Computer Fail

Hardware failures are always a hassle. It's certainly changes any plans I might have has blog-wise. I have to figure out the best way to get things working again now. I did realize that the computer with the problem is over five years old and had been pretty much running 24/7 the whole time. So that's actually not bad for a cheap development server.

King Kong

This one isn't actually even close to being a new release. I never managed to catch this one before and I recorded it a while ago. It has been sat on my Sky box waiting but kept getting skipped because it's a bit on the long side. Yesterday I decided I needed to reinstall the software on one of my local servers and I needed something to help pass the time along with that. It is also the only Peter Jackson film I've never seen before so it's about time I fixed that.

I've since found myself wondering if I've ever actually seen the original or whether I'm just remembering the iconic scenes from popular culture in general. This version was good though and it didn't seem to long for me. Although I was doing two things at once. I have to say though that some of the effects shots haven't aged well and it's only 6 years old. The problems are where real actors are composited with the creatures. It just seemed a little off especially when compared to Jackson's previous film.

Captain America: The First Avenger

Second film in my catch-up week is Marvel's latest offering Captain America: The First Avenger. I enjoyed the film but as I stare at the screen I find myself unsure as to what I can write about it. I don't want to end up just writing a synopsis. I wonder if perhaps that the World War II setting just doesn't appeal to me as much. Chris Evans was good though, you quickly forget that he's actually been a Marvel superhero before (Human Torch in Fantastic 4) this is a whole new era of Marvel now. Hugo Weaving was also excellent as Red Skull and Tommy Lee Jones needs a mention for great supporting role. It's more origins out of the way so The Avengers doesn't need to waste time with too much exposition. Then once this gets a solo sequel we can find out what Captain America is really like.

Super 8

Day one of my film catch-up week and to begin with we've got Super 8. It was fantastic. I quickly realized that I knew extremely little about the story of the film. I'd seen the trailers of course but they were particularly vague, although they were good. I had not seen any clips nor had I read any interviews. It seems my interest in the film came simply from Abrams and Spielberg being involved and a bit of general hype. Generally I avoid spoilers, but there are many levels of that. I think the last film I saw with so little foreknowledge was the Matrix and that was twelve years ago now! If I had to describe this film quickly I think I would say it's a mix of ET, The Goonies and a dash of Cloverfield. I'm not going to say anything else about the story as I'm sure the not knowing was part of was made it so great for me. The little actors playing the kids are all great. Just like Sean Astin or Drew Barrymore in the films I compared it to, some of them will grow in to much bigger stars I'm sure. The film also looked great although Abrams still loves his lens flare. The sets were one of the best parts. I could be wrong as I was only three months old at the time this film is set but it feels very authentic to me, to the point it could have been shot as "present day" in 1979. Highly recommended.

We're dead aren't we? Again!

I've said more than once that Amy was my favourite companion. Not just of the modern series but of all time. However over the last couple of episodes I've come to the realization that Rory is actually my favourite now. He's slowly grown over time and become a great addition to the series. He's always able to see the funny side of things and is often the first to use common sense. The perfect British keep calm and carry on attitude.

Missed Films

Through being busy and disorganized it seems I have missed some of the recent films I had hoped to see in the cinema. I'd already accepted that I had missed Captain America but I was looking at the listings this afternoon and found that wasn't the only one. I was thinking I might see something on either Saturday or Monday but now I've changed my mind. I was surprised to see that Cowboys & Aliens wasn't showing in Sheffield anymore as it's only been on for two weeks. We do only have eight screens in Sheffield centre so I guess they'll only keep the really big ones. So while Super 8 and Conan aren't on anymore, Rise of the Planet of the Apes is. So I've decided I'm going to have a film catch-up week via "other" sources. Sorry film makers, I'll make it up next time and of course if I like them I'll be buying the DVD/BD. So we'll have a bunch of mini film reviews on the blog this week. You should pretend I saw these a while ago but I'm only just posting about them.

Noooooooooo!

So Star Wars is about to be released on Blu-Ray and I have been wondering if I should get it or not. For a long while I thought probably not. After all I do have three copies on VHS and two copies on DVD already. Then more recently I thought I probably would end up getting it, I am a collector after all. There some new features that might be interesting, although probably not enough if I'm honest. However finally the clip below appeared online (along with at least three others). It seems George Lucas still isn't done tweaking the films (even the prequels) and there are going to be changes again. I think I might skip this version and wait for the next one. Adding CGI blinks to Ewoks I can cope with. Greedo still shooting first, I've already learned to ignore that. Changing Obi-Wan's Krayt Dragon call in A New Hope, annoying but gone in three seconds. But this? I don't think Vader's motivation here was ever in doubt, this is just distracting.