Justin Bieber - The movie!

  Either love him or hate him, all you can say is that Justin Bieber has made a meteoric rise to the top.  All this and he's still only 16.

  Not much is known about the film. The trailer makes it look like another film in the same vein as other films of this ilk. Be that the Jonas Brothers, in 3D, Hannah Montana, again in 3D. Can you see something in common yet? All have been released by MTV and aimed at a certain demographic. Guess who this film is aimed at?

As mentioned before, a synopsis is unavailable but what you can say that the synopsis is something like:

The film is part concert film and part documentary, all centring around 16-year-old Canadian pop superstar Justin Bieber. Filmed in 3D (MTV.com)

 

<br/><a href="http://video.uk.msn.com/watch/video/exclusive-justin-bieber-movie-trailer/2tvlp3xn?fg=sharenoembed" target="_new"title="Exclusive: Justin Bieber movie trailer">Video: Exclusive: Justin Bieber movie trailer</a>

Justin Bieber: Never Say Never hits UK cinemas April 1st 2011

Trailer & poster  © 2010 Paramount

Due Date - The new Planes, Trains & Automobiles?

  I heard About the new Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis film a while ago and thought "this film sounds like the classic John Candy film Planes, Trains & Automobiles".  So if you swap out "Going home for Thanksgiving" to "Getting to see his wife giving birth" do you get this film

From the director Todd Phillips, “Due Date” stars Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis as two unlikely companions who are thrown together on a road trip that turns out to be as life-changing as it is outrageous. Downey plays Peter Highman, an expectant first-time father whose wife’s due date is a mere five days away. As Peter hurries to catch a flight home from Atlanta to be at her side for the birth, his best intentions go completely awry when a chance encounter with aspiring actor Ethan Tremblay (Galifianakis) forces Peter to hitch a ride with Ethan—on what turns out to be a cross-country road trip that will ultimately destroy several cars, numerous friendships and Peter’s last nerve.

Whereas the Planes, Trains & Automobiles synopsis says:

A man must struggle to travel home for Thanksgiving, with an obnoxious slob of a shower ring salesman his only companion

Let's compare the trailers. First I give you Due Date:

And now the classic:

 Do you agree with me, or not, then please leave your comments below...

‘Due Date’ is in UK Cinemas November 5
Due Date poster image, trailer and synopsis © 2010 Warner Bros.Ent. 2010
Planes, Trains & Automobiles trailer © Paramount

Black Swan

  Fox has just released teaser posters for Natalie Portman's new film Black Swan. They remind me of 1920s art deco posters for the likes of the GWR or Imperial Airlines


  According to the synopsis the film is:

A psychological thriller set in the world of New York City ballet, BLACK SWAN stars Natalie Portman as Nina, a featured dancer who finds herself locked in a web of competitive intrigue with a new rival at the company (Mila Kunis). A Fox Searchlight Pictures release by visionary director Darren Aronofsky (THE WRESTLER), BLACK SWAN takes a thrilling and at times terrifying journey through the psyche of a young ballerina whose starring role as the duplicitous swan queen turns out to be a part for which she becomes frighteningly perfect.

  No UK trailer exists at the moment but this is the "domestic", i.e. US, trailer

Black Swan hits UK cinemas on January 21, 2011
Images TM and © 2010 Fox and its related entities. All Rights Reserved.

First look at Cars 2

  Our friends over at Disney have just released some pieces of, as they describe them, "early concept art" for the upcoming Cars sequel. The imaginatively named "Cars 2"

  Not that much is known about the film apart from the synopsis that was released at about the start of the year that says:

All the world’s a racetrack as racing superstar Lightning McQueen zooms back into action, with his best friend Mater in tow, to take on the globe’s fastest and finest in this thrilling high-octane new instalment of the “Cars” saga. Mater and McQueen will need their passports as they find themselves in a new world of intrigue, thrills and fast-paced comedic escapades around the globe. “Cars 2” is being directed by Brad Lewis, producer of the Oscar®-winning film “Ratatouille.”

