John pondered holding up a boombox to save the world

Hollywood has a large number of easy targets for vitriol such as Jerry Bruckheimer or Michael Bay who produce loud, visually stunning movies that are devoid of any quality story or character development.  As many people sagely state “Michael Bay likes blowing sh*t up!”, and let us be frank unless we sit watching art house cinema and complaining about the fall of society, we all like to see stuff blowing up.

Another of these soft targets is Roland Emmerich, an unashamed creator of retina burning movies such as Independence Day and Godzilla.  And for each of their hackneyed, cliché laden plot devices I have to say I do rather enjoy an Emmerich movie.

Conveniently sidestepping the mess that was 10,000 BC we now have 2012 which is billed as the disaster movie to end all others.  It stars John Cusack in a somewhat blatant studio paycheck role as Jackson Curtis, a published novelist and divorced father of two.  Sadly his book only sold a handful of copies, and insistence at sticking with the vocation cost him his marriage to the always charming Amanda Peet (Kate).
Jackson is driving a limo for a Russian billionaire Yuri Karpov (Zlatko Buric) while Kate is living with plastic surgeon Gordon (Tom McCarthy).

This group makes up the human interest part of the movie, as the Mayan forecasted end of the world date of 2012 rapidly approaches, and the proverbial hits the domestic appliance.
Scientists in India and a US adviser named Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor) were aware of the upcoming crisis, and in secret the US has been using labour from around the globe to construct a series of arks that will ferry the “great and good” of the world’s elite who can afford the one billion dollar (per person) price tag to be part of the new world order.  All this coming under order from the US president (Danny Glover) and slimy self-centered naer do well Carl Anheuser (Oliver Platt).

Before moving on to discuss just how well the CG team destroy much of the entire planet I have to take a very slight stand for the story here.  Yes the down on his luck, heart of gold Dad routine has been done a million times before.  Yes, you root that he will get back together with his estranged wife, and hope the new plastic surgeon will meet an untimely demise.  The kids are cute and we want everyone to survive (pretty much).
But as trite as some of this stuff is, the movie actually has a few subtle nods to themes such as making peace while you still can, and it doesn’t shy away from bumping off characters at regular intervals.  So while this isn’t, and was never meant to be Shakespeare 2012 has genuine heart underneath the multimillion dollar effects.

And finally to those effects and for the most part they are spectacularly impressive.  There is some very ropey CG at times (witness the family escaping in the limo as the streets fall apart around them) but on the whole the action is pretty spectacular.

Hollywood seems to be welcoming anything flying into buildings these days, and mass destruction on a global scale is served up for our entertainment.  But don’t worry folks, the little people are only CG!
My own personal feelings about “we got a plane, you’re all dead, sorry” moments aside, the two and a half hour runtime whips by relatively quickly.  Action sequences are fairly close together and the story never really gets too sluggish to the point you would be looking at your watch and waiting for the next tidal wave or earthquake.

2012 is big dumb fun with a surprising amount of heart, and as a reference disc it will give any system a serious workout.  Just don’t expect high art and you won’t walk away disappointed.

Audio Visual
Lets get down to business right from the off here.  2012 is a reference disc, pure and simple.  Visuals are gorgeous, and this 1080p MPEG4 encode is nearly almost rock solid.  Save for a couple of contrast issues in darker scenes it is spot on.
As with a lot of CG laden movies the clarity of the Blu-ray transfer shows up a few slightly wonky effects shots, but scenes such as the image above of the cast escaping as the city collapses around them is mesmerising.  Just watching the buildings collapse, glass shatter, etc is simply stunning.

While watching the movie I Tweeted to say it had possibly the best audio I’ve ever heard in a home disc release, and bar a couple of minor niggles I did notice later on during the film I stand by that knee jerk 140 character reaction.  The DTS HD Master Audio soundtrack is a powerhouse that gives each and every speaker in your surround setup a serious workout.  Even during quiet conversation scenes such as on the aeroplane full of Yuri’s cars the rear speakers are constantly chattering with clanks and clangs.
The minor gripe is the bass could be a little more bombastic during some of the serious destruction scenes.  Watch a movie such as Die Hard 4.0 and enjoy the shoot out scene where Bruce Willis first meets Justin Long.  Gunshots rain down, heavy deep and thumbing bass abounds.  I would have expected something similar here, but considering the whole world is going to hell in a very large handbasket, things can be a little weedy at times.

Those minor items on the snagging list aside, this is a great looking and sounding disc.

Bonus Features
This UK presentation of 2012 is interesting.  In the US there were two releases, a standard single disc with just the movie and a few extras as well as a two disc Special Edition with a load of HD exclusive items.

We get a single disc version containing all the extras from the Special Edition.  Good for us, but I wonder whether bitrates were dropped anywhere to keep everything down to a single BD50?

Anyway, the following features are included:

Audio Commentary – Roland Emmerich and his co-writer/composer Harald Kloser given a very functional and information heavy commentary on the movie which is technical but not particularly awe inspiring.  There’s a lot of tidbits here but I wouldn’t say it’s a must listen.

Picture-in-Picture Commentary – Same goes for this one, not particularly great but you do get the added bonus of the cast and crew giving talking heads and some behind the scenes production stuff.

Alternate Ending – I’m very glad that this isn’t the ending that they used, as it cranks up the shmalz to eleven and negates some of the tough choices the filmmakers made in sending a small message through letting people go.  Visual effects aren’t finished and there is no soundtrack.  It’s nice to have here to show what could have been the ending, but a good reminder of why it wasn’t.

Deleted Scenes – One for the check box on the back of the packaging, five very short and unmemorable scenes that were right to be cut.

Roland Emmerich: The Master of the Modern Epic – Bring your sick bag, it’s ten minutes of people showering praise on how amazing Mr Emmerich is.  Really Sony, you can do way better than this.

