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.