Back at the start of the month, for the first time in a while, we got some fresh news about the upcoming Star Trek sequel. This was when screenwriters Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci chatted to the Los Angeles Times, and revealed for the first time that they'd cracked the story for the next film. They also added that the next Star Trek film wasn't part of a planned trilogy. These weren't massive revelations, but they were, at least, fresh news.

Well, chatting to Hollyscoop at an event for the Children's Defense Fund, JJ Abrams has tempered things somewhat. For just because a story is worked out, that's a long way from getting a final script in place. He said that "We don't have a script yet and it's all still being worked out. It's too early to talk about what it might be, because it hasn't happened yet."

Abrams is adept at keeping his cards close to his chest, to be fair. But we suspect that there will be progress on this one sooner rather than later, especially as we hear that Zoe Saldana is talking about Star Trek 2 shooting before the first of James Cameron's Avatar sequels. We'll keep you posted...

Hollyscoop

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here.

The shoot for the fourth seasons of Torchwood, entitled The New World, kicks off next month in Los Angeles (with a brief stop in Wales at the end of January), and thus more and more of the casting jigsaw is falling into place.

Firstly, it's been confirmed that Kai Owen, who plays Rhys (Gwen's husband), is set to return in the series. And on Twitter, Tom Price has suggested that he too will be back, as Andy Davidson. He wrote that he's "doing a little bit of Torching Wood in America next year. Already trying out my Welsh/LA accent".

As for new cast members, Michael Ausiello, at his Facebook page, has some fresh information. For he's got word of a fresh casting call for the show.

He writes that "Ianto fans are not going to like this. Producers are casting the role of Brad, a Washington D.C. bartender in his late 20s who hooks up with Jack for a 'mutually satisfying one-night stand'. Interested actors should be comfortable with 'intimate scenes between two men'."

That's as much detail as we have on that at the moment. But as more news of new Torchwood comes through, we'll be keeping you up to date.

Michael Ausiello Facebook

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here.

Following the release of the trailer for Thor last Friday (it's here in case you missed it), Marvel's Kevin Feige held an online natter at the Los Angeles Times. As part and parcel of that, he offered some updates on future Marvel projects, that we've rounded up here.

Firstly, with regards potential films in the Marvel universe once The Avengers is out of the door, Feige said, "I have not been shy about my love for Dr. Strange, Black Panther, and Luke Cage."

He also revealed that a writer is working on a draft of Iron Fist, and refused to rule out potential new additions to the cast of heroes in The Avengers.

One of the most interesting projects on the Marvel slate right now for us, though, is Ant-Man, long been linked to Edgar Wright. And the project, thankfully, still is. Feige said, "Edgar was here a few days ago. He's already working on the next draft." This is good news.

He also confirmed that "things are in the works" with regards a Black Panther movie, and that Moonknight may yet make it to the big screen, too. We may yet also see another attempt to bring the Punisher to the screen, now that the rights are back in-house at Marvel.

Here's the full chat, if you want to glean all of the details.

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here.

The weekend saw the appearance of a whole slew of exciting trailers courtesy of the Spike TV Video Game Awards - and here are just a few of our favourites.

First up, there’s the thrilling promo for Batman: Arkham City, which reveals that the caped crusader’s main antagonist will be none other than Hugo Strange. Dark, violent, and stunningly realistic, the trailer leaves us very excited about the prospect of the finished game…

Worryingly, all these games appear to be scheduled for release within a few weeks of each other. Mass Effect 3 and Batman: Arkham City have both been pencilled in for the fourth quarter of 2011, while Uncharted 3 is due to appear on 1 November, with Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim trailing not far behind on 11 November.

Next Autumn’s looking like a fantastic time for gaming, but the question is, how will we find time to play them all?

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here.

Screenwriter Terry Rossio described it as “a completely different beast.” Johnny Depp has elsewhere said it’s “a fresh, clean slate” – and we’re hoping, too, that Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides returns the franchise to the brilliance of the original movie.

While Dead Man’s Chest and At World’s End made colossal amounts of money, and contained some sporadically entertaining moments, neither movie captured the focus or magic of The Curse Of The Black Pearl.

That Stranger Tides is based on the 1988 novel On Stranger Tides, a work that won numerous fantasy awards, at least affords the possibility that its story will be a compelling one, and we’re intrigued to see where director Rob Marshall takes the series as he takes over from Gore Verbinski – Marshall is, after all, more recognised for his song-and-dance pictures than his all-action adventure films.

The images we keep seeing of Penelope Cruz apparently dressed as Dick Whittington are a little disquieting, but we’re quietly confident that On Stranger Tides will be an entertaining, cutlass-based diversion when it appears next May.

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here.

The weekend’s Spike TV Video Game Awards gave us the first look at the trailer for Resistance 3, and in the wake of that promo’s premiere, developer Insomniac has released a set of five high-res images from the game, too.

Giving us a first decent look of the new creatures players can expect to gun down or blow up in the PS3-exclusive shooter, the level of detail apparent in Resistance 3 is quite remarkable, and proves that developers really are beginning to exploit the console’s hardware to its fullest potential.

We particularly like the new-look Goliath (the massive walking war machine that comes looming out of the fog at around the 50 second mark in the trailer), and as one of the few debut trailers from VGA to feature actual in-game footage, it’s looking extremely encouraging, to say the least.

Resistance 3 is due for release on 6 September 2011, exclusively for PlayStation 3.

Videogameszone

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here.

Andrex adverts now feature creepy CG puppies. In a slightly eerie usage of computer technology, digital dogs use laptops, bake cakes and drive taxis in an effort to sell us toilet paper.

The Andrex ad, with its sinister dogs from the Uncanny Valley, is evidence, if any were needed, of the ubiquity of computer graphics. Once a novelty, the use of CG has become so cheap and commonplace that you're as likely to see a fully computer animated mammal in a commercial for toilet roll as you are in a big-budget Hollywood blockbuster.

Back in the late-70s and 80s, big screen visual effects went through a remarkable period of transition. The use of scale miniatures, matte painting and backscreen projection had remained almost unchanged since the dawn of cinema, a comparison of the visual effects in, say, Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1927) and Ridley Scott's Blade Runner (1982) reveals that little had changed in terms of technique, even if the end results were more lifelike 55 years later.

Gradually, however, computer graphics began to creep into visual effects, and as processing power improved exponentially in the 80s, their appearance became ever more prominent.

Twenty or 30 years ago, even the tiniest glimpse of a computer-generated effect had an almost magical air of futuristic novelty about it. As a child, I remember seeing the wireframe trench run in Star Wars, a sequence that surely inspired Atari's joyous videogame tie-in a few years later, and being enthralled by it. (Though, in fairness, I was at an age where I would have been equally enthralled by the glow of a lava lamp.)

