Film Review: Revenge of the Sith

"Star Wars Episode III - putting the Force back on top!"

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Dir. George Lucas

Reviewed by Matt Adcock


Powerful, is the lure of the dark side…

And so here it is, the final prequel, the culmination of the epic Star Wars saga, so many hopes are resting on this one, so many fears that it might be as duff as the first two prequels, can Lucas save the series with a glorious final part of the jigsaw or will it all end in tears and fan-boy recriminations?
I have to quickly declare an interest here – I am an unashamed Star Wars fan, I confess that I did name my firstborn son Luke with the express intention of being able to put on my best Darth Vader voice and tell him “Luke, I am your father”, so at least you’ll have some idea of how much I love the original trilogy…

But where to begin? Well this review may contain spoilers – if you’ve kept yourself completely ignorant of the plot (well done) and I will try to find time to post a spoiler free version at some point but don’t hold your breath. Read on with caution unless you laugh in the face of some plot spoilers…

The story picks up as the war between the Separatists and the Republic still rages and Chancellor Palpatine having been kidnapped by new kick ass baddie General Grievous (a robot / alien fusion that hunts Jedi for sport, wheezes like an asthmatic in a pollen storm and stalks about in a most excellently ‘evil’ way – oh and he kick butt too with his four lightsabers!!). Jedi Knights Obi Wan and Anakin Skywalker are sent on a mission to save the Chancellor and find that they must face off against wily Count Dooku too for added fun... From there we get to see the accelerated seduction of Anakin by the dark side of the Force, the destruction of the Jedi and the greatest lightsaber duel of all time – I tell you, cinema just doesn’t get much better than this!!

The truth is that the Force has never been as strong as it is in Episode III, and for me (still in the flush / daze of witnessing it) - Revenge of the Sith is the definitive Star Wars film… Lucas has delivered a megaton hit of movie wonder, that completes the saga in grand style and more than makes up for any disappointment the first two prequels generated.

Poster quote:

“Revenge of the Sith is an endorphin rush of pure Star Wars pleasure - you owe it to yourself to see this film at least twice!! Star Wars once again rules the galaxy…”

There are so many beautiful scenes – from the jaw dropping opening space battle where huge spaceships exchange cannon fire like galleons of old whilst hundreds of fighters duel across the starscape, through to the spellbinding one on one battles of Obi Wan vs Anakin and Yoda vs The Emperor – it is all out entertainment. I loved loved loved some of the almost incidental scenes such as R2D2 getting to take down some Super Battledroids, Chewie giving Yoda an impromptu piggyback and the one little Jedi youngling who puts up some serious resistance when the clones try to execute order 66…

Damn, just thinking back over it makes me desperate to see it again and it hasn’t even been 24hrs since I saw it!! Repeated viewing is going to be necessary, especially as there are a multitude of cameos and film links to spot, look out for the Millennium Falcon, Grand Moff Tarkin and Lucas himself to name but a few.

The effects are the best ever committed to the screen. The still obvious ‘fakeness’ of Episodes I & II has been remodelled into a living, breathing galaxy far far away better than before. The fight chorography is savage, exciting and all out thrill inducing – the passion is back and for the first time since Return of the Jedi you will really care what happens to the characters…

The mum of one of my son’s friends asked me to comment on the suitability of Revenge of the Sith for children, and of course it hasn’t got that 12a rating for nothing. It is a dark tale of a good guy giving himself over to evil, of heroes being killed and the baddies winning the day. There are decapitations, legs are sliced off, as are arms, Jedi of all ages get slaughtered and although none of it is very ‘bloody’ – it is grim and quite upsetting in parts. Anakin gets literally reduced to a burnt and dismembered wreck before his famous transformation – and while I for one smiled as his girly locks caught fire – it might freak out sensitive youngsters and / or hairdressers. So my advice is – take your kids but only if you think they can handle it – it’s no scarier than Dr Who and it’s much more exciting!! I’ll be taking young Luke (who’s 8) but I don’t think James (who’s 4) will have the stomach for it on the big screen.

