TV Moments of 2008 #10 Wrestlemania - Flair vs Michaels

Not the best match, but one hell of an occasion. The ending was a bit Brokeback Mountain, yet somehow right

TV Moments of 2008 #9 Who Do You Think You Are? Jerry Springer

This just kept getting more and more depressing and the show progressed as the producers seemed determined to break Springer

TV Moments of 2008 #8 Summer Heights High - The Musical

This mockumentary is sometimes bad taste but always a good show

TV Moments of 2008 #7 Stephen Fry In America

Stephen!!!

TV Moments of 2008 #6 The Shield - The Final Episode

This finale was awesome in all different kinds of way, tying up enough loose ends to avoid a Sopranos cop-out but leaving the viewer wanting more. The shocking end to Shane's story left me speechless. Amazing stuff.

TV Moments of 2008 #5 Raef's Pink Jumper

7 mins 15s people.

TV Moments of 2008 #4 The I.T Crowd - Friend Face

I <3 The IT Crowd parodies

TV Moments of 2008 #3 Dexter

Season 3 suffered from seemingly forgetting it was only 12 episodes long and having to cram loads in the last 2 episodes after a beautiful slow-building rivalry between Dexter and Prado had been set out over the previous 10.

TV Moments of 2008 #2 The China Problem

AKA South Park rape Indiana Jones

TV Moments of 2008 #1 Charlie Brooker on The X Factor

Okay I could've phrased the title better.

Once again Charlie Brooker sums up the mood of all right-thinking angry people in the nation. In other Screenwipe business I'm not sure I'll ever forget the sight of Konnie Huq with she-wee

Films of 2008 #10 There Will Be Blood

The first time it confused the hell out of me, but on repeated viewings you come to appreciate the genius of it.

Films of 2008 #9 No Country For Old Men

Another pitch-perfect black comedy/thriller from the Coens

Films of 2008 #8 The King of Kong

Will Ferrell's been on auto-pilot for a while, but this doc serves up a plot so tailor made for him he'd barely have bother writing a script.

Films of 2008 #7 Juno

Quirky indie film manna from heaven

Films of 2008 #5 High School Musical 3

Even a cyncical fool like me can't deny how much fun the High School Musical films are, but could've done without the shoehorning in of the future spin off characters.

Films of 2008 #6 Joy Division

The Joy Division story in any form always makes for a compelling watch.

Films of 2008 #4 The Dark Knight

The film isn't as good as the hype would have you believe, but Ledger's performance is.

Films of 2008 #3 Cloverfield

Some wondered if this would work as well on DVD. I say yes as you can skip all that shit in the 15 minutes and get right to the good stuff.

Films of 2008 #2 Burn After Reading

Underwhelming reviews from critics as it wasn't No Country For Old Men, but this was still the best comedy of the year

Films of 2008 #1 Bigger Stronger Faster

Documentary that borrows a lot from Michael Moore's work but thankfully drops the bludgeoning rants that his have become.

Albums Of The Year 2008 #10 Styrofoam - A Thousand Words

Perfect for anybody waiting for the next Postal Service album.

Albums Of The Year 2008 #9 Radio Soulwax - Part Of The Weekend Never Dies

Part of CD/DVD package, this live album best sums what Soulwax/2 Many Djs/The Dewaele Brothers are all about

Albums Of The Year 2008 #8 QTip - The Renaissance

2 of Q-Tip's 4 albums have been rejected by his labels for being too uncommercial. Thankfully they let us listen to this one.

Albums Of The Year 2008 #7 Mogwai - The Hawk Is Howling

More quiet bit/loud bit awesomeness

Albums Of The Year 2008 #6 Flight Of The Conchords

The strength of Conchords songs shows when they not only work live, but also on record and in their amazing tv show. Who knows what other hidden uses they have!

Albums Of The Year 2008 #5 Does It Offend You Yeah? - You Have No Idea What You're Getting Yourself Into

Imagine The Prodigy soundtracking Pretty in Pink and you're halfway there.

Albums Of The Year 2008 #4 Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs

Death Cab beef up their sound on this latest effort, but lose none of their appeal.

Albums Of The Year 2008 #3 Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip - Angles

Pip's poetry and wit steals your attention at first, but Dan le Sac's beats and samples reveal themselves to be just as worthy of praise.

Albums Of The Year 2008 #2 Blood Red Shoes - Box of Secrets

An album full of sawn-off guitars and riffs means Nirvana and the Seattle grunge sound are more valid reference points than any White Stripes comparisons banded about.

Albums Of The Year 2008 #1 Beck - Modern Guilt

The best of both worlds - stripped back enough to appeal to those who appreciate the lo-fi folkier side to Beck's work, but with Dangermouse's beats the invention is still present.

Review: Die Hard 4

Rubbish. But enjoyable rubbish for the most part. Spoiled by the fighter jet part which was one implausible action scene too far.

Review: Zodiac

A film that last 2hrs 40 mins, covers the best part of 3 decades and features...well not a lot actually - doesn't sound that appealing really.

