Jaws Revisited Part 2 "Shark's in the water...our shark!"

So, its been a while since I've done a post on here so I figured it was high time I got off my lazy ass and decided to do another one and yep I admit its yet another revisitation (sorry can't resist!). And the post in question will be a revisit of my first revisited review of Jaws...confusing I know! So, this is basically my Jaws review Part 3!

So, I will do the usual stuff, revamp and re-write sections and add bits here and there as I go.

And before I start the usual warning is coming...

PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!

STORY 

So, it all starts in the quiet seaside down of Amity Island where a rouge great white shark swims the waters, and a young girl Chrissie Watkins (Susan Backlinie) is killed by the shark while take a skinnydip in the water.  After this the town chief of police, Martin Brody (Roy Schneider), alerts the town mayor Larry Vaughan (Murray Hamilton) of the danger, who is uninterested as he is more concerned that the tourists come to town as they are town's main source of income, and also goes as far as asking Brody to cover up his autopsy report on the girl as a "boating accident" rather than a shark attack.

Despite Brody's warnings and the mayor's negligence to do anything about it, a young boy is killed in the water by the shark, after which a bounty is put out, which brings in a whole bunch of local fishermen who want the prize money for killing the shark and they end up catching a tiger shark as identified by an expert from the Oceangraphic institute, Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfus) called in by Brody. Hopper remains sceptical that the fisherman caught the correct shark as the bite radius he measured doesn't match the wounds found on Chrissie's remains. Mrs Kitner, the mother of the young boy then turns up and slaps Brody after discovering the news of Chrissie's death and she blames him for keeping the beaches open.

Later on that evening, Hooper visits Brody at home and they discuss theories on the rogue shark and Brody says they should cut the tiger shark open to see if it is the one they are looking for. However on inspecting inside the tiger shark, Hooper finds nothing and decides to go and locate the rogue shark with Brody in a boat. Hooper finds something on his scanning equipment and takes a dive down in the waters and finds the wreck of a fishing boat and a shark tooth but after the corpse of a local fisherman floats into his view, Hooper panics, dropping the tooth he swims back up. Brody and Hooper then try and make a list ditch effort to convince Vaughan to close the beaches but he refuses to but does permit them to do what they need to in order to keep people safe.    

So, on 4th of July, Amity's busiest day of the summer, Brody has the beaches patrolled by watchmen and coastguards. However there is soon another shark attack where a young man rowing a boat is capsized and then killed by the shark and Brody's son witnesses the encounter and narrowly avoids the shark himself but he goes into shock as a result but is soon rescued by Brody. Finally Brody convinces the mayor to hire local veteran fisherman, Quint (Robert Shaw) to hunt and kill the shark. 

Brody also persuades Quint into bringing along Hooper to help out in their quest, but of course Quint being a stubborn old school guy takes umbrage to the young Hooper, who he sees as nothing more than a wealthy college boy. So, naturally this leads to much tension between the two men.  

And the rest of the films sees the men embark on their dangerous journey to find and kill the rouge great white shark.....

THOUGHTS 

Jaws is without doubt an absolute classic thriller, and is easily one of Steven Spielberg's best films, it was the film that announced his career and he effectively invented the summer blockbuster with this one film as well.  And even after 45 years, Jaws is still as effective as ever, as a piece of suspense it is nearly second to none, Spielberg adds in as many cheap frights as he can, and I'm sure the audiences back then would have been jumping out of their seats.

But the film definitely works best when we DON'T see the shark, particularly early on in the film in the opening scene where the first victim Chrissie Watkins is being violenty pulled back and forth in the water by an unseen force, as well as the scene with the two fishermen using a pound of roast to attract the shark to shore, which it takes as bait and attacks the men.

PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section contains spoilers!)

As for the performances, this is where the film scores big as the cast are all on top form, particularly the three lead actors.

Starting with Roy Schneider who is great in his role as Chief Broady, who is burdened with having to deal with the shark situation on Amity island. 

Roy has plenty of highlights that include the scene at the beginning of the film where he wakes up and looks outside to see where the kids are and he tells his wife, Ellen, they are playing out back.  And Ellen says "In Amity you say the yaaard" in a Boston accent and Brody mimics her accent by saying "They're in the yaaard, not too faaaar from the caaaar!  How's that?" and Ellen says "Like you are from New York!".

Then there is the scene where Broady nervously monitors the beach whilst his family are with him and he notices something bob ontop of the water, which turns out to be an old man swimming with a cap on.  And the old fella walks over to Brody later and says "You don't go in the water at all, do you chief?" and Brody replies "That's some bad hat Harry!".  Which later came the name of the production company belonging to film director Bryan Singer (admittedly I have to say its a crap name!).        

And also the scene where Brody after a tough day decide to get drunk and he invites Hooper around for dinnner.  And after Hooper sits with them, Brody asks Hooper "Is it true that most people get attacked by sharks in three feet of water...about 10 feet from the beach?" and Hooper says "Yes". Brody then continues to ask "And before people started to swim for recreation...I mean before sharks knew what they were missing...that a lot of these attacks weren't reported?" and Hooper says "That's right". Brody then goes on to say "Now, this guy...he keeps swimmin' around in a place where the feeding is good...until the food supply is gone. Right?" and Hooper interrupts and says "Its called territoriality. Its a theory I happen to agree with".  So Brody then says to Hooper "Why don't we get another drink and cut that shark open" his wife, Ellen, says "Martin, can you do that?" and Brody replies "I can do anything. I'm the chief of police!".  

Another good scene for Schneider is where Brody and Hooper try to convince the mayor into closing the beaches.  And Brody says to the mayor "If you open the beaches on the 4th of July it will be like ringing the dinner bell for Christ's sake!". 

Then there is the scene where Brody finally persuades Vaughan to hire Quint to hunt and kill the shark after the death of another person on the 4th July. So, in the scene Brody asks Vaughan "You gotta pen, Larry? Cause you're gonna do what do you do best...You're gonna sign this voucher so I can hire a contractor. I'm gonna hire Quint to kill the shark!". Vaughan however, still distressed after the incident and he mutters about the rest of the season "August..." and Brody says to him "What are you talkin about?! Summer's over. You're the mayor of shark city. These people think you want the beaches open!". Vaughan however nervously says "I was acting in the town's best interests" and Brody firmly says to him "You were and now you're gonna sign this and pay that guy what he wants!". And after Vaughan quietly says to Brody "Martin...my kids were on that beach too" Brody says "Sign it, Larry" and Vaughan finally relents and signs the contract and Brody walks off.

Then there is classic moment where Broady throws out some chum markers to lure the shark (chums are basically a mix of fish, bone and blood).  And as Quint tells Hooper to steer the boat and go "Slow ahead", Brody says to them "I can go slower ahead, why don't you come down here and chum some of this shit!".  However at this point the shark suddenly rises out of the water without warning, and Quint nervous flinches and backs slowly into the living quarters of the boat and says to Quint the classic line "You're gonna need a bigger boat!".

Then we have the moment where Brody has finally had enough of Quint's failed attempts at trying to kill the shark and he heads off to the radio and Quint asks him "Where are you goin?" and Brody says "I'm going to make a phone call!". So, as Brody tries to reach the coastguard on the radio, Quint comes in with a baseball and smashes the radio up and he says to Brody "Excuse me, chief!" and hands the bat to him. Brody however is furious and shouts at Quint "THAT'S GREAT! THAT'S JUST GREAT! Where the hell are we now, huh?!" and he brandishes the bat at Quint and yells "YOU'RE CERTIFIABLE QUINT! YOU'RE CERTIFIABLE!". 

And of course there is penultimate scene near the end where Brody faces off against the shark and he throws a compressed air canister into its mouth and he fires his rifle at it as it closes in on him and he says that classic line "Smile you son of a bitch!". And well...you know what happens next! 

Richard Dreyfuss is also great as Hooper, the youngest of the three men and an expert from the oceangraphic institute, who could almost be spoilt and bratish in his manner, as he comes from a wealthy background, but ultimately Hooper is far more sussed than just about everyone else in the film.

And Dreyfuss has his fare share of great moments such as the scene where he examines the remains of Chrissie Watkins and he angrily refutes the coroner's report and says "Now this wasn't a boating accident!  It was no propeller, no coral reef and it wasn't Jack the ripper!".  And Hooper takes a moment and washes his face and then he looks up at Brody and says "It was a shark!".

Then there is the great scene where Hooper tries to convince the mayor into closing the beaches after they find the wrecked remains of a local fisherman's boat.  However the mayor refuses to listen, so Hooper gives up by saying "Right that's it, Martin!  I'm not staying here listening to a man, lining up to be a hot lunch, I'll see you later!" as well as "I think I am aware of the fact that you are going to ignore this particular problem until it swims up and bites you in the ASS!  Now there are either two ways you can deal with this, you are either gonna kill this animal or cut off its food supply!".

