Dunkirk review

Right, well since I had been to the cinema this week, I figured I would put up a review of the film I had seen, which was Christopher Nolan's latest flick, the war drama "Dunkirk" based on the true life events of the Dunkirk evacuation of the Allied forces during World War II. 

And the film already has garnered much critical acclaim on its release, so does it live up to all the hype????  Well, let's take a look and find out....

Oh, and while I might refer to a little of the plot I will do my best not to spoil much (although historically if you know about the events of Dunkirk, this film will be of little surprise).  However to be fair I will issue the warning as usual...

POTENTIAL SPOILERS MAYBE AHEAD!!! (DON'T WORRY, NOT TOO MANY THOUGH!!)

STORY

So, the film basically shows the perspective of the Dunkirk evacuation from three different ways, land, sea and air and each of these perspectives are told over different periods of time with land covering one week, sea, one day and the air, one hour.  And by the end of the story all the perspectives will interweave together.

The land story, primarily follows, Tommy (Fionn Whitehead) a young British private, who comes under fire from German soldiers on the streets of Dunkirk but he manages to make it to the beaches where he finds the British and Allied troops awaiting evacuation.  And the rest of Tommy's story essentially follows him trying to find a way to safely evacuate from Dunkirk but he encounters many dangers in his path....

The sea story follows a small private seaboat crew, lead by Mr Dawson (Mark Rylance) who aid in the Royal Navy's task of sending out boats to help with the evacuation of Dunkirk.  Dawson is helped by his son, Peter (Tom Glynn-Carney) while his other, younger son, George (Barry Keoghan) on impulse decides to join them in the hope he can do something good.  On their way to Dunkirk however, they soon encounter a lone shell-shocked survivor (Cillian Murphy) of a U-boat attack and take him aboard.  However survivor soon comes anxious when he realises that Dawson is heading towards Dunkirk and ends up causing problems for the crew.....

And the air story follows three RAF spitfire pilots, Farrier (Tom Hardy), Collins (Jack Lowden) and their squadron leader "Fortis Leader" (voiced by Michael Caine) who all provide air support during the Dunkirk evacuation.  However their fuel supply is running low, so they know they have limited time to provide support to the evacuees and "Fortis" is shot down, leaving Farrier in command and together with Collins, they get involved in an intense dogfight with German soldiers.....

THOUGHTS

While I would have to say that it is a bit overrated in terms of the plaudits it has received, Dunkirk nevertheless is an intense, gripping war film that is relentless in its pace and intensity as it never let's up from the first moment until the end.  And the film tells an important story very well and rather than get too bogged down with characterisations, Nolan instead keeps things very tight here as the film itself is surprisingly short at just 1 hour and 46 minutes, which for a war film nowadays is practically unheard of.  However this is something that is definitely in Dunkirk's favour as its fast pace ensures it will never lag.

PERFORMANCES (No notable scenes this time!)

As for the performances, well they are all very solid from the ensemble cast even though no individual performance really stands out more than others, probably due to the tight screen time and frantic nature of the story.

Fionn Whitehead (I wonder how many times people call him Fiona!) is a young English actor, who has made his debut film role here, does a fine job with his part as Tommy, the young British soldier, who does all he can to try and survive the Dunkirk evacuation. 

Tom Glynn-Carney is also very good in his role as Peter, the elder son of Mr Dawson, who sails in one of the boats to rescue the Dunkirk evacuees.  Barry Keoghan also does fine in his part as George, Peter's younger brother, who impulsively joins him and his father in their journey.   

Jack Lowden does well too in his role as the RAF pilot, Collins, who does his bit from the air to try and give support to the Dunkirk evacuees although he ends up getting involved in a hairy dogfight with German fighters.  

Cillian Murphy provides a solid performance also as the shivering soldier, the shell-shocked lone survivor of a German U-Boat attack.  Murphy plays the shell-shock aspect of the role well yet at the same time he makes his character somewhat a bit creepy and sinister at the same time, despite the fact that is essentially playing a solider, who is scared out of his wits.

Mark Rylance is great in his role as Mr Dawson, a sailor, who's boat is commandeered by the Royal Navy in their efforts to evacuate the Allied troops at Dunkirk.  And Rylance gives his character alot of dignity, courage and honour as he stands up to the task to try and rescue the Dunkirk evacuees.

Kenneth Brannagh is excellent as ever in his role as Commander Bolton, the pier master during the evacuation of Dunkirk and naturally you can always rely on Brannagh in most things, particularly in period drama, so he is in his element here.

And last of all is Tom Hardy, who we barely actually get to see his actual face in the film (until near the end and I won't say anymore than that!) as he plays the part of Farrier, the RAF pilot, who tackles a dogfight with German fighters.  In fact rather amusingly with his pilot mask on, its almost like we are watching Hardy reprise his role as Bane from The Dark Knight Rises!  Hardy basically as a result doesn't have much to do here other than stay in the cockpit of his plane, so his performance is purely a perfunctory one.  So in this instance you could call him Tom Hardly on this occasion! ;-)

DIRECTOR AND MUSIC

As for the director, Christopher Nolan does an excellent job here with ratching up the tension throughout the film as it is a pretty intense and relentless experience to sit through.  Nolan also cleverly weaves the three narratives together of land, sea and air and its interesting how the events all intertwine as do the characters.  Nolan also deserves credit for keeping the pacing of the film very taut as you could never accuse him this time of creating a film that is overlong and drawn out, this is as tight a film as he has ever made.

And lastly we get onto the music score, which is by Hans Zimmer and this must rank as one of the most intense scores he has ever done as it features a much relentless use of synthesizers and orchestrations.  In fact there are times where you think you are listening to a frantic human heart beat rather than music and to Zimmer's credit this is a fine score that while not the most suitable it will stay with you.  Its also well worth mentioning that Zimmer's score runs throughout the whole film and as far as I can remember there not a moment in the film without music, which is very rare in itself. 

FLAWS

As for flaws.....well yes Dunkirk has some and I can't quite get into them all though as it may give some plot points away (well possibly!) so I will mention only a few.

For starters I think one of the issues of the film is to do with the lack of characterisation, as while you empathise with the characters, you really don't get much of a chance to know them.  Instead you are thrown right into the film without much room for development, so in a way they have sacrified characterisation to keep the film taut and well paced. 

Another issue is to do with the fact that the film's score and sound is at times pretty bombastic and overwhelming to listen to.  It is of course a war film but there are times where you feel there is little let up in terms of the full on intensity of everything that is going on.  Nolan really wants to pull you into the experience and it does work but it can also threaten to be a bit overbearing aswell at times.

Anyway that will do for now.

SUM UP

So, to sum up, Dunkirk is an intense and gripping war film, which tells its story well and it shows Nolan really has put himself forward for a potential Oscar nod for next year as I'm sure this film is one that will rank high on Hollywood's list. 

Is it a masterpiece???  In all honesty and in my opinion, no its not.  I just feel while it is a solid and involving film, it doesn't scale any great heights and any of the overwhelming plaudits it has received so far just seem a bit much.  Don't get me wrong, Dunkirk is a good, solid film but in the end its just not quite a great one.  However this is just my opinion of course and if you think its a great film that's fine with me and it is definitely a film that is worth seeing regardless.

OK, so that's it for now and I will be back again soon with some post or other of some kind.

Till then, its bye for now. 

Top 10 Hardest Crash Bandicoot levels Part 1 - 5 to 1

OK, so its time for part 2 of my look at my pick of the top 10 hardest Crash Bandicoot levels and these posts are based on the levels taken from the N-Sane Trilogy that was recently released for the PS4.

So let's carry on with the list and see what torturous levels made it into the top 5....

5. Ruination (Crash 2)

So, at No.5 is this punishing level from Crash 2, "Ruination", which while its tricky to get through only for the crystal its manageable, but to try and get every box, its a nightmare!

Basically in the level, Crash must navigate his way through an old ruins as he runs and jumps through a series of high rise stone structures some of which collapse as well as some rotating platforms, which Crash needs to watch he doesn't fall off.  Also along the way, Crash must try and avoid monkeys, cyborg clamidosaurus's and gorillas, who throw wooden logs at you.  There are also fire beathing statues that Crash has to carefully time his way past or else he will be burned to a cinder. 

And as I said what makes this level so difficult is trying to break all the boxes in order to gain the two clear gems and this involves having to navigate a very tricky bonus round and worst of all a green gem path.  The bonus round is the easier of the two but only just as Crash needs to break a series of locked crates (or boxes if you like) as well as break a series of trickily placed bounce crates that will see Crash fall to his death if you mistime your jumps there. 

Worst of all however is the green gem path, which sees Crash having to make his way through a dangerous route where he must avoid a series of wooden logs being thrown at him by a big gorilla and its all too easy to mess this one up!  The fact that you have to deal with the log throwing gorilla from the right, left side and front on angles makes this all the more frustrating to try and get through and it makes this level a real test.

So "Ruination" is fairly tricky if you are just going for the crystal but if you want both gems then it soon becomes a very trying experience and easily one of the toughest Crash levels that deserves its place in the top 5.

4. Road to nowhere (Crash 1)

OK, so at No.4 is this infuriating level from the first game but its no comfort in knowing there is a level similar to this that is even worse!  Yes, "Road to nowhere" sees Crash having to make his way across a very dangerous suspension bridge, which is missing quite a few planks. So, this basically means Crash once again needs to be very careful and time his jumps carefully or he will fall into the abyss. 

