FILM: Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (7/10)

To say Nicolas Cage is not my favourite actor would be an understatement. That said films like Con Air are a guilty pleasure of mine. Cage stars in Werner Herzog's 2009 film Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans. I haven't seen the 1992 film of the same name so I'm coming at this film from an original standpoint.

Cage is Terrence McDonaugh, a lieutenant in the New Orleans police department with an ailing back, earned saving a prisoner during the Katrina floods, that has lead to a growing drug and gambling addiction. The story revolves around a murder investigation, however, the police work is only ever a long second to McDonaugh's spiral out of control. To say the wheels fall off as the story progresses would suggest they were even on in the first place. Cage is fantastic as the reckless, dishevelled, bug-eyed and hunched over addict on the slope to despair. It is definitely by favourite performance by the guy.

Beating David Simon's Treme to the punch, post-Katrina New Orleans is an apt setting for the lawlessness and desperate nature of the film's main character.

Although McDonaugh is certainly a bad lieutenant, snorting coke in front of a teenage witness and pulling the oxygen tube out of an elderly lady's nose while interrogating and verbally abusing her, most of his meltdowns and law-breaking come in pursuit of the drugs he needs and his police work remains largely on point.

The film is maniacally amusing as McDonuagh loses control and coupled with Herzog's abstract direction and William Finkelstein's script, it almost becomes a black comedy. The stand out scene in Bad Lieutenant involves the camera cutting to two iguanas on a table (the iguanas being a hallucination of McDonaughs) where the camera stays watching McDonaugh (who stares back) and his team on a stakeout from the iguana point of view for over a minute with nothing but music playing. Surreal indeed.

The supporting cast is strong and includes Eva Mendes, Michael Shannon (Boardwalk Empire), Val Kilmer and X-Zibit but there is only one bad lieutenant.

An excellent film featuring a great performance from Nicholas Cage.

FILM: Iron Man 2 (6/10)

Robert Downey's Iron Man returns after his first film outing two years previous, with director Jon Favreau again at the helm. As with Iron Man, Favreau delivers another fun ride and allows Downey to steal the show as Tony Stark.

Downey's egotist, smarmy and arrogant but ultimately likeable Tony Stark is the film. Other characters are purely used for Downey to show off in front of, flirt with or talk over. In honesty, this becomes a little frustrating by the end of the film but it doesn't become a terminal problem because of the hidden weakness and humility Stark shows on occasions. Also, it makes a change for a superhero to be so public with his identity and arrogance.

Facing pressure from the US government on one side and the film's nemesis Whiplash on the other, Stark also struggles to cope with the ill effects of his power source and becomes isolated and irresponsible with his powers. The main antagonist is Whiplash, the son of a Russian inventor formerly employed by Stark Industries, who out of spite for the Stark family develops his own power source to rival Iron Man. The Russian factor brings about inevitably thin Cold War references but it is the idea that the US government sees Iron Man ans his technology as their property and does not wish to be dependent on Stark's alliance for protection that is the strongest plot string.

When given scenes without Downey present, the supporting characters are a mixed bunch. The introduction of Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow to the Marvel Universe is flat and the same can be said for Gywneth Paltrow, who is talked over by Downey for all of her lines. Don Cheadle plays Iron Man's sidekick James Rhodes (aka War Machine) complete with some Robin-esque cheesy lines ("Get a roof"). The positives come in the form of Mickey Rourke as Whiplash and Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer. Rockwell injects some brilliant humour to proceedings for when you've had your fill of Downey.

The action is evenly paced, although the action sequences towards the end of the film are a little robotic, literally, as Iron Man and War Machine take on Whiplash (in a similar suit) and his army of Iron Man suited drones.

Overall, perhaps not as fresh as the original but still a better than average entry to the Marvel catalogue.

TV: The Killing (S2) (8/10)

In contrast with it's Danish origin, the US adaptation of The Killing took the decision, for better or for worse, to not reveal Rosie Larsen's killer at the end of season one and dedicate another season to the Linden's investigation.


I like The Killing as in a similar manner to The Wire, it shows the detective process in a more painstaking light and at a more realistic speed, with the detectives sometimes at a loss for clues or leads and makes a change from solved in an episode police shows. Again similar to The Wire, it dedicates time to the characters from both the police and the suspects as well as the grieving family.


Season two begins immediately where the first left off, as Linden pieces together clues of a possible conspiracy to frame Richmond. This has Linden questioning Holder's loyalty to the case and the two lead characters manage to avoid each other's attempts to explain the situation for the first few episodes. This became frustrating as first Linden ignores Holder and then Linden struggles to reach Holder after she clears him. There are only so many times you can watch someone choose to not answer the phone.


Holder remains as amusing as before with his macho posturing but Linden becomes quite dislikeable during the season. Her neglect of her son as she becomes addicted to the case is abhorrent.


A lot of screen time of the first half of the season is spent with Richmond recuperation in hospital. While I assumed that this time was being well spent, and that Richmond's involvement hadn't finished yet it was a distraction from the crime solving activities.


The season improved greatly from Episode 8 onwards. Linden manages to save Holder, loses her badge, sends Jack away and the episode ends with her and Holder driving away from the camera in a new direction, both having found new determination.


The final episode brought all three groups of characters together and despite the anti-climax of the first half of the episode, the second half provided a heart-breaking twist and some solid acting from Rosie's family as all was revealed, both from a justice point of view and with regards to Rosie's feelings towards her parents.


The show has now been cancelled by AMC and I feel that having solved the Larsen case and been through so much in doing so, there is little left for the writers to work with for Linden and it would not be the same starting with a fresh investigation so all in all a good decision to let the show finish on a high.