Then Hooper makes a last ditch attempt to convince the mayor and says to him "Mr. Vaughn, what we are dealing with here is a perfect engine, an eating machine. It's really a miracle of evolution. All this machine does is swim and eat and make little sharks, and that's all. Now, why don't you take a long, close look at this sign".  And Hooper points to a vandalised billboard sign showing a shark fin popping out the water and Hooper says to the mayor "Those proportions are correct" but the mayor scoffs at Hooper and says "Love to you prove that, wouldn't ya?  Get your name into the national geographic!" and he shakes his head and walks off, leaving Hooper to laugh out load in dispair.  

Dreyfus also shares a good albeit tense onscreen relationship with Robert Shaw, which was mirrored in real life, on account of Shaw's competitive nature and heavy drinking.  And one of their funny scenes comes when Hooper thinks he's caught the shark, but whatever it is get's away and Quint puts him in his place, which leaves Hooper pulling faces behind his back!  And he mocks Qunit by putting on a pirate voice "Aye aye, Jim boy, arrr!!" and then he impersonates the American comedian and actor, W.C. Fields by saying "I don't have to take this abuse much longer!".

Then there is the seen where Hooper and Quint have a little moment where they bond as they show each other their inuries from encounters with fish in the waters.  And Hooper opens the top of his shirt and shows him a faint scar on his chest and he says "You see this?" and Brody says "What is it?" and Hooper tells him "Mary Ellen Moffat.  She broke my heart!" and he bursts into a fit of laughter.  And afterward, Brody notices a tatoo on Quint's arm and asks what it is and Quint "Oh, that's just an old tatoo I had it removed" and Hooper butts in and says "Don't tell me, don't tell me. "Mother!" and he bursts out laughing again. 

And then there is the scene where, Quint begins to admit defeat as he has run out of ideas on how to kill the shark, so finally asks Hooper what he can do with this gadgets and items to kill the shark.  So, Hooper takes out a harpoon needle and says "Well, I think I can pump 20 cc's of strychnine nitrate into him, if I can get close enough".  And Quint looks at the needle and asks "Can you get this little needle through his skin?" and Hooper says "No, I can't do that.  But if I can get him close enough to this cafe, I think I can get him in the mouth or the eye....".  However, Brody interrupts and says "That shark will rip that cage to pieces!" and Hooper shouts back "YOU GOT ANY BETTER SUGGESTIONS???!".  

Robert Shaw is also great in his role as Quint, the old veteran seaman, who runs the task of hunting down the rogue shark that terrorises Amity island.

Shaw has plenty of great memorable moments also that include his first scene is great where he introduces himself memorably by scraping his fingers down a blackboard during a town hall meeting.

And in the scene Hooper makes his offer to the townsfolk to kill the shark and says "You all know me, you all know how I make a livin.  This shark, swallow you whole. Little shakin', little tenderizin', an' down you go. And we gotta do it quick, that'll bring back your tourists, put all your businesses on a payin' basis. But it's not gonna be pleasant. I value my neck a lot more than three thousand bucks, chief. I'll find him for three, but I'll catch him, and kill him, for ten. But you've gotta make up your minds. If you want to stay alive, then ante up. If you want to play it cheap, be on welfare the whole winter. I don't want no volunteers, I don't want no mates, there's just too many captains on this island. $10,000 for me by myself. For that you get the head, the tail, the whole damn thing!".

Also another great moment is where Quint confronts Hooper on their first meeting and after he tells Hooper to tie him a sheep-shank knot, Hooper does so and throws it to Quint and asks "How's that". So, Quint says to Hooper "Give me your hands!" and he roughly grabs Hooper's hands and says to him "When you got a 5000 dollars net, you got 2000 dollars worth of fisherman. And along comes Mr. Whitey, by the time he's finished with that net, it looks like a kiddy's scissor class has cut it up for a paper doll! You got city hands, Mr. Hooper. You've been counting money all your life!". 

Then there is of course the scene where Quint is about to set sail with Brody and Hooper and in a jovial mood he spouts out some dirty limericks and silly songs, some of which include "Here lies the body of Mary-Lee, died at the age of 103, for 15 years she kept her virginity!  Not a bad record for this vicinity!".  And of course there is the song "Farewell and adieu to fair Spanish ladies, fairwell and adieu to you ladies of Spain!  For we've received orders for to sail back to Boston. And so never more shall we be seeing you again!".   

And later when onboard the boat where Quint puts Hooper in his place again by saying he doesn't know what bit through his fishing line.  And Quint says to Hooper "Gamin' fish eh? Marlin? Stingray? Bit through this piano wire?!  Don't you tell me my business again!" and Hooper says "Quint, that doesn't prove a damn thing!" and Quin says "Well it proves one thing, Mr Hooper, that you wealthy college boys don't have the education to admit when you are wrong!".

And perhaps the film's best scene and one of its highlights is undoubtedly of course where the men sit around at night in the cabin of the Orca (Quint's boat) sharing jokes, and Quint gives his chilling account of his experience of being one of the crewmates onboard the USS Indianapolis, during the Second World War, which was attacked by the Japanese, which left the survivors in the Pacific ocean at the mercy of sharks.

And Shaw's delivery of this scene is perfect as well as chilling and perhaps the best line is where he tells Brody and Hooper: "Sometimes that shark look right at you.  Right into your eyes.  You know the thing about shark he's got black eyes, lifeless eyes... like a doll's eyes.  When he comes at ya, he doesn't seem to be livin.  Until he bites ya, and those black eyes roll over white and the ocean turns red".  And Quint finishes by telling them "So, eleven hundred men went into the water, three hundred sixteen men come out, and the sharks took the rest, June the 29th, 1945.  Anyway... we delivered the bomb".  

Then there is the scene where Quint decides as a last ditch effort to kill the shark to draw it towards the shore to drown it and he puts heavy pressure on the boat's engine, which is already struggling. So, in the scene Quint says to Brody and Quint "I'm gonna draw him into the shallow waters and drown him" and he says to Brody "We're heading in, Brody!" and Brody says "Thank Christ!". And as Quint carries on driving the boat towards the shore he shouts to Brody and Hooper "Back home we have a taxidermy man! He's gonna have a heart attack when he sees what I brought him!". 

Also in regards to the supporting cast Murray Hamilton is also excellent as Mayor Vaughan, who is determined to keep the beaches open despite the dangers in the waters of Amity.

Hamilton also has some great moments such as the scene where the Mayor persuades Brody to change his report on the first shark attack in order to cover up the death to avoid any impact on their business for the summer.  And in the scene the Mayor says to Brody "Martin, it's all psychological. You yell barracuda, everybody says, "Huh? What?" You yell shark, we've got a panic on our hands on the Fourth of July!".

Then there is the scene where Hooper arrives on the island just after the fishermen have caught a tiger shark, and Hooper suggests they cut it open to ensure it killed the boy, Alex Kitner.  And Vaughan says "Listen fellas, this is hardly the time or the place to carry out some sort half-assed autopsy on a fish!  And I am not going to stand there and watch that thing cut open and see that little Kintner boy spill out all over the dock!".

And another good for Murray is where Hooper tries to convince Vaughan to close the beaches and Vaughan looks up at vandalised billboard poster for Amity showing a shark's dorsal fin.  And Vaughan says pointing at the poster "Brody, sick vandalism!  That is a direct mutilation of a public service announcement!  Now I want those paint happy bastards caught and hung up by their busker browns!".

And lastly Lorraine Gray, who is the weakest cast member but not by much as she is still pretty good here as Brody's wife, Ellen, its just her performance is overshadowed by those of the three leads. 

And Lorraine has some good moments such as the scene where Brody berates his young son, Michael, for sitting out in his birthday present, which is a new dinghy boat which is tied up to a pier.  And Ellen says to Brody in defence for her son "He is not out on the water, he is in a boat!  I don't think he'll ever go in again after what happened yesterday!".  But then Ellen who holds a book on sharks that Broady had with him, looks through and sees a picture of a shark ramming a hole into the hull of a small rowboat and she slams the book shut and yells "Michael!  Did you hear your father?!  Out of the water, now!  NOW!!".     

DIRECTOR AND MUSIC 

Moving onto the director, Steven Spielberg did a stellar job with Jaws and he created the perfect mixture of suspense and thrills and throughout the film there are some great moments where he has the audience jumping out of their seats, namely the scene where Jaws pops out of the water or where Hooper finds the remains of a fisherman underneath the waters.  Spielberg also keeps the film's pacing real tight throughout and also employs some great visual moments as well such as the scene with the dolly zoom shot of Brody witnessing the Kintner boy being killed in the waters.

Spielberg himself throughout the production of course endured many problems as it was primarily shot at Martha's vineyard out in Massachusetts but the scenes sea shot at sea proved to be the most problematic.  The shoot at sea had numerous troubles such as passing ships getting into shot, cameras being soaked with sea water not to mention the hydraulic fake sharks rarely worked, which is often a anecdote told by Dreyfuss himself that tannoy announcements were made around the island saying "The shark is not working!".  On top of this Shaw's heavy drinking cause much friction between himself and Dreyfuss  and the actors themselves were regularly seasick during the sea shoots.

