‘Predators’ (2010)

My reading schedule, for the week, has been turned upside down due to, well… All sorts of stuff really :o) Everything has been put back by a day so there will still be reviews for this week! In the meantime, I finally got to watch ‘Predators’ the other day (only two years after it was released, that’s pretty good for me…) so here’s a few of my thoughts to tide things over until reviews start up again tomorrow. I’m not going to bother with a blurb, partly because I’m sure you’ve already all seen it but also because…

I really enjoyed ‘Predators’, mostly because it didn’t mess around with the classic plot (not like ‘Predator 2’ did although I enjoyed that for different reasons). You know what I mean, a group of hardened killers in the jungle suddenly discovering that they share it with a killer that’s even more hardened than they are. If it isn’t broken then don’t fix it ;o)
Basically rehashing the original does come with its own problems though. Our ‘heroes’ may not know what’s going on but we do, having all seen the original, and we know what’s coming as a result. Royce’s climactic fight, with the last Predator standing, was very cool but borrowed a little too much from Dutch’s fight (in the original) to make it really compelling; I’d seen it all before… Taking the action ‘off world’ is a relatively decent way to get round this as it asks new questions of our team which does lead to interesting developments (although the ‘revelation’ about Edwin wasn’t much of a revelation, saw that one coming). Adding a little bit of variety to the Predators didn’t do a lot for the plot (they don’t really make much use of their different skills) but having more than one keeps the film moving along nicely. You can kill one but the threat remains as deadly as it was. Hanzo’s sword fight with a Predator made for a nice touch though, expanding on the fight (between Billy and the Predator) that we never got to see in the original.
Some of the alien ‘fauna’ makes for decent viewing as well with the hunting beast’s attack making for a few gripping moments (the CGI looked convincing to me). I did wonder though if a trick was missed not having a few Aliens hiding in the trees, especially after you see those bits of skin in the cages…

Not a bad film at all then but maybe a little too similar to the original to really stand out in its own right. ‘Predators’ was a lot of fun to watch in the meantime though, how could it not be when you have heavily armed soldiers going up against alien hunters with Laurence Fishburne cackling away in the background?

‘Conan the Barbarian’ (2011)

Every so often, a brief window of opportunity comes along where it’s not just kids DVDs being played on the TV and I get a chance to watch something that doesn’t involve Winnie the Pooh or Pingu. Ok, Pingu is quite cool (in very small doses) but even so…
One of those windows arose, a couple of days ago, so I took the opportunity to finally give last year’s ‘Conan the Barbarian’ a go. Now here’s a film that I haven’t heard a single good word about. The fact that it was for sale on the discount shelf, at Tescos, speaks volumes considering the film is only just over a year old. I went for it though. I mean, how wrong could I go with a film that only cost four pounds and features one of my favourite fantasy characters pretty much doing what he does best?

The answer is, well… I don’t know really. On the one hand, I watched ‘Conan’ and thought, ‘well, that was pretty much what I expected.’ On the other hand though, I watched ‘Conan’ and wanted to give it a good slap before sending it home to think about what it had done. Quite a confusing film then.

I think the biggest issue for me was the film makers decision to ignore all the previous ‘Conan’ continuity (Robert E. Howard’s works, ‘Savage Sword of Conan’, you name it…) and basically rehash the 1982, Arnold Schwarzenegger, ‘Conan’ film. There are a lot of excellent tales there that are waiting to be told on the big screen; why the big deal about a film that is essentially one that we have already seen before? It was a little disappointing, to say the least, to realise that I could have stuck with the original and not been any worse off. Making a couple of references to what Conan did, in Howard’s tales, didn’t come off as paying homage so much as it did remind me what this film could have incorporated. This was quite galling and I couldn’t help but wonder why Howard’s tales weren’t utilised more, is it a ‘rights thing’?

To add insult to injury, a lot of the dialogue is mumbled so you don’t really know what’s being said, only that such dialogue ends with Conan doing something violent to someone or bedding Tamara. There are some well-choreographed fight scenes that are fun to watch and really, that is what Conan is all about so I couldn’t complain too much about the film. It would have been nice though to hear what people were saying while this was happening… And what was with the whole ‘Conan must fight the ‘end of level boss’ before he can face Khalar Zym’? That really made things feel contrived when there was actually quite a smooth and straightforward path for the plot to follow.

But it was fun to watch though that’s the confusing thing. The filmmakers stayed true to Howard’s vision in that they kept things fairly simple and concentrated on Conan fighting stuff, both other men and some giant thing with tentacles. It was fun to watch and the backdrop to it all looked pretty spectacular albeit not really Conan’s world at all. You can’t just say, “here’s Cimmeria and here’s the coast of Zingara, definitely Hyboria then”, not when other parts of the continent seem to be called other things entirely. I wasn’t too keen on that either, if it’s going to be Conan’s world then make it Conan’s world.
Talking of Conan though, I thought Jason Momoa pretty much nailed it with the whole ‘brooding, violent and ready with a quip’ approach. I liked that :o)

‘Conan the Barbarian’ was a fun way to spend an evening then but anything more than that? Nope, not really. It looks like my wait for a decent ‘Conan’ film will take a bit longer…

'The Hobbit' Trailer (or 'Graeme finally admits that he was wrong the whole time...')

