OK just for a change I thought I would do a post on a TV show (which I use to blog about) and this one is about The Apprentice as it reaches the penultimate episode, which is my favourite stage of the show, where the final five candidates are interviewed by four of Lord Sugar's toughest advisors.
As we may all know the format of the show has changed over the years as Lord Sugar is no longer offering a job, he is now offering to become a business partner with one of the lucky 16 candidates, but they must go through a rigorous 12 week process in order to do so. So as I said the candidates have been whittled down to five which leaves, three ladies, the feisty Luisa, the efficient and cool Leah, and the down to earth and likeable Francesca. Then the two guys, Neil Clough (or Cloughy as he was nicknamed!) who is serious and determined and Jordan (who to me is a cross between Leonard from The Big Bang Theory and a hobbitt, no offence Jordan!). And at this stage they had to hand over their business plans to be scrutinised by Lord Sugar's advisors as well themselves in some gruelling interviews. The advisors are the ruthless bulldog, Claude Littner, Lord Sugar's former associate, Margaret Mountford, and Mike Soutar and Claudine Collins.
In the interviews for starters, Luisa who has basically for the most of the show been a real pain in the arse, as she is quite confrontational and headstrong, did get some credit for her business plan, which was to create and promote a market for bakeries, but there were some concerns that she came over as being bit spoilt and opinionated and even if her CV she referred to previous boss "a total idiot" (yep that's not idiotic!). Leah's plan to put her profession as a maxiplast sugeron to use as a business raised some ethical concerns, that Leah might try to exploit people who are vunlernable and use her business to make a quick buck, which he denied she would do so as it was against her ethics as a surgeon. Francesca's business plan which was something to do with promoting different types of dancing/workout classes was seen as practical but she got into trouble from Claude for not knowing her figures.
As for the men well they didn't favour so well, starting with Neil, who's plan was to set up a real estate business website so that people could sell their own house, yet at the same time he also would invite real estate agents to do business on it as well. Neil's plan was criticised as being deeply flawed as clearly it would cause conflicting interests between the people selling their houses and the estates agents who are potentially losing business as a result of this. Jordan however did worst of all, as it was revealed his business plan, which was to create new ways of utilising immersive multimedia, was in fact not his business at all, as he didn't even have a share in it! Jordan was quickly shut down in his interview by Claude who point blank refused to carry out the interview as he called him a "parasite" since he had no stake in the proposed business, and he therefore asked Jordan to leave. Jordan also rather amusingly was asked by Mike Soutar to solve a Rubiks cube in three minutes, as it was a claim he made in his CV that he could complete one in that time, but Jordan in the end failed to do it!
In the boardroom after Lord Sugar spoke with the advisors, he straight away fired Jordan for his false claims of the business plan being his own, which was no doubt the right decision and once again it shows just how naive some of these candidates are, as Jordan is another classic example of a candidate on this show that didn't do his homework. And it was a shame in a way that Jordan didn't read the small print before he went on the show, as he could have saved himself alot of time, even though he was as strong candidate if he had been up for a job with Lord Sugar he would have had a chance, but as it is he had no hope unless he came up with a plan that actually was his. Neil was next up in the firing line as Lord Sugar, who had high hopes for him, was bitterly disappointed in his business plan, as he said trying to combine two different parties i.e. the member of the public selling their house and the real estate agent on his website just would not work. And in the end Neil dug his own grave as he was stubborn and inflexible on his plan, and he would not even accept an alternative, as Lord Sugar even suggested that he could have just ended it at the seller looking to sell their own home on the website, so Neil got the boot. Neil had a chance to actually save his business plan had he followed Lord Sugar's suggestion, but in the end Neil's own pride and stubborness cost him, which in a way was a shame as he was one of the strongest candidates.
Next up Lord Sugar had the tough decision to choose between the three remaining candidates, as he realised that Leah's surgery business was ethically questionable, but Leah remained adamant that she would turn people away and not compromise her ethics or just try make a fast buck out of anyone, but he also realised it was worth a risk, so he decided to let her stay in the final. And in the toss up between Luisa and Francesca, Lord Sugar opted to fire Francesca, as he felt her business plan lacked any edge and that she didn't quite have the entrepeneaurial flare he was looking for.
So this sees the two finalists: Luisa and Leah go head to head to win the right to be Lord Sugar's business partner. Personally out of the two them I would go with Leah, as she is more level headed and her business proposal is worth a risk and Lord Sugar stand to make more of a return out of her should it be a succeess, plus I think Luisa could be a real handful for him if they were to work together. However the final episode will see the two finalists launch their own businesses and come up with brands and campaigns, and from there Lord Sugar will finally decide who will be his business partner.
And that's it for now, and next week we will get the winner of the show and find out who will be Lord Sugar's business partner.
Bye for noowww.
Thursday, 11 July 2013
Thursday, 4 July 2013
100th Post!: Full metal jacket
Right well this is actually a rather special post as it is the 100th of this blog, so I thought I would mark it with another movie review so I've gone back to the 1980s and decided to review Stanley Kubrick's penultimate film, Full Metal Jacket, which is set around the events of the Vietnam war. And with that let's have a look at the flick......
The film is set in 1967 during the Vietnam war and it begins with a group new recruits who are sent to Parris Island where they are trained by the hard ass and foul mouthed senior drill instructor Sgt Hartman (Lee Ermey). Hartman uses tough tactics on the recruits, which include the cocky Private Joker (Matthew Modine), the inept and overweight Private Pyle (Vincent D'Onofrio) (these are nicknames given by Hartman). Pyle's bumbling and clumsy nature and frequently below par performance in his training gets him regularly into trouble with Hartman who pushes him hard. And after a while Hartman decides to have Pyle paired with Joker to help him improve in his training, which for a while improves. However Pyle is found out by Hartman to have stolen a jelly doughnut from the mess hall which he hid in his footlocker (which was found to be unlocked on inspection by Hartman). Hartman then decides as a result of Pyle's failure that every time he screws up, he will punish the rest of the recruits instead, and this indeed carries on as Pyle's continues to make mistakes. One night the rest of the recruits attack Pyle by pinning him down in his bed and hitting him with bars of soap. By now Pyle is left feeling totally isolated and alone and from here he starts to show signs of mental breakdown.
Pyle however on the plus side starts to finally impress Hartman with his rifleman skills and it is not long after this that Pyle disciplines himself into becoming a textbook marine, but at this time Pyle also starts to show signs of cracking up as he talks to his rifle. On completion of their training the marines are given their military occupational assignments, with Pyle and many of the other recruits being given infantry in the field, and Joker basic military journalism. On the final night on the island Joker on nightwatch finds Pyle in the toilets, holding his rifle, clearly now having suffered a mental breakdown, Pyle starts to quote the rifleman's creed, this noise of which awakens Hartman. Hartman storms into the latrine and demands that Pyle put down his weapon, but Pyle instead kills Hartman and then he turns the rifle on himself, leaving Joker stunned. After this the film jumps to the following year 1968 where Joker is now a journalist in the war for Stars and Stripes. And from here Joker is sent to Phu Bai where he soon meets up with one of his fellow recruits Prviate Cowboy (Arliss Howard) and his squad of men, which includes the cynical machine gunner, Animal Mother (Adam Baldwin). And from here things get tough as Joker becomes more involved in the war as a soldier where he has to fight like the others to survive in Vietnam....
Full metal jacket is no doubt one of the most memorable war films in recent years, and while you could argue that the main showpiece of the film is its first 45 minutes during the boot camp sequences, it still remains one of Stanley Kubrick's most powerful films. Kubrick's look at the war in a way is similar to Apocalypse now in that it isn't told in a strictly literal fashion as depicted in Oliver Stone's Platoon, where it get's down to the nitty gritty of the sights, sounds, noises, the dirt, the bugs and the blood, it is more about examining the attitudes of the war from the point of view from the soldiers in the field, rather than fighting to survive. Kubrick wanted to make a film about the Vietnam war for several years and it took some persuasion for him to work with his close friend Michael Herr, who was a former war correspondent, with whom he co-wrote the screenplay along with Gustav Hasford. Production wise of course with Kubrick's fear of flying the film once again was filmed entirely in England and at locations such as the Norfolk Broads, and a former RAF and British army based, Bassingbourn barracks, the Cliffe marshes (used for the open country scenes) as well as at disused gas works in London. And given that it was supposed to be set in Vietnam, Kubrick went as far as to even import palm trees from Spain! And its this attention to detail that actually makes you believe or at least accept that the film does look and is set in Vietnam.
Getting onto the performances they are pretty much top notch here, with Matthew Modine arguably giving one of his best performances as the cocky Private Joker, which Modine shows in a way as being about the only character in the film with a sense of humanity, as he is surrounded by marine killing machines. And in the Parris island scenes you see that he is the only one that shows any kind of empathy towards Private Pyle and his inability to perform well in his training as well as his dismay at Pyle's eventual breakdown. Modine does of course have plenty of good lines in the film, one of which is where he faces off against one of Vietnam soldiers, Animal mother (played by Adam Baldwin) who asks him what he does and Joker tells him he is a combat correspondent, and Animal mother sarcastically asks "have you ever seen any combat?" and Joker replies "well I've seen a little on TV!". Also when he is in a meeting with the Stars and Stripes jouranlist team, his boss tells them that the film actress Ann Margaret,was due to arrive the week before, but as Tet Offensive happens and vietcong overrun the area with suicide bombers, Joker quips "so does this mean that Ann Margaret is not coming????".
Vincent D'Onofrio is terrific in his tragic role as the hapless Private Pyle, an overweight recruit who is unable to do things right by himself until later on when he is pushed to breaking point by Hartman. D'Onofrio has several highlights in the film particularly the scene where he first speaks to Hartman and he tries not to laugh at Hartman's gruff yet amusingly profane manner. Also the scene where he messes up on a task during training and he is made to drop his trousers and stick his thumb in his mouth and march with his rifle. And there is his final scene in the latrine where he is confronted by Hartman while dementedly quoting the Rifleman's creed, and he has the look of Jack Nicholson in The Shining with that evil mad glint in his eyes. And in the end Pyle is really the only sympathetic character in the film as he is subjected Hartman ruthless training methods which causes him to ultimately snap.
Which brings me onto Lee Ermey as Sgt Hartman, who delivers the best performance in the film as the ruthless drill sergeant, and he plays Hartman straight down the line as a hard assed marine, who frequently spouts out profanity at his recruits in order to push them as far they can go. When Kubrick hired Ermey, who was a real life drill instructor in the US marine corps, he asked that he wanted it to be real, and Ermey said "Stanely, I wouldn't give it to you any other way." Ermey has so many priceless lines of dialogue that there are too many to mention all at once, but a few favourites that come to mind include when he first meets Pyle he asks him "Do your parents have any children that lived? I bet they regret that! You are so ugly you could be a modern art masterpiece!". Another one is when Pyle feebly tries to climb the training course obsctacle wall and he is feared to climb over it which disgusts Hartman who already has said "you climb obstacles like old people fuck, do you know that???!" and then he angrily says "Are you quitting on me???? Then QUIT you slimey walrus fuckin piece of shit! Get the fuck off my obstacle! Get the fuck down off my obstacle, now move it! I'm gonna rip your balls off so you cannot contaminate the rest of the world! I will motivate you private, even if it short dicks every cannibal on the congo!". Another favourite line is when he speaks to Private cowboy for the first time who tells him he's from Texas "holy dog shit, only steers and queers come from Teaxs, private cowboy, and you don't look much like a steer to me so that kind of narrows it down! Do you suck dicks? Are you a peter puffer?? I bet you would be the kind of goddam person that would fuck a person in the ass and not even give them the courtesy of a reach around! I'll be watching you!". Also the scene where Hartman has the recruits parade around their bunks holding their rifles and grabbing their crotches in turn singing "this is my rifle, this is my gun! This is for fighting, this is for fun!" is both funny and memorable. I also like the scenes where he runs with his recruits on the barrack grounds and they sign along with him such as lines as "I don't know what I've been told! Eskimo pussy is mighty cold! Ho Chi Mhin is a son of a bitch! Got the blue ball crabs and the seven year itch!".
