Film Review: King Kong

King Kong (12a)

Dir. Peter Jackson

Reviewed by Matt Adcock (@Cleric20)

"And lo, the beast looked upon the face of beauty. And from that day, he was as one dead..."

And lo, after three hours of awesome, jaw dropping monkey madness, I have to tell you, I was still hungry for more. Yes, prepare yourselves because things are going to get seriously hairy in a cinema near you this week! You may not be surprised that Peter ‘Lord of the Rings’ Jackson’s new version of the classic monster movie King Kong looks the business. 

Kong himself is excellent, pushing the CGI effects envelope to a new level and bringing real character and heart to the screen thanks in no small part to the work done by Andy Serkis. After spending months studying real gorillas, he was motion captured by computer in a similar way to how he ‘acted’ the part of Gollum in Lord of the Rings, and it works a treat.

Everything on offer here is pure quality, Naomi Watts is absolutely ravishing as the blonde who steals the heart of the great hairy backed beast (no, I didn’t mean Peter Jackson but then he did seem quite taken with her when I met them both at the London press conference last week). Actually, the cast as whole work well, and Jack Black proves that he can deliver more than just laughs as the slimy but intrepid filmmaker Carl Denham.

You probably don’t need much of a plot recap – it really doesn’t matter if you’ve already seen King Kong in it’s classic 1933 version and / or the camp 1976 remake – King Kong 2005 is a film you simply must experience on the big screen. Jackson has gone all out to deliver 110% entertainment – you can tangibly feel his love of all things monster related e.g. why have Kong fight a single T Rex when he can be faced with three? Speaking of which, there are stand out scenes both on Skull Island and in the beautifully recreated New York. I guarantee you’ll grimace when faced with the ‘bug valley’ that includes leeches, which make even the carnivorous ones in Lemony Snicket look tame.

And you’ll be a hardhearted person indeed if there’s not a tear in your eye when Kong faces his tragic destiny atop the Empire State Building.

What with the excellent Narnia last week and now King Kong, cinema goers are in for a couple of festive treats. Christmas really has come early for lovers of big scale action adventures…

Darkmatt Rating: öööö (impressive - not ape sh*t)

Reviews of other stuff you might want to read indexed here


"here's looking at you kid..."

Darkmatters: Year One pt 2

2005 has been a good year in the land of Darkmatters - cool films, top concerts and massive progress on my novel... Here's the second half of the year in highlights:

Jun '05

U2 Vertigo Tour

Matt Adcock meets Katie Holmes

Jul '05

Matt Adcock meets Isla Fisher and the Wedding Crashers

July 07 2005

Aug '06

Long View Rock Letchworth

Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince - review with Massive Spoilers!!

Sep '05

Prey Alone = coolest short film ever?

Only person in the world to have enjoyed Revolver?

Oct '05

Serenity Delivers

I love Keira and Domino...

Nov '05

Grand Theft Auto PSP

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Dec '05

Narnia: The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe

A 'Hairy' Day

Check Year One part 1 here: Darkmatters

Reviews of stuff you might want to read indexed here

Space Cadets... one small step for TV viewing

"Ipswich - I always thought it might be the final frontier!!"

Channel 4 in the UK is blasting a group of adventurers, ordinary members of the public, off into space to spend five days orbiting the earth. Erm, no - actually it's a massive televised hoax but boy is it good TV!!

As the official blurb goes:

"It's thrilling, it's exciting, and it's totally bogus.
In fact, the cadets will be on a disused military base in Suffolk.
Our group of thrill seekers will experience two weeks of intensive astronaut training believing they are in Star City, near Moscow, and labouring under the illusion that they are part of a real space mission.
After all, who would go to the trouble of dressing Suffolk, up as Russia, and faking a space launch?
To fuel the illusion, the base has been painstakingly decked out in Russian products, down to the very last plug socket.
Their physical training is under the supervision of a genuine former KGB agent.
Hollywood visual effects specialists, Wonderworks, whose credits include The Day After Tomorrow and Apollo 13, have created the space shuttle itself from a NASA blueprint.
Sound effects have been created to simulate the incredible noise generated by blasting off from the earth. Hydraulics and 'air biscuits' will pull, jolt, and vibrate the craft around for authenticity.
When the cadets look out of the cockpit window, they'll see a distant earth, thanks to meticulous visual effects.
Who wouldn't believe?
Watch Space Cadets every night at 9pm and lap up the lie... "

Find out more here: spacecadets

Reviews and other stuff you might want to read indexed here

Darkmatters: Year One

It's been a whole year... since Darkmatters the blog kicked off.