But the mood created by Fincher and the string of fine performances from all the cast means that Zodiac keeps you gripped throughout, drawing you further and further into a tale of obsession rather than slasher thrills.

Flight (Bag) Of The Conchords

Review: In Bruges

An enjoyable film with good performances from the leading men, but suffers from living under the shadow of No Country For Old Men, which does what this does, only several times better.

Review: How To Lose Friends And Alienate People.

Even worse than Run Fatboy Run

No Wonder This Is Top Shelf

Filth!

Review: Quantum of Solace

Quantum of Solace lazily falls back on the gadgets and girls that Casino Royale had moved away from - and this is why this latest effort is nowhere near as good as Daniel Craig's last outing.

Coupled with a sprinkling of unnecessary special effects and hopping from location to location for no real apparent reason results in a film that's entertaining enough to watch first time through but lacks the replay factor that the classic Bond's have.

Review: Zack & Miri

Since the millennium Kevin Smith's output has taken a downturn and he's been overtaken by the Apatow films in offering every(stoned)man laughs.

Still, Zack & Miri improves on Clerks II with the characters played by Craig Robinson and Justin Long offering most of the laughs - though Mewes description of the 'double rudder' is worth the price of admission on its own.

Totally Wrong?

Looking at this Total Film article posted here I reckon they are at least a year and a half late with their claim of the death of the video store.

Surely when the 2nd largest chain in the UK (Choices) went under almost overnight last August, well before anyone had ever heard of a credit crunch - was the time for the death knell to be rang and signalled the time to start writing the obituaries for an industry ravaged by the profligacy of cheap DVDs available elsewhere, both legal and illegally.

For all the blame laid on piracy, a lot of the video shop's woes come from the likes of Tesco and the high street now offering a range of cheap DVDs that offered better value and greater convenience for the Luddite looking to spend a few quid for a night in or an easy way to shut the kids up. The loss of these customers probably hit just as hard as the rise of torrents, but were give half the attention with all eyes on futile attempts to cut out piracy.

Review: High School Musical 3

Not as good as the other two films as third time out the format finally starts to feel a bit tired and you feel like you've seen it all before - a feeling not helped by the doppelgänger characters being eased in for the inevitable HSM4,resulting in many scenes looking like weird cloning experiments gone wrong.

On that subject, I get that Rocket man is the new Troy, Tiara is the new Sharpay - but I don't get why the new Chad is a midget?

This Is Nice, But...

We all know a Joker one would be even cooler.

My Nike iD(eas)

Fed up with trawling the interweb to find the perfect pair of trainers - I've decided to customize my own based on the Nike Air Mogan shoe.

It was all going well up until the personalised message on the back, which has left me plagued with doubts about coming across all uncool.

In the I've ended up going down the cryptic numbers route.

Flight Of The Conchords: Live

Feel the power of the Casio DG-20. 1987 in the house!

Strange Places I've Found Myself On The Interweb #1

Tweets On the Bus

Mmmm...Vinyl #2

Eels - Blinking Lights & Other Revelations: Deluxe Vinyl

Review - Burn After Reading

Another fine farce from the Coens, with Brad Pitt stealing the show as airhead gym employee Chad - showing that following on from True Romance, Pitt really can do completely stupid worryingly convincingly.

Review - Righteous Kill

Predictable stuff with Pacino and De Niro not that good enough anymore too lift it to even an average standard. Pretty dull all round really.

Review - The KIng Of Kong

There are times you'd swear you're watching the latest Christopher Guest film as many of the characters you come across in The King of Kong seem too Tap to be true.

Amongst the freaks and geeks of the Twin Galaxies universe - 'Gamer of the Century', Restaurateur and Hot Sauce maker Billy Mitchell steals the show with an ego far larger than any of the scores on show and the simple, but perfectly pitched story of underdog Steve Wiebe's battle for recognition as Donkey Kong hi-scorer against the egotistical gaming legend makes for one the best documentaries of recent years.

Review - 88 Minutes

If I said it was b*****ks - that would the only way to get 5 stars mentioned in the same breath of this film

Review - Tropic Thunder

Its no classic but the fake trailers and Cruise's fantastically sweary turn make it an entertaining enough hour and three quarters.

Review - Bigger Stronger Faster

This documentary borrows a lot stylistically from Michael Moore's efforts, but avoids the pitfalls of descending into the polemic that Moore often does.

The documentary presents the case for and against 'roid use - not exactly saying they're good, but highlighting their vilification against the contradictions present in ideologies from western culture towards other drugs and what it takes to achieve success in general.

Mmmm...Vinyl #1

Beck - The Information: Deluxe Vinyl

Review - Pineapple Express

The excellent combination of James Franco and Seth Rogen make this film a success, but its still far from perfect - Hot Fuzz offers a better parody of action films and there are stoner comedies with a better focus (for the lack of a better word) on p...(read more) ot-based humour. Craig Robinson once again also shows he's one to look out for, stealing many of the scenes he features in - he should be the one to fill the Mac sized void in the mainstream in my view.

Review - Step Brothers

Painfully unfunny for too long, too often - this is one of the worst Will Ferrell films that comes across as a poor man's Dumb & Dumber for the most part.

