Welshrogue

The fourth in the Terminator series, but the first to show the world after Judgement Day. John Conner and the resistance are struggling to fight the machines as the war rages on. There is no end in sight and the machines keep making new models. Could humans really be defeated?

This movie feels like a combination of several different types of media, Movies – Mad Max, TV Shows – Battlestar Galactica, Books – War Of The Worlds.  It seems to take a little from each and make something different out of it.

Christian Bale is John Conner, or at least John Conner pretending to be Christian Bale. I found it hard to discern between Conner and previous Bale roles such as Batman, same voice, same man of action. I wonder how Batman would fare against the machines? Same Worthington is excellent as Marcus Wright although at times he reminded me of Helo from BSG. I have to admit it, Moon Bloodgood is stunning, even shot, covered in blood and dirt, she really is the real deal! Look forward to seeing her in many more movies! Anton Yelchin is just as good but no where near as stunning. Considering the last time we say Mr Yelchin (who looks about 10) on the screen he was having problems saying Vulcan on Star Trek, I never once confused him with Kyle Reese!

There is lots of actions, multiple explosions, enough to satisfy any Michael Bay fan anyway! Sometimes the shaky cam spoils the fight scenes but overall some excellent cinematography. Good special effects although I found a couple that were on Marcus Wright just made me think of The Dark Knight, you’ll know what I am talking about when you see them.

What I did find irritating and downright annoying more than once was the apparent need to reference the previous movies either by the classic lines of “Come with me if you want to live” and “I’ll be back” to the use of a Guns and Roses song which also featured in Terminator 2. They took you out of the movie and spoiled the moment several times. There was no need to do this other than to humour fans of the previous movie.

I had seen a lot of reviews that were pretty negative about the movie and hoped that it would be better than that. It was, but it wasn’t perfect by any means. Its an OK movie with a hollywood ending that spoils things a bit by being obvious. If violent machine vs human is your thing, pass the popcorn!

Reboot of the series of movies based on the television series. Seriously, if you don’t know what Star Trek is, how are you using the internet?

The plot is almost secondary to what you see on the screen. The plot tells the story of how the crew of the Enterprise meet, get together and etc. etc. etc. What you get though is faithful reproductions of well loved characters by new actors who have breathed new life into the roles and made the reboot something special to behold. From the start, the visual look is set with lots and lots of lens flares which are OK for a while but then become a little annoying after a while. It also introduces fast camera whips for any physical action which while it may be the current trend among film-makers, does tend to spoil the view of what is happening action wise.

The cast are so well picked that just watching them on screen is like re-living old episodes of Star Trek in HD. It is that good. Chris Pine as Kirk isn’t what we know and love to be at first. Rather you get to watch as he becomes the man, the legend, yes, he becomes William Shatner without the bad acting! Zachary Quinto looks like, and acts like Leonard Nimoy. It isn’t just the ears, its how he walks, talks, everything!! Of the other cast, several stand out but special mention must be made for Karl Urban and Simon Pegg who inherit the roles of Bones and Scotty respectively and continue them with more than a nod towards James Doohan and DeForest Kelley. Seriously, these guys were born for these roles.

There is so much well placed humour, never taking away from the action but keeping the dialogue going, with more than a few well placed ‘classic’ lines from the TV show. For a movie that is listed as 126 minutes, I could have sat there for another hour basking in the wonder of it all.

I am a self confessed geek, I love all things sci fi, I get sci fi humour but this movie is more than just a remake of a classic movie based on a classic television show. It is a really good movie by itself that stands alone if you are not acquainted with the long history of Star Trek, although if you aren’t acquainted with the show, do you even know what moving pictures are?

If this could be made into a television series with this cast, you would have a sure fire hit on your hands. As it is, hopefully there will be first a DVD packed to the gills with extras, out-takes and more and then a sequel or five movies.

After the flop and fail of The Day The Earth Stood Still remake, it truly is a glorious thing to have a remake, or reboot, that shines, stands up to the original and is going to make new fans for the old show! Did I mention I loved it?

In 1984 Miami Vice appeared on our TV screens. Pastel coloured suits and fast cars, gun battles and fast boats, drug runners and fast women. It wasn’t like anything I had ever seen before, it was vastly different from Hill Street Blues, Starsky and Hutch, and all those other cop shows that had come before. Yes, it was a buddy show, but it also had a good
supporting cast. Yes, it had Ferraris but at the time, I was probably more of a Lambo fan. I did have the poster of the white Countach on my bedroom wall.

Two things made Miami Vice stand out to me. One was how it looked, and that was thanks to Michael Mann. The other was the music, original music by Jan Hammer, and the various songs that would be used during the show, often in place of dialogue.

