Car fixed!

Finally had my car taken in by the garage on Saturday after they picked it up from my house.

Wasn't going to be ready until Tuesday due to the act that they were super busy.

I knew it needed the clutch doing, that was obvious, but they told me on the phone that it also needed new Brake Pads. I mentioned that I could do with some new oil too.

Went to pick up the car on Tuesday after work, armed with my Sister's Credit Card. I was saying to myself that I would be happy with anything under £350...I was expecting much, much more.

When I was told that the entire bill came to just £331 I was mighty impressed.

The car drives like a dream now. Brakes are spot on, the clutch is marvellous too. It's good to be back mobile again.

Transformers 2 - Cert 12a

Transformers, the kids' TV programme back in the day never bothered me. It certainly wasn't on the top of my list of "programmes to watch when I get home from school" in the same way that Knightmare and Fun House were.

A couple of years ago, Michael Bay rolled out the first Transformers movie. Starring Shia LaBeouf and a, then unknown, Megan Fox, I went to see it with no real grand expectations of what was laid out before me. I expected massive explosions, tonnes of CG robots and zero plot. But the first movie surprised me. I came out of the movie theatre with a good vibe. The first movie was fun. There were a few laughs in there, plenty of explosions, amazing CG and Megan Fox...

So now we come to Transformers 2 : Revenge Of The Fallen. Set a short while after the events of the first movie, Autobots are working with the military, scouring the Earth for the last remaining Decepticons...for those of you not in the know, the Autobots are the good guys and the Decepticons are bad news. It seems as though Decepticon activity has been increasing, and no-one knows why...until Sam Witwicky (LeBeouf) finds a missing shard of the Cube from the first movie which imprints his mind with weird symbols when he touches it. It also allows all the Decepticons to home in on him...the details now in Sam's mind are the key to the destruction of Earth...something the Decepticons are naturally trying to do...being bad and all that.

Megan Fox returns as Witwicky's love interest and she's looking as glamorous as ever.

Transformers 2 is very high octane. There's a tonne of battle sequences that are quite simply mindblowing. The special effects are arguabley the best ever seen on celluloid. The story is a little thinner on the ground than the first film, but the Transformers movies were never going to set out to be deep and intellectual. Plenty of shooting, some genuinely funny moments, a shitload of explosions, some slow-mo Megan Fox running, an ancient battle...whip them all up together and you get one of the most fun 2 1/2 hours at the cinema you are ever going to have.

If you loved the first one, you'll love this one even more...and even if you didn't, give it a try. I honestly believe that this is one sequel that outclasses it's predecessor.

Look out for the voices of Tony "Candyman" Todd and Hugo "Mr Anderson from the Matrix" Weaving thrown in there too.

D-Day - T-Minus 8 days!

It's coming...

...D-Day...

...the end of an era...

...8 Days time...

...June 30th 2009...

...The day that I join back up to the Gym!

That's right. It's time to stop jabbering on about being unfit and it's time to finally do something about it. The gym is about a thirty second walk from my house, so i can't use the "oh I can't get there" excuse...the membership is reasonable so I can't say I can't afford it. I have no excuses apart from ones that I put there myself...and this time I'm not doing it.

This blog is the key. I'm going to keep it updated with the amount of times I go to the gym...how long I do there (i expect it will be short to start with and will build up), and ultimately the amount of weight I lose.

I wanna feel better about my body, I wanna be able to buy decent clothes rather than having to order from Premier Man because they're the only ones that fit me.

In 8 days time it begins.

Chunk 2 Hunk

Looking For Eric - Cert 15

As a big fan of Leeds United, I should technically hate "Looking For Eric"...but I didn't.

Eric is an unhappy guy who's separated from his previous two marriages but been left with two knobhead teenagers from the second marriage who basically treat his house like crap. He's a miserable bugger and his workmates can't cheer him up. He then turns to Eric Cantona who appears to him in visions and offers up loads of advice to get his life back on track. He struggles with his life and keeps looking for ways in which to get back with the love of his life, his first wife.

The movie is set in Manchester and had many links into Scum United and also plenty of knocks to their club too (the scene where one of them is watching the Barcelona match in a FC United shirt is quality.)

Ken Loach directs the film brilliantly, giving it a gritty edge as well as a true comedic outlet too.

It's a really funny film. There's some quality lines in it. It's got that big fella in it who's in everything manchester related, ya know the one in the Post Office adverts who was also in Early Doors and other stuff like that...I really cannot remember his name!

Worth seeing, but will probably just have the same impact on DVD if you wanted to wait for that

WHAT A DAY!

Well...the plan for today, Saturday 13th June 2009 had been simple. I had printed out the times for the cinema and the plan was that I was going to go on a movie marathon, 3 or 4 movies throughout the day. It was that simple.

So I woke up this morning and spoke to our Louise who said that she needed running to the White Rose because Rich had the car and she needed to get out of the house. So I agreed to pick her up, drop her off at the White Rose and then drive over to Wakefield Cineworld to watch just the one film and then come back to pick her up...after all, I could catch another couple in the evening.

