Happy Christmas!

Hellboy II (2008) - First Trailer

The Dark Knight (2008)

No doubt, this will be the best superhero film of 2008! Can't wait to see it.

And here's a new on screen interpretation they shouldn't have bothered with... Aquaman, probably one of the worst superhero's ever created. Notice the Batman music in the background at the start, the cheek of it!

Hellboy II : The Golden Army (2008)

Ah yeah! Ron Perlman returns in Hellboy II : The Golden Army, directed once again by the excellent Guillermo del Toro.

Here's a 'behind the scenes' introduction.

John Rambo / Rambo 4 (2008)

Here's the second trailer. Looks like a worthy contender for 2008's 'Best Use of Jam' award!

Speed Racer (2008)

The latest movie from the Wachowski brothers (of Matrix fame). This is a live action adaptation of the original 60's Japanese anime of the same name.

Film Update

I haven't blogged for quite a while thanks to the wonderful Xbox 360 sci-fi game Mass Effect absorbing most of my free time. I have managed to watch a few films though.

Heres a quick update on what I've recently seen;


Beowulf in 3D has to be seen to be believed. The visuals are amazing, all completely computer generated producing some incredibly realistic characters. Add some rather funky Buddy Holly style 3D glasses and watch the special REALD version and you've got quite an exciting ride! Practically nude, CGI Angelina Jolie is something to talk about.


I wouldn't really recommend this film, its a bit too loved up and sickly for my tastes. However watching Robert De Niro perform as a gay pirate is really funny. It does have a fairly decent British cast (including Adam Buxton from the excellent Adam & Joe show) and from the looks of it was filmed over here, thats always nice to see!


I'd like to consider myself as a Wes Anderson fan having enjoyed all of his previous movies however I felt this one didn't have all the usual charm I was used too. Not to say it didn't have its moments, the scenery and set pieces are really great with some ingenious directing techniques. The story didn't really cut it for me and most of the film was a sombre affair with not so many funny moments. The story is about three brothers reuniting after the death of their father, hoping to reconnect with each other whilst they travel across India on a spiritual pilgrimage.


I really didn't like this. It was full of dodgy looking CGI animals, terrible child actors with awful Cockney accents and a really bizarre story that didn't seem to go very far. I'm a lazy sod and haven't read any of the books from the Philip Pullman 'Dark Trilogies', I've heard they're amazing.

Ah bless...

Here's a terribly cheesy group photo for the forthcoming Indiana Jones adventure, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Notice Shia LaBeouf with his first piece of facial hair, ha ha!

I felt sorry for Karen Allen so made this up.

You're one of the boys now, welcome to the club!

Tim & Erice Awesome Show, Season 2!!!

Ah yeah, Tim & Eric's Awesome Show is back for a second season and its just as crazy as ever!

The first episode is available to watch at the Adult Swim website.

Here's a sample clip.

Hasselhoff and Russo on board new "Rider"

David Hasselhoff is in talks to appear on NBC's "Knight Rider," reprising his role as Michael Knight from the original series. Also cast in the movie/pilot is Deanna Russo of "The Young & the Restless", who will play the female lead opposite fellow soap star Justin Bruening.

"Rider" is a sequel to the 1980s series that centres on Mike Tracer (Bruening), Michael Knight's son who never knew his dad.

Burned by his love for childhood best friend and one-time girlfriend Sarah Kamen (Russo), Mike is wasting away in Las Vegas when Sarah reappears and is willing to pay off Mike's gambling debt in exchange for help.

Sarah is the brilliant estranged daughter of KITT inventor Charles Kamen, who works as an assistant professor in the engineering department at Stanford. When she receives word from talking-car KITT (Knight Industries Three Thousand) that her father is missing, she and KITT set out to find and recruit Mike.

* Pinched from Yahoo news, 20/11/2007

Planet Terror (2007)

I won't pussyfoot around, Planet Terror is an absolutely awesome film and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes cheesy horror films, gore, guns, hot girls and did I mention it... gore!

Its infinitely better than Quentin Tarantino's boring and drawn out Death Proof (which to those who don't know was the other half of 'Grindhouse' - a feature film that contained two films bundled with four fake trailers, originally screened in its entirety in America).

Directed by Robert Rodriguez, this is probably one of the most entertaining films I've seen this year. I was laughing through most of the film, laughing at the ridiculous plot, the over exaggerated death scenes and characters such as the one played by Naveen Andrews (Sayid from Lost) who collects testicles and carries them around in a jar/carrier bag!

