It's a Geek's Life

Mirrormask

2012-01-25T19:49:00.001+11:00

I enjoyed the movie when I first saw it on DVD years ago, I recently picked up the Blu-ray and I enjoyed seeing Mirrormask once again but I was stunned at the improvement in picture quality on the Blu-ray version.

Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers

2012-01-10T12:47:00.000+11:00

I saw this movie a long time ago and couldn't remember much about it but then I guess that was because of how bad it was, disjointed story that made little sense and directed by someone who I guess was trying to visually interesting but instead only managed to be annoying, little style and less substance.

Outlander

2012-01-10T12:45:00.007+11:00

This was a blind buy for me, I hadn't heard much about the movie beyond it's basic concept but when I saw the Blu-ray on sale I thought I'd take a punt and I picked it up, what a good move that turned out to be because the movie far exceeded my expectations and I really enjoyed it.

Halloween V: The Revenge of Michael Myers

2012-01-09T10:47:00.000+11:00

After the fairly pleasant surprise that was Halloween IV I was kind of looking forward to Halloween V: The Revenge of Michael Myers and it was OK but the quality dropped a lot between sequels which was a shame since I think they had some interesting ideas but they just didn't do enough with them.

Tucker and Dale vs Evil

2011-12-21T14:46:00.002+11:00

Sequel please ..........nuff said

Akira

2011-12-21T14:44:00.000+11:00

I've just finished watching Akira on Blu-ray, the movie looked great but I was slightly unimpressed by the new sound mix, it sounded good but I didn't think it was as amazing as I'd read in a few places online, it's funny but in some ways the movie looks rather dated now ( such as character design and animation ) but in other's it still holds up rather well.

While Akira looked and sounded great on Blu-ray I don't know that I'd be rushing out to buy it any time soon, the disc just seemed overpriced for what it was, it is the best looking version of the movie I've seen but I'd advise waiting for a price reduction or until it's on sale somewhere before picking up this version of the movie.

Halloween IV: The Return of Micheal Myers

2011-12-21T14:33:00.001+11:00

Over the years I've lived by a simple rule: any Halloween film (except for Halloween 3 ) that doesn't feature Jamie Lee Curtis sucks and any Halloween film that kills off a character played by Jamie Lee Curtis is ok up until that point but then quickly turns to crap after that character's death.

Over the last few months I've been slowly working my way through the various classic horror movie franchises and it was probably the Halloween series that I thought I'd enjoy the least based on my one simple rule but when it came to rewatching Halloween IV: The Return of Micheal Myers I found that I actually enjoyed the movie, it's certainly no classic like John Carpenter's original film but I had fun.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

2011-12-15T11:04:00.000+11:00

Yesterday I watched Rise of the Planet of the Apes on Blu-ray and it was a bit of a mixed bag for me, I thought the first two thirds of the movie were excellent far exceeding what I was expecting from the film but then it all started getting very silly towards the end, the final action sequences were over the top and spoiled what could've been an outstanding movie.

I did enjoy the various nods to the original movie, they were fun apart from one which was clumsily inserted because fans were probably expecting to hear it at some point.

I understand why the chose to do CG apes instead of using real ones or people in makeup that was kind of distracting for me, while computer effects technology is advancing in leaps and bounds all the time and these apes looked pretty good but they just didn't blend in with their environment, I can't quite put my finger on what it was but the end result was that the apes all looked like they weren't really there, the one thing Tim Burton got right with his Planet of the Apes remake was the excellent use of makeup and prosthetics.

The Director and Producers seem to have left things open for a potential sequel and I have to admit I'd probably be interested in seeing one but if it happens hopefully they will resist the temptation to use ridiculous CG action sequences and get back to telling a good story.

Tekwar and Total Recall 2070

2011-12-05T11:54:00.000+11:00

Tekwar and Total Recall 2070 are two shows I've wanted to see for years ( I've seen the Tekwar movies but not the TV series ) and today they arrived in my mailbox and I'm really looking forward to seeing them.

Sucker Punch

2011-12-05T11:48:00.000+11:00

I finally got to see Sucker Punch yesterday on Blu-ray, I watched the extended version and not the theatrical release and I really enjoyed it, I can see why people wouldn't like the movie but it was pretty much exactly what I expected it to be right down to the so-called twist at the end ( they were hinting at it early on in the film ).

This was a fun little movie and one I'll be sure to watch again.

Godzilla Vs Megalon

2011-12-03T08:55:00.000+11:00

I know that they are not to every one's taste but I enjoy Godzilla movies and while I don't own all of them I do have a lot of them, last night I watched Godzilla vs Megalon for the first time ( that I can recall ) and it was just terrible, easily one of the worst movies I've seen in ages, in fact Godzilla was only in it for around 20 minutes, this felt more like an attempt to launch a spin-off movie series.

This one was pretty disappointing but hopefully the next one will be a return to form.

True Blood Season 2

2011-11-22T19:20:00.000+11:00

Fiona and I watched all 12 episodes of True Blood's second season over the last couple of days, I actually rather enjoyed the first couple of episodes but then it all started going wrong, so very wrong.

For me at least ( Fiona rather enjoyed it ) the second season was a mess, there was just so much wasted time and boring story lines during the second season that I'm kind of shocked anyone was left watching the show by the end of the season although I guess all the nudity helped save the show.

In the name of keeping the wife happy I've ordered the third season Blu-ray set but honestly I'm not looking forward to it.

Hippies

2011-11-22T19:11:00.000+11:00

OK I admit it, I only bought Hippies because Simon Pegg was in it and because it was cheap, the show was a mildly amusing little comedy but nothing special and I'd only recommend it to Simon Pegg fans, having now watched the first and only series I can see why a second series was never produced, to be honest I'm not sure why it was commissioned in the first place, it's not horrible or anything but it's just not really funny either.

Stuff and Nonsense

2011-11-14T10:43:00.000+11:00

Finished Batman: Arkham City - loved it !

Watched the original Phantasm, hadn't seen it in around 15 years, I didn't remember it being so cheaply made and disjointed at times but it was still B-Grade fun.

Also watched to original The Fast and the Furious, looked and sounded nice on Blu-ray but it was a pretty average and very predictable movie, I can't believe that it got four sequels.

I had a lot more fun watching the Escape to Athena with it's big Hollywood ensemble cast along with the 1973 version of The Three Musketeers, both films looked pretty good for their age on Blu-ray, I'm hoping to watch The Four Musketeers later today, it's a pity that there weren't more films made in this series as they are a lot of fun.

Finally there was Ghost in the Shell: Innocence, I'd been interested in seeing this sequel to the original film for some time, the Blu-ray looked and sounded great but I thought the movie was a little disappointing - I guess you can't win them all.

Missed it by that much.

2011-11-05T18:19:00.001+11:00

Fiona is staying at a friends shack for the night, well I guess she is, I spent a bunch of time on the phone this afternoon reading her directions to Greens Beach from Google maps, she went to Gravelly Beach by mistake, the kind of mistake that anyone could make even thought they are nowhere near each other.

True Blood Season 1

2011-11-05T11:18:00.000+11:00

Well Fiona and I finished watching True Blood season 1 a little while back and while Fiona really seemed to enjoy the show I have to say it really didn't do much for me.

I felt that the show had a lot of potential that it failed to reach, I think too much time was wasted on the angst driven romance between the leading characters when the show really would've benefited from better pacing and story telling.

I have season 2 on Blu-ray and I know Fiona is pretty keen to watch it sometime soon, I've heard very mixed things about season 2 so it will be interesting to see how the show develops.

Yet another movie ( or three ).

2011-11-05T11:06:00.000+11:00

Well I've been out of the loop a bit of late, life has this horrible habit of getting in the way of the fun stuff but I have manages to watch a few movies on Blu-ray.

Over the last week I've re-watched the Underworld movies, I didn't enjoy them as much as I did the first time around and I'm not all that excited about seeing the new film in the series based on the trailer ( the Resident Evil films did something similar years ago ) but who knows it might be fun.

Ghost in the Shell: Innocence, I rather enjoyed the first Ghost in the Shell movie but I'd heard a lot of mixed things about this movie, I thought the Blu-ray looked fantastic but the movie itself was disappointing, very disappointing.

X-Men: First Class, I really enjoyed this movie, I think I can say this is my favorite of the X-Men films, I loved the whole 60's Avengers / James Bond spy-fi vibe that was going on and it was a fun story as well.

I'm pretty sure I've missed out something else but that's old age and a failing memory for you, I'll try to update this sucker on a more regular basis from now on but until recently my heart hasn't really been in it, sometimes real life can just suck.

Started watching True Blood - Finally

2011-10-21T12:49:00.000+11:00

Apparently True Blood DVD boxsets have been doing the rounds at the hospital where my wife works and it's rather popular among the theatre staff, Fiona came home a couple of days ago and asked me if I'd seen it, I told her I'd had the season one and two Blu-ray boxset for ages but I hadn't gotten around to watching them yet.

Last night we watched the first two episodes of season one, I enjoyed the first one but was fairly bored by the second, hopefully things pick up again before too long.

I'm not Ignoring You

2011-10-08T08:45:00.000+11:00

To anyone who has recently commented on my blog, I'm not ignoring you but for some reason Blogger won't let me respond to comments, I can post without any problems but not comment on those posts - very strange.

Quick Update

2011-10-08T08:40:00.000+11:00

Well it's been a while but I'm back to hopefully begin posting on a more regular basis again.

I picked up the limited edition version of Thor on Blu-ray yesterday, it has the 3D Blu-ray, the regular Blu-ray, the DVD and a digital copy - I'm looking forward to watching the movie today as I've been wanting to see it for a while.
I also watched the first half of Sherlock Holmes last night and it's ok but I was hoping for something better, who knows things might improve during the last half of the movie.

Star Wars on Blu-ray

2011-09-21T12:02:00.000+10:00

My shiny new Star Wars complete saga Blu-ray boxset arrived in the mail yesterday, I have to admit to being more excited about seeing all the new special features than I was about seeing the movies again but now that the discs are actually here I find that I don't really care, I hope it's the combination of insomnia and fatigue rather than this geek fanboy's heart dying.

Insomnia Sucks !

2011-09-16T19:26:00.000+10:00

It really really does, over the last few days I've been exhausted but not tired enough to actually sleep, you'd think I would've caught up on some reading or something but no I was too tired to really concentrate either but it's getting better - slowly !

365 Movies in 365 Days

2011-09-07T18:04:00.000+10:00

Over the past year a bunch of guys including myself over at the Podcast on Fire forums took part in a challenge to see who could manage to watch 365 Movies in 365 Days, earlier this year I published my list at around the 6 month mark but the 365 Days are now over and I present for those who might be interested the complete list.

I was first to reach 365 movies but I came in second place for the total amount of movies watched, it was a fun experiment but not something I would want to do again for a while unless I was a little more organised as I kept forgetting to list movies so my list is probably incomplete, as you can see towards the end I started buying a lot of Blu-rays and I've actually managed to watch some of them.

001. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
002. Casino Royale ( 1967 )
003. Casino Royale ( 1954 )
004. Nightnare
005. Night Creatures
006. The Evil of Frankenstein
007. Diamonds are Forever ( I just couldn't resist watching the 7th 007 film when it was time for the 7th movie on the list - little things like that amuse me )
008. All the Boys Love Mandy Lane
009. Die Hard
010. The Siege
011. Flirtong Scholar ( Flirting Scholar ? )
012. King Kong ( 1976 )
013. The Dungeon Masters
014. John Carpenter's Halloween
015. W.
016. Eagle Eye
017. The Mummy ( Hammer )
018. Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman
019. The Batman / Superman movie
020. Justice League: Starcrossed
021. Batman vs Dracula
022. Wonder Woman
023. Batman: Gotham Knight
024. Justice League: New Frontier
025. Superman / Batman: Public Enemies
026. Volcano High
027. The Hunt for Red October
028. Ferris Bueller's Day Off
029. Gen-X Cops
030. Seoul Raiders
031. Disturbia
032. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
033. The Sum of all Fears
034. John Carpenter's Dark Star
035. Near Dark
036. Clear and Present Danger
037. Superman Returns
038. The Untouchables
039. Dark Water ( US remake )
040. Flightplan
041. The Magnificent Scoundrels
042. Batman: Sub Zero
043. The Tricky Master
044. Fight Back to School
045. Fight Back to School 2
046. Fight back to School 3
047. Chopper
048. A Man's Gotta Do
049. The Adventures of Barry McKenzie
050. Oyster Farmer
051. War of the Worlds: The Resurrection ( Pilot movie for the TV series)
052. Batman
053. Star Trek ( 2009 )
054. Predator
055. Predator 2
056. Batman Returns
057. Batman Forever
058. Batman and Robin
059. Serpico
060. Narc
061. City Heat
062. White Hunter Black Heart
063. Pink Cadillac
064. The Rookie
065. Ninja Dragon
066. Rob Zombie's Halloween 2
067. The Descent
068. The Descent: Part 2
069. Casino Royale
070. Quantum of Solace
071. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
072. Fear and Loathing in Las Vagas
073. Carry On Abroad
074. Carry On Doctor
075. Carry On Again Doctor
076. Mr Vampire
077. Darkman
078. Carry On - Don't Lose Your Head
079. Carry On England
080. Carry On - Follow That Camel
081. Re-Animator
082. Bride of Re-Animator
083. Beyond Re-Animator
084. Heart of an Empire
085. Goldfinger
086. Goldeneye
087. The Man with the Golden Gun
088. Look Out, Officer !
089. MANTIS ( Pilot movie for the TV series )
090. Doctor Who: The Movie
091. Two Hands
092. House of Fury
093. Crank
094. Letters from Iwo Jima
095. The Pink Panther
096. A Shot in the Dark
097. The Life of Brian
098. Hudson Hawk
099. Return of the Pink Panther
100. The Pink Panther Strikes Again
101. The Host
102. Carry On Matron
103. Carry On At Your Convenience
104. The Return
105. Hot Fuzz
106. Buffy The Vampire Slayer
107. The Philadelphia Experiment
108. The 13th Warrior
109. The Punisher ( Dolph Lundgren )
110. Clerks
111. Clerks 2
112. The Nugget
113. Deep Blue Sea
114. Shadow of the Vampire
115. Dagon
116. Transporter
117. Transporter 2
118. Cujo
119. Mr Bean's Holiday
120. The Evil Cult
121. Futurama: Bender's Game
122. Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcisit
123. Revenge of the Pink Panther
124. Trail of the Pink Panther
125. Curse of the Pink Panther
126. Son of the Pink Panther
127. Lost in Space
128. The Time Machine ( original version )
129. Tron
130. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
131. Spider-Man 2.1
132. Ronin
133. Hawk the Slayer
134. The Blues Brothers ( extended version )
135. Dead Like Me: Life After Death
136. Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man
137. 5 Pattern Dragon Claws
138. Future Cop
139. Future Cop 2
140. The Odd Angry Shot
141. Das Boot
142. Future Cop 3
143. Doctor Who and the Daleks
144. Daleks Invasion Earth 2150 A.D
145. Future Cop 4
146. Iron Man 2
147. Predators
148. Doctor Strange
149. Mr Vampire
150. Future Cop 5
151. Howard the Duck
152. Ultimate Avengers
153. Brothers Grimm
154. Future Cop 6
155. Tideland
156. Blood Work
157. Alexander ( Revisited )
158. Heartbreak Ridge
159. Miami Vice
160. Babylon 5: Thirdspace
161. The Phandom Menace
162. Avalon
163. Ringers: Lord of the Fans
164. Along Came a Spider
165. Kiss the Girls
166. Miami Vice ( Pilot movie for the TV series )
167. The Force Among Us
168. Mallrats
169. Pegwarmers
170. Godzilla: Final Wars
171. Manhunter
172. Dr No
173. Free Enterprise
174. Alien Nation ( Pilot movie for the TV series )
175. Battlestar Galactica ( the re-edited version of the 3 hour pilot that was released as a movie )
176. Mission Galactica: The Cylon Attack
177. Space: Above and Beyond ( Pilot movie for the TV series )
178. Spriggan
179. THX 1138
180. The Black Hole
181. Tron
182. Next Avengers
183. Flash Gordon
184. Alien Nation: Dark Horizon
185. Alien Nation: Body and Soul
186. The Kingdom
187. Secret Origin: The Story of DC Comics
188. Alien Nation: Millennium
189. Alien Nation: The Enemy Within
190. Alien Nation: The Udara Legacy
191. Young Frankenstein
192. The Expendables
193. The Losers
194. The A-Team
195. Friday the 13th Part 2
196. Night of the Living Dead ( Millennium Edition )
197. Battlestar Galactica: Razor
198. Ghost Rider ( extended edition )
199. Carry On Behind
200. Carry On Camping
201. Toy Story 3
202. Clash of the Titans ( remake )
203. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring ( theatrical version )
204. Alien
205. Aliens
206. Alien 3
207. Mirrormask
208. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers ( theatrical version )
209. Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King ( theatrical version )
210. Alien Resurrection
211. Aeon Flux
212. Police Academy
213. Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment
214. Sleepy Hollow
215. The Face of Fu Manchu
216. The Brides of Fu Manchu
217. The Vengeance of Fu Manchu
218. Police Academy 3: Back in Training
219. Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol
220. 10 000 BC
221. Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach
222. Police Academy 6: City Under Siege
223: Police Academy 7: Mission to Moscow
224. The Usual Suspects
225. Battlestar Galactica: The Plan
226. Hellraiser
227. Stargate (15th Anniversary Edition)
228. Stargate: Children of the Gods ( The Final Cut )
229. Renegade Master
230. Robocop
231. Hellraiser 2
232. Robocop 2
233. Robocop 3
234. Stargate: The Ark of Truth
235. Hellraiser 3
236. Cube
237. Cypher
238. The Invasion
239. Hellraiser 4: Bloodline
240. Stargate Continuum
241. Rear Window ( Christopher Reeve remake )
242. Superman / Batman: Apocalypse
243. Justice League: Crisis On Two Earths
244. Batman: Under the Red Hood
245. Firefly: Serenity ( Pilot movie to the TV series not the Serenity movie sequel to the TV series )
246. Coraline
247. The Last Waltz
248. 28 Days Later
249. 28 Weeks Later
250. Stargate Atlantis: Rising ( Pilot movie for the TV series )
251. Gremlins
252. Robocop: The Future of Law Enforcement ( Pilot movie for the TV series )
253. Avatar ( Extended Edition )
253. Mr Vampire 2
254. Family Guy: It's a Trap
255. Lost in La Mancha
256. John Carptenter's The Thing
257. Invasion of the Body Snatchers ( 1978 )
258. The Muppet Christmas Carol
259. Daredevil ( Director's Cut )
260. The Force Among Us
261. The Hobbit ( animated TV movie )
262. Inception
263. Terminator: Salvation
264. True Lies
265. Game of Death
266. Blade
267. Princess Blade
268. Hellraiser V: Inferno
269. Hellraiser VI: Hellseeker
270. The Muppet Movie
271. The Thing from Another World
272. The Forbidden Planet
273. R-Point
274. Twins of Evil
275. Vampire Circus
276. Bruce Lee: The Man and The Legend
277. 16 Blocks
278. She
279. The Vengeance of She
280. The Ring ( original version )
281. The Ring 2 ( original version )
282. Four Sided Triangle
283. X The Unknown
384. Countess Dracula
285. John Carpenter's Escape from New York
286. The Bride
287. The Hound of the Baskervilles ( Hammer version )
288. The Dead Zone
289. This is Spinal Tap
290. Robpcop: Dark Justice
291. Robocop: Melt Down
292. Robocop: Ressurection
293. Robocop: Crash and Burn
294. The Great Muppet Caper
295. The Day The Earth Stood Still ( original version )
296. The Forbidden Planet
297. Twlight Zone: The Movie
298. Police Story
299. The Alien Saga
300. The Exorcist ( The Version you've never seen )
301. Blade ( DTS edition )
302. Buck Rogers in the 25th Century ( Pilot movie for the TV series )
303. Rasputin The Mad Monk
304. Police Story 2
305. Blade 2
306. Blade: The House of Cthon ( Pilot movie for the TV series )
307. Journey to the Centre of the Earth ( 1959 )
308. Tango and Cash
309. Jin-Roh The Wolf Brigade
310. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
311. Gremlins 2: The New Batch
312. Frankenstein Created Woman
313. Spies Like Us
314. Caddyshack
315. Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed
316. Highlander: The Search for Vengeance
317. They're a Wierd Mob
318. Police Story 3: Supercop
319. Scott Pilgrim vs the World
320. Planet Hulk
321. The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb
322. The Mummy's Shroud
323. The Killer
324. Last Hurrah for Chivalry
325. The Warriors
326. The Abandoned
327. Stormy Monday
328. Bandits
329. Dracula: Prince of Darkness
330. Dracula Has Risen From the Grave
331. Taste the Blood of Dracula
332. Scars of Dracula
333. Dad's Army: The Movie
334. The Spy Who Loved Me
335. Hellraiser VII: Deader
336. The Omen ( 2006 )
337. The Thing From Another World
338. John Carpenter's The Fog
339. The Omen
340. Damien: Omen II
341. Omen III: The Final Conflict
342. Omen IV: The Awakening
343. The Omen Legacy
344. Nosferatu ( original version )
345. Top Secret
346. Hellraiser VIII: Hellworld
347. You Only Live Twice
348. Superman II ( The Donner Cut )
349. Alien 3 ( Special Edition )
350. Nosferatu ( 1979 remake )
351. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn
352. The Incredible Hulk
353. John Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13
354. Star Trek: Generations
355. Star Trek: First Contact
356. Kolchak: The Night Stalker
357. Kolchak: The Night Strangler
358. 36 Crazy Fists
259. The Street Fighter
360. Hart's War
361. Von Ryan's Express
362. The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
363. Young Hercules ( Pilot movie for the TV series )
364. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre ( remake )
365. Exorcist: The Begining

