Heroes: Destiny

With no sign of Echo De Mille (the character from the webseries Heroes: Going Postal) so far in appearing in Heroes: Villains, it raises the question of whether or not he will even appear at all. I certainly hope that he will, especially due to the cliff hangar at the end of the last webisode, because I doubt that they will be making any more webisodes of Heroes: Going Postal as a new Heroes webseries seems to have started.

Heroes: Destiny focuses on a new character called Santiago. For a sneak peak at this new webseries based in the Heroes universe, just view the trailer below.

Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog Comes To UK iTunes And DVD

If unfortunately you missed the chance to see Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, and then you cried because it was only available to download off iTunes in the US, then stop crying immediately. You can now buy the webseries on iTunes in the UK (and also in Australia). Acts 1 to 3 are available to download priced at £1.49 each. If you haven't seen Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, or haven't heard of it, then go buy it now. But if you're put off by the phrase "sing-along" in the title then don't be. I'm not a big fan of musicals, but I really enjoyed this and it is now one of my favourite things ever.

And I just thought I'd let you know that the soundtrack is also available on iTunes, because once you've seen the webseries then you are going to want to buy the soundtrack.

If you're not a fan of iTunes though you can purchase the DVD of the webseries off Amazon. However, it is currently only available in the US store. Although the DVD is region free so if you don't live in the US then you should still be able import it and play it on your DVD player.

The soundtrack is also available from Amazon as well. Although like the DVD it is only available from the US store.

Batman Begins And The Dark Knight Complete Score Petition

Now I know there is already a complete score release for The Dark Knight (click here for more info) due to be release on 9 December 2008.

But a complete score release for Batman Begins would be great as well. So...

There is currently an online petition for a complete score release of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. If you wish to sign the petition, follow the link below.

Batman Begins And The Dark Knight Complete Score Petition

Max Payne

First of all I'd just like to point out that I haven't played any of the Max Payne games and so my review of Max Payne looks at it as a stand alone film.

Lets get the bad out the way. There were only three things in this film that I didn't like. The first was when Max Payne was fighting this guy and when ever the guy hit Max Payne the screen flashed red. Even though I haven't played the games, I can guess that this is a game reference, because in a lot of games the screen does flash red when the character that you play loses health. The second was a shot that was simply held on screen for too long, and the third was another shot. It was one of those shots where the character moves either from A to B or round in a circle and the character remains in the same place on the screen (usually framed in a mid shot) whilst the background moves. There is a special name for this type of shot, but unfortunately I can't remember it. Anyway it usually involves the actor wearing a special device under their clothes to hold the camera, or the actor just simply has to hold a pole in front of them with the camera on the end. I'm not usually a fan of these shots but in this film it did actually work quite well. The only bad thing about it was that it looked as though Mark Wahlberg was actually holding the pole that the camera was on.

However, these three things are just if I am being picky. Otherwise I couldn't fault the film. I loved it in every way. It had a great story and a great look to it. The cinematography, visual effects and use of colour were particularly good, and they gave the film what I thought to be a slight film noir feel to it.

And before I deconstruct the film any more, all I'm going to say is that I loved this film.

James Bond: Quantum Of Solace

When I first watched Casino Royale I didn't really like it. But after a while it grew on me and whilst it isn't my favourite James Bond film I do now like it.

Quantum Of Solace is kind of the opposite. Initially I came out of the cinema and thought, "Wow. That was cool." But after I actually started thinking about it I couldn't really figure out what the story was past James Bond killing lots of people for revenge.

The action sequences were amazing and some of them were mind blowing. The story however, I felt was too complicated and I think I would need to watch it again (after first watching Casino Royale because it does follow on from it) in order to understand what was going on properly. In all honesty though, I had to watch Casino Royale a few times as well to fully understand it.

If you are able to understand the story though then sure, this is a great film. But is it a great Bond film? No.

Casino Royale was a restart to the Bond franchise, but it still had all the Bond elements. Quantum Of Solace seems to be trying to restart the franchise again, but this time they are trying to make it something else, and it seems to have stripped all the Bond elements from it. Many people have said that the film tries to be more like the Jason Bourne films. But sadly the more like Bourne it tries to get the less like Bond it actually is.

Now I agree that some of the Bond films go way over the top in terms of the gadgets they have, but even Casino Royale managed to include a couple of gadgets. There wasn't a single one that I'm aware of in this film.

The thing that most annoyed me though was the music. David Arnold has done a great job with the music. But this is a James Bond film. Where is the James Bond music? Sure he's included the odd trumpet blast and soaring strings here and there. But what about the James Bond themes. I see why they didn't use the themes in Casino Royale because that film was about how James Bond came to be who we know him to be and therefore he hadn't earned his theme until the end of the film. But it seemed as though the same thing happened with the music in this film. Only when the end credits started did we hear the James Bond theme and by this point it was too little too late.

I've heard rumours already that the next James Bond film will follow on from this one as this one did from Casino Royale. I only hope that it will actually be loyal to the James Bond franchise and not just another reinvention of Bond. We weren't all fans of the first 20 or so films for nothing.

Saw V

If you are familiar with the Saw films then you will know that each one has a cliff hanger at the end and that the next one follows on from the previous one. I myself have only seen Saw IV and Saw (in that order) and so I found it a little hard to follow. But I managed to get the general jist of it. And whilst it's not the best Saw film that I've seen, it is still just as clever as the rest.

If you've seen Saw, Saw II, Saw III and Saw IV then this is a must. However, if you haven't then avoid this film like the plague because you simply won't understand it.

Burn After Reading

I went in expecting to see a really funny film. After seeing the trailer it looked like a very good comedy and after I found out my friend was going to see it at the cinema for a second time I thought, "Okay well now I've got to go."

The film definitely has some funny moments in it, but it wasn't really laugh out loud material, more like chuckle quietly to yourself. It seems to me like the film is trying to be funny the whole time. Now I don't tend to watch a lot of comedies simply because when I watch a comedy, I want to be rolling around in stitches on the floor (like with Bruce Almighty), and of the comedies I've watched 90% of them are very disappointing because this just doesn't happen (e.g. 40 Year Old Virgin, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Meet The Parents, Meet The Fockers, Along Came Polly). They just make you chuckle, which is what this film does. Sadly this isn't what I'm looking for in a comedy. I've laughed harder playing an episode of Friends back in my head.

