LEGO Star Wars – The Padawan Menace Review

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‘Tour guide Master Yoda leads a group of rambunctious Jedi younglings through Senate chambers when he senses a disturbance in the Force. Summoned to help save the Republic, he discovers that one of the younglings secretly boarded his ship…and has a taste for adventure!‘

After the disappointment of the last two Family Guy Star Wars Specials I was beginning to think that Robot Chicken was the only place that I’d be able to find some good Star Wars humour, but out of nowhere comes LEGO Star Wars – The Padawan Menace, and it’s the most fun I’ve had watching Star Wars for quite a while.

While The Padawan Menace is obviously Continue reading →

Cash Cows – Alien

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Directors: Ridley Scott, James Cameron, David Fincher, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Paul W.S. Anderson, The Brothers Strause

Writers: Dan O’Bannon, Ronald Shusett, James Cameron, David Giler, Walter Hill, Vincent Ward, Larry Ferguson, Joss Whedon, Jim Thomas, John Thomas, Paul W.S. Anderson, Shane Salerno

Starring: Sigourney Weaver and a bunch of people that no-one really cares about except for Lance Henrickson and Ron Perlman…but they were all big stars at some point.

Years: 1979-2007

There can be no better examination of filmmaking as a collaborative craft than a look at the Alien franchise. This is what happens when a ridiculous number of people get together to tinker with a simple idea – resulting in varying amounts of genius, ineptitude and (in both cases) insanity.

Let’s begin, shall we? Continue reading →

Falling Skies – Sanctuary Part 1 Review

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‘Lt. Terry Clayton of the 7th Mass arrives at the high school with disturbing news that Skitters and Mechs are on their way to attack the 2nd Mass headquarters, Clayton claims to have a plan approved by Porter to lead the children to safety while the adults remain to fend off the attack, but his plan is met with strong resistance by all the parents, including Tom.‘

Falling Skies - Sanctuary Part 1
Falling Skies has been a very hit and miss show from the start, and this episode is no different. While there is a lot of great character interaction on display here, it is punctuated with moments that don’t feel real, and a lack of direction.

The episode opens with a demonstration of Continue reading →

Eureka – Reprise Review

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‘Carter’s duties expand to babysitting when Allison attends a medical conference, and Fargo finds his groove when a certain song is played. Meanwhile, a rocket scientist appears at Café Diem.‘

Eureka - Reprise

Eureka returned to the screen last week and reminded everyone why they loved the show so much. So, does this new episode manage to maintain the quality? Well I have two words for you: Felicia Day.

If you don’t know who Felicia Day is then you should probably Continue reading →

Alphas – Cause and Effect Review

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‘Rosen tries to cope with his Department of Defense liaison and a former Alpha patient who wants him dead… or does he?‘

Alphas - Cause and Effect

After a pretty solid pilot the pressure was on for Alphas to show that it could keep things interesting, there have been many shows over the years that set up an interesting concept but couldn’t follow through. Thankfully Cause and Effect not only keeps things interesting, but sets up what looks to be one of the major conflicts of the series.

The start of this episode felt like Continue reading →

Dark City Review

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Writer/Director: Alex Proyas (w/ Len Dobbs & David S. Goyer)

Starring: Rufus Sewell, William Hurt, Kiefer Sutherland, Jennifer Connelly

Year: 1998

In the year 1998 I saw a movie. It was a movie that seemed to come out of nowhere. It was a movie marked by distinct visual style, brilliant special effects and a heart-racing soundtrack. It was a movie that questioned the nature of reality as we know, and asked deep questions about humanity and life. My friends and I came away from it not quite sure if we’d ‘got’ all that we’d just seen, but certain that it was a remarkable and groundbreaking new standing stone in the evolution of movies.

I am, of course, talking about The Matrix… which I will never review.

What I can do is take that paragraph and Continue reading →

Apologies

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Hi All,

Sorry for the lack of reviews over the past couple of days, things have been a little crazy for me this week and I’ve used up my buffer. Lindsay’s reviews will be up over the weekend and things should be back on track by Monday.

I’ll try to get reviews of this week’s episodes of Falling Skies, Alphas and Eureka up over the weekend.

Al

Alphas – Pilot Review

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‘When a grocery clerk commits an impossible assassination, the government calls in Dr. Leigh Rosen and his team of “Alphas”: unique individuals with neurological mutations that give them special abilities. The team must determine who the killer is and track him down, but soon discover that a greater plan is in motion.‘

I was very ambivalent about Alphas when I first heard about it, the premise sounded like a cross between Heroes and CSI, both of which started out very interesting but quickly ran out of steam. Heroes collapsed under the weight of its convoluted backstory after a fantastic first season, and CSI quickly became very repetitive. While I don’t know how Alphas will fare in the long run, the first episode definitely shows some promise.

One thing that I particularly liked Continue reading →

Interstate 60 Review

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Director: Bob Gale

Starring: James Marsden, Amy Smart, Gary Oldman

Year: 2002

Interstate 60

In 2001 writer/director Bob Gale (Back to the Future) wanted to make a movie. He invited all of his friends to help him out. The finished product ended up featuring Christopher Lloyd, Chris Cooper, Michael J. Fox, Gary Oldman and Kurt freakin’ Russel!

If you’ve heard of this flick, congrats, that makes about five of us. I stumbled Continue reading →

Cash Cows – X-Men

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Directors: Bryan Singer, Brett Ratner, Gavin Hood, Matthew Vaughn

Writers: Bryan Singer, Tom DeSanto, David Hayter, Zak Penn, Michael Dougherty, Dan Harris, Simon Kinberg, David Benioff, Skip Woods, Ashley Miller, Zack Stentz, Jane Goldman, Matthew Vaughn, Sheldon Turner

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Ian Mckellen, Patrick Stewart, James Marsden, Famke Janssen, Halle Berry, Anna Paquin, Rebecca Romijn, Hugh Jackman, Alan Cumming, Brian Cox, Kelsey Grammer, Shawn Ashmore, Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Danny Houston, Ryan Reynolds (I think…maybe), Lynn Collins, HUGH JACKMAN, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Kevin Bacon (Yeah Baby!), Rose Byrne, Jennifer Lawrence, January Jones and…Hugh Jackman!

Years: 2000-2011

Believe it or not, there was a time when this didn’t seem like such a great idea. Continue reading →