The Watch (2012)

Four men who form a neighbourhood watch group as a way to get out of their day-to-day family routines and find themselves defending the Earth from an alien invasion.

I'm really not sure why so many people dislike The Watch? I saw it for the first time this week and thought it was one of the funniest films I'd seen in a long time. It's a crazy fun movie you can watch with your friends and have a good laugh at.
Ben Stiller is a bit hit and miss for me with his movies but I really liked him in this. Just like Vince Vaughn who is hilarious along with Jonah Hill who I've never seen in a movie before. For me though Richard Ayoade, our very own Brit was the funniest in this film. I've seen him in The Mighty Boosh and I.T Crowd and it's nice to see his humor comes through on the big screen as well.
I think some people were just expecting Independence day or Invasion of The Bodysnatchers?
Lots of comedies weren't big hits when they were released, but gained cult status later on so I hope this get's the recognition it deserves eventually.

THE WALKING DEAD: DEAD YOURSELF has eased my fear of becoming a zombie

Yesterday I discovered The Walking Dead: DEAD YOURSELF app. Being the fan I am of the comic and the show I immediately decided to Zombify myself.

Even I was a bit disturbed with the results but at least if there ever is a zombie apocalypse and I do get turned it's peace of mind for me to know I'll look convincing as a member of the undead.

To undead yourself go here http://deadyourself.com/ !

The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

It's not until you watch Marc Webb's The Amazing Spider-Man again you realise how poor Sam Raimi's films were.Don't get me wrong I enjoyed Raimi's films, Spider-Man was an interesting and good if slightly underwhelming film. Spider-Man 2 was completely awesome. Spider-Man 3 was a total mess but the reboot is more the sort of Spider-Man I liked reading within the Ultimate version of the character. Marc Webb has done a great job of telling what is essentially the same story over again, but in a more in-depth way.

Andrew Garfield portrays the science genius of Peter Parker without being the full blown nerd that Toby Maguire was perfectly and while Raimi's Spider-man films brought in many new fans for the franchise and made Spidey more 'mainstream' I think many did not realise MJ didn't actually come into Peter's life until later. I think the absence of her in this film was a good decision because Gwen Stacy (Peter's first love) played an important role in his younger years. Emma Stone was a breath of fresh air compared to the eventual tedium that was Kirsten Dunst as MJ.

Rhys Ifans as Curt Conner's/The Lizard was ok but nothing special. He gets enough screen-time and action to be a pretty cool villain but if I've one complaint with him it's that I wish they would've his face look more reptile looking. The CGI is very well done on him. I also liked that they didn't make Connor's really evil, just insane because of the serum. Also the fact that they didn't kill him off makes me happy. I wouldn't mind seeing him again sometime.
I really enjoyed Martin Sheen as Uncle Ben he was far better than Cliff Robertson (from Raimi's films). The same goes for Sally Fields as Aunt May over Rosemary Harris. Denis Leary as Captain Stacy was also brilliant.
The subway scene where Peter first experiences his new found powers is a favourite of mine and I loved the good Lord Stan Lee's cameo.
The only thing about this film that bugs me is the convenience of the layout of cranes throughout the city towards the end of the film. It was going so well without that silliness  and that had to go and ruin it. All in all though I think Marc Webb has done a superb job on the Spider-man reboot

I look forward to The Amazing Spider-Man 2 which is due in 2014. Jamie Foxx has already signed as Electro and only last week it was reported Paul Giamatti has joined the cast as Rhino. I'm not sure how I feel about the Rhino news but it's almost like it's heading toward Batman & Robin territory. I'm looking forward to it.

DREDD - KARL URBAN IS THE LAW!

"Ma-Ma's not the law. I am the law."

Judge Joseph Dredd is a fictional character from the British science fiction anthology 2000 AD and is the magazine's longest running character having been featured within it's pages since its second issue in 1977. For people not aware Dredd is a law enforcement officer in a violent North American city of the future called Mega City One. It's here that uniformed Judges combine the powers of police, judge, jury and executioner. Dredd and his fellow Judges are empowered to arrest, sentence, and even execute criminals on the spot.

