I watched this movie the other night, '1066' dubbed the most famous date in English history, for those that have not seen this movie here is a quick summary, this movie plays out from the perspective of a couple of Saxon Ceorls who are called up for service in the Fyrd (local militia force), they get marched up north to tackle the threat of the Vikings in two decisive encounters, the Battle of Fulford and the Battle of Stamford Bridge and then they are marched south again with whatever troops they have left to face the menacing Normans in the Battle of Hastings.
The movie is no 'Braveheart' and the acting is OK, but still convincing enough to enjoy, it has a basic plot with a couple of likable characters as leads, costume wise the uniforms are faithful as is the armour and weapons, but everything is to clean and shiny, in fact the documentary style in which it is portrayed almost leaves you thinking that this is a high budget reenactment ! but don't let that scare you off, if your into the Dark Ages, then get your hands on this movie, bang it on and enjoy what it has to offer..... 6.5 /10
Last Night I watched a fantastic Documentary about the Battle of Long Tan, not a well known battle, but one of Australia's toughest encounters with the VC (Vietcong) and NVA (North Vietnamese Regulars) in the Vietnam war, this documentary is told from the views of both commanders from both sides of the conflict, a sombre but well written and professionally made documentary, I could not help but get teary at some of the tragedies of this battle and the insane loss of human life, a powerful documentary ! if you have the time and are interested, you can watch it online at the following web page, Red Dune Films, as a bonus the documentary is narrated by a well known Australian actor Sam Worthington known for films such as Avatar, clash of the Titans and Terminator Salvation.
Battle Summary Late afternoon August 18, 1966 South Vietnam – for three and a half hours, in the pouring rain, amid the mud and shattered trees of a rubber plantation called Long Tan, Major Harry Smith and his dispersed company of 108 young and mostly inexperienced Australian and New Zealand soldiers are fighting for their lives, holding off an overwhelming enemy force of 2,500 battle hardened VietCong and North Vietnamese soldiers. With their ammunition running out, their casualties mounting and the enemy massing for a final assault each man begins to search for his own answer – and the strength to triumph over an uncertain future with honor, decency and courage.
The ensuing Battle of Long Tan becomes one of the most savage and decisive engagements in ANZAC history, earning both the United States and South Vietnamese Presidential Unit Citations for gallantry along with many individual awards. But sadly not before 18 Australians and more than 500 Vietnamese are killed.
I wanted to share one of my favourite movies based in prehistory, its called Quest for fire, the general premise of the movie is about a clan of Neanderthals who early in the movie get attacked by a local clan of Hairy Bipeds, many members get killed in the ensuing fight and they also lose the ability to create fire, so they assign to some of their best warriors the task of recapturing fire, the movie follows this band of warriors as they journey through differing lands on their Quest to find Fire !
I saw this video on someones website (cant remember who, srry) and had a great laugh at some of the content, Its a TV show called 'Immersion' and on this particular episode they decided to see how well your average person would do scoring headshots in a zombie apocalypse with a firearm, they get three people to take the test on there Zombie shooting range, some use a pistol while others use a shotgun, this video is full of goofy characters, gun action and cool Zombie dummies proped on rolling platforms, and all of this is inspired by the pc game Left for dead... check it out.
The other night I had little to no motivation for anything miniature (due to a busy day at work) so I decided to throw on my Blu Ray copy of Dawn of the Dead (2004 Remake), now there probably isnt many of you out there that haven't seen this movie, Right ? But I thought I would post on it because this movie would have to be another one of my top five zombie flicks, so basically the movie follows a young nurse through the outbreak of a Zombie apocalypse, firstly on her own and then with a group of survivors that she joins up with, the group eventually barricade themselves in a mall, and towards the end of the movie they attempt an escape to the seaside in an effort to grab theselves a boat and get off the mainland, their thinking being no land no zombies. The movie was well acted with good effects and directed by Zach snyder (300), the stand out moment for me was when they were sniper shooting zombie celebrities from the mall roof in the zombie crowd down below, great moment funny as.
This is the second of my five favorite zombie flicks, the first being Day of the Dead (2008), as I watch them again I will review them and post them up here, let me know what you think if you have seen this movie.
I remember watching this movie few years ago with my brother, and I remember having a blast watching it, so the next time I was near a dvd libary I borrowed it and rewatched it, watching this movie the second time around was a real blast also, everything from the plot to the acting to the special effects was of a good quality standing, there was plenty of action and even some key funny moments, my favourite being when one of the human survivors were barring up or repairing the front door (cant remember which) with a hammer, when suddenly a werewolf hand reaches in through the top glass panel on that door, trying to grab him, he just starts to frantically hammer bash that doggy hand with the hammer..... thats funny shit right there, I laughed for like ages, loved it, so If you want a good solid movie with plenty of action, a touch of humour and your into these types of movies then definately give this one a try, after writing all this I have realised that I have actually told you nothing about the movie's plot, hahahah, so here is the basic premise, a british army unit is dropped into an english forest for the weekend (which happens to coincide with a fullmoon) on a routine training excersize, unbeknownst to them they are not the only ones in that forrest with a bad attitude.
