'Drive' Review - Cool, Piled Upon Cool With Gory Violence On Top

Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
Cast:Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Albert Brooks, Ron Perlman, Oscar Isaac, Christina Hendricks
Plot: A Hollywood stunt performer who moonlights as a getaway driver has hit put out on his head after a heist goes wrong.

Two And A Half Men - Ashton Kutcher Arrives

Network: Comedy Central
Cast: Ashton Kutcher, Jon Cryer, Angus T. Jones, Holland Taylor, Marin Hinkle, Conchata Ferrell, Ryan Stiles, Melanie Lynskey
Plot: After Charlie is killed in an accident in Paris, where he had recently proposed to Rose, a broken hearted suicidal billionaire named Walden Schmidt (Kutcher) forms a friendship with Alan and offers to but Charlie's house.



'Two and a Half Men' has returned, and whether you love it or hate it, the show will be hanging around for another few years if the this season's premiere is anything to go by. Coming into it's ninth season and after the much publicised firing of former lead Charlie Sheen this new season aims to reset the series by introducing us to the new main character in the form of Ashton Kutcher's Walden Schmidt.


'Two and a Half Men' is not a good show, that much is clear, but I used to enjoy it. In it's early years  and when I was younger I laughed at the jokes because they were stupid and so was I. As time went on I gradually began to hate the show as it annoyed me that something that bad could be in it's 7th and 8th seasons  while something masterful like 'Arrested Development' barely gets three before being cancelled. Then adding in all the exhausting crap about Charlie Sheen's not so private life to the stupid, laughless comedy and you get one pretty bad show.


So enter Ashton Kutcher to breathe new life into the series.....or not so much. It seems the writers don't want to veer too much away from what made so many idiots love 'Two And A Half Men' by quickly offing Charlie and setting the show up to essentially the same format. This is down to the fact that Kutcher plays a slightly dumber version of Charlie Harper, but at the same time he's a billionaire that tries to kill himself, but is maybe supposed to be smart because he's a billionaire, although he acts like an idiot...is he an idiot? Who knows or cares?


However I strangely enjoyed Kutcher's performance. I don't know why but he made me laugh a few times, all the other characters were the same as I remember them 5 or 6 years ago (no characters arcs in 'Two And A Half Men apparently) and not particularly funny. Kutcher was something different and despite some obvious problems with his character he had some good lines. And I know this is what the show has always been; just lines rather than built up jokes, but they made me laugh regardless of their stupidity. Kutcher's deliver of them was good and he did well with the material given to him.


So it seems he will buy Charlie's house and, go out hunting for women with Alan and Jake will just fart and whatever. The same dynamic set it seems for better or worse, although it seems unlikely the show will be that much better. I don't really believe this show has changed that much because there seems to have been an attempt to change as little as possible and keep the same dumb formula going. It is after all what the fans of the show want and I'm pretty glad I'm not one of them.

Rating:

'The Pig With The Froggy Tattoo' Trailer - It's Gonna Be Green

The latest trailer for the much anticipated 'Muppets' movie is online and if you couldn't guess it parodies the much anticipated trailer for David Fincher's 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo'. It is a pitch perfect copy of that quite brilliant teaser that shows what kind of humour we can expect to see in 'The Muppets'. The parody trailer thing was starting to get old and they clearly knew that, so it is almost a parody of those trailers as well as Fincher's upcoming remake. Check it out below -

The Muppets is released February 2012 in the UK and November in the US. Starring Jason Segel, Amy Adams, Chris Cooper and whole host of celebrities it's one to looks out for.

The trailer they are parodying can be seen here; they really nail it.

Star Wars Episode II: The Attack Of The Clones - It's Not Very Good

Director: George Lucas
Cast: Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen, Natalie Portman, Samuel L.Jackson, Frank Oz, Ian McDiarmid, Christopher Lee, Temuera Morrison,
Plot: Something about a clone army and a war that Jedi have to stop.



I'm not going to waste any time with this review because everyone knows this film is terrible, I just need to get it over with. When I rewatched 'Episode I' the other day for the first time in since I was young I was surprised at how much less I hated it (except Jar Jar of course), but this is another story - 'Attack of the Clones' is undoubtedly the worst 'Star Wars' film ever.

