Weekly News: THE WALKING DEAD Season 3, THE JANSON DIRECTIVE, BEVERLEY HILLS COP TV Show, INDEPENDENCE DAY Sequels

Some TV news for you first of this week, the news relates to The Walking Dead.  The break away hit AMC show is only three episodes into its second series .  The season 2 premiere drew the biggest ever cable ratings with 7.3 million tuning in to catch the “walkers”, the show faltered only slightly on it's second episode “Bloodletting” drawing 6.7 million viewers.

The show already airs here in England and its international roll out is this weekend, that is expected to draw anywhere around 10 million viewers.  So what does the show get for it’s star status?  An AMC spoke said earlier this week “today we are proud to announce that the dead shall live as we proudly renew The Walking Dead for a third season on AMC and globally”.  Not bad considering how far into the second season they are.

Let’s not forget though the show still has a little room to falter as Frank Darabont, the show runner for the first season and beginning of this one, left the show half way through, will it still have the same capture.

Whilst we are on the subject of TV, I will slip this one in for you, you may well have caught it on the Person of Interest reviews, if not then the show has had a full season order from CBS taking us past the 9 we already have.  The show has been the highest watched new drama this season with an audience of 13.97 million, thanks mostly to it’s 9pm slot which was previously filled by CSI.

Also getting high ratings is Homeland, this show has also just been renewed for a second season thanks to large audiences, no doubt helped by Dexter which airs just before it.

Who loves the Bourne movies?  I do, go check the review.  Good news if you like them too, as something just as good seems to be on its way to the big screen.  The Janson Directive is the last book published by late writer Robert Ludlum, who of course wrote the Bourne books.  Now Universal have hired a script writer to turn The Janson Directive into a movie.

It seems it will be a Vietnam veteran movie which follows Paul Janson, an ex Navy Seal and member of a covert government organisation.  He is plagued by memories of the Vietnam War and how his commanding officer handed him over to the enemy to be tortured.  Janson is working on a job trying to rescue an important man but his plans go wrong and before long he becomes then hunted, he’s left with no choice but to follow clues leading him to a massive scandal.

So Stallone loves making sequels to his old movies like Rocky and Rambo but, Eddie Murphy is one actor who isn’t going to be doing any of that.  Talk of Beverly Hills Cop IV (4) has been doing the rounds for many a year now but it has never amounted to anything more than speculation.

Rolling Stone magazine have an interview coming up with Eddie Murphy who has told them that a fourth Beverly Hills cop movie won’t be done and he is preferring the idea of producing a spin off TV show of the hit 80’s movie, check what he said to them below.

They’re not doing it. What I’m trying to do now is produce a TV show starring Axel Foley’s son, and Axel is the chief of police now in Detroit. I’d do the pilot, show up here and there. None of the movie scripts were right; it was trying to force the premise. If you have to force something, you shouldn’t be doing it. It was always a rehash of the old thing. It was always wrong.

I’m not so sure how a TV show of Beverly Hills Cop would work, I loved the first and second movies, third one was a bit of a joke and I really wouldn’t want to see a fourth so I’m pleased there not doing it  but, a TV show?  Let’s see if it comes off.

It seems we are all about series renewals and sequels this week so why not mention another.  Rumours of a follow up to Independence Day have been doing the rounds for years now but it seems they are moving forward and the scripts are expected to be handed into Fox by December.

The studio have said that there will be two sequels shot at the same time, so that’s ID2 and ID3, they of course would like there star man Will Smith back to take the lead but his involvement still isn’t confirmed after he asked for a salary of $50m to do the movies.  The studio has said that they are prepared to make the movies without him, why?

No script details have been released as of yet but to leave box office gold like Will Smith out would be a big mistake in my opinion.  Would the first movie have been such a hit without him?  Would you even go see the second and third it he wasn’t the star?.... I’m not so sure I would be quite as lured, for me they should be making it their business to get Smith back on board.  The first movie took $800m worldwide and with Smith in for the sequels I think they could gross even more.

TV Previews: DEXTER 6.4 - The Angel Of Death, THE WALKING DEAD 2.2 - Save The Last One , HOMELAND 1.5 - Blind Spot, PERSON OF INTEREST 1.7 - Witness, TWO AND A HALF MEN 9.7 - Those Fancey Japanese Toilets

Ok so I’m back with all of this week’s TV previews, this post is actually becoming quite popular. You’ll notice that Terra Nova is missing, it had a weeks break and is back tomorrow night, you can go check the preview HERE.  Don’t forget subscribe to the site (Facebook, Twitter, RSS), once you’ve watched you favourite you can come back and get the review through the week.

