WATCH ORDER: THINGS TO WATCH BEFORE AGATHA ALL ALONG

Agatha All Along is a series set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, released on 18 September 2024. Agatha is a witch from the 1600s, she practices the dark arts, betraying the council of witches behind their backs, when the council tries to kill her, she has become more than powerful enough to kill them herself, and she goes on in this path of dark arts and would be in search of chaos magic, she finally meets Wanda who after all the trauma and sadness she had to face, synthesis the chaos magic in herself. This amazing battle between the two witches is worth watching.

1.  Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

This movie is the introduction to Wanda Maximoff, who is the reason why Agatha was introduced into the MCU in the first place, hence it's important to know a little bit of a back story about her. Wanda also know as the Scarlet Witch is an enhanced individuals who has telekinetic and telepathic abilities, along with her brother Quick silver are products of Hydra experiments. Both of them though they mean well are on the wrong side of the battle, which makes the viewers. Once they realise what Ultron is actually upton they they turn towards the good guys and finally help them defeating Ultron.

Wanda and Quicksilver saving the citizens of Sokovia. "Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)". IMDb,https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2395427/mediaindex/

This movie runs thick since it is set in Sokovia a place where there is a lot of political tension, along with tension amongst the Avengers which makes it much more dramaful. Another important character who runs in the movie is Vision, who is more important as the next movies include a deeper dive into each of their characters. Wanda in this movie is shown as a little bit of a badass superhero who can manipulate anyone at her will and shows her immense willpower throughout the movie as she had to put up with a lot of things including childhood trauma and the fact that she was the reason for the death of a lot of people just because she decided to side Ultron first.

2. Captain America: Civil War (2016)

Wanda plays a pivotal role in this movie, she is the reason the whole reason the Avengers go against each other. The Avengers being a group of enhanced individuals, causes them to use that ability a bit too lightly and while they are doing good as a whole, in the process they also cause some causalities that they seem to oversee, this causes the government officials force some restrictions on the Avengers, to which only half of the members will be willing to sign, which causes the whole dispute, Wanda being the main reason this is being put into effect, we get to see how strong she is, the one who can shake up the whole of avengers.

Wanda sided with Captain America against Tony and the Accords. "Captain America: Civil War (2016)".Marvelcinematicuniversefandom,https://marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Captain_America:_Civil_War/Gallery 

After all that happened in the movie Age of Ultron, we see a little bit of Wanda having a tragic back story and we also see Quick silvers death which has already affected Wanda so much along with the fact that she is the reason Ultron was able to cause soo much chaos after all this whole thing with Sokovia accords just causes her to think that she is maybe some sort of a monster, not only that even some of the Avengers including Vision start to believe that other should be protected from her powers. All in all this movie gives a more deeper look into Wanda and all the problems she is dealing with for her to act this way.

3. Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

This movie starts off with the whole Avengers being split up after the Civil war and as a product of that Wanda and Vision would have left the life of fighting crime and villains, and they would have adapted the life of a common man, living peaceful. Not long after that, they realize that Thanos is after the 6 infinity stones, and one is on Vision's head. Wanda although tries to protect Vision, Thanos is inevitable. Vision deals with major blows from Thanos's henchmen. He decides that the stone should be broken which means that Thanos would never be able to collect all the 6 infinity stones. Wanda and the other Avengers unable to lose their comrade decide to take him to Wakanda to fix him.

Wanda protects Vision from the evil Thanos and his henchmen. "Avengers: Infinity War (2018)".Marvelcinematicuniversefandom,https://marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Avengers:_Infinity_War/Gallery?file=Infinity_War_155.jpg

After their arrival they meet Shuri (Black Panther's sister), she comes up with a plan in literally 2 seconds, she realizes that his neural network can be separated from the stone's neural network which is a very tedious, time consuming task, and requires maximum precision. Whilst they decide to resolve the Vision issue, Thanos's army is already on the doorstep, waiting kill the Avengers and take the stone, making sure that no one stands in their way. In the end, Wanda is forced to break the stone with her powers with much sadness and regret. This makes another horrific story in her life, where she had to kill her lover without giving a second thought.

