Film Guide

They might be getting older but they are in no way getting wiser. Clarkson, May and Hammond are back up to their old trick in a seemingly shorter Season 11. But with only six episodes they sure do manage to pack quite a bit of hilarity in all of them, and they’ve also managed to beef up the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car section of the show.

Yes, rather than just having one start, they’ve now got two stars, both from some (presumably BBC) television show which adds a bit of competitiveness as they’re not only racing against everyone whose gone before them, but also each other. Then on the final show, they cut it back to one star, with the return of Jay kay, who has been itching to come back on, after Simon Cowell knocked him off the top spot. But can the legendary master of funk beat the legendary TV producer?  Read the rest of this entry »

BOO!! …That surprise is in honor of this movie, as it has the earliest surprise in a movie I think I’ve ever seen. Anyway, Daybreakers, Vampires the majority, humans the minority, almost extinct in fact. That made me look forward to this movie, as this idea hasn’t been done, well. The idea that its not a post apocalyptic Mad Max world but a functioning at first glance ‘normal’ world with cops and trains and getting up in the morning to go to work and I thought yer that’s cool, something different. Yet I left the theater a little frustrated.  Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; most vampire films fail to impress me. Thirst however now sits comfortable on top of my favourite vampire movies of all time list, easily removing Let The Right One In from its coveted position.

Thirst tells the story of a popular priest from a small town, who after enduring the agony of seeing friends die, petition’s to be allowed to sign up for a medical experiment in the hope of finding a cure for this disease that ravages portions of the population. The Priest is one of fifty volunteers for the experiment that turns out to be a total failure, resulting in a one hundred percent mortality rate.

However, whilst attempting to save the Priest’s life, the doctors, some how manage to infuse the Priest with vampire blood, and the healing properties contained therein, brings the beloved Priest back to life, with one minor side effect; the Priest is now a vampire.

With heightened senses and superhuman abilities comes a darker, carnal desire, the desire for blood, and as is the cliché for vampires, a lustful fixation on the main female character, the bored wife of his childhood friend. Fortunately for the Priest (or un-fortunately, depending on which way you look at it) the bored wife has always had her eye on the Priest.  Read the rest of this entry »

Hayao Miyazaki never fails to breath fresh life into traditional animation. His movies not only capture the magic of imagination, but also manage to bring the screen alive with his colour saturated living animation style.

Ponyo is no different, yet some how streets ahead of what Miyazaki has created before. Inspired by a combination of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid and watching his own five-year-old son comes a story about a goldfish (Ponyo) who wants to become human and a five-year-old boy that saves her life and unintentionally falls in love with her.

As with previous Miyazaki tales, Ponyo has a definite moral and environmental message contained within – but one that doesn’t try to preach to you.  Read the rest of this entry »

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Sony will start selling 3D televisions in June, joining a competitive industrywide push to convince consumers to embrace the technology for their living rooms.

The Japanese electronics giant, known for its PlayStation 3 game consoles and Bravia flat-screen TVs, will offer its fully capable 3D TV model in four sizes this summer.

The 40-inch and 46-inch versions will go on sale on June 10 in Japan, while the 52- and 60-inch TVs will be available starting July 16.

Although the company did not release a global launch date, Sony Senior Vice President Yoshihisa Ishida said the new TVs will hit stores in other countries around the same time.

The 40-inch 3D will cost about 290,000 yen (NZ$4,631) and the biggest 60-inch will retail at 580,000 yen (NZ$9,258).  Read the rest of this entry »

This has to be one of this year’s most highly anticipated cinematic releases. Even before the majority of media got to see it, there has been a lot of controversy on the web. From some intense and rather scathing reviews through to the threat from several key European cinema chains to boycott the release of Alice due to the short window planned by Disney between cinematic and DVD release dates. So it was somewhat hard to go into this film with little or no expectations. (Now I should point out that I watched this film in 3D on the Imax screen.)  Read the rest of this entry »

It’s the summer of ’87. Dumped, with dreams of a European vacation in tatters, what’s a boy to do? Get a job at the crappy local theme park! And that is exactly what aspiring journalism grad student James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg: Zombieland) finds himself doing when the parental money pot runs dry. In need of college funds and applying for all manner of summer jobs James finds his literature degree of little help and is forced to take a minimum wage position at the titular Adventureland where his testicle punching junior school friend ‘Frigo’ works (a startlingly familiar feeling Matt Bush). Armed with only wit, naive charm, and a bag of pot gifted from his Europe-bound buddy, James sets out to negotiate a drear summer job at the bottom of the Pittsburgh twenty-something barrel. What he finds instead is a drear summer job punctuated with moments of love, lust, solidarity, betrayal, danger, and giant-ass pandas.

James quickly befriends, then falls head over heels for fellow “Games Games Games…” crew member Em (Kristen Stewart: Twilight) only to find their burgeoning romance full of complications. So too with the friendships that rise and fall in the space of an adolescent summer; leaving behind a trail of beautiful, angst strewn wreckage. Read the rest of this entry »