Iron Man 2 (2010) – 6/10 superhero action sequel movie review

Cast / crew Director: Jon Favreau Robert Downey, Jr.: Tony Stark Gwyneth Paltrow: Pepper Potts Don Cheadle: Lt. Col. James “Rhodey” Rhodes Scarlett Johansson: Natalie Rushman / Natasha Romanoff Sam Rockwell: Justin Hammer Mickey Rourke: Ivan Vanko Samuel L. Jackson: Nick Fury Executive Producer: Stan Lee Executive Producer: Jon Favreau Producer: Kevin Feige Writer (Screenplay): Justin Theroux Stan Lee: Writer (Original Comic Book): Stan Lee Writer (Original Comic Book): Don Heck Writer (Original Comic Book): Larry Lieber Writer (Original Comic Book): Jack Kirby

Iron Man 2 (2010) The palladium powering Stark’s heart is killing him. Quickly. Already recklessly impulsive, this leads him to making even more wild decisions and the US Government and rival weapons manufacturer Justin Hammer want the power of the suit for themselves. When Iron Man is severely tested by a Russian dude who has knocked up his own portable arc reactor complete with functioning energy whips, a window of opportunity presents itself. 6/10 Iron Man 2 is certainly a fun movie but it does make yet another compelling case for forbidding movie companies from releasing trailers. The best moment in the film, aside from cheerleaders in spiffy Iron Men outfits (SPOILER the Iron Man-in-a-case), is undermined by the audience already knowing what is in the case. The other good moments of the film, snippets of cute dialogue, are all in the trailer. Director Jon Favreau puts it all together professionally but still doesn’t know how to build in a movie while Justin Theroux (the writer of the boring Tropic Thunder) makes the typical super-hero movie mistake of undermining their hero by giving the villain the same super-powers. So Mickey Rourke builds an army of super-soldier drones, an Iron Man suit and energy whips (the latter as a penniless, surely resourceless, proletarian; the rest in a few days) and it doesn’t up the stakes or heighten drama. It just, like Jeff Bridges knocking up an Iron Monger suit in a few days and becoming an expert pilot instantly in the first film, makes Iron Man look less impressive. This movie contains two bleeped sexual swear words, mild swear words, adult dialogue and strong mecha violence, strong melee violence and mild sensuality. Classified 12A by BBFC. Persons under the age of 12 must be accompanied by an adult.

Taken (2007, Liam Neeson Albanian-Punching Thriller) – 7/10 movie review

Cast / crew Liam Neeson: Bryan Director: Pierre Morel Writer: Luc Besson Writer: Robert Mark Kamen Maggie Grace: Kim Xander Berkeley: Stuart Olivier Rabourdin: Jean-Claude Gérard Watkins: St-Clair Famke Janssen: Lenore

Taken (2007) Ex-covert ops Bryan Mills turns to his old skill set when his daughter is kidnapped in Paris by human traffickers. 7/10 This is a crisp thriller where a very angry Liam Neeson goes to Paris and punches nasty Albanian kidnappers in the throat (they took his daughter). And sometimes, that’s all you want. Neeson is great, he convinces completely and spits out his principle speech ("I will find you. I will kill you.") with a remarkable degree of controlled super-intensity. This is one of a number of movies that Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen keep making that look like they should be direct-to-video trash but which are better produced and written than they appear. They definitely give Liam Neeson a character to play and then line up plenty of baddies for him to hit very hard. Director Pierre Morel over-edits some of the vehicular action but maintains a good rhythm for the hand-to-hand, or rather hand-to-skull, action. He also avoids making the violence graphic and gratuitous; this is far less graphic than Banlieu 13 but received a higher certificate. This movie contains an obscured sexual swear word, mild swear words, bad language, adult dialogue and subject matter of forced substance abuse and strong melee violence, brief graphic gun violence, gun violence, torture scene, unpleasant scenes. Classified 18 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 18 years and over.

House M.D. 6.17 Knight Fall (2010, Black Comedy Medical Drama) – 6/10 TV review

Cast / crew Hugh Laurie: Dr. Gregory House Lisa Edelstein: Dr. Lisa Cuddy Omar Epps: Dr. Eric Foreman Robert Sean Leonard: Dr. James Wilson Jesse Spencer: Dr. Robert Chase Creator: David Shore Peter Jacobson: Dr. Chris Taub Olivia Wilde: Thirteen Michael Weston: Lucas Douglas Cynthia Watros: Sam Carr Noah Segan: William Sarah Jones: Shannon Wes Ramsey: Miles Producer: Marcy G. Kaplan Producer: Sara Hess Executive Producer: Hugh Laurie Executive Producer: David Shore Writer: John C. Kelley Director: Juan J. Campanella