FILM: Transformers: Dark of the Moon (5/10)

It is safe to say that most people knew what to expect from Michael Bay's third instalment of the Transformers franchise. Impressive visuals, great special effects and plenty of metal on metal action sequences all flimsily supported by a weak script and storyline. Dark of the Moon is a better film than the previous Revenge of the Fallen but is still beset by the same flaws.


Dark of the Moon starts impressively, taking its initial story from a Transformers novel, where the US moon landings and space race are explained to be a front to investigate a Transformers ship that has crashed on the dark side of the moon. It transpires that the Russians obtained a Transformer energy source from the crash site and began experiments with it at Chernobyl with disastrous consequences. Grounding the beginning of the film in this historical context is the strongest point of all three Transformer films. However, as soon as the initial story is set and the screenplay of Ehren Kruger takes over, starting with the appearance of Sam Witwicky (Shia LeBeouf), the film descends into familiar territory.

Cue another weak script for the same bunch of characters, Special Agent Simmons (John Turturo), Lennox (Josh Duhamel), Epps, (Tyrese) and what was not great but occasionally amusing the first time becomes annoying the third time around. Megan Fox is not present this time and the script throws some barbs in her direction. Her replacement is posh Brit Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, who ticks all the aesthetic boxes Bay must have been looking for in a replacement but provides nothing more. Cameos from John Malkovich and Ken Jeong provide some fresh humour in places.

Despite the criticism that Revenge of the Fallen was bloated, Dark of the Moon clocks in at just over two and a half hours and is far, far too long. I have no problems with long films, I have sat through Apocalypse Now and Once Upon a Time in America many times but for an action film with a cheesy script it is completely unnecessary.


I couldn't help compare the films main protagonist, Sentinel (voiced by Leonard Nimoy), with the Fallen from the previous film in that both were characters from Cybertron's past, re-activated and brought to Earth as part of the Decepticon's plans.

Visually the action looks amazing again, in particular the scenes on the freeway and with the falling skyscraper but it has all been seen before. The film culminates in another huge battle between the Transformers set against a different cityscape (Chicago this time) that feels oh so familiar.


By giving Dark of the Moon 5 out of 10, it made me realise I was too kind to Revenge of the Fallen.

FILM: Bad Teacher (7/10)

Bad Teacher is 2011 comedy from the writers of The US Office starring Cameron Diaz as a gold-digging, unscrupulous and rule-breaking high school teacher.


Diaz plays the renegade teacher role with relish and is the highlight of the film. The Office style humour comes through in the form of some quirky characters, none more so than Lucy Punch's angelic and sugary sweet contrast to Diaz's character and the dolphin obsessed principal.


The concept of a teacher not really giving a damn, not learning her pupil's names, providing education through the showing of films and turning up hungover most days is a promising one that could have yielded stronger material. That being said, I don't understand some of the low reviews this film received. Without being laugh out loud funny, Bad Teacher is a decent enough comedy providing you accept it for what it is, a fairly trashy comedy with a predictable ending.

BOOK: Excalibur: A Novel of Arthur, Bernard Cornwell (6/10)

The final book of Bernard Cornwell's Arthurian trilogy finds Arthur still battling the invading Saxon armies, while struggling to keep the peace within the kingdoms of Wales and the South West of Britain.


As with each of the previous books, the story is a combination of epic battles and shield walls, mixed with the magic of Merlin and the contrasting religions of Paganism and Christianity. However, the description of the epic siege at Mynydd Baddon does feel repetitive coming off the back of the similarly epic battles at Lugg Vale in The Winter King and Thames Valley in The Enemy of God. That said, Cornwell manages keep to the rest of the story interesting enough until it's end when the reader is at last rewarded with discovering how the main protagonist and storyteller Derfel ends up a Christian monk. Across all three books I enjoyed the story in between the battles more when Cornwell's portrayal of the familiar historical characters was given chance to come across.


Looking back, the trilogy is an interesting and more realistic take on the often romanticised Arthurian legends, with a grand scope that Cornwell manages to do justice to.

FILM: Senna (9/10)

Brilliant 2010 documentary film following the racing career of three-time F1 World Champion Aryton Senna.


Compiled from hours of footage of racing, family videos, interviews with the Brazilian with interviews from peers played over the top, Senna is a documentary featuring no narration or retrospective interviews and plays out more like a written film than documentary.


The film tells the story of Senna's arrival in F1, his instant success on the road to his titles, his rivalry with Alain Prost and clashes with the FIA, culminating with the fateful San Marino GP in 1994.


The film is perhaps unbalanced when it deals with the Prost Senna relationship and I share Prost's opinion that it doesn't explain how their relationship thawed before Senna's death. The fact that Prost was a pallbearer at Senna's funeral speaks volumes of this. That said, the real 'bad guy' of the story is then FISA president Jean-Marie Balestre.


Senna comes across as highly spiritual, patriotic, committed and I'm sure racing fans of the Senna era enjoying seeing and listening to some interviews with the man just as much as the racing footage. 


A moving masterpiece in documentary making that will appeal to all.

FILM: True Grit (9/10)

After their 2007 No Country for Old Men, the Coen brothers try their hand at a true western with True Grit, an adaptation of the novel of the same name which John Wayne won his only Oscar for the 1969 version.


Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) is a headstrong 14 year old girl out to avenge her father's murder. Knowing her limitations she recruits the most unscrupulous U.S. Marshal she can find, Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges). They set off into Indian territory to hunt down her father's killer (Josh Brolin) occasionally accompanied by Texas Ranger Matt Damon, who is after the outlaw for a previous offence.