“CARS 2” TO THE BIG SCREEN—AND BEYOND – It’s an international feast of epic proportions when star racecar Lightning McQueen (voice of Owen Wilson) and lovable tow truck Mater (voice of Larry the Cable Guy) travel to Porto Corsa, Italy, for the first-ever World Grand Prix. The pair will have to bypass the Italian Riviera’s specialties—boating, beaches and pasta al pesto—as Mater is detoured on a top-secret spy mission and McQueen must race to win against the world’s best!

“CARS 2” JETS TO JAPAN – Lightning McQueen (voice of Owen Wilson) and Mater (voice of Larry the Cable Guy) take their friendship to exciting new destinations when McQueen is tapped for the first-ever World Grand Prix to determine the world’s fastest car. First stop, Tokyo, Japan—where ancient tradition meets modern technology. But like a modern-day Samurai, Mater must play the part of a top-secret spy when he’s unknowingly embroiled in a case of international espionage.

CARS 2” GOES GLOBAL -- Star racecar Lightning McQueen (voice of Owen Wilson) heads overseas next summer to compete in the first-ever World Grand Prix to determine the fastest car on the planet. McQueen and his best friend Mater (voice of Larry the Cable Guy) make a pit stop in London, but there’s no time for tea when an international spy plot entangles Mater, and McQueen must race before royalty.

“CARS 2” PASSPORT TO PARIS – There’s no place in the world like Radiator Springs, but Paris comes close! Lightning McQueen (voice of Owen Wilson) and Mater (voice of Larry the Cable Guy) venture abroad for the first-ever World Grand Prix. While McQueen focuses on the races, his best friend Mater hits a few detours. International espionage, anyone? On his top-secret mission, Mater takes the scenic route and manages to see the Parisian sights—including the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe and the famous car-goyles of Notre Dame.

There has also been a teaser trailer for the film.

“Cars 2” hits the track on July 22, 2011, 

and will be presented in Disney Digital 3D™ and IMAX® 3D.

Images © Disney/Pixar

who are the real villans?

  Star Wars, The Rebel Alliance. The good guys. Or are they?

  We are lead to believe from the films that the Rebels are the good guys. They do win in the end by killing Darth Vader, The Emperor, destroying the 2nd Death Star and killing hundred of thousands of innocent people. Wait, I hear you say - "Thousand of innocent people?". Yes they do. The first Death Star was completed so destroying that was fine - It was a military target. Yes. It was complete and run by the Empire.  According to figures that I have found.  OK - it was Wikipedia, but that gave me a figure of the casualties. Almost 1.2million deaths! This maybe a lot higher if this website is to be believed. After all this weapon did destroy Alderaan and kill 1.9BILLION people.

The Death Star

  However, the 2nd Death Star was still under construction and as such would have had hundred of thousands of "contractors" working on the plumbing, "iron work", electrics etc.  I wouldn't be surprised if most of the afore mentioned contractors were probably slaves but the sentiment still remains.  They were "innocent" of the wrongdoings on The Empire and just doing their job - some of them, probably, under duress.  This is also excluding all the construction droids that are needed for the more dangerous aspects of construction.

The 2nd Death Star

  Sometimes you do need a good reason to continue the construction at a break neck speed.  You would too if you had this person as the project manager...

The boss had his own motivational idea

  I think the moral of this is never sign up for a "rush construction job" when the people who are employing you are at war - especially if it's to some far flung corner of the empire.  I just hope that the death pay was worth it.

Photos © Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.

Round Ireland With A Fridge - Review

This is a highly enjoyable film, best described as a road trip/comedy/love story, and well worth a 4 star rating. It certainly makes a refreshing change for someone to make a film which manages not to take itself too seriously on any level.

There will probably be many of you out there like me, who have read the book and loved the story, and although it differs from the book in certain respects, it loses none of its charm in the translation to a new medium.