The female lead, Rose McGowan just looks stunning as Cherry Darling, the ex Go-Go dancer with ambitions of grandeur. As you can tell from the poster, Cherry looses her leg and has a machine gun in its place (introduced later in the film). This is simply fantastic and will be remembered in the future as a unique and iconic character.


The special effects are brilliant, well all the visuals are. Similar to Death Proof, this film has the same grainy/scratched look to it although it seems to work better here. The blood effects are some of the juciest I've seen, splattering everywhere. I'd like to think they used some old special effect styles instead of using just CGI, especially with FX veteran Tom Savini in the cast (he plays one of the cops).

This version of the film comes attached with one of the original, and probably best of the fake trailers - 'Machete' from the original Grindhouse (although Machete is now being made into a full length movie, can't wait to see that!).

Aliens Vs. Preadtor: Requiem (2007)

Aliens V. Predator: Requiem (a.k.a AvPr) looks pretty good from the trailer although I seem to remember the first AvP having a similar appeal until watching the film and realizing it was made by an over exited five year old, high on e-numbers (otherwise known as Paul W.S. Anderson!). This film however is directed by a couple of brothers (Colin & Gregg Strause) who were behind some of the great visual effects seen in 300 so I'll give it a chance.

Plane Dead (2007)

'Plane Dead' (a.k.a. Flight of the Living Dead) looks even dumber than the Samuel L. Jackson film, 'Snakes on a Plane' (although for arguments sake, "Snakes" was pretty enjoyable).

I'm sure I'll probably end up watching it!

Star Wars - The TV Series!

Star Wars creator George Lucas has said he has started work on a live-action TV series based on his sci-fi saga.

Fans, however, should not expect Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader or any other established characters to appear.

"It's about minor characters," he told the Los Angeles Times. "It's completely different. But it's a good idea, and it's going to be a lot of fun to do."

LucasFilm is also working on an animated TV series, expanded from its earlier Clone Wars shorts.


The half-hour cartoon series takes place between the events depicted in the Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith films.

The live-action TV series will take place in the Star Wars universe but will not feature the Skywalker family, as had previously been suggested.

Lucas, who joked the series would analyse "the life of robots", said the US TV networks were "having a hard time" comprehending his vision.

"They're saying, 'This doesn't fit into our little square boxes.' And I say, 'Well, yeah, but it's Star Wars."

The saga began in 1977 with the original Star Wars, which went on to spawn two sequels, three prequels and a number of other projects.

Last year producer Rick McCallum said the proposed TV spin-off could run to at least 100 episodes.

*pinched from BBC Entertainment News 17/10/2007

Hopefully it'll be as good, if not better than the awesome re-imagined Battlestar Gallactica series (in regards to budget and special effects).

The Star Wars TV series is due to start in 2009. More information can be found here.

Thundercats (2010)

'Thundercats' is a long way off (planned 2010 release) but thanks to a report on the Variety website earlier in the week the reason why is a bit clearer.

I originally thought this was going to be a live action representation of the classic (and awesome) children's 80's cartoon series, mixed together with CGI effects but it was revealed that the entire film will be made in CGI. It will take quite some time to produce!


This however may be no bad thing in my book. We hopefully will be able to have some very believable looking characters/environments and I've heard the art director, Jerry O'Flaherty from the stunning video game 'Gears of War' (GoW) is on board to direct this film. Hopefully it will adopt a similar dark and gritty look which made GoW look so amazing.


I'm really excited about this project. I think a lot of praise has to be given to the recent Transformers film, if that had flopped this film (and a few other future projects) would have never been given the go ahead.

Simon Pegg, the new Scotty!

Simon Pegg has signed up to play Scotty (originally played by the late James Doohan) in the new 'Star Trek' movie directed by J.J Abrams, due for release in 2008.

Pegg & Abrams have already worked together in the 2006 movie, Mission Impossible III.


I wonder what Pegg's dodgy Scottish accent will sound like.

Untitled J.J. Abrams Project

There's a lot of theories going around the various movie forums about the new 'untitled' project from Lost creator J.J Abrams.

From the look of the trailer (see below) it's fairly obvious to say this will be a giant monster movie. A lot of people are asking what kind of giant monster will it be? Is this a new Godzilla film? If not, why isn't it a new Godzilla film?