The level for starters is made difficult simply by the nature of the suspension bridge missing so many planks of wood and this causes Crash to be extra careful that he times his jumps to land on the planks that are left.  There are also icy planks and brown coloured planks that give way once Crash has landed on them as well as incomplete planks, which if Crash hits then he will fall to his death. 

There are also other obstacles too such as the inclusion turtles, which Crash must use to actually bounce on so he can jump large gaps in the bridge and even more annoying are the hogs that appear in the level that run up and down certain parts of the bridge.  However the hogs can be avoided by performing a well timed jump as they run towards Crash, they can end up behind him and they will stay put. 

So, this level is another frustrating pain in the you know what and its one that deserves its place on here at No.4.

3. Fumbling in the dark (Crash 1)

At No.3 is this......lovely level....if you want to call it that, which is actually thankfully not one of the main levels of the game and a bonus one, which is unlocked so far into the game but its basically the same level as "Lights out" which featured earlier on, except its way worse.

Yep, this is a level that took me over 60 lives to get through alone and to say its a tough one is an understatement and a half and its just as well it doesn't involve completing in order to gain a coloured gem without dying as it would be next to impossible to do. 

Basically the title says it all really, as Crash has to wander around the dark hallways of Cortex castle and his only guiding light are Aku Aku masks, which are spread throughout the level but they only have a limited time for which they stay lit then its lights out and Crash will be in darkness.  And if this happens then Crash will surely fall down one of the gaps between platforms to meet his doom once more.  Also add into the mix rats, spiders and deadly swinging blades and it all adds up to a deeply frustrating experience that will test any gamer.  Oh, and there are also some hidden boxes at the start of the level, so if you forget them then you will have the dubious pleasure of having to play the level all over again just to get them!  

So, if you are going to survive "Fumbling in the dark" I strongly suggest you stock up on extra lives as you will sure need to or you will be staring at the annoying "Game Over" screen again and again before you can finally conquer it and move on to recover yourself.

So overall its a nasty beggar of a level and one that more than deserves its place on the list.

2. The High Road (Crash 1)

I think the makers of the first Crash Bandicoot must have been into petty minded sadism in a big way because I can think of no other reason why a level in a game should be SO hard!  And "The High Road" is one of these levels.

Yep, this little nasty fecker of a level is infamous among fans of the Crash series and if often tops the toughest levels of any Crash list and its no surprise that I would add it to mine.  THIS level took me two days and nights to complete and I kept seeing the "GAME OVER" screen come up time and time again so much it made want to throw the PS4 out the window! (well not quite by nearly!).

Yes, "The High Road" sees Crash being forced to brave another suspension bridge with even less planks to walk on than before and this time Crash has to resort to using a series of turtles to bounce on so he can get to the other side without plummeting to his death.  Although one curious thing about this level is if Crash falls to his death by breaking the half planks instead of bouncing on the turtles, the turtles are still suspended in thin air and they don't fall themselves!  Weird! 

However that's not all because if Crash wants to collect the clear gem, he must also go backwards to claim the hidden boxes in the level that are at the start of the level behind where he starts from.   And this is certainly not fun as he will need to tread carefully as the wood planks only appear as he walks over them and there are still gaps to be found, so you need to be extra careful if you are going for all the boxes. 

So, yeah this level has alot to answer for when it has claimed many a gamer's sanity and patience as they try and complete this hellathon.  However it is said that the easiest way through the level is for Crash to simply jump up on the ropes and walk over the bridge that way although that would be cheating (and I myself would struggle to keep Crash in a straight line!).

Anyway so "The High Road" definitely deserves the runner-up spot here and its infuriating difficulty level is enough to drive anyone nuts, who might dare to try it.

And the number one toughest Crash Bandicoot level of them all is..........

1. Slippery climb (Crash 1)

Yes, at No.1 is this horror of a level from the first Crash Bandicoot game (not surprising eh?!) "Slippery climb" which is often seen near the top or at the top of many a Crash Bandicoot list of tough levels and its pretty easy to see why.  This level is a monumental challenge make no mistake about it.

And the level itself sees Crash attempt to make his way into Cortex castle as he traverses outside the castle and must make a series of very tricky jumps onto moving platforms, retractable staircases as well as time careful jumps onto large birds in order to reach another platform.  These jumps require very careful timing and not only that but there are also some cubby hole type passages that Crash will need to jump into to get some of the boxes.  This will then force Crash to make another very careful jump in order to get back onto the moving platforms that will take him further forward. 

Crash will also face some human enemies such as Cortex's lab assistants, who will throw potion beakers at him and prisoners, who try and grab Crash with their hands although they are much easier to deal with and are the easiest thing about this level.    

Now it was a close call between this level and "The High Road" however "Slippery climb" pips it to the post for one main reason and that reason is because if you want the red coloured gem, you will need to go through this whole level WITHOUT DYING!!  And that as far as I am concerned is literally 100% impossible (or just about!) as it is such a tough test to overcome and it remains the biggest obstacle in the entire game, especially if you want to complete the game 100%.

So, for me "Slippery climb" is the toughest level in the first three Crash Bandicoot games, although I can't speak for the others in the series because I haven't played them but on the basis of the N-Sane trilogy, this level is as tough as it gets, so it takes the top spot.

Right, so that's it for now and I'll be back on here with another post soon.

Till then its Ooga Booga from me! 

Top 10 Hardest Crash Bandicoot levels Part 1 - 10 to 6

Right, this is a slightly different post for a change as its another top 10 list and this time the list of choice is my pick of the hardest Crash Bandicoot levels and these levels will be taken from the N-Sane trilogy, which features the first three Crash games.

So without much further ado, let's grab that controller and get to ready throw it at the wall!

10. Orient express/Midnight run (from Crash Bandicoot: Warped) 

OK, so at No.10 are these two levels from the 3rd game in the series, Warped, and the reason I have put them together is because they are essentially the same level as they both take place on the Great wall of China.  And it involves Crash's sister, Coco do a race, riding on her pet tiger, Pura, across the great wall of China during its final years of construction in order to obtain the crystals needed to complete the level.

These levels aren't so hard to get through purely to get the crystals but where they are hard is in trying to break all the boxes and in that respect they are bloody difficult and remain a stern challenge.  And quite often its all too easy for you to miss out the boxes when you speed through the level, plus the obstacles that are in your path such as the flying dragons and the Chinese workers can be tricky to avoid at times.  Its also often the case when you see Coco and Pura have to make some awkward jumps due to the frantic pace of the levels themselves and this can lead to them falling off the wall.

So, these two levels are deceptively hard and may not be on many players lists but they are here on mine and that's it sits here at No.10.

9. Native Fortress (from Crash Bandicoot)

At No.9 is this level from the first game "Native Fortress" and this is the first level in the game where the difficulty level suddenly shoots up as the honeymoon period of the games is well and truly over as Crash is given a number of tough obstacles to overcome.

For starters, Crash has to make a series of difficult climbs that involve spinning rotating wooden platforms that only stay still for so long and he has to spin several of them to jump up to reach some bouncy boxes, which will take him up to a top platform.  Mastering these platforms and the jumps can be very tricky at first and may take some time to get used to in itself.

However, that's not at all, next Crash also has to watch out for some pesky natives who keep pushing you back with big boards and if you get it wrong they could push Crash off the edge or into one of the flaming platforms.  And this brings me onto the platforms that ignite on fire and temporarily go out, as they are also pretty tricky to get past especially when later on you need to jump three of them in a row without frying yourself! There are also man-eating plants that can get a taste for Crash if you get too close to them but they are not so bothersome here though.

So, "Native Fortress" is definitely where the first game starts to get tougher for sure and it is a sign of the hellish levels that lay ahead, so its more than worthy of a place on this list.

8. Snow Go (from Crash 2)

This may only be the second level from Crash 2 and to play through the initial level itself isn't so difficult but what IS difficult about this level is when you access the secret area to get the red gem, THEN this level's difficulty shoots up several notches!  And the process to get the red gem itself here is a bloody nightmare!

However the level itself isn't too tricky overall as Crash to avoid some pretty basic obstacles such as spinning penguins, diving seals, rock crushers and log crushers although you still need to take caution at this stage.

But its when Crash get's access to that secret area of "Snow Go" is when you will throw the controller out the window as Crash has to repeatedly try and slide his way through the first few stages of the level as he has to jump from one icy platform to another without falling to his death, which isn't easy!  Not only that but he has to jump on a series of bouncy boxes in order to reach higher platforms that are again icy and filled with Nitro explosive boxes, so at this stage its imperative that Crash has picked up three Aku Aku masks as he needs to be invincible to get through this part to finally land the red gem.

Without the red gem, this level would be pretty easy and straightforward however because of it, this elevates the level into this list and that's why it takes the 8th place.

7. Un-bearable (from Crash 2)

This level at No.7 is another stern challenge from Crash 2: The Wrath of Cortex that sees Crash having to flee from a giant angry polar bear as he races through the level to collect a crystal and also along the way he has to avoid a number of other obstacles also.

