Welshrogue

A woman, traveling back to Boston for her sisters wedding bumps into a handsome man wearing sun glasses. He is on the same flight as her, they chat and then things start to get crazy!

Starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz, Knight and Day is this years Mr & Mrs Smith, albeit, without the tabloid speculation of romance on set. It is a fast paced, action packed movie that delivers fun, spills and more than its fair share of explosions. Set in various locations around the world, it does tend to rely on computer graphics a little too much and which did not seem to be state of the art in some instances.

In any Tom Cruise movie, height is often commented upon and Knight and Day should be no different. Although Ms Diaz is two inches taller, Mr Cruise appears taller than her during most of the movie, with the rest of the time approximately the same height. If they can insert Jabba the Hut into Star Wars, can’t they make Tom Cruise the same height all movie long?

Another thing, and this is perhaps more because of who I am but, if you are going to stage a car chase, and lets face it, all movies should have at least one if not more, try not to use SMART CAR ROADSTERS as the cars. Especially when the garage where the chase begins also contains a Ferrari 599 and what looked to be a Morgan. Seriously, its hard to believe any car chase where most of the cars are economic, cheap, and have a removable roof made of plastic and material!

Even though it isn’t difficult to pick faults in the movie, Knight and Day does its job very well. Its entertaining, fun, and puts a smile on your face. A good summer movie!

Do you take your science fiction with or without aliens? Do you need sexy green alien women to enjoy a good space romp or do you prefer to have your science fiction more human based?

In the movies you obviously have Star Wars and Star Trek firmly in the alien camp. After all, where would the two movie series be without Spock or Chewbacca? Other movies that are more alien orientated include the Aliens series, The Fifth Element, ET, Predator, The Thing and obviously Independence Day.

Those movie that are perhaps more human focused are headlined by Blade Runner but can also count the Matrix series, the Terminator series, Gattaca and Minority Report.

When you move to the small screen, TV shows such as the Star Trek shows and the original Battlestar Galactica relied on aliens to further the stories. On the other hand though, the remake of Battlestar Galactica and Firefly allowed the humans to dominate the plot without a hint of a man dressed up as an alien.

I think part of the problem of having aliens in a show, such as Babylon 5 or Star Trek, is that due to cost, filming schedule or even just the available technology, a man dressed up as an alien is a lot easier than trying to create something truly inhuman. Dr Who is a long time victim of this, especially when you watch some of the older episodes and see the Doctor running from a man dressed up in cardboard and silver paint.

I am not saying that aliens are not important for science fiction, especially when you consider that the X-Files was a earth based series that dealt with the possibility of aliens. Dr Who, while perhaps over using humanoid aliens, is still a must see show. Without the original Star Trek episodes, science fiction television today would be something vastly different to what we actually have. Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy would be a much shorter book/show/movie if there hadn’t been aliens.

I think it is obvious that for some movies, aliens are an essential part of the plot. Rather than just some hottie for the Captain to romance, movies such as Aliens, Independence Day, Starship Troopers, Invasion of the Body Snatchers and War of the Worlds are all movies that the aliens are integral parts of the story. Pitch Black is a movie, that without aliens, that would be long drawn out and rather boring. Men in Black would be move akin to Sex in the City if it hadn’t been for all the aliens living in New York.

If I had to rank my favourite science fiction movies, there would be a combination of with and without alien movies; Blade Runner, The Fifth Element, Aliens, Serenity. It would be a mix that balanced out around 50-50. If we turned to television however, the first two series, the remade Battlestar Galactica and Firefly would be alien free. Dr Who, Torchwood, UFO and Space 1999 would re-address the balance though and perhaps even tip the scales in favour of the aliens as I add Red Dwarf, Babylon 5 and the X files.

At the end of the day, I don’t think it really matters if you prefer aliens in your movies and television or not, as long as you enjoy the science fiction you are watching.

A team of soldiers, wrongfully convicted of a crime they didn’t commit, escape from prison to clear their names and catch the real bad guys………… .What, you never saw the show?

Yes. this is a movie of the TV show from the 80s, The A Team. A show that had car crashes, explosions, silly plots, and no one ever died. Well, the movie is kinda like that. People do die, but it would be hard to pull off without a death here or there!! The four leads, Liam Neeson as Hannibal, Bradley Cooper as Face, Quinton Rampage Jackson as BA and Sharlto Copley as Murdock are a lot of fun to watch. Rampage Jackson is a surprisingly good actor for a mixed martial artist, and Sharlto Copley, who was last seen turning into an alien in District 9, is perfect as a nutcase pilot.

A bonus is having Gerald McRaney in the movie, he of Simon and Simon and a million other shows. He is always great to watch and every time I see him, I remember how much I enjoyed Simon and Simon so double bonus!

The action is plentiful, the plot, while not Shakespeare, is most defiantly a plot and helps move things along from one explosion to another! The movie even explains why BA hates to fly. What more could you ask for?

Yes, this movie is a summer movie with more explosions than IQ points but as a summer movie, it really does work. Its a lot of fun to watch, its clever, pays respect to the TV show, and puts a smile on your face. That’s all anyone needs!