Review - Hellboy 2: The Golden Army

I didn't recognize Luke Goss as the evil Prince Nuada. It would've been ace if they'd cast Matt Goss in drag as the good princess. A missed opportunity.

p.s. Surely its not just me who thinks that Johann Krauss looks a bit too much like a smash robot?

V Festival - Day Two

After The Apocalypse came once again this year (thankfully during The Verve and I'd made my escape), the site was left like a giant slosh of a mud pit meaning moving from stage to stage was almost out of the question as it took almost an hour to get anywhere of interest.

What didn't help the mood was that Sunday has the considerably shitter line up and 3 of the bands I wanted to see all clashed - So out of Tokyo Police Club, The Hold Steady and Iglu & Hartly I plumped for the topless Californian surfer dude-types, mainly so I could claim bragging points this time next year when they are massive. They put on a great show for 30 mins, not sure it'll work over an album - but I'm happy with my sweaty man hug and free frisbee.

V Festival - Day One (ish)

Well more like up up to about 8 pm thanks to a lack of signal.

Click to enlargeasize.

Beck: Gamma Ray

Probably the best song on the album (though I am loving Profanity Prayer at the moment), but is also the most like Gnarls Barkley and the presence of Dangermouse is most obvious on the latest single from Modern Guilt. The 60s vibe is played up with this trip-tastic, psychedelic, surrealist video.

Gamma ray? More like Man Ray!

Review: Lost Boys 2

Really bad, though Corey Feldman was kinda borderline so bad it's good with his Rocky Balboa meets Bale's Batman impression.

Review: The Dark Knight

The superhero sequel aims so far and wide, it would be impossible to achieve all it sets out to - we still get one fantastic film, though not one without a flaws.

The three leads fare differently - Ledger is amazing as the Joker (full of psychotic intensity), Eckhart is wasted as Harvey Dent (he and his story are deserving of much more than playing second fiddle to the Joker) and whisper it quietly, but Bale is actually a bit rubbish as Batman this time out (the voice is just plain wrong).

The film is beautifully shot and features great action set pieces, though with perhaps one too many as the whole boat shebang doesn't quiet carry the weight that you'd expect, simply due to its place in the film.

In a strange way you'd like them to be less ambitious, as its feels like there's 2 films worth of ideas cramped into one - a whole film based on Bruce Wayne versus Dent was a definite option, but that battle was only touched on here which is a terrible shame as what made it was golden.

This is light years ahead of the usual summer blockbuster releases and it will be interesting to see if Nolan returns again to raise the bar further, you could view the ending as him signing off on his vision of Batman for now - if that is the case whoever follows will be doing well if they have even a fraction the impact that man has had on modern blockbuster cinema.

Review: 21

I recommend switching your brain off when watching this, as the moment you start to analyse what's happening on screen you start to realise what a mess it really is.

For example, what really bugged me was that short of doing a Team America signal - I am struggling to think of how they could be any less subtle in drawing attention to themselves.



Its problems are compounded with it being half an hour too long but on the plus side it does feature a pretty sweet soundtrack. It wants to be Oceans 11 so bad, but has more in common with the sub-standard sequels I'm afraid.

Beck: Orphans

Simple, but effective video for the lead track from Modern Guilt - with Beck still rocking his Amish Dylan kinda look he has going on at the moment.

Review: Reno 911! Miami

Lacking a classic laugh out loud moment doesn't help the feeling that this is an average Reno episode stretched over an hour and a half. There's still some good moments to be found throughout - especially as it reaches it conclusion with a fun cameo from Paul Rudd the highlight of the film.

Those curious about Reno would be better advised to check out the series for a better idea of what its all about.

Review: Southland Tales

A confusing mess. I struggled to work out who was supposed to be Jesus at the end - was it The Rock, Justin Timberlake, Sean William-Scott or Sean William Not?

You've got to wonder the state it was in during the first edit if this is supposed to be the version that makes more sense - it jumps all over the place making no sense without even attempting to explain itself whilst seeming to try and cover as many genres as possible - and failing to succeed at any of them at any time.

Highlights at a push would have to be Kevin Smith covered in prosthetics as some kind of stoner matrix architect person and Mandy Moore for looking nice.

Soulwax.com = Mindfuck

Ahead of the release of the Part Of The Weekend Never Dies, Soulwax.com has several clips from the DVD on the website - nothing strange there you'd think? Except they are shown in series of trippy loops that really do start to mess with your head after a while.

Anyway the DVD is out in August and looks set to show just how Soulwax have mutated from the slightly cheesy indie outfit of years gone by into the electro juggernaut that they are today.

Death Cab For Cutie @ Birmingham Academy 15.7.08

Setlist
---
Bixby Canyon Bridge
The New Year
Why You'd Want To Live Here
Crooked Teeth
Long Division
Grapevine Fires
A Movie Script Ending
Company Calls
Title Track
Soul Meets Body
I Will Follow You Into The Dark
I Will Possess Your Heart
Cath...
No Sunlight
The Sound of Settling
Marching Bands of Manhattan
---
Your Bruise
Title and Registration
Expo '86
Talking Bird
Transatlanticism

Being as it was Death Cab, you know its going to be a good night - but a couple things stopped it short of being a great one:

For the opening songs the sound was poor, with at least one of the guitars not working properly - really spoiled Bixby Canyon Bridge for me.

