Best PlayStation 3 offer ever!

Looking around at the various offers on PlayStation 3 consoles just one week after launch and spotted this on the Amazon.co.uk product page.

Product Promotions: Save £0.02 when you spend £100,000.00 or more on Qualifying Items offered by Amazon.co.uk.

Yes folks, that's a whole two pence saving. All you have to do is spend £100,000 and no pence. Unfortunately, there's not a lot of stuff available for just 2p.



With two pence you could buy, for example, just over 8½ seconds of Casino Royale on Blu-Ray.
Bargain!

Liam stops jiggling...

Yahoo have updated their Liam animation for their excellent Yahoo mail web application but it now makes him look like a creepy transvestite.

A Shot in the Dark movie review ★★★★★★★★★☆

A Shot in the Dark DVD capture gallery

★★★★★ ★★★★☆
One of the funniest films ever made.
(comment continues below)

DESCRIPTION
Investigating the apparently straightforward murder of a chauffeur, hapless Detective Inspector Jacques Clouseau believes the beautiful maid, Maria, to be innocent even though she was found in a locked room with the victim and murder weapon (a gun) still smoking in her hand. Through dogged persistance, hilarious disguises, another 13 murders and 6 attempts on his own life, Clouseau sets out to prove his case.

PEOPLE CREDITS
◦ Peter Sellers: Inspector Jacques Clouseau
◦ Elke Sommer: Maria Gambrelli
• Writer (Screenplay): Blake Edwards
• Writer (Screenplay): William Peter Blatty
• Writer (Original Stage Play): Harry Kurnitz
• Writer (Original Play): Marcel Achard
• Director: Blake Edwards

CONTENT
Adult dialogue. Slightly gory and unpleasant scenes. Mild but extensive nudity, mild sensuality
Classified PG by BBFC. Parental Guidance.


(comment continues)


The first place to start discussing this movie is in a stack of classic sequences. The pool game scene, the nudist colony sequence, the final reveal, the oft-repeated trip to the police station.

The throwaway gag lines in this movie are also right out of the top drawer, better than most other comedy films out-and-out gags. "This pen has been fired recently", "Yes, it is my coat", "Would you kill somebody who tore your dress off?", "Goodbye my darl... er, Miss Gambrelli", "Then I submit, Inspector Balon, that you arrived home, found Miguel with Maria Gambrelli and killed him in a rit of fealous jage!", "Ah, that would be for me."

Clouseau's philosophies on life are staggeringly funny. On being told he may die of pneumonia: "Yes, yes, I probably will. But it's all part of life's rich pageant, y'know. We police have to put up with a lot of things in the course of our duties that in private life we probably wouldn't tolerate." On police investigative technique: "Well, you see in the police force, first we presume, then we find out." On prison: "Prison is bad enough without uncomfortable furniture." or "You can't have a contemporary prison without, er, contemporary furniture." On the identity of the murderer: "I suspect everyone" (which, as it turns out, is pretty much the case). On billiards: "Yes, I prefer the good old-fashioned playing cue." On whether he would kill for chief murder suspect Maria Gambrelli: "Of course!... erm, not." On being invited to examine the body of the victim: "I would be delighted!"

His unbelievable trouble with doors from the first movie continues. He gets dumped out of a first-floor window by one door, gets smashed in the face by his bathroom swing door, fails to notice chief murder suspect Maria being brought into his office via his own office door and puts his hand through the glass panel on another. He also has a problem with his hat when he examines the murder scene.

The cast is excellent. Sellers has never been better as the bumbling Inspector, thoroughly charming in his clumsy infatuation with Elke Sommers easy-to-be-infatuated-by murder suspect. Awesome support from the ever-brilliant George Sanders (as millionaire Monsieur Balon) adds to the melting pot and Graham Stark (as Hercule) makes the first of his regular Blake Edwards movie appearances.

Also of note, is the introduction of new regular characters, usually the most difficult aspect of sequels. Burt Kwouk as Cato, Clouseau's manservant. A menacing fight sequence turns into high comedy when the phone rings and Clouseau's mysterious assailant, Cato, interrupts his attack to answer politely. Best of all, Herbert Lom as Chief Inspector Dreyfuss who progressively loses his sanity throughout the movie and boasts marvellous nervous afflictions such as the twitching eye and the alarming propensity to stab himself and chop parts of his body off.

Grief, I nearly forgot to mention the music. Remarkably there is no trace of Mancini's Pink Panther score and the entirely new music he composed including the opening song and the opening theme music is, frankly, a masterpiece.

This is the strongest addition to the Pink Panther series which has no apparent flaws. One of the funniest films ever made.

Expert of the Week: BBC.co.uk News

While certainly not wanting to make light of the murder of Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer, I noted with some amusement the latest report headline on the BBC News.

Woolmer police 'eliminate no-one'

The reporter isn't credited on BBC.co.uk but someone should tell him, a murder investigation eliminating no-one is not exactly news. Even better, the report goes on to say this:

"Police in Jamaica investigating the murder of Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer say no-one has been eliminated from their enquiry.

But deputy police commissioner Mark Shields told the UK Times newspaper there were no prime suspects."

Now the reason I found this funny was because it reminded me of another quote by a very famous French detective. When asked what he believed about the case he was working on he stated:

"I believe everything and I believe nothing. I suspect everyone and I suspect no one."

The name of this famous French detective: Detective Inspector Jacques Clouseau.

Castle in the Sky (aka Laputa) movie review ★★★★★★★★☆☆

Castle In The Sky DVD capture gallery

★★★★★ ★★★☆☆
Animated epic (two hours long) from Japanese genius Hayao Miyazaki which is entertaining, delightful, surprising, thrilling, spectacular and brilliant from start to end. It occasionally loses the viewer with regard to the plot but that is its only weakness. Eight stars feels a bit mean but, I think, it is the right rating and that is an must-see eight stars.
(comment continues below)

DESCRIPTION
Pazu rescues an unconscious girl descending from the night sky with a glowing pendant around her neck. He helps the girl, Sheeta, to escape from the air pirates and the military who are obsessed with Laputa, a legendary kingdom on a floating island in the sky with which Sheeta is suspected of being connected.

PEOPLE CREDITS
◦ Mayumi Tanaka: Pazu
◦ Keiko Yokozawa: Sheeta
• Writer (Original Story): Hayao Miyazaki
• Writer (Screenplay): Hayao Miyazaki
• Director: Hayao Miyazaki

CONTENT
. Violence, some strong violence, some comic violence.
Classified PG by BBFC. Parental Guidance.


(comment continues)


The production design and artwork is unforgettable and is brilliantly animated. Especially telling are the number of small touches throughout which we may not see but add to the illusion. Things such as a plank flexing when Pazu catches Sheeta at the beginning and many more details that I cannot remember or didn't see all tell of the care of this undertaking.

While most people were introduced to anime through the impenetrable "Akira" or "Ghost in the Shell", this movie is timeless and accessible. This is not just a great Japanese animation movie, it is a great movie.

Batman Begins mini movie review ★★★★★★★★★☆

★★★★★ ★★★★☆
Quality return to form for the winged super-hero franchise. It hits highs (two of Batman's lines: "It's not what I am underneath, it's what I do that defines me" and "And you'll never have to" both made even cooler by Batman leaping off a building as a punctuation mark) nearly as high as Tim Burton's "Batman" but it doesn't have a Kim Basinger subplot that doesn't work and remains terrific throughout. Now there are four classic superhero movies: "Superman (1978)" remains the benchmark but this fits right in with "Batman (1989)" and "X2 (2003)".

DESCRIPTION
Billionaire Bruce Wayne, traumatized by the murder of his parents when he was a child, drops everything in the face of a humiliating realization about his lack of understanding of the 'real world'. He disappears, presumed dead by everyone in Gotham, and is taken under the wing of Ra's Al Ghul who heads up the League of Shadows, an underground organization devoted to ridding the world of injustice. Finding kinship and understanding, Wayne welcomes the training and both look forward to cleansing Gotham of evil.

PEOPLE CREDITS
• Director: Christopher Nolan
• Writer (Screenplay): Christopher Nolan
• Writer (Screenplay): David S. Goyer
• Writer (Story): David S. Goyer
• Writer (Characters' Creator) Batman: Bob Kane
◦ Christian Bale: Bruce Wayne / Batman
◦ Michael Caine: Alfred
◦ Liam Neeson: Ducard
◦ Morgan Freeman: Lucius Fox

CONTENT
. Extreme violence, scary scenes.
Classified 12A by BBFC. Persons under the age of 12 must be accompanied by an adult..

Alias Season One television review ★★★★★★★★★☆

★★★★★ ★★★★☆

This is a classic season of television entertainment that wows with enthusiastic performances bringing an ambitious and frequently imaginative story to the screen.

The highlight of every episode is Kevin Weisman as Marshall.

There now follows star ratings, plot, cast and mini review for all episodes of this season. Due to the nature of the show, this information will unavoidably contain SIGNIFICANT SPOILERS.

