A bit HARSH Realm

Harsh Realm

Created by Chris ‘X Files’ Carter

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

This is a TV show from back in '99 which has intriguing premise - based on the comics of the same name, Harsh Realm deals with a Matrix like computer simulation of life, but this one is a military devised 'game'. Plucky hero Hobbes (alas not a relation of the one in Calvin and Hobbes) is played by Scott Bairstow (who?) Well, in the Harsh Real World he's just spent 4 months in jail in Washington for second-degree assault and undergone a sexual deviancy evaluation for sleeping with a 12 year old girl but that's another matter entirely.

What interested me most about Harsh Realm is the theology behind it - so along with your standard cheesy semi sci -fi action you get fascinating debates about the nature of reality, the concept of existence and the notion of an afterlife... Because in Harsh Realm, when you die, you immediately disappear - at least it cuts down on funeral bills...

So I'm a couple of episodes in and think it warrants a watch if you're into sci fi stuff - will give it a provisional

Darkmatt Rating: ööö (watchable)

Three almost interesting facts about the show:

Thomas Hobbes (the hero) is named after the philosopher Thomas Hobbes, who believed in predestination and that people are inherently selfish and power-hungry...

The chair Hobbes sits in to enter Harsh Realm has "siege" and "perilous" written on its arms. Of course this is a reference to the legend of King Arthur, and a similar chair that would turn anybody but the bravest person in England into ash if they sat in it...

Harsh Realm met the harsh financially driven reality at Fox TV when it was cancelled after only nine episodes...

“It’s just a game”

This was PWEI - Wise Up! Suckers

"the incredible PWEI"

PWEI - back with a turbo charged, nitrous-fuelled adrenaline overdose, certainly one of the best gigs ever...

Highlights for me included:

• Wake Up Time To Die,
• Their Law,
• There is No Love Between Us Anymore,
• Wise Up! Suckers!

But there were so many cracking tracks, an awesome poppies stage performance and topped off with some quality new merchandise... I'm still grinning...

Now - how about some new material?


"oh come all ye faithful"

"can you dig it? - hell yeah"

Other related links:

PWEI This Is The Hour ,

PWEI Strike Back ,

Carter Shirt Wearing in The Guardian,

Review of London gig in The Guardian,

Matt Adcock's FILM REVIEWS man...

PWEI - This is the hour...

The PWEI (Pop Will Eat Itself) Reformation tour rolls into London today, for two nights at the Shepherd's Bush Empire...
I'll be there tomorrow night and my old pal Lee has reported back from one of the Birmingham gigs that the poppies are indeed rocking harder than ever AND the news on the merchandise front is also good...
e.g. see below for the new PWEI hat!

Going to be a day "long remembered" as the Dark Lord of Sith might say...

That's great but I'd rather read your: Film Reviews

PSP overtakes Nintendo DS for market share...

image from ign.com

Hot on the heels of my 'game of 2004' - Disgaea: Hour of Darkness
comes the news that the makers are hard at work on a new PSP game...
Makai Wars - your guess is as good as mine as to what it's all about but I've a feeling it will be
*SWEET*
And I read over at Media Create today that the PSP took 30.64% of last week's Japanese hardware sales, higher than the Nintendo DS on 25.39%... interesting, if you're watching the Sony vs Nintendo battle for handheld domination.

That's great but I'd rather read your: Film Reviews

Film Review: White Noise

"that noise you hear... it's the sound of sucking"

