Bloggers Block, No Time and A Million Other Excuses…

By @hmsbeefnuts

Hey there, it’s me, hmsbeefnuts. Now I’m only into my second week of my new, less strenuous amount of time writing for my beloved All Geek To Me, and already I’m finding it hard to keep up. I know it’s a poor excuse, especially since I have always found time to write blogs, mostly 3 a week, but at the moment, life is getting in the way. The fact that I’m enjoying the majority of it immensely is the only reason I’m not more ashamed of my bloggers work ethic. Simply put, I’m far too busy in work, and with the people I love most to be able to fully commit my time here, and yes, it is sad that I feel like I’m letting down my fellow geeks, especially Geeky Gem, but I hope she understands, and forgives me for the increasing number of low maintenance blogs. I also hope that anybody who reads this and gives a damn will forgive me too, I am trying my best, I promise.

I have been reading Storm of Swords: Book 2 Blood and Gold by George R. R. Martin. I have just read the Red Wedding Chapter. Now I spoiled myself a few months ago with a Wikipedia search, so I knew it was going to happen, but damn! Martin sure likes to kill off my favourite characters. Apart from the upset at the horrible goings on in Westeros, A Song of Ice and Fire just keeps on getting better, I can’t wait for Season 3 of Game of Thrones.

I’ve also been enjoying Dexter, and Finding Bigfoot, still have not played much of my game library, and have not been to the cinema for like a month. I am going this Saturday however, so I’ll try and fit in a fair few, get really stuck in.

I haven’t even had time to watch my Indiana Jones Blu Rays. It seems I am a changed man, more likely to be found pretending to be The Joker or Cpt. Hook, than to be watching Batman and playing Halo. Christmas time is approaching ever so fast. I have purchased the majority of my presents (thank you Amazon.co.uk) but the time is just disappearing like a hobbit with the One ring around his finger. Speaking of which, I can hardly believe that the Hobbit will be out in a few weeks time, I am so excited, yet I know very little about it. It seems I’m out of the Geek Loop a little.

Anyway, I shall bid you farewell, as I have a Dexter to watch, and sleep to catch up with.

MONDAY MUSING

By @hmsbeefnuts

It happened a few weeks ago now, and which seems like ages. Millions of words have been written and spoken about it. Bitching, cheering, fear, hope, all seems to be in the mix when discussing the biggest news to hit the Geek community for, well, maybe ever. I am of course referring to Disney’s acquisition of George Lucas’ company, Lucasarts. It was about time that someone here at All Geek To Me wrote some thoughts on this huge story, so I elected myself to write it.

I don’t have a problem with Disney, in fact, I kind of love it, I think they do a great job with the franchises they control, from ones they created themselves, to the ones they have bought, such as The Muppets and of course Marvel Comics. They seem to show a great deal of respect for all of their individual fans and one just needs to look at The Avengers to see how Disney can treat a massive franchise, beloved of fans world wide, with a hands off attitude. Disney are obviously in the business of making loads of cash, and they don’t want to fuck up huge franchises like Star Wars, and Indiana Jones, in fact, a trip around Disneyland will reassure you that Disney is the exact place for these specific franchises. Star Tours and the Indiana Jones rides are some of my favourite attractions in Disney, you can tell they care about and realise the importance of these films and characters.

I’m sure that we can look forward to a Star Wars Land, or even a whole Star Wars Theme Park in the future, and I for one can’t wait. As for the movies, I look forward to Episodes VII, VIII, IX and all the future movies have the potential to be excellent. Of course, they ould be awful, but then without the direction of Lucas, Star Wars gets a chance to breathe. I don’t happen to hate the prequels, I think that Revenge of the Sith is the best Star Wars movie, but I don’t think you can deny that Lucas can not direct actors. He is however a great ideas man. Give new Star Wars movies to the likes of Brad Bird, Del Toro, Spielberg or Peter Jackson, and I can’t wait to see the results.

All in all this is a very exciting time for fans of Star Wars, and I’m sure we can look forward to more and more epic announcements from Disney in the coming months and years, I have but one request, no fucking Jar-Jar.

