The Fast and the Furious (No spoilers)

The Fast and the Curious?

Curious about what this movie is all about? Let me fill you in.

Hands down one of my favourite movie series to this day. The Fast and the Furious has it all; great story line, plot twists, action, fast cars and scenes that make you hold your breath with suspense. The series contains seven great movies and more to come. The adventure never ends with the movies being filmed in different countries such as Los Angeles all the way to Tokyo and more. 

Every movie has a new story line but is sneakily connected to the previous movies, making plot twists you never saw coming. It's very impossible to get bored during these movies and very easily leaves you wanting to know what happens next. Something I love about this series is that you get to learn about all the characters backgrounds such as their families, which makes you connect with them even more on a personal level.  

The movies

The Fast and the Furious (2001): Rotten Tomatoes 53%

2 Fast 2 Furious (2003): Rotten Tomatoes 36%

Tokyo Drift (2006): Rotten Tomatoes 37%

Fast & Furious (2009): Rotten Tomatoes 28%

Fast Five (2011): Rotten Tomatoes 77%

Fast & Furious 6 (2013): Rotten Tomatoes 69%

Furious 7 (2015): Rotten Tomatoes 79%

Ouch those reviews don't reflect how I felt about the movies at all.

Top 3 Characters 

There are many characters in the Fast and the Furious movie series but here are just a few of the main ones:

Domonic Toretto

One of the main protagonists is played by Vin Diesel, a street racer and a auto mechanic who plays a huge role in the movie series. Starting out as a criminal in the first movie to support his family to helping stop crime. He has strong morals and family values. Family is everything to him and the other characters, "the team," become apart of his family, who he would ride and die for. 

Luke Hobbs

An agent of the Diplomatic Security Service played by Dwayne Johnson, who teams up with Domonic and his team to fight street crime. 

Brain O'Conner

A protagonist that became a huge part of the movies played by Paul Walker, who sadly died in 2013 in a tragic car accident. In the first movie he was an officer who wanted to stop crime, then committed crime in the second movie, which is how Brain and Dominic become partners throughout the series. Paul Walker passed away in the middle of the making of the Fast and the Furious 7, so they had his brother play his part and used CGI to place Paul's face on his brother's. This helped the directors finish the making of the seventh movie but also create a very sad goodbye to a great actor.   

The action continues...

The Fast and the Furious series sure has made everyone love them... so much in fact they're making movie number eight which will release in April of this year (2017.) I'm beyond excited for this movie to come out considering how the last one ended, which I won't spoil. If you've watched the past movies and haven't seen the trailer yet for the new one... click the link below, you're welcome. 

Fast and Furious 8 Trailer

  

Not Your Average Serial Killer Movie

Hello my fellow horror fans. Today’s article will put the spotlight on a genre favourite – I’m talking about serial killer movies. 

Now the formula for the perfect serial killer movie is really quite simple: a group of teenagers go on a trip to some secluded area where they are hunted by a blood thirsty maniac and killed off one by one throughout the span of 90 minutes. Throw in a hot tub scene and some underage drinking and you’ve got yourself a classic slasher flick. But there are a select few that refuse to conform to this formula and they are a cut above the rest. Here are the serial killer movies that we think deserve some more recognition:

The Pact

During the first hour of the movie, The Pact will have you fooled. At first glance, it doesn’t look like your average serial killer movie – in fact it doesn’t look like a serial killer movie at all. The mystery and ambiguity of it is what makes it so unique. Just when you think you’ve got The Pact figured out, they throw in a plot twist that puts M. Night Shyamalan to shame. 

Without giving away too much, I will say that The Pact is the perfect cross-over between supernatural and serial killer movie, and will have you sitting on the edge of your seat from beginning to (very unexpected) end.    

Hush     

In summary, a maniacal killer terrorizes a woman in her own home. Sounds pretty standard, right? But it's actually far from it! This woman happens to be deaf and mute, and also incredibly resilient and brave. What makes it all the more unique is that the whole movie features only two characters: the killer and the victim. 

What we get as a result is a thrilling battle of wits, unlike any other serial killer movie you've ever seen. Hush is guaranteed to have your blood rushing and adrenaline pumping as you yell at the screen non-stop.

Media Buzz Top 5: Scores and Soundtracks...Of the past 15 years

Number 5. The Incredibles

  

The Incredibles is an animated movie directed by Brad Bird and with an original score composed by Michael Giacchino. The Incredibles rides the line between the super hero and spy genre, and as a good score should do, it tells the movie’s story through music. “The Glory Days” being a prime example of how it displays the superhero side of the movie with most of the brass section of the orchestra in front creating a bombastic sound.  When talking about the more spy elements of the movie, the score borrows heavily for a lot other spy movie scores such as the Bond franchise, with tracks like “Rush Hour” or “Jewellery Store” in particular.

Notable Tracks to check out:

 “The Glory Days”

“Rush Hour”

“Logos”

Number 4.  Tron Legacy

Tron Legacy is a science fiction film directed by Joseph Kosinki and with an original score composed by Daft Punk. The composers are internationally renowned artists Daft Punk, who started out as a French electronic duo started by Thomas Bangalter, and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. Tron: Legacy is their first foray into big budget movie composing and is a science fiction film that involved the main character being transported into a digital world. Daft Punk’s discography made them more than qualified to score this movie, but it was to such a degree that the score was executed which is why it made the list today.

Some notable tracks to check out:

“Derezzed”

“The Game has Changed”

“The Grid”

Number 3. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is a movie directed by Edgar Wright and composed by Nigel Godrich. The film has a very bombastic rock/punk rock attitude akin to something like a Joan Jett and the Blackhearts or Wolfmother. The film’s score expresses that to its full potential.

Some notable tracks to check out:   

“Black Sheep”

“We are Sex Bob-omb”

“Threshhold”

Number 2. The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight is a superhero drama directed by Christopher Nolan and composed by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard. A score is supposed to compliment a film but is not necessarily needed for the film to be considered a good. This particular movie and its score share a symbiotic relationship. The movie’s dramatic tension does not carry the intended weight without the score and the score doesn’t reach its full potential without Nolan’s action sequences displaying the visual thrill of Howard & Zimmer’s score.

Notable Tracks to check out:

 “A Dark Knight”

“Why so Serious”

“And I Thought My Jokes Were Bad”

Number 1. La La Land

La La Land is a musical drama directed by Damien Chazelle and composed by Justin Hurwitz. This film is different from the other films on this list. Most of the films listed above have a soundtrack that is perfectly suited to their film or without the score the film is merely not as great, but for this film in particular, the music and score is star and everything else is complementary.

Notable Tracks to check out:

 “Another Day of Sun”

“City of Stars”

“Mia and Sebastian’s Theme”



* The opinions expressed above, do not reflect Media Buzz as a whole and is a individual focused piece.

So what are some of your favourite score and soundtracks? Do you agree with my picks? Comment below and thank you for reading!

'La La Land': A Refreshing Masterpiece

In a time of ‘passable’ movies, a film like La La Land released at the end of 2016, was what it took to shake up the industry, and also become such a widely acclaimed movie of the year. I saw it on Christmas Day in a theatre filled with people, after the other theatre option was completely out of seats!

After the movie and on my way home, I just thought to myself that this is one of those movies that makes you want to make movies. The story, set design, music, acting and one of the most important and noticeable parts of the movie, the lighting, all came together to make a complete piece of movie magic and wonderful piece of art. As someone who has never seen or had the desire to sit through a musical, this film has totally changed my mind.

La La Land is such a refreshing piece of work, because it strays from the usual array of passably horrible, unfunny comedies and explosively bad action movies that are literally all the same. La La Land is an adventure in the world of fun and art. It takes the concept of a simple love story and elevates it into a thought provoking original concept. After seeing countless movies throughout 2016 that all felt rushed and made to be ‘just another movie’, something like La La Land was the best way to end a mediocre year. It’s 100% worthy of all its praise and record breaking number of awards presented at the Golden Globes. 

To conclude, I want to say thank you to La La Land (well, director Damien Chazelle). Thank you for making a film that shook the industry and will definitely spur more creativity and desire to make films that aren’t just made for the sake of big box office dollars, but for the purpose of art and wonder. City of stars, are you shining just for me?

Requiem for a Dream – A Repulsive Masterpiece

         Requiem for a Dream A.K.A only one of the most intense yet enthralling movies I have ever laid eyes on. If I could only recommend one movie for every person to watch at some point in their life, it would have to be……. you guessed it! Toy Story 2. To be honest I don’t think many people could handle Requiem for a Dream. I watched it for the first time over 4 years ago, and here I am still in deep thought and uneasiness about what the hell I just watched. Most chatter about the film just talks about it being depressing and dismal. 