MISSION ACOMPLISHED - 365 MOVIES ON 02/02/2011

366. Mr Woodcock
367. Exorcist 2: The Heretic
368. The Exorcist III
369. The Greatest American Hero ( Pilot movie for the TV series ).
370. John Carpenter's Big Trouble in Little China
371. Once Upon a Time in the West
372. Guns and Talks
373. Never Say Never Again
374. Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
375. The Invisible Man
376. Hapkido
377. Wheels on Meals
378. Biggles: Adventures in Time
379. Skinny Tiger Fatty Dragon
380. Project A
381. Fanboys
382. The Day the Earth Stood Still ( remake )
383. Hot Tub Time Machine
384. Flight of the Navigator
385. Eastern Condors
386. A Hard Days Night
387. The Incredibles
388. From Russia With Love
389. Tu£sday
390. Resident Evil: Afterlife
391. And now for something completely different
392. Wanted
393. Halloween: A Cut Above the Rest
394. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn ( Blu-ray )
395. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock ( Blu-ray )
396. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home ( Blu-ray )
397. John Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness
398. Countdown to Wednesday
399. Zombieland
400. Resident Evil: Degeneration
401. Overnight
402. The Wolfman
403. Solomon Kane
404. Halloween: 25 Years of Terror
405. Wanted
406. An American Werewolf in London
407. John Carpenter's Halloween ( Blu-ray )
408. Halloween 2 ( 1981 )
409. Halloween 3: Season of the Witch
410. Jonah Hex
411. Minority Report
412. Armour of God
413. The Protector
414. Knockabout
415. The Company of Wolves
416. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
417. Nightmare on Elm Street ( remake )
418. Whiteout
419. The Return of the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman
420. Friday the 13th ( remake )
421. Confessions of a Superhero
422. The King of Kong
423. Burke and Hare
424. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
425. The Mummy ( 1932 )
426. Poltergeist ( Blu-ray )
427. Twilight Zone: The Movie ( Blu-ray )
428. Moonraker ( Blu-ray )
429. Doctor Jekyll and Sister Hyde
430. The Iceman Cometh
431. Warriors Two
432. Hellboy 2 ( Blu-ray )
433. Starship Troopers ( Blu-ray )
434. The Man With the Golden Gun ( Blu-ray )
435. The Final Destination
436. Punisher: War Zone ( Blu-ray )
437. Devil
438. The Final Destination
439. Escape From New York ( Blu-ray )
440. Indyfans and the Quest for Fortune and Glory
441. Videodrome
442. Kull The Conquerer
443. FAQ About Time Travel
444. Pitch Plack ( Blu-ray )
445. The Terminator ( Blu-ray )
446. Terminator 2: Judgement Day ( Blu-ray )
447. Darkon
448. Fantastic Voyage
449. Planet of the Apes ( Blu-ray )
450. Beneath the Planet of the Apes ( Blu-ray )
451. The Omega Man ( Blu-ray )
452. Ghost in the Shell 2.0 ( Blu-ray )
453. Ghost in the Shell : Innocence ( Blu-ray )
454. Ghost In the Shell: The Laughing Man
455. Ghost in the Shell: Individual 11
456. Escape from the Planet of the Apes ( Blu-ray )
457. Sin City ( Blu-ray )
458. The Lost Boys ( Blu-ray )
459. The Reinactors
460. Red Sonja ( Blu-ray )
461. Goldfinger ( Blu-ray )
462. John Carpenter's Escape from New York ( Blu-ray )
463. Starship Troopers ( Blu-ray )
464. Conquest of the Planet of the Apes ( Blu-ray )
465. Battle for the Planet of the Apes ( Blu-ray )
466. Star Trek: The Motion Picture ( Blu-ray )
467. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull ( Blu-ray )
468. Freddy vs Jason ( Blu-ray )
469. Underworld: Rise of the Lycans ( Blu-ray )
470. X-Men Origins: Wolverine ( Blu-ray )
471. X-Men ( Blu-ray )
472. Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film
472. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader ( Blu-ray )
473. Poltergeist 2: The Other Side ( Blu-ray )
473. Poltergeist 3 ( Blu-ray )
474. Star Trek: Generations ( Blu-ray )
475. X-Files: Fight the Future ( Blu-ray )
476. X-Files: I Want to Believe ( Blu-ray )
477. Alien vs Predator ( Blu-ray )
478. Flash Gordon ( Blu-ray )
479. Alien vs Predator: Requiem ( Blu-ray )
480. Underworld ( Blu-ray )
481. Underworld: Evolution ( Blu-ray )
482. The Last Winter
483. Police Story 2 ( HKL version )
484. Run Lola Run
485. A Fist Full of Dynamite
486. City of Lost Children
487. Scarface
488. The Crow ( Blu-ray )
489. Hitman ( HKL version )
490. Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles
491. Tron ( Blu-ray )
492. Tron Legacy ( 3D Blu-ray )
493. Cowboy Bebop: The Movie
494. Starman ( Blu-ray )
495. The Last Starfighter ( Blu-ray )
496. The Neverending Story ( Blu-ray )
497. Star Trek: First Contact ( Blu-ray )
498. District 9 ( Blu-ray )
499. Doctor No ( Blu-ray )
500. A Fistful of Dynamite ( Duck You Sucker )
501. The Beach
502. The Devil's Backbone
503. Machete ( Blu-ray )
504. The Neverending Story ( Blu-ray )
505. Masters of the Universe
506. John Carpenter's Big Trouble in Little China ( Blu-ray )
507. Star Trek: First Contact ( Blu-ray )
508. Spider-man ( Blu-ray )
509. Spider-man 2 ( Blu-ray )
510. Spider-man 3 ( Blu-ray )
511. X-Men 2 ( Blu-ray )
512. Play Misty for Me
513. Daybreakers ( Blu-ray )
514. Evangelion: Death and Rebirth
515. Blood: The Last Vampire
516. Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Begining
517. A Fistful of Dollars ( Blu-ray )
518. For a Few Dollars More ( Blu-ray )
519. Hand of Death
520. Mindhunters
521. 48 Hours
522. Pet Cemetary
523. National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1
524. Centurion ( Blu-ray )
525. Godzilla
526. Godzilla Raids Again
527. Hulk ( Blu-ray )
528. From Dusk Till Dawn ( Blu-ray )
529. I Am Legend ( Blu-ray )
530. Caddyshack 2
531. Slayers: The Motion Picture
532. Spriggan
533. John Carpenter's Dark Star ( Hyperdrive Edition )
534. Let There Be Light: The Odyssey of 'Dark Star'
535. Mothra vs Godzilla
536. All Monsters Attack
537. Invasion of Astro-Monster
538. Ghidorah: The Three Headed Monster
539. Terror of Mechagodzilla
540. Dead Alive
541. Jackie Chan's First Strike
542. The Spy Next Door
543. Wicked City
544. Lord of Illusions
545. The Hitcher
546. King Kong vs Godzilla
547. King Kong Escapes
548. Tales From the Crypt: Demon Knight
549. John Carpenter's Vampires
550. The Spirit ( Blu-ray )
551. John Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness ( R3 DTS Version )
552. Bad Taste
553. The Frighteners ( Director's Cut )
554. The Making of The Frighteners
555. Invasion of the Body Snatchers ( 1987 remake )
556. Appleseed ( original version )
557. Franklyn ( Blu-ray )
558. Logan's Run ( Blu-ray )
559. Friday the 13th
560. Friday the 13th Part 2
561. The Expendables ( Blu-ray )
562. Friday the 13th Part 3
563. Vampires: Los Muertos
564. Vampires: The Turning
565. John Carpenter's Assualt on Precinct 13 ( Blu-ray )
566. Million Dollar Baby ( Blu-ray )
567. John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars ( Blu-ray )
568. John Carpenter's The Thing ( Blu-ray )
569. Hellboy 2 ( Blu-ray )
570. Iron Man ( Blu-ray )
571. The Forbidden Planet ( Blu-ray )
572. John Carpenter's Escape From L.A. ( Blu-ray )
573. Indiana Jones and the Kingdon of the Crystal Skull ( Blu-ray )
574. Look, Up in the Sky! The Amazing Story of Superman - HD Version ( Blu-ray )
575. Superman: The Movie - Original Theatrical Version ( Blu-ray )
576. Superman II - Original Theatrical Version ( Blu-ray )
577. Superman III (Blu-ray )
578. Superman IV: The Quest for Peace ( Blu-ray )
579. Paul ( Blu-ray )
580. Superman Returns ( Blu-ray )
581. Back to the Future ( Blu-ray )
582. Back to the Huture 2 ( Blu-ray )
583. Avalon
584. Returner
585. Beast Cops
586. Back to the Future 3 ( Blu-ray )
587. Vampire Wars ( anime )
588. Golgo 13
589. Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter
590. Altered States
591. The Hidden
592. Friday the 13th: A New Begining
593. Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives
594. Constantine ( Blu-ray )
595. Speed Racer ( Blu-ray )
596. Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths ( Blu-ray )
597. Wonder Woman ( Pilot movie for the 70s TV series )
598. Appleseed ( 2004 )
599. Hulk ( Blu-ray )
600. Batman: Under the Red Hood ( Blu-ray )
601. Superman / Batman: Apocalypse ( Blu-ray )
602. Evangellion 1.11 You Are ( Not ) Alone ( Blu-ray )
603. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Extended Edition ( Blu-ray )
604. Godzilla vs Hedorah
605. Godzilla vs Gigan
606. Hitman ( Timothy Olyphant )
607. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Extended Edition ( Blu-ray )
608. Godzilla vs Magalon
609. Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla
610. Dante's Inferno ( anime )
611. Trekkies
612. Speed Racer ( Blu-ray )
613. The Good The Bad and The Ugly ( Blu-ray )
614. Clint Eastwood: Out of the Shadows
615. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Extended Edition ( Blu-ray )
616. Hang 'Em High ( Blu-ray )
617. Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Extended Edition ( Blu-ray )
618. Mimic ( Blu-ray )
619. Akira ( Blu-ray )
620. Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior ( Blu-ray )
621. Superman: The Movie Extended Version ( Blu-ray )
622. Superman 2: The Donner Cut ( Blu-ray )
623. Taken ( Blu-ray )
624. The Terminator ( Blu-ray )
625. Gran Torino ( Blu-ray )
626. High Plains Drifter
627. Thunderball ( Blu-ray )
628. Terminator 2 Judgement Day ( Blu-ray )
629. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within ( Blu-ray )
630. The Nanny
631. One Missed Call - US Remake ( Blu-ray )
632. White Noise
633. White Noise: The Light
634. Psychic Wars ( anime )
635. Gamera: Guardian of the Universe ( Blu-ray )
636. Gamera 2: Attack of the Legion ( Blu-ray )
637. District 13 ( Blu-ray )
638. District 13: Ultimatum ( Blu-ray )
639. X-Files: Fight the Future ( Blu-ray )
640. Fantastic Four ( Blu-ray )
641. Conan the Barbarian ( Blu-ray )
642. X-Files: I Want to Believe ( Blu-ray )
643. Conan the Destroyer ( Blu-ray )
644. Stop Me Before I Kill
645. Cash on Demand
646. Maniac
647. Never Take Candy from a Stranger
648. These are the Damned
649. The Snorkel
650. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
651. Airplane ( Flying High )
652. Airplane 2: The Sequel ( Flying High 2 )
653. V for Vendetta ( Blu-ray )
654. Constantine ( Blu-ray )
655. Iron Man Blu-ray )
656. The Incredible Hulk ( Blu-ray )
657. Starship Troopers ( Blu-ray )
658. Alice in Wonderland ( Blu-ray )
659. Ladyhawke ( Blu-ray )
670. The Wicker Man ( director's cut of the original film )
671. Ninja Scroll
672. Hellboy ( Blu-ray )
673. Ghost Rider ( Blu-ray )
674. Arthur - original version ( Blu-ray )
675. Arthur 2: On the Rocks ( Blu-ray )
676. The Dark Crystal ( Blu-ray )
677. Labyrinth ( Blu-ray )
678. Transporter 3 ( Blu-ray )
679. Pitch Black ( Blu-ray )
680. Universal Soldier ( Blu-ray )
681. Batman Begins ( Blu-ray )
682. Never Say Never Again ( Blu-ray )
683. Sherlock Holmes ( Blu-ray )
684. Cowboys and Aliens
685. Robin Hood - Director's Cut ( Blu-ray )
686. City Heat
687. Walking Tall
688. Dark Angel
689. The Dark Knight ( Blu-ray )
690. Puple Storm
691. Outland
692. Pale Rider
693. True Crime
694. Snake in Eagle's Shadow
695. Drunken Master

Kindred: The Embraced

2011-08-31T14:05:00.000+10:00

Kindred: The Embraced is a show I've been interested in seeing for a few years, about three weeks ago I finally bought the DVDs and today I watched the first one and a half episodes and I've come to the conclusion this show really sucks.

While I was watching the pilot I was often reminded of mind numbingly bland Charmed ( well the few episodes I saw were incredibly bland so I gave up on it early on ), it's no that some of the ideas in Kindred: The Embraced weren't good but they were so diluted and the show chose to focus on soap opera aspects instead of proper storytelling.

My daughter is a big fan of Charmed and I suspect she'll probably enjoy Kindred: The Embraced as well, I was amused to discover that a lot of the same people were behind both television series, in fact you could almost look at Kindred: The Embraced as a early prototype for Charmed.

I think that unless you are a big fan of soap opera or concepts that are heavily dumbed down so as not to offend anyone then Kindred: The Embraced is a show that's probably best avoided.

Cowboys and Aliens

2011-08-31T13:52:00.000+10:00

A couple of days ago my wife and I went to see Cowboys and Aliens, as movies go it was decent, I liked it but I didn't love it in fact my wife who doesn't usually enjoy science fiction enjoyed it more than I did but I suspect that may have had something to do with the male cast.

Cowboys and Aliens is certainly worth a look if you get the chance, it's probably not worth owning unless like me you have a wife who gets the screaming thigh sweats every time Harrison Ford walks on screen.

Customer Service

2011-08-29T20:03:00.000+10:00

Well I'm sure if I asked pretty much anyone it wouldn't take long before I get some sort of customer service horror story, it seems that we've all come across that completely useless person who's only purpose seems to be to make life harder than it needs to be.

Well over the last week I've had one of the best examples of customer service I've experienced in ages and sadly I don't feel that I can say which company it was or the exact product that I had a problem with just in case someone might decide to take advantage of that companies generosity.

The company in question is a UK based DVD distributor who seems to have a less than optimal reputation when it comes to quality control, over the last year or so they have been re-releasing a classic 60's television series, one of the boxsets had a production error on all of the discs in the sets that meant the audio was mastered at the wrong pitch.

I'd bought the faulty boxset when I was first released but hadn't watched any of the DVDs and sure enough my boxset contained discs from the original production run featuring the flawed audio track.

The company in question has been happy to replace faulty DVDs with the corrected ones if customers returned the faulty DVDs to them which I was happy to do - well at least until I found out how much Australia Post wanted to charge me to airmail the faulty DVDs back to the UK.

I contacted the company in question and asked if I could just be sent the DVDs, I was happy to provide proof of purchase or pay a reasonable sum for the discs if this was a problem, while all this was being sorted out my computer died and along with it my proof of purchase.

Using my wife's laptop I contacted them again and said I no longer had access to my proof of purchase details and I would be happy to buy the replacement DVDs from them, they wrote back to me and said if I could send me a digital photo of the boxset they would send me the DVDs so I did as they asked but never heard any more from them but today a mere five working days later I received a package in the mail containing all of the replacement DVDs.

The truth is that I probably could have gotten a photo of the boxset online if I tried so in the name of customer service they ignored their usual return policy and didn't ask me to return the faulty DVDs, what they accepted as proof of purchase was almost nonexistent, passed up an opportunity to get me to pay for another set of DVDs and finally sent the replacement DVD priority air mail so that I received them on the other side of the world in less than a week - I don't know about you but I think that is pretty damn good customer service.