Here is a month by month quick guide to the first 6 months - i.e. some quirky stuff you may have missed...


Dec '04


My Worst Films of 2004

Meeting Jim Carrey


Jan '05


PWEI live in Concert

My obsession with Jennifer Garner


Feb '05


Birthday Bonus

Matt meets Samuel L Jackson


Mar '05


Matt joins the Carnivale

Doctor Who comes back


Apr '05


Lovin the PSP

Darkmatters Cleric

May (the force be with you) '05

Matt meets George Lucas

Slave Girl Leia Tribute

Look out for the equally random selection from June - Dec '05 should I ever get the time to post em...

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

A Hairy Day... KONG, Naomi Watts and Peter Jackson

"Miss Watts... you can kind of see at least a couple of things that KONG liked about her..."

WOW... Saw King Kong today - review will be up by the weekend so check back for that.

What was an excellent bonus to the film (which rocks by the way) - Peter Jackson, Jack Black, Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis and Adrien Brody were at the press conference afterwards and I'll write up what Jackson and crew had to say when I get a moment!!

The 8th Wonder of the World is certainly worth checking out - and has gatecrashed my top 10 films of 2005... Jackson has followed up Lord of the Rings with another entirely watchable, fun action epic - my dreams tonight will be filled with huge hairy faces and the gorgeous Naomi Watts who looks great in the flesh.

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

Narnia: The Battle Begins

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – the thinking behind the film.

By Matt Adcock

A battle is about to be unleashed this week, a struggle for the hearts, minds but above all - box office takings. As The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe opens worldwide it is sparking furious debate as many Christians hail it as being almost a ‘Passion of Christ for children’. But while many churches across the globe are busy block booking tickets (I’ve had my invite to Stopsley Baptist Church’s screening), what do the filmmakers think of it all?

It’s no secret that in the U.S. Disney and the Church have had a fairly unhappy relationship over many years with various rumoured boycotts, claims of family value erosion and loudly voiced concern over the morals being portrayed in many of the films produced by Disney. So many were concerned when it was announced that they would be handling the new film version of The Chronicles of Narnia. Was this part of a plot to water down the Christian messages that run through the fantasy children’s books of C.S. Lewis? Would the film be nothing more than a Lord of the Rings meets Harry Potter cash in?

I asked the director Andrew Adamson what his take on the Christian aspect of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe was. He said: ““When people are talking about the resurrection allegory and so on, I say ‘you mean like The Matrix?’. People look at me blankly and I say ‘well, there’s Neo, he’s the chosen one, and he dies and comes back and saves the world – there’s an allegory for you’. Obviously CS Lewis was a Christian, but to me spirituality and religion are very personal issues and it’s really up to the audience, or the reader, to interpret it as they wish. I’ve made a movie of the book, and what you got from the book you’ll get from the movie.”

This is indeed the case – the explicit Christ like analogy of when traitorous Edmund’s life is saved by the sacrifice of the messiah lion Aslan has not gone unnoticed in the media. This week whilst The Guardian rated the film a maximum 5 stars it also ran a scathing opinion piece by Polly Toynbee on the film in which she claims that “Of all the elements of Christianity, the most repugnant is the notion of the Christ who took our sins upon himself and sacrificed his body in agony to save our souls. Did we ask him to? Poor child Edmund, to blame for everything, must bear the full weight of a guilt only Christians know how to inflict…”

But Adamson is keen that people enjoy the film without bring such entrenched opinions to the cinema: “I read the books before I even knew what allegory meant, and I enjoyed them purely as an adventure," he says. "That's how the film should be able to be enjoyed, too."

C. S. Lewis certainly left a lot of the tale to the imagination in his stories, I wondered if this made the adaptation process easier or harder?
Adamson: “It was really kind of a blessing and a curse. It was definitely great to be able to draw upon the imagination that I had since reading the story at eight years old and being able to bring that imagination to the screen. At the same time this book has been read by probably 100 million people, and they all have their own interpretation, their own images of it.”
And whatever you think of the film, it certainly stirs the imagination, rouses the heart and makes you hungry for more. If the Chronicles of Narnia continue their path to the big screen (plans are underway for Prince Caspian to be the next Narnia movie if Wardrobe is a commercial success) the debate around the ‘Christian – ness’ of the material may well become a regular debate...


