ORIGINAL VS REMAKE - The Time Machine

Lets travel back and look at two similar but very different adaptions of The Time Machine!

Original

In 1960 H.G. Wells' novel was adapted into a sci-fi movie staring Rod Taylor. In this movie our nameless time traveler goes centuries into the future and meets some very simple humans along some very eerie creatures, known as Morlocks. The film itself is like the usual 60's sci-fi, with effects, dialog, etc. But uses it quite well. THe landscape of this future is really in interesting, almost like a garden of Eden/ancient Greece kind of place. The Morlocks themselves are very creepy, in looks and demeanor. They are quite strong with long ghostly hair and glowing eyes; they walk slowly around caves and use whips! So this film is very interesting to watch, even though a 1960 movie.

Remake

In 2002 The Time Machine starred Guy Pierce who had a very different reason for traveling through time - as with most modern movies they had to have a dramatic romantic plot-line which sparks a now named main character to travel to far future. Here the simple humans are a little more complex and more tribal, but actually a little more boring. The scenery just looks like parts of Earth now but the soundtrack makes it epic. The Morlocks in this adaption are similar but updated making them scary, ape-like and very intimidating with them adding an actual single villain which wasn't particularly needed but adds some more story.

Comparison

You know this one is very difficult for me, because I really like both. I'm afraid to say this really is a tie. Each are equally brilliant in different ways so I recommend a watch of both and tell be your thoughts.

OJ's Movie Review - Gravity

Yeah, I don't think I want to be an astronaut anytime soon...

So Gravity stars Sandra Bullock as a scientist sent to fix some satellite in space, George Clooney is also there too but the movie centers on Bullock; after A while something bad happens and a load of debris hits their ship. Now to start off, this film had loads of hype before I went to see it, people said it was amazing, reviewers gave it 10 out of 10 and so I was very excited to see it. And when I did see it I can see that the visuals definitely was the source of their enjoyment. The whole look of this film is just amazing, the long camera pans, the intense shots, the claustrophobic angles are all brilliant; especially in 3D, yes I sawGravity in 3D and it is one of the best 3D films I've ever seen; I imagine it is quite enjoyable in 2D but this was just heightened the experience; when that debris was flying towards the screen my eyes sure flinched a lot. I thing to some people it may make them feel sick because it is very realistic; anytime I now think of people in space this is what I think it would be like; just the views and things are amazing. The music also goes well with it, I love the score to this, especially those parts where it goes incredibly loud and then just cuts and its silence, like the silence of space. The story line itself although good felt a bit repetitive about half way through; the scenarios the main character gets in are so similar every time that it verges on unrealistic, in that way I think it was hyped just that bit too much but apart from that its an interesting experience to watch and I'D SEE IT AGAIN.

OJ's Review - Doctor Who: The Day of the Doctor

#savetheday

Here it is! We've waited 50 years and finally we have the amazing anniversary special.
At the end of series 7 I was weary about the John Hurt thing but now I'm OK with it and it worked really well for the story, other things I was scared about turned out to be fine too, all in all I loved the story and how it went, from beginning to end I enjoyed the whole thing. The humor was great too, the way the three Doctors bounce off each other and make fun of each other is great. The references are great, I mean not just the Zygons from the classic series but little words, sentences and pictures you can spot which you know exactly what they're talking about. The special effects were great too, some of the best I've seen in Doctor Who and just the whole way they did it, using the opening titles from the 60's to having the actors names up in the beginning like a movie and even using Who music from the Russel T. Davis era. I think The Day of the Doctor is... AWESOMNESS

OJ's TV Review - An Adventure in Space and Time

An amazing docudrama about an amazing show.

An Adventure in Space and Time is written by Mark Gatiss whom Whovians will know to be part of the Doctor Who family as writer and actor in the show itself; it stars David Bradley playing William Hartnell, and wow it's a really good performance. He does a brilliant job as the first Doctor and all the actors do really look like the people they're playing and act like them too! And when that happens its really exciting to see them recreate iconic scenes, so all of that is really fun to see. Also the story itself is really interesting, I mean I know its dramatized a bit, but this really shows the struggle to get Doctor Who successful and through the hard work Verity Lambert and all that she does. Its also really cool to spot the cameos and references, when two people are talking and in the background you see an old Dalek or an original alien from the 60's episodes. So that was really fun and who'd have ever thought you'd see a Cyberman smoke? All in all this docudrama was out of this world (pun intended) and certainly gets 10 out of 10: AWESOMENESS.