Now on the miniatures side of things, I so enjoyed this movie that I decided that I wanted to game this, yes... you guessed it, by this time impulse has taken over and I'm online ordering werewolves and some modern british troops, talk about an impulse buy ! so, you can all expect too see in future posts, modern brits and werewolves all painted up.
I just got news that they are doing a Dog soldiers 2.... very cool, here is the IMDB movie insert:
In the highland forest, Captain Ryan (Liam Cunningham) and his Special Forces Unit, which includes Sergeant Walker, are spying on the squad of British Soldiers who have been set up as bait for a family of bloodthirsty werewolves. However, the werewolves attack the Special Forces Unit first. Ryan is badly injured and watches helplessly as his men are dragged screaming into the surrounding trees. Walker manages to escape the apparent slaughter, but unknown to him his unit’s distress signal is picked up by a U.S. Command HQ on a nearby Isle. A small U.S. Unit, led by Sgt Martinez, are immediately sent in to discover what has happened to Ryan’s Unit. They quickly find Ryan’s demolished base camp and the apparent only survivor, Walker; but there are no signs of any dead bodies! What has happened to Ryan and the rest of his men? Now the Unit hear a distant gun-battle. Walker leads Martinez and her men on a race across the moonlit forest to rescue the original British Squad who are trapped in the remote farmhouse. However, a second pack of savage werewolves are in pursuit. The new pack is in fact the surviving members of Captain Ryan’s SAS team now transformed into werewolves, but they have retained trace memories of their commando training. The new werewolves are faster, deadlier and smarter then the original Highland werewolves. These are true Dog Soldiers – and they are hungry for fresh meat
I watched this movie the other day, not for the first time, and I thought I should post on it, this would have to be one of my favorite Zombie flicks of all time, top five easily, for me this movie had a lot in it off what I like in zombie flicks, set in a small quiet american town Leadville, Colorado, (the perfect setting for all Zombie flicks, in my opinion anyway), a military Bio-Hazardous accident plunges the small town into a zombie apocalypse, friends turn on friends even family turn on family. The zombies in this movie are excellent, there are the fast variety, Zombies that jump/ Leap on you, they run at you then run up the walls at you sideways, and then from there they switch down to a fast crawl at you upside down along the ceiling and then leap at you from the ceiling, its crazy shit ! There are also Smart zombies and even (would you Believe It) friendly zombies !?! WTF ? zombies with weapons, half bodied zombies, leader zombies you name it its in here ! the movie has other good points aswell, it attempts to tackle the typical scenarios, like you know, what do you do to infected family members or friends ? kill them ? or not ? what sort of person do you become when faced with death and danger ? this and other crucial scenarios are played out, along with the above mentioned the movie has the typical character types, like the shady/ weasal goverment types, the strong sacraficial military types, and even the fat lardie selfish types, but wait there is more, if cool character types isn't enough then the survivors get there hands on some nice gun hardware, and you better believe it, the zombie body count escalates exceptionally, the movies two big names are Mena Suvari and Ving Rhames, amongst other low key but familiar actors, overall the movie is very entertaining, well acted with minimal gore (which I prefer) and a lot of imagination injected, if you haven't seen it, then I definitely recommend it.
Here is a cool Zombie flick for all you crazy Z day survivor wannabees, its a french movie, so you have to put up with subtitles (all you Sub haters beware) but its not long before you dont even notice your reading them, I purchased a copy off ebay, and waited patiently for my copy to arrive in the post, that night, the night it arrived, I went straight home and watched it, being a foriegn flick I wasnt expecting a whole lot, but, to my suprise it turned out unexpectedly fun and adventureous, the acting is good, the story is believable and the characters are likeable in a Zed kinda way, there is a bit of gore, but all in context and not really abused, all in all an enjoyable Zed flick, there is even a few scares thrown in for good measure, if you have the resources and like Zed flicks get your self a copy.
I saw this trailer for an upcoming Gladiator Tv series based on the historical 'Spartacus' to be aired in the states in January, I saw this about 3 or so months ago, I thought I would share it, looks great and has a 300-ish feel about it, check it out:
Here is another liitle bonus trailer for the lovers of the sword and sandal genre - 'Clash of the Titans'
