Just a couple of days ago, we got the great new poster for the upcoming post-apocalyptic film, The Divide, from director Xavier Gens (Frontier(s), Hitman), and it was pretty sweet stuff.

We’ve now got the film’s brilliant first full trailer to share with you sent over by the studio, Anchor Bay, and it shows a lot of promise for Gens’ first feature film since his 2007 adaptation of Hitman led by Timothy Olyphant.

“In this graphic and violent, post-apocalyptic thriller, nine strangers — all tenants of a New York high rise apartment — escape a nuclear attack by hiding out in the building’s bunker-like basement. Trapped for days underground with no hope for rescue, and only unspeakable horrors awaiting them on the other side of the bunker door, the group begins to descend into madness, each turning on one another with physical and psycho-sexual torment. As supplies dwindle, and tensions flare, and they grow increasingly unhinged by their close quarters and hopelessness, each act against one another becomes more depraved than the next. While everyone in the bunker allows themselves to be overcome by desperation and lose their humanity, one survivor holds onto a thin chance for escape even with no promise of salvation on the outside.”

The film’s cast includes Lauren German (Hostel: Part II), Michael Biehn (The Terminator), and Milo Ventimiglia (TV’s Heroes), and judging by the trailer, it’s been done really well. We open on the end of the world as we know it, with German (who looks surprisingly similar to Milla Jovovich in that scene) witnessing the fire and destruction raining down upon New York. Then comes the mad rush of everybody trying to find a safe place to hide, which brings us down to the basement and the deathly scenario that awaits these nine New Yorkers in the aftermath, turning on each other.

The US is lucky enough to be getting this on 13th January next year, and there’s still no word of a UK release date. Hopefully it will just be a matter of time though, because this is something I’d really like to see on the big screen. Without further ado, here’s the first full-length trailer to enjoy.

French director Xavier Gens is returning to the big screen after his 2007 adaptation of Hitman with Timothy Olyphant – which might not get reviewed that well, but I thought was pretty awesome – with a post-apocalyptic thriller, The Divide, that looks like it should be excellent.

We got the interesting first poster for the film late last year, a few months ahead of its debut at SXSW earlier this year, after which it quickly got picked up by Anchor Bay Films for distribution in the States.

ShockTillYouDrop have now got a great new poster for the film to share with us, that gives us a look at how New York will look at the end of the world portrayed in this film. And it looks pretty damn awesome. The sky is ablaze, and the city looks to be engulfed in flames; and it’s just a matter of time before the buildings still standing are burned to the ground.

“In this graphic and violent, post-apocalyptic thriller, nine strangers — all tenants of a New York high rise apartment — escape a nuclear attack by hiding out in the building’s bunker-like basement. Trapped for days underground with no hope for rescue, and only unspeakable horrors awaiting them on the other side of the bunker door, the group begins to descend into madness, each turning on one another with physical and psycho-sexual torment. As supplies dwindle, and tensions flare, and they grow increasingly unhinged by their close quarters and hopelessness, each act against one another becomes more depraved than the next. While everyone in the bunker allows themselves to be overcome by desperation and lose their humanity, one survivor holds onto a thin chance for escape even with no promise of salvation on the outside.”

The cast includes Lauren German (Hostel: Part II), veteran Michael Biehn (The Terminator), and the awesome Milo Ventimiglia (TV’s Heroes), and if you’ve seen the teaser trailer (which I’ve embedded below for your viewing pleasure), then you’ll know this looks like it has quite a bit of potential. The film will be released in the US on 13th January next year, and though no UK release date has been announced yet, hopefully it will be coming to our screens early next year too. Without further ado, here’s the great new poster to enjoy, with the teaser trailer beneath it. As usual with the poster, click to enlarge.

Here’s some rather welcome news at 23.40 on a Tuesday evening! While I’m sitting here waiting for the new Twilight trailer to drop, EW have just posted the news that Chuck Norris and Jean Claude van Damme have been confirmed for The Expendables 2 with Nicolas Cage on the wish-list. This news follows that of Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger are on board too.