As for the other performances in the film Arliss Howard is excellent as Private cowboy, who you don't actually engage much with until he appears later in the film in Vietnam, and he becomes a more humanised character as he leads a squad of men who come to respect him, before (PLOT SPOILER) he is soon killed by a sniper. And Howard's performance actually elicits some emotion from the audience especially as he can be identified as the everyman in the film (if you can forgive the cliche!) and the scene where he is killed is one of the film's more powerful moments where Joker cradles him in his arms as he dies. Howard has an amusing moment when he is filmed by a camera crew and he says "There is something wrong with this country, as I cannot find one goddamn horse in it!". Adam Baldwin is also really good as Animal mother, the no nonsense cynical soldier whom bears a grudge against Joker when he meets him and he says "you talk the talk, do you walk the walk?!" but later on when he sees his men get picked off by a sniper, he does what he can to keep his men safe by trying to locate and take out the sniper. Animal mother also amusingly points in his interview on camera to a film crew that he thinks "well if you ask me, I think we are shooting the wrong gooks!" as his perspective on the lack of appreciation from the Vietnamese people and their efforts to help them in the war.
Kubrick once again here makes a technically brilliant film and he uses his typical camera set ups of slow pans, and symmetrical patterned shots, and makes good use of slow mo in some of the film's later scenes, especially during the attack on Cowboy's squad by a VC sniper. And he makes great use of the film locations in England for the various scenes in the film, even if you can see during the Parris island scenes that there are English give way road signs! The soundtrack for the film is also excellent as it features some original atmospheric moody pieces by Abigail Mead. It also features some tracks of the period which are used really well such as Johnnie Wrigt's "Hello Vietnam" which is used right at the beginning where we see the recruits get their hair shaved off. Also Nancy Sinatra's "These boots are made for walkin" where we see the Vietnamese hooker tempt Joker and his journal photographer friend Rafterman with the famous line "me so horny, me so horny!". Then there is of course the catchy "Surfin bird" by The Trashman, which is just brilliant and was later again popularised by Family Guy, and finally The Rolling Stones "Paint it black" is aptly used at the end credits.
Getting onto the film's flaws well if you want to be critical then you could argue of course that the film takes a dip after the Parris Island sequence is over and Lee Ermey's killed off, and from then on it isn't quite the same, but really I think it has to be viewed as a film of two halves, and they are both good in different ways. But having said that there is no doubt that the film's Parris island sequences are the real highlights of the film and the rest of the film does struggle to live up to that.
Well that's it for my look at Full Metal Jacket, which is an excellent war film and if you haven't seen it yet, then give it a go.
And with that on my 100th post I shall leave you there, and say here's to the next 100. :-)
The film is set in 1967 during the Vietnam war and it begins with a group new recruits who are sent to Parris Island where they are trained by the hard ass and foul mouthed senior drill instructor Sgt Hartman (Lee Ermey). Hartman uses tough tactics on the recruits, which include the cocky Private Joker (Matthew Modine), the inept and overweight Private Pyle (Vincent D'Onofrio) (these are nicknames given by Hartman). Pyle's bumbling and clumsy nature and frequently below par performance in his training gets him regularly into trouble with Hartman who pushes him hard. And after a while Hartman decides to have Pyle paired with Joker to help him improve in his training, which for a while improves. However Pyle is found out by Hartman to have stolen a jelly doughnut from the mess hall which he hid in his footlocker (which was found to be unlocked on inspection by Hartman). Hartman then decides as a result of Pyle's failure that every time he screws up, he will punish the rest of the recruits instead, and this indeed carries on as Pyle's continues to make mistakes. One night the rest of the recruits attack Pyle by pinning him down in his bed and hitting him with bars of soap. By now Pyle is left feeling totally isolated and alone and from here he starts to show signs of mental breakdown.
Pyle however on the plus side starts to finally impress Hartman with his rifleman skills and it is not long after this that Pyle disciplines himself into becoming a textbook marine, but at this time Pyle also starts to show signs of cracking up as he talks to his rifle. On completion of their training the marines are given their military occupational assignments, with Pyle and many of the other recruits being given infantry in the field, and Joker basic military journalism. On the final night on the island Joker on nightwatch finds Pyle in the toilets, holding his rifle, clearly now having suffered a mental breakdown, Pyle starts to quote the rifleman's creed, this noise of which awakens Hartman. Hartman storms into the latrine and demands that Pyle put down his weapon, but Pyle instead kills Hartman and then he turns the rifle on himself, leaving Joker stunned. After this the film jumps to the following year 1968 where Joker is now a journalist in the war for Stars and Stripes. And from here Joker is sent to Phu Bai where he soon meets up with one of his fellow recruits Prviate Cowboy (Arliss Howard) and his squad of men, which includes the cynical machine gunner, Animal Mother (Adam Baldwin). And from here things get tough as Joker becomes more involved in the war as a soldier where he has to fight like the others to survive in Vietnam....
Full metal jacket is no doubt one of the most memorable war films in recent years, and while you could argue that the main showpiece of the film is its first 45 minutes during the boot camp sequences, it still remains one of Stanley Kubrick's most powerful films. Kubrick's look at the war in a way is similar to Apocalypse now in that it isn't told in a strictly literal fashion as depicted in Oliver Stone's Platoon, where it get's down to the nitty gritty of the sights, sounds, noises, the dirt, the bugs and the blood, it is more about examining the attitudes of the war from the point of view from the soldiers in the field, rather than fighting to survive. Kubrick wanted to make a film about the Vietnam war for several years and it took some persuasion for him to work with his close friend Michael Herr, who was a former war correspondent, with whom he co-wrote the screenplay along with Gustav Hasford. Production wise of course with Kubrick's fear of flying the film once again was filmed entirely in England and at locations such as the Norfolk Broads, and a former RAF and British army based, Bassingbourn barracks, the Cliffe marshes (used for the open country scenes) as well as at disused gas works in London. And given that it was supposed to be set in Vietnam, Kubrick went as far as to even import palm trees from Spain! And its this attention to detail that actually makes you believe or at least accept that the film does look and is set in Vietnam.
Getting onto the performances they are pretty much top notch here, with Matthew Modine arguably giving one of his best performances as the cocky Private Joker, which Modine shows in a way as being about the only character in the film with a sense of humanity, as he is surrounded by marine killing machines. And in the Parris island scenes you see that he is the only one that shows any kind of empathy towards Private Pyle and his inability to perform well in his training as well as his dismay at Pyle's eventual breakdown. Modine does of course have plenty of good lines in the film, one of which is where he faces off against one of Vietnam soldiers, Animal mother (played by Adam Baldwin) who asks him what he does and Joker tells him he is a combat correspondent, and Animal mother sarcastically asks "have you ever seen any combat?" and Joker replies "well I've seen a little on TV!". Also when he is in a meeting with the Stars and Stripes jouranlist team, his boss tells them that the film actress Ann Margaret,was due to arrive the week before, but as Tet Offensive happens and vietcong overrun the area with suicide bombers, Joker quips "so does this mean that Ann Margaret is not coming????".
Vincent D'Onofrio is terrific in his tragic role as the hapless Private Pyle, an overweight recruit who is unable to do things right by himself until later on when he is pushed to breaking point by Hartman. D'Onofrio has several highlights in the film particularly the scene where he first speaks to Hartman and he tries not to laugh at Hartman's gruff yet amusingly profane manner. Also the scene where he messes up on a task during training and he is made to drop his trousers and stick his thumb in his mouth and march with his rifle. And there is his final scene in the latrine where he is confronted by Hartman while dementedly quoting the Rifleman's creed, and he has the look of Jack Nicholson in The Shining with that evil mad glint in his eyes. And in the end Pyle is really the only sympathetic character in the film as he is subjected Hartman ruthless training methods which causes him to ultimately snap.
Which brings me onto Lee Ermey as Sgt Hartman, who delivers the best performance in the film as the ruthless drill sergeant, and he plays Hartman straight down the line as a hard assed marine, who frequently spouts out profanity at his recruits in order to push them as far they can go. When Kubrick hired Ermey, who was a real life drill instructor in the US marine corps, he asked that he wanted it to be real, and Ermey said "Stanely, I wouldn't give it to you any other way." Ermey has so many priceless lines of dialogue that there are too many to mention all at once, but a few favourites that come to mind include when he first meets Pyle he asks him "Do your parents have any children that lived? I bet they regret that! You are so ugly you could be a modern art masterpiece!". Another one is when Pyle feebly tries to climb the training course obsctacle wall and he is feared to climb over it which disgusts Hartman who already has said "you climb obstacles like old people fuck, do you know that???!" and then he angrily says "Are you quitting on me???? Then QUIT you slimey walrus fuckin piece of shit! Get the fuck off my obstacle! Get the fuck down off my obstacle, now move it! I'm gonna rip your balls off so you cannot contaminate the rest of the world! I will motivate you private, even if it short dicks every cannibal on the congo!". Another favourite line is when he speaks to Private cowboy for the first time who tells him he's from Texas "holy dog shit, only steers and queers come from Teaxs, private cowboy, and you don't look much like a steer to me so that kind of narrows it down! Do you suck dicks? Are you a peter puffer?? I bet you would be the kind of goddam person that would fuck a person in the ass and not even give them the courtesy of a reach around! I'll be watching you!". Also the scene where Hartman has the recruits parade around their bunks holding their rifles and grabbing their crotches in turn singing "this is my rifle, this is my gun! This is for fighting, this is for fun!" is both funny and memorable. I also like the scenes where he runs with his recruits on the barrack grounds and they sign along with him such as lines as "I don't know what I've been told! Eskimo pussy is mighty cold! Ho Chi Mhin is a son of a bitch! Got the blue ball crabs and the seven year itch!".
As for the other performances in the film Arliss Howard is excellent as Private cowboy, who you don't actually engage much with until he appears later in the film in Vietnam, and he becomes a more humanised character as he leads a squad of men who come to respect him, before (PLOT SPOILER) he is soon killed by a sniper. And Howard's performance actually elicits some emotion from the audience especially as he can be identified as the everyman in the film (if you can forgive the cliche!) and the scene where he is killed is one of the film's more powerful moments where Joker cradles him in his arms as he dies. Howard has an amusing moment when he is filmed by a camera crew and he says "There is something wrong with this country, as I cannot find one goddamn horse in it!". Adam Baldwin is also really good as Animal mother, the no nonsense cynical soldier whom bears a grudge against Joker when he meets him and he says "you talk the talk, do you walk the walk?!" but later on when he sees his men get picked off by a sniper, he does what he can to keep his men safe by trying to locate and take out the sniper. Animal mother also amusingly points in his interview on camera to a film crew that he thinks "well if you ask me, I think we are shooting the wrong gooks!" as his perspective on the lack of appreciation from the Vietnamese people and their efforts to help them in the war.