Frelling Computers

2011-08-25T19:05:00.000+10:00

A couple of days ago my computer died a spectacular death and really it was probably time for a new one anyway, I've had a lot of crap going on recently and I really couldn't be bothered building a new system so I called up my local computer store and ordered a new PC.
Well it all seem to be going well so far but I'd forgotten what a pain in the ass it it to reinstall all those programs and handy little utilities that make life so much easier.

Crap crap crap etc

2011-08-20T08:43:00.000+10:00

Fiona arrives home from her trip early this afternoon, I have a month worth of cleaning to do in a few short hours as well as hide all the Blu-rays I've bought over the last month, with any luck she will be too jet lagged to notice.

Universal Soldier

2011-08-20T08:41:00.000+10:00

I picked up a guilty pleasure of mine on Blu-ray a couple of days and re-watched it last night and I have to say I still find Universal Soldier to be a lot of cheesy fun which is interesting to me since I don't usually enjoy the work of either Jean-Claude Van Damme or Dolph Lundgren.

Apart from a couple of dirt marks / scratches on the print they used to master the disc the Blu-ray looks and sounds pretty good, it's certainly a step up in quality over the DVD version I recently borrowed off a friend to watch.

Paul

2011-08-20T08:29:00.000+10:00

A friend of mine came around to watch a movie last night, he really wanted to see Paul so we fired up the Blu-ray and gave it a watch.

Paul is a movie it would seem I was destined to love, I've always enjoyed the comedic partnership between Simon Pegg and Nick Frost in all their previous work especially Spaced but somehow despite it's subject matter Paul just doesn't work for me, maybe it was because Edgar Wright didn't direct the duo like he did in Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz along with Spaced on television, perhaps it's because this was a larger budgeted production set in America so it lacks the atmosphere of their previous work or a combination of both but for me there just seemed to be something lacking.

Paul does feature some genuinely funny moments but they are few and far between but despite that it's still far from the worst movie I've seen recently and I'm still interested to see what Pegg and Frost do next.

Macross Plus

2011-08-17T13:12:00.000+10:00

Well after wanting to see it for a few years I finally watched the four episodes of Macross Plus yesterday, overall I'd have to say I was disappointed, there were large chunks of this story that were just incredibly boring, I know the Macross Plus movie is a re-edited version of the four episodes with some new animations sequences that were created especially for the movie, perhaps with the re-edit they managed to salvage things and create an interesting version of the story.

More Movies

2011-08-13T18:26:00.000+10:00

Over the last couple of days I've watched Conan The Barbarian, Conan the Destroyer and Ladyhawke on Blu-ray, given the time they were made and the technical limitations placed on the film makers at the time I thought they all looked and sounded great, of course the score for Ladyhawke is still one of the worst film scores I can think of and hearing it in HD audio hasn't made me appreciate it any more, to this day I don't know what on earth Richard Donner was thinking when they went ahead with that music, it couldn't be more out of place in that movie.

Fiona's UK Trip

2011-08-10T17:19:00.001+10:00

So my wife was in London and riots started, she moved on to Birmingham and riots started there as well - suspicious ?, I'll let you be the judge.

Movies Movies Movies

2011-08-06T13:46:00.000+10:00

It seems like ages since I last updated the blog so I'll try to get everything up to date over the next day or so.

I lashed out and bought a whole bunch of cheap Blu-rays over the last week or so and I've even managed to watch a few of them.

V for Vendetta
Constantine
Iron Man
Hulk
Starship Troopers

Until I saw them listed there I hadn't realised four of the five movies were all based on comics of some description, I guess old habits die hard.

In Memory Alone

2011-07-26T15:26:00.000+10:00

Watched the third of the Stranger DVDs In Memory Alone, what this lacked in budget it nearly made up for in atmosphere, at times it reminded me a lot of Sapphire and Steel.

In Memory Alone is far from groundbreaking but it was a pleasant way to kill some time, I'm hoping to finish the rest of the series sometime soon.

The Outer Limits

2011-07-26T15:17:00.000+10:00

While I've always considered myself to be more of a Twilight Zone fan I've always had a soft spot for The Outer Limits, over the last couple of nights I've finally made a start on the first season DVD boxset and of the six episodes I've watched so far I've enjoyed five of them.

As you would expect of a show it's age it at times looks very dated but so far at least the storytelling has been pretty solid and that's what matters, at least that's what matters to me.

It's nice to watch a show that didn't loose a third of it's running time to commercials leaving the producers with the time to tell a decent story, something we rarely see these days.

Catching Up

2011-07-24T14:24:00.000+10:00

Well while Fiona has been away in the UK I've taken the opportunity to try and catch up on a few things, I've started and finished the second season of Eureka on DVD as well as the Doctor Who: Earth Story Boxset, add to that I'm also determined to finish watching Supernatural season 5 and Dollhouse season 2 over the next few days, both shows that managed to put me off them because of their horrible season opening episodes.

Movie wise I've watched Taken ( finally ) which I really enjoyed along with Gran Torino ( which I'd seen before ) and The Terminator, I was pretty impressed with The Terminator on Blu-ray actually, it looked far better than I expected it to, the only disappointment for me was the weak selection of extras that come on the disc, given it's sci-fi classic status isn't it about time there was a decent feature about the making of the movie commisioned by the distributors of the film.

Yo ho, yo ho, a bacherlor's life for me.

2011-07-21T10:58:00.000+10:00

A few days ago ( well the 18th if you're really interested ) Fiona set of on a tour of France and the UK with a friend from work, she'll be gone for about a month, I'm planning to use the time to catch up on some reading and watch a bunch of foreign films ( Fiona hates watching subtitled movies ).

No doubt the trip will be a great experience for her and I'm kind of jealous that I couldn't go but that's life, it's something she's wanted to do for a while and now she's actually doing it.

2011-07-17T09:35:00.000+10:00

I watched series 5 yesterday on Blu-ray and other than the weak final episode I thought it was pretty good, I like that the show could end and I'd be OK with that but at the same time they introduced an idea that could be picked up in series 5 if that ever eventually happens.

It has to be said they really lifted their game with special effects this series and actually made use of the anomalies for something other than just introducing a new monster to fight, both of those things were nice

I'd like to see the show continue but if this is the end then I'm OK with that.

Planet Hulk

2011-07-13T22:21:00.000+10:00

Being a fan of comics I try to eventually see every movie adapted from various comic series, while Marvel may be winning in terms of live action movies DC are easily beating them when it comes to animated features.

Having said that I liked Planet Hulk enough that I'd like to read the comics it was based on since the movie felt rushed and I suspect the comics will be better paced when it comes to telling the story.

Worth a look if you get the chance.

The Good, The Bad and the oh so very Ugly

2011-07-12T23:46:00.000+10:00

I've just finished watching The Good, the Bad and The Ugly on Blu-ray and I have to say it was pretty disappointing, while MGM chose not to restore the first two of the Dollars films for Blu-ray I'd heard a lot of complaints about The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, apparently they used extensive DNR to remove the film grain, I didn't notice it much, there were a few times when the picture looked a little soft or the actors were wearing heavy make up but not the usual plastic looking people that is associated with that kind of heavy processing.

What really killed the movie for me was the re-dubbed audio, I have the 2003 ( ? ) DVD edition where they restored scenes to the film that had been cut from the original US release and got Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach and another actor to dub the late Lee Van Cleef's dialog, on the DVD release you could tell the difference but in HD audio it's painful especially when Eli Wallach is speaking as it's obviously a much older actor even if it's the same one speaking the lines and the changes in voice throughout the film are very distracting.

I've been told the Italian Blu-ray release is unrestored but doesn't have an English soundtrack, I wonder how hard it would be to make a custom Blu-ray using the Italian Blu-ray with the English audio from the original unrestored DVD release, I think I feel a project brewing.

For what it's worth A Fistful of Dollars and A Few Dollars More looked and sounded fine for movies of their age.

Trekkies

2011-07-12T15:21:00.000+10:00

I re watched Trekkies this afternoon, a lot of Star Trek fans seem to dislike the film because it portrays them in a negative light but honestly maybe they should have given some consideration to what they were doing and saying when they appeared on camera instead of complain that they look bad or stupid after the fact.

Having said that I think Trekkies is a weak documentary that is lacking in structure but despite my opinion it was obviously successful enough for the producers to make a sequel a few years later.

From what I can recall Trekkies 2 was a somewhat better movie but after the disappointment that was the first film I'm not sure I want to see it's sequel again, at least not any time soon.

Trekkies is the sort of movie I'd try and catch on TV or borrow from a friend but not worth spending your hard earned cash ( like I unfortunately did ) to see.

Hellboy 2: The Golden army

2011-07-10T12:59:00.000+10:00

I have to admit I'm a fan of the Hellboy movies and as much as I enjoyed the first film I was kind of surprised when it 's sequel went into production.

One thing I enjoy about all of Director Guillermo del Toro's movies is the visual style he brings to them and Hellboy 2 is no exception.

A couple of weeks ago I picked up Hellboy 2 on Blu-ray at a sale and I have to say that I thought the movie looked fantastic, high definition hasn't often wowed me when I've watched a movie, sure it's a quality better picture ( and sound ) but for the most part I haven't been as impressed as a lot of other people seem to have been.

If like me you are a fan of the Hellboy movies and you have the ability to play Blu-ray movies then do yourself a favor and and buy this movie in high definition, I seriously doubt you'll be disappointed.

This is why I shop online.

2011-07-07T17:29:00.000+10:00

My Lord of the Rings Extended Edition Blu-ray Boxset arrived in the mail from Amazon UK today, it cost ( including postage ) about half the Australian recommended retail price.

Australian retailers bitch and moan about people shopping online instead of spending their hard earned money with local retailers, I actually try to support local stores when it's practical to do so and if the price difference was only $5 - $10 I would've bought it locally but when I'm going to be charged twice the price someone from the UK is going to pay then forget it I'll buy it from there instead, I'm sick of being ripped off !

Summoned By Shadows / More Than A Messiah

2011-07-01T21:45:00.000+10:00

Once upon a time back in the Black and White days of 1963 the BBC commissioned and odd little show about an alien who wondered through time and space, it was never intended to be a long running show but thanks in no small part to some other funny looking aliens who became unusually popular the show ran for 26 series ( seasons for US based readers ) before it was decided to give the show a rest.

During this time the wondering alien was played by seven actors, some proved to be more popular than others, one of those actors was fired for no good reason other than one of the management types at the BBC was a boring git who didn't like the show anyway and wished it would just go away.

Eventually the boring git did in fact get his way and the show was no longer produced ( for a while anyway ) but it's fans kept it's memory alive.

The actor who was unfairly fired ( the sixth to play the part ) went on to work with an independent production company to produce stories about an alien who wandered through time and space with a companion and they had all sorts of adventures.

Summoned by Shadows and More than a Messiah are the first two of six independent features starring Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant as The Stranger and Miss Brown, for the first three stories in this series it's hinted than The Stranger may in fact be The Doctor or at least some alternate version of the character, these were very low budget features but they managed to capture some of the spirit of the then defunct Doctor Who television series.

What these features lacked in budget and professionalism they made up for with heart, these were fans trying to keep the spirit of their favorite series alive, it's a shame that these films were made in the early 90's instead of now, with the advances in personal computer technology they could easily have achieved far superior special effects to what they were obviously struggling to create at the time, especially considering their low budget.

I had previously seen some of The Stranger videos before but I recently purchased them all on DVD and so far I have enjoyed seeing them again, it's an interesting look at what the Sixth Doctor could have been if the character was developed properly.

2011-06-26T17:06:00.000+10:00

I watched Vampire Wars ]last night and it was interesting, the hero (?) is former KGB agent who was committing terrorist acts in Japan before he went into hiding in France where he is blackmailed into working against C.I.A. operatives in Europe by the French Secret Service who are hunting people who attacked a NASA facility and seem to be vampires, the vampires are actually aliens who are looking for a way to revive their leader and chaos ensues.

Definately not one for the kids and there was a lot going on but it was worth a watch, I have no idea if there were any sequels made but it was open ended enough to be continued, it's the sort of thing I wouldn't go out of my way to see but if you can catch it on TV or borrow the DVD from a friend then check it out.

Superman 2 ( Original Theatrical Version )

2011-06-25T18:55:00.000+10:00

I watched Superman II this afternoon, it's been ages since I've seen the Richard Lester version of the movie and while I prefer The Donner Cut ( even though it's an incomplete movie ) I enjoy them both.

The extras for this disc are the same as the 2006 DVD release and they are all in standard definition, the movie itself looks pretty good for a film of it's age, there is some film grain and minor blurring in a few places but overall it looks pretty good, the one unfortunate side effect of presenting the movie in Hi-def is that you can really see the faults in some of the special effects sequences but overall the movie is a worthwhile upgrade on Blu-ray.

