Film Review: Land of the Dead

"too much chlorine in the water... not good the skin!"

Land of the Dead (15)
Dir. George A. Romero

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

Well rip my spinal chord out and eat it in front of me if this isn’t Land of the Dead - The 4th part of George A. Romero's zombie quadrillogy… alas despite probably having the largest budget of the series, this is the shuffling weakest by a mile.

Now I’ll freely confess to not be a zombie lover – when it comes to horror zombies are way down my list of favourite monsters but Mr Romero, he freakin loves zombies. In fact in Land of the Dead the zombies are practically the heroes!! At least I found myself rooting for them over the stupid and unlikeable humans…

So what do you get this time round – well the living dead are pretty much in control (no I don’t mean a Tory election triumph), the whole planet is a mass of walking corpses apart from one luxury cityblock ruled by bad man Dennis Hopper.

As might be expected, there’s a great deal of zombie vs human battling, lots of gore and the occasional watchable scene but this really is a disposable film experience with little character development and not even any good scares…

I actually preferred the remake of Dawn of the Dead – go figure.


Darkmatt Rating: öö (Land of the Dud)

Reviews of other films and stuff you might want to read indexed here

"You know a film is duff when even the lovely Asia 'like my tattoo?' Argento can't make it worth watching..."

Grand Theft Auto PSP... Will Be MULTIPLAYER!!

"nice car... I'll take it!"

Yeah I know this news broke a few days ago all over game sites but man, it is seriously good news... Grand Theft Auto PSP will be multiplayer... Imagine the scene, down the pub, the very stakes of "who buys the next round" relies on who 'dies' first in a game of city wide deathmatch (cars, weapons... pretty much everything from the single player mode will feature!)

For all those times you've ever wanted to steal a car, chase your mates, drive them off the road and then shoot them in the head (virtually of course).

If this isn't the best reason to put a PSP on your Christmas list, you're probably already dead...

Film Review: Four Brothers

Four Brothers (15)
Dir. John Singleton

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

It’s like this: Evelyn Mercer was a veritable saint who worked for Detroit Social Services and helped take hundreds of kids out of foster homes and find them permanent placements. In 30 years, she came across only four delinquents so far gone she couldn't find anyone to take them in. So she took them in herself, taught them right from wrong and sent them out into the world…

Unfortunately for her, she gets gunned to death in the opening scene, so her four little boys decide, like any well balanced, loving sons would - to hunt down and execute every last person responsible.
Can I just say here how much I love a good action movie – especially one that contains scenes of heroic characters battling evil scumbags, preferably with as much large calibre weaponry as they can carry, but I did not love Four Brothers.

In fact this ‘not so fantastic’ four – the Mercer brothers (Mark Wahlberg, André 3000, Tyrese Gibson and Garrett Hedlund) deserve a punishment beating along with director John ‘2 Fast 2 Furious’ Singleton, for wasting two hours viewers’ lives with this mammoth sized turkey.

Four Brothers is bad on so many levels that it’s almost funny but by far the most heinous crime committed here is that dear sweet thug adopting Evelyn Mercer keeps popping up as a ghost. In most films where the characters hold conversations with their departed mothers, we’re talking serious schizoid psychos to a man – but not here. In Four Brothers, dear dead mum jumps out when you least expect it – like at the brothers’ Thanksgiving dinner and says meaningful things like “don’t you be eating with your mouth full.” It really gave me the willies.

Anyway, there is one decent scene about halfway through (from which most of the misleadingly exciting trailer is taken) where evil scumbags in hockey masks lay siege to the brothers’ house with large calibre weaponry. But unless you’re lucky enough to wander in just as this starts and leave again as soon as it’s over – you’re in for a joyless movie experience which you can easily avoid by going to see ‘A History of Violence’ or ‘Serenity’ (next week’s review) instead.

Four Brothers is lazy, uninspired and generally ‘ho hum’ – always taking the easy option and treating the viewer with contempt. You deserve better, don’t waste your time!

Darkmatt Rating: ö (weak, and unforgivably tedious)

Reviews of other films and stuff you might want to read indexed here


"sensing what a pile of crap the film was turning out to be...
Wahlberg tried to make a break for it under the watchful eye of his 'brothers' "

Yoda - Episode III deleted scene screenshot

"Hhmmmm, on the toilet I was, seconds before they took this shot - no privacy have I!"