Helped by the Coen's excellent script, Steinfeld, Damon and Bridges in particular deliver excellent performances. Mattie is the moral compass of the uncomfortable trio as they proceed on their road trip and amusingly keeps her elder companions in line throughout for her own gain. 


The film also benefits from superb cinematography, including some memorable shots when Rooster and Mattie cross the horizon at sunset.


True Grit operates at its own pace towards it's finale and although few may consider it uneventful or boring it is a great story of unflinching retribution and justice.

FILM: Thor (6/10)

After Iron Man and Hulk, next up was Thor for introduction to the cinema-going masses in preparation for his role in The Avengers.

In comparison with most other superheroes, not only being from another world but a God at that, the story of Thor is probably one of the more difficult stories for adaptation. By dealing with other worlds and deities, as superhero stories go, Thor is more magical and less grounded than say Captain America or Batman.

The result is a hit and miss comic book adaptation that suffers from a poor villain, too much mythology and fantasy, unmemorable fight scenes and an occasionally cheesy script. Chris Hemsworth is likeable as Thor, he delivers both the brash arrogance and later sincerity of the character and although I haven't seen The Avengers I hope his character is given a reasonable amount of time.

The story benefits most when Thor is exiled to Earth, the subsequent clash of cultures with scientist Natalie Portman is funny in places, although the line about a phone picture going straight onto Facebook may win 'cheesiest line of the year'.

Having read differing reviews of Tom Hiddleston's Loki, I side with the negative. Comparisons of the actor's portrayal with Heath Ledger's Joker are way wide of the mark. Thor's brother Loki is as unmemorable a villain as I can remember.


A must see for any comic book or Avengers fan but not the greatest superhero film.

FILM: 13 Assassins (8/10)

Set in shogun-era Japan, 13 Assassins tells the story of an elite group of samurai selected to rid the land of the shogun's evil brother who uses his power to rape and kill at will.


I was expecting fight sequences similar to Chinese produced successes like Crouching Tiger or House of Flying Daggers, with elaborate camera effects and stylish choreography. However, director Takashi Miike serves up a totally different kind of action. The fight scenes are much more substance than style and are considerably more gritty and realistic.

At just over two hours long, 13 Assassins can easily be broken into three chapters. Initially the film is slow to start as the story is told and characters are introduced, although Miike sensibly introduces the assassins in groups, and provides more focus on a few rather than diluting the characters too greatly. The middle of the film deals with the assassins travel to their chosen ambush point as the shogun's brother and samurai approach. Following a few minor fights in the first two-thirds of the film, the ambush and subsequent fight fills the remaining 45 minutes without much pause and can only be described as epic.


After the initial upper hand is lost, the 13 men fight against a seemingly never ending army of guards and samurai knowing they are fighting towards their inevitable deaths. Having killed tens or hundreds of the enemy each, the realism of the film is underlined by the fatigue shown by the assassins as they are ultimately swamped holding off the enemy forces.

A largely enjoyable samurai film worth watching if not only for the epic fight between good and evil.

FILM: Predators (5/10)

Based on a draft screenplay penned by producer Robert Rodriguez in the mid-nineties, the Predator (without Alien) franchise was given an update with this 2010 reboot/sequel directed by Nimrod Antal.


Set on an anonymous planet serving as a game reserve, Adrien Brody (yes, Adrien Brody) leads a group of humans shipped to the planet for the purposes of being hunted by several Predators. The humans are selected from various global military organisations and have to overcome their initial confusion and distrust of each other as they are stalked by their foes.


I remember seeing the trailer for this film and being amazed that Brody had bulked up to play an action hero role. He actually plays the morally detached and cold Royce reasonably well and attempts his own version of the patented Christian Bale Batman voice. While I think about the trailer, the coolest scene where tens of red Predator scopes appear all over the cast never actually occurs in the film!


The story starts well as the mix of characters knit and begin to piece together why they have been brought to the planet. It is an interesting take on the Predator series, however Antal doesn't manage to sustain the interest once the first Predator kill occurs. From this point on the film becomes a pretty average and predictable killing spree similar to Predator itself only without the originality and B-movie feel. Only the brief cameo from Laurence Fishburne as a crazed survivor provides some change in direction.


As a standalone film, Predators is an average action film although better than the recent AVP series. As a new entry to the Predator story, it fails to live up the original, either that or perhaps I just remember the Arnie version for being better than it actually was.

FILM: The Thing (8/10)

In 1979, Ridley Scott released Alien. Three years later followed John Carpenter's The Thing. These two films are often considered seminal releases in the history of all things sci-fi, alien and horror. I am a huge Alien fan but The Thing has always slipped below my radar until now.


The 'Thing' itself is an alien released from its frozen tomb in Antarctica by a group of Norwegian scientists capable of taking on the appearance of those it infects.


Carpenter regular Kurt Russell leads the nearby US research base that is infiltrated by the alien when a huskie arrives from the Norwegian base. As the base comes under attack, the scientists struggle to control the spread of infection and paranoia sets in as they realise that anyone could be 'the thing' waiting to attack. The alien in The Thing is clearly intelligent as it bides its time hiding amongst the team sabotaging attempts to flush it out rather than revealing itself and taking the team head on.

In comparison with modern horror films, Carpenter doesn't rely on jumpy moments and creates a suspenseful atmosphere using the isolation of location, paranoia of the group and Ennio Morricone's haunting score. That said he is not afraid of revealing the alien in its natural form and The Thing contains some famously iconic scenes, most notably when Norris's decapitated head sprouts a giant tongue and legs and scuttles around. The special effects still look good to this day, however if you consider Ridley Scott's fantastic alien pre-dates The Thing by three years the aliens do not appear quite as polished.

