Review for Robert Schimmel: Life After Then (Review)
Robert Schimmel is an American stand-up comedian, a Perrier Award nominee and also voted one of Comedy Central’s top 100 stand-up comedians.  That doesn’t sound particularly impressive really when you think about it, does it?  And you’d be right if that was all there was to this story, but wait…there’s more.   Schimmel attracted record ratings (don’t they all…) for both his Showtime and HBO...

Atomic Jihad... (Review)
Atomic Jihad   The election of Barack Obama just over a year ago as President of the United States created an air of hope globally, so much hope in fact that he was very quickly (and rather prematurely I feel) awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.  One of Obama’s major policy shifts from the previous Bush administration was the signalling of a different kind of foreign policy and renewed diplomatic...

M, the classic serial killer hunt from Fritz Lang... (Review)
Introduction   Child murderers are a staple of modern film and TV these days and these crimes never fail to shock and galvanise the nation whenever they tragically occur in real life.  What may be surprising, however, is that at least one man attempted to bring the shock of a child serial killer hunt to the fledging cinematic industry back in 1931 in Germany.  That man was Fritz Lang, undisputed...

In The Electric Mist (With Confederate Dead) (Review)
Introduction   There’s a serial killer on the loose in the post-Hurricane Katrina world of New Iberia, Louisiana, targeting young prostitutes.  Veteran detective Dave Robicheaux (Tommy Lee Jones) is on the case but getting nowhere fast.    Things are a little complicated by the presence of a Hollywood film crew, in the area to film a Civil War epic.  Robicheaux then arrests leading actor Elrod...

Open Graves (Review)
Jason (Mike Vogel) is an American expatriate who lives on the northwestern coast of Spain, indulging in a bit of surfing with his friends.  His mate Thomas (Ethan Rains) is a budding photographer who generally likes to sleep with all his models, has two girlfriends on the go and thinks he is god’s gift to women.   Despite being chatted up by Thomas first, Jason catches a glimpse of fellow American...

The Bourne Collection... (Review)
Back in about 1981, aged 13, I picked up my first Robert Ludlum novel from my school library.  I can’t remember if it was The Bourne Identity or The Matarese Circle, but both rather superb novels were quickly devoured in quick succession.  Ludlum was my first real favourite author with his rather complicated plots and a mix of cold war espionage with intrigue.   The Bourne Identity was a...

Battlestar Galactica: The Plan (Review)
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away some rebels were being chased by some evil dude in black and his mates all in white.  Just a few light years away, some robots created by man decided they didn’t much like man anymore and decided to kill them all.  And then when they realised that some had gotten away, went a-chasing them.  Yeehaw!   That was back in the 70’s with the likes of Lorne...

Saboteur - GTA & Assassin's Creed in WWII Paris... (Review)
It’s Paris in the mid-1940’s and France has been invaded by the nasty Boche.  Sean Devlin, the hero with a silvery coarse tongue, is an Irishman trapped in Paris and drawn into the world of the French Resistance due to his hatred of Germans.  Pre-war Devlin was a racing driver with a French family team and a rivalry with a German driver, also a high-ranking member of the SS, leads to the death of...

The Guide by Dr William Holden (Review)
The Guide   There are many self-help books and courses out there, some with hidden costs or not-so hidden costs, for anyone who feels that their life could be better.  Why?  The key is that lots of people feel that life is working against them and they are unable to achieve their heart’s desires, whether professionally or personally.  This is a multi-million pound industry with people attempting...

Tales of the Gold Monkey (Review)
Introduction   It’s 1982 and a couple of series appear on our TV screens centred on life in the late 1930’s.  They’re not inspired by, but nonetheless greenlit by, the success of Raiders of the Lost Ark.  One was the Bruce Boxleitner helmed Bring ‘Em Back Alive, the other was Tales Of The Gold Monkey – originally presented to the ABC network in 1979 and turned down until they felt they needed a...

Hiyama Vol 2 - Devils Within (Review)
Squaddie musician turned graphic novel artist Gruff79 returns with the second instalment of his Hiyama series, except it appears that he is in HM Forces no longer and has also moved to the land of hobbits, settling in New Zealand.  Whatever else this may mean, I suspect that this move has given him the space to dedicate more time to his comic artwork and it shows in Volume 2, entitled Devils...

Black Book (Review)
Introduction   Once upon time, Paul Verhoeven made a World War II film called Soldier of Orange starring Rutger Hauer. Then in the 80's he moved to Hollywood and made some great films such as Robocop, Total Recall, Starship Troopers and Basic Instinct. Unfortunately he also made Showgirls and Hollow Man. Soon after the latter, Verhoeven decided to return to his native Holland and only get...