Superman Returns

2011-06-25T15:10:00.000+10:00

I've just finished watching Superman Returns, there were complaints about it's original Blu-ray release ( although I didn't notice any problems myself ), this new Hi-def print certainly looked and sounded impressive, unfortunately it's now much easier to spot the CG Brandon Routh in some sequences but this disc would make a great Blu-ray demo disc.

It was nice to see the Return to Krypton sequence included in the deleted scenes, given that it had been completed and was basically a 5 minute special effects sequence I'm not sure why it wasn't used in the movie, especially since it explained where Superman was returning from.

Superman Returns is certainly a flawed movie but there are parts of it that I really like and I think it's a shame that Brandon Routh didn't get to revisit the role of Superman again.

Friday the 13th Part 3

2011-06-25T09:12:00.000+10:00

After being pretty impressed with the picture quality on the new DVD releases of Friday the 13th Parts 1 and 2 it was disappointing to see a very noticeable drop in picture quality for Part 3, the lack of any real story was also frustrating for me, this was more like a bunch of different scenes thrown together in the hope they might somehow form a movie.

When this movie was made it was shot in 3D and the version I saw was in 2D but it only took a few minutes before I was getting tired of things being thrown at the camera to highlight the special effects ( such as they were ), I'd forgotten how the movie ended and I did think that was interesting, it's a shame about the rest of the movie.

The Adventures of Superpup

2011-06-25T09:01:00.000+10:00

I've started working my way through the Superman Anthology Blu-ray boxset, I began with the extras disc and the first thing I watched was The Adventures of Superpup pilot which was one of the worst things I've seen in ages, I find it hard to believe a pilot was produced based on that idea let alone the possibility it might have become a regular series.

Slayers Return

2011-06-21T15:50:00.000+10:00

Lina and Naga agree to help free a small village from the oppression of a secret society and it's demonic henchmen who are using the town's inhabitants to dig up an ancient Elven artifact that will give them the power to rule the world.

I enjoyed this movie more than Slayers: The Motion Picture, in this film the characters get on with the action straight away rather than wondering around with no real purpose for ages and while there was some funny moments they didn't feel as forced as a lot of the jokes in the first film.

I'm sure this sort of fantasy / comedy isn't to every one's taste but I enjoy it and I think Slayers Return is well worth checking out.

Slayers: The Motion Picture

2011-06-21T12:15:00.000+10:00

The further adventures of Lina Inverse, the small breasted, bad tempered and always hungry sorceress.

I hadn't seen Slayers: The Motion Picture in ages, I'm a pretty big fan of this anime franchise and I enjoyed seeing this movie again, it's a little slow to get going and they were a little heavy handed with the comedy in the first half but it's still enjoyable.

Silver Surfer: The Complete Series

2011-06-20T16:59:00.000+10:00

Over the last two days I've watched all 13 episodes of the animated Silver Surfer TV series, I had never seen the show before and I really enjoyed it, I remember reading that the show was being made in the 90's and thinking that the producers would have to "dumb down" the character in order for it to work as an animated series aimed at younger viewers but fortunately that didn't happen ant the result was a fairly intelligent cartoon series.

The only real disappointment I had was that this excellent series only ran for 13 episodes and ended on a cliff hanger but despite this it's still well worth checking out.

Friday the 13th Part 2

2011-06-17T14:13:00.000+10:00

I watched Friday the 13th Part 2 last night and again I was pleasantly surprised by the picture quality on the latest DVD re-release, I'm hoping they keep the quality levels up for the rest of the series

It's Got a Death Curse ( Friday the 13th )

2011-06-14T19:55:00.000+10:00

After the horrid weather of the last few days I haven't really felt like doing much outside so I watched the two disc special edition version of Friday the 13th this afternoon and I was pretty impressed, it seems for this release they've used a better quality print to master the DVD from, while there was some dirt and mild scratching this was the best looking version of the movie I've seen, most of the special features on disc 2 aren't really all that special since they often repeat the same information but the brief feature showing how Tom Savini achieved various make up effects was fun.

The movie itself was clear ( almost crystal ) and the colors really stood out in some of the outdoor scenes, the audio was nothing special but the DVD does feature Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Stereo soundtracks.

I know the movie has been released on Blu-ray, given it's low budget origins I'd wondered if there could be any real benefit in a high definition release of this movie but based on the DVD I saw today it just might be worth checking out.

Burnout: Paradise

2011-06-14T12:49:00.000+10:00

I'm not a fan of serious racing simulations, in fact they bore me stupid but Burnout: Paradise has been a huge time waster over the last week or so and for an older game it still look pretty good.

Burnout: Paradise is by no means a classic but it is a lot of fun.

Wicked City

2011-06-07T18:37:00.000+10:00

I watched Wicked City on DVD this afternoon, I guess the intention behind it was to shock, confront and maybe horrify but I found it boring, so very very boring.

Tremors

2011-06-05T20:10:00.000+10:00

I've always had a soft spot for the horror / comedy Tremors, sure it's cheap and cheesy but I think it's a lot of fun.

I had previously seen the first sequel which I thought was OK but I'd never bothered seeing the two following movies in the series, as it happened a few weeks ago I was talking to a friend of mine about various science fiction TV series and he asked me if I'd seen Tremors: The Series and I had to admit I knew they'd made it but I hadn't seen an episode of the show.

Well I went home and looked to see what the series cost and found it was pretty cheap but I thought you can't own the series and not the movies so I ordered them as well.

Winter is settling in down under and I've found myself confronted with some very miserable weather lately so yesterday I sat down and watched all four of the Tremors movies, the original movie is still a lot of fun, the DVD release is just horrible ( I've since ordered the Blu-ray which is apparently an improvement ), at times you could be forgiven for thinking you were watching a bad VHS copy of the movie and the three sequels all received far better quality releases, while the first two sequels were just OK I really liked Tremors 4: The Legend Begins, in fact I'd nearly go so far as to say it was my favorite film in the series.

As far as B-Grade horror / comedy movies go the Tremors films are worth a look and I think now I'm ready to dive into the television series

Dirt 3 - Very Disappointing !

2011-06-02T20:29:00.000+10:00

Last week I bought the much anticipated Dirt 3 on PS3, and while it's a fantastic looking game the game play is pretty uninspired, it's really just more of the same and while the multi player part of the game looks like it might be fun over the short term I think it's something I would quickly get sick of.

What I really don't like about this game is the requirement to register the game online to access some of the offline single player content, this is simply about greed, for some time now game publishers have been looking for a way the get a piece of the second hand game market.

I'm sort of OK with them wanting you to register your game to play online and if you've bought a second hand copy of a game paying a minimal fee for a new registration key to play online but it pissed me off to no end to have bought a new full priced copy of a game and constantly be told I couldn't use certain cars in some events because I hadn't registered my game and at the time I couldn't register it because the PlayStation network was down but what if you don't have an Internet connection or don't want to play online ?, you still pay the same price but don't get all the features the person who has his PlayStation ( or X-Box 360 ) connected to the Internet - this seems to me to be rather unfair.

I will be returning my copy of Dirt 3 tomorrow and in the future I will no longer be buying any console games that require online registration, this isn't about piracy or providing a better service to the consumer, it's about greed and I'm not going to be part of this latest type of scam.

L.A. Noire

2011-05-29T18:34:00.000+10:00

I finished L.A. Noire at some ungodly hour last night and overall I really enjoyed it, visually it's the most impressive console game I've seen in some time but in terms of story I guess what was going on and why early on during the game, this is a problem I often also have with movies and TV shows as well so rather than assume it's a problem with this excellent game I guess it means I've watched or read a lot of similar material.

Since L.A Noire is a game that's based more around investigation than action I'm not sure there is much replay value in this game but I think I'd like to see a sequel set in the same environment, there was certainly plenty to see and explore and it seems like a shame to not return to L.A. in the 1940s for more adventures.

If you haven't already rushed out and bought the game like I did I'd suggest waiting until it's on sale or has a price reduction, once you've solved the game there isn't a lot of replay value, sure you can go and hunt for any collectibles you might have missed but I'm not sure what the point of replaying the various cases would be once you've already solved them.

L.A. Noire was certainly a very enjoyable game set in a wonderfully detailed environment but like so many other things doesn't live up to it's hype.

Pumpkin Scissors

2011-05-26T18:04:00.000+10:00

If you are anything like me you're probably thinking WTF is Pumpkin Scissors ?

Well as it turns out it's an anime series that is set in a country that seems to resemble post war Europe and featuring a group of elite intelligence agents who's job it is to resolve various problems and restore their country to it's pre-war glory, of course along the way they discover a conspiracy and they also need to unravel the mystery of who or what their latest recruit actually is.

Today I watched the first volume ( episodes 1-4 ) and to be honest I though it was fairly bland at least until I got to episode 4 where some plot elements started coming together and things started to get interesting, interesting enough that I'll probably order volume 2 sometime soon or maybe a box set if I see one going cheap.

This is a series I think has a lot of potential, I'm hoping it lives up to it.

Ghost in the Shell 2.0

2011-05-26T17:49:00.000+10:00

Last night I watched Ghost in the Shell 2.0 on Blu-ray, this isn't as you might imagine the sequel to the anime classic Ghost in the Shell but rather a George Lucas like reworking of the original film, while the restoration work, recoloring and new soundtrack were all impressive the transition from traditional animation to CG animated sequences and back again was often jarring and in my opinion a bad idea, at least for those who prefer it the original version of the movie is also included on the disc.

L.A. Noire, Stargate Universe, Supernatural and a bunch of other stuff.

2011-05-23T21:20:00.000+10:00

Well the Man Flu seems to slowly be improving but over that last few days all I've really done is watch some more of season five of Supernatural and a bunch of Stargate: Universe season one episodes along with a few movies and play L.A. Noire, lots and lots of L.A. Noire.

Supernatural

Supernatural season 5 started of pretty weak in my opinion and it took until around episode 9 for things to even start to improve, I've always said this show mostly failed to live up o it's potential but this is the first time I've felt it has suffered a prolonged drop in quality, I'm really hoping things pick up during the second half of the season.

Stargate: Universe

I've watched 7 season 1 episodes of Stargate: Universe over the last 2 days, I wouldn't say any of them have been anything special but I've at least found most of them interesting, it's easy to see why the show struggled to find an audience and was ultimately cancelled but the show has managed to keep my attention.

Centurion

I really enjoyed Neil Marshall's first three movies and while I was aware that he was working on Centurion I had no idea that it was actually finished let alone been released on Blu-ray, after watching the movie I can see why it came and went without leaving much of an impression, it has all the stylistic hallmarks of Marshall's previous movies but it just wasn't as much fun, there are plenty of movies about a small group of people trapped in enemy territory, there is more fun to be had watching The Warriors ( original theatrical version of course ) than this unfortunately disappointing film.

Mindhunters

I guessed who the killer was fairly early on in the movie but I still enjoyed it and at the end of the day that's what matters, it's worth a look but it's not really worth owning.

Machete

Oddly not as action packed as I expected it to be but still fun, certainly not a family film and not for the squeamish either but I enjoyed it, if only this had been released as part of Grindhouse instead of the awful Death Proof.

L.A. Noire

This is a good game it really is but it's not deserving of a lot off the hype it's been receiving, the performance capture technology they developed for the game is impressive, it occasionally produce rather exaggerated facial expressions but for the most part it works rather well, this really is a good game and I'm glad I bought it but I think I'd recommend renting it and having a look at the game before buying it because it simply isn't the genre defining game a lot of people are claiming it is.

I'm Not Dead Yet......

2011-05-22T22:15:00.000+10:00

..... it just feels like it !

Yep still got the Man Flu, I was feeling fine there for a couple of days and then I seemed to have a relapse.

So once again I've had to resort to watching lost of things ( it's a hard life ) as well as playing a decent amount of L.A. Noire, I've found it interesting that I've been able to watch a big-ass TV with no real problems but if I spend any great length of time in front of a computer monitor I start getting headaches which is why it has been so long between blog updates but then there are far worse things in life.

A Few Fun Filled Days

2011-05-16T15:36:00.000+10:00

Well the last four or five days have kind of sucked, not only have we had the coldest and most miserable weather that I can remember in ages but I've been sick as well and as it's been Man Flu I've been on deaths door or at least that's how it felt.

When I wasn't sleeping or doped out of my mind on cold and flu medicine I did manage to watch a few things:

Fringe Season 2

I've had the season 2 Blu-rays of Fringe sitting here for a little while, I liked the first season of the show but I didn't love it, the second season of the show built upon the strengths of the first, at times the show still feels like an X-Files clone but there was a solid overall improvement in quality during season 2 and I'm looking forward to the third season.