WEDNESDAY WHIMSY

By @hmsbeefnuts

As soon as I found out that Raiders of the Lost Ark was being re-released, and in IMAX too, I knew I was going. It was simple. Raiders and JAWS, are my favourite films of all time, and having seen JAWS on the big screen earlier this year, there was no question that I was going to see Raiders the way it was meant to be seen. Although I have seen this film hundreds of times, it has been my favourite film since before I can remember, I have never seen it like this before, and it was so worth it. First released in 1981, the year I was born, Raiders of the Lost Ark is simply the greatest action movie ever made. There is no need for any other words on the matter… but indulge me anyway.

The IMAX, is in many ways, the perfect way to watch a movie. The sound is amazingly crisp and booming, the picture unparalleled and the overall experience in quite simply breathtaking. When you add one of the best movies ever made to the mix, you really have something very special indeed. As I said above, it was very much like seeing Raiders for the first time, and as such, it left a very great impression on me. I’m sure you have all seen the film, if you haven’t, what the hell are you doing reading this website? You know Harrison Ford is the coolest guy around when he’s Indy, I can think of very few castings that are this perfect, but Indy is Ford, Ford is Indy, he was never Han Solo when I was growing up, he was always Dr Jones, Han Solo didn’t sit quite right with me. What was Indy doing in space? Now I know Star Wars came before Indy, but not for me, I saw Indy first, that’s just the way it went. Raiders is the perfect melding of genius idea (thanks George Lucas), perfect casting, and a director who at the time could do no wrong. The film is a monument to the magic of the movies, and is in my opinion the finest 2 hours of escapism ever committed to celluloid.

The film never lets up. From a barnstorming opening, and lets face it, probably the best opening scene in any film ever, the film simply never slows down. The opening scene alone ramps up the danger, excitement and tension to 11, and then turns it to 12 just for the hell of it. Ford plays Indy as a cocky asshole at times, but whenever he gets a bit to cocksure, a huge boulder or a tribe of Indians bring him right back to earth. The whole opening is a work of art, and should be studied at film schools, and normal schools, by everyone everywhere, because it is just that perfect. It made archaeology the coolest profession on earth, and is mostly responsible, along with Jason and the Argonauts, for my love and degree in Ancient History. I was soon to learn however that studying archaeology was not quite as sexy and exciting as the adventures of Dr. Henry Jones Jnr. and you were far more likely to discover an old bit of pottery than you were to dodge traps, escape Nazi’s and cop off with Marion Ravenwood.

Lets talk about Marion Ravenwood for a bit shall we? Now in my opinion, she is not the most attractive Indy girl, that honour goes to the nefarious Dr. Elsa Schneider from Last Crusade. However, Marion is clearly the sexiest Indy girl, what can I say, I’m a sucker for a woman with a strong personality who can kick ass and take care of herself. Marion is a perfect foil for Indy, and I must say that even though The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull was shit, it was cool to see these guys finally get it together at the end. There are so many things that are great about Raiders, the little things can get easily forgotten. The monkey doing a Nazi Salute, the improvised shooting, the wonderful score by John Williams, the perfect McGuffin, the most evil of baddies, the whip, the hat, the truck chase.

Oh the truck chase. An ode to the stunt work done in Stagecoach, the truck chase is a peerless stunt spectacle, it is truly the best stunt work I have ever seen, and it was all done for real. I love Ford playing Indy in an almost spiteful way, his punishing the nazi soldier by doing to him, what the soldier did to Indy, just perfect. It shows Indy as a rough and tumble adventurer, very much ‘making it up’ as he goes along.

Have I made it clear how much I love this film yet? Good. I’m glad. If you haven’t seen it. GO SEE IT IN IMAX. If you have seen it. GO SEE IT IN IMAX. You will not regret it. Promise. See you next week.

My Top 30 Favourite Movies: Part 2

By Geeky Gem

Some of you have caught part one of epic list through My Top 20 Movies, now I forgot to mention that these are in no real order, more the how they popped into my head at the time I wrote them down. I’ve already bought 10 of them so shall we move on to the other 10. I hope you sitting comfortably.

Jurassic Park

 

When I was little there where many things I wanted to be when I grew up, one of them was a paleontologists. Dinosaurs were a big deal to me and I collected all sorts of dinosaur toys, books and everything else. So when this movie came out I begged my dad to take me to see it, I loved it. I don’t think I need to say any more.

 

Beauty and the Beast

Ok so this is the first Disney movie of my list. I love this movie, it’s funny and dark all the same time. I love the story it’s timeless and the songs are fantastic. All I ever wanted was the giant library that Beast shows to Belle, I can’t help it I would love that.

