Stars slimed at Kids Choice show

Hollywood's A-listers have gone home covered in slime, following the 21st Annual Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards.

Harrison Ford, Cameron Diaz and Orlando Bloom were amongst the celebrities drenched in green goo, the ceremony's traditional badge of honour.

The night's big winner was 15-year-old Miley Cyrus, star of Disney's Hannah Montana show, who received favourite TV actress and favourite singer.

Johnny Depp was named favourite actor, while Diaz won an inspiration award.

The "Wannabe" prize goes to a celebrity role model who children look up to.

Diaz used her time at the winner's podium to promote environmental causes, saying to the audience of children: "You're going to change the world.

* Pinched from BBC Entertainment News, 30/03/2008.

(Captain) America, F**K Yeah!

I just stumbled across this funny video whilst surfing YouTube. Its made using clips from the (awful) Captain America film made in 1990 and the theme to the brilliant Team America: World Police.

A new adaptation of Captain America is planned for a 2009 release, no information about who's playing the lead is available at the moment though.

Lucas says his new 'Indiana Jones' is 'just a movie'

"To hear him talk, you'd think George Lucas would have preferred to call his movie 'Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: Don't Get Your Hopes Up'." www.usatoday.com


To read the full story click here.

What a miserable git although I understand where he's coming from, it'll be incredibly hard for the new film to live up to the hype. Don't worry George, I'm sure it'll be great but if its not blame Spielberg!

Monsters vs. Aliens (2009)

'Monsters vs. Aliens' isn't out for another year but I didn't know of its existence until today.


From the look of the (very few) pictures available at the moment and the official website, this looks to be a decent CGI animation with obvious similarities to 'Monsters Inc.' (one of my favourites) from Pixar studios. This is created by the rival company, Dreamworks (famous for the Shrek films).

Appleseed Ex Machina (2007)

I used to be a huge fan of Japanese anime when I was a teenager but as I got older the novelty wore off and I started to notice how lazy some of the animation was.

I now know the anime of the past was limited to a strict budget and time limit which is why many corners were cut (looped frames, moving 'still' images and sometimes jerky animation).

'Appleseed Ex Machina' however has made me realise how advanced Japanese animation has become and I'm extremely impressed!

Beautifully rendered in CGI this manages to keep the appearance of the comics and graphic novels created by Masamune Shirow and at the same time produce some fast paced action the likes of a Hollywood big budget movie. That said, action cinema maestro John Woo produced this feature!

The film's been criticised for having a hard to follow story but I honestly had no trouble with it, in fact it seemed to make more sense than most of the Japanese films I've seen in the past.

To cut it simple (and to keep from spilling too many spoilers!), the film is about cyborgs, biotics (genetically modified clones) and humans being controlled against their will and a team of elite cops (ES.W.A.T) trying to solve the case and protect the city whilst they themselves are losing control.

This is definitely worth a watch, I've ordered the 2004 film 'Appleseed Ex' so will review that once it arrives.

If this is the future of anime I may start collecting it again... time to get my overdraft extended me thinks!

The Incredible Hulk (2008)

Oh wow, the Hulk is back on the big screen this year with 'The Incredible Hulk'!

Edward Norton's playing the big green dude, the film also stars Liv Tyler and Tim Roth and looks to be a great blockbuster for the summer and another worthy addition to Marvel's already well established comic-to-film adaptions (with Iron Man also out this year). Speaking of Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr. will be appearing in the new Hulk movie as Tony Stark (Iron Man's alter-ego), that's pretty awesome and a step forward to having film crossovers.


I'm not a huge Hulk fan but did really enjoy the Ang Lee 'Hulk' film of 2003. I'm not sure if this is actually a sequel or just a re-telling of the story. Judging from what I've seen, 'The Incredible Hulk' follows a similar story seen in the brilliant 'Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction' video game of 2005.

Check out the official movie site, www.incrediblehulk.com for the trailer and further information.

Welcome Hempknight!

Wishing a big congratulations to my good friend Hempknight on his discovery of the internet, may you have many adventures surfing it!

Be sure to check out the many websites found in the 'LINKS' section of this site.

'Carry On' script gets green light

The long-awaited 32nd Carry On film (Carry On London) is one step closer to being filmed and could be in cinemas by the end of the year, the BBC has learned.
To read the full story click here.

Since most of the original cast are now dead I shudder to think how awful this will be with new actors. I'll use the word 'actors' lightly - Vinnie Jones is apparently on board to star!

Tropic Thunder (2008)

Tropic Thunder, directed and staring Ben Stiller (amongst loads of other famous actors) is apparently the biggest budget comedy ever made according to my friend Bazza.

This looks like it has all the ingredients to become a winner!

Film Update

Here's some quick reviews of some of the films I've recently watched at the cinema (in viewing order).