I'm going to be quick here because literally everything is wrong with this film. First of all every single actor is terrible, many of them try their best with the material they have but it is just awful. Christensen is annoying brat who looks like he might either cry or decapitate you, while Portman is hopeless as the deeply uninteresting Padme. McGregor is crap, Jackson is crap and Christopher Lee is..well not crap but essentially Christopher Lee. All these are fine actors but are made to look like line reading robots.

Then there is the story that makes no sense and has the worst romance sub plot ever seen on screen between Anakin and Padme. There is literally no reason these character would be attracted to one another, but they forced and pushed at one another by Lucas despite the fact that they have no chemistry and seem to have little connection. They have clunky bad dialogue about souls and hearts and Anakin makes a point about the roughness of sand, which ultimately adds up to sleep inducing drivel.

The editing is also awful with scenes ending and beginning at odd points and there are several occasions where it feels like a scene or two has gone missing. Add in boring, dull characters, a loveless love plot, a nonsensical story about a clone army that exists but somehow no one knows and robotic acting and you have one bad movie.

I am not even going to go into how crushingly disappointing this must have been for die hard fans because that could go on for a while - I think this, like the Phantom Menace, just fails on a entertainment level. The only things that saves this from being the lowest of the low are two quite action good sequences - one being a fight between Obi Wan Kenobi and Jango Fett and the other being the Jedi Droid Colosseum battle. While the latter might be mindless and emotionless it served as some sort of distraction to the other bland crap on screen.

That's it I can't be bothered writing more. It's just crap and I'm not at all looking forward to Episode III now. All that's left to say is don't ever watch this sh*t.

Rating:

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace - Something Of A Second Opinion

Director: George Lucas
Cast: Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Jake Lloyd, Ian McDiarmid, Pernilla August, Frank Oz, Samuel L.Jackson, Terence Stamp
Plot: Two Jedis, Qui Gon Jin (Neeson) and Obi Wan Kenobi (McGregor) are sent to settle a trade dispute at the blockaded planet of Naboo, but uncover a wider conflict that hints to the return of the Sith.



*Some Spoilers*

Much has been said about 'The Phantom Menace'. Opinions have ranged from biggest disappointment ever to the film that raped my childhood and for some people this is going to be true. For me however it was just always a crap boring film that didn't grab my attention. The prequels were supposed to be my generation's 'Star Wars', but since I had no real connection with the franchise having not grown up with the original trilogy it obviously wasn't the disappointment to me as it was for others, but it failed just purely on an entertainment level.

Having rewatched the 'Phantom Menace' for the first time in 5 or 6 year I had something of a realisation - 'The Phantom Menace' isn't anywhere near as bad as I remember. I mean it's still bad and at time it's plain awful, there's too many things that are wrong to call it good, but it's not quite as terrible as I thought it was back when I first laid eyes on Qui Gon and co.

Everyone knows what was wrong with this film so it's pointless focusing on it for too long but even was a young lad I could see Jake Lloyd was annoying as hell. We'll never know if he was a decent actor but frankly it doesn't matter he was terrible in this. We also have the devil spawn Jar Jar Binks that is shoved in our face ruining any effectiveness some of the more touching scenes could have had, while the acting is generally quite poor with Neeson sleepwalking, McGregor almost completely absent from the movie and Portman making people wonder if she was actually any good in 'Leon: The Professional'.

Aside from the glaringly obvious flaws I think I did find some slightly more salvageable aspects to 'The Phantom Menace' - yeah believe it. Now I know many others will disagree and say 'Phantom Menace' is still a pile of sh*t and I wouldn't disagree - it being bad would affect others much more than me. Firstly the story should have set up the rest of the trilogy perfectly. The plot of 'The Phantom Menace' follows a taxation dispute which on the surface seems dull because..well it is, but it didn't really matter what the dispute was about; all that mattered was the conflict leading to Palpatine (McDiarmid) becoming Chancellor. That was essential and ignoring how convoluted and stupid his scheme was in the following movies, this much of his plan worked well.