Star Wars Episode III hits DVD on the 31st Oct and there will be 'deleted scenes' like the one pictured above where Yoda lands on Dagobah...

Hhhmmm, enjoy you will....

Persephone - Just One Reason to Revist The Matrix

"Man, she eats grapes like my wife!"

If you haven't watched The Matrix II (Reloaded) or III (Revolutions) for a while, I'd recommend giving them another go... I mean, sure they didn't really so justice to the original but there are enough 'wow' scenes to make you happy... Here's hoping they bring out UMD's of the trilogy so we can watch the lovely Persphone on the go...

Reviews of other films and stuff you might want to read indexed here

Positive Film Review: Revolver

Revolver (15)
Dir. Guy Ritchie

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

Do you want the good news or the bad?
Well here’s the bad (in some people’s opinion) – Guy Ritchie is back and this time he’s made another crime caper film to follow up ‘Lock, Stock’ and ‘Snatch’. Except Revolver isn’t anything like those two earlier movies, where they played for laughs and violence, this one delves into metaphysical ponderings, personal demons, oh but it does keep the violence.
The good news however is that Revolver is excellent (although liable to hurt you brain in ways that films like Fight Club, Usual Suspects or even David Lynch at his best can). And just to wave a finger or two at the stampede of critics who have slated this film Ritchie has said: "Clever people will get it, I'm sorry but I'm not making Snatch 2", and that certainly seems to be the case. Revolver as a slick, delicious, thinking person’s gangster thriller – alas from the blank faces and mutterings of ‘what the hell was that all about’ that accompanied my screening it looks like there just aren’t that many ‘thinking people’ going to see Guy Ritchie films these days…
The story features con artist Jake Green (a shaggy looking Jason Statham), who is looking for payback after getting out from a seven stretch of wrongful imprisonment. No sooner has he humiliated his dangerous, casino owning nemesis - Macha (a snarling Ray Liotta on top ‘Goodfellas’ form), when two shady types tell him that he only has three days to live. These two jokers (Vincent Pastore and André 3000) are loan sharks and they force Green to hand over all his cash to their clients in return for the antidote to his ‘rare blood disease’.
There’s plenty to admire – including a fun short animated section, some retina burning imagery, plus the best ‘lone hit man takes on a small army of goons’ scene that you’ll see this year! In fact the hit man in question “Sorter” played by Mark Strong (who you can next see in Roman Polanski’s new Oliver Twist) is such a cool character that he deserves a spin off film of his own.
Revolver definitely won’t be everybody’s cup of tea but it delivers two smoking barrels of quality gangster intrigue. I really enjoyed it and as long as you don’t go expecting a loud, stupid Snatch 2 of a movie – you might too.

Darkmatt Rating: ööööö (Excellent but be prepared to engage your brain!!)

Reviews of other films and stuff you might want to read indexed here


"that neon hat didn't really go with his pinstripe suit"

Film Review: TwentyNine Palms

TWENTYNiNE PALMS
Dir. Bruno Dumont

Reviewed by Matt Adcock


I like to think of myself as a hardened film watcher and even though I’m a signed up Christian I still enjoy a good tale of violence, sex and erm desert scenery as much as the next Baptist.

This however is an oddity – the tale of David, an independent photographer, and Katia – his neurotic lover… They go scouting in the desert searching a natural set for a magazine photo shoot, staying in and around the one horse town of – you guessed it – TwentyNine Palms.

The film is 95% a character observation, in very little happens; they drive through amazing Joshua Tree filled desert, scratch up their Hummer on the rocky roads and trails. They making love all the time (and he has the loudest orgasms I’ve ever witnessed a bloke having on screen!), she regularly freaks out, he gets cross and they fight, then kiss and make up, they go out for meals, shop for food etc…
But there is a very very minimal hint of menace in several incidents e.g. a car passes Katia walking alone at night and it pulls a 180degree turn to come back and look for her, or a monster truck driving redneck wheelspins dust all over the couples red Hummer etc but even those who are avidly looking for signs of how it might end would be lying if they correctly predicted the outcome of all this.