Now I think one of the reasons for this film not being all that funny is because of the writing. If you find a lot of today's modern comedies funny then I'm sure you'll find Burn After Reading funnier than I did. But the writing wasn't my biggest problem with the comedy, it was the music.

The music in this film really is amazing, but the trouble is, half the time it doesn't fit the scene. I'm expecting music that is a little lighter and funnier to be playing, in order to go with the jokes, but instead we are given dark and twisted music that is beautiful but inappropriate. It is almost like the music is scoring the subplot, while the characters laugh and joke about what is actually going on. The music makes you concentrate more on the subplot and so distracts you from the comedy making the film less funny then it already is.

Now you might be thinking that this is what the film is trying to do, and it probably is because I can think of no other reason why the film would be scored as it is. But for me this combination just didn't work and I was really put off by it. The trouble is the music is so good that it almost makes me want to go and write a dark film in order for the music to have something that matches it.

If this film was rewritten and had the comedy taken out of it I think it would be an excellent film, because the story really is quite dark and interesting. But because it is a comedy I have to say whilst I wanted to like the film, in actual fact I must be honest with myself and say that I didn't really like it that much. But hey, my friend went to see it twice so I guess it depends what films you really like. I'm just telling my side of the story.

Frost / Nixon Score Preview

There are now 4 tracks from Hans Zimmer's score to Frost / Nixon that you can listen to in full. Just go to http://www.universalpicturesawards.com/ then click on Frost / Nixon, and then score.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles Season 2 Update

After last weeks disturbing news I can happily report to you this week that Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles has been picked up for a full season. So there is no longer any threat of it being cancelled.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles Season 2

Here we have another show that has managed to reach the UK before it has even finished in the US. Unfortunately I don't currently have freeview though and so have been watching all of my TV off of the Internet on BBC iPlayer, ITV Catch Up, 4oD and Demand Five. This means I haven't been able to watch season 2 of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles which started on Virgin 1 on Thursday, and so will probably end up buying the DVD Boxset if it comes out.

Yes Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles isn't scoring very high in the ratings over in the US and the show is close to being cancelled. It appears to be managing to stay alive for the moment as Fox has ordered some more scripts.

But it seems such a shame that the show is now struggling when it started off so well. My only hope is that if it does end up getting cancelled, that they are allowed to tie up the story so we won't get left without any closure, like so many other good shows that get cancelled (e.g. Firefly).

Sanctuary

It would seem that American and UK television networks have been working more cooperatively recently, with shows such as Heroes arriving in the UK only a few weeks after their American broadcast. Sanctuary seems to be one of those.

Sanctuary started life off as a webseries, but now it has been picked up by an American network. I didn't actually know much about Sanctuary before last month so I never actually watched all the webisodes (I believe there were quite a few of them). Instead of being a continuation of the webseries they seem to have started a fresh. A definite positive for new fans but possibly not such a good move from the point of view of old fans.

I've seen the first four webisodes of which the two hour pilot episodes (all though ITV4 only showed one this week, part two is obviously next week) are basically a re-write of. But old fans should not be worried, they won't just be watching repeats of the webseries as the TV version will be taking a different root.

I was quite surprised that the TV version of Sanctuary had the same cast as the webseries. But when I watched the webseries and realised Amanda Tapping was in it I wasn't surprised. Although I was surprised that she was in a webseries to begin with.

The TV version is still shot mostly with green/blue screens although the special effects look much better in the TV version than the webseries, obviously due to the higher budget.

The show looks great so far and it definitely has a lot of great potential. If you haven't already checked it out then it is definitely worth doing.

Eureka Season 2 Soundtrack

I'm a huge fan of Bear McCreary the man behind the music for the television shows Battlestar Galactica, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Eureka. However, whilst Bear was there right from the start of Battlestar Galactica (writing additional music for the mini-series) and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles he didn't join Eureka until season 2 where with the permission of the producers he reinvented the sound of Eureka.

If like me you own all of Bear's other soundtracks or if you just own one or two, then it will only make you really appreciate the musical talent of this great composer. Eureka is unlike anything we have heard from McCreary so far. A soundtrack that he describes as:

"A twisted blend of folk, blues and zydeco with 80s New Wave synths, 8-bit and 16-bit video-game-inspired FM synthesis, 70’s keyboards, accordions, dobros, didgeridoo and a little Spanish Flamenco."

In all my years of listening to soundtracks I really have never heard anything quite like this soundtrack. It is fresh and original and some of the tracks are so good that they almost make you laugh just listening to them. And not having seen the series it has definitely made me want to go out and buy it, because if the show is anywhere near as good as the music then it will be money well spent.

If you wish to read an interview with Bear McCreary about his work on Eureka, click here.

Bring Back Firefly Petition

There is currently an online petition to bring back Joss Whedon's Firefly. If you wish to sign the petition, follow the link below.

Bring Back Firefly Petition

Batman: Gotham Knight

Sadly I was quite disappointed by this film. I knew that the format of the film would be slightly different as the trailer said it was six stories from six different directors. This I didn't mind, because really they were just six different parts to the same story and there was a definite overall plot. I was more disappointed with the film as a whole.

Batman: Gotham Knight is supposed to take place between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. I didn't really feel this because to me the Batman in this film didn't really resemble the Batman that Christian Bale plays in the Christopher Nolan films. Therefore for me it didn't really fit in the Batman universe Christopher Nolan had created and felt more like it because it was a different Batman that it belonged in a different Batman universe. If I disassociated Batman: Gotham Knight film with the Christopher Nolan Batman films, then I was able to enjoy it much more.

The first two stories I found slightly boring as they didn't really feature Batman as the main character. Instead they dealt with the Batman myth and how people didn't understand him. Was he human or was he an actual bat? Was he good or was he bad? The concept of these stories works very well, but sadly I found them slightly boring. The stories then focus more on Bruce Wayne becoming Batman.

Sadly I didn't find this film as good as I thought it would be. In terms of animation film spin-offs I found The Animatrix much better.

Desperate Housewives Score Petition

There is currently an online petition to get a release for Steve Jablonsky's score to the popular television show Desperate Housewives. If you wish to sign the petition, follow the link below.

