Ratchet and Clank: Quest for Booty (2008, Game, PS3) – 8/10 review

Ratchet and Clank: Quest for Booty (2008) Ratchet tries to find Clank but the nefarious Rusty Pete and assorted bits of assorted pirates keep making things difficult. 8/10 More of the same and plenty of fun. While it does feel like it’s not quite finished (voices don’t always play at the correct volume, have long pauses between them and some of the camera angles are not quite right) it still boasts all the same strengths (super graphics, funny dialogue) and weaknesses (combat needs a lock-on) as the parent game. There are some particularly impressive Pythor shadows in Morrow Caverns and I love the little heliogrubs (fortunately, none were harmed in the making of the game). There is a significant area of improvement with the expansion of wrench abilities. You can pick things up and magnetically manipulate objects though scenarios involving either tend to be a little too simple and, unlike the parent game, there’s no reason to replay the adventure. This game contains mild melee violence, mild projectile violence, mild fantasy violence. Classified 7+ by PEGI. The game is only suitable for persons who have reached the age of 7 or over. Links Previous: Tools of Destruction

Pinocchio (1940, Commentary) – 7/10 review

Leonard Maltin Eric Goldberg J.G. Kaufman

Pinocchio (1940) Blu-ray: a three-person commentary with interview, archive and concept materials overlaid on screen. 7/10 The biggest problem with doing a commentary for Pinocchio is that the film is too good; you simply can’t pay attention to the commentary because the movie, even when it’s being spoken over and hidden behind information windows, keeps dragging you into it and enveloping you. There’s enough information and insight for the commentary to be consistently interesting – especially from Eric Goldberg – and the concept art and overlaid interview footage is the best way of seeing. Perhaps the most amazing reveal was that the movie was done in just over two years, as opposed to four years for Snow White and most modern animations. Classified U by BBFC. Universal: Suitable for All.

Pinocchio (1940, Animated Disney) – 10/10 movie review

Producer (Presents credit): Walt Disney Writer (Original Story): Collodi Supervising Director: Ben Sharpsteen Supervising Director: Hamilton Luske Composer: Leigh Harline Composer: Ned Washington Composer: Paul Smith

Pinocchio (1940) When toy maker Gepetto ‘wishes upon a star’ for a real boy, he is delighted when the Blue Fairy comes down and grants his wish making his latest creation Pinocchio come alive. Appointed Jiminy Cricket as his conscience, the live puppet is informed that he needs to prove himself brave, true & unselfish in order to become a real boy. Of course, events conspire against him resulting in him being sent to Pleasure Isle to make a jackass out of himself while Gepetto is swallowed by Monstro, a huge whale, in his fruitless search for his lost Pinocchio . Will Pinocchio ever be able to become a real boy? 10/10 This is the greatest animated film ever made and one of the all-time classic motion pictures. Pinocchio is an amazingly animated film with every sequence worthy of the endless lauding and studying since. Story telling through animation has never been done better and the plot is interesting, valuable, surprising and even frightening. Memorable music, classic characters, breath-taking animation and crisp direction make this film one of the greatest ever made. Always moving, this film rubber stamps memorable images on your mind. For example, the nose growing when Pinnochio tells a lie (remarkably, it only happens once) or the bad boys turning into jack-asses. Endlessly stunning. This movie contains some scary scenes and extreme violence. Classified U by BBFC. Universal: Suitable for All.

Smallville 8.19 Stiletto (2009, TV) – 2/10 review

Tom Welling: Clark Kent Allison Mack: Chloe Sullivan Erica Durance: Lois Lane Aaron Ashmore: Jimmy Olsen Writer (Characters’ Creator) Superman: Jerry Siegel Writer (Characters’ Creator) Superman: Joe Shuster Developer for Television: Alfred Gough Developer for Television: Miles Millar Dominic Zamprogna: Bruno Manheim Writer: Caroline Dries Director: Kevin G. Fair

Smallville 8.19 Stiletto (2009) After saving Chloe from a mugger, Lois spies a chance to get closer to a story with the Red-Blue Blur by, obviously, posing as new superhero vigilante Stiletto. 2/10 This has the cheesy feeling of the 1960′s Batman television show without, unfortunately, the sense of self-knowing glee that Adam West et al brought to that particular endeavour. The central idea of Lois going after a story in an unorthodox and dangerous manner was okay but, as usual for Smallville now, it was handled clumsily and lazily. The writers, director and actors are all on auto-pilot and even Erica Durance – the best thing about Smallville this season, surprisingly – has a permanent let’s-get-this-over-with look about her. There’s a bit of Lois-Clark magic at the end of the show but in almost every way Smallville is embarrassing to watch. This Smallville episode contains strong melee violence, graphic gun violence. Links Previous episode: Eternal Next episode: Beast

24 7.19 Day 7: 2:00 AM – 3:00 AM (2009, TV) – 7/10 review

Kiefer Sutherland: Jack Bauer Cherry Jones: President Allison Taylor Annie Wersching: FBI Agent Renee Walker Jeffrey Nordling: FBI Special Agent in Charge Larry Moss Janeane Garofalo: Janis Gold Carlos Bernard: Tony Almeida Elisha Cuthbert: Kim Bauer Will Patton: Alan Wilson Jon Voight: Jonas Hodges Co-Executive Producer: Juan Carlos Coto Co-Executive Producer: Brannon Braga Executive Producer: David Fury Producer: Michael Klick Writer (Series’ Creator): Joel Surnow Writer (Series’ Creator): Robert Cochran Writer: David Fury Director: Michael Klick