1.01 Truth Be Told ★★★★★ ★★☆☆☆

The cast and story are good but series creator J.J. Abrams' direction is uncharismatic. However, this is much better watching it after seeing the series through.

DESCRIPTION
On the surface Sydney Bristow is a bright, athletic and vivacious grad student. Secretly... she works for SD-6, a top-secret division of the CIA. After agreeing to marry boyfriend Danny, she is sent on assignment but it is the start of a few days that will turn her life upside-down.

PEOPLE CREDITS
◦ Jennifer Garner: Sydney Bristow
◦ Ron Rifkin: Arvin Sloane
◦ Michael Vartan: Michael Vaughn
◦ Bradley Cooper: Will Tippin
◦ Merrin Dungey: Francie Calfo
◦ Carl Lumbly: Marcus Dixon
◦ Kevin Weisman: Marshall Flinkman
◦ Victor Garber: Jack Bristow
• Writer (Series' Creator): J.J. Abrams
◦ Edward Atterton: Danny Hecht
◦ Jay Gerber: Professor Mizzy
◦ Angus Scrimm: Agent McCullough
◦ William Wellman, Jr.: Priest
◦ Ric Young: Taiwanese Torturer
• Writer: J.J. Abrams
• Director: J.J. Abrams

CONTENT
. Violence, gory and unpleasant scenes. Inferred nudity, sensual scenes
Classified 15 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 15 years and over.

1.02 So it Begins ★★★★★ ★★☆☆☆

First time around, this is stronger than the pilot but, again, key story-telling elements are fluffed and the audience is left working out what was supposed to have happened.

DESCRIPTION
Sydney starts life as a double-agent but soon finds herself at the wrong end of a nuclear weapon and Sloane has a surprise up his sleeve.

PEOPLE CREDITS
◦ Jennifer Garner: Sydney Bristow
◦ Ron Rifkin: Arvin Sloane
◦ Michael Vartan: Michael Vaughn
◦ Bradley Cooper: Will Tippin
◦ Merrin Dungey: Francie Calfo
◦ Carl Lumbly: Marcus Dixon
◦ Kevin Weisman: Marshall Flinkman
◦ Victor Garber: Jack Bristow
• Writer (Series' Creator): J.J. Abrams
◦ Evan Dexter Parke: Charlie
◦ Aharon Ipale: Aninni Hassan
◦ Alex Kuz: Shcherbakov
◦ Ravil Isyanov: Karpachev
◦ Sarah Shahi: Jenny
• Writer: J.J. Abrams
• Director: Ken Olin

CONTENT
. Strong violence.
Classified 15 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 15 years and over.

1.03 Parity ★★★★★ ★★★☆☆

Much, much better. This episode delivers on the promise of the series concept and lead actress. You'll also be hooked and will be needing to free up an hour a week for the next five months.

PEOPLE CREDITS
◦ Jennifer Garner: Sydney Bristow
◦ Ron Rifkin: Arvin Sloane
◦ Michael Vartan: Michael Vaughn
◦ Bradley Cooper: Will Tippin
◦ Merrin Dungey: Francie Calfo
◦ Carl Lumbly: Marcus Dixon
◦ Kevin Weisman: Marshall Flinkman
◦ Victor Garber: Jack Bristow
• Writer (Series' Creator): J.J. Abrams
◦ Evan Dexter Parke: Charlie
◦ Gina Torres: Anna
◦ Aharon Ipale: Hassan
◦ Keone Young: Professor Choy
◦ Elaine Kagan:
◦ Mark Rolston: Lambert
• Writer: Alex Kurtzman
• Writer: Roberto Orci
• Director: Mikael Salomon

CONTENT
. Strong violence.
Classified 15 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 15 years and over.

1.04 Broken Heart, A ★★★★★ ★★☆☆☆

Another good episode though the supposedly criminal SD-6 organization seem to be doing good. Jennifer Garner is getting better as she goes on.

DESCRIPTION
Sydney is still struggling to get closer to her father. Meanwhile, her role as double agent for SD-6 and the CIA is continuing to be challenging and not a little confusing. After getting the 500-year-old code in cooperation with enemy agent Anna from K-Directorate, further globe-trotting reveals the existence of a terrorist plot to plant a bomb inside the person of an above-reproach humanitarian representative.

PEOPLE CREDITS
◦ Jennifer Garner: Sydney Bristow
◦ Ron Rifkin: Arvin Sloane
◦ Michael Vartan: Michael Vaughn
◦ Bradley Cooper: Will Tippin
◦ Merrin Dungey: Francie Calfo
◦ Carl Lumbly: Marcus Dixon
◦ Kevin Weisman: Marshall Flinkman
◦ Victor Garber: Jack Bristow
• Writer (Series' Creator): J.J. Abrams
◦ Miguel Sandoval:
◦ Gina Torres: Anna
◦ Evan Dexter Parke: Charlie
◦ Faran Tahir:
◦ Maurice Chasse:
◦ Bernard White:
◦ Angus Scrimm: Agent McCullough
◦ Sarah Shahi: Jenny
• Writer: Vanessa Taylor
• Director: Harry Winer

CONTENT
Mild swear words. Extreme violence, medical scenes.
Classified 15 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 15 years and over.

1.05 Doppelganger ★★★★★ ★★★☆☆

With at least three double agents swanning about and a whole stack of story strands, this is a thrilling, packed episode with an explosive climax.

DESCRIPTION
After discovering the presence of a bomb inside respected humanitarian Patel, Sydney and Dixon kidnap him and prepare to extract the device while being pursued by the trigger man. When Sydney returns to America, she is given the CIA file on her father. SD6's next assignment involves helping high-ranking German bio-weapons expert Jeroen Schiller with safe passage to America. The CIA twist is that they will extract Schiller first, then get Sydney to escort an FBI agent posing as Schiller to America. Meanwhile, Will has discovered that Danny was booked on a plane to Singapore with a woman named Kate Jones.

PEOPLE CREDITS
◦ Jennifer Garner: Sydney Bristow
◦ Ron Rifkin: Arvin Sloane
◦ Michael Vartan: Michael Vaughn
◦ Bradley Cooper: Will Tippin
◦ Merrin Dungey: Francie Calfo
◦ Carl Lumbly: Marcus Dixon
◦ Kevin Weisman: Marshall Flinkman
◦ Victor Garber: Jack Bristow
• Writer (Series' Creator): J.J. Abrams
◦ Tom Everett: C.I.A. Agent Paul Kelvin
◦ Norbert Weisser: Iuron Schiller
◦ Lori Heuring: Kate Jones
◦ Maurice Chasse:
• Writer: Daniel Arkin
• Director: Ken Olin

CONTENT
Mild swear words. Extreme violence, medical scenes, extremely unpleasant scene.
Classified 15 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 15 years and over.

1.06 Reckoning, The ★★★★★ ★★☆☆☆

DESCRIPTION
Sydney is still shell-shocked after the death of four CIA agents on her last mission for SD-6, deaths she was supposed to prevent but was powerless to do so. When she gets back to America to learns that an agent responsible for investigating possible Russian double-agents was involved in the car accident that killed her mother. SD-6's next operation sees Sydney and Bristow attempting to recover an encoding device used by a rival organization.

PEOPLE CREDITS
◦ Jennifer Garner: Sydney Bristow
◦ Ron Rifkin: Arvin Sloane
◦ Michael Vartan: Michael Vaughn
◦ Bradley Cooper: Will Tippin
◦ Merrin Dungey: Francie Calfo
◦ Carl Lumbly: Marcus Dixon
◦ Kevin Weisman: Marshall Flinkman
◦ Victor Garber: Jack Bristow
• Writer (Series' Creator): J.J. Abrams
◦ John Hannah: Shepard
◦ Nancy Dussault:
◦ Evan Dexter Parke: Charlie
◦ Lori Heuring: Kate Jones / Eloise Kurtz
◦ Eugene Lazarev: Dr. Kreshnik
◦ Sarah Shahi: Jenny
◦ Maurice Godin: SD-6 Agent Fisher / "Dr. Fontanetta"
• Writer: Jesse Alexander
• Director: Daniel Attias

CONTENT
. Extreme violence, gory and unpleasant scene.
Classified 15 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 15 years and over.

1.07 Color-Blind ★★★★★ ★☆☆☆☆

A lack of plot means that this episode is not up to the thrilling level of the previous few but sometimes a breather is just what you need.

DESCRIPTION
Sydney is trapped in the psychiatric hospital at the mercy of her K-Directorate captors. She still needs to extract the information in Shepard's head but he won't trust her until he can work out where he's seen her before. Meanwhile, back in America, Jack is upset that his FBI file had been pulled by Vaughn and shown to Sydney while Sloane is regaining control of SD-6's unauthorised computer leaks.