Desperate Housewives Score Petition

Serenity: Those Left Behind

If you're a fan of Firefly and the sequel movie Serenity, then you might be interested in this. Serenity: Those Left Behind is a comic book that tells a part of the story which takes place in between Firefly and Serenity.

If you can remember the last episode of Firefly, then you will also remember that when you came to watch Serenity that there was a big chunk of story in between the two that hadn't been explored and therefore was left for the audience to fill in the gaps.

Well Serenity: Those Left Behind fills in some of those gaps for you. This is why I love Joss Whedon, because even though his show got cancel he still can't leave it alone, and I for one am glad. The comic reads just like an episode of Firefly and I found it very enjoyable to read. My only problem was that it was too short. But thankfully this is not the only Serenity comic. In fact there are three more comics, which are called Serenity: Better Days #1, #2 and #3. There is also a bonus story on Dark Horse Comics' Myspace (which also has lots of other free comics to read including Joss Whedon's Sugarshock) called Serenity: The Other Half.

In other Joss Whedon news, if you were lucky enough to see Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog then the soundtrack is now available internationally on iTunes.

The Dark Knight Soundtrack

When I saw the film I was blown away by the music in the opening sequence. It really worked and was unlike anything I would have expected from Batman. That one note that portrays the Joker worked brilliantly in the film. However, I think you've got to be a real Hans Zimmer fan in order to appreciate and enjoy it on the soundtrack. But not all the soundtrack is like that and some of it is very emotional. I have to say that since I have bought this soundtrack and after loading it onto my iPod, it has not left the CD player in my car. This is my new favourite soundtrack and therefore I'm going to give it a track by track review.

Whilst "Why So Serious?" might not be the most enjoyable track to listen to it definitely does make you feel a bit uneasy. Especially when you hear that note. Here's a little extra information for you, if you didn't know it already, Hans Zimmer spent about six months trying to get the Jokers theme to be one note long. He spent most of those months trying to find the right sound for that note. And the end result works amazingly. Unfortunately it doesn't work quite as well on the soundtrack which is why on the soundtrack I much prefer the Batman themes, which are more than one note long.

"I'm Not A Hero" is one of those cues that has a lot of the Batman themes in it and it really does sound great. Unfortunately I found that the cue tended to change a bit abruptly at some points or felt like a couple of the variations of the Batman themes could have lasted a bit longer and been expanded upon. I think the reason for this though is so that the music matches the picture. The best bit from the cue is at the 6:00 mark. It just sounds out of this world. But sadly it lasts less than 30 seconds.

So after the Joker's theme we get Batman's theme and next we get the theme of Harvey Dent/Two-Face. This one was composed by James Newton Howard where as the Joker's theme was composed by Hans Zimmer. I'm not sure who is behind "I'm Not A Hero" but I would guess mostly Hans Zimmer because it sounds like his kind of thing.

Whilst on Batman Begins the two composers work very much together on a lot of the music, for this film Hans took on the Joker and James took on Harvey Dent/Two-Face. Considering they were in separate buildings whilst working on their themes, the themes really do fit into the Batman world, almost as if one composer had written them.

If you look at the characters of the Joker and Harvey Dent/Two-Face you can tell straight away that James' music is going to be more elegant and beautiful. Although saying that, because Harvey Dent does become a villain in the end James does do a great evil section to the track "Harvey Two-Face" with the elegant and beauty at either side of this evil section. The evil section is played mostly on brass and whilst we might not be used to brass in Batman it really does work.

"Aggressive Expansion" is the next track. The opening of this track is one of the Batman themes and is so so good. Sadly the rest of the track isn't quite so good as it slows down and moves away from the action start. It's not bad, but I think that the beginning is just so good that you just want more of it and are disappointed when you don't get more.

Back to the Joker now with "Always A Catch". Most of this track is just a rise with a few big hits and one big low note to finish the rise before we go into a quite Batman section.

"Blood On My Hands" brings back in the theme of Harvey Dent and is really just an expanded part of the first section of the track "Harvey Two-Face". Some how for me it doesn't work as well without the evil section though.

"A Little Push" doesn't really use any of the main character themes and instead is a track that seems to build up fear in the listener. At least that is what I felt. I would probably say that it is a cue written for Harvey Dent because of the use of brass, but I could be wrong.

After an absence of Batman themes for a couple of tracks you need not fear anymore. "Like A Dog Chasing Cars" brings back our hero with a great new expansion of one of the Batman themes written for Batman Begins. This one actually features a real melody unlike many of the other Batman cues. This track also features some great Joker music towards the end that is much more enjoyable to listen to then "Why So Serious?" Perhaps because it is shorter though.

With a track name like "I Am The Batman" you would expect epic drums and Batman themes. Instead though we get quite a minimal sound that isn't a great listen.

But all is not lost for long. "And I Thought My Jokes Were Bad" redeems much of the expectations had for the previous track. But with the title it has this track would not be complete with out the Joker's theme.

"Agent Of Chaos" brings some beauty to the score with a small amount of piano that brings back the theme from the Batman Begins track "Corynorhinus". However, it mixes it in with some Batman drums and quickly moving strings as well as a bit of the Joker's note around the middle. But by the end those drums and quick strings are replaced by slow strings and piano.

But I prefer the faster and more epic Batman cues which is why I really love "Introduce A Little Anarchy". For me this track is in competition with "I'm Not A Hero" for my most favourite track as it contains a lot of the themes from "I'm Not A Hero" but in a more expanded form. The only thing that stops it from easily beating "I'm Not A Hero" is the part at the 6:00 mark in "I'm Not A Hero". Otherwise it would definitely be the best track on the soundtrack.

"Watch The World Burn" is another slow track which takes a while to really build up the emotion. But when it does, it does it well.

However, "A Dark Knight" does it better. At 16:15 this is the longest track on the soundtrack. It is a slow piece that creates emotion in a much more successful way than "Watch The World Burn". Granted it has longer to do so, but that is not what it does with the 16 minutes it has. The emotion is there right from the start of the track to the end, where there is a big powerful and emotional build up with drums slowly pounding away before all is gone and we are left with that one note. The Joker's note.

