The End of all Things: A Look Back at the Movies of 2010

Another year has come and gone,
One life ends, another begins,
And in a world where time goes fast,
We come to the end of all things.

We saw great triumphs and journeys,
Valiant heroes and despicable villains,
But for everyone of these that we saw,
There were others destined to fail.

On a cold and warm planet,
That sees equal parts of love and hate,
Anger, fear and aggression,
We must always remember one thing,
That we must never turn to the dark side.

It was also a year that we saw great journeys,
On this world as well as others,
Where the cinemas all stand,
And the popcorn pops on.

So at last, we come to that time of the year,
The time where we not only look back at the year behind us,
But also to what the future holds,
But for now, we are at our end.
The end of all things.

Just wanted to have a little fun with you readers, who says that these types of editorials can't have that little something in them eh.

With that out of the way, it appears that we must indeed look back at the movies that we saw in 2010, the good times, the bad times, the misfires and the missed opportunities but before I go specifically into that I want to talk about the year as a whole.

And that is that 2010 on the whole has only been an okay year for movies at best, in comparison though last year (2009) started off bad and only got worse before James Cameron's Avatar swooped in at the last minute to snatch a key victory from the jaws of defeat, but this year wasn't so fortunate I think.

And that's mainly because a lot of movies released this year suffered from one big problem: The lack of a coherent and finished script, there is nothing more important to a movie's survival than that, it sunk last year's Transformers sequel Revenge of the Fallen and it also sunk a good number of movies released this year, guys look I know you have hundreds of millions of dollars, big name celebrities and state of the art special effects, but you cannot let those elements alone carry a film, you have to have a script, this one inefficiency is making me VERY angry and I've really lost patience with it, now I know some of you have made the criticism that I'm a bit of a grouch but nothing pisses me off more than seeing people pay they're hard earned money on something that they've wanted to see only to get nothing in return, it really gets on my nerves and I wish it would stop.

But hey like I said before, it wasn't that bad of a year overall, but it also wasn't all that good of a year either, as it started off fairly flat and only showed a few signs of life from there, here's hoping 2011 can rise above the last few years of mediocrity but from the looks of it on paper, the signs aren't promising, what is though is a return to the dead zone that dominated the 00's, well for now at least, but I could be wrong.

Now, let's get down to business shall we:

The favourites of 2010:

4. Green Zone/Kick Ass: One of two ties on this list mainly because I didn't like one more than the other, I enjoyed both about the same but for different reasons which are outlined below.

Green Zone was a great reminder of the action days of yore, when action and story blended together to create a satisfying movie as a whole, here not only did you have some pretty terrific action scenes helmed by director Paul Greengrass but also there was a compelling story about WMD's in Iraq, effortlessly carried by Matt Damon, who has now proven himself to be the real deal as an actor.

Kick Ass meanwhile was a very dark, very violent and also very funny comic book movie, my main line about this has been that this is what Iron Man 2 should have been, a smart action comedy that didn't over complicate it's story, if there was any justice in the world, Chloe Moretz would get an Oscar nod for her role as Hit-Girl, how someone so young can carry themselves so confidently on screen is something I'd like to find out.

3. Shutter Island: Martin Scorsese for me has been a little iffy since his 1990 masterpiece Goodfellas (yes I think it's that good) mainly because when you make a movie that's that impressive, it can be hard to follow it up as was the case with his 2006 Oscar winner The Departed, which was ridiculously long and really an attempt to recapture the success of that film, only for it to fail to do so rather miserably.

Getting back on topic, what Scorsese has done here is simply a high end "Haunted House" complete with the rustling weather, local crazies and the "Da Dum" soundtrack, and all of it makes for a movie watching experience that is certainly a lot of fun and Scorsese's best work in years.

2. Inception/The Social Network: Again we have another tie, mainly because again I didn't really like one above the other, I liked them both just as much but again they were for different reasons.

Inception (Director Christopher Nolan's follow up to his 2008 blockbuster The Dark Knight) was an impressive affair that juggled not only multiple characters but also multiple realities, as the main group of characters are asked to perform Inception, which is to plant an idea inside a person's mind.

Any other director could have potentially let this material collapse into an incomprehensible mess, but Nolan keeps his eye on the ball at all times, showing an impressive technical ambition not seen since James Cameron, but since the film's home video release some of the gloss has come off a bit as the visuals don't quite impress as much as they did on a nice big cinema screen.

The Social Network meanwhile was a movie that I walked into with very low expectations, as a movie about the founding of Facebook couldn't be that interesting could it, Could it?

Well, I was dead wrong as for two thirds of the film's 2 hour running time it was a fascinating story that also had the gall to say that Mark Zuckerburg, one of the world's youngest billionaires was a manipulative prick who wasn't afraid to trample on anyone or anything around him if it meant advancing his own personal gain.

Unfortunately though, the last third of the movie lacked that excitement as the threads come together and the film attempts to make Mark look like a nicer person, whereas I really liked the bastard, a real pity as when this film was good, it was dead on.

1. Toy Story 3: Yes folks, my favourite movie from all of those I saw in 2010 was an animated movie, about toys of all things.

But that ain't a knock against this movie at all as it hit it's marks completely dead on, simply put not only did this movie leave me with a big grin on my face almost the entire time with its warmth and humour but it also tugged at the heartstrings with two key sequences towards the film's end showing the softer side of a lot of people, and don't say it didn't happen to you cause it had to of in some way.

But I can't not reflect on this movie and not talk about the new characters created for it, all of whom I'm certain will have the same shelf life as the more iconic characters like Woody and Buzz, from the pink Lots'-O'-Huggin-Bear to the Big Baby doll which looks like some alcoholic serial killer to the rather funny Mr. Pricklepants, voiced by former 007 Timothy Dalton, but lastly this was the only film I saw this year which gave Avatar a run for it's money and I ain't gonna complain about that at all.

But enough of praise for the moment, let's see what didn't impress me this year:

The Worst of 2010:

4. Alice in Wonderland: The first main movie I saw this year and all through watching it one thought came to mind "Didn't I see this a few months ago when it was called Avatar", for it basically it had the exact same things that this movie did:

1. The big scary creatures that chases the main lead only to help them later on
2. The big dragon creature that plays a major part in the final battle
3. The leader who rallies both side for one last battle
4. The eccentric locals who come to the lead's aide

And not only that, this movie had nearly no plot at all and even if it did, it wasn't all that interesting, as it was really just a "oppressed people looking for a champion" story, whoop de doo.

Personally, I wish Tim Burton would quit making movies as he simply doesn't have it in him anymore to knock one out of the park but given that this movie made a billion dollars worldwide at the box office, I doubt that will happen anytime soon.

3. Clash of the Titans: Following his blockbuster success with James Cameron's Avatar, Australian Sam Worthington took on another big project with this remake of the 1981 cult hit Clash of the Titans.

Following a promising trailer which showed giant scorpions, clashing gods and a great big Kraken, what we got was anything but that, instead the great big monsters only got two minutes of screen time and Ralph Fiennes's Hades was one of the worst performances this year, sounding like someone who smoked way too much.

Not only that, the film as a whole was SO deadly dull and boring it wasn't funny, Worthington completely phones it in, Gemma Arterton was dull, Liam Neeson turned one of his rare bad performances and the comic characters were anything but.

2. Predators: One of the two movies this year that got on my nerves the most, Predators was quite frankly a pointless and unnecessary addition to the Predator film series.

And the main reason is that this film lacks any kind of worthwhile story, you see in the first Predator movie there was a good 10-15 minutes at the beginning that set up what was to happen in the jungle, a helicopter carrying a cabinet minister and his aide has gone down in the jungle and they're presumed missing, find them and bring them back, of course it was so much more than that.

In this one, we see Adrian Brody hurtling through the atmosphere which looks like outtakes from the sky diving scene in last year's Star Trek movie and a whole bunch of other characters and most of the time they're asking "How did we get here"?

HOW THE FUCK AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW, I'M AS BAFFLED AS YOU ARE

Sorry about the capitals in that last sentence, but that really got on my nerves, as well as it's pointless ending that should been this movie's last act, but hey this means we have something for a sequel, yay for us.

