star Ball

(Out of 7)

Dragonball Super Episode 3 Review

2015-07-27T05:09:00.003-07:00

ICYMI episode two review here http://scottynewton.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/dragonball-super-episode-2-review.html

With my episode two review I asked the question of wether Super would set up a potential epic new saga or just being a nostalgia induced filler train and now that we've had two episodes reintroducing all of our favourite characters, it's judgement time. Will the series take a super step forwards into new territory? Or are we going to keep sidestepping, while looking over our shoulder?

Dragonball Super Episode 3 Review

Hunt for the.... snore

Well said Old Kai.

Episode three of Dragonball Super, titled 'Search for the Super Saiyan God' manages to do the impossible and have even less plot episode two, this time deciding to leave out the humour that at least made its predecessor watchable. We begin with Beerus still trying to remember the name 'Super Saiyan God', even though he said it multiple times in the last episode and says it several more in this one, before going back to his home planet to ask Oracle Fish, who's memory also appears to be as fickle as someone who is trying to remember a night out on the town. Exciting times. In other parts of the universe, it's the day of Bulma's birthday party (the one that we've seen in Battle of Gods) and we join the Krillins, who are 'hilariously' stuck in traffic . When they take to the skies, they bump into Yamaha, Tien, Puar and Chiaotzu and they fly to the party together looking like an Avengers B-Team. At the party itself are some more harmlessly fun character moments including Majin Buu eating too much and Satan having to cover, Master Roshi's pervy antics being cut out by Chichi and Piccolo er.... blinking in a wedding photo. Finally the episode wraps with Beerus and Whis on their way to see Goku at King Kai's planet and Old Kai warning that it could mean the destruction of the universe.

Old Ground

It's cool, dog. Just watch the movie.

So yes, in short, once again not one new thing was learned and this is extremely worrying as if the show does pick up, it just means that it was awful writing for these early episodes or if this is really the direction of the series, it's going to die a harder death than Dragonball GT. Everything in this episode we have either literally seen before in Battle of Gods or is wasting time building to things that we have seen before! Again! Bulma talks about a secret prize at her birthday bingo. It's the Dragonballs! How do I know this? Am I a Kai? No, it's because it was a key plotline in Battle of Gods! This is no more apparent than the climax of the show, with the Old Kai saying that this time Beerus could end up destroying the universe. Dun dun DUH! Oh, except don't worry Old Kai, he doesn't. He doesn't destroy a single planet so, which you'd know if you'd seen the movies....

A different objective?

Chiaotzu: Not suitable for kids

Unless if you'd never seen the movies, then this series would actually be doing a pretty fantastic job right about now. You would be seeing a destructive villain with a ferocious reputation in Beerus being set up, with a fearsome and even more mysterious companion, Whis. All while in just three episodes you'd have a good grip on each well presented character, as well as high stakes such as the destruction of the universe. In fact, thanks to the constant Dragonball Z flashbacks and references, there's a possibility this show is attempting to accommodate complete newcomers to Dragonball. And that is my issue. Super doesn't know what it's trying to be at the moment and it's not moving forward. I wouldn't be surprised if it just cuts Battle of Gods into twenty minute sections and shows it for the next four weeks at this rate. I really wouldn't. It may turn round and people will look back and say 'well look at the first 15 episodes of Agents of Shield,' but that was different. Shield was starting a new saga and wasn't too limited by the surrounding Marvel Cinematic Universe and its problem was just bad writing, rather than bad direction whereas we haven't actually covered any new ground in Super, it's just dragged out filler of what we've already seen before.

Redeeming factors

No awful dinosaurs, just previously seen scenes.

Admittedly, episode three isn't all bad and it does have some positive, nice-to-have features, even if they don't lead anywhere. The great characterisation is continued for the most part, with Goku being as naive and a nuisance as always, covering King Kai in paint. Everyday folk's reactions to people flying is still worth a chuckle when Krillin and #18 take to the air. Also, we got our first indication of Whis's superiority and domination of Beerus when he questions his speed, shooting him right down which is hopefully a foreshadowing of Whis will being major player in Super with his backstory explained, if and when it hits its stride. Oh and unlike the last two episodes we didn't have any awfully coloured dinosaurs, so that's a plus....

Conclusion
On the whole this is a forgettable and pointless episode, doing nothing to advance the plot and once again either showing us what we've already seen or pointlessly building up to what we've already seen, minus the humour of episode two. If this series does go somewhere with a new saga, it's safe to say that these three episodes at least will have been pointless as they haven't indicated any new direction. Although there are a few nice throwaway moments in here, including a flashback to Super Saiyan Goku vs. Frieza, all that Super is doing is playing on nostalgia. In the immortal words of Taylor Swift, "band-aids don't fix bullet holes".

Score: 1 Star Ball
(Out of 7)

Dragonball Super Episode 2 Review

2015-07-26T07:46:00.002-07:00

Episode 1 review here if you missed it- http://scottynewton.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/a-worthy-return-to-tv-for-dragonball.html

After last week's lacklustre return into the realm of TV for Dragonball, anticipation and expectations were high for this week's follow up, titled 'Vegeta's Family Trip.' A lot of my criticism for last week's episode was that although it was a fun romp and did a good job of getting each of the character's unique personalities right, it did little to set up an enticing new series. Will episode two rectify this and put it down to growing pains? Or is this the direction we can expect for the rest of the series?

Dragonball Super Episode 2 Review

Super Saiyan Dad

That's so Vegeta

After his absence in the last episode, this week the main focus (or at least the first half) is, as the title suggests, on Vegeta and a family outing. Vegeta is having a family trip with Bulma and Trunks, going shopping, to the fair, at a restaurant and ending up at.... a rave? Honestly this is one of the funniest sections seen yet in any Dragonball episode or film, with Vegeta's stubbornness and arrogance in full force and seeing him in his nightmare situations. From the initial reveal that he has chosen to stand on top of Bulma's plane rather than inside it to his vendetta with octopi to his final explosion at the rave. It's so Vegeta. I'm just surprised he didn't go Super Saiyan 3. This was a sequence that had me laughing the whole way through and so much better than the funnier-on-paper karaoke section of Battle of Gods.

