Darkmatters Review: Player One

Player One

Douglas Coupland

Reviewed by Matt Adcock


“You should be spreading the good word. 

You should be etching the good word onto the glass scanning beds of library photocopiers. 

You should be scraping the truth onto old auto parts and throwing them off bridges so that people digging in the mud in a million years will question the world, too. 

You should be carving eyeballs into tire treads and onto shoe soles so that your every trail speaks of thinking and faith and belief. 

You should be designing molecules that crystallize into poems of devotion. 

You should be making bar codes that print out truth, not lies. 

You shouldn't even throw away a piece of litter unless it has the truth stamped on it--a demand for people to reach a finer place!"


Am a big Douglas Coupland fan and currently loving this book which had an unusual genesis, written to be delivered as a radio lecture as part of a Canadian series that has run since 1961 (past lectures have been given by such illustrous thinkers as Martin Luther King, Noam Chomsky and Margaret Atwood).

Player One (not to be mistaken for the also excellent videogame-nerd-em-up 'Ready Player One' by Ernest Cline) - is a real-time five-hour story set in an airport cocktail lounge during a global disaster.

This is the story of five disparate people are trapped there:

Karen, a single mother / MILF waiting for her online date;

"played here by Emma Booth"

Rick, the down-on-his-luck airport lounge bartender with dreams of self improvement;

"played here by Ryan Gossling"

Luke, a pastor on the run;

"played here by Denzel Washington"

Rachel, a cool Hitchcock blonde incapable of true human contact - is she even human?;

"played here by Amber Heard"

and finally a mysterious voice known as Player One - who may actually be any of the above or none...

"?"

Slowly, each reveals the truth about themselves while the world as they know it comes to an end.

If you like Kurt Vonnegut and J.G. Ballard, then you'll be in the right zone for Coupland as he explores the modern crises of time, human identity, society, religion and the afterlife. The book asks as many questions as it answers and readers will leave the story with no doubt that we are in a new phase of existence as a species - and that there is no turning back.


Out of a potential 5 you have to go with a Darkmatters: 

öööö –  Mind enhancing reading, very worthy of your attention!

 4 – find out what God thinks about evolution!?

Darkmatters Review: Beautiful Creatures

Beautiful Creatures (12)

Dir. Richard LaGravenese

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

“Everybody has to deal with shit in their lives... You want to be a normal human what do you think that is? We don't have powers to change anything anytime we want. Being human is feeling bad… it's feeling scared, it's you not being able to do anything about it until you don't feel that way anymore till you can just see your way out of it.”

In the town of Gatlin in South Carolina, a young chap named Ethan Wate (Alden ‘Stoker’ Ehrenreich) awakens from a recurring dream of a girl he doesn't know… Could there be something magical about this ‘dream girl’ Lena Duchannes (Alice Englert) – erm, yes… She’s a ‘Caster’ or ‘witch’ as they are commonly known.

Cue mystical oddness and ho-hum ‘didn’t we just leave this party?’ teen romantic tangles between humans and ‘mythical creatures’ a la Twilight, only not even as interesting as the sparkly skinned vamps or zero body hair whilst human wolves!?

"Something wicked this way comes"

The plot is adapted and mangled from the young adult focused Kami Garcia novel which sees some hokum about how on her16th birthday, Lena's true nature will steer her towards either the light or the dark and there are lots of hints that Lena might be consumed by evil. It’s all a bit complicated when two immensely powerful dark casters Ridley (Emmy Rossum), Lena's provocative cousin/childhood friend and Sarafine (Emma Thompson), Lena's mother, arrive.

Is it any good? Not really… The special effects are ok at best but for a film that could have tasty mystical battles and supernatural smackdown – there really isn’t much to get excited about. As a Christian, it is interesting to see another watering down of the dark arts in an attempt to woo young people - but Harry Potter did it better...

Rossum vamps it up and at least looks the part, Ehrenreich and Englert however are an unappetizing couple with zero chemistry.

"good witch or bad?"

Beautiful Creatures is weak movie overall that doesn’t really do enough to warrant a sequel, doesn’t mean we won’t get one though – thanks to the magic of Hollywood. I tell you what I would like to see... a mash up / crossover of Harry Potter, Twilight, Beautiful Creatures and maybe The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones which comes out later this year and brings Angels and Demons into the mix!?