Regardless of whether or not you are familiar with the book, this is an uplifting story, funny and engaging, which will appeal to a wide range of people. The concept is a simple one, for a £100 bet (made while drunk, of course!), Tony Hawks (played by himself) will attempt to hitchhike around the circumference of Ireland, with a fridge as his companion.

Tony and Saiorse waiting for a lift

What begins as a seemingly silly idea soon transforms into a surreal, amusing and amazing journey, as Tony is forced to adjust to living life at a much more relaxed pace, and soon discovers that if you just have faith in the fridge, anything can and probably will happen.

One of the things which makes this so remarkable is the response of the Irish people to this seemingly insane undertaking, taking Tony and Saiorse (The Fridge!) to their hearts with the help of DJ Dylan Daley (Ed Byrne). As he describes it "A puposeless idea, but a damn fine one".

The people encountered by Tony and Saiorse are certainly a colourful bunch, and beautifully portrayed by a cast of various comedians, Sean Hughes is fantastic as Brendan, the over enthusiastic toiletries salesman, and Josie Lawrence as Sandra (Tony's manager), and also local talent, Valerie O'Connor as Roisin, assitant to Dylan Daley, among many others. At first Tony Hawks seems a little wooden, but I soon came to the conclusion that this is simply the way he is. (No offence intended!)

For anyone not familiar with the story, you will be astonished at what a fridge may get up to when not confined in your kitchen (surfing?? surely not!), and you may well be surprised by how funny it is watching someone trying to buy a duck-egg.

Watching this is a most excellent way to pass an hour and a half, ideal to watch with friends and loved ones, and will leave you with a nice warm glow. I would thoroughly recommend Round Ireland With A Fridge to anyone.

ROUND IRELAND WITH A FRIDGE premieres on 22nd October
and tours the UK through November.
images © Soda Pictures

Trailers, subversion and youTube

  A couple of days after the official True Grit trailer hit the Internet some cleaver person subverted a lovely story for all ages into a wonderful mash-up.  The film used as the images was... Toy Story.  So I give you the "Toy Grit" trailer.

  This then got me thinking of other "mash-ups" trailers and the first one that sprang to mind is the re-worked trailer for The Shining . This makes the film into a "Romantic Comedy".  All that this needs is a change of voice-over on the original trailer.

  There can only be one more to fully describe this genre of trailer.  The Daddy of them all. It has to be "The Mother of all Trailers".  So I give you the ghost of Dudley Moore...

  There are, of course , loads more out there. Such as the Canal Plus Brokeback Mountain or The March of the Penguins. Yes, I know that they are more playing on conversations being misinterpreted.

  You must know of others. Please therefore let me know using the comment box below.

Tron Night 3D and other things Tron related

  After watching this film at a small cinema in Manchester, England, in 1982 I'm sure that the "geek gene" inside me was flipped to its on position. Now after a wait of 28 years the time is drawing near.  The film in question is, of course, the release of Tron: Legacy.

  This film has had a long and chequered past.  This started way back in the late 90s when rumours started involving Pixar doing the sequel.  Most of these rumours were false.  Then came 2005 and reports in Variety quoted Disney as starting the script process.  Now jumping forward a couple of years to 2008s Comic Con where Light Cycle footage of a film called TR2N was shown.  Even then there wasn't any confirmation of the film was being made.  If we now jump forward another year to 2009s Comic Con things start to pick up pace.  Firstly, a change of title from TR2N to Tron: Legacy and confirmation that the film will be released in 3D.

The iconic, 1982,  "Light Cycle" and the updated, 2010, version

  Now for the even better news. On October 28 in selected UK and Irish cinemas you can watch an exclusive 23 minutes of the film. All you need to do is log onto disneyscreenings.com and enter the promo code Legacy. Tickets are limited to 4 per registration and yes you do need to register on the site.  Also, you have to be aware that the tickets are on a first come first served basis so you will have to be quick.