4. Avengers: Endgame(2019)

By far the best movie I have watched in a while, this movie is a culmination of 21 movies before it, and it was a blast. Thanos has created so many problems and the Avengers decide to come together and get everyone they lost back, and for Wanda, she loses her lover Vision, even though Vision is synthetically made Wanda and Vision would have made a real connection between each other. Even though Wanda knows that she can't bring back Vision, she still fights with her team to save the universe and bring back all her friends that she has lost.

Wanda's rage against Thanos in the final battle"Avengers: Endgame  (2019)".Marvelcinematicuniversefandom,https://marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Avengers:_Endgame/Gallery?file=Scarlet_Witch_%28Endgame%29.jpg

The powers of the mind stone technically make Wanda she is expected to be strong, mixed with the anger when she sees Thanos in the flesh again, she almost kills him all alone, until Thanos has to use some of the guns in his ship to fire at her risking his army while doing so, he was ready to lose some of his army for the sake of making sure that he doesn't get killed by her. In the end, Wanda is seen to have found her closure about Vision and she finally feels that, even though Vision is not with them anymore he knows that they won that fight against Thanos, which would have made Vision happy.

5. WandaVision (2021)

Post Endgame Wanda is sad about Vision's death, she has to face multiple deaths and so much trauma, that she unlocks and unleashes Chaos magic over Westview (a small town) and converts it into a Sitcom. Agatha Harkness a witch in the 1600s, gives in to the Dark arts and kills her kind, she witnesses this "beauty", and comes to Westview to unlock this magic herself. To do so she shows how dark Scarlet Witch (Wanda) is based on a book called The "Darkhold". 

Agatha keeping Wanda's sons as hostage "WandaVision (2021)".Marvelcinematicuniversefandom,https://marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Previously_On/Gallery?file=Agatha_Harkness_choking_the_kids.png

Agatha would have been secretly in control of the whole town herself, manipulating people and Wanda as she wanted it to, she depicts how powerful she is by bringing out the worst in Wanda, by making her relive the trauma she had to face, thus making her super vulnerable. The scarlet witch knows how to turn the tide and show exactly how smart and powerful she is. Wanda would have created vision by compiling the piece of mind stone in herself, which is already a great feat. After all this Wanda locks Agatha in a rune, which is her creation, and traps her, it would be really interesting to see how the new series "Agatha All Along" pans out from here.

Alright, there is the list of everything to watch before you play the series, hope you guys have enjoyed the read, if you did make sure to spread the word about this blog to others interested as well, cause I am only going to be bringing you guys more of what you guys just read, hopefully I have at least motivated you to give one of these movies mentioned a watch. Well, I only wish to improve your experience in entertainment. 

WATCH ORDER: THINGS TO WATCH BEFORE BLACK MYTH WUKONG

Black Myth: Wu Kong is a game set in Buddhist mythology, released on 19 August 2024. Sun Wu Kong is the monkey king who was a god incarnate, even upon learning the ways of Buddhism from his master, he tends to be erratic, brave, and nonchalant. He is the smartest of all monkeys but he still finds difficulty in understanding the line between him being a part god part monkey and sometimes even part demon. Well the game itself has a very detailed backstory and lore to be understood hence this blog will give you the watch list so that you can enjoy the game to the fullest.

1. The Monkey King: Havoc in Heaven's Palace (2014)

The movie is set in Buddhist mythology, where there is a constant war between demons and gods especially between the Bull demon and the Jade Emperor, heaven gets destroyed to pieces and the protector sacrifices herself to recreate heaven, while doing so one of her crystals falls onto the human world inside the crystal a monkey was born with its life energy, who is none other than Sun Wukong, a priest takes him under his wing to teach him everything he knows. Sun after learning everything goes back to his friends the monkeys and becomes the king of the monkeys for his prowess.

Sun Wukong learning from the priest. "The Monkey King: Havoc in Heaven's Palace (2014)". IMDb,https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1717715/mediaindex/

This movie shows the origin story of Sun Wukong, it also shows how he obtains all his abilities, his weapon the special staff, and also his armor.  This movie also has very horrible VFX and graphics, the movie is quite wholesome as it touches upon, Sun's love life, even though he is very erratic in nature, he too finds solace in someone. The movie also depicts Sun's true form by the end of the movie which ties everything related to understanding Sun's origin story clearly depicted, which makes this a must watch before playing the movie, to understand the characters and the lore better, which gives an overall better gaming experience.

2. Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons (2013)

This movie is set after the monkey king is trapped by Buddha to atone for his sins for 500 years, a young man who aspires to be a demon hunter by not using violence finds himself facing 2 demons a fish demon and a pig demon. Unable to defeat both, his master tells him to seek Buddha through the Monkey King. Sun in this movie is shown as a full-blown demon who even after 500 years of isolation is still unable to atone for his sins and continues to be a demon.

Sun Wukong is satisfied after killing a few demon hunters. "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons (2013)". IMDb https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2017561/mediaindex/ 

This young man comes to Monkey King in order to find a way to tame the demon pig, in the process he frees the Monkey King without realizing, Sun tests his resolve for Buddha, and the young man starts to chant the Sutra and even after witnessing soo many deaths, he remains unmoved by anything Sun has to throw at him. Sun in his true form of the devil, turns into a giant gorilla, when he faces Buddha himself he realizes how much smaller than Buddha he is, physically and morally. Eventually, he joins the good side and follows the path of Buddhism, spreading and preaching the teachings.

3. Black Myth: Wu Kong - Official Gameplay Reveal Trailer (2020)

The trailer itself shows the amazing gameplay of Wu Kong as he traverses a land of demons, although the overall story is still unclear, it shows that there is a way to transform into others, as well as transform into any other animal, it shows some of the most important features of Wu Kong including the staff which can change its size as he wields, there is also his ability to walk on clouds. The opponents as shown here are the four heavenly gods.

Wu Kong uses his clone ability against the wolf demon. "Black Myth: Wu Kong - Official Gameplay Reveal Trailer (2020)" https://images.app.goo.gl/tDitRboTo41hGvbo7

Apart from this they also have some fighting gameplay that looks very clean, the boss battles look very fierce and a little bit on the difficult end, the game developers at GameScience have honestly done an incredible job in bringing Wu Kong to the video games, where every gamer out there can experience all these cool abilities that he has in order face the troubles he has to face to reach Buddha.

Alright, there is the list of everything to watch before you play the game, hope you guys have enjoyed the read, if you did make sure to spread the word about this blog to others interested as well, cause I am only going to be bringing you guys more of what you guys just read, hopefully I have at least motivated you to give one of these movies mentioned a watch. Well, I only wish to improve your experience in entertainment. 

THE EXPENDABLES : Rogue justice

1. OVERVIEW

    Expendables is an action filled movie, characterizing a group of rogue specialists who work for themselves as a vigilante group of men, these men in todays layman terms can be called as free lancers, who do impossible jobs involving assassinations or destruction of an evil plan set up by a dictator of sorts.

    These men are prepared with their ammunitions and amazing fighting skills, they are able to take down a whole entire army just by using their ability to understand the environment and adapt to the situation, the team is made of six people and one leader who tells them about which missions they have available.

    

    Of the six of them, the first one is the leader of the group, the second one is a guy who can use blades and throwing knives, the third member is an Asian who knows martial arts, the fourth member of the team is the muscle of the group ,the fifth member is a gun man who knows everything about guns and bombs, and the sixth is an ex military army man.

    In this movie the team chooses a mission which includes going to an island called Vilena and then removing the army rule their by killing the commander, the island is completely overcome by the dictator commander and this movie shows how the expendables deal with this situation.

2. CHARACTERS

    Barney Ross played by the one and only Sylvester Stallone is the one who abides by justice and he is the kind of a person who doesn't get sleep when he knows there is injustice or there is someone in pain which he could have prevented. He is great with handling the team and managing the team such that there is as much less quarrel between them as possible. He is great during the cowboy showdown type situations as he is great with his pistol and doesn't not miss his target.

    There is a sense of selflessness in him that the viewers would really look up to and one his qualities that people cherish about him. Sometimes he does things in his own out of his own will and the team members support him in any way possible and get him out of any situation and this is the kind of leader that an explicable team deserves.

    Lee Christmas played by none other than Jason Statham is the Blade specialist, he has great aim and can throw daggers and throwing knives at great speeds and great accuracy, he never misses his targets, his skill set works great for an assassination type of a mission since the knives don't make as much noise and its a silent weapon. He is a nice guy overall and believes in justice and is a man with kind heart and trust.

