The Proposal

I was so looking forward to seeing The Proposal, what with having my favourite actress, Sandra Bullock and the always cool, Ryan Reynolds, in a romantic comedy together, I thought, what could go wrong?  For the most part this is a great movie, but is let down by the handling of the ending of the film.
The story is that Sandra Bullock (Margaret) is a nasty boss at a publishing company and Ryan Reynolds (Andrew) is her long-suffering assistant who does everything for her in the hope of getting a promotion and his own book published.  One day, it turns out that Sandra has not fulfilled all her paperwork for her working visa to continue to work in America (she's Canadian) and is to be deported.  She quickly sees the chance to stay by revealing her and Andrew are engaged.  She just wants to get married to stay and he hates her completely.  They go to immigration but they are on to them and advise them that if this is fraud, then they will go to jail.  Remembering that Andrew was going home to see his parents for the weekend, Margaret quickly says they are going to see them to announce the engagement.  It happens to be in Sitka, Alaska!
They meet his family played by Mary Steenburgen, Craig T. Nelson and Betty White and Margaret discovers that Andrew comes from money, lots of money!  She doesn't understand why he does his job but he doesn't want to follow in his father's footsteps and fights with him constantly.  He wants to write.  the family suggest they get married this weekend on Grandma's birthday!
Of course this is a romantic comedy so the two antagonists fall in love over the weekend (well they realise they love each other).  However, at the wedding, the immigration guy is there and he reveals the cover-up.  Margaret confesses and leaves to go back to New York to get packed for Canada.
Andrew chases after her and confesses his love at their work and they go back to the immigration and advise they do love each other for real!  And that is the ending that I didn't like.  It was over too soon and too conveniently.  I wanted to see more of them together.  And what about the criminal fraud charges?  Such a poor finish to a fun movie. 7/10

Covert Affairs - Good Advices

Oded Fehr (The Mummy) returns to Covert Affairs as Mossad agent Eyal Lavin who is trying to get a secretary working for the Syrian embassy in Paris to become an agent for Mossad.  Meanwhile, Annie has been sent to Paris to do the same thing but for the CIA!  Of course they eventually cross paths.  When the secretary works out what is going on, she pits them against each other, bidding for her allegiance.
It would appear to me that they are really in the Parisian locations?!  Is this true?  This show has a sense of realism to it because of it's location shooting.  I love the 'relationship' between Annie and Eyal.  Keep this going!

Merlin - The Sorcerer's Shadow

A huge tournament is about to occur in Camelot but this one is different, it has no rules.  You can use anything you like to fight with, fight any way you like and kill if you like.  Arther is to go in the tournament this year and Uther remembers when he won it last time.  Morgana sees this as an opportunity to play on Uther's pride and convinces him that he should also compete.
Meanwhile a young man is travelling to Camelot to compete but it is clear to everyone that he won't survive his first fight.  However, he has a secret weapon, a ring that was given to him by his magic wielding father that gives him magical powers and strength. To everyone's surprise, he earns the right to fight and as he gains more victories, he becomes more arrogant.  Merlin sees what he is doing and tries to talk to him but he won't be stopped.  He must avenge his father who died because of Uther.
As the tournament continues, Uther and Arther eventually come together in battle and eventually, Arther gives in and throws the fight.  Uther goes on to fight the boy who can't be beat due to his use of magic.  Will Uther survive?

The Defenders - Nevada v. Reily

This episode has a story about a man who was an ex-football player who starts having delusions and begins assaulting people, thinking they are someone else.  The boys try to defend him to prove his is not responsible for his actions.  Probably not the best handled storyline in the show so far.
The B Story introduces us to Pete's Dad, played by James Brolin!  At first I thought it was Jeff Bridges!!  Pete hates his Dad who appears to be a con artist and petty criminal and only turns up when he wants something.  Everyone else falls for his charms but Pete is so uncomfortable having him around.  Such a shame that this show got cancelled as it would have been good to see this storyline expand further.

Covert Affairs - Begin The Begin

The second season for this great show kicks right off from where the last episode of season one finished (love great continuity).  Ben was shot and is taken to a hospital in Guam to recover, but they are still being hunted and Annie and Ben barely escape with their lives.  They return to DC for Ben's safety but he soon disappears.
Meanwhile, Annie has to get back to work as a handler for a Russian tennis player who tries to tell Annie that she does not need her help.  Annie suspects it is a cry for help and goes over her boss' head to help.  But is the tennis player all that she appears to be?  Will Annie expose herself and lose her job, or worse, her life?
A great return for this show!  Didn't think I'd love this so much!  I really like the opening theme too.

Red Dog

I took the kids to see this Aussie flick that seems to be breaking some records in the Aussie box office.  You see, it is about a little red cattle dog that has no single master, back in 1970's Western Australia.  He hitches a ride with a couple moving moving to Dampier in Western Australia.  He moves from person to person, touching their lives and enriching it.  He then meets American John, the local bus driver, who eventually befriends him and he is the closest he comes to having a master.
Don't be fooled by the sweet reviews and images, this movie has a sad centre that I was just not prepared for and I must say, I am not ashamed to say, I had a few tears flow.
The most amazing this about this film is that it is based on a book by a British author with a French name, Louis de Bernieres, which in turn is based on the recollections of the locals of Dampier and the surrounding areas of the true story of Red Dog!
This is a great looking film, filled with the magnificent reds of the Western Australian desert, juxtaposed with the blues of the dangerous nearby ocean.  It has a great 70's Aus Rock soundtrack too.
The film stars, American Josh Lucas (Hulk) as John, Aussies Rachel Taylor (Transformers) as his love interest Nancy, Noah Taylor (Tomb Raider) as Jack the person who bring Red Dog to Dampier, Luke Ford (The Mummy 3) as Thomas the truckie who comes to town and the story of Red Dog is told to and Keisha Castle-Hughes from the exceptional Whale Rider.
It also has the indomitable Bill Hunter in his second last role before he sadly passed away.
I really enjoyed this film.  It's an Aussie film that dispenses with the silly OTT Aussie stereotypes while maintaining definitive Aussie characters. A wonderful family film that will have you laughing, cheering and crying. 9/10

SciFiNow - Issue 55

Starting to slowly catch up!  Another magazine with another great article on Cowboys & Aliens.  I so wish I had seen this at the cinemas.
New television show, Falling Skies, is featured and I look forward to seeing this as well.  I love Noah Wyle and this show looks fantastic.
The cover story this month is on the movie Captain America, which is another movie I have missed at the cinemas and looks fantastic!  I can't wait to get this on Blu-Ray.  I had no idea of the back story to the character/s and the timeline gave me a good insight.
I loved the interview with Bob Gale regarding the Back To The Future game.  I looked up the site and can see you can by it on DVD now as a special collector's set.  Cool.  I love the idea of using plots not used in the movies.
Another article on The Green Lantern.  I didn't see this at the cinemas either and I don't really want to.  It all looks a bit silly now.  Has anyone seen this?  Was it any good?
Excellent interview with Simon Pegg and his best friend Nick Frost.  Hilarious!
Thanks for the article on William S. Burroughs.  What a strange little man!
Now what I really did like was the complete guide to Land Of The Giants.  I loved this show as a kid and I didn't really know alot about the making of it.  Is this ripe for a big screen remake or what?  It would have to be semi-serious though, just like the show.  No comedians please.  And perhaps make it as a trilogy with them finally getting home at the end of the third movie.  That would be cool.  What this article got me thinking about though was the other great Irwin Allen television series from the same time, The Time Tunnel.  This was my most favourite show when I was young and it really got me into the who time travel scenario for real when they did the story of going back to the attack on Pearl Harbour and one of then runs into himself as a boy.  That just blew my mind and opened it to the immense possibilities out there.  Please do a complete guide on The Time Tunnel!
Completely agree that Batman Begins deserves the mantle of Modern Classic!
Oh and thanks for the Flashback on the original Bionic Woman.  I also loved the Six Million Dollar Man when I grew up.
Can I say, please scrap the personality tests.  They are a bit dumb.  The Matrix one starts with a question if you like leather and the two possible answers are 'yes' and 'yes'?!  Put in a crossword or search word or something.
Another solid issue of SciFiNow.  Keep it up!