My first experience of Judge Dredd was as a teenager back in the 90's where I would sit in my local library and read complete books starring him. The stories were often quite graphic in violence but also had the charm of being able to pull of emotional elements such as humour, sadness and in some cases thought provoking dilemma.

That was all I knew of Dredd really until the infamous 1995 film starring Sylvester Stallone as the no nonsense lawman of the future. The visual effects and designs in the film were brilliant but the major problem was Stallone. His performance in the film bares no resemblance to the the dark and gritty anti hero of Judge Dredd I remember in the comic strip. He also breaks the rule most hardcore Dredd fans were annoyed about. He removes the helmet.

Part of the mystery of Dredd was the fact you never see his face making him more mysterious and just the face of the law. Last time I looked someone had posted the full movie on You Tube so if you have never seen it then check it out. I'll be honest when I say it's an enjoyable film but not a very good representation of the character if you ask me.

Fast forward seventeen years and the Peter Travis/Alex Garland movie DREDD is absolutely nothing like the Stallone film. It's a million times better.

Any worries about it being as bad as the Stallone movie are all shot down in the opening chase scene and the amount of bullets, action and gore that follows. 

"Sir, helmets interfere with my psychic abilities."

"Think a bullet in the head might interfere with them more."

Karl Urban is Dredd and was born to play this role. He delivers the serious nature of the character while still giving him a bit of humanity. It's another fine edition to his already growing CV and shows what a chameleon he is when it comes to the different roles he takes. He manages to balance the harshness of Dredd while still managing to make you smile at the sly humour he puts across with some of his lines and actions.

The rest of the cast do their job well. Olivia Thirlby (an actress I hadn't heard of before this) is excellent as Psi Judge Cassandra Anderson. Tough, sexy and providing a spark of humanity and idealism to counter Dredd's  more cynical outlook. I do think Lena Headey's Ma-Ma could of used some more screen time and a bit more fleshing out character wise though. 

While she was a threat in all the scenes she was in when I look back now she doesn't actually do much. I did enjoy the slo-mo and psychic effects. They are suitably trippy.

Mega City One (the small glimpses we see of it) is perfectly envisioned to suit the brutal look of the film. I'll admit it wasn't  translated from the comics 100% but it works in the context of the film and the characters, and that is far better than just simply copying what existed on the page.

I also love Paul Leonard-Morgan's electronic music for the film. I picked up the soundtrack a while back and it's worth a listen on it's own.

I am absolutely gutted though that it's unlikely there will be a sequel due to bad box office takings. This film deserved to do much better yet I think people were put off for many reasons that escape me.

I keep my fingers crossed in hope.

Alien vs. Predator - Whoever wins, we lose... or enjoy it like I do.

When it comes to the first AVP film I would of loved to of seen a straight adaption of the original Dark Horse Graphic novel (One of the first I ever read when I was a kid).
If they were going to make a 3rd film which is pretty unlikely now I would hope they would do this BUT anyway...

Lance Henriksen was apparently the first person to be cast in this film according to director Paul W.S Anderson and with that gives us a bit of continuity between this film and the Alien films. Along with Colin Salmon I'd say these were the best members of the cast despite the fact they don't make it to the end of the film.

Most of the other cast in this are terrible. Sanaa Lathan as Alexa Woods (this films Ripley) is terrible. At no point in this film do I feel for the character and even when she is telling Weyland how her dad died I just yawned and scratched myself a bit. Her line about stopping the serpents from getting to the surface is a poor woman's Ripley speech.
Whose idea was it to cast Spud from Trainspotting in this film? The bloke is awful in this. You know he is going to die as soon as he mentions his "Kids back home". I do cringe at his final scene in the egg chamber.