1. Robin Hood: Yes folks, the bottom of the barrel for 2010, Ridley Scott's take on the Robin Hood legend.

Well, no it wasn't as quite frankly it was Gladiator 2, only this time it was Robin Hood and it's story shoehorned into that framework, Russell Crowe's accent changed more times than someone changing their underpants, Oscar Issac was nothing more than a 50 pound ham as King John, but the real kicker was Cate Blanchett as Maid Marian, who doesn't have any fun with this role whatsoever, she plays it as someone who has convinced themselves that they're an AC TOR who has to act not do silly stuff like this, because of that Blanchett will have to do something pretty special to get back into my good books.

But wait there's more, two more things that got my goat:

1. The story making no sense whatsoever as one minute Mark Strong's character is plotting behind the king's back, the next he's collecting money for him, dude make up your mind will ya.

2. The very end of the movie says "And so, the legend began", you know you could have said that TWO HOURS AGO and given us something more rather than once again, makes us wait for a sequel to give us what you promised the first time around, I mean fair go mate fair go.

Yeah, this movie got on my nerves much more than Predators did, now I know that we laugh at Michael Bay, Steven Spielberg and even George Lucas for some of their recent pictures but this movie was made by Ridley Scott, the same man who gave us Blade Runner, how on Earth could he have made this movie, he's above all this mediocrity, oh well, hopefully he'll have something good in mind with his Alien prequel.

The Disappointments of 2010:

One segment that I feel is worth talking about are the movies that disappointed us, you know the ones that you hope will deliver the goods based on what came before and what director did beforehand that you really liked but sadly you just walked out feeling really let down and wanting to cry on someone's shoulder, with that let's mark the top three disappointments of the year.

3. Wall Street - Money Never Sleeps: The follow up to Oliver Stone's 1987 original, I had been very enthusiastic to check this one but unfortunately the cruel hand of fate had other ideas and was left to wait another month before seeing it, but if you've already read my main review of this movie, you'd know this story by now.

The reason it's here on this list is that when I walked out of the movie one thought came to mind: "All this time, and THIS is what I get"; a half baked family drama, a subpar financial story and a lacklustre villain that felt like 3 separate stories rather than 1 glorious whole which was the case in the first movie, don't get me wrong Douglas was terrific but there were a few moments where he was Gordon, in control and calling the shots and you just thought "Where's that movie" but everything around him felt flat and that was a shame.

2. Iron Man 2: The first trailer for Iron Man 2 came out the day I saw Avatar, in fact at last year's Comic Con, the IM2 presentation was said to be better than the Avatar one, which had me convinced that people were looking forward to that film more than Avatar, needless to say I felt that the trailer released that day captured the heart and humour of the first and set up the same wild ride that was just fun on the bun, so I guess my hope was that this movie would stand up to Avatar in the same way that the first film did with the Dark Knight, hopes to be positive about or not?

Sadly, I was wrong as the film didn't have any of the energy, humour, heart and straightforward storytelling the first film did, instead this film was rushed from start to finish, no doubt so the Paramount executives could triple their bank accounts, I mean why couldn't it have been saved for 2011, as it would have mopped up the box office and given fans the sequel they deserved as well as something to look forward to, alas that isn't to be.

1. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: Yes folks, the biggest disappointment for me this year, Scott Pilgrim was director Edgar Wright's follow up to 2007's Hot Fuzz, which I LOVED so very much, the trailers looked promising for the same kind of high energy, fast pace and quirky characters.

Sadly, my hopes were dashed as this movie had a dead weight hanging around it's neck in the form of one Michael Cera; quite frankly he isn't leading man material whereas Simon Pegg was, and the reason he isn't is because he talks in a very slow and whiny fashion, totally at odds with the rest of the actors and Edgar's style, which is fast and furious.

Not only that, Scott himself was a total smeghead, moaning on and on all the time when the other characters are trying to get it through to him that you have to step up, now I know that some will forgive that and hey, that's your prerogative I'm not going to stop you and nor should I, but this isn't some background person, this is the centre of the movie, you cannot make a massive mistake like that, unfortunately as a result despite high praise from fans and critics, the movie Bob-ombed at the box office earning only $10 million in it's opening weekend.

So, that's that for 2010's movies, hopefully 2011 will be good but considering the offerings, I'm not going to get my hopes up as it looks like a return to the dead zone that dominated the 00's, well we'll just have to wait and see what happens won't we, until then, see you at the cinemas.

2010 on Blu-Ray

Part 1 of my look back feature on 2010 it brought some rather big Blu-Ray releases, I won't bore you with a long diatribe about the good and bad but just tell you what the top three are:

3. The Expendables: A new release on disc, the Expendables resembled to me what a no nonsense disc release should do, not give you hours and hours of worthless extras but just a few high quality bonuses that leave you feeling satisfied, and the bonuses here most certainly did that, sadly the Australian release left off the 90 minute making of so it feels a bit incomplete but what's here was good enough to let it qualify, as well as the booming 7.1 DTS-HD soundtrack and very entertaining movie, this was easily the best sound mix I heard on a Blu-Ray this year.

2. Beauty and the Beast - Diamond Edition: One of the great triumphs for the Disney studios (it's the ONLY animated film to score a legitimate Best Picture Oscar nomination), 2002's Platinum Edition DVD release was not the best, iffy Video, weak Audio and sub par extras really didn't do the film justice.

This year's Diamond Edition Blu-Ray however rectified all of those, with a beautiful Video presentation, great sound and some terrific extras that really take you behind the scenes into not only how the film was made but also how the Disney studios at that time rallied together to get back on track following several flops, a winner of a release.

1. Avatar - Extended Collector's Edition: Easily my favourite Blu-Ray Release from this year (though BatB came very close), James Cameron's Avatar combined first class Audio/Visual Quality with 2 full discs worth of terrific bonuses, from direct access to the 16 minutes reinstated to the film, the making of, the 70 minutes worth of deleted scenes plus so much more, this release deserves to become one of the finest special edition releases ever made.

So there you have it, short and sweet when it comes to the top three Blu-Ray's of 2010 for me, let's hope 2011 brings us some more as this format is really starting to show some serious potential and I look forward to more.

Film Review - Salt (2010)

Salt stars Angelina Jolie as Evelyn Salt, a CIA operative who is asked to quiz a Russian defector named Orlov who claims that a Russian agent hidden on the inside will kill the Russian president, and it's none other than Salt herself.

If that small synopsis sounded slightly confusing, believe me so is this movie, it is literally all over the place, one part resembles the Fugitive, another part resembles the James Bond film The Living Daylights and another part feels like a spy script that was written 20 years ago but also in terms of the central question of whether she's really a Russian spy or not, I don't think this movie really made up it's mind on which way to go and so as a result, it tries to cut it both ways, you know maybe Mr. Kurt Wimmer who wrote the script for this movie should have answered that question BEFORE he wrote the full screenplay, not during it.

You know sometimes a little advance planning of what a story might look like and how it will all play out over a 3 act structure and how your characters fit into the roles that are required for your story can really go a long way towards making it work and if that's hard to do (and trust me, it can be sometimes), well maybe it's best not to write that story at all.

But despite my rant about the dog's breakfast that resembles this script, the movie isn't a total write off, mainly thanks to Jolie, she carries this film effortlessly and the steely resolve in her eyes never leaves you questioning her motives, it's just such a pity she along with Liev Schreiber and Chiwetel Ejiofor left to run the Gauntlet like so many actors that are given second rate action scripts.

All in all, this movie is a total mess and a waste of the three main actors, just a 1 and a half out of 5.

Film Review - Harry Brown (2009)

Harry Brown stars Michael Caine as Harry Brown, a retired man who lives in a rundown area of London that is run rampant by violent youth gangs, but when one gang murders his best friend played by David Bradley, Harry decides to take matters into his own hands.

Harry Brown is a dark and atmospheric film anchored very nicely by Caine, those with a light stomach should not watch this movie as the MA15+ rating is justified as there are scenes of people getting savagely killed and high on drugs, one character looked like Gollum from Lord of the Rings after a 3 day binge, but overall I don't think that it matched last year's Gran Torino which starred Clint Eastwood who also directed it, that film was great whereas this was okay.