PEOPLE CREDITS
◦ Jennifer Garner: Sydney Bristow
◦ Ron Rifkin: Arvin Sloane
◦ Michael Vartan: Michael Vaughn
◦ Bradley Cooper: Will Tippin
◦ Merrin Dungey: Francie Calfo
◦ Carl Lumbly: Marcus Dixon
◦ Kevin Weisman: Marshall Flinkman
◦ Victor Garber: Jack Bristow
• Writer (Series' Creator): J.J. Abrams
◦ John Hannah: Shepard
◦ Evan Dexter Parke: Charlie
◦ Elaine Kagan: L.A. Register Editor June Litvack
◦ Eugene Lazarev: Dr. Kreshnik
◦ Sarah Shahi: Jenny
• Writer: Roberto Orci
• Writer: Alex Kurtzman
• Director: Jack Bender

CONTENT
. Extreme violence, unpleasant torture scenes.
Classified 15 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 15 years and over.

1.08 Time Will Tell ★★★★★ ★★☆☆☆

Frequently thrilling.

DESCRIPTION
Sloane instigates procedures to root out the mole he suspects has infiltrated SD-6, ie., Sydney. Meanwhile, Sydney is sent on a mission to recover another Rambaldi invention, this time a clock which, when retrieved, seems to have a large number of superfluous parts. K-Directorate always seem to be one step behind but that won't last forever. At home, every time Will's conscience distances him from investigating further into the mysterious Kate Jones and her relevance to the death of Sydney's fiancée, some further tit-bit of information drags him back in. Little does he know that if he does find anything concrete, it will cost him his life.

PEOPLE CREDITS
◦ Jennifer Garner: Sydney Bristow
◦ Ron Rifkin: Arvin Sloane
◦ Michael Vartan: Michael Vaughn
◦ Bradley Cooper: Will Tippin
◦ Merrin Dungey: Francie Calfo
◦ Carl Lumbly: Marcus Dixon
◦ Kevin Weisman: Marshall Flinkman
◦ Victor Garber: Jack Bristow
• Writer (Series' Creator): J.J. Abrams
◦ Tobin Bell: Mr. Dryer
◦ Gina Torres: Anna Espinosa
◦ Robert Clendenin: Kostia Bergman
◦ Peter Dennis:
◦ Keone Young: Professor Choy
◦ Elaine Kagan:
◦ Jack Axelrod:
• Writer: Jeff Pinkner
• Director: Perry Lang

CONTENT
Mild swear words. Extreme violence.
Classified 15 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 15 years and over.

1.09 Mea Culpa ★★★★★ ★★★☆☆

Very strong episode with the audience kept on their toes as the try to predict, mostly unsuccessfully, the fate of our favourite female spy, Sydney Bristow.

DESCRIPTION
Sydney survives her brush with K-Directorate's Anna but loses the Rambaldi book. Dixon is not so lucky, he is shot and seriously wounded. The only way to save his life is for Sydney to use her emergency CIA satellite phone to get him air-lifted to safety. Dixon was drifting in and out of consciousness but did he hear her? Meanwhile, back in the SD-6 office, Sloane is arguing with security interrogator Mr. Dryer over Sydney's perfect test results: Dryer's intuition says she is a double-agent, Sloane says she cannot be. Her next mission involves making sure that SD-6 manage to get hold of some US Government seized funds which have been stolen back by their original owner. The CIA want Sydney to comply but to retrieve the account numbers so that the money can be traced across the planet.

PEOPLE CREDITS
◦ Jennifer Garner: Sydney Bristow
◦ Ron Rifkin: Arvin Sloane
◦ Michael Vartan: Michael Vaughn
◦ Bradley Cooper: Will Tippin
◦ Merrin Dungey: Francie Calfo
◦ Carl Lumbly: Marcus Dixon
◦ Kevin Weisman: Marshall Flinkman
◦ Victor Garber: Jack Bristow
• Writer (Series' Creator): J.J. Abrams
◦ Miguel Sandoval: Anthony Russek
◦ Tobin Bell: Mr. Dryer
◦ Timothy Landfield:
◦ Christopher Thornton:
• Writer: Debra J. Fisher
• Writer: Erica Messer
• Director: Ken Olin

CONTENT
. Extreme violence, gory and unpleasant scenes.
Classified 15 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 15 years and over.

Spirit ★★★★★ ★★★☆☆

A good episode with a conclusion that makes the next episode absolutely unmissable. This also features my favourite two outfits of the series (the ones she wears at the hotel) and, yes, numps is a real word and it does mean "dolt; blockhead."

DESCRIPTION
Her double-agent status confirmed, SD-6's security sector set about interrogating Sydney. Meanwhile, Will has procured a tape from a contact on the other end of "Kate Jones"' bug and has managed to isolate a clear assassination - three gun shots - and the codename SD-6.

PEOPLE CREDITS
◦ Jennifer Garner: Sydney Bristow
◦ Ron Rifkin: Arvin Sloane
◦ Michael Vartan: Michael Vaughn
◦ Bradley Cooper: Will Tippin
◦ Merrin Dungey: Francie Calfo
◦ Carl Lumbly: Marcus Dixon
◦ Kevin Weisman: Marshall Flinkman
◦ Victor Garber: Jack Bristow
• Writer (Series' Creator): J.J. Abrams
◦ Miguel Sandoval: Anthony Russek
◦ Scott Paulin:
◦ Aharon Ipale: Aninni Hassan
◦ Christopher Thornton:
◦ Scotch Ellis Loring:
◦ Sarah Shahi: Jenny
◦ James Warwick:
• Writer: J.J. Abrams
• Writer: Vanessa Taylor
• Director: Jack Bender

CONTENT
. Extremely unpleasant scenes (torture), strong violence.
Classified 15 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 15 years and over.

1.11 Confession, The ★★★★★ ★☆☆☆☆

A routine episode of this series with a climax that the audience saw coming a couple of months ago. Still, great fun.

DESCRIPTION
Sydney has gone in to rescue her father but ends up a prisoner. Jack is told to kill Sydney or be killed himself. Meanwhile, back at home Michael Vaughn is digging further into Jack Bristow's history and finds out that the books Jack had bought twenty-five years ago contained a list of CIA agents to be murdered...

PEOPLE CREDITS
◦ Jennifer Garner: Sydney Bristow
◦ Ron Rifkin: Arvin Sloane
◦ Michael Vartan: Michael Vaughn
◦ Bradley Cooper: Will Tippin
◦ Merrin Dungey: Francie Calfo
◦ Carl Lumbly: Marcus Dixon
◦ Kevin Weisman: Marshall Flinkman
◦ Victor Garber: Jack Bristow
• Writer (Series' Creator): J.J. Abrams
◦ Aharon Ipale: Aninni Hassan
◦ James Handy: Devlin
◦ Francesco Quinn: Minos Sakkoula
• Writer: J.J. Abrams
• Writer: Daniel Arkin
• Director: Harry Winer

CONTENT
Mild swear words. Extreme violence.
Classified 15 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 15 years and over.

1.12,13 Box, The ★★★★★ ★★★☆☆

Exciting double episode where special guest star Quentin Tarantino provides good value for money. While his acting is typically bad in the first part, he is suitably loopy, much better in part two and even kicks Sydney's lovely butt. Sloane even says "Thank you" to Marshall (who replies with a great one-liner).

DESCRIPTION
With Sydney and Vaughn still reeling somewhat from the truth surrounding the death of his father, Sydney wants out. Failing to change her mind, Vaughn then runs into trouble in the office as the on-hand psychiatrist wants to chat with him. Sydney returns to work to inform Sloane that she is leaving but before she arrives, a team of mercenaries led by a seriously disgruntled ex-SD-6 operative named McKenas Cole breaks into SD-6 with the intention of stealing something from the SD-6 vault. Trapped in an elevator only Sydney and her father are undetected by the crooks.

PEOPLE CREDITS
◦ Jennifer Garner: Sydney Bristow
◦ Ron Rifkin: Arvin Sloane
◦ Michael Vartan: Michael Vaughn
◦ Bradley Cooper: Will Tippin
◦ Merrin Dungey: Francie Calfo
◦ Carl Lumbly: Marcus Dixon
◦ Kevin Weisman: Marshall Flinkman
◦ Victor Garber: Jack Bristow
• Writer (Series' Creator): J.J. Abrams
◦ Quentin Tarantino: McKenas Cole
◦ Joey Slotnick: CIA Officer Haladki
◦ Agnes Bruckner: Kelly
◦ Sarah Shahi: Jenny
◦ Patricia Wettig: Dr. Judy Barnett
◦ James Handy: CIA Director Devlin
• Writer: Jesse Alexander
• Writer: John Eisendrath
• Director: Jack Bender

CONTENT
. Extremely unpleasant scenes (torture and finger-amputation), extreme violece.
Classified 15 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 15 years and over.

1.14 Coup, The ★★★★★ ★★☆☆☆

DESCRIPTION
While Sydney is now clearer about her professional duties with regard to being a double-agent at SD-6, she is still extremely unsettled about learning that her mother was not an English professor and was, in fact, a KGB agent responsible for assassinating CIA operatives including Vaughn's dad. The result of this is that she decides to ditch the academic side of her life but asking her Dad for his opinion will require some patience. Meanwhile SD-6 is shocked to learn that the FDL is publicly disbanded by a renegade operation under the guidance of someone known only as "The Man". SD-6 is shocked that The Man could mount an attack on both themselves and their Russian counterparts and Sloane wants to know more about this mysterious new entrant into the game.