24 7.19 Day 7: 2:00 AM – 3:00 AM (2009) Jack and Renee are stunned by the death of Larry Moss and that places Renee in control. Jack tags along to provide support but insists that he won’t allow his rapidly worsening condition to compromise any operations. Tony shoots himself to allay suspicion but Jack sees through that right away and declares that there must have been two people involved unaware that the second person was Tony himself. Meanwhile, Jonas Hodges has a visit from his not-terribly-happy superiors. 7/10 I think it’s clear now that 24 is slipping into some bad old ways with hope-you-won’t-notice plot devices and Jack saying "I’m alright" as he’s spacking out. At the moment, though, we’ll give them a pass as we love Jack seeing things others don’t (it takes him about two seconds to twig that evil Tony’s gunshot wound is well iffy) and we’re dying to see what evil Tony is playing at and how invading the United States and trying to assassinate the President can possibly be to anyone’s benefit (ah, yes, they may be spoilers). While I’m hoping that Tony has access to an antidote (he seemed a bit surprised that the FBI had declared Jack’s exposure incurable), Jack really is in more serious trouble than ever before in this show. There is real doubt whether he’ll make it to the end of this day (martyrdom?), let alone to a day 8. For a show built on a previously indestructible hero (and that without the benefit of Mysteron interference), to genuinely put his life in the balance is remarkable. This 24 episode contains graphic gun violence, unpleasant scenes. Links Previous episode

F1 06 Formula One Championship Edition aka F1CE (2006, Game, PS3) – 8/10 review

Development Director: Clemens Wangerin Game Director: Graeme Ankers Technical Director: Jason Chown Senior Producer: Gareth Betts Producer: Martin Harrow Lead Programmer: Stuart Lovegrove Lead Programmer: James Ogden

F1 06 Formula One Championship Edition aka F1CE (2006) 8/10 Racing game which gets the racing and sense of speed absolutely right, delivers the best online racing implementation paradigm ever and best back-marker AI for lapped cars (they predictably and courteously ease out of the throttle and move off line) but these outstanding points seems to emphasise other minor shortfalls in presentation, user-friendliness, weather that completely breaks the game (your pit crew refuse to change you on to wet or intermediate tyres and will fuel you three laps short of race distance and won’t let you back in the pits and the AI continues to circulate at dry pace) and the slightly unbalanced difficulty level (a Studio Liverpool tradition).

Lie To Me 1.01 (2009, TV) – 7/10 review

Tim Roth: Dr. Cal Lightman Kelli Williams: Dr. Gillian Foster Monica Raymund: Ria Torres Brendan Hines: Eli Loker Kay Panabaker: Jake Thomas: James Cooke Kathryn Meisle: Scott Paulin: Gerald Cooke Robert Wisdom: Bonds Joshua C. Stamberg: A.U.S.A. Hutchinson Tim Griffin: Randy Oglesby: Tyrees Allen: DNC Chairman Baldridge Tim Guinee: Ron Foster Executive Producer: Samuel Baum Writer: Samuel Baum Director: Robert Schwentke

Lie To Me 1.01 Lie To Me (2009) Behaviourial scientist Dr. Cal Lightman is an expert on reading peoples facial mannerisms and other body language to detect whether someone is lying or not. His company, The Lightman Group, is hired on two cases this week: one involving an under-eighteen murder suspect and another where a politician is about to be exposed for regularly using an escort. 7/10 While the facial micro-expressions are performed without enough subtlety (and so come across as gurning), the two plots are pretty off-the-shelf and the spread of lead characters is mandated by US TV law (the maverick hero, the powerful woman, the gifted rookie and the odd one), the concept is intriguing. Part of why you want to watch is, well, not to put too fine a point on it, a fascination with becoming a better liar or, if you’re lying about it, to try and better detect liars yourself. Tim Roth is our maverick hero and is, as usual, excellent. This could be his House but only time will tell. Links Next episode: Moral Waiver

Xbox 360 vs PS3 vs PC Head-to-Head Face-Off: The Chronicles of Riddick

Every so often, Eurogamer run a series of technical comparison reviews for games released on both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

This is the latest update while the full list is here.

•   The Chronicles of Riddick 

Brother Bear (2003, Commentary) – 9/10 review

Rick Moranis: Rutt Dave Thomas: Tuke

Brother Bear (2003) DVD: Rutt and Tuke provide commentary for the Brother Bear movie discussing their roles and techniques and giving insight into the production. 9/10 Besting the movie (6/10) by some considerable distance, this is one of the best home video commentaries available. It’s also highly unusual as it’s performed in character by Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas as the comic relief moose Rutt and Tuke. It’s always fun, surprisingly educational regarding filmmaking technique and highlights the key story beats and the nature of their presentation. A bit of a treat. This movie contains violence, unpleasant scenes and the bears aren’t wearing any clothes. Classified U by BBFC. Universal: Suitable for All.

