WWE Summerslam 2009

Whilst never on the level of Wrestlemania, Summerslam has always been seen as WWE's second biggest pay-per-view of the year. However, over recent years the event has lost a little of its lustre, something which the WWE tried to address this time around, with a rather swish marketing campaign, a weekend of Axxess events and bringing out the big guns for the event itself.

...and when I talk about big guns, I mean big guns. Big, loud guns that take up about 20 minutes of the show and last longer than several matches. But more about the DX entrance later.

The show kicked off with a Dolph Ziggler challenging Rey Mysterio for the Intercontinental Championship in a rematch from Night of Champions. Working a faster pace than last time out against a motivated Mysterio in his home state allowed Dolph to step and take his chance to shine. Although Mysterio retained this was one of those ocassions where a superstar's stock rose in defeat, with the Curt Hennig comparisons justified with Ziggler's selling and ability to stay the pace with the lightening-fast Luchadore.

A nice pre-match promo helped carry momentum into the match between MVP and Jack Swagger. They worked a basic match, but it was good for what it was. The decision to put over MVP was surprising though, as for the majority of the feud, and the match itself - Swagger was booked as the superior athlete. MVP has had a lot of the wind taken out of his sails since the early promise shown since his draft from Smackdown and really should've been built up steadily as a new challenger for Orton over the past couple of months. Hopefully a couple of months working with Jericho can rebuild him from here.

Speaking of which, the tag team title match was next. I don't think anyone ever really expected Cryme Tyme to win, but the rub from working with two established stars in Jericho and Big Show means that WWE now has an established mid-card face team to work shows in the future, so hopefully we'll see more stuff like this in the future.

Khali versus Kane was a terrible as it potentially could've been - at least with Khali as face the heel can work most off the match on offence before Khali hits a move or two on comeback. That's what they did here and it worked for the most part, Kane picked up the win with a nice looked DDT, and Khali will stay around not doing much whilst WWE try to build the Indian market.

Next up was the return everyone was waiting for (well, everyone if you ignore the fact the DX that everyone actually liked had Road Dog, X-Pac and Chyna in it - not Shawn) where the returning De-Generation X took on the team of Legacy. At the start of the show we had a promo video where Trips and Shawn suggested Rhodes and Dibiase might be a bit gay - which is a bit rich for a couple of dudes who spend all their time talking about cocks whenever they are back together as DX.

Next was an entrance that was up there with the over the top Wrestlemania entrances they used to do a couple of years back. Sadly, Triple wasn't dressed as Conan this time out - but instead we got a load of Soldiers come out to fire weapons for 10 minutes for no apparent reason before DX entered the arena atop a tank to plug their new t-shirt and glowsticks available at all good retailers now.

Thankfully the match wasn't an abomination like the previous Spirit Squad effort (though I do think the trampoline was a wasted opportunity) and Legacy put up a another strong showing after finally being given the chance to show their skills in the last month or so after ages of simply being Orton's whipping boys. DX picked up the win and hopefully Raw can maintain this direction in the booking over the coming weeks.

The ECW title match was always going to have a tough time following the excitement of the DX return, but not to bother in the slightest is taking things a bit far. It was over in 8 seconds and no doubt they'll have a really good match on ECW, which seems backwards logic for booking.

Next came the first of the two title match main events as John Cena challenged Randy Orton for the WWE Championship. The match was the usual stuff, but at least its better fare than Orton/Triple H. The multiple endings were a bizarre choice, as well as the decision to make a clearly phoning it in Lillian Garcia the mouthpiece for Vince McMahon - as usual protocol for reversing a decision has a official whispering in the announcers ear, this just looked wrong as it came off like Lillian was having a breakdown restarting the match apparently possessed by the spirit of Vince McMahon (I suppose he was the Higher Power though...)

There was only one way to close the show and that was the World Title under TLC rules between Jeff Hardy against CM Punk. For a match with a seemingly obvious ending it delivered in spades full of great in ring action between the inevitable Hardy suicide spots - the biggest of which was Hardy's swanton off a super-huge ladder through the ECW announce table, a spot sadly missing the presence of Hugo Savinovich. After that, the dastardly Punk snuck into to regain the title, pushing a valiant Jeff off another ladder in the process.

The post-match celebrations saw the shock return of the Undertaker, a smart move that not took the spotlight off the upcoming absence of departing Hardy, but also gave the show that long-lasting 'moment' that can make or break a show. This, alongside almost all the matches delivering in the ring makes Summerslam 2009 a solid night of entertaining Wrestling.

Review: The Damned United

Being an ardent football fan is almost to the detriment of the viewer as this light and frothy retelling of Brian Clough's troubled time at Leeds United pays little to matters of chronology and fact, a decision that will probably annoy its core audience as the quickly realise the liberties and outright lies within.

Stripped of the darkness present throughout the book, the film feels simply like an excuse for Martin Sheen to wheel out another of his fantastic characterisations, but without seemingly any point to the story told, in the end it all feels a bit empty.

Spot The Difference #6

Golum

Randy Orton

Review: Inglourious Basterds

Christoph Waltz is so great in his role as Hans Landa, the other parts of this multi-stranded re imagining of World War II can only pale in comparison to those featuring the Jew Hunting SS Colonel.

At over two and a half hours long, there are several scenes that are superfluous to the story and would've benefited from being left on the cutting room floor - Mike Myers character is completely unnecessary, but leaves a lasting impression as you mull over whether he was so bad he was good, or just plain bad.