On with my favourite show first as always, the plot is really starting to thicken in Dexter with him managing to catch a glimpse of Travis (Colin Hanks) at the very end of the last episode.  This week looks amazing with Dexter doing just what you would expect and being hot on the trail of Travis.  In This episode it looks like Travis may be at the front of things rather than Dr Gellar who remember may not even be a real person, that hasn’t stopped the press getting hold of his name and placing his photo on the papers front page.

Next were off to Atlanta, well somewhere near there anyways to catch up with The Walking Dead, last week saw Rick and Lori sitting at their sons bedside after he had been shot, for them this week it’s more of the same.  In the mean time Dale and that other dude (don’t know his name) were left at the Hospital last week surrounded by zombies, not good.  They are on the run during this episode and Daryl and Andrea continue their hunt for Sophia.

Another show which is really hotting up, maybe thanks to what I said reviewing last week’s episode.  This week sees Brody meeting up with the only surviving member of his captors leading Carrie to believe that she may have been right all along and Brody has been radicalised as she suspected.  For this week though Carrie has got other things to worry about as the agency are hot on the heels of the couple who bought the house near the airport with money from a stolen necklace.

More ass kicking for you now where we move onto Person of Interest and ass kicking seems to be the order of the day.  The episode looks really good, they all have been lately.  Reece gets threatened with a kitchen knife, oohhh scary and he shoots a bunch of people.  Mind you from the clip below Reese is leaning out his car door to do the shooting, so we can probably presume that who ever he shoots is getting it in the leg.

Since you miss Terra Nova so much I’ve decided to put this one in instead from Two and a Half Men, there having a Halloween spooktacular and I’m really hoping this trailer turns out to be a little joke.  I have been watching the show every week since Ashton Kutcher took the Charlie Harper role, I like it but do think it’s in danger of becoming a little to silly.  Take a look at the video and let me know what you think.

Review: PERSON OF INTEREST 1.6 - The Fix

Another instalment of Person of Interest and I’m still really enjoying this show with this episode being up and around the same quality as the fourth.  This week Reese was treated to a guest star, a hot guest star actually.  Zoe Morgan (Paige Turco) was that lady and she played a major role in yet another story which could have spanned two episodes.

Again this week Finch was also involved more than ever, if he wasn’t operational on the ground then he was speaking to Reese, giving him up to date information from his genius computer system that this week threw out Zoe’s name.

Why Zoe?  She seems to be a no one until Finch uncovers that she is unemployed but owns a $2m apartment in New York, which she paid cash for. What is she into?  “She’s a fixer” explains Reese.  Who would want to harm her? “Who Wouldn’t?”.  Reese gets close pretending to be her driver whilst Finch hacks the company’s phone so her call to check Reese out re-directs to him.  A fixer maybe, but not all the smart Zoe is about to become involved in a situation which requires Reese’s brut.

Zoe is fixing a problem for a local pharmaceutical company who have developed a drug that is not safe but is going on sale to the public.  A blogger has got his hands on a recording of a phone call which took place between Zoe and Mark Lawson, the boss of the company.  The blogger wants £40k in return for the recording that the company can’t afford going public.  I have an issue with that little plot, if the company bosses are so ruthless that they would attempt to kill Zoe, why do they need her in the first place?  Wouldn’t they just find out where this blogger guy lives and go kill him.  How do they know they wouldn’t get double played by Zoe who was bound to take a copy of the recording for her own interests?

That probably sounds like I’m nit picking, all joking asides I did really enjoy this episode and like I said above the story could have spanned a couple of episodes, maybe we’ll see Zoe make appearances later in the season.  Finch may feel that Reese requires a little help, or maybe a holiday at some point and decide to recruit Zoe, he clearly pays Reese well.  Actually we don’t know that for sure, other than being asleep in a hotel room we have never seen Reese rest anywhere, never seen where he lives, does he even sleep?  Once the jobs are complete and he debriefs Finch you think he would go home, maybe Finch funds his hotel room bill.

No work for Fusco (Kevin Chapman) this week either, he didn’t even feature in this weeks episode, all the ”good” cop action came from Detective Carter (Taraj P. Henson) who was looking into the murder of a former mob enforcer.  He had a knife sticking out his chest which was stolen from police evidence, looking into the file Carter notices a name Marlene Elias.  I don’t remember any conclusion to this story line.  Carter does exchange gun fire with someone at the end of the episode when she finds Sullivan dead in his apartment, so  maybe this is one story that will roll on along for more than one episode as well as Carter making attempts to find Reese. 

  

I think the story worked so well this week because of the amount of people involved, like “Cura Te Ipsum” The Fix had a bit of everything right down to dirty cops dealing in street guns.  You really don’t have to think to hard to follow any plots, you can kind of always guess the outcome but to me that doesn’t matter the show works, it’s not as good as other J.J Abrams stuff old and upcoming but it is very watchable and easy to follow.  

So all in all another good episode which was pretty much action packed from start to finish.