So, in spite of the film's turbulent production, Spielberg here still managed to produce one of his best efforts here and directorially speaking there only a handle full of films he directed as well as this one in his career. 

And of course I can't forget to mention John Williams music score, which is simply superb and it really brought him to prominence as he won his first academy award for the score.  And its incredible to think how tinkly two ivory notes would prove to be so effective and overall its such a great score its one you can easily listen to on its own without watching the film.  Yep, its that good, so good in fact I even own it as an MP3 download (via Amazon) and listen to it quite alot!      

FLAWS (Warning this section may contain spoilers but I guess we all know the story by now!)

As for flaws...... well Jaws maybe a great film but, yes it isn't quite perfect.

And to kick off I'd say one of the main flaws is of course the shark itself, as once its unveiled the film's great suspense that was built up before is now nullified by the appearance of this totally unconvincing rubber creation.  And the shark itself is clearly too big in proportion, and it looks ridiculously fake, although Spielberg does make very effective use of the underwater footage of real sharks, shot by an Australian shark expert couple Ron and Valerie Taylor.

And the shark itself does let the movie down in places, and toward the end it shifts from being a gripping thriller to being ridiculously over the top, with the shark blatantly rising out the water to crash onto the boat's transom, so it can eat Quint and Brody.  In reality of course, there is no way sharks would deliberately prey on humans, as they are largely terratorial creatures who stick to their own environments, and despite the fact that yes there have been many reported shark attacks over the years, sharks themselves largely live off a diet of other marine life such as sea otters, seals and sea lions and they don't deliberately hunt out people in the water!

It also has to be said that the ending of the film is also a weakness as Spielberg at the time wanted a big ending that would have the audiences screaming and on their feet, and the idea to actually blow up the shark was and is quite ridiculous.  There is no doubt the fact that while the end is farcical it is also quite entertaining, and yeah ok you can't but help feel when Brody finally shoots the compressed air canister the shark has in its open jaws, when the sharks explodes, it is a crowd pleaser (the sound accompanying the shot of the shark as its remains sink into the water is actually taken from Spielberg's debut film, Duel, when the truck at the end goes over the cliff).

I would also of course say that the film didn't do sharks as a spieces any favours either, if anything it demonised sharks in the public, and it would take many years later before the myth behind sharks, being monsters, would be debunked.  Peter Benchley, who the wrote the novel the film is based on, later said he deeply regretted writing the novel when he saw the impact it had on the species as the film appeared to legitimise shark hunting. 

The film also paved the way for its inferior sequels, although Jaws 2 was the best of the three of the films (it would have been even better if the shark ate the screaming teenagers in it!) but by the truly awful Jaws 4: The Revenge, the sharks suddenly took on the concept of revenge and that they had to hunt down the rest of the Brody family!  Yeahh ok!!  Surely by then they should have taken note of the concept of horror-thriller sequels is not a good idea!  Although Michael Caine has frequently since said he only took up the part in Jaws 4 in order to help buy a new house for his grandmother (so at least his fee went to good use!).

On a plot note I was also a bit bugged by Hooper's rather presumptious nature in the film especially in the scene where he virtually barges into Brody's home and he starts helping himself to Brody's dinner! I mean this guy really does like make himself at home, doesn't he without really consulting anyone!

And last of all we have the matter of the real villain of the film and no, its not the shark, its the mayor of Amity, Larry Vaughan! I mean it takes four deaths for this man to finally sit up and take notice that the town has a serious shark problem on its hands, yet he wants to cover it up as long as he can in order to bring people to the beaches for their money.  But surely this guy should have had more common sense rather than continue to let people die on the island!  In short, he's a selfish, greedy, money grubbing dick!

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So to sum up, Jaws to this day is still a masterpiece of modern cinema, it hits all the right notes (even musical!) and it rarely sets a foot wrong (except of course for the fake shark!) as it is brilliantly acted and directed and it features one of the most memorable scores in film.  And any niggles it may have are greatly outweighed by its great qualities and for me it remains essential viewing.

Right, so that's it for now and I will return in February with another post of sorts.

Till then its bye for now!

Top 10 Hardest Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice Bosses Part 2: No's 5-1

Right, so its time for Part 2 of my look at the hardest bosses from the action game, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, which has its fair share of tough opponents and here I will look at who made it into the top 5.

So, with that said let's dive back in and take a gander at these fiendishly difficult bosses...

5. Isshin Ashina 

So, at No.5 is the final boss of the game if you pick what is known as the "Shura" ending of the game that translates into the "bad" ending of the four possible endings you can get. This is actually a three phase fight where you fight Emma, the gentle blade in phase 1 and Isshin Ashina in phase 2 and 3 and this fight is no joke whatsoever!


WARNING: SPOILERS COMING UP! 

As for the actual fight as I mentioned it begins with Emma in phase 1 who will fight you after Sekiro has chosen to forsake his Lord (Kuro) and Emma herself isn't too bad an opponent to face here but she can still deal out some hefty damage. And Emma's moves include an abbreviated version of the combat art, Ashina cross that deals brutal damage and is almost one-shot material. Emma also has a perilous attack where she can grab you and throw you to the ground that also deals out hefty damage aswell as a thrust attack. And lastly Emma has a sword and hilt flurry attack that must be blocked or else its curtains basically!

Moving onto the 2nd phase, after you have defated Emma, Isshin steps in to fight you and this is where the fight really begins. Isshin has a number of dangerous attacks at his disposal starting with Ashina cross, which is essentially a focused two hit slash that can whop away alot of your health. Isshin can also perform a Ichimonji double attack, where he performs an overhead sword strike twice that is also pretty devastating to your health bar. Isshin also uses a 3 hit combo attack with his katana and this can also hurt quite a bit if it full connects.

In the 3rd phase things get a bit crazier where Isshin gains a pyro ability of sorts that can set the room on fire and he can cause a trail of fire through an overhead sword slash that will cause hefty burn damage to Sekiro if he doesn't avoid it. Isshin also can perform a flurry attack consisting of a series of sword slashes that deal out alot of pain and certain death if not deflected or avoided.

Strategy wise...well I have to say this fight can be very challenging but phase 1 is easiest out of the thee for sure as Emma while she can definitely hurt you, she doesn't pose a huge threat. So to deal with Emma you can either use Ako or Ungo's sugar to reduce physical damage or increase your attack damage when taking hits or dishing them out (in that order I have written for Ako and Ungo!). Primarily though this is a fight where you want to deflect Emma's attacks, perform a Mikiri counter whenever she performs a thrust attack, step back when she does her Ashina cross attack and basically keep building up the posture damage from successive hits and eventually she will fall and by doing this, you character has hit the point of no return.

In the 2nd phase again Isshin's attacks should be deflected to build posture damage where possible especially when he uses his 3 hit combo. I would also use Ichimonji double after he has performed his Ashina cross which you should run round the back of so you don't get hit by it and then bonk him on the head with the double attack. If you can avoid his perilous attacks then step dodge away from them but if you can manage it try and mikiri counter the thrust and jump on his for the sweep attack but I must admit I'm not so great at pulling off either of these!

As for the 3rd phase, I would use the loaded umbrella to block his flurry attack and ensure that you have plenty of dousing powder to hand to nullify the burn damage from Isshin's fire attacks. If you have the upgrade you could also use the Sakuza's loaded umbrella, which does a great job at mitigating fire attacks and could make this phase alot easier but unfortunately I wasn't able to get the upgrade myself at the time. That aside you can also use the firecrackers to stun Isshin temporarily and use that to get a few hits in but he will block quickly after the second hit usually. Again though build posture damage through deflects, shinobi firecracker him to get extra hits, use Ako sure for extra damage and make sure to either dodge away from his fire attacks or get the umbrella upgrade to negate this and hopefully that should do it.

So, I would definitely say this is a pretty hard fight, especially Isshin's phases as his high damage potential and fire attacks can be pretty devastating if you are caught in them and even for an old guy he still makes a pretty formidable foe and on that deserves to be in the top 5.

4. Genichiro Ashina

So, at No.4 is this fella Genichiro Ashina, who Sekiro can face more often than any other opponent in the game depending on which end you choose to go for but this of course relates to his main fight when you battle him atop Ashina castle and it is hands down one of the hardest fights in the entire game.

Now depending on how you look at it, this is either two or three phase fight because Genichiro starts with two healthbars but when you have depleted both of them he goes into his final phase where he strips off his armour and gains lightning attacks. However for the sake of argument we wil call it a 2 phase fight.

So, in phase 1, Genichiro can deploy a number of different attacks such as his floating passage (sounds a bit dodgy actually lol!) where he performs a number of successive slashes. He will also use his bow frequently in the fight, especially if you keep your distance from him he will fire off a pretty hefty arrow, which will deal alot of damage but he can also perform a multiple bow attack as he fires off several arrows. Genichiro also has a grab attack that can be deal out alot of damage if it connects as well as sword attack and kick. On his second healthbar the main difference is that Genichiro alternates to a perilous sweep rather than a thrust attack.