Heat (Review)
Introduction   Robert De Niro and Al Pacino are essentially the top actors of their generation but for most of their careers had never shared screentime.   Despite both appearing in Godfather 2 and both lighting up the screen with their acting ability, the two were never in the same scene during the entire film (as De Niro only appeared in flashback as the younger version of Brando's Godfather...

The Banality of Evil... (Review)
Introduction   There’s a human characteristic that comes into play when dealing with controversial characters from history whether it’s Fred West, Harold Shipman or Ghengis Khan.  We demonise them, almost without exception.  It appears that as a species, and this isn’t a modern phenomenon by any means, we cannot handle the simple fact that someone who performs evil acts or is the figurehead for...

It was time to switch off... (Review)
Introduction   Pablo Francisco is a US comic and actor who is apparently best known for his voice work on Family Guy and The Simpsons.   He is also apparently the most viewed comic on-line, of which I am extremely sceptical.   Anyway, partly because I’m running out of things to say (already), I’m going to quote a piece from his PR material:   “When Pablo Francisco unleashes his creative...

Thomas Wogan Is Dead (Review)
Thomas Wogan Is Dead  Thomas Wogan, no relation to Terry, lives a rather mundane life.  Wogan’s favourite meal is beans on toast, even though he hero worships Delia Smith, and his life is banal to say the least.  Until the point where he passes through a bright light and finds himself in a waiting room with no recollection of how he got there.    It’s quite possible that the other occupants...

Computing Made Easy For The Over 50s... (Review)
Computing Made Easy For The Over 50s   One of the biggest demographics now getting into computing and internet surfing is the grey generation, those over 50 and with both disposable income and time to explore the technology that many people take for granted.  The biggest problem with computing though is that for many beginners it can be quite daunting to sit behind a keyboard and try to work out...

A Very British Revolution... (Review)
A Very British Revolution: The Expenses Scandal And How To Save Our Democracy   Without doubt, despite the increasing unpopularity of the current Government, the biggest scandal of modern times is the exposure of the expenses policy of the Houses of Parliament and our MP’s lackadaisical attitude to spending taxpayers money.  It’s not the fact that MP’s require to claim expenses during their...

Splinter (Review)
Introduction   There’s been an uneasy truce between the gangs in Paradise Gardens and Greenville Heights in East Los Angeles for the last couple of years, a truce that hangs in the balance after the drive by murder of Shaggy Gonzalez (Billy Garcia).  This event also leaves his brother Dreamer(Enrique Almeida) with a bullet lodged in his head and amnesia.   Dreamer hooks up with his other...

The Battle Of Algiers (Review)
Introduction   Colonialism is very much a dirty word now, but it used to be all the rage as Monarchs and Emperors vyed to show just how powerful they were by conqering countries around the world to see just how far they could stretch their rule.  All the major European powers had their own colonies around the world, and some still do.  Most of the major colonies have long since seen independence,...

Angels & Demons (Review)
Introduction   If it wasn’t bad enough that Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code had symbologist Robert Langdon getting the Church’s knickers in a twist with a theory that Christ provided a living descendant through Mary Magdelene (which is quite feasible, except maybe the bit about him ending up in Scotland where the SPL clearly needs a miracle…), the follow-up Angels & Demons sees a...

Dragon Chronicles: Fire & Ice (Review)
Introduction   The kingdom of Carpia is a peaceful kingdom, ruled by the benevolent King Augustin (Arnold Vosloo), in a land familiar to any with an interest in fantasy.  Augustin has a daughter, Princess Luisa (Amy Acker), who decides it’s much more fun to dress up as a bloke and go hunting and riding, much to the chagrin of her mother Queen Remini (Oana Pellea) who would prefer her to be a bit...

Big Man Japan (Review)
Introduction   Masuru Daisato (Hitoshi Matsumoto) is a seemingly ordinary man living in Tokyo who is the seemingly bizarre subject of a fly-on-the-wall documentary.  Daisato is a middle-aged nobody who lives by himself in a small house surrounded by graffiti and rubbish and has his windows broken randomly during which Daisato seems totally and blissfully unaware.   Slowly we get to see...

Good - an examination of the choices we make in life... (Review)
Introduction   Just what are we willing to do or ignore in order to improve our lives?  Can we willingly subvert our own morals?  Do we allow our friends to be mistreated?  Do we allow censorship and hate crime in order to feel a bit better about ourselves?   John Halder (Viggo Mortensen) is a literature professor who faces such choices in 1930’s Germany.  Halder is a struggling academic who...

