terminator 2

The Next Terminator Film

Peter Germany Movies, Sci-Fi , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The second trailer for the next Terminator film, Terminator:Dark Fate, has gone online over the last couple of days. I had a look at it today during my lunch break and i still have some major reservations, but I’m not quite as anxious as I was.

A little background. Terminator 2: Judgement Day is my favourite movie of all time. I saw it at just the right time for it to embed itself into my DNA. It blew me away! After seeing The Terminator I found I loved that one as well. Terminator 2 is still my favourite movie, but The Terminator is a fantastic movie. Then Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines came out. If I was listed top to bottom my favourite Terminator films this would be second from bottom. I love the concept, showing how Judgement Day went down should have been a wet dream for me. It wasn’t. It tried to be too funny, I think the casting was off and I’d have liked to have seen it having a bigger scope to it. This was the film that should have sown the rise of Skynet. It should have detailed it and given us an epic movie showing this all happening. It didn’t though.

After Terminator 3 we had Terminator:Salvation. Now I like Salvation a lot. I was super excited with the thought of a movie showing us what we’d only seen in flashbacks before. I’ll admit I was worried about McG directing it. I’m also not the biggest Christian Bale fan, but I do enjoy it. I didn’t really care for the Marcus Wright storyline, and I’d have liked to of seen the piles of bones you saw in the flashbacks from the first two films. I didn’t like how Connor became the leader of the resistance. It felt lazy and has been done repeatedly on screen. It did have strong points though. Anton Yelchin was fantastic as a young Kyle Reese. I loved the fact that so much of it took place during the day. So many films nowadays have to have all the action at night. The visuals of the film, and the score, were really good.

Ugh, I suppose I ought to address Terminator: Genisys. Okay. I like Emilia Clarke a lot, but I’m not sure this was the role for her at this time in her career. I’ve a lot of respect for her for giving it a go though. Jai Courtney is a good actor, but he isn’t a leading man in my opinion. Just look at how good he is in Suicide Squad. Jason Clarke didn’t sell me if I’m honest. Arnold Schwarzenegger was good, but he was born to play this role. I wish they wouldn’t keep trying to make him comedic in these films though. What they did with him in Terminator 2 worked for that film. It hasn’t in any of the rest of these films. The storyline wasn’t great and had some huge plot holes in. What I really hate about this film though is it erases the first two films from the existence. That and the fact they waste Byung-Hun Lee, J.K. Simmons, and Matt Smith. You just have to watch Matt Smith in his few scenes in the film to see the quality he has. Why wasn’t he Kyle Reese? But that wouldn’t solve the plot problems. Something that also annoyed me was the big reveal about one of the main characters in the trailer! Like really? Don’t you think that would have been better to reveal when people are in the cinema!?!

Terminator: Genisys feels like a slap in the face of the fans who love this world. They tried to take away the two best films in the series, and I still don’t understand why?

Right, I’m going to (try to) stop ranting.

On to Terminator: Dark Fate. I’m comforted by Linda Hamilton returning. I’m a little anxious about Schwarzenegger though. Is he playing another old terminator? Will he be the comic relief? I’m 50/50 on James Cameron’s involvement. I seem to recall him praising Terminator: Genisys. I like that Tim Miller is helming the film. I liked what he did with Deadpool and I hope he pulls this off. I like the look of Gabriel Luna, he was really good as Ghost Rider in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and I like that Mackenzie Davis is in this. I’ve only seen her in The Martian and Blade Runner 2049 but thought she was good in both, especially Blade Runner 2049. I’m looking forward to seeing what they both do in this movie.

There was what I think of as a reveal in the trailer. I’m not sure it’s a big one but why not keep it vague so people learn it when they see the film for the first time? This isn’t jut a problem with Terminator films, its something that needs to be made extinct.

I am anxious about this movie. I want to go into the cinema and have all my sweet spots hit with it, but I’ve been burned before (damn you Genisys), so I’m not going to let myself get too excited about Terminator: Dark Fate.