Interactive Mayan Calendar – Nice bit of fun this one. You have four options beginning with some video telling about the Mysteries of the Mayan Calendar and some extras for reading the glyphs themselves.  The Mayan Horoscope is good for a bit of fun.

An Actor’s Perspective – A chat with the principal cast about making such a physical movie.

Science Behind the Destruction – This featurette is making a link between the Mayan calendar and the science that the movie is based on.

Designing the End of the World & Countdown to the Future – I’ve lumped these two features together because they go hand in hand to deliver just over three quarters of an hour that makes up the bulk of the features here.

As you might expect the former is going deep into the CGI of the movie.  I’m a sucker for these kind of features showing the computer tech behind the final image and this one is very heavy on behind the scenes material.  The highlight of the features for me (no prizes for guessing what the low point was).  The second part is focussing more on the Mayan beliefs that we’ll all be getting our comeuppance before the next round of videogame consoles are released.  It’s a well paced scientific feature.

Summing Up
This is a Marmite movie for many folks, you either like Mr Emmerich’s brand of visual insanity or you view him as a hack to be vilified.

Personally I enjoyed 2012, despite it being two tons full of cliché for most of its considerable runtime.  The CG effects are spectacular, the disc looks and sounds amazing and the features are decent enough to keep fans entertained.

If for nothing else, 2012 is a must have reference disc to keep in your collection.

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The other Peter Cullen

A short while ago I wrote a post entitled Death of the Cinema, where I talked about how the movie going experience has been somehwat lost to me recently.  Rising ticket costs and the fact that the sound and picture quality, combined with the fact I have to do at least a forty mile round trip to see a movie from home, have left me devoid of any interest in the medium.

All the more disturbing is that I didn’t have the enthusiasm to want to go and see Star Trek (despite rave reviews from friends), or Terminator: Salvation.  So when Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was getting close to release, I treated it with a great big “meh”.  I was all set to wait for it to come out on Blu-ray and enjoy the experience at home.

Then the movie was released here in the UK, a week before the US to a series of underwhelming reviews.  It got panned, and when the US critics weighed in it wasn’t a prettier picture either.  I effectively had my mind made up for me, I wasn’t that bothered by the movie in the first place and if it really is as bad as people are saying then it must be terrible, right?

We didn’t have much planned yesterday bar a visit to my folks, and I wanted to do something a little different.  There were a couple of times last week I considered “doing a Billy No Mates” and going to see Transformers by myself after work.  But decided against it, by the time I had watched the movie I would be exiting right in the middle of rush hour.  Anybody who knows anything about the Poole and Bournemouth area knows that you really don’t want to be around during work kick-out time.  So I didn’t bother then.

I decided “screw it”, the first movie was incredibly flawed but even though the picture won’t be up to my stupidly anal, moaner high standards, and it would be a little on the pricey side, I enjoy the spectacle of a Michael Bay/Transformers movie and I wanted to see it.  So we did, and I’m glad that we did.

I’m starting to wonder why it is I listen so intently to what people say on internet message boards, because they primarily seem to be populated by people who are determined to hate everything and everyone.  They get some kind of perverse pleasure in spending money to see something, determined that it will suck without even giving it a shot, and positively racing home to, well for want of a better phrase, shit all over it.
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is, to my mind anyway, not entirely deserving of the critical drubbing it has garnished.  And let us not kid ourselves here, the general public clearly don’t take much notice of what critics say anyway given it took a record $60 million on its first day of release in the US.

We chose to see the movie at 4 o’clock in the afternoon, that is when it was being shown at the largest screen at the Tower Park Empire Cinemas complex (which, by the way has now almost finished its refit and it looks much better for it, shame the projectors are still the same, moan moan, repeat to fade).  Unsurprisingly as the movie is very much aimed at young boys and their fathers who grew up with Transformers (something that certain critics never seem to grasp, and probably never will.  They are never going to make a movie that is wholly based around the cartoon, it’s been 25 years, please move on) there were a lot of families there, lots of excited boys with their Dads and a number of Mums who were along for the ride.  Astonishingly they all behaved perfectly, a little rowdily to begin with but who cares?  Once the movie started they were silent for the entire duration.

Turning to the movie itself, a few notes about its flaws.  Yes, the movie is too long.  It is decidedly saggy in the middle, just as the first one was.  But this time around it feels a little better paced, rather than having to wait for any action whatsoever this time around it is liberally spaced throughout the entire movie so you are never left waiting for too long.

The story, well yes it is total bobbins but we aren’t watching a remake of Othello now are we?  The wafer thin plot does what it has to and give what it is designed to be, something that holds together the premise of “some really big robots beat the crap out of each other”.

Alright let’s break down the other things about the movie that are bad very quickly so I can get onto the positive stuff.  Yes the dog humping is overdone, once for a cheap laugh would suffice, twice is not necessary.  The cheap humour like Bumblee “peeing” on someone, robot farting, etc?  It’s designed for cheap laughs, and in my screening they got plenty.  From the kids, and the parents alike.  Sorry robot snobs, there’s nothing wrong with a bit of fun even if it is a little daft and crude.  I chuckled, and didn’t feel the need to put on my Autobot t-shirt and hug my boxed G1 Optimus Prime when I got home.
Finally a word on the stereotypes.  Every single character in this movie is a stereotype, even some of the Americans.  All of the Autobots are US cars, there is an Audi R8 Decepticon at the start of the movie and certain other Decepticons are Volvos no doubt indicating that any form of automobile that isn’t built in Detroit is inherantly evil.  Then there are the stereotypical “gang banger” type characters, complete with a gold tooth and snappy dialogue.  I have to agree with the other critics here, those characters are extremely unnecessary and rather offensive.  They really could have used toning down.