White Noise (15)
Dir. Geoffrey Sax

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

Did you know that apparently the voices of the dead are all around you – and all it takes to receive an ‘overtly threatening message’ from the other side is to leave your TV or radio un-tuned… Yes if White Noise is to be believed, (and it appears to want to be – despite being directed by the bloke who used to make the Cannon & Ball TV show), then the dead are queuing up to send spooky messages through the dubious paranormal theory of EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomenon) – it seems people are still dying to get on TV…
Anyway, this is the mildly creepy story about an architect, Jonathan Rivers (Michael ‘best Batman – at least until Christian Bale came along’ Keaton) sees him lose his wife and then get mobile phone calls, television messages and visions of her from the other side. It’s probably not the worst ghost film you’ll ever see (actually it might be if you don't get out much), it doesn’t scare enough though and although Keaton is good, you can’t help feeling that this really is a poor man’s Sixth Sense wannabe. Yes, some nasty ghosties turn up and there’s a serial killer subplot – of course – but White Noise is not a ‘must see’ film by any stretch of the imagination, in fact as my friend Mike pointed out "It Sucks!!"
And the whole “if you open a channel – those who want to ‘damage’ will come” argument could just as well relate to having a publicly accessible blog…
oh, wait a minute…

Darkmatt Rating: ö (rubbish)

Click here to read more of Matt Adcock's: Film Reviews

"Busted's TV show was very poor quality..."

This link is to a blog that explores EVP!!

Film Review: Ray

Ray (15)
Dir. Taylor Hackford

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

“Baby, when I walk out that door, I walk out alone in the dark,” these are the emotive words of Ray Charles – a man who overcame the odds to blow the world away with his sheer musical talent. Now his life explodes onto the big screen in an emotional biopic covering his rise from a desperate childhood to become one of the most successful musical entertainers the world has ever witnessed. When he said “I'm trying to do something ain't nobody ever done in music and business,” he wasn’t kidding and amazingly, the only thing more extraordinary than his music was the man behind it.
There is a lot of buzz about Jamie ‘Collateral’ Foxx’s Golden Globe award winning performance of the late great Ray Charles – and for once it’s all justified. Foxx is stunning, delivering an acting tour de force that should have Mr Charles smiling from beyond the grave at just how well his life has been recreated here. It’s quite a life too – I guess you don’t get to be survived by 12 children, 21 grandchildren, and 5 great grandchildren without having a significant interest in the opposite sex. And that’s another credit to the film – it doesn’t whitewash over the fact that Charles was actually a philandering junkie who spent years addicted to heroin and couldn’t walk past an attractive woman without cheating on his wife… Be that as it may, what shines out though is that of all his selfish vices he was mostly a slave to the music that welled up from inside him and just couldn’t be contained. Misunderstood by many, Charles had his music branded “blasphemous” because he dared fuse traditional Gospel with R&B, he was also resented by the friends who helped get him going and yet he easily discarded as he outgrew them. Director Taylor Hackford intersperses his life story with some powerful flashbacks of Charles’s awful childhood, the untimely death of his younger brother and the loss of his sight. Strong stuff.
Ray might be a deep vein thrombosis baiting 152 minutes long but I was hooked from the beginning and found that the time flew by (Foxx really is that watchable – which bodes well for next year’s Miami Vice film where he will be ‘Tubbs’).
So, you might not like blues, jazz or R&B but you’d be a fool to miss this inspiring and unforgettable true story of human triumph.

Darkmatt Rating: öööö (good)

Click here to read Matt's other: Film Reviews


"damn it woman, my nuts are trapped in the keyboard"

Sleeping Beauty - Little Britain Style

"don't fancy yours much"
Grandma 'A' took the family to see Sleeping Beauty - as an après Christmas "treat" ...

This version of the enchanting tale had Princess Aurora (Lucy Sinclair) cursed by the Wicked Fairy Carabosse (Toyah Willcox) - who interrupts the Princess’ christening and declares that the beautiful baby will one day prick her finger blah blah and only the kiss of a prince (Jack Ryder) can awake her...

So far, so average but the cast went for it with serious vigour - and it kind of worked better than it had any right to mostly because Dave Lee (far left in photo above) played his 'Dame' choc full of Little 'I'm a Lady' Britain references - unusual fun for a cold Saturday afternoon.

Bruce Willis in Hostage Situation...

Bruce Willis... I love that guy (in a non sexual, macho kind of way),

he's delivered some of my very favourite films:

DIE HARD,

UNBREAKABLE,

THE LAST BOYSCOUT,

THE SIXTH SENSE,

TWELVE MONKEYS...