I won’t spoil the ending for you – but I must say that this film is not an 18 rating for nothing… and the shocking events of the last 5 minutes hit me like a sledgehammer to the face!!

The director described the minimalist approach like this:

"Here, it's not so much the subject that matters as the air itself, the atmosphere, its hue. In this way, Twentynine Palms is a horror film – an extreme horror; built up innocently, dependent on a delicate plot – the natural account of a couple of tourists engaged in wild sex – that, all of sudden, is reversed, attaining the ultimate."

Be warned – this does get extremely nasty at the end, but for a weird little atmospheric road movie it’s worth a watch…

Darkmatt Rating: öööö (Excellent, slow paced but ultimately grim)

"she was holding tight - to stop her sliding off the rock..."

Serenity... cool new poster!!

"you can sense the excitement of millions of Firefly fans as Serenity prepares to land in cinemas!"

Serenity


Advance word is good, and although I've resisted the Press Shows for this (pleasure delaying - as I want to experience it amongst the 'fans' on day one),,, I really am over excited about seeing it!!!!

As Nick Nunziata says over at Chud.com:

"There's a certain swagger to Serenity that is infectious. It has no fear of relying on convention and tosses caution to the wind in its approach and as a result the film is a breath of fresh air amidst the overblown vacant spectacles we've been fed these past few years."

Check out the excellent official site here: www.serenitymovie.com

Matt falls for Goldfrapp ... it's supernature

"you're my favourite moment, you're my Saturday..."

You know sometimes a song comes out of nowhere and punches you right in the face, you have to buy it straight away and you can't believe you've existed without it until now... That song is NUMBER 1 by Goldfrapp and although it's not a single (yet) it is on the new Supernature album which I had to get today after hearing Number 1 on Radio One...


Sexy, seductive, upbeat and essentially an '80s vibe... altogether now:


Walk out into velvet - Nothing more to say -You're my favourite moment -You're my Saturday -Cos you're my Number 1 -I'm like a dog to get you -I want it up and on -I'm like a dog to get you -Sunset only seconds -Just ripe then it's gone -Got no new intentions -Just right then it's gone -Cos you're my Number 1 -I'm like a dog to get you -I want it up and on -I'm like a dog to get you -I'll be there to meet you -Getting down to greet you -Howl under the moon...

Reviews of other films and stuff you might want to read indexed here

Keira Knightley - will melt the screen in Domino

"Miss Knightley looking rather delicious"

About her new film Domino Keira says:

“The movie is shocking. It's a shocking film.

I mean, it's very violent.

There is sex, violence, nudity and bad language.

So I'm pretty sure that it gets you on all fronts.”

Amen sister... sounds like a winner to me!

Check my earlier post (with another superb shot of miss Knightley in it by clicking here Domino Will Rock)

"Keira.. that's just a great outfit!!"

Reviews of other films and stuff you might want to read indexed here

Film Review: The Jacket

The Jacket
Dir. John Maybury

Reviewed by Matt Adcock


Keira Knightley is carving out a great CV when it comes to delivering ‘films that Matt has enjoyed’ … The Hole was great (and she showed off her perky, um, assets), Pirates of the Caribbean was fun, she stole all her scenes in King Arthur and blew me away in Pride & Prejudice. Next up she has Domino by Tony Scott who is one of my favourite directors and here we have The Jacket… which I just caught on DVD.


Described by the movie rev Chris Curtis as “a dark and brooding film with great cinematography” this is a superb thriller mixes time-travel, mystery, romance, menace and anti-psychotic drugs to compelling effect…
Adrien Brody is Jack Starks, basically a guy who gets killed in the first Gulf War, brought back only to be locked up for supposedly killing a police officer. Deemed a nutter by the judge he is shipped off to a medical facility for the criminally insane – a place so bleak that it makes the one from One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest look like a 5 star hotel. Deranged Dr. Becker (Kris Kristofferson) starts drugging the crap out of him and locking him in THE JACKET and putting him in a morgue draw for hours on end. But it’s not so bad because whilst in there he ‘travels’ to the future and meets Keira Knightley (as I have done on several occasions whilst strapped down in my under stairs cupboard – but that’s another matter entirely!). The bad news for Jack is that although he gets to sleep with Keira he finds out that he’s actually dead by now – 2007… So, he tries to find out how he died and only has 4 days to do so…
Darkmatt Rating: ööööö (Excellent Freakiness)

Reviews of other films and stuff you might want to read indexed here


"Errm, hello? Can I take The Jacket off now please?"

