Tag Archives: DVD
Game Of Thrones, MacMini and Work…. My Life Continues…..
Welcome to all my new followers, yes all 7 of them. My apologies as I have not had time to post on here, however now I can do it from the comfort of my sofa because I have obtained a MacMini and plummed it into my TV for a media center. It is a 1.5ghz, 2gb RAM with a single core so around a 2006 model, the superdrive is knackered and no sound but I can fix it for a few quid. I suppose you need to know people…. Oh and it has a 320gb hard drive which is on top of the other 4tb already linked up. So now I can watch anything I want, whenever I want and it uses next to no power. I would recommend to anyone who wants to have a media center to do the same.
Work has been good, not overly challenging but to be honest after the stress TAM gave me I am enjoying it. I get to speak to the same old punters who don’t know their ass from their elbow but at least I know my shizzle. The people are nice too, I have met a few funny characters. One thing which I will keep in mind is to keep my head down as much as possible and do my thing. I suppose I must have been doing something right after 2 bottles of wine and a award for the best call….
I also managed to get Game Of Thrones from iTunes, so that saves me the hassle of buying the DVD (yet). Season 2 is in full swing and its awesome and I would say as good as the books, lets see what the rest brings.
Anyway, i am off to watch some TV and wash up.
Ciao
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Finally Have A Chance To Post.
It’s Saturday and I finally have a chance to update my blog. I have been so tired and busy this past week that I think I have neglected posting.
I have started my new job, this was on Monday and so far so good! It has been a lot to take in with it being a new place, new systems, new people and well pretty much everything is new. The people in the training with me are lovely, so I am pleased that (so far) I am not working with any twats. In my new role I will be dealing mainly with Motorcycles but will more than likely incorporate cars too. It takes me 10-15 minutes to get to work which is a bargain and currently the hours are good. I did work out though, that I would work an extra 30 minutes and get a full 1 hour lunch, this is great as I used to get 30 minutes in my last role. I also noticed that even with the longer lunch I will still get home around the same time as I would if I was in my last job, which is about 5:45. Overall good job and looking forward to showing what I am capable of!!!
More interesting developments which I have not mentioned are –
New iPad HD(3) which does look amazing, but is it really needed so son after the iPad 2? The list below is roughly what is different between the iPad HD and its predecessor –
- High-resolution Retina display
- 2048×1536-pixel resolution at 264 pixels per inch (pip)
- Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating
- Support for display of multiple languages and characters simultaneously
- iSight camera: 5-megapixel with autofocus; tap to focus; face detection in still images; video recording, HD (1080p) up to 30 frames per second with audio; video stabilisation
- FaceTime camera with VGA-quality photos and video at up to 30 frames per second
- Photo and video geotagging
Oh and don’t forget the price…….
I have a few new films –
| Warrior |
| The Social Network |
| Real Steel |
| Paranormal Activity 3 |
| Over the Hedge (Widescreen Edition) |
| Madagascar |
| Invictus |
| Crazy, Stupid, Love |
| Fright Night |
| Stake Land |
| MELANCHOLIA |
I have only watched a few of these, mainly because I have been so tired and not in the mood to watch TV or films. I have however, as I am on the subject, managed to get the F1 channel on SKY. Its immense and I am looking forward to catching the first race of the season at 6am on the 18th March. If anyone is interested in what I have, here is the DVD List.
Anyway I will post more soon.
Ciao
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Ironclad
Ironclad
England, the Thirteenth Century. Set against the backdrop of the signing of the magna Carta, IRONCLAD is an action-packed epic that focuses on a band of land barons who make a stand against their turncoat king. James Purefoy (SOLOMON KANE), Paul Giamati (SIDEWAYS), Brian Cox (MANHUNTER), Derek Jacobi (LOVE IS THE DEVIL) and Mackenzie Crook (THE OFFICE) star in this brutal dramatization of the events that led to the king’s siege on Rochester Castle.
| Starring | Paul Giamatti, James Purefoy, Kate Mara, Brian Cox, Derek Jacobi, Jason Flemyng,Mackenzie Crook, Charles Dance, Guy Siner, Vladimir Kulich |
|---|---|
| Director | Jonathan English |
| Studio | WARNER HOME VIDEO |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 56 mins Blu-ray: 2 hrs 1 min |
| Certificate |  |
| Collections | August – Action/Thriller, Summer 2011 Releases |
| Genres | Action/Adventure, Audio Descriptive, Thriller |
| Language | DVD: English, English Audio Description Blu-ray: English |
| Subtitles | Blu-ray: English |
| Released | Production year: 2011
To Rent: To Buy: |
The film opens with a prologue describing how the barons of England, aided by the Knights Templar, rebelled against King John in a war that lasted three years and ended with King John signing Magna Carta (“Great Charter”), a document granting equal rights to all Englishmen and reducing the power of the monarchy. Not long afterwards he breaks his word and begins a bloody campaign of revenge against the barons who humiliated him, commanding an army of Danish mercenaries to whose leader he has promised that the Pope would keep his missionaries out of Denmark.
