Movie: Terminator Salvation

The fourth Terminator film needs to find something new to keep the franchise alive after a generally lacklustre third outing.

The trailers for the film have, I think, been rather good - showing a post-apocolyptic vision of a shattered World and certainly the imagary in the film is one of the strong points with effective use of CGI against some stunning, bleak backdrops. But, visuals alone do not make a film.

I want to like this film and, in some ways, I do. It's a massive departure from the previous Terminator films, perhaps not surprisingly given the setting, however this was a good choice since rehashing the old ideas again would just be a disappointment.

Where the film struggles is in stitching together the plot. The first act is generally incoherent - moody, interesting but hard to follow - the characters are only realised to a basic level and the focus is on action and visuals rather than dialogue but the basic seeds of the story are sown. The second act starts to bring some interesting twists and character pieces into play. Bale is mediocre - being given little to work with but it is Worthington who shines with a well considered, sometime subtle edge to his character. There are some more teriffic CGI sequences and some development of the story - it isn't a strong second act but brings more than the first.

Finally, in the third act, the film finds itself. This, alone, saves it from being a meaningless disaster and manages to present an enjoyable climax - with a few caveats. This deliberatly draws on previous Terminator films and gives the audience what they really want (I shall say no more).

Overall this is one of those films which is enjoyable enough, but not great. Bale's character needed to be more central, stronger and less conflicted to pull this off and it's only in the climax that we see this. Wothington is good and engaging throughout and Bonham Carter makes a good, effective, appearance. This isn't your traditional Terminator film but it has plenty of action, lots of great visuals, some good CGI and, if you can wade through the first two acts, a satisfying and enjoyable climax.

7/10

Return of the Jedi

Today, I have finally finished Lego Star Wars on the Wii.

I started back in January, after receiving it for Christmas, so it's been a good 5 months of work and 150 hours of play to get to the end with 100.0% complete.

I've enjoyed it, on the whole, it's quite good with a nice bit of humour. Not quite as polished as Mario Galaxy with a few more bugs and annoying bits, but - with the exception of 1 particular level, which I think is just dreadful - generally a good mix of gameplay and plenty to keep you busy.

Zelda Twwlight Princess is next on the list.

Final Frontier

I still get a thrill from images like this.

It's strange but true that, unlike a great many people, I still find the whole space programme rather inspirational and compelling. It's a rare sight these days to see a Space Shuttle being transported like this (they prefer to land them back in Florida), and it does look rather old and clunky in many ways (it was designed nearly 40 years ago), but I think it reminds us of a more optimistic and idealistic time.

The Space Shuttle was born at the peak of the Space race, conceived during the golden Apollo years when everything seemed possible - after all getting to the moon had only taken 7 years. The reality was somewhat different - with NASA being pulled in different directions, budget cuts and persistent problems it was 10 years after Apollo when the Shuttle finally took flight.

The history of the Shuttle has, perhaps, not been flawless, but when you remember that until the dawn of the reusable spacecraft a very, very small number of people had been into orbit. At the end of 18 years of service, there are now a whole army of those who have left the Earth. Although the craft never became what NASA envisaged - never the cheap, reliable, day-to-day space transport, but its achievments are nevertheless, remarkable.

The Shuttle will be retired next year and it will be the end of an era. Not just the era of the shuttle itself, but the era of optimistic, idealistic spaceflight. It is the legacy of the Kennedy space race, a bold, ambitious move to make space more accessible and a fitting tribute to all those who laboured to let mankind take its first, small steps away from the planet. Despite being an outmoded, expensive and none-too-safe system, I, for one, feel sadness at the end of such an era. It remains to be seen if the ambitions of NASAs current flagship manned space programme, Constallation, will have the same ability to inspire and compel attention - based firmly, as it is, in the budget mentality. Time will tell, but time will also remember the Space Shuttle.

Movie: Star Trek

As a franchise, Star Trek has been in troubled times.

The last film was not well received, for a number of very valid reasons. The last TV series was cancelled after run of just 4 seasons, again, for a number of good reasons. Rumours of a new film had been circulating for a long time and the publicity machine has been winding itself into a frenzy over the new film. It's not really a make-or-break movie for the franchise, but it will determine if Trek goes dormant for another few years or is re-energised (pun intended) with life.

So with all the hype and publicity, the generally good reviews and a few personal recommendations, I went to see the film at the weekend. I was dubious that they would capture the essence of what I believe Trek is all about (the last film missed it by a mile), and I was doubtful that a gaggle of young actors could successfully step into the shoes of such well know and well loved characters.

As the film starts, it is obviously Star Trek, but the way it's photographed is rather new, rougher, more organic. The opening sequence grabs your attention and sets the quality and pace for the entire film.