PEOPLE CREDITS
◦ Jennifer Garner: Sydney Bristow
◦ Ron Rifkin: Arvin Sloane
◦ Michael Vartan: Michael Vaughn
◦ Bradley Cooper: Will Tippin
◦ Merrin Dungey: Francie Calfo
◦ Carl Lumbly: Marcus Dixon
◦ Kevin Weisman: Marshall Flinkman
◦ Victor Garber: Jack Bristow
• Writer (Series' Creator): J.J. Abrams
◦ Evan Dexter Parke: Charlie Bernard
◦ David Anders: Mr. Sark
◦ Allison Dean:
◦ Keone Young: Professor Choy
• Writer: Alex Kurtzman
• Writer: Roberto Orci
• Director: Thomas J. Wright

CONTENT
. Extreme and graphic violence.
Classified 15 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 15 years and over.

1.15 Page 47 ★★★★★ ★★☆☆☆

Paced unevenly but a lot happens in this episode including the end of Will Tipping's SD-6 investigation, the lovely Sydney Bristow in a tiny crop top and even tinier hot pants (gasp!) and the mysterious, eponymous Page 47 of the Rambaldi manuscript.

DESCRIPTION
Still surprised by the assassination of the head of K-Directorate by The Man's Mr Sark, Sloane orders that the Rambaldi manuscript at the heart of the tussle be intercepted before it is handed over to The Man. Meanwhile, Will is getting names and information that will lead him to SD-6 if he is not stopped. Jack Bristow doesn't favor Sloane's termination order and so tries to scare Will off but he arranges another meeting with his primary source anyway.

PEOPLE CREDITS
◦ Jennifer Garner: Sydney Bristow
◦ Ron Rifkin: Arvin Sloane
◦ Michael Vartan: Michael Vaughn
◦ Bradley Cooper: Will Tippin
◦ Merrin Dungey: Francie Calfo
◦ Carl Lumbly: Marcus Dixon
◦ Kevin Weisman: Marshall Flinkman
◦ Victor Garber: Jack Bristow
• Writer (Series' Creator): J.J. Abrams
◦ Sarah Shahi: Jenny
◦ Amy Irving: Emily Sloane

CONTENT
Classified 15 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 15 years and over.

1.16 Prophecy, The ★★★★★ ★☆☆☆☆

It's nice to see Roger Moore turn up and put one over Arvin Sloane (Ron Rifkin) but very little actually happens in this episode.

DESCRIPTION
Sydney is shocked to discover her face on a 500-year-old Rambaldi document but the security forces are holding the translation of the contents back but are simply refering to it as "The Prophecy." To determine whether she is the one specified in The Prophecy, detailed physical tests need to be undertaken but Sydney is deeply unhappy about the lack of information being given to her.

PEOPLE CREDITS
◦ Jennifer Garner: Sydney Bristow
◦ Ron Rifkin: Arvin Sloane
◦ Michael Vartan: Michael Vaughn
◦ Bradley Cooper: Will Tippin
◦ Merrin Dungey: Francie Calfo
◦ Carl Lumbly: Marcus Dixon
◦ Kevin Weisman: Marshall Flinkman
◦ Victor Garber: Jack Bristow
• Writer (Series' Creator): J.J. Abrams
◦ Roger Moore:
◦ Lindsay Crouse:
◦ James Handy:
◦ Derrick O'Connor: Alexander Casanov
◦ Joey Slotnick:
◦ Castulo Guerra:
◦ Wolf Muser:
◦ Amy Irving:
• Writer: John Eisendrath
• Director: Davis Guggenheim

CONTENT
. Graphic violence.
Classified 12 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 12 years and over.

1.17 Q & A ★★★★★ ★☆☆☆☆

This is catch-up time with the entire story laid out interspersed with brief highlights from the previous 16 episodes. That means that not too much happens but the story starts rolling again near the end and director Ken Olin does pretty well with the rest of it.

DESCRIPTION
Sydney is questioned by the FBI and relates the account of how she came to be in her present circumstance but the authorities' unshakeable belief in the Rambaldi prophecies will lead Sydney to an inescapable but astonishing conclusion.

PEOPLE CREDITS
◦ Jennifer Garner: Sydney Bristow
◦ Ron Rifkin: Arvin Sloane
◦ Michael Vartan: Michael Vaughn
◦ Bradley Cooper: Will Tippin
◦ Merrin Dungey: Francie Calfo
◦ Carl Lumbly: Marcus Dixon
◦ Kevin Weisman: Marshall Flinkman
◦ Victor Garber: Jack Bristow
• Writer (Series' Creator): J.J. Abrams
◦ Terry O'Quinn: FBI Special Officer Kendall
◦ Joey Slotnick: CIA Agent Steven Haladki
• Writer: J.J. Abrams
• Director: Ken Olin

CONTENT
Mild swear words. Strong violence, unpleasant scenes.
Classified 12 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 12 years and over.

1.18 Masquerade ★★★★★ ★☆☆☆☆

The plotting is really clunky in this episode but it is still good entertainment.

DESCRIPTION
After proving conclusively that it is not she who is referenced by Rambaldi's prophecy by scaling Mt. Subasio in Italy - something the woman in the prophecy will not have done - she is returned to her normal double-duties at the CIA and SD-6. However, Sydney's underwater escape has revealed how her mother survived her supposedly fatal car crash and everyone comes to the realisation that the prophecy must refer to her. Sydney becomes preoccupied by the hunt for her mother but her father and handler do not want to or cannot help, so she reluctantly turns to Sloane for assistance.

PEOPLE CREDITS
◦ Jennifer Garner: Sydney Bristow
◦ Ron Rifkin: Arvin Sloane
◦ Michael Vartan: Michael Vaughn
◦ Bradley Cooper: Will Tippin
◦ Merrin Dungey: Francie Calfo
◦ Carl Lumbly: Marcus Dixon
◦ Kevin Weisman: Marshall Flinkman
◦ Victor Garber: Jack Bristow
• Writer (Series' Creator): J.J. Abrams
◦ Peter Berg: Noah Hicks
◦ Angus Scrimm: Agent McCullough
◦ Patricia Wettig: Dr. Judy Barnett
• Writer: Roberto Orci
• Writer: Alex Kurtzman
• Director: Craig Zisk

CONTENT
. Strong violence. Sexual scene
Classified 12 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 12 years and over.

1.19 Snowman ★★★★★ ★★☆☆☆

A decent enough episode but the conclusion is somewhat obvious and one hopes an explanation, or excuse, will be provided next week.

PEOPLE CREDITS
◦ Jennifer Garner: Sydney Bristow
◦ Ron Rifkin: Arvin Sloane
◦ Michael Vartan: Michael Vaughn
◦ Bradley Cooper: Will Tippin
◦ Merrin Dungey: Francie Calfo
◦ Carl Lumbly: Marcus Dixon
◦ Kevin Weisman: Marshall Flinkman
◦ Victor Garber: Jack Bristow
• Writer (Series' Creator): J.J. Abrams
◦ Peter Berg: Noah Hicks
◦ Natasha Pavlovich: Young Laura Bristow / Irina Derevko
◦ Stephen Spinella: Kishell
◦ Boris Krutonog: Young Alexander Khasinau
◦ Angus Scrimm: Agent McCullough
◦ Paul Lieber: Yonug Bentley Calder
◦ Patricia Wettig: Dr. Judy Barnett
• Writer: Jesse Alexander
• Writer: Jeff Pinkner
• Director: Barnet Kellman

CONTENT
. Graphic violence, unpleasant scene. Mild nudity
Classified 12 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 12 years and over.

1.20 Solution, The ★★★★★ ★★☆☆☆

DESCRIPTION
After killing The Snowman - lover Noah Hicks - Sydney is despondent and questioning the worthwhileness of her activities as a double-agent. The other people in her life are having serious problems as well. Sloane's wife is now stuck in hospital after reacting badly to chemotherapy and is about to reveal something that will bring her life to an even sooner termination. Tippin is contacted by his mysterious source again and informed that his kidnapper was none other than Sydney's dad, Jack, and forces him to reopen his investigation. This tips Jack off that there is a serious breach of security at a high-up level.

PEOPLE CREDITS
◦ Jennifer Garner: Sydney Bristow
◦ Ron Rifkin: Arvin Sloane
◦ Michael Vartan: Michael Vaughn
◦ Bradley Cooper: Will Tippin
◦ Merrin Dungey: Francie Calfo
◦ Carl Lumbly: Marcus Dixon
◦ Kevin Weisman: Marshall Flinkman
◦ Victor Garber: Jack Bristow
• Writer (Series' Creator): J.J. Abrams
◦ James Handy: CIA Director Devlin
◦ David Anders: Mr. Sark
◦ Tony Amendola: Barcelo
◦ Kirk B.R. Woller: Exterminator
◦ Amy Irving: Emily Sloane
• Writer: John Eisendrath
• Director: Daniel Attias

CONTENT
Classified 15 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 15 years and over.