As for his 2nd phase, Genichiro as mentioned, strips off his armour and gains lightning attack abilitiesand here he has three new attacks consisting of a leaping thrust, lightning smash and slam. The leaping thrust is easily the most dangerous of these attacks from the point of view of healing as it is very hard to do so when Genichiro uses this attack and the lightning attacks require careful timing to avoid aswell but I will mention more about them in a tic.

Strategy wise...well this really is a very tough fight and it took me 35 goes to get past Genichiro on my latest playthrough where I played the game un-modded on the PS4 as I played him in an easier PC mod on my first two playthroughs and he was much easier then but here he's a different kettle of fish!

Basically with Genichiro you are best to stay close to him and be aggressive and try to attack him as much as you can and deflect his attacks whenever you can. The perilous thrust attack in his first phase can be mikiri countered and you can bounce off his head like you would with other bosses when he does his sweep attack. As for his bow attack if you are at a distance he will for sure fire off his bow and you are going to heal at that point make sure to dodge just as you hear him pull back on his bow and readies to fire then you will not get hit. Regarding his multiple bow attacks you have to watch out for him jumping into the air and when he does instantly deflect his arrows as best you can. Lastly for phase 1 you can deflect his floating passage attack, which is very effective for building up posture damage on him.

Phase 2 is where things get a bit more annoying as it is almost impossible to find a good window to heal as Genichiro will leap at you right away with his new thrust attack, so you are best tyring to use the Mikiri counter on it if you can but I always found it tricky to time as I always sucked at this attack lol! Failing that just try and jump back to avoid his perilous thrust attack and then heal as he has landed. As for his lightning attacks...well this is where I did struggle quite badly because you are supposed to do the lightning reversal trick and leap into the air and throw the lightning back at him but I always found it VERY tricky to time correctly and died more times than not from shock! If you get a chance you could pop and eel liver which will help reduce shock damage from lightning attacks but again you might find it difficult to get a window.

To sum up, the main thing here is to stay aggressive and block his attacks whenever you can, if you can mikiri, great, if not try and jump back to avoid his attacks and also try your best to do the lightning reversal tricky but if not try again to jump back to avoid being caught in it. In between this just keep wading into Genichiro whenever possible and use firecrackers also to distract him and he should eventually fall.

So, Genichiro without a doubt deserves to be this high on the list as his fight is the first real test you will encounter in the game and its a real stern one to deal with and if you do its a great hurdle to overcome and one that is worthy of its place here at No.4.

3. Demon of Hatred 

So, at No.3 is the Demon of Hatred, a big firey beast, who actually resembles a certain other Bloodborne boss by the name of Laurence, the First Vicar, who was also a beat and on fire just like this guy is! The only thing is that the Demon of Hatred may be even tougher as a boss than Laurence was which is saying something!

The Demon of Hatred himself primarily uses a series of fire attacks in the fight and they consist of an explosive body slam, a hand drag charge that is particularly nasty and can virutally one-shot a player and a fireball summon which the demon will throw at you when you are at a distance. His other attacks also include foot slams, fire melee combo, a head slam which he can do right infront of you if you are too close and a fire whip slam that has a pretty big range and again does heavy damage and he does a variation of this also in the 2nd phase. The 3rd and final phase will see the demon do a fire whip swing combo and a double hand drag charge similar to the first phase.

As for how to deal with this big beasty...well cheat basically lol! Well I must admit to my shame I did try the cheese tactic against this boss which did work that involves Sekiro climbing up a tower and jumping over to a wall and climbing up onto one of the buildings and going to edge of it, with the demon trapped in the corner, he will eventually fall to his death below! Its a big cheat for sure but it does work and I know that because obviously you will have a really hard time with him if you didn't.,

However I must admit I did fight this big guy proper solo too and by heck he is pretty brutal and his attacks are quite devastating and I found it hard to get past one health bar before running out of healing items! What I would say is to ensure that you have the Suzaku's umbrella upgrade before you take this big beat on because it does a great job at coping with his firey attacks, especially the body slam one.

That aside I would suggest using Ako's sugar and whacking away at what I can only describe as the demon's nutsack area to damage him! You can also use the Malcontent Shinobi prosphetic tool if you have it on you as it can disorientate him long enough for you wade in and get more damage done but it can only be used three times max before it wears off on the demon. Lastly make sure you use dousing powder or Ministry dousing powder which is a bit more effective or even the withered red gourd that also helps with fire/burn damage. Also be sure to run away and doge his fireball attack and watch out for when he is about to perform a hand drag charge and jump out the way and keep to his side to whack away at him whenever you can and eventually he will go down after many attempts!

So, for me I have to say that I did beat this boss twice on a PC mod, which was tricky but a fair bit easier than the standard difficulty mode of the game but I could see just how brutal he is un-modded so for that reason I have decided to put the Demon of Hatred here at No.3 where I think he certainly belongs.

2. Owl (Father)

So in the runner-up spot is Owl Father, who is basically a souped up version of the Great Shinobi Owl and by God this guy is tough! You actually meet the Owl Father in an alternate version of an area called Hirata Estates where you visited earlier to fight Lady Butterfly and in the same arena where you fought her and it is for sure one of the most demanding fights in the entire game. 

As for Owl Father's moves he does a mix of combos and firecracker attacks in the first phase and all of these attacks are utterly devastating to your health bar and literally one-shot material in some cases especially the firecracker slash combo. Owl also does a leaping attack too which is easily avoided for the most part. What also makes the Owl difficult is his speed as he can zig zag very quickly throughout the area you fight him in. As for his 2nd phase, Owl then literally produces a phantom Owl that flies around and it can do a perilous fire attack, which cannot be blocked by the loaded umbrella. So all this adds up to a very very difficult battle.

Strategy wise...now your asking! Well for me the best and most efficient way to deal with the Owl was to use the Mortal Blade Draw attack, which is reliable for chipping away at the boss's health and posture but you need to carefully time your attacks or else you will be punished by the Owl with a one or two shot death! To avoid his other attacks you can try and deflect them however he can deal out huge posture damage so at best you can only manage to tank 3 hits before your posture is broken. As for his firecracker slash attack, simply back off and jump away as you will have enough time to do so if you keep an eye out for it. I would also recommend doing the same for his owl fire blaze attack as you cannot block with even the fire resistant umbrella.

But overall I would say the mortal draw attack is the best way to hurt the Owl and the best time to use is just after his leap attack, which you can back off from easily. So if you rinse and repeat with the mortal draw then the Owl will eventually fall and end a very tough fight indeed.

So, for me Owl Father without a doubt deserves the runner-up spot as he is a punishingly difficult boss with very fast attacks that deal ridiculous amounts of damage in fact I would even go as far as to say they even do unfair amounts of damage! Its just FromSoft again trying to top ways they can pulverise the play in one or two hits and succeeding! So, the Owl Father definitely earns his spot here at No.2.

So the hardest boss in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is....

1. Mist Noble

Yep at No.1 is the Mist Noble, yeah he is just absolutely brutal. I mean one hit and you are dead! Nah just kidding, this guy is easily the EASIEST boss in the game!

No, the real hardest boss in the game is....

1. Isshin, the Sword Saint

Yep, this one comes as little surprise but for me and many other players the hardest boss in the game is the final boss also and that is Isshin, the Sword Saint. In the Soulsborne games the final bosses tended to be a mixed bag difficulty wise but most of them proved pretty easy but here I think FromSoftware wanted to make up for their previous end game boss with something utterly unforgivingly brutal and they sure did it here with this guy!

WARNING: BIG SPOILER COMING UP IN THE NEXT PARAGRAPH!

Now, this fight actually begins with Isshin's grandson, Genichiro who Sekiro must ALWAYS fight every time you take on this boss battle as it leads into the main encounter with Isshin as basically Geni sacrifices himself to bring his grandad back from the dead by literally climbing out of his body! And this must rank as one of the most bizarre cutscenes that have featured in any game that FromSoftware have ever done!

As for the fight itself in the 1st phase, Genichiro will always begin with an attack from his black Mortal Blade that can deal out major damage if it connects. Genichiro's remaining moveset is very similar to the one in his previous fight with Sekiro that consists of his floating passage flurry attack, bow attacks but another new addition is a grab attack where he throws you down and stabs you to take away half your health bar!

After you manage to whip away Genichiro's health bar, he sacrifices himself with the mortal blade and his grandad, Isshin emerges from him and its a younger but still middle-aged Isshin but he is unfortunately for you now in his prime. So, with three daunting health bars to battle against with Isshin, his 1st phase begins with Isshy (for short!) doing similar attacks to his older version in the alternate ending of the game, which comprises of Ashina cross, three hit combo aswell as a perilous thrust and sweep attack. Isshin will also use the Ichimonji double too like he did in the other fight in the "Shura" ending of the game. And of course all these attacks can be pretty devastating to Sekiro's health bar!

