Update

Sorry for not writing anything for a while, I've been totally busy! Anyway, here's a update on what I've been upto.

CINEMA

PINEAPPLE EXPRESS - This was quite funny. The story is about pot-smoking Seth Rogen on the run from a drug gang, accompanied by his dealer friend James Franco. Its stoner humour throughout which I don't mind. There's a load of gay undertones, that was strange.

TROPIC THUNDER - After seeing the brilliant trailers for this I was expecting great things, especially with the amazing cast. Unfortunately, whilst funny through most of the film it didn't quite live up to hype. The trailer showed the funniest moments which totally took away the laughs when seeing the same parts in the film. Robert Downey Jr. was hilarious as the white Australian actor playing an African-American soldier!



TAKEN - This film was awesome! It took me by surprise, who would have thought 56 year old Liam Neeson could kick so much ass! Just think Bourne Identity action mixed with Rambo (2008) violence and you're in the right area. Its a great revenge movie.

DEATH RACE - This remake/update of the Roger Corman film Death Race 2000 isn't quite as ambitious as the original, with the races confined to an offshore prison rather than the open roads of America but its still remains entertaining and is actually quite good fun to watch. Its always good to see Lovejoy (Ian McShane) on screen, he plays the stereotypical wise man prisoner and part of the pit team.


DVD

DEADWOOD - I recently watched the first season of Deadwood whilst on holiday. Originally aired in 2004 on HBO this is the story of a lawless town in its very early days, just weeks after the killing of General Custer and at the height of the American gold rush. Its dirty, filthy, gritty but real and captivating. If you're offended easily, this isn't the show for you. The swearing is hardcore, no swearwords are left out of this one but I found it all adds to the overall realism. It has some brilliant characters, best of all has to be Ian McShane's - Al the saloon owner. He's a nasty piece of work! I will definitely watch the other two seasons.



TV


THE WRONG DOOR - Found on BBC3, this obscure sketch show is certainly original and features some amazing computer generated special effects, the like you would expect to see on a science fiction show but never in a comedy. Its really funny when they get it right. A couple of good episodes featured Train Pirates (with the brilliant Brian Blessed as the Captain) and a James Bond spoof with clowns, trying to stop Ninjas (with Burt Kwouk as the Ninja Master) evil plan to increase the price of a cheese and tomato sandwich on one of the London train lines. Crazy!

KNIGHT RIDER - I've now watched episode 2 and I'm still enjoying it. The latest episode was similar to the first Fast and The Furious film. I doubt this series will last very long though.


HEROES - Wow, season 3 is looking really good so far. There are a lot more villains this time round which should make things very interesting.

TERMINATOR : THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES - Although its certainly not perfect, I'm enjoying the storyline at the moment. It's creating a lot of back story for James Cameron's apocalyptic future and hopefully the new film, Terminator Salvation won't ignore all of it. I'm still not sure why Shirley Manson (from the band Garbage) was cast as the T-1000 style Terminator however.


GAMES

ROCK BAND - This is still my most favourite game and with weekly song downloads available its not likely get boring any time soon. I currently have 130 songs in total, quite a lot of strange ones from bands I've never heard of and some classics including several from Rush (awesome progressive rock band!).


CONDEMNED 2 - Although I'm not playing this myself, my friend Ned is working his way through it at the moment and I've seen it in action. Its just as good, if not better than the original. Its extremely dark and scary and shouldn't be played on your own at night with the lights off!

Bionic Woman

I know the new version of the Bionic Woman has been around since September of last year but I hadn't seen any of it until yesterday and I'm now slowly working my way through the 8 episodes available.

I'm into episode 4 at the moment and I'm really enjoying it despite all the negativity its received in the U.S. The Bionic Woman role has gone to the ex Eastenders star Michelle Ryan and her American accent isn't too bad, I was half expecting her to speak cockney!



The story follows Jaime Sommers (Michelle Ryan), a woman who barely survives a terrific car crash losing both her legs, one arm, an ear and an eye. Fortunately her partner is a top bionic expert and she's quickly whipped to his lab to have all her damaged parts replaced. You later find out the parts are owned by this rich guy (Miguel Ferrer, the same guy that built Robocop!) who leads an anti terrorism crew, which she eventually gets drafted into so that she can help save the world.