Brother Bear (2003, Disney Movie) – 6/10 review

Director: Aaron Blaise Director: Robert Walker Writer (Screenplay): Tab Murphy Writer (Screenplay): Lorne Cameron Writer (Screenplay): David Hoselton Writer (Screenplay): Steve Bencich Writer (Screenplay): Ron Friedman Composer (Songs): Phil Collins Supervising Animator Kenai – Bear: Byron Howard Joaquin Phoenix: Kenai – Bear Supervising Animator Koda: Alexander S. Kupershmidt Jeremy Suarez: Koda Supervising Animator Denahi: Ruben A. Aquino Jason Raize: Denahi Supervising Animator Kenai – Human: James Young Jackson Joaquin Phoenix: Kenai – Human

Brother Bear (2003) Kenai seeks to avenge the death of his older brother by killing the bear responsible. However, his older brother, now a spirit, seeks to teach his impetuous and selfish younger brother a lesson and, obviously, changes him into a bear. 6/10 Tedious talking sections undermine what should have been a largely ‘silent’ / song-based film; the same mistake they made with the rather more ambitious Dinosaur. That said, the comedy bits generally work and, in the end, it produces the requisite emotions. Phil Collins’ songs and score (co-written with Mark Mancina as with the outstanding Tarzan) are fine but the animation is distinctly below par for a premium Disney release. The CG and backgrounds are animated fluidly but the main characters appear to be done at rather less than the full 24-frames-per-second. So, almost despite itself, an above-average six. Especially, if you listen to the highly entertaining audio commentary by the moose brothers. Yep. This movie contains violence, unpleasant scenes and the bears aren’t wearing any clothes. Classified U by BBFC. Universal: Suitable for All.

24 7.18 Day 7: 1:00 AM – 2:00 AM (2009, TV) – 7/10 review

Kiefer Sutherland: Jack Bauer Cherry Jones: President Allison Taylor Annie Wersching: FBI Agent Renee Walker Jeffrey Nordling: FBI Special Agent in Charge Larry Moss Janeane Garofalo: Janis Gold Carlos Bernard: Tony Almeida Elisha Cuthbert: Kim Bauer Jon Voight: Jonas Hodges Co-Executive Producer: Brannon Braga Co-Executive Producer: Brad Turner Executive Producer: Manny Coto Executive Producer: Howard Gordon Writer (Series’ Creator): Joel Surnow Writer (Series’ Creator): Robert Cochran Writer (Screenplay): Manny Coto Writer (Screenplay): Brannon Braga Writer (Story): Howard Gordon Director: Brad Turner

24 7.18 Day 7: 1:00 AM – 2:00 AM (2009) Jack’s symptoms are progressing more rapidly than expected and have started to affect his memory and personality as well as his motor abilities. He is still able to coordinate an attack on the surface-to-surface missiles which Tony reckons he can carry out without being detected. The President meets with the eye-rolling Hodges and clinically-dead Seaton to hear their demands. 7/10 After last week’s unconvincing climax where the President stops bombing Starkwood because the hour was up, Jack and Tony throw her yet another lifeline. The feeling that there were too many episodes left for the Starkwood stand-off also prove correct as Jon Voight’s Jonas Hodges states that the big-bad still hasn’t been revealed. The effects of Tony’s C4 on the rocket-fuel storage are laughably and crushingly bad. 24 generates one of the highest ad revenues of any show and so it was disappointing that the appropriate cash wasn’t spent on a big bang. The episode counters disappointment with it’s cliffhanger which, impressively, SPOILER I certainly didn’t see coming and it trims our regular cast by another one. First there was nine, now there are five. Blimey. This 24 episode contains mild swear words and graphic gun violence, melee violence. Links Previous episode Next episode

House M.D. 5.21 Saviors (2009, TV) – 7/10

Hugh Laurie: Dr. Gregory House Lisa Edelstein: Dr. Lisa Cuddy Omar Epps: Dr. Eric Foreman Robert Sean Leonard: Dr. James Wilson Jennifer Morrison: Dr. Allison Cameron Jesse Spencer: Dr. Robert Chase Writer (Series’ Creator): David Shore Peter Jacobson: Dr. Chris Taub Olivia Wilde: Thirteen Tim Rock: Doug Swenson Lindsey McKeon: Franni Co-Executive Producer: Eli Attie Executive Producer: Thomas L. Moran Executive Producer: David Shore Writer: Eli Attie Writer: Thomas L. Moran Director: Matthew Penn

House M.D. 5.21 Saviors (2009) House worries that he is losing his mojo when he is presented with a number of intriguing mysteries (stemming from Kutner’s unexpected suicide then including Cameron actively involving herself in his team, patient-of-the-week and Wilson suddenly eating salad) and feels unable to get to the bottom of any of them. 7/10 There’s quite a lot of fun in this episode (another clinic snippet, glad to see a few of those this season) as House gleefully tackles a number of mysteries both medical and personal before panicking that he is losing his mojo. The Chase-Cameron plot makes no sense except in the world of the American TV writer and the patient-of-the-week must be the unluckiest person in the world (SPOILER he catches a disease from the only commercially-produced flower he has ever bought in his life). However, the House-Wilson game is a lot of fun (as it has been consistently this season) and everyone is still remembering to give House his human side just to counter-act the incessant insults. Links Previous episode: Simple Explanation Next episode: House Divided

Starter for Ten (2006, Movie) – 8/10 review

James McAvoy: Brian Jackson Alice Eve: Alice Harbinson Rebecca Hall: Rebcca Epstein Catherine Tate: Julie Jackson Dominic Cooper: Spencer Benedict Cumberbatch: Patrick Watts Charles Dance: Michael Harbinson Lindsay Duncan: Rose Harbinson Writer (Screenplay): David Nicholls Writer (Original Book): David Nicholls Director: Tom Vaughan