NCIS: Los Angeles - Imposters

This episode starts with a man burning to death at a beach-side restaurant.  It turns out this man was beaten and burnt to death and was passing himself off as a U.S. Navy Seal, but he was an imposter.  Apparently he is associated with the missing radioactive canister from 'Overwatch' and the team must work to find it before it is used to build a bomb.
During this episode Hetty is acting strange.  She is talking to everyone (except Callen) and giving away personal items.  She tries to get Deeks to sign a form to join NCIS.  When they are all talking about it at the end of the episode, Callen realises that Hetty is putting her affairs in order.  They rush to speak to her and instead find Lauren Hunter (played by the wonderful Claire Forlani) who informs them that Hetty has resigned and that she is now their boss.
A great cliffhanger to lead into next week's season finale.

Thank You For Smoking

Thank You For Smoking,directed by Ivan Reitman's son, Jason (Juno), is a wickedly written black comedy (based on the book of the same name) about a smoking industry lobbyist by the name of Nick, played by the always brilliant Aaron Eckhart.  He works for The Academy for Tobacco Studies where he must debunk anti-smoking arguments for a living, effectively saying that tobacco being life-threatening has not been conclusively proven.
He has lunch with a member of the pro-gun and pro-alcohol lobby and he is doing well in his job.  He even comes up with an idea to push product placement in films and meets with an agent in Hollywood to get a film made around smokes.
Everything is going well until he meets a woman (isn't that always the way!), Heather, played by Katie Holmes and he falls for her.  He tells her everything about what he does and how he does it and she ends up being a journalist who is writing an expose on him and she reveals his nasty side to everyone and he loses his job and his film deal.
Meanwhile, Nick is fighting a senator who wants to get the skull and crossbones put on every packet of cigarettes and he gets kidnapped by anti-smoking supporters who cover him in nicotine patches.  They would kill most people but because Nick was such a heavy smoker, he was saved!
Nick is doing all this while trying to look after his son and teach him about the power of speech and influence.
This was a great movie and it is interesting to note that none of the actors actually smoke in this film! 8/10

The Defenders - Nevada v. Dennis

A controversial episode where a young man is pulled over and found to have a cache of guns with all the serial numbers filed off.  Does the boy deserve to go to prison for the majority of his life for doing his Grandfather a favour?  You see his Grandfather hates the government and how a person's rights are slowly being eroded away and he feels it is everyone's rights to own a gun.  He sells them but with the serial numbers filed off so the government can't control you.  However, that is illegal as serial numbers are there to protect the public. An interesting story that tries to make the argument for owning guns.
The B story has the Assistant District Attorney Cole, ask Nick to help his sister who is trying to stop a bear from being euthanised after it attacked a drunk who entered it's enclosure.  Of course Nick finds every opportunity to drive out to see the sister as he slowly falls for her.  This was sweet.

Family Guy - It's A Trap!

I am sorry, and I am sure I am about to get a heap of hate mail for this, but I hated this.  I found this completely unfunny and totally puerile.  It felt like they were only doing this for the sake of doing it and not with the same passion they obviously felt towards Blue Harvest and Something, Something, Something Dark Side.  The rotoscope animation is of a high quality again but the jokes are flat.  You're right, it's a trap to get sucked in to watch this.

Family Guy - Something, Something, Something Dark Side

Like the movie it is based on, Something, Something, Something Dark Side is the best Family Guy parody of the original Star Wars Trilogy.  The concept is fun and the rotoscoping of the ships is great.  Some of the jokes push the boundaries of good taste but I suppose that is what this show is all about.  However, I really loved the scene at the end when 'Luke' is hanging under Cloud City and he calls out to Ben, then Tom Selleck and we cut to a real shot of Tom from a movie where he looks up from a book as if he heard something!  Hilarious!  Of course I loved the Back To The Future 2 ending to this as well.  It was a bit silly and some parts are just plain puerile.  A shame really.  I do like Stewy as Darth though!

Empire - Issue 126

I almost had a nerdgasm when I saw the cover of issue 126 of Empire Australia!  The Hobbit is coming! The Hobbit is coming!  Woo Hoo!  And it graces the cover with Gandalf in all his grotty finery and an incredible Bilbo-ish Martin Freeman, um, as Bilbo!  I ABSOLUTELY LOVED The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy and am so happy that Peter Jackson has agreed to complete the story with the 'prequel'.  I love Guillermo Del Toro, but no one could have done The Hobbit justice like Mr Jackson and Fran Walsh.
Oh and there was a little note about Empire turning 10.  Congrats Empire, even though they had turned ten months ago!  And I have every copy to prove it!  Even with these items of extreme brilliance, this issue was a mixed bag going from one extreme of excellence to the other of ho-hum, yep let's move on to the good stuff.  I will mostly rave on about the stuff I like!
Love the image from the trailer for Brave, the next Pixar behemoth to hit the world.  This looks incredible, both with the amazingly detailed animation and the story sounds fantastic.  Can't wait to see this.  Great article on Mia Wasikowska and director Cary Fukunaga on Jane Eyre.  Don't they make a lovely couple?
While the crossword itself was achievable, I couldn't unscramble the name! (I know who it is now!).  I was disappointed in Lance Henriksen's effort in the My Movie Mastermind quiz.  Lucky he's a cool dude!  And speaking of cool dudes, great The grill with Simon Pegg - hilarious!  But why cut Nick out of the shot?
I have to disagree with your VERY slight review of Red Dog which you only gave three stars.  It deserved at least four and also deserved a bigger review.  Come on guys.  You are supposed to be supporting Australian film and finally we have a great Aussie flick that Australians are going to the cinema to see!  It's been a while since this has happened.  Where were you guys?
But lets get on to even more serious stuff - The Journey Begins!!  Yeah!  Thank you so much for my first touch of this incredibly anticipated film.  The Hobbit was my very first 'fantasy' novel and what an introduction to the genre.  Can't wait to see this on film.
Interesting article on Tom McCarthy - what a talented man.
Loved your story choices for your ten year 'retrospective', especially Ben Affleck's rise to legitimate bona-fide Legend status. A hint at Jurassic Park IV to come out of extinction?  The incredibly hot photo of Anne Hathaway, my how she's changed over the years!  Oh and thanks for explaining Mulholland Drive - finally!  I get it now....I think.  And brilliant choice of a story on the Man Who Would Have Been King, Heath Ledger.  The world was robbed of an incredible talent that still had so much to show us.
Great article on Roger Corman too.  Never knew much about him but what a savvy business man!
Once again, I have to disagree with your review of Sucker Punch - does no one get this film?  Everyone is just too scared to jump off the bandwagon.  Rewatch it with an open mind.  A brilliant movie.
Another double-sided poster.  I will KEEP saying it until something changes.  Give us a single-sided unattached full size poster!
And Masterpiece #62 - Sunset Blvd.  Yep, a brilliant film that sticks it to the studios.  Love seeing this film.  Oh and thanks for explaining some of the technobabble - this is invaluable.

