Jaq's 30 second guide to the latest DVD movies

[Jaqhama]

Moving right along...

Avatar.
It was okay.
Nothing to get excited about if you've been reading pulp SF action/adventure/romance novels for years.
And that's all it was, a pulp SF adventure romance.
The grizzled Marine Major stole the show.
I would much rather have seen he and his men kicking alien blue-skinned ass all over Pandora.
We have the technology...

The new Sherlock Holmes movie with a buffed up Robert Downy Jr.
Bruce Lee meets Sherlock Holmes meets semi-steampunk technology.
Well good on Bob for dumping the drugs and getting fit and buff by taking up cardio/weights and martial arts.
Umm...that's about the only nice observation I have for this movie.
If you want to see a good Sherlock Holmes movie watch the original black and white Hound of the Baskervilles or Murder by Decree.

The Hurt Locker.

Yeah?
What was all the fuss about?
It's a simple tale of a bomb squad in Iraq.
Actually it's not realistic at all, because the bomb disposal guy in the movie wouldn't be let loose anywhere near a real bomb.
And he wouldn't last a day with his cavalier attitude to his own and his men's safety.
I'll stick with Black Hawk Down or American Soldiers.

The Wolfman.

Lin and I loved it.
A real old time werewolf story like they seldom make these days.
Predictable but fun.

A Princess of Mars.

Pirated versions available to watch all over the Net.
For God's sake don't pay to see it.
Based on the classic novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
An hour and a half of your life wasted that you'll never get back.
Unless you're trapped in a snow storm in a remote cabin and can't find anything else to watch...just don't!

Oldie but a goodie:
Been out on DVD for a while now, worth recommending as an old time action movie that doesn't disappoint.

The Wild Geese.

Richard Burton. Roger Moore. Richard Harris. Stewart Granger. Hardy Kruger. Jack Watson.
Hell...you must already know that with a cast like that you can't go wrong!
50 steel tough mercenaries are recruited to rescue a deposed African leader and return him to power in order for a British organisation to get the diamond and mineral concessions in his country.
An easy job that goes horribly wrong and strands the mercs and their newly rescued chum when they are betrayed by the very people who tasked them for the job.
Now they've got to fight their way across the bushveldt to a nearby airfield...and there's a whole army of Simbas looking to stop them.
Good old fashioned guts and guns.
Not a female in sight.
Real boys own adventure.

And speaking of good old fashioned action and suspense...

Pop over to You Tube and type North Sea Hijack into the search engine.

Then sit back and watch Roger Moore and James Mason in a battle of wits and tactics as they try to stop terrorist Anthony Perkins from extorting millions of pounds in return for not blowing up Ester, Ruth and Jenniffer.
The prime oil drilling and production platforms in the North Sea.
Based on the excellent novel by Jack Davies (Ester, Ruth and Jennifer) and one of the few movies that is word for word a perfect copy of the novel.
The movie can be viewed in ten minute segments.

Also on You Tube in ten minute segments:

A couple of the Richard Sharpe movies starring Sean Bean.
Wonderful historical action adventure.
Based on the novels by Bernard Cornwall.

Carry on: Jaq.

[Jaqhama]

Okay...Lin and I just saw great movie on DVD...

The Green Zone

Matt Damon is Roy Miller, Chief of an American military unit searching for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq in 2003.
After three failed missions it becomes apparent to Miller that either the intel is no good, or there are no WMD's.
Teaming up with a CIA officer Miller follows the lead of an Iraq local and starts a hunt for senior Iraq officials who may know the truth.
But there are elements in the American government who don't want Miller to find the men he's now looking for.
A black ops unit is despatched to find and assassinate the Iraq officials, and Miller too if he gets in the way.
A real fast paced thriller that never lets up.
The Green Zone has it all over The Hurt Locker for thrills and suspense and Matt Damon was perfect in his role of Miller.
10 out of 10 for a great story and acting.
The location and scenery shots were spot on also, especially the aerial views over the Baghdad cityscape which were superb.
Actually filmed in England, Spain and Morrocco.
Heartning to see that someone can still make an original and well presented movie.
Great acting. Great plot.
Bloody great show!

Cheers: Jaq.

[ScrewMoonshine]

Huh. I'm surprised that YouTube doesn't immediatly delete those illegally uploaded movies. I know that they routinely delete videos of guys doing comedic voice overs for TV shows and movies. Surely uploading both the audio and video of such movies is worse?

Robert Orme

[Jaqhama]

Not having much interest in the last couple of months worth of DVD releases Lin and I have been ordering ordering some DVD series from Britain.
They arrived in about 10 days from Amazon UK, much cheaper and quicker than Amazon USA manages international postage.