For adult appreciation – there is the whole moral judgement on Anakin’s decision to throw in his lot with the most evil mofo in the galaxy… Just what does it take for a guy to make a life choice like that? The answer (look away now if you don’t want to know) is obvious really – it’s a woman!! Yes, the underlying moral of Revenge of the Sith is ‘women can drive you to do the most insane things’ and Padme / Amidala is the case in point. If poor Anakin had never crossed paths with the minx from Naboo he’d have been the galaxy’s number one Jedi and the Sith would have been owned. You can almost hear Lucas in the background shaking his head and mumbling “Women eh?”

Of course there are things that some won’t like – and much of the acting is still plank wooden or wildly over the top to go along with the stupid dialogue but this is Star Wars and it’s never claimed to be high brow… Some will lament that we don’t get to see Vader do much once he’s suited up – but surely that's what we get in parts 4,5 and 6!!?

But even the Vader haters out there will have to get down on bended knee and acknowledge that Revenge of the Sith is potentially the most marvellous, entertaining and all round satisfying film to hit the screens this year… The Force is very definitely back and it rules!!

On the strength of this I just might call my next child ‘Yoda’...

Darkmatt Rating: öööööö (FORCE yourself to see this one!!)

More links:

My Immediate Reaction and photo with Stormtroopers

Was Jesus A Jedi?

Link to other Star Wars Darkmatters posts inc. Darth Vader's Blog!!

Film Review: Kingdom of Heaven

"you call this heaven?"

Kingdom of Heaven (15)
Dir. Ridley Scott

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

“Welcome to a new world, a better world than has ever been seen, where you are not what you are born but what you have it in yourself to be. This is a kingdom of consciousness, peace instead of war, love instead of hate. That is what lies at the end of Crusade.”
Sounds good right? Worth fighting for… and Kingdom of Heaven has a serious amount of fighting courtesy of director Ridley ‘Gladiator’ Scott. However, it is only really the battles that make Kingdom of Heaven stand out. And whilst there is something undeniably exciting about seeing heroic warriors taking on masses of enemies, or strategic genius brilliantly implemented on a desperate battlefield, you need something more if you’re aiming to be a truly epic spectacle. When the dust settles here and the dogs of war are safely locked up, things get much too ‘ho hum’, much too quickly for my liking.
The ingredients are all promising - pretty Brit Orlando Bloom, steps up for leading man duties after a string of excellent supporting roles in films like the Lord of the Rings trilogy. And as I mentioned we’re in the hands of Ridley Scott - a master at delivering blood drenched, unbelievably realistic battles. Add to this the beautiful Eva Green as the cracking love interest Sibylla and quality support from top actors including Liam Neeson, Edward Norton and Jeremy Irons… I can’t quite work out why I wasn’t more excited and why my overarching impression of Kingdom of Heaven was ‘nice battles, shame about the rest’…
It probably didn’t help that I saw another film this weekend – a certain ‘Revenge of the Sith’ and that it was such an endorphin overload of tasty Jedi action, it immediately made all thoughts of Kingdom of Heaven disappear like some sort of Phantom Menace. More of that next week.
Anyway, the Crusades are a potentially fascinating era to explore, and Kingdom of Heaven works hard to present an even handed appraisal of the Christian vs Muslim struggle for Jerusalem (when not showing slow motion shots of swords meeting heads)... I have to say though that Bloom failed to generate the levels of leadership charisma required and his ‘stirring’ battle speeches lacked conviction. In the end, Kingdom of Heaven is certainly great to look at but it only really engages when it draws its sword and rushes headlong into the midst of frantic battle.

Darkmatt Rating: ööö (less if you don't like battles!)

Revenge of the Sith... immediate reaction

"Bring me the film reviewer known as Darkmatt, he's just stolen the plans to our new film: Revenge of the Sith

- so I want him alive!!"

Have just got back from the press screening and what can I say?