Out of a potential 5 you have to go with a Darkmatters:

ö1/2 - freaky but dull and not even freaky enough really

1.5 – not so beautiful after all

Awesomeness öö – a couple of watchable bits

Laughs ö – nothing very fun

Horror öö – hardly grim

Babes öö – Rossum is yummy (see below)

Spiritual Enlightenment öö - don't turn to the dark side!?

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale Review

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale (PS3, PSVITA)

Developed by SuperBot Entertainment

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

The time has come for the greatest warriors of the PlayStation universe to FIGHT! Ever wanted to beat the living daylights out of Kratos the God of War? How about punching Sweet Tooth from Twisted Metal in his nasty clown face? Well, here is your chance – on both / either the PS3 or PSVITA.

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale unleashes Sony characters from throughout the glorious history of PlayStation and brings them together for a major virtual brawl.

"The KillZone Helghast make an appearance"

Battling through single player character stories or taking the fight online in competitive multiplayer against up to 3 other players is mucho fun when All-Stars come out to play – especially with the slick PS3 vs VITA cross-play option that works a treat.

The novelty of controlling some of the greatest ever PlayStation characters in an explosive brawler set in a range of themed and constantly evolving battle arenas is nothing short of epic. The controls are easy to pick up and the gameplay fast, furious and smooth, but there is a tactical depth to this game which allows you to develop your gameplay.

"Frantic gameplay"

Instead of each character having health bars, they have a power bar that fills up when you connect moves and land hits. The power bar builds up through 3 levels each one increasing in power until the legendary Level 3 where you can deliver a one hit kill. Winner is the player with the most 'kills' per round or the first to reach the target kill count.

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale might owe some of its concept to the Nintendo Smash Bros Brawl but this ultimate four-player brawler, which draws from the entire PlayStation catalogue games takes the whole genre to a new level.

"God of War stage"

There is a growing number of playable characters (through Downloadable Content), each with their own special attacks, interactive stages, theme music – it’s like all your PlayStation fighting game Christmases come at once.

All-Stars Battle Royale – play it, love it and take it online… This is your chance to jump in to a gorgeous fighting game from PS3 and PSVITA that will keep you coming back for more. Best of all if you buy it on PS3, you get the PSVITA version for free!

"Viva la DLC KAT"

Out of a potential 5 you have to go with a Darkmatters: 

öööö –  Do not underestimate the power of PlayStation (All-Stars Battle Royale)

 4 – choose your weapon and smack down!!

"KAT is here to steal the show - hot from her Gravity Rushing"

Read the Darkmatters review of Gravity Rush

Darkmatters Review: Stoker

Stoker (18)

Dir. Park Chan-Wook

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

“She's of age…"

"Of age for what?"

"You have no idea...”

Meet India Stoker (Mia Wasikowska), a traumatised young woman who becomes emotionally disturbed after the death of her father. Things get creepy, confused and shot–through with a sense of lurking dread when her good looking uncle Charlie (Matthew Goode) comes visit and seems to be hitting it off a bit too well with her newly widowed mother, Evelyn (Nicole Kidman).

Stoker might not have any vampires of the traditional ‘I want to suck your blood’ sense, ripped from the pages of the famous Bram’s novel, but it does share a blatant bloodlust and a compulsive otherworldly weirdness. This Stoker however doesn’t need supernatural elements to delve into the sexual and violent acts hidden just under the surface tension of our human existence.

"you can feel the tension..."

I’m a big fan of South Korean filmmaker Park ‘Oldboy” Chan-Wook and its interesting to see how much of his unique style he has fused into Stoker - his first English-language film. This is a viewing experience unlike any other, Wasikowska exerts a hypnotic hold skillfully depicting her innocence slowly evolving into a full blown ‘is she destined to be a crazed killer?’ Hitchcock-esq degeneration of rational behaviour.

Sure there are many films that draw parallels between the powerful linkage of female sexual awakening and extreme violence – indeed the remake of the influential ‘Carrie’ will hit the UK later this year, but Stoker brings a fascinatingly lurid, beautiful and ornate twist to the theme.

"Uncle Charlie - but can he be trusted?"

The cinematography is gorgeous, with camera shots creeping around characters, peeking from unlikely angles and effectively keeping the viewing on edge. Stoker brings sudden bursts of violence and keeps an undercurrent of sexual tension, it’s never dull because you can’t call which way the plot will take you.