Merlin - Queen Of Hearts

Morgana awakes from a nightmare (or is it a prophecy?) of Gwen as Queen of Camelot.  She is adamant that this must not occur and her sister advises her to expose the relationship between Arthur and Gwen to King Uther.  She conspires to have Gwen and Arthur spend a day together outside of the castle and then gets Uther to go horse riding with her and they 'unexpectantly' come across the two lovers!
Uther is incensed and banishes Gwen from Camelot but Arthur fights with Uther and announces he will leave with her.  Morgana takes her chance and points out that Arthur must be under an enchantment by a witch to act like this.  He would never in his right mind give up his throne for a commoner!  Uther demands Gwen be burnt at the stake!
Merlin must do something to save her and comes up with the brilliant plan of coming up with someone else who is the enchanter, him!  He performs a spell to make himself look old and pretends to be laying another enchantment but to be seen.  He tries to escape so he can change back into his true self, but something goes wrong and he can't change!  He may have succeeded in saving Gwen but now will Merlin get burnt at the stake instead?
This was another great episode and we get to see Merlin as he is usually portrayed, as an old man.  There were some fun moments, like when the 'old' Merlin takes this opportunity to rant at Uther and Arthur! And the makeup effects were fantastic, just look at the picture below.

The Perfect Catch

The Perfect Catch is the name that was given to the Drew Barrymore/Jimmy Fallon film, 'Fever Pitch' outside the USA and Canada.  Not sure why, because it is based on the book 'Fever Pitch' by Nick Hornby and the movie based on the book of the same name. (Are you keeping up?) The only difference is that the originals are about soccer and the remake is about Baseball.
This is another romantic comedy for Drew Barrymore which she does so well and this film unfairly doesn't get the acknowledgement of her other films.  This is because, believe it or not, this is an important historic film for both the world of Baseball and Movie Making.  I will get in to that a bit later.
The story has Jimmy Fallon's Ben who is a mad Red Sox fan.  Everything in his life revolves around the team and their games.  His full time job is as a school teacher.  One day, during the off-season, he takes his maths kids to meet Drew Barrymore's Lindsay, a workaholic maths wiz and he is smitten, so he asks her out.  They start to see each other and they slowly fall in love.  He then reveals his love of Baseball.  She is fine with it even though he tries to tell her how much his life is taken over by the game.  She starts to come along but is not really a fan.  She even brings her laptop with her one night but gets knocked out by a ball!  Their love life goes down hill from there.
They split up but Ben realises that Lindsay is more important to him than Baseball and he decides to sell his season tickets.  This is when Lindsay realises he really does love her and that she really loves him too but now she must stop him from selling his tickets.  Can she get to the game and to Ben in time?
The amazing thing about this movie is that it was originally written that the Red Sox lose the World Series, mainly because the last time they won was in something like 1918.  No one would expect that they could even come close.  During filming, the impossible occurred.  The Red Sox started to win!  The producers started to ask, what happens if they win?  No one wanted to say so they didn't jinx them!  As it happened, they got to the World Series final and a decision was made to get Drew and Jimmy to the game.  They turned around in just 3 hours, did their own costume and make up on the plane! They were even able to organise the use of one of the television cameras to film them at the game and would you believe, they won!!  Drew and Jimmy got to run on to the field and hug the players and film a fantastically historic ending to their film!  How many people have had the opportunity to film a real historical event as part of their fictional film?!  Just unbelievably brilliant. 
The DVD has a host of special features including heaps of deleted scenes, a gag real and some featurettes that go in to the historic finale in more detail.
This movie is a lot better than people give it credit for.  Give it a go.  It is a very adult romantic comedy with some good happy times and some terribly sad times, just like real life, and they captured the lightning in a bottle for this.  I really enjoyed this.  7/10.

NCIS: Los Angeles - Plan B

We get to see some background on Deeks this episode when a former friend and informer is being seriously threatened by a violent crime gang and Deeks must go undercover, using reactivating an old alias.  What we come to see is that it is more than an alias, but an entire character, and one that Deeks is not proud of.  He acts differently, dangerously.  You see, Deeks had a 'thing' with his friend's wife and Deeks' 'relationship' with Kensi keeps getting highlighted in this episode as well.
To finish this episode off there are some amazingly explosive stunts.  Can Deeks save his friend or has everything he has been working for been for nothing?
A brilliant episode that is leading into the two part season finale.  Love this show!

Never Been Kissed

I think I may have mentioned this before, but I just love Drew Barrymore.  And even though I am a bloke, I really enjoy Drew in a great romantic comedy.  While Never Been Kissed is not the best of her romantic comedy movies, it has some silly ideas, but it works!
Drew plays Josie Geller, an editor for the Chicago Sun-Times, who wants her big break to become a journalist, but her boss played by John C. Reilly really needs her skills as copy editor.  When the big boss, played by the wonderful Garry Marshall picks her to do an expose on high school life, she thinks she's got it made.
That is, until she tells her brother, Rob, played by David Arquette, and he reminds her that she hated high school and that her nickname was "Josie Grossie"!
Undaunted, she somehow passes for a high school student and tries to fit in to write her story.  She experiences all the humiliation of being a new kid at school, having a crush on the cool guy, trying to fit in with the cool girls, remaining friends with the geeks who took her in when no one else would, go to the prom AND write a story.
To add to it, she falls for one of her teachers played by Michael Vartan (Alias), who, if she wasn't pretending to be a student, would be able to go out with her, but is actually a bit wrong because as far as he is concerned, she is a student and he already has a girlfriend, and yet he is still attracted to her!
I am sure there are many of us who weren't the school jocks or miss popularity winners that could empathise with Josie.
This movie also has Jessica Alba and the film debut of a certain Mr James Franco!
Will she get the guy?  Will she get the story?  Will she have to wear that horrendous prom gown again?
Drew Barrymore once again shows her incredible talent for comedy and being able to shift between vulnerability to commanding a room with conviction.
I've seen this movie a couple of times now, so it can't be bad.  In fact it's pretty damn good! 7/10

The Defenders - Whitten vs. Fenlee

An OK episode of The Defenders this week.  Two stories, as usual.  The first has a woman being arrested for disrupting a work site.  It turns out that her husband was killed on the work site and nothing is being done to change work practices and her husband is being accused of being negligent.  The boys must prove that he wasn't.  Pretty straight episode.  Then the second episode has an internet blogger being sued for revealing how a magic trick is performed by the magician who says he came up with the trick.  This episode guest starred magician, Penn Jillette.  Of course there is no such thing as an original trick anymore.  They are all just variations on a theme.  Pretty run-of-the-mill.

Tarzan - Original Soundtrack

Tarzan was an amazing animated film from Walt Disney Studios and to top it off, they got the brilliant Mr Phil Collins to write and perform the songs for the album.  The wonderful score is composed by Mark Mancina.
There are some great songs on this album, including 'You'll Be In My Heart' which went on to win both the Academy Award and the Golden Globe Award for best original song.  I do love the 'Phil Collins Version' of 'Two Worlds', as opposed to the one he sings at the beginning of the film!!
who doesn't love the Phil Collins and Rosie O'Donnell pairing up on 'Trashin' The Camp'?!  Have you tried to sing along to this?  I dare anyone to try and not be in fits of laughter while doing so!
Of course it is wrapped up with another two great songs, 'Son Of Man' and 'Strangers Like Me'.
Phil Collins has this unmistakable way of being able to tell a story along with great music.  And it is all accompanied with the wonderful music of Mr Mancina.
A must have for all Phil Collins fans!