(The last question was mine, I'm a bit of a Godzilla fan at heart!)

The trailer looks really interesting. The film is released stateside on the 18th of January, 2008.

Battlestar Galactica : Razor

Can't wait to see this!

I'm a big fan of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica series and this two hour feature called Razor, about the journey of the Pegasus crew will more than keep me happy whilst I wait for season four to come out.

Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins (2009)

Production on the fourth installment in the Terminator film series will begin next year ahead of a 2009 release.

Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins will be the first in a proposed trilogy of films reinventing the cyborg saga.

Derek Anderson, of production company Halycon, has told industry newspaper Variety the film will be "set in the future" during "a full-scale war".

The Terminator brand is currently being revived on US television with the Sarah Connor Chronicles series.

Lena Headey stars in the title role, previously played by Linda Hamilton in the first two Terminator films directed by James Cameron.

Former actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, now governor of California, last played the series' robotic protagonist in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.

According to Variety, however, it is unclear whether he will appear in the new film.

"We've left it open for him to maybe do a cameo," said producer Moritz Borman. "The final decision will be based on his desire and availability."

Warner Brothers have acquired North American distribution rights to the fourth Terminator film, which it plans to release in summer 2009.

"The intention is to present a fresh new world and have this be the first of a trilogy," said Borman.

*Pinched from BBC Entertainment News 10/10/2007

p.s; The image at the top was something I quickly put together using some old Terminator picture, not official!

Curb Your Enthusiasm : The Lefty Call

Find below links to the latest Curb Your Enthusiasm episode (split into 3 parts).

The Lefty Call : Part 1
The Lefty Call : Part 2
The Lefty Call : Part 3

Larry gets in to all sorts of trouble just by visiting the toilet! Its as incredibly funny and crazy as ever.

For other new episodes from season 6 check out this YouTube link.

By the way, if any of my friends read this blog and would like to get me something for Christmas a series of 'Curb' would go down a treat (nudge nudge, wink wink)! I don't actually have any episodes on DVD although I've seen the first two series through 'on demand' and a few random episodes off the internet.

£10 a series, that's pretty ("...pretty pretty pretty") cheap!

Uncle Muscle Hour

Here's another Tim & Eric clip (called 'I don't want to go to school!') featuring the character Uncle Muscle. If you don't "get it", they're taking a stab at the rubbish public access television available on cable in the US.

For many other 'Uncle Muscle Hour' clips check out the wonderful YouTube.

I'll have to make this my last post on the subject as I could easily turn this site into a Tim & Eric shrine!

P.S; Don't whatever you do type "uncle muscle" into google image search... very scary!

Sweeney Todd (2007)

Ah bugger!

No one told me the next Tim Burton movie, 'Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street' was going to be a musical.

Find below the trailer featuring Johnny Depp with a wonderfully dodgy Dick Van Dyke (as the chimney sweep cleaner from 'Mary Poppins') cockney singing voice!

By the way, the release date in the US is this Christmas but doesn't appear in the UK until early 2008.

Wallace & Gromit - Trouble At’ Mill

Hooray! Another Wallace & Gromit animation is in production (for TV) as reported on the BBC Entertainment site.

Its called 'Trouble At’ Mill' and will be shown on BBC1 sometime at the end of next year

Can't wait to see it!

Spider-Man : The Musical

Bono & The Edge (of U2 fame) are currently working on a musical version of Spider-Man for the stage. It's news to me but apparently this has been on the cards since April.

I like the idea of this and its also a step closer to my plan of turning the Lethal Weapon movies into a musical/opera.

It could really work!

Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!

Ah, isn't the internet wonderful! I just caught the end of the hilarious Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! on the Adult Swim (found on the digital channel Bravo) and saw some very funny (obviously fake) commercials. After a really quick YouTube search, I found them and here they are. Amazing!

T'ird


B'owl


B'ougar


You get the general idea and "yes" I do watch a load of random crap, thank you very much.

Grindhouse - The Fake Trailers

As mentioned in my Death Proof review, here are the specially made trailers that featured in between the main presentations in the Grindhouse movie. The image is a bit stretched unfortunately (probably taken using a video phone) but you'll get the idea!



Machete; Directed by Robert Rodriguez, starring Danny Trejo (this may be coming out as a full feature!).
Werewolf Women of the SS; Directed by Rob Zombie, starring Nicholas Cage.
Don't; Directed by Edgar Wright, starring Simon Pegg.
Thanksgiving; Directed by Eli Roth, starring Michael Biehn.

