Vader Fett – Google

I am a lifelong fan of Sylvester Stallone. FIRST BLOOD is one of my all-time favourites and I love so many of his old-school action classics. Back in 2010, no one was as excited about that first Expendables film as I was. But unfortunately, this series has never quite managed to live up to it's promise - each installment just seems to get worse - poor scripts, terrible looking CGI blood and green screen compositing, choppy editing and lazy performances. These films barely work as guilty pleasures for me. It's a shame we don't live in an alternate reality wherein a studio like Cannon or Carolco had already made BIG action move team up films, perhaps back in the late 80s, starring Sly, Arnold, Chuck, Dolph et al when they were all at the peak of their super-powers and popularity; perhaps a trilogy of films with competent action directors at the helm (McTiernan, Donner, Hill...) with a memorable soundtrack (Goldsmith, Horner, Silvestri). Sadly, what we DO have just doesn't work. I watched the fourth film last night and... oh, man... how sad. If you want to see Sly in a film featuring an ensemble cast, with GOOD acting and a tight script, may I suggest the vastly underrated COPLAND.

It was just 'ok'. A bit formulaic and you do get the idea that a lot of these 'horror fans' were piling praises onto films (and film-makers) that really didn't deserve it! I did like the fact that the creators used tail ends of original trailers for the film's titles but... I dunno, something was lacking. I've already heard / watched / read about most of the behind-the-scenes stuff featured here so there was nothing new if you're already a fan of, say... Fright Night, Evil Dead II, the Freddy films etc. - chances are you're already clued up. I know that there are second and third parts to this very long doc; hopefully they'll be improvements over this.

PRIMAL... just these first five episodes were more thrilling, engaging, captivating and fulfilling than anything I have seen at the cinema this year. Genndy Tartakovsky is a Master Story-Teller who understands animation and all that it can offer with the most simple narrative and structure. The relationship between the two characters - 'Spear' & 'Fang' is both hilarious and touching. There are tiny little details peppered throughout the episodes; gestures and reactions that make this such a human story. This is definitely not a 'kid's cartoon' as the violence is brutal and unrelenting but not without purpose or reason. I am absolutely frothing at the mouth like a crazed ape-man for more episodes! And PLEASE, PLEASE adult swim - release all the series on a nice blu-ray set with extra features for fans to relish and enjoy!