The Twilight Zone

I've just finished watching the first 3 episodes of original version of The Twilight Zone on Blu-ray and the show is still amazing.

What did shock me is how good the show looks, apart from some very minor film grain in a couple of places in the episodes I've seen so far the show looks amazing especially considering it was produced in the late 50s and early 60s.

I know anthology series aren't to everyone's taste but I've always enjoyed them and based on what I have seen so far I'm very happy I bought The Complete Twilight Zone boxset.

Superman: The Animated Series

Well I finally finished re watching Superman: The Animated Series on DVD, overall it was a fun series, I was a little disappointed by the change in animation style in series 3 but that's a minor quibble.

This was a great show and well worth checking out if you haven't seen it and also worth re watching if you have.

Air New Zealand safty video.

It made me laugh !

Top 25 Worst Sci-Fi And Fantasy TV Shows Ever

This was fun, I don't think I've seen a worst TV show list in quite some time and it includes a bunch of truely aweful shows.

http://www.sfx.co.uk/2012/10/09/top-2-worst-sci-fi-and-fantasy-shows-ever/

Barb Wire

Many years ago I was quite a fan of Dark Horse's Comics Greatest World imprint and I was quite excited when they announced there was going to be a film adaptation of Barb Wire, I grew quite concerned when it was announced Pamela Anderson would be starring in the film and of course when I actually saw the movie I discovered it was complete garbage.

I recently saw the Blu-ray selling for $8.00 so I thought I'd grab a copy and give it another try, I think it would be fair to say it's in high definition but it's still garbage.

Wolverine and the X-Men

Well yesterday I finally finished watching the Wolverine and the X-Men animated series and I must say I rather enjoyed it.

I have to admit it did take me a little while to get used to some of the character designs but I thought the stories that were being told were good and I'd certainly recommend the series to fans of the X-Men comics and film franchises.

My only real disappointment was that the show never got a second season, they were laying the foundations for what would have been a very interesting storyline that we will sadly never see.

If you haven't seen it and you are a fan of superheroes you should definitely check out Wolverine and the X-Men.

A Productive Day

Washing.....check
Vaccuming.....check
Washing up.....check
Animals fed.....check
Bed made.....check
New Members recuited into League of Assassins.....check
Gotham City saved.....check
Turf Wars won.....check
Undead Grizzly slain (?).....check

All in all I'd say it's been a productive day.

2012

Even for Roland Emmerich this was a pretty silly movie, extremely pretty but ultimately very silly.

The Ultimate Marvel Graphic Novel Collection

I was in my local newsagent this morning and I spied the first issue of The Ultimate Marvel Graphic Novel Collection, suffice it to say I’ve added it to my hold list with a couple of other magazines I have reserved on a regular basis.

  

Generally speaking these part work type collections tend to work out to be rather expensive but given the outrageous prices we get charged in Australia for comics and graphic novels this actually seems like a reasonable deal.

Facebook and Annoying Advertising

I've never been a massive Facebook fan but I did use it a convenient way of keeping track of a few friends and what they were up to, well over the last few days I've noticed that the advertising on Facebook has gotten even more obtursive and annoying which means I'll be using it far less than I did.

I'm sure this won't bother most people but if they keep up with the annoying advertising I hope at least a few people stop using Facebook as a result.

Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker

It's been a very lazy not to mention wet and cold day today so I also watched Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker on Blu-ray, I bought this because it's a two disc set that also includes the uncut version, I was disappointed to see the uncut version is on DVD only but the Blu-ray disc looked much better than I expected it to and it's still a great story, I'd love to see a live action version of Batman Beyond one day.

Demons

I couple of weeks ago I managed to pick up Demons on Blu-ray for $5.00, I'd heard the show wasn't very good but I enjoy Philip Glenister's work enough that I wanted to check it out.