Audience participation was non-existent, whether it was because there were too many older songs from albums that aren't readily available over here or a case of too cool to dance I don't know - but only Soul Meets Body seemed to get people going.

No Chat. Whether Ben felt burnt when his compliment before I Will Follow You Into The Dark feel flat on the ears of those cynical Brummies, but barely a word was spoken all night. I think at least an intro to the older songs would've made it a more fun, communal experience.

Heroes Webisode Online. Is Shit.

Its hard to work out what's the worst thing about this opening episode for Going Postal. Is it the awful dialogue? The dodgy special effects? or the rubbish acting?

What is actually is quite impressive that it manages to out cringe the trailer that was released for it the other week - that was super lame. If I had to say a good thing about it, I suppose the constrictor character had potential to be good.

But seriously, I can't say this enough, it really does suck.

Death Cab for Cutie: Cath...

This is the new Death Cab video for Cath... which probably should be renamed Zzzz... - as this video set in a church ends up more of a funeral than a wedding for all the action going down

Review: Gotham Knight

Doesn't really bridge the gap between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight like it claims - you won't miss out on anything by not watching, but this is still an enjoyable collection of animated shorts.

The quality of animation is consistently high throughout but the stories improves with each vignette and the finale of Dead Shot the high point, as it brings together what has passed in the previous 5 episodes.

The Verve: Love Is Noise

After a surprisingly great headlining slot at Glastonbury, I was suddenly a lot more excited about The Verve's return than I was previously. The video for Love Is Noise lacks the power of the live version and is blighted by over production putting Nick Macabe's guitar far too low in the mix for my liking. There's a good song underneath somewhere but those Tellytubbies noises do their best to nearly ruin it.

Review: Hancock

A film of two halves. The first half is great fun introducing Smith as the potty-mouthed superhero with a drink problem and Bateman's attempts to improve his public image. The second half is less successful thanks to really awful twist - but thankfully it manages to recover to some of its momentum as it comes to the close, featuring an end which is all the better for avoiding taking the Supervillian/CGI clusterfuck route which blights many a superhero movie.

Smackdown vs Raw 2009 Cover Art

Surely its a bit late to step on the DX Reformation bandwagon isn't it?

Actually this years gimmick is all about tag-team wrestling and as much as I'd love to see the awesome Miz & Morrison on the cover, there's not really anyone else to go with really. It will be interesting to see how many actual teams do make the final roster too considering former champs such as London & Kendrick haven't even made the rosters of previous games.

Some classic tag teams in legend mode would be pretty sweet too, though I may be the only one harbouring the secret urge for the Quebeccers inclusion.

I Almost Wish It Was True

Michael Bay does The Dark Knight. Click to enlarge.

Modern Guilt

is very good. You should check it out.

V Festival Announce Union Line-Up

V has just announced the line-up for this year's Virgin Mobile Union stage.

Over 2 days you get:

Richard Hawley, Guillemots, Sia, Echo And The Bunnymen, Young Knives, Siouxsie, Will Young, Little Man Tate, The Long Blondes, Tom Baxter, Roots Manuva, Drive - By Truckers, The Dykeenies, Goldie Lookin Chain, Paul Heaton, Jack McManus, Tokyo Police Club, Beth Rowley, Noah And The Whale, The Like, Runaway Sons, and Sam Beeton

Out of those I'd look out for

Roots Manuva



Tokyo Police Club



Noah And The Whale



plus I may well end up perving over The Like

Which pretty much just leaves the Sessions stage to go, which is going to have a tough act to live up to last years bill which featured Ting Tings, Newton Faulkner, Scouting for Girls, David Jordan, Joe Lean & the Jing Jang Jong and The Script (okay, no ones perfect)

Review: The Chronicles of Narnia - Prince Caspian

Things never happen the same way twice. Well, apart from when he says that bit twice.

That was one of the many things that bugged me about this movie. But it is nice to know I can take a 3 minute break for a chat should I ever find myself in a fight to the death

Like many a sequel the main offender was its length - far too long at 2 and 1/2 hours. This is made even more criminal as its a family film and seems to forget to its target audience that made the first such as success despite lukewarm reviews. The plot takes too long to get going and features one too many battle scenes, cutting some of this flab would've made it much better film and wouldn't leave many of its younger viewers fidgeting. Another problem facing the film is that despite being a couple of years further into their careers the main characters acting is still pretty poor and borderline punchable if I'm honest..

Plus points are Eddie Izzard's mouse alongside Warwick Davis and Peter Tinkledge as the dwarves who are fantastic as usual. Also despite falling into the trap of bigger is better like most sequels you cannot dispute that the extra money spent on shooting the film mean it does look fantastic, shame it never quite clicks properly.

Review: Kung Fu Panda

A lot better than expected, showing that Jack Black suits films aimed at a younger audience, though the rest of the all star cast seem to be phoning it in at times - but this probably benefits the film as it doesn't come across as a group ego trip a la Shark Tale.