Starter for Ten (2006) Brian Jackson is thrilled to be accepted to Bristol University and hopes to sate his thirst for knowledge. He enrols to qualify for the University Challenge team but when beautiful blonde Alice Harbinson joins the team, he has a whole new thing to fill his mind. 8/10 Consistently engaging and entertaining coming-of-age drama which builds to a better-than-expected University Challenge showdown. James McAvoy shows the talent and intrinsic charisma that would move him into stardom over the next couple of years as one of the most talented young actors around. The more predictable romantic triangle storyline is enjoyable despite the clichés (SPOILER blond stunner loses to worldy-wise brunette) thanks to crisp handling and a slight softening of the usual movie blonde archetype. No-one in the movie is horrible or nasty but they all makes mistakes; smart people do do stupid things. Like all of us. This movie contains sexual swear words and substance abuse and brief violence and sexuality, obscured full non-sexual nudity. Classified 12A by BBFC. Persons under the age of 12 must be accompanied by an adult.

Lewis 3.04 Counter Culture Blues (2009, TV) – 2/10 review

Kevin Whately: DI Robert Lewis Laurence Fox: DS James Hathaway Clare Holman: Dr. Laura Hobson Rebecca Front: Ch. Supt. Innocent Helen Baxendale: Caroline Simon Callow: Vernon Oxe David Hayman: Richie Maguire Anthony Higgins: Franco Joanna Lumley: Esme Ford Hilton McRae: Mack Perdita Weeks: Kitten Writer (inspired By The Original Novels By) Inspector Morse: Colin Dexter Writer (Original Story): Nick Dear Writer (Screenplay): Guy Andrews Producer: Chris Burt Director: Bill Anderson

Lewis 3.04 Counter Culture Blues (2009) Lewis is thrilled to find an old famous rock band involved in his latest case but when a possible misdemeanour turns to murder… Man, I can’t even write it, man. 2/10 Staggeringly poor murder mystery episode that is incompetently written and directed. The cast are largely quite good, especially given the astonishing sequence of events that their characters are unconvincingly put through. At one point, Lewis name-checks Morse and his methods and proceeds to layout the suspects and victims using condiments. Morse never did that. However, it is the introduction of what appears to be a mechanical Sarlacc that proves to be the element that raises the eyebrows the most and you spend the remainder of the episode suppressing groans of dismay until it inevitably is used in the fake-exciting climax. This is an atrocious end to an otherwise decent season. This Lewis episode contains mild swear words, adult dialogue and substance abuse and gun violence. Links Previous episode: The Point of Vanishing

Fable II (2008, Game, 360) – 9/10 review despite bugs

Creative Director: Peter Molyneux Executive Producer: Louise Copley Ron Glass: Garth Julia Sawalha: Hammer Oliver Cotton: Lucien Stephen Fry: Reaver Gemma Boyle: Rose Zoë Wanamaker: Theresa Nolan North: Male Hero Salli Safiotti: Female Hero Manager Senior Team: Dene Carter Manager Senior Team: Simon Carter Manager Senior Team: Richard Ham Manager Senior Team: Simon Jacques Manager Senior Team: Ian Lovett Manager Senior Team: John McCormack Manager Senior Team: J.C. Taylor

Fable II (2008) Albion is once more under the thumb of tyrannical overlords but you’ve got previous with this one: Lord Lucien shot your sister and chucked you out of a rather high window. Your survival can only lead to one thing but how you get there is up to you. 9/10 The most significant thing about Fable II is that it is so buggy (most of them game-killing, kinda miserable for such a long game) that it comes as a shock that it wasn’t released by Atari. Though graphically unimpressive with clunky animation in attractive environments rendered blurrily (a bit like Halo 3) and treacly (a poor frame-rate is inadequately masked with motion blur), sonically unimpressive with annoying action music (because it’s only about ten seconds long) and unnaturally-slow dialogue (typical of video games, oddly, though Julia Sawalha and Stephen Fry are outstanding) and having a fairly awkward feeling opening, Fable II soon settles down into a remarkably involving role-playing adventure which will happily hoover up hours and hours of your time. Critically, you’ll be happy to let it and it features some enchantingly special moments. For me, they included looking after my family (I married a girl named Lisa and had a son, Bruce), gullibly retrieving goods for T.O.B.Y., rescuing Charlie, accidentally getting my wife killed (I took her with me on what I thought would be a safe mission; reload!) and losing weight I had put on. Oh, and, er, drinking a sex change potion to see what animation would play which I then couldn’t undo because the game auto-saved. Aargh! But brilliant. Which sums up the game. This game contains mild swear words, bad language, adult dialogue, sexual references including immorality and homosexuality and offensive gestures and projectile, fantasy, blade and melee violence, some unexpectedly strong violence and inferred sex scenes. Classified 15 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 15 years and over.