Kubrick once again here makes a technically brilliant film and he uses his typical camera set ups of slow pans, and symmetrical patterned shots, and makes good use of slow mo in some of the film's later scenes, especially during the attack on Cowboy's squad by a VC sniper. And he makes great use of the film locations in England for the various scenes in the film, even if you can see during the Parris island scenes that there are English give way road signs! The soundtrack for the film is also excellent as it features some original atmospheric moody pieces by Abigail Mead. It also features some tracks of the period which are used really well such as Johnnie Wrigt's "Hello Vietnam" which is used right at the beginning where we see the recruits get their hair shaved off. Also Nancy Sinatra's "These boots are made for walkin" where we see the Vietnamese hooker tempt Joker and his journal photographer friend Rafterman with the famous line "me so horny, me so horny!". Then there is of course the catchy "Surfin bird" by The Trashman, which is just brilliant and was later again popularised by Family Guy, and finally The Rolling Stones "Paint it black" is aptly used at the end credits.
Getting onto the film's flaws well if you want to be critical then you could argue of course that the film takes a dip after the Parris Island sequence is over and Lee Ermey's killed off, and from then on it isn't quite the same, but really I think it has to be viewed as a film of two halves, and they are both good in different ways. But having said that there is no doubt that the film's Parris island sequences are the real highlights of the film and the rest of the film does struggle to live up to that.
Well that's it for my look at Full Metal Jacket, which is an excellent war film and if you haven't seen it yet, then give it a go.
And with that on my 100th post I shall leave you there, and say here's to the next 100. :-)
Wednesday, 3 July 2013
World war zzzzzzzzzzzzz
OK time for a review of a new movie that's just oot in the cinema, and this is one that I saw in my trip over in London last week up at Leicester square, which was World War Z starring Brad Pitt (which I saw in 3D!) so let's arm up the baseball bat and the machine gun and brave it....
The film begins in Philadelphia with former United nations employee, Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) and his family sit in heavy traffic, when all of a sudden there is a series of explosions. Soon after they are attacked by masses of zombies, and those who are attacked are turned into zombies within 12 seconds. Gerry and his family manage to narrowly avoid being killed by the zombies by escaping to the roof of an apartment complex. Gerry avoids being affected by a zombie and is soon picked up by a chopper sent by his fellow UN colleague Thierry Umutoni. Gerry and his family are taken to a US Navy vessel where scientist researchers try to analyse the scope of the worldwide virus outbreak, which has been turning people into zombies. Gerry travels with a virologist who says they must try and find the origin of the virus so a vaccine can be made. They travel to a military base in South Korea where the virologist is killed accidentally during a firefight when they are attacked by zombies, but the zombies are killed by surviving soldiers, who tell Gerry that the zombies are attracted to noise. And from here Gerry continues his quest to try and find the source behind the zombie virus and find a way to stop the virus from spreading to infect the entire human population.
Based on the novel of the same name (written by Max Brooks) World War Z has the potential to be a good horror film, but it is somewhat squandered in the translation to the big screen (starting with the flaws for a change here!). The problem with the film being that it has no real sense of build up and you are thrown right into the action without any real warning. The tone of the film is naturally serious but it also lacks much in the way of any character development, and the characters are also problematic as they are all pretty one dimensional. The zombies also are akin to the ones we saw in 28 days later, who were infected with the rage virus, so once again we get zombies that can be champion sprinters! There is also heavy usage of CGI in the film with the zombies, particularly in the scenes where there masses of zombies running around, especially in the scene where the zombies swarm to climb up the walls in Jerusalem, and these scenes just look pretty false and unimpressive.
There are also some silly scenes in the film, the most notable one being when Gerry and the others are attacked on the plane by zombies, that he throws a grenade which blows a hole in the side of the plane, which causes it to crash. And despite the fact that pretty much everyone onboard was killed somehow Gerry manages to survive as does the young female soldier he rescued from turning into a zombie, Segen, and they are largely unscathed, which is ridiculous and highly improbable to say the least that they would survive! Another unintentionally funny moment in the film is when Gerry and the young soldier, Segen, arrive at the WHO labs, and the doctors show them footage of some of the infected doctors who have been sectioned off, and we see one of them finish taking a piss and zipping his flies up while limping zombie like out the door!
However despite its problems, World War Z does have some merit, such as Brad Pitt's main performance which is fairly good, and while Pitt has not a great deal to work with other than play the part of a reluctant hero, he does it pretty well. The supporting cast are also pretty good, although again they are not really given much to work with in the script, and it was a pity in a way to see Peter Capaldi (who plays one of the research doctors at the World Health Organisation labs) his pasrt reduced to basically a series of grim lines and tense looks (without even a trace of Malcolm Tucker there!). Marc Foster also while not the best choice of director for the film, does a decent enough job, but the pacing of the film is uneven and there is no real sense of terror or suspense, however despite that he stills allows for one or two jumpy moments. And one of the interesting things about the film was that it was partly shot in Glasgow, which doubled up for Philadelphia (although why they didn't just film there seems a bit strange to me) and the opening few minutes are shot in George Square, where you see normal punters turn into zombies and go bananas (as they do, actually that sounds like a normal night out in Glasgow! ;-)).
The film also has quite a good score by Marco Beltrami and apparently the rock band Muse also contributed towards the score as well, although I'm not sure where their contribution lies in the soundtrack mix (as we don't Matt Bellamy bellow out operatic tones anywhere!
So that's it for my rather brief look at World War Z which is by no means a terrible film, but I wouldn't exactly call it a great one either, but if you are interested in checking it out, well it is worth giving a go if only once. But as for as zombie flicks go I have seen much better ones in the past than here. For me the best experience of seeing the film was on the BIG screen at Empire cinemas in Leicester square in 3D, as it was quite an experience in itself to see (although the 3D glasses were a bit uncomfy!).
And I will say bye for now and leave it there.
The film begins in Philadelphia with former United nations employee, Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) and his family sit in heavy traffic, when all of a sudden there is a series of explosions. Soon after they are attacked by masses of zombies, and those who are attacked are turned into zombies within 12 seconds. Gerry and his family manage to narrowly avoid being killed by the zombies by escaping to the roof of an apartment complex. Gerry avoids being affected by a zombie and is soon picked up by a chopper sent by his fellow UN colleague Thierry Umutoni. Gerry and his family are taken to a US Navy vessel where scientist researchers try to analyse the scope of the worldwide virus outbreak, which has been turning people into zombies. Gerry travels with a virologist who says they must try and find the origin of the virus so a vaccine can be made. They travel to a military base in South Korea where the virologist is killed accidentally during a firefight when they are attacked by zombies, but the zombies are killed by surviving soldiers, who tell Gerry that the zombies are attracted to noise. And from here Gerry continues his quest to try and find the source behind the zombie virus and find a way to stop the virus from spreading to infect the entire human population.
Based on the novel of the same name (written by Max Brooks) World War Z has the potential to be a good horror film, but it is somewhat squandered in the translation to the big screen (starting with the flaws for a change here!). The problem with the film being that it has no real sense of build up and you are thrown right into the action without any real warning. The tone of the film is naturally serious but it also lacks much in the way of any character development, and the characters are also problematic as they are all pretty one dimensional. The zombies also are akin to the ones we saw in 28 days later, who were infected with the rage virus, so once again we get zombies that can be champion sprinters! There is also heavy usage of CGI in the film with the zombies, particularly in the scenes where there masses of zombies running around, especially in the scene where the zombies swarm to climb up the walls in Jerusalem, and these scenes just look pretty false and unimpressive.
There are also some silly scenes in the film, the most notable one being when Gerry and the others are attacked on the plane by zombies, that he throws a grenade which blows a hole in the side of the plane, which causes it to crash. And despite the fact that pretty much everyone onboard was killed somehow Gerry manages to survive as does the young female soldier he rescued from turning into a zombie, Segen, and they are largely unscathed, which is ridiculous and highly improbable to say the least that they would survive! Another unintentionally funny moment in the film is when Gerry and the young soldier, Segen, arrive at the WHO labs, and the doctors show them footage of some of the infected doctors who have been sectioned off, and we see one of them finish taking a piss and zipping his flies up while limping zombie like out the door!
However despite its problems, World War Z does have some merit, such as Brad Pitt's main performance which is fairly good, and while Pitt has not a great deal to work with other than play the part of a reluctant hero, he does it pretty well. The supporting cast are also pretty good, although again they are not really given much to work with in the script, and it was a pity in a way to see Peter Capaldi (who plays one of the research doctors at the World Health Organisation labs) his pasrt reduced to basically a series of grim lines and tense looks (without even a trace of Malcolm Tucker there!). Marc Foster also while not the best choice of director for the film, does a decent enough job, but the pacing of the film is uneven and there is no real sense of terror or suspense, however despite that he stills allows for one or two jumpy moments. And one of the interesting things about the film was that it was partly shot in Glasgow, which doubled up for Philadelphia (although why they didn't just film there seems a bit strange to me) and the opening few minutes are shot in George Square, where you see normal punters turn into zombies and go bananas (as they do, actually that sounds like a normal night out in Glasgow! ;-)).
The film also has quite a good score by Marco Beltrami and apparently the rock band Muse also contributed towards the score as well, although I'm not sure where their contribution lies in the soundtrack mix (as we don't Matt Bellamy bellow out operatic tones anywhere!
So that's it for my rather brief look at World War Z which is by no means a terrible film, but I wouldn't exactly call it a great one either, but if you are interested in checking it out, well it is worth giving a go if only once. But as for as zombie flicks go I have seen much better ones in the past than here. For me the best experience of seeing the film was on the BIG screen at Empire cinemas in Leicester square in 3D, as it was quite an experience in itself to see (although the 3D glasses were a bit uncomfy!).
And I will say bye for now and leave it there.
Wednesday, 26 June 2013
You can't handle the truth!
Rrrrrrright time for another movie review and this one is a Hollywood court room drama which is A Few Good Men, which was originally play by Aaron Sorkin, so let's give it a shuftie...
Right the film basically starts with two marines, Lance Coporal Dawson (Wolfgang Bodison) and Private Douney (James Marshall) who are stationed at Guantanamo bay in Cuba, who enter a young marine's room and tie him up and stuff a rag down his throat, however as a result of the attack the marine dies, and Dawson and Douney are arrested. The two marines defence counsel turns out to be the young, cocky and inexperienced Daniel Kaffee (Tom Cruise) who is at first reluctant to take the case on, but he is assigned to naval investigator and lawyer Lieutenant Commander Jo Galloway (Demi Moore) who tells him she thinks that the two marines were acting on order known as a "code red" which is a form of disciplinary military punishment. Kaffee and Galloway along with Kaffee's assistant, Lt Sam Weinbeg (Kevin Pollak) travel to Cuba where they meet with the commanding officer, Colonel Nathan Jessup (Jack Nicholson) who does not confirm or deny the practice of code reds on the base, and after a brief investigation of the base, the three of them fly back to the States.
However on their return Jessup's executive officer, Lt Colonel Markinson (J.T. Walsh) goes awol, and Galloway grows more convinced that the order was a code red. Kaffee and Galloway go and question Dawson and Douney who tell him that they were given an order to perform a code red on the young marine, Private Santiago. Kaffee then approaches the prosecution lawyer Captain Jack Ross (Kevin Bacon) and tells him the marines were given an order and he works out a plea bargain with him, where he will offer the marines involuntary manslaughter for which they would receive a reduced sentence of six months. Kaffee takes the offer to Dawson who turns it down as he refuses to admit he did anything wrong other than follow his duty and will not dishonour himself or his corps. As a result, Kaffee verges on quitting the case after having a row with Galloway, who insists they go to court and put the marines on trial, but he soon decides to take on the case. And from here this is where the court room drama begins....
