No new reviews.....due to knee injury.

Well, it was all going so well was 2008; no back pain after my back went out in November, got the car back after 5 weeks in the body shop after the local garbage truck decided to take the whole side of our car and rub bumpers!

2 weekends ago I was off to the car to take a few things prior to a trip to the pet store among other things and clear ice on the steps from the deck to the garden foiled everything.

A slip on this ice would have been painful on flat ground and my arse may have been a bit bruised but with the first step of 4 down to a snowy and icy path in front of me; down I went, landing first with my left leg which jarred on the icy snow and made my leg pitch forward over my knee and lower leg, spraining ligaments.

The pain was intense to begin with but after i reached the couch and got ice on it (bag of sweet corn) it started to feel better. Cue crutches, bandages, gel braces and finally a walking stick.

Two weeks later and I'm still in recovery but it's getting better; gone are the crutches and I only need the walking stick to go outside. Limping around the house isn't too much trouble and I even went shopping yesterday (a 5 hour trip to Wal-Mart.... God help me!).

It'll be a while until I'm running the 3 minute mile again or skating on the canal but at least I can see light at the end of the tunnel.

So, the main 'take-away' from this less than interesting installment is: I haven't been to see a movie for almost 3 weeks, therefore no reviews, just in case the one or two people who ever read these ramblings were wondering...... :-)

I'm pleased that 'No Country for Old Men' is getting awards it made my top 10 of 2007 (number 5 I think) and it was a good film - just, for me, an untidy ending.

I may be off to the movies tomorrow, we'll see how the leg is feeling.

Thanks. Friendo!

Drude

Tuesday, again - which means movie review time!!

Happy New Year to you dear reader.

It was meant to be a good day, starting with getting our car back from the body repair shop but that didn't happen and therefore I consoled myself with, not one TuesdayMovie, but two!

The movies I wanted to see were all playing and I could, maybe, even squeeze in three. The order I saw these in don't, then, reflect my level of desire to see them, moreover the schedule they are shown tends to work out better.

With a couple of sausage McMuffins inside me I venture off, first 'up' being National Treasure: Book of Secrets with Nicolas Cage and a girl and Jon Voight and the lovely Helen Mirren.

These treasure hunt type movies often have some basic parts to them so lets just quickly check them off.......

Dashing and intelligent action hero/archaeologist - CHECK
Aging father or mother in tow - CHECK AND CHECK
Attractive colleague/ex-wife/potential love interest - CHECK
Bumbling assistant who sometimes gets it right - CHECK
Evil faction guy who is always one step ahead through evil and unfair methods - CHECK
Car chase - Check
Ends justify the means type of law breaking - CHECK
Final discovery - CHECK
Final disaster incorporating final discovery - CHECK

So on the face of it this film checks all the boxes - and that is true - but that's it - very little more than the above really - the car chase was in London and included a Fullers Ale delivery truck which was cool.

I'm really struggling to see why it was at the top spot for 2 or 3 weeks that it was - I guess the cast is a good draw and it's a sequel so that helps - but frankly it's just a run 'o' the mill treasure hunt film and nothing more - preferred the Mummy trilogy, and that's a brave statement to make.



So the next film is really going to be the next one 'on' and it turns out to be AVPR.

I would guess that if you don't know what that means then you should stay away from this movie all together!

When Alien first hit the silver screens in 1979 with a stomach bursting, T shirt busting, blood-spurting Hurt scream it was the scariest thing around and remained so for years.........until they made the second one (which actually was ok) and then Aliens turned into Alien 3 and it wasn't so scary anymore.

Likewise, the first Predator movie was just brilliant in every way - a classic (in my book) but the appalling sequel was just pitiful in a bad Steven Seagal movie kinda way - they just totally lost the plot!

I mean bad movie too as he has made some stinkers - he has also made some classics of their time too - 'Hard to Kill' is still a classic (again, in my book).

Anyway, back to the film at hand AVPR or in it's longer title of Aliens vs Predator: Requiem is the sequel to the first AVP which brought the Alien and Predator together under the plot line that the predator creatures used the Aliens as sport to hunt and hone their skills - and used humans to incubate them.

I have to say that the idea didn't really appeal to me but the first AVP was such a joy to watch that I still watch it again and again - for a 'no big movie star' cast it was a huge success (hence the sequel).

The sequel fails to bring that same magic - this time the plot starts where is left the last one with the Predator ship on it's journey home with a predator incubating an Alien, the first cross-breed.

This Alien bursts out and created havoc on the ship and it inevitably crashes back to Earth somewhere in Colorado where the usual killings, skinnings and acid dripping teeth shots begin.

The films only recognisable cast member for me was 'Michelle' off 24; actress, Reiko Aylesworth who put in a reasonable performance.

Of course the actors in these movies, unless you are Arnie, are not the stars - that is the role of the Aliens and the Predators - and they don't dissapoint - in their gory killing of the human population as well as each other.

My main problem was that I think they got away with some mediocre CGI by having the majority of the film at night in the rain. I think it was a restricted budget sequel that was ok but I won't be watching it again and again.



Next week it's the turn of Sweeney Todd and I am Legend.

Until next week......

Drude

Charlie Wilson's War squeezes in at number 2....

Happy New Year to my reader.....whoever you are.

We went to see Charlie Wilson's War on Sunday afternoon. I went with a little trepidation as I'd just read the Book by George Crile which was very well written or should I say documented. Films oft have a problem living up to their literary basis - but the screenplay for CWW was excellent, making the story digestable for the non-readers of the book but sewing together the main parts of it.

Some license was taken with who got introduced when but other than that it was a great story. It also makes a great point regarding the US fighting wars through guerrilla factions, funding them, arming them, training them all covertly - then as these people don't know where the 'aid' is coming from turn on their beneficiaries.

It also shows that the 'get in, win and get out' strategy might sometimes work in the 'moment' as a victory but if you get out too fast without rebuilding what you've helped destroy the situation can come back and bite you on the ass!

As Charlie Wilson actually said about the whole thing - "....then we fucked up the end game", in that the USA was happy to fund guns and ammunition and train the Muj to make IED's (yes, bicycle bombs and the like were all part of the training the CIA doled out) but when it came to a few million to rebuild schools and infrastructure the USA lost interest and moved on to the Balkans.



I wholeheartedly recommend Charlie Wilson's War and it squeezes in at number 2 for my films of 2007 - just pipped by the excellent Cronenberg film, Eastern Promises.

I also just saw on DVD Pirates of the Caribbean, At World's End....... too long, too much, too many sub plots - great trilogy that I hope will not be added to.

Next week I plan to see both I Am Legend and Sweeney Todd and maybe National Treasure and that will it for my 2007 films.