Some might dismiss the overly kitsch imagery such as India lying on her bed surrounded by shoeboxes containing matching shoes that get smaller and smaller because she’s been wearing them all her life. But even this is just a set up for when Uncle Charlie breaks the pattern later in the film by giving her the first pair of high heel shoes she has worn to mark a new phase in her life…

"mother / daughter bonding"

If you’re in the mood for a provocative gothic noir thriller, Stoker delivers a wonderfully unconventional, sexy, brutal and engaging viewing experience. Highly recommended, just not for the faint of heart.

Out of a potential 5 you have to go with a Darkmatters:

öööö - freaky compelling viewing

4 – Don't Disturb The Family...

Awesomeness öööö – slow burning fear will grab you deep inside

Laughs öö – wryly amusing

Horror ööö – grimness hits hard in places

Babes ööö – Wasikowska is geeky hot, Kidman you still would

Spiritual Enlightenment öö - bad blood will out...

Darkmatters Review: Cloud Atlas

Cloud Atlas (15)

Dir. Tom Tykwer, Andy & Lana Wachowski

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

“Yesterday, I believe I would never have done what I did today. I feel like something important has happened to me. Is this possible?

Everything is connected in this bonkers, beautiful and totally awesome cinematic experience. Bringing David Mitchell's much acclaimed novel to the screen is a hard ask because it covers diverse stories spread across time from 1849, stopping at 1936, 1973, 2012, 2144, and finally a post-apocalyptic 2321... just not necessarily in order and the whole thing is introduced / ended from another time period even further in the future which forms a narration of sorts by a heavily tattooed Tribal Leader named Zach (Tom Hanks).

"not an out-take from MYST the game/film"

The title ‘Cloud Atlas’ comes from the a document used to classify cloud types and here the essence is of entwined plot strands, themes and voices which tie together to form a stunning whole.

Cloud Atlas has a fantastic mix of tales which encompass ‘The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing’ which sees Jim Sturgess befriend a slave and get into a moral crisis, his journal is then found propping up a bed in the next timed zone where disgraced young composer Robert Frobisher (Ben Whishaw), seeks solace under the tutelage of Maestro Jim Broadbent and whilst there manages to compose his own "Cloud Atlas Sextet." This stunning piece of music pops up in the nicely named ‘Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery’ where journalist (Halle Berry) is on the case of a nuclear power conspiracy... And so it goes with each sub story segment leaping to and fro – so you will need to pay attention.

"this isn't from the 1849 section"

Comic relief is found in the ‘The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish’ where Broadbent’s bumbling Cavendish is tricked into a nursing home by his brother – and One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest hijinks ensue, not least of which is the pleasure of seeing Hugo Weaving in drag as the evil Nurse Noakes.

It’s easy to spot the Matrix style visual flair of the Wachowskis in the 'An Orison of Sonmi~451’ which takes place in the Neo Seoul of 2144 and sees the lovely Doona Bae as a genetically-engineered worker clone. Rebel Commander Hae-Joo Chang is a Neo-alike hero adept at gunplay and generally being ‘cool’ – which is easy with the high-gloss CGI effects that put Cloud Atlas firmly into the sci-fi genre.

"The Arsenal supporters club c2144"

This is three hours of top entertainment that will stir your soul, dazzle your eyes and win your heart. A film that demands to be seen more than once and an early contender for film of the year.

Out of a potential 5 you have to go with a Darkmatters:

ööööö - superb inter-connected cinematic wonderfulness 

5 – See it, it is your destiny...

Awesomeness ööööö – great action, funny comedy, powerful drama!?

Laughs ööö – funny in parts

Horror ööö – things get a little grim in places

Babes ööö – Berry gives good journo and Bae is future eye-candy

Spiritual Enlightenment ööööö - strength of 'doing what's right'

"Your recycle-able Mc Worker" 

Darkmatters Review: A Good Day To Die Hard

A Good Day To Die Hard (12a)

Dir. John Moore

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

“The 007 of Plainfield, New Jersey.”

I was proud to be there when terrorists took over Naktaomi Plaza in ’88, I was back again when Washington Dulles International got hit in ’90 and for the Federal Reserve heist in ’95. I even celebrated the Fourth of July cyber assault in 2007 – all of them having been enjoyed and John McClane elevated in my mind to Godlike status for his insane against the odds one man saving the day antics…

Now Bruce Willis resurrects his most famous hero again in order to take down a serious threat by some very nasty and powerful Russian politically motivated criminals.  Embroiled in the mix is McClane’s estranged son Jack or John McClane Junior (Jai ‘Jack Reacher’ Courtney) who is banged up in Moscow awaiting trial. What’s a renegade cop dad to do but fly straight over to Russia and try to save his son’s bacon?