It is worth mentioning that Carpenter decided to cast no female actors, something that a studio would surely not allow these days.


Having watched The Thing now, I see no reason to disagree with the film's seminal status in the sci-fi horror genre. A must-see film and a lesson in claustrophobic paranoia and suspense.

FILM: Point Break (8/10)

All I knew of Point Break before watching this was the scene where Keanu Reeves lays on his back and empties his gun into the sky so it's safe to say I didn't know much.


Directed by Kathryn Bigelow, 18 years before her Oscar-winning The Hurt Locker and set amongst the Californian surfing scene, Point Break follows Keanu Reeve's jock FBI agent Johnny Utah as he hunts down a group of surfer types responsible for a string of bank robberies. Patrick Swayze plays adrenaline junkie surfer Bodhi, part of the group Reeve's attempts to infiltrate.


The plot may be slightly pie in the sky, but Bigelow manages to deliver a non-stop testosterone-laden ride throughout, be it with well-shot surfing scenes, chases, shoot-outs or the heart in mouth skydiving action sequences.


Reeves over-acts as ever, but this time around it doesn't feel too ridiculous as it almost seems a natural fit as part of the humourous cop buddy relationship so typical of police films of this era. Gary Busey is great as the joker to Reeve's largely straight character. John C. McGinley plays the typically over-wrought and angry police chief in a character that people will recognise as remarkably similar to Dr. Cox in Scrubs.


A pre-cursor to funny cop action flicks like Bad Boys, Point Break is a simple but enjoyable no-brainer action film.

FILM: The Lincoln Lawyer (7/10)

Having enjoyed the book by Michael Connelly, the film held no surprises for me but I was still curious as to how successfully the story could be transferred to the big screen. Matthew McConaughey stars as The Lincoln Lawyer Michael Haller, an LA defence lawyer who operates out of the back of his chauffeured Lincoln.



Employing all sort of tactics to maintain his cash flow, Haller appears brash and without morals as he keeps LA's undesirables out of prison. However, this all changes when he gets drawn into a deadly game of secrets with his latest client, the young, rich Louis Roulet (Ryan Phillippe).


The screenplay does it best to squeeze in most of the sentiment and moral dilemmas that the book obviously had more time to focus on. Used to winning, Haller struggles with the dangerous situation as he deals with the complex mix of legal obligations, client and attorney privilege and his previous moral shortcomings.


McConaughey shines as the charismatic Haller and will hopefully stick to more meaningful roles in the future based on his performance here and that in his upcoming film Killer Joe. His performance is even stronger when viewed in relation to Phillippe's, who doesn't deliver the menace of the book's character. Michael Pena and John Leguizamo provide strong support to the main characters including William H. Macy and Marisa Tomei in typically minor roles.


Director Brad Furman tries gives some verve to the courtroom scenes with some non-typical angles, but all in all he lets the story play out adequately.The attorney versus client story seemed remarkably similar to that of Ryan Gosling versus Anthony Hopkins in Fracture in 2007.


A word on the soundtrack, which stays true to the hip-hop references of the book. Connelly explains that Haller's interest in the hip-hop genre stems from his driver Earl. I don't feel that this came across enough in the film and that the soundtrack appears to be a typical 'street' savvy selection of music selected for any LA based film. It is interesting that musical duties fell to Cliff Martinez, who had the same role for Drive, also set in LA, and the two soundtracks could not be further apart with the exception of Kalinsky's 'Nightcall' which appears in both.


A successful transformation from book to big screen.

TV: Touch (S1) (7/10)

Heroes creator Tim Kring brings Kiefer Sutherland back to the small screen in Touch, another ambitiously global and far-reaching series bearing all the hallmarks of a Kring production.


Touch tells the story of 9/11 widower struggling to raise his 11 year old son Jake, a mute introverted boy gifted with numbers. Jake is placed in supervisory care just as his father, Martin (Sutherland), realises that Jake's repetitive numbered scribblings are an attempt to communicate with him. During each episode Martin follows his son's instructions and 'follows the numbers' all the while trying to protect his son from sinister forces after him for their own gain.

The writers struggle to really portray what it actually is that Jake is capable of seeing and why he needs his father to correct things in the world through 'butterfly effect' actions to stop the pain he feels. The butterfly effect and red thread theory (that those who impact on others in the world by the butterfly effect are connected by an invisible red thread that must never break) are explored throughout the series, and each episode begins and ends with Jake narrating philosophy and theory.


However, by focusing on global as well as character specific issues to illustrate the complexity of the science, the number of single episode characters is high and it can be difficult to care about random characters in Iraq, Brazil or China on a one-off basis.


The season premiere was a fantastic start to the show, however the coincidences, or not as the case may be, do become to be slightly predictable as the season continues. Towards the end of the season, this predictability is balanced by the story arc of Martin trying to investigate who his after Jake and what for.


Sutherland plays the troubled father with great sincerity and care although his character becomes annoyingly anxious as he is led into predicament after predicament by Jake. The one way dialogue also began to grate slightly towards the end of the season. Danny Glover played an interesting character and I felt it was a shame he didn't make it as a regular character. Credit must also go to 11 year old David Mazouz for his portrayal of Jake.


The season ends strongly and it looks as though Martin and Jake have found a new ally in their search for answers. The show has been renewed for a second season and it will be interesting how the Kring moves the action along given the events of the season finale (let's hope it is better than season two of Heroes).