This is definitely the toughest of the dash levels where Crash usually has to avoid large boulders ala Indiana Jones style but here the giant bear makes things that bit worse.  And similar to the other levels, Crash here needs to dodge a number of dangers such as land mines that slow him down or electric gates that will simply electrocute Crash if he comes into contact with them, so he needs to slide underneath them to pass.  Not only this, Crash also has to avoid animals such as salamanders and armadillos and in the secret area of the level, hunter lab assistants, who will fire shots at Crash from their rifles.

The key to this level is all about the timing and fast reflexes to avoid all the dangers not only to try and break all the boxes to obtain the clear gem, which is where the secret area also remains one of the toughest in the game itself.  And all too often its too easy to mistime your jumps and you end up seeing Crash either get fried, killed by the bear or in other cases simply fall down a chasm!

So, Un-bearable does indeed became somewhat unbearable after a while as it really is a trying level to get through and as such definitely deserves it place here on the list.

6. The Lost City (from Crash Bandicoot)

And to finish off the first part of this list is this bugger of a level from the original Crash game, "The Lost City" which is a pretty punshing experience overall, which is again compounded by the fact that you need to do the level WITHOUT dying once in order to get the green gem in it.

But as for the level itself, yep its a tough one for sure as there are a number of dangers for Crash to avoid such as moving walls, which could push Crash into the water or off into a hole or leaping lizards, which Crash must avoid and swarms of bats that pass Crash at regular intervals.  Crash also must navigate as series of revolving platforms that will take him higher up but he must also jump on a series of retractable platforms also, which requires careful timing if Crash is to advance.  Crash also has to take care on a series of revolving platforms as he needs to time his jumps carefully once more as he could end up falling into the water again.  

Another thing that makes this level quite unforgiving is as I already mentioned, to do with trying to get the first coloured gem (the green one) which requires breaking all the boxes without losing a single life.  This is a real bastard(!).....and its not helped either by the fact that the first two boxes in the level are behind a wall of iron crates, which Crash has to jump around to get but its all to easy for Crash to mistime the jump and fall in the water and drown!

Then there is of course the Bonus rounds for the level which are pretty tough also in which Crash has to gain access to two bonus areas, one for his girlfriend Tawna and the other is for the villainous Nitrous Brio (Dr Cortex's assistant).  And its safe to say that Brio's bonus round here is one of the WORST to try and get through as you have to make a series of careful jumps to activate TNT boxes without blowing Crash up (thankfully though if you die in the Bonus rounds, you don't lose an actual life).

And the worst thing about this level is that its not even the easiest one to do in order to obtain the green gem, so this makes it all the more frustrating to get through.  So for this reason and the others, "The Lost City" definitely deserves its place here on the list at No.6.

Right, so that's it for now and I will be back again soon with Part 2 of the list.

See you soon!

The Martian (revisited) "I'm the greatest botanist on this planet!"

OK, time for a bit of post revisitation once again as I recently re-watched Ridley Scott's sci-fi film, The Martain on Blu-ray, so I figured I would give me original review another look and a little rewrite.
So, let's take a look at this one again......

And yes here comes the usual warning...

PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!!

STORY

So, the story begins on the planet Mars (from the title naturally you would expect this!) where a team astronauts are on a mission.  However the planet is suddenly hit by an intense storm which forces the team to evacuate but one of the team, Mart Watney (Matt Damon) is lost and presumed dead by the others who take off and leave him behind at the order of the mission commander, Melissa Lewis (Jessica Chastain).

Watney however survives the storm but his communications equipment has been destroyed and he must find a way to keep himself alive on the planet, which he does by using his skills as a botanist, he grows potatoes within the base the team had built on the planet surface.  Watney calculates that he must try and keep himself alive for three years long enough hopefully to journey to the landing site for the sucessive ship Aries IV.  Watney also keeps a series of video logs to keep himself going and also makes modifications to the base's rover so it can make longer journeys.

On Earth sometime after the initial announcement was made that Watney had died, NASA engineers Vincent Kapoor (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and Mindy Park (MacKenzie Davis) discover from the Mars satelitte footage that Watney survived and they start to plan out how to contact him.  The NASA director, Teddy Sanders (Jeff Daniels) insists though that they don't tell the rest of Watney's crew who have now been reassigned to another mission onboard the Hermes in case Watney doesn't survive.  Watney however manages to locate a pathfinder probe which had been inactive since 1997 and uses it to contact NASA.

And its from here that Watney must try and find a way to keep himself alive on Mars and for NASA to try and figure out a way they can bring him back home....

THOUGHTS

Well after some recent disappointments, the Martian is easily Ridley Scott's best film in quite some time (although he did follow it up with the underwhelming Alien Covenant) as its an entertaining and at times gripping film which deals with one man's survival on a barren planet.  Personally myself I always enjoy watching films where one man (or woman) has to adapt and survive in a lone habitat such as Tom Hanks in Cast Away and this is another fine example of that.

The tone of the film is also rather surprisingly quite light hearted given its main character is stranded on an alien planet where there is no breathable atmosphere and his chances of survival long term are pretty slim.  And that in itself is also part of why the film works very well as Scott could easily have gone down another route of making it a rather dispairing and heavy going experience but thankfully that is not the case here.

PERFORMANCES 

As for the performances well they are all pretty top notch starting with Matt Damon who is excellent in the lead role of Mark Watney, the astronaut who is left stranded on Mars after being presumed dead by his crew mates.

Damon after being in the not entirely disimilar Interstellar (but a bit more realistic it has to be said) and playing a somewhat crazed astronaut, thankfully plays Watney as a sane man who uses his skills to keep himself alive.

Damon also has some good moments in the film such as the scene where Watney makes a grim assessment of his situation not long after he has been stranded on Mars, he records a video message.  And in the message he says "If the oxygenator breaks down, I'll suffocate. If the water reclaimer breaks down, I'll die of thirst. If the hab breaches, I'll just kind of implode. If none of those things happen, I'll eventually run out of food and starve to death. So, yeah... Yeah...".

Then there is the scene where Watney tries to make water by burning hydrogen and he very nearly blows himself up in the process.  So, in another video message he says "So, yeah, I blew myself up. Best guess, I forgot to account for the excess oxygen that I've been exhaling when I did my calculations because I'm stupid. I'm gonna get back to work here just as soon as my ears stop ringing!".

Another good scene is when Watney forces himself to listen to his superior, Commander Lewis's disco music, which he hates as he groans in dispair as he listens to "Turn the beat around" by Gloria Estefan.  And Watney says to himself " I am definitely gonna die up here if I have to listen to any more of Commander Lewis' god-awful disco music. My god commander could you have not brought something from this century. No I won't "turn the beat around, I refuse to!" and he switches it off.

Then there is the moment where Watney looks around at the potato crops he has managed to successfully grow inside the base and he records another video message to camera.  And in the message he says to the camera "I don't want to come off as arrogant here, but I'm the greatest botanist on this planet!".

The next scene worth mentioning is when Watney has heard from NASA that in order for him to successfully escape Mars orbit in the ascent vehicle, he will need to remove the top of it.  So, Watney in another video message says "And by the way, physicists, when describing things like acceleration do not use the word "fast". So they're only doing that in the hopes that I won't raise any objections to this lunacy, because I like the way "fastest man in the history of space travel" sounds. I do like the way it sounds... I mean, I like it a lot" and he pauses and says "I'm not gonna tell THEM that!".

And lastly there is the scene where Watney (SPOILER!!) having made it into orbit using his ascent vehicle is about to be rescued by Commander Lewis, who has gone out of the Aries ship in her astronaut suit to catch him.  However, the rope of the harness that holds her won't stretch far enough for Lewis to catch Watney.  So, Watney suggests "Well, if I can find something sharp in here...and poke a hole in the glove of my EVA suit...I could use the escaping air as a thruster...and fly towards you".  However, Lewis is less than enthused and tells him "I can't see you having any control if you did that. You'd be eyeballing the intercept using a thrust vector you can barely control".  And Watney tells her "Yes, those are all very good points. But consider this. I'd get to fly around like Iron Man. Commander...let's go Iron Man!".

As for the other performances Chiwetel Ejiofor does very well as the NASA scientist, Vincent Kapoor, who plays his part in helping to try and bring Watney back home.

And Ejiofor has some good moments of his own such as the scene where Kapoor tells Watney via their keyboard VDU messages that the Aries crew aren't aware that he is still alive, so Watney is naturally pretty annoyed and starts typing a sweary response.  Kapoor however is alarmed and types back saying " Mark, please watch your language. Everything you type is being broadcast live all over the world!".  And Mark looks annoyed at Kapoor's message and starts typing more expletives much to the amusement of the NASA staff leaving Kapoor embarrassed "Oh, my God!".

Then there is the scene where one the director of jet propulsion laboratory (JPL for short) Bruce Ng gives his assessment on how to make the Mars ascent vehicle light enough to get into orbit, which basically means removing the roof of the vehicle itself.  So, Kapoor becomes very anxious as he hears the assessment but one of Ng's associates says "He hasn't even got to the bad parts yet" and Kapoor says "Well, let's get to the bad parts".  So, Ng tells Kapoor "We need to remove the nose LR, the windows, and the whole of panel 19".  And Kapoor, bemused says "You want to take the front of the ship off?!" and Ng says "Sure. The nose alone is 400 kilograms" and Kapoor "You want to send a man into space without the front of ship??".  And Ng says "Well, no. We are going to have him cover it with HAB canvas. The hull is mostly there to keep air in. Mars' atmosphere is so thin, you do not need a lot of streamlining".  And Kapoor becoming angry asks "You want to send him into space under a tarp???" and Ng says "Yes. Can I go on?" and Kapoor shouts "NO!!".