So I went across to the cinema and watched Night At The Museum. It was good fun, but not quite as good as the first one. Well worth watching though. After I came out of the cinema, I spoke to our Louise who had Rich pick her up from shopping...bonus...I could watch another film.

I got a ticket and went to see Looking For Eric and absolutely loved it. Its a quality film. Heartwarming, funny and touching all in one.

Then the day took a turn...

...the car has been "squeaking" for a week or so now. I was driving home from the cinema and the clutch just felt wrong. Something wasn't right. I managed to get almost back to Kirsty's where I'm house-sitting. As I was about to turn up Crow's Nest Lane, the clutch gave out completely and the car stalled. I started the car up again, but it wasn't letting me get into gear...oh bugger!

I phoned the RAC and they said that it was going to be 2 hours before someone could get out! Typical.

Our Louise and Rich came over which allowed me to go up to Kirsty's to feed the dog and the fish and the rabbit. We waited for the RAC man to turn up. Eventually he came and basically told me that I need a whole new clutch. Lovely!

I was towed back to Morley and left the car at home before Louise & Rich took me back to theirs for tea. We watched Cloverfield on Sky before Louise brought me home!

Should be a nice expense when I get the car fixed now then! Not good!

Terminator : Salvation - Cert 12A

Just got back from a 6pm showing of Terminator : Salvation.

To be honest, I was going into this movie with low expectations. Having heard a few bad reviews I really didn't know what to expect.

So here's a quick update on the Terminator mythology :

**May contain Spoilers...actually...WILL contain Spoilers!**

In the early 21st Century, mankind suffered Judgment Day, the one day where Skynet, a computer system, took over. In the future, Skynet's only threat from the human race was from a man called John Connor who leads the Resistance. So, the Machines sent back the T800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger) to kill John Connor's mum, Sarah. John Connor managed to send back Kyle Reese, a resistance member to protect his mum. Terminator 1 showed this battle, set in 1984. When The T-800 failed to kill Sarah Connor, we moved onto the events of Terminator 2, where a good-version of the T-800, reprogrammed by the future John Connor was sent back in time by John Connor himself, to protect himself back in 1994 from the T-1000, a terminator with the ability to mimic metallic objects. Arnie won, good ruled again. Terminator 3, and another good T-8000 came back to protect both John Connor and Kate Brewster. This time, the T-X was sent back...a female Terminator. We found out that Kate Brewster had indeed sent the T-800 back and not John Connor...as he had killed him in the future! Naturally, they killed the T-X but could not prevent Judgement Day from taking place...


...PHEW!


Right, so now you're up to speed, welcome to Terminator : Salvation. Set in the post-apocalyptic 2018, we catch up with the Resistance led by John Connor. Some believe him to be a false prophet, but some believe the mythology. Also along for the ride is Marcus Wright, a stranger who we see on death row at the very beginning of the movie.

What happens next is spectacular. Loads of explosions, loads of big guns, loads of machines vs humans battles, appearances by characters we know from within the Terminator world, and great in-jokes (you'll know them when you hear them).

Directed by the amazingly named "McG" and starring Christian "I can do no wrong" Bale, Terminator Salvation is a must for all fans of the metallic red-eyed ones. I'm afraid though that I fear that if you're not a massive fan of the three predecessors, it could be a long 115 minutes in the cinema.

In summary, Terminator : Salvation is well worth spending time watching if you're a fan. You will love the action and the step away from the whole "One Bad Terminator Vs One Good Terminator" scene-setting that we've been used to over the years.

I loved it...and with the knowledge that this is the first of 3 films to be released in a new trilogy, I am definitely looking forward to the next part of the Terminator Saga.

I'll Be Back!

Drag Me To Hell - Cert 15

Last night, I managed to "drag" Charlotte (see what I did there?) to the cinema to see Sam Raimi's new horror flick "Drag Me To Hell".

Sam Raimi made his name in the horror genre as writer and director of the cult Evil Dead movies. Anyone who has seen all three Evil Dead films will know that Raimi is known for shocks and laughs in equal measure, but recently, he turned his hand to more mainstream cinema when he directed the three Spiderman flicks. Since 2002, the Spiderman flicks have taken up most of his working life, but now he's back with Drag Me To Hell.

The movie promised to be good right from the first moment I saw the trailer and some wierd old woman sticking a curse on a loan-officer when she refused the old woman an extension on her house, effectively making her homeless...

...but that is just the very start of terrible things to come.

Following an attack in the car park, the curse comes a-calling. Three days is all our heroine has to escape the curse.

What follows is truly scary. A submerging into the paranormal world as the evil spirit torments Christine to the point of insanity in the eyes of others.

I like to say that horror films don't scare me anymore, but Drag Me To Hell certainly dragged me back to the frights. There's a few comedy moments in there too along with a few in-jokes and references (notice that Justin Long, a spokesperson for Apple, is almost always using Apple products!)

It's fun, it's truly scary and it's well worth seeing.

See you in Hell!