Mulan

In the second of my Disney movies on this list I went for Mulan. I love this movie again for similar reasons to way I love Beauty and the Beast, the story is simple and songs are good. The one thing I love more about this movie is Ming Na who plays Mulan she is brilliant.

 

Taxi

Before Hollywood got their hands on this movie and cast Queen Latifah and Jimmy Fallon in the unneeded re-make of this movie, there was Luc Besson. He had this fantastic idea of having a normal Taxi become a Super Taxi, this movie is funny but also packed with action, if you fancy a watch take note its subtitled as this movie is in French but so worth a watch.

Battle Royale

Yes I have added a few foreign language movies to my list, because other countries make movies to you know and this one is up there with the best of them. I love this movie I really do, the idea of the only way to even out the population of kids to adults is having one class a year battle to the death on live television is just brilliant. Great movie, if you like Hunger Games and Running Man you have to watch this, again its subtitled but dubbed versions are out there.

 

Clash of the Titans

Harryhausen had to make the list right? This is one of my favorite movies of his; the claymation to live action in this movie is fantastic and makes it timeless. If you haven’t seen it you really must, it’s great. Then you can see what Hollywood where trying to live up with its recent re-makes.

The Avengers

Yes I know this move only came out a few months ago, but I am not going to lie to you I loved it and I can’t wait to get my hands on that shiny Blu Ray. It was just everything I wanted it to be and more, so much so I watched twice in the cinema and would gladly gone a few more times to see it on the big screen. Brilliant!

Azumi

Who doesn’t like a good ninja movie? How about a ninja movie where one girl kills a shit load of bad guys in one fight? Sounding good isn’t it? It’s a brilliant move with the right mix of bloody and story. Any it’s a Japanese movie with subtitles but I am sure if you can’t do that there are dubbed ones out for you.

 

The Fifth Element

Luc Besson makes the list for a second time, purely because this movie is awesome. I know I have said that about nearly every movie on this list and to me it’s true. This is a simple story about one man’s mission to save the girl he loves as she saves the planet from alien destruction. Oh and stuff blows up.

Indiana Jones

I had to have Dr. Jones on my list, this guy is the reason I wanted to study history even though I wasn’t very good at it. These movies are great to watch and I can do so over and over again, I just don’t look directly at Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

There we have it, part 2 of my top 30 movies, until I bring you another 10. For now I must bid you farewell I have movies to watch.

MY BIGGEST CINEMATIC DISAPOINTMENTS

BY @hmsbeefnuts

I don’t know about you, but I can usually find something to like in most things. I can forgive little things here and there in films, justifying that, maybe I wouldn’t have done it that way, but as a whole, the film was watch-able. There are not many films that I walk away from filled with hatred and disgust. There are a few though. As I go to the cinema weekly, I get to see a lot of films, but these next films, well, they are the worst (or best) examples of disappointments that I have experienced in a theatre. Most of these are for personal reasons, but all left me gutted as I walked out of the screen, hatred and disgust, seeping out of every pore. Sounds pathetic? Well, it’s only because I care so much, that I allow myself to become so disappointed, and I’m sure we have all felt the same kind of thing at some point. So read on to find out what films I wanted to walk out of, what films I could barely keep from loudly booing. Let the hate commence.

ALEXANDER

Alexander the Great is my favourite bloke in all of history. I studied him at university, he is a personal hero of mine, he was the greatest general to have ever lived, never lost a battle, was a legendary hero in a very real world. To say I was looking forward to this is an understatement the size of the Macedonian Empire. I sat there waiting to be wowed by the tails of my favourite ancient hero, and within twenty minutes, I wanted to run away and hide. I just hated it, I don’t know whether it was the editing, the rushed nature of the battle scenes, the Irish accents that the Macedonians had, or all of the above and more. I just knew that I was watching a film about this great man, and it was sullying his good name, at least in my eyes. I walked out of the film in a stinking mood, perhaps I was too close to the subject matter, that I had a vision in my head of an Alexander the Great Film, and this was certainly not it. I have subsequently watched the Directors Cut, and it is much better, but it can’t quite wash the sour taste out of my mouth of the film I saw at the cinema. There is a great Alexander film to be made, and one day I will see it, hopefully.