Well the show wasn't as bad as I feared it would be ( I wouldn't go so far as to say it was good either ) Philip Glenister's attempt at an American accent was interesting, this is a show that in my had some unrealised potential and now I can say I've seen it, as TV shows go I've seen much worse.

Iron Sky

My Iron Sky Blu-ray arrived today, I'd been looking forward to seeing this movie for a while, I like to support cool sounding independent productions and this movie had a great idea behind it, what an absolute shame that the movie was a mess and nowhere as clever or as funny as it's producers seem to think it is.

Survivors ( remake )

Recently Amazon UK had the boxset containing both series of the Survivors remake going fairly cheap so I thought I'd grab it and over that last three days I've re watched both series of the show.

Overall I did enjoy the watching Survivors again but despite it's obviously higher budget and production value it still seemed to be a somewhat pale imitation of the original series and speaking of the original series it was a little disturbing to see how many story lines and guest characters were taken directly from the original series and the creators of the original series didn't seem to be getting the credit they deserved , in fact the making of documentary doesn't even acknowledge that there was a previous version of the series.

This remake is more of an action adventure show compared to the original series so the characters come across a little flat or superficial but it's still an enjoyable series in it's own right but if you want real drama and character depth I'd recommend watching the original series instead.

Cyber City Oedo 808

Cyber City Oedo 808 is a series of three stories featuring three convicted criminals that are forced to work for the government in order to reduce their sentences, each story features a different character as the lead.

The stories themselves aren't bad and I'm not offended by swearing but the producers seem to think excessive swearing makes their stories edgy ( especially during the first episode ) but honestly it just gets annoying after a while.

Cyber City Oedo 808 is worth a look but I wouldn't say it's essential viewing.

Appleseed: Ex Machina

I'd seen Appleseed: Ex Machina once a couple of years ago on DVD and I thought it was a fun movie, enjoyable but nothing special, about a month ago I picked up the Blu-ray pretty cheap and I finally got around to watching it a couple of days ago and the Blu-ray version of the movie is gorgeous, this would be a great movie to demonstrate the difference between DVD and Blu-ray formats and the fact it's a decent movie doesn't hurt either.

Planet of the Apes ( 2001 )

This is such a technically well made movie, it looks good, it was well designed and the make up is fantastic but somehow it all goes so very wrong.

Star Trek Season 1 Blu-ray

Just before Christmas last year I went a little crazy and bought all three seasons of the original Star Trek on Blu-ray, I watched the first two or three episodes and was quite impressed with the restoration work done on the episodes, the enhanced special effects were another thing however, I do rather like some of the new digital effects that were created for the show but some of the new effects are just too over the top for a show of Star Trek's age more disturbingly there has been the occasional new effects shot that was just terrible and makes me wonder why they bothered if that was the best they could do.

One of the great things about the Blu-ray release is that you have the option to watch the episodes with the original effects if you'd prefer and I'm sure thats what a lot of the fnatical purists do, I wanted to and still want to see how the show has been restored and reinterpreted for the high definition age.

Of course the great thing about Star Trek is the stories not the special effects and I've been enjoying seeing these old episodes again.

Avengers: Earths Mightiest Heroes Season 1

I've finished watching the first series of Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes on DVD and I have to say I was very impressed with the show, I wasn't terribly keen on the animation style at first but that eventually grew on me and I thought that for the most part it was an extremely well written series, I really liked how the major characters all got an introduction episode and origin story that still contributed to an overall story arc that built up to the assembling of the team.
I for one can't wait for season 2.

The Hunger Games

So I finally saw The Hunger Games and it was OK, I probably would've enjoyed it a lot more if it wasn't for the constantly shaking hand held style camera work, even though I find it annoying I can understand using it during a very intense action sequence but I'd much prefer it it they just pointed the camera at the subject and just showed me what was going on, I'm still interested in reading the book but I have to admit to being a little disappointed in the movie.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

I was so bored by this movie for it's first half that I nearly gave up and stopped watching and thats something I rarely do, thankfully something actually happened inn the second half to partially redeem the movie.

