"You'd Better Rico-gnize..!"

Imagine all the action movie-makers of the 90s came together, had a party decided over an enormous cigar to make a game where anything goes, and every explosive cliche you can think of is encouraged? This also includes attaching animals to windmills and firing bazooka’s at 60mph sat comfortably atop the bonnet of a gardener’s truck. Well, you’re in luck sonny Jim, because Just Cause 3 has landed and its pretty tremendous.

Meet Rico Rodriguez; Dictator Removal Specialist. He's the hero of this open world third person adventure game comparable to the hispanic Nathan Drake, dipped in tabasco, and carrying all the masculine characteristics a Chuck Norris/ Jean Claude Van Damme hybrid baby would have, with Hot Shots’ Topper Harley playing its surrogate mother (*pats himself on back for the most ludicrous analogy of all time).

Swooping in as the third instalment in a series which began back in 2006, you may question whether or not you need to revisit JC3’s predecessors to make sense of its narrative. The answer is no. You really needn’t worry, because it won’t be the story that grips you. What will, is the adrenaline-fuelled nuttiness of the explosive action sequences and traversing around the large fictional mediterranean islands of Medici; Rico’s hometown, and a beautifully vibrant and colourful playground for him to become King of the Climbing Frame.

The plot revolves around dictator, General Sebastiano Di Ravello; the Dr. Evil of our story. Hellbent on world domination, it’s your job to round up the rebels and put a stop to the chaos bubbling underneath the islands surface. What you’ll REALLY want to do though is put the handful of island environments to the test by using your incredible array of gizmos, as adventurously as you can.

The parachute is back from JC2 and remains your answer to any last minute aerial ejections or infiltrating militant areas unseen. Praise be to the wing suit which you'll have available now too; one of the most welcomed additions to the series as you soar over the ocean, glide underneath bridges and into people’s washing lines. But, the piece de resistance, is the new and improved tether; a small but surprisingly sturdy grappling hook. Whether you’re ascending huge mountains, swinging from buildings Bionic Commando-style, or fastening a man to a goat to a car to a billboard to a fire, and pressing the action button to see what happens; it’s incredible the things your mind will suddenly manifest whilst using it. Apologies again to that helicopter pilot and small family of cows.

You may want to compare its open world vibe to the likes of GTA but in all honesty it’s a lost cause - JC3 understandably has far less depth and intricate detailing in comparison, especially once you venture past the first hour or so. 

But, I’m nitpicking. Just Cause 3 has bundles of character, some seriously tasty looking graphics and smashing tongue in cheek humour - it’s the perfect action game if you’re looking to unwind over a side-mission involving a quad-bike with a bomb strapped to it which you’ll have to inadvertently fling at a lighthouse to destroy it, because it’s blocking someone’s view.

Just Cause 3 receives 4 out of 5 Macho Man Randy Savages because it makes one appreciate that life ain't easy being a goat. 

Being John Cusack.

I play just about everything. Be it Sports games like FIFA, Adventure titles like Uncharted and even the odd First Person Shooter…not including Aliens: Colonial Marines. Obviously.

Watching the latest trailers of the coming Triple-A games has become just as crucial to its success as any movie studio churning out teasers of their blockbuster releases.

San Diego ComicCon recently dropped the first tasters for Warner Bros Suicide Squad for instance which was immediately boot-legged by almost every person who can work a keyboard around the planet, where they each told us that Jared Leto’s Joker looked “sick”, whilst stuffing their faces with nacho cheese. God bless America.

In the world of videogames, we annually have E3; a showcase which continues to be the biggest platform for games publishers to announce their new titles, which we eagerly await spending our hard earned cash on over the coming year. In the months that follow, we’re then presented with a family bucket sized smattering of rehashed game footage featuring the same 3minutes of gameplay re-edited countless times, to varying drum& bass related noises, before its launch date. Let’s not pretend otherwise, because regardless of how silly this sounds, we still collectively watch every single one of them online, because its basically eye-heroin.

Thanks to social media, hype surrounding anything related to the culture now revolves around ‘the drop’; the moment that teaser lands on the internet and we, as visual-crack pedalling merchants, then share, and share again, doing all the work for them. And I’m ok with that. God forbid I miss someone’s theory surrounding the third naked person from the left in some insignificant scene in Game of Thrones that happened this one time.

