John P
06-09-2009, 09:45 AM
"Outlander" - Starring Jim Caviezel, John Hurt, Sophia Miles and Ron Perlman.
A space traveller crash-lands in 10th century Viking territory, unleashing a fire-breathing alien creature from his hold. He must gain the trust of the locals and join forces with them, using only iron age weapons, to defeat the beast before it lays waste to every village in the area.
Awesome monster, great Viking action, all the best elements of Alien, Predator, and 13th warrior, and, heck, even Dragonslayer. And an alternate explanation of the origin of the Beowulf legend! Hey, aliens, monsters AND Vikings! What more could you ask?
"The Sky Crawlers" - an anime film set in one of those alternate realities they like so much. Teenagers who seem to be eternally young serve as fighter pilots in a war between corporations. No one seems to know what the war is about, no one wants to talk about the pilots who've come and gone before. The main character puzzles over why the female CO treats him so oddly while trying to find out about his predecessor. Meanwhile they fly mission after mission, shooting down and being shot down, while life for the civilians seems to go on as if the war was just something that belongs there, like the weather.
The dogfights in this film are the best CGI battles since Yukikaze. Much BETTER than Yukikaze, given the few years of advancement between the films. The aircraft are post-WWII in flavor - the main fighter is based on the Japanese Shinden canard pusher, and the "enemy ace" looks like a Hawker Sea Fury on steroids. The secondary aircraft have a very Luft '46 look to them. It's a great film for those of us who are big kids that love dogfights and cool planes.
There's a Fine Molds kit of the main fighter too. I have it, and it's as realistically detailed as any "real" Fine Molds plane kit!
http://www.hlj.com/product/FNMSC-01
I wish there were kits of ALL the planes in the film!
A space traveller crash-lands in 10th century Viking territory, unleashing a fire-breathing alien creature from his hold. He must gain the trust of the locals and join forces with them, using only iron age weapons, to defeat the beast before it lays waste to every village in the area.
Awesome monster, great Viking action, all the best elements of Alien, Predator, and 13th warrior, and, heck, even Dragonslayer. And an alternate explanation of the origin of the Beowulf legend! Hey, aliens, monsters AND Vikings! What more could you ask?
"The Sky Crawlers" - an anime film set in one of those alternate realities they like so much. Teenagers who seem to be eternally young serve as fighter pilots in a war between corporations. No one seems to know what the war is about, no one wants to talk about the pilots who've come and gone before. The main character puzzles over why the female CO treats him so oddly while trying to find out about his predecessor. Meanwhile they fly mission after mission, shooting down and being shot down, while life for the civilians seems to go on as if the war was just something that belongs there, like the weather.
The dogfights in this film are the best CGI battles since Yukikaze. Much BETTER than Yukikaze, given the few years of advancement between the films. The aircraft are post-WWII in flavor - the main fighter is based on the Japanese Shinden canard pusher, and the "enemy ace" looks like a Hawker Sea Fury on steroids. The secondary aircraft have a very Luft '46 look to them. It's a great film for those of us who are big kids that love dogfights and cool planes.
There's a Fine Molds kit of the main fighter too. I have it, and it's as realistically detailed as any "real" Fine Molds plane kit!
http://www.hlj.com/product/FNMSC-01
I wish there were kits of ALL the planes in the film!