Doomsday

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery then John Carpenter and George Miller's egos must swell whenever they hear this movies title or it Directors ( Neil Marshall ) name mentioned, basically this is Escape From New York crossed with Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, hell the movie even has two characters named Carpenter and Miller, a fun movie and I guess the Blu-ray must be some sort of uncut version although no mention of it was made on the cover, I don't remember the movie being so bloody last time I saw it.

The Neverending Story

This is a no-frills Blu-ray if ever I saw one, no special features not even a trailer but the movie looks fantastic for a film of it's age, I really enjoyed seeing it again, I think this might be the first time I ever saw it in widescreen as well, this is well worth adding to your collection if you don't already own it.

Blood: The Last Vampire

I haven't seen this since it was first released, the animation still holds up pretty well by today's standards, I really must check out the live action movie sometime soon, I hope they didn't screw it up.

Cowboy Bebop

I saw a couple of episodes of this series on some sort of preview disc ages ago and I really enjoyed them, I'd always intended to pick up the series and while it took me a considerable amount of time to do so I've enjoyed the first 10 episodes of the series, I have the final four DVDs and the movie ready to watch but I think I might try and space them out a bit and try to make it last a while.

I can't help but wonder if Joss Whedon was aware of this series when he was creating Firefly some of the backdrops the stories take place in seem rather similar.

Batman: The Animated Series Season 3

Over the last few months I've slowly been re watching Batman: The Animated Series, this is my favorite version of Batman and I'm pleased to see the show still holds up well, it's not as pretty as some of the modern animated series but the storytelling is often outstanding for a show aimed at children, it just goes to show you don't need excessive blood and guts to tell a good story.

The Batman Season 1

I liked this show more than I expected to, the anime inspired look is interesting and while the show isn't as rewarding as Batman: The Animated Series in terms of storytelling it is a fun show, the only thing I didn't like about it was the character design for The Joker although the voice actor who plays him is rather good.

I was pretty impressed this this shows take on Clayface and I'm hoping the character returns in the second season.

X-Men: The Animated Series

I watched the first 7 episodes of X-Men: The Animated Series last night, I never saw a lot of the show when it was first broadcast and despite thinking the animation wasn't all that great even then the show has been decent so far, the are clearly building various storylines and it will be interesting to see what they do with them and it's nice to see that the producers were influenced by things that were done in the comics, I got the first three seasons of the show on DVD pretty cheap and I imagine I'll probably get the other two at some point.

District 9

2011-05-14T13:05:00.000+10:00

I finally got around to watching District 9 on Blu-ray yesterday, it was a pleasure to see that amongst all the bland and over-hyped science fiction movies with unneeded 3D out there someone is still able to come up with a fairly original story ideas.

I'm sure District 9 won't appeal to a mass audience but it was fun to see someone attempting to produce something interesting rather than more of the bland crap that tends to come out of Hollywood.

This is a movie that is well worth checking out if you get the chance.

Masters of the Universe

2011-05-11T19:57:00.000+10:00

This afternoon I watched the live action Masters of the Universe movie from the 80s, as far as I can recall I only ever saw it once on VHS many years ago, my memory of the movie was of this low budget fiasco, however this time around I though it was kind of fun in a B-Grade low budget kind of way.

It has to be said the entire cast of this movie was pretty wooden and a couple of them were bad enough to make Dolph Lundgren seem like a halfway decent actor but what I think really hurt the movie was it's poor action sequences, if this movie needed anything it was a decent fight / stunt choreographer and someone who knew how to shoot action scenes, instead it looked like they were making it up as they went along.

Masters of the Universe is by no means a good movie but it is a sort of camp fun, this is a movie that was desperately trying to be Star Wars ( or something similar ) and spectacularly failing, at least Dolph Lundgren looked the part as He-Man.

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood

2011-05-11T19:38:00.000+10:00

More of the same really, the game has received minor game play tweaks and it's still rather pretty but if you've played either of the previous games you know what to expect.

Story wise Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood picks up right where Assassin's Creed 2 left off so people new to the franchise might have some trouble following whats going on at first but just concentrate on the pretty explosions instead of worrying about your motivation and you'll be OK.

Having played all three Assassin's Creed games back to back I'm more than ready for a change but I was intrigued by some audio that played over the end credits which seemed to hint at the direction the franchise is going to take and if I'm right all wasn't what it seemed.

Starman

2011-05-07T21:12:00.000+10:00

I just finished watching Starman on Blu-ray and I have to say that for a movie of it's age it looked and sounded great, probably better than when I saw it at the cinema all those years ago, it certainly looked better than the DVD release but I was very disappointed to see that none of the extras from the DVD release were included on this disc, surely they could have at least included the audio commentary but no you only get the movie and some trailers for other Blu-ray releases which was disappointing.

Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles

2011-05-05T21:19:00.000+10:00

Over the last few days I've found myself in the mood to watch some anime so I jumped onto eBay and bought a few things and much to my shock Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles arrived the very next day so I sat myself down and watched the movie.

Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles is an animated movie that serves as a sequel to the TV series from the 80s and was also supposed to relaunch the franchise, I remember watching and enjoying the series but I wasn't a hardcore fan so I found the first act of the movie a little confusing at times as various characters were reintroduced, perhaps it may have been a better idea to bring back fewer of the characters from the series and then reintroduce more of them in following sequel projects but I guess that's a minor quibble.

The movie itself was OK but I think it was saddled with too much for it's running time, firstly it had to tie up story lines left hanging when the original series ended and then it had to ( hopefully ) relaunch the franchise in a new direction, I think ending the original Robotech series was worthy of it's own movie rather than trying to wrap it up in around 40 minutes, so that the writers could introduce new villains in the second half of the movie especially since the proposed sequel film is now indefinitely postponed leaving the fans hanging once again.

Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles is an OK movie but it doesn't live up to the legacy of the Robotech TV series.

Big Trouble in Little China

2011-05-04T20:06:00.000+10:00

I watched the Blu-ray version of Big Trouble in Little China yesterday, I'm a big John Carpenter fan but given the low budget nature of a lot of his movies I was wondering if a high definition release would be worth it ?

Well the answer to that question is yes, for a movie of it's age it looked great, well worth the upgrade from DVD and it was nice to see all the special features from the DVD were included even if they were only in standard definition, I have found this trend of releasing movies on Blu-ray but not including features from the DVD version pretty annoying.

This is one Blu-ray well worth picking up if you are a fan of this movie.

Jake Gyllenhaal’s Career?

2011-05-04T19:55:00.000+10:00

I was randomly surfing various sci-fi related websites and while trolling back through some older entries on one I found a poll that posed the question Will “Source Code” Help or Hurt Jake Gyllenhaal’s Career?

This made me laugh which I assume was the intention but I think it's plainly obvious to anyone who saw Prince of Persia that if he still has a career after that mess then it's pretty much bulletproof and he'll be around for some time to come.

Assassin's Creed

2011-05-02T19:46:00.000+10:00

After completing Assassin's Creed and for the most rather enjoying the game ( I got very pissy about the missing segments from the game that were later released as DLC and not particularly cheap DLC either ) I logged onto eBay and bought myself a second hand copy of the original game since I no longer wanted to directly support the franchise since I felt they had ripped me off with an incomplete game already.

As you'd expect the game play is much the same but I think I actually enjoyed the original game more than the sequel and from what I've seen of the third game nothing much has changed so I suppose if you enjoyed one Assassin's Creed you'll probably enjoy them all.

He'll Save Everyone of Us

2011-04-30T19:35:00.000+10:00

This afternoon I sat down and watched the 80s Flash Gordon movie on Blu-ray, I've had the disc for a while, I picked it up in a two for the price of one sale but I kind of assumed it wouldn't look all that great in High Definition.

Well it seems I was wrong, it looks fantastic for a movie of it's age and it's audio mix was pretty impressive as well, obviously some restoration work has been done for this version of the movie as it's the cleanest print I've seen but there wasn't any detail loss that I noticed caused by using excessive Digital Noise Reduction on the picture, there were a few scenes where some of the actors looked a bit odd but I think that was because of excessive makeup rather than excessive DNR.

It was a little disappointing to see the commentaries that were done for some of the DVD releases weren't included on the Blu-ray so this isn't the definitive release but I doubt much more can be done with the movie in terms of picture and sound quality so if you are just interested in the movie and not extras then the current Blu-ray is the version to get.

Things then make ne go Hmmm

2011-04-29T20:44:00.000+10:00

Apparently there is a royal wedding tonight and personally I couldn't care less, don't get me wrong I have nothing against the couple in question but it seems to me a lot on money is being wasted on this event and I imagine that it's mostly if not entirely publicly funded, I hope the unemployed, the sick and the homeless in the UK all feel better about themselves and their situations tonight, it just seems to me that all the money could be put to much better use.

Australia's Prime Minister is attending, the same Prime Minister who doesn't believe in marriage and is Republican, so she doesn't support the Monarchy or support marriage which begs the question Why is she there ?, a lot of people will no doubt say that Australia should be represented at such an event and I guess as a matter of international relations we should be but perhaps we should have sent the Deputy Prime Minister or the Governor General instead, at least that wouldn't seem quite as hypocritical.

They're Here: The Poltergeist Trilogy on Blu-ray

2011-04-27T20:46:00.000+10:00

I guess it must be nearly a couple of months ago that I picked up, Poltergeist on Blu-ray, it's one of those movies I seem to see every three or four years on TV, I did buy the 25th Anniversary Edition when it was released on DVD, I have to admit that for some time I was hesitant about getting the movie on Blu-ray, for whatever reason I was convinced the movie would probably look pretty bad in High Definition but was I ever wrong, it looked great, sure a couple of the special effects sequences looked a bit dated but overall I was pretty impressed.

As much as I've always enjoyed Poltergeist I can only remember renting the sequels once ( on VHS ) so if you pressed me for details I honestly couldn't have told you much about them, well yesterday I saw a Poltergeist Blu-ray double pack on sale containing both sequels and on the spur of the moment I picked it up and I spent a lazy few hours watching them today.

To my surprise I rather enjoyed Poltergeist 2: The Other Side, I sort of remembered the priest when I saw him onscreen and I thought it was a decent sequel to Poltergeist, I thought it continued and expanded the story nicely, sure the ending was a little cheesy but I can forgive that.

Poltergeist 3 however sucked, I guess they tired to do something a little different with this sequel but honestly if they couldn't get back all of the original cast they probably shouldn't have bothered, add to that a story that made little sense and you have a pretty bad movie, maybe with a better writer / director this movie could have been salvaged, it did contain a couple of interesting ideas but nothing much was done with them and I found that frustrating.

I can't be sure but I don't imagine any restoration work was done on the Poltergeist sequels so keeping that in mind they both looked and sounded great on Blu-ray but as it's been proven many times before a great looking movie isn't the same as a great movie.

Given the chance I'd recommend picking up Poltergeist and Poltergeist 2 but I wouldn't bother with the third film unless it was dirt cheap.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture

2011-04-25T21:57:00.000+10:00

After being mildly disappointed with the quality of two of the three movies in the Star Trek Motion Picture Trilogy Blu-ray boxset I had decided that I probably wouldn't bother picking up any of the other Star Trek movies on Blu-ray until they received the proper restoration they deserved, well that still hasn't happened but I did pick up the two Blu-ray boxsets ( Classic Cast and Next Generation ) pretty cheaply online ( well I call 70% off pretty cheap ).

Today I watched Star Trek: The Motion Picture on Blu-ray, to say that Paramount's treatment of this Trek movie in particular has been a comedy of errors is probably an understatement, the version that has been released on Blu-ray is the original theatrical version of the movie, a version I hadn't seen since the movie was in the cinemas in the 70's ( I do have a rip of it on DVD that came from Laser disc but I just never got around to watching it ).

Watching this version of the movie was a strange experience after being used to the extended version of the film that was released on VHS and then the Director's Edition that was later released on DVD, it seemed that there were scenes that were either missing or had been trimmed and of course this was in fact the case as this was the original edit of the movie, I'm not sure why Paramount were unable to release the Extended Edition on Blu-ray but I think it would have been preferable and the story is a little clearer in that version.

In a perfect world the Director's Edition would've been the version released on Blu-ray but at the time is was being prepared Paramount was to short sighted to commission any of the new special effects in high definition meaning that all those effects sequences would need to be redone again for that version to be released in High definition, so of the three possible versions the Blu-ray release contains the most inferior version at least from a story telling perspective.

There have been a lot of complaints about the Star Trek movies on Blu-ray, I think based on what I've seen so far they have been a little over-stated, Star Trek: The Motion Picture for the most part looks great, especially for a movie of it's age but there are several moments during the movie ( mostly towards the end where the Enterprise crew discover the Voyager probe ) where the is an obvious loss of picture detail due to the excessive use of digital noise reduction in an attempt to remove film grain.