House M.D. 6.17 Knight Fall (2010) House looks into the case of a knight who collapses after a duel but finds himself distracted when Wilson starts reconciling with his first ex-wife. 6/10 After last week’s dismal episode, this is a return to normal service and introduces a couple of new story threads to take us through to the end of the season: Wilson’s rekindling of romance with a ex-wife and a worsening of pain for House. Story-wise the episode presents, more interestingly than usual for drama, a selfish sexual morality. Our patient-of-the-week has chosen not to declare his love to his friend’s fiancée because it’s not right and he considers his friend to be better for her than him. Thirteen tells him he’s an idiot and that he should tell the girl and break up the relationship. What’s interesting is that Thirteen’s character is so blunt about this that her opinon, the usual selfish moral standard presented in entertainment dramas as the actions of the hero, become transparently selfish and somewhat distasteful. Though, perhaps, if you are someone who considers that we should ‘follow our heart,’ i.e., be selfish, you may not see it that way. This House M.D. episode contains bad language, adult dialogue and unpleasant scenes and inferred nudity. Links Previous: Lockdown Next: Open and Shut

House M.D. 6.16 Lockdown (2010, Drama) – 2/10 TV review

Cast / crew 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 Creator: David Shore Peter Jacobson: Dr. Chris Taub Olivia Wilde: Thirteen David Strathairn: Nash Neill Barry: Donald Lozinski Riki Lindhome: Sarah Lozinski Producer: Marcy G. Kaplan Producer: Sara Hess Co-Executive Producer: Eli Attie Co-Executive Producer: Peter Blake Executive Producer: Russel Friend Executive Producer: Garrett Lerner Executive Producer: David Shore Writer (Screenplay): Russel Friend Writer (Screenplay): Garrett Lerner Writer (Screenplay): Peter Blake Writer (Screenplay): Eli Attie Writer (Story): Eli Attie Writer (Story): Peter Blake Director: Hugh Laurie

House M.D. 6.16 Lockdown (2010) A baby disappears putting the hospital into lockdown. Wilson and Thirteen occupy themselves with a game of truth or dare. Taub and Foreman get high in Personnel. Chase and Cameron sign divorce papers. House winds up with a dying patient. Cuddy looks for the baby. The police and security team are probably useless at that kind of thing anyway. 2/10 One amazing House-ism is yer lot this week (he has fixed all his personnel records so that his malpractice suits were all brought by a patient named Lisa Cuddy). Everything else is indescribably awful. This House M.D. episode contains adult dialogue and unpleasant and mild gory scenes and sexuality. Links Previous episode: Black Hole Next episode: Knight Fall

The General (1927, Buster Keaton Civil War Period Comedy) – 8/10 movie review

Cast / crew Producer (Presents credit): Joseph M. Schenck Buster Keaton: Johnnie Gray Writer: Buster Keaton Director: Buster Keaton Writer: Clyde Bruckman Director: Clyde Bruckman Writer (Adaptation): Al Boasberg Writer (Adaptation): Charles Smith Charles Smith: Her father Music 2004 Edition: Joe Hisaishi

General, The (1927) His request for enlistment in the American Civil War turned down so that he can continue his civilian job of railroad engineer, Johnnie Gray is regarded with contempt by his community and by his girlfriend Annabelle Lee. A year later, Johnnie’s other love, a steam train called The General which happens to be carrying Annabelle, is captured by Union spies. Johnnie gives chase… 8/10 Charming Buster Keaton masterpiece, arguably the highlight of his career. For Keaton it’s fairly crisp with a nice pace delivering a clearly told story (surprisingly, based on truth) without the audience sitting around waiting for him to catch up. He also delivers some of the most famed visuals of the silent era with him sitting on the coupling rod, tipping wooden beams from the train’s pilot, standing on top of the train cabin leaning forward and, of course, dropping a real train into a river (the most expensive shot in silent cinema). Perhaps most surprising is the convincing American Civil War setting. Joe Hisaishi’s score for the 2004 restoration is brilliant and entirely fitting; the 1995 score is also excellent if not quite as catchy. This movie contains war violence. Classified U by BBFC. Universal: Suitable for All.