I must admit I sneered a little at the picture quality at the start of the movie.  Mentally berating the lack of sharpness and brightness to the image.  Then an inner voice told me to shut up, stop being a joyless prat and enjoy myself.  I listened, and enjoyed.
I had a blast with Revenge of the Fallen, the criticisms above aside.  This is an incredible action movie, and an absolutely astounding technical achievement.

There is so much more action this time around, and it kicks off right from the start.  I lost count of the number of times I found myself mouth agape, just unable to fathom just how ILM create the CG in this movie.  The stand out action sequence for me is in the forest where Optimus Prime takes on three Decepticons, and delivers a throaty “I’ll take you all on!” roar that had the kids jumping and cheering in their seats.

The action is also easier to follow this time.  In the first movie the camera was more focussed from the POV of the human characters, so when we saw the robots it was usually from the “waist” up.  There are plenty of long shots that show the full side characters fighting from a distance, which looks all the more impressive.  Which left me wondering why so many critics claimed they couldn’t tell what was going on because the action is so frenetic.  It’s fast, yes, but it’s not “make you vomit”, shaky cam fast cut nonsense like Quantum of Solace.

Revenge of the Fallen is supposed to be popcorn chomping escapism, designed to sell toys just like the cartoon did 25 years ago.  Yes it has a lot of flaws, but the target audience loved it, I loved it, and even Sally admitted that she enjoyed it when we walked out into the sunshine nearly three hours after we walked into the theatre.

The point I am trying to make with this post is that it is so easy to be swayed by what other people say, to form an opinion without trying something out for yourself first.  I’m not saying everyone should wander around with a permanent grin thinking everything is super great, and shouldn’t be sarcastic or cynical about anything (movie or otherwise).  But I really did enjoy Revenge of the Fallen and would encourage people to see it with an open mind, rather than preconceived notions from what someone else has fed you.  Maybe I will do the Billy No Mates bit and go and see Star Trek as well before it leaves the cinema.

One step at a time…

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But turning to the movie in hand, Terminator 3 has already been released elsewhere on Blu-ray (as well as HD DVD for that matter) by Warner Brothers. But now we are seeing it released here in the UK by Sony Pictures on the back of the fourth instalment (Terminator Salvation). It has also been given the proper makeover treatment this time around, with HD audio and a decent encode. But more on that later.

The movie finds John Connor (Nick Stohl) now drifting from place to place finding work where he can, but generally staying off the grid. But the man who once was Edward Furlong soon ends up in trouble, crashing his motorcycle and finding pain medication at the local vets. Here he runs into Catherine Brewster (Claire Danes) a former high school friend who becomes involved with her one time crush when the vets gets…crushed by a leather clad (ahem) TerminatriX (Kristianna Loken) who has been sent back from the future to kill John and several other targets who would become his Resistance leaders.

Yes Judgment Day wasn’t stopped at the end of T2, merely put on hold. But fortunately Arnie is back, reprogrammed to protect John and Kate.
What this does of course lead to is a whole heap of sci-fi action, massive explosions, iffy dialogue and an excuse to hear the box office tills ring once more (although not to the degree that was expected).

Bringing Terminator 3 to the screen in many ways is a thankless task for director Jonathan Mostow. James Cameron passed on making a third movie, which if we are brutally honest, didn’t really need to be made in the first place.
So we can accept it as a given that T3 would never, ever come to close to the classics that proceeded it. But what we have here is something of an aboration in the movie industry, T3 is effectively the most expensive indie flick ever produced and because it was self financed to the tune of $200 million it is missing many of the things I find so annoying about modern action flicks.

There is essentially no product placement in this movie, which is always one of my major bugbears these days. There are items used such as Nokia phones, but they never ever give you a gratuitous close up of the logo or brand name.
The action is also extremely well put together; it doesn’t give you motion sickness by jump cutting every second (or even less than one) for a start. There is no shaky cam, no handheld nonsense, just decent filmmaking. I know I run the risk of finally filling in my membership form for the old farts club here, but I’m not the only one who finds the modern MTV filmmaking style to be particularly irritating.

And the action itself is good, really good in fact. The crane truck chase as Arnie, Kate and John escape from the T-X is a fantastic sequence. Visual effects are all incredibly strong, especially for a six year old movie.
It may not be Cameron-sized insanity but throughout the 109 minute runtime there is plenty of action, and you are never left waiting impatiently for the next round of explosions to start.

T3 also ends on something of a downer, perhaps only to continue the series of movies but given that we have had to wait six years for another (starring every director of photography’s favourite Christian Bale) and one minus The Governor too things obviously didn’t quite work out the way the producers had planned. Indeed T3 was Jonathan Mostow’s last directorial gig.

Ultimately Terminator 3 is a slight oddity. Schwarzenegger was still in shape and manages to pull off playing The Terminator one last time, but manages to make the performance rather cringe worthy in many places. The massive payday and box office percentage he was paid helped I’m sure.

Kristianna Loken does a decent job as the T-X, and her face offs with Arnie make for a good fight, Claire Danes does a good turn as Kate Brewster and even Stohl is ok is nothing special as John Connor.
I know many people dislike Terminator 3, and claim it ruined the franchise and assorted other overblown internet forum posts to repeat until the credits. But I enjoyed it for what it is, a sci-fi action movie with a big budget and a lot of action. Which reminds me that I really must go and see the new Star Trek movie.

Audio Visual
SPHE presented T3 with its usual 1080p MPEG4 encode, and it looks far nicer than other catalogue titles I have watched over the last couple of years.
HD transfers of older movies can make special effects work stand out as looking a little more fake (the Blu-ray version of I, Robot in particular comes to mind), but not so here.