1.21 Rendezvous ★★★★★ ★★★★☆

Oooh!

DESCRIPTION
Unsure whether Dixon has recognized her, Sydney manages to escape the situation with Vaughn's help but sustains an arm injury that Dixon soon spots back at SD-6. Sloane pleas for Emily's life with the Alliance, reasoning that she only has a week to live due to her cancer anyway. Tippin and Jack try to set up a meeting with Tipping's mysterious contact in order to discover the source of the security leak. Tippin is ordered to Paris for the meet at the same time that Sydney and Dixon are sent to Paris to run a mission involving Casanov.

PEOPLE CREDITS
◦ Jennifer Garner: Sydney Bristow
◦ Ron Rifkin: Arvin Sloane
◦ Michael Vartan: Michael Vaughn
◦ Bradley Cooper: Will Tippin
◦ Merrin Dungey: Francie Calfo
◦ Carl Lumbly: Marcus Dixon
◦ Kevin Weisman: Marshall Flinkman
◦ Victor Garber: Jack Bristow
• Writer (Series' Creator): J.J. Abrams
◦ David Anders: Mr. Sark
◦ Derrick O'Connor: Alexander Casanov
◦ Joseph Ruskin:
◦ Wolf Muser:
◦ Kamala Dawson:
◦ Amy Irving:
• Writer: Erica Messer
• Writer: Debra J. Fisher
• Director: Ken Olin

CONTENT
Mild swear words. Violence.
Classified 15 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 15 years and over.

1.22 Almost 30 Years ★★★★★ ★★☆☆☆

And so the first series of Alias comes to an end... but the story doesn't. This has been a classic television series and will deservedly propel star Jennifer Garner straight into a shot at cinema stardom (her subsequent big screen outings would be Spielberg's "Catch Me If You Can" and superhero flick "Daredevil" but her career would stall with the release of the offensively awful "Elektra").

DESCRIPTION
Circumstances conspire to put Jack and Sydney further in danger than ever before and their activities are behind the backs of both the CIA and SD-6, including Sydney's now-suspicious partner, Dixon. Meanwhile, Sloane has to come to terms with the fact that cancer is not going to kill his wife, Emily, and that he will have to.

PEOPLE CREDITS
◦ Jennifer Garner: Sydney Bristow
◦ Ron Rifkin: Arvin Sloane
◦ Michael Vartan: Michael Vaughn
◦ Bradley Cooper: Will Tippin
◦ Merrin Dungey: Francie Calfo
◦ Carl Lumbly: Marcus Dixon
◦ Kevin Weisman: Marshall Flinkman
◦ Victor Garber: Jack Bristow
• Writer (Series' Creator): J.J. Abrams
◦ David Anders: Mr. Sark
◦ Derrick O'Connor: Alexander Casanov
◦ James Handy:
◦ Joey Slotnick:
◦ Elaine Kagan:
◦ Wolf Muser:
◦ Ric Young: Taiwanese Torturer
◦ Amy Irving:
• Writer: J.J. Abrams

CONTENT
Mild swear words. Gory scenes, several extremely unpleasant scenes.
Classified 15 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 15 years and over.

I'll grow up one day

Endless fun by giving your files a .pedo extension in Windows.

Tadople mini movie review ★★★★★★★☆☆☆

★★★★★ ★★☆☆☆
Tackles the teen crush on an older woman, specifically a stepmother, with enough honesty, normalcy and insight to make this an interesting movie and doesn't forget to be entertaining and well-paced. It never becomes pretentious (despite quoting from Voltaire throughout) and doesn't outstay its welcome. Newcomer Aaron Stanford does well in the lead role. Poor picture quality (the movie was shot on video in a couple of weeks) doesn't negatively affect the movie, especially now that it will only be shown on television.

DESCRIPTION
15-year-old Oscar Grubman has found his perfect woman but the intelligent, attractive, mature woman with great hands he has fallen for is his stepmother Eve. Still, true love cannot be ignored and he prepares to reveal his true feelings on a trip home from college.

PEOPLE CREDITS
• Director: Gary Winick
◦ Sigourney Weaver: Eve Grubman
◦ John Ritter: Stanley Grubman
◦ Bebe Neuwirth: Diane
◦ Robert Iler: Charlie
◦ Aaron Stanford: Oscar Grubman
• Writer: Heather McGowan
• Writer: Niels Mueller
• Writer (Story): Heather McGowan
• Writer (Story): Niels Mueller
• Writer (Story): Gary Winick
• Producer: Gary Winick

CONTENT
Sexual swear words, adult dialogue. Subject - under-age sex, paedophilia. Mild sexuality
Classified 15 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 15 years and over.

Ellen Ripley and the Honey BBQ Boneless Bites from Kentucky Fried Chicken

I'm a big fan of Kentucky Fried Chicken. Their fries taste like they were probably made from potato, their chicken is tasty and succulent and their soft drinks don't taste watered down.

I'll generally try new items on the menu. This week they introduced (a mere seven years after the United States!) Honey BBQ Boneless Bites. The promotional posters use the following illustration and describe them as "100% all white breast meat in a delicious honey BBQ glaze".



Glaze conjures up a mental image of a light coating, so thin as to be partially transparent, a taste that delicately compliments the, er, glazee. In fact, my mental picture is a bit like the promotional picture.

The reality is somewhat different. I was a little surprised to find upon opening the packaging that the five pieces of reformed chicken had been dipped in the Honey BBQ sauce meaning I had bought a box of small gooey blobs that looked like Ellen Ripley was about to come along and flamethrower them.

Undetered, I munched messily through my first one but the effect of the nuggets being drenched in honey BBQ sauce was that it became sickly quickly. The Honey BBQ sauce may work well as a dip but five nuggets smothered and dripping with it? I managed two-and-a-half before throwing in the serviette. At least, I would have thrown it in but my fingers just stuck to it. And stuck to those handy little wipes they give you. It wasn't until I got home that I managed to get all the sticky sauce off my fingers and from under my fingernails. And off my coat. And off my face.

For the time being, I'm sticking to fillet burgers.

Bad Boys II mini movie review ★★★★★★★☆☆☆

Bad Boys II DVD captures

★★★★★ ★★☆☆☆
Buddy-buddy action comedy that has lots of ideas and certainly tries harder to be good than you may expect. Overall, the film feels like it takes too long to do anything and seems a bit of a mess. The action is good but the comedy is better. Second time around it is a lot of fun.
(comment continues below)

PEOPLE CREDITS
◦ Martin Lawrence: Detective Marcus Burnett
◦ Will Smith: Detective Mike Lowrey
◦ Jordi Mollá: Hector Juan Carlos "Johnny" Tapia
◦ Gabrielle Union: Syd
◦ Peter Stormare: Alexei
◦ Theresa Randle: Theresa
◦ Joe Pantoliano: Captain Howard
• Producer: Jerry Bruckheimer
• Writer (Story): Marianne Wibberley
• Writer (Story): Cormac Wibberley
• Writer (Story): Ron Shelton
• Writer (Screenplay): Ron Shelton
• Writer (Screenplay): Jerry Stahl
• Director: Michael Bay

CONTENT
Frequent sexual swear words. Substance abuse. Extreme violence, graphic violence. Sensuality, sexual references, nudity (Jessica Karr's breasts)
Classified 15 by BBFC. Suitable only for persons of 15 years and over.
Classified R by MPAA. Restricted: Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.


(comment continues)


The car transporter chase sequence was also used in Clint Eastwood's action thriller "The Rookie".

Backwards compatibility on PS3 and Xbox 360

As an owner of both Xbox and PlayStation 2 consoles and over twenty games for each, the pre-release news that both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 would be backwards compatible (in the same brilliant way that PlayStation 2 was fully backwards compatible with PlayStation games) was good news indeed.

Of course, Microsoft dropped their trousers and relieved themselves all over their current customers by providing backwards compatibility (hereafter referred to as BC) patches for a small and miserable selection of games.

In time for the European release of the PlayStation 3, Sony managed to get their BC software up to a level that has allowed them to start reducing manufacturing costs. This is in line with what they have stated all along: that the PS2 hardware inside US and Japan consoles was a stop-gap. The proof of the pudding is in the eating, however, and today Sony released the intial BC list.

So here is a summary and list of my games on Xbox and PlayStation 2 and their compatibility with Microsoft's and Sony's shiny new offerings. I've also noted which games I've completed and kept for future nostalgia and replay purposes.