As far as court room dramas go, A few good men definitely is one of the most entertaining. The story itself was actually based on a phone call the writer Aaron Sorkin had with his sister, who worked as a lawyer in the US Navy Corps for three years, where she defended marines who were accused of murder after a direct order from their commanding officer to carry out a hazing disciplinary action on a fellow marine. Sorkin's screenplay is wonderfully written and richly worded and the characters are all really well drawn out, and it lead toward a fruitful career as a screenwriter for TV and film, as Sorkin went on to write The West Wing for TV, as well as films such as The American President and The Social Network.
And it has to be said that what makes A few good men work so well is the performances from the cast, as the cast are all excellent. Starting with Tom Cruise, who admittedly is annoying at times in his role as the cocky young upstart who goes through his "journey" toward becoming a man and following in the footsteps of his late legendary father, who was a superb trial lawyer, but overall he delivers a really good performance. Cruise also get's his share of good lines, such as when he Galloway argues with him over his lazy attitude towards the case and he says after "Wow! I'm sexually aroused, commander!". Cruise also later on provides some good moments in the court scenes especially when thunders away at Lt Kendrick (played by Kiefer Sutherland) and Colonel Jessep. Another funny moment is where he argues with the prosecution lawyer and his friend, Captain Ross in a bar, and as Ross is about to leave, Kaffee is lost for a retort and instead he yells "you're a lousy fucking softball player, Jack!!".
Demi More is surprisingly also good in her role as Jo Galloway even though she is quite an unlikely choice to play such a part. Moore's numerous rows with Cruise are also quite amusing at times in the film, especially near the beginning when they first meet and he is about to leave her officer and she says "you're dismissed" and Kaffee replies "I always forget that part!". Later on Moore also has a good line whne Kaffee get's drunk and explodes at her and she says "I'm sorry I lost you you're set of steak knives" (referring to a quip from Kaffee saying that he will get a set if he wins another case).
As for the other cast members, Jack Nicholson is great as the devious and manipulative Colonel Jessup, who you can see is dirty from the get go (sorry if that is a spoiler!) and he has an intimidating and commanding prescence throughout. Jack has quite a few highlights, and the ones that stand out are his scene at the Gitmo base where Kaffee casually asks for Santiago's transfer order, but Jessup says firmly "you have to ask me nicely! You see I can deal with the bombs and the blood. I don't want money or medals, but what I do want is for you to stand there and with your Harvard mouth extend me some fucking courtesy!". Also later in the court room scene where (PLOT SPOILER HERE!) Kaffee thunders away at Jessup and tries to get him to admit he ordered the code red, and Kaffee shouts "I want the truth!" and Jessup replies "you can't handle the truth!". Also another amusing line Jessup has is when he refers to Jo Galloway as being Kaffee's superior officer and "there is nothing sexier on this Earth than having a woman you have to salute in the morning. Because if you haven't gotten a blow job from a superior officer, you are just letting the best in life pass you by!". Nicholson apparently also loved the script so much that he would willingly do multiple takes for the director Rob Reiner, and even read in his lines when he didn't need to, and overall this is one of the finest performances.
Next up there is J.T Walsh as Markinson, who is great in his part, and Walsh was always a very understated actor and his performance is very sutble here and he had a great of conveying much without having to do much at the same time. Kiefer Sutherland as the young Lt Kendrick, who is the commanding officer in charge of Dawson and Douney, is also very good in his part. Sutherland's highlight is of course his court scene where he is questioned by Kaffee, who get's him pretty riled, and Sutherland perfectly highlights the marines fanatical qualities for the corp and religion. Sutherland also is given one of the film's best lines where he says to Jo Galloway "Commander, I believe in Jesus Christ, and I can say this that Private Santiago's death was a tragedy. But he is dead because he had no code, he is dead becasue he had no honour and God was watching!". Kevin Pollak as Kaffe's friend Sam Weinberg is also very good, and he provides some amusing moments in the film as well as an informer for Kaffee's ignorance in all matters to do with the marines. Pollak has quite a few good lines but one of my favourites is when he pushes his baby in a pram and he says that she said her first word "Pa" while pointing and Kaffee says "she was pointing at a mailbox, Sam!" and Sam replies "that's right, as if to say "Pa, lookl! A mailbox!". Also briefly Wolfgang Bodison gives a fine performance as the marine Dawson, who has a good scene with Tom Cruise who offers him a lea bargain which he turns down and says "I will not dishonour myself, my unit or the corps just so I can go home in SIX MONTHS!! Sir!". And at the end of the scene when Kaffee asks "what happened to saluting an officer when he leaves the room?" which leaves Dawson to stand up grumpily and thrust his hands into his pockets defiantly!
And finally I cannot finish without mentioning Kevin Bacon as Captain Ross, who provides an excellent performance as the professional prosecution lawyer. Bacon delivers a solid and efficient performance throughout, and he has some good moments, especially his scene where he meets with Kaffee in a bar, who tells him that he has Markinson, and Ross says to him that Markinson won't hold up and he reminds Kaffee that "he was bullied into that courtroom by the memory of a dead lawyer" (i.e.Kaffee's father).
As for any flaws well there are one or two niggles, starting with Kaffee's character, who despite Cruise's largely fine performance, there are times when he really comes across as the annoying callow cocky youth, who you would love to slap, and at times you just think of him as having just wondered out of the set of Risky Business or Cocktail, as it was a mode of acting he was yet to escape. Aaron Sorkin's screenplay while it is great and richly written, it is also very wordy and there are times where you feel certain scenes could be a bit shorter if it wasn't for Sorkin's insistance to extend sentences and you wish at times he would just get to the point quicker in a scene. But apart from that its all pretty good.
Direction wise Rob Reiner (director of Spinal Tap and When Harry met Sally) does a fine job with such a big cast, and he paces the film really well and keeps the courtroom drama sequences interesting, and he also provides a nice balance of drama and humour. Reiner also starts the film really well by showing the JAG corps officers perform their match with their rifles just before Jo makes her appearance. Marc Shaiman also provides a good music score for the film which is mainly syntheizer based and there are some good passages in there to be found.
So that's it for my look at A Few Good Men, which still remains and entertaining and engrossing court drama, which is well worth watching if you haven't already.
And I will leave it right there.
P.S. this will be my last post for a few days as I will be heading off to London for the weekend. Yeah baby!! (sorry about that bit!). Until the next time bye for now!
Right the film basically starts with two marines, Lance Coporal Dawson (Wolfgang Bodison) and Private Douney (James Marshall) who are stationed at Guantanamo bay in Cuba, who enter a young marine's room and tie him up and stuff a rag down his throat, however as a result of the attack the marine dies, and Dawson and Douney are arrested. The two marines defence counsel turns out to be the young, cocky and inexperienced Daniel Kaffee (Tom Cruise) who is at first reluctant to take the case on, but he is assigned to naval investigator and lawyer Lieutenant Commander Jo Galloway (Demi Moore) who tells him she thinks that the two marines were acting on order known as a "code red" which is a form of disciplinary military punishment. Kaffee and Galloway along with Kaffee's assistant, Lt Sam Weinbeg (Kevin Pollak) travel to Cuba where they meet with the commanding officer, Colonel Nathan Jessup (Jack Nicholson) who does not confirm or deny the practice of code reds on the base, and after a brief investigation of the base, the three of them fly back to the States.
However on their return Jessup's executive officer, Lt Colonel Markinson (J.T. Walsh) goes awol, and Galloway grows more convinced that the order was a code red. Kaffee and Galloway go and question Dawson and Douney who tell him that they were given an order to perform a code red on the young marine, Private Santiago. Kaffee then approaches the prosecution lawyer Captain Jack Ross (Kevin Bacon) and tells him the marines were given an order and he works out a plea bargain with him, where he will offer the marines involuntary manslaughter for which they would receive a reduced sentence of six months. Kaffee takes the offer to Dawson who turns it down as he refuses to admit he did anything wrong other than follow his duty and will not dishonour himself or his corps. As a result, Kaffee verges on quitting the case after having a row with Galloway, who insists they go to court and put the marines on trial, but he soon decides to take on the case. And from here this is where the court room drama begins....
As far as court room dramas go, A few good men definitely is one of the most entertaining. The story itself was actually based on a phone call the writer Aaron Sorkin had with his sister, who worked as a lawyer in the US Navy Corps for three years, where she defended marines who were accused of murder after a direct order from their commanding officer to carry out a hazing disciplinary action on a fellow marine. Sorkin's screenplay is wonderfully written and richly worded and the characters are all really well drawn out, and it lead toward a fruitful career as a screenwriter for TV and film, as Sorkin went on to write The West Wing for TV, as well as films such as The American President and The Social Network.
And it has to be said that what makes A few good men work so well is the performances from the cast, as the cast are all excellent. Starting with Tom Cruise, who admittedly is annoying at times in his role as the cocky young upstart who goes through his "journey" toward becoming a man and following in the footsteps of his late legendary father, who was a superb trial lawyer, but overall he delivers a really good performance. Cruise also get's his share of good lines, such as when he Galloway argues with him over his lazy attitude towards the case and he says after "Wow! I'm sexually aroused, commander!". Cruise also later on provides some good moments in the court scenes especially when thunders away at Lt Kendrick (played by Kiefer Sutherland) and Colonel Jessep. Another funny moment is where he argues with the prosecution lawyer and his friend, Captain Ross in a bar, and as Ross is about to leave, Kaffee is lost for a retort and instead he yells "you're a lousy fucking softball player, Jack!!".
Demi More is surprisingly also good in her role as Jo Galloway even though she is quite an unlikely choice to play such a part. Moore's numerous rows with Cruise are also quite amusing at times in the film, especially near the beginning when they first meet and he is about to leave her officer and she says "you're dismissed" and Kaffee replies "I always forget that part!". Later on Moore also has a good line whne Kaffee get's drunk and explodes at her and she says "I'm sorry I lost you you're set of steak knives" (referring to a quip from Kaffee saying that he will get a set if he wins another case).
As for the other cast members, Jack Nicholson is great as the devious and manipulative Colonel Jessup, who you can see is dirty from the get go (sorry if that is a spoiler!) and he has an intimidating and commanding prescence throughout. Jack has quite a few highlights, and the ones that stand out are his scene at the Gitmo base where Kaffee casually asks for Santiago's transfer order, but Jessup says firmly "you have to ask me nicely! You see I can deal with the bombs and the blood. I don't want money or medals, but what I do want is for you to stand there and with your Harvard mouth extend me some fucking courtesy!". Also later in the court room scene where (PLOT SPOILER HERE!) Kaffee thunders away at Jessup and tries to get him to admit he ordered the code red, and Kaffee shouts "I want the truth!" and Jessup replies "you can't handle the truth!". Also another amusing line Jessup has is when he refers to Jo Galloway as being Kaffee's superior officer and "there is nothing sexier on this Earth than having a woman you have to salute in the morning. Because if you haven't gotten a blow job from a superior officer, you are just letting the best in life pass you by!". Nicholson apparently also loved the script so much that he would willingly do multiple takes for the director Rob Reiner, and even read in his lines when he didn't need to, and overall this is one of the finest performances.