However in the 2nd phase this is where the fight REALLY gets hard as Isshin whips out a big spear from God knows where but certain Youtubers suggested he pulled it from his ass, which suggests Isshin has a body like a TARDIS, i.e. bigger on the inside! Anyway...Isshin also takes out a repeating pistol that seems a bit ahead of its time period of the 16th century as repeating firearms weren't realistically developed until the 17th century but I digress!

Anyway so in the 2nd phase, Isshin does a series of brutal spear attacks and this is also not helped by the fact the spear is MASSIVE and it dishes out MAJOR damage. In fact I'm sure that the 2nd phase is where most people will struggle with this fight as Isshin's speed and his attacks are pretty overwhelming until you get the hang of his attack patterns. His repeating pistol attack is performed at random and overall doesn't do too much damage but Isshin still also uses his katana to perform combos as well as if all that other stuff isn't enough!

In his final phase, Isshin does more of the same spear attacks along with his pistol but this time he adds in some lightning attacks aswell just for good measure. The lightning attacks are also pretty nasty and will cause shock damage to Sekiro if he doesn't avoid them in time that will also destroy his health bar. Isshin also does some ranged whirlwind attacks. And guess what? Yep they also dish out large amounts of damage! So yep this is a whole lot BS to deal with from the game's final boss!

As for how to cope with this hellishly difficult fight...just give up! Nah kidding.

Well to break it down phase by phase as usual, for Genichiro's phase, its a simply case of staying very aggressive and for the most part you can even cancel alot of his attacks by spamming R1 and hitting him over and over but this isn't always 100% effective as he will block you after a short while. As for dealing with his attacks, run behind him when he does his mortal draw and you wont get by it and just follow it up with some hits of your own and Ichimonji double is pretty to use here to build posture damage. As for his perilous attacks, his jumping thrust can be deal with by a mikiri counter but only trouble is I suck at this move BIG TIME! So, I would also suggest jumping back if you aren't confident with the mikiri counter. Also I would suggest backing off when he does his sweep attack and run back in to get a few hits and you can even use the divine confetti and firecrackers to stun Genichiro to get more posture damage on him and he will eventually drop.

In the 2nd phase of the battle and Isshin's 1st phase try and deflect his three hit combo and when he performs his Ashina cross attack, get behind him and perform an Ichimonji double to get some posture damage and you can also do this when he performs his double projected force attack. For Isshin's perilous thrust and sweep attacks either back off or mikiri the thrust or jump off his head to get posture damage for his sweep. You can also use Ako's sugar to build on your damage to Isshin and again use the old faithful firecrackers to stun him.

In the 3rd overall phase and Isshin's 2nd phase, this is where things get way more difficult to deal with as he whips out his spear and pistol and for this phase I would suggest using Gokan's sugar to boost your posture because you will want to deflect a lot of Isshin's spear attacks. I would also suggest doing a mikiri counter for Isshin's perilous thrust spear attack and I found for the most part it was one of the easier attacks to counter this way and it does good posture damage. For Isshin's repeating pistol attack just simply block it with your katana and it should negate any damage it might do to Sekiro. Isshin also does a leaping attack with his spear and I would suggest either jumping out the way or even better block it with the loaded umbrella and if you can time well enough you can follow it up with a projected force attack that does decent posture damage and the same applies to Isshin's own projected force attacks.

As for the final phase of the fight, its simply a case of repeating the same steps as you would in Isshin's 2nd phase but this time you will need to learn how to time your lightning reversal attack to throw back Isshin's lightning at him. Now for me this was perhaps the single hardest part of the fight to time right as I always sucked at timing it! But what I've seen you need to jump in the air just as Isshin comes down from his own leap and performs the lightning attack and you then spam R1 or RB to throw it back at him and it does a fair bit of posture damage. You can though also jump back from this lightning attack too if you are able to then this would be a better solution than struggle with the lightning reversal trick. So, if you put all this together then hopefully it will lead to you being victorious over Isshin, the Sword Saint.

So for me Isshin, the Sword Saint is hands down the hardest boss in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and it is especially so given it is such a long fight at four phases and it more than deserves the top spot.

Right that's it for now and I will see you soon for another.

Till then its bye for now!

Top 10 Hardest Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice Bosses Part 1: No's 10-6

Right, so just for a change (or a slight change!) I've decided to do yet another top 10 list (yes another one!) but this one will take a look at my pick of the hardest bosses in FromSoftware's latest video game, Sekiro, which has been well renowned for its brutal difficulty.

Now Sekiro has its share of mini bosses aswell in the game (in fact there are 30 of them!) but for the purpose of this post I thought I would just limit it to the main bosses of the game and having played them all I will base them on ny difficulty but also working in their reputation for ordering the list. I will also make suggestions on how to defeat the bosses or how I personally dealt with the fights.  

So with that said let's take a look at these bosses from hell....

10. Gyoubu Oniwa 

So, at No.10 on the list is the first main boss you encounter in the game, Gyoubu Oniwa, who makes quite an impressive entrance as he rides in on horseback and yells his name at the top of his lungs (especially in the English voice over!) as he is determined to stop Sekiro entering Ashina castle.

So, for the fight Oniwa basically uses his giant polarm to try and whop Sekiro's ass with as his horse stampedes all around the outer grounds of the castle and at first this can be a fairly challenging fight. However the fight itself once you get to grips with it isn't too bad overall but it does set up nicely what you can sort of expect ahead of you.

As for how to deal with this fight, well I felt the best way was to pop and Ungo's sugar to reduce the physical damage that Oniwa deals out, which can be pretty hefty aswell as use the grappling hook skill if you have it, which will launch Sekiro towards Oniwa's horse and he will perform an attack after. I would also suggest using shinobi firecrackers to stun the horse so that Sekiro can get quite a few hits in and at this point you might want to also pop an Ako's sugar to boost your damage to the horse. So basically if you use the firecrackers, deflect Oniwa's polearm strikes and use an Ako's sugar and strike the horse in between Oniwa's attacks, rinse and repeat then the fight should be over fairly soon.

So, for me Gyoubu Oniwa is reasonably challenging fight that took me a few goes to get past on my first playthrough but there are for sure much tougher challenges ahead in the game.

9. Great Shinobi Owl

At No.9 is one of the late game bosses, the Great Shinobi Owl and this would be entering big spoiler territory if I was to fully explain why you fight him, so I might leave that out here for now not to spoil anything.

And the GRO while he isn't the toughest of bosses, he still does pose a fair challenge for Sekiro in the game at this stage and he has quite a few damaging attacks to watch out for.

First up, Shinobi Owl likes to use firecrackers...alot...and he can perform a pretty devastating slash attack after that, which will wipe out most of your health bar. Next, the Shinobi Owl can also perform combo attacks that can pummel your posture and health and what can be more dangerous he can throw items that prevent you from healing, which could spell big trouble for you if you get caught in the path of one. In his second phase, the Shinobi Owl can also throw out poison pellets that can easily poison you and poison damage in this game is pretty obnoxious so again you are best staying away from it. And lastly the GRO has a devastating Mikiri Counter, which he will use if you ever perform a thrust attack, he will perform the counter and follow up by stabbing Sekiro, which will take away about 90% of his health!


Strategy wise though for this boss you are best deflecting his attack whenever possible and simply dodge his anti-healing items whenever he throws them but they are pretty well telegraphed so its easy to do and also just back off whenever you see him throw poison pellets. The two things you will want to dodge the most though are his firecracker slash combo and above all else his Mikiri Counter, so for this fight you NEVER want to perform thrust attacks as you will get punished for it big time! I also used the combat art, Ijimonji double, to bump GRO on the head that helps build up posture damage in the 1st phase. And in the 2nd phase I mainly used the Mortal Blade draw, which is great for building posture and health damage and the best time to use it is just after he performs his jump attack and lands. So if you repeat these then the Great Shinobi Owl should eventually fall.

So, even though there are tougher bosses ahead of him, the Great Shinobi Owl can still provide a tough challenge and his attacks can be pretty devastating so you need to be on guard to beat him and as such he deserves to be at No.9 on the list.

8. Guardian Ape

So, at No.8 is the Guardian Ape and I know that some people would place this pesky ape much higher on their lists but I figured I would place him here because after I struggled on him in my first playthrough, I've since managed to work him out and beat him a fair easier. However this big ape is still a dangerous opponent and not to be underestimated. 

As for the Guardian Ape's attacks well this is a first for a FromSoft game boss because here we have a boss, who will pull a big pile of crap from his ass and chuck it at you and he can also fart on you aswell and both of these do poison damage (what has this guy been eating???!!). Other than this, the ape can perform some pretty nasty jump attacks and a brutal grab attack that deals out alot of damage and a flailing attack where he writhes around on the ground. However after you think you have beaten him and you see that much welcome "SHINOBI EXECUTION" caption come up, you soon discover he's not done yet and he rises up again but this time he is headless and he carries his head in one hand and a big katana in the other! So from here, the ape does some pretty nasty slashes with his katana and he can also dish out some hefty terror damage, which will kill Sekiro instantly if his terror metre goes all the way up! So its quite a lot to deal with!