And lastly there is the scene where Kapoor relays Ng's bad news to Watney via keyboard message and Watney replies "Are you f***ing kidding me???".  So, Kapoor asks Mindy, one of the NASA satelitte planners "You think he means it like...  (uses a surprised tone) "Are you kidding me?" You know? Or like, (an angry tone) "Are you kidding me?".  And Mindy suggests "I think it could be the second one" but Kapoor begs to differ and says "It COULD be the first way" and Mindy, not convinced but plays along and says "Yeah, it could be the first way".
  
Jeff Daniels is also excellent as the somewhat pompous NASA director Teddy Sanders, who intends to play things as safe as he can in order to maintain NASA's public image especially after they incorrectly announce that Watney died.

Daniels good scenes include the one where one of the JPL team, Rich Purnell (Donald Glover) forms a plan to save Watney and he pitches it to Teddy and Kapoor.  And as Purnell does he asks Teddy "What's your name again?" and Teddy rather bemused says "My name is Teddy....the DIRECTOR of NASA!" and Purnell simply says "Cool!".  And after his pitch is over, Teddy says to Purnell "Rich..." and Purnell says "Yes, sir" and Teddy bluntly tells him "Get out!".

And lastly there is the scene where Teddy meets with Mitch Henderson (Sean Bean) the NASA director of the Aries III mission and Teddy confronts Mitch on his decision to go over his head and send a private message to the Aries crew about Purnell's rescue plan.  So, Teddy tells Mitch "Annie will go before the media this morning...and inform them of NASA's decision to reroute the Hermes to Mars".  And Mitch says "Sounds like a good plan" but Teddy warns him "You may have killed them, Mitch. We're fighting the same war. Every time something goes wrong, the world forgets why we fly. I'm trying to keep us airborne. It's bigger than one person" but Mitch disagrees "No, its not".  And Teddy gives Mitch an ultimatum "When this is over.  I'll expect your resignation" and Mitch nods and quietly says "I understand" and Teddy says "Bring our astronauts home".

Jessica Chastain also is very good as Commander Lewis who makes the difficult decision to leave Watney behind and even worse she loves disco music!  

And Jessica has some good scenes but for the sake of time I will only mention two, the first being where Lewis has a meeting with her crew over whether they should go ahead and rescue Watney or not, as doing so would mean disobeying direct orders from NASA. 

So, Lewis tells the crew "This is something NASA expressly rejected. We're talking about mutiny here, which is not a word that I take lightly. So we do this together or not at all. And before you answer, consider the consequences. If we mess up the supply rendezvous, we die. If we mess up the Earth gravity assist, we die. If we do everything perfectly... we add 533 days to our mission. 533 more days before we see our families again. 533 days of unplanned space travel...where anything could go wrong. If it's mission critical, we die".  And Lewis then tells them "Well, it has to be unanimous. If we do this, it'll be over 900 days of space. That's more than enough space for one life...".  So after the crew all agree to do the rescue, Lewis says "Well, let's go get him!".

Then there is the scene where during a comedic montage, Lewis chats with her husband over a video call and he says to her "Hey, baby.  I've got something for you".  And he pulls out an original ABBA album "Found it in the flea market. Original pressing!" and Lewis reacts in delight and surprise and she grins saying "I love it!". 

Sean Bean does pretty well in his role as Mitch Henderson, the director of the Aries III NASA mission that saw Watney abandoned on Mars. 

And Bean has some good scenes that include the one where Mitch tells Teddy its time for them to tell the Aries crew about Watney being still alive.  And Mitch says "The truth is that Mark's right. The longer we wait the worse it's going to get. We need to tell the crew".  However, Teddy is reluctant to go ahead with this and says "You're saying this now while Vincent is in Pasadena so he can't argue the other side".  However, Mitch insists "I shouldn't have to answer to Vincent or anyone else. It's time Teddy". 

Then there is the scene where Mitch contacts the Aries team and tells them about Watney being alive "Hi, hello. It's Mitch. Mitch Henderson. I have some news. There's no subtle way to put this. Mark Watney is still alive" and they all react in surprise.  And Mitch continues "I know that's a surprise and I know you will have a lot of questions. But here are the basics. He's alive and he's healthy. We found out two months ago and decided not to tell you".  Mitch then tells them "I was strongly against that decision. We're telling you now because... we finally have communication with him... and a viable rescue plan. But it's not your fault. Mark stresses that every time it comes up".



And lastly there is the scene where Mitch confronts Teddy over his decision to go with their plan of providing enough food supplies for Watney rather than let the Hermes crew (the crew that were on the Aries but are on a new mission at this point) go and save Watney. 




So, in the scene, Bruce Ng asks " So what, we either have a high chance of killing one person, or a low chance of killing six people. How do we make that decision?" and Kapoor says "We don't" and he points to Teddy and says "He does".  However, Mitch says "That's bullshit. It should be commander Lewis's call" and Teddy says "We still have a chance to bring five astronauts home safe and sound. I'm not risking their lives". Mitch then insists "Let THEM make that decision!" but Teddy refuses "Mitch, we're going with option one" and this leaves, Mitch disgusted at Teddy and he says "You goddamn coward!" and storms out.  

Next is Michael Pena, who is always reliable in anything he does and he's really good here once again as Rick Martinez, one of the Aries crew.

And Pena's best scene comes when the Aries crew have been informed that Watney is still alive and they are granted permission to chat to him via keyboard messages.  So in this scene, Martinez types out a message to Watney and he reads it as he does ""Dear Mark... "Apparently NASA's letting us talk to you now. "And I drew the short straw. "Sorry we left you behind on Mars. "But we just don't like you! "Also, it's a lot roomier on the Hermes without you. "We have to take turns doing your tasks. "But, I mean, it's only botany. "It's not real science!".  And at the end of their conversation, Watney says to Martinez "Tell the others I said hi" and Martinez smiles and types saying "Will do, buddy". 

Kate Mara is also pretty good (and pretty!) as Beth Johanssen, one of the Aries crew and she ends up having romantic feelings for one of the crew, Chris Beck (Sebastian Stan). 

And Kate's most notable scene comes when Beth helps Beck, who is in his space suit as he prepares to go outside.  And Beth tells Beck "Make sure you're not in here when this thing goes off. Hey. Be careful out there. In space" and she kisses his surface of his space helmet and she then says "Don't tell anyone I did that!".  

As for the last few roles, MacKenzie Davis also fairs well in her role as Mindy Park, one of NASA's ground staff at mission control although to save on time I won't mention any of her dialogue (sorry!). 

Donald Glover is not too bad as Rich Purnell, the NASA astrodynamicist, who susses out a plan to bring Watney home.  And Glover's best moment comes of course when he tells Teddy and Kapoor his plan to bring Watney home.  So, Purnell gives his pitch as to how to do it and he get's Teddy to stand at the far left of the room and director of media relations at NASA to stand at the right side of the room.  However when he doesn't realise who Teddy is and asks "Okay, let's pretend that this stapler is the Hermes... and you are...I'm sorry, what's your name again?" and Teddy tells him "My name is Teddy, the DIRECTOR of NASA!" and Rich simply says "Cool!".  And after he finishes his pitch he tells them "I've done the math.  It checks out" and Teddy tells Rich "Rich...get out!" and Rich having taken Teddy's pen, puts it back in his jacket pocket. 



And last of all is Benedic Wong, who is pretty good as Bruce Ng, the director of the JPL team, who is given the mission to build the probe to launch supplies for Watney.  So prior to Wong's scene, Teddy tells Mitch "We need 13 days to mount the boosters, perform inspections... which gives Bruce and his team... 47 days to make this probe. I'll let you call Bruce, give him the news".  And we cut to the scene where Bruce has just gotten the call and he tells his team "OK. Well, I'm gonna need a change of clothes....". 


DIRECTOR AND MUSIC

As for the film's director, Ridley Scott does an excellent job here and keeps the film's pacing fairly taut even though the film does feel a little overlong he does more than enough to keep an audience interested in Watney's situation.  Scott's incredible visual sense also is at the foreground here once again and the film looks spectacular (also thanks to the film's cinemaphotographer Dariusz Wolski) especially during its Mars sequences which were shot on location in Wadi Rum, a valley located in Jordan and it was also filmed at Korda studios in Budapest and about 20 sets were constructed for the film.

Music wise the film also features a pretty good score by Harry Gregson-Williams which is quite atmospheric and well suited for the film (which at times seems to echo the score for The Social Network by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross).  This score also marked the third score that Gregson-William had done in collaboration with Ridley Scott (although Ridley didn't the write the music of course!).  The film also uses some disco music tracks as well such as "Hot Stuff" by Donna Summer, "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor and also of course David Bowie's "Starman" (well I guess they had to work that one in somehow!).

FLAWS (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!)

As for The Martian's flaws.... well yeah OK there are one two things that come to mind for starters you have to question whether or not if Watney could realistically have survived on Mars for as long as he did.  And the first thing that comes to mind that raises this doubt is that spacesuit is punctured early on in the film and if that was the case that surely he would be dead pretty much straight away! 