Nevertheless, the 70s and 80s were an era where the appearance of computer graphics in film was still quite startling. The Light Cycle race in Tron looked breathtakingly exotic. The minute-long 'Genesis' sequence in Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan, created by the arm of Industrial Light and Magic that would later become known as Pixar, was an utterly bewitching one. The walnut-shaped, mirror-like ship from 1986's Flight Of The Navigator was similarly jaw-dropping.

And yet, since the advent of a holy trinity of groundbreaking movies in the 90s, namely, Terminator 2, Jurassic Park and The Matrix, it has become increasingly difficult to get particularly worked up about special effects of any kind. Audiences may have cooed and gasped over the imagery of Avatar and Inception, but we've now become so numbed by such visual flights of fancy, whether they're in films or adverts, that they appear to be set to a side almost as quickly as we've seen them.

As Tron: Legacy vehicle designer Daniel Simon put it in a recent interview on this very site, "We're living in a very fast-moving world. Even for me - I'm 34 now, and it's shocking to me how... I mean, when I saw Avatar, I was so blown away, but I was also blown away by how fast people forgot about it. Like, a few weeks after it came out, if you were still talking about Avatar, you were so from yesterday!"

Think about how frequently the effects work of The Matrix was borrowed and lampooned in other films and commercials. A version of it even turned up in an advert for the middle-class forest retreat, Centre Parcs, with a 360-degree shot of an unsuspecting swan.

By contrast, the distinctive moments of Avatar and Inception have scarcely caused a ripple in popular culture, despite these films' huge grosses. We haven't seen an Inception-style folding city being employed to sell perfume, or a blatantly obvious rip-off of Cameron's blue Na'vi tribe used to advertise a car cleaning product, which would surely have happened had those films appeared in the 80s.

The way products are advertised has, of course, changed considerably in the last 20 years or so, but so too has the way we consume popular culture. Now so ubiquitous and readily available on mobile phones, computers, iPods and iPads, the sheer amount of dazzling imagery we see every day has reached saturation point. Ahead of release, big-budget movies will now have a dozen different types of poster to advertise them, and numerous trailers, commercials and sneak peak clips.

It's hardly surprising, then, that filmmakers struggle to create a sense of awe through special effects alone. By the time we've sat down in the cinema to watch the latest Hollywood masterpiece, we've already learned so much about the film's mood, tone, and overarching plot that, when the expensive effects are splashed across the big screen, they're greeted with a nod of recognition rather than a cheer of excitement.

The comedian Billy Crystal, in an interview back in the 80s, remarked that professional comedians seldom laugh at each other's jokes. Immersed as they are in the mechanical process of writing and telling amusing stories, they merely deconstruct them in their minds, and perhaps murmur their acknowledgement that, yes, that particular quip worked well.

In this respect, we've perhaps become similarly critical as moviegoers. Where we once sat through Terminator 2 and gasped when Robert Patrick turned into a slippery blob of mercury, we now watch, say, Inception and simply acknowledge that, yes, the folding city looks quite realistic.

In an attempt to break through our jaded defences, Hollywood has taken to employing things like 3D glasses to add a new sense of exoticism to the activity of going to the cinema. But if it hasn't already, 3D is surely something that, like Panavision before it, will soon cease to be a novelty, and will instead become yet another weapon in the Hollywood filmmaker's arsenal.

There is an upside, of course, to the ubiquity of dazzling computer graphics. For one thing, it will perhaps force filmmakers to come up with compelling stories to tell, rather than attempting to cover up a flimsy or regurgitated narrative with flashy effects. It's a slim hope, but it's at least a possibility.

Better yet, the fact that it's now comparatively cheap to create CG effects means that new filmmakers can let their imaginations run riot on a tiny budget. For evidence, look no further than Gareth Edwards' Monsters, a film created with little more than two professional actors, one Sony camera and a copy of 3DSMax. As Edwards put it in a recent interview, "You can go into a shop now and buy a laptop that's faster than the computers they used to make Jurassic Park."

So, while the days where computer graphics can shock or dazzle us, as they once did in The Matrix or Terminator 2, appear to be long gone, the continued integration of technology into films has, for those with imagination and a flair for storytelling, greatly extended the creative possibilities of cinema. And given ad men the ability to conjure up really, really creepy digital puppies to sell rolls of loo paper.

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here.

Like previous Music in the Movies subject, Elmer Bernstein, Elliot Goldenthal was a student of the legendary Aaron Copland. Whilst Goldenthal isn't the most prolific of film composers, his distinct sound has accompanied some great films over the years and earned him three Oscar nominations and one win. A reason why Goldenthal hasn't got the number of credits his contemporaries boast? He often alternates between film scoring and stage productions.

I haven't included his Oscar winning score for Frida in the article, as I'm not a huge fan of it and there are other titles below that fit better with the rest of the series.

So, here are what I consider to be the most notable scores of Goldenthal's career:

Alien 3 (1992)

Having previously covered Goldsmith's score for Alien and Horner's score for Aliens, it made sense to get round to covering Goldenthal's score for Alien 3.

He had an immensely tough job on his hands in following two excellent scores for the franchise, but produced a piece of work where arguments could be made that this is not only equal to its two predecessors' scores, but surpasses them. Goldenthal's blend of modernity and classicism suit the film incredibly well and help him strike a balance between beauty and intense unsettling passages.

Like many of the composer's works, this is a challenging but ultimately rewarding listen that gets better with each occasion.

Interview With The Vampire (1994)

Awful Sympathy For The Devil cover aside, the music for Interview With The Vampire as a whole is very effective and earned the composer an Oscar nomination.

In a similar manner to how he approached the Alien 3 score, he doesn't go for out and out horror, and instead goes for subtle and haunting pieces that portray the gothic and romantic tones of the film. There's also a sense of passage of time throughout the score, which acts as a great accompaniment to the images on screen.

Cobb (1994)

I first stumbled across this baseball biopic when surfing the channels a few years back and was sold instantly when I read the synopsis that contained the statement that Cobb was fuelled by whiskey and hate. Aren't we all?!

Goldenthal's score here is quite excellent and may often go overlooked, as it's attached to a little known film. He portrays the characters contradictions by using a variety of different musical styles playing off against each other, which is much better than it sounds. In lesser hands this could have ended in disaster, but Goldenthal applies an expert touch to create a rich score that's as layered and interesting as the character at the centre of the film it accompanies.

