We Need a Bigger Dinosaur...

Just back from Jurassic World... and I loved it! Ok, the plot is very similar to the first movie, with bits of the other two and even Aliens, but so what it is a summer popcorn movie and good fun.

Based on the trailer a lot of people criticised the "sexist" nature of the film, which is complete nonsense as Bryce Dallas Howard's character develops through the film (unlike Chris Pratt who is what you see is what you get character throughout). A number of things in the trailer, like the trained 'raptors, make a lot more sense in the context of the film as a whole and are not as straight forward as you may think.

Overall, if you liked the first one and like dinosaurs, well worth seeing on the big screen and yep, it's given me some more Tusk ideas...

Mad Max Fury Road

Just back from the watching Mad Max Fury Road at the cinema - wow! A shed load of fun and hugely entertaining, well worth watching on the big screen if action movies are your thing.

Of course I now want to make loads of Mad Max vehicles and that Devil's Run: Route 666 Kickstarter is still open. Ummm...

Trolljegeren

Clearing stuff off the old Sky+ box I came across the Norwegian film Trolljegeren (Troll Hunter) that I recorded last year but hadn't got around to watching yet, so with SWMBO out I did.

Filmed, Blair Witch Style, as a mockumentary with hand held "discovered" camera footage, it tells the story of a group of Norwegian film students who find the bear poacher they have tracked down is actually a secret government sanctioned troll hunter.

Whilst the effects are a bit low budget in parts, it is a hugely entertaining film and well worth watching. As the group encounter various different trolls throughout Norway I couldn't help thinking what a great game this would make!

Avengers: Age of Ultron

I managed to see Avengers: Age of Ultron at the cinema today. I'd done a pretty good job avoiding spoilers so had no real idea of what it was about plot wise and, contrary to much of what I was hearing, I found it as good as the first and hugely entertaining. The opening sequence of an Avengers attack on a Hydra base was amazing and gave me lots of ideas for superhero wargaming.

Overall, well worth seeing and another Marvel film that reinforces the need for Black Widow to have her own standalone film!

Batman: Dawn of Justice

Well I needed a bit of inspiration to get on and finish my Penguin miniature...

The Force Awakens...

My inner twelve year old is very, very excited at the moment and probably won't be able to sleep tonight...

The Battle of Sevastopol

I came across the trailer for an interesting looking new Russian/Ukranian film called The Battle of Sevastopol that is due for release this spring. The film is a biopic based on the life of the famous female Soviet sniper Lyudmila Pavlichenk who fought in Odessa and at Sebastopol.

The trailer looks similar to other war films coming out of Eastern European cinema in recent years, but the subject matter should be interesting...

All Hail Our Robot Overlords!

I caught the trailer for a new British SF film that, despite starring Ben Kingsley and Gillian Anderson, appears aimed at the Hunger Games market, but is only of a b-movie standard.

Despite that, I must say that I did start thinking about getting a set of the EM-4 plastic robots when watchg them stomp over the screen! 

Number 22 is Alive!

I went to the cinema today to see Neill Blomkamp's latest film CHAPPiE. Inspired by his excellent short Tetra Vaal, CHAPPiE has received a mixed bag of reviews, but I thought it a decent enough film, something of a cross between Robocop and Short Circuit, and certainly worth going to see on the big screen.

SF and near future gamers will enjoy the action sequences, especially the police raid on the gang compound near the start of the film which would make for a great tabletop game. Miniatures wise I'm not sure of the Victory Force SAYTRS are still available, but they would clearly fit the bill...

The Dark Knight Returns

Son and heir popped home from Uni today, not sure if it was to see us or catch up with The Walking Dead! When SWMBO fell asleep in front of the TV I dug out the two The Dark Knight Returns DVD's, an animated movie version of the excellent Frank Miller graphic novel of my youth.

I must say that I was really impressed (as I usually am with WB animated films) and they have done an excellent job of recreating Miller's superb tale. If you have any interest in Batman games, this is well worth watching with lots of scenario ideas. Son and heir, who has not read the comic book, was impressed too...

"We're Safe Here, Right?"

Universal have released a new trailer for Jurassic World. I think I am getting my head around the concept of trained raptors...

Admiral

I watched the 2008 Russian biopic movie Admiral today, a somewhat embellished story of the life of Russian Admiral Alexander Kolchak, who during the Russian Civil War became supreme commander of the White forces.