Its also funny how Watney doesn't start to lose weight alot sooner than he does as he lives off a diet of potatos and bread and that's it then surely that wouldn't be enough to maintain his weight and its only later in after a few years we finally see that Watney has lost quite a bit of weight due to his need to ration his food.  In fact, the weight loss we see is in fact just CGI as Ridley Scott refused to let Matt Damon physically lose weight as he didn't want to endanger his health.  However this in itself introduces a flaw of its own because even though in those later scenes we see Matt's physical form look skinnier in the scenes where he comes out of the shower when he wears his spacesuit, he looks more muscular again.  So it has to be said the whole visual weight loss thing doesn't add up well and is never that consistent.  

Another scene that doesn't make sense somehow is when Watney access's one of the crew's laptop's (which he takes from a storage crate) which must have been surely days after he had been left stranded yet the laptop somehow manages to boot up with no problem.  But surely if the laptop had been left uncharged it would have no charge left in it!  So the film in these instances makes some assumptions which they are guessing an audience wouldn't really notice.

Another issue I would have to say is that the inclusion of the disco music is a bit annoying and in the end it is used more as a bit of comic relief more than anything else.  And it was revealed that Ridley himself is a bit of an ABBA fan so perhaps that is why they decided to work its use into the film!  But as the film goes on it starts to grate a little bit in its use although perhaps that's the film's way of getting you a bit inside Watney's predicament as he forces himself to listen to it as a distraction to keep himself going.

Then there is the whole infuriating use of having large crowds of people gathering round some of the most notable cities in the world outside watching live TV coverage of Watney's rescue attempt on big screens.  I mean its such a cliche in these sorts of films and I would dare even say that this is something that must have been foisted upon Scott for the film probably by some Hollywood execs.  However I just find this to be an overused cliche in these sorts of films and its pretty cringeworthy and the film really could have done without it!

And last of all is the whole thing about Watney's ascent vehicle being stripped down, so it can successfully make its way into orbit in order for Watney to be rescued by the Hermes crew and they decide the roof of the vehicle should be removed also to make it light enough and instead put a canvas over it to give it a "roof".  Now, surely to God if they did this in reality, the pressure of the flight would be enough to crush Watney and there is no way in hell a stupid piece of canvas is going to be effective enough to cover him and prevent anything from happening!  And this easily remains one of the most ridiculous moments in the film, which lacks any real sense of logic or common sense. 

Anyway that's the flaws looked at.

SUM UP

So, to sum up on rewatching the Martain, I think it is still a very entertaining and gripping sci-fil film which I have to say its well worth checking out as it has some excellent performances, amazing visuals and a pretty decent score also.  The film is maybe just a tad too overlong though but given its length of 2 hours and 21 minutes it doesn't lag that much and yes it does still have some plot flaws and niggles here and there.  However that all aside, its still a film that's well worth watching and it also marked something of a return to form for Ridley Scott after a string of disappointing films.

Right, so that's it for now and I will be back soon with another post soon.

Till then its bye for the now.  

Crash Bandicoot (the 1st one!) review

Right, well I have not quite completed this game yet and at first I wasn't going to bother reviewing or playing it but I have since changed my mind, so this review will be on the cursed, infuriating and deeply frustrating original Crash Bandicoot game.

Yep, I have finally decided to go ahead and give this game a review after having completed nearly all of it as I have been playing it as part of the PS4 N-Sane trilogy that was released just last month.

Anyway so, get ready to tear your hair out and give this one a look....

STORY 

Right, I will say just a bit about the story so no spoiler warning this time round.  So, the game begins with the villainous Dr Neo Cortex (voiced by Clancy Brown) along with his assistant, Dr Nitrus Brio, who have created a device known as the Evolvo ray, which they will use to mutate animals and turn them into creatures with superhuman strength.  Together they both experiment on a bandicoot, Crash, who they intend to use as the leader of the animal soldiers.  Cortex then subjects Crash to the Cortex vortex in an attempt to control him, however it rejects Crash, who then escapes.


After this, Crash then decides to try and rescue another bandicoot, Tawna, a female, who Crash had grown fond of during their together in captivity.  So, from the beaches of N.Sanity island, Crash sets on his path to try and rescue Tawna and find a way to defeat Cortex but before he does, he must overcome a series of dangerous obstacles and enemies......

THOUGHTS

Well, the original Crash Bandicoot it has to be said remains the weakest of the three games in the N-Sane trilogy and not only the weakest it is also the HARDEST of the three games as well and as it goes it soon becomes a very frustrating experience.  Yet despite that however, the original Crash is still quite enjoyable and there is still some fun to be had here as you play as Crash and navigate through the dangers and a fair amount of the levels are quite manageable.  However the game's difficulty as it progresses soon becomes more and more unforgiving, which is where you will find yourself soon throwing the controller at the wall! 

GAMEPLAY

As for the gameplay, well its pretty similar to the other games as it would given that it was the game that started it all off.  So here, Crash will progress through a series of levels and he will have to run and jump over a series of obstacles that lie in his path whether they be enemies in human or animal form (or indeed something else!).  Crash has two available attacks to him, his first one is a spin attack that he can use to spin enemies off the screen and he can also jump on them from above.

Crash starts the game with five lives but he can gain more as he progresses either by breaking special boxes that contain an extra life (with Crash's face on them) or by breaking enough boxes containing wumpa fruit to gain 100 fruits, which will give an extra life.  Crash can also break other boxes with the good witch doctor, Aku Aku's spirit within them, which will provide Crash with temporary protection against enemies and if he breaks open three boxes then he will become invincible for a short period of time.  The Aku Aku mask and spirit will not prevent Crash however from dying in all circumstances as there are times where Crash will fall to his death or drown in water, which the good witch doctor cannot help with!   

Crash can also access secret areas of the game at times where he can find more boxes to break and once he finds them all he will collect a crystal for that level.  Further to this, Crash can also access other areas by collecting three icon tokens of Tawna, Cortex or Brio, which will take him to a bonus area where he has to break more boxes.  Other boxes can include checkpoints, Nitro and TNT explosive boxes as well as metallic boxes with an "!" symbol, which will materialise previously intangible boxes into being solid, which Crash can then break.

And lastly regarding the enemies, Crash will face a number of bosses throughout the game that will vary in difficulty level and will require certain tactics in order to defeat them.  Some of the bosses can be fairly tricky whereas as others can be dispatched pretty easily although it has to be said defeating the bosses can be a fair bit easier than the levels themselves!

GRAPHICS AND MUSIC

As for the graphics, well looking at them from the PS4 N-Sane trilogy perspective, the look great and the visuals here have been given a terrific overhaul as the game has been brought firmly into the 21st century.  The game was already pretty varied in its environments from the outdoor jungle to the tribal fortresses to inner areas of Cortex's labs but here they look even better with their graphic upgrade.  Crash and the other character models have also been very nicely updated and look better than ever, so overall this is a great visual overhaul to the original.

As for the music, well again it is scored by Josh Mancell and the score has been updated by the Vicarious visions team (the video game developer team behind the trilogy's release) and it sounds great and overall its a very good score.  And Mancell here has put together an excellent mix of jungle music for the outdoors levels aswell as some more foreboding sounding tracks for the indoor levels such as in Cortex's labs.  And the VV team certainly deserve much credit for updating Mancell's original score here and it stands out as one of the game's strongest aspects.

FLAWS (Warning: this section may refer to the odd spoiler in terms of the action of certain levels!)

As for flaws....yep, Crash Bandicoot has its share.

And to start off I think one of things that makes the game frustrating is its mixed level of difficulty as some levels are quite straight forward whereas others are insanely difficult and will leave you tearing your hair out!

And its funny how the game takes a sudden sharp jump up in difficulty from saying the earlier levels to the first really tough level "Native Fortress" where Crash needs to progress through a series of tough obstacles including moving platforms, bats, hostile natives, dangerous plants and lizards.  And by the time we get to the game's toughest level by far "The High Road" where Crash has to navigate a very dicey bridge with hardly any wooden boards and use a series of tortoises to bounce on to jump over the bridge gaps, its time to smash the controller and go spare!

Also after that there is the 2nd toughest level "Slippery climb" which is a nightmare that involves Crash having to make a treacherous climb leading him on his path toward his eventual showdown with Cortex .  This level sees Crash having to time his jumps carefully as he has to navigate a series of revolving platforms aswell as use large birds to jump over gaps, not to mention watch his footing on retractable staircases.  Yep, its a real bugger of a level that shows once again that this game is pretty unforgiving.   

Another issue is to do with the actual age of the game as its gameplay does feel pretty dated it has to be said with Crash's simplified running, jumping and simple attacks, it is pretty limited in what gameplay aspects its offers.  And this is something of a letdown in itself, especially as in the other two games you get a chance to pull off other moves such as the sliding attacks, body slam and you can even sprint.  So, in this respect you feel very limited as to what you can do, and when you want to pull off a slide attack or do a body slam, its annoying that you can't do it and this makes the gameplay pretty disappointing.

Then there is the issue with obtaining the coloured gems in the game as you have to go through six separate levels without dying once to just obtain all of them, which is pretty unfair given how bloody hard these levels are!  And so far, I've only managed to collect two of them as the other levels are a nightmare to get through without dying!

