Movies, Movies Movies

The weather was really awful yesterday so I watched some movies

The Expendables
The Losers
The A-Team
Friday the 13th Part 2

Basically, The Losers, The A-Team and The Expendables are basically all the same movie, none of them were groundbreaking in any way but they helped pass the time when I couldn't go outside because of the crappy weather.

I was shocked to discover I own a copy of Friday the 13th Part 2 ( at least I hope I own it and didn't borrow it off someone, I was in a box I hadn't opened since we bought this house over 2 years ago ), to me the Friday the 13th series has always been the under achieving little brother of horror franchises, they've all had their highs and lows but somehow the Friday the 13th films have never really managed any highs, some of them are OK but part 2 isn't one of them.

The Game that Never Ends

This is the game that never ends.

It goes on and on my friends.

Someone started playing it not knowing what it was.

and they'll continue playing for ever just because,
 
 
Yep you guessed it, I'm still playing Just Cause 2, nearly 70 hours in and I'm approaching 60% complete, I generally replay most games but if I ever finish this thing I think I'll be done, it's fun but it's a massive time sink as well.

Secret Origin: The Story of DC Comics

So a package arrives for me from Amazon this morning and I got mildly excited since I was waiting for the new Stargate Blu-ray and I was in the mood to watch the movie again, I opened the package and I found Secret Origin: The Story of DC Comics which confused me since I couldn't remember ordering it, I knew it was coming out but I just didn't remember ordering it, I quickly got online and checked my Amazon account and sure enough I'd pre-ordered it months ago - apparently as I'm getting older my memory is starting to go.

Now it wouldn't be unfair to say I'm somewhat of a comic geek and this movie is right up my alley in terms of documentary subjects, it is a basic overview of the history of DC comics, it covers the origins of the core characters featured in the DC books as well as some of the highs and lows faced by the company and it's creators over the years.

The documentary is narrated by Ryan Reynolds ( the Green Lantern in the upcoming movie based on the DC comic of the same name ), Reynolds makes a less than interesting narrator but this is a minor quibble since I assume it's the writers, artists and other creative forces at the company that the viewer of this program wants to see and here's my problem, I'm pretty sure I've already seen a lot of the interview footage used in this movie in the various special features that have accompanied some of the DC animated movies, sure someone watching this may not have seen those features bust as someone who owns those movies I feel slightly ripped off.

The other thing this documentary lacks is depth, there is just too much history to be crammed into 90 minutes leaving the whole movie ( at least to me ) feeling rushed, at the end of the movie I felt like I hadn't learned anything new and I'm certainly no expert on DC comics and their history.

If you are someone who is new to DC comics and interested in the company's background this is worth a look and I guess it might be worth something to have all this information collected on one DVD rather than scattered over several as bonus features but honestly don't pay full price for the film as in my opinion it's just not worth it, it is a reasonably pleasant viewing experience but wait until you can get it on sale or can rent it or even better watch it for free on TV.

I suspect that this is destined for bargain bins in the near future, also the DVD has no special features, not even some trailers for other DC products and it came in what was the cheapest and flimsiest DVD case I've ever seen.

Next Avengers ( Assemble )

I just finished watching Next Avengers a little while ago and I must say I rather enjoyed it.


I'd read that this animated movie was intended to be more kid friendly than Marvel's other animated features and I'm all for kid friendly as long as that doesn't mean dumbed down and during the opening scenes of the movie that's exactly what I'd thought had happened, thankfully things settled down and Next Avengers turned out to be a fun little film and of the Marvel animated features I've seen one of their best so far.

No-one would have believed..........

No-one would have believed, in the early years of the twenty first century I finally finished watching the first season of War of the Worlds on DVD but even this was being watched by intelligences far superior to our own ( well Paramount / CBS ).

No-one could have dreamed that we were being scrutinized, as someone with a microscope studies creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water

And yet, across the gulf of space, minds immeasurably superior to ours regarded consumers with envious eyes; and slowly, and surely, they drew their plans against us.