I know everyone else has already posted this trailer but bear with me :o)

So, I wrote this post just over four years ago and the time has come for me to admit that having singing in this film isn't such a bad idea after all (although I still hope that the Elves  won't be singing in Rivendell)...



Isn't that amazing? Sends chills right down my spine...

‘The Incredible Shrinking Man’ (1957)

I’m quite handy in terms of getting books read but there are literally dozens of DVDs on my shelves that I buy, or receive as gifts, and somehow never get round to watching. The reason behind this is incredibly simple... None of my own DVDs feature any musical numbers and the smallest member of the household absolutely insists on musical viewing otherwise she will turn the television off (we pretty much had to give up on an afternoon viewing of ‘Boston Legal’ the other day’). I really need to find a copy of ‘Repo!’ don’t I...?

Every now and then now (usually after about half seven or eight in the evening), Sue and I get the chance to wrest back control of our own TV and watch something that doesn’t involve dancing and stupid songs (I’m really growing to hate ‘Guys and Dolls’...) We could end up watching anything really and last week it was ‘The Incredible Shrinking Man’. It really was a random choice (made with comments along the lines of “it’s a film from the fifties, it’s got to be good for a laugh”) but by the time the end came round neither of us could look away from the screen. The film was so good, in fact, that I went out and bought the book not long afterwards. Check it out, seriously...

An unfortunate turn of events (accidentally dosed with radiation and then accidentally sprayed with insecticide, could happen to anyone) leads Scott Carey to suddenly begin to shrink and no-one knows how to return him to his normal size. As Scott grows smaller his problems only grow bigger as he goes from being a national curiosity to being forced out of his doll’s house home when he is attacked by his own cat. It’s in the cellar though where things suddenly become a matter of life and death. A leaking boiler becomes a raging flood and Scott’s only source of food lies directly under the home of a deadly spider. And Scott is still shrinking...

So, not only a film that I watched the hell out of but a film that prompted me to visit ‘Amazon New & Used’ the following day and pick up the book. Thanks to the Richard Matheson connection, ‘The Incredible Shrinking Man’ may have also nudged me in the direction of re-reading ‘I Am Legend’. Was the film really that good? Yes, yes it was.

Suspend your disbelief and you’ll soon find yourself safely past the slightly vague science behind Scott’s shrinking (to be fair, it was the fifties and radiation could safely be blamed for most things) and into the exploration of how one man fares having everything he holds dear stripped away from him. As his condition progresses, Scott must increasingly rely on his wife to take care of everything for him; a role reversal that almost goes unnoticed but is important nevertheless. Scott is under real pressure here anyway but his complete loss of control can only make things worse and we see Scott gradually become more morose and domineering as a result. Grant Williams’ portrayal of Scott Carey is a little wooden to start off with but cracks in his character hints at rage and despair and I ended up wondering if Williams was as wooden as I’d thought. Williams is actually showing us just how an ordinary man (fully in control of his life) can crack under the pressures of a completely inexplicable event.

The beauty though is that Carey doesn’t crack. Events end up moving far too quickly for this to happen as Carey must suddenly fight to survive in a world that is far too big for him. Events in the cellar are genuinely nerve wracking and the scenes with the spider make for compulsive viewing, absolutely superb stuff.

All credit to the film for not taking the easy way out at the end (don’t want to say too much here for fear of spoilers) and even more credit is due for somehow injecting a note of optimism into a situation that is hopeless for Carey. You’re left with a real sense that Carey’s story hasn’t ended, even though the film has, and it’s hard not to feel a little excited about the journey that awaits him off-screen.

All in all then, ‘The Incredible Shrinking Man’ made for a great way to spend an hour and a bit. Now I need to get on and read the book...

‘Tron: Legacy’

You won’t normally see me talking about films here for a couple of reasons. First up is the fact that I’m just hopeless at making it to the cinema to watch anything that I want to see, it just never happens. “That’s no problem though” I hear you all say, “just watch it on DVD a few months later”. I could do that, you’re absolutely right. The really annoying thing is though, Hope has learnt to turn the TV off at just the moment when I’m really into something (and giggles when I tell her to leave the TV alone...) I may as well read a book instead to be honest...

Every so often though, a film comes along where I will creep downstairs to watch it when the little one is asleep. Yep, I’m talking about ‘Tron: Legacy’.

I loved the original ‘Tron’ to pieces when I was a kid (and even posted something about it on the blog, click Here) so I’d been looking forward to the sequel for a long time. It then turned out that I had to look forward to the sequel for a little while longer as I missed it in the cinema and had to hang around for the DVD instead, go me :o)

I got there in the end though and was suitably entertained by the whole experience; how can you not be with lightcycle battles (as well as what I’m calling ‘Frisbee Wars’...) being upgraded for a 21^st century audience? I mean, forget the story; this is what all the fans of the original film came for isn’t it? I certainly got my money’s worth here with some very cool looking 'game grid' sequences, the night club scenes weren’t bad either.

I wasn’t so sure about bits of the story though. The search for Flynn worked fine (and I may have even got a little teary eyed in all the right places) but the stuff about new digital life, and Clu’s refusal to accept this, just didn’t seem to gel. It was like there were two different stories being told here and one of them just petered out into nothing, at least as far as I could see.

‘Tron: Legacy’ was great fun and, in some ways, was just like seeing the original for the first time. I got the impression though that it sometimes wasn’t quite sure what it was on about. IMDB tells me that there are more sequels lined up though so maybe there’s time yet for things to be worked out.