Take It Easy - Various Artists

My wife bought this album on iTunes and at first all I could think of was that if I like this album, I am turning into my Father!  You see it is filled with twenty easy-listening songs that are getting on a bit.  Actually I do like this album as each song is a classic and I would like to share them with you because some of them (of course) have been used in movies!
1. Moondance by Van Morrison: Van Morrison is such a cool kat and I just love his music and sound and this particular song was used in the sex scene in 'An American Werewolf In London'.  This film holds some great memories for me as it was my first 'M' rated film I got to see without adults, and of course there were breasts in it!  I was only 13 or 14!
2. Everybody's Talkin' by Harry Nilsson & George Tipton: Also known as (Theme from Midnight Cowboy) it became synonymous with the Dustin Hoffman film.  It is also used in Forrest Gump and Borat.
3. Summer Breeze by Seals & Croft: has been used in 'Dazed and Confused', 'King Of California', 'Shrek The Halls' and 'Land Of The Lost'.
6. Mrs. Robinson by Simon & Garfunkel: Another song synonymous with another Dustin Hoffman film, 'The Graduate', it has been used in a number of other films over the years, including 'Rumour Has It...', 'Wayne's World 2', 'American Pie', 'Forrest Gump' (again!), 'My Mom's New Boyfriend', 'The Holiday' and 'The Other Sister'.
7. Lay Lady Lay by Bob Dylan: This was supposed to also be in the movie 'Midnight Cowboy' but was not finished in time!
13. Magic Woman by Santana: Actually 'Black magic Woman', a cover of the Fleetwood Mac song, it is known more for it's Santana version which has shown up on the soundtracks for 'Detroit Rock City' and 'Anger Management'.
If you want to check out the other songs, track down the album.  You won't be disappointed.

Merlin - Love In The Time Of Dragons

The wonderful Pauline Collins co-stars in this week's episode as an 'old-flame' of Gaius by the name of Alice.  A man is miraculously cured and Gaius recognises the work of his old love who he hasn't seen since the great scourge.  You see, King Uther had all people accused of using magic killed and Alice was a healer, so to save her life, Gaius sent her away.
Now she is back and working alongside Gaius and he hasn't been happier.  Then Merlin spies Alice with a creature, that he ends up working out as a mystical Manticor.  He tries to warn Gaius but he won't have any of it, thinking Merlin is jealous.
But the Manticor has Alice under its spell and wants to use her to kill Uther.  How will Merlin stop the Manticor, save Uther and keep Gaius as his closest friend?

Leroy & Stitch

I absolutely loved the movie Lilo & Stitch, with it's wonderful hand painted backgrounds, excellent characters, great music and wonderful writing.  There were a couple of spin off DVD movies and a television series where Lilo & Stitch have to round up all 625 experiments.  This DVD release is set after they are all round up and the crew are rewarded with placements throughout the galaxy, but not together.  While they thought this would be exciting, they realise they miss each other.
Meanwhile, Captain Gantu breaks Dr Hamsterviel out of prison.  He tracks Jumba down and forces him to create experiment 627, Leroy.  Worse of all, he then clones an army of the evil version of Stitch!  This is the best thing for our crew as they can once again gather together to fight this scourge!
While the animation is not to the same standard as the original movie, it is the same level as the other movies and TV series.  The best thing is that all of the original voice actors continue to supply the voices for the characters including: Chris Sanders as Stitch, Daveigh Chase as Lilo, Tia Carrere as her sister Nani and Jason Scott Lee as her boyfriend David, David Ogden Stiers as Jumba, Kevin McDonald as Pleakley, Kevin Michael Richardsonas Captain Gantu, Zoe Caldwell as Grand Councilwoman and Ving Rames is back as Cobra Bubbles!
The thing that really impressed me is that there were a number of Elvis songs in the original movie and there are two original Elvis songs in this one!  No short cuts here.
The story isn't bad and while the animation isn't top notch it is OK.  Voice acting is excellent.  This is a must have for any Stitch fan.  Oh and the DVD comes with a bonus episode of the television series and a very simple remote control game where you get to pilot the Big Red Battleship in a 'simulator'.  This was a lot better than I thought it would be. 6/10

SciFiNow - Issue 54

I know it has been nearly four months since I have done a review of my favourite SciFi magazine, but I can explain!  You see, I have read a couple of novels and then my computer died and I ended up getting a long way behind in writing my blog posts and one of those is for SciFiNow magazine.
I do have to say though that the cover for issue 54 is the grossest cover I have ever seen (see below) to the point that my newsagent were a bit worried about having it on the shelves!!  Now because we here in Australia are about two-three months behind ANYWAY, pus my being behind in writing up my posts, the information in this magazine is incredibly out of date.  There are movies in it that have come and gone and also TV shows (though with their past experience, that could happen to any show at any time!).  So, stick with me, on with the review!
In portal, there is an intro to The Amazing Spider-man.  I am still not sure about this as I have some fond feelings for the Sam Raimi trilogy (yes, even number three!).  We find out that there is to be a Thor 2 - cool!  Priest, Super 8 and cowboys and Aliens are all coming out, well have already come out!  There is even an article on the cast of V awaiting the decision on whether they will get to do season 3!  Such a shame as I was really enjoying that show.  New DrWho, a quick update on the new Hobbit movie and Clash of the Titans 2 and is the Wonder Woman TV show doomed (YES!).  A verdict on Game of Thrones, which I still have not seen as I don't have cable, so will have to wait for the Blu-ray!
The cover story is on The Walking Dead season two.  Once again, haven't seen this and can't wait to see it.  Might just have to buy the Blu-ray for season 1 and see how I go.  This was a really great article that made me want to see this show even more.
Going back to Super 8, there is a look at how some sections of the Super 8 trailer are similar to some of Steven Spielberg's other movies.  Yep, his touch is all over this.  But it is a homage to his movies, so of course there are going to be similarities.
Neil Gaiman talks Dr Who and then a great article on X-Men: First Class.
A 'What If' article where what if the original actor/director were attached to a certain successful movie. Would it have been better?  Some of these I knew, but some were new to me.  I have to disagree about your concerns on Sam Neill.  I think he is an exceptional actor and why wouldn't you want an action figure of Sam Neill?  I wish I knew the man.  He seems to be not only a great actor but a brilliant human being.  Unlike Mr Cranky Pants, Harrison Ford.
There was a big article on The Green Lantern.  Now I knew NOTHING about this story before I read this article and I was not interested in seeing this movie.  But after reading this, I am intrigued.  I did not get to the cinema to see it, but I will be buying it on Blu-ray.  Thanks for a really in depth article Mr Gross.
We got to see some images from Pirates Of The Caribbean 4.  Looking forward to getting this on DVD for my collection.
A great interview with Primeval stars Hannah Spearitt and Andrew-Lee Potts.  I love this show.  I have the first two seasons.  I can't wait to own all of this series.In your reviews section, I totally disagree with your review of Sucker Punch.  One star?  Are you kidding me?  And Red Riding Hood got two?  I wish reviewers would stop jumping on the 'cool' bandwagon to trash a movie because someone else is.  There is more to this film than the 'cut of their dress and their weapon of choice'.  Look deeper and appreciate it for what it really is - all about female empowerment.  Or do you feel threatened by a chick in a short skirt?
I loved the article on Lewis Carroll, but I wish you would stop saying it is a classic fiction article and that it is about a book, because it is always about the life of the author.  Just say it is about the author, or give us an article specifically about the history of the book.  One or the other please.
Great retro article on The Twilight Zone!  I just bought the DVD box set of all five seasons, not realising a Blu-ray release was imminent with even more extra features!  Damn!
I have to disagree with Total Recall being a classic film.  I wasn't that impressed and I love SciFi, Phillip K Dick, and Arnold Schwarzenegger!
Thanks for the article on Ridley Scott and the look back at Beauty and The Beast.  I never watched the show but it was a favourite of a friend of mines.  I thought about buying this, but I am glad I didn't after reading this article and the way the series ended.  Thanks for saving me money!
I don't think the personality test is working too well.  It's a bit of a waste of time and space.  Hell, apparently I am the Alien Queen, even though I am a 'puny male'!  Why not do a crossword puzzle or word search or something?
Another big, no HUGE, issue of SciFiNow!  Love this mag!