So, upon hearing the latest trailer for Call Of Duty: Black Ops III Zombies had been uploaded to the net recently, I got understandably excited. COD: Advanced Warfare was my re-entry point for online FPS’s after years away from the fray and the proposed 1940s swing on proceedings looked neat (The Order 1886 & the coming Assassins Creed: Syndicate proving steam-punk continues to resonate solidly with gamers right now). BUT, I found myself spending less time watching the fluid game mechanics and vivid new arenas to traverse, instead, trying to pull all the celebrity names out of a hat featured in the 3minutes, like watching coverage of some meaningless after party on E! I was utterly ashamed of myself.

What’s wrong with me? Why aren’t I focusing on the game? Am I only excited to play this because I can be someone famous? The first face I recognised was the Man with Jaw of a Mastodon, Ron Perlman.

Fair do’s, he’s previously worked on the Halo & Fallout series and earned his stripes. It wasn’t long before Jeff Goldblum showed up to the party either. I began recalling the previous iteration of COD games, and remembered Exo-Zombies where I could actually play as John Malkovich, ploughing his way through the undead, which was super cool. Oh my God, I’m actually living some perverted version of the film, Being John Malkovich! Does this make me John Cusack? Come to think of it, how many celebrities have I actually been inside??

This really got my brain hamster going. How many celebs in recent years have realised the potential they have to make some serious dollar by attaching themselves to gaming projects. And, does this make the game more lucrative for somebody who wants to cause carnage to hordes of bloodthirsty monsters…as Lenny from Of Mice and Men?

Kiefer Sutherland made exactly the same move into television world he spearheaded the revolutionary '24' –here’s a Hollywood superstar who traded the red carpet, for Cable TV. And, it was massive. As I'm sure his bank balance is now too. It began a movement. I remember playing 2002’s Grand Theft Auto: Vice City back on the PlayStation 2 accompanied by the Mafioso tones of Ray Liotta as Tommy Vercetti, which was a masterstroke by Rockstar Games having been such a gangster tour de force in Goodfellas. In this instance, it worked perfectly. 

Have a look online and you’ll be dumbfounded at how many celebrities have cropped up in games, most of them an utter embarrassment they’d probably rather lock in the ‘Vault of Forgotten Sh*t I Once Did’. This doesn’t count movie franchises where the stars of the films have been transported to the small screen in a franchise spin-offs either, or Def Jam: Fight for NY which was ultimately a way to promote the hell out of rap stars, with more product placement in it than Casino Royale. I’m talking fully-fledged commitments to games, as a performer.

It’s a pay check for most. Aaron Staton from Mad Men was basically the exact same character from the TV show, this time as Cole Phelps in LA Noire. And now he had a hat. #Win I can’t imagine Mickey Rourke actually wanted to be in Bethesda’s Rogue Warrior either in which he can be heard saying lines such as ‘…it’s a total goat f*ck’, the script clearly written by a giraffe on the spectrum.

Personally, I don’t like to think I ever play games because I can voyeuristically watch my favourite icons or celebrities. That’s what the new wave of VR headsets are for. Or, One Night in Paris. Next time you play something with a celeb attached though, it’s definitely worth asking yourself the question, “Do I really want to play this, or do I just want to be John Cusack..?”

Call of Duty: Black Ops III is out November 6^th 2015 and available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PS3, Xbox360 & Windows.

NEWSFLASH: GM Dinosaur Born with Superpowers. Has Hissyfit.

'The Park is Open.' 4words which in the realms of the land before time, mean GET READY FOR DINNNOOOOSSAAAUURRSSS! 
Jurassic World is upon us; the fourth part in a series which began in 1993, a year otherwise remembered as being mostly shit. Spielberg's Jurassic Park was a box-office sensation which frightened, excited and captured the imaginations of every parent and child from here to Timbuktu. I still get goosebumps from John Williams' breath-taking score, synonymous with that very first glimpse of what 65,000,000 years ago looked like as that massive Diplodocus ambled into shot...just before Laura Dern brought us back down to earth again when she began sifting through Triceratops poop. But, we're not here to reflect on what was. We're all about the what now? 

For anyone who saw the previous 2 instalments, they weren't brilliant. We had familiar faces trying to re-create the magic of the original - nods to King Kong bringing dinosaurs to mainland America, working within the boundaries of Hammond's derelict park and Sam Neill speaking to Raptors through one of their 3D printed nostril bones. It was all a tad wanky and disappointingly predictable. 