Revenge of the Sith is

THE DEFINITIVE STAR WARS EXPERIENCE...

If you've ever held even the tiniest amount of appreciation for Star Wars (old or new) - Episode III will blow your socks off, put a smile on your face and bring balance to the force i.e. IT FREAKIN ROCKS!!

More considered review to follow...

"Sir, we've apprehended the suspect film reviewer

and will bring him in for questioning but he doesn't look too worried

- keeps mumbling something about having just seen the most awesome film in the universe!!"

Am watching Revenge of the Sith

Thanks for stopping by, whilst you're reading this - I'm probably already in London watching Revenge of the Sith at a Press Screening!!!!!

Check back for review(s) here on Monday... you know what they say:

"The Dark Side of the Force is the pathway to many abilities

some consider to be,

unnatural."

Was Jesus a Jedi?

"watch me use the dark side of the force to shine my helmet"

TWO DAYS... The clock is ticking down to the London press screening of Revenge of the Sith and I'm almost too excited for words...

Everything is prepared - cool Vader shaped tickets have arrived, travel details planned, close pal who appreciates films (and who's a bit of Star Wars non believer invited to share the moment)... Cue lots of opportunity for me to repeatedly say to him "I FIND YOUR LACK OF FAITH DISTURBING!!"

Anyway, whilst surfing the early US reviews I came across some vaguely interesting stuff on a Christian website - here's a couple of extracts:

"Shortly before the release of Phantom Menace, there was a survey of 16,000 15-34 year olds in which they were asked to identify their hero. The results were:

Luke Skywalker
Jesus Christ
Michael Jordan
Martin Luther King, Jr."

and this:

"The Force of Star Wars should not be confused with the God of the Bible. Nor should it be confused with faith as it is taught in the Bible. The Force is impersonal, but the God of the Bible is personal / The Force has both a good side and a dark side, but the God of the Bible "…is light, and in Him is no darkness at all" (1 John 1:5)."

If you like that sort of stuff you can read more of it here: http://www.faithstreams.com/sites/star-wars.htm

And if you were wondering about the title of this post - No, Jesus wasn't a Jedi (He didn't tap into some universal force, he was and some would say still is The Force)... Still, can't help thinking that if He'd had a light sabre it might have made the Passion of the Christ a bit more exciting!?

Look out for my Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith review on this blog early next week (you can choose between SPOILT ROTTEN or UNSPOILT BY PROGRESS versions)...

Link to other Star Wars Darkmatters posts inc. Darth Vader's Blog!!

Darkmatters Fiction: Another Chase

Darkmatters

by Matt Adcock

“Oh my God she’s coming!” shouts the BHP Turbo’s AI in its ’voice-over’ dramatic deep throat style.

For a second nobody blinks, nobody moves and then all freakin hell breaks lose.

“Let’s go” says Cleric who is in the BHP, it accelerates backwards from the seedy car park, in seconds the front is a mass of flaming impacts form the serious amount of ordinance being unloaded in its direction. Int stumbles from the doorway and manages to put down a couple of the thugs with clean head shots, then she is running towards the road, trying to stay low as some of the gunmen turn their focus to her. Cleric break skids the BHP around on the road, pulls up and opens the passenger door for Int, “Get in” he commands whilst firing off some heavy frag grenades towards the dodgy bar from which more hired goons are emerging every second. The building’s front mushrooms out into the street - a white hot furnace as the highly explosive gas used in the air con coolant system escapes and mingles with the high explosive grenade charges.