Colours are ever so slightly muted, so the image doesn’t pop and shine like a new release would (but once again this isn’t a new movie) but that doesn’t mean T3 isn’t a looker.
There is a very slight grain to the image which doesn’t detract from some obvious tweaking of the visuals in places such as the crane car sequence (filmed during the day, but its supposed to be around dawn). Night shots look pristine, black levels great and metallic surfaces look suitably shiny. And metallic. What I’m saying is T3 looks very nice on this Blu-ray, and is a great enhancement over the DVD.

Sony can sometimes turn out some slightly underwhelming Dolby TrueHD soundtracks on its discs, but not so here. This one is an absolute belter. Explosions are extremely punchy, giving the subwoofer a real workout. It’s not quite window rattling, filling troublingly deep as with a new movie like The Day The Earth Stood Still, but it’s certainly a vast improvement over the Dolby Digital DVD track, and the DD+ that was on the HD DVD.

What really impressed me the most was the surround speakers are always doing something. Even in exposition scenes where there is a lot of talking such as the RV trip across the desert, wind can be heard whistling around from all directions. In fact if anything there is a little too much going on,perhaps the environmental audio could have been tweaked a little lower in the mix.

But when the bullets start flying, and stuff starts blowing up, this track is right up there with the best of them. Fantastic stuff.

Bonus Features
As is often the case with these older catalogue titles, the bonus features from the T3 DVD have been ported over and kept in their original SD form. There are a few featurettes which are largely just fluff material (although I did enjoy the Macfarlane toys one), a documentary that is pushing the limits of what you could call a documentary given its 13 minute runtime), a gag reel, theatrical trailer and a single deleted scene.

There are also two commentaries (there were three on the previous US BD release), one very fun one with Mostow and his three leads which is a great group recording. The second is a solo track from Mostow which is a bit dryer but that is the nature of the solo commentary.

When the movie was originally released on HD DVD, it featured one of Warner’s first “In-Movie Experiences”, or to give it a better name, a picture-in-picture track. At that time the Blu-ray format was still playing catch up with these advanced features, but now the Profile 2.0/BD Live specification is with us and the feature has been ported over for this Blu-ray.

It’s a great track as well, throughout the movie video windows pop up with chat primarily from director Mostow, but the actors also appear on cue when required to fill in the blanks. There is also a ton of on set and behind the scenes footage that isn’t included in the other featurettes. So this track is a must watch for Terminator fans.

The disc also features the new Cine-Chat feature, where you can watch the movie and chat online with other folks doing the same thing. Once again, to me this seems rather pointless.

Summing Up
While purists may not like it, I enjoyed T3 for what it is – big, dumb fun. It’s a very competent sci-fi action movie that looks and sounds great and has a decent set of extras. Is it a worthwhile upgrade from the DVD? Absolutely, the transfer is very good, the sound is superb, and while the extras have been seen before, it is worth it for the picture-in-picture track.

It may have been released more times that a serial offender, but this version of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines is the latest and greatest. Well worth a look.

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Demons was originally shown back on ITV 1 back in January of this year, a run of six 45 minute episodes that given comments made by star Philip Glenister recently, may well be the one and only.
Produced by Shine Productions (who also produce Merlin for the BBC), Demons takes a familiar formula of a teenager who is struggling to make his way in the world as all teenagers do with the pressure of school work and social responsibilities, and then thrusts them into a situation they didn’t ask for but it is somehow their destiny.

The cookie cutter teen in Demons is Luke Rutherford (Christian Cooke – last seen in ITVs short lived soap Echo Beach) who just happens to be the final descendant of famed vampire hunter Abraham Van Helsing.  This is told to him by his godfather Rupert Galvin (Philip Glenister – complete with a slightly bizarre American accent) who turns up out of the blue and proceeds to bombard Luke with information including the Van Helsing connection, and his deceased father didn’t perish in an accident as he had been told.

Around the time that Galvin arrives, a demon named Gladiolus Thrip takes an interest in Luke and sends out a sub-demons and his friends to watch and eventually endanger his nearest and dearest (notably his childhood friend and possible love interest Ruby).  As well as Galvin, Luke also has assistance from Mina Harker (yes THAT Mina Harker) who slightly bizarrely keeps her vampirism at bay with dialysis but has fought alongside Luke’s father and Galvin in the past.  Oh she’s also blind, and rather arrogant but she can touch objects and see the history regarding them.

After Thrip is disposed of in episode one, the series follows the familiar formula of “demon of the week” episodes which see the team fighting assorted demons while Luke tries to come to terms with his slightly odd work/life balance.

ITV were obviously keen to replicate the Saturday evening success of it’s other lighter-drama series Primeval by thrusting more high quality special effects into this new show, and certainly spent a lot of money in marketing it.
I can’t comment on Primeval personally as I have never seen the show (but am told it’s very good), but Demons is a fun enough romp because unlike the truly attrocious Bonekickers that was shown on BBC 1 last year, it knows it’s not taking itself too seriously.

By donning the slightly bizarre accent, Glenister manages to shake off his Gene Hunt persona slightly but his character is still somewhat loud and obnoxious, minus the charm and wit of the character he will always be known for.
CG special effects are impressive for a TV show, used sparingly they blend in well and are up to the standard of BBC’s Torchwood (though nowhere nearly the complexity of Doctor Who).

Demons is enjoyable filler TV, it’s completely daft and the characters are all rather one dimensional but it is a decent enough way to pass 45 minutes.  It doesn’t have the thrills and spills of a Doctor Who (and a lead character who doesn’t even come close to the charisma of David Tennant) but you could do far worse than this.  Like watching Bonekickers.

Audio Visual
Demons is released day and date on both DVD and Blu-ray, and I was intrigued by it as the show was never broadcast on ITV HD.  Reason?  Well it’s not actually shot in HD so what we have here is essentially a presentation that is slightly better than an upscaled DVD.