2 out of 5 for Harry Brown.

Film Review - The Expendables (2010)

The Expendables is the latest film from Sylvester Stallone and stars himself and other action luminaries past and present such as Eric Roberts, Mickey Rourke, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren and more, the story here is that a team of mercenaries is sent to a South American jungle to overthrow a military dictator, but it won't be as easy as they thought.

The Expendables has all the elements to make a great action picture, a terrific cast with some great cameos which I won't spoil here but will be familiar to those who's seen the previews for the film, nice cinematography by Jeffrey Kimball and some good action scenes but the first half of this film is terrible beyond all belief, so much so that it almost sinks the film, luckily once the action kicks into high gear to film gains momentum and investment in its main leads.

All in all, a good night out, a 2 and a half out of 5.

1 Year Today...

Yes folks, It was 1 year ago today that James Cameron's Avatar first hit cinema screens and took us all on a journey to the distant world of Pandora, which was full of great wonders and mysterious dangers.

It was this day that I also remember very well, it was a grey and wet day and I had made the journey to my regular cinema, eager and ready to see what director James Cameron had up his sleeve following a 12 year absence since creating his other mammoth blockbuster, the 1997 historical love story Titanic, also having devoured the film's main 3 and a half minute trailer as much as I could.

This showing wasn't in 3D, just the regular but frankly I didn't care all that much, I was eager to see it, the people cued up, we all went in, took our seats and the movie did it's thing.

About 3 hours later, give or take 15-20 minutes for the various adverts and previews to run their course, I came out of the movie mesmerized, no doubts rested in my mind that Cameron had pulled it off, defying his critics and creating something that had to be seen to be believed, which they did as the movie stormed the box office and created a success which has fundamentally changed the nature of box office success, surpassing Titanic and becoming the highest grossing film of all time, a success story like this I don't think we will see for a very long time.

And yet, as I type this, it's already been 1 year since that film was first released and another year of movies has come and gone for the most part as well as a deluxe special edition release of the film on DVD and Blu-Ray, did I like any of the movies from this year as much as this one, well you'll just have to wait and see for that answer.

Film Review - Tron: Legacy (2010)

Tron: Legacy is the follow up film to Walt Disney Pictures's 1982 original movie, the story here is that Kevin Flynn played by Jeff Bridges has gone missing inside his own virtual world, now fully grown his son Sam played by Garrett Hedlund goes inside to find him, only to find a world beyond his wildest dreams.

Tron: Legacy was my first 3D experience and before I go into the movie as a whole I must talk about it, to be quite honest I HATED the 3D here, it looked dark and dismal and took away from the visual slpendor of the film, at stages I would take off the glasses and the slightly fuzzy footage looked 10 times brighter and had real visual flair, all in all if you can find a 2D screening, take it instead of the 3D one as it really distracted from the visual action, literally in those cases.

As for the movie's plot, well it's a bit like the 3D really, dull and dismal and throws 20 different storylines at you as the film progresses, not only that you can literally pinpoint what's going to happen, also making it very predictable, the cast though however really give their all, Bridges, Hedlund, Olivia Wilde as Flynn's Aide and Michael Sheen as a nightclub owner are actually quite good as is the film's sound design, but lastly there was a quote in the Herald Sun's review of the film by Leigh Paatsch that said this:

"TRON: Legacy summons a spectacle as breathtakingly out of this world as Avatar"

Now I'm sorry but I have to call bullshit on that one, Avatar was a true cinematic spectacle, that swept you away on a journey to a new world in a way that no movie had done in years, Tron: Legacy's visuals are nowhere near as good, muddled by the 3D gimmickry that because of the format's disconnection between the foreground and the background serves to keep us at a distance from the on screen action.

If I had seen the film in 2D, I would have given this a 2 and a half out of 5 for it being an entertaining ride but the wasted actors, dull storyline and gimmickry 3D visuals knotch this down to a 2 out of 5.

Blu-Ray Review - Inception

Inception is the latest film from director Christopher Nolan, who is best known for his 2000 breakout film Memento and his two Batman movies, 2005's Batman Begins and it's 2008 sequel The Dark Knight, which showed a real maturity in Nolan's directorial style but after the mammoth success of Dark Knight, Nolan was given carte blanche to make whatever movie he wanted, no doubt a carrot to lure him back for a third Batman movie, well it seemed to work as The Dark Knight Rises will hit theatres in 2012, with expectations high enough to fill the Empire State Building 10 times over.

But back to Inception, and frankly it's because of Nolan's deft hand that this movie works, any other director could have let the material sink into a gigantic incoherent mess, but Nolan keeps his eye on the prize and as a result, we get sucked into this strange dream world, but I must say that since the first screening, some of the gloss has gone off a little, don't get me wrong it's easily one of the best films of the year but I felt that there were better movies released this year, but that shouldn't stop you from seeing this movie, not at all.

The Blu-Ray:

The Blu-Ray comes in a combo pack which contains the 2-disc Blu-Ray release, the DVD copy and a special Digital Copy of the movie which can be transferred to a portable device like an iPod or a Laptop but will only last for about 12 months.

However, there is one thing about the packaging that has gotten on my goat, there is no mention of the two galleries or the promotional ads (Trailers and TV Spots) but when you put in disc two, they're right there for all and sundry to go through, bad form people, very bad form.

The Video:

The Video comes in a 1080p 2:35:1 widescreen presentation and if you saw this movie on a nice big screen, you won't be disappointed as this transfer faithfully recreates that presentation, DP Wally Pfister shot a very nice color style for the film, distinctive and natural which again are recreated very well, some of the snow scenes looked downright beautiful, after the botching of the Dark Knight's video transfer, where the IMAX scenes looked great and the normal footage looked a little too sharp, this transfer is a nice surprise.

The Audio:

A rocking DTS-HD MA 5.1 track that again, is nicely done, the big winner is Hans Zimmer's amazing score, easily audible during the tension scenes and even in the quiet moments, but it isn't overbearing as the dialogue and gunfire are just as audible, fans should get a "kick" out of this mix.

The Extras:

Despite being a 2-disc release and the fantastic A/V presentation, here is where this release comes up short, as the bonus materials are to be frank, not worth your time as this is the kind of movie that doesn't lend itself to a behind the scenes look, as it would spoil the film's secrets, any who with that out of the way, let's see what's on there:

WB Extraction Mode: The sole extra on disc 1 is what's called "Extraction Mode", basically 45 minutes worth of interviews that can also be played separately, not quite the Maximum Movie Mode that has graced other Warner Home Video releases but more of a traditional PiP feature, to be honest I had hoped this might be more of a MMM type feature, but alas it ain't.

Disc 2:

Disc 2 contains the bulk of the extras, designed into separate categories, so let's get started:

Dreams: The Cinema of the Subconscious: Hosted by Joe Levitt, this 45 minute feature goes into the dream state in some pretty interesting detail, Chris Nolan also appears in this and there are some interesting stories to be told, all in all this is probably the best extra on this set.

The Cobol Job: A Prequel Comic set before the events of the film, this goes for about 15 minutes and again, I wasn't that thrilled with it mainly because the motion comic didn't quite work, a still gallery would have been preferable as then you could read it like a real comic.

5.1 Inception Soundtrack: Hans Zimmer's Score is recreated here in full DTS-HD 5.1, handy for when you need to clean your house one day but one drawback is that you don't get any stills while the tracks play, all you is an intro screen that says the title and then black, not a smart move there guys but you did do this extra so I can't complain about that.

Still Galleries: Two Galleries here, first is a conceptual art gallery that looks at the major sets designed for the film and is pretty thorough while the other is a look at the film's poster art, something that I like seeing especially as this movie had some good ones.

Trailers and TV Spots: Finally, we have 3 trailers and 11 minutes worth of TV ads, again something that's always welcome on a disc release in my book as they've become a sad rarity over the last 5-6 years, there used to be a time when you were guaranteed to get the trailer on a disc, now you'd be hard pressed to find it, sigh.

