New Poilce Story

I'm not really a fan of Police Story ( it does have some nice stunts ) and I haven't seen any of it's sequels but I was pleasantly surprised by New Police Story.

I've never seen Jackie Chan play a character that is as flawed as the inspector in this movie and he remains pretty dark throughout the movie, in fact this isn't really your typical Jackie Chan movie at all, yes there were a couple of stunt sequences ( the descent down the side of the building was ruined by the bloopers at the revealing how they did it ) but it's the tone of this movie that was different, if anything Nicholas Tse's character is more typical of the roles Jackie Chan usually plays.

There are a couple of instances of bad CGI and blue / green screen work but overall I thought this was a pretty decent movie, not one I'll be in a hurry to see again but I did enjoy it.

Where do the days go ?

I'd like to say I've been amazingly busy over the last few days, sure I've seen a few movies but I know where the time has gone.

Anyway I watched Island of Fire which I really liked and Master with Cracked Fingers which did absolutely nothing for me.

I'd seen a trailer for Island of Fire which suggested Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung would be kicking ass for it's entire running time ( I got both movies as part of  the Jackie Chan - From Past To Present DVD box set ), of course both actors only play supporting roles although Sammo steal the movie whenever he is onscreen as a Steve McQueen type character who keeps escaping from the prison.

Island of Fire wasn't the action packed film I thought it was going to be but I still enjoyed it.

Is it..... Bill Bailey ?

Bill Bailey is coming to Launceston... BILL BAILEY IS COMING TO LAUNCESTON !!!!!!!

I have a cunning plan my lord............

I was walking past a shop this morning when I spied Blackadder series 2 remastered, I had no idea such a thing existed, as it turned out they had the other three series as well so I grabbed them all, I haven't seen Blackadder in ages so I'm really looking forward to seeing the show again.

I wonder if they have remastered the specials ?

More Survivors

I've finished the first series of the original version of Survivors and I really enjoyed it, there were two weaker episodes but overall I thought this was an excellent first series of the show.

I enjoyed the recent remake of Survivors but so far I have to say I think the original series is the better of the two, it is slower paced but the original series is more atmospheric and in a few episodes there was a sense of real dread, something I never got from the remake, I believe the show goes in a different direction next series which worries me a bit, hopefully they will continue to tell gripping stories.

The Eye

I first saw The Eye on TV a few years ago ( well it seems like a few years ) and while I did like it the subtitles weren't exactly accurate, it wasn't in widescreen and it seemed like the movie had been badly edited in a couple of places, I recently got a copy of the movie on DVD and I was very impressed with the DTS surround sound mix, the use of sound in this movie really helps sell what is happening on screen, it was also nice to see it in widescreen with decent subtitles.

When I first saw the movie I didn't find it as creepy as it's reputation suggested and on my second viewing I pretty much remembered what was going to happen so there were no real scares to be had, I imagine if you were lucky enough to see the movie in a cinema with a decent sound system The Eye would've been an effective little thriller.

Here there be Dragons

I watched Eragon last night, I'd heard nothing but bad things about the movie and while it was nothing special I wouldn't say it was as bad as it's reputation suggested, I haven't read the book the movie was based on but it felt like this was an extremely dumbed down version of a book and all that was left was the bare skeleton of a story, the film wasn't helped by the fact it's leading actor was inexperienced and it had a first time director at the helm.

I doubt I'll ever bother to watch the movie again in the future but I can at least say I've seen it, I don't know if the books are something that would appeal to me, I might pick up the first one if I see it on sale one day.

Eragon certainly wasn't a great movie but I've seen a lot worse films in my day.