Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

After seven books and ten years of movies, the massively magic saga has come to an end with this action-packed finale.  The story is all about Harry, Hermione and Ron hunting for the last Horcruxes (items that store Voldemort's split life force) in a race before Voldemort and his army destroy Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  Before this film is finished, much-loved characters will die and the beloved Hogwarts will be reduced to rubble.
I have been so excited to see this film and I have been worried that I would feel the same sense of loss I felt when I finished the last book, but I am sorry to say that I didn't.  In fact, while this is a great film, I was expecting something extraordinary.  Firstly, lets talk about the positives.
This would have to be one of the best finale's made.  All of your favourite characters are back (even if they are only in the film for a moment or even if they are dead!) and we revisit some of the sets from previous films, like the Chamber of Secrets.  We finally get to see the whole saga come to a satisfying end.
However, it is not all brilliant.  None of the major characters who die are given much screen time.  You never get to see the good guys getting killed.  Even Snape is attacked by the snake on the other side of a wall.  I was really looking forward to this scene as it is one of my favourites from the book but it was denied.  Not the fact that I didn't get to see him die, it just seemed less powerful because it is well described in the book.  Even the big battle was not what I was expecting.  While it is indeed huge, from the behind the scenes we have seen so far and all I have read, this was the be the majority of the movie, but it didn't feel this way.  I blame the editing of this film and ultimately I blame David Yates.  He may be exceedingly good at directing the actors and setting up some good set pieces, his editing seems a little to be desired.  It felt like it was rushed for the majority of it and then for the other parts, the narrative felt like it came to a screeching halt as we visited Harry and Dumbledore in the afterlife.  There also seemed to be bits missing so explaining some parts were just touched on.  I am hoping a Special Edition Extended Version is released soon.
Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed the film but I will wait now till I can buy it and I will watch all eight movies back to back to see if the story flows.  If the pacing and the cuts had been managed better, this could have been exceptional.  The acting is top notch and the sets are just beautiful. Goodbye Harry Potter.  I look forward to catching up again one day. 8/10

Lie To Me - Killer App

Like the Social Network, this story centres around a socially-inept young man who also happens to be a genius who makes a social networking system, along with two friends.  One of them, the female, comes to see Foster and Lightman as she is worried she is going to be shut out of the company because the leader has already shut out the third friend.  The girl knows Foster because she was a patient of hers when she was a child.  Everything goes to hell when Foster finds the girl stabbed and rapidly dying.  All the evidence points to the third friend but in truth, he and the girl were lovers and were planning a take over of the company and shutting the genius out.  Lightman confronts the genius who starts to hack into Lightman's personal internet accounts and the work servers.  They eventually trick him into proving he had accessed private emails and confessing to killing her, which Lightman records and puts on the genius' own social network!  Lightman and Foster organise for him to get transferred from prison to a mental institute.  He thinks that is better, till Lightman explains that DR Foster will be administering drugs to him that will destroy his mind for good.  The episode finishes with Lightman's daughter asking if he truly loves Foster and he agrees he does.  She asks what is holding him back, but he doesn't know the answer to that.
Believe it or not, that is the very last episode of Lie To Me.  Unless we get a change of heart from the network and it gets a reversal but at this stage, no season four.  I can't believe this is how it ends.  It is a great episode but I am actually a little sad that I will no longer be seeing these characters again.  The acting was exceptional and the writing was intelligent.  This was one of the few brilliant television shows out there.  Such a shame to see it go.  I want to go on record to say that this was one of my favourite shows and I loved it.  Would have liked to have seen Lightman's and Foster's relationship develop over some more time.  Such a waste.  Thanks anyway to all the actors and crew for bringing this show to life.  Thanks for the entertainment for the past two and a half years.  You will be greatly missed.
P.S. I loved the way Lightman works out that the girl had had sex before she was murdered.  Brilliant!

The Defenders - Nevada vs. Carter

This episode of The Defenders started a little ho-hum but very quickly became something much cleverer.  The initial story has a dancer being accused of solicitation.  Nick tried to ring Pete to get him to go to the club because he has his son for the night.  Pete is in a poker game which he loses and has to defend an African-American man who is accused of robbing a white college boy with his friend.  While his friend only has a public defender who is overworked and cuts a deal of nine years from the DA who Pete is sleeping with.  Pete does some investigating and finds that the white boy lied and was in the area wanting to buy drugs and was not robbed.  Pete confronts the boy outside the court and convinces him to tell the truth, which he does but the DA doesn't care about that now and wants to get not only a win but to bring Pete down for confronting the college boy.  This turned out to be a great episode.

Merlin - The Tears of Uther Pendragon Part 1

In the season three opening, Morgana (Katie McGrath) is finally found after being 'lost' for a year.  The King (Anthony Head) is overjoyed at her return but Merlin (Colin Morgan) is worried she will remember that he poisoned her to save the kingdom.  She makes an effort to make up with him and to ask him for his forgiveness.  However, in truth, Morgana is working with her sister, Morgause (Emilia Fox) to drive Uther mad and leave the kingdom without a leader and ripe for conquest.  Merlin discovers Morgana's plan and follows her, only to be captured and magically chained and left for a whole swarm of giant scorpions to devour him.  He tried his magic to release him but it is no use.  He tried to fight off the scorpions but in the end cries out and the episode ends with him being rescued by the dragon, voiced by John Hurt.
This was a great return to a well made British television series.  This is made even better by watching it with my youngest daughter, who loves it.

Robbie Williams Greatest Hits

I am a huge fan of Robbie Williams.  The bad boy done good has a voice that can be smooth as silk and as sharp and high as a razor.  His Greatest Hits collects most of his mainstream rock hits.  He also does swing incredibly well.  I was surprised to find so many of his songs have been used in television shows but also a number of movies.  Here are a list of songs just from this album (he has others in movies that are not on this Greatest Hits collection) that have featured in a motion picture:

• Strong - Rancid Aluminium
• Rock DJ - Sweet November
• Kids - Goodbye Charlie Bright
• Let Me Entertain You - Mean Machine, Sweet Sixteen
• Angels - Finding A Wife For Dad, Love And Other Disasters
• She's The One - A Foreign Affair, Come Dio Comanda
• Come Undone - Girls On Top 2
• Misunderstood - Bridgette Jones: The Edge Of Reason

Robbie Williams songs seem to have a sarcastic tone to them mostly.  I love the James Bond style of Millennium, the positive Let Love Be Your Energy and the autobiographical Sexed Up.  If you love Robbie Williams, you need to have this essential set of songs in your collection.