So we're now watching...

Callan: series 2 and 3 in colour.
Edward Woodward as a much put upon spy come stand over man for a seedy section of the British Secret Service.
Dark, gritty, moody...everything the 007 movies are not.
Very realistic, very period, very good.

Arthur of the Britons.
Oliver Tobias plays a young Arthur, Warlord of the Celts. Michael Goddard plays his adopted brother, Kai. A renegade Saxon warrior with a penchant for axes and violence.
Plenty of swords without the sorcery. Brain Blessed is superb as Mark of Cornwall and Jack Watson as Lud of the Silver Hand plays his role as the mentor of Arthur and Kai to perfection.
The whole series available in one DVD package and dirt cheap at that.
Says region 2 on our copy but plays fine on Playstation or the computer. And we're region 4.

I watched both of the above shows as a boy and while I was a little young to appreciate Callan I always love the Arthur series.
Filmed in the English forests where I spent much of my own childhood.
A cut above (pun) most sword and sorcery movies and series ever made. Sometimes an episode actually had a moral to the story.

I've just ordered Son of Anarchy, the US biker series, because we never had it here.
About to order the complete series of Ultimate Force. Only had the first few episodes shown in Sydney.

Doc Caliban here might remember Flashing Blades? A French made sword series, we're going to get that shortly also.

Lots of British and Euorpean shows available from Amazon UK that aren't on Amazon USA.

I'll probably end up getting Captain Scarlet and Stingray in the future, already got Thunderbirds.

You Tube has segments of most of the shows above.
I use those segments to decide if I want to buy a show on DVD or not.
Kind of a handy reference.
So You Tube is actually contibuting to me buying programs that I might otherwise not have spent the money on.

Cheers: Jaq.

[Jaqhama]

Okay...it's been a while but here's my take on the last lot of DVD's Lin and I have watched recently.

Solomon Kane.
Another REH to the screen failure. Next.

Season of the Witch.
What Solomon Kane could have been.
May well be our fave sword and sorcery movie to date.
Nic Cage and Ron Perlman relishing their roles in this histroical S&S movie.

Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson in Faster.
Impressive only because of Dwayne's magnificent phyisque and the car he drives for most of the film.
Dwayne just drives from place to place killing the people who killed his brother. All it did for me was kill an hour and a half of a slow on-duty nightshift.

Battle for Los Angeles.
Not bad at all.
Alien invasion meets Black Hawk Down.
The grizzled Sergeant lead character was very well portrayed.
Hardly a Hollywood macho man hero fantasy moment in the entire movie, most refreshing.

The Mechanic with Jason Statham.
Not a patch on the original classic.
This re-make was just plain stupid in terms of a professional hitman's stragety and tactics. Did no one associated with the film ever hear of security cameras, rubber gloves or forensics?
Jason isn't doing himself any favours starring in crap like this.

Monsters.
Interesting film.
Needed more action/suspense/monster inter-action. Loved the end sequences. Our take was that the monsters aren't really a danger to humans at all. Not sure if that was the director's intention or not?

Ultramarines...based on the Warhammer games/books/stories.
Great animation, too bad the story line was so simple, the movie being nothing more than a slug and sword fest from start to finish. Not recommended to anyone over the age of 13.

Jonah Hex.
Not great...but Josh Brolin played the hideously disfigured supernatrual Confederate soldier to perfection. Pity the script and the rest of the cast couldn't keep up.

Wolverine.
Hugh Jackman is Logan and I don't see anyone else beating his great rendition of the famous Marvel character.
Probably a movie for Wolverine fans only.
Interesting that the brown striped leather jacket has become so much a part of the movie Wolvie character...as opposed to a yellow and blue skinsuit.

[Jaqhama]

We just watched Assasination Games with a re-booted Jon Claude Van Damme.
Damn good movie. No chop souey. Just an interesting plot of one doublecross after another and some noir sepia filmtography.
JCVD looks great, considering he's 50 and had some drug and alcohol probelms in recent years.
Now apparently free of those demons and back in the gym for some up-coming movies he's looking the best he has for a long time.
Solid drama, realistic action. Good strong role for an older Van Damme.
The movie focuses on guns and knives more than kicks and punches, a sign Jon Claude is maybe moving away from the stereotyped martial arts character he's portrayed in the past.
Linda and I enjoyed it. European crime noir at it's best. Streets ahead of George Clooney in The American.

