STAR TREK {2009 )

That's it folk. I've completeley given up on finding anything remotely worth watching since the original star trek series.

The motion picture was dissapointing and from then on so was everything else, but this new one is absolutely awful.

Promises of a return to the original series are immediately dashed into an absolute disregard to the virtues of the original. Characters are wildly innapropiate clones and the whole enterprise ( pun intended ) is an absolute mess! Goodbye Star Trek!

PUSH ( 2009 )

Nick Gant is a second generation "mover", or telekinetic, who has been on the run from The Division ever since Agent Henry Carver murdered his father. He has sought refuge on the streets of Hong Kong, secreting himself from the "sniffers" who are trained to track down the gifted and bring them back to Division. Nick plans to flee the city when his location is uncovered, only to encounter 13-year-old Cassie, a "watcher" or clairvoyant, who needs his help to overthrow Division and free her mother from imprisonment. The girl needs Nick to find escaped "pusher" Kira, who is able to get inside people's minds and plant false memories. Unfortunately, Carver and his goons are also on Kira's trail.

If all we're heading for are doom, gloom and global catastrophe then why bother planning for tomorrow when we could just live for today? Cast aside gritty, realist dramas and probing documentaries and plug into an endless cycle of cutesy animation and feel-good romantic comedies. Then there would be no place for a film like Push, a suspense thriller set in a grim, foreboding future and penned by David Bourla, in which the most gifted among us are lab rats for a shadowy government agency known as The Division. This covert organisation rounds up psychics for the express purpose of creating an army capable of controlling every thought and event. Those unwilling to participate in this shadowy enterprise are eliminated. Unfortunately, top-secret experiments to boost the powers of the psychic warriors using a genetically engineered serum always result in death.

No one has survived... until now. Nick Gant (Chris Evans) is a second generation "mover", or telekinetic, who has been on the run ever since Division Agent Henry Carver (Djimon Hounsou) murdered his father. He finds refuge on the streets of Hong Kong, hiding from the "sniffers" who are trained to track down his kind and bring them to Division. When his location is compromised, Nick plans to flee the city, only to encounter 13-year-old Cassie (Dakota Fanning), a "watcher" or clairvoyant, who needs his help to retrieve a suitcase containing �6 million. To find the cash, the girl needs Nick to locate escaped "pusher" Kira (Camilla Belle), the only person to live through Division's experiments, who is able to get inside people's minds and plant false memories. Sceptical at first, Nick eventually agrees. "I haven't even gotten to the bad part yet," adds Cassie sombrely, "we die." Unfortunately, Carver and his right-hand man Victor (Neil Jackson) are also on Kira's trail.

Push unfolds through nervous, handheld cameras, which refuse to stay still as Cassie and Nick sacrifice themselves for a greater good. Director Paul McGuigan directs with confidence, including a couple of blistering action sequences like a chase through a market and a showdown on a building site. The script, however, is riddled with unanswered questions and plot holes, such as Cassie's uncanny ability of drawing her dreams to show Nick the way, even when she is running for her life. Fanning is solid without ever being tested in an undemanding lead role, gelling nicely with Evans' buff action hero who concocts the elaborate master plan to save the world without breaking a sweat. Belle brings an ambiguity to her role, while Hounsou obliges with a cardboard cut out villain who wild rather shoot his underlings than jeopardise the mission. If only they were watchers - they might have seen it coming.

GOOD EGG

POSIEDON ( 2006 )

Seems like Wolfgang Peterson had other things on his mind while making this film.Although the original Posiedon Adventure was not admitedly a great film, it certainly had more going for it than this recent incarnation.

Character development is virtually non existent and everything seems to be on fast forward to find a way out, giving very little room for anything else. The only saving grace i can think of are the special effects.The wave engulfing the ship is excellently done as are all the on board explosions where bodies are flung violently and bursts of flames spew out from lift shafts etc.

BAD EGG

 Tears Of the sun (2003 )

'Tears of The sun ' is an engrossing and above average look at modern day soldiers , as navy seallieutenant A.K. Waters ( Bruce Willis ) and crew must choose between duty or humanity to rescue Dr Kendrcks and her companions.

Kendricks an american citizen helps victims of an ongoing civil war at a Catholic mission in a remote village to which Waters and his elite squadron are sent to rescue. Refusing to leave without the rest of the villagers Waters reluctantly agrees to Kendricks demands to escort them all to safety via helicopter lift. Going back on his words, Waters leaves the villagers behind and only takes Kendricks. Refusing to obey strict orders Waters decides to head back and rescue the rest of the distraught villagers by escorting them to the border and hopefully out pursue the army of rebels at there tail.

It is this trek through the perilous and dense jungle where they try to evade their pursuers that really gets you involved. Witnessing at first hand the brutality of the gathering rebel army makes there passage to safety even more compelling. 'Tears Of The Sun ' is an unusually thought full and compelling movie. Basically an action movie yes! But much more than that may suggest at it's most basic level with it's moral dilemmas and humanitarian concerns.

GOOD EGG

THE MUMMY - TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPOROR

Having rather liked the the first two mummy films i was looking forward eagerly for this , the third installment.Sadly it is a great dissapointment.

One could criticize the film on many levels, with it's cheap looking CGI effects, terrible convoluted storyline and some of the most irritating dialogue your likely to hear. Not to mention also the absolute lack of chemistry between the main characters. One major criticism being the replacement of Rachel Weisz by Maria Bello. Such a massive error here, her fake accent and clumsily unconvincing action scenes are to put it mildly, horrid. I get the feeling that Rachel Weisz wisely { no pun intended } gave this whole affair a miss by realizing what a mess it would turn into.

John Hannah fairs slightly better and tries to bring some comedic relief to it all, but ulimately fails to do so. At one point he yells at the mummies ,while attacking them from an aeroplane, calling them bastards... oh dear, how far out of character could you possibly get!

 Brendan Fraser looks and acts decidedly miserable throughout and one gets the impression he wished he were somehere else. Also Frasers son has no charisma whatsoever , he's truly cardboard, dead as a brick , and his romantic epsodes are totally redundant. Jet Li is also far removed from the more menacing Arnold Vosloo.

All in all this seems like a big cash in on the previous two films which were in a different league to what we have here.The film feels and looks like a cheat on the mummy idea as well. None of this properly relates to Egypt which is surely what one thinks of first when it comes to mummies and what we would expect.

ROTTEN EGG

LOST IN SPACE ( Season 3 )

For those that enjoyed the first series of Lost in Space, by the time of the third season, things had taken on a very different tone indeed, and became much more childish and predictable with stock situations being repeated over and over again. As many have qouted as sayng, the Space campiness had irrevocably crept in, and Smith had become an increasingly irritatingly cowardly persona, which was far from the scheming and darker smith as portrayed in the first season, which is by far the most enjoyable especially if you like your science fiction on the more serious side. 

It's sad really , but it's true of most of Irwin Allens shows that they started off very promising, but gradually went down hill, untill the plug was eventually pulled.

The Third season though did have some redeeming factors in that it was a little better than the second series which to my mind contained some of the worst episodes. The third season even did on occasion harken back to the first.

At best most of the acting in lost in space was forgettable except for Jonathan Harris, but there's something very nostalgic about the whole series and somehow demands repeated viewings ,which given it's age, is much more entertaining than many Sci Fi series made today, which although containing  much more expensive special  effects are mostly totally devoid of atmosphere and characters. Lost in Space certainly still has a lot more going for it.

SERIES 1    GOOD EGG

SERIES 2    PAR BOILED

SERIES 3    PAR BOILED