“You sure know how to show a girl a good time,” Int breathes as she climbs in, “Let’s get the fuck out of here…”
“Already on it,” says Cleric as the front side shield of the BHP goes down. Cleric kicks the accelerator and the BHP screams away still in a hail of gunfire.
“You OK?” Cleric asks.
“Not bad considering,” Int smiles.
“Don’t get happy people, I have several vehicles coming after us by the look of it,” chips in the BHP.
“Can we outrun them?” asks Int.
“No, they’re pretty wired, I estimate that they will catch us in about 3 minutes.”
The BHP tears through the last of the suburbs and into the dirty countryside.
Cleric swings into the bushes at the side of the road and kills the lights, it gets very dark, very quickly as soon as you leave L2 and while Int’s eyes are adjusting to the gloom Cleric is already at the boot pulling out a couple of sentry AI miniturrets which he sets on either side of the road. Then he fires a couple of time delay mines into the road – he can see the lights of the approaching pursuers. He check the ammo in his assault handgun as Int joins him.
“We’ll take them here then?” she asks as she reloads her double-barrelled semi AI automatic…“We haven’t got a choice,” Cleric replies and drops to a crouch, pulling Int down with him as he detonates the mines right under the first couple of cars which rocket into the air tracing burning arcs of flaming death.

Other extracts from Darkmatters the novel by Matt Adcock:

Cleric Gets Mugged

Film Gunfight

Fear of Death

Cleric Shows Up

Test Subject #30022

Cleric Artwork

Film Review: Igby Goes Down

"your going down pal"

Igby Goes Down
Dir. Burr Steers

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

No – not some kind of BJ documentary about someone named Igby but rather a kind of modern Catcher in the Rye style tale in a New York environment. This is a fun film – as long as you like your films tragic and full of dark humour. Igby (played by Kieran Culkin) is a young man with a truly awful family. Nazi-ish golden boy older brother (Ryan Phillippe), mental father (Bill Pullman) who set his sons an example by losing the plot and getting locked away in an asylum, scary socialite mum (Susan Sarandon) does things like sit on the maid’s head when she’s stressed… Yes this is wacky film on every level. Jeff Goldblum is on top form as D.H. – Igby’s godfather who’s banging foxy young nymph Rachel played by Amanda Peet. The other babe here is Sookie (Claire Danes) – and whilst Igby gets to bed both of them in the course of the film, this is anything but a romance.

The dialogue is just great though – many of the lines will stick with you for some time, like when Igby’s older brother tells him “I think if Gandhi had to spend a prolonged amount of time with you, he'd end up beating the shit out of you, too.”

And in turn - Igby’s made up story about his brother. “He was ten-speeding a gazillion miles per hour through Central Park. You know, racing with all the other young Turks. When, all of a sudden he caught a glimpse of himself in the handlebar mirror and became so... aroused by it that he burst his Speedo shorts and got caught in the gears and threw him right on his face. Splatter.”

Igby has a line for everyone – from his answer to: “Why aren't you in school now?”… he replies: “ Sheer ingenuity!”, through his assorted attempts to hit on the women – “Uh yeah, I guess eleven is a bit young, but you sound older on the phone” etc…

It won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but I was sold out on this kind of ‘long dark tea time of the teenage soul’

Darkmatt Rating: öööö (laughter in the dark)

Film Review: Jersey Girl

"a Kevin Smith film for all the family?"

Jersey Girl
Dir. Kevin Smith

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

Forget about who you thought you were, and just accept who you are - this is the underlying moral of Jersey Girl, the first Kevin Smith film that I've been able to watch snuggled up with my wife (we have very differing tastes in films- I'm all Die Hard and True Romance, she's Slipper and the Rose and Bridget Jones).

As a fan of cLeRKs, Mallrats, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back etc, I wasn't sure how Jersey Girl would play but it manages to retred the well trodden path of romantic comedy / single parenting / life choices without feeling cliched or too twee. And because of the strongly written, heartfelt issues it delivers an amusing enough couple of hours entertainment.