The Mentalist - Strawberries And Cream Part 1

This is the penultimate episode before the Season 3 finale and starts with an apparent suicide bomber blowing himself up at a service station after being questioned by police for being the chief suspect in a robbery.  The team discover the man was coerced to put the bomb on himself and when Lisbon investigates, is attacked and has a bomb put on her that will not be deactivated until the attacker gets what he wants from the first man, not money but names on a credit list.  Patrick Jane works out who the attacker is and rescues Lisbon before they discover that the name on the list that is so important is a relative of Agent Hightower.  Red John is behind this and is hunting for her.  The episode ends with Patrick entering his motel room and finding Hightower pointing a gun at him!  Can't wait for this week's season finale!

Supernatural - My Heart Will Go On

This episode continues to prove how inventive the writers of Supernatural are.  Once again, one of my favourite movies, along with the theme song by Celine Dion, gets bagged but this time, I love the way it is done.  The boys investigate some bizarre deaths (a man is killed by his garage door after an almost implausible number of things that have to happen to cause the death as well as a woman being killed by her photocopier!  Oh and a lawyer is killed in a rather graphic way!  Brilliant!) and discover the culprit is one of The Fates from Greek mythology (who just so happens to look like a cute librarian!).  While we are watching this episode unfold, there are some WTF moments.  Firstly the boys hop into a Black with brown stripes Colt instead of the Impala and Bobby is married to Ellen, who along with Jo is alive again! After investigation, it appears the deceased are from a family who came to America on the Titanic back in 1912, but the boys have never heard of the ship!  They find out that the boat nearly hit an iceberg but was saved by one of its officers, I.P. Freely (Yep!).  The boys work out this is Balthazar!  When they summon him, he tells them that the ship was meant to sink but he hated the movie so much along with the Celine Dion song, that he stopped it from sinking so the movie is never made!!  The down side of this is that The Fates are trying to make things right and kill the descendants of the Titanic passengers, 50,000 people who should never have been born along with those that should have died in the correct timeline, namely Ellen and Jo.  Do the boys make things right so the 50,000 are never born so they can't be murdered and then have Bobby lose Ellen?!  Once again, a brilliant episode and probably one of the finest so far.  Well done.

Lie To Me - Gone

Another X-Files alumni, Doug Hutchinson (who I just heard today has disturbingly married a 16 year old?!?  Is that lawful?) guest stars as a cop and father of a family of four, being his wife, son and little baby daughter.  It is obvious that he is a verbally abusive person and the other family members are frightened of him and the son is jealous of how he feels about the baby.  the mother lies to Dad about having diaper creme and then goes to the pharmacy to buy some.  As the baby is asleep in the car, she decides to leave her there.  When she returns, she discovers the baby is missing.  She goes on television though saying she was held up by a man and a woman who then stole the baby.  Cal Lightman immediately knows this is a lie and decides to investigate.
Lots of red herrings making this a great episode and hard to pick what has happened because you think it is one person and then you think you might be wrong and it might be someone else.  Turns out it was who I thought it was all along.
Notable for being directed by Adam Arkin who used to be in shows like Chicago Hope and The West Wing and is Alan Arkin's son.

NCIS: Los Angeles - Tin Soldiers

An OK episode of NCIS where we are given a hint at a reveal of Callen's past but it doesn't come to anything, ripped off! A man breaks in to Callen's house and is apprehended and he turns out to be someone meant to bring Callen to Russian ex-KGB operative Arkady.  He tells Callen about a man bringing in illegal microchips and wants Callen to help him stop him in return for information on someone from his past.  He is really just wanting to get rid of the competition.  As I said, a fairly run of the mill episode.

NCIS - Baltimore

After the eye is used to open MTAC, a search of the Naval database shows that the eye belongs to someone whose identity is classified.  Before they can investigate further, another body turns up and the search is on for the Port To Port Killer.  Unfortunately, the victim is DiNozzo's old partner when he was on the force.  What is the link to Tony?  There are lots of flashbacks to 2000 showing when Gibbs and DiNozzo first meet (Tony arrests Gibbs!) and we finally get to see how Tony joined NCIS.  I love these types of episodes.
##SPOILER ALERT!##
Ducky discovers that the killer is NOT the P2P killer because Palmer made a typo in his report that went out to the police that described the wrong type of knot used and this was the knot used by this killer, so they soon worked out it was a cop, one from Tony's past.  This means the team is back to square one in trying to find the P2P killer.

Lie To Me - Saved

Lightman is originally trying to work out the truth behind a fatal car accident after a teenager steals a car and kills a famous sportsperson.  As he investigates, he finds out that the lights were green both ways, so the 'accident' was set up to happen.  He then investigates some more and finds the paramedic on the scene before anyone else is a hero in a number of other car accidents where she was always first on the scene, but this is the first time someone has died.  The paramedic, Ilene, is played by the stunning Annabeth Gish (The X-Files, West Wing).  After Cal first questions Ilene, he is involved in a terrible car accident where the lights were green both ways again and the first person on the scene is Ilene again.  Is Ilene responsible, or does the brother she cares for have something to do with it?  Dr Lightman continues to investigate to discover something from Ilene's past which may explain what is really happening.  Another exceptional episode.
Interesting note is that this episode begins with a caveat that the characters portrayed in this episode are not based on a living person.  Does that mean someone was doing something like this?  Nutter!

Glee - Born This Way

This is another episode that showcases each characters individual tics.  Firstly, Flynn tries his hand at dancing, which he is just not good at and he ends up breaking Rachel's nose!  At the doctor, Rachel discovers that if she gets a nose job, not only will she no longer have an over-sized nose, but apparently she will be able to sing better.  She seriously considers the nose job.  Meanwhile, Santana needs to get back in with the group and after discovering that bully Karofsky is gay, she hatches a plan to get him to apologise to Kurt so that Kurt will return to McKinnley, giving New Directions the help it needs to win Nationals.    It was sad when he came back because he left his boyfriend and other friends at Dalton Academy.  I realised what I liked about these guys.  Not only do they sing brilliantly, but they were ALL so accepting of Kurt.  No one was ever critical or judgemental and they all genuinely liked him.  That is rare and a pleasure to see on television.  Maybe it will inspire some others to be more accepting.  To say goodbye, they sing a great version of 'Somewhere Only We Know'.
Santana and Karofsky are also going to try and win Prom King and Queen.  Quinn is desperate to win Prom Queen when she finds out Lauren is also running for Prom Queen.  In retaliation against Quinn's attitude, Lauren uncovers confidential information that shows Quinn used to be overweight and had a nose job.  So she didn't like the way she was and changed herself which goes against everything the Glee club stands for.
There are a couple of other great numbers in this episode, 'Barbara Streisand' with a flash mob dance in a shopping centre and a cool message done with T-Shirts and Lady Gaga's 'Born This Way'.  Another top episode.

