Leslie Nielson R.I.P

Veteran comic actor Leslie Nielsen, star of Airplane! and The Naked Gun, has died at the age of 84.

He died in hospital in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where he was being treated for pneumonia.

Battle: Los Angeles (2011)

This looks interesting... then again, it looks like all the other alien invasion films!

The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret

This looks really good, especially to Arrested Development fans like myself. It starts Sunday night on More4 at 10:40pm, check it out!

Black Dynamite (2010) review

It’s been absolutely ages coming so let’s talk Black Dynamite.

This incredible film came out at the beginning of 2010 in the states and I was fortunate to see an early copy of it. At first I thought it was a re-issue of an old 70’s Blaxploitation picture I just hadn’t heard of, similar to that of Shaft and Superfly. It is in fact, a comedy spoof which plays homage to the 70’s genre from start to end.

This is written, directed by the incredibly talented Michael Jai White who also stars in the lead role. Some may notice him as one of the mob bosses in The Dark Knight. The rest of the cast are fairly unknown with the exception of Arsenio Hall (Trading Places) but don’t let that put you off.

Here’s a great scene featuring the "righteous" Pimpin’ Council.



Black Dynamite had me in stitches throughout. The comedy comes in the form of the ridiculous story, shoddy dialogue, awful acting, laughable stunts/SFX and poor direction but all done with intention and in the best possible way.

For those that have seen Blaxploitation films you will really appreciate the attention to detail shown in this, it’s phenomenal! The cast and crew were really passionate in making the film look and sound right.


The film features a completely original soundtrack, full of rich 70’s esque funk and soul tunes, all produced using original 70’s recording equipment (yes, good old analogue) and instruments! I’ve never seen a film with this much attention to detail.

I don’t want to spoil this for anyone that hasn’t seen it so won’t reveal the story, but all you need to know is it’s fantastic fun to watch. Repeat viewing only seems to make this better, I’ve seen it 6 times and it still makes me laugh and I occasionally notice new things.

Once you watch this you will have a plethora of decent quotes to keep you going well into 2011.

This is, without a doubt, the BEST comedy I have seen this year and I highly recommend it to all that appreciate films of the 70’s. It's a shame it had such a limited cinema release in the UK. Black Dynamite has the UK release date of 24th January 2011 for DVD/Blu-ray so please look out for it.

I’m hoping the cast/crew will make a sequel, I would love to see that! A new Black Dynamie cartoon series should be starting fairly soon on Adult Swim from the sounds of things, I look forward to checking that out.