Read my review of: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe

Narnia: The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe Review

"98, 99, 100... coming... ready or not - film of the year 2005!!"


The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (PG)
Dir. Andrew Adamson

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

What if that old wardrobe you’ve in your spare room was actually the doorway to an incredible ‘other world’… A place where the animals could talk, fantastical creatures like centaurs, fawns and griffins existed and it soon became apparent that you were destined to fulfill an ancient prophecy to rid the land from an all consuming evil?
Sounds like the stuff of epic fantasy legend and the good news is that whilst you might not find such a doorway in any of your household furniture – from today the only door you’ll need to enter this world is that of your nearest cinema…

Yes, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is an enchanting, exciting, gorgeous envisioning of the much loved book by C.S. Lewis. I must confess that I once ‘trod the boards’ in a low budget version of this tale as the goat legged, fawn Mr. Tumnus. And I was worried that a big budget, live action / CGI retelling of the story would not be able to deliver the one thing that cinema at its very best can conjure – pure wonderment. Well, may I be turned to stone by an evil white witch for my fleeting doubts, Andrew ‘Shrek 1 &2’ Adamson has pulled it off, and in very special style – this is my film of 2005 by a giant lions’ leap.

You want quality family filmmaking that touches your very soul? Fancy some rousing battle scenes that play out like Lord of Rings but with more heart? How about perfect casting of ‘evil herself’ or Jadis the White Witch as she likes to be called in Tilda Swinton? It’s all here… The majestic lion Aslan (voiced by Liam Neeson) truly is the most impressive virtually created creature ever and even though it pains me, I have to admit that James McAvoy’s Tumnus is pretty much perfect. Other highlights are Mr and Mrs Beaver (Ray Winstone and Dawn French) who bring some Shrek style fun to the story, bonus scenes not found in the book and production values that demonstrate quality and a real love for the subject matter in every frame of footage.
The four ‘Pevensie’ siblings - Peter (William Moseley), Susan (Anna Popplewell), Edmund (Skandar Keynes), and Lucy (Georgie Henley) – are all good in the children’s roles too.

This is the only truly ‘must see’ film of the year, you owe it to yourself to visit Narnia as soon as you can!!

Darkmatt Rating: öööööö (my film of 2005!!)

Click this: First impressions including some cool photos

or this: earlier post about chronicles of narnia inc trailer link

or maybe even my: harry potter goblet of fire review

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

Film Review: DOOM

"Doom by name... and doomed by nature"


"The Doom test screening really wasn't going down well!!"

Doom (15)
Dir. Andrzej Bartkowiak

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

Pop quiz pal:

“You’ve got a hair triggered gun to your head...
A bus full of young nuns is on a freeway and there’s a nuclear bomb on their bus.
Up ahead is a ‘children of courage’ rally where hundreds of brave little kids have gathered to be honoured.
The timer on the bomb on the buss full of nuns is set to go off just as the bus gets to the centre of the children’s rally.

- Think fast

You’re in a movie theatre which the buss will pass in just one minute, the trailers have played (Narnia, King Kong, Underworld 2 etc) and now Doom the movie is about to start – you have to make a choice, you’ve only got time to do one thing, will you leap onto the bus and try to defuse the bomb, knowing that it’s an impossible task and will mean your certain – albeit heroic - death, or will you kick back and watch the movie?”

Time’s up…

Sorry, anyone still watching the movie made the wrong choice: DOOM is the nastiest, most life negating, intense neural torture released in 2005. The word ‘turkey’ in no way does justice to just how bad this film is. DOOM is an affront to your human rights to be entertained in a movie theatre… Everything about it is major league shoddy, it really is a stinker of epic proportions. And it pains me to say this because I loved the games DOOM 3 especially, and generally an a big fan of sci fi action no matter how stupid it is…

The only good thing about DOOM is the gorgeous Rosamund Pike who plays a sexy researcher ‘Samantha Grimm’. Grimm by name and grim by nature – she’s on Mars finding out if the 10% of the human genome is still unmapped might be the genetic blueprint for the soul. The best scene of the film is of Dr Grimm walking along a corridor – check the photo below (not from the film but of miss Pike) and you’ll notice that she can certainly ‘stand out’ when she wants to…

"great dress and 'firm' proof that she's all there!"