NCIS: Los Angeles - Lockup

Whoa.  NCIS:Los Angeles sure knows how to do a great episode.  Sam gets a call about Moe, his 'adopted' brother who is now in prison.  He has been attacked by a group who are associated with terrorists.  Sam finds out that he is trying to join the terrorist group on behalf of NCIS.  When Sam investigates, he discovers Nate is working undercover in the prison and is working with Moe.  Yea, Nate is back!  Well for one or two episodes, which is a real shame because I liked his character.  It would have been better to keep him than get in Nell, but there is probably a reason for it somewhere.
Anyway, Sam wants to protect Moe and help infiltrate the group so he goes in to prison as an inmate and is eventually offered a chance to join but he is breaking out, with the help of the rest of the team, so that not only can he get Moe out but also the terrorist leader and then they can follow him using the 'Overwatch' spray from a previous episode.
##SPOILER ALERT!## - They escape but the leader knows someone is a traitor and tortures Moe to find out who.  Moe tells him it is his right hand man, so the terrorist leader kills him, but not before killing Moe.  Sam wants to kill the leader, but Hetty appears and stops him.  She tells him, he will get his chance for revenge.
A really great episode with death of a minor recurring character and the return of the old series regular Nate.  Can't wait to see Sam catch up with the terrorist leader.

NCIS - Dead Reflection

Even though it only just touches on the Port to Port killer storyline from the last episode, this was yet another brilliant episode of NCIS.  A woman is found dead with a broken neck in the Pentagon!  Video surveillance shows the murder and the killer quite clearly but he can't be found.  It is only later that his body shows up in his car, run off the road that the real mystery begins as Ducky announces that the victim died two days before he was in the video at the Pentagon killing the girl!?
There are some clever parts to this story, with a reference to Mission: Impossible.  DiNozzo is off his game due to his relationship with Barrrett, so he goes to see Gibbs who tells him to stop sleeping with her and that it is affecting his work.
I am not going to tell you who the killer was or how he did it, it is just too clever and you really do need to see it for yourself.  Especially how Abby works out what is being said by looking at the mirror in the video!
The episode ends with Barrett and Palmer, putting the eyeball from last week's episode up against the retinal scanner and it opens the door to MTAC!  Who's eye is this?  What does this mean?  Only three episodes to go in this gripping season!

The Mentalist - Rhapsody In Red

While this was a standard who-dunnit episode, it was also a bit of fun.  Patrick Jane uses his knowledge of human behaviour to influence a group of high society orchestra lovers to think the worse of the conductor and his suggestions are spread throughout the group like wildfire.
The story has a young solo violinist found shot to death in the burbs.  Why was she there?  There are a number of red herrings (as usual) but it is still a solid episode.  While at the scene, Cho has his car keys stolen by a young pickpocket.  This was the one weak piece of this show.  Cho was a past gang member and would be able to recognise a pickpocketing especially on himself.  Even we could see that was what was happening!  A weak plot point that is not normally for this show.  All in all a good episode.

Glee - A Night of Neglect

I love Glee but this episode was not one of their finest.  The story had the class needing to raise money to go to nationals as Sue has stolen their winnings from Regionals (WTF!) so they were going to do a taffy drive.  Instead, four of the group were angry they were always ignored but they were part of another group to compete in the finals for an academic competition.  They decide to hold a benefit to raise money.  Sue gets a League of Doom together (Stephen Tobolowsky, Mr Shuster's ex-wife and the new coach for Vocal Adrenalin) to try and break Will and Holly Holliday (Gwynth Paltrow) apart and ruin the benefit.  Meanwhile a member of Vocal adrenaline wants to sing in the benefit and will bring her 600 twitter friends along but at the last minute cancels and no one turns up to the benefit except the hecklers.  (What the hell was the point in that little storyline?  Was it just so they could hear someone else sing for a change? Dumb!)  They go ahead with the benefit and Stephen Tobolowsky's character is so blown away with Mercedes performance, he pays for their trip in full.  As a side story, Mercedes is convinced by Lauren to turn Diva and demand extravagant things so she will be taken seriously.  Of course that backfires.  Will finds out that Emma's husband has called for an annulment of their wedding and so Will tells her he is there for her as a friend.  Holly sees this and tells Will it is over between them.  Not much else happens and the song choices weren't great either.  It is ironic that I am blogging something negative when Holly has a talk with the hecklers and they talk about how bad it is to be negative.  Sorry, but the show was not up to the usual standard.  Not many episodes to go to the end of the season.  Hope it picks up.  (I know it will!)

Glee on Oprah

I love Glee and in place of an episode, they replayed the Oprah episode where the cast of Glee sang and danced in front of a live audience, proving they really can do it.  It was great to see them visit the school that inspired the show and grant them the opportunity to do Vogue in front of not only the studio audience but the worldwide audience.  They did a good job too.  There was a little bit of the behind the scenes so we got to see how much work they have to put into their job EVERY day!  It was probably too short and could have been twice as long.  What am I gonna say, I'm a Gleek!!

Lie To Me - Rebound

An interesting episode of Lie To Me where a man is hired by a lawyer to marry divorced women so they can't claim alimony any more.  He marries them for six months and then moves on to someone else.  Cal gets involved when the son of one of the women comes across a large sum of money hidden in the man's briefcase.  It gets serious when after he has been exposed to all the ex-wives, a body turns up in a burnt out garage.  Thinking his mother is responsible, the boy confesses to the crime instead, but Cal exposes a great twist to the story.
This episode had one of the best lines in it.  When Cal sets him up by saying he is divorced from Foster, he takes Foster out for wining and dining, especially with a bottle of Pinot.  When Cal is interrogating him later, he says "...leaving you holding your Pinot in your hand like the wanker that you are!" - priceless!  Tell me why this brilliant show got cancelled again?

NCIS: Los Angeles - Archangel

This episode starts with what looks like the actor Cliff Simon, Baal from Stargate SG-1, shooting Sam point blank!  The story has classified information being stolen to be put on the internet by a Julian Assange type character who turns up murdered.  The file has been copied but can't be opened without a decryption key so the team has to try and protect the naval officer who stole the files in the first place before the bad guys do. 
A great episode all about the importance of the names of the fallen and that they are more than just statistics and numbers.  Does Sam get shot?  Can't tell you but it is a tragic end for another great episode.  Though I have to point out another wasted opportunity with a great Stargate actor under utilised!  Come On, give them a starring role will you!