The story itself made no sense to me when I first watched it. All the talk of senators and midichlorians was just boring to me, however watching it again it is much easier to swallow. It may not be particularly 'Star Wars'sy but it was a serviceable sci-fi story that while not emotionally investing was watchable and not  much more than that. Furthermore the main characters weren't likeable or dislikeable - they were just  there. Qui Gon and Obi Wan are deeply uninteresting with the latter given nothing to do will the end, although I had some connection to Anakin remarkably as the scene where he leaves his mother was actually quite touching - the less said about him flying the fighter in the climax the better.

There is a lot wrong with 'Episode I' but in my humble opinion it did quite a good job of directing the franchise to where it needed to. It could be said we didn't really need to see anything that happened in this film as it essentially sets up the rest of the trilogy and we could have just started with Obi Wan and Anakin ,but Lucas chose this way and it has to be accepted. There are some good action scenes with the pod race and the duel of fates ending (I do love that score) being good to watch if a bit lacking in human connection. This may seem a poor argument and it is because the movie isn't the greatest but I enjoyed the movie so much more than I did when I was younger despite Jar Jar existing.

Basically I thought they set up the next movie perfectly. Palpatine was Chancellor, Obi Wan was left to train Anakin despite not being fully trained himself and the threat of a Sith Lord is lingering on the Jedi council's mind.Plus I thought they got Anakin's character right (discounting Lloyd's performance of course) in terms of starting an arc for him, as he is kind person who does everything to help Qui Gon and Padme making his eventual descent into darkness a huge contrast. Regardless of how it ended up (i.e.terrible) they started off his character in the right way. It should have made for a great second movie where we see Anakin's training and Palpatine's plan to build an empire begin, but what went wrong there is for another review.

Rating:

Futurama Season 6 Midway Point Review

Channel: Sky 1
Cast: Billy West, Katey Sagal, John DiMaggio, Tress MacNeille, Maurice LaMarche, Phill LaMarr, Lauren Tom, David Herman
Plot: The further adventures of Fry, Leela, Bender and the rest of the Planet Express crew as they encounter problems with robosexual relationships, Leonardo Da Vinci, Zapp Brannigan and inevitable invasions from Lrr and a race of intelligent cats.



Futurama finally returned to UK televisions earlier this year with season 6 almost a year after it first aired in the US. As a huge 'Futurama' fan seeing the adventures of the Planet Express crew actually return with proper episodes was massively exciting for me, especially after those ridiculous direct to DVD movies. Thankfully the series has returned to focusing on what made it so great...mostly.

We have been treated to only 13 episodes of the season for some unknown reason despite the fact that the series has finished in it's entirety in the US, but from the 13 shown 'Futurama' has promising future. We started with the episode entitled 'Rebirth' which wasn't the funniest of premieres, but was vitally important for scrapping everything from the DVD movies and starting again fresh. There were a few good gags but the focus was clearly to get series moving again.

The follow up to this episode had me slightly worried however with the disappointing 'In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela', which focused solely on Leela and dim witted space Captain Zapp Brannigan in an Adam and Eve scenario. This episode was poorly executed and should have been hilarious with the usually funny Zapp's jokes feeling forced and unnatural. This had me worried because Zapp Brannigan is character I have never found not funny and the fact they got him so wrong in this episode was disconcerting.

Then all my worries were dispelled. Episode after episode got better and better, smarter and smarter and even more funny. Starting this was 'Attack of the Killer App' which introduced us to the new iPhone which was literally in your eye and then we had the robosexual marriage episode 'Proposition Infintiy' where Bender and Amy begin a relationship. Initially this episode seemed aimless, but it had one of the funniest pay-offs at the end. The laughs continue in the mystery solving 'The Duh-Vinci Code' and the Hermes/Bender centric 'Lethal Inspection', which continued to surprise me with how funny they were.

My reviews need this sometimes.

'Futurama' have always excelled with time travel episodes and 'The Late Philip J.Fry' was no exception with it being my favourite so far. The episode follows Fry, Bender and the Professor as they travel in a time machine that can only go forwards. There was a slight dip in quality with 'That Darn Katz' that aside from a professor that made animal noises wasn't the most humourous of entries with a cat invasion not delivering the laughs it maybe should have.