SPIDER-MAN 3

The amount I was looking forward to a third Spider-Man film was incalculable by mere words. I had loved Spider-Man 1 & 2, they were awesome films, bringing the seemingly impossible to the screen. My brother, a huge Spidey fan, my best friend and I went to the first showing, buzzing with excitement, and very much looking forward to seeing Venom on screen. Things were OK for about an hour, and then, well, it all fell apart in front of our eyes. Topher Grace was never going to be a good Eddie Brock, or a good anything, in anything, but I didn’t hate him at first, that was to change quickly. Venom was botched, Sandman was ret-conned to be the man who killed Uncle Ben, Peter Parker had become a walking, dancing ‘dig on this’ emo nightmare. The film was rushed, too crowded and just not up to the high standards of the first two. All three of us walked out of the cinema with a heavy heart, it had destroyed us to hate a Spider-Man film. That wasn’t supposed to happen, we were supposed to be elated, talking about our favourite parts, reliving the good bits. Instead we made our way solemnly to the car and went home. I don’t think we even said more than ten words to each other.

CLASH OF THE TITANS

Harryhausen was my bread and butter growing up. I had watched the original Clash of the Titans so much when I was young, the tape broke. I don’t tend to think that remakes are necessarily a bad thing, and so when a new Clash was announced, my excitement level was high. What would modern day Harryhausens be able to conjure up on a computer and put on a cinema screen? 3D was a big factor, but I heard it wasn’t too good in the film, and so, opening weekend, I sat in a normal 2D screening, ready to be blown away…. Two films on, I’m still waiting. Clash was abhorrent. Sam ‘G’day mate’ Worthington, is not meant to play ancient heroes. The story was a pale comparison to the original, and the monsters were not half as exciting, or magical. I wanted to punch the person in front of me, just to release some hatred, but instead, it slowly built over two hours until it was at a fever pitch. I left as soon as the credits rolled, I had to be out of there, I couldn’t stand it any more. Having not seen it since, I can’t really remember what I hated so much about it now, and believe me, I don’t fancy re watching it in order to remind myself. I just know I hated almost every second of it, and hated the preceding second twice as much as the previous. I still went to watch Wrath of the Titans, and I was slightly less disappointed by the sequel, but only by an amount that could be measured by a super powerful calculator.

HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF BLOOD PRINCE

I was initially sceptical about the whole Harry Potter phenomenon. I didn’t want to watch a ‘baby’ film, and Lord Of The Rings was so much better. I soon changed my mind when a girl dragged me to see the first Harry Potter. Although LOTR was superior, I loved Harry Potter, and was at all the opening day screenings of all the films from then on, and of course, devoured the books. It was all going so swimmingly, until Half Blood Prince. I was so bored during this film, I fell asleep, twice. I don’t understand what went wrong. The scene that was most important to the story was botched beyond all recognition (clue: it involved the death of a beloved character), and the film was quite simply, depressing. Thins didn’t get much better in the next film either, but kicked it up about 20 gears for the final film. Admittedly, the book is a bit of a chore too, but I just didn’t connect with this film. Walking out of it, I was majorly disappointed, to a degree I never expected from the Harry Potter franchise. I guess it’s not the worst film ever made, but high expectations can lead to crushing failures. I expected too much perhaps, and was served something less than spectacular. I didn’t enjoy this film at all, and I so wanted to, so very much.

INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL

Raiders of the Lost Ark is in my top 2 favourite movies. I love Temple of Doom, and Last Crusade is really good. When Crystal Skull was announced, I’ll admit, I was excited, I felt no apprehension at all, perhaps foolishly, but I trusted Spielberg and Ford, not so much Lucas, to keep up to the series high standards. I also like Shia Lebeuf, and the return of Marion sounded like a good send off to the series. WOW. Was I wrong. As I sat there with a group of friends, at a midnight screening, all my joy and hope seemed to be draining out of me. Ford looked old, the plot was shit, Shia Lebeuf doing a King of the Monkeys impression. The fridge getting nuked, the god-damn gophers, and stupid fucking Aliens. I tried to put a brave face on it. It wasn’t that bad was it? Was it? Yes, it was terrible, awful, a disgrace. Luckily, there are three awesome Indy films, and the fourth never needs to be watched or talked about in polite conversation. Usually I’d be all for a new Indy adventure, but maybe they need to leave him alone, Indy doesn’t need to be dug up again, he belongs in a museum, with the other works of art. I was slightly depressed for a few days after watching Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, I’m over it now of course, but I don”t wish to repeat that experience again.