From Dusk Til Dawn the Series

 Well I betcha didn't see this one coming.

So one of my favourite movies from the 90's get's the tv treatment and in a shocking twist it isn't actually all that bad. I have to admit when I first heard that this was happening my initial reaction was, like most people I expect... Why?

Let's be honest as awesome as the movie was the last thing I thought after watching it was 'man this would make an awesome tv show', let alone a series of needless sequels. Anyhow let's compare shall we...

Plot. The basic premise remains the same although fleshing out a 90 minute movie into 10 hour long episodes does give it a kind of 'episode of the week' feel. By elaboration I imagine the initial plot drafts going something like this. "Ok so episode 1 can be set in the store from the beginning of the movie, heck maybe stretch 2 episodes out of it if we can. Then we can go to the motel for the next one, then we can hijack the RV, spend an episode in the RV, cross the border and then when we get to the Titty Twister spend an episode there then we can unleash the vamps"

 Cast. The casting is actually pretty spot on, with everyone bringing something to the table. The Gecko brothers (played here by D.J Cotrona and Zane Holtz) are both likable and dangerous and while Cotrona is no Clooney, Holtz makes a far more convincing psychopath than Tarantino. The Fullers are led by Robert Patrick who replaces Harvey Keitel as the family's religious patriarch and Don Johnson is epic in his small but important role. Eiza Gonzales brings the sexy as Santanica Pandemonium whose role in the series is greatly expanded from Salma Hayek's brief but memorable take.

SFX. The vamps look good, with 18 years of effects technology compensating for the smaller budget (counting for inflation at least). Oh wait, only they aren't vampires now they're snake demons but they die just like vampires so it's all good. The practical effects are great and although there is of course the obligatory crap C.G.I. it doesn't detract too much from the guts and gore.

In all fairness this could have sucked big time but what we are given is a thoroughly entertaining ride that captures the Grindhouse feel of the original and instead of crapping over its much-loved source material instead treats it with a well-deserved reverence. To put it bluntly, if you enjoyed the movie then odds are you will enjoy this and if you didn't then well you have no taste and I don't care what you think.

Godzilla 2014

Spoilers abound, beware and be warned.....

So Godzilla is back and let's get one thing straight right off the bat, he is awesome and by that I mean awe-inspiring in that he inspires awe. This isn't the pathetic t-rex lite wannabe who got bitch slapped by Ferris Bueller this is a titanic force of nature that is unleashed upon us lucky cinema-goers like a natural disaster. He is not good or evil he just is. 

The movie itself is good although not without issues, the Big G himself has surprisingly little screen time and director Gareth Edwards teases us throughout the film with brief shots of the legendary Kaiju and the destruction in his wake before abruptly cutting away to show the aftermath of the unseen carnage and it's only in the movies final quarter that the King of Monsters finally gets to fully unleash his fury. 

Obviously, with so little of the titular character it falls to the human element to carry the film for us and it is through these characters that we experience the full repercussions of the titanic behemoth's actions. Things start out strong with Cranston and Binoche suffering through the initial M.U.T.O assault but suprisingly both are quickly taken out of the equation and it's left to Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver to save the day, it's here that things start to slack. For starters Elisabeth Olsen spends the entire movie wandering about in doe eyed horror and panic leading up to the final scenes when, rather than flee to safety she decides to wait behind for her man to come and save her. That man in question being former Kick-Ass Aaron Taylor Johnston who is seamlessly poured into the 'generic action hero mould' and spends most of the films 2 hours trying to get home to his family, although truth be told he never really seems that bothered about it, it's like he just can't think of anything else he should be doing. Thankfully it's established early on that he is a bomb disposal expert and this skill keeps him relevant to the main story throughout the film...

So we spend most of the movie with Kick-Ass as he travels from America to Japan and back again because of course the monsters decide for some reason (in a classic case of hero bad luck syndrome) the best place for a smackdown is in his hometown. So after some basic exposition and exploration of a gorgeously realised ruined Japanese city that looks like it was lifted straight from The Last of Us, some concept art of the Cloverfield Monster comes to life and starts rampaging in a beeline to the nearest food source which happens to be radiation. Cue some visually stunning scenes of our funky looking foe chowing down on submarines and nuclear warheads before calling up one of his prehistoric exe's for an impromptu booty call.

Where does Godzilla fit into all this? Well thanks to Ken Watanabe's tireless exposition we learn that Godzilla is in fact nature's way of balancing itself and when he hears that a couple of no good lame ass monsters are preparing to shack up and spawn enough offspring to turn San Francisco into a new Monster Island he rises up fro the depths to put things straight! So yeah Godzilla is basically a scarier version of Captain Planet, just without the Speedos.

So Godzilla is here to save us and it's a good job too as the Military is ridiculously inept at fighting these things, to the point where I was almost expecting the Carry On crew to pop up manning one of the tanks. For starters they seem incapable of accurately tracking these 50 story monsters. Fair enough the M.U.T.O's emit an EMP deadzone which stops technology working within a mile radius (although quite why these remnants from a prehistoric age have anti-electronic weapons I don't know) but surely today's satellite imagery could follow a mile-wide electronic black spot? Also if you know it stops electronics from working why the fuck do you keep flying your planes at them? Seriously after the first couple of dozen, you think they would learn their lesson but noooo, the air force hurls jets at these things like a toddler throwing toys from its pram.

Another amusing thing, when the strike team are preparing for there halo drop the grim-faced soldiers meticulously check their pistols and rifles in the obligatory badass pre-battle scene... But for what? Missiles, tanks and nukes have no effect on these things what is the point of taking a pistol? What are you going to do with it? Throw it at them? Leave it behind and lose some excess weight.

The whole 'raid the nest' scene did bring back disheartening memories of Hollywood's last attempt to bring Godzilla to the big screen but thankfully it plays only a small part of the main story and is quickly dealt with without echoing too much of its dire predecessor.

All in all, I know I've moaned a lot but don't be disheartened, despite these minor irritations I really enjoyed Godzilla's rebirth and if you're a fan of the Big G or if you enjoyed similar flicks like Cloverfield or Pacific Rim then you probably will too. Godzilla is without a doubt the biggest badass ever to grace our screens and I for one hope that he returns soon, just with better foes and more screen time and Hollywood, please, whatever you do, leave Godzooki at home...