Doctor Who 32.02 The Beast Below (2010, Science Fiction Adventure) – 9/10 TV review

Cast / crew Matt Smith: The Doctor Karen Gillan: Amy Pond Writer: Steven Moffat Producer: Peter Bennett Director: Andrew Gunn Sophie Okonedo: Liz 10 Executive Producer: Steven Moffat

Doctor Who 32.02 Beast Below, The (2010) Over 1,000 years in the future, the entire UK has had to construct and board a giant spaceship to leave Earth and find a new home. The Doctor and Amy Pond visit but the Doctor is intrigued by a silently crying child and something that isn’t happening when he puts a glass of water on the floor. 9/10 This is a thrilling, imaginative, visually striking and, critically, tremendously fun adventure for The Doctor. Writer Steven Moffat continually subverts the audience in a way that is enticing and delightful (with the exception of a maguffin video message from Amy Pond) and Matt Smith absolutely knocks the Doctor out of the park. So far, he is managing, better than David Tennant before him, to balance the jolly adventuring with the heavy emotional baggage ("Just me now. Bad day.") and resigned almost-rage at having to always make tremendously difficult decisions. Tennant always flipped a switch between the two and his jolly Doctor and action Doctor always felt like two separate people. Matt Smith is successfully keeping both in the same character. Director Andrew Gunn also does a good job and supplies a striking visual of The Doctor holding Amy Pond by the foot floating outside the TARDIS. This Doctor Who episode contains mild unpleasant and scary scenes. Links Previous episode: The Eleventh Hour

Angel-A (2005, Fantasy Drama) – 7/10 movie review

Cast / crew Jamel Debbouze: Andre Moussa Rie Rasmussen: Angela Director: Luc Besson Writer: Luc Besson

Angel-A (2005) Andre Moussa is an out-of-luck wannabe businessman up to his ears in debt. His solution is simple: hurl himself to his death from one of Paris’ picturesque bridges across the Seine. Before he can jump, he sees a stunning blonde beat him to it. Without thinking he jumps in to rescue her. Forgetting he can’t swim. 7/10 While there’s an uncharacteristically clunky bit of editing in the final scene with Franck and the climax doesn’t quite work, Luc Besson’s French It’s a Wonderful Life-alike contains at least one very brilliant scene ("J’taime, Andre. J’taime.") and works on an emotional level. Besson’s flair for brilliant visuals is perhaps more striking here than ever as his principle visual is his leading lady, an almost entirely remarkable Rie Rasmussen (she is let down by the afore-mentioned clunky scene) who is all legs and arms and much larger than Jamel Debbouze. It is an endlessly wonderful dichotomy for your eyes to drink in and might well prove to be, amazingly, Besson’s permanent contribution to cinema. Considering this is a rare film from France’s most well-known contemporary director, the English subtitles contain a surprising number of mistakes. This movie contains sexual swear words, adult dialogue and violence and very brief sex scene, sensuality. Classified 15 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 15 years and over.

Battle Creek Brawl aka The Big Brawl (1980, Jackie Chan Period Martial Arts Fighting) – 6/10 movie review

Cast / crew Producer: Fred Weintraub Jackie Chan: Jerry José Ferrer: Dominici Kristine De Bell: Nancy Mako: Herbert Ron Max: Leggetti Writer (Screenplay): Robert Clouse Writer (Story): Robert Clouse Writer (Story): Fred Weintraub Producer: Terry Morse, Jr. Director: Robert Clouse

Battle Creek Brawl aka The Big Brawl (1980) Jerry is forced into fighting for Dominici in The Battle Creek Brawl to get his brother’s fiancée back. 6/10 Given the disdainful reputation this film seems to have garnered as Jackie Chan’s first American production, it comes as a bit of a surprise that the imaginative, complex fight sequences and light balletic touch that marks Chan’s action of this period is completely intact. There is a complaint that the fight scenes are filmed at normal speed making them seem a little less frenetic than action in Chan’s Hong Kong movies (which are slightly undercranked). At the time, though, this wouldn’t have meant anything to audiences as they had not seen original Jackie Chan movies. Perhaps of more importance is that some of the camera angles and editing in the fight scenes do not quite capture the action at its best, largely because American crews had never filmed this kind of lengthy, complex action before. While certainly not an exhilarating as Chan’s best work, looking back, it is remarkable how unadulterated it is and it sits comfortably alongside Chan’s contemporary Hong Kong output and is certainly not embarrassed by it. This movie contains mild swear words, bad language, adult dialogue and melee and martial arts violence, knife violence and mild sensuality. Classified 15 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 15 years and over.