Person of Interest episode 7 “Witness” continues on CBS Thursday November 3^rd 2011.

Midweek MixTape: EXAMPLE, JLS and REBECCA FERGUSON

Back as always with all the latest in new and upcoming music, mainly from the charts but I occasionly throw in a little gem or two just to keep you guys on your toe's, this week see's the return of Rapper Example, boy band JLS and last years X Facotr finalist Rebecca Ferguson also releases her debut single, sorry it's taken till Friday but I've been busy.

First off we'll start with Example and his upcoming fourth single from the album "Playing In The Shadows".  Midnight Run follows on from Example's collaboration with Laidback Luke, that one didn't go down to well in the charts compared to previous hits Changed The Way You Kissed Me and Stay Awake.  Take a look at the video for Midnight Run and let me know what you think.  My opinion, it's not that great and I expect a little better beat wise from Example, if you like it then that's great but you will have to wait until the 04/12/11 before it's available to download, it can be pre ordered on iTunes now.

Next up this week's is the upcoming single release from X Factor 2008 finalist's JLS.  Take A Chance On Me is taken from their second album Jukebox.  The single will be released on 06/11/11 and again is available to pre order at iTunes, the new album will be released on 14/11/11 also available to order.  What do I think?  I prefer the more upbeat JLS, no doubt these guys can sing but ballads just ain't my thing, roll on there second single I say. 

Ok this for me is the most exciting installment to the mixtape this week, it comes from 2010 X Factor finalist Rebecca Ferguson.  Pipped to the winning post by last years winner Matt Cardle some would argue that she probably should have won.  I would tend to agree with that I like Matt don't get me wrong but Rebecca's talent is truly unique.  Her debut single Nothings Real But Love will be released on 27/11/11 followed by her debut album Heaven on 14/12/11 which will surely be a contender for Christmas number 1.  What's best for me here is the easy listening nature to this song, it's stripped back laid bare the kind of music I like the best.  Rebecca reminds me so much of Macy Gray, it's a shame that I have already given up on this years X Factor, one simple reason for that.  There is simply no one as talented as Rebecca, should she have been in this years show she would have been the favourite already and would probably win by a very clear country mile.  Take a look at the video for her new single below and if you get time go check out her X Factor performances on YouTube.

New UK Cinema Releases: 28th October 2011, THE HELP, THE IDEAS OF MARCH, THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN and ANONYMOUS

First up for you this week, The Help a movie which to be honest does not interest me in the slightest, if you enjoy watching stuff about the American civil rights movement, then this may be right up your street.

Starring: Emma Stone, Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer

The movie is set in the 1960's, way before I was born and it follows an aspiring writer who decides to write a book on an African American maids perception of the family she works for and the hardships that they go through on a day to day basis.

So like I said, I'm really not into this at all and can say without any doubt that this is one movie that I won't be making any efforts to go see either at the cinema or on DVD.

There really isn't a lot going on this week unless you are into the above or like presidential political movies.  I'm of course talking about Clooney's new offering The Ideas Of March.

Starring: Paul Giamatti, George Clooney, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ryan Gosling

This movie is based on a play and follows a new member of staff working for a presidential candidate, the newbie soon gets a a crash course in dirty politics during his run on the campaign trail.

Again a movie which really doesn't interest me, I see Clooney in political stuff like this and think Syriana, a crap movie in my opinion and I for one am surprised I didn't switch it off.  I don't think I will be seeing The Ideas Of March.

Onto another movie which I won't watch now but, I do have to say that the casting for The Adventures of Tintin is pretty impressive plus the movie is directed by Spielberg.

Starring: Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, Daniel Craig and Simon Pegg

Based on books, I believe.  Tintin goes on an adventure with Captain Haddock, they are hunting for treasure which is on a sunken ship which was captained by Haddock's ancestor.  One problem though, they aren't the only ones looking for the treasure.

Like I said above I don't think I will be going to see this, if I do it'll be for Serkis or Craig, I think this may be along the lines of Polar Express only on a boat.  I haven't read the books or seen any of the cartoons and don't intend to now.

Last movie to tell you about now and as always I'll shove you in the direction of IMDB, over there you can check out the trailer for Anonymous, which beilieve it or not is another movie that I won't be going to see.  It's a period drama and has something to do with this guy who supposedly penned a Shakesphere play.  Enjoy the trailer and I'll be back with some better movies next week, hopefully.

Review: DEXTER 6.4 - A Horse of a Different Color

For me this season of Dexter is just becoming more and more intriguing, I was a bit late on Dexter remember and haven’t seen seasons 1 – 4, I'm working on it.  I read up quite a bit on it and some people say they are getting a little sick of the show, how?  For me this is the best show on TV, I suppose we all like different stuff and that’s great but Dexter really is building up this season.