So, personally for me I think completing this game 100% would be nearly impossible given that you would not only need to finish all the levels but also gain access to all the secret areas, complete all the bonus rounds in order to obtain all the crystals and completing the time trials (where you are awarded relics) not to mention try NOT dying when collecting the coloured gems!  I mean have these developers actually played the game???  Personally whoever made this game was a grade A sadist and I'm sure there would be a long line of people that would personally love to give him a real kicking!

Another problem arises from the fact that most of the game bosses are pretty easy yet the actual game levels remain far tougher to get by, which in itself makes the gameplay feel a bit unbalanced and again it goes back to the game's mixed difficulty levels.  However some of the latter boses still provide a tough test especially Nitrus Brio, Cortex's villainous assistant, who repeatedly throws a mix of potions at Crash that either explode on impact or produce green blobby monsters, which Crash has to avoid.  And this is all before Brio then drinks a concoction of his own potions that mutates him into a giant muscly green version of himself, which Crash must try and avoid his powerful attacks and use a well timed jump attack to defeat him. 

And don't get me started on the final boss of the game, Dr Cortex himself!  This guy is a mssive pain in the ass and you need to try and dodge the the laser bolts he fires at you from his gun, which float around the screen at stages and if Crash contacts with them...well its curtains.  This must have taken me at least 100 goes or more and it remains one of the most infuriating parts of the game, still at least they were saving the toughest boss for last I guess.

And another problem I have with the game and indeed the N-Sane trilogy in general is the long loading times between levels as it takes a bit too long for my liking.  This is further compounded with the lack of a restart option within the level itself (unless you are doing a time trial then you can) especially if you are trying to collect one of the coloured gems as you need to do this without dying. So, in this case, if you die then you need to quit the level and go through the loading screen and then go back into the level and then wait for ANOTHER loading screen before you can start again!  So, basically the whole game can be very time consuming when it comes to loading screens.  

And last of all is this question....why the hell didn't Crash learn to swim???!!  I mean the guy (or bandicoot) could easily probably learn to and even at the start of the game we see him washed up on the shores of N.Sanity island (which suggests to me he probably could swim).  However for the sake of an extra obstacle, Crash whenever he hits water, simply drowns and that's it!  And its not until the 3rd game (Warped) that Crash dawns scuba diving gear and get's some underwater levels to do but prior to this its just daft to have him simply drown.

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So to sum up, the original Crash Bandicoot is an entertaining game that is packed with plenty of platform action and if you like a stern challenge then this game is definitely for you.  However, its dated gameplay and frustrating difficulty level are what hold it back from being great and in that respect it lags behind the better sequels.  However it also has to be said the game still deserves its credit and without it we wouldn't have had the sequels in the first place, so its still worth playing but just be prepared to hurl the controller around the room if you do!
 

OK, so that's it for now and I'll be back again soon maybe before the end of the month with another post.

Till then bye for now!

Road House (revisited) "I thought you'd be bigger!"

Right its time for a bit of post revisitation as I have been roaming through the archives of my blog for one to do redo and I figured I would give my original post on the action film, Roadhouse, another lick of writing paint (so to speak!).

So, let's take another look at this cheesy action flick and see how it fairs nearly 30 years on....

And the usual warning is coming up...

PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!

STORY 

So, the film starts with well known professional bouncer or "cooler" Dalton (Patrick Swayze) being recruited by businessman Frank Tighlman (Kevin Tighe) who owns a bar/club called the Double Deuce in Jasper Missouri.  Frank is having problems in cleaning out the unwanted elements in the bar as fights break out every night and he intends to invest money in the place to renovate it, so he needs Dalton's help keep the place running trouble free.

When Dalton arrives in town, he takes a lodging at a local farm and he soon finds out the town is under control of the corrupt local business magnate, Brad Wesley (Ben Gazzara).  As Dalton starts work in the Double Deuce he dismisses some of the corrupt employees, which soon causes unrest with Wesley as several of them were connected through him, one in particular being his cousin, Pat (John Doe) who was the bartender.  Wesley then sends some of his henchman to intimidate Dalton into giving Pat his job back, but Dalton fights them off and sustains a knife wound.  Later Dalton goes to the hospital where he meets a doctor, Elizabeth "Doc" Clay (Kelly Lynch) who gives him stitches and after they talk they develop a friendship and soon become romantically involved.

Wesley later invites Dalton to his mansion where he offers him to work for him but Dalton refuses, after this Wesley then punishes the club's business by preventing the liquor from being delivered as he sends his thugs, whom Dalton manages to fight off with help from his friend and mentor, the aging cooler, Wade Garrett (Sam Elliott) who arrives on the scene.

Meanwhile Wesley also as part of his intimidation tactics decides to punish the local businessmen in town, who all owe money to Wesley as part of his extortion rackets, and he does this in an effort to try and sicken Dalton into leaving town.  Wesley one evening shows up at the double deuce with his men, including his main henchman, Jimmy (Marshall Teague) and he has them fight Dalton and his bouncer staff along with Wade for his own amusement, but then he calls it off after a while and he warns Dalton things aren't working out.

The following night, Dalton who is now enraged by Wesley's muscling tactics to get him to leave town, argues with Elizabeth who shows up at his place at the farm and during their row there is a loud explosion as the farm house is destroyed, but Dalton manages to rescue the owner, Emmett (Sunshine Parker) just in time.  Dalton then spots Jimmy fleeing the scene on a motorcycle and he jumps him and they engage in an intense fist fight, which ends with Dalton killing Jimmy by ripping his throat out with his bare hand.

The following day Dalton while at the bar receives a call from Wesley, who gives him an ultimatum that either Wade or Elizabeth will die and he must choose who and he hangs up on him.  At this point Wade stumbles into the bar who has been badly beat up by Wesley's men, at this point Dalton decides to give in and leave town with Wade and take Elizabeth with him.  As Dalton goes to the hospital to convince Elizabeth to leave she refuses as she is sickened by Dalton's own violent behaviour and that he is no better than Wesley.  Dalton then goes back to the bar to find Wade has been murdered as he has been stabbed with a knife in his chest, which Dalton tearfully removes and he sets off in a vengeful rage to confront Wesley for the last time.....

THOUGHTS 

There is little doubt that while Roadhouse is incredibly cheesy, it is also a very entertaining film as well and its perhaps because it dares to be so cheesy that it actually works really well.  The story is of course nothing original, as its basically like a good old fashioned western (sorry that should be modern!) with the new cowboy (i.e. Dalton) coming to town to sort out the bad sherriff (i.e. Wesley) with his girl, Elizbaeth at his side.

Dalton of course is a far more intellectual and sophisticated cowboy so to speak in that he is also a philosophy graduate and he uses his brains as well as his brawn to resolve situations.  Wesley on the other hand is more like a childish bully who insists on having everything his own way and he takes great sadistic pleasure in toying with townsfolk and the local businessmen as well.  And Wade Garrett is the good old fashioned, charming and genial cooler, who is old but still has a few teeth left and knows how to fight.

And while the film wasn't a big success on its release and it wasn't criticallty well received it has over time become more popular and has gained a cult following since.  And to this day Road House even pops up as references in popular culture and in television shows such as in Family Guy, as the main character Peter Griffin is often shown in some scenes where he will kick someone and say "Road House!".    

PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section may contain spoilers and strong language!) 

Performance wise Roadhouse isn't too bad overall as the cast all put in fairly solid performances for an action flick.

Starting with Patrick Swayze who gives a likeable performance as the cool headed tough guy, Dalton who goes to town to clean things up.  Swayze has several highlights in the film and he does really well in the film's fight scenes, especially the fight scenes in the bar and the main fight he has with Wesley henchman, Jimmy.

Swayze also get's some good lines as well such as the scene where he first briefs the bar staff on how he will run things and he says to them "If someone get's in your face and calls you a cocksucker I want you to be nice" and one of the staff asks "Isn't being called a cocksucker personal?" and Dalton says "No its two nouns combined to illicit a prescribed response!".  And one of the other bouncers ask "What if someone calls my mother a whore?" and Dalton says sardonically "Is she?!".  Dalton then continues and tells the staff "I want you to be nice until its time NOT to be nice" and one of the bouncers asks "How will we know when that is?" and Dalton says "You won't, I'll let you know.  You are the bouncers and I am the cooler.  You just watch my back and each others and take out the trash".
 
Swayze also nicely deals with Dalton's weary but good humoured attempts at hearing the same thing being said about him that for the line of work he is in that "I thought you would be bigger!".  And this is said to him by Frank and later by Elizabeth and in particular when she says it to him while she treats his wounds he just laughs and says "Gee, I've never heard that before!".   

Then there is the scene where Dalton confronts some of Wesley's thugs as they try to enter the bar and he says to them "Sorry we're closed" while a band plays in the background and the placed is filled up with people dancing.  So, the thug asks "Well, what are all these people doing here?" and Dalton replies "Drinking and having a good time" and the thug says "Well that's why we are here" and Dalton grabs his boot, which has a concealed knife and says "You're too stupid to have a good time!!".