Next up there is J.T Walsh as Markinson, who is great in his part, and Walsh was always a very understated actor and his performance is very sutble here and he had a great of conveying much without having to do much at the same time. Kiefer Sutherland as the young Lt Kendrick, who is the commanding officer in charge of Dawson and Douney, is also very good in his part. Sutherland's highlight is of course his court scene where he is questioned by Kaffee, who get's him pretty riled, and Sutherland perfectly highlights the marines fanatical qualities for the corp and religion. Sutherland also is given one of the film's best lines where he says to Jo Galloway "Commander, I believe in Jesus Christ, and I can say this that Private Santiago's death was a tragedy. But he is dead because he had no code, he is dead becasue he had no honour and God was watching!". Kevin Pollak as Kaffe's friend Sam Weinberg is also very good, and he provides some amusing moments in the film as well as an informer for Kaffee's ignorance in all matters to do with the marines. Pollak has quite a few good lines but one of my favourites is when he pushes his baby in a pram and he says that she said her first word "Pa" while pointing and Kaffee says "she was pointing at a mailbox, Sam!" and Sam replies "that's right, as if to say "Pa, lookl! A mailbox!". Also briefly Wolfgang Bodison gives a fine performance as the marine Dawson, who has a good scene with Tom Cruise who offers him a lea bargain which he turns down and says "I will not dishonour myself, my unit or the corps just so I can go home in SIX MONTHS!! Sir!". And at the end of the scene when Kaffee asks "what happened to saluting an officer when he leaves the room?" which leaves Dawson to stand up grumpily and thrust his hands into his pockets defiantly!
And finally I cannot finish without mentioning Kevin Bacon as Captain Ross, who provides an excellent performance as the professional prosecution lawyer. Bacon delivers a solid and efficient performance throughout, and he has some good moments, especially his scene where he meets with Kaffee in a bar, who tells him that he has Markinson, and Ross says to him that Markinson won't hold up and he reminds Kaffee that "he was bullied into that courtroom by the memory of a dead lawyer" (i.e.Kaffee's father).
As for any flaws well there are one or two niggles, starting with Kaffee's character, who despite Cruise's largely fine performance, there are times when he really comes across as the annoying callow cocky youth, who you would love to slap, and at times you just think of him as having just wondered out of the set of Risky Business or Cocktail, as it was a mode of acting he was yet to escape. Aaron Sorkin's screenplay while it is great and richly written, it is also very wordy and there are times where you feel certain scenes could be a bit shorter if it wasn't for Sorkin's insistance to extend sentences and you wish at times he would just get to the point quicker in a scene. But apart from that its all pretty good.
Direction wise Rob Reiner (director of Spinal Tap and When Harry met Sally) does a fine job with such a big cast, and he paces the film really well and keeps the courtroom drama sequences interesting, and he also provides a nice balance of drama and humour. Reiner also starts the film really well by showing the JAG corps officers perform their match with their rifles just before Jo makes her appearance. Marc Shaiman also provides a good music score for the film which is mainly syntheizer based and there are some good passages in there to be found.
So that's it for my look at A Few Good Men, which still remains and entertaining and engrossing court drama, which is well worth watching if you haven't already.
And I will leave it right there.
P.S. this will be my last post for a few days as I will be heading off to London for the weekend. Yeah baby!! (sorry about that bit!). Until the next time bye for now!
Sunday, 23 June 2013
Tomb Raider "I hate tombs!"
OK time for a wee change from the movie reviews as I've decided to review a video game and this one will be the new revamp of the Tomb Raider series, which has been aptly named Tomb Raider. It sees a far more adult and gritty take on the series than we have seen in the past and this sees the origins of Lara Croft becoming the intrepid explorer that she is, so with my usual review structure let's have a look at the ol plot.
Well the story begins with the young Lara Croft (voiced by Camilla Luddington) who travels on a ship the HMS Endurance, on an expedition to find the lost kingdom of the Yamati. The ship however travels into dangerous waters as it heads at the suggestion of Lara into the Dragon's Triangle, east of Japan. The ship is caught in a violent storm which causes the ship to split in two and the survivors wash up ashore and are stranded on an isolated island. Lara is captured by a savage man who takes her to his cave, however she soon escapes and the man is killed as the cave collapses in on itself. Lara soon catches up with one of the crew, Sam, who is a close friend and she is with a man named Mathias who claims to be a passenger on the ship. Sam tells Mathias of the legends of Himiko, a Japanese queen, while Lara from exhaustion passes out, and when she comes to, Sam and Mathias have both gone. Lara eventually rejoins the remaining survivors of the ship as she tries to find one of the missing crewmembers, Roth, whom she eventually finds, who tells her to try and find a way to send a distress signal for help. Lara however also learns along the way the island they are on is in fact Yamati and they inhabitants all workship Himiko, who capture the remaining survivors, and it is also soon revealed that Mathias is in fact the leader of the cult followers on the island, who has captured Lara's friend Sam as she is a direct descendant of the queen Himiko, whom he intends to use to revive her. And from here its up to Lara to try and rescue her crewmates, stop the evil inhabitants and rescue Sam from her fate....
As a reboot of the series, Tomb Raider is an excellent, intense and enthralling experience, which pulls you in from the word go. The design and style of the game is actually very similar to the critically acclaimed action adventure game Uncharted 2, which was about the adventures of the archaeologist Nathan Drake. There are plenty of seamless cut scenes where we go between the live action and the story of Lara as she progresses through her trials on the island. And the main theme here of course is survival as we see Lara start off as a frightened young woman, who is thrown into a terrifying and harrowing situation and as the game moves on, she becomes a strong, hardened survivor. And the game does really well in making that leap and it is done with fair credibility that Lara is able to adap to her violent surroundings, as she finds the adventurer in her that was with her family before.
Gameplay wise Tomb Raider is very much what makes the game work so well, as the control system is very ease to use, and Lara can do pretty all the usual moves, such as run, jump, crouch, shimmy, etc and she can also pull some melee attacks at close range. Lara's movement in tight areas such as cave crevices also makes impressive use of her movement as she can crouch into these areas really well, and she can also in dark places also light a torch. Lara can also use an icepick to climb cliff faces as she can jump from a bridge onto the side of a cliff, she uses her axe pull herself up. In the game you also have access to the usual sort of weapons, starting off with a bow and arrow, then a handgun, automatic rifle (which is later upgraded with a grenade launcher attachment), and a shotgun. And one of the best aspects of the gameplay is the upgrade system as Lara can gain new skills, such as hunting, brawling, as well as being able to upgrade her weapons, by adding various add-ons to them, such as more ammo, attachments, better grips, etc. This is usually done by Lara finding a camp site she can sit down at and as she fights her way through the game she gains more experience. Another neat aspect of the game is Lara's ability to use zip lines, and she can also create them by using her bow and arrow tied with rope she can fire at an aimed target such as a cliff face or wooden wall. Then there is the much use timed button process, where you have to react to an enemy attack by press the right button at the right time, which is fairly easy in this game and doesn't get too frustrating. Lara also has survival instincts, which you can use to scan areas for clues on how navigate cetain areas of the game, such as trying to find your way up to a higher level or a platform, these areas will be highlighted in pale yellow as the screen goes grey in instinct mode.
Visually the game also looks stunning and the environments are vast and very impressive, and there is a great deal of variety, as Lara runs around the woods, beaches, cliff faces, castles, and of course tombs! The character models are also very good, and Lara has been given a new overhaul, and her face is based on the real life model, Megan Farquhar, so she looks pretty good. Also more realistically Lara no longer has ridiculously big boobs, and she has instead a smaller but nice and firm pair (ok sorry perv mode off!) which may leave certain fans of the series disappointed! ;-) But the game has come quite a long way from the ridiculously sized polygons of the first game back in 1996. The voice acting is also really good and this time Keeley Hawes, who voiced Lara for every Tomb Raider game since Tomb Raider Legend decided not to return, and this time the young (and hot!) actress Camille Luddington has taken over her duties, and she delivers a fine performance. And Camille conveys really well Lara's fear and vulnerability at the start (even if she overdoes the sobbing a bit early on!) and as she progresses, her toughness in adverse situations.
In terms of the game's flaws well its not got too many, but one thing I guess that can be levelled at it is the overall tone of game is very serious and grim. And it might have proved to have been a choice that could have alienated an audience by making this reboot of the Tomb Raider series more adult and intense than before. The game is also not short on graphic violence and gore, as Lara is put in many situations where she is forced to kill many baddies in bloody ways such as sticking her pickaxe through their skulls or stabbing them in the back as well as shooting them or burning them alive with flame tipped arrows. There was also controversy over a scene early on in the game where it is implied that Lara was about to be raped, by one of the Russian mercaneries one the island. However having watched the scene its not really conveyed that way, although in the scene you to prevent Lara from being killed by him, and this leads into her first kill of the game. But to be fair the overall tone of the game maybe serious, but I think it was important in a way to show Lara's beginnings as an explorer and as the series progresses I'm sure it will develop. And the game isn't entirely devoid of humour as Lara falls into a tomb at one point in the game she gasps frightened and says "I hate tombs!".
So with all that said, Tomb Raider is a very worthy and entertaining reboot of the series and it maybe more adult and intese than before, but in a way its no bad thing as it is a new slant on an old series, and if you are into previous Tomb Raider games and like action games in general, you will find alot to like in this one.
And on that note I shall leave you there.
Well the story begins with the young Lara Croft (voiced by Camilla Luddington) who travels on a ship the HMS Endurance, on an expedition to find the lost kingdom of the Yamati. The ship however travels into dangerous waters as it heads at the suggestion of Lara into the Dragon's Triangle, east of Japan. The ship is caught in a violent storm which causes the ship to split in two and the survivors wash up ashore and are stranded on an isolated island. Lara is captured by a savage man who takes her to his cave, however she soon escapes and the man is killed as the cave collapses in on itself. Lara soon catches up with one of the crew, Sam, who is a close friend and she is with a man named Mathias who claims to be a passenger on the ship. Sam tells Mathias of the legends of Himiko, a Japanese queen, while Lara from exhaustion passes out, and when she comes to, Sam and Mathias have both gone. Lara eventually rejoins the remaining survivors of the ship as she tries to find one of the missing crewmembers, Roth, whom she eventually finds, who tells her to try and find a way to send a distress signal for help. Lara however also learns along the way the island they are on is in fact Yamati and they inhabitants all workship Himiko, who capture the remaining survivors, and it is also soon revealed that Mathias is in fact the leader of the cult followers on the island, who has captured Lara's friend Sam as she is a direct descendant of the queen Himiko, whom he intends to use to revive her. And from here its up to Lara to try and rescue her crewmates, stop the evil inhabitants and rescue Sam from her fate....
As a reboot of the series, Tomb Raider is an excellent, intense and enthralling experience, which pulls you in from the word go. The design and style of the game is actually very similar to the critically acclaimed action adventure game Uncharted 2, which was about the adventures of the archaeologist Nathan Drake. There are plenty of seamless cut scenes where we go between the live action and the story of Lara as she progresses through her trials on the island. And the main theme here of course is survival as we see Lara start off as a frightened young woman, who is thrown into a terrifying and harrowing situation and as the game moves on, she becomes a strong, hardened survivor. And the game does really well in making that leap and it is done with fair credibility that Lara is able to adap to her violent surroundings, as she finds the adventurer in her that was with her family before.