As for how I dealt with the Guardian Ape well for one a good way to deal with him is to use divine confetti as it does some good physical damage to the ape's health. For this poo attack, this can actually be blocked without Sekiro taking much damage or you could simply jump forward when you see him about to perform this attack and you will dodge it. As for his grab attack simply jump back before he can perform it and I would suggest the same for his writhing ground attack.

2nd phase however is mainly a case of deflecting the ape's katana attacks and when he falls face down, wade into him with the katana buffed with confetti but you can also use the loaded spear tool yank out his centipede inside his head for posture damage but I never had much success at this.  As for his terror attacks just use pacifying agent or the purple mottled gourd to counter it but you can usually tell when he is about to do it so you can back off before he does. So if you do all this then the Guardian ape should be beaten and the fight will be FINALLY over for real this time!

So, I would have to say that I did find the Guardian ape quite tough on my first playthrough but after working him out I've since found him much easier and I did beat him on my first try on my 3rd playthrough!

However that aside, this big ape is still a tough opponent and as such he does deserves his spot here at No.8.

7. Lady Butterfly

So, at No.7 is Lady Butterfly, who depending on how you play it can be the 2nd or 3rd main boss you will encounter in the game but I would suggest tackling her 2nd as she can be a fair bit easier than the other boss you would encounter who I will get to a bit later on. However Lady Butterfly herself can prove to be quite a difficult boss to deal with for sure.

As for her fight, this is actually a very balletic one as Sekiro and Lady B lock battle, she spins around a lot making her moveset pretty unique among the other bosses. Lady B also employs the use of a couple of perilous attacks as she can do a dive attack on you from overhead wires and throw shurikens at you as well as perform a grab attack that deals alot of damage. In the 2nd phase, Lady Butterfly will start creating a series of illusions to disorientate Sekiro and these can be followed up by a pretty devastating phantom Kunai attack that can obliterate Sekiro's health bar.

So how I dealt with this fight was to try and deflect her spin attacks as much as I could before my posture would break which is pretty standard stuff anyway. As for her perilous attacks in phase 1, for her overhead dive attack just use a Shuriken which will knock her on her ass and cause some posture damage and the other perilous attack just back off before she performs it. In the 2nd stage you are best either using snap seeds to dispel the illusions that Lady Butterfly creates or simply just around the inside of the pillars around the room until she dispels them herself. The snap seeds aren't actually that effective as they can only dispel local illusions in the room and not all of t6hem at once. As for her phantom Kunai attack you have to basically again just run around the room to dodge them. That aside its a case of just blocking and attacking her and she will eventually go down.

So as a fairly early game boss, Lady Butterfly is certainly quite difficult and as such she definitely deserves her spot on here at No.7.

6. True Corrupted Monk

So, at No.6 to round off the first part of this list is the True Corrupted Monk, who is the real version of the ghost Corrupted Monk you face earlier in the game and she is no joke it has to be said.


As for the Corrupted Monk's attacks, well they can be pretty brutal as she uses a large twinblade weapon and performs some sweeping combos that deal big damage. In the 2nd phase however, things change up as the Monk creates a mist and some illusions of herself that can also attack Sekiro and in the 3rd and final phase, a centipede comes out her head that can inflict terror damage and her attacks are much the same as in phases 1 and 2 only more aggressive.

This fight can be very tricky I certainly struggled with it myself on my latest playthrough where it took 19 attempts beat the monk and its mainly down to her brutal sweeping attacks that are hard to avoid given the size of her twin bladed weapon. In the first phase you its a matter again of trying to block her attacks to build up posture damage and try and get a few hits in in-between with using Ako sugar you can get a damage buff that will help build that posture meter of hers.

In the 2nd phase if you are lucky you can instantly land a deathblow on her if you rope up to the trees above immediately after the 1st deathblow and as the mist appears and you get a lock on her, just jump down and you should get the deathblow red marker. This however isn't necessarily always a guarantee and if you don't succeed in this then you are best roping between the tree branches above to avoid the Monk's phantom clones and then jump down and attack her similar to phase 1 and hope that when the mist comes you can rope up again to the top branch and get the deathblow.

As for the 3rd phase, I found what worked in the end for me was to use Ako's sugar for extra damage and also firecrackers to stun her and if they run out then use fistful of ash, which the monk is weak to and it will you to beat on her more. So, its a case of rinse and repeat this process until she falls and you get the final deathblow. Its also worth noting that you should use pacifying agent to null her terror attack in this phase or the purple mottled gourd.

So, for me the True Corrupted Monk is definitely one of the toughest bosses in the game with her three phases and brutal combo twinblade attacks and initimidating size makes for a tough opponent and one that deserves a spot on the list at No.6.

Right, so that's it for Part 1 and I will be back soon with Part 2 where I look at who made it into the top 5.

So, till then its bye fer now!

My 10 Favourite Films of The Decade 2010-2019 Part 2

Right, so now its time for Part 2 of my look at my pick of the films of the decade from 2010 to 2019 and again these aren't in any particular order and not necessarily from every year in the decade.

So, with that said let's continue with the list...

6. The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

So at No.6 is one that people might not necessarily put on their lists but I figured I would put it on mine which is the finale of the Christopher Nolan trilogy of Batman films: The Dark Knight Rises.

Now I have to say that many people may prefer the The Dark Knight over this one but I personally prefer The Dark Knight Rises as I just see it as a better movie and a bit more satisfying to watch and I also think that The Dark Knight is pretty overrated (only my opinion of course). It also acts as a very solid conclusion to Nolan's trilogy aswell and it of course left things wide open for someone to take over the franchise in future.

As for the story, it follows on from the Dark Knight by about 8 years where Bruce Wayne has hung up his mask and cape and become a recluse while crime in Gotham has gotten under control thanks to the Dent act (named after Harvey Dent, who became Two-Face in TDK) so Bruce no longer feels needed by the city. Meanwhile however, a masked man named Bane (Tom Hardy) escapes FBI custody by hijacking a plane and sets in place a plan to take over Gotham and fulfil the destiny of Ra's Al Gul (Liam Neeson from Batman Begins) and destroy it to end its corruption. Bruce as Batman then returns to fight Bane but is soon overpowered by him as Bane breaks Bruce's back he sends him off to a remote prison abroad. And from here Bruce must find a way to recover and escape from the prison to get back to Gotham and stop Bane from carrying out his plan...

As far as trilogy conclusions go, this is a very solid one and The Dark Knight Rises pays off in quite a few departments with its excellent performances, great action scenes and one of Hans Zimmer's finest scores.

Christian Bale once is great here as Bruce Wayne/Batman although he still does insist on overdoing the husky voice as Batman! As for the new cast members, Tom Hardy is also excellent and quite sinister in his role as the physically intimidating Bane, who wears a tubed mask that helps him breath and stay alive and his fight scene with Batman is one of the most intense in the trilogy. Then there is Anne Hathaway, who is also great in her role as Selina Kyle aka Catwoman and she exhibits the right amount of sass and sexiness to play the part, not to mention there is that scene with Catwoman leaning over on the Batbike! And lastly Marion Cotillard is excellent aswell as Miranda Tate, who Bruce has a brief romantic fling and helps him along the way but later there is a twist involving her.

And as mentioned for me one of the standout aspects of this film is its soundtrack as Hans Zimmer's score is superb and its incredibly intense and suspensful throughout and is great way for him to close out the trilogy also.

So, The Dark Knight Rises is definitely one of my favourite films from the 2010s and for me also the best of the three films in Nolan's trilogy and as such it deserves its spot on the list.

7. Once Upon a Time In Hollywood (2019)

So at No.7 is a film from last year and its the latest offering from Quentin Tarantino, Once upon a time in Hollywood, and for me its easily one of his best films in years. The film itself is Taraninto's loveletter to the end of the Golden era of Hollywood in the late 1960's but it also surrounds the events of the Manson murders that happened around this time.

WARNING: THESE PARAGRAPHS MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS BUT NOT BIG ONES!

Story wise it follows the two fictional characters, Rick Dalton (Leo Di Caprio) a TV actor who's career is now struggling after previous success on the small screen with a western show called Bounty Law and his stunt double, Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt). So in the film Rick does however manage land himself a role in a western TV show called Lancer where he delivers an impressive performance as a villain and he also soon attracts the attention of a casting agent Marvin Schawz (Al Pacino) who wants him to do Spaghetti western films in Italy.

Meanwhile Cliff befriends a hippie girl known as Pussycat (Margaret Qualley) who takes her out to a ranch where the Manson family are located and he talks to the ranch owner, George Spahn (Burce Dern) to check out he is OK and not being taken advantage of but he is soon dismissed by George. Cliff then leaves the ranch but not before beating up one of the family for puncturing a tyre on his car (or rather Rick's car).

The film's other subplot also surrounds the lives of Hollywood actress Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) and her husband and famed director, Roman Polanski (Rafal Zawierucha) who also just happened to next door neighbours to Rick as well as Sharon's former boyfriend Jay Sebring (Emile Hirsch).  And the film's plotlines all intertwine as it leads towards its climax where the events of the Manson murders loom to unfold...