The art of the foreshadow

Have you not seen your own movies, Whis? We have.

Vegeta's storming out halfway through the episode marks the abrupt end of his family outing and from here the epodes crumbles worse than Yamcha at the World Martial Arts Tournament. Are we seriously going to run with more setting up Beerus as the main antagonist? Really? Beerus destroys another planet and the Supreme Kai world shudders at the fact that the God of Destruction has woke up. Don't worry guys, just watch Battle of Gods or the recently released Resurrection 'F' films like the rest of us have and you'll see that Beerus is nothing to be afraid of SO STOP MAKING THIS YOUR HOOK. Beerus has a premonition of a warrior who could be on par with him, a potentially interesting setup. What if this was a legendary, ancient warrior, from one of the previously mentioned parallel universes, with unfathomable power, who was being set up to as the real villain of the series? Good thinking, series! You had me worried tha..... oh no, it's just setting up Super Saiyan God, which we have seen in TWO MOVIES already with its ascended form.

Dragonball Filler

This throwaway line became the script for episode two?

My main concern with Dragonball Super is that it's starting to just feel like a fan service filler series. If they were to continue Dragonball Kai (the re-release of Z that cut out all filler) into this arc, these first two episodes would be cut out and that isn't acceptable for the first two episodes of a series. So far we have got nothing more in terms of story than the Goku and Piccolo learn to drive episode. Fun, yes. Progression? No. Hey remember, that one line in Dragonball Z where Vegeta and Trunks are training and Vegeta promises to take him to an amusement park? Well let's make that! Let's not. We're going to end up with an episode of the origin of Vegeta's pink Badman shirt at this stage.

Animation on a budget

Er, this doesn't look good.

The actual animation in this episode also adds to the feel of a filler episode. Constant static images are used instead of actual animation, as if this was hashed together at the last minute to fill a gap and again, this is the second episode so that shouldn't be the intention. Now I know a lot of shows do this, Attack on Titan being one, but there are so many during Vegeta's trip that it feels like watching a Powerpoint presentation. The throwbacks to the already mentioned Dragonball Z training scene where Vegeta actually makes his promise and sets up this episode is a nice touch for nostalgia reasons, but again feels like a cop out and filler-y, as we want to see new animation. Lastly, I mentioned in the last review about there being a random monster with a horribly bad skin texture. Well his brother has popped up in this episode. A dinosaur that looks like he was coloured in Microsoft Paint.

Conclusion
Overall episode two provides one of the most genuinely funny moments in Dragonball and once again, the series is continuing to nail the personalities of the characters, but once again it is missing the tone and the point. There is no danger and no suspense, wasting time by teasing 'villains' and premonitions of a fighter that we have now seen in two movies. Admittedly, if Super came out before Battle of Gods and Resurrection 'F', my reviews would be saying that we have something special on our hands but alas, they're products of their time. Look at the first episodes of Dragonball Z. We have Raditz, a (back then) baddass, villain who even has Piccolo spooked, Goku's new son, the revelation that Goku is actually an alien called Kakarot who was meant to destroy Earth and that he's actually Raditz's brother....... Damn I'm off to watch Dragonball Z now!

Score: 2 Star Ball
(out of 7)

A Worthy Return to TV for Dragonball?

2015-07-06T11:23:00.001-07:00

History

January 31st, 1996 was the date that Dragonball Z disappeared from TV screens, leaving fans with a Spirit Bomb hole in their hearts that the ill-received, semi-sequel series Dragonball GT and its pink monkey shenanigans couldn't fill. With the franchise on the rise in popularity thanks to the hugely successful lines of video games, as well as re runs of the show, two new short specials were created, 2008's Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return! and 2012's Episode of Bardock, although neither reached the highs or the audiences of the series. Dragonball is better when stretched out over a long series as it's the only way to get its ludicrously epic scales across. For the 25th anniversary came Dragonball Kai, a 'revised', remastered and recut version of Dragonball Z, cutting out on filler and giving us glorious HD, but no new content or sagas. After seeing the success of Kai, Dragonball Z: Battle of Gods the movie was released, finally giving fans a new chapter into the Dragonball Z Canon. Where it was great to see fan favourite characters back in action and two excellent new characters introduced, it was still confined to 85 minutes and just charged fan hopes and dreams for a new series. The announcement of Dragonball Super in 2015, a canon series set after Z, broke the internet. Now that episode 1 has been released, does the series live up to the weight of 19 years of fan expectations of being a true successor to Z?

Dragonball Super: Episode 1 Review

The New Intro

Starting off with the intro, fast tempoed fun, split into two halves. Setting up each character in their domestic setting in the peace times that followed the defeat of Majin Buu with some great shots of Goku failing at farming and Vegeta in a shirt, (that looks better than his infamous pink Badman one), training Trunks in the family home. Then comes a breakdown when the trailer, along with a shot of Goku and Vegeta moodily walking away from the camera, literally make the transition in to the main element of Dragonball, the fighting! Whis and Beerus, along with their mysterious counterparts are teased to us and then comes the Super Saiyan bonanza and some great action! Worth noting that this is the best that Super Saiyan 3 has ever looked and the nice little nod to Super Saiyan God also looks excellent. The inclusion of the front on, iconic 'cast photo' makes this feel more like a successor to Dragonball Z than GT ever did. As for the music itself, while not as epic as punk rock/metal 'Rock the Dragon' for Z, but not as cheese as 'Don't Stop' for GT, the intro for Super is somewhere in the middle and totally feel good.