This soundtrack is my favourite of the year so far and if you listen to it from start to finish you experience an amazing journey with incredible ups and downs. From the powerful ups of "I'm Not A Hero" and "Introduces A Little Anarchy" to the emotional downs of "Harvey Two-Face" and "A Dark Knight". This really is a great soundtrack.

Wanted Soundtrack

Some of you may know that before Danny Elfman became a film composer he was part of the band Oingo Boingo. Well for the film Wanted, Danny has returned to his rock roots and written and performed the song, "The Little Things". I knew Danny was part of Oingo Boingo, but I didn't actually know that he was the lead singer until I heard this track and thought, "Wow. He is a really good singer." And then it clicked. I don't usually listen to this kind of music, but I actually really like it.

After the song comes the score. It starts out pretty well with "Success Montage" which is my favourite cue on the album. The score seems to calm down a bit for the next few tracks but picks up again with "The Scheme" and "Fox In Control". "The Scheme" is a slow piece that works at building tension, where as "Fox In Control" is more of an action cue.

I also like "Exterminator Beat" which had a great string motif, and sounded great with the subtle guitar over the top.

Although it used the sames themes as "Success Montage", I didn't like "Rats" that much, perhaps because of the way it was arranged.

Next we get some action cues, "The Train" and "Revenge" which are alright but nothing special. These are followed by "Fox's Decision", which starts out quite forgettable but builds up to quite a dramatic end.

Finally we end with "Fate". A cue that doesn't cause the soundtrack to end as strongly as it started, but still isn't bad.

Overall this soundtrack isn't an essential listen if you're not a big fan of Danny Elfman. But if you are then it is an obvious must, especially since he revisits his Oingo Boingo years with "The Little Things". But if you're not a big fan of Elfman then if you did buy this soundtrack then it wouldn't be the end of the world, as it does provide quite an enjoyable listen. There just unfortunately aren't that many outstanding cues.

The Happening Soundtrack

Whilst the movie might not have been that good, it doesn't necessarily mean that the score isn't very good either. On listening to the soundtrack I found that it reminded me most of James previous score to The Village. The Village used the violin as a solo instrument that played beautiful melodies throughout a lot of the score. The Happening does a similar thing, but instead uses the cello.

However, the cello is not played in the same style as the violin was in The Village. It is used in a much darker manner and instead of beautiful melodies we get eerie and mysterious melodies. A great cue which demonstrates this is "Five Miles Back".

The cello is not the only instrument that stands out though. The piano is also rather dominant throughout the score. It is quite often followed by the brass section as together these make up the basics of the main theme which can be heard best in the "Main Titles".

There is also the more traditional suspense/horror music such as "Rittenhouse Square" and "My Firearm Is My Friend", but I find these are the more forgetful cues and sadly I found that the soundtrack contains quite a lot of this type of music which doesn't make for a great listening experience.

Overall The Happening soundtrack isn't exactly anything special. I'd probably recommend it to the fans of older film music as they might like it a lot more than I did. But whilst it wasn't as big a disappointment as the film itself, I don't think I'll be listening to this soundtrack very often. If you are looking for a great James Newton Howard soundtrack I'd go for The Village if you don't already own it, as I think that it is still his best (solo) score to date.

Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

If you are a big fan of Joss Whedon then you are going to love this. These things seem to be all the craze now. Webseries started off as a way of lesser experienced film makers show casing themselves and making a pretty good, low budget series of episodes about 5 minutes in length. However, webseries seem to have grown beyond the amateurs and the professionals now seem to be embracing them. Some such as Battlestar Galactica: The Resistance and Heroes: Going Postal add up to become almost like a hidden episodes of their actual parent TV shows providing those that watch the webseries' with more information, but ultimately not being essential to the other fans of the TV shows that haven't watched the webseries'. But the professionals also seem to be making stand alone webseries such as this new creation from Joss Whedon (the creator of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, Serenity and the upcoming show Dollhouse scheduled to air on Fox in January of next year).

The webseries has 3 episodes or acts (as they are called in this show) totaling at just over 42 minutes. But hopefully that is not the end of the webseries as Joss Whedon said at this years San Diego Comic-Con that he would love to make a 4th act.

View the trailer below or click the image above to watch the webseries.

UPDATE: The webseries is now only available to watch online if you live in the US. So if you live in the UK or any where else then you're just going to have to wait for the DVD. But unfortunatly it could be a long wait.

Heroes: Going Postal

If you remember a few weeks ago I posted the trailer for the new webseries Heroes: Going Postal. Well unfortunately the webseries is not available to watch for those of us in the UK on the NBC website. So after searching YouTube I've managed to find all 3 episodes and have compiled them all in one place. Enjoy.


Chapter 1: A Nifty Trick



Chapter 2: The House Guest



Chapter 3: Let's Talk

The Dark Knight

I'm going to keep this review short, simply because I don't really have a lot to say on the film. When I first watched Batman Begins I didn't think that it was that great a film. But after watching it a few more times I eventually grew to love it. With The Dark Knight however, it was love at first sight. I absolutely loved this film and it has easily gained a place in my top 5 films. I'm still wondering whether or not it is worthy of the number 1 spot but even if it isn't you have got to see this film.

(9/10)

Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull Soundtrack

Even if you're not a big Indiana Jones fan you'd have to have been living on Mars all your life to not know John Williams' "Raiders March". Probably better know to most people as the main theme from the Indiana Jones films. However, the main theme only featured as it's own track ("Raiders March") on the Indiana Jones & The Raiders Of The Lost Ark soundtrack. Indiana Jones & The Temple Of Doom and Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade just mixed the main theme in with the rest of the cues like this soundtrack does with the track "The Journey To Akator". This is why I was quite surprised to see the "Raiders March" as a track on the Indiana Jones & The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull soundtrack. But then I guess it has been 20 or so years since Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade, a time when some of us weren't even born, so the chances of us owning the Indiana Jones & The Raiders Of The Lost Ark soundtrack are slim.

However, it is not the same "Raiders March" from the first Indiana Jones film and it is in fact an expanded version. The original version was 2:50 in length, where as this version is 5:06, which is substantially longer. The reason for it being longer is because it also includes Marion's theme. Yep. If you didn't know by now then you probably weren't going to. Marion who was Indiana's love interest from Indiana Jones & The Raiders Of The Lost Ark is back for Indiana Jones & The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull.