NCIS - Two-Faced

Ah, some brilliant television!  I know I do love NCIS, but this really is incredibly well written and acted.  This looks like the start of a major storyline as we careen toward the explosive season eight finale.  The story has the body of a seaman found wrapped in plastic, dressed in the uniform of a Captain with his throat cut.  It is revealed he is not the first to be found this way.  In fact, Agent E J Barrett has been tracking the killer from Spain around the world, now known as the Port to Port killer.  He also always leaves a clue in an ice cube and a flower petal is found in a cube in the victim's fridge.  Vance gives Barret the lead in the investigation and she ends up clashing with Gibbs who discovers that she is sleeping with Tony.  Gibbs puts a stop to the relationship. Meanwhile, we finally meet Ziva's boyfriend, Ray, played by Without a Trace's Enrique Murciano.  It is revealed he is a secret CIA liaison which brings their relationship into question.  The team think they have caught the killer twice.  Firstly a disgruntled guy who the seaman had tried to steal his girl from, but the Ray reveals it can't be him.  Secondly is a retired war hero who was in all the places the crimes were committed.  When they arrive at his home, they find him wrapped and frozen in his freezer.  The episode ends with Ziva and Tony drinking in a bar when the bar tender gives them a drink, which he says was from a guy sitting in booth.  They find the person has left.  Then they realise the ice cube in the drink has an eye in it!  Can't wait to see the next episode!  Love a good cliffhanger!

No Ordinary Family - No Ordinary Vigilante

I am extremely disappointed to say that I have given this show enough chances to really grab me and once again, I have been left watching a boring show.  This episode had Jim trying to chase a vigilante in the park at night who was shooting muggers, but he gets mistaken for him.  The son, JJ, gets to join the football team, even though he is half the size of the rest of the boys, because he can 'see' the game as maths and can work out the trajectory of the ball.  It doesn't mean he can throw it but apparently he has an amazing arm as well!  Both kids go to a party, when they shouldn't, and the daughter gets caught trying to buy alcohol to be cool.
Whatever happened to the other people like them that also have powers?  Where are they? I am sad to say that I will not be watching this show anymore.  Which is a shame, because I really wanted to see Cybill Shepherd again on TV.  What a wasted opportunity.  I can't believe this would get a second season, could it?

No Ordinary Family - No Ordinary Ring

My earlier excitement has been overtaken by my even earlier concerns about this show.  This episode has the family robbed of their jewellery, even their wedding ring, at a wedding.  Jim tries to track down the perps by going to other weddings.  His daughter (still the weakest link in this show) reads his mind and hears that he is going to a hotel so she follows him there, only to see him running after the thieves with bullet holes in his jacket.  JJ tries to get his sister to read the mind of a girl he likes to see if she likes him, but she really thinks he's a jerk.  To save her brother's feelings, she tells him that the girl only dates Jewish guys.  So he learns everything about being Jewish, which of course backfires.  As an example of the poor writing on this show, the family get their wedding ring back because the robbers drop it at one of their other heists!  Why would they bring the spoils from another heist with them to do a job??  A boring episode.  If it doesn't pick up, I'm not watching anymore.

The Mentalist - Like a Readheaded Stepchild

A prison guard is found stabbed to death by a prison-made shiv outside a jewellery store.  Who killed the man and why?  Patrick Jane goes into the prison to find the killer.  Meanwhile, Rigsby questions his criminal father about the murder.  A good solid episode that will have you guessing about who the killer is.

Bridesmaids

I took my wife to see this movie a couple of days ago and I have to say, I was very disappointed in it.  Perhaps, I thought, I just didn't get the humour, mainly because I have a penis and not a vagina.  But no, my wife and her work colleague also didn't think much of the film.
The story has two long-time female friends and one of them is engaged to get married.  Of course the other is to be Maid of Honour and is to organise all the pre-wedding stuff.  Unfortunately, the new husband's boss' wife has also become friends with the bride-to-be and not only is she rich, but she is a control freak!  Slowly, it becomes clear that the best friend just can't compete with the rich bitch.
Another Apotow effort, this is a lame exercise in trying to emulate male-gross-out humour (like The Hangover) for women.  This was tried unsuccessfully before with the Cameron Diaz movie, The Sweetest Thing. That's not to say there are some good funny parts to this movie, but they are few and far between and in fact alot of the laughter in the cinema (and I was the ONLY male there!) was very nervous sounding rather than guffaw-funny.
Just to give you an example of the skits in the film, they include the rivalry between the best friend, Annie (played by Saturday Night Live's Kristen Wiig, who co-wrote this movie) and the rich new kid on the block, Helen played by Aussie Rose Byrne emerging at the engagement party where they try to one-up each other with a microphone.  This scene is indicative of this film.  It was too long and carried what would have been a funny joke, way too far, just like the whole movie.  There is the trying on of the bridesmaid's dresses at a swanky upmarket salon just after they have had some dodgy food.  Of course they all end up with food poisoning and are throwing up, crapping in a vanity (?!) and the 'best' bit is the bride all dolled up in the dress, opening her bowels in the street.  Oh, it was so funny, not.  Then there is the plane ride where Annie gets high and gets everyone thrown off the plane, or her finally losing the plot at the bridal shower and destroying the garden display.  My this is just so hilarious. (I'm being sarcastic).  Poor old Annie, loses her job because she is a bitch to her customers (lets put in the 'C' word - it worked for Kick-Ass!), is thrown out of her apartment and has her crap car run up the back of.  Oh and she's sleeping with a guy that wants nothing to do with her.  What a character!
I must acknowledge some greatness though.  Annie is pulled over by a copper named Nathan Rhodes, played by Chris O'Dowd, who almost saves this movie.  He is definitely the best thing in each scene he is in. (Love it when he gets Annie to get in the back seat of his cop car - "Oops, habit!")  Also, Mike & Molly's, Melissa McCarthy shows she has acting chops in bringing her character, Megan, to life.  She is amazing in how she can be so different from her usual characters.  And she is pretty funny.
Even though this movie seemed overly long, there were some parts that seemed cut before they got going.  Like, what happened between the two bridesmaids, Rita and Becca?  Are there going to be parts 'too naughty for cinemas' that will just be on the DVD?  Their story just seemed cut.
So I am sorry to say, I just didn't enjoy this film.  Not sure why it is getting so many accolades.  I am being generous but I give it 5/10.