UPDATE (Oct 14):
   I have managed to get the full list of sites that will be running this event.  There isn't that many:

• Vue Bristol
• Vue Oxford
• Vue Plymouth
• Vue Leeds kirk
• Odeon Greenwich
• Odeon Wimbledon
• Odeon Southampton
• Odeon Cardiff
• Odeon Gateshead
• Odeon Norwich
• Odeon Manchester
• Odeon Liverpool one
• Cineworld Brighton
• Cineworld Cambridge
• Cineworld Nottingham
• Cineworld Sheffield
• Cineworld Edinburgh
• Cineworld Dublin
• IMAX Waterloo
• Imax Birmingham
• Empire LS
• IMAX Glasgow
• Moviehouse Belfast
• IMAX Bradford

UPDATE (Oct 25)
  This has now been through the BBFC to get its certificate, a PG, consumer advice "Contains mild threat and violence" and a run time of 23 mins 49 seconds

"Now, I kept dreaming... dreaming of this world I thought I'd never see. And then, one day, something happened. Something... extraordinary."
Kevin Flynn (Tron: Legacy 2010)

TRON: Legacy is released in the UK on December 17, 2010

images are © Disney. All rights reserved

Cave, Volcano or self build?

  Changing tact away from horror films for this post.  I will now get back the problems of being an Evil Genius.  This time, as I have already covered suppliers and staff.  So, this time, it's going to be where to place your Lair.

  As you will be aware, all good Evil Geniuses need somewhere to live, design and construct your day to day evilness.  This can be broken down to three different types.  These being:

1) Cave -This is the simplest solution.  All you need to do is wander around the countryside until you stumble across a cave that is big enough for you needs.  Caves can be extended and expanded but it's always better to start off with a large cave.  It does have its downsides but this can be overcome by experiments with colour.

2) Volcano -nowhere near as simple to construct than the cave as first you need to find an extinct volcano somewhere on Earth that won't suddenly re-erupt at a moment's notice half way through the retro fit.

3) Self Build -This is the most ambitious of the three options and probably the hardest to keep quiet from the meddling aspects of the local, and sometimes the international, law enforcement officials.  You may have to provide plans for your idea.  This may seem like an issue but if you just send the plans for the above ground, 3 bedroom, two bath residency and then hire a specialist conversion team to dog the secret lair in, hopefully, secrecy.

  Specialist conversion companies can be expensive but if you want absolute secrecy when constructing things you shouldn't be then this is the way forward.  You should know what companies that offer this services.  Why do you think that we, the Evil Geniuses, of the world have our own website with contacts for this sort of conversions.

 Finally, what you need to consider is location.  Yes, it may seem fine to build your lair on an island in the middle of the ocean.  If you do think this then slap yourself around the head.  The main reason that this location is stupid is that it's IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE!  Somewhere more practical and based near utilities is a lot better solution.

Despicable Me is UK cinemas from October 15

Grimmfest 2 - what to watch

  This is something I should have posted yesterday but I was doing other things. Driving old cars then you need to spend money on it to keep them running. Yesterday was that time of the year.

  After talking to Steve Balshaw, the festival's film programmer, about what should be seen he gave me one film that you cannot miss.  This film being Amer. Other films that have been recommended from other members of the festival staff along with some from myself on the more splattery end of horror.

• Outcast.  The opening night gala film starring James Nesbitt and Doctor Who's Karen Gillan.
• Reel Zombies - A mocumentary from Canada.  The film follows a team of film-makers who cast the "living dead" as their cast.  This helps as "Real Zombies" exist in this alternative reality.
• Dream Home - What would you do to get the home of your dreams?  If murder is what you think is a good idea then this is the film for you.  A satire of the boom and bust times that we live in.  Very gory horror from Hong Kong.
• Alien V Ninja - A would classic for the "Midnight show" from Japan.  If I need to tell you anymore than the title then this isn't the film for you.
• Dead Hooker in a Trunk -Back to Canada for this one.  Filmed during the writers strike in 2009 and as such they managed to get some top-notch people to work on the film.  I just wanted to see it by the title alone.
• 13 Hrs - A British horror starring some favourites from the world of TV and film including Hollyoaks’ Gemma Atkinson and Harry Potter’s Tom Felton,
• Chop -Directed by a one-time Troma star, Trent Haaga, the trashy blacker than black comedy that sees an obnoxious yuppie's life, and body, pulled apart by a mysterious figure from his past.
• Chased By Satan -Take The Ring, Final Destination and Indonesian folklore and you get this uniquely insane film