FILM: Edward Scissorhands (8/10)

When I was young, the combination of Depp's freaky appearance and the hands of scissors convinced me that Edward Scissorhands was a scary horror film and I never watched it. After all these years, how wrong I was.


An endearing romantic black comedy capable of some genuine heart warming and sad moments as well as plenty of laughs, Scissorhands is a definite highlight of Tim Burton's filmography.


Released in 1990, Scissorhands marks the first of many collaborations between Tim Burton and Johnny Depp. Depp is fantastic as the friendly and innocent ugly duckling Edward, rescued from hiding to a normal life by a sympathetic Avon lady (the excellent Dianne Wiest). Winona Ryder plays Edward's love interest.


Burton takes a swipe at pleasantville suburbia with his creation of the pastel coloured, generic town dominated by gossiping bored housewives. Having never experienced anything alien, the townsfolk welcome Edward's uniqueness with intrigue and curiosity rather than sinister suspicion. However, everything seems too good to be true until their fickle nature is revealed later when they unite as mob against the 'monster'.

FILM: Deliverance (8/10)

John Boorman's 1972 classic, Deliverance, stars Burt Reynolds, Jon Voight, Ned Beatty and Ronny Cox as four city slickers who decide to take a canoeing trip in the remote wilderness of Georgia.


The foursome, Reynolds and Beatty in particular, approach the trip with a naive view of the dangers they face and patronising attitude to the country locals.


The sinister nature of the film is providing early on during the famous 'duelling banjo's' scene. Stumbling across a remote petrol station, the locals show hostility to the arrogant foursome and Boorman ensures that the banjo scene where the local inbred boy plays the banjo in almost savant manner is creepy enough so as to be able to use the simple banjo tune throughout the rest of the film as a soundtrack of tension and unease.


Already aware of some of the details of the most harrowing moment of the film, I watched Deliverance with an uneasy tension. The foursome face danger from their surroundings as well as the locals, however it is the locals who strike first in a scene which I can imagine in the early 70's was incredibly shocking to watch. After the male rape scene, the city boys realise the danger and isolation they face and as paranoia begins to set in they take desperate action to survive.


Perhaps unusual in today's cinema, Boorman was certainly not afraid to use long scenes of the actors canoeing down the river to patiently bridge the key scenes.


40 years on, the story remains remarkably simply, but is told in a bold and powerful manner. Each of the four characters are different and all are changed men as the story ends differently for each of them. The acting is fantastic, in particular Voight and Reynolds, although looking back Reynold's character Lewis now perhaps comes across as a bit too macho as the Bear Grylls wannabe.


The hopeless sense of claustrophobic wilderness and isolation portrayed may well have been the inspiration for later films such as Predator and The Edge.


Nowadays the film suffers from some very dated editing but has largely aged well and is a 70's classic well worth a watch.

BOOK: Enemy of God, Bernard Cornwell (7/10)

Enemy of God is the second book in Bernard Cornwell's Warlord Chronicles trilogy chronicling the story of Arthur and his battle against the Saxons.


Following on from the first book, The Winter King, Arthur has achieved temporary peace across the south of England via shrewd diplomacy and on occasions, war. Cornwell's trilogy portrays Arthur as an oath-bound Lord sworn to protect the kingdom of the infant King Mordred against the Saxons as the country itself is torn apart by warring Christians and pagans. Arthur is a principled leader who remains true to his oaths even as they overpower him and conflict with each other.


As with the first novel, the story is told retrospectively by the main protagonist Derfel, a former warrior and now monk loyal to Arthur. By telling the story in such a way, Cornwell maintains the suspense as the reader is aware of Derfel's present situation (writing the story in a monastery) but unclear how he ends up there from the story he is telling which is a world apart.


The book has an underlying theme of atheism common to modern times as Cornwell narrates the escalating threat to peace of the warring Christians and pagans and Arthur's struggle, despite all his best diplomatic efforts, to bring harmony to the rival religions.


I am largely unfamiliar with the story of Arthur and his knights of Camelot, and I enjoyed Cornwell's attempt to retell the story without all the usual romantic legends, however, in comparison with the first book, Enemy of God does feature more magical goings on as Merlin ropes Derfel into his quest to find the Treasures of Britain. The ending is particularly exciting as Arthur's friend Lancelot shows his true colours and places the story's heroes in danger while setting the scene for the final instalment of the trilogy.


A good mixture of history, legends, magic and religion.

FILM: Star Trek (7/10)

In my opinion, Star Trek was never quite as cool as Star Wars and I remember some of the feature films being particularly poor. J.J Abrams does his best to equal things up by giving the much-loved franchise a much needed modern update with this 2009 reboot. 


By setting the action in the infancy of the Enterprise (a prequel to the original TV series), the writers are not only able to base the story around familiar characters but younger, more energetic versions of those seen before. No doubt slightly unpopular with Star Trek die-hards, this results in a film that will attract younger viewers to the franchise. This is summed up by the scene where Kirk is shown in bed with a scantily clad busty green alien at the academy, a scene unlikely to have appeared in any previous Star Trek film. However, Abrams gives enough props to the franchise with some finer details like the transporting CGI and sound effects and Spock using a Vulcan death grip without giving in to the clichéd catchphrases that I had expected. 


The film itself is a fast paced action-er with an enjoyable plot, and would be capable of being a decent space action film without all that being a Star Trek film brings to it. Chris Pine's Kirk is cocky but likeable and his rivalry with the young Spock is a source of some of the films funnier moments. I loved Zachary Quinto in Heroes and he is superbly cast as the legendary Spock, who finds himself confused between his Vulcan upbringing and human emotions. 


