Movie Review - Edge of Tomorrow (2014)...

Finally had a chance to catch this one on Blu. Turned out to be a very entertaining flick! Tom Cruise never seems to disappoint and has been on a bit of scifi kick lately with this and his last effort - Oblivion. But, much like the previous film, EoT is heavily derivative of several well known scifi/action films. Even the poster is reminiscent of the Battle: LA poster from a few years ago. Still, there is a lot to like here - some surprises and some very crisp mechsoldier -vs- alien warfare. Cruise is caught up in an unending time loop as he gets killed over and over on the morning of a brutal assault on the alien front a la D-Day on Normandy. He connects with Emily Blunt's character aka The Angel of Verdun as he discovers how to hunt down and kill the alien's hive nest. The only problem is, Cruise and Blunt have to get off the beach, which proves to be a tough task.



There are some hilarious scenes of Tom Cruise getting killed over and over again in various ways. He curses as he forgets a past obstacle or gets run over by an errant vehicle in each iteration of his fateful day. Special points also for Bill Paxton showing up a Colonel from Kentucky..he could be an older version of Hudson from ALIENS...



Based on an anime comic and featuring great special effects, EoT is a fun summer romp. Very similar to playing a shooter type game and running into a tough section and having to replay that section over and over until you master it. There's nothing terribly inventive or new, but I had a lot of fun with this movie.

3 out of 5 Khans!!!

Ki45 - Dull Coat

Still working on finishing the Ki45 - took forever to get the landing gear doors on...and STILL they aren't perfect. Sigh. Oh well. Chalk it up to battle damage I guess. Still, once the dull coat went on, the colors and weathering seemed to blend in a bit better. A few preview shots before the (hopeful) full reveal tomorrow...



Look at those uneven door angles. Dangit.



One thing I can say I've improved on is Canopy work. Both in using the masks and getting them painted right. I like open canopies more and more every day!

New Comics - The November Edition...

Catching up on a few recent purchases...

Swamp Thing Annual #3 and Regular Issue #36





Gorgeous artwork....wow...



And continuing the Dark Horse mega crossover...





COVER OF THE STACK!!!



And also, the latest Walking Dead TPB...

A Nightmare on My Street...

My first ever Kickstarter Campaign! I pledged back in April of this year and this big sucker arrived over the weekend! It's a Making Of coffee table book. It has a lot of nice behind the scenes photos and other stuff. Nice numbered edition with foil etch printing on the cover and tons of reading. I can't wait to "slice into" this thing! A few pics...





Oh Hello there...



And then, this happened...













I'll bust this guy open soon. But for now, enjoy!

Ki45 - Gettin' Dirtay...

Weathered the Ki45 this weekend. Still too shiny with the Future to be able to see it much, but if you look close, you can see some dirty rivets and panel lines. Once the dull coat gets on it, it'll be much better.





Some simulated paint chipping on the props..via silver pencil.

Stickers!

Finally got the Ki45 all prettied up this weekend. Weren't a ton of decals so that was nice for a change. Used the normal Micro Sol followed by Micro Set.











Meatball decal...rivets and panel lines.





Now I need to dirty that sucker up. Stay Tuned.

MOVIE REVIEW - Interstellar (2014)...

"Mankind was born on Earth. It was never meant to die here."

Just yesterday I witnessed an unmanned probe land on a comet in our solar system. It was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. It reaffirms my belief in the ingenuity of man and the wonders of our universe. Going to see Christopher Nolan's new film last night seemed like the natural thing to do on a day like that.

Let it be known that before I discuss this, it is best to see this movie with almost NO knowledge of its plot or concepts. It is something to be discovered and enjoyed as it unfolds.

SPOILERS obviously...

We open on a dusty farm in the United States where a former astronaut named Cooper (matthew mcconaughey) raises his two children in a corn field. We get small tidbits on the state of the planet - no more armies, food supplies are running low, and the crops are slowly dying off. During a terrible dust storm, Coop's prodigy daughter, Murph, notices certain things in her room out of place and discovers a pattern. This leads to coordinates where Coop and his daughter discover the remnants of NASA and a final attempt to launch a rescue mission into space in order to find a planet for humans to colonize. Coop is recruited, much to the dismay of his daughter who begs him to "STAY" - he promises to come back and leaves the farm in the hands of his son.



Here, we are introduced to Nolan's concepts of space travel involving gravity, wormholes and time. Coop's mission is to reconnect with any of ten previous astronauts sent into a newly formed wormhole at the edge of Saturn. What Coop and his team finds is a journey into the unknown, one that can hopefully result in a future for the human race.





Nolan's film is a gorgeous one - definitely worthy of seeing in IMAX. Though not a completely flawless film, it IS a story that I became totally engrossed with and I could not pull myself away from. At the core is Coop's love for his family, and specifically, his daughter. As he travels deeper into space, time becomes relative, and what are hours to him, become decades to the world he left behind. One particular scene is especially haunting and beautiful as Coop watches his children grow up before his eyes as he watches years of messages queued for him during his travels. If you get through it without shedding a tear, then you are made of hard steel.

Replacing the armies of old earth are robots shaped like obelisks (the 2001 reference isn't lost on me here!) who are unlike anything I've seen, yet entirely plausible in their utility and purpose. They are even equipped with human voices, humor, and sarcasm. Nolan infuses a good bit of humor, in fact, into this movie as a whole.

I realize a lot of people will not connect with the hard sci-fi concepts used in this movie. These come into play especially in the final act, but I was never "in over my head" in my opinion. I loved every second of the journey. An emotional and thought-provoking film - dangerously close to taking over the top spot for my favorite of the year.

4.75 out of 5 Khans!!!!