Film Review: Prey Alone

Prey Alone (12)

Dir. Stephen St. Leger, James Mather

Reviewed by Matt Adcock (@cleric20)

Prepare yourself; this is a high-octane short film that pushes the limits of computer-generated animation to the cutting edge. And if you’re looking for a serious nitro boost of adrenaline action scroll down and watch this sucker now!!

Prey Alone may only be 15 minutes, but man it’s stunning stuff from the gritty interrogation which set the scene to the superb car chase that takes in fighter jets chasing a sports car into a subway system!!

The plot is cool – authorities are trying to bring down a dangerous suspect who ‘cannot be caught’… That’s pretty much all you need to know – just strap yourself in and enjoy the roller coaster CGI ride that has effect which wouldn’t look out of place in The Matrix or Sin City…

There is even time to throw in a cool, clever plot twist which makes you have to watch the film again straight away!

The guys who made this are exactly the sorts of folks I am interested in getting to make the Darkmatters feature… Hey, if you’re reading this, give me a shout?

Watch it now!!




Darkmatt Rating: ööööö (AWESOME)

Reviews of other films and stuff you might want to read indexed here

Film Review: Pride & Prejudice

Pride & Prejudice (U)
Dir. Joe Wright

Reviewed by Matt Adcock


Violent scenes of utter carnage and unspeakable brutality

- racked my dreams after seeing this new big screen version of the much-loved Jane Austen classic ‘Pride & Prejudice’. I don’t think it had much to do with the film but you never know…

So, ten whole years after the BBC unleashed Colin Firth’s Mr Darcy into a million women’s fantasies, up steps Keira Knightley as an exercet missile of hot female feistiness - Miss Elizabeth Bennet, and she has a ‘lock on’ to male hearts the world over. I have to confess something here, although my love for Die Hard, Star Wars and Fight Club are well documented, I erm, I also have a serious passion for the work of Jane Austen. This is almost certainly due to the influence of my mother who introduced me to her books at an impressionable age and when I say 'introduced me' I mean 'forced me to read her entire catalogue of works'... I’ve never been quite the same since…

Those who have not been initiated into the way of the Austen may not realise that it was she who basically created the romantic comedy ‘formula’ we all been subjected to many times over (often thanks to Richard Curtis). And of her books it is Pride & Prejudice that delivers everything you could want in a timeless story of love conquering social class barriers and foolish arrogance and misunderstanding.

Matthew MacFadyen takes the role Darcy this time and whilst acknowledged as not being as much of a heart throb as Firth, he does convey Darcy’s conceit and hauteur convincingly. In fact the acting is excellent across the board, I really enjoyed Simon Woods’ Bingley and Judi Dench makes a great Lady Catherine de Bourgh. But even with the lovely Jena Malone and Rosamund ‘Doom’ Pike as her sisters it is Keira who steals the show with her impish smile and impossibly gorgeous features. Austen purists might complain that she doesn’t have the prerequisite heaving cleavage with which to convey her emotion but there’s not a red-blooded man alive who wouldn’t be captivated by her Elizabeth (if she really existed of course).

All in all, debut director Joe Wright delivers a great film and utilises some jaw dropping landscape scenes, which add to the semi epic feel. Some may lament the fact that they couldn’t cram everything from the BBC 6-hour miniseries into these two hours but as a complete package this P&P is a top night out.

Darkmatt Rating: öööö (the original and best - rom com)

Reviews of other films and stuff you might want to read indexed here

"Keira... oh you're lovely!!"

If you're a Jane Austin fan then you might want to check out this blog:

http://ladaisi.blogspot.com/2010/11/im-jane-austen-jane-eyre-kind-of-girl.html

For a more action packed version check: Pride and Prejudice and ZOMBIES

"Mmmmmmm"

Field Commander: Advance Wars for PSP

"Incoming!!"