The Characters

Goku takes Stannis Barathean's crown for 'Father of the Year'

The main thing that the first episode of Super does right is character (re)introductions. In just 20 minutes we see more about each character's personality than the entire 64 episodes of GT. Goku, still father of the year, is reintroduced to us by letting his five year old son drive a tractor off a cliff and having made a deal with his wife to do chores for permission to escape his family and train on an alien planet. Welcome (back) to Dragonball, folks! Then we have the emasculated bookworm Gohan, who has altogether giving up fighting it seems and is feeling the pressure of having wealthy fiancee, Videl as the breadwinner. He is stalked by Piccolo and with just one one music stinger, one facial expression and 4 seconds of screen time we feel the full force of his disgust at his former prodigies new life direction and also (hopefully) foreshadowing a return to action. Goten and Trunks are back to their mischievous behaviour which is welcome after their dour spell as teens in GT. Finally, Hercule is doing his best to keep an angry Majin Buu quiet and at bay so he can continue fooling the world that he's the saviour of the universe. Hilarious cameos from Master Roshi, Bulma and Chi Chi too, but no love for Krillin, Tien, Yamaha or that Vegeta guy, but that likely would have been overkill.

The Plot

The plot of the first episode takes a very different route than episode 1 of GT, being more self contained, less setup and in part that's a good thing. In the six months since Majin Buu's defeat, the Z Fighters find themselves in peace times and the episode begins by to showing the main characters' financial woes, each being a product of their own personality. The episode title, 'Who Will the 100 Million Zenny Peace Reward Go To…?!', further suggests that the plot of this episode will revolve around characters competing for a cash reward, (which would have been a perfect setup for a tournament) and the first half certainly conforms to this. Goku needs the cash so he can pay off Chi chi and escape to train on King Kai's planet, Gohan needs it so he can feel on equal terms with his rich fiancee and Goten wants it so he can buy Videl an engagement gift. The setup is great and yet there is no reward to any of these quests. Goten and Trunks give up on the cash and literally give Videl water instead about two thirds of the way into the episode, Gohan's money troubles are just abandoned and Hercule shows up at the end and simply gives Goku a briefcase full of cash which feels lazy and unrewarding. Whereas GT spends the whole episode setting up for the rest of the series, Super rushes to resolve all of its arcs before the bell.

Appears to set up Beerus as primary antagonist.

The only unresolved issue in Super's first episode is the matter of its 'mysterious' antagonists. If you were to watch this episode having not seen Battle of Gods you would assume that Beerus and Whis, the God of Destruction and his trainer, are the primary antagonists and that they are making their way to Earth. Now we know that the latter is true but this whole episode just feels like a prequel to Battle of Gods, a movie in which we discover that Beerus is likely not going to be the antagonist for the rest of Super. It would have been much more effective to introduce the rumoured giant dragonballs or tease that there are multiple universes, a confirmed key plot of the series. Spending episode time foreshadowing an upcoming confrontation with 'villains' that we've already seen in a movie two years ago seems like a waste of time and a missed opportunity.

The Visuals

At times you can see where the shortcuts have been made

Animation and their creation process have changed as time went on and many were interested to see if Super's visuals would look as good as the original hand drawn series or give us more horrible over the top 3D CGI moments as seen in Battle of Gods and for the most part, fortunately, it looks like the former. The show looks great and I was watching a low quality stream, so I imagine it looks phenomenal in full 1080p HD. We don't have out of place 3D gimmicky turnaround shots that BoG had and a lot of the art direction looks amazing and atmospheric, with backgrounds and skies in particular standing out. The one fighting moment involving Trunks and Goten shows some punch animations being looped, just like the original show, a technique used in TV to cut down on animation time and whereas this wasn't present in the bigger budgeted BoG, it works well here and is reminiscent of the old show. The hand painted backgrounds look great too, characters move well and look crisp and clean, although if you look too closely, you can see where some corners have been cut, for example the texture of the snake monster in particular doesn't look great in movement. However, overall it's a seriously impressive quality of visuals.

Final Thoughts

Overall, an incredibly charming re-entry into the Dragonball universe that plays on nostalgia and focusses on the personalities of the characters that we know and love, but is let down by an unrewarding payoff at the end. Feels very self contained and a little and a bit like a standalone Battle of Gods prequel rather than a first episode, but that can be forgiven as it's still got so many traditional traits that we know and love. Looks great, brilliant intro and end credits too and overall I have great hope for the future of Super. Hopefully we don't have to wait too long for our first Kamehameha.

Score: 4 Star Ball
(out of 7)

E3 2015 Pre Show Predictions

2015-06-15T05:43:00.001-07:00

Well it's time of year again where the internet breaks, forums and social media go into meltdown and the agonising wait for gamers across the world until November begins.

Uncharted 4 with the main space. Are they going to blow our minds or is this a giant FU Microsoft?

Bethseda used an online countdown reveal of Fallout 4 in favour of E3.

E3 is back and it's.... not promising to be better than ever. Like, at all. But there's Uncharted? And VR? And we're past the awkward launch phase? And Uncharted?! There is, but there have also been the most leaks ever (poor Nathan Drake Collection) as well as companies choosing to announce their news over the internet just days before the main event. Why? So they can have a few free days in the spotlight and avoid the possibility of getting lost in the all consuming hurricane that is the E3 news.

Why did Fallout 4 get announced just days before Bethseda's first ever E3 conference? Because it's all anyone was talking about for those few days. Teasing just enough to announce it and build up hype before finishing the job on the day and sending everyone into a coma with their full gameplay video.

New Fifa! Now with more dirt under player's boots! (paywalled)

And so I don't think we're going to get too many surprises at this year's E3, well at least certainly less than previous years anyway but I still think we'll get some awesome new videos showing games that we already know about.

However, just out of a drunken mix of optimism and naivety I've put together a list of what I think or at least would like to see at E3 this year, focussing mainly on Sony because I shelled out ALOT of dolla on a PS4 and now have been told that I have to be biased by my bank balance.

So, after Assassin's Creed and Fifa come out and everyone pretends to care about the latest forgettable, paywall-locked gimmick they spent a year with the marketing team creating, here's my thoughts for the rest of the show.