Unlike Person of Interest, Dexter is given a new target (for want of a better word) every season and this year it’s Travis and Gellar, or maybe it’s just Travis with many a fan believing that Gellar is nothing more than a fragment of Travis’s imagination kind of like the scenes Dexter shares with his father Harry.  So far this season anytime Gellar and Travis have been on screen together other actors have simply ignored Gellar, so what's going on here...Are we all guessing right, Gellar does not exist and Travis has a multiple personality disorder?  Or is this one very clever plot that by the writers that is going to trick us all?

The killing spree that Travis is currently on sees his tally at 3, I think.  Travis is working his way through the Book of Revelation and this week saw him attaching body parts to mannequin's before we saw the four horsemen tableau.  That really introduced us to just how far the Doomsday killer(s) are prepared to go.

Along with that we really saw Miami Metro's newest recruit step to the front, someone had to since Debra has been promoted.  Mike Anderson (Billy Brown) was the only level headed one there other than Debra, I really like this guy and think he is going to become a main character of the show which will hopefully run for at least another two seasons. 

Along with a new villain always comes an actor who can cut it alongside Michael C. Hall, those would be few and far between in my opinion but this season’s inclusion of Brother Sam (Mos Def) is proving a real treasure, in four episodes the two have already clocked up some pretty impressive screen time together and the scenes where they are both involved are by far the most entertaining, they can only get better and better as the story develops further.

As always with Dexter you get all of the heavy stuff but there is a lighter side to things usually brought to us by Dexter’s son Harrison, the detectives at Miami Metro or Dexter's fellow blood spatter expert Masuka (C.S Lee), who this week discovered his hot new intern had placed an exhibit from the “Ice Truck Killer” investigation on eBay.  You also couldn’t help but laugh out loud at Quinn (Desmond Harrington) and Batista (David Zayas) being high on weed “stop staring at me dude, it’s freaking me out”.  The look on his face was very amusing.  We also had a good laugh from Debra (Jennifer Carpenter) this week when she was responsible for doing her first press interview, she decided to be "herself", as advised and swore on national TV, horrified LaGuerta (Lauren Velez) is now really pissed as Debra's little trick worked and she has become and instant hit with the public.

One person did get killed this week but not at the hands of Dexter, he was having the week off but I'm sure it may well be business as usual next week running along side his trying to find out who Travis is, he saw him right at the end of this episode remember, oh yeah and Gellar was nowhere to be seen.

For me his weeks episode has been one of the best yet as far as backing stories go, the characters of Mike Anderson, Mos Def and Travis can only get better and better and this season is really going places.

Dexter season 6 body count: 5

EP 1: Ben (ambulance driver/technician
EP 1: Roger (ambulance driver/technician)
EP 1: Joe Walker (High school reunion, college Football jerk)
EP 2: Julio Benes (Gang banger)
EP 3: Walter Kenny (The Tooth Fairy)

Dexter continues Sunday October 30th at 9pm on Showtime

Review: HOMELAND 1.4 - Semper I

For me this has got to be the best episode to this show so far, I have mentioned in previous reviews that Homeland is pretty tough going kind of like AMC’s the Killing.  I still haven’t changed my opinion on that but this episode was brilliant and it has now thrown in an all new way in which the story could go.

We saw probably the first stages of paranoia involved with Brody this week when he believed for a minute that a man was standing behind him and staring at him through the mirror.  Brody has returned to his homeland the all American hero and the military and the press really want to exploit that with little regard to his feeling or handle on the situation.  He was gearing up this week to give a speech to troops, motivating them for the gulf war they are about to become involved with.  Brody does this with ease, that’s the structured environment he knows being a man amongst men.

The Brody family story is really starting to pick up pace with Brody himself all to aware of what his wife and best friend Mike have been up to whilst he has been away for the past eight years.  He has never accused either out right but clearly he knows what has been going on.  I though at one point when he was standing polishing his gun that Mike was done for and Brody was going to unleash a little friendly fire on his former best friend, turns out not to be the case he only wanted to shoot the Deer in his back yard which had been trampling on his new flowers.

Carrie has now had to take the surveillance equipment out of the Brody house hold, that’s where the new bit of the story is coming for me because Carrie still does not trust Brody believing him to be a sleeper.  That’s really going to open things out a bit as far as tracking him goes, rather than watching him from the comfort of her living room she will now be forced to follow him.  Brody knows who she is so that’s not going to be easy.

Carrie is now going to be put in an even more dangerous situation though with CIA Deputy Estes (David Harwood) asking young agent Danny Galvez (Hrach Titizian) to watch her and report back on any extra curricular activities she may be involved with.  Form that meeting we got to find out who the man buying the house next to the airport, Raqim Faisel (Omid Abtahi) was followed by Carrie and Galvez heading back to his home however a call was made to his wife to warn him that he was being followed, he calmly drove past his house and no sooner did he come up in enquiries he has been cleared.