Sci-Fi Classics: 'Tarantula' & 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers'

Because the weather has been rotten the last couple of days so there was nothing for it but to watch old sci-fi films from the fifties... :o)

 'Tarantula!' (1955)

Because there is nothing better than watching a very obviously superimposed spider tear up the Arizona desert before being taken down by the US military! Having said that though, the spider may well be obviously superimposed but it’s somehow all the more lifelike for it. Watching this bad boy creep up on cattle and unsuspecting passers by makes for some surprisingly creepy moments. I’m thinking of when it creeps up to the mad professor’s house while his attractive assistant is getting ready for bed. I was not at all telling her to look out of the damn window, no sir…
John Agar does a great job of showing us just why small town American doctors were a great defence against alien invasion in the fifties while Leo G. Carrol (Mr. Waverly!) shows us just why America’s ultimate demise will come at the hand of absent minded scientists who can’t see the perils inherent in their creations. The real star of the show though is the Tarantula.

'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' (1956)

Something alien has invaded the sleepy town of Santa Mira and who else can combat this threat but the local doctor? (I told you, if there’s an alien invasion happening then a small town doctor will be heading the resistance) His job is made all the harder though by the fact that the invading force is hidden in plain sight. They could be any one of us…
I’d seen ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’ years ago but was more than happy to get a copy for Christmas as I’d read Jack Finney’s book fairly recently and wanted to see how the two matched up. The film does a great job of matching the sense of creeping dread and paranoia in the book; all the more so as the director is happy to take more of a risk with leading characters and have them succumb to the invasion. I liked how the film ends on such an open ended note (it could go anywhere) but preferred the victorious yet strangely downbeat ending of the book itself. ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’ was still a lot of fun to watch although I was left wondering how the colour version could be five minutes longer than the black and white version even though they are both exactly the same film… 

Zombies Zombies Zombies - Strippers vs Zombies

Whereas ‘Zombie Strippers’ was just execrable, ‘Zombies, Zombies, Zombies’ is a little harder to call. Is there any such thing as a film that’s so bad it’s good? ‘Zombies, Zombies, Zombies’ could well be that film. It was awful but I haven’t enjoyed a film so much in a long time :o)

The premise is simple; a motley gang of strippers, hookers, bouncers and pimps are caught in the middle of a zombie outbreak and shelter in the local strip joint. And… that’s it :o)

The acting and dialogue are poor to say the least (although Johnny ‘Back Hand’ Vegas totally steals the show, seriously!) and the CGI is likewise. What I loved though is the sense that everyone knew the film was going to be a bit rubbish and just decided to have fun until it was done. Loads of zombies, loads of screaming and loads of blood – you actually can’t ask for a lot more than this from a zombie film and I really got into it. If you’re a fan of zombie films then you should really give it a go (I picked up my copy for £5 from HMV). If you’re a fan of bad zombie films then you’ve probably already seen it ;o)

'Survival of the Dead'

As someone who has already seen ‘Hard Rock Zombies’ and ‘Zombie Strippers’, not only do I automatically win at ‘Worst Zombie Movie Ever’ conversations but I can also rest easy in the knowledge that any other zombie movies will be a step in the right direction (no matter how bad they are...) Despite this though, I was a little bit worried at the amount of criticism aimed at ‘Survival of the Dead’; especially when some of it came from the likes of top blogger Niall. I like George Romero zombie films dammit! ‘Diary of the Dead’ left me more bemused than anything else and ‘Land of the Dead’ was disappointing but they weren’t all that bad. ‘Survival of the Dead’....? Romero may have done his best work in the first three films but ‘Survival’ wasn’t bad at all.

If you’ve watched ‘Diary of the Dead’ you’ll remember that our gang of teenage documentary makers were held up at gunpoint by deserting National Guardsmen. Did you ever find yourself wondering what became of these soldiers? Nope, I didn’t either but ‘Survival of the Dead’ takes up the story of these soldiers and follows it to it’s conclusion.

That conclusion lies on a small island that looks to be a perfect hideaway from zombies but could well be anything but. Two feuding families have two very different ideas about what should be done with the remaining zombies on the island. And we all know who really wins in a zombie film when the survivors can’t work together...

It’s almost like Romero spoiled us all by doing his best work first. If you asked me to recommend one of his films it would still be ‘Dawn of the Dead’; memorable characters, a splash of social commentary and hundreds of zombies doing what zombies do best. Fast forward thirty two years and it still holds up. The only problem these days is that Romero’s run out of stuff to comment on and he doesn’t want to go back and revisit earlier work. What do you do then? What Romero has done is to just go with the zombie tale and forget the commentary entirely, a move that does leave the film lacking that extra depth but worked as far as I was concerned.

At the bottom of every zombie film is a group of people just trying to make out the best they can in a world that’s trying to eat them. The cast of ‘Survival’ may not be up to the task of getting this across (they’re really not) but the message is still there and it’s worth sticking with. People are inherently selfish and cannot work together to a common goal, even when that goal is avoiding getting eaten by the living dead. The end result is inevitable... It’s happened in Romero films before and that sense of helplessness is just as powerful this time round. People’s plans and schemes are just doomed to come to nothing as they can’t see beyond what’s in their own heads.