In an interview with Sylvester Stallone who wrote, directed and starred in the original movie, he broke the news that Van Damme and Norris are confirmed and thinks that Cage will be appearing but it sounds like he wants to get a few more involved too including Michael Biehn and Michael Pare and maybe even John Travolta making it a nice Face Off reunion with Cage:

“We’ll have a big showdown between me and Van Damme, which has been anticipated for a long time, so it should be a good one”

“We’ve got Chuck Norris and I think Nic Cage. We’re trying to work out different scenarios. I like using people that had a moment and then maybe have fallen on some hard times and give them another shot. So we’re always looking for actors like Michael Biehn and Michael Pare. I like those kinds of guys. Someone did it for me and I like to see if I can do it for them. We also need some new blood in there, a Navy Seal-type, because with the Expendables none of them have 20-20 vision anymore. They need some help, man.”

I was desperate for Norris and Van Damme to appear to appear in the original 2009 movie but it looks like we had to wait a couple of years longer to see them. The addition of Cage could be cool and all I need to do now is work out how I can get on set! Now all we need is for Steven Seagal and Jackie Chan to sign on the dotted line and the line up is complete! Then again, we’ll need some more people for The Expendables 3 no doubt!

The movie is expected to be released August 2012 and shooting starts at the end of this month.

The trailer for first-time director Kern Saxton’s revenge flick Sushi Girl has debuted online (via YouTube), though you might have missed it in the afterglow of one Comic-Con.

When a group of thieves meet six years after a successful jewel heist, their celebrations are short-lived;  any remaining amiability goes out the warehouse window when the whereabouts of the hidden stash come into question.

The film certainly looks great, with a knock out cast including Tony Todd (Candyman), Michael Biehn (The Terminator), Jeff Fahey (TV’s Lost), Danny Trejo (Predators), Sonny Chiba (The Street Fighter) and Mark Hamill (like you don’t know!) as its resident nasties; it’s almost The Expendables for genre buffs.

Currently unrated and without a release date, Todd suggested in an interview with Empire that a Spring 2012 release looks most likely.

*Yes, that was a thickly veiled Friends reference.

I’ve loved the marketing campaign behind 80s wannabe movie, Take Me Home Tonight. They’ve done a fantastic job at parodying what we all know and love from the 80s. Below I’ve placed a new TV spot from the movie along with the music video from it. Have a watch of the music video and see how many 80s movies you can spot that they parody in it. It really is fantastic. Add the ones you spot in the comments section below.

Take Me Home Tonight which is directed by Michael Dowse and stars Anna Faris, Topher Grace, Teresa Palmer, Michael Biehn and Michelle Trachtenberg.

Synopsis: As the summer of 1988 winds down, three friends on the verge of adulthood attend an out-of-control party in celebration of their last night of unbridled youth. Starring Topher Grace, Anna Faris, Dan Fogler and Teresa Palmer, Take Me Home Tonight is a raunchy, romantic and ultimately touching blast from the past set to an awesome soundtrack of timeless rock and hip-hop hits. Recent MIT grad Matt Franklin (Topher Grace) should be working for a Fortune 500 company and starting his upward climb to full-fledged yuppie-hood. Instead, the directionless 23-year-old confounds family and friends by taking a part-time job behind the counter of a video store at the Sherman Oaks Galleria. But Matt’s silent protest against maturity comes to a screeching halt once his unrequited high school crush, Tori Frederking (Teresa Palmer), walks into the store. When she invites him to an epic, end-of-summer party, Matt thinks he finally might have a chance with the girl of his dreams. With his cynical twin sister Wendy (Anna Faris) and best friend Barry (Dan Fogler), Matt embarks on a once-in-a-lifetime evening. From stealing a car to a marriage proposal to an indescribable, no-holds-barred dance-off, these friends share experiences that will change the course of their lives on one unforgettable night in the Go-Go ’80s.

It’s set for release in the UK on 13th May. The TV spot comes courtesy of ComingSoon and the Music Video from CinemaBlend.

Relativity Media & Rogue Pictures have released the new red band trailer (via IGN) for their new movie, Take Me Home Tonight which is directed by Michael Dowse and stars Anna Faris, Topher Grace, Teresa Palmer, Michael Biehn and Michelle Trachtenberg.