Laura Z. Hobson’s Gentleman’s Agreement (1947, Movie) – 9/10 review

Producer: Darryl F. Zanuck Gregory Peck: Phil Schuyler Green Dorothy McGuire: Kathy Lucy John Garfield: Dave Goldman Writer (Original Novel): Laura Z. Hobson Writer (Screenplay): Moss Hart Director: Elia Kazan

Gentleman’s Agreement, Laura Z. Hobson’s (1947) Schuyler Green is commissioned to write a series on anti-Semitism but is struggling to find an angle. He hits upon the idea of presenting himself as Jewish and seeing what happens. 9/10 Startlingly interesting and depressingly relevant movie about prejudice that doesn’t allow the audience (represented on-screen by Dorothy McGuire) to get away with unspoken or unmotivating disdain for whatever prejudice they witness. The film presents just about every view you could hope to air on the subject from ignore-it-and-hope-it-goes-away through to punch-’em-on-the-nose. The movie is consistently thought-provoking and is presented well by the cast. Though the Peck / McGuire romance can be criticised as Hollywood fairy-tale stuff, it is precisely this aspect that frames the tensions and viewpoints and makes them even more recognisable in ourselves. That it ends SPOILER as all Hollywood romances should means that the film is still allowed to be entertaining while still effectively delivering it’s food for thought; something filmmakers seem to have forgotten in the 21st-century’s lust for making their movies ‘darker.’ This movie contains anti-Semitic dialogue and mild melee violence and sensuality. Classified U by BBFC. Universal: Suitable for All.

BlackSite (2007, Game, 360) – 6/10 review

Executive Producer: Jim Molitor Chief Creative Director: Harvey Smith Art Director: Pete Franco Audio Director: Clark Crawford Design Director: Jim Stiefelmaier Technical Director: Steve Broumley

BlackSite (2007) Three years after a disastrous incursion to a facility in Iraq, Captain Pierce catches up with his past when he is assigned to help put down an outbreak of some kind in a military base in Nevada. 6/10 There was certainly an effort here to make a great game that also says something (about the military, prejudice and other things) but the contemporary commentary feel rather bolted on, like zits on the face of the game. Technically, the game is generally fine but does suffer from more bugs the further on you get. Graphics have that slightly unsatisfactory Unreal Engine 3 look that almost all third-party games seem to have (and a lot of the characters have a light bleed halo around their extremities) while the sound effects lack any punch and have little, well, effect. However, the game controls well, the team command is a welcome touch, the story is good enough, the enemies are pretty cool to look at, the bosses are fine (the huge tentacle monster on the bridge is spectacular though the final boss is bullet-sponge poor), cover destruction works well and the levels are clearly designed so that you don’t get lost. However, it’s never quite as good as it nearly is; there is just that last little bit of atmosphere missing that would take BlackSite from solid to really good. This game contains mild swear words and gun violence, melee violence. Classified 16+ by PEGI. The game is only suitable for persons who have reached the age of 16 or over..

Dollhouse 1.02 The Target (2009, TV) – 4/10 review

Eliza Dushku: Echo Harry J. Lennix: Boyd Langton Fran Kranz: Topher Brink Tahmoh Penikett: Paul Ballard Enver Gjokaj: Lukov Dichen Lachman: Sierra Olivia Williams: Adelle DeWitt Writer (Series’ Creator): Joss Whedon Amy Acker: Dr. Claire Saunders Reed Diamond: Laurence Dominic Matt Keeslar: Richard Connell Miracle Laurie: Mellie Rich McDonald: Park Ranger in Truck Mark Sheppard: Tanaka Tim Conlon: Shaw Producer: Eliza Dushku Consulting Producer: Steven S. DeKnight Executive Producer: Joss Whedon Writer: Steven S. DeKnight Director: Steven S. DeKnight

Dollhouse 1.02 Target, The (2009) Boyd Langton is brought in to be Echo’s handler and bodyguard after a previous doll goes on a murderous rampage. Fortunately, nobody misses any of the dead people so the Dollhouse can continue without effect. Echo is imprinted to be the perfect girlfriend for outdoor type Richard Connell. 4/10 Despite the well-misdirected emergence of the SPOILER The Most Dangerous Game / Hard Target plot, this is a woefully unconvincing episode. The problems starts with Eliza Dushku’s slightly inadequate acting; she cannot project the empty innocence of her shell and can’t quite make her imprinted personality completely believable (and she’s not a good enough actress for that to be intentional). The problem for just about all the rest of the principle cast is that their characters are such dull or unpleasant archetypes: the maverick FBI agent whom everyone makes fun of, a girl-next-door in love, a hard-bitten bodyguard trying to remain unattached, a quirky trendy boffin, a hard-as-nails career boss woman, an uppity second-in-command. Creator Joss Whedon clearly likes Alias but this imitation is not flattering, just embarrassing. This Dollhouse episode contains mild swear words and gory and very unpleasant scenes, graphic gun violence, graphic arrow violence and nudity, sexuality. Links Previous episode: Ghost

House M.D. 5.20 Simple Explanation (2009, TV) – 6/10 review

Hugh Laurie: Dr. Gregory House Lisa Edelstein: Dr. Lisa Cuddy Omar Epps: Dr. Eric Foreman Robert Sean Leonard: Dr. James Wilson Jennifer Morrison: Dr. Allison Cameron Jesse Spencer: Dr. Robert Chase Writer (Series’ Creator): David Shore Peter Jacobson: Dr. Chris Taub Kal Penn: Dr. Lawrence Kutner Olivia Wilde: Thirteen Colleen Camp: Charlotte Mary Jo Deschanel: Julia Meat Loaf: Eddie Co-Executive Producer: Leonard Dick Co-Executive Producer: Greg Yaitanes Executive Producer: David Shore Writer: Leonard Dick Director: Greg Yaitanes