Add zombies to the mix and there’s enough gore to keep the likes of me happy! While the attempts at humour fall a little flat, you can’t complain about the relentless onslaught of zombies at all the right times. It’s at moments like these that Romero is back to doing what he does best.

‘Survival of the Dead’ does have it’s flaws but I think the greatest flaw is to watch it and expect another 'Dawn of the Dead'. Watch it for what it is and you’ll have a better time with it than you were expecting...

‘Zombieland’

I am worse at catching up with films that I’d like to watch than I am at working my way through the reading pile... (I’m actually hanging my head in shame as I write this) ‘Zombieland’ has been out for far too long now for me to have any other excuse for not watching it than just plain being rubbish at getting round to it... :o(

I’m glad I finally did though! I don’t think I’ve laughed so much at a zombie film since ‘Shaun of the Dead’ and I may have laughed even more this time round. Explaining the zombie outbreak wasn’t such a great approach; not only does it takes away all the mystery but if you’re going to do something like that then at least come up with a decent explanation! The fact that it was so much fun to watch though outweighed this admittedly small issue. People get killed by zombies in amusing ways and zombies die in ways that are even funnier (thank you Cynthia Knickerbocker!) You can’t ask for a lot more than that other than having Bill Murray in a cameo role... which there was :o)

The unrelentingly bleak landscape of the zombie apocalypse really sets off the moments of humour (of which there are loads) and had me watching the whole way through. There’s talk of sequels and I’m excited already, I won’t be leaving it so long to check these out! Well, maybe I won’t. We’ll see...

Zombie Double Bill!

One of the great things about being signed off sick for a whole fortnight is that you get to catch up on all the DVDs that you’ve bought but somehow never found the time to watch. Me being me, any DVD catch up will involve zombies; of course it will. Here’s what I’ve been watching…



‘Dead Snow’

It’s not often that I find a film that makes me laugh out loud while I’m shrinking away in fear. ‘Dead Snow’ is one of those films. A group of teenage medical students go on holiday in the mountains and get picked off by Nazi zombies; you may think you’ve seen it all before but ‘Dead Snow’ is different.
Like I said, this is one of those few films that makes you laugh whilst cowering in fear at the same time. The bit where they try and call the emergency services made me laugh out loud as did the bit right at the end where the two survivors realise that things are even worse than they thought. There are some genuinely scary moments as well which all made worse by the bleak winter surroundings. I’d heard ‘Dead Snow’ was worth watching, no-one ever told me just how good it was though!



‘Zombie Strippers’

Sometimes a title just jumps out at you and says, “Buy me, I’m great!” It’s only when you get to the end of the film that you realise why the DVD only cost £3 and why it was nestled firmly in the depths of the bargain bin. The best thing about ‘Zombie Strippers’ is the title. Okay, the scene with the ping pong balls made me laugh as well :o) A stripper becomes a zombie and infects other strippers who want to cater to a clientele that finds itself into dead women stripping. Er… that’s it really. Nothing that makes you jump in fright here, ‘Zombie Strippers’ is a film that’s playing for laughs but finds itself in the position of being just that little too silly to be properly silly.
It’s a shame really as the title looked like it could be a lot of fun. I never thought I’d find a boring zombie film but ‘Zombie Strippers’ proved me wrong…

'The Wicker Man'

I finally got round to watching ‘The Wicker Man’ and have successfully completed my ‘Horror Film Required Viewing’ before the wife gets home on Thursday! I’m assuming that you all know the plot for ‘The Wicker Man’, I feel like I must be the last person to have seen it! I knew how it was going to end (being one those films that people know all about even if they haven’t seen it) but couldn’t help but be carried away by the intensity and sheer weirdness of the plot. I don’t think I’ve ever watched a horror film with so much singing...

The setting is beautiful yet very disturbing at the same time (almost too beautiful...) while the tension is racked up to unbelievable levels. Sergeant Neil Howie knows that something isn’t quite right on Summerisle but he has no idea just how wrong it’s all going to turn out to be. The twist in the tale is brilliant and comes at just the right moment. The look on Howie’s face right at the end (when it all hits home) has to be seen to be believed. I sat there shivering as the end credits rolled and then spent the next few minutes walking round the house saying, “what the f...” over and over again.

I’m glad I finally got to watch ‘The Wicker Man’. Apparently, the 2006 remake is to be avoided at all costs...

Graeme’s Horror Movie Weekend!

After what I like to call ‘The Chucky Incident' I really have to be careful what horror films I show my wife. My ‘Oh that’s funny’ is her ‘Nosebleed inducing terror’ after all… Because of that I haven’t really watched a lot of horror recently, until this weekend that is. When the wife is away… I get out all the horror movies I need to watch and get busy! I still didn’t manage to get round to watching ‘The Wicker Man’ (the original one, not the one with Nicolas Cage which should be avoided apparently!) but I think I acquitted myself well. Here’s what I managed to watch over the weekend…



‘Night of the Living Dead’

If you’re thinking that I’ve posted about this one before then you’re kinda right. What we’re talking about here is the 1990 remake of the 1968 classic and I have to say… I think this might just be the better version. Everything’s the same as the original (with the notable exception of Barbara who actually gets to talk here and do stuff) but the fear and paranoia is hyped up just that little bit more and the end result benefits from this. There is also a world of difference in the special effects, which always makes for a better viewing experience. Patricia Tallman and Tony Todd are great as Ben and Barbara. Like I said, it’s great to see what would have happened if Barbara hadn’t gone catatonic right at the start. It’s been years since I saw this last and I’d forgotten just how good it was.