Synopsis: As the summer of 1988 winds down, three friends on the verge of adulthood attend an out-of-control party in celebration of their last night of unbridled youth. Starring Topher Grace, Anna Faris, Dan Fogler and Teresa Palmer, Take Me Home Tonight is a raunchy, romantic and ultimately touching blast from the past set to an awesome soundtrack of timeless rock and hip-hop hits. Recent MIT grad Matt Franklin (Topher Grace) should be working for a Fortune 500 company and starting his upward climb to full-fledged yuppie-hood. Instead, the directionless 23-year-old confounds family and friends by taking a part-time job behind the counter of a video store at the Sherman Oaks Galleria. But Matt’s silent protest against maturity comes to a screeching halt once his unrequited high school crush, Tori Frederking (Teresa Palmer), walks into the store. When she invites him to an epic, end-of-summer party, Matt thinks he finally might have a chance with the girl of his dreams. With his cynical twin sister Wendy (Anna Faris) and best friend Barry (Dan Fogler), Matt embarks on a once-in-a-lifetime evening. From stealing a car to a marriage proposal to an indescribable, no-holds-barred dance-off, these friends share experiences that will change the course of their lives on one unforgettable night in the Go-Go ’80s.

It’s set for release in the US March 4th and in the UK on 13th May. Check out the new poster and trailer below.

Please note it, contains swearing and some nudity!

Suffering a heavy loss at the Sky Movies Quiz at Collectormania this year meant that our time was taken away from meeting some of the assembled guests, and in particular it would have been great to catch up with Michael Biehn, the man whose appearance in The Terminator and Aliens guaranteed action movie icon status.

Since the late Eighties Biehn has jumped from TV to movies, doing enough to keep himself busy and he has taken on writing and directing duties for one of his six films lined up for 2011 and a new trailer and poster have emerged for the film – The Victim.

Telling the story of a man (Biehn) who solitary cabin bound life is disturbed by two woman (Jennifer Blanc and Danielle Harris) who are on the run from a corrupt Sheriff. IMDb has this as a ‘synopsis’:

A man lives alone in a remote cabin and is surprised by his visitors.

And the poster has a nice reference to another 80s classic with its blood red V denoting visitors of another kind. It looks like a bloody affair, Walden with chainsaws perhaps? Have a look below and stay looking forward.

Trailer time, and it’s full of NSFWiness, so if you’re at work on Christmas Eve and want to voice your displeasure plump this one up to full screen and turn up that volume.

This came via Bloody Disgusting.

Here’s the brand new poster and trailer for Take Me Home Tonight which is directed by Michael Dowse and stars Anna Faris, Topher Grace, Teresa Palmer, Michael Biehn and Michelle Trachtenberg.

Plot: Follow an aimless college grad who pursues his dream girl at a wild Labor Day weekend party. He, his twin sister and their best friend struggle with their burgeoning adulthood over the course of the night.

It’s set for release in the US March 4th next year but as yet, I haven’t found a UK release date. Check out the new poster and trailer below.

Xavier Gens’ apocalyptic sci-fi thriller, The Divide, has just released its first poster via IMPA.  Gens, responsible for films like Hitman and Frontier(s), is hoping to continue the improvement of his films with his latest high concept endeavor where to survive the end of the world, [everyone] must first survive each other.  It’s a simple yet effective tag line that I believe works extremely well.

The poster below, which I think is pretty cool, looks a bit too much like the poster for the Solaris remake with George Clooney, with the exception of the color and what we see reflected in the glass of the mask.  But luckily for the type of film it is, it actually does work even if it isn’t the most original thing we’ve ever seen.

The Divide stars Michael Biehn, Milo Ventimiglia, Lauren German, Rosanna Arquette, and Michael Eklund and is expected to be released sometime in 2011.

In case you missed the teaser I’ve posted it below for your viewing pleasure.

Impressively housed on London’s South Bank the London Film Museum recently played host to a preview of the Blu-ray release of the four Alien films, and with the highly polished Alien Anthology Blu-ray set out on shelves on the 25th of October I wanted to give you an idea of what you’ll be enjoying when you pick up the box set.

