Raptor Gets Saved

This is a little post viewing of Terminator 4: Salvation but I’m lazy, so sue me. So let’s beggin, does it have the deepest plot ever? No. Does it make you reflect on your life and change it for the better? Not really. Does it throw crazy SFX, action and thrills at you? Bloody hell yes. T4 Salvation was directed by McG who I’d never really heard of and from the looks of his imdb.com page hasn’t really done anything that’s interested me before hand…till now. Firstly I have to say that going into this movie I was expecting an action movie and it meet those expectations. Was it comparable to T1 and T2 and yes even T3. Absolutely and it delivered on exactly what was required, humans fighting robots and cyborgs on a grander scale with an “enemy within” story line. McG has done a great job at delivering a pop corn munching rata tat tat action that pretty much doesn’t let up.

Gavor has a man crush for Christian Bale. It's true he does. (Ed: No I don't)

Christian Bale as John Connor is great as usual, although he did lay the old gruff manly voice on a little thick. How many packs a day dude? His roles are always believable and I can’t fault him here. Sam Worthington is Marcus Wright who, in all reality, is playing the Arnie Terminator role but with emotions. Besides a few missteps with his accent he played quite the sympathetic anti hero and he kicked ass too which gives him a two thumbs up and whack across the head with a black rubber device. These two characters’ story lines crash together in the middle of this movie in mistrust and hatred but you know they will make it in the end by taking our the main Skynet facility together. Awww that’s nice. The other concurrent story line involves finding and saving a young and Idealistic Kyle Reese from T1, played by Anton Yelchin. Save Reese Save the world. Oh there is also Bryce Dallas Howard who plays Kate Conner, she doesn’t show up or do much and Moon Bloodgood as Marcuse’s romantic interest Blair Williams the super hot fighter jet pilot..super hot. Got it? Good.

The SFX were awesome. Giant robots Gatherers. Tick. Hunter killer motorbikes. Tick. T-600 and T800. Tick….WAIT! What the fuck did you say? T-800s? But that’s Arnie. He’s the governor of some meaningless state some where in a small backwater country called America. He can’t be in it. Yeah and nah. He isn’t in it but his image is in it and a pretty good job they did of it too mainly due to the Terminators not needing to show much emotion it wasn’t too much a CGI development stretch her but I did giggle excitedly when he appeared though. Shut up! Or I’ll kill you all!...ok calm now.

That's not a giant robot! That's my mother!

So let’s sum up. A great action movie with super SFX and serviceable plot that isn’t Shakespeare, which I give 8/10. Mostly due to the giant robot. Man it was big….Don’t look at me!!

Outlander Gets Nordic Spice

Just this week I watched a movie that, for some reason, went under the radar of and didn’t make much of and impact on the movie scene even though it was a pretty good wathch. “What the Hell are you talking about Raptor” I hear you say. I’m talking about Outlander staring James Caviezel, yes Jesus himself, kicking alien but. John Hurt brings some class as the King and Ron Pearlman also makes a great appearance as the neighbouring leader Gunnar.

Do these furs make me look fat?

The brief synopsis of this movie goes something like this: Caviezel ship crash lands on Earth circa 700AD after a nasty alien creature called a Moorwen gets on his ship. Then the nasty creature does what all nasty aliens to best and goes on a killing rampage. Caviezel then teams up with some Vikings to slay the nasty “dragon”. Along the way are a few surprises and it develops in an almost Grendal like tale.

You want disco? You've got disco!

The real start of this movie though is the alien. It a beautifully visualized CGI creature incorporating light and shadow and while a most creatures loose something when the creature is revealed you definitely don’t get that here. It’s a vicious bastard but by the end, as the story develops you kind of feel some sympathy for it and anger towards Caviezel race

Awww he's so cute when he's OHGODHE'SEATINGMYSPLEEN!

As far as man vs monsters go this movie did a pretty good job, while probably not an orgional story I found there was a lot to like about Outlander and with a strong performance by the cast sealing it for me. So in the end I give Outlander a solid 7/10. Good job, stay away from the night lights.

Jack Brooks Slays Raptor

Jack Brooks is a plumber. Jack Brooks has girlfriend problems. Jack brooks has anger management issues. Jacks Brooks kills monsters.

Does this remind anyone of National Lampoon's Vacation?

Let’s just say I love monster movies. Monster movies make me giggle like a school girl hanging upside down from some monkey bars showing her frilly panties for the boys. This was one of those fun, popcorn in your mouth monster movies. Kudos to the director and part writer Jon Knautz in keeping this a fun romp in the monster park. Have I used “monster” enough in this post enough? Never!

Let’s talk about Jack Brooks, played by Trevor Matthews to a T. When I say he has anger management issues, he has anger management issues even with his anger management. This all stems from seeing his family killed by some troll creature in the forest at a young age. This of course and the fact that he is a plumber means that he is fully equipped to deal with all kinds of nasties in and out of a toilet bowel. Trevor Matthews has made this character quite memorable in the vain of Ash of Evil Dead or Jack Burton of Big Trouble in Little China. I’m looking forward to a lot more of his roles in the future.

The next important cast member is Robert Englund, yes that’s right, Mother Fucking Freddy Yo. He plays Jack Brooks night class professor who happens to come across an ancient and evil heart in his back yard, as you do. After eating said heart he under goes quite the amusing transformation into, lets just say, a Ewwww. Yeah let’s say he transforms into an Ewwww. Mayhem ensues and the scene is set for Jack to save the day and get the girl….SPOILER: He gets the girl. Duuuh.

He gets the the girl, Ashley Bryant

 Now the SFX in Jack Brooks were al practical, which I don’t have a problem with here, and considering the low budget, done pretty well although at times a few extra dollars might have helped here and there.

Anyway, in the end I really enjoyed this one and recommend it to any monster aficionado. I give it a solid 8/10 and bring in Jack Brooks 2: Revenge of the Blockage.