NCIS: Los Angeles - Overwatch

What is so important about the body that is stolen from the morgue, that a staff member is even killed to get him?  A residue was found on the body before it was stolen with a US Navy identifier on it.  The team discover it is an experimental marker that was trialed in the Middle East to keep track of suspected terrorists via satellite.  Only trouble is, the deceased had never been to the Middle East.  They turn the satellite to Los Angeles and find there are a large number of targets, even though the Navy says they never trialled it on US soil.  It is then discovered that the majority of the marked people are Muslims.  Is there are terrorist threat or is there something else going on?  A great episode that comments on US home security and how Muslims are still being perceived.

Lie To Me - Funhouse

This was the second in a two-episode run and was the better episode of the two.  Emily has a friend that needs her Dad's help.  He is being held in a mental hospital and she believes he is getting treatment he doesn't need.  Cal is happy to help and goes to see the father.  Is the doctor just over-medicating to milk money out of the father's sister?  Cal sends his team to meet the daughter at the sister's house (her Aunt), the Aunt says she is not there, but they know she is.  Cal goes instead and while there tries a freshly baked muffin.  "That night, Cal goes back to the hospital and assaults an orderly and is then locked up and sedated.  Cal starts to see his dead parents.  Has he lost his mind?  Who is doing this to him and why?  A good episode giving some great background to the character of Cal Lightman.

Lie To Me - Smoked

A young lady is brutally shot dead in a hold up of her restaurant by armed robbers and Detective Wallowski gets Cal involved due to her past with the victims father who is dying of cancer and was leaving his successful 36 year old restaurant to his daughter and not his two estranged sons or his best friend who has worked with him all these years.  So who did it?  The obligotry red herring and the obviousness of it all makes this an ok if solid episode.

NCIS: Los Angeles - Disorder

Star Trek The Next Generation's Jonathan "William Riker" Frakes directs and has a spot guest star role in this episode of NCIS: Los Angeles as a psychiatrist who has to assess an ex-navy officer suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  The ex-officer was a witness to a shooting where there were two deceased.  What's the real story and what effect is this going to have on the team as they try to protect the ex-officer from possible Iraqi terrorists. 
This was the Christmas episode where Hetty re-gifted previous gifts back to the team.  A solid episode that kept you guessing.

NCIS: Los Angeles - Deliverance

Part Two of a Two Part story line.  Hetty has discovered that her 'husband' has been killed along with some of the staff of the nursing home she was holding him in.  The search continues for the little black book he had that held the secrets of cold war spies.  Jurgen Prochnow again guest stars after being captured last episode and is now apparently working with the CIA still in search of the book.  This time, the Russians are now in the game.  Kensi gets taken captive and is stuck behind a room of criss-crossing lasers and Deeks has to work to get her out.  Prochnow again has a gun pointed at Hetty.  How will this mish-mash of an episode finish up?  Who is who and who is on the right side?  Does the book even exist?  You will just have to keep watching!

NCIS - Tell-All

An OK episode of NCIS, in that there are a number of red herrings but the final resolution was a little anti-climactic.
A Navy officer is found murdered, killed by a prototype weapon, then a a female officer is found strangled to death but no defensive wounds.  They are linked together because they both read a manuscript for a book that was a 'tell-all' regarding a secret operation to identify terrorists, Operation:Birdsong.
Not a lot else happens in this episode except that a character that is introduced near the end is another red herring (what was the point of that?).  Oh and Gibbs' and Fornell's ex-wife is getting married again.

House - Fall From Grace

House announces that he is getting married, to a Russian prostitute!  When Wilson confronts him about it, he reveals it is to get her a Green Card and shows he has worked out the arrangement will save him $33,000 per year - he's serious about this!  While he is doing this, he is taking advantage of Cutty's guilt and getting her to agree to some crazy things, like allowing him to get around the hospital on a motorised stand up scooter, to park a monster truck in the car park, and to have a 60 inch flatscreen in his office.  Will House really marry his prostitute fiance?
The case this week is for a homeless man who can smell strange things, like burnt flesh is liquorice!  The team do investigations and find that he has ones in his intestines and he tells them about a chef at a local Italian restaurant daring him to eat strange things for meals.  This guy won't reveal who he really is, which makes diagnosing him difficult.  At first they think he has Parkinson's but then House works out the simple cause of the man's symptoms and they cure him.  But the twist as to who he is that is revealed at the end is absolutely shocking!  Another brilliant episode of House.

Lie To Me - Veronica

Veronica was an intriguing episode and very clever in it's storyline.  Emily is IMing on her mobile when she hits an old woman with her car.  The woman seems dazed but wants to be taken home.  Emily does so, but when they arrive, they find an art gallery.  Emily calls in Dad.  The woman is convinced 'Charlie' killed Rose (her sister) and that Lightman is her husband, Bert.  She is suffering from Alzheimer's but Lightman is convinced there is something going on.  On investigation, (and lots of red herrings), he works out that Veronica was engaged to Charlie but he got her sister Rose pregnant.  As she was a nurse, she organised for an abortion for Rose and was assisting when complications set in and Rose died. 
However, that's not the end of the story as there have been a dozen deaths in the last six months at the aged care facility where Veronica has been living and Lightman is convinced that she is substituting 'Charlie' for the real killer of the residents.
A very clever storyline and it's difficult to work out who is the killer.  Great episode and I can't believe this show has been cancelled.

Lie To Me - Beyond Belief

This was probably one of the best episodes of Lie To Me but there was a potential for it to be incredibly brilliant and carry over to two episodes but it just comes to a neat conclusion.  Shame really.
The story starts with a woman attempting suicide in the office of a self-help guru by the name of David Sutcliffe, the operator of SRP.  Her daughter is trying to get to her but her mother has disappeared from the hospital, returning to SRP and is refusing to see her daughter.  When Lightman investigates, the woman appears like an automaton, spitting out the appropriate responses and is always accompanied by one of the staff.
The story starts to take on a nasty side, when Lightman arrives home and a brochure for SRP is sitting on his kitchen bench, even though neither he nor his daughter put it there and all the doors to the house were locked.  This could have been thr precursor to a spectacular battle of wills between Lightman and Sutcliffe, but Lightman uncovers Sutcliffe's real past and the end of the story comes pretty soon after that. 
A really cool concept for a story but could have been so much more.
And what is going on with Tim Roth? Is he ill?  Why has the show really been cancelled?