You know the films, I’m sure. Two outright classics, one curious debut feature from one of the biggest directors working today and an enjoyable, though heavily flawed, final flourish for the one time Star Beast make up this series, and the legacy of Alien proves as indestructible as the savage monster itself.

Before I dive in I have to say that I’ve not yet had my hands on a copy of the box set, and I hope to be able to post my full review sometime in the future, so I was only given a brief look at the films and their copious extra features but I have to say my initial thoughts of ‘I’ve got the Quadrilogy sitting at home – do I need another set of Alien discs?’ were answered as soon as the first disc was fired up, and the familiar Weyland-Yutani logo fizzled up on screen.

The fact is, when done right, the transfer to Blu-ray can enhance the quality of picture and sound to such a degree that you won’t want to see the film any other way. This is true for the Alien films, whose new high definition clarity and depth of colour and ear pounding sound mix impressed me more than so many wasteful transfers I’ve seen recently. These are films I’ve seen over and over and after seeing a few scenes of the Blu-rays I couldn’t wait to watch them again in this new format.

Rather than bumping up the audio and visual quality of the films and repackaging them with the same extras as their previous releases there is a huge amount of new material for the eager Alien fanatic to immerse themselves into and there’s a neat way of accessing them too, which I’ll get onto later. We were teased with a look at some of the new extras, which includes the full story behind the curious case of Alien 3 among interviews and featurettes dealing with all aspects of each film’s production. It’s a comprehensive set, one that I’m really looking forward to getting stuck into, and to make that experience a little more exciting there’s a new way of peeking behind the curtain.

One of the major features is the MU-TH-UR mode, which is an intriguing way of experiencing the plethora of extras and delving deeper into the film as you’re watching it. Accessed via the main menu each film can be watched with the option of learning more about the specific scene on screen, with information, video clips, images etc, accessible during the movie. Some people may not want to continuously skip back and forth between the extras and the film itself so MU-TH-UR mode has a method of allowing you to select certain ‘tags’ relevant to what you’re viewing.

Plucking an example from the ether, if you are watching the infamous chest-burster scene and want to know more (in true Starship Troopers style) you could look at the tags available, which would include John Hurt, Chest-Burster, etc etc, then in Aliens you wanted to know more about the Alien Queen you could select the tags you wanted and these choices would be stored up so that when you came to put one of the two discs of extras you can watch all of the special features associated with your choices.

It’s great in theory and worked well in practise, allowing easy navigation through an almost intimidating range of extras. Here’s how it works.

As I said, I’ve not yet sat down with the discs myself, but I was extremely impressed with what I saw, and it looks as though there’s now a decent way to enjoy the extensive special features box sets of this nature are bundled with. Extras aside these films may vary in quality but they look better than ever, and until Ridley Scott returns to the Space Jockey this is the best way to enjoy the complete set.

Here’s the trailer for the Alien Anthology,

With the Blu-ray release of the Alien Anthology on the 25th of October HeyUGuys are taking a look at the entire Alien and Predator series. From Facehuggers to trophy hunting Predators, from the iconic and classic to the dubious crossovers – this is your ultimate retrospective.

So remember, even if you ain’t got time to bleed, in the Video Vault no-one can hear you scream…

Tracy Ladd looks back to see if it really is Game over man, game over.

Nine years after Ridley Scott directed the incredible Alien, James Cameron took the reigns and decided to make it’s sequel, Aliens.  Taking the characters originally written by Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett, Cameron, along with David Giler and Walter Hill crafted a whole new story centered around Ripley, the lone survivor of the first film.

When Aliens was released, the tag line read “This time, it’s war.”  Those four words gave the audience a promise that this was not going to be your typical sequel.  The “In space no one can hear you scream” tag line of the first film gives the impression that it’s more along the lines of a horror film.  Which it was in a slow burn sort of way.  Cameron’s story combined the best of what he is known for.  Action set in a science fiction setting.  He was able to marry both genres perfectly and create what I consider a masterpiece.