"I'm kinda crushin' on you right now"

Darkmatt Rating: ööö (fun - especially if you're a parent)

What is also cool about Kevin Smith is he now has a blog - where he posts things like his early review of Revenge of the Sith etc - with interesting background like:

"First off, never… never… see a movie as geeky-cool and momentous as “Revenge of the Sith” with a room full of marketing stiffs. While I “WOOOOOOOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!”ed throughout the screening at stuff only the most moribund wouldn’t be able to muster the enthusiasm to scream over, I stood alone. The only tepid interactive acknowledgment this sad little group could muster was a perfunctory smattering of near-golf claps for the Fox logo at the head of the film - and even that felt forced (pun intended). But fuck ‘em - their disturbing lack of faith couldn’t ruin this movie for me."

Link to Kevin Smith's Blog http://newsaskew.com/blog/

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

Film Review: xXx 2

"Oh Cube, that's a big one..."


XXX2: The Next Level (12a) or if you live in the US... XXX2 State of the Union
Dir. Lee Tamahori

Reviewed by Matt Adcock


When the world needs saving from megalomaniacs, warmongers or dastardly political enemies, there’s only one super spy who can save the day – unfortunately James Bond isn’t available at the moment… So, here’s an American alternative, special agent XXX, low on sophistication, high on stupidity and packing a serious number of weapons. They say “Stupid is, as stupid does” and this film is a prime example…XXX2 is the chubbier, less likeable and even more retarded follow up to 2002’s all action XXX ‘extreme movie sensation’.

It appears that when bald, bad-ass, Vin Diesel turned up to reprise his role as the ‘anti Bond’, director Lee Tamahori told him to” XXX off” so they could get podgy rapper turned actor Ice Cube in as the new bigger (as in fatter), badder (as in “at acting”) XXX. Quite why anyone thought this would be a good idea is hard to fathom, you might not like Diesel but at least he looked mean and tough enough to be a super agent. Cube looks like a confused and constipated Care Bear with an unconvincing snarl on his chubby chops throughout. I’ve seen my mum look meaner – in fact I think my dear old mum would have been a much better choice to be the new XXX even though she retired a few years ago.

Anyway, big dumb XXX2 is given the job of saving the US President from an internal coup being planned by Willem Dafoe (as Gen. George Octavius Deckert - think Green Goblin without the funky costume). Along the way we get to witness Cube eating a lots of junk food, spouting lots of junk dialogue and blow a lot of stuff up. When the highlight of a film is a tank battle which takes place on board an aircraft carrier you know that any visages of subtlety have long ago been reported AWOL.

Samuel L Jackson is on hand to try and add some much need credibility but even he is forced to give up and look on in bemusement, along with the audience, as the XXX franchise straps on masses of self-destructive material and takes a running jump off the cliff of watchability.
Of course there will be those out there who enjoy XXX2, but then I’m told there are people out there who play banjos, torture animals and marry their sisters – and it’s very possible that these two groups seriously overlap…


"meet my wife and my sister... here she is!"

Darkmatt Rating: ö (get's worse the more you think about it)

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

Darth Vader's Dark Lord Blog and other Star Wars thoughts

"I find your lack of pants disturbing"

May the 08th be with you...

“Sometimes it just feels good to get a little warm sun on my helmet.”

Have to share this with you - Vader himself has a blog and it makes very cool reading... As Star Wars anticipation of Revenge of the Sith grows by the hour in the Adcock household, I have received notification of and an invite to the UK media screening on the 08 May... excellent - look out for my review here shortly after that date!!

Here are today's links for your consideration:

Click here to read Darth Vader's Blog!!

Click here to buy quality lightsabres!!

Click here to see the New Vader Costume: Luke I Am Your Father

Douglas Adams – an interesting Atheist

"Adams shows off an alternative Hitchhiking gesture"

Whilst being a signed up born again believer myself – I do find that some of the most thought provoking and interesting ponderings about faith, God and religion are actually written by Atheists… And indeed while some of my best friends have no faith or are convinced that there is no God, they are often open to talk about spiritual issues, whilst others who claim to Christians run screaming from the very thought of engaging and listening to conflicting points of view. I think it is immeasurably healthier to look at issues from many angles (and anyway - if your faith is so insecure that conversing or reading thoughts from someone who sees things differently to you makes you that nervous – perhaps you haven’t got such a “real” faith anyway???)