Xbox on Xbox 360

36 games: 10 compatible, 26 not compatible

Compatible

1. Black
   
2. Brute Force (completed)
   
3. Burnout 3: Takedown
   
4. Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge
   
5. Forza Motorsport
   
6. Halo 2
   
7. Quantum Redshift
   
8. Sega GT 2002 (completed)
   
9. Speed Kings
   
10. SSX 3
    

Not Compatible

1. Carve
   
2. Crash
   
3. Crash and Burn
   
4. Furious Karting
   
5. Galleon
   
6. Group S Challenge
   
7. Headhunter Redemption
   
8. Italian Job: LA Heist
   
9. LA Rush
   
10. Mechassault 2
    
11. Mercenaries
    
12. Midnight Club 3
    
13. Midtown Madness 3
    
14. Panzer Dragoon Orta
    
15. Paris Dakar Rally 2 (completed)
    
16. Project Gotham Racing (completed)
    
17. Project Gotham Racing 2
    
18. Racing Evoluzione
    
19. Rallisport Challenge 2 (completed)
    
20. Rally Fusion
    
21. R:Racing (nostalgia)
    
22. Test Drive: Overdrive
    
23. Top Spin
    
24. Tour De France
    
25. Wreckless (completed on normal)
    
26. XGRA
    

PlayStation / PlayStation 2 on PlayStation 3

22 games: 5 no known issues, 1 minor issues, 3 noticeable issues, 13 not compatible (including Gran Turismo 4 and Tourist Trophy, grrr)

No known issues to date

1. Enthusia - Professional Racing
   
2. Kaido Racer
   
3. Ridge Racer V (completed)
   
4. Runabout 3 Neo Age
   
5. TT Superbikes
   

Should play on PLAYSTATION®3 with some minor issues

1. Gran Turismo 3 A-spec (almost completed)
   

Should play on PLAYSTATION®3 with noticeable issues

1. Burnout 2: Point of Impact (partially completed)
   
2. Pro Rally 2002
   
3. Tokyo Road Race
   

Not Compatible

1. CART FURY Championship Racing
   
2. Downforce
   
3. Driving Emotion Type-S (completed)
   
4. Gran Turismo 4 (60% completed)
   
5. Grand Prix Challenge
   
6. GTC Africa
   
7. Noble Racing
   
8. Riding Spirits 2 (nostalgia)
   
9. Shox (completed)
   
10. Sled Storm
    
11. Stuntman
    
12. WRC II Extreme (completed)
    
13. WRC: Rally Evolved

Conclusion

The winner with 36% BC is PlayStation 3. Xbox 360 has 27%. The loser is me.

Police Story III: Supercop movie review ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆

★★★★★ ★☆☆☆☆
This Jackie Chan outing is a quality action adventure with a blend of humour and violent action. Perhaps it feels like stating the obvious but the stuntwork is astonishing and looks very very dangerous.
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DESCRIPTION
Kevin Chan is called upon by his superiors to assist the Chinese authorities in bringing down an international drugs ring.

PEOPLE CREDITS
◦ Jackie Chan:
◦ Michelle Yeoh:
◦ Maggie Cheung:
◦ Kenneth Tsang:
◦ Yuen Wah:
◦ Bill Tung:
• Martial Arts Choreographer: Stanley Tong
• Executive Producer: Leonard K.C. Ho
• Executive Producer: Jackie Chan
• Writer (Screenplay): Edward Tang
• Writer (Screenplay): Filre Ma
• Writer (Screenplay): Lee Wai Yee
• Producer: Willie Chan
• Producer: Edward Tang
• Director: Stanley Tong

(comment continues)


This is a very slick and professional package and, especially in the second half, feels more like a Hollywood action film rather than a traditional martial arts action film. With this episode in the series we see rather more gun battles than usual and the fight sequences are less imaginative than in some of Chan's other films. Perhaps this was done to broaden the appeal of the film. The swing from tongue-in-cheek humour to graphic and extreme violence is very stark. This helps emphasize the inhumanity of the villians and helps the danger that Jackie Chan and Michelle Yeoh's characters are in feel rather more life-threatening. That said, I prefer the fight sequences of the first two Police Story movies to the occasionally cold graphic violence on show here.

Stanley Tong directs pretty well with some flashy cameras angles and some well filmed stunts. He also paces the film well and during the mainly non-action first part of the film never really loses the viewer's interest.

Jackie Chan is quite brilliant in this film. His ability in marrying action sequences and humour is beyond question. In this movie, he is extremely funny and extremely agile but he also manages to look more angry and scared when need be. This, coupled to an increased realism and more bloody violence, helps make the situations he is in feel rather more dangerous and involves the viewer even more. Support is very good from an equally athletic Michelle Yeoh who performs some breathtaking stunts herself.

Mission: Impossible III movie review ★★★★★★★☆☆☆

★★★★★ ★★☆☆☆
Twenty years after break-out blockbuster "Top Gun" Tom Cruise remains top of the pile of Hollywood A-listers and this good summer action movie demonstrates why. It's disappointing to see the rogue agent thing again for the third time in three films, none of the action scenes hit the same heights as the previous two movies but J.J. Abrams successfully brings one of cinema's very-bestest-ever bad guys to the screen with the help of a revelatory Philip Seymour Hoffman, delivers quality team-based action and gives his star something interesting to do in-between the running bits.
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PEOPLE CREDITS
◦ Tom Cruise: Ethan Hunt
◦ Philip Seymour Hoffman: Owen Davian
◦ Ving Rhames: Luther
◦ Billy Crudup: Musgrave
◦ Michelle Monaghan: Julia
◦ Jonathan Rhys Myers: Declan
◦ Keri Russell: Lindsey Farris
◦ Maggie Q: Zhen
◦ Laurence Fishburne: Theodore Brassel
• Writer (original Television Series): Bruce Geller
• Writer: Alex Kurtzman
• Writer: Roberto Orci
• Writer: J.J. Abrams
• Producer: Tom Cruise
• Producer: Paula Wagner
• Director: J.J. Abrams

(comment continues)


"Paramount Pictures Presents" Owen Davian counting to ten before shooting Ethan Hunt's wife in the head while the desperate, disbelieving IMF agent looks on. "9!" Hunt realises Davian is going to shoot her. Hunt knows he is helpless. Hunt knows there will be no rescue, that there is nothing he can say. "10!" The gun fires. The match strikes. Schifrin's theme kicks in. It is a perfect opening. The audience stops holding their breath. The movie is never as good again. It's also probably the best single scene / opening in the 2006 blockbuster season.

It is a credit to Tom Cruise as producer / star that he has made good on his intentions for this series, that is, to bring in a new director to make a new movie in their own style each time. When J.J. Abrams was finally brought in to direct this third in the blockbuster series, he was allowed to retool the enterprise to his own tastes and the final movie feels just like his famed television productions "Lost" and, particularly, "Alias". This is both good and bad. More good, though.

Abrams brings in Hunt's home life, camaraderie, a Greg Grunberg cameo, and plenty of terrific throwaway ideas. He also manages to successfully suspend disbelief at the world of Mission: Impossible (something John Woo notably failed to do with his endless face masks that change your entire body weight and shape) and makes the gadgets and technology fun, not stupid.

He also delivers one of the most attention-grabbing pre-credits sequences in history (detailed above) which is done without special effects, explosions, or even music (if memory serves). He just takes two great actors (Philip Seymour Hoffman as Owen Davian and Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt) and puts them head-to-head in a situation our hero IMF agent Ethan Hunt cannot understand or win. The tension Abrams generates in this sequence is sensational and both his stars provide the goods drama-wise.

Paramount Pictures dropped Cruise at the end of the summer season despite him delivering this as the latest in a line of highly profitable movies that will continue to make money for many years to come. They cited Cruise's personal behaviour especially in relation to his then girlfriend / now wife Katie Holmes.


>> MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE
+ Pre-credits sequence. Wow!
+ Philip Seymour Hoffman.
+ Keri Russell (yummy) who also gets the coolest action moment in the whole movie when she catches a gun and, with one super slo-mo, super-smooth, impossibly brilliant movement, catches the gun, turns and takes down bad guys. Yay!
+ Baddie death. A great baddie deserves a great death and Hoffman gets one. Simple but great and the perfect end to a great bad guy.


>> MISSION: COULD DO BETTER
- Rogue-agent storyline. Again. For the third time in three films. Groan.
- Jackie Chan's staggering closing stunt from "Who Am I?" (the one where he literally runs down the sloping roof of a skyscraper) is revisited by Hollywood here but, if you've see Chan do the real thing, this verison underwhelmes. It has no build-up and not much believability. The first "Mission: Impossible" also borrowed from Chan ("Police Story III: Supercop") with the closing helicopter / train sequence but that managed to successfully throw money at the idea and came up with a great sequence.
- The action sequences are pretty forgettable.
- Doesn't really feel like a big-budget big-screen movie. I'd just been watching "The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King" prior to this and that feels like a big-screen production from frame one, reel one. This feels like a beautifully produced TV show and doesn't even feel like principal production travelled to Berlin, Vatican City or Shanghai.

Every Orange cloud has... another Orange cloud attached to it.

Checked my bank account today to see if the Orange refund promised on the 16th February had materialised and was disappointed but not surprised to find it conspicuous by it's absence.