Aliens picks up 57 years after the events of Alien when a deep space salvage crew finds Ripley still in hyper sleep after her ordeal in the first film.  Once she’s rescued she finds, to her horror, that the planet where her nightmares began is now inhabited by colonists.  After she finds out that communication with the colony has been lost, Ripley reluctantly accompanies a squad of Marines to the planet in an attempt to hopefully exorcise her demons and put her chest bursting nightmares to rest.  Of course things go south quickly and she finds herself fighting for not only her life, but the lives of the Marines as well as a young girl who is the only remaining colony survivor.  Things go from bad to worse as Ripley comes face to face with an enemy that is worse than she imagined.

Reprising her role as Ripley, Sigourney Weaver showed that women are just as capable of carrying an action movie as men.  Ripley is a strong female character that doesn’t take any lip and tells it like she sees it.  With Ripley came a new breed of action hero.  She tested her mettle in the first film, but really showed what a force she was in this film.  She set the bar for future female action stars and to this day that bar still remains pretty high.

This was only Cameron’s third feature at the time, but looking back on the film and the cast, you can see several actors who would become staples in the Cameron canon.  Michael Biehn, Bill Paxton, Lance Henriksen and Jenette Goldstein are all on hand here and each makes their presence known.  Aside from Ripley, I have to say that my favorite character has to be Bill Paxton’s Pvt. Hudson.  Hudson serves as the films cheesy machismo factor as well as it’s comic relief.  His dialogue provides so many quotable lines, I can’t even keep track of the ones I’ve used in every day conversation.

Michael Biehn plays the role he’s so good at.  His Cpl. Hicks is the good guy trying to save everyone while finding a way off the planet.  Biehn and Weaver had great chemistry together but only a fraction of it came across in the theatrical cut which is unfortunate.  However, the spark is still visible thankfully because without it, their roles would have suffered.

I remember when Aliens first premiered on network TV.  There was a write up in the TV Guide stating that it would be aired with 18 additional minutes of footage.  I was outraged.  I couldn’t believe they were going to show all this new footage, but the whole film would be hacked up with commercials and edited for prime time television.  For several years that was the only way to see this version.  Finally Cameron released the directors cut that had all 18 minutes restored and edited back into the film.  As with any Cameron cut, the new version expands the story and answers questions.  You find out why Ripley is so driven to protect the little girl, Newt.  It shows even more of the relationship that builds between Ripley and Hicks.  To top it all off you get to see some pretty cool new weapons as well.  This is the version I recommend watching.

For me, Aliens was, is and will always be a favorite.  As I said before, it’s a perfect marriage of science fiction and action.  Two things which Cameron is known for and does successfully each time.  Once Aliens hit the movie channels after it’s theatrical run, I watched it over and over again.  Each time I found myself white knuckling my way through it and getting stressed out even though I knew what was coming next.  That’s a sign of a good film.

This is a film that builds a slow crescendo from the get go as we see Ripley get rescued and try to resume something resembling a normal life.  Through her nightmares and acceptance of the fact that she has to go to the planet to hopefully put her demons to rest. The tension and action picks up a beat as the Marines meet the aliens and from there it takes on the rhythm of a heartbeat.  The action spikes, then there’s a bit of calm, then it spikes again.  All of this leads up to the Ripley’s tension filled power loader scene and one the greatest quotes ever. One my Dad has even quoted.

If you love science fiction and action, Aliens is the movie for you.  The Blu Ray release is fast approaching and I can’t wait.  I’ve seen some stills comparing the regular DVD to the Blu and it’s going to look like a whole new movie.  It’s definitely worth the money and time.  If there is any movie I pray and wish for a theatrical re-release (aside from Jaws) it’s Aliens.  But until then, I’ll happily watch the Blu Ray version with white knuckles.

The IMDb250. A list of the top 250 films, as ranked by the users of the biggest movie Internet site on the web. It is based upon the ratings provided by the users of The Internet Movie Database, which number into the millions. As such, it’s a perfect representation of the opinions of the movie masses, and arguably the most comprehensive ranking system on the Internet.

It’s because of this that we at HeyUGuys (and in this case, we, is myself and Barry) have decided to set ourselves a project. To watch and review all 250 movies on the list! We’ve frozen the list as of 1st January this year. It’s not as simple as it sounds, as we’ll be watching them in one year, 125 each.