Project Morpheus official name, release date and price. A showcase of the upcoming games for it including Insomniac's Edge of Nowhere.

Call of Duty to come out in Sony's conference as opposed to Microsoft's like last year. With timed exclusive F*ck You Microsoft Tshirt Costume DLC for pre orders.

A new trailer of Abzu from Giant Squid.

A teaser for a new Media Molecule IP.

Something from Guerilla's new IP or the latest Killzone.

Titanfall 2 to be in with the Sony lineup. Would be quite fitting revenge for the whole case of the snatched Tomb Raider.

Gran Turismo 7. It's a pipe dream but that's ok right? At Polyphony's rate they'll show a half finished logo and a 2030 release date.

The Last Guar......No. I'm sorry but I don't think it's coming. I think the fake rumour mill is just trying this year. Words cannot describe how much I would be ecstatic to be wrong.

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End multiplayer to be the last feature, good solid 5-10 minute live gameplay demo which will just melt everyone's minds. Expect another controller drop.

In Microsoft's we'll probably get to see Aisha Tyler's talk to go blah........blah.....Tomb Raider.....Exclusive.......blah........Occulus Rift.....Facebook......Exclusive.....Blah.......TV!.....Sports!.....HALO! And to be fair, Halo will be a thing of beauty.

For the rest of the conferences I just really want to see more Kingdom Hearts 3, some new Final Fantasy, a new Pokemon 3D RPG (seriously Nintendo I would throw money at your Wii U), hopefully no Nintendo NX yet, a Legend of Zelda story trailer, more UBI ART games and a new Activision free Crash Bandicoot....

Sadly, Crash is likely to remain dead for another E3

What do you think? Has E3 started to lose it for you? And will you be staying up until 3am if you're in the UK like me?

The Scottscars 2014- Annual Movie Awards

2014-12-31T08:11:00.004-08:00

The Scottscars 2014- Annual Movie Awards

The Scottscars (the annual movie awards that every Hollywood filmmaker has their eyes on) follow.

So will an actual good film make the list this year? Or will this be the year of the Transfomer?

Afterwords a look at the questions I asked a year ago and a set of 2015 predictions.

The Robert Pattinson Award for Best Actor:

Jake Gyllenhaal

Runner Up: Benedict Cumberbatch

The Kristen Stewart Award for Best Actress:

Roasmund Pike

Runner Up: Keira Knightley

The Ghost Rider Award for Best Superhero movie:

Amazing Spider-man 2

The Dragonball Evolution Award for Best CGI:

Insterstellar

The Scorpoin King Award for Worst CGI:

The Hobbit: Battle of Five Armies

The Ross Gellar ‘Oh Wow!’ Award for Unexpected Brilliance:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

The Titanic Animated Musical Award for Best Animation:

The Boxtrolls

The Stan Lee award for Best Cameo:

Bryan Cranston in Godzilla

The Matrix Award for WTF Moment:

Godzilla 20 minutes in- you all know what I’m talking about.

The Spiderman 3 Award for Biggest Let Down/Worst Film of the Year:

Transformers: Age of Extinction

review here- http://scottynewton.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/worst-film-of-year-transformers-age-of.html

Runners Up-
Lucy
Godzilla
Dracula Untold

The Shyamalan Award for Best Film:

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

review here-http://scottynewton.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/film-of-year-captain-america-winter.html

Runners Up-
Nightcrawler
Begin Again

What I asked last year.....

Can the Amazing Spider-man 2 do what Spider-man 3 cannot and balance 3 villains with an actual story?
No.

Will X-Men: Days of Future Past live up to the expectations?
Yes. Does a great job at connecting 2 film series.

Does Transformers 4 have a chance with Michael Bay doing it?
No.

Can Captain America stop being everyone's least favourite Avenger?
Big time.

2015 Predictions

Star Wars to be the best film of the year.

Avengers: Age of Ultron won’t balance the old and new cast

Terminator Genisys or Jurrasic World? Both will be average and forgettable at 3/5 each. Jurrasic World to tip it.

No one will care about Ant-man or Fantastic Four.

To be continued…..

Film of the Year- Captain America: The Winter Soldier

2014-12-31T07:54:00.002-08:00

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Film of the Year 2014

Captain America: The Winter Soldier is both a saviour and a fatal destroyer to the comic book movie. A film that got audiences thinking ‘actually Captain America isn’t the lamest Avenger’ and being so critically and commercially well received that people can finally forget that The First Avenger ever happened. Excellent direction, more twists than a game of twister and a villain who nearly raises to Joker-level iconicness. Robert Redford and Anthony Mackie are excellent additions to the cast with Sam Jackson, Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson all raising their game beyond anything else we’ve seen of them in the MCU. Seriously exciting to watch action scenes with great choreography and sound editing in particular.

However, this movie did so well, at least partly, because in a time when people are beginning to tire of comic book super hero films, it presented itself as a political thriller, with some superhero make up on top. My prediction is that movies like this and Guardians of the Galaxy (a sci fi western also disguised as a superhero film) will be the next trend as we ease out of the comic book boom. Pure one dimensional comic book films like last year’s Thor: The Dark World, this year’s Amazing Spider-man 2 or even X-Men Days of Future Past, will be those that are forgotten about first.

Captain America: TWS will be the film that forces the studios to evolve their comic book films to become something more and encourage them not to be a slave of the genre.

5/5

Worst Film of the Year- Transformers: Age of Extinction

2014-12-31T07:45:00.004-08:00

Transformers: Age of Extinction

Worst Film of the Year 2014

You may have realised that I am the champion of ‘bad’ movies. I even go back to my blu ray boxset of the Transformers trilogy and actually enjoy myself while watching it. I like Shia LaBoeuf, Jon Tuturro’s madness, the constant explosions and am not even worried by the ridiculous plots. I find them genuinely entertaining so I was first in line to see Michael Bay’s next attempt at assaulting my ears and eyes. And honestly, I wish I’d stayed in the line and not went into the screen.