/ big grin spreads across Matt's face just thinking about those films and now it looks like 2005 will be 'Brucetastic' because not only will he own SIN CITY but HOSTAGE looks pleasingly action packed too - plus DIE HARD 4 has popped up on the horizon - now we're talking...

Some favourite Bruce Willis quotes - can you name the films?

"I am insane, and you are my insanity."

"Yeah, that's what your wife said."

"Just needed to do a couple of things. I needed to help someone. I think I did. And I needed to tell you something. You were never second, ever."

"How's my driving? 1-800-I'm-gonna-f**kin'-die!"

"Take this under advisement, jerkweed."

"Honey, since I left you, this has been without a doubt the single weirdest f**king day of my life."

"You should never do anything like this. You know that, right?"

- I could go on all day...

Matt Adcock Meets Will Smith

Just sorting some files and found this... my first 'Hollywood Star' interview back from August '04...
Slightly star struck and still buzzing from having just watched iRobot for the first time (of many) here it is...

Matt Adcock Meets Will Smith

It’s not everyday that you get to interview a Hollywood star like Will Smith, and possibly even less likely that you find you have something absolutely in common. In the flesh he is every bit as cool, sexy, funny and full of energy as I’d imagined, so, obviously we’re very much alike (OK, so at least we both cite Star Wars as our favourite sci fi film). And Will is a big sci fi fan as he explains “I love it, as a kid growing up, science fiction was my genre. I loved the imagination of science fiction. I think at heart, I'm really an idealist and there's nowhere for me in entertainment that you can really stretch the bounds of human possibility more than science fiction. I just love it. Star Wars was almost spiritual to me, when I make films – my aim is make people get the feeling I got when I first saw Star Wars”. That must explain his fondness for roles in films like Independence Day and Men in Black and now I ROBOT which has certainly come the closest of any Will Smith film to giving me that illusive ‘Star Wars’ feeling…

Talking of Star Wars, Will was keen to point out that he does like robots really – especially R2 D2 who he describes as the one that the “chicks dig”, but that “you can forget that C3PO guy”. In I ROBOT you see, Smith plays a ‘robo-phobic’ detective who hates the robots that have been integrated into our society. He explained about shooting the robot scenes. “We used a process on this film that was similar to the process they used for Golem on Lord of the Rings. Alan Tyduck played Sonny who is the main robot and they've used all of his facial expressions, they've used his body language, and they've used his voice. So, there's a real human quality to the robots that are really fun for me, but I think will be chilling for people watching the movie. It's scary, icky, kind of human-y!” (Laughs)

One reason a lot of women may want to check out I ROBOT is the controversy around the shower scene…
“The nakedness was important,” Will says, “that wasn’t gratuitous, it was ‘deep character nakedness’ because my character has a condition called ‘Survivor's Guilt’ – he survived a crash and is deeply paranoid. That’s why I didn’t have the door shut or the shower curtain across… in case somebody tried to attack me!”

Err OK then, so how would he describe I ROBOT overall? “This movie is a wonderful, blend of genres and it's smart when it's supposed to be smart, it's funny when it's supposed to be funny. The special effects are incredible but it doesn't depend on the special effects. I ROBOT, is what I think will be the future of action movies in that it's a character driven story, where the action sequences and explosions are extra.” Finally – now that his wifeJada Pinkett-Smith is also staring in blockbusters – how does that work out at home? ”Hey, she beat me last year. She beat me last year with The Matrix sequels. She has a good shot at me this year with Collateral – it’s ridiculous!! Collateral is really, really good. It's just fun for us. We both know that our priorities don't lie in this business. We just have a little fun with it, and extra enjoyment of the time we spend together. It gives us something else to talk about. It's definitely not an issue.”

Click here to read: Matt Adcock's Film Reviews

Elektra - Rob Bowman Interview

So, Elektra wasn't the great film it could have been (Matt's Review) and it wasn't a patch on the (graphic novel), but there are some interesting things to be learnt from a recent interview with the director - Rob Bowman:

Did you want to make an even darker film?
The film is not as severe as in the comics, because that would be X rated. I’m making a PG-13. As a matter of fact, the director's cut was rated R. I knew I was making an R-rated movie, and that I would just have to edit to soften some of the moments. The good thing is that the studio will get their PG-13, but the DVD will be an R. I'll put all the hard-edged stuff back in.