Anyway, my life force has been so drained by sitting through DOOM that I can hardly bring myself to go on. Needless really to say that ‘The Rock’ is rubbish, the effects budget is wasted, every scene is dull, and the good name (of the game on which the film is based) is lost forever.
All I can hope is that it’s not too late and that you read this before subjecting yourself to a fate worse than death.

Hey – it’s not too late to catch that bus!!

"Rosamund Pike - too good to be in this awful movie, please don't let her career be 'doomed'"

Darkmatt Rating: ö (a one way ticket to hell for your entertainment senses)

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

100,000th visitor to Darkmatters will get bonus...

"this is what the bottom of this blog looked like this morning..."

Almost a year in the realm of Darkmatters

So it's almost a whole year since I started this blogging thing. And whilst I'm preparing a special little 'review of the year' for the anniversary (09 Dec) the question is – can I hit 100,000 'unique' visitors? by that date?

It’s a nice round number – and yes - I know that ‘real’ websites and pro-blogs get more than 100k hits in a matter of minutes, it still amazes me that so many folks would find there way here to this slightly ‘off the beaten track’ blog of film reviews, strange fiction, cool games, hot females and spiritual ponderings…

And here’s a fun thing – if you are the 100,000th visitor I’d be prepared to offer you the chance to post your own entry on Darkmatters – it could be a film review, some blatant self promotion (a photo of yourself if you’re a foxy babe!?) – whatever… All you need to do is prove that you’re the 100,000th visitor by hitting the ‘print screen’ button on your keyboard and pasting it into an email to me (cleric@another.com) and we’ll take it from there…

If you're almost the 100,000th visitor, you should probably email in anyway as there's a high chance that the 'actual' person may not have read this post and that would give you the chance to 'nick' their opportunity...

"let us pray for the souls of those who have visited Darkmatters... we will remember them"

Reviews and other stuff you might want to read indexed here

Is the bible sexist?

"see below as Matt tries to justify 'tasteful' photos like this on his blog..."


Is the bible sexist or is it just me?

One of Matt's occasional blog ponderings prompted by a conversation...

Being a Christian film reviewer can be hard, on the one hand you have the whole Old Testament which depicts pretty much a totally patriarchal society.
By modern value systems, you’d have to call it a ‘sexist’ way of life.
I guess at least they didn’t have blogs back then - where they could post pictures of impossibly gorgeous women on for no other reason than the blog owner found them ‘pleasing to the eye’… As above...

Is it so wrong? Does that make me a sexist git? I mean some of those ‘great’ servants of God had like King David certainly had time for the ladies (his eight wives, in case you were wondering were: Michal, a daughter of King Saul. Ahinoam of Jezreel. Abigail, previously wife of Nabal. Then Maachah, Haggith, Avital, Eglah and Bathsheba.)

Obviously I’m happily married and hope to grow old with one and only stunning supermodel wife but I seek a healthy spiritual balance… Especially because I am fascinated with films and reviewing them for a hobby means that I do get to see so many gorgeous females on screen… Is window shopping wrong, especially when you have no intention to buy?
Anyway, back to the topic at hand, some guy today told me that the Bible is not sexist overall because it records all kinds of sin; slavery and bondage and the failures of its greatest heroes (like David again for his adultery with Bathsheba, and his subsequent murder of her husband to try and get away with it), yet it also gives us the answer and the cure for sin. You know redemption through Christ... and all that.
I’d have to add that the New Testament where Jesus gets to put his views across it is much more empowering to both sexes. So go and debate it for yourself…

And in an almost connected conclusion I’ll just recommend a click over to my friend Tom’s blog:

http://tomwade.blogspot.com/ where his write up of ‘In Her Shoes’ includes the poignant line: “Cameron Diaz walking around with hardly any clothes on for the whole film – hang on – suddenly this movie doesn’t seem that bad at all…”

Here endeth the lesson – I’m off to watch Bullet Boy.

Reviews and other stuff you might want to read indexed here

Xbox 360 vs Sony PS3 - whatever turns you on

"choose your weapon"

Xbox 360 vs Sony PS3

So the Xbox 360 launches in the UK this week (I've played a demo unit and it is "nice enough" but not critically not quite nice enough to make me want one - yet)...