...still more exciting than Transformers 4.

After having initially refused to go back to Transformers after number two (Revenge of the Fallen), Bay openly criticised it, agreeing with his haters and saying he would right his mistakes and prove everyone wrong with number three (Dark of the Moon). He didn’t. And then the exact same thing happened with number four. Bay’s idea to silence his haters (he must be very self conscious) was to start a new trilogy and take it in a new direction. New cast, new tone and ultimately, less fun. Assuming we’re stupid, Bay literally shows us that he is aware of his mistakes and he is fixing them, playing out his little drama on screen. We have a ridiculous, close, low angle shot of Nicola Peltz’s bum at the start, mirroring Bay’s criticised pervy shots of Megan Fox and Rose Huntington Whitely from the first films, but this time Bay has Marky Mark Wahlberg comment on it! We also have a ridiculous, obnoxious over the top comedic character at the start who is killed off in the first 20 minutes. So this is it, Bay has taken it to the extreme and killed off all zanies and perviness, time for a new kind of Transformers.

Bay successfully kills his over the top comedy but unfortunately kills any kind of fun or enjoyment that the previous films had. What we’re left with is a dull, unentertaining, overly long mess of a film with absolutely zero likeable characters. The Jaeger family don’t know how to joke or even smile, Optimus Prime just acts like he can’t be bothered any more and honestly, I was rooting for the bad guys. Kill them all, I don’t care. Ridiculous set pieces and half of the action taking place on a horrible alien CGI ship, taking away any familiarity or connection with the audience. The only highlight is a few unintentional chuckles from Stanley Tucci as he’s clearly not taking his role seriously and has likely never read the script.

To be fair all 3 minutes with the dinobots are pretty cool.

Transformers: AOE commits the worst crime possible in a film like Transformers- It’s flat out boring. The one saving grace for the others is that love em or hate em, there’s something that draws you in to watch and they’re great with a beer after work but this piece of garbage should rot in the scrapheap. Michael Bay, this is what happens when you go out to make a film just to prove people wrong. Move on!

1.5/5

Lara Croft, the latest Xbox Turncoat?!

2014-08-12T06:17:00.001-07:00

Lara Croft, The Latest Xbox Turncoat?

Latest news in from Microsoft's Gamescom announcement is that 'Rise of the Tomb Raider', highly anticipated sequel to 2013's Tomb Raider reoobt from Square Enix and the first true 'next gen' Lara Croft experience, is that the game is coming Holiday 2015- Exclusively on Microsoft's Xbox One.

-What?!-

Lara never was a Playstation exclusive, as many believe

Lara Croft, who made her debut on Playstation consoles and was a flagship title for Sony during the Playstation one and Playstation Two era, with titles such as Tomb Raider 1-3, Revelations and the less well received The Angel of Darkness on PS2, has flirted with other consoles before and was never a true Sony exclusive, as many fans believe.

The original Tomb Raider title was released on Saturn at the same time as PSX, then she had a fling with the Dreamcast and then after a brief exclusive PS2 relationship, she joined in an open relationship with the Playstation 3 and XBOX 360, with the well received but non vital Tomb Raider:Legend (released later on PS3 via the Anniversary pack), Tomb Raider: Underworld and Tomb Raider: Anniversary. The games were considered fun action romps, but not system sellers.

But everything hanged with 2013's must have reboot of the series. A dark and gritty survival game, taking cues from the immense Uncharted series and focussing on a slightly more personal, cinematic experience. The game won numerous 'Best of' awards and put Lara back on the map, becoming a must buy, even sparking traction on a new movie franchise and a 'Definitive Edition' re-release on next gen consoles. I personally have never been a Tomb Raider fan and yet put it in my list of games of the generation.

The 2013 reboot 'Tomb Raider' was released to
phenomenal critical acclaim, reinvigorating the series.

But if this news is true and not a clever play on words by Microsoft (meaning DLC is exclusive or it will just be released earlier on XBOX One), then Lara has just became exclusive to the X-Blender and this would have came at a massive cost. To get a series as anticipated as this must have cost an absolute bomb. It means they would have had to offer an amount so ridiculous that Sony wouldn't be able to match it. Simple. The reports say that Playstation 4s have been outselling Xbox Ones by approximately 3-1 since launch. With a series this big, will this persuade gamers on the fence about next gen to buy XBO over PS4? Will it tempt PS4 gamers like myself to pick up the additional console? This all remains to be seen. This isn't the first time Microsoft has nicked a Playstation Icon, the latest Crash Bandicoot games chose the dark side over Playstation and Ratchet and Clank developers Insomniac have already jumped ship.

What do you think?

Will you be picking up a copy of Tomb Raider on XBone?

Does this change your mind if you were unsure about which console to get?

Are you a fellow gutted PS4 owner?

And the most terrifying thought, how far else will Microsoft go............

Rise of the Tomb Raider drops Holiday 2015 on..........XBOX One.

Shoddyzilla- A Godzilla 2014 Review

2014-05-15T18:08:00.004-07:00

Shoddyzilla

A Godzilla 2014 Review

SOME SPOILERS in main article

SPOILER FREE score and conclusion -after the movie poster at the end

How great was that first trailer? A screaming Bryan Cranston, people jumping out of planes, smoke clearing to reveal the outline of a gigantic monster’s head in profile, and then the roar. Godzilla looked to be shaping up to be one of the films to look out for this year. Then a few more trailers revealed a bit more than we’d like, i.e. the monster in full focus, the plot outline and the villain, but it still looked like it could be special. And then it was unleashed on the world and did, well, very little.

