Thoughts on - Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker (No spoilers). (Updated -16-01.2020).

Hi everybody,
                     I was holding my breath on the way into the cinema, as I was not exactly enamored with the previous two offerings from Disney in this franchise and had avoided watching the trailers for the film to avoid spoilers. In case you are holding your breath too, you can relax now, this is a good one and is well worthy of being in the collection.

 It finally sews the threads of the plot together, I think most of the long term fans will approve. The graphics and special effects are superb as always, with lots of new aliens to spot here and there among the crowd. There is another robot for the youngsters to cheer on, as well as the usual gang, but they may miss some of the plot points in the story. It is a certificate 12A

 This closes the chapter for most of the original cast, so Disney can take us where they will and develop the storyline how they please, but I hope they do keep faith with the fans. I saw the 2d version of the film, but I plan to see the 3D version too.

Review 5/5 - For seeing sense and coming back to their roots.

"May the force be with you, always."

Ivor Cogdell

P.S. - The new trilogy does not suit everybody, one of my other mates has refused to watch the last couple out of disgust.

Terminator number whatever - Updated 2019.12.04

Hi all,
         I've just found out I have missed the new Terminator movie, I did not even know that the release date was close. Apparently, it was an ignore the last two Terminator films and pretend this is number three. Just like Star Trek and Spidey. I did not bother with the new set of Spidey. I'm sure that the writers and directors like nothing better than messing around with our minds......
       Speaking of the new Star Trek timeline films, I hear that number 4 has been canceled. Boo. Hiss. On the brighter side, I see that the venerable Patrick Stewart is coming back as Jean Luke Picard to do some goodies though. Yaaay.

So, a quick review of the advertisers involved - 0 / 10.

Roll on the latest Star Wars, fingers crossed we don't get a "pup".

Regards all,

Ivor Cogdell

Thoughts On - Ad Astra. (Updated 2019-12-06)

Hi all,
          I went to see the Ad Astra film today, it was a bad move on my part. I had been looking forward to seeing it, as I am a hardcore space nut and Sci-Fi bod, as you have probably noticed on my other film reviews. The special effects were good. The start of the film was good, but the plot was rubbish. Our big hero astronaut gets a new mission - just save the planet from the Antimatter particles his dad (who he and most everybody else thought was dead) is playing about with on a space platform in orbit around Neptune.
           No sooner does he get to the Moon, than some opposition appears to try and foil his mission, but why try and stop him, because if he fails, the Earth will be tossed back in the stone age and we all loose ???? No reason was given, as far as I could tell.  There is a bit more larking about and soul searching on Mars, then off he goes to see what his long lost dad is up to around Neptune. We get into more deep thoughts and arguments.
            The ending was predictable rubbish. It could and should have been so much better. Altogether, this was a load of time, effort and dosh wasted.

Score - 3 / 10.

Miss it with my blessing.

Regards all,

Ivor Cogdell

Thoughts On - The First Men - Part two

Hi all,
          Here is my second part of my First Men review.

Apart from not getting more shots of them on the moon in general, they did not mention the problem they had with the circuit breaker after they had touched down on the moon and done their moonwalk.

Click on the link for more details. LINK.

Sadly, I cannot find my notes for the rest of this section.

All in all, an interesting film, but it did leave blanks along the way.

Hopefully it will not be too long before we see more boots on the moon, not just robot craft, although they are welcome too.

On a brighter note, NASA and the government are finally heading in the right direction again. Click on the links below.

Lunar Gateway Project

Canada Joins In.


Ivor Cogdell

Thoughts On - Alita Battle Angel.

Hi all,
           The story is based on an Anime Graphic Magazine or comic. A robot with a "hidden past", tries to find out who and what she/it is. The 3D graphics coming from the studios were top notch as usual, acting / script was a bit weak and soppy at times. The underlying plot reminded me of the recent film "Ready Player One", the underdog against the big masters. To be fair, it is aimed at the younger teen audience and I am slightly older than that to say the least. I did enjoy it and will be looking out for part two, that's what its all about.

Score - 6 out of 10.

Ivor Cogdell

Slight interlude - Updated.

Hi All,
            This is a slight interlude while I catch my breath, I am doing overtime at work, selling lots of much needed Xmas goodies to everyone, I'm sure you approve.  I have some pictures to add to the First Man post. I have now posted my second "Project Z" Zombie battle report up to Google that took place at Martin's house, plus there is my Mordheim scrap to finish off. Part 4 is now posted too. Part 5 has now been fought, I have just got to check the aftermath, edit and post it.