It was great to see Leonard Nimoy make more than a cameo appearance as the older Spock, but as often the case with action film villains, it was shame that Eric Bana wasn't really given much to work as Nero.

TV: The Good Wife (S3) (8/10)

The Good Wife is one of the most criminally underrated TV shows around. In the UK it is hidden away on More 4 and deserves a place on a much more prominent channel. For those not in the know, the good wife is Alicia Florrick, the lawyer wife of the disgraced state attorney who struggles to restart her career in the aftermath of her husbands scandal. The show is basically a court room TV drama with very compelling sub-plots and a great cast of interesting characters. Weekly legal cases are combined with long running story arcs involving Alicia's complicated personal life and co-workers.


The third season follows the relationship between Alicia and her old flame and boss Will, as Alicia and Peter keep their separation secret for the benefit of Peter's political career. At work, Alicia questions her future at Lockhart & Gardner and acts as a mentor to new lawyer Caitlin while all the time struggling to keep her personal life separate.


The strongest story-line in the third season is the indictment of Will for bribing judges by Alicia's husband, the current state attorney. Peter hands the investigation over the politically motivated Wendy Scott Carr and the story-line culminates in a fantastic episode where her case spectacularly collapses in front of the grand jury due to Will's clever tactics. The drama reminded me of the court scene from Stieg Larsson's third novel The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest which is high praise indeed.


The show has an excellent cast of characters and actors, Julianna Margulies and Brit Archie Panjabi are excellent as Alicia and the complex Calinda respectively. Alan Cumming deserves recognition for his character Eli Gold, who provides most of the shows light heart moments with lines such as "the problem with Sun Tzu is that he never fought the Jews". Lighter moments are also provided by all the judges featured on the show, who are portrayed as quirky and particular characters.


Guest stars Michael J. Fox, Jason Biggs and Matthew Perry spice up the action throughout the season.


The season ends with a cliffhanger as it appears that Calinda's mysterious past may have caught up with her and Alicia realises that unintentionally her family has been brought back together, and she must choose if she wants to be a part of it.

TV: Mad Men (S5) (8/10)

Never a show with the cheeriest of characters, season five of the multiple award winning show is the darkest season yet by a clear stretch.


This time around the writers deal with some dark themes throughout the season, depression, suicide, alienation, prostitution and unfulfillment both professionally and personally.


A switch in office dynamics has clearly taken place between seasons, with Pete now far more powerful than before and now rivalling and finally side-lining Roger in terms of bringing in new accounts. Roger initially struggles to deal with suddenly becoming surplus to requirements and attempts to undercut Pete where possible before realising that he used to be as hungry and ambitious as Pete himself.


Don and Megan's honeymoon period lasts longer than I thought it would and Don's initial happiness in having his wife at work alongside him distracts him from his job. The bubble begins to deflate when Megan leaves the company to pursue an acting career and seemingly bursts in the season finale. Although expecting it all season, it was disappointing that the writers appear to have given in and decided that Don's personal life has now gone full circle back to that of the first season. 


Sandwiched in amongst the ambitiousness and doom and gloom, there are several heart-warming moments, in particular Don accepting Peggy's resignation with a kiss on her hand and again Don's visit to Joan in an attempt to stop her sacrifice for the company.


I found this season to contain a huge amount of subtly placed humour with Harry, Roger, Bert, Pete and new boy Ginsberg all given some great lines. Given the incredibly dark story-lines Mad Men has almost become a black comedy.  


The season's finale lacked the big storyline of previous finales but perhaps this was apt given the places that most of the characters find themselves in heading into season six.


While the themes dealt with in season five allow the writers to deal with some powerful emotions, having what seems like the whole cast trudging around waist deep in doom and gloom for the majority of the season is perhaps overkill. Mad Men is still a hugely enjoyable show and one of the best around but I hope for an improvement next time out.

TV: Alcatraz (S1) (5/10)

Coming from J.J Abram's stable and set on the mysterious prison island of the same name, Alcatraz had all the ingredients to be a great show. Unfortunately, it was billed as the new Lost and although this surely attracted viewers to the early episodes, this expectation probably did more harm than good as the show falls a long way short of Abram's work.


I'm sure most viewers did not expect to be tuning in each week to watch a really weak police drama with the occasional scrap of intrigue thrown in relating to the 1963 Alcatraz era. With the exception of the first and final episodes, the episodes are repetitively mechanical and formulaic. Each time we are introduced to a new inmate from 1963 on the loose in modern day San Francisco, each one as clichéd as the last. A sniper, child killer, poisoner, bomber, bank robber are all covered throughout the series. The team then use Dr. Soto's (played by Jorge Garcia) in depth knowledge of the prison along with the inmates personal belongings to track down the escapee within the totally contrived time-frame required.


In casting Jorge Garcia as one of the main characters, the producers did not help but draw similarities to Lost. Garcia does not help matters as his character may as well be Hurley, with his shyness, wit and cuddly teddy bear personality. Just in case the desire to replicate Lost wasn't totally obvious, the producers hired Lost's composer Michael Giacchino. The results are an almost identical Lost-style string loop piece of music.


In replicating Lost's penchant for posing more questions than providing answers with the view to a long run, Alcatraz shot itself in the foot as the result is a show not half as good as Lost and it does not do enough to maintain the viewers intrigue throughout the season. The bulk of the episodes tease by mainly dealing with the inmate's recapture rather than shedding any light on the how and why of their reappearance after 40 years. It was early on that we found out that Lucy was a 63'er, we then discovered that the sinister warden was doing something to do the blood of certain inmates with silver and ultimately that he appears to be behind the reappearance of the inmates, tasked with tracking down keys for a room on Alcatraz.