Seeing Godzilla is like being promised a ‘next generation’ gaming console, being really excited and then opening your package to find a Wii U. Yes it had some nice bits, such as Godzilla himself being portrayed brilliantly, looking spectacular at the climax (where 90% of the VFX budget went), genuinely coming across as immensely powerful and being a bit more than a typical raging monster antagonist. It was hard to fault any of Godzilla’s 6 minutes on the screen…. (more on this below). Similarly, the MUTOs were designed brilliantly and were satisfying antagonists in a film of this scale, being iconic and deadly and actually showing more emotion than their human counterparts, even with their whole shark faces that have absolutely no way of expressing emotions other than ‘rawwwwrrrr’. Still one more emotion than our male lead.

More emotion than Aaron Taylor Kick-Ass

But whereas your new Wii U will have a few fun exclusive games, it falls hilariously flat on ~~jocks~~ generals.

its face when compared with the competition fundamentally, it is a failure. Godzilla makes one unforgiveable and surprising mistake. For the bulk, it is mind numbingly BORING. You have these
awesome monsters and instead of teasing them and obscuring them on screen behind smoke or something, like that awesome shot in the trailer (that was cut out), we’re forced to watch the most pointless and detached human story in recent film history. Aaron Taylor Kick-Ass plays…. someone, a wooden, bomb defusal expert that fails to defuse any bombs, loses both of his parents and still fails to show any emotion and shows no attachment to his family at all. Is this flavourless demeanour deliberate because he’s just back from a tour of duty? Maybe, but if so then don’t make an emotionless brick the main character! Don’t force me to watch a wooden plank instead of God-freaking-zilla! Give me someone with actual charisma to watch! Elizabeth plays Mr. X’s wife and to be fair, she does well with a useless script that sees her making terrible decisions, like not getting on a bus to safety with her son, instead remaining in a city being torn to sh*t by 3 demons of death. She’s not alone though as we get equally stupid decisions from many other characters including the generic army

Unconvincing CGI near beginning....

In fact my main problem is that NONE of the human characters that we’re constantly forced to watch have anything to do with the overarching plot and help defeat the MUTOs at all. Kick Ass’s character is a bomb defusal expert that isn’t given a chance to defuse a bomb until after it’s completely out of harm’s way and serves no point and even the, he faints before doing anything. The opening subplot involving losing his mother may as well not be in it as it only serves to suggest MUTO has been around for a while. The death of his mum (and later dad) LITERALLY do not change him at all. There is no impact on him, no character development and he is even able to explain to his wife on the phone pretty easily “dad’s gone” in a passing manner. Pointless is a theme of the film, with several scenes, shots and subplots being placed in for…. no reason at all. The trailers teased Bryan Cranston as the main actor and well, that was a lie. Not only does he disappear after the opening act but also he has absolutely no impact on the rest of the plot.Kick Ass rescues a boy separated from his parents for a few minutes. He helps the kid survive a MUTO attack and returns him to his folks. And not a single emotion was shown that day. The kid is never seen again and Kick Ass is still as cold afterwards. Was this just a desperate plea to make me like this guy a little?

You’ll find your Wii U is lacking in technical power compared to your neighbours’ PS4s and XBones . Sure enough the CGI is crap until the final fight (which is spectacular, if a little short). Godzilla himself doesn’t look fully rendered when seen in the daylight or hasn’t been composited accurately, but he looks plasticky and definitely too dark and detailed when he should be more out of focus and subtley shaded. Particle effects for collateral damage was also poor and dated looking at times, especially during the power plant bust in the opening section. I really do remember Pacific Rim blowing me away compared to this. Also at times, especially with the army guys at the end in the city streets, I could have sworn the sound was recorded in a church hall on someone’s phone it was so low quality and echoey.

Overall, I’m sure it will appeal to some and you’ll definitely get some inspired moments of genius from this, but bad planning with a terrible script, awful human characters with equally bad acting from most of the cast and a gut wrenching decision to focus 95% of the time on some of the least relatable and unlikeable characters you’ll ever watch and only 5% on the things that mattered- the awesome kaiju. Starts off exciting and thrills at the end but expect yourself to be bored through the middle and wishing you just rented Pacific Rim instead.

2.3/5

2013 Movie Reviews and Awards

2014-01-02T15:27:00.000-08:00

2013 Movie Reviews and Awards!

There were a few movies released this year and I'm sorry I didn't find the time to post more critiques on them but here's what you need to know, in short.

Pacific Rim is GREAT. It doesn't try to be pretentious at all. It knows that its characters can't do the accents it's trying to. It knows that the dialogue is as ridden with cliches as it is cringeworthy. It realises that Ron Pearlman is a joke in it. But it doesn't pretend to be anything else. It is over the top. It is simple. It is a giant robot attacking a giant alien with a sword. And it is bloody entertaining!

The Wolverine is SMART, for the most part anyway. How do you approach the superhero genre after we have witnessed the Avengers? Are you going to try and beat it's Outrageous battle scenes? Try and better the special effects? Try and compete with its action scenes? With aWolverine film you could be tempted but they went down a different road. Focussing on the human element of the mysterious X-Man. Stripping him of his invincibility and concentrating on Logan in an environment that is (literally) foreign to him. Unexpected and a welcome change to something that could have been as big a generic, expected, non risk taking bore fest like Iron Man 3. Let down by an out of place Viper and the last 15 minute 'boss fight'. Does verge on boring at some times though.

Anchorman 2 was VERGING ON UNCOMFORTABLE. It was funny and its one liners were so memorable that it could't be considered a let down, but it's just too racist for our day and age. It relies on you laughing at what could be considered offensive material too much. Yes it was set in the 70s when people were more like that, but it was released in 2013 when society is different, to the point that we feel guilty when we laugh at some of it because we don't know if we should find it funny. Too complicated for a simple brainless comedy like this. When it's good though, it's fantastic.