  There are loads more films, talks and other events going on around the festival.  All events can be found on the Grimmfest website.  The festival runs over Halloween weekend (28th to 31st October)

Grimmfest, the press launch

  Just spent an interesting couple of hours at the press launch of Grimmfest 2 at the Odder bar.  There are lots of films to see and for all tastes from the shock to the slocky.

  The whole event was started with, festival director, Simeon Halligan, being dragged onto the stage, hancuffed and escorted by two stormtroopers from Galactic Knights.  More about them later...

Simeon Halligan and Isabella Calthorpe after being released by the nice stormtroper

  We were then told of the other events that are happening around the films.

• There are exhibits of props and still from films that have been kindly loaned for the event.
• NAMCO will be there with spatterhouse, an update of the classic, sideway scrolling,1988 beat-em-up.  This will be available to play on.  The game will be available on PS3 and XBOX!
• Galactic Knights will be on hand throughout the festival.  Not only as stormtropers but with other costumes that will be announced later (I'm not sure they even know what to bring!)
• Guest stars and some of the film's directors will be there to answer questions.

All the photographs are (C) 2010, Colin Bell / Coyote Productions ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
If you wish to use any of the images either on or off-line then please contact me.

Have the Coen Brothers got True Grit?

  I first heard about a remake to the John Wayne classic "True Grit" a while back and was quite nervous about how it would work, and more to the point be any good.

  I did put off watching the trailer for a while but curiosity and word of mouth got to me and all of it was positive.

  The first thing that got me wondering how good the remake would be is who they were going to get to play Marshal Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn. The one eyed law man played so well by Wayne in the classic 1969 film.  All my worries were quickly dispelled when Jeff "The Dude" Bridges appeared and looking very similar to "The Duke".  You can see what I mean by watching the trailer below

True Grit Trailer

Trailer © 2010 PARAMOUNT PICTURES. All Rights Reserved. 

True Grit hits UK cinemas on January 14, 2011

An Igor it is then...

  It's now decision time.  Whether to take on some help around the cave. I think going down the minion route is not going to be the best idea for the cave and my sanity in trying to control these evil masses.

  So, if we rule out Dave and his friends then this only leaves the hiring of an Igor. Igors have always been the mainstay of the Evil Genius. They are loyal, good with their hands and can turn their hand to surgery at a blink of a poorly aimed laser.

Igor

  They can have their problems.  Reading is not their strong point. Getting a left arm stitched where a right one should be isn’t that much of a problem - sometimes this can be an advantage. On the other hand, mixing a “normal” and “Abnormal” (or even Abby Normal’s one – whoever she was).  Another of their "problems" is their ability to recognise when their employment is due to expire. This maybe down to a scene of being able to smell burning tar and the noise clank of agricultural implements at several miles or the town of their masters laughter that will spell the end of their employ.

  So the order has been sent for 1(ONE) ACME Inc. Igor - I've asked it to be sent via the normal postal channels as I need a couple of days to finish building its cage, sorry, tiding up the room...

Image of The Minions © 2010 Universal Studios. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Image of Igor/Marty Feldman © unknown.

Despicable Me is UK cinemas from October 15

Minions and uses

  Yesterday's post got me thinking about the cons (and cost) of hiring minions.  Now what could be the advantages of hiring/creating them?

  Take Exhibit A here - We shall call him, from now on, Dave Minion.

Dave Minion

  It looks quite good.  It has the correct number of arms, legs and eyes (always a good start but sometimes an extra limb or two can be an advantage).  This minion looks like a good idea until you compare it to myself.