‘Brain Dead’

Or ‘Dead Alive’, depending on where you live. Before Peter Jackson got all serious with films like ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘King Kong’ etc, he was all about gory zombie films and exploding sheep. There are no exploding sheep here (they’re in ‘Bad Taste’, watch it if you haven’t already) but there is plenty to make up for that. If you’re a fan of the gore then this cautionary tale of Lionel’s mother is nothing but sheer fun the whole way through. Never, ever get too close to a Sumatran Rat Monkey; your life won’t be worth living! Lionel tries to do the right thing by his mother, even after she becomes a ravening zombie that wants to eat him, but it never quite works for the poor guy. If you’ve ever wondered if a zombie can get pregnant then this film will answer that question for you! I was left wondering though… What is it about me that can laugh all the way through the massacre in the house (it is funny…) but retched slightly at the scene with the custard?



‘Trailer Park of Terror’

I won this in a competition and, having never heard of it, came to the film with no expectations at all. Good thing really as this tale of red neck zombies preying on unwitting travellers was ok but didn’t quite do it for me. There were some genuinely scary/icky moments (boy being made into fried jerky was possibly the highlight here) that were a lot of fun but these were spoiled by the wise cracking demon lady and the gradual decline into stereotypical ‘killing teenagers by numbers’ plot. There was enough to keep me going until the end though and now I come to think of it, the bit with the fat zombie and the junkie made me laugh as well… :o)



‘Mum & Dad’

This was another film where I had no expectations. The difference here was that this film scared the… you know… out of me. A Polish cleaner, working at Heathrow Airport, learns a hard lesson when she accepts an invitation to a new friend’s house. When our heroine regains consciousness, she finds herself a prisoner of the sadistic Mum and Dad in a house where torture and abuse are a fact of everyday life…
I like my gore to be a little bit overdone (in a ‘Brain Dead’ kind of way) and I like my horror to come with a large dose of suspense. ‘Mum and Dad’ is brimming with suspense (I was yelling at the TV on more than one occasion) and while the torture, and various fetishes, are frighteningly realistic that just means you can’t keep your eyes off it. ‘Mum and Dad’ is one of those films where it ends and you realise that you've been sat in the exact same position for eighty-five minutes and you can only just feel the pins and needles in your legs. Well, that’s what happened to me.
One word describes this film and that’s ‘brilliant’. Just don't watch if you have a weak stomach!

That was as many films as I had time to get through this weekend, I’ll let you know how ‘The Wicker Man’ goes…

What I watched this weekend...

For one reason and another, this weekend was more about watching films on DVD than it was about reading books (although books have been read and reviews will be going up later this week...) This weekend was also about surprises, particularly when my father-in-law asked me if I had any horror films worth watching. Talk about things you never expect to hear...
Anyway, I had a couple of DVDs that I hadn’t got round to watching so I thought we could give them a try. One of them worked but the other one didn’t go down quite so well. See if you can work out which is which...



‘Outpost’
Nazi Zombies! They’re always good in a horror film. Except these aren’t so much Nazi Zombies as they are ‘Nazi Super Zombies rendered indestructible by Cosmic Rays’ which has to be even better! And it is. ‘Outpost’ recounts the tale of an ill fated mission to loot the contents of an underground SS bunker and what happens once the sun goes down. These days you have to ask yourself why teams of battle hardened mercenaries insist on raiding places where military experiments have taken place. Haven’t they figured out what’s likely to happen when they go into these places? Luckily for the father-in-law and I, DC’s team of mercenaries thought this was just going to be an ‘in and out job’; how wrong they were... ‘Outpost’ hasn’t got the best script in the world but a solid concept coupled with a fine line in tension being drawn out (to some particularly gory ends) makes this a film that’s worth a look if you like horror, zombies or both at the same time. And it looks good too; gunfights between mercenaries and Nazi Zombies are always welcome in this house! IMDB has mention of a sequel and I’ll definitely be checking that out when it arrives.



‘Black Sheep’
Here’s one that I’d picked up weeks ago and then completely forgotten about... until last night. ‘Outpost’ had gone down a treat so I thought we could give this one a go too. After watching ‘Black Sheep’ the question on my mind was how much can you laugh at a film before you’re laughing at it for all the wrong reasons? ‘Black Sheep’ (genetic modification breeds killer sheep on a New Zealand farm) was a lot of fun but I was laughing a lot more than I normally would. Was it the appallingly bad ‘lamb puppet’ that tore off a guy’s ear? Was it the actors deciding that the best way to deal with the script was to take a run at it and yell lots? Possibly ‘yes’ to both of those questions... Having said that though jokes about sheep farts never stop being funny, at least in this film anyway. ‘Black Sheep’ is a lot of fun but don’t even try and take it seriously, you might hurt yourself.