Establishing the main characters is a thankfully swift sequence. We then start to meet other characters and there are jokes, both obvious and subtle, woven in to both the dialogue and situations. Much as I'd like to, I won't include any spoilers here, but if you've a passing familiarity with the previous films, there are some great things to look out for.

The second act brings us to the Enterprise and some wonderful performances, both serious an light hearted - the crew briefing was so ludicrous I just can't help chuckling, even now. The pace is perfect and the story is engaging and compelling, with enough action and character development to produce a well rounded film.

The cameo sequence works much better than I expected and Simon Pegg obviously had a fantastic time as Scotty.

The final act proceeds mostly as expected, not to say that it isn't thoroughly enjoyable. There is a little over-sentimentality at the end, perhaps, but it's quite well executed.

Overall the actors did a great job. Quinto was especially pleasing as the young Spock, with Urban also doing a fine version of McCoy. Pine had a tough job, as the central protagonist, to emulate Shatner's Kirk whilst not compromising the character, but he had just enough of the classic to make it work.

The film is not without its flaws - for me, mostly technical issues. I can understand those who take exception to these flaws, but the film works well overall, brining an immediacy and energy back to the series which has perhaps been lacking in recent outings. The pace is perfect, with plenty of action but also time for reflection, the effects work very well and the cinematography, although not the Trek norm, works well in the action settings. Basically, it's just good fun - an entertaining film which works well on it's own but even better as part of the long franchise. It deserves to be a success.

9/10

Time and busyness

A month has passed since my last post, so decided to provide a quick update of what has been going on.

Firstly, no advance on the job front - still have a number of things looking hopeful, but nothing at all concrete for now. It's starting to hack me off again. I've been for one more interview (maintaining my one-a-month rate) but it frankly wasn't a very good interview and they, once again, decided to change the job spec a couple of weeks later which made me unsuitable.

Secondly, I _am_ still doing my Prince 2 course, but it's ended up being far more work than I anticipated plus, I've been finding it difficult to make the time to actually do it (see below). I'm hoping to start spending some serious time on it again soon.

It has been a busy old time. It started with a telephone interview near the end of April, this resulted in me undertaking a programming project over the next week (which ended up taking 50 hours of work). It was fun and it was good to be doing something with a purpose again (albeit, unpaid). Regretably, half way through, I had a phone call to say they'd been put on recruitment freeze and so the job I was working toward didn't exist any more. I decided to finish the project anyway and send it in.

It's quite unusual to be given a full project to program, rather than just a programming test, but I rather liked it - although I'm glad not everyone does it because it takes a great deal of time to produce anything that gives a clue as to what you're capable of.

The following week was a bank holiday, so not only did I have to catch up with searches and applications which had been neglected the previous week, but I only had 4 days to do it.

This week's been mad with job applications, as well as my wedding anniversary and my wife's birthday. Between all these things there's been little time to do anything at all that I actually wanted to!

In the meantime weve been on a progressive supper around our village (great fun), had a village festival (damp but good), had visitors and family staying for a while.

I now have to complete a very long application form for a job, get some birthday presents and plan some birthday events for the weekend ... so I'd better get on with it.

Go West!

This Easter weekend, we 'av mostly been visiting Zomerzet.

There was a big old family reunion in Somerset this weekend, so we toddled down on Friday evening to join the festivities.

Saturday was spent careering around the South West in search of fine walks, ice cream and fish and chips on a beach. All were totally successful, and for once the weather at the bank holiday was wonderful.

We spent a couple of lazy hours wandering around Golden Cap and sitting on the cliffs enjoying the sun followed by a drive into Weymouth and dinner on the beach.

It's good to get together and do stuff like this.

Sunday was more zooming around - this time between different courses of our lunch. It was all good fun too, and kept us amused for most of the day. Far too many Easter eggs were exchanged and quite a few eaten by the end of the day too!

Monday consisted of some wandering around Yeovil, again enjoying the sunshine, and after a quick lunch, the trip home - which wasn't as bad as we expected. We even had time to sit out in the garden when we got home.

Another highly successful and most enjoyable weekend.

Munchkins and Mushroom Stroganoff

Another very enjoyable weekend was had. This time with Munchkins and Mushroom Strogonoff.

The weeks seem to be flying by at the moment - with looking for jobs plus studying for my dreaded Prince 2 exam (another time). The weekends also fly by but luckily because we're doing nice things.

Friends over for dinner on Saturday followed by entertaining them plus 2 small ones on Sunday. Enjoyable but exhausting.

We also saw the first ducklings of the year on Sunday - it must be Spring!