Here are a couple of links to articles about the new systems - looks like the usual new release 'bugs' are hitting the 360 with some machines 'turning themselves off' or 'freezing mid game':
X Box 360 Glitches

Latest from Sony seems to be that they will present PS3 At CES Jan 2006: CES 2006

My favourite computer games story from the web today is this one taken from: www.gamesasylum.com

The Family Media Guide has issued their "2005's TOP 10 ULTRA-VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES".

Although no doubt intended as a warning to adults buying presents for little gamers, it's possibly more likely to be used as a check list for naughty kids...


Check these:

GTA: San Andreas - "murder, theft, and destruction on every imaginable level"

Narc - "the ability to kick enemies' heads off"

50 Cent: Bulletproof - "loots the bodies of victims to buy new 50 Cent recordings and music videos"

Condemned: Criminal Origins - "a new level of detail to various injuries"

True Crime: New York City - "plant evidence on civilians and shake them down to earn extra money"

and for those sick bunnies out there - Resident Evil 4 - "During the first minutes of play, it's possible to find the corpse of a woman pinned up on a wall - by a pitchfork through her face."

As Games Asylum's own Jake Rukin says: "Most of those make the games sound more appealing than any review ever could. And indeed better than they actually are. Great job!"

You have been warned!!

So are you lovin your new 360 or waiting for the godlike PS3... let me know... or read my first thoughts on Narnia

Reviews and other stuff you might want to read indexed here

Film Review: Transporter 2

Transporter 2 (15)
Dir. Louis Leterrier

Reviewed by Matt Adcock


“Have a good life. What’s left of it…”
If you like your action movies slick, polished and impossibly fun – the film choice of the moment should be Transporter 2. For maximum enjoyment you should try not to think, at all, and on no account expect anything believable to happen, this is a film that is going to be remembered as the loudest, stupidest, most over the top, action overdose of 2005.

I found myself loving it.

Jason Statham’s heroic Frank ‘the transporter’ Martin can dodge bullets, survive improbable falls, take on 20 men in unarmed combat and drive his bulletproof Audi with more swagger than Jose Mourinho will ever have.
Here Frank’s up against a slimy villain called Gianni (Alessandro Gassman), who takes his job very seriously and whose chief hitman is named Lola - a supermodel with a clothing aversion (the hard bodied Kate Natua). I tried to find out a bit more about miss Natua and her online biography reads: ‘She started modelling at 15.’ As there wasn’t any more I can only guess it might one day continue ‘and hasn’t stopped since…’ but if you’ve ever had a hankering to see a gorgeous blonde kickboxing in her designer lingerie then Transporter 2 should be on your recommended viewing list.

Now I’m not trying to be sexist here but one might call Transporter 2 a ‘boys’ film – only inasmuch as it really loves its cars, is fetishistic regarding its handguns and deliver bouts of crunching violence ever few minutes without fail – many of which feature the half dressed Lola. If you’re a woman reading this and thinking ‘but Matt - I love cars, handguns and crunching violence’ then my apologies – you’re my kind of girl - but you get the idea.
The less you know about the plot the better (it’s wafer thin) but be assured that the car chases are up there with Bad Boys or Blues Brothers, the dialogue is dumb but quotable and the production values put Transporter 2 very much in the big league of action films.

Luc Besson (who produces and co-writes) makes a potent team with director Louis ‘Unleashed’ Leterrier. The Transporter films look set to continue delivering enjoyably daft, high end thrills for those who find James Bond that bit too high brow and complex.

Anyway, I did see another film this week – something about a Lion, a Witch and a Wardrobe - a sure fire contender for film of 2005 but more of that next week!!

Darkmatt Rating: ööö (stupid, violent and sexist action?... yes please!!)

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

" 'Dirty' Lola had ruined another pair of stockings killing the cop for his jacket "

Underworld: on UMD looks better than ever...

"Kate Beckinsale... the perfect kick ass female lead..."

Underworld: UMD extended version

Ah some things in life are just major pleasures... and having the much maligned Underworld on UMD is one of them. Being able to get a dose of Kate in her very sexy all rubber outfit anytime, anywhere... in perfect picture quality... Very pleasing!!

I'd strongly recommend getting Underworld on UMD - it really does look and sound amazing!!


