Ugh...

[athersgeo]

Well, so far so good, as far as the schedule goes. I've got Road to Uruk open and I'm about two thirds done with it.

On the other hand, my thought processes are slowing down, thanks to the cold (I've stealthed the heater, the wheatbag and put on my thick cardigan and I'm still chilly) so how productive I'll actually be today is moot.

Speaking of stealth, I watched one of the most boring action movies last night. It's called Stealth...

I wasn't expecting great Oscar winning material when I bought it, because any film where the fourth star is a supa-dupa aircraft is never going to be that great. But what you *do* tend to expect is that a film about pilots of hypersonic aircraft is going to be exciting, just by the nature of the flight footage.

They even managed to make THAT boring in this film.

The film gets kudos for actually pointing out that there are rules about falling in love with your subordinates and colleagues within the US Navy, which is a point that rather too many films miss. The film gets kudos for noting that extreme Gs will make you (in all likelyhood) blackout. The film especially gets kudos for surprising me by killing off one of the three pilots and nearly killing off a second.

But where it loses me completely is the entire second half of the film. Said second pilot (played by Jessica Biel) is downed in North Korea. She's being pursued by men with dogs. She's injured. At one stage, she gets shot. Yet, miraculously, she reaches the border and survives the ordeal without the dogs even getting close to her. Um; right...

And then there's pilot number three (Josh Lucas - who was comfortably out acted by the planes he was flying) who ends up in Alaska with the supa-dupa fourth aircraft (did I mention that was being flown by AI?) and flies out of there without any kind of pressure suit. You *could* make the case that supa-dupa aircraft's cockpit is pressurised but it still struck me as a "huh?" moment - particularly seeing as he *LANDED* in Alaska in a flight suit, but miraculously, appears to be wearing jeans and a sweater when he leaves. What. Did he stop at the local Wal Mart or something?!

And as if that wasn't all silly enough, the supa-dupa plane's AI sacrifices itself so that Josh Lucas and Jessica Biel can escape.

Overall, the film's a mess, frankly. The aerial sequences are, as I've mentioned, boring, and the between-aerial sequences are tedious and (in the case of the Thailand stuff) rather pointless and even the music (which the director's made rather a fuss over) isn't that special.

So overall, that's one to be giving a miss to.

I'm now starting to thaw out, so I'll have another thrash at Road to Uruk...

Comments

[tptigger.livejournal.com]

Any truth the rumors that Cam (Jason Chan) is in it?

[athersgeo.livejournal.com]

There might be.

I do vaguely recall seeing the name Jason Chan in the end credits. He's not listed at IMDB, but seeing as there's at least one error in that cast list (they have someone down as uncredited when she most definitely DOES appear in the credits!), I'm not putting any money on that.

[tptigger.livejournal.com]

I take it you haven't seen enough Ninja Storm to recognize him?

[athersgeo.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen any Ninja Storm period!

[tptigger.livejournal.com]

*boggles*

[athersgeo.livejournal.com]

Why?

I can't say I've felt the lack - and that pretty much goes for all the most recent incarnations, including Wild Force. They'll probably come up with an incarnation that interests me again in due course, but it's finding the motivation to get up at 6am to watch it. Didn't have a problem doing that for Time Force because I liked the premise/characters. But something I'm only "meh" about...not going to happen.

[tptigger.livejournal.com]

Ew. Yeah. I thought PR was on early here. I might've stopped following SPD all together if Toon Disney weren't showing it in the evenings now. Ninja Storm is my favorite season though, so I'm a little biased.

[athersgeo.livejournal.com]

Whoops. Reread the IMDB cast list. They do have him listed.

[aspartaimee.livejournal.com]

josh lucas? hot. bad action film? not hot. and i have mixed feelings about the chippy in that film.

[athersgeo.livejournal.com]

Hm. I guess. Out of the leads, though, I think I prefered the plane...or maybe Jessica Biel - even if she DOES have a grunt problem...

[aspartaimee.livejournal.com]

i am inclined to say that jessica is a bit of a beaver, but she hasn't annoyed me so much that i avoid her movies (this fate has befallen the likes of amanda peet). i will say that for a movie i just caught on tv i enjoyed blade trinity, and she was pretty good in that.

[athersgeo.livejournal.com]

This is the first time I've seen her in anything, and she makes a change from the fluffy-headed blonde brigade that usually pops up in these sorts of movies - I could almost believe she was supposed to be one of the best pilots going.

Haven't seen the Blade movies - mostly because Wesley Snipes is in them and I tend to find him annoying and I still haven't forgiven him for Passenger 57.

[aspartaimee.livejournal.com]

oh, wesley snipes is terrible (except in that drag queen movie) and passenger 57 gives me gas. blade one was OK, i never saw blade 2, but blade trinity was enjoyable, even with the cheesy puns delivered by a buff and totally hot ryan reynolds. jessica biel plays a slayer who does some wicked things with a bow and arrow.

[athersgeo.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Bow and arrow... Hmmmmmm.

If I can stand Wesley Snipes, I'll give it a look.