It the franchise dead? Terminated.

Saw T4 the other day. Orange 2 for 1. Good Times. 2 for 1 pizza at Pizza Express afterwards, even better times.

So T4. Terminator Salvation. The second (full length) trailer was a masterpiece. Just watch it. Just it, no real need to bother with the film. The coolest moments are there, and the music (NIN) is better than (usually good) Danny Elfman’s score. I was looking forward to this film so much. Not that it sucked, but it defiantly did not rock.

Lets break it down.

FX and production design:
Generally good if not mind blowing, with a couple of really shoddy moments. The GC/Kickinger Arnold was good, very good really, though not quite right. Also pretty pointless, but we’ll get to that. I thought Marcus was done very well, Dave wasn’t quite convinced by the face (I was) but we both agreed the body was cool.

Production design wasn’t bad, liked the T-600s, didn’t like Skynet Central much, liked some of the destroyed cities, though it was a little been there done that. Just like the whole movie in fact.

Script (not story):
Average to poor. Almost no character moments, nothing hair on the back of the neck stirring or ominous, far too many recycled lines from the first two. I mean really, what for? T2 took some iconic lines for T1, that was OK, T3 tried using them again, and it didn’t work. What make the writers think this was OK? Oh wait, I know. Some idiot hired the same guys who wrote the third one. Sure Nolan may have touched it up (not enough to get a credit). Fucking producers.

Acting:
Depends who we are talking about. Christian Bale (Connor) is OK, he may have been good, but he didn’t have a good script to work with, no character building, no good leader speeches. Moon Goodblood and the other resistance soldiers, standard over or under acted post apocalyptic soldier mode all the way. Sam Worthington as Marcus Wright however, was good. Even well written at times (I know!). More on Marcus later. Oh and Anton was OK as Reese, with a better script could have really bought him in that role.

And so to the story:
Not that good. Was there one? Not really. Sort of. There is a great story buried in there, the story of Marcus, but it wasn’t given the space or the good writing to shine. I have heard an internet rumour that Connor was originally a really small role, it was all about Marcus who the producers (remember them?) wanted Bale to play, but he wanted to play John Conner, so that part was written bigger for him. This seems believable as he isn’t really needed in this story, and does not grow or really face any life altering challenges.

Marcus – the terminator story that should have been. A man (former murderer we presume) who finds out he is a terminator, coming to terms with it though friendship with a resistance fighter (Reese), who eventually gives his life to save another. That is a good idea. Too much Conner screen time, Moon Goodblood’s nothing character, that damn kid (kept expecting her to say: “They mostly come at night, Mostly”), and the pointless not really explained presence of the T-800 (Arnold) killed it. I’m an Arnold fan, and if there had been a real reason for the CG cameo, I would have been over the moon, but it felt so forced.

Directing:
Poor. Sure there were some cool shots, I liked the look of the film, but it just didn’t flow. It barely stayed afloat. MCG clearly failed to see the great story in Marcus, and allowed it to become buried. Maybe it wasn’t his fault, but it certainly wasn’t mine. Also the end sucked. Almost every shot and idea (and production design for that matter) was nicked from the first two. There is subtle homage, and there is rip off. This was the latter. Oh and the Serena spoon fed info explanations to Marcus at the end both shit and not needed.

So a movie that could have been awesome turned into a run of the mill (thought not actually that bad) post apocalyptic movie. I put it on a similar footing to Kurt Russell’s Soldier. OK it’s a little better. See it, don’t see it, whatever, can’t tell if I liked this or T3 better. Definitely liked the ending of T3 better.

They make some shit films sometimes.

Greetings Blogites.

Its been a while, but then there aren’t many of you, so why waste my time? Nothing else to do. Yes, indeed…

Seen a couple more flicks you’ll be glad to know. I’ll start with the one that was most shit. And it really was shit. Lost Boys II – The Tribe. Lost Boys, the classic vampire romp is OK, quite fun, but not a great movie. So as you can imagine I had high hopes for the over a decade later straight to DVD sequel featuring one member of the original cast. Corey something or the other, Feldman? Who decided to put on a Christian Bale voice for the part. Bale can barely get away with it, this guy cannot in any way.

This film truly blew. Lowest rate vampire movie. The only thing that didn’t suck were the actually production values. Nothing great, but it looks goo enough, no really shockingly bad effects or camera work. Don’t see this film. When watching it, my friends and I wondered and lamented about how such terrible ideas are given millions of dollars to realise as the turd pile they are, when so many good original ideas are passed on, because executives are too afraid to take a chance. It breaks your heart. D-

Then Red Eye was on TV. Wes Craven tries his hand at the physiological thriller fare. It has Cillian Murphy in it, and I had high hopes for him, liked him a LOT in Batman Begins. And to be fair, he was good in it. Far better than the material he was working with. The female lead who’s name escapes me started off OK and got worse, she wasn’t terrible, but Murphy out acted her at every step. This movie could have been a lot better I think, the basic idea was quite cool, if not revolutionary, but Wes had to turn the final act into the same one he’s done one hundred times – bad dude chases hot girl though house with a knife. Pity. The first half was enjoyable, good at times, then the ending brings it right down. And let’s not forget the terrible FX shot when the hotel room gets blown up. 1st ½ - C+, 2nd ½ - C-. So a C overall.

Which brings us to The Manchurian Candidate. That’s the new one, not the original one. I haven’t seen the original, so am judging the film on its own merits, not against the source material – book or film. The acting on the whole is of a very high standard, Meryl and her on screen son (Lee Evan I believe) sanding out in particular. The story was interesting and well written, if a little far fetched (hopefully!), and the only bits I really didn’t like were the parts of the flashbacks/dreams to the brainwashing when the soldiers were on beds with what looked like old style hair driers with lots of stilly tubes coming off them. I enjoyed this film, wouldn’t say it was a classic, but a solid B. Just watched the Bluray commentary. Maybe I misread the flashbacks, and they are not meant to be accurate portrayals of what happened. Which would make them less rubbish.

P.S. Trying to eat very clean right now. Its damn difficult. I slip so easily at night. So I have had to allow for that a little. I keep my breakfast and my lunch super clean. Big salads, skinless chicken breasts, mixed beans and pulses, brown rice, sweet potato, veg. Then have the tastier stuff in the evening when I crave it, oats and raisins, cereal, eggs, peanut butter. Going OK, staying around 74kg, and body fat looking quite low, though I haven’t measured recently. Am starting to get a little tired though, trying to do 25 mins of HIIT cardio 5 days a week, not always managing.

May need to cut down on my total sets though, 5 days a week takes its toll. It Scotland next week though, so will be a partial week off. Will try and do some stuff, abs and chest and jogging or something.