Marion's theme isn't the only returning theme though. "The Map Room" theme from Indiana Jones & The Raiders Of The Lost Ark can be heard at the beginning of the track "The Spell Of The Skull".

Some great cues from this soundtrack include: "The Adventures Of Mutt", "The Snake Pit" and "The Journey To Akator". Three playful little pieces which provide a very enjoyable listen.

But it wouldn't be Indiana Jones without some of the more mysterious cues. Whilst "Call Of The Crystal", "Irena's Theme" and "Orellana's Cradle" do sound very nice, I don't quite enjoy listening to them as much as some of the action cues such as "The Jungle Chase" which is quite a comical action sequence. A darker action sequence and equally great listen is "Grave Robbers" which goes a bit crazy on the percussion at the beginning but sounds great anyway.

I found the last portion of the soundtrack pretty average and the only cue that stood out was "Finale", which revisited most of the major themes including Marion's theme and the main Indiana Jones theme ("Raiders March").

With this soundtrack John Williams definitely returns to his usual sound which he pretty much threw out the window with the last film he scored which was Memoirs Of A Geisha in 2005. This soundtrack is really for fans of the movie, fans of Indiana Jones, fans of John Williams, and probably fans of the older style of film music composing. I'm more of a remote control/media ventures man myself, although I did still enjoy listening to the soundtrack and there are some definite cues I would go back and listen to. But there are also some cues which I would probably only listen to again if I decided to listen to the whole soundtrack. In my opinion, Memoirs Of A Geisha is still John Williams best score.

Out With The Old And In With The New

Last week saw the end of the season for a number of TV programs: Chuck, Heroes, The Graham Norton Show, House and Doctor Who. But what new programs are coming our way? Well considering how many great programs finished there weren't many more that started this week. Bonekickers was pretty much the only one. Although the BBC has been showing the teasers for a new series called Merlin. I am guessing that it is about the wizard and so is probably going to be something like Robin Hood, which has been on the BBC for the last two years on the approach to Christmas. It will most likely take the place of Doctor Who on Saturdays. Although it doesn't look to be arriving to our screens for another few weeks. I am guessing that they are waiting till closer to the air date for the website to launch, since the page does exist, but is currently blank (http://www.bbc.co.uk/merlin/).

As for Bonekickers, it is about a team of archaeologists and the best way to describe it is probably Waking The Dead meets Time Team. It was pretty fast paced and kept me interested throughout. It possibly went a bit too far at the end, but so far the series looks promising.

Another upcoming show is Burn Up, which is a two part political thriller addressing one of today's big issues, climate change. It sees the battle between politics and economic success against fighting climate change as oil executives, environmental activists and politicians fight it out. For more info click here.

Another show to keep an eye out for in the future is Survivors, which is set in the present day in the aftermath of a virus which has wiped out most of the world's population. The remake of the 1970s program, which ran for three series, is set to come to our screens this autumn. For more info click here.

BBC 2 has also unveiled which shows will be coming to the channel this autumn. Returning shows include Heroes season 3, the popular documentary series Horizon, Jack Dee's Lead Balloon. Brand new shows include Einstein and Eddington and My Zinc Bed. And that's just for starters. For more info click here.

In other news, with season 2 of Heroes now at an end we have caught up with the US. NBC (the network behind Heroes) is launching a web only mini-series called Heroes: Going Postal. It follows a postman named Echo De Mille who is a new hero. I imagine that he will also appear in season 3 of Heroes, but for now you can catch the webseries on NBC.com from Monday. In the mean time here is the trailer for the webseries:

Wanted

The Matrix was a kick ass film. The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions I still thought were good, but not quite as good as The Matrix. But then I loved the whole Matrix universe. However, most people thought that the two sequels sucked because most people aren't Matrix geeks. Good news for them, this film will remind you of the first Matrix film.

At first I only really thought that it looked visually like The Matrix, but then I thought about it and it seemed pretty much like The Matrix on every other level as well. That is not necessarily a bad thing though since as I've already said, The Matrix kicked ass. Whilst Wanted isn't quite as good as The Matrix it is still a pretty good film.

An interesting thing I read on Internet Movie Database was a quote from the director of Wanted. Whether or not he was talking about Wanted though, I'm not sure. But anyway, the quote read: "...but the most powerful special effect is the actor. All the visual style is an extension of character." If that is the case then this film certainly has a lot of character extension. But to be honest, the extension seemed to be on what they could do. But when he says, "the most powerful special effect is the actor" I'm not sure that really plays across in this film because there wasn't really a lot in terms of character development and therefore you could have replaced the actors with bad actors and it probably wouldn't have made much of a difference.

James McAvoy plays the character of Wesley Gibson who could be compared to Neo from The Matrix. Angelina Jolie plays the dominatrix character called The Fox and could be compared to Trinity. Morgan Freeman plays the character of Sloan which could be compared to either Morpheus of Agent Smith. And then there is the rest of the gang who play the rest of the crew from the Nebuchadnezzar (Morpheus' ship). However, the characters from Wanted seem to play toned down versions of the characters from The Matrix when it comes to them as people.

But if all you're after is an action film and you don't particularly care about the character development then you're in luck. However, if what you're after is a realistic action film then you'd better sit this one out. With crazy things such as a man jumping out of a skyscraper window and making it to the other side of the street, people curving bullets around objects and some crazy car stunts that could only exist in The Matrix; this film is all about what looks cool.

Now for the real Matrix comparison.

SPOILERS: The film starts off in the same office like environment as The Matrix as we see Wesley in his little cubical at work. We find out his life is shit just like Neo's is. (Although Wesley isn't living two different lives.) Wesley gets shot at in a shop by the bad guy and saved by The Fox. Whilst Neo finds Agents coming into his office and tries to escape but sadly gets caught, but is then released where Trinity finds him and saves him from that bug thing in his stomach. The Fox introduces Wesley to Sloan and the rest of the gang. Trinity introduces Neo to Morpheus and the rest of the crew. Wesley goes into a state of denial as to who he is. Neo goes into a state of denial that he is the one. Wesley realises his full potential. Neo realises his full potential. Wesley goes to avenge his real fathers death by killing Sloan. Neo tries to save Morpheus by killing Agent Smith. But before Wesley can kill Sloan he has to get into the building and so manages to jump in through the window and run through a load of bad guys killing them all, with his first shots being two machine guns which he uses to kill the two people to his side buy switching his hands over. Before Neo can kill Agent Smith he has to get into the building and so enters the lobby with all the pillars, the metal detector goes off and Neo kills the guard in front of him, he then uses two machine guns to kill the two guards to his side buy switching his hands over. Wesley kills Sloan. Neo kills Agent Smith. The End.