SciFiNow - Issue 53

Another fantastic issue of SciFiNow!  The cover story on Terra Nova was a taste and I am so looking forward to seeing this show.  It is filmed here in Queensland and I have just heard that my eldest daughter's primary school teacher has just got a part in the show!  (I know that's stretching the connection a bit [a bit?!])  Unfortunately nothing much else seems to grab me from the season preview except perhaps Falling Skies which is only available on PayTV, so will have to wait to see this on DVD/Blu-Ray.
Great article on Thor.  Wished I'd been able to see this while it was at the cinemas.  I will go and buy the Blu-Ray when it comes out. The summer of superheroes was great too!  I wasn't sure about the Green lantern movie but after the complete guide I think it might actually be quite good.  I saw X-Men: First Class and loved it and I am looking forward to Captain America.
A really good article on Source Code, another movie I enjoyed. 
Another great show that is only going to be on PayTV is Game of Thrones and there is an excellent article in this month's edition.
However, I find myself having to criticise your critic, Alasdair Morton.  Is he the only one seeing new movies?  He seems a little 'one-eyed'.  Does he not like science fiction?  To only give Source Code 3 stars and Battle: Los Angeles only 2 stars!?  Are you kidding?  Were we watching the same movies?  But then to give Attack the Block 4 stars.  So a movie that reflects the reality of war that allied soldiers are having to fight in Afghanistan is not as good as something that glorifies violent youth that like to mug innocent ladies?  I don't care how funny it is, Attack the Block is not twice as good as Battle.  Perhaps more than one person to see and review new movies may give a more balanced rating.  If I had read his reviews first, I may have missed seeing these movies, and that would have been a shame.
I was a little disappointed in the Sandman article.  I would have liked to have known more about the character and storyline.  There is a quote in the article that captures the article perfectly, "it manages to be accurate while telling you virtually nothing at all", however, it did make me intrigued to find out more, so I suppose it succeeded!
The Green Lantern complete guide was spectacular!  I had no idea about the back story of the Green Lantern Corp and I have to say thank you very much Samuel for a brilliant article.  I really am excited to see the movie now to see if it lives up to the history.
Good choice in Modern Classic, Pleasantville.  I love this movie.
Superman 2's Flashback was interesting.  It seems that Richard Lester was not really interested in directing the movie and it seems Richard Donner got screwed over completely.  Haven't seen the director's cut yet, but really want to now.
Oh and I ended up being Dutch Schaeffer in the Arnie Personality Test. (Yeah, in my dreams!)

Supernatural - ...And Then There Were None

##MASSIVE SPOILER ALERTS!!##
What a way to clear out some dead wood!  Not that these minor characters were dead wood, but OMG, three of our recurring characters all die in this episode!
Eve is here and her first act as Mother To All, is to create a new monster and then pass it on to it's first host, a Christian truck driver who works at a cannery.  The monster is a worm that enters through the ear canal (as bobby says, the 'Kahn' worm) and not only do you black out but it makes you do violent things you wouldn't normally do.  So the truck driver of course goes home and bludgeons his family to death with a hammer!  He wakes up at the cannery where another worker goes berserk and shoots half a dozen fellow workers before being gunned down by the police.
This episode, Bobby gets to get out of the house and his flannelettes and into some FBI clothing to get to the crime scene where he finds Rufus.  All four of our boys go to the cannery at night to find the monster, only to discover Samuel and Gwen.  Dean leaves the room so he doesn't kill Samuel, but while away, he gets infected and when Gwen comes to speak to him, he shoots her!
In an episode very reminiscent of the film, 'The Thing', the work leaves Dean only to infect one of the others but who?  Samuel is infected, so Sam shoots him in the head but while Bobby and Rufus are cutting him open to get the worm out, he awakens and starts beating them to death.  He is finally pushed onto an exposed electrical wire and is electrocuted and the worm leaves him, only to infect Bobby, who then kills Rufus!!
Our boys tie Bobby up and torture him with the electrical wire and the monster tells them Eve will kill them all before the worm is finally killed and exits Bobby.
This was a shocking episode for the amount of characters that die.  It is an excellent introduction to the Eve character and what she is capable of and it was good to see Bobby doing more than looking up info in a book.  Great episode - AGAIN!

NCIS: Los Angeles - Absolution

Now this is more like it!  This is the high quality that I have come to expect with the NCIS shows. 
Absolution is the first of a two parter and is a great story but also has some fantastically funny banter between the team members, especially Deeks and Kensi.  Showing how they are growing as a partnership, he asks her to pick him up from his yoga class and act like she is dumping him so he will look good to the women in the class.  At first she plays along telling him it is over, then she hits him with the old one-two by saying he should never have cheated - with her brother!  Fantastic!!  Suffice to say, he strikes out with the girls!
This episode has some background on Hetty.  She was a devastating force when she was a secret agent in the Cold War and has been keeping a man a prisoner in an retirement home disguised as her husband.  He is in a wheelchair and blind (a result of being shot by Hetty) and is in the early stages of Alzheimer's.  He is the link with a book that hold vital information on spies and the international espionage world will do anything to get a hold of it.  One of the hunters is played by Jurgen Prochnow (Das Boot) who threatens to kill Hatty to get the location of the man in the retirement home.  At the end of the episode, Hetty goes to visit the prisoner, only to find him dead!  Is the killer still there?  How will they ever find the book now?  What other secrets is Hetty hiding?
One of the best episodes of NCIS: Los Angeles for some time.

The Defenders - Las Veges vs. Reid

The second episode of this great little legal comedy/drama is just as good as the pilot.
While waiting for his case to come up, Nick sees a lady who should have got a six month probation for killing a jogger with her car (as a deal worked out between her lawyer and the DA's office) but the judge gives her six months jail time instead, leaving her daughter to possibly end up in foster care.  He feels this is unjust and takes on the case where he succeeds in getting the case relooked at, but the DA's office (who hates Nick) decides to go for vehicular manslaughter and four years jail to prove a point.  They feel they have got her because they believe she was on a mobile phone at the time of the accident.  How Nick gets to the bottom of this case and the facts is brilliant (an iPhone app even helps his case!). 
There is a second story where Pete is helping a man who 'borrowed' $10,000 from his boss' safe to place a bet on a horse race, so he could pay his mortgage.  He wins but when he tries to replace the money, his boss has already discovered the theft and has called in the police!  How can Pete get the money back and get the case dropped and the guy out of jail and keep his house?  A fun episode.  Why the hell did this get axed again??

