STARSHIP TROOPERS 3: MARAUDER (DVD Review) - 31/8/08

After the dire sequel to the original film we now take the plunge into "Starship Troopers 3: Marauder" and things are obviously not looking good as this was a Straight To DVD Release. Casper Van Dien shows up and is so old & craggy in the first scenes I didn't recognise him and Jolene Blalock crops up later as she assumingly doesn't have a career after "Star Trek Enterprise" which I find strange as she is an accomplished actress? With more budget than the previous entry in the series - This is both awful & good at the same time? Well how is this? Well we get better CGI in some scenes and really terrible CGI in others - Some scenes make you think you are watching a video game. The annoying adverts through-out are just padding and then you come to other scenes which would not be out of place in a multi-million dollar sci-fi actioner - One scene featuring a desolate sea shore with an unusual skyline alongside a crashed space-pod with strange jagged natural features pointing into the air. We also get some truly terrible SFX and then some SFX that really stands out. The guns in close-up not only look plastic they are plastic! Handled badly and with no idea what a real weapon would do the cast lag them around as the toys they are. Behind the players a conspiracy turns out to be anything but and we hark back to the original with some follow-on ideas. A mish-mash of everything this is neither good or bad.

A new planet, a new bug war - Fascism gets another day pass and new bugs come calling. Things are not what they seem and there is lots of gore and explosions. Better than sequel two - But not by much!

YOU DON'T MESS WITH THE ZOHAN Film Review - 31/8/08

It's quite amazing just what watching a Film Trailer can do? In fact it often makes a bad film look good - Which is the case here. I thought it was a comedy? Then maybe a comedy with political overtones? Or a polemic treatment of how hate flourishes amongst the Arabs/Jews? Or was it just a great pile of stinking shit? As the saying goes "You are only as good as your last movie" and people have short memories. Having never watched an Adam Sandler film before I can't comment. Veering from racist accents & portrayals of cultural habits, in between the sexism and lack of logic - I'm ashamed to admit that I laughed (more likely several chuckles) at the odd scene. This film is such a moronic pastische I had no idea what it was aimed at - But with (many supposedly) funny one-liners aplenty it felt rather disturbing. At the same time the red-neck militia type characters were so over-the-top you couldn't help but wonder if the cast & crew were putting this all on knowingly?

Tough Israeli Counter Terrorist 'The Zohan' fed up with his military duties yearns for a different lifestyle cutting women's hair as a hairdresser. Pretending to die in an operation he flees to America and gets his wish. Cue absurdity - And yes, it does sound as bad as it reads!

SUPERNATURAL {3rd. Season} (DVD Review) - 25/0/08

Unluckily this was another show hit by the Writer's Strike which shortened the third series to just 16 episodes and that's a real pity as I certainly could have easily watched another 4-6 episodes! The 3rd. Season is just as consistently good as the first & second as the Winchester brothers plow across the States trampling all over various different folklore and taking on a variety of religions and cultures as they pursue demons released from the gate but every now and then coming up against something that isn't quite demonic. Questions and reality are revealed on a number of big issues and logic with one demon casts a perspective that doesn't fit in at all well with the show as it doesn't make any sense? We also get an unpleasant episode called "Ghostfacers" in which a distasteful thread is used as bait throughout the show. That aside the malevolent uneasiness of the run of episodes has you on the edge of your seat at most times and set me thinking of another classic show called "Millennium" which Supernatural reminds me a lot of; except there is a streak of dark humour in Supernatural and none in Millennium. I also wonder just how much of the graphic gore and violence makes it to TV with Supernatural as I can only presume the blood & guts is reserved for the DVD release? Nothing is ever what it seems with this show and this season ends on a downbeat turn leaving you begging for more. Fully reminiscent of "Buffy" & "Angel" at it's best - Supernatural just gets better and better as it leaves the competition behind. Running the cast ragged from it's emotional roller-coaster the shades of grey keep getting thinner and thinner that you really start to question yourself and who is wrong and who is right?

A handful of micro-featurettes and a couple of larger featurettes pad out the Special Features and also included is an incredibly mediocre and tiresome Gag/Bloopers Reel which I usually find most amusing - This time around my finger was firmly pressed on the Fast-Forward button.