Overall:

One of the year's best movies that while having a terrific Audio/Visual Quality, it falls short on the extras but should you buy this disc, well personally I'd wait until the price goes down a little bit as after the exquisite Special Edition release of Avatar from a couple of weeks ago, this release feels like a big letdown but if you liked the movie, then chances are you already have the disc but as for the rest of you, I'd hold off for a lower price.

Blu-Ray Review - Highlander

Highlander is a fantasy film from 1986 and stars Christopher Lambert, Sean Connery, Clancy Brown and Roxanne Hart, Lambert plays Connor MacLeod, a Scotsman who discovers that he is immortal and that he must fight through the ages to the time of The Gathering, where those who are left will battle for the Prize, but in the end, There can be Only One.

Highlander, at least this first film is a film that simply works in almost all areas, the direction by Australian Russell Mulcahy is solid, the cast hit their marks, there's an intriguing story and some great songs by the rock band Queen, a solid package that shouldn't disappoint many.

The Transfer:

Video:

Simply put, this video transfer feels the Quickening, a new HD master was created for this release and the team responsible have done a great job, there are a few instances of grain on the print but it didn't distract from the pleasure of this new print, for years now fans of this film have had to put up with a dark and murky DVD release, this Blu-Ray blows that out of the water as scenes in the Scottish highlands bounce off the screen with strong color and vibrance, again this print is a pure delight.

Oh and if you stop the film at any point and eject the disc, you'll pick up right where you left off next time you put the disc back into your player, a nice touch.

Audio:

Presented in DTS-HD MA 5.1 and 2.0 (the 2.0 is the default track, so you'll have to change to the 5.1 via the menu), again the audio here is great and will definitely satisfy fans, the Queen songs are the highlight especially the end song "A Kind of Magic" so the sound will again satisfy.

The Extras:

The Making of Highlander: A 3 part 85 minute documentary on the making of the film, containing interviews with writers Gregory Widen and Peter Bellwood, DP Gerry Fisher and Designer Allan Cameron as well as actress Roxanne Hart, all of these people give their thoughts and memories on their side of making the film, Widen and Bellwood also talk about the response of Highlander II and Hart gives her own memories of working with Brown and Lambert, she also looks better now than she did in the movie.

A good making of that will satisfy fans.

Commentary with Director Mulcahy: Mulcahy sits alone for this track and sounds as though he woke up with a cold or at least a stuffed nose, he gives his own memories on directing the film and working with Queen on the songs, something absent from this release.

Interview with Christopher Lambert: Again, Lambert chips in using his native French to talk about his own memories of making the first Highlander, as well as the aftermath of the film's success.

Deleted Scenes: When the HD master was created a few additional scenes were found, but no production audio came with them, so they were presented with music segments, like 99.9% of all Deleted Scenes, they are best left out.

Trailer: A rarity on modern disc releases, but here is a trailer for the film, it does a good job advertising it but not one that the American audiences likely saw given how it did over there on its initial release (which is: badly)

What's missing:

Well, anything to do with Queen's contribution, no interviews with any of the surviving band members nor the music videos for "Princes of the Universe" (which DID appear on the DVD release), "A Kind of Magic" or "Who Wants to Live Forever", this is really unacceptable given how much the songs had to do with forming the identity of the film.

But then again, the band members might have charged too much for the disc makers to include them, so who knows.

Overall:

If you're a fan and have a Blu-Ray player, don't hesitate to feel the Quickening and grab this release, it's easily the best release of the film available at the moment and despite the absence of Queen, what's presented here should satisfy fans of the film

Farewell Shirley: A Memorial for Leslie Nielsen

In what is a sad day for film fans the world over, Canadian actor Leslie Nielsen has died in America, he was 84 years old.

Nielsen was a veteran actor, best known for his comedic timing in comedy hits The Naked Gun (he would do 3 films in that series) and Flying High (The Australian title of the 1980 disaster spoof Airplane! which believe it or not actually out grossed The Empire Strikes Back at the Australian Box Office).

Nielsen's comic timing in both of those movies was genius, as he played all of the jokes completely straight laced and it made for some extremely funny and memorable laughs, my favourite being the singing of the American National Anthem on the baseball field in the first Naked Gun movie, as well as his "I am serious, and don't call me Shirley" line in Airplane!

But there was one small role he did that surprised me and that was as the sea captain in the original Poseidon Adventure, there was no trace of his comic timing in that small role and it impressed me that he was the real deal as an actor; convincing, believable and funny, what more can you ask for.

And so we must say, farewell Shirley, and thanks for the memories.

Film Review - Predators (2010)

Predators is the newest installment in the Predator series and comes from producer Robert Rodriguez and concerns Royce played by Adrian Brody who awakes in freefall to a distant alien world, completely unaware that he is not alone and in for the hunt of his life.

I approached this movie with dog shit expectations as everything I read about this movie had me convinced that it was going to be little more than a remake of the original Predator movie from 1987 which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger and was directed by John McTiernan so that was my expectation.

And to be frank, it didn't even meet that as this movie to me was a complete joke of a movie, and the main reasons why are:

1. All of the best bits felt like riffs on scenes from the first movie; from the jungle setting, the skinned bodies, the use of the mini gun, even the final fight all of those scenes were handled far better in the first film.

2. Not one person in the main group is worth giving two shits about as most of the time they come across as obnoxious dicks who shout or whine about their predicament, in the first Predator Arnold's group was built up before they got to the jungle, here they're dropped into the jungle right away and as a result, you don't care about any of them and just want the Predators to kill them.

All in all, I hated this movie almost as much as this year's Robin Hood, long-time Predator fans may like it but as someone who enjoyed the first movie I felt like I was watching a rehash of it and not a new Predator story, so just a .5 out of 5.

Blu-Ray Review - Avatar: Extended Collector's Edition

Avatar: Extended Collector's Edition

Avatar I've covered a lot before, from the film's 2009 blockbuster release and last April's Blu-Ray release that while it had top notch Audio/Visual quality, it was lacking in any kind of bonus material.

Well, enter stage left this new 3-disc Blu-Ray release, but it can't be said that consumers weren't warned that this was coming, as director James Cameron took every effort to tell consumers when the original disc hit stores that a new special edition disc would come in November, thereby giving them the chance to either wait for this disc or buy both, well it would seem that the vast majority of consumers chose to buy just the first release and not bother with this one.

But before I get into the nitty gritty, you're going to ask "but is there anything new?" and my answer: you bet, not only do you get the original theatrical release, you also get the recent Special Edition which graced cinemas back in August as well as the new Collector's Extended Cut that contains not only the new footage from August but an additional 8 minutes on top of that, most notable is a new opening of the film set on Earth, as well as some additional scenes regarding Sigourney Weaver's character, Dr. Grace Augustine.

The Blu-Ray:

April's bare bones release of the film was hailed for its top notch Audio/Visual Quality and rightly so, it was one of the 2 or 3 best Blu-Ray's I'd ever seen in terms of A/V Quality behind Hot Fuzz and Blade Runner, here well time to take a deep breath as we go into this new release in detail and explore the behind the scenes material that goes behind the making of Avatar:

Video and Audio:

Disc 1 comes with three movie versions which I outlined earlier, the theatrical release which broke just about every box office record around the world, the recent Special Edition re release from August and the new Collector's Extended Cut with the long awaited Earth footage.

Miracously, despite having three full versions of the film on the one disc, there doesn't seem to be any loss in the A/V Quality, the previous disc was very well detailed in its visual quality and well mixed audio wise, here you get the same visual quality and the same mix which is a DTS-HD 5.1 mix, to be honest though I don't really know if there is any real difference apart from the compression on the disc so it will depend on what setup you have to watch the disc on.

Extras:

Alright, time to take a deep breath as there is A LOT of extras on this disc, two full discs worth as well as some minor extras on the movie disc so here we go:

Disc 1:

Direct Access to the New and Additional Scenes: A very very cool feature is that if you only want to watch the new scenes separately of the two extended cuts you can, all you have to do is go to the extras section and then go to "From Collector's Extended Cut" and boom, all of the new scenes are there for you to watch from the main menu, is that good customer service or what.