House M.D. 5.20 Simple Explanation (2009) Patient-of-the-week is a woman who’s dying husband seems to get better as she gets worse. SPOILER However, House and the team, except Taub oddly, are shell-shocked when Kutner is found dead by suicide. END SPOILER 6/10 Clinic’s back, yay! We need more of that. The main medical case is pretty ho-hum but it does go down as one of the few where the patient dies. It also supplied a brilliant summation of House’s ethic: "Either we have all the clues and are idiots, or we don’t have all the clues." Elsewhere, the major story is hidden behind the spoiler marker above. This is the second season in a row where the producers of House have pulled this stunt and it is, again, notably out-of-place for a medical mystery comedy drama. However, if you’ve avoided spoilers for the episode it comes as an agreeable shock and we get one of the few times where House is really floundering in his inability to have foreseen or subsequently explain such an event. I wonder if House and we will ever get to know why. It’s quite interesting, but not exactly entertaining. This House M.D. episode contains mild swear words and unpleasant and gory scenes. Links Previous episode: Locked In Next episode: Saviors

24 7.17 Day 7: 12:00 AM – 1:00 AM (2009, TV) – 6/10 review

Kiefer Sutherland: Jack Bauer Cherry Jones: President Allison Taylor Annie Wersching: FBI Agent Renee Walker Jeffrey Nordling: FBI Special Agent in Charge Larry Moss Janeane Garofalo: Janis Gold Carlos Bernard: Tony Almeida Glenn Morshower: Agent Aaron Pierce Jon Voight: Jonas Hodges Consulting Producer: Chip Johannessen Co-Executive Producer: Brad Turner Writer (Series’ Creator): Joel Surnow Writer (Series’ Creator): Robert Cochran Writer: Chip Johannessen Director: Brad Turner

24 7.17 Day 7: 12:00 AM – 1:00 AM (2009) Moss is forced to withdraw from Starkwood but another insider may provide visual access to the bio-weapons for Almeida. Jack starts exhibiting symptoms of his exposure but rejects a potential lifeline out of heroic stubborness. Olivia Taylor’s dastardly dealings with her reporter friend start becoming rather more complicated than she wants and so, in the middle of a national crisis, she nips out the office to try and sort him out. 6/10 This is unquestionably the worst episode of the season so far but the remainder has been so good, we’re more than willing to give it a bye. The problem is baffling non-sensical character choices. SPOILERWhy does the reporter burn all bridges with what must be the best source in the world (the US Chief of Staff)? Why does Jonas Hodges kill his Chairman of the Board? Why does the President abort the airstrike instead of quipping "You’ll find it harder to negotiate with a missile in your mouth"? Additionally, where did Larry Moss and his strike team disappear to? Did they all go down the pub? And, it has to be said, we still don’t know what Jonas Hodges is trying to accomplish here and how arranging the death of thousands of Americans including the President can possibly be advantangeous? The audience is offered a lifeline over Jack’s predicament (his imminent unavoidable death) but he refuses it. Will he die today? This 24 episode contains mild swear words and very strong melee violence and sexuality, mild sexual nudity. Links Previous episode Next episode

Lewis 3.03 The Point of Vanishing (2009, TV) – 6/10 review

Kevin Whately: DI Robert Lewis Laurence Fox: DS James Hathaway Clare Holman: Dr. Laura Hobson Rebecca Front: Ch. Supt. Innocent Ben Aldridge: Daniel Rattenbury Zoe Boyle: Hope Ransome Ophelia Lovibond: Jessica Rattenbury Jenny Seagrove: Cecile Rattenbury Michael Simkins: Manfred Canter Julian Wadham: Tom Rattenbury Writer (inspired By The Original Novels By) Inspector Morse: Colin Dexter Writer (Screenplay): Paul Rutman Producer: Chris Burt Director: Maurice Phillips

Lewis 3.03 Point of Vanishing, The (2009) Steven Mullan is brutally murdered and suspicion immediately falls upon the family of a girl he disabled by driving a truck into her car. He was targeting the girl’s outspoken atheistic father, Tom Rattenbury, but the effect was equally devastating. However, the crime was compounded by the sentence. Instead of attempted murder he got sent to prison for drunk driving. Perhaps justice has finally caught up with him. 6/10 This is nearly a very good episode with lots of clues and suspects and last-minute alibis and non-alibis and intrigue but the final section is fumbled through thin writing, inadequate acting from Jenny Seagrove and obvious dramatic nonsense (for example, why does Hathaway go steaming to the swimming pool?). Kevin Whately is better here than before as he is largely not called on to display deep-seated emotion but he keeps oddly hurling words at people during interrogations and his eureka moment is, as ever, highly unconvincing. I do not think Lewis is a eureka cop and that has been a principle mistake of the producers. Lewis isn’t Morse, he isn’t maverick, he isn’t a great thinker nor should he gain inspiration from the arts. He should be methodical, meticulous and display finely-honed powers of observation. But he doesn’t. This Lewis episode contains adult dialogue, mild swear words and strong melee violence, blade violence. Links Previous episode: The Quality of Mercy Next episode: Counter Culture Blues

House M.D. 5.19 Locked In (2009, TV) – 5/10 review

Hugh Laurie: Dr. Gregory House Omar Epps: Dr. Eric Foreman Robert Sean Leonard: Dr. James Wilson Jennifer Morrison: Dr. Allison Cameron Jesse Spencer: Dr. Robert Chase Writer (Series’ Creator): David Shore Peter Jacobson: Dr. Chris Taub Kal Penn: Dr. Lawrence Kutner Olivia Wilde: Thirteen Faune A. Chambers: Molly John Kapelos: Dr. Kurtz Mos Def: Lee Producer: David Foster Executive Producer: Russel Friend Executive Producer: Garrett Lerner Executive Producer: David Shore Writer: Russel Friend Writer: Garrett Lerner Writer: David Foster Director: Daniel Attias