While that may be true, once you get past the dark cloud that forms above your head, you get to the heart of a twisted yet real storyline that everyone can somehow relate to. If you don’t know anything about the movie, it’s essentially the story of four drug users who continuously fall deeper into their addictions throughout the movie. 

Sounds like a basic film about substance abuse, right? So wrong. Aronofsky’s take on the formally written 1978 novel, is absolutely more than just watching people do drugs. It effectively makes you feel for and actually understand why the addicts do what they do. I think this was the first (and only) time I sat through an entire movie without thinking to myself “Oh GOD, why would they do that?!”. I was put so far into the characters’ shoes that I didn’t even question why Harry would shoot heroin up his festering wound for the third time. 

If I had the time to write an entire blog about this movie’s editing, I would. The editing is probably about 90% why such compassion is created while watching. The hyper cut scenes (which Aronofsky coined as a “Hip Hop Montage”) of drugs being prepped and taken, are what really take you into the characters’ world. The repetition of this drug abuse cycle gives you the first-hand experience of a drug user.

                    

Split scenes are also effectively used throughout the movie. The idea of having split scenes of characters who are in the same room, talking to each other, and even touching, gives me chills. It makes it feel as though they’re separate even though they’re merely inches away from one another. This fallacy of intimacy only makes you feel more sympathetic for the addicts’ downward spiraling lives. 

                                 

    

And lest we forget the soundtrack! Soundtrack is one of the most powerful elements that can make or break a movie, but just so happened to make this one even more kick-ass than it already was. The popular “Lux Aeterna” by Clint Mansel is the main song chosen for this film and has you biting your nails for the entire 3 minutes and 54 seconds of it, just in case the storyline, actors, or filming wasn’t intense enough already! 

Overall, this repulsive masterpiece truly makes you put into perspective the toll that drugs can take on not only you, but almost everyone around you. Seeing the lengths that the addict’s will go to try and fill the insatiable need for drugs is heart-wrenching and will make anyone think twice about what they’re putting in their bodies. That being said, a little popcorn never hurt nobody!! So, bust out a bag and go watch yourself some seriously sad piece of art.  

Documentaries to watch on Netflix

Where to Invade Next – Michael Moore

Though Moore is a controversial figure and biased towards the left wing of government in his movies this film takes a approach of finding the best ideas in the world and bringing them back to the united states. We could all learn something from this movie and the variety of countries and their cultures examined by Moore and his team, political beliefs aside.

The Other One: The Long Strange Trip of Bob Weir – Mike Fleiss

Examines the life of The Grateful Dead Musician Bob Weir and paints a colourful picture of counterculture in the 1960 and beyond. Interesting characters appear including famous authors, philosophers, musicians, and more. A must watch for all Rock’n’Roll fans.

Red Army – Gabe Polsky

A history of hockey in the Soviet Union and how it’s stars eventually broke out into the NHL despite government attempts to stop them. Great for learning about another great hockey nation and it’s controversial history.

Best of Enemies – Robert Gordon, Morgan Neville

Follows the rivalry between two intellectuals Gore Vidal and William F Buckley Jr. Debates, lawsuits, articles, and arguments for the soul for America are featured as these two giants clash throughout their lives. If you are interested in debate or politics this is a classic film.

Brand new Razer Blade Pro, Let's see what it has to offer!

Razer comes up with their brand-new laptop worth $3,699. Curious to see what makes this creation worth this much! Let’s find out.

This brand new spanking laptop comes with some amazing hardware designed especially for heavy-duty gaming. People are calling it “A desktop experience you can finally carry”. So, with out further a duo let us dive into the specs.

The Razer Blade Pro comes with an aluminum body and the same matt black finish we had for the previous generations, so if your going to be carrying it around its good to have a protective case or something to carry it in. but let’s get under the hood and see what this laptop is running. So, for the price of $3,699 you can expect to be running some amazing hardware will that is correct. 

This laptop runs 2.6-GHz Intel Core i7-6700HQ processor, 32GB of RAM, a pair of 256GB M.2 PCIe SSDs in RAID 0 configuration and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 GPU with 8GB of VRAM. With this beast of processing power, you can expect to run any game from dark souls 3 that is not graphic demanding at all, to a game like Witcher 3. 

This laptop isn’t only of excellent use to gamers but its also a great device for video editing, if you’re into video editing, this could be a purchase you may want to consider. But I and lots of other fans were most excited about is that this Razer Blade Pro is virtual reality ready. Its on that’s capable of giving you a 360-degree cinematic experience. Which not a lot of laptops come with this exciting feature. We see a lot of new exciting games immerging after this laptop realize.