Fortunately a great double of the robot evolution episode 'A Clockwork Origin' and the brilliant body switching 'The Prisoner of Benda' helped elevate the series to a strong finish. 'The Prisoner of Benda' was a real highlight for the season with the writers taking the tiresome body switching concept and making it absolutely hilarious. The final 3 episodes managed a consistent laughs if not matching the quality of the previous episodes with a fake Lrr invasion, a mutant revolt and an Xmas special making up the end part of this half of the season.

While there were many laughs to be had with 'Futurama' and it has reignited interest in the series it wasn't always great. There was a batch of really funny episodes in the middle with inferior ones as book ends, but the future certainly looks promising for the Planet Express Crew. Hopefully there will be even more Bender centric episodes and a Zoidberg entry because he was somewhat absent from this season...at least so far.

Rating:

Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes - *Spoiler* The Apes Win

Director: Rupert Wyatt
Cast: James Franco, Andy Serkis, John Lithgow, Frieda Pinto, David Oyelowo, Brian Cox, Tom Felton, Tyler Labine
Plot: During experiments to find a cure for Alzheimer's disease, a genetically enhanced chimpanzee, Caesar (Serkis), uses its greater intelligence to lead other apes to freedom.



I, along with many others, was not overwhelmed with excitement at the announcement that 'Planet of the Apes' would be getting a prequel/reboot to show how the apes took over our planet. The original 'Planet of the Apes' is a classic (Tim Burton's not so much) and thought of seeing what happened before the apes conquered didn't seem entirely appealing. However 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes' is likely to be the surprise hit of the summer.

Everything seemed to be against this film. The CGI apes didn't look too realistic, the main star is the not so hot right now James Franco and the film itself seemed pretty unnecessary - but somehow it turned out to be really really good movie that is strangely a character driven story about an ape. That ape being Caesar (Andy Serkis) who is raised by James Franco's scientist Will Rodman after his experiments to cure Alzheimers end in mass chimp slaughter. Since Caesar is genetically modified his intelligence increases at a rapid pace and is able to perform sign language and becomes a permanent fixture in Will's home.

This first 20 minutes or so is by far the weakest part of the movie because the apes aren't focused on as much
as they are in the rest of the movie - instead we focus on James Franco and it is dull. There is a lot of science talk about cures and viruses that is essentially there to get to the point where Will takes Caesar the genetically modified chimpanzee home. It's not particularly bad but had me worrying about what the rest of movie was going to be like.

Thankfully the focus shifts firmly onto Caesar and it improves enormously. In a movie with many human characters Caesar is by far the most interesting and actually the most human thing on screen. This is likely to be the director Rupert Wyatt's intention because this is Caesar's story and all the human characters are essentially there to just progress his arc - but it is a brilliant arc. It is absolutely fascinating to watch Caesar grow up and see him develop new skills. Andy Serkis again delivers another truly memorable mo-cap performance adding to his previous work with Gollum and King Kong. In fact every mo-cap performer is excellent giving distinctive personalities to each ape making the decision to have CGI apes instead of real ones a masterstroke.

 It's the humans that don't fare quite as well. As previously hinted at James Franco isn't the most enthralling of leads, but that is perhaps down to his character rather than the actor. His relationship with his Alzheimer's stricken father (John Lithgow) does give the story something of an emotional core as he desperately wants to cure his father, but other than that the human characters are nothing more than cutouts with the usually brilliant Brian Cox given little to do. The lovely Freida Pinto fares even worse as the girlfriend character as she does absolutely nothing of note, which is a  disappointing waste of her talents. I wasn't even sure if her character had a name and actually had to find out through IMDb - apparently it's Caroline Aranha.

Thankfully much less time is dedicated towards the humans when Caesar is imprisoned in a Primate "Sanctuary" after attacking one of Will's neighbours. The movie really picks up in pace round this time as he begins to plot his escape and is the best sequence of the movie aside from an overly evil guard played by Tom Felton who is one of two human villains (the other being Will's money grubbing boss). Watching Caesar's dislike for humans grow is heartbreaking after seeing how his relationship with Will was before, but he is somewhat justified in his want for an ape uprising. And when the apes do rise it is fantastic entertainment as they tear through the city causing absolute mayhem and you can't help but route for Caesar to fight for his freedom.