The Matrix was released in 1999 and Wanted was obviously released in 2008. However, Wanted is based on a mini-series of comics created by Mark Millar. So the obvious question is, which came first? The Matrix or the Wanted comics? Well I can say with great pleasure that the winner is The Matrix. The Wanted comics where published in 2003, four years after The Matrix.

Iron Man Soundtrack

The score to Iron Man isn't your usual superhero score. No big thematic themes like superman, but instead a score that is a bit more rock and roll. The music is written by Ramin Djawadi, an up and coming composer from Hans Zimmer's Remote Control Productions, also know for his score to the television series Prison Break. And for his first big feature film, Ramin Djawadi has done a pretty good job.

"Driving With The Top Down" is probably my favourite track because it is fast paced and has got some cool themes in it. But they aren't your brass like themes you get in every other superhero film, instead the themes are played on strings and guitars which just sound great.

"Merchant Of Death" is the most rock and roll cue on the soundtrack, complete with guitars drums and some electronics underneath. All it needs to take it that one step further is some heavy metal singer screaming his brains out. Luckily for me though the singer is missing since I'm not a big fan of heavy metal.

It's not all guitars and drums though, as there are some slower cues for the more emotional scenes. "Vacation's Over" is the first one and contains quite a dramatic theme played on strings. Then there is "Extra Dry, Extra Olives" which is a very slow piece that to me didn't seem to go any where. The final slow cue is "Are Those Bullet Holes?" Which again didn't seem to go any where.

There's also the darker more mysterious cues like "Section 16" and "Iron Man". However, there are actually three cues on the soundtrack which are called Iron Man. The first is an arrangement of the main theme from the old Iron Man television series which is featured as background music in the film when Tony Stark is at a party. The second cue called Iron Man is a more darker mysterious cue which reminds me of some dark moments from Mission: Impossible 2. And finally the third cue called Iron Man is actually the main title theme from the old television show.

The final two cues by Ramin are "Iron Monger" and "Arc Reaktor" which are just full on action cues rocking away. "Arc Reaktor" is the heavier of the two, but the second half of the cue goes much more thematic and is the only part on the soundtrack which I could easily compare to another superhero soundtrack. But that is not a bad thing.

To complete the rock/heavy metal sound to the soundtrack there is also a track by the band Suicidal Tendencies which I think sounds pretty crap. But hey if you're into heavy metal then I'm sure you'll like it. As for the sound of the overall soundtrack I think it is great to hear something new from someone new, because all those other superhero soundtracks can tend to sound a bit the same.

The Happening

M. Night Shyamalan is most definitely an auteur and this is the eighth film that he has written and directed. I was actually unaware of the first two films, Praying With Anger and Wide Awake and thought these might be short films, but they are actually full length features. However, it was definitely The Sixth Sense that got M. Night Shyamalan recognised by audiences. You would think that with this being film number eight they would get better, but instead they seem to get weirder. The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable and Signs were I think all very good. However, The Village, Lady In The Water and The Happening are all not so good.

The Village was very good right up until the end when the film just collapsed, it was as if M. Night Shyamalan had dug himself into a hole and didn't know how to get out of it and so ended up writing an absolutely crap ending. It would have worked much better if the monsters were real and I for one would have preferred the film being released many years later if only it meant that it had a good ending, because that is the last impression you leave the audience with and seems to be where a lot of films fail. The Village was one of those and so was The Happening.

Lady In The Water was just strange from the start and I have to say it takes a certain type of person to watch this film. Many people have said this film was too weird but I don't think that is the case. I think that it just has a smaller target audience because whilst it is a fairy tale it is not set in the past or in a fictional world but is set in the present and so perhaps makes it harder to become absorbed in the film because you are thinking, "Well that is just ridiculous." I bet no body thought that when they watched Pan's Labyrinth which everybody seemed to love, and I think the two films are very similar.

Now moving onto The Happening. The concept of this film was brilliant, but sadly the film wasn't so. It started out diving straight in at the deep end and didn't need no big introduction to life before the events. The first thing you see after the opening credits is an event. Now an event is when all the people in a certain area die because they committed suicide. The second event looked particularly amazing visually.

There are a great number of these events in the film and whilst I did not laugh at a single one, as the film progressed many people started to laugh at these events. And I could see why. They just got more ridiculous, less horrific and they just didn't look as good. Not only that but excluding one event there was hardly a single drop of blood, which could have made the later events scarier.

Mark Wahlberg plays the main character in this film, Elliot Moore. Now normally I wouldn't say Mark Wahlberg is a bad actor since he has done some very good performances in films such as Planet Of The Apes and The Italian Job, but I have to say that his acting was pretty poor in this film. Whether he had chosen to play his character in the way he did or M. Night Shyamalan had told him to play his character in the way he did, his character didn't set comfortably in this film. Now there were some parts of the film that were obviously meant to be funny, but there were also parts that really weren't supposed to be funny but the way Wahlberg played them you just couldn't help but see the funny side. He just seemed too happy throughout the whole film and didn't seem very scared at all. Apart from one scene where he was panicking and was very scared the rest of the time he just looked and sounded to happy. This really clashed with the music which was setting up these scary atmospheres all to be ruined by Mark Wahlberg's bad acting or M. Night Shyamalan's bad directing.

And then there is the story to consider. The moment the film started out with an event I thought, "That is a bit of a risk. How is he going to keep the film going strong?" But I quickly threw this thought out of my brain and gave the film a chance. Sadly I was right and the film slowly started losing it a bit. Such a shame when it started out so strong. However, if I look past the bad acting and the less horrific events then I could say the story kept strong for most of the film. Right up until the events just seemed to stop suddenly and we were taken to three months later. Everything seemed all better and Wahlberg's character Elliot and his wife seemed to be living happily together. Whilst the reason for the events was told to us on the news on the television screen.