This 1080p MPEG4 transfer has clearly come direct from the regular SD broadcast master and no effort has been put in to make it pop and shine and it really notices.  Watch a show that’s shot in HD such as Torchwood and the quality is leaps and bounds better than what is on display here.
The episodes do look better than an upscaled DVD though, but the image is rather flat and as a lot the action takes place at night it can look rather muddy at times.

There’s nothing actually bad to say about the picture other than it’s not proper HD so to be honest I can’t really see why the series has been granted a Blu-ray release.

Sound is also two channel stereo, not even Dolby Digital.

Bonus Features
Nothing.  Nada.  Zip.  Subtitles and that is it.

For what is like to be the only series of Demons, this presentation on Blu-ray has left me somewhat baffled.  Would you want to pay the extra £5 or so this Blu-ray release c0sts over the regular DVD?  Perhaps, it does look better than an upscaled disc but there are no special features and a lacklustre soundtrack.

The show itself is actually rather fun provided you plant your tongue firmly in your cheek throughout the duration, so it’s worth a look if you like light hearted TV drama.

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I will tiptoe around the story a little bit, because although it’s hardly going to win a Pulitzer for originality, it would be very easy to spoil later plot developments. Earth is a simple alien invasion/destroy all humans/anti-Close Encounters type affair. Keanu Reeves plays a being known as Klaatu (whose human form is taken from a climber the aliens came in contact with in 1928, seen at the very beginning of the film), who is sent to Earth to assess whether the human race is capable of changing its ways and reversing the damage it has done to the planet (one of my favourite lines in the movie is when Klaatu looks slightly quizzically at the US Secretary of Defence and says “It is not YOUR planet”).

Klaatu arrives on Earth with a protector robot that looks decidedly like the Iron Giant. Their transportation method of choice is a massive sphere of light and energy that lands in Central Park. Naturally the first response tactic of the military is to shoot Klaatu which enrages the protector who swiftly disables all weaponry and creates a couple of explosions for popcorn munching effect.
Klaatu is then taken away for interrogation under the watchful eye of the aforementioned Secretary of Defence (played by Kathy Bates).

The primary characters in the movie besides Klaatu are Dr. Helen Benson (played by Jennifer Connelly) and her stepson Jacob (the excruciatingly irritating Jaden Smith). Helen is a professor at Princeton University, and due to her field of expertise is dragged away from her home by the military and placed with a group of scientists who are assembled to assist when the alien craft first appears on radar, and is on a collision course with New York.

Helen soon helps break Klaatu out of the government detention facility and aids him in his quest to meet up with a fellow alien and assess whether the human race is worthy of saving.

I’m torn about my opinions of this movie because at times it shows glimmers of being a great movie, but ultimately the message it is trying to convey is delivered in a far too heavy handed and somewhat clichéd way.
Take a movie like Wall-E, which has a very strong anti-consumerist “we ruined the planet” feel that is conveyed in a slightly light-hearted way, whereas Earth wants to bash you over the head with its preachiness.

There are also a lot of obvious knocks at the US government and the military and a “shoot first, ask questions later, if at all” agenda. It’s all very familiar, and at times downright boring.
The cliché contest continues with Helen and Jacob, the step-son who wants to say “you’re not my Mom” or “you’re not my Dad” followed by “I’m going to do my own thing, stuff you step-mom” sulkiness. Will Smith Jnr doesn’t really do himself any favours here but he’s only playing the part that’s written for him. Anyone who has seen The Pursuit of Happyness will know that Jaden Smith is capable of better things.
Keanu Reeves is the perfect go-to guy if you want someone to play an alien devoid of any emotions, and here he manages to portray Klaatu as cold and detached, but with moments of genuine warmth.

Aside from the overly simplistic story, the movie itself looks very nice indeed. The visual effects are decidedly stunning but again the movie suffers from Trailer-itus. Seen the trailer for the movie? Then you have pretty much seen all of the key special effects sequences.

Ultimately, Earth is too slow to be classed as a genuine popcorn muncher, can’t really be classed as an action movie, and sort of fails as a drama because the characters are just so one-dimensional and unlikeable.

If I may inject a cliché of my own into this review, it felt more like The Evening That Time Stood Still when I watched it. Sorry, I’ll get my coat…

Audio Visual
While I didn’t particularly enjoy the movie itself, this Blu-ray is a typical Fox powerhouse of a disc. The 1080p MPEG4 encode stands up very well. The movie has a very muted colour palette, lots of black and grey, interspersed with blotches of colour. On a lesser transfer that would mean some contrast issues, muddy backgrounds and probably colour bleed.

Fortunately this disc doesn’t suffer from any of those problems and while the image is intentionally desaturated, it looks way better than a standard DVD ever could.
As with Max Payne, the DTS HD Master Audio soundtrack here is an absolute belter. During early scenes where the sphere first lands in Central Park the bass is absolutely stunning. Even a glass wind chime that hangs in our conservatory was vibrating as the deep bass hits kept on coming.

During the scenes where the action ramps up the track is pure demo material, surrounds are alive with bullets and other environmental effects whipping back and forth. This is a truly great track that should be enjoyed the way all decent movies should; LOUD!
During the slower parts of the movie the soundtrack still makes good use of all sound channels, and there are no dialogue volume level issues.

Bonus Features
A nicely packed set of features from Fox on this one, with much of the content being presented in HD.

Audio Commentary with Screenwriter David Scarpa – Scarpa goes solo on this one and it’s a shame really that they couldn’t rope in the director or at least one of the stars (no real chance of Reeves, but Connelly would have been a nice addition).  That said, Scarpa keeps his information relatively quick and to the point and doesn’t ramble on.

There are plenty of gaps in his chat, but this is more of a quality rather than quantity commentary.  Probably maybe one for people who are interested in the screenwriting process, but a lack of a name star of director on here means its nice to have a commentary, but perhaps Scarpa would have been better chipping in his thoughts with a larger group of people.