Saying that though it's pretty fast paced and it's only half an hour before all the action starts kicking off and I do like how they accidentally trigger the Queen Alien being defrosted. If you have read the various comics of AVP from back in the 90's there are a good few nods to them with the look of some things. Things like that please me.

Maybe it's just a bit picky but I don't understand why Anderson felt the need to make the Predators HUGE. The 3 in this are much bigger compared to the previous 2 we had seen but at the same time we do see some fantastic visual effects for the Predators.

One of my favourite sets in this is the facehugger chamber. It's creepy as hell when the eggs open and we have the slow motion shot of the huggers jumping at the unlucky folks in it. Correct me if I am wrong but not since the Ripley/facehugger scene in Aliens have they been so cool to watch.

One thing I don't like though is how short the time it takes for the chestbursters to appear (It's about a minute).
Are we to presume a huge amount of time has passed since?

This films suffers a bit from what I like to call "Terminator: Salvation Syndrome" where lines from the other movies are pointlessly thrown in to pay tribute. The "Ugly MoFo" line springs to mind which is uttered near the films end.
I do like the Predator/Alien mash-ups in this though. Having only ever seen panels of such fights in the various graphic novels it was pretty damn cool to see them fighting on the big screen.

When it's just her and the Predator at the end and it makes her a shield out of the Aliens head and a spear from it's tail I give a little geeky yelp of joy but I don't really like the ending with the Queen as I am not convinced she wouldn't come out of the water again once she got free from the water tower. Although it is nice to see a fully mobile CG Queen. The bitch had never looked so good before this.
Overall though I do kind of like this film and I don't think it is as bad as some people make out.
I'd rather watch this film by Paul W.S Anderson then his terrible Resident Evil adaption any day.

River Song: The Doctor Who version of Marmite

When River Song (played primarily by Alex Kingston) was first introduced to the series as an experienced future companion of the Doctor in the series 4 episodes "Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead" I thought she was a fantastic character. One of Steven Moffat's coolest creations for the new show since it relaunched in 2005.
When the character was introduced, much about her origins remained a mystery with only little bits of what could happen in the future being shared. Personally I never thought we would see her again after these two episodes with the 10th Doctor and that she was a character to forever go down in Who history as one of these great unanswered mystery's.

But alas I was wrong.

When Steven Moffat took over as the main producer of the show the first thing he did was reintroduce her. In itself not a problem BUT if I'd known he was going to spend his first two years of the show dedicating most of it to her I would of given it serious thought about not bothering to watch again.
No. I'm kidding, I was never going to stop watching the show but I just found myself turning into one of the very people that normally get on my nerves.


Now before you point out to me that River really hasn't been in that many episodes I'd ask you to look below.

The following is a list of appearances by River Song. All appearances feature her final incarnation, with other incarnations specified.

Series 4

Silence in the Library / Forest of the Dead
Journey's End - Flashback only (archive footage).

Series 5

The Time of Angels / Flesh and Stone
The Pandorica Opens / The Big Bang

Series 6

The Impossible Astronaut / Day of the Moon (appeared as River Song and as a little girl)
A Good Man Goes to War / Let's Kill Hitler (appeared as a baby, Mels and River Song)/The Wedding Of River Song.

As you can see above she has had nearly a whole season of shows dedicated to her and if you go back and watch them it becomes more and more obvious (like I've been convinced for a while now) that Moffat is just making it up as he goes a long.
I was pleased to see that I wasn't the only one who thought this as well having read that The Daily Telegraph Journalist Neil McCormick also thought that her sudden introduction as Rory and Amy's childhood friend in "Lets Kill Hitler" proved to me that Moffat was making it up as he went along. This was obvious by the time we reached the season six finale"The Wedding Of River Song".


I had so much faith when Moffat took over the show I now long for the return of Russell T Davies because at least he didn't try to come across as smug and smart in his story arcs leaving a lot of people confused and frustrated in the process.

The sooner River Song goes the better. I would say hurry up and kill her off but we already know when that happens don't we.

One last thing. I think 2000AD Artist Christ Weston sums up the show at the moment very nicely.