So whilst researching for my Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy review for the Baptist Times I looked into Douglas Adams’ background and found some fascinating quotes in an interview with David Silverman which ran in the American Atheist Journal. Adams studied postgraduate theology at Ridley Hall and later became a teacher of theology but it seems that did little help him 'find God'...

See what you think:

“If you describe yourself as “Atheist,” some people will say, “Don’t you mean ‘Agnostic’?” I have to reply that I really do mean Atheist. I really do not believe that there is a god - in fact I am convinced that there is not a god (a subtle difference). I see not a shred of evidence to suggest that there is one.”

It’s funny how many people are genuinely surprised to hear a view expressed so strongly. In England we seem to have drifted from vague wishy-washy Anglicanism to vague wishy-washy Agnosticism - both of which I think betoken a desire not to have to think about things too much. People will then often say “But surely it’s better to remain an Agnostic just in case?” This, to me, suggests such a level of silliness and muddle that I usually edge out of the conversation rather than get sucked into it. (If it turns out that I’ve been wrong all along, and there is in fact a god, and if it further turned out that this kind of legalistic, cross-your-fingers-behind-your-back, Clintonian hair-splitting impressed him, then I think I would chose not to worship him anyway.) "

and he also says:

"I am fascinated by religion. (That’s a completely different thing from believing in it!) It has had such an incalculably huge effect on human affairs. What is it? What does it represent? Why have we invented it? How does it keep going? What will become of it? I love to keep poking and prodding at it. I’ve thought about it so much over the years that that fascination is bound to spill over into my writing.”

Read the whole interview here:
Douglas Adams Meets David Silverman

Other links you might want to try:

Matt Adcock Meets and Interviews the Hitchhiker's Cast

Read Matt's Film Review of The Hitchhiker's Guide

Bill Nighy and Zooey Deschanel photos from Hitchhiker's premier

Other film reviews by Matt Adcock

Kate Beckinsale: top of my 'would like to interview list'

"Kate Beckinsale as the foxiest vampire ever... Selene from Underworld"

Am in a mild state of shock and disappointment - Kate Beckinsale only made # 85 in the FHM's 100 sexiest women in the world 2005. That's only one place higher than Dido!! (No I don't think Dido is attractive - sorry...).

Other females I would have thought might have done better include the wonderfully tasty Jennifer Garner # 31 and surely there's some mistake - Nicole Kidman at lowly # 96 !!??

Perhaps I should have voted...

Note to pal Si who is a huge Kidman fan - click her name to see lots of great photos of her!!


"does my bum look big in this? No Kate, it's perfect..."

Serenity Trailer - blows me away...

"Serenity: Firefly is back!!!"

Just saw the Serenity trailer and it's excellent (yes I know that trailers can sometimes be better than the film itself e.g. National Security which has a great trailer - a really funny and cool couple of minutes to a wicked soundtrack, whereas the film was mildly entertaining at best, but I digress). This has lit up all my Firefly love buttons (even though I'm currently addicted to / working my way through Farscape Season 1 on my train journeys via my PSP).

Anyway - here's a cool bit of dialogue from the Serenity script:

"You've done remarkable things.

But you're fighting a war you've already lost."

Capt. Malcolm Reynolds: "Well, I'm known for that."

Click this to see the new Serenity Trailer!!

Matt Adcock Meets Bill Nighy, Martin Freedman, Sam Rockwell and Zooey Deschanel

"2005 - a space oddity"

Matt Adcock Meets Bill Nighy, Martin Freedman,

Sam Rockwell and Zooey Deschanel

and Garth Jennings


Over two decades in the making, the big screen adaptation of The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy hits the UK this week and it carries a huge weight of expectation from fans of Douglas Adams’ book trilogy (in five parts), a TV series and the original BBC Radio show.