Rambo ; Rambo had some terrible reviews by the press stating it was too violent and gory, totally missing the point that the film is set in bloody war-torn Burma within all the genocide thats currently happening - OK, and its a Rambo sequel and you'd have to be retarded not to expect action.
Rambo doesn't initiate any of the violence without good cause, but when the reason's there the payback is awesome in every sense of the word. To many this sees the return of the violent action films made in the eighties, I honestly don't remember them being quite like this though. With the aid of digital effects and absolutely amazing sound (it really needs to be watched in a cinema with a decent sound system), the action looks and sounds incredibly real. Stallone does a fantastic job resurrecting John Rambo and at 61 still manages to run about and kick ass like he could in the glory days.

Rambo is currently my favourite Film of the Year.



The Bank Job ; This film is 'based' on a true robbery in London during the seventies. It stars Jason Statham and several other recognizable British faces. The film plays out like an ITV or BBC drama special, not truly outstanding for a feature length movie. The dialogue was absolutely awful together with some crappy Dick Van Dyke cockney accents, it became a bit of a comedy. Statham desperate to use his martial arts skills eventually gets to kick ass in one of the final scenes which seemed totally out of character.


Semi-Pro ; Here we have yet another Will Farrell sports comedy! Slated by the reviewers I entered the cinema with extremely low expectations but was pleasantly surprised. To be honest I think most of Will Farrell's movies get awful write ups but I usually enjoy them. While Semi-Pro won't stand out as one of Farrell's better comedies it certainly is packed with funny/crazy moments. Arrested Development's Will Arnett had some great scenes as one of the sports commentators, smoking/drinking/swearing all the time!


Vantage Point ; Vantage Point tells the story of an attempted assassination on the American presidents life whilst in Spain. The points of view from seven (I think!) different characters show angles of the moments leading up to and after the assassination, gaining various pieces of evidence together as the story unfolds towards the ultimate conclusion. Packed with several famous faces such as Sigourney Weaver, Matthew Fox, Forrest Whitaker and Dennis Quaid this gives a different approach to story telling. Each persons point of view gets its own mini film built around the same time period which can get a bit repetitive since some of the characters stories cross (after a few view points the audience started to groan, that made me laugh!). All in all its a pretty good film, if this site had the star rating system I originally intended it to have it would score a 7 out of 10.

Zombie maestro lays down the lore

Horror director George A Romero reveals why he made his latest zombie film - and why the undead can't run.

To read the full story (as published on the BBC News Entertainment site today) click here.

'Flight of the Conchords' delayed!

I was really hoping new episodes would become available this year but unfortunately the second season of HBO's excellent 'Flight of the Conchords' has been delayed until early 2009.

For the time being, YouTube has plenty of clips to watch.

The Conchords are due to release their first full-length album in April which I will definitely be buying. They've already released one EP, 'Not So Distant Future'.

Return of the Ghostbusters (2007)

"Hold yer horses!"

'Return of the Ghostbusters' isn't an official sequel to the Ivan Reitman originals. This is actually a fan made film which is the sequel to the 2004 film Freddy VS. Ghostbusters (also fan made).

Check out the official site here; www.returnoftheghostbusters.com

They've done a pretty good job from the looks of things although don't expect the same quality of the originals.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)

Here's a couple of early photos taken from the 2009 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine' movie, Hugh Jackman playing the lead once again.


Wolverine was always the most interesting character in the previous X-Men films so I'm sure this will be an enjoyable ride if nothing else.

Toei Spider-Man

Here's the titles for the little known seventies Japanese Spider-Man (a.k.a 'Toei no Supaidâ-Man') series. Made by the Toei film studios famous for pioneering giant kung-fu fighting robot transformations seen in shows such as Power Rangers.

Fully endorsed by Stan Lee at Marvel, this series saw quite a different Spider-Man to the one seen in the comics and cartoons, mostly due to the toy company Bandai sponsoring the show. This Spider-Man wouldn't always be climbing walls and shooting web at villains, this version drives around in a Spidey-Car and fights weird looking Ninjas on a mostly flat surface judging from the clips I've seen on YouTube. Oh, and he can summon a giant flying Spidey-Robot (known as Mabera) to use in battle!



Up until seeing these clips I wondered why in comic shops (such as Forbidden Planet in London) toys such as the Spidey-Car and other vehicles were available, the US version never needed transportation.

Its had a limited DVD release in Japan but if you want it be prepared to spend a load of money (well over £200). Pirate versions can be found on the web and some episodes are available to download via torrent sites like Mininova (I'm currently downloading an episode).

UPDATE
I've now watched a full episode. Its really funny especially when Takuya (the Japanese equivalent to Peter Parker) transforms into Spidey. The suit is summoned via his wrist band communicator and out from nowhere a very flat, almost paper thin cut-out of Spider-man floats in front, one quick zip and Spider-man is complete.
No subtitles or Japanese language skills are required to enjoy this as the story is very easy to follow.