‘Dead Set’
Just over a year since it was on television and I finally get round to watching this tale of zombies attacking the Big Brother House (something I’ve often thought about!) I am so bad at keeping up to date with what’s on television...
I’ve been meaning to get round to this one for a while now and it was well worth the wait. I prefer zombies that shamble rather than run but I was willing to let that one go as the episodic nature of ‘Dead Set’ (I watched this one at various points over the weekend) meant that things had to move quickly. And they certainly moved quickly! The action did not let up for a second and even when things quietened down we still got an in depth look at how the survivors were coping with the zombie threat. Fraught and tense are the words of the day here! As always, the zombies don’t need to stir up the survivors as our band of Big Brother contestants and production crew are more than capable of fragmenting all by themselves. While I could see how things would deteriorate I wasn’t entirely convinced by the manner in which the zombies finally stormed the TV studios. I don’t want to give too much away (even though I’m possibly the last person to have seen ‘Dead Set’ for the first time!) but I couldn’t see why one particular character did what he did...
Despite this though, ‘Dead Set’ made for some superb viewing (and the nods to the original ‘Dawn of the Dead’, and the remake, were a nice touch as well) All good things come to a Graeme who waits :o)

Back to book reviews tomorrow...

'Saw' All-Nighter at the BFI (Who fancies some free tickets)

I've always meant to check out the 'Saw' films but life has managed to conspire to stop me every time I've come close... This weekend, for example, the BFI are showing all the 'Saw' films back to back (at the IMAX) but we've got visitors who I really don't think would be up for a journey into the twisted mind of a psychotic killer. Oh well, there's always next time.

For those of you who are up for this, here's the info from the site...

Sat 31 Oct, 23.15

Come to the BFI IMAX this Halloween for a marathon fright fest as we screen all six Saw films back to back, including the newly released Saw VI. Descend into the horrifying world of the Jigsaw Killer and follow his path of terror as he tests his victims to frightening extremes.

There will be free tea and coffee available during the breaks and the bar will be open until the last film starts.

*Please note that 35mm presentations only fill part of the giant screen

Now, you can book tickets by simply clicking Here but the nice folk at the BFI offered me a pair of free tickets to give away so don't click on that link just yet. How do you fancy some free tickets? Here's what you need to do...

1) You need to be either living in London or able to get down on the Saturday night.
2) Drop me an email (address at the top right hand side of the screen) telling me who you are and whether you want both tickets or just the one. I'm cool with either. You don't need to give me a mailing address this time, the ticket(s) will be waiting for you at the door.

I'm after a quick turn around on this one (the films are showing on Saturday) so I'm only letting this one run until this Thursday night. I'll announce the winner(s) on Friday morning and get everything sorted.

Good Luck!

Films for a Bank Holiday Weekend!

We had a bit of a lazy one this Bank Holiday weekend and very nice it was too; plenty of reading done and (unusually for us) a chance to catch up on the pile of DVDs that always look appealing in the shops but we never seem to get round to watching. Book reviews will be back tomorrow (probably with the Michael Moorcock collection but I am enjoying ‘Pride and Prejudice and Zombies’ right now...), in the meantime here’s what we were watching over the weekend...

‘Batman Begins’

How long has it been since this movie came out? I don’t even know but Friday night was when I finally got round to watching it. I am officially rubbish at watching films when they come out and I regret hanging around so long before picking this one up. ‘Batman Begins’ was great.



It made a real change to see what Bruce Wayne actually got up to before turning up in Gotham City as Batman instead of the usual ‘this is what happened to him as a child and look... here’s Batman!’ There was more of a sense of him making an actual journey rather than just nipping to the fancy dress store for a rubber suit. It wasn’t all just thoughtful stuff though, Christian Bale is as hard as they come and when he went to work things kicked off in style with loads of explosions in all the right places. A fine supporting cast (Gary Oldman as Jim Gordon was brilliant, Michael Caine didn’t do a bad job either as Alfred) and a dark brooding Gotham backdrop rounded things off nicely. I’ve never felt the urge to pick up a Batman comic but this film could change all that. Now I just need to watch ‘The Dark Knight’...

‘Ghostbusters’ and ‘Back to the Future’

What? Both DVDs were really cheap in Tesco’s and I fancied a nostalgic trip back to the eighties without the indignity of being ten years old all over again...



There’s not a lot I can really say about these two films; you’re probably thinking it already. Both are the best way to spend a weekend in front of the TV without having to think too hard and be entertained at the same time (I will fight anyone who dares say otherwise). What did get me though is the fact that both of these films are well over twenty years old now and there is still stuff in them that I hadn’t noticed until now. Hands up who noticed that when Dana Barrett came back to her apartment, after having done her grocery shopping, she had a packet of ‘Staypuft Marshmallows’ in the bag? Oh... maybe it was just me who hadn’t noticed... It was also interesting to read, on Wikipedia, that Bill Murray’s role as Peter Venkman was originally meant for John Belushi (before he died).



‘Back to the Future’ isn’t as mad and in your face as ‘Ghostbusters’ but still manages to pack a lot into a short space of time. I’ve seen it a dozen times at least and I still get tense watching the final scenes as Marty McFly tries to get back home. In the same way, I always end up cheering at the end where Biff ends up as the guy waxing cars. It’s ideal Bank Holiday viewing however you look at it! :o)

See you tomorrow...

Movie! ‘Dragon Wars’

This was originally going to be a post about the Doctor Who story ‘Revelation of the Daleks’, until I tried watching the DVD that is… As it turned out, the only thing I could really write was ‘this DVD kept repeating the same scene over and over again with no way of skipping past it or choosing a different scene…’ Now there’s one DVD that will be going back to the shop!