Need for Speed: Undercover (2008, Police Chase Street Racing, 360 and PS3) – 7/10 game review

Cast / crew Producer: Steve Anthony Producer: Tim Fields Producer: Scott Nielsen Development Director Franchise: Christopher Hadley Maggie Q: Chase Linh

Need for Speed 12 Need for Speed: Undercover (2008) Street racing. Sent undercover by bolshy but shapely law enforcement agent Chase Linh, you are tasked with integrating yourself with the street racing culture that is thought to be hiding a serious crime ring. 7/10 It feels like EA simply doesn’t have the time or budget after buying all the vehicle and song licences and Maggie Q’s lipstick to eliminate important, if not quite critical, technical deficiencies in frame-rate and, on PS3, streaming technology. However, Need for Speed‘s seventh generation efforts have not yet reached a technical quality where no more money needed to be spent and this joins Most Wanted and Carbon as a problematic release. Nevertheless, the formula of the street-racing franchise remains magic with playable, consistent handling, nice cars, loads to do and the ever-present possibility of any event erupting into a full-blown Greatest Chase Ever. Police chases are vastly improved over Most Wanted and Carbon as there’s always a chance of escape and the police chatter is more accurate and impressive than ever (‘I’ve just thrown up in my car. I’ve got to go home. It’s everywhere.’). This Need for Speed game contains sexual swear words in songs. Links IGN Head-to-Head: 360 Eurogamer Head-to-Head: 360 Next: Need for Speed: Shift Previous: Need for Speed: ProStreet

Need for Speed: Shift (2009, Nearly Undrivable Circuit Racing Game, 360) – 3/10 game review

Cast / crew

Need for Speed 13 Need for Speed: Shift (2009) Track-based circuit racing. 3/10 This is unquestionably the worst gamepad driving experience ever delivered by a major console driving game, simulation-biased or not (the demos seem to drive differently to the full game). What is truly amazing about this is that none of the contemporary reviews ever highlighted it. IGN’s walkthrough for the game tells you but the review (a mind-boggling 8.7-9.0) does not (it does contain a passing remark that it is a ‘none-too-small task just keeping the car on the road’; 9.0 I remind you). The game is almost unplayable with the default settings and the menu that allows you to manhandle the controller into actually giving you a degree of control is easy to miss. Because the core driving experience with a gamepad is so atrocious, it doesn’t matter that the game looks good (aside from horrid texture filtering most apparent, sadly, on vinyl-laden cars), sounds good, features an excellent cockpit view, a ferocious sense of danger, an enticing badge reward system, a few unusual circuits and some tenacious AI opponents who even move over when being lapped. All-in-all then, a worthy successor to Need for Speed: PooStreet. If only there was some such pun for Shift. Links Lens of Truth Head-to-Head: 360 Eurogamer Head-to-Head: 360 Previous: Need for Speed: Undercover

PlayStation 3 Backwards Compatibility Update: From Russia With Love

You can access the full list using the 360 PS3 BC link at the top of the page.

Key

• The game is new to this list because I have purchased or borrowed it or it has been added to the Xbox 360 BC list.
• The game was already on my list but its status has changed.

Backwards Compatibility Lists

PlayStation 3 (PS3) 60Gb PAL:

No known issues

Title	Product Code	Widescreen	System
From Russia With Love	SLES 53553		3.15

Jonathan Creek Special.4 The Judas Tree (2010, Murder Mystery) – 8/10 TV review

Cast / crew Alan Davies: Jonathan Creek Sheridan Smith: Joey Ross Writer: David Renwick Paul McGann: Hugo Dore Sasha Behar: Harriet Dore Doreen Mantle: Mrs. Gantry Ian McNeice: Father Roderick Alberic Natalie Walter: Emily Stuart Milligan: Adam Klaus Producer: Rosemary McGowan Director: David Renwick

Jonathan Creek Special.4 Judas Tree, The (2010) Joey Ross has managed to get herself employed as Klaus’s stage assistant but her old job as a self-styled psychic debunker provides Jonathan Creek with two mysteries to comprehend. One is from a hundred-and-twenty years ago when an adulterous husband dies at a time prophesied by his spurned lover with no sign of foul play while the other, in the same location but present day, sees the suspected murderess manifesting herself to Joey’s friend, a housekeeper’s assistant. 8/10 What David Renwick does better than any contemporary television writer is come up with the unexpected, usually funny, and imaginative sight gag. This time he delivers a great scene with cat litter, some fun race-related gags at the expense of Stuart Milligan’s Adam Klaus, a disappearing house and numerous other splendid bits and pieces dotted here and there (the approach of ISIS). However, Renwick really comes through with this episode by playing with audience expectations (SPOILER Paul McGann’s author states: “The trick, of course, is to fool the reader into trusting the wrong people.”), telling you everything Jonathan Creek knows and then wrapping it up for a thought-provoking finalé. He also manages to avoid his recent penchant for unpleasant sexuality and unnecessary sexual swear words and adult dialogue. This, with a tiny edit for violence, could be shown again on a Sunday afternoon without any problem (though it is bafflingly rated 15 by the BBFC for strong sex; of which there was none when shown on television). A bit of a welcome return to form for Renwick, then. This Jonathan Creek episode contains mild swear words and unpleasant scenes, violence and brief sexuality. Classified 15 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 15 years and over. Links Previous episode: The Grinning Man Jonathan Creek Screened by Slimm

Xbox 360 vs PS3 Head-to-Head Face Off: Just Cause 2

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

From this time on, there will be no updates from IGN as my Insider subscription has ended and IGN now offer no compelling reason to purchase it.