             I went to see the film Bohemian Rhapsody, enjoyable, I thought, and the folks who do the Oscars seem to agree with me. A special Halloween Chuthulu rpg fun fest took place at the Circle Battle Group, with Martin as GM, set in the 1890's-ish involving a haunted house and 7 teenage school chums. What could go wrong ?..........

Enjoy your gaming.

Ivor Cogdell

Thoughts On _First Man Part 1. (No Spoilers)

Hi all,
          Going in to see this much-anticipated film, I was not sure what to expect, was it a documentary, a biography, an action film or what? I had not seen a trailer to it, because I wanted it to keep my impressions of the film unsullied by little clips of action.
        It begins when he is taking part in the X-15 program, during his test pilot days, this was a good starting point, as it showed Armstrong could get out of some tricky situations when he had to. Next came the Gemini 8 mission, the task was to find and to dock with an unmanned Agena capsule, which they did, but not without a little bother along the way.
          They did not shy away from showing the disasters that befell the Astronaut Corps, but they did ignore any mention that there had been any female participants. The "Mercury 13" women were not given a mention at all.
          They fast forward again to the Apollo 11 mission.  There were very nice Spaceship mockups and filming here of some of the drama they went through. I say some as I wished the film would have been longer so they could have included more of the story. (No, I do not mean aliens.)
            As to the acting, the wives were mainly seen and not heard. Many of the astronauts were just "there", you were supposed to work out who was who in many cases. For instance, Mike Collins and Edwin " Buzz" Aldrin, the other two crew members on Apollo 11, their names were barely mentioned at all.

Part two will include what I would have added.

Rating - 7 out of 10.

Ivor Cogdell

Thoughts on - Star Wars "Solo" (no spoilers)

Hi all,
         Just a quick post, this one. Sad news if you were one of those who hoped that Disney had mended their ways and started to adhere to "cannon" or original Star Wars lore. In this case, they mess with the Falcon's origin. Lore has it that she was built by Han and Lando (on re-checking with my source, that should have been Obi-wan and Aniken) from the hulks of three other ships. For the new take on it, you will have to see the film.
          Overall, I did enjoy the film (seen in 2D) which does fill in some of the gaps in Han's history. There seemed less reliance on special effects in this film. L3 was a nice addition to the robotic cast. Disney does seem ok when filling in some details of a story, but so far have been failing miserably when forging ahead with no guidelines to go on.

Rating - 8 out of 10.

Ivor

Thoughts on - Avengers Infinity War

Hi all,
            Just a quick comment or two for this one. First off, I had not seen the latest Thor and Black Panther movies, so I was unaware of the Panther's origins. This film just lept into the first battle scene without much of an explanation or warning. I was not impressed.
           My main concern, plot-wise, was why did they need to call in the "Guardians of the Galaxy"? The film is supposed to be about the Avengers, or so I thought. If the Guardians came along, where were all of the other Galactic hero types, like the Silver Surfer? They will be raiding the DC universe next, Superperson and Batman save the day.

While doing a bit of digging into the Thanos backstory on wiki afterwards, it does seem that old Thanos has been all over the place in the comic book side of the Marvel Universe and that indeed, there is a legitimate link to the Guardians. (I won't spoil it here just in case you did not know either.) But if you are not a dyed in the wool fan, how would you know?

            Overall, I did enjoy the film, in 3D IMAX, as you would expect. The sequel will have to be a doozy to keep up with the expectations the first one left us with.

Rating - 8 out of 10. Revised, 9 out of 10.

Ivor

Thoughts On - Ready Player One (12A)

Hey folks,
                 This has been my first outing to the cinema for a while, I'm sad to say I missed the new Blade Runner, but that's what DVD's are for. I get back into the saddle with this little Steven Spielberg number. The plot - ordinary lives are usually so depressing that most people live out their lives as "Avatars" in the Oasis, a monster, anything goes, internet RPG- type, Virtual Reality headset and feedback suit, free for all.

                  Hidden in here are three keys and three clues, which can be found by winning three games, ownership of all three keys will grant ownership of the internet. The question is, which three games?

                 The baddies are represented by the boss and henchpeople of the 101 Corp, our heroes are everyday joes off the street, trying to save the net from disaster. This film is littered with film, music and gaming references from the early days of computing, see how many you can spot. (See below.)

                  The actors must have had a hard time in places, as lots of the action scenes must have been shot using green screen / computer tech, plus all of the fighting going on they had to get right.