The film's fantastic opening scene where Landa interrogates Perrier LaPadite, a French dairy farmer, over rumours that he had been hiding a Jewish family - suggests a return to the level of Tarantino's first 3 films. It relies on the quality of dialogue for thrills, instead of falling back on schlocky genre apeing gore and violence for excitement that the likes of Kill Bill and Death Proof were full of.

Sadly by the end Basterds reverts to type by the end with a silly shootout and reverse holocaust finale, meaning that despite having plenty of thrills, the mindless and short-lived nature of them doesn't give Inglourious Basterds the timeless quality of Tarantino's best work.

Review: Moon

Featuring plenty of nods to the sci-fi classics that came before it, Moon features a fine performance from Sam Rockwell as Sam Bell and arguably an even better one from Kevin Spacey perfectly cast as computer GERTY.

Its a fine film, but the second half doesn't quite match the standard of the first with one or two of the big questions the film poses are wrapped up to quickly. But for a film with such a low budget it looks great and as you'd expect from a film from one of the Bowie family, features arguably the finest soundtrack of the year so far.

Review: Religulous

Bill Maher is more Bruno and Borat than Michael Moore in this comedy-documentary that focuses more on laughs than an investigation into the matter at hand.

Counter arguments are shot down by Maher's vast array of one-liners and put-downs, cuts to archive footage and the odd fake subtitle thrown into the mix.

Therefore those expecting a more reasoned discussion of the impact of religion on modern society will be left disappointed. The only time dissenting views are allowed to express themselves is when Maher and director Larry Charles sense the chance to give them enough rope to hang themselves. This polemic, humorous style make Religulous for the most part seem like one of Maher's stand up routines brought to screen in documentary format.

What we are left with is a film that like the work of Sasha Baron-Cohen, played for laughs with a serious point tagged on a the end. In summary Religulous is frequently funny film, if not altogether a factual one.

Review: Let The Right One In

Equal measures sinister, sweet and stylish, Let The Right One In is an atmospheric piece that takes on a dream-like quality thanks to its slow, methodical pace and setting in the nocturnal Swedish suburbs.

The breathtaking yet bleak cinematography helps to heighten the hopelessness surrounding the two main characters whilst also enhancing their intense, intimate bond formed through isolation. Lina Leandersson is the stand-out star as Eli, giving a performance that manages to show the vulnerability alongside the underlying menace of such a character.

In many ways it seems strangely fitting that in a time proliferated by vampire movies, Lets The Right One In still manages to stand alone.

Review: Mesrine - Public Enemy No.1

Part two of the French gangster biopic slightly slows up on the action that made Mesrine's opening gambit such fun - but the extra space to focus on the motivations of the eponymous lead character and how they would eventually lead to his demise make Public Enemy No. 1 an equally worthwhile watch.

The film's highlight is an another break from a maximum security prison by Mesrine, this time alongside Bond villain Mathieu Amalric who offers excellent support as Besse - but despite his efforts this film is only about one man, Vincent Cassell who chews up scenery even more than he changes facial hair (and let me tell you, that's a lot).

Similar flaws from the opening chapter are still present, the main bugbear being the habit of the supporting characters and sub-plots tending to appear and disappear without rhyme or reason - but the action we get and the flair with which it is carried out makes Mesrine one of the films of the year.

Review: Anvil! The Story Of Anvil

A documentary about an 80s metal band that features bickering members, playing to ever decreasing crowds, Stonehenge and Robb Reiner is obviously going to play on the This Is Spinal Tap links - but those expecting constant laughs at the expense of the behaviour of a group of crazy musicians will be best of sticking with the like of Dig!, as Anvil! is a different beast altogether.

Instead this documentary is a tale of hope as the fleetingly famous metal band try to regain a modicum of the success they so briefly tasted before. Their are frequently funny parts, especially on the doomed European tour, but it quickly turns into something far more touching about the importance of happiness and chasinh your dreams.

At the centre of this are the two band mainstays - singer Lipps and the aforementioned drummer Reiner, who despite their contrasting personalities are deep down the best of friends and come across thoroughly likeable people who you can't help cheering for when, like Spinal Tap, their salvation comes in Japan.

Review: Mesrine - Killer Instinct

Mesrine makes Michael Mann's Public Enemies looks positively half-arsed when compared to this French take on their own legendary bank-robbing Public Enemy Number One.

Despite the similar stories, in many ways they represent opposite ends of the gangster spectrum. Where Public Enemies aimed for realism and made a 14 month period seem more epic, Mesrine is full of fast cuts, split screens and cool music that make its ten-year period fly by.

Vincent Cassell is superb as the suave but psychotic lead who will cut you up for messing with his favourite whore, but won't hesitate to stick his gun down the throat of the mother of three children - he's perfect for the role and for my mind beats Depp in the charismatic anti-hero stakes this year.

The film cuts a frenetic pace throughout its near two hour trip over a decade and would benefit from slowing down in a couple places to let the viewer and the story catch up - for example Mesrine manages to fall in love (again), rob a bank and move half way across the world in the space of about two minutes at one point.

Covering so much, it leaves you wondering just where they go next in Part Two, but at the end you definitely can't wait to find out.

Review: Observe And Report

This bad taste black comedy tries so hard to get a reaction, but by forgetting to put any actual comedy in it - the only reaction it gets is one of boredom.

Date rape, racism and mental illness all feature in scenes that are totally absent of any laughs and despite its short run time still manages to drag on seemingly forever.