I totally love these! Hopefully a Grindhouse special edition DVD will be released somewhere, sometime with both movies and all these great trailers included.

Death Proof (2007)

Death Proof was originally one half of a two part feature known as Grindhouse in the US, paired with the Robert Rodriguez zombie film 'Planet Terror'. Unfortunately Grindhouse was a flop in the US. Could that be because the film was too long (just over three hours) for the average Joe to sit through or did the studio decide that they would make more money splitting the films into two, scrapping the whole 'grindhouse' idea (watching two films, back to back at the theatre)? I personally love the idea of the 'grindhouse' experience but unfortunately as I live in the UK I haven't got the choice, both films will be released separately.

Anyway, I could moan about the unfairness of being denied the chance to experience Grindhouse for ages so I'll put a cap on that for the moment.

With this version of Death Proof, Quentin Tarantino has included extra footage unseen from the Grindhouse cut and apparently "made the movie it should have been", through his eyes.

Anyone unaware, this movie is a homage to the B-movie genre from the late 60's and 70's and has that certain low grade quality to it and was apparently shot using traditional techniques.

The film is about a stunt driver, called Stuntman Mike who has a thing for killing young women with his adapted stunt car. The car has been made 'death proof' (hence the title) with a roll cage and re-enforced shell. I really like the Stuntman Mike character (played by the excellent Kurt Russell) and the moments with him on screen are brilliant. He has a dirty great big scar across his face, drives that mean car and has a dark on screen presence. The driving scenes are really quite amazing and the crashes are really gruesome, in the best possible way!



Ok, this is where I'm going to be totally honest about what I thought, not that my opinion carries much weight!

I think its quite obvious what extra footage has been included in this version of Death Proof. If you strip down most of the dialog between the female characters this film would actually be pretty decent in my books but this is probably the area where the extra stuff was added. I found the dialog to be extremely boring and far too long, something which can probably be said for some of Tarantino's previous work. Yes, at the time dialog in his films such as Pulp Fiction was really different to what was around and it seemed pretty original. I recently re-watched Pulp Fiction and wanted to sleep through most of it. I really hate it when a character says something, makes a comment or statement then has to explain his or herself in great detail is a wise-ass style. Is that always necessary?

I really loved the way the film started with the dated looking ad's and the old grainy footage effect, that was great. But I was expecting the film to be set in this time period (late 60's - 70's), yeah - I know its a homage but does it work when its set in the current day with mobile phones and iPods but shot in an old style? I found the grainy effect on the film to be inconsistent throughout. It started off well, dipped in the middle and came back near the end. Oh yeah, am I the only person who thinks the whole "shooting a scene in black and white" has past the stage of being cool. It worked in some of his other films but really, is that necessary in all of them? The moment it turned black and white in Death Proof didn't make a scrap of difference to the plot, it was at no real interesting spot and felt like a waste of time. It did work incredibly well during the fight scene with the 'Crazy 88's' in Kill Bill: Vol. 1 though.

Tarantino has always been able to produce a really decent soundtrack for his previous films. They usually consist a great collection of relatively unknown but very "cool" tracks and I think with Death Proof he's achieved the same . I've had the soundtrack on CD since April this year and like most of it. I just think it was a shame that it wasn't integrated into the film better. The majority of the tracks will be heard during the bar scene on the jukebox.



Going back to Grindhouse - I'm sure Death Proof would have been a much better film trimmed down by 30 or 40 minutes and would have felt right for its genre. The film, together with Planet Terror and the specially made trailers (directed by Robert Rodriguez, Edgar Wright, Eli Roth and Rob Zombie) would have made the whole experience worth while.

To end on a positive, I really liked Kurt Russell's character, I loved the actual driving scenes and I thought the soundtrack was pretty good.

Random YouTube Clips

Sorry about this, its good for a laugh though.


This clips much better (and 'no', they didn't train a real gorila to play the drums!).

Thanks to Joe for the links (I'm passing the buck, I had nothing to do with the YMCA vid!).

Spider-Man 3 : How It Should Have Ended

Check out the How It Should Have Ended (HISHE) site for other funny clips.

The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008)

'Yes' in answer to your question. They've adapted the Terminator movies into a TV series called The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Well not quite adapted, a TV series has been made to fill in the blanks between 'Terminator 2: Judgement Day' and 'Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines'.