Elektra's costume is very similar to the books – was that important?
Absolutely. We didn’t do it verbatim from the comics, because she looks like a hooker, but we definitely wanted to be as close to that as we could. I approached the costume from a personality point of view. I think that Elektra, while making the costume, wouldn’t have made it about vanity. It’s about the ability to move. But she’s also brash, and highly confident. And she does look really hot. (Laughs).

Obviously you’ve got Typhoid Mary in the movie, who uses her power through kissing. Are you aiming for an MTV best kiss award?
(laughs) We hired this gorgeous woman, and she kisses Elektra halfway through the movie and nearly kills her. So you’ve got Jennifer Garner being kissed by Natassia Malthe in slow motion for about thirty seconds. (Laughs) None of the men who’ve seen the movie have a problem with it!

The set must have had lots of visitors that day.
Surprisingly, we had quite a few! (Laughs) I don’t know, it’s kind of a weird way to kill somebody, and the combination of being poisonous and beautiful is interesting. The fact that the Hand use poison and whispers as your means of murder just seemed cool to me.

How many takes did you do with the kiss, by the way?
There are 7 angles of it, and to do each angle right you’ve got to do it 3 to 5 times. I would say that Natasha and Jennifer kissed, pretty much for a day.

That's dedication to the craft. I’m sure the DVD will have multi angle shots.
It’ll be longer… But both Jennifer and Natasha were very respectful, and their oral hygiene was very high that day. They just were two professionals. It was just another take. But it is quite beautiful.

For those who haven't seen the film, Typhoid Mary is played by Natassia Malthe - who looks like this...

"Hey Jennifer - any time you're ready for a rematch!?"

Alone In The Dark

Uwe Boll - two words that can strike fear into the heart of those who love movies...
This guy directed the ultra loud and dumber than you could possibly imagine 'House Of The Dead' videogame adaptation which is ranked in the bottom 30 movies of all time over at IMDB.
Now he turns his attention to a new movie based on a game... Alone in the Dark

"um, it's behind you"

Alone in the Dark is still perhaps considered by many gamers to be the grandfather of action/adventure games. When it was released in 1993 - I spent many student nights huddled round the PC with friends, fighting monsters and solving puzzles when we quite possibly should have been studying for our marketing degrees.

Let's hope that the movie manages to capture at least some of the games spooky atmosphere...

"no Jehovah's Witnesses are getting in here!"

Film Review (DVD): The Hitcher 2: I've Been Waiting

The Hitcher 2: I've Been Waiting

Dir. Louis Morneau

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

Ah The Hitcher back in 1986 eh?

Rutger Hauer in one of his 2 best roles ever, (the other being Blade Runner of course - can he add a third with his Sin City bit part this year?), anyway - there he was, all blonde hair, chilling eyes, charismatic smile and brutal violence. What could be better than a sequel in which C. Thomas Howell reprises his role from the original (Jim Halsey - the young guy who got terrorised by the Hitcher)? Not The Hitcher 2 alas, Hauer obviously couldn't be bothered to come back, so we get Jake 'Starship Troopers' Busey trying to fill the Hitcher's mean boots. I was fully ready and prepared to hate this low budget follow up which isn't a patch on the first film but found myself kind of enjoying in a masochistic way...

There are some competent moments, a nice explosion here and there, and Busey tries his best to be Hauer. Kari Wuhrer (she was Special Agent Tanya Adams from Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2) steps up as a plucky but crap action heroine and the plot is pretty much like the first film.

Is it worth seeing?

Only if you're an undemanding fan of the original or you just like duff sequels...

Darkmatt Rating: öö (poor)

"Kari Wuhrer... you probably would, but you might not want her covering you ass in a fight"

"hey you can almost see my career from the back seat..."

For a far superior tale of 'death in the dust' track down Dust Devil,

this classy little number from 1992 is hard to find these days but

I have fond memories of it!!

