By John Fanning (Guest Writer)
Tamara Drewe, based on Posy Simmonds’ Guardian comic strip and graphic novel of the same name, is the latest in what looks to be an interminable line of films making the jump from glossy page to screen. It’s not your usual adaptation though: this one may as well have been called “A Romp in the Country”. With a plot loosely derived from Thomas Hardy’s Far From The Madding Crowd, Stephen Frears’ (High Fidelity, The Queen) latest offering is a bourgeois bonkfest.
Filed under Film
By Elena Cresci
Geekdom has expected big things from Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. Adapted from the graphic novels by Bryan Lee O’Malley, the film is director Edgar Wright’s first outing on the big screen without his Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz co-conspirators, and oh my, what an outing it is. Wright is the master of making the ordinary extraordinary. In much the same way as the characters of Spaced’s lives were given dramatic treatment befitting the big screen, Scott Pilgrim’s precious little life is treated with all the gusto, pizzazz and point systems of beloved old-school videogames. Simon Pegg even tweeted that Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is ‘the closest thing you will ever see to a third series of Spaced’.
By Stewie Sutherland
Games for the iPhone and iPod Touch are things I usually stay away from (with the exception of maybe Solitaire) but there’s no denying that they’re starting to take off. A game I recently found late one night turned out to be a real gem to play – it had a dirty sense of humour but was too much fun to put down, even at four a.m. That game is Episode 1 of a planned series: Hector: Badge of Carnage.
Filed under Games
By Ian McCabe
Alan Wake, Remedy Entertainment’s first venture since Max Payne 2: The Fall Of Max Payne, wasn’t exactly the gaming world’s best kept secret upon its release earlier this year. The hype machine surrounding the title, plus an ambitious viral marketing campaign, created sky-high expectations that would be difficult to fulfil. Thankfully, Finland’s finest have succeeded, by creating one of the most cinematic and eerie gaming experiences to date.
Martin Mulrooney
Guest/Previous
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