Batman Forever & Batman And Robin

For the first part of Joel Schumacher's take on the Batman franchise the director hired Goldenthal before a script had been completed. The composer was encouraged to disregard Elfman's previous scores and instead come up with orchestral pieces that would distinctly identify the new direction the franchise was taking.

Elfman set a standard with his work on Batman and Batman Returns, so it was always going to be a tough act to follow and Goldenthal's efforts here are quite mixed. There are some excellent moments, but this, in large part, a wildly inconsistent score that lacks cohesion and some tracks are almost unlistenable.

Schumacher's second Batman film effectively killed the franchise for years and is widely regarded as one of the worst films of its era. Even if the film itself was an abomination, the score finds Goldenthal more at ease with the subject matter as he creates a more coherent and importantly listenable album that does a better job at capturing the adventures of the caped crusader. It's just a shame that the action on screen doesn't live up to his score.

If anything could be said about this, it's that it sees the composer take more influence from Elfman's great work, which the piece, as a whole, benefits from.

There are moments of interest on both scores, but it has to be said that these are the two poorest scores of any of the modern Batman films.

Heat (1995)

Eliot Goldenthal's superbly judged score for Michael Mann's crime epic finds him accompanied by the great Kronos Quartet (who later collaborated with Clint Mansell on Requiem For A Dream). Their collaboration gets the film off to a great start with the title cue that's a slow build and is deployed throughout the film, gradually building up to the film's climax.

Other guest turns include U2, Brian Eno, Lisa Gerrard and Moby, the latter of which produces the soundtrack's two standout moments with his cover of Joy Division's New Dawn Fades and God Moving Over The Face Of The Waters.

Like the film, the soundtrack is a considered and introspective piece of work that is layered and detailed and demands to be experienced a number of times to get the most out of it.

Michael Collins

This score earned Goldenthal his second Academy Award nomination and ranks amongst the finest works of his career. It's more overt than his previous works containing many anthemic and lyrical passages that provide an effective backing for battle scenes contained in the film.

It's the battle scenes that bear the strongest resemblance to his previous scores, but the rest of the score is epic in scale, featuring soaring passages accompanied by female vocals from Sinead O'Connor. It hints at the Irish setting of the film, but doesn't overplay the Gaelic elements, making this an unpredictable but hugely effective score.

Sphere

While not a huge departure from some of his previous efforts, Sphere still remains an effective score for the film it accompanies. There's an ominous sense of dread and tension running throughout many of the pieces that heightens the sense of drama on screen. There's a simple piano motif accompanied by layers of brass and string to achieve the desired effects and is equally effective when it moves away from the slower paced pieces into and out of action territory.

It's one of the many scores that can get overlooked because of the quality of the film it accompanies. For fans of Goldenthal's work or fans of sci-fi scores in general, this is an essential purchase.

In Dreams

One of the more challenging listens in Goldenthal's back catalogue, his accompaniment to Neil Jordan's In Dreams is an adventurous, bleak and rewarding piece of work that sees him create an impressive backing to the nightmarish dream world depicted on screen.

The orchestrations that are typical of his work are present here, but they're supplemented with layers of electronics that create a distorted otherworldly feel.

Not one that I reach for to listen to away from the film often, but in accompaniment to the film, it's magnificent.

Please add your Goldenthal highlights below...

• See all the Music in the movies

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here.

For those of us growing up in the 80s, Dolph Lundgren needs no introduction. However, since the interview took place, I've talked to several people, mostly in their late teens/early twenties, who haven't heard of him and I've become increasingly aware of the generation gap. It was a subject which came up in the interview itself, so in the interest of inclusion, following the interview portion, there's a very quick rundown of the films that encouraged such loyal geek fandom starting some twenty-five years ago.

At the interview, the man himself was incredibly polite, friendly and laughed at every available opportunity, also apologising at the beginning and end of our time for not being able to stand up to shake hands. (He was wired in to microphones.)

He made the most of not being filmed, by stretching out at various points, which proved to be a little intimidating on a couple of occasions. When he raised his legs and dropped them to the floor, there was an audible thud, as the floor of the hotel actually seemed to shake. Then, while stretching his back, he leant towards me, tensing all his facial muscles to the point where I thought he might explode.

Thankfully, when he spotted the edge of his face on my Rocky 4 t-shirt (mostly hidden behind my jacket) as I walked in, he commented, "Nice t-shirt! I like you already!", instantly relaxing the atmosphere as we started the interview.

Before The Expendables came out, there must have been a slight concern, because it was such a throwback to the 80s style of action. The fact it was such a big success must have been quite a vindication. Did you feel quite relieved?

Yes, I did, and so did everybody, of course, in the film company and Stallone himself, a lot. Nobody knew. We all knew that Lionsgate was putting a lot of money behind it in the States and we did a hell of a lot of publicity but... we had heard people talking about it. We could tell people were excited, saying, "Oh that movie. I have gotta see that!". But, no, we didn't really know, so when it happened it was great.

It was interesting to see the different reactions to the film, depending on whether people had been raised on 80s action or not. Some of us spent years wondering what would happen if you fought Jet Li, while others thought the scene was gratuitous. How did the whole experience feel for you?

It was exciting to be a part of it and it was exciting just as an actor to get that role, that Sly wrote, which is a good role and it was actually cut down quite a bit, as we tried to fit everything in. I don't think he was sure whether people would understand that character, whether that character was too offbeat for the film.

It turned out that a lot of people liked the fact the guy had a lot of problems, and my character and Mickey Rourke's character were kinda interesting, more interesting I'd say. So, that was the best thing for me was playing that character. Fighting Jet Li was cool, but for me, I do that in a lot of movies. If it is not Jet Li, it is some guy you haven't heard of, but people like the performance and I was very happy with that.

It must have been quite flattering to get that role, because arguably the character of Gunnar was the most interesting because of his problematic side...

Yeah, it was, because I hadn't been on the big screen for 15 years and I don't know if anyone really knew if it was gonna work, or if people were gonna respond to it, or if I was gonna hold my own, which I guess worked out pretty good in the end.

I noticed at the press conference (for The Expendables cinematic launch) that you seemed to downplay the importance of your involvement in the film, albeit humorously, which I found strange as you've made a lot of films that people have loved over the years. Why was that?

[Laughs] Well, you know, I just try and keep it all in perspective, because I don't want to get caught up in it myself, because it could be over one day and even if it isn't over, I try to be normal and have a normal life, (one that's) apart from my screen persona . I don't want to get caught up in all that stuff. Maybe that is why I act that way. Whether the movie is a huge hit, or not, I still try to play it down for myself.

Going to back to your character of Gunnar, do you know if there is more footage of him in the extended cut?