Sam Neil was the biggest name to sign on for the series but his character was incredibly dislikeable and his cranky and aggressive nature to his colleagues wore me down throughout the season.


Alcatraz is the latest in a few sci-fi based TV shows to not survive past one season (see FlashForward and Terra Nova). Overall I feel the producers made it difficult for the show to be successful and while the show has some serious flaws, I feel that with the unanswered questions and remaining intrigue it did have the potential to grow into something better and probably deserved a second season.

FILM: Frost/Nixon (8/10)

Absorbing historical drama based on the series of interviews between British chat show host David Frost and disgraced former US President Richard Nixon in 1977. 


The film is based on the play of the same name and Michael Sheen (Frost) and Frank Langella (Nixon) reprise their characters from the stage version. This continuity gives both actors confidence in their portrayals and both give terrific performances, in particular Langella, who earned an Oscar nod for his initially snarling and defiant and later personal and sombre portrayal of Nixon.


Frost/Nixon deals with the preparation for the interviews by both camps, an unfavoured Frost and team and an over-confident Nixon. The interviews are likened to a boxing match, with both participants retiring to their respective corners in between sparring sessions, and Nixon's chief of staff Jack Brennan (Kevin Bacon) temporarily 'throwing in the towel' on Nixon's behalf before Frost delivers the knock-out blow.   


In dealing with the most significant scandal in American politics, director Ron Howard has an engrossing subject matter to work with and he does a decent job behind the camera mixing in faux-documentary retrospective interviews with some of the bit part players with clever shots of the interviews from behind the camera.

TV: Game of Thrones (S2) (9/10)

Before the second season of Game of Thrones began, I decided to read the first book and this gave me an appreciation of how true to George Martin's story the writers stayed with the first season's adaptation. It also helped provide some additional background and detail to the characters in the way that only a several hundred page book can.


Fresh from sorting out all the loose ends at the end of the last season, the new season begins in earnest with Robb at war with the Lannisters, Tyrion appointed the Hand of King Joffrey, Arya on the road and Daenerys struggling to forge a way home with her infant dragons.


The season then injects a huge influx of new characters, including Stannis and Renly Barratheon, the township of Qarth, the Tyrell siblings, the house of Greyjoy and Jaqen H'ghar. Certain characters from the first season are given much more screen time this time around, most notably Tywin Lannister, who is superbly played by Charles Dance.


In covering all the characters, locations and story lines, the scope of the show can only be described as epic. As with all good shows of such grandeur (The Wire and Treme), the writers manage to maintain interest through rich character development and intricate story telling despite the meandering pace of the action. Given the scope of the show, the story arc for each character within each book/season is relatively shallow, for instance, Stannis takes almost all 10 episodes to mount his attack on Kings Landing, Robb sits at camp and really does nothing more than deal with his mother and his new love interest, Jon sets out north of the wall and achieves relatively little and Daenerys enters Qarth and struggles with the local politics, but through the structure of the episodes the writers manage to not make you feel short changed at all as the action progresses.


The season really belongs to Peter Dinklage, who as Tyrion, with the confidence of his father behind him, really comes into his own as he schemes and plots with the best of them at Joffrey's court. All in all the acting and production is superb, and as a Northerner, I love to hear the broad Northern accents when the action switches to Winterfell and beyond the wall.    

For both seasons I have watched the TV adaptation before reading the associated book and I appreciated the penchant Martin shows for killing off seemingly important characters, for season one read Ned Stark, for season two read Renly Barratheon, removed in the fourth episode. As TV shows go, it is a pretty rare occurrence to kill off the main headlining character and this is what sets Game of Thrones apart. In choosing to remain (relatively) true to the books, the writers are lead by Martin's hand and the show is richer for it.  


As with the first season, the final episode follows the climax of the season's central theme in the previous episode, and serves to set each character on course for season three. The only difference this time around being that Daenerys dragon's development is bumped up to the penultimate scene of the episode to give the cliffhanger to the White Walkers. Season three looks like it could be along the lines of Lord of Rings meets The Walking Dead, I can hardly wait.


Hands down, the best show on TV at the moment.

TV: The Mentalist S4 (5/10)

Fresh from the gripping end to the third season, Simon Baker returns as Patrick Jane for the fourth season of The Mentalist.


The beginning of the season is a huge disappointment following the events at the end of season three. Jane begins the season in prison after shooting the man he believed to be Red John at the end of season three. I wondered how the series would continue with Jane locked away but in ridiculous fashion he argues his case at trial and is out by the end of the first episode.  Oh and surprise surprise, it wasn't Red John he shot and killed.


The series is at its best when dealing with Red John and the writers know it. Ending the Red John storyline would effectively end the series so the writers can only afford to drip feed the Red John story throughout the seasons to keep interest. 


When not dealing with Red John, the series is very run of the mill and after four seasons Jane's tricks and schemes are beginning to become slightly repetitive. Also, it now feels as though the CBI have solved almost every type of homicide imaginable in the four seasons. Originally the unit were only called in on special high profile cases and I must have missed the point at which this no longer became the case. Lisbon apart, the other three members of the team are really just there to make up the numbers and serve as part of Jane's charades. As is often the case in this season, I find it bemusing to believe that Jane allows the other four members of the team to hopelessly pursue an entirely different lead for an entire episode while he goes it alone having already solved the case.



Simon Baker's charismatic and cheeky portrayal of Jane still remains a positive note for the show. 