Field Commander PSP

This is very good news to strategy game freaks like me...

Finally what looks like a kick ass turn-based military strategy game coming to the PSP...

Have a look at the official web site which launched today: http://fieldcommander.station.sony.com/

Here's what Sony told me earlier... Sony Online Entertainment today announced that it will be releasing the turn-based strategy game Field Commander for the PSP in February 2006. The game puts players in the shoes of a field commander in the Allied Nations whose responsibility it is to protect the world from terrorists who wish to rule the world.

Is this Sony's Advance Wars killer?

"nothing strengthens that father /son bond like using future tanks to blow the crap out of each other... on the PSP"

Underworld 2 (evolution) or Kate Beckinsale in tight latex outfit for another couple of hours... yes please!!

"outfits like that are a thing of true beauty... I'm very keen to see Underworld 2!"

Harry Potter's Goblet of Fire trailer hits the web...

"Teen wizards... you gotta love em!"

Today the new Harry Potter trailer hit the net... and it's rather good... check for yourself by clicking this link:

Harry Potter Goblet Of Fire Trailer

Prey Alone... Almost Too Cool!!

PREY ALONE

Damn, and I thought my trailer for Darkmatters was good... (it is but we made ours with no budget) - if you want to see something so tasty your eyes might start bleeding... 

The plot:
Special Agent Darris Cain is on the hunt for an elusive fugitive. His only leads are a reluctant witness held in a military prison and the words "prey alone" written in a notebook. Can Cain track him down and discover the true identity of the mysterious criminal?

Watch Prey Alone via: this link

Film Review: Dogville

Dogville (15)
Dir. Lars von Trier

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

Loopy La La von Trier came up with an innovative and uncanny idea for shooting Dogville... Forget about location and concentrate on the acting... The result is a powerful revenge drama which plays out as if on a semi decked 'stage'... I had my doubts that I could take almost 3 hours of this but was hooked from the start by the excellent narrative voice over and beguiling performance by Kidman.

The story goes like this - when a beautiful fugitive, Grace (the always watchable Nicole Kidman), arrives in the isolated township of Dogville it changes the lives of everyone in that place... Tom (Paul Bettany), the self-appointed town spokesman is soon under her spell and convinces the little community to hide her from the gangsters and the law who are pursuing her...

Dogville however has a deviant dark underbelly and once Grace has agreed to work for them in return for their shelter - the men folk of the township succumb to their base lust, the women to bitchy jealousy and spite, and the even the kids turn out to be as unpleasant as they come... Grace learns the hard way that in Dogville you don't want to trust anyone and to expect no kindness. Or for that matter even basic human rights - like not being raped in your bed by half the town every night...

But Grace has a secret too and hers' is a dangerous one. Dogville may regret it ever began to bare its teeth...

Yes if you can buy into the minimalist approach and production - you'll be well rewarded with one of the best ever endings to a film - and if you can't stomach the plodding story, at least on DVD you can jump to the end but it won't have so much satisfactory 'bite'...

Darkmatt Rating: öööö (weirdness + quality acting = top entertainment)

Reviews of other films and stuff you might want to read indexed here

"take me away from all this abuse... or you'll be SORRY!!"

DARKMATTERS - Trailer (sneak production photos)

c o m i n g s o o n

These are 'leaked' on set shots of the underground Dark Matter Collaboration research vault from the soon to be released trailer for the 'imaginisation' of the novel DARKMATTERS...

If you want to be the first to see the trailer when it hits the web - register your interest by clicking here (or email cleric@another.com)

Film Review: Cinderella Man

Cinderella Man (12a)
Dir. Ron Howard

Reviewed by Matt Adcock


Once upon a time, there was a boxing contender called Cinderella (although his actual name was Jim Braddock and is played here by Russell ‘I am Gladiator’ Crowe). Cinderella led a breadline life and was forced by his evil stepmother to fight all the time, even when injured. Because of this he lost pretty much everything he had, except the love of his faithful wife Mae (Renee Zellweger) and his wholesome children. Times certainly were hard but then one day his fairy godmother / boxing promoter Joe Gould (Paul Giamatti) got him a second shot at his boxing dream and if you don’t know how the story ends then I won’t spoil it for you.