Gravity was STUNNING. Best CGI I've ever witnessed, best cinema experience I've ever had, unbelievable cinematography and pacing and excellent acting from Bullock and Clooney. This was the easiest film to engage with, to the point where you forget it is a film. An incredible 15 minute opening shot with a wandering camera roaming around each individual character sets the tone early and absorbs you into the experience. The 3D actually added to this (hooray!) making you feel like you're there, expanding the emptiness of space and actually momentarily scared of oncoming debris from the exploding ISS. But would it be the same on a regular TV with a Blu Ray copy? Not a chance. This film is so important for the argument of films as a medium. You can have your high production shows made for Netflix and streaming, but you NEED a cinema to experience Gravity.

The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug is an IMPROVEMENT over the first one. It's less boring, but still feels dragged out. It felt like it was all coming to an end and that a third film is just taking the piss. Maybe that's the way the book is or maybe just bad pacing on the film's part of view but it felt like the story should have been wrapped up in this one. At least everything regarding Smaug. The high frame rate version looked better than the first one, but that might have been the different cinema I watched it in or just expecting it this time. Overall it was more interesting than the first one and more exciting, but still not very epic. Although the CGI of Smaug is INCREDIBLE. Much better than the trailers made it out to be.

Thor: The Dark World was better than expected and much better than Iron Man 3 with a lot of action, nicer sets and more humour, although almost to the point that it became a joke. Some of the jokes were a bit too over the top and the constant gags made the 'impending doom' element not seem very serious. Maybe that's just the way modern superhero films are, but it saddens me still. Loki is the clear highlight here. Tom Hiddleston saves the film from being forgettable with the best performance of the character to date. The move to Asgard for the film's majority is a welcome change and makes it all a bit more unique, giving it more character. Possibly the best cameo in a Marvel movie too, genius.

Riddick was PITCH BLACK. This wasn't a sequel, this was a remake of the first film. They obviously read through the feedback that said that people preferred Pitch Black over Chronicles so they literally kill off the Chronicles format and style in this film and spend the rest of time retelling the first film with a shiny new orange colour palette. To the point that even the crew, stranded on the planet, reluctantly ganging up with Riddick, hoping to claim the bounty on him, racing against aliens that have a weakness to an element found in the sky (this time rain instead of sunlight) even have a descendant of someone from the identical crew from the first film. This IS Pitch Black. With a pet dog. It's still fun, just disappointingly unoriginal.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire TOOK ITSELF VERY SERIOUSLY, which is a good thing. This one didn't feel like a wannabe Harry Potter or Twilight. It was dark, it was emotional, it was a showcase of Jennifer Lawrence's acting abilities and it was a squillion times better than the first one. More entertaining, heavier hitting and a genuinely surprisingly good. Possibly my favourite film of the year, something I really didn't expect.

Fast and Furious 6

*see Fast and Furious 5

Time for the Scottscars.

My end of year awards that every big filmmaker wants to see. Now keeping in mind I've been very busy this year and haven't seen as much as I should have, as well as the fact that I've been very tired so I haven't watched very many intelligent films that require actual brainpower.

The Shyamalan Award for Best Film:

Gravity

The Ryan Reynolds Award for Best Actor:

Ben Kingsley as the Mandarin/Trevor Slattery LOL. Tom Hiddleston or Benedict Cumberbatch

The Stan Lee award for Best Cameo:

THAT cameo in Thor: The Dark World (I won't ruin it here)

The Gail Platt Award for Best Actress:

Jennifer Lawrence

The Spiderman 3 Award for Best Let Down:

Gangster Squad

The Dragonball Evolution Award for Best CGI:

Gravity

The Harrison Ford Award for Unexpected Brilliance:

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

The Titanic: The Animated Musical Award for Best Animation:

Frozen

The Ghost Rider Award for Best Superhero movie:

The Wolverine

The Matrix Award for WTF Moment:

Vin Diesel's Superman fly across motorway lanes, leaping from a crashing car, catching someone in midair and landing safely across a massive drop (good WTF) or The Mandarin/Trevor Slattery reveal (bad WTF)

That's all folks! Things to look out for 2014?

Can the Amazing Spider-man 2 do what Spider-man 3 cannot and balance 3 villains with an actual story?

Will X-Men: Days of Future Past live up to the expectations?

Does Transformers 4 have a chance with Michael Bay doing it?

Can Captain America stop being everyone's least favourite Avenger?

To be continued.....

Not Another Happy New Year Post: A year in the life of an All Round entertainer

2014-01-02T15:04:00.004-08:00

Not Another Happy New Year Post:A Year in the Life of an All Round Entertainer

Why am I posting now?

Because it's a new year so it's a new me?

Nope. I'm posting now because for the first time in about 3 years I've actually had more than a week off and I've had some recovering to do.

Keep reading for what I've been up to, news on more movie analysis and reviews and a look to my plans for the new year.

2013. What a year it's been, where to start? I haven't posted since July and here's a quick summary of what I've been up to.

Well first of all the big highlight of the year was graduating. I have my degree so now you HAVE to accept my movie reviews as gospel. They are correct, I have been endorsed. Nicolas Cage is a versatile and credible actor and Indiana Jones 4 is a good movie.

I got my first job in the industry, which was a pretty big step. I started off as a runner in an animation company with literally no training or experience and after 4 weeks of just showing up every day and getting on everyone's tits I was able to slip something into the bosses drinks and get them to sign a contract to employ me full time. Ok well most of that is true. But I did go from a runner with no

Roy: A cartoon boy living in the real world

experience to now a full time digital artist working on a BAFTA winning show and have been since my last blog post (June). To anyone hoping to make it into a certain industry I really can't stress enough how much I recommend asking for voluntary work experience. . You'd be really surprised how many people will help you out if you just ask. Even if ultimately you decide it's not the career for you, you'd never have known that until you try.

The show I'm working on is called Roy, on CBBC and I'm a compositor on it, mainly a rotoscope artist at the moment.

The original BUMP! script by 5 year old Calum Muldoon

Bump on auction in Dublin

In other work, I illustrated a children's book, something I've always wanted to do. It's about a little goblin who is walking through the woods and loses his shoes. What's awesome about it is that a 5 year old wrote the story! And it's really good! Went on to sell a few prints of it down at the Animation Art show in Dublin, making a bit of cash for charity and having mighty craic at the same time. (Craic does not mean drugs, to my followers outside of Ireland, it means fun. Please stop harassing me and my legal team.)