                 I saw it in the 2d format. but if you get the chance, the 3d / 4dx experience is highly recommended to one and all. One of my sources said the book, written by Ernest Cline , was even better than the film, so that is worth keeping in mind too.  (Later research reveals that quite a bit of the book has been changed, so if you have previously read it, you will still have some twists ahead,)

                   The special effects grabbed you by the eyeballs and earlobes and did not let go all the way through. Just in case you are still wavering,"Just go and see it now."

Review - 9 out of 10. I would like to see the Directors Cut.

Ivor

P.S. Some of the scenes in the film would make great wargame ideas, whatever models you have handy would fit right in there, so keep it in mind when you see the film and let the creative juices flow.

P.P.S. For the trivia contained within the film, click the link. - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1677720/trivia

Thoughts on - Star Wars - The last Jedi (Spoilers)

Hi all,
          I have finally got around to seeing Star Wars Episode 8. The characters and acting - you do what you can with what you have been given, but no obvious flaws in the mix.

First off - The Imperial Dreadnaught, with all the conceptual artists Disney have up their collective sleeve, is a copy of the B2 Spirit the best design that they could come up with? Just lazy.

          Secondly, speaking of copies, the abandoned base, looked like another ringer for Hoth. I suppose there are a lot of icy bodies out there to play and/or get killed on. Why did they have that humongous door on the front that reached to the top of the cliff, it only needed to be a bit taller than the opening, then it could have been a lot thicker and therefore survive longer. A bad design.

           Thirdly - The pitiful ground defence force, more pod racing anyone? Disney rehashing old scenes yet again. A quote from one of the defenders - "They're picking us off one by one". You sound surprised by that, what would you be doing in their place. That's what you are trying to do to them, too.

           Fourthly - Over to our loveable Luke for a bit. For 30-some years, he has been sitting on a rock, picking his nose, skimming rocks into the sea, that sort of thing, while the Galaxy, in general, has been going to hell in a handbasket. OK, he failed with Kylo, (sob), but he could still have been out there doing some good. Think of all the lives he could have saved to swell the ranks of the resistance and given hope to others. Did he cut himself off from the force so he would not have to feel the shimmers in the force all night?

           Gripe number five, what was the point in destroying the Jedi Holy relics? Luke even lost his bottle doing that, Yoda had to show him how to do it properly. Now that they are destroyed, what are the caretakers going to do with themselves, now that their whole reason for existence has gone up in smoke and cinders? They might as well jump off the cliff like lemmings.

          Moan number six, I give you the Penguins. Ahhhhh.......What was the point of them, apart from you could have a laugh when Our Chewie barbecued one. He should have known better. He should be put on a charge at least. It brings a whole new meaning to "Friendly Fire".
          Why did the little guy not say, "Please do not eat me" before the dastardly deed was done?. The same goes for the Ice Foxes, Why did they run to the base and not just scatter, they were only there to show them the way out. "Oh no, We're trapped and doomed, but wait, let's follow sparkles for a laugh".

         Gossip corner number seven, had Jimmy Vee (who was inside R2) upset the writers? To say he had a bit part was an understatement, blink and you would have missed him. He was only in it to prod Luke's conscience, its a pity he was not in the X-wing when Luke came to the island and do it a long time ago. Why had Yoda not given him a serious talking to about his responsibilities earlier? Or grannie Leia for that matter, at least Rey gave him an ear bashing.

That mostly covers it. The Special effects are where the money went, not on advancing the storyline. Disney has ignored the legions of fans and pitched it at the wider audience out there. They have got to pull a mighty big rabbit out of the bag (Harvey sized rather than Bugs) to come up with a suitable ending with the minuscule amount of Rebel forces they have left, "To the Outer Rim we go looking for wannabe Jedi, or at least some help." (Guardians of the Galaxy perhaps, once they have helped out with the Avengers?).

Provisional titles for Episode 9 - "No Hope - No Glory?"
                                                      "To Jedi or not to Jedi?"
                                                      "One used Lightsabre, Going cheap."
                                                      " 'alllo Leia, gotta a new Padawan?"
                                                      "Oh no, not that again?"

Rating - 3 out of 10.