Ong Bak 2

This movie had little of what made the original film so compelling, while it was technically well made Ong Bak 2 was rather self indulgent and ultimately disappointing.

Blue Thunder

Blue Thunder is another favorite movie of mine and yet somehow I've never owned a copy until I recently when I bought it on Blu-ray and for the most part the movie looks pretty good apart from a few of the model shots and honestly they always looked bad but now they look bad in high definition, thankfully those shots are brief and despite them Blue Thunder is a fun movie.

Drunken Master

I'd finally gotten around watching the apparent classic Jackie Chan film Drunken Master, I have to say I wasn't all that impressed, it was by no means a horrible movie but I really couldn't see what the fuss was about, I guess the movie was somewhat groundbreaking for it's time but for me it seems like I've seen that story several times before, maybe if that wasn't the case I would have enjoyed Drunken Master more than I did.

The Omega Man

One of the movies I've recently watched was The Omega Man, which is an old favorite of mine, I picked it up on Blu-ray recently and it scrubbed up pretty well considering it's age, the sound is nothing special just basic stereo ( I think ) and there was some dirt and scratching in places but overall it looked pretty good.

Of course this story has recently been remade as I am Legend starring Will Smith and while that version was technically very well made and has one very touching scene I find The Omega Man to be a much more enjoyable movie.

If you get the chance you should give The Omega Man a try, sure it's an old movie but I think there is a lot of fun to be had.

Paranormal Activity

Well I've finally seen Paranormal Activity, thought it was ok but honestly I'm not sure what all the fuss was about.

Wolverine and the X-Men

Had a bit of a lazy day today and watched the first 9 episodes of Wolverine and the X-Men on Blu-ray today and so far I'm enjoying the show, the animation style has taken a little for me to get used to probably because I've recently watched several episodes of the 90's X-Men animated series.

So far the show has been entertaining and has featured some nice little twists on characters and story lines that were done in the comics and the Blu-ray look and sound great, this is a show I think I'm going to enjoy until the very end.

Odds and Ends

I've actually finished a fer of the various season box sets I had partly watched over the last few months:


Supernatural season 5 which I found to be disappointing.

Being Human ( UK version ) series 1 which I thought was excellent.

The Batman which is a fun anime inspired take on Batman.

True Blood Season 3 which is just forgettable as the first two seasons.

Torchwood: Miracle Day which was a bitter disappointment after the excellent Torchwood: Children of Earth mini series.


I'm hoping to finish Eureka season 3 sometime soon but I'm really enjoying it so far.

Mimic: Director's Cut

I think it's fairly well known that Guillermo del Toro fought many battles with the studio systems while Mimic was in production and was ultimately unhappy with the theatrically released version of the film but despite that I've always been fond of the movie.

Now years later he has been able to release a Director's cut that was closer to his original vision for the film and I have to admit I'd been looking forward to seeing it but now that I have I've come away from the movie slightly disappointed because it really isn't all that different to the theatrically released version of the film and while the director's commentary was interesting Guillermo del Toro was obviously holding back on some things for legal reasons.

I guess this was an interesting version of the film but hardly essential viewing.

Starship Troopers 3: Marauder

I remember discovering a trailer for Starship Troopers 3: Marauder just before the movie was released on DVD and Blu-ray and being completely shocked that it was being made after the massive disappointment that was Starship Troopers 2 but despite the obvious lower budget I though the movie looked good and at the time I enjoyed it, I thought it did a good job of recapturing some of the feel of the first film.

Well I recently picked up the Blu-ray version of the movie dirt cheap on eBay and I must say I enjoyed re watching the movie again yesterday, sure there are a few places where they obviously didn't have the special effects budget of most contemporary sci-fi films but it was still fun.

I wonder if someone is sneakily working on a fourth Starship Troopers film ?

Mirrormask

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

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

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

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.