For what it is the theatrical version of Star Trek: The Motion Picture ( mostly ) looks and sounds good, I've never really appreciated the detail in the models used in the film before so that was an impressive aspect of this release but this is a flawed release of an inferior version of the movie and while I did enjoy seeing most of the movie in far greater detail than I ever had before I still came away feeling slightly disappointed.

I suspect the hardcore Star Trek fans have already bought this disc, for the rest I'd advise waiting until you can pick it up cheap.

Elizabeth Sladen - Rest In Peace.

2011-04-20T14:32:00.000+10:00

I read earlier today that Elizabeth Sladen has died.

I'm not the type of person who tends to get upset when actors die but this one was a shock, anyone who knows me knows that I'm a huge Doctor Who fan and that Sarah Jane Smith was my favorite companion, I feel like part of my childhood just died.

The stars may shine brighter tonight, but it'll be a little colder back here on Earth.

Darkon

2011-04-18T21:25:00.000+10:00

Good Lord people it's only a game.

Now I have to admit I've played my fair share of Dungeons and Dragons games in the past and if the opportunity arose I'd probably be interested in playing the game again but for some reason I've always found people who are into Live Action Role Playing ( LARPing ) slightly odd, I mean who wants to dress up in costume and pretend they are orcs ?

Well as it turns out plenty of people like to dress up and live fantasy lives ( no not that sort of fantasy, get your mind out of the gutter ) and Darkon is about some of those people and two in particular.

I haven't as yet listened to the commentaries on the DVD but I'm guessing that the documentary presents a fairly balanced portrayal of the LARPing hobby and while I guess I understand its appeal to some people it's certainly not for me.

The movie does seem to suggest that most people who enjoy LARPing and I guess role playing in general as people who are at least a little unhappy with themselves and the lives they lead, the films two main subjects certainly fit into that category, over the course of the documentary the viewer sees them become obsessed with the game, their place within it and the conflict and stress it can inflict on relationships.

If the players could just remember it's only a game I think they'd enjoy their hobby even more but then that wouldn't have made for a very interesting movie.

It must be said that some of the players had very nice costumes.

The Reinactors

2011-04-17T20:31:00.000+10:00

Recently I re watched a documentary called Confessions of a Superhero, basically it was the story of four somewhat damaged individuals who hoped they would be discovered by some movie producer by dressing up as a movie characters and taking photos with tourists in Hollywood.

I was wondering what happened to those people and while surfing the net I discovered two of them were featured in another documentary called The Reinactors, I really wanted to see this movie and hopefully discover what happened to them, I was slightly disappointed to discover that this film was shot around the same time as Confessions of a Superhero so there is no real revelations as to what happened to them ( however an IMDB search shows that they haven't been discovered by Hollywood - yet ).

The Reinactors is less sympathetic toward it's subjects than Confessions of a Superhero and seems to be lacking in narrative at times as well, I guess it's not a bad movie but it is disappointing compared to Confessions of a Superhero, it doesn't mock it's subjects as much as Trekkies does but it does infer that it's cast of characters are a bunch of losers.

Of the two movies that basically cover the same subject Confessions of a Superhero is the better of the two but The Reinactors is worth a look as well, I'd like to see a where are they now type follow up to these movies, hopefully they discovered that happiness can found without money and fame.

Time flies, hope I was having fun.

2011-04-16T15:48:00.000+10:00

I honestly don't know where the last few days have gone, I have been doing some work for my grandfather and that has taken a decent chunk of time and as usual I've watched a few things and played a bit more of the original Assassin's Creed on X-Box 360 ( which strangely enough I think I actually like better than the second game in the series ) but at the moment the days seem to be passing by extremely quickly.

Over the last few days I've watched the first 5 episodes from the second season of Fringe and so far I'm really enjoying the show, what I've seen so far seems to me to be a major improvement in quality over most of the first season.

I've also watched a few classic Doctor Who DVDs lately which has been fun, well it's been fun for me, the wife isn't a fan, there have been a few releases recently and the upcoming months seem to have plenty more new Doctor Who DVDs on the way.

Today I watched Ghost In The Shell - Individual 11 which seems to be a re-edited version of the second season of Ghost In The Shell - Stand Alone Complex so that it works as a movie, a long movie but a movie, I only ever saw the first series and maybe the first two or three episodes of the second series, I know the show has been released as season box sets so it would be interesting to watch it at some point and see how much the story was changed.

Doctor Who Soundtracks

2011-04-11T17:50:00.001+10:00

I'm sitting here listening one of the three Doctor Who soundtracks that arrived in the mail today ( Series 4: The Specials ), since Doctor Who has been back in production I've bought each one of Murry Gold's soundtrack albums for both Doctor Who and Torchwood, as a composer I find Murry Gold very uneven in terms of quality, some of his work is amazing and some if it in my opinion is pretty bland which is why I waited until Series 4: The Specials, Series 5 and Doctor Who: A Christmas Carol were on sale.

There's some great stuff on these albums but there is also a lot of elevator muzak, is that too harsh ? but for me apart from the stronger tracks it's all forgotten as soon as it's finished playing.

One of these days I'm going to make myself a compilation CD of the better music from these soundtrack albums.

A Funny Thing Happened.......

2011-04-10T14:41:00.000+10:00

Yesterday I found myself browsing the shelves of a used book store, I was determined I was going to buy something although I don't know why considering the amount of unread books I already have.

I was ready to leave when I spotted a novel crammed between two much larger books, I picked it up and flipped it over so that I could read the back cover, I must have had a puzzled look on my face because the owner of the store suddenly said that's exactly what I thought.

The Book in question was Fathom: The World Below by Kevin Andrew Murphy based on the comic series by the late Micheal Turner.

He went on to say he thought that Fathom was about scantily clad women and really had nothing much in the way of story going for it, I have to admit I thought pretty much the same thing, Micheal Turner may not have been the greatest comic writer out there but he sure was a talented artist.

I was amused enough by the idea of a Fathom novel ( the first book in a series apparently ) that I bought it and honestly I don't have high hopes for the book but who knows, it might contain some interesting ideas and I may well find myself hunting down the back issues of the comic.

The State of TV.

2011-04-09T12:20:00.000+10:00

For some time now I've been saying that I'd virtually abandoned broadcast television, the Australian networks ( and I imagine it's the same across the world ) just don't carry much in the way of programming that I'm actually interested in or it's so full of advertising that I don't bother turning it on, well I guess that's not true, I watch lost of DVDs and Blu-ray movies I just don't watch any broadcast content.

As near as I can remember it's been about 5 weeks since I sat down and watched any content that provided by any of my local broadcasters and that was a tail end of a documentary, my wife and daughter watch a lot of reality TV and stupid sitcoms and as they are on I do suppose see tiny segments here and there but what I'm talking about is actually sitting down and watching a show on TV, the funny thing is until today I didn't realise what I was doing or not doing as the case may be.

In Australia program streaming over the Internet is fairly limited at the moment, I have watched a few things that way and while I'm not thrilled by the picture quality it works, I have no idea when I last rented anything but I have a feeling it was at least a couple of years ago, my wife and daughter rent a few movies here and there but even they seem to be losing interest in that, the Australian version of Netflix sucks or at least it did when I tried it so that's not really an option either.

You've probably guessed by now that I buy a LOT of DVDs and Blu-ray discs and compared to a lot of people that's true but it's nowhere as expensive as you might think and I can watch what I want when ever I want, some things I keep ( well most things actually ) and some I give away or sell on eBay, this is something that might not work for everyone but it really suits me and my viewing patterns.

I find it funny that it's taken me nearly 5 weeks to notice I'd stopped watching broadcast television and I tend to be a little behind the times so I'm sure there are many other people this applies to as well, I wonder how long it takes for the networks to notice people have stopped watching them ?

Does whatever a spider can.

2011-04-05T18:18:00.000+10:00

Well I've just finished watching the first season of the 60's Spider-Man animated series, I used to love that show as a kid and I was looking forward to seeing it again.

I really enjoyed the first half of the season, sure the animation is primitive by today's standards but the show was fun, well at least it was until I got to the second DVD where the format of the show changed along with the quality and style of the animation which was now cheaper and often ugly, the stories became weird fantasy based episodes that really had nothing to do with Spider-Man which was rather disappointing.

I bought all three seasons of this show but now I'm not at all confident that I'll enjoy the rest of the show if it continues in this rather bland fantasy direction.

Pilot Highlights

2011-04-04T08:37:00.000+10:00

I consider myself t be a major science fiction, fantasy and horror fan but I was just voting in a poll on the SFX website where they were asking people to vote on 15 pilots and how interested they were in seeing them go to series, the poll included information on the creators, cast and the basic premise of the show, of those 15 potential series I thought just 2 of them sounded like something I might check out.

Honestly I was shocked and disappointed by how bad most of those potential series sounded, of course it's rather unlikely that all 15 shows will be commissioned, honestly it really does seem like the only TV shows worth watching are either made in the United Kingdom or produced for the American cable television networks these days.

While I think it will probably be terrible I'll have to check out an episode or two of the upcoming Wonder Woman TV series, everything I've heard about this show is bad but just like a car wreck on the side of the road even though you know it's going to be bad you still can't look away.

Here's a link to that SFX poll, check it out and see what you think of these potential series.

Hey... you wanna see something really scary?

2011-04-01T18:04:00.000+11:00

The weather here is slowly turning to crap as what passed for summer this year disappears but the one good thing about all the wind and rain is that it's been a good excuse to ignore that lawns and watch some movies.

Two of the movies I've watched recently were Poltergeist and Twilight Zone: The Movie on Blu-ray, I have to admit I was a little unsure of how these movies would hold up in high definition being older movies but I have to say they both looked great especially when you consider their age.

I'm a big fan of the original Twilight Zone TV series but I've always had mixed feelings about the movie, basically I've always really liked two of the segments but thought the other two were only OK, given how much I enjoyed the movie when I watched it yesterday I wonder if I wasn't the right age to fully appreciate it until now especially "Kick the Can" .

I found it hard to believe the "Time Out" segment could be produced intact today with the racist character played by the late Vic Morrow and his many racist insults which is a shame, while I don't agree with the characters comments it did properly set him up as a bitter and unlikable man in a short amount of time.

I'm really glad I picked up Twilight Zone: The Movie and I think I appreciate it more now than I ever did previously, it's a shame they never produced more Twilight Zone movies.

Burke and Hare

2011-03-28T20:21:00.000+11:00

I remember being slightly excited when I heard that John Landis was making a return to feature directing with Burke and Hare and then for some reason I forgot all about the movie so I was genuinely shocked to see it had been released on Blu-ray and DVD in the UK, I had to have it and the Blu-ray was ordered.

The movie arrived yesterday and the first chance I got I fired up the home theatre ready for some fun after all it was a John Landis movie featuring an impressive cast - well apart from Isla Fisher but even she wasn't as painful as I usually find her, she was just wooden instead or petrified.

I was only vaguely aware of the real Burke and Hare but I thought there was a lot of potential for dark comedy in this movie and there were flashes of that but for me this movie didn't entirely work and I'm not sure why, maybe it's just that I had unreasonably high expectations for the film based on it's director, I'd only recently re watched An American Werewolf in London and I still consider it to be a fantastic movie.

Now that Landis has returned to film hopefully he will also return to the quality levels he used to achieve, I have to admit it was nice seeing a movie that didn't have to cut to a different angle every 10 seconds, it's nice to actually be able to see what is going on in a movie.

I don't know that I'd recommend buying Burke and Hare but it's certainly worth seeing.

Remakes?.... I've seen a few.

2011-03-26T13:30:00.000+11:00

I've never been a real big fan of movie remakes, I'd prefer to see new stories rather than revamp existing ones and it doesn't help that with precious few exceptions the remakes are usually vastly inferior to the original version.

Despite knowing this I tend to eventually see remakes of movies I enjoyed even though I'm fairly certain I'll be disappointed by them and over the last couple of days I've seen the recent remakes of Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street.

The Friday the 13th remake was interesting in that it really wasn't a remake of Friday the 13th but it seemed to be more of a loose remake of Friday the 13th Parts 2 and 3 with a very brief recap of the final confrontation between a teenage girl and Pamela Voorhees where Pamela is killed and this is witnessed by her son Jason, the movie moves forward in time and Jason has become the silent killing machine we are all familiar with and a group of campers are quickly dispatched and the viewer is introduced to another group of characters and the it all starts to fall apart.

I actually enjoyed the first 10-15 minutes of the movie but then I was introduced to another group of characters and I didn't really like any of them so I just didn't care when they were killed off, it was all pretty routine movie making and even the deaths were uninspired, overall a disappointing movie made all the more disappointing bu the fact it started out well and then just fell apart in front of your eyes.

The Nightmare on Elm Street remake was just like the pretty blonde that was killed off by Freddy during the movie, easy to look at but lacking any substance, this remake was technically well made, it looked great and some of the transitions between the real and dream worlds were really well done but there was just something lacking from the proceedings, I've certainly seen worse movies but this was just bland.

