Here’s the good news, people; despite the worrying title, Gillian McKeith is not in this film. What we’ve got here is a case of artistic licence; the Devil of the title is not the narcissistic nutritionist, but Miranda Priestley, the editor-in-chief of the fictional Runway magazine. A “legend” in the fashion world. A woman who can bring down a designer’s entire line with a single purse of her lips. A woman who expects her assistants to read her mind despite [...]

Avast ye, scallywags! Up the riggings! Shiver me timbers! and other such piratey lingo! For summer 2006 be the return of Disney’s rum guzzling, sword swinging, word slurring, money grubbing franchise spawned from a mere fairground ride But does Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest hold sway over the ropey waters of the summer blockbuster, or is it destined to dance the hempen jig and sink? The interesting thing about Dead Man’s Chest is that it could go [...]

While the Academy Award judges were being aroused by a selection of politically minded films in 2006 (Munich, Good Night and Good Luck, Syriana) yet not so much with homosexual-sheepherders (Brokeback Mountain); it seemed a fitting time to unleash Alan Moore’s politically contentious V for Vendetta onto the big screen. Yet we can imagine otherwise, as while the Academy enjoyed Munich et al’s mild-mannered subversion, V for Vendetta walks in and roundhouse kicks its agenda upside the audience’s head. But [...]

Guy Ritchie recently admitted that he’s an ideas man. He enjoys being thrust into a whippy concoction of ‘big-thinking’; mysticism, ideology, theology, philosophy… (he opens Revolver with quotes from Machiavelli, Julius Cesar, a Chess Master, and, um… a Banker) and he also admits that he rarely finishes any book he reads. Too caught up in his own imagination to allow himself to follow through with the story. Coincidently, that’s exactly what happens with Revolver. If we look back to 1998, [...]

In the absence of a (decent) feel-good action caper in 2005 – Spielberg turning his efforts to darker pastures, and Batman – although superb – was hardly ‘cheery’ was he? – it seems the mantle of high-octane adventure, comic partnerships, and glib one-liners fell to the shoulders of one man and his dog; i.e. the irrepressible Wallace & Gromit. Not that Wallace & Gromit were new to adventures, see… their previous outings saw them foil an evil criminal (penguin) mastermind; [...]