"Kate in another 'all rubber' outfit'"

Reviews and other stuff you might want to read indexed here

Matt's been to Narnia...

"one small step for man... into a wardrobe... one giant leap for movie fans!"

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

First impressions by Matt Adcock

No – this is not a review, although I am itching to tell you all about The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe as a film – that is embargoed until the 04 Dec (so check back then)… Now you can read it here: narnia lion witch wardrobe review

Having seen the film though, what I can tell you is this: Narnia is just awesome, it’s a place of wonder and joy, courage and betrayal, oh and the cheekiest talking beaver you’ll ever see…

"Jadis the white witch is scary enough to freak out younger children - but only the wussy ones"

What else can you expect?
Well, just imagine a nigh on perfect representation of the classic children’s tale, the children stars are great, the special effects are magical in a way Harry Potter can only dream about and the end battle is Lord of the Rings in scale and production values, but with a much wider variety of combatants. You really can't say you've ever seen a fantasy battle until you've seen a centaur make a two sworded attack lunge at a witch in a chariot pulled by polar bears...

One top bit of dialogue, which you can catch in one of the trailers, is this:
A cool looking griffin comes to land next to young King Peter and tells him –
“The enemy come in numbers far greater than our own.”
To which the brave Centaur General standing the other side of Peter (who is on his white unicorn) replies –
“Numbers do not win a battle.”
You’ve got to love Peter though as he quips –
“No, but I bet they help.”


"There is forgiveness - even for traitors in the land of Narnia"

It's no exageration to tell you that my heart blazed with pleasure watching this film – there really is only one holiday film to choose this year – and it is The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe!!

Click this: earlier post about chronicles of narnia inc trailer link

Reviews and other stuff you might want to read indexed here

Pattern Recognition - William Gibson

Pattern Recognition
by William Gibson

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

Possible contender for book of the year... Pattern Recognition by William 'king of cyberpunk' Gibson was an absolute joy to read. Cool, stylish and severely paranoid - having worked in Marketing and PR my whole career the concept of someone who could 'divine' marketing trends and had a logo aversion to boot was one that sucked me in big time!!

So the plot is something like this: Cayce Pollard is an expensive, freakily intuitive market-research consultant. In London on a job, she is offered a secret assignment: to investigate some intriguing snippets of video that have been appearing on the Internet. An entire subculture of people is obsessed with these bits of footage, and anybody who can create that kind of brand loyalty would be a gold mine for Cayce's client. But when her borrowed apartment is burgled and her computer hacked, she realizes there's more to this project than she had expected...

"PATTERN RECOGNITION is William Gibson's best book since he rewrote all the rules in NEUROMANCER.

Gibson casts a master extrapolator's eye on our present, and shows it to us as if for the first time."
--Neil Gaiman,author of AMERICIAN GODS

Darkmatt Rating: öööö (tasty future vision - too close for comfort)

Here's an excerpt:

In the kitchen she runs tap water through a German filter, into an Italian electric kettle. Fiddles with switches, one on the kettle, one on the plug, one on the socket. Blankly surveys the canary expanse of laminated cabinetry while it boils. Bag of some imported Californian tea substitute in a large white mug. Pouring boiling water. In the flat's main room, she finds that Damien's faithful Cube is on, but sleeping, the night-light glow of its static switches pulsing gently. Damien's ambivalence toward design showing here: He won't allow decorators through the door unless they basically agree to not do that which they do, yet he holds on to this Mac for the way you can turn it upside down and remove its innards with a magic little aluminum handle. Like the sex of one of the robot girls in his video, now that she thinks of it. She seats herself in his high-backed workstation chair and clicks the transparent mouse. Stutter of infrared on the pale wood of the long trestle table. The browser comes up. She types Fetish:Footage:Forum, which Damien, determined to avoid contamination, will never bookmark. The front page opens, familiar as a friend's living room. A frame-grab from #48 serves as backdrop, dim and almost monochrome, no characters in view. This is one of the sequences that generate comparisons with Tarkovsky. She only knows Tarkovsky from stills, really, though she did once fall asleep during a screening of The Stalker, going under on an endless pan, the camera aimed straight down, in close-up, at a puddle on a ruined mosaic floor. But she is not one of those who think that much will be gained by analysis of the maker's imagined influences. The cult of the footage is rife with subcults, claiming every possible influence. Truffaut, Peckinpah . . . The Peckinpah people, among the least likely, are still waiting for the guns to be drawn. She enters the forum itself now, automatically scanning titles of the posts and names of posters in the newer threads, looking for friends, enemies, news. One thing is clear, though; no new footage has surfaced. Nothing since that beach pan, and she does not subscribe to the theory that it is Cannes in winter. French footageheads have been unable to match it, in spite of countless hours recording pans across approximately similar scenery. She also sees that her friend Parkaboy is back in Chicago, home from an Amtrak vacation, California, but when she opens his post she sees that he's only saying hello, literally. She clicks Respond, declares herself CayceP.