Body Of Proof - Dead Man Walking

This is another excellent episode of Body of Proof!  This show is so well written.  I can't believe the number of red herrings one show can cram in to one hour of television!  How the hell anyone can pick the killer is beyond me, which is great.  It kept me guessing through the whole episode.
So this story commences with a man, obviously very sick, being followed by an African-American man in what looks like a suspicious way.  The sick man calls out for help. He is later found dead.  After some investigation, Dr Hunt finds that the man had just had surgery and he was not clipped up correctly and he bled to death internally.  Was this intentional or just a terrible accident, a case of malpractice?
First off they make it look like the African-American killed him, then when they figure out it was to do with the surgery, it comes back to: was it the surgeon who is lax in his job?  Was it his nurse who points the finger at the surgeon?  Is it the surgeon's boss?  Or is it the victim's wife who is linked to the place where the African-American works?  So was it him after all or was the wife meeting someone else at the same place?
This really is just brilliant!
The 'B' story this week has Ethan falling for the twin sister of a woman (played by Firefly's Christina Hendricks who interestingly has also supplied the voice for the animated Lois Lane along with Dana Delany!) who dies suddenly of a blood clot while staying in a hotel room.  At first they believe she got DVT, but the twin advises that her sister hadn't been on a plane.  Ethan discovers it's hereditary and that the twin could also die from the same thing.  Can he save her AND go out with her at the same time?
A very cleverly written episode again.  If you are not watching Body Of Proof, you need to start watching now!

Body Of Proof - Talking Heads

This episode of Body of Proof was very well written with heaps of red herrings which keeps you guessing all the way.  It starts with homeless man finding a hand sticking out of the ground with what appears to be a body buried.  However, Dr Hunt discovers it is merely a hand and a foot.  The victim has been cut up into pieces!  Using all her knowledge she is able to work out information about the victim.  As more pieces turn up, they work out who the victim is and where he lives.  On the night he died, he had just won $25,000 at the Casino.
Was the killer the woman he left with from the Casino?  Who was the mystery man in the car that picked him up outside?  Was it his daughter and son-in-law who had been paying for his medical bills?  Why are they caught with the $25,000 cash?  Was it the building manager who wanted to turn the apartment into a luxury unit? Or was it one of his neighbours who fought with him, or even their 'nanny'?
I don't want to give anything away, but there are so many possible killers this time and it was really clever the way this all comes together.
While this is all happening, Megan's daughter, Lucy, decides to do a school project where she videos one of her parent's work places.  Megan is at first happy she was chosen, then not happy due to working with corpses.  When she ends up having to agree (she didn't really get much of a choice) she tries to control it with pre-set questions that must only be asked.  Of course, none of the staff stick to the questions.  What this does is give Lucy a new respect for her Mother and what she does and it reflects in the video she ends up handing in.
One of the best episodes so far.

Merlin - The Eye Of The Phoenix

As a rite of passage, Arthur must undergo a quest alone to prove his suitability to sit on the throne of Camelot.  His quest is to retrieve the Golden Trident from the Castle of The Fisher King.  Morgana immediately seizes the opportunity to get rid of Arthur once and for all.  She gives Arthur a bracelet for good luck, but in truth, it is sapping him of his life and slowly killing him while he wears it.  While Arthur has forbade Merlin to come along, Merlin finds out about the bracelet, finds Gwaine, and together they set out to find Arthur before it is too late.
Of course they find him being attacked and Merlin gets rid of the bracelet allowing Arthur to recover.  When he does, he is not happy that they have saved him as he is supposed to be doing this alone.  Reluctantly, he agrees to them coming along.
In order to cross in to the realm of The Fisher King, they must pass over a bridge that is being blocked by a dwarf named Grettir, played by the wonderful Warwick Davis, who reveals that Arthur is 'Courage', Gwaine is 'Strength' and Merlin is 'Magic'.  In the castle, Merlin is separated from the other two and finds himself with The Fisher King sitting in his throne all these centuries, awaiting Merlin to come.  You see, the quest was Merlin's not Arthur's.  The Fisher King gives Merlin water from the Lake of Avalon that will help him see the way when Camelot's need is darkest.
This was a great episode (I loved The Fisher King) and was indicative of the high quality of writing this show has been developing, especially over this third season.

The Defenders - Nevada vs Killa Diz

This was not one of the best episodes of The Defenders with some lazy writing for the sake of the story.  Plus, perhaps I am a little slow, but the resolutions seemed a bit confusing to me.
At a rap concert, someone shoots and kills a rapper and an 'innocent' female bystander.  The police believe it is a rival rapper called Killa Diz and his manager employs Nick and Pete to defend him.  However, the manager, wants to ensure Killa Diz retains his 'killa' reputation and has Killa perform a rap where he confesses to killing the two people.  Of course, the police arrest him.
Meanwhile Pete is helping a man accused of internet hacking crimes but as the wrong person.  He has to prove he is not who the police think he is.  While in jail, he gets to a computer (this is where the episode lost me.  How does someone accused of computer hacking crimes gets access to a computer in prison?) and is able to get through the prison firewalls and hack in to post his own bail and get himself out of jail! I am sorry but that is a bit of crap.
Meanwhile Killa Diz does a runner and then posts a rap online saying he is innocent and of course they use the hacker to locate where the video was posted from.
I didn't get how it was shown that he didn't kill the two people and the criminal hacker got off on his crimes because he gave up a bigger fish.  A poor episode overall.

Cars - Original Soundtrack

I love a good Disney film and it's accompanying soundtrack, but I especially love Pixar's work and just to show how different they are to Disney, they released a soundtrack to Cars that is a compilation of different performers that works SO WELL!  I just love this album!  It is a mix of Rock and Country with half of it being songs with vocals and the rest being orchestral.
Firstly it opens with the wonderful Sheryl Crow singing Real Gone, to get your motor revving!  Then the classic Chuck Berry Route 66 which gets a reprise later on, redone brilliantly by John Mayer.  The Rascal Flats give us their version of Life Is A Highway.  But it's not all rockin' songs, there are some wonderfully thoughtful songs that really tug on the heartstrings, including Brad Paisley singing two beautiful songs, Behind The Clouds and Find Yourself.  These are my favourite tracks on the album.  Listen to the words people for a dose of perspective and a self-pick-me-up.  The exceptional Mr James Taylor sings My Town, man I love this guy's voice, always have! Finally a great old ditty, Sh-Boom by The Chords.  Try and keep up and sing along without cracking a laugh or two!  Hank Williams even gets song in there!
As I said the rest of the album is the orchestral music by the ever dependable, Randy Newman.
I love this movie, but the soundtrack stands on it's own.  If you love a great driving album to listen to, you can't go past Cars.