The film is also the best looking of the Dreamworks animated output and benefits from a short run time removing the flab that many recent kids CGI has suffered from.

No Longer Giving Fans The Slip

Nine Inch Nails free download 'The Slip' gets a physical release on July 22 and part of additional material to encourage fans to part with their cash include a set of rehearsal performances like this one for Echoplex.

Obviously it was a dress rehearsal too as the band look tres stylish in their various shades of black.

Bateman Begins

Bruce Wayne is turning more into Patrick Bateman by the second - I say bring on the Batsaw!

If you need another reason to check out this latest addition to the Dark Knight viral campaign - it provides a recap of Batman Begins, and sets up some plot elements for the Dark Knight, and also featuring some sweet in character cameos from The Bale and Aaron Eckhart - I can't wait for the forthcoming previews promised at the end of the clip

Review: Gone Baby Gone

The Affleck brothers steal the show in front and behind the camera in this story of two young P.I's hired to investigate the case of a missing child.

Behind the camera brother Ben carefully crafts a film full of atmosphere that is complex but never confusing and has a moral dilemma at its core that will leave the viewer with plenty to think about long after the credits roll.

And despite featuring impressive performances from all the cast, its Casey Affleck who once again outshines the bigger names on show in his role as principled P.I Patrick Kenzie.

With possibly one twist too many to be a truly great film, there is still plenty to recommend in this intelligent and atmospheric thriller.

Review: Joy Division

Featuring an impressive array of previously unseen archive footage, this documentary charts the rise and fall of the influential band from Manchester (and Salford).

This new footage makes the film, as although the contributions are comprehensive and feature almost all the key players involved - its still a story that has been told many times before.

Indeed this documentary possibly works best alongside one of these examples - Anton Corbijn's Control. When viewed as a companion piece to the Ian Curtis biopic, the documentary comes into its own, going into further detail the key moments of the story as well as highlighting the impressive attention to detail shown in the fictionalised version released last year.

Also lacking is a greater analysis of the wider scale, as the late Tony Wilson says within 'its a story of city, not just a band' and this documentary to a certain extent ignores this aspect to focuses on events within the eye of the storm that was Joy Division. This will delight the hardcore, but focusing on how as opposed to why the songs were recorded diminishes the impact the importance of events, a point they try to get over at the end.

Director Grant Gee cuts archive footage and talking heads together in a stylish way, and a fitting one at that as nothing from factory was ever simply an aural experience. Minus points though for ending on Atmosphere though, as despite its power - it is becoming a little clichéd now.

BBC documentary Factory: From Joy Division to Happy Mondays does a better job of covering the band within the social context of their formation and showing the lasting effect on the music scene and the city itself that the band had.

Something For The Ladies

In the new Flight of the Conchords video for 'Ladies of the World', we can clearly see Jermaine is making a move on Howard Moon's dominance of the moustachiod half a comedy music duo market. If the next video includes a survival patch, its time to get worried, The Flighty Zeus could be closer to the truth than you think.

Team Of Euro 2008: The Group Stages

The opening stages have now come to a close and so far we have seen a tournament that has garnered rave reviews, with attacking flair overcoming defensive nous and overall high extremely standard of play with only the deathly dull Greeks not offering anything to the neutral. Now after the final games of Group D have finished, here are the top XI players to have caught my eye so far.

Buffon (Italy)
While Boruc has been the busiest of the keepers involved in the opening rounds, a stunning penalty save vs Romania sees Buffon show he really is the world's best.

Lahm (Germany)
Comfortable on either flank, provides excellent support going forward and is underrated defensively

Van Bronckhorst (Holland)
Part of several stunning Dutch counter-attacks that have been the highlight of the tournament so far, also possess a sweet left foot

Pepe (Portugal)
Summing up the mood of the tournament so far, Pepe has made an equal impressive impression with his bursts forward from the centre of defense as opposed to his tough tackling

Kovac (Croatia)
Croatia have the best team ethic of any involved, and Kovac is their leader and the rock which they are built around

Fabregas (Spain)
Limited impact from the bench so far, but has shown some beautiful touches when called on - it should an unwritten law that any Dream Team includes Cesc.

Ballack (Germany)
All of Germany's attacks go through the Chelsea midfielder and his ability equals his smugness. Which is a lot. Stunning free kick vs Autria

Deco (Portugal)
While CR7 grabs all the headlines, Deco has been quietly pulling the strings in Portugal's silky smooth football. I'm not entirely sure why Barca want rid of him as he is still one of the best in the world with a underrated work ethic too.

Sneijder (Holland)
The architect behind the Dutch success story so far and has scored argueably the goal of the tournament do far.

Robben (Holland)
Has made an awesome impact from the bench, tearing the French apart in the second half with his pace and skill. Still lightweight so it remains to be seen if he can go the difference in a major tournament without crying off injured.

Villa (Spain)
Alongside Torres, their partnership has ripped apart a strong Russian and made them look mediocre, a three dimensional forward who can play many a role, his goals have surely sent his value through the roof.