Yeah, I think so. I haven't seen it, but I heard Stallone mention to me, when I saw him last, that he... yeah he said [Dolph breaks into a great Stallone impression, which he uses any time he's quoting him], "We are gonna put this moment in here, when you do this and it's great...". So, you know he is gonna do that! [laughs]

I thought one thing that was missing from The Expendables, in keeping with the 80s tradition, was it didn't have a power ballad behind it. It didn't have a Hearts On Fire-type of track, like they all had and I know that you play the drums...

[Laughs] I see where you're going with this! Alright!

Have you contemplated approaching Stallone, or Brian Tyler, who did the score, and saying, "Maybe we should do a power ballad"?

Yeah, that's not a bad idea! I'll ask Stallone next time. A power ballad... you are right. All the 80s movies have that! Maybe like Flashdance...? No!

Who would you get to do the vocals on that?

Shouldn't it be like some Bon Jovi, or someone like that, yeah?

Or Kenny Loggins?

Yeah, Kenny Loggins, even better! [laughs] In like overalls, white overalls, with like long hair [laughs hard] and sneakers...

...and skin tight jeans? I would pay money to see that!

This could be a question you get asked a lot but, obviously, now with The Expendables 2 moving ahead, there is always speculation as to who will be in it. Have you got any preferences? Perhaps someone you haven't worked with, or have worked with before, who you'd like?

[Still laughing] Well, I don't have any say in the matter, because Stallone makes all the decisions. But I suppose Van Damme could be interesting, because people haven't seen him for a while and he has gone up and down and had a lot of interesting moments in his career. But I suppose, yeah, I guess he could be in there and Stallone said something like, "Yeah, I want you to break his fucking neck somehow...". So, we'll see what happens! [laughs hard again]

So, I think that there's a certain chance he'll be in it. As a bad guy he would be cool. I think he should play a bad guy. It's a great way to come back, you know, because people aren't used to that, doing a whole bunch of evil crap. People will be like, "Woah, he's killing all these innocent people! Jesus!" That'd make them feel something. [laughs]

I thought maybe someone like Thomas Jane, or Ray Stevenson, as you've all portrayed The Punisher?

Yeah, that could be great. Also, maybe some young actor would be cool. I know they were talking about someone really young, like that guy, what's his name? The guy that was in G.I. Joe?

Channing Tatum?

Yeah, Channing Tatum, or someone like him to bring that audience. Twentysomething guys, or chicks, I guess it would be for him! [laughs] That would be good.

Have you ever taken a step back to analyse your fanbase? Especially with The Expendables being so important to those people, who grew up on your movies.

Well, you know, I'm not one of those people who sit there and analyse my career every day. I am not too smart about that stuff. I just do what I feel like. Expendables did have a lot of young fans and I think there is a middle ground. Stallone said the same thing. The guys in the middle who grew up on The Matrix and those type of movies, they don't get the older style.

The young kids get it because they watch MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) and they like guys getting pounded and blood everywhere, and they think all the other stuff is sissy, you know? Ten kicks in the head and the guy is still standing up and climbing all over the walls.

But there is that middle ground. The guys who may be about 30, or something and maybe they don't get that? I mean I don't know whether they get the tough thing.

I suppose there is a bit of a hole in the middle and that is the market they're trying to get to, ‘cause you know, the young kids and the older guys are gonna like it. But I find people of all ages seem to respond to it, from what I can tell.

You have someone who has been around a long time, like I have, I suppose -  in the business, unfortunately, I have been around for a while, and people aren't used to it because things go so quickly now. So, if Stallone and I show up somewhere in person, people are like, "Holy shit!" you know? "Are those guys really for real?" Because you've seen us around for so long, Stallone for 30 years, I guess, me for 25 years or so...

I wanted to ask you about some of your older movies that I'm a fan of and that a lot of our readers enjoy. Dark Angel (as it was in the UK, aka I Come In Peace), I still think holds up, as it has such an interesting concept behind it, with the alien war and the hi-tech weapons.

I like that, yeah.

I know you've said that you're not a fan of sequels, but is revisiting it something you would ever contemplate?

Yeah, that was a cool... that was a fun idea, you're right. That film was well directed too by Craig Baxley, who was a stunt coordinator who did a great job. It was a fun film, because it had the humour and the hi-tech weapons and the chick. It was cool.

It had a great villain, that East German decathlon champion who did all his own stunts. Amazing, this guy was such a great athlete and you couldn't fake stuff like that, in those days. There was no green screen. You had to do it for real. They gave him stunt guys and none of the stunt guys could do it, so he had to do it all himself. So, you know he was jumping from car to car and explosions going off behind him and stuff, incredible!

I must ask about Showdown In Little Tokyo... (Dolph rolls his eyes skywards and laughs)... I have a couple of questions.

You are one of few people, sadly, to have worked with Brandon Lee and I just wondered if you had a memory of working with him from back then?

Well, Brandon was such a natural star. He had that quality. He had the acting, the physicality, his dad was Bruce Lee. He had the whole make up to become a huge star and he would have been, I think, become a huge star had he not gotten killed. It was extremely sad what happened.

I never forget, his mother Linda Lee is Swedish originally. She marries Bruce and Bruce dies at 29, then her son becomes a big star and then he passes away at 30 and it is just incredibly sad, the whole thing. I loved working with him, it was a great experience... What can I say?

There was one thing... (I contemplate chickening out, or worry I'll have to recite the line)... I don't know if you have been asked before. There is one line Brandon Lee says to you in that film, and I've always wondered how it got in there?

Oh you mean that line? I know, I know!

For 20 years I've wanted to know!

I know, I mean [innocently] how did that get in there? The director was such an interesting guy, Mark Lester. He did Commando with Arnold and I think he must have written it, because he was a bit... of an interesting guy, you know? I remember the producer told me a story about him.

The producer goes, "Look, Mark, aren't you going to talk to the actors?" (about saying the line) and Mark goes, "About what?" [laughs] And he is the director of the movie! So, he just... I think that line, he just wrote it just ‘cause he thought it was funny, so just added it. I don't know how he came up with it!

Even though it is true, of course, but...

You mentioned Jean-Claude Van Damme, whom you recently worked with again, very briefly, on Universal Soldier: Regeneration. How was it being back together again, just for a few scenes?

It was bizarre. It was kind of like working with Stallone again, but this was even worse because I hadn't done any sequels. So, this was the first sequel I do, you know, Universal Soldier 3. [Universal Soldier] 2, I guess pretty much nobody saw, and then I'm there with Jean-Claude in the same, more or less, the same costume, whatever it was 17, 18 years later. It was really bizarre... weird.