Gameplay wise Tomb Raider is very much what makes the game work so well, as the control system is very ease to use, and Lara can do pretty all the usual moves, such as run, jump, crouch, shimmy, etc and she can also pull some melee attacks at close range. Lara's movement in tight areas such as cave crevices also makes impressive use of her movement as she can crouch into these areas really well, and she can also in dark places also light a torch. Lara can also use an icepick to climb cliff faces as she can jump from a bridge onto the side of a cliff, she uses her axe pull herself up. In the game you also have access to the usual sort of weapons, starting off with a bow and arrow, then a handgun, automatic rifle (which is later upgraded with a grenade launcher attachment), and a shotgun. And one of the best aspects of the gameplay is the upgrade system as Lara can gain new skills, such as hunting, brawling, as well as being able to upgrade her weapons, by adding various add-ons to them, such as more ammo, attachments, better grips, etc. This is usually done by Lara finding a camp site she can sit down at and as she fights her way through the game she gains more experience. Another neat aspect of the game is Lara's ability to use zip lines, and she can also create them by using her bow and arrow tied with rope she can fire at an aimed target such as a cliff face or wooden wall. Then there is the much use timed button process, where you have to react to an enemy attack by press the right button at the right time, which is fairly easy in this game and doesn't get too frustrating. Lara also has survival instincts, which you can use to scan areas for clues on how navigate cetain areas of the game, such as trying to find your way up to a higher level or a platform, these areas will be highlighted in pale yellow as the screen goes grey in instinct mode.
Visually the game also looks stunning and the environments are vast and very impressive, and there is a great deal of variety, as Lara runs around the woods, beaches, cliff faces, castles, and of course tombs! The character models are also very good, and Lara has been given a new overhaul, and her face is based on the real life model, Megan Farquhar, so she looks pretty good. Also more realistically Lara no longer has ridiculously big boobs, and she has instead a smaller but nice and firm pair (ok sorry perv mode off!) which may leave certain fans of the series disappointed! ;-) But the game has come quite a long way from the ridiculously sized polygons of the first game back in 1996. The voice acting is also really good and this time Keeley Hawes, who voiced Lara for every Tomb Raider game since Tomb Raider Legend decided not to return, and this time the young (and hot!) actress Camille Luddington has taken over her duties, and she delivers a fine performance. And Camille conveys really well Lara's fear and vulnerability at the start (even if she overdoes the sobbing a bit early on!) and as she progresses, her toughness in adverse situations.
In terms of the game's flaws well its not got too many, but one thing I guess that can be levelled at it is the overall tone of game is very serious and grim. And it might have proved to have been a choice that could have alienated an audience by making this reboot of the Tomb Raider series more adult and intense than before. The game is also not short on graphic violence and gore, as Lara is put in many situations where she is forced to kill many baddies in bloody ways such as sticking her pickaxe through their skulls or stabbing them in the back as well as shooting them or burning them alive with flame tipped arrows. There was also controversy over a scene early on in the game where it is implied that Lara was about to be raped, by one of the Russian mercaneries one the island. However having watched the scene its not really conveyed that way, although in the scene you to prevent Lara from being killed by him, and this leads into her first kill of the game. But to be fair the overall tone of the game maybe serious, but I think it was important in a way to show Lara's beginnings as an explorer and as the series progresses I'm sure it will develop. And the game isn't entirely devoid of humour as Lara falls into a tomb at one point in the game she gasps frightened and says "I hate tombs!".
So with all that said, Tomb Raider is a very worthy and entertaining reboot of the series and it maybe more adult and intese than before, but in a way its no bad thing as it is a new slant on an old series, and if you are into previous Tomb Raider games and like action games in general, you will find alot to like in this one.
And on that note I shall leave you there.
Saturday, 22 June 2013
Star Trek Generations: lifeforms, you tiny little lifeforms....
Well its time to go back to the Star Trek movie franchise and do another review, as I've done up to Star Trek IV (with the exception of the new Star Trek film, but I won't count that one just now) so I'll carry on with Star Trek Generations. Generations was the first of the Star Trek next generation cast films, so it sees Patrick Stewart head the cast as Captain Jean Luc Picard, but let's get on to the usual structure of this blog, i.e. we've done the intro now its time for the plot...
So the film begins in the 23rd century with the now retired Captain Kirk (William Shatner) attending the maiden voyage of the newest model of the Enterprise, along with his former shipmates, Scotty (James Doohan) and Chekov (Walter Koenig). However the ship soon receives a distress call and they are forced to respond to try and save two ships from a large energy ribbon in space which ultimately destroys the ships, but some of the crew are saved. Kirk however in an effort to help save the Enterprise from being caught in the path of the ribbon goes to the lower decks to alter the deflector shields, however the ribbon passes over the hull of the ship and takes a section of it away into the vaccum of space and Krik with it. From here Kirk is presumed dead and is never seen again.
The story then jumps forward to the 24th century where the current crew of the Enterprise, headed by Captain Jean Luc Picard (Stewart) receive a distress call from a solar observatory. On arriving at the observatory they find only one survivor, Doctor Tolian Soran (Malcolm McDowell) who is taken back onboard the Enterprise. Soran however is keen to get to back to the observatory and while the Enterprise crew members, Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) and the android Data (Brent Spiner) search it, Soran surprises them, knocking out Geordi, and Data having recently installed a new emotion chip, finds himself too afraid to retaliate. Soran is transportred with Geordi to a Klingon bird of prey, which is under the command of the renegade Duras sisters. Soran plans to do business with them by giving them a compound called trilithium which the sisters want so they can create a powerful weapon. Picard speaks with the Enterprise's bartender, Guinan (Whoopie Goldberg) who tells him that Soran is trying to re-establish a link with the ribbon, which is called the nexus. Guinan describes the Nexus as being like inside joy, and that is what Soran is trying to do, however in order to do that he will use a nuclear missle to detonate a nearby sun on the planet Veridian III, but the impact while ultimately destroy the planet.
Picard soon tracks Soran to the planet and tries, unsuccessfully, to reason with him, but soon enough Soran fires his missile just as the nexus ribbon arrives he is transported. However while this is happening Geordi has been given back to the Enterprise crew, has unbeknownst to him, had his visor changed to allow the Duras sisters to see his vision, and they launch an attack on the Enterprise, but they are soon destroyed in the attack. The enterprise however suffers a warp core breach, where the ship's saucer section is separated and it crash lands on Veridian III, and shortly after the nexus wave passes over the planet and it is destroyed. Picard meanwhile has been transported to the nexus and he finds he has a wife and children, something he has always wanted beside his duty, but he soon realises it isn't real and speaks to an image of Guinan who explains he is in the nexus and he can go anywhere from here. Guinan also explains that another man has just arrived in the nexus as well, and as Picard goes to find him we see none other than Captain James T. Kirk chopping wood, who is caught up in his own fantasy of being at home, with a chance to reuinte with an old flame. And from here its up to Picard to try and persuade Kirk to help him save the day....
While its not the strongest entry in the Star Trek franchise, Generations still is quite a good effort and it brought in the Next Generation cast very well. Although the Next Generation crew were never in my opinion as interesting or as fun the original crew, its an entertaining affair, and they are introduced amusingly in the scene where the Enterprise crew are all dressed in a navy outfits, where Worf (Michael Dorn) is given promotion, but he has to walk the plank on an old ship to get his "hat of office", but they remove the plank and he falls into the water (however it turns out to be a holodeck!). But the reappearance of Kirk is a very welcome one and his two old crewmen, and when you see them together you see the rapport they have with one another shows just what the new crew are missing. Whereas Picard is always pretty straight laced and a bit too goody goody and lacks the rebelious streak that Kirk had, and that goes pretty much for most of the rest of the crew, but that's not to say that they don't provide moments of entertainment as they do and the TV series also had some good episodes.
So getting onto the next bit of the old blog movie review structure, the performances in Generations are actually fairly good, starting with Patrick Stewart in the role of Captain Picard, who has always played the part with a strong moral compass and seriousness about his duty as a starfleet officer. Stewart however does have one slightly cringeworthy moment when he breaks down crying reflecting on the news of his nephew who was killed in a fire. But what I do quite like about Stewart's potrayal of Picard is his no nonsense attitude and one of his best scenes comes when he makes Data deal with his fear, when the emotion chip is infused into his neural net and he becomes overwhelmed by the emotions, and Data wants to be deactivated. But Picard sternly tells him "I have every sympathy for what you are going through, but I need to do your duty and you will not be deactivated, that is an order, commander!".
Jonathan Frakes as Picard's second in command, William Riker was always actually a more colouful character and he was more akin to Kirk than Picard, and Frakes gives a good performance here although his role is little bit underwritten. Frakes does however get one of the film's best lines when Picard says to him at the end "we are only mortal" and Riker replies "speak for yourself, sir. I plan to live forever!". The standout of the next generation cast however is of course Brent Spiner as Data who provides a wonderfully funny and at times even poignant performance, as the android who uses the emotion chip and he experiences a different range of emotions. Of his various amusing moments, a few that standout include when Guinan gives him a drink but he can't articulate the emotion as he grimaces as he swallows it, and Guinan says "well he looks like he hates it" and Data says "yes I hate this! This is revolting!" Guinan "more?" Data "Please!". Also the moment where he resumes duties after a short break he goes onboard the Enteprise bridge and Riker orders him to search for lifeforms to which Data replies "I would be happy to, sir. I just love scanning for lifeforms!" and then sings that famous line "lifeforms, you tiny little lifeforms!" as he scans for them. Also in the moment where the Enterprise hurtles towards Veridian III's planet surface Data looks alarmed as the planet's view comes ever closer on the monitor screen and he says "oohhhhhhhhhhhh shit!".
The other next-gen members are all ok, but they aren't given a great deal to work with however Marina Sirtis as the ship's counsellor has a couple of nice moments, one with Picard where she consoles him over the deah of his family, and at the end where Data cries with joy having found his cat. Gates McFadden as Beverly Crusher (hubba hubba!) also provides a moment of amusement when Geordi is being examined by Dr Crusher with his visor having been hacked by Soran, the Duras sisters can see through his visor on their screens and they groan in disgust when they see Beverly and say "human females are so repulsive!".
As of the other cast members well getting to the old generation, we can't forget William Shatner's contribution as James Kirk, and he is perfect once again in the role as the retired captain. Shatner get's quite few good lines here as well as he meets with Picard who insists he help him, Kirk says "I don't need to be lectured by you, I was out saving the galaxy while your grandad was still in diapers!". Also when he asks if Picard is thinking of retiring from his post as Captain and he tells him "don't! Don't let them promote you, don't let them transfer you! Don't let them do anything that takes you off that bridge, because while you are there, you can make a difference!". James Doohan also get's a brief amusing cameo as Scotty as does Walter Koenig as Chekov, and Doohan has a funny moment where at the start of the film he wants to help the young Enterprise captain rescue the ships, but he resists the urge to stand up and Scotty says "Captain, is there something wrong with your chair???".
Getting onto the flaws of the film however well there were a few niggles, first off the controversial decision (PLOT SPOILER!) to kill off Kirk was in itself a bit of a flaw and it didn't go down well with the Star Trek fans. And the nature of Kirk's death in the end is a bit lame as he lies in the wreckage of the broken bridge that Soran shot down, and he says quitely "oh my...." as his last line before he passes on, which is pretty feeble to say the least, and it seems just not right that they should kill off such a great character under any circumstance. Malcolm McDowell's performance while it is far from bad is also problematic, mainly because he talks in cliches and some of his dialogue is pretty cringeworthy especially in the scene where he turns to Picard and says "now do excuse me, Captain, because I have an appointment with eternity and I don't want to be late!" and "don't you feel time gaining on you, Captain. Its like a predator, stalking you!". One of the amusing things about Soran though is that he is the man to have killed off Kirk and also the only man to have head butted Picard, now there's a double whammy! You could also say it doesn't always necessarily feel like a Star Trek film but more like a glorified extended TV episode than anything else. And this brings me onto Dennis McCarthy's score which is by no means bad but it does feel like it belongs to the TV show and not on the big screen, and it pales in comparison to the scores written by James Horner and Jerry Goldsmith. Another thing that bothered me was when Picard arrived in the nexus and met with his wife and children, why the hell where they all in Victorian clothes???? I mean they lived in the 24th century and not the 19th! It just seemed to be a very peculiar choice, or perhaps in Picard's subconscious perhaps he wants everyone to dress like that and get back to Victorian values! ;-)
Anyway all that aside Star Trek Generations is still a worthy and entertaining addition to the Star Trek franchise and while its not one of the best, it is worth a watch and it is for me easily the best out of the Next Generation films that followed. First Contact was up next which was not bad although a bit dull, and Insurrection and Nemesis were both crap, so basically I won't be reviewing them.