Born Of Hope - Original Soundtrack

You may recall I did a review for the soundtrack for a fan-made film called The Hunt For Gollum which is made in the same mold as Peter Jackson's Lord Of The Rings Epic Trilogy.  I consider this film to be a bloody masterpiece.  What the film makers were able to achieve, along with the music is simply astounding.  Well, the crew is back for a second story, called Born Of Hope, this time based on the childhood of Aragorn and his Mother and Father.  Now I must confess that I STILL have not had the time to sit down and watch this epic film (it goes for 70 minutes), which anyone can watch online for free.  Again, there is a soundtrack which anyone can also download for free and I have been listening to this lately and would like to share my thoughts.
While I simply love listening to the soundtrack for THFG, there were only three composers on it and that gave it a feeling of one singular soundtrack.  Unfortunately, the same can't be said for Born Of Hope.  There are five composers and a further six contributors!  Because of this, the soundtrack lacks a sense of cohesiveness.  While THFG sounded like something Howard Shore had written, only a percentage of pieces on this soundtrack have the feeling of being a part of the Lord Of The Rings legacy.  Don't get me wrong, this is also a great accomplishment, but it needed to be tighter and under a smaller number of composers.
I have to say, the first half of the soundtrack is pretty, dare I say it, 'boring'.  It is generic bass sounds with the barest of melody.  However, I have to say the pieces by Rob Westwood are the most "Rings" sounding from Arador’s Blessing and Dírhael’s Approval to Aragorn Grows Up and The Fight For Survival and The Dúnedain Prevail to Arathorn's Final Battle and Gilraen Leaves for Rivendell.  All of his tracks are simply just magical to listen to.  I love the female singing at the end of Arathorn's Final Battle as well, it is so haunting and beautiful.
Adam Langston returns from THFG and some of his pieces are also very beautiful but I have to make special mention of Tobias Bublat's Ivorwen’s Foresight which incorporates a theme on The breaking Of The Fellowship but quicker and with his own unique flourish.  Just lovely.
The Wedding by David Finnamore sounds like something you might hear in an English medieval village county fair by a bunch of folk musicians.  This is not necessarily a bad thing but it really stands out as something different from the rest of the soundtrack and doesn't seem to fit snugly with the rest of the sound.
The final track Bloodline of the Kings by Jonathan Glew is growing on me.  I must say, when I heard it the first time, I really didn't like it.  But the more I listen to this soundtrack, the more I find I don't mind it and have found myself singing it at random times.
So in short, this is not as good a soundtrack as the one for The Hunt For Gollum, but there is some real gold to be found here.  Don't forget, this is all fan-made.  It is astonishing what they have all achieved.  I really can't wait to sit down in front of my computer and watch Born Of Hope, instead of spending my time typing.  A review for it will be coming soon, I promise.
In the meantime, here is the link to the website: http://www.bornofhope.com/ Make sure you check it out.

Empire - Issue 125

It's been a long while since I wrote a post on Empire because I was reading some novels and then my computer died and I got a bit behind in my writing of my posts, so I am slowly catching up.
Issue 125, which is dated August but came out in July, excited the hell out of me because it had Daniel Craig on the cover from Cowboys and Aliens (which I am ashamed to say, I didn't get the chance to go and see!  I will buy the Blu-Ray, I promise!)  Once again, the issue came with a free copy of Empire, which I already own.  Come on guys, cut this out.
This month there was a lovely tribute to the late Bill Hunter who sadly passed away in May of this year.  I am sorry to say, but I didn't work out the jumbled entertainer's name in this issue's crossword.
Thank you for the fantastic article on the above mentioned Cowboys and Aliens.  I wish I had been able to catch this at the cinemas.
Mel Gibson's movie, The Beaver, sort of gets an article.  Well, it's more about Mel, and I have to say I am really proud of Jodie Foster for standing by Mel considering the past couple of years.  I have always been a fan and hope he gets to make many more great movies.
Being a fledgling film maker in my younger years, I was fascinated by the "My First Movie" story talking to Steven Spielberg, J.J. Abrams, Zack Snyder, Nick Park, Chris Columbus, Edgar Wright and Joe Dante.  If only I had stuck with my passion, what could I have achieved?  At least we have these guys.
An absolutely brilliant interview with Rob Lowe on his autobiography.  Gee this was enlightening to read.  I am definitely going to track down this book.  Loved him in The West Wing and it was great to hear how he lived down the road from the Sheen's and grew up with them and that Martin took him under his wing.
Andy Serkis is astounding in his ability to bring CGI characters to life on screen and deserves an Oscar for his incredible ability.  The story on his work on Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes was a winner.
I knew nothing about the movie Hanna until I read this article and of course I missed it at the cinemas too (and I call myself a film lover!).  Can't wait to get this on Blu-Ray.
I knew a lot about Apocalypse Now as it was required viewing for my University degree so I knew alot that was in the article by Ian Freer, but there were still a number of gold nuggets hidden to be enjoyed.  It was great to read such an intelligently written article by a fan who had access to Francis Coppola.  I really enjoyed the writing style of this article.
And yes, more free posters.  I will harp on about this until this is changed.  Please, if you want to give us a free poster, make it single sided and not a part of the book that has to be torn out.  Keep it separate.
I have disagree with a line in the Apocalypse Now Blu-Ray review.  Kim Newman says "If there's a more important Blu-ray release this year, we'll be surprised".  Boy, how did you feel when Star Wars came out on Blu-ray??  I have to say, I think the Saga was more important than the Apocalypse.
Anyway, yet another BRILLIANT issue of Empire.  If you are not a subscriber or don't buy this every month, you must be mad!

The Defenders - Las Vegas vs Johnson

The boys decide to take on a controversial case of defending a woman, nicknamed "Black Betty" who is accused of killing her famous Vegas entertainer husband.  It looks like she and her boyfriend killed him and stole a lot of silver, perhaps he interrupted them while they were stealing the silver?
This was a very interesting case as the woman is not very likable, but the boys stick with it and (spoiler alert) it comes out that the silver actually belonged to the woman and she was leaving her husband for being a drug addict and for his abuse of her.  It turns out that the husband had passed out in a drug addled stupor and had suffocated himself in the lounge pillows.  The boys win again!

Chris Cornell - You Know My Name

I was not a fan of Daniel Craig as Bond, before I saw Casino Royale.  I was a big Pierce "Remington Steele" Brosnan fan, as well as Sean Connery, but I have to say, I don't mind Craig as Bond.  Being a huge Bond fan, I always looked forward to the next Bond theme song but I never got to hear Chris Cornell (Soundgarden) sing "You Know My Name" until I saw the film, and I simply loved it!  I really loved the title sequence that the song played over with the simple white background and silhouette's and card suit shapes.  I love the words, which for me, were more about that even though the face and actor has changed, he is still Bond.  But it also reflected the gritter touch to the film and Bond's first assignments.
I like Cornell's vocals too.  It was good to hear a male voice again.  A great song and one of my favourites from the Bond collection.  Much better than the theme for Quantum of Solace!!