Review: There Will Be Blood

Amazing performances, amazing visuals and an amazing score combine for one of the most striking movie experiences of recent times.

This is a film that is defined by conflicting opposites - Good & Evil, Man & Boy, Spirituality & Soulless to list a few of many - and these conflicts are mirrored in the way the film is made: from the cinematography featuring many huge, expansive frames that really create a sense of a vast scale - contrasted by the minimalist script, with many sections viewed as a silent movie, low on dialogue and driven by the fantastic score by Johnny Greenwood. Yet this also results in the viewer being distanced as they struggle to work out characters and their true motivations.

Daniel Day Lewis rightly received plaudits across the board for his performance in the lead role of oil man Daniel Plainview but Paul Dano almost matches his level in his role of creepy preacher Eli and was once again criminally under looked in awards season.

This is a film which challenges its audience throughout, but this part of its appeal is equally its Achilles heel as you can never really describe watching its 2hr 30min plus runtime as an enjoyable experience throughout, yet it is one that still needs to be experienced for sure.

Crystal Castles vs Timbaland

Its been bugging me for ages but it finally clicked where I've heard this before.

Crystal Castles - Courtship Dating



Looks like Timbaland liked what he heard judging by this

50 Cent ft Timbaland & Timberlake - Ayo Technology



and that has left the Castles a little peeved - but to quote the man himself it may be 'too late to apologise' and could end up in court.

*EDIT* Pot. Kettle. Black?

Stan Lee Cameos

Although cameos from Robert Downey Jr in The Incredible Hulk and Samuel L Jackson in Iron Man have stolen the headlines, true to form Stan Lee pops once again for his traditional cameo in films from the Marvel Universe - though after studying the list, you have to wonder who said no to X-Men 2?

X-Men
Lee appears as a customer at a hotdog stand on the beach when Senator Kelly emerges naked onshore after escaping from Magneto.

Spider-Man
Stan appeared during Spider-Man's first battle with the Green Goblin, pulling a little girl away from falling debris.

Daredevil
As a child, Matt Murdock stops Lee from crossing the street and getting hit by a car.

Hulk
Lee appears walking alongside former TV-series Hulk Lou Ferrigno in an early scene, both as security guards at Bruce Banner's lab. It was his first speaking role in a film based on one of his characters.

Spider-Man 2
Lee again pulls an innocent person away from danger during Spider-Man's first battle with Doctor Octopus.

Fantastic Four
Lee appears for the first time as a character from the comics, in a role credited as Willie Lumpkin, the mail carrier who greets the Fantastic Four as they enter the Baxter Building.

X-Men: The Last Stand
Lee and Chris Claremont appear as two of Jean Grey's neighbors in the opening scenes set 20 years ago. Lee, credited as "Waterhose man," is watering the lawn when Jean telekinetically redirects the water from the hose into the air.

Spider-Man 3
Lee appears in a credited role as "Man in Times Square". He stands next to Peter Parker, both of them reading a news bulletin, and commenting to Peter that, "You know, I guess one person can make a difference". He then says his well-known phrase, "'Nuff said."

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
Lee appears as himself at Reed Richards' and Susan Storm's first wedding, being turned away by a security guard for not being on the guest list. In Fantastic Four Annual #3 (1965), in which the couple married, Lee and Jack Kirby are similarly turned away.

Iron Man
Lee (credited as "Himself") appears at a gala cavorting with three blond women, where Tony Stark mistakes him for Hugh Hefner.[35]

Incredible Hulk
Lee appears as a hapless citizen who accidentally ingests some of Bruce Banner's blood, leading to the discovery of Dr. Banner's location in a soft drink bottling plant in Brazil.

Review: The Incredible Hulk

The second of the Marvel Comic films this year is trumped by Iron Man in the script, but possesses the superior action sequences - mainly from ripping off the Bourne films in the thrilling opening chase before taking liberally from Cloverfield as Bruce Banner tranforms into the Hulk and turns the tables on his pursuers.

This opening to the film is the highlight by far and after the film suffers from the problem that once Banner has turned into Hulk and does some good old fashioned smashing for the first time, there's nowhere else to go apart from smash something bigger, which gets boring quickly and doesn't bode well for potential sequels.

The cast and crew do well with the material available to them, this is likely to be the best inception we'll get - I just think the character of Hulk itself is flawed and will never truly work on the big screen, no matter how many remakes are attempted.

The film's final scene of the movie simply serves to highlight how superior other franchises are - and where the real excitement lies for future superhero films.

Review: Iron Man

Whilst its a good film I still don't think its quite as amazing as others have made it out to be - parts are quite predictable and Jeff Bridges is far too obvious as a bad guy from the moment he steps onto the screen, whilst these are small flaws they are still ones that hold Iron Man back from reaching the pinnacles hit by Nolan's Batman and Riami's Spider-man in the superhero genre.

That said the film is still a highly enjoyable origin story and like Batman Begins, the journey of main character becoming the superhero is the best part of the film - Robert Downey Jr is perfectly cast as playboy Tony Stark who finds a heart metaphorically after quite literally having to find himself a new one after being kidnapped in the Middle East.