  Now you can see the differences in height.  This does have an advantage.  You can stuff them into a space a lot smaller than someone of average height.  The downside is they do tend to eat a lot more than what you would expect.  What Dave lacks in height he does excel in his lifting capacity.  Need an anvil (all sizes), rocket launcher or even, your ever faithful, Doomsday Device moving from one area of the cave to another then Dave's your man.

  You may think that you need more than just Dave.  This may seem like a good idea until you look at what happens when you end up with too many.  Rioting and accidental firing of heavy weapons ... I'm looking at you Dave for this one.

Finally,if you don't believe me saying that a small, hand picked, band of loyal minions isn't a good idea but a large horde is better I give you exhibit B:

  I will say that if you do have mass hordes of minions then the odd mistakenly fired rocket will not damage your work force.

Image of The Minions & trailer © 2010 Universal Studios. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Despicable Me is UK cinemas from October 15

Minions - a good idea?

  Being an evil genius there comes a time to decide if you need the help of minions.  This can produce problems.  These tend to involve the ability to feed, arm and control them enough so they don't try and mutiny and take over your super fortress / converted volcano.

Exhibit A - The hordes

  As a lone wolf, so to speak, I have decide against this idea as they tend to cramp my style, make a mess of the cave and, generality, being a pain in the tail.

  This mess tends to involve their failed experiments.  Propulsion (flinging each other into a wall at high speed), explosives (leaving small bits of themselves all over the shop), electronics (leaving smouldering bits of themselves all over the place) and weaponry (vaporising each other, thus cutting down even more, on your minion base).  Cleaning up after these experiments can take up a lot of time, effort, and paperwork.  This can take a lot of my own personal "evil time" away from my own projects.  These are the reasons why I try to stay away from having hordes of Minions. The odd helper, on a purely ad-hoc basis is a more cost-effective way of getting your plans in action.

  World domination hasn't been my style. It's normally just trying to get something to eat. This seems to be getting harder and harder as times goes on so I decided to diversify so the idea of World Domination now seems like a career update (and probably a cheaper one - saving on those medical bills that keep coming in each time you fall off a cliff, get hit by anvils, fall off a cliff and then getting hit by an anvil...).

Image of The Minions © 2010 Universal Studios. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Despicable Me is UK cinemas from October 15

Megamind smashes record

  I heard about this event a couple of weeks ago that Paramount/DreamWorks Animation were trying to set a Guinness Book of World Record for the "largest gathering of superheroes". They managed it with 1,580 superheroes of all ages in attendance. This broke the current record, of 1500, also held by DreamWorks Animation.  All this happened on Saturday, October 2, in L.A.

  I think that this event was discriminatory against super villains that are the the reason why most of these, so called, superheroes are in a second job in the first place.

The brilliant and diabolical super-villain Megamind has been attempting to conquer Earth for over 20 years but, each time, he’s been thwarted by his arch nemesis, the caped superhero Metro Man. But all that changes one day when Megamind accidentally kills Metro Man in the throes of one of his evil plans. Suddenly finding himself without a foe to overcome, the despondent evil genius decides that the only way out of his rut is to create a new super rival. He’s a bigger, better and stronger opponent than Metro Man ever was. But when the former good guy begins to wage his own war aimed at destroying the world, Megamind must decide: Can he defeat his own (now) diabolical creation? Can the world’s smartest man make the smart decision for once? Can the Evil Genius switch sides and become the Hero of his own story?

The film hits UK screens December 3.
All photos by Mark Sullivan /  (c) 2010 Getty

Commonwealth games

  I'm watching the opening ceremony of the Deli games and thought "What did games of yesteryear look like?"  Today this is easily answerable by going to the great British Pathe website

From the first games in Canada in 1930

  To the change from "The Empire Games" to British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1954

ATHLETES RETURN FROM EMPIRE GAMES

  and then into colour from 1962

EMPIRE AND COMMONWEALTH GAMES - TECHNICOLOR

  After 1969 stories tend to dry up so now it's try youTube.