SpongeBob SquarePants vs Tsunami

The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie hits the UK on the 11 February.
But Unicef have a charity premier in the West End on the 6 February!
How can you not want to see a film that has an all action sponge as the main character, dialogue that includes:
"My pants are on fire!... My underwear is on fire!... I'M ON FIRE!"
and a cameo by David Hasselhoff himself!!?

Think I might have to check this one not least
'because it's in such a good cause' (tsunami relief)

"ever get the feeling we're being watched?"

Superb Tunnel Vision

These photos are just excellent - they make me think of celestial tunnels and souls going 'into the light'.

Of course they're actually shots taken from a moving vehicle by the soon to be legendary artist Rachel Warwick...

Very cool - click here to see more of her stuff: Rachwarwick Deviantart

Elektra: How she'd probably like to be remembered

Lest we forget...
Elektra was once a thing of joy, wonder and tasty violent action...
Maybe she'll get another chance, but I don't think we should hold our breath...

Click here to see a cool online exhibition of Elektra Assassin

Film Review (DVD): Life as a House

"Extra cheese on your burger son?"

Life as a House
Dir. Irwin Winkler

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

Now don’t get me wrong, weepy movies are not generally my ‘cup of tea’ but Life as a House floored me like sledgehammer to the face. On the surface this is another one of those ‘life affirming’ tales where this guy (Kevin Kline) gets cancer and spends his last few months rebuilding his relationship with his estranged and F.U.B.A.R. son (Hayden Christensen)…

What set this apart for me was the fact that my dad (John Adcock) died of cancer over ten years ago – and he never got the chance to see if I’d outgrow the teenage stupidity that I was exhibiting so much of… He was a fantastic father who always had time for me, made me feel like the centre of the universe and sweated blood to provide for us. Now, all I can do is be the best dad I can for my boys and hope that they’ll love me as much I loved him…

Anyway, the film is about love, hurt, hope and reconciliation – as much as it is about a guy building the house he’s always dreamt of. Kline is just excellent and for once I didn’t hate Hayden ‘Vader Wannabe’ Christensen either, which was a plus. Jena Malone is also extremely cute (how can you not love that girl – she gets to jump into the shower with Christensen and kiss his dad “just to see what it’s like”)…
The story is well directed and Kline really nailed the depiction of a father who is losing everything but determined to go out having done all he could to help his family.

Yes it’s cheesier than a triple cheeseburger with extra cheese – but somehow it works and I really enjoyed it…

Darkmatt Rating: öööö (good)


Click here for Matt Adcock's: Film Review Index

Think he got the point...

This x-ray from a news story about some guy who accidentally shot a 6inch nail into his head (through his tooth!) and didn’t realise it for 6 days brought back memories of the time I managed to impale my head on a similar sized nail…
Must be a couple of years ago now – I was in the loft and lent forward in the dark, only to find that I’d banged my head on a beam… A bean with a rusty nail pointing out of it, which was now sticking into my head!!
How we laughed at casualty as the nurse had to give me various shots and then used a special kind of glue to seal the wound – thanks too to Alan Masters (the kind of friend you need when you do unfortunate things like this) who took me to hospital. Don’t think it’s affected me too badly… but you never know I guess!!

Jennifer Garner: Great Looking But Wasted

Jennifer Garner... certainly has the looks to make a perfect Elektra,
alas - the film makers just didn't do it justice...
see my review Elektra

P.S. It looks like some female readers disagree - see comment below

Jennifer Garner makes me happy

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

Elektra Is "Awful" Admits Garner

Film Review: Elektra

"look me in the eye and tell me you liked the film"