Reviews of other stuff you might want to read indexed here

"This is how I imagine Cayce Pollard to look... damn, maybe they should make a film?"

The Exorcism of Emily Rose

The Exorcism of Emily Rose (15)
Dir. Scott Derrickson

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

Do you believe in God? OK, how about the Devil? As Emily Rose writes in a letter “Some people say that ‘God is dead’, but how can they believe that when I show them the Devil?” and whatever your beliefs or lack of, The Exorcism of Emily Rose – which is based on real events - will make you reassess where you stand on the whole God/Devil question.

If you’ve seen the trailer for The Exorcism of Emily Rose, it wouldn’t be unfair to be expecting something like a remake of ‘The Exorcist’ with added court scenes. Also as it was directed by Scott Derrickson, the chap who made the straight to video: ‘Hellraiser part V: Inferno’, you might see Emily Rose as a dumb, cash in, shock-a-thon. I’m pleased to say that this is not the case.

The good news is that to enjoy this film you don't need to know much about the real Emily’s life story, medical science, exorcism, or even the Bible. This is a powerful and well crafted film that I would happily recommend to priests and pagans alike – as long as you’re not of an overly nervous disposition…
Derrickson said in a recent interview: “I don’t care what you believe, There are questions that everybody has to reckon with. Audiences need a way to face their fears, and culturally, we are as afraid as ever.” With Emily Rose he has managed to make a film that works both as a thinking person’s horror movie and a credible homage to the age old battle between the forces of light and darkness – played out in a courtroom. The novel central gambit is the trial of Father Moore (Tom Wilkinson), accused of negligent homicide because Emily Rose died shortly after the priest’s failed ‘exorcism’. What I liked best about the film is that it lets you make up your own mind as to whether Emily was possessed by demons, or rather suffered from ‘psychotic epilepsy’. Emily's story is told in evidence as flashbacks and it is mostly in these moments that the scares come, but be warned there are some good ones!

Emily Rose has already gone down well in the US where it posted the third-biggest September box office opening ever of over $30million. I dare you to go and see her yourself, but remember as Father Moore tells his agnostic attorney, “Demons exist whether you believe in them or not.”

Darkmatt Rating: öööö (The power of Christ compels you - to see this film!!)

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"It was not wise to piss Emily off at 'that' time of the month"

Invited to meet the GEISHA (Ziyi Zhang)

"stunning"

Geisha Feeling

I normally don't get to see my post before I go to work, and so it is that sometimes I have cool things waiting for me when I get back from a hard day making the world a better place through the arcane practice of PR...

Obviously much that arrives is the usual rubbish - do you want a new credit card / insurance / wife etc... but every now and then there is a nugget of smile inducing loveliness to find. Today I got an invite to meet the stunning Ziyi Zhang, star of House of Flying Daggers (first film I bought on PSP UMD) - read my review here: review house of flying daggers and the soon to be released Memoirs of a Geisha...


"Um Matt, my dress is falling off... can you give me hand?"

Yes it will mean tough day of watching the new film, then eating lunch at a cool hotel before meeting the gorgeous Zhang... It's not so much a 'yes/no' question as a 'hell yes!'

"Ziyi slips into something more comfortable... I'm just out of shot to the right - see the look she's giving me... Obviously impressed by my ripped 6pack, toned muscles and black hotpants..."

So Tuesday looks like being a 'better than average' day - topped off in the evening when I'll be taking my eldest son Luke 'Skywalker' Adcock to the multimedia London showing of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe...

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Film Review: Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

"Oh man... if you think she looks cute here - scroll down to the shot of her in her Santa outfit!!"