The look of the show was different. At the time I had no idea at all about Miami, probably including where it was. After all I was only 14 when I first saw the show and living in the damp cold of Wales! Miami is a striking place to look at. Art deco gone slightly insane! The buildings themselves are fantastic to look at with the varied designs and colours. What caught my eye was how it was filmed, often at night and how everything looked right. Lots of night shots made the show more real to my mind than one where you just see daylight during an episode.

Most people can recall the moment during the pilot episode where Crockett and Tubbs are driving through Miami at night. This moment is special for two reasons, one of which I will mention in a minute. Long shots over the hood of the car, close ups of a back wheel, and in car shots all work wonderfully. Who hasn’t driven at night though a city that seems deserted? If you are driving a normally busy place and there are few if any other vehicles around, it does feel different. Especially at night, when its warm. There is no other feel.

Car chases were common place in Miami Vice, and quite rightly to my mind because where else would they happen? I couldn’t imagine a car chase down the main streets of Cardiff, Wales. It had to happen in the US and Miami Vice represented a large part of my knowledge about the US at that time. I knew that Hill Street Blues was in a busy city but didn’t seem to have that many chases. Starsky and Hutch did but even then, they didn’t excite my boyhood senses the way they did in Miami Vice.

Michael Mann who was the executive producer of the show, has since made a big screen version of Miami Vice and also Collateral, both bring up the feel of the Miami Vice show. Long shots at night, driving through cities. Perhaps its just me but the imagery of this stays with me for a long time.

The other part of Miami Vice that made such an impact on me was the music and perhaps the way the music was used. I was 14 years old, and without much knowledge of reality (some things have not changed) so I believed that this was how life should be. Music that suited the moment, and pop songs that I already knew, used in ways that increased my liking of them expediently. So much so that I made three mix tapes of music that I believed was suited perfectly to night time listening.

There were two parts to the music of Miami Vice, the first being the original music of Jan Hammer. Yes, most folk remember the theme tune to Miami Vice, the bombastic opening, the ‘keytar’ that Hammer used to play but to me, the best music was the moody music you would hear when there was very little dialogue and the music was being used to carry a moment or scene. I bought the Miami Vice album, and it had four Hammer tunes (can’t touch that!) of which, one was the theme tune and three were instrumentals
that had been used in episodes.
I should state right now that I love rock music, soul, especially Stax Volt, guitar instrumentals and even show tunes but I have a big love for synth music. Jan Hammer created music that to my inexperienced ear sounded a lot like Tangerine Dream. Moody, emotional, and yet often understated. In fairness I should point out that I also own the soundtrack for Risky Business which contains several Tangerine Dream tracks as well as the soundtrack to Thief which was created by Tangerine Dream. The movie Thief was also directed by Michael Mann! Coincidence or not?
But back to the Hammer. Different styles of music suited different episodes and Hammer created them all. A late night talk show feel, a Colombian feel, a haunting melody that seemed to hang in the air during a poignant moment. It all fitted into the bigger picture of Miami Vice and helped it be something special. I also bought Escape From Television, Jan Hammers album filled with tracks for Miami Vice and still enjoy listening to it. The style of music resonates with me, so much so that I believe it was Jan Hammers music that first pointed me in the direction of trying to create music. I have several guitars that I can played badly but I record most of my music with a large keyboard connected to a computer.

The other part of the Miami Vice music was songs by artists I had heard of. Earlier I had mentioned that classic scene of Crockett and Tubbs driving at night. One of the reasons why this scene is so memorable is that there is barely any dialogue, but there is Phil Collins ‘In The Air Tonight’ being played, filling in with the emotions and atmosphere. With
the actors looking serious, and images of the car driving though the city, it was utterly perfect use of a song that I had liked at the time but not to any great extent. In fact, other than this scene the only time I can really remember being in love with this song is for the Cadbury’s commercial where there is a Gorilla playing drums to this song.

Several artists had guest roles in the show, often coinciding with one of their songs appearing in the episode. It seemed to be a bit of a pay off but I don’t remember ever watching an episode and feeling that a song didn’t fit into place and do the job I felt it had been written for. Often a song that I was already aware of, would be used in an episode and I
would appreciate the song more than before because of how it had been used. In a way, it felt as if these songs were being explained by their use in the show.

I can spend years without watching an episode or even thinking about it, but every now and again, I remember, and I smile. Miami Vice still inspires me to create music, listen to music and to wear pastel suits, no socks and drive around at night with sunglasses on. Ok, maybe only two out of three then!