Ivor

Thoughts On - Valerian (No spoilers)

Hi all,

          I came into this film with no prior knowledge, apart from it was based on a French comic. This usually sets off warning flags, (I'm not into manga / Anime), but the poster looked great, as you can see here, so I thought I would risk it, especially since it had a budget of 210 million. US dollars. I saw the 2d version of the film.
          The first surprise was that the main characters were rather younger than I was expecting, but once I got used to that, everything fell into place and I began to enjoy the film.
          If you like a mix of aliens, this is certainly the film for you, there are lots of them and I mean LOTS, the blurb I read afterward in the movie guide quoted that there were more than 200 of them, they all blended into the scenes and made the scenes POP. It feels like a grand sprawling space station. Babylon 5, eat your heart out, and I do like B5 a great deal.
          The script was fair, it played the comedy card at times, I like my sci-fi fairly straight and serious. I spotted the baddie before the entity showed its hand / flipper / pseudopod, but that did not matter, as I was enjoying the story and wondering how it would unfold and our heroes would defeat it.
         I hope they do a sequel. It is thoroughly enjoyable, go and see it.

Rating 9 out of 10.

Thoughts On - A Dogs Purpose

Hi all,
          A Dogs Purpose - is to run around, lick people, chase cats, fetch sticks and balls, bark for no apparent reason and generally have fun. That's it pretty well in a nutshell. He must have been paid a lifetime's worth of doggy chunks or similar items.
          I did think that some of the doggy lives portrayed were a bit short, almost blink away a tear and you have missed it. Regarding the two legged cast, Bryce Gheisar gets full marks for knowing how to play a child and getting paid for having fun too. I suppose Dennis Quaid was not doing anything that week or so, so he may have thought, "Why not, I know how to have fun too", he looks like he was enjoying himself.
           My friend suggested they would have done better to have done a remake of "The Littlest Hobo", that way they would not have needed the reincarnation scenes, just stitch the scenes together as they wished.

A bit mushy, as expected.

5 out of 10, unless you have kids, then it gets a 9.

Ivor

P.S. One of our former UK TV presenters has just passed away, John Noakes, human partner to "Shep" the sheep dog on the BBC Blue Peter program. He did a stand alone program, "Go with Noakes". He and the rest of the Blue Peter team gave a lot of pleasure to many people and each year contributed to charities.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/may/30/john-noakes-blue-peter

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_With_Noakes#Go_With_Noakes

http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/family-john-noakes-ask-fans-10525823

Thoughts On - Fast and Furious 8 - (Minor spoiler)

Hi all,
          "Fast and Furious" - It does what it says on the tin,  or so you expect, but this one has a quirk to it.

(Mini spoiler alert)
-----------------------
For reasons of his own, Dom goes rogue, and does not play by the "rules" such as they are, namely, protect his gang.
----------------------
Plenty of chase action with shiny toys and in one case, very big toy, which I thought was a bit clumsily used. But that's scriptwriters for you. Nice acting from the usual faces, trying to work out whats wrong with Dom. Assorted fisticuffs with naughty people, as they do.

Overall, it was a bit mixed up, trying too hard.

8 out of 10.

Ivor

Thoughts on - Life (no spoilers)

Hi all,
          This weekend I saw the sci-fi / horror picture "Life". The plot is this, life on mars has been confirmed (finally) and a sample return mission has been sent back to the ISS and the astronauts to study.
        Basically, its another "nice picture forget the actual science" films. Very nice sets, with plenty of detail, reasonable plot and script. The alien development and design was plausible.  Slightly corny in spots, but that was to be expected. It felt like a cross between Gravity and a tame Alien. I did feel the start of the film had been chopped about a bit in the editing process. Another point was that when they had problems, they went bad very quickly, but I suppose that was the way scriptwriters do it to ramp up the tension.

(Micro spoiler alert)---------
For instance, the alien gets smart, very quickly, without any prior experience of science,electronics, etc it does all sorts of stuff, not plausible.
--------------------------------

One day we may be facing this possibility for real, so I hope they do a better job. I'm wondering if when they cracked the hatch on Apollo 11 we might have been contaminated then. I know that the astronauts wore sealed outfits before they got into the quarantine unit, but would like to have another look at how the capsule itself was treated. The moon samples were in sealed containers.

So, if you are walking in the National Air And  Space Museum and you see something green and frothy dribbling out of the hatch, run for the hills.

Worth going to see, just to get "what if" thoughts going on in your head.

Rating - 7 out of 10.

Ivor

P.S.Moon rock results.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/1969/12/moon-landing/moon-rock-text

Thoughts on - XXX 3 - Return of Xander Cage (No Spoilers)

Hi all,
          XXX 3 -  "Whoosh, Whoosh, Splash, Wheeee, Bang Bang Bang. That went well. The End."