I haven't gave up on the filmmaking front either. My final year film You Run My Heart, about a sickly, elderly lady who starts to mistake her son for her deceased husband was finally completed, shown in a graduation showcase in a local cinema and has been well received. It was directed by Dan Brown and I took on the role of director of photography. I was D.O.P. again in Joel Mulhern's A Possessive Relationship, a story about Bruce, a man with a possessed hand, at a support group for people with possessed limbs, led by Doctor Raimi. What do you mean Evil Dead? We've obviously never even seen it ;) Great film to work on, awesome to work with such a great cast and crew and it won the audience prize at Film Devour as well to top it off! Lastly I just finished writing a score with my buddy Eoin Feighan for another Belfast based short film, directed by Aiden Largey, but more on that later....

On the set of A Possessive Relationship

First time visiting Jurrasic Park. Still looks better than most of today's movies

I am a terrible film graduate. I have a film degree and have not seen ANY good movies. Oh I've seen Green Lantern, but Reservoir Dogs? Nope. I know every word to the Fast and Furious franchise but the Alien films? Nada.

This list continues. But this year, for the first time, I was introduced to Jurrasic Park And it was glorious. So glorious that it deserves to be on my list of achievements.

So what can I possibly do next year to top that lot?

Well at the end of this year I started a film club, which is still in the beta test stage. Basically it will bring together the local filmmaking community and offer people a chance to learn, try new techniques and make contacts, as well as be fun! The club will be accepting short script submissions, ideas for test shots as well as any other ideas, with the intention of having something to shoot every week, giving anyone who comes along a chance to enjoy being part of a film cast/crew and ultimately building a fun portfolio out of it. Keep a look out for more on this throughout the early parts of the year.

In my own career I'm hoping to do more music, hopefully again for film, but also the current season of Roy will come to an end in June so who knows where I'll be or what I'll be working on.

What does the future hold for the All Round Entertainer Blog? Well my sketching has taken a back seat this year, because sadly I don't have time for everything, but there's always the possibility of another Guess the Sketch or two, but needless to say, Project 250 (to do 250 sketches in 2013) failed. You CAN expect more movie reviews, although wether I do more in depth ones or more short ones like you're going to see in the next post, remains to be seen. I'll keep updating the blog with more news on my short films that I'm working on as well as my TV show and of course, the upcoming film club, so keep checking scottynewton.blogspot.co.uk and www.scottynewton.com for all the latest.

Any resolutions for the year? To enjoy what I have, to strive for what I want and to be grateful for what's around me. So no resolutions, just keeping going.

It's been a tough 12 months, with major lows, but major successes too. I haven't been bored for one minute and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Happy 2014 Do something big this year, life's too short to have forgettable ones.

Scotty

Scotty Newton - All Round Entertainer

The Scottscars 2025

Movie stats for the year

The running order, as always:

The 2025 Scottscars Awards

Animated Film of the Year

🏆 Winner: KPOP Demon Hunters🏆

The "Cinema Experience of the Year" Award

🏆 Winner: F1 in IMAX🏆

The “In Case You Missed It” Award

🏆 Winner: The Long Walk🏆

Disappointment of the Year Award

🏆 Winner: Karate Kid Legends🏆

The 'How had I Never Seen This' Award

🏆 Winner: Lilo & Stich (2002)🏆

Turd of the Year Award

🏆 Winner: Jurrasic World... Rebirth? Resurrections? Revengeance?🏆

The 2025 Scottscar Film of the Year

🏆 Winner: Marty Supreme🏆

Last Year’s Predictions

2026 Movie Predictions

The Scottscars 2024

My 2024 Stats

Notable films I haven’t seen this year:

Bonus Award) Best film released this year based on the character ‘Madame Web’

🏆Winner🏆 Madame Web

1) Cinema Experience of the Year

🏆Winner🏆 Seeing Coppola’s Dracula on Halloween

2) Shock of the year Award

3) The ‘I can’t believe I hadn’t seen this before’ Award

🏆Winner🏆 The Iron Giant (1999)

4) Animated Film of the Year

🏆Winner🏆 Robot Dreams

5) The 'In Case you Missed It' Award

🏆Winner🏆 Hundreds of Beavers

6) Disappointment of the Year

💀Winner💀: Joker: Folie à deux

7) 2024 Film of the Year

🏆Winner🏆 Civil War

The Scottscars 2023

My 2023 Stats

1) Cinema Experience of the Year

🏆Winner🏆 Wonka

2) Shock of the year Award

3) Comic Book Movie of the Year

💀Winner?💀: No one

4) Animated Film of the Year

🏆Winner🏆 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

5) The 'In Case you Missed It' Award

🏆Winner🏆 Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

6) Turd of the Year

🏆Winner🏆 Ant Man and the Wasp in Quantumania

7) 2023 Film of the Year

🏆Winner🏆 Marcel the Shell with Shoes On

The 2022 Scottscars

My 2022 Stats

Cinema Experience of the Year

Winner: Top Gun Maverick in IMAX

Shock of the year Award

Winner: Moonfall - The Entire Film

Comic Book Movie of the Year

Winner: Black Panther Wakanda Forever

The INCYMI Award

Winner: RRR

Turd of the year Award

Winner: Jurassic World: Dominion

2022 Film of the Year

Winner: Everything Everywhere All At Once

Total: 3 out of 8

The 2021 Scottscars

1. End of year statistics

2. The Scottscars Awards

3. My predictions from last year

4. Finally, a brand spanking new set of predictions for 2022

Best Comic Book Film

Sponsored by Ben Affleck's Daredevil

Winner : Spider-man No Way Home

The Award for WTF Moment

Winner : Annette (the entire film)

Runners Up