I mean, I haven't done any sequels. It's like if I were to walk in and just put on the Soviet Union shorts again and climb up in the ring, you would go like, "No, I don't think so!  It doesn't feel right." But it was kinda fun to see him again and it was fun to work with John Hyams too, ‘cause he is a good director and did a great job. And, actually, they are working on another sequel, believe it or not. Universal Soldier 4. I have died three times already. Come on! Come on, guys. I can't come back again!

After our last interview, you expressed an interest in doing a film in Sweden, with a historical aspect to it. One of our readers (gsfrancis) suggested that you consider an action film about Sweden in World War 2, about keeping out the Nazis. I think Lundgren vs. The Nazis would be a good selling point.

That's interesting, yeah. There is a film, a script that I have been interested in for a while, about WW1 which is quite similar, because it was the same thing. The Germans try to take over the world, or at least Europe in those days.  Sweden is caught in between the axis and the entente, I guess it was in those days, in France. So, the Germans send an intelligence officer to Sweden on a mission to assassinate the King. The King was against Sweden going into the war on the German side and they want to kill him and blame the communists, then get Sweden to join the war on the German side, and there's a script about it.

There is a Swedish girl who falls in love with the officer, so they have this love affair while he is planning the assassination and, obviously, at some point he has orders to kill her too, because he can't leave any traces so... Now he is stuck there. He has to kill her and she finds out and they are on this small island, so it becomes kind of a horror movie. It is a kind of interesting story. It is pretty cool and very modern. It is written in a very modern way, but it's about something that happened 100 years ago, so it would be cool to make that one.

Dolph Lundgren, thank you for your time!

And, as promised, here's our rundown of The Dolph's finest moments...

Rocky 4 (1985) "If he dies, he dies."

Stallone's Rocky had already defeated several tough opponents at this point in the franchise, including Mr T as mean bastard 'Clubber' Lang, so finding a suitably threatening opponent must've proved a challenge. Enter a young Dolph Lundgren as Ivan Drago, who physically towers over Rocky and enters the fray by committing cold blooded murder. Lundgren, in his first starring role, gave credibility to the concept that he could punch you to death in seconds.

Masters Of The Universe (1987) "I have the power!"

Easily dismissed, yet still a movie I'll defend absolutely,  Masters Of The Universe is rammed full of incredible production design, from Skeletor's minions, to spaceships, hover boards and spectacular sets. I re-watched it recently and pined for the days of model work and craftsmanship in movie making.

Frank Langella is unrecognisable behind his unsettling prosthetics, while Lundgren is an obvious physical fit in a surprisingly witty, dark adaptation of Mattel's toy licence.

Also featuring a young Courteney Cox (alongside her future Friends mother, Christina Pickles), the incredible eyes of Meg Foster (They Live) and Chelsea Field (The Last Boy Scout, Dust Devil, Commando), Back To The Future's Mr Strickland, James Tolkan, and an awesome 80s-style MacGuffin that I still want to this day.

The Punisher (1989) "Here is justice, here is punishment. Here... in me."

Without doubt one of the most violent action movies ever made. Dolph may not have adorned the skull t-shirt, but the brutality was still there. (And besides his stubble was seemingly cut to resemble a skull, so it wasn't totally disrespectful.) The Punisher shares more in common with Ray Stevenson's recent Punisher: War Zone, than the slightly limp Thomas Jane version, but that's no bad thing if bloodshed and a good body count is what you're after.

Dark Angel (aka I Come In Peace) (1990) "Fuck you, spaceman!"

An intergalactic drug war breaks out on Earth between two aliens, in a film that involves tentacle injection, spikes through the head, killer CDs, hi-tech guns that decimate cars and Dolph Lundgren with dark hair. What's not to love?

The whole film is a surprisingly well made blast, which (as I said above) I'm convinced is actually worthy of a sequel. There were too many interesting ideas to just leave one film behind and both Lundgren and co-star Brian Benben have aged incredibly well. After mentioning it in the interview, other fans raised it in the 'evening with' later the same day, so the message has well and truly got through. Here's hoping the seed of an idea will grow into another film...

Showdown In Little Tokyo (1991) "Out of the frying pan and boned up the ass with a red-hot poker."

A film whose infamous one-liner made our Greatest homoerotic action movie moments list earlier in the year, Showdown's sense of fun is present throughout and it could happily be studied as a paint by numbers approach to late-80s/early-90s action cinema.

Two clashing cops come together through violence, form respect for one another, go to strip club, spout one-liners and kill a whole lot of bad guys.

In its favour are a revenge fuelled Lundgren and one of the few film appearances by the incredibly charismatic Brandon Lee, before his untimely and tragic death during the filming of The Crow. The two spark off each other nicely, as they encounter the beautiful Tia Carrere in peril and the eternally sinister Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, whose character deals a nice line in topless decapitation.

Universal Soldier (1992) "Can you hear me?"

After a multitude of heroic roles, it was Lundgren's return to villainy which saw him really light up the screen as the somewhat mental Andrew Scott/GR13. The height difference between him and co-star Jean-Claude Van Damme, recalled Rocky 4 nicely, in a slickly put together film by a pre-Independence Day Roland Emmerich.

Words can't describe how excited I was when Universal Soldier hit the cinema, with the heady mix of a Van Damme obsession at its height and finally being old enough to get into an 18 certificate film (legally or otherwise), to watch two of my heroes face off against one another. Sadly, there were a couple of unofficial DTV sequels knocked out, then Van Damme returned for Universal Solider: The Return, (which wasn't much of one).

Last year Lundgren and Van Damme re-united for Universal Soldier: Regeneration, which, despite being quite well made, only contained JCVD for about twenty minutes and DL for about five.

I also remember Red Scorpion being great, violent fun, but I haven't seen it in a long time, so I'll see how well it holds up at the next available opportunity.

The Expendables is released on Blu-ray and DVD on the 13th December. It's also worth noting that the three disc 'Bullet Proof' edition also features the full length 'making of' documentary Inferno, which Stallone made references to back at the press conference.

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here.

After the screening of Doctor Who: A Christmas Carol last night at the excellent BFI Southbank in London, we were treated to a brief trailer for what's coming up in Doctor Who series 6.

If you don't want to know what's going to be appearing in series 6 (although we're not giving massive things away here), then look away now...