Despite the failings on the human side to the story this is a great summer movie thanks to a great central performance from Andy Serkis and an interesting character arc that has a fantastic pay off. Some actors are wasted but the stars are ultimately the apes and they are brilliant. It starts off slow but just keeps on improving which is the best thing you can ask from a movie, so although we humans may not be round much longer in this film series it is definitely a sequel I am looking forward to.

Rating:

The Town - We All Owe Ben Affleck An Apology

Director: Ben Affleck

Cast: Ben Affleck, Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner, Rebecca Hall, Blake Lively, Pete Postlethwaite, Slaine, Chris Cooper, Titus Welliver

Plot: As he plans for his next job, longtime thief Doug MacRay tries to balance his feelings for bank manager Claire who is connected to one of his earlier heists, as well as the FBI agent (Hamm) looking to  bring him and his crew down.



'Family Guy' once did a skit about Matt Damon and Ben Affleck writing their Oscar winning script for 'Good Will Hunting' implying that Damon did all the work and Affleck just asked for his name to be added onto the script. When asked what he contributed to the script Affleck responds by letting off a fart. A few years ago this was funny because it seemed entirely plausible that he had no hand in that script as he had become the punchline of Hollywood. However now with the double whammy of 'Gone Baby Gone' and last year's 'The Town' it seems he has gained much...much more credibility as a writer and a film maker.

'The Town' is an incredible piece of film making. After his critically acclaimed directorial debut 'Gone Baby Gone' it seemed impossible that Affleck could top his riveting detective drama centering on the disappearance of a young girl, but somehow in 'The Town' he has managed it. Like his last film 'The Town' is set in Boston and follows a crew of bank robbers from the infamous Charlestown as they plan  their biggest heist yet. Comparisons to Michael Mann's masterful 'Heat' are quite rightly to be made but 'The Town' is it's own film and should be treated as such regardless of it's similarities to Mann's heist movie.

Affleck plays Doug MacRay the leader of the bank robbing gang that also consists of Jeremy Renner's slightly unstable Jem Coughlin, Slaine as driver Gloansy and Owen Burke as handyman Dez. The gang are experts at heists as shown in an exhilarating opening sequence that shows the team get into a bank wearing creepy skull masks and manage to rob it and escape in all of 5 minutes. It is a very impressive opening as we see how adept the crew is, how crazy Renner can be and we are also introduced to the main love interest and sole witness; bank manager Claire played by Rebecca Hall. She is the only person that could potentially identify the crew, as she is taken hostage by Coughlin.

Herein lies the conflict. Renner desperately wants her dealt with as soon as possible to keep her from talking while MacRay begins to fall for her as he gets to know the know the person that could put him in prison. Then there is Jon Hamm's FBI agent Adam Frawley who is hell bent on putting the bank robbers away after they continually evade arrest. This sets up a not entirely original story but an interesting one nonetheless. Watching MacRay begin a relationship with Claire while Coughlin is planning to "deal" with her is incredibly tense; especially a date that the frightening Jem decides to drop in on. Add in Hamm's determined FBI agent and Doug has one hell of dilemma on his hands.

This is an incredibly well acted movie with every member of the cast excelling in their roles. Renner is absolutely fantastic and raises the tension considerably whenever he is on screen, while Hamm makes what could have been a boring one note straight man an interesting "antagonist". Veteran Chris Cooper and the late Pete Postlethwaite pop up in small roles and are reliable as ever give that extra bit of class to what could have again been quite flat roles. As for the man of the hour Ben Affleck he very good and holds the lead role very well, although I still believe his future is behind the camera because he is clearly a talented director.

In his new found role as director Affleck crafts a great story punctuated with some truly exciting action sequences. The end shoot out imparticular is one of the best action scenes I seen in recent years and rivals the climatic street shoot out of 'Heat'. He seems to just have a knack for pacing as well because there is no lag in the narrative and the movie breezes by at a tight 120 minutes. It's just so perfectly put together and executed so well that it's hard to off points for its lack of originality in the story telling. If the movie wasn't so enjoyable the fact that there isn't many twists and turns in the narrative would have been much more noticeable, but thankfully Affleck doesn't make that mistake. I did however have a problem with the last few shots of the film, they feel a little too cliched and perhaps not necessary considering what came before it. A small complaint but did affect my overall reaction to the film considerably.

