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.