Whilst all this is happening another bionic woman, the first known as Sarah Corvus (played by the excellent Katee Sackhoff - Starbuck from Battlestar Gallactica) is following Jaime. As the prototype she has many psychological problems brought on by the bionic implants, twisting her into a deranged weapon on her own path (I'm not entirely sure if shes evil at the moment). Totally obsessed with having new implants and doing the updating herself. She's addicted to new bionics. Sarah is a really cool dark character and she gets into some really awesome fights with Jaime and others.

What I like the most so far about the show is the way the bionics work with both the women. Although not visually obvious (there's no shiny endoskeleton underneath the skin (like the Terminator), wires or any other robotic cliches) most of the technology is on a nano technological scale. Jaime has nanobots inside her blood stream, enabling quick repair of her body. I also like the way that the technology has evolved with the times, she now has a GPS chip in her brain and her bosses can see through her bionic eye. Another cool thing which I've seen is that she can be hacked by others or can hack herself (to disable certain functions like the GPS). That sounds a bit confusing but trust me, its a really cool idea.

The show has some really decent female leads, similar to the Sarah Connor Chronicles. Its refreshing to see!

Unfortunately if the rumours are correct the show has been canceled although I'm hoping its just stopped due to the writers strike. Thats apparently now been resolved so I'll keep a look out to see if the show continues.

Sarah Connor Chronicles - promo picture

A promo picture of Cameron, the Terminator from the Sarah Connor Chronicles. A glimpse of whats to come perhaps?

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

I'm happy to say that 'Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles' has made it onto the Fox network after 2007's pilot. How long it will air for before Fox pulls the plug is another thing!

I've watched episode 2 (through some dodgy video streaming site) and it looks like the show could get pretty interesting if allowed to develop.

Like the Terminator films, there's always someone sent back to protect the person the Terminator is after. From the pilot we already know that Sarah & John have their own terminator (called Cameron) already protecting them but it now appears (from watching episode 2) that there are also several resistant fighters from the future living as sleeper cells, awaiting for the day when the shit hits the fan. Sarah had already met one of them without knowing, a guy who taught her how to use guns, I thought that was a kinda cool and ties in with the original story set after the original Terminator movie.

I'll be on the lookout for the next episode.

Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins (2009)

Production on the fourth installment in the Terminator film series will begin next year ahead of a 2009 release.

Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins will be the first in a proposed trilogy of films reinventing the cyborg saga.

Derek Anderson, of production company Halycon, has told industry newspaper Variety the film will be "set in the future" during "a full-scale war".

The Terminator brand is currently being revived on US television with the Sarah Connor Chronicles series.

Lena Headey stars in the title role, previously played by Linda Hamilton in the first two Terminator films directed by James Cameron.

Former actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, now governor of California, last played the series' robotic protagonist in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.

According to Variety, however, it is unclear whether he will appear in the new film.

"We've left it open for him to maybe do a cameo," said producer Moritz Borman. "The final decision will be based on his desire and availability."

Warner Brothers have acquired North American distribution rights to the fourth Terminator film, which it plans to release in summer 2009.

"The intention is to present a fresh new world and have this be the first of a trilogy," said Borman.

*Pinched from BBC Entertainment News 10/10/2007

p.s; The image at the top was something I quickly put together using some old Terminator picture, not official!

The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008)

'Yes' in answer to your question. They've adapted the Terminator movies into a TV series called The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Well not quite adapted, a TV series has been made to fill in the blanks between 'Terminator 2: Judgement Day' and 'Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines'.

Its an ambitious project to take on especially since the Terminator series is so well known.

The pilot episode is available here for the moment (don't worry - it hasn't got Spanish subtitles as the site mentions), on the excellent Stage6 site. Go check it out!

From what I've seen, the plot follows a similar formula to the films. A bad terminator is sent back in time to destroy John Connor (the savior of humanity) whilst a good terminator is sent back by the human resistance (in the future) to counteract the bad one and keep John alive.

There's no real famous faces in this as far as I can see except Summer Glau from the excellent (yet canceled!) series 'Firefly' (which later got made into a film called 'Serenity'). Also the terminators are lacking that Stan Winston touch in regards to the visuals although I doubt the studio would want to spend too much on makeup/animatronics/CGI for a TV show.

According to IMDb the series should start (in the US) in the early part of next year but I'm kinda expecting it not to get that far. It looks like a good show but it also looks like it will flop (not sure how to explain that though). Virgin Media have apparently secured the rights to show this on demand in the UK so I'll look out for it in the future.