Jurassic World however, is not. It's 20yrs later and John Hammond's legacy continues upon Isla Nublar as the Masrani Corporation headed up by flamboyant thrill-seeker owner, Simon (Irrfan Khan), has built upon the remnants of what was before, and created the world's only Dinosaur theme park. However, with attendance numbers dropping and revenue beginning to slide, top-secret genetic splicing in the island's underground laboratories is underway to create the next big "attraction", alas we have the new bad guy in town, the Indominus Rex; a hybrid of the Tyrannosaurus and Velociraptor, with some other very fun bits of DNA chucked in for convenient measure. Elsewhere on the island, ex-NAVY turned Dinosaur Whisperer, Owen Grady, (the brilliant Chris Pratt) is developing ways to communicate with Raptors using a Biro with the sly Head of InGen Security, Vic Hoskins (Vincent D'Onofrio) on his case to weaponise the Clever Girls, which Pratt thinks is a terrible idea. 

On a weekend when her nephews are in town, the park's Operations Manager, Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) has reluctantly agreed to play host to her younger nephews, Zach & Gray Mitchell (Nick Robinson/ Ty Simpkins) but due to corporate commitments coming out of her ears, gives them VIP tickets to the park in her absence. I know, best Aunt ever right? They expectantly wonder off on a mini-adventure in which we get to see some of the incredible forward steps made in CGI over the last 20years. The I-Rex escapes and all hell breaks loose, literally, in what is 124mins of the most fun I've had at the movies in AGES. The set pieces are out of this world. Director/ Writer Colin Trevorrow has managed to create the perfect evolutionary step for the Jurassic series in what I still

can't believe is only his 4th ever movie. Panning throughout the park's main attractions is a thing of beauty, as are the events that take place within its walls such as the Dimorphodon escape down 'Main Street USA', the Gyro-Sphere Safari, the Mosasaurus Aquatic Arena (amazing BTW) & the Triceratops donkey riding school. Ha. It's action adventure stuff of the highest calibre and the fighting sequences whether it be Dino vs Dino, Dino vs human, Dallas Howard vs Pratt's One Liners are some of Hollywood's finest and in my opinion, are the perfect showcase of just how superb the leading man would be as the new Indiana Jones. This needs to happen.

Claire and Owen's estranged relationship is fun to watch develop and although she goes through a physical transformation in the form of stand-offish workaholic to Lara Croft, it doesn't feel forced. Bryce Howard is a total babe too, I don't think anybody's ever so provocatively changed a shirt into a crop top. All the actors are excellent and huge kudos must go to the casting team for Jurassic World as the 2 brothers are terrific with some very funny moments together in the final act (holding hands jibe was classic) as well as Cage-Keeper Barry's (Omar Sy) affinity for dinosaur rights and the only cast member to return from the original, Dr. Henry Wu (B.D Wong) who's character is still a total and utter smarmy dickster. But, looks bloody remarkable for his age. 

Gripes. There aren't many. I was a bit anal about never finding out the exact genetic make-up of the Indominus Rex (which translates as 'Untameable King' - how cool is that?) eg. its extraordinarily long arms. Was it part Stretch Armstrong? Probably not, but we're never told. A lot of the action set pieces are somewhat rehashed version's of what was suggested in the original trilogy; communicating with Raptors (which has been done to death now), the giant aviary of Pteranodon's ready to play catch with anybody in the vicinity and the proposed possibility of genetic mutation. There was also no "Ah, ah, ahhh, you didn't say the magic word! Ah, ah, ahhhhhhh..." I'm perhaps clutching at straws a little. There was a great nod to the late Richard Attenborough in the museum main lobby with a statue depicting one of his most iconic characters.

 

Jurassic World is a total triumph. I was gripped from the moment the sinister opening credits began reminiscent of an old thriller flick. Lots of percussion, sharp strings to the birth of a cute, carnivorous little blighter who will have your finger off if you don't have your wits about you. Big dinosaurs, great scripting, spiffing casting and just the right sprinkling of nostalgia. 14yrs In The Making...and it was totally worth it. 

Jurassic World receives 5/5 Macho Man Randy Savage's mainly because there were no references to Ray Arnold's demise which means that a one-armed Samuel L. Jackson covered in cigarettes could STILL return for Jurassic Park 5. And that Chris Pratt becomes boys with a dinosaur called Blue. Which is amazing.

#GotUltron?

Riddle: What do you get if a crack team of assassins, thunder Gods, scientists, genetically enhanced soldiers and the milky one from The Da Vinci Code get together and attempt to rid the world of alien threats indefinitely, through the creation of an artificial intelligence weapons system based on the glowy bit of a galactic stick? Answer: The worlds most sadomasochistic robot. Avengers: Age of Ultron is 2015's biggest blockbuster to date and let me assure you; by the time this sucker hits around 88minutes on the clock, you'll be engrossed in some serious shit!