Luckily for me, I’ve got a whole load of DVDs that I’ve bought but never got round to watching :o) The reasons behind my purchase of ‘Dragon Wars’ were a mixture of the dragon facing off against the helicopter gunship and the fact that it only cost £6 in the sale. I should have remembered that there are very good reasons why a DVD will end up on the sale rack…

Every five hundred years, an evil serpent will fight to gain the power that will transform it into a celestial dragon and help it reign supreme; it’s round about the time that it all kicks off again… A warrior has been reborn to help the woman who doesn’t even realise that she holds this power within her; the serpent’s henchmen want to reach her first…



When you’ve got a lead actor, Jason Behr, who mumbles every single one of his lines (mumbling isn’t being intense, it’s just mumbling!) then you just know that you’re in for a slow old ride. If that wasn’t bad enough you also have one of those heroines who like to say, “I didn’t ask for this!” at the stupidest opportunity and a wise old mystic who can be relied upon to rescue our hapless duo just when things start to get really interesting. And if that wasn’t bad enough there’s a creaky FBI subplot that doesn’t really have anything to do with the plot and why wasn’t the hero’s last thought, “Where am I and how the hell do I get home?”

You know what though? For a few brief minutes I was able to let all of this go when an entire army of lizards (some of which fired missiles!) descended on Los Angeles and did some serious damage to the city centre. My wife didn’t agree (her running commentary was along the lines of, “They stole that bit from Lord of the Rings, that bit was from Star Wars and wasn’t that bit in Ghostbusters…?”) but there really isn’t anything that’s much more fun than seeing a dragon face off against a military helicopter :o) Fifteen minutes of mayhem almost made up for the rest of the film; what it ended up doing was to get me to watch the rest of the film hoping that something similar would happen. It didn’t…

Good fun but ultimately forgettable…

What I've been watching...

I never thought I'd hear myself say this but going to the gym has completely taken over my life just recently, leaving not an awful lot of time for reading and watching movies... I haven't given up just yet though and managed to squeeze in a couple of films over the last week. Here's what I thought...



'Candyman'
'Candyman' was one of those films that playground rumour had built into one of the most scary films ever. You know the ones I mean don't you?

"My brother's best mate saw it last week and he hasn't been able to go to sleep since he watched it!"

"Yeah well, my brother's best mate's sister's friend saw it and said 'Candyman' five times... We haven't seen her since..."

In case you are wondering, this conversation actually happened.
Sue found me a copy of 'Candyman', for Christmas, and I finally got round to watching it the other day. I haven't been able to sleep since and I keep chickening out of saying the final 'Candyman'... Ok, it's not that bad but 'Candyman' is one seriously scary film! 'Candyman' really racked up the tension for me with an air of relentless menace. The villain of the piece didn't even turn up until about halfway through and I was already looking nervously over my shoulder by this point... Tony Todd's Candyman character is compelling, especially as you never really know when he is about to explode with rage. I'm really glad I finally got to watch this film, I reckon I'm going to have to find the two sequels. Has anyone seen them?



'Cloverfield'
Am I always the last person to see last year's big movie? It sure feels like it sometimes... I watched 'Cloverfield' on DVD (you don't need me to tell you the story, you probably knew it before I did!) and my initial thought was that I wish I'd gone to see it in the cinema. Getting straight to the point, it was too dark and the camera wobbled around like no-ones business... I didn't even realise they were in that half collapsed building until one of the group pretty much said, "we're in a half collapsed building..."
The funny thing is though... About half an hour after I'd finished ranting to myself how awful the film was I actually realised that 'Cloverfield' is a pretty good film after all. It's not the films fault that I didn't see it in the cinema!
The bit where they're in the subway and get attacked by the spider creatures, the bit where the guy looks up and the monster is just stood there looking at him... It's all great cinema! I also loved the way that random bits of video footage cut in and out of the main plot, building up a sweet little romantic subplot.
Maybe I should have seen 'Cloverfield' in the cinema, when I had the chance, but I'm glad I saw it in the end...

What I’ve been watching this week...

As you’ve probably gathered the last couple of weeks have been all about me going on a massive reading binge that shows no signs of abating just yet. I did manage to find time to watch a couple of films though (although my ‘Planet of the Apes’ marathon remains strictly in the planning stages, I’m trying to get Sue to withdraw her veto on the ‘Graeme gets a whole KFC bargain bucket to himself’ proposal...)
Here’s what I’ve been watching...

‘Iron Man’



‘Iron Man’ is one of those films where you come out of the cinema feeling like you’re ten feet tall and could take on anyone. Watching it on my TV at home though was an entirely different affair (with the best will in the world, my TV will never be able to do the same job as a cinema screen/sound system). ‘Ironman’ is still great fun to watch but it felt a little muted this time round. When the action is toned down (although it’s still great fun to watch) you realise that this is essentially a film where the main character spends most of his time building one of two robotic suits, the ‘robot action’ doesn’t take up as much time as you think... An upshot to this was that I realised just how cool Robert Downey Junior was as Tony Stark, he pretty much carries the whole thing as far as I’m concerned. The downside to this is that I realised just how annoying Gwyneth Paltrow was as Pepper Potts... I wanted her to get crushed by Obediah Stane...