Its an ambitious project to take on especially since the Terminator series is so well known.

The pilot episode is available here for the moment (don't worry - it hasn't got Spanish subtitles as the site mentions), on the excellent Stage6 site. Go check it out!

From what I've seen, the plot follows a similar formula to the films. A bad terminator is sent back in time to destroy John Connor (the savior of humanity) whilst a good terminator is sent back by the human resistance (in the future) to counteract the bad one and keep John alive.

There's no real famous faces in this as far as I can see except Summer Glau from the excellent (yet canceled!) series 'Firefly' (which later got made into a film called 'Serenity'). Also the terminators are lacking that Stan Winston touch in regards to the visuals although I doubt the studio would want to spend too much on makeup/animatronics/CGI for a TV show.

According to IMDb the series should start (in the US) in the early part of next year but I'm kinda expecting it not to get that far. It looks like a good show but it also looks like it will flop (not sure how to explain that though). Virgin Media have apparently secured the rights to show this on demand in the UK so I'll look out for it in the future.

Disturbia (2007)

Disturbia is basically a modern update of the 1954 Alfred Hitchcock film 'Rear Window'.

Its an enjoyable movie and the update really works well for the iPod/YouTube generation. Rather than having the lead house bound due to an illness/disability the main character is under house arrest with a monitoring device strapped to his leg, alerting the police if he strays more than 100ft from his house.

The lead is played by Shia LaBeouf, this guy seems to be getting some amazing roles at the moment - Transformers and the new Idiana Jones film (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) to mention a few. He's also got to star with some stunning women, Megan Fox & Sarah Roemer, not that I'm jealous or anything (lucky bastard!).

Anyway, its a great suspense/thriller which works really well and I recommend it. Find the trailer below.

Superbad (2007)

Ok, heres a quick review for Superbad. Its pretty much how I expected it to be which is no bad thing. Its really crude in parts and is almost 100% about sex but its still got the charm of The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up thanks to having a pretty much identical cast/crew (that'll be Judd Apatow's comedy gang).

The film is totally packed with tonnes of funny moments but my favourite scenes involve the two cops (Seth Rogen & Bill Hader) with the character McLovin/Fogell (Christopher Mintz-Plasse).

Anyway, its a great little movie. Probably best seen with a bunch of male friends as most females will likely to be offended by the majority of it. He he!

Iron Man (2008)

Here it is, the trailer for Iron Man. Looks absolutely awesome!

Good use of the excellent Black Sabbath track 'Iron Man' (from the album 'Paranoid'), it had to be in there somewhere.

Thanks to Joe for sending me the link.

Master Chief Waxwork

This is Master Chief from the Halo games, immortalized (until it melts anyway!) at the Las Vegas Madam Tussauds waxwork museum. Looks great!

Curb Your Enthusiasm : Season 6

This is now officially my most favourite comedy, just overtaking the excellent Arrested Development. I'm so pleased Larry David's created a new season and I can't wait to see it. From the picture above its already clear it's going to be as controversial as ever! Great stuff.

By the way, if you're interested in watching some old 'Curb' episodes check out Stage 6.

Larry David is a comedy genius!

Films out on the 14th of September (UK)

Well, last weeks cinema releases were nothing to talk about but by the end of this coming week things should hopefully change with a couple of new movies.

The first is 'Superbad'. Yeah, it sounds awful but the trailer looks really good. This is a comedy about a group of friends in the final few weeks of school getting into all sorts of trouble before leaving for college. It's co-written by Seth Rogen, the lead guy from Knocked Up who's really making a name for himself now (he also plays one of the cop's in the trailer). The film also features Michael Cera a.k.a George Michael Bluth from the excellent 'Arrested Development' series so I'll spouting out loads of A.D quotes throughout (to the annoyance of anyone sitting around me, ha ha!).



The second is 'Shoot Em Up'. Yeah yeah yeah!!! Gunfights, car chases, Monica Bellucci still looking hot... that'll do me! I don't really know much about this film but I've heard there's not much of a real story although it is great fun to watch full with over the top action. The excellent Clive Owen's has the lead with Paul Giamatti taking the strange role of 'BAD GUY'. Giamatti usually plays good guys or minor supporting roles so I'll be interested to see how he handles it. The film itself looks like a cross between a John Woo film and some random 80's action movie. Neither is a bad thing in my book!