The Quick & The Dead (Review)
Introduction   The town of Redemption is controlled by John Herod (Gene Hackman), who rules the roost with an iron fist.  He imposes tax rates that even Gordon Brown would baulk at, 50c in the $, and for this privilege he allows the town’s residents to merely survive.  Every year, this master of the quick draw also imposes a competition where the fastest gunslingers all compete for lots of cash...

The Deep (Review)
Introduction   Hot on the heels of Peter Benchley’s success on the silver screen with the Speilberg-helmed Jaws, Benchley’s world-wide bestseller The Deep was adapted for the screen and directed by Peter Yates.  This film was famous for a while in having introduced the world to Jacqueline Bisset in a wet T-shirt and many a poster of this adorned the wall of adolescent males.   New Yorkers...

Striking Distance (Review)
Introduction   Tom Hardy (Bruce Willis) used to be a homicide detective until he got tangled up in the unsolved Polish Hill killings where a series of women are strangled and dumped.  In the middle of the investigation Tom Hardy finds himself testifying against his partner and cousin Jimmy Detillo (Robert Pastorelli) after Jimmy severely assaulted a suspect, turning most of the Pittsburgh Police...

Outlander (Review)
Introduction   There have been some fine genre match-ups over the decades from Space Marines vs Aliens, Mega-Shark versus Giant Octopus and now, alien monster versus Vikings.  Oh, yes.  Iron age Nordic warriors with big ‘taches and even bigger beards take on big scary monster with nothing more than wooden shields, iron swords and the chance to recount the tale around the campfire…   It’s 709AD...

Nikita (Review)
Introduction   Back in 1990, a French film was released that became a huge hit on the VHS rental circuit and also in the process became one of my favourite films.  Although I didn’t really know it at the time, being a young squaddie, Nikita was directed by a great director by the name of Luc Besson.  September 2009 sees the release of a series of Besson films on both DVD and Blu-ray under the...

Ichi (Review)
Introduction   I didn’t realise until I read the corresponding review for the DVD of this release that the Blind Swordsman was an actual genre in Japanese film, although I guess I shouldn’t really be surprised.  Also like Jitendar, having never been subjected to this stand-alone genre previously I can only really comment on this first exposure and therefore hopefully come to it with fresh rather...

The Baader-Meinhoff Complex (Review)
Introduction  The Federal Republic of Germany, or West Germany to the rest of us, was not a great place to live in the late sixties and early seventies by all accounts.  It would appear that the country still hadn’t come to terms with the legacy of the Second World War and despite having relatively moderate Governments in power, the establishment were seen as leading in a new era of fascism by...

Star Trek 2: The Wrath Of Khan (Review)
Introduction  In the time since the V’ger crisis in the original cinematic excursion of the Enterprise crew, James T.Kirk (William Shatner) has accepted promotion to Admiral and along with most of his original crew now run training simulations at Starfleet Academy for new recruits.  Amongst this latest set of recruits is Saavik (Kirstie Alley), a Vulcan being groomed for command by Captain...

All The Freaks (Review)
The Thought Criminals precede the release of second album You’re A Moral Liability with new single All The Freaks.  Since the release of debut album Die Young: Stay Pretty, the band have lost two of their number and have regrouped around core members keyboardist Kirlian Blue and vocalist Rocky.   All The Freaks isn’t too much of a deviation from previous single releases in that it is a catchy...

New Tricks (Review)
Iintroduction   New Tricks is a BBC detective series with a difference.  Light hearted in it’s approach, the series is centred on the Unsolved Crime and Open Case Squad or UCOS for short.  Led by a high-flying policewoman with a stalled career, Detective Superintendent Sandra Pullman (Amanda Redman), UCOS are staffed by a trio of retired police officers who look at unsolved cases with both fresh...

Mega Shark Vs Giant Octopus (Review)
Introduction   The future only belongs in the hands of itself And the future is electric youth   Except it wasn’t.  Back in the 80’s Debbie Gibson had a chart duel with Tiffany before fading away.  But now she’s back, after changing her name to Emma McNeil and re-training as a marine biologist, and a maverick one at that.  Emma is so maverick that she decides to borrow a rather expensive...

When Kiran Met Karen (Review)
When Kiran Met Karen  Despite the world moving on in general with the acceptance of gay love, whether homosexual or lesbian, there are still people that just cannot accept that two people of the same sex can love each other.    Prejudice has always reared its head amongst individual people and people influence organisations and fields of work.  One such place where homophobia is said to still...