Re-Imagining “The Day” – A Making Of documentary that is more than the usual EPK stuff. There are interviews with the key players that amount to more than the usual “I loved working with X” fare. The documentary looks at the original movie and how the story was evolved from its key elements, and singles out some of the differences between the old and the new Klaatu.  Movie nerds will be pleased to see the appearance of Paul M. Salmon who is quoted as a Movie Historian.  Sci-fi fans will know him as the writer of THE book about the making of Blade Runner.

There is plenty of on set footage, as well as chats with each of the various departments on creating the visual effects, set design, etc. What’s most impressive to me is that the marshland and woods sequences were all filmed in the studio. Most movies that try to do this usually scream of backlot footage, so it was a nice surprise for me. Well above the usual standards.

Klaatu’s Unseen Artifacts - This is a picture-in-picture track that contains various storyboards and other nuggetts of information in the bottom-right corner of the screen while the movie is playing.

The Day the Earth Was “Green” – Fox is obviously very keen on promoting it’s carbon neutral stance, as one of these features appeared on the X-Files : I Want to Believe Blu-ray last year.  Several people talk about how green the production of the movie was.  That’s about it, hat’s off to them for doing it but did we really need 15 minutes telling us?

Watching the Skies: In Search of Extraterrestrial Life – Scientists talk about the possible real world scenarios for first contact with aliens.  That description is lifted direct from the press release – as that is exactly what this is!  But I don’t mean to demean the feature at all, because it’s actually very interesting and informative, without being too highbrow.

Unleashing Gort – Another effects feature, this time detailing the creation process for Gort (the Iron Giant style robot that is watching over and protecting Klaatu).

Deleted Scenes – Three deleted scenes that run for less than two minutes.  The first two are pretty pointless, just some extra dialogue that was no doubt cut to help move along a little faster.  The final is an extended version of the scene where Klaatu is wheeled down a hallway to his first “interview”.  These are pretty pointless but they add another tick in a box for “Yes, we have some deleted scenes”.

Build Your Own Gort – Select different body pieces from various concept art to make your own Gort.

There’s also a theatrical trailer and still galleries of concept art, storyboards and production photos.

Just with Max Payne that I reviewed previously, The Day The Earth Stood Still is another extremely well presented Blu-ray from Fox.  Video is pristine, and the DTS audio track is formidable.  Bonus features are presented in HD and are well put together.  There’s a couple of rather pointless additions but at least you’re getting value for money!

The movie itself didn’t really engage me in the way I was hoping, it’s a little ham fisted but the message the movie is trying to put across is one that everyone should pay attention to.

You can buy The Day the Earth Stood Still from Amazon or Play.com

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I just had to post this, created by my design demon Anto.  Now all I have to do is wait for the delivery of my ED-209.

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Yesterday (Thursday) we headed up to Southampton, this wasn’t a planned trip as we finished our Christmas shopping a little while ago.  But I needed a distraction for a few hours to take our minds off things and while we were there I was determined to find out where the “new” branch of Forbidden Planet is located.  The old shop closed down quite some time ago, and whenever I went hunting for it I could never find it.

Suffice to say, it was in one of the easiest to find locations, I was just looking in the wrong place.  “It’s amazing what you can see when you open your eyes.”.  A great philosophers words?  No, Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor.
For those of you who don’t know what Forbidden Planet is, it is a chain of stores that deal with all things geeky.  Comics, manga, everything sci-fi, action figures, t-shirts, ridiculously expensive statues.  Basically, the mothership.

I’m glad Sally was with me.  I may be doing my best to stray away from rampant consumerist urges but by the hammer of Thor I could have spent an absolute fortune in there.  There was a beautiful hand painted Iron Man statue, a snip at £120.  A vast array of t-shirts (who wouldn’t want an OCP t-shirt?), Transformers, Gears of War and Halo action figures locked away behind glass (which looked completely badass).  Downstairs they had this original 1960s Dalek that was safely hidden away behind glass.  I’ll be paying them a visit again in the near future.  Best take my handler with me.

So to today, I have the house to myself this evening.  Sally has gone to her works Christmas dinner and dance.  I stopped going to these a few years ago, I’m not the most social of people and much prefer to spend time with a small group of close friends rather than a large group of casual acquaintances.  I also seem to recall that the last time I went I ended up having way too much to drink and heading back to our room, collapsing and then feeling so sick the next morning we went home and Sally didn’t get her cooked breakfast.  Never deprive a woman of a meal that has already been paid for.  Top tip for you all there.

Which means that it’s just Will and I for the evening.  This is what he will be doing for most of the time.  He likes to sit and look out the window, perfecting his trademark stare at nothing in particular.

For my part, this is a large chunk of what I will be doing.  If you’re going to install Windows, it might as well be on a 37″ display.  Then the rest of the evening belongs to Live.

Soon be Christmas.

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At the start of the week when the sun was still shining (it has been raining continuously since Saturday evening) I changed from this:

To this:

I had a good laugh last Sunday watching Top Gear when Jeremy Clarkson said all Audi drivers were cocks So I’ll start the “anti-cock Audi movement” by driving it properly and not like the BMW M3 drivers who have migrated to the S4.

It’s a lovely car, really lovely.  Doesn’t half shift for a diesel either.  I felt quite sad selling the Leon as it’s provided such superb service over the first two years I have been in business.  But the money from it that is now lining our bank accounts eases the pain considerably.

Hancock
I can’t remember the last time we went to the cinema on a Saturday morning, but we went over to Tower Park yesterday morning and watched Hancock.  There have been a number of negative reviews both in the US and UK but those haven’t stopped it doing brisk business over the all important 4th July weekend.  Taken as what it is, a bit of fun for ninety minutes we both found it very enjoyable.