Not Oscar material, but not too bad and slightly better than the usual Russian fare, the war scenes were somewhat limited (after a promising start) but by and large were well handled, so I snapped a few screen grabs.

If you are interested in the Russian Civil War it is worth watching, but if not probably less so...

The Hobbit - One Outta Three Ain't Bad!

Meat Loaf may have sung "Two Outta Three Ain't Bad", sadly Peter Jackson didn't manage that. I went to see The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies and was hopeful given the fact that the second movie was better than the first, surely Jackson couldn't cock up a huge battle?

To be fair there are some really good bits, Martin Freeman as Bilbo and Richard Armitage as Thorin are excellent and it is a shame that they don't get more screen time, especially Freeman who the film is supposed to be about!

What spoilt it for me was Legolas, not his unnecessary inclusion, but the way the CGI version of the character scoots around the battle scenes in absurd ridiculous ways that reminded me of Spiderman without the webshooter! I physically cringed on two occasions!

It was this (and the irritating Alfred character from Laketown) that made me click what Jackson had done wrong. Tolkien wrote his stories as historical events in a mythical land and whilst they are fantasy, they don't have characters acting like super-heroes doing comic book things. Looking at how HBO have filmed Game of Thrones, despite the fantastic elements such as the dragons and white walkers, they treat it like a historical drama.

Jackson has elements of this, the survivors from Laketown scene is potentially powerful drama but he ruins it with cheap comedy moments. The fall of Thorin to dragon-gold sickness is excellently portrayed by Armitage, but there is not enough of this. The fighting in Dale and the heroic choice of the Laketown women to die with the men is ruined by the Monty Python act by Alfred...

Some people will like it, like the jokes, like Legolas catching rides with bats and running up crumbling masonry but I didn't. Tolkien should best be treated as drama and not popcorn action mixed with sub-Python comedy...

A World Gone Mad (Max)

Warner Bros posted the trailer for the forthcoming Mad Max: Fury Road and it looks like it will be a lot of post-apocalyptic fun! No doubt we'll be dusting off those old copies of Dark Future or Car Wars next year!

Attack on Leningrad

I watched Attack on Leningrad today, a Russian film set during the 800 odd day siege. Despite a cast including Gabriel Byrne, it was badly acted, badly scripted and had a ridiculous opening battle scene where the Soviets and Germans charge into no mans hand to engage in hand to hand combat rather than shoot each other...

However, despite being pretty poor fare it did have some great imagery, and was very atmospheric, capturing the plight faced by the civilians very well. On one side the German high command are seen waging a war on calorific intake (starving the defenders) from their plush HQ, on the other Soviet children are licking the wallpaper for the flour paste that had been used to hang it.

One of the two main characters is a police officer and from a gaming point if view could easily be included in a militia unit through a simple paint job (black uniform with light blue tabs). This has got me thinking about extending my Winter War project (when I eventually get the miniatures) to include a 1941 Leningrad offshoot, using the BTD Germans in greatcoats I bought earlier in the year - it'll give me an excuse to buy some of the Crusader winter Soviets!

So, whilst not a brilliant film, it may be the spark to something new on the miniatures front next year...

He'll Be Back!

I'm sure it's the music that gets me all excited! :-)

Phoenix 9

Progress on the painting front has been somewhat slow this week, but the Norts and Kriegsmarine are coming along. I came across this interesting short post-acopalypse SF movie which has some decent effects for a short...

The Battle of the Five Armies Trailer

The main trailer for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies has been released. Not too much that I cringed at, we'll find out in a little over a month how good it is...

War Never Ends Quietly...

I went to see Fury today. Unless you have been living on Mars for the last year, you will know this is Brad Pitt's latest film based on the experiences of an M4A3E8 crew in the last month of the war, the geek factor enhanced by the use of Bovington's Tiger I in the movie.

Overall I really enjoyed it. The grubby campaign look of the Americans and Germans was excellent, the "gypsy caravan" look of late war American vehicles well recreated. The story is, well a bit Hollywood, but we don't go to the cinema for documentaries, we go for heroic stories.

If you take the storyline with a pinch of salt, most wargamers will find this an enjoyable film, the battle scenes are generally well done, the vehicles and uniforms accurate and it has a real-life Tiger in it!

E N V O Y

I came across a great looking sci-fi short on You Tube today. A proof of concept for a possible feature film, it looks pretty good with echoes of the Iron Giant, one of my favourite films...