Another good scene is when Dalton talks to Elizabeth in a heated exchange where Elizabeth warns Dalton that he shouldn't underestimate Wesley as he doesn't know him.  However, Dalton angrily says "Bullshit! I know exactIy who Brad WesIey is. I have seen his kind many times. He keeps taking and taking untiI somebody takes him. It's obvious nobody here can stand up to him!".  And Elizabeth asks him "But you can stop him??" and Dalton tells her "Brad Wesley picked me. And when he did he fucked up! I am onIy good at one thing, Doc. I never lose!".  

And this is followed by Dalton's fight with Jimmy, who taunts by saying "Prepare to die!" just as they are about to fight and Dalton angrily says "You are such an asshole!".  And after they fight and well...Dalton wins by ripping out Jimmy's throat, he drags Jimmy's body into the river and shouts out to Wesley, who looks out across the river and Dalton yells "WESLEY!! FUCK YOU!!!".   

Ben Gazarra is also really good in his role as Brad Wesley, the town's leader who controls all the business and he tries to intimidate Dalton into leaving.

Ben also has some good moments in the film, such as in the scene where Wesley invites Dalton around to his mansion and we hear some cheesy 80s music play in the background as his girlfriend does aerobics, and he yells "Will ya shut that shit of???!  I can't listen to that crap!  Its got no heart".  Wesley then starts to taunt Dalton by bringing up his troubled past involving a self defence killing and Wesley says "Dalton, I have a cousin in Memphis. Tells me you killed a man down there. Tells me you said it was self-defense at the trial. But you and I know that isn't so, don't we?".  And as Dalton starts to become visibly angry, Wesley says "Relax.  Relax. Tell me, if I owned a bar and I wanted to clean it up, how much would it take to get you to come work for me?".  Dalton then simply stands up and says to Wesley "There's no amount of money" and he walks out angrily.   

Another good scene is where his men, O'Connor come back having failed to intimidate and beat up on Dalton, and he punches one of them in the face and knocks him down "You know what I don't like about you? You're a bleeder!  You are a messy bleeder!  You have no endurance for pain!" and as he is helped back up he says "You know what you're gonna be fine and you know why?  Because I like you".  However then Wesley punches O'Connor in the face again, knocking him to the ground and he says "Get this piece of shit coward out of here!".

Then there is the scene where Wesley has his thugs demolish one of the town's businessman's car dealership business, and he says to Elizabeth "Well Elizabeth you better get Dalton out of here, because if you don't he's goin down, and I won't lose a second's sleep over it!".  Wesley then turns to the car dealership owner and he says to him "This is my town and don't you forget it!".

And lastly there is the scene where (SPOILER!!!!!) Dalton has his showdown with Wesley at his mansion and Wesley looks around for him in his trophy room and finds that Dalton has killed off most of his men.  And Wesley calls out to him "I see you found my trophy room, Dalton.  The only thing is missing from it is your ass!".  And as the two men fight each other, Wesley wearily tells Dalton "I thought it would be fun to fight you, Dalton.  I really did.  But right now I just don't have the time" and he takes out a gun but Dalton kicks it away and pins Wesley to the sofa he sits on and prepares to do his throat rip kill but ultimately he relents just before the local businessmen come in and finish the job.    

Sam Elliott is also really good in his role as Wade Garrett, the charming, aged cooler, who despite his age still can throw his fists.

Elliott has some good moments in the film, such as in the scene where he arrives at the double deuce to find Dalton being beat up by Wesley's men, and one of them says to Wade "You wanna fight dickless?!" and Wade says "Well I sure ain't gonna show my dick!" after which he hits the thug in the balls and says "I bet that hurts don't it?!".  And after Wade, Dalton and the other bouncers at the club fight off Wesley's men, the bar's resident band leader, Cody (Jeff Healey) introduces them to Wade Garret and one of the bouncers exclaims "Holy shit!" and Wade smiles and says "Exactly right!".   

Another funny line he has is when Wade dances with Elizabeth and after she leaves to go to the toilet, he watches her fine bottom wiggle as she goes and he says "That girl has entirely too many brains to have an ass like that!".  And in the same scene Elliott shares a good moment with Swayze when Wade confronts Dalton over the guilt he feels of his past when he had to kill someone in self defence.

So, Wade says to Dalton "I can't believe you're still draggin' that shit around with ya. It seems to me, you'd be a little more... philosophical about it. AND CUT IT THE FUCK LOOSE. You know, that fucking cu-... that girl never told you she was married. DID SHE? And when a man sticks a gun in yer face, you got two choices; you can die or you can KILL THE MOTHERFUCKER!". 

And lastly there is the scene where Wade tries to persuade an angry and frustrated Dalton to leave town after Wesley turns up the heat on him by enciting a fight in the Double Deuce and later trashing a local car dealer's business.  So in this scene, Dalton practices his punching against a wooden board in a barn and Wade comes in and says to him "Hey, mijo.  You're all fucked up aren't you?  Let's crank that thing up and head down the road. We can be gone by dawn, never see this place again".  However, Dalton refuses to and says "You can leave anytime you want to" and Wade sighs and says "Oh, shit, kid!" and Dalton then climbs up a rope to the top level of the barn and continues his practice hitting a punching bag.

So, Wade tries again and says "You don't need this" but Dalton while punching the bag, says "Don't tell me what I need!  If you want to go, then go, get the fuck out of here and leave me alone!".  And Wade says to Dalton "Yeah, you're right. I ought to stop telling you what to do. Maybe I ought to kick your ass!".  Then, Dalton suddenly spins round furiously and attempts to punch Wade, who firmly stops the punch with his hand.  And Wade says "No, we don't wanna do this. I wanna tell you something else. You taught me as much as I ever taught you. I Iove you, "mijo." I'll see you" and leaves. 

As for the other cast members, Kelly Lynch is not bad as Elizabeth, the doctor, who falls for Dalton and she was also a former lover of Wesley's.

Their first scene together is also quite a nice one when Elizabeth gives Dalton his stitches for his knife wound and she says as he leaves "You know for this line of work I thought you would be bigger!" and Dalton smiles and says "Gee! I never heard that before!". 

Kelly's best scene comes when Elizabeth argues with Dalton about staying in town and she says "But what are you gonna win? Who's this for anyway? Are you doing it for them? I don't think so. You think you're gonna save these peopIe from WesIey? Well, who's gonna save 'em from you?!".  And this is proceeded by a loud explosion as Dalton and Elizabeth run out to see the barn of Dalton's landlord has been blown up.

Kevin Tighe is also good in his role as the rather meek but ambitious businessman, Frank Tilghman who hires Dalton, and he get's a good line where he says to Dalton at the start of the film "I own a club called the Double Deuece.  It used to be a real sweet deal, but now its the sort of place where they sweep up the eyeballs at closing time!".

And later there is the scene where Frank along with the other local businessmen and Dalton talk over what they should do against Wesley after he gatecrashed the Double Duece the night before with his men.  And Frank says to Dalton "You scared him last night. Brad Wesley, he's not afraid of anything, right? Well, Iast night that son of a bitch was afraid!" but Dalton says "No, he wasn't". 

Red West as the character Red Webster also has some good witty moments in the film such as in the scene where after Red's auto parts business is raided by Wesley's men.  And in the scene Dalton asks how much Wesley takes and Red tells him "10% to start. Oh, it's aII IegaI Iike. He formed the Jasper Improvement Society. All the businesses in town belong to it".  So, Dalton asks Red "Does everybody pay?" and Red looks at Dalton as if he were stupid and says "Does a hobby horse have a wooden dick?!". 

Marshall Teague while he hardly gives the film's best performance as he essentially just plays the film's main henchman, Jimnmy, and as such just kicks ass and sets fire to things, he does provide some good moments as well.  And Teague's fight scene with Swayze in the Dalton vs Jimmy showdown remains one of the film's highlights, and Teague delivers the priceless line "Prepare to die!" followed by Dalton's reply "You are such an asshole!". 

And later during the fight Jimmy makes the hilarious confession that "I use to fuck guys like you in prison!" and later as he starts to kick Dalton's ass he says "Damn boy!  I thought you were good!" and Dalton says "Go fuck yourself!" and they fight on.  But as Dalton finally gains the upper hand in their fight, Jimmy then takes out his gun and says "I'm gonna kill you the old fashioned way!" but Dalton kicks the gun away and the "ends" Jimmy by ripping out his throat! 

Kathleen Wilhoite is not too bad in her role as the rather geeky bar maid, Carrie-Ann, who takes a bit of a shine to Dalton although of course nothing happens between and she later on reveals she has a pretty decent singing voice in the film.

Kathleen's best two scenes however are first up the one where Dalton first turns up at the Double Duece and surveys the chaos around him and he is nearly accosted by Morgan, who threatens Dalton and says "If you're not drinkin, then YOU'RE out!!".  And Dalton laughs it off and Carrie-Ann says to Dalton "Don't let him bother you.  Morgan was born an asshole and just grew bigger!".  So, Carrie-Ann asks Dalton "So, you got a name?" and Dalton says "Yeah" and Carrie-Ann impatiently asks "So, come on, what is it?!" and he says "Dalton" which prompts a big surprise from Carrie-Anne who excitedly gasps and says "Oh, my God!  Shit, I heard of you!".

And later there is the scene where Carrie-Ann visits Dalton the next morning at his place on the farm after his first day on the job as the DD cooler.  And Carrie-Ann giggles in the scene, prompting Dalton to wearily ask "What is the joke?" and Carrie-Anne says "Its no joke.  I just think I'm lookin at a dead man" and Dalton sighs and says "It seems everywhere I go, I hear that same joke!" and she tells him "Well, something tells me you bring it on yourself!".   

