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.