This is our eighteenth update, a rundown of my next five movies watched for the project. Again another week of great films all deserving there place on the IMDb 250 best films ever and it was an absolute treat to watch Terminator and Terminator 2 back to back which really showed the quality of the films as a pair and less said about the following films the better, Chaplin shone with The Kid and Pixar again delivered a stunning animated film this time about rats, I finished with another first time viewed film in Frank Capra’s brilliant and highly entertaining Arsenic and Old Lace.

(You can find all previous week updates here)

No.160 – Ratatouille (2007) – Rating 8.1

The wonder of Pixar strikes again. Ratatouille again shows the brilliance of Pixar running at full steam creating one of the most visually and beautifully told stories of 2007. The story of a Rat named Remi that has a taste for fine dining and the skills of a Michelin star chef who after being split from his extended family and arriving in Paris, uses a clueless chef wannabe named Linguini to be his way into his cooking ambition at the world famous Gusteau’s Restaurant.

The Way Remi and Linguini team up to cook is hilarious as the little rat sits under his hat using Linguini’s hair to control him like a marionette doll and as his fame rises so does the suspicions of head Chef Skinner (voiced immaculately by Ian Holm) who will do anything to stop Linguini becoming the rightful owner of the restaurant when it’s found that Linguini is the son and heir to Gusteau’s.

Remi also has his problems, with the way humans treat rodents especially in restaurants and the reuniting with his hungry family, Remi has to fight to stay alive and keep his family content which jeopardizes his friendship and partnership with Linguini. It’s such an incredibly impressive animated movie that just stuns throughout with its typical Pixar attention to detail and animation and mixed with a wonderful story with the pacing, humor, excitement and enjoyment perfect to suit children and adults alike. Then add to all that a faultless and extremely memorable list of characters found throughout like Anton Ego the food critic and the other chefs like Horst, Colette and the Ratzenberger voiced Mustafa, Ratatouille is easily one of the greatest animated films of all time and fully deserving of its place on the IMDb 250 list.

No.193 – The Kid (1921) – Rating 8.0

Chaplin makes another appearance in the IMDb list with his 1921 classic The Kid. For me it has nothing on the comic genius of City Lights or Modern Times but as a warm and heart breaking story it beats Chaplin’s other films by miles.

The Kid was Chaplin’s first full length feature film and was a huge breakthrough for the comic legend as he was no longer confined to limit his creativity to the twenty minute short films he previous made and although lacking the comic genius that filled his later films The Kid certainly has a wonderful feeling to it and plenty of laughs.

The story is of a confused and desperate mother abandoning her newborn baby inside of a limousine hoping the child will have a better chance in the home of a wealthy family; however thieves steal the limousine and find the baby dumping it in an alley where the iconic Tramp finds the baby and raises it himself. Five years later, the Tramp and the boy, John (Jackie Coogan) live together and survive by using a con routine where the boy smashes windows and Chaplin arrives to fix them. This catches up with them when the law catch them at it which leads to a truly heart wrenching scene where they come to take his son away from him and Chaplin battles to save him.

Chaplin and Coogan’s onscreen relationship is not only one of the funniest and endearing father son bonding I have ever seen on film, but also one of the most genuinely authentic which makes the film work so well. There is a brilliant child fight scene which is hilarious as Chaplin watches his son beat the hell out of the other kid whilst the other kid’s BIG brother tells Chaplin he will beat the hell out the father of that kid causing Chaplin to try and influence the fight so his boy loses. The heart wrenching adoption fight scene is unforgettable and even the surreal dream sequence at the end which seems out of place is nicely done and from what I’ve read is reference to the fact Chaplin lost his own son shortly before filming and his state of mind due to it.

The star of the film was Jackie Coogan, the little kid showed incredible talent to mimic Chaplin’s mannerisms and put in the perfect performance especially during the adoption scene where he looked genuinely terrified and distressed, Coogan eventually went on to play Fester in the Addams Family TV series after a . Not the best Chaplin film but still deserving of its place on the list.