It’s good to see Jason Bateman being given a leading role in such a big movie, he’s in pure Michael Bluth mode here but having him, Will Smith and Charlize Theron as the principal characters helped as it wasn’t just another vehicle for Will Smith.  Not that there is anything wrong with that of course.

I think it was best summed up by one of the reviewers over at AICN, Hancock is a pallette cleanser between Iron Man/Hulk and The Dark Knight/Hellboy 2.  Light hearted fun, hardly a life changing movie experience.
Tower Park is also finally getting a much needed makeover courtesy of new owners Empire Cinemas.  Having been in operation for over fifteen years now it was all starting to look very jaded down there, but a total overhaul is in progress and the screen we saw Hancock in had just been completed so we got to enjoy the newer, bigger seats.  Unfortunately a much needed upgrade to the projectors hasn’t happened yet, but fingers crossed.

Doctor Who
You have got to love the internet, we watched the finale of Doctor Who last night and really enjoyed it.  Everything including the kitchen sink was thrown in and the extended runtime breezed by.  I just hope anybody who didn’t want the show live didn’t visit the BBC News Entertainment section as right after the programme aired there was another BBC Advertorial piece disguised as news resolving the cliffhanger from the previous episode.

But hopping on to a few message boards after the transmission the reaction to it was incredibly polarised.  There were people who absolutely HATED it, the bile that has spewed forth from some keyboards is incredible!  Best post in the entire thread? Someone who said “Sci-fi fans eh?”.  How very true.

Bad Company
Something I have noticed at the cinema just recently is just how much both high definition and videogames are being pushed now.  Hardly surprising as games generate so much revenue these days, but can you imagine a big screen advert for Street Fighter 2 on the SNES back in 1992?  How times change.

Panasonic continued their Freesat integrated TV assault, the Antiques Roadshow BBC HD trailer was there too and both the Bourne Conspiracy and Battlefield: Bad Company got suitably movie-esque trailers.
When we got home Bad Company was sat waiting on the doormat (quite impressive considering I only ordered it from Tesco online on Friday afternoon) and I am loving that right now.

It may just be yet another war shooter in the CoD vain, but I am really enjoying it so far.  I like the more light hearted tone of the game, and the squad mates inane chatter has provided a few genuine “LOL” moments.  And I haven’t even got to the online multiplayer yet.  As the rain continues to lash the windows I think I will be making some serious progress with it for the rest of the afternoon.

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Laptop
First item on the update list this weekend is the laptop, or notebook, or portable computer, or whatever you prefer to call it.  I still prefer laptop, as it sits (as it does right now) on the lap.  Fortunately its way cooler than the VAIO was, so my chestnuts aren’t roasting on an open fire.  If you get my meaning.

So the XPS M1530 then, it arrived on Monday as promised and I am absolutely thrilled with it!  The first bonus was that the Blu-ray drive was a writer as well as a reader.  I have yet to discover whether it can burn dual layer BD media, but I haven’t looked that hard to find out.

Battery life is a haughty five hours when the screen is turned down from full brightness which is just what I wanted.  They keyboard is straight from the Latitude range (coloured aluminium) which is fine.  The keyboard is responsive and comfortable, and the built-in trackpad is fine.  The styling is obviously tipping a ten gallon hat to the Macbook Pro with the brushed aluminium case, but then isn’t everyone in the PC laptop market?

The Vista Experience score is 0.1 below my desktop machine, so it runs Source powered games and The Sims 2 (the only PC games I play) just fine, and my desktop PC is gradually becoming obsolete.  I’ve been wanting to do that for quite some time, get everything in one place rather than chopping and changing.  Just iTunes to transfer and the job is complete.

As the XPS is Dell’s premium hardware range, the extras are also rather nice.  A sturdy slip case for the machine itself as well as a folder containing the user manual, space for the restore discs as well as a set of Creative noise cancelling headphones (in their own special pouch) and a screen cleaning cloth.  Having been used to business laptops for the last few years, these are a nice addition.

Summing up then, very pleased with the XPS, and full marks to the tech support folks who helped me out with a wireless network problem.

Netgear DG834N
As the XPS is fitted with a wireless N card I decided it was time to replace my ageing Netgear with the latest all singing and/or dancing N model.  Usually I buy my hardware straight from the PC Pro A-List, but their N router didn’t contain an ADSL model.  So after having a rather disasterous experience with the previous Netgear MIMO model I took a chance with the new unit and am very happy with it.

Setting these things up nowadays is childs play, just answer a few questions in the wizard and you’re good to go.  It even detects your line type, asks you for your broadband username and password and then it’s off to the races time.

The single most important thing about this router for me was making sure it worked in my bedroom.  Even though we live in a bungalow (or “Single Story Dwelling” for my friends across the pond), the walls are incredibly thick.  This meant that the G wireless signal would work in other rooms if you were lucky.  Very lucky.

Fortunately after setting it up I had a perfect signal in each room of the house.  Mission accomplished.  Perhaps the most important aspect I haven’t touched on yet is the “Spousal Acceptance Factor”, and as it is way, way bigger than the older model it wouldn’t have been aesthetically pleasing in our lounge.  But the wireless signal is strong enough that it can be hidden away behind the sideboard and still work perfectly.   Hurrah.

Xbox 360 Elite
After my 360 gave up the ghost last weekend with a fault that would have meant paying money to Microsoft (I think with my various affiliations and all the exams I have recently taken they have enough of it already) for a repair I ordered an Elite from Play.com (with the obligatory voucher code to save a few extra pounds)
.

Fortunately a group of gamers on my forum of choice (rllmuk) have been operating a Pay It Forward style scheme for a while for Elite purchasers who need to transfer data from their existing hard drives.  So someone very kindly sent me the data transfer kit, and within half an hour I had the data streamed from the old drive onto the new 120Gb and I was back online.

