The Force is okay with this one

Just got back from a midnight showing of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. It was entertaining enough, but I can understand why it's been getting such bad reviews. It's basically the prequels with twice as much action and cutesy kids' crap and half as much plot. The story and characters don't really go anywhere and it basically feels like an extended trailer for the upcoming show.
What I liked:
The animation (aside from the waxy puppet-like humans) was pretty good
The lightsaber duels and space dogfights were as exciting as always
Ahsoka Tano (Anakin's pubescent apprentice) wasn't as annoying as I feared. Between her and the villainous Asajj Ventress, it makes me wish Lucas had included more hot female Jedi/Sith in the prequels
Some nice interplay between Obi-Wan and Anakin
Jawas!

What I didn't like:
No opening crawl! WTF?
The music. John Williams' themes are barely used, and the new music was fairly awful
The lack of prequel actor voices (only Christopher Lee, Samuel L Jackson and, of course, Anthony Daniels reprise their roles)
Ziro the Hutt. To paraphrase Simon Pegg, makes Jar Jar look like fucking Shaft. Whoever thought it would be a good idea to have a gay, transvestite Hutt who sounds like Truman Capote needs to be blasted
The battle droids are even lamer than usual
Major characters like Padme,3PO and Mace have virtually nothing to do (though hopefully they'll be seen more in the series)

Overall, it's worth seeing eventually if you're fan, but don't rush out.

Hellboy make-a-me cry!

Finally got round to seeing Hellboy II: The Golden Army, and I was not disappointed. From the prologue where we see a massive battle fought with puppets it had me hooked. It may not beat The Dark Knight for best movie of the summer, but it was definitely the most fun. It took everything that was good about the first film and added more of it. All the cast shine, and it was great that Doug Jones got to voice Abe Sapien this time as well as being in the suit. The film is full of too many fabulous creatures to mention them all. Johann Krauss (voiced by Family Guy Seth MacFarlane) was a hoot, and I especially liked the cute little tooth fairy creatures who eat everyone in their path, bones and all. Then there's the tiny creature which declares, "I'm not a baby, I'm a tumour!" Amid all the action and laughs, there are plenty of poignant moments, too, including the death of the elemental, Hellboy's "twin" surprises and the doomed relationship between Abe and the Princess. I hope we get a Hellboy 3 in some form, and I can't wait to see what Guillermo del Toro does with The Hobbit.

I Don't Want to Believe

Saw the new X-Files movie. How was it? Ok, not as bad as the reviews and poor box office made me expect. The best thing that can be said is that it's as good as an average episode of the show. The worst thing that can be said is that . . . it's about as good as an average episode of the show. A plot about a psychic pedophile priest and a black market human organs ring didn't really seem to justify a big screen movie. David Duchoveny and Gillian Anderson were good as always, and it was nice to see them as a couple finally, but other than it was just mildly entertaining. There was some weird humour throughout, such as the Dubya/J Edhar Hoover sting and the end credits scene (which has to be seen to be laughed at). I give it 6 out of 10.