Then it all starts again. Another event happens in another country and the credits start to roll. I felt awful at the end of this film because M. Night Shyamalan's name came up on screen and the music just kept on playing as if the film hadn't stopped, but unfortunately it had. It wasn't all the fault of the music but I just felt like I was walking out halfway through a film. To me the film had a very poor ending and like The Village it needed an alternate ending to replace from three months later to the credits.

The moral of the story is not unlike The Day After Tomorrow. Although sadly it does it in a much more blatent way which I found compromised the movie.

I don't usually say this but I would give this film a miss. Unless of course you are a die hard M. Night Shyamalan fan. But if you still want to see it and make up your own mind, I'd wait for the DVD and hopefully it might have some alternate endings.

Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull

Whilst many people were sceptical about seeing the return of Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones to the big screen, claiming he was too old, I for one was quite excited at the return of Dr Jones. I wouldn't say I was an avid Indy fan since I never really watch The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, but I did very much enjoy the original trilogy.

As for Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull, I would say overall that it was pretty good, and if you ignore the odd ridiculous things (such as in Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom where that guy rips peoples hearts out with his hand and they live to see it happen) then it was a very enjoyable watch.

SPOILER: But there was one big thing that annoyed me with the story. The original Indiana Jones trilogy always had a focus on religion and whilst this film does as well it takes it in a whole different direction. Basically all I am going to say is at the end of the film we see actual aliens and a flying saucer. Now in Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade that film took God to be real since he would have to be in order for the Holy Grail to be real. Now personally I don't see Aliens and God co-existing. It could just be me but that story element just didn't work for me as part of an Indiana Jones film. If you ignore that it is an Indiana Jones film then it works great, but then the rest of the story isn't as good. Or if you're a newcomer to Indy then I'm sure it'll work great for you, but it didn't sit well with me.

I don't think that Harrison Ford is too old to play Indiana Jones, but I do think that Indiana Jones is a bit old in this film. He seems rather out of place in this new world, which is set in the late 50s. Although that could be the intention as he's been through a lot in the 19 years since the events in Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade, such as World War II which we hear a little bit about.

I am glad to say though that whilst I do love Indy it doesn't look as though there is going to be another Indiana Jones film judging by the way it ended. Although a spin-off was hinted at, but I'm not going to make any judgements on that until it comes to pass.

Iron Man

Finally, the superhero film I've been waiting for. This film was by far the best Marvel film yet. After the disappointment that was Spider-Man 3 this is the next big Marvel film to hit our screens.

I really love how this film was grounded in reality with no super powers or strange mutations but simply an advance in technology. In that regards it is not unlike Batman Begins, but unlike Batman, Iron Man is set in the real world. Tony Stark starts out selling weapons of mass destruction to the United States Government, but his company ends up selling the weapons to terrorists as well and after he is captured by the terrorists he builds a suit to help him escape. This is his realisation where he dicides that he wants to help the world against terrorists and so closes down his company and starts work on a suit that is a much more advanced version of the suit he escaped in. This is the creation of Iron Man and trust me, once you see the final suit in action, you're going to want one.

According to IMDb Robert Downey Jr. improvised a lot of his lines for the film and I think it really works here as there is a lot of comedy in the film, and as well as the pure action moments it all comes together to make one kick ass film. I can't wait for the sequel.

Since this is the first film that Marvel Studios has made on their own I just hope that now they are in control of their films that they don't let it slip with The Incredible Hulk, the next Marvel Studio film, to be released on 13 June 2008.

Coming Soon

I've added the 'Coming Soon' section on the (righthand) side, which list in order of release date some great films still to come out. I've tried to put links on all of them which if you click on will direct you to the trailer for that film.

10,000 BC Soundtrack

From composers Harald Kloser (The Day After Tomorrow) and Thomas Wander comes this pretty awesome soundtrack. The music has a definitive tribal influence which is perfect for the movie but which I find also makes a great listening experience.

However, in terms of tribal versus orchestral then orchestral comes out as the winner in terms of quantity. But quality? Well there are some real amazing orchestral cues such as 'Sea Of Sand', but for me that is just about it. If you liked Harald's score to The Day After Tomorrow then you might like a few more cues then me because there are plenty of moments on the soundtrack which remind me of The Day After Tomorrow Soundtrack, 'Sea Of Sands' included.

For me though it is the tribal influences that really make this soundtrack great. Whilst a lot of it is simply just tribal drums helping to build the tension, the best ones are the climactic ones such as 'Speech' and 'Food'.

'Speech' starts out as pure orchestral and then 2 minutes in mixes the tribal stuff as well, and boy does it sound good when those drums and voices come in with the brass pounding away and strings sliding about on top. For me that minute just makes the whole album worth buying.

'Food' is just pure tribal and starts out with some light drums before the tribal singer comes in and builds it up until he goes crazy. Then we get some more tribal drums and percussion along with the rest of the tribal singers which come in with a groovy little beat before all the tribal singers go crazy and the drums soften, bringing the cue to an end.

The 'End Credits' is another brilliant cue, but sadly the rest I found pretty average. Saying that though the soundtrack provides a good listen all the way through with three or four outstanding tracks that are worth going back and listening too many times. However, if you're not really into your tribal influences then I'd probably give this a miss, unless you're a real big fan of Harald Kloser or The Day After Tomorrow Soundtrack. But if you do like your tribal influences then it is a great listen, and if you want more tribal music then I would check out Amampondo which are a kick ass group of tribal musicians. However, there isn't any orchestra in their music and their later stuff contains a lot of electronics. But if you've got a rather large eclectic taste like me, then I'm sure you'll love it.

10,000 BC

Independace Day and The Day After Tomorrow, two great movies by director Roland Emmerich. Sadly I don't think 10,000 BC is as good as either film. But hey I guess you can't have all successful films, not even if you're Stephen Spielberg.

Saying that though 10,000 BC isn't the worst film in the world and whilst it did have rather a strange opening and first half which I sat through thinking, "Hmm... is this a good film or a bad film... I'm not sure yet." The difficulty I found was telling the different people apart during the first half, because they all looked the same. This kind of put me off a bit since it meant I didn't recognise the main character very easily. Getting the bad out of the way there was one scene in the jungle which I didn't like simply because I couldn't see what was going on.