  In 1970 we saw another change of names to "The British Commonwealth Games"


  and finally to The Commonwealth Games from 1978

ACME Inc. Friend or villian?

   As any good cartoon fanatic ("A fanatic is one who redoubles his effort when he has forgotten his aim." — George Santayana) knows ACME is the place to shop.

  They offer a great loyalty scheme.  Ranging from money off your next purchase to some good discounts at your local veterinarian.

  They are perceived as a provider of dangerously unstable products that will do more damage to the operator than the prey that they are aimed at. This just isn't true. Yes, most of their products seem to be shoddy made and extremely unstable - In the correct hands, however, they are a powerful force to help your, everyday, super genius, cartoon carnivore.

  Their best known products, and a good starting off point for any lair is, of course, the anvil:

  The hardest part is to decide what size to order.  They come in rodent, 2 oz, size all the way up to Terraforming , 500 Megaton, size.

  There are, of course, products that should be left "on the shelf, such as:

  But this one maybe their best ever:

  Items are only available for mail order delivery.  Orders can be made from the web, telephone or the ever popular, mail.  Delivery is the same price no matter the method.  Be that standard US Post 5 day to, almost, instantaneous ballistic, missile, drop from their, ex US Army, silos.

The catalogue is hardback and flame resistant

Grimmfest 2 - October 28-31

  After requesting journalistic accreditation for the festival a couple of weeks ago I forgot about it until earlier in the week when I got an email saying that I have been allowed to cover the festival.  The launch event is on October 7 that I will be at.  Expect a launch event post as soon as the event finishes.

  This is the second year that the festival is running and looking at the program there is something for everyone. From the classic "Last Man On Earth", comedic "Reel Zombies"(Big laughs, big explosions and big breasts) to the films that you would expect to be at this sort of festival, such as "13 Hrs"

  Now the important bits:
Where: The Dancehouse Manchester
When: October 28th to 31st
How much: 
  Festival packs £75 (£65 for students)
  Simgle film £6.50 (£5.50 for students)

Bad films and getting the message out

  Whilst reading the October 1 Dilbert it made me think of all the bad films that have come across my desk with enthusiastic people calling and telling me how great this film is!

  I'm not going to mention names as to protect the guilty.  However you know who you are...

  The one that will always stick in my mind, even after all these years, is The Core from 2003.  Hilary Swank was still on a high from her 1999 Oscar win for Boys Don't Cry and just before her second for Million Dollar Baby.  The whole PR push was the "scientific accuracy" of the film.  Some of it was true, like the earth has a molten core and erm....

  I also remember a conversation I had with the agency that went along the lines of "is this film as bad as I think it is?"  The response was a "Yes".  I was planning on actually watching the film at the cinema but didn't get there in the first week and as such I was sunk.  This all changed about six months later when I caught it on, I think, Amazon for "a couple of quid". Sitting down to watch it was an hilarious experience with all the cod pseudo-science and then the coup de grâce came with the great material / element Unobtainium

Dr Who LIVE

  This is something that I have had knocking around for quite a while on youTube.  The official trailer for the stage / arena show of Doctor Who:




  Kicking off in London on October 8 and then running for another 24 nights in 8 other cities.These cities being, in order, Sheffield, Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester, Nottingham, Cardiff and Liverpool, culminating in Belfast on the 7th November.

Welcome

  Been thinking about setting one of these up for a while but as I have journalistic things to do over the next couple of days... More about that in a later post.

  Coyotes do tend to get a bad reputation in their lust for their, seemingly, favourite food:

  BUT there is a solution to this problem.  That being ACME Inc.  Suppliers of dangerous, shoddy goods to the masses since 1922.  Products range from the sensible, Anvils and the like to the more "specialised"

  Now to why "under the small umbrella"... The simple answer is that life feels a lot safer with something protecting your head from rocks, storms or the odd rain of anvils (this happens more often that you would believe !)