For me, Once Upon a Time In Hollywood is a real return to form for Tarantino after making a couple of hit and miss westerns with the disappointing Django Unchained and the better but overlong and at times uneventful Hateful Eight. However here he manages to succeed in creating a highly enjoyable and at times even charming comedy drama that takes some pretty dark themes with the Manson family and combines with the fictional characters of Rick and Cliff that leads to a somewhat unexpected end (which I won't say anymore about promise!). Rick and Cliff's friendship is also one of the things that drives the film and it gives it its heart as Cliff supports Rick through thick and thin as Rick tries to get his ailing career back on track.

Performance wise of course the film is also excellent as the two leads of Leo and Brad deliver great performances in their respective roles as Rick and Cliff and you get a sense of just how good buddies they are. The supporting cast are also just as good with Margot Robbie excellent as Sharon Tate as she plays her like a daydreamer living in a dream world in Hollywood as she mingles with the cream of the town. Margaret Qualley is also very good as the hippie girl Pussycat, who is bubbly and energetic yet she happens to also be a member of the Manson family. Al Pacino does very well too in his brief role as the casting agent Marvin Schwarz as does Bruce Dern as the rancher owner, George Spahn. And last of all is Mike Moh as Bruce Lee, who does a fine impression of him but his performance courted controversry due to his depiction of Lee being seen as too arrogant and as such disrepectful to his memory.

So, overall Once upon a time in Hollywood is an excellent Tarantino film and a great return to form for him and as such one of the best films of the decade and it more than deserves its spot on here.

8. Skyfall (2012)

So, at No.8 is a James Bond film, Skyfall, which has often been acclaimed as one of the very best Bond films and its easy to see why as its a Bond film that has just about everything in it with Daniel Craig maybe giving his best performance in the role, a very creepy villain, fine action scenes and a great score.

Plot wise the film begins with a terror attack that destroys MI6 headquarters in London that brings Bond (Craig) back out of hiding after he was presumed dead during a previous botched operation. Bond undergoes a series of medical/physical tests to determine that he is fully fit to return to duty but he ends up failing them all but his superior M (Judi Dench) clears him for duty nonetheless.

Bond then travels to Shanghai where he tracks down a mercenary named Patrice but during a fight, Patrice falls to his death before Bond can learn who he is employer was. Bond regardless finds a casino token from Patrice who intended to cash it in and it leads him to a casino in Macau. Bond once there approaches Patrice's accomplice, Severine (Berenice Marolhe) who Bond seduces and they travel to an island where Bond meets her employer, Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem) who turns out to be a former MI6 agent and the one behind the attack on MI6. However Bond manages to apprehend Silva and takes him back to London where he is interrogated by M but its no long before Silva manages to escape MI6's clutches and he then goes after M and its up to Bond to stop him....

Skyfall is undoubtedly one of the best Bond films in recent years and its a great conclusion to what is arguably a trilogy of films that Craig had done up to that point even though SPECTRE was still to come and his final Bond flick was in the works. But here Skyfall hits all the right notes and provides some great action scenes, moments of fun, suspense aswell as one of the most memorable Bond villains in quite some time in Silva. The film also features one of Thomas Newman's finest scores as his music for Skyfall is just superb from start to finish.

If I did however have a criticism of the film then its the final showdown in the Scottish Highlands is a bit of a letdown in some ways and it takes a bit too long to get going and then there is of course the whole thing of Bond's contempt for his old Scottish home that did kind of annoy me (git!).

That aside however this is still an excellent Bond film and one that warrants repeated viewing and deserves a spot on the list.

9. The Martian (2015)

So, at No.9 is Ridley Scott's The Martian, which was based on the novel of the same name by American writer, Andy Weir and its highly entertaining and gripping sci-fi film which is easily one of Scott's best films in years.

As for the story it is set in the future in the year 2035 where a space crew are exploring on Mars but while the crew are out on the surface they are soon hit by a strong dust storm that forces them to abort their mission and make an emergency take-off. However unbeknownst to the rest of the crew one of the team, Mark Watney (Matt Dillon) is struck by debris and left in the storm and stranded on the planet. As the storm worsens, the crew believe that Watney must be dead and their mission commander (Jessica Chastain) decides they must go back to their orbiting vessel, the Hermes.

Watney in the meantime however regains consciousness and manages to get back to the crew's surface base on the planet and performs emergency surgery on himself to remove a piece of debris that punctured his suit. Watney then starts to keep a video diary of his progress on the base and he tries to find a way to keep himself from starving as he creates a makeshift farm inside the base using his skills as a botanist, he starts growing potatoes to eat as food. Watney then determines that it will take four years before another ship will head out to Mars on a mission. However, back on Earth at NASA one of the satelitte planners notices that there is still activity on Mars and determines that Watney survived.

So its from here that NASA must find a way to communicate with Watney in order to start the process to bring him back home....

On seeing The Martian the first time I was quite surprised at how good a film it was and given its subject matter that it was handled in such a light hearted way and that is certainly one of the best aspects of the movie itself is that the tone of it is perfect. Scott also does a great job at showing the story from both Watney's perspective on Mars and the NASA teams on Earth trying to bring him back home aswell as the crew of the Hermes, who are unaware that he survived.

Performance wise, The Martian is also very good with Matt Damon giving one of his best as Mark Watney and he plays him in a very down to Earth way (no pun intended!) and about as level headed as you could possibly be given the situation that he is in. The supporting cast also do very well with fine performances from Jessica Chastain as the Hermes commander Lewis, Jeff Daniels is also excellent as Teddy Sanders, the director of NASA. Chiwetel Ejiofor is also great in his role as Vincent Kapoor, NASA's Director of Mars missions and lastly Sean Bean gives a pretty solid performance as Mitch Henderson, the Hermes flight director at NASA.

And for the most part this is a film that rarely sets a foot wrong although I do have to say there are two things that bugged me about it, one: the inclusion of Watney being subjected to listening to Lewis's cheesy 70s disco music and two relates more to a big plot spoiler so I won't mention here!

That aside, The Martian is an excellent film and one of my favourites from the decade that is well worth checking out.

10. Wonder Woman (2017)

So, at No.10 is another superhero film and who would have thought it would be a DC one instead of Marvel?! So yes I have decided to go with Wonder Woman to round off the list and its quite a film indeed.

As for the story, it follows Wonder Woman aka Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) from the early years of her life in Themyscira where she was raised among Amazonian warriors created by Zeus to protect mankind. The film then moves on to 1918, near the end of the First World War where Diana is now grown up and one day she rescues a US pilot, Captain Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) who is washed up on the shore after his plane has crashed on the coast. However its not long before the German forces arrive on the island and invade with many of the Amazonian warriors being killed in a fight. Steve soon reveals himself to be an allied spy who has stolen a book from the Germans documenting a powerful mustard gas that they intend to use to the defeat the allies. Diana believes that Ares, the God of War is behind all this and decides to travel with Steve as they head into the war in London and she intends to stop the war and Ares once and for all.

Wonder Woman is undoubtedly one of the best superhero films of the decade and it works so well mainly because of its tone is in such stark contrast to the previous DC films before such as Man of Steel and Batman vs Superman and it actually has engaging characters as well as great action scenes. And one of the film's most memorable scenes is when Diana reveals her Wonder Woman outfit and braves it across No Mans Land and takes on the enemy German forces, its one of the most visually impressive sequences in recent years in an action movie.  The film also features a very good score by Rupert Gregsen-Williams that has a pretty distinctive theme that works well.

Performance wise, Wonder Woman is also great as Gal Gadot is terrific in her role as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman (although she is never once referred to as Wonder Woman!) and she looks drop dead gorgeous which also helps! Gal also get's some good lines in the film and the most quotable one is when Diana asks what Etta does for Steve and she explains "Well I do whatever he tells me to do" and Diana says "Well, where I come from, that's called slavery!".

Chris Pine is also excellent in his role as Steve Trevor, the US Captain who is allied with the British and he ends up falling for Diana as the film goes on and he has some good moments in the film such as when Diana tells him that she was sculpted by her mother and brought to life by Zeus to which Steve replies "Well that's neat!".

Connie Nielsen also does very well in her briefer role as Queen Hippolyta, the mother of Diana as does Robin Wright as Antiope, the Amazon general who trains Diana. Danny Huston makes for a pretty good villain in the film as the evil General Ludendorff. Lucy Davis is also great as she provides some comic relief in the film as Etta Candy, Steve's secretary and she get's some good lines in the film such as the scene where Diana tries to walk out of a clothes store in her new outfit carrying her sword and shield and Etta tells her "It doesn't go with the outfit!".

And last of all is David Thewlis who does pretty well in his role as Sir Patrick Morgan but as the film carries on we discover that he isn't all he appears to be and for the sake of no spoiling the film for anyone who hasn't seen it I won't say anymore!