Elektra (12A)
Dir. Rob Bowman

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

Her name is Elektra; she moves without sound, kills without mercy and looks absolutely fantastic whilst doing it!! Unfortunately her film is sloppy, tame and unremittingly average – and the question has to be asked, “How has this been allowed to happen?”
Elektra: Assassin, the original comic book by Frank Miller with artwork by Bill Sienkiewicz is my all time favourite graphic novel. Elektra the film does not live up to the amazing source material - at all... She has been laid low by the idiots of Hollywood who seem to work on the principle: “why bother making an awesome, clever, explosive action film when we can churn out any old rubbish?”
Elektra of the comic is brutal, cool, efficient, sexy and rock hard. Whereas Elektra in the film is still admittedly sexy but also sweet, emotional and often unforgivably wimpy... I lay a lot of blame at the festering feet of director Rob Bowman - he is the master of taking potentially explosive material (dragons vs humans in Reign of Fire / a hot babe ‘death dealing ninja’ in Elektra) and working his ‘average magic’ on it until the film comes out looking like an identikit 12 year old boy’s dream...
So the bad guys - The Order of the Hand, your average ninja collective, are looking for average bloke Mark Miller (Goran Visnjic) and his annoying but average daughter Abby (Kirsten Prout). At the same time Elektra is paid $2 million to kill the same father and daughter but for some reason ends up fighting to protect them. The limited ‘action’ is weak, the tone and style are vapid throughout, the baddies are just laughable and the script sucks – think Catwoman and unfortunately your not too far off. Even then I could let all this go if it was just some new and doomed to fail action franchise - but NOT when the Elektra source material deserved so much better.
Yes the sight of Jennifer Garner in her "so tight I couldn't wear underwear underneath" outfit is a thing of beauty that you won’t forget in hurry, but the film is utterly soulless. The highlight for me was the full on kiss between baddie Typhoid Mary (model Natassia Malthe), who goes about giving her foes a ‘kiss of death’, and Elektra. But nothing can really save this from struggling to even hold a candle to the much-maligned 2003 comic book effort ‘Daredevil’, which featured Elektra in a cameo role…

Darkmatt Rating: öö (poor) - but worth watching because Garner is so hot!!

Read other film reviews by Matt Adcock:click here

"The Elektra workout video - great for the stomach..."

Film Review: Team America: World Police

"You can run but you can't hide..."

Team America: World Police (15)
Dir. Trey Parker

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

When freedom hangs by a thread, who are you going to call to put the "F" back into it? Team America: World Police, that’s who…
Here in the UK – Team America arrived in January 2005 and it is without doubt the crudest, funniest and most violent puppet movie I’ve seen. Filmed in what creator Matt Stone referred to as "supercrappymation" – Team America is a Thunderbirds riff from the makers of South Park and just a dubious as that sounds!
Nothing is sacred here but some things get a harder beating than others – liberals, terrorists and Hollywood actors come in for an especially rough ride. Take Matt Damon (who Parker and Stone have admitted is really a "pretty cool guy"), he was going to be portrayed as ‘intelligent and articulate’, but when they saw his puppet, they noted that it made him "look retarded" and decided to portray him as such. His only lines in the film are to blurt out “Matt Damon” in a retarded manner but even that’s generous compared to the send up of Kim Jong Il who gets a whole song to ponder why he’s “so rornery, so ronery and sadry arone…”
There are other musical interludes – my favourite being ‘Pearl Harbor Sucked’ which is so funny I present the lyrics here (sourced from IMDB.com):

“I miss you more than Michael Bay missed the mark,
When he made Pearl Harbor.
I miss you more then that movie missed the point,
And that's an awful lot girl.
And now, now you've gone away,
And all I'm trying to say is
Pearl Harbor sucked and I miss you.
I need you like Ben Affleck needs acting school,
He was terrible in that film.
I need you like Cuba Gooding needed a bigger part,
He's way better then Ben Affleck.
And now all I can think about is your smile,
and that sh*tty movie too,
Pearl Harbor sucked and I miss you.
Why does Michael Bay get to keep on making movies?
I guess Pearl Harbor sucked, Just a little bit more then I miss you.”

It certainly isn’t for the easily offended (or children) but if you like South Park and have a crude sense of humour then Team America delivers a laugh out loud experience. I guess America had it coming!

Darkmatt Rating: ööö (Watchable)

Read other film reviews by Matt Adcock:click here

"Acting has never been this wooden"