Cult Movie Theater

Check out this site, its amazing!

It features loads of nicely streamed (old) cult movies, all of which are legal (as they're in the public domain).

The actual site itself (Stage 6) has loads of other stuff on it including some hilarious episodes from the series; Its Always Sunny In Philadelphia.

Congratulations to my bro for finding it. I no longer need to watch so much TV (although I tend to watch quite a bit online as it is)!

Owen Wilson - suicide attempt!

Los Angeles police have confirmed actor Owen Wilson did try to kill himself at his Californian home on Sunday. The 38-year-old Wedding Crashers star was taken by ambulance from his Santa Monica property to the emergency room at the nearby St. John's Hospital at midday on Sunday. Reports immediately began circulating that Wilson had cut his wrists and taken pills in an attempt to end his life. He was reportedly found found by older brother Andrew, who called the authorities. And now the Santa Monica Police Department's Calls For Service report - obtained by U.S. news show Extra - lists the reason for the emergency 911 call to Wilson's address as an "attempted suicide." The phone call was received by authorities at 12:08pm on Sunday and "cleared" nearly five hours later at 5:07pm. Wilson made no mention of the controversy in a statement he released on Monday: "I respectfully ask that the media allow me to receive care and heal in private during this difficult time." The actor's family was seen at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he was reportedly transferred to, on Sunday night. A hospital spokesman reported Wilson to be in a "good condition" on Monday.

(pinched from IMDb.com)

Get well soon dude!

The 3D 3rd Movie Law

Remember back in the day when a third film of a (successful or not) franchise came out it would sometimes be shot in 3D? It must have been an early eighties thing although 3D movies have been around almost as long as the regular kind (the first was made in 1922, 'The Power of Love').

'Amityville 3-D' and 'Jaws 3-D' instantly spring to mind (for some strange reason) as third 3D movies.

Anyway, whilst bored and out of my mind at work I was thinking, what if it was the law to shoot every third film in 3D. Any genre, any time period just as long as it's the third film the law would apply.

Just imagine it...


Godfather Part III : In 3D!

That's about as far as I got with the idea but go and think about it for yourselves, it could have been pretty awesome!

The Dark Knight (2008)

Here's the most recent picture released for the forthcoming Batman movie, The Dark Knight.

Superman : Doomsday (2007)

Here's a trailer for a new Warner Bros. (straight to DVD) animated feature. I wouldn't mind seeing this, its the really famous story about the death of Superman!

Here's the official website.

Rush Hour 3 (2007)

It was my birthday yesterday, I fancied watching a light hearted movie so ended up watching this film.

I've since read some really bad reviews about Rush Hour 3 but ask yourself this; What do you really expect from a Rush Hour movie? If you have a problem with Chris Tucker why are you watching this (you do realise he's still in it!)? The film series is based around two different police officers working together from different countries, did you think that would have changed for the third installment?



I thoroughly enjoyed this film having liked the previous two. It follows the same formula and has some very predictable moments but the journey through the film was very fun and entertaining.

Some of the laugh out loud moments include an interrogation scene at the hospital with a French speaking member of the Triads. Neither Jackie Chan or Chris Tucker can understand a word of French and the suspect they're interrogating cannot understand English/Chinese so they ask if someone can translate for them. The only person that can speak French happens to be a nun. The Triad member starts off by calling Tucker the 'N' word (which the nun refers to). The scene ends up with the nun translating everyone swearing at each other, it was really funny!

The action sequences were as sharp as ever with the awesome Jackie Chan proving he can still do it. Even Tucker tries his hand at some Wu-Shu. There's some decent car chases and the final battle on the Eiffel Tower was really cool. Watch the end credits, you'll be treated to a Smokey & the Bandit style of outtakes (minus Burt Reynolds of course!).

The eye candy award would definitely go to the gorgeous Noémie Lenoir, I've not seen her in anything before but will certainly look out for her in the future.


Oh yeah, the Lalo Schifrin score is still there and sounding brilliant. For anyone who's not familiar with Schifrin's work he's created a tonne of movie soundtracks including the theme to the Steve McQueen movie 'Bullitt', the score for 'Enter The Dragon' (one of my most favorite Kung-Fu movies ever) and most famously the 'Mission Impossible' theme (among many many others).

Iron Man (2008)

I'm really looking forward to this comic book adaption of Iron Man, thats partly to do with the great images released showing the suit in all its glory and also that Robert Downey Jr. (I'll call him RDJ for short) is playing the lead.