Having said all that though, any film that has a jet powered man outracing fighter jets and a bone crushing showdown between men in robot suits is pretty damn cool as far as I’m concerned! :o) Bring on ‘Iron Man 2’! Actually, bring on the ‘Avengers’ film as well...

‘Day of the Dead’



For a long time, there has been a gaping hole in my ‘Romero Zombie Films’ collection... not any more! Thursday night was all about watching ‘Day of the Dead’ while Sue was out. I’d still rank ‘Dawn of the Dead’ as my personal favourite but ‘Day’ makes for compelling viewing. It got to the point where I was stopping the film to check on strange noises that I kept hearing outside. Zombies are tenacious creatures so you cannot be too careful!

The zombie uprising has gone way beyond the point where humanity can strike back; with around 400,000 zombies to each human the safest place to be is underground and that’s where our heroes are. An underground research facility houses scientists (looking for a cure to the zombie plague) and the soldiers assigned to guard them. Things are getting desperate though with supplies running low and the soldier’s new commander, Rhodes, deciding that he will take full control of the operation. In a George Romero film there is only one way that this can all end...

As with Romero’s other zombie films, ‘Day of the Dead’ explores the consequences of mankind’s inability to work together in the face of impending doom. Everyone has their own agenda, which they focus on to the exclusion of everyone else, and more often than not there is a dark element to this agenda. The soldiers revert to barbarism (and ‘might takes right’) in an attempt to cope with the demands of this new world while the scientists slip further away from reality by concentrating solely on their task. Dr. Logan, ‘Frankenstein’, is the best example of this (especially when you see inside his lab) but some of the work that he does with the zombie ‘Bub’ shows us that there is a lot more to these zombies than meets the eye.

The tension gets higher and higher, as the film goes on, until things reach their inevitable bloody climax. I’m not sure why Salazar let the zombies in though but it makes for some good viewing (definitely not for the squeamish!) Zombie films don’t get an awful lot better than this :o)

Have a great weekend!

What did I watch over Christmas?

Not a lot actually, this holiday was more about what I read but more on that another day...

My Christmas TV watching began with my Mother In Law's copy of 'Mama Mia' on DVD, not my normal cup of tea but I do like to watch different stuff every now and again (I'm not just all about sci-fi and fantasy you know!) Five minutes in and I found myself secretly hoping for an invasion of aliens sworn to seek out and destroy all puny human life forms who insist on butchering Abba songs. Ten minutes in, and with no aliens in sight, I decided to read one of my zombie comics instead (which turned out to be a very good choice indeed!)

Next up was 'Stardust', a film that I later remembered that I had already reviewed over Here. For that reason I won't go into too much detail suffice it to say that I thought that the film was even better second time round. Even Ricky Gervais' appearance was tolerable this time...



For the last few years, Christmas Day has been all about watching the latest Dr. Who Christmas Special and this Christmas was no different with the Doctor meeting Cybermen and his possible future self in Victorian London... Doctor Who is always great fun to watch and the Christmas Special was no exception with twists and turns to the plot along with a gigantic Cyberman trampling London. I couldn't help thinking though that the producers missed a trick when they opted to go one way, rather than another, with their revelation over the identity of the 'other Doctor'. Instead of lots of interesting foreshadowing etc, we got... well, I don't want to spoil it for anyone but I think there was potential for this concept to have been spread out over the forthcoming 'one hour specials' that the BBC are going to show next year... Never mind eh?

What I've been watching this weekend...

It's been a quiet weekend, so far, and I've managed to get round to making a (very small) dent in the pile of DVDs that I haven't got round to watching yet. Is it just me or are you one of those people who buys a film, on DVD, and then never seems to get round to watching it...?
Anyway, first up was...

'Stardust'



When this came out in the cinema I swore a mighty oath that I'd go see it. After all, I loved the book and the trailer looked like just the ticket. It's been well over a year now and I've only just got round to watching the DVD... No more 'mighty oath swearing' for me I guess! :o)
Although it differs from the book, more than slightly, 'Stardust' was great fun to watch and left me with that warm glow I get when I've found myself totally engrossed in a film and the time has just flown by. Even Ricky Gervais couldn't spoil this film and, to be honest, he did have a go... Everyone (apart from the aforementioned) seemed to fit their part perfectly and special mention has to go to Robert De Niro's camp sky pirate. This character wasn't in the book at all but he should have been.
'Stardust' is a film that I can see myself watching again and again...


'Night of the Living Dead'



Talking of films that I could watch over and over again... 'Night of the Living Dead' is one of those films that I've seen a number of times but never got round to getting my own copy, until I saw it incredibly cheap in HMV not so long ago. I had the house to myself last night so figured it was a good time to watch the film (read my review of 'Child's Play' to find out what can happen when my wife watches a horror film...)

Like I said, I've seen 'Night of the Living Dead' before but it still remains a film that can have me checking all the windows and doors if I hear a noise while I'm watching it. 'Compelling' is the best way to describe this film; as an inability to co-operate leads the people inside the house to slowly fragment, the number of zombies on the outside steadily grows larger...
Romero really set the standard with this film and it's a shame that his latest zombie films ('Land of the Dead' and 'Diary of the Dead') haven't hit these heady heights. 'Night of the Living Dead' remains a lesson in how this type of thing should be done. Having said that though, I still say that anyone who takes refuge from zombies in a farmhouse that is near a cemetery deserves trouble...