The script mixes humour and heart whilst developing characters for the sequels - though this does take an edge off the final battle which feels a bit like an anti-climax with a sub-Transformers battle between two robots that isn't as epic as it aims to be.

Review: Vantage Point

The film's central point is an interesting concept where they attempt to tell a story from five different points of view - shame the story consists of nothing more than LOUD NOISES, be it shouting, shooting or blowing something up. Each time events roll round again it gets more annoying, simply adding another explosion or two till it reaches its crescendo in an ending which is simply just bollocks.

In the end what we have is a dichotomy where the content is popcorn fluff best viewed with the brain switched off, yet the concept requires concentration, only serving to highlight its many, many flaws that can be found within.

The Apprentice S04E12 - The Final

I'm not saying its a fix, BUT with everyone reporting a surprise winner of The Apprentice last night - is it really a surprise that a Sales Team Manager won a £100,000 job to...manage a sales team?

Last night's final was pretty pointless as the candidates performance seemed to have no effect on the eventual winner - Lee McQueen was by far the far the weakest out of the final four, his pitch was poor and the product was a shoddy 70s mess - yet the vague firing criteria allowed Sir Alan to choose his man.

I do think this could be the year that people remember that The Apprentice jumped the shark not just for Sir Alan hiring the man who told a couple of whopping porkies on his CV and can barely seem to speak, but for how the programme has descended into a parody of itself.

This year came over as every episode was straining to recreate infamous moments of previous seasons, with people seemingly chosen because they would fuck up every week or cause a ruck. The business aspect of the show was put on the back burner and this time around it became more of a reality show that in previous years with people showing their personalities more than their skills.

What set the show apart from others was the degree of credibility that it had - Sir Alan wouldn't suffer fools lightly - this time around he clearly did as Michael lasted so long and many of larger personalities stayed in with several quieter types fired for trivial reasons. Hopefully next time round they can redress the balance and it can remain one of the highlights in the BBC's year, but with the amount of coverage it now gets I can only see it carrying on further down this path.

Review: Waitress

Slow and boring in too many places but some nice comic touches from Captain Reynolds make it watchable. Obviously Pushing Daisies has trumped it in the competitive 'quirky and offbeat yet strangely life-affirming whilst based in a pie related setting' comedy genre.

Big Brother 9 Launch

Big Brother returned with a massive 16 contestants entering this year - and a grand total of none approaching being likeable. The twist with the fake wedding right of the bat shows what we're in for over the next 14 weeks - and I'm not a fan of it. I always thought the best BB drama develops naturally and recently its all seemed too staged with producers acting like bullfighters goading contestants into controversy to attempt to get headlines. Still, here's who entered the house last night.

Alexandra
Booed the worst on the way in. This year's Charley.

Dale
Looks a bit like Michael Carrick, was anonymous on the big occasion too - the similarities are endless.

Darnell
The Albino Pete Willett, stomped around like John Cena, also believes he is the champ - not sure of what though?

Dennis
Gay. Will not be as funny as the Big Brother show's will make out.

Jennifer
Doesn't like immigrants. I actually think producers are trying to get the show cancelled. Part time model. High class prostitute?

Kathreya
Big Brother are doing advertisers jobs for them now. Likes cookies. Really like cookies. Looks like Nancy Lam. Maryland rejoice!

Lisa
Mario pawned a watch for her boob job. She's probably done porn?

Luke
Looks like a retarded Timberlake. Was booed on the way in though people seem to have warmed to him, possibly more due to the horrific nature of everyone that came after.

Mario
Lisa's other half - They are either swingers or doggers.

Michael
Blind. Likes dressing in women's clothes, though was sporting a Beck look circa 'Loser' tonight. Maybe they told him the poncho was a dress.

Mohamed
Has a sweet 'fro. Not much else to say about him really.

Rachel
Talks a lot. Seems nice enough when she quietens down.

Rebecca
This year's sweet natured village idiot.

Rex
He's a cook so they should keep him in. Seems quite forgettable.

Stephanie
Out of the house and straight into Nuts she'll go. Sex stories will be in the papers on Sunday. Not actually that attractive.

Sylvia
Makosi version 2.0

Snakes On A PPV Again!

TNA have announced that Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Kamala, George "The Animal" Steele and Koko B. Ware will be appearing as grooms men at the Slammiversary PPV for the Jay Lethal and So Cal Val wedding.

Obviously with Roberts appearing the potential is there to recreate the Summerslam 91 Savage/Elizabeth wedding that the storyline pays homage too.



And continuing this trend the next step for Russo is to bring back Lex Luger to kill So Cal Val.

WWE One Night Stand 2008

The fourth annual One Night Stand PPV took place last night and was on the whole an enjoyable event with only the injury to Orton spoiling what will be one of the most consistent PPV cards of the year.

Kicking off was Hardy vs Umaga in a Falls Count Anywhere match and this one of the best WWE openers in recent years featuring plenty of cool spots from Hardy building to the big swanton bump as expected.