This quirky British sci fi is probably the closest we’ll ever get to "Monty Python in space" and it stars Martin Freeman as the archetypal Everyman, Arthur Dent. Dent has to face the prospect of having his house bulldozed, discovers that his best friend is an alien and then finds out that the whole of planet Earth is about to be demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass.

So how did Martin feel about taking on this iconic role?
Freeman: "Well, I went back to the books and decided I needed to put my stamp on the role. We had a great screenplay, so basically after I got the part I just had to get the hell out of the way and let the story come through! I heard that Bruce Willis was up for this part but that’s fair enough because I’m going to do Die Hard now…"

Trillian (Zooey Deschanel) is Arthur Dent’s love interest in the film – is Hitchhiker’s actually a kind of sci fi romance?
Deschanel: "Yeah it is the ultimate romance, a really nice romance that ties a lot of the elements together. It was so much fun to make too. I am honoured to be a part of it - back at school it was the book that the cool kids read."

Talking of cool, British actors don’t come much cooler than Bill Nighy (Love Actually, Shaun of the Dead and next year Pirates of the Caribbean 2) who plays Slartibartfast a planet builder. If he could redesign earth, what would he change?
Nighy: "I’d lose the English Channel – it’s not good for our manners or our language skills to be stuck out here. Also I’d maybe lower the temperature a touch, make it a little bit cooler in the Middle East, it might not work but it’s worth a try."

Hitchhiker’s has a wonderful mix of special effects, some cutting edge CGI work but also older style effects work – I asked the director Garth Jennings if this was a budget issue or a style choice?
Jennings: "I didn’t want to compete with the big CGI heavy movies coming out this year. We tried to be inventive in our use of special effects - this is like old Star Wars as opposed to new Star Wars. And even if we’d had double the budget I like to think we’d have approached it in the same way."

One of the key effects is giving Zaphod Beeblebrox (Sam Rockwell) two heads and three arms. How did he find acting that part?
Rockwell: "It was pretty wild. Well apart from having 10lbs of Matthew McConaughey (2nd head) on my head, which was an interesting dilemma for an actor. I mixed some Bill Clinton and George W Bush into the character. I’ve always loved the British sense of humour too, I mean I was raised on Monty Python."

There is obviously much talent and energy that has gone into making The Hitchhiker’s Guide and it certainly sounds like they enjoyed its creation – all that remains now is to see if it does enough business to get the next book green lit for production then we can take our seats at The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe…

Read Matt's Film Review of The Hitchhiker's Guide

Bill Nighy and Zooey Deschanel photos from Hitchhiker's premier

Film Review: Robots

"nuts as far as the eye can see"

Robots (U)
Dir. Chris Wedge

Reviewed by Matt Adcock


Finally got to catch this one with my boys (who absolutely loved it) and it’s a fun waste of time which works on a pleasing level for adults as well as the requisite slapstick fun for the younger viewer. Fart gags, battle scene, throw-away comedy lines by the likes of Robin Williams – all present and correct.

Great moments include line like Rodney’s dad – looking at his new baby robot:
“He's got your moms eyes and my dads nose. I knew we were smart to save those parts.”

Or when Bigweld - whilst being repaired by Rodney, a la Hal in 2001: A Space Odyssey sings: “Daaaisy... Daaaaissy... Giive mee yoour aaaanswer truuuue.”

And in this current climate of Star Wars Episode III anticipation – my kids lapped up the bit where one of the robots puts in a Darth Vader voice box and states that: “The force is strong in this one…”


"you know the fun part is 'making' the baby!"


You don’t need to know what it’s about – just go and see it – this is one film that delivers nicely across the board.


Darkmatt Rating: ööö (riveting stuff)

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

Film Review: The Amityville Horror

"lights are on but nobody's home..."

The Amityville Horror
Dir. Andrew Douglas

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

"Based on the true story" but only just...

