For Pete’s Sake

Well as you can probably tell I’ve started writing reviews, mostly, ok all so far, of movies. Those that know me or have ever been to our house know I have and watch a lot. So far my collection is tipping 300 and figured I should do what I started to do on an older site I once had, review them. Now I won’t review all of them as some are TV box sets, but hopefully at some point, I’ll get them all reviewed.

So aside from that is there anything else going on in my life? Well yes, one thing in particular I’ll keep to myself, but other than that a not a lot has happened. My project is a little further on than it was an I’m a little happier with that know that I’ve at least started something and that’s really it. Boring I know, but right now there isn’t much going on. Maybe when I’m working and I get out of education more will happen. I would bore (and possible give you TMI) about my toe, but less to say it’s been looked into. It also means I’m taking some antibiotics so no alcohol for me, shame really but that’s life.

Other news though, United are still top of the league, so I’ve always got something to smile about.

Director: Todd Phillips
Year of Release: 2003
Genre: Comedy
Run Time: 92mins

When Mitch Martin (Luke Wilson) comes home early from a boring conference he finds that his girlfriend, Heidi (Juliette Lewis) is cheating on him. As he looks to rebuild his life his friends Frank & Beanie (Will Ferrell & Vince Vaughn) are there to help him out who are themselves are disenchanted with life. He finds a new house not far from the University where Mitch hopes to rebuild his life. What the didn’t expect was that the Dean of the University (Jeremy Piven) turns out to be a kid they picked on at school. He gleefully announces that the house Mitch just bought is now University property and they are to be evicted. So in a battle to keep the house Beanie turns Mitch’s new place into a fraternity and all hell breaks loose.

The movie is a particular favourite of mine. Although not on a par with some of my all time favourite comedies it is definitely a movie I can watch more than once. There are some wonderful one liners and gags that still make me laugh. I must also point out that while I’m not a fan of every movie Will Ferrell is in, he is very funny in this one. Luke Wilson is also very good in this movie but personally I feel Vince Vaughn steels the show on this one. The acting all round is pleasing for a modern comedy where it’s more visual than quick whit.

There isn’t really much of a story, it’s more of a journey through a month of Mitch’s life. In this month he manages to find himself and reboot his life but not in the way he was thinking and I like that. Rather than try and be complex and funny it just goes for the simple stuff which works well. It doesn’t try to be something it isn’t and is very funny in doing so.

Rating:

Director: James Cameron
Year of Release: 1986
Genre: Action / Horror / Sci-Fi / Thriller
Run Time: 137min (Theatrical) / 154min (Director’s Cut)

Seven years after the release of the original Alien film director James Cameron, who had just started making a name for himself, directed a sequal to what some consider to be one of the best Sci-Fi movies ever. Hoping to break to mold of sequals being inferior to the original, this 2hr plus movie hoped to take you on one helluva ride.

I re-watched this movie today to see if it still kicked ass and the jury is in and they say it’s still one of the best. When I sat down and watched it I was still at awe with the movie. Yes the special effects are ropey by todays standards but when a movie is over twenty years old you expect that. Even so, there are only a few bits and pieces of the SFX which are dodgy, the rest are still jaw-dropping, the Alien Queen being a case in point. The fist fight between the loader and the Queen at the end, it all still looks fresh to me. The bad points though are the shots of the dropship flying and perhaps the final explosion but they are only on screen briefly and can hardly tarnish the movie.

So what of the story? Well, we pick up 57 years after the events of the original movie. Ripley’s (Sigourney Weaver) escape pod she used to escape from the aliens in the original Alien movie is found by a deep salvage team and is rescued. Here she learns how long she’s been out there and that her daughter who was 10 when she left, died two years previously. With this news Ripley is put infront of a disciplinary board who refuse to believe the story of how and why she destroyed the Nostromo. Not only that but colonists are currently terraforming LV-426 (the planet the Nostromo set down on). It’s only a matter of time and not long after these events contact is lost with the colony on LV-426. Carter Burke (Paul Reiser) asks Ripley to join him and a team of Colonial Marines on a mission to find out what has happened to the colonists. After much thought Ripley decides to tag along.

The movie is a tense one. Even though I knew exactly what happens and when, it still made me jump at the right points. This is a testament to the films score and Cameron’s directing. The tension is built up beautifully and when the moment comes a quick crash from the music just makes your heart race. Visually, as mentioned earlier, it still makes you sit up and take notice. In a nutshell the movie is simply timeless. Even by todays standard of special effects it can hold its own against many modern offerings. What it can also do is show how movies of this genre should be made and oh how I wished Aliens versus Predator would have followed this mould.

Overall this movie is still a fantastic watch but if you are going to rent/buy make sure it’s the director’s cut. This version adds some key scenes to the movie which really help tell the story properly. Definately a top 100 movie of all time.

Rating:

I’ve not updated in quite a while have I? Well I’ll be brief as the biggest thing I’ve done since I last posted was going to Austria. However, what Catrin & I did on holiday, has been documented on it’s own site as part of a cool little idea we had of creating small sites per holiday which contain photos/blog/movies etc. You can find that site here.

Aside from that I’ve been panicking about my final year project and generally worriting. Hopefully once all is a little more settled I’ll get back into a groove more frequent blog posts.