'The Town' may not be groundbreaking and it may not win all the awards in the world, but it is a damn good movie. Great acting, great characters, great writing and great actions make great entertainment. Affleck makes another step towards being the new Clint Eastwood, as so many are quick to compare him to, but it is hard to say otherwise when he makes films as good as 'The Town'. Next up for him is 'Argo' that takes him out of his comfort zone of Boston and into Iran of all place. Should be interesting.

Rating:

The Rum Diary Trailer - Hunter S.Thompson Returns

Its been just over 10 years since we were first introduced to the works of Hunter S.Thompson on screen when Terry Gilliam brought us the brilliantly insane 'Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas' which followed Johnny Depp as the infamous journalist as he consumed every drug imaginable while attempting to write a news report in Las Vegas. Now Depp is set to reprise the role in Bruce Robinson's 'The Rum Diary', another of Thompson's books in which he takes a job writing for a crappy newspaper in the Caribbean and gets into all sorts of shenanigans. The first trailer has just recently been released so check it out.

While 'The Rum Diary' certainly looks interesting and Depp reprising what is my personal favourite of his characters should be great it appears to be nowhere near as insane as 'Fear And Loathing' (how could it be?). The likelihood is that the hallucinations are going to kept away from the promos so as to not detract away the mainstream. With a cast including Depp, Aaron Eckhart, Amber Heard and Richard Jenkins this is a film I am certainly looking forward to despite it's seemingly toned down nature - although I am still expecting drug usage....lots of drug usage.

'The Rum Diary' is released October 28th in the States and November 4th in the UK.

Shaun Of The Dead - How's That For A Slice Of Fried Gold

Director: Edgar Wright

Cast: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Kate Ashfield, Lucy Davis, Dylan Moran, Bill Nighy, Penelope Wilton, Peter Serafinowicz

Plot: Shaun (Pegg) attempts to turn his underwhelming life around by winning back ex girlfriend Liz (Ashfield) while battling the hordes of undead that have took to the streets of London. Shaun's ideal place of safety away from the flesh munching zombies is the Winchester Pub and he intends to make it to there along with a group of fellow survivors.

Back in 2004 the team behind masterful British sitcom 'Spaced' attempted to bring there considerable talents to the big screen with the "romzomcom" 'Shaun of the Dead' and it was an huge success upon release and its stars have since been catapulted to the Hollywood A List. Pegg has gone onto star in million dollar franchises, Frost is currently working with Spielberg and Wright just directed my one of my favourites films of last year 'Scott Pilgrim'. But it all started here with the comedic masterpiece that is 'Shaun of the Dead'.

Zombies are quite scary. The thought that your loved ones could be eaten alive and then come back and try and kill you is terrifying. The flesh munchers themselves have never been more popular with the huge success of 'The Walking Dead' TV series and the brilliant stupidity of the 'Call Of Duty' Nazi Zombie game mode have helped to elevate their popularity. Back in 2004 zombies were dying out slightly but Shaun and the gang helped bring them back with all the wallop of a cricket bat to the head.

The premise is very simple in 'Shaun of the Dead'; there are zombies everywhere and a group of survivors have to get to perceived salvation at Shaun and slacker friend Ed's favourite pub 'The Winchester'. With this idea in place the comedy is allowed to come to the forefront and it is quite simply hilarious. A very sharp, witty script from Pegg and Wright pokes fun at many horror conventions while bringing in endlessly quotable lines and moments that will live on for decades to come.

But of course this comedy would be meaningless if we didn't have great characters that we want to see survive. Pegg's Shaun, Ashfield's Liz and 'The Ofiice's' Lucy Davis are standouts, while Nick Frost all but steals the show as the moronic but lovable Ed. Wright establishes these characters as normal everyday people that we can relate to then throws them into this horrifying (but funny) situation and we want to see them get out of it. 'Shaun' wouldn't be half the film that it is now if the characters weren't this likable.