A really good instalment to what looks like it is going to be a really brilliant show, once again all involved where on top form and no doubt the story has a lot deeper to go in relation to everyone involved.  Like I said don’t expect laughs but do expect brilliant story lines and brilliant acting.

Homeland continues on Showtime, Sunday 30^th October 2011

Review: PERSON OF INTEREST 1.5 - Judgment

I'm really starting to enjoy this show and I'm pleased to report that CBS have just ordered a full season.  I still think that they are going to have to come up with a more in depth story line to keep it going longer than one season but it definitely has something, ass kicking aside.  For me the main reason it works so well would be the casting of the lead characters, I touched on it briefly during the first review that Jim Cavizel was probably not the sort of actor you would expect to see in the role but, he has proved any doubters wrong.  He is believable and would probably conform to the sort of unassuming person the CIA recruit.  Then you have Michael Emerson, the man we all know so well from his portrayal of Ben Linus in six seasons of Lost.  He is equally as shifty and mysterious in this show and both he and Cavizel work really well together.

This week saw a new SSN and storyline as always, Samuel Gates a high court Judge was about to become involved in a situation which saw his son kidnapped, his nanny murdered and him being bribed to allow a woman named Angela Markham (Merideth Patterson) to walk free from a trial after she killed someone in a drink driving accident.  Reese at first struggles to find out why an Eastern European gang are interested in the acquittal of a woman who would surely not roll in the same circles as them but then he and Finch find the money trail behind it and the $3 million that she has transferred on their behalf whilst she was supposedly "clocked off".

Again this week it was good to see Finch becoming involved in the search, he went to the court to find out why this gang were so interested in Angela Markham.  Due to Finch's limp I really don't think we can expect him to become any more involved than that, he can and probably will stay more in the background working on that genius computer system which this week gave the wrong SSN as Samuel Gates was not the person in danger it was his son Sam Gates Jr, ok it did eventually lead to the right person but still.  

Like last week and pretty much every other one there was plenty kick ass, that's pretty much what you would expect with the amount of gangs that were involved.  It was a little in danger I suppose of going to much like a Van Damme movie, Reese kicks everyone's ass and does not even get hit.  That didn't happen here and we saw Reese get shot, and guess what!  It wasn't in the leg, although that may well have been more helpful to the peoples asses he was kicking at the time.  After all he would have struggled with one leg they only managed to get him in the shoulder.

Angela Markham walked as you know with the Judge giving in to the pressure being placed on him by the gang, don't panic though Finch is about.  He delivered the numbers to the desk of the attorney who was prosecuting Markham giving them a case for money laundering, a nice little move and one way to make sure that no villains make a re-appearance later in the season, there may well be all the one's that Reese has shot in the leg but he'll deal with them as and when.


The Judge has told Reese that when he does eventually get caught that he won't be able to help them out of what ever hole him and Finch are in, no one will actually as they work alone and are not sanctioned by any governing body.  That begs the question in relation to the cops.  Detective's Carter (Taraj P. Henson) and Fusco (Kevin Chapman), Fusco of course ended up working in the same department as Carter because Reese organised it so Fusco can keep an eye on what Carter knows about him.  Problem for Reese is will Fusco tow the line or will he go straight and help Carter find her mystery man.


This was another solid performance from all involved and the show really is starting to pick up steam, ok it doesn't keep you thinking like Homeland does, it's not Dexter and there are no zombie's wondering around like Walking Dead but, I for one am pleased it's got a full season order and I look forward to seeing weather they wrap things up in one season or we roll into a second.

Review: STRIKE BACK: PROJECT DAWN - Season 2 Finale, Episode 10

The show with more testosterone than an all male prison came to it’s explosive and chilling climax this week as promised by Sky and Cinemax.  Strike Back: Project Dawn has been the hit that everyone thought it would be making stars of it’s cast and securing it with both UK and US studios for a third season.

Ok sit back breathe in really deep, and say it with me “FUUUUCCCK MEEEEE”, that line was said so often by Sgt Damien Scott (Sullivan Stapleton) that it could have been this season’s tag line.  The thing that emphasized it most…Probably Australian actor Sullivan Stapleton’s half Australian half American accent but, it worked and the way it looks currently Sgt Scott will be the only surviving member of Section 20 to make it to the third season.

The show really centered on his character this year, not all of the focus was on him of course but the main grit to the story was all about him and the British and American attempts to set him up with a little help from Pakistan.  Scott was a former Delta Force operative who fell foul of a secret mission named “Trojan Horse”.  The American’s got away with it and he became their fall guy and ended up at UK Intelligence’s Section 20.