I contacted Orange billing support and spoke to a friendly lady named Catherine but, sadly, before she could conclude the call we were disconnected. Before the disconnection she revealed that the notes contained no record of the promised £9.99 refund and my account also did not show this refund. The £3.99 refund for the second outage was recorded in the notes but had not been applied to my account. The upshot of this was I was not going to get either refund. We were disconnected while I was on hold while Catherine went to consult her Team Leader.

After the disconnection, I called right back and got a guy called Bain (pronounced Ba-in). I explained to him the call I had just made and he confirmed for himself what Catherine had stated earlier. When he consulted his Team Leader he came back with the news that they would not be refunding me £9.99 as promised for the first outage but £3.74. He has stated that the combined refund (of just under £8) has now been applied to my account and is not just languishing in my notes. This refund should be part of my April 16th bill meaning that I will not be able to confirm the refund in my bank account until that Direct Debit goes through. As an example of how long that takes, an Orange Direct Debit was collected on March 2nd, over two weeks after the billing date. Therefore, I will not be able to see this refund in my bank account until the beginning of May.

There was no apology for not processing my refund. Bain refused to give me the name of the person I talked to on the 16th February (I wish I'd made a note of that aswell, now) mis-citing the Data Protection Act. There was no goodwill gesture toward the phone calls I had to make today which were caused not by technical gremlins but by someone's incompetence or negligence.

The real quality of a company is when things go wrong. Orange hasn't been dreadful but they haven't been good. Both outages were fixed within a week which, by all accounts, is positively gazelle-like for an ISP. The outage was fixed by capping my line speed to a lower rate than before I 'upgraded' my account (I was very happy at 2Mb speed, now I am at 1Mb speed). The promised refunds were not applied immediately and required further phone calls from me to get them.

My contract with Orange lasts until November this year but the ISP market is such ("up to 8Mb connection", they might as well say up to eleventy mcbillion squeegy-bytes) that switching may be a case of out of the frying pan...

Here endeth the moan.

Batman Begins PS2 video-game review ★★★★★★★☆☆☆

★★★★★ ★★☆☆☆
Atmospheric and fun movie tie-in video game. While the extreme linearity tends to be criticised by contemporary critics, it ensures that you always know what you are doing and you will not be getting stuck in this game. This gives Batman Begins a fluid, consistently enjoyable and atmospheric gaming experience. When the bad guys ask "Who are you?" you'll be saying back to the screen: "I'm Batman."
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PEOPLE CREDITS
◦ Christian Bale: Batman / Bruce Wayne
◦ Michael Caine: Alfred Pennyworth
◦ Morgan Freeman: Lucius Fox
• Writer: J.T. Petty
• Consultant: Denny O'Neil

(comment continues)


Impressively, almost the entire cast is present in the game in voice and likeness. Most of the likenesses are good with Christian Bale and Cillian Murphy really well done. Only Gary Oldman is missing even though his character is used. Additionally, the music and environmental sound effects are highly useful.

The graphics are very nice. Batman himself looks brilliant and the immediate environments are convincing and atmospheric. The lighting effects are frequently eye-catching. The fire and smoke effects are superb. The background environments are superb with animation even occuring in the background with car lights and monorails and more. The driving sections are also nicely done. The second one took me over eight minutes to drive through first time around and you go through Gotham, some tunnels, the dock area and finally some countryside and convincingly delivers a feeling of travelling somewhere at high speed. The graphics help the game feel very much part of the same Gotham City as the movie. On the minus side, I was playing the PS2 version which had some slowdown when the picture-in-picture technique was being used.

The big gameplay element trumpeted by the developers is that of fear: terrorising your opponents before you even arrive. The game uses it to disarm stronger opponents before you tackle them as Batman almost certainly gets killed if he takes on one or more baddies with guns. The only minor drawback is that the designers do not give you any choice in the matter. Nearly every battle takes place in a pre-determined trigger-the-fear-event then bash-the-baddies cycle. However, as I said before with regard to the game's extreme linearity, this does educate you so that if you see a baddie with a gun, you look for the fear-event or stealth-takedown. And these fear-events are pretty cool anyway. This is more a mechanic I would like to see be taken further in another game.

Generally, the gameplay falls into two areas: travelling and fighting. The travelling mechanics are largely brilliant. Batman is fast, nimble and able to use certain parts of the environment smoothly and to great effect. For instance, you can jump, double-jump and do this proper-cool glide with your Batsuit. You can also grapple to various areas, traverse narrow ledges and sneak through small areas. The control for this is simple and becomes second nature almost instantly. You also travel twice in your Batmobile and these are very very easy and break up the game nicely. You just blast through the streets for about six or seven minutes turbo boosting around and driving through any opposing vehicles. Oddly, no matter how many vehicles you trash the game takes significant pains to tell you that there were no casualties.

The other main gameplay element is fighting and in this the control makes Batman sort-of stick to his opponents so that you rarely end up hitting the air. You can move freely around the environment but it is always in relation to the nearest opponent. It sounds awkward but it's not. You then have five buttons you can use during fighting. Square is punch, Triangle kick, R2 defend, L1 is a context-sensitive and inventory-dependent gadget attack (like a smoke grenade or bat-attracting HT transponder) and Circle is a context-sensitive special attack which allows you to finish off opponents or attack them when have been knocked to the ground and other things. This is a simple (even though I've made it sound like you need three hands to control it) but generally fun fighting system and they are fast and furious. If you are low on health you will get frustrated with some of the fights against three manic inmates of Arkham Asylum but, largely, the pros outweight the cons.

Naturally, there are some little things that could be improved. Mostly little things, and none of them add up to a major gameplay problem. This is a game that plays smoothly from beginning to end.

Batman walks funny, it's a power walk (you know, like President Bush with his arms squared out and legs bowed) but, nonetheless, a funny I've-wet-myself walk. However, that's nothing compared to how he climbs ladders. Bizarrely, he climbs ladders like Spider-Man. Hmm. It's a bit of a shame as the game features largely terrific animation and the Bat himself looks fab. Until he climbs a ladder.

Another little gameplay tweak I would have prefered is the stealth mechanic. By pressing the left thumbstick in (L3) Batman enters a stealth mode where he moves quietly. It would have been more intuitive and more tense to make Batman make less noise the slower he walks. The speed Batman walks is controlled by the analogue thumbstick already and so integrating the stealth mechanic into the standard movement control would not have been difficult. The other use of the stealth mode (L3) is to crouch to go under certain objects. Batman crouches automatically when going through pipes and air-conditioning ducts, etc., and goes into a ledge mode to squeeze through narrow spaces or along narrow ledges so it could have been implemented that he automatically crouches for the one or two other objects he needs to sneak under.

Another gameplay irrittant comes during the fight sequences which are largely straightforward and cool but on some of the Batman vs. three opponents battles that occur during the Arkham Asylum stages. Sometimes it is impossible to extricate yourself from the fight and the three just pummel, kick and stab you to death without you being able to press a key to successfully block, jump out, run away or hit back. While this is annoying it forces you to be rather more careful than in most of the other fights. However, the real annoyance comes when you have to sit through the level reload screen and then run through all the unskippable dialogue before you can attempt the battle again.

Back to the good.

Gameplay rewards come in the form of unlockable bonuses and are entirely agreeable. The short interviews are as they should be: short. Though they are 4:3 they also play in the correct aspect ratio even if you are on a widescreen setup (providing you told the game you want it running in widescreen). This is a nice, often overlooked, detail.

You can unlock vintage batsuits, alternative Batmobiles and bonus Batmobile levels.

There is a Gallery of Fear containing characters you've intimidated and their back-story.

The game supports 16:9 and surround sound. The game has all dialogue subtitled and everything you need to know is presented on-screen via a context-sensitive radar and large crosses on anything you can interact with, along with full vibration support, so this is fine for deaf people also.

Miami Vice (2006) mini movie review ★★★★★★★☆☆☆

★★★★★ ★★☆☆☆
Quality crime thriller that lost me a bit on the actual story (why does the mid-level bad guy sabotage his own shipment?) but is a serious, cool, great-looking movie. Everytime I watch a movie about 'organised' crime, and drug-smuggling in particular, I always wonder how on earth these people ever get any business done and their product to the consumer. Special mention for the teeth-rattling sound effect for the big sniper rifles.
(comment continues below)

PEOPLE CREDITS
• Writer: Michael Mann
• Director: Michael Mann
• Producer: Michael Mann
• Producer: Pieter Jan Brugge
• Executive Producer: Anthony Yerkovich
• Writer (original Television Series): Anthony Yerkovich
◦ Colin Farrell: Sonny Crockett
◦ Jamie Foxx: Ricardo Tubbs
◦ Gong Li: Isabella
◦ Naomie Harris: Trudy Joplin
◦ Ciarán Hinds: FBI Agent Fujima
◦ Justin Theroux: Zito
◦ Barry Shabaka Henley: Castillo
◦ Luis Tosar: Montoya
◦ John Ortiz: Jose Vero

(comment continues)


DVD
Picture quality on the DVD is superb with the odd exception of the final credits which are small and blurry. The remainder of the show displays remarkable accuracy and detail at all times. Audio is generally good but the subwoofer whumps that come with the big sniper rifles are a bit special.