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Dir. Shane Black

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

Shane Black I could just Kiss Kiss Bang Bang you for making this film… I have been a devout disciple of your work (writing credits at least) since your excellent 1987 Lethal Weapon… way to start a whole movie genre of tasty violence laced with buddy comedy… and even though the Lethal Weapons became rather less lethal and less funny as they progressed they did deliver a fairly consistent bang for the buck (and I don’t care what you say…Patsy Kensit’s topless / death in Pt 2 is still a classic movie scene). And you bestowed the rather cool The Long Kiss Goodnight and the absolutely geektasticly Bruciesome The Last Boy Scout – one of my all time favs…

So now you’ve finally stepped up and made your directorial debut and I’ll be gutted with a rusty chainsaw in some backwoods cabin if it isn’t an absolute cracker - a home run… What can I say – top stuff!!

Robert Downey Jr is back on the cool fast track thanks to his Harry Lockhart – hero / narrator and his genuine chemistry with co-star Val Kilmer is just great to behold (and I usually hate Kilmer with a vengeance). But most of the kudos has to go to the stunning Michelle Monaghan, ouch, she’s so hot in this film it shouldn’t be allowed…

"Happy Christmas... virtually guaranteed wearing that!!"

So if you have even a passing interest in action, comedy or just excitingly fun thrillers - KKBB should certainly be a film you see sooner rather than later!!

Darkmatt Rating: ööööö (a dead cert for my top ten films of the year)

Read what my new pal Tom thought of it here: kiss-me-no-wait-shoot-me

"Bambi on the rampage... just one of the many visual gags in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang"

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Burnout Legends meets Philippians 4

Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right.
Think about things that are pure and lovely and admirable.
Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise...

Philippians 4v8

You know - this verse of scripture makes me wonder in no small part whether the Apostle Paul had secretly gotten hold of a PSP and copy of Burnout Legends from the future as a 'thanks for all your hard work' from the Lord...

It certainly fits even if it he may have gone on to say: 'and then put your opponent into the wall as you take the lead in your tricked out car'.

If you have a PSP and haven't bought Burnout Legends yet... this is the sign you've been waiting for - do it!!!!

Film Review: The Constant Gardener

The Constant Gardener (15)
Dir. Fernando Meirelles

Reviewed by Matt Adcock


Every once in a while you come across a film that stops you in your tracks, grips you from start to finish and leaves you thinking about the world in a completely different way. No, that film is not Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - which is a fun slab of dark flavoured magical nonsense at best, I’m talking about The Constant Gardener.
Based on the best-selling John le Carré novel and from the Academy Award-nominated director of City of God. This is quality filmmaking that exceeds expectations with stunning cinematography, classy acting and nicely paranoia inducing plot.

In a remote area of Northern Kenya, do gooding activist Tessa Quayle (Rachel Weisz) is found brutally murdered. A doctor who was travelling with her – and may have been her lover - appears to have fled the scene, and the evidence points to a crime of passion. Members of the British High Commission in Nairobi assume that Tessa's widower, mild-mannered Justin Quayle (Ralph Fiennes), will leave the matter to them. Unfortunately they hadn’t banked on his desire to find the truth behind his wife’s murder and in doing so he uncovers a deadly global conspiracy. Basically, in case you haven’t been keeping up on current events – it seems that big pharmaceutical companies are right up there with the arms dealers when it comes to king sized scumbags and regard for human life. A measure of just how moving the plight of the people featured in this film is, when the film was completed, the filmmakers set up The Constant Gardener Trust to help the inhabitants of the slums near Nairobi where the crew had been filming. I can honestly say that if you have even an ounce of humanity knocking around in your heart you too will be deeply affected.
Rachel Weisz and Ralph Fiennes, both bring a wonderful essence of realism to their roles and their on screen chemistry has a sizzle not often found in such high brow fare.
If you like your thrillers chock full of slow burning tension, insidious bad guys who will stop at nothing to keep the truth hidden and even the occasional eyebrow raising saucy scene then you’ll be wanting to book an appointment with The Constant Gardener at your earliest convenience. Otherwise you could follow the crowds and catch young Mr Potter as he packs in as many punters as possible before the box office festive double whammy of Narnia and King Kong hit next month.

Darkmatt Rating: öööö (pure class - a 'must see' film)

"stunning photography - of the stunning Rachel Weisz"

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