I did think it was interesting that for the remake they went with a more realistic burn makeup for Freddy, personally I didn't really like it but I thought it was an interesting choice, because of all the makeup involved this is one film where you could get away with keeping the actor from the original version of the movie and I think that might have improved things somewhat, I had no interest in seeing the camp humor of some of the later Nightmare on Elm Street movies but I do think it might have been fun to see Robert Englund return to the role he created.

So there you have it, two more disappointing remakes, I didn't think either of them was as bad as I'd heard but I have no desire to see either movie again.

Assassin's Creed 2

2011-03-23T13:52:00.000+11:00

I've FINALLY finished Assassin's Creed 2 on X-Box 360 and I have to say that overall I really enjoyed the game but despite that I have no intention of buying the next game in the series or if I do it will be a second hand copy so the Ubisoft and Microsoft don't get a single cent out of me as I really don't like being ripped off.

I was reading about the game online and apparently there were two sections of the game that couldn't be completed in time for the scheduled release date so they were removed and made available to download later as long as you were prepared to pay for them, this was content that was supposed to be in the game but now that the player has paid for their copy they want you to pay even more for content that you were supposed to have anyway.

What should have happened is that the missing sections of the game should have been completed and been free to download for everyone who purchased the game, this is exactly the sort of crap I've come to expect from Microsoft and it seems Ubisoft are also more interested in money than looking after their paying customers - very disappointing.

Assassin's Creed 2 was a fun game but the shoddy treatment of the franchise's customer's means that I will be going out of my way to not financially support it.

Freddy's Nightmares

2011-03-22T20:11:00.000+11:00

It has always seemed a little strange to me that the Freddy's Nightmares TV series was never released on DVD, sure it was a cheap and nasty cash in on the popularity of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies but I can remember enjoying some of the episodes when I rented them on VHS.

A while back I was reading that 1 volume of the series was released on DVD in the UK but further volumes in the series were cancelled due to extremely poor sales.

Well it took me a little while to find a copy at a price I was willing to pay but I got volume 1 of Freddy's Nightmares in the mail today, the DVD featured three episodes of the show including the pilot No More Mr Nice Guy which told the story of the parents in Springwood and how they killed Freddy in revenge for the murder of their children and despite it's obvious low budget I enjoyed seeing that episode again.

The other two stories on the DVD were It's a Miserable Life which I kind of liked and Killer Instinct which was dull and boring, from what I can recall of the show the episodes varied quite a bit in terms of quality but were always a little better when Freddy took an active part in the plot, something that didn't happen in these episodes.

What truly shocked me about this DVD was the terrible picture quality, in places it was some of the worst image quality I've ever seen on DVD, I saw a bootleg of No More Mr Nice Guy that was of a much higher quality than the official release leaving me to wonder if it was lack of interest in the series that was responsible for the poor sales of the DVD of the terrible quality of it's contents.

I know there are bootleg sets of the entire series available but to be honest I'm shocked that the series didn't get some sort of release to cash in on the Nightmare on Elm Street remake but perhaps Warner Brothers / New Line Cinema felt they couldn't compete with the bootleggers in terms of quality product.

There's a Bad Moon on the Rise.

2011-03-19T21:10:00.000+11:00

Over the last couple of days I've seen a couple of werewolf movies on Blu-ray, the first was the classic movie An American Werewolf in London, I love this movie but it's pretty grainy in places especially in the beginning so I was worried that Universal would go mad trying to remove the film grain and compromise the picture quality in the process but thankfully that wasn't the case, I'm sure there will be a group of sad misguided people who will complain about this Blu-ray release of the movie but it looked great for a movie of it's age and the Blu-ray was cheap as well a great purchase if you are a fan of the film.

I also saw the recent remake of The Wolfman, I'm a big fan of the Universal monster movies and the original version of The Wolfman is one of my favorites so I was a little upset when the remake was first announced, then I heard Rick Backer would be doing the werewolf makeup effects ( as he has done in An American Werewolf in London ) and then Benicio Del Toro was cast as Lawrence Talbot and I though this movie suddenly had potential.

If only they had just shot the original script the movie could have been great but the studio had to change and things and in the process spoiling the movie ( at least for me ), Rick Baker did an excellent job with the werewolf makeup but they did the transformations in CG and they were less effective than the work Baker did in An American Werewolf in London decades earlier.

The remake of The Wolfman isn't a terrible movie but it is a badly missed opportunity to create a classic horror movie.

Jonah Hex

2011-03-17T07:00:00.000+11:00

I've seen it and I don't imagine I'll ever feel the need to see it again, despite all the changes they made to the character the Jonah Hex movie wasn't horrible, it was just bland.

What this movie needed was a decent director who knows how to tell a story and make it interesting and a decent script would've been nice as well, I could live with the addition of supernatural and steam punk elements if it was interesting but instead the movie was a wasted opportunity.

Solomon Kane

2011-03-15T09:34:00.000+11:00

I'm not overly familiar with the character of Solomon Kane, I've read a few comics and maybe a short story over the years so I was well aware of the basic premise of the character but I guess I couldn't really be called a fan and I certainly didn't have any kind of in depth knowledge of Robert E Howard's character, I do remember being quite amused when the Van Helsing movie starring Hugh Jackman was released as it seemed to me that the character design was somewhat based on Solomon Kane.

A while ago I ordered a whole bunch of dirt cheap Blu-ray discs from Amazon UK and Solomon Kane was one of them, it's not that I was particularly keen to see it but it was really cheap and I though it might be fun.

As it turns out it been one of my better buys recently, I really enjoyed the movie, sure it's ambition exceeded it's budget and that showed the few times they attempted CG special effects which seemed incomplete or rushed but other than that this was a fun movie and I wouldn't mind seeing another one.

I have no real idea how faithful the movie is to the books but I wouldn't mind picking up a Solomon Kane novel or two at some point and if this movie gets a sequel count me in.

Overnight

2011-03-12T12:55:00.000+11:00

There was something sadly compelling about Overnight, it's the story of Troy Duffy, the writer / director of The Boondock Saints, Duffy achieved what most people only dream of, he sold his first film script, got to ( eventually ) direct the movie based on that script and also managed to get a record deal for his band and then through sheer ego managed to throw it all away.

I must say that regardless of Duffy's personal failings I did enjoy The Boondock Saints but I haven't as yet seen it's sequel, at it's heart I guess this documentary is a cautionary tale about how wrong things can go when you achieve your dreams.

Be careful what you wish for............

Sold Out: A Threevening With Kevin Smith

2011-03-08T19:39:00.000+11:00

I guess it would be fair to say I'm not a Kevin Smith fan, I have really enjoyed a couple of his movies, thought some others were OK and was bored stupid by Dogma.

Something I did enjoy was the previous two volumes of An Evening with Kevin Smith, they were funny and genuinely interesting but this third volume didn't do much for me at all, the behind the scenes tales from Die Hard 4 while mildly amusing in places were pretty much what I would expect from a big budget Hollywood production.

I guess this time around it just felt like Smith is running out of stories to tell which is a little shocking to me since I would think that Hollywood is the kind of place that would be an endless source of amusing stories to tell but apparently I was wrong or at the very least maybe I was expecting too much.

Countdown to Wednesday

2011-03-08T19:08:00.000+11:00

Countdown to Wednesday was a fun little documentary, I have no interest in trying to get into comics but I enjoyed learning a little more about the production process, despite the claims on the cover I don't know that it offers much of the way of valuable advice on how to break into the comics industry, interesting viewing if you are a fan of comics.

To Not So Boldly Go..........

2011-03-05T19:27:00.000+11:00

There is a strange but well documented phenomena taking place at the moment when it comes to releasing older movies on Blu-ray, it would seem that after the complaints of an ignorant few ( and sorry if this offends but you are ignorant ) various studios are using excessive digital noise reduction on their films in order to remove film grain from movies often severely compromising picture quality in the process, this is nothing new and it doesn't look as though it's going to stop any time soon.

Unfortunately this has happened to the Star Trek movie franchise, with the exception of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn which for some reason actually received a proper restoration, now I have no idea why only Star Trek II received this treatment but the result were impressive, the movie looked great for a production of it's age and at times looked absolutely stunning, the detail and quality of the model work ( remember when they used models to make movies, those were the days ) was outstanding, this is an example of restoration work done right.

Recently I was ably to buy the Star Trek Movie Trilogy Boxset for cheaper than I could buy Star Trek II alone on Blu-ray so I though I'd get the boxset and see if things were as bad as I'd read.

As I'd mentioned earlier the restoration of Star Trek II was impressive, it was easily the best looking version of the movie I'd ever seen, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, wasn't too bad, there were scenes where the attempt to remove film grain did indeed compromise picture quality but as far as I could tell it was fairly minimal but the places where it did occur had me feeling a little nervous when it came to viewing Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, as that was a movie that was fairly grainy in places and sure enough this movie suffered a lot more as a result of attempts at noise reduction, in places towards the end of the movie I'd go so far as to say the result was an image quality in certain scenes that was of a lower quality than the original DVD release.

I've seen some people say the movies are unwatchable and that is simply not the case but it is very disappointing and at times jarring to go from high quality visuals to sub-standard picture quality which often didn't remove the apparently offending film grain anyway.

The Star Trek II Blu-ray is well worth purchasing but I think I'd only bother with any of the other Trek films on Blu-ray if the were extremely cheap of if the powers that be realised the error of their way and commissioned the proper restoration the movies deserved in the first place.

Resident Evil: Afterlife 3D

2011-02-28T20:24:00.000+11:00

I finally broke down and bought a 3D Blu-ray movie just to see how well my TV could actually handle 3D, apparently I chose the wrong movie, the Resident Evil films have never been great movies but while it looked great in High Definition I thought this movie was a little weaker than the previous films in the series when it comes to plot and I was pretty disappointed by the 3D work in this movie, I don't know, I was just expecting it to be better, a couple of sequences looked nice but most of it seemed pretty half-assed.

Of course now that I've spend money on a 3D movie Panasonic finally deliver my 3D copy of Avatar but I just can't be bothered sitting there for three hours with silly glasses on to watch a movie I only thought was decent the first time around, maybe I'll watch a few action scenes sometime just to check out the 3D.

Catching Up

2011-02-25T21:39:00.000+11:00

Over the course of the last 6 - 7 months I've watched a lot of movies, I always did watch a fair amount of films but thanks to the Podcast on Fire 365 movies in 365 Days challenge ( which I completed in around 6 months ) I really concentrated on movie watching, this didn't mean that was all I did but that is how I spent a lot of my spare time.

Now my movie watching has slowed down a lot and I've been concentrating on Television series and a couple of video games, most of what I've been watching in terms of Television series have been fairly old but I've really enjoyed them.

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea - I'm on to disc three of season one, I remember watching the show as a kid but I don't remember any black and white episodes so I don't know if I just never saw the first season or maybe I just forgot that they were in black and white.

What I've found interesting about this show is that a lot of the early episodes were fairly straight forward cold war stories, it didn't take too long for dinosaurs, aliens and mutant plankton monsters to start appearing in stories.

The Greatest American Hero - I loved this show in high school but I don't think I'd ever seen it since it's original Television broadcast in the early 80s, I saw the entire series on DVD going cheap a while back and grabbed it on a whim, it took me a while to get around to watching it as thinking about it afterwards I though it wouldn't have aged all that well and to an extent that's true but this show is still a lot of fun, the chemistry between the three lead actors is just great, I suspect you could have cast them in pretty much anything and it would've been worth watching.

Captain America - Another of my recent eBay purchases was a German DVD Box set featuring four 60's cartoons based the Marvel characters Captain America, Iron Man, Thor and The Sub-Mariner.

I watched the Captain America disc last night, the animation was extremely primitive and the stories were pretty corny but the show was a lot of fun.

I'm hoping to watch the other three DVDs sometime soon, with any luck they'll be just like this one.

X-Men: The Animated Series - A little while back I picked up a couple of compilation DVDs from this series cheap on ebay, yesterday I watched both The Legend of Wolverine and Wolverine's Story, as you might imagine with titles like that they feature stories that were heavily based around Wolverine.

I don't think I'd seen the show since it's original television broadcast but it was fun seeing it again, I think the entire series has been released on DVD, I think I'd like to pick it up one of these days and watch the entire series.

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century - Another childhood favorite, this was a show that never took itself too seriously, in fact in the camp stakes it gives the 60s Batman TV series a good run for it's money, I picked up the complete series box set a couple of years ago and I'd watch the occasional episode here and there, at least until this last week when I've gotten through 8 episodes so far with the intention of watching more sometime soon, this is cheesy fun and apparently that's just what I need at the moment.