House M.D. 5.19 Locked In (2009) House saves a man’s life after falling off his motorbike in New York. The man has Locked In Syndrome but as he attempts to diagnose, he is also trying to determine whether Taub is motivated to continue and Wilson wants to know what House was doing in New York in the first place. 5/10 House’s dialogue is as awesome as ever but he is hitting Taub when he’s down really hard. Otherwise, this feels like a concerted effort to win an award as this is a gimmick episode and large parts of the episode take place with the camera as the eyes of the patient-of-the-week. Unfortunately, the camera is waved around as if we are moving our whole head and so it doesn’t work from the get-go. Mos Def’s apparently casual delivery is always a nice change of pace whatever he’s in but, as the medical side of things is typically muddled, spending so much time on it reduces the effectiveness of the episode. The other little battle of wills is between House and Wilson as the latter tries to discover why the former had a motorcycle accident in New York but it’s rather flat. Links Previous episode: Here Kitty Next episode: Simple Explanation

Enchanted (2007, Movie) – 3/10 review

Director: Kevin Lima Writer: Bill Kelly Amy Adams: Giselle Patrick Dempsey: Robert Philip James Marsden: Prince Edward Timothy Spall: Nathaniel Idina Menzel: Nancy Tremaine Rachel Covey: Morgan Philip Susan Sarandon: Queen Narissa Narrator: Julie Andrews Kevin Lima: Pip in New York

Enchanted (2007) On the day she is to marry her fairy-tale prince, Andalasian commoner Giselle is pushed into the real world by the wicked Queen Narissa. Prince Edward arrives to rescue her but true love may have other plans. 3/10 So the movie opens with a chap who takes a mentally-disturbed babe back to his apartment and then insists his six-year-old daughter spend the night in his bed. Yeah, you try that. Kevin Lima’s fantasy romance has a heart-warming reputation but that wasn’t what I felt. The morals are: don’t get married after a day (dump him and marry someone else after knowing them for a day), think only of yourself (if you follow your heart it’s fine to steal someone’s else fiancée; in fact, the fiancée will appreciate it) and spend obscenely using the real magic of the credit card; at the time, of course, the Disney company motto. The only positive aspect is James Marsden’s Prince Edward with his fabulous floppy hair, irresistible grin and boundless enthusiasm ("thank you for taking care of my bride, peasants"). Alan Menken’s songs and score are notably bland, especially with the clear echo of Menken’s classic scores for The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast. Watch them and this back-to-back and weep for Walt. This movie contains fantasy violence, mild fantasy peril. Classified PG by BBFC. Parental Guidance.

Oxymoron of the Week

image from flickr

“Films are prohibitively expensive to make…”
- Audrey Day, Total Film magazine editor quoted at bbc.co.uk.

Prohibit: to forbid; to prevent

Make: to cause to happen; to put together

Top Gear HD widescreen wallpapers 1920×1080 1920×1200

I’ve probably overdone the good-looking babes as a theme for wallpaper (actually, that’s not possible) so here are some middle-aged men standing on a runway wondering how to look cool. Or, more accurately, standing in a studio wondering how cool they are going to look when finally composited on to a runway. Of course, this is Richard Hammond, Jeremy Clarkson and James May from BBC’s Top Gear.

1920×1080	1920×1200

Original Photographs

These are the UHQ photographs used for these wallpapers. Top Gear is produced by the BBC but the first photograph was found via Google Image Search on this Dutch cable television site (at least I think so, I can’t read Dutch) and the second photograph was on the same site.

These are the UHQ 16:9 ratio images produced from the photographs. The 1920×1080 is a simple resize and the 1920×1200 chops the sides off before the resize.

Links

• Images are hosted on shareapic.
• Wallpaper RSS.
• All wallpapers.

Wipeout HD 1.30 crashes / freezes: Solution

Studio Liverpool released update 1.3 on PlayStation Network today which was very nice. It adds some online goodies including a new ranking progression allowing to go from Wipeout Trainee to Wipeout Legend.

However, I found that as soon as it updated. It would hard lock the PlayStation 3 when it displays the screen about saving automatically to the hard disk. Which wasn’t very nice.

The solution:

1. Sign out of the PlayStation Network by selecting Account Management, pressing Triangle and selecting Sign Out.
2. Start Wipeout HD 1.3 and wait until you get to the main menu.
3. Sign back in by pressing the PlayStation Home button and selecting Sign In.
4. Access the online modes and accept the information displayed.
5. Come back out and get the game to save by playing something or changing one of the options.

This is not my work. I read it on the European PlayStation forums and am just highlighting it here. All credit to EU PlayStation.com member stever.