"Father / son 'Bonding' time"

But things aren’t what they seem and before you can say ‘erm I think your son might not actually be a criminal but rather be a CIA agent deep undercover’, young Jack McClane is busy breaking a fellow prisoner named Komarov (Sebastian Kock) out of jail. Komarov has a file which can ruin heavyweight politician Chagarin (Sergey Kolesnikov) – and so is obviously being chased by a small army of baddies who think nothing of mounting a full scale gun and bomb assault on the courthouse where the Komarov’s trial is taking place.

The plot is the least ‘Die Hard’ to date – it’s basically less ‘one man against the odds’ and more ‘two men get caught up in a nuclear weapon conspiracy’ – at least director Moore has the decency to include one excellent car chase, some impressive (if unhappily toned down thanks to the 12a rating) firefights and several other action scenes.

"Excuse me Miss Yuliya Snigir - this is a 12a!"

So the real question is: “is it A Good Day To Die Hard?” And the answer is ‘yes’ as long as you compare this to rivals such as the neutered Taken 2 and Bourne Legacy, or the creaky Stallone effort Bullet to the Head or even Arnie’s The Last Stand. A Good Day To Die Hard can’t compete with Skyfall or The Raid as a ‘triple A’ action blast and it is definitely the weakest Die Hard of the series but it packed enough thrills to have won over my eldest son who took his girlfriend to it and both came away having enjoyed the lightweight action mayhem.

Out of a potential 5 you have to go with a Darkmatters:

ööö1/2 - Yippe-Ki-Yay again 

3.5 – even the twitching corpse of the Die Hard franchise is worth watching!

Awesomeness öööö – a couple of great scenes

Laughs öö – some funnies but nothing memorable

Horror ö – too tame

Babes ööö – Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Yuliya Snigir are yum

Spiritual Enlightenment öö - fight for what's right!

That’s probably enough Yippee-Ki-Yaying now though…

"Mary Elizabeth Winstead is back as Lucy McClane"

Death Race 3: Inferno - Review

Death Race 3: Inferno (18)

Dir. Roel Reiné

Starring: Luke Goss, Danny Trejo, Tanit Phoenix, Frederick Koehler, Robin Shou

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

“ Let me show you what true vision really looks like.”

What do the words ’straight to DVD’ mean to you? In terms of Death Race (parts 2 and 3) which follow the big screen Paul WS Anderson remake of the 1975 Roger Corman cult classic oddity they should mean ‘stupid, violent, sexist, limited thrill nonsense’… But if you’re looking for some stupid, violent, sexist, limited thrill nonsense then Death Race 3: Inferno delivers all that and does it in more style than you might expect.

"There goes the neighbourhood!" 

This effort from B-movie specialist Roel ‘Scorpion King 3’ Reiné picks up straight away from the equally low budget, cheap-n-cheerful thrills of Death Race 2. Luke Goss is back in the lead role of Carl Lucas – or ‘Frankenstein’ as he’s affectionately known - the brutal, stunt driving star of the dodgy future televised sport Death Race. Frankenstein is your average baddie with a heart of gold, which doesn’t mean that he won’t wheel-spin on your head if gets the chance…

Part 3 sees Death Race founder Weyland (Ving Rhames) get bumped out of his own franchise by slimy suit Niles York (Dougray Scott) who dreams of taking Death Race global with franchises in every continent. To keep the show’s viewing figure s though York needs to keep Frankenstein front and centre for the audience – so he promptly ships him and his pit team off to the help launch the new Kalahari Desert Death Race.

"Fire..." 

So we get a Death Race – think Wacky Races just with guns and sexy clad female co-drivers – with added Kalahari Warlords, sand dunes and shanty towns for the vehicles to plough through. The plot creaks along – stopping for some Nuts reader friendly scenes such as one of the females taking a long lingering nude shower in the dusty prison and an all female deathmatch which sees the various babes punching, kicking, axe-murdering and flame-throwing each other to death – just to earn their place in the race. 

Danny Trejo gives good support and there is a ton of eye-candy in the shapely forms of Roxane Hayward, Charlbi Dean Kriek and the returning Frankenstein pal Tanit Phoenix. Dougray Scott does ok in the baddie role and there is some tasty vehicular action (although it doesn’t always look very convincing).

