Sun's brutal, isn't it !?!

Brit director Danny Boyle has picked up a lot of praise recently for 28 Days Later and Slumdog Millionaire, but his 2007 Science Fiction effort Sunshine frequently gets overlooked.



Plot wise its very similar to Event Horizon, Supernova and The Black Hole with spaceships on a mission to rescue other spaceships, only to run into freaky psycho-fastasy horror situations.



Mixed into the tense astronauts-in-jepardy plot though is an uplifting spitual experience which is very much aided by John Murphy's cool score. A strong cast is topped off by the lovely Rose Byrne as "The Astronaut You Would Most Want To Survive If Crashing In To A Star".

No doom in Doomsday

Ah, Neil Marshall. While Christopher Nolan is the UK smarts and Danny Boyle is the raw, indie spirit... director Neil Marshall is its talently rabid geeky heart.

His third film Doomsday doesn't live up to the classic status of his previous efforts, the black comedy horror Dog Soldiers and the ever-better horror thriller The Descent.

Its an open homage to 80's actioners Escape From New York, Mad Max 2, The Warriors with some Aliens, Knightriders and 28 Days Later thrown in for good measure.

Not only is it nostalgic to see these plots revisited and combined but the barmy fast paced action combined with limited characterisation reminds me of those unashamedly cool action flicks the 80's were known for. Only a slightly uncharismatic Rhona Mitra and hyperactive action editing spoil the show (Oh, and burning the Pertwee of course.) Otherwise, grand, insane stuff!

No Egg On My Face! Not A Glob!

Looks like Sin City. In parts, it feels like Sin City. But this aint no Sin City. By the time you get to the end of the first confrontation between hero, The Spirit, and villain, Octopus, you know your watching something really, knowingly silly. And like Hudson Hawk or SpeedRacer that came before it, your ability to enjoy "silly" will determine how much you enjoy this.

The cast are uniformly great. Sam Jackson hasn't been this fun in years and its a blast seeing him in Nazi gettup. Scarlett is yummy in a snooty sidekick role. Eva Mendes is, hands down, the sexiest woman of 2009. Pure and simple.

Its fun and its funny...in a kind of Batman The Movie kind of way. The Spirit talks plot points ernestly to himself, much like Adam West might to Burt Ward...except The Spirits companion is the city itself. The Octopus's clone henchmen are only there for comic relief and the dialogue is self referencial (mention of The Elektra syndrome / Scarlett drives a Ditko van).

An aquired taste then. A taste not to everyones liking. But if you understand comic book, FRank Miller's warped brain and have the capacity for silliness...this just might be for you.

A Whore for Tokyo Gore

Maybe the Japanese had decided there was nowhere left to go in the whole J-Horror thing.
Maybe they felt that a new direction was needed.
If the answer is YES then Tokyo Gore Police is the expression of that decision.

The privatized Tokyo Police for battle "Engineers", mutants with biomechanical extensions.

Off its tits and loving it. Very much in the vain of Braindead and Evil Dead 2, this isn't a story of significance, rather an experience of artistic exuberance.


Oh, and being attacked by an ex-policeman with a mutant cock is really not a pleasent way to go.
For anyone.

Jail House Rock

If your gonna watch Michael Bay films then there are rules.

1/ Never watch Pearl Harbour (unless you skip directly to the main assualt or airfield attack)
2/ Watch The Island with sound only (to marvel at the athletic Scarlett without the baggage of that story)
3/ The more barking the movie the better the Bay (Transformers and Armageddon then)

So it was a very pleasent re-discovery to rewatch the 1996 action classic The Rock then.
Its more grounded from the Bay-fests of late and gains from that. Connery shows exactly why he is a movie star of the highest caliber and Cage demonstrates why he is always one of the most interesting A-Listers in Hollywood.

It doesn't hurt by having the greatest film score of the 1990's (TM). Most modern scores kind of sound like this... but unfortunately without the catchy compositions which makes this sooo great.

Cornell Smell Hell

Tis only 4th of January but I may have stumbled across the most hateful tune of 2009.

Chris Cornell's "Scream" as produced by Timbaland. I'm all for estasblished artists trying something new. And contrary to other internet haters, I don't think Cornell has sold out his rock roots. I don't actually dislike the song writing on display here.

But the dire, souless RandB production has stripped the soul and uniquness from Cornell's vocals and replaced it with coma-inducing formulaic blandness in the mix. For the most part, I fucking hate RandB. For something that has its roots in soul...it no longer has soul. Rather a generic, emotionless drone. These days that drone is enhanced by subjecting the vocalist to a Cher-o-matic...a device used to electronically alter the vocals, ensuring any talent the singer once displayed is removed from the recording.

If RandB producers want to carry on the tradition of ass-raping the RandB genre...go ahead. I you guys wanna swim in shit..carry on, cause it aint my pond.

But don't reduce one of the greatest vocalists of our day to passionless anybody with a wanky RandB vampiric producer.

Leo is frank & ernest. In LA he's Frank and NY he's Ernest!

A Solid, if unspectacular effort from Ridders. Body of Lies charts the efforts of a CIA operative working in the Middle East (Leo), working with his Langley based handler to bring down a top ranking Terrorist. They form an alliance with an excellent Mark Strong, head of Jordan's Intelligene community.

It always interesting, never dull and of course looks great. But there are no great shocks or surprises here. Leo is a great, beleivable leading man...exactly as he was in every-other-movie-he's-been-in-in-the-last-ten-years lind of way. Crowe adds another fine character piece to his CV. But the plot never sparks and the set pieces feel minor.

Grade C Ridders.