Subtle Influences

Peter Germany Books, Random Thoughts, Vampires, Writing , , , ,

It struck me recently as I was watching Terminator 2 that I put Mini Guns into pretty much anything that I can and that it was the influence of this film and the movie Predator that gave me this fascination with this weapon. This got me thinking about what else I may have picked up during my life that comes out when I write, although I suspect this may only become obvious once I’ve had my work read by a few people.

This is a thought that has been running through my head and I suppose I like to put loyal and honest characters in my writing. I like putting certain vehicles in as well.  Having worked in the second hand car trade for the last fourteen years I’ve picked up on what generally is a good car and the types of car that I like tend to be reflected in some of my protagonist’ vehicles of choice. I mention guns a lot too. In my vampire collection I mention different pistols i.e. Berreta and Glock.

From now on I know I’m going to be looking at what I’m writing and trying to pick out where I’ve put my likes and dislikes into the text, which i suppose is all part of being a writer. We let our preferences come out in our fiction.

has anyone else noticed this in their own writing?

A Lasting Inspiration

Peter Germany Insperation, Movies, Sci-Fi, Writing , ,

I’ve been reading up on the Terminator films for a blog post I might write. So far I have read through the wikipedia pages for the first two films. I know what people think of Wikipedia but I’ve always found it a good jumping off point and for this purpose tonight it’s served to remind me of the films in question.
But its Terminator 2 that is on my mind to the point of distraction from the book that I am reading. I can’t help think about some of the things that are still ingrained in me today. These are things that I realised because of this film. Things like mankind’s ambition to destroy itself. That even a robot can appreciate the cost of a human life and when a liquid metal creature tells you to ‘get out’ you do! Even if it is out of a hovering helicopter.
I’m finding myself wishing that I had had the urge to go out and find more things that took my attention and fascination as Terminator 2 did. At this stage of my life it is very rare that I find a movie or a book, or a short story or song that has a lasting effect on me. Is this because I will never be able to regain that young innocence or is it because there is so much mediocre fiction out there that it’s very rare that something does make us go ‘WOW!’ or maybe it’s just that I have not found right fiction.

How Sci-Fi Films Have Influenced Me Pt.2 Robots

Peter Germany Movies, Sci-Fi, Uncategorized , , , , , , , ,

I remember first seeing Robocop and thinking ‘WOW’ and I loved the idea of it. The whole concept of a used human body lingering onto life being made into an uncompromising law enforcement officer really blew my mind away. There was no arguing with Robo. If he saw the law being broken then he would deal with it instantly, and efficiently. Peter Weller played the role magnificently as well. I’m not too sure about the re-make being planned though. I was quite looking forward to the idea of it when Michael Fassbender was apparently going to star but from what I’ve heard he isn’t anymore. So I’m a little worried about how it’ll work out.
Me and a friend used to argue  discuss who was better, Robocop or The Terminator. Then I saw Terminator 2 and The Terminator won (sorry Robo)
The Terminator was as uncompromising as Robocop was. In the first two films The Terminator was unrelenting. Nothing was going to stop it achieving its mission, well, unless your name was Kyle Reese. Arnie played it perfectly, he was born to play the role. The third film was, well no comment lol but I did enjoy the fourth film in the series.
No other films really caught my attention when it comes to robots. None really made me think about the troubles that robots might have until I saw I, Robot. Then I saw Blade Runner which I’m still not sure about.  I need to watch it a few times to really get into it I think.

Robots have never really grabbed my attention though. I’m more fascinated by mech suits. The type of thing that is in Avatar, those really fascinate me. I have a few really good ideas of how to play with them in my fiction.  Come to think of it Robocop was not a robot either, would he not be considered a cyborg???   Maybe I’ve not seen enough movies with robots in but from what I have seen they havent touched me on the emotional, or inspirational side outside of The Terminator.  Any recommendations are welcome 😀