This is the latest update to the full list.

•   Just Cause 2

Doctor Who 32.01 The Eleventh Hour (2010, Science Fiction Adventure) – 7/10 TV review

Cast / crew Matt Smith: The Doctor Karen Gillan: Amy Pond Writer: Steven Moffat Producer: Tracie Simpson Director: Adam Smith

Doctor Who 32.01 Eleventh Hour, The (2010) The newly regenerated and slightly disoriented Doctor and TARDIS crash into the garden of Amelia Pond, a young girl with a scary crack in her bedroom wall. 7/10 A huge amount of fun as Matt Smith instantly becomes The Doctor and makes the role his own. Composer Murray Gold demonstrates that it is harder to score comedy than heroic action. His hero and action cues are brilliant but his work during the fish fingers and custard sequence falls way short. It makes you appreciate just what a master Henry Mancini was. He was someone who worked frequently in the comedy genre and his scores there were invariably witty, light, melodic and fun. Getting back to The Eleventh Hour and writer and new show-runner Steven Moffat gets us off to an imaginative, energetic and gleeful start. It looks like The Doctor is in safe hands. This Doctor Who episode contains unpleasant and scary scenes. Links Previous episode: The End of Time

Butterfly on a Wheel (2007, Child Kidnap Thriller) – 3/10 movie review

Cast / crew Director: Mike Barker Pierce Brosnan: Tom Ryan Gerard Butler: Neil Randall Maria Bello: Abby Randall Claudette Mink: Judy Ryan Nicholas Lea: Jerry Crane Producer: William Vince Producer: William Morrissey Producer: Pierce Brosnan Writer: William Morrissey

Butterfly on a Wheel (2007) Happily married Neil and Abby Randall are put to ultimate test when their daughter Sophie is kidnapped and they are forced to make huge sacrifices in order to see her again. 3/10 This is a film which tries to ask the question ‘how far would you go to save someone you love?’ (and turns out, unsurprisingly, SPOILER to have an anti-adultery message ‘twist’) but embeds it in a set of really stupid actions that do not resonate with or convince anyone who does loves someone, i.e., the entire population of the world. On top of the transparently ridiculous story, the acting from Gerard Butler and Maria Bello is bland and unconvincing while Pierce Brosnan is merely adequate and manages to avoid delivering menace or charm with his bad guy. This movie contains a couple of sexual swear words, brief strong adult dialogue and violence. Classified 15 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 15 years and over.

DOA: Dead or Alive (2006, Fantasy Martial Arts Action Movie) – 4/10 movie review

Cast / crew Director: Corey Yuen Writer (Screenplay) Based on the video game by Tecmo: J.F. Lawton Writer (Screenplay) Based on the video game by Tecmo: Adam Gross Writer (Screenplay) Based on the video game by Tecmo: Seth Gross Writer (Story) Based on the video game by Tecmo: J.F. Lawton Producer: Jeremy Bolt Producer: Paul W.S. Anderson Producer: Robert Kulzer Producer: Bernd Eichinger Producer: Mark A. Altman Jaime Pressly: Tina Armstrong Holly Valance: Christie Allen Sarah Carter: Helena Douglas Eric Roberts: Donovan Natassia Malthe: Ayane Matthew Marsden: Max Steve Howey: Weatherby Kosugi Kane Takeshi: Ryu Hayabusa Colin Chou: Hayate Devon Aoki: Kasumi

DOA: Dead or Alive (2006) A group of the world’s best fighters are invited to participate in DOA, a fight tournament. Kasumi has greater reason to go than most as her brother took part previously and lost his life but she knows he was far too good for that to have happened. 4/10 Corey Yuen was a canny choice for this female-oriented action movie as he has directed a number of inventively choreographed and surprisingly emotionally successful action movies starring women in the past. However, this movie has no such investment in character development or story and becomes a series of reasonably nice-looking fight sequences (Holly Valance ended up with the best ones) strung together with a plot that is impressively unsuccessful. This movie contains mild swear words and strong but stylised and clearly unrealistic violence and sensuality, brief mild nudity. Classified 15 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 15 years and over.