Downton Abbey - Episode Six

The story jumps almost another year to May 1914 but once again, alot of the stories haven't moved forward that far. Including the Bates/Thomas tangle over the stolen wine.  Bates has said nothing since it occurred almost a year ago, but as if it just happened, Thomas and Miss O'Brien decide to tell Carson that they saw Bates steal the wine.  Carson does not believe it and decides to get to the bottom of this.  Thomas even uses Daisy to lie about seeing Bates coming out of the cellar.  Daisy gets second thoughts and confesses to Carson who confronts everyone but Bates will still not dob Thomas in!  Later, Bates reveals he has been in prison for theft in the past and must resign.  Carson will not accept his resignation until he has spoken to the Earl.
Meanwhile, Sybil defies her father and goes to a political rally only to be injured when a fight breaks out and gets rescued by Matthew, who ends up proposing to Mary.  Mary realises that she loves him but feels she must tell Matthew about what happened with The Turk.  Because of her sister's treacherous letter to the Turkish Embassy, people in London are starting to gossip about what happened to The Turk at Downton.  It even comes to the attention of Carson (who tells the Countess) and the Dowager, who also speaks to The Countess.  The Countess confesses that the stories are true and that she assisted her daughter in hiding the truth.  At first the Dowager is angry, but once again, she proves she is a nice person by coming back to The Countess and apologising and agreeing that if she had the strength, she would have done the same thing.
This episode is building up to the season finale that we now have to wait two weeks for!  Not fair!  Looking forward to the explosive conclusion.  What an exceptional show.

He's just Not That Into You

Being a bloke, this movie did not appeal to me as much as it did for my wife, who watched it twice!  It is an ensemble cast in a movie about relationships that are tentatively (and conveniently) connected.
##SPOILER ALERT!!##  This is the entire movie!
You've got three girls, played by Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Connelly (that must have got confusing!) and Ginnifer Goodwin who all work together.  Aniston is with Ben Affleck who won't marry her even though they have been together for seven years.  His best friend, played by Bradley Cooper, is married to her best friend, Connelly.  Cooper lets Scarlett Johannson jump the queue at the shops one night and she ends up winning an Esky.  She starts flirting with him but he tells her he is married.  Johannson is actually been going out with Real Estate Agent Kevin Connolly but she no longer sleeps with him.  He has just gone on a date with the third girl, Goodwin, who is a desperate girl wanting a guy, constantly waiting for them to call.  She tries to find Kevin but ends up talking with his brother, played by Justin Long who tells her the facts about guys and how they treat women.  She uses him as a sounding board to see if she is dating dopes or not.  Eventually, she falls for him but he doesn't realise he loves her till he rejects her and she walks out on him.  She tells her friends all about the facts about guys, which causes Aniston to leave Affleck, only for him to be there to help when her Father, Kris Kristopherson, has a heart attack.  Meanwhile, Connelly thinks her husband is smoking which he denies (she hates smokers because her Dad died of lung cancer) but all the time he is having an affair with Johannson.  He even tells her so he can leave her but she tries to save the marriage and turns up at his work to have sex with him, just as he was about to have sex with Johannson!  He hides her in the closet and screws his wife while Johannson has to listen.  Afterwards she walks out on him!  Connelly thinks everything is good but then finds more smokes, which is the last straw, so she throws him out.  Now he has no one.  Johannsen goes back to Kevin but she realises he doesn't love her and he ends up with Drew Barrymore (she was a producer), who puts his real estate ads in the paper!
If you are a guy, then my rating of 5/10 is sufficient.  But for girls, you will probably want to give this movie more points.  But seriously, I just wasn't in to this movie.

Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga PS3

I don't own a lot of PS3 games, but what I do tends to gravitate towards movie-related fare.  Now I know that that would almost always mean a crap game, but I am not a serious player and I really only play for the story and the graphics and it is fun to be part of a film in a way.
One of the first games I bought for myself for the PS3 was Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga.  One, it was on special (only cost me $30 - I only buy games on special) and two, it's Star Wars! 
Kids would absolutely love playing this game, especially if you have the Lego.  But for an adult it is a little weak but still fun.  There is no dialogue in this game (I suppose because Lego pieces don't talk [but they can run around and fight with lightsabers for some reason! Oh and they do scream when they go over an edge!]) Some of the puzzles are hard to work out and I am sure that I am not playing this game to it's full potential but it is fun to chill out for an hour and play a couple of chapters.  The game is set up for the entire six movies, and each movie is broken up into chapters.  You start at the Mos Eisley Cantina and you can change which character you want to play with ease.  There are heaps of coins to collect (not sure why though)  and there are always ten secret parts to find in each chapter, though I only ever find one or two.  So far, I am only 9 parts through 160!  Lots of game play ahead (apparently!)
I wouldn't recommend this to the serious gamer, but kids would love it and any Star Wars fan that wants a laugh (there are plenty of irreverent comedy bits in this) and to have a bit of fun, go ahead and play! 

The Defenders - Pilot

A new show to watch - yeah!  But once again, the ugly axe of the networks has chopped this show even before it has begun.  Well that's not true, we got a season, which is better than some shows get.  So the show has got the axe.  Do I invest my time? I always give a show a couple of episodes to grab me and I have to say, I was grabbed by this pilot from the start!
This is not a remake of the 1961 series starring The Brady Bunch's Robert Reed, but actually based on two real life Las Vegas attorney's, Michael Cristalli and Marc Saggese.  The two leads are played by old hat Nick Morelli, played by James Belushi (K-9) and young gun Peter Kaczmarek played by Jerry O'Connell (Sliders).
This first episode has the boys defending a man who is accused of murder when he shoots a man, apparently in the back, that he says were trying to beat his brother to death.  All the evidence points to him being guilty but the boys put their thinking caps on and are able to come up with the truth.  The show is clever in the way the character's arrive at the result they did.  Things must have gone down hill later in the season for this to get cancelled because this is quite a good show.  I will keep watching the season.  Such a shame.

NCIS - Out Of The Frying Pan

Gibbs and his team are ordered by Vance to interrogate the suspect in the murder of an ex-marine.  It happens to be the victim's eighteen year old son.  Vance wants them to get him to confess by any means possible.  While Gibbs at first seems to think it is him as he seems cold and unemotional, he quickly changes his mind, even when Vance steps in and gets the kid to confess.  It is revealed that Vance knew the victim, hence the unorthodox assignment and Vance's behaviour.  Once again, as per normal NCIS, there is at least one other good red herring, but the killer is soon revealed, and it is nothing too shocking.  A reasonable but run-of-the-mill episode.  Three Quarters of the way through the season.  Looking forward to the last half dozen episodes.