With great heroes has to come villains and they come in the form of Dylan Moran's David who has a Masters degree in being a pr*ck and Bill Nighy as Shaun's overly evil step dad Phillip. Both are perfect for the roles with Nighy's small but fun role being the more memorable with Phillip having just the right amount sinister to make him scary.

There isn't much more that can be said other than to watch 'Shaun of the Dead' and then watch it again....and then maybe again. It demands second, third and fourth viewings to catch all the references to classic Romero zombie flicks, 'Star Wars', John Carpenter, James Cameron and the blink and you'll miss 'em gags like Shaun's slip on the blood in the newsagents and his reaction to the zombie that first enters his house - there are just so many jokes fired at you.

'Shaun of the Dead' is a comedy classic and announced the comedic stylings of Pegg, Frost and Wright to the world and I for one am grateful for it. With great characters, lots of blood, a sharp, funny script and an actual heart to it's story 'Shaun' is simply one of those movies everyone has to have seen. Go and grab a Cornetto, sit down at the Winchester and watch this movie then wait for your all troubles to blow over.

Rating:

Artist of The Week - Axeto

Sorry for the lack of posting recently, I've been away so it couldn't be helped. Now that I'm back, expect the pace to be picked back up!

This is the next weekly installment of my Artist of the Week Segment!! Every week I will be showcasing some artwork that I have stumbled across, from a range of different artists from many different countries.
Axeto
Age: 17
Location: Denmark
Years Drawing: 1 1/2 Years
Favorite Anime: Death Note

Live Review : Arcade Fire @ The M.E.N

Arcade Fire last night proved that they deserve their standing as one of the top bands around today with an explosive 90 minute performance that wowed all at the M.E.N.

Arcade Fire are not your normal kind of live act for starters there's eight of them and at times I had to question to myself if they had snuck another person on as the drummer who is generally hidden by the hoard of band members would emerge from his kit to play guitar as the multi-instrument band ran around changing who played what at different songs and with the bodies and sheer energy each member brings you can't help but be captivated by the bands performance.
Following on from the release the simply brilliant The Suburbs, Arcade Fire's songs are seemlessly transformed from the studio to stage with perfomances of songs such as 'Rococo,' 'Ready To Start' and 'The Suburbs' with songs such as 'Wake Up,'  'No Cars Go' and 'Rebellion (Lies)' already classics for the band with Wake up demanding woahs from the crowd. With each song being met with raptorous roars of approval Arcade Fire truely rocked the M.E.N.

Entering to an array of movie trailers including an inspired part of 1979 film 'The Warriors' Arcade Fire immeditately jumped into Ready to Start. One thing that impressed me about the Canadian based group was their non-stop attitude, there was rarely a chance to breathe after one song before Win and Co have started another hit. As the set continues the energy rises and the members way of playing their instruments with an appetite of destruction toward them invites the crowd to go crazy which they dualy oblige. Theres no doubt about it Arcade Fire pack anthems into their live perfomances 'No Cars Go' and 'Rococo' just two of these with the latter including a homage to the Manchester supergroup Oasis with Win singing 'Champagne Supernova'

The hits continue until a break in which another film trailer is shown from 'Camelot' in which Vanessa Redgrave sings about the lusty month of May, following this the band re-enter playing their nod to the same month. Next is one of their all time best songs Rebellion (Lies) and finally ending with The Suburbs which for me was the only bad choice with the setlist as personally I prefer gigs to end with a bang whereas this was a more gentle approach. Upon research I saw that this is not usually the way the band ends and they normally end with the biggest band they have in their arsenal (Wake Up) however I think the change may have been due to the fact that these are the final shows on The Suburbs tour and may be a goodbye to the album. Also, this gig got a marked down due to the subdued nature of the people around me but I cannot blame the band for that as it was only the people around me who seemed more content not moving to the music but oh well.

All in all this gig was right up there with the best I have seen amazing musically and energetic to the full. Outside on the Merch stand there were t-shirts bearing "Who The Fuck is Arcade Fire?" a reference to the storm that surrounded the bands storming wins at the Grammys and with performances like the one I witnessed it surely cannot be long until the world knows who the fuck Arcade Fire is!