Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one

The quotation for today's blog entry is, surprisingly, not from a TV show or movie. No, this quotation is attributed to the one and only Albert Einstein and has some tangential bearing on the topic of this blog entry. Today is going to be a bit of a random round-up of things. Life has been doing its thing, interfering with the regular course of my blogging activities, as well as the recreational activities that lead to blogging. It has, however, occurred to me that I never fully summarised my thoughts and feelings on Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome. So we're going to start there and work our way through the other random things I have to babble about. Because yes, it's random inane babbling time.

Now then. Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome.

My thoughts and feelings on this may be similar to my thoughts and feelings on the first two "episodes". Short and sweet. Blood and Chrome is very enjoyable and manages to do a lot in a small time-span. Luke Pasqualino pulled out a pretty damn good performance as a young Adama, considering where I'd seen him before and how unsure I was that he was the right choice for William Adama. Ben Cotton is a brilliant supporting lead as well, providing the requisite battle-hardened, war-weariness that was needed for an officer serving in the tenth year of the Cylon War.

Now my one continuing gripe with Blood and Chrome is the over-use of CGI. Pretty much all of the sets were CGI'd in some shape or form. Given that it's only a webseries, it can be forgiven. But I just didn't like the ways they changed my beloved Galactica. But as I said in my initial thoughts and feelings, I can get over it.

That one gripe aside, Blood and Chrome is a very worthy addition to the Battlestar Galactica canon. Particularly a scene in the final episode that I won't spoil, but does contain my favourite line of the whole webseries.

Next up is another series, but this time TV - The Unusuals. It's a cop show that ran for ten episodes in 2009. Set in New York City, it follows a group of detectives in the NYPD's 2nd Precinct. A complete bunch of mismatched, secretive yet talented and brilliant investigators. The main characters are Jason Walsh, a veteran of the 2nd played by Jeremy Renner, and his new partner Casey Shraeger, a recent transfer from the Vice Squad played by Amber Tamblyn.

In my eyes, The Unusuals was cruelly cancelled. I have only seen five episodes so far and they are all brilliant. The ensemble cast - which includes Harold Perrineau of Lost and Matrix fame and Adam Goldberg of Saving Private Ryan - are an absolutely brilliant mixture. It's a gem. And while I just said "cruelly cancelled", it might just be a stroke of luck, insofar as this gem won't have had the time to lose it's shine.

Now comes the real gushing. First up, the 2012 remake of Total Recall.

Many, many blog entries ago, I confronted the subject of remakes and nominated Total Recall as the one I had most faith in. Yesterday, I finally managed to get around to watching it. And it did not disappoint.

My biggest concern was the lack of Mars. For it was the secrets of what lay under Mars's surface that were contained in Douglas Quaid's (played then by Arnold Schwarzeneggar) mind. Well, they manage to tweak it and fit their own storyline, but still keep the flavour of the original 1990 Paul Verhoeven movie.

So, a brief note on plot - the time is never specified, but it's likely to be the 22nd Century. Earth has been ravaged by chemical warfare and only two habitable regions remain - the United Federation of Britain, which comprises most of Europe, and the Colony, which constitutes lonely Australia. The remnants of humanity are crammed into these areas, which living space becoming an incredibly precious resource. The Federation and the Colony are connected by the Fall, a massive (essentially elevator) shaft that goes directly through the Earth, passing right next to the core. The Federation is rich and the Colony is poor. Resistance fighters fight under the slogan "The Fall Enslaves Us All", trying to end the Federation's dominance. And about to be caught in the middle of it all - Douglas Quaid, a Colony-born and dwelling factory worker, who lives in blissful ignorance with his paramedic wife, Lori.

Fans of the original 1990 will know exactly where this is going and I don't want to risk spoiling anything, so I'm going to babble tangentially about the film in very general terms. It was brilliant. It contains enough small references to the original to cause the odd giggle or two, as well as many, many parallel scenes/scenarios which I found somewhat comforting but also dealt with in the context of the film itself, not just trying to emulate its predecessor. Colin Farrell was on absolutely top form as Douglas Quaid, with Kate Beckinsale brilliantly portraying his wife and Jessica Biel slipping in quite nicely as Melina. John Cho also makes a neat little appearance as the man at Rekall, the false-memory company. Finally, there's much kudos for Bryan Cranston as Vilos Cohaagen. Stepping into Ronny Cox's exceptionally brilliant villainous shoes was never going to be easy, but by gods the man does it well.

