The other day I received an invite to a preview of the new Star Trek film directed by J.J. Abrams (Lost, Cloverfield). This was quite a surprise for a couple of reasons: firstly the movie isn’t premiering until the 7th of May 2009 and secondly because Abrams had so far been decidedly secretive about this [...]

The universe we live in is remarkable. It’s beautiful, massive beyond comprehension and is filled with wonder and mysteries. The fact that life even came to be is extraordinary considering the chain of events that occurred over billions of years for things to take on their present form: humans included. Yet, we can forget this. [...]

Since Batman’s creation in 1939 there have been many different takes on the character and the universe. In the medium of film alone there has been the wacky and downright silly 1966 Batman movie, then there was Tim Burton’s stylised Batman films in 1989 and 1992 followed by Joel Schumacher’s much maligned Batman Forever [...]

In 1981 we were all introduced to archaeologist and hero Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Last Ark. Unless of course you lived in Czechoslovakia or Hungary – they didn’t see the film until 1985; a year after the sequel Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was released everywhere else.The Temple of Doom was [...]

Drillbit Taylor is about three kids who hire a bodyguard to protect themselves from a high school bully…and yet, it isn’t really about bullying.
I left the cinema entertained and having lol-ed a fair bit, but as someone who had to put up with numerous jerks through primary school and high school, I couldn’t help [...]

Earlier this year a Half-Life fan fiction by a nine year old spawned a most ingenious machinma from Canandian filmmaker Djy1991. The film gained unanimous acclaim and delight dozens – nay, severals - of internet viewers. That film was Half-Life: Full Life Consequences. Its strong use of self-mockery, text, music and narration combined to create [...]

He kept a shop in London town
Of fancy clients and good renown
But what if none of their souls were saved?
They went to their maker impeccably shaved
By Sweeney
By Sweeney Todd
The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Starting life as a penny dreadful, Sweeney Todd was expanded upon and brought to the stage as a musical in 1979 by [...]

Jerry Bruckheimer might produce a lot of crap, but if he’s done any good in this world it has been the Pirates of the Caribbean films and the National Treasure films. National Treasure came out in 2004 and featured one of greatest (and admittedly, perhaps the most ridiculous) premise I’ve heard of in an adventure [...]