So I will leave it there for now and beam myself up!
So the film begins in the 23rd century with the now retired Captain Kirk (William Shatner) attending the maiden voyage of the newest model of the Enterprise, along with his former shipmates, Scotty (James Doohan) and Chekov (Walter Koenig). However the ship soon receives a distress call and they are forced to respond to try and save two ships from a large energy ribbon in space which ultimately destroys the ships, but some of the crew are saved. Kirk however in an effort to help save the Enterprise from being caught in the path of the ribbon goes to the lower decks to alter the deflector shields, however the ribbon passes over the hull of the ship and takes a section of it away into the vaccum of space and Krik with it. From here Kirk is presumed dead and is never seen again.
The story then jumps forward to the 24th century where the current crew of the Enterprise, headed by Captain Jean Luc Picard (Stewart) receive a distress call from a solar observatory. On arriving at the observatory they find only one survivor, Doctor Tolian Soran (Malcolm McDowell) who is taken back onboard the Enterprise. Soran however is keen to get to back to the observatory and while the Enterprise crew members, Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) and the android Data (Brent Spiner) search it, Soran surprises them, knocking out Geordi, and Data having recently installed a new emotion chip, finds himself too afraid to retaliate. Soran is transportred with Geordi to a Klingon bird of prey, which is under the command of the renegade Duras sisters. Soran plans to do business with them by giving them a compound called trilithium which the sisters want so they can create a powerful weapon. Picard speaks with the Enterprise's bartender, Guinan (Whoopie Goldberg) who tells him that Soran is trying to re-establish a link with the ribbon, which is called the nexus. Guinan describes the Nexus as being like inside joy, and that is what Soran is trying to do, however in order to do that he will use a nuclear missle to detonate a nearby sun on the planet Veridian III, but the impact while ultimately destroy the planet.
Picard soon tracks Soran to the planet and tries, unsuccessfully, to reason with him, but soon enough Soran fires his missile just as the nexus ribbon arrives he is transported. However while this is happening Geordi has been given back to the Enterprise crew, has unbeknownst to him, had his visor changed to allow the Duras sisters to see his vision, and they launch an attack on the Enterprise, but they are soon destroyed in the attack. The enterprise however suffers a warp core breach, where the ship's saucer section is separated and it crash lands on Veridian III, and shortly after the nexus wave passes over the planet and it is destroyed. Picard meanwhile has been transported to the nexus and he finds he has a wife and children, something he has always wanted beside his duty, but he soon realises it isn't real and speaks to an image of Guinan who explains he is in the nexus and he can go anywhere from here. Guinan also explains that another man has just arrived in the nexus as well, and as Picard goes to find him we see none other than Captain James T. Kirk chopping wood, who is caught up in his own fantasy of being at home, with a chance to reuinte with an old flame. And from here its up to Picard to try and persuade Kirk to help him save the day....
While its not the strongest entry in the Star Trek franchise, Generations still is quite a good effort and it brought in the Next Generation cast very well. Although the Next Generation crew were never in my opinion as interesting or as fun the original crew, its an entertaining affair, and they are introduced amusingly in the scene where the Enterprise crew are all dressed in a navy outfits, where Worf (Michael Dorn) is given promotion, but he has to walk the plank on an old ship to get his "hat of office", but they remove the plank and he falls into the water (however it turns out to be a holodeck!). But the reappearance of Kirk is a very welcome one and his two old crewmen, and when you see them together you see the rapport they have with one another shows just what the new crew are missing. Whereas Picard is always pretty straight laced and a bit too goody goody and lacks the rebelious streak that Kirk had, and that goes pretty much for most of the rest of the crew, but that's not to say that they don't provide moments of entertainment as they do and the TV series also had some good episodes.
So getting onto the next bit of the old blog movie review structure, the performances in Generations are actually fairly good, starting with Patrick Stewart in the role of Captain Picard, who has always played the part with a strong moral compass and seriousness about his duty as a starfleet officer. Stewart however does have one slightly cringeworthy moment when he breaks down crying reflecting on the news of his nephew who was killed in a fire. But what I do quite like about Stewart's potrayal of Picard is his no nonsense attitude and one of his best scenes comes when he makes Data deal with his fear, when the emotion chip is infused into his neural net and he becomes overwhelmed by the emotions, and Data wants to be deactivated. But Picard sternly tells him "I have every sympathy for what you are going through, but I need to do your duty and you will not be deactivated, that is an order, commander!".
Jonathan Frakes as Picard's second in command, William Riker was always actually a more colouful character and he was more akin to Kirk than Picard, and Frakes gives a good performance here although his role is little bit underwritten. Frakes does however get one of the film's best lines when Picard says to him at the end "we are only mortal" and Riker replies "speak for yourself, sir. I plan to live forever!". The standout of the next generation cast however is of course Brent Spiner as Data who provides a wonderfully funny and at times even poignant performance, as the android who uses the emotion chip and he experiences a different range of emotions. Of his various amusing moments, a few that standout include when Guinan gives him a drink but he can't articulate the emotion as he grimaces as he swallows it, and Guinan says "well he looks like he hates it" and Data says "yes I hate this! This is revolting!" Guinan "more?" Data "Please!". Also the moment where he resumes duties after a short break he goes onboard the Enteprise bridge and Riker orders him to search for lifeforms to which Data replies "I would be happy to, sir. I just love scanning for lifeforms!" and then sings that famous line "lifeforms, you tiny little lifeforms!" as he scans for them. Also in the moment where the Enterprise hurtles towards Veridian III's planet surface Data looks alarmed as the planet's view comes ever closer on the monitor screen and he says "oohhhhhhhhhhhh shit!".
The other next-gen members are all ok, but they aren't given a great deal to work with however Marina Sirtis as the ship's counsellor has a couple of nice moments, one with Picard where she consoles him over the deah of his family, and at the end where Data cries with joy having found his cat. Gates McFadden as Beverly Crusher (hubba hubba!) also provides a moment of amusement when Geordi is being examined by Dr Crusher with his visor having been hacked by Soran, the Duras sisters can see through his visor on their screens and they groan in disgust when they see Beverly and say "human females are so repulsive!".
As of the other cast members well getting to the old generation, we can't forget William Shatner's contribution as James Kirk, and he is perfect once again in the role as the retired captain. Shatner get's quite few good lines here as well as he meets with Picard who insists he help him, Kirk says "I don't need to be lectured by you, I was out saving the galaxy while your grandad was still in diapers!". Also when he asks if Picard is thinking of retiring from his post as Captain and he tells him "don't! Don't let them promote you, don't let them transfer you! Don't let them do anything that takes you off that bridge, because while you are there, you can make a difference!". James Doohan also get's a brief amusing cameo as Scotty as does Walter Koenig as Chekov, and Doohan has a funny moment where at the start of the film he wants to help the young Enterprise captain rescue the ships, but he resists the urge to stand up and Scotty says "Captain, is there something wrong with your chair???".
Getting onto the flaws of the film however well there were a few niggles, first off the controversial decision (PLOT SPOILER!) to kill off Kirk was in itself a bit of a flaw and it didn't go down well with the Star Trek fans. And the nature of Kirk's death in the end is a bit lame as he lies in the wreckage of the broken bridge that Soran shot down, and he says quitely "oh my...." as his last line before he passes on, which is pretty feeble to say the least, and it seems just not right that they should kill off such a great character under any circumstance. Malcolm McDowell's performance while it is far from bad is also problematic, mainly because he talks in cliches and some of his dialogue is pretty cringeworthy especially in the scene where he turns to Picard and says "now do excuse me, Captain, because I have an appointment with eternity and I don't want to be late!" and "don't you feel time gaining on you, Captain. Its like a predator, stalking you!". One of the amusing things about Soran though is that he is the man to have killed off Kirk and also the only man to have head butted Picard, now there's a double whammy! You could also say it doesn't always necessarily feel like a Star Trek film but more like a glorified extended TV episode than anything else. And this brings me onto Dennis McCarthy's score which is by no means bad but it does feel like it belongs to the TV show and not on the big screen, and it pales in comparison to the scores written by James Horner and Jerry Goldsmith. Another thing that bothered me was when Picard arrived in the nexus and met with his wife and children, why the hell where they all in Victorian clothes???? I mean they lived in the 24th century and not the 19th! It just seemed to be a very peculiar choice, or perhaps in Picard's subconscious perhaps he wants everyone to dress like that and get back to Victorian values! ;-)
Anyway all that aside Star Trek Generations is still a worthy and entertaining addition to the Star Trek franchise and while its not one of the best, it is worth a watch and it is for me easily the best out of the Next Generation films that followed. First Contact was up next which was not bad although a bit dull, and Insurrection and Nemesis were both crap, so basically I won't be reviewing them.
So I will leave it there for now and beam myself up!
Wednesday, 19 June 2013
The man of steel is back
Right so its time for a new movie review, as I've done plenty of older ones, but as I've just seen the new Superman film, Man of Steel this week, I thought I would give it a review so here it is, so I will start with the usual plot synopsis (don't worry I won't give it all away, BUT THERE ARE SOME SPOILERS AHEAD!) and take it from there....
The story begins on the planet Krypton where their civilisation is in grave danger as the planet's core has become unstable and will inevitably self destruct. Jor-El (Russell Crowe) a scientist and his wife Lara, launch their naturally newborn son into space, where Jor-El has infused his son's cell with the Krypton codex in order to preserve the Krypton race. Jor-El however is soon murdered by a rebel leader, General Zod (Michael Shannon) in retaliation for stealing the codex. Zod is soon captured by Kryptonian soldiers and he is banished with his men into the Phantom zone. Soon after this Krypton explodes. Meanwhile Jor-El's son, Kal-el travels to Earth in a spacecraft and crash lands, and is soon found by a married couple, Jonathan (Kevin Costner) and Martha Kent (Diane Lane) who raise him and name as Clark. As a youngster growing up however, Clark finds it difficult to fit in with other kids and his super powers of enhanced hearing and sight disorientate him, but he soon learns to control them. As Clark becomes a teenager, Jonathan warns him he can never tell people his true identity or what he is capable of as society would reject him. Jonathan later is killed during a hurricane storm and afterward Clark leaves home and lives nomad lifestyle working different jobs.
Sometime later however Clark manages to locate a Kryptonian scout ship which was found by a scientific survey team. Clark enters the ship and finds a way to communicate with the consciousness of his father, Jor-El, who appears as a hologram and tells Clark who he really is and where he came from. A reporter, Lois Lane (Amy Adams) who travelled with the team enters the scout ship as well but is attacked and badly injured by its defence systems, which Clark soon disables and he helps coiterise Lois's wounds with his x-ray vision. Lois returns back to Metropolis to hear newspaper, The Daily Planet where her story of being rescued by a man with superhuman abilities is rejected by her editor Perry White (Laurence Fishburne). Lois decides instead to trace where Clark came from and she eventually tracks him to his home in Smallville with his adopted mother Martha, and after hearing his story, she decides to keep his identity secret. But this is where things start to get unpleasant as General Zod returns to the scene as he was freed from the Phantom zone after Krypton was destroyed, and he arrives on Earth delivering an ultimatum to give up Clark or the human race will suffer the consequences. And its around about this time where Clark dons his dark blue suit and red cape and does his Superman thing.....