As for my take on the new scenes (and yes, I have watched them all), personally I'm very split on them, the new Earth opening and the scenes involving Grace's school and what happened there are terrific and could have gone back into the main feature without damaging the slightly lyrical pacing the final theatrical release has but the vast majority of them aren't that good and are probably best left out of the film, even though the CG work is very impressive, arguably more impressive than the final film, best shown in the extended death of Tsu'Tey played by Laz Alonso, this bodes well for when the film's inevitable sequel hits cinemas in a few years time.

Disc 2:

Four menu items are here on disc 2

"Deleted Scenes: Never Before Seen"
"Capturing Avatar"
"A Message from Pandora"
"Production Materials"

With that, let's start to look at each of the items individually:

Deleted Scenes - Never Before Seen: About 70 minutes worth of deleted scenes feature here which also include a user's guide for viewing the unfinished shots, which these are combining live action footage with template CG work which is very interesting to watch as a fan of the film.

As for my favorites, well they would have to be "Pandora Rules", in which Stephen Lang's Col. Quaritch gives the full safety briefing and "You're a Long Way from Earth" in which Giovanni Ribisi tries to stop Quaritch from attacking only to get confronted big time, apart from that the other scenes were okay and probably best left out, one nice part of this section is that you only get the user's guide foisted on you when you select a deleted scene for the first time, after that you're off and running to the races.

Capturing Avatar: A 4 part making of documentary that runs just an hour and a half and covers almost everything you would want to know about the movie from the initial conception, the casting, creating the performance capture technology even the reaction to the teaser trailer and inevitable release which is sadly slightly overlooked, it's rumored that about an hour was cut from this doco which I would like to see as it might have plugged some of the holes and covered some of the topics like the release in a little more detail, but it's still a great documentary and if you're a fan, check it out.

A Message from Pandora: A 20 minute Featurette where Cameron talks about his love of nature and his journey to the Amazon Basin where a massive hydro electric dam was planned to be built but it would also displace about 25,000 natives who depend on the area, watching this featurette two things came to mind: first, the parallels between that and the plot of the movie and also the city deep within the basin reminded me very much of the base that the humans occupy in the movie, a good watch.

Production Materials: A lot of stuff here, from a 17 minute art reel from 2006, a motion capture test with two different actors, a slew of VFX progression reels, even a crew film called "The Volume", but my favorite has to be the motion capture test based on another project called "Brother Termite" as it showed a CG character in the real world pretty damn convincingly, hopefully Cameron gives that challenge a go soon, the runner up would be seeing Zoe Saldana get her life cast, good lord I couldn't believe it as this purple and green goop was going on her face

Disc 3:

I said there was a lot and we have one last disc full of extras, here though there are only 3 menu items:

"Scene Deconstruction"
"Featurettes"
"Avatar Archives"

With that out of the way, let's get started:

Scene Deconstruction: Using your Blu-Ray remote you can select 17 different scenes from the film and have a look at three separate options: The original performance capture material, the template CG and the final film with the Performance Capture material in a PiP reference square, this was unbelievably fun to watch as you get a firsthand look at how some of the CG scenes with the push of a button as well as seeing how just dead on the performance capture really was, the buttons you want for this section are Red for the Final one, Yellow for the template CG (which looks like an old N64 game) and Green for the Performance Capture, well worth watching.

Featurettes: 17 Production Featurettes here on a range of different subjects, from the creation of some of the film's creatures such as the Ikran (Banshee), the Thanator, the gunships, the AMP Suit, the various cameras developed for the film and even down to the scoring and editing of the picture, some pretty cool stuff here which is worth checking out.

Avatar Archives: Possibly my favorite section of the entire set, there is all sorts of fan goodness here that I will be covering one item at a time, so read on dear reader:

Teaser Trailer: The film's Teaser Trailer is presented here in full 1080p HD and 5.1 sound, containing some different angles and unfinished CG work, this teaser gathered a very mixed reaction when released last year, although I'll never forget the pure glee at seeing this in a cinema when I went to see (500) Days of Summer late last year, something from my cinema going days that will stay with me for a long time.

Theatrical Trailer: If the Teaser Trailer garnered a mixed response, the Theatrical Trailer won over a whole slew of new fans, this fantastic trailer (which I must have watched 1000's of times prior to the film's cinema release) is also in full 1080p HD and 5.1 sound and I must say that it's absolutely delightful to see it here on this disc as it wouldn't have been the same without it, or the Teaser for that matter.

The Original Scriptment: Pretty much where it all began, James Cameron's original 1995 treatment for Avatar, and it's an utterly fantastic read especially as it goes into much more detail about Josh's (Josh was later changed to Jake) life on Earth which is more grim than in the final film, there's also a character who doesn't appear in the film at all, someone who's Avatar died, terrific stuff.

Screenplay Written by James Cameron: Pretty much the film's shooting script, a good read but not as good as the Scriptment.

Pandorapedia: Pretty much everything (and I mean everything) you could ever want to know about Pandora and it's inhabitants both human and Na'vi is covered here in massive detail, you could spend hours and hours in this although as I write this I haven't found the section on Toruk Macto, again great stuff.

The Songs: Here the Na'vi songs are translated into English as well as the original Na'vi language, I never really picked up on the Na'vi songs but it's heartening to see them here.

The Art of Avatar: An Extensive collection of artwork, photos and blueprints on just about everything in the film from the various weapons, the AMP Suit (VERY cool to see the blueprints of this baby) and more, what else is there left to say expect check it out.

Any further objections:

Actually, no apart from the lost hour on the making of which would have made this set feel a little more definitive but I will say in a very nice touch that at any point you stop any of the discs and eject them from your system, when you put it back in you will be asked to resume playback from wherever you left off, now that's good thinking.

Final Thoughts:

If you are an Avatar fan, you HAVE to have this disc, even if you bought the April release like I did to satisfy yourself in having the film then and there, to be quite honest the last time I remember being satisfied with a top notch special edition release was the Blade Runner set from 2007 and although it isn't as good as that set (and it will be a long time if ever before I see an SE as good as that one) it's the best one since as far as I'm concerned, so Go get it, Now I say.

Editorial - Is the Social Network this Generation's Wall Street?

Please Note: The Following Editorial contains spoilers for both The Social Network and Wall Street so if you haven't seen either or both of these movies, read on at your own risk.

Having recently seen the new David Fincher/Aaron Sorkin film The Social Network, which details Mark Zuckerburg and the origins of the hit networking site Facebook, I couldn't help but be reminded of the first Wall Street film director Oliver Stone in 1987, not his recent 2010 sequel Money Never Sleeps, the reason I was reminded of that film so much was how this movie concluded its proceedings, even as I type this I can't help but compare the two so I decided to ask this simple question:

Is the Social Network this Generation's Wall Street?

Well, the answer to that question may not be so clear-cut depending on how you read it but I'm going to tell my own personal opinion as to why I feel that it is, let's begin shall we:

First off, we have the naive dreamer who becomes motivated for his own selfish reasons to be something more than his working class compatriots, in Wall Street it was Bud Fox played by Charlie Sheen, a naive stockbroker working for Jackson Steiner, one of the finance firms on Wall Street who wants to rise above his working class father played by Martin Sheen and become a player, like his financial idol Gordon Gekko played by Michael Douglas, Bud wants to do this for his own reasons, to become more successful than his father, who he sees at one point in the film as a "jealous old man who can't stand the fact that his son's become more successful than he has" but as Martin Sheen is quick to fire back "What you see, is a guy who never measured success by the size of his WALLET"

In Social Network you also have the naive dreamer in Mark Zuckerburg, incidentally a real life character played brilliantly by young actor Jessie Eisenberg, here instead of being a young trader, Zuckerburg is a computer genius who after being dumped goes on a bender and furiously comes up with what's called Face mash, ranking the women of Harvard against each other, from here he is hired by two Harvard sporting champions to come up with a Harvard social network, but from here Zuckerburg shows his dark side, taking their idea and building on it for his own purposes.

And from there we come to the link in the centre, the one character that ties it all together and also serves as the catalyst for these events, in Wall Street that character is none other than Gordon Gekko himself, played brilliantly by Michael Douglas, who also went on to (quite rightly I might add) win an Oscar for his effort.