Despite still being noisier than a domestic dispute on the local council estate, the Elite is a fine machine and through the HDMI connection everything looks much crisper and the colours really pop.  I haven’t dared try the Anchorman HD DVD back in it again yet in case it bricks another console.

Torchwood
We have been watching large amount of TV stuff back to back this week (I’m currently going through season two of Heroes) and the second series of Torchwood finished last night with one heck of a bang.
WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD
I’ve really enjoyed this second series of Torchwood (which I saw described as a cross between CSI and Doctor Who earlier this week).  Who knew that making your characters less hateful would make for a better televisual experience?  That said, I was really sad that they killed off both Owen (whose number was up mid-season anyway) and Tosh in the final episode.  I found their storylines far more touching the domestic bickering of Gwen (for the love of God woman, get that gap in your teeth fixed, you’re scaring the wife) and Rhys.

Jack’s brother was a rubbish villain though.  I kept thinking of Harry Enfield’s Kevin character whenever he opened his mouth

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No prizes for guessing what I’ll be watching for the next couple of evenings!  Needless to say, the whole package is absolutely gorgeous.  With a bit of luck the review should be up by the weekend.

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Those of you with a penchant for cleanly designed and easy to navigate web sites should go HERE and check it out.

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At the end of last week I had a few e-mails from people I hadn’t connected with through the blog before talking about my reviews.  As much as I try to make them read like I knocked them up in ten minutes while waiting for dinner to cook, they actually take a long time to write.  Not just the act of watching the film (or playing the game) and all of its extras, but trying to give an opinion that is both entertaining and informative can be really difficult sometimes.

It isn’t always like that, some of my earlier reviews I could sit down at the keyboard, bash away for twenty minutes and before I knew it the review was done.  But over the course of the last few months as my hits have risen considerably I’ve tried to put even more effort into what I write, and it’s difficult to know sometimes if I’m doing the right thing or not (the Spider-Man trilogy review was probably the hardest thing I have had to write, and all told it took five hours and three total re-writes).

Of course I have my regular commenters who always pitch in, and I get a fair few e-mails from folks as well talking about the reviews or asking further questions.  But I’m sure many bloggers are in a similar situation that they see their comments, then looks at the numbers and there is gaping chasm between the number of people who participate, and those who speculate.  So getting feedback can sometimes be difficult,  but it is always welcome (provided it’s constructive of course).

What people were asking was “Are you going to review the new cut of Blade Runner?”.  The answer to that question is a resounding YES, but it won’t be just yet.

Ridley Scott’s final ultimate version of the film has been released here in the UK today, you can buy the five disc DVD version, or the HD one on both HD DVD and Blu-ray.  But (and it’s a fat but), there is no word on a release of the 5 disc ultimate edition coming to the HD formats over here.  In the US it is a different story, and there is the special “Dekkard Briefcase” collectors (read: sad people like me who want the OTT stuff) edition, and a regular 5 disc HD release.

The US version is not released until December 18th, and with the Christmas postage it is highly unlikely that I will see it before Christmas.  Hopefully, it will be worth the wait.
But regardless of how great the remaster looks, or how the newly filmed scenes cut in with the original material, anyone with even the slightest interest in science fiction should buy this movie.  Blade Runner remains as fresh and compelling today as it did 25 years ago, and in my mind it is one of the greatest movies ever made.  Pretentious claptrap, or a genuine classic?  That’s up to you to decide, but I’ll be reporting back at the beginning of 2008 with my definitive review.  Oh, and it will be the HD DVD version.

Unless Warner Brothers want to send me a copy of the UK retail Blu-ray or HD DVD of course

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Dave Was Gutted He Failed His Audition For Blink

Steven Moffat has a lot to answer for you know. Most parents across the nation are probably now having to deal with young children who are terrified of going anywhere near a statue for fear of being teleported into the past. But I’m sure they will forgive him because of the fantastic yarn he spun in this weeks episode of Doctor Who.

Without a doubt this is the finest series of Who since it returned in 2005, and even the old skool fans who huffed and puffed at nearly everything last year are lavishing it with praise.
This weeks episode reminded me of old 70s dramas, and in particular Nigel Kneale’s classic Stone Tape. Despite being “Doctor Lite” for most of the episode, The Moff served up a witty, engaging and downright unsettling tale of sci-fi goodness. Chuck in a few nods to over-enthusiastic internet fans and an enemy that manages to be both inanimate AND scary and you’re onto a winner. I’m sure everyone spotted that Larry blinked whilst edging away from the statue? Of course they did, this is the internet after all. I’m sure fans are already petitioning Steve Roberts and the Restoration Team to remove the frames for the DVD release, and then re-insert them years later in a special edition.

Three episodes remain, Captain Jack is back next week and then it’s the two part finale. The return of The Master? Has to be, doesn’t it?…

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What’s in the box? Three DVDs containing three stories, The Keeper of Traken, Logopolis and Castrovalva. Tom Baker departs, Peter Davison arrives and Nyssa gets introduced (yummy). As ever the restoration team do a great job in cleaning everything up and each disc is filled up with documentaries and assorted curios (want to see Sarah Sutton on Swapshop? Of course you (ie I) do).

Downsides?  Adric.  Say no more.

As a side note, Peter Davison’s voice is now so gravelly he could replace Michael Ironside voicing Sam Fisher in Splinter Cell. Can’t see it somehow though, can you?

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With season three of Battlestar Galactica about to start on Sci-Fi in the US, the Marketplace has a recap of the first two seasons for those who have missed a few episodes (or, in my case, the whole two series) to catch up.

Sadly no HD version, but that would be a huge download.  Oh and it’s only for US members too, but anyone with any nous will have signed themselves up for a US Live account and has downloaded it already

Despite being told how great the show is, I haven’t seen any of the new series, and I have the complete first season on DVD as well.  But to be honest, I can’t be arsed to sit down and start yet another 20+ part show, so this handy recap will do!

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