OJ's Movie Review - Thor: The Dark World

It sure lives up to its title - a very dark film indeed.

So a year on since the Avengers assembled and Loki has been in prison while Thor is making peace in the Nine Realms while the Bifrost was being rebuilt. So after all that is explained in the first 10 minutes we get to the story line which revolves around a Dark Elf known as Malekith and his search/revenge plans. Christopher Eccleston did a very interesting role although after watching I think he didn't own it, other people could have done it as well, if not better. That didn't ruin it though as another, unexpected,  plot point revolves around Loki and the issues of trusting him which make for some very twisty and questionable scenes. I'd have to say I enjoyed the parts set on Earth more rather than in space for some reason, but all in all I liked how it looked although some elements I had seen before in other media. There were of course references to past films as the Tesseract got a mention as did New York. So my final thoughts are this: the special effects were great, the plot was ok but I've seen better, and all-in-all I have the same feel about it as the first, it didn't wow me but neither was I bored, it was just in the middle. I give it an OK+.

 You can see my review of the first Thor by clicking this link: http://bit.ly/1fhRxQU

OJ's Movie Review - Captain Phillips

I think the tagline for this movie should definitely should have been CAPTAIN PHILLIPS: Everything goin' be OK.

 So Captain Phillips is based of a true story of a man called Richard Phillips whose cargo ship he was on was boarded by Somali pirates and bad things happen. Now to start off with this film has an epic feel of realism too it; the shots and atmosphere of this film are just very real, it shows you engines of the giant ship humming which if you've been on a big ship you know you hear it or just the small rooms or the general feel of being out at sea. What I noticed as well, which I think added to the realism a lot was there wasnt much background music, at the beginning, and at the end and some other scenes it was just sound effects and dialogue which was really good. That just added to the amazing story this film documents of Captain Phillips and his run in with these four pirates - what I wasn't expecting is them to show a bit of back story to the pirates, it showed them right at the beginning in Africa and a glimpse of what their life is and what is generally what they do for work and why; not really in that kind of "these are also good guys too" way but it shows how everything happens. Now the whole film is 2 and a quarter hours so there are some slow bits in the middle but it still captivates you and the end of this film, wow, I heard it was one of Tom Hanks' best performances to date and I'd say so too. The final act of Captain Phillips is extremely intense and had my heart pumping for sure which rarely happens. So in the end this was a powerful film based on a true story and I give it the rating of TIME WELL SPENT.

OJ's TV Review - Sherlock series 1 & 2

With series 3 coming soon-ish, I decided to review the first lot of this brilliant show.

 BBC's Sherlock is all about Sherlock Holmes (if you didn't know), but with this adaption, the entire thing takes place in modern day. So yes, modern day London is where all the mysteries take place and the clever twists and plots. Now one of the reasons I'm reviewing series 1 & 2 together is that these two have pretty much one story-arc spreading over them and judging by the final episode of series 2, the next will be slightly different. The story arc in mind is that of his infamous enemy Moriarty, which in this adaption is not a man you want to mess with; seriously, this guy is nuts - and I thought the series did it very well, the whole atmosphere and stories where really good. The way Sherlock sees things comes up on the screen in writing and pictures, all very clever and just fun to watch. Oh, and Sherlock isn't really a likable character, well for the viewer I suppose, but if you really ever met this Sherlock then you wouldn't be friends for long, and that side of him gives a lot of humor to the story. Now with Sherlock each series has only 3 episodes each, and I know that doesn't seem much but each episode is one and a half hour long! So not the measly 45 mins like Doctor Who and nor just a full hour like some TV series are; and it doesn't feel like its dragging either, each story grabs your interest from beginning to end. So if your not watching Sherlock now then go and do it now because it is... AWESOMENESS