No.159 – Terminator (1984) – Rating 8.1

Dun Dun Dun, Der Dun. Dun Dun Dun, Der Dun. And repeat in increasing volumes.

The music of Terminator is so simple, recognizable and so dam cool that as soon as it kicks in at the start of the film I was filled with excitement to be watching it again after a pretty long hiatus from the early franchise films.

The iconic story of Sarah Connor’s fight to stay alive when a robot from the future is sent back to kill her to prevent her from having her son John who will turn out to be the leader of the resistance in the war of humans vs. machines is a brilliant one that has continued to spawn sequels and TV series (although no word yet on the supposed continuation of the story after the rights are in limbo) for over 25 years since the release of The Terminator in 1984.

James Cameron well and truly launched his career by writing and directing Terminator and what could have been another unsuccessful B-Movie following on from Piranha 2, The Terminator turned into one of the most popular and well loved Sci-Fi films of all time. The action is immense, the tension is stunning and although the Special FX is extremely dated, particularly Arnie’s animatronic face, it gives the film a real unique feel that just works from start to finish.

Michael Biehn has never performed better than when he played Kyle Reese, the solider sent by future John Connor to protect Sarah, excellently carrying the burden of his mission against an almost indestructible enemy, Linda Hamilton starred as the unlikely heroine and Arnold Schwarzenegger is stunning as the emotionless cyborg killer that will always be his most greatest role in both iconic terms and verbally as The Terminator was when he first uttered the line “I’ll Be Back”.

The ending of the film is just utter magic, the long long chase scene going from vehicle to vehicle then on foot as the incredible Stan Winston created Terminator metallic skeleton rises from the flames to chase Sarah Connor is one of the best action scenes ever that probably helped make the film so popular and give it that push it needed to set it above all the other Sci-Fi films of the time, I loved it.

No.45 – Terminator 2 (1991) – Rating 8.5

This is how you make a sequel and just like Alien, James Cameron took on a very well respected film and made a sequel that splits opinions as to which is best. For me I prefer the original Terminator in terms of story but Terminator 2 has such incredible action set pieces that it’s a far more enjoyable ride.

Following 11-13 years after the end of Terminator (depending on what timeline you follow) we are introduced to two Terminators this time, one an original Arnie killing machine and a new type of Terminator taking the form of ‘That guy from Terminator 2’ Robert Patrick. This time Arnie Terminator is sent back to 1994 to protect John Connor from being terminated by a new liquid metal shape shifting Terminator.

On route they pick up Sarah Connor from a mental ward, flee from the Terminator and try to stop Skynet from being born by destroying the man responsible and the items recovered from the destroyed Terminator in part 1. The story ties the two movies together brilliantly and James Cameron again raises the bar for Special FX, very similar to what he did with Avatar, by using digital morphing techniques that were jaw dropping at the time and still very effective today and fully deserving of the Oscar’s it won.

Linda Hamilton puts in a brilliant character changing performance from the original film as Sarah Connor is hard as nails ready for the war, Arnie is superb as the good Terminator but still having elements of his original emotionless performance, his relationship with Edward Furlong’s John Connor worked 100% and was the heart of the film which spawned another iconic phrase in “Hasta La Vista, Baby” which was probably the most used saying in the early 1990’s. Robert Patrick as the T-1000 was also excellent and offered a really interesting alternative to Arnie’s huge figure and presence with a smaller, intimidating, faster and evil looking model that Arnie’s T-800 could ever offer.

James Cameron really created something special with both Terminator movies creating a wonderful story, exceptional characters and a superb sci-fi mythology and by using new technologies he took film making to new level but that led to some good and some very bad films following with the new dependence on CGI. It’s a shame the films have been tainted somewhat by their further sequels and the TV Series which all had some really good elements to them but on their own offered nothing anywhere close to the original two movies.

No.246 – Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) – Rating 7.9

Recipe for Murder: 1 teaspoon of arsenic, half a teaspoon of strychnine, and a just a pinch of cyanide to 1 litre of elderberry wine.

Never did I expect a movie like this. It had Cary Grant in an over the top outrageous comic performance, lovely old women being serial killers, the creepiest looking bad guy ever and a story so entertainingly funny that I was still chuckling to myself for days afterwards.