As ever, the season ramps up the Red John drama to a climatic ending but it all feels slightly too familiar and unfulfilling this time around. Renewed for a fifth season, the main question remains when will Patrick catch his man?

FILM: Law Abiding Citizen (7/10)

Gerard Butler and Jamie Foxx play the lead roles in Law Abiding Citizen, a brutal thriller in which a father and husband (Butler) makes an example of the legal system that wronged him.


Jamie Foxx plays the prosecutor who makes a plea deal with the man who killed Butler's wife and child. In exacting payback on an attorney for his previous decisions, the film is similar to Cape Fear but LAC actually shares more in common with Saw as Butler cleverly butchers his way through the cast.


LAC begins in an interesting manner and tries to argue the case for both flawed sides of the justice system. However, once Butler lands himself in jail and puts his plan into effect this balanced view disappears and is replaced by a violent killing spree. Butler's logic seems confused as he vehemently denies that his actions are revenge, but by killing everyone close to his case, I struggle to see what else they could be described as. Mass murder of the local justice system seems overkill for ensuring that lessons are learnt. The film will no doubt promote some discussion as to the point at which Butler's character's actions become unjustified and he transgresses from the film's hero to ruthless villain.


Butler outshines Foxx, initially as the troubled father and husband with a cause to fight before his descent into his role as psychopathic murderer.


Law Abiding Citizen had the potential to be a cat and mouse thriller with a conscience but is ultimately just a reasonably decent thriller, but one lacking the clever twists and intelligent ending of Saw.

FILM: Wanted (7/10)

Based on a comic book series of the same name, Wanted tells the story of a secret fraternity of assassins striving to keep order in the world. As you would expect from the Hollywood debut of Daywatch and Nigthwatch director Timur Bekmambetov, the film is fast paced and contains some stunning action sequences and stunts. 


James McAvoy is well cast as the pathetic office worker recruited by the fraternity to avenge his father. McAvoy is supported by big hitters Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman. In contrast with most of her action roles, Jolie delivers a much more restrained performance while Freeman is simply allowed to do his stuff.


Bekmambetov has a penchant for using slow motion sequences (in the vein of Zack Snyder) followed by pauses in both picture and sound. This works in places but is used rather a lot, most often when bullets are flying, and does become slightly tedious as the film goes on. He also employs an annoying pulse effect during the slow motion scenes. Initially this seems unnecessary but the effect serves a purpose once McAvoy's abilities are explained.


Despite the pace, Bekmambetov allows the plot time to develop and the film delivers a few decent twists as McAvoy hunts down his father's killer. Wanted's script is exactly what you would expect from the writing team that penned a large part of the Fast and Furious series. Danny Elfman provides a pretty heavy soundtrack which suits the film's angry and intense action sequences.


Overall, Wanted is a stylish and fun ride although you may need to suspend your disbelief from the offset.

FILM: American Pie: The Reunion (6/10)

After nine years(!), the main cast return to the American Pie series, presumably after accepting being typecast forever as Jim and co. Interesting that screenplay duty is given to new hands and not to Adam Herz, who wrote all three original films. Unfortunately, the change of writers does not result in a contemporary update to the series.
   
Never the wittiest of comedies, the humour hasn't changed in the slightest and this time around some of the gags are a little too crude and predictable. Guess what, the pages are stuck together in Jim's old porno mags when his Dad catches him (again) having a look for old times sake. That's not to say that the film isn't funny, it definitely has its moments, and those mostly revolve around Stifler. Stifler always was the funniest character and Seann William Scott steals every scene he appears in with his juvenile enthusiasm and foul mouth. Jim and his Dad share some quite intimate scenes and Jason Biggs and Eugene Levy must be credited for the on-screen relationship they have developed over the years.


Appearing to have grown up, the characters return for a 13 year high school reunion. Similar to the other films, Jim manages to get in yet another predicament due to his ineptitude with girls and digs his way out of the hole with the help of the gang as they struggle to realise that times have changed. My sympathy with Jim was waning this time, supposedly nine years older and wiser, it is slightly tedious and quite depressing that he fails to cope with the most basic of social situations around the opposite sex and becomes tangled up for the fourth time.


By playing on the nostalgia of the series, gags revolving around Jim and his porn stash and footage of his dance and premature ejaculation from the original, the writers are acknowledging that Reunion doesn't hit the highs of previous ones by itself. Although the fact that the audience in the cinema still laughed at these moments suggests the writers are simply giving the viewers what they want.


Worth watching, if just to see the cast back together one last time and for Stifler's revenge on Finch.

BOOK: The Winter King, Bernard Cornwell (7/10)

The first in Bernard Cornwell's Warlord Chronicles trilogy is a fictional depiction of early Saxon Britain retrospectively told through the eyes of one of Arthur's warriors. Cornwell turns his back on the typically romanticised version of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table and portrays Arthur as the more historically accurate military leader. This is a refreshing change and allows Cornwell to ground the story in realism rather than magical fairy tales of ladies in lakes and wizards. However, Cornwell does allow himself the artistic license to introduce characters such as Merlin (a druid rather than wizard), Lancelot (a crown prince from Brittany) and Guinevere into the action.


The story tells of Arthur's return from exile in France to act as protector to the infant king of Dummonia and his attempts to unite the warring kingdoms of southern Britain and Wales against the growing Saxon threat.


Cornwell delivers the story in sufficient detail and depth to give the reader plenty to go on. Often historical authors can fall into the trap of either glossing over or dedicating too much time and detail to battle scenes but Cornwell seems to find the middle ground well in describing the book's final scenes. 


An enjoyable read for any fan of fictionalised history.