I love the quirky characters he has played in previous films such as the hilarious 'Kiss Kiss Bang Bang' and the strange but interesting 'A Scanner Darkly'. The self narrating, fast talking, semi-crazy missfits that I expect mirror certain aspects of RDJ's personal yet very public life. I hope in Iron Man he'll play a similar type of character.

This film is being directed by former 'Swingers' actor turned director Jon Favreau who already has a few films (Zathura & Elf) under his belt (non of which I've seen though). It'll be interesting to see what he can do with this movie, can he turn it into the new big franchise to take over from Spider-Man?

I'm sure a teaser trailer will become available soon so watch this space.

Resident Evil 5

Its practically a film. Looks absolutely awesome!

Sweeney Todd (2007)

The first image of actor Johnny Depp as Sweeney Todd. The Hollywood star has once again teamed up with Edward Scissorhands director Tim Burton to play the demon barber in his new film, due out in January 2008. (Pinched from BBC Entertainment News, 2007.)

When I first saw the image I got really excited and thought it was for the 'Castlevania' film, gonna have to wait 'til 2009 for that (written by Paul W.S Anderson of Resident Evil fame, I'm not sure if thats a good thing really).

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia' is hilarious, not quite as good as 'Arrested Development' (thats still my favorite) but its still great. It's totally wrong in so many ways, you'll find that each episode usually touches on some taboo. Find below a clip from an episode called 'Gun Fever'.



I've watched most of the episodes on Bravo and have since downloaded some of them although I like the look of the official box set, I'll get that at some point.

Check it out if you fancy some offensive (and original) American comedy.

The Simpson's Movie (2007)

After 18 years of the animated series, fans (myself being one of them) finally get to see the Simpson's on the big screen. Was it worth the wait? I'd say both 'yes' and 'no'.

There are quite a lot of genuine funny moments throughout the film. Unfortunately theres not enough to say it was non stop fun and laughter and it didn't help the fact that most of the funny scenes had already been seen in the trailer (see below, don't watch it if you haven't seen the movie yet though!).



The trailer has been showing in cinema's and over the internet for ages so when it came to watching the movie the audience already knew what was about to happen so scenes featuring Homer and the pig for example didn't get the laugh out loud reaction it deserved.

A full length film adaptation of a 20 minute cartoon was always going to be a difficult task to achieve. I personally think the writers have been struggling to create some decent stories for a few years now, and that's just for the regular series. The full length feature really showed this as the main story wasn't that great.

With the Simpson's huge worldwide fan-base and acknowledgment as one of the best cartoon shows ever the expectation for this movie to be the 'BEST' would have been an overwhelming and daunting one for all the team involved in making it.

But overall, its a Simpson's Movie!!! After 18 years of waiting we finally have the chance to see them on the cinema. It was never going to please everyone as that would be impossible but I found it funny and enjoyable. I would have liked it a load more if I hadn't seen the trailer but I would still recommend people to go see it.

Its going to be a huge success on it's name alone, regardless of the many mediocre reviews (including this one I guess). As the young Maggie says at the end, "Sequel?" expect many more to come!

Canceled Films (Part 1)

He-Man 2

Back in the 80's, after the success of the first He-Man film (Masters of the Universe) a big budget sequel was planned. It was going to be shot back to back with a brand new Spider-Man movie, the only problem was that the huge budget was already running out. To make a bit of extra cash to help fuel both projects the director (Albert Pyun) quickly wrote the screenplay to the film 'Cyborg' over a weekend, with the awesome Chuck Norris penned in for the lead. Unfortunately Chuck was under contract with another studio so newcomer Jean-Claude Van Damme was cast in his place. Cyborg was a huge failure and resulted in both the He-Man sequel and Spider-Man movie being canceled. It was probably for the best in the long run although I'd love to see a Chuck Norris version of 'Cyborg'!

Coincidentally, the film Cyborg has been known as 'Masters of the Universe II: The Cyborg' on American TV!

New He-Man Movie

I've heard a rumour, not sure how reliable the source is but a new He-Man movie is apparently on the cards, to be shot in a style very similar to the film '300'.

Could be very cool if its true!

Transformers (2007)

Oh wow! I saw this last night and it blew me away.