Kudos must also go to the production design team (and by extension the Special Effects team as well) for the beautiful set pieces and urban landscapes developed for the movie. All in all, Total Recall (2012) is a damn fine movie. Good job, ladies and menfolk.

Last and in absolutely no ways least, is Dredd.

Karl Urban deserves a whole frak ton of kudos here. The last time the character of Judge Dredd had been adapted for the big screen...well, let's put it this way - I watched it in my teens and enjoyed it. When it was on TV around the time the new Dredd was released, I couldn't do it. I'd been spoiled by the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Too many good comic book movies highlighted that it...was bad. Beyond redemption. Luckily for Karl Urban and team behind Dredd, I don't feel they were seeking redemption. They were happy to forget their predecessor and do their own thing.

I must say, I'm not at all fussed about 3D. I think it's a bit of a fad and honestly, I'm hoping it'll pass pretty soon. But by gods I wish I'd seen Dredd in 3D. Now I watched Dredd after watching the aforementioned Total Recall and I'll be honest, it doesn't have the same depth of storyline. But it doesn't need it. Dredd is a straight-up, honest and solid action movie. Karl Urban...he is the frakking man. He is absolutely fantastic as Judge Dredd, solidifying my respect for him as an actor. Not that it needed much help, but still. And also, Olivia Thirlby. The only other film I've seen her in is Juno. And I honestly didn't hugely enjoy her character, though she didn't make me hate her either. But as psychic rookie Cassandra Anderson...she is amazing. Her journey through the movie and her interactions with Dredd are just...brilliant. My gods, I can't even gush eloquently anymore.

It appears, all there is to say, is that Dredd is a damn, damn good and enjoyable movie. Oh, but one last thing...

Lena Headey is frakking badass as the main villain. Not that anyone familiar with her performances as Cersei Lannister in Game of Thrones would have any cause at all to worry.

So there we have it. Much rambling and gushing. Maybe next time I'll be less excitable and a little more coherent...

Frakkin' Toasters

It seems I'm going to be trying that whole "being prolific" thing with blogging. At least in the sense that for the first time since I started this blog in January I've done two posts in rather quick succession. But then again, in my last entry, I did promise my judgements on Skyfall and Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome. Since I have watched both, it's time to get on with the judging.

Of course, no blog entry would be complete without my establishing ramble about the historical context of how things came to be in my life. The James Bond movies were strangely ever-present during my childhood, perhaps because of the influence of my ownership of a Nintendo64 and my love of the timeless classic, GoldenEye. So we'll say it all kicked off for me around the mid-1990s, taking full hold around 1999 when television channel ITV went a bit James Bond happy and were showing one Bond movie a week (or maybe a day, I can't entirely remember). I pretty much religiously taped these movies, watching and absorbing useless trivia facts and favourite lines ("Don't touch that...! That's my lunch." - GoldenEye, Q to Bond). Pierce Brosnan was the definitive Bond as far as I was concerned and I think his movies will remain my favourites. That being said, I am quite enjoying the new Daniel Craig movies.

Now, just for a moment, let's have a little discourse on the major differences between all these movies. You see, in last ten years or so, movie studios have gone a bit reboot mad. On some levels, it's been brilliant - Christopher Nolan's trilogy of Batman movies - and on others, not so much (Superman Returns. Sorry, Brandon Routh. But we loved you in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World). But the James Bond franchise is one of those Marmite Principle things - people tend to love it or hate it. Of course there's grey area ambiguity where people neither love nor hate, but for the sake of argument and discourse it's the Marmite Principle. So in 2006, when Eon Productions where gearing up for Bond 21, they decided to reboot - take the series in a different direction. Dispose of the gadgets and make it grittier. Make Bond get his hands thoroughly dirty. And I'd say, personally, I think it worked. I enjoyed Casino Royale. I did miss Q and all the wonderful gadgets (I still do), but it seems, with Skyfall, there may be a light at the end of the tunnel on that score.

Judgement time!