Star Trek: The Original Series - Season One (HD DVD/DVD) (Review)
Introduction In 1966 Gene Roddenberry managed to get a sci-fi series on air in the US that purported to boldly go where no man had gone before.  Conventional science fiction at this point in time was really represented in the mainstream by the rather quaint and camp Lost In Space with Robbie The Robot.  Roddenberry wanted to do something a little different and created a version of the US Navy...

Bodyguard: A New Beginning (Review)
Introduction  Leung (Vincent Sze) is a trusted bodyguard to Hong Kong Triad boss Wong (Richard Ng), serving him for the last 12 years and proving a very capable protector with unrivalled loyalty to his boss.  The arrival of US gangster Kai (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa) looks to test that loyalty and the continued reign of Wong as undisputed boss of the Triads.  Kai is looking to break into the Hong...

Looking for The KLF? (Review)
Pop Inc – Looking 4 The KLF   Pop Inc. are a trans-Atlantic collective that is primarily based in Minneapolis and the brainchild of Brooke Aldridge, John Matthews, Neil Schultz and Uziel Nevo Gipson.  Several other personnel are also involved in this project including Ricardo Autobahn and Jenny McLaren from UK synthpop band Spray, J. Evan LeFreak, Matt “Dr.” Fink and Danny Morris.  At least one...

Knowing - does it help any? (Review)
Introduction   Nichols Cage is one of those actors who seems to divide film fans, a bit like Keanu Reeves but less blank looking.  The nephew of Francis Ford Coppola, Cage’s filmography and critical acclaim thereof has been very mixed, particularly of his more mainstream films and his collaborations with blockbuster-meister Jerry Bruckheimer.  Still, Nicholas Cage is a bonefide Oscar winner so...

Wire In The Blood - the last hurrah? (Review)
Introduction   Based on characters created by best-selling author Val McDermid, Wire In The Blood brings the fashionable TV detective drama duo of cop and non-cop expert together to bring a different perspective to the drama.  In this case we have a tough female senior detective in Alex Fielding (Simone Lahbib) and professor of psychology Tony Hill (Robson Green).  Prior to Lahbib, the first...

The Golden Age Of Wireless (Review)
Thomas Dolby – The Golden Age Of Wireless   Thomas Dolby initially came to my attention when he performed Windpower on Blue Peter, and it made an immediate impact on me.  For a start, the subject matter of the song, as explained by the title, was different from the norm at the time in the mainstream (with the exception of Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark and Kraftwerk) and the second was the...

The Admiral - a figure rehabilitated? (Review)
Introduction   Aleksandr Vasiliyevich Kolchak is one of the most controversial figures in post-Communist Russia, although you won’t find much discussion of this figure outside of those borders.  Prior to his death by firing squad at the hands of the Bolsheviks in 1920, Kolchak was a highly decorated and respected figure within the Russian Navy.  As someone who not only fought, but actually...

Paul Temple...zzz... (Review)
Introduction Radio has traditionally been the origin of popular series; think Dick Tracy or Dick Barton, Special Agent amongst others.  Paul Temple, penned by Francis Durbridge, first arrived on radio in 1938 before branching out into novels, films and even a daily comic strip.  The radio series lasted for over 30 years before the BBC finally decided to make a TV series centred around the...

Push - not Heroes... (Review)
Introduction After the end of World War II, intelligence services pilfered the research of Nazi scientists and started experiments in psychic abilities with the intention of creating armies of super soldiers. In order to control the results of these experiments, secret organisations were formed called Divisions. The US version of the Division not only conducted experiments but also hunted down...

Hitler's Bodyguard (Review)
Introduction Adolf Hitler and his Third Reich caused the deaths of over 50 million people after rising to power during the 1930's. His country willingly followed him into a war that led to the destruction and ruin of Germany as well as a redrawing of the borders for nearly 50 years. As with any dictator (and actually the same applies to any political leader), Hitler was hated by his opponents...

Trouble The Water (Review)
Introduction   On 29th August 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit the city of New Orleans.  Katrina was both the costliest hurricane in US history as well as one of the five most deadly, leaving a total of 1, 836 people confirmed dead and with a further 705 missing.  The economic damage estimated as a result of Hurricane Katrina is $89.6 billion, but the human cost is truly immeasurable.   Trouble The...

Indigènes - Days of Glory... (Review)
Introduction  In 1940 France fell to the Blitzkrieg tactics of Hitler’s Third Reich and General De Gaulle and the pitiful remains of the French Army (now the Free French Army) were exiled to England to lick their wounds, alongside the shattered British Expeditionary Force.  The Free French Army was severely down on its numbers and clearly couldn’t recruit from its native land, so it did what...