WALLPAPER

Now wash your eyes

Am I the only one slightly disturbed by Liam getting jiggled as you wait for the very cool Yahoo mail to load?

Looks Aren't Everything...

Looks aren't everything but they're not nothing, either. As someone who is fairly seriously challenged in the looks department (though former Dr. Who sidekick Billie Piper says she likes a man with a bit of gut, woohoo) I am sympathetic to this.

I saw this page on a one-off visit to the Zoo Weekly web site following an eye-catching ad on Empire Magazine's web site. (Doth I protest too strongly?)

However, here is a before-and-after page with women pictured without any make-up and after their makeover was completed. Some of the transformations are quite astonishing.



At the risk of being completely horrible I would like to highlight the most impressive transformation for the lady on row 3, column 2. If you'd said that was a picture of a guy you would have believed it. After the make-over, she looks truly lovely and is sporting a generous classy smile as an agreeable bonus.

This begs the question: if make-up artists can perform such artistry why do they go overboard on models on cat-walks and red carpets and in magazines? It seems to me that, at this time, they are busy making 'celebrities' and models look less attractive by applying great swathes of unnecessary make-up which appears to have simply been thrown at the recipient's face.

I'm Impressed: IGN Insider HitPoints

I was delighted this week to receive $25 from a guy for my GB-PVR companion utility Slimm GB-PVR. He had suggested a feature (one that hadn't even crossed my mind) and I had implemented it (I called it Maintenance Mode) over the course of a few days.

Being chronically ill and incapable of regular employment, I try to take advantage of the short times of relative capability I have (sometimes a few minutes in the space of a couple of weeks) to do a bit of programming. Therefore, it is with even greater joy than most that I gratefully received this money.

I decided to use the money to subscribe to the HD material, specifically HD and high-res Video Reviews, on IGN.com. Their Insider channel also has other exclusive content that I was interested in such as comprehensive game guides. Subscribing per annum sees a charge of just under $24 (they don't list a tax charge and advertise it at $19.95) which, as someone living in the United Kingdom, works out at about £1 a month.

The IGN Insider subscription came with 400 HitPoints. Today I decided to take a look see at what these HitPoints are and they are a reward scheme. The HitPoints home page prominently featured a downloadable PDF of Girls of Gaming Issue 03 w/ Bonus Mature Content for 350 HitPoints so I wasn't too hopeful at finding anything worth buying for my 400 HitPoints.

However, my eye caught the phrase CRC 2005 on the right-hand side of the page. CRC 2005 is a racing game that I have on my wish list of purchases when I can afford it. I'm a racing game super-freak and have this mildly obsessive-compulsive thing where I must own or play every racing game ever made for any of the gaming systems I own or have owned. I clicked the link out of curiosity to see just how many HitPoints I'd need to purchase the game, remember, a PDF magazine was 350. Imagine my joy then at finding the complete downloadable game is exactly 400 HitPoints.

This kind of bonus just brings joy to consumers and makes their experience and memory of a company better. What are the chances that I'll renew my IGN Insider subscription next year, I wonder? Higher, definitely higher.

I'm Impressed: Picasa Web Albums

Uploading images to this blogger.com blog is a fairly painless process but if you deleted the link to an uploaded image, that image was lost forever and you have to upload another copy.

However, all images uploaded to your blogger.com blog since December now automatically appear in a Picasa Web Album (which automatically exists under your Google user name) and can be freely accessed. This is a great new feature and one of those highly agreeable times when you are provided with a service or feature that was unexpected or surpasses your expectations.

Slimm GB-PVR: Version 1.6.2621.23596

To install:

• Ensure you have installed .NET Framework 2.0. It can probably be installed by accessing your Windows Update or you can follow this download link: Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Redistributable
  

• Download and install SlimmGBPVR: Direct download link
  

For all details regarding current version, please see documentation which is installed alongside the utility and is available in the GBPVR start menu group.

This release:

Features

• Option to start GB-PVR whenever Slimm GB-PVR is loaded. Request: "Would it be possible to add another checkbox that makes GBPVR.EXE get launched every time SlimmGBPVR is launched? Sometimes I shutdown SlimmGBPVR, then when I rerun it would like it to launch GBPVR for me."


• The auto-restart recording service now does not fire if the GB-PVR Config application has been run within the last minute. This stops it attempting to restart the recording service at the same time as the GB-PVR Config application.


• Slimm GB-PVR can now auto-kill any GBPVRTray processes while it is running.


• Maintenance Mode added to Tools menu. Request.


• Running recording service checked for on startup. If not running and auto-restart is disabled, a warning balloon is shown with information on how to restart it.


• Auto-restart recording service feature is checked on startup. If not enabled, a warning balloon is shown with information on how to enable it.


• Tools -> Restart Recording Service. If Maintenance Mode is enabled, this could leave the auto-restart recording service feature disabled so you are asked whether you would like to automatically turn off Maintenance Mode.

Bug Fixes

• The tooltip for the checkboxes under Tray Configuration -> Startup all had the wrong tooltips because I copied the section "Database disconnect during EPG update".

Coding

• Sub-menu appearance changed slightly.

Support:

You can post support queries on the Slimm GB-PVR forum hosted at GB-PVR.com.

Slimm Stopwatch 2 now hosted on Download.com

Submitted Slimm Stopwatch 2 on Download.com's free package and it's now listed. Took about three weeks but you get what you pay for.

Perhaps that will spur me to create the product page on my own site. I've done about 95% of a flash animation that demonstrates the util but haven't finished that either. Procrastination is, as they say, the thief of time. I'll make it a goal to finish both items this week.

Slimm GB-PVR Version 1.5.2617.29639 beta released

To install:

• Ensure you have installed .NET Framework 2.0. It can probably be installed by accessing your Windows Update or you can follow this download link: Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Redistributable
  

• Download and install SlimmGBPVR: Direct download link
  

For all details regarding current version, please see documentation which is installed alongside the utility and is available in the GBPVR start menu group.

This release:

Features

• Control whether GB-PVR, GBPVRTray.exe and Slimm GB-PVR startup with Windows or not. You can find this functionality in the Tray Configuration window in the Startup group. Simply check / uncheck the boxes to have those items start / not start with Windows using a link in your All Programs\Startup folder.

Coding

• Uses ShellShortcut code from www.msjogren.net

Support:

You can post support queries on the Slimm GB-PVR forum hosted at GB-PVR.com.

Panasonic PT-AX100E Hidden / System menu

You can access a hidden menu on the Panasonic PT-AX100E projector by bringing up the menu, highlighting the "Options", er, option and holding down the Enter button for a few seconds. The "Options" menu must be highlighting the first option "Input Guide". The menu is called "Ext Options".

While I have no idea what most of these options actually do and therefore strongly recommend not changing them, I did have a fiddle with the "Flicker Fixing" option. In this you get six screens showing your current input in red, green and blue in desk and ceiling mode. You use the Up and Down controls to switch between screens and Left and Right to tune the value. If the image flickers, take a note of the original value, then tune the value until the flickering stops or becomes much less intense. Use the Return or Menu buttons to return to the menu.

Another option I looked at was the projector "Self Check" which gives you the temperature of the unit and tells you there are five fans inside! I sit directly underneath my projector, it is literally a foot above me, I can touch it while sitting. I use it in Eco-Mode and the noise it produces ranges from virtually silent to audible but unobtrusive. I'd have never guessed there were five fans working inside. The noise of the projector is drowned out by the fan on my Xbox (not 360) sitting a couple of meters away on the other side of the room!

Oh, and by the way, the projector is still working fabulously. Yay!

Onkyo TX-SR674 Hidden Menus

For some reason, the Onkyo TX-SR674 automatically deinterlaces 480i / 576i signals that are output through it's HDMI interface (it leaves all other signals and signals output through all other interfaces untouched). While it does a reasonable job, it is a significantly worse job than my display device (a Panasonic PT-AX100E projector - which is still working great).

I emailed Onkyo's support staff and was pleasantly astonished to receive a reply a couple of days later. I had asked if there was a hidden menu that might contain an option to disable this automatic deinterlacing.

There are two hidden menus for video adjustment. To access them you make sure the receiver is on, then hold down the "Video 3" or "Video 4" button and simultaneously press the "Power" button (as if turning the receiver off). The Video 3 hidden menu allows you to adjust the up-conversion of S-Video / Composite signals. The Video 4 hidden menu supplies options regarding the HDMI interface.

As is clear from the fact that the menus are hidden, these contain options that you shouldn't play with if you don't already know what they do. Note that the HDMI/CEC Mode option should never be changed. For details of what the menu options mean, you should contact Onkyo you should supply you with the same instructions as me.

Sadly, there is an option to output 480i / 576i but it didn't seem to make any difference and the HDMI interface still output 480p / 576p.

However, this is a good news story about a quality intelligent timely response from a major manufacturer and you don't get many of them.