NCIS - One Last Score

This episode guest stars JoBeth Williams (Poltergeist) as an ex-Navy officer who embezzled millions of dollars of retired Navy personnel's retirement funds.  All of her property was seized but the missing money was never found.
NCIS, along with numerous other government departments, is going through some reshuffling and downsizing.  One of the staff members who who was fired, turns up stabbed to death with his car boot filled with property he had stolen from the woman's seized belongings.  Gibbs questions her and she says she will name the killer if she can get out of prison.  Against Vance's wishes, Gibbs grants her house arrest, but the killer's name she gives had turned up dead that morning as well.  It turns out the real killer is a mobster who tried to launder his money through the ex-Navy officer but she ripped him off as well!  Now he wants her account book that details where the money is.  He turns up at the house and chases her outside, where the killer and her are arrested.  He for the murders and she for breaking the terms of her house arrest.  This also allows Gibbs to get the account book to locate all the missing money.
Meanwhile, due to the budget cuts, Vance had to bring the Spanish team back to Washington DC.  It is headed by Agent E J Barrett.  Tony divulges to her that he had been offered that role but decided to stay with his team.  They seem to get romantically entangled in the staff showers.  Of course this episode is directed by Michael Weatherly who plays Tony!

The Mentalist - Redacted

The story commences with a burglar in LaRoche's house, which he interrupts.  When the guy is captured outside, Jane's silver Citroen is seen driving away from the scene.
The main story has a man found shot at his work and Jane appears occupied with something else and is not concentrating on this case.  The reason for this is that he hired a known criminal to break in to LaRoche's house to find the list of people who could be Red John, but the burglar couldn't find anything, not even in LaRoche's safe.  He threatens to expose Jane unless he gets him out.  Jane tried to break him out by the crim won't leave unless the charges are dropped!
Of course Jane solves the case (more as an after-thought) but Lisbon wants to know what's on his mind.  He tells her about the criminal.  So she goes down to where the crim is and promptly punches him in the face, which allows him to get out of jail.  But Jane is still no closer to finding Red John.

Cars 2

Pixar do the most amazing movies.  Not just because they continue to break the boundaries of what can be achieved with computer generated images, but because they create astounding characters within wonderful stories.  I remember reading once that Pixar would never make a sequel to any of their movies, and then they brought out Toy Story 2, which was a massive success.  Years later, they decided to revisit the toy box and made the third installment in the 'Story'.  Their next movie was also a sequel, but one to a movie that no one expected.
Cars was not the darling of the Pixar lot.  It wasn't considered a classic along the lines of Toy Story or Finding Nemo, but I have to say, I also enjoyed it.  I loved the fact that it was not only a cool and funny cartoon about talking cars for kids, but it had a comment to make about rural towns that were being left behind when highways bypass them.  It examined the impacts on a town from businesses closing down and the residents moving away, something that John Lasseter himself observed on a road trip with his family and something that can be observed in a number of countries around the world.  When I heard there was to be a sequel, I was equally excited and apprehensive.  How could that write something that matches the quality of the first movie.  Well, I can't say that they truly succeeded.  That's not to say it is a bad movie.  On the contrary, it is quite good, but it is definitely not on the same level of Cars.
This time, they have cleverly mixed James Bond with Cars with the movie starting on the high seas in the middle of the night as British Secret Agent, Finn McMissile (voiced by the ever reliable Sir Michael Caine.  I wonder if they tried to get Sean Connery at all?) who is one cool car, infiltrates a massive oil rig in a sea of oil rigs to gather intel and find his accomplice.  There is a very violent end to one of the henchmen cars that chases after Finn.  He falls off the rig and crashes into the sea, exploding into pieces!  While Finn escapes with some information, he needs to collect a photo from another operative at the Japanese leg of the World Grand Prix.
Meanwhile, after four Piston Cup wins, Lightning McQueen is looking forward to having a break in Radiator Springs but his best friend, Tow Mater, gets him included in the Grand Prix.  The race is being sponsored by Sir Miles Axelrod who has developed an alternative fuel to oil called Allinol.  All race cars must race on Allinol to prove how safe it is.  McQueen takes Mater and the rest of his pit crew with him on his tour of the world.
While at the pre-race party, Mater is accidentally given the photo and then mistaken for the operative and so becomes embroiled in this espionage caper which starts to get nasty when the bad guys show up with a laser that shoots an electro-magnetic pulse that causes the Allinol to explode.  During the race, they aim it at cars and cause their engines to blow up!  McQueen is in the firing line and Mater has to save the day.
So the deeper story is about alternative fuels and corporate entities wanting to control global markets.  Of course there is the kid-friendly story to teach them to accept their friends for who they are and don't try to change them.  But that's pretty well it.
The CGI scenery is pretty impressive, from the wonderful neon city scape of Tokyo to the lovely Italian seaside town to the detailed London streets.  All of these have a Cars-esque touch.  One of my favourites was in place of the Tower Bridge, it's called The Tyre Bridge.  VERY clever and the film is filled with these.  Can't wait to get the Blu-Ray to find them all.  However, considering this is a movie about a race car, there is not enough racing in it.  What there was, was done very well.
This movie is Mater's film, not McQueen's and this is reflected in Larry The Cable Guy (doing Mater's voice) getting top billing over Owen Wilson!
This was a good movie, but it wasn't great.  I am sure that on second viewing, I will appreciate it more, but for my first cinema viewing, I give this 7/10.  Oh and there is nothing after the credits either!

House - Out Of The Chute

The fallout of Cutty dumping House is that House checks himself into a five-star hotel with a bevy of hookers lined up to give him every pleasure he desires.  Unfortunately, nothing appears to be exciting him.  He even shoots a hooker with a bow and arrow in front of the bellhop until it is revealed that it is all fake.  He is trying to create excitement for himself.  Even the case of a bull rider who has seizures and blanks out while in the ring and consequently gets stomped on by the bull, can't get his creative juices flowing.  (I was a bit confused with the resolution to this - they blew up his heart and resewed it together, so that cured him?  I don't get it).  Wilson is constantly trying to fix the problem with House, even going to Cutty, but she explains that she needs to know that if something went wrong, he would be there for her, without needing drugs to do it.  She blames herself.  Wilson turns up at the hotel to find people outside looking up.  He sees House standing on the railing of his balcony, when he jumps!  WTF?!  Of course the show has another season to come so he doesn't die.  He lands in the hotel pool!  Another attempt to give him some excitement.  Another great episode.