I must admit my expectations were low before watching this film, I'm not a huge Michael Bay fan and wasn't comfortable knowing he was directing the big screen adaptation of one of my most favourite childhood cartoon shows but he nailed it!

This has got to be the best cartoon to live-action film I've ever seen (although I can't really think of any others off the top of my head). Its definitely the best summer-blockbuster I've seen so far this year (and I've seen them all thanks to my wonderful Cineworld card and loads of free time).

*** SPOILERS BELOW ***

The main plot follows the evil Decepticons and friendly Autobots searching for a mystical cube from outer space that can turn any inanimate object to life. The Decepticons want to use it to turn all the Earth's technology into an army of evil Transformers to rule the galaxy and the Autobots are there to stop them.

I really like the way the creation of the Transformers was mentioned early on in the film and didn't go into great detail. It kept the magic of the cartoon original and at the same time made it semi plausable.

The Autobots are helped along the way by the young Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) and his gorgeous wannabe girl Mikaela Banes (Megan Fox - looks a lot like a young Tea Leoni from the first Bad Boys movie).

The film features a lot of humour, which really works well. There's a load of funny moments with the humans but the really funny stuff comes from the robots. The scene where the Autobots are sneaking outside Sam's house, trying to avoid his parents is hilarious.

The special effects in this movie are second to none. The robots look so realistic and the transformations are amazing (although they can go on for a while, Optimus Prime takes ages to change when you first see him but that helps dramatise it I guess). The fight sequences are excellent although there are a few moments when the camera's right inside the action (robot vs. robot) and it's quite hard to see whats happening.


One of the coolest things I thought about this movie was the original voice actor from the Transformers cartoon (Peter Cullen) reprised his roll for the voice of Optimus Prime (above picture) and the other robots. I didn't realise this until I was told after the film although throughout it I was thinking how well the voices had been matched, they sound great.

*** SPOILER END ***

Anyhoo, to wrap it up this is a perfect summer blockbuster (ideal for popcorn junkies) and thank you Michael Bay (I never imagined myself saying that!) for doing such a good job and keeping my childhood memories intact.

Code Monkeys

Check this out, a new animated comedy series filmed in glorious 8-bit colour, yay!


It officially starts this Wednesday (in the US) but you can watch the pilot episode here, its very good (you need to know a bit about old video games to really appreciate it though)!

Real Transformers!

Yes, this is really sad and very funny but its also incredibly clever how the suits actually work (well... most of them!) when compared to the cartoon transformations. The Optimus Prime one at the end is great.

Pingu

Based on a true story.

Indiana Jones 4 (2008)

Here's the first pic of Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones, on the set of the new movie*.



*Taken from the BBC entertainment news section.

Arrested Development - Fire Sale

A clip featuring Tobias from season 1.

The Dark Knight (2008)

Here's some images from the new Batman movie (I thought it was going to be called 'The Dark Knight Returns'?). I'm really looking forward to this.



Check out Heath Ledger as the Joker, he actually looks the part despite the flak he's getting on the web.


I quite like the look of the Bat-Bike (I think the official name is Bat-Pod at the moment).

Master Chief Hasselhoff Spoof

Ha ha!

And here's the original Hasselhoff clip.

The Mother of All Trailers

This is quite funny.

MacGruber - SNL

Here's a MacGyver spoof as seen on SNL.



And below are links to other episodes;
MacGruber 2
MacGruber 3
MacGruber 4

The last link features MacGruber absolutely trashed, doing a David Hasselhoff!

Great Shows I Missed on TV (part 1)

Here's a few great series I completely missed on TV the first time round and have since watched on DVD, sometimes in rapid accession!

Arrested Development (2003)



Without a doubt the funniest series (all three of them) I have ever watched. Great cast, brilliant script/story. I highly recommend this show. Check out my links (to the side of this) to watch an episode online.







Battlestar Galactica (2003)



A remake of the 70's sci-fi series, this time the evil Cylon's look like regular people (some look pretty hot too!) and believe they are the next step in mans evolution. I've seen the first two seasons, can't wait for the third to be released on DVD.






Lost (2004)



Believe it or not I missed the first season of Lost, probably due to the weird reviews I heard after the pilot was shown. I was lent the season boxset and the rest is history. I managed to watch the entire first season and 4 episodes of season two in just 6 days! That was intense, have you ever had Lost dreams? I have!

I wasn't too sure about series three but near the end things really picked up. As the writers now know whats happening and how its all going to end the next few seasons should be very interesting.