Smallville 8.18 Eternal (2009, TV) – 2/10 review

Tom Welling: Clark Kent Allison Mack: Chloe Sullivan Cassidy Freeman: Tess Mercer Sam Witwer: Davis Bloome Writer (Characters’ Creator) Superman: Jerry Siegel Writer (Characters’ Creator) Superman: Joe Shuster Developer for Television: Alfred Gough Developer for Television: Miles Millar Executive Producer: James Marshall Writer: Brian Peterson Writer: Kelly Souders Director: James Marshall

Smallville 8.18 Eternal (2009) Clark is a little put-out when Tess Mercer pooh-pooh’s his story about a previously unknown serial killer. He doesn’t know it is Davis Bloome but, thanks to a journal she nicked from the Lionel Luthor estate, Tess Mercer does and knows he’ll be impossible to kill. So she blows Davis up just to check. Fortunately, the police don’t care. Nor do the writers. Nor do we. 2/10 While the addition of Davis Bloome into the last seven series of Smallville ends up being better integrated than expected it still doesn’t mitigate the absolute insult to the audience. To be fair, it ends up making you wonder whether this was always intended to be the Smallville end-game. However, we simply don’t care. This week’s story is about the conflict inside Davis Bloome but we don’t care, partially because he has a face like a bag of walnuts. Every so often, the writers remember that Clark is on this ‘talk people around’ initiative but it’s so half-hearted and never amounts to anything except Clark going "No!", that we really don’t care. When Lois isn’t around, Smallville isn’t fun or interesting. The production team simply has no more to give. They need a break. We need a break. Stop Smallville, please. Links Previous episode: Hex Next episode: Stiletto

24 7.16 Day 7: 11:00 PM – 12:00 AM (2009, TV) – 6/10 review

Kiefer Sutherland: Jack Bauer Cherry Jones: President Allison Taylor Annie Wersching: FBI Agent Renee Walker Jeffrey Nordling: FBI Special Agent in Charge Larry Moss Janeane Garofalo: Janis Gold Carlos Bernard: Tony Almeida Glenn Morshower: Agent Aaron Pierce Jon Voight: Jonas Hodges Co-Executive Producer: Brannon Braga Executive Producer: Manny Coto Executive Producer: Jon Cassar Writer (Series’ Creator): Joel Surnow Writer (Series’ Creator): Robert Cochran Writer: Manny Coto Writer: Brannon Braga Director: Jon Cassar

24 7.16 Day 7: 11:00 PM – 12:00 AM (2009) Jack waits to discover whether he is infected with the bio-weapon and whether it has dispersed into the local area. Moss and The President have no good options, legal or otherwise, for attacking the Starkwood facility but the captured Tony Almeida catches a break that might just save the day. 6/10 So Jack gets undressed and freaks out the doctor (and later Renee Walker) with all his scars but what would have been awesome-on-toast is if he dropped his boxers and he had no privates and he just said "I lost those in ‘Nam" or "Didn’t see the first shark for about half-an-hour" or something. I suspect I might need some kind of psychiatric treatment. Of course, the big news is that SPOILERJack has only a day or two to live. Now, as an audience, we’ve seen Jack in a worse situation than this before (he died on Day 2 just before 3:00 AM, then came back from the dead and splatted everyone wearing only sweat) and so we wonder how permanent this latest setback will actually be. As it stands though, it is a strong possibility that Bauer is going to add martyrdom to his resumé. This 24 episode contains mild swear words and strong interrogation violence. Links Previous episode Next episode

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008, Movie) – 4/10 review

Director: Rob Cohen Writer: Alfred Gough Writer: Miles Millar Brendan Fraser: Rick O’Connell Jet Li: Emperor Maria Bello: Evelyn O’Connell John Hannah: Jonathan Carnahan Luke Ford: Alex O’Connell Anthony Wong: General Yang Isabella Leong: Lin Liam Cunningham: Maguire David Calder: Roger Wilson Russell Wong: Ming Guo Michelle Yeoh: Zi Yuan

Mummy, The: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008) 4/10 One wonders how filmmakers take such so much money and spectacle and still produce an entirely forgettable action movie. You wonder if the writers, producers or director ever stopped and said "You know, we could do better with all these resources" or whether they just said "Rick-ochet O’Connell. Get it? How amazing is that?" and left the screenplay there. Now I really liked the yeti’s and the undead armies and, as usual, the visual effects for them and all the Emperor monsters (and all the film) are terrific. So why doesn’t it matter? Why doesn’t it add up to thrills or entertainment? The most obvious is the charmless characterisation of all our supposed heroes, especially the ‘looks like his dad’s brother’ Luke Ford as irritating newcomer Alex O’Connell and ‘looks like her husband’s mum’ Maria Bello as a wandering occasional Rachel Weisz impersonator. This movie contains mild swear words and extended extreme fantasy violence, gun violence, blade violence, extremely unpleasant scenes. Classified 12A by BBFC. Persons under the age of 12 must be accompanied by an adult.

Caché aka Hidden (2004, Movie) – 7/10 review

Daniel Auteuil: Juliette Binoche: Writer (Screenplay): Michael Haneke Director: Michael Haneke

Caché aka Hidden (2004) A successful, career-wise, married couple receive an odd tape showing the front of their house for two hours. While unsettling, a further communication indicates that this is the beginning of some sort of highly upsetting campaign and not just a schoolboy prank. 7/10 The success of Michael Haneke’s film comes from getting under your skin but he doesn’t provide a satisfying narrative. The quality of the movie in acting, writing and directing makes this genuinely unnerving but you won’t know any more coming out than going in. While that’s clearly deliberate, there is so much missing from the story (Who sent the tapes? For what purpose? Why now?) that the always pretentious open ending doesn’t feel like an ending at all. This movie contains mild bad language, mild adult dialogue and graphic suicide scene. Classified 15 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 15 years and over.