April, 2011

I am quite a big fan of gore and body horror so when I saw that hit U.S. series Dexter was available to rent on DVD from LoveFilm I knew I had to watch it!

Dexter is a serial killer with ethics; not your typical leading man! Working as a blood spatter analyst for Miami Metro he encounters the dregs of society and their actions on a daily basis.

Orphaned because his mother was murdered, then adopted by a cop hell-bent on justice, Dexter’s formative years were the catalyst for his now dominant penchant for the macabre.

Dexter seeks to make his little corner of the world a better place by eradicating heinous criminals who have slipped through the net.

Dispensing his own special brand of justice, Dexter plots, plans and meticulously executes his murderous endeavours, whilst ensuring that each victim realises why they are about to meet their maker.

On paper this sounds like quite an intense show, but it’s shot so well, with many varied story arcs and alternative points of interest, that it’s so much more than just another gore fest! (more…)

The dubious Brothers Strause, entirely responsible for the badly lit suck-fest sequel that was Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, had $20m to play with, and chose to splash the cash on an alien invasion flick, spending around 97% of the budget entirely on effects.

This is, of course, a barmy idea. To be fair to these curious gents, they have been behind some eye-popping aesthetics, with their company Hydraulx working on such visual treats as 300, Avatar and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.

However, it seems that letting them get hold of the camera may be something to avoid in the future.

Skyline is a pretty formulaic story; some friends in L.A. bear witness to an alien invasion, and hole up in their expensive flat hoping that the unwelcome visitors get bored and fly off. They then decide, for some dull reason relating to water, that a swift escape and journey through the warzone to the nearest coastline would actually be better. This plan causes much death.

You see, these unpleasant invaders emit an attractive blue light, and once it catches your eye then your skin starts to disappear and you get violently sucked into some kind of weird alien sphincter.

Some of these aliens are pretty big and will stand triumphantly on your puny human head, whilst others are small, elegant and partial to the sweet smell of fresh brains.

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The online DVD rental market is more ferocious than a few feisty minutes in one of David Fincher’s Fight Clubs. There’s a multitude of websites vying for your custom, offering a mouth-watering selection of Blu-rays and DVDs, as well as some truly tempting offers on trials and subscription packages.

We have a look at which online rental service has earned the right to echo the immortal words of Ray Winstone, “I’m the daddy now!”

We have all heard of Lovefilm; this service has stormed to the forefront of online DVD rental, boasting an excellent and diverse catalogue including over 73,000 titles. Customers can also enjoy Lovefilm Player, which is an online and on demand service allowing you to watch the movie of your choice when and where you want. The site has plenty of extras including film news, quizzes, Top 100 lists, trailers and reviews from both critics and Lovefilm members. The packages are pretty good, and a free trial is always hard to resist.

Blockbuster is a household name, and globally recognised brand. This DVD rental service boasts a selection of exclusive titles; these can only be seen first on DVD at Blockbuster, and include huge box-office hits such as Knowing, Taken and Gran Torino. Blockbuster is renowned for quality, which is why it has remained at the top for so long, and this reputation is further enhanced by the growing number of DVD and Blu-rays available to rent. Customers can now rent over 70,000 different titles, and trials start from as little as £1. The website also includes news, special offers and the Blockbuster Blog.

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If someone told me that, for the amusement of the masses, I had to endure electric shocks to my nether regions, or become trapped in a car full of highly agitated bees, I would firmly decline, although a plentiful cheque and offers of free world travel and beer could probably turn my head…

The baffling thing about the Jackass crew is that they were doing it back in the day, when the cash probably wasn’t that great and they had to film in their houses. In all fairness, they seem to just enjoy creating comedy derived from physical and or/mental anguish, as well as the odd gross-out skit or moment of intense embarrassment.

Before reviewing their third big screen outing, it is important to highlight the fact that Jackass provides a very divisive form of entertainment. Those who do not like Jackass have their reasons, and shouldn’t be told to change their minds, and there are plenty of Jackass haters out there.

However, this reviewer finds the deranged, dumb, daft but deftly planned stunts intensely funny, often to the point that a quick dash to the loo is required in order to avoid a messy mishap.

So, subjective opinion stated, let’s move on to Jackass 3, or Jackass 3D as it was released in the cinemas.

After a four year hiatus, presumably needed for healing, therapy, psychological evaluation, rehab etc, the Jackass crew have assembled another 90 minutes of carefully engineered moments of hilarity, provided for our amusement.

Johnny Knoxville, Bam Margera, Steve-O, Chris Pontius (Party Boy) and the rest of the lunatics go about attempting to cause each other as much pain as possible, whilst seeking out new, innovative ways to have pain bestowed upon them by external sources. There is, as always, no story or character arc, and no real beginning, middle or end. Just utter chaos.

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