[Jaqhama]

Lin watched (and I started to) Haden Christenson in the Vanishing on 7th street.
Then I had a feeling I should check a few reviews on Google, and I did, after that I stopped watching it.
Lin soldiered on.
Was very annoyed at the ending.
You've been warned.
Cost ten mil to make this movie...listen, just give me the money instead, that way it won't just be wasted.

Was going to watch X-Men: First Class but Hugh Jackman wasn't starring as the Wolverine and the X-Men movies without Hugh as Wolvie can't possibly be worth my time.

We saw Thor yesterday.
Very good, not the pathetic mess I suspeted it would be.
This mainly down to the fine performances of the cast.
The CGI action scenes were average, the costumes were silly, but the solid acting elevated Thor to a cut above the drivel it might otherwise have been.

Piates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.
Yawn.
Nothing new to see here folks.
Mostly the same characters, with the addition of Ian McShane as Blackbeard and Penelope Cruz as...as...errr some eye candy or other. Blackbeard's daughter, apparently.
Johnny Depp is starting get tiresome as the dandified Jack Sparrow and the rest of the cast is looking bored to boot.
Less spectacular CGI effects than the previous movies.
This movie based on an idea suggested by Tim Power's novel; On Stranger Tides...hope Tim got paid a few million for that, but probably not.
I think the Pirates of the Carib series has run its course and braced its mainsail long enough.
This film was obviously just an attempt to milk more money from the fans.

Much like the Fast and Furious flicks. We watched the latest installment; Fast Five, recently.
It's been said that if Vin Diesel and Paul Walker weren't doing Fast Five movies they wouldn't be doing anything at all. I like Vin D a lot, but he's starting to lose the edge he had in Pitch Black and XXX. He ain't getting any younger either. Time to start looking for more serious roles, Vin. The same for Paul 'pretty boy' Walker.

[Dave]

I get Paul Walker and Haden Christenson confused because neither can act. Christenson made the Star Wars prequels even worse, if that's possible. Despite not have much appreciation for Walker's acting ability, in real life he seems like a pretty cool dude. BJJ blue belt, surfer, spent 11 days as part of the crew on National Geographics Expedition Great White show (ecidently a marine biology afficiando), went to Haiti and Chili after the earthquakes to help out.... knowing that stuff make me willing to watch his movies

I gave up on PotC after the second film. Ug. And the only reason I watched the first two was because Kiera Knightly is hot.

As far as X-Men First Class, I enjoyed it. I've been watching some of hte show Mad Men lately, so it might be that the 1960's setting made it more apealing to me than it normally would have been. I think it's a worthy addition the the X-Men film canon.

I also enjoyed Thor, as did my 17 year-old daughter and 12 year-old son, who's favorite scene was when they were in the diner and Thor was drinking coffee. "Another!"

An unrelated aside: I caught my daughter listening to Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, didn't know she even know who the Beatles were. So I dug out my Abbey Road CD, which was given to me as a birthday gift by a friend in college when I turned 21--25 years ago! CDs, cassettes, and vinyl were all still available at the time.

[John M. Whalen]

Much like the Fast and Furious flicks. We watched the latest installment; Fast Five, recently.
It's been said that if Vin Diesel and Paul Walker weren't doing Fast Five movies they wouldn't be doing anything at all. I like Vin D a lot, but he's starting to lose the edge he had in Pitch Black and XXX. He ain't getting any younger either. Time to start looking for more serious roles, Vin. The same for Paul 'pretty boy' Walker.

Hey, Jaq,

Vin Diesel will be back as Riddick in 2013. The buzz is that it will be more like Pitch Black than Chronicles. Here's a synopsis from IMDB:


Betrayed by his own kind and left for dead on a desolate planet, Riddick fights for survival against alien predators and becomes more powerful and dangerous than ever before. Soon bounty hunters from throughout the galaxy descend on Riddick only to find themselves pawns in his greater scheme for revenge. With his enemies right where he wants them, Riddick unleashes a vicious attack of vengeance before returning to his home planet of Furya to save it from destruction

[Jaqhama]

Bit late to save Furya (what an originall name to be sure, cough) from destruction. The Necromongers blew it to bits and slaughtered every Furyan except Riddick and a few others who escaped, decades ago. That was all explained in the Riddick film.
Furya is supposed to be a dead world. Good to see that the scriptwriters can keep up with the movie's pre-history. Makes me laugh and shake my head.
Supposedly this third movie will go back to the original premise of Riddick being a stone cold killer, once again being hunted by 'mercs'.
Pitch Black was superb.
Riddick was a half hearted continuation at best.
Escape from Butcher Bay, the Riddick video game, is claimed by fans to be far superior to the second movie.
If Riddick's persona isn't the same as it was in Pitch Black then the third movie is going to flop.