This hard hitting fairy tale is actually based on a true story and director Ron Howard plays it all very safe – never risking anything too original whilst heaping the sentimentality on by the bucket load. Cinderella Man however comes out punching well above its weight in quality, so if you’re looking for a dose of good old-fashioned storytelling liberally peppered with crunching boxing bouts then you’ve come to the right place. There’s something for everyone here, with romance, family drama and of course pugilistic smackdowns vying for position in a plot that might seem far-fetched if were not based in fact.

Crowe delivers a staggering performance, a perfect blend of muscular nobility balanced with a heart-warming, genuine feeling and gritty determination to protect his family from the soul-destroying hardship of the 1930’s depression. And just because boxing films are no strangers to ‘remarkable career revival’ storylines, don’t count Cinderella Man out because it still manages to raise the hairs on the back of your neck. Especially when it gets to the obligatory last-reel showdown between underdog hero Braddock and evil incarnate champion Max Baer (a deliciously slimy and menacing Craig Bierko).

Crowe could well pick up an Oscar for his performance here and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Giamatti up there with him for his supporting role – they bounce off each other with excellent chemistry that really lifts the film whenever they share screen time. Zellweger on the other hand struggles to convince and over use of her ‘screw my face up to try and convey emotion’ ploy starts to grate really fast. But having said that, there really aren’t many things to knock in this mature, quality movie that shows Howard in fine form as he turns his directing skills towards the big screen adaptation of ‘The Da Vinci Code’ next.

Darkmatt Rating: ööö (uppercut to the frontal lobe)

Reviews of other films and stuff you might want to read indexed here

PIXIES: an unforgettable night

The Pixies live at Alexandra Palace, London...

Matt 'Debaser' Adcock was there

All hail the "Boston Quartet" - singer Francis Black (born Charles Thompson), bassist Kim Deal, guitarist Joey Santiago and drummer David Lovering... because they are THE PIXIES and they can still rock harder than any group on the planet!!

The set list on this momentous final night of their Euro tour included crowd favourites: “Hey", “Monkey Gone To Heaven", “Where Is My Mind?", “Debaser"… I was blown away by just how great these aging rockers can put on a live show... It was a sweet sweet night - long to be remembered and made all the better as it was shared with top pal Mike 'so many women, so little time' Brooks who is the guy you want with you for any decent gig...

I know the nervous walking, I know the dirty beard that hangs, Out by the boxcar waiting, Take me away to nowhere plains...

SONY PSP Takes over the UK...

"Got yours yet?"

SONY's gorgeous PSP has been welcomed to the UK by more than 185,000 people in the first weekend of sales which is more than double the amount of Nintendo DS's sold in it's first week...

And not content to move a lot of hardware - the PSP has gatecrashed the all format software sales chart taking 9 of the top 10 places (including the number 1). See below (chart from Charttrack)...

1/ RIDGE RACER - SONY COMPUTER ENT. (-)
2/ BRIAN LARA INTERNATIONAL CRICKET 2005 - CODEMASTERS (1)
3/ WIPEOUT PURE - SONY COMPUTER ENT. (-)
4/ VIRTUA TENNIS: WORLD TOUR - SEGA (-)
5/ METAL GEAR AC!D - KONAMI (-)
6/ NEED FOR SPEED UNDERGROUND: RIVALS - ELECTRONIC ARTS (-)
7/ MIDNIGHT CLUB 3: DUB EDITION - TAKE 2 (-)
8/ TOCA RACE DRIVER 2 - CODEMASTERS (-)
9/ TONY HAWK'S UNDERGROUND 2: REMIX - ACTIVISION (-)
10/ WORLD TOUR SOCCER - SONY COMPUTER ENT. (-)

I couldn't resist joining in the buying frenzy and added TOCA RACE DRIVER 2 and VIRTUA TENNIS to my games shelf - both of which are excellent. And GHOSTBUSTERS on UMD which looks and sounds better than ever on the funky PSP...

With new Burnout, Grand Theft Auto and Fifa coming before Christmas... this is already the season to be jolly - jolly well impressed by the PSP!!