"Boom"

The extras on the disc are pretty standard stuff – but I guess it would be churlish to expect cutting edge special features from a bargain DVD premier like this.


Out of a potential 5 you have to go with a Darkmatters: 

öö1/2 – Dim-witted but intermittently entertaining nitrous boosted B movie

 2.5 – the DVD equivalent of junk food

"Tanit - back from Part 2"

"Charlbi Dean Kriek - models underware when not death racing"

Darkmatters - Bafta Winners 2013 Reaction

Bafta Winners 2013

Matt Adcock's reaction - click the titles to read the Darkmatters reviews

Best Film (this is the one that counts let's face it...)

WINNER = Argo

"A great film, a tough top 5 to beat - Ben Affleck is born again as a quality director!!"


Runners up...

Les Misérables

Life of Pi

Lincoln

Zero Dark Thirty


Speaking of Afflect - Best Director (yes, really!)

WINNER = Ben Affleck for Argo

"Loved the film and have been very impressed with Affleck - from plank to top director!"

Runners up...

Michael Haneke - Amour
Quentin Tarantino - Django Unchained
Ang Lee - Life of Pi
Kathryn Bigelow - Zero Dark Thirty


Lead Actor

WINNER = Daniel Day Lewis - Lincoln

"Three hours of dialogue driven screen time, nobody does it quite like Day Lewis!"

Runners up...

Ben Affleck - Argo
Bradley Cooper - Silver Linings Playbook
Hugh Jackman - Les Misérables
Joaquin Phoenix - The Master


Lead Actress

WINNER = Emmanuel Riva - Amour

"Am yet to see this but she does look a bit like my mum... hope for my mum yet to win a Bafta then!?"

Runners up...

Jessica Chastain - Zero Dark Thirty
Marion Cotillard - Rust and Bone
Jennifer Lawrence - Silver Linings Playbook
Helen Mirren - Hitchcock


British Film

WINNER = Skyfall

Psychologist: I'm going to say a word, and I want you to say the first word that comes into your head. For example, if I say, 'day', you say...
James Bond: Wasted.
Matt Adcock: Highest grossing British film of all time?

Psychologist: Agent.
James Bond: Provocateur.
Matt Adcock: Better than Bourne.

Psychologist: Woman?
James Bond: Provocatrix.
Matt Adcock: Bond girl?

Psychologist: M.
James Bond: Bitch. [M sighs from the other side of the interrogation room]
Matt Adcock: Goodbye.

Psychologist: Gun.
James Bond: Shot.
Matt Adcock: Play.

Psychologist: Murder.
James Bond: Occupation.
Matt Adcock: That feeling when you start a blog post like this...

Psychologist: Country.
James Bond: England.
Matt Adcock: Any as long as it's not followed by the words 'and Western'.

Psychologist: Skyfall. [Bond suddenly pauses]
Psychologist: Skyfall. [Continued pause]
James Bond: Done. [Bond walks out]
Matt Adcock: WINNER!

Runners up...

Anna Karenina
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Les Misérables
Seven Psychopaths

Read the rest of the Bafta winners etc here: www.bbc.co.uk

Darkmatters Review: Wreck-It Ralph

Wreck-It Ralph (PG)

Dir. Rich Moore

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

“This is it, ladies! The kitten whispers and tickle fights end now!”

I’m a videogame fan – I’ve played a lot of videogames throughout the years… I was there in 1978 when Space Invaders came out in the lovely arcade machines format (when home consoles like the mighty PS3 were just future dreams). My first home machine was a ZX Spectrum which I won from my junior school in 1982 – Manic Miner, Jetpac, Sabre Wulf, The Lords of Midnight then ate my life…

So now the circle is complete and videogames have finally merged with film – and not just as The Last Starfighter / Super Mario Bros / Street Fighter or Tron - (and will again Ready Player One) – but Wreck-It Ralph does magic on the big screen thanks to Disney having learned a CGI trick or two from the mighty Pixar…

“My name's Ralph, and I'm a Bad Guy. I'm 9 feet tall. I weigh 643 pounds. 

Got a little bit of a temper on me.” 

Wreck-It Ralph (John C. Reilly) is the chunky videogame bad guy who wants more than that – he wants to prove himself with a ‘Heroes Medal’ – but unfortunately these medals can only be won by ‘good guys’…

So Ralph sets off through the leads behind his arcade unit and via a central hub he enters Heroes Duty – a mash up of Halo and Resistance where heavily armoured battle marines fight huge killer bugs. Ralph meets beautiful but bad-ass commander Calhoun (Jane ‘Glee’ Lynch) – who is shapely formed in HD graphics, a fantastic juxtaposition when she mixes with Ralph and other game characters from lower resolution games!?