The abbot Marcus, leading three Templar knights who have taken vows of silence, shelters from a storm at Darnay Castle on his way to Canterbury for pilgrimage. Abbot Marcus speaks with Thomas Marshall and promises he will secure Marshall’s release from the Templar Order once they reach Canterbury. The next day King John arrives with his Danish army. John orders Darnay’s execution by hanging, and Abbot Marcus has his tongue sliced off by the Danes when he tries to intervene. Marshall and the two other knights fight the Danes, during which Marshall manages to escape the castle on horseback, carrying the abbot but the other two knights are slain. The abbot dies of his wounds shortly after and Marshall breaks his vow of silence to swear that his sacrifice will not be in vain.
Once he has reached Canterbury, Marshall meets with Archbishop Langton, the author of the Magna Carta, and Baron William d’Aubigny, a former soldier turned wool merchant. Langton reveals that the Pope has sided with King John and that he himself is to be excommunicated for writing the Great Charter. The three men agree that John must be stopped, and that the place to do it is Rochester Castle, a strategically important stronghold that controls the route from southern England.
Aubigny persuades three of his men to join him, including his squire Guy, but a fourth turns down the baron’s call to arms. A party of seven finally leaves for Rochester where, on arriving, they discover six of the King Danish mercenaries have already claimed the castle after the fourth man had betrayed them to the king. Aubigny’s party fights and kills the Danish scouts and then claims Rochester Castle in the name of the rebellion. When John’s army finally arrives and lays siege to Rochester, the garrison holds fast and manages to beat back the initial Danish assault. In the aftermath, Aubigny offers his men the chance to leave if they wish; none accept.
For the second assault the Danes build a siege tower, but the defenders destroy it with a makeshift trebuchet and the attackers are repulsed again. The King’s army holds back and begins to starve the defenders out. The Archbishop is informed that Prince Louis is biding his time in France and negotiating with John, and sets off immediately to expedite affairs. As weeks become months the hunger and suffering of the castle’s occupants increase, Marshall leaves under cover of night and steals food from the Danish camp, making it back just ahead of his pursuers. The defenders’ morale is bolstered for the first time in months, and Marshall finally succumbs to Isabel’s advances, breaking his Templar vows.
The Danish leader, Tiberius, adopts a different approach in his next assault and manages to sneak a small force of men over the walls before dawn to open the castle gates from within. Guy discovers the infiltrators and sounds the alarm, but it is too late. Tiberius leads the charge into the castle grounds while his Danes slaughter the garrison. During the chaos d’Aubigny is wounded and falls off the garrison. Marshall recovers in time to don his knight’s battle armor and charge the Danes on his war-horse, buying time for the survivors to pull back to the keep.
Aubigny is dragged before the King and forced to watch as the hands of two prisoners are chopped off. After a defiant verbal exchange with John, he is subjected to the same fate and then killed by being flung from the makeshift catapult against the keep walls. Cornhill tries to surrender but after being stopped, he goes upstairs to his bedroom and hangs himself instead. John’s royal engineers then collapse part of the keep after tunneling under its foundations, and the final assault begins.
The last defenders are killed except Guy, Marshall and Isabel. Guy goes out to die fighting where he encounters Tiberius and is almost killed until a recovered Marshall intervenes. Tiberius challenges Marshall to single combat, and Marshall triumphs after an exhausting duel. Horns are heard in the distance as the combine English rebel and French army arrives at last, and the Danes disperse in panic. Marshall meets Prince Louis and Archbishop Langton at the castle gates; the latter tells him that he is now free of the Templar Order. Acknowledging England’s new king with a nod, Marshall rides off with Isabel, while Guy tells his dead baron that “We held”.
The film ends with an epilogue describing King John’s death during his retreat and the reconstruction of Rochester Castle, and how it, like the Magna Carta, still stands today.
What did I think…..
What strange casting? Paul Giamatti is a fine actor, but King John???
And what is with throwing in a love interest with some unfeasibly attractive bint in all these films? I’m all for more women in films, but just putting them in as eye-candy is insulting and muddies the water in my opinion.
In this one you have a buxom redhead wearing ever tighter and more revealing outfits coming on to our hero.. A templar knight! Come the heck on now! A married woman of this time period would hardly ever be seen aside from her husband, let alone swanning around with a heaving bosom climbing out of her medievel Ann Summers outfit! And the dialogue between them!! Ah man.. Wisteria Lane, meet the Magna Carta!
Other then that it was violent and pointless. On the plus side Vladimir Kulich looks like the living embodiment of a Viking raider for me, so that was nice!
