What I watched over Christmas...

There used to be a time, when I was a lot younger than I am now, when pretty much my whole Christmas Holiday was planned around what films were on the telly and what time they came on. I'm mostly talking the obligatory Christmas 'James Bond' and 'Star Wars' movies of course but those holidays seemed to last forever so there was always time to watch another ;o)

These days? Not so much... I've got other stuff going on and not having a TV licence, I couldn't even tell you what is on the terrestrial channels these days. I did watch few films though, all four of them... ;o) There's a post, on here, about 'Shang Chi' already (which I watched with my eldest daughter) so I won't go on about that again. I did manage to get three other films under my belt though, let me tell you about them...

'Apocalypse of the Dead' (2009)

Transporting a prisoner across Serbia, Interpol agents find themselves in the middle of a zombie infestation after a chemical leak...

Not the most inspiring of blurbs but you can only work with what's in front of you and 'Apocalypse of the Dead' (also known as 'Zone of the Dead') is a fairly 'straight to the point' kind of movie. There's no real plot to speak of but I like that in a zombie movie sometimes and yesterday was one of those times. Sometimes, all you can do is just try and stay alive... Having said that though, it did make you wonder quite what the point of some of the characters was (I'm looking right at you, bible verse quoting zombie killer). They looked like they had some story to tell but there was no time for any of that here.

It was good to see some genuine 'zombie movie royalty' in Ken Foree though, and the zombie kills weren't bad, so not a complete waste of time. There are better zombie movies to watch though, like...

'Shaun of the Dead' (2004)

Shaun is a useless but likeable thirty-something who works in an electronics shop in Crouch End. He doesn't get much respect from his fellow staff, even though he's standing in as temporary boss; his girlfriend Liz has had enough of his lack of direction and penchant for downing pints in the local pub; and he doesn't get on with his stepdad. Things get worse when the living dead make their appearance, threatening to spread their zombie curse across the nation. Will Shaun be able to rise from his sofa to save the lives of the two women he loves - Liz and his dear old mum?

I didn't really need to copy/paste all that, did I...? ;o) We all know 'Shaun of the Dead' and one of my girls gave me the DVD for Christmas so of course I watched it.

Not a lot to say about this one other than that I enjoyed it as much as all the other times that I've watched it. I'd still say that it needs to figure out what it wants to be and stick to it, rather than be a little bit of everything, but I still love to catch all the little 'Romero Moments' and I can't help but get behind Shaun so a definite hit as usual.

'Reign of Fire' (2002)

In present-day London, twelve-year-old Quinn watches as his mother, a construction engineer, inadvertently wakes an enormous fire-breathing beast from its centuries-long slumber. Twenty years later, much of the world has been scarred by the beast and its offspring. As a fire chief, Quinn is responsible for warding off the beasts and keeping a community alive as they eke out a meagre existence. Into their midst comes a hotshot American, Van Zan, who says he has a way to kill the beasts and save mankind - a way that will take Quinn back to where it all began...

Now here's a movie that I've always meant to watch but never managed to see it, until my other daughter grabbed a copy for me because it looked like my thing. And it was :o) I reckon another half an hour on the runtime could have made all the difference to the story but it wasn't bad as it was. And if that wasn't enough, who can argue with a film where skydivers launch themselves out of a helicopter to tangle dragons up in nets? Not me and not you either. I can see why it didn't do so well at the box office (it should have been a 15 rather than a 12 rated movie, a little more grit would have really helped it out) but I had so much fun watching it and that's the main thing. Will definitely be watching it again.

What did you watch over Christmas? And was 'No Way Home' any good...? ;o)