This leads us to the second archetype from both films, the slick businessman with dark intentions, in Wall Street it's Gekko that show us this side in the scenes where Gordon takes Bud under his wing, showing him how to work the system in terms of getting inside information as well as showing him the high life of wealth, power, luxury and women but also subtly manipulating him at the same time in the means of driving a wedge between him and his one real link to the real world therefore leaving the naive dreamer ripe for the taking, as shown in the scenes where Gordon wants to take over the airline where Martin Sheen works and his manipulation of Bud shows us that he wants to drive a wedge between the two.

In the Social Network, this archetype actually cuts both ways, for these reasons: in Zuckerburg himself there are actually traces of Gordon Gekko in the beginning despite sharing a comparison with Bud at the same time, completely willing to manipulate anyone and anything around him for his own selfish reasons, Zuckerburg in the movie keenly studies everyone and everything around him and is not afraid to use it for his own purposes of power but even though we can see his own intentions, the characters he interacts with don't, and that leads to unfortunate consequences for them.

Not only do we have traces of Gekko in the film's lead, we also have a literal incarnation of those themes, this time with the character of Sean Parker played surprisingly well by pop star Justin Timberlake, Parker in a lot of ways is like Gekko, he's played in the same market (he co-founded Napster) and has a slightly more luxurious lifestyle with a nice California house with its own pool, house parties, girls, drugs, the works.

And just like Gordon with Bud in Wall Street, Parker promises all of this to Zuckerburg by asking for a stake in his company, something his friend Eduardo Saverin played by Andrew Garfield (who is to become to become the next Spider-Man) can't believe that his friend would fall into.

Which brings us to our final archetype that ties both films together, the working class man who has his head on his shoulders and is distrusting of shady success, in Wall Street this is embodied by Bud's father Carl played by Charlie Sheen's real life dad Martin Sheen, Carl sees right through Gekko and knows all too well that he stands for nothing more than Greed, out for a quick buck and taking no prisoners while he does so.

In the Social Network, this character is Eduardo, who I mentioned earlier, Eduardo works hard to help Mark set up Facebook but is distrustful of Parker in the same way Bud's father distrusts Gordon, Sean is successful but also shady, as evidenced with his Napster dealings, something Eduardo doesn't like and tries to call Mark's attention to it before being dismissed in the same Bud dismissed his father as a jealous old man, but Eduardo's retribution is more swift than Carl's.

But lastly, we have the generation factor, Wall Street defined the "me, me, me" yuppie culture of the 1980's as well as the corporate greed that ran like wildfire back then and still has drastic ramifications today, The Social Network defines the social world we currently inhabit, people use Facebook for many reasons, to find friends, keep in contact with family members even play games like Farmville, not only do you have that but you also have the discussions regarding copyright and intellectual property law that help to frame the film's narrative structure, a debate raging strong today.

So there you have it folks, a little long but I wanted to explain not only the Wall Street comparison in my main review of The Social Network but also the question posed above as to why I feel that Social Network is this generation's Wall Street, now you may disagree and think I'm full of it, but this is purely my own opinion and as always, interpret what I say the way you choose to, not how I feel you should.

Film Review - Animal Kingdom (2010)

Animal Kingdom is an Australian crime story regarding the Overdose of the mother of a kid named J, who is then sent to live with his grandmother played by Jacki Weaver, but what he finds is something very dark indeed.

Upon this movie's theatrical release in Australia, there was a lot of very rave reviews greeting the film, most of them along the lines of "YOU MUST SEE THIS MOVIE RIGHT NOW", now I don't have a problem with that one bit as I've done on more than one occasion but I'm sorry but here I didn't feel that love, what I saw instead was a fairly straightforward crime story that would have probably worked just as well as a story for the Australian TV Series "Underbelly" in fact it may have worked better there so it could have developed its characters a little more, as the only interesting characters were the detective played by Guy Pearce easily the best thing about the movie, J's Girlfriend and Barry, a friend of the crime family played by Joel Edgerton.

Now I know I'm going to sound harsh on this but I did not enjoy this movie very much at all, mainly due to the lack of character development and the really annoying way everyone in the crime family spoke, that long droll that sound as if they all had a binge before shooting, if you like crime stories or Underbelly you'll probably like this film but if you don't then you won't so just a 1 and a half out of 5.

Film Review - The A-Team (2010)

The A-Team is based on the hit TV series from the 1980's and stars Liam Neeson as Hannibal Smith, the leader of a small squad of men who are charged with killing an American general and disgraced from the service, but Hannibal is not one to go quietly without a plan.

I wasn't expecting much from this movie at all but I was intrigued as it starred Liam Neeson, one of my favourite actors but low and behold I actually had a good time with this time, director Joe Carnahan goes wild and woolly with his camerawork in the action scenes bringing to them a real style, but what anchors this movie is the four main leads, I mentioned Neeson who is also pretty good as Hannibal, there's also Bradley Cooper from The Hangover who does well with his role as does 'Rampage' Jackson a UFC fighter taking the Mr. T role but not quite succeeding with it but the standout here is Sharlto Copley from District 9, looking disturbingly like Michael Bay he plays Mad Murdoch and is pretty much as crazy as Bay, pulling off some insane helicopter moves.

All in all, it's a serviceable action picture that was better than I had expected, worth a 3 day rental fee so a 2 out of 5.

Film Review - How to Train your Dragon (2010)

How to Train your Dragon is the latest production from the animation arm of Dreamworks and concerns a island of Vikings who are trained to kill Dragons who attack their isle some parts of the year, but the son of one Viking voiced by Gerard Butler has other ideas.

Dragon is one of the highlights of the first third of 2010, which normally is full of forgettable pictures that studios don't want to deal with that much, Craig Ferguson steals the show in terms of the voice actor department as the teacher of the young Viking students, there are some impressive flying sequences and action scenes and surprisingly I was reminded of James Cameron's Avatar, in terms of how he begins to see the dragons and also of how events take shape at the end of the film.

All in all, this is not bad, kids and adults should find it enjoyable and Dreamworks Animation have made their first genuine hit, so a solid 3 out of 5.

Film Review - The Social Network (2010)

The Social Network is the latest film from director David Fincher and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin and concerns the origins of the hit social networking site Facebook as well as the ups and downs.

Now I know when I reviewed Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps that I said that that film was the last one of the year that I had any interest in, well I did have some interest in The Social Network even though it's released after that film, mainly due to the film's hype generated by the reviews from critics, most of which say that it was the film of the year.

But are they right: Well, Yes and No, for these reasons, for the first 2/3rds of the film's running time the movie is on top form, Sorkin's script churns out enough wit and social commentary to keep the viewer interested, this is backed up by Eisenberg's amazing performance as Mark Zuckerburg, the founder of Facebook, his timing is spit perfect and he comes across as a cross between Data from Star Trek The Next Generation and Gordon Gekko from Wall Street, a socially disconnected person who analyses everything and everyone around him and can do dangerous things with it when motivated, something that his partners should have seen right from the start as the signs were clearly there to see.

But unfortunately, the film has a pretty big failing and that is the last act, strangely enough this coincides with when they meet the character played by Justin Timberlake, from here I felt it turned into a replay of the first Wall Street film Oliver Stone made, with Zuckerburg turned into the Bud Fox character Charlie Sheen played in that film and JT as Gekko, the slick business man who takes to naive dreamer under his wing and leads him right down the garden path while manipulating him at the same time, to bolster that viewpoint Andrew Garfield's character also takes on the Martin Sheen role from that film, as the straight laced man who tries to point out to his friend that he's being manipulated, even if Zuckerburg tells him otherwise, which leads to a somewhat lacklustre conclusion to the film which is a pity as when this film was good, it was very good.

Overall, this is a pretty good film for the most part but the third act scrambles it, so a 4 out of 5 for The Social Network.

Film Review - Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010)

Prince of Persia is based on the video game of the same name and is also the latest blockbuster from veteran producer Jerry Bruckheimer, the story here is that there is a young boy from the streets (who's totally not Aladdin) who is adopted by a king as he shows great courage, but the prince played by Jake Gyllenhall soon finds himself on the adventure of a lifetime with a mystical princess played by Gemma Arterton.