When Disney obtained the rights to the Marvel franchise in 2009 for a measly $4billion, it sent ripples throughout the film industry. Why? Because they had a back catalogue of immense proportions and unlimited finance to make even the most obscure characters become legend on the big screen. The movies from this point onwards would combine child-friendly fantasy with the adult charm & wit we've become accustom to since the dawn of Pixar. Lucasfilm's purchase in 2012 has already completely reinvigorated people's faith in the Star Wars franchise ahead of December's The Force Awakens, and we've only seen 2 trailers. And, most of what we've seen so far has been heavy-breathing and sand. Oh, and Harrison looking like a bad ass. Chris Pratt hasn't even be announced as the new Indiana Jones yet, however I for one cannot wait to see how the next whip-cracking adventure unfolds with George Lucas miles and miles away sipping on piña coladas, unable to petrify any of our seeing-circles, ever, again. 

But, I digress. When heading to see Ultron on opening night, I roped in a "Marvelmaniac" (patent application pending) buddy of mine to join me so that if I had any questions about any one of the multiple characters/ universes/ dubious outfits, he'd be on hand to give me some perspective. But surprisingly, it wasn't anywhere near as convoluted as I'd expected. I had to be educated on the use of words like 'enhanced' as opposed to 'mutants' due to the rights held by Sony of the X-Men franchise and what not, but the story resonated with me far more than the whimsical origins tomfoolery of Avengers: Assemble. I've never been a big fan of the Thor story-arc and the Loki/ Tesseract/ Chitauri thing was a rather messy for me. What I felt Assemble lacked, Age of Ultron had by the bucket load which was great scripting combined with Director, Joss Whedon's stunning attention to detail and context for even the layman to grasp whole-handedly.

Welcome back Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr), Captain America (Chris Evans) Bruce Banner/ Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Black Widow/ Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) who have since continued their work 'off the books' laying waste to quintessential Neo-Nazi terror movement, Hydra, and their weird experiments, this time involving Enhanced twins Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and Loki's Staff which by this point, is the bane of everybody's life. According to my man, the brother & sister are depicted as Magneto's children in the comic books but we'll save that for X-Men 17. Even the likes of Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Ulysses Klaue/ Klaw (Andy Serkis) are on hand (LOLZ) to add gusto to proceedings.

After the Avengers are "allowed" to re-capture the staff, Tony Stark wants to utilise its power to create an AI system which will protect the planet for good. But, when a jolly fun shindig at Stark Towers takes place involving some very funny scenes with Don Cheadle's crap party anecdotes and Thor's party piece of a Hammer; Ultron (James Spader) manages to corrupt the JARVIS system, does a bit of a Ra's al Ghul with the misguided epiphany of a madman that a safe Earth is a human-free Earth and makes himself out of buckets and crisp packets to escape and wreak havoc. Cue lots of superb dialogue, mind-blowing action sequences and the origins story of Paul Bettany's, Vision.

Many action movies have come and gone in the last decade which people have tried to forget about. Transformers 2, Pacific Rim, Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus (?) in which the plot is so thin in places, that wave upon wave of special effects are plastered over the top to mask its poor craftsmanship. My pupils tend to dislike the feeling of playing the unlucky middle bearing in a Newton's Cradle. In Ultron, they're well thought out and there's no denying some of the brilliant cinematic work such as the introduction of the infamous Hulk-Buster as Iron Man rattles around a crumbling city wrestling with Hulk, after Scarlet Witch has infiltrated the minds of the Avengers to play puppeteer with their realities. Homage must also be paid to the personal battles conveyed by the super bunch during the movie too. Hawkeye and his yearning to be home with his family, the Captain A's lack of acceptance in the modern world and the 'Will they? Won't they?' flirting/ lullaby recitals shared by Banner & Widow throughout the course of the movie. With so much on offer in its frantic 141minutes, these vulnerabilities and character mini-arcs never feel rushed or an afterthought.

This can't be said for some aspects of the narrative though. Especially Thor and his visions involving Heimdall (Idris Elba) with cataracts at a sexy party, and the thunder God's urge to cleanse himself with electricity in a magic puddle hereby inspiring him to make a rather important decision, effectively preserving or condemning Earth as we know it. Small aspects as I said. Ultron is a slick and powerful foe with infinite access to the Internet and the tools necessary to create a vastly superior robot army yet spends an infuriating amount of time trying to gain nuclear weapon codes or better abs which seems rather pointless when we all know it would've been far more effective had he photo-shopped the Avengers in compromising situations and beelined them to the authorities via a wifi hotspot. 