Well with Man of steel, we have yet another franchise reboot and overall its not a bad one and it sees a complete overhaul in the visual presentation of the film as well as its depiction of Krypton and the Kryptonian race. It also sees an interesting concept where Clark arrives on Earth and is adopted by the Kents that it takes him time for his body to adapt to the conditions of the planet, as we see in the scene where the young Clark is at school and his superhuman abilities of sight and sound overwhelm him and he panics and runs out the room. And from here Clark has to learn to cope with his super powers and to keep them under control, and it is the same for General Zod when he arrives on the planet, he needs to wear a special mask in order to cope with Earth's atmosphere. Another interesting aspect of the film is how Clark decides to go through his wilderness years after his father died, going from place to place and using different identities, and it takes him time before he finds out who he really is as he eventually finds the scout ship in Arctic.
Getting onto the performances starting with Henry Cavill, who I have to say I had reservations about as the choice of Superman as in promo photos he just didn't seem to be the right choice for the part. However after having seen the film, Cavill is actually not that bad in the role, and while he doesn't bear much resemblance to Christopher Reeve, he doesn't really need to in order to make it work (although he does slightly resemble Reeve with his specs on at the end). Cavill pretty much plays the part straight down the line with little in the way of humour (but we'll get to that) but he does importantly show Superman's natural kindess, compassion and decency and he is still very much the quintessential goodie, even though he does sound a bit arrogant at times, which is very un-Supe like! Amy Adams is also pretty good (and pretty!) in her role as Lois Lane and they quickly get to the fact that Lois is well into Superman (and as a PLOT SPOILER they do share a kiss later on!) although she does somewhat lack the sassiness that Margot Kidder and Kate Bosworth brought to the role.
Russell Crowe as Jor-El gives a decent enough performance but it felt to me more like he was replaying his role of Maximus from Gladiator, probably given that he uses the same accent. Kevin Costner also rather surprisingly actually gives one of the film's best performances as Jonathan Kent, Clark's adopted father, as he plays the part in a very understated way, which makes you realise that Costner is still an underrated actor. Laurence Fishburne while he doesn't get much screen time, is also very good in his role of Perry White, although I was pretty shocked to see how much weight he has put on! The weak link in the cast however for me was Michael Shannon as General Zod as his take on Zod is very one dimensional and there is nothing much in the way of real menace and certainly not charisma.
But getting onto the flaws there are few, starting with the main one which is the overall tone of the film is very serious, in fact it makes Christopher Nolan's Batman series look like a light comedy! (funnily enough he was one of the co-producers for this film). And that seems to be a common theme in the reboot of some of these franchises is that there is a need to be so serious and one note, removing alot in the way of wit and humour and not allow for the audience to relate to the characters. The film also has one of the NOISIEST soundtracks of all time as well, as it is full with near non-stop booming and crashing sound effects. The action scenes are also shot in a very frantic fashion and they can be a bit distracting, particularly in the scenes where Superman is flying, and later on when he fights against Zod. Not only that it must impossible to calculate just how much Superman owes in damages to the city! And there is also the insistance that along with the noisy explosions that Superman's take off also has to be noisy as well! In the scene where he tells Lois Lane to step back a bit before he takes off, its like he is hitting you with an atomic blast when he flies off, what is wrong with a nice controlled take off a la Christopher Reeve style???? (although he does seem to get the hang of it later on). And it doesn't really seem to start feeling like a Superman film until near the end where Clark arrives at the Daily Planet, then you get the sense that we have only then arrived in a film that belongs to the Superman universe.
However despite that the film still has something going for it, and visually it is quite impressive, and the Kryptonian soldier suits are pretty cool looking, in fact they are very similar in design to the biosuits in the video game Crysis. The new superman outfit is actually not too bad either, and is an improvement on the rather dreary coloured suit that was used in Superman Returns and it has a much cooler cape (minus the S sign though). Zack Snyder does a decent job at the directing duties but perhaps in retrospect he might not have been the best man for the job, regardless he acquits himself well enough. And another plus Hans Zimmer's score, while its not in the same league as his terrific score for The Dark Knight Rises it is quite good, and it has a stirring theme tune.
So that's it for my look at Man of Steel, which is a fairly enjoyable reboot of yet another Superhero franchise, it is by no means perfect, but if you can forgive that then you might just enjoy it, and Henry Cavill is a decent choice for the role although I have to admit he's not the best choice and his take on Supe lacks the humility that Reeve and Routh brought to the role. However hopefully Cavill can develop his character if he is given a sequel, which let's hope is an improvement.
And that's it for now.
The story begins on the planet Krypton where their civilisation is in grave danger as the planet's core has become unstable and will inevitably self destruct. Jor-El (Russell Crowe) a scientist and his wife Lara, launch their naturally newborn son into space, where Jor-El has infused his son's cell with the Krypton codex in order to preserve the Krypton race. Jor-El however is soon murdered by a rebel leader, General Zod (Michael Shannon) in retaliation for stealing the codex. Zod is soon captured by Kryptonian soldiers and he is banished with his men into the Phantom zone. Soon after this Krypton explodes. Meanwhile Jor-El's son, Kal-el travels to Earth in a spacecraft and crash lands, and is soon found by a married couple, Jonathan (Kevin Costner) and Martha Kent (Diane Lane) who raise him and name as Clark. As a youngster growing up however, Clark finds it difficult to fit in with other kids and his super powers of enhanced hearing and sight disorientate him, but he soon learns to control them. As Clark becomes a teenager, Jonathan warns him he can never tell people his true identity or what he is capable of as society would reject him. Jonathan later is killed during a hurricane storm and afterward Clark leaves home and lives nomad lifestyle working different jobs.
Sometime later however Clark manages to locate a Kryptonian scout ship which was found by a scientific survey team. Clark enters the ship and finds a way to communicate with the consciousness of his father, Jor-El, who appears as a hologram and tells Clark who he really is and where he came from. A reporter, Lois Lane (Amy Adams) who travelled with the team enters the scout ship as well but is attacked and badly injured by its defence systems, which Clark soon disables and he helps coiterise Lois's wounds with his x-ray vision. Lois returns back to Metropolis to hear newspaper, The Daily Planet where her story of being rescued by a man with superhuman abilities is rejected by her editor Perry White (Laurence Fishburne). Lois decides instead to trace where Clark came from and she eventually tracks him to his home in Smallville with his adopted mother Martha, and after hearing his story, she decides to keep his identity secret. But this is where things start to get unpleasant as General Zod returns to the scene as he was freed from the Phantom zone after Krypton was destroyed, and he arrives on Earth delivering an ultimatum to give up Clark or the human race will suffer the consequences. And its around about this time where Clark dons his dark blue suit and red cape and does his Superman thing.....
Well with Man of steel, we have yet another franchise reboot and overall its not a bad one and it sees a complete overhaul in the visual presentation of the film as well as its depiction of Krypton and the Kryptonian race. It also sees an interesting concept where Clark arrives on Earth and is adopted by the Kents that it takes him time for his body to adapt to the conditions of the planet, as we see in the scene where the young Clark is at school and his superhuman abilities of sight and sound overwhelm him and he panics and runs out the room. And from here Clark has to learn to cope with his super powers and to keep them under control, and it is the same for General Zod when he arrives on the planet, he needs to wear a special mask in order to cope with Earth's atmosphere. Another interesting aspect of the film is how Clark decides to go through his wilderness years after his father died, going from place to place and using different identities, and it takes him time before he finds out who he really is as he eventually finds the scout ship in Arctic.
Getting onto the performances starting with Henry Cavill, who I have to say I had reservations about as the choice of Superman as in promo photos he just didn't seem to be the right choice for the part. However after having seen the film, Cavill is actually not that bad in the role, and while he doesn't bear much resemblance to Christopher Reeve, he doesn't really need to in order to make it work (although he does slightly resemble Reeve with his specs on at the end). Cavill pretty much plays the part straight down the line with little in the way of humour (but we'll get to that) but he does importantly show Superman's natural kindess, compassion and decency and he is still very much the quintessential goodie, even though he does sound a bit arrogant at times, which is very un-Supe like! Amy Adams is also pretty good (and pretty!) in her role as Lois Lane and they quickly get to the fact that Lois is well into Superman (and as a PLOT SPOILER they do share a kiss later on!) although she does somewhat lack the sassiness that Margot Kidder and Kate Bosworth brought to the role.
Russell Crowe as Jor-El gives a decent enough performance but it felt to me more like he was replaying his role of Maximus from Gladiator, probably given that he uses the same accent. Kevin Costner also rather surprisingly actually gives one of the film's best performances as Jonathan Kent, Clark's adopted father, as he plays the part in a very understated way, which makes you realise that Costner is still an underrated actor. Laurence Fishburne while he doesn't get much screen time, is also very good in his role of Perry White, although I was pretty shocked to see how much weight he has put on! The weak link in the cast however for me was Michael Shannon as General Zod as his take on Zod is very one dimensional and there is nothing much in the way of real menace and certainly not charisma.
But getting onto the flaws there are few, starting with the main one which is the overall tone of the film is very serious, in fact it makes Christopher Nolan's Batman series look like a light comedy! (funnily enough he was one of the co-producers for this film). And that seems to be a common theme in the reboot of some of these franchises is that there is a need to be so serious and one note, removing alot in the way of wit and humour and not allow for the audience to relate to the characters. The film also has one of the NOISIEST soundtracks of all time as well, as it is full with near non-stop booming and crashing sound effects. The action scenes are also shot in a very frantic fashion and they can be a bit distracting, particularly in the scenes where Superman is flying, and later on when he fights against Zod. Not only that it must impossible to calculate just how much Superman owes in damages to the city! And there is also the insistance that along with the noisy explosions that Superman's take off also has to be noisy as well! In the scene where he tells Lois Lane to step back a bit before he takes off, its like he is hitting you with an atomic blast when he flies off, what is wrong with a nice controlled take off a la Christopher Reeve style???? (although he does seem to get the hang of it later on). And it doesn't really seem to start feeling like a Superman film until near the end where Clark arrives at the Daily Planet, then you get the sense that we have only then arrived in a film that belongs to the Superman universe.
However despite that the film still has something going for it, and visually it is quite impressive, and the Kryptonian soldier suits are pretty cool looking, in fact they are very similar in design to the biosuits in the video game Crysis. The new superman outfit is actually not too bad either, and is an improvement on the rather dreary coloured suit that was used in Superman Returns and it has a much cooler cape (minus the S sign though). Zack Snyder does a decent job at the directing duties but perhaps in retrospect he might not have been the best man for the job, regardless he acquits himself well enough. And another plus Hans Zimmer's score, while its not in the same league as his terrific score for The Dark Knight Rises it is quite good, and it has a stirring theme tune.
So that's it for my look at Man of Steel, which is a fairly enjoyable reboot of yet another Superhero franchise, it is by no means perfect, but if you can forgive that then you might just enjoy it, and Henry Cavill is a decent choice for the role although I have to admit he's not the best choice and his take on Supe lacks the humility that Reeve and Routh brought to the role. However hopefully Cavill can develop his character if he is given a sequel, which let's hope is an improvement.
And that's it for now.
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