Flame & Citron (Review)
Introduction   Copenhagen, 1944.  Denmark has been occupied by the Nazi’s since April 9th 1940, a rather flat invasion or annexation at first but one in which the Nazi authorities put more and more pressure on the Danes.  Some went along and tried to just live their lives, some were already Nazi’s and were just waiting for the day, and some decided that armed resistance was the only solution. ...

British Railways: The Early Years 1948 - 1961 (Review)
Review   Were there any boys who didn’t dream of working the footplate and becoming a train driver in his early youth?  There’s a lot of nostalgia about our railways, only ruined by our adult experiences of commuting and rail strikes.  It wasn’t always this way though…   The end of the Second World identified the requirement to do something about the creaking railways in Britain.  The railways...

Starbuck in crap film shocker... (Review)
Introduction   Ultimate killing machine boy meets moody girl and they kill things.  That’s about it in a nutshell, but I’m guessing you want a bit more detail than that, right?  OK, but don’t say I didn’t warn you…   A rather right wing Government sometime in the near future decides that the way to stem the rising tide of lawlessness is to develop a drone police, clones who have no feelings or...

Incompetents in freezing seas... (Review)
Introduction   Whales are amongst the most beautiful mysterious to inhabit the earth’s vast oceans and have a reputation as being both graceful and intelligent.  Whales have been under threat for a long time though, particularly from the Japanese whaling fleet.  In Japan, whale meat is an expensive delicacy, with a slaughtered whale bringing in close to a million dollars in profit from meat...

The Innocent Sleep (Review)
Introduction   Alan Terry (Rupert Graves) is a scouse down-and-out, living and drinking on the streets in London.  After his patch is taken over by a mean drunk Scotsman named Mac (what else?), Alan is pointed in the direction of an old abandoned warehouse near Tower Bridge as somewhere to doss down for the night.  Arriving there, Alan tries to make himself comfortable when he hears a bit of a...

Bullshit! (Review)
Introduction   Magic duo Penn and Teller have been around for a while now, using a combination of illusion and  comedy to gain audiences globally.  As with any duo, the on-screen/stage personna’s of the duo are a contrast to each other.  Penn Jillette is the brash frontman who litters his delivery with profanity, whilst Teller is the silent straight man who uses mime.   Bullshit! is a series...

Wolverine and the X-Men (Animated Series) (Review)
Introduction   The relatively successful Marvel franchise of X-Men films continues apace this summer with the recent release of Wolverine: X-Men Origins, which takes the most successful character and actor within this franchise and attempts to fill in his back story and give the franchise a much needed kick up the posterior.   With one eye clearly on this, E1 have decided to release the first...

Aircraft Recognition for Royal Navy Gunners 1940 (Review)
In 1940 the German Blitzkrieg had swept through Western Europe and conquered all in its path.  Britain had been ejected from France via the disastrous rout at Dunkirk and it was only a matter of time before the eyes of the Third Reich looked across the English Channel to the one remaining lone Island state that stood in the way of complete capitulation to the Nazi regime in Berlin.   Prior...

Electric Dreams... (Review)
Introduction Miles (Lenny Von Dohlen) is a budding architect with a mission, to create an earthquake-proof brick. Of course, this is a mission he must complete on his own time as the first couple of years in his chosen career means he has to work his way through the ****ty jobs first, such as plumbing in high-rise buildings. His passion for the elusive brick design has an impact on his work...

Caprica (Review)
Introduction It's 50 years before the events that took place in the recently ended saga/remake of Battlestar Galactica. Set on the planet of Caprica, one of the twelve colonies, this new imagined series from the pen of Ronald D. Moore and Remi Aubuchon sets the scene for events that led to the devastating Cylon attack on the home worlds. Zoe Graystone (Alessandra Toreson) is a young school...

Max Payne (Review)
Introduction Max Payne (Mark Wahlberg) is an ex-homicide cop who works in the Cold Case office. Most cops who end up down there have made career halting decisions, but not Max. He's there because the death of his wife and child and still unsolved and this is where he picks through unsolved cases looking for a lead that will put him on the right track. Although none ever appears. A chance...

The Red Riding Trilogy (Review)
Introduction Based on a quartet of novels by David Peace, Channel 4 this year adapted the Red Riding series into a trilogy of films set in specific years. This films encompassed police corruption, child killings and the Yorkshire Ripper. 1974 Young aspiring journalist Eddie Dunford (Andrew Garfield) spots a link between a number of girls going missing in the Leeds area over the last few...

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