To be honest, this movie sucked the big one, not as much as Robin Hood did but was a little better than Clash of the Titans, Gyllenhall is pretty much the best thing about the movie as he's pretty good in holding his own, however this film had no script at all, the battle scenes were pretty much the same as the game that inspired this movie and Arterton was a little too much like Carrie Fisher in the first Star Wars.

But that's not all that this movie suffers from, it also suffers from a villain which pretty much makes you think "I'm the bad guy" the moment he's introduced and there's the return of our old friend the reset button, plus that time honoured tradition of a good and respectful actor making a complete idiot of himself for a few dollars more, ah the little things in life.

So overall as I said, this movie sucks and isn't worth your time, hopefully Toy Story 3 can redeem the blockbuster season before Twilight sucks out it's audience, but please don't see this I mean it's only got a 1 out of 5 and you wouldn't see a movie rated only that high right.

Right?

Film Review - Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010)

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps is the sequel to the popular 1987 film from Oliver Stone, who also directs this movie, the story this time is that Gordon Gekko played by Michael Douglas is now out of jail and wants back in on the game of financial trading, and Jake Moore played by Shia LaBeouf may just be the key to do just that.

Before I give you my overall thoughts I'm going to regal you with a tale of woe, I had really been looking forward to this movie and it was the last of the year that held my interest and as the release date approached I got excited and was anticipating my chance to get to my cinema to see it, sadly the powers that be conspired against me and the afternoon session I desired slipped through my fingers, making me VERY unhappy but I held out hope that this was only for the first week but as the second rolled around again my hopes were dashed, but after that second week the film stopped playing, and my anger grew big time but as fate would have it, I was thrown a bone and a session fell into my lap.

4 long weeks after the film's national release.

And with that, I now have seen the film and you're probably asking "how was it"; well sad to say that it's not terrible, mainly because of Douglas himself, he inhabits Gordon Gekko in the same way that James Earl Jones is the true voice of Darth Vader, sadly outside of him the film is predictable and at times fairly dull to watch, mainly because both of the family and finance stories don't mesh, in the first film the family story and the financial story meshed together into a cohesive whole, here that doesn't happen.

Another big problem is that unlike the first film, there is the lack of a strong villain, again in Wall Street 1 there was the Terence Stamp character as well as Gordon to rally behind, here Josh Brolin is fairly weak as is Shia, the centre of the film again just as Michael Cera was in Scott Pilgrim, he's a dead weight.

Overall, this is not a terrible sequel but it feels perfunctory and frankly, not worth your time and believe me, after waiting 4 long weeks to see it, I write it with a heavy heart, only a 2 out of 5 overall, money may never sleep but sometimes, people do.

Film Review - Rocky V (1990)

Rocky V is the fifth entry in the series and this time Rocky Balboa returns from Russia to find out his money is gone and his brain is damaged, with that he retires and reopens Mickey's old gym, but waiting for him there is a hungry young fighter named Tommy Gunn and a scrupulous Don King type promoter named George Washington Duke.

This movie, in all honesty is nothing but a complete and total disaster, everything here feels completely forced and while it wants to return to the heartfelt roots of the first two movies, heart is what's missing from this film and the Rocky series always ALWAYS works best when it has heart, personal drive and determination at its centre.

And that was in all of the previous four movies, in the first film the drive was for Rocky to escape his down and out life in the slums of Philadelphia, stand up and say "I am" with a proud standing within himself, in Rocky II it was the realisation that boxing is the only thing that gives his life meaning and that he cannot deny it any longer no matter how hard he tries, Rocky III the realisation that he's lost the "eye of the tiger" his edge and that he can only get it back from an old enemy and in Rocky IV it was doing it all for a friend.

But do we get any of that inspiration that makes those films work, no we don't, instead we get a hockey family melodrama and a pitiful attempt to close off the series which also failed even at those tasks.

In the end, skip this chapter as it's by far the worst of the series, heck even Stallone himself has since disowned this entry in the series and hey I can't blame him so points for that but again, don't watch this movie 0 out of 5.

Film Review - Rocky IV (1985)

Rocky IV is the fourth in the series starring Sylvester Stallone as Rocky, the Philadelphian Boxing Champion who this time faces off against Ivan Drago, a Russian boxer played by Dolph Lundgren, but after seeing Drago kill Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) in the ring, the Italian Stallion wants to make this fight not only personal but also East vs. West.

You know, I actually had a lot of fun watching this movie, Stallone and the regulars are good as always but what struck me most here is the energy, the Rocky movies have always worked best when they have that energy and personal drive at their centre and here it's on show, despite the fact it feels like one of those movies where an action taken by a central character would avoid the main events but then again you wouldn't have a movie if that had actually happened now would you.

But hey, I ain't complaining about that as this was a fun and entertaining movie that was an improvement on Rocky III but not as good as Rocky II so a 3 out of 5.

Film Review - Rocky III (1982)

Rocky III is the third entry in this series and this time, a new champion emerges named Clubber Lang; the big screen debut of Mr. T but Rocky proves to be no match for him in the ring, but Apollo Creed comes calling again and tells him why he lost, he lost his edge otherwise called 'the eye of the Tiger' and he's got to get it back.

Rocky III is a more glossier picture than the first two which were more down to earth in their setting, here things seem brighter and better looking, the film is also brisker than the previous two films but the final bout here is nowhere near the brilliance of Rocky 2's final battle as it's over before it begins and Lang is not an effective villain, he's a loudmouth punk and as a result, you don't get any involvement in the payoff.

One thing I did enjoy though was the chemistry between Stallone and Weathers, the two play off each other very well but not even they can lift the film out of its overall mediocrity.

All in all, only for diehard Rocky fans, 2 out of 5.

A Look Back: Highlander and Highlander 2

Having not looked back for a while, I decided now was the time to do with the 1986 fantasy hit Highlander and it's 1991 sequel Highlander II.

Highlander starred Christopher Lambert as Connor MacLeod, who lives with his clan the Macleod's in the Scottish highlands, one day during a clan fight he receives a fatal stab wound but instead of dying he survives, banished from his home he learns from a man named Ramirez played by Sean Connery that he is immortal, destined to battle down the ages until only a few remain, where those who are left will fight for the Prize, which could spell doom if it falls into the wrong hands.

With all of that, you would expect a jumbled piece of filmmaking, right; wrong, Highlander works in every area, Australian Russel Mulcahy keeps a firm hold on the direction of the film while also bringing a strong editorial style to the piece, Lambert, Connery, Clancy Brown as the Kurgan the film's main villain and Roxanne Hart as Brenda the film's main love interest are solid here and perform very well, there's a very strong story regarding the nature of immortality, some great swordfights and of course, some kick ass songs contributed by the rock band Queen, as I said all of that adds up to a movie that simply worked.

If anything it worked a little too well for it's own good, and from here on there will be spoilers so read on at your own risk, the whole coda of the movie and the entire series is "There can be Only One" meaning that in the end, only one can remain before the Prize is given and that's exactly what happens at the end of the first movie, MacLeod kills the Kurgan and claims the Prize, meaning that there's now only one, doesn't leave a lot of room for a sequel let alone a franchise now does it.

Well, Producers William Panzer and Peter Davis decided to give it a shot, upon receiving pressure from the foreign distribution market they decided to make Highlander II, but unfortunately they failed miserably to make it work despite having a bigger budget, a big name cast with Lambert and Connery reprising their roles plus adding Virginia Madsen and Michael Ironside who were then enjoying some box office success and mainstream recognition plus Russel Mulcahy returning to the director's chair, but why did this film fail where the first film succeeded, especially with those elements listed above.

1. The Necessity of the Film Itself: My own principal reason as to why this film failed was that we didn't need it at all, the first Highlander movie ended things on the right note with there now being only one, why not leave it at that, so many sequels fail time and time again because they only exist because of the box office of the previous film demanding it and that's what happened here, the first film was a hit so the industry demanded a sequel within a certain amount of time, as a result fans don't get the sequel they deserve and the one they get makes some of them think "why did we need this movie at all".