I'm a huge believer in the trailers preceding a movie being part and parcel of an an evening out at the cinema, and whilst eagerly anticipating Avengers: Age of Ultron to begin, in swept the new Fantastic Four, Ant-Man AND TomorrowLand highlights which really hit it home for me. Not only am I also incredibly excited to see some of the other summer blockbusters right around the corner, but The Walt Disney Company with their endless resources and vast repertoire of newly acquired licenses, can deliver just about anything to fans of the Marvel Universe calling out for the celebration of their favourite villains and superheroes, competently and ingeniously. Avengers: Age of Ultron is one of the greatest action movies there is, period. The story, the cast, the directorship, the humour, the set-up for 2018. Star Wars; your move...

Avengers: Age of Ultron receives 5/5 Macho Man Randy Savages because of that bit when you see Samuel L. Jackson without his eye-patch on and can tell he's not faking it.

The #Oscars2015: A Belated Round-Up

On a dark, dark night, down a dark, dark street, there was a dark, dark house, where everyone was sleeping, except for night-people like Bruce Wayne or Jake Gyllenhaal. And the diehard's who couldn't bare to receive their Oscar round-ups courtesy of some half-wit breakfast television presenter. Probably a weather girl key-coded into a green screen projection of Hollywood's Dolby Theatre...somewhere in Charlton. 
Were you one of the individuals who nodded off mid-Neil Patrick Harris performing for LaLa Land's elite? Yes, it did feel like he was performing at his parents request come an awkward 90s dinner party. One with Lighthouse Family playing in the background and everybody eating twiglets. Still, as with all these award ceremonies now; it pays dividends to take on the role of host. With NPH's success in How I Met Your Mother, his surprisingly decent performance as an obsessed lover in Gone Girl and his track record having pirouetted into the arms of Wolverine at the Tony Awards; he took to proceedings like a duck to water. A little uncomfortably at first but no real mishaps to report. So far. 


But, enough of the blowing smoke up Harris' derriere. We're here to talk AWARDS. Best Picture was again, one of the most exciting categories on the night with BIRDMAN taking first prize. Well deserved due to the array of top drawer performances and cinematic wizardry, with Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu also taking home 
Best Director which probably enraged a lot of right wing Americans. 
Speaking of which, American Sniper may have grossed more at the box office than any other of the nominated films yet the Bradley Cooper's desperate measures to try and nab a statue had less class than that hobo looking for a fix in Menace II Society. Yep, the blowjob one. The Imitation Game still managed to take home Best Adapted Screenplay and rightly so after a star-studded cast including Cumberbatch and Knightly (who sorely missed out on the night) captivated audiences around the globe with his magnificent portrayal of English Codebreaker, Alan Turing. Interesting to see the lack of accolades for Boyhood after its success at the BAFTAs but lets not be greedy shall we. 

EDDIE REDMAYNE won Best Actor and deservedly so after a simply breathtaking performance as Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything. For such a young chap with a bright future ahead of him, I don't think anyone minded him ambling around the stage like a flamingo. Bet he's a revelation come a yoga class. Look at them knees! With a humble speech dedicating his award to the bearers of ALS, I like this well-educated cat a lot. Regardless of the whole Jupiter Ascending thing.

And, who could argue that it was about time fiery-haired beauty JULIANNE MOORE won an award for a leading lady. Winning Best Actress for her portrayal of the titular character in Still Alice dealing with the early onset Alzheimer's disease, she shone. Even if Kristen Stewart attempted to steal every scene with her baggy-eyed misery guts. 
With Moore's track record working on incredible projects such as The Coen Brothers 'The Big Lebowski' & as the wilting porn actress in Paul Thomas Anderson's 'Boogie Nights'; she has gone from indie firecracker to academy favourite. Mind you, this is all down to the committee unexpectedly having their memories wiped Men in Black-style after whatever Hannibal was.

Best Supporting roles went to recent BAFTA winners J.K Simmons for his role as irate teacher, Fletcher, in percussion epic Whiplash, whilst Patricia Arquette added to her collection with her moving performance across Richard Linklater's 12yrs-in-the-making drama, Boyhood, which swept up in the UK only  a few weeks ago. 

Other pivotal victories must go to Whiplash again for smashing it in the Best Sound department, Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel bossed it in the Best Make-Up and Production Design categories whilst a big shout out must also go to Disney's Big Hero 6 for Best Animated Feature.