So, what was in there? Well, we wrote it down as fast as our little hands would allow us, and we spotted:

• The Doctor in the Oval Office. Jammie Dodgers, too.
• New fashion tips: "I wear a Stetson now," proclaims the Doctor. That's cool, too, he asserts. He might just be right, too.
• Men in military uniforms looking in bad moods
• A bearded Doctor
• A few clips of River Song, one of which seems to find her at least partially bereft of clothes
• Someone in a spacesuit
• Even though our memory is trying to convince us otherwise, we're pretty sure there was an Ood in there, too
• Plus, there's a monster in there we've not seen before

Now, granted, all of this may be our memory playing tricks on us. It had been a long day. But that's what we wrote down on our pad of doom. You can find out for yourself when the trailer screens straight after the Doctor Who Christmas special on Christmas Day.

Don't forget, our spoiler-free review of Doctor Who: A Christmas Carol can be found here...

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here.

Oh, now this is good. The Yogi Bear movie is finally arriving in the US this week, and already the reviews have been less than stellar. Right now, it's a film that looks like it's going to be most remembered for its infamous advertising poster, rather than anything else.

At least until this turned up. This quite brilliant clip, the work of Mr Edmund Earle, offers an alternative ending to the film, one where Boo Boo takes out Yogi. It's quite brilliantly done, and we wonder if, somewhere in the world, some enterprising cinema might just switch the final reels to give an audience a bit of an unexpected treat.

Yogi Bear is out in US cinemas imminently, we should add. But we doubt it's got anything as good as this up its sleeve...

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here.

Right, then. With Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1 having banked a fair chunk of change, and with it expected to make even more over the festive break, the emphasis is very slowly starting to turn towards the very last Potter adventure.

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 was shot at the same time as Part 1, and as such - save for any pick-up work - the film has been in the can for a while now. So, we weren't particularly expecting any fresh casting news to come through. And yet, that's what we've got.

Kelly Macdonald, most recently seen in the TV series Boardwalk Empire, has revealed to Vanity Fair that she's got a small role in the upcoming film. She will be playing, it's been revealed, the Raveclaw house ghost (‘The Grey Lady').

No further details are forthcoming, but you can check out the interview with Macdonald at Vanity Fair, right here.

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here.

Before he switches his attention to the job of bringing Superman to the big screen in time for the end of 2012, Zack Snyder is putting the finishing touches to his latest big budget blockbuster, Sucker Punch.

This new featurette from the film showcases the visual style of the film, which features five women (for whom full clothing appears to be something of a luxury) battling their way out of an asylum, and kicking seven shades out of anyone who appears to be in their way. The clip features lots of talking heads, too, but it appears to be Scott Glenn that nails it.

The film itself arrives in the UK on April 1st, and you can see the featurette right here...

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here.

Little Fockers may yet turn out to be something of a comedic masterpiece, but the movie moment I've cringed at the most this year was the once-mighty Robert De Niro delivering the "godfocker" line in the trailer for the film. What, I feared, has the man come to?

Fortunately, Martin Scorsese is swooping in to save his long-time collaborator, and to say I'm excited about the following news is no understatement. For Mr Scorsese is reuniting Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci in a brand new gangster-esque film.

The film is called The Irishman, and Martin Scorsese has confirmed at a BAFTA Q&A that shooting could begin next year. The story of the film centres on Frank Sheeran, a war veteran who was a high ranking Teamsters officer, with a sideline as a hitman. Sheeran is, some allege, linked to the deaths of both Kennedy and Jimmy Hoffa.

The news that Scorsese is tackling such subject matter, for starters, is terrific. But to pull De Niro back from the brink, and also recruit Joe Pesci back to cinema in such a way is terrific news. Here's hoping it comes together.

The Playlist

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here.

Once upon a time, there used to be a bit of a lull in blockbuster cinema in January, as the awards films take residency in multiplexes up and down the country. We never thought this was a bad thing, we should say, but it's still a changing one. For arriving in UK cinemas on January 14th is The Green Hornet, the first comic book movie of the year.

It's directed by Michel Gondry, and stars Seth Rogen and Cameron Diaz. And we've got the latest international poster for it here.

As the film gets closer to release, the publicity material gets more and more conventional, we've noticed. Here's the poster...

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here.

Have you ever wondered just what happened in the time gap between the television series Life On Mars and Ashes To Ashes? Have you ever wondered what happened to the characters, and even where the origins of Keats can be found? Heck, what's the story surrounding the big move south between the two shows?

You might just have a chance to find out the answers to these questions.

The fine folks over at Monastic Productions, Matthew Graham and Ashley Pharoah, have plans for a series of novels to bridge the gap between Life On Mars and Ashes To Ashes, to cover the stories of all of the main and supporting characters, and even to print the books in faded, 70s style colours. "And the violent/sexy bits will be pre-dog-eared for easy access!", they promise.

There's also talk of e-books, with a live action intro from Gene Hunt, and the potential to get Philip Glenister in for the audio books, too. That would be fun.

The problem is that, while the potential publishers love the first book, they need convincing that there's a market for a series of novels based between the two series. That's where you come in.

All we need you to do is register an interest. To offer some proof of the viability of the project.

So, we'd just ask that you sign your name at the following iPetitions link (don't worry if it asks you to donate, you don't need to in order to leave your name). We'd be grateful, too, if you could pass this around, and let's see if we can get enough names together to make this happen.

Thanks for your help and support.

www.ipetitions.com/petition/genehunt/

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here.

Right now, I'm working away on a series of reviews of Big Finish Doctor Who releases, which are coming to this site shortly. However, I've been contemplating of late just what it is that's made Matt Smith's run of Doctor Who stories the most consistently good. Because story after story, Smith's reign as the Doctor has delivered.

So, it got me thinking: if I take each individual Doctor's stories in order of broadcast, and eliminate one each round, which Doctor will be left standing? And will the Matt Smith/Steven Moffat run of Who have, in its early stages at least, proven itself to be the most consistent out of the blocks?

I should say from the start that, for me, Smith's debut was particularly memorable, as I watched it in Manchester's Lass O'Gowrie with a horde of other fans. That was the first time I've ever done that, and it was hugely enjoyable. But, anyway, let's go through the debuts.

Debuts, then, can be great (see Spearhead From Space), but they often tend to be rather more middling affairs, (see most of the rest). They tend to involve the actor concerned finding his feet, and often the stories themselves suffer. Having said that, however, I do have a very soft spot for Castrovalva, and I really did enjoy The Eleventh Hour.

As for the rest, I think that An Unearthly Child/100,000 BC does at least do its job, likewise Rose and The Christmas Invasion, all of which were lacking a little something for my money.

Lesser plaudits would go to Robot, which feels like such a hangover from Pertwee's first or third season, and Power Of The Daleks, which, as far as can be ascertained, is just a little too long and a little too, well, unexciting. In an entirely different way from Paul McGann's single story.