As far as their promise of explosive goes I would say that’s a little over the top.  Revealing would probably be more up there with it especially when you seem to be able to reason with a terrorist and his finding out of the intelligence agencies foul play around Trojan Horse.

Latif (Jimi Mystry) is the man who has been tracked for the whole of this season, the terrorist had pretty much the whole middle east in his pocket along with a bunch of corrupt US military staff and a Heroin trafficker.  At one point during the first few episodes he even fooled his way into Section 20 having them believe that he was Jamal Ashkani the head of Pakistani intelligence, and they wonder how he managed to dig so much dirt.  Latif was of course captured by Stonebridge (Philip Winchester) and Scott during the ninth episode, rolling into this one he was being interrogated (badly) by Colonel Elanor Grant (Amanda Mealing).

That’s probably where they get explosive from, when Latif men break into the Section 20 strong hold which they have kept secret for the whole of the season, other than knowing it was in Pakistan.  A load of Section 20 extras got shot up, the main characters survived thanks largely to Stonebridge and Scott and Colonel Grant was captured and forced to reveal all of her involvement in Trojan Horse and her attempts to aide the Americans is setting up Scott, how did that work out for her?  Not to good she blew herself up with Latif at the end of the show not wanting her secret to come out probably fearing she would be thrown into that prison I mentioned above.

The show has been a great one, a good 10 episode run has seen plenty twists and turns Stonebridge and Scott worked really well together and it’s a shame they both won’t be back for the third season, there has been plenty of knowledge on the characters and their backing stories and even the enemy where handed a good story, with plenty knife’s being dealt in the back amongst themselves.

I look forward to the third season which will start filming in South Africa in early 2012 but, who will be there!  Not Colonel Grant that’s for sure.  Stonebridge is off back to England to be a daddy, so that’s counts him out to.  Sgt Sinclair (Rhashan Stone) could well be back, probably as Colonel Sinclair.  Sgt Scott may be back, although it’s not confirmed but he left the door open at the end of the episode, roll on season 3.

New Music Single Releases: 24th October 2011, DAVID GUETTA Ft USHER, HARD-FI, DRAKE, PROFESSOR GREEN and RIZZLE KICKS

It’s a good one for music releases this week, with a list where I have heard of just about everyone, so let’s get on with it.

David Guetta feat. Usher – Without You Everyone’s favorite French DJ / Producer is back right in the thick of it this week, currently riding high with his latest album “Nothing But The Beat” his latest single sees him team up with American R&B superstar Usher.  Guetta is currently the most sought after man in the music industry with just about anything he touches turning to gold, as far as this song goes it’s not my favorite but it will probably do well thanks to the names involved.

Cobra Starship feat. Sabi – You Make Me Feel Cobra Starship are an American Synth band who were formed in New York.  This latest single is from the 2010 album “Night Shades” and sees them team up with Sabi who I know nothing about.



Manchester Orchestra

 Manchester Orchestra – Virgin Go on have a guess what do you think these guys do?  Orchestra!  Nope your wrong they are actually an American indie rock band, not my cup of tea and this is one song which I won't be downloading.

Dirty Projectors And Bjork - Mount Wittenburg A rock band straight out of Brooklyn, New York, they class themselves as experimental rock and this latest track features Bjork from the 90’s.  I didn’t like her first time round and I don’t think she will be floating my boat this time either.

Hard–Fi – Bring It On Onto an English indie rock band for you now.  Hard-Fi have just released their third studio album “Killer Sounds” and this tune looks like it may be true to the title.  I’m not the biggest fan of indie music in general but I do like these guys, I came to know of them when they released the album “Stars Of CCTV” back in 2005 with Living For the Weekend being my favorite track, the guys followed that album up in 2007 when they released “Once Upon A Time In The West”.  Take a look at the video of their new single below.

Tribes – When My Day Comes A English rock band who I haven’t heard of, there first single We Were Children was nominated as the weeks hottest record by Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe.

.

Twenty Twenty (top), Florence and the Machine

Twenty Twenty – Move It An upcoming English rock pop group, I don’t know to much of them but they have supported some pretty big acts on arena tours

 
Wolf Gang – Back To Back An English alternative rock band who have a name that makes you think they may well be German head bangers.  Not the case and I really don’t know to much about them.

Drake – Headlines An American hip hop and R&B star, I’m familiar with some of his work and can’t say I like it to much, this new song does nothing for me at all.  The video has the Gangster traits, girls, money, big cars and cigars.

Florence And The Machine – Shake It Out Kind of Like Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds the band name here suggests more than one person but really it’s just a girl named Florence Welch, she is backed up by people, artists actually but she is the main focus here.  She is quite successful, has an impressive voice and I like some of her music but this latest release is not for me.