The Singapore Cane match featuring 5 former ECW champs put over Big Show strong and had a couple of unique sequences and counters, making it possibly the best ECW effort since its return - John Morrison continues to impress and deserves more outings on the big stage. Slightly off topic but Dreamers looks like he stole Disco Infernos' wardrobe with his white pants.

Cena vs JBL was better than previous outings and ended up a good WWE style brawl, though I'd quite like it if Foley and Bradshaw could swap places as both are struggling to adjust to their new roles - Foley's vignette for the stretcher match was excellent and added a nice MMA style authenticity to proceedings, showing his potential, yet he completely messed up the intro to it.

Up next was the Women's title match and the mat work delivered but the dynamic between Phoenix and Melina didn't click and Melina doesn't suit the face role and the crowd didn't buy into getting behind her.

Once again the storyline between Batista and Shawn Michaels was spoilt slightly by the introduction of Chris Jericho. Many others feuds would have benefited by the introduction of the Canadian, but the brillantly simple beef between the two has been diluted in making it a three-way issue.

The WWE Title match showed promise and Orton/HHH always delivers in ring, but Orton's injury cut short the match before it really got going. In storyline terms the the pair work better as heels and Trips as champion feels old and jaded already - which isn't a good sign.

In the main event were Edge & Undertaker once again - and once again they delivered. The suprise ending hopefully means a return to the American Bad Ass biker character which would suit his more realistic MMA based offense he has been using in recent months instead months of dodgy Undertaker spottings and Leslie Neilsen segments that we've seen before.

Robots In Disguise @ Stoke Sugarmill

More famous for their friends than their music the Robots came to Stoke and brought their fierce blend of electro & dance which would have left those watching forgetting all about The Boosh - if it wasn't for Sir Noel of Fielding gracing us with his presence from the balcony and ruining all the girls hard work.

Openers Isosceles kicked off the evening with a set that drew heavily from the influence of two titans of indie music hailing from their Scottish homeland. Combining the spiky guitars and groove of Franz Ferdinand with the wonky keyboards and shouty choruses of Bis, the band's short set showed plenty of potential and they look like ones to watch out for in the future.

Next up were Huski, an act which is a strange collaboration between the Queen Adreena bassist and a Gwen Stefani producer. Their soundclash results in a Goldfrapp goes Europop kinda vibe. The added visuals presented though very swish and expensive did come off rather naff, especially the clips of the guitarist in his best Saturday Night Fever suit pulling sex faces busting out a solos. On the whole too many of the songs sounded the same with the repeated lyrical themes of control and the like coming off a case of trying too hard to be anything other than ordinary.

When the Robots took to the stage after the grand entrance of Noel they immediately showed the new rock teeth they've added to their mix, creating a Yeah Yeah Yeahs wall of sound complete with lots raucous guitars, loud drums and even louder vocals. As the set progressed they delved deeper into the back catalogue to visit the electro sound that they made their name for before bringing back the guitars at the end for a nice garage rock howl at the close. Returning for an encore saw the band explore more musical genres touching on rave in a couple of tracks before ending on a Dizzie Rascal style grime ending that sent the crowd home happy.

A good gig, but sadly for the girls you'll know what will have made it for most people. Noel was there. Therein lies the Robots problem.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

When the sanest part of the plot is found in the first 15 minutes and that includes Indy surviving a nuclear bomb dropping on him by hiding in a fridge, far-fetched doesn't quite cover it really.

That said the film is far from the car crash that it could've been containing some nice set pieces, a few genuinely scary scenes and good performances from most of the cast.

LaBeouf is done no favours with the Brando comparisons conjured in the way he is introduced, but handles himself competently, yet I still don't quite see the star power that others do. Ford however has that certain 'it' factor that Shia lacks and cast asides any doubts to do with age carrying the lead character despite beginning given lines that feature far too much exposition at key times through the film. Ray Winstone is the one weak link as he plays a MI6/CIA/KGB agent who pretty much just shouts 'Jonesy' in a cock-er-nee accent throughout.

For someone so anti-digital like Spielberg claims to be, it does feature a lot of CGI - but to over analyse a film like this is to miss the point. Simply go in and switch your brain off and let the 2 hours of popcorn fare and nostalgia pass over you.

What Next For Wesley?

Actor Wesley Snipes has been granted bail whilst he appeals against his tax evasion conviction reports the BBC. The 45-year-old star of films such as Blade was sentenced in April to three years in prison for failing to file income tax returns between 1999 and 2001. But the US judge's decision was full inspiration for new films for Wesley to choose from if the mood takes him. Here's a couple I came up with,

Flight Risk
Hijackers seize the plane of innocent passengers, many whom may have received poor financial advice in their past - but a newly released ex con, upstanding member of the community and citizen of the world (Snipes) works from hiding to defeat them. Co-starring DMX.

Threat 2 Tha Community
A tough ex-con (Snipes) cleans up the streets full of drugs, deceit and dirty cops who impermissibly bring charges of tax evasion on the basis of race. Co-starring DMX.

You've Got Bail
Two ex-cons hate each other at the clink but fall in love over the internet. Co-starring Meg Ryan. And DMX.