So for me Wonder Woman is definitely one of the best superhero films in recent years and in a barren midst of mediocre DC films, this one definitely stands out all on its own with engaging characters, great action scenes and a very solid soundtrack and as such it deserves its spot on here.

Right so that's it for now and I will be back soon with another post of sorts.

Till then its bye for now!

My 10 Favourite Films Of The Decade 2010-2019 Part 1

Well I'd just like to start off this post by wishing you all a Happy New Year and hope you all had a good one.

And now that the 2010's have come to a close, I figured I would do a list of some of my favourite films from this period of time.

Now I've chosen to go with 10 films since well its a decade but I won't do a film from each year and I won't list them in order of preference as I find that a bit too difficult to decide in this case.  So, instead I will just list these films in no specific order of year either and split this post over two parts.

So, with that all said let's take a look at my pick of the films of the decade...

1. The Social Network (2010)

So, first up is the Social Network released back in 2010, which was a gripping look into the creation of Facebook and its creator, Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg). The film portrays Zuckerberg as a pretty self obssessed a-hole, who would ultimately do his business partner Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield) out of Facebook at the behest of one of the company's partners and business mentor, Sean Parker (Justine Timberlake).

The story is told in a very verbose but entertaining way thanks to Aaron Sorkin's wordy but excellent not to mention, oscar winning screenplay. How accurate the story is to the real life situations is of course debatable but its still a very well put together film and its director, David Fincher does a superb job here in creating an engrossing drama that is highly watchable.

The performances are of course also top notch with Jesse Eisenberg speaking at 100 miles an hour as Mark Zuckerberg but he also captures the essence of a man driven by his own project. Andrew Garfield also does very well in his role as Eduardo Saverin, Zuckerberg's room mate at Harvard and business partner in Facebook and Justin Timberlake shows his acting chops as Sean Parker, the ambitious enterpeneur, who worked his way into Zuckerberg's head to become his mentor much to the chagrin of Eduardo.

So, the Social Network for me was definitely one of the best films of the decade and told a gripping, entertaining story and is well worth checking out 10 years on. 

2. Whiplash (2014)

So next up is Whiplash, which is a film is was not previously aware of until last year when I saw a Youtube video about it and I was intrigued to check it out and I would have to say I'm glad that I did as it really is a highly enjoyable and somewhat intense experience.

As for the story it follows a young, ambitious jazz drum student, Andrew Nieman (Miles Teller) who goes to a prestigious jazz school called the Shaeffer conservatory (which is fictional). Andrew however has far from an easy time at the school as he is given some pretty brutal tutelage by hotheaded and ruthless band leader, Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons) who pushes him to his very limit. And throughout the film, the two men have a battle of wits as Andrew is determined to prove himself and stand up against Fletcher's rutheless ways.

From the word go, Whiplash reeks of sheer intensity as you are thrown into Andrew's world as a jazz drum student and the moment he meets Fletcher you know that he is in for one rough ride as he constantly berates and yells at him. Basically think of Full Metal Jacket set in a jazz school and you've got the gist of this film right away.

And what makes the film so good is of course its performances as both Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons are gripping throughout and in particular Simmons delivers a terrific performance, which won him an academy award for best supporting actor. Simmons of course also get's the films best lines, which are also pretty foul mouthed but being a ruthless band leader you would probably imagine that would be the case. And he has so many quotable lines such as in the scene where he chastises Andrew for not playing in time "Were you rushing or dragging?!" and later "Not my fucking tempo!" and of course when he berates a smaller student "I can still fucking see you, Mini-me!". There are plenty more of course but I'll leave it at that.

So, Whiplash for me was a tremendously entertaining film from start to finish, even if it does have some far fetched moments here and there, it still makes for essential viewing and a worthy place on the list. 

3. The Irishman (2019)

At No.3 is Martin Scorsese's epic crime drama (and I do mean epic as it must easily be his longest film!) starring three Hollywood heavyweights: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci and it ranks as one of the most engrossing crime films in recent years.

The story itself follows the real life events of gangster and hitman, Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro) and his time working for the Bufalino crime family lead by crime boss, Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci). The film begins with Frank working as a honest delivery driver but on meeting Russell one day, its not long before he is sucked into the criminal underworld. Frank also later on meets and befriends Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino) who was head of the Teamsters union back in the 60s and 70s and it also deals with the crime family's struggles with Hoffa's stubborn personality aswell as many other things.

There is little doubt that this one of Martin Scorsese's best films in quite some time and although he did make the amusing but highly perverse Wolf of Wall Street early this decade in 2013, The Irishman tells a more gripping story. The cast are also on top form here throughout with De Niro delivering a fine performance as Frank Sheeran and he tells the story as an old man in a care home but the film also uses CGI to make De Niro look younger for his backstory.  Joe Pesci is also great in his role as Russell Bufalino and he plays his part with more restraint but there is no doubting his ability to play authoratative mob figures. And lastly Al Pacino does a great job as Jimmy Hoffa and he delivers what is easily the most flamboyant performance in the entire film as the arrogant, stubborn head of the Teamsters union, which was a massive movement back in the 50, 60s and 70s.


Perhaps the film does lag a bit in places given its extensive length of 3 hours and 30 minutes but that aside its still one of Scorsese's best in recent years and its well worth checking out and deserves a spot on here. 

4. Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

At No.4 is something of a surprise in a way because for me the original Blade Runner by Ridley Scott stands as one of the greatest sci-fi films of all time so to do a sequel to it was a very daunting task. However with Blade Runner 2049 I was plesantly suprised to find an incredibly solid sequel to the original that stands up very well on its own.

The story itself basically follows on from the original by 30 years and by this time replicants are now common slaves in society but there are still some known rogue replicants, which are still hunted by blade runners. And one such blade runner is K (Ryan Gosling) who is actually a replicant also but has been designed to hunt the rogues. However it is soon discovered that replicants are capable of reproducing as K finds the remains of a replicant who died after a c-section birth. K's superior, Lt Joshi (Robin Wright) insists that K track down and "retire" the child replicant as she fears a war could break out if it is discovered that replicants can reproduce. And from here K starts his trails to find the child which along the way leads him to a former blade runner, Deckard (Harrison Ford).

Blade Runner 2049 is definitely a very impressive sequel and the fact that it is able to hold its own against a classic such as Blade Runner makes it even more remarkable. The film also has a pretty good story and the performances are excellent throughout and I was particularly impressed by Ryan Gosling as I previously was unaware of his films other than Drive, which I never was interested in here but here he does a terrific job as a replicant on a journey that is both personal and professional.

The supporting cast are also excellent with Ana de Armas as K's hologramatic girlfriend, Jared Leto as Niander Wallace, the rutheless CEO of the Wallace corporation, who created the replicants and Robin Wright as Lt Joshi, K's superior officer. And last all and by no means least is of course Harrison Ford, who reprises his role as Deckard but he doesn't appear until much later into the film, which is a bit of a shame and one of the more disappointing aspects of it.

That aside however and maybe some issues with pacing here and there, Blade Runner 2049 is definitely an excellent sequel to the original and certainly deserves a spot on the list. 

5. Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)

So, at No.5 is one of the many Mission Impossible films that Tom Cruise has starred in but if I had to have a guess, I would say that Ghost Protocol is probably my favourite out of them all and as such I thought I would put it on here.

As for the story it follows IMF agent, Ethan Hunt (Cruise) who is trying to track down a man code named "Cobalt" who has Russian nuclear launch codes. Ethan is helped along the way in his mission by Benji (Simon Pegg) who was formerly a tech support agent but has since been promoted to a field agent by the IMF and later on helped by Jane Carter (Paula Patton) another agent, who's boyfriend was murdered by an assassin Sobine Moreau (Lea Seydoux). And Ethan's mission sees him travel to the Kremlin, which he flees from as it is destroyed in a terror attack and later he travels to Dubai where he is also joined by intelligence analyst William Brandt (Jeremy Renner) who has a mysterious past. And together they must find a way to stop the Russian codes getting into the wrong hands...

As far as action films go (or did go) in the last decade, Ghost Protocol was certainly one of the best as it is a film that is packed with some great setpieces and the one that stands out the most is of course where Ethan climbs outside the Burj Khalifa (the tallest skyscarper in the world) something which Cruise himself did! And this scene has got to rank as one of the most suspenseful action scenes in moder cinema!  Then there is of course the memorable scenes such as where Ethan flees the Kremlin as it literally explodes behind him and later on his chase in the sandstorm aswell as his showdown with the main villain. 

The film also sets up a new MI family with the inclusion of Benji, who did feature in MI III aswell as Brandt and of course Luther Stickler (Ving Rhames) although Jane Carter would only appear in this film but they all gel well together here and share some nice moments of banter.

The film was suprisingly also directed by Brad Bird, who was best known of course for directing Pixar animated movies such as The Incredibles and Ratatouille so this proved to be his first live full film feature. And it really has to be said makes a very confident transition here from the animated world to real life with this film.

So overall I would say that Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol is a very solid action film and one that deserves its spot on the list.

OK, so that's it for now and I will be back soon with part two of my list.

Till then its bye for now!