Film Review: The Business

"sun, sea and criminals... welcome back to the '80s"


The Business (18)
Dir. Nick Love

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

Brit gangster films about cheeky Chav crims have been out of style for a couple of years but as a tasty warm up to Guy Ritchie’s Revolver in a couple of weeks here comes The Business. Director Nick ‘The Football Factory’ Love invites you back to the ‘80s where on the Costa del Crime the weather was hot, the clothes were awful and the music off the scale…
But all you need to know is that The Business really is ‘the business’ – you get me? If you want sun, sea and drug busting violence, laced with some wicked humour, then you’ve come to the right place. This is the tale of young Frankie (Danny Dyer) who escapes Thatcher’s grim London and gets swept up in the criminal high life in Spain – when just about every crook was hiding out there thanks to a handy break in extradition laws at that time.
So good-hearted but amoral Frankie is taken under the wing of charismatic bar owner Charlie (a top turn by Tamer Hassan), who is more tanned than David Dickinson. In return for helping out in the drug operation Frankie gets to drive the Merc, wear the Fila and flirt with Carly the hot girlfriend of Charlie’s psycho ‘business’ partner Sammy (Geoff Bell). Needless to say that it all ends in tears – largely due to the fact that Sammy likes to shoot people for fun and let’s just say that he doesn’t appreciate his girlfriend’s obvious eye for Frankie… In fact Carly (a sizzling Georgina Chapman) embodies many of women the ‘80s – all big hair, garish make up, shiny dresses and a penchant for Bollinger.
As long as you can handle the constant F’ing and Blinding script, there is much to enjoy in The Business. One classic scene sees the lead characters taking it in turn to shoot each other whilst ‘trying out’ their new bulletproof vests.
But will Frankie live to tell the tale or is he too far out of his depth? The Business crackles with manic energy and mixes what could have been fairly standard action, tension and comedy into something a little bit special. And if somehow the music of the ’80s passed you by, The Business has a blinding soundtrack of Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Buggles, Duran Duran… even a personal favourite ‘I Travel’ by Simple Minds, you could go see this just for a classy musical history lesson…


Darkmatt Rating: öööö (Sorted)

Reviews of other films and stuff you might want to read indexed here

Guest Film Review: Stealth

Stealth
Dir. Rob Cohen

Reviewed by Matt Landsman

Stealth, the film of the near future where the US Navy has managed to
engineer a drone plane to join a squadron and become the fourth wingman in
an elite flying group used to take on the hardest of the hardest, defeat the
best of the best, and generally create a whole bunch of cool special
effects. However, a lightening strike to the drone plane causes it to
malfunction and attack military targets, leaving Lt. Ben Gannon (Josh Lucas)
to stop the drone before World War 3 officially begins.
I saw quite a few trailers for this film, and many people had told me about
it prior to it's release, and everywhere I looked, I saw Stealth being
billed as "Top Gun 2" - bringing the blockbuster hit of 1986 into the new
millennium. Well, all you Top Gun lovers out there will be left both
entertained, but overall will be slightly disappointed. From the outset to
the ending, there are blindingly obvious parallels with Top Gun that leave
you laughing at just how little imagination the writers must have had at
times, and on the whole, the film just doesn't match up to the hype it was
given. So it's not the best, biggest grossing film of all time, and it
probably won't get more than a cult following, but is that important? The
film is far from unwatchable as director Rob "The Fast and the Furious"
Cohen certainly adds his high speed stunt style to this film, transferring
from cars to planes seemlessly. Then there's the fact that the trailers
released only show the storyline from the first fourty five minutes or an
hour of the film, leaving the storyline developments from then on as a
guessing game until the last fifteen minutes or so, which are as predictable
as any other film filled to the brim with "Americana" feel good factor. Of
course it's easy to forget all that with Jessica Biel onscreen, although she
doesn't look anything like any "Gear" readers will remember her looking
like.
So if you're looking for fast planes, a good number of laughs, and an easy
to watch, value for money film that doesn't require any plot analysis or
thought, then Stealth could very well be for you.

"Goose: It's the bottom of the 9th, the score is tied its time for the big one.
Iceman: You up for this one, Maverick?
Maverick: Just a walk in the park Kazansky."