Director Rich ‘Simpsons’ Moore delivers exactly what gamers who remember the classic 8-bit gaming generation – for we aging gamers who were there, Wreck-It Ralph is a sensory pleasure nostalgia trip that sets it way above the normal Disney output. I took my 12 year old son who enjoyed it a lot but who didn’t ‘get’ half of the references or cameos from the game characters and even sound effects. Wreck-It Ralph is choc full of Easter Eggs for videogame fans — seemingly with a genuine love for all things game-related…

"Looking good in HD"

I was absolutely beaming seeing Streetfighter’s Ken and Ryu chatting about their needing a drink after a hard day’s fighting and there’s pure gaming joy in hearing the various game themes, sound effects and half glimpsed shots of characters from other games gone by…

Don’t worry too much about the plot – it’s all bit Mario-Kart by the end, just sit back and let some of the best visual CGI (especially in 3D) wash over you. It’s a fantastic feel good 1 UP of a movie for all ages – even bad guys will enjoy!! Ready Player One – your mission is to go see Wreck-It Ralph.

Out of a potential 5 you have to go with a Darkmatters:

öööö1/2 -wreck-ognition deserved!! 

4.5 – game on for film fans!

Awesomeness öööö – videogames are cool

Laughs ööö – not out and out comedy but lots of fun

Horror ö – very tame

Babes ööö – CGI battle armoured babe anyone?

Spiritual Enlightenment öö - be the best you can be!

Darkmatters Review: Warm Bodies

Warm Bodies (12a)

Dir. Jonathan Levine

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

'Who says romance is "dead"?'

It’s often not easy winning the affections of girl of your dreams – but it’s a lot harder when you’re a decaying reanimated corpse with a passion for eating the brains of the living!?

That’s the plot of Warm Bodies though, based on the novel by Isaac Marion, which tells the tale of a love struck young zombie named ‘R’ (Nicholas Hoult) who might be dead and cold but he has the hots for the still living hottie Julie (Theresa ‘I Am Number Four’ Palmer).

Is there any way that these star-crossed lovers can overcome the small problem of one of them being dead? Is love really more powerful than death? Warm Bodies has a lot of fun finding out – in the very capable hands of director Jonathan ‘All The Boys Love Mandy Lane’ Levine – this is the smartest, funniest zombie-em-up since Zombieland or Shaun of the Dead.

"Zombies love Blu-ray!"

‘R’- a not so subtle reference to Romeo - is probably the most sympathetic cinematic zombie ever – he provides a superb, witty and eloquent voiceover – filing in the viewers as to the apocalyptic situation where the majority of the populace have been turned into shuffling undead. There are also the ‘bonies’ – nastier feral undead skeletons who have lost traces of their humanity and who pose a threat not just to humans but to the zombies too.

The course of true love does not run smooth however and it seems unlikely that R will win Julie’s heart as the first time they meet he ends up killing her boyfriend and eating his brains. If you’ve ever wondered why zombies are so keen on brains R explains that it is because it allows them to glimpse memories of the person whose brain they are munching on – which makes them feel ‘less dead’.

Warm Bodies gets the balance of romance, comedy and action just right – the big picture plot of how Julie and R’s relationship might just save humanity sits within a strong paranoid threat that the last humans won’t be able to hold out as the resources begin to run dry.

"oohhh cold hands..."

This is a wicked riff on the classic Romeo and Juliet plot which will resonate with fans of Twilight as much as those who like more hardened horror / comedy. Shakespeare probably didn’t see brains as the food of love but Warm Bodies delivers such a feel good jolt of reanimation for the romance genre that it deserves to be a hit.


Out of a potential 5 you have to go with a Darkmatters:

öööö -  Excellent fun and full of heart too!

4 – Breathes new life into the zombie film genre!!

Awesomeness öööö – cool chases, action scenes and funnies

Laughs öööö – laugh out loud often, smirk-em-up lines too

Horror ööö – Bit nasty in places (to be expected of a zombie film)

Babes ööö – Teresa Palmer is yummy - see below

Spiritual Enlightenment ööö - love is more powerful than death!?

"miss Palmer bends over backwards to promote the film!"