I'll start with this - I really enjoyed Skyfall. It was almost grand, but still gritty - the villain, brilliantly portrayed by Javier Bardem, wasn't just some power-crazy megalomaniac, but by gods could he bring MI6 to their proverbial knees. The premise of his character, Silva, is that he's a former MI6 agent with connections to M's past. He's deranged and he wants to kill M. Naturally, 007 turns up and decides to be a snag in that little plan. What ensues is your standard fare of chaos, mayhem, one-liners and things going *BOOM*. And very awesomely so.

What's interesting about Skyfall is it's sense of the past. 2012 is the fiftieth anniversary of the release of Dr No, the first ever Bond movie. So naturally, there's a lot of cheeky references to past movies - especially the classic Aston Martin DB5. But more than that - the scriptwriters not only interwove those little references to the last fifty years of Bond movies, but they also delved into the chequered pasts of our beloved characters - James Bond himself and his boss, the ever-wonderful M. Once again, Judi Dench is on excellent form as Bond's superior. The relationship between the two characters is explored in a lot greater depth in this movie, once more linking in to the theme of the past being thrown at us throughout the entire movie.

On a happy note, the movie sees the return of Q. This time, it's the youthful Ben Whishaw taking the mantle of MI6 Quartermaster. Now let's face it - Desmond Llewellyn will forever be the definitive Q. John Cleese did a sterling job living up to the legend after Llewellyn unfortunate passing in 1999 and from what I saw in Skyfall, Ben Whishaw will be bringing his own unique charm and wit to the role. So while Skyfall does dwell a lot in the past, there's a glimmer of hope for the future - although Q quips "Were you expecting an exploding pen? We don't go in for that sort of thing anymore", I hope to see some level of plausible gadgetry being developed by Whishaw's Q Branch in future movies. He's also a bit of hacker/computer wiz and was given quite the expanded role in Skyfall compared to the role of Q in previous movies. Again, pinning one or two hopes on this young whipper-snapper.

In overall conclusion, Skyfall was a very much enjoyable movie.

Now, Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome.

Loyal Colonials and Frakkin' Toasters everywhere have been champing at the bit since the demise of prequel series Caprica for the promised release of prequel series Blood and Chrome. We've been through a lot in that time. A promise of a television release downgraded to webseries and constant delays and setbacks. But finally, last night, episodes one and two were posted on YouTube! Thank you, Machinima Prime!

Watch them here: Episode 1 and Episode 2.

First off, I did enjoy the episodes. Short and sweet, but what do you expect from a webseries? And I'll be honest, I was very sceptical about Blood and Chrome. It was Luke Pasqualino, the actor chosen to play Bill Adama. For one thing - where the frak is his gruff voice? But credit to the boy I watched in Skins, he actually pulls it off!

The premise for those rooks just joining the worlds of Battlestar Galatica is thus: it's year ten of the Cylon War. Fresh out of the academy, Ensign William Adama has been assigned to Battlestar Galactica, one of the fiercist (and newest at this point) battlestars in the Colonial Fleet. Adama is a typical rook - he's cocky, eager and wants to rack up a quick kill count and few dozen medals, then return to Caprica a hero.

Of course, nothing ever happens that way. War is Hell, remember?

Adama is quickly put in his place and assigned to pilot a Raptor, not the Viper he had been hoping for. His ECO, Lieutenant Coker Fasjovik, is bitter and war-weary, coming to the end of his mandatory second tour of duty. He wants out, a concept Adama can't quite wrap his head around. I'm intrigued to see how this plays out through the series.

Now the budget isn't as big as the re-imagined 2004 series. There's a lot of CGI backgrounds, which doesn't necessarily bother me - it's the changes they've made that irk my brain a little bit. Galactica is one of my favourite ships, it's been discussed before. So when I see what they've done to the interior of my beloved Battlestar with their CGI, I'm a little confused. I can easily explain it away - by the 2004 series, Galactica's been in service for forty years. There's probably been endless updates and refits. So while it irks me, I can get over it.

There's not a huge lot to say about Blood and Chrome for the moment. So far, I like it. I might try and make it a weekly thing to keep this blog updated on my growing opinions of the series, might not. We'll see. Regardless, by the end of Blood and Chrome, I'll likely have a lot to say. I might not say it week to week, but by gods I'll be saying something eventually. For now, it's good. Carry on.

Well, that's all for today. Until next time...

(Song of the Mind: Immigrant Song (Cover) - Karen O, Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross)