Page Eight (2011) – 6/10 British intelligence services drama TV movie review

Cast / crew Bill Nighy: Johnny Warricker Rachel Weisz: Nancy Pierpan Holly Aird: Anna Hervé Ewen Bremner: Rollo Maverley Judy Davis: Jill Tankard Tom Hughes: Ralph Wilson Felicity Jones: Julianne Warricker Marthe Keller: Leona Chew Alice Krige: Emma Baron Saskia Reeves: Anthea Catcheside Michael Gambon: Benedict Baron Ralph Fiennes: Alec Beasley Producer: David Heyman Producer: David Barron Writer: David Hare Director: David Hare Executive Producer: Bill Nighy

Page Eight (2011) Intelligence Analyst Johnny Warricker is left standing without a chair but with a potentially damaging file when his friend and MI5 Director General Benedict Baron dies (of natural causes). As he tries to discover what the import of the information in the file is, his life is complicated by a beautiful neighbour who is trying to find out the truth regarding her brother’s death in Iraq. 6/10 This is full of people saying writerly things and, like wrong hair, suffers from being unconvincing and inexplicable enough to distract, not least in a baffling would-be romantic relationship between Bill Nighy and Rachel Weisz. But this low-key espionage drama is largely intriguing, interesting and watchable. Michael Gambon is the clear cast stand out largely because he’s having so much fun and it’s infectious but Nighy and Weisz are also terrific, despite writer / director David Hare stupidly insisting on a romantic attraction. While his performance is fine, Ralph Fiennes doesn’t work as Prime Minister simply because he hasn’t got enough hair. It’s the wrong hair. This movie contains sexual swear words. Classified 15 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 15 years and over.

Drillbit Taylor (2007) – 6/10 high-school comedy movie review

Cast / crew Director: Steven Brill Owen Wilson: Drillbit Taylor Leslie Mann: Lisa Nate Hartley: Wade Troy Gentile: Ryan David Dorfman: Emmit Alex Frost: Filkins Josh Peck: Ronnie Danny McBride: Don Stephen Root: Principal Doppler Co-Producer: Kristofer Brown Producer: Judd Apatow Producer: Susan Arnold Producer: Donna Arkoff Roth Writer (Story): Edmond Dantes Writer (Story): Kristofer Brown Writer (Story): Seth Rogen Writer (Screenplay): Kristofer Brown Writer (Screenplay): Seth Rogen

Drillbit Taylor (2007) Fed up of being constantly bullied and finding to help from the headteacher, three high-school kids hire a bodyguard unaware that their somewhat less-than-standard rate has only managed to attract shiftless bum Drillbit Taylor who is only looking for a easy few hundred dollars so he can get to Canada. 6/10 Not convincing but it gets by on charm. The writers don’t make the mistake of making the hero kids obnoxious (an odd sausage-demanding scene aside) and instantly set up a feeling of genuine friendship between Nate Hartley and Troy Gentile. With the audience on their side, the movie can proceed, but it never ceases to amaze me the number of movies starring children that get this basic element all wrong (Where the Wild Things Are and The Spiderwick Chronicles are two bad examples I’ve attempted to watch in the last week). While bullying is clearly portrayed as a bad thing, there is an interesting pro-bullying flipside presented through a stepfather who proclaims that kids he bullied at school would probably thank him for it now due to it being part of childhood life and preparing them for life. While you may or may not agree, think about this, I’ll bet one or more of the writers were bullied at school and they transferred their bitter experience into piles of money to make this movie. This movie contains mild swear words, adult dialogue and strong, but mildly comic, violence and non-sexual nudity, sexuality. Classified 12A by BBFC. Persons under the age of 12 must be accompanied by an adult.

Overlord (2007) – 6/10 real-time strategy third-person action game review

Cast / crew

Overlord (2007) After being resurrected, the Overlord, with the help of his minions, has to re-conquer the lands that were once his by defeating the heroes that now rule. 6/10 Overlord is a good game design buried under technical, camera and control deficiencies. Still, there’s always a lot of charm to offset the problems. Set design is rather good with a lovely chunky character to all the buildings. While the human populace are blandly designed and there only appears to be two voice actors (one male, one female), the fantasy populace are much more fun. I always appreciate effort put into facial hair and the dwarves have terrific moustaches. While your Overlord spends his entire time walking around like he’s wet his armour and being told what to do by Gnarl and your mistress (not very Overlord-ish), the minion design is rather better; fun and eager and a clever balance of looking evil and horrible without looking evil and horrible. Their surprising charm (if not artificial intelligence) helps make this ambitious but flawed game well worth playing. This game contains adult dialogue and fantasy violence, unpleasant scenes.

Xbox 360 vs PS3 vs PC Head-to-Head Face Off: Deus Ex: Human Revolution

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 to the full list.

Starting with 2011 games, you can hover over the publications icons for a very quick summary.

• Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Jonathan Creek 3.05 Miracle in Crooked Lane (1999) – 7/10 black comedy crime mystery TV drama review

Cast / crew Alan Davies: Jonathan Creek Caroline Quentin: Maddy Magellan Writer: David Renwick Benjamin Whitrow: Rupert Clifford-Wright Dinah Sheridan: Kathleen Gilmore Nicholas Ball: Vincent Rees Hetty Baynes: Jacqui Tom Goodman-Hill: Jeff Emma Kennedy: Christine Producer: Verity Lambert Director: Richard Holthouse Executive Producer: David Renwick

Jonathan Creek 3.05 Miracle in Crooked Lane (1999) Still reeling from meeting the Jonathan Creek fan club, Jonathan looks into the miraculous appearance of a woman having a chat with a neighbour; only the woman was in a coma in hospital at the time. 7/10 Quickly dismissing the idea of a doppelganger, this solution falls into the genre of trick that takes a huge amount of work to produce the desired effect. As such, the solution is pretty difficult to predict and, indeed, the misdirection regarding the crime impressively complete. Creek gets to meet his terrifying fan club while the best scene is him disappearing from in front of someone’s eyes in the middle of a field. Maddy and Creek also wind up having sex (off-screen, thankfully) which is, as the characters themselves acknowledge, all wrong. This Jonathan Creek episode contains mild swear words, adult dialogue and gun violence and nudiity. Classified 12 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 12 years and over. Links Jonathan Creek Screened by Slimm Previous episode: Ghost’s Forge

The Jacket (2004) – 6/10 psychological fantasy thriller movie review

Cast / crew Director: John Maybury Writer (Screenplay): Massy Tadjedin Writer (Story): Tom Bleecker Writer (Story): Marc Rocco Producer: Peter Guber Producer: George Clooney Producer: Steven Soderbergh Co-Producer: Marc Rocco Adrien Brody: Starks Keira Knightley: Jackie Kris Kristofferson: Dr. Becker Jennifer Jason Leigh: Dr. Lorenson Kelly Lynch: Jean Brad Renfro: Stranger

Jacket, The (2004) Jack Starks is the world’s luckiest and unluckiest man. While serving in Iraq he gets shot in the head but survives. Back in America, he gets shot again, this time losing chunks of his memory. Which is unfortunate as he needs to explain the fact that he got shot by a now dead cop. He’s then committed to a psychiatric institution for the criminally insane where he is quickly subjected to deprivation treatment in a morgue drawer in a full body strait-jacket. Whilst in this state, his mind begins to do inexplicable things and suddenly he’s imagining himself having a nice tryst with a pretty waitress which is spoilt by realising that this tryst is happening ten years in the future and she knows that Jack Starks died in four days time. 6/10 Well-made, consistently intriguing and involving but never quite convincing. Critically, however, it’s unconvincing in an interesting and thought-provoking way. You see, we never have a problem with the impossible stuff, i.e., the time-traveling. We have a problem with beautiful Keira Knightley picking up random dude Adrien Brody in the middle of the night; we have a problem with a doctor taking medical advice from a criminally insane patient and then taking him on a day trip; we have a problem with doctors putting a dude in a drawer upon his request (not a typo, by the way) instead of treating a traumatic head wound; we have a problem with Jennifer Jason Leigh being convincing as anything, especially a doctor, period. To end on a more positive and interesting note, be aware that the Iraqi family who shoots Starks at the beginning is the unresponsive boy and his mother later on. I don’t know what that means but, again, it is interesting. This movie contains sexual swear words and graphic violence and sex scene, nudity. Classified 15 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 15 years and over.

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Disney’s A Christmas Carol (2009) – 2/10 animated supernatural drama movie review

Cast / crew Director: Robert Zemeckis Writer (Original Story): Charles Dickens Jim Carrey: Scrooge, Ghost of Christmas Past, Scrooge as a Young Boy, Scrooge as a Teengage Boy, Scrooge as a Young Man, Scrooge as a Middle Aged Man, Ghost of Christmas Present, Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come Gary Oldman: Bob Cratchit, Marley, Tiny Tim Colin Firth: Fred Bob Hoskins: Fezziwig, Old Joe Robin Wright Penn: Fan, Belle Cary Elwes: Portly Gentleman #1, Dick Wilkins, Mad Fiddler, Guest #2, Business Man #1 Fionnula Flanagan: Mrs. Dilber Producer: Steve Starkey Producer: Robert Zemeckis Producer: Jack Rapke Writer (Screenplay): Robert Zemeckis

Christmas Carol, Disney’s A (2009) Ebenezer Scrooge, a money lender, is notoriously cold of heart, tight of wallet and anti of social. One Christmas Eve, his former partner, Jacob Marley, dead now for seven years, haunts him and tells him that he will be visited by three spirits that night and, if he takes heed, he may avoid the terrible fate that awaits him. 2/10 All movie versions of A Christmas Carol share a serious story problem in that Scrooge’s change of heart happens without a convincing reason; especially in this secular age, being faced with one’s own mortality holds little power and Scrooge wasn’t bothered with the plight of children on the brink of death before. In addition to this problem of an unconvincing story, Zemeckis’ continued used of his unblinking CG freaks adds unconvincing animation and characters to make a movie that is impossible to swallow. There is a fascinating feature on the Blu-ray where Zemeckis shows you the filming of the real actors just so you can see how the animators or digital costume and make-up artists successfully remove the humanity, believability and soul out of the original performance capture. It’s a very expensive and time-consuming process and, I’m sad to say, we’ve clearly lost the depressingly deluded Zemeckis to it. This movie contains mild bad language and scary supernatural scenes. Classified PG by BBFC. Parental Guidance.

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Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) – 6/10 World War II superhero fantasy action movie review

Cast / crew Director: Joe Johnston Writer (Screenplay): Christopher Markus Writer (Screenplay): Stephen McFeely Chris Evans: Captain Steve “America” Rogers Hayley Atwell: Peggy Carter Tommy Lee Jones: Colonel Phillips Hugo Weaving: Johann Schmidt / Red Skull Producer: Kevin Feige

Captain America: First Avenger, The (2011) Steve Rogers has the heart of a hero but not the physique. After failing numerous applications to join the US Army and fight against Hitler during World War II, a doctor in charge of a remarkable super-soldier project sees his potential but once the process completes, Rogers’ is only used in a valuable but demeaning propaganda role as Captain America. When his morale-boosting tour finally gets to the front lines, his disappointment at not being of more practical use brings out the inner hero once more. 6/10 Joe Johnston certainly gives the impression that he understood that characters are important, even (especially?) in an action movie, but off-the-shelf dialogue and plotting undermines the otherwise solid production. Most crucially, Captain America is introduced as an interesting character but then devolves into using his overwhelming strength to punch the evil out of endless henchmen. The shapeless presentation of most of the action doesn’t help but there is good work from Chris Evans and Hugh Weaving, Tommy Lee Jones gets all the best lines (“I ain’t kissing ya”) providing a much-needed jolt of fun and the effects guys who made Chris Evans look small and skinny and Hugo Weaving’s head look red have done their jobs perfectly. This movie contains mild bad language and extreme fantasy violence, graphic gun violence. Classified 12A by BBFC. Persons under the age of 12 must be accompanied by an adult.

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Backdraft (1991) – 7/10 fire-fighting thriller movie review

Cast / crew Kurt Russell: Stephen McCaffrey William Baldwin: Brian McCaffrey Scott Glenn: John Adcox Jennifer Jason Leigh: Jennifer Vaitkus Donald Sutherland: Ronald Bartel Rebecca De Mornay: Helen McCaffrey Jason Gedrick: Tim Krizminski J.T. Walsh: Martin Swayzak Robert DeNiro: Donald Rimgale Writer: Gregory Widen Producer: Richard B. Lewis Producer: Pen Densham Producer: John Watson Director: Ron Howard Stuntperson: William Baldwin Stuntperson: Scott Glenn Stuntperson: Kurt Russell

Backdraft (1991) Twenty years after witnessing his fire-fighter father’s death, shiftless Brian McCaffrey returns to Chicago, finally following family tradition into the hazardous profession. Meeting hostility from his experienced older brother Stephen, and cool scepticism from ex-girlfriend Jennifer, Brian finds he has a lot to learn, and to prove. Meanwhile, amid mounting public concern and political interference, an arsonist is at large in the city. 7/10 Dreadful dialogue ("career dissipation light"), William Baldwin (merely okay), Scott Glenn (embarrassing during the climax) and Jennifer Jason Leigh (just awful) threaten to snuff out this fire-fighting thriller but charismatic turns from Robert De Niro, Donald Sutherland and Kurt Russell, coupled with what is still, twenty years later, the greatest depiction of fire ever seen on celluloid and an incredible climax mean that this becomes a strong film and an action touchstone. Director Ron Howard’s talent for spectacular action set-pieces was unknown at the time but, first time out, his final action set-piece (which takes place in a burning chemical factory) is still one of the finest action sequences Hollywood has ever produced. What really lifts the movie, however, is the emotional impact that Howard finally manages to weave into the cocktail and his most critical ingredient is certainly Hans Zimmer’s fantastically powerful music. This movie contains sexual swear words and unpleasant and gory scenes, graphic violence and sex scene. Classified 15 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 15 years and over.

Paranoia Agent (2004) – 8/10 difficult-to-categorise psychological crime anime review

Cast / crew Writer (Original Story): Satoshi Kon Screenplay Developer: Seishi Minakami Developer: Seishi Minakami Director: Satoshi Kon

Paranoia Agent (2004) Tsukiko Sagi is a character designer under pressure to follow up her huge success with the cute Maromi. Her success and innocent demeanour mean she isn’t liked at work. On her way home one evening, she sees and is scared by a homeless old woman but is then attacked in a nearby car park by a boy with a bent baseball bat and golden inline skates. Her attack and "Lil’ Slugger" make the news but some people aren’t convinced it really happened. One of the policemen assigned believes her, one doesn’t and there is a disblieving gossip journalist, with pressures of his own, sniffing around trying to make a story. 8/10 "They will never get an answer no matter how hard they try to analyze it." – Paranoia Agent creator / director Satoshi Kon. And so this instant-classic anime is what you make of it. While the Satoshi Kon quote above is talking specifically about the regular opening sequence (featuring all the characters in the show laughing), it does apply to the series as a whole. There is a series-long story-line, there is much food for thought, the animation is reference quality, the subject unusual and ambitious and you can get answers but you won’t find the answers Kon put in there… because he didn’t. This series contains adult dialogue and strong violence, unpleasant and very gory scenes, gory and distressing scene involving the death of a dog, teenage suicide and sex scenes, references to paedophilia. Classified 18 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 18 years and over.

John Rabe (2010) – 7/10 epic Second Sino-Japanese War drama movie review

Cast / crew Writer Based on true events: Florian Gallenberger Director: Florian Gallenberger Producer: Mischa Hofmann Producer: Benjamin Herrmann Producer: Jan Mojto Writer (Book) John Rabe: Der Gute Deutsche von Nanking: Erwin Wickert Ulrich Tukur: John Rabe Daniel Brühl: Dr. Georg Rosen Steve Buscemi: Dr. Robert Wilson Anne Consigny: Valérie Dupres Dagmar Manzel: Dora Rabe Zhang Jingchu: Langshu

John Rabe (2010) Nanking, China, 1937: Japan’s war with China reaches the city and Siemens power plant manager John Rabe realises that Germany’s alliance with Japan affords him protection from the attack. Quickly realising the utter devastation Japan seeks to wreak, Rabe and others set up a safe zone in the city where the locals can, too, be safe but the political pact between the two countries may not be enough to keep the surrounding Japanese soldiers at bay. 7/10 High-quality film shining a spotlight on a couple of unusual cinematic topics: a heroic Nazi German and the bitter hostilities between China and Japan. While based on Rabe’s own diaries, the writers seem to be a little too reverential and their treatment feels subconsciously slightly sanctimonious. Fortunately, Ulrich Tukur’s fine performance brings recognisable believability to the character and is critical to the success of the movie. The full-colour atrocity scenes are boringly dramatic (too many teary-eyed actors being ‘moved’ and ‘appalled’; a case of familiarity breeding contempt, I’m afraid) but the majority of the rest of the movie is genuinely engrossing and interesting as the characters battle against a relentless tide of adversity. This movie contains a sexual swear word, adult dialogue and strong, sometimes graphic, sometimes extremely gory war and war crime violence, sexual violence and non-sexual female nudity. Classified 15 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 15 years and over.

Agatha Christie’s Murder at the Gallop (1963) – 6/10 murder mystery movie review

Cast / crew Executive Producer: Lawrence P. Bachmann Margaret Rutherford: Miss Marple Robert Morley: Hector Enderby Flora Robson: Miss Milchrest Charles Tingwell: Inspector Craddock Katya Douglas: Rosamund Shane Writer (Screenplay): James P. Cavanagh Writer (Original Novel) After the Funeral: Agatha Christie Producer: George H. Brown Director: George Pollock

Murder at the Gallop, Agatha Christie’s (1963) Miss Marple has to investigate personally when the police refuse to believe that a wealthy old man died of anything other than a heart attack. 6/10 While the ending is significantly messed up (you’ll know who dun it but won’t be certain why the murderer killed who they did and who, indeed, was murdered), the journey in the company of Margaret Rutherford’s indestructible Miss Marple is a delight. It’s also before-it’s-time self-aware as Miss Marple proclaims to Inspector Craddock that "Agatha Christie should be compulsory reading for the police force." The plot is taken from Poirot novel After the Funeral but the clever sleight of hand of the original is deployed without clarity or motive, thus removing the backbone of the movie. So while this may not be Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple exactly, it is very much Margaret Rutherford’s, and, as such, is rather good fun. Classified U by BBFC. Universal: Suitable for All. Links Previous: Murder She Said

Agatha Christie’s Murder She Said (1961) – 7/10 murder mystery movie review

Cast / crew Margaret Rutherford: Miss Marple Arthur Kennedy: Quimper Muriel Pavlow: Emma James Robertson Justice: Ackenthorpe Writer (Original Novel) 4:50 from Paddington: Agatha Christie Thorley Walters: Cedric Charles Tingwell: Craddock Writer (Adaptation): David Osborn Writer (Screenplay): David Pursall Writer (Screenplay): Jack Seddon Producer: George H. Brown Director: George Pollock

Murder She Said, Agatha Christie’s (1961) "If you imagine I am going to sit back and let everybody regard me as a dotty old maid, you are very much mistaken." Miss Jane Marple tells the police in no uncertain terms that she will get to the bottom of a murder she witnessed while travelling by train though there is no other evidence of it ever haven taken place. 7/10 Margaret Rutherford’s version of Miss Marple bursts onto the screen fully formed and wonderfully captures the sense of fun and character of Agatha Christie’s stories. This streamlined version of "4:50 from Paddington" is well adapted to bring Marple centre-stage but cannot do anything about the weakness of the climax. Marple reckons she can recognise a pair of hands after a brief glimpse several days before but I suppose it’s more about the accusation shaking the murderer into exposing himself. Much better is the opening murder scene with the scream of the train whistle over the scream of the woman being strangled; simple but brilliant. Cast-wise, things are interesting as well. James Robertson Justice adds some spectacular bluster and his world-class beard, there’s an early outing for future British sit-com legend Richard Briers and Rutherford’s Marple also meets future ultimate Marple Joan Hickson. Oh, and special mention for Ron Goodwin’s irresistibly fun theme music. This movie contains violence, unpleasant scenes. Classified PG by BBFC. Parental Guidance. Links Miss Marple sticks her tongue out Miss Marple witnesses the murder on the express train Rutherford Marple meets Ultimate Marple Next: Murder at the Gallop