This leaves us with the two real bottom of the barrel offerings from Doctors Six and Seven. Yes, folks, can we have a big hand for The Twin Dilemma and Time And The Rani? No, thought not. I suppose it's quite contentious as to which someone prefers.

The Twin Dilemma gains marks for being so damn brave as to try something new by having a Doctor who is, let's be frank, a really nasty piece of work. I know it made many uncomfortable, but I do feel Colin Baker should be applauded for tearing Doctor Who so far out of its comfort zone.

Time And The Rani, on the other hand, is an unmitigated disaster of the first order. But it is so bright and cheerful that it eventually ends up being a more enjoyable story than The Twin Dilemma, which never recovers from the terrible acting of the supporting actors or the unremitting dullness of the script.

Thus it is that the slightly pacier Time And The Rani survives, whereas Twin Dilemma does not.

It does, quite literally, survive. This is our first round which will eventually lead us to showing just how great Matt Smith is. Colin Baker's reign will not feature from here on in, as he's eliminated in round one.

Round two, then. Let's look at the second stories. This round is swifter as the Eighth Doctor, despite some excellent audio successes, hasn't turned up. Not even a Dimensions In Time or a Time Crash for our appraisal. Not a sausage.

And so it is that the other nine Doctors survive Round Two without much of a challenge. We're down to eight Doctors.

Round Three. The third stories. What have we got on offer here? Well, there are no real masterpieces, but there are some undeniably solid stories like Eccleston's The Unquiet Dead and Tennant's Tooth And Claw. We have some slightly less solid stories next including the admirably brave Inside The Spaceship and the seemingly Marmite-flavoured Victory Of The Daleks which I, for one, loved. Not that keen on the Spitfires in space, though.

What's left, then? Pertwee's overlong seven-episode Ambassadors Of Death, Tom Baker's overlong two-episode Sontaran Experiment, Davison's ropey snake-fest Kinda, Sylvester's Delta and The Bannerman and Troughton's woeful Underwater Menace.

Can we ditch a story largely based on "Nuzzink in ze vurld vill ztop me now"? Probably, yeah. Even Ambassadors doesn't drag as much as this story.

Bye bye, Patrick Troughton.

Fourth round, fourth stories. Instant classics Genesis Of The Daleks and Mr Smith's Time Of Angels jump straight through the hoop leaving us with Tennant's (well, it's Lis Sladen's really, isn't it?) School Reunion and Eccleston's Aliens Of London, for starters. I'd take the former over the latter. I imagine that you probably would, too.

How about Sylvester's Dragonfire and Davison's The Visitation? I'd take the latter again. It's a good, solid story even at its worst whereas, despite some lovely sets, Dragonfire really does struggle. Hartnell and Pertwee battle it out with Marco Polo and Inferno, but both these and Aliens Of London are surely better than Dragonfire, and so it is that Sylvester must bid us adieu.

Seventh Doctor gone. Seven Doctors left. With their fifth stories, Pertwee's wonderful Terror Of The Autons, Eccleston's dark and wonderful Dalek and Tennant's masterpiece Girl In The Fireplace all have to survive.

That leaves us with Hartnell's wobbly Keys Of Marinus, Tom's ever so dull Revenge Of The Cybermen, Davison's interesting Black Orchid and Matt Smith's budgetary restraint of Vampires Of Venice. I'd take any of these over Revenge Of The Cybermen, personally. Maybe you'll disagree, but if so, then I don't think you've seen Revenge Of The Cybermen recently enough.

Ding ding. Tom's gone.

Round six, with six Doctors left and there's a bit of a mixed bag here. I think the best two stories are probably Hartnell's The Aztecs, which has some wonderful acting and plot, and Matt Smith's recent Amy's Choice, which was genuinely unsettling in places. What else is there?

There's Pertwee's UNIT by numbers of Mind Of Evil, Davison's love it or hate it Earthshock, Eccleston's The Long Game and Tennant's Rise Of The Cybermen. There's nothing of particularly high quality here, although I think Earthshock has its merits. As does The Long Game, in which the Doctor realises that his new companion is a baddie at about a tenth of the speed that the Fifth Doctor did with Turlough.

So, what do you take through to Round Seven? Rise or Mind? I'll plump for the Cyberfest, at a push.

Some stunners in Round Seven. Well, one. It's Eccleston's Father's Day and it eats up the opposition for lunch. What is the opposition? The not quite good: enough Hungry Earth/Cold Blood, the fairly ropey Idiot's Lantern, the overlong and pretty dull Sensorites and Time Flight. Even amongst the D graders, there's still one for the chop, isn't there, Peter?

Chop.

Round Eight.

The Empty Child, The Impossible Planet/Satan Pit, Vincent And The Doctor and The Reign Of Terror. Two amazing recent two-parters which have to go through, and also Richard Curtis' surprising mini-masterpiece that actually made me shed a tear towards the end. Certainly, Reign Of Terror is pretty good stuff, but I don't think it's a match for these three.

And so it is that it's the three most recent Doctors who scrape through to Round Nine. And it's in Round Nine that we encounter the wonderful The Lodger, in which Smith proves he's one of the very finest actors to have taken on the role. And we also encounter Boom Town and Love and Monsters.

Now, this might be contentious, but I do prefer the brave, funny, clever and pretty damn sad Love and Monsters over the pretty dull Boom Town Perhaps you don't. Do let me know, won't you?

And so it's head to head for Tennant and Smith for the title. Will Matt Smith get it for the up and down and a bit plot holey Pandorica Opens or will Tennant get it for, erm, Fear Her?

He won't, will he? The title is Smith's.

Thoughts, feelings, rage? Fill in the box below!

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here.

Over the last few years, stand-up DVDs have become big business. This Christmas, in particular, it seems like every comedian who's ever made it onto a panel show has a DVD ready to go into stockings up and down the country. Dave Gorman, fresh off his return to stand-up, is no exception.

Originally, the set captured on this DVD was developed in 2009, touring under the name Sit Down, Pedal, Pedal, Stop and Stand Up. As the DVD explains, during this tour Gorman cycled to the four cardinal points of the UK, gigging in the towns he visited along the way. A more conventional tour followed in 2010, and this DVD is the final fruit of the whole endeavour.

But don't let the project's origins fool you. Those expecting to find something along the lines of his earlier works, a mixture of travelogue, stats-based humour and the story of one man's triumph against seemingly-impossible odds,will be sorely disappointed. This show is purely about the jokes.

And therein lies the disappointment. Gorman's ‘documentary' style of comedy was so masterfully constructed, marrying his genial personality with emotionally bare honesty, that to find him going back to just telling jokes represents something of a comedown. 