All in all; another year, another great showcase for rising stars in every aspect of film-making as well as the home favourites who continue to deliver year on year. Even Lady Gaga turned out to sing a tribute to Sound of Music which she'd rumoured to have been practising for 6months. Wow. She was probably asked to perform because she often smells of well-reared meat and John Travolta would have way less trouble introducing a person with 4 syllables to their name. Win, win. I guess the one question on your lips right now is "But, WHO was everybody wearing, Adam?" And for that, I'd recommend you tune into breakfast television in the morning...

The Oscars 2015 receives 2/5 Macho Man Randy Savages because although the British were deservedly triumphant on the night, no-one fell over their own legs or broke down into a soppy mess, which was bloody disappointing. 

Ignorance is Bliss.

Where the fuck has Michael Keaton been? I thought he'd received the Mark-Paul Gosselaar treatment with rumours of his demise, or his abduction by sex aliens. But, in actuality, the former Batman has been working on his comeback in a movie which is causing a right old stir come award season. Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) is a huge triumph, artistically. Directed in the same ilk as a Broadway production unfolding before its audience with set changes and uninterrupted scenes; its documentary inspired camera work is a stroke of genius by Alejandro González Iñárritu (Babel, Biutiful) who has conceived a way in which we follow Riggan Thomson's rise back towards the limelight. 

Having played Marvel's titular superhero in years previous, Riggan (Michael Keaton) is attempting to re-enter the acting world by financing his own Broadway production of Raymond Carver's short story "What we talk about when we talk about love", produced by his Between Two Ferns best friend and lawyer, Jake (Zach Galifianakis). 
Riggan has put it all on the line to reignite the success of his earlier years as winged superhero, Birdman, but is instead haunted by the imaginary persona of the beaked superhero incarnate. The winged manifestation pulling at his strings of insecurity like a deranged puppeteer is gripping (what with his hauntingly bad ass costume which for some incomprehensible reason I wished I myself was wearing in the theatre). He leads Keaton to believe that he has the ability to fly and can tele-kinetically break, smash and hurl inanimate objects, which the strategically planned 
steadi-cam work captures brilliantly.

Which brings me to the casts performances. This is a group of actors who have gripped their roles by the plums having clearly read the script and fallen head over heels for the roles in which they'd been gifted. Edward Norton plays the narcissistic, capricious method acting Mike Shiner who steals every scene in which he's present. Cool, utterly egotistical and barren of all logical emotion away from the stage, he moseys arrogantly in to Riggan's production, sweeps in on the his daughter; the vulnerable, quintessentially privileged yet rife with daddy issues, Sam (Emma Stone)and portrays the epitome of what we all imagine a 'massive theatre wanker' looks and acts like. He's fabulous.

It was also enlightening to see Naomi Watts playing her role as Lesley; the budding actor/ Norton's bit on the side, desperate for a break in the acting world which she feels she's earned what with all the shagging around and conveying all the idiosyncrasies and lust for approval you'd expect from an ageing thespian. Her comical back and fourths with Keaton and Norton are profoundly entertaining and taking a back seat in a supporting role gives Watts far more room to have fun, making each of her scenes pop from the screen.

Keaton though, is a revelation. This was the role he was born to play. Forget your Dark Knights and your Beetlejuice's (which subsequently has a sequel on its way!) - he owns this shit! And by shit, I mean behemoth of a performance. The psychological battles he faces with his imaginary ego, the stage productions success/ failure, his ex-wife and loose cannon of a daughter as well as the incredibly vivid exchanges with Tabitha Dickinson (Lindsay Duncan) who is THE voice of New York's theatre critics scene, are mesmerising. It puts in to perspective just how convoluted, unethical and corrupt the entertainment world might be so candidly, it'll leave you wondering just how much cash may in fact have been exchanged to let Robert Pattinson anywhere near a film set #LOLZ 

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) is such an exciting, forward thinking film which tells the story of a man clawing his way back from a land that time forgot. A tale which somewhat resonates the career of Michael Keaton making it all the more believable. Whether it be the fantastically percussion laced interstitial's or the electric performances of the small cast & ensemble; credit must go where its due for the director and the production team who have seamlessly managed to bridge the gap between film, theatre and modern art and in my opinion, it deserves all the nominations under the sun. It's also better than 74% of Marvel's other movies. Fact.

Birdman receives 4/5 Macho Man Randy Savages because it confirms that running through Times Square in your Y-fronts just got cool again...