Yes I've finally finished watching the first season of War of the Worlds but seemingly aware of this Paramount / CBS have finally released season 2 on DVD and it would seem the battle continues.

Overall I enjoyed the first season despite it's flaws, sure there were a few dud episodes and this show was b-grade cheese but I enjoy that from time to time and I did enjoy the fact that this series serves as a loose sequel to the classic George Pal movie War of the Worlds.

Fan Documentaries

Re-watched both The Force Among Us and Ringers: Lord of the Fans, I find that I usually rather enjoy these types of films, I'm not sure what it is I find so appealing, perhaps it's just that they feature like-minded people talking about the things they enjoy.

I guess you'd have to a be fan of Lord of the Rings and Star Wars to enjoy either of these documentaries and if you have more than a passing interest in either franchise these may well be of interest to you and I'm sure if you shopped around they could be found fairly cheap.

Superheroes ?

I wondered into a local used bookstore and walked out with three hardcover collections of Nexus, I've only read a couple of issues of the comic as well as a crossover where the character was featured in another series but what little I've seen was enough to interest me, several years later and I'll finally get around to reading some Nexus comics.

Yesterday ( or was it the day before ? - time flies ) I re-watched Iron Man 2, it would seem that was a bad idea, I really like the first live action Iron Man movie and I've re-watched it several times and still enjoyed it, I also enjoyed Iron Man 2 when I first saw it but seeing it again I just couldn't get into the movie, it was just more of the same really and the story seemed a bit lazy really, I can't say I was thrilled with the choice of villain either.

While the story for Iron Man 2 didn't do much for me it must be said that the Blu-ray was pretty and some of the audio was rather impressive, with any luck things will improve for The Avengers movie and a possible third Iron Man film.

Oh how it poured

It has basically done nothing but rain for the last couple of days here but I can't really think what I've done during that time, sure I've played some more Just Cause 2 and read some more Legion of Super-Heroes and watched another Doctor Who DVD but that doesn't seem like much.

That can't be all I've done of any note..........can it ?

Random Stuff

Watched five episodes from the first season War of the Worlds, three more to go and that's finished, Iron Man 2 ( Blu-ray ) and and Doctor Who: The Seeds of Doom arrived in the mail this morning, yesterday I got the first season of The Night Gallery on DVD, I don't think I ever saw any episodes of the show so I'm looking forward to that.

I've also started reading DC Comics' Legion of Super-Heroes Showcase volume three, I've never been a huge fan of Curt Swan's artwork and as these stories all saw print during the 60's they are pretty camp and silly but it has been an interesting read.

I think I need a good book to read, I'm just not sure what type of book I want to read and Just Cause 2 is still eating up huge amounts of my time, apparently blowing up things never gets old.

Get a Life ! ( part 2 )

I've just finished reading William Shatner's Get a Life ! and it was a fun ( mostly ) light hearted read as Shatner talked about fans, fandom, conventions and life as the actor who played Captain Kirk ( at the time of writing ) for over 30 years.

Was this book a fun read ? - yes

Do I feel I have a greater understanding of Star Trek fans and what they find so attractive about the Star Trek franchise ? - no not really, apart from a couple of touching stories this all basically repeats all the same kinds of answers to the question What makes Star Trek so appealing ? that we've all seen / read before.

Do I recommend this book to anyone who wants a deeper understanding of Star Trek and it's fans ? - no not at all.

However having if you want some light hearted observations about Trek, some of it's cast members and the people who enjoy the show then you could do worse than give this book a try.

The Lost Room

Over the last couple of days I watched The Lost Room mini-series and I have to say I was pretty damn impressed.

The show didn't have the biggest of budgets or an A-list cast but it had good solid acting and a fairly original story idea which was something that really appealed to me.

Why is it that when show creators come up with a good idea for a series and manage to produce a great product it's always cancelled before it's time or just not renewed ?, there are plenty of directions this show could have explored given the chance but at least there was a beginning, middle and end to the main storyline, these days a lot of shows don't even get that.