Professor Green feat. Emeli Sande – Read All About It Probably England’s answer to Eminem, he is an English rapper who shot to fame in 2008 when he won a £50k rap tournament and hasn’t looked back since, his latest offering sees him teaming up with Scottish artist Emeli Sande, check out the video below.

Noah And The Whale – Waiting For My Chance To Come An English indie folk band, can’t think of one song they have released that I actually like and this one is pretty much the same, I think they call it an acquired taste.

Rizzle Kicks – When I Was A Youngster The hip hop duo from Brighton on Britain’s south coast attended the Brit school together, there debut album “Stereo Typical” comes out on October 31^st and will no doubt be a hit as this release and there previous one’s have been.

Movie Review: ENEMY OF THE STATE (1998) Starring Will Smith

Ok it was released in 1998, I know that.  You know me by now though if I watch it I will review it.  Movie reviews are something that may have to take a little back burner at the minute, there are so many new and returning TV shows (Dexter, The Walking Dead, Homeland and Person of  Interest) to review right now that I don’t have time for movie’s, and like I always say I do have a real job!  The one which pays my bills and blogging from there isn’t an option anymore.  Maybe I will stop watching the X Factor and start watching a movie on Saturday night’s, lets see.

Starring: Will Smith, Gene Hackman, John Voight, Regina King and Lisa Bonet

The Plot

Smith plays Robert Clayton Dean, a mild mannered attorney and family man in Washington D.C.  Dean is working on a big case looking to bring down local kingpin Pintero.  In the mean time a politician named Thomas Reynolds (Voight) is trying to negotiate a deal with Councilman Philip Hammersley (Jason Robards), unwilling to do the deal Hammersley is murdered and dumped into the back of a vehicle, one problem though!  The murder was caught on video tape by a local bird watcher who is quickly getting chased by NSA agents, he slips the tape into the pocket of the unsuspecting Dean and before long Dean's life starts to fall to pieces.

The Verdict

As far as action thrillers go this is right up there with the best of them all, nothing like a good government conspiracy thriller which delivers in story, action and acting.  I have seen this movie a bunch of times now, this is the first time I have seen it in HD and the first time I have seen the extended version.   Can I tell you about the extra 8 minutes or so?  Not really it’s that long since I saw it first time round that I really didn’t remember too much about it.

Will Smith is exceptional as you would expect and for me this is the type of movie I like to see him in, don’t get me wrong I love his comedy movies but fast paced action like this and Bad Boys really is what Smith does best, none of it takes away from his ability as an actor.  Add into the mix John Voight as a corrupt leader of the NSA and Gene Hackman a former NSA operative who is as paranoid (with good reason) as they come then everything else just falls into place.

You can even go deeper into the extensive cast of this movie crediting the actors, Jake Busey, Barry Pepper and Jack Black who all deliver powerful performances as members of the NSA tracking and surveying team watching Smith, who not only delivers on action but also on emotion with his family and Hackman as he life is falling apart at the seams.  A quick side note Smith's wife Carla Dean (Regina King) also played his fiancé in Independence Day. (Useless trivia, I know)

The story itself is alarmingly realistic to true life and does actually make you believe that the government have technology capable of this kind of surveillance, this was 1998 remember we are in 2011 now, technology has moved on even further since then.  You do have to concede that some of it was a little far fetched especially in relation to the satellites they have which bring you perfect ground coverage even when the sky is full of clouds but everything else is believable.

All in all this is a brilliant thriller with an excellent story line “you can run, but you can’t hide” attitude which really does open up some questions on just who is watching you or listening in to telephone conversations that happen.  It’s fast paced, classy and like I mentioned realistic, the acting is great and this is an un-missable thriller especially if you are a fan of Will Smith (who’s not?) or Gene Hackman.

Would I watch it again?

Without doubt, if there is nothing like this with a fresh storyline then Enemy of the State would be my choice, if you like a good conspiracy with plenty of action, you enjoyed Shooter with Mark Wahlberg this you will definitely enjoy this movie.

Rating: MMMM

Review: TERRA NOVA 1.4 - The Runaway

Did you catch last weeks review or Terra Nova?  If you just want a quick re-cap then I'll give it to you, it went along the lines of the show being nothing more than a early evening show for parents to watch with their teenage kids.  Did it improve any this week?  Yes would be the short answer but I still stand by my review from last week.

This week did have a good little twist that may keep people watching but for me it was nothing like the preview promised, of course there you only get two and a half minutes.  In that they cram the weeks best bit in.  I remember reading about this show before it came out, it came with a pretty hefty budget.  From that you would expect great special effects which is what you get where the dinosaurs are concerned but clearly that's as far as it stretched.  I was expecting to see something like Lost, you know people running round the jungle chased by polar bears, well dinosaurs at least.