Taken on its own merits, there's nothing especially poor about Gorman's stand-up. It has a similar tone to his documentary works, good-natured, intelligent and largely victimless, with cross-generational appeal. It even showcases an impish sense of humour and love of practical jokes that was not especially evident in the past. 

His command of the stage is impressive, honed over years of live performance, and luckily so, because his strong delivery props up material that is often quite weak. Chiefly, in a world where the best stand-ups are challenging received opinions, breaking taboos and educating audiences, Gorman seems to have no interest in finding a target or cause, only in telling jokes.

The results are a little daft, a little whimsical, but too often utterly toothless. This was fine when he was a storyteller, because human drama lay at the centre of his work. But now, without such a hook, the show has nowhere to go. It ends with some audience participation that labours a little too long, with a payoff so nakedly set up earlier in the show that you could see the cogs working. Tellingly, the Q&A that follows (included as a DVD extra) makes for a far better conclusion, reminding us of Gorman's true strengths as an entertainer.

It is, of course, unlikely that he would create a modern show with the same passion and intensity of his earlier ones, which were the work of a younger, hungrier man. We certainly can't expect him to suffer another nervous breakdown for our amusement, nor to spend thousands of pounds chasing bets in the hope he can recoup the losses at the end. But surely there's something more to aim for than this?

As it is, the 'new' Gorman delivers a polished, inoffensive and consistent set of jokes that should entertain most viewers, but at the same time, it's tough to imagine anyone loving it. Existing fans will probably forgive the tack Gorman has adopted on this venture. But if your goal is to create a fan of someone, the alternatives, both in terms of stand-up DVDs and Gorman's own body of work, are so much stronger that it's impossible to recommend Stand Up Live over them.

Extras

Aside from the previously discussed Q&A, which provides some great moments of its own, the DVD also features a commentary from Gorman and his mother, and a gallery/time-lapse visual record of his journey around the country. The commentary sounds like a fun idea in principal, but the execution is wanting, with the commentary containing large stretches of silence. What information we get is welcome and interesting, but it's ultimately too spartan to sustain itself even for an initial viewing.

The gallery, meanwhile, is little more than a well presented curio. While the completism involved in compiling and including it can be congratulated, it isn't going to elicit many repeat viewings. As it is, this DVD has largely been left to the merits of its lead feature.

Stand-up shows are naturally difficult to supplement, so it's hard to criticise the lack of material too much, but on the flip side, you only have to look at Richard Herring's extras-crammed releases to see what could be possible.

As with the rest of the DVD, it's not a failure of execution that lets the extras down, just the lack of much ambition.

Feature:
Disc:

Dave Gorman: Stand Up Live is out now and available from the Den Of Geek Store.

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here.

Hopefully, he'll not mind me badly quoting him, but there's a segment in the last tour by stand-up comedian Dara O Briain where he makes a comment about the notion of guilty pleasures. His argument, and it's a sound one, is why should you feel guilty about liking something that entertains you? (Assuming it's legal, of course.) The example he cites is the band Take That, but you don't have to look far to see many examples in the movie world.

Earlier this week, then, I saw Burlesque. It was a film I had no intention of going to see, until I saw the avalanche of reviews from our American cousins. For many of the reviewers were unanimous in one message: for all its faults, and Burlesque has no shortage of them, the film is fun. Big-grin-on-your-face fun.

Whether the makers were in on the joke or not, it's sometimes quite breathtakingly hilarious too, with characters spouting out dialogue that felt like it was put together with a fridge magnet set. But, heck, all concerned give it all they've got, and I thought the film, aside from the laboured final act, was a bit of a hoot.

Fun is an overlooked commodity in cinema right now, particularly in the blockbuster arena, where the ground laid by the likes of The Dark Knight seems insistent on putting everyone in a bad mood. I was staggered by the Wolverine spin-off, for instance, where one of the most joyful characters to watch in the X-Men saga gets his own movie and spends it all in a temper. You could argue the same of the incoming Tron: Legacy, where the downbeat nature of many of the characters does occasionally drag the film down.

And if the characters aren't moody, then the films are getting darker. Harry Potter, inevitably, has had to take this path, but the last film had, basically, two hours of camping in the company of melancholy teenagers.

Now, to be clear, I like dark films. I like films with a bit of edge to them. I like interesting characters. But sometimes, by the time I've organised a babysitter and prepared the logistics of going for a night out at the pictures, I just want straight, honest, fun, entertainment. Burlesque, if nothing else, certainly gave me that (although I do agree with Ron Hogan, when he noted in this week's box office round-up that the film was better when it was released under its previous name, Showgirls).

Burlesque, though, is the latest to also be tagged with a ‘guilty pleasure' label, and I'm curious as to why I should feel guilty about liking it. I like lots of films that people have described to me as guilty pleasures, from Armageddon and Rocky IV, through to Fortress and Flash Gordon. Do I consider them guilty pleasures? No. I just happen to like them. My wife is in the same boat. She likes Road House, Xanadu and 9 To 5, amongst others. They're apparently guilty pleasures. Does she feel guilty? No, and rightly so.

Society seems to have come up with this phrase, and I've used it myself in the past, to refer to films that the consensus has decreed aren't very good. That somehow, you're not allowed to like them unless you feel embarrassed about it. As if your face it supposed to go red, and you're supposed to look around and check that nobody's about before you pop them into your DVD player. And woe betide you if you happen to like one of the decreed films of guiltiness in public. Ridicule, surely, awaits you.

Now, debating film is clearly something most of us do, and there's a particular pleasure in taking the side of a shitty movie that you just happen to like. But surely now it's time to end this guilty nonsense. Because most of us aren't guilty, and most of us have little regard for the people who are passing down dictates as to what is good and what isn't.

I'd wager, then, that there are some of you out there who are tempted by the idea of Burlesque, which is two hours of gloriously glossy, sometimes terrible, but generally entertaining, musical frivolity. And you'll come out of the film, I'd wager, with many of the same criticisms that have long been picked up. The script? It's really not very good. The story? Seen it lots of times before. The characters? You can sketch them in even before you start, if you like.

But the fun factor? Yep, Burlesque has that. As does Showgirls. As does Armageddon. As does Wild Things. As does Teen Wolf, Rocky IV, Hard Target, Flash Gordon, half of Arnie's back catalogue, most of Stallone's, and a little dab of Seagal's.

I'd take any of those over half of the films that I'm 'supposed' to like, thank you very much. And I don't feel in the slightest bit guilty about it, either.

Burlesque is released in the UK this coming Friday.

Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here.