But now onto the good. The second half was much better and had a much different look to it aswell. I thought it was much more exciting and this is where I really got into the film. Whilst I was watching it though I did find it reminded me of the film Stargate (which it turns out Roland directed as well so I guess that ain't a coinsidence), but Stargate was a pretty awesome film so I thought that can't be bad.

Whilst you might think to yourself, "Why did I bother to watch this film?" I say give it a chance since you might actually grow to like. I know I did. Plus all the films that I've seen of his have been pretty dam good: Stargate, Independence Day, Godzilla and The Day After Tomorrow; so I say take a leap of faith and give 10,000 BC a go.

The Lion King Complete Score Petition

There is currently an online petition to get a complete score release for Hans Zimmer's The Lion King. If you wish to sign the petition, follow the link below.

The Lion King Complete Score Petition

Heroes Soundtrack

Just like all great TV shows the music plays a big part of the show. Heroes is no exception so I was real excited to find there would be a soundtrack release. However, the soundtrack isn't a score release of the music by the shows composers Wendy Melvoin & Lisa Coleman but instead features mostly pop songs that I don't even remember being in the show. In my opinion it is just another 'music from and inspired by' soundtrack that studios use to make money because of their larger target audience.

Sadly the few Wendy & Lisa tracks that there are only reach a total duration of 3 minutes 33 seconds, excluding the Heroes Mega Mix, and they aren't even the best ones from the show. Natural Selection is by far the best although it is way too short only lasting 24 seconds.

If you are going to get the Heroes Soundtrack I'd go for the iTunes version with the Heroes Mega Mix which is by far the best track on the album and features a lot of the music that really helps make the show what it is. I only hope there will be a score release some time in the future because if Michael Giacchino's music for Lost and Bear McCreary's music for Battlestar Galactica can get releases then why can't Wendy & Lisa's music for Heroes.

01 Heroes Title — Wendy & Lisa
02 Fire and Regeneration — Wendy & Lisa (featuring Shankar)
03 He's Frank — Brighton Port Authority (featuring Iggy Pop)
04 All For Swinging You Around — The New Pornographers
05 Glad It's Over — Wilco
06 Weightless — Nada Surf
07 Nine In The Afternoon — Panic! At The Disco
08 Chills — My Morning Jacket
09 Natural Selection — Wendy & Lisa
10 ABoneCroneDrone 3 — Sheila Chandra
11 Not Now But Soon — Imogen Heap
12 Jealously Rides With Me — Death Cab For Cutie
13 All Things Must Pass — The Jesus and Mary Chain
14 Homecoming — Wendy & Lisa
15 Man In The Long Black Coat — Bob Dylan
16 Maya's Theme — Yerba Buena
17 Keeping My Composure — The Chemical Brothers (featuring Spank Rock)
18 Heroes — David Bowie
19 Heroes Mega Mix (iTunes Exclusive) - Wendy & Lisa

Heroes

Heroes has finally returned. After a trully amazing Season 1, Season 2 looks to be just as exciting, if not more.

Every episode from Season 1 was amazing, except the last one which was still good but slightly disappointing, given how they bigged it up throughout the rest of the season. But Season 2 seems to jump straight back in and after watching the first episode I was again on the edge of my seat jumping up and down with excitement due to the amazing cliff hanger at the end.

Just in this first episode we have already been introduced to two new characters, Maya and Alejander, although it looks as though it is only Maya who has the powers. However, we aren't sure yet exactly what her powers are. I wouldn't say they are particularly good powers though since she seems to have just killed a load of people by accident. How? We don't yet know.

So it looks as though Season 2 is going to kick some more ass, and I'd have to say that it is currenlty one of the best shows on television. Unfortunatly though due to the writers strike Season 2 was cut short and there are only 11 episodes. Could this mean it's going to be a repeat of the Season 1 finally or is it quality not quantity? I can't wait to find out.

Jumper Soundtrack

This is John Powell's third score for director Doug Liman. I wouldn't say this is Powell's best score as on first listen I didn't really think there were any partucular cues that stood out, but I think this album grows on you.

The cue that really sums up the whole soundtrack is 'Bridges, Rules, Banking' as it contains most of the major themes and sounds. Although it's definitly not the best cue since it doesn't explore the themes as well as some of the other cues such as 'It's Sayonara' which contains the best arrangement of the eastern sounding theme (note: it only sounds eastern because of the instrument it is primarily played on).

Other great cues include, 'Jump Off' which is the better arrangement of the theme also played in the cue 'My Day So Far'.

However, even after listening through the soundtrack several times, I still can't really pick any cues that jump out (excuse the pun). Nevertheless, the soundtrack does have a good overall sound as I have enjoyed it best listening to it as a whole. Although I would say that Doug Liman's last film Mr & Mrs Smith had a much better score from Powell as I found all the cues from that soundtrack were outstanding and I'd put it as one of Powell's best scores.

Jumper

I went to this film expecting loads of action, an awesome story and some cool powers that I wish I had. But I came out slightly disapointed. It was kind of like when you record a film off the television. You get drawn into the story as the film progresses and just as it gets to the climax it stops because it hasn't recorded the end of the film, you get really pissed off and go away disapointed. Thats what I felt like with Jumper. It felt like it needed an extra 30 minutes on the end. But on the other hand I'm sure we'll get another hour and 30 minutes instead, since Hollywood seems to be bringing out sequels of everything recently.

I'd be pretty happy with a sequel though because overall it was a pretty awesome film. Although after watching Star Wars Episode II & III, I couldn't figure out whether I didn't like Hayden Christensen or whether it was just the films themselves. I now see that it was Hayden Christensen that I didn't really like.

However, I think I can forgive the slightly poor acting of Christensen because the directing was absolutely out of this world. Doug Liman has done an excellent job of bringing this story to the screen. The jumping was incredible and it totally looked real (apart form one time when Christensen jumped over to the fridge, but that was his fault). I can't wait for the DVD so I might get some insight into how it was filmed because there are sequences when they are fighting and jumping simultaniously and my God they are good.

I kind of have mixed feelings about this film. But I think it is safe to say that the good out way the bad. Plus its got Samuel L. Jackson in it and he is definitly cool. I'd recommend it to anyone who loves action films, just don't say I didn't warn you though when your disapointed by the ending.