I'm only kidding, but with this movie, unfortunately, its not too far from the truth of the matter. My pal and caught it in 4D, which means a rocker seat, complete with pressure pads and air blowers built into the back, it even came with optional water mist sprayers, (Controls on the seat rests). The bad news was that it costs more, also it did not have Audio Description for the visually impaired, which my friend needed.
        The plot was not very surprising, XXX and muscle bound friends vs. master criminals, assorted chatting and scrapping with each other. The chosen locations were not impressive at all, it felt like a cheap budget flic, not the return of a classic hero.
         Acting, who needs acting when you have a fight scene, explosions and pretty girls. Stunts, it seemed like there was nothing fantastic, no doubt it took a lot of work to look seamless and realistic, but that's their job. Even the use of the super bouncy seats was overdone. It was not seasick inducing, but as they say "Less is more".

The first XXX was fresh and different. I missed the second, possibly as my man Vin was not in it. The third installment of XXX was not even impressive. My friend, who had not caught the first two films, summed it up with one comment, "That was stupid."

Score - 3 out of 10. A waste of time and money.

Ivor

Thoughts on - Passengers (No spoilers)

Hi all,
          A friend and I went to see the 2d version of Passengers. The ship design  was original, for a deep space vessel. The inboard ship graphics were well done and not too complex to understand. The story line does have a few inconsistencies, and they do juggle with the laws of physics in places, but that's Hollywood for you. For details check out the IMDB database.

 http://www.imdb.com/

 Good performances by the cast.

7 out of 10, 8 out of 10 if you ignore the physics errors.

Ivor

Thoughts on - Rogue One (No Spoilers)

Hi there,
             I think that Disney are finally getting their act together with this franchise. It seems like they may actually done a little bit homework before writing the film script.  Rogue One: A Star Wars (TM) Story (I saw the 2d version, but intend to see the 3d version too), was much slicker than Star Wars VII -  A Force Awakens, as it was more of a general action film, not needing too much background knowledge apart from the main character details.
             It probably helped that the plot itself was fairly linear. The graphics and acting were very good, as you would expect of Disney. There were nods to Star Wars that the fans will recognize, which was nice to see. A few old faces appear as cameos, just to wet our appetites for Star Wars VIII.
            All in all, it slots into the Star Wars History with barely a squeak out of place.

Niggle - How is the massively mighty (not to mention heavy) Star Destroyer able to just hovver in the atmosphere with only the rear engines going ? I suppose anti-gravity of some sort, like the land speeders ?

Lets see how they do with the next one.

It is worth a look.

Rating - 8 out of 10.

Ivor

P.S. I was deeply saddened to hear of the passing away of Carrie Fisher and then her mom Debbie Reynolds. They were icons of their age that will be missed indeed.

Thoughts on - Arrival (Spoilers)

Hi all,
         My feelings after coming out of the cinema was that this was a bit of a missed opportunity. The alien spaceships looked more like floating giant seeds than spacecraft, as you can see in the trailer. Rather boring. (They could have omitted the spacecraft landing out of the trailer, at least that would have been one more surprise to be had, even if it may have been a bit of a wet blanket moment.)  The aliens were shrouded in mist. Quite possible for their atmospheric needs, trying to add to the tension, but boring once again. Not much texture or colouration in their skin, another opportunity missed.
         The alien language and its actual decoding was handled in an interesting way, but why would the aliens have evolved its written / squirted usage in the first place? Just sound would suffice, unless they have genetically modified themselves at a later date. How were they able to control the smoke / ink once it had been emitted from their "hands" and into their atmosphere ?
         How had they managed to contact Dr. Bank's mind and not everyone on the planet (I know, that would blow the film), she was in the right place at the right time.
         I will confess that I had to leave before the film had finished, (about 5 mins to go, she was talking to an ambassador) so I may not have gotten some of the plot details, but I did not miss much, according to my friend who had seen it earlier.

A qualified 5 out 10.

Ivor

Thoughts on - Suicide Squad

Hi there,
             I watched this film in 2d, I'm not sure if it came out in 3d, but I did not see any obvious shots that were put in for the 3d viewing audience. Its a nice little film. It is set in the DC Comic universe. Superman has died (or at least, is not at all well, as they say.) Batman is holding down the fort for the time being and the Government is wondering what they do now ?
             Their answer is to gather up the biggest bunch of baddies they can get their hands on and pit them against the uber baddies who will naturally come crawling out of the woodwork next. As they say "Fight fire with fire", a tried and tested solution.
              This is another "turn your brain off and enjoy the scrap" film, as I had expected, with a few plot twists along the way. The scraps are ok. Lots of wisecracks. Will Smith gives a fair performance as Deadshot, but there is nothing to tax him here though. I doubt if I will buy this on DVD.

Smiles rather than belly laughs. Rating 7 out of 10.

Ivor