Now we looked at all the pros and how magnificent this machinery is, am also going to go over some of the cons from our gaming community! Now I must say this is a big one if you think you’re not going to carry your Razer charger with you, and your either using the Razer Pro for work purposes such as editing or you’re just gaming a lot with it, this laptop battery life is under 5 hours, so if you planning on going camping and gaming, its not going to go well!

Duo to all the power this laptop is running it does get pretty hot in their. So, gaming while this Razer Blade Pro is on your lap wouldn’t be a great idea. So, give your self a service and buy a van to out under that laptop!

Another problem the community has with this laptop is the price point, people are saying “hey do I buy a used Honda Civic or do I buy this laptop”. Now obviously, every one’s financial situation is different, if you have a lots of disposal income by all means go for it, but if not then you may want to consider other options then the Razer Pro.

Thank you so much for checking out our review for the Razer Blade Pro and for everything media buzz checkout our page!

Rogue One, And How to Revamp a Series (No Spoilers)

Rogue One is the latest in a potential line of Disney-run Star Wars movies, and it is the first full length film to not focus on the previous main characters. Where as all previous Star Wars films had a direct connection to each other, this film is unique in that it's story features all new characters with their own brand new stories.

                                             (Just a few members of the Rogue One cast)

The characters are fantastic and share a perfect chemistry with each other, while also maintaining their own special individualism. The key thing that Rogue one gets right is that it captured the Star Wars universe while still staying it's own movie. In order to explain that a little bit here are some examples.

                 
                                    

These are just a few examples of movies that completely missed the mark while attempting to create a successful remake. In the case of the Fantastic 4 and Tarzan, they were both fairly new and different in comparison to previous titles of the same series', but they failed because they didn't recreate the universes that audiences knew. Without that original atmosphere the only thing that links these movies to their past is the characters. With Zoolander 2 it was the exact opposite, a movie with a similar atmosphere and style of humor to the previous title and no new content at all.

Rogue one manages to be an untold story with brand new characters, while also capturing the sheer magnitude and beauty of the immense Star Wars universe. The landscapes are beautiful and vibrant, and they scream "Star Wars" even though we've never seen them before.
    
              (A lush green canopy of trees on a  tropical beach is destroyed by familiar AT-AT's)

It isn't just the environments that make it believable, but also the minor details. Weapons, star ships, clothing, background characters - they all are undeniably from the same universe as A New Hope. The soundtrack perfectly captures sounds from the previous films but in an all new score that is both fresh and nostalgic at the same time.


                                      (Jyn, Cassian, and K-2SO run from Storm troopers)

Rogue one is a perfect example of properly remaking a series. It is a fresh, exciting take on a classic series and truly a diamond in the rough of recent remakes. It even manages to make last years The Force Awakens look more than a bit recycled in comparison.

3 Highly Anticipated Shows Returning in 2017

With a wide-array of platforms offering a dizzying amount of content, it can be difficult to pick the right show. A new year brings a whole new list of shows that are starting (or have started) in 2017 that are well worth the binge:

1. Rick and Morty

Season 3 of Dan Harmon (creator of Community) and Justin Roiland’s hit cartoon premiers sometime this Spring, with many fans of the show eagerly awaiting its return. It features a drunk but genius grandfather taking his grandson on intergalactic adventures that cause all sorts of ramifications for their shaky family. The show has received nearly universal acclaim from critics, and will leave you wanting more. 

2. BBC’s Sherlock

With only three episodes per season, and over a two year wait, it’s no wonder fans were eagerly awaiting Season 4 of Steve Moffat’s reinterpretation with Sherlock. It features popular actors Benedict Cumberbatch as well-known private detective Sherlock Holmes, and Martin Freeman as his trusty sidekick, Watson. With mysteries that will have you guessing until the very end, this show is one that might want to start now.

3. Game of Thrones

Game of Thrones is one of the most popular shows that premiers each year. Although season 7 won’t be starting until later in the year than usual, fans eagerly await the nail-biting stories of powerful houses fighting for the throne. It will be a shorter season, with nearly half the episodes. However, many theorize that will only mean better episodes similar to the award-winning final two episodes of last season. Rest assured, this will be worth the wait. 

With a busy schedule, finding time to search for a decent show is difficult. These three shows are sure to be ones to look forward to in the new year.