    Tool played by Mickey Rourke is the leader of the Expendables squad and he is one of the ex members of the squad itself, he doesn't attend the missions because of a horrific past that haunts him everyday. He assigns missions to the squad as well as takes care of the mental well-being of the squad. He is a tattoo artist on the side which adds the extra element of goth and punkish vibe to him.

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    Yin Yang played by Jet Li is the Asian in the group, he is an amazing martial artist and can physically take down each of the team members on his own, he is good with his fighting skills and his ability to use the environment on his favor. He assumes the team is not in his favor cause he is an Asian and that he is so short, everyone in the team makes fun of this fact and this adds the extra bit of humor in the movie.

    Gunner played by Dolph Lundgren in the movie struggles with anger management and temper-related challenges, this character struggles to control his emotions, leading to heated conflicts and impulsive decisions. The inclusion of such a character adds a layer of tension and volatility to the narrative, potentially influencing the relationships and events within the movie.

3. CINEMATIC APPEAL

    The movie is characterized by an intense plot involving a lot of unwanted and unexpected gore and violence. These scenes include the intense combat, fights, or confrontations that are visually explicit and showcase the brutality of the story. 

    The inclusion of such graphic scenes adds the element of shock, flinch and rawness to the narrative, appealing to audiences seeking an adrenaline-fueled viewing experience, some viewers would find this part of the movie really exciting.

    The movie is action-packed, featuring numerous sequences involving intense action and thrilling chases. These scenes are meticulously choreographed and filmed to captivate the audience, showcasing a blend of physical combat, stunts, and fast-paced pursuits, as well as making the best use of the environment. The use of dynamic action sequences enhances the overall excitement and energy of the movie.

   

    Incorporating the environment creatively into fight scenes is a hallmark of a great movie. Characters utilize their surroundings strategically during fights, adding an innovative dimension to the action. This aspect not only showcases the characters' adaptability but also enhances the realism and excitement of the fight sequences, this makes the viewers adore the fight sequences.

4. PERSONAL OPINION

    The movie features a diverse array of characters, each with their own set of principles or beliefs and each of them having their own but of inside jokes which adds the element of whimsy. Some characters adhere to a moral or ethical code, guiding their actions and decisions, while others may lack such principles and operate based on personal motivations or survival instincts. 

    The diversity in character values contributes to the complexity of the story and influences the interactions and conflicts within the movie, since the principles of one might coincidence with the other and that's when they work together and make impossible happen or at times when they go against each other and that leads to a world of pain for the entire team.

    A prominent theme in the movie is the betrayal of comrades or allies. The trust between the members of the team is broken and the balance of the team is at stake, the characters face betrayal from those they consider close or on the same side. 

    The betrayal element introduces internal conflict, emotional turmoil, and moral dilemmas- which pretty much questions if people actually deserve a second chance when the things they have done is of utmost horrifying kind. This deepens the plot and character development, potentially driving the story in unexpected directions.

    The movie prides itself on defying predictability. It keeps the audience on the edge of their seats by incorporating unexpected plot twists and turns that deviate from conventional storylines. The unpredictability engages the viewers, challenging their expectations and delivering a unique and surprising viewing experience, the intercrossing of different plot lines and different relations between the characters in the movie adds to the unpredictability.

    Beyond the main characters, the movie introduces third-party elements that disrupt the anticipated narrative flow, this part of the movie is completely unexpected and very surprising. These unexpected twists could come from external forces, unforeseen alliances, or hidden agendas, throwing the characters and audience off balance and intensifying the story's intrigue and suspense.

5. CONCLUSION

    The movie features a cast of physically imposing characters, often referred to as "buff dudes." Their imposing presence aligns with the high level of action showcased throughout the film. This abundance of action scenes, of high quality and intensity, ensures that the movie lives up to the expectations of action enthusiasts, providing a visually exhilarating experience.

    I would give this movie a rating of 3.5/5. I feel the need for a bit of backstory to better understand the characters and the overarching situation. A lack of adequate background information can leave viewers wanting more context, particularly regarding the characters' motivations, past experiences, and the overall setting. A well-developed backstory enhances character depth and enriches the storytelling. 

    At times the movie looks like a piece of a bigger movie where only the best action parts were cut and made into a new movie, just because of the fact that there is no pre or post parts of the movie properly explained.