INXS - The Years 1979-1997

When I was in high school, I started to try out listening to bands that I considered cool but was not what I would normally listen to.  Everyone was listening to INXS and I wanted to be in the 'in crowd' so I listened to them as well.  What surprised me was that I really loved listening to their music.  It was different.  It had some great beats plus a mix of guitar and saxophone and I could identify with the lyrics and sing along.  INXS became one of my all time favourite bands because they were Australian, had been formed by family members and friends and were now famous around the world.  I felt like I was a part of something.
As the years went on, I preferred their earlier 80's music but stuck with them through the death of Michael and their attempts to remain a band by having various guest lead singers.
The double disc CD, The Years 1979-1997 are all their hits from before the time of J.D. Fortune, in chronological order.  There are simply too many songs on this album to list as my favourites.
But as usual, I wouldn't be talking about an album unless there was a film connection and there are two songs from the first disc that were featured in the 1984 movie soundtrack for 'Reckless' starring Aidan Quinn and Daryl Hannah.  The two songs are 'The One Thing' and 'To Look At You' and helped introduce INXS to a North American audience.
This is one of the best INXS compilations but the actual albums are the way to go.  There are so many songs not on this best of that also deserve a wider audience.

Star Trek - The Animated Series

A few years after the demise of The Original Series, the decision was made to continue the adventures of the crew of The Enterprise in an animated form.  The animation, while not of a very high standard boasts great likenesses of the actors as well as joined with the original actor's voices.  The only actor who was not included was Walter Keonig due to monetary issues, but he ended up writing an episode!
The series even earned an Emmy!
The difference with this 'cartoon' compared to others is that writers from the original series returned to write for this and even continue some of their stories from the live action episodes.
There are 22 episodes with most having deep storylines that while Gene Roddenberry always said weren't canon are now considered so.
The DVD set comes with a few special features, including a 24 minute making of which is incredibly enlightening, 'What's The Star Trek Connection?' which shows scenes or ideas from the animated series and how they have come up in the live action series over the years.  I really liked this!  the last feature is a VERY brief word document on the background of the show.
I really enjoyed rewatching these shows (I haven't seen them since I was a kid) especially just after watching TOS.  I think they did a fantastic job of making sure this was truly Star Trek.
A must have for any Star Trek fan.

Body Of Proof - Helping Hand

Another great episode of Body Of Proof has Dr Hunt rethinking how she thinks about her 'patients'.  She is sent to investigate a death in a hotel room only to find the victim was an ex-patient of hers.  Things don't seem right to her and of course she does some detective work to discover that the death was murder and it is really well done how she reconstructs the crime.

The X-Files: I Want To Believe - Original Soundtrack

The Mark Snow music for The X-Files film I Want To Believe is the most un-X-Files sounding music so far in my collection.  Don't get me wrong, this is good movie music but a little generic and not what I was expecting.  Pretty much mirroring the movie really.

The X-Files: Fight The Future - The Album

This is not the soundtrack to the movie (I still have to buy that!) but songs from the film.  Interestingly, there is no Mark Snow on this album with the theme music being supplied by Mike Oldfield with "Tubular X" and The Dust Brothers providing a version. 
Like Songs In The Key Of X, this album features some big names providing 'alternative' music.  Filter to a big version of 'One'.  The only other version I knew of this song growing up in Australia was Johnny Farnham.  Johnny this ain't!  I loved the film clip that accompanied this song as it had CSM himself in it!
Other bands include Tonic, Foo Fighters (again), The cardigans, which I love doing a great song, "Deuce'. Better Than Ezra, The Cure and Bjork all provide great songs as well.
The Album is rounded out with Soul Coughing showing up again and interestingly Sarah McLachlan and finally Noel Gallagher doing a great musical number!
Another great X-Files album.

The Truth And The Light - Music From The X-Files

Mark Snow was singlehandedly creating orchestral soundtracks for the hour long The X-Files on a weekly basis.  This wasn't the generic stuff that accompanies most TV shows, but music on a level of any film soundtrack, because each week, the show was like a mini movie.
The Truth And The Light collects many of the key musical scenes in the shows early seasons.  Each track has a wonderful Latin name and between tracks, there are voice tracks from the actors in the show.
This is a really fantastic soundtrack album considering it is for a television show and was made possible by one man on on machine!
A must have for any XPhile.

The X-Files: Songs In The Key Of X

Being the huge XPhile that I am, I remember when I first heard about this album.  I was picking up my wife from work one night and while sitting in the car, I was listening to a radio station talking about this new album based on The X-Files!  I immediately started listening, because let's face it, if it had anything to do with The X-Files, I bought it!  They were giving away a free copy if you called in with a true supernatural story.  I immediately pulled out my Nokia mobile (because Mulder had one - anyone noticed my online name?), called in and told them of a particular experience I had had.  Guess what?  I won a copy!
The first thing I noticed is that it was mainly very 'alternative' music, which I have to say, I was not into, but I really liked this album after a couple of listening sessions.  But I was really surprised at the number of big name performers that contributed songs to the album: Sheryl Crow (I love 'On The Outside', it is so haunting), Foo Fighters, R.E.M. does the back up music for cyberpunk author William S. Burroughs to provide the words to 'Star Mr Kitten'.  'Star' stands for something else, so probably not suitable for the kiddies! Who can forget Duane Barry listening to Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds 'Red Right Hand' with Scully in the boot! Filter, Frank Black, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Rob Zombie and Alice Cooper all contribute.  There is a great song, 'My Dark Life' by the wonderful Elvis Costello joining up with Brian Eno from Roxy Music.
Of course, Mark Snow's iconic X-Files theme opens the CD and P.M. Dawn does a remix to close the CD.
A little known thing is that when I used to play the CD on my player, if I went to track one, pressed play and then held down the rewind button, it would reveal that there were two hidden tracks BEFORE the first song.  However, I have never been able to get it to the start of the first song and I can't replicate it on my computer.  There was a little hint on the CD liner notes saying "Nick Cave And The Dirty Three would like you to know that "0" is also a number".  I have done a little investigating today and found they are hidden in a 'pre-gap' before song 1 and most modern players can't find the pre-gap.  This sucks.  If anyone knows how to get these songs in to iTunes easily, please let me know!

Burn Notice - Hot Property

Hot Property was directed by Jonathan Frakes and had a special guest star in Richard Kind, who plays Jesse's old boss, Marv.  He likes Marv and is upset that he has to trick him into helping them with information about an auction for the list of people who burnt Michael.
Meanwhile the main story has the Michael and the team trying to locate and recover a stolen chemical weapon with an old female nemesis, Natalie Rice, who makes a shocking entrance killing a man in cold blood.  Nasty!
Not a bad episode.

The Constant Gardener

I was looking forward to seeing this film, what with it starring Rachel Weisz and Ralph Fiennes, however I had mixed feelings after seeing it.
The story has Ralph Fiennes character, Justin, a British diplomat in Africa, meet Rachel's character Tessa, who is a very outspoken person regarding human rights in Africa and what the British Government are doing about it.  They marry and Tessa continues her work, upsetting people with her bold and forthright behaviour.  However, the movie is incredibly slow in the beginning and the portrayal of Tessa is one of an unfaithful woman who will do anything for her cause.  You will find it very difficult to like her and be sympathetic when she is found murdered.  But stick with this slow-burn of a film because this is where it gets interesting.  At first Justin starts to grow a backbone and investigate the death of his wife even though he is finding out things about her that he doesn't like.  But as he digs deeper, he finds a conspiracy involving a pharmaceutical company that goes right up to the high ranks of the British Government.   Why was his wife murdered and by whom?  And was Tessa really the terrible person that is portrayed in Justin's recollections? 
The movie has a disappointing ending that is able to bring about the downfall of the bad guys but was the final result necessary?

##SPOILER ALERT##
I supposed the final result was necessary, because he really loved Tessa and discovered that his suspicions of her infidelities were unfounded and that she really did love him.  He had nothing else to live for, so he sacrificed himself to achieve the final goal of bringing down the company and the despicable government officials involved.