And lastly I will mention Jeff Healey, who provides a nice little performance as the blind guitarist Cody, who's band plays at the double deuce most nights.  Healey also get's some good lines in the film such as when Dalton first goes up to meet with Cody after their gig at the deuce and he quietly hands him a towel and says "You don't play too bad for a blind boy" and Cody quips back "Yeah and I thought you would be bigger!".

And also slightly later as one of the hotheaded bouncers, Morgan (played by Terry Funk) asks what the story with Dalton is.  So, Cody says "The story is, you fuck with him and he'll seal your fate!" only for Morgan to spit back "Oh yeah?  So far he hasn't shown me shit!".  Jeff Healey who had been blind for most of his life, sadly died years later from cancer in 2008.   

DIRECTOR AND MUSIC 

As for the director, Rowdy Herrington does a good job here in keeping the pace nice and tight and the action pretty thick and fast, and while its a no brainer of a film, he still knows how to keep the audience engaged in the action.  Herrington's directing career however didn't improve much after this as he went on to make poorly received films such as Gladiator (starring Cuba Gooding Jr) and Striking Distance (starring Bruce Willis) so you would have to say that Road House was the highlight of his career!   

And as for the music score, Michael Kamen provides the score and its a pretty good one it has to be said and it features his usual mix of orchestrations and electronic synthesziers along with electric guitar thrown in.  It actually still resembles the scores that he did for the Lethal Weapon series but its still a pretty good one given the cheesy standards set by the film.

Its also worth mentioning of course in regards to the other music in the film that Jeff Healey makes a solid contribution to the film's soundtrack also with his band (known as The Jeff Healey Band).  And Healey and his band play among other songs, two memorable cover numbers such as The Door's "Roadhouse blues" and also Willie Dixon's "I'm your Hoochie Coochie Man". 

FLAWS 

So, Road House, its a masterpiece without any flaws, right????  No, of course not, it has its share.  

And I would have to start off by simply saying that realistically the film is a load of utter tosh and is basically a lot of brainless fist fighting, which features some nice boobs in it as well and in both instances you would be absolutely right!  Road House is also hardly original or in any sense innovational, but then again in its defence, why would it be as it attains to be nothing more than an action movie. 

However the film's action also tends to highlight the lack of overall plot and there are also one or two cringeworthy moments in the film as well such as the scene where Denise, Wesley's girlfriend performs a corny strip tease in the double deuce.  This is often a scene I find quite cringeworthy to watch (even if the girl has a nice pair!).  Then there is the scene where Wesley has a loud house party where he invites girls back and some numpty who he loves because he dances like a complete dick (in fact the guy looks a little bit like a discount Nick Nolte!).  

And in terms of the story, one of the scenes I had a problem with is where Dalton's car is vandalised after his first night on the job as one of his windows has been smashed and a knife has been stabbed into one of his tyres, leaving Dalton to smile to himself.  Now, why in the hell did Dalton park his car out front of the bar???!!  Why didn't he just park it around the back of the bar and cover it up or something?!  Then it wouldn't be such an easy target for unruly customers to vandalise it!    

Another issue I had with the film was to do with Dalton's backstory regarding the self defence killing he was involved in back in Memphis, it is made reference to in the most superficial sense of the word and no more than that.  And what makes it that bit more vague is in the scene where Wade tries to convince Dalton to put it behind him or "cut it the fuck loose" as he nicely puts it and Wade mentions that "you know the girl never told you she was married!".  But, which girl is he referring to???  Its not Elizabeth surely as Wade had just met her, so it must be the girl Dalton was involved with around the time of the killing.  But again its just not that well explained.

In fact further to this point, it is suggested in the film that Elizabeth was in fact married to Wesley as she alluded this to Dalton but didn't mention, who she was married to simply that she "picked the wrong guy".  So, its kind of surprising that Wade would have known about this, or maybe it just comes down to the local gossip of the town and Wade had his ear to the ground already!  Either that or in Hollywood action films it is assumed everyone knows everyone elses business!   

I also thought the film's ending is pretty farcical and OTT (but again what do you expect I guess!) with (PLOT SPOILER) Dante ready to kill Wesley at his mansion but he let's him off the hook only to have the local businessman including Kevin and Red, shoot him dead, and they conveniently stash the shotguns away in time before the police arrive!  Not only that but the men all deny any knowlegde of anything that happened that would cause Brad Wesley to lie on the floor in a pool of his own blood, with mutliple shotgun wounds in his chest and we can imagine given that its a film the police will just sweep it all under the carpet and probably say "Aww forget it, he was an asshole anyway!".

So, again its the Hollywood machine producing another happy ending where logic, reason and all common sense go out the window and we are left with an ending that really insults an audience's intelligence, but hey it is only an action film after all!

Anyway, so that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, to sum up, Roadhouse is pretty much a mindless action movie, its loud, somewhat crass and full of broad humour not to mention some liberal doses of violent action and it also has its fair share of cheesy, cringeworthy moments.  However, despite all that its still a very enjoyable film and it has earned its cult status over the years and for me it remains one of those guilty pleasure films, which is worth revisiting every now and then, so for that alone its still worth checking out after 28 years and every time I see it, it never fails to bring a smile to my face.

Right, so that's it for now and I will return once again soon with some post or other of some kind, not sure yet of course but it won't be another revisitation.

So, until the next one, its bye for now! 

Doctor Who - The 13th Doctor

Right, OK just as a different post I figured I would post up my take on the casting of the 13th Doctor in the sci-fi show, Doctor Who as there has already been tremendous controversy over the new choice of the lead part and that is simply because the new Doctor is going to be a woman.  Yes, for the first time in the show's history the Doctor will regenerate into a woman and change genders to show that not only is the Doctor a near immortal being he's also a unisexal one, too.  And it was just yesterday that it was revealed that the actress, Jodie Whittaker will take up the role once the current Doctor, Peter Capaldi finally hands in his TARDIS key at the end of the year's Christmas special.

Now just before I carry on I would just like to say that what I state here ahead is simply my own opinion and you are all of course entitled to your own.

So here it goes....well.....to be honest.... I am OK with the choice of a woman being cast in the role.  Its something that has been pushed for hard over the years for a woman to be cast in the role and well now we've finally got one and I think its maybe something that will hopefully help shake up the format of the show to give it a different perspective.

Now, the trouble is of course that this decision has split the fans right down the middle as there are fans who are for the choice and those, who are firmly opposed to the choice of a woman being cast in the role.  So, from here the show has created its own new divide and it will see some of the die hard fans of the show no longer watch it, whereas of course those fans who are more open minded to the idea of a female doctor will embrace the change.

The casting was of course done at the hands of the show's new incoming executive producer, Chris Chibnall, who had already worked with Jodie Whittaker on his series, Broadchurch, which also stars another previous doctor, David Tenant, so perhaps that's one of the reasons he cast her in the role as she was a familiar actress.  However there was also some speculation of course that an actress was cast to play the part due to pressure from the feminist lobby in order to do so, although to be honest I don't know how much truth is in that one myself. 

So, is it such a bad thing though for the new Doctor to be a woman????  Well, as I said I'm OK with the idea even though of course the Doctor has always previously been a man, it does seem a peculiar that he would suddenly change sex in one of his regenerations.  However the Master has already been played by a woman with Michelle Gomez playing the part of Missy (aka the Master) in the last few series of the show, so why not have the Doctor be one aswell.

Now I know that there will be plenty of fans that see this choice as a real bastardisation of the concept of the character and I can see where they might be coming from with that.  However I think to be fair to the actress, Jodie Whittaker, I don't think we should really judge her until we see her in action in the role.  So, I personally would have to say I think we should give the actress the benefit of the doubt before we judge how good she will be in the role and take it from there.

In fact it has to be said that this choice to change the sex of the role is actually enough for me to re-engage my interest in watching the new series as I have to admit myself I had kind of stopped watching and lost interest in the new series lately.  I personally am more a fan of the original show itself as I always perferred the original companions and characters and I prefer the storylines and scripts of the classic show to the new one, although I have nothing against the new series and it does feature some great episodes and some great doctors and companions.

The only problems I see with the part being played by a woman is that it might mess up some of the running continuity of the show with for example, River Song, who knew the Doctor as a man and was even married to him.  So, with that in mind, did River Song know the Doctor when she was a woman???  Or did she know the Doctor prior to this???  This is because I think (and I could be wrong about this!) didn't River know the Doctor also towards the end of his life life-span???  If so, does this not suggest that she might have known the Doctor also as a woman????  And just how many regenerations of the Doctor will be women in the future???  Who knows???  What we do know is that it will be interesting to see how the producers will tackle those questions in the future (or the past!).

Anyway, so that's my thoughts on the choice of casting the Doctor as a woman, I'm not against the idea and hopefully its not one that will kill the show and will take it into a new and interesting direction.  What we do know is that it has really split the fans down the middle and we are definitely going to see a backlash of sorts arise from this.  But in the end if they can still capture the spirit of the show with a woman cast in the role instead then that's what matters and I say let's give Jodie a chance before we judge her.

Right, so that's it for now and I will return another post soon.

Till the next one its bye for now.