Arsenic and Old lace is a wonderful film from director legend Frank Capra (It’s A Wonderful Life) based on the play by Joseph Kesselring where Cary Grant plays well known drama critic Mortimer Brewster who has just married his childhood sweetheart Elaine (Priscilla Lane) and on returning to home to tell his Aunts Abby (Josephine Hull) and Martha (Jean Adair) of the news he discovers his adorable sweet aunts, who raised him as child, have actually murdered thirteen men and buried them in their basement with the innocent help of his slightly insane brother Teddy (John Alexander), who believes himself to be Teddy Roosevelt with regular calls to “CHARGE” shouted as he runs from room to room.

Being a shocking revelation to Mortimer, especially as the women seem so jovial about the murders, he attempts to try to understand, hide, solve and reason with what is happening, but when Jonathan (Raymond Massey) his long estranged escaped convict brother turns up at the family home with his associate and personal plastic surgeon Dr Einstein (Peter Lorre) and a dead body of their own things start to get out of hand.

The film roars along at a fast pace set almost entirely in the Brewster home with Cary Grant being highly enjoyable and completely over the top with his lines and quips that had me laughing throughout and suits the film perfectly and one of my favourite Cary Grant roles ever. The two murdering Aunts are exceptionally performed by Josephine Hull and Jean Adair, never have two serial killers been so likable and as funny as this as their explanations and justifications for killing the men are delivered in the funniest deadpan way possible. But the star of the film for me was the returning son Jonathan played by Raymond Massey; he looked like Boris Karloff’s Frankenstein and offered such a wonderful intimidating performance opposed to Grant’s zany antics that he stole the film from the murderous Aunts and Mortimer’s panic stricken dilemma’s. A truly wonderful film.

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Every week Apple offer a film for rental at a discounted price of 99p on iTunes. For several weeks, the selections were pretty poor. Then last week saw a quality jump, with Matthew Vaughn’s Layer Cake.

 Would this week continue the improvement? The answer would be a resounding yes, as to coincide with the DVD release of Terminator: Salvation, we’ve been treated to James Cameron’s 1984 classic, the original The Terminator.

 In the future, a post-apocalyptic war rages on, as small pockets of human resistance fighter struggle for survival. The predators intent on their destruction are man’s own creation, machines. Robotic soldiers pursue what remains of our race, the genocide of an entire species almost complete. One man (Arnold Schwarzenneger) is sent back, through time, to before the civil war began. He begins tracking down all the Sarah Connors in the phonebook eliminating them one by one. Someone else is also sent back.

 Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) is an ordinary woman, with a dead end job, and a life going nowhere. When the news reports a serial killer is hunting down people with her name, she tries to find a safe place. But there is no safe refuge from this killing machine, and he tracks her down. The second man sent back comes to her rescue. Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) has to convince Connor that she holds the key to mankind’s survival, and together they must evade both the police and an unstoppable cyborg killing machine.

 You’ve all seen Terminator, you don’t need my opinion on the story. Does it still hold up today? Thematically, it’s still just as relevant. Our dependence on technology to live continues to increase unabated. Large corporations still hold far too much power and exert too much influence. Our paranoia towards the secret experiments conducted by the men and women in political power hasn’t decreased in the last twenty-five years. The action is as exciting as ever, the sub-par acting to be expected from an 80′s action movie.

 The effects, great at the time, obviously are incomparable to today’s standards. The stop-motion effects particularly have aged badly. Whereas in a horror film like The Thing the jerky look of this technique give the alien creatures a suitably creepy, otherworldly feel, in a movie based on a premise of then futuristic technology it does let the movie down a bit.

 Unfair criticism, as i said it was good for the time. After all, no amount of cutting edge technology and CGI could make Terminator: Salvation anything more than a big let down. Definitely worth a pound of anyone’s money, if you haven’t seen it for a while give The Terminator a watch, and remind yourself why we are all looking forward to Cameron’s Avatar next month.

 The Terminator is available on iTunes at the discounted price until Midnight Monday 30th November, and on DVD and Blu-Ray now.

 Bazmann – You can follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/baz_mann