This was a thought provoking movie.  7/10

Glee - New York

This was the season two finale and apparently the most expensive episode made so far at a cost of $6Million. Now let me say straight out that I love this show, but I have to say, I really didn't like this episode.  It seems like such a waste.  Here are the kids from New Directions finally making it to Nationals, but again they don't win.  I say again, because at the end of last season, they lost Regionals.  Is this the way each season is going to end?  This was so discouraging and disappointing to watch.  The original songs weren't much chop either.  I'll give it one more season but if they lose again, I won't be back for season four.

Merlin - The Castle Of Fyrien

Morgause's ally, Cenred, kidnaps Gwen from Camelot only to show her he has also kidnapped her brother, Elyan.  Cenred threatens to kill her brother if she does not go back to Camelot and bring Arthur to him.  Of course Arthur will do anything for her, just as Morgana has predicted.  She even volunteers to come along, revealing the secret entrance to her sister that the little band is to use to rescue Elyan.  Will they rescue Elyan or will someone not return to Camelot?

Body Of Proof - Letting Go

A man and a woman are found shot dead in a car parked by the river in an apparent murder-suicide but it only takes Dr Megan Hunt (Danan Delaney) to look at the bodies to work out that something else is going on and that it is in fact murder-murder.  A very clever story.  I dare you to pick the killer.

Body Of Proof - Pilot

Body Of Proof, for those who are as old as I am, is like Quincy M.D., except with a beautiful woman as the Medical Examiner, played by the beautiful Dana Delaney.  She is Dr Megan Hunt and this first episode deals with the find of a woman's body in the river.  Dr Hunt thinks there is more to this death and starts investigating.  As the investigation goes on, we learn about her.  She was a successful neurosurgeon (but one that didn't see patients as people), who was in a terrible car accident.  Her hands are affected and go numb and due to this, she inadvertently kills a patient.  She resigns immediately and after some time, takes up the position of Medical Examiner.  She figures you can't kill someone who is already dead!
Due to what happened with her work, her private life also fell apart, with her husband divorcing her and getting full custody of their 12 year old daughter.  I have to say, the only down side to this show is that the daughter acts older than any 12 year old I know.  They should have made her 16 or to act more like the child a 12 year old would be.
The story is filled with the usual red herrings any show worth it's salt should have so that you are kept thinking and working along with it and you won't guess who the killer is.
The show is quite good.  Dana Delaney is excellent and the show also stars Jeri Ryan and Australia's Nicholas Bishop.

Wanted - Original Soundtrack

Wanted, starring Angelina Jolie and James McAvoy was a movie that I was not expecting and as such I really enjoyed.  One of the things I also enjoyed was it's soundtrack, which I listen to often.  Created by the masterful, Danny Elfman, it has a very 'Russion' feel (I suppose in recognition of director, Timur Beckmambetov) but every now and then there is a very real touch of the original Danny Elfman Batman soundtrack in there.  Danny Elfman even sings on this soundtrack!  Yep, the song that plays over the end credits, The Little Things is actually not bad (not great, but not bad) and along with the rest of the music has a real attitude to it.  It is a great pounding beat that is great to drive to!

The Very Best Of The Bee Gees

The Bee Gees come from my home town of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia and they even played my Mum's 'formal' when she was in high school!
Everyone knows the songs they have done for the movie Saturday Night Fever (Staylin' Alive, How Deep Is Your Love, Night Fever, More Than a Woman, Jive Talkin' and You Should Be Dancing).  They also show up in various different films including:

• Stayin' Alive: Airplane (Flying High for us Aussies!), Staying Alive, The Bounty Hunter, Madagascar, Mars Attacks!, Swingers, Chicken Little and Meet Dave.
• You Should Be Dancing: Despicable Me
• More Than a Woman: Short Circuit. (Where I fell in love with Ally Sheedy).

But their Very Best Of has so many other songs that are just brilliant, From New York Mining Disaster 1941, to I've Got To Get a Message To You and Saved By The Bell, to their later works like You Win Again.  Another great Best Of Album!

The Very Best of Roy Orbison

Roy Orbison is one of the finest singer/songwriters to ever walk the earth.  I can't imagine one song of his that anyone could say they didn't like.  Once again, a performer I grew up with listening to my parent's old 33 records but then he made a resurgence in the 80's, my time.  I just had to have his best of album.  However, I am absolutely blown away by how many of his songs have featured in movies.  Here is a list of songs from the Very Best of collection that have featured in films, thanks to IMDB:

• Oh, Pretty Woman: The Other End Of The Line, Comrade Pedersen, Date Movie, Miss Montgigny, Pretty Woman, Running On Empty. Au Pair, The Dog Trick, Bad Company, Girl's Night, Dumb & Dumber and Weird Science.
• Claudette: W. and A Cool Dry Place.
• Dream Baby: Crazy, Dance With Me, and That Night.
• Only The Lonely: American Gangster, The Love Letter, Only The Lonely and Checking Out.
• You Got It: Stay and Boys On The Side.
• Blue Bayou: Man On Fire, The Sunchaser, Dreamcatcher, The Man Who Fell To Earth and Last Orders.
• Crying: Mulholland Dr, The Guilty, Gravesend, Gummo, Hiding Out, and Down By Law.
• Workin' For The Man - Kill The Man.
• In Dreams: In Dreams, and Blue Velvet.
• California Blue: Gypsy Magic
• Ooby Dooby: Star Trek: First Contact

I also want to make mention of a little Aussie movie starring a brilliant Hugh Jackman (before he became a HUGE international star) called Paperback Hero.  It features three Roy Orbison songs, Cryin', Oh, Pretty Woman, and Only The Lonely.

The Very Best Of ELO

ELO or Electric Light Orchestra were one of my favourite bands from the 70's with a great operatic sound with some of the most amazing harmonies and melodic tunes.  I grew up listening to my parent's cassettes and loved looking at the wonderful sci-fi inspired artwork on the covers.
 I have The Very Best of ELO on my iPod and just love listening to all the songs on this album.
Of course some of their music has been used in movies:
Mr Blue Sky was used in both Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Martian Child as well as Role Models, The Invention of Lying, Paul Blart: Mall Cop, Megamind, and The Game Plan. Livin' Thing is played over the end credits for Boogie Nights. Telephone Line was the theme song for the movie Joyride and was also featured in Billy Madison.  And I am sure everyone knows they supplied the music for the Olivia Newton-John movie, Xanadu and one of those songs features on this best of collection, All Over The World, which also came up in Paul.  Hold On Tight was used in the recent Tom Hanks movie, Larry Crowne. 
One thing though is on the track listing for this album, it states it has 'Calling America' but instead it actually has 'Confusion'.  (You're telling me!)

The Defenders - Nevada v. Rodgers

This was unfortunately one of the average episodes of The Defenders.  It's main story begins with a desperate father imploring Nick to defend his son who has been charged with attempted murder after he was the driver for two men who shot and killed one man and injured an off-duty policeman.  He says they asked him to drive them to the bar so they could collect the debt and he didn't know they were going to kill anyone.  You'd think this star kid would be grateful for what his father is doing for him but he is full of attitude which makes it difficult to like him or trust if he is telling the truth.  Because the police have had someone hurt, they try some intimidation tactics with the jury and with Nick so they can secure a conviction.  This gave this story a depth of drama which the second story sort of took away.  It was about someone who steals Elvis' Blue Suede Shoes!  He is caught red handed (or should I say blue footed!) and he did do it, but Pete works out a way to minimise his punishment due to extenuating circumstances.  A bit of a pointless addition to this episode bringing it back to average.