2. The Script: The second reason H2 failed is the lack of a coherent script, because of the way the first film ended, there would have been enormous difficulty going forward on a sequel that could take place afterwards, a prequel could work easily, just show Connor in a different time period before the time of the Gathering, living under a false name like his Russell Nash identity the first film and also remembering what Ramirez taught him and fighting another immortal villain.

Interestingly enough Lambert did a movie called The Sicilian with Michael Cimino, something along those lines might have worked instead of the 25 years later story we got, even though the idea of the Shield protecting the Earth is a good one, mainly because it actually builds on what we learnt in the first film in terms of Connor and the Prize.

On top of that we also get a script that doesn't know what it wants to do with itself, trying to capture the new sci-fi setting as well as the mysticism of the first film when it should have been one or the other.

3. Revealing the Immortals Origin Story: This would be number 1 for most people but since I value a coherent script more, this is number 3 instead, in the first Highlander we knew nothing about how people became Immortal and it made for some interesting intrigue, this time around their origins are revealed as aliens from the planet Zeist, which was enough to make every Highlander fan seeing the film for the first time have a sour taste in their mouth, again a story idea that simply didn't work.

4. The Return of Ramirez: In one of the first film's most dramatic and exciting moments, Ramirez and the Kurgan face off, resulting in Ramirez being carved up 3 ways to Tuesday and losing his head, here through the Quickening, he's magically brought back to life and for no genuine purpose, even though Connery does a nice job and gives the film it's only source of comedy that works.

5. The Use of the Queen Songs: Again an insult to fans of the first film was the use of that films songs by Queen, both A Kind of Magic and Who Wants to Live Forever can be heard on the film's soundtrack and again it serves no purpose but to make you remember the first Highlander movie and how good that was, way to go guys, it's bad enough this sequel was insulting to begin with.

I could go on and I probably have for some people but you know, I'm a big fan of Highlander and I wanted to cover it in this kind of way, as for me the success of Highlander 1 led to the failure of Highlander 2 as all that film was to sum it up was pointless, incoherent and insulting to the fans who enjoyed Highlander 1 and yearned for a sequel despite the fact that we didn't really need one at all, perhaps in the end, There should have Been Only One.

Film Review - Last Action Hero (1993)

Last Action Hero stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as Jack Slater, a fictional action hero who is idolised by a young boy named Danny Madigan played by Austin O'Brien, but when a magic ticket catapults him into the movie, life gets a whole lot interesting.

I had heard terrible things about this film, and was expecting a bomb, but the combination of director John McTiernan who directed Die Hard and cinematographer Dean Semler who was also the cinematographer on Mad Max 2, both of which I would rank as the finest action movies of all time was too good to resist.

But did such a dream team create a winning result, sadly not, for this reason, and that is the film has no idea what it wants to do with itself, whether it be a silly comedy, a straight up action picture or a satire about Hollywood action movies, it tries to do all three at once when it should have done one or two of those and run with that instead.

If you want this kind of film, go get 2007's Hot Fuzz, it does it FAR FAR better, mainly because Edgar Wright has a firm handle on Action and Comedy, here McTiernan is good at the action but hopeless at comedy, so despite a few good laughs here and there, skip this one, 1 and a half out of 5.

Film Review - The Hurt Locker (2009)

The Hurt Locker concerns a squad of US Bomb Disposal Soldiers in Iraq who are winding down their tour of duty, but when their CO is killed in a bomb explosion, they get a new one who is a little addicted to his job.

This movie is a tough film to review as it plays on the emotions of the audience watching it; some scenes drip with heart stopping tension which gets to a point where you can't watch the events on screen as you're waiting for the bomb to go off and blow everyone to kingdom come, but while director Kathryn Bigelow does a good job with the material, the material itself borders on predictability as you can't help but think 'they're all gonna die', probably the only other saving grace of this film is Jeremy Renner as the mad CO, his scenes play totally straight and are full of conviction as a man who is totally addicted to what he does and outside of that, is a complete wreck.

But does that save the film as a whole, no it doesn't as the borderline predictability with the characters got on my nerves one too many times, so it only gets a 2 and a half out of 5.

Film Review - Percy Jackson, The Olympians and the Lightning Thief (2010)

Percy Jackson is the latest in a long line of fantasy novels headed for the big screen since the success of the Harry Potter movies and concerns the gods Zeus and Poseidon who are threatening war after Zeus's lightning bolt is stolen, and one demigod may be the key to it all.

Now, it must be said that this is not a terrible film, as there were a couple of sight gags that did make me laugh and there were some okay action sequences that didn't exactly set the world on fire but also weren't too bad either.

But this film fails on two very big points: character and structure, and I'm going to look at both points separately, in the character side of things, none of the heroes or their quest are made important enough to suck you into the plot of the film, as they go about their business in a very workman like fashion and Percy's mother is not on screen long enough to make her interesting or make you care when she's kidnapped.

And in terms of the film's structure, the events on screen move too fast for the audience to take in what they're watching and come to root for the three heroes to succeed and Hades is simply not seen enough to be a presence in the background of the film and be felt when the heroes go about their quest.

But as I said, it's not a terrible film but it's also a film that fails all three of the fundamental principles, it doesn't have a good story, interesting characters or a strong villain so as a result, it only gets a 1 out of 5.

Film Review - Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)

Hot Tub Time Machine stars John Cusack as a man who along with his nephew and two best friends go to an old ski resort but they manage to find an old hot tub, which is also a time machine.

Time Travel has always been an interesting genre in film but not the easiest to make work either, some like the first two Terminator movies make it work but most flounder, which is also the case here as for the most part I found this movie to be fowl and obnoxious as well as a little on the predictable side, Cusack is good but the scene stealer is Chevy Chase, looking like he's crawled out of the Jurassic era but is also sadly seen too little, I also was reminded of the first Back to the Future film and in all honesty, you're better off renting that instead as this film suffers from an identity crisis, wanting to be both Back to the Future and last year's The Hangover rolled into one.

1 and a half out of 5.

Film Review - Rocky II (1979)

Rocky II is the sequel to the 1976 film Rocky and sees Sylvester Stallone back as Rocky Balboa and also in the director's chair, taking over from John Advilsen who directed the first film, the story here is that Apollo Creed played by Carl Weathers wants a rematch as he becomes convinced that the first fight was little more than a fluke, but the Italian Stallion wants none of it, or does he.

Rocky II starts off slow, spending the first half of the film with him and Adrian and their life together, it is here that the heart of the film if not the entire series is felt; that of someone who is determined to do what's right and go the distance to achieve that goal, even though he tries to find a normal life in order to please others, he also can't deny the one thing that gives his life meaning.

But I can't mention this film and not mention the terrific climax bout, the first film didn't have such a climax, it felt empty as a payoff, here that's rectified as much of the last act is devoted to the boxing match, and wow what a heart stopper, at times you really feel you're a part of the crowd cheering along with them even though you're only watching it, a very cool feeling indeed.

All in all, an entertaining sequel, 3 out of 5.

Film Review - Tomorrow when the War Began (2010)

Tomorrow when the War Began is based off a series of novels written by John Marsden, the story here is that a group of young teenagers go off for a weekend camping in a secluded country spot, but when they return they find all their loved ones missing and a maelstrom of decay, where ordinary kids can become battered and smashed.

To be honest, I walked into this movie expecting nothing at all, as having seen the previews for this when watching Iron Man 2 earlier in the year, it reminded me of Mad Max and as long time readers will know, I am a massive fan of the first two movies in that series.

But did my expectations get surpassed or not, well they did but not by anything special as this movie felt very by the numbers, I mean don't get me wrong the young actors are solid and I enjoyed myself but all I thought when I walked out was that it was okay, but nothing special.

But if anything my main objection with this film is this, when I think of Aussie action pictures what comes to mind is the Mad Max series (well the first two movies in that series mainly) and I'm sorry but this movie is nothing but a pale shadow of that great film, at times taking direct inspiration from Mad Max 2, boy I'm REALLY starting to get sick of this, if anything it feels worse here than in Book of Eli or The Road because it's Australian filmmakers getting in on the act, I have said this before but I'll say it again, please make this stop someday.

So all in all, don't have high expectations and you might enjoy yourself, a 2 out of 5.