You do get the chasing of course but, it's not anywhere near the same level of excitment you had in Lost, I know this show  is probably aimed more at kids but like I said above with the money they have spent you expect more.

This week saw a young orphan girl come looking for asylum in Terra Nova, or at least that's how it seemed at first, the little twist there didn't really take to long to work out, in Lost they may have dragged that out the whole episode and managed to keep you guessing all the way.  The girl was of course sent to Terra Nova by Mira, the leader of the Sixers.  Her mission, to retrive something from the house where Mira lived before her and her 6th Pilgrimage followers left Terra Nova to form their own colony.

Was this girl telling the truth, did she get fed on scraps?  She did seem to tuck into the food on offer over at Terra Nova which makes you think that what she was saying is true, she doesn't want to live with the Sixers.  She told the truth about her brother and seemed genuinly sorry for what she done to the Shannon family.  Would it be to easy to think that she has conned Jim Shannon, Commander Weaver and all of the Terra Nova residents once again?  Maybe this was Mira's plan all along to get both of them into Terra Nova, have them looked after by the supposed spy she has there, they could be laying foundations for the take over that Mira has planned.

Mira and her clan did of course have the chance to cause some of the Terra Nova police harm this week, she captured Alicia, Carter and even Shannon at one point she had them ready to kill if she wanted to but that's not her mission as she told Shannon in the big reveal.  Commander Weaver has cut some bridges back in 2149, people there want him over thrown but, who?  She wouldn't give that away and she clearly left a little seed in Shannon's mind as he nefglected to share that information with Weaver when he got back.

All in all I would say this was better than last weeks Star Trek esque episode but it's still not grabbing me, this week I didn't watch the show until Thursday, I normally watch on a Tuesday, it doesn't help with all of the other TV shows on right now that are better than this.  I probably will keep watching more for the who should be running Terra Nova colony story than anything else but I just not to excited that this show is going to come up to scratch of what's already on TV. 

Weekly News: TRANSFORMERS 4 & 5, NEW WAYANS BROTHERS COMEDY, EMINEM and BACK TO THE FUTURE Alternative Ending



I put this here so you'd read it...

Just as Transformers 3 is wrapping up at the cinema Paramount have made an announcement that they are going to be making 4^th and 5^th movies also.  Hasbro are keen that director Michael Bay is back on board and the movies will be shot simultaneously, just like the final two Matrix movies, we all know how that turned out…..Well actually we don’t, I’ve seen that a bunch of times and still couldn’t tell you what it was all about.

It has been confirmed, or at least is thought that Shia LeBeouf will not be back for either of these two movies, however Jason Statham’s name is doing the rounds right now but no formal offer has been made.  Personally I think they should leave it at three, I thought the first one was good, didn’t have any desire to see the second one and even less to see the third.  The only reason for bringing it back really could be the fact the third movie grossed over $1 billion.

What do all of these shows or movies have in common, White Chicks, Scary Movie, Little Man, In Living Colour, The Wayans Brothers and My Wife and Kids?  They are all produced by The Wayans brothers who also tend to star in them all to.

Now they are back with a brand new sitcom on ABC, It’s not titled as yet but Marlon Wayans has been giving a little up on what things will be about.  He said the show is going to have a couple/buddy cop feel about it, and guess what Marlon plays a married cop, sounds like White Chicks for TV to me.  There is no name on who the other cop will be, or at least Marlon Wayans hasn’t named the person yet.  What we do know is the character will be moving in with Marlon and his wife.  It will be pretty stupid no doubt but anything which these guys have been involved in is usually pretty funny.

Two names in the music industry that you usually wouldn’t associate with each other is Eminem, the hip hop and rap superstar and Elton John, the mild mannered guy from the 70’s.  Turns out though they are pretty good friends, so much so that they are on the phone to each other at least once a week, Eminem told Rolling Stones Magazine Elton likes to check I’m on the up and up.

The friendship came following the height of Eminem’s drug addiction when after one overdose he was told by doctors he was only a couple of hours away from dying.  He spoke about his addiction to Ambien, a prescription drug which Eminem says was killing his Brain cells.

Eminem said that during the peak of his drug addiction he was taking 60 Valium and 30 Vicodin pills a day.  That was back in 2007 when he overdosed on Methadone, the drug which is used to wean drug addicts from Heroin.  Dr’s told him the amount of Methadone he took was the equivalent to four bags of Heroin.

That’s where Elton stepped in to help, Eminem says Elton was the first person he called when he wanted to get clean, Em says he keeps all of his writing from those drug addict days to remind himself that he never wants to go back to drugs.

Ok last but not least I ran by this video on the net this week thanks to Slash film, the video comes from a YouTuber, Midians Music (check out his awesome channel) who has put together a very entertaining little video with his idea of an alternate ending for Back To The Future.  Not news I know but thought I should share it with you, it is pretty clever.