My mind reeling from images of grisly murder, committed right here in the house I now live in – I look again at the demonically distorted faces of my family and know what I have to do… *

The Amityville Horror – is your average ‘all you can eat’ buffet of freak out / fast cut ‘jumps’ and plodding plot that over explains everything except why it takes so long for those living in the infamous house to see that step dad George (played by Nightstalker Ryan Reynolds) has gone on a one way trip to psychoville and isn’t coming back without his Shining axe…

High production values and tasty women including Melissa George (the mum) and Rachel Nichols (the babysitter) stop this from being a complete car wreck of a movie but there is very little here to commend.

In fact, despite a couple of really good ‘everyone in the audience jumps and yelps’ moments, I found the original film had a much more intense and disturbing atmosphere. And as for the priest who tries and fails to battle the house of evil – his part is so fleeting that he might as well have not bothered (he could have phoned in his only memorable line about the teddy bear - you know being from the grave etc, oh don't worry about it...).

Still, apparently there are lots of people out there who are interested enough in homicide inducing houses – this opened at number one in the box office in the US last week and number 2 in the UK. People, come on, there are much better films on offer out there…

"Hi honey - I've got my large chopper out for you"

* What I have to do of course is find a copy of “Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus” which was also made by Andrew Douglas and not only has a much better title – it actually sounds like a fascinating exploration of the US American South which offers up music, truck stops and Pentecostal fanaticism… Now that’s potentially really scary stuff!!

Darkmatt Rating: öö (catch them and kill them, or don’t bother)

Of course the whole Amityville haunting is all bollocks according to this site

Horro fans might like this - Matt Adcock Meets Chucky

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

Star Wars fever burns - Lego?

"you can't win Darth... if you strike me down

I will just reassemble myself... now where did I put my head?"

Less than a month now to Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and anticipation is mounting in our household. Books and new action figures have been bought, DVD's are playing back classic scenes and young boys are running around waving lightsabres shouting "use the force"...

I'm seriously considering going to see all 6 movies back to back on the 16 May and am going to have to see this new episode several times on the big screen...

And now we are hooked playing Lego Star Wars on the trusty PS2 - it is almost too much fun!! Two player, infinite lives toybox of pretty much everything from Episodes 1-3. You can be Darth Maul for goodness sakes. If ever there was a 'must buy' game for Star Wards fans - this is the chosen one (and the force is strong with it)...

Anyway - if you venture down to Leicester Square on the 16 May then (as well as a million sci fi nerds) you might also run into a patrol of Stormtroopers...

Like these:

"stormtroopers - designed in 1977 and still look cool"

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Zooey Deschanel and Bill Nighy at the Hitchhiker's Guide Premier...

I spoke to these lovely actors shortly before they got their glad rags on (not that they were naked or anything) along with Martin Freeman and Sam Rockwell... I've just got to write up my notes now so check back over the weekend if you want to read what they had to say...

Sneak preview quote from Bill (about the one high profile negative reviewer so far):
"Apparently he has a substance abuse problem and of course he doesn't get out much, he's a lonely guy, what can I say?"

And from Zooey: "Hitchhiker's is the ultimate romance"

Read my review here: Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy

Batman Begins

"I'm batman"

This is just looking excellent and I'm getting a good feeling about it,,,

Earlier Poster

PSP Games - Matt's top 5 so far...

"eat 'untold' fiery death you mutant rats..."

Now that the PSP is out in the US - there is a nice regular stream of games coming over and because I have no self control I have to try quite a few of them out.

So here are my top 5 to date:

5. Ridge Racer (gorgeous graphics, fun 'drift' style driving - very classy)

4. Lumines (puzzle game that is seriously addictive)

3. Untold Legends (simple but lovely RPG - brings out your inner geek and gives him a big +12powerhug)

2. WipeOut Pure (virtual perfection in the palm of your hands - insanely playable)

1. TIE -
Metal Gear Acid and
Tiger Woods PGA (death dealing strategy and golfing wonderfulness - can't choose between them)

"Matt prepares to take out another unsuspecting, tooled up terrorist, on his train back to Hitchin from Kings Cross"

Link to post about Tiger Woods PSP