"Doctor Who seems to be doing its best to alienate the casual viewer and frustrate the faithful... it's convoluted and complicated, but in much the same way a toddler's scribbles can be.
It's as if the creators can't trust the viewers to stay hooked just through quality... It's like having a kid screaming, 'I know something you don't know … but I'm not telling' in your face non-stop for 45 minutes."

Spot on.

Avengers Assemble is BRILLIANT!

*SPOILERS AHEAD - YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED*

Wow! I mean WOW!
When I first saw The Avengers I couldn't stop smiling from ear to ear. Annoyingly in the UK it was renamed Avengers Assemble because as British people we are all easily confused and might mistake it for The Avengers that had John Steed & Emma Peel in. Really?
It's not often a film leaves you on such a high you end up smiling for hours and hours but my word Joss Wheadon's film managed it. This truly is one of the best Superhero films I've ever seen. Some of you may think I'm overreacting. If you know me personally you will know I take my superhero love seriously so this isn't just a random statement from me. I've been waiting for this film ever since Samuel L Jackson's Nick Fury turned up at the end of 2008's Iron Man (starring Robert Downey Jr.) to tell him about his 'Avengers Initiative'. Since then we have had a new Hulk film, a sequel to Iron Man, A Thor film and finally a Captain America film all leading up to this ultimate moment and I was so excited when it finally arrived I'd been awake since about 4am waiting to see it the day I went.
 Make no mistake in thinking Chris Evans (Captain America), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow) and Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye)are overshadowed by Robert Downey Jr. as this just isn't the case. All of the team have their own little story going on and they all share equal screen time and have vital roles to play within the film.

The actor who I'd been most curious about since the film went into production had to be the new fellow to play Hulk. To be honest I'd not heard of Mark Ruffalo before but I'm glad to say he's great as Bruce Banner. You actually believe he is a genius who has his other persona under control until the moment he actually doesn't and becomes Hulk. The Hulk himself looks amazing and is a fantastic sight to look at.
 In my honest opinion it's the best depiction of the character on screen so far. I think it helped that Ruffalo himself did the motion capture work for Hulk as it made him even more realistic. It's also cool that Lou Ferrigno (a childhood gero of mine and Hulk in the tv series) did the voice like he did in The Incredible Hulk. When Thor and The Hulk stop smashing some Chitauri soldiers inside a building, and are standing side by side, The Hulk gives him a backhand, sending Thor across the room. Hilarious! I also enjoyed the smack down he gave Tom Hiddleston's Loki near the end of the film."Puny God!". It's funny how they got all the same actors back from the other films, and it's the new guy that walks away with the film.

This film also had an emotional kick to it. I always get choked up at Superhero films these days but Agent Coulson dying was heartbreaking for me. For a character that had only turned up in past films very briefly it was really a kick in the guts when Loki killed him. He was the last character I expected to die. I suppose that was the point really. Clark Gregg who played him created a memorable character. Strangely enough though I've read that he may be set to return in a possible Nick Fury film and even Iron Man 3. How true this is I don't know but for now I'll take it with a pinch of salt. I can't help but think this would cheapen the characters death.

Joss Wheadon's done a fantastic job as director. He's a huge fan of Marvel characters himself which as it turns out made this film even more awesome. I always find it a bit worrying when a writer, director or producer have a personal interest in the subject matter as they can be blinkered to what THEY want to see on screen and not what could be good for the story. I'm pleased to say this isn't the case. I've only ever watched his Buffy & Angel work but you can see his humour and style coming through in this. I'm glad he is set to direct the sequel.


And in case you were wondering  that was Thanos that appeared in the mid-credit scene of the film. His appearance according to Whedon is setting up the next block of films to star The Avenger cast. Exciting.

At the moment and in my opinion this is the second best comic book movie after Richard Donner's Superman. I change my mind about such things on a daily basis though so I wouldn't take it as gospel. It's definitely up there though as one of my favourites.

HULK SMASH!!!