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Cowboys & Aliens
Cowboys & Aliens
In Silver City, Arizona, Apache Indians and Western settlers must lay their differences aside when an alien spaceship crash lands in their city.
| Starring | Olivia Wilde, Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Sam Rockwell, Paul Dano, Noah Ringer,Clancy Brown, Ana de la Reguera, Keith Carradine, David O’Hara, Walton Goggins,Abigail Spencer, Adam Beach, Toby Huss, Chris Browning |
|---|---|
| Director | Jon Favreau |
| Studio | PARAMOUNT HOME ENTERTAINMENT |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 58 mins Blu-ray: 1 hr 58 mins |
| Certificate |  |
| Collections | December – Action/Adventure, latest releases, Latest releases on DVD and Blu-ray,UK top 50 weekly chart |
| Genres | Action/Adventure, Sci-Fi/Fantasy |
| Language | DVD: English Blu-ray: English |
| Released | Production year: 2011
To Rent: |
In 1873, Arizona Territory, an unnamed loner (Daniel Craig) awakens in the desert injured, with no memory, and with a strange metal band shackled to his wrist. After beating three drifters who try to rob him, he takes their clothes, weapons, and a horse and rides off. He wanders into the small town of Absolution, where the local preacher, Meacham (Clancy Brown), treats his wound. After the stranger subdues Percy Dolarhyde (Paul Dano), a volatile drunk who has been terrorizing the town, Sheriff Taggart (Keith Carradine) recognizes the stranger as Jake Lonergan, a wanted outlaw, and attempts to arrest him. Jake nearly escapes, but a mysterious woman named Ella Swenson (Olivia Wilde) incapacitates him.
Percy’s father, Colonel Woodrow Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford), a wealthy and influential cattleman, arrives with his men and demands that Percy be released to him. He also wants Jake, who stole Dolarhyde’s gold. During the standoff, alien aircraft begin attacking the town, and Percy, the sheriff, and many townsfolk are abducted. Jake shoots down one ship with a device concealed in his wrist band, ending the attack.
Dolarhyde, Ella, and some townsfolk form a posse to track an alien that ejected from the downed ship. Jake, meanwhile, travels to an abandoned cabin, and in a flashback, recalls returning there with the gold just before he and a woman, Alice (Abigail Spencer), were abducted by the aliens. Jake returns to join the posse. During the night, the alien they were tracking appears and kills Meacham, who sacrifices himself to save Emmett (Noah Ringer), Taggart’s grandson.
By the next morning, most of the posse has deserted, and the others are attacked by Jake’s former gang. Jake, who stole the gang’s loot after their last heist, attempts to retake control, but fails. As he and the others flee, the aliens begin attacking again and Ella is captured. Jake jumps aboard the ship and attacks the alien pilot, causing the ship to crash, but Ella is fatally wounded.
Chiricahua Apaches capture the posse, blaming them for the alien attacks. As Ella’s body is dumped on a fire, she is fully resurrected. Ella reveals herself to be an alien who traveled to Earth to help resist the invaders after they destroyed her homeworld. The aliens, who have been abducting humans to perform experiments on them, are also mining gold to power their machines. They are not invulnerable, however: Jake’s gauntlet weapon can kill them, as well as stabbing and shooting them, though the creatures are far stronger and more durable than humans and have superior weapons. Ella claims Jake holds the secret to the aliens’ whereabouts and says they must stop them before they exterminate all life on the planet. After taking medicine offered by the Apaches, Jake recalls that Alice died in an alien experiment, but he escaped, inadvertently stealing the alien weapon. He can also remember the aliens’ hidden location.
Armed with this knowledge, the group, now led by Dolarhyde, prepares to attack the aliens’ grounded mothership. Jake returns to his old gang and persuades them to join the fight. In a sneak attack, the humans breach the spaceship, forcing the aliens into a ground battle. Jake and Ella board the ship and free the captives, but Jake is captured. Dolarhyde rescues him and both men escape the ship after killing the alien leader. As the remaining aliens are taking off in their damaged craft, Ella sacrifices herself, destroying the ship using Jake’s gauntlet.
Jake’s memory partially returns, and some abducted townsfolk begin to remember their past. Still a wanted man, Jake decides to leave; the sheriff and Dolarhyde say they will claim that he was killed in the invasion. The citizens intend to rebuild the town with the expectation that the newly discovered gold mine will soon bring many new settlers. Jake kindly rejects Dolarhyde’s offer to help rebuild the town, and rides away.
So what do I think? Having seen a few trailers I was unsure what to expect. Once I saw that it is directed by Jon Favreau (Ironman) I knew action and great CGI was in store!
The cast was brimming with stars – Craig, Harrison Ford, Sam Rockwell – the list continues!
I was surprised at how well the mix of cowboys and aliens mixed – with a few Indians thrown in for good measure.
There were plenty of scary jumpy moments which were fun, the whole movie was actually fun and just full of explosions, fight scenes and some blood and gore – it was great!
Fully entertaining – just get in and enjoy if you like a new take on some old school cowboy action, mixed with some jumpy alien moments!
Ciao
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Rendezvous With Myself 
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