You really really should check it out.

The Dresden Files

Well my A.D.D must really be going into overtime at the moment as I've now started watching yet another TV series on DVD, this time around it's The Dresden Files based on the novels by Jim Butcher.

I've never read any of Butcher's Dresden novels ( or in fact any of his books ) but I've only ever heard good things about them and I was under the impression the show was supposed to be pretty good as well but after four episodes this show has really failed to impress, perhaps it's just that I've read an awful lot of books and comics in my days not to mention watched a lot of TV and movies but so far I've been left with the feeling I've seen it all before, in fact in terms of feeling ( not character just general feel ) this show seems to me to be like a lower budget version of Supernatural.

The Dresden Files isn't a bad show but it's not particularly memorable either, I think there are eight episodes left of the first and only season so I suppose it could improve over it's remaining episodes but as things stand at the moment I'm glad I got the DVDs on sale, I think I'd be slightly annoyed if I paid full price for this series based on what I've seen thus far.

Get a Life !

I've just started reading Get a life ! by William Shatner ( with Chris Kreski ), it's a book about Star Trek fans and fandom and so far it's actually been a pretty interesting read.

The book goes back to the mail campaign to save the show at the end of it's second season and provides some detail on those events and at the moment I'm reading about some of the early conventions.

I don't imagine this will appeal to everyone and truth be told the only reason I have it is because I recently won a bunch of books on eBay and it was included in the bunch I won but it has been a fun read, at the rate I'm going I'll probably be finished in a couple of days

Dominion: Prequel to The Exorcist

Right up front I should probably admit I'm not a fan of these types of movies, it's not that I find them confronting or upsetting but if I were to be truly honest with the exception of Richard Donner's The Omen I find these sort of supernatural / occult thrillers to be pretty silly and that includes the first two Exorcist films, I did see the third film when it was first released on VHS to rent and seem to remember liking it but if asked I couldn't tell you much about it.

I was always curious about seeing Dominion, not because it was a prequel to The Exorcist but because of it's place in film history, Paul Schrader was hired to a prequel to The Exorcist and if memory serves me correctly there was to be no gimmicks like spinning heads and little girls vomiting green pea soup but as the film was nearing completion the producers saw a rough edit of the movie and hated it, the decision was made to bring in Renny Harlin to virtually remake the movie from scratch with the idea of making a much more commercial film, I've only ever seen the first half or Harlin's movie so I can't fairly compare the two movies.

Eventually Dominion was screened at a number of film festivals and received an eventual DVD release and while I have to say the quality of the print used to master the DVD was disappointing with evidence of dirt and some scratches which is pretty shocking for a recently made film I rather enjoyed the actual movie.

Basically Paul Schrader wasn't going to make a traditional horror movie and he was open about it, the movie's producer knew that and at the last moment he changed his mind about the type of movie he wanted to make, it seems odd to me that Morgan Creek were ever interested in producing a movie that was so stylistically different to the other Exorcist movies to begin with but at great expense he went about trying to create a movie that was more appealing to traditional horror fans than Schrader's movie.

What Paul Schrader delivered was a thoughtful movie with well realised characters, the kind of characterisation you almost never see in a Hollywood produced horror movie or indeed in most recent Hollywood productions in general, add to the fact there is virtually no gore or action and I can see why the powers that be at Morgan Creek were worried that the movie might not find it's intended audience but what I can tell you is I enjoyed the movie, the ending was a little weak ( but not silly like most similar themed films ), it was a joy to watch a movie where characterisation mattered over jump cuts, CGI and buckets of blood.

I'm sure Dominion: Prequel to The Exorcist isn't to every ones taste but I think it's well worth checking out if you get the chance.

I wish I knew how to quit you.

So after a couple of days worth of moderate play I've finished Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare, in terms of story it was fairly predictable right down to the twist ending but that didn't make it any less enjoyable.

This really needs to be developed into a full length game and with The Walking Dead being adapted into a TV series I wonder if this might receive a film or television adaptation as well - I can always hope.