HELLBOY 2 Film Review - 17/8/08

Like chewing through candy floss "Hellboy II - The Golden Army" is something and nothing at the same time? Strange statement I know - But the sequel to "Hellboy" seems very lacking in story but 2 hours just flies by? The posters for the film are all pretty duff as well. With the sequel going further into the realm of the mythical ("Pan's Labyrinth") it very much is cut and dried - The folklore creatures return to reclaim their lands from the humans with the help of a goblin 'Golden Army' and Hellboy and his crew (With a new character tagging along - Minus Agent Myers - Who gets a throwaway line to cover his disappearance in the script) trudge out to various places in various esoteric and exotic locales whilst beating the crap out of all manner of beasties. At this point we actually get a taste of what a real 'tooth fairy' can do and how dangerous faerie folk (Elf's?) really are when they return from the dark . . . . . . We carry on with the mushy love angles (Twice this time around) amidst the humour and some of the action is astonishing . . . really astonishing . . . . it's just a pity a handful of scenes strung together don't match the strength of the original story for it's substance matter. Still far superior though than a lot of the rot that does make it to the Cinemas!

WANTED Film Review - 11/8/08

The school of hard knocks shown in "Wanted" is the sort of school Harry Potter would go to if he was to become an assassin. A smart cast kicks around a daft story that has been unfairly compared to "The Matrix" which has no threads (Unless you believe in 'The Loom Of Fate') of the plot-line in any stretch of the imagination? Dull drone worker McAvoy gets hauled into another life as a group of top-notch killers from an assassination group called "The Fraternity" recruit him to their ranks with the help of the sultry Fox (Jolie) and led by none other than Morgan Freeman as Sloan. Trained by their elite and sent out on his mission things get dicey very quickly! Jump back several years in time when action films used real stuntmen - It's hard to tell now between blue/green screen, CGI & real stunts? So with this empty header you get cars and more cars flying through the air demolishing this and that; between the fights, gunfire & big explosions. It's all to do with a bunch of crackpot monks several centuries back who discovered a hidden code in what they called "The Loom Of Fate" which told them which people fate wanted killed. In this case a slight mistake in the threads might have been killing people for a thousand years - Oops!! All totally ludicrous of course but highly entertaining.............................

MAMMA MIA! Film Review - 10/8/08

Having seen the stage show in Las Vegas about seven years ago I always wondered when they would get around to the film version and that is now! While it absolutely pisses down with rain the public are marching into their local multiplexes in droves and getting their Summer feelgood factor fix there instead of outside in the dismal weather. The astonishingly deft and tight script has a whole bucket load of gags and one-liners for all the cast and with the mix of classic Abba tunes and there emotional delivery the resonance it create's sucks you in with an allover family affair from grannies to kids. Fun is to be had from the excellent casting and a number of stars in this movie are a real revelation. Stick around for the End Credits as you get an extra couple of songs thrown in for free!

The real world impinges on a hardworking single mother with the marriage of her daughter who secretly has invited three of her Mother's 'old flames' to the ceremony hoping to find out which one is her real Dad. Chaos, laughter, fun & disaster ensue with a slew of ABBA songs to slide the action along on a remote and idyllic Greek island perfect for a wedding!

THE MUMMY 3 Film Review - 10/8/08

Having eagerly anticipated this film for a while I recently purchased the above UK Quad poster which I was very happy with. The film didn't disappoint (Although there are Chinese Mummies this isn't strictly true in the sense of this film - But what the heck! It's fantasy after all!) Apart from the comedy routine throughout which at one point really had me grimacing the literal non-stop action is from beginning to end. I really wish the Evie character had just been left out from the script instead of being re-cast - But enough of minor points. The film fires on all cylinders and takes a real leap from the original two - Forget "The Scorpion King" side-off and it's Direct-To-DVD sequel "Scorpion King 2 - Rise Of The Warrior" rubbish. It even has a tantalising Peruvian Mummy throw away line at the end of "The Mummy - Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor" now to be known henceforth as "The Mummy 3"!

Stiflingly bored in their humdrum retirement the adventurers all band together for another foray into action and adventure with this time the whole shebang re-locating into Asia. Throw in a spoonful of bad guys and some ancient mythology and the fight is on to stop the resurrection of an evil warlord and his army marching upon the world! (Again!!)