Star Wars Uncut

This has renewed my love for Star Wars. Star Wars Uncut is the entire film (Episode IV - A New Hope), made by fans who each had 15 seconds to shoot a section. Its amazing! Each 15 seconds is unique but all the different looking segments flow incredibly well together and there are some really imaginative interpretations of some truly well known scenes.


I urge any Star Wars fan to reserve 2 hours to watch this in its entirety.

Rock Band 3

Rock Band (my most favourite game of all time) is finally getting it's official 3rd installment and this time it'll introduce a new instrument!

It appears the third game will feature a keyboard. From the internet gossip it hasn't been confirmed if it will resemble a dumbed down piano style keyboard or an awesome 80's style 'keytar' (shown below).



There's already loads of tracks available with piano/keyboard parts but no one knows if Harmonix will take the time to recode the tunes so they will be compatible with the new peripheral. That would be a huge task considering there's well over 1000 tracks available (on disc and to download)!

Whatever happens I can't wait to play Rock Band 3.

The Room

Holy shit, that's some quality acting!

Despite being one of the worst movies ever made (apparently), The Room, directed and starring Tommy Wiseau has become a huge underground hit. I can totally understand why, it looks hilarious!



I have got to watch this!

The Final Option

I have this Snes ROM if anyone wants it. It's absolutely hilarious!

Chuck Norris - Action Jeans

Awesome!

Iron Man (2008)

I'm really looking forward to this comic book adaption of Iron Man, thats partly to do with the great images released showing the suit in all its glory and also that Robert Downey Jr. (I'll call him RDJ for short) is playing the lead.


I love the quirky characters he has played in previous films such as the hilarious 'Kiss Kiss Bang Bang' and the strange but interesting 'A Scanner Darkly'. The self narrating, fast talking, semi-crazy missfits that I expect mirror certain aspects of RDJ's personal yet very public life. I hope in Iron Man he'll play a similar type of character.

This film is being directed by former 'Swingers' actor turned director Jon Favreau who already has a few films (Zathura & Elf) under his belt (non of which I've seen though). It'll be interesting to see what he can do with this movie, can he turn it into the new big franchise to take over from Spider-Man?

I'm sure a teaser trailer will become available soon so watch this space.

Transformers (2007)

Oh wow! I saw this last night and it blew me away.

I must admit my expectations were low before watching this film, I'm not a huge Michael Bay fan and wasn't comfortable knowing he was directing the big screen adaptation of one of my most favourite childhood cartoon shows but he nailed it!

This has got to be the best cartoon to live-action film I've ever seen (although I can't really think of any others off the top of my head). Its definitely the best summer-blockbuster I've seen so far this year (and I've seen them all thanks to my wonderful Cineworld card and loads of free time).

*** SPOILERS BELOW ***

The main plot follows the evil Decepticons and friendly Autobots searching for a mystical cube from outer space that can turn any inanimate object to life. The Decepticons want to use it to turn all the Earth's technology into an army of evil Transformers to rule the galaxy and the Autobots are there to stop them.

I really like the way the creation of the Transformers was mentioned early on in the film and didn't go into great detail. It kept the magic of the cartoon original and at the same time made it semi plausable.

The Autobots are helped along the way by the young Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) and his gorgeous wannabe girl Mikaela Banes (Megan Fox - looks a lot like a young Tea Leoni from the first Bad Boys movie).

The film features a lot of humour, which really works well. There's a load of funny moments with the humans but the really funny stuff comes from the robots. The scene where the Autobots are sneaking outside Sam's house, trying to avoid his parents is hilarious.

The special effects in this movie are second to none. The robots look so realistic and the transformations are amazing (although they can go on for a while, Optimus Prime takes ages to change when you first see him but that helps dramatise it I guess). The fight sequences are excellent although there are a few moments when the camera's right inside the action (robot vs. robot) and it's quite hard to see whats happening.


One of the coolest things I thought about this movie was the original voice actor from the Transformers cartoon (Peter Cullen) reprised his roll for the voice of Optimus Prime (above picture) and the other robots. I didn't realise this until I was told after the film although throughout it I was thinking how well the voices had been matched, they sound great.

*** SPOILER END ***

Anyhoo, to wrap it up this is a perfect summer blockbuster (ideal for popcorn junkies) and thank you Michael Bay (I never imagined myself saying that!) for doing such a good job and keeping my childhood memories intact.

Hard Hunted (1992)

This film was given to me as a Christmas prezzie, only because my pal Volare Dez found a pic of Al Leong whilst surfing Google images and wondered, "what the hell?".

What Dez saw was Al Leong in a really crappy looking helicopter, he traced where that came from and this film was the result.

Well, 'my oh my' what a find!

Apart from the superb Al Leong featuring in this film (yes... featuring, with lines and everything!) it also has a mix of Playboy models from the mid eighties dancing about the screen, half pretending to act whilst having a few obligatory topless scenes. The nude scenes don't really have any relevance to the story but are a pretty good distraction!

The story (this is all coming from memory) is something to do with a stolen trigger for a nuclear bomb landing in the hands of the wrong people and a team of busty chicks having to save the day somewhere in Hawaii whilst being pursued by Raven (Al Leong) and his crap homemade helicopter.



The team's guided by the strangest of DJ's, a top-heavy radio presenter who parades in front of the microphone wearing skimpy outfits, unaware that the listeners can't see her. She drops subtle (and not so subtle) clues for the team to follow over the airwaves. The thing I found amusing was when she wasn't in the radio booth presenting she would continue to communicate using the microphone to the people nearby, whether that's just walking by the pool or taking a dip in the hot tub. I wonder if she had a fancy removable voice box?

Anyway, the star of the show Donna (real name Dona Spier, left on the box cover) gets kidnapped during the film and taken aboard a small plane. There's a scuffle in the air and she breaks free, parachutes away and lands with a smack, head first on a rock giving her temporary amnesia.

Ah yes, where would crap B movie's be without the amnesia twist. If you're running out of ideas slap a nice little amnesia into the story, its a good little filler.

She recovers, stabs a guy and the team unites for an 'all mighty gun battle on the beach that puts the Normandy landing from Saving Private Ryan to shame' - na, just kidding! Its a small scale affair. Raven returns to finish everyone off but Donna brings him down with a lucky shot from the conveniently placed shotgun - BOOM!

The big boss (who doesn't really do much through the film, just sits on his yatch drinking champagne) narrowly escapes capture by the coastguards and threatens to return to seek his revenge. The end.

Awesome? Perhaps, perhaps not but its very entertaining if you watch it with a load of mates and have a few drinks. Apparently this is one film from a series by the same director (Andy Sidaris) so I may look into those for future viewings.